Hello everyone, if you are reading this then welcome to this new story that I have decided to put together.

As you can probably tell by the name and synopsis, this story is indeed a dreaded Re: Forgotten spin-off story, so in other words I'm doing the fan fiction equivalent of jumping the shark lol.

But jokes aside, the main reason I decided to write this particular chapter was because I really wanted to explore the idea of what forgetting Subaru would actually do to the main characters, considering the impact that he has on everyone's lives during his time in the world of re zero.

Anyway if you read this, expecting an epic and bombastic story about Subaru, getting his revenge on everyone, unfortunately you will be disappointed, considering that I want to explore what would realistically happen to somebody, who was tortured continuously for nearly a year, by people that he considered friends no less, and the emotional and psychological impact that would have on them.

But I've been rambling for too long already, so about any further ado I present you the first chapter of The Mind Forgets But The Heart Doesn't.

"You are not my contractor I suppose! you witch cultist scum!"

Those were the words that finally broke him. Not the countless and agonising deaths, at the hands of his enemies and even at the hands of his supposed friends. It was not the endless quiet suffering, from not being able to tell anyone about his pain, with him not even having the luxury of hearing from them, that it was all worth it in the end . But no, those simple 11 words were all it took to break Natsuki Subaru's spirit, each one of them doing the very thing that hundreds of gruesome and agonising deaths had tried but always failed to do. In fact if he had the energy or the capacity to do so, Subaru probably would have laughed at how bitterly ironic it, because it seemed that the old saying "karma's a bitch" really did come true in the end.

Yet, even with his spirit irreversibly broken and destroyed, for the longest time some small part of Subaru's psyche continues to hold onto the fragile hope that his friends would eventually remember him, and come and save him from this living nightmare. But as the days of mindless and agonising torture, turned into weeks and then eventually into months, that hope much like the rest of his feelings slowly died, a simple lack of emotion quickly filling the void it left behind.

But the empty nothingness, where the emotion of hope used to be, was not always faded and empty. At first as the hope faded, it was replaced by desperation and sadness, with Subaru spending days and weeks crying in that cell, begging anyone to help him or release him from this torture. But eventually the sadness faded, being replaced by bitterness and rage, with Subaru screaming bloody murder, cursing every god known to the human race, as well as using every curse word that was known to exist. With his tirade of profanity and cursing not even being interrupted by his torture, in fact the torture only seemed to fuel his rage, causing him to send more curses and profanity at his torturers, who despite their amusement would simply respond by dishing back all of his rage and anger as more severe and creative methods of torture.

Yet eventually, the anger and rage quickly began to fade, with the space that they occupied simply being replaced by a numb nothingness. Subaru's torturers noticed this as well, thinking that the supposed cultist was finally broken, and was ready to spill all of his secrets. But to their dismay and anger, he eventually stopped talking altogether, the only sounds that he would make from that point forward being his cries and screams of agony as they absolutely brutalised him. But ultimately even his cries and screams of agony eventually faded, becoming nothing more than quiet whimpers of pain as they inflicted absolute brutality upon his body.

And that's ultimately how it remained for nearly an entire year, although the exact length of time Subaru couldn't know for certain. But ultimately it didn't matter, days after days of endless torture melded together into one continuous stream of pain His torturers would come, beat him senseless, cut and burn him until he was practically at death's door. Only for a certain catboy healer, to bring him back from the brink, but this healing was only enough so Subaru wouldn't die, it was never enough to actually completely heal the cuts and burns that they would inflict upon him, instead as a final "parting gift" before they would retire for the night, they would leave these cuts and burns in place, allowing them to begin to faster and rot in the dark cell that was Subaru's new home

In fact Subaru found it quite remarkable that he had yet died from some kind of infection. But ultimately even if he was to die, it would only be a temporary release from this hell, because of his return by death ability. In the beginning, when Subaru still had hope, he ended his own life in that cold dark cell, spending his last living moment hoping that the checkpoint was before he had been forgotten by everyone. Yet to his absolute horror, the save point had been moved the exact point when he was dumped in this cell, meaning that even if he was to die, weather in be from his tortures going too far or him taking his own life. Ultimately he would end up back at the very beginning of all of this, stuck in a never-ending death loop that would possibly go on forever

Subaru was pulled from his musings, by a sound that before would instantly get him to start crying and screaming, but now much like else elicited no response what's the weather, it was the unmistakable sound of his cell door being unlocked, and deliberately pushed slowly open.

"It's time for your treatment, Mr cultist~nyah"

The cat boy's voice was sickly sweet, as if he was eagerly greeting an old friend, yet those words were driven by cold and sadistic emotions, each individual word dripping with malice and ill Intent. In fact in the past, Subaru used to dread hearing Felix's voice, because it meant the torture was quickly about to follow, and the cat boy eventually picked up on that very fact. Using his own voice as a novel and unique form of torture, for the supposed witch cultist, standing just outside outside of the black haired boys cell, waiting for the Perfect Moment to send the cultist into a manic crying fit using his voice alone. Yet much like everything else in Subaru's mind, the fear of Felix and his voice quickly faded, to the point where now no matter what Felix actually said to him, Subaru would just stare ahead with a blank expression expression, simply waiting for the torture to begin. Which even to the sadistic catboy, was just a little bit off-putting, because it was almost as if the cultist had died inside, leaving nothing but an empty shell behind.

"Felix I'd appreciate it if you don't talk like that, it's not becoming of a royal knight" the new voice with another that Subaru instantly recognised, stepping into the cell with Felix was none other than Julius Juukulius supposedly the "greatest knight" And as the purple haired man stepped into the cell, even in its dim light, Subaru could see the look on his face was one of mild revulsion mixed with perhaps with the tiniest amount of concern. which itself was very strange, considering at the beginning up and up until recently, Julius took as much satisfaction from torturing Subaru as Felix did,

Of course Julius's enjoyment of torturing the supposed witch cultist was not as out with the obvious as Felix, yet Subaru could see it in his supposed friends eyes, they were the eyes of someone that took an immense amount of pleasure, from torturing the helpless person in front of them. Yet as the days turned into weeks, and eventually into months, the look behind Julius eyes began to change, imperceptibly at first, but eventually the look of complete and utter contempt for the person in front of him, was replaced with a look of frustration, which then morphed into a look of concern, and eventually into a look of complete apathy. In fact of Subaru care anymore, he would have found it kind of surprising, that Julius, somebody that was just as rotten to the core like Felix, was finally beginning to lose his nerve when it came to torturing him.

"Oh come on Julius~nyah, Am I not allowed to enjoy my work?" Felix's voice was dripping with pure malice and sadism, his usual bright and kind looking eyes taking on a hard and sadistic edge, which even Julius found unnerving to some extent.

"The fact that you still find enjoyment in this... is something I won't understand" Julius's words were filled with something that neither Subaru or Felix could quite explain in words. It was seemingly a mix of all different kinds of emotions, anger, revulsion, frustration, fear, apathy and maybe even just a small amount of concern, although whether that concern was directed towards the sadistic catboy or Subaru, was something that only Julius truly know.

"Oh~nyah, I remember not too long ago, that you also enjoyed beating the ever living sense out of this cultists scum" with each word that Felix a spoke, the frown on Julius his face became deeper and deeper, as his mind rushed over all of the time he took pleasure, in beating the half dead cultist that now resided in this cell, in fact thinking about it, Julius couldn't help but shudder at just how barbaric he had acted.

"Plus... I feel like we're close to making him break, and spilling his guts about all of his which cultist secrets~nyah" Those words caused Julius to look at Felix as if he had gone mad, because after nearly an entire year of continuous torture, the witch cultist in question had failed to reveal anything of value, in regards to the activities of the witch cult or any other related entities.

"Felix I'm going to be frank with you... but I think that this cultist has outlived his usefulness, I think it's best we put this scum out of his misery" As soon as the words left Julius's mouth, Felix's almost cheshire cat like grin, quickly morphed into a face of pure and uncontained rage. At the thought of putting the witch cultists scum to death, before he could spill his guts about all of the secrets that they need to know. In particular Felix wanted to know how to reverse the effects of gluttony eating somebody's memories.

"NO~NYAH! THIS SCUM DOES NOT DIE UNTIL I KNOW HOW TO REVERSE GLUTTON'S EFFECTS ON LADY CRUSCH!" The pitch and intensity of Felix's voice, was enough to make Subaru flinch even in his numbed state. As Julius recoiled in surprise, from having Felix almost screen directly into his face. The happy and sadistic expression that was on his friends face before, now replaced with one of fear, desperation and rage, at the prospect of losing the only possible lead to figure out how exactly to cure his beloved lady from her ailment. But even though he sympathised with Felix greatly, considering that his own name had been eaten, causing him to be forgotten by the world, Julius just couldn't stand by and watch his friend go through so much effort only to receive nothing.

"Felix I understand, but this has gone on long enough! It's been nearly an entire year, surely if this cultist scum was going to break and spill his guts, he would have done so already!" Julius did not resolve the shouting, instead only raising his voice slightly, so that Felix would get the point he was trying to make. Felix meanwhile looked at Julius in complete surprise, as if the purple haired knight had suddenly grown a second head and an extra pair of arms.

The two friends and fellow knights, seemingly just let the uneasy silence between them drag out, Subaru watching on with what could only be presumed to be mild interest, because what was going on was at least a different, from the daily beatings that he had come to expect from the two knights.

But silence however suddenly and abruptly came to an end, as Felix let out a very animalistic sounding his, one that was very befitting of his half cat beast lineage, and without any warning whatsoever, Felix turned on the spot, delicately and expertly scooping up a pebble with the toe of his boot, and launching it directly at Subaru's face with uncanny speed and accuracy. the pebble now turned projectile, impacting just above Subaru's right eye, causing his head to rock back with great force. A small almost imperceptible whimper to escaping the black-haired boy's lips, as the blood from the now new wound, began to slowly trickle its way down his face, beading on his chin before the small red droplets fell to the floor.

Julius simply shook his head in disappointment and said nothing. As Felix angrily stomped his way over to the supposed witch cultist, stopping directly in front of him, as Subaru as if by instinct slowly and surely directed his gaze upwards. Felix's murderous rage filled gaze, meeting Subaru's completely blank and emotionless stare, and seeing that his attack prompted no reaction whatsoever, Felix was consumed by an even deeper rage, quickly delivering a swift and powerful kick to the side of Subarus chest.

Despite Felix not being the most physically fit person ever, in Subaru's weak and malnourished state, Felix's kick might as well have been a cannonball hitting his side point blank range. Yet much to his growing frustration and rage, the supposed witch cultist again didn't react to Felix's attack, simply letting of a small almost unintelligible whimper of pain and nothing more, which just cause the cat boys rage to skyrocket, as he began to deliver a barrage of powerful kicks all over the boys body.

Julius, still standing in the entrance to the cell, simply let out a sigh of disappointment, as he quickly stepped in and closed the heavy door behind him, before proceeding to take off his gloves, reading himself both mentally and physically to inflict beating after beating on the supposed witch cultist. And that's how it remained for the rest of the night, the two nights taking turns beating the ever living sense out of the forgotten black haired boy until daybreak.

. . . . . . . . .

"You are not my contractor I suppose! you witch cultist scum!"

Even after nearly an entire year, those words echoed in her mind, each one of them being laced with hatred and rage, directed squarely at a certain witch cultist, that had the audacity to speak his blatant and obvious lies, about him being Amelia's knight, as well as Beatrice's contractor. In fact Beatrice felt a great sense of satisfaction, when he was unceremoniously dragged away by the knights, kicking and screaming all the way while saying preposterous and outlandish things, like that he was a victim of gluttony and that they were all of his friends. But as he was being dragged off Beatrice also felt something else wash over her other than her satisfaction, and that was a deep sense of shame and horror, as if she had just done something completely Upholland and horrifying. But at the time she simply disregarded that feeling, thinking nothing of it as she and the Emilia camp continued their journey towards pristella. Yet as the months ticked by, the deep sense of shame never truly left her, simply remaining is a slight ache in her chest that almost seemed like it was beginning to eat away at her artificial soul.

But that wasn't all though, there were also the unrelenting nightmares that would be waiting for her every time she closed her eyes. Before leaving the forbidden library and making a contract with Emilia, Beatrice couldn't remember the last time she had a genuine nightmare, but the very first night after the cultist was dragged away, they began. Her mother always told her that dreams had a much deeper meaning, then what most people believed, but Beatrice couldn't make any sense of what the meaning of these nightmares truly was. They were completely strange and horrifying, Beatrice would see through the eyes of someone unknown yet still feel their body, watching and feeling as they were brutalised and maimed, in ways that that she could never possibly imagine and she would not wish on even the most despicable creature, yet that wasn't the worst of it, she felt every second of it, every cut, stab, slash, punch and burn, she would feel every single agonising second of it

And even after waking up, for just the briefest of moments, she would continue to feel all of the pain that had happened in the dream, causing her to scream at the top of her lungs, as every single artificial nerve in her body was seemingly set ablaze. Of course despite her best efforts, her night terrors have made themselves known to everyone, Frederica and Emilia being the most concerned about her, in regards to her continuing night terrors.

Yet it wasn't just Beatrice that seemed to be affected since that day. Everyone in the manor seemingly just became more sad and withdrawn after that day. Garfield even before leaving the Sanctuary was known for being quite a headstrong and temperamental individual, but after the cultist was dragged away, something completely imperceptible seemed to break inside the beast boy, in fact in his own words, he was always sad and angry, but what exactly he was sad and angry about he didn't know, but that wasn't the only strange thing that Garfield started doing after that day. Every morning he would go out of the front doors of the mansion, saying that he wanted to train his body, so that he could be the best knight possible for Amelia, yet when he would open those doors. He would always be expecting someone to be there waiting for him and to greet him with a smile, but there never was anyone there, which seemed to just make Garfield even more angry.

But perhaps one of the most extreme changes, out of everyone in the camp, was the Merchant boy Otto. Even before that day he was known for being quite a heavy drinker, often drinking to excess and in turn, making himself incredibly drunk, but after that day his drinking only began to grow worse and worse, to the point where he would regularly drink himself into almost a coma. Yet despite that being concerning, that wasn't the part that was horrifying, instead it was the things that he would say and scream when he was drunk. He would always scream about how "HE didn't deserve it" and "how could we do this to HIM" Yet whenever he was asked about who this mysterious person actually was, he would clutch his head in his hands and scream that he didn't know. And despite the first incident like this, being written off as nothing more than the ramblings of a drunk man, every time he was blackout drunk, he would always repeat these exact same lines without fault, as if there was some kind of personal mantra that he didn't even understand.

Even Ram the demon maid, was not spared from this strange curse, the big difference however was instead of becoming overly emotional and more temperamental. She would uncharacteristically start staring off into space at random, completely focused on something that only she could see and perceive, quietly muttering something under her breath about somebody called Barusu. But when asked about it, she would simply state that she didn't know who that was, and something that only added to the mystery, was that she came across a strange unknown door, one that she had not known about previously, and that looked completely indistinguishable from the rest of the doors in the mansion.

However upon trying to enter, the door was completely locked up tight, as if it was never meant to be opened to begin with, but eventually with the help of Frederica, both Ram and her managed to gain access to the room, only to find that it was a completely normal guest room, that strangely enough, upon closer inspection actually had somebody's personal effects in it, indicating that the room had been occupied at one point. Yet the strangest part about all of this, was that among the personal effects, was a male butler uniform tailored to a younger man of slightly above average stature and build. Which was just completely bizarre to both maids of the Roswaal manor, considering that the Roswaal family did not have a male butler, since the previous generation of the family, long before both of them were ever employed by their master.

But as time continued its ever present march onwards, this strange phenomena, that so far only seemed to be contained to the Emilia camp, seemingly started spreading like a virus. The Felt camp, was that it spread to, Felt, the young and rambunctious girl that she was, almost did a complete 180, turning into someone that would barely speak, unless directly spoken to, and who would spend most of her time by herself, often out refusing to be in the presence of others. But out of everyone in the camp, it seemed that Rinehard the sword saint, had the most extreme reaction, although his reaction was imperceptible at first, considering that he was one of the knights responsible for dragging the cultist away that day.

However, news quickly began to spread through the population and the entire country at large, something that had happened to the sword Saint one day, and despite the fact that Reinhard was a very public individual, the reports left out much of the details for the sake of his and the Astrea family's privacy. But the true nature of what had happened quickly became known to the Emilia camp, considering that Emilia was one of the few people that Felt still regularly talked to, and the details of what exactly happened were truly shocking to say the least.

According to what Felt had related to Emilia, Reinhardt was going about his usual business as a knight, patrolling the streets of the capital to make sure that no unsightly business was going on, yet the next part and how it actually come about, was vague even to Felt herself, but from what she had said. Reinhardt failed to report at the end of his shift, immediately sparking alarm considering who Reinhard actually was, and as such a search party was quickly organised to find the missing sword saint, but after a fair bit of searching, what they found was both shocking and terrifying to everyone that was present. Reinhard Van Astrea, the most powerful man in the world, somebody that was viewed by the public as the epitome of knightly hood and as a true hero, was found on his knees in a dark alleyway, crying and screaming as he clutched his head in his hands, a crazed look in his eyes as tears really flowed down his face.

Many tried to help him, Felt was even told that Julius and Felix made a rare appearance, desperately trying to help their friend, overcome whatever mental episode he was going through, yet nothing worked, as Reinhardt continued to cry like a crazed madman. And it was only with the arrival of Felt herself, that he seemed to snap out of it, and the way she told it made Emilia's and everyone else's heartbreak, because as soon as he saw her, he quickly grabbed onto her, crying into her stomach and chest, while she tried her best to comfort him. And even though she asked him, the only response that she managed to make out between his tears, was that he said his entire world had been destroyed, and that he was sad and disgusted with himself, yet exactly what he was sad and disgusted about he didn't know.

Yet the part that was the most saddening and confusing, was that after returning to his family estate, the next day the sword Saint seem to be fine, going back to his usual polite and charming self, as if his emotional outburst had not happened at all, and it may have been enough to fool everyone else, but felt was able to see through it completely, and what she saw disturbed, because instead of Reinhard I've been filled with life and concern for those around him, they were now simply dead and hollow, as if Reinhard Van Astrea had died that day, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell, that continue to do the daily motions of a normal human life.

The Crusch camp was ultimately affected as well by the strange sickness. Wilhelm as a testament to his discipline, was seemingly able to take control of whatever was happening to him, not outwardly displaying it to anyone around him, which was expected of one of the finest butlers in the entire Kingdom. Although the signs were definitely there, with the biggest and most notable one being, whenever he would train his swordsmanship abilities, he much like Garfield, always be expecting someone to be there with him, someone that in his own words he felt like may have almost been a grandson to him, yet when he tried to think about who such a person could be, his mind would simply draw a blank.

Crusch herself however, was completely unaffected by whatever was happening to everyone around her, although many theorised, that maybe it was because of her name being eaten, as such erasing her personality and all of her memories from existence. Yet even with her name having been eaten, Crusch was very much still somebody that could take charge of any situation she was in, displaying a level of maturity and discipline that was wise beyond her years, in fact in those very few and sparing moments, it was as if the real and true Crusch Karsten momentarily revealed herself.

Felix however was a bit of an Enigma, considering that for nearly an entire year, the world-renowned blue, one of the most powerful and effective healers in the entire world, had seemingly dropped off the face of the world, with him only briefly making appearances at formal gatherings that he was required to attend as the Knight of duchess Crusch Karsten. Yet when he did make his rare appearances, the more observant around would notice that he looked almost dishevelled and tired, as if he had not been getting enough sleep, although when directly asked about it, he would simply and playfully, brush it off as nothing more than just him lacking some sleep. However there was also something else, that only certain people could truly perceive, Frederica and Ram being the only ones that could actually smell it, which was an almost imperceptible smell of blood and death, that would follow Felix around wherever he went. And even though it was deeply concerning, Frederica and Ram ultimately decided that was not worth addressing, considering it would be out of their station as maids of a different household to do so.

The exact effect, that this strange curse had on the Anastasia camp was relatively unknown. As a result of Anastasia and Emilia being more acquaintances rather than friends, although it was obvious that Anastasia herself had seemingly not been affected by whatever this was. Continuing on with her life very much the same as she did before, her knight Julius, however, was a bit of a larger enigma. In fact Julius had only recently become Anastasia's knight, the very same day that the witch cultist had been dragged away, as a result of his name being eaten by gluttony. And according to him, everyone had ever known had forgotten him, and even more tragically, his own family treated him like a complete stranger that they had never seen before, although luckily since Reinhard was there that day, he was able to confirm that everything Julius told was indeed true.

However, after the cultist had been captured, and all of the camps had returned from Pristella. Julius much like his feline friend Felix, practically fell off the face of the world, rarely been seen by anyone other than the members of the Anastasia camp, but even then, Julius's appearances were very rare and few and far between, Anastasia relaying to Emilia one day, that she would go many days and nights about seeing him. Only for him to return looking slightly dishevelled, although it was obvious that he tried to hide that fact, but ultimately whether or not it was actually strange, what Julius did in his own time, was his own business, and Anastasia wasn't the kind of person to try and pry into other people's personal business, without a very good reason to do so. And ultimately so this was the status quo would remained for the longest while, everyone being affected by the strange person that own way, all the while trying to go about their daily duties, yet unbeknownst to anyone, very soon it would start to change, slowly at first, but the black veil that covered everyone's sins, would soon be slowly pulled away, revealing the sickening aftermath of their direct actions and choices.