A small note to be added : As perhaps you all may have noticed, I've gradually shortened the chapters. Naturally, I hope doing this makes for a more pleasant read. I never managed to get right the ideal frame of space to finalize a chapter. And as most likely experienced, much information must feel like omitted when reading a Dead Sea scroll like this. So, as a test run, I've shortened the following chapters.
Hopefully this way I don't leave something disregarded from cramming to much.
Of course, should you have a preference in regards to the length, do please mention it. Maybe this way I can fine tune the word-vomit I put up.
Tomorrow I will put the following chapter, for now, maybe this spacing is better.

Speak the Sage's Name (part 1)

She was brought here, a new fragment of visions reveled with a new dream.
Made to witness a time already passed, she knew this was only a memory now.

Priceless gold clinked against ivory embedded wood. Not a drop of blood red wine spilled in the motion.

"Thank you, for joining me once more."

With the sincerest utterance and passing smile, Chisha courteously bowed, his neck gently slanting forwards. An air of genuine manifestation accompanying his every action. Said and done, the only other sound following his heartfelt expression was the silverware cutting in the feast before him.

There was no reaction this individual garnered from her. If anything, maybe only a few passing thoughts of no remarkable importance. Anyway, she didn't care or want to care much of the stranger she reluctantly came to learn played a greater and grater part in Subaru's distant trials.

"…"

At the opposite end of the table, in perfect mirror and contrast, Subaru quietly looked over the General, unmoving in his pose over the dinner table, his chin in hand and eyes piercing the stark-white figure. The food served before him perfectly untouched.

Ah. But even a small glimpse, distorted and unclear of him as she received through these fleeting visions, were somewhat comforting.
Did he sleep well? Did he eat well? Was he alright in general? At least, there was only the satisfaction of catching the sight of him.

The tender flesh of hunted game dripped rosy beads like sweet wine at Chisha's bite. A single, unique, vivid, stain of color on his ghostly visage. Like a grain of sand in a sea of snow.

A silent touch of life lingering down his lips.

"My apologies should the dinner served today be not fit to thine standards. It falls upon me the fault for not probing further upon your culinary likes and dislikes." An equally sterile white napkin gently held in his unearthly pale hand dabbed away the only drop of life on his complexion.

Subaru spared the luxury to only once, in passing, admire the sublime labor dedicated to this far too refined buffet.

It was not poisoned.

It was not a perverse illusion of abundance.

It was not a trick.

There was zero reason it would serve if Chisha wanted him dead now. It was just… a… 'too-good-to-touch delicacy'. One, Subaru personally felt would betray himself for indulging in. Something that would play far too much towards Chisha's enjoyment.

The same distrust Subaru displayed towards this man, Chisha, was something she very much shared and was of the same belief.
It maddened her to great ends, knowing how far and without influence she was.

"You should enjoy. It was prepared for none but you." Chisha's wolf-like yellow gaze stared at Subaru beyond the second bite of rosy, blood cooked, cut of meat. Like a peacock, his eyes, centered statue still, were surrounded by hypnotic fakes around. His neck, sporting the ever-vulgar seals of black and purple, and downwards his coat, in near identical fashion to the animal associated to myths of old.
Like a peacock's tail, eyes of sable and purple iris decorated him like foretelling omens.

"…" Subaru still did not reply.

"You do require nutrition. Thy recovery depends on this little, without mark of doubt." With silky smooth tone and words, the White Spider spoke undeterred.

Subaru's hands, displayed outwardly over the ivory decorated table, grazed against the priceless silverware then closer to the plate at center, feeling the radiating heat of his meal like a passing hot exhale over his skin.

"Thy face this much canst not hide. Little is left to imagination upon news of taking the Blue Lightning in dance over skies." Clink after clink echoed Chisha's motions. Cutting deeper in the stake simmering with steaming dregs of blood.
"And in thy conquering endeavors, it is unwise to seek no rest, Captain. Vollachia was not earned upon one day."

It was a treacherous task, to be tortured so harshly with crumbs of information this way.
She would've cried out to him and grabbed a firm hold, if only possible. But by now, this song and dance of flashing experiences made her used to this unfair treatment. Left only with her titanic regrets, she steeled herself to listen in the best she could.
Maybe, there was a frail chance this particular memory was kinder to her and would quench her worries.

"Your celebration shouldn't be losing the empire…" Within the vast hall, across the opulent luxury, Subaru's simple warning cut his silence. Like a seer, his dispassionate disagreement felt heavy in the previous one-sided conversation with a meaning still unsolved.

"Perfectly correct." The shining silverware, glinting in the ochre rays of sunset, held idly in Chisha's loose grip, balanced to and fro like a boat on waves. Drips of pale rose slid over the precious metal from the childish occupation; playing with food… Almost like a predator with its prey.
"The only way to celebrate, is with those of equal ilk. Among birds of same feathers…" His surreal and natural smile, flooded Subaru with waves of uneasy feelings. A contorting storm of awareness like, fear, peace, dread and anticipation under the general name of mystery swirled inside him.

"Sorry, I'm not sorry for not taking you seriously." Subaru scratched discretely at his forearm. "You mean to tell me, you've got nothing better to do, than just hold up a private banquet between us? Instead of, you know, scheming? Holing up in some corner and start evilly laughing to yourself while planning for the fall of Vollachia, isn't that what you do?"

Easily falling back in his ever faithful method of 'sure-to-work' coping method, Suabru joked like usual. Casually holding a conversation with perhaps one of the most dangerous people to live this day and age by throwing snide remarks. But then again, it helped keep Subaru steady.

"Mh-..." A quiet exhale, perhaps a chuckle whizzed by the Divine General's lips. "Come again?" Was he intrigued?

"Oh, don't play coy now, Chish~ man. I know you must love to hell and back riding that high horse on this house of cards plan you've got cooking. Might as well fess it up." With a sarcastic but melodious tone Subaru cleared his voice. "Here, see, I'm here for you. You can let al~l your weight off your chest... and tell me in complete detail, point and comma what you've been preparing with that whore named Lust, Chisha." Of course, eventually his joking tangent spiraled into something with more... animosity. To say the least.

"Capella? Huh..." The phantom pallid man smirked and huffed a breathless snort. If t was amusement, it absolutely creeped Subaru. "'Captain', you wound me. Such base villainy, is beneath me. Accepting the aid of a vapid dog as you called her, is a stain on my principles."

"Principles? Really, you want to lead me by the nose and make think you even lead charity campaigns behind the curtains with Vincent's money?" Subaru laughed dryly with a stiff expression. "On second thought, if you can, actually fuck up Vincent on the bank account side. Prick completely deserves it."

"How strongly opinionated of thy master, Captain. Not mindful of secrets spilling outside these walls?" With a lazy wave of a finger, Chisha weirdly enough eased into the conversation.

"Oh, ha-ha, let me guess. This is the part I start eating from your hand, both literally and metaphorically?" Raised Subaru a fork after sticking a cut of meat on it. "Think after you get all nice and chatty I'll spill the top-notch-secret on Vincent and his plans, huh?"

"Candidate, is this how little you think of me?" Yet Gold only spoke rhetorically, am uncaring quality stuck to his words. "I was under the belief you were of the utmost admirable character. ...Yet, you leave me wanting."

"Sorry to disappoint then, tends to be a trend though. Not that I mind I share it only with guys like you."

"'Like me'? Do elaborate, please." Arms wide open, the stage was offered.

"You can cut the crap, 4th wall breaker wannabe. Don't think of yourself hot shit just because in your mind you only see, 'o~oh, I'm not like the ot~her henchmen I send like ca~non fod~der towards my dear, lo~vely, Vincy-poo', alright?" Subaru changed like clockwork between this lighthearted and cheery joy of joking to his venomous and threatening nuance.

"Then perhaps, you require more time to learn the virtue of patience, Subaru." Saying his name even felt wrong. It was too easy and natural for this freak to say it. "I know you must feel out of your waters. Alone and guideless in a place so hostile. But I guarantee... you will thank me." With smooth and slick execution, the General confidently advised his only company of this dinner.

"You think I'll... come to 'thank you?'. That I'll be grateful? For you fucking up an entire populace's wellbeing?" It was hard to say for certain, but Subaru's neutral tone didn't seem to indicate a particular sentiment at that moment. Perhaps, it was the suddenness of it all.

"All the worst for the better, Subaru. A true Vollachian lives by these words. The true meaning of the Love only we may receive from the World is something to cherish."

Ah, this again. She hated having to hear that pasty creep speak about those heinous things to Subaru with such admiration. He sounded as if trying to even convince him to share this view.

"Still going on about that?"

"And I shall for as long as thee may require me to mention. But give it time to accept." For another time, Chisha's smile widened. In such a natural demeanor, it was foreboding. As if this man, made himself synonymous with the desire to disconnect with happiness, only now to break that rule.
"Like I said, patience, Subaru. You will come to thank me for it. I do not demand you accept the truth right now. I merely ease you into it."

"Yeah you do..." Subaru's hostile eyes, physically communicating how untrusting he was of Chisha's character flickered the reflection of the 4th Divine General. "You ease me into it like the knife you press between my ribs."

With a disarming huff, Gold reached towards the table. "Only if it must come down to it." Surely he replied.

Grasping his gilded goblet, the White Spider raised it up, in sign to make a toast. A friendly gesture. An honoring method. An announcing tradition.

"To us!" His unnatural smile, one far too pleased with himself, shined within their orange sunset lit hall of abundance.
"To thy changes until now, thou has rebirthed through!" His wolf-yellow eyes, possessed by the namesake spirit of the nation he so coveted shined.
"To the future, only one of us merits to inherit!" Said the spider to the butterfly.

To Chisha's rarely seen flair of spirit, in doubt of even himself to chose this, Subaru did not shy away. The man sporting black, rose his own goblet, replete with ruby-red wine to the man sporting white, across from him.

"…To our health." Gently spoke the back haired mirror to the lively reflection. His mention, much like his host's, a roundabout claim of his own personal aims.

Such a response, enough to make the emperor of today chuckle, earned a second smile.

"Of course. To our health." Toasted a candidate to another.

And just like this, abruptly, her small share of memories faded too. With the toast of goblets, her conscience separated from the rugged vision. It was an unfortunate thing, but she couldn't exactly complain, though she felt like it. Because be it as it was, however little, there were grains of context she steadily earned.
And perhaps soon enough, she could help Subaru with them.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

"Wilhelm! Forget the formation and cut free the ground dragons!"

With a yell announcing his return and a heft of the shoulders to slash clean in two a malformed creature found crawling about in the dark of night, Heinkel used his free arm to secure the whip he'd retrieved around his back.

"Why da fuck d'ja through your own weapon, ya thick-skulled arse?" Outraged at the unreasonable choice of the young knight, Heinkel spoke to no one in particular just to unload some anger.

"—…hn…nnh..-…—"

A shredded silhouette, dripping blood down his back, rested over Heinkel's shoulders. Tugging for assurance the whip made improvisation to fasten the person carried, the knight commander tapped the hand and foot slunk right and left his neck to tell himself again they weren't lost, as tasteless as it seemed.

"Enough slackin', girlie! Move it, move it!" Howling in the night instructions with the same pathos a senior knight would to a squire in training, Heinkel could be seen to jump more than run! As his feet struggled to maintain balance with his fireman carry, the Astrea family head vaulted over remainders of blasted carriages in his direct path.

Behind him, the huffing sounds of exhaustion made for good second-hand signs of the woman behind keeping up. Would that mean he'd cut back on the crude incentives of yells though? Certainly not.

"Hug the brat and start abusing yer legs for once in life, girlie! Move, move, move! We're not strutting though the park! Focus up!" Falling back on old fashioned, unremorseful, instructions beaten into him since young: Heinkel much like humming a melody, replayed his 'golden-age' childhood 'hobbies' to perfection. "Od gave ya legs! Use em to run, not pick daisies with! Want me to drag yer sorry ass too? Make me feel sorry enough first!"

Drop after drop, a splash of red slapped Heinkel in the face each time he jumped, hurled over or dashed under a monstrosity's lunge. The light weight above him, in a show of contradiction, weighed on his conscience the more he felt the quickly cooling blood splash him.

"Claws off, cunt!" The Astrea's pupils dilated, his heart froze over, and his body reactively lurched forward to the best of its mobility, bringing a creature's charge to halt against his knight sword.

The handguard clashed against salt-like growths, protruding like horns from the spindly creature. A set of contorted 'tusks' used offensively sprouted from what must've been the ugly dobber's head.
The frangible 'tusks' hit the metal of the guard! And with a twist of his hip and shove, Heinkel cleared his path, the creature shoved like a ragdoll aside. Looking behind he bellowed again.

"Said ta move it, princess! Want ta pose for em, or live? Run it, short and dumb! Ya already dumb enough as is, want to be dead too?"

With the way ahead free, Rem clung Louis' small frame to her chest and dashed, her legs crying from an old strain with every forceful step! Moving by the rude man's coax at action, the blue demon in a few bounds reached the congregation of their group.

"Father… Subaru!" Reinhard's widened eyes expressed panic, his hand momentarily slacking off his sacred weapon.
Piles upon piles of bludgeoned monstrosities rested all around like barbaric pyres. The sheer number of them would leave anyone's mouth gaping. The slaughter dealt this night by the Saint and Demon was commensurate to their names. If anything, it just went to show, had Heinkel not ordered Reinhard on his post… good Od… he just doubted Wilhelm would've managed to keep the others safe enough.

The hills of monstrous cadavers were so abundant, they began spilling in their sides the limp corpses. It was impossible to misinterpret this, even in the murky night! Those things, were so many it was staggering.

"Heinkel. Let us not dally. What of the dragons?" Wilhelm interjected, all pause or falter shattered at his intense tone, an obvious fury across his mien. A terrible face, grim and threatening, the face of the one and only Demon resurfaced for everyone around to see. His pristine weapon dripped murky and viscous blood.

At minimum, half the slayed scores of abominations belonged to this man's effort.

"Cut free the ones without carriage to pull. The others…" Heinkel surveyed from the corner of his eyes the functioning transport, going past the dragons struggling to escape the half-buried axels they were tied to. "Naturally" he uttered to himself, aware how the object in reference was the one which housed Felt in this travel. Being with her, it was impossible for Reinhard to let it be damaged. "And the ones at the carriage bridle, leave them. We'll split."

"We what?!" Unexpectedly, in terms of the moment's tension, but entirely believable from her character's headstrong quality, Felt raged at the older Astrea's instructions.

"Ye-n-no! Wai-! Princes!" Gaston stuttered.

"Nh-ghk! Fe-Felt!" A short form yelped as the glint of seething gold moved past it.

Pushing through like a dragon in rage, a blonde crown of hair, disheveled in measure to her fury, made itself present, seen even in the hardly illuminated night. The utter loathing her eyes emanated at the sight of Heinkel was something a mage nowadays would wonder over being made palpable.

"How fuckin' insane ya have to be?! Right now!? To now choose-" Her crimson eyes, flooded in shedding rivers of crystal tears looked him over, more precisely, his shoulders. "Right now, when we gotta stay close! How fackin'—!"

"Right, brat! That's the point. You've got a brain, start usin' it!" Heinkel hushed the young girl, cutting off her protest without sparing an ounce of care. "Reinhard, listen up." His son approached, unintending perhaps to serve as a means of attention.
No. From Reinhard's posture, the knight simply reacted. The youth was tossed between listening and taking the bleeding man from atop his shoulders. But what to do about him was clear to him in distinct regret.

It wouldn't matter what he fells or would feel. Reinhard couldn't deal with those wounds, there was nothing at his disposal to prevent their harm. He could only listen, dazed in a stupor of doubt, what his orders would be if he wished to help.

"Reinhard: take yer lady and Louis along with the dumbass quartet in the carriage. Wilhelm, you take the free dragons with me, Subaru and Rem."
Moving to an agitated ground dragon, Heinkel deposited Subaru's unmoving figure over the shaking back of the creature. With fast movements, the royal commander tied once more the whip around Subaru's torso. A sickening crunch, visceral and squelching, resounded. His eyes trembled, and his nose flared, full with the scent of soot and iron. A self-assured thought let him turn away from the improvisation made to clog momentarily Subaru's bleeding.
"Girlie…" Heinkel stared at the blue haired woman close by. Her arms nervously letting go of the child held close, leaving it to be carried off against the better of its flailing by Reinhard along with Felt.

"No! -n-NO! N-o! Reinhard-Reinhard! Ya can't! Ya-can't! No-no-no!" With detectable panic, Felt punched and kicked despite the impossible hold entrapping her along with Louis. The two blonde girls' yells haunted the racket made into the night. "Reinhard, listen to me! Listen, PLEASE!"

"Girlie," Returning to his point, Heinkel rose a finger to gain Rem's attention. "You'll ride with me, no questions asked."

"NO! Rem must heal Suba-"

"You can't heal shit if we don't make a leave first! Can ya heal this? HUH?! NO!" Heinkel roared at Rem's adamant denial.

"Heinkel! Hurry it! That thing returns with others!" Wilhelm uncharacteristically made a haphazard chain of actions. His warning and subsequent lunge to their blind spot, behind the dragon they stood by, in the dark, clashed against a form so distorted and horrendous, Heinkel chose against his nagging mind to leave it and prioritize.

"You, Rem!" Grabbing hold of her shoulders, the knight commander hurried her to mount a panicking dragon. "Shoot anything getting too close to Wilhelm and Subaru! I'll take care of the close ones! …Felix 'll take care of the wounds…" The last part, more a prayer than a statement, came as a hollow continuation left unfinished to hang in the air from his directions.
Hopping over and taking hold of the reins, Heinkel hollered in the night.
"WILHELM, take the lead!"

It was meaningless to give further explanations. The old bastard knew better than anyone already what to do. He was merely keeping at bay whatever nightmare Heinkel couldn't distinguish in the sable medium.

Like the expert veteran he had no right to still be, Wilhelm clashed once more with the abomination gilded by the night's dark! Sparking moats of incandescent iron flew off, like fillings ignited for a show from old fakirs! The second that coalescing mass of disgust was staggered back, Wilhelm dashed back to mount the flailing dragon carrying Subaru atop.

"Reinhard! Leave distance in between, and zero as many as you can!" Yelled Heinkel once booting his dragon to make a run!

"RIDE!" Without menageries, the eldest Astrea wiped his mount and cut off! Dust already spraying the crystalline malformations named creatures behind. The wailing shape he personally confronted not far away as with one spine-chilling bellow, it twisted itself in unnatural motion to give chase.

■■!

■!

■!

"Re-Rem's… Subaru! What happened!?" From behind him, among the clattering particles of mana coalescing to fire off javelins of ice, one after another, Rem questioned with fear the man keeping the ground dragon close to Wilhelm's.

"Bast-Hk!" Hitting his mount with a boot, Heinkel just managed to squeeze by a running abomination set to tackle them! Leaving the piss-poor sorry thing to trip and fall within the dragon's iron soled paws to be made paste!
"The fuckin' carriage got shat on by a hulking moloch, my guess. Ya blind?!"

"What happened to Subaru! Answer me!" Yet Rem was unyielding. Her stern demand for answers juggled with her occupation to eliminate whatever she could detect in the impenetrable black to chase them.
Positioned with her back against Heinkel, keeping herself as secure as she could with a grip on the backward faced saddle, Rem elbowed harshly the man in his side. "Why is he injured?! You were in the same carriage!"

"THE BASTARD USED IT!" Yet in stunning surprise, Heinkel bellowed a bloodcurdling howl! "The thing was spinning! I couldn't move shit! …I-…He got me…" Without clarity dictating his actions anymore, the knight guard reactively moved to lop off the head of a monster getting too close for comfort behind Wilhelm's dragon. ▅▅▅▅▅▅!
"He… He used the… The FUCKIN!" Another gush of repulsive blood sprayed by as his hand swung and chopped! "That fuckin…"

▅▅▅▅▅▅!

Another move, and he stabbed ahead!

▅▅▅▅▅▅!

Something dour burst and fragmented, like coal under a firm squeeze, at his next thrust! The glint of iron in the moonlight reflected viscera and teeth flinging in their run!

"Th-a-th-at thing he does with… that… he-" Yet Heinkel's chocking words died in his throat the more he tried to answer. Even when reaching for the strength to answer, he was quickly spared by another matter. Yet not one of better circumstances.

"FATHER! DUCK!"

At Reinhard's yell. Instinctively following through with the command, a gale of unseen force blew past their heads!

An invisible guillotine raced above them with such force it formed dregs of mist and vapors of condensing water like the tail of a comet in its wake.

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!

A spray of miserable blood fountained in accordance with a hellish howl of agony! A terrible shadow staggered and crumpled in its mad speed like a limp body to be left behind.

"Father, the road ahead forks!" Reinhard once more yelled from atop the speeding carriage, the sheathed sword held tight as a bludgeon raised lateral to him, his eyes focused through the dark on that which could not be seen.

"Good! You can see then… Take point!" Shouting over their mad run, Heinkel directed his four-legged ground dragon aside in tandem with Wilhelm's, making way for the carriage to speed by.

The chasing beasts began to trickle in abundance, either too few left or too slow by this point. But definitely not far behind or unmotivated to continue following.

"The Duchy's main grounds are close, from where to, Sir?" Reinhard maintained his unshaking vision over the road ahead. Whatever blessing or bullshit he pulled that allowed him such a clear sight when the rest couldn't see beyond their toes was a an Odsent.

"Through the vineyards! Zigzag through them and shake off our trail! Don't slow 'til we pass through the domain's walls!"

"Understood." Without any other words said, Reinhard crouched just enough to be within earshot and gently speak to the carriage driver. "Ezzo, please follow the leftmost trail, please."

"Gh-hk… Long as we're safe going through there, don't 'please that and this', just say where to run!" With a tremble and stutter, Felt's mage grit his teeth close in stress and vigorously whipped the reins to direct the ground dragons as instructed. "This stress is… I-I just… can't think right! I can't believe this!"

"The creatures thin in numbers." Vigilantly, Wilhelm, making use of his sword hand, poked at the dark like a man using a torch against lions and tigers. Alternating between jab and slash, the Sword Demon sparked in places light, just enough to catch glimpses, with an utterance of "Goa". A feeble light jutting off along his blade's length to die into the night.
"Numbers, variety, insistence, positions… time and location." The old man's brow wrinkled and accumulated beads of sweat. "The carriage aimed at. …Heinkel… Subaru-dono's wounds! We're-!"

"I know!" Heinkel hollered back at his father, managing to express his terror-struck visage even through the blinding time. "I know… But we've got no choice…" Looking over his shoulder and over Rem's utterly furious glare, Heinkel returned to observe Subaru's bloodied face and unmoving frame.
"'Till Captain got anything to say, we don't have better to choose. We're led here… But we can't spare effort to move away now."

"Dispatching them is still within my abilities… father, please…" Reinhard pleaded from atop the carriage roof, drawing closer to the dragon riders. "If we manage to gather their attention, I will stop them and manage all the time for healing Subaru, Ezzo and Rem may require."

"Only problem you can't…" Heinkel dejectedly moved his focus ahead and by doing so, it meant confronting eye to eye his son. Him crouching on the carriage roof and him from atop his ground dragon, their azure eyes stared at one another.
"It don't matter… Ezzo and Rem can't do fuck-all to this. At best, only close some things, but we don't have time even for that. And the whip's already doing that part…"

"Father, please, Felt demands and I too, to stop and treat Subaru!" Reinhard's voice rose, a sensible fear within, and a demand to listen to his pleads!

"Do not ague now, Reinhard." Sternly retorted from the little distance in front Wilhelm. His heavy tone and cold finality left no room to entertain the idea shared by Felt, Rem and Reinhard.
"The beasts won't flock anywhere else, they won't stop for you. …They're not just dumb animals, unfortunately." Wilhelm's words trailed off with a wondering sense. "More pressingly. Subaru-dono's wounds are too grave for superficial intervention. That time you suggest is better used to reach Felix-dono faster. …Listen to us… Reinhard."

"The least to do is lessen them-" Attempted Reinhard to retort.

"The least we can do is listen to your father." Wilhelm's simple response cut off the hero's denial, leaving him in a turbulent and uncertain shock. "Heinkel understands why and what we must do."

"…" Merely mouthing the word, and looking back with glassy eyes at the man in question, Reinhard waveringly breathed, swelled with fear, while Heinkel merely held tighter the reins and forced his mount to run.

"The wounds should've been mine-…" His throat felt clogged. The implications for it to have happened were many. "But they aren't…" The principle behind this being possible is simple. Only, the weight it carried felt like a tombstone being pressed on Heinkel's conscience. "Even if… for a moment I felt them. They aren't on me."

"…"

"…"

"…"

Rem having caught her breath in a gulp of realization, much like how a kid would hic-up to a scare, grew deathly silent. Her hands trembled and tightened. Her eyes watered at last, as if only now taking the moment to act upon this feeling she held an inkling of knowing deep within.

!

The carriage window suddenly burst open! Its pane of glass, cracking from the force.

And from within, Felt's disheveled crown of golden hair appeared, stained with miniscule drips of red like floating stars around her ruby eyes.

Her silent judgment pierced into Heinkel.

Felt's unspoken rage reached him all the same. No longer mere indignation as met within the past, right now his sentence was one of hate. Her tear-filled eyes, accused him without remorse. The simple fact she did not say it was no deterrent to the message. Whatever it was, impossible for her to say this exact second, was unmistakably at heart more than just "you had one job" or "why didn't you do anything". No. that was just dumb to entertain as true. And more so, it was too light a thought she would've been accused to foster.

Everyone knew to whatever extent they did, Subaru would help, or act in any way to aid them.

It was just that…

At least, between them? Heinkel knew Felt silently accused him of not stopping whatever she damn well knew the back haired knight did.

"Stay inside!" Yet, unflinchingly, the royal commander did not exchange or try to meet her indignation. Whatever sympathy and understanding he felt or shared was quickly quelled. This wasn't the time or place. "And keep the other brat there!"

It was useless to try and say it now, but no one needed glasses to see how the tribal behaving Louis made futile attempts to move past Felt and at the very least look at the person she was found with.

The young girl tried and clawed her way as best she could to move Felt aside. But all her struggle amounted to shit-all. It was long now since she could make use lingering abilities displayed in the past. Louis was no better than a defenseless child. And all her bawling and crying was nothing but a heart wrenching show of worry. The little kid tried… And couldn't even stay close enough to mumble her senseless words as she did to Subaru.

"Father, after the next turn, it's a straight line beyond the domain. Where to from there?" Reinhard, dejected and left sunken in his own pit of guilt, long since moved away from the useless back and forth, having opted to return on his scouting position.

"Wilhelm?" Testing a call to the man in front, Heinkel rose his neck and called on the oldest Astrea. The old knight having maintained a hand at all times near or close enough over Subaru's unmoving shape had merely nodded.

"Miss Felt, I will ask of you accompany me and Subaru-dono when free of danger. With such little time we can't spare formalities. Therefore, to reach Felix-dono in time, we are to skip the entrance forces."

"…mhm…" Dragging one of her small hands across her wet cheeks, Felt merely mumbled a guttural agreement. Her eyes were foggy and wide, like a cat's depthless gaze, her own was just as starstruck. The agitation just experienced was enough to have left her energized for the entire day to come. Sleep was a long-lost idea now.

"Ohh, ueh-mmh!" Louis, having stood close by the royal candidate, muttered in her unintelligible fashion, her wide and vivid blue eyes still trained over Wilhelm's dragon.

…

"I knew… I knew I should've… Fuck…!" Morosely and disapprovingly, Heinkel mumbled in his chest regretful notions and repeated warnings. Warnings he himself observed and made to himself. And warnings given even by his wife and the ever-stoic Carol. Why the fuck were they right?! Why?! It was the only raging thought ravaging inside his mind. "Fuck-fuck-fuck! You fucking liar… you fucking asshole… if…" Breathing in and out, gulping down fears and spit, at least a final thought managed to garner a bitter smile form the royal commander. "If Priscilla hears what you did… she'll have both my neck and yours on a silver platter. You fucking arse…!" Gritting his teeth and scowling hard enough to wrinkle even his nose much like a snarl, Heinkel bit back a curse and motioned with a free hand to grab attention.
"Brat—Felt… Felt, search inside for Subaru's small baggage… There's one I left in that carriage." His eyes turned back and forth, undecidedly, as if really considering the worth in going through with his decision.

"…why?" Felt's small voice and wavering attitude did not sit well with the conflicted man.

"Just… fish through the bag already. …It's for you and fa-Wilhelm. In case guards or whatever bullshit slow us."

It wasn't precisely simple to convince the ex-thief, but Heinkel just spared himself the pain by tuning out the reluctant brat's indignations. The fuck-fest of a journey was drawing to an undesirable close since long ago, and he wasn't up to wasting his barely alcohol-recovered brain on dealing with the distressed girl… the same girl he… let her brother be now… just, tuned it out! Is exactly what he did! He shut off the process!

Somehow, Od-Bitch-Lagna moved his autopilot and by some graces in the from of the World's Grater Will to go through with the brat.

Felt returned hastily to the window with a two-faced garb in hands. Both sides of the short coat were embroidered, and the symbol on its face was their ticket to reach faster the damn healer.

"Heinkel! That is-!"

Wilhelm's throat dried and withered as his soul doubled over on itself the same moment! Like a stab, the sight of it made him recoil and experience a wave of fever pass him like a shot of venom.

Wilhelm's eyes passingly saw only red in fury and orange in bewilderment from a malignant fire lost to records. A face of distant past, forgotten to a dragon's vial bringing, surfaced along his memory before being forcefully banished from attention.

"You would risk it?" Wilhelm's direct question left the commander silent for but a heartbeat. "The Duchy is still unaware of the Empire."

"All the better." With a slow turn of his head, Heinkel regarded Felt and the Vollachian coat of arms she held bewildered in her hands. "If you see yourselves stuck or slowed, just flaunt that like a flag. Let them think whatever – don't matter. Captured, conquerors, emissaries, so long it means they'll shit themselves is time well spent for you to move by and find the pissant cat. Understood?"

His tone left no room to argue.

His decision was final and that was that.

"You've spent much time with Subaru-dono, Heinkel." Wilhelm's short assessment fell on Heinkel's eras like the passing dribble of rain over heated steel. Whatever tone used to nuance his observation was naturally lost on the man.

"How could you tell?" His smile was bitterly ironic.

And yet, with this and that brought up, a sharp mind drew a mortifying conclusion.

…

"You knew…" The coat of arms crunched like wet rope in her grip.

A fury, brewed upon the mood.

Felt's hollow chirp like voice reached everyone with an otherworldly clarity. So gentle to the ear and heavy on the conscience, that it was foreboding.

"Shut the window, brat… We've yet to pass…" Heinkel did not meet her unfocused sight. No, his mien, stuck in a frown, held only the road in view when he replied gruffly. Almost ashamed.

"You knew…" Felt repeated. A sorrowful mantra without any vigor.

A chill traveled down Reinhard's back.
With a glance beneath, met only by Ezzo's frightful expression, the Sword Saint gulped in dry.

Reinhard always had his unspoken suspicions. Or rather, unacknowledged notions.

Reinhard knew; you see; he knew that night back days ago Felt heard. He always knew deep down, Felt eavesdropped on him and Subaru's talk. He knew she did, yes… never though to what extent. And Reinhard did his damn best until this night to keep that info disregarded.

Out of comfort? Or out of denial? He only knew that such a heavy confrontation as back then, was not meant for his lady to face. This much, he was completely certain was not meant for her to know.

In his recent talks with Felt, in their questions or confrontations on the matter, Reinhard always knew, and played everything in any direction but the real one. …He just hoped that what Felt learned was never the full weight of his and Subaru's discussion. It was, a fanciful lie. Or better yet, a sweet illusion that let him sleep.

The disturbing back and forth that time, about life and death, actions and plans, choices and sacrifice, Reinhard held onto hope that Felt always grasped a distorted variant of their warped views.
And of course… he hoped of one other reason…

But now? When her small and shattered voice stated how his father 'knew'? It hit him. Just like Reinhard was aware how Subaru lived a time of terrible danger in Vollachia along Heinkel, he also knew the full truth they held went unspoken. That whatever Subaru did, or even repeated at his home was something planed with his father. That until now, nothing changed, and that Heinkel knowingly backed Subaru in his harrowing resolves.

Reinhard, under the full weight of reality, left short of breath, at last acknowledged the true conclusion.

Subaru, was always this adamant of being right, of even convincing him so thoroughly… because he had always someone's accord. Someone's nudge of courage from the back to keep going. A small voice of agreement in his corner.

Reinhard, in that day of mashed emotions topped by impossible events, was so, so, easy to impress. Like a child told stories. And Subaru coerced him to give right of cause. …And he nodded along.

"…" Reinhard slowly turned his perplexed visage towards the dragon riders beside the carriage.

"You knew… You knew! Th-tha-t! Tha-s… Carol made me wait… Carol said to think it thr… CAROL MADE ME WASTE TIME! YOU STOPPED HER! YOU MaDE HeR! TOLD CAROL-YOU TOLD-YOU TOLD! AFTER I FOUND HER! YOU!"

Like that, Felt broke in wailings!

Her fragile patience and vulnerable cause crashed on her like the plan she drew to help her brother. It was dreadful, like having your wings clipped midflight. It was as a betrayal, knowing she never stood a chance. Since the beginning, everything was setup so no one could do anything. Much less her and her innocent wish. Everything was already accounted for so Subaru went through with Heinkel's scheme.
Felt raged and grabbed at empty air in a mindless attempt to reach Heinkel, barely held back to not fall over the window sill by Louis. …But of course, he was too far for her to reach.

"I asked Carol for help! She listened! She told me! –th-the Wilhe—he'd help… She said… But you made her think this all a joke! LIKE IT WAS A SIMPLE PROBLEM! I waited! I WASTED SO MUCH TIME! BECAUSE YOU WANTED THINGS YOUR WAY! HEINKEL!"

Her lamented accusations, clogged by wide streams of tears, with a throat blocking with mucus, Felt cried at the Astrea family head. Her words, though a furious realization, were summoned alike to curses.

In fact, it would've been better on Heinkel's mind if he were to hear her curse him instead of this.

"Y-you… you knew…! You knew."

"Lady Felt…" Wilhelm's dazed utterance interjected in the one-sided accusation. "Lady Felt, please remain inside… We're yet at danger." Wilhelm inclined his stiff face towards them like a man awaken from a nightmare. "Discuss this later… For later… I must ask."
Licking his cracking lips, the eldest knight brought a palm to support his forehead and blink repeatedly. With heavy inhales, he turned back to guide his dragon.

"…Si-sir Heinkel?" Tentatively calling out, Ezzo guided the carriage dutifully and dared to look upon the source of discord. The mage, completely confused and struck with fear at the implication of Heinkel's choices.

"Keep ahead."

Heinkel commanded simply. Without nuance of tone or notable volume.

"…"

…

…

…

Soon enough, the vineyards came into view.