"Chochorina. Keid. Please don't run ahead. Subaru isn't as young anymore." Emilia yelled out concerns to her kids as she was walking with Beatrice and Subaru.
"Betty's Contractor isn't a spring chicken anymore, I suppose."
"I'M NOT THAT OLD!"
The Natsuki family had decided to walk through a forest. Chochorina and Keid couldn't keep their excitement contained, so they decided to run ahead. Subaru, Emilia, and Beatrice took their time in the forest, but Subaru was falling beind.
"Come on Dad! Stop being old!" Chochorina yelled from afar.
"Chocho, Dad is trying his best. But come on Dad! I want to get to the river already!" As much as Keid wanted to respect his dad, he agreed with his older sister.
"No respect for fathers these days," Subaru grumbled.
"They're just excited, Subaru," Emilia said gently. "But can you please hurry it up a bit, we've been to the river many times but I reaaaally want to see it with the kids."
Subaru and Emilia have been to the river many times. It was their favorite place to go during dates. Emilia was the one who had found the place when her and Meili would go to the forest and place with some mabeasts.
"Rina crash-landed on me literally yesterday. Give me a break." Subaru rubbed his back as he made his excuse.
"This is true, I suppose." Beatrice nodded.
Emilia tilted her head and said, "But you refused to get healed, remember?"
"This is also true. If Subaru wasn't such a prideful man, surely we would have been at the river by now, in fact."
"Right, Beatrice? It's so strange that he still has pride in the first place." Both Beatrice and Emilia walked ahead of Subaru leaving him to consider what has just been spoken.
"Wait. When did both Emilia-tan and Beako start being so close? I've never seen the two trash-talk me this much."
Subaru stood there reconsidering his life as he realized that everyone else had already reached the river. He started to run ahead but needed to pause multiple times.
"Fuck, I may be getting old." He stopped to rest against a tree, but soon heard a heart-wrenching sound: Chocorina's scream.
Subaru ran as fast as he could to catch up with everyone else. What had happened to Chochorina and Keid? It was definitely Chochorina's scream he just heard. Emilia and Beatrice shouldn't be too far. Could it be mabeasts? No, Emilia had made sure to put a barrier around here since they had initially planned to come here last week. She even had Meili check if any mabeasts were near the area, and there were none. No more questions, he was about to get to the scream he just heard.
"No, please no more, if you do, I'll die!" Subaru could hear Emilia as well, but she was... laughing? What was happening? Once Subaru could finally see what was going on, he saw a bunch of mabeasts licking Emilia.
Before Subaru could question how beasts got inside, right to Emilia and the mabeasts, Subaru saw a laughing, blue-haired girl with emerald eyes.
"Meili."
Meili turned to Subaru and came running towards him for a hug.
"It's been a while, daaad."
"It's been like what, five months since I last saw you?" As much as Subaru was enjoying his time with his adopted daughter, he was angry.
"Aaaaaaow! What was that for!" Meili started to touch her head when Subaru out of nowhere smacked her.
"We don't see you for months and when we call you to check if the river is safe for us, you don't come and visit!" Chochorina and Keid stood there, afraid to catch their father's attention.
"You're seeing me noooow, aren't you?"
"Don't you dare puppy-eye me right now, young lady. Also, why is there a horde of mabeasts here?"
Despite Meili's failed attempt to please her father, Subaru couldn't help but be distracted by the amounts of mabeasts he saw around them. He knew they were safe since Meili was there but didn't know what they were doing here.
"Since I knew you guys were coming here, I decided to bring some animals for Chocho and Keid to plaaay with."
"That makes more sense." Subaru stood and watched as he saw Chochorina and Keid riding a Wolgarm.
"Of all the mabeasts could choose, you chose the one that you sent to attack me and Rem in the forest." Meili could hear the sound of distaste in Subaru's voice.
"Hmmmm. Nothing like a blaaaaasst from the past. Wouldn't you say so, dad?" Meili wore a shit-eating grin.
"I get it, I get it."
Subaru observed Meili, remembering the times when she was still a little girl. She was still his little girl but she's grown up. Meili was a bit taller than Emilia but she still rocked her one braid. She still had similar clothing as she did as a child, one of the ways to still be attached to Elsa.
"Anyway, go and play with Rina and Keid. They missed you a lot."
"Yeah, I missed them a lot, toooo."
Meili ran towards her siblings and chased them with a couple of mabeasts. While Emilia and Beatrice were watching from the sides.
"You look peaceful, I suppose."
"Do I? Maybe I am. Maybe I'm just glad I finally have a reality that doesn't involve me dying."
"Betty is sure that she knows Subaru better than anyone, in fact, but there are some things that I will never understand."
Beatrice looked at Subaru like she was about to have a headache. To be fair, no one will truly understand Subaru. No one will ever know about Return By Death. No one will ever understand his pain. No one will ever understand his guilt. He would have loved to finally express what had been hurting him all this time, but it was best if he didn't.
Emilia wouldn't be able to look at him the same. Beatrice would be broken. Ram and Rem would be devastated. Everyone in the mansion would be shook to their core. His children wouldn't know how to respond to a father that had tasted death before.
Subaru will never tell anyone about the nightmares that haunt him, and no one will ever find out. It's the best for everyone.
"Subaru, are you okay?"
"Huh?" Subaru looked behind him to see a gorgeous angel looking at him. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just glad I was able to have a happy ending with you."
"Me too. I love you, Subaru."
"I love you, too."
Both Subaru and Emilia sat down, watching their children play with the mabeasts as Beatrice joined them.
Thankful for the future that was given to them.
A future that has a possibility of happening.
A future that may never come to pass.
A future that anyone could dream for.
A future that Subaru and Emilia have.
Hi, it's been a while. It's been like what? 3 weeks? I literally wrote this chapter 10 different times, all because I didn't like what was being written. This one was just the better of the bunch I wrote and I decided to keep writing this one specifically. I think this is a good enough chapter to end this fic off with. Could I have written more? Yes. The only reason I decided to end it off here was because school is becoming a pain in the ass again and I also have other ideas to write. I already have another fic planned and it's defiantly going to be better than Future. In my opinion at least. It was fun writing Chochorina and Keid while I did because I don't think they'll be in more fics any time soon. Also Keid is a star name, if you didn't know. Anyway I hope you guy's enjoyed this fic.
