Dessert was Horrible

Thus begins the Arc3/4 interludes. Enjoy!

Meiss held his forearm gingerly as he sat, watching over the road. He pressed half of his mantle to the gash in his inner forearm, wincing at the pressure. Rem had puddled her remaining mana to heal the vein, but could do no more. So Meiss was forced to go about the bleeding oldschool. The other half of his mantle was tied around his leg. Overall he was experiencing a dull pain from the electricity burns.

He tried not to, but every so often his eyes strayed to the mangled body of Ley. Rem had summoned her Oni horn and, together with the still-dripping Meiss, healed Ley enough for him to gain consciousness. The two had intended to imprison him and interrogate him for information on the Cult, but he immediately attacked them. Gluttony was so weak that he tripped over his feet and fell back to the ground. There was nothing they could do to resuscitate him.

Ley Batenkaitos, Archbishop of Gluttony, had been utterly defeated and was without doubt, dead.

Meiss tore his eyes away. He grimaced, the Archbishop was insane, psychotic, and a ruthless murderer. Why did killing Ley make Meiss feel so bad? More so, these thoughts meant that his last words to the Archbishop were false. He didn't want them to be, Ley deserved every bit of what he got

Meiss forced those thoughts from his mind. He wasn't going to get all sympathetic for an Archbishop. He looked to his other side, at Rem and Crusch. Rem was sitting with her knees pulled up to her face, Crusch laying next to her. Meiss had decided to give her space, and keep a watchful, but not prying, eye on her. He had only known her for two days, he didn't know if she would do anything rash because of this news. He also didn't know if she would like space or a hug.

The woman was still exhausted, but she never slept or nodded off. Meiss scrunched his brows in worry, shifting his leg to be more comfortable. He once again winced as the drying blood on his wound cracked, letting fresh blood through. It was probably a bad thing to be bleeding so much in such a short span of time.

He must have made a noise, because Rem pulled her head up to look at him. Her eyes were red and puffy, just barely visible in the shadows of her bangs. Meiss felt his throat close up. Was there anything he could say? He was blunt, and found it hard to comfort people. He could see when someone was hurting, yet lacked the knowledge to make them stop hurting.

Meiss pulled the lump of rheniite from his pocket. He still had yet to deduce whether Rhenium or Sulfur was the culprit for the anti-Authority property. Perhaps the material itself was anti-Authority and not its parts. Honestly, it was weird. Rheniite was an extremely rare volcanic material, so what was it doing in the middle of a plains? It was as if the red-black rock was conveniently placed there for him to discover.

On the carriage ride to the Hakugei confrontation, Meiss had learned from the dead-end conversations that Rem and Subaru were servants to someone named Roswaal L. Mathers. This "Roswaal" character was something akin to a nobleman. Rem had said that he was a master of magic. Maybe he could help, assuming this world knew of at least some of the elements. If not then it may be a bit bumpier a road.

Meiss looked back over to Rem, returning the rock to his pocket for later study. She looked so small and frail. It honestly made him choke up at the thought of Subaru not remembering her. What a cruel twist of fate's thread. Meiss looked to the sky, silently cursing the loom for what it had done. Regardless of his ineptitude, he should at least try.

Picking himself up awkwardly. He limped over to Rem and sat down almost a meter away. He let go of the makeshift bandage on his forearm and hesitated with his hand in the air. What should he do? Should he pat her shoulder or something, or just talk? Meiss knitted his brows, hesitating a moment too long.

Rem picked her head up ever so slightly. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes. Meiss reached out, placing his hand on her shoulder. He waited for her to push or pull away, or to tense up. She did nothing.

"I'm here for ya. If you want like a hug or something, or for me to leave you alone, then I'm happy to comply."

Rem sniffled. She made a cracking noise with her voice, like how one would sound if they were debating on talking or haven't talked in a while. She buried her head deeper in her knees before speaking in a low, shaky voice.

"This is..."

"This is fine."

Meiss felt tears of his own starting to well up as Rem continued to cry silently.

Subaru anxiously bobbed his leg as he looked out over the road. They had passed the Flugal Tree a few minutes before, oh how he hoped they were ok.

Subaru had checked with both Emilia and Ferris on whether or not they remembered either Rem or Meiss. Emilia didn't remember Rem, and she hadn't met Meiss. Ferris remembered Meiss, but didn't remember Rem, just like Emilia. Ferris seemed to have a headache when he thought about after the Hakugei battle, saying that it made no sense for Meiss and Subaru to hug and loudly declare their love for each other. Not to mention the fact that Meiss was too injured at the time to do such a thing anyways.

The two watched him worriedly as he urged Otto to go faster.

Slowly, evidence of a battle appeared on the horizon. Pieces of carriage and soldiers that lay dead or forever unconscious. Subaru had flashbacks of his first encounter with Petelgeuse and Meiss, and how the mansion was a bloodbath. Now that he thought about it, where had the all-powerful wizard Roswaal been this entire time? That bastard never seemed to be there when it counted. Ever.

Subaru gritted his teeth as the carriage came to a halt next to the head of the Hakugei, the destruction not letting them advance. He jumped off the carriage, Emilia and Ferris following suit. Otto remained with the carriage, a horror-struck face plastered on him.

Ferris immediately went to check the bodies. He exclaimed loudly when some of them were comatose and not dead. Subaru scanned the area, inching foreword. Emilia looked at the devastation with wide eyes, a hand to her mouth.

Eventually, Ferris joined them and powered on ahead. There were too many comatose to tend to and everyone that wasn't in a coma was dead. The three left the carriage behind and pressed foreword. Subaru and Ferris barely looked to their sides, Emilia lagged a small bit behind as she took everything in.

Subaru slowed when he saw a small boy in the road. His long hair was dirty and tangled, and he was covered in rags. When he came up closer, he was horrified to see the dead body covered in holes. Ferris came up behind him, widening his eyes when Subaru turned the body over with a broken piece of carriage.

"Nyo way... Is that..."

"Gluttony."

Subaru and Ferris snapped their head up and to the side. Appearing from behind a propped up piece of canvas was a wounded and shirtless Meiss. His blue eyes had lost some luster. His hair was no longer covering his face, instead slicked over the top of his head. One of his legs and his left forearm ware wrapped in the bloody remains of his mantle. Intricate patterns of lightning trees crisis-crossed his body.

"What happened?"

Meiss started to limp foreword, past Ferris and to the body of Gluttony. He looked at it with distaste.

"The archbishop of Greed, Regulus Corneas, and this guy-"

Meiss grunted, before nudging the body of Gluttony with his foot.

"-the Archbishop of Gluttony, Ley Batenkaitos, attacked the line of carriages. The front end was spared, probably went back to the capital. Also, as you can see, Gluttony is dead. Courtesy of your resident Melancholy."

Something had happened to Meiss, Subaru realized. He no longer had any restraints about announcing his Authority. He wondered how much trouble that would get them into. Meiss gestured to an area perpendicular to the road.

"Regulus fled in that direction when I threatened him with a rock. Overall they are extremely dangerous, or were, in the case of Ley."

Subaru looked in shock. Two more Archbishops on top of Petelgeuse. Evidently Ferris was thinking the same thing.

"There were two more Archbishops of Sin?"

Meiss looked over, surprised.

"There was a third?"

"Yeah, the Archbishop of Sloth was lurking around in the woods near the Mathers domain. Subaru came up with an excellent plan to get rid of him and ensure the safety of the townsfolk in Arlam Village."

Emilia was the one to speak this time. She stepped up and exchanged greetings with Meiss.

"My name is Emilia, candidate for the royal election. Although I wish it were under better circumstances, nice to meet you. You seem acquainted with Subaru and Felix, I see."

Meiss unknitted his brows, and tried to smile at Emilia.

"My name is Meiss Rhen, I've heard a lot about you from Subaru and... Another friend of his."

Subaru widened his eyes, "another friend?" Did he somehow mean Rem? He was just about to speak up when Ferris moved closer to heal Meiss. He held up his uninjured arm to stop him, instead pointing to the propped up piece of canvas.

"Check both of them first."

The group moved towards the canvas. Meiss stopped Subaru as he approached. Holding him out by the shoulder.

"Subaru, there is something I have to tell you..."

"Where's Rem?"

Meiss drew in a breath, his eyes widening. He heard Ferris yell, no doubt he discovered Crusch missing an arm.

"You... remember her?"

"You remember her?"

Meiss brought his hand to his chin, pondering.

"Then that means... Nothing would have happened to me if I went with you. You sent me back with Rem because you knew something would happen with her."

Subaru nodded solemnly.

"That doesn't explain- no no, none of that matters right now."

Meiss took him by the shoulders and pushed him towards the canvas. He used a little more force than was necessary.

"Go! Go see her. She's a mess, worrying about how neither you nor her sister will remember you."

Subaru hurriedly peeked behind the curtain, startling himself with the image of Ferris reattaching Crusch's arm. Huddled against the canvas, Rem was watching silently. When she saw Subaru, she burst out into tears and turned away.

"Rem!"

Rem's shoulders stiffened. She slowly turned around to see Subaru with his worried look fixed on her.

"Subaru-kun!"

The small woman practically flew into Subaru's arms, leaking tears as she went. Emilia jumped when Subaru fell down next to her with Rem in his arms. Was it just Meiss or did she look kind of envious? The emotion lasted less than an instant as she watched the two embrace.

While Rem was busy trying to drown Subaru in her tears, Meiss approached Ferris and Crusch. Ferris was so absorbed in his work he didn't notice Meiss until he called the cat's name. Ferris immediately turned and slapped Meiss away, tears in his eyes.

"How could you let this happen to Crusch-sama!"

The healer weakly pummeled his fists against Meiss. His ribs were still sore from Gluttony, so it hurt more than it should have. Meiss let Ferris pummel him until he was satisfied. Ferris brought both his fists to Meiss' chest, hard, before he sunk to his knees. Meiss drew in a shaky breath.

"Ferris, I'm sorry. I'm so~ sorry. I wasn't smart enough to save her. I wasn't fast enough to save her."

Meiss dropped to his knees, he placed both his hands on cat boy's shoulders.

"I was too mad to realize my mistakes, and because of that Gluttony took her memories. You have every right to blame me, or hate me. I won't stop you."

Ferris was still crying, he sniffled before raising his eyes at Meiss. Tears streaked across his red face. He wiped them away with his Knights uniform.

"Show me where you need healed."

Man, dialogue-only chapters are more fun to write than I remember.