The rain had been coming down pretty hard yesterday.
But Subaru would have guessed that the rain had eased up by now, hopefully enough for them to go outside without getting drenched.
"Is this what a bookstore is?" Petra presses her face flat against the windowpane almost childishly, there's an almost curious lilt to her voice like she's about to solve the world's greatest puzzle.
Yesterday, he had told her that when she got better he would take her to a super special place with stories about mystical worlds. A bookstore.
"That's it." Subaru watches her reflection in the window. He can still see the confusion across her face like she doesn't quite understand what she's looking at. But she doesn't say anything, just keeps trying to peer into the store as if she would unlock all it's secrets that way.
It's a nice change of pace being here. Or he hopes it's a nice change of pace for both of them. The people pass them by without even sparing them a second glance and it's something he is infinitely grateful for. They were just two kids passing by and enjoying their time in the village, no need for more attention.
"You ready to go in?" He throws it out casually already readying himself for Petra to likely hyperactive carry him through the store. Just as he had expected her whole body lights up at the prospect. The grip on his hand suddenly becomes iron tight and he's being pulled inside. They spend the morning just wandering through the store, with Petra enjoying the feeling of carpet against her feet for the first time.
She likes the smell of books, or at least that's what she tells him as she wanders around with him in tow. There are so many things she's missed in life and his heart aches for her. He's glad that at the very least with him she gets a chance to experience them even if it's not much.
"What do you do with books?" Petra pulls one out from the nearby shelf.
"You read them, they're like little adventures."
"Little adventures?"
"Something like that." He hums, "Do you wanna try?"
"Really?!" He nods and picks up the book she holds and takes her into the children's section where they sit down on a plush carpet because Petra really, really likes the carpet. Petra tucks herself into him, pulling her knees under her chin as she wraps her arms around her legs.
"Yeah." He swallows thickly as he opens up to the first page.
If they end up staying for a couple more hours as Petra fell asleep leaning against him content and nightmare free... Well, that's nobody's business but theirs. Even if they end up waking up late into the evening and are forced to leave the book store.
"Do you think you can teach me to read?"
He remembered how he was forced to learn. Trapped in The Mine needing to be able to read the signs to survive. He wants Petra to learn to read without the fear of failure on her back like him.
"Yeah. I will." Subaru hums his agreement and pulls her a little closer. They're not happy, they're not magically fixed or healed. But it was nice. It was nice not to worry about being tailed for a day, not to worry about getting food or water or a place to sleep. And he's glad that Petra got to be carefree if only for a little while.
What he doesn't notice however is a certain white-haired half-elf on the other side of the plaza.
I made a promise to you; an oath made in your blood and broken by my tears. After all, promises worth keeping are the only ones worth dying for.
Subaru really should have known better to fall asleep.
He's been exhausted for longer- he's pushed through exhaustion for so much longer than this!
"I need you to come with me, quickly we don't have any time-" Subaru kicks out the moment he feels a tight grip on his left shoulder through sheer instinct. He reaches for Petra who had been sleeping next to him as he tamps down his panic. Something metallic clatters to the ground, as he blinks his eyes open blearily and starts staggering to his feet.
It was a woman who had found them, with the ears of an elf. She's slumped against the wall as Subaru's kick must have made her hit her head. Eyes still glazed with sleep and blinking blearily as the lantern the woman had been holding blinds Petra, "Subaru? What-" He's bought them some time at least judging from the unresponsiveness of the woman (he shouldn't be able to do that, he shouldn't have the physical strength for that, is he-).
He goes over to check if she's still breathing. He feels the soft breath on his finger as he turns to Petra.
"We've been found-" The scratchiness of his voice makes him frown, "-let's go!" That seems to snap Petra back into wakefulness- she does that sort of full-body jerk that means the adrenaline must have kicked in.
Both of them break off into a sprint before the woman could wake up.
When they make a turn out of the shack the both of them crash into somebody.
"-we're supposed to grab both of them but I-" Petra gives out a loud cry as they hit the ground unceremoniously. Shit.
There's a single frozen moment when Subaru meets the eyes of his soon to be captors. Two cultists with dark robes standing over them looking at them like prey.
For one blissful second, nobody moves. A single, truly blissful, second before everything starts moving at Mach 12. Subaru can see the very moment recognition flickers across their eyes, widening just a fraction at the pure surprise before his hand starts reaching forward for his neck as fast as possible.
Subaru is faster.
He releases his grip on Petra's arm and kicks out with his leg knocking the hand away before shouting, "Petra go!" She doesn't spare him a second and scrambles backward her dirtied white dress scraping against the forest floor. Dropping his leg back into the ground he presses his palms into the ground and pushes off. He winces slightly at the press of the pebbles but otherwise shoves it into the back of his mind as he scrambles away while one is reeling his arm back muttering a curse under their breath.
He jerks backward his whole body scrambling to get away his mind racing to catalog every detail that could help, because fuck, fuck, fuck,fuck-
"Holy shit!" One of them exclaims and snags the back of Subaru's jacket. The hairs of his arm prickles, his instincts screaming. They're reaching to secure a body part and if they do that his chances of getting away are just about to go from low, to impossible. He tenses his muscles and already starts feeling the burn of the energy he's channeling in his leg before he plants his left foot into the ground and-
-his right leg collides with both of the bodies behind him. Much to his surprise the blow is strong enough to knock both of them to the ground (he shouldn't be able to do that-) the look of sheer surprise across both of their faces is gratifying but he doesn't take the time to enjoy it.
He makes a break for it.
Petra is only a couple of feet ahead so Subaru catches up quickly. With the adrenaline pumping through his veins and the burn of his feet from all the walking they did today he's not sure how long the both of them can keep running for.
How much time did he buy them? Not enough clearly because when he throws his head back to check the two cultists are hot on their trail- and are only closing the gap. Rapidly.
His breath snags in his throat as he takes Petra's arm in his hand and starts running faster. She gives out a yelp but doesn't protest, her face scrunched tightly as she pushes on (even if Subaru remembers her asking for a break because her feet hurt, even if he remembers watching her rub at her own feet when they sat at the park bench that afternoon, she still pushes even though he fucked up-).
If they're going to get out they're going to need a plan.
Of all three assailants, two of them have cultist robes. At the very least, he hopes one of them doesn't have a speed augmentation spell which would be completely disastrous because Subaru is placing all his bets on the fact that his captors need them alive, and intact.
This whole night is a complete mess. As they run into the village, it's, though not overly crowded, still dotted with civilians who were talking with one another, and making the both of them seen, easily tracked by anyone who could be looking for them. The thought makes his throat dry as he pulls the two of them across the village.
If a "villager" had found them then the possibility of more corrupted villagers heading for his location is high. They're going to need to be able to get out of sight. But the gap between them and the cultists isn't getting any bigger, and neither of them has the stamina to run long enough to lose them (or outpace them, but that thought dies in the back of his mind).
Whatever luck the both of them had had during their time out in the village must have run out because just from the corner of his eye he could see something. Something glinting in the street lights that made whatever few villagers around them scream.
Petra is in the motion of falling before she screams. Her messy hair flies out behind her. The reddish strands whipping at her face as her eyes widen in surprise. As if she couldn't believe what she was feeling before it registers. She crashes hard- the only reason why her head hadn't hit the pavement was that his grip on her arm hadn't loosened. And then he panics the whole world darkening around him because right there in the corner of his vision as he tries to get her back on her feet (there's so much fear there, in her eyes, in her body, in the way she holds his arm in a death grip- too terrified to let go- they can't stop-) is a knife; sunk right into her leg.
The world is cruel. It is so, so, bitterly cruel he thinks when he realizes just a moment too late that the second glint of metal that comes from the corner of his vision is another knife. It pierces right through his thigh and it sends both of them to a total stop. The air whistles past his ears, the lights dance in front of his eyes, the sound of Petra's harsh breathing reverberates through his world before it all comes crashing down.
(Careless.)
Maybe in another world, they would have gotten away, or the knife had missed the mark. But this isn't the world they live in.
Petra's chin meets the ground so hard he could hear her teeth crash together as he throws his arm out to try and break his fall (all it does is make the pebbles dig into his skin, and the blood in his mouth all the more prominent). Subaru spits the metallic venom on the ground, his heart beating at a rabbit's pace as he bites down a frustrated scream.
What is he supposed to do? What does the world want from him? What the hell does it want from him?!
"You know I honestly didn't think I would land those." It's spoken so casually, so, fucking casually. As if the man hadn't just ruined their lives, as if he wasn't setting Subaru up to go to a man-made hell, as if he wasn't the reason that the quiet tears on Petra's face are falling to the ground. "So I know these two are important but was it really necessary for us to hurt children?"
(why,why,why,why-)
"They're important enough if they're Petelgeuse's first priority." He's pulled to his feet roughly, the skin of the one who holds him scratches against his wrists (like the leather restraints-). "We need to get moving. Guards should be on the way considering the commotion we've made."
"Yeah, yeah no need to be so demanding." The other one replies, moving to hold both of Petra's wrists in one hand. "We could have just caught up to them you know it's not like they were running very fast-"
"Just go we don't have time for this." He's hauled onto his feet half stumbling and dazed. Panic surging through his veins as he struggles to break free from the tight grip on his wrists. There's no way he can try and attempt to kick his way out, not with the knife that's embedded deeply into his leg it would be impossible to muster enough strength to do anything besides limping.
"Alright you two no funny business, I really don't want to have to hurt you guys again-" Petra's face tightens for a brief moment before she slams her teeth into the arm that's holding onto both of her wrists. She's crying he notes as he watches with wide eyes his brain short-circuiting as he registers the quiet tears slipping down her cheeks. Her throat bobbing up and down like she's swallowing down her own voice (he's failed her). "-fuck! You little shit!" but the captor doesn't let go.
"NO!" Her hoarse voice scratches against her throat as she starts thrashing, her small limbs kicking out as she's physically lifted and thrown across the cultist's shoulder like cargo. Subaru could hear the sound of her fists hitting the man's back.
But he doesn't stop.
It's like every person Subaru has met is deaf. Fucking deaf to everything, to the screams, to the cries of anguish, to the desperation that wrings Petra hollow as she starts sobbing, ignorant of the wretched noises that tear their way past her dry cracked lips.
The cultists carry on. Footfalls as heavy as the bell toll Subaru hears ringing between his ears. The panic doesn't really set in, perhaps it never will (he knew it was bound to happen; he expected it but never really prepared for it).
The world tilts, his breath is tight.
He doesn't want to go back.
(but what is he supposed to do? what can he do? dumb, stupid, useless- someone pushes him to the ground the sound of crackling flames. heat seared through his pale skin bound to leave scars- everything leaves scars.)
The cultist holding Petra tightens his hold on her, Petra- strong, brave, Petra tries, she tries so hard but somewhere deep down she must have realized there's nothing she could do because she simply stops leaving Subaru with nothing but the sound of her tears hitting the ground as assurance she was still alive.
Subaru snarls.
Lashes out with his teeth snapping, and eyes wide. With desperation plowing through his body- fueling it. Adrenaline is bad for combat, it narrows your vision, it leaves you wild and frenzied.
But adrenaline is all he has. Even when his head is yanked backward by a callous hand.
"Don't try anything. I don't think you want to be on the receiving end of my magic. I was only given instructions to return you alive, I don't need you in perfect condition." The grip around his wrists tighten but otherwise, they don't stop moving.
He wants to scream. Scream out everything, the pain, the frustrations, the quiet way Petra cries with her eyes screwed tightly like she can't quite believe what's happening-
-but it dies down before it even makes it past his lips.
Everything about Subaru always dies before it sees the light of day.
Through pure desperation, he tries to kick out again, maybe just maybe it'll be enough to at least stagger him and get him to loosen his grip- But it's not enough (it's never good enough, it's never good enough, he always got caught, he always got caught-). The man must have read through the attack because all he gets for his efforts is a knee to the back of his thigh and pain.
(When Subaru thinks back to this moment later when he's realized he's at the end of his rope, that yeah; maybe there is some kind of higher power.)
"SHIT-!" Everything happens so fast Subaru barely registers the moment the hand that had gripped his wrists had been torn off him, and the fact somebody had knocked the other cultist to the ground and pulled Petra from his grasps.
Both of them snap their heads back to look. Petra is suspended in the air by a man wearing mostly dark clothing, and a ton of make-up hiding a furious glower- but that's all the details Subaru gets the chance to catalog before their apparent savior sets down Petra and is practically half carrying and dragging the both of them away.
His mind has drawn blanks. Frozen. Body stock still even when a pair of sturdy arms wrap around his waist pulling him away. His gaze is locked on the pink-haired maid(?) who is currently carrying Petra, the tears budding at the corner of her eyes as she makes a desperate bid to climb out of the maid's grip and towards him. Even with the knife sunk deep into her leg, and the so obvious fear that permeates around her she's still fighting to get back to him.
"SUBARU!" Her voice cuts through the chaos, and slices through the thick fog of his mind. Villagers are chattering around them, the chorus of human voices calling over the panic, and then Subaru is clawing his way out of someone's grip. "NO! WHERE IS HE!"
He wants to be there for her, even when Subaru's not sure if these people are corrupted or not. Even when he's not sure that either of the adults holding him could be working for Petelgeuse he just wants to be with her. To wipe away those tears, to quell the desperation in her ruined voice and hold onto her tight and never let go because he promised her he wasn't going to disappear-
"Secure the children!" It's the person who is holding him that calls out. Subaru jerks up pausing struggling to get a look at his captor's face. It's another maid, hair a light blue with eyes that match. They lock eyes with him, "Subaru we need you to cooperate with us." It's more of a demand than anything but it gets him to stop and lets the maid carry him off. "Yes- I have him Roswaal-sama, I'm currently moving him to the transport vehicle, we have the girl too. We need to tend to them immediately, both are injured."
"Give him to me, I can handle their injuries, I suppose." He's passed off again to another set of hands before he's seated on ground.
"Where's Petra-" The girl with twin drills frowns as their hand trails over the handle of the knife before muttering something under her breath.
"We have the second one injured too, going into shock needs immediate treatment-" It's Petra her face set in tight lines. Greasy reddish-brown hair tangled in a knotted mess, face flushed red from exertion and blood staining her already dirtied dress as she weakly claws at the person holding her. Wait, she's the person that found them in the shack-
"Emilia, I need you to take care of the other one, I can take care of this one- somebody get me a shock blanket!" The twin drill girl starts barking out orders like a trained professional.
"No- give her to me." Subaru ignores the way his voice scratches against his throat as he reaches forward not even bothering to wait for a response as he wraps his worn fingers around Petra's hand. Even in the darkness of the night, and the chaos of the fight outside he's relieved. He doesn't want to hope that maybe everything is over.
That maybe they really are in the right hands, and that figure out there fighting for their lives is a hero, and these people they're with are on the right side. It's too good to be true Subaru knows that much, but for now, it's okay.
"We're going to be okay." He stutters out weakly pulling her into a tight hug and ignoring the two girls who were poking and prodding at them. Petra starts crying again but it's not the quiet crying she makes where she tries to stifle all her noises out of fear. It's the one that makes him want to cry as she does full-on sobs, her shoulders shaking up and down as her small fingers clutch onto the front of his jacket. Holding onto him with that same vice lock grip that tells him everything he needs to know. "I'm not going anywhere- I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I promised you, I promised you- I'm not going anywhere-" Breathing hurts and his words keep getting cut off by his rapid breathing as he just holds on tighter hoping that it conveys everything he wants to say without having to speak it through broken syllables.
Strong, brave Petra who had a knife in her leg because Subaru wasn't good enough to keep her safe is still holding onto him like she's forgiven him like she never blamed him for any of this. Petra whose hair is getting in his nose, whose tears he can feel make a wet stain through the front of his shirt.
"You're okay- you're okay-" She hiccups in between uncontrollable sobs, her voice already collapsing under the weight of all her emotions.
He promised her after all that he wasn't going to leave her, that he was going to teach her to read one day.
He had always been terrified of breaking those promises the moment he made them but it was something. Something to keep him going, to keep him awake at night long enough to keep watch, something to keep his mind busy and away from all the dark memories lurking behind his eyelids (they were things to make the future look better than it did).
But he supposes he doesn't need to be scared about breaking them anymore at least.
Something black blurs across the field that's shortly followed by panicked screaming and suddenly everyone scatters as the blur hits the ground and a bright blue illuminates the whole area. Suddenly a scorching heat ignites the air around Subaru and it nips at his skin like a flame. The white-haired girl (Subaru would thank later when he was at the end of his rope) reacts fast and pulls the two of them apart and scrambles to carry her away.
Their eyes were as wide as saucers. Their fear is as obvious as possible but takes Subaru a second too late to realize what was happening. He moves too slow (he's always too slow).
The world is silent as he feels a scream tear out of his mouth, his whole right arm lit aflame by a burning hand yanking him back they're reaching for Petra too- Subaru throws a weak kick out with his leg and manages to stagger the cultist. Their voices fly over his head as his whole body slumps in exhaustion.
(Maybe this time around his punishment would be death.)
"FORGET THE OTHER ONE WE NEED TO GO BEFORE THEY BRING IN MORE GUARDS THAN THEY ALREADY HAVE-!" He's being pulled back, eyes wide in horror as he watches Petra's mouth stuck in a scream he never got to hear. The quiet plip plop of her continued tears lost in the cacophony of noise around them lost in the crackling of vivid blue flames that eats away at his arm. The heat disappears in that all too familiar feeling of the wind as the cultists begin rushing into the forest.
And this time when she cries it's the one that wrenches out his heart and splatters it across the ground as he shuts his eyes in quiet resignation (it was bound to happen).
Strong, brave Petra who had forgiven him for letting her down, for letting her get hurt, who had held him like he had done no wrong (he hopes she has that same strength of heart if they ever meet again to forgive him), whose face is twisted in such pure unadulterated agony; eyes almost shut close, eyebrows scrunched downward, mouth wide open.
(You can't be afraid of breaking promises if you've already broken them.)
I made a promise to you; an oath made in your blood and broken by my tears. After all, promises worth keeping are the only ones worth dying for.
When there's screaming in her ears and bright blue flames she panics.
A woman is holding her and keeping her away from Subaru. Preventing her from reaching out with her fingers. The woman is restraining her, pulling her away from Subaru who's trapped with the man who smells like smoke and spits fire as blue as ice.
Everything spills out coming from her mouth like an endless ocean as she screams out all her frustration and hatred for the world. This world that's left scars running deeper than the darkest abyss, and pain that never seems to fade. This world gave her Subaru and is now taking him away.
The inky black pool of the forest opens up behind him as cultists drag Subaru away from her. All Petra can do is watch the lights reflect off the thousands of scars on his arms and bounce off his thin cheeks. Subaru's whole body slumps his limbs going slack like all the fight has been burned out of him. It makes her heart fall between her feet. Everything that Subaru has given her; the sunsets, the sunrises, the grass tickling her feet, the blue sky- all come spilling out over the seams of her eyes. Clawing their way past her tongue and out into the world as a vicious scream that makes her lungs as hollow as her heart.
Subaru's eyes are shut closed like he's tired. Just tired enough to fall asleep right then and there but Petra doesn't want him to. She wants him to open his eyes and look at her and reach forward. But he doesn't. He remains limp, the exhaustion that's become so obvious now as he's pulled away and swallowed by the inky black nothingness. When she finally breaks free from the grip around her and scrambles into the forest he's already gone. But she doesn't dare leave even when the adults are telling her that she needs to go, that she needs to be taken care of, she doesn't leave.
Her tongue is caught between her teeth, her cheeks burned hot with tears, her knees burned from where she's scraped them, and the pebbles under her skin bleed but she still refuses to leave. Even when they have to haul her off from the ground and take her to a man who says she's hurt; she still refuses and tries to fight her way back. She doesn't want to leave! She doesn't want Subaru to wake up and find she's not there!
Subaru promised her he would come back.
So she'll do what she's always done when he leaves.
She'll wait- counting the seconds it takes for him to leave, and the minutes it takes for him to come back (even if the minutes turn into days). Her fingers splayed forward as she tries to reach out for him like the stars she did every night.
He always comes back. Even if he's always shaking like a leaf when he does, and his eyes are staring right past her- he comes back. He's going to come back, and Petra will be right there waiting for him again just like she did in the shack.
(And somewhere in the back of her mind there's a voice that says "Father was right, she was cursed." and Subaru isn't there to tell her not to believe it.)
I'm sorry