Traversing a dirt track across an empty plain was a covered wagon drawn by a single ground dragon. At its reins sat a grey-haired merchant. This merchants name was Otto, the Minister of Internal Affairs for the Emilia camp. He was currently returning to the mansion that the camp was staying at from a personal mission he had set off on with his two brothers the day before. Natsuki Subaru and Garfiel Tinzel weren't exactly his brothers but the trio had grown incredibly close since the events of Sanctuary. Even though nobody in the camp knew what business Otto needed to settle other than that it was personal and not related to the royal selection, the two still eagerly wanted to help. The rest of the Emilia camp hadn't given a single argument but rather encouraged the 3 as it would give Subaru and Garfiel an opportunity to learn more about the world outside the few places they both knew.

But now as Otto sat at the reins the only thing, he could think about was how much he regretted bringing the two troublemakers with him.

"God I feel like absolute shit. It was just gonna be a nice calm experience to recover from the mess of Sanctuary and Priestella. Why do those two always bring so much trouble, gosh my head hurts so mu…"

Just than Otto's internal monolog was broken by the sudden urge to vomit. This was in fact not the first time that this had happened since they had left earlier. Otto defiantly wasn't in a condition to be driving the ground dragon wagon as he was clearly somewhere between heavily intoxicated and the beginning of a hangover. His face was extremely pale and when combined with how glassy and bloodshot his eyes were, not to mention the fact that he'd been vomiting for the past few hours one could only imagine the toxic combo he'd poisoned his body with the night before.

"Oi Otto, watch where ya aiming that thing. All yer craps getting sucked in back here!" was belted out from within the wagon angrily.

The owner of the voice slowly made themselves known. Garfiel climbed out from within the wagon to sit beside Otto, but with an unusually slow and careful gait. Garfiel wasn't suffering anywhere near as much as Otto was and this could be attributed to one of two things. Garfiel does posses an extraordinary vitality and constitution which could have been helping him fight off all the side effects of his previous night. The other and perhaps more likely reason is his adoption of an old alcoholic's trick, you can't get a hangover if you never stop drinking.

And so Garfiel had come to sit beside the puking Otto out front. The previous anger he held completely gone as he alternated between slapping Otto on the back while laughing as if Otto's state was the funniest thing in existence and drinking some white liquid out of a leather skin.

It's obvious from how Garfiel's behaviour is a lot happier and more jovial than normal that he is certainly continuing the good times from the previous night. In fact, right now Garfiel was probably the happiest he's ever been. As the world spun around and blurred like soup to him a great idea came into his head. It was this idea that was going to be how he repaid his captain for freeing him from his self-imposed isolation in sanctuary. And with this thought he sat up beaming a smile to the world he could barely see.

At this expression that frankly made Otto wretch a bit he could only weakly look over and muttered a few words.

"Garfiel-san you should really stop drinking. And even than how could you be so happy, I feel like I'm gonna die."

"My amazin' self gotta'n idea to repay th'cap'n for helpin' myself in Sanctuary, 'nd my best pal her' gonna help." As he wrapped his arm around Otto and pulled him right to his side.

"Hnnnnnnng… Why do I have to help with your scheme to help Natsuki-san?! Ahhhhhh, I'll help, I'll help, just don't crush me okay ?!" Otto yelped as he was slowly being crushed by Garfiels arm that had grown suspiciously larger and gotten suspiciously hairier.

"How are we even going to help Natsuki-san if he's still sleeping like a corpse in the back?!"

"Don't worry, my amazin' self already has 'verything worked out, just listen ta this."

And with that Garfiel started explaining his plan as they continued to ride with the sun getting lower and in the sky.

Petra like the rest of the Emilia camp was starting to get worried, they had expected the trio of Subaru, Otto, and Garfiel to return by midday but the sun was starting to touch the horizon and they still had not returned. She had been waiting by the front of the mansion since midday so that she could greet them on their return, and she had continued to wait no matter how tired she had gotten from simply standing there. Over the course of the hours that she had stood there both Emilia and Frederica separately had come by to gently coerce to abandon this duty. Although they were both concerned with how worried the little maid was getting over Subaru's extreme lateness, they both tried and reacted differently to Petra's refusal to leave her post.

"Petra-chan, you know how much of a dunderhead Subaru can be. I know he'd feel reaaaallly bad if you were all worn out from waiting for him all day, so lets come inside and find something to take you're mind off him for a bit okay?" said Emilia as she smiled and crouched so she could be at eye level with the shorter Petra.

"With all due respect Emilia-sama I will continue to remain here for Subaru-sama unless you require my assistance within the mansion." Said Petra with a slight bow.

"There's nothing I need you're help with right now Petra-chan. I'm sure Subaru will be ecstatic to arrive from his long journey and find you waiting for him!" but as she said this she felt just a tinge of jealousy, but she didn't know why.

"Petra-san I respect you're dedication to you're task, but I think you've shown more devotion to your duty than could be expected from any member of the Mathers staff, so it's okay to wait for them from inside the mansion."

"I am okay Frederica-nee-sama, I've already been waiting for awhile, but I don't want to give up now!"

And with that Frederica left after giving a small smile. She was incredibly impressed at how devoted Petra was to her job, all the initial doubts that she had for hiring someone so young were completely gone now.

Now just as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon Petra's face lit up as she saw a familiar ground dragon carriage role down the small road that led into the mansion. Although they were still too far away to make out details, she could tell that it was Otto at the reins, causing her to break out into a smile knowing that Subaru was finally back.

However, her smile soon twisted into a slight gasp as the wagon came to a stop. Petra was able to see how pale and clammy Otto's face was, the sweat running down, and how glassy and red his eyes were. Otto's appearance both worried her and slightly unnerved her, if the journey had done this to him what had it done to the other two?

"Otto-sama are you alright?!" Petra gasped as she hurriedly rushed to the side of the carriage to help him down.

"I'm alright Pe…" as Otto was about to finish his sentence he collapsed to the ground right after getting off the carriage and threw up for the umpteenth time that day.

As Otto continued to puke Petra really started to freak out.

"Ahhh, you really don't seem alright, let me help you inside so you can rest!"

But as Petra was leaning down supporting the severely ill Otto, she was cut off by a very drunk Garfiel who had just climbed down from the back of the wagon.

"Oi Pipsquek! Grab a shovel for th'Captain." Slurred Garfiel as he held a body shaped object wrapped in a black blanket and thick rope.

"Why does Subaru-sama require a shovel?" voiced Petra as she turned her head left and right, looking for Subaru.

"Th'Captain bit th'dust, got shanked in a back-alley brawl. He went down 'winging thou, 'nd we got'm good right back." As Garfiel said this he patted the wrapped body that he held, aswell he put on a slight air of sadness as he reminisced on what must have been an amazing battle the night before.

As Petra stood shocked with her eyes growing wide and tears starting to fill them, Otto cut in after slightly recovering from his most recent bought of vomiting.

"We want to prepare a grave for Natsuki-san so it'll be ready for a funeral ceremony once everyone has been given the news." And it was with this blow that Petra finally broke, falling to her knees and grabbing a handful of Otto's clothes and starting to bawl her eyes out.

As this occurred the front door to the mansion was blown open and out emerged a group comprising Emilia, Ram, and Beatrice.

The group stood dumbfounded when they saw Petra on the ground in tears with Otto crouched over a pile of vomit, and Garfiel holding what looks like a body on his shoulders with a drinking skin strapped to his belt.

The first one to break the silence was Ram, she was obviously annoyed at how late the three stooges were and wanted answers. She didn't have a very high expectation of their abilities but being late by the margin that they were definitely was a new low for them.

"Garf what idiocy are you, Otto, and Barusu pulling here. Barusu better not be hiding from Ram. Pathetic."

This degrading mention of Subaru took the Petra that had already gone over the edge and threw her right into the ground, she just couldn't handle that the guy she admired and held affections for was gone.

"HE'S DEAD RAM-NEE-SAMA, HE'S DEAD, SUBARU IS GONE…" She wailed, causing Ram to step back step back and freeze with her mouth slightly agape in shock.

Upon hearing this Emilia and Beatrice had very different reactions. Beatrice could still feel Subaru through the contract they shared. She could tell that he was still alive, yet she saw what seemed like a lifeless body bound on Garfiels shoulder. This discrepancy caused her to freeze up in uncertainty, her senses as a spirit told her that Subaru was alright, yet her eyes and ears told her he was dead. Because of this she could do nothing but stare as Emilia reached a conclusion and did not stay still.

Like Ram, Emilia been disappointed in the trio because of how late they were. However, in her eyes they were just being a bunch of irresponsible kids who can be expected to mess things up every now and than. However, the gravity of the apparent situation went way beyond the normal screwup for a group of kids.

All Emilia could manage to do was to raise an arm as if to try and touch the wrapped body as she slowly started to walk forward while meekly getting out a "Su…baru…."

Now the incredibly hammered Garfiel who isn't known for his personal skills at the best of times saw in his eyes the perfect moment to execute the climax of his amazing plan, the goal of which is known only to him and Otto.

Garfiel took the wrapped body from his shoulder and while holding it up as if presenting it, turned towards Emilia and spoke in the most formal and solemn voice he could muster.

"Emilia-sama, I present the remains of yer knight, Natsuki Subaru. He died an amazin' death while fight'n in th'back alleys, Otto and I are sorry we couldn't save him."

And with that Garfiel bowed his head, Otto taking the hint and bowing as well but he tried and failed to keep his hair from touching the pool of vomit right below. He deeply regretted not turning a bit before bowing as he now had vomit coloured highlights.

Emilia definetly didn't take losing her one and only knight well. After Puck, Subaru was the closest person to her and now that he was gone too she was having trouble handling all the feelings that were swarming around inside her. She had felt similar when Pucks crystal had shattered but she had grown a bit as a person since than, she saw the little Petra struggling in front of her and so she wanted to hold on just a bit for her. However, her emotions did overwhelm her in the end, she slowly fell to her knee's as the tears that had been building up finally streamed down from her amethyst eyes.

"Liar, Subaru you liar. After all you said and did in Sanctuary…."

Now Garfiel knew it was time for the coup de grace (a term he got from his big bro) of his plan. He would walk forward and place Subaru before Emilia, and when she realized that he was alive she would hug him and be really happy and excited. Then later he'd reveal to Subaru how he orchestrated this master plan to give him that moment with Emilia, leading to his big bro being really proud and grateful to him. Garfiel could just imagine how he could pull out his own pose in that moment of victory and look just as cool as Subaru did when he victory posed.

However this coup de grace fell apart incredibly quickly in its earliest stage. As Garfiel staggered forward he immediately tripped, and so instead of gently placing the body before Emilia, it was launched high into the air. It came down with a soft thud, rolled over twice and than stopped. It lay before Emilia with one bare arm having escaped from the wrappings, laying face up slightly pale and completely devoid of movement.

Emilia froze a bit before slowly and gingerly lifting up the blanket that covered the body to reveal Subaru's face. The face looked incredibly calm but devoid of movement. There was no movement to indicate breathing and the face was incredibly pale, except for dried blood that caked the back of his head.

When she saw this she first froze and recoiled a bit in panic before reaching down to touch his supposedly cold face when she noticed something. She realized that Subaru was in fact breathing, it was incredibly weak, but it was there. Once she realized this Emilia was absolutely ecstatic, she grabbed him from under his shoulders and pulled him into a hug as the black blanket fell off. And that was when everybody noticed that Subaru wasn't wearing any clothes….

Feeling Subaru's bare skin Emilia turned bright, tomato red. She than screamed "EEEEEEK, SUBARU WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES?!" before dropping his upper body in shock, causing him to fall and have his head bounce of the ground with a loud thunk as she crawled backwards to separate herself from the completely naked Subaru.

"You should be ashamed of that petty thing Barusu. Pathetic" uttered Ram as she flung the blanket back on to cover the still unconscious Subaru's lower half.

"YOU'RE ALL HOPELESS I SUPPOSE!" could be heard as a certain blond loli rushed past all present to start casting healing magic to the back of Subaru's head.

It was than that the rest of them noticed that a dark red pool was slowly spreading from under Subaru's head, being dropped by a certain half-elf out of shame and surprise had led to his head hitting the ground hard enough to reopen the wound that had originally caked him in dry blood.

Emilia had been going through colour changes like a chameleon on crack. She's started out her normal colour before turning chalk white at the site of a supposedly dead Subaru, to red like a tomato when she discovered that said Subaru was buck naked, before returning to chalk white when she thought that she'd accidently killed the Subaru-who-should-have-been-dead-but-actually-wasn't via blunt for head trauma.

"Subaru is fine, in fact. The cut in his head is not deep. Subaru is just sleeping due to some stuff he ate. He should wake up in a few hours, I suppose." And with that Beatrice managed to singlehandedly end Emilia's chameleon cosplay as her statement cut the tension outside the mansion in half.

While Petra and Emilia let out a sigh of relief that Subaru was in alive and going to live, Ram had a different look on her face. Her face contorted into some combination of disgust and anger; the one eye visible through her hair was burning a hole right through Garfiel.

During the whole extravaganza that occurred right in front of him Garfiel had simply stood up and just continued to drink from his drinking skin while leaned up against the wagon as if everything were normal.

"Garf, explain this."

"It'as justa plan to help th'Captain. Otto'nd my amazin' self wanted to help th'Captain to repay 'im for Sanctuary. He was just lying there so 'e took 're chance."

"HEY YOU THREATENED TO CRUSH ME IF I DIDN'T HELP, I'M NOT TO BLAME HERE!" before Otto once again knelt down, grabbing his head as the yelling aggravated his immense hangover headache.

Now Ram walked up to Garfiel, pressed him against the wagon and leaned in with her hand against the wagon, just over his shoulder.

"Garf, you reek of alcohol. You're drunk. Disgusting."

Garfiel who seemed to be completely oblivious to the tone or gravity of Ram's words, got really excited over how close she was to him. He broke into a big smile with a really weird look in his eyes.

"Ya'know Ram, we can go into the mansion because now isn't the time or plac…." His solicitation was violently cut off by Ram punching him so hard in the stomach that he slowly sunk to the ground with his eyes wide open and shit eating grin still plastered across his face. With her job done Ram just walked away coldly saying "Pervert".

Ram turned to Otto and very curtly said "Explain" before turning to Emilia and curtseying.

"Emilia-sama, I think we should return to the mansion to get to the bottom of this rude prank by Barusu, Garf, and Otto, and so we can determine who to beat first as punishment."

Emilia who was still stunned and how forcefully Ram had socked the hammered Garfiel, or how he was insinuating something incredibly naughty meekly got out a "uhhhm sure". She carefully picked up Subaru in a bridal carry, making sure that he was well wrapped in the blanket and headed off to the mansion.

She was followed closely by Beatrice who had reached up to clasp her hand around a bit of Subaru's blanket.

Petra however decided to run up to both Otto and Garfiel before sticking out her tongue at each of them, Garfiel getting an extra "hmmp" at the end, before she hurried after Subaru's procession.

Otto gave one of his short wails to nobody in particular before getting up and slowly trudged after them with a very "ah shit" expression plastered across his face.

And so, it was just Garfiel left, slumped against the wagon with his legs splayed out and the same old expression plastered onto his face. The only thing going through his mind was how it all went wrong as it slowly started to rain.