Okay, there we go. The first chapter and prologue of the "Priscilla if" story. I've been thinking about this one a lot, if I should do it or not, how could I turn it, how would this go etc…
Priscilla is a really interesting character in Re:zero. Personally, don't ask me why but I always wanted to see how a relationship would go between her and Subaru. As the embodiment of an arrogant and prideful princess, and the fool of a commoner who can bring a smile to anyone. She was honestly, witch Crusch, the only other candidate I would have seen in a relation with him.
Let's be honest, Subaru wouldn't be chasing after Emilia, he could warm his way into the heart of any woman in Re:zero and now, since no one decided to write and END a fiction about this, I decided it was time to bring justice to this ship. (YEAH I'm talking about you, author of Re:Barielle! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!)
Did you know this woman was actually "endlessly" intrigued by love and romance? She just never found someone suitable for her, or an "equal" if you want.
Also, contrary to what people may think with the anime adaptation, you should not get fooled. Priscilla is one of the two most fitted person to rule over Lugunica, since she is "a genius" and an incredibly competent and fair liege. She brought the Barielle lands of her ex husband into a much better place, not especially thanks to her luck, and the people serving her actually loves and respect her a lot. She's just a bitch. But a COMPETENT bitch.
This story will be focused on her, this story is for her, hell the damned name is "Priscilla If". Please, PLEASE if you are a Subamilia hardcore fan, an Emilia simp or Tappei himself sucking on his half elf GET OUT of here. This won't be a harem, neither a redemption. It's full on about Priscilla only. Oh and there might be novel spoilers so anime only are warned.
All right, all right! Enough introduction already! Let's start this!
The story takes place in ARC3. Subaru just made a fool of himself and had his ass kicked by Julius after proclaiming himself a knight before the throne and breaking his promess to Emilia. After looping 2 times, he's now seeking help to the other candidates. Crusch just refused him, since he was not to be trusted and outright mad in her eyes.
Now…He went to ask someone he thought could be his only hope.
"The witch cult?"
In a bright, clean and very fancy hall you could without a doubt compare to the one of the most prestigious royal palace, was standing a black haired boy. He stood in the middle of the hall in front of a golden throne, on which was seated a beautiful orange haired fiery princess with bright ruby eyes, wearing a light red dress allowing her gorgeous features to be contemplated even more than usual.
"Yes. If left alone, they'll hurt lots of people. Emilia won't be their only victim. I want to defeat them before that happens! That's why I-"
"Hahahahah! Amusing! You are amusing! Of course. Any jester who makes it this far has mastered his act." Cut the princess, laughing gently and smirking to the young man.
"Wh-What's so funny about this?!" Said Subaru, nearly outraged by the lady's ways.
"I can appreciate your desperation, but you haven't thought things through. In trying to aid your ally, you corner them, benefiting the enemy, and lose all control. You're better off dying." She said, without letting go of her smile.
She got up and walked towards him.
"In fact, I could just lop off your head for you right now." She said as she quickly picked up her fan between her generous bust and placed it under his chin.
"Still, even in the face of such harsh treatment, the devotion you show for your master, at least, is commendable. So…"
The fiery princess stepped back a bit and showed off her signature grin to the boy.
"I will give you an opportunity."
"A-An opportunity?" Subaru stuttered in surprise.
"Yes, an opportunity. What you would call a chance. " The lady easily pushed Subaru and made him fall down, right in front of her.
Subaru looked up and found her raising her bare foot in the air while looking at him.
"Lick it." She ordered, as she kept her sadistic smile behind her smile.
"Huh?"
"Crawl on the floor, savor the shame and humiliation, and like a wretched beast, like a baby suckling on its mother's teat, lick my foot. If you can do that, I'll consider your proposal. If you don't want to, that's fine. If you'd rather favor your minuscule pride and abandon the mistress you wagged your tail for to the wasteland, then fine. Either choice you make will entertain me." Priscilla looked down with her smirk behind her fan as she waved her bare foot in front of the boy's eyes.
Subaru looked down, reluctant about performing such an act. He was maybe a weak fool, but he still had his pride. But then, the memories of his painful loops and his fight with Emilia came back to his mind, as if to remind him of his duty. Could he really look at himself in the mirror again if he would let them die for something as foolish than pride? How meaningless that was, compared to the lives of all this people he cared for.
With an unusual mix of shame and despair written all over his face, something that didn't go unnoticed by the ruby eyes narrowing at him, the boy conceded.
"F-Fine." He nearly growled.
Subaru then executed himself to take the bare foot of the lady, putting a hand under it and the other to her heel. If he wasn't focused on something else, surely he would have noticed how smooth and soft they felt at the touch.
He then slowly got his mouth closer to the lady's foot, while this one was narrowing her eyes more and more to him, her smile slowly fading behind her fan.
The time felt like going in slow motion, Subaru couldn't take the thought of what he was about to do from his mind. Him, the son of the great Kenichi and Naoko Natsuki, was about to touch the bottom end of shame and humiliation. Like he didn't have enough after Julius's beating. Like he didn't have any pride at all.
But it was a necessity wasn't it? He didn't have a choice. Pride, pride is nothing compared to losing the village. Pride is nothing compared to Rem, Ram or Petra. Pride is nothing compared…To Emilia.
That's right. He didn't have a choice.
He didn't have one.
He had to submit.
He had to let go…
"Ghk…!"
Right before reaching the skin of the lady, the boy suddenly stopped and bit his tongue, closing his eyes as he was turning his closed eyes to the side with gritted teeth, under the widened and surprised eyes of the lady.
"I-I can't…' He said with an uneasy smile.
Subaru was disgusted. He was disgusted not by the feet of the lady or the act of licking them, a second before he was ready to do it…No, he was disgusted by himself. Disgusted by the fact that he couldn't let go of his pride, that he couldn't do something as simple as that to give a chance to the people he cared for to live.
He was truly disgusting. But his pride…Was one of the few things he still had about himself. Somehow, he didn't want to lose it, not more than he already did.
"I'm sorry…But I can't do this." He said while gently putting the lady's feet back on the ground.
Priscilla looked at him really surprised, just like he did something she wasn't expecting at all, something she couldn't believe he would do at some point.
Her beautiful reddish eyes were wide open, looking curiously at the grim expression the youth was displaying on his face. Something close to sorrow, pain…Despair.
She narrowed her eyes a bit more, her expression still hidden behind her fan. Now, her curiosity was truly piqued, he was truly a strange, curious and interesting man. Since the time she met him in that hallway and shown her what an Appa looked like, she already sensed something strange about him, the fact that he was wearing a mask to hide his true self.
Now the mask was down. Here was the true man hiding behind it. A pathetic, weak and useless man. A man so…So…
"I-I thank you anyway for listening to me…But I can't do this. Now, if you will excuse me…" He said while bowing down a bit before her and walking away.
"Wait." She inquired, her gentle voice echoing through the entire hall.
Subaru turned to her with a worried expression. He didn't have time to lose but, in another way, he didn't wish to have done anything rude towards her.
Priscilla sighed and closed her fan with a curious expression. Something mixing exasperation and a slight glint of interest. She put the fan back between her chest, making it disappear in front of the bewildered eyes of the boy and got closer to him.
"What are you planning to do now?" She asked, with an expression akin to boredom.
"I-I'll try to ask someone els-"
"Have you even listened to what I just said, fool?" She sternly cut him.
Subaru's breathing hitched at the sudden tone taken by the lady, he really felt uneasy to be looked by her like that.
"Do you really think you'll do your mistress any good by showing off after prostrating in front of one her rivals to save her and the people she's supposed to care of? Can't you see the amount of shame and humiliation you'll bring her in front of her own people's eyes? A woman trying to be the ruler and care for a kingdom, while she can't even care for her own domain!" Sternly explained the princess.
Subaru's expression changed into a large frown as he hated the way she was looking down on Emilia. He gritted his teeth stepped forward Priscilla with anger clear on his face.
"The witch cult is planning a surprise attack! She won't see that coming, how can she protect anyone if she's not aware of it!" He shouted back to her.
"A pitiful excuse. Aware of it or not, their fate lies between her hands, this is a duty for her to be aware of such possibility and be ready to act accordingly. Especially since she has this distasteful physical appearance. The mere fact that she isn't able to protect the lives of a single domain is nothing more than the testament of her incompetence as a ruler." Mercilessly spat Priscilla.
Taken aback, Subaru could only grit his teeth in frustration and anger. These words, they were nearly the same as Crusch Karsten spoke to him just before and by now, he knew he couldn't find anything to defend Emilia. This was the truth after all, Emilia COULDN'T protect the people of the Margrave's domain. She couldn't be relied on.
He saw it himself, after all.
"Tch…Guess a part of the candidates really don't give a damn about anything but this throne." He growled with his head hung low, turning back towards the door once more.
"You really are nothing but a fool" she sighed once more.
His expression unchanged and his eyes still grim, Subaru turned his sharp gaze towards the princess him. When she met his gaze…Even her, was slightly perturbed. Slightly.
"Even if what you said is true. This isn't a reason for me to let them all get killed. I'll find a way, with or without you." He proclaimed to her.
Priscilla widened her eyes in genuine surprise as the words of this young fool.
"I will save them. I will save her. And I'm sure she'll understand."
The princess could have smirked to these words. Most of the time, she probably would. But something about this boy made her drop all the interest she could have about playing with him…She just lost the desire to have fun.
"I cannot find any words for your stubbornness. Or is it foolishness? Maybe both. Either way, I found it really irritating how my words simply fell on a deaf ear." She said with her eyebrow twitching a bit.
She raised her head again, meeting the brown, yellowish color of the black haired boy with her red, ruby ones.
"She won't acknowledge any of your actions if you truly do this." She said with a bored tone.
Subaru clenched his fists to the woman's words. He didn't feel like listening to her anymore, he couldn't hear anymore of her words. He knew Emilia more than her, more than anyone. He knew what he had to do.
"You're done?" He growled.
"You're truly ready to face the disappointment of the master to whom you wag your tail so diligently?" She ended up asking, her head slightly tilted in curiosity of his response.
"I do. Even if what you said is true…At least, her and the villagers will be safe. If I can secure a future to them…" He said while looking down, his painful, failed loops playing in front of his eyes. He couldn't stand to see this again. He couldn't bare to even think about it. He couldn't.
"I see." She closed her eyes with an air of satisfaction.
She advanced two step forward, making the boy raise his eyes reflecting the torment of his soul towards her again. Once more, the fiery princess narrowed her eyes to the look of these eyes, they hid something. She knew they did. She knew that look.
"Then, let us make a deal, half elf's servant." She inquired with a confident smile.
Subaru's eyes widened with a glint of hope to the lady's words. Seeing the light coming back to his eyes, Priscilla did felt a tiny feeling of satisfaction.
"This is the true chance that I, Priscilla Barielle, decided to accord you. As I saw your will and courage to be genuine in front of my very eyes." She said, changing her smile to a powerful expression, showing off her dominant aura.
"I will come to your aid and help the villagers of your lord's domain. I'll help you to save the lives of the people you seem to care so much for, by annihilating that filthy cult."
Subaru stood still before her eyes wide, listening to her very words as he knew the important part was about to come.
"However."
Subaru gulped down his saliva with worried eyes.
"If, after our subjugation, it happens that my thoughts were correct. If your master finds your actions to be despicable and do not recognize them…You shall immediately comply to any request I will impose to you. Are we clear?" She finished.
Subaru looked reluctant and hesitant at first, as this demand seemed small and…Truth be told, very little worth. This simply left him bewildered, as he didn't understand what kind of demand, she would ask him to do and knowing the woman, it could really be anything. He was not reassured about it…But right now, he didn't have any other option and deep in his heart, he knew Emilia wouldn't be mad at him.
"V-very well…I accept your terms." He said with a straight face.
Priscilla smirked and raised her hand towards him, showing her palm for him to grab on it to seal this contract.
Subaru hesitantly raised his hand and took the lady's palm in his. While squeezing it, he snorted with a small smile.
The fiery lady simply tilted her head to show her curiosity about what he found to be amusing.
"Ah…It's just, the last time I took this hand in mine…It was quite a painful experience." He said while scratching his forehead with his finger a bit.
Priscilla simply giggled at the remembrance of their first meeting.
Truly, he was amusing.
Here, that's the prologue.
Are you interested? Or are you about to call me a heretic for putting best girl aside?
Well jokes on you! I'm a harem route follower so EVERY girl are best girls!
(I'm lying. It's Crusch.)
Soooooooooo
For those who are following "Dragon king" I told you in the last chapter I was working on other fics, this is one of those.
The chapters of this fiction will be shorter though, like 5k by chap. I don't really think about doing any great plot of a story going on to 4 different arcs. Those will mostly be a rather, chill story of romance with a bit of RBD about Subaru's daily life as a Priscilla camp member.
I'll mostly try to explore Priscilla's character and influence over her subordinates (and Subaru) through this story, staying faithful to her character (with her ups and downs) and trying to elaborate the perfect way for her to fall in love.
I have three other fics on the side that I'm working on too, one of them being the most awaited DOOM crossover. (Fuck you I told you I'd do it. Even if The slayer could bitch slap Reid, Reinhard and Cecilus right after the other, I'll do it.)
As always! You're free to ask me questions about this fiction. If I can answer them, I will gladly do it. If you have ideas, thoughts or just a review to make, please do!
I'll see you back at the real chapter 1!