Chapter III

During the carriage drive on the way to the palace, Subaru shut his eyes tightly. Flickers of images drilled themselves directly into his brain.

"A pretty face. Isn't that all love is? I don't see why you are mistreating me. I said I didn't want to fight, and here you are infringing upon my rights. Weren't you taught how to respect people's rights? And here you are, glaring at me with those eyes of yours. Is that any way for the man who killed me to carry himself? I am the most perfect existence in the entire world! So you must carry yourself like me! Do it! Don't let people infringe upon your rights!"

"Love! LOve! LOVe! LOVE! The Witch's Love grows progressively stronger on your person! Chosen by lovely Satella! YES!"

"Eat! Eat! Eat them all!"

"Love belongs to me, and me alone."

"Ahh….my lovely Betelguese! You returned to see me! I want you to use us. Use us, feel us, become us…"

"…shut the fuck up."

"Subaru?" The drilled loli looked over her contractor, who was in pain. He held his head, and forced himself to smile.

"Hm? What's up, Beako?" He continued to smile, but it didn't fool the spirit. She tugged on his sleeve. The sight of it made Subaru quake with guilt for trying to lie.

"Is it happening again?" She asked, straight to the point. Her butterfly-shaped pupils gazed over him, reading his expression. His smile twisted to an uncomfortable half-smirk dowsed in nervousness.

"Yeah…it did."

"Don't push yourself. Betty doesn't like seeing a constipated Subaru. It's a pain, I suppose," She held her head up high, haughty in such an adorable way. Her tsundere-way of speaking was so cute it made Subaru want to tug her hair drills.

And he did.

"Byoing!" He squealed, as he pulled the drills in the opposite direction. The spirit yelped in surprise, and frowned. Her tear-filled glare didn't make Subaru feel guilty in the slightest. "Enough of the worry-wart Beako. I like the happy-go-lucky Beako!"

"…I was a fool to worry," She said, sighing.

"Thank you."

The carriage finally stopped, and the driver peeked out from the front, and spoke to the two silhouettes, "Natsuki-sama, Beatrice-sama, we've arrived," He said, tipping his hat.

"Ah, thanks," Subaru said, waving his hand. He ruffled his knight uniform, clearly uncomfortable. "Let's get this show on the road.

[]

Emilia stood before him in a beautiful flower-based dress, with violet petals over the top outline of her chest. Her hair was neatly tied in a bun, and her smile was worth a million watts. "Hello, my knight, my sage, my Subaru." Her bell-like voice lured Subaru's heart to her like a drug.

He then turned to the green-robed man, and sighed with a large frown on his face. Subaru clicked his tongue. "Tsk."

"Why do you look at me with such disdain, Natsuki-san?!" He screamed like a straight man until he placed his hand over his head, "Ughh…Why do I even bother…"

"You better not have looked at Emilia-tan with those eyes of yours. I'm not so confident in my looks, so I'm sure any competition would be better than me. I'll poison your drink if you did! You hear me?!"

"The atrocious nonsense this knight speaks! Are you even a knight at all?!"

"Don't bully Otto-kun so much, Subaru," Emilia said, trying to pout, but instead giggled. She enjoyed watching Otto and Subaru bicker. It was like watching two younger brothers argue about the dumbest of things. They really are good friends, She thought to herself.

As if picking up on Emilia's thoughts, Subaru's head perked up, "Uhh..Emilia-san, Emilia-san, did you just think up something rude?"

"Nooothing at all," She said, sticking her tongue out.

In the background, Beatrice sighed.

"This is the big day, huh, Emilia-tan. This is the day your dream comes true."

[]

A black-robed man, no older than fifteen, dragged a suspicious-looking witch cultist through the forest. In sight was a mansion, hidden by conveniently-placed barrier gems.

The witch cultist nearly bled to death from his wounds, but the robed man simply scoffed. "Sighhhh….fixing you up would be a paaaaaain. I'll just get Pandora to tidy you up…" How the cultists was still alive was nothing short of a miracle.

"Hec-…tor….." He could barely breathe.

"It's creeeepy how you know my naaame. It's really weirdiiing me out, y'know?" Hector voiced his complaints tiredly. His feet placed themselves in front of two massive twin wooden doors attached to a mansion. He dropped the cultist to the floor and pulled back his leg.

In an instant, the cultist felt himself flying. His body tore through the wooden doors, and he bounced off the concrete-like floor like a dropped ragdoll, his arms scraped and bled. "U…ugh…" He collapsed on his back, his eyes blind from blood-loss.

"Yo, old lady Pandoraaaaaaa!" Hector yelled, his voice echoed through the mansion.

"That's very rude," A beautiful platinum-haired lady gracefully appeared as she walked down the steps. Her near-see through white dress clad in a gold insignia flowed like royalty. In her hand, she held a green gem that constantly sparked out electricity like a malfunctioning battery. Her hand was plenty burned but her pain tolerance was beyond human levels. "I taught you better manners than that."

"Yeaaaah yeah. Fix this guy up. Apparently, he's one of uuuus," He said, then immediately dashing off to his own room, tired and exhausted.

Rolling her eyes, she looked over the dying young man. His black hair was clearly stained with his own blood. He smelled of something foul yet familiar. His dark-hazel eyes gazed at her, whispering, "…Pandora…"

"Hm? He knows my name. A gluttony victim…?" She looked over his face, closer than before. "No, this man is…Natsuki Subaru? Heh…" A cruel smile washed over his face, "But he's certainly not the one I know. And he's certainly not one of us either. No…someone else chose him."

"You old…hag," He coughed out rudely, with a raspy voice.

"How rude…" She said, sighing, "You and Hector are in need of some serious scolding." Pandora waved her hand over the Japanese boy, and his wounds disappeared without a trace. It wasn't healing magic, but something else…

Life flourished back into Natsuki Subaru. He could clearly see Pandora now. As he tried to push himself back up, however, a sudden force dented him downward. The archbishop could feel his spine snapping.

A malicious smile stretched Pandora's lips. "I am Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory." She raised her hand, and on cue, Subaru's feet floated upward. He was being bound by her. "What an interesting little specimen. You are an Archbishop I did not create…very interesting."

"It's nice to meet you, Pride."

The archbishop floated in thin air, struggling to maintain control over himself. Floating closer to Pandora against his own will, he saw her empty eyes, devoid of life. She noticed his gaze and placed her hand over his chin like she was studying a rare yet delicate specimen. "I see," She muttered as she watched his hazel eyes, "So you are like me." Then, a snarl crossed her beautiful face. Subaru's body was sent hurling across the room, flapping through the ground like a fish out of water. It was a pathetic sight.

"Only I should have that kind of power."

Unbeknownst to them, in a faraway shrine, shadow-like tendrils started to ensnare the worm witchbeasts that crawled underneath the sand. The burning hot sun above was overshadowed by darkness itself.

"This isn't good…" A girl with a scorpion tail hairdo winced.

CHAPTER END

AUTHOR NOTES

Sorry for the suppeeeer long wait. I just had a really busy and really stressful 2-3 months. I had a LOT happen. Hope it never happens again…Trying to start up a business (real estate), college life, and then some other crap. Life is hard.

Anyways, here it is. I'm a bit rusty, and it's a little short. Still getting the hang of writing for Re:Zero, I normally write for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. And even then I'm still rusty.