"Talking"

'Thoughts'

"Higher Being Talking"

I do not own Re: Zero or any other works referenced

Re:Zero Arc 1: The Beginning

Mc Pov

'It's Dark. I can't see a thing.' There was no light to be seen anywhere. 'Is this what it's like to be blind? I can't feel my arms or legs or anything in fact... Where am I? What happened? How did I get here? Why am I here?' All questions left unanswered.

I stay here stuck in the dark with my thoughts to accompany me. Unknowing of how much time has passed, until a bright light starts to shine in front of me. The light slowly turns into a humanoid form with no facial features.

"Ah, you're awake." The light's voice sounding echoey or as if it spoke multiple times at the same time. "I regret to inform you that you have died. You may not remember it due to it being an unexpected death, but that is just how life for humans is. Oh, right. I haven't introduced myself have I? You may call me, Lide. Now before I begin, do you have any questions?" The light asks me.

I try to form a sentence but no amount of thinking makes a sound.

"Oh, you are merely a soul now. Your body was too unrecognizable to be brought here after all. I shall let your thoughts be conveyed telepathically to me."

"What!? How did I die so horribly that my own body is too unrecognizable."

"The way you died doesn't matter anymore. What does matter however is what happens after this."

"After?" I ask confused

"Yes, I shall give you a choice. The first choice is you stay here for the rest of your existence overseeing the worlds under my domain. The other choice however is to have another chance at life and explore those same worlds. Now tell me, What is your choice?"

"Explore? What?! This is too sudden!" The sudden decision given to me stressing me out.

"My apologies, but you must make a choice, you don't have long before you are sent off to the afterlife." What?! That just makes this more stressful!

"What worlds are they? And what am I supposed to do with them?"

"You will know when you see them." He says giving practically no information.

I make up my mind and give my answer. "I choose to explore these worlds." I might not be safe from the afterlife if I were to stay here and oversee these worlds.

"Alright then you will be transported there momentarily. But first, Let us give you a new body! Any suggestions?"

A thought comes to mind. "Yeah I think I have something in mind."

~Break~

As I admire my new body (based off of Joker from Persona 5), the light starts talking.

"Alright then, now that that's out of the way, let me explain a few things before you go. You will be connected to this plane for a couple trillion years. So your body will never age, you will also always gain energy from here."

"Energy?" I finally speak normally without the use of telepathy.

"Yes energy, Mana, chakra or ether, whatever term you want to use. You will practically never run out of these things. However that doesn't mean you are some godlike being, far from it in fact. You are a complete novice, you have zero experience with using this energy. So that means all you're really worth is being an energy battery."

"So, all that means is I'm starting from zero." That gets a laugh out of him, Strange.

"Yes, from zero." He repeats.

"Well let's not waste any more time. Shall we?" Light starts to glow all around me.

"Hold on, you still haven't told me what I'm supposed to do or what world it is!" I say to them slightly panicking.

"Do whatever you like, and as to what world it is... Well, It's the one where you start from zero." He says as I start fading away.

"What?! You damn asshole!"

~Lugnican Capital~

'Bastard' I start to observe my surroundings to try and find out where I am.

'I'm in what seems to be a city market. There's a couple dozen civilians, what seems to be a knight, and carriages being drawn by overgrown Lizards?' Keeping my distance from the strange lizards, I aimlessly walk around until I find an alley with a couple of boxes to sit on.

I try to gather my findings and come to a conclusion as to where I am. However I'm interrupted by a light show appearing right in front of me. If I had to guess, I'd say it's around fifty light orbs flying around me.

"What the-'' I'm cut off by multiple voices in my head. All saying things like "Play?, Strong?, or Contract?" I can only assume it's the orbs' doing and start walking away in hopes of the voices disappearing. I'm met with a lot of disappointed replies but silence right after.

'What the hell was that? What were those lights? They seemed to be alive.' I'm once again interrupted from my thoughts only this time it's by a vaguely familiar red haired knight.

"Excuse me, Were you the one who summoned those spirits earlier?" Even his voice seems familiar.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I deflect the question due to not knowing what he's talking about.

"Ah, My apologies, my name is Reinhard Van Astrea and you are?" He asks with a smile.

'My name, huh. I don't really have one anymore, do I? ...I've got one.'

"You can call me Akira Amamiya." I give him my new name. (I mean if he looks the part. I might as well use one of his many names.)

"Alright Akira. Were you the one who called those lesser spirits here?" Guess he's not gonna drop it.

"Spirits? What are Spirits?" I ask with genuine confusion.

"They are small orbs of mana who usually like to play with humans who can interact with them." He explained it to me.

"Oh yeah, I saw them. They started to crowd all around me asking me to play and if I wanted a contract?" I say making hand motions to indicate what I'm saying.

"I see. You must have quite a high spirit affinity." I have no clue what that is.

"Um... Reinhard you wouldn't happen to know where we are would you?" I ask, sounding almost embarrassed.

"Yes, I would know. We are currently in the Capital of Lugnica." Hold on.

'Lugnica? it couldn't be...' A sinking feeling hits me. "Hey Reinhard, you wouldn't happen to be the Sword Saint would you?"

"I am indeed the Sword Saint... Is something wrong Ren?"

'Yes, very wrong. When I said zero I didn't mean it like this you asshole!' I curse Lide with a glare at the sky.

After a while I finally calm down with a few deep breaths. "Sorry Rein just got a little heated there." I say with a smile.

"No it's fine I understand, but Rein?" He asks about the nickname.

"Yeah Rein it's pretty cool, eh? Short and straight to the point, and I can tell you're a pretty cool guy." I reply.

"Thank you, it's a great na-." His thanks are cut off by a familiar blonde haired thief coming towards us.

"Watch out!" She yells as Rein moves me out of the way. "Thanks, Live strong!" She yells again passing us by.

"Are you unhurt Ren?" Rein asks me with visible concern on his face.

"Don't worry, I'm fine and thanks for that."

"I was just doing my job as a knight, so there's no need to thank me." He's quite humble isn't he?

Our little bonding moment is interrupted again this time by another yell this time from the entrance of the alley.

"Excuse me! Have you seen a thief come through here?" Asks a silver haired elf who I can only assume is Emilia.

I decide to speak up before Rein can. "We just saw a blonde girl pass by. I don't know anything about a thief though, do you Rein?"

"No, I don't. However, Emilia-sama If something was stolen from you, I could help you track it down." Rein offers.

"Ah, Reinhard! No it's fine Puck and I will keep looking for the thief. Thank you Reinhard and ...Umm." I guess introductions are in order.

"Oh right! My name is Ren Fujimura, but you can just call me Ren. Nice to meet you Emilia, Correct?" I introduce myself more enthusiastically than I did with Reinhard.

"Right, It's very nice to meet you too. Well like I said I must be going, goodbye." She says rushing off.

"Hey Rein, You're not busy, are you?" I ask my new friend.

"No, I happen to be off duty today. Why is something the matter?" Nice!

"No nothings wrong right now. It's just I get the feeling I know who stole from Emilia." I explained to him.

"Truly?" He asks with surprise evident on his face.

"Yeah I'll tell you on the way... Actually can you lead us to the slums? I don't know which direction it is."

"Of course, follow me." He says leading me the opposite direction I was going to head towards.

~Break~

"...and that's why I think she may live near the slums." I say finishing my explanation.

"I see, It would make sense for someone from the slums to take up a life of crime and thievery instead of the ordinary citizen." He concludes.

We start to come up on a bridge I can vaguely recognize from the anime. It's the bridge that Emilia called the spirits for directions.

"Hold on Rein, let me ask the spirits for directions." I say as I head towards the bridge's edge and start to focus like before.

I can see around 100 lesser spirits this time around. Definitely more than before, and they were still asking to play. If they can convey their thoughts to mine, I'll do the same as well.

'I'm sorry I can't play right now, but have any of you seen a Blonde haired girl with a red scarf?' Most reply with a no and leave, but around thirty of them stay and tell me where she went.

I'm about to leave when a sudden thought hits me. Elsa. How am I supposed to deal with her? Even with Rein, Subaru still got injured. I look back towards the spirits and ask them one final question.

'Would any of you be willing to enter a temporary contract with me?' Most leave until I'm left with two spirits. One water spirit, and one yin spirit.

After making the contract I head back towards Rein. "Alright, the spirits told me to head that way." I say pointing in the direction told to me.

~Outside the loot house~

"Alright this is the place. Want to head in first?" I ask my companion.

"I will check if it's safe to enter." Rein says back.

"Got it." I say as I wait beside the door. After a couple seconds I start to hear fighting inside. So what do I do? The most sensible thing and head in where I see Rein fighting Elsa and Felt kneeling near a giant body which I can only assume is Rom.

"Oh? Another set of beautiful guts ready to be ripped open?" Damn, she noticed me. I wasn't necessarily being sneaky though.

"Well, What can I say? I like to keep myself looking the best as possible." My reply causes a knife to get thrown my way.

"Woah! Watch out, those are dangerous, you know." I barely dodge the knife thrown at me.

Rein stops her from throwing any more knives at me by starting a sword fight with her. So I head towards Felt and Rom.

'Hey little water spirit, do you know any healing spells?' I ask the little blue orb. I'm met with an affirmative answer and approach the downed Rom.

"Hey kiddo, It's gonna be fine." I say to the crying Felt as I start the healing spell over the cut on Rom's neck. After a while the wound starts to close up until there's no indication that a wound was ever there.

"Listen kiddo, I'm going to need your help dragging this guy behind some cover, Alright?"

"Y-Yeah." Good she's stopped crying. After we drag him behind the counter. Under the counter do I see Rom's club and pick it up for later. Once ready, I yell towards Rein. "Rein! Do your Thing!"

He gives a small nod as the sword he's holding starts to glow in multiple colors. I hear them exchange names just like in the anime. After a few seconds of build up the sword starts to emit a blinding light.

After a while my vision slowly starts to come back. All that's left of the loot house is the back wall and remnants of the front door. I approach Rein with an amazed expression on my face. "Wow, What was that Rein?"

I had obviously seen it before in the anime but seeing it in person was a lot different. I see the sword he was using crumble to dust.

I hadn't failed to notice the rubble start to move. Once it stopped moving, Elsa popped out running at me, signature knife in hand. Just as she was going to reach me...

"Shamak" I say, casting the spell. She hesitates for a second. Just enough for me to hit her with Rom's club. A nice sounding crunch sounded out on impact. I took great satisfaction in injuring her, even if she'll heal up later.

"You actually had me fooled. I thought you easy prey, I'll make sure to disembowel you with great pleasure." She says retreating, too tired to fight.

"Phew, that was too close. You alright over there kiddo?" I ask Felt, who's hiding behind the counter.

"I'm fine. And stop calling me that! My names Felt. F-E-L-T, got it?" I can tell she's pouting from here.

"Sure, Whatever you say, Lil Felt." Any second she'll pop out any moment now, to try to kick me in the face.

Felt gets up on the counter getting ready to kick me. Her face was red from anger or embarrassment, maybe both. "Grr, Hiya!" I grab her by the ankle stopping her foot from reaching me. She tries her other foot, I drop her, making her lose her footing and momentum.

"Is that any way to treat your savior?" It looked like she was going to say something until she ran to hide behind me. I turn towards where she ran away from, only to find the same silver haired half elf from before.

"Um... is everyone alright?"

'Honestly, this girl is too kind-hearted. Shouldn't she be more worried about herself instead of others right now?'

"We're fine, no need to worry, and hello again, Emilia."

"Hello Ren, it's nice meeting you again, You too Reinhard."

"Hello again, Emilia-sama." Rein greets back.

I look behind me towards Felt and whisper. "Don't you have something to return to her?"

Felt sighs and starts walking toward Emilia. "Here you go Lady, And don't get me wrong, I would have sold it off, if big bro hadn't told me to give it back." She says handing the glowing insignia back to Emilia.

3..

2..

1

"Ow! What the hell, Let me go!" I see Felt being held up by Rein.

"Rein go easy on her, she's still a kid, no need to hold her that tight." I say trying to calm him down.

"I'm sorry Ren, but I can't ignore what is happening right in front of me. Now Miss Felt, What is your family name?"

"What?! I don't have one."

"When is your birthday? How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen I think, Now let me go!" She says struggling.

"Reinhard, If this is about my Insignia. I don't hold it against her, so there's no need to arrest her for it." Emilia says, trying to defuse the situation.

"I am sorry Lady Emilia, but this situation has turned into something way bigger than a simple theft." Rein explains to Emilia.

Felt stops struggling and looks to me for help. "*sigh* Listen Lil Felt, you're gonna have to believe me when I say Rein ain't gonna harm you. I'm sorry but it's probably for the best if you go with him."

I nod to Rein for him to put her to sleep. As she falls asleep she shoots me a betrayed look. 'Damn it kid, Making me feel bad.'

"My apologies Emilia-sama, But I must be going now. Ren, Do you have a place to stay? If not, I'll gladly let you stay in the Astrea Estate." He offers me while carrying Felt in a fireman's carry.

I would've taken his offer, if Emilia hadn't cut in. "No, It's alright Reinhard. Ren, you helped me in retrieving something important to me, and for that I'd like to formally invite you to the Mansion in the Mathers Domain."

"I'm sorry Rein, I'm just not one to refuse a Ladies offer. Keep the kiddo safe, Alright?"

We bid each other farewell as he leaves. I turn to Emilia. "So Emilia do you have a carriage of sorts? Honestly I'm too tired to walk all that far."

"Yes I do, Ram should be waiting for us at the carriage." She explains.

'Oh, good Ram. Least I won't have to deal with Rem's psychotic tendencies. Not until later at least.'

"Alright then, just give me a second." I say as I call out my contracted spirits.

'I guess this is the end of our contract, huh. Thanks for helping you two.' The water spirit is happy as she leaves on her merry way. The yin spirit however reacted very differently, it seemed almost disappointed. As if it wanted to stay with me longer, so I asked it if it did.

'Wanna stay with me lil bud?' Its mood suddenly did a 180. Guess it really must want to come with me.

'Alright Lil bud, Let's go on an adventure.' Once I'm done with the dismissal, I start walking back to Emilia.

"Sorry about that, I had to resolve a few things." I say to her once I have her attention.

"Oh, No. I also use spirit arts so I understand that there's a process to it."

"Well then Emilia, lead the way."

~Break~

"Lady Emilia, I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring strays back with you."

'Wow, I haven't even done a thing against you, and I've already been insulted.'

"Ram, this is my guest Ren, so treat him like one." Emilia pouts at the pink haired maid.

"I'm sorry, Honored guest." Ram bows at me, apologizing.

"No it's fine." I say waving off the apology. "Let's get going, shall we?"

~To Be Continued

Mc isn't a SI-OC

I did some spell checking, because in my opinion the earlier chapters barely hold a candle to the newer, more recent chapters.

Spells Ren Can Cast

-None

Spirit Arts

-Shamak

Buh-Bye