Subaru opened his eyes, staring at the appa salesman. He began to head into the alleyway where he'd usually encounter Emilia. When he saw the three thugs, he knocked them out as he didn't have time or care about them. He sat there waiting for what felt like an eternity, but she never came. Subaru began to wonder what was going on. He started to run around the Capital searching but couldn't find her anywhere. He was sweating bullets as he feared something went wrong. He needed to find Emilia, and once she saw him, she would regain her memories, but he couldn't find her anywhere in the Capital. As he was running, he heard a familiar voice.
"Are you in need of assistance?"
Subaru turned around to see Reinhard, "Reinhard… do you know where Emilia is?"
Reinhard questioned, "I don't know a person by that name… could you give me a description?"
Subaru tried to think of something he'd know that could help him, "Reinhard, how many Royal Selection candidates have been found?"
"My apologies, but I cannot give that information out," Reinhard said as he began to wonder what the raven-haired boy was doing.
Subaru eyes widened, "There's two missing isn't there?"
Reinhard walked up and put his hand on the boy's shoulder using his Divine Protection of Empathy, "I'm unsure how you are aware of that. If you could inform me who told you that information, I might be able to assist you."
"Reinhard, I know because I am aware of who the two missing candidates are, and I need help finding one." Subaru pleads.
"What is your name?"
Subaru thinks as he can only assume Emilia was in Elior Forest, "My name is Subaru Natsuki, and if you are willing to trust me, I can take you to where a candidate is."
Reinhard asks, "Where is the location of the person?"
Subaru gulps, "Elior Forest. Reinhard if you can tell me who Roswaal sponsored I'll know for certain."
"Subaru, I will put my trust in your words. I am currently tasked with finding the two missing candidates and have failed in locating them thus far." Reinhard admits.
Subaru smiles, "Thank you… I don't know what I would've done."
Reinhard walks with Subaru to get a dragon carriage to go to Elior Forest, which is a distance away. Subaru could only guess that is where Emilia was if she wasn't found yet. He feared what could've caused things to change as the only difference was he no longer had return by death. If she wasn't there, then somehow his plan failed before he could even try it. He only could hope that she was there and was thankful he had Reinhard with him, or else Puck would most likely intervene. As he expected the journey to take a day, he noticed the dragon carriage was moving far quicker than normal.
"Reinhard, is it just me, or is this carriage moving really fast?" Subaru asks as he sits in the back while Reinhard guides the carriage.
"My apologies if it is uncomfortable. This matter is of great importance to the Kingdom." Reinhard replies.
An hour goes by, and Subaru feels the coldness in the forest. He doesn't mind as he only needs to find Emilia. He informs Reinhard to continue deeper into the forest as he sees multiple frozen statues and can only guess he is close. He blinks momentarily, and the dragon carriage stops jolting him to the ground.
"Subaru, be cautious there is a Great Spirit with a silver-haired half-elf I presume to be the candidate you spoke of," Reinhard says as he sees the girl and the cat spirit.
Subaru gets out, and the moment Emilia sees Subaru, memories begin to flood her mind. A second later, she realizes what is happening. She starts to shed tears of joy as Subaru can make the plan work. She looks to see him with a red-haired knight. Her memories were still hazy but slowly coming back.
"Subaru…" she says.
"Yes, I found you."
Before Emilia could respond, the spirit demanded, "How do you know Lia? Who are you?"
Puck begins to form icicles as Subaru doesn't respond. Reinhard seeing this, emits his aura narrowing his gaze on the Great Spirit as he pulls out an insignia and puts it in Emilia's hand, seeing it glow.
"Subaru, I owe you a great debt. You were correct, and I would've never thought to come here." Reinhard states satisfied with the results.
"Don't mention it… I'm honestly in your debt. I would've never been able to find her…." Subaru replies.
Puck turns to Emilia, "Lia, how do you know him?"
Emilia blinks, "Uhh, it's a long story but don't worry about it."
Puck turns to Subaru, "Who are you? How do you know Lia?"
Emilia thinks back about her contract with rules that she doesn't like, "Puck, let's end our contract."
Puck stares at Emilia with worry, "Did he mind control you? What is going on?"
Reinhard chimes in, "I can assure you. Great Spirit that Emilia-sama is not under the influence of mind control."
Puck confirms, "Lia, did you mean what you said?"
"I'm not trying to be rude. I appreciate everything you did, but our contract has rules I no longer like or find necessary. You did a good job, but I can handle myself."
Puck's eyes widen as he begins to form an idea of what's happening though he's not entirely sure, "Alright, Lia, if that is what you want."
Emilia assured, "Puck, you did a great job, and everything would've worked out. It's not your fault, so don't beat yourself up."
With what Puck heard, his idea of what happened got confirmed. He had no idea how or what could've changed things so great, but if Sage's plan was fulfilled, he no longer had a reason to continue his role. He broke the contract and flew away, wishing Emilia the best.
Subaru was freezing as he returned to the dragon carriage with Emilia. He was able to find her and could only assume that Roswaal sponsored someone else, leaving her to be here. He thought about it, and it did add up as he didn't have his power anymore. As the carriage began to leave the forest, he felt a warmth within the carriage.
"Subaru, I hope it's not too cold back there. You stated before you knew the other candidate's location as well?" Reinhard says as the carriage speeds up.
"Reinhard, I do. She's in the slums within the Capital. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that first. We would've found her quicker…."
"There is no need to apologize. Assisting me in finding a single candidate has already helped me greatly."
As the carriage swiftly returns to the Capital, Subaru stares into Emilia's amethyst eyes. He did not plan for this but didn't even consider that previous events could change during a restart if he didn't have his power. He knew Roswaal had the Tome, which will also be another issue. He feels a tug on his arm.
"Subaru, are you alright?"
"Things were different. I had to change my entire plan… now I'm worried about Roswaal and if he knows…." Subaru says quietly.
Emilia lays her head on his chest, "Soooo even when everything changed, you still were able to find me. My memories are still fuzzy, but you did it… It's almost hard to believe that I'm free from that thing."
Subaru feels a warmth throughout his body, "I'm glad it worked out. Let's talk more when everything is situated."
The two enjoyed each other's embrace while Reinhard questioned what he heard. He had an idea of what was happening, but mentioning it would only lead to more issues. As he continued, Subaru directed him to go to a large building in the slums called the loot house, where the other candidate most likely would be. Even after going to Elior Forest and back, the amount of time it took was only three hours. Subaru asks Reinhard if he has any money, as it would help with the next encounter. When Subaru confirmed the building, the three hopped out, and Reinhard knocked on the door.
"Password?" a voice asks.
Subaru speaks, "Rom? Is Felt there?"
Hearing her name opens the door to see the raven-haired boy she's never seen and a knight staring at her with a smile. She closes the door out of instinct and wonders why Reinhard would be at the loot house as she turns to Rom in fear. The door is opened, and the raven-haired boy speaks.
"Felt we're not here to hurt you. Here." he throws a bag of holy coins to her.
Felt stares in confusion looking at the bag, "Ya trying to buy me or something?"
As Reinhard confirms Felt's legitimacy, Subaru attempts to help, "Felt if you win you can do whatever you want. Fix the slums or burn down the Kingdom and remake it. Rom can come with you too. What do you have to lose?"
Reinhard's eyes widen as he never agreed to that. Felt laughs, "Burn down the Kingdom and remake it… that sounds like something I'd say."
As Reinhard and Felt talk, he starts to wonder what Roswaal's Tome would tell him to do as he feels a sense of dread as he looks towards the door and throws his body in the direction a dagger is going to land. His vision gets blurry as he collapses. He started to wonder if this was really it. With all this progress and a real new start with his memories and he dies forever?
Subaru's eyes open as he feels a sense of ease that he is still alive. He looks up at an unfamiliar ceiling. He turns his head to see Emilia with a smile and tears of joy on her face. He gets out of bed to see he's probably at Reinhard's mansion. A bathroom, desk, bed, and nightstand. Turning to Emilia, he smiles and hugs her.
"It worked… I'm so happy to be alive. I had never felt fear of death like that before. It was beyond what I could imagine." Subaru mumbles.
Emilia lies down with him, whispering, "You saved me. I'm so happy I forgot what this feeling was like. I'm filled with bliss I didn't know I could feel anymore. I love you for everything you did for me."
"I forgot what that felt like too. Wishing with every part of my soul that I wouldn't die. I have never feared death like that. It was something I got used to. But now, dying isn't an option. I love you too." He speaks with a shallow tone as he sheds tears, feeling a sense of relief and fear of the sensation he forgot.
Emilia kisses him, "Everything will work out. We will be able to live a life of happiness. No more death and no more restarting things. You really saved me. We both lost things that made us cursed. Now I can walk around and enjoy things, eat food, and be with you. Everything we wanted worked out."
Before Subaru could respond, the door opened as Emilia moved, "Subaru, I'm glad you're awake. You saved Felt-sama's life. I'm sorry you had to go through that pain. I should've been able to prevent that."
Subaru smiled, "Don't apologize. If it weren't for you, I would've never been able to reach Emilia… thank you, Reinhard."
"Tomorrow, we can discuss things further. I'm sure you need more rest." Reinhard says as he closes the door.
"Wait, Emilia, what time is it? What did I miss when I went unconscious?"
Emilia moved back on top of Subaru, "Wellll, it wasn't exactly the best thing to witness. Reinhard was furious and didn't have a weapon, so he kicked Elsa, sending her into the sky. I have no idea how strong that guy is… as for who saved you, that would also be him. I don't have any healing magic, and he didn't either, so he continued to kill himself until he received Divine Protection to heal you."
Subaru questioned, "Reinhard was furious? I've rarely seen him lose his temper."
"I'm pretty sure he knows… or something I can't explain either." she wrapped her legs around his, "Even if he does know, I don't think he will care. But to save your life, I watched him impale himself and come back until he received his power to heal you. I'm sorry I couldn't help…."
"You helped me enough already. Has your memory come back yet?"
"Somewhat… it's kind of crazy to compare Reid and Reinhard. There complete polar opposites."
"This is the best start I could ever ask for. Fearing death again is something I forgot. My power made it insignificant, and now I can die, but that just motivates me to improve." he stroked her hair, "I'm not dealing with Roswaal or Puck… I miss some of them, but this world is new. But I was able to bring you back. No more seeing you when I die I can just be with you right now."
"What do you want to do in the future? I honestly don't mind as long as we can stay together. I still want to save the elves in that forest."
"We can do what we can to make this world better. You're a candidate to become king, and we can save the elves, and we'll have to deal with the witch cult too."
"Tomorrow, we can talk more. I'm going to sleep," Emilia rested her chest on his, "We can talk about everything else later. I just want to sleep…."
So why not change the timeline a bit to account for Subaru never having RBD?
For anyone confused, Satella = Emilia, so basically, think the same person. The only difference is they've known each other longer than possible, and Subaru saved Satella in this chapter by doing the memory swap. So Satella's body is basically in a coma state within the seal. Emilia's and Satella's memories combined which is why she still wants to save the elves.
It's like soul merging but with memories instead.
Also, for anyone wondering why Reinhard did what he did at the end, his POV is a spoiler :)