Subaru blinked at his new yet familiar surroundings. Why was he back at the manor? Moments before, the raven-haired strategist had been assaulting the Vollachian capital of Lapugana to restore the deposed Emperor Vincent. Had Satella teleported him? But why? Subaru's eyes widened a little bit as he realized something.
Subaru glimpsed down at his long legs. He was tall once more, and a wave of jubilation washed over him; he didn't look like an eight-year-old anymore. It had been so long since his transformation that Subaru could hardly believe it. God, it felt good to be an adult again. The now raven-haired adult observed his location.
Light poured in from the many large windows of the manor, illuminating the empty hall. Present was a long line of ornamented doorways that decorated the pristine white walls. Each was likely empty since the mansion had few residents who called it home. It had been so long since he had been here. The sight of it brought a handful of tears to his eyes. He was happy to finally have returned home to Emilia-tan, Ram, Garfiel, Frederica, Petra, Otto, and even Roswaal.
"What are you crying about?" A female voice rang out in his head, the voice of someone he hadn't seen in a very long time.
"Echidna?" He nervously replied, trying to see if it was just his imagination or if the Witch of Greed was speaking with him.
"Yes, that's my name," The dreaded Witch responded in a smug tone, "By the way, Subaru, why did you kill yourself?"
What? Kill himself? Why would he do that? He had given up the practice of tactical suicide over a year ago. She had been there when he chose to forsake such thinking. Also, how was Echidna talking to him outside of the sanctuary?
"How are you talking to me, Echidna?" Subaru asked in a voice that was barely a whisper.
"Through the black crystal around your neck," Echidna stated very matter of factly, "As a consequence of our contract, we can converse." Contract? That couldn't be right.
"Echidna, are you going senile or something? I refused your contract." Subaru gazed down at the eerie black crystal around his neck. His brow furrowed in confusion. The typically informally dressed Subaru wore a black vest and white undershirt that screamed nobility with fancy black dress pants and shoes. Stuff that he wouldn't be caught dead wearing, except for the most formal of occasions. He hadn't been wearing that before, and where had his orange scarf gone?
"Subaru, what are you talking about? And you still haven't answered my question?" Echidna spoke emotionlessly, sending shivers down his spine. He hadn't forgotten how the damn Witch had just seen him as a guinea pig for her to observe. Subaru couldn't be bothered to participate in whatever scheme she had cooked up. Instead, Subaru tore the creepy dark crystal off his neck, chucking it to the side like he was discarding an old toy.
"What th'fuck y'doin' here." A rough voice calls out to him from behind. Subaru quickly turned to face the person, his eyes broadening with shock as he saw who it was: Garfiel, Garfiel Tinsel. His brother-in-arms and potentially his greatest admirer besides Satella. A heartfelt smile forms on Subaru's lips as he gazes at the approaching yellow-haired demi-human.
"It's good to see you, Garf," Subaru says, voice filled with barely restrained emotion, "I'm finally back."
"What the fuck y' talkin' about?" Garfiel responds belligerently, contrasting with his usual reverence for the black-haired knight. Was he mad about Subaru going to Vollachia and worrying all of them? That couldn't be it; he would be more emotional if that was the case. Why was he acting so nonchalantly about Subaru's return? Garf was acting like Subaru never left in the first place. Wait, no.
Dread abruptly began consuming the hero of Prisetella, gnawing at him. No, he couldn't have been sent so far back. There was only one way to find out.
"Garf, have we gone to the Pleiades Watch Tower yet?" Subaru's questioned, desperately hoping the answer wasn't what he thought it was.
"..." Garfiel's silence all but confirmed it: Natsuki Subaru had been sent back in time, farther than he ever had before. Why, Satella? Why? All of his struggles at the Watch Tower and in Vollachia, all the deaths, and everything he had gained, as a result, were all gone.
This world always found surprising new ways to make the knight of Emilia suffer. At least he didn't have to redo Prisetella. Subaru could feel the authority of greed in him, meaning he still had killed Regulus. Thank God for that. He let out a depressed sigh. Though the situation sucked, he could work with it and make the next few months easier for himself and his friends. A shakey smile formed on his dry lips.
"Oh, forget what I said." Subaru hastily tried to backtrack on his earlier odd question.
"Y'fuckin' weird like Almar 'fore th'jump." Garf's eyes narrowed in hostility as he gave the incomprehensible proverb. Subaru dismissed his friend's hostility. He was probably mad over some argument that they had forgotten.
There were more pressing matters to handle. Subaru needed to check up with the once again comatose Rem. It pained Subaru's heart to think that the Oni was lost again. He had just got her back too.
"Welp, I'm off to see Rem. Stay safe, Garf." Subaru let out abruptly before running off. Garf raises his eyebrows in anger and confusion, which goes unnoticed by the already-gone Subaru. The fancily dressed radio-callisthenics enthusiast ran through the long labyrinth-like halls of the Roswaal's manor. Passing by a friendly face along the way.
"Aaah!" Petra yelped as the passing Subaru gave her a quick pat on the head. It was nice to see Petra again. He hadn't seen her since leaving for the Tower. Subaru ran for a couple more minutes before finally reaching Rem's room. His heart stopped beating for a moment as anxiety surged through him. Natsuki Subaru nervously placed his shaking hand on the doorknob, tightening his grip as he turned it, and with one great pull, Subaru flung the door open.
The evil-eyed otherworlder was greeted by a sadly familiar sight; a beautiful Oni with short blue hair sleeping peacefully, undisturbed by the outside world. Subaru strode toward her bedside, looking over her slumbering visage. A few tears leaking from his eyes fell on Rem's left cheek. Subaru took his hand and gently wiped them away with his index finger.
"Rem, I have another chance. Another chance to save you and make things right," Subaru cupped her cheek somberly, "I... I love you, Rem." He sat there for some time, silently watching over her. For a few moments, all was quiet until Subaru heard the sound of footsteps from behind him. Somebody entered Rem's room. He turned his head to catch a glimpse of the person and found himself greeted by short pink hair.
"Subaru-sama, why are you here? You already visited my sister earlier today," Ram questioned in an overly formal tone, something quite unlike her, "Have you visited Reinhard-sama yet?" Reinhard was here? That's odd. Subaru hadn't seen Rein since Prisetella. Why was he at the mansion at this point?
"No... I haven't met with Reinhard yet. I didn't know he was here. Is he visiting or something?" Subaru stared at the Pink-haired Oni with a questioning look.
"Sir, are you tired?" Her red eyes lacked emotion, making Subaru shudder. Something was clearly off. He needed to find out what.
"Oh no, I was just joking around with you, that's all," Subaru attempted to act as normal as humanly possible, "Also, what's with you being so... uptight and respectful?"
"What do you mean, Sir Subaru?" Ram glares at him somewhat suspiciously.
"I don't know, it's just, you usually insult me at every turn." Subaru answered.
"You are lady Emilia's knight. You are to be treated with respect. In any other case, Reinhard-sama will be waiting for you downstairs, Sir." Ram brushed off Subaru's response. The bewildered slayer of the White Whale got up from the chair beside Rem's bed. It was time to see Rein.
"I'll save you, Rem. I promise I'll be your hero," Subaru faintly whispered to the sleeping beauty. He turned to leave the room, slowly walking towards the door. Telling Ram before he left.
"Ram, take care of Rem for me." She stared at him with her cold, judging, vermillion eyes. An aura of apathy surrounded her. Subaru gave it no notice; traversing the vast estate, he arrived at the bottom of the stairs. True to what Ram had said, Reinhard stood there. Etched on his handsome face was a worried expression.
Why did he look like that?
"Subaru-sama, are you alright? You took longer than usual to arrive. You missed Garfiel's training session." Reinhard's words were frantic. The Sword Saint was visually brimming with unease. What had happened to make him like... this?
"Rein, it's good to see you, but why aren't you in the capital?" Subaru questioned the god-like knight, "Is Felt here with you?" Reinhard tensed up at the mention of Felt's name. His expression went from worry to regretful grief. Had they had a fight?
"Bro, you ok? Subaru asked.
"Subaru-sama, you already know that Felt left me." Reinhard's voice was choked with emotion. Wait, this never happened.
"What are you talking about? Is this a joke? God, I didn't know you had it in you to do something like that, Rein." Subaru's voice betrayed him as his thoughts spiralled. What was happening? What did Satella do? He needed to assess what was happening alone. Maybe Beako could help hi- Subaru's eyes widened as he began shaking uncontrollably. His contract with Beako, he couldn't feel it anymore.
Suddenly, Subaru sprinted away from Reinhard. Quietly praying to whatever gods would listen that the inhumanly fast Reinhard wouldn't pursue him.
"Wait, Subaru-sama!" Reinhard yelled for his running friend, utterly baffled by what just happened.
Subaru sprinted quickly through the ornately decorated halls of the Mather's manor, searching for the library where he knew she would be. Arriving at his desired destination, he flung the large wooden doors open. His jaw immediately dropped to the floor.
The typically clean and neatly organized library was a complete and utter mess. Books and scraps of paper lay all over the place. The once sparkling-clean floors and walls looked like nobody bothered to scrub them for months. But that wasn't what grabbed Subaru's attention. It was the crying drill-haired loli that caught his hazel eyes.
Beatrice was bawling her butterfly eyes out, crying into her knees as she hugged them, curling into a ball. Subaru rushed to her. He couldn't bare seeing his darling Beako sad. After all, he had made a promise to stick by her.
"Fuck off, I suppose." Beako quietly mouthed, words laced with disdain. Subaru couldn't care, though, quickly pulling the weeping loli into his loving embrace, hoping to relieve Beatrice of some of her burdens. Instantly, he felt a sharp, clawing pain on the right side of his neck.
"AAAH! What the hell?!" Subaru released Beako from his hug, scurrying back a few inches before placing his hand on his neck. Blood. He was bleeding. Beako's well-trimmed nails were stained with bloody crimson.
"Beako, why?!" Subaru cried out, betrayed by his contracted spirit. Why? Why? Why? He didn't understand; why would Beatrice hurt him?
"You ask Betty, why? It is because you made Betty fail Mother, I suppose," Beako mumbled, her hate apparent, "In fact, you should leave Betty the fuck alone, I suppose!" She pushed her right hand out, and just like that, Subaru was sent flying out of the library. Hitting his back on a wall as he watched the wooden doors shut.
He staggered upright, head still ringing from the impact. He tried to wrap his mind around what had occurred. But he simply couldn't. It was unbelievable. Beako had hurt him. Was this some twisted joke? He grasped his head in pain, tugging on his slick black hair.
"What the fuck happened to everyone?" Subaru whispered to himself. What was happening? Ram was overly formal with him. Reinhard wasn't acting like a total worry wart and had been abandoned by Felt. Garf was being an edgy dick. Most concerning, his contract with Beako was gone, and she hated his guts. He couldn't remember any of this happening. Things weren't adding up.
His thoughts were soon interrupted by a certain blond-haired maid.
"Subaru-sama, is everything alright? Reinhard was quite concerned about you. He said you had abruptly run away from him," Frederica's sharp green eyes softened in concern, her gaze fixated on Subaru's neck, "Did... lady Beatrice do that to you?"
"Frederica, where's Roswaal," he struggled to stay calm, "Please, I just need to see the bastard." Her eyes quickly switched from gentle to razor-sharp once more. She was clearly upset at the disregard he showed to the Margrave. However, Subaru couldn't care less about how she felt about that. Roswaal was human trash in his eyes.
"He's awaiting you in his office. Also, I regret to inform you that we have received no information on the location of Otto-sama." She stated concisely, leaving Subaru even more at a loss for what was going on. Had Otto gone missing? His breathing heightened, becoming more frenzied. What happened to Otto?
Frederica began moving her mouth to say something but was cut off. Subaru was now running in the direction of Roswaal's office. That fucking piece of shit was behind all of this. To what end, Subaru couldn't tell. All he knew was that he had to stop him. The thought of Roswaal's clownish face made his blood boil. How Subaru wanted to punch that stupid face of his. How he desperately needed to knock in the mage's perfect white teeth.
Out of the blue, Subaru fell on his ass. He was too occupied with planning Roswaal's slow demise to notice the person in front of him, and as a result, he bumped into them.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you..." Subaru's words were caught in his throat. He gaped in horror at the ghost before him, finding it difficult to breathe under the watch of her ice-cold black eyes. The promiscuity of the objectively beautiful black-haired woman was lost on him. Subaru clutched his abdomen out of fear of losing his bowels. She was supposed to be dead, so why was she here? How are you alive, Elsa Granhiert!?
"Your eyes look more lively than usual," She creepily stated in her silky smooth voice, "You also appear so much more fearful of me, almost like you saw a ghost. I wonder how tantalizing your bowels are when you're like this. Won't you let me have a peek?" Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Subaru was out of there. He immediately lept to his feet and booked it, running away from the despicable, bowel-obsessed assassin. He needed everyone out of there. She was probably here to kill Emilia-tan, so he needed to get to her first and fast. Hurriedly racing through the corridors, Subaru was too afraid to notice how exhausted all this running was making him. His mind was solely focused on Elsa's return to the world of the living.
As far as he knew, Roswaal couldn't do that shit. He couldn't revive the dead. Perhaps, the Witch Cult? No, this soon after Prisetella wouldn't make it feasible. So, how was she alive? Her body burned to cinders in the mansion fire. The Shield of the Sanctuary had destroyed the bitch.
He stopped outside of Emilia's room. Subaru gave a quick knock on her door. Only to be met with a knock on the other side? Was Emilia-tan being playful? The idea made him blush, but he didn't have much time to warn her. Elsa would likely arrive soon. So instead of playing along, Subaru forced Emilia's door wide open. He heard a surprised yelp let out by what sounded like a pair of silver bells.
He lost his breath for a quick second. Emilia-tan looked every bit as stunning as Subaru remembered. Her breathtaking purple eyes shone like amethyst jewels. Everything about Emilia was perfect: her porcelain white skin, rosy cheeks and lips, delicate nose, pointy ears, and gorgeous silver hair made him crazy for her. She wasn't just pretty. She was an angel sent down from the heavens.
The pure encapsulation of beauty.
'EMT! EMT! EMT! EMT!' He chanted in his head before quickly stopping.
Something caught Subaru's eye. Emilia's hair was cut short. Her once long, luscious, silver hair now barely reached her shoulders.
"Emilia-tan, your... your hair? It's so... short." Subaru spoke softly, trying to hide his pain at seeing Emilia's long hair gone. She gazed at him, confused and... nervous?
"Gee~z, Subaru, you're such a forgetful nincompoop. I cut my hair a while ago." She responded affectionately, each word filled with tenderness. Normally, he would've laughed at her use of such old language, but he was too occupied with wondering why she'd done it.
"Emilia-tan, why did you cut your hair?" His voice trembled with sorrow at the loss of her long silver locks, "It was so beautiful. You know how much I loved it." She tilted her head, positioning her index finger on her chin.
"We~ll, I saw how you always visit the lady with short blue hair for a re~ally long time," She stated with a slight blush creeping onto her face, "So I cut my hair, so you didn't need to spend as much time with her." Subaru's jaw slackened, his eyes wide with shock. She was jealous. Emilia-tan was jealous of Rem. He suddenly burst out laughing.
" Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!" he bellowed. Emilia's blush worsened.
"Subaru, you dunderhead. Stop laughing at me!" She cutely demanded. It only made him intensify his laughing fit.
" Hahahahaha. You're jealous. Emilia-tan is jealous," He cried in laughter, "I never thought I'd see the day."
"Subaru, if you don't, I'll kick you ou~t." She threatened while puffing out her cheeks in an adorable pout. As his laughing slowed down, Subaru remembered something.
"Emilia, we have to get out of here now!" He shouted, cursing his stupidity, "Elsa's alive, and she's come to kil-." Out of the blue, Emilia's fingers began caressing the part of his neck Beako cut. She gazed into his eyes, her purple gems filled with icy emotion. He froze.
"That looks su~per painful, Subaru. What happened?" As she asked, Subaru could've sworn that things had gotten chillier inside the mansion. He didn't have time to tell her.
"It doesn't matter, Emilia-tan, we have to foc-." She interrupted him once more.
"It was Beatrice, wasn't it?" She coldly stated as something shifted inside her. In an instant, the temperature of the manor dropped below zero. Subaru's skin shivered at the air's cold touch. The area around him and Emilia was covered in crystalline frost. Subaru began to panic.
The situation reminded him too much of that time with Puck. It brought back so many bad memories. All those times, the Beast of the End mercilessly froze him to death. It had hurt so much.
The cold bit against his trembling fingers as Emilia continued blankly staring at him, painfully whimpering in her usually cute, now broken voice. She looked so in pain. He desired nothing more than to speak comforting words to her. To wrap his form around hers and pull her into a hug. To silence her anxieties with a soft kiss. But his mouth wouldn't move. His arms felt limp and lifeless. Ice encased his feet, keeping him from moving closer to her.
Subaru's skin turned a sickening shade of purple. His vision began to fail him as life faded from his dying body.
He would save her. Subaru declared in his increasingly foggy mind.
He would rescue her from her suffering, no matter what it took.
With what remained of his feeble strength gone, Natsuki Subaru froze to death.
Floating. Subaru was floating.
"I Love You. I Love You."
Floating in an endless void of shadows. Weightless. A
pair of silver bells constantly whispering words of love. How many times had he been there? Darkness consumed his sight. Subaru couldn't feel anything.
"I love you. Please stop doing this to yourself. Please don't hurt," The woman's voice was filled with indescribable grief. She seemed to be weeping, "Know only love. Love yourself as I love you. Please."
He had no tongue or mouth; as a result, he could not respond. Yet, strangely, the words came out all the same.
"I know you do. I still remember my promise to you," Subaru's voice was ethereal and so quiet that the average person wouldn't be able to pick up on what he said. However, at the same time, it was burning with determination.
"..."
"I'll save you, no matter what." He reaffirmed his vow.
Light flooded his eyes as a familiar feeling washed over him.
He had arrived back in the world of the living. Subaru had returned there by death.
He was standing in the middle of a hallway with a creepy black crystal around his neck. It appeared to be the same time of day as when he was teleported to the mansion.
So his checkpoint was before his odd meeting with Garfiel.
That was good to know. Wait...
Subaru remembered something...
Emilia had... killed him.
He clutched his head in pain, gripping on tightly.
Emilia, the one person he thought would never kill him, had frozen Subaru to death. Why? Why? Why?!
Subaru couldn't understand why. Nothing made sense. Why were things so... different?
It clicked. A revelation suddenly dawned on Subaru. There was no way, but... it would explain a few things, like why everybody acted so weird. Subaru took a deep breath before yelling:
"I've been summoned to an alternate timeline!?"