Prologue: Slow Start
#
Strand of memory
The thief she chased after disappeared atop the tiled roofs of the Capital of Lugunica. When she glimpsed the thief's lean body jumping from the body of a carriage to the tent of a merchant's stall, she called, "Stop right there! Please!" and then shot a chunk of ice.
It missed the mark, struck a wall and thunked down close to the merchant's feet. She chased after the thief and like a good girl, made sure to stop, bow her head, and apologize to the merchant for having nearly harmed him.
The voice of her Father/ Spirit Guardied echoed, "Good job, Lia. You did a good job in apologizing to him, but I think you should hurry and chase after the thief before they disappear again. Look, I think they went down into the narrow alley. Be careful, though, because you don't know the kind of thugs that must stalk these places."
Her Father was right; when she drew on the edge of entering the alleyway the wild screams of a man grated her ears. Kicks, grunts of pain, a mocking laughter, and a scream she heard.
"Should we take the longer way? Or maybe this is the longer way." Her father's voice from within the crystal reached out only to her.
"No. We don't have such time. I need to hurry up."
"-And don't think it'll be painless!" Such a rough voice broke the screams of pain when she entered the alleyway. She stopped.
In the narrow dirty alley where stained walls and unknown boxes lay, a group of three ragged men hounded a single person. They kicked at him from all sides; landing their filthy boots hard on his torso, legs, arms and trying to get at his head which he so desperately protected. The person's black t-shirt was stained with mud and dirt, while the rest of his body continued to get riddled with bruises.
One of the thugs was a lean man with two long steel knives held in an awkward position. The other on his right was extremely short of height, covered in a robe clasped at the collar. Whether the small boy's kicks even did any damage, she did not know. But the other bulky man's kicks sure did.
Finally the person's face was exposed to the lean man with tall knives. He pushed the heel of his shoe against the person's cheek and the guttural screams the person made stunned her.
"That's enough." She produced the calmest, yet authoritative voice she could and stopped them.
It seemed to work; all four men looked at her, surprised enough to stop the abuse and even stop the painful cries. Weirdly, the beaten-up person on the ground seemed stunned enough to forget his own pain and predicament.
There was no way the four did not notice her pointed ears, her amethyst eyes and her silver hair, yet the thugs made no sign of fear or disgust. Maybe it was because they were thugs–ignorant and arrogant.
"Now that this is done, which one of them could be the thief that took the insignia? The lean person seems to be the best bet, maybe even the small boy over there. But what if all three are in cahoots with each other? That could be the case. Hold on a minute. What about the strange person getting beaten up?! The thief could have gone down in the alley, then caught by the ragged three men! Or he could still know something about the thief."
"Who the hell are you?!" The lean man with the knives, a broken chain collar strapped around his neck, said in an obnoxious tone.
She made the decision and spoke just when a timely breeze touched her, "Stop now, and I'll let this slide. So just graciously give back what you stole."
They were ragged thugs, but she felt pity at whatever situation they found themselves in. They must have stolen her insignia because they were desperate for money, for food, or maybe even for their families. How they knew about her insignia, she did not know.
But as much as she needed the insignia, she could forgive the thief who snatched it.
"What we stole?" The bulky man spoke.
"Now, please. It's important to me. I'll give up on the other stuff, but I can't let you have that. Be good and hand it over, please."
"You didn't come to save this kid?"
When the bulky man pointed, she took a good look at the person with black hair, at his strange clothes which were out-of-place in the Capital of Lugunica, and the unnecessary orange line down on his pants.
Because they asked, she had to answer, "What strange clothes he has. If you asked if I had any connection to him, I'd have to say no."
"T-Then you've got no business with us!"-He pointed to the end of the alley.-"If someone stole from you, it was that brat who just ran by!"
"Yeah! That way! She ran that way!" The small boy joined in, pointing in the exact same direction.
Perplexingly, the beaten-up person was nodding his head along with the thugs who just beat him.
"Strange person. But the others don't seem to be lying. And if I waste too much time here, I might lose the actual thief."
She pressed her thumb and index finger against her chin. "Hmm..they don't seem to be lying. I have to hurry and go after her!"
She rushed past them. The three thugs sighed in relief, but the beaten-up person didn't even call out for help. A simple side-glance revealed how truly defenseless and injured he was. The three thugs turned back their attention towards him.
When she climbed the three steps up, she turned in place. "But regardless of that…I can't overlook what's going on here."
Her palm spread towards them and in a simple manipulation of mana, three solid chunks of ice fired out one-by-one and struck all three of them. Their bodies flew a little aways, while the small boy was knocked unconscious.
"Perfect! I made sure to not make it too damaging."
She dissipated the chunks of ice.
"Magic?" The beaten-up person uttered like he had never seen magic before.
"Mess with us, will you?" The lean got up while rubbing his head. "I don't care if you can use magic, I'll kill you! You think you can win when it's two against one?! Huh?!" The man did not even acknowledge the small boy in their numbers.
She placed her hand to her waist. "You're right. Two against one may be unfair."
"Puck! It's your turn."
"Understood~!"
"Two against two should make it fair, then." The boyish tone of her father cut through the two thugs, then he materialized above her palm.
As mischievously as always, he winked at them when he made his appearance.
"You're a user of the spiritual arts?" The bulky man seemed to have some sense in him. Her decision to call Puck out was right. Now they could avoid having to fight.
"Correct. Back off now and I won't come after you. Decide quickly. I am in a hurry."
"You bitch! Next time I see you, I won't go easy on you!" The lean man cursed.
"Hmm, though Puck never tells me what bitch actually means…"
"Do anything to her, and I'll haunt you and your kin forever. Not that you'll have any kin if I do that."
"Gosh, always so overboard."
Scared, the bulky man ran away while the lean man stopped only to pick up the knocked out small boy. She hoped they learned their lesson from this and would not trouble anyone else.
"You saved me. Thanks." The black haired boy said something that most people never said to her.
She looked closer; his eyes were shaped into a strange glare, odd almost. His hairstyle wasn't one she had ever seen either. Though receiving thanks was supposed to be only natural, the possibility of him being the thief or knowing the thief still remained.
"Don't move." She stared at him and only a second or so later, the stranger turned his eyes away. His cheeks were flushed, probably from the beating he just took.
"See? You averted your eyes because you have a guilty conscience."
"Or maybe because he…recognized my features, just like everyone else." She forced herself to dismiss the thought. "Though it seems I have found a clue towards the culprit. "
"Looks like my judgment was spot on."
"Are you sure?" Puck said. "I think it was just an instinctive male reaction. I didn't sense any malice at all."
"You be quiet, Puck. You know who stole my insignia from me, don't you?"
"Uh, sorry, but I don't have the slightest idea." He said, quite sincerely.
"Oh no."
"What? Wait, it can't be." She turned back to face the wall at the end of the alley. "Did I really just come around the long way?"
"You should probably hurry after her, Miss." The boy said with more composure than he could afford to. "I could…help…"
He tried to get up, then collapsed in an awkward position.
"Aw, you should not have tried to get up. What should we do?" Puck asked.
"It's none of our business," she said, but decided in her heart on what to do.
Puck started teasing her, knowing full well she could not find it in her to abandon this beaten-up boy. He even offered to help. Yet she needed to be stubborn with her words, otherwise it would feel that Puck won again.
So she bickered, then decided to stay with the boy.
#
Emilia woke up with a gasp. She checked around her, felt the silky blanket atop her, the linen wear she had slept in, and her soft squeaking bed. It was her room, no doubt, yet she had been in someplace completely different.
"That is….Subaru?" The alleyways, the thugs, and the beaten-up boy, Natsuki Subaru. Everything was clearer in her head than dreams were supposed to be. But it did not make sense, it was inconsistent with what she knew.
That day she hadn't met Subaru there at all.
She rubbed her forehead, finding a sheet of sweat there. When she shut her eyes, the image of Subaru being beaten up by the three thugs, her thoughts, and her emotions during the situation came streaming down to her. The pressure was hard enough to try and push the memories she did know out of their place.
"That's right. I met Subaru at the loot house, where he saved me. That is how I actually met him! What is wrong with me? It all feels so weird."
Usually her low blood pressure in the mornings would make it hard for her to get out of her enticing bed, but now her heart ran much too fast. She rolled out of bed, finding the floor cold on her feet.
"Wait a minute. There is something."
In her linen clothes with her bare feet out, she strode to her desk. The large oak desk was mounted with books upon books on kingcraft; politics of nations, kings, settlements, holdfasts, and how to govern villages, levy taxes, give audience to both the commoners and the nobles. She ignored every text there, slid her hand below the desk, and took out her secret diary she kept stuck there with a frozen steel latch of her making.
Ever since she had seen Subaru's diary about Beatrice, she had fulfilled her own urge to keep a diary. At first it had been about the trifles of daily life, then about her thoughts and emotions. And when she was separated from Subaru after he was blown away into Vollachia, the diary had mysteriously turned about Subaru and about the lovely words he always told her.
"Here it is. He said it first when we went to the Capital during the award ceremony for the white whale and the Sin archbishop of Sloth's extermination. He told me I had saved him in an alley! Then he said it again when the newspaper person had come to take interviews from each camp! But I, I never saved him there at all. Never did!"
Always thinking it were some story he spun, now it felt different, almost like it was indeed a truth.
"M-Maybe…I dreamt it….cause he talked about it? Because! Because then nothing would make sense."
She slumped down on the floor while she held the diary with her trembling fingers.
"I should write this down. This…dream. And then, yeah, I should just talk to Subaru. Isn't that what I have learned? To rely on others, to rely on my knight, Natsuki Subaru. I'll talk to him about it."
Thinking about the resolute smile he would definitely give her relaxed her fingers. Lately she would feel incredible just being around him. She could walk with her head high and talk with confidence as long as he stood beside her.
She wrote, then washed herself, dressed herself, and made her way to the table for breakfast.
"Today I woke super late. Was it because of the dream? I'll have to apologize to my spirits." She rubbed the pyroxene crystal wrapped around her neck in a chain. "What do you think, Puck? About this dream. Why did it feel so real? It was almost like the time in Sanctuary, when I remembered things I never even knew about."
No answer came from the crystal.
The corridor ahead seemed to stretch out and again, she found herself going back to the alley, to the thugs, and to Subaru there.
Then, as she cut the corner at the end of the corridor, she bumped into someone. The person fell on their hips.
"Are you alright?! You aren't hurt are you—wait, Subaru?"
"Ow, ow, ow. Emilia-tan, I should be the one asking if you're hurt, not you. Did you not even feel a single bit of damage?!"
"Ah, sorry, I didn't feel you there at all."
"So honest! But even that is a biiiiig EMT!"
"Idiot!"
She just could not resist the urge to smack him on the head, so she did, making sure to hold back her power.
He stood there, giggling like a child, happy and innocent. She helped him pat down his servant's black outfit. For a reason which she did not know but wanted to, Subaru's cheeks flushed bright red and he stood stiff as she firmly caressed her hands all over his buttoned shirt and black trousers.
His smooth black hair was swept back cleanly, a layer of gel glistening atop.
"But, Subaru. What are you doing here? This is the left wing, you know. Your room is all the way in the right wing."
"O-Oh, of course I know that. This was just a…coincidence! I was passing by to fix a cracked vase I saw two days ago. Yup, that's why."
"I see!" She clapped her hands as she realized why. "That must mean these coincidences happen a lot between you and me!"
"Uh, y-yeah, they sure do."
She beamed at him. The anxious worry from before vanished like mist.
"Oh yeah, Emilia-tan. Here, I saw this out jogging, and I thought you would like this." From his breast pocket, he took out a five-petaled pink flower and handed it to her.
"Wow. It smells incredible, Subaru! And it's smooth to the touch."
"Lately, Emilia-tan has been getting good at making pressed flowers. So I thought you would want this for your collection."
Her cheeks melted at his consideration. She really wanted to leap up and hug him tight, but found herself embarrassed at such a desire. "Thank you, Subaru. It means a lot to me. It makes me super happy."
"O-Oh, y-yeah, no worries. Hehe," he ruffled his hair and gave her that adorable smile of his.
She drew closer to him, tip-toeing there, and looked up at him. Her eyes flickered while her cheeks seemed to burn her.
"Emilia-tan. Um, you're so close that I can't help but get some….ideas."
"Subaru," she said softly, akin to a gasp or a whisper.
"Yes! I am indeed Subaru. Never have I been more happy to have been named Subaru than right now!"
"Idiot!" She took his hands, then ran a finger over his serene palm riddled with calluses from all the training he did with his whip. The soft bumps were nice to touch. "Um," she uttered and found herself anxious suddenly. "Four days from now I, uh, am free the entire day. So, Subaru, you want to..go on a date? J-Just you and me?"
"..."
"S-Subaru?" Now she found her heart thumping in a worrisome rhythm. Him not answering her caused queer fear within her. "Hey…answer me…."
Subaru's nostrils flared out, then he pumped his hand and shouted, "Alriiiighht!"
Loud, it boomed like a horn across the corridor. And yet, the joy on his face and the answer mixed in his shout made everything fly so slow in her eyes.
"Of course I accept, Emilia-tan! Let me decide the place, please. I'll make sure my Lady over here has the best time of her life."
"I am sure he will. That's how he always is." The burn inside her chest did not seem to cease. "In four days, okay? There are still four days, Subaru."
"Emilia-tan. You have no idea how important these four days of waiting are going to be for me. Alright, as much as I want to stand and talk with you here, I need to go wake up Beako."
"Hmm, now that you say it, it's strange to not see Beatrice stuck to you like glue. Ever since Vollachia, she's been attached to you stronger than anyone. Well, I can understand why, though."
"When I went out to jog, Beako was still sleeping. So I decided to let her stay in bed for a while. Even Emilia-tan woke up late today, huh? If you sleep so much you'll get lazy feet, you know."
"L-Lazy feet?! Oh no. Subaru, what do I do then?!"
"I am kidding! Just kidding! Ahahahah!"
"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" She hit small fists on his chest while he laughed to the point he had tears.
"Alright, alright, I am sorry. By the way, Emilia-tan. Would you go and wake up Otto, please? He probably drank himself to sleep last night as well. Sometimes I wonder just what kind of a stressed life he must be leading. Poor guy."
"I know. All of those paperworks he needs to handle all day and all night. Poor Otto. He needs some rest. Wonder why he gets so much paperworks all the time?"
Subaru started whistling away. But then he turned back to her and said, "Emilia-tan. Um, this is probably just me, but is there something wrong?"
"Eh? Why?"
"Your flower ornament, it's fixed lower than where it is supposed to be."
She put her hand to her head and found his words to be true. But more than that, her heart was in shock at the absurd amount of attention he paid to her. Her lips quivered, but not due to any negative emotions.
"If there is anything wrong, you can come to tell me, okay?" He said, then his lips curled up into a strong, bright smile.
Everything around her, the corridor, the paintings hung on the walls, the carpet below, and the light within, everything except for Subaru seemed to drown out into some strange distance.
"Mn, I will, Subaru. I will, but for now…I think I am perfectly fine. Thank you."
"No, no, I haven't done anything."
"But you have. You have done more than I could possibly tell you, Subaru."
After he left, she staggered and had to hold herself against the wall. "Nowadays, talking to Subaru makes me feel so many emotions. And among them so many I don't even understand."
She skipped away, thinking about the date they would have four days from now. Soon she reached Otto Suwen's office, where one could almost always find himself in. She rasped the wooden door.
"Otto? Are you there? It's me, Emilia."
After a little and after some irritated grunts from the inside, the door opened. Otto's ashen gray hair looked like a wild nest, the corners of his mouth were stained crusty white with drool, and black bags weighed heavy under his eyes.
She was fairly used to this look, however.
"So you did drink yourself last night, Otto?"
"Eh? How do yo–oh, Natsuki-san?"
Something was odd; he spoke Subaru's name with a strange tone to it.
"I know you are super stressed, Otto, but we all think you need to step back on the drinks a little. Is there something wrong, Otto?"
"Huh? No, there isn't…anything. Nothing at all. W-Why do you ask? Is there something on my face? I just drank myself, that's all."
"No, well, you're acting a little odd, Otto. I just want to know if there isn't any emergency."
"Nope, no emergency at all. There are no issues here."
"Something's wrong here. I must not ignore it."
Otto was about to close the door, but she stopped it with her feet.
"Otto, I know there is something wrong. And I don't think you need to keep it inside yourself. If not everyone, then at least share it with me. We're all one team, remember? We should rely on each other whenever there is a need to do so. "
Otto bit his lip, then looked around the corridor. "I, uh, it was a strange…dream," he said. "A nightmare, in truth."
"A nightmare," she whispered. The dream she had which remained stuck inside her came bellowing back.
"I think it was because I drank too much last night. So, yeah, the nightmare is why I am a little…off."
"Can you tell me what it was about? Speaking about it might help unburden your shoulders. Plus, it's just a dream, right? So there is no need to worry about it so much."
"This dream felt too real, though. But you're right, Emilia-sama. If I stop relying on my friends, then everything I said to Natsuki-san would become a lie. In this dream, I was driving my carriage along the Lifaus Highway, headed towards Arlam village with other merchants I had met. Natsuki-san was there, somehow. He and Rem-san had convinced us to help them, and I got onto this opportunity to solve my oil problem."
"So already everything is different from reality, right?"
"Yes, Emilia-sama. It's all different, new, yet somehow real in my head. So, anyways, we rode through and then a mist descended upon us."
"A mist? Isn't that?!"
"-The white whale, yes. I have never met it ever, never I tell you. But in the dream, it's roar….it was so, ugh!" Otto clutched his ears, his eyes wild with something within them.
She was about to tell him that it's okay to stop right there, but her urge to know won over her consideration. She gulped down the bitter taste in her mouth and let him continue.
"And, uh, then Natsuki-san started talking about a girl I did not know. No! I did. No, I mean, I do now, but not then. I did not know he was talking about Rem then, I swear. But now I do. It's so messed up in the head right now. He punched me for it, we bickered, then we saw the w-white whale. That's when it gave off a terrifying, maddening roar! And then. And then, I…"
"What, Otto? What? What happened then? What did you do? Please, tell me." She urged him, even pushed herself further inside the room.
He looked at her with eyes completely on the verge of breaking down, of collapsing, and said, "I pushed him off. I pushed him off! Me, the me in that dream, he pushed him off. Driven mad, and unable to think of nothing but my own survival, I pushed Natsuki-san to his definite demise. I-I even remember seeing the image of my Mom, my dad, my younger and older brother then. I thought it would have to be between me or Natsuki-san, and I chose myself. No, wrong! I had no choice! There was no choice!" He covered his whimpering face with his hands.
Now she truly did feel bad at having pushed him this far. "Otto, I am sorry. But, but! This is nothing but a dream okay. In fact, this is a sign that you need to drink less!"
"..Ahaha, you might indeed be right, Emilia-sama."
"I am! This mirage, vision, dream, or nightmare, it's completely fake. It's false because all of us know the truth of what actually happened. What you saw today did not happen at all, Otto. Believe in what you know."
"...Believe in what I know, huh. Thank you, Emilia-sama. I shall try my hardest, maybe talk about it to Nastuki-san….or maybe not. How awkward would it be to tell my friend that I dreamt about pushing him off a running carriage? Ahaha. Emilia-sama, I want to go back to sleep for a while. Would you care to tell them that I won't be present for breakfast?"
"Alright, I'll tell them that Otto drank so much that he will be out for the entire day."
"Huh? Wait a minute! If you seriously say that, then Petra-chan will seriously kill–"
She shut the door and walked away.
"It's completely false. It's completely false. Me and Otto getting a fake dream like that is just coincidence. That's all. More than that, Otto would never do something like throwing Subaru off to his death."
She looked down at her hands and found her fingers to be pale and shuddering. Hearing Otto's dream and looking at his face as he told it made her feel scared. Right now she needed to rush back to Subaru and be close to his presence. Then everything would be just fine.
Today's menu, laid on the table, consisted of two pieces of toasted bread, scrambled eggs with melted butter on top, a chunk of cheese, a cup of orange juice, and sliced apples.
Frederica and Ram served her. Garfiel was already on a seat, a white cloth tied under his neck and a set of knife and fork in his hand. However, Frederica rebuked him for not having washed his hands so he left off sulkily.
Subaru came along with Beatrice clutching his hand. Like always, they looked like a pair of brother and sister with the way they looked at each other. She envied their close bond, but noticed something about Beatrice.
"Hm, Beatrice? The corners of your eyes are super red, you know? What happened?"
"Wha-?" Beatrice said in surprise.
Subaru smiled abashedly, then said, "You see, Emilia-tan. When my cute Beako opened her eyes and saw me, she instantly leaped up, hugged me tight, and started wailing against my chest. It was so adorable, I tell you. My god, my chest almost evaporated from wholesomeness."
"Y-Y-You! You! You said you would not tell anyone, I suppose! You said it, in fact! Idiot! Stupid! Stupid, in fact!" Beatrice chased Subaru around the table until Ram got irritated enough to scold them both into submission.
"I am sure Beatrice must have missed you a lot, Subaru. Vollachia was only weeks ago, after all. So she must have had a bad dream or something." Emilia said.
Beatrice flinched a little, but cleared her queer expression off her face.
"By the way, where's Rem and Louise?" Subaru asked.
"Hah," Ram scoffed in her everyday manner. "Those two ate way earlier than all four of you. My dear sister and that annoying brat went off to the City to get supplies for tomorrow's desserts."
"Croissants?!" Beatrice leapt up. "Croissants, in fact?! Tomorrow is croissant day, I suppose!"
"Yes, yes, Beatrice-sama, tomorrow is indeed croissant day."
"And where's the clown?" Garfiel asked.
"Master is tied up with work in his office," Frederica said while Ram scowled at Garf. "He said…he needs to think about something very important today."
"What is going on inside your head now, Ros-chi?" Subaru muttered. "Alright, let's not waste anymore time and eat up, shall we?"
Emilia did not find any joy in eating today, but Subaru's presence made up for it. After they finished eating, the day truly started.
She went back to her room and swallowed herself in books about Kingcraft. Then, around lunchtime, she went outside to practice a new skill in her Ice Brand Arts technique, and after dinner she took a walk with Subaru, Beatrice, Garfiel, Rem, and Louise.
She busied herself such that she would not have the time to think about her and Otto's dreams.
After bidding a heart-thumping good night to Subaru, she buried her face in books once again. In a little, her eyes flickered shut.
#
Strand of Memory
"My name is Natsuki Subaru," he did a comical pose with one finger pointed to the heavens, a leg out, and his hips leaned back. "Not only am I clueless, I am also broke beyond compare! Nice to meet ya!"
"When that's all you say, you really sound hopeless," Puck said and she could agree with that.
Their 'helpful' search across meaningless places had yielded no results. In fact, she felt they were way more lost than before she had met Natsuki Subaru. It was a hard fact to swallow, but the young boy who lent her his help had only held her back.
"Why does he help me in the first place? Does he not see my features? Or does he? Then, just why?"
Even the tale he said about where he came from fell apart. The young boy seemed to be in a worse predicament than herself. He somehow had no clue where he was, no ability to read, and no one to help him out. Even then, he decided to help her.
"Just why?"
She checked his serene palm with only a few calluses on there. The boy must have come from a well-to-do family. Then why would he associate himself with someone like her?
"Does he not know?"
"Uh, anyway, I know your cat's name now, but I haven't heard yours yet."
"My name?"
"Yeah."
"He should not be involved with me, not anymore than this. Does he truly not know? If he doesn't then, then—"
A breeze ran through, whispering her hair behind her. She looked out into the landscape of the Capital. When she turned back, her eyes were decisive. "-I am Satella."
Her father displayed the reaction she expected, but not Natsuki Subaru.
"I have no family name. You can just call me Satella."
"No sane person ever would. No sane person in this world would stay with me after this."
"I see….Satella," but he said it. He mulled it over his tongue as if tasting it. "That's a nice name." The words that came from his mouth were side-by-side his beaming smile.
"-What? Absolutely absurd.
#
Emilia woke up gasping again. Her teeth clattered a little and she checked around to make sure this was still the reality which she knew and could be certain about.
"-What? I, what did I tell him? I told him my name is….."
From her uncovered window, moonlight spotted her.
"-Satella?"
Chapter end.