A/N: I know it's been a long time. You'll be happy to know that I've finally finished the requirements for most of my education, so updates should actually start happening now.
Flamonator04: Joke's on you. I saw it and that's why I'm publishing this early.
A strong "clang" noise resounded through the building as the only symptom that an attack had just been launched against Emilia and Puck, as a shield of magical energy sprang into being and a small, fluffy cat creature faded into existence beside Emilia's head. Elsa, the witch of a woman who had just tried to gut Emilia, flew back into the center of the room and gave Subaru a searing look that was some cross between smug arousal and calculated irritation at having her kill interrupted by an oddly dressed boy, by her standards.
"My, aren't you an interesting one? How did you see me, I wonder? I would have thought I would move faster than your eyes could see," the now crouching butcher taunted. She was drawn into a ready position that signaled that she was about to pounce again, one leg behind the other and her muscles tensed like a coil. Subaru chose not to respond, which was the right decision, as it left him to focus on the tension in the room. Emilia was clearly shocked but on her guard, Puck was confident, Rom looked about ready to smash the entire place to bits, Felt was clearly frightened, and Rem was resolute. Alone, they could hardly win this fight, so Subaru figured that he would have to wait for Reinhard in this go around until he could fight well himself.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Rom grunting as he lifted his club high above his head and practically leapt over his bar, smashing it down on Elsa.
Or, at least, smashing it down on where she used to be. The floor splintered out from under the huge weapon and filled the air with dust and bits of shrapnel, but Elsa had already moved and slashed the hilt of her curved blade into the back of Rom's head, slamming him forward face first onto the ground, contrary to what his size and Elsa's demure size would imply. Rom started lifting himself back up but was unprepared for the continued assault as Elsa twirled the blade in her hand and licked her lips, then stabbed downward.
"Emilia-sama!" Rem said slightly frantically. Her cry was wasted as Emilia had already recovered from the shock and launched a bolt of crystalline power at the attacking criminal, forcing her to cut off her wound up swing and dodge into the air, then dance on the floor from foot to foot, deftly dodging to the left and right. No longer looking at Emilia, Rem took the time and her renewed physical state to summon her flail and start swinging it in preparation to land a blow, but just as she was about to press her attack, Elsa threw from midair what looked to be small knives towards Subaru, forcing her to jump in front of him and shield him with a swing of her weapon, an expertly performed tactic to keep her out of the fight for a moment longer.
"Felt, Old Man, get out while she's focused! If we keep on pressing her she won't be able to hit you!" Subaru took the chance to shout while he was behind Rem's defense, but the two petty criminals were not keen on leaving their business or their livelihoods in the hands of people they didn't know, no matter how terrifying their opponent was, and instead of listening, Felt chose the moment when Elsa flipped from the opposite wall and landed on her back foot to spring into action, charging with her knife and swinging it downward at the criminal in a move that had Subaru shout out in protest as her target flawlessly launched her elbow downward and caught Felt in the back of the neck, slamming her face into the floor and knocking her unconscious.
"Felt! You bitch!" Subaru accused. Unbidden by any other gesture in the room, he charged forward himself past Rem's attempt to grab at his hand to keep him back and managed to slide into a protective roll under Elsa's swing at his neck, surprisingly nimbly coming up on his feet with Felt's knife in his hand, grabbing the downed girl's arm and managing to fend off a swipe at his gut with the knife in a move of self preservation that actually shocked him as well. He was saved from having to ponder this by a harsh combo attack from Rom and Rem. Rom slammed his club into the floor between Elsa and the teen and her rescuer, forcing her to jump back into the air, where she was clipped in the arm by Rem's flail and spun into the corner once more. She still landed expertly and looked to be almost entirely uninjured, a small scuff on her arm the only clue that she had been hit.
"Well, well. It's been a long time since any of my small fry targets have ever even dared to touch me! I'll take even more pleasure from gutting you and your husband, girlie!" she taunted at Rem this time, causing the blue haired girl to tense up and growl in defiance.
Subaru sensed that things were going far better this time around despite Felt's unconsciousness and Rom nursing what looked to be a terrible headache, so he allowed himself to relax as he realized that Emilia hadn't exhausted herself and Puck yet, and Rem was still fresh and ready to fight. With Rem there, there were too many good enough opponents in the room for Elsa to play around as she had in the previous timelines, so she was limited to dodging and only talking on the occasion she got far enough away from the defenders to be confident in her ability to dodge.
Elsa sensed the shift in the room and drew up to her full height, then her eyes widened fractionally and she looked to the door, then sighed in disappointment.
"It looks like I'll have to put my appointment with you on hold, pets. You have an important friend who I would love to play with, but I don't think you all would let me without messing with my fun. I'll play with you, boy, next time," she directed the final comment at Subaru, who had managed to get close to her without getting hit out of sheer luck and memory of her fighting style.
Rem took a step forward and looked ready to attack again, having been the one to hit the woman in the first place, but before she could so much as swing her flail, Elsa had broken her way through the wall and was clearly too fast to be pursued without opening herself up to retaliation and causing a panic in the slums, something that would end badly for all of them.
Everyone in the room who was still awake released a sigh mixed with relief and anger. She had gotten away, but no one was badly hurt.
They had done it, Subaru realized. With Rem there, they had made the first encounter end better.
Things were starting to look up.
Reinhard's arrival was met with less enthusiasm this time than it had been previously, but Subaru was still glad to see him all the same. When he had helped Felt wake up and made the discovery about her insignia once more, Subaru could barely hold in a small cringe at the circumstances which had led him to starting over with Rem this time. Getting absolutely destroyed in a fighting ring against someone with years of experience and combat prowess over him wasn't one of his better ideas, and he was embarrassed that there was someone in this timeline who would remember all of it, even be traumatized by it herself considering how much Rem seemed to care about how much he got hurt.
Reinhard took Felt away much to the consternation of Old Man Rom and the devastated room was left with the silence of Emilia, Rem, and Subaru staring at one another haggardly. The fight might have gone well, but Emilia was exhausted, Rem was emotionally drained from the sudden intake of new things to consider and the act of lying to someone who she was supposed to respect, and Subaru's adrenaline burst had worn off and left him feeling too much like an old soul. Well, he had repeated his own death possibly hundreds of times, so he was an old soul, he supposed.
"So..." he opened lamely, eyes half squinted in tired concentration, mind split between the present and the tentative future he and Rem could fashion for themselves. He would have to speak with her about their plans, he realized. She probably had no idea what she was doing and was just going along with him because she trusted him. Whatever deities existed in this world, Subaru prayed, should definitely bless that girl.
"So. Who exactly are you and what business did you have that ended with you in the company of a Roswaal Manor maid?" Emilia asked, perturbed by the awkward, distracted nature of the icebreaker.
"Oh, uh... You see, what had happened was... I'm sort of new to the area and I was sort of, maybe, kind of looking for somewhere to live?" he responded half-convincingly. It seemed to be acceptable enough an answer to Emilia, who wasn't quite focused on the veracity of his answer given that she was still very shellshocked.
"I see. Well, after what you've done today by warning my familiar spirit and saving that girl, I think you deserve a rest. Rem?" Emilia looked at the maid, who nodded and grabbed Subaru's arm, leading him out the door, both the boy and herself not heeding or not noticing how Emilia's eyes narrowed at how easily Rem touched him.
It was simple after that to hitch the trip back to Roswaal manor. Subaru had precious little to discuss with Emilia(-tan) this time around, he was so tired and adrenaline worn, so instead he decided to sit on the second seat of the buckboard next to Rem and take a small nap, helped along by stunningly gentle humming by Rem as she steered. Emilia, it seemed, was happy to sit in the back and mull over what had happened during the day, probably wondering what to do about the political situation, what with the Felt girl being snatched up so quickly by Reinhard in an unorthodox way after that insignia appeared on her.
Subaru didn't pretend to understand the political game all that well, but he didn't have to. His job was to make sure as many people got out of these resets alive as possible, and especially the ones he loved. In his half asleep musings to himself, he didn't really realize it, but his thoughts drifted dreamily between the soft silver hair of a half-elf, and the blue hair of a particular oni. Both were equally beautiful, but only one made him feel loved in return.
He smiled through his nap.
