CHAPTER 3 : PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW
SEVEN DAYS LATER...
Sitting alone in the lavish room was Subaru, sholding his right arm and still keeping his left eye shut as he sat on the comfy crimson sheets of his king sized bed. Today was a day where Capella was finally going outside for errands, a time where he could sit back and relax, no need to worry about the hell just over the horizon.
"... Phew..." He uttered quietly as he shifted on the sheets, finding no comfort even in their pillowyness. The only good thing about today was gonna be her absence, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. His gaze slowly drifted to the large wood doors, waiting for the moment his captor came to say her goodbyes.
... Nothing... Not yet either...
"... I guess she's already-" Subaru was interrupted when the door slammed open loudly, the cruel temptress walking inside wearing the same oddly non revealing dress as before, looking completely miserable. Subaru couldn't help but smirk at her misery.
"... I have to leave for errands today." She said in a flat tone, looking at him with an expression of melancholy, her crimson eye studying his brown one for any sign of a reaction, while her sharp brown eye stared at his body.
"... Uhuh..." He said under his breath, watching her shift and twist in an unnatural and discomforting manner, looking at him the entire time. It was a standoff, Capella looking at him with an expectation he refused to oblige by.
"Say it." She said as she stared at him, her slender fingers slightly bulging and blackening with each passing second. He shook his head, lips shut tightly.
"Say it, Su-Ba-Ru~" Her mocking tone of seduction nearly made him vomit, his facial expression twisting as he grew pale. The displeasure on Capella's face made it clear that he had fucked up, the sickening twisting and stretching of skin and bones ringing through the room as she grew her tool for punishment, her dragon claw.
"I'm going to dig this into your entrails if you don't say it right now, do you understand? I have been patient, I have been forceful, I have been... eugh... 'modest', and I have been kind, so tell me what I want before I steal your heart again." There was a noticeable change at that dreadful reminder as Subaru's very flesh screamed for him to just do it, the fear of having his heart ripped out again being far too much to bare.
"... G-Good... G-Goodbye... C-Capella...t-tan..." He said as he held his bowels, feeling like emptying them across the floor as Capella gave an amused grin, holding her chest with the oversized appendage.
"Ah~ That hits the spot~ I don't know why that feels so good, but I'll find out eventually, then we can explore it together~" The shift between hostile and docile was something that until this day, Subaru had no idea how to explain. The mind of a psychopath was foreign to him, even as someone who by all means was his own brand of insane.
"Well then, I have something to look forward to now, don't cry in my absence~" She let out some more sickening squelches as her body morphed back to what it first was, heading out of the same door she'd slammed open. The door was then closed as multiple locks were clicked into place, obstructing his ability to leave.
On the other side of the door, Capella made her way down the halls, feeling giddy that no matter what he did, those words still made her cheer up. The reason why? She didn't know, but she'll find out, she always does, that's what information was for.
She instructed every cultist inside the fortress to watch his door as constantly as possible, before making her way outside. With a flex of her arms and legs, she grew a pair of wings and took off, completely unaware of the figures lurking in the woods nearby...
Emerging from the bushes was a small catboy with mouse brown hair and two pointed ears, looking at the sky intently as he listened to the flapping of wings get fainter and fainter.
"... She's gone." He said quietly, turning around and heading deeper into the shrubbery, eventually reaching a campsite, the fire king since put out as he stumbled across it, reaching for the largest of three different tents.
As the tent flaps cleared, the boy walked inside, catching the attention of everyone just by his heavy breathing alone. The eyes made him straighten up, but the boy didn't tense for long as he brought his news to the table.
"Capella, that Archbishop, she's flown off, we can get him nyaow!" He said in a mixture of seriousness and excitement, making the group surrounding the table let out hums of excitement, save for a small girl with twin drills, who sped out of the tent.
"Then there is no time to waste, I suppose! Follow Betty!" She let out as her little legs carried her through the snowy plain.
The group didn't need to be told twice as they followed the small girl, the catboy trailing behind as he'd lost his breath running the last bit to deliver the news.
the rest sped up the mountain, the drill loli being picked up by a large fuzzy claw as they scaled the slope. They eventually reached the shrubs the cat boy had stalked, staring at the entrance to the fortress.
"Ricardo, can you do the honours?" Asked Julius, watching the snowcloaked dogman rise, drawing a two handed axe from his back.
"With lotsa pleasure, hold on tight little librarian!" He yelled with gusto as he charged out of the shrubbery, charging at the door as it was swarmed with black hooded figures.
Ricardo let out a loud battle cry as he swung the axe, slashing the figures apart as he kept his momentum, smashing through the large doors with little resistance. The rest of the group followed him.
They trudged around the halls, Ricardo holding out Beatrice like a compass as he blitzed through the many hallways full of cultists, leaving nothing in his wake.
After some searching, the group came across a fork in the halls, and Ricardo pointed the small spirit to each and everyone, her squirming getting more erratic as he hovered her around the central hallway.
"This way!" He yelled as he again charged forwards, heading down the now more luxurious hallway, a red carpet trailing down to a set of double doors. Ricardo stood in wait as the rest of the group caught up.
The group itself consisted of Julius, Emilia, who had come along after feeling worthless, Ricardo, Beatrice, Ferris, and Rem, who was dizzy just standing around in the fortress.
Their eyes fell on the door, a feeling of dread coming from the dead wood keeping them away from the young Knight. Rem tried to approach the door when a wave of miasma hit her harder than ever before, the sickening stench of blood and filth made her fall to her knees.
The party looked at her in concern before Julius knelt down, carefully grabbing her arm and propping it over her shoulder.
"It appears that the miasma is just too much here, I'll take Miss Rem back to the camp so that we can prepare everything for our hasty escape." He said as Rem vainly tried to stand on her own, failing.
"I believe that is for the best, please be careful." Chimed the half-elf as Julius turned around, walking down the hallway as Rem called out to the door, suffering from the hazing effects of the concentrated miasma.
Emilia looked at the oni with pity, but her resolve only hardened after seeing Rem's desperation, signalling for the rest to stand clear.
"Ricardo, please break down the door." She said calmly. Ricardo gave her a smirk before placing the spirit onto the floor, lifting his axe with a heave before he slammed it down into the doors, slashing through the middle as the locks were splintered in seconds, the realistic heart being cut through with force as the doors swung with each tug of his axe.
After prying the weapon from the wood, the doors opened, revealing a lavish room full of crimson and amethyst as they were all engulfed by the smell of lavender, the relaxing scent clashing with their emotions as they scoured around the room, Beatrice running to the bed.
She pulled back the covers, finding Subaru underneath, on the edge of sleep as she dove in for a hug.
"S-Subaru!" She squeaked as she tried her best to crush his already battered ribs, making him groan as he tried to fall into slumber. Abuse had made him a heavy sleeper, but the dreams were never pleasant.
The sound made the rest surround the bed, tearing off the sheets as they tried to remove him from the bed. However, their enthusiasm died when they saw the chains. That is, until Emilia placed her fingers on the metal, freezing it as the steel became more and more brittle, allowing the dogman to break them with ease.
In their panic to try and get him out, no one had bothered to question the room, or why he was sleeping on a king sized bed, all that mattered was his safety. Ricardo grabbed the boy by his clothes, putting him under his arm and placing his axe back into its strap as he scooped up Beatrice.
"Alright, let's save the heartwarming reunion for after escaping the crazy dragon woman's fortress!" He exclaimed as he sprinted for the doors, the others following behind.
After some running, they managed to catch up to Julius and Rem, who had just exited the fortress, being picked up in the sprint as Rem powered through the dizziness at the sight of her hero.
They had him! They were finally rescuing Subaru! A set of thoughts that perpetuated around the group as they sped down, finding the two carriages they arrived on, and speeding away.
They all sat in their spots, Subaru having been left with Ferris and Rem, who were getting ready to check him for injuries.
"Alright Subaru-kyun, please don't be critically injured..." The catboy said as he reached for the boy's shirt...
... Cliffhanger! What will have changed? What won't? I wonder, oh I wonder, guess you'll figure out next chapter, chiao!