Chapter 14: The Plan

"Subaru? You seem to be in a panic. Are you hurt?" Julius asked.

Most people wouldn't take long to answer such a simple question. A simple "I'm fine" would do, maybe even a short explanation before moving along, but all Subaru could do was stare at him for an awkward amount of time.

"Ya got 'I can't speak' disease or something?" Felt said as she picked herself back up. With Felt's teasing Subaru returned to the moment, and processed everything that happened. This was the chance Subaru was looking for.

"I apologize if I made any incorrect assumptions, but your disposition was in a rather tainted state." Julius extended his hands to the silent Subaru as he helped him up.

"Jeez, you talk just like the rest of 'em." Felt made her off-handed comment as she heard how he spoke. She saw him briefly when Julius started a conversation with Subaru outside the casino, but aside from that, all she knows is that he was a knight of the kingdom.

"Julius… I didn't expect you to be here, I'd thought you would've been looking for that girl on the other side of town by now." Subaru dodged the question Julius asked. He hadn't intended to, but it was his natural reaction.

"You mean Anastasia-sama? There is no need for concern, I have located her and now know her general whereabouts. Although I have to admit, as a knight of Lugnica, it does hurt to see such an obvious attempt at conversation diversion." Julius adorned a gentle frown as he scanned Subaru's body.

Subaru wanted to say something snarky, or rude, but he was far too tired. He also had too much pride to do such a thing to someone he is about to ask for help. He had to wonder what would have happened if they meant on different conditions though.

"You caught me, to tell you the truth I'm not in the best situation right now. I know you are busy and all, but… can you lend me a hand." His pride took a hit as he asked him for help defeating Orphe. If someone like that can be defeated that is. Subaru did wonder how strong Julius was anyways.

"Well, he called himself the Finest Knight, after all, he has got to be pretty good." Subaru thought to bring some relief to his panicked mind.

"Hey! I said I'd believe ya, but I never said we'd needa b' involving the knights." Felt quickly interjected by Subaru's request. Her voice scrunched up as the mention of asking the knight for help was mentioned. If he was anything like those knights back during the fight with Elsa, useless would be a kind word to describe them.

"Rest assured as a knight of honor, I'll try my best to help, even if you have ill feelings towards the knights." Julius seemed to brush past Felt's interjection and offered his service to Subaru. He truly was the personification of being a knight.

Felt was going to interject again, but she noticed the look of dire need on Subaru's face and decided to let things play out for now. They were in trouble after all, even if she didn't know what it was yet.

"Well, if you really can help me." Subaru then started explaining to them what needed to be done.

—Scene Change —

"Are you sure this is a good idea bro?" Felt asked Subaru as they once again made their way down the casino hall. She wasn't expecting him to come up with a plan out of the blue. He did make the threat of Orphe clear.

-Cut This-

"First you have to make an excuse for me, and Felt to go in without one of those bracelets," Subaru said. The group had moved into an alleyway to discuss the threat Subaru had mentioned.

"Fascinating, may I know of the effects of the bracelets? It's bad enough to have a secret force of knights, but now they're distributing potentially harmful things." Julius said. His tone had a tint of anger and confusion, but it was hidden well enough by his knightly demeanor.

"Let's just say it can send people to their deaths," Subaru said in a low voice as if he feared something.

-Cut This-

"I'm sure, this is life or death after all." Subaru's eyes looked down as they walked down the familiar corridor to Orphe's hideout.

It felt like he was about to have a meltdown at any moment. His legs were weak, his mind clogged with his past and future, and sweat dripped from his face. If he failed, he would be tortured over and o-. No, he can't fail. He will not fail, as failure is no longer an option.

Save everyone next time

He will fulfill the wishes of the lady that spoke those words. He doesn't know who told him that before he died, but it didn't matter. He wanted to see this through. He will complete the mission presented to him by Crusch, and he will bring this monster down.

"Ay," Felt said. She then proceeded to stop moving and waited for Subaru to notice. Once he did he turned to look at her. She was shivering, and her fists were clenched

"I guess I'm not the only one scared. My plan isn't the most foolproof after all." Subaru thought as he witnessed Felt's current state. It was far too easy for Subaru to forget that Felt was still just a little girl after all. At least he'd get some time to console her.

"WILL YOU QUIT IT? If he keeps looking like a wreck then your cowardice will affect me too. Suck it in, and don't let it be shown! Basic stuff ya know." Felt said.

Subaru's eyes widened for a bit, before calming down. He now stood with a grin, postured himself more properly, and walked up to her. All of this just too...

"I don't want to hear it! Your way more scared than me." Subaru then forcefully gave Felt a noogie, completely changing the eerie feeling.

"Hey, whatcha think you're doing over here!" Felt said with surprise as she didn't expect this reaction out of all the options he could have chosen.

"I'm just teaching a brat some manners." Subaru chuckled as he finished, and released Felt from his grasp. They both looked at each other for a bit and burst out in laughter.

"hahahahaha." They said in unison.

"There's no reason to fight over this right? Let's just get this over with." Felt said. She put her fist out and waited for a return.

"I see no reason why we shouldn't." Subaru let out his characteristic smile, hiding the pain he felt. He didn't want to keep Felt waiting, so he returned her request, and gave her a fist bump.

-Flashback-

"A secret organization controlling the knights!" Julius's knightly persona cracked for a second before returning. His eyes were dead set on Subaru as his face scrunched up.

"That's not even the worst of it, they controlled 40% to 60%. There's a good chance that the majority of the knights in this place are controlled by them." Subaru's voice was downtrodden. He wanted to give reassurance to Julius, but he couldn't really do much more than give him the information he requested, and just wait for him to sort himself out.

"I knew the knights were nothing more than a paperweight." Felt's arms were crossed, as she shook her head. She didn't miss any chance to hurl insults at the knights. The only knight she would respect is Wilhelm. Even though Wilhelm's status as a knight was ambiguous at best.

Julius rested his arm on his forehead, as he processed the information. "I had my suspicions on some allies, but this is far from anything I could have ever imagined, thank you for informing me, you may return to your domain. I'll see to it the Six Tongue be eliminated."

"We can go?" Subaru never thought that he'd be let free, and would no longer have to worry about the situation. Subaru turned to look at Felt, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

"This isn't an issue that civilians should be involved with. On my sword, this will not stand." Julius's honor shined through even in the most serious situations. If Subaru was being honest with himself, he was jealous, but at this moment, that feeling meant nothing. Julius was a good person, and that's all there is to it.

"Great! I can leave this situation to you since you're so reliable!" Subaru quickly grabbed his hand and started to shake it rapidly. "See you later!" Just as rapidly, Subaru turned tails, grabbed Felt's hand, walked out of the alley they were in, and moved onto the main street.

"I thought this would be more exciting than that, but whatever. At least we're safe." Felt commented. Everything was finally over. It wasn't how Subaru expected it to end, but that's just how it is.

"We weren't qualified to fight him anyways, it's best to leave it to the professionals. Mario wasn't made by a beginner after all! We got a good ending." He had bags underneath his eyes and was walking similarly to that of a zombie, which contradicted what he said.

"Whatever you say Big Bro." Felt put her hands behind her head and walked silently.

Subaru was finally back to normal life, he didn't have to worry about him anymore. Maybe he could play more games of chess, or help Felt with her work, maybe even train more with Wilhelm. The possibilities were limitless, but…. It all felt so wrong. Knowing that thing still was alive and doing whatever he pleased, pissed him off.

"Orphe…" Subaru said under his breath. He hated him so goddamn much. He could do whatever the hell he wanted to him, but to hurt Scarlet, and to make himself hurt Scarlet. He would never forgive himself, but more importantly, he would never forgive Orphe. If he could, he would like to talk to Scarlet, but for some reason, it isn't coming out.

"Father, father the meat is finished cooking." Subaru gazed at a little girl sitting at a stool, observing a piece of meat being cooked by a furnace below it, the fire blazing from within it being apparent.

After a bit of a ruckus, the Dad of the girl came out. "You told me on time! My little girl is going to become just like her dad someday, you'll be cooking on the furnace by yourself." The man then proceeded to quickly put the piece of meat on a plate.

"Why can't I do it now father, I believe I have the skills for it." The little girl questioned her father's intentions for the future.

"No matter how good you get, you're just too young to handle fire. I don't wanna see my little girl get hurt." The father came up to his little girl and hugged her. "I promise you'll be able to cook on the furnace soon."

The girl seemed to have accepted this and reciprocated the hug.

Subaru didn't notice it himself, but he stopped to stare at the interaction. Fire. He looked down at his hands and remembered the feeling with a photographic memory. The fire peeled away at his skin as it destroyed layer, after layer. His raw muscles were shown as the blood that oozed from his decrepit body was burnt in seconds along with his nerves. The pain finally ended when his burnt skin and everything else around him turned to smoke and forced him to pass out from lack of clean air.

All because of Orphe.

Was he going to allow Julius to succumb to this fate? Who cares how good he is, will he just let Julius go in there with minimal knowledge, knowing that he could help?

No. He wasn't raised to do that. Subaru Natsuki can be scared, but he refused to be a coward.

"Felt." Felt had already noticed his abrupt stop and turned to look at him. His droopy face and depressed eyes received a shot of life and determination.

"We're going back. There's no way in hell I'm going to let him go in there without me." Subaru said rather loudly. The street looked towards him. Even the daughter and father gazed with curiosity.

A smirk emerged on Felt's face, as she let down her arms, and smashed her hands together, a sign that she was ready. "I was getting tired of waiting for you to say that."

-End of Flashback-

With their resolution, Subaru and Felt made their way back to the bar they found the women in. With his fears finally shaken off, he can focus on completing the plan.

"I hope Felt doesn't start questioning how I know where to go. I don't have an explanation for why I know all of this. It could end badly." Subaru kept glancing at Felt, but she didn't seem to be questioning him at all. Subaru was glad she trusted him so far, he could only hope that trust isn't destroyed.

I hate you

Subaru flinched as he remembered Felt's words to him. "Calm down Subaru, she was possessed by Orphe. She didn't mean it," Subaru took a deep breath, and continued forward.

After a little bit more navigating, he found the exact bar from the last loop. He looked up at the sign that he could no longer read.

"Six-eye bar? This is the place, right Big Bro?" Felt filled in his gap of knowledge as he now knew.

"This is the place, you remember the plan right?" Subaru began to walk into the bar as he confirmed if Felt was caught up.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, I'm more worried about the knight." Felt ended the sentence on a low note as her hatred for the royal knights was apparent.

"Come on now, you should respect him more, he is an ally you know."

"I'll respect him when the slums aren't a thing anymore. So, never."

Subaru just huffed as he dived further into the bar. His eyes scanned the room looking for the woman that lead them to Orphe in the last loop. This was the first part of the plan.

-Flashback-

"Julius, wait up!" Subaru was out of breath as he sprinted back to the alleyway he had abandoned earlier. Sweat dripped down his face as he tried to keep up with Felt jumping across the roofs. So far she was much farther ahead.

All that responded to his call was silence. "Damn it, he's not here anymore." Subaru was going to continue running before a hand latched onto his shoulder.

"AWASHAWAHWAHAWA!" Subaru screeched out like a girl at the sudden contact. He launched himself to the ground and turned around.

"Subaru what's the matter!" Julius quickly knelled down to Subaru's level and looked him up and down for a problem.

"Y-you saw nothing! Nothing got it?" Subaru pointed at him accusingly and yelled out.

"Nothing? Wait, I see. I startled you, I must offer my most sincere apology."

Subaru picked himself up, and lightly slapped himself. "Whatever, I gotta tell you something."

"I'll be happy to listen."

"I refuse to leave until we defeat Orphe. Together."

Julius's stared at him for a second. He looked at Subaru like he was an alien. Well… technically he was one.

"There must be a mis-"

"No, I'm staying." Subaru once again showed his confident smirk. "And I got a plan to back it up."

-End Flashback-

As Subaru was looking through the bar, he heard a small yelp from Felt and turned around to find himself in a familiar situation.

A scandalously dressed woman latched onto the back of Felt. Almost too similar to his first loop in this cursed casino.

"Young, fresh, and good-looking, Orphe-Sama never fails to impress." The woman said.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Felt quickly pushed her off of him.

"Not this again." Subaru thought

The woman slowly took her hands off Felt, ignoring her outburst, and set her sights on Subaru. "Is she with you? I'd suggest being careful in this kind of place," She walked past Felt and placed herself in front of Subaru. Her eyes were calculating, and she had a cold stare. They were almost touching, so Subaru took a step back.

"I don't want to be here either. Nothing good ever happens at a bar in movies." Subaru said. He wondered how he was going to mention Orphe since the play of events was going differently

"You have some interesting grammar boy," The woman put her hands on Subaru's chin and pushed it up. "Now, would you mind telling me how you know me?"

Subaru tensed up at the question. She shouldn't have been able to tell he knew her.

"I-"

She put her finger on his lips. "Shhhh, I don't care anymore. You just wanna see him, correct?"

"Y-Yes. "

She nodded her head and gave him some distance. She gestured for him to follow, and he did so obediently. Just like last time, they went to the back of the bar and pulled out white keys from her black purse. After some fiddling, she opened the door and went through the familiar hallway.

Subaru was once again confronted with a brothel, but once again ignored it. He just looked at the ground and moved along. Once they were finally at the end, he heard a voice he hated with a passion.

"A brother has come to visit me! As well as a fine girl, though I do worry about her age. Is it appropriate for her to be here?"

"They seemed to have needed something from you, it should be fine." The woman said.

"Alright, yeah, I see. Take a seat on the other side of the table." Orphe said, a smile beaming on his face.

They did what he said, and sat across from him. This was it, this was the true start of the plan. He couldn't fail this.

"Let's start with-" Orphe was going to say with a fake persona before he was cut off.

"Subaru, the person next to me is Fe…Felty." Subaru said in a business-like tone. He wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.

"You're not very patient bro, if I had to give my best guess, you want something from me. So, what is it?"

"Welp, it's time." Subaru thought.

-Flashback-

"Can't believe you screamed like a girl Big Bro," Felt commented with a smug look as she leaned against the wall. They were back in the alleyway, waiting for Subaru to describe his plan.

"My heart aches when I think about it already." Subaru grabbed his chest in an overly dramatic fashion.

"I do appreciate light-hearted antics, but we should move on to the plan you have made." Julius put one of his hands on his hips and waited for a reply.

"Gotcha, Gotcha, we've waited too long already." Subaru tensed up and prepared himself to explain. "Step one, join the Six Tongues"

-Flashback end-

"Well, my friend wants to join the Six tongues as an advisor. She admires what you do, and would like to help. We've heard some knights muttering about it if you'd like to know how we got the information." Subaru said.

"We got some talkers in our ranks, huh? Well, that's beside the point. I'd love to take in anyone that wants to join. Though I have a few more questions, one main one is, why are you here bro?" Orphe's tone once again switched to his menacing cold beat. Every word he spoke with that tone is like an ice shard to the chest for Subaru.

"What the hell, what the hell, what the hell. Calm down Subaru, calm down. Just maintain your act. Don't break down." Subaru's thoughts went wild as he tried to articulate his intended reply.

"I'm just here to guard her. She's quite small and all, you know how things go around these parts." Subaru forced out a fake chuckle at the end to try and de-escalate the situation.

"Ah, that's what you're here for. Makes sense to me, but, I gotta ask you oneee last thing. Why don't you two fine people have bracelets?" Orphe's laid-back eyes completely shifted to seriousness, and structure when mentioning the bracelets.

"We received official pardons from a knight, we thought it'd be wise to get in contact with one of the knights from the Six Tongues before meeting you. No one else knows about us being here." Subaru said. He knew he sounded different than his usual self, but when he was this close to Orphe, he couldn't help but talk like an encyclopedia.

"I see, I would not recommend doing that again, but for now I'll pardon it. Do you have anything else you need bro, if not, I'll be taking care of sis for now?" Orphe gestured for Subaru to leave.

-Flashback-

"By the way Felt, you need to act super happy for this. Got it?" Subaru said

"Why the hell would I show a creep like him anything but a sneer," Felt said, completely disgusted by the idea.

"Look, sometimes you gotta just pretend," Subaru said

-Flashback-

"I hope you'll treat me well!" Felt did a complete 180 on her personality and started to kiss up to Orphe.

"You'll be treated well indeed, you'll be put to good use." The black-haired woman stated.

"Well, I should be taking my leave, but let's end it off on a high note. Want to hear a joke?" Part 2 of the plan was about to be taken into effect, this was where the danger began.

"Wonderful! Truly splendid! I'd love to hear a joke, bring it on me, Bro." Orphe leaned in and readied himself for Subaru's joke.

"What's smaller than a piece of rice, and more useless than nothing?"

"Hmmm, maybe air?"

"Good guess, wanna try again?"

"I have no clue bro, lay it on me."

"You're brain."

The room was silent for a second as the gravity of what Subaru said was being felt. Alas, this wasn't the end of what Subaru had to say, he looked at Felt, and pointed straight at her face.

"And you give him a run for your money; joining such a sad group of nobodies!" Subaru yelled out at Felt, he put all the hatred he had for Orphe into his words as the adrenaline kicked in.

"W-what!? What's the meaning of this." Felt yelled out before Orphe or the women could respond, she got up and tried to back away from Subaru, but he pushed her to the ground as tears began to form in her eyes.

Orphe just glanced his cold eyes at the woman and said two words. "Kill him."

As Subaru heard those words, he knew that step 2 of the plan has been completed, and now Step 3 had started.

"Nes! Rental El Shamak!" The world was instantly engulfed in unknowable darkness. Nothing could be seen, it was almost as if his mind and body were completely cut off from each other. He didn't properly know where left or right was. Hell, he could barely even tell if he was walking. The only thing that allowed him to even know he was standing was the solid feeling of contact with the ground from the soles of his feet.

He could see nothing. He could hear nothing. He could understand nothing. This must have been what the end of the world felt like. True death.

If times were normal, he would have used Scarlet to guide him out of the trap of his creation, but Scarlet is still refusing to come out, and so, he looked and looked around the nothingness until he saw a small light emerge from black, it was Julius's spirit, Nes, a spirit of Yin.

Once he saw the spirit, he did what felt like running. He tried to go in the same direction, and the more he ran, the more the sensation of over-worldly disconnection started to weaken, and eventually break.

"I'm going to come back with an army next time!" Subaru yelled once he finally got out of the shamak-filled room. He didn't take long to sprint out of the hallway, and the casino all together.

-Flashback-

"Step 2 is where things get started. Once Felt claims to join the Six Tongues, I'll end up taunting them, and start sprinting out of the room. Felt will get "scared" and cry, which will delay them from attacking me. Felt will ask them to go after me in betrayal, in which step 3 of the plan takes place." Subaru never would have thought he'd be a strategist. Back in his home world he never thought he'd have a proper future, so this was way out there, but what's done is done, and nothing else can be done about it.

"It seems you've thought deeply about this. I'm quite confident in my battling prowess, but if you believe this man is worthy of this kind of planning, then I reckon it would be best for me to go along. I have one objection though, it's too much of a risk to count on them when it comes to attacking you. If this plan is to go forth, Nes will go along with you." Julius then opened his hands up, and 6 spirits were summoned, all with differing colors. The black spirit quickly made its way over to Subaru. "It knows the spell Shamak, which should blind them enough for you to escape."

Subaru looked at the spirit solemnly for a moment before carefully letting his hands out as the spirit landed on his hands.

"Thank you."

-Flashback end-

With Subaru now long having abandoned the room, the Shamak finally began to clear. A furious Orphe was still in the same position, similar to the black-haired lady, while Felt was in a rather, precarious position as she somehow ended up twisting her body in weird ways during the Shamak.

"Dang it, I need to stop makin' a fool outta myself. Now I just needa make him go after Subaru." Felt thought as she untangled herself. The cold hardwood floor of a brothel was never a comfortable place to be.

"Orphe-sama, may I ask why you didn't break the spell immediately?" The women asked curiously.

Orphe slowly stood up, as he appeared more serious. "I just thought it'd be more fun to play along with his joke. Right? Now I have a game for him, it's called running for your life."

"I understand Orphe-sama, should we go after him?"

"We're going after him alright. Just give me a moment," Orphe rigidly walked over to Felt and knelled down to help her up. "Don't worry about your friend, we'll handle him nicely. All you need to do is stay here alright?"

"Y-yeah, I'll stay here, um, make sure to make him pay for harming me alright!" Felt tried to act out her role, but she did have to give credit to Subaru, when Orphe's staring right at you, it gets a lot harder to play the role.

"Splendid."

With that, Orphe stood up and made a mad dash out of the room along with the women. The only person left was Felt, and she was feeling pretty good about herself, why you may ask? Well…

Felt dusted herself off before revealing her newest steal. A small container of needles.

"Just like they say, once a thief, always a thief," She enjoyed herself for a bit as she always got a hit of dopamine when she grabbed new loot. As the high wore off, all she could now do was ponder over Subaru's success. "I gotta wait a bit before going after you guys, so I guess it's all on you now bro."

-Cut this-

Meanwhile, with Subaru, it wasn't going any better. He was running around the small alleyways he died in once before, but this time, he had a direction to go and a place to find.

"Damn it, why are there so many dead ends in this place. Julius was right, we should've gone over the path." Subaru grunted to himself. He was always running into corners or going the wrong way, this was getting dangerous. "I should still have some ti-" Subaru was then tripped, and forced to land on the ground.

"Dang it, I thought this game would last longer, oh well, seems like you were caught." Damn it! The voice he hated hearing the most, this wasn't what was planned at all. He was caught again and was going to be tortured once more, but this time it'd be much worse. No, he can't go back, he doesn't want to go back.

"No… No…no, no no." Subaru quickly started crawling away from Orphe as he just casually walked closer and closer until he stopped.

"I don't want to get my hands dirty for someone so pathetic, he's not even a danger to the kingdom, just a scum." He made a gesture at the woman behind him, and she went on the attack.

The women attempted to end Subaru for good with a clean cut of his neck, but when the knife was just about to reach his neck, a beam of light blinded both Orphe and the women, allowing enough time for a flash of purple to take Subaru to safety.

"I apologize for waiting so long, as a knight, striking too early could be death." Julius was here. His sword was unsheathed and ready for battle.

"Hey, that would've been cool and all if I wasn't about to die from you being late!"

"I won't say much, but next time you make a plan, I'd suggest you follow it."

-End Chapter

Welcome back, it's been a good while. About three weeks! I was planning for this chapter to include the fight between Julius, and Orphe, but I just need to push a chapter out, since being in the hospital has delayed it for far too long. I hope you can forgive me! I'm also sorry if the characters are more out of character than usual and/or the grammar wasn't up to snuff. I didn't have enough time now to properly research how a character would respond to a situation, plus I haven't written them in a while.

Anyhow, enough of the sad stuff! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and are hyped to see the end. This fight will be a doozy!

I didn't hide much secret meaning in this chapter, mostly everything was literal, but I'm curious about what you guys think will happen in the fight, and once Subaru finally realizes Crusch is gone.

Thanks for all the support! It meant the world to me when I was reading all of your comments!

-TonkaDev