"But how did you know about this?"

Subaru asked Echidna as they climbed down the old, dark staircase; With each step and move, the worn-out wooden overlay of the stairs squeaked gently. This dark-swallowed path's only light was the shining stones embedded into gray-brick walls and the fireball floating slightly above Echidna's fingers.

"Well, I had quite an important role in the founding of this city."

The stairs they walked down would eventually lead them to the interior of the water-gate city of Priestella. The city was surrounded by walls, for your average individual the sole access to the city was through the front gate where their possession and themselves would all be examined. However, there was a path which only a handful number of people in this were aware of, allowing Subaru and Echidna to enter the city without having to be examined or meeting anyone. The aura Echidna gave, was dangerous. It put a flag on them that screamed danger and unwanted attention and prevented them from entering the city. They weren't really aware of the possible opponents within the city, after all, the possibility of encountering an enemy that could easily overcome you was never zero.

"And I think I've got the answer to one of our questions. 'what time is this?'. With how much this city has changed, evident by even this staircase, we're certainly in an age years after my death."

"If this wood still survives, then it's not that much into the future right? And all those mysteries of the past, I won't experience any of them. Well I'm glad to evade trouble, even though it'd be pretty boring"

"But as long as something is happening, even another sunny day within a normal life would be pretty interesting to me, you know?"

said Echidna as she led the way.

"Oh…"

Subaru, reminded of the village they had seen a few hours prior, tried to distract himself.

"Have a role when this was built, huh. But I thought people of this world were pretty avoidant of witches. Those two things don't really align with each other."

"I may be an evil sorcerer but, I don't mind helping people who reach out to me every once in a while. Like how I'm helping you right now. Honestly, I don't see the any of the gratitude I desire on your face. That's kinda rude."

"You don't see it because you're the reason I'm in this whole mess at the first place!"

Echidna giggled a little at Subaru's frustration. Though, it was again a little shallow. Other than her smile, it always seemed like her expressions and emotions were things made by manual effort rather than something natural. Nevertheless, he was a little grateful to her even if she was the indirect cause of this situation. The further they walked down those stairs, the curve flattened more and more.

"We're here."

The darkness was slightly washed away as the stepped into the light of stars and the moon. It wasn't a populated area, so probably no one saw them enter the city.

"It's night already? But… why haven't they entered the tomb yet? A few hours have passed already… I haven't seen the sanctuary at all yet, is your tomb hidden away or …? I only found it because I chased after that elf…"

"You needn't worry. All the residents of sanctuary know about the tomb."
"Then why haven't they found me after this many hours..."

It didn't make any sense.

"Hours? Let me think a little… probably a few minutes have passed since you died in the tomb"

"What?"

"…"

She smiled without saying anything.

"Answer me Echidna!"

"Don't you know? The passage of time within my castle is slower than the time in the outside world."

"…"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? How careless of me!"

She closed her eyes and made a playful expression with a hand on her cheek as Subaru digested those words, frozen and breathless.

"… How much"

"Hm?"

"How much time would've passed here since now on when they find my body?"

"A month or two perhaps? It really depends."

But before Subaru could answer-

"And here I were, thinking where the sinister aura suddenly came from."

The voice of footsteps accompanied Subaru's words as it struck Echidna's eardrums.

The same person that spoke those words was walking loudly. But the Subaru in front of Echidna hadn't moved an inch, nor was his mouth opened to say anything.

A few feet away from them, 'Subaru' was standing. His face resembled Subaru's but his expression and the smile on his face had no similarity to Subaru's.

"We'll get to that Clind-san, we will. Just wait for now."

said 'Subaru' as he brushed through his white hair with his hand.

"Who are you…?"

Confusion took over Subaru's face and eyes as he muttered under his breath; He and Echidna weren't the one 'he' talked to. 'He' was facing somewhere else near, as if 'he' was looking at someone but no one was where 'his' eyes pointed to.

"Seeing yourself and a witch who's supposed to not be alive in the middle of the night must certainly be unexpected and scary. But I'm not afraid at all. In fact, I'm quite amused."

'He' turned towards them and directly stared at Subaru in the eyes.

"I must say, you seem awfully certain that we are who we seem to be."

"Well, none of the shape-shifters I've heard of have seen me in those clothes. And I doubt they'd know about the infamous Witch of Wisdom's appearance."

'He' answered to Echidna. Witch of Wisdom? But that wasn't how Echidna had introduced herself to Subaru. But that wasn't the thing on Subaru's mind right now. They were in a future after Echidna's death, but they didn't know how much into the future they were.

"Seeing your white hair I thought a lot of time must've passed for me to age so much, but your face is just young as mine…"

"Ah, this hair? It's not because of age that it turned white, it just became like this without me knowing why. My eye can't see that well either. I guess it must have something to do with how I kept slamming my head into the tower's walls."

"…"

"It's funny, isn't it?"

'His' tone wasn't sarcastic. That, and 'his' other weird acts made Subaru uncomfortable. He didn't know what was it about those that made them uncanny, but 'he' just wasn't how Subaru expected himself to be. It was natural for time to change, but 'he' entirely seemed to be a different person than him, even if their faces and names were the same. He was dangerous. Really dangerous, that was what Subaru or anyone who saw 'him' would have felt like. It wasn't the kind of danger he felt when he was near Echidna or Petelgeuse and their aura. The danger 'he' emit came from the very existence of himself, not a miasma.

"I expected someone in your situation to ask many questions, but you don't seem to have any"

said Echidna. Her usual smile wasn't on her face anymore.

"You're mistaken. I have many questions. And you're the sort of person who'd people like to go up to and get their answers from. You certainly have many answers within you but…"

"…"

"But you're the sort of person who hides the truth, even if you don't lie. I can't restore 'Natsuki Subaru' like that. After all, no matter how much useless wisdom I gather in my head, I'm never competent enough to not be fooled. The only one who I should underestimate is me. All the others, all of you, are beyond competent against me. You don't have any reason to help me. But I also need the pieces that reside within you, so that's why…"

"…"

"That's why I'll do what I must do without cutting around any corners."

His words were torn apart and patched, they didn't make any sense. Subaru could follow them to understand. Without knowing what was in 'his' mind, there was no way for him or Echidna to understand. That's when he noticed it. Behind 'him', stood a silhouette whose face was hidden away from Subaru beneath the darkness of the starry night. Though from its shape, he could tell that it was a woman wearing a cape.

Suddenly, Echidna raised her hand and held it as she muttered with a faint sound which Subaru couldn't hear. A moment later, mana gathered around here hands and formed an invisible shield.

"Shaula"

As an answer to the white haired boy's call, from the silhouette behind 'him', a bright light washed away the darkness and enveloped Subaru and Echidna. That's the last thing he saw, before his consciousness faded away.

Notes:

I wrote this late night. So don't expect much, I don't really know what dialogues each character is supposed to say or how the gaps between those lines should be filled. And sorry if it's too short, or if the quality is too low. I probably won't update after this for a long time, university classes are about to start and a lot of things are piled up on me. I'll lurk around though. Anyway, thank you for reading. Any kind of criticism is welcome. I've lost a bit of motivation too, who knows, maybe some reviews might fuel it up? It's 2am and some scary sounds are coming from around the house. I'll better go sleep. Sorry for the rant