Elsa Granhiert strutted through the slums of Lugunica, scouting the general area. The dilapidated loot house she'd conduct her business in was in the opposite direction, but it felt wrong to idly dawdle around while waiting for the girl to arrive.
And so, she walked. A small breeze began to brush past her. It was lukewarm, she idly noted. Compared to the frozen, blizzard-riddled settlements in Gusteko, the slums she wandered in were something she'd kill for, had killed for, once upon a time.
It still felt weird, being warm. For the longest time, she'd always thought it to be this elusive, nigh-unobtainable thing one would constantly work toward. Now, with the heat of the setting sun against her skin, she didn't know what to think.
Back in Gusteko, she obtained warmth through color. She adored the lively pinks and reds and the warmth they'd always bring her. Of course, such colors were beautiful, but beauty was a fickle thing. The pinks and reds would rot into ugly colors, buried under the snow to tinge them a dirty brown.
She recalled the first time she'd harmed someone. She hadn't remembered who it was, what she used to injure the person with, or why she had done it, but she remembered the emotions she felt when she saw the inviting colors on her freezing hands. The warmth of it all as her fingers thawed.
Elsa hopped up on a nearby cottage and looked over the horizon. Its colors were that of gold. Elsa was quite fond of gold, not unlike the lively reds and pinks she grew accustomed to. Unlike those colors, though, the gilded rays of the sun painted her whole body with their warmth. The red on her hands did no such thing.
Elsa ran a finger to her waist, feeling the pouch strapped to it. Within were twenty holy coins, jingling about as she fiddled with the skin. It was quite the hefty sum, and she wondered what could have been worth so much. To garner the attention of the Margrave himself, no less, her curiosity was piqued, to say the least.
From her line of work, though, it was never a good idea to question her clients, lest she end up with more blood on her hands than necessary. Not that she minded, of course. She quite liked it. Still, though, as curious as she was about what was inside the man's midsection, it wouldn't do well for her reputation to attack her business partners.
She took one more glance at the setting sun. It felt nostalgic, almost. Flashes of raven hair and mean eyes passed her by, and she put a hand to the flowers in her hair.
Good. They were still there. Each had their own sentiments, and she wasn't willing to lose either.
Elsa hopped down from the roof without a sound and made her way to the loot house. She distracted herself for far too long, and chances were the girl had snuck in to the old bar already.
Her nose twitched at the new scent coming from the shack. Ruefully, she was correct. To her slight surprise, she detected another scent in there as well, not from the old man. It was vaguely familiar, and she almost hesitated pushing the doors open.
Maybe she was losing her touch, she noted idly. Oh well, not that it mattered. At the end of the day, she'd hold her end of the deal.
Subaru drummed his fingers on the table of the dingy bar. He bounced one of his knees and bit down on the skin of his thumb, staring towards the entrance.
That last death was... He'd rather forget it, in all honesty. Satella was really nice (and very cute), but... He had never even met her in this loop. He internally cringed.
There was also the matter of how he died. It wasn't the first time he'd been disemboweled, and if things were going the way they were, it wouldn't be the last, either.
...
"Oh my, you saw that? I guess I have no choice, then~"
...
Subaru lay on the floor, entrails spilling out. Just next to him was the body of the half-elf girl he only recently acquainted himself with, gutted just as he was.
What the hell was wrong with him?! He couldn't meet a single person without watching them die at least once, and way too many of those deaths were his god damn fault!
Black spots swam in his vision as his torso screamed. Satella... that poor girl was feeling the same pain he was feeling, and he was the cause.
Footsteps rang throughout the darkness, calm and collected.
The footsteps stopped right next to him, and Subaru strained to get a good look at who had done them in. He needed to if he could properly save anyone next time.
"Oh dear, who could have come at a time like this~?" came a low, sultry voice, and what little blood Subaru had left turned to ice. The burn in his stomach froze completely. He liked it better ten seconds ago.
He tried to look at his assailant, taking great effort in churning his head toward the voice. He was able to catch a faint glimpse of purple and black.
The figure crouched down, and Subaru's bleary eyes widened.
He heard the sudden clatter of metal on the ground, and heard as the attacker's breathing grew heavy.
"Subaru...?"
Natsuki Subaru felt a comfortable warmth in his neck, and then darkness.
...
Subaru rubbed a hand against his neck as he continued bouncing his knee. It bumped against the bottom of the counter a couple times. He wasn't mercy-killed, was he?
"Yo, big bro, you seem a little nervous," a young, red-eyed yellow-haired teenager who Subaru recently acquainted himself with as Felt, stated the obvious.
He had first known her as a mangled corpse, only a few hours ago. Looking at her like this made his stomach churn.
The shaky man craned his head to her, giving her a lopsided smile that he knew for a fact didn't reassure her in the slightest.
"I'm just- I'm expecting someone," he supplied unhelpfully, "you know, my rival or whatever."
Felt scoffed, taking a swig of the nasty milk-water, before extending it to the nervous boy and pointing at him with it.
"Dude, it'll be fine," she shrugged, wiping her mouth with an arm and then wiping her arm on her pants, "no need to get your panties in a twist."
"It's just-" Subaru stuttered again, struggling for the right words, "I think it might be someone I know..."
Felt eyed him incredulously.
"Hey now, big bro, that sounds kind of suspicious. You aren't in cahoots with anyone, are you?"
The girl set the cup down on the bar, and Old Man Rom (that was the big dude's name, apparently) began to clean it.
"Girl's right, y'know, you do seem pretty suspicious," came his gruff voice as he wiped the glass down, "claimin' you already know the other buyer like that."
"Oh c'mon! I'm-" but his words died on him when he heard an audible creak from the entrance of the loot house.
Forgetting whatever retort he had in mind entirely, he whipped his head around, conflicted between hoping and dreading the person he'd come across.
"Oh, there you are!" exclaimed Felt, oblivious to the eye-lock between Subaru and the newcomer.
Said newcomer wore a rather flowery, modest black dress that left much to the imagination, and a dark cloak over that, with soft periwinkle tufts at the neck. A vibrant, violet rose decorated the left side of her hair, dark yet glowing, just like her eyes.
There was another flower, just below the purple one. It was wilted and shrunken, sporting a dirty yellow, standing out from the rest of the outfit.
Subaru recalled a time when that flower was a radiant, vibrant gold. His chest burned.
"Oh my~" came the succulent voice of the individual, slightly shaky at first and only Subaru could have picked up on the connotations, "now this is quite the surprise..."
She smiled her trademark smile that Subaru was all too used to seeing. Her eyes were half-slit, her mouth quirked evenly in an almost predatory hunger. Subaru saw through the facade almost immediately.
"H-heya, Elsa..." he squeaked. So she was the one who killed Felt and Old man Rom, then... dammit. Was it the insignia? Felt was the one who nabbed it, after all. Maybe she wanted to return it to Satella? No, that couldn't have been it, she was disemboweled along with him. Was she working under someone, then?
He looked to his hands. They were shaking. He looked back up to Elsa. She gave a damn good poker face when she needed to. It almost annoyed him how easy he was to read compared to her.
She approached him, rosey violet eyes still staring into his own. She drew closer, and leaned up to his face. Subaru really, really wanted to pull her in and squeeze as tight as he could, he held off. Instead, a warmth tickled his ear.
His abdomen stung almost as much as his heart did.
"Run away from here," came her hushed whisper, "please."
Never in all his time in Gusteko or Lugunica had Subaru heard the usually cold and calculating Elsa Granhiert be so frantic and desperate.
"E-Elsa, I-" but he couldn't find the words. He wanted to comply, he wanted to respect her wishes just as much as he wanted to live, but...
Even if his voice wavered, the boy's resolve didn't. Elsa, for better or for worse, was someone who meant a lot to him, and for better or for worse, he'd try his hardest to save her.
"I'm sorry," he began shakily, "but I'll have to stay," his voice was just as inaudible as hers as he whispered.
She pulled away, and Subaru's eyes flickered to the two flowers on her head. He wondered where she got that rose; it looked good on her.
They flitted down to Elsa's ever-unreadable face, and he suppressed a grimace, trying to imitate her expressionless demeanor. He always wondered how she did that.
"That wasn't suspicious at all..." Subaru heard Felt mumble from behind him, earning a chuckle from Rom.
"Well, it don't matter as long as we get somethin' out of it," the dark-skinned brute (Subaru wondered if he was an actual giant, the man was so huge) took another glass from the bottom of the counter and began pouring milk in it from a dispenser.
"I trust you won't pull anythin' funny," the old man looked toward the raven-haired duo, "right?"
Subaru adjusted himself on the bar stool and waved a finger with a smug 'tut-tut,' choosing to ignore the unspoken threat, while Elsa slid onto the seat next to him.
"We may know each other, but that won't stop me from bidding against her, got that? I may be homeless, clueless, and broke beyond compare, but I pay my dues, y'know?"
Felt stared at him blankly.
"Uh huh."
"Hey! I'm totally trustworthy! What do you take me for, huh?!" Subaru squawked, glad to take his mind off of his impending doom even if for a second.
"You're not really helping your case here," Felt leaned back even though the stools didn't have anything to lean back on, "then again, I don't really care if you two share the thing or split the profits from selling it or whatever, as long as we get its money's worth, y'know?"
Elsa leaned her elbow on the bar top with an inaudible sigh, and nonchalantly waved it towards the old man, who slid a glass of milk across the counter. It was a wonder how it didn't topple over. Still hunched over, she gently grabbed the glass and took a small sip.
"Well," Felt began with a toothy grin, clasping her gloved hands together, "now that everyone's here, how 'bout we get down to business?"