Cursed Envy 4
Arlam Village part 1
January 14th
08:45
Mission has been requested to Mother's family and it's sorcerers by the higher-ups
By analysing the activities of now missing sorcerer Otto Suwen as well as the curse that had secretly invaded Mother's domain on January 12th it became apparent that two incidents might be connected. First ever documented sightings of the now exorcised spider curse were in approximately the same location as Otto Suwen's last documented location, which goes against usual instincts of curses to always stay in the area where they were created. Furthermore, for the last week there were multiple documented sightings of anomalies in the same location. By the orders of Jujutsu regulations because of many unknowns and potential plotting behind the scenes the mission has been requested
Location – countryside near Tokyo, a small territory that is mostly occupied by the Arlam village
A set of 2 cars were driving through the roads of Tokyo. They were getting closer to the edge of the megopolis, with big skyscrapers slowly fading away in exchange for more natural scenery and small buildings. As it was January, the air was pretty cold, especially today. They were driving for solid 2 hours or even more, no one bothered to keep in mind their travel time
Inside one of cars were 4 people. The one driving the car was a blue haired girl named Rem, who kept a neutral expression and silently listened to the radio with some culinary podcast being turned on. Next to the driver's seat was a silver haired girl who was looking out the window with childlike wonder, that's Emilia
On the back were two people sleeping peacefully. Those were of course Natsuki siblings, Subaru and Beatrice.
Inside the second car were Priscilla and Al, with Al driving the vehicle
All 6 sorcerers were assigned the same mission – retrieve Otto Suwen and oversee the territory of the Arlam village. If it was only the first objective there would be sent less people, but the second one was important and more uncertain and required an adequate amount of sorcerers in case of emergency
While Beatrice, Priscilla, Emilia, Rem and to some extent Alderbran were pretty strong , with Beatrice and Emillia even possessing domain expansions, the pinnacle of sorcerery, Natsuki Subaru was, for the lack of better term, rather weak, with even his second grade title being more- less fabricated. His unique circumstances allowed Subaru to participate in battles and missions out of his league, always supported by someone stronger than him. Same applied to their current mission
Rem:-«Emillia sama, can i ask you a question?»
Emilia:-«of course Rem, what is it?»
Rem:-«i had this question in mind for a long time about Natsuki san. Do you think he and Beatrice san are actually related?
Rem looked at the back mirror and saw how Beatrice was sleeping upside down with Subaru sleeping with his head on Beatrice like she's his pillow. She would lie if she said that this sight isn't cute
Emilia:-«hmmm. Not that you mention it, they don't look alike at all
Rem:-« exactly! Beatrice san looks like she escaped from Europe or something. No way is she Japanese or related to Subaru
Emilia:-«we shouldn't rush to conclusion, maybe uh, Subaru has some European ancestry? Maybe those European genes skipped a few generations before ending with Beatrice?
Rem thought about the logistics of genetics, but she never studied this subject.
Rem:-«no , that's not it. I'm sure she's an actual foreigner like most of us»
Emillia:-« we should ask Subaru about it later»
The conversation was rather weird, but Rem kept going
Rem:-« on the topic of Natsuki san. You always talk with him, you two seem close»
Emilia:-«i mean, Subaru is a nice boy. He is a great friend, despite sometimes talking funnily»
Rem:-«i don't know about that to be honest. In all those months Natsuki san was with us he didn't showcase the best display of trustworthiness» - she said with a sign –«Even though he helped in saving me the other day, i can't help but be skeptical of him, especially with Roswaal sama assigning him to our mission»
Emilia showed a slight shock
Emilia:-«Rem! You shouldn't talk like that about Subaru. He means well even if he doesn't always help very well. I think there's some other reasons you don't want to trust him»
Rem kept driving the vehicle with a neutral expression, but her eyes shook a little
Rem:-«this may sound unreasonable, but i always found something about Natsuki san suspicious. I can't exactly express it, but especially recently there was something ominous about him. My body refuses to truly trust him»
Emillia:-«…. Rem san, you shouldn't always trust your instincts. I don't know what's up with you, but sometimes you should put a little more trust in people around you, even if you don't know them well. Like Ram!»
Rem:-« i greatly respect my sister , but i don't think that «putting trust in others « is a good description of Ram»
Emilia:-« well she often hangs out with Subaru. He rarely acts open with people, i can only think of Beatrice, Juilus san and Otto san who are close enough to him»
Rem:-«Otto huh… On the topic of Otto and our objective, it seems we have arrived»
After crossing an empty road what Emilia saw out in the window was a beautiful scenery of nature and old architecture. A small village consisting of around 15 houses, with people walking around and children playing. Old villages like this are a rarety in Japan
Emillia:-«alright! I will contact Priscilla san and Al, and you wake up Subaru and Beako»
Arlam Village, 14:40
It took around 20 minutes to wake Subaru up. He was a heavy sleeper. Now thar everyone finally got together they made their way towards the village itself
As they were approaching it, Subaru looked around. People noticed them from a far and he couldn't help but notice a little worried glances of the residents. Even children stopped playing. Guests were probably rare here, not to mention those who arrive to investigate abnormalities. An old woman approached us with a serious expression, Subaru was sure that it's village's chief. Rem, a representative of Mathers domain, approached her and started explaining who they were. While two were talking, a bunch of kids ran up to the group
They looked at Emilia and Priscilla
?: « beautiful lady!»
?: «nice looking lady!»
?: «silver hair!»
?: «orange hair!»
Emilia blushed from all the praise , while Priscilla only laughed. It was natural for people to adore her
Beatrice: «uh, don't tell me Betty will have to babysit those toddlers. Shu ,shu, we are busy right now!»
Kids looked at her. Some of them were taller than Beatrice
?: «mean looking brat»
?: «drillhead»
?: «dumb blonde»
Beatrice: «hah?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!»
Subaru: «come on Beako, leave then be, they ar-«
?: «scary guy»
?: «he looks like a scarecrow near my house»
?: «he looks funny
Subaru: «….on the second thought, GET HERE BRATS, I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT HELL IS!»
He played with the kids for solid 10 minutes, while also learning all of their names.
Beatrice looked at this circus from the sidelines, Subaru's weird ability to attract children's attention was weirder than any cursed technique. The one who was especially attentive to him was an orange haired girl of around 13 years old with a green ribbon on her head. Apparently her name was Petra
Petra: «why did all of you come to our village?»
Subaru answered, while having boys climb him like he was some sort of tree
Subaru: «you see, we were notified that your village – ouch , don't touch me there!- faced some weird phenomena in the last couple days, so we came here to help out!»
Petra: «…is that so… So are you guys like Ghostbusters?!»
Subaru: «uh sorta, yes»
Petra looked deep in thought
Petra: «i see»
As they were talking, Rem showed up
Rem: «i explained everything to the chief and we were given a few rooms to stay in in their small hotel. We might spend a few days here, so we will be sleeping here. Only 3 room available,so we will sleep like this : Natsuki san with Beatrice sama, Priscilla sama with me, Al san with Emilia
Subaru: « hey , why is Al the one sleeping with Emilia tan?! I want -OUCH!»
Beatrice: «STOP TALKING NONSENSE AT LEAST ONES IN YOUR LIFE, I SUPPOSE! AND AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?!- she said, while stomping his foot repeatedly
Al: «come on bro, we will be in separate beds, and i would never steal your first
Emillia: «uh, what does «the first « mean?»
…..
Everyone looked at Emilia
Subaru: «eh, Emillia tan, your innocence is both cute and frightening
Priscilla: « it's disgusting. How can you be considered a woman without knowing what sex is?»
Subaru: «HEY IT'S NOT THE TIME FOR SEX-ED, OKAY?!»
Emilia: «Se- what?»
Priscilla: « It's when a man inserts his-«
Subaru: «I SAID TIME OOOOOOUT!»
In the end, they regrouped and looked over their hotel rooms. While the village is old it does have this one hotel consisting of 4 rooms with 2 beds each,but only 3 of them are available for use as the fourth one is in a bad shape
All sorcerers were now standing outside the hotel, Rem took out her notebook and started talking
Rem: «Village chief stated that for over 2 months their animals were disappearing from time to time to unknown circumstances , villagers speculated that those were just wild animals. Since then strange activities kept piling up, which included unnatural voices, objects moving on their own and others. Problems started arising not too long ago when Otto had been sent here to eliminate a potential curse, but he and one of the villagers had disappeared. Last time both of them were sighted was before they departed to the forest to the east»
Subaru look at the forest, which was currently pretty dark and scary
Beatrice: «we can't roll out the possibility of both of them being dead, i suppose. While retrieving green boy is one of our objectives,the other is investigating the village and the surrounding area»
Rem: « precisely. Which is why we will be separated in two teams. Me and Natsukis will stay in the village while the rest will explore the forest. Any objections?»
Al raised his only hand
Al: «exploration of the forest is too vague to my liking. What exactly will we be looking for?»
Rem: «You must look for any cursed energy traces you will come across. The moment any of you find anything you must contact the others and not engage in direct combat. The forest blocks the phone signal, which is why you must take those radio sets i gave you. We will meet up at this location»
Subaru couldn't help but be slightly worried, but then he noticed a small dark blue haired girl hiding behind a tree. Emillia noticed her too and with a gentle expression walked up to her
Emilia: «what happened sweetie? Do you want to tell us something?»
Girl:»….. will you…will you find my father? He is the one who went missing….. please….?»
Emilia didn't waver and instead offered her a thumbs up
Emilia: «of course we will! We might not look like it but we are veeeery strong. No matter what happens to your dad we can bring him back!»
Girl looked more hopeful and uttered «thank you»
Emillia knew what she must do now
Now that they were ready, the forest team finally departed
Priscilla: «we will clear this forest in no time!»
Al: «i wish i was as enthusiastic about it as you are, princess «
Subaru, Rem and Beatrice were waving at them
Subaru: «Good luck guys!»
Rem: «be safe»
… And so it began
Arlam Village 17:32
After the second group went into the forest, Subaru and his team of two girls were walking through the village trying to find anything suspicious or cursed. They had already checked out the local church, an abandoned storage and a few others locations,but no traces of cursed energy were detected, not even with Beatrice 's special eyes. If she and Rem couldn't detect anything, then Subaru has no reason to try and do it himself. He is that far behind. But instead of being a lazy asshole he usually is ,Subaru instead decided to engage in helping locals
Petra: «ugh, come on, come on!»
?: «meow»
Currently Petra was trying to get a cat off the tree. It was at the edge of the village and therefore no adults were present to help out. She found herself having climbed up the tall tree to best of her abilities, but cat was still higher than she would like it to be. She looked down. It was at least 10 meters. Petra slowly started to actually think about her situation and had small tears in her eyes
Petra:….»c-CAN SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE?!»
But the scared girl couldn't shout loud enough for people to hear her, except for….
?: «you got it miss!»
Petra: «KYA?!»
Out of nowhere Subaru's head appeared right in front of Petra's face and scared the girl. She began to fall down
Petra: «AAAAAAAH»
Subaru: «OH FOR GOD'S SAKE!»
He quickly pulled out his guiltywhip and caught Petra with it, though he did it as gently as he could to not repeat a scene from a certain Spider Man movie
Subaru: «You okay down there, Petra?»
Petra: «I'M NOT OKAY, DON'T SCARE PEOPLE LIKE THAT YOU IDIOT!»
Subaru: « okay okay, I'm sorry»- he said, while putting her on the ground – «you were trying to get the cat, right? Leave it to Natsuki Subaru!»
Subaru started to approach an orange cat who was noticeably turned off by him
Subaru: «come on, ks ks ks, come to me mister… what's his name?»
Petra: «Bogle»
Subaru: «phah, seriously? Okay Bogle come heAHH OUCH OUCH BAD CAT»
Bogle started attacking the sorcerer and scratched him multiple times, causing Subaru to loose his balance. He was falling down
Subaru: «OH FU-«
/THUD/
He fell down, but with a cat, so mission is technically accomplished
Petra was laughing on the ground
Petra: «mama calls this karma, mr Natsuki»
Subaru: «your mama is rather cruel, Petra chan»- he said while giving her the hellish cat
Petra: «thank you»
Subaru: «no problems. Gotta make myself useful somehow»
Petra noticed some sadness behind those words
Petra: «i don't know exactly what your colleagues are doing, but shouldn't you be helping them too?»
Subaru couldn't exactly tell her that his cursed energy senses were utter dogshit and that he's not really useful in sensing curses unless it's an extreme cases like if a curse entered a protective vail
Subaru: «you see, Petra uh… my skills aren't suited for their search mission, so they kinda told me to «go do something for the villagers»»
Petra: «…. Doesn't it sound a bit rude? If you're present here then it means that you're a capable person».
Subaru: « I mean, i can be useful to the team, but I'm definitely not a capable person»
Petra: «if your friends constantly disregard your abilities, then are they even friends? I only know you for a few hours, but you probably know them for a long time. Do you consider them as friends?
Subaru: «… there's my sister Beatrice…. And…»
Petra: «my mom once told me that there's no one more untrustworthy than a fake friend. I think you should put a solid line between those you consider as friends and those you consider as outsiders»
Subaru: «did you do that?»
Petra: «yeah. There are only so many people i can call truly worth my trust»
Subaru couldn't help but think about how grown up this girl is
Subaru: «… i will admit, I'm not in great terms with most people i work with. Despite knowing them for quite a while i feel out of place and not really needed. I guess that's why i don't try to get them better as people «
…..
Petra: «Natsuki san, are you actually an adult? You don't act like one at all»
Subaru's eye twitched
Subaru: «wha? What's up with you firstly telling me about how mean people are to me and then you start belittling me yourself! I'm 17! You're barely 14, girl!»
Petra laughed a little
Petra: « okay Natsuki san. I'm gonna go now»
Subaru: «no apologizing huh? Alright, go on»
Petra was about the to leave before she said something
Petra: «Natsuki san, it might be not something i understand, but i think you need more conviction. Like a goal to reach. If you're unsure of your worth, you should try to prove yourself by reaching something
As the girl started to go away with a cat in her arms, Subaru sat there by the tree deep in thought
Subaru: «….. a goal?... As if a fuck up like me can actually strive for something»
It was a few years ago
She remembers it like it was yesterday
Cold streets. Gray sky
Why was she there? What happened?
Who is she?
She didn't know
Everything felt weird. Like she's not meant to be here
Everything seems so big and scary
No matter where she looks,she sees darkness
?: «hey, little girl, why are you alone?»
Someone called out
A boy
Dark hair
She stood silent
?: « it's raining right now, and your clothes are very thin. Come here»
He pulled out something
It stopped raining above her
?: «are you okay? You look sad»
Sad? Did she? She doesn't know. She kept her silence
?:»… what will you do now? Is there a place for you to return to?»
Return to? To where. No place like that existed. She shook her head
?:»…. Do you want to come with me? I'm sure mom answered dad will help you out»
Mom? Dad? She doesn't know what that is.
She feels cold, but then.
He took her hand and held it tightly
?: «… feeling better now?»
… She finally answered
Girl: «who are you?»
?: «me? Natsuki Subaru, 13 years old,nice to meet you!»
While they were walking through the raining street, he stroke a weird pose with his finger pointing to the sky
Subaru: «and what's your name?»
Girl: «…. Don't know»
Subaru: «hm. You look like a western cutie. Hm, what about Beatrice? Do you like it?»
Beatrice?
Beatrice: «…. Sounds…decent»
Subaru patted her head and said
Subaru: «come on Beako. Let's go with me»
Beatrice: «….. you gave me a name… but i still don't know who i am»
Subaru smiled
Subaru: «you with figure it out yourself»
And so ,two children started walking back home hand in hand
A bond was created that day
In a library of Arlam Village, a small girl awoke from her nap
Beatrice: «that dream again, i suppose».
Her first ever meeting with her brother. Beatrice is a proud girl and rarely showed any weakness or emotion, but not when she is with Subaru. When she was lost in a world she didn't understand anf with no name attack to her, he appeared and offered her his hand. Beatrice loved her brother more than anything in this world, and she wasn't afraid of dirtying her hands to protect him
Beatrice was in a library because on her quest to research the village and find cursed energy she was unable to find anything worthwhile , so she decided to rest a little bit. While she was a heavy reader, she didn't read anything and just fell asleep on the table. Library itself was very old and quite big, and it was apparent that people often came here. There wasn't much people could do to pass time in the village, so she guessed that it's a popular place because of it
Suddenly, someone entered the building
It was Subaru
Subaru: «there you are, Beako»
Beatrice: «hi Subaru»
He sat down near her with a smile
Subaru: «how's search going?»
Beatrice: «decently, i suppose. No traces of cursed energy were found, but that's a great thing. People are safe and we don't have ti do anything»
Subaru: «didn't take you for a lazy type, Beako. Don't tell me you've going to grow up into a good for nothing weeb?!»
Beatrice: «ugh, if anyone suits that description it's you!»
While at it, Subaru checked his phone
20:23
Subaru: «it's pretty late. Any news from the second team?»
Beatrice: «there was a message about their circumstances an hour ago. Apparently they found a lead of cursed energy and are following it»
Subaru: «well then everything is fine. Emilia tan is strong, and Priscilla too, even if wish she wasn't. They can manage»
Beatrice: «despite no apparent danger being present, we still need to be careful. With how many strange things there are about this mission, we should expect the unexpected, i suppose»
Subaru: « i guess you're right. And Rem?»
Beatrice: «the blue girl went to check on the border of the village, in fact»
Subaru was satisfied with the answer
They sat like that in silence, but it wasn't an awkward one
Subaru looked around. Tall piles of books were easily noticeable, with closets making it look like they were in a small labyrinth. Subaru doesn't like reading, so this scenery is pretty new to him
.
.
Subaru: «hey Beako. Sorry for not doing much today»
His expression was that of sad acceptance
Beatrice didn't like it much
Beatrice: «there's nothing to apologize for, in fact. We told you to go not out of malice. Me and Rem are more curse aware and we were doing just fine by ourselves, you did a good job at helping out people in the village, i suppose»
Subaru: «i hardly did anything anyways. I'm hopeless as ever, i guess» - he said while laughing a bit
Beatrice: «can't argue with that»
.
.
Beatrice then uttered a few wirds, but she did so very quietly
Beatrice: «you did enough. You saved me»
A small smile could be seen on girl's lips
….
20:46
Subaru exited the building. Beatrice told him that she will sit there for a little bit and then go to try to communicate with the second team
The library was located on the edge of the village, and with it being January the sky was already very dark, moon eliminating on the world in blue light. It was indeed mesmerising
The air was chilly, no one was outside
Subaru himself was heading to find Rem and exchange some information with her
…
Dark village was surrounded by a forest from all sides. During the day it made it look protected and beautiful,but at night it felt like the darkness of the forest kept the village at it's mercy
Subaru was walking casually, looking up at the sky
.
Something's off
.
.
.
.
Crack
Some sort of a sound was heard from the forest
Subaru stopped moving
The sound came from behind him
Crack
As if a tree was being broken, many small cracks kept popping behind Subaru
What's going on
He felt danger
Crack
It was coming closer
Subaru's heart was beating like crazy
This fear … it isn't natural
He shouldn't be as scared as he is
.
Something started chasing him
Loud footsteps could be heard. They were offbeat and unnatural, but also fast
The thing was running towards him
Moisty grass was making sounds even louder
Subaru couldn't think straight
Fear
He was running
He didn't know where
What's happening
Fear
Where the hell was he
What
Where
.
/SHUNK/
Huh?
Suddenly Subaru found himself in the middle of the dark forest
He didn't have strength necessary to think about what just happened
When suddenly
SLASH
..
Darkness
His eyes were slashed
KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Pain exploded into his head
He felt like his face was burning in pain
He kept screaming trying to calm his eyes down,but further contact only worsened the pain
Tears were showing
But before he was given a chance to process what was happening something atracked him again
His arm was cut off
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUHUUUUUH STOP STOP WHAT THE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL?!
His leg was cut off
Fingers on the remaining hand were ripped out
His ears were pierced
One after the other a monster kept ripping him apart. Blood vessels exploded erupting large quantities of blood. Subaru felt his nerves convulse and make him almost pass out. Subaru felt his missing limbs. He couldn't think properly. He felt it. He knew it. It was coming.
Death
I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE
I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE
I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE
I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE
I DON'T WANNA DIE I DON'T WANNA DIE
He felt every cell in his body scream in fear. In distress. He lost too much blood. The pain will soon take him
Help me
Save me
Beatrice
BEATRICE SAVE ME.
BEAKO
/SLASH/
His head was severed. Subaru could no longer think, see or properly hear. As his brain was slowly dying, words were uttered near him that he couldn't process
«-tella….»
.
.
Natsuki Subaru had finally died
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