Re: Rem's Journey

by JIL713

Rem manages to convince Subaru to let her travel with him after the White Whale battle. As of a result, she avoids being eaten by the Archbishop of Gluttony. As Rem travels with Subaru, she will learn many things that she wouldn't have in a comatose state. She will discover that the world is more complicated and sinister than she ever expected it to be.

15. Chapter 15

A/N:

This chapter is longer than most other chapters. At least double the length of most other chapters.

Text in bold indicates what is happening in the trial. Normal text is Rem's actions, thoughts, and dialogue.

-Unknown-

A sea of nothingness. If one were to attempt to look about in this place of desolation, they'd find absolutely nothing. An unknown dimension of nothingness. If this dimension contains nothing, why does it even exist in the first place? How does it even exist, if there is nothing there?

No plants to see, no animals to watch scurry about. There isn't even a solid ground for these living beings to stand upon. Though even if there was, the concept of air doesn't seem to exist in this plane of nothingness either. So they'd quickly die.

Even time seemed to be finicky or not exist in the first place. How much time has passed? Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, centuries? A millenia perhaps? Who knows.

Suddenly, in this sea of nothingness, a lone consciousness appears. It didn't appear to have any idea of what was going on. Despite that, it seemed…prepared? Or perhaps it anticipated something. Regardless, that didn't change the fact that this single consciousness suddenly appeared out of nowhere, with no explanation of its origin.

What is this? The consciousness sends out this message. No audible noise is made, as it doesn't exist. Though no sound exists, it can be clearly sensed that this message holds a feeling of confusion.

As if in answer to her query, the sea of nothingness suddenly begins to expand. A world is built right before the consciousness's non-existent eyes.

Air, breathable air, forms first. Then a sky, filled with a bright blue color and a bright yellow object that appears to give off a lot of light. White puffy things are dotted throughout this sky, giving the bland blue background some much needed detail. Down below, a ground is formed. Filled with dirt, stones, and grass. Trees appear in the distance, giving more detail to this otherwise desolate landscape.

Finally, a variety of different creatures dot the areas filled with trees, giving off a feeling of this place being "alive" and welcoming. Some rather complicated looking shapes appear on what appears to be a long stretch of dirt that seems to extend for miles. Finally, one more species appears in these complicated shapes. The shapes are being pulled by some land animals.

The consciousness suddenly finds itself able to interpret five different senses. Taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell. As for why it's able to do all of that, the answer is quite simple: a body appears and her soul connects to it.

As for the body's appearance, it has the figure of a girl who is in her late teenager or early adulthood years. Pale white skin, smooth arms and legs, light blue eyes, and short, straight sky blue hair. Her bangs cover her right eye, but this doesn't seem to bother her in the least. Her clothes consist of a maid outfit. Additionally, a small pink flower ribbon adorns the left side of her hair, alongside a hair clip of the same color next to identity of this girl is none other than Rem.

Finding herself floating in the middle of the sky, she initially freaks out and is afraid of plummeting to her death. Rather than that happening, she instead, by no voluntary effort of her own, finds herself slowly descending to the ground. She lands on the ground with a soft thud, somehow able to balance herself and not fall onto her bottom. Her shoes get slightly stained with dirt.

Looking at her surroundings, she quickly recognizes the place.

It's the place where we defeated the White Whale.

Taking another look back and forth, she sees a variety of soldiers that are in Crusch's army. The total number being around 100 or so. Up on a small hill, she sees Crusch talking to Wilhelm, though as to what they're discussing, she doesn't know. Shifting her view to the left, she eventually comes across something that completely shocks her.

She sees Subaru with Felix and…herself. The three appear to be discussing something as well.

"W-wait! How am I over there?! I'm over here!" She shouts to herself, very confused as to why two of her exist. Thankfully, it doesn't take her long to figure out why. As she remembers this environment and the scene between her and Subaru in the distance, she comes to the conclusion that this must be a replaying of past events.

Just like the first trial. She thoughtfully reminds herself that this isn't the first time she's seen her past. Though why such a recent event? No horrific events happened here.

Determining she isn't going to get any answers by just standing around, she decides to head towards Subaru, Felix, and herself, feeling naturally drawn to them despite witnessing it firsthand.

As she approaches, the sounds of their discussion reach her ears.

"Why?" Rem cries out in a frustrated voice.

"You cannyot move, right?" Felix says to Rem, looking a bit concerned. "As a user of healing magic, I cannot let you push yourself any further. You'll stay behind-"

"But!" Rem interrupts. However, she quickly loses her balance even though she's sitting.

"Careful!" Subaru says as he catches her and brings her head into his chest.

Rem finally approaches them, but tries to stay out of their sight, afraid of what could possibly happen if they saw what would essentially be a doppelganger. Unfortunately, Subaru turns his head for a moment and directly stares right at her.

"W-Wait! I-I can explain!" She quickly blurts out in a panic. However, to her surprise, he completely ignores her. In fact, he doesn't show even the slightest inclination of acknowledging her existence.

"What…?" She exhales out in confusion. Feeling rather daring, she gets within mere inches of them and stands right behind Subaru, looking both Felix and herself in the face. Her eyes meet theirs, but just like Subaru, neither of them notice that she's there.

"Please obey Ferris, and don't overdo it." Subaru says.

They even carry on the conversation as if they never saw anyone.

"Am I…invisible to them?" She wonders out loud. None of them look at her despite voicing her thoughts aloud.

Finally, she attempts to touch Subaru with her hand, to see if that would incite any sort of reaction from him. To her utter disbelief, her hand phases right through him, as if he isn't there.

"H-Huh?"

"I shall not!" Rem protests, clutching onto Subaru with her own strength. "It hurts too much…I cannot bear it."

She quickly attempts the same thing with Felix and herself, with the same results.

"It's like I'm not even here…but I am here too! This must be the trial's doing. But this didn't happen last time. I was able to interact with mom, dad, and Nee-sama. Why is it different this time? What does this trial want me to see?"

With no one around capable of hearing her to answer her questions, she decides to pay attention to the conversation at hand.

Subaru looks at Rem with a distressed and concerned look. The latter cries, "When you're in trouble. I want to be the first to reach out to you. That is all I want! So please…"

"This is…different from how I remember it." Rem comments to herself observing herself pleading to Subaru to let her go with him. She definitely remembers this overall event happening. But the dialogue is different from her memories.

"In that case, you don't have to worry." Subaru says with confidence. "You've already saved me so many times."

Rem pulls away from his chest and looks up at him.

Subaru continues, "Don't you realize how much you've done for me up till now? I want you to help me from now on, too."

"Of course Subaru-kun, always."

Even though Subaru can't hear her, Rem responds to his request with pure love imbued within her voice.

"So, this time, leave everything to me."

"He's…leaving me? Even though he asked for my help?" She could tell, even if he didn't directly say it, that he was going to go off to face Petelguese by himself. Or at least, without her.

This didn't make any sense. She ended up coming with him in the end, so why is he leaving her here?

She remembers the words given to her right before starting this trial. "Behold an unthinkable present."

"Is this trial…showing me an alternate route?"

A really bad feeling begins stirring deep within her heart.

"After this, you'll still keep me by your side?" Rem asks, tears filling her eyes.

He smiles proudly, "I'm the one who should beg you for that."

She smiles and teasingly puts a finger to his mouth, "I shall take that as a promise. You cannot back out now!"

Rem, only able to simply observe from the side, nearly comes to tears herself from watching the touching scene. Although he is leaving her, this is still very heartwarming to watch.

"It'll be okay, Rem. I'll find a way to take care of everything!"

"Why do you always insist on doing everything yourself Subaru-kun? You know you can always rely on others…and rely on me for help, right?" She frowns at his behavior.

"I'm your hero!"

"Yes…yes you are my hero." She turns that frown upside down and wipes a tear away.

"I've decided to take that first step! But you don't have to worry." He winks at her. "I managed to pull off the whale hunt. Right now, your hero is fanatical like a demon!"

"Subaru-kun…!" Rem's tears overflow. She shuts her eyes and smiles widely, "Alright! My hero is the greatest in the world!"

The two put their foreheads towards one another and enjoy this precious time with one another as much as possible.

Before she even realizes it, Rem finds herself hugging Subaru tightly from behind. Well, at least in spirit anyway. She can't touch him, but she's somehow able to figure out how to wrap her body around his without overlapping their bodies.

"Sometimes…" Tears stream down her face just like her alternate self. "Subaru-kun can be such an idiot. You don't need to act tough and do it all on your own. She's right there…I'm right here. I'm here for you Subaru-kun. I'll support you no matter how weak or pathetic you may look. Those traits are all a part of your overall charm!"

As soon as she says these praiseworthy words of Subaru, her vision suddenly becomes white. She doesn't even get a chance to blink before a new scene appears right in front of her.

-Wagon-

Looking around, Rem is able to immediately identify her current location as being in a wagon. Surrounding her are a handful of wounded soldiers. At the very back of the wagon are the alternate Rem and Crusch, looking out into the distance. The sound of multiple ground dragons clicking their hooves along the dirt road confirms that they're currently in a caravan.

I must be in a carriage heading back to Crush-sama's mansion. That's where the soldiers were when me, Subaru-kun, and Emilia-sama went there. I guess…this is a timeskip? Interesting.

Just like with Subaru, Felix, and alternate Rem before, all of the soldiers and Crusch are completely unaware of her presence. This confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's invisible to everyone around her, not like she really had any doubts at this point when her hand went through their bodies earlier. For some reason though, she appears to be able to touch the floor of the wagon. Just like the dirt outside earlier. Weird.

Not only that, due to being in a slightly darker environment, Rem notices something else about herself that is abnormal. Looking at her arms, hands, and her legs, a soft light blue glow emits from her skin. Or more accurately, a light blue aura surrounds these places. She checks out more parts of her body and confirms that there is not a single section where there is no aura. Her entire figure must be cloaked in this admittedly very calming light.

Why is the light there? Rem has no idea, and frankly she doesn't really care, especially considering she enjoys its presence. Though she does theorize it's to mark her as the partaker of the trial.

Moving out of the way of the soldiers, she inches her way towards Crusch and the alternate Rem, very interested to see what they have to say to one another. As she has absolutely no memory of this ever happening, she is certain this must be some alternative route the trial is having her observe.

"You don't look very happy, Rem. Are you still worried?" Crusch asks her, smiling but also maintaining a professional appearance.

"Crusch-sama…"

"Ferris and Wilhelm, and all the volunteers fighting alongside us, are the best of the best. Ricardo and the Iron Fang are lending us their aid, too. Such an assembly cannot lose."

"This was when Crusch-sama still had her memories." Rem notes as Crusch talks about the White Whale, which she doesn't remember anymore in the present world due to having her memories taken away. "Wait…this was when Crusch-sama still had her memories." She repeats to herself. Suddenly, a horrible implication overcomes her, "Oh no! Is this…what I think this is?!"

"Is it selfish of me to worry despite all that?" Rem asks, sounding disappointed in herself.

"It's as Natsuki Subaru said, you look best when you're smiling."

Rem faintly gasps and blushes a little. "Honestly, that Subaru-kun is such a troublemaker." From her sweet smile, it appears it doesn't bother her much at all.

She then says, "I'm sure you would also look quite different with a smile, since you always carry yourself with such dignity."

"Are those two…going to appear?" Rem isn't paying much attention to what her alternate self is saying. Instead, all of her brain power goes towards pondering whether those two individuals responsible for Crusch and the others' memory loss will show up.

Shaking her head rapidly, she dismisses this thought for now and once again focuses on the conversation before her.

Rem says, "I believe you would look lovely if you smiled."

"I agree with that. When Crusch-sama lost her memories, she appeared to be more at ease and casual with everyone. Her smiles seemed a lot less forced, like a huge burden was lifted off of her shoulders."

Crusch tilts her head downwards, looking a little sad and embarrassed, "Yes, well…I'm not very good at smiling. It is something I still regret, even now."

Suddenly, a loud explosive sound rings in their ears. Crusch and Rem, their alert level now at the absolute max, look around in an attempt to find the source.

Rem does the same.

A second explosive sound rings out. It's much, much louder than the previous one, which means its source has to be much closer.

"Enemy attack!" Crusch shouts loud and clear for everyone to hear. Her and the soldiers quickly draw their swords that have been sitting quietly next to their waists. Rather than a sword, Rem draws out her Morningstar.

Getting a good look out of the front of the wagon, Crusch sees a lone white-haired man standing in the middle of the road.

"Run him over!" Crusch commands while putting out a hand.

"Crusch-sama!" Somehow feeling that this is a super bad idea, Rem immediately tries to grab Crusch and jump up super high into the sky to escape the wagon.

Unfortunately for her, she forgot about her inability to touch people and phases right through her.

Thankfully, her alternate self has the exact same plan.

"Crusch-sama!" Rem instantly darts over to Crusch, grabs her, and leaps high into the sky to get away from the wagon.

Another giant explosion occurs, this time right before their very eyes. The two are barely able to escape the blast and land safely somewhat near the white-haired man. Numerous wagons are now tipped over and destroyed.

Rem lands a few inches away from her alternate self. They may be in different timelines, but their instincts and decision making are exactly on par with one another.

"This man, he…" she glares hatefully at the white-haired man with a slender build before them. He matches the description that she was told of one of the individuals who attacked Crusch and her army.

The white-haired man shrugs, "I wish you wouldn't do that. Ordering them to run me over when I'm not doing anything? That's not something any decent human being would do."

Both Rem and Crusch give looks of hostility to this new entity present. They pose in a way that'll allow them to act immediately if the man tries to harm them or the others. The latter shouts, "How dare you do such a brutal thing to my retainers? Just who are you?"

"I see, I see." The man smiles at them, "You don't know who I am. But I know who you are. You're a candidate to be the next ruler of this nation."

"Tch!" She clicks her tongue. She's only just met this man, and yet she already finds him as one of the most detestable beings she's ever met. Pretty much on par with Petelguese and that witch, Echidna.

Speaking of Echidna, what exactly is she doing right now? Is she overseeing what is occurring with her right now? Rem can clearly imagine her smiling from the castle of dreams, looking down on her and saying "My, how interesting." Imagining this scenario only makes her blood veins nearly pop in frustration and anger.

"Forget about that witch for now…" She shakes her head and once again glares at this white-haired man with contempt.

"You talk too much! Answer my question!" Crusch draws her sword and points it at him. "Next time, I will kill you!"

The man frowns in disgust. He shrugs again. "Now that's just mean." He regains his smile, though one could say it looks more like a smirk or a snarker smile. "But I suppose one could never hope to rule a country without some degree of arrogance. I can't comprehend that sensibility myself, but…"

"I told you there would be no second chances!" Crusch draws her sword back and swings it forward, releasing a wind blade that heads straight for the white-haired man.

A barrier of some sort erects around him, completely negating the wind blade in its entirety. Not a single scratch appears on his delicate snow-white skin.

"Crap! That didn't work?!" Rem shouts out in exasperation. She knew that Crusch was unable to defeat him, considering her current state. But still, it was really unfortunate and a little surprising to see such a powerful attack have absolutely no effect on him.

The man's expression darkens. "Now, look here! Who taught you that it was acceptable to swing a sword at someone when they're happily talking?! I do believe that's a violation of my right to speak!"

With absolutely no warning whatsoever, Crusch's left hand and a little bit of her arm above it come flying off of her body. Blood pours out everywhere. She collapses onto the ground.

"Crusch-sama!" Rem catches her and sits down with her, immediately attempting to heal her.

Like her alternate self, Rem also instinctively tries to assist her, to no avail. She can only watch on as her alternate self heals her.

"El huma!" She attempts to conjure a bunch of icicles to launch at this man who dared to harm Crusch. Unfortunately, nothing forms.

"El huma!" She tries again, with nothing appearing.

"What? Does…my magic not work while taking the trial?"

"Ferris…" Crusch cries out in a small voice. A very pained expression on her face.

"Ah…" A new, unfamiliar voice enters the scene. "I keep eating and eating, but it's never enough!"

Rem turns her head towards the source of the voice and finds a short person with extremely long smooth brown hair walking towards them.

Rem does the same and finds that this individual matches the description of that other being who attacked Crusch and her army perfectly. Even the part about how there always appears to be a shadow draping over him is correct as well.

"I eat, I devour, I chew, I bite, I gorge, I gnaw, I munch, I crunch. Pure gluttony! Ah, thank you for this feast!"

"Gluttony…that's you, isn't it? The one responsible for the way Crusch-sama is now…" Rem clenches her fists and glares at him with nothing but pure hatred. Him mentioning the dreaded word "gluttony" is enough to convince her that he's the culprit for Crusch's current amnesic state.

She would've attempted to attack him, but it's already been confirmed her magic doesn't work. She also tried to bring out her Morningstar, but it doesn't appear to exist within this dimension. Though even if she was able to use either of these methods of attack, they'd likely only just phase through him considering she's not actually physically present. Only her soul and consciousness are truly present. The body she's using isn't her real one. Her real body is currently lying on the ground in the trial ruins.

As such, she's forced to simply watch from the sidelines. Hopefully her alternate self will be able to defeat them, since she's able to directly interact with them.

Rem's eyebrows lower in anger. "You two are…"

The short guy with the long brown hair introduces himself, "Sin Archibishop of the Witch's Cult, representing gluttony. Lye Batenkaitos."

The white-haired guy does the same, "And the Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing greed, Regulus Corneas."

"Sin Archbishops…" Rem seethes through her teeth. "These witch cultists, they're everywhere."

"We came here because we heard our pet had been slain, and look at this bounty!" Lye smiles brightly with his large sharp canine teeth. He shrugs, "I expected them to be a good, ripe bunch, considering they managed to kill a beast that had been rampaging unchecked for 400 years. But this is beyond my expectations!" He lifts his hands and looks upwards into the sky. "Nice! Good! Great! Excellent! Fine! Perfect! Fantastic! Stupendous!"

Rem, not paying too much attention to his words, finishes up the last bit of healing she can do for Crusch before gently lowering her onto the ground.

"This Archbishop is insane! He just rambles on and on like an unfiltered salesman. Wait, I shouldn't be comparing his garrulous manners to an innocent salesman. My apologies." She is utterly disgusted by every word that comes out of Lye's mouth.

"How long it has been since our hunger was so thoroughly sated!" Lye finishes with that statement.

Rem silently gets up and prepares her Morningstar for battle.

"You can relax. I'm nothing like that guy there." Regulus says to her while putting a hand to his head as if annoyed. "I hate fighting and stuff. All that 'hunger' and 'thirst' nonsense? Such petty self-indulgences are beneath me."

Lowering her head, a giant swirl of ice particles surround Rem. In an instant, numerous icicles are generated. Half are aimed at Regulus while the other half are aimed at Lye."

Rem nods quietly, completely agreeing with what her alternate self is doing.

"Were you even listening?" Regulus asks with frustration. "Did I not just say that I hate fighting?"

"Is that all you have to say, witch cultist?" Rem glares at him while saying these words with a tongue just as sharp as her icicles.

She continues, "Soon enough, a hero will appear and rid us of all of you."

While the alternate Rem appears to be completely confident that Subaru will appear, the Rem taking the trial is much less certain about this. Aware of just how difficult fighting Petelguese was, she knew that the chances of him conveniently coming back to get her this soon is quite low. Still, she knows that whenever she is in a difficult situation, Subaru seems to always arrive at just the right moment to save her, like he did when he saved her from Meili.

Thus, she has hope that he'll arrive. Not as much as alternate Rem does, but she has hope.

"The one and only hero…whom I love."

"Oh? A hero? I look forward to that." Lye says sarcastically. "And who are you?"

"The head maid of the mansion of Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers" She shakes her head. "And currently, the caretaker of my one and only love. My beloved Natsuki Subaru, who will one day be that hero. Rem!" Her horn grows out, fully entering combat mode.

"That's the title I gave myself here?" She looks at her alternate self in a bit of shock. "I didn't consider myself the head maid of Roswaal-sama's mansion, but as Subaru-kun's caretaker?"

Before she knows it, she is smiling brightly and blushing a little. "That's perfect. That's exactly who I want to be. Tending to Subaru-kun would make me so much happier than working for Roswaal-sama."

Rem begins to consider whether she even wants to continue working for Roswaal, especially now that she's suspicious of him.

"You'd better be ready, Sin Archbishop!" Rem shouts furiously, "I promise you, my hero will soon be here to bring you to justice!" She sends out both packs of icicles at seemingly supersonic speeds.

The icicles sent towards Regulus all get crushed right before they hit his face. Meanwhile, Lye runs at super high speeds and evades every icicle sent after him.

Flailing her Morningstar, Rem attempts to hit Lye who is running towards her. One swing does get it very close to him, but he manages to easily deflect it with a dagger he has tied onto his arm.

"Ah, what mettle!" Lye complains. The two exchange blows back and forth at a rapid pace, with neither gaining an upper hand at the other.

"Oh no…this isn't good!" Rem says with increasing anxiety as she watches her alternate self fight Lye. With this outside perspective of the battle, she can clearly see that this battle is not going in her favor and at best she's only countering his attacks.

"I'm most certainly going to enjoy this feast!" Lye shouts excitedly as he continues to perfectly counter each and every swing of Rem's Morningstar.

Meanwhile, Regulus watches the two duke it out, creepily smiling the entire time.

Rem pants and sweat begins to pile onto her body as she swings back and forth at an accelerated pace.

"Wow…do I actually look like that when I get desperate? It looks like I'm just swinging aimlessly at this point!" Rem is surprised to just see how reckless her alternate self is being while attacking Lye. Ram has sometimes told her that she tends to react heedlessly rather than calmly assessing the situation and making decisions based on those assessments. While she did believe her sister, it was a totally different feeling witnessing it firsthand from an outside viewpoint like this.

"I think I should listen to Nee-sama and work on not attacking so recklessly anymore. This is hard to watch…" She grimaces as she continues to observe the fight.

In a seeming twist of fate, Rem's body becomes suspended in midair for seemingly no reason. She makes a gasping noise that sounds similar to trying to free something from her throat.

"No!" Rem shouts as she witnesses this horrific scene. What just happened?!

Coming down from above, Lye opens his mouth and bites into Rem's head, licking it profusely.

"Ugh! How dare you sully my beautiful face like that, you despicable Archbishop!" She grits her teeth at Lye.

Rem's eyes close and her face relaxes into a completely neutral expression. Whatever force is suspending her in the sky gets released, and she plummets to the ground.

Lye lands graciously onto the ground and looks at Rem, who landed face up. With a satisfied grin and a voice to match, he says, "Thank you for the feast."

"What…what did he just do?!" Rem hurries over and leans over her alternate self, who is fully unconscious.

"Come on! Get up! I know you wouldn't be defeated by this alone. I know because you are me!"

Unfortunately for Rem, her pleas fall on deaf ears. The girl before her doesn't get up. She watches her for a minute, but nothing changes. The only sign of life her alternate self has is the slow rising and lowering of her chest.

"This…is this what would've happened if Subaru-kun didn't take me with him back then?"

She remembers Puck's words. If someone's name and memories get eaten by Gluttony, then they're put into a suspended animation, never to wake again.

"My name and memories were eaten…weren't they?" She admits to herself in a sad tone. She had failed. She had once again failed to save precious lives. She failed to save the soldiers and she failed to save her dear friend Crusch, a person she looks up to and deeply respects.

She walks over to Crusch, who is likewise unconscious. Her body sits in a pool of her own blood. "Crusch-sama, I'm sorry I'm so useless. I couldn't even come remotely close to killing an Archbishop. If I was present here, nothing would've changed. I would've just been another victim of Gluttony's never ending appetite. Please forgive me."

With a deep bow, Rem deeply apologizes from the bottom of her heart. Then, without any warning, her mind becomes blurry and muddled. She feels as if she's losing consciousness.

-Trial Ruins-

Rem's eyes suddenly shoot open and she coughs a few times before sitting herself up.

"So that was what would've happened had Subaru-kun not taken me. At least, that's how the trial presented it anyway. I think it's reasonable to believe that my memories and my name would've been gobbled up by Gluttony had I not gone with him."

She shudders upon recalling Lye disgustingly biting and licking her forehead like he was some sort of pervert.

Why did the trial show me that alternate reality? I suppose I did learn a little bit about those loathsome Archbishops. But I really wanted to learn something about Subaru-kun. She can't help but frown in disappointment.

"Behold an unthinkable present."

Abruptly being hit with these same words in her head once again, she falls back onto the floor unconscious.

-Small Field-

Appearing to skip the world-building process, Rem instantly appears in what seems to be a small field in nearly pitch black. The only source of light is a little bit of moonlight peering through the leaves on the trees. Actually, that's not true. The light blue aura from before is much more visible compared to before. It helps illuminate the area a bit, but only a few feet around her. A quick look around and she is able to find herself on the ground picking up something.

"Me? Again? What's up with this trial showing me in an alternate timeline?" Immediately assuming this is yet another alternate timeline, she makes her way over to her alternate self and observes what she is doing.

"I'm picking herbs here as Roswaal-sama ordered me to for Emilia-sama's tea. But why is it showing me this? There's no decision making to be made here." She voices her thoughts aloud, to which her alternate self pays no mind to whatsoever. Unlike last time, there's no huge decision that would split the timeline. So all she can do is look on in confusion and hope the reason she's seeing this will be revealed to her soon.

"You're here, just as Onee-sama said." A cute young voice calls out to her.

Coming out from the shadows of the trees and into the moonlight, a young girl comes within ten feet of Rem. The latter looks up and is shocked as she recognizes her.

"You're…" She takes a moment to recall her name. "You're Meili-chan, aren't you? What are you doing out here all alone? It's not safe to go into the forest late at night by yourself."

"Who knew you were a mabeast tamer. I never would've expected that…" Rem frowns heavily at Meili. So far, everything that has occurred matches her memory perfectly. She'd get into a fight with her before Subaru swoops in completely unexpectedly to save her.

"Aww! Thanks for worrying about me, I really do appreciate it. But frankly, you should be more worried about yourself rather than me."

From behind the same set of shadows Meili emerged from, two Wolgarms come into view and they both stand beside her.

"Look out! El Huma!" Two ice spears form and are sent hurtling towards the wolf-like mabeasts, killing them instantly.

"Hey!" Meili stomps a foot rapidly in anger, "Isn't it quite rude to kill my dear pets like this?!"

"Pets? What are you talking about? They're mabeasts! They'll curse you and attempt to eat you if you get too close to them! You need to get out of here now! I'll protect you while you run!" Rem brings out her Morningstar and grips it tightly.

"If only I had noticed sooner." Rem puts a hand to her face and sighs deeply, disappointed in herself for not realizing Meili's true disposition quicker than she did. Perhaps she would've been able to restrain and question her if she had.

Meili leaps back towards the shadows much to Rem's surprise. She gives a big smile and says, "Ah, sorry about that, sometimes I forget people get concerned when I'm too close to the mabeasts. Don't worry, they won't do anything to me."

"Huh? What are you talking about? They attack anyone and everyone without question."

"I must be the sole exception then." Meili states proudly. "Well, it was fun talking with you, but Onee-sama gave me orders to kill you, so you'll need to go bye-bye now!"

"What?!" She shouts as two more wolgarms come out nowhere on both of Rem's sides. Instinctively jumping up, she sends out her Morningstar and rips the two to shreds.

"Why are you doing this?! Who's this Onee-sama you speak of?!" She shouts and demands Meili to answer these questions.

"Sorry! I can't tell you that. Violation of privacy and all that y'know? Plus you're gonna die soon anyway, so what's the point?" Looking to her left, she says, "Come on out now! Gotta get her out of the way quick before he comes!"

A wagpig comes out upon hearing her command and attempts to ram Rem. She jumps up high into the sky and sends the Morningstar down upon it just as she did with the Wolgarms. It staggers and collapses onto its side. This is the point where she finally decides to bring out her horn.

"Subaru-kun should be coming any moment now." She remembers this is about the point where Subaru shows up and helps her escape.

More wolgarms and wagpigs appear. She easily decimates the wolgarms while the wagpigs prove to be more difficult to kill. She's forced to run back towards the small field.

"Ul Huma!" Turning around and facing two wagpigs coming after her, two ice spears nearly twenty times the size of the icicles she launched earlier appear. They are sent barrelling towards the wagpigs, successfully striking them and killing them instantly.

"No, no! Look out!" Rem pleads to her alternate self as she notices a huge mabeast rapidly approaching her. It has pretty thick fur, sharp claws, and is twice as large as her.

Unfortunately for her, a spotted king dog quickly approaches while she is focused on attacking the wagpigs. She senses its presence at the last second and turns around only to be greeted by a brutal slash to her face. The force of the impact sends her back several feet into the forest. As she flies back, she screams as loud as she can from the nearly unbearable pain of having her skin torn open. Hitting numerous tree branches on the way, she finally lands on her face.

"No! What the?!" Rem, unable to stand the horrible sight before her eyes, turns away.

Why's this happening?! Subaru-kun was supposed to arrive and help me get out of there before anything terrible happened! What's going on?! Is this an unthinkable present where Subaru-kun is unable to help me? What's going to happen to me now? I…I don't know if I'd be able to recover from this!"

Being driven by a need to find out what will happen next, she forces herself to take a step forward and head into the forest to follow where her alternative self has landed.

A moment later she manages to find herself lying down on the forest floor. However, she is not prepared for the sight she is about to witness.

Her face facing towards the sky, Rem finds three deep gashes fully across her face, completely mangling her beautiful face. She nearly pukes, but barely manages to hold it in. Looking further down with a horrified expression, it only gets worse upon reaching her legs. Or rather, leg. One leg has been completely torn off and blood gushes out from the huge wound where the leg once was.

I'm dead. I'm so dead. Is the only thought that manages to form in her mind. Hearing a crunching sound, she slowly turns her head to the left and finds the first wagpig that her alternate self encountered chewing what appears to be a leg in satisfaction.

It didn't take a genius to find out who's leg that was. Rem had as much as she could take and pukes onto the ground next to her. Usually she could handle gore just fine, especially if said gore came from a mabeast or a witch cultist.

But gore from her own body? That is a new sort of revulsion that no mabeast or witch cultist could ever hope to match.

And it only gets worse.

"Gah!" Rem cries out in pain as she attempts to put one of her hands towards the wound in an attempt to cast healing magic on it to at least stop the bleeding.

Finding what appears to be basically free food, two wolgarms appear in front of Rem. She glares at the two with utmost contempt.

"Get…get away!" She manages to squeeze out of mouth, slowly losing breath.

"El…El hu-" Attempting to generate more icicles to drive into the wolgarms, she's instead greeted with a new rush of pain that disrupts her chant.

Shifting her battered face to the right, she finds her right arm being aggressively pulled on and chewed by the wolgarms. Weakly attempting to pull her arm away, she ultimately ends up being unsuccessful when the wolgarms manage to grab ahold of it once more and yank on it fiercely. They yank so hard it ends up being fully torn from her arm socket.

Rem once again can no longer bear herself to watch her alternate self be brutally killed in this fashion. The gruesome sound of splattering pieces of flesh and blood confirms that another of her alternate self's limbs must've come off.

A single tear flows down Rem's remaining good eye, as her other one has been destroyed almost beyond recognition.

In a tiny, barely audible voice, she sobs, "S-Subaru-kun…E-Emilia-sama…I'm…I'm so sorry. For…forgive me."

With that, Rem breathes her last.

"I…I died…" Rem is almost unable to believe that she just witnessed herself dying. By mabeasts no less. "Why? Why did I die? Why didn't Subaru-kun come like how I remembered it happening? What changed here? Someone, please answer me!" She cries out, begging to understand why she must witness this horrible death.

There is no response to her cries of anguish.

"Well done my pets! I'll make sure to get you all a treat later." Meili appears once more and observes Rem's body, confirming that it is deceased. "If the intel from Onee-sama was correct, he should be here pretty soon. Guess I'll go over there and wait." She goes to a nearby tree to sit and wait for her next victim.

"Why couldn't I be stronger? Why wasn't I able to deal with the mabeasts? I'm always relying on Subaru-kun for help. If he hadn't arrived, this would've been my fate, I'm sure of it." She slams a fist onto the ground, "I'm so pathetic! Even with my horn, I can't protect the people I love if I die this easily like a wimp!"

At this point Rem sort of expected to be taken out of the trial, feeling that she observed what she was supposed to see. However, a few silent minutes go by. Minutes that feel like hours. All she can do is watch over her dead body while berating herself over and over as she waits for something to happen. Eventually, she hears a voice that makes her blood run cold.

"Barusu, stop here." Ram says as she, Subaru, and Garfiel approach the small plain field.

"Why? Do you spot something?" Subaru responds.

"No…" Rem squeaks out as she looks out into the plain field from the forest and spots the three of them. "Nee-sama, Subaru-kun…don't. Don't come over here!"

She nods and climbs down, "Yes, see all the small, very leafy plants around here? These are likely the herbs Rem was sent to collect."

"Why teh heck would she be collectin' herbs like this on 'er own when it's pitch black?" Garfiel asks.

"Because…because I figured I'd be fine. And Roswaal-sama ordered me to obtain them." She slowly responds to Garfiel's question, even though she knows he won't hear her.

His question is ignored as Subaru and Ram begin to shout her name. Garfiel quickly joins in. They run all over the small circular field that is about 120 feet in diameter. They quickly grow more and more anxious as their callings are not responded to whatsoever.

To her horror, Ram quickly approaches her location.

"Nee-sama! No! No! Don't come over here! You won't be able to bear it! I don't want to see you crying over my corpse!" Rem instantly imagines her sister's horrified face that would form upon seeing her dead body.

Her imaginations become reality as soon as she arrives.

"NO! REM! REM!" Ram screams in horror.

Hearing her ear-piercing screams, Rem tries to console her, "Nee-sama! I'm right here! I'm alive! I'm okay! Please, please…please believe me…" She slowly breaks down herself. None of her words will ever reach her.

Subaru is suddenly jolted onto his back upon hearing Rem's name being called in quite possibly the loudest scream he's ever heard. He leaps up like a gazelle and sprints towards the source of said scream, which happens to be on the opposite side of the field.

"Ram! Ram! What happened?! What happened to Rem?!" Subaru yells on the way over. He spots Garfiel also running towards the same destination.

Hearing Subaru's voice, she instantly perks her head up and pleads, "No! Subaru-kun! Not you too! You shouldn't…you shouldn't see me like this!"

Reaching her after pulling apart a few herbs standing in his way, he finds the pink-haired oni grabbing ahold of a body. Despite the overhead trees blocking out some of the precious moonlight, that proves to be negligent as Subaru can recognize this body even if the area were pitch black.

It is Rem's.

"What the hell is this…" Garfiel stares dumbfounded at the lifeless corpse in front of him.

"H-How…" Subaru falls to his knees, his small pupils shrinking to tiny proportions in pure horror at the sight before him. His entire body shakes and trembles. His teeth chatter. Tears begin to flow uncontrollably, and he makes no effort to wipe them away.

"S-Subaru-kun. P-Please, I can't bear to see you like this!" This behavior reminds her of the day he broke down in front of her, as he acted in a similar way. But that was because of the inner demons he was facing.

This time, she is the cause of his trembling. She is the cause of his tears flowing nonstop. Guilt forms within her soul. "I-I'm so sorry. Even if this is an alternate timeline that never happened, knowing I'm the cause of your pain and suffering here, I…I'm sorry for being so weak. So useless. Forgive this foolish oni maid."

The only relief she has is that this never happened. This is simply an alternative timeline. An "unthinkable present" as the trial put it.

These truly are unthinkable. What a despicable witch.

His eyes, which are already nasty-eyed to begin with, look even more frightening as he hardens his resolve.

As for Ram, she isn't faring any better than Subaru. If anything, she's in an even worse state of mind. Shrieking upon seeing her, she quickly grabs hold of her sister to see if there are any signs of life within her. There are none, as her chest is no longer moving up and down nor is the sound of breath coming from her nostrils. The floodgates on her eyes open and her usual calm demeanor is now completely gone, as if that part of her personality were all a lie.

"Who…who would dare do this to my dear little sister?!" The oni roars, her grief now being replaced with pure fury. A barrier of wind suddenly surrounds her, knocking Subaru and Garfiel back a few feet.

"Nee-sama, I'm sorry." Rem can only utter apologies over and over again as she watches the people closest to her grieve over her death. Still, she can't help but feel a little bit happy at seeing how much they care about her.

Ram's outburst does shock her though. She's certainly gotten angry on her behalf numerous times over the years. This furious though? It's never happened before. Ram seldom ever gets this angry. In fact, Rem could probably count on one finger the number of times she's gotten this enraged.

Over the next few minutes, Rem is forced to watch as Subaru, Ram and Garfiel meet Meili in almost the same exact fashion as she did. Subaru is just as shocked as she was at her complete willingness to kill other people.

Ram and Garfiel quickly grow furious with her and swear to avenge Rem's death.

The battle between the four commence, and Rem steels her resolve to watch the battle, praying that they all make it out alive. Subaru arrived on Patrasche, so they could easily make a mad dash out of there. This is what she expects them to do.

However, that doesn't happen. Instead, she watches Ram and Garfiel fight a variety of mabeasts while Subaru, unable to fight back, is forced to run away from them until either of the others eliminates the threats.

After a few minutes of fighting pass:

"Can't he fight?" Garfiel asks as they make their way towards him.

"Not even a little bit!" Ram replies.

"Then why'd ya bring 'im?! I usually don't question what ya do, but even my amazin' self can't comprehen' this!"

"He has amazing intuition and is able to know exactly what to do!" Rem replies, figuring this is the reason why Ram brought him with her.

They finally reach the Spotted King Dog and attack it simultaneously as Subaru still runs as fast as he can away from it.

After they hit it a number of times, drawing its attention, Ram replies, "His resolve."

"His resolve?" She doesn't quite understand what Ram means by that.

"Hah?!" He makes a loud sound of bewilderment.

"AAAAAAHHH!" A blood-curdling scream can be heard about 50 feet ahead of them.

"Subaru-kun!" Rem hears the scream so clearly that she cannot possibly mistake the owner of it for anyone else. Her heartbeat accelerates rapidly, imagining all sorts of terrible things that the scream is implying. Wasting not a second longer, she races towards him as fast as her legs will carry her.

"Barusu!" Ram recognizes the voice. Pooling in all the wind magic around her body, she proceeds to give a devastating punch to the huge hyena mabeast. The force of the impact is so large that it howls in pain before being sent sky-high, with its destination not known but likely to be several hundred feet away.

Following the punch, blood spews out of Ram's forehead. The precise location is where her horn used to be.

In no time flat, she arrives at a small crater. In the center of it, she finds her precious hero, who doesn't look anything like one, being torn apart by six different wolgarms at once. Howling in pain, he's utterly helpless to escape this situation.

"You damn mabeasts!" Having neither magic nor her Morningstar by her side, Rem attempts to punch the mabeasts with her bare hands.

Sadly, as with every attempt before this, her fist phases through the mabeasts as if they weren't even there.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" She curses her inability to help Subaru in his time of need. Where are Nee-sama and Garfiel-san?!

As if directly responding to her plea, the two individuals in question appear only a few feet away from her, with Garfiel carrying Ram.

The sight of Subaru getting torn apart causes both to flinch.

Garfiel lets out a battle cry as he jumps into the pit to save Rem and Ram's friend. He manages to kick away the Wolgarms one by one. Unfortunately, as he is very focused on taking them out, he failed to take the rest of his environment into account. For the second time, a gigantic mabeast comes out of nowhere and, leaping high into the air, manages to land right on top of Subaru. Garfiel is just a little too far away to attempt to stop the creature.

"SUBARU!" Rem screams in terror at the horrific turn of events.

"BARUSU!" Ram screams at the nightmarish sight before her eyes.

And just like that, Natsuki Subaru is instantly crushed to death by a giant mabeast he was barely able to see due to focusing on the unbearably painful feeling of his flesh being ripped right off his body as if it were merely food.

"No…no…nonononononono." Rem mumbles this one word of denial over and over again.

He can't be dead. Even if this is an alternate timeline, Subaru can't be dead. That's just not feasible. Not possible. Inconceivable.

Garfiel and Ram launch simultaneous attacks on the mabeast that killed Subaru, sending it flying into the sky.

Looking down at the ground, they find that Subaru's body is no more than a huge puddle of blood, guts, and bones. His face is barely recognizable.

"S-S-Subaru…Suba-ugh!" Unable to take in the nauseating scene of her hero's crushed body, Rem once more is forced to empty the contents of her stomach.

"Barusu…" Ram scans what remains of his corpse with a deep frown on her face.

As soon as she finishes, she forces herself to look at his corpse again as she begins to cry. "He…hk. He tried to save me. But…but all he did was die in vain. S-Subaru-kun, I'm so sorry. If I was stronger, then you wouldn't…"

"Pathetic. I knew ya never shoulda brought 'im. He was just dead weight teh whole time." Garfiel scoffs, not appearing to be upset whatsoever about Subaru's death.

Hearing this insult and mockery of Subaru, she snaps at him, "He was trying to save me Garfiel-san! He tried his hardest, knowing he'd be unable to fight! Don't you dare call him dead weight!" Droplets fly off of her face due to her sudden head movement.

Ram checks her surroundings and notices a number of mabeasts begin to circle around them. "Garf, we have to go. The mabeasts will corner us at this rate." She lowers her head to see Subaru's corpse again. "There's no salvaging his body. We'll have to leave him. Let's at least collect Rem's body and give her a proper burial. Then I'll come back and send every one of these mabeasts to hell, alongside that girl controlling them."

"Right." Garfiel nods, "Sounds good to me."

Rem is shocked at how unempathetic Ram seems to be about Subaru's death. He literally just DIED! They may have not been best friends or anything, but they seemed to get along reasonably well. Why isn't she more distressed over his death? Shouldn't they give him a proper burial just like her? Even if his body is beyond repair?

She may be hiding it. She hides her feelings often. But…why me, and not him too?

The two barely manage to escape the horde of mabeasts.

As for what happens next, Rem will never know, as her tear-stricken vision slowly fades to black as she falls unconscious in this world.

-Trial Ruins-

Waking up once more in the trial ruins, she sits herself up and replays everything that just occurred in the last Unthinkable Present.

"S-Subaru-kun d-died. He…he died." Rem chokes on these words, feeling like she has a lump caught in her throat. "Why…why?!"

Why did that alternate path end with Subaru's death? Actually, why was there an alternate path there in the first place? Unlike in the first Unthinkable Present, there was no major decision to be made that would've changed the course of history. Why was Subaru so late at arriving?

"Wait. If I think about it…" Rem, having begun to cry in the real world as well, wipes her tears and widens her eyes upon thinking about a brand new theory that she's never thought about before. "Why did Subaru-kun come as soon as he did? He shouldn't have had any idea where I was, nor the fact I was being attacked."

There's a long pause, "The only way is if he'd known about it in advance…but it only happened once! Right? There's no way he could actually be able to…"

She quickly hand waves off her new theory. "No no no. That's impossible. There's no way that's possible. Not even Reinhard-sama can reverse time, and he's one of the most powerful people in the world. And even if Subaru-kun could reverse time…"

Why would he die if he could rewind time and completely avoid it?

"Behold an unthinkable present."

Once more, she falls to the ground unconscious as the words repeat themselves within her head.

-Wagon-

This time, Rem appears on a wagon that is part of a large caravan, a lot like how the first unthinkable present went. Except this time, the passengers on this wagon are very different. Additionally, it's night time rather than the afternoon.

Like the previous two times, she sees herself quite quickly. It appears that she is driving the ground dragon pulling the wagon. To her right is Subaru, while to her left is, to her total shock, Otto.

"H-Huh? What…what's going on?" Unlike the last two unthinkable presents, where she can clearly remember the start of them before they diverged towards their horrible conclusions, she can't recall this scene at all. "I…I never met Otto-san until we got to Arlam village. And even then, we didn't really interact at all."

Why does this scene exist if it never happened? The only hypothesis she has is that a diversion happened at some point a long before this event ever took place. But for a diversion, isn't this a bit intense?

All she can do is watch from the inside of the wagon and hope she figures out why she is being shown this. Because as of right now, she still has no clue as to why she's being shown these alternate routes, or rather "unthinkable presents".

"Just a bit farther, and we should see Flugel's Tree." Rem says optimistically. "If we head northeast from there, the Mathers domain isn't far."

"What are we doing?" She asks, mostly to herself. Of course she gets no answer from any of them.

"Flugel's Tree?" Subaru questions.

"Must be before the fight with the White Whale." Rem concludes, since Subaru appears to not know about Flugel's Tree yet.

"It's a huge tree standing so tall in the Lifaus Highway that it seems to pierce the clouds." Otto explains.

"Legend has it that a wise man named Flugel planted it centuries ago." One of the mercenaries continues the explanation.

"I see. I can't call that anything but amazing." Subaru says, appearing a little surprised.

Turning to his right, Subaru spots that the wagon, ground dragon, and the person riding it that were traveling next to their own has completely disappeared with no trace of them remaining.

He looks behind the wagon to see if he can spot him, "Where'd the guy in the bandana go?" He then dangerously stands, "He didn't get distracted by the tree and run off course, did he?"

"Weird…he was just right there, what's going on?" Rem shudders a little, already feeling that something terrible is about to occur.

"What's wrong, Natsuki-san?" Otto asks.

Subaru turns to face him, "Where'd that buddy of yours go? The older guy with the bandana, who was riding on this side of us?"

After he says this, a gray mist begins to envelope the entire wagon.

Otto gives him a perplexed look, "What are you talking about? No one was riding on the opposite side of me."

"Huh?"

"Oh no, don't tell me it's what I think it is." She mumbles to herself before shaking her head. "No, of course that's what it is. There's no other explanation."

The whale erased him from this world.

She had experienced this very attack by the White Whale when they were subjugating it. She was lucky that she and Subaru had not been victims of it, but a few dozen men were lost by that attack alone. Subaru had dubbed the attack "Fog of Elimination". Basically, as far as she knew, anyone affected by this attack would disappear. All memories of them would be erased from everybody that knew that person.

It was almost exactly the same as if Gluttony ate a person's name. The only difference is that Gluttony's victims can be physically found.

In fact, when Gluttony had appeared to eat Rem and Crusch, he mentioned that their pet had been slain. And they appeared right after the White Whale had been killed, so they were clearly talking about it.

Did Gluttony…send out the White Whale to attack us?

As Rem puts pieces of different information together like in a giant jigsaw puzzle, the true nature of the White Whale's sudden attack becomes clearer. Piecing it all together, Rem comes to the conclusion that, as ridiculous as it sounds, it's possible that Gluttony was the one who sent the White Whale to attack Subaru, Crusch, and the rest of the army.

If so, then Gluttony is the most despicable Archbishop of them all.

So she comes to this opinion of Gluttony.

As more mist gathers and settles, the area surrounding them becomes dark. Subaru brings out his flip phone and turns on its flashlight to see better. Moving the phone all around him, the light eventually settles onto a giant eyeball. It's as big as Subaru's entire body, if not even larger.

"Gah!" Rem shouts in fright upon seeing the humongous eyeball. Looking at her alternate self, she is utterly shocked to see that she is continuing to drive forward without appearing to have noticed the eyeball.

Subaru's pupils slowly shrink as he takes in the giant yellow eyeball greeting him only a few feet away. Sweating profusely, he gasps in fright. The eyeball reacts by its pupil shrinking just like his did.

With a loud bellow the White Whale moves away from the wagon and begins to attack by sending out more of the mist from various glands on its body. The wind picks up. Finally, what looks to be gray spirals shoot forth from its body at super high speed and strike the ground below it, making a small crater.

Otto freaks out and diverts his ground dragon off of the main path.

Subaru and Rem likewise struggle to remain in the wagon without falling off.

Rem too has to put in a lot of effort to not fall off. However, this is purely because of how bumpy the ride has become. The new high winds generated by the White Whale have no effect on her body at all. She simply chalks this up to being another oddity of the trial.

"What happened? What the hell is going on?!" He attempts to get up, but Rem stops him.

"Subaru-kun, stay down! We've lost our divine protection of Windbreak!"

"You didn't know?!" Otto shouts, clearly terrified, as he continues to drive the wagon. "There's only one being that can fly through fog with such a huge body! The White Whale!"

The White Whale bellows once more, piercing everyone's ears with its cry.

Subaru and Rem continue to struggle to remain on the carriage. The former says, "Rem, do you see the White Whale?"

"I can't! It's too dark!"

"I can't! It's too dark!" Rem replies.

"Wow! We're in sync! As expected from myself!" Rem feels unusually proud to have thought the exact same response for Subaru, word for word, as her alternate self.

"What happened to the other carriages?!" Subaru shouts.

"It seems they've scattered and fled. But I don't know where they fled to!" Rem responds.

"Damn it! After we finally found some transportation!" Subaru curses their awful luck.

Another deep bellow rings out, and it sounds much louder than before. They turn around and find the mouth of the White Whale right in front of them, wide open. It begins to attempt to suck them in. Subaru falls off but manages to hold onto a lone piece of rope, keeping him from being consumed.

The inhaling of the White Whale has no effect on Rem. Though she still continues to struggle to keep herself footed on the back of the wagon.

Seeing Subaru about to be consumed, Rem immediately activates her horn and brings out her Morningstar. Jumping up, she aims for the muzzle and with all her might strikes it successfully, stalling the gigantic creature and saving Subaru from being eaten. Though he continues to hold onto the rope for dear life.

Seeing the rope right in front of her and knowing how she's generally been able to interact with objects thus far, Rem desperately attempts to grab ahold of it to bring Subaru back into the wagon. Sadly, her hands go right through the rope.

"Come on! Are the only things I can touch in this trial the floor and walls?!" She cries out in frustration at being unable to do anything again.

Rem lands right next to Otto and issues an order, "Run past it to the left!"

"Left! Left! Left! Left! Left! Left! Left!" Otto repeats her last word numerous times as he complies with her order in an absolute panic.

Subaru's rope breaks apart from too much strain being put on it. The distance between him and the wagon drastically increase for a moment before Rem sends out her Morningstar and embraces him with its chains. Pulling back, the Morningstar safely returns him to the wagon, albeit not without a minor crash into the floor that does not do any lasting damage.

"Eat this!" Rem manages to detach an entire piece of rolling stock from the wagon and launches it at the White Whale. It responds to the attack with a bellow, indicating it has been hurt.

"D-Did you get it?" Otto anxiously asks.

"It didn't work!" Subaru looks back at the White Whale in despair.

"Wh-Why is it zeroing in on us? There are other carriages out there!" Otto wishes to know desperately.

"Of course. It's zeroing in on them because of Subaru-kun's scent!"

Having wondered as well why the White Whale was going after them, the answer was so simple that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it sooner. The anxiety and tension she's currently feeling at max level must've hindered her ability to remember such basic facts.

"Complaining won't change anything!" Subaru puts a fist to his forehead and shuts his eyes tightly. "Think, think, think! We need a way out! Isn't there something, anything?!"

Rem heads over towards Subaru and finding a small bag of money somehow still on the carriage, hands it over to him. "Subaru-kun, please accept this."

He takes the bag, "Did you come up with something?"

"I will get off the carriage and intercept it. You escape the fog in the meantime." Looking up towards Otto, she says, "Otto-san, please take care of Subaru-kun. He has the payment we promised you."

Rem can honestly do nothing but applaud what her alternate self is planning. "To save everyone here, that seems like the best course of action that could be taken. There's absolutely no way that they can beat the White Whale as they currently are. Everyone has to escape!"

"P-Payment?! That's the least of our problems right now!" Otto complains. "We have to stay alive first!"

Rem gazes at Subaru with a sad smile, "Subaru-kun, I'm not very smart, so this is the only plan I can think of. Please…"

"Compared to Nee-sama, I am not that smart. Would she have come up with a better plan if she was here instead of me? I feel like Subaru-kun would never approve of this." Self-doubt shows itself as she agrees with her alternate self again.

She's proven right.

"Hold on Rem!" He shouts with an agonized expression. "I won't let you! I won't let you go!"

"Subaru-kun!" Hearing his words, filled with complete anguish, opposition, and denial towards letting her go, she can't help but feel happy that he wishes for her to stay with him so badly.

"If…If you die too, I'll…"

The wagon suddenly rocks back and forth roughly for a moment, causing the two to crash into one another. Upon recovering, they find that they are embracing one another.

Without separating, Rem states with complete confidence, leaving no room for any doubt, "I believe I was born for this very moment."

"Wait, there has to be another way!" Not initially realizing what her alternate self meant when she originally proposed the plan, this sentence changes everything.

"What are you talki-" Subaru is cut off from finishing his question as Rem gives him a sharp karate chop to his cheek.

"What did you…" He barely gets out before falling to the ground, barely conscious.

"No! Don't do that! Subaru-kun will cry if you leave him!" She has major second thoughts about this operation.

Rem reassures him, "It will be alright. I'll always be watching over you from behind." Walking towards the end of the wagon, she gives him one final look before jumping away.

"I…I understand why she'd do that. I mean, she's me after all. But…this…I don't think this is right."

Having understood how much Subaru treasures her presence back at their first meeting with Echidna, she feels that abandoning him to save his life should only be done when there are literally no other options left. In this case, Rem feels there had to be another way to escape the White Whale, even if Subaru was the one attracting it.

A few moments after witnessing her alternate self jump away, her vision fades to white.

-Wagon-

Once she opens her eyes again, she is surprised to see that she's still on the same wagon as before. The first thing she notices is a lamp flying past that appears to have been thrown out.

"Why is it only after us? Even in this darkness. Why?" Otto implores, his voice getting more raspy overtime.

"Rem…" Subaru croaks out while having both hands on his head, clearly distressed.

"What have I done? What have I done to Subaru-kun?" Rem, having climbed into the driver's seat, feels sick seeing Subaru's pained expression, no doubt caused by her. It appears that probably no more than a few minutes has passed, though she's unsure why she only time skipped by such a short amount.

"Is…is there some mark that it's following?!" Otto cries.

"It can't be…" Subaru, coming to a realization, turns around, "That monster, the White Whale…" After a long pause, he finishes, "is a mabeast too?" He notices the horn atop the beast in question.

"So it's being drawn to me?" He realizes to his horror. "No…Rem…no…! It's my fault!"

"No it isn't! It isn't Subaru-kun! Don't say such things like it's your fault! I was the one who chose to leave you! It was me! I chose that stupid path! I never want to hear that out of your mouth again!" Rem shouts at him in an angry manner. Of course, she's not angry with him. She could never see how she could be angry with him. Rather, she's angry with herself. Frustrated that she would've ever thought that this would be a good idea.

Then, Rem hears some words come out of Otto's mouth that she shouldn't have ever heard.

"Natsuki-san, please die."

"Huh?" Subaru turns to look at him in shock.

"What…?" Rem could swear her heart stopped beating for a moment there upon hearing that. "What did you just say?"

In a quick and violent action, Otto shoves Subaru out of the carriage.

Rem, being on the right side of Subaru, would've by normal physics tumbled out alongside him. Instead, he phases right through her and lands harshly onto the ground below.

Utterly appalled and furious by what Otto has done, she lets her emotions get the better of her and attempts to choke Otto.

"How dare you!" She screams at the top of her lungs. "Just because his scent attracts the mabeasts, you treat him like a disposable piece of garbage?! Leaving him to die?! I should've known you were nothing more than a selfish merchant looking out only for himself! Aren't merchants supposed to look out for their clients?!"

Of course, none of her righteous fury gets through to him nor does her attempted choking make any difference to his body.

Laughing and smiling like a maniac, he cries out, "It's all your fault! It's following us because of you! T-Take responsibility! Die, die so that I can live!"

"No! YOU take responsibility for abandoning and wishing for Subaru-kun to die, you despicable merchant!" She attempts a punch at him. Again, to no avail.

Knowing there is nothing more she can do towards Otto, whom she now detests, she abandons the wagon and runs towards the direction Subaru fell from.

A few moments later, she finds him. He's all battered up. Having multiple bruises, numerous cuts, and blood and tears dripping down his face, he's far from what anyone would call handsome. He looks broken. Broken and betrayed.

She arrives just in time to witness this:

The White Whale, who's laying on the ground uncomfortably peacefully, blows Subaru away with its mist.

Crying out in pain as he tumbles over and over again, he eventually comes to a stop.

"I don't wanna die." He croaks out. "No, I don't wanna die!"

"Subaru-kun! Oh, Subaru-kun!" Rem bursts into tears upon seeing how just badly he's been treated. She runs over to him and attempts to heal him with water mana. Sadly, no mana comes out.

Hunted by the White Whale, abandoned by her alternate self, and betrayed by Otto. Everything is against him. Absolutely everything. "Why…why is this happening to you?!"

"Help…I don't wanna die!" Sounding like a broken record, he helplessly pleads for someone to save him.

"I want to Subaru-kun! I want to heal you with my magic! This stupid trial won't let me do anything! The witch is so cruel! For an alternate path this…this is too much! What if this actually happened to him?! I couldn't…I couldn't bear it. To know I abandoned him like this. If I had stayed, we could've escaped together and left that merchant to fend for himself. What was I thinking?!"

Although it was her alternate self that made this decision and not her, Rem feels like she's fully responsible for what happened to him. It's only the fact that she knows this is an alternate reality and that this never actually happened to Subaru that she is able to keep herself from fully breaking down.

Getting up and running like a lunatic, Subaru repeatedly cries out that he doesn't want to die.

Each and every time he screams these words while suffering and in pain. Rem's heart shatters just a little more each time. She runs after him to make sure she doesn't lose him.

He trips and falls to the ground, again repeating he doesn't want to die. A few moments later, the fog clears and a bright full moon casts its soothing gaze onto his body. The White Whale is nowhere to be seen.

"Huh?"

"W-Where did the White Whale go? It was just here…"

Getting up, he slowly walks along the dirt path.

Rem follows him.

"Rem…" He mumbles, barely having the strength to say her name. "Rem, forgive me."

"Stop saying that! You did nothing wrong! Nothing wrong! You hear me?! Nothing wrong!" She shouts again, irritated that for everything he's gone through, his self-confidence is so low that he believes he's responsible for all of the horrific stuff that happened.

Granted, it is technically true that the White Whale following them was his fault. But he had no way of getting rid of the witch's scent! She knows this more than anyone. Ever since she met him, she's always been able to smell the scent on him, no matter what. Most of the time it's not that noticeable, but it always lingers on his body, like an aura. He shouldn't be responsible for things outside his control.

By some miracle, the same ground dragon that Otto was driving earlier approaches him.

"You're…" He recognizes him, but he isn't enthused at all. "Where is he? Where's Otto?" He speaks in a low, choked voice. Climbing aboard, he notices there is blood where Otto once was. Two swords stick out from the wood, blood stained on them as well.

"I see…" Subaru has no reaction to this revelation.

Rem climbs aboard too. She recognizes the swords as those that belong to the Witch's Cult. Frowning at the blood, she crosses her arms and says in a cold, heartless tone, "What can I say, he got what was coming for him. Heartless bastard."

Though if she had to admit it, she did wish a tiny bit that he didn't die to the Witch Cultist's specifically. She believes no one should ever encounter them, no matter how evil they are.

Subaru coughs and sits himself up. Loosely grabbing the reins, he weakly commands "Let's go." The ground dragon silently complies and slowly takes off.

Rem's vision fades to white. She doesn't get nervous anymore about it happening as it's happened so many times by now.

-Forest-

When she opens her eyes and is able to see again, she finds that morning has arrived. Still on the wagon with Subaru, who is looking as terrible as ever, she finds that their surroundings have changed. Rather than a big open field, they're now in the forest near Roswaal's mansion.

"Subaru-kun…" She gazes warmly into his eyes, which are currently shut as he appears to be sleeping. "You're finally getting a little bit of comfort with sleep." A small smile graces her lips at seeing something not horrible happen to him for once.

The ground dragon stops, causing Subaru to open his eyes to only about halfway due to the bruises he's incurred around them. "The forest?" He whispers to himself.

"Huh? Subaru?" A young girl's voice calls out his name.

Turning his head to the right, he spots Petra alongside a village boy.

"It is Subaru!" The village boy says happily. Petra smiles excitedly.

"What's Petra-chan and the others doing here?" Rem wonders, finding that they're somewhat far from the village.

Two more village boys approach him, "What happened to you Subaru?" One of them asks.

The four kids climb onto the wagon to get a closer look at him. The last boy who hasn't spoken yet points a finger at him, "You're a mess, Subaru. You stink!"

The kids laugh at this.

"You see Subaru-kun like this and laugh at his misfortune?!" Rem couldn't believe the children were making fun of him in his current state.

However, her anger subsides almost completely upon seeing Subaru's reaction to this.

Subaru smiles as much as he's able to and warmly says, "You guys…I wasn't too late this time?"

With that, Subaru falls onto his side and passes out. Petra shouts his name that's filled with concern.

Rem's eyes widen at what he says.

"He wasn't too late? What does he mean by that? This feels really, really important, but I don't know how exactly. I need more information. What's with these alternate routes? Why is Subaru-kun suffering like this? Answer me witch!" She screams towards the sky, but alas, no answer is given.

Still, she is so relieved to see him smiling for the first time this entire period that she's been shown this unthinkable present.

A couple minutes after she last saw the white light enveloping her vision, it happens again.

-Roswaal's Mansion-

-Subaru's Room-

"This is Subaru-kun's room." One look around and Rem instantly recognizes where she is. Locating the bed in the back of the room, she sees Subaru asleep in it. Right beside the bed is a chair. Sitting in it is Ram, silently reading a book.

"I see. So the kids must've informed Nee-sama about him and she opted to stay with him. That's just like her. I knew she cared about Subaru-kun, even if she doesn't show it much." She smiles as she walks over to him. It's then that she notices that Subaru's face looks good as new, causing her to gasp a little.

"She even cleaned him up! Thank you Nee-sama for taking care of him."

Subaru, sitting in his bed, opens his eyes and they settle onto Ram, who's sitting in a chair next to him. Gasping in shock, he quickly grabs ahold of her hand with both of his, "Rem!"

Ram likewise gasps a little with this sudden intimacy. She looks at him with a neutral expression, "Why are you so readily touching me, Barusu? I understand that you're happy to see me after a few days away, but don't instinctively jump on me like that." She yanks her hand away from him. "It's indecent."

"Oh…yeah. That's right…" He says, clearly disappointed.

Rem can't help but chuckle at this interaction. "Hehe, Subaru-kun mistaked Nee-sama for me?" Then she realizes the implication of why he did, making her frown. "He must've been so desperate to see me that he saw me in Nee-sama. If only I hadn't done what I did…I'm so sorry Subaru-kun."

"So, Barusu, tell me what happened." Ram says.

He looks up at her again.

"You were in terrible shape. Your dislocated shoulder, split forehead, and broken ribs have been mended, but if you move too much, they'll reopen."

"His injuries were worse than I thought." She says with this revelation.

"I've discarded your muddy, blood-soaked clothes."

"Oh. Thanks." After a pause, he says, "The one who healed my wounds…"

"It was Emilia-sama." Ram answers. Subaru gives a look of shock at that information. Ram continues, "She didn't tell me what happened between you two in the capital. I'm not interested."

"I am." Rem says, gaining a crucial piece of information. "So, based on what I saw and what was said by Nee-sama just now, this happened at some point between our arriving at the capital and dealing with the White Whale. And unlike what I remember, Subaru-kun seemed to have no idea what the White Whale was. Even if this was an alternate route…why wouldn't he know about it? His metia even told him where the White Whale was going to be."

Rem has so many different pieces of information about Subaru now that she feels so close to linking them all together, but they just don't for some reason. The witch he is acquainted with. The sudden increase of his miasma and decrease of his sanity at the same time. Him saying "return" and it somehow causing Petelguese to leave his body. And finally, him mentioning things on occasion that she has no memories of. It's like they all require a starting piece, a base that all the pieces of information share in common.

Soon this will all make sense! I believe it will! I just need one or two more breakthroughs! With that, she solidifies her resolve to complete this puzzle.

"Judging by your reaction, I'm sure you did something you shouldn't have." Ram finishes.

"That's harsh." Subaru says, though there isn't much emotion put into that rebuttal.

"That is harsh." She agrees with him. From what she witnessed, he did nothing wrong. "Subaru-kun, I'm sorry for all the trouble Nee-sama puts you through with her words."

"I think it's an appropriate assessment." She comes back with. "Perfect for a loser who's afraid to approach the heart of the matter and would do anything to put it off a little longer."

Subaru looks at her with an angry expression, seemingly about to retort her again. However, nothing comes out of his mouth.

"For what he just went through Nee-sama, I think him wanting to put it off for now is reasonable. But I do agree that he needs to bring it up with someone eventually. He can't hold this in by himself."

"Rem is dead." Subaru says, feeling utterly defeated. A few tears fall onto the sheets.

"At this point…probably." She tilts her head down and frowns deeply. If her alternate self hasn't returned to the mansion by this point, she is likely gone for good. It wouldn't be a surprise, rather, it would be expected that the White Whale would've killed her alternate self.

"I…couldn't do anything. The fog…the White Whale…appeared on the road. So, to cover my escape, Rem…but… I was left alone in the fog…and…" He painfully admits all of this to Rem's sister.

"Barusu." She interrupts. "Rem…"

After a long pause, she asks, "Who is that?"

"N-No way…" Rem puts her hands to her mouth.

"Huh?" Subaru lets out, flabbergasted.

Ram, tilting her head, clarifies by asking in a completely neutral tone, "Who is Rem, Barusu?"

"The fog…it erased me. That's what happened to me…" She mutters to herself. She had entertained the thought of the White Whale erasing her, but never gave it any serious consideration as she was more focused on Subaru.

But now that it's confirmed, and from her sister no less, she can't help but feel more ashamed than before.

"W-What do you mean 'who'? Don't be ridiculous! Sh-She's your younger sister! You know, Rem! Rem! That Rem! This is no time for-" Subaru desperately tries to get this through to her.

"I have no younger sister." Ram states nonchalantly.

"Nee-sama. I'm so sorry. I made you forget about me…" Hearing Ram say those words with such assurance hurt Rem a lot more than she expected it to. It was like she never needed her. Ram would've been able to go on with life just fine without her.

While she does have these self-deprecating thoughts, Rem does realize that her sister truly cares about her and had she not been there with her all those years after their village burned down, she'd likely have emotionally broken down and would have felt very alone.

"Don't say that! If not for Rem…" Subaru has a light bulb moment, "That's right! What would you call that whole mess in the mabeast forest?! You, Rem, and I fought those mabeasts and-"

Ram cuts him off again, "Something is seriously wrong with you, Barusu. I hate to admit it, but you were half-responsible for the mabeast eradication. Roswaal-sama and I handled the rest. There was no place in it for this long-lost sister you call 'Rem.'" She says these words with a semi-sharp tongue.

When…when the White Whale erases the memories of a person, it appears their achievements are given to someone else. It appears my contribution to the mabeast eradication was given to Subaru-kun, since I disappeared from Nee-sama's memories. She determines this via Ram's words. It made sense, otherwise there would be clear holes in the memories of whoever interacted with the person forgotten by the world. So this is how it compensated for that.

How cruel. Rem thinks bitterly. No matter how close they were. No matter whether they had the power to telepathically share their emotions or not, nothing prevented her precious sister from completely forgetting about her. That was the power of the Mist of Elimination. Gluttony too holds the power to mentally erase a person from the world. His ability being the exact same or very similar to the ability of Mist of Elimination. Their powers capable of essentially deleting a person from existence. Any and every living being that ever acquainted with a person affected by that power would forget them, no exceptions. She knew this from her experience at the White Whale battle.

However:

Why does Subaru-kun remember me? She puts forth this question. Of course she's elated that he remembers her, but if she was supposed to be forgotten by the entire world, then why was he capable of remembering her? Why was he unaffected by the Mist of Elimination?

Is it the work of that witch acquainted with him? She wonders. For something as abnormal as him remembering her after she was affected by that dreadful power, there clearly must be another, greater power at play neutralizing the effect. It is yet another piece to the ever growing puzzle.

Subaru's pupils shrink in horror, "That's not funny. Even for a nightmare, this doesn't make sense!"

"I am always serious." She affirms. "You must be the one who's dreaming."

"Dreaming…dreaming? Dreaming?! That's such crap!" Subaru angrily gets out of the bed.

"Barusu, you shouldn't stand-"

"Shut up! Just…just be quiet and watch!" He shouts as he stomps his way out of his room.

"What does he plan on doing?"

Having lived with Ram her entire life, Rem knows that she is generally open-minded to what others have to say and is willing to believe should there be sufficient evidence to back it up. However, if her mind is absolutely settled on a certain observation or belief, then there is little one can do to change her mind. Even she herself has sometimes failed in getting Ram to view things from a different perspective, especially in regards to how they perceive Subaru. Though to be fair, Rem generally respects her opinions and beliefs and doesn't try to alter her worldview to match her own.

So, she's quite curious as to how Subaru will try to make Ram believe that Rem, in other words herself, existed. A miserable curiosity she thought she'd never have, and honestly shouldn't have ever needed to have.

Seeing Subaru leave and Ram getting up to follow him, she too follows him from behind.

-Rem's Room-

Subaru, now standing in front of Rem's room, thrusts the door open.

Rem's eyes widen witnessing the amount of force Subaru used to open her door.

"Careful Subaru-kun, girls generally don't like it when the door to their room is busted open like that." She tries to warn him, despite knowing her voice will not land within his ears. She smiles, "However, I'll give you a pass this time."

Looking into the room, Subaru can't believe his eyes. All decorations and furniture that would identify the room as belonging to Rem are nowhere to be seen. It looks like a standard unused bedroom.

"It can't be…" Subaru says in disbelief before walking into the room.

Rem likewise walks into the room, shocked to see that all of her personal items are gone, nowhere to be seen.

"Where's all my stuff? Don't tell me the Mist of Elimination is also capable of erasing items that I own out of existence…" She says to herself, completely baffled that this cruel ability of the White Whale can somehow erase everything related to her out of existence.

"Barusu, are you satisfied?"

"Rem isn't…" Subaru mumbles.

"No such person has ever lived in this room. Go back to your room and sleep. Your exhaustion is making you confused." Ram says and proceeds to exit the room.

"Nee-sama…I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made you forget about me." She gives her sister a metaphorical hug as she cannot touch her and Ram is completely unaware of her existence, both her current self and her alternate self.

Even though the hug doesn't really accomplish anything, it does give Rem a small amount of comfort regardless, being able to apologize for her misgivings like this directly regardless of whether they reach her or not.

Subaru exits the room and thinks about going down the spiral staircase downstairs. He decides against it and instead heads for Emilia's room.

-Emilia's Room-

He reaches for the doorknob only to be overcome with anxiety. He squints his eyes and says, "Lend me your courage, Rem!"

She does just that, "You can do it Subaru-kun! You can do it! I hope Emilia-sama is able to help somehow!"

Successfully gathering his courage and opening the door, he spots Emilia within the quiet room at a small desk writing on a piece of paper.

She notices him entering and looks surprised, "Subaru?"

"Why…did you come back?" She asks sadly.

"Why is she unusually cold with him?" Rem asks herself. Thinking about the timeline she's currently in, it quickly clicks. "Oh, they had that fight in the capital and they hadn't resolved it yet."

Steeling himself, he says, "Let's go. We can't stay here!"

"Go? Where?" She shakes her head once, "No…why?"

"Anywhere that isn't here is fine!" He gradually raises his voice. "If you have to ask why, I'd say, 'For your sake.' I came back here for you!"

"That again, Subaru?" Emilia frowns. "You came back covered in wounds and worried me to death. Weren't you in the capital being treated by Ferris? Why are you here now?"

"If I had to guess, the Witch's Cult? They were targeting her during this time. But Subaru-kun seems to have no plan whatsoever. What's going on?"

She decides to keep listening and hopefully find the answer.

"If you're going to protest, I'll drag you away if I have to! In a few days, you'll see I was right, whether you want to or not! So just…" He grabs her left arm and attempts to forcibly take her with him.

"Wait! Wait, Subaru!" She pulls herself back in resistance, "What happened to you? You weren't this kind of person before. I thought you… And yet-"

Rem agrees, "He's never this forceful. He must be desperate. I can't say I don't understand that desperation, but forcing her to leave like that is wrong."

"Just be quiet and do as I say!" He retorts loudly. Emilia gasps in response. He continues to beg, "You can't stay here! You'll regret it! You will! No one will be saved. I don't want to suffer and cry anymore! Just do as I say! Then everything will work out! It will!"

Scratching his head aggressively as of a result of his immense stress, he cries out, "Why doesn't anyone understand?!"

"I don't want you to suffer and cry anymore either Subaru-kun! I want you to smile and be happy! That's my deepest desire. But you're going about this wrong! Explain to her properly why she can't stay. Then she'll understand you."

Emilia apologizes, "I'm sorry. I don't understand what you're saying. I want to…but I'm not sure I have the time for that right now. There's so much I need to do. So for now…"

"It won't work." Subaru cuts in with a defeated voice. "It won't work. You won't work. You'll fail! You can't do it. It's no use. You're all talk. You can't save anyone, or be saved!"

Subaru begins to sob, causing Emilia to gaze at him anxiously. He continues, "You'll keep doing rash and unreasonable things until you see as many corpses as the number of reckless decisions you made! That's your future!"

"H-hold up. What? Why is he mentioning corpses? And why is he saying that that's her future with such confidence?" A horrible feeling begins to form within Rem once more. She's been constantly feeling various negative and sullen emotions since witnessing Subaru getting nearly killed by the White Whale. But this new feeling of dread, this feeling trumps everything she's felt so far. Her heartbeat slowly begins to beat more rapidly than usual.

"Why? Why are you crying as if you're in such pain?" Emilia asks, her tone shifting to one of genuine concern for him.

Subaru notices the tears flowing down his face and wipes some of them away. He stutters a little, "After…after she sent me here…" He sniffles. "No, after she brought me here, there's…there's something I have to do for Rem's sake…"

"Subaru-kun…" Seeing him make such a terrible face, she can't help but begin to tear up again as well. The words he said only accelerate how quickly the tears fall down her face. "I keep telling you…you owe me absolutely nothing. I was the one who failed you. You have to remember that! You can't pin the blame on the wrong person. I won't let you…"

"Rem?" Emilia questions, tilting her head to further show her confusion.

Subaru steps back, trembling. "You, too?" He slumps his shoulders. "You've forgotten Rem, too?"

"Everyone did…" She depressingly slumps her shoulders too.

"Subaru?"

"Fine. I'll tell you everything."

Rem's ears perk up on high alert upon hearing that. She swiftly returns to a proper standing position. Her heart beats even faster, so fast that she can feel it beating within her chest and is also able to hear it ring within her ears.

"What…what's he going to say?"

Her finger twiddle in anticipation.

"If all of you are going to forget Rem, I'd rather expose everything and end up vomiting blood!"

"Vomiting blood?!" She gasps.

He clenches his chest in anticipation.

She does the same.

"Emilia."

"Yes?"

Rem gulps, feeling her heart is about to rip out of her chest from beating so hard. Her fingers and toes tremble.

Subaru says, "I can use Return by Death to-"

Suddenly, time stops for everyone.

"Return…by…Death…?"

The forbidden phrase. Rem has now heard the forbidden phrase for the very first time.

For some reason, likely due to the fact that she's in a trial and some laws of physics have failed to work in this alternate world, she's not frozen in time like Emilia and Subaru are. Instead, she's able to freely move. However, she is unable to see the black serpent-like hands that slowly make their way towards Subaru.

Despite hearing that phrase for the very first time and not really understanding what it means right now, Rem feels like she just heard something she was never supposed to hear.

Her brain goes into overdrive mode in order to figure out what he means.

Return by Death. Return by Death. Return by Death. If I pick apart these words one by one, maybe I'll understand. Return means to come or go back. By identifies who or what is performing an action. And death is well…the end of someone's life.

Rem thinks back to all the different clues she received about Subaru up to this point. The witch acquainted with him, his sudden miasma increases alongside his equally sudden sanity decreases. His nightmares. Him mentioning random things that she feels she should have memories of but doesn't. Him knowing certain things, like the plans of the Witch Cult for attacking Arlam village. He also seemed to know way more about the mansion than he should've not long after he arrived there for the first time, which at the time made her very suspicious of him. Not to mention, he acted very strangely when they met for the first time, like he already knew them. He suddenly grabbed both her and Ram's hands and seemed strangely relieved. At the time she felt scared and disgusted by his behavior, but now she just saw it as strange and unusual, if not a bit embarrassing.

Overall, why did he look so broken when nothing terrible had happened, and why did he know things like the mansion and the Witch Cult's plans more than he should've?

Once more, her theory involving reversing time comes into her mind. However, before she can think further about it:

Time resumes and Emilia tumbles forward. Subaru catches her. "Huh?" He lets out. "Emilia?"

Looking down, he sees that blood is dripping out of her mouth and pooling onto the floor below. A little spills onto his foot.

"Don't…wha…huh?"

Looking into her eyes, which appear lifeless, Subaru can only draw one conclusion.

Emilia is dead.

A scream erupts throughout the entire mansion.

"Emilia-sama…died? B-but how?" Rem is just as shocked as Subaru is at Emilia's sudden death.

"He said Return by Death…time stopped…and now Emilia-sama is dead? What sort of cruel joke is this?!" She shouts. Nothing appeared that should've caused her to die, so what in the world happened?

Unfortunately, her vision fades to white before she's able to think deeply on the matter.

-Small Field-

Regaining consciousness, Rem immediately looks around to see what has changed. It appears they are no longer in Roswaal's mansion. Now they are in some forest, although they are in an open section of said forest. She figures it's likely not far from the mansion.

The first thing she notices is a being that she wishes she would have never seen ever again.

"Petelguese…" Rem clenches her fists and says his name in a slow and venomous tone. How and where did he appear? She does not know. However, what she knew for certain is that he only meant pain and suffering for those around him.

Speaking of those around him, the next thing she notices is Subaru and Emilia on the ground in front of him, the former tightly holding the latter, undoubtedly protecting her. Emilia form is as lifeless as before, so there must've been another time skip.

"Get the hell away from them!" She shouts to Petelguese as she attempts to kick him as hard as she can in a fit of fury. Sadly, nothing happens to him.

Biting each of his fingers, Petelguese says, "My Unseen Hand, granted to me by love. No others can be allowed to see it!" Writhing his tongue, he prepares to attack Subaru and Emilia.

Subaru glares at him with hatred while Emilia is being held lifeless in his hands. The former attempts to look around for an escape route but realizes to his horror they are trapped all around by Witch Cultists.

"Damn you Witch Cultists! Damn you all! You're always causing problems for the people I love!" She screams at them.

Subaru gets tackled by an Unseen Hand and is flung away from Emilia. The Unseen Hand pins him down.

"No! Subaru-kun!" She rushes over towards him. As she cannot see the Unseen Hands, it simply looks like he got flung away by an invisible force. However, she knows full well from both her experiences and what she heard him say just now that these are Unseen Hands at work.

"You held her as if she were terribly precious to you, but how beautifully will you cry when the half-devil's body is torn apart?" Petelguese sadistically says while grinning widely. He begins to laugh to his heart's content, quite pleased with the current result. Subaru attempts to remove the Unseen Hand choking his neck but is finding little success.

"Please stop!" Subaru pleads as loudly as he can.

Suddenly, a multitude of ice spikes come flying in from the sky above and land into the ground.

"What are you doing?" An unknown voice calls out to them in a loud, echoey sort of way. The two look up into the sky, towards the source of the voice, and find a small cat floating up there.

"What are you doing to my daughter, you scum?"

Also looking into the sky, Rem can't believe her eyes at who is floating up high in the sky.

It was none other than Emilia's Great Spirit.

Puck.

"He's going to save him!" A ray of hope shines from her light blue eyes.

"Die." Puck ruthlessly says as he sends down even more ice spikes than before. Nearly all of them strike the Witch Cultists, killing them all instantly.

Subaru looks on in both fear and awe.

"My brain trembles…" Petelguese says in an unusually low voice.

"Puck!" Subaru cries out to him.

"Be quiet, Subaru. I don't care what you-" Cut off for completing his sentence, the reason becomes apparent when his body begins to twist and turn like a ragdoll.

"Puck-sama…what are you saying?" The hope Rem has of Puck saving Subaru disappeares almost as soon as it arrived.

Waving his index fingers back and forth, Petelguese mocks Puck, "Complacency! Negligence! That is sloth! You should have killed me right away! Even with the power you have, you failed to do what you needed to do!"

"Foolishness." With no effort, Puck breaks free of the Unseen Hands binding him. In the same movement, he begins to freeze the surrounding area.

"What are you doing Puck-sama?!" Rem shouts at him, completely unsure why he's freezing the area into a winter wasteland.

"If you truly wanted to kill me…then grow a thousand shadows, half of what Satella could."

Now if one was to look up, they'd see that Puck has transformed into a giant cat-like beast. He was likely 30 or so times his original size. Truly gigantic.

"Oh my gosh…" She mumbles as she takes in his new form. She had always seen him as the friendly cat spirit who was always by Emilia's side, doting her whenever he got the chance to. She never could have imagined that he could look so frightening, so terrifying that anyone who gazes upon his enormous figure would have their blood run cold in sheer terror.

She wonders if this is his true appearance.

"Are you…Puck?" Subaru asks.

"Can't you tell? Maybe it's cruel of me to ask that."

"Unbelievable. This is unbelievable!" Petelguese crunches one of his fingers with his teeth again. "It cannot be! A mere spirit. My faith. Everything I've devoted my love to…at the hands of a mere spirit?!" His eyes bleed.

"A human who's only lived a few decades shouldn't talk to a spirit about time." Puck responds.

"Time has nothing to do with the depth of one's faith! I wish you wouldn't liken me to a fool like you, a being that lives for eternity, but wastes most of it in idleness! Ah…my brain is trembling…" Petelguese tilts his head, face fully covered in blood, back.

"Death isn't even a punishment. This is why I hate all of you."

"The Ordeal has been completed. Even if my body dies, my wishes will be called to the exalted witch's side. And I'll receive her love! I look forward to our reunion!"

"Ugh." Rem lets out a sound of disgust at what Petelguese is saying. She truly wishes that she could hold Subaru's hand right now. For now, she's doing the best she can by lying next to him.

"He quit while he was ahead." Then, letting down a paw, Puck crushes Petelguese to death.

He turns his giant cat-like head towards Subaru. "Now, shall we have a little talk?"

"Subaru, you have committed three sins."

"Three sins?! What sort of sins did Subaru-kun commit Puck-sama?! He did nothing wrong!" Rem snaps at him.

"First, you broke your promise to Lia. You don't seem to understand how important a promise is to a spirits arts user."

"Okay…that's true. He did do that. But they're on good terms now! Everything worked out! He learned his lesson!" A small moment passes before she quietly adds on, "And it's partially my fault he broke his promise…"

Turning to see Subaru's expression, she is horrified to see that ice begins to form on his face.

"Hey! Hey! Wait! You're freezing him! Puck-sama! You're freezing him! Stop!"

Of course, he does not hear her.

"Second, you ignored Lia's wishes and came back here."

Unfortunately, since this alternate timeline is completely different to what Rem remembers, she can't say why exactly Subaru decided to come back here. She figures that it's probably due to the Witch's Cult, but she can't confirm it for certain. Thus, she has nothing to say about this second sin.

Instead, she continues to plead for Puck to stop chilling the forest to unbearably cold temperatures. She helplessly watches as Subaru continues to freeze.

"And third." He lowers his face towards him. He speaks in a cold, heartless tone, "You let Lia die."

"You think he actually did that on purpose?! He loves her so much! Unfreeze him NOW!" Her shouts have evolved into full on screaming, with her rage towards the spirit increasing.

"In accordance with my contract, I will now destroy the world."

"Destroy…the world?" Her screams stop when she hears this devastating news. "Why would you…"

"Why?" Subaru hoarsely asks.

The huge cat-beast closes his eyes in thought, "Lia is…Emilia is my entire reason for existing. There's no reason for me to exist in a world without her."

Turning his head, he says thoughtfully, "The fog is coming closer. It looks like a troublesome one has been drawn here. Gluttony. Oh, I suppose they call it the White Whale now. You called it here, let Lia die, and now, you die yourself. You really are useless."

For some reason, Subaru insanely laughs to himself before he dies, having been frozen to death and broken into numerous pieces.

"N-N-N-No…S-Subaru-kun…" Rem tries to tightly hug his crystallized body. Unfortunately, the trial would not be kind enough to grant her the ability to touch his body even at this critical moment.

He had died again. She witnessed him die not once, but twice now.

Three alternate realities, two resulting in his demise. Although in the first one, he wasn't even shown most of the time. Perhaps he died in that alternate timeline too?

Why…why does he keep dying?!

As she looks over his corpse, this question repeats itself in her head over and over again. She couldn't understand it. Why has she been shown two alternate realities that end with Subaru's death?

And Subaru mentioned Return by Death earlier.

…

…

…

"Oh." In one utter, it clicks.

It finally clicks.

And with that, Rem felt something beyond distress. Something beyond despair. There are no words to describe what she is feeling in this moment.

Terror? Fright? Anguish? Fury? No, none of these words fit at all. But if she knows anything, it is that she finally understands what has been troubling Subaru this entire time. The reason for why he's been able to accurately predict the movements of the Witch's Cult, why he knew the layout of the mansion so well despite only being there for a couple of days. And lastly, why he appeared so broken at seemingly random points.

"No…no way…all this time…he…he has…" She chokes on her own words, unable to keep her eyes off the frozen Subaru. His face looks so desolate, so heartbroken. In fact, his face looks so similar to the face he made the day he wanted to run away from everything.

He's been returning by death. These weren't alternate timelines at all. These were lives that Subaru went through before meeting his untimely demise. And when he did die, he'd return back to life.

That is what Rem has discovered.

"Oh…Subaru…"

She doesn't want to believe it. It was too cruel. To be mercilessly killed just to be brought back to life to die again? What sort of wicked person would think to grant him such an ability?

In any case, she doesn't have enough time to let this realization fully sink in, as she slowly falls unconscious onto the snow below.

-Trial Ruins-

Rem slowly opens her eyes and finds that she's back at the trial ruins. However, she makes no effort to get up.

She attempts to recall what she had just learned a moment prior to falling unconscious. But alas, it seems the trial has other plans for her.

"Behold an unthinkable present."

With that, she falls unconscious once more, only being conscious for a few seconds at most.

The trial doesn't appear to be done with her yet.

-Author's Corner-

A/N: Wow. This ended up being much longer than I ever anticipated it being.

So yes, Rem has finally heard about Subaru's ability to Return by Death in full, and even figured out how it works for the most part. Now I'm sure you're wondering about Satella. Don't worry, I have a plan for her.

I had originally intended to cover her entire second trial in one chapter, but considering the sheer length of this chapter, that's not going to happen. I should be able to cover the second half of her trial in the next chapter. The chapter length will likely be longer than usual like this one, but probably not quite as long.

Anyway, yes, I did take the WHDAAA approach to presenting Rem's second trial. Except, instead of a theater, she gets to interact with the environment directly and experience everything firsthand (with a few limitations).

Please let me know how well you think I wrote Rem in this chapter. Writing deep, complex emotions for characters is a bit of a struggle for me so I'm not sure if I did her justice, or if I even gave appropriate reactions at certain points.

Dovahking2023: Yes! For the first one at least. She only got to see as far as her being consumed by Gluttony.

lancehol144: How about both? Rem gets to see both the canon timeline for getting consumed by Gluttony as well as Subaru's failed loops.

danielsantiago4545: Well, the trial isn't quite over yet. So it remains to be seen whether Rem will conquer it or not. But I agree, this should be quite the development for her!

demon god noir: Well, you're right, at least so far. Though Rem sees far more than Subaru does.

Maximum Rhapsody: Yes, if I do decide to do future arcs. I haven't fully decided on that yet. Thankfully as of now I have read arc 5 and am currently reading arc 6. So I could continue on if I wish to. As for everything else mentioned, you'll have to wait and see. Though as of now the odds of Rem doing the third trial are low.

Deathenglegamers1144: You were correct! Not the loothouse specifically, but she does indeed see two of Subaru's past failed loops. Honestly I have no idea how I would even begin to try to describe Subaru's past with Satella as the Great Sage (especially when Subaru's relationship with Satella hasn't been revealed yet). But still, thanks for the suggestion!

Iseepandas: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed part one of Rem's second trial!