Greed Chapter 15: Have faith
Both Beatrices looked at each other, each having questions about the other.
The Beatrice from this world had for a moment forgotten her despair as she was more focused on why she was seeing another her.
'Have I truly lost my mind, I suppose?'
She hadn't left this room since arriving the the new mansion, not wanting to interact with anybody, especially him.
Seeing a version of herself that looks quite lively seems more punishing than helpful.
'What happened to...well, me, I suppose?'
The Beatrice from another world understood now why she's the best one suited to deal with her counterpart.
With just one look, she can see that this world's Beatrice was more than miserable, she had nothing to live for.
"What happened?"
"What are you?"
The two asked each other these questions simultaneously, making it aware for the other what their counterpart wants from them.
"My question first, who are you, in fact? Mother would never make two of us."
"Indeed. Mother would've told us at the very least if that were the case. I'm Beatrice from an alternative world."
"An alternative world?" Beatrice from this world questioned, finding this a bit interesting but still skeptical. "That can't be right, what kind of magic could make such a thing possible?"
"I'm...uncertain on that as well, in fact. We weren't brought here by our own merit, in fact."
"We?" Beatrice from this world question, having taken note of that one detail. "What do you mean by 'we', in fact?"
As she asked this, the atmosphere tense as she prepared to attack.
Beatrice could sense this, prompting her to respond calmly with:
"Betty's stubborn contractor."
"Betty's...contractor?" Beatrice's mind went blank when hearing this, almost as if she felt her mind shattered when those words were said. "Th-That can't be...No, you aren't real!"
The Beatrice of this world couldn't help but disbelieve this since it would imply that she failed her mother all the while a different Beatrice succeeded to find a worthy contractor.
Tears ran down her eyes as she began to breathe heavily.
"No...No! Nobody was worthy of mother's library!"
"That's not it—" Before the Beatrice from another world could explain to her counterpart, she began to create purple projectiles to surround her.
"You have to be lying, in fact! I refuse to believe that!"
"It's the truth!" Beatrice shouted, "I wouldn't lie about something like that!"
"I won't believe you! I—I can't!"
Without a second thought, she started attacking her counterpart, viewing her as a cruel punishment from either Mother or from that person.
Beatrice knew that something like this would happen considering how she felt the despair when mentioning that she had a contract with someone.
She had quickly created a portal to teleport herself out of harm's way and into a different area of the room, out of sight.
Once succeeding in this, she remained hidden for a bit as her counterpart looked around for her.
"Did he send you? To torment me? After all the damage he had done, in fact?!"
"..."
"...Answer me!" As she shouted this, she just began firing yin magic all around the room, wanting to either force her counterpart out or to have a lucky shot in hitting her.
While she was doing this, all this Beatrice could think was who exactly did her counterpart made a contract with.
'Who was that person? Who was that person? Who was that person?'
This question was on her mind, annoying her to no end.
Eventually her thoughts were floating into the real world as she began to repeat the question over and over again.
Beatrice was hidden at a distance, away from her counterpart's attacks.
She could hear her going mad over a simple thing...no, something that she also suffered from prior to meeting Natsuki Subaru.
'If Subaru entrusted me with this task alone rather than the two of us together, I can only presume that this Beatrice hates this world's Subaru, I suppose. Perhaps telling her of Subaru might not be the best idea.'
She took a second to be in the shoes of her counterpart, knowing that had things gone a bit differently, perhaps she would be as defeated and broken like her counterpart.
'If it wasn't for Betty's Subaru...I would've died...'
She thought back to that fateful night.
("You said...that you're not 'that person'. You rejected me. And yet...I've been alone for 400 years. Even if I do take your hand here and now, you'll just die soon anyway. Compared to mine, a human's life is over in a blink of an eye. Clinging to that now wouldn't...")
("But I'll still be able to hold your hand tomorrow. Tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that! I can't make it 400 years, but I can spend the days I have with you. Even if I can't be forever, I can treasure you tomorrow and right now! So Beatrice...Choose me.")
("But...you're not 'that person'...")
("No, I'm not. I'm me. I'm Natsuki Subaru. Just forget this crush on some stranger you wouldn't even recognize. Instead of fearing a goodbye that might or might not happen, live with me through a guaranteed future lifetime of tomorrows! I'm weak, but I want a lot. Since you're so caring, you'll be so busy looking after me, you wouldn't have time to think about being bored or lonely. Choose me, Beatrice.")
("But you'll...go away.")
("There is no 'forever'. The future you're so afraid of will come sooner or later. But still...")
("You'll leave me.")
("But still, let's be together! Let's live together! Let's do things together! Let's make so many memories together that you'll be able to proudly say you've had fun! Take back those 400 years you've had, with interest!")
("Even if...I do...you'll leave me alone eventually!")
("For someone like you who'll live forever, your time with me might feel like just a moment. So...I'll engrave it all into your soul! The moment you spend with me, and the fact that Natsuki Subaru was a guy so memorable that even after an eternity, he'll never fade to sepia!" There was a pause as the room around them was crashing down. "Choose me, Beatrice! You want someone to get you out of here! Isn't that why you always sat right in front of this door?!")
She couldn't help but recall this special memory, being the main reason she's even able to be happy. If her counterpart didn't have something like this happen and the forbidden library was still destroyed, then it makes sense why she would be triggered by her having a contractor.
"It all makes sense now."
Right as she said this, realizing that her thoughts had accidentally spilled into the real world, the Beatrice of this world heard this.
"Found you! El Minya!"
"El Minya!"
Beatrice from this world fired a barrage of purple projectiles all the while Beatrice from another world used the same ability to counter her counterpart's attack.
"Why won't you die, in fact?!"
"I'm not here to fight you! I'm here to save y—"
"Don't you dare say that, in fact! You are with him! He sent you here, didn't he?!"
Broken Beatrice couldn't think of anybody else that would be cruel like him, the one that ruined her promise with mother.
"The Natsuki Subaru of this world didn't send me here. In fact, I haven't even seen him."
"..." Broken Beatrice was silent, knowing that her counterpart wasn't lying...though there was something that caught her attention. "The Natsuki Subaru of this world? What's with that phrasing, I suppose?"
"..."
"Tell me now."
"...I suppose you'll learn sooner or later but my contractor is none other than my Natsuki Subaru."
Broken Beatrice paused for a moment, almost like her mind couldn't process what her counterpart had just said.
At least not for a moment, but the second her mind truly understood what she said, she exploded.
Projectiles firing all over the room, destroying everything in sight.
This destruction had caused half the room to be destroyed, which had inadvertently interrupted the battle between Roswaal, Garfiel, and Ram.
Garfiel and Ram were attacking in sync, with the demi human boy fighting from close range while the pink haired maid was attacking from long range.
Both were pushing the margrave back only for Beatrice's explosion to have halted the three on their tracks.
"Hm. Seeeeeems like Beatrice-saaaama is having quiiiiite the tantrum."
"Tsk. Th't bastard better not be causin' trouble!" Garfiel self-talked before turning towards Roswaal to respond to his comment, "Who cares, yer goin' down!"
"Is thaaaat so?" Roswaal spoke with an amused tone. "Is that what you waaaant, Ram?"
"..."
The pink haired maid remained silent, not wanting to answer that since she knows that any response will allow her master to talk her out of helping Barusu.
The Margrave took note of this, prompting him to close his eyes while calmly saying:
"That silence of yours teeeeeells me everything."
"..."
"Oi! Shut yer mouth!"
Garfiel Tinsel realized what Roswaal L Mathers was trying to do, pissing him off even more than he already was.
As he tried to land a hit onto the Margrave's face, he simply dodged the boy's attack before counter-attacking with a kick to the chest.
"Ack!"
"You let your guuuuuard down."
"...tsk..."
As Garfiel was able to recover, Ram quickly fired a wind-based attack towards her master, prompting him to counter this with a fireball.
Just as it seemed like Garfiel had an opening for an attack, Roswaal took this chance to block away the punch before landing another kick.
This kick had sent the boy flying onto a wall, destroying the wall and ending up outside.
Ram retreated for a moment to check on Garfiel.
"Garf!"
"I'm fine, Ram. Th't was nothin'!" The boy said as he got back up, starting to get frustrated. As the two prepared to return inside to continue their fight with the Margrave, he had went through the hole he made while saying to the two:
"I dooooon't wish to hurt any of you, but if you keep this up, I'll be force too."
"Then bring 't on! We aren't afraid!"
"You should be, Garfiel-san."
A voice spoke from a distance, prompting all three to turn to see who spoke. As they turn, Roswaal was surprised to see an old familiar face.
"I haven't seen you in quiiiiite a while."
"I could say the same thing, but that wouldn't be entirely true." The merchant said as he was standing tall.
"What briiiiings you back here?"
"Here to help my best friend." As he said that, he grabbed a few red crystals from his pocket.
"I see. Subaru-kuuun must be that important to you."
"Of course, he's the one I'll follow to the very end."
"Aight! Enough talkin'! Let's kick th's clown's ass already!"
As the demi human boy shouted this, he charged at the Margrave in order to resume their fight.
Roswaal turned towards Garfiel and easily dodged the boy's attacks.
Just before the Margrave could counterattack, he noticed a red crystal suddenly appear right in front of him and Garfiel.
"Hm?"
Before either had a chance to react to the crystal suddenly appearing in front of them, it began to glow for a second before exploding.
Garfiel withstood the blast though very angry about it all the while Roswaal swiftly managed to move out of the blast radius.
"That was quite uuuuunexpected."
'Got you right where I want you.' As Otto said this he moved his hand towards the margrave's direction while shouting, "El Dona."
Using the swarm of mana he had gained by the forest, he was able to create a burst of spikes that expanded upwards from underneath Roswaal.
This attack indeed surprised the margrave and was nearly skewered by the spikes though he was lucky enough to navigate without taking any serious injury.
"My, that neeeearly got me."
"It almost did but the next one will." Otto declared, knowing full well that one more surprise attack will do. "Garfiel-san, Ram-san, please do your best to distract the margrave. I need another opening."
"Tsk. Let me handle him!" Garfiel stubbornly said as he also stubbornly started charging right towards Roswaal's direction. Otto facepalms at this.
"He never learns." As he says this, he turns towards Petra who was hiding behind him, "Petra-chan, please keep a distance. I don't want you to get hurt."
"...Wh-What about Beatrice-sama? Her side had suddenly exploded."
"It is indeed troubling, however you shouldn't feel concern. There's someone with her to keep her safe."
"Who?" Petra asked in a curious tone. "Subaru-sama?"
"Not quite...trust me, Natsuki-san placed all his trust into her."
As he said this with a smile, he turned his focused back at Roswaal.
After the temper tantrum her counterpart pulled, she got out of her hiding place to investigate and see what her counterpart's doing.
'Perhaps being too forward was a bit much.'
As she thought this, her counterpart looked from a distance before firing another barrage of purple projectiles without warning.
Beatrice sensed this in time and was able to respond in kind with her own barrage of purple projectiles.
"El Minya!"
Both Beatrices' attacks countered each other once again, prompting the two to be trapped in another stalemate.
"Curse you! CURSE YOU!"
Broken Beatrice continued to use up all the mana in her, wanting to end this traitorous version of herself.
"Stop!" Beatrice shouted, "You'll get hurt!"
"SHUT UP!"
Broken Beatrice didn't care, she wanted to eliminate her counterpart at all cost...or hoped that this would help her reach her current goal of ending it all.
Beatrice was able to see through this, prompting her to teleport somewhere else to avoid being hit by any yin magic attack.
As she found another hiding spot, Broken Beatrice continued to fire mana wastefully.
'I just need to wait, in fact.'
As she thought this, Broken Beatrice stops for a moment as she realizes that she doesn't see her counterpart.
Knowing that her counterpart hadn't disappeared since she would've felt it. This prompted her to just shouting:
"GET OUT HERE! FACE ME!"
"..."
"...AHH!"
She had lost it.
Broken Beatrice became more broken than ever, her jealousy to her counterpart for having a contract had made her snap and to just use up more mana than she had in her on everything.
Beatrice saw this and knew that she had to act now since any usage of yin magic without mana would kill her counterpart on the spot.
'She's lost it! This is bad! I can't let her die!'
She was slightly panicking since she knows that she can't just appear to get her counterpart's attention without the risk of being killed herself.
'I don't want her to die.'
Although she doesn't have any connection to her counterpart, she does see her as a path she could've headed if her contractor hadn't been Natsuki Subaru.
He was the only one that could save her.
Even Reinhard van Astrea wouldn't have been able to save her.
She got out of her hiding spot and quickly ran towards her counterpart, her mind filled with determination.
Subaru had entrusted her to save her counterpart, this is her chance to not fail him.
Once she managed to approach her counterpart's position without getting hit by a random projectile, she tackled her to the ground.
"Stop this right now! You'll get hurt!"
"SHUT UP! LET GO OF ME!"
"NO!" Beatrice shouted. "I won't let you die!"
"Why do you care?! You already have a contractor...a terrible contractor at that, in FACT!"
She continued to attempt to free herself from her sane counterpart, not wanting to be near a version of herself that would align herself with the traitorous man that caused her to break her promise to mother.
Beatrice didn't let go of her counterpart, understanding the pain she's suffering better than anybody.
"You aren't wrong, he's a terrible contractor. He's such a handful."
"I don't want to hear it!" Broken Beatrice shouted with anger as she continued to try and free herself.
"I know you don't want to hear this, but that person was never coming."
"YOU ARE LYING, IN FACT!" Broken Beatrice shouted like never before, anger that had boiled over from four hundred years finally coming out. "MOTHER WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT! LIE ABOUT 'THAT PERSON'!"
"Mother was testing us. She wanted to know who we would choose to be 'that person'!" Beatrice shouted over her counterpart, trying to get through to her the only way she can, by being direct. "You gave everything to protect mother's books, it's natural to feel defeated after losing everything in one night. Unlike my foolish contractor, Natsuki Subaru didn't try to save you. Even if he had lied about being 'that person', it wouldn't be true. We both know that."
"..." Broken Beatrice remained silent.
"It hurt, all those years of loneliness, of wanting to be saved. I know the feeling, in fact. But there's always hope even in the most hopeless of situations. That's what that hopeless contractor taught me."
"No! There's...no way..." Broken Beatrice continued to try and free herself, trying to ignore her counterpart.
She can't believe that she can be saved after failing her mother.
"I failed mother...I failed to keep a simple promise..."
"I also failed to keep that promise." Beatrice commented as something she and her counterpart share.
"What...do you mean, I suppose?" Broken Beatrice questioned. "Didn't you choose that monster as 'that person'?"
"He's not 'that person', he's my Natsuki Subaru. Someone I trust. Besides, he could never be 'that person' but that's okay."
The Beatrice of this world was silent for a moment as she heard what her counterpart had said, prompting her to think back to everything before the events of the Sanctuary came up.
She knew that the Natsuki Subaru from back then was someone she would've trusted had he not changed all of a sudden and ruined everything she had worked for four hundred years.
This sparked a bit of anger in her again as she still hated Natsuki Subaru...but she was starting to calm down enough to allow her counterpart to let her go.
As Beatrice let her counterpart go, all Broken Beatrice did was go back onto the ground and resume her depression.
"What are you doing?"
"...I want to be left alone, I suppose..."
"..." Beatrice was silent for a moment before slapping her counterpart.
"!"
"Betty won't allow another Betty to look so pathetic, in fact." Beatrice spoke sternly before having her counterpart get back on her feet.
Once she was back on her feet, she started to say:
"Feeling sorry for yourself won't get you anywhere! We can't die and even if we could, dying would be a disrespect to mother. She wouldn't just want us to despair about our failure."
"It's not any failure, in fact! I couldn't keep a promise! A PROMISE WITH MOTHER!"
"Mother wouldn't hold it against you! She wouldn't hold a grudge for failing her. She'd be more concerned about your safety than the forbidden library!"
Although she sounded confident when saying this, in reality this was something she was hoping herself that it's the case.
Broken Beatrice was unsure on how to respond to this since this was a thought she wished it was true.
"It doesn't matter, I suppose. Mother isn't here."
"I know she isn't. But you can't live like this forever, in fact. You need to live. Mother would want you to live."
"..."
"You deserve to live."
"..."
Broken Beatrice was holding back her tears as she looked at her counterpart, determined to save her from the darkness that had consumed her at this point.
She looked up, with her face looking defeated.
"Even if I do listen to you and keep living, the darkness I'm in is so deep that I can't see my own outstretched hand in front of me."
As she said this, she moved her hand up to try and reach the sky that's blocked from the ceiling on top of them.
Beatrice remained silent for a moment before hugging her counterpart, knowing that this may not necessarily help in the long term but it could help at this moment.
Broken Beatrice was caught off guard for a moment before allowing her counterpart's hug to sink in and return the hug itself.
She finally broke down and started to cry.
All the pain from over four hundred years finally breaking through.
"It's okay, I suppose. Betty's here with you, Other Betty."
Beatrice smiled as she got through to her counterpart.
"Took you long enough." This world's Natsuki Subaru said, annoyed that his counterpart took his sweet time getting here when he knows where he would be.
After all, the two were one in the same.
"I can take however long I want!"
"..." He was silent for a moment before turning towards the window behind him. "You know, I was having the perfect loop right before all this chaos happened. Ever since you decided to appear, you and those that came with you from a parallel world, it's been nothing but chaos. Unpredictability all because you are also following me to each loop."
"If it wasn't for that, you would've won eventually. You and the other versions of us that I confronted." Subaru paused himself for a moment.
'That's something I'm grateful for that bastard.'
"Now why call me a bastard when I gave you a way to not experience a permeated dead end."
'...'
He had forgotten that the watcher could listen in to his thoughts.
"Are you dozing off in the middle of a conversation?" This world's Natsuki Subaru questioned, knowing that look anywhere. "Or are you trying to see how to get out of the situation you are in?"
"Pardon me, I just had something in mind. You are very calculated and from the memories I have from you and your misdeeds, someone's been leading you to these points. The 'perfect' points to reach that oh so 'perfect' future for everyone. The only person I remember that kind of attitude is one crazy greedy witch."
"..."
Subaru smiled confidently when he heard no response from his counterpart, it meant that he was right on track.
"Alright, that silence just basically confirms what I had been thinking ever since receiving memories of the Sanctuary. Now that that's been cleared up for me, tell me my oh so perfect counterpart, where's Echidna?"
This was the important question since none of the memories he received in all the loops in this world had ever shown her directly.
His counterpart continued to remain silent throughout this discussion.
"What? No words? I thought you wanted a confrontation."
"Yes, a confrontation but we need to go to a place where we can't be interrupted."
"Hm?" Subaru looked in confusion but also intrigued. "Where do you intend to have our awaited dual?"
"Right in here." This world's Natsuki Subaru grabbed the black crystal and showed it to him.
At first he was confused before he thought back to the previous loop where he did lose for the most part.
("You will hold onto this black crystal and take a deep breath.")
("...?" All Subaru could do was be confused as hell. "Why...s-should...I listen to you...?")
'Right, the crystal. Of course she would be in there. Probably to keep tabs on what's going on out here.'
"I suppose that greedy witch is in there listening to this conversation?"
"Yeah, and she's very keen on meeting you, my counterpart."
"Oh really?"
The Subarus looked at each other, both disliking the other.
The Natsuki Subaru of this world can only see a foolish boy who doesn't understand anything of what he's trying to do.
The Natsuki Subaru from another world could only see a foolish version of himself that did made a contract with Echidna, the witch of greed, considering that she wouldn't be with a version of him if it wasn't for that.
"Hm. What does that trickster want?"
"She just wishes to speak with you."
"Yeah, what about? I doubt it's going to be a normal conversation."
"Knowing her, it would probably be to pick your knowledge on things. One being how the hell did you beat the events of the Sanctuary without Echidna's help?"
"..." Subaru tilted his head as he wasn't expecting such a murderous vibe from that question, almost like he's envious of him. "We can discuss that with her. I have a few things to tell her off myself."
"Alright then." He approached his counterpart as the two grabbed the black crystal.
"Now what? Just stand here like two idiots."
"...just calm your heart rate. You'll feel the crystal matching your heart rate once it's calm enough."
'I feel stupid.' Subaru thought to himself.
"You might feel stupid and I know you want to complain about it. Take it up with her."
"..."
The two calmed themselves as this world's Natsuki Subaru instructed, Subaru was at first struggling to calm himself since he doesn't trust his counterpart or Echidna for that matter.
'What exactly am I walking myself into? It could be a trap, though most likely an interrogation knowing her. Man, I really don't want to see her now that I think about it. Oh well, I made it this far, I need to see this to the end.'
He thought of multiple things that did bring some calmness into him: Being with Emilia-tan, spending time with the sleeping Rem, being there for Beatrice, hanging out with both Otto and Garfiel, and assisting Petra in whatever she might need.
All of these things together assisted him to finally calm down despite the explosions going on around him and his counterpart.
As everything started to feel disoriented but also oddly calm, Subaru thought back to the three times he made it to Echidna's dream realm during the events of the Sanctuary.
After a few seconds, he noticed that he was no longer in the mansion.
He was in an all too familiar place.
"Welcome, Natsuki Subaru. It's nice to meet another version of you."
"...Echidna."
Author's note:
Apologies that it took well long to post a chapter. I haven't given up on this story since well I do want to move on from the Greed if world to finally head towards the next two if worlds. So for now, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.