I do not own Re:Zero or any of the characters.
Repeating
"Is it true?" Julius asked.
"It's true," Ian nodded. "Gluttony is here somewhere, and he's eaten this shithead's memories."
"It's fine," Subaru said. "These cases of acute onset amnesia usually get resolved by unfolding plot, so there's no need to worry. Also, who are you calling a shithead? Shithead!"
"Listen to me carefully, Shithead," Ian said. "Gluttony's power is to eat either a person's memories or the world's memories of them. If both are consumed, the person falls into a state of suspended animation and will never wake up. Now, in order to consume your memories, Gluttony only needed to make contact with you and lick their palm. In order to consume the world's memories of a specific person, which is referred to as their name, however, they first have to actually know that person's name to begin with. Starting now, Shithead, you will not use anyone's names, and no one will use yours."
Subaru nodded. "Okay, asshole, I can do that."
"Good," Ian nodded. "Now, was there any sign of them?"
"No," Ram shook her head. "Nothing."
Ian nodded, looking around, then directed his gaze to Emilia. "You, freeze the entrances and exits from this room. We'll have breakfast, then go searching. Carefully."
Everyone nodded, and Emilia sealed the room, as instructed. Once she had, Ram and Frederica passed out the dried meat they'd brought from the Dragon Carriage. The fruits and vegetables they'd had had run out, so they only had dried meat left. Once they'd eaten, Ian nodded to Emilia and she opened up the doorway leading to the lower level before they all headed down the stairs, Ian at the head of the group and Ram at the rear. they quickly cleared out the sixth and fifth floors, then returned to the fourth. They sealed the path lower as they went, always making sure Gluttony couldn't sneak down the tower and hide where they thought they'd already searched. Then, once the fourth floor had been sealed, they carefully searched the entire floor before heading to the two blocked-off stairs.
"He was passed out in the library," Emilia reminded everyone.
"Then that's our next destination," Ian said. "If he's gone up to the second floor, Reid will deal with him."
They all nodded, and Emilia cleared the way to Taygeta's library. She froze the door again behind them as they entered, and Ian stopped, looking around silently. No one jumped out at them, and after a moment of silence, both his and Ram's horns extended, their Wind Magic cloaks activating, and they both rocketted off, speading around and around the library, checking the entirety of its interior in seconds. Finally, they returned, shaking their heads as they retracted their horns.
"Where'd you get magic!?" Subaru asked. "And that freaky horn! Do I have something like that?"
"No," Ian said flatly. "You used your magic too much, and damaged your Gate, the organ that draws in Mana, to the point of collapse. You can never use magic again. As for my horn, that's a long story that has no bearing on the current situation, so I'll tell you some other time, if your memories don't return."
"The only place left to check is the second floor," Ram said, looking up. "We shouldn't delay."
"Agreed," Ian nodded. "Let's go."
They all headed back to the main area of the fourth floor, but before heading up to the second floor, Emilia removed the ice blocking every path except to Reid Astrea. As they'd already checked everything else, there was no point in keeping themselves in lockdown.
"Before we go," Ian spoke up. "I know it's bad timing, but I need to talk to all of you. Except Shithead."
Everyone hesitated.
"If we leave him alone again, who knows what might happen," Beatrice said.
"True," Ian nodded. "Angel, Great Spirit, you two stay with him."
Rem, who he'd looked at as he said a false name, and Beatrice both nodded, and Ian led everyone else into a separate room. As he closed the door, he leaned back against it and sighed.
"Elena?" Ian asked.
"No déjà vu yet," Elena reported.
Ian nodded. "Alright, so what I'm going to tell you all is extremely important, but extremely inaccurate. Try to bare with me and figure out what I'm actually saying. I can't be exact, because there's a contract penalty."
Everyone nodded their understanding.
"I once read a story about a man who was gifted with a form of immortality. He could be killed, but each time he did, his soul traveled back in time to deliver the memories leading up to that point in order to try and stop that event. He couldn't control it, and because of it, his behavior was strange, and any bonds or friendships he formed during that time were erased to all but himself. However, he couldn't tell anyone the truth, beca-"
Ian and his twin girlfriends were shaken awake by their bed rocking to the side to throw them off.
"Now what?" Ian asked, then yawned. "What time is it?"
"Ian, get up!" Elena snapped, the fear and confusion in her voice immediately thrusting all three to full alertness. "Déjà vu! Subaru's lost his memory!"
Immediately, Ian and the others all but raced up the stairs, Elena telling them to head for the Green Room.
Ian frowned as he stared up the stairs toward Reid's room. They had left it sealed, and yet Subaru had died anyway. Right now, he and Elena were letting things play out without their interference, everyone else talking to Subaru, all believing it was the first time his memories had been lost.
"I'll explain what's happening to him later," Ian said softly as the two of them sat off to the side of the others, who were once again introducing themselves without using their names. "Right now, without his memories, Subaru doesn't remember what he's supposed to do in this situation. He doesn't remember all of the struggles and challenges he overcame before using it, and probably doesn't actually know what his ability is right now. In the mean time, however, tell me everything."
Elena nodded. "We did a shortened version of everyone's introduction, and due to the threat of Gluttony being here, Julius didn't take it as hard as he is now." They both paused as they glanced over at Julius. "Subaru was one of his two lifelines, so without him, a little more of Julius' identity has slipped away. That's got to be hard. Anyway, after introductions, we searched the whole tower that's available to us right now for Gluttony, but we didn't find anything. We didn't get the chance to search the second floor Trial, but I find it unlikely Gluttony is hiding up there with Reid."
"Agreed," Ian nodded. "So, Gluttony would have had to sneak in without Shaula noticing them, sneak past us all, eat Subaru's memories but not his name, which both Gluttony aspects already know, and then sneak out of the tower again without setting off Shaula's rules and making her transform. That seems...extremely unlikely."
Elena nodded. "So, maybe it wasn't actually Gluttony. He was in the library, right? Maybe he read the wrong book?"
"It's possible," Ian nodded, frowning.
"Hey, you two!" Meili called out. "It's your turn for introductions."
Ian and Elena glanced at each other before nodding.
"Oh, and one more thing," Elena said, Ian glancing at her. "Our restrictions aren't quite as all-encompassing as we thought. Subaru explained that he's from a parallel world last time while we were searching without setting off an episode. You didn't notice because you were focused on searching for Gluttony, but where we're from isn't banned."
"I see," Ian nodded. "Okay." He and Elena stopped as they reached the others. "My name is Ian, and this is my sister, Elena."
Everyone yelped or shouted in surprise, but Ian held up a hand.
"Gluttony couldn't have gotten into the tower without you noticing, correct, Shaula?"
"That's right," Shaula nodded.
"And if they'd left, they'd have set off Shaula's transformation," Ian reasoned.
"Transformation?" Subaru asked.
"Shaula is actually a giant scorpion monster with excessively high power thresholds who's bound by a contract that she can't go against to murder anyone in the tower if one of the rules are broken," Ian explained. "We'll list the rules for you after. Anyway, to make things simple for now, I'll just say that Elena and I are from the same place as you, relatively speaking. America, more specifically, but that's not super important."
Subaru's eyes widened, but he nodded.
"So, you're also from beyond the Great Waterfall?" Julius asked.
"In a sense, yes, thought it may be a bit more complicated than that," Ian nodded. "For now, let's just stick with that."
"Then, that story you told at the Royal Candidate Selection..." Julius began.
"Complete bullshit," Ian nodded. "Though not without purpose. Subaru was acting shamefully, and as a member of the Roswaal household, it was my place to try and reduce the amount of damage done to her reputation."
Julius nodded. "I see. I understand that line of thinking, but I kind of feel the need to challenge you to a duel again for claiming to have been a knight while knowingly lying about it."
Ian smiled. "Some other time. For now, let's just focus on the problem at hand."
Julius nodded in agreement. After a few more moments, they all headed up to Taygeta's library, beginning to search through it. However, not a single book was out of place, and none of the titles that they looked through bore anything that jumped out to Ian, not that he'd expected to find anything. Finally, they all headed back to the main area, except for Subaru, who asked to be alone for a bit.
"Alright, let me just ask this," Echidna said. "Are you actually from beyond the Great Waterfall, or is that all from Subaru's state of confusion?"
"As I said, I don't think it's as simple as 'beyond the great waterfall'," Ian said, thinking of how to explain the easiest version of the Multiverse Theory. Finally, he looked to Ram. "Do you have a piece of paper and something to write with?"
Ram nodded, handing him a piece of paper and pencil, and he set it down, writing "Lugunica" on one side and "Earth" on the other. He set it down so that the Lugunica side was up and rested his finger on it.
"This is the world in which we currently reside," Ian said. "For ease of understanding, I labelled it as just Lugunica instead of all the countries, but it's the entire world. Now, this world is flat, right? And surrounded on all sides by the Great Waterfall?"
Julius and Echidna nodded.
"Well, this is our world," Ian said, flipping the paper over. "Our would, our planet, is called Earth. Most importantly, our world, unlike this one, is round."
"What?" Julius frowned.
Ian nodded. "It's a sphere, hovering inside of a vacuum that we call space. Now, our planet is large enough, it has enough physical mass, that it has its own gravity, and that's what holds people on so that they don't fall off. There's no Great Waterfall with our world. If you keep travelling in one direction across the face of our world, eventually you'll just be back to where you started."
"That's an incredible claim," Julius nodded. "But why draw them on a paper?"
"Because the planet that Elena and I come from can't exist in a reality where a planet can be flat with an endless waterfall at its edge," Ian said. "Earlier, we said we're from a parallel world, but as I said, it's more complicated than that. I believe we're actually from a separate reality. There's a theory among a select group of people who, in our world, are deemed as crazy, at best. But the theory is that there are many different worlds. Two taken together could be like this paper. Two worlds on opposite sides of each other. Linked, but normally unable to interact with each other. Like two sides of the same coin. However, the theory would be more accurately described as a complete book with every page being another parallel world. They can rest on top of each other, but they don't connect and they're still separate no matter how tightly pressed together."
Julius and Echidna nodded.
"So, then, you're not actually from beyond the Great Waterfall, but you are from a different world, just one that you can't actually perceive or realistically reach?" Echidna asked.
"Correct," Ian nodded. "It's really hard to explain, especially since the existence of alternate worlds has never even been considered in this world, but that analogy is the best I can come up with for now."
The others nodded.
"Now, where the hell is Suba-"
A scream echoed through the tower, jarring Ian, Rem, and Ram awake. He looked around just as Wolf and Aria spun toward the top of the stairs and Elena vomited, holding up three fingers and choking out the word "Amnesia". Ian's magic roared to life instantly, and he exploded up the tower with Ram just behind him. They followed the screams through the fourth floor then split up, Ram heading for the library as Ian headed for Reid. Finally, he reached the Trial chamber and found Subaru just as Reid pushed him over backward, standing between him and the entrance to the stairs. Ian landed lightly just as Subaru curled up into a ball and began to cry out of terror.
"Oy, oy, c'mon are ya crying?" Reid asked. "Why'd ya start crying? Did you fight with yer boyfriend downstairs? Are ya crying 'cause I talked you down?"
Subaru's only response was further terrified sobs.
"Good grief, what a hopeless bastard!" Reid groaned, still completely ignoring Ian for now. He crouched down beside Subaru, sighing. "C'mon, tell me what happened. If you'd like to ask somethin', then I'm all ears."
Subaru made a noise of confusion, looking up at Reid.
"You ran all the way to this place," Reid said. "Must be a real big deal, ya prick."
For a moment, Ian thought maybe Reid was being kind.
"No matter what ya say, yer a fool!"
With a cruel glare, Reid shoved a chopstick right into Subaru's chest. He slid it between his ribs, ensuring there'd be pain. He poked around and tickled the delicate internal organs behind his bones as if he was making sport of it. Subaru writhed and screamed in agony.
"The fuck you doin' runnin' away ya prick!?" Reid demanded. "Even worse, what were ya tryna to pull, if before ya made a leg for it, ya came to me, ya prick. I ain't your guardian, nor yer mate, ya prick. Aren't ya the one choosin' who to flock with, ya prick. Do you want to fucking die?"
"That's enough, Reid!" Ian finally snapped, drawing his sword.
Reid stood, looking back to him. "Yer friend here's a coward, ya prick."
"Get away from him," Ian ordered.
"Make me," Reid challenged.
Ian narrowed his eyes, but remained immobile. "Please move so I can check on my friend."
"I told ya, ya prick, make me move," Reid said.
Ian nartowed his eyes for a moment, then launched himself forward, horn extending. Reid's chopstick met his blade, but this time, as soon as it did, Wind Magic erupted form the point of impact, launching all three away from each other. Ian flipped, activating his cloak and raced around to catch Subaru before setting him down lightly.
"Not bad, ya prick," Reid nodded, having landed on his feet, unharmed. "Guess I shoulda been more serious. Still, I set a challenge, and you met it. You pass."
"Not my main concern, but thank you," Ian said. "Let's go, Subaru. I'll explain everything that's happening on the way."
Subaru nodded and followed, but was shaking from fear still. Once they were a safe distance from Reid, Ian glanced at Subaru.
"Remember what I said about respawning?" Ian asked.
Subaru hesitated, then nodded.
"Good," Ian nodded. "That's the whole of it. No one that introduced themselves to you would hurt you as things stand now, and I'll check with Elena, whose memory retains everything she experiences, if anyone was missing, but tell me what happened at the end."
Subaru nodded. "I found the stairs leading down the tower and..." he began to shake even more.
"And what, Subaru?" Ian asked. "This is important."
"I was pushed," Subaru said.
Ian nodded. "I'll check with Elena, but I can guarantee it wasn't any of us. Now, let's go and give everyone the bad news about your missing memories."
Subaru nodded mutely and they headed back, but the situation this time was far worse than Elena described to Ian once they were alone. Rather than Subaru accepting that he was repeating things this time, he completely shut down and was left in the Green Room in a nearly vegetative state. Ian didn't doubt the memory of the agony and confusion just before dying was horrifying, but they had to figure out what was happening despite Subaru being indisposed. However, the search of the library yielded no leads, and no new information. There was no sign of anything that might have taken Subaru's memories, including the Gluttony brothers. Finally, hours later, everyone gathered back at the front of the library.
"Anything?" Ian asked.
"Nothing," Emilia said, shaking her head.
"Regrettably, Ram and her perfect sister must also report failure," Ram said.
"Ian," Elena said, looking around. "Where's Shaula?"
Ian looked around, then groaned. "Did she sneak away to go bother Subaru again?"
Everyone shared a groan, except for Meili, and all headed back down out of the library. However, no sooner had they stepped off the stairs did Ian's instincts scream of danger. And apparently, he wasn't alone, because in the same instant that he extended his horn and all but ripped his sword from its sheath, Rem and Ram's horns also extended and Ram's scythe twirled out of its holster as Rem's flail appeared from its seal, and only a moment behind their reaction, Julius's sword exited his own scabbard as Emilia's eyes took on a cold edge.
"Split up," Ian growled, Wolf and Aria appearing beside their Contractors as spheres of light. "Ram, you take Emilia, Julius, and Anastasia. I'll take Rem, Meili, Frederica, and Elena."
The others all nodded, and they split up, heading for the two outer corridors. Everyone remained silent, moving slowly and carefully. However, as they finished searching the floor and returned to the center, they'd found nothing.
"Something's not right," Ram said. "Maybe they're-"
A door exploded inward beside Ram, only to be bisected by her scythe and sail across the room harmlessly. Emerging from that door was a truly gigantic scorpion, its exoskeleton an angry red, and its eyes shining crimson. And fleeing from it was exactly the man Ian had first thought of when learning that Subaru had lost his memory. Lye Batenkaitos.
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