A/N: This fic was created in about 6 hours for a reward. It has come to my attention that I actually suck at the ship part of ship fics, but let it be known that this is indeed SubaRam.

――In a place far cut off from the rest of the world, surrounded only by unrelenting sand time, a tower at an unnatural angle stood ever-so tall, its imposing nature well exposed to the few who've even attempted to see the tower.

It was in that place where visitors who should not be visitors had visited. In this tower, which should have been the pinnacle of isolation, was no longer isolated.

Among them, there was an alien, a half-devil, and someone who existed as a mere blank slate. Of course, there were others, such as one who had only gotten halfway erased from the canvas. Obviously, not your run-of-the-mill get together. But this is not a recount of that epic, that time of pain and triumph.

The smaller moments, the value they hold, the memories to be shared, those are the words that shall be imparted.

There was, an urgency to be had here.

"Ghk, gah…" His body crumpled uncomfortably has his face slammed against the hard ground. The shock from the impact could have been enough to dull the pain, but he, who had the closest relationship with painful experiences, was unable to experience such pleasures.

"Huff, coff…" Saliva dripped unhaltingly from his mouth in a feeble attempt to hydrate him, but it was wasted as they, too, greeted the ground below. It was strange, though, as his mouth was closed, so it was unnatural how this could be― but, there was no time.

"Gotta, gotta go see― Woah!?"

As he tried to recuperate, he was suddenly broken off from his barely connected thoughts and was once more plunged into confusion as an the ground beneath him tremored. Just like an earthquake― no, he had already seen such similar scenes before. Many many times, this happenstance had repeated.

"The tower's shaking… It's that thing, again! Damn it, damn it all!"

A desperate voice echoed, his legs finally gaining strength to stand as he properly assessed his surroundings. Even though this scene was so familiar, his brain and his body were unable to keep up. This, it was no good. If he wanted to make things right in this place for these people, he needed to simply improve.

His feet, they moved. Even though he already understood that anything further than this was futile, still he moved. What did he move for? Just for what purpose was he moving? It would be far better if he simply allowed to to end, to be consumed, to burn away so that everything could mend back together, to repair, to revert. Even if he knew that, there was something that kept him moving.

"Cor Leonis."

A name was called out, and lights filled his vision accompanying it. Those lights, which were sometimes a useful beacon, were now only to provide further confirmation of the hopelessness.

"Emilia…? ―Ah."

His eyes darted to one light in particular, and his breath hitched as he witnessed the very moment it was burned out. Without even thinking, his eyes turned away from that terrifying idea, refusing to accept what it would mean for his , and saw two more. The only lights left in this darkness.

"Is that you, Ram…? And… Patrasc…coff."

The lights were unmoving, as if something was stopping their movements. But the details, which were too much for his split head to properly conjugate, did not matter.

―If he didn't do at least this one thing, he felt as though his would truly shatter.

That's why, as the tremors grew more violent through this tower, he would move towards those lights, and grasp onto them no matter what even if they would soon vanquish. To reaffirm the that was being lost, to reaffirm the that could not be repaired, just this once, he would do this selfish act.

His feet, dragging across the ground, went up stairs upon stairs in order to reach where he wanted to go, and upon finally reaching that area, he saw it. One of the lights he sought, sitting outside a firmly shut door that was supposed to have led to the Green Room, a room where you would be passively healed by simply remaining within. There was the other, too, but inside of the Green Room. However, as his eyes were unable to see through walls, he was forced to acknowledge what he could visibly see right now.

His thoughts spun, trying to cultivate logic while his emotions were being overwhelmed with dread. On one hand, his Cor Leonis was very much active, signaling that those two presences were still alive. But for the one in front of him, the sight contrasted his power, and he struggled to understand the meaning of discrepancy.

That discrepancy, of course, being of the pink-haired oni sitting next to the room, with a perfect slash cut diagonally from her right shoulder, her head slumped low.

In a panic, he moved his dead weight legs quicker and dropped down next to Ram, trying to assess the extent of her injuries. The reason for that, of course, being that Cor Leonis told him she was alive, but to what extent―

What does it matter? It'll end anyway.

"Even if I know that, please..!"

It was a selfish plea. Anyone who would see this would undeniably view him as pathetic. Turning his eyes from things he didn't want to confront, unaccepting of the reality before him, he knew how pathetic he was. But, he couldn't help it.

His hands moved to gently lift Ram's face, to see her status. But even that only made the sigh even more unbearable. Her face was riddled with blood, though it seemed unlikely to be her own, and there was streaks of blood lightly leaking from her open mouth.

"I want to help them."

That was what he had said at some point, to justify these repeating events. So that everyone that had came to this tower before could leave together, that was what he wanted to do. It wasn't for some reason of self-sacrifice―he just, wanted to…

And then,

"Ga.. hk…" A sound, nearly of salvation but one of a separate sort of horror, made their way to his ears.

"Ram? Ram, you're…"

"...Ba..rusu.."

"No, don't talk! I'll, I'll take you inside the Green Room, alright? Hang on."

The girl spoke so quietly he feared that light was mere moments from collapsing. Without further thought, he sought to pick up Ram and bring her, but―

"Oh.."

There was no ounce of strength to be found within. He, too, was suffering from probably a bitter state.

"That's alright, I'll just…"

Shifting gears best he could, Subaru changed his plan. Groaning as he stood up, he went to open the green room's door. It was a little difficult, but he managed to get it open. The room inside, it was strange to witness, as the inside was almost beautiful. A too daunting contrast to the rest of the Tower.

Turning back to Ram, Subaru grabbed Ram by the shoulders and pulled her body close to him as he walked backwards into the room.

"Sorry… Ram.."

He knew that moving like this probably hurt her, but she would only have to endure it for a bit, he thought. Her faint breaths were the only indication that she still held life, but he turned away from the fact that it was up for toss if she was still conscious.

Through languishing pain that resonated through his body, he finally managed to get inside the Green Room and shut the door close. Although he did this, it seemed the room was still subject to the tremors of that thing, but it didn't matter. As long as this room did what it needed to do, then everything would be…

"I don't… what's going on?"

―There was nothing. Of course, that in particular wasn't so strange, as one would expect nothing if they did nothing. But in this room, where healing was its forte, why was there nothing?

"Healing, we need.." his thoughts almost flared up, but he was hit by another shock of pain which diminished any animosity. Instead, he quickly reassessed the girl in his arms.

"Ram, are you alright?"

He asked this question not really expecting a response. But surprisingly, upon that utterance, Ram's eyes flickered very briefly. Subaru's eyes, too, flickered as he checked Cor Leonis. And, to his despair, that light was finally beginning to wane.

He shook his head, trying to use pain to make himself not understand. But it was no use.

As if searching for something, he turned about the room, holding the girl in his arms tighter, trying to understand something else.

"―Ah."

There were two things to be noted here. One, was the girl of peace who slept silently upon a green bed, blood staining her body. The other, was a certain animal, otherwise known as a land dragon in this world, that was staring at Subaru intently.

As the two of them met eyes, both of the individuals riddled in injury just like everyone else in tis place, he noticed its significance.

"Ah.. no, Patr―"

As he called out in meager desperation, he felt the shift. Something, had entered the room. But what was it? He did not know. No, he did know. It was because he knew that he did not want to know, he did not want to accept it.

If he accepted it, then he would have to acknowledge that he, upon entering this room, had been the very reason why―

"...rusu."

" ―Ah."

"I'm… sorry."

Subaru shuddered, hearing something he did not want to hear from this girl. This girl, who although he already knew could be weak, was not someone who would let these kinds of things be known so readily. And it was because of that, he tried to stop his thoughts from informing him of the truth.

―Even though he understood. That no matter what, Patrasche would give up her life for Subaru no matter what, still, he did not want to understand.

—Even though he understood. That no matter what, the decision to die so that Subaru could be healed, still, he did not want to understand.

Suddenly, a new wave of comfort filled his body as the green room began to shift. Vines sprouted forth and the ground, walls, and ceiling began to move in accommodation of its patients, putting Subaru and Ram on a comforting platform that allowed them to rest their bodies. Nestled up together, with Ram in Subaru's arms as the former was unable to move, they shared a silent warmth.

As they were visibly close together, they could briefly feel the other's wounds, letting each of them aware of the state of both of them.

Through what Ram had been able to see in her brief encounter, Subaru's right eye had been slashed through the center in a perfect cut, where the eyeball looked as though it was still connecting when in truth half of his vision was already gone. His cheek had been ripped open, causing excess saliva to drip from it. Ram wasn't sure if some had touched her though, as her senses were being incredibly dulled by her own wounds.

She had not managed to properly see his arms or torso, but she did see his legs very briefly earlier in the hallway. His right leg, no longer bearing cloth to cover it, was black and gooey in contrast to the rest of his skin, and to make it worse was completely twisted on backwards. How that happened, was not something Ram could surmise.

"...And yet, even now…"

Ram, having since realized something about Subaru, closed her eyes. Subaru, noticing something amiss, pulled Ram closer to reaffirm that she was still alive. It was probably by using the same thing that was currently being employed on her now, the thing that let her lay here without suffering, that disgusting power―

Tremors and high pitched sounds surrounded and resonated through the tower that the room resided in. The world was being single-handedly flipped upside down by the "Obstacles" of this place.

They increased in volume, in magnitude, until finally―

"It's… here.."

Subaru's voice called out to Ram, the latter of which darted her eyes as she, too, sensed it.

The tremor reached its peak, crashing through the Green Room door and ceasing all functions of the room. Subaru and Ram hit the ground, bringing great pain to both of them.

"Barusu, what is..?"

"I don't know. But it's… the biggest issue…"

Subaru's brain had shifted into information mode briefly, but he suddenly realized that there was just no time. The shadow immediately reached out for the two, only to be dissipated by a slash.

"Ghh―!"

"Ram!"

For what purpose, did she do that? In this world, in this dying world―

"No… even if so… to protect what I can reach, even if it's pointless―"

Subaru, with the barely rejuvenated strength in his arms, grabbed Ram and attempted to leave the Green Room. His legs flared up as all of his previous adrenaline was gone, but even if it was only a few more seconds, he would move.

As he tried to step through the door frame, a sudden sound echoed in the air, and it was as if the ground beneath his feet was no more― in truth, that was indeed the case.

The green room, having been cut from the rest of the building, was subject to gravity alongside the dying Subaru and Ram.

Shadows sprouted from the hole in the Tower, attempting to reach them, however failing.

"Ram!"

Subaru reached out for Ram, grabbing hold of her body once more before the distance increased. Ram, in a meager effort, tried to reach her hand towards the ground to do something, but,

"―No!"

A sound of flesh tearing, though brief, set off the alarm bells inside him. The girl, who had made an attempt to use magic, no longer retained strength.

Subaru, too, realized the "change."

He forced himself to understand. Of course, he was the one who held the most relation to death, so he knew it.

This fate, he could not allow to happen again.

"...Count, 10."

―An ending neared. It concluded the end of this world, however as long as Natsuki Subaru was here, the end did not mean the end. As they fell and fell, eventually, they would reach a place where they would soar. With this girl, and the many others, he would make sure of it.

―As red filled his vision, with the reason he sought this place, to repair his own , that comforting light was held with everything he had left.