-Roswaal's Home-
"Ram! *pant…pant* Ram!" Subaru huffs loudly as he comes to a stop. Deciding to entrust the care of Emilia to Otto for now, he prioritizes saving Rem's life. He runs after Ram and is only able to catch up once she stops in front of the house that Roswaal is currently staying at.
"Why are you following me Barusu?" Ram questions as she quickly opens the door.
"Because I want to save Rem-tan, obviously!"
"Hurry up then, don't set me back with your feeble stamina." I'm surprised you chose her over Emilia. She muses.
"I'm the one who doesn't understand how you Oni's can run for so long without breaking a sweat!"
Ram rolls her eyes, though Subaru doesn't notice due to seeing only her backside. The former runs into the house with the latter following behind. They head straight for Roswaal's room.
-Roswaal's Room-
"Roswaal-sama!" Ram shouts his name as soon as she enters.
"Ooooooh my! To what pleasure do I owe you two, suddenly barging into my room?" He responds to them practically breaking in, not appearing bothered in the slightest.
"You ordered Rem to bring back ingredients for an herbal tea, correct? Where did you send her?" Ram demands in a tone that holds very little formality in it, which surprises Subaru. He doesn't recall a situation where Ram is this informal and direct with her master.
"I certainly did. I sent her directly east of here to a small field surrounded by a bit of forest that contains the herbal plaaaaants needed to prepare tea should Emilia-sama faaaail the trial. Why do you ask?"
"You believed Emilia would fail the trial?" Subaru asks, his tone ever so slightly being accusive.
"Not at aaaaall Subaru-kun. But it is better to take precautions, is it not?"
"I suppose so…"
"I received a very strong mental attack through synesthesia. Rem is in peril. Barusu, let's go." Ram roughly grabs hold of his hand and drags him out of the room.
As soon as they're gone, Roswaal lets out a sigh and looks out of the single window in his bedroom. "This world has already strayed off of the desired path." He mumbles in a disappointed tone. "No matter, it should all realign sooooon."
Subaru and Ram head out of Roswaal's house in a hurry, running into Otto and Garfiel in the process.
"How are you getting here only now?!" Subaru exasperates.
"I had to take the long path with the carriage! I got here as quickly as I could Natsuki-san!" Otto retorts, not pleased to see his hard work being shaken off like this.
"Nevermind then! Just get Emilia inside. We'll be taking Patrasche."
"Need an extra hand?" Garfiel asks them.
Subaru is a little hesitant on accepting his help. On one hand, he was completely willing to attack him out of nowhere and throw him, Emilia, and Otto out of the ruins for trespassing with no room for negotiations. On the other hand, he does seem to have a history with Rem, Ram, and Roswaal that isn't hostile. In the end, he nods.
"It would be appreciated Garf, but there is no room on the ground dragon for the three of us." Ram says. Patrasche tilts her head down and makes a low sound, as if seemingly disappointed with herself.
"Don't worry 'bout me. My amazin' self can run fast like teh wind!"
Subaru and Ram quickly mount Patrasche and take off in the eastern direction, taking care to not hit any trees along the way. Garfiel follows closely behind, managing to keep up with Patrasche without hardly breaking a sweat.
"We're going the right direction, right Ram?" He asks only a minute later.
"Do your ears need a full wash of soap and water? Roswaal-sama specifically said we needed to go east." Ram snarks as she pulls out a compass to confirm. "But yes, we are going in the right direction."
"I could feel you fishing something out of your pocket, you know!" Ram, much to her chagrin, is forced to hold tightly onto Subaru in order to not fall off. Being so close, Subaru could feel her moving her left arm to let go of him and lifting her white apron to reveal a giant pocket which she uses to store small items from time to time.
Ram replies to his comment with a disgusted tone, "What a lewd way to describe such an innocent action. How shameless of you Barusu. I should have expected no less of you."
"How's that in any way lewd?! Are you really out to insult me every chance you get?" Subaru once again exasperates. Even with Rem's life on the line, they can't help but bicker like this on the way there.
"I'm not cruel, Barusu. I only state what is true. Now, let's get to Rem."
While not agreeing with what she said, Subaru decides to dismiss this for now with a sigh and focuses on driving Patrasche. They come upon a small circular field.
-Small Field-
As it is currently early into the night, the only source of light provided is the soft, illuminating glow of the moonlight. This makes it a little difficult to make out anything with pristine detail, but a general understanding of the surroundings can be easily deduced.
"Barusu, stop here." Ram commands.
"Why? Do you spot something?" Regardless, he does halt Patrasche.
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.
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.
Subaru decides to go straight into the forest that borders the plain and lifts numerous different plants that have grown at least two feet in height. These plants are annoying. He thinks to himself.
"NO! REM! REM!"
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.
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.
Looking closer, he finds that right arm has been completely torn from her body. Her left leg is also torn from her body, up to her kneecap. Her maid outfit and entire body is covered in blood. Bruises and scratches are as numerous as the trees in the forest. Finally, her face is somewhat mangled. It is clear that she was in a desperate fight for her life and ultimately lost. Her Morningstar, the weapon she would've used to fight back with, is sitting only a few feet away from the corpse.
"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. Even if he has seen her corpse a number of times at this point, there is absolutely no way he could ever get used to it. Tears begin to flow uncontrollably, and he makes no effort to wipe them away. I…I have to return. For Rem's sake. I can't lose her here. But first, we must find out who murdered her. 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. Unfortunately, upon seeing her arm and leg completely dismembered, she figures that she is long gone. This is confirmed as she makes not a single voluntary or involuntary movement to her name being called numerous times by her. 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. If her horn still existed, this would've been the time that it would appear on her forehead. Sadly, it does not. Thus the best alternative she has is her supreme proficiency in wind magic.
"Ahahaha! I guess the intel from Onee-sama was right! I'm glad I stuck around." A childish laugh and voice makes itself known to the two weeping individuals.
"Who's there?!" Subaru instantly gets up and forms a defensive stance, already feeling irate towards this voice who sounds like they're responsible for Rem's demise. Ram likewise follows, gently setting her sister down onto the ground and giving her forehead one last rub of affection before getting up.
Viewing a treeless hill not far ahead of them, the figure slowly reveals itself before them by climbing to the top of said hill. They instantly notice that she is a female, as well as just how small she is, probably no more than 4 and a half feet tall. Her dark blue hair is tied up in a triple braid, hanging in front of her left shoulder and reaching down to her hips. There is a pink flower ornament clipped onto the left side of her hair. She looks to be around Petra's age, which is somewhere around 12 or 13.
Subaru and even Ram to an extent are shocked by who appears before them, as they've seen this child before. The former relaxes his stance.
"Meili-chan? What are you doing out here on your own? It's dangerous! You need to go back to your parents immediately!" Subaru says, identifying her as one of the children from Arlam village. He still feels very anxious and scared, but now for another reason. He doesn't want her to get brutally murdered like Rem was.
"Aww, you actually remembered my name? That's so sweet of you! Makes me feel bad that I forgot yours…" She twiddles her fingers, feeling a little shameful.
"Wait, y'know this little girl?" Garfiel asks.
"Did you do this to Rem?" Ram asks in a very unwelcoming tone, finding this girl highly suspicious.
"How could she have possibly done this? She's a little girl!" Subaru shouts before focusing on her. "Meili-chan, have you seen anyone around here, carrying a weapon?"
"Did you do this to my dear sister?" Ram repeats, with even more hostility evident this time.
"As expected of her twin sister! She's definitely the smarter one of the two." She leans up against a tree and gives a smug look to everyone. "So what if I did?"
"Then you die! Fura!" Her eyes furrowing, full of hatred for the little girl who appears to be proud of what she did, Ram takes command of the powerful winds surrounding her body.
"Wait!" Subaru puts a hand in front of Ram, preventing her from initiating the first strike.
"Barusu, move!" She barks.
"There's…there's no way what you said is true, is it?" He gives a pleading look to Meilli.
"You know, I kinda liked you. Those days at the village, while sorta boring, were sorta fun as well. Shame I'll have to kill all of you now." She replies in a nearly sympathetic manner, smiling brightly.
Subaru's jaw drops, "W-what…?"
Ram shoves Subaru out of her way and furiously fires a wind blade at Meili, who manages to jump to her right in time before it would have sliced her.
"Oh! This'll be fun! Go Wolgarms!" She points forward towards the three targets. Twenty Wolgarms, which are malbeasts that look like wolves, leap towards them.
Ram sends out numerous sharp wind blades to slice and dice nearly half of the Wolgarms in an instant. Their freshly chopped up corpses lay on the ground in a pile, covered in a pool of blood for all to see.
A few go after Garfiel. He responds by going straight for them and brutally kicking them with his powerful legs. He also picks a few up and slams them into one another, killing the Wolgarms instantly.
Another few also go after Subaru, but he does manage to evade them until Ram takes them out with more wind blades.
"Why? Why are you doing this Meili?!" Subaru yells at her, barely able to escape with his life.
"Why? Because I was ordered to. Simple as that."
"Who's ordering a cute child like you to murder people?! That's so twisted!"
"Sorry!" She crosses her arms in front of her to make an X symbol. "That information is classified! I'll get in trouble if I tell." After a brief pause, she continues, "Actually, I can tell you that it's Onee-sama who sent me."
"Kid or not, anyone who hurts my dear Ram's feelins by killin' her sis is in fer a worl' of hurt!" Garfiel announces with pride, bolting towards the killer to deliver a well-sized punch to her gut.
Unfortunately for him, a large hippo looking creature comes out of nowhere and rams right into him, sending him flying into a tree. He coughs up a little blood but is otherwise able to quickly recover from the blow.
Subaru looks on in horror at the ugly mabeast. "What is that thing?"
"It's a Wagpig! Though I like to call them Rock Piggies. Look at him, isn't he cute? He's one of my favorites." Meili replies enthusiastically, standing relatively safely at the top of the hill. A number of various mabeasts stand around her, protecting her.
"Your sense of what is 'cute' is so backwards it isn't even funny."
Garfiel, in a fit of rage, runs up, jumps, and slams both of his fists cleanly onto the Wagpig's thick skull. The ground trembles and cracks as the Wagpig stumbles and falls flat on its stomach. He proceeds to, with a small bit of effort, pick it up and throw it straight at Meili.
"Yipe!" She yelps and a second before it can hit her, another Wagpig comes in front of her and blocks its fallen comrade from hitting their leader. She frowns deeply. "Alright. At first I thought it'd be fun to toy with you a bit. But now you two are making me mad!" She stomps her foot multiple times and puffs out her cheeks, throwing a typical child tantrum.
Once she regains some of her composure, she focuses a gaze on Subaru. "Finish him first. How dare he make fun of what I believe is cute!"
Outstretching her hand once more, a brand new mabeast enters the scene. It is known as a Spotted King Dog. Despite the name, they look a lot more like hyenas, with four legs, sharp claws, and thick brown fur with black spots all over it. It is easily twice as large as the three people fighting them back.
It charges after Subaru, causing him to run for dear life. Garfiel and Ram notice and attempt to assist him.
"Can't he fight?" Garfiel asks as they make their way towards him.
"Not even a little bit!"
"Then why'd ya bring 'im?! I usually don't question what ya do, but even my amazin' self can't comprehen' this!"
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."
"Hah?!" He makes a loud sound of bewilderment.
"AAAAAAHHH!" A blood-curdling scream can be heard about 50 feet ahead of them.
"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. As her horn was slashed off of her head when she was a child, she is largely unable to enter her oni form like Rem can. However, she is able to tap into a small portion of her former power as the second coming of the Oni god if she really wishes to for a brief period of time. That is what she did just now. In exchange for that power, a certain amount of blood spills from either her forehead or mouth and she renders herself unable to move for a period of time.
"Ram! Are ya alright?!" Garfiel immediately stops his pursuit to check her over.
"Y-Yes, I'm fine. Pick me up, get Barusu, and get us out of here!"
Garfiel is not one to enjoy backing out of a good fight, but seeing the rapidly increasing number of Wolgarms and Black Ringed Rats, the latter which look very similar to bats, heading for them, he knows the odds are not in their favor.
"Right, just leave it to me missy!"
Swiftly picking her up with his left arm, he dashes forward back into the forest in search for Subaru. Another loud scream erupts, quickly letting him identify his location. Turning to his left, he runs forward until he happens upon a sunken piece of the earth. Right in the center of it, Garfiel finds the man in question currently getting torn apart by six Wolgarms. The sight causes both of them to flinch and look away for but a moment. Especially Ram, as she knows this has already happened once before.
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.
"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. The only things he could distinguish was its white horns, white mane, and navy-blue body.
-Inside Trial Ruins-
Waking up inside the ruins where he took the first trial, Subaru quickly sits himself up and looks all over his body to see if there are any wounds left from the Wolgarms that nearly consumed him to death before that giant mabeast finished him off rather abruptly. He sighs in relief upon seeing nothing, but he still can't help but feel an imaginary tingling sensation where the wounds once stood. Looking at his surroundings, he sees the walls of the ruins all around him. Laying next to him is Emilia.
My save point has been updated again. He concludes internally.
No matter how many times he dies, it's not something he can easily brush off. Especially when he sees the people dear to him die not long before he does. Seeing Rem's body the way it was, lacking half of her limbs and her face mutilated, it was a fate that no one should ever go through, nor see from a third party perspective. She had clearly fought with everything she had before succumbing to being consumed by the mabeasts, just like he was. Unfortunately, she was likely not granted the quick and ultimately mostly painless death of being crushed in one go. He thinks of the person who orchestrated the mabeasts to do this.
Meili, the blue-haired child that he believed was merely a shy and innocent village girl, is actually a cold-blooded murderer. She's somehow able to take control of the wretched demon beasts and can command them to do her bidding. Subaru couldn't believe that she of all people would do something like killing others.
Why would she do this? She mentioned something about having her Onee-sama telling her to do this. Subaru would've assumed that she was being forced to do this by that person. However, she looked to be enjoying the entire event way too much to simply be that.
Figuring out her true motives and thoughts is not very feasible at the moment. Besides, there is but one thing he needs to do right now.
Find Rem and get her out of there as quickly as possible.
His mind fixated on that one goal, he darts out of the ruins as quickly as possible and deattaches Patrasche from the carriage Otto is in.
"Natsuki-san, what are you doing?" Otto asks, perplexed.
"Why did you run out like that Barusu? What happened? Where is Emilia-sama?" Ram bombards him with multiple questions.
"Sorry, look after Emilia-tan." Is all he says before he commands Patrasche to move forth to the east, which she obediently does.
Come on, come on, come on! Make it in time dammit! Subaru repeats an uncountable amount of times in his head. Driving Patrasche at the maximum speed she can go at, he knows he only has a couple of minutes between waking up in the ruins and Ram being hit with that mental attack. In the last life, it took him, Ram, and Garfiel approximately 2-3 minutes to arrive at the scene where Rem died. So, if he wastes no time between exiting the ruins and taking off on Patrasche, he should arrive just in time.
-Small Field-
He arrives 2 minutes later, as expected. Right before entering the field, he could already hear loud screaming, as well as the sound of bones being crunched and gore splattering about.
"REM!" He shouts at the top of his lungs.
For a moment, all goes silent. He proceeds a little bit further and begins to see a hoard of mabeasts, mostly Wolgarms, but also a few Wagpigs as well. They slowly turn their heads to look at him.
"Subaru-kun?!" A loud and anxious reply finally comes forth. Slaughtering a few Wolgarms in her way, a blue-haired female in a maid outfit suddenly appears before Subaru. A purple horn appears affixed to her head.
"Rem-tan!" His facial features relax immensely upon seeing that she is alright. Aside from a few bruises, she appears to be unharmed. He must've interfered right when the fight was starting.
"What are you doing out here?! Weren't you supposed to be with-"
She stops herself midway as she notices one of the Wolgarms leaping towards Subaru in an attempt to bite him. One swing of her Morningstar stops that from happening.
"Less talking and more escaping! I'll explain later."
"But shouldn't I take care of-"
"There's too many of them! You'll die if you try taking them all on your own!"
Nodding, she quickly gets on behind Subaru. The first thing she notices is that the witch's scent has once again become very strong, which instantly rings alarm bells in her head.
"Subaru-kun, the scent has-"
"I know! And I think it's attracting all of the mabeasts onto me!"
The witch's scent isn't the only thing Rem has noticed. She sees that unlike the last few times his scent increased, he appears to be relatively fine. As in, he's not spaced out or very troubled. She's relieved to see that, but something else bothers her instead.
Why did he come here? I told him and the others I just had a simple errand to run. There should've been no reason for him to arrive. And he came with Patrasche too, as if he knew I was going to be attacked! It's always whenever his stench rises that he seems to know exactly what to do at the right moment. Is that witch…somehow giving him detailed plans, at the cost of his sanity?!
She shakes her head, I can't jump to conclusions like this! But…oh Subaru-kun…
"This is bothersome! You arrived much sooner than I expected! I was supposed to have finished that girl off before you came!" A frustrated voice cries out, sounding rather young.
Subaru instantly recognizes the voice, "Crap! We have to go now!" Turning Patrasche to his left, he begins to drive her back into the forest, nearly at top speed.
"Don't think you can get away, after them!" Meili, appearing from the shadows with an irritated look on her face, commands her horde of mabeasts. She quickly climbs aboard a Wolgarm to chase after them. Weird, I thought he wouldn't be so apprehensive of me. This is going to make killing them much more troublesome. She thinks.
The next minute is spent with the mabeasts chasing after Subaru and Rem. Once in a while one of the faster Wolgarms would catch up and Rem would have to kill it with her Morningstar. Interestingly, none of them seemed to be interested in attacking Rem or Patrasche. Simply Subaru alone. Although neither speak about it, they both knew the reason why. His scent attracts them to him.
Subaru gets an idea, "Rem-tan! Can you use one of your ice attacks to kill a bunch of them at once?"
"Yes I can. El Huma!" A bunch of icicles appear in front of Rem. She mentally sends them off one after the other in a rapid pace, many hitting the mabeasts behind them. Many of the smaller Wolgarms and Black Winged Rats die instantly upon being hit. The bigger Wolgarms and other much larger mabeasts, like the Wagpigs and Spotted King Dog are merely stunned for a brief moment, resuming chase after recovering.
Thankfully for them, Meili begins to appear disturbed by how many mabeasts are dying before her eyes. After another round of icicles kill off a few more Wolgarms and Rats, she halts her advance.
Clicking her tongue, she announces in a loud voice, "Fine! You win for today, but just know that me and Onee-sama always give back what we receive." She calls the mabeasts back to her side. "Until we meet again."
"Wait!" Subaru shouts, but by the time he turns his head around, she and the mabeasts are already gone. He mumbles, "What did she mean by that?"
"Are you alright Subaru-kun?! You didn't get bitten anywhere right?" She recalls the time back at the mansion that she went into a forest much like this one to kill a bunch of mabeasts that had cursed Subaru by biting him.
He shakes his head, "Nope. How about you? Did you get bitten anywhere? If you did, we need to take you straight to Beako-chan."
She also shakes her head. After she does she retracts her horn, "Thankfully I was not. I'm so sorry Subaru-kun. I was just trying to pick herbs as Roswaal-sama had ordered me to, but I suddenly got attacked out of nowhere by those mabeasts! I thought it was strange, since mabeasts have never been known to patrol this section of Roswaal-sama's domain. But then I realized they were being controlled by that village girl…I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her."
He frowns and crosses his arms, "Yeah…that was Meili-san. Apparently she's able to control numerous mabeasts somehow. It must be some sort of magic ability she has. But it all makes sense now. That dog, or rather mabeast that bit me and gave me that curse. It was Meili-san who was holding it like it was her very own puppy. It all makes sense…"
"I remember seeing you get bit. I had no idea at the time you got cursed. I assumed it was merely a playful bite. If only I knew…" She tilts her head down in shame. And I cared.
"Hey now, why are you beating yourself up over it? That was dealt with a long time ago. Come on, we need to return to the Sanctuary now." Suddenly, he remembers Emilia who, presuming nothing has changed, is likely having a nightmare of sorts at this very moment and quite possibly has no one to comfort her.
He says in a more distressed tone, "We need to get back to Emilia-tan now!"
"D-Did something happen to her?"
"Yes, let's go!"
Turning Patrasche around, the two begin to make haste for the ruins to return to Emilia and everybody else. They make a quick pit stop at the small field to pick up a few more herbs that Rem failed to get the first time round.
-Trial Ruins-
A few minutes later, they return to see Emilia, Ram, Garfiel, and Otto all outside the Sanctuary.
Emilia and Ram are currently sitting on the topmost step, with the latter comforting the former by holding hands. Otto and Garfiel are at the base appearing to have a conversation, but neither of them can make out what they are saying.
"Barusu." Ram is the first to notice their return. "Where in the world did you run off to?" She then notices Rem behind him. "Wait, don't tell me you went to go pick up Rem? Do you have that little faith in her to carry out a task by Roswaal-sama?"
"Long story." Quickly waving off her question, he and Rem both get off of Patrasche. He proceeds to run towards Emilia, who is currently holding her head down low and shaking. Compared to when he first saw her wake up the first time, she seems to be considerably calmer now.
"Emilia-tan." As he approaches her, he reaches a hand out to her, only to have it be slapped away by Ram. "Huh?"
"How shameless Barusu." She stands up and places her hands on her hips. "You ran out of the trial, leaving Emilia-sama behind, with absolutely no explanation. We had to wait several minutes for her to come out. And by the time she did, she was a hysterical mess. Surely you should've seen her state of distress since she immediately failed the trial. A proper gentleman would've stayed with her and comforted her, especially one who is as close to her as you Barusu. Now you expect to be able to approach her like nothing happened?"
"Nee-sama. I understand what you're saying and in general, I agree with you. However, I don't know why or how, but Subaru-kun felt compelled to search for me. I was sent to pick herbs so that a tea could be brewed should Emilia-sama fail the trial. While I was doing so, a bunch of mabeasts suddenly attacked me. There were dozens of them, and many of them were double or even triple my size. I initially believed I could take them on, but in hindsight I could've very well died from the sheer quantity of them. By providing me with an escape route and a way to attack the mabeasts while on the move, Subaru-kun saved my life again." How many times has he saved me now? I…there's no way I could ever repay him…he's done so much for me all this time. What could I possibly do?
I guess Ram's synesthesia didn't kick in this time. Do they have to take a certain amount of damage before it activates? I wonder, was it the killing blow for Rem what notified Ram last time of her danger? If so, then that just defeats the purpose of it.
Ram's eyes widen slightly, "But there should be no mabeasts within this region."
Meanwhile, Otto and Garfiel notice that Subaru has returned and basically ask the same questions Ram did, likewise criticizing him for abandoning Emilia. Rem repeats the story for them, allowing them to change their tune on Subaru's decision. Though they are still a bit peeved regardless.
Ram finally allows Subaru to see Emilia, who quickly envelopes her into a hug.
"I'm sorry Emilia-tan. I'm here now. It was difficult, wasn't it? Are you feeling any better now?"
"I…I guess." Emilia replies with a shaky tone. She is still quite scarred by what she saw in the trial. "I…I was wondering where you went. But I'm glad you're here Subaru."
"I'm sorry. I'm glad you're here too Emilia-tan."
It's a simple dialogue exchange, but their embrace speaks far more than words ever could or would. The embrace shows just how much mutual trust they have in one another.
Emilia pulls a small teacup to her mouth, lightly sipping its contents while contently leaning her head against Subaru's shoulder.
"I'm…I'm feeling sleepy." Emilia drowsily admits.
"Hey Emilia-tan…what is that exactly?" He points to the liquid within the teacup.
"Hm?" She lazily looks at the liquid in question. "Oh, it's some herbal tea Ram brewed up for me. I think it's supposed to help calm me down."
"But then why…?" Subaru mutters as Emilia lowers herself onto Subaru's lap, falling asleep almost instantly. He can't help but smile at her cute innocent face. Compared to when she originally woke up or even a few minutes ago, she looks so calm and peaceful that it'd be hard to believe she ever went through a nightmare. Or whatever it was she went through in the trial.
Rem likewise notices the teacup in her hand and asks Ram the same question as Subaru, getting the same response.
"Then, why did Roswaal-sama tell me to gather herbs if we already had them?"
Ram is equally perplexed by why Roswaal would ask her to do that, but she does her best to give a plausible reason. "Perhaps he simply wishes to stock up on more of them while we are here."
"But the way he worded it made it sound like we had none at all."
Having not moved from where they initially arrived at, Rem decides to step forward to get a better look at the tea Emilia was drinking. Upon doing so, the ruins begin to glow a bright turquoise hue. This causes her to step back a bit in fright, "H-Huh? Why is the ruins glowing?"
Everyone else is shocked to see the ruins glow once again, most especially Garfiel.
"Hah?! Why teh heck is the ruins glowin' fer Rem?! She's a full-blood Oni!"
"What do you mean it's glowing for me?" Rem asks, half anxious and half demanding.
"That means yer somehow qualified to take teh trial! Though it's s'poused to be only teh mixed-bloods can take it!"
"Should I take it?" She asks the group, though she looks at Subaru while asking it.
"Makes no difference to me…" Otto says, sounding slightly unconfident.
Garfiel shrugs.
"I'd rather you not Rem. I don't want you to end up as Emilia-sama did." Ram says.
Subaru takes a moment to think. He initially thinks the same thing as Ram, but he remembers that he himself managed to clear the trial, so it is indeed possible. He concludes it likely depends on the person whether they're able to easily clear it or not.
Having his answer, he replies, "I think you should go with your gut feeling. Perhaps you'll learn something by taking it, but you risk ending up like Emilia-tan did." He looks down and strokes her beautiful white hair. The feeling of it flowing through his fingers is like the purest silk.
Her eyes widen for a brief moment, "I see. Thank you everyone. I've made my decision." She begins to head up the stairs towards the trial ruins, before a hand grabs her own.
Looking back, she sees her sister. "Rem, are you certain about this?" A hint of anxiety is evident in her eyes. Not like she'd show her weakness to everyone out in the open.
Rem gazes into her eyes with determination, giving a nod, "Yes Nee-sama. It's as Subaru-kun said, there may be something I can learn by taking this trial. I'd like to take that opportunity, even if I'm at risk doing so."
It's a long moment before Ram makes any sort of movement, but eventually she backs off, "Very well. I would be a bad older sister if I forbade my younger sister from learning valuable information."
Rem gives Ram a hug, "Thank you Nee-sama."
With a wave to everyone, Rem enters the ruins to begin her first trial.
Like Subaru and Emilia before her, her legs suddenly cramp up a little way into the old building. Collapsing onto her side, she promptly hears a loud voice inside her head.
"First, you need to face your own past."
-Author's Corner-
A/N: And Rem officially begins her first trial!
Jason 4Rever: Thank you! Yeah, perhaps a summarized version of Subaru's first trial would've been better than just skipping it completely, but I don't think it was bad decision to skip it completely either. I can't think of any notable dialogue differences between him and Echidna at the end.
Danbooru god: It was Meili who ended up being the danger. I initially considered adding a brand new character to be a threat, but decided against it.
Maximum Rhapsody: Ah, I see what you mean. I haven't really thought about retconning canon. Just merely changing future events after Rem went with Subaru. I really do like the idea of Rem growing stronger though! Perhaps there can be an arc dedicated to that, we'll see. No promises.