Re: Rem's Journey

by JIL713

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

16. Chapter 16

-Lugunica Capital-

-Apple Stall-

Rem's next location appears to be the capital of Lugunica. Specifically, they appear to be in front of the apple salesman that Subaru met a long time ago.

If Rem were paying attention she would've found Subaru, her alternate self, and the apple salesman all within feet of one another.

However, she is not really paying any attention to her surroundings at all. In fact, she's barely registered the fact they are even in the capital period.

A moment after appearing onto the scene, she recalls what happened in the last unthinkable present. Specifically, about the fact that she finally learned about Subaru's darkest secret.

His ability to Return by Death.

It can't be. No way. How? Why? Subaru-kun, he…he… She so desperately wants to deny that it's real. That it's all just a series of alternate realities that never happened.

Unfortunately, she cannot. Too much evidence backs up this theory of him returning back to life every time he dies, as she determined not long before she appeared here.

As such, she collapses onto the ground, holding her hair with her hands, feeling unable to accept this reality.

"Subaru-kun suffered. Subaru-kun suffered. All that happened to him. All that actually happened to him. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. That's how he knew. That's how he knew about everything. That's why his miasma increased. That's why he looked so broken. He keeps dying. He keeps dying. No, no, no, no…" She mumbles all of this at an accelerated pace.

It was an unfathomable curse that she would honestly wish upon no one. Anytime he suffered a brutal death, such as dying to a mabeast or freezing to death due to Puck freezing everything around him, he would not find peace in the afterlife. No, he would come back to life at some previous point in time and start it all over.

"How far back? How far back does he go? What about his relationships? The people he formed bonds with? Do they forget? Does he have to restart those from scratch? On top of dying a brutal, painful death? Oh…Subaru-kun…" Rem continues to mumble question after question, not a single one being answered.

Now that she knows about Return by Death, she has even more questions than she did before. The questions right then are only the tip of the surface.

"How many times has he died? How did he die? Were they all brutal? Or were some painless? What did he ever do to deserve those deaths? How is he able to keep going on? No wonder he broke down that day. He must've just returned by death when his miasma increased. Was that death I just saw what occurred right before he returned? It would make complete sense if it did…"

Rem continues to ramble to herself, barely keeping up with everything she's asking to who even knows who. She feels a variety of emotions. Fear, anger, frustration, hopelessness, despair, agony, and so many others. To think her hero had gone through all of this and still to this day puts himself in danger for the sake of others. It's mind-boggling. Utterly mind-boggling.

"Nee-sama was right. His resolve is incredible. How had I not been able to understand it when she said it at that moment?" She asks herself, feeling incredibly disappointed for not realizing it sooner.

"And if he ever mentions it…Emilia-sama dies? How horrible. No wonder he could never talk about it. Time appears to stop as well, preventing him from ever saying anything more about it…" She shakily stands up.

"If he can't talk about it, how can I ever bring this up with him? Is he supposed to suffer all of this alone? Why does time freeze? Why does Emilia-sama die if he says he can do…that? Oh Subaru-kun, I want to ask you so much about so many things…"

So many questions, so few answers. Taking a look around, she finally dedicates enough thinking power into figuring out where she is.

"The capital…" She instantly realizes her location. A moment later, she spots her alternate self and Subaru.

If I'm being shown another unthinkable present, Subaru-kun must die again. Why?!

She roughly shakes her head, "No. I must watch and see what happens. That's the least I can do. To understand how exactly my hero has suffered. Even if I have died, I don't remember any of it. He does, I can tell he does. The pain, the agony, the betrayal, he must remember all of it. It would bring me the ultimate shame if I cower in fear now."

Clenching her fists, she resolves herself to watch this new unthinkable present, now knowing that Subaru can Return by Death and that he'll likely die in some way or another.

But still, tears continue to stream down her face for the next minute before she's finally able to wipe them away without any new ones appearing.

"Subaru-kun?" Rem, holding a basket of apples, looks at him in concern.

"He looks so broken…just like that day. He…he just returned by death, didn't he?" A new dam bursts from her eyes from looking at him.

"Should I have taken his hand that day?" She questions whether encouraging him to return back to everyone, to return back into such a dangerous environment where he could keep dying over and over again rather than running away to live a life in peace was such a good idea.

On one hand, she is still very glad she encouraged him to not give up on his convictions and goals. On the other hand, if that caused him to run back towards all this pain and suffering he's been continuously going through, was it actually worth it? Then again, she doesn't know how often this happens.

Subaru, looking down at his hand, turns his head upwards and towards Rem. Sweat is all over his face and his eyes look like they had just seen a ghost.

Rem stares at him with a confused expression.

Subaru falls to his knees.

"Hey!" The apple salesman says.

"Subaru-kun!" Rem calls his name again while running to him, sounding much more concerned this time. "What's wrong? Do you feel ill?"

"I think it's a little more than feeling ill alternate me. Wait, is calling this version of myself an alternate me even accurate anymore? This isn't an alternate path. He really interacted with me here." She sighs to herself. "Whatever, it doesn't matter what I call myself. As long as I can distinguish between past me and now. Ah, past me sounds like a good name."

While she doesn't voice it aloud, Rem does notice that she doesn't remember him falling like this, thus this confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that he dies somehow.

Subaru looks up at her, his terrified expression doesn't change whatsoever.

"Um…" Rem gives a troubled look of her own. "Subaru-kun?"

With no warning, Subaru leaps forward and clings onto her legs. She raises the basket of apples in shock and blushes, looking embarrassed. "W-Wait, Subaru-kun! What's wrong?"

"Hey, come on. Not in front of my shop." The apple salesman complains.

"Shut up. You have no idea what Subaru-kun just went through." Rem glares at him with cold eyes. She tilts her head down, "Though I guess I don't really know either. That last death…I don't know if this is him just after respawning from…that. Or…something else."

Rem frowns, still embarrassed. "Calm down…" Gazing downwards, she gets a better view of his face. "Subaru-kun?"

Subaru openly smiles, but it's clear it's anything but a happy smile. Tears stream down his face, accompanied by a broken laugh.

As if her heart couldn't break enough, it shatters once more upon seeing him like this and knowing the reason behind it.

"What…what horrific death did you just experience that…that made you like this?" She slowly asks, trembling knowing she'll get no answer. It just makes her aching a little more bearable if she's able to voice her questions like this.

Rem's vision fades to white just as her past self begins to comfort him. She internally curses not being able to witness it.

-Crusch's Mansion-

-Bedroom-

Upon appearing, Rem sees Crusch, Felix, and herself all standing in a room that has a bed on one side of it. Lying in it is Subaru, who is wearing the exact same expression as he did at the marketplace in the capital.

"His expression…hasn't changed even a little…" Her face sours once more. "How long was the timeskip? I know it takes at least half an hour to get to Crush-sama's mansion from the capital. And what am I doing just standing there? Why aren't I comforting him in his time of need?"

Rem, Felix, and Crusch all observe Subaru with forlorn expressions. The lattermost lies in a bed not moving a single part of his body. Actually, that's not true. His pupils move in a jittery like way, not at all aware of what they're looking at.

After a long silence, Felix speaks up first, "I'm pretty sure there's nyothing we can do. His wounds are one thing, but there's nyo helping his mental state."

"How did Subaru-kun recover from this…state? I've never seen him like this before." She mumbles to herself. She's seen some pretty scary expressions on his face and he completely broke down crying in front of her. But she's never seen him suffering from a catatonic state like this before.

After a moment, she realizes "Oh, wait. I did see him like this. I just don't remember it. How awful of me…"

"Do you know how this happened?" Crusch asks.

"He…he returned by death." Rem shakily replies.

"No. I've checked every inch of him, but…" Felix replies but trails off.

"What are the odds of it being a curse?" Crusch asks.

Felix turns to look at his master. "There's nyo indication of any interference using mana."

"Beatrice-sama confirmed it too." She says, remembering that she went to Beatrice to see if he was under a curse or contract of some sort. Like Felix, she said there was no curse on him.

Crusch, frowning deeply, appears to be deep in thought. She soon turns to Rem and Felix. "If Ferris is unable to help, no one in this household can heal him. I'm sorry."

"If someone were to talk to him, maybe…"

Rem, who has been gazing at Subaru the whole time, looks away to face Crusch. She gives her a sad smile. "Oh, no. I can't thank you enough for your generous concern." She bows. Returning her gaze to Subaru, her eyes narrow and lips turn upside down, as if she's thinking about something.

Rem looks at her past self and wonders what she's thinking about. Perhaps a way to save him? Comfort him? She hopes that's the case.

In any case, a white light envelopes her vision, signaling a scene change.

-Entrance to Crusch's Mansion-

When she opens her eyes, Rem finds herself and Subaru about to leave Crusch's mansion with the owner and Felix being there to send them off.

Rem bows, "Thank you for everything. I thank you in my master's stead for your kindness during our stay."

She unconsciously frowns at Roswaal being mentioned.

"Subaru-kun isn't moving at all…he's like a statue." She observes that while he isn't giving that creepy smile anymore, he now just looks dead inside.

"Give Emilia this message, as well. 'Let us compete in a manner that will bring neither of us shame.'" Crusch says.

Rem gives a small nod of acknowledgement.

"Hey," Felix begins, "I get why you're going back to the mansion, but can anyone there heal him?"

She smiles while holding his hand, "He utters our names, just occasionally." Turning to look at him, she continues, "My name, Nee-sama's name, and Emilia-sama's. If he sees her, maybe his condition will change."

"I really hope so. He needs some sort of relief. Even if I'm the one who can't provide it for him here." She looks down in shame for being unable to help in recovering his mental state.

Crusch, gaining an uncomfortable look on her face, says, "I realize this is tasteless, but I must ask. How can you give so much of yourself for Natsuki Subaru? Your relationship with him is not that of master and servant, like Ferris' and mine. But I hesitate to conclude that your behavior and the glances you cast are those a woman gives a man."

"That is easy to answer Crusch-sama. He's my hero. He saved my life. Made my time flow again. He's given up so much of himself for my sake that I can't even begin to imagine what all he's gone through."

The mental images of the two deaths he experienced play through her mind. She bites her lower lip so hard at the memory that it bleeds a little. Any blood that splatters onto the ground instantly disappears. "And while I may be a lowly maid who only serves the Mathers' household, I am also a woman who can fall in love. Subaru-kun is the man I'm in love with. He stole my heart and is unwilling to hand it to any other person. He's such a cruel man."

Chuckling at her own joke, she continues, "Just kidding. I will follow him wherever he goes."

There is a short pause before she finishes with, "I wish to be his wife. If I'm unable to be his wife, then I'll be his maid. And if I'm unable to be his maid, then I'll just stay by his side as his ally. After what Subaru-kun did for me, there's no way I could ever fall for another man. Even if he were as lovely as Subaru-kun.

Rem is unusually honest with her reply, even by her standards. Admittedly the main reason she's able to do this is because she knows Crusch is unable to hear her. Had Crusch been able to listen to her reply, she would've never confessed this much, no matter how much she respects her. There are some things she just can't share openly like that.

There is a long pause and Crusch gets the feeling she asked something inappropriate, "I am sorry. Forget I said-"

"No, it's not that." Rem cuts in. "It's just…how can I put it?" She tilts her head down, then lifts it back up again, "Well…I suppose it's because Subaru-kun is special."

"Very special. More than I ever could've imagined." Compared to here, she is certain her respect for Subaru has increased substantially now that she knows of his condition.

Both Crusch and Felix cast shocked looks at the maid.

Rem gives an uncertain look "Um…"

"Forgive me." Crusch immediately apologizes. "I was stunned speechless for a moment. Natsuki Subaru is a lucky man."

Felix smirks and puts up his hands, "That's for sure. If he ever recovers, I'll have to tease him to the max!"

Rem simply smiles sweetly at their responses.

"I'm so glad Subaru-kun has as many people that support him as he does now." She smiles as well.

"Be well." Crush says.

"Good luck!" Felix smiles brightly and waves.

Rem bows and helps Subaru turn around so they can leave.

Rem's vision turns white.

What will I see next? She wonders as she lets the light overtake her vision.

-Forest-

-Carriage-

Appearing on a fairly fancy looking carriage compared to the wagon she saw last time she went through this forest, Rem notices that it's morning time and that her past self and Subaru are on their way to Roswaal's mansion.

Subaru looks just as out of it as last time, which causes her to frown deeply.

"He's still traumatized…"

Rem and Subaru quietly travel in a carriage on their way back to Roswaal's mansion. It's a very peaceful morning, with only the clicking of the ground dragon's hooves moving the carriage along making any sort of noise.

Rem gives a suspicious look to her surroundings, on alert for anything that may happen. Then, with no warning, she leans forward and puts a hand to her chest, heavily panting as if she has just suffered a heart attack. Subaru does not react to her distress.

"I know this! This would only happen if something terrible happened to Nee-sama!" She shouts in response to her past self's action. "She's in trouble! But there's also Subaru-kun! What happened?!"

Lifting her head, Rem intends to speed up they are going at, just to have the ground dragon's head decapitated.

With the sudden loss of momentum, the carriage topples over and collapses. The two inhabitants fly in different directions.

Rem too flies out of the carriage and falls to the ground violently. "Ow…" She moans for a moment before recovering and standing up again.

Scanning her surroundings. It's obvious the ground dragon is dead and the carriage is beyond saving. She finds Subaru collapsed in the middle of the road.

"Subaru-kun!" She rushes over to him and observes his condition. Thankfully, there appears to be no worse than some major bruises.

For the first time, Subaru reacts to what has just happened to him and slowly moves his head up and opens his eyes. Greeting his vision are several Witch Cultists that seem to have come out of nowhere.

"It's them! YOU WITCH CULTISTS!" Rem screams with hatred at their unannounced arrival. "Where am I?!"

One walks up to him and reaches a hand out in an attempt to touch his head.

"Get away from him! Get away from him you filthy, disgusting cultist!"

Right before it succeeds, a ball and chain crashes into its side and instantly mutilates it.

Turning to see where it came from, she spots her past self on top of the broken carriage.

"Just in time!"

The ball and chain flawlessly returns to its owners' right hand, which happens to be Rem. With her horn activated and a line of blood going down her face, overlapping her left eye, she glares hatefully at the Witch Cultists from atop the knocked over carriage.

"Don't touch Subaru-kun!" She declares acrimoniously.

Three Witch Cultists throw their daggers at her. She reacts by flipping up a wheel right in front of her that takes in all three daggers. As the wheel spins in midair, she kicks it as hard as she can towards the cultists, successfully knocking one over.

She throws her Morningstar to another. Striking its face, drawing blood, and knocking it over. Chasing after the third one, she jumps over it and slams her feet right into its back, causing it to pummel into the dirt below.

"Look out! One behind you!" As she can't participate in the battle, Rem instead observes from another point of view and is able to see past Rem's blind spots. She sees a Witch Cultist throw a red dagger at her back.

Sadly, her warnings are for naught.

Distracted by killing the Witch Cultist, she doesn't notice a red dagger flying towards her. It strikes her shoulder, causing her to slump over and fall to her knees. She grits her teeth to bear the pain.

"Witch Cultists!"

One of the Cultists charges up a fireball and launches it at her.

"Huma!" Stretching out her right hand, a water barrier is formed to protect herself from the oncoming attack. As soon as the fireball hits, lots of smoke and steam generate from the blast.

The wind carries the smoke and steam away, revealing that the barrier has been shut down and that it was unable to fully protect Rem from the fireball. Her hand and half of her arm now covered with red, peeling skin due to suffering from a severe burn.

Not caring in the slightest about the burn, she looks ahead and sees that Subaru is being taken away by one of the Witch Cultists.

"Subaru-kun!"

"No! Subaru-kun!" Darting her head back and forth between her past self and Subaru, she makes the decision to run after him. She has to see what those wretched Witch Cultists are going to do to him.

As she runs, she manages to hear her past self shout some words of anger and hatred towards a few Cultists blocking her way.

"You bastards. You stole my sister's horn, and stole my reason to live, but that wasn't enough? Now you have come here to steal my reason to die, too?!"

Swinging her Morningstar at them in full fury, a huge explosion follows only a moment later.

Rem hears the explosion and has to plug her ears due to how loud it is. Looking back, she can see fire and smoke rising high into the air.

"Please be safe past me…"

She turns back around and continues forward, running after the Witch Cultist and Subaru.

-Cave-

Eventually, they reach a cave and the Witch Cultist takes Subaru into it.

"Is this their base?" Rem wonders as she continues to follow them.

It's quite dark, but the light from the outside is enough to illuminate the interior to a certain extent. It's rather small, as they reach a somewhat open area with no passageways leading further into the ground. There, she sees the man who she increasingly hates with each encounter.

Petelguese.

"Ah yes. Brilliant! Diligent! Many thanks for bringing him so quickly." Petelguese exclaims as the Witch Cultist hands Subaru over to him.

"It's you! It's always you! Let go of Subaru-kun this instant! What do you even want him for anyway?!" She shouts at Petelguese, her blood nearly boiling in an instant upon seeing him.

The Witch Cultist bows and makes its exit via descending through a shadow formed in the ground.

Pulling some chains and cuffs out of seemingly nowhere, Petelguese leans Subaru up against a wall and pounds a few huge nails, each attached to a chain, into the wall. Then he handcuffs Subaru, who makes no resistance, the reason being he's unconscious.

He sighs, "Guess I'll have to wait until he wakes up. How booooring."

"You little…!" She wishes with all her being that the trial would grant her the ability to wield her Morningstar or her magic and pummel this freakshow into the ground and the wall for daring to restrict him like this. Likely planning much worse later on. Sadly, her wishes are not granted.

"I swear, if you kill him here…like that mabeast and that spirit did…" She internally threatens to torment him and have him beg for his life should he kill Subaru. Since he's already dead, she can't do that. But still, the sentiment is there.

As she mentioned Puck, it's safe to say that she's lost pretty much all respect for the great spirit that protects Emilia and keeps her company. Knowing that he is very much willing to kill Subaru when Emilia dies regardless of whether it's his fault or not, or whether he intended to or not, left an extremely bitter taste in her mouth. Especially considering the fact Puck knows Subaru would never, ever kill Emilia of his own volition.

Another reason for her disdain towards the great spirit is the fact that should Emilia die, he will destroy the whole world in retaliation. The entire world! Now, Rem understands Puck's loyalty to Emilia. He wishes to protect her with all his being and to help her whenever she is struggling. She feels the exact same way with Subaru. Her loyalty to him is as solid as steel. If someone were to harm or kill him, she'd retaliate with everything she has. Like Puck, she cannot imagine living in a world without the person most precious to her.

However, destroying the entire world in response to their most precious person being dead? Rem knows there are certain lines that shouldn't be crossed, and annihilating the world is one of them. Going after completely innocent people is such an evil and barbaric act that she'd never think to do it, even if Subaru died. The only individuals she'd go after are the ones directly responsible for harming her beloved, and perhaps the ones indirectly responsible too. Everyone else would be free from her wrath. She just couldn't agree with Puck's reasoning to destroy the world.

It's safe to say that she is no longer looking forward to seeing that cute, adorable little gray kitty anymore. Not that she now knows that underneath that endearing face is a terrifying monster that will come out and eradicate everything should anything deadly occur to Emilia. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, he froze and killed Subaru without batting an eye or listening to his side of the story. He's the cause of one of his traumatizing deaths.

Rem isn't sure if she will ever be able to forgive him for that.

She decides to go sit by Subaru. Even if she cannot speak with him or even touch him, just being close to him like this calms her spirit.

A minute later Subaru's eyes begin to open up. He's greeted with a close-up look of Petelguese's hideous face. He widens his eyes and flinches.

"I see…This is certainly interesting. You wouldn't happen to be Pride, would you?" Bringing his index finger to his mouth, he begins to slowly bite on it until it bleeds. "I guess you're not going to answer me!"

"And he has no reason to comply with your demands!" She retorts. "Oh I hope past me shows up soon to save him…"

Petelguese steps back and brings his body into a standing position. "Ah, right! I haven't introduced myself yet."

Stepping even further back towards a small body of Witch Cultists, who are all kneeling, Petelguese turns around and bows deeply before Subaru. "I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing sloth, Petelguese Romanee-Conti!"

Subaru makes no response. Only mumbling to himself, having no awareness of his surroundings.

"I already know quite well who you are, you despicable Archbishop." Rem narrows her eyes and grits her teeth. "What do you want with him." She demands in an ice cold tone.

Oh how she wishes to just kill them all right here, right now. Then she would comfort Subaru, telling him it will be alright.

"Ah, how comical. What a very, very, very, very, very entertaining sight! Truly, truly, truly!" He makes many dramatic expressions no normal person would make. Grabbing his head with his hands, he shakes it about frantically as if he's having a nightmare. "My brain trembles…"

Changing to a completely normal voice for whatever reason, he continues, "Now what has brought him here?"

"That's what I want to know!" She yells at him, getting close to his face and giving him the nastiest looking glare she can muster.

A Witch Cultist appears from the shadows and appears to tell Petelguese something, with the latter putting a hand to his ear in an attempt to hear it better.

"Dragon…carriage…" The Cultist mumbles.

Petelguese jumps back and arches his back, "A dragon-drawn carriage! Ah, aren't ground dragons great? They obey diligently, work diligently, and play their roles as a species diligently! They're just fantastic!"

"I hate the way you're saying it, but ground dragons are wonderful. Patrasche in particular is a wonderful ground dragon who always looks out for Subaru-kun and the others."

Recalling Patrasche, she remembers that she is currently guiding Subaru and Ram towards Roswaal's mansion. She gets a sudden burst of anxiety.

"Oh Subaru-kun…Nee-sama. Please be safe. Don't die Subaru-kun…please don't die!"

Knowing that they may have a chance of running into Meili and Subaru subsequently dying, as this trial has clearly shown happening before, she gains a new, copious desire to leave as soon as possible so she can rush over and assist somehow.

"Nee-sama isn't reckless like me. She knows the mansion like the back of her hand. She'll protect Subaru-kun and escort him into hiding if need be."

With that comment, Rem feels a lot calmer knowing Ram is there to protect him and is able to focus on the scene being presented before her once more.

"Killed." The same Cultist says, with Petelguese again putting up an ear to listen.

"Of course! Your diligence brought the ground dragon, diligence itself, to the ground! Ah, my brain trembles, trembles, trembles!"

"That doesn't make any sense, but I can tell you're wrong!"

"But a dead ground dragon is the very definition of 'sloth'." Petelguese then gives an order, "Clean up the area at once. With the day of the Ordeal upon us, we mustn't allow our existence to be discovered."

Going back to the same Cultist, he asks, "What of his friend?"

"Unknown." It answers.

"It is unknown if the girl is alive or dead? Unknown if she is alive or dead, eh? You are truly slothful."

Grabbing its face, or rather mask, Petelguese slams him into the rock hard floor below. He proceeds to shake it violently, "With the Ordeal before us, you let a potential problem remain!"

Then he moves on to punching him numerous times a second. He shouts angrily, "Is this the sincerity you show in return for our gospel?!" He stops and the Cultist lowers to the floor, "Ah, this is sloth. Sloth, sloth, sloth, sloth!

Rem understands almost instantly that the girl they are referring to is her. It would be an understatement to say that she is shocked that Petelguese is willing to beat the crap out of one of his underlings for the unknown status of whether she's alive or dead.

"This is despicable behavior, but this is the Witch's Cult, I can't say this was unexpected." She crosses her arms, "At least that gives me one less Cultist to worry about when I arrive."

She desperately hopes her past self will arrive soon. Petelguese doesn't seem to be too focused on Subaru at the moment.

On his knees, Petelguese raises his arms into the air, as if praying to a deity, "Please forgive the sloth that has led us to betray your goodwill! Love! We must repay love with love!" Getting up, he commands, "Bring the girl here. If she lives, kill her. If not, bring me her head! Love! We must repay love with love!"

All of Petelguese's underlings drop into the shadows below.

"You little…don't think you can defeat me that easily! My past self will show you what happens when you dare to mess with me and my precious hero!" She shouts at Petelguese, determined to prove him wrong.

Petelguese returns his focus to Subaru. "Now…now, now, now, now, now…" He says quietly before walking to him and pulling on his hair. "You will look into my eyes."

"You actually touched him with your filthy green hands…" Rem trembles, trying very hard to remain composed in this situation when she knows she can do nothing about this.

She decides to return Subaru and sit by his side again.

Subaru's eyes are rolled up as far as they can go, not looking at Petelguese. The latter says in a threatening-like tone, "Answer me. Answer me carefully. Why does such dense love hang so abundantly upon your person?"

"Dense love? What does he mean by that? Ugh." She shakes her head. "It's pointless trying to figure out what an Archbishop thinks. They're all insane…"

Reaching into his cloak, Petelguese pulls out a black book. "Do you not own a copy of the gospel?"

"No, and he never will, you loathsome Archbishop."

"Huh?" Is Subaru's only response. However, there seems to be no intelligent articulation behind that mumble.

Petelguese arches his back to such a degree that it should not be humanly possible, "It saddens me to be ignored! I'm treating you so kindly, and yet, and yet, and yet, and yet, yet, yet, yet, yet!"

"You call that KINDNESS?!" Rem screams.

Suddenly, she coughs violently. Being under such a high amount of stress and almost constantly shouting has done a number on her vocal cords. She may not be in her real body, but the body she's using for the trial has many of the same limitations as her real body.

She attempts to steady her breathing so as to ease the tension in her body. She can't falter here. Not when Subaru's life is on the line!

With her stress levels reducing by the tiniest amount, she resumes her observation, making a mental note to not scream as much. Especially considering he can't even hear her in the first place.

"In that case, I will change the order of my questions." Grabbing his chin and lifting it upwards, he says, "Let me ask you this."

He proceeds to lick Subaru's face, including his eyeball, leaving a slimy trail behind. Subaru squints his eye and gives a small cry of distress in response.

"You!" In a bout of newlyfounded rage, she attempts to punch him hard in the cheek. Of course this doesn't work and her fist goes right through his head.

Petelguese tilts his head 90 degrees to his right, "Why do you…pretend that your mind has broken?"

"You think he's PRETENDING?!" She screams again, immediately ignoring the mental note she made for herself. She coughs again while a slight headache begins to set in.

Drool dripping out of his mouth, Subaru slowly looks at his surroundings.

"No, no, no, no. I truly have my doubts." Petelguese raises his index fingers, "Why, for what reason, for what purpose, do you act crazed?"

"He can-" Rem stops herself. "You know what, I don't need to tell you. You deserve to know nothing about Subaru-kun."

"Your insanity is far too sane. To behave so cleverly and quietly, as if seeking sympathy. It is an insult to true madness."

Subaru's occasional mumblings begin to grow louder as he leans forward and puts his hands on his head, clearly beginning to lose it. At least, from an outside point of view.

"Subaru-kun!" She feels so useless and helpless to assist him in his time of need. "Where is my past self?! What's taking her so long?!"

Petelguese continues, "You are a poorly acted madman. If you really meant it, you would pay no heed to the gazes of others."

Leaning himself forward and pulling himself back over and over. Subaru sobs heavily, not able to take much more of this torment in his mind.

"Ah, how comical! How comical!" Petelguese leans in and picks him up by his tracksuit collar, "I pity you! I pity your wretched, ugly, lowly, diminutive, sinful being, from the bottom of my heart!"

Rem lowers her gaze at the Archbishop, allowing her bangs to cover both of her eyes. She bites her lower lip, drawing a little blood. Her hands and feet tremble with fury.

"You…" She seethes, "You're the one that told Subaru-kun how worthless he is! You're the one responsible for shattering him into pieces! You broke his spirit! You broke it! Don't you know how much comfort Subaru-kun needed to undo the damage you did?!"

He angrily lifts Subaru up and yells, "Despite all that, you are so loved!" Then he slams his face into the wall in front of him.

"Yes he is very loved!" She yells back. "And not your twisted love, real love! Because he did so much for all of us! Emilia-sama, Nee-sama, Crusch-sama, me, and so many others! He deserves every last bit of it, unlike you!"

"You'd rather waste away in stagnation than repay the goodwill shown to you?" He lets him go. Making no effort to break his fall, Subaru lands face first into the stone below.

Once more raising his head by the hair, now bleeding, Petelguese says disappointingly, "You are truly slothful."

Suddenly, a rumbling can be heard in the distance. "Oh?"

A Witch Cultist comes flying in towards Subaru and Petelguese, clearly having been defeated by some unknown force.

"Am I finally here?!"

Several Witch Cultists appear out from the shadows beneath the floor. Then, she makes her appearance.

Rem, with her horn activated and her Morningstar in hand, approaches with a stern and angry expression. The blood that was dripping down her left eye has traveled all the way down to her left breast.

"Yes!" She shouts with delight. Finally, someone to oppose Petelguese and end his torture of Subaru!

"I found you!" Walking a little further in, she spots the man she is looking for. "Subaru-kun!" She shouts with worry.

Petelguese, giddy like a child, extends his arms forward dramatically, "How fantastic this is! A girl, a lone girl, is so badly injured, yet she presses on!"

Gritting her teeth, Rem snarls, "Enough of your nonsense, Witch Cultist! You are fools to carry out your insubordinate acts in Roswaal-sama's domain without his permission. In my absent master's stead, I, Rem, will bring the death penalty upon you!"

"Even if he granted permission, I would never allow this! Never! As long as I'm alive. As long as I can move the bones and muscles in my body and breathe in and out with my lungs, I will make sure Subaru-kun is never treated like this ever again!"

Petelguese scoffs, "In your battered state? You only came here to retrieve this boy." He lifts Subaru up again while openly smiling at her . "You should stop saying things that only sound attractive."

"Don't touch him." Rem mumbles.

"Eh? What was that?" He genuinely asks, putting a hand to his ear to hopefully hear her next words properly.

In pure fury, she yells, "Don't you touch him!" and swings her Morningstar into two Witch Cultists, killing both instantly.

"Go! Do it past me! Kill them all! Don't let Subaru-kun suffer another death!"

Despite shouting this, she cannot suppress the growing feeling in her heart that something awful is going to happen. Otherwise, why is she being shown this?

Petelguese gasps in utter delight and drops Subaru. "That shout was great! Why does such a believer in love as yourself adhere to someone like him?"

"You know nothing about Subaru-kun! El huma!"

Pouring all her strength into her hand, she pierces right through the middle of a Cultist with her bare hand alone. Using the blood stained on her hand as ammo, she crystallizes it and sends it straight into two more Cultists, killing them both.

Even though his underlings are being killed, Petelguese can't help but be delighted. He says with glee while biting his fingers until they bleed, "Fantastic! That was fantastic!

"He's so insane that he's delighted that his underlings are being killed!" Rem is astonished to see him so uncaring towards the deaths of what are likely to be his closest companions. She knows that he abides by basically no upstanding moral code. But still, she didn't think he'd be that immoral and uncaring.

Turning around, Rem gets stabbed with a red dagger.

"Oh no!"

Subaru, seeming to slowly regain consciousness, slowly opens his eyes to see Rem fighting. He mumbles, "Rem…"

Their eyes meet, and Rem casts a warm smile at him. He can see her lips moving, but cannot make out anything she is saying.

However, Rem, being closer to her past self, is just barely able to make out what she said.

Rem says, "Subaru-kun."

Then, in a very low and unnervingly serious voice, Petelguese says, "My brain trembles."

In a twist of fate, Rem is held up in the middle of the cave by some unknown force, instantly twisting her arms and legs.

"No…" She looks on in horror. "Don't tell me…it's those things again…"

Unseen Hands. If her past self's body is being manipulated at this moment with no clear source, it has to be the work of the Unseen Hands. No doubt about it.

"How cowardly of you…" She mutters.

Subaru's eyes widen and his pupils go as far up as they can so that he can see Rem. Though one of his eyes is covered in blood, so he can't see out of that one very well. His facial muscles move about to form a look of fear.

Petelguese brings a hand and clenches it, "Authority of Sloth…Unseen Hand." Without looking at Subaru, he tells him, "Look. You must look."

Subaru does it even without being asked. The appearance of fear transforms into a state of being petrified.

"This is the result of your actions." He blames him. "By doing nothing, you practiced sloth."

"You're going to BLAME him for YOUR actions?!" How low this Archbishop will go to spew up nonsense and lies, she does not know. "This is unbelievable. Subaru-kun. I beg you. Don't believe him."

"And because of that, the girl is dead! You killed her! How awful! How awful!"

"He did not! Stop spewing such shameless lies!"

Gritting her teeth a bit at her past self's unsightly appearance, she decides to observe her condition to see if she's truly dead.

To her surprise, she finds that her chest is somehow barely rising and lowering.

"She's alive! I mean…I'm alive! But…can…can I even do anything?"

She lowers her head and frowns. She's always been the weakest oni in her village. What could she do? Somehow break out of those Unseen Hands like a hero and save her beloved?

Even she knows when the situation is so bleak that that sort of fantasy is a pipe dream away. Her past self is likely only a minute or two away from dying.

"You…" Subaru starts quietly.

"With my arm, with my fingers, you…you…you…you…you….killed her." Petelguese squeaks out those last two words.

Subaru grits his teeth and his entire body shakes, "...op it!"

Petelguese proceeds to further bend and twist Rem's body to beyond humanly capable levels. Even her head does a near 180 turn. It is truly a horrendous fate for her. To make the overall event even more disturbing, Petelguese cries out the words Rem would likely say if she could talk, "It hurts! It hurts, it hurts! Help me! Help me!"

Rem nearly pukes at the newly dreadful sight that is herself. To think that she could be twisted and turned like this is something she never wished to know.

"Subaru-kun!" He mockingly imitates the way Rem calls him.

"Don't say his name! Don't ever say his name like that! Don't you ever refer to him the same way I do!" She shouts.

Raising his head, face clearly showing an expression of rage, Subaru yells out, "Petelguese!"

He attempts to lunge at him, shouting continuously, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Unfortunately, the chains keep him at bay.

"Subaru-kun!" Rem is shocked at his sudden outburst. Kneeling beside him and beginning to cry, she says softly, "I'm…I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry Subaru-kun! You…you had to witness me get killed…again! Twice! Twice! Oh…" She lowers herself all the way to the floor, unable to fathom the fact that Subaru has seen her corpse not once, but twice. And this time, he witnessed her death as it was happening! "To see such a thing…no one should ever have to…I'm so sorry for being so weak and pathetic…"

Petelguese smiles with delight. "Ah, I finally got you to call me by name. I'm deeply touched!"

Subaru rages on, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Die! Die, damn it!"

Frowning for a bit before grinning once more and turning around, Petelguese observes the entire cave. He finds numerous Witch Cultists and their blood scattered everywhere. "This place is quite the mess now, so I'll just leave it!"

Clapping his hands, he calls over the remaining Witch Cultists. "All right, men! You will resume your duties. Rendezvous with the other fingers. The Ordeal will proceed on the scheduled day."

Rem doesn't pay any attention to his words as she helplessly watches Subaru carry on with the demand for Petelguese to die. She instinctively tries to say some soothing words to him, but alas, he doesn't hear them.

Turning around, he faces Subaru once more. "Now, as for your position in all this…I honestly have no idea what it is. So I shall judge you as our lord sees fit. I will leave you bound here. Should the gospel happen to find its way to you, I'm sure you will be saved." He looks at him from above, still giving his very creepy smile.

"Completely utter crap. Leave, NOW!"

Subaru glares at him with nothing but hatred while tears stream down his face, "Damn you!"

Petelguese simply laughs as he turns and leaves Subaru to continue cursing him. He stops when he passes by Rem. "Oh? Ah, you are also a believer in love. Yes, you sacrificed yourself for love, defying your own fate. But you fell before your feelings reached him, and your love had nowhere to go."

Finally releasing her from his Unseen Hands, he smiles, "You are truly slothful!"

Rem, staying with Subaru and with how loud he is screaming, is unable to hear anything he just said. But she does notice her body drop to the ground like a broken ragdoll.

Petelguese gleefully laughs on his way out. Subaru shouts with as much fury as he can muster, his scream reverberating off of the cave walls over and over again.

She's tempted to plug her ears due to how loud the scream is. However, her hero is suffering here. He just got tortured by an extremely despicable Archbishop and his one and only savior, Rem, is dead. Stuck in this cave, with no one knowing where he is aside from the Witch Cultists, Subaru is doomed to die here. Frightened to his core and alone. Completely and utterly alone.

"Subaru-kun…this…this is…"

Unthinkable. Her mind finishes for her.

"Why…why you…why do you have to go through this…" She bangs a fist onto the floor, sobbing.

A Little While Later.

Rem, curled up into a ball on the floor, has been willingly listening to Subaru's curses of Petelguese for well over fifteen minutes now. Additionally, he lightly pounds his head into the ground every time he does so.

"I'll kill you…I'll kill you…I'll kill you…"

"He's…he's still going…" Utterly amazed and deeply disturbed he's been able to keep it up for this long, still has a few lone tears trickling down her face. She's tired. Exhausted. Subaru must be even more so. The fact he even went through all of this…that everything she witnessed just now actually happened. Simply unthinkable. Unfathomable. Yet here she is. Learning the truth of Return by Death, she understood that each and every unthinkable present she's been presented were once real presents. Subaru had lived through all of them.

"How…how have you not gone insane…" She wonders aloud with a small cry. "If it was me…I…"

She would've gone insane. No question about it. If the day her village was destroyed traumatized her, a day where she didn't get physically hurt and didn't even see her mother and father die, then there's no doubt in her mind that she'd be beyond traumatized by this. Physically suffering and watching one of your dearest friends die with your own eyes is an unbearable tragedy.

She whispers softly, "You're amazing Subaru-kun. You're more amazing than I could've ever imagined."

Finally, Subaru stops both actions.

"He…stopped?" Figuring he has fully worn himself out, she lifts herself into a sitting position to see if his expression has changed at all.

Then, she hears it.

A small sound repeats itself. Being the only sound in this cave, it rings clearly in Subaru's ears. He gazes upwards and looks ahead. Widening his eyes, he cannot believe what he is seeing. "Rem?"

Rem notices the exact same thing he's witnessing. She puts her hands to her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh…"

Somehow, against all odds, Rem survived being twisted and bent by Petelguese. With her arms still bent to a humanly impossible extent, she is somehow able to command them to move. Slowly and painfully, she drags herself towards Subaru.

"How…how did she survive that…" Even though this person is none other than herself, she has no explanation as to how she just lived through that whole ordeal. She cannot imagine what unbearable pain must be going through her limbs right at this moment. As selfish as it may seem, she's ultimately grateful she doesn't remember this pain.

"Rem." His voice lifts up as hope rises within him. "Rem. Rem!" He goes as far as his chains allow him. "Rem…Rem…"

"Come on…come on!" Tears of both sadness and joy roll down her cheeks. "Make it to him!"

"Rem! Rem! Rem!" He repeatedly calls her name. Then, once she reaches close enough, he pushes himself forward as far as he is able and manages to grip her maid clothes with his teeth. Pulling back, he successfully manages to pull her into his chest.

"Yes!" No matter how hopeless this situation is. If she can comfort him somehow in any way. Put his mind at ease somehow. There would be no greater wish she'd like granted. Well, her greatest wish would be if she could somehow release him from this prison-like place.

"Rem…Hey, Rem!"

Rem's lips, trembling, manage to make a sound, "Hu…ma"

Using the blood around her. Rem barely manages to break the chains binding Subaru to the wall.

"I…I freed him! I freed him!" She jumps with joy. "Now! Get out of here! Quick! There may still be time to get to Roswaal-sama's mansion and get us both healed up!"

"Rem, you…"

She gets down to their level to hear what is being said.

Despite all her pain and suffering, she forms a small smile, mumbling, "Live…"

"Rem…Wait! Don't…" Subaru begins to lose hope that she'll survive. Delicately shifting her body to a princess-carry like position, he carefully parts her hair to find that they are tightly shut. At least until now. She slowly opens them.

Tilting her head up the tiniest bit in an attempt to look at him, she repeats with a whisper, "Live." Weakly grabbing his hand, she continues, "Love…you…"

With that confession, she breathes her last. Her hand grabbing Subaru's no longer has any force applied to it, thus it falls downward, guided by gravity's cruel hand.

"I…I…I confessed…my love…to him…" She shakily gets out. She couldn't believe it. With her dying words, she confessed her love to Subaru. That means it was never Subaru confessing to her first. It was her.

"Rem?" Subaru calls out to her in sorrow. Hugging her dead body, he grieves.

"Subaru-kun…I'm so, so sorry…"

Three times. She's died three times now. Each one has been extremely painful, whether that be due to seeing her corpse or due to her abandoning him. Now, this death is perhaps the most painful of all. Clearly suffering immensely but making a complete attempt to hide it, died in his arms. He watched her get played with like a doll, mercilessly torn from the inside. He saw her die.

All of this because she wasn't strong enough to face and kill Petelguese. If only she practiced combat techniques more often. If only she made time to study and improve her magic abilities. If only she had learned about the Unseen Hands. If she had put in more effort, a lot more effort, then this could have all been avoided.

She could have kept Subaru from being tortured by that detestable Archbishop and watching her die.

"I'm so sorry…"

With nothing but apologies coming from her lips, Rem buries herself in self-despair.

Some Time Later

After Subaru is finished grieving over Rem, he picks her up princess style and makes his way for the exit of the cave. Once he does, he realizes that it's evening.

Rem likewise gets up and follows him, remaining silent the entire time with a frown on her face. She has bags under her eyes from all the crying she has done. Utterly exhausted, she doesn't really take in the beautiful sunset overlooking the cave they were just in.

With a small smile, he looks down at the person who saved his life. "Let's go, Rem."

"Yes Subaru-kun." Though not technically directed at "her" specifically, she obeys his instruction with little emotion.

Well, she would've, had a certain white light not covered her eyes.

-Arlam Village-

Rem appears on the outskirts of Arlam village next to Subaru and her past self, the former still carrying the latter. Subaru looks exhausted and only moves one step every few seconds.

"Did he carry me all the way here on foot…?" She wonders. It'd be difficult to believe, but if he didn't encounter any merchants, wagons, or carriages on the road, then.

"You do way too much Subaru-kun…" If he had actually carried her all the way here, then this is beyond what any normal person would do. "But…thank you. Thank you for loving me. I love you so much Subaru-kun!"

Deciding to follow the two, she looks around and gasps in shock. She notices two things.

One, it's snowing, even though this is not the time of year for it to snow.

Two, the people of Arlam village are:

"They're dead! The villagers! The villagers are! How?!"

Among some of the swords, she notices some of them are red daggers. "No way…the Witch Cult, they…just like…"

The Witch Cult murdered everyone, leaving no villagers. Man, woman, or child. It didn't matter. All were fair prey to the Cultists. Just like her village. Looking at Subaru, she cannot imagine what sort of reaction he's going to have. Despair? Fury? Grief? Something else?

Subaru walks along through Arlam village while holding Rem in his hands as he did when he left the cave. He makes no note, auditory or visual, of the state of the villagers. It's as if he's used to this scene.

"He's…he's emotionless. It's like…he's seen this before! N-n-no way…" To her horror, Rem discovers that there was a reason why he knew the Witch Cult would attack Arlam village.

He witnessed it firsthand. He witnessed all of their dead bodies. And probably more than once. Just like my village. Just like my village. She hyperventilates and pukes at the sight of all the dead bodies and being reminded of that dreadful day. She may have overcome her past that day in regards to her own incompetence in protecting everyone. However, it's still a memory that stuck down deep within her soul. No matter how much healing Subaru-kun and her first trial did to her soul, neither of them could fully erase every feeling of fear, despair, and hopelessness she felt that day. Seeing this scene that so very much resembles that night in her village, minus the explosions, rekindles a feeling of fear deep within her bones.

After she finishes puking, she recovers enough to be able to continue walking with Subaru. "How did he…"

"Petelguese." Subaru mumbles under his breath. A small amount of steam comes out of his mouth due to how cold it is. "Petelguese."

The snow picks up as Subaru and Rem reach the gate to Roswaal's mansion.

"This snow…why is it…" As if things couldn't get any worse, Rem has another horrible feeling well up within her. This snow seems awfully familiar to her. And not in a good way.

Walking through the gate, Subaru comes to a stop and turns to his right. There, he finds Ram leaned up against a log house. In front of her are the cloaks of multiple Witch Cultists, long dead. It's a little hard to make out in the snow storm, but there are clearly a bunch of daggers that have been pierced through her body. Plus, she's not moving. This can only confirm one thing.

Ram is dead. Killed by Witch Cultists.

"Nee-sama…no…" Tears once more fall from Rem's face upon seeing her sister's corpse. After expending so much energy back at the cave and at the entrance of the village wailing and screaming, she doesn't have much more to give. "Nee-sama…I'm so sorry…"

Again, Rem cannot think of anything to say but to continue offering apologies for her incompetence. She failed as a sister, and as a lover.

Subaru cries once more. Snot comes down his nose, "Petelguese! Petelguese!" He collapses onto his knees.

Suddenly, a giant cat-like beast shows its head from the top of Roswaal's mansion. Even with how bad the snow storm has gotten, his giant figure is easy to spot.

"It's you…" Rem mutters with hatred evident in her tone. "Of course it's you…"

Slowly turning his head in fear, Subaru looks straight at the beast. The beast's yellow eyes stare right back. The beast says in a loud, authoritative tone, "Sleep. Along with my daughter."

Subaru's tears turn into icicles and break off his face. A moment later, his entire head follows suit.

Subaru is dead. Death caused by decapitation.

"Subaru…no…why…why…why…" Rem, in utter despair, grabs her hair with her head. She grits her teeth so hard they nearly shatter.

"WHY!" She flips her head up towards the sky and screams with every ounce of energy within her. Why did Subaru get tortured by Petelguese? Why was he interested in a person like him? Why did the Witch Cult attack the village? Why did her precious sister die? Why did Puck kill Subaru again?!

"Why…" She squeaks out in a much softer tone, blood spurting out of her mouth following that question.

Then with a glare of contempt aimed at Puck, the great spirit who has killed Subaru twice now, she says as more blood pours from her mouth, "I hate you. I hate you so much. I hate everyone who's tortured and killed my precious hero. You all deserve to die. Get away from me and Subaru-kun. Never show yourself before us again."

Her last shred of respect for Puck crumbles into fine dust and scatters to the wind.

With that, Rem collapses onto the ground. Unconsciousness quickly overtakes her.

-Trial Ruins-

"Hk…" Rem's just done. Regaining consciousness and opening her eyes, she just lazily stares at the glowing walls around her while laying flat on the floor. She's beyond exhausted from everything she just went through.

"Why…"

Hearing some distressed sounds close by to her, she flips her head to the other side and sees Emilia squinching her eyes and lightly gritting her teeth.

Yours is bad too huh… She thinks pitifully for the half-elf. Watching her move her hands randomly, one of them comes into contact with one of her own. Her hand latches onto Rem's, as if holding on for dear life.

"Puck…" She mumbles pleadingly.

Rem cannot help herself but to narrow her eyes in disgust and anger upon hearing that name.

"Behold an Unthinkable Present"

Once more, the trial cruelly sucks Rem back into its seemingly never-ending nightmare of despair. With absolutely no regard for her current wellbeing.

-Deep Forest-

"Not again…please…not again…" Regaining consciousness in a brand new place, which appears to be deep in a forest, she immediately knows based on how things have been going that she's going to witness yet another one of Subaru's deaths. What a tragedy.

"Subaru-kun! What's going on?! Why are you running?!" Rem quickly asks, catching up to him in no time flat. Felix and Julius are right behind her.

Observing her surroundings, she finds that she's fairly close to Subaru who is currently face first on the ground panting. In the distance is her past self running towards him, clearly panicking from how she sounded just now.

"What's going on this time?" She dreadfully asks herself, not really sure whether she wants to know the answer.

"No…you…you have to get away. Get away from me!" He stands up again. Turning around, he says three words in an unfamiliar and eerie tone that makes the three present members' blood turn cold.

"You're too late."

Rem's blood likewise turns cold. She shudders in place.

"Subaru-kun…what's going on…?" Rem asks with suspicion and worry. Her words begin to feel like lumps coming out of her throat.

Julius says, "The moment I saw La was flung from his body, I had a bad feeling."

"La?" Rem inquires.

"One of the lesser spirits I command. It was the red one that was traveling with him."

"W-What's the bad feeling you got?" Felix asks.

"That…" Julius points to Subaru. "isn't Subaru."

"What…what do you mean that isn't him?" Being thrown into the middle of this conflict, she has no idea what just happened prior to this.

Creepily turning around, these words come out of Subaru's body. "That's right. I am a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Sloth. Petelguese Romanee-Conti!" Just like in his actual body, Petelguese is able to disgustingly turn Subaru's head a full 90 degrees to his right side.

"YOUUUUU!" Rem screams so loudly that everyone in the entire forest would've easily heard her if she was actually there.

Petelguese. This sadistic Archbishop is here once again to ruin Subaru's and everyone else's lives.

Thankfully, starting a new Unthinkable Present recovered Rem's body from the injuries of the previous Unthinkable Present. A new surge of energy rushing throughout her bones allows her to properly convey just how much she loathes Petelguese.

She remembers back when they were fighting him that Subaru allowed him to enter his body. When he initially proposed it, she heavily opposed it due to how reckless and dangerous it was. She also didn't see how it'd be much help. However, he was strangely confident that his plan would work and barely managed to convince her to go through with it.

Now she sees where that confidence came from.

"How dare you…" Rem grips her Morningstar with all her might. "How dare you take over Subaru-kun's body!"

"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic! What a fantastic body this is!"

"SHUT UP!"

"That compliment is utter crap coming from YOU!" She fumes with newfound hatred for Petelguese. Among all the Witch Cult members she has encountered in her life, no one could top Petelguese in terms of utter despicableness, detestableness, and reprehensibleness. Her rage towards him would fuel enough fires to burn down a million earths.

Now, Rem's rage towards Petelguese would probably be enough to burn down a few million galaxies.

Moving Subaru's body around erratically to the disgust of everyone, he continues, "It's been decades since I've had a body fit me so well!"

"GET OUT OF THAT BODY RIGHT NOW!" Rem screams at him.

"You madman!" Julius draws his sword against Petelguese's neck.

This threat does not phase him in the slightest. In fact, he willingly brings his cheek against the sharp sword, drawing blood instantly. "Madman? That's right. I am driven mad with love!"

"GET OUT!" Rem screams again.

"Subaru-kun must've never experienced being possessed before. He has no idea how to deal with him…" She frowns as she gets closer and stands beside her past self, Julius, and Felix.

She would scream for him to get out, but her past self is doing the work for her.

Julius pulls his sword back, realizing it's doing more harm than good.

Arching his head towards the sky, Petelguese continues his rant about love, "Generous love, respectful love, pure love, tender love, familial love, erotic love, friendly love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love! Love!"

"Shut up…SHUT UP about love! You don't know a single damn thing about love! You wretched beast!" Rem trembles in place.

"Hearing this come from Subaru-kun's mouth is so painful…" She clutches her chest, barely able to stand this.

Petelguese falls to the ground. The three gain a brief hope that Subaru regained control of his body.

"Subaru-san, wake up!" Julius begs.

"Wake up Subaru-kyun!" Felix also begs.

"Subaru-kun, please. Please…" Tears begin to fall from Rem's eyes.

"Come on, come on! Please! Please regain control of yourself Subaru-kun! You can do it! I know you can!"

"It's no use." Petelguese fuels their fears, "This body is already under my subconscious control. There's no stopping me."

"Realize what you're about to do Subaru!" Julius yells at his body. "Remember what you came back here to do!"

She tilts her head in puzzlement at what Julius is saying. Is he talking about defeating the Witch's Cult? Otherwise there isn't much of an explanation for why Petelguese has taken over Subaru's body.

"What?" Petelguese says.

"Don't 'what' me, you moron!" These words also come out of Subaru's body, but unlike before, they appear to sound normal.

"Yes! He's fighting against being possessed! Come on Subaru-kun! Just a little more!"

Petelguese's voice returns, "I am Petelguese Romanee-Conti! This body has already become my finger!"

While these sentences are said, Subaru's body continuously clutches his head tightly, as if trying to fight a deep internal battle.

"Shut up!" The normal voice returns, "I'm Natsuki Subaru!"

"Subaru-kun! Subaru-kun! Subaru-kun! You're back!" Rem goes to embrace him, but he manages to stumble to Julius first.

"Julius…kill me! Use your sword to…"

"No…no way…" Rem puts a hand to her mouth in shock. "Don't tell me he wishes to die so he can return back to before he was possessed…"

Frowning deeply, she can't help but give a pitiful look at him, "That's admittedly smart, yet…that's so, so depressing he feels the need to resort to this…please…there must be another way…"

"What are you saying Subaru?!" He gawks at the idea of killing him.

"Don't you dare Julius! Don't you dare kill him!" Rem manages to get between the two and embrace Subaru.

"Rem…" He gasps, clearly struggling very hard to remain in control. "There's…there's no point. If one of you doesn't kill me now…we can't win this."

"What are you saying Subaru-kun?! There's got to be a way! I'll find a way! I'll find a way to get that damned Petelguese out of your body safely, even if it kills me!"

"There must be a way…some way…" Even though she says these words of self-encouragement, she can't break off the feeling of hopelessness in this situation. In the first place, she's never even heard of a case of a person being possessed. How in the world would she know how to free Subaru from Petelguese's hijacking?

Yet somehow from the fight with him, Subaru was able to get Petelguese to leave his body. She now knows that he was trying to say he could return by death, but for what reason did he say that? How does that correlate with freeing himself from Petelguese's grasp? Perhaps this is related to how Emilia died when he said the phrase.

"She's right! There's no way we can kill you!" Felix aggressively inputs his opinion.

"I cannot do it either." Julius says.

"Thank goodness they refused and are going to look for another way." She sighs with relief.

Subaru clenches his chest tightly and tries to put on a brave smile. "I'm…I'm sorry but…I don't think I'm going to make it."

"No…Subaru-kun no…" Rem, nearly bawling now, again embraces him tightly. "Please stay with us…with me…"

He returns the hug as best he can, although it is rather weak as he only has one arm available to embrace her, as the other is still being used to tightly grip his chest. He slowly lowers himself to the ground. Rem eases his fall and gently puts his head on her soft, warm legs.

"Rem…I'm sorry. I…never got to hear your request."

"R-Request? I don't remember making a request to him. And even if I did, now's not the time for it!"

Her past self agrees:

"W-Who cares about that now?! Subaru-kun, I…"

"I care."

"H-Huh?" Her tears, constantly flowing, have now begun to make a giant wet mark on his tracksuit.

"Please…tell me."

"Even in this situation…he…" She starts to cry again.

She spills all her feelings to him, "Subaru I…I love you. I love you so much. Words…words cannot describe how much I love you. My request is…I want to know. Do you love me? I-I'm so sorry, to request such a selfish thing at th-"

"Yes." He speaks this one word with gentleness, seriousness, and sincereness. "I…I love you Rem. As much…as Emilia-tan."

"Subaru!" She bawls straight into his chest, not caring for how she appears to others at this moment. This is her moment to be with Subaru, and she intends to have it last as long as possible.

"I…I confessed, n-not once, but twice? I can't believe it…" Despite the current situation, Rem is so happy to hear how much Subaru loves her. "I love you too Subaru-kun. She's right, words can't even describe how much I love you."

Sadly, all good things must come to an end.

"AAAHHH!" Subaru screams as Petelguese nearly manages to take control again.

"No…" She steps back in fright. "Nonononono!"

With the last bit of his available strength and free-will, he looks at all three of his companions and makes one final request to the three of them.

"Please…end me."

To think he asked this…

Now Felix begins to cry a little as he steps forward.

"NO! You will NOT kill him Felix-san! I will stop you at all costs from doing so!" Rem shouts as she instantly gets up and arms herself with her Morningstar.

"Rem-san." His eyes are physically filled with tears. However, there is a solemn look in his gaze. "I hate this just as much as you do. But, this is his last request, isn't it? It'd be selfish of us not to heed it."

"To…to put him out of his suffering…I…I suppose…but…this…" Rem desperately thinks of possibly any other way to end his suffering besides killing him and forcing him to Return by Death.

"B-B-But…"

"He'll be at peace. I think this is the best thing we can grant him. Let's put him out of his misery." Julius says with a solemn but clearly somber tone.

"..."

"B-B-B-But…" She wants to counter their arguments. She wants to say that they'll find some sort of cure for this problem. However, no words can form out of her mouth.

"Finally! You're one persistent little fella, aren't you?" Subaru's body takes on Petelguese's manner of speech once again, confirming he has lost complete control of his body.

"No…"

Upon hearing this, Rem falls to her knees in utter defeat. She puts her hands in her light blue hair and pulls it tightly. "What do I have to live for now? If Subaru-kun isn't here, then…"

"If he wasn't here…I…"

"I can't…I can't do it. I can't use the power Crusch-sama gave me for this!" Felix shouts.

"Don't!" She yells at Felix. "Don't do it!"

As Petelguese attempts to stand, Julius quickly kicks him down with his right foot. The latter says, "It was my lack of virtue that forced this undesirable decision on you, Ferris-chan, and Rem-san. I'm sure I'll be punished for it one day."

Petelguese gasps out, "I will never die."

"You absolutely did die, Archbishop. And I wish I could kill you over and over again. I wish your suffering was so much greater than what you inflicted on Subaru-kun."

Julius swings his sword at Subaru's body. It inflicts a fatal wound.

Felix continues to cry, seeing one of his friends die in such an unfortunate way.

Rem bawls her eyes out, unable to watch Subaru's body get slashed open. Only the sound of the sword swinging and the sound of spilling blood and guts confirms for her that:

Natsuki Subaru has died.

While her past self did not watch Subaru get slain at Julius' hand, the current Rem certainly did. She has to. For all the tribulations her hero has gone through, he deserves at least this much from her.

"Julius-san…Julius-san actually killed him."

It may have been a mercy kill, but Rem is nonetheless angry, no, furious with him.

"You…you didn't even look into another way to save him. Felix-san never tried to do any sort of healing to free him. You just…killed him. Killed him without even trying to find another method to save him!"

Julius gives a small bow of respect towards his corpse. "I'm sorry Subaru. Please rest in peace."

Felix puts his hands together and closes his eyes for a moment in respect. "It wasn't for long Subaru-kyun, but I'm glad we met. Thank you for your contributions in killing the White Whale."

Meanwhile, only a few feet away from them, Rem, still on her knees, shaking, mutters to herself. "Why…why wasn't there another way. What do I do now? No, there had to be another way. There had to be. Felix-san never even tried to use his healing magic to free him. Julius-san just killed him. He just killed him. Just killed him. Killed him…killed him…"

"Looks like I felt the same way then too. Why did it end up this way…"

Then, Rem slumps to the floor as she falls unconscious and exits the scene.

-Trial Ruines-

Slowly awakening once more, Rem finds that Emilia's hand is still tightly grasped to hers. The half-elf moans quite a bit more compared to the last time she woke up in the ruins.

Please…let it be over…let me get to Subaru-kun. She internally pleads desperately.

"Behold an Unthinkable Present."

The trial heartlessly rejects her plea.

-Roswaal's Mansion-

-Forbidden Library-

The next place Rem ends up is filled to the brim with numerous bookshelves holding a countless number of books. A white and black checkerboard pattern makes up the floor. The walls are painted in an olive green like color.

There's no doubt about it, this is the Forbidden Library Beatrice spends most of her time in.

"W-Why am I here? In the Forbidden Library, of all places?" She places her hands to her stomach and takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. Remembering how the Witch Cult attacked Arlam village in an earlier Unthinkable Present, she wonders if they managed to reach the mansion in a different loop. "Subaru-kun…"

Speaking of him, to her right she finds the man in question, sitting down. "What's he doing in here? Was he researching something?"

Getting up, Subaru makes his way towards the double door that allows for entry and exit to the library. Reaching it, he struggles to grip the door knobs and sweats a little.

"Damn it! What the hell is this?"

"Subaru-kun?" Rem tilts her head and frowns immensely. She has no idea what's going through his mind right now. Had he recently returned by death? Or was it something else?

On the other side of the door, a beautiful sunrise greets him through one of the mansion's many fancy windows.

He softly laughs to himself and smiles, walking forward a little towards the window. "And I thought it was so far away." He collapses onto his knees in relief, "It was that easy…"

"I…I don't understand…I need more details." She isn't sure what he's talking about, but she's fairly certain by his manner of speaking alongside his relief that it has something to do with Return by Death. "But I'm so glad he's happy!" She smiles brightly at seeing him not suffering and instead relieved and happy for once.

Subaru laughs a little more until he hears someone call his name.

"Emilia-sama?" She recognizes the voice. She turns her head to the right and spots her.

"Emilia?"

"Subaru, where have you been?" She asks, looking a tiny bit disappointed.

"Oh, I was just…"

"You know-" Emilia cuts herself off and shakes her head once, "No, never mind. Come with me." She kneels down and grabs his hand. Her expression darkens a little once she does and begins guiding him down the long hallway.

"Why does Emilia-sama look upset? Did Subaru-kun do something to hurt her? Is their fight not resolved in this timeline?"

Either way, negative feelings arise from within her gut once more. Something bad must've happened.

"No…what's going to cause his suffering this time? I can't take it! When I get back, I'm going to make sure I never leave him again. I'll never abandon him. Never, ever again."

With that resolve, she proceeds to follow the two.

"Huh? Where are we going? Emilia-tan? Why are you making that face? Everything will be fine now. Right? I'm alive, and you're…" He trails off before gaining an idea. "Oh, I know! Let's go to the village! There's so much I want to do and tell you! So much has happened!"

"So much has happened…" Rem never knew that this phrase would have so much weight held onto it.

Emilia pauses her movement and turns around. "Subaru."

"Emilia?"

Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream can be heard from a nearby room.

"Nee-sama!" She instantly recognizes that scream belonging to no one but her. Before she even knows what she is doing, she's running down the halls in the direction of the scream.

Reaching a room with the door already open, she peaks in and finds Ram kneeling by a bed, sobbing her eyes out.

Moving her eyes upward to see who she could possibly be grieving over, her jaw drops.

"Ah…no…no way."

It's none other than her past self lying peacefully on the bed.

She collapses to the floor and violently grabs her hair, "Why…why am I dead again?! Subaru-kun's going too…he's going too…!"

Subaru arrives and finds Ram grieving over Rem. The former sobbing loudly.

"How…" Subaru starts, his eyes widening in fear. "Why is Rem dead?"

"I…I don't know!" Getting up, she decides to examine her corpse. Unlike the last several times she's died. This time her body appears to be in relatively stable condition. No wounds, no broken bones, no limbs twisted beyond comprehension. Her past self here simply looks like a girl who died peacefully in her sleep.

Subaru steadily makes his way over to her. Standing beside her bed, he leans a hand in an attempt to touch her. However, Ram violently slaps his hand away from Rem's body. Tears are flowing down her face.

"Don't touch her!" Ram yells at him. "Don't touch Rem. Don't touch my little sister!"

"He has every right too! I don't care if you say he can't. He has my full permission!"

Subaru looks down in shame. Turning around, he begins to head for the door.

"She died of weakness." Roswaal flatly states, having a grim expression on his face while his arms are crossed.

Rem jumps a tiny bit upon hearing his voice. She had been so focused on Subaru, Ram, and her past self that she literally did not notice Roswaal's presence. She likewise did not notice Beatrice's presence, who's standing next to Roswaal.

"Are you all here to mourn my death?" She feels touched that everyone, even Beatrice, are all present to grieve her death.

Although, considering her current suspicions of Roswaal, she's unsure whether she should really welcome his presence or not.

"It was as if she just fell asleep." Roswaal continues. "The method was more of a curse than a spell."

Subaru gasps as he turns his head around to look at Rem again.

"Hold on, a curse?!" Rem also gasps hearing this information. She remembers about Subaru getting cursed by the mabeasts and that lead to a whole ordeal in trying to rid him of the curses.

Roswaal narrows his eyes on Subaru, "My dear guest, have you any idea what might have happened? After this has happened to a dear member of my staff, I seem to be a tiny bit angry."

She gasps again, "My dear guest?! He hasn't called Subaru-kun that since he first arrived at the mansion! Does that mean I'm currently witnessing his first days working here at the mansion?!"

She has never gone this far back in time before, so this surprises her. This also worries her.

"Did he die by that curse like I did here? Is that how he figured it out?" She begins to cry a little just at the thought of him suffering and dying from the curse.

"Subaru." Emilia grips his sleeve. "If you know anything, tell us."

"Does he know?"

At first he gives a surprised look, before switching to one of slight anguish. Suddenly, he intensely shakes his head. Then, a sharp wind blade runs past his cheek, creating a big cut and immediately drawing blood. A lantern shatters in the hallway behind him. "Ow!"

With her arm outstretched, Ram demands, "If you know something, spill it all!" A vortex of wind surrounds her hand.

"Nee-sama! What are you doing?! Stop that! Subaru-kun is innocent! Why would you suspect him of killing me?!" She shouts at her sister, appalled that she'd randomly attack Subaru like that. Didn't she usually try to obtain information first before resorting to violence?

"Wait, Ram! That's…"

She fires another wind blade, only to be blocked by a barrier Beatrice created.

"She…she actually…what…" She couldn't believe it. She is actually witnessing her own sister attack Subaru! Equally unbelievable, Beatrice protected him?! "Nee-sama, I know you're upset, but why are you blaming him?! Is it because he was new at the time? So he's automatically the most suspicious? Is that it?!"

Rem never thought it would ever happen. But as of this moment, she's quite angry with her sister. Her own flesh and blood. Her sister who would almost always agree with her about anything. She's actually feeling some negative emotions towards her!

"I keep my promises. As long as he remains in this mansion, I am contracted to protect him, I suppose." Beatrice says.

"Contracted? When did he contract with her? And why did she agree?" She is equally confused about Subaru's relationship with Beatrice in this loop. As far as she's aware, Beatrice could barely tolerate his presence. Why would she ever agree to contract with him?

"Beatrice-sama?!" Ram calls out to her in shock.

Beatrice turns her head slightly to Roswaal but doesn't fully face him, "Roswaal, he spent last night in the Forbidden Library, I suppose. So he surely had nothing to do with-"

Roswaal interrupts her, "There is no further need to emphasize the situation at hand." Holding both his hands in an upward position. Four spirits appear on each of his hands. Each hand holds a red, yellow, green, and blue spirit. He continues, "However, to guard him with your life, you must have taken quite a liking to him."

"Roswaal…what do you think you're doing…" Rem lowers her eyes towards her master. She has no good feelings about what he is planning to do at all.

A battle aura erupts from Beatrice. She is not intimidated whatsoever, "Save the jokes for your makeup and weird fetishes, I suppose."

Subaru and Emilia can only look on in both fear and shock.

"None of that even matters!" Ram's voice rises up from the heated tension in the room. She gets up, her hands tremble on her maid outfit, "Get out of the way. Let me through. I must avenge Rem. If you know anything, tell me. Help me…help Rem!" Tears stream down her face and her voice grows increasingly hoarse.

Subaru only looks down in anguish, not responding to her pleads for help.

"It seems like he knows something…but can he not tell? I highly doubt he'd conceal information from Nee-sama. Especially if it's about my condition."

Ram raises her hand again.

"Nee-sama. Please. Don't do something you'll regret later." She speaks sternly to her sister.

Emilia steps in front of Subaru, blocking her line of fire. "I'm sorry, Ram. Despite all this, I choose to trust Subaru."

"Emilia-sama…you trust him." She feels so relieved to hear this. "Thank you. Thank you for trusting him."

She looks back at him, "Subaru, please. If you can save Ram…if you can save Rem. Please do."

Looking down with a frustrated face, he apologizes, "I'm sorry." With a heavy gulp, he attempts to leave the room.

"He must not know. Or if he does, he can't say it for some reason. Like with that cursed ability he has..." She concludes, following him.

Roswaal and Ram attempt to attack him with their respective magic. Beatrice manages to block them both, but an explosion erupts from within the room. Subaru runs as fast as he can down the hall. Emilia runs after him.

"Subaru!"

"Why would they do that?! They trust him that little?!" Rem shouts as she runs after him, wondering where he plans to go. She really wants to lay into both Roswaal and Ram about attacking him like that when they have no evidence to prove he did anything to Rem. Alas, they cannot hear or see her.

"I'm going to kill you!" Ram shouts, full of bloodlust.

This stops Rem cold. Turning around, she shouts. "Nee-sama, you better not! I will never allow it! If you ever kill Subaru-kun…" She doesn't want to imagine it. Is it actually possible her own sister, one of the two people she cares the most about in this world, kills him this time?!

Her eyes turn dark, "You'll be in for a major reprimanding Ram. So I better not see it!"

Subaru covers his ears in response.

-Forest-

Running several miles, he makes his way into the forest. He pants loudly and sweats a lot. Somehow, the others lose sight of him. At some point, he stumbles his footing and trips over.

Rem follows him all the way here. She also pants and sweats, but not to the same extent he does.

"S-Subaru-kun…I…I didn't know you could run so much." She lets out after he trips over.

He cries out in anguish, "What choice did I have?! What could I…and I was…having so much fun!"

He gets up and runs some more. As he looks around he eventually says, "Where I died?"

"Huh?!" She gasps. "Did he die here at some point?! By who?! Mabeasts?!"

Over and over again, she keeps seeing and hearing about his multiple deaths. "Nononononono!" She begins to break down, but alas, keeps running after Subaru.

Soon, he comes to a stop. "If I die…of course. If I die, everything will change."

Rem's eyes widen in horror. "No…no…don't…don't tell me he's…he's actually considering…"

Suicide. Logically, since he can Return by Death, this is a simple solution to fix everything. Go back in time via dying and start all over. However:

"No…anything but that. Anything but that!" She cries out to him. She desperately tries to cling to him. Sadly, she phases right through him into the grass below. "Subaru-kun…please. I'm here! I'm not dead! I'm here and alive! I'm your Rem! Your dear, precious Rem! So please…don't die…" She sobs quietly.

-Top of Cliff-

"The cliff." He mumbles. He walks towards it.

"No!" She shouts and pleads with him to stop. To not go forward with this route of suicide.

Reaching the cliff, he peers over the edge to gauge the distance between the peak and the bottom. The drop appears to be fairly large. Additionally, there are jagged spikes at the bottom. If one were to fall from here, only certain death awaits that unfortunate being.

Peering over as well, she gasps in terror at what she sees. "This can't be…"

She remembers this place. It's the place where she, Subaru, and Julius fought Petelguese. This is also the place where Subaru said something rather peculiar.

-Flashback Start-

"This place is special to me." Subaru says as he and Rem dismount Patrasche.

"How so?" Rem asks, "It looks pretty rough and dangerous here."

"It's…complicated. Let's just say I made a very important decision right around here not too long ago. A decision that involves a person very dear to me."

-Flashback End-

She steps back and stumbles onto her bottom.

Subaru attempts to take that one small step to his demise. However, he stops himself at the last second and instead falls safely onto his butt. He couldn't do it.

"It's just one more step…I can't even…" His entire body shakes from both fear and adrenaline. "I can't even do something so simple…"

"It's not simple Subaru-kun! Suicide should never be an option! Even…even if you come back to life and everything reverses…even if it makes complete logical sense…even if it saves our lives…"

Saying that, she stops herself. Her eyes widen as far as they can. "Wait a minute…" With what Subaru said during the fight with Petelguese in mind, Rem fully realizes what he likely has in mind and is trying to accomplish.

The next words are said slowly and raspily, "He…he actually…gave up his life voluntarily…to save mine?"

Once more, she is unable to believe just how far he's willing to go to make sure she's happy, alive, and well.

Standing to Subaru's left, she turns to him and gives a deep bow, "Thank you Subaru-kun. If it wasn't for you…and all those other times too, I wouldn't be standing here right now. I owe you my life. Many lives actually. But especially this one. Subaru-kun, I promise you this. I'll do whatever I can within my power to assist you in whatever you choose to do."

Then, her vision turns white.

-Top of Cliff-

Opening her blue eyes, Rem finds that she hasn't moved from her position before at all. Rather, the sky has instead changed from a clear blue sky into a dazzling orange sunset.

"It's evening now?" She says in a questioning voice, despite it being obvious it is so. To her right is Subaru, laying on the ground with his eyes closed. It seems he's taking a nap.

"I finally found you." A young girl's voice says.

Subaru opens his eyes and lifts his head to find Beatrice standing behind him, right in front of the cliff. If she stepped only a few inches back, she'd plummet to her death. "Why…"

"Beatrice-sama went out looking for him? Why?" She's shocked to see that Beatrice would go out of her way to look for Subaru, a man who she has shown very little care for. Sure, she may have protected him earlier, but that was just part of a contract between them.

"What, I suppose?"

"Why did you come for me? I…"

Beatrice responds, "The contract I entered into was to protect you."

"Although it was only because you two made a contract, thank you Beatrice-sama for protecting him." Rem gives a small bow to her in gratitude. She does all of this even though she knows she won't be heard at all by her.

"I thought you were only supposed to be my bodyguard until this morning." He counters.

"You must be mistaken, I suppose." She walks towards him, "I don't remember discussing a time limit. Clinging to faint hope only serves your own convenience, I suppose. What was lost can't be reclaimed. You'll have no more chances to explain yourself to the older sister. You threw that away."

"He did but…what else was he supposed to do? If he could've explained himself, he should've. But if he couldn't, then…"

Subaru tils his head down in shame. She continues, "No matter which is lost, those sisters will never be complete again, I suppose."

"We are together. And we're only together now thanks to Subaru-kun. He's done so much for us." She solemnly says.

"But I cared about those two, and I wanted to protect them." He says to her, his voice a little shaky.

"What do you know about them, I suppose?" Beatrice asks. "No matter which is lost, they'll never be restored to what they were. They can't be."

"No…not in this one." She can't help but agree. "But in the next one…"

Subaru speaks in a quieter voice, "So in the end, I was just making a selfish, disgraceful fuss without knowing anything?"

"I…" She doesn't know how to respond to this. She doesn't know how much he knows at this point in time. Granted, his decision back at the mansion was probably a poor one, but she could understand where he was coming from. At least, to a certain extent.

Beatrice holds out a hand to him, "At the least, you need to die where I can't see you, or I'll have bad dreams, I suppose."

"Are you going to abandon him, Beatrice-sama?" She asks in a tired, disappointed sigh. Though if she's being totally honest, she completely understands where Beatrice is coming from. After seeing Subaru die so many times at this point, it's very well possible she may begin to have nightmares.

Rem desperately wants this trial to be over.

"So I'll help you escape this domain."

"She will?" Her eyes light up at the possibility of Subaru escaping.

Subaru grabs her hand and with her help, gets up. "Huh?" He mumbles as he looks at his hand. After a few seconds, he brings it closer to his face. A look of uneasiness forms on said face.

She gives him a confused glance.

"Come to think of it, back then, someone was holding both my hands."

Her confusion grows, until she gasps. She puts a hand to her mouth. "N-no way…"

Recalling her first meeting with Subaru, she remembers him demanding he see their hands before forcefully grabbing them. At the time, she felt repulsed and disgusted at the obviously perverted behavior.

Now, she understands the true meaning behind that action. "We…me and Nee-sama…we held his hands in one of his previous lives…one I cannot remember…But why is that so important to him?"

She may not know the reason for why it's important to him, but it's obvious from his behavior that he treats it as a precious memory. A memory she unfortunately does not share with him.

"How cruel…" She frowns deeply.

"I'm going to kill you!" A furious scream from Ram rings throughout the forest.

"Nee-sama! No!" Rem also screams. "Don't let your rage consume you!"

Being silent for quite a while, Subaru shows a determined expression. "And after I managed to save this life." He smirks. "That's right. I saved my life, so…" He puts out his hand towards the sun and curls his fingers inwards into a fist, as if attempting to capture the sun's rays.

Beatrice says disappointingly, "You were too slow."

Rem turns and sees her sister appear. Seeing the expression on her face, she pleads, "Please no…"

Ram enters the scene. A wind shield of sorts surrounds her, likely to prevent anyone from getting close to her. Her expression clearly shows how irate she is.

"I finally found you." She seethes. "I won't let you get away."

Rem goes between Subaru and her sister. "Don't! I won't let you hurt him! Even if you're my precious Nee-sama, I'll never allow it!"

"Stay back, I suppose." Beatrice threatens. She places herself between Subaru and the enraged Ram. "So long as my contract exists, I won't hold back, not even against you."

Usually Rem would immediately get very upset if anyone dared to harm Ram. However, considering Ram is attempting to kill Subaru here, she lets this one slide.

She ignores her and keeps walking towards them, "And you, Beatrice-sama, seem to forget that we're not in the mansion now. We're away from the Forbidden Library, in the forest. Are you certain you can protect him from me?"

Tears stream down Rem's face as she holds her hands up and stretches her legs out in an attempt to form as much of a wall between Subaru and her as possible. "Please…! Don't say such things! To attack your fellow residents is just!"

Beatrice's expression does not waver. Her frown deeply entrenched on her features. She's ready to fight to protect Subaru, per the terms of her contract.

Then, without any explanation, Subaru grabs both of her twintails, stretches them out to both sides, and lets go. Smiling brightly as he does so, the twintails flap up and down similarly to the wings of a flying bird.

"Oh, yeah, that feels good!" Subaru exclaims happily. A great amount of stress seems to have escaped his system.

Rem is so surprised by this sudden goofy interaction between the two that she can't help but crack a smile amidst the current serious situation.

Beatrice initially reacts with pure shock and fright before she scowls. She turns around and snaps, "Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you doing?! D-Do you want to die?!"

Rem frowns, "That's a bad joke, Beatrice-sama." Having watched Subaru die numerous times, she's unlikely to ever take that line as a joke ever again. At least, if it's aimed at Subaru.

He smirks at her, "Don't be dumb. I don't want to die in the slightest. I'm fine with dying just once, at the end of a long life." He puts a hand on her shoulder, "That's how I really feel."

"And that's how it should be!" She cries out, "Only one death! At the end of a long life! That's how it should happen! Not these numerous painful, excruciating deaths that he remembers!"

He steps around Beatrice and faces Ram. The latter says, "You've got guts. So you finally accept your fate?"

"Don't…don't do it! I beg you! It's not his fault!"

Subaru looks down at the ground, "I wouldn't call it that. If anything, I'd say I've made up my mind."

Bowing to her, he apologizes, "Sorry. I caused a lot of grief for you guys by being such a loser."

"It's ok! You may be weak and a crybaby and bad at chores sometimes. But you grow and learn, and I love that about you!"

Ram gasps, "So you do know something about Rem?!"

"No, sorry, but I honestly don't know a thing." He responds.

"So he didn't know…" That answers that question.

He shrugs a little, "Frankly, there's too much I don't know. But, I decided to learn more about the things I don't know."

Ram shouts, "How can you say that now?! Rem is already dead! What can you do by learning anything now?!"

"I won't make any cool statements about what I'll be able to do. This is what happened when I couldn't do anything, after all."

"Subaru-kun…" She looks at him with concern.

"I know better than anyone that my words aren't convincing in the least."

Rem counters, "I believe you! Even if your words aren't convincing to others, I'll always believe in you Subaru-kun!"

"But I do remember. I know parts of you two that you've forgotten!"

"And when I leave this trial, please tell me everything I've forgotten about us two! It may be selfish, but I want to know about every little interaction we've ever had!"

"What do you know about Rem and me?!" Ram shouts furiously.

"You're right. I don't know anything that's really important. But you don't know either, do you?!"

Ram's expression towards Subaru grows even more hostile, "Know what?"

Then, with a loud shout, Subaru declares, "That I love you guys!"

Turning around, he runs towards the edge of the cliff.

"Wait!" Beatrice calls out in an attempt to stop him.

"Subaru-kun!" Her heart flutters with joy hearing him confirm his love for the two. But after Ram threatened his life like this, why does he bear no grudge against her? How's he not angry with her?

Seeing him run towards the edge, she chases after him, "Subaru-kun!"

"This is something only I can do!" He says as he continues running. Then, with a giant leap, he jumps off the cliff in a way akin to a hero about to take off for the skies to save the day.

Instead of flying, he instead plummets to the ground. As he does, he shouts, "I'm going to save you!"

With that, he collides with the jagged stones at the bottom of the cliff, skewering him.

Natsuki Subaru has died.

Rem chases him to the edge of the cliff but stops before she can fall and tumble into the spikes below.

She falls to her knees and sobs, "T-T-T-To s-save us. T-To save our bond, m-my life. You s-sacrificed yourself? W-W-Willingly? S-Subaru…"

She's both extremely grateful and distressed. To save a life, he had to sacrifice his own. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. A life for a life.

"I-If I was in his place. C-Could I do it? C-Could I w-willingly sacrifice my life and d-die a painful death, and lose progress? I…"

She doesn't know if she would have the mental fortitude to go through with it.

But if Subaru hadn't done this, she wouldn't be here right now. Truly, Subaru is a real hero. No matter how weak or pathetic he looks, he's willing to put his cursed power to use at his own expense to save other people.

"I'm…I'm so sorry you had to sacrifice yourself for my sake. To let me live. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll never be able to express my gratitude properly. I promise your sacrifice will be worth it. And let me apologize on Nee-sama's behalf for treating you the way she did. I'll make sure she'll never act like that towards you ever again."

With her pure and honest feelings out in the open, Rem feels her body sinking into unconsciousness.

-Trial Ruines-

"Urgh…" She moans as she tries to open her eyes.

Unfortunately:

"Behold an Unthinkable Present"

The trial's sadistic tendencies are still not satisfied.

-Roswaal's Mansion-

Rem is greeted by what is perhaps a more chilling scene than what she's seen up to this point.

The entire mansion is pitch black, no lights are on. She's on a spiral staircase, and she's shocked to see Subaru haggardly making his way up the steps. A trail of puke lies on the steps below.

"S-Subaru-kun?!"

D-Did he just puke?! He's holding his throat and groaning! W-What's going on now?!

Catching up to him, one look at his face full of sweat instantly tells her he is not feeling well at all.

Subaru begins to walk down a hall, holding onto his stomach in an attempt to keep the contents within intact.

In the background, the sound of chains can be heard.

"T-That sounds like my Morningstar." Rem gulps. "W-Why am I hearing it now?"

Running towards the source, she finds her past self running down the halls, Morningstar in hand. She appears to be quite angry.

"H-Hey! What are you doing? What are you-"

With a single swing, Subaru is hit in his left side and is sent flying down the hall. Blood pours everywhere.

"NO! NO! NO! What are you doing?! Stop! STOP!" She screams at the top of her lungs at her past self. She just attacked Subaru!

Lunging to her past self, she attempts to grab ahold of her neck to strangle her, but unfortunately she phases right through her and lands roughly face first on the floor. That doesn't stop her. She immediately gets up and chases her once more. "STOP!"

Landing and tumbling a bit, Subaru finally comes to a stop, still in the long hallway. A giant pool of blood forms beneath and around him.

"Subaru!" Her past self appears to slow down after that initial attack, allowing Rem to easily run past her and get to her hero.

She sees that his left arm is completely torn off his body, "Nonononononono. I didn't. No. I didn't. I didn't. No. No. No. No. No. No!" She mumbles at an insane rate, trying to deny what she's seeing before her eyes. There's no way. There's no way she actually harmed Subaru, her precious hero. And to this degree.

Sure, when she and Subaru first met she was incredibly distrustful of him because of the Witch's scent that emanated from him and the lack of knowledge he had of the world. She thought about killing him a few times, but unless he proved to be really suspicious, she wouldn't act upon her impulses.

Since falling in love with him, Rem has more or less forgotten about how negatively she thought of Subaru initially. Some of these earliest memories and the feelings she had when she was so cautious, apprehensive, and distrustful around him she sorta wanted to forget.

Now…to see that she really did act on her impulses. It seemed impossible. Unbelievable. Unthinkable. Yet, here it is. This scene is presented in the highest resolution the trial can offer.

Panting and in extreme pain, Subaru gasps, "What just…" Looking to the top right of his vision range, he can barely see his left arm dangling from a chandelier. His eyes widen in horror.

Seeing his expression, she quickly turns her head to follow his gaze. She likewise finds the arm dangling up there.

Her pupils shrink and her jaw drops. She swiftly grabs her hair with both of her hands and yanks on it so violently that hundreds of strands are forced out of her head. It's so forceful that her head begins to bleed. Pain comes with the blood, but she pays neither the pain or blood any mind.

"Nonononono. This can't be happening. This can't be happening…" She says at a super fast pace, desperately hoping that what she's seeing isn't real. An illusion. It's just some sort of sadistic joke the trial is playing on her, right? There's no way she'd ever do this to Subaru in any loop!

Subaru rolls back and forth on the floor howling in pain. Blood continues to pour out of his open wound in his shoulder.

There's no way she contributed to his suffering too! She's not like Petelguese, Puck, Otto, or the mabeasts. They only look out for themselves, or in Puck's case, Emilia. If anyone gets in their way, they kill without mercy.

She isn't like them! She's a simple oni maid who obediently follows the orders of her master and is in love with her hero! She only wishes for the happiness and joy of others and being useful to them! Most of all to Subaru!

"I'm not like them…I'm not like them!" She continues to pull on her hair, causing more blood to leak from her scalp and down her beautiful face, sullying it. She screams towards the ceiling, "Don't tell me I killed him because I thought he was a Witch Cultist?!"

Subaru stops his rolling. Chain sounds once more rattle throughout the mansion.

"Stop…! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Someone, stop me!" She cries out, hoping someone, anyone, can hear her.

More chain sounds. Rem approaches and swings her Morningstar once more at Subaru.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

It can't be happening. This must be a nightmare. Just a horrible nightmare. She'll wake up soon. Right?

Subaru's body is completely caved in. His face somehow survives the impact, but a lone eyeball gets detached from its socket and rolls a few inches away.

Natsuki Subaru is dead. Killed by Rem's Morningstar.

Rem instinctively looks away as the final blow is dealt by her past self.

Her past self.

Her past self did this.

No, don't say this is her past self like she's another person. Don't act like she didn't do this.

She did this.

Rem killed Subaru. Rem killed the person who saved her life. Rem killed her beloved. Rem killed her hero.

Barely managing to turn herself around to look at his corpse, she also looks up to find her past self approaching him, Morningstar in hand. The expression she gives him shatters her heart.

Rem approaches Subaru's corpse, glaring at him with disgust and hatred.

It's clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that this must've happened back when Subaru first arrived at the mansion. That was when Rem was very suspicious of him and thought about harming him severely based on her theory that he was a Witch Cultist.

"Rem?" Ram walks down the hall and arrives at the scene. She probably heard the sound of the chains just now. Her eyes widen when she sees his corpse, "What happened here? What did you do to Barusu?"

"I…I…I…I…I…I…I…I…I…" She stutters over and over again, unable to get a word out. Her whole body shakes as strongly as if she were in an earthquake. Another look at Subaru's corpse causes her to puke.

I'm despicable. I'm a monster. I'm despicable. I'm a monster. I killed Subaru-kun. I killed Subaru-kun. I'm despicable. I'm a monster. I'm despicable… She repeats these phrases in her head dozens of times. What she had just done to Subaru, there's no way she could ever be forgiven for this grave tragedy. A tragedy she voluntarily caused with her own hands. No persuasion, no being forced into doing it, completely voluntary.

She calmly replies, "I only prevented the situation from worsening. I could tell that Subaru-kun was already beyond help. Surely he wanted me to end it as quickly as possible."

She jumps up and screams, "That's my excuse?! THAT'S my excuse?! He wanted to be saved, not killed, you monster! No, I'm the monster! I…I…"

She falls to her knees again, "I killed him. I killed him. Why…why…why did this happen. I…I'm so sorry Subaru. I'm so sorry. So sorry, so sorry, so sorry…hk!"

She's about to bawl her eyes out, but unconsciousness slowly overtakes her. She would try to see what sort of face Subaru made before being brutally murdered by her. To see how much he hated her. But sadly, her eyes close before she can do so.

-Trial Ruins-

…

…

…

"Behold an Unthinkable Present."

No…

-Cliff Overlooking Roswaal's Mansion-

Rem enters and immediately collapses onto her face. She can't take it anymore. Exhausted, terrified, and heartbroken, she's been through hell watching Subaru die in various ways. And one of those deaths…she caused with her own two hands. She stained her hands with Subaru's blood.

Seeing Subaru, she immediately crawls away from him backwards. A monster like her killed him. What right did she have to stay by his side?

Also, the hair she pulled out and the blood that was streaming down her face are now completely gone, as if she'd never done it.

In the middle of the day, Subaru arrives at the edge of a cliff that overlooks Roswaal's mansion. He's all by himself with no one around him.

"Okay, this is it." He says to himself. "I can see Emilia's room especially well from here. Now all that's left is to wait for something to happen." He pulls out a knife, "...and stop it."

Rem's barely comprehending anything he's saying. She's still very traumatized over what she just witnessed in the last Unthinkable Present. She cries hard once more.

"She'd probably get mad at me for using it this way. I hope she does…I don't want to die."

"Please don't die! Please don't die! I'm sorry Subaru! I'm so sorry I'm a monster! I'm sorry…"

Then, in barely a whisper, she mumbles to herself, "If I killed you…why are you still with me? Why…did you say you love me? Was it all a lie? All an act to get close to me? Do you intend to get revenge on me someday? Well…even if you do…that's fine. I deserve it." She resigns herself to whatever fate Subaru may have for her. She took his life. It's only fair he takes hers in return.

Though she does wonder, every time he's witnessed her die, he's always been mortified. Seeing such raw emotion in his eyes at those times, there's no way he would be able to put up an act that convincing. And even if he was putting up an act, why would he? She's already dead. She isn't going to hear him jumping for joy that his killer is finally dead. There's no point in continuing to pretend.

Maybe…he really does care about me? But why…it makes no sense. Why would he care about a cold-hearted killer like me? Puck…and Otto-san too…he's never shown any hostility to them despite them killing him or wishing him dead.

Rem knows just how kind, generous, and considerate he is. But, to be kind even to the spirit who outright killed him twice and to the merchant who begged for him to die and kicked him off the wagon to make sure he never saw him again, why? Why is he so nice to them when they were so cruel to him?

"I don't want them to die." He grits his teeth, "What did I tell you, Natsuki Subaru? Even if no one remembers what happened when everything repeats, you remember it."

"What a horrible burden to carry…"

White eyes envelope her vision.

-Cliff Overlooking Roswaal's Mansion-

When she opens her eyes, Rem finds that she's in the exact same position as before. Even Subaru is still sitting down overlooking the mansion. The only difference is that it's now evening instead of it being the middle of the day.

"You sat there…all day?"

"Now that I think about it, I didn't go shopping for Rem this time. Just because the food meant for me was leftover?" He shakes his head, as of disturbed about something.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a spiky ball attached to a chain comes out from the forest next to him and nearly crushes his head into pieces. Thankfully, he gets out of the way in time. Well, mostly out of the way in time. A small cut appears on his right cheek.

"NO!" Rem instantly springs to her feat and screams in horror at what she just witnessed.

"Not again, not again, not again, not again, not again!" She almost has a heart attack.

Unfortunately, the direction Subaru went for his escape is right over the edge of the cliff. He plummets down.

"SUBARU-KUN!" With no hesitation, she leaps and jumps down the cliff.

Fortunately, Subaru prepared ahead of time by wrapping a rope around himself. He barely avoids impact with the ground as the rope keeps him dangling a few feet above it. Cutting the rope to free himself, he yells, "Emergency escape!"

"Get away! Get far far away from that place! Get away from me!" She shouts as tears storm down her face. She can't believe she has to encourage him to get away from her like this. Right now, she's just as dangerous to him as a mabeast or even Petelguese.

That thought absolutely disgusts and horrifies her right down to her core. The truth is often not pretty.

-Forest-

He runs off shouting, "I saw it! Yes, I saw it! I saw where the sound of chains came from!"

Each word he shouts is grating to her ears. She chases after him, wishing, no, needing to see what happens to him. She does maintain a bit of distance from him as she feels she's unworthy of standing by his side, especially now.

He looks back, "But is it coming this way now?"

"Please…no…don't chase him…please…"

A moment later, he comes face to face with a wall of rock, forcing him to stop. Looking determined, he turns around and begins to take off his jacket.

"W-W-What are you doing Subaru-kun?! Run! Run away!"

While holding the knife, he puts his jacket out in front of him like a tiny makeshift shield. "If you're coming, then come!"

She gasps, "He…he intends to take me head on?! N-N-No! You'll never win! Run away!"

Rem is well aware that while she may be the weakest oni she knows, her agility, strength, and dexterity far surpasses what a human's could ever hope to be. Subaru stands no chance against her in a one on one fight. Knowing this fact terrifies her.

For a moment, she wishes that she was so much weaker than Subaru so that it would be impossible to harm him like this.

The sound of chains rumbles in the nearby forest.

Seeing the Morningstar hurdling in, Subaru shouts, "Do you have the nerve?!"

Somehow, he manages to score the Morningstar in his jacket and stop all of its momentum.

Rem is shocked, "He stopped it?!" A quick wave of relief washes on her face. The feeling doesn't last for long.

However, this only lasts for a brief second as both he and the Morningstar fly backwards into the cliff wall, making two giant cracks in it.

She flinches hard. "No…"

"All right, show yourself, damn it! I've gone through all kinds of hell trying to see your face!"

She widens her eyes, "Wait…he doesn't know it's me?"

Rem's been so absorbed in the realization that she killed her hero that she failed to take into consideration the fact that Subaru didn't know her well enough back then to know that she uses a Morningstar for combat.

She scratches her cheeks with her fingernails very roughly, drawing blood quite quickly. Her stress levels are impeccably high. "W-What's he…" She nervously gulps, What's he going to say when he sees me?!

Subaru yanks the chain, attempting to get the attacker to step forward and reveal itself.

After several seconds of intense silence, the attacker makes her voice known.

"Then I have no choice."

Rem reveals herself to Subaru. Subaru responds with a look of shock and that he had been betrayed.

As if her heart hadn't been shattered enough already, this look of horror Subaru is giving to Rem adds yet another significant blow to her mental wellbeing.

She sobs, "I…I'm so sorry…hk!"

Rem speaks coldly, "The ideal scenario would have been to finish this without anyone noticing."

Subaru looks at her pleadingly, "You're joking….right? Rem?"

"I…I…I…"

She so desperately wishes this was a joke. That this was all a lie. That everything she's seeing right now is a lie. It all looks too real to be a lie.

"If you do not resist, I can make your death painless."

"SHUT UP!" She lunges for her past self, this past self that shouldn't exist, in an attempt to push her to the ground. Sadly, the result is the same as her last attempt at this. She goes right through her.

She tries again a few more times before being forced to give up.

Why…why was she like this back then? So cold…so heartless?

"Why are you doing this? That's such a cliche, but do you mind me asking?"

"If someone seems suspicious, punish them. This is the rule of maids."

She clenches her hands, "So stupid. So stupid. I was so stupid to believe this."

"Does Ram know?"

Rem walks forward, "I intend to finish this before Nee-sama sees anything."

"Such a coward…hiding this from her…" If she had told her, would she have stopped her? Would Ram have stopped this tragic event from occurring?

"Is that how little you trusted me?" Subaru asks, sounding deeply hurt.

"Yes." No emotion. Simple answer.

"Not anymore!" She retorts loudly. "I trust you with my entire being now!"

He smiles sadly, "Damn, I'm pathetic. I was so sure we were getting along well."

She has almost zero memories of getting along well with him until after he saved her. Does that mean they had some happy memories before then that she forgot? That she doesn't remember because he Returned by Death? And the reason he Returned by Death was because of her.

"To think…to think he had to go through all this…and I don't even remember any of it…it's my fault. All my fault."

Devastating.

"Nee-sama-" Rem starts.

She gets cut off by Subaru's yelling, "I don't wanna hear it! Take this!" Bringing out his cell phone in a single second, he uses the flash function to blind her. While she's stunned. He forcefully collides into her, making her fall over. He takes this opportunity to run as fast as he can.

Rem gives her past self a glare of utter hatred before taking off after Subaru.

I hate myself.

-A different part of the forest-

Subaru runs as fast as he can. Panting and sweating. Literally running for his life. Eventually, a few wind blades come by and cut off his leg. He stumbles and rolls several yards before coming to a stop.

"Nee-sama?!" She couldn't believe it. Those all too familiar wind blades could come from no one but her. "She not only allowed it, but is HELPING?!"

A sense of disgust for her sister begins to emerge. She looks in every direction for her, but finds no trace of her.

Subaru screams in pain. His leg lands right in front of him, only increasing the amount of terror within him. Looking back to confirm, he sees that his leg is indeed severed from his body. "My leg!"

Rem approaches him.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Kneeling down, she puts a hand over what's left of his leg, "Mana of water, heal this damaged body."

Her past self may be healing him, but Rem finds absolutely no comfort in this. She must be planning something malicious if she's healing him like this.

"Please no…"

"If you die this easily, I can't get any information out of you." Once she's done healing, she walks over to the knife Subaru brought with him that's stabbed into the ground a few feet away from him.

"If you had stabbed me with this, you could have fled a bit farther." Approaching him with the knife, it looks like she may stab him.

"Don't you dare!" She tries grabbing and knocking her body over in a fit of fury, but to no avail.

Rem throws the knife behind her. Then, with a cold, unforgiving look in her eyes, she says, "I ask you this. Are you a member of a faction supporting one of Emilia-sama's rivals for the throne?"

Subaru shakily replies, "My heart belongs to Emilia-tan forever-"

Displeased with his answer, Rem strikes him once with her Morningstar. He screams in pain.

"STOP IT! STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!" She screams. Trembling so much, her knees give out and she falls to the floor. "Stop it…"

"Your heart…definitely belongs to Emilia-sama. I don't deserve your love. I never deserved it from the start…a monster never deserves love."

"Who hired you, and under what conditions?"

"No one! No one, you complete and utter idiot!"

His voice grows hoarse, "Emilia-tan's smile, and it was priceless-"

Once again unsatisfied with his answer, she strikes him again. He screams in pain again.

Rem crawls back a little, her eyes and jaw are widened as long as they possibly can. This scene, what her past self is doing is:

I'm torturing him! Torturing him for information. TORTURING HIM! Just like he did. Just like that despicable Archbishop did…

The fact that she and Petelguese of all people had something in common sickens her so much that she's forced to puke.

Why did she think this was ever acceptable to do?

"Are you affiliated with the Witch's Cult?"

"Of course…I wondered that…"

From the moment she first met him, she smelled the Witch's miasma on him that previously she only ever smelled on Witch Cultists. Thus, she automatically assumed he was one. This is despite the fact he was clueless about nearly everything, wore strange clothing that didn't even remotely resemble a Witch Cultist's usual attire, and that there was no evidence he owned a gospel, which every Cultist had. It took until he saved her life from the mabeasts to clear all suspicion of him being a Witch Cultist.

She remembers having a hard time restraining herself from hurting him due to this, as she was given specific orders by Roswaal to not harm him. Even so, she never imagined she would go so far as to torture him in order to confirm or deny this. Though from the look of things, it doesn't seem like her past self will believe him even if he says no, which he probably will say.

He clutches his stomach, "The Witch's Cult? I don't know what that is."

He had no idea…I don't know where he's from, but it was obvious, even then, he had no idea what sort of groups or organizations existed around Lugunica.

"My family has been secular for generations-"

"Don't play dumb!" Rem shouts, "Your bald-faced lies can only take you so far when the witch's scent lies so thickly upon you!"

"He's telling the truth! He's telling the-ack!" Her throat has had enough. All her screaming has caused her throat immense stress and now it hurts her deeply to even talk now.

Subaru continues to look at her with disbelief. Rem continues, trembling with anger, "When I watched you conversing with Nee-sama, I felt as if I would go mad with anger and unrest."

Ironically, Rem is now angrier than ever, and all of it is directed at herself.

"Someone associated with the one who has caused Nee-sama so much agony, boldly encroaching on the place in which she and I belong. I can't bear it any longer. Even if I know my sister only acts friendly with you, and only pretends to care for you!"

Was she…faking? She shakes her head, No, at least, not now. I don't think anyway…

With how often Ram insults Subaru and makes light of what he's done for them, Rem is unsure how much she actually cares about him. She could attempt to see through Synesthesia, but she respects her sister's privacy.

Subaru no longer attempts to sit up and instead lies on the ground face up. He puts his left hand up, visibly struggling to do so. He looks broken.

Rem punches herself in the face hard numerous times for causing him to wear such an expression. Her mouth begins to bleed.

He says brokingly while beginning to cry, "I don't cut my hands when I peel vegetables anymore. I can read and write now, even if it's just the simple stuff. I kept my word and studied. I was able to read those fairy tales. Thanks to you two…"

Rem narrows her eyes a little, "What are you talking about?"

I…helped him cook and study?

She has no memory of this, and it breaks her heart to not remember those precious memories.

With a broken smile, he replies, "I'm talking about the things you guys gave me."

"I have no memory of any of that."

It hurts…it hurts to have no memory of any of it. Subaru-kun…I'm so sorry I forgot. I'm so sorry I forgot any of this. I'm so sorry I forgot about the pain and torture I inflicted upon you. I'm so sorry…any of this happened. If we hadn't met…then none of this would've happened.

He cries and attempts to lift his head, "Why don't you remember?! Why do you all keep leaving me behind? What did I do to you?! What am I supposed to do?! What did I do wrong?! Why do you guys hate me so much?!"

Fighting against the pain in her throat, she replies with an equally anguished cry, "You did nothing wrong Subaru! Nothing wrong! I don't hate you! I'll never be capable of hating you ever again! I love you! Even if it's wrong of me to be, I still love you with all of my heart! Please…believe me…don't listen to this…thing…

More blood erupts from her mouth.

"Even when you said you'd cut my hair…all that time…I…"

"I." Rem repeats the last word.

"I really like both of y-"

Then, out of nowhere, a wind blade comes by and slices his neck severely, nearly decapitating him.

Rem finishes in a cold voice, "Nee-sama is too kind."

Natsuki Subaru dies a few seconds later. Killed by Ram's wind magic.

She is only able to look on in pure horror and terror.

Rem tortured him.

Ram killed him.

The two oni sisters banded together to kill Subaru.

Although, Ram's kill was a mercy kill, just like Julius' was.

Seeing his hand dangling by a thread, Rem throws up blood and gastric acid. Her throat burns like hell. But compared to what she just saw, that is the least of her problems.

We really are demons.

Both siblings attempted to kill him twice, with both of them succeeding once.

They are part of the reason for why he's so broken. Why she saw such heavy bags under his eyes that day. Why he wanted to give up so badly. They were part of the problem.

Who has ever truly been on Subaru's side all the way through?

Now that she knows that her memories are only a small fraction of what Subaru remembers, she has no idea how much more suffering Subaru has been through. Perhaps worst of all, how much more suffering did she and Ram cause that she hasn't seen yet?

With that thought, she falls unconscious.

-Trial Ruins-

Purely silent. Well, not exactly silent. Emilia is still holding Rem's hand tightly and moaning even louder than before. However, Rem blocks that out. Way too much is on her mind.

I'm a monster. I'm a monster. I'm a monster. I tortured him. I killed him. I let him suffer. I'm a monster. Never get near him again. Doesn't deserve me. Kill me. Just kill me now.

After a moment of extreme self-deprecation, she remembers who exactly started this nightmarish trial.

"ECHIDNA!" She screams furiously.

Emilia is suddenly jolted awake by this. "H-h-huh?"

Rubbing her eyes, she looks around for the source of the scream and finds no one near her. "Huh?"

-Outside Trial Ruins-

Otto and Ryuzu, still standing guard outside the trial, hear the scream of fury from within loud and clear.

"Was that Rem-san?!" Otto's eyes widen with worry, "What's going on?!" He nearly attempts to go into the trial, but Ryuzu grabs the back of his shirt and pulls him back.

"Let me go Ryuzu-san!" He demands, but she shakes her head.

"Did you forget? You're not a mixed-blood. If you go in there, you'll only end up the same way as that clown man in bandages."

He relents, but not without crossing his arms and clicking his tongue in dissatisfaction.

"Good. Please be patient. I'm certain the half-elf and young oni will return soon." Though she says this, she frowns in thought, which Otto doesn't notice due to her black robe covering her mouth.

-Echidna's Tea Party-

Rem's surroundings change from the inside of the trial into a large grassy field. The sky has few clouds and is otherwise very sunny. A lone white table with two white chairs reside at the top of a hill. Sitting in one of the chairs is the Witch of Greed herself.

Echidna smiles knowingly. "Ah, it appears you have arrived. Come, have a seat." She gestures for her to approach.

However, Rem isn't really listening to her. Initially, she grits her teeth at her in hatred, but eventually she just falls down into the soft grass and begins to bawl.

Echidna's eyes widen for a brief moment before she sighs. The smile returns to her face. "I see, knowing the truth broke her, as expected."

Getting up, she heads down the hill and picks Rem up. Hearing some stomach churning from her, Echidna races up the hill and quickly grabs a cup of tea to force down her throat, barely preventing a major accident.

"Phew." She sighs in relief, setting her down in the white chair she wasn't occupying before. Echidna did not want to have her beautiful black dress stained with various pieces and bits of digested food.

"Now we wait." Returning to her seat, Echidna sips her tea as she patiently waits for Rem to be able to comprehend her current situation.

-Author's Corner-

A/N: Well, I lied. This chapter ended up being even longer than the last one! Not by a ton, but still, sizable enough.

Anyway, Rem is thoroughly broken. She's witnessed more deaths of Subaru, including the deaths she and Ram caused. She sees herself as a complete monster undeserving of Subaru's love. And only just a little while earlier she declared to protect him at all costs. What will she do now?

Thank you all so much for the positive feedback from the last chapter, it all means so much to me. This chapter marks the end of Rem's second trial. I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

One final note. Chapters will resume their regular length starting with the next one. They won't be gigantic like this anymore. I probably could've split them up, but I wanted to cover all the remaining Unthinkable Presents in one chapter.

Come to Jesus: Hm? Not sure what you mean here.

Jason 4Rever: Thank you! No deaths from arc 1, plenty of deaths from arc 2. I have plans on how to recover her state, but it won't follow the WHDAAA route. The only things I borrowed from WHDAAA was the format used for presenting what was happening on the theater screen and the casts' reactions, which was bold for the action happening on screen and normal for the action happening in the theater (in my case, I used bold text for what was happening in the trial and normal text for Rem's actions). I also borrowed a word or two from WHDAAA to describe certain canon scenes in writing. As for Satella, you'll find out in the next chapter. One more thing, you said "she asked me" regarding how I'll manage to recover Rem's mental state. Who's asking you? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Just my curiosity speaking is all.

SeerKing: Poor Rem indeed. And it only gets worse.

lancehol144: Yep! Rem indeed sees Subaru sacrifice himself as one of the Unthinkable Presents.

danielsantiago4545: Indeed, poor Rem. This does open the door for her to potentially support Subaru. Though that's presuming she will ever feel worthy of standing by his side again.

Dovahking2023: Oh yeah, I can definitely see the conversation either going really well or really poorly depending on how it's brought up and under what circumstances they're in. Subaru really does need someone to talk to. The only people who end up knowing about RBD are the witches and they're way too twisted in their own ways for Subaru to rely on them. Not to mention Echidna barred him from visiting her tea party ever again. Let's see if your prediction of Satella's reaction is accurate! Finally, thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

QuizMasterBlaine: Yup, you were right. Rem saw herself killing Subaru. I think you're right on the nightmare thing. If she didn't believe RBD was real, then she'd easily conclude the trial she was seeing as some sort of nightmarish alternate reality as she did at the beginning.

demon god noir: She saw herself torture Subaru and so much more. Also yeah I did decide to show one true alternate route while all the others actually happened.

Maximum Rhapsody: Don't worry, Echidna has her reasons for doing this. As for Rem's maturity, yeah she can definitely pick up a few things from watching herself behaving recklessly or making bad decisions and changing herself accordingly. Though watching is easier than acting, so we'll see what happens. If I ever do arc 5, I don't know if I'll have the cast wait an entire year for that. It was kinda jarring when I found that out when I read the web novel and other than improving Subaru's skills, I don't see why they waited an entire year to do anything significant. Like why didn't they try to get a new crystal for Puck sooner? And why did Subaru not try sooner to get information on Gluttony so he could wake up Rem? Maybe the Light novel or upcoming season 3 anime will explain it better, but the web novel I think did a somewhat poor job of explaining what Subaru and the others did during that one year time span. Finally, as for Rem forming a friendship with Crusch, she absolutely would. That is presuming they meet up again, which as of right now isn't going to be anytime soon.

Roku: Thank you!

Meckee: Glad you're enjoying it! Yeah, Rem is certainly in for it now.

Deathenglegamers1144: Thank you! We'll be seeing more of Roswaal in the later chapters. Also, thanks! I did read Re: Tales from the Multiverse Option One. Or well, most of it. There was so much backstory in the later stories and since I had only seen the anime at the time I read it I wasn't sure how much was canon or fanon. When I catch up with the Web Novel I'll perhaps take another look through the fanfic and have a better understanding of everything. It is really good though! I also read most of the Option Two variant as well

Iseepandas: Thanks! It was fun writing out the scene she finally learned RBD. You'll learn Echidna's motives in the next chapter.