-Arlam Village-
Some time before Rem began her second trial, Subaru and Ram eventually reached the barrier to the Sanctuary. Sadly, as Garfiel is a mixed-blood, he's unable to cross the barrier. Thus they continued on without him.
He handed the reins controlling Patrasche over to Subaru, causing the ground dragon to snort in approval. Garfiel gave a little shove to Subaru and demanded he doesn't let anything happen to Ram, lest he incurs his wrath. Then he sweetly said goodbye to Ram before hopping off and running back towards the Sanctuary. Subaru groaned in how apparent the preferential treatment between the two of them are.
They traveled alone in silence for a while before eventually reaching Arlam Village. With only half of the residents here, it's much quieter than it usually is.
"Pretty quiet here, huh?" Subaru says as he drives the carriage through the village square. He starts to become nervous with just how silent it is. The only sounds are the nearby crickets chirping. The sun has just completely set and the stars are slowly beginning to appear in the night sky.
"Of course Barusu, what did you expect? For the rest of the villagers to magically somehow return here before the barrier is lifted?" Ram replies to his observation with her usual sharp snarky tongue. "Besides, they're likely about to head to bed now."
"Hey! You, Rem-tan, and Emilia-tan can all use incredible magic, so I don't know what everyone is capable of. Though you're right that it's getting late now. We may need to stay in Roschi's mansion tonight. But first, let's do a quick patrol around." Subaru makes a right turn to explore more of the village.
"Your lack of knowledge is truly astoundingly pathetic. The general population is usually incapable or can use limited amounts of magic. It depends on their mana pool as well as the quality of their gate. Hasn't Emilia-sama told you about this?"
He sighs upon recalling his multiple conversations with Emilia regarding his gate and how weak it is. Then he went and nearly broke it completely during the White Whale battle and it had to be healed by Felix. "Yeah. I know my gate is pathetically weak. But I don't know what the standards are for the common population. I didn't see it used much back when I was at the capital."
"That's why." Ram huffs. "Most are about as capable as you Barusu, which is to say not at all."
"I can at least cast Shamak! That counts for something, right?!" He pleads, hoping he'll get recognized for being able to do something at least somewhat cool. The fact of the matter is, he's quite proud of being able to cast Shamak despite its low strategic value. It's the only spell he's been able to somewhat master.
"A spell that fogs up the area around you for a few moments? For you, that is impressive."
"You're making fun of me again!" Subaru complains as they finish their patrol around the village, a bit hurt by her sharp poison that is her choice of vocabulary. There are no sightings of mabeasts anywhere nor Meili. The barrier surrounding the village appears to be intact too.
"Where is that girl? She has some nerve to threaten Rem like that." Ram's voice lowers considerably.
He responds, "I don't know, but we need to make sure she isn't threatening anyone else, not just Rem-tan. Not knowing her motives makes this whole thing that much creepier. From what she's said she is clearly taking orders from someone, but who? And why did she get acquainted with the children?"
"We should stop and ask the residents if they've seen her. If they haven't, we can move on to the mansion. A search party would be more suitable for times like this, but we don't have that luxury."
Subaru slowly nods, agreeing with her. "Good idea. It would be great if we could form a search party, or even get someone like Reinhardt to survey the area. But I have no idea where he is or what he's even doing."
Ram clicks her tongue, "Typical."
"It's not like you know either!"
They soon get off the carriage and begin to ask many of the villagers still here if they've seen Meili by giving a general description of her appearance. Unfortunately, no one they spoke to seemed to have any idea of where she could be. They don't know where her home is in Arlam, presuming she even had a house here.
A Little While Later
"Well, at the very least, it doesn't seem she's come by here, so that's good." Subaru says shortly after they leave the last home they visited.
"If she's not here, then she's either at the mansion, or went back to look for Rem again." Ram's lips curve downwards and twitch slightly.
"Let's check the mansion since we're already close by. If everyone is safe there, then we can safely presume she hasn't come by here and probably never left the Sanctuary." He suggests.
Giving a single nod, she says, "Let's make it quick. I don't want to leave Rem in potential danger for very long. Considering how long you and Emilia-sama were in that trial yesterday, I don't imagine Rem will be in there for long either."
Ram boards the back of the carriage while Subaru climbs to the front to grab the reins once more. The latter says, "Yeah, you're probably right. I hope she's doing alright. I know she did pretty well with the first trial about facing her past, but I wonder what the second or even third trials present to the taker."
Ram gives a thoughtful gaze out of one of the two windows in the carriage, "She was adamant about taking it. So much so that she was willing to disobey orders from Roswaal-sama telling her not to take it. Of course I'm worried about her, but I believe she'll overcome it."
Subaru widens his eyes in shock, "She was willing to disobey his order? Wow. Well, in any case, I have faith in her too. I'm certain that whatever she's currently facing, she'll push through it with that beautiful and charming smile of hers!"
"Your praise for Rem is quite appropriate, but take care not to stare at her with a lustful gaze. Got it Barusu? Otherwise, I'll guarantee that sorry thing down there will be no more."
"Eeek! Stop saying such scary things!" He grabs his crotch in fear of Ram's threat.
The trip to Roswaal's Mansion proceeds smoothly with no encounters with any mabeasts nor Meili.
-Trial Ruins-
Otto and Ryuzu stand by in front of the trial, anxiously awaiting for Emilia and Rem to exit the trial after hearing the latter's blood-curdling scream.
"Why did she…" Ryuzu mumbles under her breath.
"Hm? Did you say something?" Otto asks.
She calmly shakes her head, "No, pay it no mind."
At that moment, a silver-haired half-elf comes running out of the trial, appearing quite disturbed and is panting a little.
"Emilia-sama!" Otto is the first to call out to her. "Are you alright? Where's Rem-san?"
"I…I don't know!" Emilia responds in a panic. "I-I woke up to the sound of someone screaming. When I looked around expecting to see Rem next to me, she was nowhere to be found! I looked in the entire room, but there was no trace of her! She didn't happen to come out here, did she?"
"Unfortunately, that is not the case." Ryuzu calmly replies. "How intriguing…why did she scream her name?" She puts a hand up to her chin in thought.
"Who's name did she scream?" Emilia asks.
"Echidna."
Emilia's cheeks stiffen a bit hearing that name. "The Witch of Greed? Why would Rem say her name?"
"Hold up, The Witch of Greed?" Otto lightly exclaims, surprised to hear about a witch.
She nods, "Roswaal mentioned her yesterday. I don't know the details, but it seems she's a really important part of the Sanctuary somehow."
"In all my years of conversing with various merchants, I've never heard of her before. So this is all quite strange. Roswaal-san knows both this Witch of Greed and Rem-san right? Maybe he knows what's going on right now."
Emilia's amethyst eyes light up, "I hadn't thought of that! Yes, let's go."
"Wait!" Otto calls out to her, who is beginning to walk towards his house. She turns around.
"Did you…pass the trial?"
An anxious expression forms as she brings her hands to the crystal that houses Puck, her father figure and Great Spirit protector who has thus far refused to answer her calls to come out.
After a long pause, she lightly sighs, "No. I couldn't…I couldn't do it. I'm sorry. I don't want to think about it right now…" Turning back around, she walks forward towards her destination.
Otto opens his mouth as if to say something, but nothing comes out. Instead, he averts his gaze. Silently, he follows her. Ryuzu does so as well.
Though if they had gone up to her side and taken a look at her face, they would've seen a few tears dripping down her cheeks.
-Echidna's Tea Party-
"Hk…hk…hk…hk…hk…"
"Hk…hk…hk…hk…"
"Hk…hk…hk…"
Rem has been silently crying for the past ten minutes straight. Her eyes are bloodshot, her scalp is bleeding due to constantly pulling her hair roughly, and she feels she's about to pass out. To say she looks terrible would be an understatement.
The whole time she has said nothing that is coherent. Echidna, who is sitting across from her, silently watches as she sips her tea every once in a while.
Rem has never had high self-esteem. It's pretty evident to anyone who's gotten close to her. Always being in her sister's shadow, she felt that she could never live up to Ram's potential for the longest time. Even when Ram's horn was broken off and Rem became the stronger one of the two, she never allowed herself to be viewed as superior to Ram. Her guilt for how happy she felt in that brief moment when Ram's horn broke off would never let her.
When Subaru saved her life, he told her just how special she is to him and that she's no replacement for Ram. She's her own person with her own thoughts and feelings. Taking his words to heart, Rem became a lot more confident in herself. She still felt like she could never be on the same level as Ram or even Subaru, but she was able to love and value herself a bit more than she did before. She became a lot more outgoing and was able to get along with others much better than before.
Then, when she took the first trial, she overcame her past and was able to realize that even if she did the best she could've that day, nothing would've changed. Ram would've still lost her horn and the entire village would've been burned down. Finally able to accept what happened, she no longer felt like she had to push herself to be like her sister.
From these two events, her self-esteem had been slowly rising as she began to value herself as her own individual, one who didn't need to match anyone in terms of performance or value.
At least, that was the case until now. Now that she has seen Subaru die at her own hands in one loop, and then brutally tortured in another loop, all that self-guilt and loathing has returned in full force.
I'm terrible. I'm horrible. I'm a monster. Subaru-kun doesn't deserve someone cruel and wicked like me. I don't deserve to live at all. Someone please kill me.
"Please…kill me…" She mumbles in between her sobs.
There's a small pause before Echidna answers. "You're aware of it all, right?"
"I…I…I killed him…my hero…I tortured him…I killed him…"
"Yes, you did kill him once and tortured him another time. I must admit, that was quite a surprise, even to me."
"Because I…I thought he was…he was a…"
"Witch Cultist. That group you despise because they destroyed your village, correct?"
She doesn't answer.
After another round of crying, Rem brings up her head for the first time in several minutes and gives a hard stare at Echidna. "Why…why did you show me…all that? Why…do you know all of that?"
"He took the first trial, so naturally I had to poke around in his memories. Figuring out he had such an ability as that and subsequently using it for such a purpose…it was all very, very intriguing. And you wanted to know what ailed your beloved Natsuki Subaru, didn't you? Well, I was kind enough to allow you to learn exactly that via the special trial I had you take. Usually, you'd face your own Unimaginable Presents. For example, an Unimaginable Present where everyone in your village survived and you were living peacefully with your sister and parents in said village. However, I switched it up so that you would primarily see Subaru's Unimaginable Presents rather than yours."
"I-I did, but…"
She never imagined it would be this bad. One of her initial theories was that the witch was inflicting miasma on him and thus severely messed up his mental state for a little while. The last thing she would've ever guessed was that he was dying excruciating deaths over and over again just to respawn at a previous location.
"That…what do I even call it…a curse? But…without it he wouldn't be here. And she didn't detect anything. So…a power? I don't know anymore. That horrible thing…"
"Ah yes, you're referring to Return by Death, aren't you? The way he's been using it to save those dear to him, it's quite a noble thing, is it not?" Echidna says while displaying her all-knowing smile.
Rem clenches her fists and lowers her bangs. She slowly says in an accusing tone, "Did you…did you grant him that…ability?"
Her eyes widen in shock. "Me?" Waving a hand, "Oh no. I don't have that sort of power to give. If anyone is capable of granting the ability to undo a death by returning to a previous point in time, it would be her."
Echidna's voice suddenly lowers towards the end.
"Who's her?"
"The Witch of Envy." She coldly replies.
"H-Huh?" Rem can barely believe what she just heard.
"Your ears do not deceive you. It's the very witch who nearly destroyed the entire world."
"N-N-No way…impossible…why would she…to Subaru-kun…"
"To make sure that he never permanently dies. I don't know why, but she's attached to him." Echidna takes another sip of her tea. "Therefore, no matter how painful or gruesome his deaths may be, he'll always be able to return to a previous point in time in order to change his path and avoid said death."
"Don't…" Slowly standing up, she bangs the table with her fist so hard she nearly breaks it. "Don't spout such rubbish! Attached to him? Hah! Only a witch with serious animosity towards Subaru-kun would do something so cruel! Even if she was attached to him, she doesn't deserve to get anywhere close to him! The distance between two sections of the Great Waterfall on completely opposite sides of the world would still be way too close!"
"My, you sure do hate her." A small hint of glee resonates within observation. "Well, despite how he got it, it has been interesting in the ways he's put it to use."
"What are you talking about?" Rem replies in a low tone, sitting down again.
"Well, as I said before, Return by Death simply prevents him from permanently dying and it will also prevent him from ever reaching a point where the path he takes will lead him to a true end. And, as you've witnessed, he's not allowed to tell anyone about it. Beyond these restrictions, I'm certain he's free to use it however he wishes. Thus, all the times he chose to save his friends were all consciously chosen by none other than himself."
Rem recalls the time he willingly jumped off of the cliff to specifically save both her and Ram. She is uncertain whether this death happened before or after she killed and tortured him. However, she has a fleeting feeling it happened after that. Even if it didn't, Ram tried to kill him!
"Why…for us…why did you…when we were so awful to you…"
"The human mind sure is a fascinating thing, isn't it? When you'd expect him to betray you for how terrible you were to him, he turns right around and saves your lives instead. All while never telling any of you just exactly what he's gone through."
"Why…why doesn't he hate us…" She sobs.
At first she strongly believed that Subaru was merely acting like she cared about her and would eventually betray her one day for what she did to him. However, seeing how agonized he was in various other loops, especially in regards to seeing her dead or watching her die, there's no way he could've feasibly faked those. Especially since considering she would be dead by that point, he had no reason to fake being nice to her anymore. Yet he spoke to her in such a loving way and even bothered to carry her all the way back to Roswaal's Mansion after dying from Petelguese. He would've never done such a thing if he truly despised her.
"I would love to learn that as well. But anyway, now that you know about his strange one of a kind ability, what do you intend to do from here?"
"I…" Rem bites her lower lip which bleeds before saying in a hoarse voice, "I want to comfort him. I want to tell him it'll all be alright. I want to protect him to make sure he never dies ever again. I want to be there for him. I…I…I want to be his Rem."
Echidna smiles once more in that all-knowing way that Rem has grown quite frustrated with after interacting with her this much. She says, "Yet you know, don't you?"
Rem's bangs lower once more, covering her eyes.
"That you don't deserve to be with him. Not after brutally torturing him and separately murdering him. Why would a cold-hearted murderer like you deserve his love and support? That's what you're thinking, aren't you?"
She doesn't respond and instead turns her head away from Echidna in both anger and shame.
Echidna continues, "Well, like you, I personally believe he needs some solace. After all, the fact he's managed to remain sane after all this time is quite the impressive feat and something well worth looking into. His determination to not give up is also rather wonderful! I wonder who encouraged him to press on after being knocked down so many times."
Rem accidentally bites her tongue, causing her to yelp a tiny bit in pain. "W-What are you saying?"
"As you feel that you're unfit to stand by his side. I'd like for you to allow me to care for him."
"No way!" She once again stands up and bangs the table. "Why would I ever entrust my dear Subaru-kun to a witch like you?! And besides, there are tons of qualified people to care for him well before I'd ever consider you!"
Her smile disappears and is replaced with a neutral expression. "Can you really say that after what you did to him?" She folds her hands and rests her chin upon them. "As for qualified individuals, who would be better qualified than one who is aware of his unspoken power? Outside of the two directly involved, no one besides us two know it even exists. And since you've clearly shown you're not worthy of him…"
Rem would never admit it out loud, but Echidna's logic is sound. Emilia, Beatrice, and everyone else Subaru knows are completely unaware of Return By Death's existence. And considering what happens when he does try to tell them, there's no way they'll ever know. They'll never understand the true extent of his suffering like she and Echidna do.
Wait, even if Echidna knows about Return By Death:
"For one who is seemingly concerned about Subaru-kun, you certainly aren't showing it. What with that creepy smile of yours and speaking calmly this whole time as if this is some typical afternoon tea discussion. Do you really understand what Subaru-kun has gone through?! Do you?!" She shouts.
"This is being discussed over tea, so you're not wrong about that." Echidna swirls the small amount of liquid remaining in her teacup. She offers another cup to Rem but she sternly refuses. Echidna continues without missing a beat, "No, I can't say I do fully understand what he's gone through. After all, I haven't died numerous times like he has or managed to stay within the mortal world."
"Then…"
"But we must be able to at least agree on the fact that I'm a better candidate for guiding him from here on out, right? I know you have your reservations regarding me, and I can understand that. However, if we compare who's hurt him more…"
Rem fists tremble as if she wants to rebuke her, but eventually relaxes them as she gives out a long, defeated sigh. "You're right…I don't deserve him. And he needs someone to talk to about this. How will you know if he'll even come back here?"
Echidna smiles once more, "He'll find his way back here one way or another. I'm certain of it. Now then, do you have any other business with me?"
"…"
"…"
"...how much?"
"Hm? How much what?" Echidna tilts her head perplexingly.
"How much…" Her teeth chatter as she struggles to get the words out, "How much…has he suffered…because of us? Nee-sama and me…how much…"
"Oh, if that's what you want to know, then there's no need to worry yourself over it. As far as I can see, you each only killed him once."
"I see…" Rem says, not feeling confident in that answer whatsoever. However, she doubts she can get anything more out of Echidna, the Witch of Greed. Thus she says threateningly, "I'm going to go now. You better take very, very good care of him."
It's not like Rem wants to hand over her precious Subaru into the care of the Witch of Greed. Honestly, it's the last thing she wants to do. However, Echidna is right in saying that between the two of them, she's the more qualified to comfort and care for him. After all, Echidna didn't brutally torture and murder him like she has. For as much as she hates Echidna, she can't see her as a true monster like she sees herself as.
Echidna folds her arms once more. Then she uncovers one hand and flicks it forward once. A portal behind Rem appears. Echidna says, "Don't worry, I only have the best of intentions for him. I'll never forsake him, nor will I torture or murder him. As the Witch of Greed and as a tenderly maiden, I give you my full seal of approval."
Rem gives a hesitant look towards her. She confidently nods in response. With that, Rem gets up and runs straight for the portal and leaves the tea party.
Echidna sighs as she takes another sip of her tea, muttering only, "Finally."
-Trial Ruins-
Opening her eyes, Rem shakily gets onto her feet.
"Get out of here…get out of here. Have to get out of here…"
Biting her lower lip, she looks around and is a little surprised to not see Emilia here. Well, that just makes things easier.
"Sneak out and get away. Let no one see me. No one deserves to see me. A monster like me."
Thinking about Subaru, she wonders if he's going to be alright. Aggressively shaking her head, she thinks, He'll be fine. He has Emilia-sama, Nee-sama, and Beatrice-sama to protect him. He doesn't need me. He never deserved someone like me in the first place. Not even once.
Running to the entrance, she peaks her head out and looks in every direction to see if anyone is waiting outside. To her slight surprise, there is no one around.
"Weird…but it works."
-Forest-
Dashing out, she heads in a direction that won't lead her back towards the village where everyone is staying at. Her current direction leads her to the forest that surrounds the Sanctuary.
"Where should I go? Vollachia isn't an option due to poor relations with Lugunica. Maybe Kararagi? No, Gusteko is known for its climate being particularly cold and hostile. I should probably move there…"
Then, she realizes she lacks some vital items. "No food, water, or even money. Maybe I should go back…" Shaking her head, she clenches a fist. "No. Subaru-kun suffered much worse than this, right? Relying purely on the environment for my survival is nothing compared to all…that. Maybe I should just live in the cold mountains? Yes, that might be suitable for me after all."
With that plan to isolate herself from everyone set in stone, a stern expression crosses her face as she pushes various branches and shrubs out of her way in the forest. It'll be fine. As long as Subaru-kun no longer sees me anymore, it'll be fine. It might be painful for him for a bit. But Emilia-sama is there for him. He'll forget about me eventually.
Ten Minutes Later
"So many branches!" Rem loudly complains to herself as she throws her Morningstar straight ahead in both irritation and to clear the numerous tree branches in her way.
Not much has changed in this short period of time. She's still in the large forest that surrounds the Sanctuary, as it extends for a number of miles in all directions. Heading north, she aims to eventually reach the city of Eternya and hopefully reside somewhere on Mount Kanai. However, first she needs to get through the remaining forest surrounding the Sanctuary and then make her way through an entirely different and even larger forest. The Elior Forest.
Must get further…must get further away. She repeats internally.
Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, she collapses onto the floor. Panting severely and beginning to sweat, she puts her hands to her chest.
"Nee-sama!" She shouts.
She knows this feeling. This painful mental feeling deep within her heart. It's the feeling that erupts whenever her dear sister has been dealt a heavy blow somewhere on her body. It's very likely she's bleeding intensely from some major wound right at this very moment.
"S-S-Something went wrong…" Since Ram is traveling with Subaru to Arlam Village to see said village is safe from Meili, they must've ran into her and…lost. Or at the very least, Ram did. Subaru and Ram may be separated at the moment for all she knows.
"N-No…" Rem looks back at the path she just came from. Should she go back to save her sister? If she does, she runs the risk of running into Subaru. If she doesn't, Ram may very well die.
I'm…I'm losing it! What she's referring to is the connection between her and Ram via Synesthesia. The feelings and sensations she feels from her sister are slowly fading away.
Tears stream down her face like a waterfall at the inevitability of Ram's fate. Weakly pounding a fist into the ground, she cries "Why?!"
For one agonizing minute, she lays on the ground sobbing. She wonders that due to Ram dying, whether Subaru may die as well any minute now. And if he dies:
"He…he…goes back…he's going to go back. I'm going to forget everything…"
Even if it was very painful to learn all of it, she was able to figure out what ailed her hero. She doesn't want to go back and forget all that she learned. She doesn't want to go through all of that a second time.
As she closes her eyes and weeps, there is a change of sensation on her delicate white skin. A small breeze passes overhead and she smells the earthly scent of herbs beneath her nose.
"Huh?"
A small sound of confusion escapes her lips. She doesn't recall being near any herbs.
Opening her light blue eyes and wiping her tears, she takes a look at her surroundings. It appears she is on the edge of a small plain field, sitting next to the trunk of a tall tree. The field is simply a circle filled with fairly tall grass, clearly being left unattended for quite a long time.
She continues to look around for a little while, feeling a sense of familiarity with this environment.
"You're here, just as Onee-sama said." A young girl's voice says from within the forest.
I've heard these words before…
A young girl with dark-blue hair tied into a braid in the back slowly emerges from behind the shadows the trees are providing. Her blue hair is darker than Rem's. A purple flower clip is attached to the left side of her hair.
Rem clearly recognizes her. The girl is no other than Meili.
"What the…"
This field, this encounter with Meili, why did it all feel so familiar to her?
Suddenly, her eyes widen. This happened before. I remember this exact scenario happening. But…how did I get here? What's going on? Why am I experiencing this again?
"Hey, why are you staring at me as if you've seen a ghost? That's kinda rude ya know?" Meili puts her hands to her hips and pouts in irritation. "Weren't we good friends back in the village?"
Slowly rising to her feet, Rem decides to give a glare at Meili. "One question."
"Huh?"
"Do you remember attacking Subaru-kun?" She demands, her tone ice cold.
"Subaru-kun? Who's he? Wait…" Racking her brain, as she finds the name vaguely familiar, she successfully recalls who he is. "Is he that nasty-eyed boy from the village I played with? I think that's him. Anyway, no I haven't, why would you think I have?"
"I see."
I went back in time. She concludes. And the reason why I came back here…
She turns away from Meili and looks up towards the moon, sitting high in the sky. It's nearly a full moon tonight, but it's begun its waning gibbous phase. In a trembling whisper, she asks:
"Did Subaru-kun die?"
-Author's Corner-
A/N: So originally I was planning to introduce Satella in this chapter. However, as I wrote out the chapter and knowing how I'm planning to incorporate her, I realized that it's too soon to introduce her. I still plan to include her in the way I originally attended to (mostly), but it will be a little later than planned. I apologize to everyone who looked forward to seeing her formal debut in this chapter.
Also Rem and Echidna's conversation was more difficult to write than I imagined it would be. I had a couple small bouts of writer's block there, but I pulled through in the end.
Jason 4Rever: Thanks for your answer to my question! I understand, grammar errors can pop up unexpectedly. Anyway, thank you so much for the praise! I really did try to give as many reactions for Rem as I could at each moment in the trial. And what an honor to be in your top five favorite Re:Zero fanfics! I'm shocked that among over 1000 Re:Zero fanfics, mine was chosen to be one of your all-time favorites. Again, thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
Deathenglegamers1144: Well, Subaru has long forgiven Rem for that incident. It's more of whether Rem can forgive herself for what she's done to him. And Ram has no idea all of that even happened. Heh, Roswaal's time in the limelight will come sooner or later. As for Rem being Emilia's knight, that won't happen. Thanks for your suggestions. Not sure if I'll have time to check them out, but I'll keep it in mind. For your final concern, I have no intention to abandon this fanfic. So many people are enjoying it and I'm having a fun time writing it so I have no reason to do so!
Danielsantiago4545: Oh my, that's quite a compliment you're giving me there, considering the amount of reaction fics that exist. I really appreciate it! Let's hope Subaru can help her once more!
Dovahking2023: You think so? If you don't mind me asking, what did you expect Rem to do? Emilia definitely struggled in her failed trial attempts, no doubt about it. But she seldom screamed or severely freaked out like Rem did throughout almost the entire second half of the trial. Or if she did during her failed trials, it was never mentioned. Fortunately there's no way she would've seen the Great Rabbit or Roswaal killing Ram since neither have happened (at least yet). Thank you! I'm glad you liked the chapter.
lancehol144: Probably. The likelihood of either taking the third trial as of right now is quite low though.
Maximum Rhapsody: Yeah, it wouldn't be fair at this point for Rem to hate people like Otto since she's no better than he was. Subaru actually doesn't unanimously not hold grudges against everyone who hurts him. Though generally the people who have hurt him have also hurt many other people, like the Archbishops in the Witch's Cult. He holds no sympathy for any of the Archbishops. Emilia gets pretty good development in Arc 4, but perhaps I can look into further ways to further her character development. I'd like to at least improve her relationship with Rem to some extent. As for doing a WHDAAA spinoff, I'd consider it if there's a good idea to be utilized. If you have any suggestions, let me know. As for an Isekai Quartet story, as much fun as that would be to do, I unfortunately don't know enough about the characters (aside from the ones that originate in Re: Zero) to accurately depict them. Now, I understand that many of the Isekai Quartet characters act very differently to their canon selves, but I still don't think I could do any of them justice. Especially when I don't know their lore.
demon god noir: Rem sorta calmed down depending on how you view it. But sadly her problems weren't really solved. Thanks to what Echidna has said (alongside her own self-loathing from earlier), Rem believes she's no longer fit to be by Subaru's side and thus believes it'd be best to separate herself from everyone forever. But yeah, she still very much hates herself after all of that.
dude123nice: Oh, that makes sense! Thanks for the explanation. The crystal being rare and the Witch Cult keeping itself hidden from the public eye makes total sense. The only thing that confuses me now is why they didn't try to collaborate with Crusch's camp to track down Gluttony, since both Crusch and Rem were affected by him. Though maybe they just didn't want to bother them with their own problems.