Chapter 27: Through The Looking-Glass

Subaru laid in the cottage's bed, fresh bandages on his arms, legs, and torso. Each bandage was slightly red from the fresh bite marks they covered. His entire body ached in pain now that the adrenaline was well and gone. Unable to comfortably move, Subaru stared at the rafters of the ceiling above him.

His mind raced as to what Rem or Lyra's whereabouts were. Subaru had pleaded to the village herbalist who had dressed his wounds upon recovery to search for any information regarding his two companions, but nothing was known. Powerless at the moment, Subaru was forced to lay and wait.

But he needn't wait long.

Subaru heard a loud *THUD* from the front of the cottage, a door slamming open. Not even having a moment longer to speculate on its origin, the door to the room Subaru laid in was also kicked open.

Not wasting any time in the doorway was Rem. Draped across her arms was someone Subaru was very familiar with, although her resemblance was much closer to a village woman rescued from a collapsed small mountain With her bangs hiding her expression and not making eye contact with nor acknowledging Subaru, Rem walked and placed Lyra on the bed across the room from him.

Placing her ever so gently, Rem dropped to her knees at Lyra's bedside.

In a weak voice, Subaru called to Rem.

Subaru: R-Rem? W-wha—, what happened to you two?

Either not hearing him or choosing not to hear him, Rem carried on.

Hearing her chant and incantation, Subaru saw a brief illumination of blue light emanating from Rem's extended palms near Lyra's chest, her most seriously-injured area. Rem let out a large sigh and chanted her incantation once more, repeating her action. This time, her light was much more like a flickering light bulb burning out. Not wasting any time on this attempt, Rem shortened her incantation and tried once more. This time however, no light emerged. As Rem chanted her incantation yet again, Subaru could hear the anger and sadness in her voice as it demanded her spell be cast to heal Lyra

With nothing continuing to happen, Rem stood up roaring her incantation with great rage, holding back tears, and projecting her trembling arms and hands towards Lyra.

Still nothing.

Rem was silent as her arms continued to tremble more and more. The only sound that could be heard was Lyra labored, shallow breathing. A distinct wheeze could be heard on every inhale.

Subaru: R-Rem—?

As Subaru called out once more, he looked just past her to the bed where Lyra laid as he saw several tears fall onto the bed.

Rem collapsed again to her knees on the floor, inhaling a breath. Rem began to sob as she buried her face in the bed in front of her.

Weakly, Subaru could hear Rem softly lament between her sobs.

Rem: Lyra-chan... *Sob* Rem is so sorry. *Sob* Rem is so, so, very sorry... *Sob* If Rem had been more cautious with her ma—*Sob* —with her mana, Rem could save you like you saved Rem. *Sob*

Not wishing to burden her with his presence and to help Rem feel more comfortable, Subaru mustered all the strength he could afford without grunting or wincing in pain. Turning, and facing away from Rem in his bed, he pulled the covers over his head.

Subaru listened for an unknown amount of time, his consciousness on the verge of falling asleep. He finally heard the door to the cottage open once more, followed by the sound of footsteps coming towards and into the room, which still had its own door swung wide open by Rem.

?: Rem!

Hearing a new, familiar voice, Subaru's consciousness woke up slightly.

?: Lyra? Subaru?

A second voice spoke out. To Subaru, it was as if a silver bell chimed out calling his name.

Reacting to the second voice, he sat up in bed and looked around at the new visitors.

Subaru: Emilia-tan? Ram?

Emilia continued to stand in the doorway while Ram was next to her crying sister, trying to console her.

Immediately seeing Subaru covered in bandages, Emilia hurried over.

Emilia: Subaru! What happened?! Here, give me your arms. I can heal the wounds.

As Emilia unwrapped the bandages on his arm, Subaru's attention was brought back to the sisters, who were each on their knees. Rem was facing Lyra and Ram was facing Rem.

Ram: Rem! Please answer me. Why are you crying? How did your uniform end up so tattered? Why is Barusu injured and why is Lyra unconscious?

Rem was silent before answering while Emilia poured her healing magic into Subaru's still-fresh wounds.

Rem: Rem was... foolish... and wasted all her mana... now Lyra is going to—*hic*

Before Rem could finish, her tears and frustration resurfaced and cut her off.

Ram: Rem, please be more specific. What is Lyra "going to"? Is there something wrong with her—

Cutting herself off this turn, Ram stood slightly and peered over Rem to see Lyra and maybe figure out what Rem meant. As she did, Ram's words stopped after seeing the condition of Lyra.

Silent for a moment longer, while Rem's sobbing continued, Ram finally snapped her head around to face Emilia, who was still tending to Subaru's injuries.

In a rather-serious tone that suggested urgency, Ram spoke back up.

Ram: Emilia-sama.

Stopping the healing and also sensing something of importance in Ram's voice, Emilia took a half-pace while turning towards Ram.

Emilia: Ram? What is it? You sound worried— *gasp!*

As she turned, Lyra and the condition she was in had definitely caught Emilia's attention, causing her to gasp suddenly with a hand coming up to her mouth in shock.

Emilia: L-Lyra!

Emilia stepped over quickly to Lyra and next to the sisters. Her bedside was quickly becoming crowded.

Looking at the severity of her wounds, with labored breathing and dark, heavy bruising across her body, Emilia hesitated.

Emilia: What happened to her?

Looking up to Emilia from still being on her knees, Rem's hands tightly gripped the bed quilt covering Lyra and lifted her head to plead.

Rem: It's all Rem's fault. Lyra-chan saved Rem's life and paid the price for it. Please, Emilia-sama, don't let Lyra-chan die. Rem has a deep debt to pay back to Lyra-chan. Please, please promise you'll try to save her— *sob*. Please... *Sob*

Ram: Rem...

Consoling her sister, Ram spoke in a soft voice, and after doing so, stood to speak to Emilia.

Ram: Emilia-sama. Ram would advise... against... attempting to heal Lyra.

Quickly turning her head around to face her sister, Rem protested.

Rem: Nee-sama!?

Going back to her soft, sisterly tone, Ram responded.

Ram: Rem, Ram means no insult to your request, but it is not fair to ask such a tall task of Emilia-sama... especially since we know Emilia-sama doesn't have the skill to address such serious injuries.

Rem looked up to Emilia, awaiting a response of dispute, one that would give her hope.

Yet, Emilia could only respond to Rem with a slow, hard realized, head-shake of "no."

Looking back up to Emilia, Ram regained her maid-like demeanor.

Ram: It could possibly be a waste of much-needed mana. With a hole in the village's barrier possibly being sabotaged, we must be ready to combat another threat at a moment's notice.

With the look of dejection on her face, Rem stared at Lyra,. Her breathing was still labored and the wheeze was now coming on with each inhale and exhale.

Taking Lyra's hand, Rem held it firmly, feeling the warmth that still existed in her body, which in its current state, would be extinguished before long.

Thinking dreadful thoughts, Rem began to cry again. Closing her eyes, she looked into her memories of how Lyra was, uninjured and free from being covered in dried mud and clumps of dirt. While she was holding Lyra's hand against hers, Ram knelt down next to the younger sister, trying to console her as best she could.

Watching the depressing scene before him, Subaru simply lied back down once more, wishing to not be seen as a judgmental observer.

With Subaru departing from awareness of the situation, Rem having her eyes closed, and with Ram's attention taken up by supporting Rem, the only person in the room left with their eyes on Lyra was Emilia.

Just as she turned to walk away and give the sisters more space, a glint appeared over Lyra in the form of a small, pale light.

Stopping, Emilia knew exactly what she had seen. She quickly looked at everyone else in the room, wondering if they too had seen it.

But alas, it was only made obvious to Emilia. Perhaps with good reason to do so as well.

Quietly, Emilia rationalized it to herself.

Emilia: That's right...

Bringing her hands up as Rem had when attempting to heal Lyra, Ram immediately noticed her action and intention.

Ram: Emilia-sama—

Emilia: No, Lyra has something that can help me, help her.

Hearing the hope and empowerment in Emilia's voice, Rem turned back to look up to the half-elf, who was preparing to begin a healing spell.

Emilia: While I still won't be able to fully save her, I believe I can stabilize her, but...

Rem: But?

Emilia: Ram, I need you to return to the mansion and fetch Beatrice. Only HER healing can fully restore Lyra's condition with no fear of damage.

Standing back up, Ram bowed.

Ram: Ram will obey Emilia-sama's request, but I must a-fix a selfish condition to it.

Emilia: — ?

Ram: Ram will find Rem her own bed to rest in before departing so that she may regain her strength. It is unkind to let a younger sister be the bearer of such burdens and exhaustion.

Nodding, Emilia agreed.

Emilia: I understand.

Ram: Come on, Rem.

Knowing there was nothing left to do besides wait and see, Rem's body decided it was finally tired of running on adrenaline and concern. Ram helped Rem up and put her arm over her shoulder, helping her have the strength to walk. Without another word, as the twins left the room, Emilia began to heal Lyra. With the sparkles of the microspirits circling around her, she cast her healing magic on Lyra.

Putting her hand on her chest and taking a deep breath, Lyra confirmed to herself once more that she felt no weird pains, no differences in her inhale or exhale, and that there wasn't even any stiffness.

She could hardly believe she could recover from such a terrible injury so soon. Hearing from Subaru about the whole fiasco, Lyra felt a mix of emotions.

Lyra: So... what happened after that?

Crossing his arms, Subaru answered.

Subaru: Emilia-tan had done all that she could waiting for Beatrice to show up, so when she finished with you, she came back over to continue treating me.

With a smile of joy growing on his face, Subaru continued.

Subaru: Me and Emilia-tan talked while she healed me, and of course she had asked what had happened along how we both ended up with our injuries and why Rem was so upset.

Lyra: How did Beatrice go about healing me?

Shrugging with a half frown, Subaru answered.

Subaru: No clue, couldn't tell you. I passed out before she arrived.

There was silence between the two after that. Neither asked nor answered any questions.

Lyra had a feeling growing in her chest that there was something Subaru was leaving out.

Lyra: But that's not all, is it?

Slumping his shoulders, Subaru surrendered.

Subaru: *Sigh* You got me there...

Scratching his head with a bead of nervous sweat rolling down his brow, Subaru explained.

Subaru: I may have told Emilia-tan that Rem had dragged us both out of the forest and healed my injuries first and ran out of mana before she could treat you.

Lyra gave Subaru an eye of disdain for his actions. She could guess EXACTLY why he had lied as he did. Sitting forward, clapping his hands together, and bowing his head toward Lyra, Subaru begged for forgiveness.

Subaru: I just wanted a little bit of the sympathy Emilia-tan was giving you for your injuries! Is that so wrong!?

Exhaling a breath of frustration, Lyra answered, using her hand to wave away Subaru's terribly-selfish excuse for his stretching of the truth.

Lyra: It's not a big deal, I guess. I guess she must have told Puck what you told her after you fell asleep, but before she did. It was pretty late, so she probably crashed out right after sunrise... But, there is one good thing that came out of that lie though I can imagine.

Looking back up to Lyra, Subaru asked.

Subaru: What's that?

Lyra: Saying that Rem got us both out of there made it look like she was doing her job. It's obvious that Rem carries a lot of weight on how she performs her duties and handles her responsibilities, so if she realizes Ram and Emilia think she did everything correctly, it might be less stressful on her. She's probably in a real low spot right now.

Subaru: I don't see what you mean.

Lyra: I mean, she was probably so upset over me getting hurt because that might hurt her reputation right?

Looking downward at the ground, Lyra's voice got quiet.

Lyra: I mean... Why else would she be so upset about me getting hurt? It's a simple responsibility thing, right? Nothing more, nothing less.

Knowing Lyra was feeling something very similar to what he could sometimes feel in regard to Emilia, Subaru tried to offer some words of encouragement.

Subaru: Lyra... I'm sure it's not as—

Lyra: Maybe Rem will feel a little better if she believes Ram and Emilia think she was fulfilling her duties and then some... in all, it wasn't a truly terrible lie then... I guess.

Subaru was quiet. Emotions of conflict ran through him. Had he done something good? Something bad? He couldn't rationalize. But not before long, letting Subaru's thoughts come to ease, Lyra spoke up again, letting the tension be forgotten.

Lyra: Magic is pretty powerful, isn't it?

Leaning back on the bench, Subaru replied.

Subaru: Yeah I'd say so.

Also leaning back, Lyra lamented.

Lyra: At least it's all over now. We made it to the fifth day, and we're alive and well.

Subaru wasn't about to respond before something caught his eye.

Sitting up and uncrossing his arm and placing them on his knees, Subaru craned his neck out and squinted his eyes, looking out across the market square area. Off to the side from another avenue opening leading to the square from the far side of the village, in the shadow of an arch was a familiar girl.

Subaru could just barely make out her blonde hair drills and pink frilled dress from afar, but he knew exactly who was standing there.

Standing up and putting a hand on his brow as a visor, Subaru made an observation.

Subaru: Is that Beako?

A/N: Hi there!! I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter! Today is Rem and Ram's birthday (2/2) so I just wanted to wish them both a happy birthday!! Thanks for reading!!