Chapter 22: Old Secrets Revealed, New Resolve Obtained
Subaru was sitting on a bed, with everyone else sitting in different places within a closed room, staring at him.
Subaru took a few breaths before speaking. "Okay... how do you want me to start?"
"Start with why you left," Aela said, more than ready to hear what the undead had to say.
"Well... considering you all found out that I'm responsible for the Witch of Envy being created, and thus causing the Great Calamity... I'm sure you all can understand that I panicked."
"Where'd you run off to, anyway?" Erik asked.
Subaru debated it for a few seconds, before he sighed, saying, "The Pleiades Watchtower."
Everyone's, minus Patches, eyes went wide as they processed that knowledge.
""WHAT?!""
Solaire, meanwhile, had some questions. "Wait... is the Watchtower not protected by a barrier?"
Subaru nodded. "It is, but I've got a bonfire there."
Aela knew this was going to be a while. "Maybe... you should start from the beginning."
"Okay," Subaru said. "I was born in the country of Japan to Kenichi and Naoko Natsuki in a world called Earth. I was considered a talented kid early on, only to discover I was pretty average. I didn't take it very well, and became a shut-in…"
Erik nodded as he recalled what he knew about Subaru. "Okay, and then you got summoned to Nirn somehow, like you said?"
Subaru sighed. "Yeah. I was… not in good shape. I was gravely injured, and on death's door. I probably would have croaked if it wasn't for… her. For the girl I would fall for."
Solaire was the first one to put two and two together. "Wait a minute... that woman was…"
Subaru nodded as he prepared to drop the bombshell. "Yeah. It was Satella."
Everyone was silent, some trying to comprehend that, others believing they misheard Subaru.
"Wait a minute... Satella...?" Erik asked, double-checking. "The Witch of Envy?"
Subaru grimaced at that. "Don't call her that. Please."
"That is her title, is it not?" Aela asked, crossing her arms.
"Not exactly," Subaru corrected the werewolf. "Unlike the other Witches, Envy is… a completely different entity. Not a title, but a psyche."
Patches nodded. "Yeah, let's just say that Satella and the Witch aren't exactly the same person."
"Okaaay… please continue," Siegmeyer said, trying to understand it.
"Right. After patching me up, Satella took me back to her home in Elior Forest," Subaru continued with his story.
Emilia had to do a double-take. "Wait, Elior?!"
Subaru nodded. "Yeah, she was a native of the Elior Forest. She and the rest of her… family."
"What happened next?" Aela asked.
"I was an outsider there. And as for Satella… Her mother died when she was growing up, and her father was a controlling helicopter parent. However, Satella wanted adventure and to explore the outside world, to travel outside of the Elior forest, to live her own life."
Patches chuckled at Subaru. "And then the protective older brother tried to kill you."
"Yeah, that happened, too," Subaru said, shuddering a bit at the memory, "So, the issue basically devolved down to him or me. Stay in Elior Forest with her brother, or leave with me, the foreigner she saved."
Erik's eyes widened. "Satella had a brother?"
"Twin brother, actually." Subaru corrected, "His name was Hanasha. He was pretty stoic and didn't like me at all. He actually tried to kill me because I would end up dying way before Satella and just causing her unnecessary pain."
Sieglinde gasped. "That's awful!"
"Yeah, but after some convincing from his sister, he let us leave Elior, but promised that if I ever hurt Satella, he would track me down, rip all my limbs off, and throw me down a mountain."
"Delightful," Solaire sarcastically said.
Subaru chuckled depressingly. "Yeah... he's overdue for his promise…"
Aela cleared her throat, which let Subaru know to continue.
"Anyways, after a while of traveling with a family friend, we ended up at the Sanctuary. The base of operations for the Witch of Greed, Echidna. She offered me power, and I took it. I absorbed the Authority of Envy, and became the Warlock of Envy." Once again, Subaru earned the shock of everyone.
"Hold up, hold up! You… were a…?!" Erik shouted.
"Yes, I was a Warlock, which is the male term for a Witch," Subaru said with a hint of pride.
"That's… a bit to process," Siegmeyer admitted.
Subaru nodded. "Yeah, then I realized the negative connotations of that, so I changed my title to "Sage"."
Everyone, once again, shouted, ""WHAT?!""
Subaru scratched the back of his head. "Yep... I was, and I guess still am, the Great Sage."
Sieglinde held her hand. "Wait! Wait! Wait! What about Shaula?!"
"She's actually my apprentice/adopted-daughter/little sister," Subaru said matter of factly.
Everyone was letting our confused murmurs as what they thought was true was thrown on its head.
"It's confusing, I know. I gave all my credit to Shaula so I could disappear and hunt down Pandora and her lackeys," he explained.
"Yes, we did notice that you seem to seriously hate her," Aela said. "But… why, exactly?"
Subaru was silent for a few moments before explaining. "After I... became the Sage, me and Satella met Reid and Volcanica, and we kinda started our own group. We got the other Witches under control, and they tagged along, Shaula came into our lives, and we were living life to the fullest, all while taking out the occasional bad guy or monster. Life was good... until she came…"
"Pandora?" J'zargo guessed.
"Me and Satella were alone on a date... and Pandora just showed up out of nowhere. She did... something to Satella, I don't know what, but whatever it was was killing her. Pandora vanished as quickly as she came, and I was focused on trying to save Satella... there was only one I could think that might have saved her…"
"Turning her into the Witch?" Solaire asked.
"Authorities are manifested based on the desires of the user. So, by wanting to save Satella, I used an incantation to transfer my Authority to her... and it worked... but at a horrible cost."
"The whole world was almost destroyed by a rampaging monster," the team's resident werewolf said.
"It's not Satella's fault!" Subaru yelled in brief anger and startled the others, before calming himself down. "She isn't compatible with any of the Authorities, much less Envy. When I forced the Witch Factor on her, it caused her to go insane from it, and it eventually gave birth to a deranged personality... the Witch of Envy…"
"So… how'd you fix it?" Siegmeyer asked.
Subaru's head hung low in shame. "I haven't... not really... Me, Shaula, Reid, Volcanica, the Witches... we all tried to stop Satella... but even with all of us combined, we couldn't stop her. Luckily, the Divines gave some literal divine intervention to help quell Satella's rampage. Even Gwyn's posse stepped in to make it look like they were helping."
Solaire simply said, "Seriously?"
Subaru said, "I'll get to that... anyways, we managed to seal Satella away, but I was determined to restore her now matter what…"
Aela saw where this was going. "You became an Undead. Willingly."
Subaru grimaced as he remembered that awful day. "Yeah... it was the only way I could guarantee that I would have all the time I would need to save her… but as a result, I was forced into a covenant that would be the literal end of me…"
Emilia's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, WHAT?!"
"What do you mean?" Solaire asked.
Subaru stayed silent for a few seconds. "…As you guys already know, the First Flame is dying out. And fast."
"Yeah, but we can find someone to link it, right?" Emilia said, getting a bit nervous.
"You already have someone," Subaru said. "Me."
Everyone was stunned into silence.
Well, everyone except two people.
Patches shakes his head, already knowing how this would go.
"... Wha...?" Emilia's voice was shaky.
"That was the deal with Gwyn's cronies. They helped control Satella's damage until she was sealed, and I have to replace Gwyn once the First Flame begins to wane again," Subaru said. "I only have about three years left."
"And if he doesn't go through with it, they're gonna throw Satella in there instead," Patches said, adding salt into the wound.
Emilia's eyes began to water at the unfairness of what she heard. "But… THAT'S NOT RIGHT!"
"I don't have a choice, Emilia," the Japanese man said. "I have to do this, and I refuse to allow Satella to suffer more for my mistakes."
"But… What about Pandora?" Solaire asked.
"I don't know... she went on about how she "loved me" or something... makes me sick to my stomach," the black-haired Undead said, grimacing at the idea of that vial woman possessing affection for him.
"So, basically, we have three years to kill Pandora and save Satella, with you either burning to death, or the world being consumed by the World Eater," Aela summarized.
"Pretty much…" Subaru sighed. "That might be why Satella wants me to... kill her…"
"To sacrifice herself for you?" Emilia asked.
"Yeah... if she dies, then I won't have a reason to link the First Flame beyond saving the world…"
"This… feels so wrong," Erik said.
"She's been visiting me in my dreams... says she still loves me and that she forgives me... telling me to kill her so I won't burn... though... I can't imagine why she would want that. I honestly thought she would be happy to see me suffer a thousand years, after all the pain I brought her…"
SMACK!
Emilia slapped Subaru in the face.
Everyone is shocked, Subaru most of all, as he stared at Emilia while recovering from the slap.
"Emilia...?"
"Don't say that," she hissed.
"Wha...? What are you saying?"
"Don't say that she'd be happy to see you burn! She still loves you, and you love her, even after so long! You never abandoned her, and she still hasn't abandoned you! SO DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN! DON'T YOU EVER TAKE THAT KIND OF LOVE FOR GRANTED!"
Solaire agreed with the Half-Elf. "She's right, Subaru. You've been tirelessly working for hundreds of years to save her, despite everything, you've still persisted through all of that. I can confidently say your love has no bounds."
Subaru was speechless. "Emilia… Solarie…"
Erik, who was crying, also pitched in. "Hey, she wants to save you too, so let's make sure you two get a happy ending…"
"What…? You still want to help me…?"
"I was skeptical at first, but any doubt regarding you is long gone, Subaru," Aela admitted to the nasty-eyed Undead. "It's just as we said before. We're with you, every step of the way."
"I know what it's like to be in love, and to be separated by unfortunate circumstances." Siegmeyer said. "You have my word, I shall aid you to save your beloved!"
"Right!" Sieglinde agreed. "Me and Father will be with you! We'll be your shields!"
"J'zargo must say, his heart was moved by such a story, and that does not happen often," the Kahjiit said, placing his hand… paw (?) over his heart. "J'zargo will annihilate any enemy that dares to oppose us."
"I was there centuries ago, and I'll still be here long after, Subaru." Patches reassured his old friend.
Unable to keep it all in, Subaru begins to cry tears of joy at everyone's kindness, all while being hugged by Emilia.
Subaru was in tears. "Thank you... all of you…"
"We'll save you, Subaru," Emilia vowed to the otherworldly man. "Both of you."
Subaru asked one more question. "Even... even after... all your appearance has put you through...?"
"Yes, Subaru. You treated me like an actual person, and now, I know why."
Patches smiled in satisfaction. "What did I tell ya?"
"You knew this whole time, didn't you?" Aela accusingly called out the bald Undead.
Patches merely shrugged. "Hate me all you want, wasn't my secret to tell."
The werewolf shrugged. "Fair enough."
"Let's go back to High Hrothgar. We'll rest up there, then we can start planning to save everyone, especially you and Satella."
Subaru, for the first time in four hundred years, genuinely smiled. "Yeah, okay… Let's do this."
Author's Note: And there you have the truth. The origin story for Subaru is a mix of both my Otherworldly Sage and Infinite's Warlock of Envy, but instead of becoming either of those two, he ended up as the Chosen Undead of the first Dark Souls game. (We mostly used Erna's Sage Subaru's backstory, and he's more along the lines of my Warlock Subaru in terms of motivation and personality.) And that's not all!
As it turns out, the Great Calamity wasn't as bad as it was in canon, as much of the world is still intact and still a sphere. However, Subaru was forced to strike a deal with the Lord of Cinder himself, and the end of the world is gonna be in three years if Subaru doesn't sacrifice himself to the First Flame, lest Satella takes his place. And we haven't even begun the Royal Selection. Yaaaaay. Now it's time for the comments!
5queso: Oh, yeah, we droppin' the bomb shells in the last chapter! Subaru creating the Witch of Envy is a personal headcanon of ours thanks to Re:Start, and Pandora using words like "canon" might be a reference to Miguel in Across the Spider-Verse, I can't remember, but I don't think we made self-aware. Hopefully. Also, we have a reason for Pandora knowing why the current universe is so different will be explained in the future, but that's for later. In the meantime, enjoy one of the rare moments of Patches having a heart. Glad you're enjoying our work, and we'll see you next time!
nekoshiroinu: Pandora isn't aware that she is a fictional character… I think. I honestly don't remember if we planned it that way, because if not… she might be coming for us. (She doesn't know that she's a fictional character.)
Kifhjoofff: Me alegra que estés disfrutando todo el asunto de Satella y Subaru, así que espero que también disfrutes este capítulo, aunque haya sido más corto de lo normal.
Mudadio: I think what we were trying to convey was that Subaru has now realized that Pandora has done this thing before, and that she is completely aware of how Subaru functions, from his mannerisms and language, and most importantly of all, what he knows. (Basically, Subaru figures out that the situation with Pandora is far worse than he originally thought. This concept will be relevant to the story later.)
Mr_GreenStorm: YEAH! MORE CHAPTERS! HOPE WE SEE MORE FROM YOU!
Jaymezians: Oh, hey, a new commentator. Welcome. And to reply to your comment, yes, retreating from General Radhan is a completely valid strategy…
And now for the last bit of shilling…
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Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!
- Ernalore & Infinite the Celestian