WARNING! THIS IS A FANFICTION SO PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I AM NOT FOLLOWING THE CANNON! As a fanfiction, I believe that I have the liberty to do so.
Also, I am not that deep into Re:Zero. Most of what I know here is just from other fanfics as well, whatever spoilers I encounter on the social media so forgive me for the misses.
I just had this plot in my mind for a while now, after seeing a surge of Re:Zero fics lately, and I felt that I must at least contribute something to the table.
"Greetings, Creatures of various kinds and sizes!" A new voice echoed through the theater coming from the currently blank screen "Err...I hope you are all doing fine. Did anyone need snacks? "
"Who the hell are you?" Felt is the first response to the voice, "Where is our previous warden?"
"To be honest, I don't know either. I am actually checking on yah because you are all left unattended. Quite irresponsible, really. Leaving all hanging there, sheesh."
"Can you return us to our world, mister?" Petra is then the next one to speak to what seems to be their new warden.
"Can't do that, Missy, I'm sorry. You are all sealed tightly in there. I could try to pry on the locks but a little could end up accidentally cracking the current reality you are residing in and you will all be sucked into the abyss. That would really be bad for your kind."
"Can you at least wake Subaru up?" The half-elf then requested.
"He's your anchor-being here, waking him up means you all get to go back to your back, but then again, I can't bring you back because of what I said a while ago."
"Then what are you even here for?" Felt shouted.
"Rude! I just said to you that I was checking on you since your realm appears to be unattended. How long since you last heard of your keeper, anyway?"
"We talked to him just moments ago. " Julius answered "The warden said that he is about to send us home."
"Hmm... At least your keeper is mindful enough to make the flow of time in there different than in here. He has been gone for a long while now."
"How long exactly?"
"I don't think you can relate to our measures of time, so let's just agree that you have been left here for so long that I am starting to think you've been abandoned." That has made everyone alarmed, as everyone has become subsequently pale except for the clown, since his face is already painted white in the first place. To learn that they have been locked in and left out in this building, which keeps them powerless, is extremely worrying. Some start to feel claustrophobic despite the place being so spacious. "But then again, you don't have to worry about that. The flow of time in your space there seems to only move with the presence of a keeper, so you are all basically in stasis. An eternity can pass on our side, and you won't notice even a single second loss on your side. It's all cool, really! "
"But what about in our real world? How much time has passed there since we've been here?" Now it was Crusch who raised up a question.
"None!" The voice confirmed, "If I am reading the enchantments in this box of yours, all of you will be sent back to where and when you all came from. The time you spent here will not affect your body either."
"WAIT!" The petite red-haired maid then shouted, "Does this mean that Rem will still be under the curse of gluttony?" This question has made her sister's eyes turn wide in worry.
'Will I remain asleep even after this?' Rem thought to herself, fearing that she would remain useless and would still be a deadweight to her hero.
"Yeah? But I think I can do something about that. Let's see..." They then heard successive clicking noises from the screen plus mutterings of their new warden, "On release, sidechar dot health dot cleansecurse equal True, sidechar dot health dot reset equal True, Push... Success! Alright, that should do it!"
"What did you do?" Ram asked once more.
"Some tinkering, I added to the condition of your release that you will be cleansed for whatever curse you have, and you will all be in perfect health."
"Does it also break magical contracts?" The great spirit of Yin suddenly asked in great worry, which made the little girl stand from her seat.
"Nope. Contracts are not included as curse at the first place, so you don't have to worry about that."
"You hear that, Beako? Besides, I am sure Subaru will willingly remake his contract with you if it has ever broken." Emilia brushes the great spirit's hair to comfort her.
"Only Subaru can call me that! But you are right, I suppose. I am the only one for him." Beatrice declared proudly, earning a stern eye from at least 3 other ladies in the room.
"Anyway... I see that you are binge-watching that guy's biography for... whatever reason, and it looks like you are all caught up. Since you are stuck here at the moment, I can spare some power to peak into the guy's future amd show it to you if you are interested. "
""You can do that?!"" The question erupted in the room.
"Yeah, but not much, you hear me? We're just peeking at some events here and there. So... what do you guys say? "
Needless to say, they all agreed in unison. Well, most of them at least. Priscilla is just fanning herself on her seat, looking disinterested while Al is on her side serving refreshments.
"We have nothing else to do here anyway," Felt stated,
"It is actually good. If it's in the future, we do have a moment to prepare for whatever trouble we are going to see here." Otto reasoned out.
"Then I'd better watch carefully so I can be of help to Subaru!" Emilia declared.
"We all do, Emilia-sama." Rem followed.
"Alright! Since we are all in agreement, I'm loading them now. Seat back, Relax, and Oh Shi- zzzzz"
That sudden noise from their keeper has made everyone alarmed, but they were unable to ponder on it further as the theater darkens and the screen starts powering up.
The scene starts with a lone carriage being chased by a horde of mabeasts through an isolated path in the middle of the forest. Despite its small size, the carriage is loaded with cargo, and with only a single ground dragon as its beast of burden, it is obviously not fairing well as the mabeasts are already closing in from both of the carriage's flanks.
"Is that Otto-bro?" Garfiel commented.
"You saw a carriage that is in trouble, and you already assume that it's me? Besides, the driver looks like a girl!"
"What? It happened before! And it's not like your figure was much different…"
Otto sighed in defeat.
Another ground dragon is then shown rushing into the wilderness. Its rider's back is covered with a black leather cloak, and he is wearing a wide cone-shaped hat made of straw. He raises and points a crossbow in the distance and takes a shot.
A mabeast jumps in the air to board the carriage, only for it to be flung sideways as a bolt hits it flat on the neck. Unfortunately, it is only one of the many. A few more try the same stunt, and some of them suffer the same fate.
"Nice aim!" Hetaro commented, "To hit such a fast target while also moving, it will be difficult for me to do that."
"Why bother shooting at them? Just catch on to them and yah!" Mimi replied, swinging her baton. "You'll miss less if you hit them close!"
"But it's safer!" The younger catling reasoned out, earning a disgraced glare from his sister.
Still, a couple of them successfully get into the carriage, which is now going for its driver, who is making the carriage sway in hopes of throwing off its unwanted passengers with little to no effect. Even worse, cracking sounds were coming from the axles as well. Given the current strain, it is going to, it is only a matter of time before it completely breaks.
And it did.
The wheel ran over uneven ground, followed by a hollowed root, which made half of the carriage jump, and the axles on that side shattered upon impact as it landed back. The carriage tips to the side, and the momentum sends the driver flying.
"Kya!" The driver screamed.
Ricardo's ears twitched upon hearing the voice of the carriage driver. Looking at the members of their camp, it appears that they notice it too! The driver's voice is scarily familiar, and they pray that the driver is not the one they have in mind.
She covered her head and closed her eyes in anticipation of the impact that somehow didn't come. She felt that she was caught by something, but she could not see anything upon opening her eyes. All she finds is herself somehow floating a few feet off the ground. She then looks at her ground dragon helplessly, buried by her now-demolished carriages and their contents. The reptile cried as it struggled to free itself with little to no success.
"Is it Murak, I suppose?"
"Can anyone easily use that floating spell?" Otto asked.
"The aaan~swer is Noooo Ottooo-Kun." Rosswall answered, "Eveeeen I~ spent a looong time practicing before I could use it." His eyebrow rose in wonder as he looked at the screen. Whatever is making the girl float does not appear to be caused by magic he knows.
Two other people raise their eyebrows as well, sensing the lie from the clown's statement.
Panic arose even further as the horde of beasts finally caught up to them. Whatever has caught her may have saved her from falling, but it made her a dangling meat for the mabeast to jump on. She pulls a knife and holds it close to herself in desperation as the monsters slowly creep into her and the ground dragon's position.
All of a sudden, she felt an even more terrifying sensation coming from the woods to their side. The Mabeast seems to have felt it too, as they all simultaneously turn to it and growl.
'Could it be?' A thought shared between the Oni sisters through their synthesia. They both recognized the mabeast reaction as they had seen it before.
A few more bolts came from the forest, taking down several wolgarms more until a figure finally emerged from the shadows. It jumped into the air and landed on one of the mabeasts, crushing it.
To the girl's surprise, it was another ground dragon, and what's more, it appeared to be armed, literally. Both of its feet have a protruding sharp blade attached to its back. Not just that, it is also wielding a longsword, holding the weapon by its mouth. It is clear that they were not just for show as she watched the ground dragon swing the weapon and bisect a few of the mabeast and slash several more with its bladed feet.
"Are you seeing that, Ottobro? This ground dragon is awesome!" Garfiel yell in excitement, seeing how cool the ground dragon shown in screen "Do you think we can train Patrasche to be like that?"
Otto shrugged, but he too found it intriguing.
"Crude, but effective," Wilhelm commented. He was impressed. Never in his life had he encountered something like this, and he never imagined it either. "The blades on the feet are a lethal addition to the kick itself."
"Where did its rider go,nya?" Felix asked.
A lone wolgarm, however, to sneak past the rampaging reptile, it jumped towards her, but it stopped halfway as it too got stuck in the air as well. Before it even got the chance to wonder what was happening to itself, the wolgarm was then crumpled into a ball, like a sheet of paper in the hands of a frustrated writer. The beast's blood splashed on her clothes and even some on her face.
"Ew!" Petra winced in disgust. Frederica pets her on the head.
"Wait, is that..." Julius pointed to the screen, "It is similar to what Betelgeuse does!"
"It indeed appears like caused by unseen hands, but the Archbishop of gluttony is supposed to be dead," Reinhard added.
The battle ended when the last of the beasts fell into the hands (or perhaps beak?) of a sword-wielding ground dragon that was still repeatedly hacking the body of its last enemy.
"Patrasche, that's enough!" She heard a muffled yet commanding voice come from behind her. A masked man covered with a brown leather coat fearlessly approaches the ground dragon, and the dragon snaps to attention. It walks towards the man as well and lowers its head. "You did a number on them, yeah! Actually, you took them all down. You're a very good girl, Patrasche!" He praises the ground once more as he takes the sword from its mouth and secures it along with the blades on its feet before petting the dragon's head and neck.
"Kaaa~" The dragon screeches lowly as it rubs its head against the man's face in response.
"What?! That ground dragon is Patrasche? Then it means-" Otto is then interrupted by the tiger boy's fist hitting him on the shoulder.
"That masked man is Capt'n!" Garfiel shouts in excitement once more, making those around him wince from the noise. He is then hit with a tigres's fist on the head to shut him up.
"Quiet down, Garfiel", Frederica hissed.
In the meantime, she notices that her savior's shadow expanded from beneath his feet toward every corpse in the vicinity. It then acted as a pit and the bodies all sank down into the shadow. It then shrinks back to its normal size afterwards, leaving not even a trace of blood on the ground.
""What... is that?"" Crusch voiced a question shared by everyone. They all looked at the two people who must be the most knowledgeable person in the room about magic but Beatrice and Roswal could only shrug cluelessly.
"But damn! Capt'n has a cool ability!" The crew of the sanctuary cheered for his capt'n nonetheless.
"If that was indeed Subaru, has anyone seen him use it before?" Crusch continued, pointing the question to the entire Emilia camp.
"No"
"Never"
"I've never seen him do that, I suppose."
The other just shakes their head.
Crusch and Reinhard can tell that they are all telling the truth.
Beatrice suspects that it is a product of an authority, given that she is not on the scene, and Subaru should not be able to cast any magic because of his broken gate. It made her worried. 'Why is Betty not with Subaru here?'
Seeing that the situation has finally calmed down, the girl finally decided to speak "Excuse me, good sir. I am very grateful for yah and yor dragon coming to my aid but may I request for yor further help?"
"Yes?" The man turns around to face her.
"May you please help me get down?"
"Oh! Right! One sec-" In this instant, she felt whatever was holding her in the air vanish and finally fall to the ground safely. "I'm sorry for keeping you up there."
"How about that? If it isn't Murak, then Subaru seems to be using an unseen hand to keep the girl in the air." Julius inquired.
"He was able to use it to an extent, I supposed. But not this well." Beatrice defended. The sound of her contractor being able to use the power of the past archbishop of Sloth made her feel that Subaru was being cast in a bad light. She cannot lie about it either. "He would always collapse in pain afterward if he tried to use it. The authority of Sloth has bad compatibility with him."
"Pfft, I don't buy it," Ram commented.
"It'll suit you better than him," Al commented, making plenty of the cast laugh and earning a glare from the pink maid.
"Aldebaran!"
"Yes, Princess. Shutting up now."
"There is no need to apologize, you did save me after all." She approached her savior.
"Although I'm ashamed to ask, please help me get my ground dragon out of there as well?"
"Sure!"
She then sees him barely look in the direction of her crashed carriage, and the debris and cargo covering her ground dragon start rising in the air and get piled on the side of the road. In a short moment, her ground dragons finally got saved, and thankfully, it doesnt seem to have any severe injuries aside from a few gashes and shallow wounds. Some of her cargo was still fine, but the carriage itself was too far gone for salvation, thus, her products might as well be gone too. There is no way she can carry all of it in any way. All she can do now is try to salvage and take as much as she can carry.
"Damn, that's a huge loss," Otto muttered, relating himself to the girl on the screen.
"Once again, yah have my gratitude. If it helps, yah can have anything yah may find fancy. It is not like I can carry them all with me anyway."
"It is alright, don't mention it." The stranger waves her offer off," You are Anastasia Hoshin, right?" That made the girl straight up freeze and slowly turn towards the stranger with her eyes wide as saucers. She could only nod at him in response, and she then heard him gasp. "Why the hell is a royal candidate riding a carriage on her own?" Your prick of a knight,..." He points his hand to his temple as if trying to remember something. "Err… Juli, Julian, Ju-" "Julius" "Right! Him, where the hell is he? Did you have a fight or something? Even so, aren't you supposed to have some bodyguard crew or something?"
Ricardo and Julius felt their sweat run cold in the revelation. Mimi and Hetaro are also uneasy about it. What happened to them that resulted in Anastasia being left on her own? They are confident that they could have made short work of those mabeasts.
'Over my dead body,' the wolfman cursed inwardly.
In addition, why does Subaru seem to be having trouble remembering them? Although most of the cast simply took it as usual for banter for Subaru whenever he talks about Julius.
Anastasia remains silent but she too is tensed on the situation, rubbing the scarf on her neck for some comfort.
Ever since her caravan was ambushed by a gluttony archbishop a couple of months ago, during which she lost her name, she has lost everything she has ever worked on in her life. Her company, her status, and her connections are all gone in the blink of an eye. No one even knows her. To add insult further, she also lost her insignia. All that was left on her were the clothes she was on. She tried talking to the family that was family to her for just a while, but try as she might to make them remember, none were able to recognize her at all.
"So that explains it," Anastasia commented upon hearing her counterpart's monologue. "I almost thought yah guys left me for a better-paying client." She then jokes about the situation.
"We will not leave you like that, ever!" Mimi jumps on her and hugs her tightly. Hetaro does it too, but subtly. She embraces them as well in return.
"Anastasia-sama-"
"Yah wanna hug too, Julius?" That caught the finest knight by surprise.
"I swear in my life that I will never let this future happen."
"We swear it, too!" The demicats also said in unison, " We won't let anything bad happen to you, Mom!"
"I know, I trust you. You too, Ricardo!" She made a side glance at the wolfman, "It is still in the future, see? Since we know that the gluttony is coming for me, then we can all prepare for it."
"We will get that archbishop first!" Mimi declared.
"If you are going for the Archbishop of Glutonny, then I would like to be in attendance." Crusch intervened, "I have a score to settle with them."
"I would like to join too!" Rem volunteered. Because of gluttony, not only has she become a living deadweight for her hero, but she has also lost a year's worth of time with him. She will never forgive them for that travesty.
At the very least, Julius was kind enough to provide for her for a few weeks until she finally recollected her bearings, even lending her some capital to start over. Something she was able to easily grow and return to Julius in just a couple of days, with enough to spare to finally take off on her own.
"See Julius? Even though you have forgotten me, you didn't leave me helpless after all." This, however, has not made Julius feel any better or at all.
"That does not change the fact that I failed to protect you, Anastasia-sama."
Since she knows the economy of Kararagi as well as the back of her hand, she decided to return there with conviction to start over once more. She bought whatever she found in Lugunica that would be profitable, and Kararagi went on a journey. Not on her own, though. She hired some guards, of course, but they were a far cry from her former mercenary crew. They had trouble dealing with the rising number of mabeast chasing them and soon decided to abandon her and save their own skin the moment hordes of mabeast appeared.
"Useless cowards!" Unfortunately for Ricardo, the screen did not show the faces of the mercenaries mentioned, so he won't be able to pick on them.
"Is it bad that I feel glad that it was not me that is suffering from bad luck there?" Otto softly muttered but it is still heard by the people close to him.
"Just shut up, Otto," Ram hushed him.
"Why was Subaru there, though? I mean, I am happy that he saved Anastasia-san, but we still don't know why he is around and why he is dressed like that. Especially why is he wearing a mask?"
"Probably to hide his scary eyes so he won't scare the local wildlife," Ram throws an insult.
"Sister, Sister, Subaru's eyes do not look scary at all. They look heroic, gentle and-"
"My poor sister has lost her mind," The pink maid rolls her eyes.
Crusch is tapping her fingers on her handrest. 'Anastasia doesn't seem to lose her memory, so why did she not recognize him?'
Anastasia could only curse inwardly, and this was supposed to be a safe route. Why the hell was there a lot of mabeast in here? Anyhow, that is how she ended up alone, running away from numerous mabeasts.
Going back to the predicament at hand, this is the first time ever since someone called her with utmost familiarity. The man in front of her appears to know who she is before she loses her name. There is a possibility that this man may have been watching her, especially during those times when she tries to remind Julius and Ricard who she was, but her intuition tells her that it is not the case. He called Julis a 'prick', and it does sound a little too personal for a farce.
Julius raises his eyebrow, but inside, he is amused. There is also some chuckling around the theater.
"Have we met before, sir? I'm afraid that yah have me at a disadvantage." She composes herself and asks him with the brightest smile she can muster as she takes off her hood.
"I'm sure we did, but you won't remember me at all. I lost my name to the gluttony archbishop, so I'm afraid knowing my name will not bring any help. "
So he has his name eaten as well. Still, that doesn't answer the question of why he knows her in the first place.
Now it was Emilia's camp's turn to be shocked and terrified. Their sweat runs cold as if the theaters temperature has just dropped below zero, momentarily freezing them on the spot.
"IMPOSSIBLE! BETTY WILL NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN!" The great spirit outburst.
"Capt'n!" Garfiel, on the other hand, muttered lowly. If his Capt'n has lost his name, it only means that he failed his job as the shield. It made him smack his hand rest in fury.
"Subaru-kun!" Rem wondered how would it be if she somehow forgot Subaru but it was too painful for her to think about so she decided not to go further. She only hopes that if that ever happens, she will not repeat the same sin of hurting of hero just because of her foolish suspicion.
Emilia is straight-up frozen. She just had her memories of Mother Fortuna and Father Geuse back and he still mad at Puck for sealing them away. Now she sees that she has lost Subaru too? She not going let it happen. She is going to protect Subaru this time no matter what happen.
Even Rosswal is extremely troubled. Subaru is his last card of ever meeting his beloved teacher. Without his gospel, he has no idea what to do if the event shown on the screen happened.
"I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been hard."
She only heard a heavy sigh from him in response.
"If I may ask, when did you lose your name? Perhaps I can at least remember something?"
"It's unlikely, but if you want to know, it was during the aftermath of the siege in Priestella. I think that is also the last time I met you, along with your camp."
"Fuck! That is where we are all going!"
"Language, Garfiel!" Otto scolds him.
"Worry about the upcoming war more!"
"That is indeed troubling, and here I thought I would finally get a vacation..." Al dejectedly commented.
"Don't bother. As the world revolves around myself, the cult will just miserably fail with me around. They may as well just lay on the ground and die and they will reach the same result" Priscilla declared with full confidence and sounding haughty as she usually does.
"You mean because Rein will be there!" Felt interjected.
"He will be there because I willed to, sewer rat, and the sword saint better do a good job befitting his title."
"You bitch-"
"Calm down, Lady Felt, please don't get carried away by provocation." Reinhard stops his mistress before she gets the chance to jump on the Baroness.
"You will just let him insult you like that?"
"It is alright, Lady Felt. Besides, if there will indeed be a war at Priestella, then it is my duty to protect everyone. The result that Baroness Priscilla stated will indeed be the favorable outcome." He then reasoned with his ever-polite attitude. It pissed Felt off but she knows that her knight has a valid point.
That's more than a year ago! Way prior to her losing her name. The siege of Priestella has been hailed as one of Lugunica's greatest victories against the witch cult.
Despite hearing that they have won the war, most of them do not feel reassured at all, given that two prominent people ended up losing their names.
"In that regard, it would mean that this scene is about more or less two years from now." Anastasia pointed. "But the siege, it could happen anytime."
"We have a lot of things to do as soon as we get back," Crusch added.
With the cooperation of all the camps participating in the royal election, they prevailed against the cult's surprise invasion, taking down the archbishops of greed, gluttony, and wrath and the capture of the alleged archbishop of pride, Subaru Natsuki.
"WHAT!" A Shout of disbelief echoed in the room.
"WHY WOULD THEY EVEN SUSPECT HIM OF THAT?!" Otto didn't realize that he had just stood up and smashed his hand on the seat in front of him
"My hero is not like that! He will never be with the Witch Cult!"
"That is foolishness, my knight is not a sin archbishop or even remotely connected to the cult!" Emilia wrathfully declared. Her chair instantly froze solid with her outburst but thankfully, it returned back to normal seconds later.
"Control your magic, I suppose!" Beatrice yells at the half-elf, "We have to learn more information about what happened!"
He was caught by the Emilia camp after attempting to infiltrate their camp pretending to be a half-elf's knight. A foolish gambit given that he was quickly outed by the great spirit of yin due great amount of miasma coming from him, rivaling those of an archbishop. The man insisted that his claim was true, but neither anyone from their camp nor anyone at all recognized the said man. With the Archbishop of Gluttony dead, all those who lost their names and memories have fully recovered, hence no one bought his reason that his name was just recently eaten. He was then apprehended by the demi-human knight Garfiel and was held in custody in Priestella's dungeons until the council of elders sentenced him to death by hanging two months after his capture. The execution is to be done publicly in the capital of Lugunica, obviously as a stunt, not only to appease the masses but also to increase the army's morale by showcasing another victory over the cult.
Along with the narration were short flashes of scenes that are being described, which each and every one in the theater feels a cold creep down their bones. The theater went still despite none of them having made any sort of interruption. Perhaps it is due to their keeper giving them a slight mercy to catch their breath.
Questions upon questions are pooling in everyone's mind, starting with 'why did all of this have to happen to Subaru of all people?' and 'What did he even do to the world to deserve this?' .
The short scene where Subaru tried to explain to everyone made Crusch puzzled and and feel guilty. They could have supported Subaru there. She has a blessing that can say when people are being truthful or not. People would surely listen to her should she claim that Subaru is innocent yet she is absent in the scene.
The same could be said for Reinhard as he continues to curse himself internally for being useless once more. What kind of friend is he when he is always absent at times when Subaru needed him the most? What's the purpose of having all this power then if he cannot even save a single person, much less a friend? He tries to keep her expression neutral, but he cannot help that his hands are shaking from anger.
To the Sword Saint's surprise, his mistress extends her hands to hold his. Tears were flowing from her eyes, yet he could see that she was trying to be strong for him. "You are not going to let this future happen, right?"
"Of course, milady!" He reassures her. That made him calm down for a bit, but the feeling of uselessness still clings to his heart.
"I guess we really need to deal with the archbishop of gluttony first and foremost once we are out of here," Anastasia stated seriously while still hugging the two of her triplet commanders whom is currently crying on her arms. "I thought I already had it bad when I saw that I lost everything when my name was eaten, but what Natsuki-kun definitely has surely isworse."
"Why didn't he reset to escape, Nya?" Felix inquired, and he was quickly slapped by a probable answer to his question.
"What if he did, but his save point is moved to the time after he was captured?" Otto instantly rebutted. "He couldn't escape even if he wanted to, and dying will only make him repeat his suffering from the start!" He shouted to Felix in response. "If he were considered as a member of the witch cult and much more, an Archbishop, how badly do you think he will be treated in his confinement?"
"Hell!" Julius instantly answered, "Since it was just after the war, all of the damages, all of those who died and were hurt, those were all be blamed on him, and the torturers will take pleasure in making him pay for that. They would be bothered at all if they believed their prisoner was a witch cultist. " He covers his face with his hands to hide his contorting face. That will be another sin that the knight order would be committing, and worse of it, they are doing it to their own, to someone whose service to the kingdom is enough to be declared a hero.
"That's unfair! Why did they believe right away that Subaru is a cultist!" Petra whom is crying asked in between her sobs. She is currently hugging and being hugged by her mentor whom is also silently weeping herself.
"Great spirits are always held in high regard, so Lady Beatrice's word would be treated as enough proof. In addition, the people were eager to have someone to blame. It also doesn't help that Subaru somehow lost his name, even though the archbishop of gluttony is already dead. There is also the history of Lady Emilia being targeted by the cult, so it's probable that when Subaru comes in straight to Lady Emilia without knowing that he lost his name, the camp has suspected it as an attempt on her life." Julius continues to speculate. As he said this, they all remember the image where the great spirit Beatrice is standing protectively in front of Emilia with her Minya spells ready.
"IT CAN'T BE IT CAN'T BE IT CAN'T BE…" The great spirit said repeatedly while pulling her hair. She has long fallen from Subaru's lap and is now currently sitting on the floor. She doesn't want to believe it. She wants to convince herself that she would never betray her own contractor, but the scene clearly shows that she could. There is also the fact that Subaru lost his name in the first place. What kind of contracted spirit is she that she can't even protect her own contractor? She felt disgusted with herself. The look of betrayal his contractor showed in his the will forever burn on her mind.
Emilia is still frozen in shock and staring blankly at the screen without blinking. "N-no. Subaru! We didn't mean to…"
Garfiel looks away from the screen and is now crying at his Brotto's shoulder, unable to shake the image on his mind of which he pins his Capt'n pinned to the ground and handing him over to the knights. Otto does not know what to do, so he just lets Garfiel, not caring that his clothes are now soaked with tears and snot. Compared to what Subaru has faced, this is nothing.
Ram embraces her twin sister from behind her seat, pushing the blue-haired maid tightly to her chest as Rem has been bawling uncontrollably that her horn has been activated. It is obviously clear that her sister is devastated. She feels it too, even without sythesia. Despite how she usually acts, she far from being unfeeling. However, her sister needs her now and as the big sister, she has to strong for her.
Roswal has a stone face, but he is clearly glaring at the screen, same like Ricardo.
"Would you look at that. The commoner is getting betrayed by his very own camp. I expect nothing less from you, and yet it shows you are capable of being less than that, half devil." Priscilla venomously commented, and Al could only wince behind his helmet.
The sentencing, however, did not occur, obstructed by the whims of one dragon candidate. Of all of the people, Baroness Priscilla Barielle stepped in and saved the alleged archbishop, all because 'she doesn't feel like it'. Despite the utmost possibility of having her reputation damaged, the Baroness took the Subaru Natsuki with her and left the capital shortly after, leaving even her supporters skeptical. That was also the last time they saw the sun princess; thus, there was an assumption that they were killed by the archbishop through their foolishness. Nevertheless, nothing has been confirmed yet on that matter. "See, that mortals? I declared that boy to be mine, and the world will bring him to me. It is also clear that only I can save him. Why not avoid all of his struggles and just hand him to me at once?" Priscilla remarks with a snark that hides her concerns for the raven-haired boy. She wonders to herself why she has not saved the boy right away when he was apprehended.
"Not the time, Princess," Al tries to reprimand her. The screen may not have shown them much, but even those sneak peeks have proven to be too heavy. Not only that his Pal already gotten the short end of the stick ever since he arrived in this world, but he is also continuing to get beaten by it. Being held as a prisoner as a suspected archbishop is straight up worse than a death sentence. He can't even imagine what sort of torture his pal has to go through for those two months until he was finally set to be executed. The worst of it? The one who brought him there is his very own camp itself. If it were him, Al swears that he would have lost it twice over already. His own luck is shitty but Subaru is just another level. He is not even sure that it is a good thing that Princess comes to save his pal from that execution, as continuing to live appears to be just more punishment at that point.
On the other hand, that man may have been telling the truth, given that she experienced it herself. There is indeed another Gluttony archbishop running around. "You got to be shitting me!" Ricardo cusses, "One Archbishop of Gluttony can already cause that much trouble, and there's more of them?"
"Perhaps the Gluttony is a spirit as well that can switch bodies just like that does?" Otto commented.
"Whatever the case, we have to be extra careful! We can't let our guard down around those cultists, even if they appear to be dead." Crusch added.
"Anastasia-san?" Her musing was interrupted by her savior poking her cheek.
"Oh! Forgive dis gal for spacing out. Also, I'm afraid that I cannot remem-" Then it clicks on her. This man said himself that he lost his name during the aftermath of the siege on Priestella, the time were people were regaining their lost names and memories. There is only one man who claims to have lost his name back then.
"It is fine, really. I have already accepted it. You still didn't answer me, though. Why are you alone here? Where is anyone from your camp?"
"You see..." If this man is indeed the alleged archbishop of Pride, letting him know that she knows who he is may put her in even more danger. The fact that he still knows her despite her losing her name puts him at greater odds that he is indeed with the cult. On the other hand, why did he save her in the first place? "A'y had lost my name as well, just recently. I am no longer that Anastasia that you probably know." In order to gain more information, she has to lay out some of hers in return. She would have to carefully gauge how much she reveals, though, and she has to gain more from him than she is giving to her. At the very least, he doesnt seem to be a threat to her life for now, but it's best to be careful as always.
"Do you always plan like that, even with casual conversation?" Otto asked the merchant princess. Hoping a small talk would help lighten the atmosphere.
"Of course not! But as yah see, I had to be careful there since I am talking Natsuki-kun there who has been suspected as an Archbishop, so I have to be careful and calculating. That basic Otto-kun, even those that are not in commerce, should know that."
"It's not like I don't know it!" Otto rebutted.
"Oh!" The man gasped, "I am very sorry for bringing it up, Anastasia-san." He hits his masked forehead with his palm while sounding fully apologetic.
"Indeed, it was foolish to ask tah yah know! Unlike yah, this poor gal has yet to fully come to terms with the fact that her life flips over in a gasp. "
"c'mon! I honestly don't mean to offend!"
She teases him further, even faking a tear for her act.
"Alright, Alright! Let me make it up to you then. I'll help you take your stuff to where you are going. How does that sound?"
"Pleasure doing business with you, kind sir!" She quickly bounces back to her lively attitude and shakes his hand "I doubt that even the two of us can carry all of them so help me pick up the most valuable ones, unless you happen to have a carriage with you?" "Moments ago, you were scared of him, then suddenly you are already roping him in." Ricardo snickered, out of all people in the theater
"That's fair business, ya know! He offered it, after all!" Anastasia defended her screen counterpart.
"What happens to being careful?"
"I don't, but I have something else in my sleeves..." He then saw him turn his head toward her merchandise, and then she saw them all get swallowed by a small hole of darkness, which made the reality itself whirl around it. In a few seconds, not even the broken remains of her carriage were left.
"What did you do?! Where did it all go?!" She almost yelled at him.
"Its a secret!" He answers "But they are not gone. I can bring them back. Look!" He points on the ground between them. The same void appears in between them and from it emerges one of the boxes of her merchandise.
Anastasia gasped in amazement. "That is very useful!" She then commented. She doesn't know how much he can store with that ability of his, but even with that amount, being able to magically store and release loads of cargo is extremely useful, especially in matters of logistics. She can't even imagine how much she could save, much more, even earn if she had that ability by herself. They cannot be taxed either! "Extremely amazing, even!"
"I completely agree. Having an ability like that is straight up cheating!" Otto agreed, "But I wonder how Subaru can do that in the first place? It does look like a yin spell…" He looks at their resident Great Spirit of yin in hopes of an explanation, but Beatrice is still not fully recovered based on her lifeless stare at the screen.
"Yeah…" Felt pondered to herself having the same ability and imagines how much profitable it would be for her 'livelihood'. She will be able to take larger and even more valuable targets.
The man dismissed her praise with a wave of a hand. "So where were you going?"
"I'm going to Kararagi!"
"WOAH! " He pulled a map out of nowhere and looked at the closest part of Kararagi to where they were probably at the moment. "That's at least a couple of weeks, if not a month of travel!"
"Yah, already gave me your word, mister! " She winks at him. " Or you are telling me that you are backing out now and would leave a defenseless maiden alone and steal her belongings?"
"Tsk! I'm not that kind of guy." He still extends his hands towards her despite his regretful remark. "Let's go! But you'd better lead the way, though. I'm not familiar with this place either, so we'll probably just get lost if you rely on me."
"You can leave it up to me!" She smiled at him as she accepted his hand. He then walks her toward her own ground dragon and helps her get aboard it. Crusch raises an eyebrow and looks at the Merchant Princess whom avoided her gaze by looking at the opposite direction.
"Barusu can't even keep his hands to himself," Ram commented, feeling her sisters shift in mood to mild jealousy through their shared sense.
His own ground dragon, Patrasche, walks towards him and lowers itself, allowing him to climb easily aboard.
"Before we go, wouldn't you at least introduce yourself?" She then throws the most important question for now.
"What for? You already know, didn't you?"
"Geez, it is still proper manners for a man to introduce themselves to beautiful gals yah know? It hurts my feelings that I am not being treated fairly!" Her banter however only got a scoff from him so she could only sigh and give up the act. "Fine, what gave it away that I already know, though? "
Crusch grins at the merchant's failed attempt as Subaru easily brushes her off.
"I told you that we've met before, right? This is not the first time I have had to deal with your slyness. I'll be more surprised if you actually didn't know who I am after I said too much."
That answer from him honestly makes her laugh. Just like any other duel, one important key to negotiation is knowing your opponent. She was at an utter disadvantage here since not only that the only that she know pretty much nothing about him, but he also knew her and they seemed to have had engagements before. "It appears that I am really at a terrible disadvantage here, Natsuki-kun! This would have ended up terribly for me if this were an actual business engagement. "
"So, he learns from his mistakes after all!" Anastasia chuckles awkwardly, remembering the actual first time she met Subaru from the one that failed loops.
"It still doesn't excuse you for what you did for tricking him the first time," Crush retorted.
"Who said I was making an excuse, it's a genuine praise, yah know!"
"Just making sure you remember."
"As if you fared well during that loop."
He took off his mask and pulled down his hood, finally allowing her to see his face clearly. His white hair is way tidier than before, but his skin was still abnormally pale, but at least it was a little better because he looked very much dead the last time she saw him on top of that execution platform. What caught most of her attention though was his inhuman eyes. His irises are bright red with 6 pointed star pattern She wonders if he is a demihuman, but she doesn't know what kind of demihuman even has those kinds of traits.
Al suddenly chokes upon seeing his pals' eyes. He may have been gone from Earth for so long, but he could still recognize those eyes.
"Are you alright there, Al?" Ricardo passed him a bottle of beer, the same kind that he had introduced to him when the wolfman was looking for ale in the pantry.
"Do you know something, Aldebaran?" Priscilla outright asked him without looking away from the screen.
"You know that I hate that name, Princess…" He sighed dejectedly, "But yes. Those eyes of his. They are like those from… a story from our world. It is called Sharingan, and the ones pal has there look like the fully developed ones called Mangekyō Sharingan. It has numerous powers, including spectacular visual prowess, casting illusions, and fully developed once it has absurd powers, although it varies from different persons." He then explains as shortly as he can.
"But Subaru said that there is no magic in your world, and you confirmed it too!" Julius debated.
"Yep, that is why I said its from a story. It is just a fictional story from our world."
"Oh~! I can't help but wooo~nder what Subaru did to acquire such pooower." Roswal commented. He, too, is genuinely intrigued.
"Beats me too how he acquired it here, but if I remember the story correctly, those eyes from a specific clan and they gain it by uhh…"
"Say it, jester. Don't make my divine self, wait," Priscilla ordered.
"Well, if you must really know, those eyes get developed by extreme emotions such as severe trauma. In the story, the characters usually develop their eyes through extreme hatred, and as I said, Pals' eyes there are fully developed." Al concluded. 'It's been told that the archbishop of wrath has been slain as well. Could it be that Subaru gains the witch gene of wrath, and those eyes were the manifestation of the authority?'
"What do you think, Wilhelm?" Crusch turns to Wilhelm, recalling his comment about Subaru's eyes from the previous episodes.
"I said before that Subaru has the eyes of someone who has seen hell… Now it looks like someone who is used to it. I must say that it is as if I am looking into the eyes of another old man." Wilhelm answered. "Those red eyes have an ethereal glow, but its lost their shine. For someone who got stuck in hell, I could only assume that those eyes would be blazing with fury, but instead, it was calm, like the surface of the ocean during a windless night. Still, I cannot say for certain, so please treat it just as speculation of an old man."
"That is unsettling, but thank you for your insight, Wilhelm."
"You're welcome, Lady Crusch."
"What's wrong with it? Isn't it better than becoming a complete mess?"
"It's not his demeanor that made it bad, Lady Felt. It's the thought of how much more Subaru has to get that demeanor. Because of his ability to reset, his perspective on time is different from ours. If we are correct that those scenes are from two years from now, and yet Subaru has the eyes of an old man as Wilhelm said, imagine how many times he reset in that span of two years for his mental age to accumulate?"
"Since he was under that bitch's care, then it is surely a lot."
"Spat as much as you want, gutter rat, it will not change the fact that it is I who saved him and not any of you. Your knight could have vouch for him, yes? But we all see that he, too, just stood aside and remained silent when he asked for help."
"Fuck you!"
"Lady Felt, please stop." Reinhard once more has to keep his mistress from assaulting a rival candidate. Even so, the Baroness ' words hit him far too close for comfort.
"We don't have to worry about that because this will never happen anyway!" They all turned in surprise to the origin of the voice as Emilia finally started to collect bearings. "We will never let Subaru be in danger and have its name eaten. Especially now that we know that the Archbishop of gluttony will be targeting him, we will be ready and defeat them."
"Hm!" Priscilla rolled her eyes and smirked, but refused to humor her rival candidate.
The scene changes from the forest into the hallway of an inn.
"Just so you know, I can afford my own room," Subaru commented as he and Anastasia were sharing for the night. The former merchant princess insisted that they share a room instead of having separate ones. "Could it be that you're planning something malicious to my body?" He then playfully runs to the corner of the room and hugs himself.
"S-shut it!" The comment made his companion blush as she shouted at him, "I am not interested in you in that way! I'm not letting you out of my sight while you have all of my things. Not a chance!"
"I am actually referring that you would slice me up while I sleep and steal my internal organs. But yeah, you do have a point."
"Why in the O'd will I even do that!"
At least that scene somewhat managed to uplift the atmosphere on the room as some light laughter can now be heard around the theater. It is sort of a relief for everyone to see that Subaru still has his amusing antics despite all of that happened.
Anastasia continued to hide her face, feeling embarrassed by the scene, and Crusch continued to stare at her with a raised eyebrow and a grin.
"Miniboss made mom blush!" Mimi pointed out that Anastasia quickly silenced her by covering her mouth.
"Shush, you!"
Emilia, on the other hand, is not amused in the scene. With the looming danger coming that could potentially take Subaru away, she wished to see more about the upcoming war instead of this."Screen-sama, can you show us more about what will happen in Priestella?"
She received nothing in response.
It's only been half a day, but traveling with Anastasia is a lot more lively than traveling alone. For several months now, he has been traveling alone with just Patrasche, and it is finally nice to have someone to actually converse with. During those times, he only gets to talk with Patrasche, and while the ground dragon responds in return, his words are mostly just a monologue since he can hardly understand her. Times like those make him recall someone who could translate Patrasche for him.
"Gee, you're welcome, I guess?" Otto scoffs, he is still being forgotten and made fun of even in the future.
The gal has been inquisitive, to say the least. He knows that she is just basically mining information from him but despite that, his time traveling alone has made him a sucker for conversation so he couldn't help himself but to indulge her. Perhaps it is a part of her charm as well. More and more eyes were starting to be pointed at the purpled haired merchant and the said girl is starting feel the jealousy from their gaze, making her sweat.
"Looks like those two are getting close" Felix hollered, unfortunately, his teasing hits an unintentional target.
"Felix!" Crusch's voice made the cat-boy fold her ears and retreat to his seat.
Still, it doesn't mean that he revealed everything to her. He is not that of an idiot, or at least not as much as before when he first met her. There are things that are better left unsaid and kept to oneself, but there is still plenty to go around. He uses them as well as ammunition to get some information from her, too, mostly about what has been happening to Lugunica in the past year while he was at Volachia. As for her, her questions have been more personal, starting with where he has been and what happened to the Priscilla Camp after they took him in. He can clearly see that, for whatever reason, she is asking about it; it sure is not because she is worried for the well-being of her rival. Nevertheless, he figures that it is indeed painting him in a bad light that the entire Priscilla camp vanishes after they save him. "He has gotten smarter, too, while under my care! It's good to know that he knows now not to needlessly run his mouth." The sun princess praising remarks for herself once more.
"Subaru-kun has always been smart!" Rem retorted.
"You cannot be more wrong, sister!" Ram countered.
Thankfully, Anastasia seems to be satisfied by him simply telling them they were at Volachia, and the reason why there was no news about the Sun Princess's camp is due to the empire's closed border. He cannot reveal anything more than that, as further details will be a violation of that camp's privacy, which can even escalate to an international incident given how terrible his luck is. He can already imagine Prisca-nee chopping him to pieces despite not being able to summon that yang blade of hers anymore due to her broken gate.
"Perhaps Pal did have a better life with our camp after all. He had had a nickname for you, princess, and even referred to you as big sister."
For once, Priscilla could only narrow her eyes as she didn't know how to react to that. Just how close did that commoner get to her in order for him to be privy to her real name, and how dare he refer to her as if they were of kin?
In the meantime, a certain oni maid felt offended upon seeing Subaru refer to another woman as big sister. Somehow, it doesn't sit right with her to share that title.
"HACHOO!" Priscilla, who sneezed loudly.
"Is everything alright, Priscilla-sama?" Her young butler who is sitting at her lap turns around and asks "Are you having a cold?"
"I'm fine, Schult, " She reassures him before turning her attention to the set of dolls displayed piled in another seat, especially the white-haired doll with red eyes and a black and orange suit. She just had an urge to strangle it.
"The warden should have brought Schulzts here as well," Priscilla mutters, making her knight shake his head. 'That kid could live a better life without seeing any of the horrors shown in this place. '
"Those look like the dolls Sabaru-sama made for Meili!" Petra pointed before pouting, remembering that she is yet to receive one from him, and the mean lady here gets one.
The other topic that he and Anastasia talked is about the powers she saw him use, like how much more he can keep with the 'void' he used to store her cargo, and how he managed to teach Patrasche to use weapons. He cannot tell her much the first, but he willingly tells her stories of Patrasche's training. "So he is the one who taught the ground dragon how to use a sword? How was that even possible?" Julius wondered.
"Even with my blessing, I dont think it is possible for me to do that with another ground dragon." Otto sighed "Their closeness is what made it possible. Patrasche really wants to protect Subaru so they were able to make it work."
"Are animals affected by Gluttony's power? I mean, why is Patrasche still with Subaru in the first place? How did they get reunited?" Crusch pointed out an interesting topic.
"I… never thought of that at all." The green merchant scratches his cheek. He never gets to ask Patrasche if she recognized Rem at all.
Chivalry doesn't seem to be dead at all.
After a few back-and-forths, Anastasia finally relented and agreed to have the bed to herself although she could not help but feel irritated about the last comment. She didn't know what a 'Lo-li' or 'EN-BI-AY' meant but she felt insulted when Subaru used it for his reason to not sleep beside her.
"And why do you need him to sleep with you, I suppose?" Betty interjected. She finally gets the courage to go back on Subaru's lap "Only Betty gets to sleep with Subaru, in fact!" Not even the half-elf or the blue maid was able to do that. Just her.
'Let's see about that…' A mischievous thought passes through Rem's mind. Emilia may have taken Subaru's first kiss, but there are plenty of other first times for her to win over.
"I-I am n-not answering that!" Anastasia refused to explain herself and her sleeping habits. THAT'S PRIVATE!
He insisted on having the floor to all to himself, along with a laid out bedroll and a single pillow. Both of them were already lying in their place and were preparing to skip the night.
"When you figured out who I am, what made you stay instead of running away? I mean, are you not afraid that you are before a scary archbishop cultist?" He then hears him ask.
"Well, first, it is just plain rude. Yah did save me after all," she answers him, followed by a long yawn. "Plus, as I told yah, I have not fully come to terms with my condition yet, so if figured that if you were going to kill me, then so be it."
Right after that comment, something hard just hit her like someone just flicked her forehead "OUCH!" She rolled to the side of the bed to glare at him while also nursing the pain. "That was you, wasn't it?!"
"I don't know what you are talking about!" He averted his gaze.
"I know it's you! You used that invisible powers of yours!"
"I have no idea what you mean, Anastasia-san."
"You!" She lets herself fall off the bed and on top of him. She caught him in surprise and she used the moment to grab his cheek and nose and pull them.
"Awawa!" He grabs her arms and wrestles with them in an attempt to free himself "What do you think you are doing?!"
"Getting even!" She continued to pinch his face even harder.
"That's not a healthy mindset, but I cannot blame you either." Even though her experience is the opposite of what is shown that her rival has, Crusch can still sympathize with the feeling.
"I'm still doing great after loosing so much. "Anastasia exhaled and takes another deep breath "That is atleast something."
Julius let out a short smile and is glad watching Subaru do his thing to get Anastasia's mind straight, even. Even though he does not approve of his method, he can't deny the fact that it worked wonderfully on three separate occasions. He is also glad that Anastasia is with Subaru in that situation. he guy's reliability is without question, and he will surely keep Anastasia safe no matter the cost. But then again, he also knows how costly Subaru operates.
"Hypocrite," Priscilla whispers.
In the meantime, There are four different girls which were fuming at the moment as they are watching the scene, clearly not liking that someone gets to play with Subaru like that. Subaru may be tactless but he always treated Emilia utmost care. Even Rem didn't experience being treated like that by Subaru and she was going offensive on him. Crusch simply never had the chance.
Is it because of Anastasia's certain demographic? If that so, Petra would like a word as well for even she didn't experience playing with Subaru in the same manner.
Of all of them, only Beatrice gets to have similar treatment. The great spirit of yin just pouted and pushed herself further on Subaru's chest. She is not envious, in fact!
As the night goes deeper, Anastasia is finally sound asleep, but Subaru is still staring at the ceiling from his bedroll without even a lick of drowsiness. Without anything to do at the moment, he decided to get up and go to the desk beside the window. He summons a journal bound by red leather from his Kamui and lays it on top of the desk along with a set of ink and a quill as he sits in the chair before it. With the moon shining fully along with infinite stars, he finds it unnecessary to light up a lamp. The words inscribed at the front of the journal are written in his native language, and so as its contents. He writes it out that way so it will not be readable to anyone else should he happen to lose or misplace it.
"IS THAT A GOSPEL?"
"IT CAN'T BE-"
"It's not!" Emilia quickly denied, even though she too does not know what book it was. Still, she believes that it cannot be a gospel. Subaru will never be a part of the witch cult! " Didn't we see what a gospel looks like before? They are black, even the ones owned by Beako and Rosswal, the ones from Betelgeuse, and even that from the Witch of Greed itself are all black."
"What does the writing on the covers say?" Julius turns to Al.
"Oh!, That is just his name."
"But the characters don't look like the ones that were previously shown?"
"It is written in Kanji, just a different writing system from our country," Al concluded.
"Oh, great!" Anastasia grunts annoyingly, realizing just how much decrypting the Hoshin texts becomes more complicated if they are indeed written with a different writing system.
Essentially, he decided to write a diary detailing the events of his life ever since he arrived in this world. He starts doing this sometime after he arrives in Volachia. It has been helpful for him to keep track of the proper timeline as he experienced having to repeat the same loop twice because he forgot which event was in the proper present and confused his loops with one another. From then on, he decided to keep a log of events, for he could hardly trust his own memory anymore. It also serves as one of the few things that keeps his sanity in check. Here he writes the events as much as he remembers them, although most prior to the siege of Priestella have been reduced to a faint blur that he can hardly even remember where this all started in the first place. He writes them religiously nonetheless. 'Subaru...He-he's forgetting us?' Emilia whimpers but quickly shakes the thought 'It must be the effects of Gluttony, somehow...' she then reassures herself.As Subaru flips the cover, a pages containing the a list of titles is showed, along with a short descriptions on each of them.
Arc 1: The Tumultuous First Day - His first days in Luginica.
Arc 2: The Turbulent Week - Survival in Ros… Mansion.
Arc 3: Return to the Royal Capital - The royal election, the white whale, and the archbishop of Sloth.
Arc 4: The Everlasting Contract - The events in the sanctuary.
Arc 6: Solar Eclipse on the Land of Wolves - The Grand Calamity in Volachia
Arc 7: Solace and Freedom - His ongoing adventures to find himself. "So he made a diary to keep track of the timeline, huh? I'd say it's ingenious, but at the same time, I feel sick of imagining what could have happened to him if he is starting to lose track of reality." Anastasia commented, and everyone agreed.
Ofcourse, since only Al is capable of reading the shown text, they all waited for him to read it for them but he refused to. If it is indeed a diary or a memoir then he would atleast let Subaru keep this to himself. Besides, they are already watching him so what more do they want? Princess only gave him a short glare but did not gave him an order so its alright..
Despite having trouble with his memories, he is still getting flashes of the events as he flips through the pages. It was blurry in some and just complete darkness in most, a faint dream in some and fading nightmares in the other. Nevertheless, he tries to remember them all or hence they'll be forgotten. "Subaru-kun…is he getting forgetful?"
"We cannot blame him if he is, I suppose. After all that has happened to him. Perhaps it's even the best for him, in fact…"
The page of the book is shown with the writings "Arc 5: The Stars That Engrave History - The Siege of Priestella…" The screen darkens for a second before quickly turning into light once more, showing Subaru lying on the damp dungeon floor. His whole body is tied in chains with his tattered clothes, showing a very malnourished body covered with burns and gashes. There is also a noticeable trail of blood coming from the direction of each of his eyes, but they are being hidden behind his long and messy white hair, which covers the upper half of his face.
The page flips once more. He remembers dying, only for his ability to bring him back to the very same spot where he died, but it was the day that he was first brought there. Dying only resets the hell he was in. It offers no salvation. It happened again, again, again, and again, every time he died, whether through the hands of the tormentors or by his own design. The only way out is to move onwards, his sanity be damned.
He turns the page again, and he recalls begging for help, but no one answers his calls. Those who used to claim to be his family, those who he believed to be his friends, those who he thought as his allies, even the rats who visit his cell at night to eat the flesh torn from his body. None of them listened to his plea. Just as they thought that the scenes were starting to get better, they were all dragged back into watching Subaru's agony. Those we have eaten during their last break immediately regretted it as they feel the bile rising from their throats. Petra outright fell on the floor and threw up, unable to stomach any more of the scenes being shown. Frederica looks at her apprentice, but for once, she cannot help. She lost all of her strength and was unable to move at all. If she tried to, she would just be joining Petra on the floor.
Garfiel forced himself to watch as he held his head tightly to keep them from looking away instinctively. 'Watch it, you bastard! Watch what you did to yo,u capt'n!'.
The next page only has one word on it, big letters written in blood at the center of the page. 'Felix,' it reads. "HAH?!" Felix clenches his fist in worry, already sensing what is yet to be shown.
An ear-piercing cry echoed through the halls of the dungeon. There were flashes of light that created a silhouette of someone squirming on the floor like a salted worm. The light then vanished after a while, revealing a cat-eared knight letting go of Subaru's nape, finally allowing his steaming hot body to fall on the floor, soaked with his very own blood. "Fe-Felix?" Crusch slowly turns to her trusted knight and friend, not wanting to believe the brutality that is shown is was capable of. They've seen it once before, when Subaru was possessed by Betelgeuse and he begged for Felix and Julius to kill him, and now they are seeing it again for not so noble a reason.
"It's not real, Crusch-sama!" The blue immediately protested, "There's no way I will ever do that!" He has sworn to use his skills to save people, not to hurt them. "Even if I forgot Subaru, I have no reason to do that to him!"
His torturers come and go, he doesn't know any of them except for one. Felix, a knight sworn to Crusch Karsten, is referred to as the 'Blue'. Hailed as the greatest healer in this kingdom, yet from his hands also comes the greatest suffering he has ever experienced. Believing that Subaru holds the key to curing Crusch of the curse caused by the dragon blood. A bedridden Crusch is then shown, her skin has an unnaturally pulsing nexus of black veins spread across her body. Beside her is Felix with a desperate expression, sitting beside his mistress and doing his best to aid her to no avail. The scene then shifted back to the dark dungeon where Subaru resides, still showing Felix with the same expression. Focusing on Subaru's arm and leg, it has a similar spot of darkness in them, only that they are concentrated on the said limbs instead of spreading like the one that Crusch has. Felix did not spare any effort on his part in hopes of making his prisoner talk of something he knew nothing about. An experience far exceeded the time he was feasted on by the great rabbit. "There's your reason…" Al pointed.
Felix felt a burning glare pointed at her from multiple directions. The entire Emilia camp, minus Roswal, are all looking at him with burning passion and he was unable to say word defend himself any further. After seeing what happened with Crusch on the screen, he knows to himself that her former claims would indeed be a lie. Shameful as it may, there is a huge a chance that he would indeed do it should the same situation has indeed come to life.
"I would like to remind you all that the events that have been shown to us have not happened yet, and I will do what I can in my power so that it never will!" Crusch steps in to defend his knight and childhood friend.
"Of course, but it seems that the half-wit's camp does not have the monopoly of people with potential lose screws in their head than I previously thought. " Mocks the Baroness in red, earning a heated glare from the Karsten Duchess.
Nevertheless, Crusch's words were at least enough to calm down the members of the Emilia camp, and the issue did not escalate any further. They have not made any comment in response either since after all, it is their camp that has put Subaru in that dungeon in the first place. On another hand, it does answer why she was not able to save Subaru, for she herself has been out of commission. What is worse, however, is that she somehow became the root of his suffering. It makes her angry at her own weakness and at her knight's mindset. She has to do something to make sure that Felix will never do that, even if her life is on the line.
Then comes the page showing the beginning of the ARC 6. For once, after what must have been an eternity in hell, he was dragged out of the dungeon. The day he ever waited finally came. Overjoyed, he let out the loudest laugh he could muster when he heard that he would finally be executed.
It has to be the end.
He swore from the crying image of Satella in his mind that this would be it.
One last death, and he is done. It will finally be over.
The sack covering his face was lifted, and he felt the warm rays of the sun touch his face. He could hear the crowd hollering, cheering for his suffering and upcoming death. He cannot see them, (un)fortunately, as his eyes were plucked long ago by his tormentor for they didn't like the way he looked at them. Saying that he didn't need his eyes to speak, they proceeded to gouge his eyes out one by one, slowly, using the handle of a utensil. Anastasia covered the little cats eyes, not wanting them to watch the scene any further. Perhaps it is a futile act since Mimi and Hetaro are both mercenaries and probably has seen their fair share of brutality but seeing that even Ricardo wince and looks away from the screen is enough reason for her do so.
And it is not just Anastasia, Reinhard did the same to Felt, who is hiding her face on his body while covering her ear, for even just hearing the screams of pain coming from the screen is enough to break people, even without looking. Petra is now in Frederica's arms, but the little girl has already passed out for a while now.
Rem leans forward towards the sleeping boy's seat and embraces him, burying her face on his shoulders. 'It's not real, it will not happen!' she keeps muttering to herself.
Emilia is gritting her teeth hard with both of her hands balled into fist. Just like Rem, she keeps repeating the same thought in her mind to keep herself from lashing out and freeze the screen. His screams keeps echoing in her head like a mockery of her own inadequacy.
Anyhow, the crowd got louder as he felt the rope fasten on his neck, and he laughed loudly as well to join them. He smiled as big and wide as he could muster and laughed his heart out until he could not anymore. The platform he was standing on collapsed, and the rope tightened around his neck, choking the life out of him. He struggled, but he kept his smile. For once, he is finally happy to die.
This confirms it, they can all see that Subaru has lost his mind at this point. It is even an unholy miracle that he lasted this shudders at the sight of seeing Subaru with a crazed smile on his thinned face, covered with caked blood from his empty eye sockets. She remembers the usual charming smile that her knights show her, and then compares it to what is being shown on the screen. It was beyond horrifying.
But he didn't. His hope is stolen once more, prolonging his suffering.
The rope snapped, and he fell back down to the ground. It seems that even death itself would not listen to his call. Still, the shortness of breath along with the impact on the ground toppled what little strength he had left, and he began to lose consciousness. The last thing he heard before he lost it was an arrogant voice declaring his innocence and proclaiming him as hers.
Priscilla does not need to say anything and just triumphantly fans herself as the screen shows her benevolence. After being betrayed by his very own camp, it was her who saved the boy from the jaws of death. Perhaps it would be sufficient for these fools to realize their stupidity and let the boy be hers as she claims. The theater has shown barely of the upcoming war, but after all they've seen in the past viewings, it is obvious that he played a vital role in their victory, and to see him rewarded with betrayal makes her want to turn everyone here to ashes. It made her feel no short of disgust.
'Well, it's better than going back to that cell and restarting your suffering again. I doubt that the witch will be lenient to end it all there, even if he dies by hanging.' Al leaned his head onto the armrest with his only arm. Their camp is not exactly the brightest place to be, and since it has been hinted that they are going to Vollachia afterwards, his pal had made it out of the pan and flame, but he is now being taken to the chopping board.
Subaru shakes his head to stop himself from reminiscing even further. He continued to skip the pages further until he got to a blank page, and he dipped the quill in ink to write. He only needs to record a short detail of what has happened today. Meeting Anastasia makes him laugh over his luck once more as he finds himself with another royal candidate in just leaving a few weeks after parting with Prisca-nee's camp. "You speak as if you are any better, but Subaru ended up leaving your camp as well." Emilia spouted sharply, feeling a little relieved that Subaru had left her rival's camp. It still doesn't sit well with her that it was Priscilla who saved Subaru and not hers. Why the hell is he always getting himself tangled with a Royal candidate? "Now that its been mentioned," Otto raised his finger and starts counting with them "He met Lady Emilia and Lady Felt right after arriving in Lugunica, then with Lady Priscilla when for a short while. After the start of the election, he is with Lady Crusch, back to Lady Emilia, then…With Lady Priscilla and now with Lady Anastasia…"
"It's safe to say that he has been with every camp. If I didn't know any better, I'll assume that he is blatantly spying on everyone." Ricardo scratches the back of his head "Talk about being friendly…"
Anyway, his head may not be the brightest place, but he is still not insane enough to abandon her. At least, he's not that insane anymore. Otherwise, the whole time he spent in Vollachia and the efforts Prisca-nee and Al made to fix him would result in nothing. Their methods were... unconventional, but he admits to being a piece of work as well. Despite all the hardships, they did somehow set him straight in the end. "You are saying something, half-wit?" Priscilla did not miss the chance to fire her own retorts after the scene." Have you not noticed that, despite what is implied, He still refers to me in high regard? You and your camp, on the other hand? He has not personally mentioned any of you at all!"
That comment hit the Emilia camp hard that none were able to speak back in return.
"I wonder what I did to help though," Al ponders "I'm no psychiatrist so I don't thing I'll be any of help at all in his case."
"Who knows, but he did remembers you specifically so you sure did something notable. " Ricardo reasoned.
"Well, I'm glad to be of help then." Al waves it off.
Plus, he feels bad for Anastasia, really. From one victim of gluttony to another. So long as she is not into political schemes, he does not mind accompanying her until Kararagi. He just so damn tired of political games. It felt like he had already spent two lifetimes dealing with it, one for Lugunica and another in Vollachia. He is drawing the line there, and that is it. He is done!
"So he even got involved with Vollachia's trouble among everything else.. No wonder he had enough." Crusch softly muttered.
Who knows, perhaps the Gluttony archbishop gets back on them to finish the job. It will save him the trouble of looking for them.
"Subaru!" Julius grunted, not liking the idea that her mistress was being used as bait and realizing that Subaru may not be as straight as he claims to be. He still trusts him that he will protect Anastasia, though if they ever encounter the Archbishop, indeed.
His musing is then disturbed by his company stirring restlessly in her sleep. She was grasping the pillows tightly, and her forehead was creased. He can obviously see that she is having a nightmare. He would know. He used to have a lot of them back then. He's kind of an expert in that regard, if he could say so himself. After closing his journal and tossing it back into the void, he then moved his chair beside the bed. His pale hand caresses her head, massaging it, and he finds it satisfying to see that it gives the girl some comfort. After a while, he finally yawned, so he let himself fall asleep as well. All while still massaging the greedy gal's hair.
"See that, Sister? Barusu is clearly taking advantage of Lady Anastasia's helplessness. Who knows where else his perverted hands will crawl onto!" Ram attempts to demean Subaru in hopes of dissuading her sister, but it backfires terribly on her as it instead gives Rem an idea.
'If Subaru-kun wants to, Rem will gladly let him touch her anywhere! In return, he must let Rem touch him anywhere as well. Knowing Subaru-kun, however, he will probably be embarrassed by the idea and dismiss it even if she politely offers it to him so she will have to make him touch her. I'll get his hands and put them on my-'
"REM!" Ram yelled at her sister to stop her not-so-internal monologue.
In the meantime, Otto and Garfiel could not help but look away from the Rem's direction. Both their face were tinted red as a result of hearing the maids' whispers. Frederica was quick to cover the ears of the newly awakened and confused Petra while glaring professionally at her former apprentice.
Emilia does not understand the commotion at all and Rosswall couldn't help but let out a chuckle at all of them.
As for the perpetrator herself, she was neither guilty nor embarrassed at all. She even pulled Subaru to her side and grinned triumphantly over her rival's ignorance on such matters.
The great spirit on Subaru's lap facepalmed. She can already anticipate that her peaceful nights with her contractor are about to be disturbed. At the same time, however, using a similar idea to the ones she just heard from the Rem, she lifts one of Subaru's hands and puts it on top of her head to simulate head pats, but it feels completely different than when her contractor is doing it himself. She pouted but was not envious of the purple merchant getting the attention from Subaru that it was supposed to be hers and hers alone.
Crusch finds the scene interesting. Plenty of times it is shown on the screen when Subaru is being comforted by Miss Rem or Lady Emilia by having him lay his head on their lap. Those two prided themselves on being able to do. While she doesn't think she will actively participate in that race that those two were competing in, it is not like she is close to the idea and will willingly do so should she have the chance. If she gets to choose, however, she prefers wrapping him in his arms while they are both lying down. If possible, she would be lying down on top of him instead. The picture she conjured in her mind made her feel embarrassed in herself, and she started shaking her head violently to clear his thoughts.
"Crusch-sama?" Felix peeks into his mistress's face and smirks widely as he gets an idea of what she has on her head.
"Theresia," Wilhelm lets out a longing sigh. A vivid memory of him being in the position of the young boy on the screen, doing the same with his wife.
"MMMMMM!" In the meantime, Anastasia is covering the little catgirl's mouth to stop her from saying anything. She knows Mimi is just being honest, but she just can't let her speak right now. At the same time, she lowers her head as much as possible to hide her face behind her scarf, whom she swears is also grinning at her.
The screen darkened for a second before quickly lighting up again to play some more.
This ain't my main fic, and quite honestly, I am just flushing the plot ideas out of my head so I can focus on my other work.
I wrote the scenes first before the reactions, and we are barely getting into the halfway point. I cant promise that I will continue this though.
Anyhow, Toddles!
