Emilia smiled fondly, remembering how she had gotten that same flower in her time… wondering if this showed what it would've really been like if she went through that with Subaru by her side, not liking the fact that she would've missed so many tender moments with the boy.
"If I wasn't with him… then who had saved him from those thieves?" Emilia pondered with her eyes glancing towards the sleeping boy, her frown deepening at the thought of him getting hurt without her around to help.
The Appa salesmen coughed to gain their attention. "Sorry about that, you helped my daughter, and I want to thank you. You can ask for anything."
"That was convenient!" Otto smiled happily at the good turn of events.
"Hopefully Barusu's luck won't mess this up," Ram remarked with her arms crossed and her expression stoic.
Otto shook his head at the maid's weird way of wishing the boy good luck.
The two smiled brightly at one another but Emilia's smile turned into a proud superior smirk.
"There, you see? That came back around and worked in our favor!" She held her head high in smugness.
Pouting, Emilia looked around at her camp as they chuckled, "What's so funny?"
"It's nothing, Emilia-sama, you're right to be proud. Helping that girl earned you a favor from the appa seller."
Emilia nodded her head proudly at Crusch's amused words.
She gets it!
The scene changed to both Subaru and Emilia walking in a very run down and unpolished neighborhood, nothing like the rest of the capital. People with worn out clothing and nasty glares were staring at them both as if they were food.
"The atmosphere, air, and the attitudes of the people living here are awful. Are you sure she's here?"
"That might be that Felt girl, a nimble little blonde, right? She's well known in the slums. Dunno where she lives, though." A flash back with the salesmen was shown.
The scene returned to Subaru and Emilia.
"Maybe someone will tell us if we ask."
"No one would sell out one of their own, so I don't think that would work." Puck answered Emilia.
"Maybe we should come back later."
"My lady's efforts shall lead to a salvation for these unfortunate folk." Reinhard took to praising or more so embarrassing Felt with a faithful grin on his charming face.
"Shut up about that!" The little blonde kicked the man's shin in embarrassment but then turned her head towards the half-elf in the front row, "I'm sorry I caused you the trouble, no one should come into the slums at such an hour… or ever really."
As per every apology the guilty blonde has been giving ever since they've met, Emilia responded with a soft smile and a nod of acceptance, "No need to fret at all, Felt-chan shouldn't be apologizing all the time, it was the moment where we both became friends after all."
The little girl only grinned at Emilia's kindness, "Yeah, it was a really messy time! I remember how you saved us from that….
….
….
…
….. Th-That murderer."
For one single second, Felt looked just as white as Emilia's ghostly skin.
"What's the matter, if I may ask?" Julius spoke what the other observing crowd was thinking internally as the two girls' expressions showed nothing but horror and fear.
"Me and Subaru aren't there right now!" Everyone blinked in confusion as Emilia yelled with a distraught face.
Roswaal silently raised a brow of surprise and grinned.
"M-Maybe the lady left the place? I would've sold her the jewel if nothing disrupted the meeting!" Felt struggled to hold her stutters in as she recalled the horrible memory of the distant killer almost gutting her and the only person she cared for before her.
"Felt-sama…" Reinhard bit his lip for a moment, not knowing what to say, calculating how different these events were. Subaru and Emilia weren't with Felt at this moment in the viewing, he hadn't met with Subaru yet so he had no incentive to come to the slum district that night…
Felt was facing Elsa on her own right at that moment while Emilia and Subaru where still lost in the slums and Reinhard was nowhere to be found.
The knight's face turned grim, fists clenching as he recalled his lady's body amongst those around the poor wounded Subaru.
"What is this entity showing us?" Reinhard grimaced with a pained look as he tried to use many of his divine protections to understand or analyze the screen's showings like he did a hundred times before.
The others just looked at the trio with bewilderment.
"What's wrong with 'em?" Garfiel asked, turning to the serious looking Otto beside him.
"That is a very dangerously kept secret that wasn't revealed to many since it was illegal for Emilia-sama and Felt-sama to have met during that time. The council of elders forbade any of the dragon maidens to come close within each other's presence until the royal selection had been officially started, this is for fear of assassinations and or manipulative means being used. No one knows that Emilia-sama and Felt-sama had a really close connection before the election had been announced… The rumor is that… They came into contact with the Bowel Hunter."
Otto's blue irises stared into Garfiel's emerald own, showing the serious dark expression on the merchant's face as he explained to his brother what the situation was about.
"Yer saying that… the blondie over there could be facing the vampire bitch alone?" Garfiel asked simply, his expression stern and stony, showing his rigidness as soon as he learned of the name.
"Yes. From Emilia-sama's sudden realization just now, it seems that this is another difference in the world's events; where Emilia-sama has yet to meet Felt-sama and so Elsa could be… "
Garfiel slowly turned to the screen, his expression turning to a hardened warrior look as Otto trialed off and stopped talking; both understood what could be shown next.
"Whether you stay or leave, you should decide quickly. I'm almost out of time."
"Bubby won't be with you both once you find that girl, I suppose." Said Beatrice, biting her lip and narrowing her eyes as the situation became more dangerous for her contractor.
Emilia placed a hand on her chest, clutching the broken jewel she kept on her at all times, fearing what might become of her and Subaru now that Puck is out of commission.
"Reinhard, you should be near them during this time, right?" Knowing of the circumstances of when the blonde candidate was found, Julius asked with hope for some relief from the greatest swordsman to have lived.
Only to receive an unsure expression from the Sword Saint as the redhead continued to stare at the screen with pursed lips.
Subaru looked at Puck, confused. "You're what? Out of time?"
"I have a cute appearance, but I am a spirit. It takes a ton of mana just to maintain a physical appearance. So at night, I return to the crystal I was summoned from and prepare for the emergence of the sun. On average, my ideal staying time is from about nine to five."
"Nine to five? You sound like a civil servant. Employment conditions for spirits are severe."
"We'll be fine without Puck. We have to move forward." Emilia looked serious.
"Yeah. But sorry… I'm at my limit…" Puck yawned and began to disappear.
"It's almost like he's dying." Subaru whispered as he watched the spirit fade-out before him.
"Sorry to work you so hard, Puck. We'll handle things from here so rest." Emilia smiled at her spirit.
"Don't do anything reckless, if it comes down to it, use the Od to summon me again." Puck warned to the girl as he rested on her opened palms.
Emilia nodded her head. Puck turned to Subaru and gave him a smile.
"Alright! See to the rest, Subaru." With that, he went into the crystal.
The scene changes to Subaru holding his jacket while blushing as he and Emilia walked through the slum.
"Hey, I haven't been alone with a girl since I was in grade school!" He whispered, flustered while breathing heavily.
"Don't get any weird ideas. I know magic." Emilia warned instinctively and narrowed her beautiful eyes at him.
"I won't! The bigger issue here is how we find Felt now." Subaru changed the topic immediately.
"What an interesting change in attitude, hmm…" The royal matriarch sitting in the back fanned herself as she looked on towards the distinctive cast reactions below her, she waited for them to comment on the scene between Subaru and Emilia but it seems the distress Emilia and Felt showed began spreading towards everyone in the room.
All of them were on high alert.
Priscilla couldn't help but be interested now.
"I'll ask the lesser spirits." She answered while stepping on a bridge.
"Lesser spirits?" Subaru tilted his head.
"Lesser spirits are beings that haven't become spirits yet. They grow over time and when they gain strength and self-awareness, they become great spirits like Puck."
Subaru stares in amazement and awe as tiny flashing lights surround Emilia. He's completely mesmerized by her as it's shown how he was blushing deep red on both cheeks while staring at her glowing image.
"You say that Subaru-sama saved you once… was it from this danger you and Emilia-sama seem distressed over?" Crusch suddenly asked, not beating around and wanting everything laid out before them to understand what they will see better.
The blonde girl she was speaking to only nodded her head with a worried glare, "Big bro's intervention was what had saved me, he showed up out of nowhere and alone without big sis, it was also way earlier in the day…"
At blonde girl's words, Crusch and Anastasia began widening their eyes.
"D-Did Subaru-sama seem to possess knowledge that shouldn't have been accessible to him?"
Seeing the duchess's serious demeanor, Rem quickly interjected not liking this situation at all, "What do you mean, Crusch-sama?"
"It means, we might be seeing something more revealing about our Natsuki-kun rath'r than this all being a different vision of another future." As Anastasia weighed in, Otto and Ram quickly understood the sheer hunger in the merchant queen's foxy eyes. This wasn't boding well.
"Revealing?" Rem repeated as Petra and Frederica looked on at the candidates discussing.
"Bro did know stuff he shouldn't be aware of…" Felt muttered with a baffled look on her face as she remembered Subaru's first meeting with Rom and Elsa…
Crusch raised a hand to her chin and thoughtfully glanced between the blonde and the screen, "This may be more important to us than we thought… Subaru-sama's intuition could be shown here."
Felix pursed his lips and nodded his head with his lady, knowing full well how much confusion and worry Crusch had been filled with ever since Subaru managed to out her plans and disarm her in person to person negotiations to fix his deal with her. The boy had saved them and helped with the expedition, but that did not solve Crusch's issues of getting outed just like that by some random boy.
"Subaru-kun…" Rem whispered, now worried to her hearts end, feeling that her love was hiding something dangerous, something all of these powerful people in the room suddenly were interested in.
"This is getting tense all of a sudden." Ricardo whispered while patting Mimi's head to keep her quite.
Garfiel simply looked on with confusion plastering his face, not understanding a single thing all of these people were saying.
Beatrice simply held her head low and kept a strong grip on her contractor's hand.
"Do you know, Beatrice-sama?"
The spirit girl elegantly glanced to her left, finding a sweaty yet stern looking Otto gazing at her, his blue eyes shining with worry.
"Beatrice-sama," The boy was almost begging, "If there's anything you know of what will be shown next, please. We can't let them find ou-"
"I know nothing in fact." Beatrice denied sternly, "Betty does not know why her contractor seems to know things he shouldn't, in fact. Betty and everyone else usually just 'roll with it' as Subaru would say."
Otto slumped back with a hand on his forehead, not liking the Anastasia's grin and interesting focused glare Crusch shot towards the screen, even Priscilla was now glancing at the screen with a look of curiosity. This was bad, "What are you hiding, Natsuki-san?"
The spirit girl simply held her contractor's hand and gave a stoic glance towards it. She had an idea as to what made her contractor so special, he had the ability to use all witch factors of course, he was from another world with no magical connections, she could sense it all… But the one thing Beatrice was not allowed to learn about was the thing that haunted her contractor most, the reason for his nightmares at night.
The ability that he keeps hidden so close to his chest that his heart may almost burst from the burden and darkness he hides,
Beatrice glanced towards her contractor's sleeping face and held a firm glare, "Time to understand you, I suppose." The spirit held a tone of contempt as she remembered all of the countless efforts she sacrificed to help him and try to learn of this thing he kept muttering about in the midst of the night.
She had a feeling regarding what this screen would show, and from the looks of things everyone was starting to pick up on that idea as well.
"May I intrude on this discussion?" A loud eccentric voice earned everyone's attention, the clown dressed lord of the Mathers name took a moment to show everyone a mysterious grin with his eyes dimmed before he spoke, "This interruption is a bit pooooointless. Emilia-sama and Felt-sama's worries shouldn't be denied at aaaall. But this discussion should be held way later until we've leaaaarned enough."
Thinking over the clown's words, everyone worried, confused, excited, interested, and otherwise simply looked back towards the screen with impatient looks.
Roswaal's grin widened and his dead eyes shined with a light of initiating excitement as he watched what may be the power that will lead to his destiny.
The silver-haired royal princess was the only one who had her eyes stuck on the frozen screen for good since before this discussion was started, her eyes were unmoving. She gazed at her knight as he blushed from just staring at her other self with a bundle of spirits zooming around.
Such a tender moment, a moment she wanted to share with him.
She had no idea what this was, power, intuition, or whatever else.
Emilia has a very, very strong feeling this is a part of a much larger truth; it's a true reality, one that Subaru remembered full well. Her Subaru,
So the half-elf could only sit there and ask herself, why couldn't she remember that moment? Why couldn't Felt or Reinhard? Why is this all happening differently than what she lived through?
What the hell was all of this?
Emilia could only watch with worry filling her lungs.
The scene changes to show that it was night time and they were both walking alone in the empty streets throughout the eerie atmosphere.
"This place is getting lonelier and lonelier. Does she really live in a place like this?" Emilia asked while holding a hand to her chest, keeping her guard up.
"Sure looks like it."
"The lesser spirits said they saw someone who looked like Felt coming in this direction… "
Subaru looked at a passing man and stopped. "Hey Bro! Does a girl named Felt live up this way?"
"Huh? Felt? Nothing that way but Old Man Rom's loot house."
The man laughed as he understood. "Did Felt steal something from you guys? Well, go try negotiate to get it back. Live strong."
"Why do I have to pay money to get back something stolen from me?" Subaru muttered as he watched the laughing man walk away from him.
"That's just life, pal." Al shrugged and tried to say something to cut the tension in the silent theater as almost all of the camp heads including Felt were watching with anticipating looks.
"What the hell is the matter?" Al muttered beneath his helmet in frustration, not liking all of this confusion.
Scene change…
"Well, at any rate. We're here." Subaru looked from the dark loot house to Emilia.
Seeing the foreboding look on his lady's face, recognizing how late it was and just how silent the loot house appeared, Reinhard quickly held his lady's hand and spoke in a delicate yet, firm tone.
"My lady, please don't watch if you don't feel compelled to-"
"I need to watch this Rein!" Felt shook her head, a look of determination breaking through her fearful trembling, in need of answers yet in cowardice of what those answers may show.
"I need to see if Old Man Rom's okay…" The knight flinched, expression falling swiftly at the heartbroken and worried mutter his lady gave, her scarlet-eyes filled with childlike panic, fear for her only family member.
"What could possibly be the reason for showing this?" Reinhard asked once again, giving a sigh as he felt helpless for the very first time to help his lady. The knight sat back with his hand moving away from Felt's own, but he was surprised when the little girl subconsciously grabbed his moving arm with hers.
"My lady?" Reinhard widened his eyes, Felt gave him no reply, staring at the screen with anticipation to see what had become of her and her only family if they both faced off against the cold-blooded sadist on their own without Emilia and Natsuki Subaru's help.
"Live strong, my lady." The knight whispered into the blonde's ear, supporting her decision to watch and cementing his place to always be by her side.
Felt gave him a soft nod of her head.
Reinhard smiled as he felt the girl give his hand a squeeze, seeking comforts in his presence.
"I'll negotiate with him," he said, seeing the menacing look of the dark loot house.
"He's going alone then…" Julius muttered, his expression one of unease.
"All right, I'll leave it to you." Emilia instantly nodded her head and gave him a smile.
"You agreed to that quickly. The way you've been acting I thought you'd say, 'Leave this to a useless boy like you?! That's so ridiculous, I'm laughing my head off!' and I'd be hurt, but still decide to help you all over again." Subaru posed and imitated Emilia with a ridiculous voice.
"I wouldn't say something that mean. Of course, I'd be lying if I said you haven't been holding me back… " Emilia smirked at him and crossed her arms together.
He turned away with a disbelieving look. "It'd be a lie?!"
"But… I'll try believing in you." Her smile turned sincere as she watched him step up the front porch.
"They both seem so comfortable with each other," the half-elf whispered jealously as the pleasant interaction between this Subaru and Emilia was more playful and equal than all of her own interactions with Subaru combined, it was a moment where she found herself thinking about a single time where it was her teasing Subaru or being the party to joke around.
But her jealousy soon turned to worry the same as the blonde little girl behind her, "Wait… He's going alone?!"
"It appears he will." Wilhelm affirmed stoically.
"If it actually goes well, I'll consider it a bonus." Subaru said as he found her smile worthy of awe..."If you'd look up at me and say 'Do your best for me' I'd feel a lot more motivated."
"I can't force myself to say such a thing. But do your best." Emilia shook her head at the boy's antics and nodded her head to him.
"Yeah. I will. I won't be back too late, but you can have dinner without me."
"Stop being dumb. Be careful."
"Don't go!" Rem whispered, watching the screen with her lungs clogging with unease.
She did not like this.
"Sure, sure. Don't come in until I say it's all right, Satella." Subaru stopped his ascent towards the loot house's door once he realized the apparent flinch Emilia gave once he said her name.
"What?" He asked the girl before taking the final step up the porch.
Emilia looked away. "N-Nothing. Never mind. If you can get my insignia back, I'll apologize." Emilia smiled at him with a hint of guilt and remorse clear in her eyes.
Everyone watching understood what the girl was gonna tell him, but the feeling of dread filling the room forced them to stay silent in anticipation to see what's been building up never to touch on the girl's wish, as if they all knew that it would never come to pass.
The boy shrugged and turned to the door with a wary look on his face.
"Here goes nothing," Tivey muttered, earning nods from Otto and Garfiel, watching with battle ready expressions.
Subaru opens the door and looks around the dark room with the light in his hand. "Excuse me."
"Now, am I walking into a demon nest or a snake pit? In a fantasy world, either is totally plausible… "
Subaru is looking round the dark house, aiming the light at various bookshelves and cabinets filled with valuable looking objects.
"This isn't right. Old Man Rom wouldn't let anyone in the loot house, that place was our sanctuary!" Felt shouted more and more on edge.
"M-Maybe you both ran away as soon as this killer showed up?" Otto spoke, trying to find reason to comfort the agitated Felt.
"I wouldn't run away…" Felt whispered chillingly, "I wouldn't have run away on that day… if not for him."
Emilia closed her eyes and tried to drown everyone out…
...opening them again to watch with her confusion burning through all of her patience.
She needed to understand, now.
"This is all stolen loot and why isn't there anyone here?"
Subaru looked around the dark place and pointed his light in the direction where he needed to see.
"A place that handles stolen goods can only afford to be so careless." Subaru walked in the darkness…
* Squirrr! *
The sound of his foot stepping on some liquid…
Everyone's breathing hitched, their eyes wide and looking at the screen with worry, none made a single sound, not even the proud and confused matriarch or the emotionless looking clown sitting beside her.
It was a crimson colored trail…
"Oh no!" Petra screamed at the sight, immediately grabbing for her older mentor's arm and clutching for comfort.
"Felt-sama breathe!" Reinhard gritted his teeth and shook the small girl but he got nothing but her catatonic, horrified face as she watched the sight.
Blood...
Felix flinched, already wanting to jump and heal the body, "Who'd do such a thing, nyan?!" The healer knight growled in anger.
"A fucking bitch…" Garfiel silently seethed through grounded teeth, his expression one of absolute fury, "Tha' fuckin' bitch!"
Blood!
"What a horrible sight!" Crusch shook her head with a shocked look as she watched.
More blood,
… The scene shows Subaru discovering Rom's mutilated body. Bleeding from his neck as it was cut open, missing his arm and blood coming out of its stump. Subaru stepped back with a look of pure horror at the sight.
"Old Man Rom! NOOOOOO!" Reinhard had to hug his lady to calm her down, the little blonde immediately broke down into a meltdown, thrashing and jumping all over the place to escape his grasp so she could jump into the screen, her scarlet-eyes widened to the extreme as her tears ran down her cheeks, sobbing, crying, screaming for her only family's corpse on the screen.
Many gave her looks of sympathy and sadness; others simply ignored her and looked on with shock at the sight or fear for the screen's version of Subaru that was alone in the darkness.
"Poor girl," Al whispered, shaking his head. Priscilla didn't give the girl a glance, far too occupied by the pulling feeling of the world, telling her to watch what will happen next and be wary of what the screen will show.
"What's the meaning of this, I suppose?" Beatrice whispered the sight of the body greatly disturbing her yet setting off a deeply rooted fear in her.
She wasn't the only one who watched with fear filling her, a half-elven girl and an Oni maid had the same look of worry aimed at the black-haired boy as they watched in confusion.
It was worry,
And it was fear… But then…
"Oh, dear, you found that?" A smooth womanly voice sounded from within the darkness, surprising the boy.
Now, it was outright horror shown on the faces of Emilia, Rem, and especially Beatrice.
"Subaru!"
"Subaru-kun!"
"Run, I suppose! Run!"
The three girls screamed, Emilia fearing for the boy's life and not being able to handle the stress of this all, kept her hands entangled with his sleeping arm and hugged it closer to her chest, her teeth biting into her lip from how scared she was.
"It's her! That's the scary lady's voice!" Petra called out, remembering Elsa's voice from back when she tried to kill her in the old mansion.
"Who?" Crusch looked at the maid with confusion, the army commander expressing worry for her comrade that was fighting a hidden killer. "Who's responsible for this?! Who's talking to that Subaru-dono?!" Copy of their version of the black-haired boy or not, this was still a Subaru that had no business inside of this loot house and didn't deserve to die in it.
"The Bowel Hunter," Everyone turned rigid at that chilling answer from Reinhard, the knight simply lowering his head in shame while holding the crying blonde tightly in his arms, comforting her as best he could.
"Well, I have no choice, then." the voice sounded closer and more excited.
"No, Run! Cap'n!" Garfiel desperately wanted to get in there and save his captain. He knew how weak Subaru was physically and he fought Elsa by himself before so he knows just how tenacious she could be.
Subaru didn't stand a chance. He was dead the second he entered the loot house. And the blonde boy was downright petrified of seeing what the black-clad witch will do to his captain.
Otto, Rem, and the twins shared the same looks of fear.
Subaru slowly and frigidly looked behind him.
"Don't you dare touch him, I suppose!" Beatrice screamed with fury, Emilia and Rem widening their eyes in horror as they watched.
"Yes, I have no choice."
Subaru was kicked to the floor, making him drop the light.
"Poor boy…" Frederica gasped with tears filling her eyes, she wouldn't want anyone to face that killer on their own, and now that she's come to learn of the black-haired boy's origin and life, she understood how unprepared he was to meet this fight and fate.
He struggled to stand as the room was dark once again.
"It burns…"
The boy looked down at his body and noticed through the dimly lit room that…
He was bleeding.
Is this… all mine?
"I-Is this the same one at the start?!" Felix's eyes widen in recognition of the same event playing before this at the start, his worry for Subaru completely unnerving him as he watched the boy bleed out.
"Wha…" Emilia gasped, horrified, shocked, eyes wide and hands up to her mouth.
Subaru couldn't stop himself from puking as the blood started gushing out of his mouth.
This is bad… this very bad…
"Wait... that's!"
"The very first moment of this apparition," Anastasia affirmed for Julius and Felix with her glare analyzing the screen's showing
The pain forced him to drop back down and struggle on the floor as he bled from his wide opened guts.
The door to the house opened and in came a worried Emilia.
"Subaru? What's Wrong?"
"No… Run! Hurry!" Subaru spoke through his bleeding mouth and pleaded that she heeds him.
But the scene changed to Emilia walking through the dark house and looking back at something.
The scene showed Subaru's hand with a pool of blood under it. A sound of flesh being slashed by a blade was heard… Moments later... Emilia's dead body was shown dropping and bleeding right beside Subaru's.
Emilia didn't have the strength to scream as she watched with her hands covering her mouth and tears running over her face.
Not only was she killed. She was watching Subaru die.
Was this real?
Then how… was he… Emilia looked at the sleeping Subaru with wide horrified eyes.
"No… Please don't let it be true!"
Emilia started to understand, this was something Subaru had lived through.
Subaru's face glared with determination as he moved through the pain and ignored the blood gushing out of him from his exposed guts and his mouth.
"Wait there…"
Beatrice and Rem sobbed, watching with wide eyes as the boy amazingly held on to his last thread of life.
He reached for her hand.
Emilia shook her head and looked away from the screen, her breathing growing faster and intoxicated.
"I'm…" His eyes were starting to lose the light.
Reinhard and Julius grimaced and looked away as well, their faces stricken with grief for their friend's life.
"Going to…" He held Emilia's hand and squeezed it.
"It's useless now," Ram muttered, saddened for the boy's hopeless attempt to help.
"Save you…" The window moved closer towards their hands and shook.
"Cap'n…" Garfiel shed a single tear of heartbreak, not imagining he would see such a sight in his life, the death of his captain was bad enough when it was a suicide, yet this was so much worse because his captain was clearly not able to understand that he was dying beside Emilia too… Subaru thought he was gonna live through that wound…
Why does he keep making promises like that through each death?
Then… darkness…
Subaru Natsuki, was dead.
Sounds of bated breathing filled the now silent theater, the death of the boy simply aggravating and confusing all of the watchers.
"What the hell was that?!" Ricardo howled, his anger flaring after what he had seen and his confusion only nagging him further.
"H-He died? Again?" Mimi gave a sniffle as her expression dropped to one of heartbreak for her friend's suffering.
"What the hell is the meaning behind this?!" Otto shouted suddenly, surprising all in the room as he stood up and demanded an answer out of the hidden entity that was running the show, "Why is it always him dying?! Why aren't you showing us what truly happened?! Natsuki-san isn't dead! He's alive and well. So why are you showing us these fake apparitions?!"
Many nodded their heads along with Otto's furious statements, sick of the screen's silence and agitated beyond belief with the sight of the boy's death.
"This is some sick joke!" Felix muttered in agreement, not liking the sight of bodies and blood Subaru keeps getting surrounded by at all.
"I do agree that this is just time wasting at this point, we don't need to watch fake realities, I don't even know why we should watch the true events of our world since this warden has yet to explain what we are watching anyways." Julius weighed in with a disgruntled expression gracing his noble features, silently cooling his anger down after seeing his friend die once again.
"I'm going to break that fucking window!" Garfiel hollered furiously, his glare was feral and his teeth where grounded in a shattering way, displaying anger and solidarity for what happened to his captain and how this screen made him watch without letting him help out.
As the blonde boy jumped up to punch the glass screen, straps appeared, pinning Garfiel to his chair.
"Let me go!"
"Garf!" Frederica shouted for her brother as he was tied to his chair forcibly.
"This is just ridiculous! Give us answers and stop forcing us through something so absurd!" Ram yelled in anger, her features settled on a furious gaze aimed for the window before them as soon as the blonde boy was getting tied to his seat.
Clenching his fist, Reinhard softly patted Felt on the back as she finally calmed down and started wiping away her tears, giving short sniffles here and there but looking well enough to assuming a glaring expression toward the screen. She wasn't happy with the viewing either.
Reinhard was not in disagreement.
I want those of you that took a 'stance' against what I'm doing here to look around for a moment.
Everyone blinked in confusion while some glared at the window in anger, the voice of this warden filling their heads with sarcasm filling his tone.
Look at the walls, at the ceiling, and the ground even…
What do you see, guys?
"What…" Petra blinked in confusion, wiping away her tears and looking around at the dark blue colored walls of the room in bewilderment.
"I don't see nothin'…" Anastasia muttered with a raised brow and an unimpressed look.
"Just tell us what ya wan' damnit!" Garfiel screamed in bloody anger, fighting against his straps.
No escape route.
That is what you see when you look at this room, no escape.
I won't be able to explain why I'm showing this to you, but I promise it's all important to what I'm trying to expose.
"Expose?" Rem muttered in confusion, wiping away a tear.
Emilia and Beatrice perked up in interest.
Just watch this… To the end…
Everything will be explained then.
"So there is a reason for these fake worlds we keep watching." Crusch mused with a hand on her chin, "I suppose we must watch to the end."
"Crusch-sama…" Felix tried to argue but found himself ignored by the ever interested duchess having already honed her stern glare right at the screen.
"Hm," Al suddenly perked sideways towards his lady, finding her humming to herself while her eyes gazed toward the black void of the window with something akin to curiousness.
"I would've thought this was going to be infuriating for ya princess."
Priscilla simply ignored her knight's musing and kept her interested stare towards the one thing her senses told her to focus on.
"The boy's death didn't feel right to mineself," the matriarch muttered with all sense of annoyance now gone from her features as she began actually thinking about the possibilities of why they watched Subaru die once more and what the warden was trying to expose.
The lady in red already had an idea of what this boy's focus is… She just couldn't believe it was possible yet, so she will have to stay patient and watch this through to the end.
"S-Subaru died… and I wasn't even able to help him…" Emilia almost sniffled through her whispering, the shock and horror wearing off all of her senses as she stared the ground with a heartbroken look.
"It's not the real Subaru tho, Big sis… I'm thankful for that…"
Emilia couldn't meet with Felt's gaze, the blonde's tone was hushed and rough, her grief and heartbreak bled through her voice.
"What if… this was the real Subaru… if he lived through this too-"
"Don't."
Emilia kept her head down; the anger in Felt's voice couldn't hide the panic she was displaying.
"I-If… If that was real… then old man Rom…"
"It's okay Felt-sama," Reinhard held the girl's hand and patted it, trying his best to calm the hyperventilating little girl sitting beside him.
I want you to continue watching this and carefully focus on what's happening with Subaru.
"Are you saying that our Subaru had something to do with the one that had died," Julius instantly inquired, his face showing how uncomfortable and worried he was though he tried to keep a cooled tone.
Just watch with your mind open.
Please.
The warden wasn't asking… he was almost desperately begging.
"This can't be real though! Subaru is alive!" Otto shouted, agitated beyond belief
"Whateve'! We'll play this game o' yers! Untie me!" Garfiel was unlatched from his restraints by an invisible force.
"Let's all be calm and continue with whatever Warden-dono has to show us," the old butler sitting beside Crusch intervened with a sense of calmness as to resolve everyone's anger and affirming their need to carry through with the viewing.
"Emilia-sama?" Rem softly called out, seeing the silver-haired girl looking down at her lap with a grief stricken expression biting her lip in guilt.
Emilia didn't reply to the maid's call.
As everyone gathered their will once more, to watch and observe…
One person out of all of them was simply looking at the screen with slackened jaws and a flash of remorse showing in his multi-colored eyes.
"Oh no…" Roswaal whispered in horror, the image of Subaru's death playing in his mind over and over again…
"I didn't know it was like this," the clown whispered breathlessly, signs of guilt appearing on his covered features.
Let us watch then
A voice could be heard. A shape could be seen but it was blurry.
Slowly,
"What's the matter, boy? You look like you've seen a ghost." The Appa merchant was shown beneath the blur, holding an Appa and speaking with Subaru as if it was his first time meeting him.
"What's going on? Why are we starting back here again?" Felt asked in confusion.
"I was expecting to start another world from anew, not back to this moment." Reinhard analyzed contemplating.
Subaru slowly looked up at the man in confusion. "What?"
"I asked you about the appa. The appa! Do you even have money?"
"...What?" He blinked once more and uttered in deep confusion.
"This Subaru looks kind of frightened…" Felix pointed out as he began having a slow burning feeling of dread claiming his senses.
"Why would this one be frightened like that?" Tivey asked with deep interest.
Beatrice and Emilia were rigid… their eyes wide…
Roswaal was now holding a trembling hand on his face… hiding himself from everybody.
"Don't 'What' me! The appa! Are you buying it or not?" The man asked while glaring furiously at the boy.
"Oh… No, like I said, I'm broke beyond compare…" Subaru shook his head and explained in bewilderment at the sudden turn of events and environment.
"The hell? If you're just browsing then move along, I run a business here I don't have time for window shoppers." The shop's keeper yelled and waved Subaru away.
Scene change…
Subaru stands in the middle of the street with dark creepy music playing around him as he checked his bag and his surroundings and at the beautiful market in the midday.
Call of the Witch plays.
"What's going on? Wasn't it nighttime just a minute ago?" Subaru had a haunted look on his face.
He looks down and raises his clothes to find his belly uncut and perfectly healthy. "The wound on my belly is gone… "
A flashback plays reminding him of Emilia's death beside him. His eyes widen and his fists shake in panic.
"Oh, right! Satella! Damn it, didn't Puck ask me to take care of her? I have to get back to that shop!"
…
…
…
"What the…" Julius whispered breathlessly, his jaw and eyes wide open in shock and horror.
Emulating him, Anastasia kept a firm grip on her scarf not bothering to hide the unlady like horrified expression she had at this moment, "D-Did Natsuki-kun just return back in time?" the merchant princess found herself stuttering for the first time in forever, her sway and will to earn useful knowledge in this situation completely gone as her mind and senses took a moment to register what the hell this implicated.
"This could still be fake…" Ram muttered, unsure and disturbed.
"But Ram-san… this Subaru is referencing the exact things that happened to the one we've seen get butchered… this is the same Subaru from before… which means… "
"That migh' be Cap'n…"
Otto and Garfiel looked at one another for a moment, expressions of shock and fear, before turning and looking at the boy sleeping in the center of the front row with confusion.
"This doesn't make sense tho! How can he turn back time?!" Mimi shouted while rubbing her head as all of this was hurting her and forcing her to think too much.
"I don't think it's that absurd," ever the tactical one, Crusch held a hand to her chin and immediately started coming up with theories on what she had been observing for the past hour, "It appears this Subaru has no way of knowing or understanding what happened, meaning that he was brought back into this spot in time a precise second after he breathed his last breath in the loot house… I don't think I see any signs of fatigue or pain on him at this moment…"
"Meaning that he wasn't feeling any pain when he died… or else he would've been screaming in pain right at this second…" Crusch nodded her head and patted Felix on the head, her eyes focused on the viewing…
"There's no way for an ability like that to exist I suppose… turning back time… It's improbable, in fact!" Beatrice suddenly growled out from her seat, her shock and understanding wearing off as the implications to what Subaru had shown to possess settled a dark twisted knot that filled the spirit with anger inside, "Subaru would've told Betty about such a power. No. Betty would've sensed such a humongous mastery of magic in her contractor's soul, in fact!"
Gazing at the angered spirit, Emilia slowly looked up at her sleeping knight with forlorn eyes, "I don't know what this is… but Subaru does not look alright after… his death… it's taking a toll on him… I don't like it."
Shaking her head at Emilia's words, Crusch coughed loudly to gain attention, "That's not what I just said; Subaru-sama clearly is effected, yes. But he can't have been feeling the pain of death and then suddenly be summoned back in time without showing signs of his pain… "
"What are you saying?!" Felt shouted from her seat, frustrated with the way the duchess was speaking vaguely and wanting to get to the point
Redracting back, the duchess slowly spelled it out for everyone, "I'm saying that it may not be him going back in time, more so it can be him seeing a vision of the future in which he is going to be killed," Crusch's stern tone overlapped with her serious expression, "Subaru-sama has always been in the know of very convenient information… "
"He could be a fortune teller?" Otto whispered in awe as he understood what the green-haired royal just implied.
"Rem's hero…" Rem recalled back to the time he had saved those in the mansion by using extraordinary knowledge he managed to acquire out of nowhere, "This might be true… But I feel it isn't for some reason," Rem softly argued, unsure if this was useful to say.
"So, Subaru doesn't feel the pain of his… D-Death?" The small maid sitting on Frederica's lap stuttered in an attempt to ask her question, fearing for the boy's life.
"Visions and apparitions that can tell the future, Subaru does not seem to have any inclination of pain or fatigue over his at this moment," Julius weighed in with rapid interest as he analyzed the on-screen Subaru, "It could be his 'superpower' somehow, given to him by either the Od or … Whatever that shadow hand was."
"Subaru doesn't have any divine protections…" Reinhard softly interjected making everyone widen their eyes, "I can't sense them on him…"
"…"
"I think his power comes from his summoner, whoever they may be." Al forlornly spoke up, his head down.
"Let's all watch some more and observe this 'power' of his if it even exists… I think we're catching up to what the Warden-dono is trying to show us…" Crusch cut in one final time and settled her eyes towards the screen.
Many of them where amazed by the possibility of a seer in their midst; but somewhere, they were all on edge.
"I don't like that," Beatrice glanced at the half-elf curiously, "Subaru shouldn't live through such a horrible thing as death, be it a vision or… otherwise…" the elven girl said dryly with an apprehensive look clear on her face.
"You think there's something else, I suppose."
Emilia didn't acknowledge the spirit's accusation… She kept her worried eyes honed on the screen above them, wanting nothing but to sate this crushing feeling around her heart, a feeling she doesn't understand.
Beatrice simply looked up, her frown deepening as well as her tight grip on her contractor's arm growing tighter.
Subaru runs from the street and into an alleyway where…
...he finds the three same thieves from before.
"Again?" Felt questioned in a soft tired voice, having calmed down from her previous breakdown.
"Or it could be the first time they're meeting… to the thieves at least." Reinhard weighed.
"Hey, why do you look so spooked?"
"If you don't wanna get hurt, cough up whatever you've got!"
"You guys… did you see I was alone and decide to get revenge?" Subaru growled out with a nasty glare on his face.
"Huh? What're you talking about?"
"Are you nuts? Don't worry about it. Just leave everything you've got on the ground and we'll let you go."
"Alright, fine. Everything I've got, huh? I'm in a hurry so I don't even care." Subaru puts his bag on the ground for the three.
"He's in a real hurry," Tivey mused while observing.
"It makes sense if he wants to save Emilia-sama and the loot house occupants," Felix was now getting into the vibe of the theater and observing everything he could to help his lady, this power of Subaru's could be a game changer for everyone, they needed to understand what it was.
One of them gets cocky and smirks. "Now act like a dog. Get on all fours and howl,'Help me!'"
Garfiel, who had been silently watching just to understand this entire time, growled in annoyance and anger, "Don't get cocky ya bastards!"
Subaru glares at the three and attacks. "Don't get cocky you bastard!" Subaru punch the one standing in the middle, knocking him out. Without hesitation he kicks the shorter thief so hard that the wall he slams into forms cracks.
The larger man begins hurling punches towards Subaru but he manages to dodge and grab the man's arm in both hands.
"Don't underestimate a truant kid with too much free time. After swinging a wooden sword around all the time for no reason, my grip strength is over 70 kilograms!" Subaru is shown squeezing the man's arm and burning his skin.
Then Subaru kicked the man where his family's future was.
The poor thief held his crotch and tried to hold the wall beside him to keep from falling from the pain.
"I'm in a hurry! Don't get in my way again!"
"Hehe," Garfiel gave a small chuckle and looked happy to see his Captain actually fight for himself this time.
"Not bad," Julius noted bemusedly, "Much better than his first run," the knight nodded his head in approval, happy that his friend didn't resort to unsavory means against his dignity.
The scene changes once again and shows Subaru standing in front of the loot house. This time it was in broad daylight so he could see all of it.
"Don't freak out… don't freak out, don't freak out!"
Subaru psyched himself up and knocked.
"There's no doubt about it." Crusch looked on with a shocked look.
"He can see the future!" Frederica whispered in shock as she and many others were starting to believe the notion.
"Fools." Priscilla whispered in disgust, seeing everyone around her just keep thinking about the ability and forget the notion behind it, "That pig won't be the same again." The matriarch noted under her breath, referring to the black-haired boy she was watching.
The prospect of a time seer in her rival's team wasn't worrisome for the lady; she had the world serving her after all.
It was more so the annoying pull that this world was trying to place on her, a pull to keep watching for some odd reason… as if she had something to do with this power of the boy's.
"Is someone in there? Please answer me! Please!"
As he knocked and banged on the door in panic, it suddenly opened up revealing the same man he once saw bleeding on the ground.
"Shut yer trap! You tryin' to bust down my door, when you don't even know the signal or password?!"
"He's alive… he's alive…" Felt watched with heavy breathes the shock of her big bro's death fresh on her mind and the idea of him returning in time not coming into her mind yet.
"Old Man Rom's okay! They're all alive!" The blonde felt like crying once more but kept her focus on the screen, the sheer relief and happiness washing over her where almost visible to the eye from just her tearful happy expression.
"You!?" Subaru remembered him as that same man that had his neck and hand cut and wounded.
The window shows Subaru and Old Man Rom sitting at the bar. The boy was looking all around him as if spooked by something.
"What're you all fidgety for? Are your balls chafin' ya that much?"
"I'm not worried about the position of my privates! Don't start the conversation with potty humor!"
"You're already interrupting my evening booze."
"Don't drink while the sun's still up. You'll die young."
Subaru looked down and then back up with a look of conviction. "Actually… this is gonna sound dumb but… have you died recently?"
Old Man Rom started laughing at the boy. "Well I admit I'm an old man at death's door but I ain't dying yet."
"Okay. Then have you seen a girl with silver hair?"
"Silver hair? I ain't seen anyone that conspicuous."
Subaru looks surprised at this. Was it all a dream?
Then exactly how much was a dream? And why am I in this world?
"He doesn't seem to be in the know about this situation either," Felix noted observantly, "I don't think this was normal in his world either."
"Subaru-kun is just as confused as all of us." Rem frowned at the notion that the boy was dealing with this on his own, but she understood that he couldn't confide in anyone since he was alone in this world from the start. Rem couldn't hide her pity from covering her features.
"So what are you doin' here, anyway?"
"Oh… I'm looking for an insignia. It belongs to a silver haired girl that helped me out. I don't know why but it's important to her."
"An insignia. Sorry but I ain't got anything like that."
"Are you sure? Try to think! You're old and senile!" Subaru pressed with a desperate look on his face.
"If I can't remember it when I'm at my best, with booze in me then the only explanation is that I don't know. But… I've got someone bringing in goods later. I'm told its some fine loot. There is a chance it's what you're lookin' for." Rom smirks at the boy.
"Is the one bringing it in a girl named Felt?"
Rom seemed surprised. "What, you even know who swiped it? Of course, whether you'll be able to afford it is another matter."
"Ha! It's no use trying to size me up. I'm broke as they come after all." Subaru pointed at himself proudly.
"There ain't no use talking about it then." The old man shrugged and sighed in disappointment.
"No, there is the option of trading." Subaru clicked his tongue and wagged a finger at the man.
"Oh? He seems to still go by the plan he made in the vision." Anastasia hummed carefully, starting to like the power more for this advantage in trading goods.
"He's using what he saw to his advantage," Reinhard noted with a bit of a saddened look.
He didn't get to meet Subaru this time…
Wait…
"Wait, Felt-sama!"
Looking at the desperate knight, the little blonde raised a brow at him, "What's up?"
"Did Subaru meet you inside of the loot house?"
Felt blinked in confusion, "Uh… No, I met him when he was rummaging through my hideout."
Perhaps the little girl was too focused on the lovely interaction between Rom and Subaru, her happiness and relief for their lives not being taken was clouding her senses of judgment, so the only one who saw exactly the frightening outlook of this entailed notion was none other than Reinhard alone.
The knight looked back at the screen with a terrified face, he must be wrong about this or else… his lady may not be able to handle it.
Rom looks at Subaru's bag with interest.
"Now that you mention it, you've got some unusual stuff there."
"That's right, for example this is a corn potage snack." Subaru picks a small bag and points at it.
"It's super tasty!"
"That's the prize he gave me in the snow festival!" The little maid shouted in outrage, not wanting anyone else to take the treat away from Subaru since it was a special gift given to her.
"Was it tasty?" Mimi asked innocently.
Petra nodded her head.
"Tha's food?" Subaru hands him the bag and Rom pops it and eats the weird yellow pieces coming out of it.
"I see! What an odd flavor! These would go great with booze!"
"Right! Right! Hey! don't just start eating them!"
"Well, I dunno what you plan to trade but you'll have to come after Felt gets here, mm, that's good!"
The screen shows Subaru sitting on the steps of the loot house waiting as the sun was setting. He was looking at two poor kids that were eyeing him up from afar.
"I guess, in any world, there are people with money and people without. It sure is easy to see here."
Julius and Reinhard flinched a bit at this, now that the boy's fantastical origins were understood his words held a bit more merit to how broken their country actually is.
"Easy to see… Anastasia-sama will make this much harder, I assure you, Subaru." Julius nodded his head firmly, placing faith that his lady's rule would bring prosperity to remove the slums and elevate their peoples to the middle class.
"Hey what're you doing there? You're in my way."
"Felt!"
"You know me?"
"Of course I do! I've been waiting for you!"
"What for?"
"Wait, are you saying you don't remember me?"
Felt looked to inspect him. "Have we met? You know I'm a busy woman so unless they leave a good impression I don't remember most people I meet."
"I'd say that was a pretty huge impression… well, forget that. I want to negotiate for the insignia you have."
Felt smiled at that. "Oh so that what it is huh? Alright, I'll hear you out."
"I don't remember this happening… This didn't happen!" Felt suddenly exclaimed in anger, her face contorting to panic.
"I-It's okay! I can still be on my way and help," Emilia hurriedly spoke out.
"You weren't much help in the vision, and I doubt that you will be now." Anastasia shook her head as she shot the half-elf down, Emilia felt that sinking feeling again.
She didn't understand what it was…
"The boy's in this situation just because he wants to help ya." Anastasia drove her point in firmly, wanting to make the half-elf see how incompetently she was handling all of this.
"For a rat…"
"Poison."
"For a white whale…"
"A harpoon."
"To the noble dragon lord, we are… "
"Shitbags."
Subaru watched as Felt and Old Man Rom recited the password in front of him. Opening the door was the old drunk.
"Sorry to keep you waiting Old Man Rom."
Felt is given a glass of milk to drink. "Hey Old Man, did you water down this milk? It tastes nasty."
"Hey, I give you something outta the goodness of my heart and you call it gross?" Rom ruffled her head.
"You two are closer than I had either hoped or expected. I'm feeling left out, over here." Subaru sighed from the side as he watched the two.
"Don't talk like a wuss, when you have a face almost as scary as Old Man Rom's." The little blonde said as she drank more of the milk.
The screen moves from Felt to Subaru as he twists his face into an insane expression.
"Revolting!" Priscilla couldn't hold her tongue at the distaste.
"That's a scary look!" Petra shrieked over the blonde maid's lap.
"People have said many things to me, but you say I can compete with this old guy?" Subaru growled out as he adopted an intense expression to show off the sharpness of his features.
"Okay I went too far that time. Sorry, bro." Felt smiled and bowed to Subaru.
Rom was just looking at them with a deadpanned stare. "You two aren't in some conspiracy to try to piss me off, are you?"
Many chuckled weakly at that.
"Old Man Rom asks about him from time to time you know?" Felt meekly told the group.
"When we go back to the capital, we'll make sure Subaru-kun has the opportunity to play with you and Old Man Rom." Rem gave her some reassurance.
"T-Thanks." Felt seemed to perk up a bit.
Rem smiled towards the girl as she rubbed Subaru's hair, wanting nothing but for the boy to see how effective in bettering people's lives he was.
"Okay, well, why don't we get down to business? How much will you pay for it?" Felt suddenly asked as she turned to the boy.
"You don't waste time… before I answer, you do have it right?" Subaru asked in suspicion.
"Of course I do. There." Felt showed the stone with its ruby glowing in her hand.
"This one's got a jewel on it so I had to work really hard to get it. If you pay me enough to match my effort, we'll both be happy."
"I have no money." Subaru shrugged while eyeing the jewel.
"Then we have nothing to discuss!" The girl yelled out while stomping her foot on the stool.
Subaru waved his finger smugly at the girl.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I don't have money, but I have things worth money."
Subaru showed his phone to them. "What I have here. Is a magical device that can stop time for everyone, everywhere… A Cell Phone!"
"He's giving up the metia?!" Anastasia shouted in outrage while eyeing the precious item in the boy's hand.
"He did offer it up for negotiations when I met him; this seems a little different though…"
"Betty's contractor is giving up one of his only home bound items for something stolen from a stranger… what a fool, I suppose." The blonde spirit loli shook her head with a small protective glare on her face; knowing how much Subaru actually misses his home and how hard selling this item must've been for him… She did recall that he sold it way later in his time as a servant in the mansion tho, during his stay in the capital shortly after Emilia returned alone to the mansion.
Emilia couldn't help but recall the words spoken to her by the merchant queen, that feeling seeping through her and filling her with small pricking nails all over her heart.
Guilt.
"What is that?" "I've never seen anything like it."
Subaru tapped the phone and aimed at them. "Take this, nine continuous shots!"
The phone flashes at them and blinds them.
"Whao! Hey! What's that sound, and that was too bright!"
"Are ya tryin' to kill me?!"
"No, hold on." Subaru showed his phone to them and on it a picture of their faces.
"Those are our faces! What kind of magic?" Rom exclaimed in astonishment.
"I told you, it's a mystical item that can freeze a moment in time. With this you can capture moments in time and store them in here."
"Oi! Tha's so cool!" Garfiel exclaimed truthfully with a wide smirk.
"Are we even close to creating such magic?"
Beatrice scoffed at the small child sitting beside his twin and Ricardo, "That's not even magic, in fact. Betty's contractor has superior knowledge in science, nothing mystical."
"Which do you think is more useful, Spirit-sama?" Julius asked politely, wanting to be enlightened.
"Magic was hard to come by in Subaru's world, so you won't be able to use your information of the mystical talents everywhere you go… Science however… that's just in the fabric of everything everywhere." Beatrice smugly delivered her answer, making a few people ponder the true difference between science and magic.
"That's amazing!" Felt exclaimed as well.
"Is that one of the metia I've been hearing bout lately?" The old man mused while eyeing the device in Subaru's hand with great interest.
"Metia?" Subaru blinked.
"It's the name of the devices that let people who haven't the gate to use magic like real magic users." Felt explained from the side as Subaru turned to the old man.
"What can I get out of this metia?" He asked.
"No doubt more than that insignia." Rom answered firmly and with a nod.
"Then that settles it! This cell phone for the insignia! Negotiations complete!" Subaru reached to take the jewel but Felt took it in her palm.
"Nope. Not yet." Felt closed her palm and swiped her arm away.
"Why not?" Subaru fell and stared at Felt in disbelief.
"You're not the only one I'm negotiating with for this."
Felt winced and looked away, realizing that the events were too similar to what happened in reality. She will make Subaru stay until that vampire comes around. The blonde was hyperventilating again.
"Felt-sama!" Reinhard held her in his arms once more, looking worried and concerned for his lady.
"You were contracted to do this?" Julius sternly called, his eyes hardened. "We must find who sent for Emilia-sama's insignia at once!"
"Relax, Julius-kun. It's probably one of her many haters, and besides, the Sword Saint himself couldn't find out who sent this assassin, right?"
Stuttering under Anastasia's shrewd smirk, Reinhard looked confused for a moment, "Y-Yes, Anastasia-sama. You're correct. I tried my best to find who laid out the attack but I've never been able to track them. Elsa's organization is more invisible than the Witch's Cult itself."
"That is very concerning, Roswaal-sama." Ram jutted in with firm lips, earning a nod from the lord.
"Indeeeeed it is."
Roswaal's tone was empty.
"How did you know that the Sword master couldn't find out who attacked Emilia-sama?" Turning to the merchant princess, Crusch asked with a surprisingly tame expression of curiosity.
"Hmm, it's obvious from the lil' ones reactions." Anastasia mused while pointing at Felt's trembling form as the girl held onto the red-headed knight.
"Ah, that's a good point." Crusch relented and looked back at the screen.
"It's gonna be okay, Felt-chan. You don't have to worry!" Seeing how heartlessly Crusch and Anastasia ignored Felt's pain even though they were conversing about her, Emilia took it upon herself to comfort the poor girl.
Felt's scarlet eyes stared into Emilia's brilliant amethyst, "This isn't something that happened to me! Elsa could be on her way and she could hurt all three of us since neither you nor Reinhard will come to save us!"
Emilia immediately shook her head, "I'm sure it won't come to this, I've made it to the loot house on my own, remember? And Reinhard-sama as well! I'm sure things will go slightly different but they will be okay since we're coming."
"Subaru will be hurt tho… He might be seeing another vision where something bad happens… that's what the pattern of these has been showing us since we came here."
The half-elf lost her hopeful smile at Otto's interjection, the merchant head of the interior stared at the silver-haired lady with stern acceptance.
Emilia's face changed to a determined pout, "I'm sure nothing bad will happen… and even if it did… "
Beatrice narrowed her eyes at the girl as she paused…
"Even if Subaru was to go through a bad vision once more… it will only be just that… a vision… He won't feel pain at least." Emilia whispered waveringly, trying her best to rationalize that her knight wouldn't be going through actual death because of her idiocy.
"You're just disgusting, I suppose." Beatrice seethed under her breath, not letting anyone hear. The little spirit kept her grip on her contractor's arm strong yet tender, thinking about all of his nightmares and clearly hidden trauma that she's been wanting to help him with for the longest time.
The half-elf's deliberation away from the boy's suffering was infuriating to Betty.
"Huh?"
"Besides, I nabbed this insignia because I was asked to. My client told me I could get ten holy coins for it."
"You already have a deal with the one you stole it for? I don't know what ten holy coins would be worth, but… "
Rom interrupted Subaru.
"That metia you've got is worth at least twenty holy coins… no, there are probably fanciers out there who'd pay more for a thing like that."
"That means we can get away with overcharging for it!" Felt shouted with an excited expression.
"So when is the client coming?" Subaru shook his head and asked.
"Don't worry. Negotiations will be held here. If I tried to handle them alone then I'd be sunk if a client decided to attack me. But with Old Man Rom here, I don't have to worry."
As Felt nodded in satisfaction, a knock on the door sounded, gaining everyone's attention.
"She's here…" Otto winced as Garfiel held his shoulder and unconsciously gripped it too hard from how nervous he was.
"It might be big s-sis tho! There's hope Old Man Rom will be safe after all of this!" Felt tried to sound positive and optimistic…
Felt went to check who it was. Leaving Subaru and Rom together;
"Are you okay with letting her use you like this?" Subaru whispered, as Felt left them to check the door.
"I've known her for a long time, so I'll help her out."
Subaru chuckled at the sight of Old Man Rom holding a giant Bat.
"You know, it dries chuckles when someone looks like such a barbarian."
"Well, look at where we are. Everyone around here is just as desperate to survive. It's common for youngsters to join forces with others in similar situations, to keep themselves alive. But Felt ain't cut out for that. That's why I gotta look out for her." The old man spoke wistfully as he stared at the little blonde.
"That's what the old man thinks?" Felt whispered with heartbreak… though it made her fonder of the old man.
Reinhard nodded his head in respect to Rom; he had helped Felt through so much and for that, Reinhard would always regard him as part of his own family.
"How horrible… the conditions of those people…" Frederica couldn't help but whisper her sympathies for the slum dwellers.
Subaru looked at Rom with pity.
"I was right. It was for me."
Felt entered and with her…
Was….
"There seem to be several outsiders here."
A seductive, smooth womanly voice spoke pointedly as the owner of it entered behind the little blonde…
A black-robed lady with violet eyes and jet-black hair stood before the three with a stretched smile.
"Well, I'd be in trouble if you bilked me. We weaklings have our own brand of smarts."
"I know this older fellow, but who is this young man?" The lady inquired swiftly and smoothly as she stared over Subaru's form.
"This is your rival. He's the other person negotiating with me." Felt answered sternly and introduced the two.
A chill ran down his spine as he stared at the smiling Elsa.
"That's that bitch!" Garfiel writhed in anger. He wanted to transform and rip her face off the screen. He wanted to avenge his Captain. More importantly, he wanted to save his Captain.
"The Bowel Hunter..." Reinhard had a noticeably angry tone. Not only did he let her get away, he now had to watch her kill his friend, and his master, for the second time.
Garfiel gave a low and venomous growl, as if to agree with Reinhard's disdain for the woman.
"He's going to die again…" Julius was the only one in the room who could voice the upcoming truth, bracing the others for the force of the wave that will soon hit them.
"Run, please, just run." Felt began to tear up as she watched the insane woman of her nightmares once again enter the loot house.
Felt grabbed a hold of Reinhard's loose clothing for comfort, he sat still beside her, his eyes fixed on the screen laced with worry for both the old man and Subaru, but his heart was wrenching for what might happen to his lady.
"I-I'm sure I'm coming in this vision as well… I'm sure of it!" Emilia desperately begged that her words were true.
Elsa is shown to be drinking a glass of milk while the other three sat at the table with her.
"I see." The lady muses as she licks her moisturized lips.
"So that means you two will be bidding against each other. I don't care who gets the goods, as long as there is a highest bidder they will be the winner." Felt finished explaining.
"I think I like that personality of yours. So how much did this young man bid?" Elsa nodded her head and decided to take her place in the game.
"I'm putting up this metia. It's the only one of its kind in this world. I'm told that it's worth more than twenty holy coins."
"Metia? Hmm, as it happens my client provided me with some extra funds so I'm prepared to sweeten the deal."
"The client… so you were asked to fetch it, too?" Subaru inquired with narrowed eyes.
"I wonder who that may be." Ram seethed inwardly as she glared at the crowed below her to identify any suspicious reaction from the candidates or their camps. They were first suspects when an assassination attempt is carried on lord Roswaal's domain, ever since he began harboring... the most hated candidate in all of Lugunica.
"Things seem a bit too chilled out 'ere. The lady doesn't give off any killer vibes," Ricardo noted with his arms crossed and a confused look grazing his bestial face.
"Not yet." Garfiel growled in correction while glaring at the screen.
"That's right. The client is the one who wants it. Would you happen to be in the same business?" Elsa asked with her own narrow-eyed look aimed for Subaru.
"Being in the same Business as me would mean they're unemployed!"
….
….
…
..
"Hahaha, okay that's funny, come on." Mimi laughed along with Petra at Subaru's idiotic nature.
But the adults just watched quietly. Sweat on the back of their necks. Waiting for all of this to go horribly wrong;
"So this unemployed guy has named a price that puts him far in the lead. What price is your master putting on it?" Felt decided to move things along and passed Elsa the ball.
Elsa dropped a bag filled with holy coins on the table making everyone look at it in shock, Rom counted the coins.
"Twenty holy coins exactly."
"These are all the coins my client sent me with. Are they enough?"
Subaru looked down in disappointment, assuming that he had lost.
"You're a man! Don't make that pathetic face! I told you, your metia is worth no less than twenty… "
Subaru looked at Rom with a hopeful expression.
"As I see it, victory in this deal is leaning toward the boy. Sorry for you and your employer, but you'd better bag up those coins and leave."
"Yes!" Subaru jumped up in excitement, making everyone look at him weirdly.
"Wh-What? What's wrong with a little victory pose? I'm psyched!" He defended himself with an insecure look.
"No one said anything. Go as crazy as you want. I don't care as long as I get my profit." Felt shrugged and looked bored.
"Uh, sorry, Elsa-san. You'll probably get in trouble, huh?" Subaru smiled sheepishly at the lady and rubbed his head.
"It can't be helped. It was my employer's fault for trying to underpay." She sighed in disappointment and shrugged her shoulders. Standing up, and drinking the last of her milk, the dark-clad woman placed the glass on the table and sighed once more.
"Is she… actually going to let it go?" Frederica exclaimed her shock, not liking how comfortable this interaction with the person that had tried to kill her seemed.
"Well, this deal ended in disappointment for me, but I shall take my leave now." Elsa licked the milk on her lips and glanced at Subaru.
"By the way, what do you intend to do with that insignia?" She asked the boy.
Subaru simply smiled and opened his trouble hole, "I'm going to return it to its owner."
…
…
...
Rom and Felt looked at him with shock and distress.
No.
"Stupid Barusu!" Ram was the first to shout her belittlement of his actions.
"Idiot!" Emilia screamed as she finally broke into tears and hugged her Subaru tight.
"Run, please just run! You'll die!" Felt screamed.
"Come on, Cap'n!" Garfiel roared. His breathing started to pick up. He couldn't take the death of his Captain again. Despite his demeanor, he didn't like watching people die.
Especially not the man that saved him from himself;
Subaru realized what he just said and started panicking as Elsa pitched a sinister smile of twisted madness on her face.
"So… You're with them, then." Elsa's voice oozed darkly.
"Ah, there it fuck'n is! Shit!" Ricardo yelled, grinding his teeth in anger.
Felt pushed Subaru to the ground. As he was focused on the dark grin the evil woman was giving him he didn't see the blade the was aiming for his stomach.
"Wh-What?"
"Do you want to die?!" Felt shouted at him in anger.
"Oh, my. You dodged my strike." Elsa is shown holding a blade to where Subaru once was. Her attention was caught when Rom picked up the bat and started smashing the place where she once stood. Elsa jumped high and in the air to dodge the strikes, leaving Rom to crush and break the chairs and tables she would jump off of.
"This is my first battle to the death with a giant!" Elsa giggled childishly as she avoided all contact with the heavy strikes the giant was giving.
"Quiet, little girl! I'll grind you up and feed you to the rats!" The man shouted gruffly.
"Run, Old Man Rom! Please just run!" Felt screamed in panic, the events of Subaru's previous vision showed her just what to expect as an outcome of a fight between her old man and Elsa.
"Emilia-sama, you're close to the loot house right?" Rem asked, her tender voice filled with fear yet her expression displaying a hardened look of anger, she wanted to jump in and help them so badly.
"I-I'm supposed to be close! I reached the loot house without Subaru right when the sun began setting which is now!" Emilia stuttered as her nerves flared with panic for her knight.
Subaru and Felt watched as Rom and Elsa engaged in a battle of strength versus speed as the dark dressed woman dodged and jumped out of the way of the old man's impressively strong hits.
"This is bad!" Subaru looked worried as he knew that Elsa was merely toying with the old man.
Felt, however, was confident. "Don't worry. There's no way Old Man Rom will lose."
As she said this, she watched in horror as Old Man Rom tried to attack Elsa with another aimed strike.
"TAKE THIS!" But before he could land the hit, Elsa attacked him with her blade, cutting his arm clean off his shoulder.
"NO!"
"Hold me close Petra-chan, don't focus on anything else!"
Petra nodded and obeyed her teacher's orders, hearing nothing but the heart wrenching screams of Felt echo through the theater.
"Weakling." Priscilla commented dryly but a look of pure distaste could be seen clearly aimed towards the assassin on the screen by her beautiful blood-red eyes.
"Old Man Rom!" Felt shouted in despair as his arm fell near her.
The old man struggled with the pain as his blood covered the floor.
"Damn it!" Rom charged at the lady, "At least I can take you with me!"
He was met with a smile and raised hand that held a broken glass.
Elsa stopped his charge by merely stabbing the old man in the neck with his own glass.
"Thank you for the milk," Elsa smiled sadistically as the man bled from the wound on his neck.
Rom fell on his back, dead.
"By the Od glass." Julius grimaced and balled his fists in anger, vowing to avenge this killer's cruelty.
"NO! NONONO OLD MAN ROOOOM!" Felt screamed and cried while holding both hands to her knight's arm, never realizing that she would be seeing her own last family member die in such a way when she had woken up this morning.
Elsa bowed and placed the broken cup she stabbed him with on the floor, "I shall be returning this."
Felt stood up from beside Subaru with a glare so heated and scary. "You bitch… How dare you?"
"N-No… Don't get involved too Felt-"
"I WILL FUCKING KILL THAT BITCH! KILLHERKILLHERKILLHER!"
"W-Where the hell are you, Princess!" Garfiel shouted in distress, begging to have someone capable of fighting her off to show up.
"I-I… don't know." Emilia choked out in grief, slowly looking away from everyone in shame and staring at the screen with a pleading expression.
"Oh? It seems you have more courage than your friend there." Elsa pointed at Subaru in clear amusement.
Beatrice growled with gritted teeth, wanting nothing but to fill Elsa with Minya spears until she becomes nothing but a crystal statue.
"But if you resist then you might as well get hurt."
Felt wiped some of Old Man Rom's blood from her face as she glared at the killer. "Like you don't intend to kill me either way, you psychopath!"
Elsa is shown toying with a purple blade. "If you move around, my hands might slip. I'm quite rough at handling blades you see."
"You're a brave young girl," Crusch noted gravely, her expression forlorn.
Wilhelm nodded his head but held a firm frown, "Yet quite reckless."
"Sorry you got caught up in this." Felt whispered with a look of remorse aimed at the trembling boy behind her.
Subaru uttered out an, "I…"
But Felt didn't hear him as she unsheathed a dagger and dashed at Elsa with insane speed, she could barely be seen.
"What the…?!"
"Is that a divine protection?!"
Otto and Garfiel shouted their surprise over everyone's at the girl's ability.
"It won't be enough, gutter rat." Priscilla clicked her tongue as her glare hardened on Elsa.
As the girl turned into a gust of whirling wind around her, Elsa only smiled with amusement. "Blessing of the wind." She mused as she watched the wind turbo, spinning around her.
Felt stopped and swiftly derived a downward slash at Elsa….
But the killer simply avoided the blade by a hair's width with a smile.
"How wonderful. I can see you are loved by this world. I envy you!"
Elsa simply turned around and made a slash that cut the little Felt in half right before Subaru's eyes.
"No…" Willhelm slowly looked over towards his grandson. He watched as he winced in pain and a tear appeared in his left eye. He wanted nothing more than to hug Reinhard and console him. The boy has been through too much because of his mistakes.
Reinhard just hid his lady in his embrace and kept her from seeing the rest. He failed. He failed… I failed... I failed... I failed!
The blonde girl simply sobbed relentlessly into the knight's chest.
Anastasia and Crusch glared hatefully at the assassin, this could've been any of the other candidates, any of the candidates' friends or family; they couldn't help but feel wrathful for the little girl's death.
"N-No… No… This has to be nothing but an apparition too! This is only a fake!"
"Emilia-sama please calm down!" Ram tried to comfort the silver-haired lady from the back but she couldn't get to the frightened princess.
Holding Subaru's arm tight, Emilia had the most horrified expression anyone can muster as she realized that Subaru was now on his own against Elsa.
"Subaru-kun!" Rem screamed in fury for the boy she loved so dearly, her fists balled up and her breathing heavy, trying to find a way to get in there and protect him at all costs from the assassin's blade.
"The old man and the girl have fallen, yet you aren't moving." Elsa turned around to meet the cowering boy.
"Have you given up?" She mused in a smooth yet pitying tone.
Subaru is shown struggling to stand with a look of pure fright filling his face.
"D-Damn it…" He gritted his teeth and gathered up the courage to stand on his feet.
He glared at the killer, though a bit of fear was shown clear in his eyes.
"No, wait Subaru, please!" Beatrice yelled with tears appearing in her eyes.
Roswaal closed his eyes and balled his fists with his lips pursed.
"Ah you finally stood up. It's less fun since you took so long. But still, not bad."
Elsa and Subaru standoff with her smirking and him scared out of his wits.
That's when he suddenly yells and charges at her with his fist raised.
Elsa simply hits him with the hilt of her blade breaking his nose and kicks his stomach making him roll away from her for a few feet.
"But it's no use. I can see you are a novice, and your movements are rough. You have no blessings or techniques. I had hoped to squeeze wisdom out of you, but you lack that, too." Elsa snorted as she completely destroyed the boy's charge without using a flick of effort.
Subaru starts to get up. "Shut up! I do have my pride! After you've put me through all this…" Subaru lets his nose bleed and glares hatefully at the killer.
"Barusu, you idiot! Run! This is no time for such a useless thing like pride!" Ram, once again quick to belittle him, began to shed tears surprisingly enough.
"He's gonna get butchered, nyan!" Felix called in distress, not being able to keep his cheerful facade with how serious this has become.
"The boy can't face her alone," Wilhelm narrowed his sharp eyes straight at the assassin, wanting to help the young man who helped him avenge his wife yet knowing how useless it all was to try.
"Subaru-sama must have something up his sleeve, he must!" Crusch distressed, not giving up and nervously believing in the boy's capabilities.
A certain merchant boss hummed thoughtfully, "I wonder if he does, he looks to be desperate… yet I don't see what he could possibly do to delay such a vision any further."
Elsa notes this. "I do acknowledge that you have extraordinary determination. If only you could have found it sooner, things might've gone differently for these two."
Elsa looks at the dead bodies of Felt and Old Man Rom. She then licks her lips as she stares into Subaru's rage-filled eyes.
"It doesn't matter about me! Run!" Felt uselessly screamed.
But then he remembers the past time he was here. When it was night, When Emilia died beside him, He remembers where he was bleeding last time.
His expression lights up as he gets an idea.
"What're you doing now Subaru?" Crusch noticed his look and watched carefully.
"Oh? He got something from the obscure death?" Anastasia raised her brows in surprise and leaned in to see what the boy had noticed that could help him here from his last death in the darkness.
"I think it's time to end this." Elsa excitedly spoke as she charged at him.
"I shall send you to meet the angels."
"Subaru!" Petra screamed as the scary nightmare woman attacked him.
"Bitch!" Garfiel screamed in fury.
Otto, Beatrice, Rem, and Emilia watched with shocked expressions and withheld breathes.
Subaru readies himself in a fighting stance with a look of patience on his bleeding face.
Elsa charged and swiped her blade in a sideways slash towards the area of his guts.
Subaru changes his stance before she hits him and narrowly misses the blade that was about to cut him in half by an inch.
Before she could react, Subaru spins and delivers a really hard kick that actually lands and pains the killer.
"He used the previous life to attack her?!" Anastasia watched with wide open eyes at the scary situation this useless boy got in.
"He managed to remember where she struck first during his first vision… I don't think I would've seen that as useful either," Ricardo admitted with dry humor covering his voice.
"It won't be enough…" Julius closed his eyes, an expression of withheld anger.
He wanted to jump in and save him too.
"Ah… I certainly felt that one." Elsa smiled with a creepy blush on her face.
She stares, with a smile,
Subaru… looks down.
His bowels, they were cut open.
"My god…" The old butler simply looked on with a heated and wrathful glare. If Elsa wasn't already dead, she'd be Wilhelm's next hunt. He would put her in more pain than he did the Whale.
"Subaru!" Beatrice and Emilia shouted at the same time, holding on to the sleeping boy's arms for dear life as if he would disappear any second. Both girls completely shattered by the vision of the boy's wound.
Rem simply her hands to her mouth and couldn't contain her furious mutterings, "I'llkillherI'llkillher!"
"Are you surprised? I opened your belly when we passed by one another. This is the one thing I excel at."
Subaru tries to hold his guts in place as he falls on the floor and bleeds out of the cut belly he now possess. As his blood forms a pool on the floor around him, Elsa takes delight in stepping closer and kneeling beside him to watch as his soul was leaving his body.
She removes a piece of his cut clothing just to see his innards. "Ah as I thought. Your guts have such a lovely color!" she smiles sadistically.
Subaru struggles to stay conscious as he looks up at her through pain filled eyes.
It hurts… it hurts… it hurts… it hurts