Chapter 33: Regrets and findingsNotes:
I have thought long and hard about how I am going to write this story and come to the conclusion that I will have to be a little more patient with some of the things I want to happen. But at the end of the day I am just doing this for fun and it will not be perfect. Hopefully somebody will get inspired by this and make their own version that will be better than mine.
Until then criticisms are always welcome!
It shows me that you care and that warms my heart :)
I also should post the chapter tomorrow after I checked for typos, but I don´t care
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 33
Tanya knew that they probably stood no chance against the monster which had been a constant source of gruesome legends for generations. Rumoured to be the spawn of the jealous witch sent to torment the good people of Lugnica it remained undefeated for centuries. Despite not even having to do with the thematic of the respective chapter she had read multiple times about the White Whale in the history books as a allegory for certain defeat. If a fully prepared army could not defeat such a creature then her probability of success practically equalled zero.
Luckily she wouldn't need to kill it to achieve what she was going for.
It was, at the end of the day when you took everything into consideration, just an animal. A large, magical and extremely dangerous animal... but an animal nonetheless. And animals followed basic instincts that could be predicted. What could be predicted could be influenced. And what could be influenced could be manipulated. That at least was the basis of her main plan and she was relatively sure she could pull it off. Her expertise was fighting huge groups of human targets, both on land and in the air which was far different from what she was now attempting, but The White Silver, The Ace of Aces, The Angel of the Empire was anything if not adaptable.
The greatest problem in her strategy was that Subaru had foreseen three of them at once. Distracting and "mock engaging" one beast was difficult enough, but handling three of them would be almost impossible. Almost.
"Ram can you cast magic?" she asked.
"Yes Milady. I am proficient enough with water spells."
"Good. Can you heal?"
"Yes, but only minor wounds. I unfortunately never really got to train the healing arts."
"It will be enough." assured Tanya.
She checked her equipment once more to make sure everything was at its right place. Spare bullets, magazines, her pistol, the cutlass, her combat knife and multiple other miscellaneous items. Good. Now began phase one.
"Listen up everybody. I have no time to explain, but I know what I am doing. Despite how miserable our situation seems I can promise you that you are nowhere as safe as with me."
She couldn't promise that in fact, but morale had to be upheld somehow to keep this impromptu team functioning. Lying to your troops before battle could end up poorly, but history had shown it to be an effective tool most of the time.
"Our mission appears hopeless, but I have fought against worse odds singlehandedly and come out on top. If you follow my orders then I will guide you to safety. It will not be easy, but we all are going home if you can trust me on this."
This was also a lie. In case of an emergency she was perfectly prepared to sacrifice her two guards as bait. They were expendable. Reinhard would not be happy, but it would ultimately be easier to explain than the loss of her ally's subordinates.
Not letting anyone voice their doubts she quickly continued: "Turning tail and fleeing is impossible as I have no estimation of how fast we could accomplish that. Either we would manage to escape and possibly lead the monster to the Mathers domain or the fog would catch up to us anyway. By continuing forward at full speed we will pass through the mist as fast as possible. The only problem? The White Whale is in there."
If the strange mist had any similarities to naturally occurring fog then it would not only impede vision but muffle sound as well. The whale would need to rely on another form of orientation to find prey and direct its movement to it. Most logical would either be a keen sense of smell or a mana sensing ability similar to one of her formulae. (It was a magical creature after all so nothing was impossible.)
Identifying and subsequently triangulating the exact position of a mana signature had been standard procedure back in the Empire. Even the François had been able to do it so an animal should have no problem.
Because both these potential senses were rather vague the beast would search out the bigger, more delectable source if it had to choose between to targets. Radiating excess mana and dousing herself in blood would make her the more alluring victim in the White Whale´s mind which would hopefully keep the beasts from immediately going after the carriage.
"Now I am going to fly a few hundred meters away and distract the whale. I will silence a few parts of the carriage as best as I can, but the spells will not hold for long, so be quiet and slow down under no circumstances. Winfred and Tog, you are going to relocate inside the cabin and keep the windows closed. Don't talk, don't sob. Avoid all noise."
The last part was especially important so she made sure to stare Subaru deep in the eyes when she said it. For some reason he looked offended.
Keeping the noise of the driving coach to a minimum was a task as important as it was difficult. The sheer mana expenditure of holding up several spells over long distances was enormous, but necessary. In a normal, hour-long tactical engagement it would have been unthinkable to waste energy like that, but these were far from normal circumstances. If nothing went wrong (as it always did) then they would cross the fog before her mana ran out.
"Rem, if I tell you to drive right you will change course as fast as possible. If I tell you to drive left the same applies. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Lady Degurechaff." came the composed response from the maid. That girl had seemingly more backbone than her own bodyguards. Maybe she should hire her, but the Margrave was unlikely to part with such an excellent servant.
"If I do not return after you leave the fog then don't wait for me. I can take care of myself and fly back to the capital if I have to. Do not stop until the ground dragon feints from exhaustion."
Tanya did not wait for acknowledgement before she opened the door and flung herself outside. What would have been a potentially lethal jump for any normal person was nothing to worry about for a trained aerial mage of her calibre. Years worth of instincts kicked in and stabilized her mid air even though the wind dragged heavily at her deceptively diminutive form.
With a boost in power that created a small shockwave behind her she took off in the direction of the rapidly approaching mist. Meanwhile her fingernail flickered and extended into a tiny, bright glowing cutting edge.
Carefully, in order to not cut too deep with her razor-sharp mage-blade, she skimmed over the surface of her skin and opened up shallow wounds all over her body. Blood flowed freely and ruined her tattered clothing further. A pity. She had liked the shirt. At the current rate that her heart was pumping she calculated that she would suffer from symptoms of anaemia in twenty-three minutes and fourteen seconds. More than enough time to get the job done hopefully.
Of course her enhanced metabolism as a mage meant that her blood already had began to clog and she would need to reopen fresh lacerations in a few minutes to prevent the old ones from healing, but it was good to stay safe. Dying from self-inflicted wounds after all the tribulations she had been through would be a cosmic joke that she wouldn't grant Being X.
Now she properly reeked of blood and her high man output would make her even more noticeable. If she hadn't grossly miscalculated then she would be irresistible for the beast.
Maybe a bit of auditory stimulation would also be beneficial?
"WHERE ARE YOU MONSTER? DO YOU CRAVE HUMAN FLESH? DON´T LET MY APPEARANCE FOOL YOU! I AM THE TASTIEST ONE AROUND!"
It sounded lamer than she had initially though, but the White Whale most likely couldn't understand her flimsy taunts anyway. Everything that mattered was that she was loud and smelled appetizing. Luring it a good distance away was top priority and then the real fun could begin.
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Subaru was more than a little afraid and with good reason. Apparently this White Whale was an even bigger deal than he thought and seemed nigh invulnerable. Not to mention that the terrible beast had already killed him once and the strongest person at the moment was not here to protect him!
Well, dying was a far less scary prospect for him than any other person in the world, but that didn´t make it any less uncomfortable. If worst came to worst he could simply restart and try something different. It was a blessing as much as a curse, because he was confronted with his mistakes again and again. Why did he have to be so powerless? Why did he have to be so weak?
He scowled at his inability to fight that stupid whale. Now Tanya had to go out there and save his sorry ass, because he was too weak! He should be the hero of this story and face all problems head on, but instead he ran away like a little child. It was simply not fair! Everybody saw him as a nuisance.
By now his fear had turned into rage. He was angry at the whale, at the world and mostly at himself.
He would be no longer useless! He would impress Emilia and show the world that Subaru Natsuki was not a pushover! He would not let them down any more!
In that moment all he could think about was his blinding fury and reason or self-preservation no longer mattered to him. His mind fell into a frenzy of negative emotions which led to a decision that would alter the course of the fight.
In a heartbeat he was up from his seat and rushed to the door of the carriage. With all his desperation and anger he nearly ripped the handle off as he opened it and leaped into the open. And then...
Pain.
As it turns out jumping out of a fast moving vehicle onto hard ground was not a pleasant experience. He couldn´t help but whimper in agony for a few moments before he mustered enough strength to stand up. Every bone in his body seemed to ache and he was sore everywhere. All in all a typical day for Subaru. Nothing out of the ordinary.
The carriage had already disappeared in the thick white fog that was surrounding him and everything was eerily silent. It felt like the whole world had been swallowed by the milky miasma and he was all alone...
Slowly doubts were beginning to form in Subaru´s mind. Fear resurfaced and cleared the haze of irrational anger away to reveal a growing list of second thoughts. Maybe this had not been such a great idea after all?
Indeed it hadn´t as the tomblike silence was ripped apart by a ear-piercing screech and intelligible yelling. What was going on?
Now that he had probably already doomed himself he was going to investigate. Information would be the key to defeating the monster next time, he was sure of it. Maybe he could even be useful and aid Tanya in whatever she was doing.
Again and again the horrible screech nearly forced him to his knees, but he was coming closer. He wouldn´t give up now! Although it was pretty difficult to find the location of the battle, because he could barely see his own feet in the mist.
Suddenly though everything became quiet again and he feared for the worst. Had Tanya lost? Was she killed? Where even was she?
That question got answered as subtly as if god himself had extended his finger and pointed at her location. Golden light pierced the fog and seemed to nearly split the heavens themselves. Brilliant radiance exploded with such brightness that he had to avert his eyes even with the mist obscuring the land around. It was so overwhelming that fell to floor in pure awe at the power that was consuming everything in his vicinity.
Subaru wouldn't have been surprised if someone on the moon could see whatever was happening in front of him.
Interlude 2
Far off in the depth of the far reaches of space, in a particularly chaotic junction of the infinite multiverse an entity only called "Being X" by his most ardent detractor, was seething. His lost lamb, his little atheist was still missing and he had found no lead on her whereabouts. Who had stolen her away? Who dared to ruin his favourite pet-project?
He raged in fury and indignation about her unexpected disappearance so much that he was practically unaware of the time he wasted on his mad quest. His own worlds remained unattended and millions of souls were denied passage to the afterlife, because he was not there to reincarnate or otherwise process them.
Instead he had spoken with countless other gods and creatures that exceeded mortal imagination and asked them for help in his feverish search, but most of them had simply ignored him. They would all pay for their disrespect! (Like Aqua who had just plugged in earphones and watched some terrible TV show instead of listening to his extremely important massage.) Kos of the Great Deep Sea had at least tried to be of use to him, but her very nature was incomprehensible even for him and her "words" had only confused him further. Truth had nearly been equally as cryptic and on top demanded a price for his services! Laughable! Didn´t he know who he was talking to? Being X was far too great to be charged with prices like a simple human! The insolence...
And so he aimlessly scoured the multiverse, throwing world after world into chaos and peril when he looked under every leaf and stone to find his rightful possession. Although no matter how hard he looked he could never find his plaything. Even his near infinite patience was running thin and he was secretly considering giving up for a while when he suddenly felt a familiar sensation tugging at the edge of his perception.
There it was.
His glorious power that he had graciously bestowed upon the ungrateful mortal was being used and he could feel it. With great haste he threw the world he was currently inspecting away into the eternal abyss and rushed to the origin of the feeling.
It was a magical world governed by a crystal called the Od Laguna, but he couldn't care less. What could a measly crystal of magical energy do against him, the perfect existence? There were also other powerful entities present, but he wasted no time on studying their pitiful lives. Compared to him they were (of course) nothing .
With a ripple in reality foretelling his arrival he descended upon the heavenly plane of this world and searched for the traces of his energy. A few moments of concentration was all it took for his divine mind to comprehend the entire geography of the planet and track his little nonbeliever down. Now he had her back! She was his once again! Oh, he couldn't wait to make her pay for all the trouble she had caused him! Suffering for a million years would not be enough to appease him.
Just as Being X was preparing to pluck her from this world again and bring her back to his domain something unexpected happened. He couldn´t do it.
What?
He tried to do anything at all...
And he failed to move even a nanometre.
What in his holy name was happening?
Only now did he realize that the entire world seemed to have stopped moving. Like when he communicated with lost lamb, but this wasn't supposed to happen to him. He was a god! He was above such petty tricks to awe mortals! Why couldn't he move?
Deep purple shadows were beginning to slowly encroach on him and practically oozed pure malevolence. They were darker and deeper than anything he had expected from this unimpressive world. He had to admit he had not expected anything here to challenge him.
"...YoU CaN noT Be alLoWeD to RuIn mY pLAnS..." whispered a surprisingly beautiful but at the same time distorted voice directly into his mind. His skin would have crawled if he had any.
"And why is that? Who does so boldly speak to me?"
No response. He got angry.
"The little human is mine and only mine!"
"...sHe nEedS tO HelP mY BelOvEd..."
"I want her back! You are nothing to me! Leave me alone before I obliterate you!" he screamed in equal parts unease and irritation.
"...I wiLl NoT PerMiT thAt..."
Suddenly a second, more youthful voice chimed in and seemed to address the first one. It appeared to be female in origin as well.
"My, how interesting. You are after Tanya, right?"
"Free me! I am a god! You are not even worthy of my attention! Tremble and bow bef..."
"The false god was silent." she calmly stated as if fate had already decided that outcome and to his growing horror he found himself unable to speak.
"See? Much better now. Leave it to me Satella. You don´t need to worry about him messing with your beloved anymore."
"...bEtTEr KiLl hiM nOw..."
The girl sighed and emotionlessly said: "The witch of envy was back in the Pleiades watchtower and had never encountered or noticed this false god here."
From one moment to the next the dark, shadowy presence was gone as if she had never been there to begin with.
"So what do I do with you now... Being X?" she asked with unnerving gentleness.
In this moment he realized that he should have let the atheist go and forgot about the whole affair altogether when he had the chance. This was not worth it! For the first time in his existence Being X was afraid. And rightfully so.
Notes:
Don´t worry, the next chapter will reveal what I "skipped" over. Tanya´s perspective is going to be fun. (I hope)
I couldn´t resist the temptation of adding a few cameos from some of my favourite franchises as well and they won´t be the last XD
Meanwhile, who is your favourite Re:Zero character (aside from Subaru)?
Rem? Crusch? Reinhard? Pandora?