"Ha! He just looks like a lovesick pup~!" Mimi teased excitedly, making Ricardo and her brother chuckle at the boy's expression.
"Emilia-sama's kind heart never ceased to amaze my Subaru-kun." Rem softly whispered while looking at the scene with an air of fondness.
Emilia just looked at the scene with curiosity, wondering how different this interaction will be since she will have Subaru with her… She wont be on her own this time.
The half-elf's lips quirked into a small downward circle.
"Thank you for all your help, Subaru. After I help that little girl, I'll handle it on my own from here." Emilia spoke firmly and walked away from him without leaving a chance of argument.
Watching this firm stance, Emilia shook her head at her counterpart and looked on to see what her knight will do now that he's been let free… almost like a natural habit, a feeling of warmth filled her as she quickly theorized what he will do now that she had left him.
"Bet number two, he doesn't leave her side." Anastasia announced cheerfully with a raised hand, laughing as almost every single person in the room raised their hands with deadpanned or fond expressions.
Even Emilia herself was chuckling softly as she had her arm raised, fondly touching the boy's limp hand with her fingers rubbing the soft skin, reminiscing about all the times she tried to force him away only for him to return right back to her side and berate her cheerfully when she was being a dummy.
T he girl noticed Emilia standing in front of her with a soft smile on her face . She noticed Emilia's features and recoiled in fear.
"Oh… Emilia-sama." Rem whispered in a gentle pitying tone.
Julius and Reinhard just looked down away from the screen, not wanting to watch such a displeasing moment of one of the royal candidates to their throne.
"Mineself thinks this child is smarter than the rest of those bumbling buffoons." Priscilla stated about the people surrounding Emilia with a cold smile, enjoying the slight flinch the silver-haired candidate gave.
Ram and Rem both narrowed their eyes from their respective seats.
Emilia ignored this and knelt with a gentle smile aimed at the kid. " I'm sorry I'm not who you were looking for. So what's the matter, aren't your mom and dad with you?"
Although she was gentle with her, the small child seemed to be frightened of Emilia and began shedding tears.
"Uh….um… please don't cry alright! I won't do anything to you, all right?" Emilia started to panic and tried to calm the girl down to no avail.
"Can't even stop a kid from crying, some leader you are! How can you lead a nation if you can't stop a child from whining!? Haha!"
"I would like to see how you deal with a distressed child." Crusch came to Emilia's defense and glared at Priscilla.
Suddenly, Subaru's hand was in front of both girls showing them his ten edge coin.
"What I have here is one grooved-edge ten-yen coin. I will now clutch it tightly in my hand. Tight, tight, tight… like that! And now imagine that! " He opened his palm to reveal it was empty when it should have had the coin in it. The girl looked amazed at Subaru to which he gave a gentle smile.
Petra's eyes sparkled with joy as she saw one of Subaru's many magic tricks being preformed on the screen, "Whoa!"
"How'd he do that?!" Garfiel was just as amazed as the child.
He moved his hand to her hair, " And this… is where the coin was hiding." He gently showed the kid his coin. The girl smiled with awe and astonishment but looked up at him with an asking look.
"You can have this. Its rare so take good care of it." Subaru chuckled and extended his coin to the girl.
The little girl smiled brightly and took the coin. " Thank you!"
"I see. You got separated form your mom, huh? it'll be fine! Just leave it to me and this young lady here. We'll find them for you in no time. " Subaru assured the little kid with a charming smile as he walked her throughout the marketplace.
"Subaru seems really good with kids." Frederica smiled at the sight of the happy girl.
"Yeah, everyone in the village loves Subaru-sama," innocent and cheerful, the smaller maid sitting beside Frederica praised with a beaming expression.
"Did ya deal with this the same way without big bro?" The ex-thief asked the girl with silver-hair and white-robes sitting in the front curiously.
Emilia only shook her head silently, keeping her expression hidden behind locks of silver hair as she watched the way her knight would've handled the child had he been there to help her during her time.
The scene showed Subaru and Emilia, walking alongside the girl with each holding one of her hands as they looked around the marketplace. " When they see us like this, people who don't know us probably think we're a married couple and child, huh?"
"Barusu can't keep a handle on his pervy intentions no matter the difference in worlds, Ha!" Ram laughed humorously at Subaru's clear abysmal attempts at flirting while her own sister was just pouting sadly while watching the scene.
Beatrice only huffed and glared heatedly at the small girl, finding herself extremely disliking the way he referred to her as his child.
"The young man wears his heart on his sleeve." Crusch found herself chuckling softly at Wilhelm's fond musing, liking the relaxed-state the old butler seems to have sunk into as he watched the lovely scene.
"What a disgusting image, tck!" Priscilla spat haughtily in disgust, not finding the showing of Subaru, Emilia, and some random child from the streets in such a close manner comfortable enough for her standard.
"At best, I can't see you as anything more than her older brother." Emilia scoffed and carried on walking over the crushed pieces of the young man's heart.
"What makes you think I'm that much younger than you?!" Subaru cried out in misery.
Julius and Otto chuckled loudly at the comeback, finding Subaru's expression to be amusing.
"Ooooh," flinching back, Mimi sounded with sympathy after seeing Subaru's crushed expression.
"That's so cold, big sis!" Felt laughed heartily and tapped her knee in approval.
Blushing madly with the embarrassment, the royal half-elf could only find it appropriate to slightly pinch the limp hand beside her while muttering, "Stupid Subaru," pouting in displeasure.
"Wake up already…" Rem whispered sadly, wanting her hero to see these scenes even if they weren't a reality. She knew that he would be more than overjoyed to have seen this with them as well, Rem always knew what made her hero happy, her best efforts went into making him smile even if a little.
"Mommy!" the girl suddenly let go of their hands and ran into her mother's embrace.
"Looks like she found her."
Emilia smiled at him. " I'm glad."
The scene changes to them sitting on a fountain ledge.
"I think we took a pretty long way around, but what benefit will you insist that you got out of this? " Subaru asked as he watched the water flowing below his ledge.
" That's easy. Now we can continue our search with our minds at ease, right? Anyway why did you help me? You were against the idea." Emilia inquired as she kicked her legs on the ledge.
"I could say I just wanted to show off my magic trick, but that would be a lie. I told you that finding your insignia is my good deed for the day!" Subaru charmed with a pose and smile but Emilia instantly refuted him with a raised brow.
"Then, since you helped the little girl isn't your one good deed over?"
"The com e back was way too logical! Come on it isn't bad to do more than one good deed for a day right? I just got tomorrow's out of the way. My plan is to get a week's worth of good deeds taken care of early!"
"Subaru, you're the type that basically wastes your whole life, aren't you?" Emilia refuted again with a look of pity aimed at the boy.
Subaru slum p s, " You're the last one I want saying that to me." He moaned.
"He's just trying to help you, Emilia-sama." Chuckling along with the others, Rem warmly told the girl sitting in front of her.
"I was not in that place though, I can't recall a reason for why this me is treating Subaru so uncompromisingly-"
"I think this Emilia is just suspicious of Subaru-sama's kindness toward her," calmly interjecting on Emilia's thoughts, Crusch firmly attested her point of view, sharing what she had been theorizing in her mind for a while, "It was the reason why this copy of Emilia-sama used the Witch's name."
"To scare him off?"
Crusch gave a firm nod at her healer's assumption, "A boy that came out of the blue with kindness and pure intent should be very suspicious to someone of Emilia-sama's status," staging her amber irises towards the half-elf, the duchess formed an expression of pity, "Not to mention Emilia-sama's appearance may cause her a lot of trouble so she probably was trying to get Subaru-sama away to not involve him."
Hearing the duchess' theory, Emilia flinched a bit while holding her head down, wondering if she really would do these things, using the forbidden name of the Witch, trying to leave the injured kid behind at every turn…
She couldn't deny the feeling deep inside of her that compelled her to believe there was a chance that she would indeed to these things had she met Subaru the same way this she, did.
"That seems plausible." Anastasia affirmed with a surprised look, nodding her head in approval now that she actually agreed with the way this Emilia had conducted herself by using the witch's appearance she resembles to her advantage.
"To bad big bro is from another world, he has no idea about the Witch." Felt muttered with her hands behind her head.
"You aren't a bad boy though." The royal-robed girl said with finger on her chin.
"Why are you treating me like I'm younger than you again? I doubt there's much difference between us." Subaru asked, turning to face the girl sitting on the ledge beside him.
"I don't think making guesses on that will help you. I'm a half-elf." Emilia looked down with a dark expression suddenly covering her face. One of sadness and frustration.
Not many gave an outward reaction to this, most of the people that understood the girl's tragic treatment because of her appearance only gave slight frowns of displeasure, like Julius and Reinhard, others opted to bring forth the nastiest of glares towards the invisible forces plaguing the half-elf's life with sadness, or just glared at the screen furiously, like Garfiel, Otto, Rem, and Petra. The little maid specifically has grown to like the princess quite a whole lot compared to the days before Emilia started coming out to the village every week with an excited Subaru hopping beside her.
Subaru looked up at her in surprise as he noticed her ears for the first time.
" Now I understand… " He whispered in an astonished tone as he noticed her pointy white ears…
Emilia gripped her knuckles tight as she waited for a certain reaction once more.
"She's really nervous…" Petra whispered anxiously, feeling bad for what her royal friend was going through because of self doubt and hesitation.
"This is the first time she's been beside someone that liked her for more than a few hours." Pity filled the many faces across the room at Emilia's saddened explanation, no one able to look at her, her tone being the only thing telling of just how much the girl was isolated because of her appearance.
"… No wonder I thought you were so cute! Elves are always beautiful huh? " The boy quipped with a shining smile once more.
"...E-Eh?!"
Ricardo and Al gave a hearty laugh, the pitiful expressions for the girl turned to ones of hope as the silver-haired half-elf blushed to her ear tips, slack-jawed, and embarrassed at the screen's showing.
"Smooth, Subaru-sama." Frederica commented while giggling happily, giving a smile of approval to the boy for cheering Emilia up.
"Thatta boy." Wilhelm commented silently, making sure no one was to hear him as he let his stoic face drop for a moment and quirked an amused grin at Subaru's wooing of the lady.
"What? " Subaru asked in confusion as Emilia stared at him with a slack-jaw.
"Well… I mean… I'm a half-elf…" She stuttered.
"Yeah I heard you."
Emilia stood up from the ledge and looked away from the confused boy. She held her head in her hands as she lowered herself to keep him from seeing her blush.
"Dummy!" Petra and Rem both giggled as Emilia muttered under her breath with an embarrassed pout on her face, not liking how everyone else was enjoying this tender moment between her and Subaru.
Subaru was even more confused when an angry Puck flew out of her hair and punched Subaru in the face softly.
"What'd you do that for? "
" I just had to do something about this unbearable tingle I feel!"
Subaru touched Puck's nose with the tip of his and smirked. " I can't accept being hit for a reason like that. Though I forgive you because it was squishy."
"I didn't hit you out of anger or anything. The opposite in fact."
"Subaru, you're such a dunderhead!" Emilia turned around and glared at him with her cheeks still archiving a tingle hoe of red.
"Who says Dunderhead in this day and age? And why are you insulting me? "
Emilia's eyes dimmed a bit, feeling a painful tug in her heart after hearing that phrase she had grown so fond of being said to a different version of herself… or perhaps her own self.
She stayed silent on that matter and watched with a heavy heart, her only wish was to have the sleeping boy that had been placed beside her wake up and explain everything.
" Hmph! Whatever! We have to get back to our search." Emilia turned with an angry pout.
"Hang on! Running around without a plan never ends well. That's a basic rule of searches?"
"Rule of…."
"Yep. You revisit the crime scene a hundred times. Where was your insignia stolen?"
The scene changes to Subaru standing with the appa sales men behind him.
"Has he knowledge of elves in his world? I thought it was only human kind that populated Subaru's home."
Scrunching her nose, annoyed that the screen paused once more when she was ingrained in the scene because of Julius' query, Beatrice sighed and held her head high as she answered without glancing back, "Subaru's world has always relied on imagination and hard work...rather than relying on the gifts of powerful entities like the spirits and Od Laguna. They had none of those things so they had to be creative to advance their societies using the elements around them. Since they've learned all they could of the world around them, some humans got bored with their world, so they started writing and fictionalizing worlds of their own in books, I suppose."
"You mean elves are just some fictional race that's used in made-up fantasy stories from bro's world?"
Beatrice blinked and nodded her head with surprise showing on her face for a moment, "You've got it right, I suppose. You seem to have a good head, in fact."
As Betty looked away to the paused screen, the knight receiving her praise simply shrugged and silently stared at the screen in wait, the helmet on his head hid his anxious face as he watched, seemingly more interested in this showing than the tales of Subaru's world.
Al was never one to dwell on a world he'd lost long ago anyways.
"That seems… a bit too coincidental to happen but thank you for answering me, great spirit-sama." Julius bowed his head towards the blonde girl, showing her the respect her rank as a spirit demanded even if she didn't give him a second glance back as her butterfly eyes bored through the screen.
"You see, it seems the crime happened right around here, so I returned to this fruit stand after valiantly telling her to leave it to me."
"What? I thought I had a customer but it's just that broke kid?"
"Haven't you noticed I'm not who I was before?"
"What?"
"Just look who I brought with me, she's someone that might become a regular!" Subaru pointed at Emilia but he didn't notice that she looked slightly embarrassed.
"Um, Subaru. You seem to have some weird expectations of me, but I don't have any money either."
"Huh? Seriously?"
"You're both made for one another, in fact." Beatrice muttered with a hand on her face at the two idiots on the screen.
"So, what did you want to say to me now that I have two broke customers?"
"We're looking for someone and we hoped we could ask you some questions… "
"That was a sarcastic way of telling you I don't have time for losers with no money! Get outta here! " The salesman shouted at the two in anger.
"He's a nasty one, that's for damn sure." Felt chortled with her face set on an annoyed glare.
"He should be warned how he speaks to you next time, Emilia-sama. You're a candidate to the throne, even if having Barusu with you made you look less than that."
"But Ram-sama, Emilia-sama wasn't the one to live through that." Petra intervened on the lecturing pink-haired maid's statement, reminding everyone of the weird circumstance around the actual showing of the screen.
"Why's it giving us weird different events from ours? My head's hurtin'" Ricardo sighed in annoyance, getting patted on the arm by his lady's gloved hands.
"Let's jus' watch and see," The merchant royalty ruminated, her face set on an amused smile.
Subaru was closing his eyes to defend himself from the man's yelling.
"Mister! " a cheerful and child ish voice called out.
Everyone looked to the side to see the little girl and her mother from earlier waving at them.
" Hi there."
"What brings you back here?" Subaru asked the mother.
"It's my husband's shop, so we were just stopping by."
"Husband?" Subaru looked at the salesmen.
"Daddy!" the girl hugged her father
"That's my little girl. Wait, you know these broke losers?"
" She got lost and they found her."
The man glared at the sheepish Subaru.
"Here lady, take it. " Emilia looked down at the smiling girl as she presented a flower in her hand.
"She wants to thank you in her own way so please accept it." The wife smiled proudly at the scene.
" Thank you." Emilia smiled gently as she placed the flower on her dress.
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! " S he 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!
T he 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 afterall."
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 flusteredly 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 can 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 Rienhard? 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.
S cene 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.
S ubaru opens the door and looks around the dark room with the light in his hand. " Excuse me."
"Now, a m 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 ran 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 the 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 it's 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 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.
T his 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 he e ds 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.
S ubaru'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 livid 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 contemplatingly.
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 accuire 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 wieghed 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, whomever 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 fortune seer in their midst, but some where just potentially 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.
" H ey, 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 thie f 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. Afte r 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.
[I am changing it]
.....
[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!"
"Y ou'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.