Subaru did nothing at all during the raid. The team emerged from the basement, and they took the dozen or so workers in the hospital completely by surprise. Although the employees had weapons, they were no match for the skills of Crusch and Julius. Not to mention the two army captains.
The fight was over quickly. The workers were disarmed, and Falric stayed behind to guard them at sword point.
Subaru was not terribly surprised to see that several of the 'caged patients' that they had met before were among the guards that they detained.
Subaru went first into the next room, counting on Indomitable to protect him against any ambush. However, the only person in the next room was the doctor they had met before. The old man made a mad dash for freedom, but Julius grabbed him and slammed his face hard into the brick wall.
The doctor whimpered, rubbing his bleeding mouth as the group surrounded him. It was clear that all the fight had been knocked out of him.
"Where are the cells for the real prisoners?" Crusch demanded.
The doctor swallowed hard and pointed toward the next room.
"Give us the key to those cells," Subaru ordered.
The doctor shook his head. "I don't have the key to the cells."
Subaru shrugged. "Garf," He said, deliberately turning his back on the doctor and walking away, "Tear his arms off."
"Oh! You mean this key!" The doctor said quickly, holding out the key while staring up at the grinning Garfiel in sheer terror.
"You all go ahead," Marwain told them, "I'll put this bastard with the others."
Subaru went through the door and found himself in a long hallway with jail cells on both sides.
Prisoners, roused by the noise, started poking their faces through the bars as best they could, trying to see what was going on. The prisoners were all dirty and haggard, and much of their clothing was tattered.
Subaru handed Garfiel the key. "Open all the cells," He instructed him. "Also, try to keep your hoods up. The fewer people who know we were in town, the better." Felt and Garfiel nodded and pulled up their hoods.
Garfiel started unlocking the cells one by one as Subaru and Emilia scurried down the hall, looking for Puck and Beatrice.
Subaru briefly pulled aside his hood to scratch an itch.
"Subaru Natsuki?"
Subaru jumped and turned around. In the next cell, holding onto the bars was a young woman with pink hair. She knelt on the bare stone floor, wearing a maid costume.
"Ram?!" Subaru asked in disbelief, hurrying over to her cell.
From down the hall, Subaru heard a loud 'thud' as Garfiel jumped and apparently hit his head on something. Felt quickly darted over to Subaru and Emilia's side to peer at the maid in disbelief.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Subaru asked.
Ram stood up. "A question that I've been asking myself for several days now," She said, as unflappable as ever. Movement behind Ram caught Subaru's eyes. He saw that Rem, who had been dozing on the floor, had woken up and gotten to her feet. She came to the bars and stood beside her sister, staring at Subaru and Felt in shock.
Ram just looked annoyed at her situation. "We received a missive from Lord Roswaal some days ago," She continued, "He ordered us to leave the manor and attend to him immediately. We prepared to comply, but before we were able to depart, a large group of Lagunican soldiers appeared at the manor with a warrant for our arrest. Sister and I did our best to convince these men that we would be unable to accompany them-"
"Were there any survivors?" Felt asked archly.
"Yes. Unfortunately," Ram said matter-of-factly. "There were simply too many soldiers for sister and myself to manage. Master Rom, the gallant gentleman that he is, attempted to aid us as well, but in the end, we were all overwhelmed," Ram gestured behind them.
They turned around, and Felt 's jaw dropped. " Gramps ?! "
Rom lay on his back, snoring loudly. The enormous man nearly overflowed the tiny cell.
"Gramps!" Felt shouted again, shaking the bars of his cell.
Rom 's mouth made a few smacking sounds, and then he opened his eyes. He stared at Felt for a long moment until he was finally convinced that he wasn't dreaming. "Felt?" He whispered.
"Hey, Gramps!" Felt smiled broadly.
"What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Come on, Gramps! Haven't you ever seen a jailbreak before?" Felt laughed as Garfiel hurried over to them, skipping several cells in between and ignoring the protests from their occupants.
Garfiel was clearly nervous in front of Ram, and he struggled to get the key into the lock of the twins ' cell. Finally, he succeeded and opened the door wide.
Ram gave him a slight smile. "Thank you, Garf," She said, walking around him without a second glance. "You make an adequate doorman."
Garfiel beamed.
Felt shook her head in despair at Garfiel 's clear exhilaration from Ram's extremely lukewarm compliment.
"Thank you, Garf," Rem whispered as she exited the cell.
Rem hesitated and stared at Subaru for a long moment, debating whether or not to say something, but then she chased her sister down the hall.
Garfiel watched the twins depart with a fond look on his face.
"Hey!" Felt slapped Garfiel's bicep, startling him out of reverie. "Get moving, fleabag! Hurry up and unlock Gramps!"
Subaru nodded as Crusch hurried past them, looking for Felix. "You guys keep opening cells. We need to find Beako and Puck."
Crusch, Emilia, and Subaru reached the end of the hall without finding their missing friends. The end of the hall broadened into a wall with several doors. Most of the doors were open and empty, but two of the doors remained shut and latched closed.
Crusch glanced back and forth between the doors, debating with herself which to choose.
Subaru glanced at Crusch for a moment and chuckled. He picked a door at random and walked inside.
Crusch blinked and looked a bit sheepish over her indecision. She opened the other door and went inside.
The room inside was much more pleasant than the cells, but it was clearly still a prison. A pair of bunk beds were built against the wall, and a tiny cat girl slept on the lower one. There was a small table and a few chairs off in the corner.
Wrong room, Subaru sighed in disappointment.
Emilia squeezed his hand reassuringly, and the pair were about to turn around and check another room when a little blond girl in an elaborate gothic lolita dress jumped out in front of them. In her arms, she held a small gray cat.
"No!" Beatrice shouted defiantly. "Leave Mimi alone!"
Subaru 's heart stopped. Beako …
Beatrice raced to the bed and put Puck down on the upper bunk for safekeeping.
The tiny girl stood defiantly in front of the beds, glaring at Subaru and Emilia.
"I won't let you hurt them!" Beatrice snarled up at them, extending her tiny hands like claws at intruders twice her size, trying to deter them with her fury alone.
Subaru was baffled. Oh right! The hoods!
Subaru gestured to Emilia, and they both pulled down their hoods.
"Leave us-" Beatrice snarled, and then her voice choked off, staring up at them in shock.
After a long moment of disbelief, Beatrice 's expression was like the sun coming out, and she took a wild flying leap into Subaru's arms.
Subaru barely managed to catch her. Beatrice wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him so tightly that he worried he 'd choke, but he never even considered asking her to let go.
"Subaru!" Beatrice screamed in delight. "Betty knew that you would come for her! She never doubted it! Subaru is Betty's Subaru!"
Subaru hugged her fiercely. "Beako, from now on, no force in this world will ever separate us again. My word to God," He said in a choked voice, tears falling freely down his face.
Beatrice sobbed, and she buried her face in his shoulder, crying.
As Subaru fought to see through his tears, he noticed that Puck was struggling to get down from the high upper bunk. But his black stone bracelet still sealed his magic, and the distance to the floor was a huge jump.
Subaru started to go and help him, but before he could move, Emilia was there.
"Let me help you," Emilia said calmly, putting her palms together and holding out her hands to him.
Puck gave Emilia a dubious glance, seeming to debate with himself. But he stepped onto Emilia 's offered hands, looking up at her with a confused expression.
Emilia wasted no time bringing him over to Subaru. She gave Puck a brief cuddle and then placed him onto Subaru 's shoulder.
Emilia stepped back, looking wistfully at the happy family reunion from which she was excluded.
Puck immediately nuzzled against Subaru 's cheek, but his gaze kept being drawn back to Emilia.
"You…" Puck said awkwardly to Emilia. "You came back for us."
Emilia smiled. "Of course I did. You're my family , " She said simply.
Puck just stared at her.
"I know that you don't trust me right now, Puck," Emilia said, "But even if we can't restore your memories of me, I still have a lifetime to convince you that I love you and that I always will."
Puck seemed struck speechless. He looked at Subaru with great relief, but his gaze kept flickering back to Emilia.
"Here, buddy," Subaru said kindly. "Let's get that magic-sealing bracelet off of you."
Subaru grasped the bracelet and tugged it using Indomitable . The stones snapped off instantly, and the room echoed with a thunderclap.
Puck soared into the air with a cry of delight as Subaru pocketed the broken bracelet.
Let 's hold onto this thing. The last sealing-stone bracelet came in pretty handy when we fought Capella, he thought.
"Isn't anyone going to hug Mimi?" A voice asked plaintively.
Everyone looked at the lower bunk. The little cat girl had woken up, and she had a forlorn expression on her face.
Subaru squinted at her. "Hang on. I know you. You're…"
"Mimi Pearlbaton!" Mimi said helpfully. "Mimi is Betty's best friend!"
Subaru blinked and looked at Beatrice in surprise.
Beatrice gave him an extremely sheepish look and muttered something under her breath.
"Well," Subaru said calmly. "It's very nice to see you again, Mimi."
Subaru turned to leave, but he glanced at the small wooden table and stopped in his tracks.
Emilia looked at him. "What is it, Subaru?"
Subaru walked over to the table and picked up his keys, his expression completely mystified. "How the hell did these get here…"
"Oh," Beatrice said without much interest. "Yes, someone brought those keys and bangles here a few days ago, in fact."
"Subaru," Emilia said in a trembling voice. "I had those in my pocket when I was kidnapped! Regulus took them!"
"Regulus?! Regulus came here?!" Subaru gasped, looking at Beatrice in horror. "He brought these here?!"
Beatrice shook her head. "No. A guard did, in fact," She said calmly.
"Huh?"
"Betty's right, Subaru. A few days ago, one of the guards just walked in here, put the keys down, and left without a word," Puck said.
Subaru and Emilia shared a mystified look.
"What the…" Subaru whispered. "How did my keys…" He trailed off, sounding utterly baffled. "Why would anybody…"
Emilia shook her head. "Subaru… Maybe we have bigger things to worry about right now," She said in a shaky voice.
Subaru nodded, slipping his keys back into his pocket. "OK, good point. Alright, what do you say we all get out of this sewer?
When the foursome (and Mimi!) emerged back the hall, they found that all the cells had been opened.
Garfiel was boasting of his adventures to a clearly worried Rem and a clearly unimpressed Ram. Felt was catching up with her Grandfather. Her eyes were watery, but she just kept trash-talking the old man and razzing him about getting arrested.
No sooner did Subaru enter the hall than Crusch returned as well. She held the hand of a thin and disheveled cat-boy clothed in rags.
"Felix," Subaru nodded politely.
Crusch gave Subaru a stern look. He could see from the lines on her face that she 'd been crying, but he made no comment.
"Alright, everybody," Subaru raised his voice. "Let's all get out of here and back to where we belong."
Most of the prisoners nodded and started moving down the hall toward the exit. They moved slowly and cautiously as if afraid that the dream would end at any moment and they would all find themselves locked up again.
"Subaru Natsuki."
Subaru glanced back at Crusch.
Crusch pursed her lips. She seemed to be struggling to choose her words.
Crusch took a deep breath. "I would appreciate you disappearing now. A member of the Priestella ruling council is waiting for us nearby. Your presence would be most difficult to explain. "
Subaru 's eyes narrowed. "You have a member of the ruling council here?"
That man must know where the Od Laguna is …
Crusch 's eyes narrowed at his avid response. "Yes… Kiritaka is an old friend. He and the guards are waiting to help these prisoners and take the criminals into custody."
"Don't you want to talk more about the Ironborn?" Subaru asked, trying to play off his question about Kiritaka as simply momentary interest.
Crusch eyed him speculatively, clearly not buying his disassembling. "I have a great many questions about these 'Ironborn,'" Crusch said slowly. "But I must attend to this first. Are you certain that their target is Priestella?"
Subaru shrugged. "That's what Vincent told me. And I doubt that even he could have predicted we'd escape the way we did."
Crusch digested that. "Do you know when they plan to attack? "
Subaru shook his head. "It depends on what forces he wants for support. If he wants to bring his full army, it could be weeks or even months. If he wants to do some kind of lightning raid with only the Ironborn and a few units, he could come over the hills any time now."
Crusch looked frustrated. "Please, do your best to disappear. I do not want the liberation of this hellhole to be in any way associated with you. Even ignoring the risk to your own life and liberty, I have finally broken free of the Triumvirate's web, and I have no intention of giving them any fresh thread to bind me in a new one. I will seek you out later. Where can I find you?"
"We have a room in a local inn," Subaru gave her the address.
Crusch nodded. "Very well. In the meantime, I will send out scouts from the city to make certain that, above all else, Vincent Vollachias will not catch us by surprise. We shall speak more of this later."
Subaru nodded and then walked away from Crusch, holding Emilia 's hand.
"Miss Mimi!" Julius said in delight.
"Julius!" Mimi pushed through Subaru and Emilia to give the knight a big hug.
Julius knelt to catch the tiny cat girl in an embrace. "Miss Anastasia will be so relieved to know that you are safe, " Julia said fondly. He glanced up at Subaru and Emilia and the spirits with them.
Julius gave the spirits a warm smile. "Ah. Miss Beatrice and Master Puck. It is a great relief to see that you are both safe and well."
"Betty and Bubby are home again," Beatrice cheered with an almost foolish grin.
Julius smiled back. "Yes. I daresay you are." He glanced at Subaru and gave him a small nod of respect, which Subaru surprised himself by returning.
"Julius," Subaru murmured. "We need to get out of here. I'm sure that we'll catch up with you again… before we leave."
Julius nodded.
"Bye, Betty!" Mimi waved cheerfully.
Subaru watched in amusement as Beatrice waved back at the little cat-girl with a sickly expression.
Subaru gestured to Garfiel and Felt to come over. Both abandoned their conversations with clear reluctance, but they came to him quickly.
"Hey, little Bit!" Garfiel said with a huge smile.
Beatrice squinted at Garfiel as if only vaguely aware of who he was. "Hello," She said perfunctorily.
Mimi stood nearby, holding Julius 's hand. She stared up at Garfiel with an awestruck expression as he walked past. "Oh. Oh my," She murmured.
Garfiel didn 't notice. "What's up, Captain?" Garfiel whispered to him. "What do we do now?"
Subaru lowered his voice. "If you remember, we have another task to take care of while we 're here," He reminded him, speaking vaguely in case they were overheard. "And I think we may be about to get an opportunity to find that thing, and I don 't want us to miss it."
Garfiel looked pained. "Uh, Captain, I think we may have another problem."
Subaru sighed. "Of course we do. Why wouldn 't we? What is it? "
"Rom and the twins," Garfiel said simply. "I mean, the other prisoners should be OK because they were all imprisoned by criminals. The authorities will help them get home. But, even if they were imprisoned in this hellhole, Rom and the twins were still arrested legally. If we send them off with the others, the local authorities might just decide to lock them up again."
Subaru frowned, mulling that over. "Good point. Any ideas?"
"For now, let's just send them back to our place," Felt said. "They can escape the city with us. Then we decide what to do later, either to split up or try to get across the border as a group."
Subaru nodded. "Good idea," He muttered. "Why don't you guys tell them the plan? If I try to tell them, certain folks in this room might get curious about our conversation and decide to investigate. "
Garfiel and Felt nodded and returned to their respective conversation partners.
Subaru felt something tugging at his pant leg. He looked down to find Mimi looking up at him with an urgent look on her face.
"Psst! Betty!" Mimi hissed, frantically beckoning Beatrice to come down to her.
Subaru shrugged and gently lowered Beatrice down on the floor. Beatrice 's expression was quite alarmed at her current predicament, and she seemed to be frantically searching for a discrete way to object.
"Betty," Mimi whispered eagerly to the spirit, "Who's that guy?" She pointed at Garfiel, who was once again talking to the twins.
Beatrice looked where she was pointing. "Hm? Oh, that's Garfiel. He's a nice enough person, I suppose," She answered without much interest. "Why do you ask, in fact?"
"Oh, boy!" Mimi said, rubbing her hands together in excitement. "Betty, Mimi wants to be completely clear about one very important point."
"And what's that, I suppose?"
"Mimi saw him first."
Beatrice looked at Mimi in confusion.
"What are we doing here?" Felt whispered as the group hid in an alley a block from the hospital. They watched as the prisoners were led out of the building, and their jailers were taken into custody by the authorities. "This isn't a good place to hide, Subaru!"
Subaru pointed to a slender, dark-haired man in a neat suit who was talking to Crusch. "That must be him."
"Who's 'him?'" Felt asked.
"Apparently, his name is Kiritaka. He's on the Priestella ruling council. And according to Korë, that means he knows how to reach the Od Laguna."
"The Od Laguna?!" Beatrice asked in shock. "Why in the world do we want to go there, in fact?"
"Oh, right," Subaru muttered. "I guess it's time for us to do a little catch-up with everything that we've been involved with since we got separated."
Beatrice 's face lit up. "Yes! Did Subaru meet up with Betty and Bubby's mother?"
"Did I… Wait. What?" Subaru asked, thrown off-step.
"When we got separated," Puck picked up the thread of the story, "Betty was only able to open a portal that sent you so far away because she was given a huge amount of power. She thinks the power came from her mother, Subaru," There was a very slight emphasis placed on the word 'thinks.'
Beatrice nodded. "But the spell was corrupted! Someone interfered. Betty wasn't sure if you would end up where Betty and Bubby's Mother wanted you to be."
Subaru and Emilia shared a confused glance. "Well…We ended up in the Elior Forest, Beako," Subaru said slowly. "There was… nobody there. Nobody met us or anything."
Beatrice deflated. "Then… Subaru doesn't know if Betty's Mother is back?"
Subaru hesitated. "Well… no, not exactly. But I did meet a witch during our travels. As a matter of fact, she saved my life at one point. "
Beatrice looked excited again. "A witch? Who was she? What did she look like?" She asked eagerly.
"Well… she told me that her name was 'Korë,' but I'm pretty sure she was lying on that point," Subaru answered. "I can't tell you what she looked like because she was using magic to disguise herself as a shadowy figure."
Beatrice 's face lit up. "One of Mother's favorite spells, in fact!"
Subaru made a face. "Also, we… spoke to the Ryuzus," He said slowly. "They think that it's possible that Echidna possessed one of their bodies when the Sanctuary fell and that she's been roaming around the world doing god knows what. "
"This Korë person! What did she say?" Beatrice asked eagerly.
Subaru thought about it. "Well, first of all, she told me that the world had forgotten Emilia," He emphasized, giving Puck a meaningful look, "Because one of the Gluttonies had eaten her name."
Puck didn 't look all that impressed by the mysterious witch's confirmation, but he glanced at Emilia again, and his face twisted in doubt.
Beatrice looked intrigued. "Betty is not familiar with this concept, but she remembers reading… something about it, " She muttered in frustration.
Subaru shrugged. "Anyway, Korë said that the only way for us to restore Emilia's name was to find the Book of Wisdom and then bring it to the Od Laguna."
Beatrice 's face became awestruck. "Mother's Book," She whispered. "Mother's greatest treasure… You found it? "
Subaru smiled at her. He gently put Beatrice on the ground and then rummaged around in his satchel. He pulled out a small book that was white as snow except for a black pentagram emblazoned on the cover.
"The Book!" Beatrice squeed. "Can Betty see?"
"You can," Subaru warned her, carefully handing her the book, "But be very careful not to open it. The Book-"
"-Will destroy Betty's mind, Betty remembers," Beatrice said like a child trying to reassure an overprotective parent so they could hurry up and start having fun. The little spirit stared at the book as if it were the world's greatest Christmas present. "Where did you find it, in fact?"
Subaru chuckled. "On your Mother's flying island," He said. "We had to fight a couple of nasty spirits to get it. Anyway, according to Korë, we just need to bring the Book to the Od Laguna, and that will fix everyone's memories of Emilia."
"The Od Laguna can be extremely dangerous, Subaru," Puck warned. "It's a chaotic maelstrom of wild magic."
"I know that, but it's the only way for us to get out of this mess," Subaru said.
"Hey, can I bring us back to reality for a second?" Felt said.
Subaru raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I feel like we were talking about reality, but sure, go for it. "
"I'll ask again, what are we doing here? Are we just watching this guy? Do we think he's going to lead us to the Od Laguna?"
"No," Subaru said slowly. "We're just waiting for him to become… isolated."
Garfiel chuckled. "And then we terrify him until he tells us what we want to know?" He asked.
Subaru made a face. "Actually, I'm hoping that the man won't be opposed to a judicious bit of bribery. He is a politician, after all. But terror is always a good fallback option."
"I can't tell you that!" Kiritaka protested when the group had waylaid him on his journey home. "The passage to the Od Laguna is a secret for a reason! Interfering with it could be disastrous!"
"Don't worry. We know what we're doing," Subaru assured him.
"How could you possibly know what you're doing?" Kiritaka challenged. "No one has been to the Od Laguna in generations!"
"Because I'm Subaru Natsuki. And both of us," Subaru pointed at Emilia. "Have been through trials created by a witch that I'm pretty sure the Od Laguna had some sort of involvement in."
Kiritaka looked at Subaru as if he 'd just claimed he'd visited the moon last night.
"Look," Subaru sighed. "I really hate to put it this way, but we're kind of desperate here. We need to reach the Od Laguna. And you can either tell us where to find it or we can make you tell us. And believe me, none of us want it to come to that," He finished regretfully.
Garfiel cracked his knuckles, a sharp sound that brought to mind the 'snap' of breaking bones.
Kiritaka got a sickly look on his face.
"Alright," Kiritaka said, his voice miserable. "The gateway is right in the next room. Can I go now?"
Kiritaka had led them through the underground aqueducts to a large door.
Subaru hid a smile. "Yes. Thank you," He said.
At these words, Kiritaka threw dignity to the wind and sprinted down the hall to the stairwell. At the last second, he stopped and turned around.
"Listen!" Kiritaka implored. "You guys don't want to mess with the Od Laguna! There's no way to tell what could happen if you influence it! Every human being in the world could all disappear like a mirage!"
Subaru rubbed his forehead. "Kiritaka, I've been trying to manipulate the Od Laguna's dream for weeks now. Believe me, it's a lot more difficult than people think. I 'm told that the old witches could imagine whole forests and make the Od Laguna create them, but it's a lot harder than it looks. Never mind trying to convince the Od Laguna to change the entire world."
Kiritaka looked stupefied, but rather than argue further, he turned and vanished up the stairs.
"Wait. You've been trying to influence the Od Laguna?" Emilia asked in surprise.
Subaru rocked his hand back and forth. "Well… sort of, I guess. Alpha told me that using the lesser spirits to make magic the way I've been doing is an end-run around manipulating the Od Laguna's dream, but I admit that I didn't really understand what she was talking about. Her explanation just left me feeling pretty confused."
"Yeah. Grams is sort of funny that way," Garfiel nodded.
"What other spirits have you been getting involved with, in fact?!" Beatrice gasped, her face scandalized.
Subaru closed his eyes. "Beako, that's… a very long story."
"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but we don't have time to get into all that right now," Felt grumbled. "As soon as that spineless little worm gets topside. He'll be sending a horde of guards down here to find us. We do not want to be here when that happens!"
"I know, I know. Let's try to make this quick," Subaru said, opening the door.
Deep beneath Priestella, they found a maelstrom.
Floating in mid-air was something that looked like an enormous bubble dozens of feet across. It floated sedately in the center of the room, shining with an opalescent gleam. Its luminous surface held an opaque interior of pure darkness.
Everything around it was sheer chaos.
As the 'bubble' floated there, dozens of other bubbles constantly erupted from it. These smaller bubbles, no larger than a small room, went flying across the chamber in random patterns, floating on glowing currents of energy before colliding with the primary globe and dissolving into nothingness once again. If one looked closely, there were countless images contained within these smaller bubbles, but they all flickered across their surface far too rapidly for anything to be identified.
In the depths of the Od Laguna, Subaru remembered Kor ë's warning: All possibilities war against one another. As these conflicts resolve, they discard away the impossible, exalt the probable, and weave truth from possibility. Such is the nature of the Od Laguna. Its depths are a maelstrom of chaos where reality rises up from conflicting impossibilities. You must bring the Book to the Heart of the Od Laguna. The World Soul is not infallible, and it may be tricked and manipulated by guile or by sheer power. But the Book separates the Remembered from the True. Take the Book to the World Soul and it will remember what has been forgotten. The path leads ever deeper. Follow the path as you would any other, but keep well clear of the edges, for impossibility is by its very nature unstable and incomplete. To wander off the edge is to risk becoming lost in an endless nothing. I speak of this from dread experience …
Subaru swallowed hard. He reached into his satchel and took out the Book. He stared at the churning maelstrom just in front of him.
"Uh. So what now?" Garfiel muttered.
"Now… I guess… I bring the Book to the Heart of the Od Laguna," Subaru said uncertainly.
"You?" Emilia broke in. "Can't…. Can't you bring… well, somebody to help you?" She looked miserable, realizing she didn't want to volunteer this time. She felt too weak and fragile to enter the Od Laguna.
Garfiel shot Emilia an incredulous look. Clearly, he felt no need to dive into whatever madness lay before him.
"I don't… think that you need an Authority to access it," Subaru admitted.
"You do not," Beatrice said her confidence in the answer undermined by trepidation as she studied the strange phenomenon. "Many have entered the Od Laguna over the years, in fact. With Authorities and without. Many have entered… but few have returned," She trailed off worriedly.
"Then why don't we all go in?" Felt said uncomfortably. "You might need our help."
Subaru looked at Emilia, and he saw her expression tighten fearfully at the thought of entering the Od Laguna.
"I don't think that we all need to do it," Subaru said. He saw the flash of relief rush over Emilia's face, followed by a spasm of guilt.
Emilia is still shaken by what Regulus did to her. And her magic is still locked away. It doesn 't make sense to let her go into this thing.
And besides … after all this, I don't think I could bear to watch her go into danger ever again.
Subaru hesitated. "I think that just a few of us would be. Maybe me and Beako-"
Subaru was cut off by a flash of red that appeared on one of the Od Laguna 's swarming bubbles. And then two, and then more. More and more of the bubbles began to show different images of the same thing.
"Subaru!" Felt cried out, "That's-"
"Reinhard," Subaru whispered in a horrified voice. "He's coming."
"Then we have to run! Come on!" Emilia shouted, grabbing Subaru's arm and trying to pull him away from the Od Laguna and back out into the tunnel.
Subaru didn 't move. His face twisted in effort as if he were struggling with himself.
There 's no chance that we could lose Red in this city. He'll hunt us down without any effort at all. And the first thing that he'll do is kill Emilia. He won't even announce himself first. There'll just be a blur, and then Emilia will be gone…
Reinhard is too fast and too strong for any of us to hold off even for a minute! If Emilia stays here, she 's dead! But if we run, she's dead too!
Subaru swallowed hard, and his eyes widened in horror.
There 's only one possible solution… There's only one thing to do… I… I have to…
"Subaru!" Emilia yanked at his arm.
He forced the words out, "No. No, there's no way that we can run. We'll never escape Red at this point."
"What about us all jumping into the portal, in fact?" Beatrice suggested hesitantly.
Subaru shook his head. "No. Red will just follow us in there," He grated, every word was forced out like pulling teeth. "We can't let him get into the Od Laguna. I'd bet any amount of money that his powers will let him navigate it more easily than we can. If he goes in, he'll beat us to where we're going, and then he'll block us. We need to hold him off out here. "
"What?!" Garfiel said in a virtual squeak. "Captain, how the hell can we do anything to hold Red back?"
"Good question," Subaru admitted with a sinking sensation.
"Yeah! I thought it was, too!" Felt yelped. "What the hell are we going to do?"
Subaru took a deep breath. Then he stepped forward and caught the surprised Emilia in a deep, passionate kiss.
Emilia looked stunned when he pulled back. "Subaru, what-"
"Here," He said, handing her the Book.
Emilia looked back and forth between Subaru and the Book, her expression shocked and horrified. "What's going on?" She demanded.
"You need to go, Mili," Subaru said, struggling to force the words out. "Go into the Od Laguna and bring the Book to the Heart."
"Absolutely not!" Emilia said at once. "I'm not going to leave you out here to face Reinhard alone!" She quivered, realizing in dismay that at least part of her objection was the sheer fear of entering the Od Laguna.
"Mili, you're the one he wants. If he sees you here, he'll kill you on sight. As long as you're gone, we might at least have a chance to talk him down. You need to go into the Od Laguna and find the Heart."
Emilia hesitated. She blurted out, "We need to work together, Subaru!"
"I know, Mili," Subaru agreed, his eyes miserable, "But in this situation, working together means that we need to work apart."
Emilia 's eyes widened. She hesitated, then whispered, "Subaru, I… I'm not strong enough …" She confessed, almost in tears. "I can't… I'll freeze up again!"
"You're the strongest person I know," Subaru insisted. "You've already faced hell and survived. You stood up against Regulus, even when you thought it was hopeless. You're stronger than you know, Emilia. You're the only one who can do this. You're the only one who can save us."
Emilia 's mouth moved, but she said nothing. "But… I… I don't know how to find the Heart…"
Subaru gave her a desperate smile. "Neither do I! OK, listen carefully. Korë told me that the Od Laguna has dozens of paths that branch off from the core. You need to be careful to keep moving inward , do you understand? Under no circumstances can you go toward the edges, or you might fall into nothing. Keep moving toward the core and bring the Book to the Heart. Understand? "
Emilia looked stupefied. "No…" She whispered.
Subaru gave a helpless laugh. "Well, that's all I know about the Od Laguna," He said, hearing a familiar rushing sound echoing through the tunnels. "Mili, you have to try. You 're the only one who can save us. Hurry, Mili. Go now."
Emilia swallowed hard. "But what about you?" She whispered in a small voice.
Subaru set his face, fighting to hide his doubts. "You just let me deal with Red. I'll be here when you get back."
Tears streamed down her face. "You'd better be! " She gasped. Emilia gave him a fervent kiss as if fighting not to let him be pulled away from her.
Emilia 's face twisted in agony. She looked at Subaru, seemingly wanting to say a thousand things, but there was no time. With a final look of anguish, she turned and took a running leap, plunging into the central orb.
She vanished like a pebble falling into a pond.
It took everything that Subaru had not to try to stop her or chase after her.
He swallowed hard.
"Captain, what do we do?" Garfiel asked anxiously.
Subaru took a deep breath. "Garf, you still have that sword?"
"Yeah, why? What good is that going to do against Red?" Garfiel asked.
"Give it here," Subaru demanded, walking over to Garfiel and Felt.
Garfiel clearly was at a loss, but he handed Subaru the sword in its scabbard.
In turn, Subaru placed the stunned Puck and Beatrice in Garfiel 's massive arms. "Take care of them, Garf," Subaru said intently. "Felt too. Under no circumstances can you allow them to join the fight. "
All four of them looked at Subaru in utter horror.
Beatrice looked frantic. "No! Betty will not-" She was cut off by Garfiel, who held her tight. Beatrice fought desperately to break free, kicking and punching, but Garfiel ignored her blows.
"Subaru! No!" Puck cried. He started frantically clawing and biting at Garfiel's enormous hand. Garfiel winced but made no other reaction.
"Subaru," Felt said intently. "This is insane. Even you don't stand a chance against Red! If he-"
Felt was cut off as the rushing sound from the tunnels grew louder.
Subaru swallowed hard. Reinhard must not know exactly where we are. He must be using his 'super-speed' to check everywhere. He could be here any second.
"Keep Felt safe, Garfiel," Subaru said, buckling the sword belt around his waist. He moved toward the entrance of the chamber to stand guard. "Keep them all safe. That… is my final order."
Everyone stared at him in horror. Felt tried to make a dash for Subaru, but Garfiel caught her in his free arm, and all her struggling didn 't move the muscular demi-human one inch.
The rushing sound in the halls grew thunderous, and in the blink of an eye, a tall, handsome young man in a white uniform stood at the entrance to the chamber. His hair was bright red, and his face was graven with lines of sorrow and pain.
"Subaru Natsuki," He whispered.
Subaru took a deep breath. "Hello, Reinhard."