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Chapter Text

Beatrice and her contractor, Subaru Natsuki, were preparing in their room for the fast approaching knighting ceremony.

Or rather, Subaru was nervously looking at the ground in his brand new knight uniform, and Beatrice was patiently waiting for him to say anything at all.

She wasn’t surprised at how nervously he acted, given just how important the occasion was, but she still found it annoying how he didn’t try to confide in her more. Their contract should have made Beatrice the first person he would go to with whatever troubled him, and yet he seemed to still bottle his feelings up inside.

A knocking sound comming from the door brought her attention to a muffled voice of a maid.

„Barusu, Lady Beatrice, are you two ready?” The servants voice seemed to awaken the boy, making him turn into his usual, lively facade.

„Juuuust a moment longer Ram! This uniform is really hard to put on, you know!” He exaggerated his movement, as if to show the maid behind the door that he really was struggling with the clothes, making Beatrice glare at him from behind.

„Hah, as expected of Barusu, to make a fool of himself even on a day like this. Hurry up, or you’ll make Lady Emilia worry.”

„Hell would freeze over before I would make Emilia-tan frown!” Responded Subaru in his usual, animated fashion. Ram left the duo with a soft scoff.

After he was sure the maid was gone, his face devolved into a dejected grimace, an expression that had become quite common the last few days.

„Subaru?” She tried to get his attention. Her effort proved fruitless when all he did was take a step back, with his face becoming even more worrisome. Understanding that simply calling out to him would be useless, Beatrice came up to him and pinched his arm.

„Subaru, are you okay? You’ve been absent for a while now.”

„Don’t worry Beako, I’m just… thinking over some of the stuff that happened. I think I’m still in shock over the Sanctuary!”

As always, he laughed the matter off, even if his hollow eyes and strained smile have betrayed him.

„… Very well. Just remember that Betty will always support you, in fact.” She walked ahead of him, heading for the door, only to be interrupted when he raised her in the air and hugged her tightly.

„Beako, your cuteness goes off the charts! Trying to play off your concern for me like that is tooo cute!! Just thanks to that I’m not worried about anything anymore! It’s like a superpower! A „Cure it All” adorableness!!”

„Honestly, how can you say such things with a straight face, in fact!”

The spirit exclaimed, and began squirming out of her contractors arms. It was a long battle, with both sides not giving up until the bitter end, but eventually Beatrice came out victorious with a soft kick to Subaru’s side, which produced an overplayed pained yelp from the boy. Freed, she proudly walked to the door, followed by Subaru wearing a miserable expression, clutching at his side.

„Beakooo!! You could have seriously hurt me there!”

„Humph! Betty’s hopeless contractor acts just like a baby, in fact. Hurry it up, Betty doesn’t have all night!”

„Beakooo, you’re so crueelll…”

He opened the door and the two left the room, hand in hand. They walked through the corridor and towards the hall in silence. With the staff still hard at work preparing the place, they were the only people there.

The cool air of the night provided a nice, calming breeze. She heard him take a deep breath as they got near their destination. Taking a look back at his face, it came back to a much more calm, yet still anxious, expression. The improvement made Beatrice relax as well. Only a moment later, they’ve arrived.

The doors stood before them, the only thing left was to open them. Subaru had reached out towards the handle, but hesitated. Something have compelled him to stop for just a second, giving whoever was inside enough time to start their private conversation.

„… Say Ram, have you seen Subaru anywhere?”

„Yes Lady Emilia, he was still getting ready when I last checked up with him. Should I check again?”

„Nono, it’s good he’s not here yet! I have a question for you, I can’t think of an answer myself at all!”

Whatever thoughts of coming in he had, they have all stopped at once. His face showed a rigid expression, as his grasp on her hand had tightened. Concerned, Beatrice decided to stay silent as well, trying to understand what plagued his mind this time.

„What is it, Lady Emilia?”

„You’ve known Garfiel for a while now, haven’t you?”

„…? I have, Lady Emilia, but I don’t see what could worry you about that?”

The half elf grew silent for a little while, and after lowering her voice, continued. They had to stick their ears right to the door to hear the conversation now.

„… Garfiel is quite strong is he not? To defeat the bowel hunter by himself, I mean. I believe there would be no issue if he were to protect me for a while. I don’t see an opponent that could easily win against him.”

„But then, Barusu…”

„Ram, please. Have you seen how he suffered? It would pain me to see him struggle like that even one more time… Both of us would be hurt if that were to happen.”

Beatrice wanted to berate the naive half-elf. Make her apologize for the words she had just said. But a hard tug from Subaru interrupted her, jolting her back with his hastened step. It started off as just a march. It quickly developed into a full out sprint.

Eventually, he had unconsciously let go of her hand and left her behind. She had trouble catching up, and desperately shouted his name a couple of times, catching attention of some other occupants of the mansion, but she paid them no mind. The only person that mattered was Him.

She reached the stables a couple of minutes after him, seeing Subaru finishing up preparations for departure on a very confused Patrashe.

„Subaru…?”

He ignored her query, and instead hopped onto the ground dragon. Still confused, she followed his example, not wishing to be left behind. Just as she was prepared, the ground dragon started to rush along the road, almost ramming some of the guests that came to witness the ceremony. They disappeared into the forest, leaving behind the shouting masses.

They rode like that, with no regard for their surroundings, along dirt paths, forest roads, and through plains, until Patrashe exhausted all of her strength.

Hours after the initial outburst, they have finally stopped.

Winded from the long and uncomfortable journey, Beatrice mindlessly looked around their destination, which appeared to be a meadow. The grass, almost so short the soil beneath could be seen, gave way to the abundant patches of violet heathers. Fireflies that looked almost like spirits in this tranquil night gave additional light to the enhancing scenery.

While she was lost in the surroundings, Subaru jumped off the dragon onto the soft soil beneath, and toilsomely walked over to a small dirt mound. He sat down on it, looking into the distance. She followed shortly after, wincing slightly as she landed.

„… Did you calm down now, Subaru?” Started carefully Beatrice.

He answered without turning around.

„I think I did.” He stopped, shaking his head, apparently realizing how easy it was to see through the lie. „Who am I kidding? I haven’t. Not at all.” Sensing how somber his voice was, Beatrice came closer to him, delicately embracing him from behind.

„How- How could she?! I was supposed to be her knight… And I know I’m weak, I know! I’m pathetic, a total disappointment! I know that well – But why would she give me false hope, and then betray me like that?!” She could see the tears flowing down his cheeks even from behind. Not wanting to see him in such a sorry state, she closed her eyes, silently shedding some tears as well.

„If I was too weak, she should have just told me so! I- I…” He trailed off, words stifled by rough coughs and sniffles. „I tried so hard for her… for everyone… and for what…”

The two settled into silence for a while after that, Subaru because his breakdown worsened making him make few noises above an occasional weep, Beatrice because she waited for him to calm down first.

The world around them, outside of their embrace, did not matter for those few, precious minutes. The only things that did were their shared pain, tears, anger and sorrow.

Slowly, the boy have calmed down until he could form sentences again. He looked in the direction they came from with resentment.

„I bet all of them laugh at me now. At how ridiculous I looked in this damned uniform. At how this fool was so full of himself he thought he deserved to be a knight!”

She hugged him tighter, tears spilling from her eyes.

„I did well didn’t I?! Elsa, Roswaal, The Rabbit, I defeated them all! So why did she look towards Him instead?!” His eyes have dried up as his sobbing came to a halt. His tone changed from rageful to one full of resignation.

„If all that wasn’t enough… then what am I supposed to do to prove myself?” He chuckled. „So pathetic even Emilia can’t bear to look at me.”

He turned his eyes to the night sky. „Maybe… I should just give up?”

She froze. The person that had saved her, that had showed her the way, is now struck with such familiar outlook. She could not accept that. Thus, she finally gathered her courage and spoke up against her contractor’s feelings.

„Subaru. You can’t give up, in fact.”

„Why not? If all that couldn’t even make her look my way, just a little, tiny bit, then WHAT will? Why should I keep trying if even all this effort was meaningless?! Tell me! What’s the point!”

She could not fault him for his feelings. To be disregarded, forgotten. She knew well what it entailed.

„Even so, you can’t give up, in fact. Because even if all others have forgotten you, Betty will remember. Even if everyone else disregards your effort, Betty will respect and praise you. Even if it’s all meaningless – Betty will still follow your chosen path.”

„Why? Why would you go this far?”

„Because Betty chose you, in fact. No matter what her Subaru chooses, Betty will accept it and support him through it. But you can’t give up, I suppose. Because that would mean you’re no longer the person Betty have chosen. Because giving up here isn’t what you truly want to do, I suppose.”

„But – I’ll make even more mistakes, and I’ll make everyone suffer with my incompetence…”

„That’s not important. Betty will comfort you still.”

„I’m weak, all my efforts just doom everyone to a living hell.”

„That’s false, in fact. You saved Betty.”

„No, it doesn’t matter. The lives I failed to save far outweigh whatever I managed to protect.”

No amount of her comforting words could reach him. He wouldn’t, or rather couldn’t, accept them. Subaru would just keep denying them, using whatever self-deprecating excuses he could come up with. He was too deep in his own grief, too focused on the past. If that’s the case, the only thing Beatrice could do was give him a new goal. One he would be willing to accept.

„Betty doesn’t really understand what you’re talking about, in fact. It’s not your responsibility to suffer over the death of every single person out there Subaru. You’re not the sword saint, neither are you a legendary hero. All you need is to be Betty’s Hero, in fact. That’s enough of a burden for Subaru.”

His denial seemed to wane slightly, finally accepting some of her words. Slowly, opening up his heart.

„I guess you’re right, huh Beako? I’m nowhere near Reinhard’s level. But there isn’t anything else but to give up if that’s the case. And Emilia, I won’t be able to take it if she looks at me with pity—!” 

She interrupted him, not letting him devolve into another rant about the Half-elf. „Focus on yourself from now on, I suppose. Become stronger. To prove to all of them you were worthy, to prove to Emilia that she was wrong.”

„Focus on myself…? Beako, I can’t just leave everything and—” 

She interrupted him again, stopping him from torturing himself with more hateful words. „Why not? They, rather She, have already abandoned you. Being selfish like that isn’t a sin, I suppose. And with all that Betty’s Subaru sacrificed for them, they deserve a small ‘revenge’, wouldn’t you agree, in fact? Just to show them they were wrong about Subaru.”

„Revenge? That’s…”

He paused and looked back towards the starry sky, as if asking for advice. He stayed like that a few more moments, before coughing out a strained laugh, and exclaiming towards the world his new promise.

„Emilia– To the sun that shines over the world, to each and every star there is… To the wind, to the fire, to the waters and the earth… And all the spirits within.”
He abruptly stood up, shouting his vow to the sky.

„To this damned world, that did nothing to help me...”

„To this hateful fire that’s burning me from within…”

„And to every single person that decided to abandon me tonight. I swear. I will get my revenge. I will show you how wrong you all were. I will make you apologize. Emilia. I will show you how worthy I was of being your knight.”

He finished, and turned towards her. „Will you help me, Beako?” He said full of conviction, outstretching his hand towards her. And as she looked towards his face, trying to decipher his feelings through the eyes, instead of the usual grief, guilt and sadness, all she could see was warmth. Something she couldn’t find in them for the longest time.

It was hope.

Those amber eyes that showed her her light, opened the door to a tomorrow. Those same eyes so hollow moments ago, had a bit of that radiant shine they held back then.

„I said so already, didn’t I? I will support you no matter what path you take, I suppose.” She took his hand in hers.

„… We will not return to that accursed manor. Not until I can show this world how worthy I am, Beatrice.” Quieter, he added. „To show myself, how worthy I am.”

A small smile formed on her face. „Betty knows. We’re bounded by our promise. Wherever you go, I follow. That won’t ever change, in fact. I’ll never abandon you, Subaru. That was our contract, our promise, from the very beginning after all.”

All he could do in reply was to give her a genuine, earnest smile.

Chapter Text

Subaru was walking around their little encampment, if you even could call the few torn sheets of cloth they managed to get for free from a most generous traveler, a campfire and a single bag worth of items the boy managed to pack back in the stables a word like that, undoubtedly deep in thought about their predicament.



They managed to avoid getting found during the month since their escape, but the intensity of patrols have only increased since then. Their last run in ended with them barely getting away by finding this spot, and they have holed up here since.



The trees surrounding them blocked out most sunlight that tried to get through, shielding them from much of the heat. They also meant there was an abundance of kindling for starting a fire. Add to that the fact most knights wouldn’t dare to venture this deep and the choice for the camp became clear. Even if it was hard to get food and water, staying here was necessary if Subaru didn’t want get found by their old camp.



“Don’t worry Subaru, we are quite deep in the forest, in fact. The knights wouldn’t dare go this far in.” Beatrice tried to ease his worries. However, her words fell onto deaf ears and she could do nothing more then pout in annoyance. She stayed silent and looked at her focused contractor, noticing all the little ways he had changed since that night.



The hair, which he didn’t care for changed in appearance as she became the sole person responsible for it. Her inexperience with the subject showed, with his current hairstyle resembling more so a mop of wet hair then any actual style. The beautiful white uniform he wore during their escape was now sullied in a month’s worth of dust, soil and grime. Here and there she could even spot some tears caused by the more persistent of shrubs. His purple cape was damaged the most however, having been used as a very desperate bed by them in the earliest days of this ‘adventure’.



“Damn it! Beako!” He suddenly exclaimed, getting back her attention.



“What is it, in fact?”



“I can’t call myself a proper knight without a weapon. A magnificent sword, that’s one thing every hero needs! Just imagine        ”



“You left it at the mansion, I suppose.” Beatrice nonchalantly ended his delusions, disappointed in herself for the thought of him worrying about the search party even crossing her mind.



“You really know how to make someone lose their spirit, you know that Beako?” He said as he slumped, dejectedly looking at their meager supplies.



“… Maybe I packed something good back then.” He tilted his head and widened his eyes, as if the greatest idea had came to him. He rushed towards their luggage, seeking some sort of prize among the accidental arrangement of items.



“Betty doubts there is anything outside of whatever Subaru could find in the stables, in fact.”



“Yeah, yeah, you’ll be shocked when I – Aha!” He ripped something out from in between the other tools and gear.



“A … Whip, I suppose?” He triumphantly hold the weapon by it’s dark handle, a long, light brown lash falling to the ground.



“See? My past self wasn’t that dumb if I do say so myself. Thanks Past-Subaru, you’ve got good taste.” He nodded in approval.



“What nonsense are you… Betty is not going to entertain this, in fact. As the only responsible one here, Betty will go feed the dragon.” The spirit took a hold of a heavy bag of dried food and started to drag it on the ground.



“Thank you, Beako! I just need some sort of target now…” He shot her a wide, adorable smile and went off looking all around the area for materials. She only huffed in response, focused on the task at hand.



Patrashe couldn’t stay with them in the camp. Because they have chosen a thick grove for their temporary base, there was simply not enough space for the dragon. Which also meant that dragging the fodder to the steed was a difficult chore for the little spirit, but to become useful for her contractor she was willing to push herself through any limit.



“It was the last one we had, I suppose. Hopefully the patrols will weaken soon.” She noted while pouring the food out, looking into the eyes of the eating beast. She felt a hint of envy at how dependable it was in regards to Subaru. How often it managed to help him out. She hated these thoughts, knew they were wrong. But she just couldn’t help them. During the last month the creature was far more useful then her, as much as she loathed to admit that.



A rustle from the bushes behind her shook her out of her thoughts. Patrashe was on high alert as well, scowling in the direction of the noise. A flock of birds flew off a small distance away, seemingly scared off by something.



Noticing the worrying signs, Beatrice went on guard. She attentively looked towards the shrubs, outstretching her hand and preparing a spell in her mind, ready to cast it the moment the danger revealed itself.



“Hey Beako! C’mon, you gotta – Yowza!” Subaru barely ducked under a Minya crystal, the spell harmlessly colliding with the tree behind him. Both her and the dragon gave the boy an unimpressed stare.



“What’s that about Beako?! Why are you just shooting spells wherever you like?!”



“It’s Subaru’s fault for spooking Betty, I suppose!” She huffed, a little shook at how close the spell came to actually hitting him. The boy didn’t seem to mind that though, as he immediately marched over to her and unceremoniously picked her up like a piece of luggage.



“Don’t carry Betty like that, in fact!” She protested, hitting him on the leg repeatedly with her small fists.



He decided to ignore the little tantrum, only commenting as much as ‘Cute’ under his nose, making her blush. He started to go back towards the camp, but stopped to look behind at Patrashe standing at the beginning of the thicket.



“Sorry girl, I would’ve loved to show you my awesome craftsmanship as well, but it’s a bit too tight for you to get through.”



The dragon snorted in response.



“Don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll move it so all three of us can participate! Promise!”



And so, they left it behind and returned to their base, only to find it in complete disrepair.



“What happened here, I suppose?!”



The sheets they used as beds were torn even more then before, thrown around at random. The campfire was extinguished, with charcoal dirtying the whole area. Various tools were in disarray around the central piece of this mess, which was… the single ugliest doll Beatrice had ever seen in her life.


“What – is that, in fact?”



“That’s my new practice target! Impressive, isn’t it?!” He shouted and looked eager to be given praise for his effort.



“Why does it have a face on it…?” She pointed at the caricature drawn over the head piece of the creation with charcoal.



“Well, I thought I would give it a mug I wouldn’t mind hitting with a whip. So I drew that bastard Julius’s face on it! I can imagine his expression if he saw it, I bet he would go on a whole tangent how disgraceful it was.” Responded Subaru with a proud grin on his face.



Beatrice could agree with that last sentence. Whoever ‘Julius’ was, she almost felt sorry for the abomination that was created with his face as an inspiration.



“Now then!” He put her on the ground and went in front of the ‘doll’. He brandished his whip, it’s lash chucked behind his back. At the same time, Beatrice took a few steps back from him. Just to be safe.



“Look and admire, Beako!” He threw his arm forward, the whistle of the whip reaching her ears. The weapon made a great arch, flying through the air, with the tip landing directly in front of him, sending some dirt flying into the air.



“… Huh?” He uttered, apparently confused about the situation at hand.



“Subaru, did you think you would know how to use it from the very beginning, I suppose?”



“Of course not! I knew I would need some practice before I got good at it, but I didn’t even hit the target! I wasn’t even close!!” He exasperatedly pointed at the distance between him and the ‘Julius Doll’.



“This useless contractor, in fact.” A tired sigh escaped Beatrice’s mouth. “Betty will clean up your mess, I suppose. Practice however long you want.”



“You’re the best, Beako!!!” Subaru shot her a wide grin, and she could swear that stars had appeared in the boy’s eyes for a moment. The spirit sighed and tiresomely got to work.



                                                   

Cleaning up his mess turned out to be far more time consuming then she had first expected.



Collecting the various tools that were thrown around was the most straight forward part of the whole ordeal, as she just collectively dumped them back into the bag, not bothering to arrange them in any way.



Next, she decided to collect dry wood to start up the fire for the night. She had to get quite far from the camp, most of the area closest to them having been already used up. The forest they chose to hide in was surprisingly absent of any sort of mabeasts and animals in general, so there was no danger on that front. The only hard part was the various thorny bushes the underbrush consisted of, but it was bearable.



By the time she had returned, it was already evening. Her exhausted contractor still as stubbornly as ever tried to hit his target, which managed to bring a small smile to her face, even if she wished for him to get at least some rest.



Now left only with the bedding problem, she collected the sheets thrown around at random around the campfire, and started to examine them. Dirty, torn and all unfolded. She released another tired sigh.



Busy figuring out how to salvage the ruined sheets from whatever her foolish contractor used them for, she ignored the snapping noises and frustrated growls coming from behind her. Just as she was about to try folding the linen, she was stopped by the tip of a certain whip hitting right beside her. She turned around and leveled an unimpressed glare onto her nervous contractor.



“It’s far harder then it looks, you know?! This thing doesn’t listen to me at all!” Subaru defended himself, trying and failing to wrap the thing back into his hand.



“You’re the one who chose such an obtuse weapon, in fact! Don’t go complaining now!”

“Come on, you could have at least pretended to feel sorry for your poor, poor contractor…” After finally readying the weapon again, he once again aimed at his practice target… and completely missed it, scaring off some critters hiding in the bushes.



“The most I can feel looking at your performance is pity, I suppose.” Beatrice proceeded to stare upon the ‘training’ with boredom, tired of seeing the same result over and over again. She finished folding the cloth and called out towards Subaru.



“Betty thinks that’s enough for today, I suppose.” She gestured to the ruined campfire beside her, now with dried up sticks she had gathered inside it. “You still need to start the fire, in fact.”



He stood there for a while, dejectedly looking at the still unharmed target, and with a tired gasp relented. She gave him room as he kneeled and tried to start up flames, repeatably striking a small piece of steel against a flint.



“You know Beako, this world could really use a lighter. Making a spark using stones is far too annoying.”



“What’s a lighter, in fact?” Asked Beatrice, intrigued by the unfamiliar word that have left her contractor’s mouth.



“See, it’s a small device that could fit in any pocket, that you can use to make a small flame wherever and whenever you want, no matter where you are. You do need to have something that can catch fire easily though– Oh, here we go!” To her disappointment the explanation was cut off before Subaru could truly go in depth about the ‘lighters’. The boy has already forgotten the topic, and got comfortable beside the fire.



“You’re getting better at it, in fact.” She observed, coming closer to the comforting heat of the flames.



“See? This journey is already proving to be of some use.” Subaru said with a proud look on his face, no doubt reminiscing his first tries at lightning up a fire that ended in disaster, and many, many burns on his hands.



“True, outside of whip training, Subaru is becoming worthier and worthier of leading life of an outcast.”



“Ha, ha. Very funny, Beako. Mock me all you want, I’ll learn how to use that whip by the end of this trip, you know?”



“Betty just thinks it was foolish to choose a weapon like this. It’ll be far too bothersome to use even with sufficient training, in fact.”



“Ehhh, give it a chance, Beako! I’ve got a really good feeling about this. Like, I can feel it in my heart that Natsuki Subaru was meant to use a whip! It’s destiny, Beako! Destiny!” He excitedly explained, holding the whip like the biggest treasure in the whole wide world. “Besides, there wasn’t really much to choose from, anyway…” He added, albeit with slightly less enthusiasm.



“And what does destiny say about food, I wonder? We didn’t stop at any town for the last week, and we’re running out of fodder for Patrashe. This forest isn’t exactly full of wild animals either, in fact.”



“You know well it’s not my fault, Beako! Those patrols got way too frequent. If we don’t stay this deep in the forest, they’ll find us for sure!”



Beatrice felt a bit reassured that he did consider that problem in the end. It did not help that he was far more preoccupied with his whip dilemma, but it still served to calm her nerves a little.



“We’ll keep at this for one more week at most. Afterwards we’re moving to the Kararagian border, maybe we’ll lose those pesky knights that way, I suppose.” She decided this was the best moment she would get to share her plan of dealing with their current situation. He brought his hand to his chin and nodded in agreement.



“Great idea. That’s my Beako for you, always one step ahead!”



“Humph! It’s good you’re starting to recognize Betty’s greatness, in fact!”



“Ohh just you wait, Beako! Tomorrow, all of this training will pay off and I’ll wipe that smirk off of the Doll Julius’s face!” He said, ending the evening with an assured declaration.

The morning of the next morning started with Subaru’s excited preparations. He skipped out on breakfast just to get to his training faster. First there were the usual ‘radio calisthenics’, next some test lashes. With a wide grin he prepared to strike the dummy, making his first throw of the day with confidence, only for the weapon to strike a poor oak beside it.



“Seriously?! I swear I did it perfectly this time!”



“Subaru, maybe you should eat breakfast first        ?”



“No! I need to keep practicing. Wasting time like this won’t get me anywhere close to what I need to become.” He went back to pointlessly trying to strike the doll.



“There’s no rush, you can take your time, I suppose. It’s been only a day since you started.”



“Easy for you to say. I can’t just let Emilia wait for me too long. I need to prove myself, the sooner the better!” He yelled full of fervor.



“Betty already said to focus on yourself for now, in fact! So for now forget the foolish half-elf, you don’t need to push yourself Subaru.”



“Forget Emilia…? Are you even hearing yourself, Beako?! What’s the point in all this if I forget about Her of all people?!”



“But, no Subaru you’re thinking about it wrong in fact. It’s okay to do things for yourself as well, you’re not defined by the whims of that half-elf       “



“And why can’t you refer to Emilia by her name, huh? I noticed you’ve been avoiding it like a plague for a while now.” He asked in an accusatory tone of voice. Beatrice stayed silent, refusing to answer the question. Knowing her response would bring with itself terrible consequences. And she knew she would not be able to lie. Not to him, not to Subaru.



“Well, Beako? I’m waiting.” She tried to keep her composure.



“Beako. I want you to answer.” The pressure she felt rose with every critical question sent her way. Unable to look at him anymore, she sent her gaze to the ground.



“Beatrice.” He said definitely and stayed silent. Neither said anything for a long while, which in turn made her feel like there was no escape. The only reasonable thing she could think of was to just say the truth and go from there.



“… Betty refuses to call her by that name until that girl recognizes her mistakes.” He didn’t even need to register her answer before she had regretted it. She immediately tried to follow up with an apology. Sadly, she would not get that chance.



“Beako, I really don’t wanna talk with you right now. Leave for now. Please.” He said with a tone completely devoid of it’s normal amusement. She wanted to say more, explain herself. But the look in his eyes made her reconsider. That expression told her enough, no matter what she did right now, there was nothing she could do to salvage the situation at this time.



“Fine. Betty’s sorry, Subaru.” She stood up from her sitting spot, and left the grove. The dragon she seeked was laying on small patch of grass, with rays of sun coming through the branches warming up it’s scales, lazily sleeping off the warm day. She sat down in the curve of it’s body, and started to weep in silence.



“Betty’s so stupid. Of course Subaru wouldn’t feel happy with an answer like that. It was obvious this would happen, in fact.” She criticized herself. The dragon behind her stirred in it’s sleep, wrapping itself slightly around the little spirit. A warm feeling of security enveloped her, and she cried herself to sleep.

Her dreamless slumber was interrupted when a feeling of dread awoke her. She opened her eyes to discover that the sky has already turned dark. With the usual spirits that swarmed the mana-rich forest at night absent, moon and stars being the only source of light, it might as well have been completely pitch black. Somehow her mind refused to accept that reality, telling her it should be far too bright, but what she saw disagreed with that notion.



She was still enveloped in the dragon’s embrace, but this time she could feel the sheer protective intent behind it. The creature looked in the direction of the forest, baring it’s fangs. She noticed there was not even the smallest rustle in any of the surrounding shrubs. In fact, there was no sound at all. No wind to whistle through the trees. No creaking caused by the older of plants swaying under their weight.



In front of her, behind her, right up her ear and 10 meter away. Beatrice had felt as if something was observing her every little move. She felt defenseless.



Other then her paralyzing fear, she could not sense the enemy in the slightest. There was no smell, sight. Not even mana indicated that there was anyone other then herself and Patrashe there. It was as if a phantom was stalking her.



Her mind was invaded by a foreign feeling. It felt like sound, but not exactly. It was more of a sensation. As if someone transferred to her the meaning behind sound, the theory behind it.



As if the meaning of whisper entered her mind. As if something tried to talk to her in an incomprehensible, alien language.



As if something was offered to her.



It felt wrong, she wanted to disagree with the statement, disagree with the whisper. Reject it completely.



But deep in her heart she found powerless to do so. Her struggle would end in vain in the end anyway, just as it always had. And that way, she would hurt Subaru even further. And so, she relented. Agreed with the whisper’s demands, whatever they were.



As suddenly as it had appeared, the ‘entity’ disappeared completely. Patrashe appeared as if nothing at all had happened, and returned to her sleep. Beatrice dared not leave the dragon’s secure hold. The confusing feeling of fear still leaving a huge impression on her psyche.



Trembling, she fell back to sleep without returning to the camp that night.

She was awoken the following morning by a zealous cry of Subaru.



“Wake up, both of you!” She opened her eyes with effort due to the rays of light shining right at her face. Upon looking at her, Subaru seemed to don a guilty expression, but he shook it off quickly and shot a grin in their direction. He pointed at the Julius doll that stood a considerable 10 meters behind him.



“I’ve worked my ass off yesterday, so look at the fruits of my labor!” Without losing time, he started swirling the whip above his head, the weapon gaining more and more momentum. With a quick movement of his hand, he threw the tip of the whip forward, and it flied forward. The throw could be called almost perfect, and it finally hit the target, breaking it’s fragile head off.



“YEOOOWCH!!!”



Sadly, this victory was not left unpunished. The whip was thrown with enough force for it to return back to it’s unfortunate user, and hit Subaru square in the face leaving a nasty, bleeding mark.



“Damn it!” He threw the weapon to his side in anger and sat down on the ground. Slowly, Beatrice came out of the dragon’s embrace and started to heal Subaru’s new wound. His scowl became even worse, but he refused to acknowledge her aid.



“You were right, this thing’s useless. I’m giving up on the whip, Beatrice.”



She didn’t wish for him to give up yet, after such a short time. It was not in his nature. But she had already hurt him. Who’s to say pushing him to practice even more wouldn’t hurt him even more. So she decided not to answer that, simply standing by his side after she was finished. An uncomfortable silence fallen upon the two.



Beatrice hated it.



She hated the way he looked at her now. Like he couldn’t trust her. As if she didn’t understand him at all. And she hated that he did not look at her with the expected anger, hate and disappointment.



Instead, he looked at her with loneliness. And it felt far worse then any other emotion she could think of.



Still, she followed after him when he left for the camp, taking the discarded whip and upon arriving in the base, she put into it’s original home. With the morning hours slowly coming to an end, this would be when she would start her usual daily routine. Watching as Subaru exercises, listening to his foolish ideas, memorizing all of his strange, unique words, teaching him how to properly use Yin Magic.



She loved these activities of theirs.



But today it seemed that none of them would come to pass.



She was far too worried to disappoint him even further. And Subaru himself was far too preoccupied with whatever was on his mind to engage with her. To engage with the world in general.



This unusual, unnerving silence gave her a chance to think. Her thoughts were determined to circle around the topic of Subaru, however after much effort she managed to think back to the previous night.



She could still perfectly picture that moment. It felt almost like a dream, if not for Patrashe’s reaction, she would have probably thought it was one as well. It was real. The growing sensation of dread made it hard, but she focused on it, analyzed it.



The only new thing she could recollect about the whole ordeal was that, for whatever reason, it made her thing of a sky blue, calming color. The disconnection between that feeling of calm and absolute dread served to only make her more confused.



She thought about sharing her troubles with Subaru, but quickly decided against it. She had already caused far too much trouble for her contractor after all, bringing him into this as well would only make them drift away from each other further.



She accepted that whatever it was, she was forced to deal with it by her lonesome. That it was her own issue, and not anyone else’s.



The rest of the day passed in a similar manner. Subaru kept to himself, mostly just mindlessly tossing stones against a particularly though tree. Beatrice on the other hand tried distracting herself with various useless thoughts.



Of course, they have exchanged some looks throughout the day, but neither tried to actually approach the other. The only time they interacted at all was when he gave her the daily dose of mana.



They spent their entire day in that torturous way, and eventually found themselves at the beginning of the night. They awkwardly stared at the space before them, neither brave enough to say anything.



“Good night, Subaru.” Beatrice couldn’t take it, and managed to gasp out a single simple sentence.



“Yeah, night Beako.”



Without much of a conversation, they both went to sleep. She didn’t try to get close to him.



Beatrice struggled to fall asleep, the guilt and nerves picking at her tired mind. A sigh coming from beside her momentarily stopped her efforts.



“Beako, I… Ah it’s just so embarrassing! You see I’m.” He abruptly stopped his sentence, whatever it was dying in his throat. Worried, she sat up and turned to face him.



With hastened breath, Subaru was sitting up prepped up on a single hand, the other clutching at his heart.



“Subaru, is everything all right…?”



She trailed off, the rest of the question stuck in her throat as he faced her way. His eyes were unfocused, open wide as a few teardrops moistened his cheeks. Without a word he reached out towards her, mouth quivering, and grasped at her arm.



“Subaru!? What is wrong, in fact?”



She winced as his hold on her tightened. She tried to get him out of the stupor a myriad of way, but none of them worked. It was as if he was in a trance. This sudden shift of character almost distracted her from the significant spike in Witch’s Scent that followed him.



“Beatrice. We need to go.” Subaru finally said, his voice hoarse and tired. Without waiting for her answer, he stood up and started to pack up their necessities. Although stunned, she followed his example and gathered whatever she could find close by. She noticed him attach the whip to his hip as he turned around, various tools in his hands.



“Come on, we need to go. If we stay here, we’ll…” He shook his head. The sentence remained unfinished as he rushed off towards the clearing, where an already wide awake Patrashe was waiting for them. Securing their supplies on her back, he climbed onto the dragon and pulled Beatrice on it as well.



Without wasting any time, they started to gallop through the thick forest as best as they could. Subaru ignored the branches and rocks that hit and scraped off of them, resolute to get away from whatever it was that scared him so.



“Subaru, what’s going on, in fact? Why are we       ” She couldn’t complete her sentence, as some powerful force hit them from the side.



Their hastily put on belts were not enough to protect them, and they both fell a significant distance away from a screeching Patrashe.



Beatrice managed to get up through the pain and look towards whatever it was that attacked them. Over the fallen dragon stood a mighty beast, an adult Guiltylowe, snarling in the direction of the weeping Subaru.



“Subaru! Get up, in fact!” She yelled behind her to where he landed, not daring to look away from the enemy. There would be no answer for a while, before a few coughs spread through the forest.



“It came quicker this time… This worthless power…! Why, why are you…!” He wheezed through his coughs, and the Guiltlowe left the still suffering Patrashe in favor of the despairing boy.



The spirit stood up and, as quickly as her body allowed her to, blocked the quickest way to her contractor. The beast snarled and carefully circled around the two of them, looking for any opening she would leave to it.



The spirit mirrored the action, step by step getting closer to her contractor. Both were stuck in this tense dance, neither giving even an inch to the other. While Beatrice looked for any possible way to escape the situation with her contractor intact, the beast carefully got closer and closer.



She was less then two meters away from him, keeping her watchful gaze on the beast. The creature became more daring, making a few threatening steps, closing the distance even further. Beatrice didn’t show how afraid she truly was, still backing off towards her contractor.



And just as her hand touched a mop of messy dirty hair, filling her with relief, the Guiltylowe leaped at them through the air, sensing that very moment of weakness she tried to avoid so hard up until now.



“Minya! Minya, Minya!” The spirit fired at the creature, but it managed to redirect it’s jump mid air and avoided the crystallized mana. It landed a bit of distance away, growling at the reunited duo.



“Subaru, please come to your senses! It’s not the time, in fact!” She begged, desperate. But he still remained in that uncommunicative state, muttering some nonsense under his breath.



Seeing as the creature was closing in on them, she decided to do something drastic and slapped him on his cheek. Subaru winced at the impact and looked up towards her crying face. Mindlessly, the boy wiped off the tears with his thumb, his mournful face showing a disappointed smile.



“...Yeah, sorry. It’s not over just yet right? Can’t give up with both of you still… Standing behind me.” He leveled a hateful stare towards the creature and stood up, clutching at his bleeding side.



“Beatrice… Go heal Patrashe. Your magic won’t help us here.” He said through his teeth, taking the whip attached to his side into his right hand. Barely able to stand up straight, he took a shaky step forward.



“I’m not wasting this attempt, after all. So come at me, you bastard! After all that happened, I’m far beyond just killing you. I’ll make sure your spirit won’t rest until I’m still alive. I can promise you that much at least, beast!” He roared at the monster with frenzied eyes.



The creature answered him with a roar on it’s own, and rushed towards them at full speed. Beatrice hugged his leg and closed her eyes in despair as she braced for the inevitable impact.



Then, came a swift whistle, a gentle gust of wind hitting her face. A pained yelp of the beast reached her ears but a moment later.



In shock, her eyes shot open and she was shown the sight of the king of the monsters, that looked so terrifying only moments ago, pathetically trying to shield it’s bleeding eye from the cold air of the night.



“Beatrice. I told you to heal Patrashe.” He commanded, and took a protective stance before her.



Still conflicted, the spirit decided to ultimately put her full trust in him. She rushed away towards the writhing ground dragon, pouring mana into the bleeding wound.



The sounds of combat enveloped the little clearing, but she remained steadfast in the objective entrusted to her. As whistles accompanied by hurt weeps filled the clearing, the wounds sustained by their steed slowly closed. The barely alive dragon was stabilized quickly thanks to her expertise in magic, her objective completed.



Leaving her with nothing else to do but wait for her contractor to return.



But every single sound she heard coming from behind her made it so much harder to just patiently endure her feelings of dread.



She felt afraid to turn back.



Terrified of the image she would find.



In vain, she tried to ignore the noises of his hurt. Her heart ached with every shout that escaped her contractor’s throat. But she was conflicted. She trusted him to do it by his own strength, just as he wanted. And yet she was terrified that it wouldn’t be enough. She couldn’t decide between trusting him or herself.



Then she heard a disgusting, crunching noise.



She could feign her ignorance no longer. Turning around, she came saw the beast, covered in bleeding wounds, trashing around, her contractor barely clinging to it’s back, his right arm trapped between it’s jaws. Sharp fangs piercing the flesh, crushing his bones.



She tried to cast a spell, to move, to do whatever, only to help him. But she was stuck. There was no way for her to move even a little bit. A familiar feeling of dread came over her, as she was forced to witness the macabre duel between the two.



“It’s over, you bastard! I’ve finally got you!” Subaru exclaimed and fastened the whip around it’s neck, not at all acknowledging his injury. The beast started to trash even harder now, hitting the boy against the surrounding trees. The whip dug into it’s neck, blood gushing out of the newfound wound.



It spit out the mangled arm with a weak roar, only a fraction of it’s previous fervor, hopelessly taking in whatever meager breaths it could. Still paralyzed, she looked on as the beast’s movement slowly but surely came to a halt and it finally fell, losing it’s consciousness.



“Su-baru?” She stared at the scene, unsure how to proceed. She saw as Subaru kept on tightening the whip around his prey’s neck, his right arm creating a disgusting sound the more pressure he put on it.



And even now, Beatrice was unable to stop his suffering. She was frozen in space, looking as her contractor tortured himself to protect her, protect the wounded dragon. Protect the small part of the world that did not abandon him.



This scene kept on going for what felt like ages, before Subaru finally let go of the weapon. He fell off of the creature’s back onto the disturbed dirt, lying in the disgusting mix of blood and mud.



“I did it… It’s over.” She heard him mumble. He looked at Beatrice and the resting Patrashe, and showed the world a tired, but satisfied smile. “And everyone survived, too. Not bad… Natsuki Subaru.” His eyes closed after he uttered these words.



The force locking her body in place disappeared, and she came rushing at him at full speed. She crash landed beside him, immediately pouring all the mana she could into his body, focusing on more severe injuries first.



“You idiot contractor ! When you wake up, you’ll be hearing from Betty!” She yelled through her abundant tears.

It took him a few hours to recover from the fight enough to wake up. The first thing he did was stand up, ignoring Beatrice’s protests, and upon coming over to the corpse of his opponent, with great effort ripping out a few of it’s claws.



He sat down by the messily made campfire, and ripping a few pieces of cloth from his tarnished uniform, started tying the claws to his weapon.



“Subaru, what are you…?”



“I’m fulfilling my promise. That bastard’s soul is not going to rest until I let it.” He responded, spitefully tugging at the knot with more force.



“Subaru, you were far too reckless. Betty could have helped, in fact.” At a loss, she decided to instead reprimand him.



“No.” He responded and returned to his work. Undeterred by such a simply answer, she inquired further.



“You should depend on Betty more. If only you have said so, Betty would have        ”



“Beatrice! You couldn’t have helped back there. You did enough by making sure Patrashe survived. If you intervened any further, it wouldn’t have ended as well as it did.”



“You almost losing an arm is not a good outcome, I suppose!” She pointed at the barely functioning limb, covered in not fully healed scars.



“It’s miles better then either one of you two dying!” He yelled at her, making her shuffle away from him. “I can’t keep going if either one of you is gone.” He added, more solemnly.



She didn’t feel comfortable with the way this conversation was going. She couldn’t understand why he said that as if he saw that happen countless times. Looking into his eyes, so focused on adding the memento, a trophy, to his weapon, she felt afraid.



Afraid because she started to understand that she really did not understand him at all.



Because she realized that the loneliness in his eyes she hated appeared to be fully justified.

Chapter Text

Subaru was sitting near the campfire, it’s glow covering him in a hue of orange. He was sharpening a branch, that just so happened to not be rotten through, into what appeared to be a primitive weapon.




“Subaru, Betty could be plenty more help then that thing, in fact. Surely you can see that?”





“Beako, there’ll be times when our limited magic supply will be better used healing then fighting. I’d love to get something better then a sharp stick of all things, but hell, what other options are there? Besides, the thing’s like, a trademark makeshift weapon, it can’t be THAT bad, you know?” He tried to convince himself just as hard as he did her.



“Seeing as you’re preparing it now, are you thinking of going on some sort of hunt, in fact? We’ve had that run in with the Guiltlowe less then a week ago, Subaru. Try resting for a bit more…”



“There’s no point in resting, it’ll happen anyway.” He released a tired sigh, stopping his work for only a moment. He looked deep into the crackling fire, before speaking up again. “Oh, right. You’ll be staying with Patrashe. I can handle this on my own, already figured out how to.”



“What do you mean, Subaru? Betty can’t just leave you alone to deal with Od knows what!” She came closer to him and grasped at his arm, but he shrugged her off.




“You can, and you will. That’s final.”



“But-!”



A glare silenced her protests. She had no way of arguing against him, not when he bore such an unsightly expression. A grimace that reminded her how much she failed him.



She saw him that very same night, with shattered bones, dragging his whip behind him on the ground, a bloodied bag in his left arm.

“Beako, see that little meadow? You’ll be staying there for the night.” Said Subaru, pointing to a small clearing among the trees, in the middle of which was a slight hill. Patrashe slowly walked towards it, following the boy’s orders.



“… The way you said that makes Betty think it’s another one of ‘those’ nights, I suppose.”



“Nothing gets past you, huh? Yeah, I’ll be going alone tonight as well. Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control.” He cackled, and patted her head. It brought no comfort to her, seeing him release such dry, hollow sounds.



“Just like that one time your leg was barely attached to the rest of your body? Or when Betty had to search for you while you were wallowing in your own blood, I wonder?!” Her bottled up anger burst forward, to which Subaru simply shrugged.



“Oh, you’re being a tad over-dramatic, aren’t you? All’s well that ends well.” Ignoring Beatrice’s displeased grimace, Subaru smiled at her and handed her a torn piece of paper. Quickly looking it over, it offered a rough sketch of some very primitive metia. Scribbled around it were deranged notes, written so badly she could hardly decipher the meaning behind. But she knew for sure that whatever it was, it would bring her plenty of headaches soon enough.



“Can you take a look at these instead? I’ve been trying to draw up a good schematic for the last few nights, and this is probably the best I’ll get right now! I’m hopeless when it comes to magic, so I’m gonna leave it to you!”



“Helping Subaru in anything is a victory for Betty, I suppose.” She truly was glad for this chance. But she yearned for more. She wanted to be of so much more use to him.



“Great! I’ll be going now, so make sure to feed Patrashe! And don’t stay up too late, you’ll get wrinkles!” Ignorant of her worries, he ran off into the forest with a goofy smile. A smile she knew very hid some dark secret from the whole world.



“Betty will not get wrinkles!” She answered, aware that he’s already out of the hearing range. “Honestly, that idiot contractor…” Her gaze lingered on where he disappeared for the next few moments.



She remembers him returning with a terrible claw mark on his face. No amount of protests would make him let her heal the wound either. The scar remained on his face as a grim reminder of another one of her failures.

“Nah, there’s no need Beako. These may not be the best out there, but I’ve worked with them so many times it’s impossible for me to make a mistake.” Said Subaru as he carefully inserted a glowing mana stone into a very brittle looking ‘metia’.



“What utter nonsense are you talking about, in fact?! This is the first time you’re holding raw mana stones! One wrong move and you’ll blow yourself up! Subaru this is madness, even for you!”



“Yeah, yeah every genius is called mad in his times. See, now that I got them to calm down a bit I can just pack them into this neat little cache and…! Voila! One-of-a-kind lighter! Hah, starting a fire just became a hundred times easier!” Subaru admired his ‘masterpiece’ for a little bit, while Beatrice could only look in concern as he hold the volatile and dangerous item.



“How much can we earn by mass producing these, anyway? When we come back we should probably make a trading company of our own. We’ll give Anastasia a run for her money!” He stopped his ramblings and looked around in confusion, seemingly not noticing the glowing stone in his hand. “Is it just me, or did it get really hot all of a sudden?”




“THROW THAT THING AWAY, IN FACT!”



With Subaru still in his stupor, it came to Beatrice to get rid of the unstable device as she snatched it out of his hands and threw it out on the field beside them. Soon after, the ground where it landed was glassed, an explosion send the dirt and rocks lying there in all directions. Somehow, the two of them were shielded from the projectiles, leaving them unscathed.




“Oops! I guess it was a failure then. I’ll just improve the next version.” He shrugged and stared into the burnt ground left behind by the explosion, completely unphazed.




“You’re planning on making more of these?!” 



Undeterred, Subaru proudly smirked at Beatrice’s bafflement. “A proper knight not only protects his lady, but also finds various ways to benefit her as well! Felix may not be best fighter, but he’s an awesome healer, right? I can’t really be a medic, so I just have to become an inventor! Witness the great Industrial Revolution of Subaru Natsuki, Beako!”



“Betty’s contractor has gone insane, in fact…” She said in horror. Still, even if reckless, she found his new obsession much better then any of his solo escapades. But in the back of her head, a thought that all of his mannerisms looked far too practiced gnawed at her gradually decreasing psyche.

Each one of these horrible events warrants a story of it’s own. She could spent ages agonizing over every single irresponsible thing he had done over the last few weeks. Or was it months? She had trouble discerning it at this point. All the time among nothing but trees, grass, rocks and an idiot of a contractor did not make it easy to keep track of time. At least nothing dangerous happened to her or the dragon, so she had plenty of magic to heal him after any of his reckless stunts.



Healing that would not be necessary if she was there with him in the first place.



Ah and there it is, her favorite way to pass the time. Criticizing. Sometimes reminiscing, for lack of a better word. She would lock herself away in her very own palace of thoughts, and look at this terrible adventure they had had so far.



Sadly, that palace of hers was taken over by the kaleidoscope of painful memories that amassed during this journey. She vividly remembered each and every dismissal she had suffered, and each broken limb he would come back with because of her lack of help. The horrible, pale wound on his face - an eternal, and most notable reminder of this. Reminder of how she could never find a way to convince him.



No matter how battered he came back, no matter how many tears she would spill over his barely alive body. None of it would make him consider her. And yet no matter how much it hurt, thinking about him was the only way she could ease her own loneliness, at least a little bit.


Caring about anything else then him brought her nothing but pain these days. As such she tried as much as she could to distance herself from the world. All that mattered were Beatrice and her contractor. The rest of the world outside of their little bubble could wither away, for all she cared.



Not as if the world itself held any affection for either of them. As it is, it’s only natural for her to loathe what made them suffer. The loathsome beasts that called this world their home, both those honest to their nature and under the guise of humanity. Magic, that was useless in the face of Subaru’s struggles. The merciless forces of nature they fought against each day of their arduous journey.



Most of all, she had grew to hate the half-elf. The root cause of all this pain, all this evil. The love her contractor felt towards that thing was the very curse that drove him this far into insanity, drove him so far away from her reach. The existence of that abominable woman was why the loneliness in those eyes persisted with such annoying stubbornness.



Beatrice was very well aware how Subaru would react if he ever found out about her true feelings towards the half-devil. But there was nothing she could do about them. It was only natural that she had grown to hate the pathetic leech. This journey, his pain, it all started because of her on that fateful night. And Beatrice knew that when they came back, his pain would not be eased in the slightest.



“Time’s out!”



Her pair of drills straightened out in opposing directions, making her realize the current situation. Before her stood Subaru, flashing her with an annoyed smile. She quickly scanned him for any injuries. The knight uniform, tarnished with multiple patches of dark mabeast hide, hid away all the terrible scars covering his body, both those caused by his enemies and himself. His cape, dirtied in mud and dust from all the times it was used as an emergency blanket, gently flowed down his back, reaching his hips with it’s torn up edge.



His face, slightly covered by overgrown hair, was littered with uneven cuts and scars that were unable to be healed completely, one of them stretching all the way from his left ear to right brow. And finally the whip. The weapon had been molded far beyond what it originally was, now completely covered with jagged spikes and sharp protrusions, the very best symbol of the path they had walked so far. Not one part of him seemed to be hurt this time, which greatly calmed the spirit.



“Subaru?! Why haven’t you said you were back, in fact?!” With her mind at relative peace, she quickly donned her facade of annoyance.



“The hell are you talking about?! You’ve been unresponsive for the last half an hour, Beako! We’re gonna be late because of whatever *this* was!” He reprimended her while throwing her hair from one side to the other, with Beatrice being unable to stop him.



“...Can you let go of Betty’s hair, then?” Beatrice said meekly.



“Sure, but better get seated on Patrashe right after. We need to go ASAP!” He said and let go of the spirit’s hair, grabbing their humble bag of supplies. With a huff she followed his command and hopped onto the dragon, which thankfully lowered itself for her.



“Where are we headed to exactly for you to be in such a hurry, I wonder?” She asked while Subaru got onto Patrashe himself.



“There’s this small town I’ve heard of while bartering with some merchants. Apparently, even though it’s a trading town with great economy, there’s very little traffic to and from it. It’s believed the place is ran by some sorta shadow organization.” He smirked a little. “If you’re not gonna be careful, they’re gonna snatch you up at night!”



“Betty’s not a child for something like that to scare her, in fact.” Answered Beatrice, slightly annoyed at all the trashing around Subaru did in his seat.



“You’re no fun.” He slumped a bit. “Even if the whole shebang about the secret organization is true, it shouldn’t really affect us. See, the reason for us going there is very simple! If it’s a trading town, then we’re sure to find materials I could use in my..!”



“If you are about to call the explosions Betty has been subjected to for so long ‘experiments’ one more time, Betty swears she’s not going to be able to stop herself.”



“I’m sorry Beako! But it’s true! Look, the stuff I got from bandit camps and the low-grade traders we met along the way weren’t of the highest quality, but! A town with lots of merchants and barely any traffic means we can stay and trade however long we want, without drawing much attention to ourselves! No more staying in the wilderness, no more food and water problems, no more mabeasts waiting to ambush us, there are no downsides!” Surprising amount of thought was put into this plan of his, noted Beatrice. At least for a plan made by Subaru.




“Fine, fine we’ll stay at this town, I suppose.”



“Don’t ya worry, you won’t regret it!”

“This… is not what Betty expected, in fact.”



“Yeah it isn’t really as advertised…”



They were both left severely disappointed after witnessing the town, more of a ruin honestly, before them. It was surrounded by short rock walls that were crumbling away, and while it did have four watchtowers, one of them was leaning a bit too much for it to be stable with the rest of them not looking much better.



“Maybe… Maybe it looks better on the inside! Yeah, as the saying goes, ‘Don’t judge a book by it’s cover’!” Subaru rode Patrashe through the main gate, with Beatrice noting the guards being absent from their posts.



The first thing they saw after entering were piles of scorched bodies, with what were probably families of the deceased looking at them in despair. Most didn’t even look in the duo's direction, but the few who did quickly ran away and hidden in the crumbling homes, most of which didn’t even have any windows.



When they reached the, honestly quite impressive, market square, they only saw more of the same thing. And not a single merchant in sight. The only person there was a disheveled elder man, who was visibly affected by whatever problem plagued the town as well, seeing as he looked as thin as a stick.



He was surrounded by a few severly under-equiped guards, all lacking in armor, weapons and most probably also in training. He slowly trudged through the silent area, somberly looking at certain spots, gazing over the entire square, until his eyes landed on them.



First there was shock. And soon after, the not so long ago clearly broken man was looking at them with the most excited stare she had seen in a while.



“Travelers! Honest to Od travelers! We’ve finally been blessed with some good fortune!” The disheveled man came closer, and bowed down in front of the dragon.



“You look like quite a mercenary! We will spare no coin, if you could only—”



“Not a mercenary pal. A knight. I’m a knight.” Subaru corrected the man with an excited grin.



“… Right. O’ most honorable knight! Please, could you help us out?” He plead towards Subaru on his knees, dirtying his torn clothes even further in the disgusting grime from the street. The ‘guards’ did nothing to stop him either, if anything they also showed an abnormal amount of respect towards the two of them.



She didn’t like this. Not one bit.



“See, this town has been plagued by some horrible mabeasts for ages now. People die from diseases, hunger, the buildings are crumbling before our eyes, the trade is almost nonexistent because barely anyone dares to venture here.” The man scornfully looked at the ground. “And the kingdom, because of that damned royal family dying off, refuses to send out knights to help us out! So we need to ask for your help!” He looked in Subaru’s direction again, now with a raging inferno burning in his eyes.



She hated this entire situation.



“See Beako? This, this is exactly what we’ve been waiting for!” He hopped off Patrashe, the muddy ground beneath splashing at the impact, and laid a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Dontcha worry pal. I’ll handle it. All I ask of you is for you to pledge your alliance to the candidate Emilia after I’m done!” The man looked at Subaru in bewilderment.



“Surely, there must be something else that you would like to—”



“Not at all, your support to her is all I could ever need. Now, can you point me to some sort of inn perhaps? I’ll deal with your problem after I’ve rested for a bit.”



“Ah, of course. The…” He trailed of, seemingly not sure how to continue the sentence. “Closest inn would be through that road to the left, behind you sir, and then forward, until it ends.”



“You heard that, Beako? Let’s go.” Said Subaru and left her, Patrashe and the confused group beside them behind, quickly marching towards the inn’s direction. She nudged the dragon to come closer to the still frozen man.



“I assume there was some sort of reward prepared for whoever dealt with the mabeasts?”



“That’s correct, my Lady. We had gold stashed away in case someone capable enough appeared, but…” The confused man trailed off, staring as Subaru disappeared behind the corner.



“Honestly… If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could our expenses be covered with that reward at least? Just don’t tell anything to him, in fact.” The elder gained a relaxed, understanding look.



“I see. Very well, it shall be done.”



“Thank you very much, in fact.” Without any unnecessary niceties, she guided the dragon towards the inn’s direction, wanting to reconnect with Subaru as quickly as she could. Being alone on these streets made her feel uneasy.



Successfully tracking the inn down, she looked over the pitiful building. It appeared to be barely standing, the wooden walls showing the lack of care for it by it’s owner. She noticed an annex next to the building in which the traveling animals where sheltered. Or rather, where only Patrashe would be held for the foreseeable future.



After locking the dragon in one of the stalls, she entered the inn through door in the annex which was directly connected to the main building.



“You must be the little Lady Sir Subaru was speaking about. Your room is the last one on the second floor.” The man behind the counter with gray hair and beard, presumably the owner of the establishment, said to her as soon as he saw her. “Hopefully you two can deal with those damned mongrels…” She heard him say as she climbed the dusty stairs.

Behind the door the innkeeper directed her to she found a dirty room smelling of rot. The open window above the bed barely helped combat the terrible smell. To the left of the door there was a desk. The only additional source of light was a couple of candles on that very desk, the wax having melted and flowed down the piece of furniture’s side a long time ago. There wasn’t even a chair to sit on anywhere.



But as she looked around, she saw that the most important piece was missing, that of course being Subaru himself. After a very brief investigation, as there weren’t many places in the room to search, Beatrice discovered a piece of paper with a hastily written down “I’ll go explore the town, maybe I’ll even find a Blacksmith! A proper whip, not that cheap thing I’ve got right now!”



She looked at the note in her hand blankly. Then looked at the open window. She couldn’t help but to release a sigh. As always, Subaru was sure to get himself into trouble on his own. “Betty will have to find him, in fact.”

Walking around the town on her own two feet proved that it was in an even worse state then she thought. The mud on the streets hid away various disgusting things, from dead, decaying animals to pieces of burnt bodies that broke away from the corpses during transportation.



Multiple houses had store fronts attached to them, now closed, probably forever. She doubted the only thing wrong with this town was the horde of mabeasts in the forest surrounding it. A few months of isolation would not be enough to bring a town to this level of destruction.



“Excuse me?”



A childish voice interrupted her ‘sightseeing’. Looking behind, she saw a young girl, probably not much older then the new maid back at the mansion, in clothes that once would probably be considered expensive, yet now could only be described as torn up rags. She had dirty, light brown hair going down below her shoulders and brown eyes. Her limbs were all thin and she was incredibly pale, and dirty in all sorts of grime and muck. And yet, across her face was plastered a radiant smile. It showed off her yellowed teeth, honestly one couldn’t call it anything but ugly. But Beatrice could see in it that very nostalgic warmth, very same Subaru used to have.



“What is it, child.”



“Uhm, you’re one of those new travelers in town, right? You’re one of the people who’ll save us?”



“Indeed, Betty and her foolish contractor will clear out that nest, in fact. However, if it was up to Betty, we would have been long gone, I suppose.” The spirit tried to get rid of the new annoyance, no matter how nostalgic it may be. The girl however refused to acknowledge the second part of her sentence, to her misfortune.



“Truly?!” The girl hugged Beatrice, the spirit instinctively turning her head away from the awful smell. “Ah, right sorry about that.” She distanced herself and hold out a hand with a grin on her face. “You can just call me Cathy! If it would help, I could show you around our little town?”



“… It would be of tremendous help. Betty’s fool of a contractor ran off somewhere, looking for trouble.”



“Mhm, I’m sure we’ll find him in no time, Betty. Do you have any inkling to where he could have gone?”



“He did want to visit a blacksmith… but he has no idea where it would be. So he may be anywhere, in fact.” The once easy to track witch’s scent has developed to the point that it spilled over the entire town during their short stay. She was clueless how people around them could handle staying in the same place as that thick cloud of corrupted mana, but at the same time she was glad Subaru wasn’t fated to be forever alone because of whatever curse plagued him.



“Mmm, there did use to be a blacksmith near the square, father would often go there. But it closed down not long after the merchants stopped coming. I’m not sure if the owner is still around...”



“It’s the best shot we’ve got, in fact. Lead the way child.”



“It’s Cathy!” The girl grasped Beatrice’s hand and started to run in, presumably, the direction of the blacksmith’s shop. “Let’s go find him, Betty!”



“You can’t call Betty that, in fact! It’s ‘Lady Beatrice’ for you! And don’t rush me so suddenly!” Yelled in annoyance Beatrice, almost falling over at the sudden action.



“Nope! I’ll be calling you Betty, it’s cute!”



Giving up to her fate, Beatrice let her eyes wander once more. She would have expected a place like this to be riddled with desperate people turning to banditry, but it seemed they were beyond that point already. They have accepted their fate, waiting for their deaths, aimlessly wandering through the streets, sitting in shadows, in almost a complete unity. But if that was true, how did this beacon of light before her have not given up as well? How can such a frail child still remain so… happy when confronted with this cruel reality? The spirit could not comprehend it.



Her train of thought made her realize the girl before her had suddenly stopped just a bit too late, making Beatrice collide with a broken down road sign, a load thud resounding around the empty street.



“Huff… I’m spent Betty. Let’s rest for a bit.” Said the girl and promptly fell onto the filthy ground.



“You were the one who started running, in fact!” Reprimended the girl Beatrice, still massaging her head, hurting from the sudden impact.



“I was just so excited! We’ve been waiting for something like this for a long, long time. But now that both of you are here, it’s all going to be fine! I just know it!”



“… You are not so different from how he was back then, I suppose.” Unwillingly, a slight smile crept unto Beatrice’s face. One she made sure to get rid off once she realized was there.



“Like who? That contractor of yours we’re looking for? What is that 'contractor' thing even about?”



“Betty is a great spirit of Yin, in fact. You’d best show some respect now that you know that.” She smugly proclaimed towards the clueless child.



“Wow! A genuine spirit?! A great one too! That’s so cool! Can you show me some of your spells?!” The girl lunged at Beatrice, grabbing onto her shoulders and locking her in place.

“Stop it, in fact. As a great spirit, Betty needs a lot of mana, and so—” Her lecture was interrupted when one, singular spot in the thick cloud of miasma over the town suddenly erupted. Not for long, but it was enough for her to locate Subaru.



“It happened again. Whatever are you not telling Betty, in fact…”



“Ohhh~ you found him? Is it like some sort of cool contract thing you guys can do?!”



“You are no longer needed child, so you’d better leave.” She quickly shrugged off the girl off of her and rushed towards the abnormal point in the miasma.



“No way! I want to see our savior! And there are so many more things I want to ask you, too!”



She had no time for this. Subaru was most probably in a catatonic state, wriggling on the ground right now, like any other time this sudden eruption occurred. But this time she was nowhere nearby to help him out of it.



She ignored the obstacles around her and the constant annoying buzzing in her left ear.



She ran as quickly as her legs would allow her towards the place she sensed it happen.



And there she found him, sitting at the steps to another one of the ruined shops. Glad he wasn’t laying in the filth, she carefully walked towards him, and once in range, grasped his arm.



“Subaru! Betty’s here now, are you alright? What happened? Can you tell Betty?”



“You know the answer damn well Beako…” He stopped, his tear stained eyes looking at her with exhaustion. “I – I don’t want to admit it. I really, really don’t but I     I can’t do it. I’m tired. We can just     just go back to traveling now.”



She would have urged him to continue once. But that time was long gone. Whatever these events were, they only brought him more pain. If pushing him forward would only make him suffer even more, then it would be far better to leave this place to rot. He was far more important then some random town.



Unfortunately, her companion had other plans.



“Sir… you’re just giving up? Abandoning us?”



He send a hurt look towards the pitiful child before him, Beatrice opting to stay silent and simply squeeze his arm tighter.



“...There’s nothing I can do ‘bout it.”



“The mayor told everyone that two travelers will get rid of those mabeasts… It was all a lie, then?”



“I tried to but-”



“What did you even try?! You just arrived here! You didn’t even enter the forest!” It was shocking to see the child that was so harmless until just now showcase such anger.



“Shut the hell up, kid! Spouting that nonsense as if you knew anything, what the hell do you think you know about me?!” The childish anger was met in kind by Subaru’s own.



“I know enough to say you’re just another coward!”



“Coward? You think I’m a coward, eh?! I went and d-” Subaru suddenly fell over himself, his pupils dilating in pain, his mouth stuck in a silent scream of terror. Beatrice immediately tried to ease his pain with some mana, yet it did not help at all.



“What is this, are you trying to earn our pity now?!”



“That is enough, girl! You have no right to speak to Betty’s Subaru that way!” Desperately trying to keep matters from getting any worse, Beatrice tried to intervene.



“No right? I believe I have all the right to say this. You have betrayed our community. You gave us false hope, everybody was starting to feel at ease thanks to you      And now you’re robbing us of salvation!”



“Stop that-” Beatrice tried to silence the girl before she went too far, in vain.



“You go and say whatever you want, and then are too afraid to back it up?! To even TRY doing what you promised?!”



“That’s- It’s complicated kid, I—” Through pain, Subaru tried his best to explain his situation, but the girl refused to listen.



“It’s very simple in my opinion. You’re nothing more then a coward. Too afraid to do anything right.”



“I- you damned kid, I’m telling you, it’s more then just—”



“You called yourself a knight, but you’re not at all worthy of such a title! No knight shies away from a little bit of challenge!” Beatrice looked towards the crying girl in horror. There was no predicting how Subaru would respond to such a thing in his current state.



“…”



But she was only confounded when he didn’t respond at all. He just gazed at the girl before him, and laughed. But not one of the forced laughs she was forced to endure so, so many times. Nor one of the deranged laughs that would escape him sometimes during his episodes.



No. This was a genuine laughter. The girl became even more enraged at this, but her next tirade was interrupted by Subaru’s calm voice.



“Yeah… I’m a coward all right. That’s what I’ve always been, yeah? Running away from the mansion, from the Guiltylowe, running away from the people who I care about…” He glanced towards Beatrice, who was looking upon him in shock and shook his head. “All this time, I’ve been saying I’m trying to progress but all I really did… was run.”



“What… what are you talking about?” 



“Don’t worry kid, I don’t expect you to get it. Hell, I don’t even understand half of what’s going through my head nowadays. But since forever I needed someone to beat sense into this noggin of mine, I’m just stupid like that. Leave me alone for too long and I’ll regress to who I was day one.” He almost looked fond of the memory. “You really did help me out of that pit, guess I needed just a bit of a fresh perspective, huh? After all, can’t go around calling myself a knight if I give up on every little stumble, right?”



He stood up from the steps and raised his hand in the air. “My name is Natsuki Subaru! A self-proclaimed knight of the one and only, Candidate Emilia-tan! And I promise to kill every single one of these Wolfgarms, even if it costs me everything I have! Even this life!”



The child was at a complete loss and Beatrice could not blame her. After all, she was the same. “What…? But just now, you were… And now…”



“Those mabeasts in the forest? Consider them as good as gone, now that I’ve got my head out of the gutter! Sorry you had to see that by the way. It was such a bad look for… No, every good tale has it’s ups and downs, right?! It’s just the story following it’s course!”



“I don’t get it… One moment you’ve given up, the next you’re fired up… You’re just so…” The girl, even with her tear stained face, managed to giggle at Subaru’s behavior.



“Cool right?! You were going to say cool?!”



He was met with even more laughter in response.



“Hey, what were you planning on saying kid?! This isn’t funny! Beako, help me out here!”



“… This foolish contractor truly is hopeless, I suppose.” She said with a relieved smile as she tightly hold his hand.



“C’mon, Beaakooo…”

“Be careful out there sir! Are you sure it is wise to go out there at night?”



“Yep, never been more sure of something in my entire life, pal. Don’t forget to have all the medical supplies you can find at the ready. You never know when my cute Beako rushes over with me barely hanging on to life, can ya?”



“Subaru, please stop being so morbid I suppose.” Beatrice reprimanded him by hitting him in the head from behind.



“Ouch! Hey, we’ve been through such situations before! Better safe then sorry!”



“All the same, we’ll be awaiting your safe return, Sir. Thank you again for your help, from the bottom of my, no, of everyone’s heart.” Subaru only smirked as an answer



“Yeah, I’ve heard this line a thousand times before. Honestly, this is as much for you guys as it is for myself at this point.”



He stopped conversing and hopped onto Patrashe, rushing into the forest with shouts of encouragement from behind them seemingly giving them even more momentum.



“Subaru you haven’t shared your plan yet. You do have one, correct?”



“If I didn’t I would just spit at all my effort up till now.” He went silent for a moment, carefully considering his next words. “I know you won’t like it, but I’ll need to fight them alone this time as well—”



“Betty thought you’d have given up on that foolish notion by now!”



“Yeah, yeah I knew you wouldn’t like it. But there’s simply too much of ‘em, you know? We’ll be torn apart in minutes if I have to focus on protecting both of us.” He shrugged, as if he was speaking from experience.



“So what is Betty supposed to do? Just wait, as always?” She asked, slowly accepting her fate.



“Nope, you think I can take on that horde all by myself? I’ve gotten pretty good with the whip and all, but I’m nowhere close to guys like Rein!”



“Still, that doesn’t explain my purpose here, I suppose.”



“Some patience, please? I’ll get them with my scent right where we want them, so you’ll be free to move around the forest as you please, pretty much. I’ll start having trouble after around an hour, you’ll ride over on Patrashe and offer fire support, simple!”



“… Why can’t Betty do so from the start, then?”



“There’ll be… a bit too much of them. Even with this much scent lingering on me, some are bound to focus on you instead. So, I’ll thin out their numbers, and by the time you appear, most of the danger for you would’ve passed. It was lots of trial and error but this is probably the best chance we’ve got.”



“Betty may not understand all the details, but Betty’ll trust Subaru all the same.”



“Mm, good. And, thanks Beako. I know I don’t really make a lick of sense most of the time but…”



“Betty doesn’t need an explanation. Betty just chooses to believe her contractor above all else, even if the plan is lackluster at best.”



“Honestly, I think you’re even giving it too much credit, haha…”



They eventually stopped at unassuming spot, the only special thing being an ancient oak standing before them, towering above the entire forest.



“Here, straight in that big tree’s direction, yeah? There’s a big clearing there, so you’ll have an easy time sniping all those Wolfgarm down from the tree line!” He said and immediately sprinted in the direction he spoke of.



“Why so suddenly-?!”



“They’ve already got a whiff of me, Beako! Come on, fate! Bring it on!!!”



Beatrice smiled to herself as she watched him run off. She felt melancholic, in a way. He hasn’t looked this happy for a long, long time.



“Betty’ll need to thank that child when we get back, in fact…”



With an accompaniament of wolfish howls, she sat down under the tree with Patrashe laying down close by. Waiting for her time to finally be of use. Without much else to do, she looked at the stars, that seemed to shine much more brightly then usual. The moon as well, it appeared gigantic compared to her previous experiences of star gazing. It was beautiful and serene. She almost understood Subaru’s fascination with the stars at that very moment. The lack of noise only added to how calming the experience was.



The stampede of the mabeasts must have scared off any other living beings as the area around her was completely silent. Without a single sound… It was a familiar feeling, she realized. A far, far too familiar feeling, one she wished she’d never feel again. And yet, that overbearing sense of dread enveloped her yet again.



She squinted with what she supposed were her eyes, in this terrified state. There, before her, stood a figure. She did not comprehend it’s shape. To her, it was just that. A ‘figure’, just a concept. She knew it was there, but there was no way for her to explain how she knew such a thing.



The figure appeared amused, as if the spirit’s struggle brought it entertainment.



“ You are not supposed to see this yet. “ She knew something was said to her. It was another obvious fact. And yet there was nothing to indicate the fact as factual. The words were silent, just like everything else.



“                                                             “ She answered in kind, her mouth releasing a sentence devoid of any sense or meaning. The shape seemed to ponder on her nonsensical response, as if a great secret was relied to her. Then, the shape came closer to Beatrice. How much closer, she could not tell. Distance seemed so alien to her now, a term as useless as her failing voice.



“ It is proof of your humanity to seek answers where there are non. And yet, you must give up on this one for now. But do not fret, it’ll all be answered in time. ”



The figure before her explained a concept to her. A concept so outlandish, so unbelievable, so vile, so disgusting that she could not accept it as being anything but a falsehood. Her defiance seemed to bring great disappointment to the formless specter.



She felt a new sensation, unlike anything she had ever felt before. She did not understand it, the feeling on her shoulder. But she felt somewhat calmed by it, for whatever reason.



“ This story is but a beginning after all. A too sudden explanation, it would be detrimental for me as well. ” The figure reassured her.



Then, a sense of sudden clarity enveloped her as she stared into a pair of blue orbs.



“Now, awaken great spirit. You must bear witness.” A cold voice, this time as real as the ground beneath her, awoke her to her current state. That is, getting dragged by her collar by a desperate Patrashe, through sticky, disgusting mud.



Beatrice quickly noticed that they were no longer at the tree, either. She looked around, and immediately gagged at the sight. The area was littered with hundreds of corpses of wolf-like mabeasts, wolfgarms. The blood was so abundant it made the dry earth turn into a disgusting mud mixture, the same one she was dirtied by.



And in the middle of all the lifeless bodies stood one boy, in a tarnished knight uniform, barely fixed up with patches of black mabeast hide, holding a whip with multiple claws and rusting metal blades holding onto it with tightly tied knots. Subaru was seriously wounded, seemingly trading each kill for another injury threatening his body.



She stood up and tried to rush forward, to finally be of some use again.



“Your love is commendable, great spirit… But it is not yet the time.”



Said the voice of that damnable being, as she fell to the ground in pain. She was again unable to move, forced to kneel before the carnage. Unable to help. Looking towards the dragon that managed to get her this far, it was frozen in fear at whatever force was toying with the spirit’s very being. Immediately, something forced her gaze to be directed towards Subaru.



“Come, you mutts! I can return by- Hah! You all look damn glad to see me, showing me all those ugly fangs!” Subaru yelled, surrounded by the few last Wolfgarm. His scent as pungent as ever, no, even more so, he feverishly looked around at the growling beasts.

Driving the creatures crazy, the miasma finally won over any semblance of intelligence they could have had, making them desperately attack the boy. He flashed them an insane smirk as an answer. A quick snap of jaws, a leap through the air, each of these attacks could kill the boy immediately. And yet he weaved around them perfectly, with almost practiced motions.



Sadly he could not keep up his masterful display for long.



One of the beasts managed to bite him in the arm, making him yelp, but it was quickly silenced when Subaru gouged out it’s eyes with his other, free, hand. It released the boy from it’s bite in pain. At the same time one of the beasts sneaked up behind him and lunged, with it’s maws aimed at the boy’s neck, but he quickly turned around, catching the opened jaws and snapping them outwards, breaking off the lower one altogether. It hanged only by the skin now. In pain, the creature swayed, barely standing, before hiding under the cover of the trees. It’s wounds will make it succumb to death as well.

The blind one, in confusion, started attacking one of the other still healthy Wolfgarms. It bit and clawed at it’s side, tearing out a piece of it’s belly, which made the betrayed creature attack it’s neck in turn. The two fought until both lost a great amount of blood through their self-inflicted injuries.

“What, you fighting between each other now?! Come on, I didn’t try to getcha all so many times for you to be THIS pathetic!” Before him, the last Wolfgarm desperately rushed ahead. The beast’s advance stopped when Subaru lashed it with the whip across it’s head, ripping off it’s ear and wounding the eye in the process. The pitiable wailing the Wolfgarm produced was silenced when Subaru pierced it’s head at the base of the skull with a dagger he produced from one of his pouches.



“When will the big bastard come out, huh? Usually he wouldn’t hide around for this long         “ Subaru mused, trying to see something among the trees. Beatrice felt overjoyed at the fact her contractor managed to win without her help, even if it hurt her soul to fail him yet again. But then she noticed a great amount of mana gather underneath him. She tried to warn him, she honestly did. But her mouth was forcefully shut by something she could not see, nor understand.



Luckily Subaru must have noticed the threat as well. He jumped away just as the spot he was just on burst into a spiral of flames.



“You’ve finally found your way here, haven’t ya?!” From the forest came out a giant beast, a ‘Boss-Wolfgarm’, with a couple more of the wolf mabeasts. It scowled in Subaru’s direction, to which the boy only showed a demented smile. Towering over any other creature in the clearing, it commanded it’s remaining beasts to attack.



“       It sucks it didn’t work, but at least I’ve got a tramp card now! Sayonara, mutts!” He shouted and threw the ‘device’, consisting of a messy wooden casing and an unstable fire mana crystal, which in contact with the ground released all the unstable mana in an orange explosion, engulfing all of the Wolfgarms at once, their charred remains getting thrown around the field. Meanwhile the leader stood still, as if held in place by an invisible force.



“Now, it’s just you and me. Getting here was a bit harder then expected, I’ll give you that much.” He monolouged as the beast desperately tried to get out of whatever bound it, in vain.



“But hey, who can blame me? There was, like what, a hundred of you huddled here, in this forest? What, whatcha giving me that look for?! Were there two hundred of you here? That’s what you’re so mad about?? Oh, FORGIVE me for not getting the numbers right! Who would have thought that a small forest like this, close to a goddamn trading town of all things, would have such a vibrant population of you bastards! Not me, that’s for sure!” The beast wailed as it’s ribs were crushed.



“Oh, and let’s not forget how much trouble you guys gave ME! What was it, 15?” A piece of it’s flesh got teared out from it’s belly. Beatrice felt a cold gaze directed at her. Still frozen, she was powerless to do anything against it. But it seemed the same thing that kept her from moving, also protected her against this new threat.



“Nah, far too low… Maybe 45?” The pressure on it’s head made it’s eyes pop out. Beatrice could feel the powerful, threatening gaze harden on her.

“Nope, doesn’t sound right either       90!” Fangs fell out one after another, blood gushing out of every crevice on it’s head. She could not bear it. It was maddening.



“Yeah this time I went too big, sorry about that. I think I gotta go with 81. I like that number, it rolls of the tongue REALLY well! Eighty-one...” It’s front limbs got broken, twisted, fractured, blood gushing out, as if you squeezed water out of a towel.

“E-i-g-h-t-y o-n-e.” The hind limbs followed suit soon after.


“E-I-G-H-T-Y-O-N-E. GODDAMNED. TIMES. AND IT WAS ONLY SINCE THE NEW CHECKPOINT, TOO!” The creature’s tail got completely teared out, leaving a part of it’s spine sticking out of the beasts body.



“BITTEN. TEARED APART. LIMB-BY-LIMB. Can you believe it?! Do you know how much it hurts, having a hole in your stomach, getting eaten out of like a bowl of CANDY? Oh, I promise you it’s nothing to be envious of. Far from it, actually!” Beatrice lamented, feeling the gaze get closer and closer to her. A peculiar pressure was pressed against her chest. A pain unlike anything she had ever felt before. And yet, when she was so sure she was about to die, it disappeared as suddenly as it have appeared.



Free of pain, she noticed the wolfgarm having his guts spilled on the ground, a disgusting odor filling the entire area. Subaru looked at his enemy, now more a corpse then a living being, and scowled. The beast’s neck twisted around itself, a disgusting sound signifying it’s death. The body stayed upright for a few more seconds, before falling down to the ground with a loud thump.



“All of it, just for this one, single moment.” Subaru began to cough violently, vomiting on the ground, his bile mixed with blood, quickly falling to the ground from the lack of air. Blood spilled from his ears, eyes, from his mouth and his nose. His whole body trembled in pain, fingers twisting into impossible shapes. “Ha-ha-not sure if, this was worth it.” He barely said through his coughs.



And it was then where those invisible chains have released her. The chill she felt, the fear that was imprinted on her, it all disappeared. She rushed to his side, seeing him bleeding from every possible orifice. She gently poured her mana into him, slowly but surely healing the injuries.



“Where       were you, Beako?” He giggled as she cried into his arms, enveloping him into a hug.



“Betty’s sorry! Betty’s so sorry, Subaru! Betty       She was unable to do anything at all! And now, now you’re like this…” She wept into the torn armor of the boy. All he did in response was raise his hand and pet her on the head.



“I did, have to push myself a bit further then I planned to.” He paused, coughing out another couple of droplets of blood and vomit. “But, it’s okay. Both      Both of us have our own struggles we can’t talk about, after all…”



“Subaru… Subaru!” She shouted into his frayed, damaged form. She looked up onto his calm yet bloodied face. The face belonging to her beloved contractor. Every scar, every wound, it was all because of her being an unreliable spirit. If she had just a bit more courage, she could have been of use to him as well. And so she came to a decision. “Subaru… Betty will not be afraid anymore, in fact! Next time      Next time Betty will not fail you! She will rush over to you, and save you!”



“Is that      so, Beako? Ha-ha… I’ll be holding you onto that promise, then!”



Beneath all the grime and dirt, she could see it. The same face as that person who took her out of that Library. She had lost sight of what was truly important, what she wanted to protect. Thought that it was far too late to do that. But this town, this one mission… that ‘Cathy’. It proved her wrong. Subaru was still the same as he ever was. And she had learned that at his core, he would never truly change.

“Our hero returns! That must mean the hunt had been successful, correct?!” Yelled the excited mayor when he saw the duo ride out of the forest on Patrashe. Behind him stood probably every single resident of the town, a hopeful glint to their gaze.



“Of course it was! Those damned mongrels won’t bother you guys anymore.” Subaru’s declaration was enough to cause a victorious uproar among the citizens. Even with their disheveled, exhausted and starved bodies, they all started to celebrate the good news.



“If only every one of our adventures could end like this, huh? This ain’t unpleasant at all…” Said Subaru with a satisfied smile.



“Maybe they would if Betty’s Subaru wasn’t so reckless all the time, I suppose...”



“What was that Beako?! I try my best, okay?!” He retorted in mock annoyance. His gaze wandered briefly to the masses and brightened up.



“Beako, I’ve just got a great idea!”



“...What is it this time?”



Without answering, he grasped her hand and jumped off Patrashe, surprising both the spirit and the dragon.



“Here starts a brand new chapter in Natsuki Subaru’s and the greatest of spirits, Beatrice’s, journey! Oh, and of course, their trusty steed, Patrashe!” He lead her towards the bustling entrance to the town.



“I decided that this is what I want Beako! A hero     It’s someone who makes people overjoyed like this, right?! So, let’s do just that!”



She looked upon his back in amazement. He finally sounded like he had an actual, mature goal in mind.



“… And let’s get some ballads written about us along the way too!”



She gave him far too much credit, as always. But it’s okay. She’d be there to bring him back to reality if he spiraled too far into his delusions. She smiled as the two entered the celebrating masses.



'Finally, things are looking up, in fact...'

Chapter Text

Part 1 : The Tales of Grandeur

“Beakooo… I told you already, I’m good-” The boy tried to get out from under the dusty covers, but was swiftly stopped by a small hand pushing him back onto the bed, making him produce a quiet yelp. From behind them, a soft giggle could be heard, courtesy of a light-brown haired girl.


“Don’t you even finish that sentence, I suppose! Betty did all she could back there, and its a miracle you could even walk in your state! You’re staying in bed, that’s final, in fact!” Every single one of the words in the sentence was dripping with annoyance, and all of it directed towards the reckless boy, who was currently stretching his neck out to peek out through the window. With a sigh, the spirit stood up and closed the blinds, drowning the room in darkness in the process.


“But Beako… There’s so much to do…” The pathetic groan momentarily made Beatrice reconsider her strict disposition, but she quickly recovered her drive and replied with even more fervor.


“Betty will hear of this matter no further! Subaru needs time to recover still. Until Betty deems it okay, you will stay in that bed!”


“Ugh… Cathy, surely you can say something to her…?” With the last bits of hope present in his eyes, he turned towards the giggling mess that barely managed to not interrupt the scolding given to him by the spirit. The girl in question tried to recover, coughing out a few more laughs that remained, and answered the pleading Subaru with a thin grin.


“Sorry, Sir Subaru, but Betty gets too scary when it comes to these matters… I’m sure it won’t be that bad!”


“But it’s soooooo boring!!! You wouldn’t be too far off if you called this torture!” Lamented the forcefully bed ridden boy, eyeing the ceiling, his gaze oozing with frustration. Cathy released a few more giggles at his state, Beatrice only going as far to glaring at him with half-closed eyes.


“Stop complaining, I suppose. Even that quack doctor thinks you shouldn’t move and should instead rest for at least the next week.” Beatrice hopped onto a stool, her feet still touching the floor after seating herself, and observed her contractor as he laid in the bed, helplessly trying to avoid her gaze.


“… Are you going to just stare at me like that the whole week, Beako?”


“Betty’s Subaru is a fool, I suppose. If Betty didn’t make sure he’s in bed all the time, he’d find a chance to run off somewhere again.”


“You really hold no hope for me, huh…?” He stopped, as if a great rebuttal just came to his mind. “What about Patrashe? Someone has to feed her!”


“The innkeeper has already agreed to take care of that until you fully recover, in fact.” Her statement, delivered with complete calmness and stoicism, broke the last embers of hope he hold out towards his freedom. Completely devastated, Subaru fell silent, his eyes moistening in despair.


The room as well grew silent along side him, Beatrice looking upon the defeated knight with irritation, clearly annoyed by his constant denial to simply rest after he brushed so close to death only as much as a few days ago. Cathy on the other hand looked upon him in pity, her laughter that until now had filled the small corner of the room she was in quieting down in response to his loss.


“You could always pass the time by telling me some stories, Sir Subaru? I still don’t know anything about our town’s hero, after all. Nobody does, actually! So, what brought you to us?”


Subaru’s eyes lit up, as if the girl’s question was the salvation he has been waiting for since his birth, he immediately straightened out, the suddenness of the motion making him yelp in pain, which didn’t stop his mouth to start recounting their tale at all.


“You see it all started when I went to buy some snacks at a convenience store, but most of it isn’t all that interesting… Well, I guess there was the White Whale subjugation…” He stopped briefly to consider how exactly to explain the event, placing his chin on his right hand. While he was organising the events of that night among his thoughts, Cathy asked a question striking him out of the process.


“Wait, wait, wait! Isn’t the White Whale this biiig flying beast? One that killed the previous Sword Saint?! You took part in the subjugation of such monster, Sir Subaru?!” Awestruck, she looked in the direction of the recovering hero. The newfound admiration made Subaru briefly reconsider the whole idea of recounting his exploits, but an annoyed glare from Beatrice forced him to continue.


“That I did, but, uhhh, there were a LOT of other people too! I can’t take all the credit, you know…”


“Nonsense. Betty’s Subaru was the key player in that whole ordeal, I suppose. Without him, it was fated to fail.”


“Wow! That’s amazing! How did you do that, Sir Subaru?!”


“Ehhh… Well, to put it shortly, after we damaged the thing enough it split apart in three… So, I lured the original down and had it be crushed by Flugel’s Tree.” Somehow proud of the bare-bones explanation which shouldn’t be considered acceptable in any setting, even more so in one where one is tasked in explaining their various deeds, Subaru smirked towards the girl.


“The giant tree near the capital? Planted there by a mysterious Sage?!” Nevertheless, Cathy seemed to be amazed by it anyway. Seeing the way Subaru was poorly handling himself so far, Beatrice decided she would have to intervene one way or another if she didn’t want any misunderstandings to appear because of this interaction.


“The very same one, in fact. Betty’s Subaru managed to get on top of the White Whale somehow, and, using his unique way of luring mabeasts of all shapes and sizes, he managed to get it to follow him back down to the ground. It was there where the beast was crushed under the weight of the tree. That’s only a small part of Betty’s Subaru great tactical mind, I suppose.” With each sentence Subaru seemed to become even more embarrassed, which brought a unique sort of satisfaction to the spirit. She looked back towards the girl, who took in every single word that left both hers and Subaru’s mouth, and with a wide, expectant grin that couldn’t be contained, eagerly waited for a continuation, which Beatrice gracefully decided to grant her.


“Just after that, Betty’s Subaru slayed the Archbishop of Sloth, in fact.”


“Truly?!” Cathy yelled out with a gasp, her eyes widening considerably. Subaru looked uncomfortable with how the spirit put it, and decided to try and voice his dissatisfaction.


“Beako, stop, you’re embarrassing me…”


“How did you defeat Sloth, Sir Subaru?!?!” Unfortunately for him, he was stopped by the ever so intrigued girl, whose excitement to hear the rest of the story far overpowered whatever shame he felt over taking ‘other’s’ achievements as his own.


“Uh… You see, the guy had several ‘Fingers’ he could copy himself to, so we had to make sure to get all of them first, then there were his unseen hands, and… with some help from a certain bastard we managed to kill him.” Cathy looked down, visibly quite unsatisfied with the explanation this time. As for Beatrice, she only scoffed when Subaru was finished, and started explaining the entire thing with far more detail.


“That’s a gross oversimplification, I suppose. Subaru had lent his eyes to the ‘Greatest of Knights’, you see, because Betty’s Subaru had the ability to see those very Hands, in fact. That way, the Greatest of Knights managed to severely wound the main body of Sloth, but it wasn’t enough to truly kill him, I suppose. Subaru had to finish him off himself while he drove to save his… Lady.”


“So, without Sir Subaru, the whole mission would be a failure…?”


“That’s correct. Betty’s Subaru is also the one who sealed away The Great Hare-”


“That’s enough Beako! Seriously Cathy, there were many, MANY different people who made that possible! I wouldn’t be able to do any of that alone! It was a group effort! Group effort!” His face flushed red, Subaru put a stop to beginning of another story that began leaving the spirit’s lips. Both Cathy and Beatrice looked towards him in concern, making him look away in disgust.


“I… look, Beako is just glorifying what actually happened. There was a lot of moving parts, it was one big mess. And if I didn’t get help from a lot of people it wouldn’t have worked at all, so       ”


“Wouldn’t that mean that you saved everyone with your ability to bring people together, Sir Subaru?” Subaru looked at the girl in shocked silence, his lips quivering, wishing to somehow deny the simple truth, and yet the words simply didn’t form, the sentences they could create forever stuck inside his mind. This silence allowed the girl to continue on, uninterrupted.


“And besides, you are already a hero for everyone in Oran. From the mayor, through the guards and merchants, to the poorest of orphans like myself, everyone respects you. We may not know much about your circumstances, or why that ‘Lady’ of yours decided to get rid of you, but to us… You’re a true hero. It’s not the Finest of Knights, nor is it the Sword Saint. It’s you, Sir Subaru. Just a vagabond knight that happened to be the greatest hero we could have asked for.” Cathy finished with a gentle smile, her face as if radiating a warm glow, a new source of light amidst the darkness of the room. A wet sound came from the bend the boy was laying in, of water droplets lightly hitting a soft fabric. They were of course produced by Subaru, who has already started crying in the middle of the girl’s sentence, tear stains flowing down his cheeks and creating small, wet spots on the bed’s linen. Beatrice looked at her contractor with a mix of various emotions, the dominating one being her joy at someone seeing Subaru in a similar way she did.


“I       Maybe this week of bed rest will do me some good after all. I’m a whole mess after these few months we’ve been on the road. I mean, look at me. Crying after a little bit of encouragement like that… Not hero-like in the slightest.” The boy laid back down, sighing as the mattress accustomed itself to his shape. “Thanks again Cathy. Somehow, you’ve been a great help to us again. To me, at least, but I bet Beako was happy to hear that, too.” He said with a smile, his eyes closing by themselves, the exhaustion caused by straining his injured body finally catching up and making him drift off to sleep.


“Aaand he’s gone, I suppose. I even told him to not strain himself too much, what a foolish contractor…”


“Haha! I never tire of you two! Let’s let him rest, a hero deserves some sleep too, right Betty?”


“… I suppose so.”

Part 2 : Step by step, the world starts turning once again.

“One, two… One, two… One, two…” Came the words of the light-brown haired girl by his side, whose gaze was directed at Subaru as he stumbled through the deserted streets, still filled with the same amount of filth as before the intervention of the self proclaimed knight and the great spirit of yin. Most people locked themselves into their houses, with only a handful of them trying to continue the lives they’ve led before the separation took place.


“That’s right, I suppose… one by one Subaru, carefully… slowly…” Commented the aforementioned great spirit, holding his calloused hands in hers, her hold tight, as if he might disappear the moment she let go of him.


“… Beako, you do realize I’m well enough that we don’t need to do this anymore, right?” Came the answer of the boy, followed by a groan as Beatrice directed at him a stare filled with annoyance. He desperately tried to avoid the spirit’s gaze, but her pull on his already tired arm made it inescapable.


“You say that now, but as soon as you can you’ll be rushing off OD knows where once again. Betty has already learned that much, in fact.” She scoffed at the, by now, well understood nature of her contractor, the misfit trio continuing their walk through the silent roads of Oran, devoid of any soul that may have been a witness to the events.


“Haaaa… There’s really no winning against you, huh…?” His gaze went to the girl that was happily marching along side the spirit-contractor duo, quietly humming an unfamiliar tune, seemingly uncaring for the state of the town around her. Only gazing at one of the multiple decrepit manors one could find in the city, in what could be called nostalgia, or maybe longing. And definetly a sense of familiarity.


“Cathy, do you really not have anything better to do? All we’ve been doing for the last week is my rehabilitation, that’s not the most interesting thing in the universe, you know?” A concerned expression came over his face, a visage that Beatrice soon adopted as well.


“Maybe so, but there’s not really anywhere else I can go to, is there? There isn’t an orphanage anywhere in town, and when the families are already struggling as it is, I doubt anyone would take in a child from the street…” The declaration made the hero go silent for a while, the walk continuing despite the awkwardness felt by both parties. Even so, Beatrice could tell that inside Subaru’s head multiple ideas has already started to jumble around, matching together in order to find a solution. Such was his nature, his character.


“I know! Beako, I know what to do!” And so, the expected declaration came about not long after Cathy’s words brought down the mood of the small group, the spirit involuntarily releasing a fond groan as a small smile stretched itself across her face.


“It’s one of these, I suppose. Good grief…”

“We’ll set up a place for all of Oran’s orphans today! By extension, Cathy will have a place to actually call her home, yeah?” The spirit’s eyebrows raised upwards, confusion clear on her face.


“And how would you do that, I suppose? The town isn’t exactly the most active even after we dealt with the problem. As you can see, barely anybody is even trying to start the rebuilding process. With people in that mindset it’ll be hard to convince someone to do anything close to what an orphanage is supposed to be, in fact.” She striked against the idea, not because she didn’t want to follow through with it, but to make sure her contractor hasn’t decided on something without considering the finer details first. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time something like had happened.


“Don’t worry about it, Sir Subaru. It’s not that big of a deal. I have managed so far well enough, there’s no need to change things         .”


“All I hear are excuses and nonsense! By the end of today, we’ll have everyone and their aunt fired up for the idea! Come on, you two!”


He grasped the hands of both girls with a goofy smile on his face, rushing off in a random direction despite the protests that followed the action.


“AND WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE RUSHING, IN FACT!!!”

They were before a freshly reopened clothing shop, the woman standing in the doorway giving the trio a melancholic look as she was holding a ‘Closed’ sign in her hands.


“Excuse me, would you be interested in-”


“There’s no point, Sir…” Subaru was interrupted as the woman hanged the sign before the door and opened them, stepping into the building with an exhausted smile.


“What?”


“Give it a rest…” The door closed right before his face, a stench of rot entering his nostrils and making him recoil from the derelict piece of wood. With a sour expression, he continued on, undettered, in order to complete his mission.


***


Subaru has ran ahead, gently grasping the shoulder of an older gentleman, getting his attention.


“Hello there! I would like to-”


“Ah, Sir Subaru… I’m sorry, but I need to go.” He couldn’t even finish before the elder excused himself with a tired gaze quickly analyzing the boy standing before him, leaving Subaru to stand alone in the middle of the street, before he as well returned to his companions, his shoulders slumped in disappointment.


***

“Stop there! I need to talk to you about something!”


“I can’t right now, I apologize…”


***


“Wait-!”


***


After many more of such disappointemnts, the trio decided to retire to their inn-room. There, Subaru sat down on the bed, his head bent over, eyes glued to the floor. His tense posture practically oozed with his frustration, caused by the entire day in the city having been a complete waste of time.


“What’s up with them?! I get rid of those stupid mutts, and all these people do is mope around?! Something’s definitely up with them! I’m not alone on this, am I Beako?! Cathy?!” He finally broke the silence, voicing his irritation and startling the two girls.


“Uhm… if you say so, Sir Subaru?”


“Indeed… there is definitely something wrong with the townsfolk, I suppose. Remember that celebration after we dealt with the Wolfgarm’s, in fact?” Subaru’s eyes glowed in remembrance of the event, the very same one that had showed him the way forward only as far back as a week ago.


“Right! Where’s all the enthusiasm! All of them look so despaired, its almost scary! As if nothing mattered to them! Is the entire town like this?” The hypothetical was left in the air, the answer to the question so obvious everybody in the room could easily come to the identical conclusion.


“Betty would gander a guess and say it is… Outside of Cathy, in fact.” The gaze of both spirit and contractor went to the girl at Beatrice’s observation, the girl pointing at herself with a confused expression.


“… Now that you say that, Cathy is actually an outlier when it comes to this whole ‘Waah, everything sucks’ thing, huh?”


“I’m… not sure what you two mean?” Still completely lost, the sandy haired girl looked upon the two with concern. The reaction did nothing to dissipate the uncomfortable atmosphere present in the room.


“Ughhh! From the rain under the gutter! How are we supposed to move them to action, when we don’t even know why the single person that is happy, is actually happy!” Once again, the boy let his frustration out in the air, falling onto the unfolded sheets on top of the bed, a reminder of their hectic morning. Cathy looked upon him in pity, and slight guilt over her inability over not being able to help.


“… Maybe we don’t need to know that, I suppose.” Beatrice on the other hand managed to figure out a way out of the seemingly hopeless situation.

“Could you elaborate, Beako? I’m seriously trying my hardest here but my brainpower is at its limit!”


“Seriously… Think about the environment Cathy has been in up until now. She has been constantly around the hero that saved Oran, her home. Obviously she’ll be in high spirits. Ignoring whatever abnormal aspect there is for the people’s negative disposition, looking at the town, would you say you feel inspired by what you see, I wonder?” Now given the explanation, Subaru got up slightly, and looked towards the blond spirit while supporting his torso with his arms.


“Yeah no, its disgusting… Huh, makes sense I guess. But then what are we supposed to do…?”


“Is Betty supposed to spell out everything for her hopeless contractor, I wonder?” The spirit asked, with a cocky grin, causing Cathy to giggle and Subaru to glare at her, before he managed to piece together the puzzle as well.


“… If Cathy is the exempt from the rule, it means that we need to make everyone else in Oran be in presence of their hero to stop this situation from deteriorating further?” Beatrice took on a proud pose, her smile warming the hearts of the other two present in the room.


“Indeed, Betty is glad Betty’s Subaru is able to figure out at least that much by- Huah?!” Her proud spiel was interrupted when Subaru jumped out of his position on the bed, and started spinning the embarrassed spirit around, as if on an attraction in an amusement park.


“You’re brilliant Beako! A.G.S.!!! Absolutely Genius Spirit!!!”


“Stop it!! Stop it, in fact, you dumb contractor!!”


“Nope! I need to let out all the pride I have for my cute Beako after she came up with such a brilliant idea!”


“Caaathyyy, help Betty in fact!!!”


“What are you going to do, Sir Subaru?” The girl ignored the spirit’s pleas, and asked Subaru with eyes shining as if stars themselves have lend them their light. The boy stopped the swirling, and dropped the grateful spirit back to the ground.


“Isn’t that obvious? Me, and Beako of course, will start a fire in everyone’s heart! And with that fire we’ll rebuild this town, together!” He declared, with his finger outstretched towards the sky… or rather, the rotten planks that made up the room’s ceiling.

It was the noon of the next day when they gathered on the market square. They moved themselves towards the center of the place, their backs towards the city gates. Barely anybody was present, as per the expectations. Outside of the trio, there was only a couple of families that apparently decided to try and go out and banter with others for food. With a resolute step, Subaru moved forward, shouting out towards the city.


“People of Oran! I have noticed that you’re not all that excited about having your city back, huh?!” The moment he spoke up, the few people present directed their exhausted gazes towards him, momentarily stopping their activities.


“And, I mean, I get you, you know? The whole place is a mess. Filthy, destroyed mess. I’m guessing most of you don’t even want to live here, yeah? Why would you, with the place in this state…”

The people looked around, more by instinct then because they needed confirmation. The filth was a part of their life for a long enough time now after all, they knew it very well. Beatrice was unsure of where Subaru was going for with his speech, but held out belief for her contractor still.


“Me, well, I would have left the dump a long time ago. It smells, walking on the streets is like swimming through sewage, bah the whole town should be probably destroyed and built anew at this point!” From various alleys and doorways, out of the windows that were not long ago closed shut, even from among the various piles of garbage and waste, more and more people left their hiding places, lured in by the loud spectacle. Each and every one of them had a deep frown on their faces, as if disagreeing with what was being said, and yet not finding the courage to speak up.


“Hah, maybe it should be destroyed altogether? I mean, this place seems kind of cursed, doesn’t it? It would be far better to just relocate this whole place to a completely different location!”


“Sir Subaru? What- Why are you saying this?!” Cathy looked upon the boy’s back in betrayal, shaking in tears. Beatrice sensing her sorrow, took her hand, making the girl look towards the spirit with incredulous look.


“Just watch, I suppose. Betty’s Subaru is far too great to do this for nothing.”


Sadly, not everyone could have a great spirit by their side who knew the boy through and through. Beatrice could easily spot the front of the crowd with their irritated expressions, sentiment most people who had gathered up to now shared with almost complete certainty. In silent unity, they looked at the filth covered cobblestone roads, disapproving of the boy’s words.


“… Hah, I’m betting not a single one of you will agree with that, yeah? I mean, you spend so long in this place, surviving against the odds. This town, Oran, it’s far more to you than just a town, than just a home. Its like a sentiment, yeah? Your ideal.” And as if a spell, the boy completely changed the direction he was going in with in a single moment, flashing a bright grin and spinning around to look at the entire crowd. Completely shocked, the masses knew not what expression to make at the sudden change.


“Whoa… There’s so many of you here… No no, back to the point Subaru! Look at these walls, at these streets, and look at yourselves! Is this really what you want your ideal to be?! Is this Oran you bear in your hearts?!” A low murmur spread among the gathered crowd, as if a chant. Beatrice could swear she could hear Cathy whisper something as well, so quietly it was as if wind went right by her ear.


“Are all of you content with Oran remaining a ruin it was reduced to?! All are of you okay with it crumbling into obscurity?! Because, a stranger that I am, I can’t bear that idea! The place I risked my life over looking like this?! What a joke!” Undeterred by the incomprehensible response, Subaru continued with even more vigor than before. He took a moment to breath in air, looking at the not long ago desolate square, now filled to the brim with people of various shapes and sizes.


“And I think you share my opinion too! If Oran dies, what happens to all the sacrifices you made up until now?! What with all the people that paid with their lives for the day Oran may once again be free?!”


“That’s right… Dad and mom… They wouldn’t want Oran to look like this…” Cathy said through her tears, devolving into pure sobbing soon after. Beatrice laid her hand atop the girl’s head, compassionately patting her.


“When I look at these filthy roads, and destroyed homes… Do you know what I see?! Every brick, every stone, and every plank… Its a monument to the people of Oran! Its what remains even after this tragedy, of those who left this world! Do you think leaving this place as is… Is in any way respectful towards the people you once called your neighbors?!” Once more, a murmur spread through the cloud, the voices still not loud enough to create a coherent meaning for the trio.


“I didn’t hear you, people of Oran! Are you okay with leaving their legacy in this state?!”


“No!” A singular shout came from behind him, its source a brown-haired girl on her knees with a tear stained face, looking at him with a fiery expression. Following after her, the entire crowd answered in kind, a varied myriad of voices denying the notion of accepting the current state of things. With a smirk, Subaru continued.


“That’s right. Nobody would be okay with that. But nothing will change if you keep going on about your day like you did until now! All of you, you need to work towards your goal! Strive towards it until you manage to reach it, and when you finally do, reach even higher! Towards the stars!”


The crowd answered with an invigorated roar, forcing the boy to stop again until it calmed back down.


“My name… Is Natsuki Subaru! A self-proclaimed knight who…” He looked towards the two girls behind him, at how Beatrice looked at him with pride and how Cathy looked at him in admiration, and with a confident smile exclaimed. “Made hunting down the White Whale possible! Slayed the menace that was the Archbishop of Sloth! And with a help of a great spirit, sealed away the Great Hare! The one who dealt with the Wolfgarm nest in your forests! I’ve seen the impossible happen time and time again, so even if you don’t believe you can succeed, believe in my belief instead!”


The cheering after the speech ended easily silenced any words the trio could have exchanged between each other. This left Beatrice to be able to do nothing but stare at the form of her contractor, who in her butterfly shaped irises was as bright as a shooting star in the night sky. She could feel it as well, the fire he had started in her and every other person in the town. Unifying everyone towards a single goal, the sun illuminating his outline in it’s warm glow, a cheering mass of people, who not long ago were simply drifting through their lifes day after day, now looking forward, towards the future with a hopeful gaze. Like a true hero he wished to become. With a fond smile she burned the image into her mind, into her memory.

Barely a few minutes after the speech ended, Beatrice and Subaru were collected by a small group of guards, and lead inside the city hall. There, they were lead further into quite a spacious room, inside which a wooden table with delicate engravings on all of it’s five legs stood at the center, with ten chairs, much less stunning than the table, surrounding it. The walls were filled with light, rectangular spots, seemingly left over by whatever paintings had been decorating them once upon a time. After both the spirit of Yin and her contractor sat down onto chairs right beside each other, they noticed multiple documents laying around the table in disarray, as if collected and organized at the last moment.


“What do you think this’ll be about, huh Beako?” Restless, the boy aimed the question towards the spirit breaking the still air filling out the room.


“Hopefully nothing much, I suppose. Betty has had enough excitement for a while.”


“I guess that’s true…” With a sigh, he leaned in his chair, trying to relax before whatever chaos was about to occur soon, only to be startled when suddenly six men rushed into the so far quiet all at once. Graying hair, beards, just what one would expect from the people governing over such a town, only one of them, the mayor they have already met on more than one occasion since their arrival, Beatrice would recognize. One after the other, they assumed their positions around the table, profusely apologizing to the present duo for them being late.


“Uhhh… Yeah I don’t think either of us mind too much, right Beako?”


“If Betty’s Subaru doesn’t care, neither does Betty, in fact.” Huffed the spirit, looping her arms around each other.


“Right… So what’s the occasion? Did something happen?”


“You happened, Sir Subaru! That speech, it was magnificent!”


“Indeed! To light such a fire in all of the people!”


“As expected of our Hero!”


Each of the comments praising Subaru in one way or another served to make the blond spirit only more comfortable in the room, for the simple fact of being in the presence of people who could see her contractor for who he truly was. In the corner of her eye she could spot that, as opposed to her smug grin, Subaru was red in the face, trying to break the eye contact in his seeming embarrassment.


“As such, we, the council and the mayor agree        You should be the one to lead the rebuilding process!” Silence proceeded after the sudden announcement, the officials looking towards the boy with a glow in their eyes, and the duo, too stunned into silence to speak, simply staring ahead of them unsure of what to do.


“A-chew!”


The silence was broken when Beatrice sneezed, and all of a sudden all the awkwardness and stillness from before erupted into a kettle of chaos.


“Wahhh, I didn’t expect that I would be the one to lead this whole thing! I have no idea about that sort of thing!” Childishly exclaimed Subaru, throwing himself back into the fragile chair producing a spine chilling creak in the process. While most of the officials in the room ignored the behavior, Beatrice send him a glare that immediately made him sit properly in the chair. It almost looked as if the mayor send his thanks to the spirit after that happened.


“Sir Subaru! It simply NEEDS to be you! The people need a beacon, and if not their hero, than nobody shall fit that role!” The more enthusiastic of the people here said with a grin throwing an impressive stack of dusty paper and probably quite important documents onto the table, making the individuals sitting around it cough. Looking at Subaru, his eyes were almost bulging out after noticing the sheer volume of the information.


“Beako, a bit of support?? The old man is giving some arguments that are kinda hard to argue against… Even if I really, really want to…” With a pleading gaze towards the spirit, Subaru practically begged her for her help.


“Humph, you’re the one who wants to be the hero, in fact. It’s your mess to handle.”


“What did I even expect… Such a cruel spirit I have…” Lamented his fate Subaru, melancholically reaching out for the intimidating stack. Releasing the contents from their binds, the papers expanded, releasing even more dust around. After rubbing his eyes a bit, reddened from the alien intrusion, he spread out the first sheet from the pile        which turned out to be a detailed map of the whole town.


“Betty is only as cruel and vicious as she needs to be. It’s Betty’s Subaru’s fault that she has to be like this, I suppose.” Muttered Beatrice with her eyes half-closed, scanning the map along with her contractor.


“Yeah, Yeah… Still, talk about lucky. Who would have thought I would be thrown into such a powder keg, huh?”


“Oh Sir Subaru, it is not so bad. All we truly ask of you is to help us motivate the public. It would be quite unreasonable to make you do all of our duties, wouldn’t it? Leave the procurement of all needed materials to us.” With a small smile on his face joined the conversation the mayor, a few documents detailing what looked like the topography and elevation of the surrounding area, along with an almanac describing the flora of the nearest woods, like the ones in which the wolfgarms had dwelled not so long ago.


“Where are ya even planning on getting everything you need, huh? I get the forest and wood are pretty obvious, but I’m guessing stuff like stones and bricks are needed too? And, of course steel… And probably some normal clay, too?” The boy rubbed his chin for a moment, when his eyes suddenly opened wide in horror. “Now that I think about it, we kinda jumped the gun with that whole spiel back there, didn’t we?! We’ve got ‘em all fired up and ready to work but we have no way of actually putting them to work!” Beatrice only grasped her forehead in response, sending a pitying look towards Subaru.


“You’re… worrying quite a bit about it, Sir Subaru.”


“Of course I do! I should have first actually discussed it all with you guys! Ah that was so stupid that… Huh…” Subaru stopped his tirade, focusing up on the city map, tracing his finger along the various streets and structures that were painted on the sheet of paper, mimicking the real world almost perfectly. Arms crossed, the boy was now deep in thought.


“… Sir Subaru?”


“Shhh! Don’t interrupt him now, in fact! Betty’s Subaru has thought of something!”


“Eureka! Man, I always wanted to say that…” Exclaimed loudly Subaru, startling all in the room besides Beatrice.


“Did you… think of something, Sir Subaru?”


“That I did! All that stuff that’s hard to get? Like stone and steel? Guess just where we can get it. Go on, look at the map, and guess pal.” The boy, smiling smugly to himself, spread his arms to both sides of the map, spreading it out flat against the surface of the table. After a moment, the official with the longest beard amongst all others in the room decided to try a guess for the answer.


“… Surely you’re not suggesting we should… use the city to rebuild the city?”


“That does sound pretty dumb when you say it out loud, doesn’t it? But it really is the best play we’ve got. Think bout it, how many buildings are left vacant? How many are just empty husks, left alone and simply decaying, being all dangerous and stuff to everyone around? We’re gonna be killing two birds with one stone – First, we get the resources needed to rebuild the most important stuff! You know, houses, a hospital, maybe a blacksmith. And then, in the process, we get rid of all the stuff that could collapse at any moment and kill who knows how many people!” Catching a few uneven breaths after the long tirade ended, Subaru scanned each of the men in the room with an expectant look on his face, almost as if pressuring them into accepting his proposal.


“It… does sound fine in theory, Sir Subaru. There would have to be more meetings about it, and we would have to consider it far more carefully but… it is definitely possible.”


“Bingo!” He posed triumphantly, before Beatrice pinched his arm reminding him of the current situation. Sheepishly, he sat back down and leveled the room with an apologetic look. “I’m bad at all that technical mumbo jambo, but I’ll trust you guys can handle the logistics. Man, and to think all I really wanted to build is an orphanage at the start…”


“That… is not such a bad idea Sir Subaru. There is a considerable amount of children living on the streets of Oran… As expected of the hero.” Started nodding in agreement another official.


“But just where should we make such a thing? We can’t just throw them all into a random old shack, that would barely make a difference!” Wondered the official with wild brows.


Once again scanning the map, Subaru pointed to a single location with a grin on his face. “There is this one place I think would do nicely, you know?”


“This… Indeed, it should work. Perfect.” The mayor followed where Subaru was pointing to with his eyes, and upon finding the destination, gained a look of familiarity.


“Let’s have the people clean it up, and we can have it be in use beginning from tomorrow.”


“Soooooo… I’m guessing all that’s left for today is a lot of technical jargon I won’t understand, yeah?”


“I suppose so, Sir Subaru.”


“Neato. Come on, Beako. Let’s show our friend her new home.” The two left the room, now chaotically scrambling to figure out the logistics of the entire rebuildal project, the unsung heroes of this delusional and quite brave too, plan.

“Come on, you two! You can stop playing this dumb game now, right?!”


“Nope! Nopitty nope! Its gonna be a surprise!”


“Betty’s in agreement with Subaru, in fact.”


“You two are sooo rude! Soooooooo rude!!”


“Yeah yeah, we’re almost there anyway. Just a few more minutes of patience…?”


“… Fine.”


Moments of the quiet walk, only interrupted by sounds of newfound hustle and bustle of the city, of hammers striking stone and of songs escaping the enthusiastic lips of all, workers or not, stopped when both Beatrice and Subaru took their hands off of Cathy’s face, letting her see their destination.


“… So you lead me all the way from the square to this mansion here… for what?” Asked Cathy, unimpressed.


“You lived here before this whole shebang went down, yeah?”


“I    I suppose there’s no need to even ask how you know that, huh?” While sure enough startled for a moment, the girl recovered quickly enough, and muttered with her hand covering her eyes.


“You’re getting familiar with Betty’s Subaru way of doing things, in fact. Impressive.”


“Ignore Beako, she’s just being grumpy. Now, this is a surprise because… remember that whole talk about an orphanage yesterday? Guess what!”


“… No way.”


“Yes way! We managed to spearhead not only the idea of an orphanage, but also passed this location too! Ain’t that great?!”


“That’s right… that’s… that’s great.” Rubbing the tears from her eyes, the girl smiled the brightest smile the two has ever seen in their long lifes. Out of nowhere, the two were enveloped into a hug by the girl, both unsurely returning the embrace.


“You two… both of you really are… the greatest heroes out there!”

Part 3 : The horror dwelling out of sight.

“The market gets reopened again today, doesn’t it?”


“That it is lad, what about it?” Asked the man behind the counter, cleaning a glass with a white cloth, the sleek noise created by the action annoying the great spirit. She was already irritated, waiting for her contractor to finish the ‘breakfast’, if it could even be called such. There was much to be done today, after all.


“Beside the fact it was the reason me and Beako even came to Oran in the first place? Nothin’ much.” Replied Subaru, taking in another spoon of damp porridge, his face cringing ever so slightly as the food entered his mouth.


“Ah, with everything that happened since then, I forgot you two didn’t come here just to help us all out! Ha, forgive an old man for his poor memory, will you?”


“Sure, sure... This ‘old man’ might want to take a look at what the merchants drag in too, this porridge of yours is pretty…”


“You don’t have to finish that, boy! I know just as well as anyone that this thing is barely edible…”


“Don’t worry, with enough fresh ingredients this dish will surely become stellar as well!”


“You really think so, kid? What a kind hero this old town has gained, to say a thing like that…”


“Subaru, did you finish?” Annoyed at the asinine conversation, the spirit finally spoke up. Subaru looked upon his almost finished bowl, then towards the innkeeper, who simply answered with a nod of his head.


“Eh, sure Beako. What, you can’t wait to meet up with your new friend, can you?” Teased the boy, a crooked smirk appearing on his face. The spirit could do nothing, but protest the idiotic notion.


“As if! Betty simply… needs to remind that child how amazing Betty’s contractor is, that’s right! She’s a rather scatter brained one, after all!” Embarrassed, she tried to protect her image, but much to her chagrin both man just laughed at her attempt at deflection.


“Mhm, I’m sure that’s all there is to it, Beako.” The boy then stood up, and waved a goodbye to the innkeeper while facing the exit door. “We’ll be going out now, thanks for the meal, Michel!” Exclaimed Subaru, after which he took her hand and lead them towards the exit.


Outside the inn, the town she was almost ready to accept to be an eternal dump, has taken a turn for the better. These buildings and streets, which barely two weeks ago were not much more than ruins fated to decay and bury the town’s history beneath stacks of rubble, were now being repaired with renewed vigor by the town’s inhabitants. Everywhere eye could reach the streets were covered with building supplies such as bricks, tree logs or nails. The stronger townsfolk carried the heavier objects wherever they were needed, pushing their bodies for the sake of the rebuilding effort. Subaru had Patrashe help out from time to time as well, mainly when there was a need to move a large amount of supplies all at once, and using a cart would be necessary.


Of course, total restoration was still far away in the horizon, but the spirit was at least glad the place was at last clean, no muck nor sewage was left on the town’s streets. At least one could leave their home and not get completely soiled in the process.


While the two walked hand in hand through the bustling streets, pretty much every single person greeted them with a wide grin on their face, which was always met in kind by her contractor. The reputation the duo was graced with in this town has been so great, they were even granted discounts on most products offered by the local merchants, much to Subaru’s chagrin. The spirit had to convince him to take advantage of the situation for two whole days, and even then he still would refuse gifts the community would try to give him. Subaru was that kind of frustrating contractor.


“Hey, Beako? Wanna hang out with Cathy today? The doctor wanted my help with making medication again, you’d probably get bored real quick, right? And I don’t think there’ll be a need for your Yin magic today either, so take it easy yeah?”


“Betty wouldn’t get bored when looking at her contractor working, whatever it would be, but… Betty would like to see that child, in fact.” She tried to sound proud while saying that, even making her posture reflect that, but a hand landing on top of her head quickly broke her composure.


“You know Beako, I’m pretty happy you got a friend. I’ve been getting worried about my cute spirit, we’ve been in those forest for at least six months! Who knows what that could do to a great spirit!” However much bravado he tried to put into his words, she could still hear the tint of guilt they carried with them. As always, Subaru was far too kind for his own good.


“You shouldn’t worry about such things, it was just a part of our journey! Naturally we couldn’t skip the beginning, in fact.” She forced the sentence to exit her mouth with some effort. His eyes gained a blinding light after hearing her say that, immediately forgetting whatever worry was buried deep inside his heart.


“Yeah! That’s right, without a beginning there is no story at all! You’re so, so smart Beako!”


“Maybe Betty’s Subaru just isn’t the brightest instead, I wonder…”


“Hey, that’s just rude!” He stopped his little tantrum unusually quickly, looking around the street they arrived at.


“The orphanage is pretty close from here, isn’t it? You’ll be able to take it from here, won’t you Beako?”


“Of course Betty will, in fact. Betty will see Subaru at home.”


Leaving the hero to his own work, she left towards a still ruined, small mansion, located on the outskirts of the merchant district. There were some people around the entrance today, taking the measurements of the walls and such. There were building materials, like wood and stone, already gathered in massive stacks in front of the building.


The workers gave Beatrice a respectful nod as she brushed past them, momentarily stopping their work, only to continue it again after she returned the greeting, albeit halfheartedly so.


“Ah, Betty! It’s great you’re here! We needed one of our valiant heroes anyhow, you being the one is just a bonus!” Immediately upon crossing the manor’s doorstep, the spirit’s ears were assaulted by the young girl’s shout. The light-brunette rushed to the spirit’s side, enveloping Beatrice in a hug, something she didn’t enjoy at all. The girl was wearing a bleak light brown shirt and pants, with a dirty and torn small, gray cap.


“What is all this ruckus about, I wonder…?” She looked towards a flustered older woman who was running down the stairs, presumably chasing after the troublemaker. She patiently waited as the caretaker caught her breath, ignoring the added weight she felt on her shoulders. Eventually, the woman managed to answer her question.


“Lady Cathy thinks there are some… dastardly individuals plotting in the shadows, and had tried to investigate the matter on her lonesome. Please, Lady Beatrice, speak some sense into her!” The woman had pointed a most pleading expression towards the spirit, the dark bags underneath her eyes showing just how tired she was because of Cathy.


“Betty, you must trust me! There are some suspicious people out there, we need to stop them before its too late!” The girl, on the other hand, completely ignored her exhausted caretaker and continued pestering Beatrice, with eyes just as, if not more, pleading.


“… I’ll watch over her, in fact. Go get some rest, nothing bad will befall her if a great spirit is with her.” Said after a bit of consideration the spirit, half-closing her eyes as Cathy’s embrace around her tightened in the girl’s elation.


“That’s… I suppose that’s as much as we can get when dealing with our Cathy, isn’t it? Very well, I’ll be leaving her in your care, Lady Beatrice.” With a fond smile on her face, the woman sighed, the guise of professionalism almost perfectly hiding the relief she felt at the spirit’s words.


“You hear that, Betty?! You and me will get some real investigative work done today!” Beatrice barely contained her sigh as Cathy shouted right against her ear, and lead her back out on the bustling streets.


“What are you even expecting to find, I wonder?” Said the spirit while looking around the busy street.


“Ah, that’s a bit more complicated Betty… You see, ever since we managed to light that fire in everyone, a certain part of town has been...” Beatrice bend over slightly, intent on finally learning the reason for the girl’s sudden behavior.


“… Overrun by rats!”


“… Betty is disappointed that she expected any actual concern from you, in fact.” Deadpanned Beatrice, her arms falling to her sides in tired dismay. The spirit barely contained a groan as the orphan embarrassingly tried to explain her worries further.


“Hey! You’re a meany! Seriously, you guys probably didn’t notice, there’s not much traffic to what little slum we have, but it’s really, really serious! There weren’t any before, even when we got secluded!”


“And that is a reason to worry because…?”


“Obviously, someone is trying to sabotage today’s market place reopening!”


“… Indeed, that’s obviously the case.” Beatrice with effort managed to contain the sigh that wanted to escape her lips. Cathy has been a proper nuisance, yet the change of pace was still welcomed by the spirit. It’s been months since she could rest, without worrying about her fool of a contractor in any way. She could suffer a little bit of annoyance for that… and, as much as she loathes to admit it, she also enjoys the new company.


“I’m glad you think so too, Betty! Now then, onwards we go! To the slum we go!”


“Betty thinks that nobody ever has said something like this with such enthusiasm before, in fact…”

“That… Betty didn’t expect there to be quite this many, in fact? How is it that nobody was talking about it anywhere?!” Indeed, the entire place was covered with rats, both dead and alive. On the streets, on the pavement, everywhere they could get, the black rodents made sure to cover. Like a furry, black sea of pestilence. The terrible smell made the spirit wonder how neither her or Subaru were able to notice anything wrong before, it should have spread across the entire town easily.


“I was worried you would think nothing of it too for a second! When me and the other children came here before, everyone else was acting as if nothing was out of order. There has to be some sort of curse at play here, right Betty? You’re the magical expert, so is there a curse?!”


Still astonished at the morbid sight, the spirit looked around and sure enough, nobody even reacted to the state of the place. People were smiling, talking happily between each other. As if they weren’t being swarmed by legions of rodents. Even more bizarrely, none of the critters seemed to mind the humans around them either, no biting or scratching. Somehow they looked as if they lived in a state of complete harmony.


“There must be hundreds… if not more. How- How are they only in these streets, in fact? This amount would surely spread over the whole city!”


“That’s what I thought too! But no matter what, none of them would leave this part of town. I tried baiting one to come with me, but it ran away from me the moment I left here.” Upon hearing the explanation, the blond spirit turned towards the entrance to the street with a deep frown contemplating on the correct course of action.


“… Let’s go in, I suppose.” Eventually said Beatrice, and entered the street, her feet disappearing beneath the swarm. Wincing slightly at the sensation of sticky fur touching her legs, she resolved herself to go in deeper.


“Wah- Just like that?! I thought we’d be at least going to get Sir Subaru to help-?!”


“Its not like Betty hasn’t been trough worse in our journeys… Besides, Betty’s Subaru shouldn’t waste time with something like this. The two of us are more than enough to deal with a plague like this.”


“If you say so Betty…” Taking a moment to brace for the disgusting experience, Cathy followed the blond spirit into deeper into the street.


“Just what should we start with, I wonder…”


“Don’t you have some magic that will point us to where those critters came out of?” Tried to aid Cathy, getting an incredulous look in response.


“… Betty won’t even grace that with an answer, in fact.” The spirit looked towards the gutter running along the side of the road, barely visible through the sea of rodents, and followed it with her eyes until it reached a drain, to which all the filth and grime of the streets was meant to be discarded.


“Betty will need to go into those sewers, in fact… You should leave, child. It will be too dangerous if Betty had to protect you too.” Beatrice said, immediately starting her quest of following the gutter afterwards. That is, she would have if not for the firm grasp on her arm that yanked her back the moment she tried to move forward. Glaring at Cathy in annoyance, she waited for the girl to explain herself.


“Nope! We’re both going, Betty.”


“Are you deaf, in fact? There will be even more of them in the sewers, for all you know the ones down there will not be as passive as this swarm! Betty will be able to handle it, but you?”


“… Call it a hunch, but I just know there won’t be anything dangerous down there!”


“A hunch, I suppose? To trust something like that…” Beatrice stopped herself just as soon as the words left her lips.


“… Fine I suppose. But at the first sight of danger, Betty will personally see you out of there.”


“Yes Sir! Or, uh, Madam! Lady…?”


“Betty feels the headache coming already… let’s just find the entrance, in fact…”

“Bah, what is this smell? It smells like something died in here…” Commented offhandedly Cathy, her face scrunching up in disgust.


“… You do realize we are currently in sewers, correct? Why did Betty even agree to this, in fact…” The spirit’s sigh echoed across the muck covered green, brick walls. The moss growing on them was glistening in what little light the torches gave off, showing off just how damp the place truly was.


“But it is weird how there haven’t been any rats here so far.”


“Yeah, wouldn’t this be where they would usually hide? Well, maybe they just couldn’t fit down here anymore.”


“Maybe…” As the duo pushed deeper into the drenched corridors, the stench only grew worse. With each step, Beatrice felt like she was going deeper and deeper into enthralls of a disgusting beast. Cathy fared no much better, clinging close to the spirit, none of her previous bravado left on her face.


That’s when they arrived at an arch, leading to a very spacious cross section, splitting the way ahead into four cardinal directions. Not only that, this was also seemingly the source of all the horrible smell, the pile build out of rotting corpses of rats in the middle of it all, oozing dark liquid all around itself.


“This is quite a spacious room, I suppose. Betty wonders just why such a place would be build underneath this city…?”


“I think… this is just under the city hall, actually. It would match with how far in we got… But why?”


“… Was Betty’s fool of a contractor correct in that “dark business” assumption from back then…?”


“What was that Betty?”


“No matter, Betty doesn’t think the origin of this structure is all that relevant. That… pile however, is probably much more so, I suppose.”


“Indeed… But uhm… if its okay with you Betty, I would like to… abstain from getting near it.” The uncomfortable look Cathy send towards the spirit was enough to assure Beatrice that she shouldn’t let the girl anywhere near the grotesque sight. Without another word, she got closer to the mass of corpses, scrunching her face up in uncontrollable disgust. One look sufficed to deduce there was no pattern to the state of the bodies         Some fresh, some a few months old, some burnt others split open and gutted. But, unmistakably, all completely dead.


“What a bother, in fact… What is that?” A flash of gold caught the spirit’s gaze, forcing her to get even nearer the revolting thing. Submerging her hand between the moist corpses, she managed to feel a small, round metalic object, still attached to a long dead rat’s body. Looking over the pile, she noticed many more strange ornaments, hanging on to the corpses in impossible ways.


“A… golden signet? Around a rat’s leg, in fact?” She slid the ornament off of the corpse, examining it. Covered in grime and blood, somewhat eroded, clearly old. And completely out of place. With her new found clue, the spirit went towards Cathy who stared at one of the mossy walls, bored out of her mind. When the girl saw the spirit approaching her, she jumped into a standing position, back into her usual, excited self.


“Did you find something Betty?!” The girl shrugged when she noticed the disgusting blood-covered arm of the spirit. “Oh, that look tells me you did!”


“One of the dead rats had a ring on it’s leg, in fact. It is a wonder it hasn’t slid off by itself, even more so when you consider…” The spirit trailed off her line of thought upon noticing that the girl in front of her started tearing up. “Cathy? Is everything okay, I wonder?”


“This ring… Its my fathers ring. I’m sure of it. The engraving, the color, those slight groves it has on the sides… It has to be it… But he wore it on the day he left the town with the rest of the knights, so then how…?” The girl could barely get the words out of her mouth, sobbing and clutching the piece of jewelry close to her chest, to her heart. Seeing the situation, Beatrice could do nothing more than hug the girl, just as she had done countless times to Subaru in the past. Of course the spirit made sure to distance the filthy hand from the child as well as she could.


“… How did it… This doesn’t make any sense, in fact.” Tightening the hold on the girl, Beatrice trailed off in sheer astonishment.


“Betty… Can we leave now?”


“Betty feels that we should leave immediately, in fact. Betty will inform Subaru of our findings, and… he’ll figure it all out. So you don’t have to worry anymore, I suppose?” Beatrice tried to cheer up the light-brown haired child while they both stood up from the soiled cobbled floor, to which the girl released a quiet, halfhearted laugh.


“Indeed, if Sir Subaru starts to investigate this he’ll find a solution in no time.” Added Cathy with a smile, the tears in her eyes slowly starting to dry up. Leaving the room, and the dread that appeared with it, behind, the two girls started leaving the sewers hand in hand, trying to ignore the ominous feeling that dawned on them.

Part 4 : The Hope dwelling in their reach.

“That was one hell of a messy job, kid! Take good care of that thing, it’ll be a pain to maintain!”


“I will! Thank you again for this, Othon!” The shout of gratitude from the boy was followed by both him and Beatrice exiting the newly opened Blacksmith’s workshop. The whip, that was until now barely more than a messy amalgamation of various spikes and talons, became a neat, organized weapon with various professionally inserted protrusions, created out of both bone and steel, that were bound to cause serious harm to any opponent that dared to attack its user.


“Subaru, can we… talk now?”


“Yeah Beako, lemme just take you to a neat new spot I’ve found while walking ‘round the town today.” With a smile on his face Subaru tightly grasped the spirit’s hand, weaving through the streets, alleys, and crowds. First through the well lit cobble and restored roads, full of inspirational aromas and hopeful laughter, then into the darker corners, in which some who have already enjoyed the festivities more than enough rested on benches and chairs. Then, through very fragile stairs and onto the roof, the two arrived at the top of a roof of a small tavern, currently under the process of getting rebuild.


The boy sat down onto the dust covered surface, and looked up to the sky. Tonight, surprisingly enough, the stars were shining much more brilliantly than the moon.


“Subaru… I think we should stay in Oran for a while.” Nervously, the spirit decided to finally say her piece.


“You do? Why’s that?” Subaru shot her a questioning look upon hearing her proposition, clearly confused about the sudden decision.


“Betty and Cathy, we found something under the city… It was just a ring, but it belonged to her father… He left the city to subjugate the wolfgarms.” After hearing the explanation, Subaru clutched his chin in thought, eyes clouding in confusion.


“That…”


“And it was on a leg of a dead rat, I suppose.” The additional information made him release a sigh and look towards the rotting planks beneath their feet. Beatrice was about to reach out towards him, when he straightened out and run his hand through his messy hair.


“Yeah, that doesn’t sound good… Damn it! The universe really loves to make things go uphill for me, doesn’t it?!” He shouted into the starry sky, more in annoyance and resignation than actual anger. A moment later he fell slightly back, supporting himself on his arms.


“Subaru?”


“Gah, I’m used to it by now. A ring that should not be there, a plague of rats, massive nest of wolfgarms… This whole town seems cursed doesn’t it? Enter it but don’t leave kind of deal…” He mused to himself, standing up and staring into the bright streets ahead of him. The sounds of celebration have reached this quiet spot as well, the joy and excitement brightening up the dark night.


“Sure. We’ll play your weird game, you cursed town, you! Just so you know, by now this Natsuki Subaru has countless curses on his soul!” He exclaimed towards the center of the town with a confident smirk… immediately falling back onto his spot, and releasing another chain of irritated complains.
“Man, the whole plan of talking to you about going back just went to shit… Ahhhh, I was building up confidence for this for so long too!! Such a waste!!”


“You were thinking of… going back?” Incredulous look on her face, Beatrice almost couldn’t believe she had heard her contractor right. The question only served to make the now conscious of his words Subaru more sheepish.


“Yuhp. This town, Oran… Cathy… You too, Beako. Actually you in particular, just so you know.” He looked towards the spirit with a fond smile, closing his eyes. “All these ordeals we faced up till now… All of it. It just showed me how blind and selfish I’ve been. A proper idiot.”


“Subaru, Betty already said many times…”


“Yes I know, you’ll be with me till the end no matter what. But… This is a path I just can’t accept going forward on anymore. Even if not now, with all that rat business going on we kinda are forced to stay, yeah? But we’ll be back. And I don’t care if they’ll scorn us. Cause we’ll be back ten times stronger than before, ain’t that right?!” He shouted, no, proclaimed. Promised. A wide smile graced his face. And a bright light, competing with the ones of the city, was back in his eyes. Beatrice could not bear but to share in her contractor’s excitement.


“You… That’s right. Betty and her Subaru… will show them just how mighty and… just? They became.” After finishing up her ‘proclamation’, Beatrice turned red as a tomato, covering her face with her hands upon hearing Subaru squeal in joy.


“That’s my adorable Beako!! Whaaa, you tried so hard there didn’t you?! I’m so proud!! You did great! Your first cheesy line… they grow up so, so fast!” The words left the boys mouth rapidly, striking against what little there was left of the spirit’s pride, and grinding it into dust.


“Stop that!”


“Ha… But yeah. We’ll be facing off against this cursed fate many times in the future anyhow. We might as well treat this as a warm up, ey?” Said Subaru, once again with his gaze directed towards the stars. Beatrice’s own eyes were more so drawn towards the moon, however faint its glow was that night.


“… You say the most ominous of things sometimes, I suppose.”

Chapter Text

Another morning, another bright start for the two. The room, clean of any dust or other unpleasant filth, door left ajar ready for the two to leave and complete another day of their adventure.


“Subaru, are you okay?” Posed the question the little spirit from her position on the bed, stretching out with a yawn. Subaru, who had already woken up a bit before her, was already bend over the desk, looking over the various papers displayed there. Upon the query, he turned to her, and flashed one of his usual grins.


“Don’t worry Beako, this is nothing too serious. You see we’ve just ran into a bit of a problem with that old storeroom at the eastern part of the town.”


“Is that so? Whatever problem could it be, I wonder?”


“It’s real hard to get the necessary materials for it. And it’s filled with all those raw mana crystals too, nobody’s brave enough to actually touch it.” A tired glint spread over his eyes, highlighting just how annoyed the boy was with the whole situation. “At least after all that time we’ve worked on them out in the wild, I would say we’ve got more than enough experience, right?”


“Betty asks not to remind her of that… That was the worst period of this whole journey…” The disgruntled look of terror of the spirit was washed away by waves of irritation upon hearing her contractor laugh at her reaction. All it took was one look at Beatrice’s glare for him to stop, however. Instead, he proceeded to stand up from his chair, and approach the bed.


“Anyway, I’m guessing it’ll be just more of logistics for that whole ordeal today, so you don’t have to worry yourself ‘bout it, Beako.” A hand landed on her head, scratching her hair and putting it in disarray. Even so, it caused the spirit to blush fervently, crossing her arms as a response.


“Hm, very well. Then Betty shall once again go to see Cathy today.” A warm smile graced Subaru thanks to the answer, making Beatrice involuntarily look to the ground to avoid the blindingly bright light coming from his eyes.


“You really do like that kid, huh? You know, I’m already getting pretty-” The hand on her head froze at once, the pleasant movement halting in the process, worrying the spirit. Then, came that scent. The one the spirit had started getting used to being gone. The despicable, disgusting scent of the witch once again permeated the room, sinking into its crevices and furniture like a malady, the toxic mana making her instinctively shiver in hatred.


Slowly raising her head, making the hand fall uselessly to the side of the unresponsive boy, she met his eyes with her own, upon which unmeasurable dread filled her entire being. The light was gone. What replaced it was a fearsome, cold glare. His irises have shrank, almost as thin now as spikes, trembling lips separated by a small gap, a very thin streak of spit spilling from it by the side of his mouth. A second is all it took for the image to engrave in the memory of the spirit, and likewise, it was all it took for the boy to expertly revert to a forced smile, wiping away the spit with his sleeve.


“Subaru, what has-”


“Yeah, I wonder, what could have happened?? That was weird. Anyway, I think I’ll have to be a bit earlier at work today. You know, to solve an issue, yeah? I know, I know, I was soooo tired just a second ago, but hey, I’ve got a… sudden premonition! That I have to go now! And I will! Because I have to! Bye bye Beako! Say hi to Cathy from me!”


“Subaru-”


Ignoring the spirit, the boy quickly took off, not even bothering to close the doors behind himself and recklessly rushing off the stairs. The outstretched hand of the spirit remained in the air for a little while, an unbearable ache deep in Beatrice’s heart a reminder of the look Subaru has shown her but a moment ago.


Battling her will for a while, she eventually chose to follow Subaru’s proposition through, and go see Cathy. She would of course check up with Subaru in the evening, however in his current state she’d get no answer at all.

Tap


The sound of a cup meeting the table spread across the room, the tea inside its vessel gaining waves upon the disturbance. The murky thing, in the spirit’s opinion, tasted absolutely disgusting, yet she could not find it in her heart to say so when she knew very well that even with the market back up, and the trade of the town much more lively than ever since the isolation caused by the wolfgarms from the forests, most people still had to scrape by to keep the economy of the place afloat.


“So, he just took of ‘Whooooosh!’, and didn’t even explain what that was about?” Besides, the liquid and its terrible taste was barely an afterthought, with her current conversation partner sweetening the experience with her sheer presence.


“Indeed. Betty worries that that fool will get into another dangerous situation, in fact.” Beatrice too placed her cup back onto the table, her face scrunching up when her thoughts went back to the events of that morning. Cathy, sitting just in front of the spirit, seemingly realized Beatrice’s bad mood, nodding along with her concerns.


“Yeah, to be honest it sounds soooo similar to that whole thing before you two entered the forest back then, right? He was so scattered and weird back then too! Has it ever happened beforehand?” Tilting her head to the side, the girl wondered aloud, souring Beatrice’s mood even further. Properly annoyed, the spirit tried to let go of some irritation by releasing a sigh, yet nothing helped the boiling storm growing inside her.


“Betty’s Subaru… He has always acted in a peculiar manner before getting himself into some sort of troublesome affair, I suppose. Which means that-”


“Which means that, this time, the two of us will make sure he doesn’t get hurt too much!” As if sensing a long and toilsome tirade, Cathy stopped the great spirit from going on and on. The strained smile on the girl’s face relaxed, albeit only a little bit, when Beatrice finally gained the first smile of the day, her worries alleviated a bit now.


“… Indeed. Betty’s Subaru may be a fool, but as long as Betty is there he won’t get hurt anymore.”


“That’s right! I’ll get some more people to keep an eye on him when he’s out of your sight, so the two of us can deal with his problem before he sinks too deep in whatever it is he has gotten himself into!” Raising her hand to the sky in her excited proclamation, almost spilling both drinks in the process, Cathy stood up from her chair the unfortunate piece of furnishing not sharing in the luck of the cups, and falling to the floor with a resolute thump.


“And every Hero has their sidekick, I suppose. As such, Betty and Cathy shall do nicely, Betty believes.” Silence. As if not even the world itself dared to speak after the alien event that had just taken place in the room. No plank dared squeak, no fly dared to fly, it all came to a complete halt.


“Huh.”


“What is it you’re making that face for, I wonder?” As if unaware of what state her own actions brought the world to, Beatrice posed the question towards Cathy. The girl, for a second still completely lost in the bizarre occurrence she was just a witness to, scrambled uselessly for an answer.


“No is just     I never expected you to say a line like that, you know? It seemed so out of character… It took me by surprise…” Upon hearing the girl’s answer, Beatrice grew almost comically red after realizing just what sentence exactly has just left her mouth a moment before.


“That idiotic contractor has been spouting such nonsense so often lately that Betty must have gotten far too used to it, in fact…”


“Don’t worry Betty, it suits you brilliantly! I really think you should speak like that more often!” Trying to salvage the situation, Cathy tried to politely rise up the spirit’s… spirits, her arms flying in multiple direction during her short answer.


“Truly? Then maybe, Betty shall- You are making fun of Betty, are you not?” Leveling a suspicious stare at the girl, now properly tired by the spirit’s roler-coaster of emotions, changing the target of her turbulent feelings to be her.

“What, of course not! I would never dare make fun of our benevolent great spirit-”


“Betty will not hear any more of that, in fact. You have shown your true colors, humpf.” Once again, silence enveloped the room. This time however, it was disturbed by a soft sigh.


“Don’t sulk like that… I did mean it. Speaking like Sir Subaru, it does fit you, Betty. It really makes you two look like proper travel companions from the legends!” With a soft smile on her face, Cathy let the properly articulated sentiment fly towards the spirit, who upon hearing it became much more amicable. Shying from the girl’s eyes, Beatrice scoffed, but failed to actually hide the beginnings of the smile forming on her face.


“… Betty will accept that explanation. But remember, you are on thin ice, I suppose.” The ‘threat’ couldn’t possibly be taken seriously with the spirit not even looking in Cathy’s direction, making the girl laugh, opposite of its original purpose.


“You- Stop that, I suppose! Honestly, such insolence!” Beatrice couldn’t keep up her next rant after witnessing the girl’s infectious laugh, eventually joining in with a far less excited one, but one nonetheless.


“I did plan for us to check out that new flower shop, but I suppose this is more important… In exchange, Sir Subaru will have to buy me the prettiest flower inside that shop!” Exclaimed Cathy after the laughter died down, pointing with her finger confidently towards the spirit, who simply sighed fondly in response.

“Subaru, please tell me what happened this morning. All of that, it looked as if-” ‘As if you met with death eye to eye.’ were the words she wanted her contractor to hear from her. And yet, her words were stuck, unable to leave her lips. Whether it was her nervousness, which to Beatrice seemed unlikely, or something entirely different, was unimportant however.


“Don’t worry Beako, I’ve already dealt with everything. It was just a simple little thing, really. I was just worried over nothing, it was a very small issue. You know how it is, you get unreasonably anxious about some detail and it eats away at you, right? Anyway, look at the time! We better go to sleep, or else- Ah.”


Before he could change the course of the conversation any further, before Beatrice could have any chance to even respond to this mess of an answer, Subaru fell to his knees, clutching at his heart. Sweat started rolling off his forehead, drop after drop, mixing with the continues stream of tears from the eyes. An expression of silent horror froze on his face, the eyes, unfocused, looking onto Beatrice, or rather beyond her, and out of the window        Fearfully gazing at the town beyond it.


“Subaru!” Immediately, the spirit rushed to his side, supporting him up slightly, only for him to fall back right after. Her embrace seemed to only put more torture onto the boy.


“It       It changed. No, why? WHY?! Please, please please please! PLEASE! I- I need to, there is… I know, it- it was a misfire, next time! Next time it’ll be right!” Desperately finding his way back onto his feet, Subaru began to chaotically searched the room in search of something. No cabinet was left unopened, no sheet was left untouched, before he eventually found a stray dagger, that for whatever reason was hidden beneath his pillow.


“This is the only way, that’s right, if      If I do it, the point will go back to the previous one and…” Taking a deep breath, Subaru aimed the dagger towards his neck. Wide eyed, Beatrice managed to shake off her stagger, jumping towards her contractor and catching the dangerous object by its hilt. The two fought for control of the weapon, neither giving in to the other.


But Beatrice knew that sooner or later, with whatever wavering strength he had for this action, she would lose this clash. And so, she placed her hand onto his chest, and stirred the mana flowing through the boy’s collapsed gate – making him fall unconscious soon after, squishing her against the bed. Helpless, Beatrice cried in that position for hours, repeatedly hitting her contractor, again and again before the concerned innkeeper, Michele, entered the room. Upon hearing the explanation, the two worked together to bind the boy in place, so as to he was unable to bring any more harm to himself after waking up. Not that Beatrice would ever allow that. She would remain by his side, unwavering, until the morning finally came and graced the town with a brand new day.

“...I know this ceiling. Did- Did the safe point change after all…? Am I back? Can I- Wait, I can’t move, don’t stand up, Legs! Stop before I-” Frantic protests against standing up fell on deaf ears of his motor functions as the binds around his limbs made him fall on his face.


“Subaru.” Hoarse voice of the spirit, sitting beside the collapsed boy with tired eyes, send the word in a most accusatory tone imaginable. Rolling over to face her, he was met with an emotionless visage of his beloved spirit.


“Subaru, can you explain to Betty whatever that- Whatever it was you wanted to do yesterday, in fact?” Immediately upon hearing out the spirit, all the hope Subaru seemed to gain upon waking up vanished, almost as if it evaporated. He glued his eyes to Beatrice, not daring to look anywhere else, and she took on that stare head on.


“Beako… This… Its over. I- I can’t solve it Now ! I could have! There was a way before but now… Nothing I do, nothing I try, nothing I change. None of that. None matters anymore. ” He said, and fell onto his back, laying so his face was turned towards the ceiling with his deadpan, hopeless look.


“Subaru, what are you even talking about, in fact? If you don’t explain it properly, Betty won’t understand! And-”


“I WOULD! I would, Beako, I would do that! But I can’t!” He shouted, irritated. And somehow, someway, not at Beatrice. “But it doesn’t matter anyway, does it? I failed. Actually, properly failed. This is what you call a ‘softlock’, right? No way out, and its all my stupid fault.” Subaru chuckled at whatever grim joke the sentence was supposed to be, horrifying Beatrice even further. “Serves me right, trying to play a hero like that.”


“What is the matter with you?! Nothing is going on outside, you said yourself that you resolved it already! So why-”


“I didn’t fix ANYTHING! I only just managed to put the ‘Judgment Day’ a little bit further away! But all of that? You know how much all that effort from yesterday is worth now, Beako?! Nothing! Not a single penny! I should have taken you, taken Cathy, taken as many people as I can and ran away while I was ahead, BUT NO! THE GREAT SUBARU NATSUKI HAS TO SAVE EVERYONE! What a load of bullshit!” He squirmed in his bindings, which made themselves more and more apparent by digging into his skin, reddening it in the process.


“Subaru… Please, Betty doesn’t understand at all…” Unable to do anything else after listening to Subaru ramble on and on about such nonsense, she fell down, her head tilted downwards, teardrops splashing against Subaru’s chest, slightly soaking the fabric of the barely recognizable uniform.


“Haaa… I guess there’s no real harm in explaining it all anymore. Whatever hopes I had of doing this vanished the moment it updated. Soooo…” A deep breath. A pause. Silence, uncomfortable silence. “Oran will get attacked. Tonight. By the witch cult. And before you even think about it, there is no way to escape now. Far, FAR too late for that course of action. We’ll be slaughtered, decimated.” Against all odds, a tired smile appeared on his face. “So, as you can see Beako, there is nothing we can do anymore. This is the end of the line! We lose.”


“No.”


“Beako, maybe you didn’t hear me the first time, but-”


“Betty heard you loud and clear! But she won’t accept that! Subaru, did you forget?! Did you forget how hard both of us worked for this?! How hard Cathy and all the residents worked for this town, Oran, to flourish?! We can’t give up now! We just can’t!”


“So what the hell do you even expect me to do, huh?! I know real well by now, every plan of action will end in nothing but DEATH! Those rats, you remember them? Oh, lemme tell ya Beako, you don’t wanna mess with a plague of massive dog-sized rats out for blood! Or- or, an emotion manipulating fanatic! That one’s fun! Even if you do manage to kill her, you die as a nice little bonus, free of charge of course, she’s really nice and courteous, after all. And I’m not counting all the other cultist lunatics that are along for the ride. You fight them, you get devoured alive. You try to run, a dragon burns you alive. You try to beg for mercy and… You get the picture, right? They made it out into one big pest extermination, hah… No way in, no way out.”


The maniacal look in his eyes as he recounted these projections, the tears that, uncontrollably spilled from his eyes all the while. The wavering voice, stumbling through tones back and forth with no rhyme nor reason. The arms that wanted to burst out of the bindings, to hug the spirit, that yearned for whatever comfort the boy’s tired soul strived for. The legs that, similarly bound, wanted to run, far and fast, as far away as possible from this town, from Oran. Even if by his own admission that would be foolish. It all entered Beatrice’s mind through her sight, through her hearing. Through all of her senses, she took in her contractor’s state.


And she disagreed. She disagreed with the look in his eyes, in which the warm flame of hope was supposed to reside in. She disagreed with the chaotic voice, which was supposed to be carried by foolish words of grandeur, lighting that same flame within others. She disagreed with the limbs, which were supposed to care for all the people of the world and bring them to safety. She disagreed with the Subaru before her, simply put. With what he represented. And so, she would be forced to force him back into action, back to the Subaru she loved with all her heart. Even if that path lead to her end.


“Then- Then we shall sacrifice ourselves to stop those bastards in Oran, at least.” She said resolutely, eyes closed, avoiding the judgment she knew well she’d receive from the bound Subaru. And as expected, all sounds of protest and movement were silenced at once. The only sound in the room was what little noise came from the outside, created by the only now waking up populace. Not brave enough in the slightest to look at her contractor at that moment, Beatrice’s eyes remained shut, tears welling up beneath her eyelids.


“Beako? What are you      What the actual hell did you just say?” Still, terrified. Tense as a thread outstretched to its limits was his voice. This very calmness, if you could even call it so, was like an icy projectile colliding with her very core. Faced with that overbearing emotion, the spirit continued the explanation of her plan.


“We’ll burn. Betty knows by now to trust the insane ramblings that escape your mouth, I suppose. And so, we’ll burn. And alongside us, the cultists will burn as well.” Finally, the butterfly irises of eyes drenched in abundant tears met with simirlary drenched hollow eyes, with irises so small one could be forgiven for not noticing them.


“You… Beako, you mean to-” With trembling voice, the boy managed to almost fully sputter out his question. He was of course interrupted beforehand by Beatrice who already knew well enough just what the question was to convey.


“That’s right. We’ll destroy Oran. And… And in the process, we’ll kill everyone. Cultist or not.” She tried to say as steadily as she could. Appear calm, as to at least not plunge her contractor into even deeper depths of suffering and sorrow. But her tears betrayed her true feelings well enough, in fact enough so that Subaru knew that she was not at all keen to accept the idea herself, and so, as if to try to ease her burdens, he tried to protest against it with a thin smile.


“Beako, that’s a bit        ”


“IS LETTING THE CULT DO THAT ANY BETTER, IN FACT?! Is letting the cult sink their claws into this town any better than us doing so?! At least this way, we’ll make sure none of those bastards live. We’ll make sure that with Oran, their terror will end. We’ll make sure… We’ll…” She collapsed on top of Subaru, her voice unable to produce any more words, silenced by tears. Unable to see him, all she could deduce was that he too was crying, their desynchronized sobs filling the room with a cacophony of sadness. A sigh made her turn her head towards him, only to be met with a sight of completely hollow, sunken face of the boy she held so highly.


“You know what? We might as well. We might as well do that. At this point I’m ready to do anything. Hell, maybe this is actually it, even.” He grinned, hollowly so, but still. A small, hopeless flame spread through his eyes. Barely fighting against the cold, the fire gave warmth to her soul as well. “A self-proclaimed knight, and a great spirit. This will be our grave, our tomb. And we will take all of those monsters with us to the depths of it. Whatever- Whatever it takes.”

“Are you sure Patrashe will be fine that way. I suppose?” Hand in hand, both neared the gates of Oran after taking Patrashe to the edge of the forest. The dragon at first tried to follow them back, but stern look from Subaru was all it took for it to back away, and lay down beneath the tree.


“No worries Beako, by now I’ve figured out all the neat little facts and hacks of this ordeal. The limits, the timing. All’s in this noggin of mine.” He knocked on the side of his head lightly, as if to drive in the point further.


“At least she isn’t gonna get caught in the cross fire, right? No sense in needlessly wasting a life… So, how are we going to do that ‘Burning’ part, Beako? Any ideas?”


“… What about those raw mana stones you talked about before, in fact? If we manage them right…”


“Hoooh, that’d do the job alright. They’d blow those cultists to hell n’ back with those, no doubt about it.” He nodded, already picturing the destruction with a deep frown that completely disagreed with the words coming out of his mouth. “I’ll need to sweet talk the foreman to let me have some workers move the boxes into positions… and you’ll have to tweak them a bit too so we get it absolutely right. We have one shot at this, y’know?” He tightened his hold onto her hand as they finally reached the earshot of the guards, who with wide smiles welcomed them back into the town. Inside, the two stayed silent, only holding themselves in by their hand. Subaru somberly looked around, at the fruits of all the hard work them and the rest of the town put into restoring Oran to its glory. And Beatrice simply looked at the cobbled roads beneath their feet, not daring to face the lively town with her eyes. They both had to endure this painfully silent walk, endure the excited greetings other people send their way and all snippets of cheerful conversation between the town’s inhabitants.


Beatrice looked towards her contractor, only for a little moment. But still saw that small flame within his eyes, there, burning with that foolish hope, giving her the strength to carry on. To ignore the sight of this beautiful, lively town, just as Subaru was taking in every single detail that Oran decided to reveal to him on this fateful day.


Ironically enough, the silence helped them reach their destination even quicker, both arriving at the not long ago still collapsed storeroom soon after entering the town. Subaru zeroed in onto the foreman, diligently ordering around the workers who carefully carried the boxes from the, currently under the process of restoration, building.


“Ah, Sir Subaru! What a splendid day it is, wouldn’t you say? And even Lady Beatrice is here, no doubt to help us with this conundrum of magical variety!” The moment the man in charge spotted them, he excitedly rushed over and almost broke his tongue with how quickly he spouted out his overly colorful statement.


“Haah… man, it really shows you were just a bard before all of this, you know Raymond?” Responded Subaru to the over zealous man, releasing the quietest of snickers upon seeing the man boil over in embarrassment.


“Sir Subaru, can you not talk about that before the people? They’ll for sure lose what little respect they hold for me still if they see the hero himself ridicule mineself!” Protested against the treatment Raymond, reminding the little spirit a bit of the gray-haired merchant her Subaru considered a friend what felt like a lifetime ago.


“Yeah, yeah, sorry bout that. In more important matters, I know what to do with the stones, finally.”


“I knew your arrival was a good omen! Well? Speak, speak! What is that grand idea, my good Sir!”


“See, I talked to my cute Beako about this issue, yeah? And we’ve got it       Until we can dispose of them to some trusted trader, we’ll move them around the city    far enough from each other so if one explodes, there won’t be any chain reactions. And, just to be sure! Beako here will put a special little seal so there’ll be even less reason to be worried.” She fought the nauseating feeling that overwhelmed her upon seeing the bright expression the man took on upon hearing Subaru’s explanation. Barely managing to keep her head from falling downwards, she kept looking as proudly as she could towards the ex-bard.


“Isn’t really ideal, but it pretty much is our only option, isn’t it? You don’t look that happy about it though, Sir Subaru… I know! Today evening, come to that newly restored tavern in the previous noble district! I’ll be giving the first, ever since our separation started, of course, performance! Neither of you want to miss it!” Exclaimed the foreman loudly, enough so that his piercing sound caused Beatrice to flinched slightly from the suddenness of it. She of course wasn’t the only one, with Subaru forgetting all niceties and firmly clasping both his hands over his ears. And when it looked as if the man before them would follow up on his spiel, a bellowing voice from beneath them completely froze Raymond in place.


“Boss, just relay Sir Subaru’s orders to us instead of advertisin’ yourself! We’re eager to get these deathtraps out of our hands quickly!” A murmur of similarly disrespectful comments came from below the podium they were standing on, the not long ago fervent work coming to a standstill. Flustered, Raymond tried to strike back at his workers, but Subaru stopped him by giving him a slightly thorn piece of paper.


“Here, these are the spots we came up with. Make sure to deliver these before evenin’ yeah? Can’t miss your performance, after all…” The man underneath cackled, making Raymond even more flustered than he already was. Beatrice swore the man was at the verge of exploding, then and there.


“That’s right! Come on, everyone! Let’s finish this so our foreman can play his mandolin in peace, ay?!” Subaru grasped the spirit’s hand once more, distancing himself from the commotion with a soft smile on his face. Before they could get to much away however, the foreman once again exclaimed towards them with his high tone.


“Sir Subaru please don’t leave yet, look how they’re cruelly laugh at me! I beg thee-!”


“Don’t worry Sir! We’ll make sure the idiot is free by the evening. You can trust us to work hard!” Subaru didn’t turn around, instead opting to rise his free hand and waving towards the group instead, leaving them to their hard work, and oppressively loud supervisor.

The sky was already in a warm hue of orange, with the two desperate to finish up their preparations before the night falls and they’ll have to face their fast approaching fate head on. They had been at this for a while now, running around the city from one corner to the other, the two of them barely able to cover that massive area by themselves.


“We’re almost done with these, aren’t we? How are you on mana Beako?” Barely catching his breath, Subaru asked in between his coughs. His lungs, unused to such amount of exercise ever since the wolfgarm incident was over, yelled at him in protest with sharp streaks of pain shooting out through his ribcage with each subsequent breath.



“Betty will be fine, in fact. She’ll still have a bit leftover after the last box is prepared. Do you… have a plan on how to deal with them, I suppose?” Said the spirit, focused on infusing the mana stones inside the securely closed up wooden box with her mana, effectively putting a timer onto the object, a clock that told the time doom would come to engulf the town.


“Honestly? I’m just betting most of them die in the initial explosion. Well, there is one bitch that I’m sure will survive it, but that’s a whole another can of worms. With that all I can hope for is my own ability, if I’m being frank.” He finished his explanation with a deep, exhausted sigh, falling against the wall of the building with his back, slowly sliding down it.


“… It’s an Archbishop, isn’t it?”


“Nothing gets past you, huh Beako? It sure is… it sure is…” He trailed of after the door to this warehouse opened, allowing them both to see one very familiar girl standing in the orange tinted light of the evening sun.


“So that’s why the two of you look like this, huh? The Cult will attack the town?” Cathy said, shaking her head. “You should have said something… anything…”


“Cathy this… Please, listen to us, this is the only—”


“Sir Subaru, you really don’t need to explain yourself. I’ve seen you do a lot of things in these… two months? You two have spent here with us.” She closed her eyes, tilting her head downwards. “I get it, I really do.”


“Cathy, you need to hide. If you do, then maybe you’ll be able to survive, I suppose… Why are you looking like this? How are you doing this with your eyes, in fact? Stop it…” The spirit, finished with her work on the box with magical contents, looked upon the smiling girl and her wide, teary eyes in horror stumbling slightly backwards, towards Subaru.


“Ah Betty… You really are something, aren’t you...? Sure, I’ll hide. But first I would like to tell you two something.” Wiping away the tears that threatened to fall, Cathy leveled the two with a cold, hard stare. “… Please. Please come back for me, both of you, after you win. Okay? No sacrificing, either of you.” Next thing either of them knows, the girl is hugging both of them, throwing the moments ago still standing spirit to the ground.


“Cathy… you do realize that       ” Tried to say Subaru, but got interrupted by a hoarse voice coming from Cathy, whose face was burried in his tarnished uniform.


“I’m not so stupid as to not, Sir Subaru. But… I also am clever enough to know that you aren’t the kind of person to do such a thing without reason. There simply is… no other way, is there?” She looked up at both of them, who could do nothing more than look away from the sight of the teary eyed girl.


“It’ll be hard to forgive… maybe even impossible. But… know that I already forgive you, right now, okay? So don’t give yourself too much of a hard time!”


“Cathy…”


“Oh come on, you two! Go back to being the silly duo you always are! No use in moping around, it’ll all be fine! Because… Sir Subaru is the greatest hero of these lands!” She laughed, the same smile that almost never left her side spread wide across her vivid face.


“Betty promises… Betty promises that she and Subaru will be victorious, in fact.”


“That’s not what I asked for, silly. But I guess that’s all I’m gonna get, is it? You never were too honest, Betty…” The girl stood up, throwing off the dust and dirt from her humble dress. “So, I suppose this’ll be a goodbye… for now, right? I’m… rooting for you two! Kick their arses!” And ran off through those very doors she entered through barely a moment ago, leaving the two inside in even further disarray.

“This is it, isn’t it? The end. Sun’s over the horizon already.” Observed Subaru, the night sky showcasing a myriad of stars glowing brilliantly, with the moon showcasing just how beautiful it can be, the magnificent sight not in the slightest reflecting the carnage that shall soon befall the calm town of Oran. “Honestly, never pictured it quite like this. I thought it would be with Emilia-tan, at an old, old age, and a couple of kids running around while you hold my hand…”


“Stop saying such morbid things, you have a promise to keep, in fact.”


“You do realize I’m terrible at that, right? Right??”


“Betty will make sure you keep this one, I suppose.” Beatrice stopped his complaining with a stern pinch on his hand, that caused him to yelp in pain.


“Man, you really want to work me to the bone huh? Fine fine, I’ll try to keep this one. Would hate to make that girl cry like that again, anyways.” Said the boy, after which both fell silent, looking as people finished their day, entered their cozy domains for the night. One after the other, the lights in the windows started to disappear, darkening the night only slightly thanks to the glow from above.


“Any moment now, I suppose…” Impatience was consuming the little spirit, making her barely be able to sit in one place for more then a couple of seconds. Subaru managed to calm her down slightly, putting a hand down on her head.


“Cheer up Beako. We gotta do what she said, yeah? We gotta… go back to being the foolish knight and his great sidekick.” The semi-loud exclamation, loud enough to appear grand but quiet enough as to not disturb those few last resting moments the people would have left Beatrice with only a deeper scowl upon remembering the previous meeting with Cathy.


“… That foolish girl, in fact. Betty wonders if that is even possible for us after this atrocity, in fact.”


“Haaaa… Yeah, that’s kinda a hard pill to swallow huh? But she did also want us to forgive ourselves… But I’m not sure if she realized just how far we plan to go with this.” Suddenly, at the end of the road leading out of the city, both of them could see a commotion gathering, loud shouts and yelling reaching them. “And there it is… let the hell begin…”


Whatever it was that was happening, would never come to fruition, for a moment later multiple spires of fire erupted into the skies above, tainting the calm with their newfound presence, adding something to the dark night.


Colors. Red, white, orange, blue and purple, even green. From all corners of Oran, bright lights far overshadowed the night sky, for a moment blinding the waiting duo. After light reached them, the thundering might of sound almost made the boy vomit onto the ground after colliding into him from all directions. And after the wave of destruction passed through them, came the screams. The bloodcurdling screams of agony. She could see it all clearly. Tall fires of many colors climbing the walls of the town, swallowing up building after building, the smoke released from this consumption slowly but surely covering up the sky fully, the thick, mana rich dust twinkling, almost like a colorful night sky as well. Tall, imposing spires of earth towered over Oran, pieces of buildings that once stood in their place still falling to the ground, sending even more loud noises of shattering in the process.


The market square, the only place not engulfed in the magical inferno as of right now, was where Subaru decided to fight the cultists. It was here they waited. Waited, ignoring the screams of people locked inside their homes, tortured by the cruel fires, and likewise ignoring the victims of the spreading flames running out of the inferno, covered in flames, their throats far too severely burned to release even the slightest form of expression of pain. Each of these poor souls would soon after fall over, not to stand up ever again.


Beatrice chose to ignore that some of these phantoms of fire were shorter than the others.


“Where… where is she…? She should have already appeared. This…” Beatrice looked towards her contractor in horror upon noticing the sudden change in his demeanor, and the scent that grew in power. “Why… Why like this…” He fell to his knees, Beatrice unable to do anything but to continue looking in utter terror at her contractor.


“Ah… Ah! There are some of you that did survive! Please, I apologize if this is a bad time, but please simply hear me out, my dear friends!” From within the fire, left a figure of a woman clad in ashen bandages, which most probably where once a bright white color. Shrapnel pierced through her body, crimson blood gushing out of the grazed body in slothful, weak streams. The most macabre part of this person’s looks would need to be the eye ball, that managed to hang on to the rest of the body pathetically, a clod of veins its only connection point. And yet, despite all her gruesome injuries, the woman still exclaimed with her shrill voice, with a mad grin over her face.


“Truly, for someone to do such a thing! What a tragedy, tragedy!!! That must have been such a hateful person, I feel such sadness towards them! They must have been so afraid of feeling loved, feeling connected, feeling understood! But worry not, you two shall soon be welcomed into this unity- Oh? Oh oh oho oh??” The lunatic looked towards Beatrice, who still uselessly tried to get Subaru back onto his feet. Her one functional eye constricted and widened, constricted and widened, until the cultist decided to take the hanging eyeball into her hand and direct its dead stare towards Beatrice as well, as if that was supposed to help the mad woman get a better look at her.


“Oh. You are a spirit?! A filthy, disgusting spirit tried to be welcomed into our unity, to trick me into allowing it to feel love?!” From within her scorched robes, she produced two, shining in the glow of the fire, golden chains. “My name is Sirius Romanée-Conti ! Archbishop of the Witch Cult, representing Wrath!” At once, the chains flowed through the air like vengeful snakes, aimed directly at Beatrice. They crossed between each other, growing nearer and nearer the spirit, who at the last moment managed to push Subaru away, and close her eyes in silent acceptance… Only for the strike to never reach her, metallic sound of the pair of chains colliding with something reaching her instead.


“This! This, this this… To be reunited like this! You truly must be… My Petelgeuse!! No doubt!!! I apologize, from bottom of my heart, for being so late to find you my beloved! Thank you for finally appearing before me!!!!” The lunatic danced around, seemingly overcome with happiness, the eyeball gruesomely swaying chaotically from one side to the other with each of her movements, the veins finally snapping, a surge of crimson blood following after the eyeball towards the ground.


Subaru stood up, and brandished his own whip, coughing out a bit of spit. “Beako, you said that you have only a bit of mana left, yeah? Let’s go all out on this bitch. Everything we have. No stops pulled.” He leveled his gaze towards the cultist, the quiet small flame in his eyes having transformed into a wild inferno, one that could easily match the one burning the town around them.


“Ah ah ah ah! Such vulgar words! We haven’t met for such a long and terrible time, and yet, and yet! Why do you have that disgusting spirit by your side my love?! Am I not enough for you?! Why, just why can’t you accept my love and my love only!” Once more, the chains flowed towards the spirit. This time as well they were intercepted by an invisible force, at the same time as Subaru’s whip met with Sirius’s face, its spikes gnawing at it, and disfiguring it, tearing the bandages slightly.


“Ah! My dear Petelgeuse, why be so violent?! All you need to ask and I shall give all of myself to you! Come, my love!” One moment, the lunatic was far away. The next, she was right before Subaru, ready to strike at him with her outstretched hand. Before it could connect it was caught by the boy, barely moving an inch before he stopped it completely. In retaliation to the attack, Subaru broke that very arm in combination of his own might and his invisible authority.


“Ah…! Petelgeuse, Petelgeuse, Petelgeuse!!” Ranted the lunatic, catching the uselessly hanging on arm in the other, a lewd, disgusting smirk on her face. She directed her tear stained eyes towards Subaru, repeating the cursed words more and more, the name coming out of the cultist’s mouth becoming more nauseating by the second. “Petelgeuse, Petelgeuse, Petelgeuse…!”


“Shut your trap, wench! I should gauge out that other eye of yours as well. And tear out that silver hair…! You don’t deserve them! There is no one on this earth that deserves such beautiful features other than Emilia-tan!” He directed a hazy punch towards the face of the cultist, that even though managed to weakly connect with her face, did nothing to her. She stared at Subaru with hatred, one that she did not even try to contain inside herself. It burst forth as small, dark violet flames surrounding her body. “What is that name I don’t recognize…? What is that? Who is that?! A woman’s name?! Preposterous! Probably another half-devil, you always diiiiid care abouut them more than you did for me!!! Petelgeuse and his half-devils, merry and happy and…. Petelgeuse how could you abandon our love for some half-devil wench…!”


“Do not tarnish Emilia-tan’s name that way, you unfaithful mongrel!”


“Unfaithful? Unfaithful?! Unfaithful?!?! There is not another on this earth more faithful than me! To propose something like that… something like that… something, like, that!!!!” The flames grew stronger and stronger, the cultist clawing her functional arm into the boy’s one, drawing blood, tearing muscle, crushing the bone underneath it all.


“Minya!” Beatrice chose that moment to intervene, sending the yin-mana crystal towards the opponent, who jumped away from it, the shot pointlessly hitting a burning building instead of its intended target. Immediately after, one of the chains flew right into Beatrice, sending her tumbling away in pain.


“Beako…!”


“How dare you, how dare you interrupt our reunion, spirit! Such rudeness, such inconsideration! Ah, what could my Petelgeuse see in you… what, what WHAT! Indeed… Ah. Ah aha ah! I apologize for not noticing it sooner! Indeed!”


Sirius once again found herself right beside Subaru, their faces inches away from each other. A loud, disgusting crack accompanied her effort of putting both her broken and healthy hand on both sides of Subaru’s head, and closing the distance between their faces so much so that he could feel her breath on his lips.


“You are not truly Petelgeuse, are you…? Ah, but you do have him inside you… My dear Petelgeuse, locked away from me, kept at bay… I need to awaken him, that is my duty, my duty as his wife!” In an instant, the cultist closed the distance between herself and Subaru completely, engulfing him in a wild kiss, squeezing his head with her hands as if they were a vice. Beatrice, as much as she hated not being able to help his contractor, could do nothing but watch as she tried to recover from the hit she had just sustained. She could only watch as Subaru squirmed against the powerful hold of the archbishop, as he slowly encircled his barbed wire around her neck, and started to squeeze it hard, the barbs burrowing themselves beneath the skin. Sirius started to choke, continuing the kiss… until suddenly, her grip loosened, and Subaru managed to throw himself away from the archbishop who had licked her lips sensually, the whip slipping off of her neck.


A few silent moments passed before Subaru started screaming in agonizing pain, his left eye socket losing an eye, his neck growing terrible, bleeding holes, his right arm snapping, twisting and bending. All to match the injuries of his opponent, who leveled at him a stare filled with her corrupted idea of ‘love’.


“Ah ah ah! I’m so so sorry for injuring your vessel like this, Petelgeuse! But this, THIS is the only way to bring you back! Your love, my love, OUR UNITY! That’s the only way we can be together once more! If we don’t understand each other, if we don’t live united, there is no hope for us! Only you and me, Petelgeuse! My beloved Petelgeuse!” The golden chains started to ensnare the severely injured boy, binding his limbs close to his body, even further breaking his arm, to which Sirius’s own injury became worse as well.


“This pain, is an undeniable proof of our love! Welcome it as I do, and you shall soon be in control of your body once more, my beloved! Listen to my voice, follow my voice!” The lunatic bend over Subaru, face right against his own, to which the boy simply spit at her, the harmless projectile hitting the healthy eye of Sirius. Subaru only recoiled in disgust upon the impact, with Sirius lapping up the liquid, and holding it as if it was sacred. In answer, Subaru bit down onto one of the bandages, making the archbishop fall on top of him fully.


“You’re one… disgusting… bitch, you know that? I’ll never lower myself… to feeling anything but hate for you… for daring to look even slightly like Emilia… tan.” He rasped out of his barely functioning throat, blood sipping out of his mouth slowly. Sirius stood up, looking at Subaru as if he was a piece of trash.


“My dear Petelgeuse locked inside such a dreadful vessel… I beg of you, Petelgeuse, quickly be rid off this nuisance!” Like a spoiled child, she started stomping with her bandaged leg against the ground repeatedly, each time the chains bounding Subaru tighter and tighter, until eventually they left her hold.


"Subaru-!" Beatrice, who just now managed to stand up after the chains almost ended her life there and then, rushed over and tried to send another barrage of Minyas to force the opponent away from Subaru at least. The need to dodge a golden chain going her way forced her to stop short her cry of worry. Nevertheless, immediately afterwards, she looked up towards the pair, one writhing in binds on the ground, amongst his own blood and the dust of his own making, the other standing over him expectantly, awaiting a reunion that may never come to her.

"At this pace... Subaru is going to die… What is Betty supposed to do... There is no way to get Betty's Subaru away from that monster... it's hopeless, in fact..." She fell onto her knees in hopeless tiredness, her tear stained face tilting upwards slightly, allowing her to gaze at the hidden by the flames sky, barely visible through the smoke. The one thing that commanded attention was the moon, as bright and magnificent as always...

"Ah... That's it…"

"Unity! This our Unity, my beloved Petelgeuse!!! Like this we can both share in our fervent love!! All will see, all will witness, this flaming feeling we share between each other, all will be in awe of our adoration, ALL WILL-" The maddening shouts of the insane Archbishop were stopped, as if sliced apart by a cold blade, with one, simple word. Like an arrow, it pierced through the lunacy displayed by Wrath, somehow releasing dread from deep within the long no human being.

"Murak."

Understanding perfectly the new plan, Subaru, barely conscious of his surroundings, with blood spilling past from every possible crevice in his body, awake more thanks to his sheer will than to his body, with his one last ounce of strength kicked off the still frozen in shock Archbishop. Sirius, now floating in the air, slowly drifting upwards, in vain tried to grasp the chains that bound the boy to the ground. She flayed around in the air uselessly, her fate sealed with that one, simple word spoken by the spirit. Beatrice stood up, closing the gap between her and her contractor one step at a time. From above, Sirius enveloped herself in a giant ball of dark flames, which heat did not even reach the duo on the ground.

"No! You have no right to interrupt our reunion! You have no right!!"

She ascended even higher still, above the smoke that broke the sight one could have of the night sky. Her movements inperceivable now, only her screams of protest and lament were any sort of clue of her existence.

"You filthy spirit! Give him back! Give back my Petelgeuese! Mine, Mine Mine! How could you break apart our heartfelt reunion?! How dare you! Petelgeuse please save me! Save me, save me!!!"

"It's such a grating sound, your screams, I suppose." Beatrice looked upwards, to where the screeching was coming from. She waited a short while, anticipating another tirade, but nothing came to assault her ears. Releasing a relieved sigh, the spirit continued looking upwards, ignoring the tears running down her cheeks. "A fitting end, in fact. You shall die in that empty cold place. Isolated from anyone and everyone, unloved and hated. One could call this the Wrath of all the poor souls that have died in this forsaken town, I suppose. Wrath to wrath, yours must have been rather pathetic. How utterly ironic, I suppose." Finished coldly Beatrice, growing disinterested with the sky, and looking towards Subaru instead.

"Subaru? Subaru are you awake, I suppose?" Without a response, Beatrice looked around at the collapsing buildings swallowed in wild fires. Wood, stone and bricks. All of it crumbled under the mighty heat of the flames. She entangled one of the chains around her arm, and with some effort managed to move her Contractor away, slowly but surely moving towards the exit from the raging inferno.

"Ah, this was the blacksmith's..." She glanced to the side upon exiting the market square, looking as the blazing flames turned to ashes all that build the recently rebuild workshop. Just by the door, a group of charred corpses, unrecognizable as anyone she saw in the city because of the bastardized state the bodies were in because of the fire, the largest of which in a position as if reaching for the handle of the now burned down door. The vibrant orange of the interior prevented her to see it, prevented her from confirming her expectations. Still, she continued, dragging behind her the unconscious boy.

"... This is that new flower shop... isn't it? Cathy... Cathy wanted to go there, too..." The clay flower pots have already cracked under the extreme temperature, whatever flowers or plants that grew in them turned into one of multiple swarms of ash drifting through the hot air permeating the town. There, inside the building, she could discern a dark, burnt body, or rather more of a skeleton, uselessly shielding a particularly large pot with it's husk of a body, whatever it wanted to protect dead along with its now eternal sentinel.

"Almost there Subaru... in fact. The gates, Betty can already see the gates..." She ignored the freshly rebuild buildings to her left, fallen apart because of the flames. She ignored the several bodies on the ground, with maddened expressions eternally etched onto their faces, even as they tried to fall into their final slumber. She ignored the sticky, disgusting sensation of coagulated , thick blood beneath her feet. She ignored the pathetic squealing of rats coming from the inside of the inferno. When crossing the gate she ignored the massacred bodies of guards, and also ignored the outstretched hand of the one person who also managed to escape Oran. Laying on their belly, with a curved dagger sticking out of their neck, stuck begging for help that would never arrive. Just beside the cold corpse, she collapsed onto the ground, the chains binding Subaru leaving her hand. With her last strands of consciousness, she remembered the light-brown girl that had always brought more and more trouble the spirit's way.

"Why did this have to end... like this, in fact..." Straining herself one last time, Beatrice fell unconscious, unaware of the world surrounding her.

Chapter Text

“Ah, such is the way this world plays with us, dear great spirit. It dresses us up, assigns us our roles, presents us with our scripts, expects to act our part… to go against that order is to sin, as you came to be aware.” A figure of pure cyan, in the sea of perfect white. As just mind, the spirit did not comprehend much more beyond the color and shape. But she could easily deduce that the true visage of the woman must be one of incomparable beauty. With a still, calm voice, the undetailed form of the beautiful woman continued speaking to her.


“Is that not absurd? To gift one life, to gift one with consciousness, but rob them of meaning? How is it that no life holds a meaning in this world? That no rebellion against fate shall bear fruit? It’s very unfortunate, for all beliefs, all ideals, all emotions to be reduced to such inconsequential state...” As if expecting Beatrice to say something, the figure tilted her head to the side, waiting for the spirit. And in response, she tried nodding, responding, but none of her efforts yielded effects. Frustration filled the mind, trying to find a way forward. The form chose that time to continue, as if she understood the irritation of her unresponsive conversation partner.


“Emotions are fascinating, are they not? You cannot control them… They are, unchangingly uncontrollable, incomprehensible. I would love nothing more than to see them for what they are… but that is not so simple is it? Fate is not so feeble to kneel before such a meager thing.” The form looked almost dreamily upwards, towards the all encompassing white void. Shortly after, she continued on with her topic of emotions, which Beatrice had gained a great interest in now. “Ah, and wrath, of course… such fervid emotion that is. An inferno that takes, and takes, and never gives anything back… it swallows the one who feels it the same way it swallows all those that are around… Terrifying, is it not? Promise me to never fall into such an emotion, my dear great spirit…” She looked towards where Beatrice’s mind should be in what appeared to be pity, forming an unintelligible sign with her obscured hands.


“But I am getting away from the point, am I not? After all, you had to turn a page in your life to experience this short conversation, however one-sided it may be. We should treasure these sort of interactions, after all they are the corner stones of our relationships. If you could answer me, I would love for nothing more but to hear your opinions and thoughts, but that may never be truly fated to happened between me and you. That is simply another grievance we may hold against this world we were released into...” Somberness dripped from the voice so lavishly that if she could, Beatrice swore she would try to comfort the saddened being before her. Alas, before the mind of the spirit could figure out how to carry out such an action, the perfect form of cyan continued with renewed vigor.


“There is much yet for you to see, great spirit Beatrice. Much to witness. Not all of it pleasant, not all horrible, even if most. I will support you on your journey of course, as much as I can. But I am not a Star, my dear great spirit, only a character in this play, greatly limited by this script we live by. Only a true Star may convince the director to change the course of the play.” The white void started to dissipate, the form of the woman before her gaining more and more features, no longer purely cyan. “It seems our time together is running short, a pity. I am aware that there are many things you may want to ask, but I ask you to be patient. Unfortunately, I believe we may not be able to meet for a while.” More and more, various colors filled her visions. Smells that she would rather have never experienced, sounds that she could vaguely recognize.




“Farawell then, Beatrice. I shall wait for you to draw me a sheep.”

And finally, the beautiful, cryptic being before her suddenly disappeared completely, leaving Beatrice again in the realm of the living.
















    SCENE 1
“  The Struggle Endured in Vain ”
- END




                                                                                        

Chapter Text

Cyan turned into blue. A murky, chaotic blue with splashes of white all around. The void was no more, replaced by the world she grew so familiar with. She felt blades of grass gracefully meeting her skin from underneath, she felt cold, lonesome breeze flow over her face. She could hear sounds of critters of all kinds around her, from small chirps of little insects, through the rustling of grass caused by rodents, and finally groaning of large lizards called ground dragons. Outside of these, there were of course sounds of people. Young and old, men and women. Talking quietly, so that she barely could discern individual words from their conversation.


She slowly sat up, confirming that she was indeed stranded in the middle of a field, the loathsome, familiar scent easing the ache in her heart, however slightly. Confirming that he was somewhere close by too. Readying herself for the soon to start search, Beatrice stood up and started walking towards the one hill, more of a mound, really, she could notice among the sea of green. Swaying from one side to the other repeatedly, she managed to get a couple of steps in before a pair of strong arms caught her from behind.


“Easy now, girly! You’ve had one hell of a night, you know? At least you’re not in as bad of a state as the boy or that girl that drove you two away from that hell on that dragon…”


“Girl…?” With dry, husky voice asked the spirit, coughing a couple of times afterwards. Her grip on the man tightened. Involuntarily, she felt hope. She hated how quickly she was overpowered by that acursed feeling sure to be broken the moment she sets her eyes on their ‘savior’, but nonetheless, the small embers of hope persevered inside the spirit.


“Yeah, Od itself only knows how long she had to drive that beast until she found us. We did best we could but we’re just a wandering troupe, we’re not really the best equipped for… injuries like those.” The man’s face was adorned with a deep frown, his entire build trembling slightly upon getting reminded of the state of the wounded. “I’m sure you wanna see them, but the boy is going in and out of it, raving through his fever. Honestly, we’re not sure if he’s even going to get better…” The man explained with a guilty look, not daring to look the spirit into her eyes.


“What… what about the girl?” Beatrice said, fighting the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes after receiving the news about Subaru.


“The girl’s a lot better now, she’s up and about. We thought it would be the same as with the boy, but she recovered, miraculously. She’s still pretty beat up, but at least…” He trailed off, the obvious continuation getting left hanging in the tense air around them.


“Lead Betty to them, in fact. To him. She… She needs to see him, quickly.”


“Sure thing, sure thing. Right on, let’s get ya to the main carriage.” He spun her around, letting her finally notice how stupid it was of her not to consider looking back at least for a moment to see the myriad of wagons and carriages gathered around in what appeared to be a temporary camp. Small step by small step, they crept towards the imposing carriage beside which Patrashe laid, keeping a watchful eye over her owner. Upon noticing the spirit, still being supported by the giant of a man, the creature let out a fond squeak before returning to it’s previous silent disposition. Small smile, barely one possible to notice appeared on her face upon noticing the loyal steed. The man picked Beatrice up and put her onto the carriage, which she entered, spreading the cloth shielding it from the elements, and carefully stepped foot inside, mentally and physically preparing for whatever was to come.


The first thing that met her was a stench even stronger than the one permeated by the Witch, the stench of death clinging to where Subaru was turning, wailing from pain. She could clearly see the haphazardly patched up wounds that Wrath inflicted on him, the charred skin flaking off of his body, showing flesh in whatever parts the emergency care was not able to cover with the bandages. A dirty, wet bandage covering over the eye he lost during the battle, the other one closed shut. Hesitantly, she came over closer, reaching for the now completely unrecognizable uniform, burnt, soiled and torn to be barely anything beyond a simple rag. Sweeping a hand over his scarred, bleeding skin, the dam finally broke, and tears started to freely flow down her cheeks.


“Why… Why must you suffer like this, Subaru…” A faint glow appeared between her hand and the body of her contractor, the trashing calming down soon after. The most serious of wounds healed, the mana resolutely mending the flesh back together. “You’re the last person who should be forced to bear such a burden… Why does Betty’s contractor have to be the one… always the one…” The glow intensified, more and more, mana getting pushed towards the still severely wounded body. Healing it, slowly but surely. Or at least stabilizing his condition. “If Betty needs to burn all of herself so you live on… She will do so… Betty was already prepared to die back in Oran, I suppose…”


Before the ‘healing session’ could carry on any longer, a small hand slapped Beatrice’s one away from Subaru, who, while still asleep, was now in a far better, calmer, state. The glow died out instantly, the current of mana stopped. Annoyed at getting interrupted, the spirit turned towards the one who would dare do such thing, only to be met with a smiling familiar face and a light-brown bundle of messy hair.


“Cathy…? Is this… Is this really you, in fact?! How… The fire, Betty was sure that you’d…” The spirit reached out with her hand, slowly tracing along the side of Cathy’s face, as if to check is she was truly real, and not simply a nefarious figment of her psyche. The light giggle the girl let out upon that was made the heartache of the spirit lessen, finally gracing the features of her face with a small smile. Noticing the improvement in Beatrice’s mood, Cathy decided to take her hand and grasped it tight, motioning with her head the exit of the wagon.


“Shhh Betty… Subaru needs all the sleep he can get now. Let’s get off of this wagon first, and then we’ll catch up. Come on---”


“Betty is not leaving. Subaru is far too important.” Beatrice refused the proposition even before it was fully presented to her. The smile on the girl’s face visibly shrank in the face of the still expression on Beatrice’s face.


“Well~ Yes, but—”


“There are no ‘but’s. Betty will remain by his side, no matter what, in fact. Cathy is free to do so as well. There is no harm in more people staying. And Betty would not mind… Cathy explaining how she survived that…” The spirit looked down at her hands, tears threatening to spill out at the memory of the horrors that she caused in Oran. “However, it is an impossibility for Betty to leave her contractor for even a moment while he is in such a sorry state.”


“… Fine, I guess we CAN just talk here…” Pleased with the outcome, even despite the grumbling coming from the girl as she came over to sit right by her side, Beatrice started the conversation with the most conflicting of the topics.


“So then, how… Just how…”


“I simply hid in the canals. You know, the ones we investigated, back then?” Even though the question itself refused to easily leave the spirit’s mouth, the answer to it came as easily as it could. There was no wavering or tremble in Cathy’s voice, it was as if she was reporting simple facts.


“So the destruction… The fires… they didn’t reach it? But- But the rats, surely some of them…” Almost as if desperate, the spirit questioned the girl, who in turn angled her brows a bit at the way her friend was acting before answering.


“Not really, it was all good. They probably all burned above.”


“So… how exactly did you get injured…? It seems despite yours miraculous recovery, Betty was the one who arrived here in the best state…” The everpresent, confident smirk on the girl’s vanished in an instant upon hearing Beatrice’s query, the face almost growing pale. “Uhhh… so you know about that, huh… Well, let’s just say that while I was dragging you away I got into a couple of little scuffles, and that dragon of yours eventually helped me out, yes?” Beatrice scowled upon hearing the answer, one she was not in the slightest satisfied with.


“Cathy… that is     ”


“Yeah, I realize. As well as you realize you’re not getting anything better. Sorry, I’ve got nothing! Honest!” A tense, false smirk contorted the cherished face of the spirit’s friend into a form she had never seen before on anyone. There was something deeply inhuman about it, sorrowful yet pleased, kind yet cruel. One more result of her sins. One more beloved person she hurt beyond repair.


“Betty’s sorry, that because of Betty Cathy had to… had to…”


“Hey, stop it! I told you before, Betty! I forgave you. It was the only way, so you just had to do it. Its fine, really. Its fine.” Again, even though she was unable to actually form the words needed to express what she meant, Cathy figured it out and gave an answer to the yet unfinished apology. “Look Betty, I know, you know and once he wakes up he will know too. That ordeal it… won’t leave us behind, its shadow WILL creep behind us, maybe for as long as we live. Its our punishment, and its Oran’s legacy, yes? So, chin up! You’re one of the last three Oran citizens alive, Betty! Let’s not make the world see we were a bunch of mopers!” Cathy got the best answer she could have hoped for, which was in this case a chuckle released by the spirit immediately after her light-hearted comment.


“Ha… Yes. That’s right…”


“And… Now that you’re no longer sulking…” The girl elongated the words, trying to pressure Beatrice into giving in to what she wanted, but the spirit’s will was unshakable by such petty tricks.


“Betty is still not leaving Subaru’s side, in fact.”


“Bummer…” She looked underneath the sheets working as the entrance inside the wagon, the orange rays of light signalizing it is already evening. “Ugh, I’ll have to go so that those fools from the troupe don’t worry needlessly. I’ll come by tomorrow too, so take care Betty! And goodnight!”


“Goodnight, Cathy. And… Thank you, I suppose.” And so, Beatrice was left alone with the sleeping Subaru.

“Oh Subaru… Whatever shall we do now, I wonder?” The boy laid there, with injuries far less serious now after Beatrice burned practically all the mana she had left on healing them. Calm, as if he hadn’t went through the worst hell one could so recently. She traced her hand along his face, smiling unconsciously. “Will we ever recover…?” The question was left in the air, drifting with the breeze in the grave atmosphere of the cart.


“With time, all will recover. Sinners their minds, wounded their bodies.” From behind her, a voice of an old man came. Beatrice glanced back, only paying half the mind to the newcomer, still mainly occupied by the contractor laying right in front of her. The owner of the voice was clothed in what you’d expect of a troupe of this caliber, some second rate hide jacket with an old, woolly sweater underneath, well worn pair of pants that might as well have seen hell as well, and shoes that carried their owner through numerous bogs and marshes. In his left hand was a simple guitar, the instrument hanging from his hand freely, the strings almost shining in the even glow of the candles.


Not waiting for the spirit to answer in any way, he went ahead and seated himself directly across from her, by the side of the boy as well. Getting into the right position, he flexed his fingers with an audible crunch of his elder bones, corrected the way his instrument laid in his hands, and began to play. The sounds came out of the guitar, the tune lazily hanging in the air as the old man expertly navigated his fingers between the thin strings.


“What are you doing?” Without stopping, no, even intensifying the little scale concert, the person turned in her direction. Masterfully bringing out the sounds Beatrice didn’t think were possible to create with such a simple thing, he responded, his voice steady.


“You have to only take a single glance to see this boy has gone through hell many a time, dear. To play a song, to bring some peace onto that poor fellow’s soul. That is the purpose of this old man.” She could agree. The emotions in the music were clear for anyone to see. The sorrow and fear and concern in the singular strikes… the loneliness and exhaustion in the elongated ones... but also underlying hope, like a promise that it will all pass. She could even feel herself calming down, feeling like, maybe, it’ll all be fine in the end.


“Thank you then, in fact. And… what did you mean, earlier? What has time to do with anything, I suppose?” He seemed almost ready to burst out laughing at the question, but dared not to interrupt his performance. With lips curved upwards, the wrinkled, aged face glowing in the bad light, he started playing a slower, more repetitive piece. One that, while not as packed with his emotions as the previous one, still offered for all to hear to share in the old man’s solitude.


“Ah, that is simple indeed. Everything changes with time. I have seen wars begin and end, towns flourish and die. This world we live in does not care for us, it births us and leaves us in it’s grand play. We suffer, we cry, we beg for mercy that may never come. But given enough time, we forge mercy ourselves. That, at least, is what someone told me once, a long time ago.” Even with his expression remaining a smile, the chirps of the guitar confirmed that it was a painful memory, becoming erratic at times, minuscule mistakes making an appearance.


“… May Betty ask who that was?” Tried prying the information out of him Beatrice, reminded of the words that came to her in one too many dream of the white figure. Instead of outright answering her, instead he opted to smile awkwardly, pausing his performance.

“Of course, of course… but sadly, this old man doesn’t remember much of her. The memory is not what it used to be, as you may see… But she was a woman most fierce. She was forced onto a path not her own… and resolute, won against fate all the same. I wish I had the same bravery, but even back then I was just far too weak.” He looked at the wooden instrument in his hands. It showed the fang of time has gotten to it. Yet neither the scratch marks, nor the paint falling off of it deterred it from creating a music most pleasant. “And so, all I have left is play, so others may find their path too.”


“You play beautifully, I suppose.” Offered Beatrice, grasping the hand of her contractor and slowly drifting off to sleep amidst the serenade.


“Is that so, dear? Thank you… This is the one thing this world hasn’t yet stolen from me, after all. The one path I have left open.” And so, he continued playing well into the night, his music keeping company to the two sinners. And while forgiveness may not be in the cards for them, peace will forever be an option. With that in mind, Beatrice welcomed the embrace of sleep with a smile.

A new morning came, waking up the spirit with the sound of the wagon hitting it’s wheels against the rocky and uneven terrain, the blessing possessed by the Ground Dragons making sure they’d feel no turbulence. Wiping her still sleepy eyes with the unoccupied hand, she yawned, and stretched out releasing an adorable sound on account of nobody else awake being there.


“Good morning, I hope you have slept well.” On account of nobody awake besides the yesterday’s guitarist being there.


“E-erase that from your mind, I suppose! Only Betty’s Subaru may be allowed to see Betty in such unbecoming circumstances!” Flushed red the spirit turned away from the person in the corner of the room, who was quietly eating breakfast – some bread with a humble assortment of cold cuts on a plate.


“But, I fail to see whatever it is you are ashamed of? Carry on with your morning all the same. I shall play soon, after I finish resting this dreary body of mine.” He took one more bite and placed the piece of bread on the plate. After wiping the crumbs out of his beard, he leaned back in his chair a bit, stretching out his legs in the process.


“You’ll continue playing, I suppose?” Eye brow raised, shame forgotten, the spirit leveled a confused stare towards the man. He simply nodded, still in the same position, relaxing his aching body.


“Of course. That child had nightmares at all times up until now. He’d talk during them, he’d be in pain. So, I played for him. And when I did so, he’d calm down, he’d sleep peacefully. So, I would play for him more.” Beatrice nodded, glancing at Subaru. Another time she failed, and another time someone else must have done her part. Of course the spirit was glad someone was there while she couldn’t help him. But at the same time, it only added fuel to the cold fury she felt deep within. One that burned from how freezing it felt.


“… Thank you again. Would you tell Betty your name?”


“Every word you say sounds so noble... There is no reason for me not to. A name is the only thing truly tying us to our existence, refusing it is akin to refusing you are real. You may call me Han, pleased to make your acquaintance Betty.” Han rose from his seat and picked up his guitar, coming over to the same spot he played in yesterday. He took on the same position, tuned the instrument, and started playing once more. This time, the music seamlessly blended in with the sound of the traveling cart, creating a completely unique piece, one that would be impossible to experience anywhere, or anytime, else.


“… Betty’s name is Beatrice, not Betty, in fact.” Corrected the man Beatrice, her focus drifting more towards the music, the conversation at hand becoming more of a background noise to her.


“Ah, I apologize. With both you and that demon girl referring to you per Betty this old man had assumed that to be your name, not a simple term of endearment. Forgive me, Beatrice.” Han bowed his head, his Grey hair swaying a bit.


“… It’s fine in fact. But, ‘demon girl’? Betty knows Cathy can be difficult to handle sometimes but to go that far?” Beatrice tilted her head to the side, to which the old man scoffed in annoyance.


“Indeed. She refused to listen to my music. There must be evil in that child’s heart, Beatrice.”


“Pff, indeed! She’s indeed a devil, I suppose!”


With only a few more giggles added to the tune traveling throughout the wagon, the conversation halted. Beatrice simply listened to the music, nodding her head to it’s rhythm once in a while. Han continued playing that very same tune, starting over from the beginning every once in a while. And eventually, Beatrice noticed that something sounded off. Hollow, in a way. As if a certain part of the song was gone. As if something fundamental was missing.


“This piece is actually a duet… I myself wrote it. Only I know how it goes. I was supposed to teach someone how to play it as well… but, ah, those were ancient times…” Han trailed off, missing one of the strings on accident. He quickly rectified the mistake of course, but Beatrice’s interest was already peaked.


“… If names are important then so is the past, correct? A name without history is just a word, I suppose.”


“You’re right indeed, Beatrice. That person, she’s one and the same as the woman I told you about yesterday. I was just one more fool that admired her, and yet somehow we reached a connection. We were good friends, but after the flames of war died out… the contact was lost. I wished to meet her one more time, but it was not meant to be… Now I’m facing the twilight, and this song will come with me…”


“That’s…” Beatrice paused, looking towards her contractor. “When he wakes up, maybe you could… teach him how to play it? That way…”


“That way he will have something to focus his efforts on, correct? I understand… There is not much more on this world worth more than kindness, Beatrice. Thankfully, it is also free to give. When he is healthy, I will teach him. For now, I will continue playing.”


“Out of curiosity, what is the title, I wonder?” Han stopped playing momentarily, looking at the instrument in his hands fondly.


“… After all these years, I still don’t have one, you see. I hoped to title it with that person… but I suppose it’ll be left untitled for a while longer…” The one person duet continued on, accompanied by idle chatter the two exchanged afterwards.

It was evening when they finally managed to reach their destination, the songs of birds and those of man replaced by the emotionless cool breeze, sweeping between the stationary carts and wagons. The performers prepared their instruments and props for tomorrow’s show, the hired muscle set up the camp and patrolled the area, making sure nothing was astray. And Beatrice stayed in the wagon Subaru was in, Han leaving to join the rest of his group in the evening’s preparations. Left alone, Beatrice simply looked at her sleeping contractor, humming to the rhythm of the music she listened to so intently on the road.


“Betty? Yeah, I should have known you’d be here…” Cathy entered the space through the cloth, her legs dirty in dried out mud. She came over closer, and lazily dropped next to Beatrice. “Really, you needn’t worry about him this much. Subaru, he… He is far too stubborn for something like this to stop him, right?”


“Betty still worries about him… He’ll get better this time, but what about the next? Betty’s Subaru cannot be allowed to die this early, this easily… Betty will only accept him dying when he accomplishes his dream, surrounded by the people that love him in fact…” A wishful sigh, the spirit could do nothing else to express her disappointment in the fate her contractor was to be forced to. Cathy instead opted to whistle in astonishment,


“Oh, then… Yeah, that does sound… difficult with how he is. But I’m sure with both of us we’ll be able to get him there! And there’s that Lady of his too!”


“Tsk, that half-elf idiot would only hurt Betty’s Subaru further with her naivety. He needs people who will actually love him, not whatever feeble feeling there is in her heart.” Beatrice let out some of the vitriol she felt towards the idiotic silver haired girl leak out, the venom leaving her mouth, giving her some semblance of satisfaction. She tightened her grasp on Subaru’s hand absentmindedly, her knuckles becoming white from the used force.


“Yes, that wasn’t concerning at all… Ahhhh, your situation seems a bunch more complicated then I thought it was so far. Then again, I wasn’t there before you left either! With me around, I’m sure we’ll be able to solve whatever issues may arise!” The blond looked towards the girl, who during her short announcement raised up and pointed ahead, towards one of the walls of the wagon. A dumb, pointless mockery of the situation. In short, exactly what Beatrice needed to cleanse her memory of the naive princess and smirk at her best friend’s antics.

“Sure, sure. The Vagabond Knight Subaru, The Greatest Spirit Beatrice, their Loyal Steed Patrashe and finally, their small companion Cathy, will take on and win against any adversary. Now be a bit quieter, I suppose. Subaru is still asleep, as you can see.”


“Understood! Getting quiet immediately, Lady Beatrice!” The girl saluted, then clasped both of her hands over her mouth immediately after shouting out the sentence, making Beatrice shake her head in fondness.


“Honestly…” She looked towards the girl with half closed eyes. “So, are you going to just sit like that now, I wonder?” Instead of replaying verbally, Cathy started frantically nodding her head up and down, almost falling backwards from the velocity if not for Beatrice’s hand locking her in place.


“Can you stop frolicking around, I suppose?”


“M-M” Cathy crossed her arms, shaking her head rapidly from side to side. Beatrice scoffed and looked away for a moment, only to be tackled to the floor by the self-muted girl immediately. “What do you think you’re doing, I wonder? Stop at once.” Instead of following the spirit’s demands, the girl chose to tickle her sides, making Beatrice squirm in laughter. Not one to be so easily defeated, the spirit countered by doing the same to Cathy, with negligible success as the girl in question reacted only by puffing out her cheeks, remaining inaudible. Refusing to give up so easily, Beatrice intensified her attack, eventually managing to gain an upper hand, quickly pushing Cathy off of herself, and pining her against the cloth covered wooden planks consisting the floor of the wagon. With raised brows, the girl looked towards the spirit, who simply smirked in pride over her accomplishment.


“Seriously, making such a ruckus with Subaru in such a bad state, I suppose. I would have expected you to be more considerate, having known you for a while now, in fact.” No response met the spirit. “… You refuse to stop this foolish game?” A nod, the conversation halting at that. “Ugh, Betty is surrounded by idiots, I suppose…” She turned away from the girl, letting her sit back up at last, and returned to her spot beside Subaru.


“How long will you keep Betty worried, I wonder…?” A solemn sigh escaped the spirit, Cathy hugging Beatrice from behind, letting at least some of the worry dissipate, for now.

Weeks passed, Beatrice remained at his side. Cathy tried to pry her off, get her to come along with her on walks, to play pranks on some other troupe members, but the spirit would always brush her off, and remain in her spot, vigilant to any change in the boy’s condition. After around the fourth week of constant failures, the brown haired girl gave up on the notion of getting the spirit anywhere other than the wagon itself. Resigned to her fate, the girl would simply check on Beatrice once, sometimes twice a day, which the magical being greatly appreciated. They would play around, talk about some pleasant nonsense, and other such meaningless, harmless fun that let her take her mind off of the situation with her contractor, if only for a while.


Another welcome distraction in that time would prove to be Han, and his nightly private performances. The sounds created by the guitar, or rather by the one playing the guitar, were a frequent and calming occurrence. Moreover, Han’s visit also proved to be necessary for another, more embarrassing reason. Beatrice had no real experience with cleaning, or caring for the sick. If not for Han’s, admittedly still quite limited, knowledge on the matter, Beatrice would be left in a dark wagon filled with dust, and Subaru stuck in a continuously worsening condition. But, they would only on rare occasions exchange more than a few words between each other. Music was far more than enough for them to find a connection.


After the fifth day of week four, Beatrice finally began to lose faith in Subaru making recovery any time soon. After the seventh day of week five, she stopped moving from her spot by his side altogether. And after the fourth day of week four, she stopped speaking. She devoted all of her focus towards him. Each waking moment was for his sake. There was nothing she wished for more than to see his eyes open once more. To run with him hand in hand again. To listen to his ramblings just, one more time. The only hope in her feeble life that remained was for him to awake from slumber, yet no matter how long she waited, it seemed as if nothing at all would change the dreadful situation.

“So, are you going to just stare at him without a word, Betty...?” No answer awaited the girl. “Yup… No change at all. You’re looking horrible, Betty. How does a spirit get eye-bags anyway? Don’t you need blood to get those?” Not even a quick glance to show the spirit acknowledged her words came her way. “You know, this would be a nice moment for you to say how silly I’m being and stuff…” The girl sat down beside Beatrice, twirling the spirit’s hair between hair fingers absentmindedly. “This really isn’t how I thought it would go…” The girl then directed her attention to the slumbering Subaru, placing her hand on top of his own. “You too, look how sad she is because you’re asleep...”


Silence spread over the wagon, with last lays of the evening sun’s light creeped beneath the curtains. Cathy looked down for a moment, before sighing and standing up, ready to leave the two alone once again, just like she would for the last several days. That is she would have done exactly that, if not for the little hand that found its way around her arm, forcing her in place.


“Betty…?”


“Not now, in fact. His eye. His eye is fluttering open, I suppose.”


Shocked, the girl looked towards the vagabond knight laying on the bed. Sure enough, the eye began opening, even what little light there was inside making it hard for the sight organ to get used to how bright it was after more than a month of lack of use. With stilled breath, both looked as Subaru finally managed to open the amber orb, and actually looked at the two of them. Even supporting himself slightly up, despite wincing in pain from doing so.


“Be—Bea-ko.” Straining his throat, the boy managed to cough out the name through his dried out lips. His pair of tired eyes moved to the other figure right beside his contracted spirit, widening as much as the weakened muscles allowed them to. “Ca   th-y…?”


It was as if a dam broke. Without a moment of consideration, the spirit practically leaped through the air and brought the boy back down, causing him to enter a fit of ugly coughs, which escaped Beatrice’s notice. She was far too busy crying into the torn rags her contractor was clothed in. Too busy feeling him embrace her for the first time in what felt like an eternity. And was far too busy expressing her apologies to him through a list of barely comprehensible mumbles that were only further obstructed by the tears flowing down her cheeks.


“Bea-ko.”


“Yes, yes Subaru’s Betty is here. She was always here, in fact.” Beatrice clung to Subaru even more, if that was even possible. Returning the embrace, he looked towards Cathy once more, his own eyes moistening with fresh tears.


“Yes, Subaru? It’s good to see you awake once more.” The girl bowed her head slightly, a thin smile visible on her face.


“Betty will never again fail Subaru, in fact. From now on, Betty will always make sure that Subaru doesn’t needlessly suffer like this time. If need be, Betty is even ready to-”


“Bea-ko, you did. Well.” His first sentence after waking up did not go without a cough, and a deep inhale of air following right after. Then, Beatrice felt as his trembling, weakened hand started carefully and slowly petting the top of her head, making her bury her face into his chest.


“… Could I maybe stay the night with you two, Subaru? It is already getting dark, and…”


“That is       fine.” Having been given approval, Cathy climbed onto the bed and got comfortable beside the spirit-contractor duo. However dysfunctional they were, the three finally reunited after a long, long time away from each other. And the reunion was not filled with words, or many tender gestures. It was filled with the sounds of a weeping great spirit, even and calm breathing of a traumatized girl and raspy coughs of an injured self-proclaimed knight. They needed not much more other then their own presence to make the occasion special.


“Beako. You awake?” Asked the boy quietly, looking onto the surface of the roof of the wagon, the many scratches and discolorations reminding him of the starry night sky.


“Yes, Betty will stay awake until it is safe, in fact.”


“Will you listen?” He asked again, turning his face towards the spirit instead, whose own eyes were locked onto his own for all this time.


“Yes, Betty will listen to whatever it is her Subaru wishes to tell her.”


“We got to, keep going. We need to, find all of them.” He managed to get out, venomous hatred dripping out of his dry throat with every word.


“All of whom, I suppose?”


“The cultist bastards. The ones who had destroyed Oran. That is the only way. The only way we can atone. If we don’t…” His eyes closed making Beatrice release a small gasp, the hands holding the spirit trembling with the toxic emotions he was feeling. They almost sipped out of his body, tainting all that was pure with his loathsome ideas instead. “If we don’t. They would all be right. I wouldn’t be a knight. And I wouldn’t be a hero. I wouldn’t even be worth being Emilia’s servant. Emilia’s dog.”


“Subaru is worth so much more than any old mutt    !” Started to protest Beatrice, but Subaru’s collected declaration stopped her just in time before her screams awoken anyone, most of all the girl smiling in her sleep, the same one laying beside them while they were having the conversation.


“Beako. Until we are drenched in their blood. Until they cry for mercy, until they wish they had burned in Oran. We will keep on going. Until every last one of them becomes part of that accursed whip. Until their souls no longer can find rest.” He gripped the spirit even tighter, Beatrice exhaling air upon all the newfound pressure, only to then immediately relax, as a tide of far more solemn feelings washed over him. “And when we are done, I’ll return. We     We will. Return. And, I will confess. To everything. And face the punishment. Maybe. Just maybe, she forgives me. Or at the very least, feels conflicted on what to do. That’d look adorable.”


“Betty’s Subaru has not done anything wrong, in fact. It is not his fault that this world decided to toy with him and torture him, I suppose. Betty will not accept her Subaru being punished for crimes not his own. Neither does Betty approve of her Subaru going out there, and putting himself in danger once more.”


“Beako… “

“However, Betty would also be lying if she said she didn’t want each and every one of them to beg for death. So, Betty will accept this decision as long as Subaru promises not to be stupid, in fact!”


“Yes, yes… I promise. Together, we’ll be able to find and make sure. None of those bastards live enough to cause another Oran. The city and its people will live through us.” He coughed into his sleeve, and Beatrice didn’t fail to notice brand new red spots appearing on it at the same time. “And get its revenge. Through us.”

Chapter Text

A rough, chaotic tune resonated through the wagon, now rid of the stench that could be equated to that of a rotting corpse , with the boy who created those very sounds cringing with each subsequent movement. The instrument in his hand, a guitar, just like the one his mentor used, was clean, fresh. No little scratches, no mark to signify its age. Just beautiful, almost glistening, light brown wood.


“Wrong, its all wrong. Again, boy. Try again, but focus this time.” Came the stern of Han, who was tuning his own guitar all the while watching over the progress of his pupil. His old eyes went from the boy’s face, to his fingers that so incompetently attempted to draw out music out of the instrument, and finally to his own work in quick succession, watching out for any mistake he could spot in Subaru’s attempts, akin to a hawk on a hunt.


“… There’s more important things I should be doing right now.” Grumbled the vagabond knight, the motion of his hands indicating he was almost ready to just throw the delicate object in his hands to the side and attempt to run off into the distance, towards freedom, but another, much, much sterner look from Han quickly put that idea to rest.


“Right now? You can barely sit upright, boy. There is no ‘more important’ for you at this time. This way at least you’ll know how to play an instrument, instead of wasting away on that mattress forever more.” The older man gestured towards the currently occupied by Beatrice and Cathy piece of cloth and cotton, along with some fresh linens and pillows. After that, he gestured again, this time towards the pitiful state in which the boy found himself, his legs trembling just from not being in a laying position, but hanging vertically off of his purple, cushioned chair, the bandage over his missing eye still red on the outlines from blood seeping out.


Even his clothes, once a symbol of a model knight, now resembled barely a peasant, dirty in all sort of muck, blood and other kinds of filth, torn and stitched together with wathever material there was on hand. And the cape… it would be a disgrace to even call it that, when it barely even resembled a functional piece of clothing, burnt and torn up beyond repair. He remained in that desolate piece of crimes against history of fashion more because of whatever guilt and shame burnt his heart from within, rather than any actual, pragmatic reason.


“Man, you speak real ominous pal, anyone ever told you that?” As it turned out to often be the case, Subaru deflected whatever discomfort and other such negative feelings away with his carefree facade. If heas much as glanced Beatrice’s way, he would have noticed her frown upon noticing the entire discussion. Yet the suffering his body went through each time he even attempted to shift his body much further than a few milimeters prevented him from doing so, prevented him from doing much of anything.


“I don’t believe so, no. And don’t think this will be a viable way to distract me now, boy. Again, from the very beginning. Focus, let the emotions guide you. That way no string will be the wrong one.” A pained sigh, and a few more horrendous tries at playing the guitar later, another complain made its way out of the boy, this time much more disgruntled.


“You do realize, this is like what, the fifth time? In my life I ever touched an instrument, yeah geezer? I don’t know enough ‘bout the whole thing to just ‘let my emotions guide me’!” In response to Subaru’s annoyed words of exhaustion, Han, nearing the completion of his tuning task, once more tried to urge the boy into action with words.


“Indeed. That is what I am here for. I will support you while you make mistakes, however you need to pour yourself into the piece. Otherwise, it is not music, not at all. Just some rhythmic sounds.”


“Ughhhhh…. Just my rotten luck…” And so, he took in a deep breath, straining his battered ribcage, and started to play once more. Minimal movements, arms barely moving at all, all of the effort isolated to the bandaged hands and fingers. It was still messy, it was still painful to listen to. But this time, beyond the incredibly clear lack of skill and expierience, there was something much more overpowering about the music. The everpresent sense of misery towering over anything else. Each little sound, each little mistake. Every move of his fingers, that only recently started to properly mend. The stench, one only Beatrice could smell, seemed to sip out to others through each and every one of these actions, the sorrow and despair of the boy dominating over the horrible, technical aspect of his performance. He grunted in pain, probably from the effort it took him to sit up straight for so long, and yet still continued to play this tune of misery and loss, the tune inspired by his life.


“That’s enough, boy. Get some rest, breath. You did good.” Han placed a hand atop the instrument, stopping Subaru from continuing on with his permeating performance of heartbreak. Silently, Beatrice send a thanking nod towards the old man, the spirit barely stopping the barrage of tears from spealing out of her eyes that were glued so intently to the form of her contractor.


“So, how was it huh, geezer? Horrible as the last time? Maybe even worse?”


“Not at all. It was a great step into the right direction. Be it talent or some hidden affinity, you are obviously going to master this in no time. Only through work, however. Only through work shall you reap the fruits of your labor.”


“Talent? Master? You honestly mean that?”


“Obviously. To lie is to insult the World, after all. How could someone as small as I do so?” Beatrice, once more distracted away from Cathy, who was starting to ever-so-slightly become annoyed, send a glare of utmost contempt at the old man’s vocal quirk, to which he simply slightly bowed his head.


“That’s…” He paused, unusure of what words to use next. Would he be mad? Would he be dismayed? For all the effort he poured into becoming a better knight, someone worthy of the half-elf’s love, someone slightly useful, he accomplished nothing but an increasing amount of misery and pain to himself. He was a nameless vagabond, dirty and ragged, the one who ultimately failed each task he tried to accomplish. And yet, he was fated to master the guitar. What sort of reaction would the young man have to such realization?


“… Hah, well at least we know I’m not hopeless at everything, huh? Maybe when it all blows over, me, Beako and Cathy can become bards? That could be fun. Maybe Emilia would want to hear me play, too. That… That would be probably even better.” Apparently much better than Beatrice could have expected. Acceptance, even if filled with hopelessness, was far better than even more wrath towards the World either of them felt. She did not need to worry over him any more than she already was.


“That is a fine outlook, boy. Love often makes us stronger, makes us do impossible. But do take care not to let love blind you either. A cruel mistress, that feeling.” Deciding that to be a fine ending to that part of their conversation, the man gestured towards the one thing Beatrice had been ignoring desperately for so long, the combination of all the horrors they faced, the jagged, sharp whip, with spikes and barbs, both of metal and of bone, potruded along its length. Beside it, two golden, almost glowing in the candlelight chains, the only remains that could be contributed to the one the monster they managed to slay in Oran. “Those things… Why carry such disgusting instruments of torture on yourself, boy?”


“Weapon’s a weapon, old timer. If its effective, who cares what it is.”


“All these spines, all these thorns. They wouldn’t do you any good in combat, they are of more hindrance than help. And yet, you carry these painful memories with you. Why is that, can you tell?”


“You really are a curious one, aren’t ya…? If you REALLY wanna know, just take it as my own way of taking what little last revenge I can on them.”


“Revenge? How could that be called such a thing?”


“Hah, I’m using what little remained of all those bastards to hunt down other, even worse ones. None of them will know rest until I decide to grant it to them. They will all be drenched in blood until my goal is finally completed.”


Beatrice could not see his face, his eye. But she knew him well enough to know that his words stifled that little, diminshed flame even further. She could hazard a guess she knew exactly what Han stared at. A lifeless, hollow orb, not unlike that of a recently caught fish. Taking revenge wasn’t his earnest wish. It wasn’t for his perverted satisfaction, either. It was an obligation, one that made him suffer even further each time he partook in it. With each melted steel and carved bone he added.


“That, is a fine line you are threading, boy. Be weary of yourself, and of those around you. If you decide to continue like this, you may lose all that you cherish, with no way to get it back.” A pained, amuzed cackle escaped Subaru. One he refused to elaborate on, despite the questioning, confused glare of Han. The old man grasped his forehead, as if a headache of a lifetime overtook him, and with a sigh continued.


“Let us change our focus back to music, for now boy. Just as you have poured yourself into the strings, become one with your guitar, I would like you to write words as well. I do not expect you to make a beautiful ballad immediately. I only want you to write with your heart, your feelings, not with what little logic there is left in you. One can live through the absurd only so long before going mad, correct?”


“You really are one crazy old bastard, aren’t ya Han? Sure thing, I’ll play along with your little ‘Literature Club’. I’ll probably have something whiped up for tomorrow’s meeting, so get ready!” The boy moved to offer Han a handshake, but immediately faltered when a sharp, permeating pain shot through his entire body. After a bit of hyperventilating and quiet whimpering, Subaru managed to somewhat get back to his usual mask, albeit a bit shaken, detached.


“I wish you health for this night as well. And goodluck, thinking of ideas for your piece, boy.” Han still offered him words of pleasantry, shortly after leaving the wagon to its three denizens with a polite nod. The moment the oldest of the bunch left, a long, relieved sigh escaped a certain brown-haired girl.


“Finally~ I thought he would NEVER leave!” The girl fell backwards onto the soft matress, clad in a new dress, courtesy of their troupe friends, mainly red with some white highlights, and of course already full of green residue from running around in the grassy fields.


“Betty wonders just what exactly it is that makes you hate Han so much, in fact.” Asked the spirit, already on the move to help Subaru move from the chair back to the bed. While painful, and cruel, this little excercize was necessary so that what Subaru’s recovery would progress, and not endlessly stagnate in a state barely better than that of a corpse. The long time the boy was in a coma already caused severe damage to his leg, its muscle deteriorated beyond saving with magic, at least for Beatrice. Only time could tell if that damage would stay, or if it would heal eventually.


“Meh, just in general, the vibe is alll wrong you know Betty?” Throwed back the answer nonchallantly Cathy, still laying in the same postion from before.


“I dunno kiddo, he seems like a cool dude? And since when are you THIS casual? Like you never were the picture of a noble lady but- Guh…”


“Come on, Subaru… Just a little bit more…” The painful groans he made with each step brought pain to her heart, but this had to be done. With time, he would heal. With time, whatever she could not mend, would mend by itself.


“Just a little… bit and… there, I suppose. Lay down, Betty will change the bandages on your eye now, in fact.” She hopped onto the bed, Subaru already halfway done getting into the most comfortable position he could afford with his body, and reached towards a little, obviously quickly assembled shelf to the side. The spirit briefly wondered just how much generosity they are supposed to expect before the troupe’s patience runs out, but just as quickly as the thought entered her mind, it had left, and both desinfectant alcohol and fresh, clean bandages were in her posetion.


“Gee, thanks Beako… Whatever would I do without you?” A small cough, followed by quiet cackless made Beatrice frown hard enough for Subaru to freeze in place. Cathy too, for that matter.


“Betty would appreciate it if her contractor didn’t mention such dark ideas with her in the same room, in fact. Betty doesn’t plan on leaving Subaru alone until he is at least at peace, and ideally until he has three children for Betty to take care of!” She proudly exclaimed, the frown turning upside down. The giggling mess of a girl only made the grin grow further, much to Subaru’s horror.


“Three?! Beako, be reasonable!”


“That is non-negotiable.”


“My spirit is so, soo cruel… She makes me go through pain everyday and now demands something like that… Cathy, please help this poor bastard, save me from this ancient evil…” Changing his angle, Subaru instead turned his head with a bit of effort towards the still giggling Cathy, who after hearing him out in full saluted him and went into the perfect postion to tackle Beatrice into a hug.


“Ask and it shall be done, Subaru! Waaa-WAAHAHAHAAAAHH BETTY WAIT, NO DON’T BETTYYYYY       !” Unfortunately, the girl was sent flying out of the wagon before she could even touch the spirit, leaving only a slight gust of disrupted air behind.


“Betty had quite enough of your teasing, in fact.”


“… I never thought THAT would make me feel nostalgic. Huh.”


“Don’t think Betty will get distracted from that attrocious wound for much longer, I suppose.” Before he could react, Beatrice started to unwrap the bindings, slowly and carefully as to not cause him much pain. After that was done, she removed the bloodied bandage, revealing the hollow, gaping hole that once upon a time held a beautiful, amber orb, that emanated a light bright enough to start even the most shattered clock back on. With trembling hands, she carefully desinfected the wound, and poured some mana to support the natural healing process.


“Can you…”


“Yes, yes Subaru. Betty will leave it alone now.” The spirit covered the wound again with a fresh, white bandage, which immediately soaked up some of the red liquid. She then secured it in its place, making sure to not bind it to tightly. When she was done, she fell back and hugged Subaru with a sigh.


“… Thanks, Beako. I mean it.”


“It is Betty’s purpose to do such little things, in fact. Do not mention it.”


Left alone to themselves, they remained that way. One, unable to move. The other, unwilling. The night eventually would pass them by, their sleep mangled by terrors and nightmares of the past, and they would welcome the morning with a bright smile, a brilliant lie.

“Man, is this really necessary Beako?” Lamented Subaru, wincing in pain while trying, and failing, to turn on his side on his bed. The spirit in question was coming over with a serious expression, holding a bowl of water with sope, some clean cloth and additional bandages.


“Yes, now get ready and don’t move too much so Betty can wipe down your body. We cannot always relay on Han to do this.” The littlest smudge of pride could barely be made out through her words at the announcement, the spirit already at the bed, wincing again at the scars, wounds and scabs the boy had on his back. The burned skin, even if it was healing quite nicely, was still incredible delicate and fragile. According to Han it was a miracle it was even healing like this in the first place, most folk wouldn’t have been this lucky.


“I don’t care! It’d have stinged anyway!” The scowl Beatrice had on her face deepened, if only because of how unseriously her contractor treated the state of his broken body. Instead of lashing out however, she chose to release her frustrations with a sigh, to which the boy seemed to get the message and calm down.


“You’re such a big baby of a contractor Subaru…” She muttered with a small, almost invisibly so, fond smile as she started wiping the various wounds and burns, cleaning the body whose owner was unable to. The spirit carried out the task and ignored the squirming and wailing when she got to the particularly bad, reddened spots. After she deemed the wounds on the back cleaned well enough, she proceeded to lay down the cloth below the boy, and beconed him to lay down.


“Ugh… I hate this.” The wounds on his chest and belly were by far less severe by some sort of miracle. Both the burns, and the scratches were all mostly healed up. The worst of the bunch was the still festering wound on his neck, still occassionaly spilling some of the acursed red liquid out, making the spirit horrified of letting Subaru out of her sight for even a second. Still, she diligently washed the entire front as well, this time inflicting much less suffering to her contractor in the process. When she was finally done, Beatrice took the bandages, and slowly, carefully binded them around Subaru’s torso, seperating the wounds from the outside.


“Maybe next time consider not getting this hurt…” After finishing her task, she responded with a sigh, her eyes almost pleadingly meeting his own eye.


“As if I had control over that, Beako.” He tried to leave the answer at that, but the stern glare he got in response immediately made him reconsider, a guilty look over his features. “… I’ll try.”


“That is the best Betty will get out of you, I suppose. Honestly…”


Silence overtook them, both unwilling to continue the talk in any meaningfull way. They simply sat there, satisfied just by being by each other’s side, hands grasped in union. That was the case at least until a turbulent mass of chaos jumped straight into the interior of the wagon, throwing the place into disarray.


“First off! What you did yesterday was sooo rude Betty! I had to help clean up the mess until today’s noon! Second off! That weirdo Han wanted me to remind Subaru to write down those words he wanted him to write or whatever!” The brown haired girl shouted out, listing out her declarations one by one with her fingers. “And finally! Betty, let’s play!”


“Betty is far too tired for—”


“Oh come on Beako, don’t be such a stick in the mud”/”Yeah Betty, chin up and come play!” The two said in almost perfect sync, both freaking out and amazing Beatrice.


“Both of you against Betty, I suppose… Betty hopes Subaru realizes this is a betrayal… Betty doubts she can survive one more time of whatever that child comes up with, in fact…” The spirit whispered in horror, resigned to her fate, already gettind dragged away by the excited girl.

“On the other hand, I can’t really write anything like this sooo, I kinda need my Beako, you know?” As if taking pity on his spirit, Subaru exclaimed at the last second, snickering at the sight of a glowing spirit and a crest broken Cathy.

“Betty will forever remember this act of mercy, in fact.” Beatrice took a stray pen and a somewhat clean sheet of paper, bar the uncomprehensible scribled on its sides made by none other than the girl currently closing in on the spirit’s location with swaying step.


“Betty, you’re a meany…” Said the same girl, plopping down onto the bed.


“It is not Betty’s fault that Cathy comes up with such asinine games, I suppose!”


“The world is just not ready for them, humpf.”


“Betty thinks the world won’t be ready for them any time soon… So, what should Betty write down?” Beatrice directed her butterfly irises towards Subaru, who however hard he tried, failed to come up with anything at all to write down. “Lemme think a bit, yeah? Its not that easy to pour words outta your soul like this.”


“I think you’re taking this thing wayy too seriously Subaru. Who cares about that geezer anyway.” Both the spirit and her contractor looked at the girl with a questioning gaze, quickly rolling their eyes and ignoring her after seeing her own confused look. And, after a while more of thinking, Subaru still didn’t think of a single word to write down, letting out a groan.


“Yeah, this isn’t gonna work, let’s leave it for now. Maybe this noggin of mine will think of something while we talk… Now that I think of it, Cathy, you never did tell me how you survived…” Said girl looked towards the boy, even more confused than a moment prior, only for an immediate look of clarity to overcome her right away.


“Right, you were still asleep back then Subaru. As Betty already knows, I went and hid in the sewers-”


“Wait what? Sewers? They weren’t absolutely filled with rats?” She couldn’t finish when a suddenly completely serious Subaru interrupted her, throwing both the girl and Beatrice off.


“… No? They were empty. Why?” The boy, no longer looking at Cathy, instead staring into the roof, as if trying to decipher some great mystery. “… What changed? What the hell changed for that to be the case? I don’t get it, I really, really don’t… What have I missed…” Which he might as well had been trying to do, based on the little snipets of whisper-monologue Beatrice managed to hear out of him. Then, as the second suprise interruption of the day, a loud, sort of pretencious coughing could be heard just outside the wagon.


Beatrice was hesitant to acknowledge it at first but, after a while of repeated, increasingly loud ‘coughs’, she couldn’t simply ignore it anymore. She rushed towards the cloth seperating them from the outside suprising both Cathy and Subaru, and was almost ran over as two young, seemingly bards, jumped into the wagon taking the moving cloth as an invitation.


“Hello, Sir! We uh, we heard from this girl over here that you’re one hell of a Hero or something, a knight and all that…” Cathy seemed to shrink ten times under the judging gaze of Subaru’s eye. “... so we came to ask for some stories. You know, about being a knight and all that! I’m sure we could make a proper ballad out of them!”


“What he said! We would be honoured to regale your tales to the masses!” Both of them, clearly excited about the prospect but most likely more out of consideration for the monetary gain than anything else, looked towards the laid out Subaru, waiting for the answer.


“… I’m no hero.” Both looked quite unsatisfied with such a lackluster response, and so, undettered they decided to continue prying open the mystery of the vagabond in front of them.


“Well, the girl certainly sang you praises! So come on! Share some with us, you won’t regret it!” Now, both Beatrice who managed to gather herself back up, and Subaru, glared at the still shrinking girl.


“Betty’s Subaru isn’t keen on-”


“No no, its fine Beako. I’ll… talk. I’ve hit a dry spot with that assignment from Han anyway, so might as well. Maybe I’ll come up with somethin’.” He pulled himself slightly up, wincing in pain as he did so, so as to look properly towards the two prospective bards. “Where to start, where to start… You know, that big flyin’ fish stick and Sloth aren’t that fun to talk about again, and again and again so I think I’ll go with Sanctuary this time. You listenin’? Cause this will be quite a tale of fall and despair.”


“Uh… Yeah sure, I’m sure whatever its about, it’ll be grandiose!” The two looked towards him, expectant, eager.


“Then, let’s start by setting up the stage. First off, there’s the mansion. Nice place, expensive, just imagine the average noble’s mansion I guess. A bunch of good people inside, people I… care about. Beako over there being one of ‘em.” He nodded towards her slightly, and continued the tale. “And then there’s Sanctuary, which to say the least, is fucked. Around half the village we evacuated during the Sloth incident got left there and... There’s this huge barrier around the place, yeah? Set up by some witch too, don’t ask me, I don’t really know all the details.” He clarified before the two could even raise a question.


“No half-blood demihuman can pass it. And to break it? You gotta pass three trials. Ridiculous and cliche if ya ask me, but I’m not the one who wrote the rules. Anyhow, there’s also a certain... bastard scheming behind the scenes to kill everyone. You following?” He waited a bit as the one to the right finished writing down notes in a bundle of notes he fished out of his pocket the moment Subaru started to talk, directing a patient glare towards the two guests.


“That seems like a perfect situation for a valiant knight like yourself, Sir!” After a few more seconds of scribbling in a hurry, the boy who couldn’t be much older than Subaru eagerly replayed, the vagabond continuing on with a slight smirk.


“Yeah, it sure does. It sure does. So there I am, with a Lady of my dreams, the most beautiful silver haired half-elf you could imagine        ” Beatrice silently cheered upon noticing the subtle looks of disgust on the faces of the two bards. “         And a green nobody…” Now, taken by suprise, Beatrice barely managed to stop herself from giggling with a sharp inhale of air, Cathy looking towards her in concern.


“Uhhh green nobody?”


“Yeah write it down exactly like that, make sure to drive that point in too, yeah?”


“If you say so, Sir…” Confused, and a bit taken aback, the boy with the notepad continued writing down Subaru’s unbiased relation of events. Somewhere out there, a huge stack of paperwork was ruined by a sneeze of a depressed ex-merchant.


“So, there we are. I’m gonna skip the unimportant bits cause otherwise we would be stuck here for ages, but eventually I figured out how to stop that whole plot. It took a lot of effort. A hell of a lot of effort. Like, there was also the Great Hare there you know? Ya realize how painful dealing with that thing was? It took a bit of time to get a hang of it.” Beatrice scowled upon hearing of the beast, the same one that made Subaru react even worse than anything they had faced so far on this journey.


“Sir? What does that mean?”


“Can’t really explain that.” He deflected, ignoring the dissapointed looks they gave him. “Anyway, those trials? Yeah, I tried taking them too, obviously. The first one, I really, really needed it. I finally met with the two, probably the two most important, people in my life. It was most likely the one last chance I had of seein’ them, even if I hate that wench now I still feel pretty gratefull for that. The second though, that one was a bit too far out there for the lil’ old me…”


“Uhh…”


“Imagine, for a second, you learn all you ever did. All you ever thought you wanted. All you ever planned on doing. All your dreams, wishes, ideals. Each relationship, each radiant smile, each scornfull frown. Each inspiring speech. Each dreadfull defeat. All of that. Every. Single. Aspect of your life. Each hour, minute, second. All of what makes you who you are. Planned.” The faint smile he had throughout the entire time started morphing into an almost manic one, filling Beatrice with worry.


Not only her, their sudden guests started to look a bit frightened by the boy’s appearance as well. Only Cathy managed to maintain a somewhat positive outlook for the whole thing, faint smile plastered on her face.


“And then there were them. The happy managery of all your possible mistakes. Some of them very little too. Ha, some of them I haven’t even the slightest idea what they could reference! Makes you think, right? What if you make a mistake.” She focused completely at him, at how his lips trembled ever so slightly upon saying each word, how his eyes, while seemingly crazed, craved to see some sort of understanding from those around them. How the flame, ever so small, lit. And so, she let him continue.


“A horrible, terrible mistake. What if you’re not good enough for the next ordeal, what if you’re not ready. And that unreadiness makes you give in. Its terrifying, isn’t it? That sorta realization makes a person pretty on edge.”


Noticing the increasingly confused stares of all present, he sighed and decided to get to the point. “You really don’t get it? Your lifes are just- AUGHH” The explanation was cut short as Subaru vomited a crimson red liquid towards the two, now terrified bards, who luckily managed to dodge the projectile, and immediately afterwards ran off in horror, leaving their notes behind. As for Beatrice, the moment Subaru wretched, she could smell it.


The stench, growing so thick she though she would vomit as well. Through a lot of effort, she managed to overcome the sudden surge and closed the gap between herself and her contractor, wiping away the blood with a nearby handkerchief and blowing more mana through him, easing his suffering enough for him to speak.


“Ha        Ha             Should have expected HER to set up a new rule, huh? I finally want to let that shit out, and I can’t even do THAT now? And I thought it couldn’t get any worse, haaaa…”


“Suba-”


“I’m sorry Beako. I really, really am. But I can’t explain this. Hell, I would be surprised if I could explain anything at this point! Haaaa… Just my rotten luck, huh? Just my rotten luck…”


“Why have you not tried to talk about this with Betty before, in fact?” Eerily calm Beatrice responded, her sleeves painted with the crimson liquid. Noticing how serious the spirit was, Cathy backed away from the two, all the way to the walls of the wagon.


“Huh?”


“The trials of Sanctuary. Why has Betty never heard about what had happened in them?”


“…”


“Subaru.” The stern, still voice of the spirit rendered whatever silence the boy tried to use to deflect the query pointless.



“… I didn’t want to talk about Her around you Beako…”


“… Why.”


“… Beacause I thought that you would be hurt.”


“Subaru!” The shout was accopanied by a sound of two small hands hitting hard against the surface of the bed frame. “You should have trusted in Betty, in fact! Betty is the one person you should trust with anything, everything! Betty understands Subaru can’t talk about certain things      ” A sniff caused by the angry tears flowing out of the spirit’s eyes.


“And Betty won’t expect Subaru to talk about things he can’t. But. Why. Why can’t Subaru trust Betty with his pain at least a little bit, in fact?! Has Betty done something wrong?! Why is it, Subaru?!” Subaru tried to reach out to her, desperately straightening his hand, only to freeze when a sharp pain spread throughout his entire body, unable to help the one last person he truly cherished, uselessly watching his loved one be in pain, just like always.


“If Betty doesn’t know what troubles you how is she supposed to help out?! And Betty wants to do that, to help, in fact! But Subaru… You never, ever had shared anything with Betty!” He flinched, unable to look at the tearfull visage of the spirit.


“When we ran away, you haven’t told Betty what you were thinking until it was too late! When the Guiltylaw attacked, Betty didn’t know anything until it tackled us off of Patrasche, I suppose! Over the next months Subaru just disappeared and left Betty alone, to worry about her foolish contractor! And you still haven’t said anything at all, in fact!”


“Beako, I… I really…”


“You be silent now, I suppose! In Oran, you said you’ll depend on Betty, said you have a plan, but you still refused… you still refused to talk about why you were so afraid of that forest! And you hid Wrath from Betty until the very end as well…! And even then… Betty still doesn’t know why…” She fell down to her knees now, face hidden behind the wooden frame, staining it with her tears. “How is Betty supposed to help… When she doesn’t know anything, I wonder? When you never tell Betty anything at all, I wonder?”


“Beako I…”


“Betty tried to ignore it, in fact. Betty made her best effort to support Subaru even though he hid everything away.” Her reddened eyes looked towards Subaru, pain spread all over the little spirit’s face. “Betty tried to accept that Subaru has his reasons… But Betty can’t do that anymore… Subaru almost died because Betty was clueless. Subaru always suffers because Betty is clueless! How can Betty call herself Subaru’s contracted spirit, when Betty doesn’t even know about a fraction of what Subaru goes through?!” Beatrice’s vision blurred from the amount of tears, unable to discern the reality around her in any way. She could still hear what was going on, even if it was overshadowed by her own noises of misery. But she could not ignore the agonizing, painfull screech of Subaru.


“Subaru?!” Instead of an answer, the spirit was brought into a tight hug by the vagabond knight, who refused to acknowledge the pain shooting through his whole body. At the muscles and bones screaming at him to stop, at the freshly healed skin ripping slightly once more from the sudden exert of force.


“Beako… I’m sorry…” These words were so shocking for the spirit she had to stop breathing for a moment, just so she can try and decide if she even heard the boy right. Such uncomprehensible it was for her for Subaru to apologize in this setting, Beatrice would rather think she was going mad than to accept it.


“Why… is Subaru apologizing, in fact…? Betty’s the worst… spirit Subaru could have contracted…” Even in the embrace of her contractor, surrounded by the warmth of his frail body, the spirit still felt terribly isolated. Even if he hugged her even further. Even when he wiped the tears away from her eyes with his battered, bandaged hands. She could still see him lie to her with that cursed smile, that yelled ‘Everything is fine!’ even at the worst of times.


“No, you’re definetly the best.” And yet, she could never doubt the sincerety of these simple words, as a pined wince cleared his face of the smile, leaving behind an ugly, distorted frown.


“Betty’s useless… she can’t help Subaru with anything…!”


“You help plenty. I would have given up a long time ago without my cute Beako by my side…” One. Two. One. Two. Rhythmic pats fell on her head, easing the ache, only a little bit.


“Betty… Betty is…!”


“Beako is the cutest, bestest, adorablest great spirit of all time, and this Subaru would have none other to contract. And its my fault, not Beako’s, for all that.”


“No, no its…” Before Beatrice could even hope to truly begin to argue against his words, he put a hand over her mouth, giggling slightly at her automatic, annoyed reaction, only to strike down whatever it is she was about to say all the same.


“It is, Beako. I should have told you something, anything. But I was just so afraid and… I decided to hide everything, like I used to do. This… this really does end now though, Beako. No more.”


“… Really…?” Asked Beatrice, desparate for any sign of affirmation, barely holding off the hope that threatened to spill out of her butterfly orbs.


“Really.”


“Really, really??”


“Really, really, really. If I’m hurt I’ll… go to you, talk about it with you.” And finally, Beatrice returned the hug. And laughed, with joy, bringing a honest smile to Subaru who put his chin atop her messy bundle of blond hair. “Betty wants Subaru to talk about all that happened so far tonight…” She trailed off, her each words dripping with happiness.


“If my cute Beako doesn’t fall asleep too quick? Sure! We’ll speak so much and so long that even the stars will want to chip in!” He laughed, a genuine, bright laughter, enough for him to cough out in pain immediately afterwards. “Ha, maybe    even the Moon will decide to join us…?” Beatrice could have sworn she had heard an ethereal giggle, somehow both far, far away and right against her ear.


“And Subaru won’t ignore any detail?” She looked up to him, not even attempting to hide away her excitement beneath any sort of mask.


“Nope, I’ll tell you as much as I possibly can. The only thing I’ll omit is what I really, truly can’t say.”


“… And Betty will be useful?”


“Beako, you were always useful.” And so, the final vestige of doubt in her heart burst, both the spirit and her contractor finally reaching what their relationship should have been from the very beginning.

Cathy had left sometime during their tearful conversation, and despite waiting for him, Han had not came over to the wagon that night. As such, when the light outside dimmed and the sun above was replaced with stars and the moon, Subaru decided to start their talk right from the beginning.


“When we were running away, I felt hurt, betrayed. Like, had nothing that happened meant anything to her? The kiss, the words we shared all of it… did she ignore it? Or did she think it was all meaningless? I… I didn’t want to think about, much less talk about it at the time. I both refused to acknowledge that all that effort amounted to nothing at all, and… that you would… that you would betray me, too.” An expression of hurt appeared on the spirit’s face upon hearing Subaru’s explanation of what went through his head that fateful night, but still, she refused to let it get to her and nodded with a slight smile.


“I hope Betty’s Subaru realized now that Betty would never ever do something like that, in fact. And you are to talk to Betty about whatever ails you, understood?”


“I did promise, right? Don’t worry Beako, I’ll make sure to notify you three whole buisiness days before a problem emerges!” He chuckled, and pat her head a couple of times as she grumbled some words of annoyance quietly, before she questioned him about the next event in their journey.


“Then, What about the Guiltylaw, not long after we started? Was the whip training…?”


“Oh nah, I really did decide to train with it. It was pretty much just a coincidence, you see? Honestly, back then it wasn’t even that I didn’t wanna tell you, I was just in a rush because I…” He stopped, conflicted on how to continue onwards, trying to come up with a way to stay true to the facts, while obviously having to omit certain detail.


“This is the part Betty’s Subaru has to keep secret, I suppose. Betty will accept it, but only because she doesn’t want to see her Subaru be in any more pain.” Beatrice put her arms on top of each other, clearly proud of her ‘act of mercy’ towards her contractor, Subaru’s corners of the mouth raising to form a fond smile.


“Thanks, Beako. Let’s just say I… realized, something was off, extremely so, and didn’t want to endanger us by using up time explaining. Sure it didn’t turn out the best, but hey! I tried my best!” The spirit nodded her head, both understanding the boy’s point, and accepting the explanation. Next she grimaced, readying for what she would hear next.


“And about all those escapades…” Subaru’s expression noticably fell, he himself not keen on reliving that period of the journey.


“Yeah that wasn’t my proudest moment, I admit… I… I was just afraid that if I didn’t do all that we would be caught by suprise like with the Guiltylaw again and… And I didn’t want to see you get hurt ever again, so…”


“Again? Subaru when has Betty ever gotten hurt at that point, in fact?”


“Uh… So about that…”


“Honestly, Betty’s Subaru is so hopeless. If Betty was any less understanding, she would demand Subaru explain everything about that slip. So, you saw Betty get hurt then, and tried to protect Betty in your own, stupid way?”


“… Yes, ma’am…” Confirmed meekly Subaru, making Beatrice sigh in exasperation.


“What a dumb contractor, if Betty helped you out both of us would come out of it better off, in fact…”


“… But what if        ” Beatrice cut him off by lightly butting her head against his chin.


“No ‘buts’! Subaru will trust Betty more from now on! Betty is far more capable than you give her credit for in that little head of yours, in fact!”


“Of course Beako. I’m not planning on going back to be the same as back then anyway.” Massaging his poor, delicate chin, Subaru grimaced one more time by the thought of going back to his stupidity.


“Hmpf, that’s right! Betty will smack you again if you act like that ever again!” Her smug proudness earned her another couple of pats from Subaru, which she gladly enjoyed. This time, it was Subaru who, with a sharp, deep breath, began recounting the following chapter.


“As for the Wolfgarm incident… You know how I said I saw you get hurt… Let’s say this one was, like a hundred times worst.”


“You’re being incredibely vague, I suppose…” A side eye was enough to make the already awkwardly squirming Subaru even more ashamed of his inability to share anything with his trusted spirit companion. “Trust me Beako, I’m threading the needle realllyyy close with each word here. Like, I wasn’t sure if I could even say that much, its complicated and annoying for me too.”


“What an annoying barrier it is. But Betty knows well Subaru doesn’t mean to hide anything from Betty delibarately…” She sight in equal parts exhaustion and dissapointment. “Betty really thought she would learn more about Subaru this way, I suppose. The part about Wrath will be the same as well, correct?”


“Ha… Haha… Yeah…”


“Good grief, just what has Betty’s Subaru got tangled into…” She leaned into him more, Subaru slowly reaching around her with his mangled arms.


“Yeah, I talked big game about how we’ll talk all night long about this stuff but I didn’t expect all of it to just amass to ‘Sorry, that’s all I can say before basically having a heart attack!’” Beatrice let out an amused gust of air, because it sure couldn’t be caunted as any known type of a laugh, in response to Subaru’s joke, and looked towards her contractor with a curious look in her eyes.


“Humpf, and how does Betty’s Subaru expect to make it up to Betty now, I wonder?” Subaru went into his ‘thinking’ pose, or rather just made a ‘thinking expression’, before suddenly having an eureka moment. “I know! How about we talk about my homeland instead, you know, that whole shtick with ‘Beyond Great Waterfall’? You’re pretty much the only one I would say any of this”


“Hah, so Betty would be better than the Half-Elf brat, in fact?”


“Oi, don’t call Emilia-tan a brat Beako, that’s mean!” This time it was Subaru who smacked the spirit on her head, earning nothing but a slight giggle. “And yeah, you kinda would I guess? I doubt Emilia would really take interest in any of that stuff.” His mock frown changed into a contemplating one as he started reminiscing of the place he called his ‘home’, when he seeminly came upon a brilliant conclusion. “You know, you like books and all that, so let’s start with what some called the greatest story of all time back where I’m from!” He exclaimed with a confident smirk stretching across his face.


“You have peaked Betty’s curiosity. Do go on, in fact.”


“So, the title was something like ‘Don Quixote’, yes? And, it was about this old dude that read a bunch of books about knighthood, and decided to be one himself. I mean, he was kinda delusional I guess, but uh…”


“You know Subaru, the character reminds Betty of you, in fact. The ‘delusional’ part most of all.” Beatrice barely contained the mischievious giggle that threatened to spill out upon Subaru’s annoyed sigh.


“Oh yeah, really funny. You know what? You remind me of Sancho, the peasant Quixote took on his adventures. Both of you are equally grumpy!”


“Betty is no peasant! And neither is she grumpy!” Beatrice responded, offended he could even imply her to be anything akin to that ‘Sancho’ person, unaware her reaction was exactly what Subaru was gunning for.


“Yes you are, like look at you now! You are the cutest, most grumpy great spirit of all time!”


“Two can play that game, in fact, hmpf. Subaru is the coolest, most delusional wanna be knight of all time, I suppose!” Both stared at each other in complete silence, before at once, falling into a fit of hysterical laughter.


“We fit the bill quite well huh? Scratch the ballad thing, at this pace they’ll write a whole book about our adventures.”


“If Subaru’s exploits are recorded as such so Betty can brag about her contractor in the future, she wouldn’t mind all the pain this journey put us through.”


“Oh well, if my Beako’s satisfied with just that much I’m sure we’ll figure it out somehow! And then you’ll be able to read about me alll the time! See, you’ll never be able to get rid of me! I’ll annoy my cute Beako forever!”


“Hmpf, that better be the case, in fact! It’d be far too boring without Betty’s annoying contractor!”


“On topic of books, I gotta explain to you what manga is so I can finally talk about it to someone…” And so, while not really what either had in mind while the promise to talk was established, they talked about various things through the entire night, until the morning sun came, this time smiling brilliantly, ready for what awaited them in the following day.

Chapter Text

“Have you given any thought to the assignment, boy?” Han, who was for once dressed in something different than his usual disheveled attire, a well cared for, red tunic with a purple belt tying it around his midsection, dark brown yet almost shining pair of pants and a pair of boots reaching up to his ankles, thin, snake-like strings tying them together. And of course, there was a reddish cape flowing off of his back. The outfit was finalized by an out of place, old brown hat with an eagle’s bluish feather stuck to its side, resembling one an archer would have worn once. In one of his hands, the usual, old beat up guitar.


“I had a couple of more important things to worry about… And why are you still calling me ‘boy’, you old geezer? You know my name well enough already!” From his current spot on the bed exclaimed the slightly annoyed boy, getting a bit red in the face already.


“Oh, but it is simply far too amusing, to see your reaction. Beatrice did not lie when she said you are the liveliest when riled up.” Shielding the view of his mouth with his left hand as to hide the smile that appeared on his face, the old man closed the distance between the two of them and sat down beside the bed, and onto the chair.


“Et tu, Beako?!”


“… Betty regrets nothing, in fact.” The proud spirit looked away from the boy with a ‘Hmpf’, serving only to destroy his already damaged morale even further.


“Stuck between two old farts bullying me… At least you will take my side, right Cathy?” A completely outraged Beatrice was silenced before she could even make a sound when the girl in question clasped a hand around the spirit’s mouth, rendering it useless and extinguishing any embers of anger Beatrice may have had.


“Hmmm… I wonder…” She proceeded to touch her chin with one of her fingers, and closed her eyes as if deeply ruminating on something. Like that, the entire wagon was locked in a state of silence, until she looked towards Subaru again, and with a false frown shook her head from right to left.


“Am I fated to be stuck alone in this world…?” He sighed, the excess air leaving his lungs at once. “Anyways, what's with the get up? Some sort of big event is coming up?”


“You could say so, yes. The troupe shall move again soon, maybe a day, maybe two. It will be a longer journey than last time as well, Beatrice, so best get ready.”


“Ohhhh, we’re moving? Man, and I didn’t even get to look around this place yet! What a bummer…” The boy turned his face, adorned with a downcast expression, towards the old bard, to which Han simply smiled kindly, as if to reassure him.


“Unfortunately, that is so. There’s just one more, final performance in this city we arrived at, and then we leave for the next one. Such is life in a traveling troupe, boy.” The old man started to tune his instrument now, mentioning to the one laying by Subaru’s bed, to which the boy, despite looking annoyed, picked it up and started to slowly mirror Han’s actions, wincing every once in a while.


“Ugh, another borring carriage drive… you guys are lucky, you get this whole thing just to yourselves, I’ve got to share a tiny one with like, ten other people! That’s true terror!” Beatrice couldn’t help but frown in confusion upon hearing the disgust the girl carried in her tone of voice.


“Hm, I believe this one shares the carriage with only three other people.” Han supplied, side-eying Cathy in barely hidden annoyance.


“Just as terrible!” She shouted, only to pout angrily when the two simply directed a raised eyebrow towards her little tantrum.


“… Yeah, that… is true terror, sure. Anyways, I’ve heard something about a final performance. What’s gonna happen, hm?” Expertly deducing that continuing this path of discussion would only serve to make things awkward between all present, Subaru referenced the part he was particularly intrigued by in the older man’s statement.


“Oh, all of us shall play our part during it. We had the final rehearsals today, and a bit yesterday as well. Tomorrow night, we shall say farawells to this place with a style like none other.”


“Man, I wish I could see it… Beako, can we go? Pleaseee?”


“Betty’s contractor should honestly stop behaving like a spoiled child, in fact.” Beatrice said in mock annoyance, even as her gaze, lingering just below the cloth seperating them from the outside world, betrayed her true feelings. Meanwhile Han looked over Subaru’s injuries, that while had been healing steadily, are nowhere near close enough to allow him much freedom of movement.


“The scene would be quite far away for Subaru to go there on foot… But, there is no such thing as impossibility when it comes to art. The troupe will for sure figure out a way for you to reach it with minimal effort, boy, if only as an apology for what those two fools from the day before had done.” Hearing that, and seeing the firm expression the old man suddenly took on, Beatrice and Subaru, and even Cathy who continued to sulk until now, startled and looked towards the old man in apologetic shame.


“Ah, so it wasn’t a secret… uh… you see Han, buddy, pal… I may had a tinsy, tiny outburst and…”


“Worry not, for all of us hold pain we are terrified of in our hearts. Words that we cannot speak, thoughts we cannot think. It is their fault to refuse to acknowledge they were bringing those exact memories forth far too soon.” Instead of whatever reaction they may have expected, Han’s eyebrows, that were so tense but a moment ago eased up, and with a tender kind smile he reassured the concerned trio.


“… Well I wouldn’t say I offered them much of a warning though…”


“Are you a wild beast, an untamed mongrel, that only through the most straightforward means one must learn your feelings and thoughts? It is their job, not only as bards, but also as fellow humans, to see the suffering reverberating in the sound of your voice, the fear painted over your face. To fail to do so is to fail being human.” While serious, he appeared more like a teacher than anything. The firm tone held no meaning of intimidation or frightening, and instead, one of care, nurturing.


“Wow. Old people really have it all figured out, huh?” Subaru could do nothing else but marvel at not only a thought he didn't think he could figure out by himself, but also at the way Han appeared and posed during it as well, no longer seeing a strange old man, but a wise one, despite his frankly ridiculous outfit.


“No Subaru, I think he just speaks nonsense for the sake of speaking nonsense. Pay that old idiot no mind.” Rebound from her short moment of shame, Cathy went back to her current routine of being absolutely abhorrent towards the old member of their circle, smirking after saying her piece.


“That was terribly rude.” “How rude. Cathy, you should apologize to Han this instance, I suppose.” Both said, almost at the same time as each other.


“Bah, the two oldies are against me too, Subaru. I think I’ll take you up on that alliance idea after all…” Cathy, despite her earlier teasing, went to Subaru’s side, facing the two ancient beings, one considerably younger than the other, with a gleeful smirk on her face, Beatrice just about ready to burst into rage at another comment poking fun at her age.


“See?! Those two are so cruel to us young ones! They’re just jealous of all the years we still have ahead of us I say!” Hearing her contractor spout such idiotic nonsense, the blond spirit could not simply watch on in silent rage any longer, and decided to intervene the best way she knew


“That makes no sense, in fact!” Which was of course arguing with her contractor.


“Yeah I agree, it doesn’t! Not at all! What do you want to steal all my happy, future years with Emilia for, Beako?!” He pointed towards his face, as if the still recovering mug lacking an eye was proof enough to showcase his point, which Beatrice obliged with an annoyed smile.


“This again?! Betty’s Subaru should aim higher than that half-elf!” An offended inhale of air almost made Beatrice think she went too far, but an aggressive head-pat a only a second later made her reconsider that idea.


“You’re hurting my heart, Beako! I thought you said you would support me in anything and yet you draw the line there?!” Whatever impact these words may have had on anyone, was considerably softened by the amount of headpat his contracted spirit was getting from him at that particular moment, enough so that she grew red in the face like a warm sunset.


“Yes, in fact! Anyone would work better than her, I suppose! Hmpf!” That was true in the spirit’s mind. The beast-maid would be far better, for her kindness and diligence, far greater than the Half-elf’s. She can picture the two spending their lifes together lazily, from one day to the next, reading books to each other, having the annoying little brother goof off somewhere in the background, and a couple of demihuman children for the spirit to take care of.


The red-haired oni, while obsessed with that clown, too would be far better than the naive girl. Beatrice would rather listen to the two bicker and banter, than to hear one more time the half-elf hurt her Subaru with words of ignorance and idiocy. And if not her, then whenever they manage to wake the oni’s sister, Beatrice is almost willing to bet she would be much better suited to Subaru than the silver haired beauty.


“Sadly we can’t meddle in matters of others’ love, Beatrice. While that may be true, we cannot contain their feelings.” And sadly enough, that was true as well, and the spirit knew it. She would not be able to convince Subaru otherwise… Only inevitable pain once he reunites with that shallow girl would do that. No argument would work better than reality itself, for his foolish, naive heart.


“Yeah, yeah. I bet she wouldn’t even look straight at you if she were here right now, Subaru.” Beatrice’s musings were cut short, when a certain girl scoffed and said something that claimed all others’ attention as hers. Cathy even looked confused for a moment as all present shared a look that contained equal times concern and anger. Subaru was the first, and only one hurt enough by the comment, to speak up.


“Cathy. You don’t even know Emilia, so I’m not letting that slide. You’ve been awful for a while now, ever since I woke up, actually.” He took a deep breath. “Listen, I… I understand that after all that has happened, you may be going through a lot, thinking a lot of things but…” He was interrupted before he could continue his thought by the same girl he tried to lecture.


“Eh? Who cares, that's all in the past already. And I don’t need to know her to know how people work, Subaru.” She looked over all the faces looking at her, at the assortment of negative feelings that came flooding her way. “Tsk, you guys… I’m just gonna go. I know when I’m not wanted.” And so, she stood up and turned to leave, basically running out of the wagon.


“Wait, no Cathy       !” The shouts fell on deaf ears, as the only thing left of her now was the slight movement of the cloth, subtle light reflecting off of its surface. “       annd she’s gone. I mucked that up real good, huh?” Subaru looked towards the exit with his hand outstretched and trembling, his singular eye showing the regret he could not do more, shame he made the situation only worse with his words. Beatrice’s pensive look betrayed that she was ready to chase after the girl, to bring her back and solve the problem right there and then, but a gentle hand of none other than Han stopped her in her tracks.


“… You did all you could. She’s in no state to listen at this time it seems. She doesn’t show it at all, not through her movement, not through her expression, not even voice, as if there was nothing there she was struck down by… Which means we must be missing something.” Han too looked at the slowly calming down tide of the cloth, but more so in curiosity than anything else.


“What, were you some sort of philosopher before you became a bard? You’re all wise and stuff…” As a desperate measure to point the conversation away from his most recent fiasco, Subaru tried to lightly poke fan at the older man, yelping after receiving a slight jab to his side from Beatrice. Ignorant to the boy’s machinations, Han took in some air and answered, as sincerely as he could.


“Not at all… I was but a sword at this kingdom’s call, one of many. Yet even back then, I was nothing much to look at… All I was good at was playing this old friend of mine—” He momentarilly raised the wooden instrument in his hands, before lowering it down to the ground once more. “—And, with a bow and arrow. Nothing else was ever special about this old fool, I’m afraid. Nothing to leave behind but my music, either. As they say, ‘I shall never completely die’. But I shall never truly live either.”


“… But there was something. There is that one song, I suppose…” Tried to steer the conversation Beatrice.


“Yes… there was something, or rather someone. That woman… with her hair as beautiful as red carnations… eyes blue as thistles… Her beauty was radiating, one of a kind. Many shared similar thoughts as well… And equally as many never got to witness a chance, for they died in that war.” He had a fond, reminiscing look on him now. “In fact, many of those casualties could have been because of her as well… After all, she too was a coward. This is not said in hate, but stated as a fact. Before her change of heart, she was a coward just like I have been for all this time.”


“Eh… she sounds complicated… Like, hell yeah, she managed to get over whatever was scaring her but still, many people lost their lifes…” Subaru ignored the guilt gnawing at him as he said these exact words, the multitude of souls he failed piercing him like thorns of a sanguine rose. Beatrice, sensing his silent distress, tightened her hold on his hand, which while did alleviate it somewhat, did not fully extinguish his pain.


“Is it not true for all of us, boy? We have things tie us down, and those things, when not resolved, make us hurt ourselves. Hurt those we care for deeply. Such is the nature of regrets, of fears. That is why, for all these years, I have admired her so, admired how she was able to… let go and be happy, as happy as one can in this world. That is why this old fool, even now, even after she had lost her final battle, cannot get over his foolish feelings.”


“… Don’t worry, I know how that feels.” The two fools, one young and still naive to the ways of the world, one too old and far too experienced in how the world plays with life, yet both came to an understanding of sorts in that moment, one unique to them. An understanding beyond simple ideals, opinions and thoughts, but one of life itself.


“… To know that feeling at such a young age, you truly are an unfortunate one.” He caressed the instrument in his hands for a while, eyes closed, yet tears still daring to leave the canals. “There’s just one thing I have left, to remember what little time I did manage to spend with her. An incomplete melody… You have a talent, as such I believe you to be ready to learn it at last. I spent yesterday eve writing down the notes, the flow… I believe you shall master it in no time at all.” He slid out a couple of sheets of paper out of the pocket of his pants, and placed it on top of the boy, who in turn took them and looked over them quickly.


“I mean, I don’t really get most of it, you didn’t really get to teach me how to read notes, you know?”


“That doesn’t matter. You still have a lifetime before you. This old fool would rather not be vain enough to think he still has a chance to hear that melody flutter in full by someone else's hand. Yet, if you so choose, we can start practicing immediately.”


“… Sure, we might as well. You sure it’s not gonna be any trouble, with the big event being tomorrow and all that?”


“Not at all. I have no doubt that what little exhaustion this will cause will not hinder my performance in the slightest. Let’s begin now, if you will Beatrice?” Taking the clue, the spirit left her contractor’s hold, Subaru immediately getting his own instrument, and quickly tuned it. A few ‘twang’s later, both were ready to begin their practice. And so from Han’s instrument a flood of somber, mournful and regretful notes, followed by Subaru’s tune of despair, desolation and melancholy, the two similar, yet differing in all the key aspects creating a dissonance of sorts.


Both, however, carried an unmistakable fragment of burning, fragrant hope, one that when noticed, no matter how depressing the rest of the melody might have been, spread over one’s soul like a wildfire, letting them know, it was not yet the end. For one, it was not the end of his journey of redemption. For the other, it was not the end of his road towards the love of his life.

“Another morning… Ah, somehow I’ve rested quite a bit despite going at it until late at night…” He stretched as much as his body allowed him to, pain being the boundary he could still not get past through. Right beside him, already long awake, sat Beatrice, scribbling some squiggly lines on clear pages of paper. Upon noticing he was awake, she fully turned towards him forgoing her previous activity, and faced him with a look of mock annoyance.


“Betty couldn’t fall asleep because of all the noise you two kept making, in fact. Betty expects Subaru to spoil Betty all of today as payment.”


“Oh, but of course. What shall this Subaru do for his cute Beako from the confines of his humble bed, hm?” The spirit closed her eyes, deep in her ruminations, before answering the vagabond, with eyes wide open and a similarly wide, cherishing smile.


“At least fifty headpats!” She gazed in perfect stillness, mulling over the numbers in her head once more. “No, a hundred! And a lot of hugs as well, I suppose!”


“How demanding… I guess I can oblige you this time, but only because of how cute you are!!” The pats started immediately after, the spirit squealing in sheer delight. Roughly after three minutes of that, the pain in his hand started to scream at him to stop, which he obliged.


“I still can’t do much with this body of mine, huh? And here I thought it was getting better after practicing for so long without any issues…” He released an exhausted, elongated sigh.


“Maybe you enjoyed playing so much you got distracted from the pain, in fact?”


“Maybe? Or I just poured it all into the music? It is pretty calming, plucking those strings…” He looked at the instrument absentmindedly, when a certain old man entered the wagon, in the exact same outfit as the one previous night, with an uncharacteristic grin on his face.


“We managed to get permission from the townsfolk for you to ride your steed through the town, boy. Rejoice, you shall witness our performance as well.”


“Wait, for real?! I didn’t think you’d actually do it, I ain’t gonna lie.”


“I have told you there is nothing impossible when art is concerned. Now then, Beatrice. I think it is high time for him to witness the outside world at last, after all this time.” With a serious look, the spirit muttered a spell quietly, almost like a whisper. Immediately, Subaru felt lighter, and with Han’s and Beatrice’s help, raised to his feet. A painful step after painful step, he neared the cloth. With some terrible effort, he managed to get to the threshold, he stopped, hesitant to cross it. The smile he saw on his reliable spirit however, reassuring as always, pushed him to finally leave the safety of the cart.


The sun above signified it was noon, and the calm breeze that made contact with his delicate, healing skin made him shiver from the cold, which while slightly uncomfortable, was a sensation he had missed greatly. Other than the wagon Beatrice and Subaru stayed in all this time, there were as many as eight others, with a plethora of people carrying boxes, bags, some even costumes. And just outside their own carriage, stood a reptile he had missed most of all.


“Patrasche! Come ‘ere, girl, lemme get a look at you! Oh look at how your scales shine! They have taken good care of ya girl, haven’t they?! Haven’t they?!” The aggressive scratches were welcomed by the ground dragon with glee, before getting that very hand licked with fervor by that very same creature. Han, calmly but quickly yanked the hand away and wiped it off with a small, moist handkerchief he seemingly prepared for an occasion just like this.


“Patrashe, Subaru is still terribly wounded, in fact. While we are not at risk of him getting an infection just by being outside, that sort of thing is still dangerous.” The dragon looked towards the spirit, and despite all odds, nodded in understanding, lowering its head, ashamed of putting the vagabond knight in needless danger.


“No need to be that stern with her, Beatrice. She was simply glad to see the boy up and about. That’s how a good, loyal steed will act towards someone that is good to them.” Then, with effort from all involved, Subaru was put onto Patrasche, with Beatrice following suit soon after with Han’s help, situating herself right in front of her contractor.


“Sooo, it’s still noon, is the performance soon, or…?” Asked Subaru, looking around the area in wonder, scanning every tree, bush and stone carefully, etching this scenery into his memory.


“Ah, the town is going through a bit of a festival. A local tradition, as far as this one knows. We simply had luck to arrive at this opportune time. As such, both me and the rest of the troupe decided to have you experience it at least once before we depart.”


“Man… you guys think about me so much, it makes me tear up…”


“Ha, that is just common decency. Now then, let’s go. Shame to let such a calm gaze of sun wither away on us.” He walked in front, Patrasche following after him, even if she was irritated at the predicament.

While Subaru was overall pretty calm, excited even, Beatrice was hesitant. Vibrant emotions that at last leaked out of her contractor reaffirmed her however, and so, she asked the old man as such. “What about Cathy…? Is she not going with us, I wonder?”


“Ah… That child, we’ve been trying to find her since yesterday, but it’s as if she disappeared… We’re hoping she simply went to the town, so do keep an eye out, aye?” It was clear he didn’t wish to share this with the two from how he looked away from both immediately after finishing the confession. Putting a lid on the mood of both outcasts, silence developed them as they passed through the lush forest.


“Wait, you guys didn’t stay IN the town? You stayed outside?? Eh, why would you do that?” Finally realised Subaru after noticing one birch too many, breaking the awkward silence surrounding them.


“Unfortunately, there wasn’t a place for our troupe to get accommodations comfortably. When we arrived here, you were still asleep as well. As such we chose to set up camp not far away from the town, really that was the best decision we could have made.”


“So it was partly because of me, huh…” Beatrice looked up at him for a moment in silent worry, but the gentle smile on his face quickly put her at ease. “… I guess I gotta give you my thanks then, huh. Going this far for lil ol me, you're making me blush!”


“I’ll gladly take it, and share it with others as well. Ah, just as well. See, there in the distance? Close to the little forest? That’s the town we’re going to. We must simply cross these fields, and we’re right there.” Just like he said, the town already started to appear from beyond the tree line. If one was to make a comparison, it would be somewhere between Oran and Arlam in size. Larger than the village closeby the old Mather’s manor, yet not big enough to remind one of the bygone city.


No defensive walls, just simple houses and a couple other, larger buildings, one of which being a small church, with its tower larger than any other part of the city. Slightly further away, on a bit of a hill, was one building, significantly larger than most others here, almost the size at which it would be worthy of belonging to a noble of these lands.


While they passed the path surrounded by golden fields, silence surrounded them, outside of the occasional noise made by a bird flying by, or by the insects living their short lifes ignorant to struggles of those above them. This world, one he could not experience for months now, did not change at all when he was gone from it. It continued on, with its processes and cycles, people still cherished their lifes, loved ones, still tried to fulfill their dreams. Even a tragedy as large as the one they have survived did not shake up the iron hold of fatum.



Beautiful yet chained, glorious yet unchanging. The nature of the reality they lived in dawned on both the spirit and the vagabond knight at the same time during this short moment, when wheat rustled gently in the wind, bees buzzing among the red flowers.


As they neared the town and could make out the audible, cheery atmosphere of the people living in it, all Subaru could do was let out a sigh, not a content one, nor one filled with despair, but an accepting, monotonous one. “We really are the only ones who care, huh?” He whispered, so that only Beatrice could hear, and she nodded slowly in agreement, the same realization having already dawned on her.


“And we’re here. I shall go and talk to the ones overseeing this town, do feel free to roam around and experience it for yourself. It has much to offer, I assure you.” Ignorant to their internal struggle, Han left them alone, surrounded by people dancing, eating the food made from the collected grain, some played music, the kids played around swiftly maneuvering around the adults. In short, celebrating life.


“So, whatcha wanna do, Beako? Look for that little troublemaker?”


“We should, in fact. Od only knows what trouble she might get into…” The wavering concern in her voice only motivated Subaru more to have Patrasche move them along the pebbled roads, and as stiff as he was, look around the gathered masses in search of their missing companion. And yet, no matter how much he turned his head, no matter how meticulously Beatrice scanned the ever changing group of people, nowhere did that characteristic mop of light brown hair appear.


“Sire, you must be the one said to be terribly wounded in that Witch Cult attack. Come here, join us!” One of the people said upon looking at them, and their ground dragon.


“Uh, we’re kind of…”


“Do not fret, you are welcome to try anything you like! The troupe has already generously paid in advance for whatever you might wish to try!” Subaru was interrupted by the enthusiastic townsfolk, pointing to a quieter corner of the venue, some food and drink already prepared on the tables, presumably for them, and left in that very same direction shortly after.


“… Of course they did. We haven’t even met anyone other than Han, those two don’t count. At least I haven’t, what about ya, Beako?”


“Betty’s been at Subaru’s side for as long as she’s been awake, in fact.” Answered sincerely Beatrice, just as shocked at the charity offered to them, by basically complete strangers.


“They are far too generous! Someone’s gonna take advantage of them one day!” The same surprise could be found in the boy, although he didn’t even try to hide his ruminations at all, instead vocalising them immediately upon the words coming to his mind. Patrashe looked towards him, unsure of how to proceed, Subaru sighing and mentioning for her to follow the person that has just spoken to them.


“… As if you’re one to talk…” Whispered the annoyed spirit with a fond smile.


“What was that, Beako?”


“No, nothing, in fact. Betty was just thinking aloud.”


“Yeah, sure. Keep your secrets.” He proceeded to flick her on the forehead, the spirit yelping out in pain. “Anyways, what's the plan? With this many people around we won’t find anyone just looking around aimlessly… So I guess we should at least try and ask around?”


“Mmm. Very well, Betty will trust Subaru’s plan. But if it doesn’t work, Subaru’s payment will increase tenfold…!” Her voice trembled slightly as she exclaimed her statement, prompting Subaru to pat her gently on the head, answering her with equal fervor.


“Uwah, since when was my spirit such a fierce negotiator?! Fine, you crook! I agree to your terms!” That’s when the dragon, with its slow and steady pace, arrived at their destination, the people already rising the wooden cutlery for him to take. Betraying their expectations, it was Beatrice who took them, scoffing at their confused gazes.


“Look at the state of him, I suppose. Obviously, he is barely able to bear sitting like this. Expecting anything more is sheer stupidity.”


“Oh come on Beako, be a bit nicer… They are kinda our hosts…”


“Hmpf!”


“Sorry about her, she’s been a bit grumpy ever since a bit of an argument with her best friend… As a matter of fact, maybe you’ve seen her, she set off to who knows where this morning? Same size, light brown hair? Pretty neat clothes? Mischievous look in her eyes?”


“Sorry, we haven’t seen anyone like that, Sire. But, I’m sure everything will be fine. She’ll come back whenever she’s ready.” Answered his query an older woman apologetically. “As a matter of fact, you are most likely the only people who had arrived here since yesterday. As small as we are, there still are some people patrolling the area Sire.” Subaru took on a look of utter disappointment, a deep frown replacing what not so long ago was a bright grin. Similarly, the blond spirit took on a downcast expression, glancing to the side as to hide the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.



“Ugh, I hate not being able to do anything…” He sighed, exhausted, Beatrice grasping at his hand and taking a tight hold of it, careful as to not drop the food onto the ground.


“That’s just life, Sire. We can’t expect to be able to solve everything, sometimes we must trust others to do what they must.”


“Yeah… yeah. I kinda’ve come to realize that, recently…” He looked towards the blue sky above, sighing again. “So, what’s there to do around here for a cripple like me?” The people, while some still unsure, smiled towards the vagabond, ready to welcome the duo, and their dragon, into the celebrations.

As the sun shined bright above head, the townspeople danced and cheered, as the two solemnly watched the masses, for the little, small hope of the girl suddenly rushing out of them in their direction, with that same whimsical grin and wild eyes they grew so fond of over time. But no matter how many times the melody changed, how many old drunkards were ushered to their homes, and no matter how many stories were told over liquor, no sign of her was to be found.


With each minute, the sun was nearing the line of horizon. With each hour, the excitement of the festival gradually died down. The day that was supposed to grant him some long awaited peace, the first time in a while he could taste the fresh air of the outside, smell the fragrant breeze flowing through the fields, turned out to be a quiet disaster, for only the spirit and her contractor to know.


For no one else cared much for their plight. Even as words of empathy and comfort left their mouths, they could not truly understand what they felt. And neither could they let the worries of two strangers ruin their celebration. As such, two sinners drowned in sorrow were surrounded by people who, while not completely ignorant to their troubles, could not do anything to aid them.


And the two spent their day, meant to be so much more, gazing as others cherished life. Cherished the world. Beatrice wondered, while looking as a child begged their parents to stay for a moment longer, if there really was any reason to revel this existence as such. If there really was a reason to commemorate such an insignificant thing as human life because of a few good years, when suffering was always but beyond the corner. When each day could very well become a memory you would rather forget.


With these thoughts plaguing the spirit’s mind, the bright shine of noon turned into the amber glow of evening, people lazily continuing their folk dances, quietly humming some local tunes on account of most actual musicians having already drank more than enough. This was also when, with loud thud, the wagons of the troup rolled through the cobbled streets, pulled by ground dragons. Out came several people, clad in colorful outfits. Red, yellow, green and violet being the most common hues in the bunch. And it was as if the festival gained a second life, as people came back from their houses, to join in the masterful music and performances shared by the artists.


“… It's too loud.” Mused Subaru, pulling lightly on Patrashe’s reins, the creature immediately understood the signal, walking into the opposite direction from all the noise. They walked past some stranded drunkards, and a bunch of children playing out on the streets, while their parents were nowhere to be seen. And eventually, they managed to arrive at the border of the town, where semi-quiet whispers came from behind one of the houses.


Patrashe quickened the pace, and they saw the one member of their little entourage that’s been missing ever since yesterday, looking at them in a bit of shock, a small, yellowish toad desperately trudging away from the girl, as fast as its small limbs could take it.


“Uhhh… Heya…?”


“Cathy!” Beatrice leaped out of Subaru’s lap, making him wince a bit in the process, and with a light thud fell onto the ground. Before Cathy could even react in any significant way, the spirit already tackled her to the ground, almost squishing the poor toad. “You stupid, stupid girl! What were you thinking, disappearing like that, in fact! What if something happened to you!”


“Uh… Betty, I was just gone for a little while, it’s all fine…”


“No it isn’t! Subaru is still barely hanging in, Betty can’t just leave him to search for you! And if something happened to you while you were gone…! Betty… would lose her best friend…”


“… You could have just gone and gotten me yesterday when I stormed out, you realize that right?”


“Betty tried to…”


“Yeah, Beako wanted to. But would it change anything?”


“Uh, yeah? I wouldn’t have…”


“This time? Maybe. Who’s to say about the one after that? And the one after the next?” The girl looked away in shame. “Listen, Cathy. Both of us, me and Beako. We care about you. But if you don’t talk with us, and I’m speaking from experience here, we can’t help out. Even if we want to. So… please. Let’s talk. So all three of us can… start moving forward for once.” Awkward silence, outside of Beatrice’s soft sniffles, enveloped them.


“…” The girl looked towards the horizon, uncharacteristically silent, and sighed. “Fine… But, you do realize that… uh…”


“Don’t worry. Whatever worry you’ve got? We’re gonna find a way to solve it. Doubt we’re gonna face anything close to that hellhole in Oran anytime soon.”


“… Betty believes this is the thing Subaru calls ‘Setting up a flag’, I suppose.” Beatrice, having calmed down a bit by now, said in a deadpan manner, looking at her contractor with half-closed eyes.


“Drat! It is! We’re doomed!” Shouted Subaru, wincing a bit as he grabbed his head in utter horror.


A light giggle escaped the girl. “Weren’t you two supposed to listen to me vent? You’re as ridiculous as always… You know that ring we found in the sewers, Betty?”


“The one belonging to your father, in fact?”


“The very same. Before we found it, I never thought I would see anything of my father. I… was losing hope. But then you two arrived, you saved us… Even found one last thing left of him, so I can at least have a memento. And… I honestly thought nothing will happen, nothing on the same scale at least…” The girl had a fond smile as she talked, even if a bit strained. Even if her eyes were too dry to spill a single tear. Even if her arms trembled as they embraced the spirit back, bit by bit.


“It's ok, it's ok. Continue.” Subaru tried to reassure her, Cathy nodding in response, and continuing her spiel after taking a deep breath.


“And… Even while everyone was despairing, you managed to bring them motivation. No matter what trouble you two faced, it seemed like… You could solve it with ease. I had friends, a home… A hero…”


“…”


“And then… That. Happened. And I just… I can’t take it. I tried to keep it in, but… How… just how are you supposed to do that? We… I lost everything I ever knew. The faces I knew, the streets I knew, the smells and hills. The gentle breeze that was always there in the morning, and the light buzzing coming from the forest in the evening. All of that is just… gone. In a single night.” Subaru looked at her, and while the wavering smile and dry cheeks wouldn’t betray her distraught, he trusted what he felt from the tone of her voice, from the way she refused to look towards either of them, how she didn’t fully return Beatrice’s embrace.


“And while none of that is there anymore… I am. I am still here, playing with Betty, listening to Subaru being a goof. And the two of you are… The two of you are the ones…”


“We’re the ones that caused that, in fact.” Beatrice finished instead of her, slowly distancing herself from the girl, ending their hug.


“… Exactly. I forgave you… even before anything had happened but… I still…”


“I don’t blame you for that, Cathy. I don’t think Beako does, either. It's natural. That's why we’ll… work hard. So that your forgiveness will be accepted by your soul.”


“… I’m sorry for being so difficult.”


“That? Difficult? I was ten times worse when I was your age! And talk about Beako when she was still in her Library-!”


“Subaru! Do not remind Betty of her conduct back then!” Red in the face, Beatrice shouted at her moronic contractor, fuming in anger.


“…” The girl kept her silence, looking at the two with a cryptic expression, a mix of shame, guilt with an unmistakable bit of excitement.


“All three of us are properly messed up, Cathy. And only the three of us really know what happened back then. So… we gotta stick together. Through thick and thin. And no matter what happens we just can’t let go, yeah? No matter what we have to endure… we gotta be there for one another.”


“… We need to work on your speech capabilities, Subaru. You’ve gotten worse over time, in fact.”


“True… you’re very lucky it worked this time.” Nodded Cathy in agreement.


“Ugh, even now! You two! Are bullying me!” He relaxed, seeing the two girls laugh at his misery in sync. He directed his eye towards the setting sun on the horizon, sighed and… “Are those windmills? Huh, I don’t remember seeing those on the way here.”


At that Beatrice, confused as one can be, stood up and looked in the same direction Subaru had been looking, along with Cathy. Sure enough, three enormous buildings, with multiple blades rotating in perfect sync despite the lacking wind were standing in the distance. The spirit squinted her eyes, trying to discern just how such a sudden appearance of the objects came to be, and noticed them moving, ever so slowly, in their direction.


“Subaru… those, Betty doesn’t think those are windmills…”


“Oh come on, I know we talked about Don Quixote, but are you really gonna try to tell me those are actually giants?” Before Beatrice could point out her observation of the three titans moving, a ball of… something, came flying from the direction of their rotating arms, flying above their heads, and with a loud, resounding thud crashing somewhere in the town. The trio barely had time to react, before a myriad of screams came from behind them. And a salve of those very same projectiles came from the windmill-like things.


“… Beako.”


“Are you really… thinking about…?” The spirit looked towards the vagabond, a static smile on his face.


“You know me. Playing a hopeless Hero. Cathy, hide somewhere in the fields, ok? The town… I’m guessing its a deathtrap at this point. This time we’ll save people, don’t ya worry about it. Can’t fail someone who once considered me their hero, right?!”


“You moron… You can barely walk.” Cathy pointed to his trembling from the pain legs as they dwindled off of Patrashe’s sides uselessly.


“So?! I’ve got a whole ground dragon!” He pat her on the side, the dragon releasing a pleased squeak in response. “And an adorable great spirit, too! With a team like that, we can do anything!”


“You’re going to get yourself killed…” Continued Cathy, looking towards the town, her eyes wide, irises narrowed.


“Ha! As if that was so easy! Come on Beako, we’ve got people to save and villains to slay!”


“Calm down Subaru, you really can’t move that much… let’s focus on the saving part, ok?” Said the spirit, as she got onto the dragon’s back with a tired smile of her own. As much as she hated the idea of what’s going to happen in a moment, she was relieved they were back to this, despite all that happened.


“Wah, party pooper. Go Cathy, hide! Leave it all to us!” Patrashe turned around in place, and rushed off towards the direction the screams came from leaving only a small cloud of risen dust behind, as Cathy gazed off towards the rumbling beings coming ever closer to the town.

While prepared to witness another horror, no amount of preparation would have prepared them for the sight that welcomed them when they arrived at the place the ‘boulders’ hit. Buildings in ruin, a lot of them with holes in their roofs, and in their walls as well, flesh hanging off of the sharp pieces of what was once a home. Outside, chasing after survivors of the initial salve, were several abominations, each the size of a ground dragon.


Their limbs did not make sense, as their legs and arms were mismatched, both in placement and in number. Most did, however, share one similar trait - of a giant, pulsating arm with many long tendrils growing out of it, bending and twisting as if incredibly long fingers. Their hind legs, or arms, were thin, sickly. Barely enough to support a being of such size. And those limbs without clear purpose searched for a target, any target, in desperate try to find skinship with another living being, tearing apart anything that they managed to get a hold of.


Some had several heads, sometimes hanging out of the body on bloody, floppy spines, each one with a similar look of internal anguish. An eternally silenced screech, their mouths sealed, as if sewed shut by a cruel dollmaker. Crimson red tears flowed downwards, dripping thick droplets onto the ground.


What covered their bodies was not skin, but a swirling mass of flesh that in many places was tearing off of their bloated bodies, falling to the ground, and, somehow, still moving towards the nearest source of life, like a cursed offspring. With each thundering step they caused a wet, disgusting sound as they traversed the corpse filled, blood drenched streets that so recently were filled with music and cheer.


“Beako, any idea what these are?! Some sorta mabeasts?!” Shouted Subaru, as he rushed Patrashe towards a group trying to escape the carnage, a couple of families, bards of the troupe left alive still, and a few people that managed to get a hold of some simple weaponry.


“No, in fact! These… Betty has never even read about such a thing, in fact!” A minya spell hit one of the creatures in one of its many heads, yet as violet crystals started encompassing it, and as it fell away from the rest of its body, the being simply started regenerating, even as the stifled moans of pain coming from its eternally closed jaws intensified greatly, stretching and stretching despite the fleshy outside layer never breaking apart for the world to hear its screams.


“So, magic is useless against them too?! Just great, we’re just so LUCKY to have that as our main way of attack- PATRASCHE, DUCK!” Just as the dragon heeded his command, a different beast, one covered in small strands of brown fur, with four mauled limbs that looked like a combination between a leg and an arm, each ending with four metallic, sharp claws, and mandibles that put even the wolfgarms to shame with the amount of it’s blade sharp teeth, leaped over them. Had they remained in the same position as before, Subaru would have been swiftly decapitated.


“Fuck, there’s more than one type of these?! Come on Patrasche, let’s show that bastard who’s the speedster between us two! Beako, we gotta get that group somewhere RELATIVELY safe, any ideas?!” The dragon ducked as a couple of rocks from a now destroyed wall flew in their direction, slowing down the beast currently pursuing them slightly.


“Try the church, in fact! The windows are far too small for anything to get through, the tower seems to be sealed off from the rest of the building so it's possible there’s only the front entrance, I suppose! Betty doesn’t think a full out escape will be possible right now! Not considering how many of these beasts there are, in fact!”


“Good enough, let’s get their attention now! Oi, you slowpokes! To the church, go, go, go!!! Beako, shoot the bastard behind us! Maybe those ones don’t have regen!” Just as she was told, Beatrice turned around and locked her gaze at the monstrosity chasing them. And, when it leaped again, ready not to miss its prey this time, she hit it with a Minya crystal, hitting it square on the abdomen. It fell towards the ground with a pathetic yelp, slowly turning into a crystal, unlike its giant brethren.


“It's gone, in fact! Doesn’t seem to regenerate like the massive ones do! What about the people…?!”


“Most made it in, let’s distract those big blokes now. There’s that last family, I think their daughter’s hand slipped out of their hands while they were running or something! We’re on time-buying duty!” He narrowly dodged one of the limbs of a ‘Big Bloke’ from grabbing him, and rushed forward just as the parents were slowly nearing the fallen girl.


“We’re always doing that, in fact!”


“Don’t complain!” Subaru winced in pain as he barely managed to swerve to the right to avoid a strike from one of the massive abominations, the attack they narrowly dodged leaving the streets cracked, blood quickly filling those very same, fresh cracks. “Ugh, disgusting. I wish we could blast their arses already.” There was no time to complain as another Wolfish type leaped at them, Beatrice intercepting it’s arch with another Minya projectile. In that moment however, another monster blocked their path making Patrashe suddenly stop in place, letting the others catch up to them.


The mad duo were being surrounded by the creatures, both swollen and powerful and swift and nimble alike. Even if not mabeasts, the things had an uncanny interest in the poor self-proclaimed knight and his spirit’s sheer existence, and even as their each move screamed towards the two to end their misery, Beatrice and Subaru could do barely anything but continue swerving around each attack on top of their trusty steed Patrashe.


“AARGGHH-!” Came a bloodrending scream from the direction of the family Subaru was trying to buy time for, its source being the father desperately shielding the child from a monster that decided to ignore the duo, the creatures arm piercing his stomach and holding his head with another one, blood spilling from his mouth onto the already lifeless corpse of the mother, crushed beneath the weight of the being. Ironically enough, she most likely barely felt a thing, her death being a painless one, as opposed to her husband.


“Damn it, come on Patrasche! Go, let’s get her- WHAT THE HELL?” There, opposite of the direction of the now crying little girl, pushed against the wall by one of the creatures was another, much more familiar girl with light brown hair. Subaru looked between the two, conflicted, before eventually having Patrasche maneuver out of their surrounding opponents, barely scraping against their dainty fingers, and rush towards Cathy, closing his eye to at least somewhat ignore the betrayed, tear-stained look on the girl’s face.


The ground dragon swiftly weaved between the grotesque monsters, and with a couple Minya crystals the creature cornering the girl was staggered enough for Patrashe to grasp her with her beak, carefully as to not damage the fragile being.


And as Subaru started to turn his steed around, as to at least try to save the other girl, only a disgusting, wet and thundering sound met him as the arm of one of the monsters crushed what was once a human being beneath its monstrous strength. Breathing in deeply, he once more turned Patrasche around, this time towards the church, where more and more monsters began to gather, ready to attack.


Trusting his ground dragon, Subaru motioned for her to rush towards it, Patrasche obeying the command and, in a show of her superior agility, leaped over the gathered creatures. And yet, the doors were far too thin for them to fit in. Not only that, the people inside have already started closing them, the only barrier between them and the pandemonium outside.


“Ok, we… we might survive, right… I mean, there’s not THAT many of them and… And...” Subaru tried telling himself, closing his eye once more just to not look at how many of the abominations surrounded them, so close to what little safety there was to be found in this situation. Only to suddenly feel his body float through the air, and just as soon as the sensation started, hitting the cold, paved floor, feeling as his skin, flesh and bones screamed at him, as pain unlike anything he felt before shot throughout his body.


He opened his eye, only to gaze in muted horror as Patrashe, with her neck stuck between the half-closed doors of the church, looked at him in pity, longing. Then, the terrified people started forcefully closing the door with all their might.


“Wait- Wait-! No, no no no no, stop! She’s- She’s still stuck you’ll. You’ll kill her, no don’t please-!” Deaf to his desperate pleas, the townspeople continued undeterred, even as Patrashe’s neck gave way to the wooden doors, splinters stabbing into the exposed flesh from beneath the scales, fresh blood flowing down onto the cold floors. Despite its calmness, based on the sounds coming from outside, the state of the rest of her body was even worse.


“… I’m sorry, girl. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry your master is such a useless mongrel.” He said, and the moment after the dragon’s head was cut clean off of its neck, the pressurized blood drenching the townspeople who, now without the dragon blocking their efforts, could fully close the doors. Subaru simply fell back in silent agony, rage fueled hatred burning in his tearful eye.


“What- What are they, what are these things! I don’t understand, it was so calm-!”


“Shut up, you’re just giving them more reason to get inside.” The terrified bard looked towards the awfully still Subaru, ready to berate him, but stopping when noticing the state the vagabond was in. Next, Subaru directed his gaze at Cathy who sat close by, weirdly calm despite brushing so close to death only a moment prior.


“Cathy. Why the hell were you there. I think I told you to HIDE IN THE FIELDS! WE COULD HAVE SAVED THAT GIRL IF NOT FOR-!”


“No, no you couldn’t have.” The girl offered a smile towards him, a pit forming in both his and Beatrice’s stomach alike. But the girl simply leaned back casually, as if nothing that just happened affected her at all.


“Cathy, what are you talking about…?”


“Tsk, over all these months, getting called by that name grew just so, so TIRING! Such a boring name too, couldn’t you have obsessed over some other girl, big guy~? Like, yeah, I guess she was cute, but it was just sooo boring trying to be her! You know how often I almost broke character?!” The voice, that was slowly rising in its pitch, grating the ears of all who listened stopped as the girl brought her slim fingers to her chin, deep in thought. “No scratch that, I definitely broke character. Haaaaaa, at least it's over now~!”


“… What are you talking about, in fact.” Asked Beatrice, mortified at the realization slowly dawning on her.


“Eh~~? You still don’t get it? Welllll you never were the brightest, Betty! I guess this magnificent lady will just have to forgive you~!” The girl winked in the spirit’s direction, Beatrice’s breath stifled in her throat from how revolting she found the action.


And then, the skin started to flake, no, melt, off of Cathy. Her eyes, filled with such mirth turned into crazed, purple orbs. Her hair swirled, tangled, fell and danced on her scalp, turning from her beautiful light-brown locks into golden, nauseating strands of hair. A toothed, smug grin replaced a mischievous, yet gentle smirk. Her dress, once so elegant, turned and shredded and bleached until it was no more, replaced by a revealing skin-tight outfit, coloured black and violet.


“My name is Capella Emerada Lugnica. Archbishop of the Witch Cult, representing Lust. It’s suuuchh a pleasure to finally properly meet my two favourite meatbags~~”

Chapter Text

*** Just an additional warning. This chapter does contain Capella so it may cause some discomfort, I suppose.***

All were silent. The survivors, the vagabond, the spirit. Even the Archbishop was. Stuck in a solemn limbo of the revelation, paralyzed by the pressure radiating out of the insane woman, all faces painted with various types of fear and sorrow, melancholic despair. Only Capella’s mask was filled with glee, pure happiness.


“Pffff- Bwahahaha! You should see your faces right now! What is it~~? What is it, huh~?” Her gaze moved between them rapidly, eventually ending up focusing on Beatrice. “Come onnn Betty, you should have known it wasn’t really her! Weren’t you best friends~?! So much for that, I just had to take on her face and you were more than glad to think of me as her! Haaa, ridiculous!” The… monster stood up, closing the distance between her and Subaru who was laying still, his limbs slack, numbed by the visage of the being before him. Capella chose to ignore the lack of attention, putting more and more sway into her walk with each step.


“And you, ohhhh my little meatbag, my dear mutt, you were just soooo annoying… Tsk, to think you would somehow refuse to take me in, to listen to me… Oh, but I guess that’s just what makes you so enticing, isn’t it?!” One of her feet landed on his chest, massaging it back and forth, making Subaru squirm in pain as the Archbishop bent over, her smug grin only millimeters away from his frozen expression, gazing deep into the dry, shocked orb of the boy.


“Don’t- Don’t touch Betty’s Subaru-!” Finally awakened from her confused and horrified stupor by this advance towards her contractor Beatrice tried to tackle Capella, but it was for naught when the Archbishop with a light, almost weightless, elegant movement of her hand, which turned in shape into a clawed paw of a beast in less than a second, threw the spirit into a wall. The claws locked her in place against the cracked stones for a moment, before with a light laugh Capella retracted her limb back, Beatrice falling to the ground limply, like a puppet with its strings cut off.


“Ah Betty. So predictably useless. I don’t even recall one time when you did something right. Do you? Hm, doesn’t really matter now, does it? I’m far more interested in what my little mutt has to say! So, doggy? Wanna say something to your brand new mistress? Hm~~?” The Archbishop shifted, instead of a single foot, she now sat on top of the vagabond, who instead of doing anything against the monster started to weep. Lying motionlessly, with the one who took everything and crumbled it almost in his grasp, and yet he could not do anything, paralized by his own useless body.


“I tried sooo hard all this time to change you, you see… But you just never listened, you just refused~! It was soooo frustrating. But~~!” She took a dark tome out of… pretty much herself, opening it, and looking at the words inside in fondness. “I got a clue, eventually… And I know how and why and when too… Oh, don’t cry so much~~!” She wiped away his tears with her lithe finger.


“I promise, you’ll feel so, so much better when we’re done here!” Her flesh started to move again, in that disgusting, gut wrenching fashion, her bones visible underneath the skin, bending, breaking. Silver hair sprouting outwards, falling on top of his face, amethyst eyes gazing into him with dark glee.


Beatrice, seeing her contractor in such a hopeless situation, started crawling towards the two, barely able to move at all. She still persevered, slowly advancing. But a single look from Not-Emilia was enough to freeze her in place once more, the alien smile on the shapeshifter's face not at all matching the face of the half-elf she despised. Coughing, Beatrice went completely limp, gazing in horror at the two, the last sliver of hope leaving her body.


“Now I know that we need to be on the same page to work together! So, let’s talk, ok~? Tell me, Subaru. Tell me, why did you run away from that manor, hm~?” She sat, still on top of him, expectantly waiting for a response for approximately five seconds, before taking a hold of his messy hair, and yanking his head upwards so that they were touching, blood and sweat meeting the porcelain skin of the false-elf. “Come on, mutt. My patience is wearing thin~~!”

He looked at her, tears continuing to spill down his face, but there was no spirit, no flame left to fight against the torrent of despair the being before him made him feel. There was no way to hide, no way to fight back. Beatrice was too far, too terrified to do anything, much like he was. So, he did the only thing he could do, and with trembling, pathetic voice, talked.“I left because… I realised that as I was, she… Emilia… could never. Could never love me. Because if… I did stay, I would… I would do something that would only hurt everyone.” She let his head fall onto the hard stone below, winking at him with glee.


“See, wasn’t that so easy~? You’re doing so well! Now, don’t let me stop you! Continue, continue.” Capella then leaned back, tilted her head to the side slightly, and with a wide smile waited for the vagabond.


“I… took Beako, Patrasche… and I ran, as far away as the path could take me… As far away from those I loved, those I cared about, even if it was a one sided feeling.” Subaru eventually rasped out the sentence, pained as he may be because of the pressure from the Archbishop sitting on him. Which only intensified when she excitedly hopped upwards upon hearing the ending of his musings.


“Oh, it was? That’s so sad, but it was to be expected, right~~? You know, this lovely lady will always love you, right~~?” Despite the situation at hand, he couldn’t help but scoff at what he heard come out from the false-elf’s mouth, looking at her with clear amusement at what he took as a failed attempt at humor.


“Ha… Love me? A wretched thing like me? Ha… Haha… Ever since coming to this… No, beforehand as well, I was someone undeserving of love… Someone that deserved only the worst. That’s… Probably part of why I ran, too. I finally realized that to be true as well. Realized I don’t deserve anything I had. Not the way I was, at least.” He gazed into the amethyst eyes of the one masquerading as his beloved, but instead of hatred they were filled with foggy, lost fondness. The murky feeling that was once naive and pure love, now an abhorrent amalgamation of his obsessions. The mirror into his wretched being.


“Only Emilia… Only Her… That’s the only reason why I would ever come back. To make her show she did need me. To make her regret ever looking away from me… to make her regret ever saying something like that…! Even if I didn’t deserve anything… Why would she play with my feelings like that…” Capella looked at him as well, her body lowering, so that she practically started laying on him. Forehead against forehead. Cheeks against cheeks. Lips brushing against each other with every word they spoke, the hot air of their breath colliding with their faces.


“So, how do you feel like right now, hm~~? Do you still think like that~~?”


“Waste of time.” He spat, not really caring anymore about the world around him, lost in the eyes of the one so similar to the one he loved.


“Ohhhhh, is that so~~? Is there anything else you would like to do? Anything at all? This lovely lady can gift you all the possibilities there are, you know~~? All you need is to beg like a good little doggy you are, and I’ll consider it~!” He stilled for a moment, looking in wonder at the woman before him, before a broken smile spread over his face, his hand reaching for her’s despite the pain, if only to reach a little bit of connection between him and his Lady.


“All possibilities… Everywhere, in each and every single one, no happiness, no peace, nothing…! Only a circle of torment I put everyone through that eventually ends up killing both me… and you… Emilia, oh Emilia, why… Why are we always making each other suffer so much?!” She squeezed his hand tight, very tight. Her eyes closed for only a moment, before forcefully grabbing his head and pulling it to the side. Making him look into a puddle of crimson blood that formed just below him, into the reflection of a broken man in front of him.


“… Then tell me, Subaru. What do you feel like while looking at him, hm~?” He looked for a moment longer, his gaze locked with his bloody likeness, before turning his head back to his beloved.


“That thing doesn’t deserve being called human. If it keeps thinking of itself as human, as free, it’s choices, it’s actions, all of it. Will just bring everyone else closer to their deaths. And eventually there’ll be no way to escape it…”


“A tool, hmmm… I was really thinking you were more of a useless mutt!” She smiled at him, sickeningly so, but he ignored the insult. Instead, Subaru looked at her, mesmerized.


“Tool, dog, whatever. I don’t want to think anymore. I don’t want to make others suffer anymore. I’m perfectly fine… Just obeying my mistress…”


“Oh, but that half-elf is nowhere near, is she~~?” Quickly, in that same grotesque manner, the place of what not so long ago looked like Emilia was taken by the golden haired Archbishop once more. “There’s only the lil’ old me, Subaru… Do you think I’ll suffice, mmm~~? Do you want to be Mama’s little doggy?” Capella ran her hand by the side of his scarred face, cupping his cheek sensually. Run her digits through his hair, feeling his scalp. Never breaking her gaze away from the amber eye.


“… What difference does it even make… When I can’t change a damn thing anyway…?”


“Ah, perfect! Perfect, splendid!! I knew you had it in you, I reallly adore this part of you, you know~! This mysterious, sad, verryyy deep part of you!” She looked at the motionless spirit, at how she looked at her in fury, hatred and bone chilling fear. “Shame, I really liked you Betty! Honest! You’d have made such a great meatbag as well~! But, Subaru was first! Really, such a shame… Ahhhhh…” Capella leaned down and kissed Subaru’s dirty cheek, and stood back up with a proud smile on her face.


“A mutt completely loyal to its mistress, uncaring for anything other than their love towards them~! Isn’t that so cute of you, Subaru?” Beatrice watched in despair as, with every word the Archbishop had said, Subaru changed, much like Capella did many times before. His bones cracked, moved and bended, piercing his skin, a rancid stream of boiling, pink blood leaking out.


“Sorry Betty! Just know Mama loved both of you~!” Salivating maw replaced his sorrowful, scarred face, lines upon lines of wolfish teeth growing out of the purplish gums, long tongue filled with barbed thorns bleeding, filling the jaws with even more blood. His back arched, large spikes piercing his body right through, pitch black fur growing out, covering the burned skin underneath. His hands, broken, grew sharp talons, each arm covered in bleeding wounds. His legs followed suit, changing to a form similar to his hands, but with even sharper claws, becoming even larger, more robust. A large tail of dagger like spikes ended this ungodly transformation, creating a sound of anguished screams with each movement.


“Oh, you’re such an adorable doggy~! See, isn’t this much more comfortable than that weak body from before?” His amber eyes, glowing in the darkness of the church, looked towards the Archbishop as if waiting for orders. “Oh, and you’re so good too! Mmmmm, Mama will pet you for this, such a good boy, yes? Such a good boy~~!” The aberration of her contractor leaned down its head, Capella’s hand roughly scratching the head of the transformed boy, grinning ear to ear in elation.


“Now won’t you be a dear and get some fun in~~? Look how many chew toys there are for you~! Mama will leave you to it, just come to that filthy manor when you run out okay?” She looked at Beatrice almost apologetically, before a pair of bat wings grew out of her back, and with a wild cackle she flew out of the building, breaking a piece of the ceiling in the process.


Subaru’s gaze lingered on that very hole she created for a moment longer, before he started howling. It was a pathetic sound, as if someone was actively choking the creature, denying it any air. Like a small puppy, whimpering at the corpse of its mother. After that pitiful performance was done, both of his amber orbs turned towards the gathered mass of those who survived the horrors outside, who were stuck frozen in horror by the Archbishop. Both the group and The Heartbroken looked at eachother, neither making any moves, before he leaped at them.


A few men pushed the gathered people away, awakening them from their stupor and making them try and escape, even if it was futile. After all, the front entrance was the only one. And as Subaru’s front limbs grasped at an armored guard, his jaws enveloping his head, bloody saliva flowing down the trashing body down onto the floor, before pulling it off of his body along with the spine like a cork, swallowing it whole. The horrified group screamed, their screech mixing perfectly with the sound of Subaru’s tail, as it grew more and more blade-like fur with each mark.


He sliced a mother in half with his talons, grasping her child right after with his bleeding tongue, making it scream as the boiling blood burned their skin to melt off of the flesh, before rendering it mute by swallowing it whole. Whatever attacks the few brave enough to attack the beast directed at him were rendered useless, when they simply bounced off of his fur covered body uselessly.


One of the men tried to cut off his tail, Subaru simply slashing him over with it, leaving seemingly no wounds, the blades washing over his skin gently like a calm waterfall. Only for him to keel over, and start screaming in utter agony.


“Aaahhhhhh! It hurts, it hurts! The rabbits, the wolfgarms, whyy, WHYYYY-!” The screams of anguish ended as his head exploded with crimson viscera, shards of his begone skull piercing through flesh of all those that were close. Witnessing this, some people fell down, hopeless. Others, seeing efforts at fighting Subaru were useless, tried to find a way to escape.


But Subaru simply sliced them with his claws.


Bit them with his crooked jaws.


Strangled them with his tongue.


Ate them alive, burned with his boiling blood.


Chewed their bodies until only mush remained.


Just like Mama wanted.




Just like he wanted.

Beatrice layed there, among the sea of corpses and blood, not unlike a corpse herself. She looked as her beloved contractor, corrupted by whatever power the Archbishop had, slaughtered the gathered people with no remorse. No complaint. An empty beast, with only the command of its master resounding in its mind. And seeing him like that, so unlike what he truly was, so far, far away from the form his heart truly held, she wept, uselessly laying on the ground, slowly getting soaked in the blood of her contractor’s victims.


Subaru, currently chewing on the body of an unfortunate guard, looked away from his final prey, and onto the whimpering spirit, hysterically spilling her tears onto the ground. He raised from the ground, each thundering step covering his claws in more layers of blood and flakes of flesh.


Eventually his maw found its way right before Beatrice, exhaling the putrid smell of suffering onto her, large droplets of boiling hot saliva falling before her. “S-Subaru… Please…” The spirit wept, Subaru tilting his head to the side, looking at the weirdly familiar girl. “I… Trust you, Subaru...”


She closed her eyes tightly, trembling, awaiting the incoming judgement. But instead of the suffocating pain she expected, but trusted wouldn’t come, a confused, pained whine came across her ears. “… Subaru? You… You’re still there, aren’t you, in fact?!” She stopped herself before she could try and embrace the beast before her, reminding herself even if some of him still remained, it must have been a miniscule portion. Instead, she stood up, her legs shaking under the fear and pressure she felt. The only thing giving her strength was her faith, her hope… her love.


“Betty’s Subaru is not… A useless mutt, in fact!” She gazed at him defiantly, taking a few steps back as he put one of his clawed paws forward, the crimson liquid splashing around in the process. “Betty’s Subaru is… Is Betty’s Hero!” She shouted at the beast, stopping it in its tracks completely. Instead of any movement, she felt a piercing feeling in her chest. Not a painful one, but a scorching feeling she cherished so much, the feeling of the contract between her and Subaru, the flame that connected them together.


“This journey of ours… Away from the merchant, the maids… Away from… Emilia. It was dreadful, wasn’t it, I suppose? Absolutely abhorrent…” The beast before her whimpered, as if in agreement, starting to close the distance once again. “We suffered… All the time, in fact. Each destination only brought more pain. But…” Subaru, with his amber eyes glued to Beatrice’s butterfly irises, opened his maw again, halfheartedly biting in her direction which the spirit managed to side step only by taking another series of steps back, almost falling on her back in the process. But the fiery feeling continued, its blaze burning away at her fear, pushing the words that were so deep inside forth.


“… These were still some of the greatest moments of Betty’s life, in fact. Betty loved camping out in the forests and meadows with Subaru, it was the first time in so long where Betty could feel fresh air like that… Where Betty could touch the bark of trees, where Betty could feel the blades of grass push against her…”


Another thundering step. “And in Oran, Betty could actually be with other people… See people burn with hope… Work towards one single goal, in fact... Betty could have a real friend… Betty’s best friend… That was the first for Betty as well, I suppose.”

A small yelp, sharp, inhuman inhale. “And… Even when Betty was so horrified by everything, traveling with the troupe, seeing her Subaru be in so much pain all the time, Betty still… Found music… So beautiful. Betty never truly felt anything while seeing art, but in that wagon… those melodies were the most beautiful of all sounds she had ever heard, in fact… But… But…!” One more step, and Beatrice was forced back against the wall, Subaru’s snout right against her. But she refused the doubt at the back of her mind, and smiled towards the amber, glowing orbs with resolve in her eyes as bright as the stars in the night sky.


“It was all because her Subaru was there… Betty’s Subaru is the only one that could make it work. There is simply no way anybody else… Could accomplish anything remotely close to what Subaru had, in fact. It's simply impossible, I suppose.” The beast didn’t move. Or more accurately, couldn’t. Whatever animalistic, simple feelings it had were enough to paralyze it in shock upon hearing the spirit’s words.


“Betty loved how even feeling so useless, so dreadful, after running away that day, her Subaru still had it in himself to look towards the future, in fact! It was only thanks to Subaru’s silly antics that color was brought to the silent forests, no matter how much Betty hated his foolish escapades… Only Subaru’s words sparked the flames in people’s hearts, only thanks to those flames inside Betty’s Subaru could Betty Find connection with others…! And only Subaru’s heart would make Betty truly love music, with pouring all of his emotions into each tune he played… A simple beast could never…” She paused as Subaru opened his maw once again, his lower jaw trembling, painful whines coming from the depths of his throat. But Beatrice’s smile wavered only slightly, as she continued with renewed vigor.


“… A simple beast could never make Betty love them this much, I suppose! Betty loves how her Subaru laughs, it washes away all her worries as if they were never there! Betty loves how her Subaru looks at her, so caringly, so fondly! Betty loves how her Subaru always tries to be kind, even when it brings him pain and agony! There’s so, so much that Betty loves about HER Subaru! Her Subaru, not Subaru of that disgusting wench…! So please, Subaru! Come back to Betty, in fact! Come back to Betty, so she can love you again…!” And with that, she closed her eyes again, placing her hand gently against the beast’s snout…


Waiting an agonizingly short amount of time, until she felt the body underneath her hand shift. Move. Until she heard defiant cracking of bones, until she felt the face take on a more human look.


Until instead of the heartbroken mutt without a single desire left in its heart, her beloved Subaru was back, with her hand atop his messy bundle of hair. Instead of a mutt of pointless existence, before kneeled a vagabond knight of delusional ideals. Instead of Capella’s dog, she could see her very own contractor. And with all pressure leaving her body, she immediately leaped into his embrace, tightly hugging the regenerated body of Subaru, who cried into her shoulder a brand new torrent of tears.


“I did that… All of these people…” He said, hands dipped in the blood, soaked in the liquid of stolen life.


“Betty’s Subaru wasn’t himself, in fact.”


“Again, I couldn’t… Save anyone at all…”


“… When this is done, we will save people. Just those we can’t see yet, I suppose.”


“Cathy, Cathy is dead… She died in Oran…” Beatrice stilled, a sharp pain in her chest. But even so, with trembling voice, she smiled, and reassured him against all odds.


“Most likely, I suppose… But at least we made her last months in this world pleasant.”


“It was all pointless… Nothing I ever do changes anything at all…”


“No it wasn’t. Betty’s hopeless, self proclaimed knight of a contractor changed her life, in fact. Betty could never thank him enough for that.” He hugged her even closer, as if making sure she wouldn't just suddenly disappear.


“But I can’t even share anything with you… Everyday I make you suffer…”


“But everyday, Subaru makes Betty feel indescribable happiness as well. It is fine, I suppose.” She started to gently caress the top of his head, feeling his wet hair against her hand.


“What can we even do now… There’s nothing…” She backed away, and looked him straight in the eyes. Her tired smile was still there, even as her eyes burned with measured hatred, her entire body soaked in the blood of the Archbishop’s victims.


“We can make her beg for death, in fact. Make her feel so much pain she begs us to end her suffering short. Just like we promised we would, I suppose.” Subaru, still broken inside from what occurred moment’s prior, nodded. The same brilliant flame found in the spirit’s eyes found it’s to his own, his now functioning legs guiding him upwards. Beatrice grasped his hand tightly, the duo completely in tune with each other.


“… Ha… Yeah… Yeah let’s do that. Let’s fuck her up, Beako. You, me… And everyone that we made suffer so far. Let’s etch our pain into her, so she knows just how much she fucked up messing with us.”


Hand in hand, their feet moving through the sea of carcasses, the two sinful stars left the church in search of their destiny.

“… It’s so silent now.” The evening, orange sun turned to a cold, dark night. None of the beasts, and none of the bodies, from before remained outside, only the blood and destruction they left in their wake remained. The reminder for their current goal, fuel for their hatred. “She must have taken them with her to that manor, huh? Let’s try looking for my whip first, at least something to fight back against those monsters…”


“Do you think that wagon came here too, I wonder?”


“… I’m guessing so. Han probably wanted me to go back to resting any time I wanted, the old fart.” After walking for only a little bit longer, they found their way to the destroyed remains of the troupe’s carriages, sharp pieces of wood and bent pieces of steel spread around chaotically, red-stained cloth clinging to the ground. Among the wrecks laid the objects abandoned by their late owners, broken instruments, torn, unused costumes. Sacks of gold, sheets of paper filled will love ballads and beautiful poems, all soaked in that disgusting crimson liquid.


“As expected, it’s here.” He neared what little remained of the wagon he spent his recovery period in, nothing left of the familiar interior but splinters and bolts. Among the wreckage, he spotted the familiar glint of the metallic thorns, bending over to take the weapon. “… Somehow, I missed how this old thing felt in my hands. Haaah… Nothing left but to go there, I guess…” He turned away, facing the path leading to the manor, Beatrice by his side, and started walking.


Until a lone figure clad in what one could easily recognize as a cultist’s robe appeared from out of nowhere, a second later dashing in their direction with their sword drawn. Subaru immediately answered with his whip, entangling the blade in its thorns, and despite the enormous strength of his opponent managed to throw them off-course, the figure landing behind them.


“What the hell, is that monster not enough?!” He exclaimed when their opponent left the dust cloud created by the impact.


“Subaru… this one, Betty doubts we have any hopes of defeating them…” The spirit said with her hand raised, ready to cast anything all the same, despite her doubt.


“Yeah, I realized that when I caught them with my whip. Then again, there’s no way we can escape this one either. Tsk, such a pain… Hopefully it's updated…” The cultist lunged again, their sword aimed directly onto Subaru, the whip not traveling fast enough to intercept them this time, the figure slashing away the minya crystals Beatrice sent their way. With each passing second they were closer and closer, and when it all seemed hopeless.


A single arrow sent them off of their trajectory, missing Subaru and giving the duo time to distance themselves away.


“… At least you two made it. Really, this old fool never thought he would need to use such a weapon again… But we can’t let ourselves dim the light of their future, isn’t that right?” A familiar, elder voice resounded from amidst the rubble without any clear indication of where exactly it came from, the question seemingly directed towards the cultist, the owner unseen.


“Han?! What the hell are you doing old man, this one’s seriously on another level, you gotta-!”


“This old one has done far more in this lifetime than anyone should be comfortable with. You two still have so much left in front of you. You still have a more important opponent to slay… You still have someone to return to. So, let this one aid you at least once.” Before the figure could attack again, another arrow hit them from a brand new angle, throwing their hood right off. Crimson, long hair flowed amidst the slow wind, hollow blue eyes scanning the ruins of the town slowly, carefully.


“Why does she look like Rein?! What the hell?!”


“I knew… That swordsmanship was unmistakable. So you were reduced to this state… I can’t bear to even look at your eyes now. They aren’t truly your own… I will grant you peace, Theresia van Astrea. Peace you should have been granted the day you died.” Dazed, the swordswoman intensified her search around the rubbles and ruins, looking for the old man, but not finding the littlest sign of his presence anywhere.


“She’s an Astrea?! You old fart, there’s no way you can win here!”


“Subaru’s right, in fact! Leave it to us!”


“Pffahahaha… Maybe so, maybe so. I probably would have believed so, if not for you two. Would have accepted my fate, resigned to the play… But you two shine far too brightly for this old man to simply give up.” An arrow flew towards the corrupted Sword Saint’s head, but she simply deflected it with her sword. “Why should one care if there’s no hope for victory… When the light at the end of the tunnel overshadows the darkness so greatly? However mediocre my skill, I will buy you however much time you need to end this… So let this old man become a hero in this tale of yours as well, will you?”


“You… stupid old man! You better still be here when we’re through with that wench, you hear me?!” Grasping Beatrice’s hand, Subaru turned around and dashed towards the manor. Theresia tried to give chase, only for an arrow hit her square in the head, even if not piercing anything, managing to enact enough force to make her lose balance.


“They’re not your opponents, phantom. Their story is still waiting to bloom, so why not have us old ones end our stories by ourselves? Only right, I say, that old stars fade so new ones can shine in their place.” A series of arrows hit her from multiple directions, not waiting for her to recover.


“Only right that one story ends for another to truly begin to bloom.”

The Flame Burning Bright...

The Light that Scares the Blight...

“I didn’t really want to mention it earlier, you know we were pretty pumped up about it, but... Come on, could she have any more of these things?! There’s hundreds!” And sure enough there were hundreds of mutated beasts, maybe more. All kinds, shapes and sizes, all the way from small sentient blobs of flesh to giant, windmill-like beasts. Far, far too many for just one spirit and one vagabond to deal with. But even so, the two sinners did not stop rushing forward.


“We can’t let that fool’s sacrifice go to waste, in fact! Subaru, there must be something you can do!”


“What, am I supposed to do, just throw them?! Doubt that would help!” The beasts started to actually pay attention to them now, directing their gazes their way. “Hell, There’s no way we can even outmaneuver these things as we are right now! If only Patrasche…” He slowed, his steps becoming far more sluggish. Nervous, Beatrice looked his way, only to see him deep in thought.


“… Subaru, we can’t falter right now, we need to keep going, I suppose.” She ignored the way the abominations rushed their way, ravenous gazes gazing at them with nothing but gluttony and envy.


“What? No, I just… thought of something… Ever since waking up, I had this feeling, and uh… I didn’t wanna worry you too much, so I just ignored it but I’m thinking… Maybe, it could help?”


“Betty already said so, correct? Betty trusts you, Subaru. Let’s… Bet on this ‘feeling’, in fact. That’s just the type of recklessness that has always saved us in the end.”


“Ha, now you’re speaking just like a Natsuki would, Beako. Let's see where this goes…” Through their contract, she felt an abominable pull. Stench of death, hatred, sorrow, despair. The loathsome whispers of the dead, detestable lamentations of the innocent victims of their journey. Each thorn, each scar, each wound and each happy memory. Connected in a chain of suffering, locked in a loop of abhorrent hatred. Directed at her. Directed at Subaru. And most of all, directed at the world. She felt all of it too, all of those accumulated emotions. Every thorn in their path, every loss they suffered.


A moment later, the phantoms of their past started emerging from the ground. Violet, like the heathers from that place from so long, long ago. She recognized most of them, starting from the strangled Guiltylaw that started their descent. After that came mutilated bodies, decayed beyond recognition, broken and forgotten by all. Some of them, human. Some of them, beasts. Some of them she didn’t even know. Then, a horde arose. A hound after hound, rushing forward, to meet their demise once more, in blind hatred.


Burned, scorched corpses. Ones she knew far too well. Ones that made her tear up. Oran came with them as well, each victim of that detestable event, be it civilian, cultist or animal directed their weeps towards the monsters ahead. She did not miss the bandaged, stiff form barely able to move in the chaos of it all. Then, through the ground seeped mushy flesh, bones and blood, ironically the most spirited of all the phantoms yet.


And at last, from right before them, from the ground appeared the headless form of their most trusted steed. And with her, all of it came crashing down on him as well, the loop complete. “… It worked better than I expected. Even if it hurts like hell.”


“… How can you even withstand it…” Asked Beatrice as she took a deep breath, the small amount of suffering that welcomed her through her link with Subaru already enough to send her into an almost catatonic state.


“… Don’t worry Beako, it really isn’t too bad for me.” He smiled, and hopped onto the ghoulish corpse of Patrasche, patting her on the side of her neck. Then, he extended his arm towards the spirit, which Beatrice took with her own shaking hand, landing into his lap.


“At least now we’re evenly matched… Somewhat. Don’t see any way for our ‘army’ to beat those windmill boyos…” The phantoms around them easily outnumbered the abominations that, while still coming towards them, significantly slowed down their advance. “Any ideas for that Beako? I would rather not have to deal with a sudden intermission from some annoying pest.”


“… Betty isn’t sure if any of our spells will be enough, considering their size… And that we still have to deal with Capella, I suppose…” She said as the first mutants made contact with their phantoms, the purple wolfgarms tearing to shreds the massive hulks of flesh, not giving even a moment for their regenerative properties to kick in.


Or the corpses of Oran binding with their scorched hands the wolf-like abominations, slowly but surely pulling off their limbs one by one with their sheer numbers. It didn’t escape Beatrice’s attention how each time one of their shadows was slain, Subaru convulsed slightly, before the shadows reappeared again, as if they weren’t damaged in the first place.


“Tsk, not ideal… At least the rest of them seem to be a non-issue?” Their army not only stayed the same size, it grew in size, with each murdered abomination joining their eternal procession. Soon enough, their sea of corpses stood beneath the colossal mutants, clawing away at their feet in desperate fashion, even if no real use was laid in their efforts. Seeing all that, Subaru sighed and jumped off of their steed, the ghouls before him parting, giving him way as he neared the entrance to the building.


“Let’s just try and enter the mansion, doubt such a massive thing will be actually able to move quick enough to- AGHHHHHH!!!” Subaru was sent flying by the creature's blade-like arm, landing beyond the masses of corpses. Beatrice leaped off of Patrasche’s phantom, and rushed to his side, the ghosts moving out of her way similarly to how they did for Subaru. When she got there, he kneeled by his side, puring mana into him, healing whatever injuries he might have suffered.


“You idiot contractor! What was that supposed to be, in fact? Do you have a deathwish, I wonder?! Such aggravating behavior, how many close calls a day do you expect Betty to allow?!” He winced, both from the pain of the impact, and the combination of anger and worry on Beatrice’s face.


“Well, at least I confirmed we can’t go in without dealing with them, right…?” Beatrice jabbed him in the side in response. “Tsk, what was that for?!”


“For being a moron! Hmpf!”


“Ok, ok, gimme a break Beako… We still need to figure out how to deal with these things, you know?” He sat back up, the healing magic clearing up whatever dizziness he might have felt after the impact. The creatures towering over them did not move to attack them, standing still, only using their many, many arms to fend off the phantoms.


“Well… There’s only three of them, I suppose…” Observed Beatrice, immediately shaking her head from side to side, releasing a sigh, which made Subaru’s eyebrows raise in confusion.


“… So you do have an idea, huh Beako?”


“No, forget Betty said anything, it's a terrible one and…” She trailed off, too embarrassed to even acknowledge whatever it was she came up with, locking it deep inside her mind.


“No no, I wanna hear. Come on, spill the tea!” Unfortunately, Subaru was far too interested in an idea thought by none other than his cute contracted spirit.


“… Very Well.”

It's Meaning? Lost, Hidden...

Forgotten, Beaten, Forbidden...

“I saw it, you see. Deep in his heart, while he played those wonderfully somber melodies. I saw the path he will take. It's a cruel one, for sure. Filled with hardship, pain. But he’s not alone, never will be. Bah, those two, they’ll even laugh in the face of this old thing, you’ll see…” Once more, an arrow intercepted the previous Sword Saint, seemingly out of nowhere. She was starting to grow restless, the amount of injuries caused by the constant barrage of arrows, while by their own none of them being too much issue, started to overwhelm her.


“Maybe I’m just rambling, I am an old man after all. But somehow, they made me want to believe. I probably should have given up, but… If it is at all possible, I would like to at least try and see where this could go, the path She chose for them…” A small, barely audible rustle came from one of the buildings. Theresia immediately leaped in that direction only to be served with an arrow flying directly into her face, stopping any attack she may have hoped to deal to Han.


“You were always the only one who could find me when I hid myself… I suppose some things never change. Melancholic, in a way.” She stabbed at him, the blade sinking into his body… Or, it would have, if not for his masterful deflection of the attack, using nothing more than a wooden bow. “Ah, so it did work. I had my doubts, even as I went through with it. Seems faith is far more impressive of a thing than I gave it credit for.” He leveled his opponent with a calm, toned gaze, no shadows or rubble to hide either of them from one another anymore.


“I wonder, just what tempted me to show this much effort… Was it the beauty of his soul, or was it the love she so earnestly showered him with? Whichever it was, I’m sure they will continue to shine… as brilliantly as they had back there.” He was forced to dodge, as a flurry of strikes went his way. He replied with another arrow to the face of the youthful Sword Saint.

But, Shining Ever Brighter, Forever on...

If Only to Spite the World that Said "No"...

One of the titanic beings was swallowed inside the swarm of the undead, their sheer numbers enough to envelop it fully from all sides. Even as its rotating arms, and its two brethren, tried to somehow intervene. Even as constant shreeks of despair filled the area as phantoms were reduced to little more than puddles by the powerful arm-blades. There was no way to stop the spiteful will of the ghoulish apparitions. Bit by bit, little by little. The monster was getting shredded by the combined might of the damned souls.


Subaru on the other hand was barely hanging on, both of his hands grasping at his head in a desperate attempt to stop the screams, stop the pain, stop the accusations from bombarding his still fragile psyche more than they already had.


“Subaru, can you endure it…? We should just…”


“No, this        This is probably the only actual shot we’ve got. Just lemme do it” He took a deep breath, not really because of any other reason than simply having to stall as a massive wave of pain shot through his body at once.


“… Would you like Betty to use healing magic to calm the pain, I suppose?” Subaru simply shook his head, denying the idea immediately, making Beatrice pout in disappointment. With only one of his eyes open, only halfway so at that, he spotted the adorably sad look of his spirit, and pulled her towards himself.


“We still need to save up more mana, yeah? All I need        Is a hug from my adorable Beako        And I’ll be good as new.” Even as the spirit’s face was covered in a blush, her mouth turning into a scowl, she still followed the request and hugged Subaru, as their minions started to fall downwards, like a tidal wave, having finally gotten rid of one of the windmills.


“Haaah… Seems they managed to deal with one of them. If you could summon one more of these, the process should be significantly quicker, but…” The problem of pain was left in the air, but Subaru simply shrugged, a confident grin appearing even in the midst of his agony.


“There’s only        Two left. Let’s deal with them quickly, and        Finally kill that wench, yeah?” A giant shadow started to loom over the two, as a guttural scream of a self-proclaimed knight filled the field.

Through Pain, Sickness, until Death...

Or Maybe Even After that Final Breath...

“As we fight here, they get closer and closer to achieving what they had set out to do. When we are nothing but memories, they’ll become the tide that pushes the slothful flow of this world forward. Tell me, Theresia. What do you think of such a story?” Her mouth did not move to reply, her body simply following up into another perfect attack against the old timer. Yet, as he weaved around the debris, dodging each of the stabs and slashes directed his way, he spotted the wavering irises in the ocean of her eyes. As if the person who they belonged to was screaming at him.


“That slight rift in your eyes, there truly is something more inside than a simple beast. Ha, I’m glad. Being reduced to nothing but a simple minded monster would be far too cruel a fate to befall someone of your kind. Or maybe it is exactly because it's you, that there is still a fight going on the inside?” He sent an arrow towards her face once again, which she managed to deflect this time, only to throw a smaller piece of debris right into her eye, making her blink. In that small moment of distraction he disappeared once more among the ruins.


“Apologies, but I grew a bit tired. Let’s go back to this kind of combat for now. I’m far more comfortable like this, anyway.” Theresia couldn’t help the sigh that left her mouth upon realizing that another game of cat and mouse was about to begin, already dreading the tiresome ordeal. “It's funny, in a way. How such a simple display can bring out the humanity that was hidden so deep beneath. Truly incredible what you can accomplish when you simply have faith… But I do believe this play is nearing its final act. Let’s make it a good one, shall we? So we can see their answer, for a question most important.” The stream of arrows was unstoppable, like a meteor shower in the night sky.


“But I suppose that very fire burning in their hearts… That is already the most perfect answer one could give.”

The Reason for that Flame will Remain...

Burning Whatever Stands in the Way.

“Subaru, can you walk?”


“Yeah, should be fine now. Let's end this.” He made a couple of steps, wobbling a bit, but managed to get to the doors of the manor, and open them. Immediately a swarm of flies flew out, making Subaru recoil in disgust. “…  Doubt that’s a good omen. Perfect.”


“… Let’s go in, in fact. She has no way to escape now.” She grasped his hand, and they entered the dim interior of the building. There was no blood, no viscera, nothing. Not even the smallest sign of destruction, so ever present outside, was to be seen inside. Perfectly clean. Perfectly silent. Perfectly empty.

“Beako, just in case, if something happens to me…”


“Subaru, don’t-”


“No, let me finish, ok? If something happens to me… If it looks like I died… Don’t worry, ok? I didn’t. Even if it’s impossible… I’m most likely still alive, somehow.” He looked at her in some sort of nervous seriousness, clearly bouncing multiple ideas inside his head, yet not sharing any of them with her. She assumed it was for a good reason, even if it annoyed her greatly.


“… You really put a lot of strain on Betty’s trust.”


“I know.” He smiled apologetically, releasing a quiet, tense laugh.


“Fine, I suppose. But after we’re done with this, Betty will cry the whole night if that happens. So don’t. Understood, I suppose?” The vigor of her declaration filled the silent corridor, the fear produced by darkness and tension of the upcoming fight making way to their shared determination.


“Loud and clear, Beako. Loud and clear.”


“Hmpf, good.”


The two walked mostly aimlessly some more, checking inside empty rooms, searching for any clues on the Archbishop's location among the corridors and halls. It was only when they neared what seemed to be the dining room and kitchen did they hear a muffled, but still clearly deranged, laughter. Familiar one, revolting. So much so that just by hearing it, Subaru almost vomited.


“So that’s where she was…” He coughed into his free arm, the other never leaving Beatrice’s trembling hold. And he gently opened the door to the pandemonium.


It was as if every piece of carnage that should have been spread evenly throughout the mansion was localised entirely within this one room. Eyeballs were hanging from the chandelier along with guts, leaking their juices onto the dining table covered with severed limbs and torn up torsos. In the back were black-purple cocoons, oozing sludge onto the blood soaked boards making up the floor. And in the center of it all, on top of the table, stood her, Capella Emerada Lugnica, in all of her glory. Somehow clean of all the filth present in the room, free of a single drop of blood on all her being. Complete opposite of the duo opposing her, drenched in all kinds of bodily fluids and viscera. And upon noticing them entering her little heaven, her laughter stopped completely, replaced by a weirdly serious expression.


“… Why is my cute little doggy back to this wretched form? Besides, only one of you was supposed to come here. This doesn’t make any sense, what is this trick?” No reply awaited her, as the whip immediately traveled through the air, tearing apart her head, shaving skin and flesh off of the skull, reaping the eyeball right out of its socket with its thorns thanks to all of its momentum. The body of the Archbishop fell over and off of the table she stood on just moments prior with a hollow thud.


“That was… Surprisingly easy, I suppose.” As if to spite the spirit, immediately after finishing that sentence a maniacal laughter erupted out of the not so long ago corpse. And then, it stood up, revealing her flesh mending, regenerating, just as it did with the beasts from before, just in a far more gruesome fashion as she grinned cynically at them all the while, as if the whole event went by her painlessly.


“Oh, that hit the spot all right! Come on big boy, is that all you’ve got?! Did that take care of your pent up frustrations?!” Cackled Capella, her retina shrinking far more than should be possible. Then, looking at Beatrice, her head changed into the all too familiar face of a certain brown haired girl. Just, instead of a kind yet mischievous smile it had that disgusting mocking grin.


“Come on Betty, what’s the sour face for? It’s me, your bestest of friends!” Her gaze returned to Subaru, once more changing her form, this time into an all too familiar silver haired half-elf. “What’s that look for, mutt?! Don’t recognize your lady?! Bow down and beg, and maybe Mama will forgive you for messing with her like this~!” Neither listened to her ramblings, Subaru moving his hand in order to etch her head with the whip one more time for good measure, but this time she dodged, jumping back and transforming her arm into a giant whip-like snake.


Which traveled towards Subaru, tearing him away from Beatrice.


With only a hand remaining in her grasp, the hold on her relaxed, until it fell to the ground where he once stood. Beside the Archbishop, her arm changed back to normal, the trashed remains of her contractor on the floor.


“Pffft, that’s it? All that talk, and that’s where it ends? At least there’s only one of you left now, come on Betty come over, let’s make it official~~!” Capella sat on the corner of the long dining table, her feet dangling off, lightly kicking Subaru’s corpse. Until a series of Minya crystals shot them off.

“Don’t you dare touch Betty’s Subaru.”


“Oh, come on Betty! He’s gone, see?” Her regrown legs stomped onto the mess of broken bones and torn flesh with even more force. “Complete goner. Makes you a bit sad, really. He would make such a good dog.” She spat onto what was once a Subaru. “Eh, at least I have a verryyy cute spirit to take care of me now instead! Come on Betty, come to Mama!” Beatrice once more sent Minya Capella’s way, but this time they were caught by a huge transformed arm before they could make contact with the Archbishop.


“Betty~~! Don’t make me repeat myself~~! Come here and-” Before she could finish her head was torn off of her body by an invisible force coming from below her, a gasping Subaru quickly jumping back to his feet, grabbing Beatrice and running off.


“Good job Beako! I knew you would listen and not freak out too much, you don’t need to cry, I’m back!” He dashed through the corridors, almost falling multiple times on the way.


“Don’t you dare scare Betty like that again! What’s the plan, in fact?!” She held his hand tightly, following in his steps one by one, tears of relief streaming down her face.


“Don’t have one! I’m kinda winging it right now!”


“What?!” Relief that immediately vanished upon hearing that sentence.


“Yeah, I’m open to any ideas you’ve got though, Beako! Feel free to share!”


“We’re doomed, in fact.”


“Probably, yeah!”


“Come back here, you measly, slimy, pathetic meatbags!” An animalistic screech resounded from deeper within the mansion, rumbling of cracking walls and breaking ceiling following in their steps with far, far more velocity.


“Doubt that’s a good sign...”


“You don’t say.”


The two burst out of the mansion’s doors, coming back to the grand outside, the inside growing silent suddenly. Turning around upon noticing the unnerving silence, looking into the murky depths of the corridor. That’s when a black scaled dragon erupted out of the mansion with a thundering roar, almost throwing both of them off their feet.


“Holy shit, an actual dragon…”


“Stop day-dreaming, we need to run, I suppose!” He nodded, Patrasche bursting out of the ground underneath them, rushing away from the building as Capella’s dragon form enveloped the whole area in a wild blaze. “To the forest, we’ll lose her in the forest!” The headless ground dragon obeyed its master, running at full speed through the wheat fields, avoiding streams of fire of the dragon and leaping into the treeline, shielding them from her view for a little bit.


“So, any ideas yet, Beako?!” Exclaimed Subaru, looking paranoidly between the way they were going, and the sky above them. They rode slower now, but still fast enough to avoid an attack in case they were spotted.


“No, I suppose...”


“Ahhhh, this is going horribly, doesn’t it?! Forget making her pay, at this pace we’ll be lucky if we survive…” The spirit’s face scrunched up, brows furrowed, her little hand underneath her chin, slowly scratching it. “I know that adorable, wonderful expression. You thought of something, didn’t you Beako?!”


“… It’s just an idea. No, more of a bet. But… Maybe ‘making her pay’ IS the way to defeat her, in fact? She said something about… ‘Need to be on the same page, back then.” He nodded, starting to see where she’s going.


“Yeah but that’s not the usual if I understood correctly? She was really clear that it annoyed her quite a bit.”


“That’s why it’s more of a gamble than anything, I suppose…”


“If that reassures you, it did feel like I was… What I wanted to be, at the time. I’m guessing you have some idea of how to use it against her?”


“… Not really… Not yet, at least…”


“We should be more or less safe while in this forest, so feel free to think as much as you want, Beako!” A pillar of flame hit not too far from them, and then in another place, and another. Slowly, the forest was getting engulfed in an inferno.


“What the hell, is she firing randomly now?! Sorry Beako, we don’t seem to have much time after all, come on Patrasche get us out of here!” Weaving around the trees back on full speed, narrowly avoiding spires of blazing fire hitting the ground all around them, burning the foliage to ashes.


“Damn it, we’re running out of trees… Here’s hoping you figure it out, Beako! Back to the town we go, maybe she won’t expect us to leave the forest this soon.” The phantom leaped out of the inferno with them on its back, Beatrice gazing at the dragon flying above the forest deep in thought.


“If we could only connect her with us somehow…”


“You’re the magic virtuoso in this team, Beako!”


“Yes, Betty knows, in fact… But it seems impossible to do using Yin magic…” A fireball hit right in front of them, throwing them off of their steed, Patrasche dissipating, not appearing again. In front of them landed Capella, leveling a hatred-filled stare into both of them with her reptile, yellow eyes.


“No more running. One of you, come forward. Don’t care which.”


“… Beako, this would be a good moment to figure out all the details of that plan you’ve been cooking up.”


“But… How are we…”


“You said it’s more of a gamble anyways, right? So why not start doing it first and figure it out in the middle of it all? Always worked for me.” Beatrice looked at his face, at how beautifully his smile reflected the moonlight falling on it from above. She looked at the dreadful Archbishop, at the one that stole what little they had left away from them. She looked at her hands, soaked in blood, guts and whatever other grime and filth she had been dirtied by so far. It was hopeless. Absolutely, and utterly hopeless. So she looked ahead and returned that foolish smile in earnest.


“Subaru, summon your phantoms, I suppose. And, take my hand. Don’t you dare let go, in fact!”


“Understood.” The souls of the damned once more sprouted from beneath, swarming the area like a plague of rats, rushing towards the current source of their suffering like a single life being. But none of their attacks did anything against the beast.


“What is this supposed to be Betty~~? I thought you were a bit smarter than this~?” She ignored the insults thrown her way, focusing solely on the moonlight and the tight grip of her contractor, and gathered mana. It was a hopeless endeavor, a spell of connection was, by all intents and purposes, impossible to create via magic meant for seperation.


But why care about that, when the light of the stars twinkling above was so radiant, when the moonlight made it impossible to fear the ever present darkness? When the love of her most important person was pulsating through her arm with warmth unique only to Subaru? When there is so much left to live for, there is no point in worrying about the impossible.


“This is so foolish… Betty’s blaming you if it doesn’t work…! [Iron Maiden]!” From the middle of the spirit’s hand grew a thin line covered in thorns of various sizes, quickly weaving through the air cleanly, like an arrow, towards Capella. The Archbishop just stood there in amusement as the line of connection reached her…


And bound all around her in a single moment, squeezing her reptile form as tightly as the hold between the hands of the spirit and her contractor. Few seconds of silence passed before the binds let go, retracting back to Beatrice, leaving behind a kneeling Capella, back in her human form.


“What the fuck… Was that…”


“...[Iron Maiden].” She couldn’t even react when another spell hit her, ensnaring her much like before, and releasing her once more, drooling and shaking in pain.


“Stop…! Don’t you dare…!”


“[Iron Maiden].” Wide eyes, not even a small movement before she was bound. This time, she turned into a familiar form of a little girl, earnest to see the world, to see her friends happy, hopeful for the future.


“Betty! It’s me, stop! We’re friends aren’t-!”


“[Iron Maiden].” It didn’t save her from another spell, which left her panting on the floor, crying. She directed her gaze onto the spirit, orbs full of hatred sending a look as poisonous as brimstone.


“Stop it, you good for nothing bitch-!”


“[Iron Maiden].” She didn’t even try talking with the spirit, instead looking towards Subaru, starting to change into the familiar half-elf who, while faulty in so many ways, who hurt Subaru greatly, was nowhere near the level of abhorrence of this she-devil.


“Subaru, stop her! She’s hurting your lady, can’t you see?!”


“[Iron Maiden].” She couldn’t even completely change her form before getting ensnared again.


“… What the hell do you want from me, huh?!”


“[Iron Maiden].”


“Just stop…! I can give you anything you want, women, riches, anything! So just be a good meatbag and let me-!”


“Oh just shut up already, in fact. [Iron Maiden].”


“Please… Just stop… I can’t…”


“[Iron Maiden].”


“No more… Enough…”


“[Iron Maiden].”


“Please… Mercy…”


“[Iron Maiden].”


“Mercy…”


“[Iron Maiden].” At last, silence. The ghosts of the damned disappeared. The Archbishop was reduced to nothing but a trembling, sobbing mess, eyes wide, muttering so quietly only she herself could make sense of it.


“Betty’s feeling a bit… light headed, I suppose…” The spirit fell, but thanks to Subaru’s timely intervention, she found herself on top of his back, effectively getting a free piggyback ride. “It’s fine, you did well Beako.”


He neared the Archbishop, whose eyes didn’t even follow his movement. They just stared blankly ahead, into the inferno raging in the depths of the forest. “Really, you’ve got only yourself to blame for this. Doubt anyone will miss ya.” The last thing she felt in this life was the feeling of her head getting crushed underneath a filthy, mud covered shoe. The only thing left of her ever changing mask of a head, a violet stream of blood streaming through the soil.

“Han! Han, we’re done!” The vagabond carrying the great spirit shouted into the dark “I really hope his fight went as well as ours, we ain’t winning another one Beako…”


“Mmm…” Noticing a figure in the dark, Beatrice pointed towards a ruined home with her hand, Subaru dashing in that very direction.


“Oh…” Inside, the corrupted sword saint was bleeding out, multiple arrows piercing her neck, with the old man being pierced through the abdomen, leaning on the wall. “Ha… seems you made it just in time, boy…”


“You’re still alive?!”


“Barely so, barely so… And you two are quite lively as well… Good, seems a star bright enough really can change destiny…”


“What the hell are you muttering about, we gotta, oh but Beako’s all out        damn it all, you were supposed to stay alive you old fart       !” He hit the crumbling wall with enough force for it to fall over, raising a dust cloud up as the bricks turned to nothing but fragile stones.


“Baha… But I did, didn’t I? At least long enough to see you off, ha… Hey boy, can you do one last thing for this old one? Finish her off, will you? Doubt what I did will actually keep her down for long… And that fate is worse than death, you see…”


“Oh shut up already… Who is going to teach me that duet now, huh?!”


“Eh, you know most of it… Just fill in the blanks yourself, it's yours now after all… Yours, and that Lady you’ve given your heart to, ha!”


“You gotta be annoying to the bitter end, huh?”


“Wouldn’t call it bitter myself, boy… You two showed me something so brilliant in the twilight… No sense in being sad about it, is there? Just leave me be, boy. This old fool would like to look at that beautiful moon for a bit longer… And do figure out those words I asked you to think of at least in this lifetime, will you?”


“… Capiche, Han.” He stood up, and grabbed an arrow stuck inside Theresia forcefully, sinking it deeper and deeper, until its tip appeared on the other end. He repeated the process for each of the projectiles, and with one last look towards the old fool’s smiling, content face, left the two old timers alone.


Not too far away, he made a very shabby campfire out of what little debris was still usable for that purpose. Amongst it, he found what looked like the guitar that once belonged to Han, colored in the exact same hue as his own, temporary one, that miraculously survived in mostly untouched state… With a very loose definition of the word.


“Get some sleep, Beako. You deserve it. Don’t worry, I’m not letting your hand go. So just rest, and we’ll meet the next day together…” Already barely awake, the spirit drifted off to sleep amidst sounds of untuned, chaotic notes that still managed to convey the feelings of her contractor truthfully.


Sorrow.


Hatred.


Hope.


Love.


A series of words impossible for the boy to speak aloud.


But clear enough for his heart to understand.