Chapter Text
The cold of the night settled deep into a small, humble room. Two figures lay nestled in bed—one large, one small. The larger figure tossed and turned violently.
Natsuki Subaru was falling prey to a familiar curse: a nightmare. Yet this time, it wasn’t filled with cold, spiked steel or thousands of red, hungry eyes.
He lay in a field. It reminded him of the Lifaus Plains, a place tangled with memories both sweet and bitter. Curiously, his life hadn’t ended in that place, so it struck him as odd that his dream had brought him here.
Stranger still: he felt calm.
“I could get used to this for a change,” his dream-self mused. The breeze danced through the grass, and for a fleeting moment, he allowed himself to enjoy the peace.
Then he heard it—a sharp cry. The call of an eagle.
“An eagle? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in Lugunica,” he thought, frowning.
He opened his eyes—his dream-eyes—and caught sight of the creature soaring above. It was indeed an eagle, but its form shimmered, made of spectral trails of white light.
As he focused on it, he blinked—and the world shifted.
Now he was in a box. Tight. Claustrophobic. He couldn’t move. He was upside-down but did not fall.
Panic bloomed in his chest.
He gasped, eyes darting around for an exit that wasn’t there. In the cramped dark, he suddenly saw something in front of him: a figure.
Alien.
It had wide black eyes, skin like grey ash, and smoke-like tendrils drifting from its body. Subaru tried to scream—but he had no voice. He tried to recoil—but he had no will.
The creature raised a hand, slowly, curiously, reaching for his cheek.
He slammed his eyes shut.
Then came a voice from behind.
“I love him. He is mine.”
Subaru’s eyes snapped open.
The creature narrowed its gaze.
And then—pain. The familiar, crushing agony he still hadn't grown too used to. His heart screamed. He gasped, breathless. His vision faded, and in the black void of his mind, he heard a second voice.
Masculine. Calm. Controlled. Otherworldly.
“For now.”
---
Subaru jolted awake with a scream. Not an uncommon occurrence—but this time, he wasn’t the only one.
Something wriggled beneath him, flailing.
He’d fallen from the bed—on top of someone.
A small voice shrieked beneath him, muffled.
“Uooogh! Subaru! You almost killed me, in fact!”
Beatrice.
He scrambled to his feet, allowing her space to breathe.
The tiny spirit gasped for air, brushing out her dress with a huff.
“Betty understands it wasn’t under your control…” she muttered, catching her breath.
Then she narrowed her eyes and puffed her cheeks. “But be more careful with Betty in fact!”
The boy lay there clutching his chest, still shaken, before fully registering the voice of his contracted spirit.
“Uh… ah! So sorry, Beako!” Subaru sat up, rubbing his head with exaggerated shame. “Nightmares are never an excuse to harm my beloved spirit! I just had a very intense… and weird one.”
The spirit raised an eyebrow. “Curious. You usually don’t even want to mention your nightmares. Have you finally come to rely on your Betty’s full support with them?” she said, puffing up her tiny frame and placing her fists on her hips with pride.
Subaru’s slightly forced smile twitched. “Yeah… sorry about that. I guess that’s true. You don’t need to bother with those things, Beako.”
Most of his nightmares came from his countless deaths—traumas he could never speak of, wounds stitched shut with silence. But this time, he could talk about it. And so, without thinking, he had shared it.
“I can see my contractor is still as hopeless as ever, I suppose,” Beatrice sniffed.
“That’s why I have my adorable little Beako to cure that hopelessness, though!” His grin returned as he flexed his bicep dramatically. He glanced toward the window. Still pitch black outside. “Oh. I was hoping it was time to get up already... Well, it’s not too bad to be an extreme early bird once in a while!”
Beatrice squinted. “Huh? You can’t mean you’ll start your day this early, I suppose?”
“That’s right, Beako! You lifted my spirits with your pure concern! Time to make the best of this day!”
In his trusted tracksuit, Subaru paced the mansion’s dark halls, holding Beatrice’s small hand. The windows still showed the last dying breath of night, a barely-there tint of gray creeping over the horizon.
“It’s not actually as early as I thought,” Subaru said. “That’s… actually good.”
“Betty would never allow her Subaru to destroy his sleep schedule, in fact. Hmph!”
“Come on, Beako, one time won’t kill me. I have the brilliant power of shifting my sleep schedule at will!”
“That makes no sense, in fact.”
Subaru gave her an incredulous smile as they walked through a familiar corridor—the same one where Beatrice had once pranked him, a full year ago. The memory made him smile.
But then—just for a second—he saw the hallway split.
Lines etched across the walls, the ceilings, the floor—cutting the space into cubes. He blinked and reached up to rub his eyes, only to see his hand sliced into segments too, disconnected but still somehow whole.
When he finally rubbed his eyes, everything was normal again.
His breath hitched. “What the…”
“Beako… did you see that?”
“Betty saw nothing out of the ordinary, I suppose. I knew letting you wander half-asleep would make you delusional,” she said with a hmph.
“Y-Yeah… I might just be… still dreaming.” He rubbed his eyes again, slower this time.
The spirit sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. “However, that is rather displeasing… Betty’s Subaru’s smell has increased. Betty doesn’t really mind, but it is quite potent. Bleh.” She stuck her tongue out in a tiny, disgusted blep.
“My… smell?” Subaru swallowed. “Haha, well, I don’t really know how to control that, Beako… but I’ll do my very best for my adorable spirit!”
He was already sweating.
Cold.
Praying—praying—it was all just a cruel coincidence.
He brushed the thoughts aside to preserve what little sanity he still had to his name. With a breath, he forced a grin and decided to stroll through the mansion.
“Maybe... yes! The best way to make use of waking up early is cleaning up the mansion! I might not be a butler anymore, but even a knight can perform the noble act of cleaning!”
“Don’t expect Betty to help you with that exhausting venture, in fact.”
“Not a problem, Beako! You can sit and witness firsthand just how refined my technique has become, honed over time immemorial!”
“Betty will give it to you—you sure make it hard to believe you ever did this before, sounding that excited, in fact.” She crossed her arms, but a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
“Hey! That hurts! Being excited to be useful is a very noble thing! Ahem—anyways…”
With his mood rising again, Subaru headed to the supply closet, where the mansion’s mops and brooms were kept. But when he opened the door…
He froze.
Instead of buckets and brushes, he saw rows of endless bookshelves wrapped in a pale, haunting glow. The Forbidden Library. A place long gone. A place that had burned away in a sea of fire and resolve.
“Huh!? Wh—n, Bea—”
“What is it with you, I suppose? Are you secretly terrified by the prospect of cleaning duties, in fact?” Beatrice said, voice teasing and her expression smug.
Subaru’s eyes snapped back to the closet—and this time, it was just that. Shelves of supplies. A mop. A bucket. A broom leaning lazily against the wall.
“I—” he coughed, stumbling. “Dreaming. Just dreaming,” he muttered, trying to laugh it off. “Not at all, Beako. Just saw a bug, that’s all.”
Less enthusiastic than before, he grabbed a mop and got to work. Scrubbing floors, wiping windows, dusting rugs. It was all routine—tasks he had long internalized. Mundane. Familiar. And in that familiarity, he found a fragment of peace.
Wiping sweat from his brow, he stood tall and admired his work.
“Not bad for someone out of practice!”
The sun was high now, casting golden rays through the polished windows.
“It seems that poor Barusu can’t help but return to his manservant ways whenever he gets the chance. Always stealing the spotlight from poor Ram.”
“Gah!” Subaru jumped, making an exaggerated pose as he was startled. He turned to find Ram, leaning smugly against the wall.
“Nee-sama, I can’t steal your spotlight if you don’t have one to begin with! I’m surprised you even got up this early.”
“Heh. I felt a disturbance in the workload, so naturally I had to investigate.”
“That makes no sense, in fact,” said both Subaru and Beatrice at the same time.
Subaru blinked, then bit his tongue in frustration. “Anyway, you can go ahead and tell Frederica I cleaned this wing of the mansion. She deserves to relax a bit. Unlike you,” he added, shooting Ram a look.
“Sure.”
Her smug grin vanished—not gradually, but all at once, like a mask dropping.
“Thanks for your sacrifices, Subaru.”
The air froze.
His blood ran cold. Something about that sentence—no, the way she said it—struck a chord deep within him. His breath hitched.
“Wh... what did you say, Ram?”
“I said,” she replied calmly, “you’ll never understand the amount of rest Ram is entitled to. But I’ll let Frederica know.”
She turned and walked away, the swish of her skirt the only sound in the tense hallway.
Subaru stood frozen. His heart pounded hard in his chest. A strange chill ran up his spine. He slowly sank to the ground, trying to steady his breathing.
Beatrice appeared beside him in a blink, eyes wide. “Are you okay, Subaru!? Did you get hurt cleaning? Or... is it your lack of sleep, I suppose?”
Her concern helped tether him. He gave a weak laugh.
“Y-yeah, Beatrice. Just a bit tired. Think I need a break.”
He looked away, serious for a moment. Before she could frown, he reached out and patted her head gently.
“I think I’ll go see what Otto’s up to. That’ll calm me down. Teasing Otto is a universal constant. There’s nothing that could ruin that.”
Subaru slammed open the double doors to a spacious room cluttered with controlled chaos. A sizable desk sat in the middle, buried beneath rows upon rows of paperwork, some stacked neatly, others clearly the result of a late-night breakdown. Scrolls lined the shelves, and even the floor wasn’t spared from the tyranny of unfinished documentation.
“Ott—” Subaru began, but stopped mid-word when he spotted the familiar figure of the merchant slumped over the desk, fast asleep.
He raised a brow, then grinned.
“Tsk tsk tsk... a man who falls asleep at work is a man to be respected! However—” he tiptoed forward dramatically, “it also makes you a sitting duck!”
With the stealth of a mischievous cat, he crept up behind Otto and motioned to Beatrice. “Hey Beako, would you kindly do the honors?”
“Betty will only do this because her contractor appears to be unusually troubled today, in fact,” she huffed, puffing out her cheeks a little.
She stood on her tiptoes, poking the drooling merchant gently on the cheek.
“Poooooooooke.”
Otto stirred with a snort, practically inhaling his own drool as he sat up fast. “Huhhh!? Ah—Great Spirit Beatrice!! I was, uh... just exercising my eyelids real quick! Haha! Please don’t tell the others—they’ll never let me live it down!”
“Betty couldn’t care less about your reputation, snotty merchant. In fact, Betty was told to tell you to look behind you.”
“What? What do you—”
The second he turned, he found Subaru standing uncomfortably close with his arms folded, wearing a devilish smirk.
“AH! N-Natsuki-san—! You nearly gave me a heart attack! That’s so cruel!”
“That’s what you get for sleeping on the job. Call it divine intervention!”
“Wouldn’t that be divine punishment? Besides, even if I was working, you would’ve been the one distracting me!”
“Apapap—job-sleepers don’t get to talk back!” Subaru said, wagging a finger with a cheeky grin. “You’re lucky I didn’t draw on your face.”
“Sigh... As you say, Natsuki-san. Did you come here for a reason? Or was tormenting me the goal?”
Subaru tilted his head, thinking.
“Hmm... not really. But now that I’m here... is there anything I can help with? I’m, uh... kinda bored?”
Otto blinked. “You’re not sure if you’re bored?”
“Well, I mean, the day started weird, and I cleaned…—never mind. Just... Do you need help or not?”
Otto blinked again, slower this time. “Well, I do have tons of camp coordination to finish. Structuring the schedules, managing diplomatic requests, rewriting reports... all a bunch of boring crap, really. Not sure it’s your kind of thing.”
“You’re right,” Subaru said without hesitation, already halfway out the door. “That’s definitely something I don’t wanna get involved with. Byyyyyye~! Good luck!”
The door clicked shut.
Otto let out a slow, exhausted sigh.
Rising to his feet, he took Beatrice’s hand in his own, the tension slowly draining as they walked down the hallway.
As Subaru stepped out into the hallway outside Otto’s office, he stretched with a long yawn and slapped his cheeks lightly.
“Whew... Well, that surely brought my wind back! Thanks for the assist, Beako!”
“Naturally! Betty always delivers a breathtaking performance,” she said, puffing out her chest with exaggerated pride.
“Agh, you’re just too adorable!” Subaru grinned, scooping her up into the air. She flailed her tiny arms in protest, though the faint smile tugging at her lips betrayed her delight.
“H-Hehe, let me down, I suppose!” she huffed, still flustered.
He gently set her down and gave her a soft pat on the head. Beatrice frowned slightly, clearly not wanting the moment to end so soon.
“Well! Now that I’ve got my energy back, time for my daily training!” he said with a bright smile.
“Just don’t push yourself too far, Subaru. If you collapse mid-run, Betty absolutely won’t be dragging you back, in fact.”
“I’m not that much of a chump! I’m totally energized—ready to go full throttle all day!”
With that, Subaru marched off toward his “secret” training ground... which wasn’t all that secret, considering it was the backyard of the new Roswaal’s Mansion.
Waiting there was a familiar figure—Garfiel, already stretching and grinning like a wolf who’d scented a challenge.
“Oh hey, Garfiel! Early like me, huh? That’s what I like to see!”
“Heheh—damn right, Cap’n! Heard ya bangin’ around doin’ cleanup at the crack o’ dawn, so I figured I’d follow yer lead!” he replied, flashing his sharp, toothy grin.
“That kid is far too impressionable,” Beatrice muttered under her breath.
“Come on, Beako! He’s discovering the glory of the early grind! That said—” Subaru bounced on his heels, cracking his neck—“You ready, Garfiel? I’m not holdin’ back today!”
“Ahahaha! 'Course, Cap’n! I ain't never hold back on ya—if I did, I’d be crushed under yer insane stubbornness!” Garfiel barked with a toothy grin.
Subaru pumped his fist. “I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a compliment... but I’ll take it! Bring it on!”
“That’s what I like to hear, Cap’n! Very well then—shall we do the usual?”
“Yeah. As much as it pains me to admit it... you’d definitely pummel me into the dirt in a straight-up fight. But an obstacle course? That’s anyone’s game!”
“Damn right, Cap’n! Let’s see if ya can finally beat my record!”
“Didn’t even deny it—I mean, ahem! Don’t get too cocky. Let’s stop stalling and start the show!”
As the two boys took their ready positions, Beatrice calmly settled on a nearby tree trunk with a book in her lap. Her expression was blank, as if indifferent—but her tiny smile betrayed her amusement. She’d never admit it, but she secretly enjoyed watching Subaru train.
“Beako, care to do the honors?” Subaru asked without looking back, startling her.
“A–Hmph! It can’t be helped, I suppose...” she muttered, raising her hand. “One... two... three... go!”
With a dramatic flourish, she buried her face back in her book.
Garfiel shot off like a bullet, already vaulting over wooden barriers. Subaru wasted no time, bolting after him and casting his whip into the air. It wrapped around a high beam, letting him swing with momentum to catch up to Garfiel’s absurd pace.
“Here I come, Garfiel! The pain in my arms is nothing compared to the sweet taste of victory... huff, puff...”
“We’ll see 'bout that, Cap’n! My amazin’ self ain’t holdin’ back either—not even a little!” Garfiel called, already halfway up a rope wall with beastlike agility.
“Tsk... gotta take a shortcut. C’mon body, don’t fail me now!”
With a burst of effort, Subaru launched himself toward the rope wall, barely managing to grab hold and secure his balance.
“Not bad, eh, Garfiel? I might actually be onto something thi—”
He paused.
As he looked up to begin climbing, he no longer saw the rope wall.
Instead, a pale white sky loomed above him, filled with slow-moving clouds. His entire body was suddenly assaulted by a familiar, suffocating cold. A breeze swept through, too sharp to be natural. His irises shrank in terror.
The training course was gone.
He was clinging to a frigid, crumbling ledge on a steep precipice, miles above a lightless abyss.
“Hu-h...? AHH! NO—NO, I DON’T WANT TO FALL! HE—HELP! BEATRICE—N—!”
His limbs thrashed in panic.
He lost his grip.
He plummeted into the abyss.
The weightless terror surged through his body, his body began to prepare for a sensation too familiar—the feeling of his skull cracking, his body splitting, of Return by Death forcing its cruel grip around him.
He closed his eyes in horror...
...only for the fall to end in a sharp jolt. Not death. Just pain.
“Subaru! What is going on, in fact?!” Beatrice’s voice snapped through the fog.
“CAP’N?! Y'ALRIGHT?! DID YA GET HURT?! SH-SHOULD I HEAL YA?!” Garfiel’s worried shout followed immediately.
“AAAH—uh... uh, what...? Garfiel...? Beatrice...?” Subaru groaned, clutching his head, slowly opening his eyes. He was lying flat on the training field. Garfiel knelt over him, wide-eyed. Beatrice was at his side, arms extended and glowing slightly with healing magic.
“Uh... I think I... well... that was embarrassing? Wasn’t it?” he chuckled weakly.
Beatrice scowled. “That is enough, in fact! Subaru, you have been acting very strange today and neglecting these... outbursts. Is it really just lack of sleep? I won’t allow my contractor to be so careless with himself!”
He winced. Her voice was firm, but the tremble in it betrayed just how worried she truly was.
“Eh... if somethin’s goin’ on with ya, Cap’n, maybe we should call it for today,” Garfiel muttered, unusually subdued. “Ain’t no shame in restin’... we can always train another time.”
“Guys, guys! Come on—you know me. I act weird sometimes, don’t I? It’s perfectly fine, really!” Subaru sat up with a shaky smile. “Maybe it’s just... stress? Yeah. I probably just need a calm break. What do you say, Beako?”
Beatrice crossed her arms, puffing her cheeks. “Hmph. I suppose that’s acceptable. Better yet if you sleep during said rest, I suppose... I wonder what I did to deserve such a hopeless contractor...”
But she looked visibly relieved.
“I’m sorry, Beako. I really should listen to you more—haha...” Subaru smiled weakly, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
Is it really fine? I’ve said it enough times that even I start to believe it. But... this? I don’t even know anymore.
Lost in thought, he barely noticed the soft voice approaching.
“Subaru!—Subaru-sama I mean! I heard screaming, are you okay?” Petra asked, cautiously stepping into the training grounds.
“Oh, Petra. Ahem—yeah, the training session just got a little intense is all…”
“Well, uh, I’m glad in that case!” she said, perking up. “By the way, Great Spirit-sama and Garfiel-kun—breakfast is going to be served soon. Everyone should gather in the dining hall!”
“Oh! Cap’n, I’m sure a good meal’ll patch you right up! It always makes my amazin’ self feel better!” Garfiel grinned, slapping Subaru on the back.
“Well, after all that, I am pretty hungry… Let’s go, then. Come on, Beako,” Subaru said, patting the little spirit’s head.
“Do not treat Betty like a puppy, you shameless contractor!” she protested, frowning deeply.
After a short rest, the group made their way toward the dining hall. Subaru walked behind them, lost in the comfort of familiar voices, trying to shake the dread nesting in his chest.
Upon entering, he saw Petra setting the table, Frederica arranging the plates, and Ram... leering at him playfully.
“Uh… Nee-sama? Do I have something on my face?”
“Indeed. You have a horrible visage of a face. It is quite concerning,” Ram replied flatly. “Besides, I saw you flailing like a madman during training. I’ve concluded you have some sort of awful disease, and I am keeping my distance.”
“Wha—!? That’s too cruel, even for you! You’re the one with the unfriendly face!”
“Comparing Ram’s adorable face to Barusu’s abominable features should be a crime punishable by death.”
“I’m too hungry to entertain that thought, ugh…”
“The maid is bold to scorn my contractor while he is clearly going through a rough time, in fact,” Beatrice huffed.
“Don’t take Ram too seriously, missy. She’s just playin’,” Garfiel offered with a grin.
Ram’s expression softened just a little. Subaru caught it—and it stung, for some reason.
“If anything, I should be the one keeping my distance. Wouldn’t want to catch the ‘terminal laziness’ disease Nee-sama’s afflicted with,” Subaru shot back with a smug smirk.
“Rem has never heard such a fallacious and incorrect statement in her entire life. Ram will make sure to prove Barusu wrong with every inch of her being.”
“I’d love to see that, Nee-sama.” Subaru chuckled, then gently patted Beatrice on the head again.
Just then, the dining room doors opened, revealing Emilia.
“Oh! Hi everyone! Seems I’m late today—sorry about that!”
“Don’t worry, Emilia-tan! You’re the candidate for ruler, after all. Royal rules and such… probably?” Subaru replied with a dramatic shrug.
“You’re such a dummy, Subaru!” she giggled. “I think eating is important, and I wouldn’t want anyone to wait just for me.”
“You’re such an angel, Emilia-tan! I feel my soul’s already full without needing food!” Subaru clasped his hands together dramatically.
“Stop teasing me! It’s embarrassing!” she pouted. “By the way… where’s Otto-kun?”
Frederica answered with composed poise, hiding a small smirk.
“Otto-sama requested to eat in his office to catch up on his duties.”
“Typical Otto… So, does that mean we can finally eat?”
“I think so, Cap’n. Thanks for the meal!!” Garfiel declared as he dove into his plate like a wild animal.
“Eh—what the hell, me too!” Subaru exclaimed, mimicking Garfiel’s messy enthusiasm.
“Savages,” Ram muttered.
“I suppose,” Beatrice agreed, sipping tea daintily.
Emilia giggled and sat down to eat with everyone. As laughter and chatter filled the air, Subaru began to feel some of the heaviness lift off his shoulders—if only for now.
After the meal, the maids cleared the table. Emilia left to study, and Garfiel went off to patrol. Subaru remained behind, alone with Beatrice.
“So… about that rest my contractor promised to partake in, in fact.”
“Alright, alright, Beako. Let’s go to our room and just… relax?”
“Betty wonders when the last time you truly did that was, I suppose…”
He took her hand, and they returned to his room. Subaru lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
His thoughts spiraled.
A Witch Cult attack? Possible, but… they’re never subtle. A faction against Emilia? No proof. Nothing adds up…
“Subaru?”
“Oh—yeah, Beako. What is it?”
“Betty is really worried. Subaru doesn’t act this strange without a reason. It’s scary to think you can’t tell me, in fact.”
Subaru's breath caught in his throat. He turned toward her.
“…Beako. I… When I know what’s happening, I’ll tell you. I just… feel lost. More than usual.”
“I wonder how this is different from your nightmares. But I suppose… it cannot be said.”
“I’m not sure either. My nightmares are about things I wish I could forget. But what’s happening now is different—like visions. Strange, impossible things. I don’t even know what they mean!”
“Visions…? Then perhaps we should treat this seriously. As a magical matter, I suppose. Betty’s Subaru is a valuable part of the half-elf’s campaign, in fact.”
“Heh. I’m not sure how valu—”
“And invaluable to me, I suppose,” she whispered.
Subaru hugged her tightly, overwhelmed. After a while, sleep began to tug at his consciousness.
“…I haven’t gone yet today. I better, before I fall asleep…” he whispered, glancing at the sleeping Beatrice.
“I’ll be back soon, Beako.”
He left the room quietly.
As he walked the halls, a familiar voice called out behind him.
“Subaru! There you are!”
He quickly fixed his posture, masking the fatigue in his face.
“Oh! Emilia-tan! What a pleasant surprise! To what do I owe the honor?”
“I just wanted to check on you, silly. Ram and Garfiel said you were acting… strange.”
“Strange? That’s the most accurate word for me!”
“Not like that! I mean… you’re not usually this strange. Maybe just… unique?”
“You really gotta work on your wording, Emilia-tan.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”
They both laughed.
“This feels nostalgic, huh? Like when you were trying really hard during your first week here. You were so tired back then…”
“C’mon, Emilia-tan, boys don’t like to remember their embarrassing moments!” Subaru flushed.
“Huh? But to me… it was a precious memory. I could finally reach you, even if I didn’t understand everything…”
“Emilia…”
“So, if something like that’s happening again… I-I can, um, give you another… l-lap pillow…” she mumbled, hiding her face.
“W-Whoa, Emilia—that’s… I think I’d appreciate that. But I’ll be stronger this time. For you—and everyone I love.”
“But I’ll still come running to you if I can’t bear it!” he added with a grin.
“Yes! Hehe. I’ll be on my way then. If you need anything, you know where to find me, Subaru.”
As she walked away, waving, Subaru smiled softly to himself.
“Sheesh… who’s the knight here?”
He opened the next door gently.
“Rem… I’m coming in.”
Inside, the white-haired girl lay peacefully in her deep sleep.
Subaru sat beside her.
“Today was… weird. Intense. Maybe I’m overreacting, but I had a dream. Visions—horrible things that made my blood run cold…”
He closed his eyes and began to pour everything out.
But then—
“Then why don’t you change it so?”
His eyes snapped open. The stool clattered to the floor as he jumped up.
“No. No. NO. I DON’T CARE IF YOU MESS WITH MY MIND OR MY MEMORIES—BUT LEAVE REM OUT OF THIS, YOU BASTARD!”
Rem sat up, her face blank, her voice flat and unnatural.
“Your regrets. Your ideals. What comes out of you? Who are you? Why don’t you decide?”
“STOP USING HER VOICE! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?! JUST SAY IT!!” Subaru roared, slamming his fist into the wall.
“Subaru-kun, you could save me. Use that power—and you’ll save everyone.”
“NO! SHE WOULD NEVER SAY THAT! YOU KNOW NOTHING!”
“We know. We’ve seen. We’ve studied…”
“SHUT UP. I’M TIRED OF BEING MANIPULATED! I’M NOT YOUR PAWN! WHO ARE YOU?!”
Everything went black.
He couldn’t speak. He thrashed wildly. When his eyes snapped open again, he was lying on the floor.
The stool was overturned.
Rem was asleep.
“…I don’t even know what’s going on anymore,” he whispered.
He stood up and fixed the stool.
“Goodnight, Rem. Everything will be okay tomorrow…”
He returned to his room and curled up next to Beatrice, holding her close. His thoughts drifted, and he fell into dreams—
He saw an eye opening.
Spectral feathers.
A vast sea.
A grassy plain.
The cry of an eagle.
Cubes. Geometry. Destruction.
Pain.
He fell into space. Saw Earth. Saw himself—bones and dust.
He screamed.
And screamed.
“GIVE HIM BACK! BRING HIM BACK!”
A woman’s voice echoed. Pain exploded from his skull to his stomach.
Then, nothing.
Cold. Terrible cold. Glacial water. His limbs failed.
He couldn’t open his eyes.
Then—
“SUBARU, WAKE UP! WAKE UP, IN FACT!”
Beatrice.
He forced his eyes open—white all around. He was falling.
“BEAKO!? WHERE ARE YOU?!”
“BEHIND YOU! SLOW YOUR FALL I SUPPOSE!”
“AAAAHHHH—UHHGH, RIGHT, BEAKO—UH—”
“CAST MURAK! IN FACT!”
“MURAAAAK!”
He slowed, crashing into a snowbank with a painful thud.
Gasping, he sat up.
“Beako?!”
“Mmghmghm!—”
He unburied her from the snow and held her close.
“Subaru!? I’m glad you’re okay! But where are we, in fact?! What happened?! What is this place in fact?!”
Subaru looked around. Endless snow. A huge blizzard enveloping them and concealing what could lie in the horizon, nothing but trees visible in the distance.
“I’m just as confused as you are, Beako… Damn it. I knew something horrible was gonna happen, i grew too complacent...”
Beatrice's confused and lost expression slowly began shifting to a serious one
"Your "visions" wasn't it? perhaps it was an omen… moreover, this place is bad news, in fact. the mana in the atmosphere is completely different, unnerving even i suppose…"
The creeping cold began chilling Subaru's poorly prepared attire, and bringing back grim memories
"For now we should get going Beako... this place looks like the middle of nowhere, we need to at least get out of this blizzard" he said as he softly grasped Beatrice's hand
"Be alert Subaru, Betty really feels like this place is wrong... the spell you casted used way more mana that i anticipated"
Subaru was taken aback by these words, looking to the horizon with a more urgent expression
"We will save up the resources we have while we don't know where we are, but... isn't that terrible news?"
"It could mean a variety of things, but it boils down to the mana in the atmosphere being far less dense, almost like a gas if i had to describe it somehow..."
"Hmm... I guess I should be grateful that there is mana at all but... if there is something as weird as that going on, just where the hell are we?"
The duo tortuously traversed what looked like an endless sea of snow, hoping that they could go through the blizzard to have any chances of surviving, upon hours and hours, Subaru felt his whole body aching and suffering the effect of the cold, after what felt like an eternity a piercing beastlike howl startled both of them
"Huh!? w- What kind of animal is th- Nevermind BEAKO RUN!"
Before Beatrice could react, Subaru grabbed her entire arm and began running desperately, in the heart of the blizzard, visibility was diminishing by the second, until Subaru's lungs gave out, forcing him to catch his breath, in the moment, nothing but the howling winds could be heard
"...Did we... lose them?"
As soon as he said that, he saw a figure towering before him in the icy mist, taller by more than a few heads, and bright, otherworldly orbs glowing in a blue hue before producing an ear piercing scream and the sound of crackling energy buzzed violently
"B-BEAKO! EMM!"
after pronouncing those words, both Beatrice and Subaru were covered by a dark aura, and their images appeared slightly distorted, and at the same moment, a terrifying saber glowing in blue energy pierced their figures without doing any damage
"SHAMAK!"
A black misty cloud covered a good area, producing an annoyed snarl from the creature, and Subaru felt a tugging pain in his entire body, that didn't allow him to relent, as he began sprinting as much as he could, the world around him a blur, with Beatrice, he ran, and ran
"Ah... huff... DAMN IT, huh... Beatrice, are you okay?"
"I am, Subaru, just what was that creature I suppose, It didn't follow us, perhaps it felt too embarassed by how we bested so easily! that'll teach it to not underestimate my contractor"
"I'm not sure if that was "easy". he rubbed his cheek
her expression became serious once again
"It appears we don't have enough mana for any more spells in fact"
"Got it Beako... we'll just have to lay low, and wish for the best..."
After pacing around for a bit, the blizzard appeared to clear slowly, allowing for regular visibility, the first thing Subaru noticed was a daunting visage, he saw what appeared to be a rusty, abandoned structure, followed by another, and another, what it didn't come to him instantly, not for lack of recognition, but rather how impossible it felt
Cars, seemingly abandoned for who knows how long, dozens of them, on top of what was now clearly a road leading to a massive wall, completely deteriorated
Subaru fell to his knees, and his pupils dilated in terror
"No... please don't, I- this is ridiculous"
Somehow, the first and only thing that came to his mind, in that single moment, were Emilia's words
"If you need anything, you know where to find me, Subaru-.”