Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The journey to the Watergate City of Priestella was supposed to be a diplomatic endeavor, a political gathering of the Royal Candidates to discuss the future of the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica. It had been a year since the Royal Selection began, a year of relative peace following the liberation of the Sanctuary. Now, it was time for the camps to meet again.

However, they would meet under entirely different, and utterly impossible, circumstances.

Just hours before arriving at Priestella, the Emilia Camp—Emilia,Subaru, Beatrice, Otto, and Garfiel—was traveling steadily in their dragon carriage. The sun was shining, the earth dragons were calm, and the political tension was thick but manageable.

Then, the world vanished.

There was no sound of an explosion, no sinister chant of a spell. Just a blinding, absolute flash of white light that swallowed the carriage, the dragons, and the open roads whole. One second, they were breathing the fresh air of the highway; a second later, they were standing in a bizarre, enclosed space.

It was a massive, dimly lit theater. Rows of plush, velvet chairs were arranged in a structured, semicircular pattern facing a colossal white screen. To the back, a set of grand double doors led to a long, carpeted hallway. Along this hallway were individual rooms, each bearing a brass plaque engraved with the names of the cast members, functioning as replicas of their own bedrooms, complete with attached bathrooms.

They quickly noticed they were not alone. Pure chaos erupted as the other Royal Selection camps materialized in flashes of identical light. Knights acted on instinct, drawing blades to protect their ladies. Crusch Karsten’s camp, Anastasia Hoshin’s camp, Priscilla Barielle’s camp, and Felt’s camp all manifested in a state of high alert. After a few tense moments of raised weapons and defensive magic, the sheer absurdity of the situation forced them to stand down. They had all been teleported. They had all been captured.

A chilling realization washed over them: How could a force exist that was capable of capturing Reinhard van Astrea, the Sword Saint, without a fight?

For the Emilia Camp, the shock compounded. Standing amidst the confusion were Ram, Frederica, Petra, and Roswaal—people who were supposed to be miles away at the Mathers Mansion. But the greatest shock of all was seated quietly in the center of the room.

Rem.

The blue-haired maid, erased by the Authority of Gluttony, was sitting slumped in one of the theater chairs, still trapped in her comatose slumber.

Seeing her immediately triggered a frantic realization. Where was Subaru? Beatrice was the most vocal, her small voice cutting through the din of the panicked crowd. They searched frantically until they found him. Natsuki Subaru was seated in the second row, dead to the world, completely unresponsive to their shaking and shouting.

"This place... it is a theater, I suppose," Beatrice murmured, her brow furrowed as she looked at the rows of seats and the giant screen. "Subaru told Betty about places like this in his homeland."

That single comment sent a ripple of speculation through the more calculating minds in the room. Anastasia Hoshin and Roswaal L. Mathers immediately narrowed their eyes. If the design of this prison was pulled from Subaru’s homeland, then this entire phenomenon was inextricably tied to him.

Panic gave way to action. They battered the indestructible walls. They unleashed waves of magic and physical strikes against the double doors. Nothing left a scratch. Defeated and exhausted, the most powerful figures in Lugunica were forced to gather in the main viewing area.

That was when the entity appeared.

It manifested in front of the massive screen—a shifting, imposing mass of pure shadow shaped roughly like a man, possessing only two piercing white voids for eyes. Weapons were instantly drawn again, but the entity merely raised a hand.

"I am the Warden" the voice echoed, deep and resonant, vibrating through the very floorboards.

With a casual, echoing snap of his shadowy fingers, a miracle occurred.

Rem gasped, her eyes fluttering open for the first time in a year. Simultaneously, a wave of realization slammed into the minds of everyone present. The missing piece of their memories slotted back into place. Rem. The loyal maid of the Mathers Mansion. At the exact same moment, Crusch Karsten clutched her head as a flood of stolen memories rushed back into her mind, restoring the proud Duchess to her former glory.

The theater descended into tearful, chaotic reunions, but the Warden’s voice cut through the noise, demanding absolute silence.

"You are here for one purpose," the Warden explained, his white eyes panning over the paralyzed audience. "To witness the truth of the world. A truth unraveled by a young hero who has suffered countless times in silence, bearing a secret darker than death itself. You are here to witness the journey of Natsuki Subaru."

The reaction was explosive. Emilia clamped a hand over her mouth. The rest of her camp shouted in confusion and denial. Why would watching Subaru's journey be framed as something so ominous? They demanded to know why Subaru wouldn't wake up.

"Because he would not want to deal with you while you watch this," the Warden replied coldly. "Having him awake during this viewing would only cause him unbearable psychological harm. He will remain asleep until it is over."

Most of the cast did not understand the gravity of that statement. But in the back row, Roswaal’s mismatched eyes widened in a mix of awe and terror—he knew Subaru could loop, though he didn't know the exact trigger, and realized he was about to witness it. Beside Priscilla, Aldebaran gripped his helmet, a sickening dread washing over him. He knew what "Return by Death" entailed.

Emotions ran wild. Some were skeptical, some were filled with dread, and some—like Anastasia and the artificial spirit of Echidna hiding in her scarf—were greedy for the intelligence they were about to gather on the wildcard of the Emilia Camp.

The lights dimmed. The screen flared to life. The viewing began.

The very first revelation shook the foundation of their understanding. Through the screen, they learned of Subaru’s true origins—that this loud, foolish boy was entirely from beyond the Great Waterfall, a world devoid of mana. But the awe of Earth was instantly incinerated by the horrors that followed.

What they witnessed was not a grand hero’s tale. It was the story of an utterly powerless, fragile human boy desperately trying to survive in a world filled with monsters, threats, and allies who would become his executioners.

In Arc 1, they watched him stumble into a dark, dusty loot house. They heard the sickening, wet sound of Elsa Granhiert’s blade slicing through his stomach. They watched Subaru choke on his own blood, dying three distinct times in unimaginable, visceral agony, all just to save a stubborn thief named Felt, a giant named Rom, and a silver-haired half-elf who had lied to him about her name.

Emilia wept bitterly in her seat, her hands covering her mouth to muffle her sobs as she realized the sheer, unadulterated agony he had endured just to see her smile once. In the fourth row, Reinhard van Astrea gripped his armrests until the wood cracked, feeling a profound, sickening uselessness that he had failed to save his friend from being butchered three times.

In Arc 2, the horror escalated from physical butchery to deep, psychological betrayal.

They watched him die in his sleep, his life extinguished by a curse before he even knew he was under attack. Then came the revelation that utterly shattered the Emilia Camp. They watched Subaru, confused and sick, crawl through the forest only to be brutally, mercilessly murdered by Rem. The sickening sound of her morningstar crushing his skull echoed relentlessly through the silent theater.

In the second row, Rem screamed, nearly tearing her own hair out in a fit of absolute, paralyzing self-loathing, while Ram held her back, her own eyes wide with shock and horror. They watched subsequent loops where the maids tortured him, killing him out of a twisted sense of "mercy."

Finally, they watched a terrified, crying, fundamentally broken Subaru willingly throw himself off a cliff onto jagged rocks, shattering his own body just to rewind time and save the very people who had distrusted, tortured, and murdered him.

The theater broke into violence. Knights tried to cut down the maids to stop the bloodshed. Some, unable to stomach the fact that their current peace was built upon a mountain of this boy’s mutilated corpses, turned their weapons on themselves in sheer, overwhelming guilt. But the Warden’s magic was absolute. A warm light enveloped anyone who tried to inflict self-harm, healing them instantly.

No harm shall come to anyone in this theater, the Warden commanded.

They were forced to sit and watch.

They watched him endure the pain, save the Arlam village, and gain the trust of the people. They watched how his desperate, bloody efforts finally broke through Rem’s insecurities, making the very girl who had murdered him fall deeply, irrevocably in love with him—a fact the boy on screen remained tragically oblivious to. It tempered the theater's anger toward Rem, though the scars of her actions remained visible in the eyes of everyone present.

Arc 3 brought the Royal Candidates to their knees in profound, suffocating guilt.

They watched Subaru’s humiliating, desperate outburst at the royal castle. It was a scene that made every candidate wince, suddenly understanding the profound insecurity, terror, and desperation behind his pathetic words. Emilia realized, with a soul-crushing weight, the devastating mistake she had made by leaving him alone in the capital when he needed her most.

They watched Julius beat him to a pulp in the arena, a memory the Finest of Knights now looked upon with immense, burning shame. Then came the slaughter of the Arlam villagers. The terrifying, stomach-churning introduction of Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti. They watched Subaru’s mind shatter entirely, his eyes dead and empty as he was carried by Rem. They watched Puck’s true contract freeze the world, the Great Spirit monstrously decapitating Subaru as Emilia lay dead.

Emilia watched in devastated horror as her father figure, the spirit she trusted most, coldly slaughtered the only person who truly cared for her. It tore her heart in two, leaving her deeply conflicted about ever wanting Puck back.

They watched the other camps—Crusch, Anastasia, and Priscilla—coldly reject Subaru's desperate, broken pleas for help, leaving the candidates drowning in their own political guilt. Only Priscilla remained unreadable in the back row, though even her ever-present fan had stopped fluttering.

But then came Rem’s speech. The famous “From Zero.”

The theater was deadly silent as the blue-haired maid on the screen poured her entire heart out to the broken boy, pulling him back from the abyss. They watched Subaru find his resolve, forge a brilliant alliance, and take down the White Whale. It was during this battle that Crusch Karsten, watching her past self on the screen, realized the undeniable truth of her own heart. She watched Subaru smile at her under the giant Flugel tree, and realized she had fallen entirely, deeply in love with him. Emilia and Rem, sitting nearby, noticed Crusch’s flushed face and tearful eyes, offering her a silent, tearful nod of understanding.

The ending of this arc was beautiful after successfully killing “Sloth”, He confesses his feelings to Emilia.

Yet, the happy ending was brutally snatched away. Rem’s name and memories, along with Crusch’s memories, were eaten by the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony. On screen, Subaru found Rem’s comatose body, and without a single second of hesitation, drove a dagger directly into his own throat to save them.

The maidens in love wailed in protest, completely heartbroken and furious at his willingness to discard his own life so easily. But then, the true horror of his cursed power settled over the room. After he killed himself, he woke up after the attack. The checkpoint had updated. He couldn't save her.

The sight of Subaru breaking down upon that realization crushed the theater. Felix Argyle felt a wave of shame so potent it made him nauseous. He, along with Ram and Anastasia, had thought Subaru was nothing but a coward who had failed to save his lady despite having power. After witnessing the absolute hell of Return by Death, Felix didn't know how he could ever look Subaru in the eye again.

Arc 4 pushed the cast to the absolute, frayed edges of their sanity.

The Witches. The Sanctuary. The impossible Trials. Subaru’s past was laid bare, allowing the cast to finally understand the root of his self-loathing. They watched Emilia’s constant failures, the brutal attack on the mansion, and Garfiel's feral betrayals.

But nothing prepared them for the Great Rabbit.

Watching Subaru being eaten alive from the inside out, hundreds of tiny, bloody jaws tearing at his flesh as he screamed in a snowy wasteland, caused several members of the audience to violently vomit. The theater echoed with sobs. How was he still sane? Was he even still human?

Doubt lingered like a poison as they watched Subaru begin to view his own life as a disposable tool, a currency to be spent for information. Then came the terrifying revelations of the Witches of Sin, Echidna's manipulative tea party, and the shocking reveal of Satella. Of all people, it was the Witch Of Envy who gave Subaru the advice he desperately needed: to love himself, to realize his life had value.

The monstrous, calculated betrayal of Roswaal L. Mathers created an atmosphere of thick, suffocating despair in the theater. In the back row, Many had to be physically restrained themselves to prevent them from executing him on the spot by the rest of the enraged cast.

But then on screen, Otto Suwen delivered a desperately needed punch to Subaru’s face. The loud smack of the merchant's fist was the turning point of the entire arc.

From that moment on, the tide turned. Subaru fought back without relying on death. He made a bet with Roswaal and won. He formed a brilliant, beautiful contract with Beatrice, rescuing her from four hundred years of crushing isolation. He saved the Sanctuary, orchestrated the defeat of the Great Rabbit, and finally, beautifully, earned the title of Emilia's knight.

When the screen faded on Arc 4, the theater erupted in genuine, tearful cheers. He had done it. He had survived the nightmare.

They turned to the second row, expecting the boy to finally open his eyes. But Subaru remained asleep. When they angrily demanded to know why, the Warden’s reply sent a collective chill down their spines:

"Because his suffering has not yet ended."

The Warden revealed that a year of peace had passed in their world between the end of Arc 4 and their current destination of Priestella and Natsuki Subaru has not died in that break. He offered them a choice: either they could either return to their world right now, retaining all these memories, or they could stay and watch the immediate future.

Terrified that they might fail him again, terrified of whatever horrors awaited them in Priestella, they agreed to watch. If we know what's coming, we can ease his burden, Anastasia had stated firmly—though her greed for information would soon backfire. Wilhelm nodded solemnly. We will not let him walk through hell alone again.

They unanimously agreed to watch ahead.

Arc 5 showed their arrival in Priestella and the immediate, terrifying chaos that ensued. They watched Greed, Regulus Corneas, casually bump into them on the street, sending chills down Emilia camp spines at how close they had been to sudden death. The Astrea family drama unfolded, and another tragic revelation took place: Garfiel and Frederica finding their mother alive in Priestella, married and stripped of her memories. The sight made the siblings weep in the theater, leading Otto to comfort Frederica in a quiet, tender moment that sparked a blossom of romance between them.

They watched in horror as Sirius Romanée-Conti plunged the city into madness, resulting in Subaru dying three brutal times. One of those deaths was caused indirectly by Reinhard, causing the Sword Saint to lose his perfect composure in the theater. Felt and Wilhelm had to console him, bringing the old man and the young knight closer together in their shared grief.

The battles against the Sin Archbishops—Sirius, Regulus, Capella, and the Gluttony siblings—were fierce and bloody. They watched in horror as the city was submerged, as innocent people were mutated into flies and dragons, and as Subaru's leg was horrifyingly corrupted by dragon blood, granting him a dark, regenerative ability.

Yet, he commanded unparalleled respect. He stepped up as a true, recognized hero. He fought with everything he had, rallying the terrified city with a broadcasted speech that brought tears to the eyes of everyone in the theater. They fought bravely and the result was a massive victory against the witch cult in centuries, Greed Died and Wrath Captured and others retreated.

This Arc was a barrage of revelations. They discovered Al's mysterious ability to loop. They learned Gluttony was actually three siblings. They discovered Felt's true lineage, proving her to be the missing princess. Anastasia's greed backfired spectacularly when her secret was laid bare to the room: the artificial spirit Echidna was hiding in her scarf, piloting her body.

But the most devastating blow was the revelation that Pandora was responsible for Theresia van Astrea's death. Both Wilhelm and Reinhard watched with burning, murderous intent toward the Witch of Vainglory, but their resolve turned to solemn despair as they watched how anger and resentment had broken their family apart on screen.

The aftermath of Priestella was a bitter pill. Crusch was cursed with boiling dragon blood. And worst of all, Julius Juukulius’s name was eaten by Gluttony, erasing the Finest of Knights from the world's memory, while his brother Joshua was left in a comatose state similar to Rem.

Before the next viewing began, the Warden quietly added Meili Portroute to the cast, allowing the young assassin to watch the upcoming horrors alongside the man who had spared her.

They could all easily say that it was Arc 6 that truly, fundamentally broke them.

The journey to the Pleiades Watchtower was a gauntlet of despair. The terrifying, pinpoint sniper fire from Shaula. The brutal, instantaneous deaths. The oppressive, suffocating miasma of the caves making them kill themselves, But none of the physical torment compared to the pure psychological horror of Subaru losing his memories.

The cast watched in absolute, paralyzing agony as an amnesiac Subaru woke up in the tower, entirely terrified of his own friends. They watched him descend into severe, violent paranoia. They watched him read his own Books of the Dead, realizing with mounting, mind-shattering horror the sheer number of times he had died to secure their futures.

They watched him compare his current, terrified self to the "Natsuki Subaru" everyone else knew—a heroic, infallible, god-like figure that he felt he could never, ever live up to. They watched him push everyone away, convinced they would murder him just as Rem had in Arc 2.

It was psychological torture. Julius, Emilia, and Beatrice wept openly in the theater as they watched their beloved friend tear his own mind apart from the inside.

But the reward for enduring that profound agony was a triumphant dawn. Subaru stood back up. Through the darkness of the shadow garden, he embraced his own flaws. He realized his own immeasurable worth.

"Natsuki Subaru isn't a superman," he had declared to himself on the screen. "But he is someone who will never, ever give up."

In the theater, the candidates who had once doubted him were entirely silenced. Anastasia now knew exactly who Natsuki Subaru was: an idiot who would die a thousand deaths to save the people he loved, a realization that filled her with both guilt and a profound, undeniable warmth. In the back row, Priscilla Barielle snapped her fan shut, a rare, genuine look of pride crossing her face—a reaction that shocked Al to his core.

Subaru orchestrated the clearing of the Watchtower. Julius earned his beautiful redemption against Reid. Ram claimed her revenge. And Meili, to the initial shock and subsequent tearful amusement of the theater, officially gained a father figure in Subaru.

Things turned deeply tragic when Shaula sacrificed herself, turning into a small scorpion, a loss that hung heavy over the cast.

But as the arc ended, on the final shot before the screen faded to black...

Rem finally opened her eyes.

The massive screen faded to absolute black. The theater was left in suffocating, emotional silence, unaware that the Warden had intentionally omitted the fact that Rem had woken up without her memories.

The journey was over. They were left satisfied that after all this suffering Subaru finally managed to save rem. Ram and Rem were hugging and crying and for everyone else they were looking with proud faces and were happy at Subaru for his accomplishment.

"I guess you all deserve a reward for watching through hell, much like Subaru did," the Warden spoke, his voice breaking the silence.

With a resonant snap of his shadowy fingers, a sharp, raspy gasp tore through the quiet air. Every single pair of eyes in the theater instantly locked onto one person.

Natsuki Subaru’s eyes shot open. He bolted upright, clutching his head, his chest heaving as he frantically looked around the dimly lit theater. He blinked, processing the faces staring at him, and immediately defaulted to his usual defense mechanism.

With a strained, highly sarcastic tone, he began, "Well, guess the secrets—"

He didn't even get to finish the sentence.

A tidal wave of bodies slammed into him. Emilia, Rem, and Beatrice hit him first, nearly tackling him out of the plush velvet seat. They wrapped their arms around him, burying their tear-stained faces into his tracksuit, shouting his name in a messy chorus of sobs and relief.

POV: Natsuki Subaru

He couldn't breathe, and it wasn't just because three girls were crushing his ribs.

Subaru stared blankly at the ceiling of the theater as the chaos erupted around him. This wasn't supposed to happen, his mind screamed, panic clawing at his throat.

He was not the kind of person to share his burden. He never was. If he could take all the suffering, all the death, and just keep it locked tightly inside himself, he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing. He believed he deserved it. The only person he had ever truly shown his pain to, the only one who had seen him at his absolute lowest, was Rem. And because of him, because of his weakness, she had been trapped in a coma.

He had convinced himself that sharing his pain would only ease his own mind, which was a disgusting, selfish thought. So, he had come to the conclusion that he had to endure everything alone. If he shared his problems, his friends would suffer because of him.

But at the Sanctuary, he had learned he was wrong. He couldn't do everything by himself. So, he had compromised. He decided to share his problems, the tactical hurdles, with his trusted friends—but he still kept the raw, visceral pain to himself. And it had worked. They solved the Sanctuary. He got to be Emilia's knight—a title he felt he probably didn't deserve—and he gained a lovely, cute little sister-daughter in Betty.

Beatrice was the greatest spirit. She was the only person in the world... well, not the only one, but the one who knew the truth of his nights. She knew the pain. She heard the crying in his sleep. She knew about the self-harming. It was pathetic. He felt so incredibly weak that he couldn't even stay alive without causing Betty pain and hurt by his own self-destructive habits. But she hadn't minded. She stayed with him.

A year flew by. It was a peaceful year. But peace was never really in his job description. An invitation from Anastasia to the Watergate City arrived. He was skeptical, and more than a little paranoid, but they had left the next day regardless.

Then, just before reaching the city, a flash of light happened, and everything went dark. He had been floating, or sitting, he didn't really know.

Sometime later, he had started regaining consciousness. All of a sudden, memories and feelings that were definitively not his flooded into his head.

He was horrified. They watched my journey?

He had seen it all through a strange, third-person perspective. He felt the cast's reactions to his journey from Arc 1 through Arc 6. He felt their overwhelming grief, their horror, their anger, and their pity. He had even watched them during the "breaks" the Warden provided, listening to their hushed conversations and private discussions. He knew what they thought. He even knew some of the secrets they were trying to hide.

He was perplexed. But more than that, he was utterly terrified. He was afraid that they would finally see what kind of failure he truly was. That they would realize what kind of monster he had to become to survive.

But then, as he processed the influx of their memories, he realized something that shattered his worldview. They were sorry.

Why? Why would they apologize? Wasn't it his fault for all the failures? Wasn't it his weakness that led to the deaths they had to watch?

Before he could question it further, his mind was pulled into the future—to the Watchtower, to the amnesia, to the horrifying realization of his own self-worth. He was hit with a tidal wave of emotions and thoughts, a chaotic storm of validation and terror.

And without giving him time to fully process it... he heard a snap.

His consciousness finally slammed back into his physical body. He gasped, clutching his head against the sudden exposure to the dim light, and looked around at the faces staring at him. He tried to defuse the tension, tried to make the situation light with a sarcastic quip, but he was immediately stopped as they jumped on him.

After the initial, messy reunion—which largely consisted of Subaru finally, loudly expressing his pain and suffering, crying openly into Rem's shoulder while apologizing profusely—the Warden finally intervened. With a swing of his shadowy hand, the grand double doors leading to the corridor swung open.

"I imagine this will be a rather long reunion," the Warden stated dryly. "You may spend it in a more comfortable setting. Return to the theater when you are ready to proceed."

The cast slowly migrated into the hallway, locating their respective replica rooms. What followed was a series of long, overdue conversations as the camps waited their turn to speak with the boy who had died for them all.

Subaru had a heart-to-heart with everyone.

The Emilia Camp

The room was crowded, but it felt warmer than it had in a year.

Emilia and Rem sat with him first. The conversation was incredibly lovely. They fully, unconditionally accepted him, flaws, deaths, and all. It was overwhelmingly wholesome, with both girls declaring their profound love and care for him. It also got a little spicy when the topic of the future came up, with Rem teasingly confirming she was still more than willing to share him, and Emilia, blushing furiously, nervously agreeing that perhaps marrying them both—or even a third, if Crusch was truly interested—wasn't entirely off the table.

Ram, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, scoffed loudly at the display. But when the laughter died down, Ram looked directly at him. Her gaze was softer than he had ever seen it. "You've done well, Barusu," she said quietly. And then, shocking everyone in the room, she added, "My foolish little brother."

Subaru’s eyes widened, and a fresh wave of tears threatened to spill.

Beatrice climbed into his lap next. She buried her face in his chest, her small fists gripping his jacket. She promised him, with fierce determination, that she would be the best spirit in the world for him. She declared, loudly and proudly, that she would forever be the guardian spirit of the Natsuki family.

Otto and Garfiel were next. They both looked at him with immense pride, though Subaru, true to form, immediately started his self-loathing routine, downplaying his achievements. This earned him a swift, synchronized dual-punch to the shoulders from his two brothers-in-arms. To get back at Otto, Subaru smirked and teased him about his luck with "cats" improving—a sly reference to the merchant's blooming connection with Frederica. Garfiel looked thoroughly confused, while Otto turned the color of a tomato.

Frederica stepped up, offering a deep, respectful bow. She thanked him profusely for his service to their family, but then, with a sharp glint in her eye, she threatened him not to speak another word about the "cat" comment. Subaru rapidly agreed, silently praying to whatever gods were listening for Otto's safety.

Petra rushed in next, holding a very hesitant Meili behind her. Subaru greeted Petra warmly. She threw her arms around him, crying, thanking him for never abandoning her or her village. Subaru smiled softly, giving her a gentle pat on the head.

Then, he looked at Meili. The young assassin was looking at him with genuine fear in her pale eyes, terrified that he would reject her now that her past was fully exposed to the room. It broke Subaru's heart. He walked over, knelt down, and looked her in the eyes. He reassured her, with absolute certainty, that they would bring Capella down together. He told her that he would protect her, and love her as a father should.

Meili’s tough exterior shattered. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she rushed forward, tackling him into a hug. Subaru returned it, pressing a kiss to her forehead and gently patting her hair. The others in the room sighed softly, watching the scene. They had already accepted Meili, but seeing Subaru claim her so fiercely solidified it completely.

The Crusch Camp

The atmosphere in Crusch's room was vastly different—heavy with unspoken words and profound emotion.

Crusch Karsten, fully restored and blushing furiously, didn't hesitate. She stepped forward and delivered a stunning, heartfelt confession. Subaru, his face turning an impossible shade of red, looked nervously toward Rem and Emilia, who had accompanied him. To his shock, they both offered encouraging nods of approval. Trembling, Subaru accepted, pulling the Duchess into a tight hug. He whispered that it felt "heavenly," causing a deep, crimson blush to spread across Crusch’s face, while Rem and Emilia immediately puffed out their cheeks in cute, jealous pouts.

Subaru thought it was adorable. (Meanwhile, in their respective rooms, Al, Garfiel, and Otto all simultaneously sneezed, a collective "lucky bastard" passing through their thoughts).

Felix’s conversation was deeply awkward. The healer couldn't look Subaru in the eye at first. He apologized profusely for ever thinking Subaru hadn't tried to save Crusch at the Flugel tree, and he apologized for the horrifying consequence of the dragon blood during Arc 5. Subaru stopped him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder, and accepted him fully as a friend.

Felix’s ears twitched, a shadow passing over his face. He warned Subaru, in a tone entirely devoid of his usual playful 'nya', that if he ever made Crusch cry, a fate far worse than death awaited him. Subaru gulped, desperately hoping Felix was joking. (In the void, the Warden chuckled, deciding it was best not to show them the Re:Forgotten routes).

Wilhelm was the last. The Sword Demon first offered his solemn approval of Subaru’s relationship with his lady. He then bowed deeply, thanking Subaru for giving him the motivation to finally speak with Reinhard and begin mending his family. Then, Wilhelm asked a question that made Subaru's brain completely stall.

Would he consider officially joining the Astrea family?

Subaru’s execution software crashed. He stumbled over his words, expressing his sheer excitement, but quickly frowned, arguing that bringing his cursed, controversial name into the prestigious Astrea lineage was too great a risk. Wilhelm smiled warmly, assuring him that the family name would be honored to have him. Subaru, overwhelmed, admitted he was incredibly happy, and promised he would seriously think about it.

The Felt Camp

Felt didn't bother with words at first. She launched herself at him, hugging him tightly, tears streaming down her face until Subaru gave her a comforting head pat.

They quickly fell back into their usual, sibling-like banter. During the exchange, an idea sparked in Subaru's mind. He looked at the scrappy blonde and asked, entirely seriously, "Why don't you join my family?"

Felt’s execution software also stopped working. She had only ever called him 'Big Bro' as an affectionate nickname; she had never thought he would genuinely want to legally adopt her as his little sister. Her face erupted in a violent blush. She turned on her heel and bolted from the room without giving an answer, leaving a very confused Subaru behind.

Reinhard stepped up to apologize for her abrupt exit, but Subaru stopped him. Subaru looked the Sword Saint in the eye and gave him his genuine feelings. He told Reinhard that he didn't see him as a monster, or a flawless god, or a weapon. He saw him as a friend. His first friend in this world. He promised that he would help Reinhard with anything he asked, because he knew the Sword Saint wasn't perfect.

They shared a deeply emotional moment, and Subaru, grinning, casually mentioned that maybe he would end up joining Rein's family soon too. Now, it was Reinhard’s turn for his brain to completely stop working.

The Anastasia Camp

His talk with Julius quickly dissolved from formal apologies into fun, sharp banter, solidifying a deep and unwavering friendship between the knight and the fool.

His interaction with Ricardo and the Pearlbaton triplets was chaotic and wholesome, ending with Subaru hugging and petting the siblings, showering them with affection.

Then came the conversation with Echidna—the Foxidna. It quickly devolved into Subaru aggressively petting her artificial fur and playing with her ears until she was audibly purring. Anastasia, watching her revered spirit mother act like a housecat, was utterly shocked and let out a loud, pointed cough to bring them back to reality.

Subaru finally turned his attention to the merchant queen. However, before he began, he called Otto into the room, flatly stating that he sucked at negotiations. Anastasia clicked her tongue in sheer irritation at the merchant's arrival.

Subaru laid his cards on the table. He offered his knowledge of Earth—its concepts, its inventions, its ideas—but with many, many strict rules and binding pacts. It was a brutal business deal, with Subaru and Otto dictating the main conditions. Anastasia was furious at first, but with a defeated, exhausted sigh, she accepted the incredibly lucrative, yet highly restricted, terms.

Before moving out of the room, Subaru suddenly sits beside Anastasia and holds her hand. Her Breath hitched. Subaru promises to fix her od situation once they get out of this theatre. When Anastasia asked why what she got was an unexpected response “Because in my happy ending I want to you see you smile as it makes me very happy” and then he turn back and get out of the room. Foxidna felt some juicy conversions are coming.

The Priscilla Camp

His talk with Al was exactly as he expected: chill. They shared a quiet conversation about the burden of their respective abilities. Subaru knew Al was hiding secrets, specifically a connection to Echidna, but he chose not to push it. They were both Earthlings, and that shared understanding was enough for now.

His meeting with Priscilla was shockingly brief. The Sun Princess looked down at him, her fan folded. "You are a great man, Natsuki Subaru," she stated, speaking with uncharacteristic respect and actually using his full name.

Both Subaru and Al were shell-shocked. Subaru, trying to capitalize on the moment, asked if they could be friends. Priscilla merely "hmph'd" and turned away, leaving the room. Subaru looked at Al, asking if his lady was secretly a tsundere. Al just shrugged helplessly.

Before heading back to the main theater, Subaru had one final, necessary stop. He went to a secluded room at the end of the hall.

He needed to meet Roswaal.

Now that Roswaal was fully aware of the mechanics of Return by Death, he was the ultimate variable factor. Subaru didn't know what the Lord of the Domain would do next. But what conflicted Subaru most was the fact that he knew what Roswaal had been feeling during the viewing. He had felt the man's extreme guilt, his horrifying realization, and his ultimate acceptance. Subaru was confused. How could an inhuman monster like Roswaal feel those emotions in the first place?

"Suuuubaru-kun," the clown purred as the boy entered. "Why are you heeeere?"

"I want to change the oath I took during Arc 4," Subaru answered flatly.

Roswaal's mismatched eyes widened, deeply intrigued. But before they could continue the deadly dance of words, the door swung open.

The entire Emilia Camp walked in. Emilia, Rem, Ram, Garfiel, Otto, Beatrice, Frederica, and Petra with Meili. They flooded the room, standing behind Subaru in a unified, unbreakable front.

Subaru was surprised, but then he sighed, a small, genuine smile touching his lips. He accepted their help. He wasn't alone anymore. They would decide what to do with Roswaal once they returned to the real world, together.

With that final burden lifted, the cast slowly made their way back to their rooms, finally allowing themselves to sleep in peace.

The next morning felt unreal in the softest way possible.

After everything the theater had dragged them through, after six arcs of blood and grief and impossible revelations, after Subaru’s awakening and the long, tearful night of reunions that had followed, one might have expected panic to greet the dawn. Suspicion, perhaps. Or anger. Or at the very least the renewed, sharp-edged awareness that they were all still trapped inside an impossible place ruled by an impossible being.

Instead, what greeted them was something far stranger.

Peace.

Not complete peace, of course. No one who had watched Natsuki Subaru die that many times could ever return to the simple innocence they had once worn. There were still too many questions. Too many things unsaid. Too many futures waiting beyond the walls of the Warden’s theater. But for the first time since they had been taken from the road to Priestella, the cast woke not to dread, but to a fragile, almost embarrassed sort of calm.

It was the quiet that came after surviving the end of the world and finding breakfast waiting for you anyway.

Each of them rose in their assigned rooms with the lingering awareness that yes, they were technically still prisoners, and yes, the Warden still held total control over the strange realm around them, and yes, any being who could casually restore memories, halt violence, and force Reinhard van Astrea himself into immobility was not the sort of host one ever truly forgot.

But still.

Morning came.

Beds were warm. Water was hot. Food appeared. The corridor beyond the rooms remained still and golden in the half-light. And because the theater had already stripped all pride and pretense from them over the previous “days,” there was something almost domestic about the routine that followed.

Subaru woke first to the familiar weight of Beatrice tucked against him.

She had refused, quite firmly and with much blushing outrage, to let anyone interpret the sleeping arrangements the wrong way the previous night. Emilia, Rem, and even Crusch had all, in their own very different ways, offered to stay with him. Emilia had been shy but earnest, Rem heartbreakingly tender, and Crusch composed enough that only the pink at the tips of her ears betrayed her. Subaru, half dead from emotional exhaustion and with his dignity already hanging by a thread, had somehow managed to reject all three while insisting it was too soon and that he would probably combust if he woke up surrounded by that much beauty.

Beatrice had declared them all fools.

Then she had climbed onto his bed with crossed arms, announced that Betty always slept with her contractor when he was emotionally unstable, in fact, and proceeded to curl against him with the imperious certainty of a cat claiming territory.

Subaru had gone to sleep smiling so hard it had actually hurt.

Now he opened his eyes slowly and stared up at the ceiling for a long moment, one hand resting automatically atop Beatrice’s hair.

The last few days replayed in fragments.

The road to Priestella.

The flash of light.

The theater.

The viewing.

The deaths.

The tears.

The impossible, shaking relief of finally being seen.

He still did not fully know what to do with that part.

For so long he had been convinced that if the truth of Return by Death ever escaped him, if anyone ever truly knew what he had suffered and how often he had died and how many ugly, desperate, pathetic versions of himself littered the roads of dead timelines, they would recoil. Even the people who loved him most. Even the people who forgave more than they should. Somewhere deep inside, that fear had sunk its claws too deep to be pulled free in a single night.

And yet.

They had seen.

And they had not looked at him like a monster.

Emilia had kissed his forehead and told him she loved him.

Rem had chosen him again with open eyes.

Ram had called him little brother.

Beatrice had declared herself guardian spirit of the Natsuki family with all the solemnity of a royal decree.

Garfiel and Otto had punched him out of self-loathing and then told him they were proud of him.

Meili had cried in his arms.

Crusch had confessed.

Even people who had once doubted him, misjudged him, or been used by him and against him alike had looked at his suffering and chosen compassion over fear.

The thought was so overwhelming that Subaru had to shut his eyes for a second.

“Your heart is being loud again, I suppose,” Beatrice mumbled sleepily against his side.

He glanced down and smiled.

“Morning, Beako.”

She cracked one turquoise eye open and sniffed. “Good morning, in fact. If you start crying this early, Betty will bite you.”

“No tears,” Subaru promised. “Only grateful internal screaming.”

“That is acceptable.”

He laughed under his breath.

Then, because the world apparently had no intention of letting him process anything at a normal speed anymore, Beatrice stretched, yawned, and said with complete seriousness, “If this is to become your normal, then Betty must begin planning for a larger household. Emilia, Rem, Crusch, perhaps Meili in some fashion, possibly Felt if she stops malfunctioning, and children. Many children.”

Subaru stared at the ceiling.

“Too early,” he whispered.

“Coward.”

By the time he had washed, dressed, and finished the breakfast the Warden had somehow arranged in his room, Subaru felt almost steady again. Not healed. That would have been too easy. But steadier. Enough to walk into the corridor without feeling like he might collapse under the weight of everyone’s memory.

He did not make it far.

The moment he stepped outside, Emilia and Rem were already there, as if they had coordinated the ambush in advance.

Emilia’s silver hair gleamed softly in the morning light of the hallway. Rem’s blue hair framed a face still a little tender from yesterday’s tears, but bright now in a way that made his chest warm. They both smiled the second they saw him, and Subaru barely had time to return the greeting before Emilia leaned in and kissed his right cheek.

Rem, not to be outdone, kissed the left.

Subaru froze so hard he nearly dropped dead on the spot from completely unrelated causes.

“G-good morning?” he squeaked.

Emilia giggled.

Rem’s smile turned just a little smug. “Good morning, Subaru-kun.”

He went scarlet all the way to the ears.

Somewhere behind him, Beatrice let out a tiny, long-suffering sigh.

“If this is your routine now,” the spirit muttered, “then Betty supposes all the suffering may have been worth it. Only a little, though.”

Subaru recovered just enough to let Emilia take his right hand and Rem his left, and the three of them continued down the corridor that way, Beatrice walking just behind with all the dignified resignation of a younger sister watching her idiot brother stumble into happiness feet first.

They encountered others along the way.

Otto emerged from his room buttoning his coat, took one look at Subaru being led like a blushing criminal between two radiant women, and sighed so deeply it seemed rehearsed.

“Your mornings are becoming a threat to public order.”

“Jealousy looks bad on you, Otto-suw—ow!”

Garfiel had apparently been waiting nearby specifically to clap Subaru on the back hard enough to jolt the insult out of him.

“Mornin’, Captain!” he barked, grinning far too brightly for this hour. “Try not ta die from nosebleed before breakfast’s digested!”

Frederica appeared a moment later and greeted Subaru with graceful warmth, then nodded to Otto in a way so subtle most people would have missed it. Subaru, unfortunately for Otto, did not miss it at all. The merchant went faintly pink. Frederica’s lips curved. Petra, standing nearby, noticed absolutely everything and filed it away with the keen-eyed vengeance of a twelve-year-old girl who had chosen observation as her weapon.

Then came Felt.

The blonde thief-turned-candidate stepped into the corridor looking as though she had already lost an argument with herself before sunrise. The instant her eyes landed on Subaru, she stiffened.

Subaru, who had absolutely not forgotten his spur-of-the-moment offer to make her his legal little sister, brightened at once.

“Morning, Felt.”

Felt’s face turned red enough to qualify as dangerous. “Y-yeah. Morning, big bro.”

She said it too fast. Too loud. Then glared at the floor as though it had betrayed her personally.

Subaru opened his mouth.

Reinhard, appearing behind her with the speed of a man used to intercepting disasters, gently rested a hand on her shoulder.

“Good morning, Subaru.”

“Morning, Reinhard.”

Felt shot Subaru one last mortified look and stomped ahead toward the theater before he could say anything else. Reinhard lingered half a second longer, and though his expression remained composed, there was unmistakable amusement flickering at the edges.

“Please be kind,” he said.

Subaru blinked. “I am kind!”

Reinhard smiled and kept walking.

Then came Anastasia.

Or rather, first came Foxidna in scarf form, then Anastasia one pace behind, looking entirely too composed for a woman who had apparently spent the latter half of yesterday blushing herself into an early grave. She greeted the group smoothly enough, but when Subaru offered a cheerful, “Morning, Ana,” she nearly tripped over nothing.

Subaru tilted his head.

Anastasia refused to meet his eyes.

Otto, observing from a safe distance, pinched the bridge of his nose.

Al noticed too, because of course he did. He leaned against the wall farther down the hall, helmet tilted in a way that radiated insufferable smugness.

“Oh, this morning’s gonna be good,” he said.

Subaru stuck his tongue out at him. “You say that every morning.”

“And I’m usually right.”

Meili appeared near the theater entrance, half hidden behind Petra until Subaru spotted her. The moment he did, his whole face softened.

“Morning, menace.”

Meili sniffed. “Morning, idiot.”

Then Subaru promptly crouched down, opened his arms, and made grabby hands at her like she was an overgrown housecat.

She huffed with scandalized dignity for all of two seconds before allowing herself to be scooped into a hug. Subaru ruffled her hair mercilessly. Meili complained the entire time. The warmth in her eyes gave away the lie.

That scene drew laughter from Al, Ricardo, and Garfiel almost immediately.

“Look at him,” Ricardo barked with delight. “Already actin’ like a damn father!”

“I’m an extremely cool dad,” Subaru declared.

“You’re a cringe dad,” Meili muttered into his shoulder.

“I accept these terms.”

And then Crusch arrived.

It should not have hit him that hard.

It was not as though she had transformed overnight into a different person. It was not even the clothes; while elegant as ever, they were not especially more revealing or ornate than what she normally wore. No, the thing that knocked the breath out of him was simpler than that.

Her hair had been styled differently.

Just enough to frame her face more softly.

Just enough to make the strength in her features look gentler rather than less powerful.

And when she saw him, she smiled.

Not the formal, reserved curve she used at court. Not the thoughtful expression of a military commander weighing outcomes. It was warm. Bright. Intimate in the small, devastating way of a person letting herself be happy on purpose.

Subaru’s brain shut off for a second.

Crusch crossed the remaining distance with calm self-possession, opened her arms, and embraced him before he could embarrass himself too severely. Subaru hugged her back on instinct, still dazed enough that when Emilia and Rem stepped in to join the embrace from either side, he simply accepted his fate and melted into the center of a four-person catastrophe.

Petra, watching from a few steps away, pouted so hard it became a physical force.

Frederica quietly said something to Otto about “proper opportunities” and “choosing the correct time,” which turned the merchant into a man freshly acquainted with death.

Most of the others were too busy laughing to notice.

By the time everyone had gathered inside the theater and drifted back toward their familiar seats, the room felt entirely different from when they had first been brought there.

The arrangement remained the same.

Crusch at the center of the front row, with Felix and Wilhelm guarding her left side.

Subaru dead center in the second row, Beatrice once again in his lap, Emilia at his right, Rem at his left, Meili to Emilia’s other side.

Otto directly behind Subaru with Garfiel, Frederica, and Petra nearby.

Felt and Reinhard to one side, Anastasia and Julius near the center-right with Ricardo and the triplets farther over.

Priscilla and Al in the back-left area, Roswaal and Ram farther right.

But the emotional geography had shifted utterly.

There were glances now. Smiles. Embarrassed little hesitations. Bonds acknowledged where before they had gone unnamed. Family forming itself in the cracks left behind by horror.

It was, therefore, the ideal moment for Subaru to destroy his own dignity.

He looked toward the shadowed space near the screen where the Warden usually appeared and raised a hand.

“Uh, Warden? Quick question.”

The room quieted.

Subaru coughed into his fist and, with more courage than wisdom, continued, “When all this is over... hypothetically speaking... I’d like to spend some time alone with my girlfriends. Y’know.”

The second he said the word alone, several expressions in the theater changed.

Felix covered his mouth.

Otto whispered, “Oh no.”

And then Felt, traitorous little goblin that she was, cupped her hands around her mouth and called out, “Big bro, try to keep it in your pants!”

The theater detonated.

Emilia made a sound like a kettle being dropped off a cliff.

Rem turned red from neck to ears.

Crusch covered her face with one hand and still somehow managed to look dignified while combusting.

Subaru sprang to his feet so abruptly Beatrice nearly slid off his lap.

“Th-that is not what I meant!” he yelped, flailing wildly. “I was talking about dates! Walks! Picnics! Hand-holding! Maybe nice dinners! Romantic but wholesome activities!”

Al was on him instantly.

“Bro,” he said, voice heavy with the pity of a man who lived to make things worse, “I totally get it. But you’ve gotta understand, with three girls? That requires stamina.”

Subaru pointed at him like a betrayed prophet. “Stop helping!”

Julius, to everyone’s astonishment, decided to join in.

“As a knight and your friend, Subaru,” he said gravely, “I believe gentleness and consideration are essential virtues in matters of affection.”

Ricardo lost what little remained of his composure and began laughing so hard he actually slapped his own knee.

Then Anastasia, because there was no justice in the world, leaned forward with foxlike delight in her eyes and delivered the finishing blow.

“My, my, Natsuki-kun. After all that dyin’ and sufferin’, I suppose ya have built up quite the stamina. But greedy boys shouldn’t bite off more than they can chew. Three ladies is a mighty heavy burden.”

That did it.

The entire theater erupted into open laughter.

Even Reinhard covered his mouth to hide a smile. Wilhelm looked heavenward as if asking Theresia for patience. Ram muttered “disgusting” with suspiciously little venom. Priscilla’s fan hid an openly amused expression. Roswaal was laughing outright, which somehow made it worse.

Subaru dropped back into his seat and buried his face in both hands.

“I hate all of you.”

“No you don’t,” Emilia said sweetly, patting his arm.

“No,” Rem agreed, smiling far too beautifully for someone participating in his murder, “Subaru-kun loves everyone here.”

“Especially the ones with stamina,” Meili added.

“Meili!”

The laughter took a while to die down after that. Even once it faded, the room remained lighter than it had been since this ordeal began. It was Anastasia who finally guided the moment back toward seriousness, though not before a few people noticed something subtle: she addressed Subaru by name now.

Just Subaru, once, in a tone warm enough that more than one pair of eyes slid sideways toward her.

Then she turned toward the front of the theater and spoke clearly.

“Now that Subaru is awake, and we’ve finished Arc Six... what happens next, Warden? Do you send us back? Or are you asking us to stay and watch more of the future?”

The last word chilled the room.

Because yes, some of them were curious.

Rem had awakened at the end of the screen. There were answers still hidden there. Consequences still waiting. Priestella remained ahead of them in the world they had left behind.

But the thought of watching more, while Subaru sat among them awake this time? The thought of dragging him through more deaths, more pain, more stripped-open memories with his lovers and friends forced to witness it beside him?

No.

No one wanted that.

Not really.

Not even Subaru, who had spent so long thinking his suffering was easier to bear alone, could stomach the idea of seeing those faces beside him for more of it.

Shadow flowed upward near the screen.

The Warden appeared, pale eyes glowing in the dark mass of his form.

“You have reached the end of the first viewing,” he said. “And so I will now offer you three choices.”

That immediately pulled everyone upright.

Three?

“Your first option is simple,” the Warden continued. “Return to your world now, carrying every memory you have gained here, including knowledge of the immediate future.”

Several people reacted at once.

“We should take that,” Felix said immediately. “Crusch-sama can be protected. We can prepare!”

“It would allow us to move first rather than react,” Julius said, thoughtful.

Otto nodded slowly. “If we know what’s coming in Priestella, that alone could save hundreds.”

Ram crossed her arms. “The obvious choice.”

Reinhard remained quiet, but his expression suggested the same conclusion. So did Wilhelm’s.

Even Emilia looked tempted.

The Warden went on. “Your second option is to remain here and continue watching the future.”

More than half the room frowned immediately.

Before anyone could speak, the Warden added, “The future is more painful.”

That did not help his case.

Garfiel grimaced. “How the hell can it get worse?”

“Please do not answer that,” Otto said quickly.

Beatrice’s arms tightened around Subaru’s middle.

Emilia’s lips parted slightly, then pressed together again.

Crusch frowned. “If the suffering intensifies, then I doubt this option will be widely welcome.”

“That depends on necessity,” Anastasia said, though even she sounded reluctant.

Subaru didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The tension in his shoulders said enough.

The Warden let the silence hold for a moment longer before speaking again.

“Your third option,” he said, and paused just long enough to build proper anticipation, “is to watch something different.”

Several heads tilted in unison.

Otto spoke first this time, tone serious again. “Different how?”

Anastasia leaned forward. “A different time? A different world? A different person?”

The Warden answered with a single word.

“Multiverse.”

Confusion swept the room like a gust.

Subaru and Al, meanwhile, reacted as though someone had set off an explosion under their chairs.

“What?!” they shouted in perfect unison.

Now everyone was looking at them.

Emilia blinked. “Subaru?”

Crusch’s gaze sharpened. “You understand this term?”

Subaru sat up straighter, already preparing to explain, but the Warden lifted one shadowed hand.

“Sit,” he said.

Subaru sat.

“I will explain.”

And explain he did, though with surprising patience.

He began simply.

“A multiverse,” the Warden said, “is the existence of countless parallel worlds rather than a single, solitary reality. Different choices. Different outcomes. Different histories. In some worlds only a small detail changes. In others, entire civilizations, laws, or truths are altered.”

The room absorbed that in uneven stages.

Roswaal understood first.

His yellow eye narrowed, then widened with academic hunger. “Ahhh. Divergent branches of possibility given full independent existence.”

Priscilla grasped it nearly as quickly, though her understanding came with the disdainful boredom of someone who refused to look impressed by anything. “So the world splinters endlessly each time circumstance bends.”

Anastasia’s eyes gleamed. “A merchant’s nightmare and dream at once.”

For everyone else, it remained abstract until the Warden provided examples.

“Yes,” he said. “For instance, Natsuki Subaru’s power already teaches part of this truth. Different choices lead to different worlds.”

The screen behind him darkened and then shimmered faintly, as though responding to his words.

“If Subaru had never involved himself in the loot house during his first days in Lugunica,” the Warden said, “the Beast of the End would later have frozen much of the capital.”

A visible shudder rippled through the room.

Emilia went pale.

“If he had done nothing in the mansion during Arc Two, Rem would have died.”

Ram’s face soured instantly. Rem went cold. Subaru flinched.

The Warden spread his hands. “The point is simple. Change the choice. Change the road. Change the world. Such branches become what some call If stories.”

That landed.

Now they understood.

Now the room had the same strained quiet of people staring over the edge of something too large to measure.

The Warden snapped his fingers.

The lights dimmed. The giant screen turned black for one suspended beat and then came alive, not with motion, but with an image.

The entire room froze.

Beatrice made a tiny, horrified sound first.

The Warden’s voice cut through the silence.

“What if Subaru continued patching himself together by reading the Books of the Dead?”

The dread that followed was immediate and thick enough to taste.

Emilia’s hands flew to her mouth.

Rem’s eyes shone with fresh pain.

Julius looked stricken, because he understood better than most what those books had cost.

Subaru stared at the white-haired version of himself and felt ice run through his veins.

“He looks...” Petra whispered.

“Happy” Otto finished for her.

“Wrong,” Beatrice said flatly. “That is not acceptable, in fact.”

Before the feeling could settle, the Warden moved on.

The room recoiled before the Warden even spoke.

“What if Subaru took the hand of the Witch of Greed,” the Warden said, “and died one hundred million times in pursuit of a perfect future?”

Shock was not strong enough a word.

Emilia went white.

Rem’s expression hollowed with horror.

Otto looked physically ill. Garfiel actually rose halfway from his seat before forcing himself back down. Beatrice clutched Subaru’s shirt so hard his lapel wrinkled.

“One hundred... million?” Frederica whispered.

Felix made a strangled noise that might have been either grief or nausea.

Roswaal, horrifyingly, stared at the image with the fascinated stillness of a man glimpsing his ideal. That did not go unnoticed.

“I hate that picture,” Subaru said immediately.

“That is because your instincts remain functional,” Ram replied.

A few people, desperate for relief, asked the obvious.

“Are they all terrible?” Felt demanded. “Do you only collect nightmare versions of big bro?”

The Warden inclined his head slightly. “I can provide alternatives.”

The screen shifted again.

The entire theater softened at once.

Rem inhaled sharply.

Subaru stared with wide, helpless eyes.

It was beautiful. Almost painfully so. A peace so domestic and complete that it hurt to imagine and hurt more to imagine losing.

The Warden, perhaps sensing he did not need to explain, remained silent for a moment.

Everyone understood what branch it suggested.

Ram was the first to recover enough to speak.

“Hmph. At least my sister’s taste does not worsen in every world.”

Rem’s cheeks flushed crimson.

Petra squealed quietly. Mimi full-on squealed loudly. Ricardo laughed and said something about Subaru looking like he aged into a respectable idiot. Emilia looked at the image with a complex expression—there was tenderness in it, and sorrow, and no small amount of wistful jealousy—but when she turned toward Rem, what she offered was a smile rather than resentment.

Subaru, for his part, looked wrecked.

“Happy and sad,” he admitted softly when Beatrice glanced up at him.

Rem lowered her eyes, clutching at the vision of the child that would never quite be theirs and yet somehow still was, somewhere.

The screen changed again.

For one heartbeat, the theater did not react.

Then Anastasia spat out her tea.

Subaru made a noise like a dying engine.

The Warden’s tone held clear amusement. “What if Subaru arrived in Kararagi instead of Lugunica?”

Chaos.

Absolute chaos.

Al slapped his knee so hard the sound echoed.

Ricardo howled with laughter.

Foxidna, after one lazy flick of her tail, said in a voice of perfect satisfaction, “I approved a long time ago.”

That somehow made it worse. Anastasia clutched her chest. “Mother!”

Emilia, Rem, and Crusch all reacted in their own ways.

Emilia blinked rapidly and then smiled in a manner just a little too polite.

Rem’s expression went soft and dangerous in the way only a very sweet person could manage.

Crusch crossed one leg over the other and said nothing at all, which was somehow the most intimidating reaction.

Felt laughed until she nearly fell sideways into Reinhard.

The screen changed yet again.

The theater forgot how to breathe.

Al straightened so fast his chair creaked.

Priscilla’s fan stopped mid-wave.

The Warden supplied the explanation with almost malicious calm. “What if Subaru had not lost his pride and had not licked her toes?”

Subaru’s head snapped up. “Can we stop phrasing it like that forever?”

“No,” Ram said.

Reactions came in layers.

Shock first, because Priscilla and Subaru made no sense to almost anyone there.

Then dawning recognition, because if multiverse branches truly twisted circumstance enough, then yes, even something that absurd could exist.

And finally amusement.

Ricardo was already laughing again.

Felt was gasping for air.

Mimi shouted, “Priscilla has a type?!” and then had to duck the deadly look that followed.

Al leaned toward Subaru. “Bro pulled a NTR on me.That’s cold.”

Subaru whipped around in outrage. “I would never do that to you!”

“Thanks, man. Means a lot.”

Priscilla snapped her fan shut with enough force to suggest she was imagining multiple murders. “Both of you are intolerable.”

While the others reacted aloud, Felt had gone strangely quiet.

The images on the screen, ridiculous and impossible as some were, had proven a point she had not expected to matter so much. If there were worlds where Subaru belonged beside Anastasia or Priscilla, then there could be worlds where he belonged more directly to her camp too. Worlds where he stayed with her. Fought beside her. Maybe—

A voice touched her mind then, smooth as shadow.

Yes.

Felt went still.

The Warden did not look at her, but she knew the answer was his.

Yes, there are worlds where Subaru becomes part of your camp.

Her pulse jumped.

And then the Warden added, only for her:

You would not wish to see the most obvious of them. In that world, your feelings for him cease to be sisterly.

Felt nearly choked.

Nope. Absolutely not.

She loved him, sure, but as her idiot big brother. The very thought of anything else hit her with so much immediate, full-body rejection that she actually shivered. Felt folded her arms, glared at the screen like it had personally insulted her, and decided then and there that some branches of possibility deserved to stay buried forever.

The Warden spoke again to the whole theater. “There are many more.”

He snapped his fingers. Now the screen began cycling through images in rapid, tantalizing flashes.

A collective hiss of disgust.

Al and Ricardo glanced having the same thought He conquered her too.

Ricardo whistle.

"Cap' Looks So Cool" Garfiel shouted while punching air.

Emilia went wide eye An Elf?  She thought.

Beatrice looked deeply offended and deeply curious at once.

Roswaal burned with envy.

All three maidens hold Subaru hard.

"Bro is drowning while we die from thirst" Al said which made Ricardo and others laugh.

She looks pretty Subaru thought while looking mesmerized.

All three maiden looked at him with pouts.

Everyone recoiled.

Meili hissed.

“Burn that world,” Garfiel said immediately.

"So Bro collects hair from superheroes eh?" Al makes a comment to stir some drama and it worked.

Ram helped "Disgusting. Barusu if I found Rem's hair in your closet then I will take off your manhood."

"NEE-SAMA" Subaru and Rem Shouted in unison while looking like fresh Tomatoes.

"Oh its the ________"Al said.

Subaru blinked. “Those looked like a completely different franchise.”

No one understood him, but Al nodded solemnly.

Many eyes widen upon seeing Reinhard fighting with Subaru?

"What in the SHONEN JUMP IS THIS?" Al shouted while genuinely shocked.

"Reinhard in my world wait-" Subaru quickly turn to look at Warden who had anticipated this and then he just snapped again.

Felt brain froze

Subaru sat up from the chair while both hand reaching the back of his head and betty falls down (lol)

Reinhard jaw dropped seeing his lady actually working out.

Anastasia eyes went to felt's bust then she felt envy while looking down.

Theatre froze.

No one reacted until

Subaru and Al split out the imaginary water they had been holding it in. Why they did that?

Cause for fun Warden made them understand English for a second.

For the first time Priscilla had a tiny blush on her cheeks which was only noticed by Warden.

Many gasped at what they were seeing an adult Subaru? Otto looking handsome? Wilhelm looking different and Priscilla again with Subaru?

Fredrica had a blush while looking at Otto.

"Subaru-kun looks so hot" Rem said while saliva drooling from her mouth, Emilia and Crusch nodded in acknowledgment.

"Where's Betty I suppose ?" Beatrice questioned why she wasn't involved in his life on Earth.

Al and Subaru went pale.

Warden whispered to himself "It's a shame no one had thought of this idea for a Fanfic".

"Isn't it ironic" Warden said with deep tone.

Many were confused by this statement.

Crusch was happy to see herself with Subaru but also conflicted that they were in the middle some war.

Reinhard went still.

Felt somehow went scarlet.

Subaru chocked in his own saliva.

Knights began to sweat.

Children began to scream and then closed their eyes.

Roswaal began to sweat at the sheer magical power of that undead skeleton.

"Ok what kind of cursed crossover is this?" Subaru asked the warden.

Warden said with indifference "Ask Tappei"

"Who?" Subaru asked.

"EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Subaru and Al screamed in unison.

Everyone covered their ears. 

After Subaru and Al calmed down they looked at warden then at the screen then at Warden.

Al asked "Are you not afraid bro?" to warden.

"Why?'"

Subaru replied with a worried tone "Copyright"

"NO " 

That one changed the room.

Crusch drew in a sharp breath and then, before she could stop them, tears welled over.

Felix stared at the image like he had been struck. Fourier. Alive. Smiling. Beside Subaru as though they had years of friendship between them.

Several of the knights recognized him at once, and their silence carried a grief all its own.

Wilhelm bowed his head.

Julius’s expression grew distant and solemn.

Subaru looked from the screen to Crusch, to Felix, and then back again. The ache in his chest had returned—not from his own pain this time, but from theirs.

That was enough.

He stood.

Everyone turned toward him.

Subaru exhaled slowly and looked at the Warden. “Okay. That’s enough.”

The Warden did not interrupt.

Subaru swept a hand toward the screen full of infinite tempting tragedies and beautiful impossibilities. “I get it. Multiverse. Different roads, different endings, different romances, different disasters. Some of those look cool. Some of them look absolutely cursed. But...” He glanced sideways toward Emilia, Rem, Crusch, Beatrice, Felt, Anastasia, even Felix and Crusch again where Fourier’s image still stung. “I’m tired of watching myself. And honestly? If Natsuki Subaru is in any of those stories, then there’s probably pain and death tied up in all of them somehow.”

Several people shifted uneasily, because he was right.

Subaru smiled faintly, but it was a tired smile. “I’m sure some of them end well. I’m sure some of them are even worth seeing. But maybe not now.”

One by one, heads nodded.

Emilia touched his arm lightly in silent agreement.

Rem lowered her gaze and smiled.

Crusch dried her tears and straightened.

Even Anastasia, who had very obviously been mentally pricing the market value of multiversal information, let out a quiet breath and accepted the point.

The Warden watched them for a moment.

Then he asked, almost mildly, “Natsuki Subaru. Does the multiverse revolve around you?”

Subaru blinked.

“No,” he said at once.

The Warden inclined his head. “Correct.”

That drew everyone’s attention again.

“There are billions,” the Warden said, “and trillions of worlds. Some nearly identical. Some entirely alien. Some so different from this one that none of you could comprehend them at a glance. They do not exist for Subaru. They do not hinge upon him. They carry their own stories. Their own heroes. Their own monsters. Their own tragedies. Their own impossible choices.”

Now the room leaned in.

“Some of those stories,” the Warden continued, “might interest you.”

Subaru raised an eyebrow despite himself.

The Warden spoke with a strange, deliberate cadence.

“How about the story of an ordinary boy, no older than Fifteen, who constantly complains about his terrible luck and wants nothing more than a peaceful life... but if someone needs his help, he will walk through hell to save them.”

The silence after that was almost comical.

Then, as one, every single head in the theater turned toward Subaru.

Subaru gaped. “What?”

Julius smirked faintly. “An ordinary boy.”

Otto sighed. “Terrible luck.”

Ram added dryly, “Constantly complains and wants a peaceful, lazy life.”

And then, with infuriating sweetness, Emilia, Rem, and Crusch all said together, “But if someone needs help, he walks through hell to save them.”

Subaru pointed at all of them in outrage. “That is slander supported by evidence!”

Al leaned back in his seat. “So what, we’re watching your cousin or something?”

A few people actually chuckled.

The Warden answered him directly. “No, Al. But there is one detail that may persuade all of you.”

He paused.

“This story takes place on a different Earth.”

That hit like lightning.

For Subaru and Al, it was shocking for one reason.

For everyone else, it was shocking for another.

“A different Earth?” Subaru repeated, sitting forward at once.

“Hold up,” Al added. “You mean not just another world, but another version of our world?”

The Warden nodded once.

Now the theater was alive again with anticipation, awe, and curiosity. The others had heard of Subaru’s home world. They had learned what they could from glimpses, from his belongings, from stories, from that first opening scene the Warden had shown in Arc One. But to actually witness an Earth? To see the sort of civilization Subaru had come from? To compare it to their own?

Roswaal’s smile sharpened with academic hunger. The flip-phone Subaru had once possessed had already fascinated him beyond reason. The notion of an entire world built on that kind of advancement—without mana, without spirits, without divine blessings as they knew them—was irresistible.

Priscilla, though still lounging like a queen observing entertainers, had narrowed her eyes with interest. If another Earth could truly hold wonders sufficient to catch Subaru and Al off guard, perhaps it would be worth the time.

Beatrice sat a little straighter. Subaru had told her many stories of his original world. Lights. roads. crowded cities. convenience stores. toys. schools. trains. She had heard enough to become curious in spite of herself. Seeing something akin to it with her own eyes would be different entirely.

The younger members were openly excited. Petra, Mimi, Hetaro, Tivey, and even Felt all leaned forward with the same glimmer in their eyes: whatever this was, it was new.

Anastasia was nearly drooling.

The Warden continued, addressing Subaru and Al’s particular confusion.

“While both of you come from what you would call a normal Earth, the Earth I am about to show is fundamentally different in two great ways. It is divided by two powers.”

Subaru lifted a hand. “What powers?”

The Warden answered with deliberate clarity.

“First,” he said, “it has magic.”

Subaru and Al lost their minds.

“What?!” Subaru shouted.

“No, no, no, hold on!” Al added. “That’s cheating! Earth doesn’t get magic!”

The Warden went on.

“Second is the existence of the Science Side, centered in a city known as Academy City.”

“Academy City?” Subaru echoed, the name sounding so perfectly ridiculous and anime-like that his inner nerd immediately began screaming.

The Warden obliged.

“A sprawling metropolis isolated from the rest of the world. Technologically decades beyond ordinary human civilization. A city of 2.3 million residents, eighty percent of whom are students. There, through intense scientific curriculum and often brutal drug-based developmental treatment, students are forced to alter their brains and awaken psychic powers. They are called Espers.”

There was a beat of total silence.

Then Subaru and Al screamed in harmony so sharply it nearly cracked the ceiling.

“ESPER POWERS?!”

Subaru seized his own hair with both hands. “Like telekinesis?! Pyrokinesis?! Mind reading?! You’re telling me there’s an Earth where kids go to school to become anime protagonists? They get lasers and lightning and psychic battle powers from homework and questionable science?!”

“Questionable science and drug experiments on children,” Felix said, horrified.

“That part is less fun,” Subaru admitted immediately.

“What’re psychic powers?” Garfiel asked, eyes blazing with interest. “Do they hit hard?”

Al answered without hesitation. “Very hard.”

 “Garf,” Otto said, “that is not the only question worth asking here.”

Anastasia was already thinking faster than seemed healthy. “A city economy built around student populations, advanced research, and controlled power development...”

Julius, meanwhile, had gone scholarly. “A science-based mechanism for reproducing something functionally similar to divine protections or mana arts, yet independent from spirits or Od structure...”

Roswaal practically purred. “Marvelous.”

Reinhard, though more restrained, frowned slightly. “If powers can be created artificially in children, then those children would be treated as resources.”

That sobered the room a little.

The Warden’s voice deepened, resonant now, theatrical in a way that made the dim golden lights of the theater seem to tremble.

“You shall witness the tale of the one who stands at the dead center of the crossfire between Magic and Science. A boy who possesses nothing but his own grit. A boy who will step into hell to save anyone who needs him. A boy who shatters the illusions of gods, magicians, and espers alike.”

His white eyes burned brighter.

“His name is Kamijou Touma.”

The name settled over the room.

Japanese.

Familiar to Subaru and Al. Strange to the rest. But evocative enough that even the foreign syllables seemed to carry weight.

“Kamijou Touma,” Subaru repeated softly, testing it on his tongue.

Then he looked around the theater.

At the faces turned toward him.

At the people who had just spent what felt like an eternity witnessing the worst his life had to offer.

At his lovers, his friends, his found family, his enemies-turned-comrades, all of them exhausted and bruised and somehow still here.

A crooked smile slowly appeared.

“Well,” Subaru said, spreading his hands, “I’ve had my mental breakdown quota for the week. I think we all deserve a break from the sheer depression of my life. Watching another Earth-born disaster magnet get dragged into trouble sounds kind of refreshing. What do you all think?”

“Oh, I’m in,” Anastasia said immediately, clapping her hands. “A city of advanced technology, secret magic, and a whole new market of ideas? That’s irresistible.”

Felt grinned and kicked her boots lightly against the seat in front of her. “I wanna see this guy. If he’s anything like big bro, it’s gonna be a total mess.”

Reinhard nodded solemnly. “A powerless sixteen-year-old standing against gods and espers to save others... that is a noble soul I would be honored to witness.”

Ricardo threw his head back and laughed. “Bet ya this Kamijou kid’s got the same crazy, woman-attractin’ luck as Subaru! Heroes from Earth must all be like that!”

“He totally does,” Al said with shameless confidence. “Probably surrounded by psychic girls and magic nuns.”

Subaru spun toward him. “I do not have that much rizz!”

Emilia smiled with dangerous sweetness. “You really don’t know, do you?”

Rem looked deeply entertained. Crusch’s expression held the faint, dignified curve of a woman who had already accepted that Subaru would never understand his own effect on people.

“And what,” Subaru demanded, “is a magic nun?!”

Even the Warden seemed to rumble with amusement.

“Oh, Natsuki Subaru,” he said. “You truly have no idea.”

Then his tone changed once more, settling into command.

“Very  well. The choice is made. Sit comfortably, my guests. You are about to step into another world.”

The great screen flickered.

The golden lights lining the walls dimmed, and dimmed, and dimmed again until the theater lay in near-total darkness save for the pale glow from the front.

One by one, the cast settled.

Crusch sat very straight in the front row.

Subaru leaned back at the center of the second, Beatrice in his lap once more, Emilia at his right, Rem at his left. Meili curled in her seat nearby. Otto folded his hands. Garfiel bounced one knee with anticipation. Petra practically vibrated. Felt grinned. Anastasia gleamed. Julius watched with analytical calm. Reinhard with patient interest. Priscilla with queenly skepticism. Al with open delight. Roswaal with scholar’s hunger.

A mechanical hum began.

Then white text typed itself across the center of the screen.

A CERTAIN MAGICAL INDEX