Archive of Our Own

Rubbing his blurry eyes, Subaru finds himself reopening them to an unfamiliar location. He had been walking out of the convenience store moments before, yet he now found himself in the middle of a very different street, stood face to face with a confused looking man with green hair.

Subaru blinked his eyes once again, glancing around and even trying to rub them again, but this strange new scenery didn’t seem to change, no matter what.

Daylight shone overhead of what appeared to be the buildings of a European medieval city.

It had been night when he left for the store, but the brightness in the sky and the warm feeling of the sun on his skin couldn't just be Subaru's imagination.

“No way…” He muttered under his breath, his eyes still glued to the foreign architecture and the people around him. Or more specifically, the types of people and demi-humans around him, “Have I been isekaied?!” He cheered to himself, feeling a sense of giddiness rise within him.

As he came down from the high of this revelation, he examined his surroundings once again.

The crowd around Subaru all seemed to have frozen mid-action before, and were now looking around with confused expressions on their faces and whispering to themselves, which reminded him of the man he had initially opened his eyes to.

Perhaps his summoning had come alongside a bright light? Such a flash would surely blind many and leave them confused, truly that must be it!

Subaru cheerfully turned to the man he stood across from, catching him muttering something, only catching something about the nighttime, and daydreaming while on the job.

Man… Selling these fruits must be quite the labor of work, to be so lost in confusion while on the job, dozing off before being woken up by a bright ray of light, Subaru thought to himself.

Taking pity on the guy he decides his first action in this new world will be to help this merchant!

“Pardon me, good sir!” Subaru cheerfully yelled, trying to muster any ounce of knightly elegance he had in him in his voice, as well as his surely awesome pose, “Might I have some of those apples you are selling, my good sir?”

“You again? And those… 'Apples' again? I seriously don't know what those are! Do I have to remind you these are appas? A-P-P-A-S.” The man enunciated, as though speaking to a child, before crossing his arms and leaning back as he looked at Subaru.

Subaru’s eyebrow twitched in confusion, ‘again?’ What is this guy on about? Was he still stuck in one of those daydreams he was muttering about and got him confused for someone else? And seriously… What even is an appa! Those are clearly apples laid out before him.

“Well, how much yen would these… ‘appas’… be?” Subaru asked, reaching to grab his wallet from his pocket, dropping his faux knightly tone and sounding more dejected than anything.

“Yen?” The man questioned, “Is that what you tried paying with before? If it didn’t work one time, it isn’t suddenly going to work the next time!” he huffed. Leaning forward with a slight frown, though he seemed more like a father scolding his son, than a genuinely angry merchant.

“If you still have no money on you, you best be off and reunite with that other broke little pal of yours! I can’t go losing my entire stock giving you free appas over and over.” He shook his head and started waving Subaru away.

Seriously... “What a strange way to start things off...” Subaru muttered, scratching his head as he wandered away from the stall.

Despite his apprehension, he had obediently done as the man requested and blasted off at the speed of light. Truthfully, he was confused by the man's odd choice in words, as well as his apparent familiarity with him. He had wanted to ask the man about it. But the more he thought about it the more Subaru trusted in his initial theory that the weird green apple- no, appa- guy, probably just mistaking him for someone else.

After all, despite it seeming like Subaru himself was broke in this world, he sure as hell didn't know anyone else yet, let alone anyone broke enough as him to be his little pal!

The longer he walked the more vigor seemed to return to the crowd around him as well, the people who were once glancing around in confusion had returned to their normal daily lives. Normal for them at least, way too interesting to Subaru!

He felt in awe at every little thing he saw and while he was currently roaming around a bit aimlessly, hoping he would find either the cute girl who must have summoned him, or a guild house, he didn't find himself minding at all. Fantasy worlds were truly the best!-

Or at least, that was what Subaru was thinking until he turned a corner and found a group of people crowding around a silver haired beauty.

"N-no I swear you are all mistaken! I'm not her at all! I wasn't referring to myself as that to offend anyone... I would rather never have to do that at all!" The lady proclaimed, a high pitched voice agreeing with her.

"You guys heard Lia! She just pulled a bad prank on a guy, the two got separated before she could apologize. She really just wants to clear up the misunderstanding, just like you are all misunderstanding her now! Truly we all understand right?" Despite the high pitch of that voice, Subaru felt it sounded oddly threatening towards the end there.

Though he couldn't see who had spoken that part, he refused to underestimate a fantasy world, truly sometimes the most cute sounding are the most dangerous!

"What are you spouting about?! Even if you aren't Satella, to yell out her name and proclaim yourself her in the Lugunican capital? You are no better than scum!" A lady in the crowd scoffed, moving closer to the silver haired woman, 'Lia' was it?

"Woah- woah- woaaah there buddies!" Subaru yelled, jumping between the small crowd and 'Lia', and hopefully her sweet but deadly companion, wherever they might be. The crowd had been closing in on Lia and she clearly seemed comfortable, and no matter the world he was in, bullying will always be bad! Especially when the one you are trying to bully looks like a goddess descended from the heavens!

"Don't you think we should all relax?" With his words, a grin, and one of his always handy charming poses, Subaru tried to de-escalate the situation, "We are all good people here, surely? This all seems to be a big misunderstanding! How about we all talk this out?"

From behind him the girl gasped, calling his name with worry. "-Ah? Do we know each other?" Subaru exclaimed, turning his head as he felt her grasp his shoulder. "UWOAH!!!" He yelled, a blush crawling its way onto his cheeks as he realized how close her face had been to his upon doing so.

The crowd, which had initially stopped for a few moments, seemingly only annoyed at Subaru's entrance, grew even more hostile upon hearing his name. "So this is the accomplice you were yelling for, huh?!" They jeered, moving closer and closer until their shadows started to fall over the duo- no, trio?

"What a touching reunion, but it might be best for you two to run for now if we want to avoid hurting anyone!" The high pitched voice from earlier yelled, and the feet of the small mob were frozen to the ground. Subaru stood in awe for a moment at what he saw: Real. Life. Magic! Fantasy worlds truly are the best!

But before he can ponder about the beauty of the fantasy realm any further, Subaru feels the hand that had been on his shoulder move to his hand and start pulling him away.

Lia led the charge as the two ran away from the angry crowd, dodging and weaving between various stalls and buildings. As they ran a small shadow seemed to catch up with them, Subaru catching a glimpse of what seemed to be either the world's smallest cat, a little fairy, or a mix of the two joining them in the air.

"Really Lia, you didn't think just calling this guy's name would be enough? You really had to add 'it's Satella, are you alright?' to that?" The high pitched voice from earlier scolded the girl who was pulling Subaru's hand. So the voice must have belonged to this little pixie looking fella, Subaru concluded. Said pixie was now shaking its head as it past them, stopping before Lia's face and forcing her to skid to a stop.

"Puuuck! I-I wasn't thinking clearly after what happened! Surely you understand, right? You also immediately started clinging to me when we woke up!" She chastised, trying to defend her honor, though it seemed like she was the one bothered by her actions the most out of the two.

Subaru, watched the exchange between the two as he heaved, wanting to lean against a wall but not being able to get close enough to one due to his hand still being connected to Lia's.

"S-sorry to interrupt, but would you guys mind telling me what is going on?..." Subaru asked, still trying to catch his breath, "Not that I mind being dragged away by a beauty such as yourself though! But uh... What happened back there?"

Lia and Puck both turned their heads to Subaru upon hearing that, "Subaru! I think someone must have found us at the loot house and brought us back to the capital to get healed! Though it appears whoever it was dropped us off in random locations, before up and leaving..."

Puck's eyes seemed to narrow a bit at this hypothesis, but he remained quiet.

Lia quickly shook her head before Subaru could question her more, because what?! Healing?! What happened in this loot house she mentioned! And why were they both there and then seemingly unceremoniously dropped back off in the city?! Did a nonchalant medieval Batman pick them up and drop them back off before continuing their crimefighting ways-

Even his internal monologue got cut off!- "But Subaru! I need to clear something up immediately! Before it causes us any further trouble like just now..." Lia started, anxiously fidgeting as she spoke.

"Truth is... I reaaally hadn't wanted you to join me in going to the loot house, due to the potential- now confirmed!- Dangers." As she spoke, she puffed her cheeks and glanced away, clearly getting increasingly nervous the longer silence now hung in the air. Meanwhile Subaru felt his heart swell as he stood frozen, staring at her.

Having finally worked up the courage to continue, she went on, "Because of that... I gave you a fake name to try and scare you off. My name isn't Satella at all! And despite my appearance, I have absolutely nothing to do with her, so please don't misunderstand!" She grabbed Subaru's hand, locking eyes with him, "My name is Emilia, just Emilia! And I am incrediblyyy sorry for lying to you! And thankful to you for putting yourself in danger for me like that!"

Subaru blushed at the heartfelt sincerity he was being met with, though he still felt extremely confused, not being quite sure what she was talking about, he could sense her genuine desire to make things right all the same. The girl seemed to have made a dumb mistake, one he didn't quite understand, sure.

But while he wasn't quite sure if she too had mistaken him for someone else like that 'appa' salesman, she knew his name and seemed to know of him, so it was his place to respond to her apology.

As such, it would be wrong of him to not meet this sincerity and action in kind. "It is nice to meet you Emilia!" Subaru cheered, preparing yet another one of his poses and pointing his finger into the sky, "My name is Natsuki Subaru! Not only am I extremely clueless and confused at the moment, but I am also broke beyond compare and thankful to you, Emilia! Anyone can mess up, I think I am constantly messing stuff up, what matters is being able to learn from our actions!"

A weight seemed to lift itself from Emilia's shoulders as she gently tightened her hold on Subaru's hand while lowering their hands between them, a smile finding its way to her face.

"Wow Lia, you are lucky for getting forgiven so fast! Not just forgiven... But also being the token of gratitude? My, my, Subaru, are you trying to win over my daughter's heart right now?" Puck teased, flying closer to him and poking his cheek.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Subaru cheered, "I might just steal and run off with it, so keep your eyes peeled!" He joked, finding the little fairy quite easy to get along with. Had the three of them met before and Subaru really just forgotten? Emilia mentioned the two needing to get healed, was it possible Subaru had gotten a concussion and just forgot all about their meeting?!

He couldn't continue that train of thought for long though, as both Emilia and Puck seemed to jolt at the mention of theft. "My insignia!" Emilia exclaimed.

The calm moment of reprieve was quickly ended as anxiety made its way onto her beautiful features, "Oh no- no- no! What do we do... The thief is surely long gone with it now!" She worried, releasing Subaru's hand and instead holding her hand before her lips as she thinks, pacing up and down the alleyway they found themselves in.

Puck also seemed to be a bit stressed, but floated up to her to comfort her, "Maybe they will have left some clues at the loot house? It wouldn't hurt to investigate, right? We didn't really get the chance to after all last night." He spoke, though he seemed a bit oddly hesitant in his words.

They worked in cheering Emilia up however, as she quickly perked back up, agreeing with him. "It can at the veryy least be a good spot to start our continued search!"

Subaru held a hand out, catching their attention, "Didn't you mention we got injured there? What if whatever- or whoever- hurt us is still there?" Puck's hesitance had put Subaru on edge, making him think of the worst possible outcomes of the plan the two before him were making. He usually wasn't the most rational, but he really didn't want to see these two getting hurt, they seemed like really good people! Or well, for Puck, things?

Puck harrumphed with pride however, holding his paws out to his sides in a power pose, "As long as we head over there soon while the sun is still up, there will be nothing to worry about there as long as I'm here! Didn't you see me and Lia's powers before? No attacker will one up us during the day time!"

Emilia nodded behind him, "Mhm! Puck might not look it, but he is a very powerful spirit! If we head over to the loot house right now, there shouldn't be any problems!"

Subaru started to nod his head, fantasy worlds truly are the best! It seemed he had met a powerful mage duo! He still felt a bit hesitant however, if they were truly so strong, how had the three of them ended up injured in the first place, "Should we not maybe alert some guards and ask them to join us, just in case? Y'knowww a police force? ..If you guys have those here?"

His words were met by the duo shaking their heads, "As I said before Subaru, this insignia is very important to me and it would be best if no one knew of it being stolen!" Emilia said.

Subaru finally gave in, deciding he was probably just overreacting, if these two clearly powerful mages saw no harm in going, it must be fine. "Let us be of haste then! Lead the way!" He cheerfully yelled, his faux knight speech from earlier in the day making a reappearance as he pointed into the direction his gut was telling him the loot house surely must be, only for Puck to silently push his hand to the left, into another direction.

While Subaru hadn't expected their destination to be in the slums, or really for those to be a part of a fantasy world, he guessed it wasn't that strange for that to be where deals were being made, especially potentially shady ones that had left Emilia, Puck and himself injured.

Emilia and Puck seemed to know exactly where they were going, so Subaru resigned himself to simply being there for the ride, and scoping out the surroundings.

The conversation had been quite lively between the three, but every conversation topic Subaru seemed to be able to think of was one they had apparently already spoken of the previous night, and the other two had been getting increasingly worried about his wellbeing at the repeated questions and topics, so he had decided to resign himself for the night. He didn't yet want to confess to the two he had likely lost some memories, as Emilia already seemed to be so stressed.

Seriously, he would rather kill himself than add to the stress of this angel! Not only had something important of hers been stolen, she was attacked last night and randomly dropped off in the city, almost gotten mobbed by an angry crowd and had to apologize for a dumb mistake she made in wanting to keep Subaru out of trouble.

Way too angelic! Way too sweet! Way too caring! Telling her about whatever his predicament was could wait until after retrieving her insignia.

As the trio of two humans and a spirit started to make their way up a hill, a flash of blonde suddenly rushed by them. Emilia and Puck immediately became alert and seemed to recognize whoever it was,

"The thief!" Emilia yelled- that explained things, Subaru thought. Emilia and Puck quickly sped after the thief and Subaru, who had lagged behind for a moment, quickly rushed after them to catch back up.

The same ice he had seen Puck make earlier that day, now flowed at Emilia's summoning, freezing the thief's feet to the ground below them. "H-Hey!! What gives?!" 

Woah- Wasn't that voice a bit high pitched for a thief? What's up with every potential threat in this fantasy world having a high pitched voice?

The thief glared behind them to see who had caught them and seemed shocked to see Emilia, "You?! What are you doing here?!"

Emilia huffed, crossing her arms as she walked up to the thief, who was still half frozen in ice, Puck strengthening it whenever her wiggling had almost gotten her out, "Looking for my insignia of course! If you return it now, I will even forget whatever trick you pulled last night, surprise attacking Subaru and I! That seriously hurt you know?" Emilia scolded.

Subaru was surprised at how lenient she was being, but the thief seemed young, and Emilia as far as he could tell was a very gentle and kindhearted soul, despite the anger she had expressed earlier on their way over she likely felt very little of it while face to face with the young girl.

"Haaaah?- Surprise attack? You don't seem to be talking about me stealing from you? I have no clue what you are going on about lady!" The thief complained, slamming her hands on the ice to try and break it faster, even seemingly conjuring up a wind current, only to be stopped by Puck who once again reinforced the ice.

"Seriously! I had been contracted to steal that thing from you, but when me and Old Man Rom tried handing it over, we got backstabbed!" She growled, "Whatever happened to you then wasn't at my hands, but likely that cruel woman's!"

The thief seemed to wince at recalling the memory, causing Emilia to calm down a bit. She took a deep breath and walked up to the thief, gently bending down to her height and holding out her hand, "If you happen to still have the insignia, could you please give it back to me? We can let bygones be bygones then and try to get justice for you and this mister Rom."

This got the blonde to huff, but she seemed to accept she wasn't getting her way out of this situation, with both Emilia and Puck constantly able to reinforce the ice keeping her trapped until she acted. "Look lady- I don't think I'm going to have anything on me alright? I had already given it to the buyer when she attacked us- But if it puts your 'noble' heart at ease I will prove to you I don't have it, and if I do, it is all yours." Though her words were mostly polite in theory, her tone was anything but, sneering as she looked over the trio.

Before their eyes she patted down and emptied every pocket, Subaru was a bit concerned at how little this girl had on her in general, wondering what her situation was like. "See princess?" The thief hissed, "Absolutely nooothing on me! As I said!"

Subaru walked up behind Emilia, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Looks like the kid really doesn't have it, maybe we can ask some questions and report her to guards for theft?"

"Hey now- What is this about guards!" The kid yelled, "What happened to letting bygones be bygones?! I told you I wouldn't have it, and I didn't! It isn't my fault you didn't trust me, but you should at least stick to your word! Don't nobles always make a big deal about that?! If you are so great and mighty, why don't you check your pockets themselves?! Maybe you stole it back!"

The thief's words seemed to be getting to Emilia and she sighed, deciding to humor her and empty her pockets as well as a sign of goodwill. The thief clearly didn't believe what she was asking, but doing it could help calm her down all the same, "I apologize for what Subaru said, we would just like to ask some questions and will be on our way then, you don't seem to have done any of this with ill-will-"

As she was speaking, Emilia had been emptying her pockets, but she suddenly cut herself off as she got to a certain pocket. All four people present got confused at this reaction, even Emilia herself was a bit lost as she suddenly pulled her insignia out from her clothing.

...

"Huh?" Three voices rang out simultaneously. 

Emilia blankly stared at the gem in her hand, it's soft red glow illuminating her features.

Felt seemed even more lost, staring at the insignia- she was positive she had stolen it, even pawned it off and nearly died for it Od Damnit! She had been so sure she and Old Man Rom were done for good. So how was it back in this noble's hands? Did this mean Old Man Rom was also okay? She had to rush out of here and check on him as she had originally planned.

Puck on the other hand, felt extreme dread rising within him. Seeing the insignia still in Emilia's possession confirmed a sneaking suspicion he had been hoping to deny ever since blinking and waking up back with his daughter-

"My, my~" A voice suddenly rang out from higher up the hill they had stopped halfway up on. 

Subaru glanced its way and saw the silhouette of a woman standing on top of an old looking shack at the top of the hill- which he presumed was likely the loot house they had been heading to due to its size.

"It would appear we have all come to the same conclusion right?~" The voice drawled, the silhouette seemed to move slightly, as though grabbing something or holding on to a piece of fabric. Subaru squinted, the sun's light which shone brightly from behind her fighting against his clear vision of the woman before it. Was she grabbing something from beneath a cloak? Holding a skirt the way ladies in period dramas often would?

He seemed to be the only one whose thoughts were occupied with the actions of their new 'friend' however, as the other three appeared to be temporarily lost in their thoughts, horrified expressions crossing their faces.

The woman elegantly jumped down from the building, landing in a smooth arc before the group and bowing to them, "Considering I doubt our little Felt will be willing to complete our contract after what happened on our previous version of today, I hope you all forgive me for what I am about to do~" She said with a smile, before throwing a knife the thief- Felt-'s way. 

Felt jolted, still frozen in Emilia and Puck's ice, unable to react quickly to get away and unable to draw her blade to deflect the projectile. Emilia hurriedly tried to melt the ice and free the young girl, as Puck shot a shard of ice at the weapon to try and stop it. The blade simply cut through the heavy chunk of ice however, only finding itself slowed ever so slightly, but its trajectory remaining true.

Subaru quickly pushed Felt down with shaking hands, bending her low enough to barely prevent the blade from making acquaintances with Felt's face, its arc now continuing past them.

"What kind of person did you sign a contract with?!" Subaru hissed at the girl, whose legs were now finally free from the ice. She found herself instead awkwardly seated surrounded by shattered shards where the ice had previously been. 

"There are all kinds of shady people in this line of business!! Who hires anyone to steal something if they aren't at least a little shady?!" She hissed right back at Subaru, pushing his shaking hands off of her shoulders and standing back up fully, regaining some of her strength now that she had her full range of movement back.

"Gee- Thanks for that big sis." Felt mocked, dusting the remaining residue ice particles off of her legs.

Emilia jumped slightly, glancing away from their foe to apologetically look at Felt.  She started to ramble apologetically, voice filled with worry and anxiety at the close call they just had, "I-I'm sorry! I had no clue she would still be here- Or, be here? Today?- Now?-"

Subaru could sense the rising tension and confusion among the group, their vague reactions from earlier all seemed to point towards something going on with the jewel Emilia had been holding a few moments before, which now found its way back home to her pockets, as well as the theft in general. Had everyone perhaps lost some memories just like he had, thinking it got stolen, when it never had been? It did sound like there was some kind of a big fight last night, maybe it led to a group concussion-turned-amnesia session?

"H-Hey, so about calling some guards here..." Subaru started, somewhat nervously bringing back the idea of speaking to guards to help deal with this situation. Surely the police force in this world couldn't be so bad that everyone preferred handling things on their own, right?

Felt frowned at this, turning to look back at him as well, "Are you some kind of idiot? What kind of knights are you going to be able to reach in the middle of the slums before this girl cuts us all like we are a noble's steak dinner?"

Emilia shook her head though, "Subaru doesn't have any kind of combative ability- he is totally weak! The three of us could focus on this battle and he could go find a guard?" Though her voice was gentle, those initial words of dismissal truly stung!

Unlike all the anime Subaru had seen, their foe didn't seem to be alright standing around for longer to allow them to chat, for right after Emilia spoke she dashed between the other members of the group towards Subaru with a smile on her face.

"So you are the weak link, huh?~" She purred, Subaru not having any time to react before she stood right before him and slashed at him. A wall of ice formed right where her blade hit however, pushing both her and Subaru back.

As Subaru blinked, looking back up, he saw Emilia with a worried expression on her face had summoned the wall, and saw Puck beginning to launch a legion of attacks on their assaulter.

"My, my~ I was so polite to allow you all a few moments of respite as you all talked, but you guys immediately start hounding me after I finally launch my next attack?" 

Though Puck initially appeared to be doing some good damage to their mystery attacker, Subaru can also see her continuously recovering from every attack he makes.

As he gets up from where he was knocked onto the dirt path to try and regroup with the others, Subaru notices there is a missing Felt-shaped place in their lineup, where did that brat suddenly run off to?!

While Subaru felt stressed at them losing an ally, he was also glad that she left. Though Felt seemed to have at least some kind of combative ability, she was just a child, and such a battle was no place for her if it could be avoided. Though it wasn't really one for him either... He wanted to try and follow their initial strategy of running to find a guard to help them, but seeing how the battle was going, Subaru doubted he would be able to make it far before either he or the mage-spirit duo were injured.

Puck and Emilia were attempting to freeze her and shoot at her, but everything they did seemed to have little effect. 

The initial playfulness their attacker oozed slowly appeared to be getting exchanged for boredom, which shone through in her fighting style, it becoming stronger and more offensive as the onslaught wore on. Subaru tried to move to find a weapon, anything, so he could also be of use to Emilia and Puck. But the second he made even the slightest of movements, Elsa honed back in on him, trying to cut him down. 

This time instead of Emilia saving him, it was a giant burling down from above, slashing downwards at Subaru's would-be attacker. 

"Good going, Old Man Rom!" He heard Felt cheer.

Ah, so she hadn't just ran off, she had gone to reunite with the man she was worried about- only to bring him back here to aid them. Subaru felt his heart freeze and become warm at the same time at the gesture, feeling conflicted at the emotions of happiness he felt upon her return and his saving as well as sorrow upon the necessity of it. What a cruel fantasy world.

The warmth in his heart only lasted for a moment though, as he witnessed the giant fall backwards after entering close quarters combat with their assailant. Subaru felt every part of him twitch with fear as he saw Old Man Rom's stomach cut open, his innards barely preventing themselves from slipping out due to the position he fell at.

Oh. So this was the reality of the situation. Not just a fantasy.

He swallowed back the urge to puke, just as he heard a strained cry coming from Felt. Emilia, who had momentarily also been frozen, heard this yell as well and immediately recognized what was to come, "Felt, no!-" She yelled.

Felt had already charged in however, moving with the speed of the wind and closing the gap between her and her adoptive father's killer in no time. Her anger killed her rationality however, and with its loss the attacker killed her as well. A single neat slash was all it took and the girl, who had been many things: a thief, a brat, a kid, a savior and brash... Was no more. 

Subaru's head swirled, everything was happening so fast- what was going on? He glanced to the side and watched the murderer gear up to attack Emilia as well. 

The gears finally clicked into place in his head. She had been toying with them the entire time, she could have easily killed them, but was having fun playing with her food. Just like a predator chasing its prey however, the hunt doesn't last forever, she got bored of the chase and has decided to swoop in for every kill.

"EMILIAAA!!!-" Two voices yelled simultaneously. One of which being Puck, who did all in his power to stop the advance of their attacker, forming ice wall after ice wall, but the woman just ran through them, grinning at the pain she got from slamming her body through them.

The other voice came from Natsuki Subaru, who was running towards Emilia with all he had in him. He had been weak, a liability this entire fight, but he refused to simply sit and watch kind souls get snuffed out while waiting for his turn, no matter his powerlessness.

He threw his body before Emilia's and found himself promptly gutted. 

His vision swerved and all he could think of was the blinding pain he felt.

'It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS!-'

Despite his delirious state he could feel a faint warmth filling his body, he blinked through the shakiness in his vision and met the eyes of a terrified Emilia who seemed to be casting magic on him.

Was she trying to heal him?... She truly was too kind, couldn't she tell he was done for? He wanted to tell her to leave, to run, to save herself and Puck if possible, but he found himself unable to even garble out any words.

His eyes started to close further, for longer. It was hard to open them again each time he blinked. He had no idea how much time passed but could feel a pull at his entire being and was overwhelmed by the feeling of his mind, body and soul swimming.

"I get it now~" He could faintly hear that despicable voice regain its interest she had seemed to have lost, "So you are the cause." Disgust washed over him, though Subaru could no longer see he could hear the wicked smile those words were spoken with.

"My name is Elsa Granhiert, we will be meeting again very soon~"

The warmth on his side suddenly disappeared and Subaru could faintly feel a weight fall onto him, crushing the last breath out of his now hollow body.

Rubbing his blurry eyes, Subaru finds himself reopening them to an unfamiliar location. He had been walking out of the convenience store moments before, yet he now found himself in the middle of a very different street, stood face to face with very, very confused looking green-haired man.

Looking around him, Subaru is positive he is no longer in his original world! He gets ready to exclaim his isekaiment in glee, but got promptly cut off by the merchant across from him.

"You again? How do you keep just showing up in front of me? Do you have some kind of freaky appa teleportation power?" The man tiredly joked, causing Subaru to blink.

Is this weird merchant guy summoning a bunch of guys from other worlds all the time, for this to seem like such a norm? Surely this guy couldn't be the one who summoned him to this new world rather than a cute girl, right?

Wanting to dissuade his fears Subaru nervously spoke to the man while fidgeting with his fingers, "Excuse me, but you didn't happen to summon me here, did you? With those freaky... ahppas you mentioned?- Seriously! Why are they freaky?!" 

The man merely blinked back, initially not seeming to amused but then letting out a small chuckle. "Geez, you really are as weird as they get aren't ya?" He huffed. Though this kid was clearly an absolute weirdo with memory and fruit identifying issues, he had a good heart, so he couldn't help but humor him a little even despite the confusing situation he found himself in for a second time now. The merchant leaned back in his chair behind the stall with a small smirk on his face, deciding to keep humoring the boy before him.

"Wait, seriously?! That sounds suspiciously like you are comparing me to your other summons!! Surely I got summoned here by a cute girl instead, right?" Subaru guffawed, humorously pulling at his hair.

"A cute girl?... Are you talking about that silver-haired girl you dropped by here with that one time?-" And speak of the devil! For who else knocks Subaru over before the man can finish the rest of his sentence, than a beautiful silver-haired girl!

Said girl who knocked him to the ground immediately started to pound her fists against his chest, while it wasn't hard enough to seriously hurt, she sure wasn't pulling her punches either as Subaru felt the air being knocked out of him a bit.

"Subaru! You dunderhead! Why, why, WHY would you do that!" She shouted at him, garnering them confused looks from the other people on the street.

Subaru felt a bit confused, suddenly getting cursed out with such archaic language and having such vague words being thrown at him, but as he blinked his eyes back open and looked at the girl sitting on him, he noticed something dripping from her face onto his tracksuit. 

She was crying.

He, or some asshole who looked like him and shared his name, had done something to hurt this beauty! So even fantasy worlds have scum, huh?

This realization made Subaru's heart clench as he looked at the girl, instinctively finding himself raising his hand. It smoothly makes it way to the top of the girl's head, gently patting her and ruffling her hair. "There, there." He gently called.

As his hand made its way to the top of her head, the girl's hitting slowly came to a stop and she merely sat on Subaru, sniffing quietly.

He felt a bit embarrassed doing this in public, especially with so many people looking and starting to whisper, but even as he blushed and looked to the side to try and retain some of his honor, he didn't stop gently petting the girl's head.

"Are you doing alright, miss?" He softly called, which seemed to put an end her trancelike state. She slowly lifted her head, looking up at his face, wet amethyst eyes meeting his own and causing his heart to skip a beat.

"Dunderhead." She called again. Her face scrunched up slightly imitating anger, but Subaru could tell she wasn't really mad. Call it a soulmate's intuition! But she, for one reason or another, seemed to be more worried to him than anything else.

That worry slowly seemed to grow to be about more than just him though, as he watched her become more aware of the whispering around them, as well as the increasing nearness of the crowd. She jumped up, pulling his hand which caused him to nearly fly up as well. The merchant Subaru had previously lightly been speaking to made eye contact with him again as the boy was pulled up, confusion evident in his face. It seemed the man was about to start questioning the duo before him, but the chance never arrived due to a voice ringing out through the street.

"Sorry folks! Nothing to see here~" A high pitched voice called from behind them, that triggering the girl to start pulling Subaru away at a quick pace, only stopping her brisk walk when they got to an alleyway.

As soon as they entered it, Subaru felt the weight of her hand in his be exchanged in favor of pushing him to the wall, her arms caging him in there as he felt his face explode into a bright red blush. Tomatoes wouldn't even be as red as this! The wall against his back was uncomfortable and itchy, but he was struggling to think of much else in this scenario than the girl before him.

She stared at him intently from the position they were in for a few moments, before asking him if he knew who she was, a serious expression on her face.

Subaru blinked for a moment, he had been convinced she surely knew- or at least thought- she knew him, based on her earlier behavior. So why would she ask something like that in that case? Was it an act?

As he mulled that thought over for a few seconds he found himself unable to believe that was the case, the look in her tear-filled eyes when they first made eye contact moments prior wasn't one he believed could be faked.

"Of course, I know you." Subaru started, looking down and breaking eye contact with her, "You're the girl of my dreams after all!~" He spoke, making finger guns at her as he looked back up.

He promptly met with a frozen expression on the girl's face, immediately made him regret trying to break the ice with a joke like this, "U-Um, which is to say I am really happy to be meeting you! A-A girl whom I just met! B-But who seems really nice! Seriously nice! This is a strange foot to be starting off on, b-but I think we could be amazing friends! O-Or more!" He stammered, quickly trying to make up for the mistake he had just made.

Her wide open eyes eased closed as she giggled softly, "Even if you don't remember, you don't seem to change either." She said gently, a small yet sad smile finding its way to her face. Subaru couldn't tell if she was upset or not, clearly not fully seeming happy either. But a hand meeting the top of his head cut his thoughts off, the girl across from him now softly petting his hair imitating the action he had previously used to comfort her.

A small catlike being suddenly appears behind her, squinting its small beady eyes at Subaru, "He isn't lying about his lack of memory, Lia. And based on the lack of injuries I can sense on both of you and the situation we found ourselves waking back up to, there is only a single possibility I can think of..."

"Time travel..." The silver-haired girl concluded, her eyebrow twitching as the hand she still had keeping Subaru trapped against the wall clenched against the coarse surface.

Subaru, from his position between her arms, felt like he was watching a TV screen with the limited view this perspective gave him, that feeling being further enhanced by the words that cat thing and the sad yet sweet girl just spoke! Time travel!

Subaru immediately found himself bursting at the seams, ready to gush about it! Man, fantasy worlds! You really are the best! Excitement momentarily took over, the mention of previous injuries not yet clicking in his mind.

"Time travel?!" He excitedly squealed, the sudden high pitched volume of his words shocking the other two, "What kind of other wonders does this new world hold?!" He cheered, looking at the two expectantly.

"... New... World?" The girl and the pixie exchanged glances at each other, before looking back at Subaru. Their eyes seemed to shine in confusion, but Subaru couldn't fully tell due to the alley's shadows cloaking most of their faces at this angle. Had he just added yet another puzzle piece to this mystery?

"Hey, Subaru? I feel like there are a looot of things unclear at the moment, which we should definitely take a moment to talk about... But we should probably start by reintroducing ourselves, right?" The girl gently spoke, a slightly strained but kind smile on her face, "My name is Emilia, just Emilia. And this is my contracted spirit, Puck."

Upon his introduction, though he appeared a bit hesitant giving the clear worry and stress evident on his face, the spirit did a little twirl and bow for Subaru, which caused said man to start clapping his hands.

"It is nice to meet you Emilia-chan and Puck!" He cheered. He could tell the others seemed worried, but he wasn't quite sure what was going on, other than something, somehow, related to time travel- And possibly his summoning as well? Subaru was no fool though, sensing the tension in the air, he felt it would be best to keep the atmosphere light and allow the other two to clear their thoughts a bit and fully regain their rationality before proceeding with any plans regarding the predicament they all appeared to be in together.

With this in mind he pointed his finger high into the sky to introduce himself, hand raised high-

"And I'm Elsa~" A sultry voice suddenly called from the alleyway's entrance, "And... I'm Elsa?-" Subaru repeated, caught off-guard, looking to the side in confusion, his pose drooping in confusion.

It was due to droop even more however, as he suddenly found the hand he had pointed into the air falling down before his eyes, harshly smacking against the alley's brick ground with a loud 'SPLAT', blood splattering from it onto Emilia's shoes as her and Puck's eyes widened in horror.

Not a moment passed before a bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the back alley. Subaru shakingly brought his arm down from above him and lifted it to enter his line of sight. There he watched blood smoothly and fluidly pour from his wrist, where his hand had previously been connected. "Ah- Ah?--"

Puck immediately went on both the defensive and offensive, creating a wall of ice behind him to help prevent any further surprise attacks towards Subaru and Emilia for the time being. Emilia too, didn't falter for a moment, and had quickly crouched to the ground to retrieve the fallen hand, and started to try and reattach it with healing magic. Her hands trembling and uncomfortably clenching around the limb she had been holding in joy moments before, when it was still connected to its previous owner.

Her efforts proved in vain however, as the hand and wrist were refusing to reconnect. No matter how much mana she tried to pour into Subaru to make up for the blood smoothly flowing out of him, all she could succeed at was stalling said blood flow. Turning what had once been Subaru's wrist into a temporary stub.

Subaru still stood frozen, his gaze blurry as his eyes nervously darted around in confusion. He felt lightheaded and so, so, so- incredibly lost. What is wrong with this fantasy world?! Who loses their hand in the first ten minutes of traveling somewhere new?! Was he playing on insanity difficulty?! He didn't remember signing up for that! Or anything going on, really!

Emilia's face made its way into his swimming vision, worry evident in every facet of her expression- "A-Are you alright Subaru?- I have no idea what she is already doing here! Puck should be able to buy us some time, but he is going to need support..." She hastily spoke, stumbling over certain words, clearly struggling to fully grasp their current situation as well.

The sight caused Subaru's heart to clench even more, adrenaline starting to pump through his body, aiding Emilia's healing in numbing the searing pain Subaru felt, "J-Just peachy, Emilia-chan!"

Her eyes knit together in worry, clearly dissatisfied with his obvious lie, but she accepted it all the same. Beginning to look around the alleyway to find any kind of escape routes, but she seemed to have accidentally chosen one of the few alley's in the city that led to a dead end to wander into. 'Just peachy' she thought, to quote Subaru from a moment prior.

Before she could start calculating a better plan, a shadow fell over the duo as something leapt over the wall of ice Puck had summoned. 

Subaru choked as he saw a woman dressed in black elegantly land next to them, dancerly raising a blade from behind her and lifting it to her lips. The hauntingly sweet voice from earlier, which had acted as a harbinger of doom, suddenly rang throughout the alley again.

"While I was willing to entertain that spirit of yours for a few moments, was it really a good idea to back yourselves into a corner like this? Or were you so excited for another round?~ May I kindly see more of your guts this time?~" "Hkk-"

Before Subaru nor Emilia could react, the woman- 'Elsa'- suddenly disappeared. Without a second of delay Subaru suddenly flung himself forward, knocking both himself and Emilia to the ground.

The moment Elsa had disappeared, he noticed a shadow forming behind him, connecting the dots he had moved as fast as he could to get away from her new location, barely managing to avoid her blade.

"My, my?~ Where did those fast reflexes suddenly come from, are you learning as well?" She grinned, immediately moving to make another attack, only to be frozen from two sides by Emilia and Puck.

Their attacker seemed to hold no regard for her own wellbeing as she swiftly broke the ice- along with her limbs within it with a thunderous 'CRACK-'.

Elsa stepped danced to the side, a sadistic grin on her face as her broken limbs swayed with her stumbling yet precise movements, reminiscent of a modern dance routine. She casually shrugged her arm to the side and with a sickening snap, her broken bones started to reconnect themselves, snapping back into place with squelching crunches. She raised her head right after, a big grin on her face as she made eye contact with Subaru again, who was frozen in place on the cold alleyway floor.

"Run, Subaru!-" Emilia quickly yelled, pushing him towards the alleyway's opening, which he could now once again see, the ice wall having been mostly melted away in their kerfuffle. The concerned and horrified looks of people who had been passing by and were now looking on with morbid curiosity met his eyes and Subaru stumbled to the other side of the ice wall. 

Behind him, he could hear the battle between Puck and Elsa resuming, the clash of ice and iron only getting louder as Elsa seemed to be attempting to get closer to him once again. A quick glance behind him confirmed that Emilia had also joined the battle, attempting to stall her for as long as possible.

Though Subaru was still struggling to form any coherent thoughts, his legs moved on instinct as he ran towards the street into the innocent crowd, "GET OUT OF HERE!-" He yelled, trying to save any innocent bystanders from a similarly handless fate to his own.

Seeing the battle appear to get closer to them, and heeding the injured boy's warning, the crowd around him started to move hysterically, trying to get away from the scene as fast as possible. Subaru felt himself getting pushed a few times, using all of his willpower to prevent himself from falling over. A few moments later Subaru found himself being the last person standing in this now wasteland of a street. It hadn't been as crowded as the street where he and Emilia met, but there had still been quite a few people walking through. He concluded the place he is in might be a capital, or large city of sorts, considering the large amounts of people everywhere he went, there were even surprise guests in alleyways.

Not allowing himself to waste any time on pondering any longer however, Subaru kicked himself back into action looking around the street, trying to see if he cold spot a knight- or a guard of sorts- who had remained. The street was fully desolate however. Subaru concluded that if there had been a knight nearby, they would likely not have left so easily, and puts his plan to get assistance on the backburner for the moment.

Time was of the essence, and he couldn't tell how much of it he had. He could go running yelling for help, but that likely wouldn't be any more effective at drawing attention than the giant crowd who had rushed away from this street. He also didn't know where knights might be stationed, he could end up running around aimlessly just to never find any help for Emilia and Puck.

Steeling his resolve, Subaru instead scanned the street for any potential weapons. As his eyes passed over one of the stalls towards the far corner of the street, he noticed the sun's light catching on something, causing it to shine. This glint lit a fire in Subaru's eyes as he made a mad dash towards the stall. His body painfully tumbled into it as he slammed chest first into the wooden board the stall's merchant surely used as a table during their negotiations. Not letting even a moment go to waste he leaned over the table and gripped the handle of the shiny object he had spotted with his remaining hand, lifting it up to reveal a wide dagger.

Subaru couldn't tell if this was something required for the stall's wares, self-protection or if the stall's owner was a shady guy- but he found himself elatingly glad at whatever the reason might be that the potentially shady owner kept this at the stall, rather than on himself.

Gripping the blade's handle tightly in his hand Subaru ran back towards the alleyway's mouth, sliding to a stop the moment Elsa made a swipe at Puck. Seeing the movement outside the alleyway, Elsa's dark eyes glanced his way and shone brightly upon spotted Subaru again, an open mouthed smile finding its way back onto her face.

"Is the foolish princess returning for her prince?~" Elsa started to hum, before attempting to dodge to the side as the blade Subaru had been holding was flung towards her face, smoothly flying through the air.

It became evident to everyone there that she was clearly out of range of the blade now, and that following the blade's arch it was destined to slam into the alley's back wall. Subaru winced and hoped the impact wouldn't damage the blade and make it unusable, but he geared up to go digging through more of the stalls on the desolate street just in case he had to make another run for it.

A shadow suddenly appeared from overhead again however, two figures suddenly slamming into Elsa and somewhat pushing her back into the blade's direction, it making a long gash along her neck. 

The figure-s? Quickly recovered from their landing. Unlike Elsa's elegant landing from earlier, a redhead now valiantly stood with his hand on a blade, his pose reminding Subaru of that of a hero- if not for the fact his other hand appeared to be occupied holding a little blonde girl- what was going on here?

"Big bro! Big sis! Weird rat!" The blonde kid yelled, struggling in the redheads hold. He had been holding her up by the back of her jacket, similar to how a mother cat might hold a kitten. Seeing her familiarity with the group the man glanced to the side and gently put her down with a smile, before returning his attention to Elsa.

"Oh my~ Could that be the Sword Saint? To what do I owe the pleasure?" Elsa purred, though she was no longer smiling as widely as before, her expression sharpening as she wiped the blood off of her neck and glanced to where Subaru stood at the side, "That hurt you know? How rude." "Hkkk-" Subaru felt a shiver run down his spine as his tormenter's attention returned to him so coldly.

"Well, as a knight it is my duty to act when I hear a girl deliriously rambling about dying, and a horrified crowd running into the main square." The Sword Saint stated with a steady voice, nodding towards Emilia, Puck and Subaru as he glanced to the side. "I am glad to see you are alright Emilia-sama, Puck-sama. I will do whatever I can with my meager power to be of aid."

"M-Meager?! Are you sure it's alright for this- this ikemen to be getting involved right now?!" Subaru yelled in worry. Elsa was clearly nothing but trouble and he didn't want to see more people getting hurt.

The redhead froze for a moment, seemingly shocked at what Subaru said, but a gentle smile appearing on his face as he instead widened his stance, preparing for battle.

"Don't worry Subaru!-" Emilia called, making her way to his side and pulling him closer to her as Puck and Reinhard prepared to launch their attacks.

"From what I know Reinhard is the strongest in this kingdom! If he can't defeat her, I don't know who could!" She quickly reassured, grabbing his injured wrist again to make sure it hadn't worsened in their moments apart.

Surely enough however, her fears were founded, as blood was strickling down from his stub once again, slowly dripping onto the bricks below. His reckless slamming into the stall earlier proving to have been more than just a blunt force injury, but to have also had enough force behind it to jostle his skin enough and render reopen the clumsily barely wound.

The blonde girl who had been unceremoniously dropped of by Reinhard's eyes also widened in concern as she ran over eyes glued to Subaru and his wound.

"Bro?! What on earth happened to ya so soon?!" She yelled, her voice sharp, but worry evident in it.

"Elsa seems to have tracked us down this time, Felt." Emilia responded, squinting her eyes as the glow of her healing magic reflected in them. Felt seemed to deflate upon her words, "So it's true then?- Time is resetting, but our memories are not?" The blonde girl theorized, only to be met with a hesitant nod from Emilia.

Subaru glanced between the two, before looking back towards the ongoing battle. This Reinhard guy appeared to be seriously strong, deflecting all of Elsa's attacks with ease as Puck shot icicle after icicle her way, but neither party seemed to truly be winning as things stood.

"Can you guys... Please... Explain what is going on?... Emilia-chan?..." He hesitantly asked, removing his arm from Emilia's gentle grip and backing away slightly the moment her healing magic faded.

He had been trying to connect the dots internally, usually being quite good at puzzles and strategy games, but every new variable and the fast pace of the entire scenario was starting to leave his mind feeling foggy. Felt's conclusion seemed sound, there was some kind of time loop going on in this fantasy world, one which everyone- except possibly him- seemed to remember. Perhaps it was something inherent to residents of the world, and he, as someone from another world, was exempt? 

But why was it that they were being chased? Who was this 'Elsa' truly? Who were they, beyond only their names? Why did Elsa seem so fixated on him specifically?- He found himself missing his hand, his mom, his dad, his home-

"Ya don't remember, big bro?" Felt called out in confusion, squinting her eyes before glancing Emilia's way and seeing her nod. "It appears Subaru is the only one unaware of time looping- But last time Elsa said something-"

Before Emilia could continue, Elsa flew past the momentarily distracted Reinhard, who had turned some of his attention to the conversation at hand, and dodged Puck's attack. She seemed to be wanting to prevent any further revelations, as her blade met Subaru's neck in a clean arc, her body proceeding to knock his over a moment after.

What landed on the ground was a garbling Subaru, choking on blood in his throat and starting to convulse, as well as the upper half of a dark haired woman, who grinned up at Subaru. Her lower half landed on the dirt with but a second of delay, splattering blood across the alleyway. 

Reinhard's coat was now soaked in blood where his arm had just chopped the flying Elsa in half when she passed him. He slowly turned his gaze to the ground in shock, eyes twitching as he realized he failed to save the boy behind him.

"D-Don't worry... F-Friend..." Subaru called out to the man through his struggled breaths. Surely, with these time loops, the next loop would go better right? The others seemed to have more information now! He wouldn't want this handsome guy feeling sorry when things would surely go better next time. After all, Emilia had called him the strongest around, and despite his earlier hesitation, he trusted her. If he just had to endure this pain for now, the guy will surely save them on time next time.

Then maybe Subaru wouldn't even have to lose a hand, or even see this freakazoid Elsa's face?

As he thought that, he glanced down at his chest, where his eyes met those of the bleeding Elsa who held a wide grin on her face. Despite being chopped in half, she still seemed to hold a lot of strength in her body. This theory was proven as she lifted a hand up to Subaru's collar and used it to pull herself closer to his face. Subaru could faintly feel a sickening glide of her intestines against his body as he held her gaze defiantly.

His vision was beginning to get even more blurry as it swam from side to side, and he could faintly hear some shouting, likely coming from Emilia and Felt, as hands seemed to be trying to pull Elsa off of him in vain. She merely tightened her grip, leaning in close and whispering into his ear, "Let's die and regenerate, over and over, together~" she whispered, like a vow.

The corners of Subaru's lip twitched in disgust, he wanted nothing more to push the woman off of himself, but couldn't find the strength in himself to move. All of his willpower was going towards trying to prevent tears from rolling down his cheeks.

He had no guarantee he would return in the loop with the others, and if he did, if that was truly still himself. But he wanted to remain strong for as long as he could, to be a beacon of hope to these people who had treated him with kindness. Just like a hero in his favorite fantasy stories would.

Subaru felt like the ground around him was shaking and his vision was finally starting to go dark, as a single tear started to roll down his cheek.

The last thing he heard before blacking out, was a shaky voice repeating the words he had said earlier.

"Friend..."

Rubbing his blurry eyes, Subaru finds himself reopening them to an unfamiliar location. He had been walking out of the convenience store moments before, yet he now found himself in the middle of a very different street, stood face to face with a very confused and scared looking green-haired man.

'Green hair? That isn't something you see every day! Was the guy a cosplayer? Is this his artist alley stand? But then why is he only selling what seemed to be apples, is he a fan of apple sculptures?' Subaru pondered to himself for a moment, before being hit by a sudden realization. He had no memories of heading over to an anime con! What is he doing here?!

As he started to connect the dots internally, the boy got ready to make an excited proclamation. Only to find himself cut off by a sudden glint coming from his right- "Huh?-"

A hand suddenly pulled him away, making him narrowly dodge the knife which had been flying right towards his face.

"HUHHHH?!-" Subaru yelled, feeling disoriented as he watched the ground he had just been standing on get smaller and smaller, alongside a cloaked figure who had gone to pick up the blade he narrowly dodged- His attacker?!

"Here Felt-sama, it might be best if you take him for now." A kind voice suddenly spoke from right next to Subaru's ear, making him realize he didn't just learn how to fly on instinct to get away from that crazy lady, but was currently being carried off into the skies by what seemed to be a handsome redheaded prince?! Had he gotten teleported into a BL novel?!

Before Subaru could continue that train of thought though- He found himself being handed off to some kind of blonde kid, also high up in the air. Now what kind of kidnapping scenario is this? He could hear the kid grumble about something, but couldn't understand it clearly due to the wind rushing past his ears.

The kid- presumably Felt- threw Subaru over her shoulder as she landed on the roof of a building, only to launch herself back up into the air.

"Woah- Woah- WOAH!!- What is going on here?!" Subaru yelled in a very- very manly tone, gripping tightly onto the girl in fear as wind started to heavily blow past him. Though he felt a bit embarrassed to be clinging to a kid like this, he couldn't stop himself as the fear of falling suddenly started to kick in with his mind's clearer state.

"Sorry about that, Subaru!" A gentle and melodic voice called from the side. Subaru opened one of his eyes to glance the way of the redheaded prince, to see that the owner of this sweet voice was a silver-haired girl in the man's arms- could she be a princess? 

"Thankfully we seemed to have gotten to you just in time! While Elsa will surely follow after us, we should be able to get to a better location this time where Reinhard can go all out before she can catch up!" The girl cheered, clearly proud of the plan, likely having been the one to come up with it.

As they hopped from another building Reinhard also spoke again, "My Divine Protection of Empathy is telling me you still feel quite lost, friend." With a gentle smile the man started to continue. "It appears that our kingdom of Lugunica has fallen victim to a bit of a curse, one that might have been cast with you as its target."

Huh? Cursed? Is this how Subaru's heroic tale starts? Does he have to defeat a demon lord to undo this curse and save this kingdom?

"It appears that every time you die, Subaru... Time resets to the moment you were standing in that street." The kindhearted princess continued for Reinhard, earning a nod from both the man and the girl carrying Subaru.

Huh? Dies? Isn't that a bit extreme? Does that at least mean he is technically immortal?- Though considering how soon he was being attacked, he can't say that it sounds like much of a long immortal life.

Reinhard winced, apparently that 'Divine Protection' thing he mentioned gave him an idea of what Subaru was thinking about.

"Don't worry Subaru! We have reason to believe things should be fine as long as we can defeat the Bowelhunter, Elsa Granhiert, the lady who was attacking you back there." He said reassuringly, though the ifs that sentence brought up did little to dissuade Subaru's worry.

Being suspended in the air in the arms of a kid however, there was very little protest he could make and he slouched in her hold. "Okay... An interesting start to my isekai adventure, but I'll accept that for now!"

His words garnered him a strange look from Felt, "Is-eh-kay? Big bro, I know you're weird but what are you going on about?"

Subaru's eye twitched at the insult he got after his faux cheer, and he crossed his arms behind the girl's back, preparing to protest before deciding against it. Instead he decided to gather some more information on the confusing scene before him, "So... Who are you guys? I've pieced some of your names together now, but I don't really know who you are."

His words seemed to surprise the princess in Reinhard's arms, who made a small gasping noise and brought her hand to her mouth, "Ah- Right! My apologies Subaru! I'm Emilia, just Emilia. We became friends in one of the loops, when you tried to help me retrieve my insignia!-" Reinhard's eyebrows raised slightly at that, but he didn't interrupt. "Which had ended in an unfortunate run-in with who was most likely... Elsa. Since then she has been chasing us down, but no worries! We will definitely save you this time! You can count on us!" She cheered, puffing her chest out proudly as though to show off her strength. 

Subaru blushed a bit at the sight, a small giggle escaping his lips. "I won't be letting that vixen harm even a hair on my Lia's head this time! Lia insisted we still come, but after this, you better be ready to repay her!" A high pitched voice suddenly threatened, a soft paw poking at Subaru's cheek as he found himself face to face with a tiny cat creature! How cute!

As Subaru was admiring the cuteness before him, the sight before his eyes suddenly changed from an adorable cat, to a weird looking bird, as one slammed right into his face, knocking him out of Felt's arms.

"A mabeast?!-" Felt yelled, before shouting after the now plummeting Subaru. "Woah- Big bro!!!-"

Reinhard quickly maneuvered through the air, casually dodging a blade which suddenly flew his way with ease, and strategically plummeting downwards as he pulled Felt along by her ankle, earning a screech from the girl.

Right before Subaru could hit the ground, Emilia managed to catch his hand and lift him from her position in Reinhard's arms, halting his momentum for a breath before al of them met the ground in a large thud.

A cloud of dust blew up around them where they landed. As Subaru blinked his eyes back open, he was thankful to see none of them appeared to be injured. Though they sure had landed in an odd way... Reinhard was standing elegantly, with Felt weirdly perched on his shoulders. Emilia was still in his arms, but her back was leaning at an odd angle due to her holding Subaru with both of her arms now. Said boy was unceremoniously clinging to her arms as well and hanging off of her and Reinhard's side in a fetal position, barely off of the ground.

As they regained their bearings, the small cat from earlier flew down from the sky, checking up on Emilia.

Everyone slowly made their way back onto their feet- and back onto solid ground after that. The cat's reappearance snapping them back to reality.

Subaru glanced around at their surroundings, recognizing they seemed to have made it out of the city. These guys' jumps sure made ground fast!

The group now found themselves in what appeared to be a clearing in some woods outside of the city they were just in, based on the medieval city walls Subaru could faintly spot beyond the distant tree line.

Another figure's sudden appearance from the trees Subaru had just been looking at stops any further chance at surveying the surroundings.

The appearance of this new figure, immediately had the group entering a defensive stance. Subaru faltered for a moment before trying to imitate what the other three humanoids were doing- He wasn't quite sure if he should try and pull the same pose the cat was doing.

A black-haired lady sauntered up, removing the cloak from around her shoulders in favor of throwing her braid over them with one hand, the other twirling a blade within it. Subaru quickly recognized her as the distant figure he had seen as Reinhard and the others flew him away, this was the one who!-

"Hey now~ It was quite rude to leave me out of that little friendship flight, was it not?~" She drawled, tossing her blade over to her other hand as she caught a her falling blade from her now empty hand. So she had been the owner of that blade that almost hit Reinhard before as well... Was that weird bird also possibly linked to her?

"After all, are we not friends after everything we have been through?" The lady purred, bringing one of her blades up to her lips and sliding her tongue along its sharp edge, blood startling to trickle down it as Subaru winced in horror.

And with that she was gone in a blink- Subaru's form faltered as he quickly looked around in fear, only to suddenly feel fingers trickling up his arm, causing him to freeze.

He slowly looked to the side with shaking eyes, only to see the assailant grinning right next to his face, body leaned up against him, "Or at least companions in life and death, right?~" She grinned.

Subaru wasn't quite sure what happened after that, everything moving too fast for him to keep track of, but he found himself suddenly flying backwards as the sound of steel meeting a blunt object rang through the air.

Reinhard had pushed him backwards, tumbling into Felt and Emilia as Reinhard's scabbard met the attacker's blade.

"She isn't even doing it for the insignia anymore at this point..." Emilia whispered from beside Subaru as she caught him, eyes trained on Elsa who stood where Subaru had been moments prior. "Is this all just for some... Sick sense of entertainment now?" She grit her teeth upon making that realization, Subaru's eyes widening in her arms.

"Enter... tainment...?" He echoed, eyes making their way back over to the attacker who gave him a morbidly sweet smile and a wave as she met his eyes.

"Hkkk-" The sight made Subaru want to puke. 

Reinhard also tensed at the sight, initiating a surprise attack while she was looking away, "My~ That isn't quite knightly of you, is it, Sword Saint?~ You truly are a monster after all." 

As the battle started, Reinhard shouted behind him. "Felt! Get Subaru out of here!" That appeared to be their win condition after all, getting Elsa away from her target and the boy to safety. Subaru felt conflicted hearing his words though, while the logic felt sound, what would they do if Reinhard, Emilia or that cat got injured? Subaru seems to be the one whose death apparently rewinds time, wouldn't it be better to use him as a shield if he wouldn't truly die?

Felt refused to let his mind spiral any more however and lifted him back over her shoulder, snapping him back to reality. "Why are you carrying me like this?!" Subaru yelled in embarrassment for a second time.

"How else are you expecting me to get you away from that bitch, big bro?!- I'm not big sis, I can't throw you on the ground and create a trail of ice to ride you down like a sleigh!" And really- What weird things is this kid thinking about?! Did she actually just want to use him like a surfboard?!

The two quickly hopped off into the forest however, scattering from the main group like bunnies. This left Emilia, Puck and Reinhard standing off against their assailant, Elsa.

Elsa shifted her weight from side to side for a moment, eyes squinting as she watched Subaru and Felt run off into the thick foliage of the forest. She didn't appear too bothered by this turn of events though, choosing to shrug her shoulders and loosely hold her blade out with a grin.

"Fine, fine~ You three want to be my first dance partners this time? I don't mind~ Though I can't say I know how to waltz with four people, I'm sure some limb rearrangement can get all four of us involved in the classic two man waltz." She whistled, a dangerous glint in her eyes as she juggled her knives, before kicking one out of the air straight at Reinhard and blasting off in Emilia's direction, a wide smile on her face.

Before she could reach Emilia however, Puck sent a giant chunk of ice crashing into her side and flung himself after it as a surprise attack, knocking her into the clearing's dirt for just a moment before she flipped back upwards on her hand, elegantly soaring through the air.

"Don't you know surprise attacks like that are quite rude? Same goes for coordinated attacks~" She sang, stepping to the right just in time to dodge a surprise attack from Reinhard as she deflected another attack from Puck. 

As Reid's blunt scabbard met Elsa's side, knocking her into the air again, she scowled darkly at the sheath. "Am I really not worthy of that legendary blade of yours, Sword Saint? You don't even care to take this battle seriously, even with lives at stake?" She taunted, causing Reinhard to freeze for a moment before he continued his onslaught of attacks. 

Emilia's eye twitched at the mention of Reinhard's sword, glancing at its position in its sheath. Was Reinhard not able to draw it currently? Due to the rush they were in earlier they hadn't prepared any additional weapons, which would mean they would be fighting this deadly battle with a considerable disadvantage compared to what they could have had otherwise. As she accidentally hesitated for a moment in her onslaught of ice support, Elsa got the chance to reposition comfortably.

The attacker glanced to the side, noticing Emilia's calculating expression and deciding to put an end to her budding strategy, dashing towards where she saw Emilia standing, launching herself off against the dirt and flying towards the half-elf.

Elsa instantly cut through the girl as she reached her, but found herself slicing into something hard instead of the soft skin she was expecting. Glancing back up, she found herself merely slicing a glass reflection of made of ice. The sun's bright beams on their battlefield having masked the frozen mirror's true identity and tricked her.

She faltered for a moment, the recoil of her strong attack in the ice blasting residue up in the air, creating a makeshift cloud of smoke around her and blinding her. 

Elsa scowled for a moment, glancing around her to see herself surrounded by a light blue smokescreen made of frost on all sides.

"What underhanded tricks you lot have."

At the same time Felt, still carrying Subaru over her shoulder, was running through the forest, struggling to dodge an array of sharp branches.

"What's with this place?! Did a boar go on a rampage through here?!-" Subaru yelled just as his skin got caught on yet another branch, creating a long gash along his upper arm.

"Sorry 'bout that big bro!" Felt yelled back, using her knife to slice away at some of the thick foliage ahead of her, trying to clear the way a bit better for the two of them. While she can't say she had been in this forest before, she similarly found the state of it quite strange. Though she was unfamiliar with the 'boahr' Subaru was talking about, she chalked his theory up as a possibility and was trying to move as fast as possible, to prevent that 'boahr' from possibly catching up to them.

As she moved to cut away even more of the thicket to allow them to travel through it more easily, she felt her body being jostled as Subaru pushed himself off of her shoulder, rolling onto the ground with a hard thud.

"Eh?!- What gives, big bro?!" Felt called out, she had still been on her forward momentum and skidded to a stop a bit further, quickly trying to turn around and get back to Subaru, only to see him trying to run back in the direction they came.

Using her Divine Protection Felt launches herself after him, quickly tackling him back down into the brush before he can get far.

"And where do ya think you're going?!" She shouted, clearly confused by Subaru's sudden behavior. She held him down with her hands curled into fists at his collar, as he struggled to knock her off she lifed him by where she held him and slammed him back into the ground, knocking the air out of him.

"Seriously, bro?! What suddenly got into you?" Felt complains, trying to meet his eyes but noticing he has his eyes trained on the direction he came from.

"I... Seriously don't think this is a good idea! We are just running off into the middle of nowhere as the others risk their lives for us, I think it would be better if you take them instead..." Subaru started, a hand coming up to grip at Felt's shoulder, "You guys said I'm the source of this time loop right? Won't that guarantee I will be alright even if anything happens to me? And like E-Emilia said! If Elsa is doing this for her own entertainment, surely she will get bored and leave me be eventually, right?! It isn't exactly like I remember what happened in those previous loops you guys talked about, or even meeting you guys before just now. Surely me dying a few times is a better fate than those guys potentially dying forever?-" "GWAA?!-"

SMACK- 

Felt's fist moved from Subaru's collar to his cheek with lightning intensity, slamming his face to the side and splattering small drops of blood to the ground.

Subaru immediately rose a hand to his now swelling cheek as he turned back to look at Felt, an offended look on his face. If this was anyone else he would likely have tried fighting back, but he couldn't bring himself to even push this young girl who was trying to protect him too hard so he could start running again. It wasn't that Subaru wanted to die, not at all, the idea terrified him. But the group had been so kind to him before, that he couldn't justify allowing them to get harmed in his place, especially considering the circumstances. If one of them had to go through hell, shouldn't it be him, who won't even remember?

Instead of taking any further action, Subaru simply glared up at Felt with fire in his eyes, opening his mouth to speak again-

"That's enough of that, big bro!" Felt called, eyebrows furrowing as she lifted Subaru by his collar again, holding him up to the height of her face. "Don't try and simplify all of this to that! I know you're some kind of weird idiot, but just how dumb are you?! Even if you don't remember, that doesn't mean the timelines where you have died, and could die in the future, are any less real! Everyone else in them will still remember, and who is to say you will be the only one getting hurt?! Elsa could capture you and use you as a way to revive everyone after committing a massacre!-" She shouted

Subaru shivered at that, but Felt didn't relent, "Even if she just decided to attack you exclusively for all of eternity, everyone is being looped back when you do! And With. Our. Memories! We would be stuck in an eternal loop, unable to ever change anything- or do anything! And you won't be able to change anything either, because you'll never even see her coming!" 

As Felt went on, her voice became more and more hoarse. She glared at the boy she was holding and started to shake him in her annoyance. "And all just for the possibility Elsa might get bored one day?! You'd let your cowardice subject us to eternal encagement just for a dumbass possibility?!"

Subaru deflated, stared blankly at her, processing her words. Frustration swelled up inside of Felt and she rolled her eyes before tossing the other back to the ground and standing tall above him. From where she stood her sharp gaze pierced through him, Subaru numbly blinking at her as he met those sharp eyes. 

"In the slums we have a saying: Live strong! Though you aren't from the slums, I think that is something you really need to hear at the moment. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and wanting to take everything upon yourself! As noble as it might sound, that is nothing other than wishful thinking! Ideals don't make the world go round, action does. That is something all those dumb nobles need to learn, and you too it seems, big bro! If you go through with that dumb plan of yours, I might never end up seeing my Old Man Rom again! And I refuse to allow my last meeting with him to have been seeing him die, ya hear?!" 

Subaru could tell Felt was getting really passionate as she spoke. At the end of her speech she stuck her finger out to Subaru, the two making eye contact once again. Subaru thought for a moment, before shaking his head. He took her now outstretched hand and let her pull him up. 

"Aye, aye, captain!" He joked with a dry voice, his eyes were a bit bloodshot and while he still felt conflicted, he couldn't deny Felt's accusations of cowardice either. If a kid could be so brave, surely Subaru could too.

As Subaru fully stood back up his free hand found his way to Felt's head, gently petting it. "There, there." Subaru called out gently. "I also refuse to let you leave things off on such a note, let's make sure you and this old man get to meet again, alright?" 

Felt shook their still hands, grinning up at the likewise grinning boy. "You better!-"

And with that, it would appear a very polite impolite guest decided to make its entrance. Polite in having allowed them to mostly finish their conversation, impolite at how it suddenly pounced at them from the forest's shadows, painfully knocking the two over.

The two rolled to the side at the impact, Subaru trying to shield the younger girl with his body while trying to catch a glimpse of their attacker.

"That... Certainly isn't a boar." He helpfully commented, staring at the large creature now towering over them.

A ginormous beast stood before them, with a silhouette reminiscent of a fox, but one that had somehow managed to grow twenty sizes. Its orange fur glowed softly in the places where sun managed to hit it through the leaves and bright red eyes pinned Subaru and Felt down where they sat on the forest floor.

"A-A mabeast!" Felt proclaimed, grabbing her knife after the shock wore off. 

"Huh?! I thought that was what you guys called that weird bird thing from earlier?!" Subaru yelled back in confusion, surely that bird and this fox weren't the same creature, right?

"They both are ya idiot!" Felt called back, before dragging Subaru by his arm and sprinting away from the beast.

The two ran as fast as they could, the fox mabeast following close behind them, having immediately kicked back into action the second they started their sprint.

Felt dashed between the trees, leading Subaru by his arm as they tried to lose the beast, yet it seemed to be able to relocate them, no matter how they tried to escape its vision.

Subaru glanced behind them as they ran and took notice of the beast's figure seeming to prepare for a jump. Seeing this he immediately pulled Felt to the side, moving the out of the pounce zone just in time.

"It doesn't just look like a fox... Isn't this just an overgrown fox?" Subaru whispered indignantly to himself as he dodged another tree. He recognized that style of pounce from cute animal compilations he would sometimes watch on his laptop. He remembered even commenting on how cute the fox had looked at the time, which cemented the moment in his brain.

'Thank god for that!' Subaru thought, as he tried to keep an eye on the mabeast's movements now.

"I think I can predict the way this thing will move!" He whispered to Felt, who gave him a confused look, considering just prior he didn't even know the difference between this bird and the mabeast that had attacked them earlier while soaring through the sky. But she decided to trust him upon seeing the glint in his eyes and nodded.

"Okay, what's the plan now then, big bro?"

Though her use of a frozen mirror had succeeded in drawing Elsa's attention, it had also landed Emilia with her ire.

Emilia had hoped the strategy would buy her some time to make a better plan for this battle, as blindly slamming stuff against the other woman had clearly been having little effect, her just regenerating no matter what she got hit, diced, or sliced with. But despite the mirror's initial success, Elsa didn't appear to have been deterred by the icy smoke in the slightest, dashing out of it at lightning speed almost immediately and making a beeline towards Emilia.

This move caught the defending party off guard, Reinhard and Puck having just made a move to enter the smoke to attack her, now struggling to quickly maneuver themselves back the other way. Elsa managed to make a deep slice in Emilia's side, just barely missing her stomach due to a blast of ice to her face.

Elsa harshly skidded against the dirt of the clearing, knocking up sand as she tumbled away from the impact. Finally landing a ways away, she quickly tried to prop herself back up, glaring at Emilia as blood flowed down from her forehead.

"What a rude way to respond to a dance you yourself requested." Elsa huffed, a smile returning to her face but her harsh glare only getting colder as she shakily stood back up.

Elsa's body had already mostly recovered, but her head had taken a serious blow, leaving her momentarily disoriented. This left her to merely huff as Reinhard charged back up to her with another attack, she clumsily- but successfully- sidestepped the attack and made another run for it towards Emilia, getting matched in speed by Puck who flew alongside her, slamming ice crystals into her side to try to knock her away.

As she ran she readied her blades, ignoring the pain flaring in her side, her narrow eyes trained onto Emilia. Who immediately readied her stance, beginning to form multiple shards of ice to send off at her attacker.

As Elsa got close however, she made a sudden turn, detouring towards Puck who still flew a small distance from her side, slicing at his small stomach with a disgruntled yell.

Her blade almost made contact with that soft, fluffy stomach but found itself stopped by large orange paws suddenly landing on it. Elsa glared up in surprise at the intruder but found herself face to face with one of her own allies: the fox mabeast that had been tasked with either retrieving, or killing, Subaru. Whom had now stopped her blade at such a pivotal moment, costing her a potential victory.

She scanned the mabeast in confusion, knowing Meili wouldn't have sent it here for no reason. As her gaze made its way to the beast's eyes she realized they weren't trained on her at all. The target of this attack hadn't been her at all, but something behind her. She quickly spun around, tossing the mabeast off of her blade and making eye contact with none other than Natsuki Subaru.

"My, my?~ Returned for me after all? Maybe you're my prince, instead of being the princess~" She purred, eyes lighting back up with vigor upon seeing the boy so similar to herself there, a grin finding its way back onto her face,

She immediately readied her blade to strike at Subaru, who didn't seem to react to her movement at all, or even be looking at her, his eyes trained behind her. Elsa's eye twitched slightly in disappointment as she made a promise to herself to reignite that fire in him the next time, it was move fun to be the one to snuff it out herself, after all.

With that thought, Elsa struck down with glee, unable to contain her bridled excitement for all that which was to come.

Her timing in this action seemed to have been cursed by Od Laguna itself, for Subaru rolled to the side just before the impact hit, barely dodging her blade.

Before she could react another delayed pounce from the fox mabeast landed where Subaru had originally been, but Elsa currently stood.

The pounce slammed her deep into the clearing's ground, dirt crumbling around her body as a small crater formed beneath her.

Just a few moments prior, Emilia had noticed Felt emerging from the thicket she and Subaru had previously entered, holding a very long and very sharp branch. The sight of which surprised Emilia, but she immediately understood Felt's goal with it as she watched her throw it in Reinhard's direction. The moment the other caught it, Emilia reinforced it with ice, turning it into a makeshift blade.

Perhaps not a makeshift blade worthy of the Sword Saint, considering its rough and surely fragile quality, but one that would have to make due.

Reinhard tossed the blade between his hands for a moment before nodding, appearing to have approved of it for the time being. His approval coinciding with Elsa fully getting slammed into the ground. As the hit sounded loud throughout the clearing, Emilia rushed to pull Subaru aside before yelling out, "Go, Reinhard!"

With those words the sunny day suddenly seemed to turn to night, the clearing was became covered in darkness, only lit by a single bright blade. Reinhard rose that blade, shining with mana, high above his head before slamming it down where the fox mabeast and Elsa were. Though in reality, this action took him but a few meager seconds, all those watching it felt entranced, as though the sight could last forever.

Forever is apparently a not very long time, however, as an explosion upon the blades impact brought light back into the clearing and kicked up another giant cloud of sand in the clearing, making the onlooking four unable to see anything of what happened to the three involved.

Subaru stared into the dust cloud, his heart beating heavily in his chest. He hoped more than anything that Reinhard would walk out of there in any moment, that they had succeeded, but he couldn't dissuade the doubt in his heart before he saw it.

Emilia, who stood next to him, clutching onto his arm tightly, seemed to be worried as well, squinting into the dust cloud with furrowed brows.

As the dust started to clear, a single shadow became visible in it, a redhead stepping out from the cloud before it fully dissipated and nodding to the group with a smile.

"Victory!!-" Subaru started to yell in joy upon seeing Reinhard unscathed, he moved to run over to the man, itching to give him a celebration high five- but found himself stopped by Emilia who still held his arm tightly.

"Be careful, Subaru! I don't know if this will have been enough to stop her-" And as if on cue, a second figure rose from the center of the clearing. The once flat clearing now holding deep crater in its middle where she came from. Without a moment's hesitation Elsa made a mad dash towards Reinhard, all of her previous elegance and playfulness lost, now traded in for pure, unbridled rage.

Before anyone could call out in warning, her blade arced towards Reinhard, only to smoothly miss its target as Reinhard sidestepped it with ease. Subaru's eyes shined at the sight, a truly unstoppable ikemen stood before him!

What no one had expected though, was that Elsa had merely used herself as a distraction, having accepted she would not be able to harm Reinhard. After her attempt at an attack failed, she had quickly dashed off. Reinhard started after her, only to stop in his steps upon hearing a loud scream from beside him.

Quickly glancing to the other side of the clearing, Reinhard locked eyes with a terrified Subaru, whose side was now cut open and bleeding.

The distraction had worked for Elsa, no one had been paying attention to the blade flying across the clearing when she had been running out in the open. The blade had been heading straight for Subaru's stomach, but Emilia managed to pull him aside in time for it to miss its main target, even if just barely. The cut on his side now mirroring Emilia's own.

The half-elf immediately shot into action, doing her best to heal the wound on Subaru. He winced at the sudden added heat on his side, opening his eyes, just to notice her own matching wound, "Woah there?!- Shouldn't you be healing yourself up first?!" He bellowed, beginning to try and dodge Emilia's attempts to heal him.

Felt walked up behind the now bickering pair and promptly hit Subaru over the head with the blunt handle of her blade. "I agreed to lead you back here for your strategy to defeat that bitch and the mabeast- Not for you to go and try to kill yourself again, ya hear?! Let big sis heal you up, you have the weaker body after all" She scolded.

Subaru winced at the hit, alongside her words, finding himself unable to refute them. His shoulders sagged as he relented himself to getting healed first, "But Emilia...-tan! You have to heal yourself right after, okay?" He reasoned. Emilia was simply glad the boy was finally allowing her to continue, and nodded with a gentle smile on her face, which got her a smile in return. "Oh-key, you dunderhead!" She repeated his words right back at him, but added an archaic insult!

Reinhard walked over to the group as well with a troubled expression at seeing the two injured, "My sincerest apologies to the both of you. It appears I still have much training left to do before I can truly be of help to anyone." He muttered, bowing towards the group.

Felt attempted to bonk him with her blade's handle as well while he was bowed forwards, having been at her height, but found herself just bouncing off of him and stumbling back a few steps- "Felt-sama?!" He called.

Reinhard flinched upon seeing the girl tumble so suddenly, attempting to reach forward to catch her. Puck had made it back over in time to support her from behind however, preventing her from tumbling over. As Puck flew past Felt's back he and Reinhard made eye contact, Puck proceeding to simply shake his fluffy head. "And it would appear we have also lost track of Elsa." Reinhard choked out with narrowed eyes, shaking his head.

"Hey now! No need to get so depressed dude!-" Felt started, deciding to opt for an alternative strategy as she awkwardly tried to pat Reinhard's tall shoulders. "Even if those two are injured- I'm still unscathed right? And so is that little cat guy! You can't say this was an all-out failure, things went way worse last time we were in this scenario without ya!" She cheered.

Her words still seemed to make Reinhard wince however, which made Subaru decide it was his turn to step in. "Felt is right Rein! You're just a guy, if you want to blame someone for that creep getting away, all of us would be just as guilty as you! Maybe this little spirit most of all-" Subaru joked, glancing towards Puck with a teasing expression on his face, only to be met with a soft punch from the spirit.

"And that's for Lia getting hurt." Puck concluded soundly, before flying over to Emilia and rubbing his head against her cheek gently. Subaru felt his honor being tarnished however and couldn't leave it at that, "What do you mean little guy?! I wasn't even here when she got hurt! Shouldn't you be punching yourself?!-"

A soft chuckle escaped Reinhard at that, finally recognizing how light the atmosphere felt in the clearing despite what could be considered a loss- His hesitation had led to Elsa's escape after all. But perhaps this could better be called a draw, or a win, considering everyone still standing on their end- and the clock still flowing forwards.

"Is this what you would call a- Victoraih, Subaru?" Reinhard asked earnestly, finally getting a good look at his friend after everything.

"You betcha!!" Subaru cheered in return, holding his hands out to Reinhard, wanting to celebrate with a high five! As he met Reinhard's confused stare however, he realized this likely wasn't much of a thing around these parts. Fantasy world and all. Subaru considered his actions for a moment before reaching out and grabbing Reinhard's hand, bringing it to meet his own with a small 'smack!'

Emilia and Felt seemed a bit confused at their action, but Emilia quickly copied what Subaru did, grabbing Felt's hand and bringing it to meet her own.

"Aah!! Emilia-tan that is so cute!" Subaru cheered once again at the sight, maybe fantasy worlds still really were the best after all!

With his exclamation Subaru threw not only those words, but also himself Emilia's way, giving her a big hug. The sudden jostling causing Puck to jolt away from her other cheek, "Hey!-" But seeing the tired smile finally reveal itself on Emilia's face Puck didn't protest any further, allowing the two to hug after this very, very, long day. Reinhard's eyes also shone at the sight, and he lifted Felt up by the back of her collar, as apparently seemed to be commonplace for her, pulling her along to join the other two.

As the four awkwardly stood there, hugging each other tightly at the edge of a clearing- now turned baby volcano with that crater- under Puck's supervision, they noticed cold winds starting to blow.

Subaru raised his head to be met with a faint orange hue on the horizon, woah- How long had they all been standing there if the sun is already starting to set?! Talk about awkward... 

He started to release his hold on the other three, nervously coughing into his hand which caused them to step back as well- or jump back in Felt's case. It appears she had been trying to get out of that impromptu cuddle pile for a while now, but couldn't due to Reinhard's grip. 

Unsure of how to approach the topic change, Subaru decided to go all out and throw his hand up into the air- pointing upwards. "It seems like the sun is setting!" He yelled, "And it would appear that I- Natsuki Subaru- Don't have any kind of shelter in this world! Or food, due to us not having flown over this way with my bag of groceries!" Subaru proudly proclaimed to the stares of the others.

"And so, I humbly request knowledge on what we are going to do next!" Subaru finished, suddenly using more formal speak than he ever did before, which caused Emilia to giggle.

"I would love to bring you back with me to the Mathers Estate!" She giggled, holding her hand to her mouth as she watched the excitement on her face grow.

"Sorry, Emilia-sama, but I believe I cannot allow that." Reinhard said, shaking his head as he got closer to the two. "Considering everything that has happened these... Loops. I think it would be best for me to escort Subaru to the Sage Council."

That caused Subaru to freeze- The Sage Counil? What's that?- There is no way it would be better than anywhere near Emilia-tan, even if that place near to her was in a pigsty!

Subaru quickly jumped back to hugging Emilia, shaking his head in refusal. "Sorry, Rein! But I would way prefer to go with Emilia-tan!" 

Felt also stood between the two and Reinhard, preparing to back them up- "Yeah- What gives, dude?! Let big bro go wherever he feels like, you can't just keep kidnapping him! We had a good reason to earlier!"

"I think his continued safety is also a good reason, is it not?" Reinhard pouted in return, crossing his arms as he gave an additional reason he knew would tug at the others' heartstrings given the situation. While Subaru's wellbeing truly was a top priority for him right now- He also recognized it would only be more dangerous to pretend this time looping never happened, or to pretend they didn't know the cause. Even if they pretended, it was unclear if anyone else might have connected the dots on the cause of the loops- or what the situation would be like if this ever happened again. Considering the relatively good end they had at present, it would be the best moment to act.

While the others, except Puck, all seemed to still want to protect, they could only open and close their mouths in ways that reminded Subaru of gaping fish. He decided he didn't want to be a fish for any longer than necessarily and held back any further remarks, narrowing his eyes slightly but getting ready to agree. Surely a visit to these sages and their council wouldn't take too long? He could simply meet up again with Emilia afterwards.

"You're not denying the kidnapping allegation... It doesn't seem like I have much of a choice in the matter." Subaru sighed, relinquishing his hold on Emilia, only for her to immediately grab him in return. 

"If you're taking him, can I at least come along! I really owe him a big debt!" Emilia shouted suddenly, nervously still gripping onto Subaru's arm. He wasn't really sure what kind of debt she was speaking of, feeling like he owed her if anything. But Reinhard gave her a nod which appeared to be enough of a seal of approval.

Felt folded her arms on the side, kicking up some dirt with her foot, "Pushovers... " She huffed.

Yet recounts of the day state that as the citizens of the Lugunican Capital witnessed Reinhard make his way towards the castle, it wasn't simply a duo he had in tow, but a trio.