Chapter Text
“It’s over.”
As Subaru utters those words, a breath he didn’t know he was withholding escapes his throat. This familiar feeling, the same one that gripped him when he slew Petelgeuse, finds itself knocking on the door of his body at this very moment. The battle is done, concluded. They’d won. They’d actually done it. And he didn’t end up dying one time! “Invincibility” his foot!
Reinhard’s circumspect gaze examines the gaping hole in the river for another few moments, as if running the odds of Regulus’ survival in his head. Turning his eyes to meet Subaru’s, he nods.
“I can’t help but agree with you, Subaru. Without a doubt, that man is dead.”
Reinhard’s additional confirmation lifts a further weight off Subaru’s shoulders. Almost instinctively, Subaru finds his knees giving out from under him. Ah. He didn’t know he was that tired. Somehow, though, he doesn’t end up slipping. By the feel of it, two strong arms are holding him up.
“Careful, Subaru! You can rest all you want after we hear back from the others, but we can’t afford to be lackadaisical when the cult is still on the prowl!”
Looking up, Emilia is the one who caught him. Ah. What an angel. Subaru can’t help himself from smiling at her words.
“Nobody says ‘lackadaisical’ anymore, Emilia-tan. You’re totally right, though. I can’t afford to give in, no matter how spent my energy is! A kiss on the lips would definitely charge me right back up, just saying!”
Emilia’s adorable pout is forever burned into Subaru’s retinas, or at least he’d like it to be.
“ Subaru! I was being serious! The others are giving their all right now. We have to go help them!”
Subaru mentally nods. She’s right. As much as he wants to believe in the others, there is always the chance that they would not be able to surmount the odds. He can always reset, but no one else is so fortunate. That leaves the question of who to kill next, though. Perhaps the swordsmen? Or maybe Wrath? Or even Lust?
Before Subaru can respond, though–
“Leave it to me.”
Reinhard’s sudden interjection catches both Subaru and Emilia off guard. Subaru looks at the swordsman curiously, finding a warm smile on his face.
“Subaru, while it is noble that you wish to help with other fights, I believe it would be better if you relied on my modest strength. You have done enough in vanquishing Greed. Please, focus your efforts on escorting Lady Emilia back to the City Hall. She is still a royal candidate, after all.”
Reinhard finishes with a wink and a dazzling grin.
“Ah! Too bright! I don’t have enough power to deal with the power of an ikemen smile + wink combo right now!”
Reinhard chuckles, clearly not understanding a word that came out of Subaru’s mouth. Emilia looks at him with a concerned glance.
“Reinhard, are you sure?” she asks.
He nods, a solemn expression on his face.
“Most certainly. Maintaining the safety of the other royal candidates is of the utmost importance right now. We cannot forget the most pressing hostages that the Witch’s Cult holds over our heads.”
Subaru felt tempted to argue that he should do more against the Sin Archbishops, but then remembered—the whereabouts of Lust and both Gluttony’s are unknown. At any given moment they could threaten any one of the less combat-oriented candidates, like Felt, Anastasia, or Crusch now that she’s become sick. From a tactical standpoint, it’d be leaving their kings out in the open.
He exchanges glances with Emilia before turning back to Reinhard, flashing him a thumbs up and grin.
“Sure thing, Reinhard! Sounds like a plan.”
Reinhard then lightly bows, a slight smile on his face.
“Very well, then. I wish you good hunting.”
Subaru’s hair is blown back as a massive gust of wind pelts him in the face, a loud crack nearly blowing out his eardrums. Gah, doesn’t that guy know anything about restraint?
“Ah. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. As expected of the speed that was able to come back from the moon…”
Sure enough, when Subaru reopens his eyes, Reinhard is gone, leaving Emilia and him to be the only ones left in the area.
“Well, now that everything’s done, we might as well start heading back to the base, Emilia-tan.”
Emilia looks at him like she has a question on her mind.
“Just one moment, Subaru.
Subaru nods.
“Yes, what is it, my Emilia-tan?”
“Shouldn’t we deal with the frozen girls first?”
Ah. Oh, right.
“I completely forgot!”
Subaru dramatically falls to his knees. How embarrassing! Of course they’d have to be unfrozen! How could he possibly forget the presences of 52 other people like that?
Wait a minute…
“Ha! Reinhard forgot too! He’s not so perfect now, is he—OW, ow ow!”
Emilia sighs as she drags her knight by his hand.
“He probably didn’t mention it because it wouldn’t take very long. Just you watch, Subaru. It should be over in less than a minute.”
Subaru dramatically salutes.
“Aye-aye, Emilia-tan!”
The pair begin strolling to the chapel, which, fortunately, isn’t too far away. Subaru can’t help himself from grinning like an idiot in anticipation for the scene about to unfold. He never stopped finding Emilia casting magic beautiful. No matter how many times he sees her cast the same spells, he always finds his reaction the same as when he first saw her on that bridge—nothing but unfiltered awe.
“Subaru, you better not be thinking of anything scandalous right now!”
Ah. He’s blushing really hard right now, isn’t he?
“No worries, Emilia-tan! My thoughts are as pure as an infant’s right now, I promise!”
Emilia returns a skeptical glance, followed by a sigh.
“If you say so, dunderhead.”
Subaru resists the urge to say his usual response to Emilia. That would be too much right now. Besides, he needs to think of how he’s going to explain the situation to Regulus’ former wives. Not like they actually cared about him, but it’s still going to be an anvil he has to drop on their heads.
Emilia and Subaru continue walking to the chapel. It should be quite easy, really. Maybe they’d encounter a couple of demi-beasts, but such creatures should be easily taken care of by Emilia’s potent magic. Smooth sailing should await them from now on.
However, reality is not always predictable, nor is it so merciful. Once the chapel comes into view, Emilia and Subaru tense up as they lay their gaze on the entrance. Subaru feels his hand almost crushed under the strength of Emilia’s grip. His hand is at the bottom of his concerns right now, though.
Subaru’s thoughts, previously occupied by joy and measly qualms, is sent back 30 minutes to when he was mid-fight with the lecher that tried to marry Emilia. His heart begins to sink, but he forces it to stay afloat. He can’t afford to make any missteps right now. He can’t afford to have any unproductive thoughts.
Why?
Because standing there right in front of the chapel is the soaked and absolutely irate form of Regulus Corneas, the man they thought they killed.
“---Tsk. Took you two long enough. Do you have any idea how long I was waiting for you to continue this fight? And where is that red-haired knight of yours? Don’t tell me he had the gall to leave in the middle of a fight! I swear! Just when I had begun winning as well!”
Emilia and Subaru ignore the word vomit that escapes the mouth of Regulus.
“Subaru, get behind me,” Emilia whispers to him in a grave voice. “Let me handle this.”
“Emilia! We’ll do it as a team. I can’t just let you go in by yourself! You’re a royal candidate, remember?”
Emilia’s stern gaze nearly shrinks Subaru down to the size of a molecule.
“Subaru, I don’t care if I’m the queen or a pauper. I have to finish this man off once and for all. Reinhard isn’t here anymore, so we can’t afford to be reckless. Stay where it’s safe. I don’t want to lose you.”
“But–”
“No buts! Listen to me as your liege, alright?”
All the doubts Subaru has are washed away as he stares at those amethyst eyes, laden with conviction he hasn’t seen in them for a long time.
He’d almost forgotten—Emilia’s her own person, and a damn strong one at that. Useless trash like him would only hold her back in the upcoming battle.
“Right—I’ll leave it to you then, my Emilia-tan!”
Emilia nods with a confident smirk.
“That’s what I love to hear!”
Regulus, meanwhile, is angrily tapping his foot as he stares down Subaru and Emilia with impatient eyes.
“Are you two done ignoring me like I’m not even here yet? Because I’m ready to move on when you are! Honestly, who the hell do you think you are—”
“EL HUMA!”
Regulus is cut off as a swarm of ice crystals is sent on a crash course for his sopping wet form. Gritting his teeth, he dashes to the right, landing on the brick road next to the chapel.
He didn’t tank the hit like he usually does. How curious. Perhaps he’s trying out a new strategy, Subaru thinks to himself.
Emilia doesn’t relent, though, beginning to sprint at him while ice coalesces in her right palm.
“Ice Brand Arts: Hammer of Justice!”
She is now gripping a giant mallet, charging at Regulus on a collision course. The Sin Archbishop in question doesn’t seem too threatened, judging by his lax facial expression. Subaru gulps. What plan does he have in mind?
Regulus raises a hand, but before he can do anything—
“El Huma!”
Using the hand not holding the mallet, Emilia shoots out more ice crystals from her palm, just enough in time so that Regulus won’t be able to attack and defend at the same time.
Subaru has to resist the urge to cheer. That’s his Emilia! So smart and resourceful!
Regulus’ expression predictably sours, him performing a rather complex roll to the right, dodging Emilia’s initial mallet swing.
Emilia spins with the hammer, reorienting herself to take advantage of the momentum to continue the swing and flatten Regulus on the ground in front of her.
Once more, however, he rolls out of the way.
This is beginning to confuse Subaru. Just where did he learn these techniques? Before, Regulus was moving like he’d never been in a fist fight his entire life. Now, he’s moving like he’s had formal training in combat. What happened?
Subaru nearly pales in horror. He was just holding back to wait for Reinhard to leave. And now he has Emilia right where he wants him.
Damnit! He knew it was too good to be true when he didn’t end up dying one time against this guy!
He’ll know better than to underestimate the Witch’s Cult next time. Like hell he’s going to give up so easily, though! He’ll kick and scream until this life is finally over. He’d promised to stay alive, after all.
Emilia’s mallet lodges itself in the ground with a slam that nearly shakes the street Subaru is standing on.
Regulus smirks, gazing upon Emilia with those lecherous eyes. Subaru grits his teeth. He said he wasn’t going to do anything, but he can’t afford to let this play out. Even if he can only do so little, that’s better than doing nothing!
“Hands off Emilia, you talkative motherfucker!”
Regulus barely looks over in time to see Subaru deck him in the jaw. Barring the wetness of his face, he actually felt warm to the touch. So he wasn’t using his invincibility at that moment. What a mistake on his part.
Regulus reels back from the punch, nearly stumbling over to the ground. When he spits out blood, oddly enough, it comes out as black rather than red. That’s not important right now, though.
“Subaru, I told you—!”
“Not now, Emilia-tan! We have to beat this guy together! He’s different from before!”
“Different from before…? And just what the hell would you know about me? Don’t act so familiar with someone after you literally assault them!”
Regulus finishes dusting off his clothes as he stands, despite them being more wet than dusty. He wipes the remainder of the black blood from his mouth with his sleeve. He points at Subaru with a look of nothing but pure hatred.
“You, alleged knight—I am going to finish you off first.”
“I’m not going to stand by and let you do that! El Huma!”
Before Subaru can react, Emilia brings her mallet around and launches another ice barrage at Regulus. Predictably, he reads it and dodges left, but his form is traced by Emilia. She smirks.
“I got you.”
Just as he dodges Emilia’s ice projectiles, he doesn’t see Emilia’s mallet come around in time, which sends him careening towards the chapel’s broad side.
Subaru watches in satisfaction as Regulus’ form flies through the wall, landing somewhere on the inside.
“I felt his ribs break from that one. We’re going to come out on top, Subaru! Stay back and let me finish him off once and for all!”
Facing Regulus out in the open is one thing, but facing him within a concealed space is another entirely. When outside, he doesn’t have access to as many projectiles and cannot land them as well due to the vast openness of the outdoors. But while inside? Ιt might as well be a death trap.
“Hold on a second, Emilia! I’ll go in first!”
Emilia looks back at Subaru with an annoyed gaze.
“Look, Subaru, I know what you’re thinking, but I can handle this myself. I don’t need you risking your life for me once more. You already do that so often. It’s my turn now, alright?”
Emilia moves, but Subaru grabs her hand. Even though she could break out at any given moment from Subaru’s grip, she chooses to let him stop her. What an angel.
“What you just said was really cool, Emilia-tan, but I want to do this. You saw how well I was able to run circles around Regulus before. And that was when he didn’t have his ribs shattered!”
Emilia looks at Subaru with a level of unsureness Subaru’s never seen on her face. Her lips purse together as she appears to be in thought.
“Just trust me, Emilia! Think of the White Whale, Great Rabbit, Sloth, and Elsa! When have I let you down before?”
After a few more moments of uncertainty Emilia lets out a sigh.
“...Don’t make me regret letting you do this, Subaru. Promise to come back alive, alright?”
Subaru nods.
“Definitely! I, Natsuki Subaru, solemnly swear that I will return to you alive. How’s that?”
Emilia averts her eyes, crossing her arms with a slightly guilty look on her face.
“...Just get going.”
Subaru doesn’t need to be told twice. Perhaps he pushed her too far, but this is necessary! He couldn’t possibly live with himself if he had to see Emilia’s dead body once more. Risking his life is the one thing he’s good at. He won’t be beat at it, no matter what.
Subaru throws open the doors of the chapel, scanning the inside with a taciturn gaze. As expected of a building with 52 frozen girls, it’s cold in here—good thing he’s wearing his tracksuit.
Despite being frozen, the girls all have content looks on their faces, like they had already won the battle. They have their faith in Subaru and Emilia to come out on top versus Regulus, no matter how much their hopes have been crushed in the past against their dear husband’s invincibility.
Subaru can’t let them down. When he lets them free, he’s going to tell them that their prison warden is dead, and that he killed him! No negotiating allowed!
The ice forms a sort of maze in the interior of the chapel, with winding hallways carving out their own paths down the surprisingly large area.
Subaru wanders the haphazardly produced ice hallways, most ending at dead ends. He makes sure to look over his shoulder at every turn—Regulus could be anywhere, at any given location, after all. Subaru’s looking for a distinct hole in the wall where he could’ve come from, cursing himself for not following Regulus in the way he came. But how was he supposed to know that there would be this arduous of a maze in there? How did Emilia even form this?
“Looking for someone?”
Subaru ducks without a second thought, performing a roll he learned from Clind out of the way and glancing over his shoulder.
Staring back at him are the sickly yellow eyes of Regulus Corneas, standing with his arms akimbo.
“It’s curious how you would come in here alone without that elf. Were you perhaps not aware she was your only source of firepower? I mean, look at you. You can hardly stand right now.”
“Shut up!”
Subaru forces his tired limbs up and launches another punch at Regulus’ face, but the Sin Archbishop sees it coming and grabs his wrist.
“Punches and kicks, huh? I can’t say I expected more, going off the last time we fought.”
Subaru’s head is slammed painfully in the ice behind him; he feels his brain threaten to break off from its stem.
Regulus slams his head into the ice again.
“You know, when I was watching you fight this pig, I was particularly impressed with your ability to outmaneuver him like he was nothing more than a lame dog.”
Then again.
“I don’t imagine there’s much room for cleverness in this situation, though. You must’ve really wanted to impress that female meat by finishing her kidnapper for good, huh?”
Then again.
Regulus lets Subaru fall to the floor like a sack of potatoes. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts. Subaru can hardly think straight. He can barely move his limbs, and he can barely feel. Though the image is grainy, he can barely make out Regulus looming over him.
“You…what are the words you’re saying…?”
The pain in his head is awful, but what’s more painful to Subaru’s mind right now is the process of trying to decipher the words coming out of Regulus’ mouth. He…doesn’t sound like Regulus at all. Come to think of it, has he even mentioned his rights once?
And also come to think of it, didn’t Subaru already inherit Regulus’ Witch Factor?
Wait a minute…
“Kyahaha! Looks like the secret's out, meatbag!” Regulus’ voice unnaturally cackles. “Honestly, I thought you would’ve figured it out with the black blood! That’s kinda my calling card, you know!”
Oh no. This is bad. This is really bad. If Subaru didn’t think he was going to die before, now he’s almost certain. Why is Capella here? Weren’t the others in charge of luring her into the trap?
“What’s the matter, meatbag? Stunned speechless by my acting prowess? Just one of the many talents this lovely lady has!”
Subaru has more important matters to worry about, though! He made a promise to Emilia to meet her outside alive, and that’s one he’s going to fulfill, no matter how much it might hurt his masculinity!
“EMILIA, HELP!” Subaru shouts from the bottom of his lungs.
Subaru’s ears ache as he produces the loudest sound he could humanly manage. A ringing reverberates in his ears, sending a wave of pain crashing through his head from the sheer volume of the noise. He can feel a liquid start to pour out of his ears.
Regulus—no, Capella clicks her tongue in frustration.
“Calling upon your only firepower? Not a bad plan! But I have a better idea, one that is too good to not try out here!”
“SUBARU! HOLD ON! I’LL FIND YOU, I SWEAR IT!”
A shiver goes down Subaru’s spine, along with a sharp spike of pain from the shout. That’s right—there’s an entire maze separating him and Emilia, isn’t there? Damnit—she’s not going to find him in time. What does Capella have in store for him, though?
Through Subaru’s bleary vision he can see Capella reach into Regulus’ suit pocket and bring out what looks to be a live trout, flopping about like the fish out of water it is. Its shape bends and twists as it falls out of Capella’s grasp, forming human arms and legs, a head of black hair, nasty sanpaku eyes, and a black tracksuit.
The confused fish-Subaru stands up from the floor, looking around the chapel in innocent curiosity and wonder. Its gaze is vacant and its mouth is hanging open like a fish. Without a second to spare, Capella turns her hand into a sharp claw and slices open fish-Subaru’s neck.
“Ghk—AHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
With an eerie human-like scream, its body thuds to the ground right next to Subaru’s stunned form, human blood spewing out of its neck like a fountain. Its gaze, while already vacant, now is lacking life as well. Though not a real one, a human was just killed in front of Subaru’s life. An innocent life was stolen for no reason.
“SUBARU!”
Emilia’s guttural screech of horror reverberates through the maze. Subaru grits his teeth, the pain nearly sending him off his butt and to his stomach on the cold floor below.
“SUBARU! STAY ALIVE! PLEASE! I’LL BE THERE SOON!”
“Part one done. Now time for part two!”
Capella speaks callously, like she didn’t just slice open the neck of a human and didn’t hear a grief-stricken girl scream out in terror.
Subaru can barely muster the strength to speak. The low, husky voice he lets out is the best he can manage.
“You—you sick motherfucker…”
“Not the first time this lovely lady has been called that, nor the second, actually, come to think of it. Maybe I should start counting…”
Capella crouches down to Subaru’s level, wrapping her fingers around his throat, him being too weak to muster the strength to even move.
“No need to look so scared, little meat; I won’t kill you. I’ll just do something worse. Don’t worry your greedy little head about it. Kyahahahaha!”
Subaru wants to say he was in the worst pain of his life, but he knows that wouldn’t be true. The brain trauma given to him by Capella patched itself up, as did the malaise that plagued his body from running all over town to dodge Regulus’ attacks. The ringing in his ears vanished. The fog over his vision lifted. He felt his bones cracking and reshaping themselves, but the process wasn’t painful as it was uncomfortable , like all of his bones and organs had become as numb as play-doh.
“Aaaand…done! Now if you don’t mind me, this lovely lady has to get going before that half-elf figures out what happened! Ciao!”
Before Subaru can even react to what happened, Capella quickly morphs into a dove and darts down the hallway.
How much time passes? Subaru doesn’t know. Five seconds? Five minutes? His head is still reeling from the shock of everything going on around him.
“SUBARU! SUBARU! SUBARU!”
Subaru gets to his feet in time to see Emilia dash as fast as she can manage down the same hallway Capella escaped down.
“Suba…ru?”
To say Emilia looks horrified is an understatement. She looks like she witnessed her entire family be brutally murdered in front of her eyes.
“No…Subaru…why…?”
She falls to her knees, tears quickly welling in her eyes. She doesn’t give Subaru much of a second glance, her gaze being glued to the sight of fish-Subaru’s bleeding, lifeless body.
“You—you—you promised…you promised…”
Does Emilia not see him standing right here, alive and well?
“Emilia-tan, what are you talking about, I’m right here—”
“SHUT UP!”
Subaru watches in stunned silence as Emilia rips out a chunk of ice from the wall and launches it directly at him.
The makeshift crystal embeds itself in the wall right next to his head. Just another inch or two and he would’ve been impaled.
“You killed him! You killed my Subaru!”
Emilia’s eyes are teary and bloodshot already. Her footsteps fall like thunder on the tiles of the chapel to where Subaru is standing. She grabs him by his collar and slams him against the ice wall.
What is Emilia doing? Why is she doing this? Did she think that fish-Subaru was him? Wait, if she thinks that’s Subaru, then who does she think he is—
“ Don’t worry your greedy little head about it! Kyahaha!”
Oh. Subaru looks down. He’s wearing white.
“L-Look, Emilia-tan, I know what it looks like, but you have to believe me—”
“DON’T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT!”
Ringing fills Subaru’s ears once more as Emilia’s fist slams itself into his jaw.
And again.
And again.
Subaru can’t stop himself as he hacks up blood onto Emilia’s face. By the looks of it, though, she either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now, Regulus Corneas !”
“That’s…not…me.”
Emilia’s left hand moves from gripping his collar to gripping his neck, her fingers digging into his windpipe.
“Oh, really? Then who is this I’m speaking to? Because you don’t look like anyone else to me!”
Emilia’s grip squeezes his neck even further, causing him to sputter and gasp for air.
“It’s me…S-Subaru.”
Emilia’s expression pauses. Her fingers loosen their grip ever-so-slightly, so as to let him breathe enough to talk. Her breathing is uneven and labored. Her gaze is as vacant as a still lake—she’s staring at him, but she’s more enveloped in her thoughts than in reality by the looks of it.
“Y-You remember that Lust woman, Capella? She was Regulus the whole time, a-and she transformed me into him before running away.”
The voice that comes out of Subaru’s mouth is not his, he just realizes. Not only because Regulus’ voice sounds different, but because he always sounded so pompous and arrogant, never uttering any words that sounded so weak and unconfident as the one’s he’s making right now.
“It’s really me, Emilia. Ask me anything to prove it.”
Emilia’s eyes shift back into reality, her pupils digging into him like laser drills. Her eyes are twitching, her eyebrows are narrowed, her breathing is heavy, and her teeth are grinding against each other.
“You… you…! ”
Before Subaru can say anything, Emilia’s fingers begin to dig themselves into his neck, causing him to cough and choke even worse than before.
“HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH OBVIOUS LIES DIRECTLY TO MY FACE?”
“Ghk…agh…ack!”
Subaru feels tears stream down his face. He’s not sure whether it’s from the pain of being strangled or from the daggers of Emilia’s words piercing his heart.
“How dare you plant seeds of hope in my heart that Subaru is still alive! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!”
With that great shout, Emilia also begins crying, her tears flowing down her face like raging rivers.
“He’s dead…there’s no denying that…” Emilia’s voice is more solemn and crestfallen than before, like she’s grieving for his death. “I want to believe your explanation, I really do, but how do you explain Subaru’s b-body right there, a-and his scream of horror?!”
“GHK!”
Emilia’s anger spikes once more.
“That’s right, you can’t! You can’t explain it because YOU KILLED HIM!”
Subaru begins choking even worse than before. He tries to breathe in air—through his nose, through his mouth—but nothing comes through. He feels himself become lightheaded and feels his thoughts become incoherent due to the lack of oxygen flowing into his brain.
He’s died in multiple ways—bleeding, freezing, decapitation, being eaten alive, but he’s never been asphyxiated before. It hurts. It really hurts. Bleeding is straightforward pain. Everyone knows what it’s like. Being choked is infinitely worse. Oxygen is right there. He’s so close to feeling relief, but every time he gets close, he’s pulled back and forced to feel this pain. It hurts so bad, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!
“Kgh…glk…gh….AH…hah…hah…hah”
Emilia suddenly drops him to the floor on his butt, the same exact way Capella dropped him all that time ago. Subaru greedily sucks in oxygen like he hasn’t breathed in years, taking long, ugly breaths in and out with his mouth.
“You killed the most important person in my life today. You did it without a second thought, or a shred of mercy. Because of you, I'll never see him smile again, I'll never get to see him laugh again, and I'll never get to respond to his confession..."
Emilia’s voice is final and serious, the fragile emotions nearly gone from her voice entirely. She looks down on Subaru’s crumpled form with the same expression one would look at a cockroach.
“By all means, I want nothing more than to see you dead right now, to be the reason you stop living. But I won’t do that.”
Subaru doesn’t know whether to feel relieved or not—relieved at the prospect of not being strangled anymore, but equipped with terror at the idea of living with this reality.
“In case you’re wondering why I’m not killing you, Regulus Corneas, it’s because unlike you, I’m not a murderer.”
Emilia’s hateful glare is almost the most painful thing he’s felt today. Those amethyst eyes that normally look at him so soft and tenderly now glower down at him like he’s less than the dirt beneath her feet.
“I-”
“Quiet. I’ve heard enough of your ridiculous excuses. If I hear you say that one more time—!”
Emilia chokes back a sob, wiping the tears from her eyes to continue her glare.
“---I’m sorry, but if you say that once more, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to hold back the urge to succumb to my urges.”
“E-Emilia, why…?”
Emilia impatiently puts her hands on her hips.
“I’ve already told you—I’m not like you. I’ll beat you up, I’ll reprimand you for the sins you’ve committed, but I won’t ever kill you, not when you’re so helpless. You’ll suffer more if you have to live with your guilty conscience.”
Emilia proceeds to hold her hands out.
“With that being said, stand up and turn around. You’re coming with me as my prisoner.”
“Prisoner…?”
Subaru asks the question as he follows Emilia’s instructions, standing up and sticking his hands behind his back. While he cannot see anything behind him, he can feel his hands become numb and cold, a feeling he’s ever-so-slightly familiar with thanks to one certain cat.
“Yes. While I’m not certain of where you will be held, I will guarantee that you will spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. I won’t accept any alternative punishment.”
“Emilia, please—just listen to me and what I have to say!”
Subaru turns around and faces Emilia with the most earnest expression he can possibly manage.
“I know it can’t be easy for you right now to give me a chance to explain everything, but I promise, if you just give me this chance, you’ll understand everything. You ask me anything, I’ll answer it with 100% honesty, I swear! Please, Emilia!”
Emilia’s lip quivers, her tough mask showing cracks around its edges.
“A-Alright, but if you’re lying, I won’t ever forgive you! I’ll trust you only if you can answer right now how you can be Subaru if Subaru is right t-there.”
Emilia looks nervous and full of doubt, but Subaru can see beneath that surface there’s hope —not a lot of it, only a sliver, but hope nonetheless.
“Capella’s ability allows her to shapeshift anything alive she touches, along with herself. Regulus truly did die when Reinhard launched him underground. The Regulus we saw when we returned to the chapel was Capella, who was shapeshifted as Regulus. It would also explain why he was fighting with more training than before—because that wasn’t him.”
Emilia continues to listen with laser focus. Subaru’s hands get a bit sweaty from how nervous he’s getting. Just one wrong step and he won’t get another chance like this .
“When I followed him into the chapel, she ambushed me right here and beat me senseless. Right as I called for help, she took out a fish, probably one she pulled from the river, shapeshifted it into me, and then slit its throat. After she was done with that, she shapeshifted me into what you see now.”
A few moments of silence follow as Subaru says his last word. He watches Emilia’s expression carefully with bated breath, desperately trying to see any indication of whether she believes him or not.
“O-Ok, I see your point of view.”
Emilia averts her gaze, turning her head around. Her voice is cracking, and she’s slightly shaking.
“I-I hope you understand when I say that I’m going to need some proof for these claims before I believe them.”
“Ask me anything I—or rather, Subaru—would know, Emilia.”
“Ok! W-What’s the first time Subaru and I met?”
“Easy! You saved me in an alleyway after some thugs had beat me up! You were my hero that day, you know!”
“That…that—!”
Emilia’s voice, cracking all over the place, sounds like it’s about to explode.
“That isn’t right at all, it really isn’t—”
Subaru feels the color drain from his face. No, no, no! He completely forgot! The first time he and Emilia met were completely different for the two of them! He needs to correct this right now—
“---But it is something only Subaru would say.”
Subaru watches with his mouth agape as the ice on his wrists shatter into the air.
“H-Hey, you're not lying, are you? You’re really Subaru, right?”
“Y-Yeah, Emilia-tan, I am. Really.”
Blinking rapidly, he’s unable to react in time as Emilia nearly tackles him to the ground in a hug.
Emilia’s loud, rhythmic sobs get absorbed by his shoulder. For about ten seconds, she continues to cry out in misery. Subaru smiles for the first time in what felt like eternity as he takes his hand and begins to rub circles into Emilia’s back.
“Subaru…Subaru…Subaru!”
“Yes, Emilia, it’s me.”
“I’m so sorry, Subaru! I’m so, so, sorry!”
Subaru wants to get mad at Emilia, but no matter how hard he tries, he cannot find the willpower to fulfill his aggression in any capacity whatsoever. At the end of the day, Emilia didn’t kill him, maim him, or do anything outside of providing slight pain. It’s like she didn’t do any harm to him.
“It’s alright, Emilia. I forgive you.”
“I-I almost killed you! I was this close to killing you, Subaru! You almost died! Twice! I-I…”
“It’s fine, Emilia, it’s fine. Really, I think you did a fantastic job. If it were me seeing this prick and your dead body…oh boy…I wouldn’t last 10 seconds.”
Subaru isn’t lying when he says this. Even though he has so little power, even though he’s so pathetic, he would absolutely succumb to rage should he see Emilia’s crumpled, hopeless form.
“How—How can you forgive me so easily…? Why don’t you hate me right now, Subaru?”
“Because—”
Subaru’s imagination goes wild with all sorts of possibilities that could’ve been. If he went along with Emilia in handcuffs, he can’t imagine anyone else would’ve believed him. Without a doubt, he would’ve been thrown in a prison cell and probably tortured.
“---things could’ve been a lot worse.”
“That’s not a valid reason, Subaru! Hit me! Yell at me! Ignore me entirely! Do anything bad to me! Why won’t you get mad at all…?”
“Oh, trust me, I am mad—just not at you.”
Emilia flinches at the mention of Subaru being mad. Subaru frowns upon seeing the gesture.
“That Capella…making my Emilia-tan dirty her hands with such vile acts… she’s going to pay, mark my words! And don’t blame yourself, Emilia-tan. You didn’t almost kill me. She almost killed me.”
“But, but—”
“No buts, Emilia-tan—I won’t ever get mad at you. That’s final.”
“Subaru…I don’t know what to say in response.”
“How about ‘I love you, Subaru! Please be my husband for the rest of my life!’”
“Subaru, you numpty! Now isn’t the time or place for that!”
“Nobody says—Wait, does this mean my feelings have been reciprocated?”
“Idiot!”
Subaru and Emilia take their time casually strolling out of the crystal maze they found themselves lost in, Aside from the frozen faces of the women staring at them, things are mostly empty. Well, except for one detail that Subaru is curious about.
“Say, Emilia, was there always a huge blood stain there?”
Subaru points to a large spot of red where the wall of the ice maze meets the tiles of the chapel floor. In spite of the volume of blood looking like it would belong to a human, the unfortunate creature in the center of it all looks to be a small, familiar dove.
Just what could this be? There’s no way that’s actually her, right? Hopefully Emilia knows something. Looking over at the girl, she has a pretty confident look on her face.
“Oh, I can explain that…” Emilia says sheepishly, a look of guilt crossed on her face. “Sorry, Subaru, but when I heard you screaming, I was a little too trigger happy…”
She averts her eyes from Subaru’s as she looks absentmindedly to the side.
“...So when I saw a dove flying, my first instinct was to hit it as hard as I could manage.”
“Emilia…”
Said girl gulps.
“Yes?”
“That’s Capella, who I was talking to you about earlier. She flew away in the form of a dove.”
Emilia’s mouth forms an “o” shape as she blinks once, then twice at Subaru. The girl then breathes a sigh of relief.
“Ah, you have no idea how much of a relief it is to hear that I didn’t end up killing an innocent animal.”
Subaru hums in approval.
“Yep, that’s my Emilia-tan! Talented enough to knock a Sin Archbishop dead without even realizing it!”
Subaru stares at the dove some more as he speaks. Its leg is twitching. Its chest is ever-so-slightly going up and down. Without a doubt, it’s still alive, but just barely by the looks of it. Even though she has a regenerative factor, there’s only so much she can do to evade being knocked unconscious, Subaru figures.
The sheer volume of blood stained onto the ice and floor can be explained by Capella having a lot more blood than a dove would have normally, but Subaru is still trying to wrap his head around Emilia managing to knock out Capella.
“Actually, Emilia, I’m going to go inspect it.”
She nods.
“Sure thing, Subaru.”
Subaru cautiously approaches the dove, getting down on one knee and scooping it up in his hands. To put it simply, Subaru doesn’t know what he’s looking for. He never paid enough attention in biology class to check for any traces of transformation errors she could’ve made while turning into a bird. He might as well be a monkey asked to perform neurosurgery.
Subaru’s instincts are screaming at him that something is wrong, that there is something he is overlooking, but to be quite honest, he’s too mentally exhausted to give it any further thought. So what if Capella lives or dies? He has his Emilia, he killed Regulus, and he’s going to live his happy ending.
“Find anything, Subaru?”
Subaru gets back up, holding Capella in his hands.
“Nope—nada. I’m going to bring her back with us just in case, though. You know—if we need to interrogate her or anything.”
Emilia approvingly nods.
“Sounds good to me, Subaru. Can you hand her here, though? I want to heal her.”
Subaru pauses before he blindly agrees to hand over the fiend to Emilia. Thinking about it rationally, Capella is bound to heal herself through regenerative means anyway, so it wouldn’t do any harm if Emilia really wants to heal her. Honestly, such an EMT moment, even if it is the enemy.
“Alright, here you go.”
Sure enough, Emilia does exactly as she says and heals Capella surprisingly well, making her chest rise up and down much more confidently than before. Subaru doesn’t know why, but witnessing the act causes a wave of relief to pass over him.
“All done. Now, what are you waiting for? Let’s get out of here, Subaru.”
“Ah. Right.”
Subaru moves on autopilot, exiting the maze and then the chapel. Oddly enough, Emilia changed her mind on unfreezing the women, saying that it was a bad idea to do so while Subaru looked just like their former husband. He couldn’t find a way to argue with her.
To Subaru, things feel deceptively peaceful, chatting away with Emilia like he didn’t just go through the worst hour on the worst day of his entire life. That’s pretty much the M.O for his entire life, though, isn’t it? Return by Death isn’t exactly the most merciful power.
He just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong , horribly so, in fact. Not just the whole situation where he looks exactly like a Sin Archbishop, but something else, something he can’t quite put his finger on.
Subaru flashes back to the scene of the dove slumped against the wall, bleeding out so much that it paints a massive blood stain on walls and floor.
A red blood stain.
Subaru stops in his tracks.
“Subaru?” Emilia’s angelic voice calls out.
“Honestly, I thought you would’ve figured it out with the black blood! That’s kinda my calling card, you know!”
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
Subaru falls to his knees.
“Subaru!”
No, no, no, no, no! This can’t be, this can’t be!
Subaru looks up into Emilia’s eyes, so concerned and real. Those emotions are real, aren’t they?
“Subaru! What’s the matter?”
That concerned voice calls out for him in the exact same way…He really can't tell the difference, can he—?
“Ah. I really don’t know what’s going on anymore.”
Natsuki Subaru blacked out.