Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - Visions Of The Remorseful
Sunrise had passed since his abrupt yet inevitable departure. And not once could a good night's rest ease him on his travel. It seems whenever he closed his eyes, in that moment of absolute darkness, he could see them. Rem, Ram, Beatrice and Emilia, drifting ever so slowly, their bodies lifeless, lying in a sea of blood, their blood. Now, on this bright sunny day, a day he dreaded its arrival, the haunting image grew ever more vivid and gruesome.
Right now, as he sits here in the carriage, atop a hill. The witch cult might have already begun their assault the village. Their screams of desperation burrowed deep in Subaru's mind. He could hear it, Betelgeuse's craze derisive laughter echoing amongst the panic.
And yet, the carriage moves on, continuing as if all is right in the world, ignorant of the chaos and destruction happening whilst the ground dragon gives a heaving grunt as it clambers its way over and down the hill.
As the minutes grew longer and the slope steeper, Subaru couldn't help but grimly wonder how many villagers have been massacred in cold blood in such a short time. Did Petra have time to run? Have the villagers abandoned their homes, seeking refuge inside the mansion? Was Ram out there, possibly with a recently arrived Rem, risking their lives to keep them safe? What could Emilia be doing in all of this?
He told himself not to think about, yet did so anyway. And was so painfully wracked with guilt, he had to restrain himself twice from taking over the carriage and turning back towards Lugunica at neck breaking speed.
"You sound like you're having a real internal struggle over there. With all the grunting and growling." The trader called out from the front.
"Never mind me... Just keep driving as if you're being chased by a whale or something." Subaru replied, placing a hand on his forehead.
He had to stop thinking about it. He needed to. It was no longer something he need be concern with. It was too painful. He needed something to take his mind off it. Soon, this will all seem like a distant memory.
"Hey, is there something I should be worried about once we reach Kararagi? Anything dangerous, the witch cult perhaps?"
This question was immediately followed by a snort of disbelief.
"You're going to Kararagi and you don't even know what's there?" He asked.
"Well, I kinda did it on a whim hoping to get away from everything. Don't ask, I won't explain." He said, seeing the trader's curious expression. "Just fill me in on what's on the need-to-know basis." Subaru added, scooting backwards towards the driver's seat.
The trader stared at Subaru from the corner of his eye and appeared to be trying to assess the boy sitting on his pile of appas unknowingly, before sighing and diverting his gaze back onto the road.
"Kararagi is all about money. Trading is everything over there, you won't expect to last a week unless you got something to sell. As far as dangers go, the only thing that comes to mind is the local gangs in the area. I don't recall their names, but you'll hear about them soon enough. As for the witch cult... They're practically a myth to the people over there, as is the Jealous Witch herself."
At that, Subaru gave a huge breath of relief and for once, felt at peace for the longest time.
The rest of the day went on without so much of a whisper after that. The dragon's break, which were short in time, ended only after a quick meal of rice with some meat from one of the unopened sacks in the back, which Subaru, after much needless protest, finally humbly accepted the trader's offer to share in response to hearing a loud rumbling in his stomach to which Subaru swore was a wild goat.
Over the course of a meal, Subaru learned from Kris, as he called himself, that the sacks of appas were a gift from his uncle who so happens to own a stall in the capital, where he sells a variety of fruits to wandering customers.
Evening fell, and it felt as if they've barely made any progress at all. They've gotten past the mountainous lands that surrounded the kingdom of Lugunica, indicating that they did indeed fully leave the country. Now with the terrain leveled and no longer jagged and rough, Subaru could now hopefully have a good night's rest without knocking his head onto the floorboards every five seconds.
The smooth rocking of the carriage tempted Subaru to rest, his head resting on a makeshift pillow derived from an empty sack, eyelids growing progressively harder to remain open against the silence of the cool night sky. Only after another cool air's breeze blew through the carriage, did Subaru finally submit himself, after much resisting, to sleep. His thoughts letting lose in his subconscious state.
His memories swam back and forth. Faces, familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time passing by in a clouded flash. Voices overlapping one another, fading in and out of audibility and then.... He was awake. The ceiling met his wide open eyes and instantly he knew where he was, having awoken to this sight too many times to count. His body felt comfortable under the cover of the warm blanket, but his heart slammed against his chest with a trepidation he only associated with the worst of situations. Confused, he sat up, staring disbelievingly at the place that held many of his past lives.
The room brought an ominous atmosphere, it's space devoid of life other than his own. The eerie silence swam with a sense of foreboding Subaru felt like no other. Yet it was bright, too bright perhaps. The glare scorched through the tall windows with a blinding white light, brighter than the sun. Squinting, Subaru got up and made his way towards the window, his body weightless and unfeeling.
As he got closer, the windows grew further. Stretching beyond the limits of what was physically possible, with the walls moving along with it. When he turned to look back, he found himself exactly where he once was. A foot away from the king size bed. Everything reverted to their original state.
"I'm dreaming." He immediately thought. "I'm dreaming, and this will all be over soon. Just wake up, all I have to do is wake up. It'll be fine."
Again and again he assured himself of this. But despite his constant self-assurance, the blatant fact was, it felt like anything but a dream. Real, yet bizarrely unreal. His thoughts and actions he was aware of, but the windows, furniture, ceiling and even the very carpet he stood on seemed very much aware of it too, disturbingly sentient. The room seemed disgusted, furious even, by his uninvited presence.
He took a step forward, this time towards the door and when nothing grew in length to stop him, he hurriedly made his way towards it, swinging it open and entered the hallway, slamming the door shut behind him.
Subaru had no idea why he was so flustered. Why he was so eager to get out of that room. All he knows is that something was watching him somewhere. Walking along the endless corridor got him only so far, also stretching further limitless yonder. Next he tried opening doors, knowing the layout of the mansion quite well know. Only to have his progress halted yet again, the doors refusing to be wrenched open even after excessive amounts of physical abuse from Subaru's leg and shoulder.
Was he doomed to wander this infinite hallway forever?
His answer came about in the form of an inky black figure, darting past him and zooming towards the end of the corridor, nearly crashing into Subaru along the way. He made to ran after this anomaly, now confounded more than ever, both by the sudden allowance to run further than ten feet and the strange figure that appeared out of nowhere.
Following its footsteps led him right onto the spiral stairway, stopping to guess whether the figure had ascended or descended a level.
"Ah screw it, even if I took the wrong one, it'll probably just keep stretching anyway."
With this thought in mind, he bolted down the staircase, jumping the last step, and entered another hallway.
"Oh no..."
It felt as if he was retracing his steps. The potted plant to the side, he recognized. The small dent on a wooden frame holding a picture of the capital was all too familiar. His pace slowed to that of a walk, and instantly found it much harder to breathe with each door that he passed by.
"I've sent a letter to Roswaal-sama. Emilia-sama, for now, evacuating the premises is your only means of surviving."
"But what about the villagers? Who will save them from those madmen?"
The door holding behind these muffled voices stood right in front of him. Emilia's room. His arm, quivering slightly, reached out towards the doorknob.
"It is already too late for them, I'm sorry to say."
A cry full of despair belonging to neither of the two voices echoed throughout the hallway, painfully reminiscent of another cry of pain Subaru heard in his time as a butler. His hand froze midway at the thought of this, hesitating to see what he may find inside.
"Shh, don't cry Petra. I promise your parents will be alright. I'm sure they are."
"We're running out of time Emilia-sama, you need to start leaving. I'll hold them off here to buy you some time."
At those words, Subaru groped the doorknob, twisted it open and shouted his discontentment with the plan, if his hand hadn't slip through and under the doorknob. Subaru touched himself and felt himself. He reached for the doorknob again, but it's as though the doorknob itself didn't seem to exist. His hand going through it once again.
"What about your sister, Ram? Don't you want to see her again? How would she feel if you were gone from her side?"
Subaru touched the door, and his hand went through that as well. He took a step forward, then another, until his entire body was through the door. And the scene in front of him was not one that was pleasing.
Three phantoms, purple in color. One bending low, both hands clasping the smallest phantom's shoulders reassuringly. The other stood, it's posture firm and straight, hands clutching each other, resting in the middle.
"She would know, understand, and accept that I gave my life to save the person we were assigned to serve and protect. Although I preferably wish to get out of this alive. I cannot, however, assure my return, so you will need to leave with haste."
The three phantoms didn't acknowledge that a fourth person had entered the room, despite said person having stepped deeper into the room, shocked and dumbfounded.
"Ram.... Emillia.... Petra."
One by one, he called their names. Hesitantly, he reached to clasped the phantom depicting Emilia on the shoulder but even that his hand went through.
"All right." Said Emilia, standing up, not taking notice of Subaru who stood right beside her. "But I want you to take Puck with you, to help you fight them off."
A fourth phantom appeared onto Emilia's outstretched hands in the form of a small cat.
"You heard what I said Puck?"
"Mmm-hmmm, fight off the witch cult to give you time to run. I got it." It said, floating towards the silhouette of Ram and landing on her shoulder. "You can count on us."
No sooner had the words left Puck's mouth, did the window at their side burst open, spraying them all with glass shards. Petra gave another scream of pain and fright. Emilia held onto her tightly, Ram got into a stance, Puck turned and gaze towards a wall.
"They're here. There's a lot of them." Subaru heard Puck say.
The sound of doors crashing open, windows shattering one by one lingered on for an excruciating while.
"Emilia-sama, in Roswaal's office, there's a hidden stairwell hidden behind one of the bookshelves. We're going to fight our way over there. Stay close."
Emilia nodded her head. One hand holding onto the hand of a petrified Petra.
"Lead the way."
The four of them exited the room, but Subaru found that he could not. His feet unresponsive and lifeless.
"Come on! What is this?!"
His gritted his teeth and willed himself to move with all his might, but to no avail.
Suddenly, the room vanished from his sight and he was plunged into darkness. The only sound that accompanied him was his own breathing and heartbeat. A creeping misty fog began to fill void of blackness, slowly manifesting itself into different things. Walls, tables, chairs, quill, carpet. It didn't take long for Subaru to realize that it was shaping into a room.
"Stop! Please! Don't hurt her! Take me instead, spare her please!"
Subaru broke into a cold sweat and felt all the air in his lungs disappear in an instant. No... He didn't want to see this.
"Spare her? Spare her? Why? A sacrifice without reason is hardly worth the listen you know?!"
A cackle of mad laughter can be heard above the sound of screams filled with anguish and terror.
Against his wishes, the purple room now displayed a dreadful scene of two purple phantoms on their knees, Emilia and Petra, in front of each other, surrounded by darker, more distinct purple phantoms, restraining the larger of the two. The shadow of Betelguese was perhaps the most darkest of all, and also the most terrifying, a hand caressing Petra's struggling face as she struggles to break free from the hands unseen to them both.
"Such a cutie, she is. Child, what's your name? Tell me won't you? Or I'll tear your ears off okay?" He said, sniffing her cheeks desirably.
"P-P-Petra....." She whimpered and broke down in tears.
"Leave her alone! Please, leave her alone!" Emilia vainly struggled against the tight grasp of the two witch cultist that held her.
Subaru was still unable to move, forced to watch the scene play out in front of him.
Betelgeuse seized his hair, pulling strands off it while shaking his head rapidly from to side to side, shouting.
"No! Oh no! We can't have this! We can't have crying! We can't have tears! No, no, no, no! This is bad!"
Again, Subaru tried to move, his heart best growing faster, his face now drenched in sweat, his eyes bloodshot from the straining.
"Move! Move! I said move damn it! Move!"
Where were Ram and Puck? Why weren't they here?
Off to the side, Emilia can still be heard pleading and begging, not for her life, but for someone else's.
"This is a time for celebration alright?! We can't have crying and moping and lamenting in such a happy time! The witch's revival is upon us! And we shall receive her love! Love! Love! Love! Imminent, wondrous love!"
His face spread into a wide malicious grin, his gaze locking onto the trembling, wailing figure of Petra.
"I know exactly how to solve this."
Petra's head snapped upwards, her eyes, still full of tears, wide open against her will, hyperventilating at the sight of Betelgeuse's twisted expression.
"You can't cry without any eyes, right?"
Then, without warning, without hesitation, without even the slightest hint of remorse, two tentacle-like hands embedded itself deep into Petra's eye sockets, forcing a huge howl of absolute anguish and pain out of her that struck Subaru's inside like a knife.
"NO! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Emilia shouted through the screaming and maddening laughter, kicking and twisting but to little effect.
The hands wriggled and twisted in her sockets, her screams growing weaker and more faint with each agonizing second. Her body, once wild and spastic under the excruciating pain, grew limp and still as the hands continued burrowing deeper into her head.
Subaru could only watch in horror as the hands gradually retuned from its descent inside her head, now silent and facing the ground, with two little spheres in between the thumb and forefinger, slowly making their way to Emilia's whimpering face.
"Aren't they just beautiful?" Asked Betelgeuse, marveling at the eyes hovering in front of Emilia, who turned to look away.
"You don't want it?" Said Betelgeuse, catching sight of Emilia's disgust. "Okay then."
The fingers squished the eyes with little effort and threw it to the side.
"Now... My witch, my love, my Satella. Look at me please."
One of the hands grasped onto Emilia's cheeks tightly and forced her head towards Betelgeuse's own, now mere inches away from each other.
"Forgive me, please. Forgive me, oh forgive me, the pain I will inflict. It will be over shortly, I assure you, I swear to you, I promise you, my dear witch."
Everything seemed to moved in slow motion as Subaru watched as a hand speared into Emilia's chest, watched as she struggled to free herself from his grasp, watched as her own body too give in to the pain, and watched as a hand pulled out, what was unmistakably, her heart.
He shouted her name as loud as he could, but no sound came from his mouth, yet he barely noticed, as he continued yelling her name at the top of his lungs, tears dropping from his eyes.
"Emilia!"
The nightmarish scene started to dematerialized, the purple phantoms fading away.
"Emilia."
The room too was beginning to erase, a small puddle of water, translucent through the room.
"Emi...lia"
The puddle of water was spreading, it seemed to be everywhere now that the room was now gone. His arms were sore and could barely moved them behind his back, feeling as if it was being stretched. His head was hanging loosely downwards for some reason.
"Hey, guys! I think the idiot's waking up!"
He heard a voice a little more than an echo to him shout. Looking up through his fading blurry vision, he could make out the face of a man staring back at him, a scar running across one cheek, smiling at him mischievously.
"What's going on?" He thought to himself groggily, his head was killing him.
The face was quickly joined with others, all looking down at him, some shaking their heads irritably, others staring maliciously at him.
"What's going-"
He tried to stand up, but was quickly pulled back to the ground. Looking back, he saw that his hands were tied up against an anchor that was roughly his size, leaning against a wall stained a dirty black.
What happened? Where was he? Wasn't he in a carriage heading towards Kararagi?
"What's going on here, my dear friend, is that you owe us something you oughta return." He heard the scarred face say, his voice still bouncing off the walls in an echo.
"Where am I?" He asked, and discovered that his voice too was magnified.
"The sewers of Kararagi, my friend." The man replied matter of factly.
The answer Subaru received sobered him up in an instant.
"What am I doing here? Wait, I am on my way to Kararagi... I can't be here so soon. It's only been a day."
His mouth felt dry, his throat was parched, and his head was pounding against his brain so badly. What happened?
"A day?" He heard the man chuckle amusingly and the others followed half heartedly. "Boy, it's been a month since you got here and stole my metia from my stash."
Subaru stared, his jaw wide open and in shock. What exactly was going on here?
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Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone