Chapter 16: Chapter 13 - No Escape
For a time seemingly ceaseless, they remained inert. Wickedness personified in the shimmer of her ever enthralling violet eyes. The dark malefic cascade of her raven black hair. A black rose, whose torns fatal to the touch. A fatality in such close proximity, that he felt the warmth of every breath she exudes.
"Behave... you'll behave now, won't you?" Elsa spoke, a small demand imparted frighteningly gentle.
The scope of incredulity kept broadening with each passing hour. The confines of believability had shattered. It all felt like a dream... he yearned it badly to be a dream - yet the reality, the blood that dribbled and soaked his shirt, would not let him entertain such desirable notions.
"Why... why are you here? After all this time, why now?"
He could only see her, see every slight twitch of expression, see every slow bat of her eyelids.
"I told you before, haven't I? I will see you again, and I always intend to make good on my promises."
The shimmering teeth of metal fell lower, he felt it graze his tracksuit as it traced downwards to a halt at his abdomen. The blade dug deep. His breath stiffens at once.
"Every single word of it." She whispered softly in his ear.
Death. Inevibitality. He braced for its swiftness to cleave away at him. But a voice, Leo's, spoke aloud.
"Elsa, he's still of use. Dead is the last thing I want our guest to end up being."
"Oh, but I believe just one more slice will do little harm, actually. If you would so let me, of course," said Elsa, both blade and gaze never once straying away.
"Elsa."
Her name spoken firm. That was all that was needed for the blade to finally relent its pressure, for her arm to withdraw back to her side. Still, her stare lingered, the devilish grin lingered even after a complying step backward away from him.
"Keep breathing, Subaru-kun," said Elsa, pacing away to the darkest corner in the area, "Relish it... savor it... for there will come a time when you'll find that you won't be able to do so anymore."
A trembling hand tended to the blood that continued trickling down the gash at his throat. Subaru stood rigid, petrified and a puppet to fear. A scourge of malevolence permeated the air that surrounded him. His futile attempt at escape left the many that were blinded by it in a state of unbridled spite, yet they did not act upon it. Actions suppressed by the one man that stood at the center of it all.
"First impressions. They're vital here if you want to make good with all of us," said Leo, walking to Subaru side and clasping a hand at his shoulder, "and so far you've failed to impress. Many have died for less. I want you to remember that, Subaru. In case you decide to pull another stunt like that."
"What do you want from me?" Subaru simply asked, his eyes downcast towards the floorboards.
"Your cooperation," said Leo, releasing his grasp, "You aren't the only person that has stolen what's rightfully mine."
(Rightfully mine?)
"What do you mean?"
"I was robbed. Like that metia of yours, I too have a metia precious to me and it was taken away. Truth be told, I'm rather upset by it."
Deep, veiled by the fear and paranoia burrowing through, he remembered it. The first moment of recollection, him awakening in the bowels of Kararagi's sewers. Their too, a metia was mentioned and in a state of confusion, was accused of having stolen it.
This meeting, this encounter with this man - Subaru understood then. The initial incident that will issue a chain-reaction that will lead him back to where he once was. Chained to an anchor, drowning in the depths of the city.
But what issue had transpired then, Subaru wondered, to go from aiding this man to robbing him and gaining his wrath?
"People like you getting robbed... isn't that strange?" Subaru stated, nervousness straining the strength of his voice, "Usually, you're the ones doing the robbing right?"
Leo chuckled, "I won't deny the irony of the matter. But I suppose stranger things have happened. Yes, I was robbed and I need your help on getting it back."
Why does he even need my help with this? What kind of metia was stolen? And most importantly...
"Who was it that stole from you?"
The sigh, the walk that lengthened their distance, and the dismal shake of his head. Even the implications of dread could not prepare him for the answer that met him.
"People who do without much thought to repercussions. People much like you."
Before Subaru could process what was just said. Something else took away attention to it.
Even far-flung, secluded in the distant outskirts of the city center, the persistent clanging of the clocktower disregarded the isolation and rung itself to discernibility. But the heavy tolling of time, despite a pattern already established, had a discrepancy that set it apart from every other time.
(Why did it ring again when an hour hasn't even passed since the other one?)
It was evident that he wasn't alone at noticing the disparity. The tavern fell into an even eerier silence. A full minute of metal clangoring. Thirty seconds longer than what he was accustomed to. A minute of growing bewilderment. Yet the focus, the unblinking gaze of all others around him, was one of anticipation. They were expecting this.
Further evident, as Leo spoke to the vibrating sonate that eventually ceased, "Long live the Princesses."
"The Princesses?" Subaru spoke before he could stop himself.
"The Twin Princesses of Kararagi. Two weeks leading to the day of their birth, that clock tower will chime for a full minute each time it reaches the time of their birth. So damn pretentious, these people, but I suppose it's a given, taking the Royal Family's history into account... don't you agree?"
Leo spun to meet Subaru's answer, but all that he could muster was a befuddled look.
"Come on now, surely you must have read a bit of something before entering the country. How very slothful of you, Subaru."
"I - I don't..."
"Well, in any case, you're going to know more about them soon enough anyhow," said Leo, crossing his arms, "those two little minxes up there in their little ivory thrones, they are your target after all."
The statement flung at him, like a bell toll reverberating in a deathly quiet, Subaru mouth swung open in pure bafflement, "You're... you're joking. You gotta be kidding me. Them? You're telling me to steal something from the Royal Family?"
"I'm not telling you to steal anything. Just simply take back what they took from me, then we'll be even."
"That's the same thing either way! How do you expect me to do that?! It's impossible!" Subaru spat back, eyes wide, expression twisting to one of denial.
"So you're refusing me then?" Leo asked, words ingrained with a sense of weight.
Subaru gritted his teeth shut before he could further cross the thin thread of danger.
"You aren't given a choice to refuse, Subaru-kun," spoke a soft voice weaving itself from across the darkest of shadows, "More specifically, I won't give you that choice."
Shifting his glance, Subaru could see the small enthralling beads of violet contrasting the absence of light, below it, Elsa's smile manifesting to one of strong craving.
"I don't need any reminding, thanks," Subaru growled in a hushed whisper.
No... I suppose you don't," said Elsa.
He turned back to Leo, "What makes you think I'm qualified for something like this? I'm no thief, I don't even know them - I'm just a regular guy! What can I do that the millions of your thugs here can't do different?"
The rows of canine were again visible behind the grin that formed on his face, "Oh-ho... don't worry yourself about that, Subaru."
Leo took a shortening step and took a breath at his direction, "In fact, you'll soon realize you share more similarities to the princesses than you think. You'll get along just fine."
A slight shake of his head, the only form of denial he was permitted to show, Subaru couldn't refrain from stopping. The whole situation was absolute insanity. Kararagi presented freedom, his freedom from madness... a haven void of the suffering he had endured, he thought he reached it. Instead, a different trial presented itself before him, one that meddled with his memory, with his conscience, and his actions. There truly was no escaping... no denying.
"I suppose you have people waiting for your return, hmm?" asked Leo, walking to the exit.
"Yes..." was all Subaru could muster.
Leo swung the door wide open, a loud creak resonating from rusted hinges, "Then you better go. I'll meet with you again tomorrow, Subaru. Don't worry, I'll find you."
The sunlight, the windy breeze that funneled through - none of it felt like freedom anymore.
"And if you try or think about running," Leo said, as Subaru passed him by, "Elsa will be there, lurking... just in case you need a small reminder."
As if solidifying the futility of it all, Elsa's voice sounded, whispered to the back of his ear, "Seems we'll be together for quite some time, then. I dearly hope we can get along from here on out... Subaru-kun."
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