7 ( part 1)

The cast were all waiting for the screen to finish loading the next scene with varied anxiety and wondering looks.

"I thought you said that he wouldn't die?" Felt kept her eyes on the screen but her question was directed at a certain half-elf.

Emilia, the girl that was panicking a moment ago when Subaru was being attacked had calmed down as she remembered exactly what happened.

"I wasn't really present with him so I was shocked by what happened to him, I knew he would get hurt but…"

"You never imagined it would be so brutal like this?" Frederica gave her opinion.

Emilia nodded her head and rubbed Subaru's hand while looking at the screen.

"He never tells me anything, he just goes on his own and gets hurt every time. He even died many times because of me." Emilia's voice was filled with sadness and her eyes illuminated with guilt and frustration as she looked down while gripping his hand.

"He tried to tell you but that hand thingy stopped him," Mimi pointed out from the back.

"He still could've told them that there was something dangerous he needed to deal with though," Tivey noted his opinion, making many in the room nod with him.

"Natsuki-kun's mission would've been much easier had he told someone to help him," Anastasia agreed with her henchmen twins.

A soft broken voice spoke out from the corner of the room.

"He couldn't ask for anyone though…"

Everyone looked at Rem.

"What was that sis?" Ram asked with eyes filled with worry and sadness at the sight of her emotionless little Rem.

She wanted to hug her sissy, but Lord Roswaal told her that it would be best to leave her alone for now.

So Ram could only watch as her sister sat away from everyone and kept her head low, the once blue shining eyes were now dull and empty.

Her expression was tired and completely broken.

The blue-haired maid, the guilty and emotionally scarred Oni, voiced her thoughts to her sister's question with a soft and slow voice.

As if she was dead.

"Subaru-kun didn't tell anyone about the mabeasts because he had no one. Beatrice-sama was acting as if she was annoyed by his existence. As far as we know, she was the only one willing to help him to a certain extent."

"What about me? Sure, he can't tell me about Return by Death, but he could still ask for my help! I would still help him!" Emilia quickly refuted the maid and gave her a look of conviction.

Rem met the half-elf's glare with a dead emotionless stare. The sheer coldness of Rem's eyes made Emilia want nothing but look away from her.

"If Subaru had asked you or any of us for help… I would've killed him."

"Ghk….!"

Emilia and Beatrice stared at Rem with horrified faces as both girls held the boy by each side.

These two were not alone…

"But why… H-He was only trying his best." Petra held on to Frederica and tried her best to hold the tears in. Her image of the sweet amazing Rem that Subaru would speak about all the time had shattered completely at this point. All she wants to know is why Subaru tried so hard to save someone so cruel and scary.

"Why would he save you then?" Julius asked the maid with a tone uncharacteristic of him. Bitter, emotional, and angry.

The knight was shaking in place as he glared at the maid.

Rem ignored him and looked down. Eyes emotionless.

Julius was unable to stop his fists from shaking as the feelings of uselessness and guilt-filled him once again. Why should he care? He was no longer a friend to Subaru Natsuki.

So the knight simply kept his mouth shut and suppressed his boiling anger behind an expression of stone.

Emilia slumped back in her chair as she imagined herself in Subaru's place.

Would she be afraid in such a situation? Would she face everything with a smile as he does?

"I would've ran away from the mansion," Anastasia gave her opinion as she watched the screen as it loaded.

"I wouldn't have been able to look any of them in the eye again," Ricardo mused from his seat as he waited for the screen to continue showing him the boy's adventure. He was honestly getting addicted to this kid's spirit. He couldn't get enough.

Crusch stared at Rem with a sympathetic look.

"Why did you save her after all of that, Subaru?"

Felix looked at his mistress as she looked at the boy with a thoughtful, almost soft gaze. He noticed how the corner of her lips were turned upwards.

Felix looked down and gritted his teeth.

"Hmmm, Isn't this taking a bit too loooong?" Roswaal raised a brow at the screen as he waited like the rest.

"Hmph! Whatever is going to be shown next will be just as pathetic as the boy's futile effort to be some self-serving 'hero'," A fiery-haired princess fanned herself as she glared at the screen with malice raging in her scarlet eyes.

"Looks like that last scene of him saving the maid put you on edge," Anastasia noted with a smirk. She's been waiting for the chance to mess with Priscilla.

The princess didn't take the bait, surprising both, the merchant as well as her knight beside her.

The scarlet beauty simply looked at the screen while hiding her frown behind her fan.

'What is this destiny you lead me towards? How does such a pig relate to mineself's divinity?'

Priscilla remained quiet only because she was busy thinking about the Warden's last words for her when she demanded her release from prison.

Beatrice kept her hand intertwined with her contractor as she remembered all the mean things she had said and done to him when he first arrived.

"I could've helped you I suppose. Betty's so sorry, in fact," The little girl just kept her head leaning on his shoulder while her sad dull eyes stayed on the screen.

"Cap'n saved her! He really saved Rem even after all she did to 'em!"

Otto looked at his friend with a small smile. Garfiel looked at the screen in shock and in awe, he's been like this from the moment Subaru had pushed Rem out of the way of the mabeasts.

He was amazed.

"You're such a child, Garf-san."

"Who ya call'ng child huh?!"

"You are! You look like you want his autograph or something!"

"Whatever! It's not like you'll ever be as cool."

Otto smiled at his tsundere brother… "No one is as cool as him."

Garfiel smirked.

Reinhard looked at the two's interaction and frowned deeply.

What did they know about Subaru that he didn't?

What memories did they all have that created such a strong interaction?

Would he laugh and smile with the two if he spent more time with Emilia's knight?

Normally, he wouldn't keep thinking such thoughts and questions. He would give it a passing thought every once in a while but then go do something productive like save a village or read some new books from the outside states and kingdoms.

But now that he was in this room watching a story of someone he wished to call a friend dying over and over because of his single mistake…

Reinhard realized just how empty he was…

He had no right to call Subaru a friend.

He couldn't smile like Otto and Garfiel. He didn't know Subaru, didn't joke with him, didn't make any decent memories of the both of them.

He was empty here. His reactions were fake.

Reinhard couldn't be a friend like those two were to Subaru.

The redhead knight simply stared at the screen with the light in his sky blue eyes finally dimming.

His heart was clenched tight.

The pain of his precious friendship's fake reality was the first time he's felt truly alone in a while…

"...ghkrrr!"

Felt looked at her knight with a confused raise of her brows. "What're ya snorting about?"

"Nothing, milady… nothing."

"It totally isn't! I order you to tell me!"

Reinhard truly wanted to tell her the reason for his snort. The irony he had discovered in the dark twisted mind of the monster he called himself.

He wanted to tell her how amazingly funny it was for him. The fact that his own grieving and emotionally scared grandfather had a closer relationship with Subaru than he did.

How Reinhard felt jealous of the way Wilhelm spoke about Subaru. How Reinhard was jealous that his grandfather could speak such things about Subaru.

While he could only stay silent and offer no words.

He didn't have a true relationship with any of these people anyway.

But he couldn't say that.

"I was thinking of how cute you would look with a tiara, Felt-sama."

"You… ugh!"

He smiled the same smile of a charming young knight.

As his mistress kicked him in the face.

He wondered if he could let slip a few tears… Nah, he's a hero. Heroes don't cr-

Except for Subaru… he cries and shouts his weakness out loud.

Reinhard turned to the screen and watched with cold dead eyes.

"How can I be like you, Subaru?" he whispered pleadingly.

[So sorry for the delay. The screen needed cool-down time.

Anyways, let's finish this Arc.

Season 1 Episode 6 Director's Cut.

Begin.

The screen was showing Subaru's perspective.

Darkness…

His eyes opened slowly…

A blurry image of Rem screaming at Beatrice as they sat over his body.

"… to give up?" he could hear her faint voice through the static of his foggy mind.]

"It seems you carried him to safety Rem-san?" Otto nervously turned and smiled at the maid. But to his disappointment… Rem didn't look all that happy.

He saw Ram glaring at him heatedly.

He made things worse, didn't he. He was just trying to cheer her up!

The boy looked back up at the screen and frowned. This girl was very important to Subaru so he needed to do something about her before the knight woke up.

Subaru will be crushed to see her like this.

Meanwhile, the opposite was being thought on his other side of the row.

Beatrice, Emilia, and Felt had their own worries and connected lines of thinking. All three girls found themselves angry once they realized that Rem had saved Subaru from the wild dogs in their stead. The same girl that brutally tortured and killed him, was the one by his side when it mattered most.

[His eyes began to close as he faintly heard Rem's pleading.

"Is there no other way to save… "

"...all, I suppose."

Subaru's eyes tried to fight the darkness and opened up. He was greeted by the faint image of a white hand clutching his own.

He heard the voice of a faint Beatrice beside him.

"You can do as you like with him now."

His eyes failed him once again and forced themselves closed.

Darkness…

His eyes opened once more, this time being blinded by a white world.

In the emptiness of the white blinding light shooting into his eyes, he could hear a soft determined voice speaking to him.

"I swear, I'll save you."]

Anastasia quickly looked at the maid with a stern look of disbelief. "What happened to the witch's scent and you not trusting him? You're going to save him?" although her words were cold and her question was a little scathing.

Rem gave no reaction. She was in her own broken dream.

"I suggest we watch the window's apparition to find our answers, candidate-sama," the dotting Ram intervened protectively.

Anastasia turned to the screen with thin lips.

"I'll ignore the threatening undertone in your voice just this once, maid. Be thankful that I have a soft spot for sisterly love."

Although Anastasia didn't look at anyone, the sheer coldness in her voice made some shiver.

The atmosphere was tense.

Any wrong move was to spill war between the overprotective Ram and the begrudging Anastasia.

"My, how tense you become for your loved ones, Ram," Roswaal seemed amused by the maid beside him.

Ram looked away from the merchant candidate and raised an eyebrow at her boss, "Of course, Roswaal-sama. You and my sister are the only things I care about in this world."

"Ram..." Roswaal was struck by the maid's conviction, his gaze fell along with his smile.

She turned away from him and continued to comfort her sister who'd been staring emptily at her own shoes this whole time.

[His eyes closed once more. Darkness blanketed him once more.

He slowly opened his eyes once again.

The first thing he saw was a wooden ceiling.

"Another unfamiliar ceiling… "

Subaru softly uttered as he tried to get up. The pain that shot through him forced him back on the bed.

"Ow!"

"Ghk!"

"Ugh!"

Subaru winced and hitched his breath from the pain as he moved his arms and looked at the bite marks that covered them.

"So they barely managed to save my life, and these are the scars… "

He lowered his arms and looked around the unfamiliar room. His sight was immediately honed in on a girl that was sleeping in her chair while leaning on a wooden pillar.

"Emilia… " Subaru uttered in surprise as he noted her sleeping tired form.]

"He seems to have caused you great trouble," Frederica smiled at how sweet the scene was. A tired Emilia, sleeping beside her hurt butler knight, she did note how exhausted Emilia looked.

Emilia tried to smile but her lips were stuck on a deep guilty frown as the heavy feeling of uselessness ruled over the regions of her mind.

It was heavy.

The fact that she could've done many things that would've saved Subaru many terrible memories.

"I believe that she should have definitely done better though," Al muttered his opinion, uncaring if it was heard by the girl across the theater or not.

She did hear him, and that's why her head sank.

["I guess now I owe her yet another debt," He said to himself while looking guilty.]

"You stupid dunderhead," Emilia whispered in a frustrated tone and tightened her grip on the crushed bones of his hands.

"How incredibly… tck!" Priscilla wanted to spit some abuse towards the worthless girl and the foolishness Subaru was saying, but she held her tongue.

"Hey now, princess. The Warden guy told you about how important this entire viewing is for you, you just need to be patient and watch," her one-armed knight tried to calm her down in the worst way possible.

"Aldebaran."

"Oh hell," the man sweated at his lady's cold tone, "Y-Yes, princess?"

"... Go and bring me a glass of wine."

"... Huh… No hit or anything… That's surprisingly merciful," Al rubbed his helmet.

"Hmph, just get me my beverage. Mineself is going to follow your advice for now."

"That's a first!"

["I don't know about that."

Subaru's eyes widened in surprise as a gray cat suddenly flew out of Emilia's hair and smiled at the boy.

"This time, you produced results equal to the effort you invested, so I doubt Lia will think of it as a debt."

Subaru looked bewildered at the floating cat as it lowered down and sat atop his chest.

"Puck… "

"Good morning, Subaru."]

Emilia smiled softly at her spirit, loving that there were interactions between her spirit and Subaru that showed how good their friendship truly was, she was compelled to grin smugly at Beatrice as a comeback for the way the spirit girl described her father.

But she thought better of it, Beatrice seemed to love the appearance of her brother on the screen just like Emilia and she didn't want to ruin the atmosphere by starting something stupid.

["You say these are results equal to my effort, but I don't remember anything after I got nommed on by those dogs in the forest," Subaru looked weary at the cat.]

"That's a cute way of putting it." Otto snorted as he remembered the scary scene of dogs fighting to feed on Subaru's limbs.

"It wasn't cute at all!" Petra frowned, holding Frederica's hand tightly.

["Nommed on? That's a cute way to put it. But it was actually… "

Puck suddenly turned into a growling monster beast as he shouted into Subaru's face.

"Munch, gobble, snarf, chew, chomp, snap, crunch!"]

"I don't like this Bubby, I suppose," Beatrice tiredly sounded from atop her new cushion which was Subaru's chest.

She was too tired to be terrified of her brother's scary look.

"He looks weird," Mimi giggled from the back as she pointed at the malformed cat.

Beside Otto, Garfiel found it appropriate to shoot his friend a grin, "Ya said the same thin-"

"Yes, yes, Natsuki-san said the same thing as me. It's a coincidence," Otto cut his friend off while waving a hand in his face.

"Ya sure it ain't you takin' after Cap'n a bit too much?" Garfiel laughed when Otto threw his hat on his face.

[He slowly turned into the cute cat form and winked at the boy.

"More like that."

"With all those sound effects, I should definitely be dead now. I think I'm five or six arms short for all that," Subaru uttered with a disturbed expression at the cat.

"Yea, well, the blue-haired maid took the rest of the damage. She was in awful shape."

Subaru quickly sat up with a worried glare as the pain filled him.]

"He's worried about her? Sheeesh," Al snorted at the absurdity of Subaru's heart.

"I mean, he did save her so it would be kind of redundant if she gets hurt because of him," Ricardo mused from his seat.

Many in the audience just shook their heads at the boy's impotence.

["Though she heals fast, thanks to her demon transformation, by the time she carried you to the village, she had no visible injuries."

The boy slumped back into the pillow and let out a pain-filled sigh. "Don't scare me for no reason… Anyway, so Rem went back to the village, then? And what about the kids? Was the curse removed?"

"No worries there! Betty and I took care of it, so all's well! Your judgment was right on the mark! Clap, clap, clap."]

"Beatrice-sama came out of her library? I don't remember Subaru making a contract with her in this loop." Frederica asked in surprise as the fact that this girl actually left her room AND the mansion as well was nothing short of a miracle.

"Bubby asked me so I obliged, I suppose," The little spirit weakly gave out as she leaned more into her contractor's side.

"Hmmm, Are you suuuure that you weren't also maaaaking sure that Subaru-kun is saaaaafe?" Roswaal teasingly smiled down at the spirit. He almost looked smug.

As if he was bragging that he was right to Beatrice.

The tired loli spirit could only do one thing and one thing in a situation where she was teased by someone she loathed.

It was a tactic taught to her by her unruly hopeless idiot of a contractor.

And it felt satisfying to do it here and now.

"Beako! That's very baaaad!" Emilia suddenly came out of her stupor at the shocking sight of the sweet elegant Beatrice giving Roswaal the middle bird.

Garfiel, Al, and Ricardo fell out of their seats while laughing their ass off.

The children all giggled and clapped.

The candidates finally cracked a smile as they broke focus for a second.

Beatrice sat down while ignoring her heartbroken brother who was deeply hurt by the abuse. Roswaal just hugged Ram and let a few tears slip.

Otto looked around the room and noticed that everyone was looking at the screen with more shine in their eyes as the comedic sight made them all regain some strength to watch.

Except for three people.

Two knights and a certain maid.

Those three look like the undead. Emotionless. Broken…

Otto looked back at the screen while feeling frustrated that he couldn't help with anything.

["Has Emilia been here all night?"

Puck looked at the sleeping Emilia. "Yeah. She drained her resources right down to her od, to heal you, so you should let her sleep.

Subaru smiled wide at the half-elf princess.

Scene change (Opening plays)

The screen shows Subaru exiting a house in the village wearing his torn clothes that had been shredded by the dogs.]

"So, wait… is it over now? Has he won against the mabeasts?" Felt asked with a confused look.

"No, there's more," Everyone looked at Petra as she watched with a serious expression on her cute face.

"What do you mean, nyan?" Felix tiredly asked. "What more could happen?"

"Just watch and you'll see," Ram spat out, making the cat boy clench his hands harder in frustration.

[As Subaru closed the door to the house, a voice sounded behind him.

"Barusu, you're awake?"

Subaru looked back…

"Ram… Listen, uh… I mean, about Rem… "

Subaru couldn't speak to the pink-haired maid… he looked down at the ground in shame as his stomach growled.

It just so happened that the maid was carrying a basket of steamed pink potatoes. (Fuck you Tatoes!)

"How shameful you are, pestering others for food after being that badly injured. Maybe some dog rubbed off on you from the dog bites."

Subaru took the abuse like a man and glared condescendingly at the maid. "How does a dog rub off?"

"Eat this."

Ram shoved a hot steaming Potato into Subaru's unsuspecting mouth.

"Sofubozu!" The boy screamed and spat the burning food in his hand as he rolled on the floor with his mouth open.

Ram watched the boy's struggle with a smile of pure amusement. "Delicious, isn't it?"

"I thought I was gonna die! But yes it was good!" Subaru yelled at the maid from his place on the floor.]

"Why are you so mean to him?!" Otto and Garfiel were laughing loudly as they had fun watching Subaru get harmlessly abused.

Some let out a chuckle at the scene, while Emilia and Beatrice giggled a bit at their nasty-eyed friend's antics.

"Barusu's masochistic side would disagree with you about me being mean. Hmph! I bet he enjoys it," Ram smirked evilly as she stomped on the boy's reputation.

"Lucky," Garfiel muttered as he saw his Cap'n getting closer to the pink-haired maid faster than he could in over years.

How did he do it? The blonde boy would learn from this showing. He will make sure of it.

Rem looked around with a trembling frown on her lips. The fact that most of the people in this room seemed to forgive Ram and laugh at her jokes was enough to send relief into her heart that her sister wouldn't get hate for her crimes anymore. But part of her was still feeling the sting of being left in the dust.

[Ram looked at the basket in her hand. "It's freshly made… I mean… "

She cutely sent him a smug smile. "Freshly steamed."

Subaru wasn't a retard. Usually.

"Why do you look so proud of yourself?!" He yelled at the delusional maid.

"Okay, okay. You can have another, so be quiet and eat it."

Subaru stood up and took the offered food from the maid.]

Rem's eyes were closed as she didn't want to see such a normal interaction with her sister and the love of her life.

Why couldn't she have been calm like her sister was? Why didn't she have faith in Roswaal-sama's orders and treat the boy normally?

"I didn't want to hurt him."

Rem's eyes watered as her heart shattered again by the memories playing in her mind.

She couldn't believe that he loves her. Not after all this.

He was just trying to make her feel better.

Emilia's eyes trailed on the girl for a second before turning away and looking at the screen. The half-elf had a frown of her own, One of conflict.

Beatrice kept her gaze on both Emilia and Rem for a moment as well. She was glaring at them both.

["And, well… As for last night, you have my honest thanks. Nice work."

"Nice work? Always with the condescending tone… Was it something deserving of your thanks?"

Ram looked in the direction of the Village's center, making Subaru do the same. He noticed that the adults of the village were grouped up and chatting with serious and angry faces.

"When the people of a domain suffer any loss, its lord is held liable. If that pack of ulgarm had further endangered those children… You were right to do as you did."

Subaru looked back at Ram with a confused expression. "Ulgarm? That's what those black mabeasts are called?"

"Yes, but it's all right. I reconnected the broken barrier, so the village is safe."]

"Did you also look for the one who broke that barrier? I assume that you were suspicious, these things don't just break like that," Crusch critically asked the Emilia camp or those of the camp that were present at that time.

It was finally up to the most charming of them to speak.

"Of course we did, but the trails had vanished long before I could find them. The only thing that was out of place when I investigated the scene, was a child going missing right after the rescue Barusu and my sister had concluded," Ram chronically answered while leaning on her lord's arm.

"Hmmm, and that child would be…" Anastasia asked with a tired expression as she had already known the answer and it frustrated her.

"Meili…" Beatrice growled as she glared hatefully at the screen.

Petra frowned as she thought about the times she had played with the girl in the estate. The little maid was hurt all over again by the betrayal, and this time it was worse because she saw how devious and cruel Meili was when trying to kill her family and friends.

"I'm not playing with her anymore," Petra glared at nothing as she made up her mind.

[Ram starts to share the food with the rest of the villagers.

"I kept an eye on the barrier overnight to ensure there were no problems, so no ulgarm should be able to cross it and enter the village. So you can relax."

Subaru is shown visiting each of the children's houses, checking on them, and smiling at each of them while the parents are present.

He is shown getting thanked by Petra's parents and refusing a gift from them. He stumbled and ran out of their house with a relieved expression.

He noticed a small fancy-dressed blonde girl standing at the entrance to the village.

"Beako…"]

"And why are you here now?" Emilia asked with an apprehensive expression.

Both Ram and Beatrice tensed up as they knew what would be shown next.

Emilia sighed and leaned back into her chair. What a tiresome knight.

[He ran towards the spirit with a happy smile.

"Hey! I heard you helped remove the curse from the kids. Thanks."

"No big deal. Betty only helped because Bubby asked, I suppose. I have something more important to discuss."

Subaru blinked in confusion.

Scene change…

Subaru was leaning on a wall while Beatrice stood before him.

"What did you bring me all the way out here to say?"

Beatrice looked at the ground for a bit, trying to find a good way to say this.

The spirit decided the blunt way was best, as she looked up at him.

"In less than half a day, you will die, I suppose."]

"Come on!" Al yelled out in frustration and annoyance.

Emilia stared at the screen mouth agape.

"Ya didn't know about this, Emilia?" Anastasia asked, noticing the half-elf's stiffness.

"N-No… I wasn't told any of this!" Emilia replied in outrage, her face displayed her worry and confusion clearly.

"What?" Crusch asked in surprise.

"Let's just watch for now," Wilhelm advised as he kept his gaze on the screen, he's curiosity as to how Subaru deals with this situation was making him anxious for this wonderful boy's safety.

[Subaru looked down with a thoughtful gaze.

"You don't look as disturbed as I expected. I thought you'd scream and cry, I suppose." Beatrice mused while blinking at him.

"The curse still isn't lifted, then?"

"When the pack of mabeasts attacked you in the forest, they planted another curse deep inside you."

"Can I ask why this one can't be removed?"

"That's simple, I suppose. Too many curses have been placed on you, making it too complex to remove."

"Too many curses?"]

"Why didn't you tell me?" Emilia whispered to the spirit.

"Why wasn't I informed, Beatrice?!" She yelled.

The blonde spirit just sunk her face into her contractor's chest, fully removing herself from within her seat and placing herself on his lap.

"I had no reason to talk with you, I suppose."

Emilia bared her teeth at this answer.

"Emilia-sama… I would think it best if you watched what comes next for now," Frederica intervened on Beatrice's behalf.

[Beatrice raised a finger up while explaining. "When there's only one, removing it is as simple as untying a knot. But the curses on you are a complex web of many threads too tangled to undo." She tangled her hands together and made a pulling motion.

"Well, I get the idea that it's high on the difficulty scale, but why half a day?"

"After half a day, mabeasts activate their spells to replenish mana. The curse those mabeasts used drains a target's mana, I suppose. In other words, they made you mabeast food."

Subaru smiled uneasily. "So they attack people because they're hungry? That's an animal for you. So simple-minded!"

He dragged his hands over his face with a tired moan.

"I guess we should be thankful they never got hungry before now." He looked down with a relieved expression.

"You… Aren't you even scared, I suppose?"]

Everybody was looking at the screen in silence.

Those words would've scared most of them.

"The fact that he can smile when being told such a thing…" Reinhard narrowed his eyes to the ground.

"It's crushing to watch," Julius completed for his colleague as he stared at the screen with a dead stare.

Emilia looked at the Subaru beside her with a sad expression, no one had to go through what he did. If she could give him a lap pillow again she would do it.

Beatrice just stared at herself on screen with an angry glare. "Useless, in fact." She spat out towards herself.

She could've helped more.

Anastasia, Crusch, and Felt simply looked at the boy with critical and angry-looking eyes.

"Do you think we can help him somehow?" Anastasia asked silently.

"How do you mean?" Felt asked with a raised brow.

"Maybe therapy could help?" The merchant shrugged.

"He won't be able to say anything," Crusch sternly reminded them of the curse's punishment.

Petra simply stared down at Subaru with a thoughtful look. She didn't look disturbed like the rest of the adults around her.

[Subaru opened his eyes to find a disturbed and bewildered-looking Beatrice staring at him, aghast.

"I'm telling you how much time you have left to live, you know."

Subaru looked away from the spirit.

"Well, sure, I'm scared. But I doubt you came here just to tell me I'm going to die. I don't think you're that mean."

"What do you know about me, I suppose?" The spirit girl's eyebrow twitched as she looked at him annoyed.

"If nothing else, I feel like I've known you four times longer than I really have."

"You make no sense!" Beatrice shook her head and glared at the boy seriously. "But it's a fact that the chance for you to be saved is much lower now."

"So tell me just how low it is."

"We're talking about eating by means of a spell. If the one that's eating dies, logic dictates the meal would be canceled, I suppose."]

"So he has to kill all of those things?" Otto asked with his eyes showing worry for what will be shown.

"How many are there anyway?" Ricardo asked as he calculated what he would've done in the kid's shoes.

"It's a breeding ground. The chances of there being hundreds or thousands are likely," Julius sadly theorized while staring at the screen with an emotionless face.

Anastasia took notice of this. But she didn't dwell on it.

["So that's it… I just have to kill the things that cursed me." He pulled his torn shirt up and looked at his scratched and scarred skin.

"But there are too many of them."

"That's why Bubby hasn't told that silly girl about the curse."]

"Hmph! Even your great spirit doesn't trust a half-witch," Priscilla laughed out loud as Emilia stared at the screen in shock.

She slowly turned to Beatrice with a cold expression that was hiding the hurt from the betrayal and the words shot at her by a certain cunt's mouth.

"Did Puck really know that Subaru was going to die?"

Beatrice flinched at how hurt and betrayed Emilia sounded. The little spirit just nodded slowly with a nervous look on her face.

Emilia's eyes narrowed dangerously as she growled her next question. "Did he know that there was a chance to help Subaru?"

Beatrice nodded slowly once again.

"So, Puck was willing to let Subaru die." It wasn't a question but a repeat of the conclusion in Emilia's head as she stared at the wall with a cold glare of anger.

"B-Bubby just wanted to keep his contractor safe-"

"That's enough, Beatrice."

Beatrice shut her mouth as the angry no, furious Emilia, leaned back and gritted her teeth at the screen.

"Even Rem had more guts to help Subaru. More than the both of us ever did!" Emilia's statement sent the spirit's eyes wide.

"...!"

["Yeah, if Emilia knew, she'd definitely try to do more than she's capable of… Which makes me really happy, but also really scared."]

"You could see sparks too?" Otto asked Garf as he backed away from Emilia.

The blonde boy nodded his head and did what all men do in a situation like this.

Backing as far away from the growling, glaring half-elf lady as possible.

Beatrice was tearing up as she couldn't leave her spot on Subaru's lap and back away with them.

Forget Bubby, she wished luck to her stupid contractor that keeps underestimating the elf.

"Subaruuuuu…." Emilia completely crushed the boy's hand in her grip while looking at the screen.

"She's scary."

"Shhhh! Don't make her angrier," Frederica quietly admonished Petra as they both leaned back with nervous looks.

[Subaru held his head in his hands in exasperation. "Man, the difficulty level here is seriously demonic! This is just plain impossible. I might as well give up-"

Subaru's mind flashed and his world stopped immediately as he remembered something.

His eyes widened. As he started hearing a voice speaking with someone…. He was remembering a conversation… it was Rem...

"So you're going to give up? Is there no other way to save him?"

"His head must be hurting, I suppose. That's not surprising. That's all I suppose, you can do as you like with him now."

"I swear… I'll save you."

Subaru slowly looked up with his eyes dilated and shaking.

It can't be…

Subaru looked at the bored-looking Beatrice.

"Where… is Rem?"]

"Oh! That's why you went into the forest alone!" Petra yelled out with her eyes wide. She was a little happy that Rem was finally doing something good.

"So you DID help him." Anastasia mused to herself as she kept watching.

"Did she take them all out on her own?" Otto asked in shock.

Rem stayed silent to the whole thing and kept watching with a cold look.

"Knowing Natsuki…" Crusch stared at the screen with a worried look.

"He will jump into the breeding grounds to help Rem-san," Wilhelm concluded to his mistress with a fond look in his eyes.

Felix sighed tiredly and watched with trembling eyes as his hatred and his jealousy filled him to the brim.

However, his guilt was keeping him silent.

Emilia just watched with an expressionless face. She would punish Puck for every injury Subaru receives, and Subaru's injuries will be counted to make him do extra chores for her as punishment for being such a dotting heroic idiot.

"That's your punishment," Emilia nodded to herself with a small smile of satisfaction.

Beatrice was looking at the elf with something short of apprehensive.

[She was silent…

"Beako…"

Subaru stood up and held the girl's shoulders.

"Beatrice, where is Rem?!"

"What would you do in her position, I suppose?" She looked at him with a deadpan expression.

"I can't ignore what you just said," A voice sounded from atop a ledge over where they were hiding.

"Ram?"

The pink maid looked down at the two and ignored Subaru.

"Beatrice-sama, Rem didn't go into that forest alone did she?" Ram was looking at the two with a scared expression.]

Rem flinched at once the events of how both Subaru and her sister came to save her was shown. The worry on Subaru's face, the shock her sister showed feelings that forced gut-wrenching guilt to fill her heart.

[Scene change…

Rem is walking through the forest with a red aura surrounding her horned form. She was glaring and walking through bushes while bleeding all over.

"I… I have to do this alone, No one else needs to get hurt anymore!"

She was grunting in pain.]

"Hm. It seems like you had a change of heart," Anastasia mused while looking at the maid from the corner of her eyes.

"You really wanted to help him that bad?" Felt asked in surprise as she saw the amount of blood on the maid's form.

Rem just shook her head. "I only made things worse."

Crusch's frown deepened as she glanced at the broken Rem.

Ram looked at her sister with a shocked expression, "Rem… What's wrong with you? Can't you see that Barusu is trying his best to help you?"

Her sister gave no response.

'... He only did it because he had to.'

"See?" Emilia hissed in a whispered voice, looking at Beatrice with a face of indignation.

The spirit's brows narrowed, no longer feeling the will to be pushed over by Emilia's change in attitude.

"What's with you, I suppose? This isn't just about Bubby trying to protect you is it? You are angry with me about something, so out with it."

The half-elf's eyes didn't falter, her expression was settled on one of determination.

"I think Subaru was right… Maybe Rem deserves a second chance."

"Are you insane, I suppose?" Beatrice hushed her frantic disbelief but kept a dangerous glare upon the princess.

As if she had her mind already set, Emilia pursed her lips and turned away from the spirit. "I don't think I'll ever forgive what she's done… But it's not fair to ignore what she's suffering for his sake."

The irony of the elf's words was not lost on Beatrice.

"Are you feeling guilty just because the maid has done more to help Subaru than the both of us?" Beatrice hissed, trying to get Emilia to regain her earlier stance, but the amethyst eyes of the princess only grew more fiery.

"And you've been thinking about that fact for a long time now, hm?" Emilia's smooth angelic tone was rife with sternness.

Seeing the spirit's fall into silence, Emilia decided to end this.

"I'm as conflicted as you are," she explained to the glaring spirit, "I am. But I understand that there are many reasons for what Rem's done to Subaru. Some of them anger me, they make me feel hatred for someone I liked as a good friend," Emilia hissed these words with an expression of great distaste. Sooner, her eyes softened as Beatrice seemed to contemplate what was being said.

Emilia continued, "I'm not fully forgiving her. I shall do my veeeery best to watch this girl."

The spirit's brow was raised at the half-elf.

"Since when are you so firm, I suppose?" Beatrice mocked but Emilia ignored her.

"I'll watch her whenever she's with him," she whispered, glancing towards his face.

"Just like you and I have watched him whenever he talks about her or sits by her bedside for days on end."

At this, Beatrice's expression grew to be distasteful, " Don't lump me in with you and her. My contractor is simply too kindhearted for his own good!"

"Beatrice, I know you want to stand by Subaru… But hating Rem without seeing Subaru's view on all of this is just disgusting. He's bled for her, helped her, believed in her. Not just in these viewings but also after all of this happened. Why? Why would he go to such an effort to help someone who tortured and killed him so horribly?"

Beatrice couldn't hold contact with Emilia's gaze for long. The half-elf showed the image of pure sadness even when she was glaring down at her in sternness.

"... Please think about this carefully, Beatrice. I won't be forgetting what Rem's done to Subaru, not by a long shot. But I shall keep following Subaru's wish to help her, because she's still a really good friend when we need her. His forgiveness is something that keeps torturing her too, she's suffering in here like the both of us."

The spirit's eyes moved to look at the jarring expression of sheer hopelessness on Rem's face. The maid sat so far away yet seemed so closely tied to her and Emilia. It made Beatrice sick to her stomach.

"I wasn't wrong for outposting that girl!" she seethed, glaring up at Emilia.

The silver-haired lady only nodded, "You weren't. No one was," her amethyst eyes narrowed once again, displaying anger, "But we need Rem to give Subaru his happiness."

"He loves her, reeeeally does," she took a moment to let the effect of that statement wear out on her own heart, "And I must respect that and work do my best to show Rem the friendship she needs while she pays for her guilt as Subaru sees fit."

"Y-You want to have both, the ability to hate the girl for what she did, and still have her as a friend for Subaru's sake!"

"I don't want to hate her," Emilia said, shutting the spirit up, "I want to stop hating her. Because Rem is simply harder on herself than you or I could ever be. Being ugly with her now will only serve to nullify all that she's done to Subaru. She will feel justified in forgiving herself if we showed her hatred for what she did. But if we show her kindness… Constantly remind her of Subaru's forgiveness… Rem will always feel nothing short of crushing guilt for what she did."

Beatrice sat with her jaw hanging in awe at the half-elf.

"Rem's a good girl," Emilia grinned in a wolfish fashion. Beatrice found herself faltering after she was faced with this.

[Scene change back to Subaru…

"Why? Why would Rem go to such lengths for me?"

Before anyone could answer him, Ram began running towards the forest.

Subaru quickly took hold of her hand.

"Hey! Hold on!"

"Let go of me, Barusu! I'm not calm enough to be kind right now!"

"If you want to save Rem, and if you consider me an ally at all, listen to me! Do you know where Rem is?"

"If I use my clairvoyance, I will!"

"Clairvoyance?"

"It's a power that allows me to see what the bugs and animals on my wavelength are seeing."]

"That's a really useful power."

Ricardo nodded along with Julius. "It could be a godsend on recon missions."

Petra frowned a bit as she realized how useless as a maid she was. She was the only one that didn't have any special abilities.

Frederica patted her head as she understood what the little maid was bothered with immediately after seeing her pout.

"It seems… " Emilia and Beatrice both glanced at Felt as she pinned them with a look, "... The maids both really want to help Big Bro…and they are a good team."

["So they're like your security cameras? Well, if we can use it to get to Rem, then fine."

Subaru let go of her and looked determined. "So, are you the kind of maid that fights?"

"What does that even mean?"

"It means I'm going into the forest with you."]

"Of course he would! Why did we think differently?"

Ricardo snorted at Al's statement. "Speak for ya self, pal. I was waiting for him to say that."

["You're going to follow me?"

"Yeah. I'm bound to slow you down in a fight, you know." Subaru smiled wide.

"If you expect me to be able to fight like Rem does in her demon form, I can't."

"You're twins, right? If Rem is a demon, aren't you a demon, too?"

Ram looked down with a pained expression donning her face. "Unlike Rem, I'm hornless."]

"Why is that, nyan?" Felix asked Ram with a look of interest.

"I think that you should stay silent and watch."

Felix looked down and gritted his teeth in anger at the maid's despicable attitude.

Ram snorted at the boy's angry expression and watched as this perverted screen showed her private memories. She noticed her sister's harsh flinch.

"..." she couldn't say anything about her sister's problem. She had already said everything she could over many years.

["Huh?" Subaru looked confused at this.

Ram smiled up at him. "I can only use a rather extreme bit of wind magic." She suddenly waved her hand and the entire ground shook around Subaru as the wind slashed at it.

"Going to retrieve the younger sister, would mean giving up on your own life. You do understand that, I suppose?" Beatrice walked beside the two.

"That's not quite right. Let me correct you." Subaru smiled smugly.

"It's dumb to get into the habit of giving up because you're used to dying. Life is precious! You only get one! I realized that when you guys went through so much to save mine. So if you don't mind, I'm going to struggle pathetically. Let's go make a comeback! I've bounced back from the terrible state I was in. I'm a greedy guy, and I want to see the continuation of this story, with me in it!"

As Beatrice and Ram looked at the boy with surprised eyes, Subaru smirked wide as he shouted in determination.

"Now, let's get moving to our last big showdown!"

The boy slammed his knuckles and shouted to the sky in excitement. "Bring it on, Fate-sama!"

Subaru Natsuki… was determined to fight fate.

He won't die again.]

"He has a way with words, I suppose," Beatrice smiled at the screen.

Emilia nodded her head and gently nudged Subaru's arm. Although she was sad and angry at him for not trusting her as much, she still found it endearing how hard he tries to help his friends, especially someone that had wronged him in such a brutal way.

"This kid is trying to fire himself up." Ricardo sighed in amusement.

Otto and Garfiel were just watching the screen with wide excited expressions. They always loved the way he fires himself up like this. He looked so cool when he did it.

"He's determined…" Anastasia sighed and leaned back to watch this kid get hurt once again.

"Let's see how he wins this," Felt leaned back and got ready for her big bro's exciting adventure.

Even the knights seemed excited to see the end of this journey. Wilhelm included.

[Scene change….

"You gave a pretty heroic speech back there, but when I see you so close to becoming nothing but baggage, it's difficult to hide my disappointment."

The boy that had been tempting fate moments before was shown breathing heavily while leaning on a shining sword.

Never before had Ram seen such gayness.]

"Ah, I should've known." Julius had to shake his head and hide a smile at the comedic sight as people all around him were giggling and chuckling.

"That's just how useless he is," Ram snorted with a smile.

"Has he no shame?" Priscilla asked while glaring at him in tired annoyance.

He got her excited for nothing!

Felt was laughing her ass off while her knight was just smirking at the screen.

Petra and Frederica giggled at the wannabe butler's ridiculousness.

Rem kept her head down…

["I'm still recovering, so my energy is spent, and I'm low on blood… oh, and I didn't get to hear Emilia-tan say, 'See you soon.'" Subaru tried to make excuses between heavy breathes.]

"Hmph! You won't hear it again after this stunt!" Emilia was pouting heavily at the boy's useless attempt to flatter her from his punishment.

"Oh come on! He's still thinking about you, so cut him some slack," Anastasia found it amusing to mess with the naive Emilia, and she laughed out loud when the elf girl glared at the boy harder.

["Until you say, 'I'm home,' last night's 'See you soon 'is still in effect."

"I-Is that how it works?"

"Besides, didn't you get something from someone other than Emilia-sama?"

Subaru quickly unsheathed the sword and smirked at it. "Yeah, something really awesome."]

"Yeah, I remember that!" Petra giggled as she remembered how excited the young men's leader was when Subaru agreed to take the sharpest sword in the village.

"I wonder what happened to it?" The little maid asked herself softly as she had never seen Subaru holding the sword again.

Reinhard raised an eyebrow at this scene and turned to look at Ram which surprised the girl greatly, "Are you… Excuse me, miss. But I can't help the feeling that you were trying to make Subaru feel better about himself here."

The pink-haired maid couldn't help but look at the knight in bafflement. Emilia stared at the redhead with interest while Beatrice moved her eyes from the screen to the floor for a moment, appearing to contemplate something about the pink maid.

"I… I… "

"No need to answer me, miss. I'm sorry for troubling you," Reinhard let a grin show on his face and turned towards the screen once again.

Roswaal moved his hand to pat Ram's clenched one.

"You need to be honest with your feeeeelings," the clown lord snickered at his blushing maid.

Petra smiled brightly at Ram, appearing to be proud of her mentor in the mansion staff.

[Flashback to a villager handing him the sword.

"Take this. It's the sharpest sword in the village."

"Thanks, man." Subaru smiled and took the sword.

"Subaru!"

The boy was surprised to find the kids running toward him.

"Hey, you guys! You're awake?"

The kids grouped around him and Petra took the lead in asking him where he was going.

"Where are you going? Back into the forest?"

"Don't go back there, Subaru!"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

"What's the sword for?" a kid asked

"This?" Subaru looked at the sword in his hand.

"It's a thank you gift from all of us." The leader of the young men in the village spoke in a tone filled with gratitude.

Subaru found himself suddenly surrounded by the children as they all began grabbing him and placing things into his pockets.

"I wanna thank you, too!"

"Hey!"

"You can have this!"

"And this!"

Flashback end…]

"Awe! The villagers have really taken to him," Frederica cooed in delight.

"Now I see why he cares for them so much," Julius rubbed his chin and smiled.

"Mhm, he did his best back then as well!" Mimi exclaimed with Tivey nodding alongside her.

Seeing all the support Subaru was getting, Anastasia glanced curiously at Crusch while rubbing her fox scarf.

"Ya think we'll get t' see that moment ourselves?"

The Duchess moved her chin off her knuckle to face the merchant, "Hm, I doubt that we will leave here without seeing that incredible battle with Sloth. I've got no qualms with seeing it."

Anastasia smirked at her, "Ya got no qualms, or ya want t' see yerself kickin' the Whale's ass?"

"I have no idea what you say, Miss Hoshin." the Duchess turned from the company head with dignity.

[Subaru sheathed the sword and picked the kids' gifts that were in his pocket.

"A candy, a pretty stone… and…."

The boy screamed like a not-boy and threw the giant slimy centipede away.

"There was a freaking bug in it! Damn brats, sneaking that in while I was distracted! I'll give them a talking-to later!"]

"Hahahahaha" Otto and Garfiel laughed out loud along with Al and Ricardo.

"Hehehe, Who was it that did that?" Felt asked while giggling.

Petra couldn't answer as she was busy laughing.

Emilia and Beatrice smirked as they both were starting to like seeing Subaru get teased by those kids. It was such a satisfying sight.

[Subaru wiped the slime on his coat.

Ram looked away from him and spoke in a condescending tone. "It's just proof that they admire you. I wonder what they see in a man like you… "

Subaru smiled smugly. "In the pure eyes of a child, my true manly nature shines."

The screen showed a picture of Subaru if he had been a true man.]

Julius couldn't help but snort.

Felix and Priscilla were outright laughing at the image.

"Do you like him better like that?" Anastasia asked Emilia with a curious smile.

Emilia shook her head and smiled up at the merchant. "My Subaru is just fine the way he is. Except for the way he doesn't keep his promises."

"That doesn't sound like a good quality," Crusch couldn't help her jealousy from sounding in her little snip at the half-elf.

Emilia just shrugged and leaned on the knight beside her.

["Also, I'm not the only one they like. You could tell, right?"

Ram looked at him apprehensively. "Yes…"

Flashback...

Ram was glaring as the kids compounded around Subaru, filling his pockets with gifts.

"Take this!"

"And this too!"

"Hey! Why did you put dirt in there?"

"Just accept it!"

Ram was gritting her teeth and breathing in and out to calm her fury.

"Ram-chi!"

The maid was surprised to see Petra and the others smiling at her.

"We want to thank Rem-rin too, so bring her over later!"

Ram looked dumbfounded.

"Promise, Ram-chi!"

Flashback end….]

Ram smiled and looked at her sister in hope that she saw that.

Rem was looking at the screen with an emotionless expression, but her eyes were wide.

Otto noticed this and smiled a bit. "Maybe this viewing could help cheer her up?" The merchant mused to himself.

[Ram had a small smile on her face that lasted only a second before she turned to the boy.

"Barusu, I'm going to use my clairvoyance. Wait a moment."

Ram turned and a scarlet-like aura surrounded her form as she closed her eyes and began switching POVs with many animals and insects around the forest.]

"That's kind of creepy," Tivey whined in disgust.

"It's cool!" Mimi yelled at her brother.

[Until she had a POV of someone's eyes looking at her and Subaru.

"Barusu, something is watching us right now."

"What?"

"Up there!" Ram quickly opened her eyes and pointed.

Subaru turned and found an ulgarm dog speeding towards him.]

"Subaru!" Petra shouted in fear.

Emilia and Beatrice held his hands and glared at the screen to see how he goes about this.

Rem watched with her eyes analyzing every bit of trauma she had caused him. Her love. Her hero.

The boy she had murdered.

[The boy brought his sword up to protect himself, but the dog was suddenly cut in half and Subaru looked on as the corpse sled across from him, spewing guts and blood all over.

Ram suddenly turned and shot a wind blade towards a hidden beast.

"More are coming."

Ram sent a blade that had cut another beast in half.

Subaru screamed in fear as the two halves sled towards him.]

"Pathetic." Priscilla snorted in amusement while Otto and Garfiel lowered their heads in shame at their brother's cowardice... They also suppressed small chuckles.

["Hey! D-Don't just walk off!"

"Anyway, why does every individual lose their head when they see you? I don't understand. Because you seem so weak?"

"After all that hesitation, that's your conclusion? How rude!"

"Because you seem like a wimp, then?"

"That doesn't change the root of what you're saying, Onee-sama!" Subaru groaned and continued walking into the forest with Ram beside him.

"Hey, can I ask what that hornless thing you mentioned means?" Subaru asked, trying to kill the silence.

Ram looked down with a frown on her face.

"Nothing special. Just as it sounds, it's another name for a foolish demon that lost its horn. I got into a bit of trouble and lost my only horn. I've relied on Rem for everything ever since."]

Rem looked shocked that her sister would say such a thing. Ram was amazing at everything. How could she ever think that she needs to rely on a replacement piece like Rem?

The blue-haired maid clenched her dress in both hands as she found another thing to torment herself with… she made her sister feel incompetent.

[Subaru looked down with a guilty frown.

"I guess I shouldn't have asked, huh?"

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know how important horns are to the race you call demons, but I assume it's a pretty serious problem. I just thought asking about it might have been insensitive."

Ram continued walking without being affected by the conversation.

"Back then, it was one thing, but now things have calmed down. There are things I've gained, and lives I've saved, by losing my horn. I'm sure Rem doesn't feel the same way, though."

"Huh?"

Ram stopped and turned to the boy to explain.

The screen shows Rem growling with bared teeth and her horn glowing dangerously.]

"That's scary," Tivey hid behind his sister while she huffed at him.

"WEAK!"

"Such is the true nature of those disgusting demon spawns. No wonder they were eradicated," Priscilla fanned herself while glaring at the screen nastily.

Ram held the helm of her dress in pure fury at the words of this scummy woman.

Rem… she held her head down for bringing shame to her sister and family.

["Originally, members of the demon race had two horns, but twins are born with just one horn each. So twins are detested, and it's customary to dispose of them immediately after birth. But Rem and I were allowed to live."]

"What disgusting policy to have," Crusch shook her head at the extreme way those demons lived.

"Are ya sure that your policies won't have the same effect?" Anastasia thoughtfully inquired of the disgusted Crusch.

The militarized Duchess stayed silent and thought about some of her out-of-touch policies and the way she would've run the kingdom.

[The screen showed the blue-haired demon maid getting surrounded by beasts.

"A demon's horns awaken its demon instincts and allow it to devour mana, heightening its combat ability."

The window zooms in on the pink glowing horn as it sucks the mana dry from the air and the atmosphere around Rem.

"But if one is reckless, the recoil will leave them battered."

Rem is shown laughing and manically moving her arms as she smashed and stomped multiple beasts dead while cutting more Ulgarms by her mace.

"I don't want to see Rem like that."]

Rem flinched and closed her eyes as the shameful self she despised showed itself on the window before her and all those around her.

"Man, that's badass!" Garfiel called out in pure excitement as his legs were shaking and yearning to fight something like a crazed out Rem.

The blonde boy couldn't see that he was the only one that was excited.

Emilia and Beatrice looked on with fearful gazes as the memories of Rem's torture of Subaru played again.

"What would happen if the insane Rem sniffed the witch on Subaru-san?" Otto asked, the tone so serious it made Garfiel stop a moment to process this.

"She would try to kill him no doubt," Julius concluded with his golden eyes showing worry.

"Do you know how Subaru got through this? You said that this was the right one and he didn't …." Felt pleaded down to Petra as her eyes trembled and her heart clenched her chest at the thought of this boy dying once again.

She couldn't see him die again after all it took for him to get back up.

Felt didn't want to see him so broken again.

Petra shrugged her shoulders as the fear of what the knight had described was beginning to settle in her mind.

"Subaru…"

Petra watched just as worried as Emilia and Beatrice were.

["Are you worried because you care for Rem?"

"Of course I am. It's true that she is stronger than I am, but that's no reason not to worry about her. No matter what we're told to do, she does it far better. But I am her older sister. I won't ever waiver from that position." Ram looked at Subaru with a resolute look.]

Rem's eyes widened as she heard her amazing sister belittle herself to compliment her. How could she be so despicable like this? To make her older sister go through such delusions?

"Rem is so disgusting."

Otto glanced as he heard the maid speak to herself.

How could he help? What would Subaru do?

"Come on, idiot," Otto said to Subaru as he gritted his teeth, worried and tired of his friend's idiocy.

"That isn't true, sister..." Ram whispered softly to her sister's ear, but Rem looked away.

"Poor little one," Al muttered.

"She deserves what she's sown," Julius scorned without mercy, crossing his arms.

[Subaru stared at her for a moment before smiling. "Okay, I get it. I've got an idea. So don't worry. We'll bring Rem back safely!"

Scene change to Subaru and Ram standing in an open area.

Subaru is looking worried about something.]

"What's he doing now?" Al asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"It's probably something dangerous." Reinhard looked at the screen with rapid interest. He wanted to know what his weaker colleague would do to achieve happiness for the people around him.

"Of course it is." Julius waved his fingers in his hair to appease his frustration at Subaru's tiresome habit.

[If my idea is right, they're sure to come. They'll be drawn here by my attempt to tell her about Return by Death.]

Ram's eyes widened as she finally understood what happened on that day.

"Stupid Barusu!"

"Oh no!" Petra gasped in shock.

"What! That's insane, I suppose!" Beatrice yelled out in pure horror.

"No…" Emilia whispered and looked at the screen in frustration as her uselessness made her knight think of putting himself in the arms of the witch herself just to save someone dear to him.

Part of her couldn't help but blame Rem for this.

"I'm so sorry," Rem finally uttered loudly as she understood what her stupidity had caused.

[Subaru closed his eyes and breathed to prepare himself.

"Ram, the thing is, I can Retur-"

* THAAAAAGGGG*

A black hand is shown attacking Subaru.

Ram is looking around in spooked panic as the birds are flying out of the trees as if disturbed by something.]

"He made it back!" Felix was shocked that the witch hadn't punished Subaru with death.

"It seems that she doesn't intend to harm him, just punish him for talking about the power." Anastasia sounded angry as she mused her thoughts.

"What kind of punishment is that? Crushing your heart?!" Otto yelled out as the circumstances for his brother's stay in this world were clear to them all once again.

"How does Subaru deal with this?" Tivey winced as he saw how the hand crushed the boy's heart.

"'Cuz he had too. If he needs ta save anyone he will do what he must." Garfiel looked serious for once as he remembered that fateful day where he fought his cap'n at the tomb.

"That's still a steep price to pay for a rule though..." Emilia couldn't help but squeeze his hand a little tighter.

"..." the blonde spirit beside Emilia bit her lip and closed her eyes shut. The need to roll herself up into a ball overcame her sense of duty to watch.

["What's that?" She asked Subaru as he grabbed his collar and began wheezing.

The Witch had grabbed his heart once again.

"I made a wager that brought a bit of pain with it," Subaru wheezed and gasped in pain.

"What did you do, Barusu?"

Ram looked at the boy with a worried look.

"The wind is erratic, and I smell beasts approaching! A lot of them! And we haven't found Rem yet!"]

"Why are the beasts attracted to him?" Frederica asked as she watched with a confused expression as events began building up.

"The beasts follow the witch's miasma," Crusch sounded out in disbelief as she finally understood how the boy brought down a whale with him.

"This kid…" Through her shock and horror of the boy's insanity, the duchess couldn't help but let out a smirk full of excitement.

[Ram looked around at the sounds of bushes and tree leaves hustling and bustling.

"Well, don't worry. I'm pretty sure we'll cross paths soon."

Subaru quickly took his sword out of the sheath.

"What makes you so sure?" Ram asked as she faced his back with hers while getting ready as the noises from the bushes and trees intensified.

"Because of the witch's scent!" Subaru smirked as he looked around with his sword ready.

Ram's eyes widened but she continued to look around.

"Rem's goal is to hunt down all mabeasts, right? The mabeasts will be drawn to the witch's scent and come right to me. Then Rem will have no choice but to follow them toward me. I call it: Operation: Natsuki Subaru Is the Bait!"]

"Idiot!"

"Moron, I suppose!"

Beatrice and Emilia both slapped the back of Subaru's head in anger and worry.

[Multiple different mabeasts surrounded the two.

Subaru readied his sword and smiled at Ram. "Okay, I'm gonna have to rely on you to do the fighting, so go for it!"]

"That's not manly, man!" Ricardo laughed as his chest heaved with excitement at the events playing.

"Ram can take 'em all!" Garfiel cheered as he would see the lady his heart was after in action and not killing his Captain.

["When this is over, take an objective look at what you just said until you wish you were dead!" Ram quickly sent a wind blade toward an attacking ulgram.

And the battle ensued.

Scene change…

Broken trees…

corpses of fallen and crushed dog beasts…

A blood-covered mace…

Rem was looking down, unfocused, covered in blood and grime.]

"Man, she's so fearsome," Al yelled out, clearly amazed by the destruction.

Many nodded with him,

Ram frowned deeply at the shape her sister was in.

[She turned around suddenly as she caught the smell of something.

Scene changes to Subaru running into the forest while carrying a sack of potatoes called Ram under his arm.

"This is what I get for believing you when you said you could fight!" Subaru shouted as he ran from the hordes of dog beasts chasing his ass.

"Well, I was fighting, wasn't I? My strength just didn't hold out as long as I thought it would," Ram voiced out barely above a whisper.]

"That's sooo laaaaame!"

"Boooo!"

"Da fuck?! I didn't even get ta see the fight!"

"Ram sucks!"

Ram had the decency to blush from embarrassment as the crowd of kids plus Garfiel and Al booed her on the screen.

"You're all pathetic!" the maid spat out in embarrassment.

["Damn it!"

Subaru ran and ran until he found a cliff before him.

The boy cursed and jumped from the ledge, making him slide down the entire hill with Ram screaming under his arm.

Subaru glared as he was sliding and stabbed his sword into the mountain to stop the fall.

"D-Damn it all!"

The Sword did its job and stuck on a growing vine from the side of the mountain, making Subaru and Ram halt to a stop from falling to their doom as the boy held on to it.]

"Nice quick thinking!" Ricardo clapped in excitement while the Emilia camp all watched with worry clear in their eyes.

"That blade!" Reinhard's eyes widened as he noticed.

The sharpest blade in Arlam village was… Cheap shit.

["We were almost dead meat…"

"If we fall, we'll both be in trouble. Barusu, can you climb up?"

"I'd like to make it up by sheer will power, but the mabeasts waiting up there are a problem-"

* CLANK!*]

"Subaru!" Petra yelled in worry. So that's what happened to the sword.

Emilia and Beatrice held his hands in fear as they watched with hitched breaths.

"This ain't gonna end well," Otto winced as he prepared to watch the tough impact.

"It won't indeed," Wilhelm seemed to relay his wavelength and gave his own wince.

[Subaru could only scream as he fell to his doom while clenching Ram's potato sack body and his now broken sword.

"The sharpest sword!" The boy screamed as he fell to the ground.]

"Never buy knock-offs," Julius felt the need to note but without his obnoxious tone. He received seething glances nonetheless.

["El Fula!" Ram sent a wind blade to the ground below them making an explosion of wind which blew both her and Subaru up towards the air.

Subaru quickly landed on his feet and scrambled to position himself with his arms stretched so he could prevent Ram from falling to the floor and carrying her princess style.

"That was close… Seriously, Ram-sama had timing like Buddha… " Subaru's face is shown sweating bullets.

He quickly looked down at the silent maid in his grasp. "Ram?"

Ram was unconscious and bleeding from her nose.]

"You gave your last bit of strength to help him," Crusch smirked at the maid.

"Hmph! I merely helped myself since he was so useless." Ram looked away with an expressionless face.

Crusch smirked smugly and looked at the screen, It didn't need to be said… the wind of untruth was blowing around her like a storm.

"Sure," Reinhard felt comfortable to tease and let out a laugh from his seat.

Emilia and Beatrice felt conflicted about Ram's behavior.

["H-Hey! Damn it… You can't be serious!"

Subaru looked behind him and found a horde of growling glaring dog beasts cornering him against the mountainous wall of rocks he had dropped from.

"Shit, this timing couldn't be worse… "]

"No kidding," Al snorted while sitting at the edge of his seat to watch what happened.

"How will he get out of this one?" Priscilla mused to herself… in excitement?

[* Thump!*

The butler boy looked up to see what made some rocks fall beside him.

And suddenly, a horned blue-haired maid dropped on her two feet right between Subaru and the beasts.

"Rem!" Subaru called in relief.]

"She's come to save him!" Petra cheered.

Priscilla snorted. "Typical, he needs someone to save him every time."

Rem, however, couldn't remember these events, She was so in a haze that her mind couldn't remember a thing about what she did in that horned form.

"Please don't hurt him…." she begged in despair as she watched. Eyes wavering.

[The maid looked back and smirked at him… sadistically…]

"Uh-oh." Felt leaned forward to watch in anxious worry.

["Thank goodness you're alive! We're saved!" He sighed in relief.

What had surprised him, however… was when a mace was shot towards him.

Subaru quickly dropped on his back while clenching Ram as close to himself as possible, narrowly avoiding the attack and making the mace miss him and crush the wall of rock behind him.

"She can turn into a demon but she can't control it?!"]

"That was too close!" Otto leaned on his brother to calm his beating heart.

"IIt's not over yet!" Garfiel pushed his bro off as he watched with panic filling his heart.

Emilia and Beatrice grit their teeth in unison as they watched the dire situation Subaru was in.

[Subaru looked up at the crazy psychotic demon that was the maid sister of the one in his arms.

She was going to attack him…

"Hey, Rem! My name is Natsuki Subaru! A completely useless trainee in odd jobs! The Roswaal mansion's most promising servant! I've always caused trouble for you and Ram, but we've been friends at times, "

Subaru quickly moved out of the way and clenched his body around Ram's as he carried her.

* CRACK!*

Once again he narrowly avoided being hit by the oncoming mace making it hit the wall of rocks. He grunted in pain as his shoulder was bleeding from being grazed by the close call that was Rem's attack.]

Rem began crying in despair as she saw what she was doing to her love and her sister as well. She was a monster, a monster, a monster.

"That was too close again." Frederica gasped as she hugged the frightened Petra.

["Trying to beat me to death while I'm still talking is bad manners!" He shouted with tears in his eyes.

Rem was about to attack the boy but the horde of ulgrams had decided to stop watching the show and attack.

As Rem began slaughtering the oncoming dogs, Subaru quickly placed potato Ram over his shoulder and picked his broken sword.

"Now's my chance…"

The little pup from before was seen growling and commanding the dogs.]

"Is he the leader of those things?!" Felt asked in anger.

"Is that girl there as well?" Julius looked at Ram and Rem with a hardened stare.

Ram shook her head. "I was pretty meticulous when looking for the mabeast user, that girl was long gone before this all went down." Although she spoke calmly, the Oni was seething with rage as she watched her sister's deprived state.

[Suddenly, an ulgarm beast came out of the ground and attacked Rem.

The maid blocked him with her arm and started punching his face until his skull broke.

Another dog butted his head into hers, making her fly away and drop on her back.

Subaru stopped running and looked back.

"Damn, it's no use! I can't ignore her! Take the plunge, Subaru! Men are about the gut, and women are about beauty! So…"

Subaru took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs…

"Quit making that scary face, and try to smile, Rem! I can Return by-"

The world stopped and his heart was clenched softly again.

In a second… all ulgarms and Rem turned to stare at Subaru…

and they all howled and screamed furiously together, Oni and Beasts.]

"This idiot!" Anastasia facepalmed at the kid's idiotic tendencies.

Wilhelm smiled softly and proudly as he saw himself saying the same thing to his beloved wife many years ago. He was wrong of course, but Subaru will learn the same way he did.

Rem shook her head and stopped breathing as she watched eyes wide as the events played out on the screen.

She couldn't handle hurting him some more.

"He still thinks he's some hero?" Felix softly asked as his wide eyes couldn't stop looking at the screen in disbelief.

"No, he's just pumping himself up with these words. He can't watch someone dear to him get hurt like that." Al answered for the healer.

The cat boy looked down with his eyes filled with confusion and pain. "But she killed him… why is he saving her after what she did to him?"

Crusch glanced at her haunted-looking knight and shook her head. "That's just who Natsuki-sama is."

Felix couldn't understand it. He would never go so far like Subaru is, he wouldn't be like Subaru. Couldn't. And that fact broke him.

"Is he better than me?" The healer wondered to himself as his fists shook with fear and anger.

Reinhard and Julius watched the scene play out with glares of shame and disillusionment.

"I don't think I would've been this kind," Julius whispered softly.

Reinhard couldn't help but agree.

"No one is this kind."

Everyone looked at the proud and exasperated Otto as he smiled at them.

"No one is like Cap'n cuz Cap'n is an idiot!"

Everyone was more confused as Garfiel smirked from beside Otto and gave his own much less flattering opinion.

"Yes, Subaru is a dum dum," Emilia smiled softly at her knight and decided that it would be best to just watch without letting her worry ruin this for her.

Her knight was about to look so cool! She couldn't stop the tingles in her stomach.

"I'm a four-hundred-year-old spirit and I don't even say that anymore, in fact."

"Oh, hush Beako! That's Subaru's thing."

[Subaru simply breathed in and out as he tried to get his abused heart beating once again.

Rem quickly swiped her mace stronger and began slaughtering the dogs at insane speeds. Subaru quickly ran away from the scene.

"Her horn…" Ram called weakly.

"You're awake?!"

"That should have been the perfect moment."

"You've got good intuition, Onee-sama! What about her horn?"

Dogs chased Subaru as he ran away, only to have themselves crushed by a hopping black mace.

"It's the horn that's making Rem a demon. One good, solid hit should bring her back to normal."

"You're sure!?"

"I am. I think. I hope."

"That's vague!"

Rem is shown cartwheeling and jumping constantly while killing and crushing ulgarm after ulgarm.

Subaru looked at the crazy demon from afar with a daunted face at the task.]

"That's gonna be impossible," Al stated in a defeated tone.

Many nodded their heads with worried and disinterested faces.

"You really think thaaaat will stop Subaru-kun?" Roswaal asked in amusement and leaned back to watch with a wide smile, he didn't like Ram being so close to danger but he trusted Subaru.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing this job instead of your weakest butler?" Crusch asked with a clear discomfort on her face from calling the boy weak.

"As you've seen Crusch-sama, I wasn't really avaaaaailable to help Subaru-kun at the moment. I would never let members of my staaaaff to face something so dastardly on their oooown, especially not the ones that are very dear to me."

Ram blushed at the statement.

"So you would help Subaru if you were present during the troubles?" Reinhard asked while activating his blessing on the clown.

Roswaal spread his arms wide and smiled. "Of coooooourse!"

"He's not lying," Reinhard concluded as the rest began to settle down and watch with uneasy glances at the clown.

["A hit on that one spot… Doesn't that seem impossible?"

"Muster up all your wisdom and courage, and do something."

"I actually do have an idea for something we can do, but it'll make you mad."

Rem's emotionless disturbing face stares at them both.

"If it'll bring my sister back to her senses, I won't get mad."

"Really?" Subaru started to get up while carrying Ram.

"Absolutely."]

"What is he doing?" Roswaal lost his accent and contorted a serious-looking expression.

Oddly, it put everyone on edge.

["You swear to Ros-chi?"

"That's the most reckless name you could have chosen. Yes, I swear to Roswaal-sama."]

"What the fuck is he doing?" Roswaal glared at the screen now.

Ram just blushed and looked down.

["Alright…"

Subaru began stepping closer to the mind-broken Rem. Seeing her step closer while clenching the chains of her morning star, he began to run at her with Ram in both hands.

"Heave… Ho!" Subaru ran to gain momentum and… threw Ram towards Rem.]

Everyone turned to shield Subaru as a certain angry clown stood up abruptly from his chair.

"It's okay, Roswaal-sama!" Ram tried to calm her lord down. "He was saving my sister."

The clown with no balloons seemed to have calmed down and slowly smiled towards the bunch.

"Sooooorry I seem to have lost my temper theeeere."

As Roswaal sat down, Emilia and Beatrice continued to hug the boy tightly while looking at the clown with gazes of distrust.

Rem's eyes widened at her hero's audacity.

[The pink-haired maid dived in the air and passed the dog beasts as she sped towards Rem.

The crazed Oni finally seemed to have got some of her senses as she let the chains go and quickly took hold of Ram.

Subaru quickly ran towards the sister with his sword at the ready.]

"Hey! That seemed to have worked!" Otto cheered for his friend on screen.

"He does know how to make a plan with what's in his grasp at the moment," Crusch remembered how he used a giant fucking tree to kill the whale.

This boy was devious. And she loved it.

[He prepared to strike at Rem's horn but he immediately lost his focus when he looked at her blue cold eyes.

His swing missed.]

"Oh come on, Cap'n!" Garfiel facepalmed in despair at his captain's mess up.

Emilia and Beatrice's breathing hitched and leaned on the edge of their seats.

Rem watched with her breathing halted and her eyes wide.

[I freaked out! I didn't have the guts to take the last step!]

"Laaaameeee!" Mimi and…. Roswaal?! Sounded out in frustration.

[As Subaru was dropping on the ground, a burst of air broke through the forest floor right at the spot where he was landing, making Subaru fly through the air above all the mabeasts as well as Rem.

The little pup looked up at the flying Subaru.

Rem held her sister and looked up at Subaru.

Subaru twisted his body and looked down at Rem as he began falling straight towards her.]

"What's he gonna do now?" Anastasia asked as she leaned forward with the rest of the crowd to watch the exciting scene.

[Rem moved her hand to send her mace towards the flying boy. But then a crack sounded and a few more bursts of air and shock waves cracked the ground, making her focus her attention on grabbing her sister tightly and stomping the floor so hard that the entire area formed into a crater around her and her foot.]

"Daaaaamn!" Al shouted.

"Holy shit!" Ricardo yelled with his eyes wide in shock.

"That's cool!" Garfiel whistled to the maid on screen.

"Impressive," Reinhard complimented as he never would've expected the small maid to have such strength.

Rem would have blushed at all the praise had she not been completely shaking in fear at what she will do to Subaru.

[Subaru glared and gripped his sword tight with both hands.

If I let this chance go by, there won't be any others!

As he began free-falling towards the insane maid, he shouted.]

"Why do you want to save me?"

["Smile, Rem!"]

"But I hurt you!"

[He sped towards her with his sword ready above his head.

"Today, I'm more demonically inspired than a real demon!"]

"….ghk!"

[* CRANK!*

And with his swipe, the sword of the new butler clashed with the head maid's glowing horn.

Title card:

Demonically Inspired Methods]

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Frederica giggled at the excited-looking Petra.

"Having fun watching your hero doing something heroic?" Ricardo teased the little maid and laughed when she shyly hid her red face in Frederica's stomach. The big maid glared jokingly at the dogman.

"You can breathe now sister."

Rem looked frigid and manic as she turned to face her sister.

"S-Sis…"

"Barusu managed to calm you down with that hit and you should know the rest of the story from there."

Rem's eyes widened and tears began falling from her tired red eyes. "I w-won't hurt him anymore?"

Ram only smiled and sat beside her sister.

Roswaal smiled at the sight and nodded his head proudly. He told Ram to go at the right moment.

He was proud of his two little maids… Oops someone was looking at him! He needs to stop smiling like a proud father and smile like an evil doll.

Crusch was looking at the clown from her seat with a look of apprehensiveness,

Why was the wind of untruth blowing from him?

He wasn't saying anything.

[Screen changes to a blood-red moon hovering in the darkness of the night.]

"Why is 't nighttime now?"

"What's with that scary moon?"

Otto and Garfiel looked at the screen in confusion as did most of the watchers behind them.

"What happened with Rem and Subaru?" Petra asked in worry.

[The scene shown is that of a group of people standing in a circle in the middle of a village surrounded by many mountains.]

Rem and Ram both gasped in shock with trembling hands gripped tight between one another.

"What is going on?" Emilia softly asked as she witnessed one of the most horrified looks she had ever seen in all her life on the maids' faces, and considering that people call her Satella when they see her… that was saying something.

The Oni girl just opened and closed her mouth like a finish as her wide eyes were filled with tears.

"Keep watching, Emilia-sama."

Emilia felt a chill run down her spine at Roswaal's serious tone.

The clown almost looked sad as he watched with thin lips and dull eyes.

"I don't think this will be good," Felix said to his mistress as he backed away from the clearly upset clown.

Crusch could only nod in silence and look at the screen with practical suspicion.

["To us, the demon clan, twins are taboo."

An old strict-looking man stepped in front of the villagers while a pink-haired woman was being restrained behind him. "Please wait, Chief!" She pleaded as her arms were held against her will.

"No! To protect our pride as a race, we must dispose of them. Such is the demon clan's custom!"]

"This is the demon clan?" Julius quickly took out a notebook to record this, this clan had been lost to history with no survivors found of the once feared peoples.

"What is he talking about?" Felt asked as she didn't like the way he was speaking about some twins… oh shit.

[In the middle of the huddled group of villagers, there was a table that had a basket in it.

A basket in which two adorable babies were laying in. The two infants were nearly identical in looks, even sprouting one horn on each of their foreheads that looked the same.

The only difference… one had blue hair, and the other had pink.]

"Is that…?!" Petra pointed in shock as others began recognizing the twins.

"Oh my gosh! It's baby Ram and Rem!" Emilia squealed at the sight. Her expression quickly turned to one of pure horror. "Wait… "

"He's gonna kill them?!" Otto shouted in disgust at such a stupid low.

Some in the crowd looked alarmed and angry at this.

"Stupid mongrels." Even the nasty princess herself was shooting seething disgust out of her scarlet eyes at the old chief of the clan.

["It is our law!"

The villagers watched as the Chief raised his arm to the two newborns.

Two sharp and powerful white horns suddenly manifested out of the Chief's head.]

Julius and Reinhard's eyes widened as the full power of an Oni was present before them.

"That's messed up," Garfiel shouted in fury at the man as he clenched his fists. He wanted to save Ram so badly it hurt him to remain in the chair.

[The blue-haired baby was spooked by the old man's appearance as he glared at them, so she began crying in fright.]

"He made little maid-chan cry!" "Meanie!" Mimi and Tivey shouted as they glared at the heartless chief in anger.

[The pink-haired girl looked at her crying twin and glared angrily at the old man.

Suddenly, a bright red light started flowing around the pink-haired baby and a force field of wind appeared around the basket.]

"Woah!"

"Damn!"

Al now shaking, gripped his chair handle in anger.

The others began marveling at baby Ram's pow

[The village looked on in shock and awe as the red light stopped covering the two and a whirlwind was shot at the old man, knocking him away from the two sisters.

The chief looked at the pink-haired girl with his jaw open in pure shock.

"This child is… " He uttered in disbelief.]

Ram closed her eyes and scowled at the screen. She could feel the way her sister's emotions dropped in a second by seeing this moment.

The moment where Ram became the village's prodigy.