Re:Zero - The King of Pride

Subaru's whole body ached and throbbed. Shadows and nightmares followed his weary soul wherever it roamed. Subaru was exhausted and his mind struggled to give into the oblivion of true, deep sleep but something forced his mind to continue on and it drifted from restless dream to restless dream.

Subaru found himself sitting on the bed in Emilia's cottage. Emilia sat beside him stroking a happy Puck while Beatrice sat on his lap reading self-importantly from a book.

A moment later, the cottage door burst apart in flames. Reinhard van Astrea stood there, the Dragon Sword in hand.

"The Witch must die!" He proclaimed as the flames from Reinhard's blow engulfed the walls of the cottage.

Subaru leapt forward to protect his family. He tried to face Reinhard but the flames consumed the cottage as if it were made of kindling.

Subaru frantically tried to reach his family but he moved as if he was wading in hip deep mud. Subaru watched helplessly as they all withered in the flames.

Elsa stood there in a formfitting outfit that exposed a great deal of cleavage. She wore tights and a red cape was draped behind her.

Elsa smiled calmly. "Your friends were most amusing to play with, Princess. They did not want to tell me where you were."

Anri's eyes darted around the room, looking for an escape that wasn't there.

Anri drew herself up imperiously. The girl forced her mouth into a grim line. "Look, if you were expecting me to beg for my life, Elsa, then I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you," Anri snarled even as tears streamed from her eyes. "I'll show you how a princess can die!"

"Oh good!" Elsa said approvingly. "This should be fun! I don't get to fondle young entrails like yours very often. I'm sure that they'll be most soft and supple. I'm very curious as to what color they'll be."

Anri's face remained defiant but her cheeks were ashen.

"Princess! Run away!" Victoire shouted, drawing a short sword from her belt and sprinting to stand in front of Anri. "I'll hold this cunt off!"

Elsa smiled kindly at Victoire.

Before Victoire could even blink, Elsa was close enough to kiss her, wearing a sweet smile on her face. Victoire recoiled in shock and Elsa dealt her a wicked slash with her daggers.

Victoire went flying and crashed against the wall. She looked down at herself in horror, placing her hands over the wound.

Emilia barely noticed. Her attention was riveted on one thing. "Elsa," Emilia grated, remembering the beautiful killer's face from a dozen nightmares.

Elsa cocked her head, looking puzzled. "Have we met?"

"You tried to kill my Subaru!" Emilia roared.

"Triedto?" Elsa repeated with a frown. "That's not good. I do so try to be through. I'll have to look him up after I finish here."

Elsa's eyes widened. "Wait a moment. A silver haired half-elf? You must be the girl that Mother Capella is looking for! And that means… Oh! Your friend must be the one that made Mother Capella so angry! She'll be delighted when I bring her his entrails. This is a very happy day."

Emilia clenched her jaw until she was afraid that it would snap. "You will never lay a fingeron my Subaru ever again!" Emilia screamed. She raised her hands and flung a blizzard of razor-sharp ice crystals at Elsa.

Elsa pulled her cape across her body. The crystals shattered harmlessly against it.

Emilia gaped at Elsa.

Elsa drew her other dagger. "My cloak protects me from magic, little elf. You could probably buy a mansion for what it cost to make. It was a gift from an employer so that I could kill…" Elsa paused with a frown as if searching her memory.

Her smile returned with a shrug. "I suppose it doesn't really matter. The point is that now that I have my special cloak, I can play with mages too! Are you ready to play, little elf?"

Emilia bit her lip and extended her arm. She concentrated and a long, slender sword made of ice grew in her hand.

Elsa smiled. "Oh my, this will be fun," She proclaimed.

In his dream, Subaru stood in the courtyard of the slaver camp. His body was a pillar of pure ecstasy as it absorbed the endless energy from his unlocked Authority.

Osril knelt in front of his cringing men. He was still completely naked and abjectly begging for mercy.

Subaru sighed. "Was not my own very good justice sufficient for you the first time? Need I now subject myself to dealing with you worthless wretches again?"

Osril blubbered on his knees.

Subaru shook his head. "Enough of this. You have wasted too much of my time and you are not worth the waste. Draw your swords now."

As one the bandits all drew their weapons whimpering in fear.

"Now bring your blades across your necks. Expeditiously please, I have better things to do today than deal with you lot."

The bandits all wept piteously as they followed Subaru's direction and slit their own throats. The men blubbered as one by one the fell to the ground in a pile of corpses and a spreading pool of blood.

Osril kept his head down, blubbering on his knees.

Subaru regarded Osril. "It might interest you to know that if you stood face to face with my Apostle, she would have pronounced you guiltless of your crimes as you in fact feel no guilt." Subaru wasn't certain himself what he was talking about. "You genuinely feel no responsibility nor remorse for your many crimes and deprivations. This is quite remarkable to me, albeit not at all laudatory. This is proof positive of my superiority to my Apostle as I feel no need to rely on such external validation as your personal sense of guilt. My own good judgment shall suffice. You are guilty because I say you are guilty and therefore, you shall suffer the consequences."

Subaru gently touched the man's head and Osril's body instantly crumbled into thousands of tiny pieces and a great glut of blood.

Subaru stared with distaste at the pile of refuse. He glanced behind him and saw the group of slaves standing there, barely dressed and shivering in terror.

"Are… Are you our new owner?" Ellen cringed.

"Indeed I am," Subaru replied. "You have betrayed my trust and reported my location to mine enemies and I shall give you long toil to repent of that mistake. You shall labor and strive to fulfill my visions for this world and in the fullness of time perhaps I shall yet forgive you and permit you your freedom. Until that day, know that you live and die by my will. Be grateful that you serve no lesser man, possessed of lesser judgment."

The slaves all nodded, mutely accepting his punishment as their due.

Subaru marched off without even glancing behind him, taking it as a given that his slaves would follow him no matter where he led.

Emilia tried to fling another torrent of ice crystals at Elsa but once again, they all shattered against her cloak. Elsa leaped toward her with her knives extended.

Emilia barely dodged Elsa's slashing knives and retaliated with a sword thrust that made the assassin jump back.

Emilia had no idea how to use a sword but her mana made her inhumanly fast and agile.

"Anri! Get back!" Victoire shouted, yanking Anri away from the fighting. Victoire struggled to keep her hand pressed against her stomach wound as she pulled Anri out of the kitchen and down the hall.

Emilia's field of vision was dyed red. She'd never felt like this before. All she wanted to do was to kill the Bowel Hunter.

I'll never forget the horrors of that night. How broken and helpless Subaru seemed. The huge pool of blood spreading out around his body. The deep hole that I saw ripped in his side. How the healers all warned me that there wasn't much that they could do for him and that I should brace myself for the worst…

I remember how I knew that if he died, it would be all my fault. I'd brought him along on my hunt for the insignia and Subaru was attacked by Elsa because of me. He got hurt explicitly because he pushed me out of the way of Elsa's knives.

He wanted to save me. He wanted me to live more than he wanted to live…

I couldn't understand it. Why would anyone do that for someone that they just met? Especially for me?

I was terrified that Subaru was going to die. I was scared that he'd die without my ever getting a chance to thank him for what he'd done. Or even getting the chance to try to understand why he'd done it…

"Oh my, you're fun," Elsa said casually. "I haven't enjoyed myself this much in years. Is your friend this much fun? I wonder what color his guts will be."

Emilia snarled and lunged at Elsa.

Elsa parried Emilia's sword with one hand and thrust the other at her stomach.

Emilia jumped back and found herself in the doorway of the church. Emilia warily took a few steps outside, trying to draw Elsa away from Subaru and the others.

Elsa had a serene smile on her face as she sauntered out into the cool morning air. "I really hope that you're not giving up and running away yet, little elf. I'd be so disappointed. Then again, if you really wanted a head start, I suppose that I can amuse myself with your little friends for a time before I come after you."

Emilia hissed at her. "You will touch Subaru over my dead body!" Emilia was dimly aware that some of the villagers had come out to see what the commotion was all about. Most remained huddled in their homes, fretfully peering out of their tiny windows.

"Splendid! It's a deal!" Elsa said, twirling her knives. "Do you know that I've never killed an elf before? I wonder how soft your entrails will be. And of course, when I'm done with you, I still have your friends and all these villagers to play with."

Emilia scowled at Elsa. "You disgusting-"

Elsa didn't change expression as she threw one of her knives at Emilia.

Emilia barely dodged it and the knife embedded itself up to the hilt, quivering in the side of a nearby house.

Elsa just got rid of one of her own weapons! Now maybe I can-

Elsa made a beckoning gesture and the knife jerked out of the wood and flew back to her hand as if it was tied to a string.

Emilia gaped at Elsa.

Elsa smiled at Emilia. "My knives are enchanted too," She shrugged.

Subaru found himself in another dream.

Subaru and Emilia were walking in the forest, surrounded by a horde of ferocious mabeasts. Instead of being afraid, Emilia walked calmly beside a Guiltylowe, petting it as it were a house cat. The Guiltylowe was as docile as a kitten under her hand.

Subaru watched this in bemusement until he felt an unsettling sensation. He felt the Authority of Pride surge from deep inside of him and this time it swallowed him whole.

Subaru looked at Emilia in disappointment. "Emilia, I have done for you all that I can. I have attempted to give you time to grow and change in the fervent hope that you would defy my expectations and become a consort worthy of me. Alas, my considerable patience is now exhausted. It was your foolishness that cost me my friends and Beatrice."

Emilia gave Subaru such a broken hearted expression that Subaru just wanted to cry and beg her forgiveness but the Authority of Pride drove him on.

Subaru shook his head. "You know what I must do."

Emilia nodded sadly. "Subaru, I'm so sorry that I let you down."

"As well you should be," Subaru agreed.

He made a gesture and the formerly tame Guiltylowe turned on Emilia with razor sharp teeth, sinking its fangs into her arm. The other Guiltylowe and the pack of wolgarms all raced into the feeding frenzy to gather up whatever scraps they could find.

Emilia screamed and begged for mercy but Subaru only shook his head in disappointment.

The massive Snow Blight muscled through the crowd to get his own piece of the remains of Subaru's lover and Subaru could only scream silently as the dream version of Subaru watched the entire procedure with disdainful annoyance.

The forest floor broke open beneath him and Subaru fell into an endless void, screaming as he plunged into nothingness. Looking up, all he could see was the mabeasts ripping what remained of Emilia to bloody pieces as he desperately begged them to stop.

Elsa threw her knives toward Emilia and dashed toward her at the same time. Emilia dodged the daggers and tried to stab Elsa. But the daggers flew back to Elsa's hands and she effortlessly parried Emilia's clumsy sword stroke. Emilia had to throw herself backwards to avoid a knife thrust to her stomach.

Emilia landed on her back. She opened her eyes to see Elsa's daggers flying toward her face.

In desperation, Emilia waved her hand and created a thin wall of ice a few inches in front of her face.

The daggers penetrated the ice and became stuck there.

Elsa retrieved her daggers and smashed the wall with one thrust but Emilia was already on her feet and running around a nearby house.

"Are we playing a new game?" Elsa called in a good-natured voice. "Is it 'hide and seek?'"

Emilia pressed her back against the wall, gasping for breath.

Think, Emilia! Think as fast as you've ever thought before!

Your magic is no good against Elsa as long as she has that cape!

You have your ice sword but you don't stand a chance against Elsa in a sword fight. You're not a sword fighter! You're not any kind of fighter at all! All that you're good for is running around after Subaru and asking him to clean up your messes!

I… I'm really going to die here. Subaru isn't here to save me this time. I'm no match for Elsa. I'm going to die and I'll never even have a chance to tell Subaru how sorry I am for everything that happened…

She's going to kill me. She's going to kill me and poor Anri too…

And then she's going to kill Subaru-

This thought banished all notions of dying and a tremendous rage welled up inside of Emilia.

Stop it, Emilia! Subaru needs you! He needs you to protect him for once! You need to figure out how you're going to deal with Elsa! You can't let Subaru down!

If you can't stop her, then Elsa will kill you. Elsa will go back to the church and-

Emilia stiffened. Wait. The church…

"Peek-a-boo! I win!" Elsa cheered.

Emilia threw herself to the ground without even taking the time to look.

This move saved her life. Elsa's daggers slammed into the wall behind her.

Elsa leaped toward her with a joyful smile across her face as Emilia rolled away.

Emilia put everything she had into a spell. She flung a frigid wind at Elsa that was cold enough to shatter metal.

The wind buffeted Elsa but it did no other damage. The stone wall of the house behind Elsa froze solid and then a large portion of the rock cracked and crumbled.

Elsa shook off Emilia's attack but Emilia was already running back toward Anri's church.

Elsa charged off in pursuit.

Subaru fell screaming through an inky black void for what felt like lifetimes. Then slowly, the emptiness began to take form around him. Ghostly images appeared in the darkness around him, like shapes emerging from the mist. He saw faces. Thousands of faces flickered in and out of the void, faces that he had never seen before. They all seemed to be trying to get his attention. He thought that he briefly saw Roswaal but it was gone too fast to be sure. He also thought he might have seen an unmasked Aldebaran but he wasn't sure why the man's face had called Aldebaran to mind, since he'd never seen him without his helmet.

I feel… like a ghost. It's like I'm barely here.

One face came into focus and then grew a body. It was a very unattractive man. He had purple hair and he was painfully thin with gray skin like a living corpse. Despite this, he was dressed in regal finery as he spoke to Subaru. "You shall join with me. You shall become one with me. You shall obey."

Subaru had no idea what the man was talking about and he sensed that he had no mouth to respond with anyway.

"I am the Sin Archbishop of Pride. You are my due and I demand that my rights be respected," The figured continued.

Wait! He's the Archbishop of Pride? Well, how the hell does that work? I thought to be the Archbishop you had to have an Authority. How does he plan to take mine?

Subaru sensed his view turning away from the man and the sickly person faded back into the void, still protesting and demanding his power.

Elsa returned to the church and found Emilia standing guard in the kitchen. At Emilia's request, Anri and Victoire hid in the hallway.

Anri peaked around the corner with wide, terrified eyes.

OK, Emilia. Subaru needs you. This has to work…

"Oh, are we done playing already?" Elsa said sadly, as the women began to circle each other in the kitchen.

Emilia scowled at her. "The playing is over, Elsa!"

She's too close! If she throws those knives again I might not be able to dodge them. But I need her to get closer if this is going to work…

"Oh, no," Elsa disagreed, walking closer. "We're just about to play a new game! I can't wait to find out what your guts feel like!"

"Look out!" Anri screamed while peeking around the corner.

With a smile, Elsa threw one of her knives.

Elsa was too close for Emilia to dodge the knife and the blade embedded itself deep in her left side.

Emilia convulsively dropped her sword. Bereft of her magic, the sword shattered into fragments of ice on the floor.

Elsa charged toward Emilia with a lunatic grin on her face.

Emilia took a deep breath. She was genuinely surprised that she wasn't more terrified.

Emilia raised an empty hand and closed her eyes tight. Elsa's face twisted in confusion. From Emilia's hand, a blinding flash lit up the room.

Elsa staggered.

In one smooth movement, Emilia set herself and leaped toward Elsa. Elsa's momentarily blinded eyes widened in complete shock as she felt Emilia's body crash into hers. Elsa tried to stab her but Emilia was already under her guard.

Emilia tackled Elsa and drove her into the roaring fire where Anri had previously been cooking medicine.

Emilia instantly leaped back out of the fireplace. A quick spell extinguished her singed clothes. Emilia had only a few small burns on her arms.

Elsa's magic cape went up like a torch and the killer rolled out of the fireplace, screaming in pain and tearing off her burning cape. Her formerly smooth, white skin was now covered in painful looking burns and welts.

The magic cloak continued to burn on the floor and in seconds there was nothing left of it but scraps and ash.

For a moment, the two women just stared at one another.

"Elsa," Emilia said in a flat voice. "Your cloak is gone."

Elsa's expression didn't change. Almost too fast to see, Elsa spun around and leaped through the door into the hallway.

Emilia's heart stopped and she raced after her. Emilia turned the corner just in time to see Elsa chase Anri into Subaru's room.

Emilia sprinted after them.

Inside the bedroom, Elsa stood beside the bed with her usual calm smile. Her remaining dagger caressed Anri's throat. Subaru was unconscious in bed and Victoire lay crumpled in a corner, moaning as if Elsa had simply thrown her against the wall.

Anri trembled.

Elsa smiled at Emilia. "Oh, this has been great fun! We had quite the little adventure!" Elsa commented. She paused. "I will miss that cloak though," She mourned.

Emilia glared at the crazed killer as she held her hand tightly against her stomach, trying to staunch the bleeding wound. The knife was still embedded in her side. "Let her go, Elsa. You can still walk out of this place alive… Let Anri go."

Elsa looked thoughtful. "Hm… No, I don't think I," Elsa mused. "What if we make a deal? I'll let her go if you let me open your guts."

Emilia stiffened.

"Don't listen to her!" Anri hissed. "She won't let any of us go, she'll kill all of us! That's what she does! She-" Anri broke off with a cry of pain as Elsa twisted her arm. Anri squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip to resist crying out.

"Please, don't interrupt. The adults are talking," Elsa chided mildly. "Well, I suppose that you're not really invested in the girl's life anyway."

Emilia just stared at Elsa. "I hate you, Elsa," Emilia whispered, her face smooth and impassive. "Do you have any idea what you've done to me?"

Elsa cocked her head. "Strange. To the best of my recollection, we've never met before."

Emilia made no sign that she had even heard Elsa. "You nearly killed my Subaru," She whispered. "You tried to take him from me before I even knew him. Before I ever imagined how different my life could be. I have had a hundred nightmares of his body bleeding on the floor and your face is in each and every one of them."

"Oh my. You are attached to that boy, aren't you? And you've been dreaming of me? It really makes me happy to know that I've touched your life in such a profound way," Elsa said without a shred of irony. "But since you brought it up, what if I sliced him open?" Elsa brought her dagger closer to Subaru's prone body.

Emilia cocked her head. Her face was expressionless.

Elsa tittered. "Well, that made an impact! You see who has the upper hand now!"

"No," Emilia said in an emotionless voice. "Actually, I was just pondering the irony. You see, Elsa, I was debating with myself if the right thing to do would be to spare your life. I hate hurting people. Killing sickens me. Inflicting pain fills me with revulsion. Honestly, I was working very hard to try to convince myself that I didn't want to kill even you unless you really left me with no other choice. Thank you for making this decision so simple for me."

Elsa looked confused.

The she screamed.

Elsa convulsively dropped her dagger and Anri leaped to safety. Victoire grabbed her and wrapped her arms around her protectively.

Elsa was staring in horror at the skin on the back of her hand. It bulged grotesquely as if there was an inflating balloon under her skin. The dome expanded until it was nearly the size of a billiard ball. Her flesh struggled to contain it but a moment later, her skin reached its limit and tore wide open, revealing wet, red meat underneath. A thin shaft of ice emerged. It grew out of her hand, growing leaves, blossoming, and finally turning red.

A frost flower.

Elsa stared down at her hand in horror and then looked up at Emilia. She stared back, grim as death.

"Threatening my Subaru," Emilia said softly. "Was a very poor decision on your part."

Elsa bolted, racing past Emilia and out the bedroom door.

Emilia made no move to stop her.

Elsa stumbled out of the house and took off running.

"We can't let her get away!" Anri screamed.

Emilia nodded and then turned to follow Elsa, walking unhurriedly, one hand pressed firmly against her bleeding stomach.

Subaru found himself sitting in a chair in a huge, ornate bedroom with a large canopy bed. The chair was enormous compared to him, seemingly made for a giant.

OK, I have no clue where the hell I am but at least I have a body again. That's progress.

Subaru looked down and realized that he was wearing a dress.

Wait. What the fuck?

Subaru was wearing a white dress with blue flowers all over it. It was the kind of outfit that would be put on a little girl.

Subaru blinked and suddenly noticed his own hand. It was small, soft, and slightly chubby. It was a child's hand.

Holy shit. I am in the body of a little girl! This chair isn't made for giants, I'm just that small!

"Lady Typhon!" A voice called out.

Subaru's gaze swiveled to the speaker. The man who had just entered the room was dressed in a priestly white robe with a large white hood.

"We've found more sinners for your divine judgment!" He proclaimed.

"Yay!" Subaru exclaimed in a high voice, clapping his hands together.

What the hell is going on here? I feel like I'm a passenger in my own body. Actually, I guess I'm a passenger in someone else's body. What the fuck is this?

A several men, who were similarly dressed to the priest, dragged a pair of women inside the room. One of the women was dressed in a dirty, patchwork robe while the other wore a plain woolen dress.

"Kneel before the Maiden of Justice!" The priest ordered and the men forced the two women to their knees.

The poorly dressed woman stared at the child in sheer terror. "Are you really the Sin Archbishop of Pride?" She whispered.

"No!" Subaru said, folding his arms across his chest, his face twisting into a pout. "I am the Witch of Pride! Don't be rude! It's not nice to call people by the wrong titles. I want to be a Witch!"

Huh?!

The priest coughed, looking awkward. "Perhaps we should get on with the judgment, Lady Typhon," He suggested.

"What have they done?" Subaru asked curiously.

"The baker claims that her assistant has been stealing bread from her," The priest explained.

"It's not my fault!" The dirty woman complained. "I need to feed my family! I work fourteen hour days for her and she keeps docking my pay because she says that I'm not working hard enough."

"If you don't like it, go find yourself a better job!" The other snapped. "You stole from me! You just admitted it!"

"Hm," Subaru said in a cheerful voice. "Which of you is a bad person?"

Subaru calmly walked over to the women. The poor woman was clearly terrified and needed to be restrained by the priests. The baker was more composed but was becoming increasingly unsettled as Subaru approached her.

Subaru touched each of their hands.

The poor woman immediately crumbled to bits, her body falling apart with a splash of blood.

The baker shrank away as far as she could but this wasn't very far because she had several men restraining her.

Subaru looked down at the ruins of the woman's corpse. "You knew in your heart that what you were doing was wrong but you did it anyway. Sin demands a price from all of us," Subaru chastised with the calm certainty of a small child.

What the honest-to-god fuck?!

Wait. That was the same trick that I used on the slavers in my dream earlier. And Beatrice and I read a story once about a Witch who punished sinners by breaking their bodies apart with the touch of a hand. Is this some kind of vision? Could I be seeing the prior holder of the Authority of Pride?

Subaru turned his gaze to the panicking baker. "There was no guilt in your heart over your actions, so you must be a good person. You can go!" Subaru pronounced.

The priests immediately let the baker loose and the terrified woman fled.

"Lady Typhon," The head priest asked with a reverent bow, "Do you wish to judge more sinners now or would you prefer to do so after your afternoon nap?"

Subaru yawned. "I'm not sleepy yet," He protested.

"Of course not," The priest agreed, gently guiding her toward a large canopy bed nearby.

The world faded to black.

Elsa sprinted through the tiny village. Her body ached and throbbed from a dozen different places. The thin shafts of sprouting frost flowers had ripped through her skin and poked through her clothes in a dozen places, like bits of straw through a scarecrow.

Iruk was just outside of the forest's perpetual winter so the ground was soft and muddy but it was clear of snow. Villagers were peeking through windows or cracked doors in the early morning light, afraid to come outside.

It seems that I bit off a bit more than I can chew here, Elsa thought to herself calmly. I wasn't expecting to encounter a literal Witch! I need to fall back. Mother Capella will forgive me for this failure when I tell her that I know where her most hated enemy is. I can certainly outrun that elf. Then I just need to find someone who can remove the curse she put on me-

A deep throbbing pain located in Elsa's thigh suddenly flared up into white hot agony.

She physically heard her thigh bone crack and Elsa fell down on her face with a scream.

Elsa gasped in pain as she managed to roll onto her back. She bit her lip looking down at her thigh and the swelling boil that she could see inflating under her skin.

Then her skin split open and another frost flower forced it's way up out of her body. Her nylons proved no barrier to the flower at all.

It blossomed and turned red as the flower drank her blood.

Elsa bit her lip against the pain as she tried to fight her way back to her feet.

"You're not getting away, Elsa," A voice said quietly.

Elsa looked behind her and saw the elf approaching at a walk. Blood was still streaming from her stomach wound. "You will run nowhere, Elsa," The elf snapped, her face suddenly twisting in fury. "You will never threaten anyone in my family ever again!"

Elsa turned to run away but her attempt to stand on a broken leg failed and she collapsed back on the ground.

Elsa tried to say something to the elf but her throat bulged ominously. Elsa's normally calm face twisted in horror. A moment later, a frost flower burst out of her throat. The frozen shaft was not quite large enough to fill the hole it had erupted through. This left Elsa gasping and wheezing for breath through the hole in her neck.

Elsa tried again to speak but no air reached her lips. It all whistled out through the hole in her throat.

Emilia stared at Elsa expressionlessly. "I accidentally cast these flowers on a friend once. …I even cast them on Subaru," The elf girl said in a flat voice, never breaking eye contact with Elsa. "It's one of the greatest regrets of my life. I always seem to hurt the people that I care about when I use my magic. But I think… I think that I can control the frost flowers now. I'm sure that I can lift the curse from you."

Elsa tried to plead but she had no breath. A new blossom burst from her knee with a crunching sound. The tiny plant cracked through her kneecap like a tree's roots would break apart stone. Her leg jerked spastically before coming to rest at an unnatural angle.

Elsa tried to scream in pain but it came out as just a breathy whisper.

The elf nodded. "I'm not like you, Elsa. I don't enjoy death and pain. It's abhorrent to me. I'm sure that if our roles were reversed you'd be delighted and fascinated by this display. Honestly? I find the sight of you suffering like this revolting. My instinct is to spare your life."

Elsa wheezed something, her lips desperately trying to form words.

The elf cocked her head. "You're saying that you've learned your lesson, I assume. That you don't want to die? That, if I let you go, you'll never trouble me again? We both know that you're lying, Elsa."

Elsa hacked, coughed and wheezed through the whole in her throat. Her right eye rippled like a pool of water into which a stone had been dropped. Elsa's face contorted in horror and her mouth moved in a soundless scream as a frost flower slowly pushed its way out of her eye socket. Her eyeball stretched like jelly, then popped and collapsed in on itself like a balloon with a pinhole leak. A frost flower emerged from the seeping red and black hole in Elsa's skull. It bloomed and turned red, covering part of Elsa's face with its petals.

"I have to kill you, Elsa," Emilia said with calm determination. "I have to. And even if I didn't have to, I'd still want to," She admitted. "I hate you, Elsa. You almost killed my Subaru. You almost took him from me before I ever had the chance to know him. Do you know how many nightmares I've had about that night in the loot house? How much guilt and self-loathing you gave me for how helpless I was when Subaru needed me most? Can you even imagine what my life would be like if he'd died that night?"

Elsa tried to say something but she aspirated on her own bloody spit and broke into a massive coughing fit.

The elf shook her head. "The truth is, I don't just want you to die, Elsa. I want you to suffer. I want you to experience a tiny fraction of the pain that I would have felt if you'd actually killed Subaru. I want to stand here and watch you cry and beg and break down in terror while I pray for peace to finally come to all of your victims whom you put through the same unimaginable fear and suffering."

Elsa whimpered piteously.

Emilia's face twisted in hatred. She raised hands that suddenly crackled with brilliant cobalt energy. With a deafening scream, she drove her fingers into Elsa's stomach, sending her magic pouring into Elsa's helpless body. "Die!"

Elsa's head snapped back, buffeted by the magic that ripped through her like electricity. Her teeth snapped violently together as every muscle in her body threatened to tear loose from her bones. Elsa felt her body swelling up like a balloon from all the power that Emilia was pouring into her. She felt like the only thing still holding her together was her skin. The stone walls of the surrounding houses were immediately coated with ice.

"Die, Elsa!" Emilia screamed. Huge stalagmites of ice grew like trees all over the village.

The blue light flared. Emilia and Elsa became too bright for any observers in the nearby houses to look at. The cold around them surged to unimaginable levels and all the houses in the village were covered in thick ice. Frost flowers bloomed all around Emilia.

"Just die! You will never hurt my Subaru ever again!" The elf shrieked.

Elsa was in more pain than she had ever imagined. Certainly more than she had ever contemplated in regards to herself. Her body inflated and bulged under the force of Emilia's magic. Her body fought to hold itself together.

Elsa thought that there was no way that her body could contain this kind of force.

There was a terrible ripping sound. Elsa's last conscious thought was that she appeared to be flying.

No. No, she was falling, she amended. But her consciousness fled before her severed head could strike the ground.

Emilia fell to her knees, her magic was well and truly drained. She knelt there, panting for breath and clutching the wound in her stomach that still throbbed and bled.

Emilia looked up. Elsa's body lay in pieces, scattered all around her. Each piece was captured in perfect relief in a block of solid ice and every body part was a seedbed of beautiful frost flowers. Elsa's severed head wore an expression of absolute shock. Her right eye was covered by a red frost flower blossom.

Emilia's face twisted in confusion as she looked at Elsa's dismembered corpse as if she had no idea how it had ever come to be there. She looked around and saw the villagers staring at Emilia through the windows. Their faces were contorted in terror.

Emilia stared at Elsa's severed head and she clapped a hand over her mouth as if to hold back a scream.

Emilia gasped for breath for a time. She looked down at Elsa's head in silence. Her breathing slowly steadied.

Then Emilia's hand fell away from her mouth and her scream went unvoiced. Her horror left her and she looked at the slain Bowel Hunter with nothing but weariness and disgust.

Emilia sighed. "It's just as Beatrice once told me," She said in utter exhaustion. "Anyone who hurts Subaru deserves to die." She shook her head. "Elsa, you deserved far worse than you received but the important thing is that you're dead. You'll never threaten my Subaru ever again."

In his dreams, Subaru was still a little girl. He was skipping and hopping over the cracks in the street of an enormous walled city.

Behind Subaru walked a huge procession of men and women in clerical robes, chanting and banging gongs.

Subaru's host felt delighted to be leading this parade but Subaru looked around with increasing unease.

Where are the people in this town? If they're hiding in their homes from Typhon's… cult-thing then why is there no smoke coming from any of the chimneys?

I guess maybe I learned a few lessons from my return to Arlem when Petelguese jumped me.

Typhon, my intuition tells me that you're about to learn a lesson too.

Subaru heard a rumbling sound in the distance.

He looked up and beheld an enormous wall of water at least forty feet high, rushing straight toward him. In the distance, Subaru saw that great gates in the city walls had been opened to let in the water.

"Yay! Now we can all go swimming!" Typhon cheered, clapping her hands.

The priests behind her ran away screaming.

Good luck, guys. You're not outrunning that wave.

Oh. And classy move by the way, leaving behind the 'blessed child' or whatever the hell you think that she is. Real bunch of believers, you are.

Typhon's face creased in confusion as she watched her congregation flee. The perplexed little girl turned to stare at the huge wall of water racing toward her.

Emilia looked around her as she stood back up. The villagers were peeking out of their frozen houses, staring at Emilia in raw terror.

Emilia was panting for breath as she struggled to apply pressure to her wound. She inspected it. It looked deep and it showed no sign of clotting.

"Emilia!" Anri said, rushing out of the house and over to her. "Are you alright?"

"I…" Emilia panted, fighting for breath.

Anri inspected the wound. "You need bandages. And an antidote. That woman puts poison on her blades."

"Are you all… alright?" Emilia gasped.

Anri nodded as she helped Emilia to her feet. "Yeah! Thanks to you, we're all fine. I… I don't even know how to thank you, Emilia!"

Emilia shook her head. "You don't need to. You saved Subaru's life. I can never repay you for that," She said in a slurred voice.

Emilia leaned heavily against Anri. Her legs were losing strength. She'd lost a lot of blood and the cut wasn't closing. "Emilia, we need to treat this wound right away!" Anri hissed as she worked to lead Emilia back to the church.

"Anri, could you… could you find me some paper?" Emilia gasped as they stepped back in the kitchen. Victoire lay unconscious against the wall, an empty bottle next to her. Her stomach had been crudely bandaged.

"Paper? What do you want paper for?" Anri said as she laid Emilia down on the kitchen table. Anri inspected the wound and quickly started to bandage it.

Anri looked over at Victoire and her eyes bulged out in horror. She desperately inspected the empty bottle but it was dry as a bone. "Oh, fuck… Victoire, you didn't…"

Anri bit her lip and thought hard for a moment. Then she started grabbing things off the shelves and throwing them into a pot. She was in such a hurry that sometimes she forgot to open the pouches full of herbs before she tossed them in.

"I want… to write a final letter… to Subaru. I need to tell him… how sorry I am," Emilia breathed.

"What?! Don't be ridiculous! You're going to be… fine!" Anri said struggling to sound confident. She pulled a bottle of green jelly off the shelf and dabbed it onto Emilia's bandages.

Emilia gave a weary chuckle. "Please, don't… treat me like a child, Anri. I know how potent the venom… on Elsa's weapons is. Nobody expected Subaru to live and he had four of the best healers in the kingdom trying to save him. Maybe… it's better this way. I can't hurt Subaru or hold him back anymore. I just… wish I could have told Subaru that I love him one more time," She murmured.

"Listen, Mili, you are going to be fine!" Anri snarled. "I am not going to lose you! And those healers lacked a key advantage that I possess," Anri said tightly, continuing to dab the ointment onto Emilia's wound.

"Oh? What's that?" Emilia murmured in an incurious tone.

Anri snorted. "I happen to know an effective antidote for Elsa's poison. The poison is made from a dangerous herb that only grows in the northern wastes," Anri shook her head. "Now I just need to make the antidote for you…"

Emilia started to ask a question but then her eyes rolled up in her head as she lost consciousness.

The dark abyss that Subaru found himself trapped in, blurred through a wide variety of flickering images. Subaru's restless spirit wandered through strange alien landscapes and beheld the lives of thousands of people. Most came and went too fast to even be appreciated, much less identified. Subaru sensed that he was briefly many different people, from all races and different walks of life. Some good, some evil, some both, some neither, but none that made any lasting impression on him.

Finally, Subaru felt the world take shape around him again.

Subaru found himself sitting in a huge tent that reminded him of Crusch's command tent. Several men stood around him dressed in what looked like Roman Centurion uniforms.

Subaru still wasn't in his own body, this body was taller and thinner. He wore a long purple cloak and a similar type of armor to the others although his was much more ornate. An jeweled diadem sat on his head.

"Imperator, the men are angry," One said in a worried tone. "They are poised to mutiny. They haven't been home in nearly two years and now that you've sent home the elderly and the cripples, the men are all demanding to go home."

Subaru shook his head angrily. "After all that we've been through together, to see it come to this…"

"Lord Helios, it might be wiser to withdraw for the moment until the men calm down," A gray haired veteran said.

Subaru gave the speaker a cold glare and the man bowed his head, blushing like a school boy that had been scolded.

"Is the platform built?" Subaru asked calmly.

"Yes, your majesty, but-" The first said.

"Then let us deal with this matter!" Subaru said decisively. He marched out of his tent with his officers hurriedly following after him.

Subaru marched through a huge camp reminiscent of Crusch's army but far bigger. It was a veritable city of huge, elaborate tents.

Subaru realized that any number of people were all watching him as he marched through the camp. The many looks cast his way ranged from adoring to hostile, hopeful to fearful, but Subaru paid none of them any mind. A cold determination gripped his heart and drove him forward.

Subaru marched onto a crudely constructed wooden stage in the middle of the camp. Standing just outside the army camp was a field of towering metal statues that stood at least fifteen feet tall. They were shaped like powerfully built men with sharp faces and metal beards. As Subaru climbed on top of the stage, he saw the statues turn their heads and look at him with glowing cobalt eyes.

Those aren't statues! Those are robots! Or… at least something similar. They probably work off magic rather than machinery but the idea is the same. Golems?

That is fucking amazing! What I wouldn't give to take one of those apart and see what's inside! What kind of machinery makes it run? How does the magic integrate with the machinery?

"Fall in!" Subaru roared.

The Roman-looking soldiers standing in the surrounding field began to approach. Some grumbled a bit but they obeyed. They all approached the platform. Some stood at attention and some turned their faces away. Many of the soldiers at attention were discretely watching their sullen comrades with concern. The reticent soldiers stood there with arms folded, looking up darkly at Subaru.

Subaru took a deep breath. "I want to begin by saying that my words are not intended to prevent any of you from returning home."

The rebellious soldiers looked surprised.

"As far as I care," Subaru continued, "You can go wherever you wish!"

The dark looks returned.

A lot of these men look ready to start trouble but my host is either unaware of it or he doesn't care.

"But before you leave, I want you to know how I have treated each of you. And how you have all behaved towards me," Subaru proclaimed. "When I found you, you were farmers and herdsmen, struggling to make your livelihood on the slopes of the mountains. Growing crops and raising animals that you could not protect. The barbarians came every year and it was always your homes that they burned, your food that they stole, your women they raped. Under my leadership, you have all gone from being slaves and chattel to becoming rulers over those very barbarians who once plundered your lands! Look at you now! Instead of herdsmen and farmers, you have begun living in cities! With good laws and good customs to govern you!"

Subaru scowled down at the soldiers who had now given him their undivided attention. Even the formerly rebellious men were rapt. "The Easternlings! They used to terrify you! Well, we rule them now. The Southern Hordes, who were always looking for any excuse to come to your lands and loot and plunder? Today, they no longer demand tribute from you but depend upon us for their protection!"

Subaru shook his head, his expression twisted with disapproval and disgust. "All of this was great enough on its own, but small compared to what you have gained from me during this campaign!"

The soldiers began to look at one another uncertainly.

"We took Ionia and Miletus by siege! We defeated the great satraps of the Aegeus. The rest of the lands surrendered willingly and all of their wealth became yours! At your feet have been laid the gold of Tyrei and the jewels of Taocs. And yet some of you accuse me of hoarding the riches that should rightly be yours."

Subaru paused and glowered down at the the soldiers.

Subaru spread his arms wide. "Where are these riches, then?! What do you accuse me of withholding from you? What have I held back for myself aside from this purple cloak and crown? Nothing!" Subaru roared.

The soldiers were silent, looking up at Subaru in awe.

"Nothing!" Subaru repeated with contempt. "No man can point to my riches, only to the things that I hold in trust for each of you!" Subaru pointed accusingly at the soldiers.

The soldiers bit their lips and started to fidget like school boys being scolded.

Subaru leaped down from the stage, walking heedlessly among the army of heavily armed men. "And what would I do with wealth, anyway?!" Subaru demanded. "I eat what you eat!" He snapped in a soldier's face. The soldier flinched back. "I get no more rest than you!" Subaru snarled to another soldier who looked terrified. "Many are the nights that I have stood the watch, so that each of you could sleep soundly!" Subaru whirled around to face the soldiers, his face livid.

Several soldiers visibly flinched back.

Subaru raised his chin imperiously. "Who among you thinks that he's worked harder for me than I have for him?" Subaru demanded, looking all the soldiers in the eye.

The men looked at one another guiltily.

"If you have scars, strip and show them to me! I'll show you mine!" Subaru said defiantly. "There isn't one part of my body that doesn't bear a wound. And yet here I am, still leading you as conqueror of land and sea. As the Emperor that foreign potentates have openly begged to come and promise them protection against their terrible foes! When I found you, you were not knights or soldiers but herdsmen and farmers! I trained you to be warriors and heroes of the land. When men questioned if peasants could endure the rage of war, I defended you! I told them that these men will endure any hardship and face any foe to ensure the safety of their homes and families!"

The soldiers trembled.

Subaru shook his head in disgust. "I have cared for you as though you were my own sons! I've paid off your debts, without asking you how you got them, although you're all paid well enough and you pillage every town that we take! Many of you wear golden laurels, badges of courage and valor gifted to you by me! Any one of us who died in battle, we buried with full honors! Many of them now stand immortalized in our country by bronze statutes. Their families are honored and pay no taxes in tribute of their sacrifice. Under my command, not one man has been killed for fleeing the enemy or for cowardice in battle! And now, I want to send some of you back, who have become crippled or grown old in my service, to be welcomed home as heroes. But since you all wish to go, then I say to all of you: Go!" Subaru pointed imperiously into the distance.

The very air in front of them ripped wide open and a hole appeared in thin air that led to another place. Through the portal, Subaru beheld the distant vision of a wondrous city of polished stone and metal.

"Go back and tell the people that your Emperor, conqueror of the barbarian tribes, who marched over the Inari Kush and the kingdom of Mercia, who crossed into the desert of Valeria where no man had ever led an army, I'd have crossed the Stygian River as well if you hadn't all cowered in fear at the sight of a few savages! When you get home, tell them that you abandoned your Emperor and left him under the protection of the very foreigners that you conquered! That you left him alone with only the IronBorn giants that I crafted for your protection! Perhaps this report of yours will seem glorious in the eyes of men and worthy in the eyes of the Gods!"

Subaru glowered at his men for a moment. Their fury had been quenched and these mighty veterans trembled like children, filled with shame and guilt.

"Be gone!" Subaru proclaimed, leaving his stage and marching back to his tent as the men murmured guiltily behind him.

Subaru was followed by his officers who were also murmuring.

God! That was an amazing speech! Hell, if he pointed at me right now, I'd be ready to pick up a sword and start marching. This guy turned a group of mutinous soldiers into cowering little boys. They all seem ready to beg for his forgiveness. This guy is unbelievable! Who is he?!

I've never heard of any of the places he mentioned. Is this the old world? The ancient world that existed before the Witch of Envy destroyed most of it? How far back am I? Is this man also the wielder of the Authority of Pride? He seems to have the power to create portals with a gesture. That is freaking amazing!

And he claims that he built those Golems? God, I wish I could sit down and talk with this guy for a few hours!

The whole world broke apart under his feet and Subaru fell screaming into the black void once again.

Subaru opened his eyes and realized that he was throwing up.

He bolted upright in bed, desperately looking for something to vomit into. Luckily, Anri was standing ready with a bucket in her arms.

Subaru bent double as he spewed into the bucket, not food but a thick, black sludge. His stomach cramped horribly as it tried to force the nauseating substance out of his body.

The sludge was thick as bread dough and Subaru's muscles ached as they slowly squeezed it out of his body.

Finally, Subaru was done and he fell back on the bed, gasping for breath.

Wow. Now I know how a tube of toothpaste feels…

Anri held a bucket full of rancid smelling black sludge that was streaked with red. She looked both impressed and disgusted by the quantity that Subaru had regurgitated.

Anri gingerly carried the bucket away, trying not to spill a drop of the foul substance. Subaru noticed uncomfortably that whatever he'd thrown up appeared to be congealing like wet cement.

"Where am I?" He asked weakly as Anri walked to a nearby window and simply dumped the disgusting mess into the bushes. It made a heavy thud when it hit the ground.

"You're in Iruk," A beautiful woman said, looking down at Subaru with disdain.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Victoire," She said shortly. "I'm the most amazing woman in Gusteko if not the entire world."

Subaru squinted at her. "Are you kidding me with that?" He asked incredulously.

Victoire scowled at him and left the room without a word.

Anri sighed. "You're not at your brightest, first thing in the morning, are you?" Anri said, matter-of-fact.

Subaru coughed. "Sorry, it's been a long couple of days," He sighed, trying to sit up.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asked, sitting down on the bed beside him.

Subaru slowly caught his breath. "I… don't know," He said honestly.

Anri shook her head. "I've never seen a person so contaminated by witchcraft, much less one who lived. The Black Water got you bad, Subaru."

Yeah. It was all the Black Water that contaminated me… There was no other witchcraft in me whatsoever.

Subaru frowned for a moment and triggered Reason and Judgment.

Anri froze in place.

Hm. Interesting. Whatever was wrong with your ability seems to have addressed itself. Your power is restored. That's one fewer problem to worry about.

A worried voice whispered from the depths of Subaru's mind. Wait. What if the Authority really is damaging me like Mili said? What if my body was just too fragile to use it anymore and Reason and Judgment being disabled was my own body trying somehow to protect me?

There is absolutely no evidence of any of that, The other voice immediately dismissed. This is your power. The Authority submitted itself to you. There is no reason whatsoever to conclude that it's inherently toxic. Remember, even something like working out will increase the toxic byproducts in your muscles. This is a simple function of getting stronger. You overused the Authority at the slaver's camp and battling the Black Water so you required medical attention due to that overuse. What dedicated athlete has not similarly over-trained at one point or another? Your body has recovered and is doubtlessly now stronger than ever. There's no cause to worry about this any further.

Over time, you and the Authority shall become increasingly well-suited to one another. After all, what well-tailored raiment need not be fitted to he who wears it?

Subaru exited Reason and Judgment feeling reassured but a thin seed of doubt lay in his mind.

Fitted to the wearer? Maybe… but who's wearing who?

Anri continued to speak, unable to notice the pause. "You came within inches of dying."

Subaru sighed as he finally pulled himself upright on the bed. "I seem to be doing that a lot," Subaru admitted.

Subaru glanced at his left side and gasped. His left arm was shriveled and stunted, the skin a burnt orange. Subaru had never been muscular but now his left arm was nothing but skin and bones. It almost looked like the arm of a twelve year old boy.

Subaru tried to move it and discovered that while he could still move the arm, it seemed to have barely any strength.

Anri winced. "It's really not as bad as it looks," Anri said soothingly.

Subaru looked at her in shock. "It almost couldn't be, could it?!" He asked incredulously.

Anri sighed. "A lot of your muscle tissue was destroyed but the basic muscle fibers are still sound. Your arm should recover its strength pretty quickly. Just keep exercising it, eat plenty of meat, and don't put it under too much strain. I gave it some healing magic and I'll give you more tonight. You should be back to normal in a day or two."

Subaru stared at his arm and just shook his head in disbelief.

Anri held out a bundle to him. "Your clothes," She prompted.

Subaru suddenly realized that he was sitting naked in front of Anri and turned bright red.

He grabbed his robe and quickly pulled it over him, giving himself some privacy. Then he started to pull on his pants and shirt under it.

"Where's Emilia?" He asked.

Anri glanced away and looked uncomfortable.

Subaru swallowed hard.

"Hey," She said slowly. "Come with me."

Subaru followed Anri down the hall and into another bedroom. And in the bed…

"Emilia!" Subaru shouted, springing to her bedside.

Emilia was unconscious. Her face was deathly pale and her stomach had been tightly bandaged. Subaru might have thought that she was dead except for the shallow movement of her chest.

Subaru knelt beside her and desperately grabbed her hand. It was ice cold.

Subaru squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He took a deep breath. "What happened here?" He growled.

Anri gave Subaru a pained look. "Alright. So my real name is Princess Kai-"

"I don't fucking care!" Subaru said flatly. "What happened to Emilia?"

Anri looked momentarily shocked at being spoken to this way but she simply bowed her head. Anri looked helpless and ashamed. "Emilia… was wounded in battle. She fell protecting all of us from a terrible foe."

"Who?!" Subaru demanded.

Anri sighed. "Elsa Granhiert. The Bowel Hunter."

"Elsa?!" Subaru gasped in horror. "Then this wound-"

"Is poisoned," Anri interrupted, her voice careworn. "Left untreated, it will not heal."

Subaru clapped a hand over his mouth.

Oh my God. How did I let this happen?! I was sleeping like a baby while Emilia was attacked!

Subaru took a slow ragged breath. "Where did she go?" He hissed.

Anri blinked. "Huh? Where did who go?" Anri asked in confusion.

"Elsa. I'm going to run her down and I will make her talk," Subaru grated. "If there's an antidote for her poisons, she must know what it is."

"Subaru," Anri said. "Elsa Granhiert is dead. Emilia won the fight and she killed the Bowel Hunter."

Subaru stared at Anri in shock.

"Mili fought to protect all of us!" Anri assured him. "She won a battle against a villain that has murdered hundreds! Emilia is a hero, Subaru!"

Do you really think that's what I want to hear right now, you little idiot?!

Oh my God. What if Emilia actually…

"If Elsa is dead…" Subaru whispered. "Then that means that there's no one who can tell us what the antidote is…"

No. I can't think like that.

I can do this. I can do this.

Think. Those healers in the capitol saved me and my cut was a lot bigger than Emilia's is.

I just need to find those healers and learn what they did.

Shit! I don't know who any of them were! I never asked Reinhard and he certainly won't be willing to tell me now!

"We actually do know an antidote," Anri said, cutting off Subaru's panicking thoughts.

"You do?!" Subaru asked, grabbing her shoulders and staring her in the face.

Anri nodded awkwardly, looking uncomfortable with Subaru's nearness. "We do but… we're having trouble finding the ingredients."

"What ingredients?" Subaru demanded.

Anri sighed. "We have everything that we need except for wyvern oil."

"Wyvern oil?" Subaru repeated. "We need to get that to heal Emilia?! Where are we going to find a wyvern?! Does anyone sell the oil?"

Anri had a helpless expression on her face. "I don't know! The type of poison that Elsa uses is mostly only used by mercenaries so civilian pharmacies never see the need to carry the antidote or its ingredients."

"Alright, what about military supplies?" Subaru demanded.

Anri nodded. "Yeah, they'd have it. I could requisition some from Siros but I've got no way to get back there! Siros is under attack right now and I'm deep in enemy territory."

Subaru shook his head. "Fine! What territory are we in right now?"

"Sanshi. I know that the local Sanshi garrison would have the oil-"

"Perfect. I'm going to go and borrow some oil from them!" Subaru asserted, walking out of the room. "Keep Emilia safe until I get back."

Anri gaped at Subaru and then hurried after him. "Subaru, you can't be serious!"

Subaru turned to glare at her. "Do I look like I'm serious?" He said in a deathly quiet voice.

Anri shook her head in disbelief. "Subaru, they will never give you the oil just because you ask! And I can't order them to cooperate with you because they're my enemies!"

Subaru bared his teeth. "Then it's your lucky day, Anri, because I may need to convince your enemies of the urgency of my quest!" Subaru snapped.

Anri stared at Subaru incredulously.

"Anri, where can I find an army camp?" He asked, opening doors in the hallway and looking for the exit.

Anri bit her lip. "You can just follow the river north. It will lead you to an army camp," Anri said uncertainly. "Patrasche is tied up right outside the church."

"Great!" Subaru said through clenched teeth.

Subaru and Anri entered the kitchen where Victoire sat at the table. Victoire glowered at Subaru.

Anri hesitated. Then she sighed. "Subaru, I'm going to go with you."

"What?! No fucking way!" Victoire shouted.

"Yes, I am!" Anri yelled back. "Emilia has saved my life twice now, once at significant risk to her own! I am going to heal her!"

"Princess," Victoire said, clearly fighting for patience. "The elf-witch-"

"Call her that again, Victoire," Subaru whispered in a deadly tone.

Victoire glowered at him, showing no fear at all, then turned back toward Anri. "-Fought to save this jackass! She wasn't trying to protect you! You don't owe her a fucking thing!"

"My heart says otherwise," Anri said firmly. "Stay here, Victoire. Keep dosing Emilia with that blood replenishing draught. That will buy us a little time while we locate the oil. You ready, Subaru?"

Subaru glared at Victoire and strongly considered hurting her. Then he dismissed it as a waste of time. "Anri, why don't you stay here. You can take better care of Em-"

"I'm going with you, Subaru," Anri said firmly, picking her rapier off the kitchen counter and buckling it around her waist.

Subaru sighed. "Fine. Do you actually know how to use that sword?" He asked as they left the church and walked out into the early afternoon air.

"Yeah. I'm actually pretty good with it. Not that it matters much right now. I have a broken arm, remember?"

"Great. I'm taking a cripple into a potential fight," Subaru muttered as they approached Patrasche.

"Yeah, well your arm looks to be no great shakes at the moment either, you know," Anri muttered.

Subaru glared at her. Anri folded her 'arm' across her chest and looked back defiantly.

Subaru sighed and keep walking.

The dragon was tied up to the fence outside the church. As soon as Patrasche saw Subaru she perked up and started clucking with great excitement. She pulled as close to Subaru as her reins allowed. The moment that Subaru got in range she began to nuzzle him.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too, girl," Subaru muttered in a tired voice. "I'm glad that you're alright. Have you been fed today?"

"Yeah, I took care of that," Anri answered.

"Great," Subaru said, untying Patrasche.

Subaru tried to pick up her saddle but immediately dropped it. His left arm just wouldn't cooperate.

With one arm, Subaru struggled to pick up the saddle and place it onto Patrasche. He reached down to clinch it but without his hand on it, the saddle started to slide of.

Subaru made a desperate grab for it and caught the saddle but he knew that if he let go it would slide off again.

He stood there wondering what to do.

Anri sighed. "You hold, I'll tighten," She muttered, kneeling down.

Subaru nodded with a long sigh. "This mission is off to a great start. We only have two good arms between us!"

"Yeah," Anri replied. "If we have time on this trip, maybe we can go out and buy a pair of gloves."

Subaru shook his head and almost chuckled as Anri tied the saddle.

"Alright," Anri said, straightening up. "That ought to do it."

Subaru struggled with only one arm but he managed to pull himself up into the saddle.

Subaru looked down at Anri and bit his lip. "Maybe you should come over to this side," He gestured toward his good arm. "That way I can help pull you up."

Anri rolled her eyes. "I'm fine!" She muttered. She set her foot in the stirrup and quickly climbed up.

"Ow!" Subaru shouted. "You crushed my toes!"

"Come on! Don't be such a baby!" Anri snapped back, settling behind Subaru on the dragon.

Subaru growled at her and shook his head. He nudged Patrasche forward. "Alright, where are we going-" Subaru actually looked at the village for the first time and his eyes widened.

Every house in the village was covered in a sheet of ice a foot thick. It was clear that great effort can gone into knocking holes around the doors and windows. Gigantic icicles like tree trunks jutted from the ground pointing up at the sky. The center of town was covered in a field of delicate, beautiful frost flowers.

A few of the locals were gathered outside and they pointed fearfully at Subaru and Anri.

"What the fuck happened here?!" Subaru demanded.

"Emilia happened," Anri said shortly.

Subaru scowled. "Oh, this is just great! Word is going to get around about this real fucking fast!"

"Oh, you think?" Anri asked mockingly. "That's why we should hurry up and find the antidote for your lover so that we can all get the hell out of here," Anri added meaningfully.

Subaru sighed. "I don't think that we have that kind of time," Subaru muttered. "Can Emilia be moved safely?"

Anri thought for a moment. "Yeah. I mean, within reason. We can't bump her around in a dragon saddle. The few wounds that she's managed to mend will reopen."

"So we need to use a wagon," Subaru replied.

"I don't have-"

"I'll go shopping. Someone in the village must have one," Subaru replied.

Anri nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll start packing everything up then. Since an assassin showed up here, I'm guessing that House Griest knows all about this place. That means that we probably can't ever come back here anyway. We should grab anything useful that we can carry. We have enough Blood Replenishing potion to last us several days if I bottle it. I'll pack whatever medicinal herbs I can too."

"Sounds good," Subaru replied. "I'll find us a wagon and see if I can buy some food."

"Subaru, are you planning to take her back to… there?" Anri asked meaningfully.

Subaru shrugged. "It's the only safe place that I can think of right now."

Anri nodded. "OK," She walked back into the church.