Re:zero to Echidna

The blood was *artistic* in its excess.

Subaru stepped into the mansion's grand hall, his boots sticking to the carpet of congealed crimson. Bodies lay in heaps—Rem's severed head propped against the banister, her blue hair matted with gore; Ram's torso splayed open like a butchered hog, ribs jutting skyward. Emilia's silver locks were a tangled nest of ice shards and brain matter, her lilac eyes milky with death. And Beatrice—

She hung from the chandelier, her tiny body impaled on its iron spikes, grimoire pages fluttering around her like funeral confetti. Her pink eyes were wide, accusatory, *alive* in a way corpses shouldn't be.

"Huh." Subaru crouched, poking Ram's detached arm. The fingers twitched. "Bit on the nose, don't you think?"

The air rippled. Echidna materialized atop the corpse pile, her parasol casting a shadow that dripped black ichor. *"No screams? No tears? How *dull* you've become."*

He shrugged. "Saw this one… let's see… loop 312? 313? You really need new material."

She floated down, her gown trailing through viscera without staining. *"I preferred you when these little visions left you sobbing. Remember? Kneeling in Emilia's entrails, begging me to make it stop?"*

"Pepperidge Farm remembers." Subaru straightened, crunching a stray tooth underfoot. "But hey, props for Beako's death pose. Very *Goya*."

Echidna's smile sharpened. *"You've grown callous, darling. Is it the spirit's influence? Or have I simply… *broken* you?"*

He yawned. "Wake me up when you've got something spicy."

***

He woke to the scent of ink and dust.

Beatrice lay sprawled across his chest, her cheek smushed against his heartbeat, one small hand fisted in his shirt. Moonlight filtered through the library's stained glass, painting her hair in fractured rainbows. A half-eaten sugar cube glinted on the floor beside them, evidence of her failed attempt to stay awake.

*"Disgusting,"* Echidna hissed. She perched on the edge of the desk, her silhouette flickering like a guttered candle. *"You coddle her. Let her believe she's *special*."*

Subaru didn't move, careful not to jostgle Beatrice. "Jealous, Dona?"

*"Of *that*?"* Her laugh was glass shards. *"Please. I simply wonder how long until she realizes what you are—a corpse who won't stay buried. A *curse*."*

Beatrice stirred, mumbling into his chest. "...insufferable… *clause three*…"

Echidna vanished, but her venom lingered. *"Sweet dreams, darling."*

***

The real horror came at dawn.

Beatrice woke disheveled, sugar crusted in her eyelashes. She blinked up at Subaru, then recoiled as if scalded. "*Why* is Betty here?!"

"You conked out mid-rant." He gestured to the treatise on interdimensional mana flow she'd been "explaining." "Something about… fifth-dimensional flux?"

She floated upright, dignity in tatters. "*Fourth*-dimensional. And Betty only rested her eyes!"

"Sure, Beako."

"*Stop smiling!*"

He didn't.

***

At breakfast, Rem's gaze lingered on Subaru's neck—unmarked, but she'd seen the dream-version of her sister's cleaver there. She served his tea with trembling hands.

"The Witch's stench…" she whispered. "It's… *thicker* today."

Subaru sipped, tasting hemlock. "New cologne. Eau de Despair."

Ram's wind blade grazed his ear, pinning a sugar cube to the wall. "Jest again, and I'll dice your tongue."

Beatrice materialized, her wrath scattering the silverware. "*Try it, pink brute*, and Betty will *erase* your bloodline!"

Subaru watched them bicker, Echidna's laughter coiled in his skull.

*Loop 422: All according to keikaku.*

( Mine note: keikaku means plan.)