Chapter Text
“Damn, this place is huge!” Garfiel shouted out the window as the carriage approached the Roswaal mansion. Turning back to look at Subaru, he jutted his thumb at the mansion. “Yo, this’s really where tha’ clown lives?! I hate ta admit it, but that’s damn cool.”
Subaru internally sighed at the volume of Garfiel’s voice. If Elsa or Meili were anywhere near the mansion, that would’ve undoubtedly alerted them to his and Garfiel’s presences. Pulling up to the front entrance, a small maid bounced out of the doors, hurriedly running towards the stopped carriage. As Garfiel flung the door open, she carefully lifted her skirt and sank into a curtsy.
“Welcome back, Subaru-sam-- eh?” Petra became confused and somewhat frightened at the sight of the thuggish-looking boy stomping out of the carriage. Subaru leaned into the doorway to greet her, and catching sight of him, Petra’s expression melted into obvious relief.
Completely oblivious to Petra’s terrified reaction, Garfiel roughly patted (smacked?) her head and asked, “which o’ those maid’s this shrimp?”
Before Subaru could answer, a large yellow fist barreled into Garfiel’s face, sending him flying into the side of the carriage. “Garfiel Tinsel. It’s not polite to harass a person you’ve only just met.”
The voice’s owner, Frederica, looked disapprovingly at her brother, who had immediately sat up after the collision and was now rubbing his shoulder, grumbling complaints. Again, Garfiel spoke without reading the situation. “Ya’ve got some nerve, punchin’ me like that. Hope you’re ready for a figh’ cause I--
“Hold it. Are ya my sista’ or somethin’?” Garfiel had finally looked up at his attacker. He squinted at Frederica in disbelief. “I don’t remember havin’ a ganglion of a big sista’ like thi--”
Though Frederica had reverted her hand to human form just a few seconds ago, she spared no effort in transforming it back and punching Garfiel again. “What sort of greeting is that? I really hope you haven’t been introducing yourself to new people like this, Garf.”
“Wha’s it to you hah!? Ain’t like I’m meeting ya for the firs’ time anyways!” Garfiel swung his leg behind Frederica’s knees, bringing her down to the ground beside him. Suddenly feeling out of place, Subaru joined Petra off to the side, trying to avoid getting hit by either sibling. Watching the scene of Garfiel and Frederica’s reunion, the two shared a feeling of surrealness.
Petra had abruptly been introduced to a violent stranger who had immediately engaged in a fist fight with her big sister figure, the person who had kindly looked out for her since she started working at the mansion. Moreover, the fight was fierce and certainly looked dangerous even though both parties sustained negligible damage. Naturally, Petra was confused.
Subaru, on the other hand, had been put completely out in the cold - or perhaps ‘warm’ in this case - for a different reason. Because, for all the dire situations at the mansion he had been occupied with thinking up solutions for during his and Garfiel’s journey, the comfortable interactions he was witnessing were… unexpected and unaccounted for.
Garfiel and Frederica had abandoned their horseplay and moved on to making jabs and laughing at each other’s appearance. Frederica leaned over to ruffle Garfiel’s hair, and seeing this, Garfiel lightly punched his sister’s side in a (failed) attempt to stop her.
This display of affection only made it harder for Subaru to interrupt, but he eventually did, coughing loudly to catch the siblings’ attentions. Imminent danger was always looming, holding a rain of claws and knives in one hand and an invisible clock in the other. “Sorry to interrupt, but could we move indoors? I need to talk about something important.”
“Of course, I apologize for my lack of propriety as a maid, Subaru-sama. Let’s relocate indoors. I’ll make a pot of tea for us.” Frederica stood up and dusted off her skirt. Even with the professional response she’d given, Subaru could see a hint of mischief lingering in the way the corner of her mouth twitched up. He smiled at that, deciding to absorb some of her lightheartedness and hoping for the best.
---
“So then, Subaru, what did you wanna talk about?” Petra used the arm of the sofa as a springboard to jump up and down, accidentally foregoing her manners as a maid.
Presently, Subaru realized that the following conversation would be particularly frightening for someone Petra’s age, so he attempted to convince her to leave: “uh, actually, Petra, this conversation’s going to be pretty unsavory to listen to, so maybe you should cover your ears and leave the room for awhile.”
Petra scrunched up her nose irritatedly and emphatically shook her head. “I don’t know what ‘unsavory’ means, but I’m not going anywhere. I want to listen to your conversation, no matter how scary or weird it is! I have as much a right to be here as the violent little brother over there.”
While Garfiel raucously responded to Petra’s joking remark, Subaru thought through Petra’s point and accepted its validity; her life was one among many that were hanging in the balance. And so, deciding to let her stay, he began briefing the room.
“--- and so basically, Roswaal’s killers should attack here and the village in around two or three days. Since we have a time advantage right now, I want to evacuate both places back to the Sanctuary to avoid all contact with the assassins. Garfiel here is our most important combative strength - no offense to you, Frederica - and defender against any unexpected attacks.”
“Bodyguard, eh? Tha’s not bad, actually sounds pretty cool.” Garfiel contemplated his new role. Imagining the cool battle scenarios he would blast through and triumph in, an excited smile expanded across his face and he clenched his fists tightly.
Frederica, on the other hand, looked concerned. Her eyebrows knit together as she hugged Petra, who was shivering in fear. “I admit that this is quite hard to believe, but since Garf trusts you, I suppose I shall as well. We should prepare to leave as soon as possible.”
Subaru nodded, heading towards the door.
Then.
All the air left his lungs. His accelerating heartbeat was noisy.
So noisy.
Why was it so loud?
There was absolutely nothing else he could hear. The blood inside his body painfully reversed its flow.
“H- how?”
Subaru choked. The footsteps sounding down the hallway had arrived far too early, but there were unmistakable. But- this wasn’t supposed to be possible. How? How?
How, how, how-
…why?
Hearing the horror in Subaru’s voice, the other three people in the room tensely waited for his next words.
“It’s Elsa. The first assassin. Prepare. PREPARE TO FIGHT!” Subaru screamed a frantic order, immediately abandoning the idea of hiding and running now that Elsa was so close. However, before anyone could move a step, the door behind Subaru swiftly opened and a knife flashed out to hover before his stomach.
“How rude of you to name me that way.” Elsa placed her other hand on Subaru’s left shoulder and then giggled softly. Petra let out a strangled gasp, but the words she needed fell out of reach.
“You needn’t fear for your lives today.” Elsa continued, utterly shocking everyone in the room. She tilted her head, keeping eye contact. “Does it relieve you all to learn this?”
It didn’t, because not a single person believed her statement; the dangerous aura emanating from Elsa hadn’t vanished, and it felt unstable, as if every person in the room might be hunted down and efficiently murdered if her mood just slightly tipped over.
Elsa ran her tongue across her lips slowly, smiling in a sickly sweet way. “It really is unfortunate for me. I’ve been wanting to experience cutting open a spirit’s stomach for ever so long, and now my employer’s deprived me of that chance. This really is a strange case for me. To reveal my employer’s name…” Elsa’s eyes narrowed, and then her smile widened further. “Though, by the lovely expressions on your face, I see that you’re already aware.”
Elsa retracted her knife suddenly, replacing it with her hand on Subaru’s stomach, clasping an item that looked like a pocketwatch. “This is a metia. Through it, my employer would like to deliver a message. And with this,-” she gracefully stepped back, “-my job has been completed.”
“Wait.” Subaru, still on high-alert, held his arm across the exit. “I don’t trust your intentions for a second, Elsa. Stay over there where I can see you until Roswaal’s message ends. Garfiel?”
“Yeah, my amazin’ self would be glad to watch this shady woman.” Garfiel warily glared at Elsa and walked over to take a defensive stance in front of her.
Breathing out deeply, Subaru flipped open the metia’s cover. His heart seemed to be falling, ever so quickly. It took ten seconds for the screen to fully light up, but only three for Subaru to understand that snow was quickly covering the landscape of the Sanctuary.
“Damn it, damn it.” In his rage, Subaru drew his arm back to throw the metia, but it slipped from his hand first, clattering to the floor.
At this moment, Roswaal spoke. “Did I not say there would be no time to rest? Here - with your best efforts as proof - I verify that, as long as I will it, you will never have enough time to save anything.
“But that conclusion is of no consequence in the end. Subaru Natsuki. From the next me forth, there will be no attempts to sway or entertain your ludicrous ideals. Regardless of your physical or mental state, I will use the abilities you possess as they are, calling upon our contract to enforce my will.
“I repeat: there will be no childish ‘playtime’ from hereon. My wish will be fulfilled without delay.”
With the end of Roswaal’s decisive verdict, the metia folded in on itself, crumpling into an unusable state. Silence reigned in the room.
And then Subaru found himself collapsed on the ground with several sharp, black needles protruding from his stomach. “Well done for seeing through me.” In a flash, Elsa tore through Petra and Frederica, barely missing Garfiel, who jumped back just in time.
“Ghhk- what jus’ happened?! Oi, OI, OI.” Garfiel’s attention flashed desperately from his sister to Subaru to the small maid.
“Hmmm~ good reflexes.” Elsa complimented Garfiel. Then, she addressed the room. “You were all right to be cautious. As I said, ‘this is a strange case’. Lying is not normally a part of my job, but my employer asked it. For you all, that simply means that you’re all still on my list.”
Elsa gave another disgusting giggle and Garfiel charged at her with his bare fists. He gave the loudest and angriest roar of his whole life, at the monster who’d just severed his last remaining family’s life, at the devil who ordered it, and most of all, at himself for being too weak to stop any of it.
He’d failed to protect his sister.
Grinding his teeth viciously, Garfiel didn’t bother wiping the tears from his face as he turned around to throw another barrage of fists.
Weakly, as his life bled out, Subaru watched the fight through his unfocused eyes. He recognized the blood-red glare of a transformation-- and then realized that Garfiel would still lose. He’d still lose. So Subaru had... given false hope to someone, manipulated him to his own needs, and killed him.
How despicable.