Work Text:
Orbalt withdraws his right arm, but he’s too slow. His hand has already shattered from his wrist and disappeared.
“Wha-“
“Children!”
Yorna, holding Louis, suddenly jumps back. As they move, the darkness overflows their entire field of view and swallows the scarlet tower of Red Lapis Castle, known for its beautiful and vivid brilliance, then the upper part of the castle and right after the central part.
---------------------------------------------
Stunned, the young ones open their eyes to what happened… and they are astonished.
"That's the castle… Lady Yorna!"
"Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaaaaaah!!”
"…Al!?"
Tanza worries about her mistress, who remained in the castle, and Al screams at the damage caused by someone stronger than anyone in the city…
No, stronger than anyone in the world.
Medium runs up and supports Al's shoulders. She also stared at Abel in a strange situation.
"…Is this the true identity of the thing you had inside?"
Abel mutters while seeing the same thing as the fake emperor and the crying children.
He glares at the jet-black shadows, clenching his fists tightly, hiding his blood-squeezed lips behind the demon mask and twisting his face in a terrifying expression.
---------------------------
“I love you.”
“I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
A curse-like affection, that transcends all dimensions, fills the existence of Natsuki Subaru and never leaves.
The only thing that can be said in a situation where no one knows anything.
At this moment Natsuki Subaru knows that he is still loved, and he ignores other things; but the only thing that can be said in a situation where no one knows anything is that the living utopia in the magic city, Chaosflame…
…it was collapsing- no, it collapsed by the cause and effect of none other than Natsuki Subaru.
*tap*
“Aaaand… published!”
*snap*
“Gosh, I’m done with this,” the author sighs after having stretched and moved his fingers. “I think Subaru has suffered enough in these loops, so I just let him free by catching the shinobi geezer.”
*Glu Glu Glu*
“Ah!” He puts the glass, now empty, on his desk.
“The only inconvenience is that apparently Satella is in his Od and, now that Orbalt has put his hand on it to reverse the ‘transformation’, she is set free in Chaosflame. So… Now there must be something to set up, but it’s late and I’m tired. Let’s think about this tomorrow.”
The following day
“Hmmm… let’s try to start the new chapter,” the man yawns, putting his glasses on the end of his nose. “If I’m fast enough, I’ll be able to write about Emilia-tan on her trip within this same week.”
“So…”
Chapter 55
Subaru is astonished, his hands trembling.
The fearsome Witch of Envy, the enemy of the world, the one behind his curse and his main power, is before him.
The air itself is filled with her presence. Her miasma makes breathing difficult, and her shadows surround the two of them.
Natsuki Subaru and the girl who…
“I love you”
“…”
“I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
Subaru looks at her.
There has been a time in which he promised to save that girl. A time in which he could see under her dark veil.
But right now.
“… I’ve found you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“Ok, I need to find a way out of this that isn't a death or a suicide. Otherwise, the last chapter would be useless.”
The author put his right hand on his forehead and sighed.
“Please… let me go.”
"..."
"Please… Satella, let me go"
"..."
"I know you are here, and you can hear me."
"... I love you. I love yo-"
"Stop this crap! Please, Satella, listen to me!"
"..."
"You know what I've been through! You know how much I have suffered till moments ago. Please, now that I have found a way out, a way to end this pain and both recover my grown-up self… don't hurt me!"
The raven-black veil hiding the half-elf's head starts fading away.
"I want to believe you can hear me. Please Satella… free me."
Finally, a pair of black eyes finds two amethyst spheres.
"...Subaru."
The boy's eyes open wide.
"I wish for you to be saved."
Ah at that word, the shadows start retreating.
They envelop the lady's figure as if they are a large blanket.
Then she's gone, along with them
Scanning again what he has just written, the man's eyes narrow.
"Hmmm…"
He slams his right hand on the desk, his left one holding his chin.
"Who am I kidding? This is bullshit. If the Witch had been so easy to deal with, something like the taboo on Return by Death or the situation in the Watchtower would never have happened."
Putting his finger on the keyboard, he mumbles: "Let's delete this part."
"Now, think… Who would cut the shadows and likely stay alive?"
The bespectacled writer shrugs. "Well, I can try. After all, it can't be worse than this."
“… I’ve found you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
Subaru is frozen in place, unable to move.
All the things he went through in the last minutes… With this, they've been wasted.
There's no going back from this. No going back from-
*swish*
A flash of red light suddenly dazzles him, his eyes already used to the raven-black that has been filling his field of view.
“…You truly have impressed me this time, commoner.”
“Damn bro, you’re lucky the princess sneaked here.”
“Subaru, I got you!”
“Wha-”
The world flips around Subaru as he is pulled by a strong and white hand from the shadows, its finger grasping his forearm.
As he is brought out from the shadow dome, he starts rising in the sky.
“What the…”
Subaru turns his head towards the one holding him… that turns out to be a young, blonde woman.
“...Medium?”
“That’s disappointing, you know. They say ‘Bros before hoes’ for a-”
“Shut up, Al.”
“Yes, princess.”
Subaru finds himself held by the girl’s strong arms, withstanding the strong winds. Behind her, he can see the familiar black helmet and glimpses of orange hair, the same colour as the shining sun.
“Al? Priscilla? Why are you here? And why are we flying?”
“Myself felt that it was wrong not following you in a place so dangerous and fundamental for our strategy. And besides that,” The proud woman clicks her tongue. “I can understand you're stunned by my magnificent self, but these wings should be big enough to get noticed even by a plebeian, don’t you think so?”
Looking around, Subaru notices a pair of big, bluish wings departing from below them.
“...Uh. So, this is how it feels being on a flying dragon”.
“Hmmm yes, this can make sense,” the man states, pulling his glasses up his nose with his right finger.
“Let me take a break for a couple of minutes.” He gets up. “I guess I’ll try a glass of that sakè my good character designer gave to me since I allowed him to make the Witch of Vainglory a loli.”
Subaru is placed in Medium’s lap, his chest against hers, and he can see over her shoulder Al and Pris sitting behind her on the back of the blue flying dragon.
“Wait, now I can feel them- Medium, you’re back to normal! And you too, Al!”
“Hmmm yes!” Medium nods smiling “We suddenly turned this way after those black shadows appeared.”
"So maybe it's related to Olbart's death," Subaru mumbles… “But why am I still a child? Also, where are Vincent and Louis? What happened to Yorna?"
"...I am here."
"..."
As Subaru turns himself back, he sees a red outline under the dragon's mouth.
"Don't tell me that…"
"...It's more uncomfortable and humiliating for me than everything. Don't waste your breath."
Vincent is currently held by his red cape by the dragon, who clenches its lower part with his pointy and massive teeth.
“Are seriously you guys ok with this?” Subaru scans the faces of the ones comfortably sitting on the back of the dragon.
They just shrug.
“Well,” He sighs. “What about Louis and Yorna?”
“Ah, ah!”
“We are here, kid!”
Louis waves his hands for Subaru, her legs wrapped around the woman’s upper body.
Said woman is running near the dragon, continuously jumping on red tiles that keep following her, one step before the other, keeping flying under her landing foot.
Subaru’s right eye twitches nervously. “Ok, that’s enough. This is too much bullshit even for arc 7.”
“I agree” A silver bell rings inches from his ear. “Did you think you could steal him from me just because you’ve come here with an overgrown pigeon?”
As he shudders hearing the close voice, the cyan of the sky gets suddenly covered in raven-black.
“Gaaaaah! I was wrong! What the heavenly fuck is this shit!?” The author complains, throwing an empty bottle of sakè on the floor.
“They shouldn’t even be able to get away from Satella! What was I thinking?” He shakes his head, a disappointed pout on his face. “The only ones who can are…”
There's no going back from this. No going back from-
*swish*
A flash of red light suddenly dazzles him, his eyes already used to the raven-black that has been filling his field of view.
“Take ma’ hand, ya prick!”
“Uh?”
Subaru instinctively obeys, then he is quickly pulled by his hand out of the dome of raven-black shadows.
“I’ve got him! Now go, ya f’king overgrown lizard!”
[For the tenth-thousandth time, Reid, that is not the name that had been given to me]
“F’ck this, now GO!”
As Subaru blinks, the black pool is dozens of metres below him.
Then he turns to the one holding him and…
"Ya ain't a hot babe, but I cannot leave ya there."
A man with an eyepatch and long, red hair addresses him.
He is wearing a crimson piece of clothing that resembles a kimono, and a huge sword hangs from his belt.
"REID ASTREA?"
"Why the hell had you to scr'm so loud? My head's aching, ya prick!"
[Please, Reid, show to Flugel at least a little respect.]
That bass-like and yet warm voice fills again Subaru's mind.
"Wait… So, this is"
[Flugel, maybe you right now cannot remember… but I am your old friend Volcanica]
At this very moment, Subaru realizes where he and Reid are.
He's sitting on a mountain of sky-blue scales, and a pair of giant wings sweep the air around it.
The flight dynamic seems pretty magic since it shouldn't be possible for such a body to move with both that speed and grace.
And, more than everything… the horned, blue head before him cannot be mistaken.
"I'm riding the Divine Dragon Volcanica. With Reid Astrea. To run away from the Witch of Envy. Am I the Great Sage or something like that?" Subaru laughs.
[Sigh… So, this version of you doesn't remember, Flugel]
" 'r ya serious? Have ya hit again ya head against the toilet?"
“...”
[...]
“...Why ‘r ya looking at me th’s way? Booba girl said such a thing had already happened before.”
“Shaula…” Subaru sighs. “Anyway, how is this even possible? No offence, but… Reid, you should be dead right now! And Volcanica…. you had dementia or something last time I saw you!”
[Thou have not seen us, but our fragments. Parts of us obtained separating a little piece of our own Od from ourselves.]
“Woah,” The boy’s mouth forms a big ‘O’. “Is such a thing even possible?”
[It is indeed. It was none other than yourself to study and theorize that, and you were also the one demanding us our cooperation in doing this, to set the three trials in the tower.]
“Ya hit ya’ head against the ‘porcelain throne’ again, and that’s a fact, ya prick.”
“Can you please stop repeating that!” Subaru yells.
A thought hits him. More than a thought, several thoughts.
“Wait… What happened to Louis and Yorna? They were near me when Satella showed up… and what about Al? Medium? Taritta? Vincen-”
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
A huge explosion cuts off Subaru.
As his vision gets overwhelmed by a stunning light, he feels noisy ringing in his ears.
“Volcanica, Reid, I need your help” Someone speaks near him.
“Yo!”
[It has been a long time indeed… Satella]
“I know we aren’t on good terms anymore, but there reeeeeally is a major problem here. Both I and Envy decided to cooperate to solve this, and we ask for your help too.”
Subaru now can see again, and what he notices and hears makes him break in a cold sweat.
The Witch- no, Satella, he can see her concerned face- is floating in mid-air, near to Volcanica.
Above them, a huge and fuming crater is all that remains of Chaosflame.
“What the he-”
“Hmmm, I see.”
Reid removes his eyepatch and puts his hand on the hilt of the sword.
Volcanica arcs his long neck, his back tensed under Subaru’s legs.
Satella’s mouth becomes a straight line and miasma starts irradiating from her, like a cloak.
“The Witch of Envy, the Divine Dragon Volcanica, the Heavenly Sword Reid Astrea.”
Before them, a figure has suddenly teleported.
He wears white clothes, and several jet-black spheres float in a circular shape behind his back.
But Subaru has already seen him moments before. He is someone who should be dead for good.
“So, this kid must be somehow the Great Sage Shaula. No wonder he’s this smart.”
His wrinkled face has now greyish features, now darker than his whitened hair.
His now fully opened eyes are one purple and the other golden-yellow, with concentric circles covering both the eyeballs.
"I heard that all of you are quite sturdy, but ... are you stronger than the people in my village?”
“Fufufufufufufufufufufufufu. Peak writer! I’m the greatest writer in the universe!” The man laughs, his eyes now red.
“This surely is a god-tier weed,” he adds, then he inhales again from the bong. “Now, one last paragraph and then I’ll go to sleep. I’ll revise and publish the chapter tomorrow.
The following day
“Mmmm… let’s fic some little mistake and then I’ll publish the chapter” he mumbles while opening the file on his computer.
…
…
“Ok, it’s official: I’m never going to drink again before writing sessions.”
He swears as he contemplates the fruit of the previous working day.
“Now, nooow… there are a certain number of things that I must consider.”
“First: for the sake of the plot, Vincent cannot die.”
“Second: at this point of the story, Subaru wouldn’t leave Al, Medium or Louis to their death.”
“Third…"
Subaru looks at her.
There has been a time in which he promised to save that girl. A time in which he could see under her dark veil.
But right now.
“… I’ve found you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
He must do that, or die trying.
He makes a step towards her, and so she does.
“I love you. I love you. I love you.”
“I… I love you too.”
Now they are close. Subaru can feel her breath upon his clavicle skin.
He opens his arms and tries to hug her… and at that very moment, he is lifted.
Several dark hands raise and hold him, so his head is at the same height as hers.
Then he hugs her… and she hugs him back.
Satella opens her mouth and slowly approaches his. She closes her eyes… but he doesn’t see that.
He refuses to see her right now. He cannot lift the veil of shadows, knowing what he’s going to do.
His eyes are shut, as they are protesting again himself… or they don’t want to be seen by her, who will understand. Or both.
Even this time, once again, this hand won’t be used to save.
As his lips meet hers, the first dry and trembling while the other is passionate and warn.
In the moment of her true vulnerability…
…a black hand slips into her chest, and a moment later her heart is crushed.
He shakes his head as if he’s saying ‘no’ to himself. “Third: Subaru cannot get any stronger. I already gave him useful Louis, I cannot let him have from now the Envy Witch Factor, or another piece of it.“
“Also, I need her as a fictional device to explain things about 400 years ago. Not to forget, very little of her background is known. I just cannot put aside such an important character.”
He scratches the back of his head with his left hand:
“So that’s what I must do. I’m sorry Subahahahahaha again, who am I kidding? This is how it was supposed to end from the very beginning”.
As his lips meet hers, the first dry and trembling while the other is passionate and warn.
In the moment of her true vulnerability…
…a black hand slips into his chest, and a moment later his heart is crushed.
“...NO!”
Pain.
Intense pain.
The raven-black veil fades away.
Now he sees the amethyst-blue eyes filled with tears.
“...you liar…”
—-----------------------------------------------------------
He is now again in front of her.
The woman he wishes to talk to, to answer her love.
This time, she is crying.
But, in her tears…
“I love you.”
—-----------------------------------------------------------
"I heard that you and the people in this city are quite sturdy, but ... are you stronger than the people in my village?"
"Shirou!"
“Well, anyway, this was the only way to end that.”
The bespectacled man leans his back on his work chair.
His exhausted and disappointed frown gives way to a radiant smile, his eyes sparkling.
“Now let’s write a side story involving my beloved Emilia-tan!"
...
"No, two of them!”
Memorysoul Fri 18 Feb 2022 09:41PM UTC
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TimeWaster_posting Fri 18 Feb 2022 10:06PM UTC
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Memorysoul Sat 19 Feb 2022 01:32AM UTC
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