Chapter 7: The Suffering Begins

"Hmm... huh?"

Beatrice woke up to find herself in the same position as last night, wrapped in Subaru's arms. She tried to shake away from his embrace but it only made him tighten his grip slightly, then loosen up. If she moves he might wake up so she decides to just stay like this a little longer, but...

"Hkk! What are you doing there, I suppose?!" she squeals in a whispery voice when she notices Rem standing in the doorway, half-hiding herself.

"Huh?" she walks in the room "Rem is just performing her morning routine"

"Your morning routine consists of watching people while they sleep, I suppose!?"

She gives her an affirming nod, "Rem usually gazes at Subaru's sleeping face at night... but since Beatrice-sama started sleeping with him, Rem does it in the morning instead"

"Eh?! To say that so casually, you really are obsessed with him, I suppose"

"No, it's not like that, Subaru-kun has saved Rem, and as a result Rem has fallen for him, it's not much different from you Beatrice-sama"

She shakes her head vigorously while blushing, "W-What are you talking about, I suppose! It may be true that he saved me... B-But Betty doesn't... um..."

"Subaru-kun has explained to Rem how to interpret Beatrice-sama's statements"

"What? And how did he explain it, I suppose?"

"Simple, if Beatrice-sama's statement is about someone in particular, always reverse the meaning if they struggle to say it out"

Seeing that Beatrice was struggling to grasp the idea, she put a finger on her chin as she tries to think of an example. "I know, if Beatrice-sama says something like... 'Betty isn't cute', you interpret it as, 'Beatrice-sama is cute'. He said it's something... Suun... Deiry "

"You mean Tsundere?"

"Ah yes!"

"Okay I get it, I suppose... so what?"

"Beatrice-sama was going to say that she doesn't see Subaru-kun like that, so what Beatrice-sama really means is that she does see Subaru-kun like that, or at least something similar. It's why you didn't move when you woke up just now, it makes Rem jealous you know..."

Hearing this, Beatrice frantically shook her head, taking caution not to move too much.

"Your misunderstanding, I suppose! I-If... If Betty moves... Subaru will wake up so..."

"But if you don't want to wake him up, it means you want to stay like that, in other words, you like it!"

Rem gave her an 'I got you Look' as Beatrice panics, she shook violently out of Subaru's embrace, shouting to Rem, "No, it's not like that, I suppose!" as she left the room.

The loudness had woken up Subaru, "Ugh... hey, were's Beako running off to?"

"Oh, Beatrice-sama says she wanted to go get some fresh air so she left quickly, good morning Subaru-kun" She gave him a warm smile.

"Good morning Rem... is Emilia up by chance?"

"Hmm... no Emilia-sama is still asleep"

"Right... I think she should rest today instead of taking the trial, gotta get your answer ready before facing it again..."

"That sounds like a good idea, Subaru-kun"

They went out of the Cathedral, Rem went to do go take care of things with Ram while Subaru went to find Beatrice. He found her sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree, she was wearing her cloak, it covered most of her face, it was obvious that she wanted to avoid eye contact.

"Good morning Beako!"

He goes over and uncloaks her face. "Hey Beako, something bugging you?"

She quickly conceals her face again.

"It's none of your concern, I suppose!"

"Hey now, I'm your contractor so if anything is bothering you, of course, it concerns me!"

"Hrrrmmm... Betty doesn't want to talk about it at this moment, I suppose..." she looks away.

He sighs and shrugs his shoulders, "Okay then... I'm going to the stables, gotta wake up Otto"

"What do you need that sack of misfortune for, I wonder?"

"Oh, well I was hoping to check out the tomb to see if I really do have the qualifications, and someones gonna have to pull me out of there if Echidna decides to pull me in for another chat"

.

"Hey, Otto! Get up, we're going tomb raiding!"

He knocked on the carriage walls harshly, trying to wake the man sleeping inside.

"Ugh... tomb raiding? I'd rather not... besides wouldn't such things be done at nightfall rather than early in the morning, Natsuki-san?"

"Eh... I thought for sure you'd be willing to go"

"What do you guys think of me as?!"

"A greedy merchant, I suppose"

"Is that all?!"

"Um... a walking sack of misfortune that happens to be a greedy merchant?"

"GWAH?! Do you think of me that lowly!"

Ignoring the poor Otto's wailing, Subaru helped him up to his feet and gave him a cord of rope. He looked questioningly at it.

"Wait, are we actually... but wouldn't it be too dangerous, Natsuki-san!"

"Don't get your hopes up, I was just joking about the tomb raiding, but there were no traps in the tomb so it won't be dangerous if we did decide to do it"

"Uh no, I wasn't referring to raiding in particular, if word got out that we had found some witch-related artifact..."

"The Witch Cult will attack us, I suppose, any item related to the Witch of Envy in the hands of someone else will be taken by force..."

"What about a witch-related item that isn't connected to the Witch of Envy?"

"Um... They'll destroy it, along with the people who found it and the surrounding area, there was once a city that was destroyed single-handedly by the Sin Archbishop of Greed, Regulus Corneas, it was due to rumors of an artifact related to the Witch of... Sloth I think... or maybe it was Pride, not sure"

"A whole city..."

Subaru shrugs his shoulders, "Eh, nothing to worry about, just gonna confirm if I have the qualifications, and I need you to pull me out in case I faint or something"

"If you wanted someone to pull you out, wouldn't Rem-san be a better choice?"

"Nope, she probably wouldn't let me enter"

Having said that, they all set off for the tomb. They passed many houses, passed by many people, most of which seem to be in their late fifties, they gave them helpless looks, the place really did look depressing.

News that Emilia had failed the trial had spread across Sanctuary though no one really cared, it's like they expected her to fail, it was clearly shown on their faces.

"You don't have to show it, you know..." He said under his breath.

.

They had reached the tomb and Subaru was preparing to venture inside, he had Beatrice tug the rope to make sure it was secured, after that he starting to step in.

Slowly, he proceeded to descend deeper into the tomb, it was much different from last night, everything was much brighter now, the patterns chiseled into the walls of the stone hallway were clear and distinct.

"Hmm... nothing..."

He reached the bottom and he felt fine, no headache, no nausea, no falling to the floor and waking up in a grass field, it seems like he really does have the qualifications, could it be the 'Apostle of Greed' thing Echidna mentioned at the end of their first meeting.

"Hey, guys I'm not dreaming right?"

He yelled out loudly to the two people outside the tomb, his voice echoed through the stone hallway.

"No, I suppose!"

Having confirmed that he wasn't dreaming he decided to continue exploring the tomb, he kept on going forward until he reached a chamber, this was where he took the trials last night.

"Uhm... Natsuki-san the rope won't reach that far!" Otto shouted.

"It's okay! I can get out on my own now!" He replied back.

He went to the end of the chamber, there was a distinct section of the wall that felt pushed in, it most likely a door that would open when the trial was completed, and he guessed that the actual burial place or whatever would be in there.

Seeing that there is nothing else that grabbed his attention, he went back up.

"So? How did it go?"

"Yeah, mission accomplished, I felt normal when I got in so that means I must be accepted"

He took off the rope that was tied around his waist, "Okay, now onto more pressing matters, I'm gonna check on Emilia, see ya around!" and he dashed off.

He walks over to the house that Emilia slept in last house and knocked the door.

"Hey Emilia, you awake?"

"Uhum... yeah come in"

He opens the door and enters, inside, Rem was with her, she was doing Emilia's hair, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity as Puck usually does it as per their contract, with him now gone and Emilia having zero fashion sense, it was up to Rem to make her look presentable.

"So how are you feeling Emilia?"

"Oh, I'm feeling fine thank you, I'll take your's and Rem's advice and take the day off"

"Great... so let's look at this from a strategical point of view" He goes sits down on a chair near the table, "If we can find a way around the trials, then you don't have to take it"

"Eh, but won't that be like cheating? Subaru, we shouldn't cheat, Puck told me that it's a bad thing to do"

Rem giggled and Subaru sighed, "It's not exactly cheating... but if you say so, anyway, for now, let's about your past, if you discuss it with other people, it won't be so hard to accept it, yeah?"

"Yeah got it... my past huh..." she thought for a bit and a sad expression appeared on her face.

"Is it... too painful to talk about...?"

"Uh, oh no, it's just... I'm confused... the past I was shown during the trials, it felt like... It really wasn't my past, I mean, I don't remember it very clearly, and the feeling it gave me was like... I was someone else, or those memories were made up, like a dream..."

Subaru listened to every word and came to the conclusion, "Maybe those were fake memories..."

"Fake memories?" Rem asked.

"Yeah fake memories, like they made up and forced into your brain, is there magic that can do that Rem?"

"As far as Rem's knowledge in magic goes, I have never heard of memory manipulation magic, Subaru-kun, perhaps it could be related to Gluttony"

"Hmm, yeah it might, so then Emilia might have encountered him before, for now, let's start with the past you still know, like where did you live back when you were young?"

Rem had finished doing her hair and had taken another chair and sat at the edge of the bed with Emilia.

Emilia thought about her past for a while.

"When I was little... I lived in the Elior forest with Mother Fortuna, I call her that but she was actually my aunt. My dad and my mom had to do a lot of traveling so they were almost never home, they never told me why though... so Mother Fortuna took care of me for most of my life"

He remembered reading about sometimes when he went to the capital once, "I've read about it, and if I recall it was frozen quite a long time ago, maybe a hundred years before now, it must have been pretty cold there, right?"

"Actually, it was quite warm, there hasn't been snow there for the first seven years of my time there"

"Really... Wait?! Then that means your like, more than a hundred years old?" He asked her with a shocked expression. Rem wasn't really surprised as she already knew this.

"Pretty much, elves have suuuper long lifespans, but I'm only half so I don't get to live that long..."

Subaru started laughing slightly, this made Emilia frown, "Hey whats so funny?!"

"Sorry Emilia, haha, it's just that when older people find out about that they'll be so jealous of you, hahaha!"

"Huh?"

"I think Subaru-kun is right, Emilia-sama, when people grow into their old age, many yearn for youth again, Emilia-sama is older than most of us here but her beauty surpasses us all"

"Really, thanks..." she smiled happily.

"That would explain your archaic word choices... anyway, if you've lived for that long then that means you know what happened when the forest froze over right?"

She then gives a sad and confused look, "Actually I don't really remember, I think that was what my trial was about, I remember... it was snowing, the whole elf village froze, including me... that's about what I remember from my trial..."

She paused for a bit before continuing, "After that, I think Puck got me out of the ice and then we formed contract, we weren't able to free the rest from the ice, it didn't work, but then seven years later, Roswaal found us and we started living in the mansion"

Judging from how old she looks, people would get that she was around eighteen or nineteen, but in actuality she was above a hundred years old. But given the amount of time she was conscious, it was about fourteen years, her mentality would be equal to that of a middle schooler, it would explain her innocence.

"I see... so you're like Rem right? Roswaal found them after their village was destroyed and he took you in?"

"No, not quite, the moment he talked to us, Puck and him fought for almost the whooole day" She looks at the green crystal on her neck and smiles, "That is until Roswaal explained himself, he told us that he was looking for someone that was capable of becoming a royal candidate"

"And you just accepted it like that?"

"Well, not really... you remember what I said in the royal hall about wanting to bring equality to all..."

"Yeah, that alone is a good enough reason to be King"

"I know but... that was kinda like my secondary motive... the true reason why I wanted to be King is... a bit selfish actually..."

She had a guilty look on her face. Emilia being selfish? 'Impossible' Subaru thought.

"Can you tell us?"

"You see, the reason I wanted to be King... the King gets access to the royal store of the Dragon Volcaninca's blood, it is said to be able to cure any disease and regenerate lost land... and I wanted to use it... to free all the other elves that were frozen in Elior forest..."

She covered her face with her hands in shame as the other two looked at her shocked and dumbstruck. Subaru put his hand on her shoulder, she removed her hands and looks at him.

"Emilia, if your saying that's selfish then me fighting the cult and Rem venturing into the forest to stop the mabeast was also selfish" Rem nodded, "It's not selfish... actually, it's the exact opposite, it's selfless, there's no reason to be guilty for wanting to save someone"

She sighed, "I guess your right..."

*Grumble*

Before they could continue, Subaru's stomach rumbled, they all faced towards him, the two girls giggled, while Subaru clutched his stomach in embarrassment.

"Looks like Subaru-kun is hungry, we should stop here, Rem will prepare some food for everyone"

"Okay, I'm looking forward to it!"

"Yes, please do," She said while happily leaving the house, the other two followed behind her.

Subaru was walking around with Emilia, they were looking for Beatrice. When Subaru split up with Otto, she was left behind, and she didn't say a word, she also knew where he was going so if she wanted to follow him she could, which leads to one conclusion...

"Looks like she went to explore Sanctuary a bit..."

"Well, if I were Beatrice, I wouldn't want to venture out alone in the forest..."

"Well, Beako is familiar with Sanctuary so there's no need to worry about her, she's strong too and... Argh! What am I thinking, she's just a little girl, I shouldn't be l-"

"Who are you calling a little girl, I suppose!"

From behind them, Beatrice appeared, she had her usual cold demeanor.

"Beako!" he yelled as he ran over to her, "You had me worried there for a second, where were you?"

"Hmph, you left Betty alone, I suppose. I went to accompany the green one to the stables

"Oh, so you went to check on Patarasche? Haha, I knew you two would get along, Anyway, I'm hungry so let's go and eat"

"Whatever, I suppose"

.

Grabbing the spirits hand, he dragged her over to where he could smell food and entered the building, it was a kitchen, a rather large one. Even though he was no good at cooking what so ever, he was still a servant so he decided to at least help out.

After helping out in the kitchen, they all ate, everyone but Roswaal and Ram was present at the outdoor dining area.

The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful, Subaru decided that he would use this time to get closer to Garfiel and Lewes since they both seem to have high authority in Sanctuary. Garfiel was usually busy, he would be off doing patrols every now and then but Lewes was relatively free for most of the time.

.

The next day was went by quick, Subaru went fishing with Otto in the morning, took a walk with Rem in the afternoon and then they all went to the tomb's entrance at night.

They all cheered Emilia on and waited hopefully, but she returned tear faced having failed the trials a second time.

They tried again the day after the next but the results were the same, it was clear that she wasn't gonna pass the trials anytime soon, but despite that, she wouldn't back down.

It has been four days since they have reached Sanctuary and with Emilia's constant failures it was evident that the villagers were starting to panic, they worry that they may never leave.

Subaru thought he'd do something about this.

.

"Heya Garfiel"

"Oh, 'S you, wadda ya want?"

The first thing he needs to do is to get Garfiel to move along with his plan, he knows Lewes will be ok with it but if Garfiel isn't then nothing will work out.

"Listen here, the hostages are starting to get rowdy and I can see a potential conflict arising soon between the locals and them, I say we let them go already, Emilia's already trapped in here anyway and it might put her at ease knowing that their safe"

"Hmmm..."

"And besides, if your gonna keep them here, I don't think your food stocks gonna suffice, we'll probably run out in a week"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it... 'S fine with me, jus go talk ta Granny, she'll decide, tell er my amazing self's okay with it"

He leaps off into the forest as he finishes. That went much smoother than he originally thought, judging by his appearance and brute strength, one would say he's not the one to talk things out, though he was proven wrong. He expected him to hold firm and say something like, 'No uh, no ones leavin till the barriers down' or something like that.

Now that the main obstacle is down, he can proceed with the easy stuff, he's already got Roswaal's approval, now all he needs is Lewe's.

.

The talk with Lewes was short and brief, she quickly understood the situation and agreed to his solution. Now all that's left is to inform the villagers and start the preparations.

"Hey everyone, we're bringing you back home tomorrow!"

He shouted as he entered the Cathedral. Hearing him, the all burst cheering and celebrating, though it all died out quickly as they went to pack up and prepare the carriages.

"Uh... Subaru, whats happening?"

"They all looked pretty gloomy a minute ago, did you do something Natsuki-san?"

Emilia and Otto asked him as they saw the villagers excitedly come in and out of the Cathedral.

"Oh, we're sending them home this afternoon, they were getting pretty homesick and with them out of the way you can take it easy and not worry about anything, Emilia"

"Oh... I'm sorry, I shouldn't take so long to finish the trials..."

"Hah, it's okay Emilia, it's not easy facing your past"

.

After hours of preparations, they were finally ready to leave. Otto, Subaru, and Beatrice were to leave with the villagers and the merchants, while the rest stayed.

"Good luck with the trials Emilia!"

He yelled as he waved them goodbye. Lewes accompanied them till she hit the barrier and then she turned back. Though Subaru and Beatrice noticed something odd, the place where Lewes started losing consciousness was much farther away than was Garfiel first found them.

After the eight hour trip, they made it, Subaru and Beatrice split up with Otto and the others to visit the mansion. They passed through the front lawn, it was clean and watered, seems like Frederica was busy.

"Hello! We're home!"

His voice echoed through the countless halls, it was unlikely that they didn't hear him.

"..."

"..."

"No reply, I suppose..."

"They're probably either asleep already or maybe they went for some midnight shopping... oh wait I think today is the day the servants check the shack on the mountains... Frederica must be on that... so then we can assume Petra's just asleep"

"No problem with that, I suppose"

They went up the stairs to check on Petra, once they reached the top, Subaru felt a sudden chill run through his spine, it was like his body was like a warning that death was near.

"Something wrong, I suppose?"

"...No, just got this weird feeling... must be the sile-"

Before he said anything else, Beatrice shoved him with her hands, he fell to the floor and hit his head quite hard.

"Hey why the-!"

He got up slowly and looked at the spirit... she was on the ground as well, she laid flat, and she was glowing brightly, he noticed something.

"B-Bea... ko..."

His eyes widened, his voice laced with fear and anger. Beatrice was starting to fade away, on her side a knife was impaled cutting straight through her dress, she gave a look of grief. He quickly scurried over to her but then he felt a strong gust of wind blow him to the side.

He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, he sat up and put his hand on the wound, it was wet, and a chunk of it was not there. His vision started to blur as he fell back to the ground, he landed on a pink blob, it was his insides, he started coughing out blood.

"GYAH!"

He heard the spirit yelp, he tried his best to keep his eyes open, but he saw that Beatrice was no longer there, only her cloak layed flat on the ground, no blood present, and surely no spirit either.

"Bea- *cough* Beako!"

He forced his voice out to call for the spirit, but it was drowned out by his blood, his eyes started to close, his vision turning black, all he could hear was his dying heartbeat and...

"It's too bad I couldn't see her bowels... but I came back as promised and took yours..."

'No... who are you! I met you before, dammit brain remember!' He screamed internally to himself, whoever this was, they weren't going to let him die easily.

"I'll... kill you..." He said weakly before he died...

A/N

Happy new years!

This took a little longer than I expected, was busy since I'm now back to school and mocks are next month, great... Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, it pained me to write the last part but I had to put the idea.

Probably going to make chap 8 before chap 3 of Warlock, I'll work on both of them at the same time, and I'll upload the one I finish fastest.

I'm planning on making him loop about 3-5 times so there's gonna be a lot of chapters, it's just the beginning anyway...

See ya later, Update speeds vary, 3 days - 2 weeks, but expect close to 5 days, k bye!