Chapter Text
Joy.
That was what everyone in the theater was feeling.
After seeing the young nasty-eyed boy go through hell in the shape of unending loops full of pain and despair, seeing how he was eaten alive by the great hare, discovering that everything he suffered was planned from the beginning by a mad clown with the sole objective of shaping him into the perfect tool for his schemes, and witnessing what was once an innocent man loose little by little his will to live; it was only natural for them to feel happy for him after seeing him become a knight for his beloved one. Getting what he rightfully deserved after all he went.
Emilia, Rem and Beatrice were hugging the sleeping hero, with tears of joy in their eyes. After the whole viewing, they forgot how a happy Subaru looked like. Therefore, seeing him full of joy after achieving his goal was something truly invigorating.
“…Congratulations.” Emilia whispered, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“I knew you could do it, my hero! Rem has always believed in you!” Rem, despite not being quite a fan of not being conscious while her hero was finally being recognize as a real knight by everyone, was still happy that the screen allowed her another chance to enjoy this one in a lifetime moment.
“You have done well, I suppose.” Beatrice told her sleeping contractor, with a fond smile on her face. “...Betty is proud of you.”
As for the duo, soon to be trio, of idiots, well…
“YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” Garfiel screamed at the top of his lungs. “THA’S MY CAP’N! YA BETTER BELIEVE’T! SOON TA WHOLE WORLD WILL KNOW ‘IS NAME! WOOOO!!!!”
“Garf! Calm down a little bit, please!” Otto did not want Garf to calm down, in the slightest. If there was a time to be celebrating, it was now. He believed his bro deserve every praise and more.
Same could be said for Frederica; who, instead of scolding her brother for screaming like a lunatic, chose to remain silent and smile as a silent way to celebrate the boy’s victory.
Petra, who was next to her, was also happy to see her beloved so alive. She was already hopelessly in love with the charismatic man who came into her life one day, saved it and filled it with the light only he could shine. Now, after seeing what he suffered for the sake of those he loved...well...once she returned home, she would force politely ask her parents for their permission to marry him straight away. Concepts such as age, laws or her beloved’s consent did not matter to her: she was going to make him happy, whenever he likes it or not.
Roswaal, who was utterly, totally and completely fucked after having his schemes revealed to all these people, could not help but to smile at the scene. Even if he was angry with the boy for ruining his plans and making his 400 years full of sins worthless, he did not hate him. Even he knew he was the bad guy of the story, and Subaru was just another of his victims. So, seeing him succeed at that which he wanted, even at the cost of his own goals, it did make him happy. At last, after so many years, good finally won over evil.
Ram was feeling proud, but only just a small, tiny, liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit at Barusu (not that she would admit it, anyways). The real person she was proud at was Roswaal. Just looking at him smile so sincerely showed her how much he advanced as a man. No longer mourning the loss of the book that decided his destiny instead of him.
Not that it would save him from whatever the knights planned to do him to make him pay for his crimes.
While the Emilia Camp’s members were busy being themselves, others were celebrating their friend’s victory as well:
Felt was applauding and congratulating her big bro with a grin on her face. Had she not know that the knight next to her would (try to) stop her, she would be whistling and screaming as well.
Said knight would be proud of her for showing manners (or at least, not showing the opposite). Unluckily, all of his attention was at the screen. Seeing his friend getting the title of a knight he earned after so much work filled him with joy. Reinhard firmly believed Subaru was better at being a hero than he could ever be, so seeing how he was a step closer from being recognized as such brought him the much needed faith in the world he, like anyone who sees their friend die in horrific ways multiple times, started to loose little by little throughout the viewing.
The Crusch Camp was the calmest one about everything, with Crusch smiling fondly at the view of the man who saved and avenged hundreds of souls in the battlefield being recognized officially as a knight; Wilhelm staring at the boy he considered his grandson full of pride; and Felix simply happy to get a nice moment after all the trauma inducing stuff.
Anastasia, unlike her mercenaries, who were cheering at the boy’s victory, was planning how to get him into her camp. Time’s money, after all. While the usage of “Return by Death” would surely be beneficial in, well, any area she could think of; she promised herself that she would not force the man to use it for such small reasons. One of the very little things money could not buy was humanity; and she had no plans of losing hers, nor let the kid loose his. Still, the otherworldly knowledge he possessed was invaluable, and not taking advantage of that would be stupid as hell.
Meanwhile, Julius, much like Reinhard, was both proud and happy for the man he could only hope he could call a friend. He truthfully regretted what he did, and, even if the intentions were good, he still doubted he was deserving of forgiveness. Regardless, he would not let these thoughts ruin this moment, so he chose to push them away, and enjoy what he was seeing as much as he could.
Contrary to what you would initially think, Priscilla was somewhat amused with this scene. Not because she liked the boy, of course. Instead, she found this ending to be of an “acceptable” quality for what she considered something similar to a theater play. Anything else would have ruined the whole story.
Al, while still somewhat disappointed at his otherworldly bro chose to prioritize others instead of himself, was still happy that he not only got a happy ending at last, but he also started to love himself a little bit, and not see himself as expendable.
‘Baby steps, I guess…’
Over all, everyone was in a good mood. Some started talking to each other, while others were still processing everything they saw. After some time, however, someone realized that something was off.
“Hey, shouldn’t Cap’n wake up now? I mean, ‘tis was t’ fourth arc, right? ” Surprisingly, it was Garfiel the first one to remember that the warden, the being that summoned them to the theater, promised them.
As he finished saying that, everyone else went silent for a second, before deciding to answer his question.
“That’s right, Garf!” Emilia chimed up in excitement at imagining her knight finally opening his eyes after so long. She really wanted to talk to him as soon as possible.
...
...
...
However, said excitement lasted short, as she realized that the screen had been turned off pretty long ago; yet Subaru remained as unmoving as ever.
“Then…why…” she did not finished the question, yet everyone understood what she was going to ask.
‘Why is he still unconscious?’
“Perhaps tha’ warden guy left us for a moment an’ hasn’t realize we’re over with th’ viewin’.” It was Anastasia who offered a possible explanation to the events, or lack of, that was occurring.
“Hmmm, indeed. The warden did seem to have the intention of keeping his word.” Julius, after thinking his mistress words, quickly chose to support them. “But if that is the case, should we just wait until he returns?” He asked.
“We could try calling his name out loud, in hopes that he hears us wherever he is.” Reinhard added his own opinion in the matter.
If screaming at the top of his lungs worked for Subaru, he doesn´t see why not try such a marvelous strategy.
“I believe that would be both unnecessary and worthless.”
As the voice started speaking, everyone became quiet.
They could tell whoever was speaking to them was not the warden. Despite coming from the screen like his did, the voice of the unknown person was different: it was a feminine, awfully sweet voice. Despite being polite and giving no reasons to be afraid of, it sent shivers to anyone who heard it.
“Oh, pardon my unannounced appearance. I was waiting for everyone to finish talking so that I could introduce myself. I dislike interrupting others when it is not necessary for me to do so, after all. Heheh.”
If the voice gave everyone bad vibes, the small laugh at the end did nothing but confirm their worst fears.
“Just… who are y-” Reinhard began questioning, only to be interrupted by his mistress.
“WHO CARES ABOUT THAT!?” Felt exclaimed in a worried tone. Before anyone could say anything to her, she continued. “TELL ME, THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO THE WARDEN!?”
Despite what anyone would think at first, she actually had grown fond of their warden. Had it not been for him, they would have never known her big bro’s suffering; so she really felt like she owed him one. He sounded like a cool guy, too.
So, seeing that he was replaced with a woman that raised as many red flags as a kid playing Microsoft’s minesweeper (not that she knew what that was, of course) only made her worried for him. Did she do something to him? Is he safe? Is he all right?
To some extent, the same could be said of everyone. Except Priscilla, who was still Priscilla.
“Hmmm, to answer the first question, I must agree with Felt. Knowing my name or anything about me is pointless, as it will not change the situation you are currently in. Nothing will.”
As the mysterious woman empathized the word “nothing”, two things were left clear to The Cast:
- This voice was the new person in charge here.
- She would not be as nice as the previous one.
“As for the second one, I believe you are all informed that this…“Warden” was involved in a fight while you were witnessing the young man’s past, is that correct?”
Her tone made it clear. She wanted answers, and would only accept the truth.
Those who were not still startled by her sudden appearance started nodding their heads. They, indeed, knew that he was fighting someone or something. Did anything happened that would not allow him to come to the theater? Could it be that he…
Soon, they realize that they did not know whenever this being could see them or not. However, before they could speak, she replied.
“Good. Well, as it turns out, the scale of said battle kept increasing and increasing, to the point were not even we could ignore it. Therefore, we decided to… intervene. Mhmhmh.”
They didn’t even get the chance to process the fact that she was not alone on this. As they heard her silent laugher, they could already guess that whatever this intervention involved was nothing good.
“BASTARD!!!” Felt screamed. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!!?!?!?”
She felt a hand one her shoulder. When she looked at the owner, she realized it was her knight’s; who was slowly shaking his head with a sad expression, letting her know that she should expect the worst.
He was not happy with this, but the only thing they could do now was remain calm, assert the situation and act accordingly. He knew the warden was not someone weak, even compared to him, the Sword Saint. Therefore, if he truly had lost to this unknown lady, that would mean she was someone not to be taken lightly.
“Once again, I believe that to be irrelevant. The only thing you need to know is that you will not be seeing -or hearing, in this case- him from now on; and that I will be playing the role of his substitute at his absence.”
Felt wanted to continue this interrogation, but deep down she knew it would be pointless. Whoever this woman was, she would only give the answers she was willing to give.
Therefore, she remained silent, biting her tongue in an attempt to control the urge to lash out at something that, as far as she knew, had no physical form.
She could only hope that the warden they used to have did not die. Or, at least, did not suffered too much before doing so.
“Hmm.” Seeing that the teenage girl chose to keep quiet, the lady continued. “Very well, then. If that was everything you wished to ask me, I suppose everyone else has their own share of questions; more interesting ones, hopefully.”
The rest of the cast tensed up as the mysterious woman referred them. It felt as if every dark corner in the room was watching them, judging their sins and about to give a verdict none of them deserved.
This atmosphere did not lift up even when she, in a more welcoming sweet tone, asked:
“So, who would like to go next?”