The screen's flashing lights illuminated the theater as it flashed some very ominous and preferable visions and imagery with great speed. Seeing that nothing can be understood from these blurry images playing before them, many of the worried cast began questioning their predicament.
"Man, this kid always seems to have trouble coming for 'em, huh?" A feisty-looking dogman said humorously while grinning, trying to lighten the mood. Although, a few didn't find the joke as funny as he hoped.
Sharp teeth grounded as emerald-colored irises flashed towards the bulky beast-human. "Don' talk as if this is Cap'n's fault, ya hear?!"
"Whoa! Calm down, fella! I didn't intend to insult yer friend in any way!" Ricardo held his hands up nervously and apologized patiently. The need for calm and persistence flowing over his pride. He could see the rage in the blonde kid's eyes. The worry and confusion were also clear as day all over the agitated scarred face of the boy.
Ricardo also noticed that it wasn't just the boy who looked stricken from the previous events played on the strange window. Almost the entire camp surrounding the sleeping black-haired youth was distraught about the events.
Many in the theater were placed in a position of utter confusion at what they had witnessed. None more, than the few people sitting around the unconscious black-haired young man.
"What is this, I suppose?! It doesn't make sense for Betty to be missing from such an event, in fact!" The small blonde drill-haired girl shouted her rage and confusion as she held on to the boy's arm tightly. An expression of panic and fear etched on her childish face. The memory of what her contractor had to endure alone while everyone he cared for was dead around him was the worst… but that scene of him stabbing himself… It was downright haunting.
The small spirit never felt this scared in all of her miserable years of existence. The gore and horror committed against her Subaru was more than enough to bring her to tears. She would never let anyone figure out his connection to the cursed factors. Betty promised that she would be his protector. She would guard him against harm. Whatever that demon was… Betty would be prepared for it when it comes for her Subaru.
"You won't hurt Betty's Subaru again, in fact." The spirit growled dangerously as she burned the image of the demon into her head. The anger boiling within her shared by many of the people clutching her contractor tightly.
None, were as furious as a certain blue-haired maid.
Was this what had become of him after she fell to Gluttony's deceit? Did she fall only to cause horror on the one person she lived to die for?
Rem could only try and calm her breathing as she held her dress tightly. The memory of her love stabbing himself ingrained in her memory…
"Subaru-kun…" The maid whispered as she gazed at his sleeping form from behind. Her placement allowing her to gaze at him but never allowed to touch him or it would look scandalous.
The small Oni maid simply shook her head of the memory and focused on something else for now. Her anger won't do any good here unless she plans to embarrass her gracious lord and her sister before all of these important personalities present.
She was but a maid. She can't dwell on something shown to her by a weird window controlled by the people who kidnapped them to sit here.
She won't believe for a second that her hero suffered such a horrible fate as death with her out of commission.
Even though she was dead beside her own beloved sister… Rem couldn't believe that such a vision might happen.
It couldn't…
"Subaru… " A voice coated like a silver-bell spoke out. "Wake up, Subaru… " The voice begged, heartbreak and disbelief clear in their tone.
A beautiful silver-haired lady with pointy ears was shown speaking to the innocent sleeping young man beside her. Her eyes looking tired and despaired as she gazed down at the boy beside her.
Her tears showing signs of her distress and agitation at the unknown event that had played.
What happened in there? Why would her wonderful knight stab himself for no reason? Why did she let him fight that monster on his own? She wouldn't ever let him face something like that alone! She was… She was dead…
In the vision… her knight was facing a monster, alone, and everyone's corpses around him.
It was cruel. Horrifying. Completely imaginary.
It mustn't be real… She was alive… Her Subaru was alive…
Emilia finally found more courage to hold Subaru's limp hand. Her nervousness and fear almost dissipating immediately upon her fingertips connecting with his warm, loving, and protective grip.
The half-elf smiled for a moment, distress and vision completely forgotten as she took the chance to observe how adorable the boy looked when he was asleep. The warmth and closeness completely erasing the sense of unease and alarm the vision had set.
Her Subaru was happy when he was beside her. She was happy when she was beside him.
There was no way her wonderful knight would ever resort to harming himself like that. He had her and the rest of his friends. But he mainly had her.
It wasn't real. That entire vision was just a piece of imagination. Nothing shown on it was to be believed.
That's what the half-elf had come to as a conclusion.
Her Subaru was alive, happy, and sitting right by her side… as he should be. Emilia's warmth showed through her amethyst eyes as she held her knight's hand, comfortable for his safety.
"This is dumb!" A loud voice of a young girl shouted in frustration.
"Try breaking the wall with both of your fists!"
"I've been tryin' fer a while girly! Leave me alone!"
A blonde ruffed looking young man shouted in agitation as he sat on his seat and held his head in his hands. The expression of anger and confusion settling in.
A smooth, charming speaker moved in to stop an argument from erupting. "Felt-sama, please. I think we should give them all a bit more time to deal with… the tragedy, this vision showed us."
The charming speaker was met with an annoyed huff as the little girl beside him turned away and stomped towards her seat in the back of the row.
"This is lame! It wasn't real anyways! Why should we trust anything this stupid window shows us?" The scarlet-eyed, blonde girl shouted as she hopped down on her seat with a displeased expression clear on her face.
Her red-haired, handsome companion followed her trail and took the seat beside hers. His expression was one of pure contemplation and a hint of upset. Remembering that memory wasn't a pleasant thought, not to him or his lady.
"I've been thinking of all magic users and mythical monsters that might look like that… creature. But I can't remember anything that matches it's description." The royal knight spoke in a disappointed tone, looking down with bluish disappointed eyes.
"You think that vision was a fake, Felt-sama?" A stern lady spoke while looking at the blonde girl piercingly.
Felt glanced up towards the noble green-haired maiden and snorted.
"Yea, nothing in this world could ever kill Rein that easily." At his lady's words, the charming red-headed knight couldn't help but bow his head humbly.
"Your words are far too kind, my lady. But I fear that you have too much faith in me-"
"Yea, yea, you're humble. Shut up."
A helmeted, one-armed man laughed loudly from the very back in amusement at the sight of Felt's annoyance with her knight's humble attitude.
As Reinhard bit his lip in discomfort and worry for his lady's inflated perception of his ability, the girl was already facing the duchess and explaining her reasoning without a care shown.
"This idiot over here is the strongest person alive." Felt stated for the duchess and the crowed listening in with a matter-of-fact tone. "If the monster guy killed Rein then none of us have a chance against 'em."
As the green-haired duchess held her chin in thought, someone else decided to argue the blonde's words.
"Pardon me." A polite, nervous young man spoke with his hat held to his chest as he bowed towards the two ladies from where he stood. "I'm sorry to intrude, Felt-sama, Karsten-sama. But I fail to see how your point disproves the reality we've seen."
Not understanding what this icky looking wimp was saying, Felt decided to glare at him and demand an explanation. "What are ya saying?!"
Flinching at the harshness the lady was showing him, Otto stuttered nervously. "W-What I meant was how you've ignored the rest of this vision… We could learn from it-"
"There's nothing to learn from! It's all fake I tell ya!"
"But… your knight wasn't the only corpse visible…"
And just like that… the mood instantly darkened across the room as Otto let his words fall heavily across the theater. Before the many schemers and players for the ruby throne, he set the mood for a conversation ignored and almost hated.
"Everyone in this room was apparently butchered by this killer… Except for Subaru-dono." An old man with piercing blue-eyes mused thoughtfully and sternly.
The mood darkened even more as everyone remembered how their bodies were shown, cut-open and flung across the grass in a horrid display of decoration. As if the monster was showing off his amusement with their blood.
Reinhard wasn't the only one feeling angry or some sort of upset at his failure and incompetence with stopping the monster. Every knight, fighter, and friend present in the room were all clenching their fists in anger for not being able to protect the ones they swore to defend and shield.
None were as angry as the sharp-teethed blonde boy sitting beside the standing Otto.
"The monster knew him somehow. Why would Subaru-kyun know someone that powerful?" Felix mused from his seat while holding an expression of distrust for a moment.
"You guys seem to have forgotten something important…" Al raised his hand for a moment to gain peoples attention. As eyes fell on him, he began explaining his point. "It doesn't really sit well that we all happen to be in the same location, don't ya think? I mean why would all of us be standing on some random grassy field? It seems like a made thing to me." The one-armed man shrugged and fell silent, concluding his explanation to the crowed.
Many nodded their heads at the logical explanation.
"Hm, I do agreeee that the possibility of us all going out on a picnic and suddenly encountering this beast is highly improooobable." A clown-faced eccentric looking man voiced his agreement while his helpful pink-haired maid gave a curt nod. His smile was mischievous and sinister as he spoke.
A short chuckle came out of the innocent looking lady dressed in a fur coat and wearing a fox-scarf. "I do agree wichya. It is a slim chance for all of these personalities to be present in such a remote location. So that would be reason alone to dismiss what we were shown as a fake vision." As the purple-haired, scheming lady took control of the conversation, she smiled sharply as she tried to pounce on a point of contention she was having. She needed to look as authoritative as possible before her contenders after all.
Leading them out of here would be a huge blow for all their morale.
But she was interrupted by an uncaring blonde lady.
"It's not that ya idiot."
Anastasia slowly turned with a still smile. "Excuse me?" The merchant princess asked sternly, almost growling under her breath.
Felt simply crossed her arms and tapped her boot's toe against the floor in thought. "It's not just the fact that we were all dead on the floor." She ignored how her knight flinched and clenched his fists harder.
Her scarlet eyes slowly wandered towards the unconscious boy at the very front of the room.
A soft, almost adoring look present on her face as she spoke in a reminiscent tone. "I can't believe that big bro would just off himself like that." Felt shook her head in sadness as she remembered the image of the boy's suicide.
"Pardon me." Felt slowly looked up towards the duchess, who was now gazing down with interest and sharp observation. "Did you know Natsuki Subaru from before? You seem close with him since you're calling him a big brother."
Felt gave her green-haired rival for the throne a snort as she leaned on her hip. "Yea, I met the idiot before. He saved my life."
Rem and Garfiel looked at the girl with interest and surprise. Most of the room's audience looked surprised by this revelation.
"Oh, he did?" Crusch sounded her amusement at the boy's heroic antics while hiding her smile by faking a rubbing motion on her chin.
Felt nodded her head and pointed her thumb towards the boy. "Yep, this moron saved me from a really dangerous lady a few months ago. He had the gall to tell me that there was always something to look forward to in life before jumping into danger himself to buy me time for an escape."
Most were enthralled by the tale while others in the room smiled warmly and proudly at the tale told of their black-haired friend and colleague.
"My hero has always been this way…" Rem whispered as she gazed towards the boy.
Otto shook his head in exasperation but held a small smile of relief at his friend's habit of being a hero yet being a dumbass at the same time.
Garfield looked at the girl with a proud smirk and a starry look as he listened to how awesome his captain truly was.
The small loli spirit sitting beside the boy simply huffed and shook her head. A small smile for her contractor's beloved habit of saving those in need could be seen over her lips.
Emilia could only smile softly at the tale, the memory of her first meeting with the boy sending a warm fluffy feeling in her tummy.
"Typical Barusu, hmph! Setting his nonexistent charms on such a young maiden." Ram snorted in what appeared to be intended as disgust but her small smile was too telling of her true feelings on the matter.
"I see. Thank you for telling us this. I do agree that Natsuki-sama wouldn't seem like the type of person to just give up and give his life like that before such a monster." Crusch nodded her head in appreciation and observed the flashing screen before her.
"Yeeeesss, speaking of Natsuki Subaru-" Anastasia tried to take back her control over the conversation with a swift intervention but her mind couldn't have anticipated the next obnoxious speaker cutting her off.
"Hmph! Why is everybody repeating that commoner filth's name as if it was important to this discussion somehow?! All we saw was how much of a cowardly dog he was." A fiery-haired scarlet-eyed lady crossed her legs and fanned her face softly with a red fan while gazing uninterested at the crowds below her. Bored with their squabbling and disgusted with the subject.