Chapter Text
The collapse of Lugunica practically happened overnight.
When Subaru was killed, his name was freed almost instantly. The air stood still. Memories came back but slowly. It took time for everyone to connect their lost memories and their new ones. The very first thing that had happened was absolute chaos. There were riots in the street. People tried to kill the Knights, they tried to destroy Royal Candidates, even the Council of Wise Men were under attack.
It would have been bad enough if Subaru was executed. He had made a horrible debut, disrespecting every knight in Lugunica. Then he had firmly lost in a duel with the finest Knight. And then in a single week had destroyed an Archbishop and two Great Beasts. The Archbishop and Great Rabbit were killed without casualties, no less. He was the killer of an archbishop. He had vanquished 2 Great Beasts. At first, his achievements were doubted. They were quickly believed over the next year. And after his death, they were almost fully believed.
A person, during their first noteworthy moment had disrespected every Knight publicly. Then, he was beaten soundly. Then, he killed 2 Great Witchbeasts and an Archbishop. Then, after his showing in Priestella, his name was taken and he was later executed with blatant signs of abuse on his person. That was suspicious enough. Worse yet, the Council of Wise Men chose to hide his involvement in Priestella even after his name had returned. They shouldn’t escalate things too far.
That was nothing more than a bomb to be set off.
The secret crumbled quickly, none of the Royal Candidates, servants nor Knights were willing to keep his involvement a secret. Even suggesting the idea had nearly resulted in Emilia freezing over the Royal Castle. Worse yet, she was nearly allowed to, even Julius and Reinhard had turned a blind eye to the frost. It seemed that not even the Sword Saint was truly willing to side with the council any longer. In the end, Felt was actually the one that stopped her, saying that things had gone too far.
Despite this, the Candidates weren’t the ones to reveal the secret, it was the Witch Cult. Lust had staged an attack on the Capital under the pretense of Revenge on Natsuki Subaru for assisting in the killing Greed and the capturing Wrath. Worse yet, one of the Archbishops of Gluttony had freed Wrath. Killing and erasing many Knights in their way.
The direct attack was quelled quickly but there were now more active Witch Cultists in the Capital. And therefore more people to stir the pot.
The chaos ensuing was anything but avoidable. Almost no one trusted the Council anymore and even less trusted the Royal Candidates. The only Candidate that was even somewhat supported was Felt who, along with her Knight, had entered the Royal Castle one day and never came back out.
“The Council’s a formality nowadays. The entirety of Lugunica is in a quiet civil war. There are so many sides, and now even the Witch Cult is being supported by some. People stay off the streets. The economy is broken too. Most of the merchants are Cultists too but removing them will cause problems. Every day a new fight between or within factions breaks out.” Meili explained.
“That’s… bad.” Subaru said. It was obvious but he couldn’t find anything better to say.
Meili leaned back in her seat, putting her feet on the table. “I don’t really care about any of that though, I just have my pets looking for Lust so I can avoid her.”
“Lust is ‘Mother’?” Subaru guessed.
“I see your time in prison hasn’t dulled your mind. How long were you in there anyways?” Meili asked.
Subaru opened his mouth to answer but then he thought for a moment then he narrowed his eyes. He knew about how long he was in prison for, about 3 years. He knew that he was ACTUALLY in prison for: 2 months. But… Meili, had teared up when she saw him. She missed him but, more importantly, she also RECOGNIZED him. She knew what had happened, she knew the aftermath of what happened and Subaru doubted she was there for the consequences, so she must have learned about it herself or had been told. So why wouldn’t she know how long he was in prison for? And even stranger…
“Why do you ask?” Subaru questioned.
That shouldn’t have been her first question.
Meili’s breath caught in her throat. “S-sorry.” Meili sat down normally again, expression serious and… concerned? “It’s not like me to beat around the bush. I just wanted to confirm. You can go back in time, can’t you?”
"...What?"
Later...
Subaru jumped from tree to tree as Meili rode a Guiltylowe through the forest. Under the effects of Murak, movement…. Well movement wasn’t actually easy but he could keep up with Meili by placing his feet carefully. Every so often Subaru would crash into a tree or get his foot stuck and plummet straight downwards, nearly killing or injuring himself many times. During one such occurrence, Subaru took a bit to recover mana and rest.
“Are you sure you don’t want to hitch a ride?” Meili asked in concern.
“I’m sure that I do want to.” Subaru clarified. “But I can’t.”
As Subaru had figured out from the cultists and confirmed when Meili stepped closer to him, Subaru had acquired Haphephobia at some point during his interrogations. The fear of being touched. That meant that he literally couldn’t get closer than at most 2 meters from Meili or any of her Witchbeasts without having a panic attack. He hoped that restriction didn’t apply to Beatrice… or Emilia… or Rem.
That’s why they weren’t heading straight for the mansion but for Arlam village which would be a good place to reintroduce Subaru first, not to mention safe. Out of everywhere to hide, Meili spent time there the most. She usually stayed with Petra and Fredrica. Meili genuinely had checked her surroundings for any sign of the Lust through her bat Witchbeasts but there was a reason that she checked the Capital despite Witch Cultists being more active there.
“Petra had asked me to keep an eye out for you. I didn’t really think I’d find you.” Meili sighed, sitting down casually on the Guiltylowe.
“Why were you happy to see me?” Subaru asked.
“...Huh?”
Subaru spoke, “I mean, I really wasn’t… ‘good’ to you. We imprisoned you, killed the closest thing you had to family, the only thing I did was talk to you and sew plushies for you. I’m surprised you even kept touch with Petra, let alone… not kill me on sight.”
He didn’t even pause. It was like he’d asked the question a hundred times.
“I will do it now if you want.” Meili said with a dark expression, Guiltylowe growling at Subaru. Seeing that Subaru didn’t flinch, Meili and Guiltylowe went back into a resting position. “Tch, how boring”
“Sorry… I’ve gotten good at sensing hostility.” Subaru explained.
Meili scoffed. “Don’t sound so apologetic. Jeez, is that what you spent your time doing instead of escaping? Thinking about all the things that you might have done wrong?”
"...."
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"...."
Meili’s expression darkened the longer Subaru hesitated to answer; eventually she looked away with tears in her eyes. “Od Laguna.You’re messed up, you know? More than Elsa ever was.”
Subaru smiled, finally getting enough energy and mana back to consider himself ready to go. He stood up, casting Murak on himself once more, becoming weightless. He jumped to the trees once more.
“Sorry for bringing down the mood.” Subaru started
Meili interrupted him, not looking at his face. “It’s because you were nice.”
“Huh?”
“It’s because you were nice to me. Before, Elsa was the only one that was nice to me, besides the Witchbeasts but… they had to be nice, it’s my divine protection.”
Subaru opened his mouth to speak but Meili wasn’t done.
“At first, I thought that it was normal, if someone as crazy as Elsa could be nice to me then, surely everyone would be. Maybe it was normal.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Subaru asked.
“Kind of. The village was nice to me. I didn’t get gifts or anything, but it was nice. The Camp wasn’t particularly fond of me. I could tell Beatrice only tolerated me. And Emilia tried her best. But only you and Petra actually liked me and were genuinely nice to me.”
Meili took a small breath.
“Things got harder when you were gone, the camp was on edge. The village is still on edge. Hell, even knowing you’re alive… I’m nervous. I… don’t really know how you feel about me after… the time you spent. I don’t really want to go back to when I didn’t even have Elsa on my side. When you go back, do you miss the bonds you made?”
Subaru was a bit shocked at the vulnerability that Meili was revealing. “Yeah. Gluttony was an extreme version of it. But it always hurts.”
“Does it ever get easier?”
“...No.”
Meili fell silent but Subaru smiled.
“I can’t really pat your head right now. Or… even get much closer to you. But if no one else does, then I’ll be sure to love you enough for the whole world.”
Meili’s face became red as she looked in the opposite direction of Subaru. “Is that a promise? Fanged Onee-san says you were a 'habitual promise-breaker'.”
“Fredrica said that? I guess I’ll just have to keep this promise then!” Subaru said confidently.”
Meili snickered, still looking away to, unsuccessfully, hide her blush. “You were stuck in prison for a long time. Now you’re back and you’re already back to old habits.”
The forest was filled with laughter. Subaru was glad that Meili was with him, it was proof that his past life was still here. He’d lost it all once, he didn’t want to lose it again. White hair or black, bruised or healthy, he was going to get it back. And that started by reuniting with his former friends. And that included the knights, even if that started with him beating them bloody first. He wasn’t sure how he’d hurt Reinhard yet but he’d figure it out.
He was free now. And he didn’t plan to waste that freedom at all.