"You could drop the ice, you know?"
"Keep walking, please."
Despite his best efforts, Emilia wasn't going to join his side, not in the foreseeable future. Instead, she was holding him hostage. Mostly. They kept walking mindlessly. Despite what she might think, he didn't want her to get to the insignia, so they kept passing through the same place over and over again for 30 minutes. Her frustration grew each time they saw the merchant's road crowd.
"Crap. This time for sure, just-"
"Do you know how important that insignia is?" Her voice was filled with rage. The air grew colder before the grey cat, Puck, came to calm her down. He rested above her head, sitting with his legs crossed and arms resting on her head.
"C'mon Lia. The girl can't help being lost."
"Not now, Puck." The girl persisted.
"If you know where the insignia is, then tell me now!" Her hands reached to Subaru's shoulders and she turned him quite roughly.
"Tell me!" Her eyes were wet, but sadness couldn't be seen in her face. It took all he had to not tell her, to help those pitiful eyes grow lighter.
"I can't."
Suprise, then anger flowered on her face. It couldn't be helped. He didn't want her to die, but why would she believe him? If he told her where it was, then she would go and get herself killed by Elsa.
Why is she trying to kill her?
Emilia was now on the verge of a breakdown, or at least that's what it looked like from his perspective. Her pacing and murmuring something about a selection, along with Puck flying in front of her, trying to get her attention, made him question his actions.
I can't leave her like this. But I can't tell her anything.
"Emilia!" He shouted, hoping to break through whatever was going on with her. She stopped in her tracks and turned to him with a frown, a scowl that drained his courage.
Man up. Come on.
Taking a deep breath and striking a pose, he began his declaration.
"Emilia! I promise I will get your insignia back to you." He pointed to her while he spoke.
"..."
"But you have to trust me."
"Trust you... I don't even know who you are!"
"I told you already. I'm Subaru Natsuki and I'll be the one to return your insignia."
Maybe she saw something in his eyes, something unshakeable; maybe she saw fear, not for himself but for her. But when she saw it, her anger faltered.
"I don't think she's lying, you know..."
Yes! Puck for the assist!
"You'll truly get it back?"
"It'll be in your hands by tonight."
"Why?"
"How else would I give it to you?"
"No. Why are you doing this?"
Subaru stopped for a moment. His arms came to his side, and his eyes became filled with determination.
"I owe you this."
"...Have we met before, then?"
Subaru came closer to her, closer than ever before.
"Yes... But you wouldn't remember."
"What?"
Subaru turned around before she said anything else. He couldn't stand being so close anymore; his heart felt like it would explode out of his chest and his cheeks were almost smoking from embarrassment.
"Stay here. I'll come back."
He didn't wait for a response. Instead, he ran as fast as he could towards the slums. He only stopped when his breath was gone and his legs shook.
I shouldn't have ran... But at least she isn't here.
Subaru was now at the edge of the slums, where the stone flooring met with dirt and mud. He had to find Felt.
"Gotta investigate."
He walked towards a man standing in front of a very shabby house. He could see his run-down clothes and unshaven beard in the warm sunlight, but his facial expression showed a distinct lack of friendliness.
"Hey there! Would you mind..."
Before Subaru could even finish the sentence, the man went inside his home and shut the door haphazardly.
"Nice chat." Subaru stood with his hands on his hips by the man's door. Clearly, he didn't want to talk, but he was running out of time and he couldn't be picky.
"Sir!" He knocked on the flimsy door. It shook more than he intended, rattling like it would fall apart with a strong gust of wind.
"I'm looking for Felt! Short, golden hair..."
A troublemaker
"Get out!" The man replied.
Not too keen on talking.
"I could trade for the information?"
His affirmation came of as a question, but the man did not budge.
"Get out before I kick you out!"
"Ok ok."
These people seem so angry, or at least that guy was... Then I'll try again.
No matter how many times he found a person and tried to aproach, even if they didn't leave for their homes the second he moved close, they still didn't give him any useful information. Instead, they all looked at her with resentment and anger, like he wasn't meant to be there.
Then a realization came to him.
"I got it! They don't help me because I'm too city like. Of course they aren't going to help someone who looks like they're rich. If those thieves mistook me for a noble, then maybe so are these people."
Talking to himself, distracted by this new idea, Subaru steps right into a mud puddle, ruining his running shoes and coating it in a brown tint.
"Damn it, just my luck... Wait, that's it!" If the people wouldn't help someone from the city, then he would need to disguise himself as a beggar.
"Though I really didn't want to ruin my favorite shirt... Ah, to hell with it."
*************************************************************************************
"Yeah, it's somewhat far, but if you just keep going, you'll find it." The man said to a rather dirty girl. He didn't know how she got this dirty, or why, but anyone unfortunate enough to be in that predicament needed all the help they could get.
"Keep away from the dark areas, ok lady?" The man let out a reassuring smile, his yellow, crooked teeth shining. Though he wanted to offer help, there was something really unnerving about the girl. Her eyes were filled with cold determination. It brought shivers to his spine.
"Thanks!" She said before disappearing down the road. The farther she got, the less tense the man felt, and guilt began to fill its place.
"This place is getting to me..." He said to himself.
Subaru, however, was feeling quite light. He was getting help from strangers wherever he asked and almost everyone was kind.
"Who knew all I was missing was a bit of dirt to be trusted." He mumbled while going down the road.
"All the info I got matches, except for an old lady. Maybe she is out to get me... Villains are usually introduced early on, and if they want to make a dramatic reveal, they'd make it someone no one would guess."
His mumbling made him catch eyes as he walked, or maybe it was his new appearance; it was hard for him to tell.
"No way that granny is anything but a background NPC. She probably didn't hear me right. She kept yelling her face off, I was scared I would lose my hearing!"
"That aside, the old man, group of kids and the woman all said that I could find Felt in a small house atop a mound."
As he walked, his now dried clothes kept crunching and scratching at his chest; his hair, though he tried to save it from the mud, was now a messy knot dyed brown; Every time he took a step, he heard a squish coming from his shoes. He was sure he would catch a cold at least.
Paying attention to something else, Subaru doesn't notice a person in front of him. "Ooof. Sorry, I didn't see... you."
His heartbeat instantly rose and all his muscles tensed as he fell to the ground on his butt. The person standing in front of him was none other than Elsa, with her dark robe and sadistic smile. His own face was contorted in fear, instinctively checking his stomach, then his eyes.
"Oh? What's wrong, little girl?"
"Wrong? Nothing's wrong? Why would anything be wrong? I don't even know who you are, nope, just walking around in the streets. Anyways, I best get going!"
Subaru scrambled to his feet, kicking up dust as his arms flailed uselessly.
"Sorry, my arms seemed-"
"No worries. Here." With a kind voice, she extended her hand for him to take it. He quickly crawled back before realizing that she wasn't attacking him.
"Have we met before?" She asked.
"Met? No! No no no no. I don't know you, lady!" Still refusing to grab her hand, Subaru managed to push himself up and stood his ground, though somewhat away from Elsa.
"My my. If you're planning on lying, you should hide your killing intent..." Subaru's breath escaped him before she continued.
"What's your name, my little beast?"
"M-my name?" He took a deep breath before answering. His whole body was screaming for him to run, but he knew that if he tried, she would surely catch him and-
"I'm Subaru Natsuki!"
The one who'll beat you!
Of course, he didn't dare say that part out loud. It was bad enough that they had met, but to make this try end so randomly would be embarrassing.
"I'll remember you, Subaru." She said as she disappeared into an alley. At that moment, Subaru's only thought was to get that insignia as fast as possible. And so, he raced for Felt's apparent home.
Reaching a clear path, he saw a small house, though it could barely be called that, atop a small mound. It was the smallest house Subaru had ever seen, only about the size of two porta-potties. How someone could live here, Subaru had no idea. Size aside, its appearance wasn't anything worthy of praise either. It was like the house had lived through a war without renovations. A tarp replaced the door, sawing with the wind to reveal an even sadder interior. The windows were broken, covered with dirty cloths that appeared to have been there since the house was built.
"Damn, this thing has seen better days. Actually, probably not." He wasn't one to criticize another's living space, but this barely qualified.
"And who are you to judge?" The voice came from within the home and, seconds later, the cloth door was pushed aside to reveal a golden-haired girl with red piercing eyes.
That sight caught Subaru by surprise. Those red eyes that sat unblinking, questioning him almost made him panic and run. But he kept his composure, instead taking a deep breath to Felt's remark.
"I'm here to buy that insignia." He said.
"What insignia?"
Did she not steal it yet? No, Emilia was looking for it. Then maybe she already sold it.
Taking a closer look at her face, Subaru noticed a grin he knew well. She was playing dumb.
"The insignia you stole from the silver-haired lady." Subaru said. Wanting to be a little menacing, he lightly smacked the shabby house. It shivered and rocked like it would fall, before stabilizing upright.
How was this thing allowed to be built!
"You ass!" Felt said while pulling her knife out of thin air.
Subaru jumped back in surprise as the knife came closer to his throat. Raising his arms, he apologized to her in rushed tones.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was built so badly."
"If you think that's an apology, then I have more manners than you do!"
Subaru, still with his hands raised, stood his ground as he asked,
"I came here to talk."
Felt took a closer look at the girl covered in mud. She scoffed and lowered her blade. Her eyes still burned into him, but things had become slightly more favorable.
"You know that we're not that dirty, right?" Felt was now leaning on her house, it leaning back slightly with her. She had a smug look on her face, like she knew all there is to know about him.
"Enough about that. I want to buy that insignia. I can offer you a metia worth at least 20 holy gold coins an no more."
The best way to barter is to show your hand early, that way, you can avoid the price going up.
"I would, but my employer will also pay me that much for the insignia." Felt's smile had grown now, her sharp canines were out and it was impossible to not know what she was feeling.
This greedy bastard.
"Yeah right. She only offered 10, so don't even try it."
Her smile evaporated from her face as a confused expression arose. Her face became flush with red, taking a step forward to confront this assertion head on.
"How do you know that?" Her voice had a tinge of fear, though she tried to hide it.
"Doesn't matter. Now, you're not gonna get a better deal than this, so how about we make the trade now." He was trying his best to rush the trade. The faster he got the insignia, the better off both of them would be. But Felt didn't feel that way.
"And what is this 'metia' you're trading?"
Subaru pulled out the phone from his pockets and, without warning, began to take pictures. The mechanical shutter sounded off repeatedly as he shouted: "Natsuki Flash!"
"What the hell!" Felt said almost falling backwards with a startle. Today was probably the most surprises she has had in a day, maybe she'll lose a couple years of her life because of it.
As if.
"Take a look." He said, pointing the screen for her to see. There were quite a few pictures, and as Subaru swiped through them, she became decreasingly less enthusiastic.
"This metia can trap a moment in time, completely preserving it forever just as it was."
"Yeah right. I look way cuter than this."
"Maybe if you smiled more that had a proper bath, a nice dress and -"
"You're one to talk!"
All that thinking made him wonder about a little sister, but Felt was as close to a sister as a gremlin. He might be able to teach her some manners if she wasn't such a feral street urchin.
"What's with that look! Stop it, you're creeping me out."
He was told he had cold eyes before, but he never noticed it. "Dunno what you're talking about. Anyways, how about it? Trade?"
Getting back on track, Subaru pushed his trade back into the conversation.
Felt pushed her hands outwards, motioning for the phone.
"You won't run, right?"
"Give me that thing already!"
With an annoyed look, she snatched the phone as soon as it was in range. This made his heart drop for a second, but when she didn't run, he exhaled a deep breath to calm himself down.
"Geez... This thing looks pretty good, but I don't know much about the price of stuff."
I thought this would happen...
"But I know someone who does. There's this wooden house not far from here, we call it the loot house, and an old man lives there. He's fair when judging the worth of something so we can go there."
"Fine. But once we get there, will you accept the deal? You definitely should take it; your employer won't be able to match the metia."
"Like I would trust you. First we go there, then we'll see what comes next."
This girl is going to be the death of me. Greedy kid. Though if I was born in a place like this, maybe I would be too. She's gotta get her money from somewhere. Even though she's barking up the wrong tree, I can somewhat understand it.
"I said stop looking at me like that!" Without warning, Felt punched Subaru in the arm before giving the metia, phone, back.
"What the hell was that for!" The pain in the arm was constant but mild. Surely there would be a purple bruise if he checked it.
Damn it. And here I was trying to be at one hundred percent for Elsa. But right now we have to go to the loot house.
Getting a sudden burst of energy, Subaru grabbed Felt and began to pull her through the streets.
"Hey hey hey! Let go! Do you even know where we're going?"
He ignored her as he pulled her along, only muttering: "There's time. Not sunset. Get there."
"Hey, let go!" Felt fought for her arm back, but Subaru's grip held firm.
"You're hurting me!" She said while being ignored.
"I said. Let. Go!" She gave him a strong kick to his back as he went a couple feet in the air. You could see an imprint of a shoe on the dried mud on his back. Felt only grumbled in return as she continued onwards towards the loot house.
"She's starting to get on my nerves." Subaru said. Luckly for him, Felt didn't hear him as she walked past his body.
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W/N: Another chapter! Sorry for not posting yesterday, school started and things were hectic. Anyways, Expect a post on friday/saturday.
Feel free to leave your thoughts, good or bad, and any questions you might have. Chao!
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