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“SUBARU, GET OUT OF THE WAY!”
“EMILIA, NO-“
And with a sickening squelch of flesh being rended from itself, the fate of this loop was sealed.
——————
It had begun as nothing more than an outing between the two of them, to celebrate their honeymoon.
Subaru and Emilia had wanted to take a trip alone, with no guards that could disturb their private time appointed to the newly coronated queen and her husband.
They had gone deeper into the forest than they should have, seeking a private spot for a picnic. Becoming lost in each other’s company, the two of them soon found themselves lost in the woods as well.
Being not far from the capital, and Emilia being more than capable of defending the both of them, neither husband nor wife was particularly worried when they found themselves in what they believed was a minor predicament.
But of course, since nothing is ever allowed to go right, the “minor” predicament quickly turned severe.
A Guiltylaw had managed to get the jump on them.
The beast had hidden itself underneath a thick and untamable bramble of thorny berry-vines and bracken, lying in wait. The abnormal proximity of such a creature to human settlements, not to mention its bizarre “camouflaging” behavior, made one wonder if it was in fact after human prey.
Lunging out at the sickly sweet, unnatural stench reminiscent of rotten flesh and fresh blood that poured from Subaru’s body, the Guiltylaw stretched out its claws, reaching for its prey-
Emilia shouted for Subaru to get out of the way as she wielded her magic to land an undoubtedly fatal blow on the witchbeast.
As quick as she was, the young queen was still too late, for she had gotten far, far, too close to the monster lying in wait. Despite saving the life of her beloved husband, Emilia failed to save herself.
With its last spark of life, the Guiltylaw swiped its massive outstretched paw across Emilia’s torso, eviscerating her.
She was nearly torn in half, and it was far from a clean cut. The half elven girls body was reduced to a shell emptied of organs, and a few moments later, it was empty of a soul as well.
Subaru now sat alone with two corpses. On his hands and knees, the black haired man did nothing more than breathe, spattered with witchbeast blood and drenched in the viscera of his deceased wife.
The picnic basked lay burst open and discarded. The colorful flowery-shaped confections that Beatrice had helped him make that morning were scattered and defiled by blood and mud.
Eventually, Subaru managed to make a slow return to reality.
As his thoughts began to wander in the direction of triggering his Return by death, Subaru was forced to pay attention to his surroundings.
“There was a knife in the basket, wasn’t there? That should do the job…”
Shifting his weight to get up, Subaru caught sight of something twitching.
“No way! Emilia, you’re still..!”
He fell silent.
Emilia lay unresponsive. She would never move again in this timeline.
Something had moved however, its spasming becoming slower as seconds passed.
As Subaru tried to make sense of what he was seeing, he was forced to recall the first time he and Emilia had spent the night together as lovers, on their wedding night nearly three months ago now.
Because, what lay just a few centimeters from his ringfinger, experiencing its death throes before it had even been born, was unmistakably-
“My… child…?”
Severed of its connection with its mother, the child that Subaru had fathered with Emilia had lost its all too fleeting life.
“Ah…aaaah… no no no no no, why?”
Neither of them had even known that Emilia was pregnant.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
As gently as he could possibly manage, Subaru scooped up the baby’s tiny red curled form, and cradled it to his chest.
“I’m sorry… you didn’t deserve this, your dad failed you… I failed you and your mother both.”
As he rocked the child back and forth, he had yet to notice the silent tears streaming down his face.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
As he continued to rock the child and cry, Subaru’s thoughts were in utter turmoil. Picking a single comprehensible thing besides raw grief from his mind would be impossible in that moment.
“I’ll- hic - I’ll make this better, ok? It’ll be nothing but a nightmare soon. I’ll tell Emilia-tan that we shouldn’t wander off, and everything will turn out fine.”
“I swear, I will save you. I will make sure you’re born, and grow up healthy. I won’t fail you or your mother like this again.”
Ever so gently, he placed its tiny body on top of Emilia’s chest. Tearing his eyes away from the scene, the immortal man retrieved the knife from the picnic basket.
“Just wait, okay? Your dad is coming to save you.”
Less than a minute later, Subaru had joined his wife and child in death.
——————
When he next opened his eyes, Subaru was met with the sight of a perfectly healthy Emilia. Looking around, he surmised that they had only just began their walk, as the capital’s walls were still in sight.
The black haired man quickly donned his usual fake smile and spoke,
“Hey, Emilia-tan? I’m starting to think that going into the woods isn’t a good idea. Lets find one of the nearby villages to picnic in instead?”
“Hmm, I was looking forward to having some privacy… but I know that when Subaru gets so serious all of a sudden, it’s best to trust him! Alright, let’s go to a village!”
As the young couple set off, exchanging banter, Subaru merely resigned himself to the fact that he would have to feign surprise when the pregnancy would eventually be announced.