Re:ZERO; Ram:IF (Original)

Chapter 29: Resolve and Reassurance

He stood, looking into the distance, lifelessly. Hearing Ram's words, he quickly shifted back to reality. "Ram, could you leave me alone for a moment?" Ram gave Subaru a worried look, asking "What for?". He inhaled and held her hand, looking into her eyes. "I need to think about something." He let go of her hand, walking in another direction away from her.

"What if... we just... wait, no, her ability wouldn't work with that..." Subaru paced back and forth near the shore of the forest him and Ram were in, desperately thinking of ways to take care of Sirius. "Wait, what if we capture her and seal her? I heard stories about the Witch of Envy being sealed... So there are sealing powers in this world? Yes! I've finally found a way!" Subaru referred back to the book of fairy tales he read, provided by Ram. But how would they execute this? Subaru himself knew nothing about sealing magic in this world.

Subaru looked to his left, where he saw the carriage with everyone around it. Exiting the forest, Subaru approached Reinhard, who was standing amongst the group. "Yo, Reinhard." Reinhard turned around upon hearing the greeting. He smiled. "Subaru? What is it you need?"

"How easy is it to seal someone?" Subaru got straight to the point this time as he knew he didn't have much time before they had to face Sirius. "Why?" Reinhard asked with slight surprise. "There's a Sin Archbishop of Wrath whose ability is to transmit emotions of pain, I think they're going to be in Priestella. I don't think they can be killed with a happy ending..."

Subaru hesitantly and painfully referred back to his previous deaths. He had been decapitated mysteriously, and burned to death. Although the decapitation was subtle, and almost instantaneous, he was not able to see much aftermath. However, he lived for every second he was burnt to death. He was forced to see the others he loved so much being burnt down to nothing but ash. The last person he saw before he took his last pained breath was Rem.

"I could've sworn she was trying to say she loved me... That doesn't matter now though, for now we have to worry about this bastard Sirius!" Subaru decided to put off the situation as a memory in his head, focusing back on the topic of killing Sirius.

"Very well then. There is a place in Priestella that should have what you're looking for." Subaru's eyes widened with surprise. Reinhard told the resolve of the entire situation with ease, as if it was right in front of their face the entire time being. "That's what I want you to do. Think you'd be up for the task?" Reinhard nodded, putting his hand on his hip. "Leave it to me." With a confident look on his face, he was ready to take down this Sin Archbishop. After all, he was the Sword Saint.

"Maybe... Could Ram's wind magic come in handy? It could push her ba- wait no, she would use her ability to transmit that to everyone else too. Dammit, why is this so complicated..." The thought of overcoming this Sin Archbishop's ability brought a headache of dead ends to any of his thoughts. Interrupting his train of thought, he heard a cheery voice approaching the two.

"Subaru! So that's where you went! We're preparing the carriage again, the ground dragon's almost ready to go!" Subaru turned to Emilia, who was giving him a soft and welcoming smile. "Great!" Subaru gave her the thumbs up once again, as Reinhard and Emilia began to walk toward the carriage.

Subaru boarded the carriage at his usual spot. He looked to his left, where Otto was supposed to be, but instead he was talking with Frederica. He decided not to interfere this time. Subaru smiled at the scene. "Looks like Otto's finally found the one for him." He sat back, watching the two speak

Subaru saw Otto making his way back to the carriage, along with Ram, who plopped onto Subaru's lap. Subaru wrapped his arms around her once again, acting like a seat belt. Subaru noticed Otto looking at Subaru and Ram, with an expression that had a mix of irritation and jealousy. Subaru held back a small laugh. "At least he has Frederica" Subaru thought to himself.