Follow the fallen stars

Aganau Chapter 6: Uncertain future

'...Damn, what a day.'

He hadn't felt this pressure since the situation in the watchtower, having to get it right in one loop after beating and scaring Louis Arneb in the hall of memories.

While he was on his own to make sure that neither Sin Archbishops had caught up to their wagon, he noticed Beatrice suddenly join him.

"Oh. Hey Beako. What brings you here?"

"..." Beatrice had a blank expression as she sat down next to the boy, not responding to his question.

"...okay. How are the others holding up?" Subaru said in a calm tone, understanding that it'll take a bit before Beatrice can finally speak about her feelings.

The loli spirit stood silent as she looked forward, noticing the forest surrounding them before responding to the boy's question:

"That catboy is keeping guard on that assassin woman while the other you is guiding the ground dragon through the forest."

"Sounds about right...I can't believe he recruited her of all people."

Subaru still had bad memories of Elsa, especially when she was responsible for killing Beatrice in the last loop before managing to finally beat Roswaal's orchestration of events in the Sanctuary.

Beatrice looked at Subaru, noticing that he was truly discomfort of being near the bowel hunter, prompting her to ask:

"Wouldn't you have done the same, I suppose?"

"What do you mean?" Subaru tilted his head as he heard the question.

"If you had lost everything like the older and stubborn you had, wouldn't you also choose to side with that assassin woman to get revenge?"

"Well...maybe. If I had the same exact experience then I believe I would have ended up the same exact way as my older self but right now, I think I wouldn't let myself get consumed with vengeance."

"Are you certain about that, I suppose?"

Subaru looked at Beatrice as he processed the question she posed on him, causing him to remember something his counterpart had told him in the previous world, from what Wilhelm told him in the Purge King's world, and what Puck from the Sin Archbishop of Pride's world had told him:

("I doubt you were sent to each of these worlds just to fix them from our mistakes. I mean, why are you here? To arrest me for running away? Don't get me wrong, I get what you were doing with Pride and Purge, those two did need to be stopped but did you even try to talk to them, try to redeem them? They are Natsuki Subaru as well. Just ones that didn't have a support group like we did.")

("Subaru-dono, I understand that it is hard having to face a version of yourself that has gone the wrong path. I understand but you are not like them. You didn't join the Witch cult like the Sin Archbishop of Pride version of yourself or let that distrust consume you into something like the Purge King. You are Natsuki Subaru-dono, the knight for Emilia-sama. You are a good person and one that I care about.")

("Everyone makes their own choice, Natsuki Subaru. The witch cultist version of you made his choice to join the witch cult. He made the choice to cause harm. You on the other hand made a better choice. Just because things could've gone wrong for you, doesn't mean you would've ended up like him. I sense your heart is in the right place. If anything, you would've made a better choice, Natsuki Subaru.")

Those words were in their own right similar, reminding Subaru that he's his own person. This made him confident enough to respond to Beatrice's follow up question with: