Everything felt so unreal, being back in this place.
A large plain field of grass that seems endless, a calm clear sky, and an unusually peaceful aura around.
What's more disorienting for Natsuki Subaru was seeing her again...or well, more specifically a version of the Witch of Greed.
"Echidna, I would say it's nice seeing you again but that would be a lie."
"My, Natsuki Subaru, you hurt my maidenly heart."
"You have no heart!"
"Now you are just being hurtful."
"I doubt any of that hurt you really, now what did you want? My counterpart said you wished to speak to me."
"Yes." Echidna said as she sipped her cup filled with tea. "But first I must show you some manners."
Echidna got up from her chair before pouring some tea into the two cups that suddenly appeared along with the two chairs that also randomly appeared.
This caught Subaru off guard since he didn't notice when the witch of greed had made them appear.
He still remained completely cautious all the while his counterpart walked towards the table, sat down, and without hesitation he drank the tea from the witch.
"You do realize what she puts in that tea, right?"
"...and?" His counterpart didn't care at all about it since he's gotten used to it by now.
Echidna gave him a look while teasing him with:
"You break my maidenly heart."
"There's nothing maidenly about you!" The moment these words were said, he suddenly felt his heart ache for a moment.
'What—?!'
He nearly collapsed to the ground though he still had enough strength in his legs to keep him standing.
"The hell is going on?!"
"Drinking the tea will get rid of that effect you are experiencing right now." His counterpart responded with a plain expression.
Subaru was still on the fence about it since drinking Echidna's...well bodily fluids again is not something pleasant.
The taste is not terrible, however knowing what you are drinking is.
The side effects were beginning to get worse as he was nauseous, which prompted him to be pushed to take the tea.
Once he took the entire tea from the cup she had given him, it only took a moment before the nauseousness and side effects began to go away.
"See? I'm just trying to help." Echidna said with a calm smile on her face.
Subaru didn't respond to Echidna's comment.
He sat down alongside his counterpart and the Witch of Greed before preparing to discuss whatever they want from him.
"Okay, what do you wish to discuss?"
Echidna took a sip from her tea before turning her attention towards the Natsuki Subaru from her world, curious if he would ask that question right off the bat.
Natsuki Subaru looked forward for a second before turning towards his counterpart.
"Who sent you here?"
"Hm?"
"Who's the asshole that decided to throw you into my world?"
His expression was blank though the voice was frustrated since the moment his counterpart and his group arrived in his world.
Subaru figured that this would be the case since even he would ask this if it happened to him.
He took a moment to see if he could ask the watcher if he should answer that question truthfully.
'What do you think?'
It took Subaru a moment before realizing that any communication with the watcher had been cut off the moment he entered this dream world.
'I see...I guess I'm on my own this time.'
This felt normal since normally for things like loops, he usually is on his own.
He looked at his counterpart with a serious expression while responding to his question with:
"Someone that knows all of our fates."
"..." Natsuki Subaru was silent for a second, processing what his counterpart had said. "That doesn't answer the question properly."
"He did answer the question, even if it is ambiguous."
"Still, I want the name of this person or deity that was responsible for this mess."
"No, I think it's my turn to ask a question, that being why are you acting like you want to know information when you know the second I entered this dream world, Echidna?"
As he said this, he recalled that when the Sanctuary situation was going on, he figured out that Echidna knew he had Return by Death by merely entering the tea party.
So, for Echidna to act all calmly without asking him questions made him confident that this is the same case once again.
Echidna remained silent for a moment, seeing how quickly this Natsuki Subaru picked up on her attitude.
She sipped her tea once again before giving a response:
"I wasn't expecting this question this early, but if you must know, I'm curious to know how you would respond."
"Hm. Then how does it feel that my world's Emilia-tan beat your trial."
"..." She was silent for a moment, something both Subarus took note of. After a minute, she responded as calmly as she could, "It was always possible for that half-devil bitch to pass my trials. It's more her fault that the one I'm familiar with couldn't muster even an ounce of strength to pass."
"I don't like that you insult her, though that's probably because it stings seeing a version of her that beats your trials."
"That's really low to think of me as someone who would be holding a grudge about something so trivial."
"Yeah, I doubt that." He turned towards his counterpart, noticing that he continued to look with a blank expression. "How the hell did you allow Emilia-tan to fail the trials?"
"I didn't. She was...broken when I found her." Natsuki Subaru responded with some hesitation, not liking when thinking back to that moment that was too late for him to redo everything.
"My question stems from why didn't you do more to support her?"
"I did support her." Natsuki Subaru got up, turning towards his other world counterpart. "I went through every possible choice to make sure she could win, however we found none where Emilia could beat the trials."
"We?" Subaru questioned for a moment before clicking it together that it was Echidna.
He turned towards Echidna with a suspicious look, having a feeling that she had something to do with his counterpart not being able to find a solution for Emilia not being able to pass the trials.
She continued to have a happy calm expression, something that made him feel a bit unnerve for a second before looking back at his counterpart.
"Nevermind that, what the hell do you mean that you tried every possible choice? Did you seriously repeat events over and over just for a solution?"
"Yes." He responded calmly. "And before you ask, we had looped so many times that I've lost count."
"If you did try every possible outcome, how come I was able to succeed in one go compared to you, who had an infinite amount of time?"
"..."
Subaru gave his counterpart a look, as if he got him in a checkmate since his look was slightly more expressive than ever since arriving in the dream world.
Natsuki Subaru was very unhappy by what his counterpart was saying, prompting him to nearly punch his counterpart's face.
Though he kept himself in check by pointing towards him with an annoyed expression while questioning him:
"Then what was the missing piece I needed for Emilia to pass the trials? You say so boldly that you were able to do it in one loop, what exactly am I missing here?"
"Are you serious? After every advantage you had, you weren't able to figure it out?"
"As I said smartass, what exactly did I miss?"
"Puck! It's Puck, you asshole!"
"Puck?" Natsuki Subaru questioned. "What does he have anything to do with Emilia and the trials?"
"Pfft. For all the talk about looking for the perfect loop, you are pretty dense."
Subaru didn't think this strategy was wise even before the words came out of his mouth...however, he does feel very satisfied saying this.
For someone who had looped over who knows how many times, he had missed the one key thing that he accidently stumbled when he had only one loop to beat Roswaal and his bet.
If anything, he took a gamble on trying to request Puck's help as well as relying on others like Otto and Ram.
Natsuki Subaru had heard enough from his counterpart, prompting him to swing a punch right at him.
Although this punch was dodged by his counterpart, he wanted to make clear something:
"You wouldn't understand anything! I used Return By Death to protect everyone, make sure that nobody suffers! The perfect future with everyone still alive!"
"So what if you achieve this future, what will it matter if by the end of it, you're nothing but a literally dead man. A corpse acting like it's still alive, still the Natsuki Subaru that vowed to protect Emilia! The one that vowed to wake Rem up! What do you think she would feel once she sees who you've become?!"
"She would understand. She would know I did everything for her, for everyone's sake!"
"Are you seriously this delusional?!" As Subaru shouted this, his anger overwhelmed him which caused his invisible providence to come out and barely managed to land a punch on his face. "What kind of common sense is that?!"
"She wouldn't know what I did, what I had to do to wake her up. It's not like those we care about know about Return By Death."
"Roswaal as an idea that we are doing that."
"I knew that thanks to that one loop, but that's not the point." Natsuki Subaru got back up and whipped the blood from his face off.
"What is the point then?" Subaru said as he crossed his arms, wondering what logic his counterpart would say to justify the abuse of Return by Death.
"We have the ability to redo everything over and over and over again. As many times as needed to see how we can have those we care about to be out of harm's way. Repeat life over and over to make sure there are no casualties when the Witch's Cult attacks. A chance to make sure everyone receives the perfect future where everyone wins."
"Yeah, everyone except you. Did you not learn her words, Satella's words?"
Natsuki Subaru raised an eyebrow when Subaru asked this question all the while Echidna was entertained by this display of two different Natsuki Subarus.
"What the hell are you on about?"
There was a sudden pause in the atmosphere when this was said, prompting Subaru to think,
'The hell does he mean by that? Didn't Satella speak with him? She had to, that would be...' He paused his thoughts as he needed a second to rethink the situation. 'I know for sure that he's aware of Garfiel, the mansion, and Roswaal then...'
"What was your take on the second trial?"
"??" Natsuki Subaru was a bit uncertain on what his counterpart's up to with this question.
"Just answer the damn question."
"This is irrelevant."
"Maybe for you but not for me. Seeing how others would care when we grieve...that's not something it'll go away so easily."
"..." Although he was silent to his counterpart's comment, he did share a bit of that thinking. "...It doesn't matter. Even if those other worlds existed, then they are just a means to an end."
"Means to an end? The fuck are you on about?! That is not okay! Harming those we care about is never okay—!"
"It's all for their sake! Whether you are too damn stubborn to understand is irrelevant to me! If you are going to get in the way of the perfect future I want for everyone, then I'll need to get rid of you for good."
He took off his coat before pulling out his knife, seeing that this Natsuki Subaru, although not an evil version of himself, is one that would get in the way of him reaching the perfect future for everyone.
Subaru took note of this, prompting him to prepare for a fight.
"So this is what you'll do for perfection, ignore the criticism you are getting because it threatens that twisted vision of yours."
"..."
He didn't respond.
Subaru pulled out the whip as he could see that speaking won't get him anywhere now.
He does think that perhaps he should've been much more cooperative when answering his counterpart's questions but what's done is done.
He waited until his counterpart made the first move.
Once Natsuki Subaru charged at him, he dodged the attack and used his whip in an attempt to knock the knife out of his counterpart's hand.
His counterpart was prepared for that and managed to avoid losing his weapon as he quickly closed the gap between the two in an attempt to stab Subaru in the eye.
Subaru barely avoided this by using Invisible Providence once again to hold back his counterpart's knife away from him.
Despite at first being able to keep him at bay, the side effects of using the Sloth witch factor were starting to come into effect.
His body began to harden and tense, nearly causing him to falter.
Right when it seemed like his counterpart was about to overpower the invisible providence, Subaru took this chance to have it hold onto his counterpart while he went for a punch.
Just as he managed to land this punch, his counterpart had managed to stab him in his right arm all the while he began to bleed tears and have a nose bleed.
"Interesting. So you aren't fully able to use the sloth witch factor like the previous user." Echidna commented as she was impressed by this Natsuki Subaru before her.
Although she's contracted with her version of Natsuki Subaru, from the information she had gathered of the other, she's slightly routing for him to win.
'You are vastly different, much greedier than I expected.'
As she thinks this, she goes through the other Natsuki Subaru's memories to see the change on why that one didn't accept the contract with her.
Seeing that forcing Minerva to not come out was a good call on her part since she prevented the Witch of Envy from truly convincing Natsuki Subaru to not accept her generosity.
Though she still can't help but admire this version, the one that's greedy in terms of wanting to save everyone and himself in the process.
"My My, this is quite the spectacle."
"..." Subaru turned towards Echidna when heard her, annoyed that she's enjoying this.
Even though he was going to say something to her, he can see that his counterpart was preparing to attack him with a punch.
Subaru pulled out the knife on his shoulder as fast as he could before throwing it away from them.
The second this happened, he turned to block the punch from his counterpart, avoiding any damage to his face.
As this happened, he took the chance on the opening he saw to swing for a punch of his own.
This punch was countered by his counterpart before he swung for another punch.
The two continued this stalemate for a good few minutes until the two somehow managed to land their respective punches on each other simultaneously.
"Oh my."
Echidna was indeed shocked by this since despite how different in personality the two Natsuki Subarus are, they somehow are on the same level of fighting skills.
Both Natsuki Subarus had different mindsets when engaging each other.
The Natsuki Subaru from another world's goal is to knock some sense into his counterpart all the while Natsuki Subaru from this world wants to kill his counterpart.
Viewing him as not only an anomaly to his plans, but also someone who threatens the perfect future he envisions, he knows that he needs to do something about him.
The two Subarus continued their fight until finally Natsuki Subaru from another world with all the motivation from not just his world but the worlds he's visited was enough to endure one punch from his counterpart if it meant that he can land a strong punch.
As he tanked the attack and swung with everything he had on his punch, he thought back to what his older counterpart had said.
How he needs to truly save the other versions of them by not just disrupting their plans but truly understanding why they turned out the way they did.
Although he still believes beating The Sin Archbishop of Pride and The Purge King were needed, this version of him needs someone to genuinely knock some sense into him.
"This is for your own good!"
As he landed one of his strongest punches onto his counterpart's face, he used all the remaining strength he could muster to swing another strong punch.
This second punch was enough to stun the Natsuki Subaru of this world, leaving an opening for the Natsuki Subaru from the other world to attempt for one more punch.
As he tried for another punch, his body had suddenly strained which left him stunned for a moment.
This moment was more than enough time for Natsuki Subaru to not only recover but to also land a punch of his own onto his opponent.
While he landed this punch, he decided to say:
"You should learn to stay out of other people's business!"
"Pfft! That's not in our nature, otherwise we wouldn't have saved Emilia-tan." Subaru responded as he quickly recovered from the punch.
"Tsk." He didn't want to respond to his counterpart's comment since it would be hypocritical of him to deny it. However... "I only interfere when it's a threat to—"
"—your precious perfect reality? Yeah, I can see why you would be mad for any interference."
"..."
Natsuki Subaru didn't say anything after that, not wanting to get mad over words.
He went and managed to land another punch onto his counterpart, stunning him long enough to land a follow up punch.
Subaru was annoyed by these punches since he had thought his two heavy punches would've done the trick...
"You are done." Natsuki Subaru said confidently only for his counterpart to smile confidently back.
"Not yet! Invisible Providence!" As he shouted this, he once again made use of Invisible Providence as a final attack to end this fight once and for all.
Natsuki Subaru was caught off guard by this and didn't have enough time to react which allowed Subaru's invisible hand to land onto Natsuki Subaru's ribs area.
This attack was strong enough to bruise his ribs, causing this Natsuki Subaru to be knocked out of the fight for good now.
He attempted to get back up, ignore the pain and yet his body wouldn't respond.
His mindset was to reset everything since he was about to bite off his tongue...however his mind recalled that they aren't in the real world, they're in Echidna's dream world.
As he stopped himself, he looked up to see his counterpart approaching him, spitting some blood to the side.
Once he was right in front of him, he gave his counterpart a look of anger before calming himself down.
"Are you...satisfied? Coming into my world, ruining everything I worked hard for, and for what? To destroy the Emilia camp? To cause harm to those that look like the people you 'care' about because they aren't from your world. I hope you are happy with this outcome."
"..."
Subaru didn't respond to this version of himself, since this isn't what he really wanted for once.
This version of him was broken from the amount of times that he'd been looping.
Since he had implied that he looped a lot of times during the events of the Sanctuary, he could be sure that he probably died a lot to the Great Rabbit.
That and all the mentions of perfection along with the memories he has of him make a clear picture of what kind of suffering his counterpart is dealing with.
"Answer me this, Natsuki Subaru, do you want to die?"
"...what?" Natsuki Subaru questioned as he slowly looked back up.
"Hm?" Echidna tilted her head, curious where Subaru was going with this.
"Answer the question." Subaru said sternly.
"..." That kind of question wasn't something he really wanted to know.
Subaru continued to look at his counterpart, noticing that he's struggling to even answer that question himself from within.
This prompted him to change the question to:
"Let's do this then, why are you thinking that you should die for everyone else?"
"Because I'm the tool needed to keep everyone alive."
"A tool that also deserves a chance to live."
"..."
Subaru remembered those words from Satella:
("Don't fret all alone. Fight alongside the people who care about you. Don't forget that there are people who grieve when you die.")
"Do you think people won't suffer if you die?"
"They don't know—"
"Ignore that fact entirely, do you honestly think any of them would be okay with you quite literally committing suicide just so they can live?"
"..." Natsuki Subaru attempted to get back up yet his body refused to let him.
He didn't wish to once again answer this question since he believes that those kinds of things don't matter to him anymore.
"Those kinds of questions don't matter to me. I've gone this far doing things like it was at the beginning of the contract. I'm not backing down now. Nothing you say will change that."
Natsuki Subaru boldly stated as he wanted to make it clear to his counterpart.
Subaru looked at him and although his natural gut is telling him that this version of himself is a lost cause like the others, a part of him wants to still get through to him.
He turned towards Echidna as he thought deeply on something the Witch of Sloth had told him in the last tea party.
("It's the promise that's always preceded by "In the end..." *sigh*.")
(" "In the end"? ")
Those words had made him rethink his deal with Echidna at first, seeing that perhaps he was being tricked into creating a contract with her through his desperation at the time.
"When did you accept the contract? Was it before the other witches appeared or after?"
"The other witches? What nonsense are you—?"
"I suspected as much." Subaru turned towards Echidna with a stern expression, finally puzzling together why his counterpart failed to save his Emilia. "Tell me, why didn't Minerva come out?"
"?"
Natsuki Subaru was confused by the question since it sounds more like nonsense than anything he can understand.
He turned his attention towards Echidna to see that she remained calm with her blank smile.
"Don't lie to me because I know that you were lying on the second tea party, after the first time dying to that damn rabbit."
"Lying?"
All of this left him puzzled with a hint of curiosity on what secrets has Echidna been hiding from him.
"Well, I didn't think you would be this aggressive."
"It's not like you have feelings, not for very long at least." Before he continued, he slightly looked at his counterpart. "Not when all your contracts end with in the end."
As he said this, his counterpart had a pause when he heard this words.
'In the end...?'
He needed a second to think on these words, since that kind of talk is almost like he would eventually be discarded by the one he contracted with once things no longer suit her.
He attempted to get up once again and yet he still had the same result on his own.
However, Subaru assisted him to get back on his feet as he looked at Echidna with a serious expression.
"What does he mean by that, Echidna? What aren't you telling me?"
Once again the Witch of Greed remained calm and silent while having her blank smile for a moment before closing her eyes while responding:
"I've been honest with you."
"Have you? What exactly is he talking about in regards to the other witches?"
"Just something that wasn't worth your time."
"Omitting the truth is nothing more than being dishonest with me."
"In one perspective, yes. However, all you needed was someone who would listen to you, help you with your problems. Help you accomplish the goal of reaching the perfect future you had been striving for."
"I am aware, the contract was made because it benefitted each of us...that being said, there's something I was going to ask a very long time ago, a lifetime ago one would say. Beatrice, she was under a contract with you as you know. A contract we forced her to break in order for her to survive the fire. 'That person' you had tasked her to wait for, who was it?"
"Did you seriously pick now to ask?" Subaru questioned his counterpart, finding it extremely late to ask this kind of question.
Though better now than ever at this point.
Echidna remained calm throughout this whole ordeal, not really phased by either Natsuki Subaru and their confronting nature towards her.
She closed her eyes and smiled as she responded with:
"Good question. Who could that be?"
"What?...You're saying she was waiting for nobody for those 400 years?"
"I wouldn't say that necessarily. That is one way of interpreting my response however the goal was for Beatrice to protect the forbidden library until she chose 'that person'. That was the goal when making the promise with her."
"..." Natsuki Subaru was stunned that for all this time, he hadn't asked this question that could've helped in saving Beatrice.
"Then why did you suggest we force her out of the forbidden library—?"
"Don't forget that during those events, you wanted to assure everyone would come out unharmed. That you would do everything to save them. I merely gave you a method since you refused to tell her that you were 'that person'."
"Because I didn't want to give her that hope. I couldn't make her my number one, not when..." He had paused as he was slowly realizing just how much he had damned well himself mainly but also those around him.
"...I see. I'm starting to understand what those words mean." As he said this, he turned towards his counterpart to ask him, "What was the missing piece? What makes Puck so important with Emilia? Is it the contract they have?"
"In a way. All I know is after their contract had broken, she had told me that she was gaining memories unfamiliar to her."
A bit of anger started to build up in Natsuki Subaru when hearing this.
One tiny factor like that could've allowed his Emilia to not end up in the broken state she's in right now.
"Echidna, have you been sabotaging me this entire time?"
"Now why would you think that?" She responded, continuing to have her smile and caring tone.
"Because how does an all knowing witch overlook such a small factor like that?" Natsuki Subaru questioned with anger in his voice, anger that hasn't come out in a while.
"It's a small oversight, but one that you hadn't questioned. You wanted to bare the burden for everyone, so all I did was follow my contractor's wishes."
"Right, then how about when that factor could've helped Emilia? Would you have really assisted me if I had worded things differently?"
"That half-devil was never going to pass the trials, especially when you never believed in her." Echidna turned towards the other world Natsuki Subaru with confidence. "Isn't that right?"
"..."
Subaru hated that Echidna said that towards him since she's right.
Prior to Otto beating some sense into him, he didn't fully believe in Emilia to beat the trials since he went to Echidna to try and find a way to beat them himself.
The silence was enough for even Natsuki Subaru of this world to admit to himself that he didn't believe in Emilia.
He looked up at the sky as he accepted his mistake.
"What's done is done. I'm stuck with her until Emilia wins the royal selection and Rem can wake up."
"And how are you going to do that?" Subaru questioned his counterpart.
"..."
"Are you going to continue this path?"
"There isn't much I can do, the contract states that—"
"Forget the contract!" Subaru shouted as he approached his counterpart. "You are the one who can change your own fate."
"How? I'm not like you anymore. That part of me has been dead for a long time."
Subaru grabbed his counterpart's shoulders before responding with:
"Then find yourself again, Natsuki Subaru. Find the origins that made us who we were, the stubborn boy that was sent to another world and managed to fall in love with a beautiful angel. Find that person again without Echidna's influence."
"Once again, there's the contract—"
"Then break it!"
"What?"
"Hm?"
Both Echidna and Natsuki Subaru took note of what Subaru had said, with Echidna intrigued by that proposition all the while Natsuki Subaru was caught off guard.
"Natsuki Subaru, you do realize the consequences of breaking a contract, no?"
"..." Natsuki Subaru was silent since he's aware of the consequences of actively breaking a contract. "I'm aware."
"Wouldn't it be interesting to see if he would break the contract?" Subaru asked Echidna, knowing exactly what makes her tick.
"Hm. What are you proposing?"
"A friendly wager. I bet my counterpart will break the contract with you."
"Interesting. What brings this confidence in that comment of yours?" She asked with her curious side showing.
"Because despite how dead inside he is, he's still me. We share the same start, the same struggles. Maybe not the same approach during the events of the Sanctuary, but we still have the same thoughts of wanting to help Emilia-tan and the others. If it means to guarantee a good future, my counterpart here will take it."
"Hm. Interesting. What shall the winner receive of this friendly wager, Natsuki Subaru?"
"We can discuss that after the fact." As Subaru said this, he turned towards his counterpart, noticing how hesitant he is in regards to all of this. "I think you should break that contract of yours with Echidna. She doesn't really have the best interest of yours and is using you, but I won't force you. You are still a person, you can make your own choices. It's all on you now, my counterpart."
He sighed for a moment before asking Echidna:
"How can I return to the real world?"
"That's all through me." She said before creating a portal right behind him. "I wouldn't wish for you to leave just yet, but I know all too well that you aren't interested in speaking with me after all you've learned."
"Yeah, that and because all you would want to know, you already do through that ability of reading the memories of those that enter this world. So everything you wanted to know, you already do."
"True, but it's more interesting when they tell me what they know."
"Yeah, not interested."
Subaru prepared to leave the dream world.
As he stepped in, he had one last words to say to his counterpart:
"You are in control of your destiny here, nobody else."
Once he finished speaking, his presence in the dream world was gone.
Natsuki Subaru looked at the portal disappear, leaving just him and Echidna, the Witch of Greed, alone in her dream world.
"That was a very entertaining experience." Echidna spoke with some excitement in her voice, not having thought that she could see how different Natsuki Subarus could be both against each other and connect with each other. "What a rare sight to see, something that would likely never happen again."
"Well, yeah. Whatever summoned him here had brought him for a reason...how many worlds had he gone through already?"
"Four, two versions that would be considered evil by both of you, one that ran away, and one that survived for twenty years in one loop."
"Hm. That's...interesting." Hearing this made him a bit curious to know what led his other counterparts to reach their destinations to have the current counterpart to deal with them.
"That aside, what shall you do?" Echidna asked as she sat back down on her chair while also serving herself tea.
"..."
"Being silent won't change anything."
"I know. I'm just not sure what to do."
"Would you like me to advise you what you should do?" She asked with a curious tone.
"What? To continue our contract?"
"That wouldn't be fun if I just told you what to do." Echidna said as she was amused by her contractor's question. "I wish for you to choose. Shall we continue our mutual relationship or shall you end things with the knowledge that your soul will not be the same once we break our contract?"
"My soul is already dead. What can you do to kill what's already been killed?"
"What indeed?" She said in a confident tone. "I'm just warning you that when a contract is broken, the two are never the same."
"Something like Beatrice? Broken both spiritually and mentally?"
"Not quite. She's a special case. Not to mention she was forced to break her contract by your actions, not by her own hand. It's only those that do it on their own terms are the ones that change for the worse. Will you take that chance? Become an even broken version of yourself than you already are? Or continue on reaching the perfect future you had asked me to help you reach? What will you, Natsuki Subaru, choose?"
Natsuki Subaru looked up at the sky, trying to see the pros and cons from either option but as well as thinking on the knowledge he now has from all the events that had transpired in the dream world.
"I choose..."
---------------------------
Author's Note:
I want to say that my goal is to have the next chapter (which will finally have the end of Greed if world) be posted on my birthday (March 8th). That is the goal but for now hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter.