Chapter Text
To say that Anastasia was nervous was an understatement, this was her first time truly meeting one of the dragon candidates, and quite the unpopular one at that, the half-elf Emilia. Though she had a great backer and even more impressive achievements under her camp's belt, the chance that she would win was slim. Not only because of her lineage, but because of her sharp, venomous tongue, toppling even the likes of Priscilla in terms of sheer evil expelled from her mouth.
And worst of all, she had so little information regarding her and her camp members it would be easier to say that they didn’t even exist, the entire goal of this meeting was to turn this wild card candidate into someone she could get a strong grasp on. So to say this had to go well was honestly unnecessary, underplaying all of this though, was the fact that she would be forced to bear the brunt of Emilia’s wrath if she somehow angered her.
Beside her was Julius, her trusted knight, looking over at her he noticed the strained look on her usually happy demeanor, "Is everything alright, My Lady?”
Snapping out of her web of thoughts, Anastasia jolted, then turned towards Julius, she stared at him for a second, before finally answering, "Yeah, I’m jus’ a lil’ nervous ‘s all, y’know, meeting with her is a lil’ bit nerve wrackin'.” As she said this she closed one eye while pinching her fingers together leaving only a little bit of space in between them.
“Ha… yes I understand, let’s just hope that the rumors surrounding her are unfounded.” Julius responded in a cordial way. Hearing these words from him, a tiny bit of faith was restored within Anastasia. Perhaps he’s right, perhaps she truly is just a kind person who has been the subject of scrutiny simply due to her appearance.
When she began to see it in this light, she almost began to feel sorry for her, to be in such unfortunate circumstances and to be scrutinized so heavily without any truly good reason was an awful life. With this in mind, Anastasia decided she would try to be as kind as possible to her.
After the carriage reached the destination, Julius and Anastasia entered the large building in front of them, neither candidate owned the place, a perfectly neutral building for both parties to converse, as they entered the building a servant led them to a singular door at the end of a long hallway. The door felt imposing, its large wooden frame stood at least 10 feet tall, as the servant bowed, they walked out. Leaving Anastasia in front of the door with Julius right behind her, she grit her teeth and gripped the door handle, turning it and opening it.
Opening the door led her and Julius into a smaller sized room, there were two couches facing each other side by side, with a chair on each corner of the couches, making a neat box. In the middle lay a low rise coffee table which already had a steaming tea kettle with 4 cups laid out, a small assortment of snacks were laid around it. It looked warm and welcoming overall. Windows were scattered about letting rays of sunshine into the room. In the couch farthest away from them lay two figures sitting close together, a purple-eyed half-elf and a boy with mean eyes, they seemed to be enjoying each other's company waiting for the others to arrive.
After a second they both turned to see Anastasia and Julius and warm smiles lit up both of their faces, "Good to see that you could make it! I was getting reeeaally worried you might not show up, please, take a seat!” Emilia welcomed them in, pointing at the couch in front of them. Anastasia gave a small nod and sat down, Julius stood right behind her slightly to her right, "Thank you for the offer, though I’m afraid I’m required to stand.”
Before anyone could say anything Subaru complained, "Oh c’mon!” Throwing his head back and arms behind him, "We don’t have to follow those rules right now! Let’s just enjoy each other's company!” Emilia looked dissatisfied with what Subaru had said, and put a hand covering her mouth and put it right next to his ear in an attempt to make her impromptu scolding a secret. Anastasia and Julius both immediately picked up on it, straining their ears to hear what she was about to say, luckily, Emilia is fairly bad at whispering and at most said it in a quiet voice that could still be heard by the entire room, “Subaru, this is a suuuper serious meeting so don’t be a dummy right now! Please!”
Subaru’s eyes widened at the realization of what was going on, he made an over dramatic pose raising his arm to salute her and boldly boasted, "Yes ma’am! I will be sure to not fail you from now on!” A bold and ridiculous declaration for the matter at hand. Emilia raised her hand and chuckled, "Thank you, Subaru”
Without skipping a beat he responded, "Anything for you, Emilia-tan.” His voice now carrying a more delicate and meaningful tone. Subaru suddenly stood up and began to make his way towards the door, "Now my precious Beako has been waiting for me! I need to make haste before she loses her cool, you guys know how she can." Before closing the door, he turned to the occupants of the room, “Have a good time guys.”
Meanwhile Julius and Anastasia were both recovering from what Emilia had just said. Anastasia was deep within her mind. It looks like the rumors are true, of course, not nearly as bad as what others have said but it makes sense, all rumors are rooted in a little bit of truth I suppose. Putting on a strained smile, she tried to carry on, "Shall we begin? I believe we’ve got lots ta talk about.”
Emilia looked back at Anastasia and clasped her hands together, "Yes! I think that’s a wonderful idea, what would you like to talk about first?”
A business smile covered her face, "Well first off-”
After many hours, the discussions had finally begun to come to a close, the tension that once pervaded the room had fluttered away, leaving only a pleasant and enjoyable environment. Naturally, Anastastia decided this environment would be the perfect opportunity to gleam as much information off of the now vulnerable half-elf.
“So… I’ve been told that ya recently gotten yerself a knight, how’s that all goin’ for ya?” Her gaze directed towards the table with the scattered cups and plates. Emilia drew a finger up to her lip looking up, trying to recall, “Well, it happened pretty recently… but I’ve reeeaaally been liking it so far!” A smile of pure joy graced her face.
A slight smile reached Anastasia’s face, “Well isn’t that jus' somethin’! I bet that Natsuki-kun can be a real handful sometimes though, hm?” Perhaps this could lead to some fruitful information on the inner workings of her camp?
A chuckle escapes Emilia’s lips before she had time to react, hands covering her mouth, she speaks, "Hahaha, yes that can be very true, Subaru can be such a dunderhead sometimes!” Emilia continued to laugh but what she had said next fell on deaf ears.
As if time had stopped, both Julius and Anastasia remained stiff in place, a lone bead of sweat dripping from his forehead, Julius struggled to maintain composure after hearing such a foul use of words, he had to have misheard her. Praying that it was his ears that were wrong, strain evident on his face, he asked, "Emilia-sama, would you please repeat what you just said?”
“Of course! All I was saying is that Subaru is just such a dunderhead sometimes, he is just so silly!” A small giggle surfaced as she spoke of her most treasured and loyal knight.
Julius had to suppress the urge to vomit. Monster was the only word that ran across his mind, after she said words that the Witch of Envy would hesitate to even whisper. Yet, here she was spitting out these words one after another as if she was commenting that the sky was blue.
Tears formed on the outskirts of Anastasia’s eyes, nothing, and she means nothing could have prepared her for this. With so little said, an onslaught of hatred was created in its wake. Bile rose to the back of her throat, pushing it down, she poorly attempts to regain her composure to no avail. But before Anastasia even has a second to try and change the conversation, Emilia takes the opportunity from her, "But your knight, Sir Julius…” a finger rests upon her chin in a contemplative look Anastasia’s eyes turn to the size of pins waiting to her the onslaught towards her knight, "He seems like the more stoic type right?” A look of weird determination and hope on her face, excitedly waiting for an answer. But before Anastasia has the chance to recover from the mental whiplash she was currently experiencing, the door to the room swung open.
Extending his arms out in a prayer-like gesture, he began, “Sorry sorry! I’m late I know, please forgive me.” A playful tone evident in his voice.
Emilia simply giggled, “Subaru, you numbskull, just sit down already! Me, Anastasia and Julius have been having a reaaally great time chatting!” Pure joy filled her tone, with not a hint of venom. Subaru put his hand behind his head and smiled at her, "Who even says that anymore?" His smile so earnest it could not be mistaken for anything but pure adoration for the woman in front of him.
Just as Subaru was about to sit down, Anastasia forced herself up, ”Actually, me an' Julius were jus’ ‘bout to start headin’ on out, it’s gettin’ rather late an’ I wouldn’ wanna keep ya folks too much longer.” Mustering the last of her strength, Anastasia put on her carefully crafted merchant mask, coming up with any fitting excuse to leave the premises immediately before things became even more revolting than they already were. Whatever was causing Emilia to act so cruelly towards her knight, Anastasia, for the first time in her entire life, did not seek to find out. Looking out through the windows, it became quite apparent that they had gone well over their intended meeting time, with the moon just starting to peak out over the horizon.
Emilia’s eyes widened in surprise at how late it had gotten, “Oh my! I didn’t even realize, I suppose this is farewell then, we should definitely do this again sometime though! I reeeally enjoyed it!” A curt nod, “A-as did I, we’ll keep in touch, alright?” With her merchant mask nearly coming undone, Anastasia had completely forgotten her accent, wanting nothing more than to escape before Emilia’s wrath came unto her.
Just as they began to walk out the door, a voice broke through the “comfortable” silence, "Before we take our leave, I’d like to speak with Subaru, privately.” The tone in his voice made it clear that this was not a suggestion, Subaru’s face scrunched up in annoyance, ”What on Earth do you want?” Despite the irritation in his voice, Subaru had already begun to motion for Julius to follow him to another room. Julius followed him in, a stoic expression on his face.
Anastasia waited in place, her heart beating fast out her chest, with everything that followed beforehand, the stress was starting to get to her. Not even a minute passed before they both exited the room, “I’m tellin’ you, it’s fine! Don’t worry about me so much, how about you worry about yourself a bit more, huh?” Subaru teasingly smacked Julius’s back while speaking to him.
A small smile was forced on his lips, his voice shakier than before, "Hah, yes I suppose I was worrying over nothing, my apologies, Subaru.”
A more calm expression poured over Subaru’s, "Don't sweat it...” A true comfortable silence filled in between them.
With that, the two groups finally bid farewell to one another, wishing each other safe travels.
The second that Anastasia and Julius were alone in the carriage, the discussion began, “My Lady, I have unfortunate news to share.” His eyes looked heavy, without missing a beat, Anastasia responded, "Are you referring to what you and Subaru discussed?” He nodded, "Go on.”
“I asked him how he was dealing with the foul language his liege was directing at him, and he simply laughed... he told me it didn’t hurt him in the slightest, and that my worries were over nothing.” His voice deadly serious laying out the horrific reality the two of them had stumbled upon.
This is worse than I originally thought. While I’m not one to care to much for those outside of my own camp, it’s just hard to stomach the idea that anyone is being subjected to such torture, realistically day in and day out. Anastasia began petting her scarf out of habit, But why would he be so fine with it...?
Suddenly, another voice spoke out, this time into her mind, I think it's quite obvious, he's simply coping through it. Eridna quietly spoke.
The puzzle pieces finally clicked together, Of course! It all made sense now, she had noticed it before but the boy carried a unique sense of torment in his eyes, this must be the only way he can make it through the day. By simply allowing it all to be water off his back. How cruel.
A battle hardened gaze rested upon Anastasia’s brow, I will definitely save you from this hell, just wait, Natsuki Subaru.