34 Childhood ‘Crusch’

.....

Lying on the bed, I looked down to see Rem asleep on my chest. She was also in my Tracksuit's jacket.

As her nightgown had been ripped by me on the night we had sex, she insisted on wearing this to sleep when we were on our way back to the Carsten household. Lucky for her and mostly me, I wasn't against the idea at all.

Last night, I had sent Wilhelm to get the merchants and bring their carriages to pick everyone up.

Rem had went with the merchants along with Emilia. So she was with them when they came to pick us up.

When I had asked her later that night why she hadn't stayed behind when I was near death, she just looked at me with a soft smile.

'Call it a woman's intuition Suburu, but I just knew that you wouldn't die on me.'

Her tone when saying that was as if it was only the most obvious thing in the world. And I for some odd reason believed.

'And besides, someone had to compete those plans of yours.'

After those words from her, I finally felt the drowsiness stemming from my lack of sleep finally take over me. Rem noticed this and had put my head into her lap. She then lulled me to sleep while she played with my hair.

Now I find myself with Rem quietly laying on my chest in the bed of my room in Crusch's mansion. Brushing my hand through her head, I let out a soft smile.

She probably was the one who put me in this bed.

"Good morning Suburu, 5 more minutes?" Rem said tiredly when she felt my hand going through her hair.

"Good morning Rem, it's time to wake up."

Groaning Rem opened her eyes and looked up at me with a pout. "Can I PLEASE get 5 more minutes."

Chucking, I carefully pushed her off my chest and got up. Looking at what I was wearing, I noticed that I was now wearing pajama type clothing.

"Did you change me into this Rem?"

"Yeah, you were asleep after all dummy. Or where you going to change yourself while unconscious? Plus, I know you wouldn't like it if you woke up in your uniform."

Leaning down towards Rem, I gave her a small kiss on the lips before starting to pull away. "That was both a thank you and good morning kiss."

But when I was about to pull away and look for my uniform, Rem jumped up and planted her lips back onto mine before letting out a giggle.

"That was the good morning one, the other one can be the thank you." She then pointed towards the desk I had sat down on a few nights before. "And l left your clothes right there. Your knives are also cleaned and put up also."

Going over to my desk, I calmly striped down naked and clothed myself into my butler suit. I also grabbed the two knife holders that go on my wrists and put them on underneath my sleeves.

And while I was making some final adjustments with my cuffs to make access to my knives easier, I turned back towards Rem who was also stripping out of my tracksuit to get dressed.

Feeling my eyes on her, she looked behind her shoulder and gave me a teasing smile. "Like what you see?"

I then gave her a sly smirk and joked. "I'd be careful now. I can only take so much stimulation before going crazy."

Rem then chuckled at my joke before throwing a glance towards a certain part of me and biting her lip.

"I certainly wouldn't mind crazy."

...

"Big Brother Ferris! Can we play?"

Well this is unexpected.....

Currently in front of me is lady Crusch. And she's.... she's.... playing with toys.....

"Big brother Suburu, how about you? Can you play with me?"

Looking over at Felix, he just looks dead. Emilia who is sitting next to me is on the verge of tears. And Wilhelm is quietly staring out one of the windows of the room. Rem is standing behind me.

"Crusch, I'm afraid I'm too busy to play right now."

She then threw me a childish pout which caused Felix to flinch. But I don't blame him though, Her current self and the Crusch of the past are simply too different.

"But I want to play now!" Crusch yelled out.

"Lady Crusch be quiet!" Felix yelled in rage and annoyance causing her to flinch and put her head down like a kid who was caught stealing one of her teachers erasers.

This response however forced Felix to look away as he couldn't look at her anymore without getting sad or angry. But he also probably felt conflicted about yelling at her.

"Ok....I'm sorry big bro Ferris..."

Seeing her head down, I just patted her on the head to reassure this 'child' and let out a smile.

"No, it's completely fine. A kid such as yourself wants to play all day. I can completely understand that."

"But the adults are talking right now, so can you please be a good little girl and let us be alone for a second?"

Crusch hearing my words brought her head up before giving me a big goofy smile. "Sure! I'll be a good girl just for you big bro!"

Smiling at her response, I decided to lead her out of the room with my words. "Good girl, now go play outside will you?"

"Ok! But your playing with me later you hear me!"

Crusch then jumped off the chair in a childlike manner before running out of the room while giggling.

Once the door shut, my face then dropped into a frown before looking towards Felix. He was looking at me with anger, I did after all treat the 'woman' he respected and loved as a child.

"Calm down Felix, we both know she shouldn't be here for this conversation."

His face then slowly became calm, but I knew that calmness was actually because of anger and sadness.

"Did you know?" He said flatly.

"No, I had no idea that Gluttony would attack." I said before slumping my shoulders and letting tears fall onto the table between us.

*drip*

"I-I would have at least warned her if I did..."

*drip*

"S-So h-help me god I would....."

*drip*

"BUT I COULDNT!"

As I cried and let out other words of anguish, I felt Rem softly pull me into her embrace and whisper into my ear. "It's ok Suburu, it wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault."

Her voice then noticeably rose as she looked at Felix. "I'd say all fault belongs to gluttony."

Hearing Rem, I let out a smile that was covered by my hands as I continued to cry. But after a few minutes of sobbing and complaining about circumstances and those illogical nonsense, I suddenly stopped before adopting a calm look that I normally use.

"I'm so sorry for that."

Felix just looked at me with a dead expression for a good second before sighing and looking out a window. He then spoke in a monotone and dead voice.

"It's alright, sorry for doubting you.... I guess.....I just really don't have the ability to care right now."

"I'm calling the alliance between us off. And don't even try to tell me otherwise."

"As you can see, lady Crusch is pretty much unfit for being a candidate and we have no reason to work together anymore."

"You would just cause us more harm than good because of your attention from the Witch's Cult."

"And we've already suffered enough losses because of this deal. The white whale's subjection is now pointless to us. I hope you enjoy the credit."

He then turned towards Emilia and looked at her with dead eyes.

"That means you haven't suffered a single loss and have actually taken all of our hard earned work for yourselves along with Anastasia's party."

"I do hope you're happy..."

"Witch."

And with those final words said, he slowly got got up and walked towards the door before swinging it open. But before he was about to step out, he suddenly spoke out.

"Will you stay?"

And Wilhelm who was just silently staring out the window remained silent. Hearing his silence, Felix let out a sad chuckle.

"I thought so....."

He then suddenly turned towards me as tears streamed silently down his face.

"You can also keep the earth dragon, take it as a promise that we never work together again."

"Have a good life Suburu."

And with those words, the doors finally slammed shut and we found ourselves alone in silence. I however immediately looked over towards Emilia and found her to be especially quiet.

She had an almost dead expression as she looked down.

"Emilia?"

Tears then started to flood down her cheeks before she let out a whisper.

"It was my fault wasn't it?"

Quickly looking over at Wilhelm, I saw him looking back at me. I then pointed at Emilia with my eyes and he gave me a nod of understanding before silently going out of the door.

Looking towards Rem, I see her giving a complicated face of worry towards Emilia.

"Rem, help me."

She then silently nodded towards me before she made her way around the couch and took a seat next to Emilia. We both then wrapped our arms around Emilia and took her into a soft hug.

Emilia feeling our embrace looked between us in confusion as tears fell down her cheeks. "Suburu? Rem? What are you doing?"

And with tears streaming down her face, she tried her hardest to stop and let out a bright smile only for to time out extremely forced and pained.

"I'm fine you two."

Seeing her words contradict her expression, I have her a serious expression.

"Just this once Emilia."

"Just this once what?"

And with soft smiles coming from both me and Rem, I decided to finish what I said.

"Just this once you can cry."

She then went silent for a second.

"I-I see..... t-thank you Suburu, Rem."

"Your welcome." The two of us said in sync.

Emilia then let out a sad laugh before going quiet.

"I'm going to cry now."

And with that, she started to cry. But me and Rem were both there to console those tears.

And with my face looking over her shoulder, I look through one of the windows present in the room. Upon seeing the sun staring directly at me, I let out a frown as a certain thought came crashing into my head.

How very troublesome this is.

....