Once again, It was Nothing. Nothing, but Something. Only Something, and Nothing more.
Not until It rose from the depths and broke the surface.
...
"Lia, let's just—."
"—haaah. God damnit! I hate that crazy bitch!!"
Gripping his hair and groaning loudly, Sunny stomps the ground and curses the sky.
There are so many thoughts racing through his head that he's struggling to keep track.
The ghastly massacre outside the Barn. The gruesome fate for the trio of thieves. His disturbing conversation with Elsa, her audacity boggled him. Emilia...
"S-sir, are you alright?"
Looking at her felt like a flashbang; the image of her corpse forever seared into his memory.
She's currently offering him a small smile, which makes him grimace.
He felt disgusted at himself for finding any morbid beauty in her death.
"...uhm, sir, why are you so scared?"
"What?" he snapped back.
'Scared? What does she mean?'
"You look like you've seen something horrible ...like you've lost something reaalllyy precious to you."
"..."
From Emilias' perspective, this random boy she had just saved from thieves suddenly spasmed, cursed, and stomped the ground like he was throwing a tantrum; Except, a look of terror was etched onto his face, his gaze distant, and his body trembling.
She noticed Puck scowling at him with cold eyes and wondered why, but chose to ignore it.
When she called to him, he recoiled at the sight of her. It hurt her feelings, but she was used to this reaction. However...the look in his eyes was different than what was typical. It almost looked like he was afraid for her, instead of afraid of her.
"I-I don't understand what happened, but, would you like to talk about it?"
Unbeknownst to her, Sunny wondered if her flaw was innocently repeating the phrases someone least wanted to hear in the moment.
"And let me heal you! Ah! ...uhm, b-because I need information to find that thief! Definitely not for any other reason—"
Sunny raised his hand to stop her rambling, then politely asked to be healed and took a moment to think.
Every second in her presence makes him feel uneasy. The fresh sensation of death was still settling upon him, and her face only made it harder to ignore.
Having been gutted twice already, he was angry and afraid. Elsa had become the personification of death in his mind. Just thinking about her made him shiver.
He had thought he was prepared to die back on the bench outside the police station. Despite that, he did everything he could to survive in his first loop, and his efforts had been in vain.
Death had been so sudden and jarring that Sunny skipped the stages of grief entirely, going straight into acceptance.
And then, he was thrown back into life, given another chance to survive.
In a weird mixture of denial and acceptance, he adapted fast and made the choices he thought made the most sense. Delay Emilia, brainstorm plans, scout the slums, and get information on Elsa.
He had even prepared himself to listen in silence while Felt and Rom get murdered, all for a little information. But he never expected Elsa to flip the table on him and walk away peacefully after a deal complete.
It had lit a small fire of hope that blinded him, he thought the Nightmare was nearing its end.
That hope came back to crush him. His life ending in another massacre, one far more dreadful than the first. When he ran into that cul-de-sac yelling for help, he realized his fate had been sealed.
The scene was fresh in his mind; Emilias' visage like a portrait in a gallery of memories.
Death arriving in the form of Elsa.
The shadows he did not yet understand gripping his heart.
The sight of three freshly dismembered stooges.
Followed by an unexpected offer that disgusted him more than the sight of any number of corpses.
He could have taken her hand and survived, but surviving would be all he could do. He'd have been chained to Elsa like a slave. Nothing she said could have ever made him take her hand. He'd never trust someone that has killed him.
And so, he swung his blade to spite death.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
...
"Mister...? Hey! Mister! It's rude to ignore a lady when she's speaking! Especially one as lovely as my daughter."
"—Puck!"
Emilia puffed her cheeks and pouted, seemingly annoyed and embarrassed. This little interaction broke through Sunny's stupor and put a small smile on his face.
He was back at an impasse. His —'checkpoint'— puts him in a rather precarious spot.
Last time, he gave her the general area and told her to get guards. That had taken her a little over two hours to gather the guards and find the Loot Barn. She had brought four guards along, which was more than expected, but not nearly enough.
He doubted that even twenty or thirty guards would be enough to kill the assassin. Although they might be able to force a retreat, he couldn't tell because he didn't see them fight. Well, the fact they got slaughtered without much resistance gave him a less-than-favorable judgment of their skills.
'They're just fodder to someone like her.'
"I'm getting impatient, mister."
"..."
"You're looking for a blonde girl with red eyes and a bratty attitude, she had a vest on or something. As I said, she's already escaped."
'Speaking of Felt— she got away, right? I didn't see her body... Somehow, that's not very reassuring.'
Elsa did say that there was no other way. He interpreted that to mean she was contracted to kill them—probably Emilia—and the negotiations with Felt were just a farce.
Having given them some information, he idles a moment, and begins to walk away without a word.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going, mister?"
Sunny froze for a moment and gave him a quizzical look.
"You said you'd help us find the thief, didn't you, mister?"
"p-Puck!—it's okay... I understand. Thank you."
Emilia's eyes were glued to the floor as she motioned an apology at him with her hands.
Letting out a small sigh, Sunny wonders what he did to piss off the flying cat.
"Did I? Well, I gave you information. Anyway— ...Say, pretty lady, you wouldn't happen to have some coins to spare? Please? Yousee, I could die for some real food right about now."
"—!?"
Emilia appeared genuinely taken aback for a moment, and he second-guessed himself at the sight.
'Did I misjudge her? Hmm, but she seems like the charitable kind, though? Maybe it was my blatant shamelessness. That would make sense; she had already rescued and healed me, and now I'm practically rubbing it in her face by asking for more.'
'If only you knew how much I've already helped you.'
And if only he knew what she was actually thinking.
Because Emilia was also stressing out in her head at the moment, just for a different reason. 'Pretty? Me? No— there's no way...I must've misheard. That's right, I must've misheard him...a witch can't be pretty.'
Anywho, Sunny was just about to walk away;
"a-ah! uhm. I'm reaaalllly sorry sir, b-but I don't have any coins on me!"
'No way!? She's flat broke?? You're kidding me right? Right!?'
"...I see. Thank you for healing me, Emilia."
Holding back a tired sigh, he spun on his heel and quickly left.
"—How...did he know my name?"