Re;Living Their Past

Witches

"What are you doing here, Echidna?!" Subaru asked with bitterness. After the events at the Sanctuary, Subaru had developed a distrust and hatred toward the Witch of Greed, as she attempted to make a contract with him in which he would die over and over just so she could satisfy her thirst for information.

The white-haired Witch looked at him with curiosity. "How pleasant... My book was correct. I really did find an interesting individual." It wasn't until she replied that it really hit Subaru that he was talking to a living Echidna, but this Echidna was slightly different from the one that he had met in her Castle of Dreams. She looked slightly younger and less evil.

Subaru slowly stood up as his body was recovering from the intensive fear that the now dead mabeast had given him. But before he could say anything there was a rustling from the direction that Echidna had presumably come from.

From behind Echidna, another person came, but her presence surprised him even more than Echidna's. "Minerva?! What are two Witches doing here?!"

Minerva, the Witch of Wrath, looked at the dead mabeast with tears in her eyes. "Why did you kill it, Echidna?! That makes me so angry! You could have scared it off or something, but you killed it! We came here to find somebody, not kill animals!"

As Minerva began to stomp the ground, making it look cleaner than before, Subaru observed her body. Just like Echidna, Minerva didn't appear to be the same age as she did in the Castle of Dreams, but her golden hair and generous curves weren't too different. She was slightly younger, but her overall appearance hadn't changed much.

When Minerva turned her attention to Subaru, she wiped her tears away. She pointed at him and asked Echidna, "Is this the boy that your book was telling you about?"

Echidna nodded her head. "Yes. He is definitely a Sage Candidate, as he can stand in our presence without any symptoms."

Subaru had enough of this. Enough of not knowing what was going on. "Hold it! I'm not a Sage, and the only 'Sage' that I met was a disappointment, if I'm being honest. But can someone explain what's happening?! I've been forced away from where I'm supposed to be, and now you two are standing in front of me, still alive!"

He knew that he was in the past, but part of Subaru couldn't accept that he was actually living about four hundred years before he came to this world, not the few decades that he had assumed himself to have crossed.

Echidna was more than happy to answer the curious boy. "Of course we are alive. We may be known as Witches, but Minerva and I are still living beings. You may know us from reputation, but we only know that you are supposed to be a Sage Candidate, which is self-explanatory. We are here to help you."

Minerva stepped forward as Echidna explained why they were there. Subaru stood wearily, but he knew that Minerva couldn't hurt him. The one he was worried about was Echidna. Was what her motive, and why did she bring Minerva?

The Witch of Wrath began to cry again as she noticed the dried tears on Subaru's face and the dirtiness of his tracksuit, which told her enough about his hardships to this point.

"Who hurt you? It makes me so angry to see someone in pain! Who was the one who took you away?!" Minerva suddenly punched Subaru in her rage, instantly healing the surprised boy's wounds and fatigue.

"Pandora," Subaru whispered.

Minerva's tears froze, and Echidna's eyes widened. The Witch of Vainglory was a very mysterious person, even in their time, so hearing her name was very rare.

Echidna's expression turned from shock to curiosity, and Minerva stepped back as her body shook. "Pandora! I will never forgive her!" Minerva shouted and began punching and stomping in a rage-fueled frenzy.