Now, I know this is not what anyone (except those who look at my forum) was expecting from me... but I was suffering writers block for quite some time... and then I got Disgaea 5 and that consumed me... then I got Fallout 4 and that's been consuming me... and other ideas have been consuming me... and work has been hard... basically I just haven't really gotten around to writing recently.
However, this idea popped into my head due to one of the conversations on my forum and I decided to start writing it... it has taken quite some time to simply get it to this point and I will say this right here and now...
This is a one-shot
I do not intend on writing any more for this fic so do not ask me to.
Anyway... now that that is out of the way, it is time to get the disclaimer out of the way...
I Do Not Own The IP to either Bloodborne Or Any Entry Of The Fate Series And Make No Money Off This Free Access Fanfiction
Sleep.
It was something she never truly did anymore.
Back when she was still nothing more than flesh and bones, she most probably had, but ever since her ascension, she hadn't truly slept… because she was never truly awake.
Her world was the Dream, her home was the Hunters Dream and her family was the Doll that had been there for her ever since she had nearly lost her mind upon seeing the beast that hunted upon the bridge near the Great Cathedral.
Everything had remained the same for the eons that had passed since then, the countless ages that had passed by since she had managed to kill the Moon Presence and ascend beyond humanity.
But the Doll had remained by her side throughout all that time, had cared for her when she had been reborn and defenceless… and had given her unconditional love simply for existing.
Yes… the Doll had been the only thing that offered comfort and even now, after eternities of existing with it, she was still just as comfortable and at peace as she had started.
She was thankful that she was no longer the new-born she had once been, thankful that she was no longer a tiny, insignificant creature that needed a nurse, thankful that now she was the size of a small church, thankful that she no longer needed to rely on the Doll to do everything for her.
She also found her new form perfectly comfortable now that she'd worn it for quite some time, sure it may have been giant and covered with tentacles but after getting used to their presence, they cease being a nuisance and become just as natural as arms and legs had been back when she was still human.
In the end, everything was right with the Dream she was living.
Her attention was drawn by a tugging, an unfamiliar sensation that she instinctively knew meant she was being summoned… no… it wasn't instinct that told her that, it was the magic attempting to summon her that passed on that knowledge.
That someone would try to summon her was infuriating, all she wanted to do was spend eternity with the only thing that meant something to her and someone was interrupting her peace.
The spell was trying to bind her will, but she had thrown off more powerful influences back when she was a mere human, these spells were nothing to her but the fury she felt grew at the thought of someone trying to bind her.
Whoever this was, she would make them pay for this slight… and so she allowed the summoning to grip her and entered the waking world once more.
XXX FATE/ETERNAL DREAM XXX
Saying that she saw a small, dark corridor with a child standing looking at a door when she appeared would be incorrect.
She felt everything around her for miles, hundreds of miles, thousands of miles upon being summoned, the most notable point of interest however, was the immediate vicinity.
A small set of joined rooms was the location she found herself, in the corridor was a child whose sense of relief hid the absolute terror that embedded itself in his soul.
In another room lay two dead bodies, a man that felt of blood and a being with a body made of magic and a soul made of belief… it was the belief shaped magic that had summoned her.
Feeling the world around her she could sense the malice coming from the human that felt of blood and the belief shaped magic, she quickly concluded that they had summoned her to kill the child.
So she let her tentacles shoot forth and through the door on the side of the corridor, latching onto the duo that would dare disturb her peace.
They spoke words of shock but she dismissed it as she tore their bodies apart, scattering the magic and wiping out the belief that shaped it before turning her attention back to the child as it crawled across the floor in insanity induced horror from the small glimpse it had caught of her.
It was such a pitiable creature, unable to even run properly as its mind was shattered from witnessing a being beyond the world it was used to… and so with a quick movement of her tentacles, she tore it apart, ending the miserable existence in an instant.
She would've returned to The Hunters Dream at that point if she couldn't feel the existence of others like the one that had summoned her, for if there were others, then they too would try to summon her and she did not want to be interrupted again.
But beyond the belief shaped magic, there was something that caught her attention far more deeply than anything else.
It was a doll.
A young doll with white hair and red eyes, a young doll that reeked of both death and innocence, a young doll that knew love and wished to be used to channel the power that would allow for the man it loved to bring about world peace.
Except the power was corrupted, dark, unwilling to help.
It craved destruction, it craved death and it would twist whatever it was asked for in order to fulfil that hunger for destruction.
Indeed, it would destroy the doll and break the man it loved for the purpose of fulfilling its own desires.
And so, she focused on the doll.
It was standing on a street next to the ocean and alongside a magical body shaped by a genuine soul, similar to the other magical creatures shaped by belief but more true to humanity.
But there were other belief shaped magic bodies either heading towards them or already there while several humans waited in the background.
She didn't care about the humans, they could use an unnatural power but they were not the doll… even the one with the bullets made of his own bones, imbued with the power to sever and bind was nothing worth paying attention to.
No. That was wrong.
The one with the bone bullets was pointing the weapon at the doll, she could not allow that, but she didn't wish to render everyone in the area insane upon her appearance…
Ah, of course.
She felt her body shift and change as she moved and squeezed until she looked just like her original, human body.
And then she moved next to the man with the gun.
XXX FATE/ETERNAL DREAM XXX
Emiya Kiritsugu watched as Saber and his wife responded to the challenge made at the docks.
Unlike other magi he was watching from a vantage point at the docks themselves and magnifying everything through the scope of his Walther WA2000, allowing him to instantly interfere as soon as an opening presented itself.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan when he felt cold steel touch his temple.
"Harm the doll… and I will break you," the voice that reached his ears was quiet, feminine and hoarse from either an infection or a severe lack of use.
His mind processed what his ambusher said and he immediately came to the conclusion that whoever it was that was threatening him, they were trying to protect Irisviel for reasons he couldn't identify.
If it was well known that she was the Lesser Grail then he would understand but it wasn't common knowledge, so this person shouldn't be trying to protect her for that reason.
"Who are you?" he decided to dig for information as he moved his sights from his wife and servant and onto the opponent that had shown themselves.
"Who… am I?" the voice sounded confused, as if that was something it hadn't thought would be asked.
Several seconds passed as he tried to keep his attention divided between this newest issue and the situation that was unfolding below him.
"Roslyn," the voice eventually stated, surprising him slightly at how uncertain it sounded, "I think… that was my name…"
His ambushers lack of certainty in their own name was quickly dismissed, if this person was suffering amnesia then that wasn't something he needed to worry about, what he needed to make sure was that the weapon pressed to his head didn't go off.
"Do you need assistance?" a voice came from his headset and he was about to signal for Maiya to fire when her voice cut in once again, "they know I'm here."
Did that mean that his assailant had signalled towards her to indicate their knowledge of her existence? If so then ordering her to fire could have severe repercussions for them.
He signalled for her to hold her fire as he returned to digging for information.
"Why do you want me to leave Irisviel alone?" he asked, hoping for anything that could give him a hint towards the purpose this person possessed.
"Irisviel?" it sounded confused as it spoke the name in the same hoarse tone as it started, "the doll deserves better."
Now that confused him, this voice kept calling Irisviel 'the doll' but stated that she deserved better.
"I'm trying to protect her," he stated bluntly, "but you're distracting me from fulfilling my task."
"Protect?" that seemed to confuse the person before they removed their weapon from his head and he risked glancing at the one that had held him up at what he assumed was gunpoint.
They were definitely not modern, what with their clothing looking like the sort of thing a Victorian man might wear on a rainy day.
The face was definitely female though, as was the build of the body. She clearly had dark auburn hair though their most startling feature was the heterochromia, with one eye being a dull green and the other a bright red.
And in her left hand was an old flintlock pistol, which she had clearly been holding to his head until just now… however it was the blade in her right hand that stuck out the most, it looked like it belonged on a scythe and there was clearly a joint for it to be attached to a much longer handle, which he noted was visible on her back.
Just by looking at her, he was certain she was either a servant or a Dead Apostle, honestly, either option was bad as far as he was concerned.
He quickly returned his focus on the battle that was happening between Saber and Lancer, despite how uncomfortable he felt with a non-human standing next to him, he had a job he needed to do and the creature didn't seem to want to kill him unless he hurt Irisviel.
And so he watched.
XXX FATE/ETERNAL DREAM XXX
She watched as the man continued to watch over the doll. Honestly she knew she should've checked his intentions deeper sooner but the past was the past and now she knew he was planning on protecting her… at least until the end of the conflict.
Once the conflict ended, he planned on sacrificing her in order to grant a wish of world peace, a world without conflict… and he knew doing so would crush him.
The man was selfless, so selfless that he actually seemed cruel… and it was all because he didn't care how much he hurt himself as long as he saved others doing so.
She found herself pitying the creature that thought that making a wish to a corrupted device was a good idea, though the fact that he was ignorant of the fact that it was corrupted made it a little more understandable.
"Your plan… will fail," she stated to the mortal, clearly distracting him for an instant before he returned his attention to the battle that was raging below him, "the wish device… is corrupt, filled with all the worlds evils… it won't grant your wish how you want."
She could feel the uncertainty in the man's soul upon hearing that, but he quickly regained his composure.
"And how do you know that?" he was clearly digging for information and she found herself fully understanding why he would do so, even after the eons she spent as a Great One she still remembered what it was like to not possess the ability to know anything she chose to.
"I know everything… I choose to know," she stated in her hoarse voice, honestly she had forgotten how frail her human form had once been.
"You didn't appear to know that I didn't intend to hurt Irisviel," his response was clear and obvious but she found herself simply smiling softly in response.
"I chose to act before… choosing to know," it was true, she could've easily chosen to know the situation but had instead simply acted.
"Why should I believe you?" it was a valid question and she didn't feel any need to punish the man for not trusting her.
"… That doesn't matter," she informed him before looking him in the eyes and allowing just a tiny fraction of her nature through them, "I won't let you… sacrifice the Doll."
XXX FATE/ETERNAL DREAM XXX
Kiritsugu found himself having to take a firm grip on his sanity upon looking the stranger in the eyes again.
Whoever she was, she almost certainly had some form of mystic eyes he had never heard of before.
"What are you?" he decided to ask, if he could get any hint as to the nature of the stranger then he could potentially use that to figure out a method of dealing with her when she inevitably became an enemy.
"You might… be capable of defeating… some of my… lesser siblings," her words came out in the same hoarse rasping it had throughout the entire meeting, "but you… cannot defeat me."
He found himself internally smirking at her dismissing him… she clearly didn't know about his Origin Bullets.
He soon found his focus back on the battle between Saber and Lancer as the spearman cut the tendons in Saber's wrist and he watched as Irisviel's attempts at healing it failed.
"Conceptual rewriting of full health," he looked at the stranger that was sitting next to him," that spear… can make the injury a… part of their concept of perfect health."
That would make sense given what he was seeing but the ease of which the woman made that claim was what caught him the most off guard… especially given her lack of concern over the matter.
He was definitely not happy with this situation, he knew where Lancer's Master was located but he was not in his line of sight, what with how there was a couple of walls between them.
"The one with the… chariot is coming," the stranger beside him stated calmly causing him to glance at her before a lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the ground, revealing a large man with red hair and a beard riding a chariot with a young man who looked like he was about to throw up seated next to him.
The introduction was enough to make Kiritsugu come to the conclusion that the new servant was an idiot, no other servant would be stupid enough to announce their name to their opponents… even the honourable ones knew better than to give their enemies the knowledge they needed to defeat them.
The fact that Rider's master seemed to agree with his own assessment only made the servant seem even more idiotic.
His opinion only grew in strength when the newly introduced Iskander proceeded to ask the other servants if they would forfeit the Grail and join his army.
He was firmly rejected by the King of Knights and her opponent.
"Aren't you going to do something to protect Irivsviel?" he decided to ask the being that was spectating alongside him as the third servant made his presence known.
"I will… if the human contracted with… the spearman forces him to… attack her… or the golden one… decides to attack her," wait, golden one?
He scanned his scope around the battlefield looking for Tohsaka's servant before Rider called out to all spectators to come forth.
Then the Golden Servant of Tohsaka Tokiomi made its presence known on top of a lamppost.
This complicated everything, from what he had seen, the Archer class servant used a noble phantasm that ejected many different weapons straight at his targets… there was no chance he could intercept them if they were aimed at his wife.
The fact that Assassin was also watching the situation only made it even harder for him to interfere if anything happened.
Before he could come to a conclusion about what to do, an explosion of darkness erupted from the ground not far from the Golden Servant, which quickly vanished to reveal a Black Knight surrounded by an ominous aura.
He found his nerves growing upon being unable to identify the Servants parameters.
"It looks like this servant fell off your radar," he stated to the creature next to him.
"Contractor focused… on Goldie," she responded easily, "Knight… focused on Blondie."
Kiritsugu had to blink at that statement before informing the creature of the proper terms for the Servants.
"Archer," he stated while pointing towards the Tohsaka Servant before pointing towards his own, "Saber."
"Goldie," she repeated his own gestures as she spoke again, "Blondie."
He found himself quickly realising that she didn't really care what their names or classes were and gave up as he watched what was obviously the Berserker facing off against the rain of weapons Archer was sending against him.
His eyes widened when the battle caused the Archer to grow furious as the portal behind him expanded and dozens if not hundreds of weapons were exposed.
He didn't have time to react as the ripples in the air shattered and he was greeted by the sight of the Archer's chest exploding open as the Auburn haired creature that had been sat next to him just seconds before appeared behind the servant.
The simple fact a Servant couldn't react to its presence was just proof that it was too much for him to survive if it ever chose to kill him.
XXX FATE/ETERNAL DREAM XXX
Saber couldn't stop herself from staring in shock.
Archer had appeared like he would potentially be one of the dominant servants in this war and when he had increased the size of his barrage… he was dead.
It had all happened so fast she hadn't been able to catch it but she had seen the ripples in the air shatter like glass just before the Golden Servant had its chest blown out by an unknown assailant wielding what the Grail had informed her was a flintlock pistol.
She would've expected the stranger to be an Archer but she was already aware that the Golden Servant was this wars Archer. Then there was the fact that she had been fighting Lancer, Rider had appeared, she lacked the skull mask of the Hassan and now Berserker was in the area… which meant that the stranger would have to be Caster if they were a Servant.
However Casters did not use guns, that was something she was aware of, after all, guns had essentially replaced Bows and Arrows as long range weaponry… something spellcasters most certainly didn't need to worry about.
And that's not even taking that blade in her right hand into account.
Whatever this woman was, she was most certainly not a servant in this war.
"Should any of you…" she felt her spine shiver at the dry, raspy breath of the newcomer, "risk harming… the Doll… I'll destroy you."
She found her eyes widening at that declaration, she knew that Irisviel was the only one there that could be considered a Doll which meant that this creature was at least a potential ally.
Her eyes were drawn to the Black Knight as it suddenly raced pass the stranger who didn't seem to bother reacting as it barrelled straight towards her.
"GREETINGS!" it seemed like Iskander was more than willing to ignore the fact the Berserker was now attacking her in favour of speaking to the newcomer, "I am Iskander! The King Of Conquerors! What do you say to joining my army and relishing in the thrill of world conquest?!"
Great, even while fighting for her life against the insane servant she was still forced to listen to Rider's senseless prattle.
"You are… idiot… not Doll," the stranger spoke bluntly and she found herself almost missing parry from the distraction the conversation was providing.
"HAHAHAHA!" the fact that Rider seemed more than happy to laugh off her rejection was proof of just how careless the man was.
"Lancer, team up with Berserker and kill Saber," the voice of Lord El-Melloi commanded from out of her sight.
"Harm Doll… and I'll destroy you… Metal Man," and with that the stranger vanished into thin air.
"Oh? Haha! That's a nice trick she's got there!" Rider seemed to be taking the situation perfectly happily even as she continued to fight for her life.
XXX FATE/ETERNAL DREAM XXX
She wouldn't admit it, but the Golden Guy had gotten on her nerves to begin with… for him to instantly dismiss others as being inferior simply due to not being him really got to her.
At least she had worked for her status, she had mastered all of her abilities, learned everything she could about herself and gained the power to analyse anything and determine if it was a genuine threat.
That guy just assumed everyone was less than him simply because they weren't him.
"Why didn't you stop Berserker?" she was greeted by the voice of the Gun Guy that was watching the battle through his scope and she simply told him the truth once again.
"Personal grudge," it was pretty simple really, the Black Knight only cared about Blondie so as long as they kept the fight away from the Doll, she couldn't care less about it.
Of course she didn't intend on sitting around and being bombarded with questions from the over enthusiastic people that littered the Dockyard… at least the person next to her was someone that would only ask things he felt were important.
Plus, he loved the Doll so he couldn't be bad.
So she watched alongside the dark haired stranger as things progressed with Mole-guy and Black Knight teaming up on Blondie before the Idiot proceeded to get involved and run over the Black Knight with his chariot.
Honestly it would've been better if he had picked a fight with the spearman but it seemed that she and the Black Knight himself were there only ones that knew the personal nature of his grudge.
Eventually though, the groups all departed and she was left wondering why the man next to her was being so distant to the Doll… so she looked deeper and once again noted the pain of betrayal, not the pain of being betrayed but the pain of betraying those he loved, the pain of knowing that his wife wouldn't live past this war.
She couldn't stop herself form pitying the creature before her… he was so lost in his own delusions of saving as many people as he could, that he never even considered saving those that really mattered.
And so she came to a decision… this battle would be between the Pretty Boy, the Idiot and the Black Knight.
So she took ahold of the man, the doll and their spawn and enveloped them in dreams… they would live forever in a dream of their own.
She looked at the battlefield once again and noted blondie gaining a panicked look on her face when the Doll vanished and her body started to come apart… so she glued the body together, exerting upon the world that was trying to take it apart that that body was part of her domain and its influence wasn't welcome.
Then she moved next to Blondie and spoke once more.
"Finish your… fights," it was a simple command, "… Black Knight… in particular."
"Wha… what did you do to my master?!" the blonde knight demanded as she held her sword firmly.
"Safe… for eternity," she stated calmly, "finish… your fights… Black Knight in… particular."
"What are you saying?" the blonde one still seemed very much on edge but was no longer quite as aggressive.
"Black Knight… holds grudge with… you," she informed the blonde one before deciding she had spent long enough there already, "now… I leave."
And so she returned to the Hunters Dream before the blonde one could say any more.
It had only been less than one hour but she had done more in that hour than she had in the past… five… fifteen… one hundred… she really couldn't remember… millennia and it made her tired.
Then again, she was always tired, that was the nature of the Dream… it was not supposed to operate in the waking world after all.
But now that she had returned, she looked upon the three she had trapped in the dreaming… seeing a world full of peace, where the man could spend his life with the two he had been trapped with and the loved ones he had previously betrayed… it was a dream she couldn't stop herself from feeling good about as she once again turned her attention upon her own loved one.
Laying there exactly the same as she had been before she was summoned, The Plain Doll had remained asleep within the Dream and she did the closest thing she could to a smile as she returned to her true form and returned to her place next to the Doll.
The Hunters Dream was her home and it was complete again.
And that is it... done.
No more is coming.
Shadow out.