"This is the last time we're letting you give directions, Mordred" Xuanzang said with a frown as she pulled her staff out of the giant wolf's chest, this was the fourth time the Knight's horrible sense of direction had lured them into a nest of enemies.
"Don't look at me, If Jaguar-man was less loud we wouldn't have gotten spotted. These modern maps are too complicated to read. Besides were almost there so quit your yapping" Mordred replied with a dry look as she cut down the next wyvern approaching her.
Ahead of her clad in a ridiculously impractical fur suit Jaguar-man pounced on another enemy. "Come on, it's the scenic route" Jaguar-man said with a smile as she looked at them over her shoulder. "Where's your sense of adventure guys"
"Scenic route my arse" Mordred scoffed as she killed the last wolf, pulling a cloth from her suits hidden pocket compartment she wiped the blood off Clarent and glanced back up at Xuanzang
"You should have let me handle the directions. Do you know how many pits we almost fell in?" she muttered.
"eight, we fell in five" Jaguar clarified, much to the other two's dismay.
"That was a Rhetorical question" Xuanzang pointed out. Mordred rolled her eyes. Yeah, the first time was an accident, the second was zang's haste to get a move on once the mud got thicker, the third was Jaguar's recklessness and the fourth was a particularly dickheaded boar pushing Mordred back into the other two and forcing them to slide into a muddy pit…yeah this wasn't a mission any of them wanted to remember anytime soon.
The fifth time was something that could only be described as some higher power with a sense of humour, none of them had been in a hurry or even that careless, but they somehow ended up stepping into a seven metre wide pit. Though of the trio Jaguar man seemed to mind it the least
"Whatever, we made it. Stop complaining!" Mordred groaned as they made it back to camp, they were all thoroughly covered in mud and just a bit of blood, superficial injuries mostly but the gash on Mordred's arm was bleeding quite a bit.
"Welcome back you three did you get the sto-Oh you're covered in mud…" Gudao said with a surprised look as the three filthy servants came into view, his enthusiastic smile fading at the unpleasant sight, Mordred's armour was coated in enough mud its usual shine was gone, her helmet was still on for obvious reasons and was equally rumpled while her right arm had some light blood flowing from it.
Xuanzang didn't look much better as her hair was a disshelved mess, her cheek had a light gash, and the edges of her robe were covered in cuts and had her face contorted in a very displeased frown. Funnily enough, aside from a bit of mud at her feet she was mostly untouched and looked just as chipper as when she went in.
"Ah welcome back you three… Oh, are you alright" Mash asked as she exited the tent.
"No we certainly aren't, are we Mordred?" Xuanzang asked.
"Put a sock in it Sanzang" Mordred replied dryly.
"Geez, what happened?" Mash asked as she walked over to them. Momentarily given pause by the sight of three servants who had left looking so confident and unconcerned coming back looking filthy and demoralized, with a nod Gudoa ducked into the tent to get some towels for them. "Was Beowolf really so powerful after getting cut down in the last fight?"
"… No, he didn't have much fight left. But the forest had.. A lot of traps, still we achieved the item we sought" Sanzang said with a slight smile as she eagerly took the rag from Gudao and rubbed the mud from her face. "…You still have the stone, right Mordred?"
Mordred didn't respond as she retracted her helmet to clean her face. "Hnn?" she grunted to which Xuanzang turned back to her.
"You. You have it don't you?" she asked her eyes twitching.
"I thought you had it" Mordred said with a furrowed brow.
"What!" she said mana flowing from her body. "After trudging through all of that mud you can not tell me you don't have the stone" She said looking incredibly unamused, Mordred had a look more akin to disinterest from exhaustion than actual disturbance
"Jesus, for a monk your really loud. Its probably in your satchel" she said, motioning to her hip with clarent with a deadpan look. Glancing down at her hip the young caster rummaged through her things and grimaced.
"It's not in here?" she said, her horror bearly contained
"You sure?" Mordred asked.
"Yes I'm bloody sure you… you. You rabbit whelp!" she spat. Mordred raised a brow at what she assumed was supposed to be an insult.
"I've been called lots of things but that is by far the most underwhelming insult I've ever heard" she said dryly. Scowling Xuanzang raised her staff prompting Mordred to raised Clarent up with a glare.
"Hey, don't fight you two" Gudao tried.
"Tell that to her" Mordred replied.
"I'm am not jumping back in the forest to get something you lost. Go find the stone"
"I didn't lose shit Sanzang. If it's gone it's not my fault" the knight shot back.
"Maybe you guys should take a deep breath" Gudao suggested looking rather clueless on what he could do that didn't involve a command seal
"No" they said in unison as they both took a step towards each other only to pause as Jaguar-man jumped between both of them, striking a dramatic pose for extra emphasis
"Hey, neither of you lost anything. You see after it slipped out of Xuan's satchel during the third pitfall yours truly picked it up and held it close the whole time" Taiga said as she drew the stone from her fur suit.
There was a brief pause as they all regarded the servant before Mash spoke. "See, none of you lost it and now quit quarrelling" she said as Xuanzang lowered her staff and bowed in front of puzzled looking Mordred.
"I'm super sorry for accusing you. That wasn't very monk like of me" she said though Mordred gave her a dismisive wave. She was just quick to let go of minor transgressions as she was to get angry from them
"Yeah whatever, just think twice next time" she sad as she leaned clarent on her shoulder.
The camp was situated on a pretty clean patch of land, thankfully away from any of the mudslides below the hill. It was, of course, no major singularity event but unchecked such disturbances could eventually manifest into their own significant obstacles, and so Gudao had brought Mordred, Xuanzang and Jaguarman along, with Mash acting as a support servant opposed to her usual proactive role at the frontlines.
"Thanks Taiga" Gudao said as he took the glowing stone from Taiga with a pleased look. With their objective now achieved the only thing left to do before returning was to heal up their injuries. "Alright we'll start with you Xuan" Gudao said as he channeled healing mana into her body.
"Ahh, thank you Gudao. But are you sure you can manage all of us?" Xuanzang asked curiously. Gudao wasn't really a remarkable master as far as magecraft was concerned, he made up for it with dedication and tenacity. Thus his healing magic were only to a point and even then constantly healing multiple servants would be trying on any master
"Don't worry I can manage it" he said with a slightly sheepish smile as he got to work on some of the wounds that weren't immediately noticeable, in about a minute Gudao was done with her and let out a strained exhale. "Alright, your next Mordred" the boy said as he turned to Mordred who shook her head and smirked.
"Nah, don't overdo it master, the missions still far from done so conseve your mana" Mordred said with a self-assured smirk.
"But Mordred, your arm looks really bad" Mash objected with a concerned look while Gudao walked over to her and raised his hands, no doubt feeling a sold short.
"Come on, I can handle another" he said ready to perform the task when she lowered his hands.
"Its not a matter of if you can or not. But your mana's kinda low. And this aint the kind of injury you should waste it on. Just some dressing here and there and it'll heal up in like a day"
"Come on, it won't take much-"
"Its fine. Geez, don't be such a worry wort" Mordred cut him off. Yup, when Mordred didn't want to do something she made damn sure everyone in the immediate vicinity new it.
A bit displeased but seeing no way around it Gudao nodded. "Fine, if you're sure then. We can move in on the next mission later tonight… But you guys are all gonna rest up for then!" he asserted with a stern look. Though he would get no objections to that, though a hot shower was the preferable option to the constant discomfort of mud between their toes and the odious nature of wet dirt.
Mordred was already the kind to not show when she was having a hard time during a mission out of some misplaced pride but even with all that armour some drops of blood were still leaking out of the little dents Beowolf's blade had delivered, it was likely much worse underneath and Mordred was clearly working through that pain.
Watching Morded relax against a tree with disproving eyes he Jaguar man stood next to him.
"You know, we can always tell you know who about this when we get back to Chaldea" she said as she leaned her elbow on his shoulder, in dismay he looked back at her and shivered.
"… She'd be pissed" he said in response, Jaguar however was unphased… Or maybe blissfully ignorant, it was hard to tell with her.
"Nah, she'll love it. I'll tell them myself when we get back" she said with a confident wink as the watched Mordred crush a wasp that was bothering her relaxation, Gudao cringed slightly.
"Ah, yeah.. Ok, you do that" he said with a very disconcerted look.
"Got it, you'll thank me later" she said with a smirk. Of course, before any of that could happen they had to complete the mission at hand. Glancing back at Mash who was holding a spare towel as Xuan aggressively rubbed to get the more noticeable bits of mud out of her hair. Hopefully the rest of this missions wouldn't feature anymore forests, Xuan and Mordred seemed thoroughly done with them for a while, as for Jaguar man well… That servant was just the sort of servant she was.
There wasn't a whole lot to do in Chaldea as far as entertainment went, there was an officers room that the big wigs used though it just amounted to an oversized casino. The snow was almost always at below freezing tempratures, making the weather unpleasant even for servants to go out and clear skies was a once in a blue moon opportunity. Really the only thing that a servant like Mordred
Could take any particular milleage out of was the sparring room and as things stood that place was filled up fifty percent of the time, making things… boring. And when Mordred was bored she did two things, get piss drunk and sleep off half the day, in life it was more a once in a while occurrence but Chaldea was gradually making it a full time hobby, there simply wasn't anything to do when they weren't out on missions.
Sure she had people she could comfortably hang out with like Iskander who was a constant source of fun, Cu who a was a surprisingly cherry guy, Astolpho the times when he wasn't being obnoxious, Xuanzang despite a rocky start, Jeanne when she wasn't herself funnily enough and Frankenstein for some weird reason.
Fluttering her eyes opened Mordred stifled a yawn and raised her stiff, half passed out figure from the couch, feeling just a tad groggy but otherwise unbothered she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and flinched when she felt the light sting on her arm… That's right it still hadn't completely healed two days after the mission. Yeah, she had dressed and cleaned the blood out but without the patience for painkillers, it was quite the pain in the ass.
Walking over to her bedroom table she guzzled down a bottle of water and walked over to her cupboard. Scrolling through all the different selection of clothes she had to choose from, everything from a fetching tuxedo she'd gotten from one of the more formal missions they had attended to the more laidback beach swimsuit they had acquired.
Without much thought she closed the cupboard and pulled the shutters open, the sound of snow providing good ambiance and light, she considered either heading to the showers to freshen up or go straight to the mess hall for some coffee to get her senses back up and running. Either way she was heading out.
But no sooner had she pushed the open button on her door did she quickly flinch back at the sight of a certain white dress clad Berserker staring down at her.
"Ah, damn it Frankenstein don't stand outside my door like that!" she scolded as she rubbed her temples, still reeling from the unexpected jumpscare.
"Uhm" Frankenstein grunted as she stood at the doorway.
"How long were you even standing there?… Huh what is it?" she asked in mild irritation. What she wasn't expecting was for a first-aid kit to get shoved inches away from her face.
"Uhm! Mordred… sick" she said very matter of factly as she blonde raised a brow at her statement. She didn't know Fran had such a sense of humour
"No more than I usually am with this snorefest they call a base. But seriously why are you here?" she inquired which made the redhead give an irritated pout. Without any response she pointed to the blondes bandaged hand and judging by the blood stains was due for a change of dressing, she then pushed the first aid kit against Mordred's chest with a bit more urgency.
"Ugh, it's nice you care and all but I can handle wounds myself. I did it all the time when I was a knight so-" she pushed the kit away and made to step around Frankenstein. "-if you'll excuse me Fran I'll be at the shower room" she stated.
She assumed that was the end of it, after all Fran was never the pushy kind or at least she hadn't ever been like that with Mordred, so when she felt an arm hook around her thighs and effortlessly hoist her into the air a sharp blush stained her cheeks as well as a look of incredulous surprise. "Um, Frankie. What the hell are you doing?!" she asked feeling mortified at the feeling of getting picked up like a kid.
Sternly Frankenstein half grunted, and half spoke "Mordred, bandages… Frankenstein change". It was a statement if she'd ever heard one and Mordred wasn't one to take kindly to getting ordered.
"Like hell you will! Put me down already, this is an indignity" she shouted along as her head just barely missed the doorway. She, of course, felt her usual urge to bonk Frankenstein's head as was her usual reaction to someone that got a little too up in her personal space but… Since the two of them had something approaching a marginal friendship Mordred consciously abstained.. Of course if she wasn't put down soon, she wouldn't be abstaining for much longer.
After a momentary consideration Frankenstein replied. "Ugh… Mordred.. no run away…?" she asked.
"Trust me, I'd sooner knock your horn back into your skull than run away" she remarked with the veins in her forehead twitching in growing annoyance. Seemingly satisfied Fran gently let her back onto her feet and watched as she took a deep breath to calm herself after that non too pleasant exchange.
"Ok, first off who told you I was injured? I haven't seen you since we got back. Second since why do you care?" Mordred asked with a scrutnising look. In response Fran gave her look akin to someone that had been asked a question so stupid it had to be rhetorical… In others she didn't respond. "Um… I was aking that for real?"
"…"
"Hello. Answer or get out of my room" she said snapping her finger to get Fran's attention. This time it looked she understood and made a paw motion with her hands.
"Kitty…" she grunted.
Of course, Mordred instantly knew who she meant. "Jaguar man. Great, shes going to make a great target practice for my sword throwing skills" of course there was a chance that caster homunculus she followed all day like a teacher would try to talk her down but hey, two targets!
She was pulled out of her reverie by Frankenstein clamping a hand on both of her shoulders and motioning Mordred to take a seat on her bed.
"Yeah, it could go for a change, but I can do it later today or tomorrow," she said as she stepped back. God, it was way too early for this shit, and she still hadn't yet washed the sleep out of her eyes. But of course Frankenstein, being the sort of servant to think of step three to five before step one thought this as an attempted to flee and ended up reeling Mordred back in by the good arm only for the sudden yanking to put off Mordred's footing that way already in the process of shifting to slip back
Reflexively she grabbed Fran's elbow for support and they both ended up falling painfully on the polished white floor with Frankenstein on top of a very peeved looking Mordred. Knowing it was her fault Frankenstein gave a sheepish smile as Mordred's good arm gave the Berserkers head a good hard whack that resounded along the room. Fran took it with little reaction, though that just annoyed Mordred more.
With a loud groan Mordred gave a resigned groan. "Ok, fine. You win… Just get off me" she said sounding beyond exasperated, Frankenstein gave a pleased smile before getting up and patting Mordred's couch for her to sit on. With a sigh the girl complied as Frankenstein opened the first aid box with a disinfectant bottle laid to the side with some cloth.
With a bored stare, Mordred outstretched her hand for Fran's gloved white hand to unwrap the bandages, doing so at a gradual pace with a surprisingly gentle touch to her movements considering how carelessly she picked Mordred up and made them both fall over. Still, she was showing a lot of care to not bother the injury, which something she could somewhat appreciate despite the rude awakening.
Soon enough the old bandage was taken off and dumped into the bin, letting Mordred have a not too pleasant image of blood dripping from the cut in her arm. Soaking the cloth with a disinfectant Frankenstein gave a clear motion that this would sting and with a nod she braced herself as the cloth came into contact with her injury, making her flinch momentarily but she not reeling back.
Once the bleeding was momentarily stopped Frankenstein binned it and started wrapping a fresh bandage over her arm. She'd grown accustomed to the irritation but minus the mild stinging her arm felt a lot less bothersome now, it was certainly handled a lot more smoothly than Mordred would have done. Even If she was little too pushy.
Once Frankenstein was done Mordred sighed in relief and looked up at her friend clad in white. "I was expecting that to be a lot more painful than it ended up being… Thanks, Fran" she said as with the mildest blush as she averted her gaze to the side.
The Berserker tilted her head, puzzled. "Uhm… Frankenstein, do good?" she asked.
"Yeah, Frankenstein do good" she replied dryly as a pleased smile formed on her lips. Wordlessly she pulled Mordred into a hug, cradling Mordred's head in her chest.
'yeah, of course she'd do that' Mordred thought, her tone closer to dry sarcasm than actual irritation. Feeling her face burning from having her face pressed against Fran's breasts she pushed her off. "Yeah, yeah. Don't smother me!" she said with a slight smile on her lips.
Despite how irritating things could get when she misinterpreted Mordred's words due to her limited understanding of English, though how much of that was impairment from the Berserker class or just her own natural inabilities due to her imperfect design.
Frankenstein complied and stepped looking rather pleased by her own progress, not unlike a child that figured out how to pick a lock… Oh who was she kidding, she just couldn't stay mad at Frankenstein, the way her hair would continuously mask her eyes mixed with those childlike mannerisms were just too innocent to really slag the berserker for.
Standing up Frankenstein grabbed the first aid kit and walked over to the door.
"Hey, Fran" Mordred called out, prompting her to turn back and give a confused look.
"Uhn?" she grunted. Standing up Mordred walked over.
"Do, you want to… Maybe head to the mess hall together?" Mordred asked with a small smile. It was only a second but Fran gave an eager nod and smile. Before motioning for her to wait while she ran off to return the kit, or at least that's what she assumed. Frankenstein returned a few minutes later, with a simple nod Mordred made her way out the door and motioned for Frankenstein to follow.
She was a bit less peeved now… Still wouldn't stop her from kicking Jaguar man's ass the next time they met though.
Thanks for reading, this was just little one shot to help me get back into the swing of writing fics after a long exam that gave me the worst case of writers block.