After quite a bit of traveling, Hope and Lancer made it to a bridge. The sun was high up in the sky. A city could be seen across the bridge, on the horizon.
"About time!" Hope cheered. "I'm dead on my feet!" Lancer stopped and Hope turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"
He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away just as a beam of violet magic hit the ground. Lancer summoned Gae Bolg and Hope took out her sword. In front of them, Dragon Tooth Warriors rose from the ground and Caster hovered over the golems, a rainbow pattern under her robe as she held it out like a pair of wings.
"I found you," she chuckled, her voice slightly distorted.
Lancer bared his teeth. "So ya guys came to this world after all. An' seein' as how the other five aren't here, I take ya guys split up to sniff us out."
"That fact won't matter if I kill you, mutt," Caster smirked. Lancer grinned.
"Sorry, witch, but those familiars are total pushovers. Hope an' I will take them an' you down!"
Caster growled. "...You just called me a witch..! A dog like you deserves to die!"
As she fired several consecutive magic beams at the warrior, the Dragon Tooth Warriors charged. But Hope jumped at them, flames covering both hands and feet.
"Fire Dance!" She punched and kicked the golems, destroying several of them. However, the destroyed ones put themselves back together. Some lunged at the mage, but she used her sword to chop off their heads. But like the others, the heads went back in place. "Talk about a pain!"
Meanwhile, Lancer was dodging the beams of magic Caster launched at him. The demigod glanced over at his Master to see how she was doing, and Caster took this chance to fly at him, pulling out Rule Breaker.
Hope and Lancer saw this at the same time, but Hope reacted first. She went in between the two Servants, using her sword to block the Noble Phantasm. Lancer ran around Hope, using his spear to knock the dagger from the witch's hand, sending flying into the ground several yards away.
Amidst this, he didn't notice a Dragon Tooth Warrior sneaking up behind Hope until it stabbed her in the back with its sword.
Lancer's eyes widened as he looked back at her. "HOPE!" was the last thing the woman heard before everything went black.
As Hope opened her eyes, she saw she was in a bed in a white room. She tried sitting up, but a pain that ran through her back and abdomen made her cringe. She put her hand under her shirt over the spot only to feel bandages over it. He shirt felt stiff, like there was a dry liquid in it.
"Don't try moving too much!" a voice next to the woman cautioned. As Hope looked to her left, she saw a lady with pink hair, green eyes, and a pink-and-white dress. "I was able to stop the bleeding for the both of you, but you'll still be sore.
As the mage remembered what happened, she panicked. "Where's Lancer?!" she exclaimed, frantically looking around for the knight. She found him in the bed to her right. He was in his clothes, minus the armor and gold clasp, but there were rips with bloodstains and burns scattered all over. Through the holes, Hope could see the white of bandages. He slowly opened his eyes and looked over at his Master.
"Yo," he greeted, smiling weakly. Hope either wanted to slap him for being stupid enough to get cut up or hug him for... whatever he did to keep her from being killed.
A man walked into the room. He was wearing a similar outfit as the woman from Deidon Hold. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. "I'm glad to see you're both awake."
"Yeah. Thanks fer helpin', Flynn," Lancer said, waving at the man. "You too, Estelle."
"I-It was nothing!" the girl, Estelle, replied, moving over near Flynn.
"Who was that cloaked woman, anyway?" Flynn asked.
"It was, um..." Lancer stammered, not wanting to give anything away about the Grail War away to outsiders. It was already bad enough they saw he and Caster fighting.
"Just a random person!" Hope hastily spoke up. Flynn looked like he didn't believe her.
"What's really going on?"
Hope and Lancer started sweating madly. This wasn't going well at all. But they were saved by several shouts in the hallway.
"Please don't tell me it's a Yuri problem," Flynn sighed. "We'll talk later." With that, he and Estelle left the room.
"Now that we're alone, what happened after I blacked out!" Hope whispered to the spearman.
"Well..."
- - -Flashback- - -
As the golem pulled back, bringing the sword with it, Caster cackled while Hope fell to the ground, drenched in blood.
Lancer grit his teeth. "You bitch!" He held Gae Bolg so the tip faced the ground, glowing red as mana swirled around it. Caster smirked and disappeared into a cloud of purple butterflies. Lancer's eyes widened and she reappeared behind him. A giant whitish-pink magic circle appeared in front of her. Lancer spun around just as Caster unleashed a giant blast of magic, sending the man flying back. Just as he got up, the familiars lunged at him, trying to cut him with their swords. Lancer used the red spear to block them, but Caster flew up, launching beam after beam of magic at him. He jumped back to avoid the onslaught, but one golem was waiting, raking the sword across his back. He blocked out the pain and cut through the bone monster. Caster, saving mana, didn't repair it. Instead, it vanished into dust.
The demigod faced Caster, jumping at her to cut the witch with Gae Bolg. Several beams of magic were launched at him. The man used his spear to block them, but a few got through, burning him. Once he was almost right in front of the woman, the knight used the spear to try stabbing Caster. But the magic circles vanished and a giant shield showed up in front of the woman. Lancer tried breaking the shield, but the backlash made his spear arm go back. The shield vanished and Caster kicked the man down, where the Dragon Tooth Warriors were. As he went down, Lancer held Gae Bolg under him, coming down on one golem and killing it. Several ran through the dust that was created, blocking Lancer's sight. Before he could react, he coughed out blood as several swords went through his abdomen.
Unknown to either Servant, a Knight saw the scene and informed the Commandant, who was escorting the princess to Zaphias.
"It sounds like a fight between guilds. We shouldn't get involved," Flynn said. Estelle looked at him.
"It sounds like one was badly injured. We should help!"
Flynn sighed. "We don't even know if they're on our side."
"It doesn't matter; We should help!"
"As you wish, Lady Estellise. If I don't help, you won't let me hear the end of it."
Lancer sliced off the heads of the golems that stabbed him, feeling warm blood soak his suit as the swords dissipated. Caster smiled as the magic circles appeared in front of her again.
Before she finished the demigod off, several arrows of light rained down on her and her familiars, killing the golems and distracting the mage. A blonde-haired man attacked the witch with several armored people. A girl with pink hair ran over to Hope, a yellow-green magic circle appearing under her.
"What are ya doing?!" the spearman demanded as he tried running over to protect his Master. But pain shot through him from the various wounds and he coughed up large amounts of blood, falling to his knees.
The girl glanced at him. "Don't push yourself! I'm Estelle, a healer."
Meanwhile, Caster saw she was greatly outnumbered and vanished into a bunch of butterflies. The blonde sheathed his sword and went over to Estelle, who was healing Hope.
"How is she?"
"She's lost a lot of blood, but there's no threat to her life, Flynn."
Making sure no one was looking, Lancer dematerialized Gae Bolg and struggled to his feet, going over to Estelle and Hope. "I'll take her."
"Not going to happen!" Estelle scolded, getting to her feet and fixing the man with a hard stare. "Both of you are going to the hospital in Zaphias Castle! You're badly injured as well!"
"An' who's gonna make me?!" the Irishman snapped back. Flynn chuckled.
"No point in arguing when she gets like that."
Lancer sighed. "Fine, whatever."
- - -End Flashback- - -
"So Caster's still out there," Hope murmured.
"Sorry I didn't kill her," Lancer said to the woman.
Hope shook her head. "That doesn't matter. What does is that you're alive."
Lancer smirked. "Same with ya."
Sometimes, Yuri wanted to punch Flynn. One moment, he's paying the Knight, Estelle, and Raven a friendly visit, because the old man acted as a go-between for the Empire and the Union, and the next his friend is lecturing him, with Estelle and Raven trying to pretend this wasn't happening.
When Flynn stopped talking, Yuri groaned, "Done yet?"
"Were you even listening to me?!" Flynn fumed.
"Eh, somewhat."
Flynn sighed. "Unbelievable..." He looked up. "Putting that aside, we took in two people to be healed. One was wearing armor. At first, I thought he was one of the Knights, but I haven't seen any that look like him. I was hoping you and Raven could see if they're part of any guild."
Yuri rubbed the back of his head. "We'll see what we can come up with."
After leading the two men to the hospital, Flynn opened the door. Inside were two people Yuri and Raven had never seen before.
"If they're from any guild, it isn't one I've seen before," Raven said.
"Are you two from the Knights or the guilds?" Yuri asked.
The girl with silver hair glanced at the man in blue. "Umm, we're..."
Yuri huffed. "It's not that hard of a question."
Flynn leaned over to Yuri and whispered in his ear, "I have a feeling they aren't part of either."
"They don't look like commoners, though," Yuri whispered back.
"When I first saw them, they were fighting a woman I'd never seen before."
Flynn took a deep breath and talked normally. "We need to find out about them. Take them with you and see what you can find out.
"WHAT?!" Yuri and the two people exclaimed. Flynn continued.
"Brave Vesperia isn't as busy as we are, so it'll be easier for you guys."
Yuri grumbled curses and the girl in the bed didn't look happy.
"Why do Lancer and I have to go with them?!"
"We don't know where you guys came from," Flynn answered. "And since you won't answer, I'll have Brave Vesperia find out."
The girl gave Flynn the middle finger, and the man in blue, Lancer, laughed.
"Fine, whatever," Yuri sulked, crossing his arms and seeming to pout. As Lancer and the girl struggled to they're feet, following Yuri out the door, Flynn pulled Raven to the side before he left as well.
"There's something I want you to find out..."