A/N: Here's the next chapter! :)
There was a short, awkward silence, as the thundering, cacophonous voice ebbed into the dampening walls. He had tripped and stumbled, in his haste to escape, forgetting the belt he previously held, on the floor. For a terrible moment, not a breath was heard from the figures before Caster. When the world seemed to resume once again, she released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
The plum-haired servant turned around slowly, and when their eyes finally met, well, when her eyes saw her, she needed to do a double-take too. The servant before her was most certainly beautiful, and everything about her was sensual, from the way she stood and carried herself, to the way the girl's body was held against her: a little too close for her liking.
A wave of a heat lapped at her from the sight, her cheeks flushed a darker shade, but she remained silent for the time-being, as much as she wanted to tear the two apart, for some unknown reason.
The servant provoked the image of everything black. Her black sleeveless and strapless dress hugged her body so tightly, that it seemed to be a second skin. Satin-like hair curtained around her, seemingly shielding out the exterior, framing her face perfectly like a picture, or wok of art.
Well, she is really something... Her eyes ascended from the toned thighs, shapely hips, generous bosom, slender neck, to the sculpted jaw-line, luscious lips and aquiline nose. What caught her eye, however, was the mask that covered nearly half of her face. Could it be a power that she needs to seal...?
But before she could open her mouth to ask, the servant spoke first: "I am the servant Rider, are you my master?" She drawled in a sultry tone.
A shiver immediately shot up her spine. The voice was delightfully attractive, and simply seductive, whether Rider had intended it to be so or not. But, it seemed to be on purpose, although it came naturally to her. While the man's voice had been unpleasantly slimy, ghosting over exposed skin, Rider's was silken, a tantalizing and enchanting pitch, inducing anticipation and excitement. Or perhaps arousal.
It was almost too much all at once, for Caster. Both ladies were unbearably beautiful, but what was baffling was how ethereal the girl seemed in Rider's embrace, even though she seemed human on the exterior, through and through.
Medea cleared her throat awkwardly, the sound slightly echoing in the room as she answered firmly: "Yes. I am your Master."
Rider could've been staring incredulously at Caster, and she would never know. It was a bit frightening, when an image of a miko-clothed Rider stained crimson with blood invaded her mind.
"Are you not a-" Rider began.
Caster sighed, immediately cutting her off. She knew she was would be questioned for this. "...not a regular master? Correct. I am Servant Caster. I am akin to the definition of a magus today, but on a vastly different level. That is why I am able to summon you as a Servant."
The answer was more than satisfactory, so Rider nodded, opening her mouth to respond when the woman in her arms began to stir, causing her stop.
Her eyes fluttered open, and both servants zeroed in on her face. If they stared hard enough, they could see her long eyelashes quiver with each blink. The lady's eyebrows knotted together as if in deep thought, as the heel of her palms attempted to rub her eyes to clear her vision. When she finally opened her eyes like it did, however, her eyes snapped open even wider, briefly startling the two.
"Aiyah, how clumsy of me!" She commented wistfully, as if she were a maid that had forgotten to dust off a speck of dust on the cupboards. This was before she swerved into an entirely different direction. "Goodness! I can't believe he would-" She blushed in utter embarrassment before struggling in Rider's arms a bit to turn her body around. "He didn't hurt you two, did he?!"
Wow. Both servants simultaneously thought. She's so scatter-brained right now... Their lips curled into a smirk. But it's endearing nonetheless. A light rosy dusted their cheeks when her jaws fell slack at the predicament she was in. It seemed she was finally starting to remember why she'd passed out in the first place, and her cheeks lit up a cherry red.
Eventually, however, she did gather her wits rather quickly, and plastered on a warm smile. It looked so natural that any other expression other than joy and happiness seemed out of place. And, both Caster and Rider wanted to keep it that way. The brilliant smile on her face told many tales, but they would ask another time.
She straightened and dusted her self off, Rider finally loosening her grasp on the other, much to Caster's relief, and she moved by Caster's side to stand by the bed.
The woman cleared her throat once again and bowed to the two of them, bending at her slender waist. "I hope you're comfortable, the two of you. But, I recall that I'd only brought one person in here, unless my eyes deceive me?"
"You're right." Caster answered immediately, "but I had called upon a friend... So it was you who brought me here?" She hoped that the other wouldn't question how someone had appeared out of thin air, and would accept the explanation. Regardless, she steered the conversation somewhere else.
The unknown woman nodded. "Yes, I did. And it is a pleasure to have met the two of you. If anything, your beauty confirmed my suspicions that you're not from this time. I was trying to heal you more, but now it seems that you only need mana and rest." She stated matter-o-factly.
The flirting sounded so natural that it caught them off guard, sending the blood to their faces. But, this also caused Rider to quirk an eyebrow at the woman who was still beaming at her and Caster, and when she turned, she could see a surprised and mirrored expression on Caster's face too.
"H-How do you know about-?" Medea trailed off.
"Fear not, I'm not an actual magus. I do, however, know of Divine or Heroic Spirits that appear from time-to-time. I do not know the circumstances or means that this came to be, but their presence usually precedes destruction." She said with a morose smile now, her eyes seeming to cloud over into a murky brown before clearing. "But the two of you, I can tell, are Divine Spirits, even though I have never seen the likes of you before."
She seemed to take a short breather here, and Rider eyed her intently, as if gauging something, but judging by her level of ease, Caster was not concerned that the still un-named woman before them would hurt them. Or a fly, for that matter.
The problem is, that either she's unaware of her demanding presence, or she feels no need to hide it. She will be mistaken for a Master soon enough, and she'll be killed. This caused her brows to dip, face pulling into a frown at the thought. This woman protected and healed me, obviously she is powerful, so it would be senseless, stupid and flat out rude to allow her to die... But it seems that she's not aware of the Holy Grail Wars either...
Now that the woman was finally standing still before her, Caster found it difficult to take her eyes off of her. But at the same time, she felt the need to look away too, for her beauty was so over-whelming, that she felt ashamed to face her head-on, and look her in the eye. She could hardly believe that this was the same frightened and disgraced woman from before. Her eyes studied and observed the woman as much as her conflicting emotions allowed, and decided that she was not from the area, and actually didn't even look Japanese to begin with.
The woman's melodic voice sliced through her thoughts like warm cheese, bringing her back to reality. "I recall having met someone that went by the name of Diarmuid once, and he was a Lancer. I was visiting at the time, and left before a fire levelled the city. I never did hear from him again..." She commented with a frown on her face. "He said I reminded her of a someone in his past."
It wasn't really one of attraction, but one of utter concern and sincere worry. Medea vaguely wondered how it was that she could've lived after having seen a Servant from the previous Grail War. And, above all, why Lancer even needed to see her to begin with.
"Ah, how rude of me!" The woman exclaimed, managing to grab a hold of their attention once again. "I haven't gotten your names yet either! Let me see..."
She closed her eyes and nothing seemed to happen until Rider stiffened momentarily before relaxing, her shoulders visibly loosening up. Medea was about to ask when the woman spoke.
"Ah~! Caster and Rider!" She said in a delighted manner, as if supremely excited, eliciting a wide-eyed look from the two. "My name is 貂蟬, or Diaochan, since the two of you don't seem to speak Chinese. My friends call me 楊玉環, or Yang Guifei. What're your names?"
Barely a moment had passed when Rider cast a side-long glance at Caster while she nodded, prompting Medea to feel more at ease about the ordeal of revealing their true names. Since she too had no qualms with giving away her name, Caster nodded. She was not expecting, however, the answer that flew past painted lips.
"Medusa." replied Rider, as Caster's eyes shot open.
What? Medusa? That's just preposterous that the two of us have been summoned at the same time!
"I expected as much." Diaochan smiled warmly, completely uncaring of the legends. She maintained eye contact with where Rider's eyes were approximately and she closed the distance, offering her hand in handshake.
It was firm and short, and it left her bewildered. Did she WANT to be petrified? She was not left to her own thoughts for long either, when it was Medusa's turn to stiffen when Caster whispered her name: "Medea."
This didn't seem to bother Diaochan though, even as she released Medusa's hand to handshake with Caster.
Again, Diaochan offered a friendly handshake, the polite introductions having finally been dealt with.
Her hands are so invitingly warm, they realized with little variance, a bit of a contrast to her weary face. Although she seemed to be young, she was one that definitely worked hard, and often. Both wondered what the mysterious woman was like.
"What a real treat, then, to be graced by two renowned Greek beauties. It is truly a pleasure to meet you both, once again."
Both Medea and Medusa were, yet again, astounded at her lack of fear for their past. One was a 'witch' and the other, a 'monster'... Surely, she knew of this?
"What's wrong?" Diaochan asked, seeing the two in a flabbergasted state. "Did I do something weird?"
"In a sense, yes..." Rider drawled.
"You aren't afraid of... us?" You do know who we are, right?" Caster finished, clearly not understanding.
"Why yes, of course I do!" Diaochan exclaimed a bit indignantly. "You are Medea, Princess of Colchis, and you are Medusa, mortal of the three Gorgon sisters. And what's wrong with that?" She said, beginning an impassioned speech. "If you're referring to what people have called you, I frankly do not care less. I think highly of the two of you. I do not believe that you-" she nodded towards Caster, "-are a witch. Not remotely! I haven't heard of something more ridiculous! It was never you fault, and besides... I understand what it feels like to be blamed for things that you didn't have control over, or that you didn't do." She hurried along to nod in Rider's direction, as if to avoid delving into her own life too soon by continuing quickly with Medusa: "and you were forced into something you didn't want either. I can definitely relate to that."
A despondent smile painted her face as she spoke of the embarrassing spectacle that had happened not more than a half hour ago, and Medusa, too, flinched at the familiarity of the memory.
Both Caster and Rider were very pleased to hear this, but were troubled that a "non-magus" had known so much about Spirits and Servants, and now, only knew of them even more. The real issue now, was whether or no to bring her into the whole mess of the Holy Grail War. Without Diaochan, or a master, neither would be able to last for more than a day or two. That is, of course, if they did not resort to more... cruel and drastic methods.
Caster noticed, that with her close proximity, Diaochan was definitely the source of her physical comfort. Her aura lapped at her like calm waves, as she allowed it, and the longer she stayed, the less heavy her limbs felt, and the world had already stopped spinning too. She also knew that simply being in her presence, both her 'strength' and 'luck' were improved. Of the others, she wasn't sure yet, but if Diaochan were her master, there would be no need to sacrifice innocent people. Medea was sure Medusa felt it too, as her lips were curved up in a ghost of a smile. Seeming as Rider was contracted to her, she would be able to tell if her Master was getting stronger or weaker. As it were, she too could feel the positive effects of Diaochan's presence.
Where have I heard of the name before...? The two mused before finally, Caster decided to break the comfortable silence.
"Diaochan, is there anything you've ever wished whole-heartedly for?"
A/N: Thanks for reading! And like I said, please do leave a review!