Chapter 8: Promises Are Worse Than Lies
"Be careful, Caren. That would be the most stupid way to murder a Master… Killed by a sandwich, what a failure."
"So you came back?"
Masked 'Servant' looked at the girl, visibly surprised. She caught him in their makeshift kitchen.
"What? You expected I won't?"
"Umm… It's not like that, but…"
He was staring at the priestess, enjoying her embarrassment. Something new appeared in his eyes, a little spark of strange emotion, like joy or amusement. Not his usual, calm cruelty at least.
"I came to hear your concert, Caren. You'll be playing again today, right?"
"Yes, as always," she replied with a barely noticeable blush. "It's my daily routine, I don't even need listeners."
"I know." His eyes were still smiling, a little mockingly. He was too good in reading people's emotion to not notice the fact, that she was playing especially for him last days. "Have you eaten already? I prepared some eggs and toasts…"
She sat down, pure shock on her face.
"You're preparing a meal for me? Why?"
He shrugged, making tea.
"Why not? We have nothing to lose anymore in this timeline, so I can have some fun here, right?"
"Wait, what do you mean?" Amazed, she started to eat without thinking. The smell was just too good.
"Another dead end, I told you already. There's nothing to worry about, let's enjoy our time as long as we still have some sunlight here."
Toast stuck in her throat and she coughed painfully, trying to catch some air.
"Be careful, Caren. That would be the most stupid way to murder a Master… Killed by a sandwich, what a failure."
He seemed unexpectedly cheerful today, not to mention that she did not feel any painful sensation caused by his presence. He was speaking of darkness and, probably, the end of the world, and was doing it so lightly, so optimistically... Destroying must have been truly in his nature.
"Explain it."
"What?"
"No sunlight?" She was eating second toast already and reached for eggs. "This is good…"
"Hmmm." A bit of content in this sound. He sat near the girl and looked at the platter hesitantly. After a while, he took off his shawl, showing white hair and tan face, which would be handsome, if not strange black 'tattoos' on his cheeks. To Caren they looked like tears or thorns. And she did not mind them at all, her own wounds were usually uglier. "There's nothing to explain, really. Something is about to awaken soon. This timeline is lost."
"But what exactly and…?"
"You should expect guests soon, I think." 'Servant' ignored Caren's questions completely and gave her a cup of tea. "They will explain everything better. I know only one thing – that most probably we're not going to survive."
"And you're so calm about it?"
He shrugged.
"Why should I be concerned?"
Caren did not answer immediately; she was observing his face carefully, totally focused. Intelligence and unexpectedly strong will were hidden in these cunning, golden eyes. It was even more than Kirei's look right now, enough to make every creature, especially a Servant, feel uneasy.
"I think that you just have given up already," she said, in obviously provocative manner.
No reaction, only a small movement of arms, not enough to be called a shrug.
"I gave up a long time ago, Caren. Worrying about something I have no influence at all is not like me."
"Why are you so certain that there's nothing you can do?"
"I would have never ended here, having a choice."
"Right, you told me already, that you failed once. But you know what a real man would do in your place? Fight and try to fix it."
He did not say anything, but stood up fiercely, clenching his fists.
"But it seems that you really like this pain of yours," Caren continued, paying no attention to his anger. "You don't want it to stop, admit it at last. You're so used to your suffering, that your existence would lost meaning without it."
Oh, it started, she thought, feeling the first strong wave of pain coming. It was not a wave, but tsunami, to be honest. I think I enraged him too much. Her vision blackened in an instant and her old wounds on forearms opened. Blood was darker than usual, almost black. Yeah, definitely this is too much…
But it was also good to know, that he cared, even if only a little and very deep inside. With this conclusion, she fainted, slipped down from the chair and hit the floor.
Kanshou and Bakuya were already red and slippery with infected blood of the undead. It was not a fight, not even a hunt, rather something like annihilation.
They invaded the warehouse at the docks late in the evening. It seemed deserted from the outside, but Taika's owl was observing it long enough to detect a movement inside. Someone was gathering an army there, slowly moving one creature after another, from different parts of the city, at the same time.
It was a clever tactic, Archer thought. Difficult to detect. Changing inhabitants of all district into undead at once would be, probably, quick and more effective, but it would certainly attract unwanted attention.
Pure instinct saved him from being badly wounded again, when he abandoned the idea of stepping back in the last moment. Bullet passed him and hit the wall, not even reaching the target.
"You shouldn't play with guns if you're so clumsy! You've almost shot me."
Red-haired glanced at him over her shoulder and smiled.
"Crybaby."
"Witch."
Her laughter drowned in the noise of gunshots. Creatures started to successfully surround her, so Necromancer moved slowly to Archer, to have her back protected. She already trusted him enough to feel safe like that, but it was evidently one-sided affection.
"You're not asking why we're destroying them?"
With his range of motion limited now, he was cutting off heads of the undead like a machine, with no noticeable exertion.
"To weaken their creator, of course."
"Good." Taika smirked, and kicked away the most aggressive undead, while reloading her guns. "You know disturbingly much about such creatures. You've fought their kind already?"
It was not really a question, but Archer smiled and answered anyway.
"You don't want to know…"
"I want, that's why I asked." She was waiting for a while, but familiar had no intention to continue this topic. "Anyway, I'm still surprised that you're so eager and obedient with this task."
He shrugged and killed three nearest zombies with a single attack. His whirling blades were deadly as usual and he really seemed to enjoy the job.
"I would be probably doing the same thing with my true Masters right now, so it's fine for me."
"Oh?" Disbelief in her voice, and a little bit of disgust. "Why Tohsakas would bother?"
"They are protectors of these lands, of course. We would be cleaning the streets already, if not your cowardly attack."
"Hey!" Taika turned around and it looked like she wanted to shoot Archer instead of ghouls, but the bullet passed him and reached the creature behind his back. "You should thank me for doing it. It's all your fault after all."
"What is our fault?"
"You're tired already?" Woman smiled viciously. "Your brain is slowing down."
"And you're losing focus." He jumped and landed behind her, beheading two undead dogs. They were not so easy to notice, crawling in the shadows. "So, what have we done to you?"
"Not only to me." She laughed. "You destroyed the Grail and now you can see the results. You were not the only one powered by this big generator. Almost an entire ecosystem existed there."
Archer was thinking for a while, guarding Taika's back in silence. It seemed logical enough to believe. Many kinds of magical creatures could find the presence of the Grail useful, even enough to feed on it. Not to mention the ley lines under the mountain. Something could be here, hidden underground, even before the Grail Wars started. And it seemed that Necromancer could identify at least one of the troublemakers behind this mess.
"And you know the one who creates these undead?"
"Not personally, but yes, I know this bastard." She shot the last zombie with a sigh, visibly fatigued, and approached her 'pet' with a suspicious smile. "I'm going to finish him once and for all. I will have my revenge, trust me."
"Tell me about it."
She laughed and scratched Archer's cheek with a sharp nail, which was almost like a vampire's claw already. He noticed that it was her favourite way of pissing him off and she was enjoying it too much to call it normal. Most parts of his body were already covered with irritating wounds caused by her for fun.
"You must deserve it first."
"Have I not deserved it already?"
"Not yet." Archer felt a sudden impulse, telling him to run away - Taika looked like she changed into a vampire already and wanted to bite him. "It seems that you're not so tired, if you're still able to talk back to me." Her whispering made him shiver. "I'm going to drain the last drop of energy out of you."
He sighed mentally. To tell that he was screwed beyond all hope would be a big understatement.
She was so fragile, so easy to be broken, that he had to fight the temptation to harm her right now. Actually, he wanted to kill her at this moment, to end this farce as soon as possible, but found himself bandaging her wounds instead.
"Why are you doing this to me, Caren?"
She heard him, and was slowly regaining consciousness.
"Doing what?"
"Disturbing my peace, I suppose…" 'Servant' gave Caren a sad smile. "You're turning my inner world upside down."
He gently grasped her hand. It was pale, small and delicate comparing to his own tanned hand of the warrior. He touched black stains on priestess's skin, excited by her pain.
"They sent you here to suffer, giving nothing in return. You will probably break when this creature awakes completely. They're using you, like a property." A heavy sigh. "And I wonder myself why I don't like it."
"You weren't like this in the beginning, am I right?" Caren's voice was still weak and husky.
"I've always been stupid, certainly. But I guess you're right. Something was different, long ago."
He grimaced, remembering things he wanted to forget. These cursed knives, Exorcist's Black Keys, had done it to him, mostly. His Master was enjoying spiritual experiments and went far enough to messing with magic circuits. He could not visualize nothing else anymore, only these damned daggers…
Caren smiled and said softly:
"You see, this is the difference between us. I was born like this, so it's only natural to use this pain for others."
She did not expect a laughter in response.
"You're a hypocrite, Caren." He smiled, watching her expression. "Yes, you are. We are the same, twisted pain-enjoyers. You want me to fight my fate, while you're accepting your own in silence… You let them use you, just like that." He raised his hand, silencing her, when she tried to speak. "I have an idea. I promise that I will fight for my own good, but you must do the same for you. Do we have a deal?"
She hesitated, overwhelmed by the meaning of his unexpected declaration, but finally agreed. They crossed their little fingers, like children usually do for signing the contract.
"Promises are scary," Caren said suddenly with a strange, sad expression. "Much worse than lies."
"Why is that?"
"Because they give hope."
Rin was driving a rental car, not paying much attention to speed limits. Magic was speeding the machine up and making it undetectable; the road was straight and almost empty, so she did not need to be excessively focused. She glanced at the man, who was sitting next to her, and sighed heavily.
"Is there anything you find amusing except video games?"
She was angry when she told him to pack his ass and go to Fuyuki with her. She didn't mean it. But it was exactly what Lord El-Melloi II did, most probably to punish her.
"Not really." Even now he was playing something on his portable game consol. "Magical experiments and video games are the most pleasurable things, I don't need much more."
"You're useless as a travel companion, you know?" She was slowly losing patience. He was not particularly grumpy or bothersome, but he did not help her in any way.
"Probably…" Lord paused the device, visibly annoyed, and picked up Tohsaka's phone, which was vibrating in her bag. "Your mother is calling," he announced and placed the phone near her ear without asking permission.
"Hey, what are y..?! Hi, Mom." Rin quickly changed her tone of voice. She missed Aoi and it was good to hear her after all disturbances during the journey. "Yes, I'm on the way. Why to Fuyuki first? You don't want me to visit Sakura?"
Something crackled in the receiver and Tohsaka was grateful that her companion did not disturb their conversation with extra game noises.
"Wait, what?! What does it mean 'no connection'? Where did this idiot go?"
Calm voice of Aoi came from the other side, explaining the details.
"Yes, Sakura is right. I'm going, don't worry. Damn it, I've missed my exit, I hate highways… Yes, Mom, I know, I'll be there soon and find him. Thanks, bye!"
Tires squealed horribly, when Tohsaka, ignoring all possible rules, turned suddenly and rushed back, upstream, to the nearest exit.
Her companion whistled with admiration and returned to playing.
"That was something, Rin." She could see clearly smile on his face, illuminated by the screen. "I wish you'll be this passionate about our work."
"I will be, one day, if you finally prove yourself useful."
Lord El-Melloi II chuckled and this fact alone was enough to make Tohsaka feel uneasy.
"I'm going to hold you to that, Rin."
