I really fucked up my laptop screen last night. Here's what happened:

It was Wednesday night and I was getting my laptop to do rehab after dinner so I can watch Netflix while I'm on the treadmill and bike. I reached for it on the ground near my bed and I lost my balance and over 130 lbs landed on top of it. It wasn't until after dinner that I saw over a quarter of the screen was cracked.

Thankfully, the laptop itself still works as if nothing had happened, but it isn't touch-screen anymore. I can still do everything on it, but I have to use the buttons on the keyboard and mouse pad. Until I get a new touch screen, updates may be longer since working on the laptop is now slowed since I can't simply select things by tapping on them.

Btw, the scene where Gaius meets Sonia hasn't happened yet.

Remember to review.

On the boat from Lakutum to Leronde Seahaven, Holly wouldn't leave Lancer's side. Jude had called the rest of the group that went into the Fractured Dimension what had happened and they were taking Lancer to Derrick in Leronde.

When the ship came into port, Gaius helped Holly rush Lancer to the Mathis Clinic. As soon as they burst through the front door, Ellen, Jude's mom, was at the front desk. She had black hair and golden eyes just like Jude. She gasped when she saw just how bloodied everyone's clothes were.

"Oh my! What happened to all of you?!"

"No time, Mom! Is Dad here?! We need him to see this person Erston is helping to carry!" Jude exclaimed.

That's when Ellen saw Lancer. The bandages under the hole in the clothing over the man's left part of his chest were soaked in blood, some leaking from the cloth. "Derrick! This person needs treatment!"

A man with brown hair and glasses over brown eyes came running out of the room next to the front desk. "Jude?! What's going on here?!"

Holly was in full shut-the-hell-up-and-help-my-Servant mode. "We'll tell you later! Help Lancer, please!"

"R-Right! Lay him in the bed in the first room!" After doing what they were told, Ellen and Derrick came into the room a second later. "What injuries does he have?"

"Some, but the worst is the punctured lung!" Holly told him quickly.

Derrick went over to Lancer and glanced down at him. Taking off Lancer's top and the bandages over the wound in his chest, he inspected it closely. Though Holly was giving him mana, he could only retain enough just to keep his physical form due to the bleeding. However, he would need to get more stable soon. Otherwise, he'd lose all of that mana as well. "All of you leave. However, I will need to have a talk with the black-haired woman. Since I haven't seen either her or this man in your group before, I assume she's more acquainted with him."

Once everyone except for Holly left the room, the mage walked over to Dr. Mathis. "Do you need something from me?"

"Honey? What is it?" Ellen added.

Without looking up from Lancer, Derrick spoke to Holly. "He isn't human, is he?"

Holly's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you find out?!"

Derrick chuckled. "Well, you just told me."

Holly almost facepalmed. "Well that was stupid of me..."

Derrick's face went serious again. "I just looked at his injury and I witnessed a minute piece of his torn skin repair itself right before my eyes. No regular human has regenerating power quite like this." Derrick looked at Holly. "You called him 'Lancer', but what's his real name?"

Ellen held the chart in her hands closer to her chest. "What do you mean, dear?"

Derrick didn't take his eyes off Holly. "I have a feeling 'Lancer' is just a name he goes by to hide something else."

Holly took a deep breath. Even someone who's figured out the name thing shouldn't know Lancer's true name. After all, he isn't involved in the Grail War at all. On the other hand, it wasn't likely he'd allow her to avoid the question altogether. She decided the spearman's birth name wasn't so well-known that it'd give away who he is. "...His name is Setanta."

Derrick glanced at Lancer again. "I take it that Setanta is some kind of spirit?"

"Yeah, whatever. The important thing is whether or not you can help him."

"We'll implant a spyrix into the injured lung so it can function properly while his healing ability repairs the damaged tissue. He'll have to stay here for a week or two for rehabilitation after the surgery. We'll begin right away, so you should leave so I'm not distracted during the procedure."

"...Fine, I'll leave. But let me know right away when you're finished," Holly said as she left the room and closed the door.

"I guess we should get this done," Ellen said. She turned her head and saw her husband staring at the door Holly left through. "Dear? Is something wrong?"

Derrick shook his head like he had just been pulled out of his thoughts. "It's nothing to worry about. Let's get this over with." As he went over to Lancer, he remembered glimpsing those red marks on the mage's right hand. He wondered if they had something to do with Setanta here.

"I guess we'll stay here while Lancer recovers," Leia said. The other four were in front of a wooden house after Holly came out of the clinic. It looked to be a some sort of business house; it had a sign over the door, several chairs and tables could be seen through an uncovered window, and through that window, menus hung on the wall could be seen.

Holly was scratching her head. "Uh, what is this place?"

Leia turned to face the group with both of her hands on her hips and looked proud, grinning widely. "This is the best lodge in all of Leronde!"

"That's 'cause it's the only lodge in Leronde. And it's her house, so it's pretty biased," Jude whispered so Leia couldn't hear him. She did anyway.

Leia turned her head away with a huff, pursing her lips with the bottom one out like she was pouting. "Oh, zip it, Jude! It's a quality inn!"

Jude slumped his shoulder in exhaustion of Leia's denials. "Yeah, with wonderfully early wake-up calls and your mother nagging at everyone to finish all of their food like she's their mom as well."

Holly giggled. "She sounds like a load of fun. What about your dad?"

Jude answered. "Compared to Master Sonia, Warrick isn't very threatening."

"'Master' Sonia?" Holly questioned.

"She trained Leia and I in martial arts."

Leia shivered. "Yeah, so we both know how scary she can be when fighting."

Holly put one hand on her hip and cocked her head. "Is she really strong then?"

Jude smiled sheepishly. "No, more like she's completely invincible."

Holly looked shocked. "Yikes! She sounds like one person I never want to face!"

Leia closed her eyes and sighed. "Give her a staff and she'll beat the crap out of you in just one second! I swear, she should be classified as a monster!"

"Who're you calling a monster?!"

Leia looked completely startled and afraid for her life in that instant. Jude had his eyes wide and took several steps back in fear. Leia slowly turned her head around to look behind her. "...Hi, Mom..."

A lady with light brown hair and green eyes was standing right behind Leia. Clutched in her right hand was a broom with the top end on the ground. Holly blinked several times. "How did she do that?! I didn't even notice her until just now!"

Jude was sweating profusely. "...Like I said, she's a martial arts master..."

"Leia!" Sonia yelled. Leia flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, ready for her mom's full fury. "You should have called to tell me and your father that you were coming here!"

Muzet giggled. "I can see that Sonia's ferocity didn't rub off on Leia. This should be fun to watch!"

Gaius crossed his arms. "Mrs. Rolando, we came here because a situation came up where we have to stay here for a while. You see, one of our- -"

Sonia snapped her glare over to him. "You're dropping this off on me now?! And why are all of you covered in blood?!" Sonia fixed her gaze on Holly. "And who is she?! My daughter had better not be hanging out with the wrong crowd!"

Holly had both palms out and raised up right in front of her chest. She took a step back as Sonia to a step closer to the mage. "Whoa, settle down! I'm not- -"

Sonia smacked the woman over the top of the head with the end of the broom with the bristles. "You should watch your tongue, Missy! Never tell me to settle down!" Holly rubbed the sore spot on the top of her head and Muzet rolled back in the air, hands gripping her sides as she laughed heartily. Sonia glared at the spirit and raised the broom up threateningly with both hands. "Ya want some too?!"

Muzet stopped laughing and went fearfully behind Gaius. "No, I'm good..." 'Yikes! Her glare alone could kill!'

Jude sighed and facepalmed. "Jeez, we sure didn't get off on the right foot with Master Sonia..."

"Jude!" The teen looked up suddenly. Sonia was staring right at him.

"Wh-What is it, M-Master S-S-Sonia..?" he stammered. It was clear that Sonia scares the shit out of Leia and Jude. And probably the other three as well. Even Muzet looked genuinely scared for her life.

"I expect to hear a full explanation of what's going on inside!"

Jude stood at attention, looking scared. "Y-Yes ma'am!"

Sonia looked at Leia again. "Move, girl!" She grabbed Leia's right ear with her left hand and pulled the poor teen into the house.

"We should go in now or we're next!" Jude exclaimed before running through the open door into the lodge.

Holly scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, I happen to like my body parts where they are right now." She went into the lodge with that, leaving Gaius and Muzet.

"Gaius?" Muzet asked the king.

Gaius had his eyes closed and let out a deep breath. "...I'm adding Leia's mom to the list of people I never want to fight." Without another word, he went inside the house, Muzet following behind him in order to make him her shield.

Inside, after Sonia had thrown Leia forward, letting go of her ear, a man behind the front counter came over. He had brown hair and eyes. On top of his head was a black hat. He had brown hair running down the sides of his face that came together and over the mouth to form a mustache.

"What's wrong, Sonia? And what happened to Leia?!" he asked.

Jude stepped forward. "Warrick, we can explain..."

Sonia snapped her head around to stare daggers at him. "You'd better! You all can't just come here lookin' like that without telling us what happened first!"

Holly let out a heavy sigh. "...If Lancer were here, he'd call fighting her..."

Warrick glanced at the mage. "Who's she?"

"That's the same thing I asked!" Sonia exclaimed, looking at Holly. "I also asked if our idiot daughter has become friends with an undesirable!"

"It's nothing like that, Mom!" Leia protested. Sonia glared at her.

"The only thing I wanna hear from you is an answer to my question!"

Gaius was pinching the bridge of his nose. "Holly is our friend. We came to Leronde to drop off Lancer, her friend, at the clinic. Someone we encountered on our way to Xian Du gave us these wounds."

Sonia let out a deep breath. "I'm glad that's cleared up. Now all of you should get cleaned up!"

Upstairs, the five were divided into two rooms. The three girls were in the one to the right of the two boys' room. Holly slipped on a new shirt and had the other in the pile of blood-stained clothes that would have to be washed. The new one was a light blue t-shirt without the jacket. It was in the pile with the rest of the clothes that would need to be washed. Leia was in the room's bathroom getting changed. Since Muzet was using her own spiritual powers to have her dress materialized, she was able to make the bloodstains over it vanish. Leia came out of the bathroom, toweling off her hair as she tried to wash the grime from it.

"Your mom's a real piece of work, Leia," Holly said as she got a new pair of black shorts on. "By the way, why did she mistake me for some kind of thug on the streets?"

"Probably because you wear black. Plus, after that fight with Gilgamesh, you looked pretty trashy," Leia answered, rubbing the towel over her head quickly so it would get out all the water.

"Plus, your left arm gives off bad vibes," Muzet pointed out. "The feel it gives off is enough for anyone to have a bad first impression of you."

"Well you guys seem to be fine with me," Holly said.

Leia sat down on the edge of the second bed, facing the black-haired Master. The towel was around the back of the reporter's neck. "That's because we've gotten to know you and Lancer better. At first, when you first mentioned the Holy Grail War, I wondered what you had been smoking. But now that we're this far into it, the whole idea of the War doesn't seem all that far-fetched anymore and now I want to help you and your Servant win it!"

Though Muzet was still floating, she positioned her body like she was sitting down in a chair, hands over her knees. "Just remember that you and Lancer aren't in this fight alone; the rest of us are right beside you all the way. Keep that in mind as you two keep pushing forward."

Leia looked at Muzet. "I take it that you felt completely alone a year ago?"

Muzet nodded. "I did. And that thought caused me to commit all kinds of unspeakable acts. To me, Gaius' offer for us to join forces was just a way for me to feel like I wasn't entirely alone anymore."

Holly smiled. "Yeah, that's partially the reason for why I feel better when I have Lancer fighting beside me. All of you aiding us helps that feeling to grow."

Muzet giggled. "I'll bet Lancer helps you feel better in other ways."

Holly sighed. "Why did you have to bring up that kinda thing..?"

"Just tell us if you two went to third base!"

"Like hell I will!"

Leia grinned. "C'mon, tell us!"

"Not you too!"

Muzet grinned and narrowed her eyes. "You know we won't drop it until you tell us."

Holly breathed in heavily through her nose. "...Fine! But don't tell anyone else, especially not Alvin! Otherwise, I'll have both of your hides!"

Leia, still grinning, laid on her stomach on the bed. "We promise not to tell anyone! Now lay it on us!"

"Fine. You know the two times I've done mana transfers on Lancer? Well, this is what we do..."

After she told the girls what a mana transfer involves, she got stares from both of them.

Leia was the first to speak once Holly was done. "...So that's what you two do during a mana transfer?!"

Muzet was jaw-dropped. "...Minus the magic circuits being passed to him, you just described direct-tethering!"

Holly fixed the two with a glare. "I mean it: not a word about it to anyone!"

That night, Holly visited Lancer in the clinic. Derrick had told her a few minutes ago that the surgery was done. He was hooked up to a heart monitor and several IV needles were in him. It was all on the left side. He also had new bandages over his left arm and bandages covered the stitches over where the hole in the left part of his chest is.

"Hey Holly," Lancer greeted with a weak voice.

"How are you feeling?" Holly asked.

"Heh, I'd be doin' better if a device in my lung wasn't needed."

Holly lowered her gaze sadly. "I'm sorry that this happened to you..."

"Why're ya apologizin'? Ya didn't do this to me."

"I know, but it feels like this is partially my fault!"

The demigod suddenly reached over his body with his right hand and grabbed his Master's arm. "Now don'tcha start thinkin this yer fault!" His eyes narrowed. "I need to tell ya somethin' important."

Holly looked up. "Huh?"

"The second time we were fightin' Goldy, I felt another mana presence. It vanished soon after, so I though I'd imagined it. But right 'fore the surgery, I felt it again. There's definitely another Servant out there, watchin' us."

"Another Servant...But you aren't in any shape to fight one," Holly murmured, tears starting to roll down the sides of her face. Lancer caressed her cheek, thumb wiping away the tears spilling from her left eye.

"Don't worry 'bout it; I swear not to die on ya." He pulled her face close to his until their lips were pressed together. "Don't forget I'll be able to overcome this."