I do not own Familiar Of Zero
Hello again to everyone reading my story, and thank you to the people that have left me reviews.
*Action*
"Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
{Other Inner Voice}
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Chapter Fifty-One
What To Do
Saito had spent part of the night and next morning hearing protests and worries from everyone except Eleonore. Eleonore had not spoken a word to him. He spent a lot of time reassuring everyone else, including Henrietta.
Henrietta had told Saito that she would trust his decision, but she emphasized caution to him. She had also sent Agnes to his mansion out of concern.
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Morning, after breakfast.
Eleonore had taken him off to the side and decided to finally voice her opinion of their new guest.
"I do not approve of her being here. After everything that she has done, especially to my own family, she should be executed." She says angrily to him.
"I figured that is how you would feel, but I do not share your opinion."
She crosses her arms.
"Obviously."
"You know how the runes affected me. Maybe it was worse for her."
"This is different."
"How?"
"How was it different? I can't believe you would even ask me that. Do I really have to go over everything that she has done?"
He puts his hand on his face.
"No, you don't, Eleonore."
"That's right. Because, You, out of everyone, know all too well what she has caused."
"I also know what the influence of the familiar bond is like. You don't."
"You're right, I don't. And, I probably never will understand. This still doesn't change what she has done though. How many people have died because of her? How many times has she tried to kill you? How many times has she went after my sister and you had to intervene?"
She takes a deep breath to try to settle herself down. Then she continues.
"I am trying to understand you, Saito. It's just hard. My feelings are very strong against her, especially because of everything she did to my sister. I don't understand why you keep trying to defend her. I know that you have told me about the familiar bond, but it is hard for me to accept that." She says a little calmer.
"I am sure it is."
"And you suffer nightmares from her actions."
He lets out a sigh.
"Yes, I do. She caused the battle in Albion that I was in." He admits.
"Then try to help me understand this a little more. I need to understand you, especially since you don't even want me telling my mother about this just yet. If you think that I am angry, then she will probably be worse."
"I know, and that is scary, really scary."
They both let out a sigh as they think about how scary Karin really can be.
"The bond wasn't obvious to notice, but it was always there. It was like having a voice in the background that I thought was my own thoughts. Every real thought I had, it added something to it. The bond was trying to sway my every decision and thought in favor of my master. It was even affecting me in battle."
"What do you mean?"
"In battle, my thoughts were being directed only towards my master. It was compelling me to only think about her and no one else."
"Which would be very detrimental when you are in a group."
"Yes. But, it wasn't just in battle that I was being compelled. It was everything I did. It was compelling every action, and every thought that I had towards my master. It was even trying to make me think that I loved her. Every time I disagreed with Louise or thought about being with someone else, then I would get a backlash for it."
Eleonore narrows her eyes as she listens to him and tries to analyze what he is telling her.
"How?"
"I would get a headache, or it would tell me something to redirect my thoughts back to her. When my thoughts went back to her, then the headaches would go away. When I was getting ready to separate myself from her and wanted nothing to do with her, the bond was even causing me to vomit."
"And, you said that have locked the influence away with your new bonds to Tabitha and Tiffania?"
"Yes."
"So, you think that the bond is what caused Sheffield to do everything that she has done."
He nods.
"I do. If the bond was doing everything that it did to me, then it would make sense that she went through the same things. Who knows how long that she had been Josephs familiar. I think that the bonds influence was getting stronger over time. The influence could have been so great on her that she wasn't herself anymore. Plus, I think that he might have done something to her on the side."
"You have mentioned this to me before, when we were in Galia. You mentioned that then, too."
He nods again.
"I noticed her touch a scar on her cheek during one of our battles with her, and she became infuriated right afterward."
"You think that he might have been torturing her on the side as well?"
"Yes, I do. Then that would also enforce whatever the bond was doing to her."
"Alright, Saito. I will go along with this for now. But let me get one thing straight, I will not hesitate to attack her if she gets out of line. Are we clear?"
"I understand."
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Sheffield slowly wakes up and realizes that she is in an unfamiliar bed.
She lifts her head up to see Saito sitting in a chair across the room she was in and Agnes standing next to the doorway.
She stiffens up when she sees Agnes.
"Relax. You're safe. Unless you decide to attack us." He says to her.
The smell of food fills her nostrils as she looks over to the plate of food sitting on the table next to Saito.
"We have a lot to talk about, but I can wait a little bit longer for that. First, eat, and then bathe."
"Really?" She asks out of surprise.
'I would not have expected this kind of treatment if he were Joseph.'
"Yes, really. I want to treat you well . . . "
"But we aren't exactly on good terms." She finishes.
He nods.
"She will be following you, and watching over you." He says as he motions to Agnes.
Agnes gives her a cold stare.
"Captain Agnes." Sheffield states.
"That is correct. For both of our sakes, don't do anything foolish." She says to Sheffield.
"We took away some of things that were on you for safety purposes, including your cloak."
"I understand, and . . . . . thank you . . . for your hospitality." She says softly and humbly to them.
He gets out of his seat and walks over to her with the plate of food and she stares at it hungrily. Her mouth was watering just from smelling and seeing it. She had not had eaten well since she was with Joseph.
As he gives her the plate and she sets it in her lap, she gives him an inquisitive look.
"May I ask a question?"
"What is that?"
"I know I wasn't exactly in sound mind, but I remember being quite parched. Did I drink and not remember?"
"I used my water abilities to quench your body."
"Thank you. You are too kind" She says to him.
"You're welcome. Tiffania, a half-elf will also be coming here to help heal your wounds. She healed some of them yesterday, but she didn't get all of them."
She nods to him.
As he exits the room, she instantly starts scarfing down the food in front of her.
'What has she gone through?' Agnes thinks to herself as she watches her eat.
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After Sheffield finishes eating, Tiffania enter the room.
She has a soft look about her.
"You must be the one he said was coming to heal my wounds, Tiffania."
Tiffania nods.
I was able to get to some of them yesterday, but we weren't going to disturb you too much an order to get the rest.
"You did fine. Only my arm aches at this point, but that is because I had fallen on it pretty badly."
"Let me look you over just in case."
"You are too kind, but I am fine. The treatment that I have received so far has been beyond my comprehension."
"Saito and I are very kind people and he wanted to make sure that you were treated as well as possible."
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"I don't suppose I could have some privacy?"
"I don't trust you enough to let you be alone just yet."
She gets a disappointed look on her face.
"I understand."
She starts undressing to get into the bath that had been made for her.
Agnes tries to hide her shock and surprise that she has when Sheffield undresses.
As she undresses, the scars that are all over her body become revealed to Agnes.
Siesta walks into the bathroom with a fresh set of clothes of clothes and stops dead in her tracks.
Sheffield hears her lightly gasp at the sight of her scars.
"Please, don't stare." She simply says to Agnes and Siesta.
"I am sorry. I wasn't expecting to see all of those scars." The maid says apologetically.
Sheffield sinks herself into the tub.
"These aren't anything very fancy, but I have these clothes for you. Your other ones are dirty and tattered."
"I guess that I don't really have a choice then, now do I?" Sheffield asks.
"Unless you really want to put them back on like the way they are."
"These will be fine for now, I guess."
Siesta nods her head and walks away with the old clothes.
'I should tell Saito about those scars.' She thinks to herself as she walks away.
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"She had scars all over body when she had taken off her clothes."
"I thought that she might have had some scars, but I never realized it would be quite that extensive." He says to her.
"Her clothes conveniently hid every last one of them except for the one on her face."
He starts rubbing his chin.
"I wonder if all of those were caused by Joseph."
"That would be terrible if he did. I am not an expert, but some of the scars looked like they were pretty old."
"Unless he had her as a familiar for a really long time, then you're saying that she could have gotten those scars before her time with Joseph."
"You had a life and a past before you became a familiar. She must have one too."
"It might not have been a pretty one either."
Siesta nods while having a sad look on her face.
"I am not a fan of hers, Saito, but I hope you can do something for her if she really has had a bad past. I hate to think of the idea of anyone going through anything like that. I wouldn't have had a very good life being with Count Mott if it wasn't for the fact that you came to save me."
He gives her a kiss.
"I am glad I did that. Hopefully I find out about her past while she is here. We will just have to see what comes out of this. Thank you for telling me about this."
She nods.
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After bathing and putting on the simple clothes that Siesta had given her, she was in the library with Saito. Tabitha was also in the room with them and Agnes was leaning against the wall near the doorway.
Sheffield was sitting on the couch and Saito and Tabitha were sitting in chars across from her.
"As I said before, I have a lot of questions for you, but maybe a lot of those will be answered as you tell me how and why you are here. We had figured you were dead, but now you are here."
She nods to him.
"After you had left, I was ready to die with Joseph. He was dying and I had wanted nothing more than to just be there and die with him. I wanted to die with my master. I was going to kiss him before I exploded the orb, but he had stopped me."
"Why would he stop you?" He asks.
"He hadn't kissed me since the day I became his familiar."
"How long ago was that, if I may ask?"
"Four years ago."
Saito's eyes go wide in shock.
"I hated how he had never returned my feelings despite anything I ever did for him. He was a cold man though, and he always said how he was unfeeling. What surprised me is what he had said to me when I asked why he still wouldn't return my feelings."
"What did he say?" Tabitha asks.
"He said that my love wasn't real and that is was the bond making me feel that way. I didn't want to believe him, but it went along with what you were trying to tell me, Saito."
His eyes go wide again.
"You mean that he knew?"
"How could he have known?" Tabitha asks him.
"It must have been because of what he had found in an old cottage. He said that he had come across a cottage somewhere. He said that the person that had lived there was a researcher and he came across stuff about the familiar bond, but he had never told me what he found."
"Why did he tell you that? If you two were about to die, why would he even bother?"
"He said that you went through an awful lot of trouble to try and save me. I think that you had somehow gotten to him during that last battle. After he told me that, he cast a spell on me and a weird document appeared that he signed and my familiar bond was gone."
"He knew the spell?" Saito asks in surprise.
"Do you know about the spell?" Sheffield asks him.
"That spell was used on me to break me away from Louise."
"So, that is what happened to you."
Both him and Tabitha nod.
"After had had cast that on me, and before I passed out, he told me to only kiss the person that I wanted to be a familiar to."
"That's because the spell only resets the bonding process. How did you get away though? I didn't see anyone leave the ship before it blew up."
"I woke up laying on the ground, and under a tree. My cloak was wrapped up around me."
"So, he must have wrapped you up in it and lowered you down."
She nods.
"I wandered around aimlessly for a couple of days in a confused state. I had done a lot of thinking those first couple of days and I came to the realization that everything that you were trying to tell me was right. I can't believe that I had never picked up on it before."
"It was hard for me to realize it too. I had to be told too. Why did you come here though? I was your enemy. I could have had you killed on the spot."
'I think that I already know where she is going to go with this.' Tabitha thinks to herself.
"I was hoping that your kindness would even expand out to me. You tried to spare people even when you were in Galia and hunting down joseph."
'His kindness precedes himself.' Agnes muses.
"After thinking about for a while, I had wanted to come here. This was the only place I could go to. You were the only one that I felt would even welcome me. You were the only one that had tried to save me despite the fact that I was your enemy. You showed me kindness. I traveled over a week to get to here. It was hard. I didn't have my powers to help me. I had to avoid people, and I had gotten attacked by animals in the forest. Running on very little sleep, food, and water, coming here was the only thought that was able to drive me on."
"How did you even know to come here? He hasn't even been here for long." Tabitha asks.
"News about a new lord, especially when the new lord is Saito, travels fast. I had overheard some people talking about it and I headed here."
"Was there another reason why you are here?" Tabitha asks.
I came here because I want you to become my master. I want to be your familiar.
Saito pauses for a moment and Agnes stares in shock.
After staring for a long moment, he remembers to breath.
"That is a lot to ask of me considering everything that has happened."
"I know that, but I don't want to be a familiar to anyone else."
He looks at Tabitha.
"Can I even have a familiar when I am a familiar myself?"
She shrugs.
"It's unheard of, but I don't see why you can't. You can cast magic too." Tabitha says to him.
He looks at Sheffield again.
"I hope you realize that I can't just give you an answer right now. I need to think about this and discuss it with everyone."
Agnes grits her teeth.
'Everyone?' Sheffield wonders.
She nods at him.
"I understand. I expected you to say that." She says to him.
"Let us take things day by day. I have a lot to think about and a lot that can affected by my decision. We also need to see that we can trust you."
Sheffield nods disappointedly.
'I guess I had that coming considering I was their enemy."
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A/N: Thank you for reading chapter 51 of my story.
Sorry about the delays on the lemon scenes from last chapter. I am hopefully going to be able to release them over the next couple of days on the other site. – Thank you for your patience.
My Kenichi: Not Just Her Disciple story is at chapter 8
My Monster Musume: Drago's Quest story is at chapter 3
