Chapter 2

"The safe house is up ahead," Nathan said pointing through the trees. "Less than a kilometer." The two were hiking through the woods now. The darkness around them and the events that had transpired earlier that night gave the forest a real creepy feeling to them. Ana was unphased by this however, almost as if she had dealt with this sort of feeling before.

"Good." she said. Nathan wanted to ask about her personal life, but he was exhausted and, to top it all off, he may have used a little too much mana. He almost tripped on a rock from said exhaustion.

"Master?" Ana moved to catch him but stopped as he caught himself.

"Sorry Ana," he said. "I'm just low on mana." they continued walking and Nathan focused on not falling over again.

"So," she said looking around, "how did the war start?"

"The one between the Association and the Holy church?"

"Yes."

"The grail didn't tell you?"

"I want a non-biased opinion." she smirked. "Kind of stupid if you ignore both sides of a story." She seemed to imply that she was talking about both her view as well as how she wished people would view her despite the fact that Nathan still didn't know her true name.

"A story can have multiple sides. Most people don't know how it started but what escalated it was the church revealing magecraft to the world. It quickly became a battle of propaganda as both sides wanted allies for the war to come."

"Why involve outsiders?"

"Numbers, to put it simply. Even weak forces in mass numbers can be overwhelming"

"Sorry, I was never any sort of military leader or anything close to it." Ana turned away from him.

"Who were you?" he mustered the courage to ask.

"It would be unwise to say my true name here." she said.

"Right. Maybe in the morning I'll ask you." he smiled at her.

"Ok." She was probably nervous about it as she kept trying to hide her face.

"Back to the topic at hand, I never thought I would see the Association gather its Great three branches together.

"So the branches are more unified now?"

"More than before at least. They're still working on their chain of command but they at least have their head brass figured out.

"And you work for the Association?"

"Officially yes, Actually no."

"Fun."

"I still have to pay bills you know," he shrugged and almost stumbled again.

"Master focus on walking please."

"Sorry," he said. "I also wanted to ask what the grail said the main goal was?"

"What do you mean?" She looked slightly confused.

"Usually the grail tells the servants to fight to claim their wish or something similar. Since the grail has been weaponized I wanted to know what it told you?"

"It didn't tell me anything along that nature. All I got was to protect my master at all costs."

"Strange," he rubbed his chin in thought. He didn't know what it meant but he also didn't like what it could theoretically insinuate.

"Master we're here." Ana said and Nathan looked up to see the dark cabin ahead of them. They silently crept up to the building and began circling it to make sure it was empty. Once Nathan was sure no one was occupying it they entered.

Nathan took a rune stone from one of his pouches and slapped it on the wall next to the door. He turned to a nearby bedroom and headed toward it. He no longer could tell if he said anything to Ana as his exhaustion and lack of mana was all he could feel right now. He fell face first onto the bed still dressed in all his gear and passed out almost immediately.

Nightmares are awful. Nathan was now on the floor after falling off the bed from rolling around too much. He sat up as he recalled what he could from his dream. The dream had a constant feeling of horror to it while playing the images in a weird collage. Some were definitely from his past as it showed images of his actions killing what he would later learn were people defending innocents or innocents themselves.

The worst part of the dream was his grenade toss into a window of a mansion followed by him busting down the door only to find the remains of several non-combatants that had taken cover in the room. Nathan shivered as their faces ran through his mind.

"It's ok," he told himself, "I was told to grenade the room, the head Executor had ordered me too." he told himself this to help calm himself down and for the most part it's true. The family was suspected to hold a Dead Apostle among them, at least that was the agreed consensus. Once his heart rate dropped back to normal he got up on shaky legs.

He started to the kitchen as his mind had remembered a part of his dream that he knew wasn't his. He saw the smiling faces of two young girls whom he did not recognize standing with their backs to the sea. That image would be replaced by countless snakes smashing and snapping at them mercilessly in what appeared to be a dark room.

As he entered the main part of the cabin he spotted Ana asleep on the couch. She must have decided to sleep to let him recover his mana faster, but he wondered why she didn't just use her spirit form.

He headed to the fridge in the kitchen which was simply a fridge, a sink, and stove top oven. He looked through the fridge and decided to drink the apple juice. he grabbed it and a glass from a nearby cabinet. After pouring a glass and putting left over juice back in the fridge, he leaned against the sink and began sipping away at his glass.

He thought to the numerous times this cabin had been a safe haven for him. Years ago the cabin was anonymously bought by a friend of his for vacation but allowed Nathan to use it to hide from the church or anyone who might be looking for him. This friend had disappeared at the start of the war however, and it slightly bothered him.

Ana stirred in her sleep. Nathan stared in disbelief, unsure why a servant would stir. He heard her mumbled something but Nathan couldn't hear what it was. He wondered if her dream was better than his and shuddered after remembering his nightmare again.

He finished his juice and headed back to his room. After passing the couch, he had a thought and decided to grab a blanket from a nearby closet. He gently pulled the blanket over Ana and smiled as she some how instinctively grabbed hold of it. He then left her alone on the couch and entered his room.

He changed this time into sweats and a T-shirt before jumping into bed again. The soft bed seemed almost untouched to him this time, despite that he had fallen off the bed earlier. He cleared his thoughts from his head and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Morning came quick and Nathan got up. He figured he ought to use the eggs and bacon he saw in the fridge the night before for breakfast. As he started moving to the kitchen he glanced at his gear. After a moment of thought he decided he could take the day to relax and learn more about his servant.

The bacon sizzled as Nathan poured the eggs into a different pan. He heard movement behind him soon after and he peeked at Ana who just sat up on the couch. A few minutes of cooking later, He turned to see Ana sitting down at the table as he began plating the food.

"Morning Ana," he gave her a smile. She didn't smile back but seemed unsure how to respond.

"Morning master," she said shyly.

"I hope you slept well," he said as he turned off the burner.

"Not really," she rubbed her eyes. Nathan grabbed the two plates of omelettes and bacon and headed to the table.

"Next time I'll let you use a bed sorry," he placed a plate in front of her and sat next to her with his own.

"That's ok I'm only a servant," she also mumbled under her breath what sounded like "and a Monster".

"Is that how you wish to be seen?" he began eating but Ana hadn't even touched her fork yet.

"What do you mean?"

"From where I sit, you don't seem to be lesser than me," he was referring to the fact that most masters that he had learned about considered their servant merely as an emotionless tool and were thus lesser than them.

"You know what a Servant is right?"

"Yes, but you were once a person. Why would technically being dead mean that you don't deserve basic human rights.

"Master," she removed her hood revealing her headband, "I'm not even human." She looked at him and he once again realized that something was really odd about her eyes but he still couldn't place it..

"Ana, you could be… an Orc or something obscure, but I don't think I would treat you any differently."

"Why," she was now staring at her untouched food. Nathan felt the question rising in his gut but he now felt like he shouldn't ask it. He sighed as he knew the only way to get through this was to do it.

"Ana, what is your true name?" he gritted his teeth trying to brace himself for the answer.

"It's…" she was mumbling as she pulled her hood back on as if to hide from him, "Medusa."

Nathan sat back. Everything now made sense to him; her eyes, the two girls from his nightmare, even her calling herself names. She had wanted to avoid telling him thinking he would immediately think of her as the monster she would become. She kept hiding under her hood as if anticipating something harsh to happen to her.

"Ana…" he started, "I...I'm sorry."

"What for, you didn't do anything wrong?" she said, but she looked at him again making Nathan feel slightly better.

"What I know of your life is horrible, and I know that loneliness well. I was left to die in a desert alone with nobody for several Kilometers minimum. I spent a week trying to survive and almost failed. It may not be exactly the same but I know how you feel. Which is why I want to help you." Nathan decided to try being straight forward with his feelings.

"I...don't really have a desire or a wish of any kind," she said, once again staring at her plate.

"Let me be more specific. I want to give you the opportunity to have a somewhat different and maybe better life." she looked at him again.

"Why do you want to do that?" she asked.

"I believe if you didn't have the gods being jealous of your beauty, you might have had a good life. I might not be able to give you a perfect new life with what is currently happening, but I will try my best."

"But I'm technically a monster. Am I even worth the hassle?"

"You're only a monster if you let yourself be one. You can still choose not to be one. This summoning is an opportunity to receive the joy you might have forgotten," with this statement Nathan finished his meal and headed to the sink.

"Can I have some time to think about this offer?" she asked as she got up from the table.

"Certainly, you technically have 1,000 acres of forest to think, if you need it." Nathan began washing the dishes.

"Thank you master." she then headed out the back door next to the kitchen. Nathan then quickly finished the dishes but left Ana's untouched plate where it was.

He then headed back to the bedroom and began to change into his gear again. Once changed he realized he needed to make more black keys. Fortunately Nathan remembered a stash of weapons that he hid in the closet. He opened the closet and smiled. The arms he had stashed there were still there which included tons of black keys that he had personally modified, ammo for his Five-Seven, and an Ump 9 with lots of ammo. He restocked his keys but left the ammo and Ump 9 for later. He then headed back to the main part of the cabin.

Now with time to relax, he sat on the couch. His thoughts drifted to his servant and his spur of the moment offer. Could he actually fulfill what he promised her? He certainly couldn't while on a mission to end his former teacher, but he began to wonder for the first time what he would do after this quest for revenge. He began to consider settling down somewhere to just enjoy the rest of life with his servant. He brought himself back to reality though saying he had no idea if they would even live that long.

Realizing he had been sitting there a good 15 minutes, Nathan got up and went outside. The cabin had a large meadow behind it that often had really tall grass. Luckily the grass had been cut recently so one could easily walk out there without much trouble.

He spotted Ana immediately as she was standing next to a brown horse at the edge of the meadow. She was brushing it with her hand from what he could tell but even at this distance he thought she looked adorable so he decided to simply watch her for a while. He wondered if she was smiling or not while she petted it. He shook his head as at that distance he couldn't tell.

He started walking over after hearing her humming a strange tune he had never heard before. As he got closer he realized there was a form of magecraft hidden within her voice, and if he wasn't wearing his mantle he would have succumbed to it. He continued toward her.

"You have a lovely voice, Ana," he said once he was a short distance from her. She turned her head toward him.

"Thank you master," she said.

"Do you like horses?"

"I'm unsure, I haven't been around them long enough to know."

"Here," he grabbed an apple from inside one of his pouches and tossed it to her. "Most horses love apples," Ana caught the apple. She looked at it and then at the horse. She then held it toward the horse's mouth and watched in amazement as it was eaten from her hand.

"Mind if I ask what you were humming just now?" Nathan asked as the horse munched on the apple.

"It's an old Greek song equivalent to a children's nursery rhyme."

"Remind me to have you tell me the lyrics sometime." Nathan smiled.

"Master," she started to pet the horse again, "I still don't have an answer for your offer right now."

"That's ok, we have a lot of time."

"I think I'll take my time deciding then, mostly because I don't know you too well yet master."

"If you wish I can tell you my life story?" he said. However both immediately felt the presence of something landing on a tree branch close by. The horse bolted while the two faced a man with blue hair wearing a hawaiian shirt and black pants holding a fishing basket.

"Oh, man. I could've spent 5 more minutes fishing instead of interrupting this delicate moment." The man was obviously a lancer servant but why he was dressed so casually confused Nathan. He dropped from the tree as if it were nothing more than a step.

"Master, be careful." Ana said as she gripped her weapon tighter.

"You recognize me already?" the lancer seemed surprised.

"Barely," she grimaced.

"Wait, you also remind me of someone. from the last holy grail war if I had to guess," he rubbed his chin as he began looking at Ana intently.

"What makes you say that?"

"Those eyes mostly, you wouldn't happen to be the Rider from that war?" he smirked as Ana sighed.

"so the dog can use it's nose," she half mumbled.

"Ha, at least this dog didn't get it's head twisted off by some old teacher," the Lancer laughed.

"What, who?" Nathan was still unsure who this was, but he didn't exactly like his servant being identified by him.

"Master, this is Cú Chulainn," Ana said. "Hero from the Ulster cycle. I never actually met him in person but the grandfather of my previous master told me about him once." she reluctantly relaxed.

"Heh, that old worm man? You had it rough."

"Not as bad as Sakura," she mumbled.

"Wait, I'm confused, are we about to fight?" Nathan said.

"If he wanted to fight he wouldn't be dressed the way he is." Ana said. "The most he'll do is throw weak insults at you."

"You sound like you know me well." The blue haired Lancer shrugged. "Also I remember you being a lot taller."

"Sorry to disappoint." she said as her weapon disappeared.

"Cú Chulainn, why are you here?" Nathan asked as he put his keys away.

"My master wanted to give you a message. You see, her and her husband decided to tell you about a group of refugees just up the coast. They want people to help protect the civilians there."

"What makes you think we want to do that?" Nathan asked.

"My master says she can give you information in return, you see she worked for Clocktower for a while, still does in a way, she can get you information on anyone you want even those in the church."

"That's tempting, but wouldn't this just be a trap set up by the Association?"

"You make it sound like she's with those idiots.," Lancer gave a short chuckle, "She's acting as a spy in the Association, she wants to help her man protect people. She's the reason the refugees are still safe if we're being honest"

"That won't last long," Nathan thought out loud. "Mages will figure it out fairly quickly." he then turned to Ana. "what do you think Ana?"

"Ana?" Lancer said. "How cute." he teased while laughing.

"Shut up Lancer," she turned to Nathan. "I don't really like humans, master, but if you insist on helping them I will comply."

"This is a job that will get us to our objective faster," Nathan said, "we also have no leads either," he turned to Cú Culainn, "we accept the offer, Sétanta,"

"Sweet, just head north of here to the shore then head east. You'll reach the camp in no time." he turned to walk away. "Hey, Medusa. It will be nice to work with you for once, huh?"

"Maybe, Hound of Culann," she said, "we'll just have to wait and see." With those words the blue haired Lancer smiled before he took a giant leap and disappeared over the trees.