- Chapter 2: Pact Sealed, Never Undone -

I wake up slowly, the return to consciousness drawn out and painful. With a low groan, I can feel the entirety of my body consumed by a dull ache. Everything feels some level of sore. Like I was a piece of tenderized meat.

But since I didn't think death would hurt this much… I guess I'm alive. Really wasn't expecting that. A definite win in my books.

Gingerly, I open my eyes.

There were… trees? Yeah, gigantic evergreen trees soared high into darkness all around me. Tall and sturdy, their dense and shadowy canopy near completely blocked any trace of the sky above. Though with what the eternal darkness, it probably didn't really matter in the first place. I frown slightly, lifting my head from the soft dirt as I slowly begin to stretch out all of my limbs, flinching each time a burst of pain explodes under my skin. Using my amazing detective skills... I'm now in a forest. How the heck did I get here?

A bit of rustling causes me to glance to my left, where it just now registers that a small fire is crackling merrily, the bright flames holding the imposing darkness of the surrounding forest at bay. Warm and inviting, it's nothing like the black hell-fires that I had seen consuming most of Fuyuki. Shifting my gaze slightly higher and looking beyond the flickering flames, to the other side of the glowing campfire, a blue-haired man sits cross-legged.

Wearing loose-fitting light-blue robes over some type of black undershirt, the man rests a long and well-worn oaken staff over one shoulder.

"Get the hell up, kid," he says with an easy-going grin. "We got shit to do."

I squint at the man. Where had I seen him before? He was… huh. I never realized how weird it was to see him… without his signature… spear.

My brain actually processes what I just thought. Pure adrenaline cuts through the haze that had been covering my mind, and I jolt up to a sitting position, despite my protesting muscles. I try to speak, but nothing seems to come out but a faint croak. Blinking slowly, I stare dazed at the Child of fucking Light.

"That's better." He says with a smirk, before leaning forward slightly. "How're you feeling? Healing runes were never really my thing, but I still fixed you up the best I could."

I scrunch up my face in confusion, before looking down at my body. While my t-shirt and jeans were torn, damp and dirty, the skin underneath was more or less fine. Surprisingly so, actually. "I'm not really injured though?"

He lets out a sharp bark of laughter. "You aren't really injured anymore. What? Did you think you made it out of the river unscathed?"

"I-I'm guessing I didn't."

"Three cracked ribs, skinned hands, a broken toe, internal bleeding, waterlogged lungs, and to top it all off, one doozy of a concussion." he lists out, not even attempting to control his shit-eating grin as my face grows increasingly pale.

My stomach constricts just hearing about the damage. Thank god I was unconscious for most of it. I hesitantly poke the side of my ribs, only to immediately let out a quiet yelp, unexpected lances of fiery pain tearing their way from the point of contact and into the muscles underneath.

"I did say that healing wasn't exactly my wheelhouse," Cu Chulainn points out mildly. "And I don't really have the needed materials on hand, either."

He shrugs. "I did my best. But in this case, my best was a shitty patch job. It's less 'actually healed' and more 'pretending like it's fixed'."

Grimacing as I carefully scoot myself closer to the fire, I say "Ah… god... yeah, I can really tell."

He frowns. A feeling of menace slowly fills the air. "No need to be rude about it, kid."

"I-I didn't mean t-"

The man guffaws loudly, slapping a hand on his knee as the pressure instantly drops. "I'm just messing around! So long as you don't do anything stupid, my runes'll be able to hold your insides together... probably."

Oh man, that really didn't fill me with any confidence. I smile nervously back, internally screaming as I genuinely start to consider the situation I was in. While what I remembered about the Hero of Ulster painted him as an overall decent guy, it didn't change the fact that the man sitting across from me could easily kill me before I could even blink.

And that's not even mentioning the fact that the guy was a genuine hero, the likes of which from my mom's bedtime stories. I had literally grown up hearing and reading stories about people like him. Saying I was starstruck wasn't even coming close.

I can't help but sigh heavily. If it wasn't for the shitty circumstances, this meeting would have been a genuine dream come true.

While I was debating on whether to run away screaming or to ask for an autograph, Cu speaks again. "And in exchange for the gracious help that I've provided, I'm going to be needing a bit of a favor from you. I scratch your back, you scratch mine, so to speak."

Oh god please no. Please don't imply what I think you're implying. On that path waits only misery and pain. "W-what?"

"As you may have already guessed, I am a Servant. Of the Caster class of course," he says, tapping his staff on his shoulder as he does so. "Cu Chulainn, Hero of Ulster and all that, at your service." He sighs. "And even though you ain't exactly a cute girl, you can just call me Cu anyways."

He looks at me expectantly. It takes a moment, but I eventually get what he's waiting for. "O-Oh! My name's... Day, I think?"

The edges of my lips unconsciously twitch downwards as I say this. Why did I have to think about that? I'm pretty sure that was my... it didn't matter, it wasn't important right now. "And before anything else… I just want to say that it's actually… really really really cool to be able to meet you."

His smile only seems to grow even wider. "Nice to see a fan. I-"

My blood runs cold as a muted roar echoes throughout the forest, the wordless howl causing all hairs on my neck to stand on end.

"▂▂▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

Neither of us speak as the cry fills the air all around, growing louder and louder, drowning out everything else as it eventually reaches a fever pitch.

It ends, as suddenly as it began. As the keening howl slowly starts to fade away, one thought fills my mind.

Death. It was the noise of absolute, undeniable death, savage and cruel as can be. I look around at the darkness nervously, even though the source of the baying howl sounded to be far, far away. Staring down at shivering hands, I try and fail to suppress their fearful jittering, the depths of my brain instinctively understanding that a monster beyond monsters lurked in the shadows beyond the campfire.

A monster beyond monsters. A hero beyond heroes. The Greatest Son of Greece.

"Heracles," I whisper.

Cu raises an eyebrow. "...Yeah," the Irish hero says eventually. "That bastard's a tough one, even for me. Nailed him straight on with my Wicker Man, and the fucker just got back up again less than a minute later."

"...The Twelve Labors, almost forgot about them," I mutter out in a daze, biting at my thumb as I think. The odds would be stacked against us from the start. I wasn't about to hold any pretenses and pretend that Cu could even hope to match up to Heracles.

As badass of a guy as the Child of Light was, the strongest of Argonauts was one of those heroes that were in a completely different league, with bullshit power stacked upon bullshit power.

"...Eh? Twelve what nows?"

Still lost in my thoughts, I offhandedly explain. "It's probably why he came back, even after being annihilated by Wicker Man. I'm pretty sure it's a Noble Phantasm of his; an always active one that is literally his body. I think it's called God Hand or something?"

"No joke? How's it work?" Cu asks.

"Twelve total lives were given in death for twelve legendary labors completed in life," I respond, waxing poetic just a bit before switching to layman's terms. "Think of it as him having eleven extra lives, on top of his already insane abilities."

Cu frowns slightly. "Man, that's bull."

I nod in agreement, then clicking my tongue as I remember something else. "And after being killed a certain way, he's immune to dying from that method from then on. So Wicker Man's basically useless against him now."

"Not raising my hopes any, kid."

I sigh heavily, shoulders slouching. "I'm sorry. I've just had a pretty long day so far."

At this Cu seems to perk up a bit. "Well tough shit, cause the day's not over just yet," he says. "The way things are right now, I need a Master to finish this mess of a war, and you very clearly need a Servant in order to survive."

My breath catches and my hands grow clammy. There it was. The adventure-bait that would irreversibly change my life, and probably not for the better. If I didn't die in this singularity… well, whatever was to come probably wouldn't be any easier.

I scowl. Yet at the same time, this was likely my only chance of even hoping to survive the shit-show that was to come.

So what to do? Which path to take? Choose death right now, or an adventure full of suffering followed by death?

It doesn't take long to make my choice. No matter how shitty both of the options were, being alive always meant that things could get better... hopefully. Doing my best to put on a poker face over my obvious unease, I narrow my eyes slightly. "What's the catch?"

The Irish Hero gasps dramatically, leaning back as he puts a hand over his heart. "How dare you assume that there'd be a catch! I'm doing this entirely out of the goodness of my heart!"

I snort at that. "...Really?"

"Of course not. I just want to win. Can't really do that without a proper Master, now can I?"

I can't help laughing a bit. At least he was honest.

He pauses, seeming to remember something. "...Oh, but before anything else, I'd just like to ask a question."

"Yeah?"

An eyebrow raises as he continues. "At first I thought you were just some lucky survivor who happens to be in the know, crazy as that might be. But now… How'd you know all that shit about Berserker? Even I didn't, and I fucking fought the guy."

He pauses, before adding as an afterthought. "And actually, mind explaining how the hell you're still alive? I'm pretty sure that monster of a Saber made sure everyone living here was wiped out."

My laughter dies immediately as a cold sweat forms on my forehead, the feeling of relaxed calm that had been slowly forming evaporating completely. My hands clench into fists, nails digging into my palms as the stupidity of my actions slowly dawns. Shit. I hadn't been paying attention to what I was saying, had I?

"I need you and you need me, so I won't blast ya for not telling me." Cu idly scratches his cheek as he goes on to say "To be honest? I'm just curious."

With a shaky smile, I frantically try to come up with excuses. Fuck me I'm such an idiot. Maybe I coul... No. I couldn't tell him. Not yet anyways. Not while that fucker could be listening.

I grimace. And to make matters worse, Cu probably wouldn't take just any flimsy lie, a hero of legend likely a tad bit more discerning than your average person.

"I… uh..." I splutter, mind blanking, unable to come up with an acceptable lie. "The thing is…"

It goes on like this for some time, right until Cu lightly taps his staff against the ground. The campfire flares up in response, the tongues of flame jumping high into the sky before receding again, causing my rambling to stop in its tracks. "Kid, you look like you're gonna pass out again. Take a deep breath and relax."

As I pause to take in a shuddering breath, the Caster goes on to say "I've got my secrets and you've got yours. I'm not gonna pry if it freaks you out that much."

I flash him a grateful, if slightly weak, smile. "I… Thanks."

"...No problem, kid. Just so long as you promise me that me not knowing where your... weirdly in-depth knowledge came from isn't going to screw us over later."

I frown as I think over his words. "No? At least, I don't think so?"

Cu grins. "Good enough for me."

There is a beat of silence. Then, after laying his staff across his lap, the hero extends a well-muscled arm over the top of the fire, hand out in a clear hand-shake gesture. "Now then, I'm trusting you here, okay? Let's do this."

Shaking off my stupor, I stare at the calloused hand, a weird mix of excitement and fear roiling in my core. "So… do I ju-"

"Yeah, hurry up. We don't got all day."

"Ah… I'm so going to regret this." I mutter, hesitantly reaching with my right hand.

For a second, nothing seems to happen, and I open my mouth to say as much. Then, without warning, the back of my right hand begins to burn. I immediately try to wrench my hand out of the Caster's grasp, but only manage to nearly tear my arm out of its socket, his brute strength preventing me from moving a fraction of an inch. If anything, his grip tightens, crushing my hand even further.

One red tattoo fades into existence, seared into my flesh.

Screaming aloud, it's like a cattle brand has been pressed up against my skin, the heat burning deep into the muscle underneath. Tears come to my eyes as I beg for the pain to stop. But it doesn't.

Another bloody seal slowly forms.

The numbing pain spreads from my hand to my entire body, miniature explosions occurring just underneath my skin, tearing my insides apart. The edges of my vision begin fading into an all-consuming black, and it's only because of Cu's vise-like grip that I remain sitting straight.

The final symbol materializes, sealing the contract and my fate forevermore.

Cu lets go of my hand, and I immediately cradle it to my chest, falling onto my side and curling up into a ball, the lingering pain still forcing its way through my arm and into my core.

"Well then… congratulations Master!"

Gasping in pain, it takes quite a while for me to respond. "Fo… for what?"

"Awakening your magic circuits of course!" He pauses. "They suck ass but they exist!"

A few minutes later, the pain has just started fading to a somewhat tolerable level. I sit quietly by the fire as Cu fiddles with some weird looking stones, probably something to do with his runic magic. Lost in my thoughts, I just think.

I… could do magic now, or rather magecraft now, even if my circuits were apparently pretty meh in terms of quality. Still, shitty magic powers were better than no magic powers, after all. My lips twitched slightly. Even the darkest of thunderclouds has a silver lining, I guess. Still, I don't know if the cost of nearly dying twice was worth it.

"Well then." Cu begins, idly poking at the campfire as he does so. "What now, Master?"

I visibly shudder. An extremely buff, handsome, twenty-something-year-old man just called me master. That felt all kinds of wrong.

Idly scratching at the crimson tattoos now adorning the back of my right hand, I say "Well for starters… Can you please not call me Master? I… well it sounds really weird."

Cu nods in understanding. "Sure thing…" An increasingly familiar smirk appears on his face. "...Master."

I groan aloud. Was telling him to stop worth a Command Seal? Actually, scratch that. I knew that it one hundred percent wasn't. But by god would it feel good.

Dismissing the thought with a sigh, I slowly stand up. As I do my best to wipe the dirt off of my hands and clothes, I say "I think I've got a couple of ideas."

"Mind sharing them?" responds Cu as he easily jumps to his feet from his cross-legged position, like the showoff he is.

"Well… do you have any idea where the Emiya household is?"

Cu runs a hand through his hair as he thinks for a moment. Snapping his fingers in remembrance, he says "You talking about Saber's old master?" I nod. "Then yeah, I do. How come?"

"If my 'freakishly in-depth knowledge' is correct, and with a bit of luck, there may or may not be a fully functioning summoning circle in the storehouse there. So I'm thinking..." I give him a small grin. "Why don't we see if we can tilt the scales a bit more in our favor?"

"...Master, I think we're gonna get along juuust fine."