Chapter 10, Two Masters part 2
(Opening theme Fate ougon no Kagayaki )
A few hours have passed after Ashura's game of tag with Mavis and the sudden attack of a servant. It is now night time as Ashura sits down inside a place he has never walked into before
...a girl's house.
He looks at her home while holding onto his injured arm "Are planning to just stand there and space out until you bleed to death or do you want to come in?" She said as Vermillion opens the doors and temporarily shuts down her house security defenses around her big home
He looks back at her "Um no, it's not that, it's just... um"
"Just say it, the defenses won't stay down for at least another minute" she says as she puts her arms around herself
"Fine I've never been in a girls house before" he lifts his uninjured arm in defeat "Happy?" He said in a embarrassed look
"...are you kidding me right now?"
"Nope, I never even asked to visit Violas house before" which made look shock
(what so he doesn't know? !) the blond thought in shock While he looked "II'm I really that simple to you? It's not that bad" he said with a deapan face
This makes her brush it off, "Nevermind, just get in" she walks to him and drags his unjured side "Hey! Okay don't shove!" He thought as he went inside
Ashura right now sits on the living room of this great house, he right now reclines on a soft fancy red sofa as he waits for Vermillion to return to with the tools to treat the wound. He starts to feel up the furniture "Nice...maybe I could save some money for a new sofa one day for Gatomon and Saber to enjoy"
He stands up a bit and takes a moment to look around at the environment, which to him feels like a mansion but twice as big along with interesting objects such as a glass cases with treasured items and ancient texts (the important books must be hidden since someone serious like her wouldn't display them out in the open) he thought to himself but he just remembered something as he turns around (odd I don't see Archer, he's probably nearby and watch from somewhere close)
"I should probably call Gatomon so not to worry" He says and uses his arm to reach for his phone but before he does, his digivice glows saying sending data
he takes it out and it glows bright the more he moves it a bit. "Ooh it's like hot and cold" he says and he follows the trail out of curiosity and waks passed a the main living room. He sees a broken door, (I wonder what she did to it...a bad day maybe? ) but he notices the signal got bigger and opens the door which leads him to a basement.
He sees it full of clutter and books (so this is wgere all her actual mage textsbooks are hidden) he stops and sees his digivice beep faster...
he sees a stone mask hanging on the wall of the basement with a feather like motif but the odd part was...three eyes...what?
The more he looks at that mask...the more he feels uncomfortable...and slightly worried "This mask, why do I feel nervous from it?"
"I found them!"
Ashura heard Vermillion shout from the corner. If she catches him like this she may think bad of him so he rushes out of there And heads back to his spot to pretend nothing happened
After taking a close look at his wound "That's odd" she says as sge exames his wound, after removing the bandages "Wound has completely reduced to a cut and looks like a full recovery" she looks to see any flaws and looks at him "does it hurt?"
"Nope" he waves his arm around proving it "in. A way it almost feels like it didn't happen" he smiles at that. While the blond girl comments "This is just as similar to the incident with Berserker."
Ashura shudders at the pain he renembered back then but realizes "How do you suppose this happened?"
She puts a finger on her chin, "I suppose it might have to be either your new ability or Saber sending his energy to you for healing purposes"
"He can't do that? Gosh I never knew how lucky I am to have Saber"
She shakes her head "But that doesn't mean you should rely on it" she mentions which gets his attention "The more energy there is to support you, the less he has to use for himself to fight, let alone defend himself" Which made Ashura worry and notice, "I see so getting hurt or taken blows for him wouldn't do squat for my situation with Saber" he says as she dresses the wound with alcohol coated cotton "Ow!"
"Precisely so no more stupid stunts." She says as she finishes her work and rewraps his arm in a new cloth
After that the two took a break, leading to making warm tea and a moment of silence but it felt too quiet for Ashura's taste so he decided to say something important "So this other master, do you know who he or she is?"
"All that I know if is that the master has made these barriers in order to steal physical energy from the school" she explains with a small answer which doesn't have much info (So that's why she stayed late) but then realized
"What someone's actually doing that?" He remembered her talk about servants being able to steal energy from random people
"Quite, but what makes it different is that the master uses barriers to steal from all over the campus instead of one at a time" she says as she puts down her tea while he looks worried "Now I'm concerned since some of my friends go there, I can't let this go by" he sounds serious
"Today was supposed to be the evening where I confront the other master and end it's trick" she now closes her eyes in irritation "Until some random cocky Master without his servant wandered the area which forced my delicate temper, *sigh* So I was distracted"
Noticing She was talking about him, he (I ain't cocky...I was sleepy) he puffed his cheeks but deflated them as he realized he got in her way "Sorry about that..."
"Name calling aside, I would like to perform a compromise" she suggested "hm?" While he wonders what she means "A simple truce if you may?"
"A truce" he was suprised at that unexpected reply
"Yes, because of what occurred today, the enemy is know knows were masters and is likely plotting against either of us as we speak. So if we put our differences aside we should delt with this problem quicker" she stated with a fair amount of reason "Just as long as you do know betray me" with a smile she knows he's too backed up in a corner to try
"Hmm...okay, that sounds cool, and it would be nice to get to know you and it would feel a lot better with you as a teamma.." before he could show his graditude
"Let me stop you right ther" she puts her hand in a stop gesture"This is only until the barrier issue is neutralized, this is only a temporary alliance" she reminded him to be serious about the answer
"Well I guess that's also okay" he says as he walks in front of her "I will take up your offer for a truce" he displays his hand in graditude "I look forward to this opportunity" while she looks at him wondering why he's so casual but ignores it, "Fine, just show your usefulness and pick up you pace" she says as Ashura shakes her hand in graditude at the suprised forward approach
At Ashura's home, Gatomon in her Ruler state or (Jeanne if you may) is watching Agumon look out the window
"Saber why are watching the window" She said as she got his attention which made him get his head out of the clouds
"Oh it's just that Ashura hasn't returned yet, and it's already late" he said as he jumps out of his seat
She thinks about it, "I guess he should have brought you along, but he was stuborn about it"She felt dull about it "But I wouldn't worry too much as it doesn't pay off" which made him look at her "Yeah"
"So to get your mind off Things, now that I have possibility to use evoled form as a disguise I can communicate with others" she says as she starts to undress and put on casual wear "for example I invited the manager Anna and Viola to make dinner again" she said with a smile "When they leave I could bring you a leftovers or even a whole dish if your ready" as she heads into the bathroom
Agumon smiles (she's gentle in her Ruler state but...it felt like Gatomon's influence came up with that idea) he thought with a sweatdrop
Back at Vermillion's home, She lit up some scented candles to add to the decor of her living room
She restarts the conversation "So depending on the name of your family, I'm guessing the Kovacs family was foreign, leading to the answer that your father from another country?" She theorized
He looks suprised "Weird, no one has bothered to ask about my father" he wondered about her curiosity "Well since we're going to be a team, I guess it's a minor fact to tell you that Kovács wasn't my original family"
"Enlighten me" she looked intrigued
He looks up at the moon through the window "Well after my previous old man...left and disappeared, I had an accident that made me suffer memory loss, and not after that, My new father found me"
She looks suprised at this, and how calm he as at his demeanor "He used his resourceswhich made him discover this special abilities" he displays small pixels in his hands "I think I remember, that he mentioned this before...but I didn't take him seriously" he looks down at his knees "Unfortunately he passed on due to a a foreign illness he picked up"
Now she looks sad and a bit shocked at him (He's just like...) but ignores it "My condolences"
Ashura shakes his head "That's okay, Not long after that Mr Kakashi found me and introduced me to me long seperated family like my aunt and cousins, heck even my own uncle is a teacher at my school." He gets a bit glad talking about his fortunate salvation
"You forgot?" She looks at him weirdly while he closes his eyes "Like I said I had memory issues but I didn't forget most of it, back to the topic, I've seen him use his abilities before, and he taught me on how to attempt him"
While she thinks about how it sounds far fetched (if that was true he shouldn't be this weak...unless)
"Indian boy, did you father give you a magical family crest?" She looks serious now
"You mean those abilities you inherent from family?" She nods now knowing he knew some bits of history
"Nope."he said non chalantly "No?"
"Nope, he didn't want to"
"W-what?" Vermillion replied wide eyed
"It's true, he could have given me all access to his magic foundings despite me being not blood related but he just chose not to." He said bluntly "Instead he told me on how to use simple skills on what to use on real life, like my enhancement ability which I used right when you bla..."
"What are you doing!" She interrupted him again "Don't tell your strengths were still enemies" she said in a stern tone while he just looks shocked at the sudden shout "Well we going to work together so you going to learn my abilities anyway, my father was the kind of guy thought thought such abilities shouldn't be hidden anyhow." She didn't like his answer much due to how careless it was
"He even told me I could have the opportunity to quit if I wanted..." Ashura said but Vermillion got up so suddenly "I've heard enough!" She shouted "Huh?" He looked scared with a white plated eyes
"*sigh* No wonder you weren't acting like a mage because you never had real thing" she sounded upset, "Your father definitely had no right to be called a magic user..." she said honestly
Ashura stood up "Hey I het my father was weird but how can you say these things" he said a little hurt
"You didn't let me finish" she looks at him in the eye "I'm...sorry...*ahem* she then clears her throat "What I was saying was he chose not to follow the role for you as a magic mentor but valued the role of being a parent more" she looks down at that thought And now wonders about her family
Satisfied with the answer, Ashura sits back down but notices her look (This she have family issues?)
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
"Oh man it's late, Saber will be worried" Ashura just remembered While Mavis looked suprised by how much time passed "very well, if we find more information we can talk about it at school" Then turned around "Archer come out" she calls out to his servant while Baalmon suddenly appears infront of him
"Guahh!" Ashura was spoked out about the sudden suprise while the blond explained "He well escort you home, and he will not harm you under my direct orders" While Ashura slowly nods but is focused on the shady guy as he takes a good look at him, there's something off about him. He realizes that he has never seen this type of digimon before but what made him feel nervous was face slowly revealing a third eye which reminded him of that mask from the basement
"Okay" he agrees and prepares to leave "By the way, I was wondering" the blond girl had one more question "If you didn't go by you old name or Kovács, what name do you go by Indian boy?"
"Oh that, I asked Mr. Kakashi to change my name and ID on the School record to Ashura K. Hoshigami" he answered to her
"Star biter?" She didn't understand
"He thought it looked cool" he laughs nervously "Later" he leaves as the Archer escourts
(Fate ost The end of reminiscence tsuioku no katana)
As Ashura walk to his neighborhood he turns around "That's far enough" Ashura says to Vermillion's servant "I believe I can handle things here Return to Vermillion "
While the Archer smirks "Funny I was planning to that from the beginning, I don't need your order"
Some reason that got on his nerves "Hey!"
"Ohh did I strike a nerve"he chuckles "I thought you were one of those simple mediocre softies" he insults to him While Ashura bback talks "Hey I could fight you if you asked b7t I just care about dealing with the grail issue at hand its nothing but trouble!"
He scoffs at his reply "You think you can do that without losing a casulity" he calls out on his goal while Ashura feels offended "Is that a bet?"
"Don't be foolish I haven't got the time, but I do have one question" which makes him look at his eyes. "I heard you didn't use your command seal on rider even though you picked a f8ght you couldnt win even you knew you werent dumb enough to know it wasnt you battletell me why?"
"I don't have to answer to you"
"Hmmph that's fine I think I get it, instead of calling for help you decided to endure and burdens all that pain yourself...a method like that makes shudder in disappointment"
That made him upset "Grrr! Why should I listen to you"
"Heh, ironic, you must really be a burden to your saber" the archer wondered about how Ashura handle things "What? I'm no burden and we haven't had any problems how would you know?" He looks away "besides he shouldn't have to be my shield and stick out for me I never asked for that"
"But is your Servant okay with it" he simply said which made him speechless "*sigh* there's no point in talking much you wont listen to my topic, do you even plan to win the competition without fighting" Ashura notices how hhis conversation is getting serious as he turns around and walks away "That's not true, I'll be prepared to fight when the time comes"
"But you won't kill?"
"So?"
Ashura doesn't see but Archers third eye opens "Do you really think can save the world by baring its burden on you shoulders"
Ashura looks wide eyes "How did you about that ideal?"
The servant ignores the reply "Wake up already..." his tone gets darker "the more you cling on to those notions you live by, the harder it can be live by the when facing reality"
"Arggh...What do you know!" He shouts at him
The Archer takes out his blades to keep a distance a blue and a black shaped like mysterious key like blades, and jumps away "I know of the path that you chose that lead many people who chose it to only pain and strife" As he knows starts to float away like a ghost "Ideals that are not compatible to the common man wouldn't never fit with with reality and thereby destroy there lives...knowing this would you still follow your way...well Ashura Otsutsuki?"
He looks pale to that name in how shock "How?" Said in a suprised quiet tone
"
Archer heard the whisper from the height " ha ha your family once made a major impact in this city from my masters books...still willing to fellow such goals Ashura?" He reapeated his question again as he vanished
He now looks at his digivice, but wonders why would a spirit care about what His goals are?
He enters his apartment complex after a tired night and checks to Gatomon's room and opens it to reveal her sleeping in her Ruler state, while Agumon is sleeping on the chair
Without little worry he abouts to close the door "Your back Ashura, " he ses ruler awake "You later than expected and Saber was actually concerned about your safety"
He looks a bit sad by it "I'm sorry I made you guys worry, I had an errand to finish"
She looks at him his regretful face "It is all right, I'm just glad your safe" While he looks suprised at her reply (Gosh Ruler is really nicer then Gatomon) he thoughts as he sees her sleep again So he closes the door behind her
With a little worries he retires to his bedroom and just looks st the moon, He looks at his digivice...well he did have one worry, about what Archer said
How he said about my ideals, and how he knew about them first hand just by hearing my actions... (Are my ideals unfit for a human?) he thought about that question which made him rub his forehead in irritation
"What does he mean by that?"
(Ost ending theme Teleportation Guy by MELL)