The way the concept had been initially explained to her, Ritsuka had imagined Servants to be like genies. Powerful magical entities dependent on her as an anchor to the world, who could do miraculous things. Phantasmal purveyors of special effects. One of them had even possessed her companion Mash, healing her and giving her a power-up in exchange for completing a mission
That initial explanation hadn't really mentioned they usually had bodies of their own, let alone bodies capable of the smugly sardonic expression on the man in blue. He walked ahead of them, leading the way through a burned out urban wasteland to his 'hideout'. He had a staff and called himself Caster, but he moved like a tiger and looked at Ritsuka like she was lunch.
"And here we are!" The man in blue waved his staff before leading them through a hole in one wall of a partially-standing building that didn't look like it was about to collapse. "We'll at least be out of sight in here, while we take care of some necessary business."
He and the Director began to wrangle about something, but Ritsuka couldn't pay attention. While the walls of the hideout obstructed the view of the many fires consuming the remains of the city, it did nothing to block the smell or the haze of smoke. Her mind didn't work right around fires. On the one hand, she didn't feel frightened around fire the way she did so much of the time. On the other hand, she didn't feel much of anything else, either. Sometimes her body even did things while her mind was far away, devoured by the flames.
"Senpai," said Mash, kneeling down beside her, looking at her with that strange sidelong look she had. She was an odd girl, the oddest person Ritsuka had met during her trip or after her arrival at Chaldea. She talked about life like she was documenting something that had happened to someone else.
Ritsuka hugged her knees, looking back at Mash. The other girl said, "Stay strong, senpai. I can fight these battles, but I require your presence to do so. Without you, my Master, I would simply fade away."
"Master…" Ritsuka muttered, looking down at her hand, the hand she'd pressed to Mash's in the burning control room. A convoluted shape had been branded into her skin, palm and top. She didn't remember the pain, but it must have been there.
"In return for your strength as an anchor, I will protect you," said Mash, in a voice that sounded like she was promising food to a stray cat, and might have been her attempt to sound encouraging.
"Fine!" said the Director, abruptly ending whatever she'd been discussing with the blue-robed Caster Servant. "There she is. Do what you have to."
The Caster's garnet gaze moved across Mash to settle on Ritsuka. Her shoulders hunched under the scrutiny. Lunchtime.
"Oy, missy," he said. "Ready to contract with me as your temporary Servant?"
"You'd better be," snapped the Director. "Although I don't expect much out of the likes of you."
What the Director said made more sense to Ritsuka than what the Caster had said. She hadn't come to Antarctica to be a Master. She'd called the recruitment number on the poster because Antarctica had sounded like a nice place to vanish. She had no talent and no training, despite the smiling lies told by the recruitment officer after waving an electronic wand over her.
Not that it usually bothered her very much. There were usually much more concrete things to be afraid of. No need to waste time over abstract concepts of social skills obligation.
But now, here she was, with a big foreigner looking down at her like he'd just entered a host club for the first time. He wanted her to be his Master, just like she'd somehow become Mash's Master.
"I don't know how to do that," she said quietly, lifting her gaze to his face. It was long and thin, with a pointy chin that made her think of arrowheads. "It just happened with Mash."
"Aw, well, there's a few ways," said Caster with an easy grin. "But the easiest and fastest way I know is with a little kiss."
Mash tilted her head again. "A kiss? But I received no kiss from Senpai." She frowned, as if this bothered her.
"Well, you might go and remedy that before I take my turn," encouraged Caster. "Wouldn't want you to miss out."
The Director gave a dramatic sigh, crossed her arms and looked away. "Just get it over with, already."
"You just gotta lean over and give the lass a wet one," said Caster, as if the Director hadn't spoken.
"A wet one," said Mash thoughtfully. "Yes, I see. The exchange of fluids would facilitate a magic connection." She rose up on her knees, eyeing Ritsuka.
"Of course, it'd help a tad if the lass uncurled from being a pillbug." The Caster crouched down near Ritsuka. "What's amiss? Feeling shy?"
Ritsuka looked down. "I'm afraid of fire." It wasn't true, not the way she was afraid of: men, hospitals, courtrooms, windowless rooms, the police, sleeping too long, big dogs, loud noises, strange girls who stared at her, and cruel words. But she'd found it to be a helpful lie, anyhow. At least until they found her standing and watching one, and blamed her instead.
She wondered how she was responsible for this burning city.
Caster said, "Well, a good kiss'll take you right away from that. Why not let the other missy start?"
The smell of charred meat, tantalizing and horrible, wafted through the broken parts of the walls. It didn't linger, overwhelmed quickly by the scent of burning architecture, but it cleared Ritsuka's mind of the other fears that had managed to creep in.
She sat up straight and then moved to her knees. Mash scooted closer to her. "I don't want to make any mistakes, senpai. Since I've never been a Servant before—"
Mash shrugged and Ritsuka shrugged back. Then Mash laced her fingers through Ritsuka's own and pressed their lips together.
It was a soft, almost sisterly kiss, but once again holding hands with Mash had an unexpected effect on Ritsuka, sweeping away the fire's dominion over her mind and bringing back her visceral awareness of everything else: Mash's soft, cool hand against her hot, sweaty one. Mash's dry, gentle lips held to her own. The roughness of the splintered, pitted floor under Ritsuka's knees. The Director's sigh. Ritsuka's fear of both the Director and the tall man in blue surfaced, too.
The Caster said, "Aw, and that's very sweet. Feel free to stop there and let me have my turn, but that's not going to get any additional magic connections firing. I mean, you've got plenty already—"
Mash's tongue licked across Ritsuka's lips and she obediently opened them, her fingers tightening against Mash's. For a few heartbeats, wet tongue touched wet tongue. Then Mash pulled her head back, looking puzzled. "I thought I felt something odd, senpai?"
Ritsuka had also thought this, her first voluntary kiss, had felt strange, almost uncomfortable. But she didn't want it to end, because after that it meant that man, that Servant, would expect her to contract with him and if she didn't do it, the Director would punish her.
So she leaned forward, kissing Mash again. The contact was warm and physical and real, genuine in a way that Mash's words and behaviors sometimes lacked. It was also awkward and strange and felt like they were trying out something they'd both read in a manual and weren't quite getting right. Ritsuka wasn't really sure if teeth were supposed to be involved. It seemed unlikely but what did one do with them? Pictures were unclear.
"Oho, yes, well done, missies!" laughed the Caster. "My turn now, I think."
Mash squeezed Ritsuka's hand. "Thank you, senpai," she said softly as she pulled away. "I'm sorry. I really just wanted to see what it was like. You shouldn't let me take energy you'll need for other Servants. What we already have between us is plenty for a Servant like me."
Ritsuka bit her lip and looked down, letting Mash take her hand away. Even without Mash's touch, she was still feeling again: fear, mostly, but also a warmth toward the other girl. "Thank you, Mash. I'm… I'm not threatened by you, either. It was nice." She hoped by repeating the other girl's own words back to her, from a conversation before the explosion at Chaldea, she could explain why she was grateful for the kiss.
Then the Caster was looming over her. He held out a hand with a cocky grin. "Up with you, missy. For the real deal, we'll do this my way, if you please."
Ritsuka pushed herself to her feet without Caster's aid. He noticed, but he didn't get angry like she'd half-expected. "Not just fire that frightens you, eh? I'd thought we might step away a bit, but this is fine if you're happier with your friends about."
Shrugging, Ritsuka repeated the Director's words. "Just get it over with."
"Aye, there's some immortal words for a hero to take to his heart, if ever I've heard any. Look up, lass." Long fingers ran along her jaw, giving the slightest upward push.
She raised her eyes. He still loomed over her, but at least his faint smile didn't look cruel. "Y'know, don't you, that contracting with a Masterless Servant will make them your protectors? Y'empower them and tie them to the world, but they're gone lickety-split without you."
Ritsuka couldn't make sense of this. She'd never had anything like a protector. Even the people designated as her guardians hadn't protected her. And the blue-haired Caster had a scent of his own very different from the fire: a musk that hit her deep in the back of her nose and made her want to push her face against him. It made it hard to think.
He chuckled when she didn't answer and, leaving the one hand on her face, put his other hand lightly on her shoulder. That was all the warning she got before he was kissing her. Despite his hands, his mouth wasn't gentle. He didn't knock on the outskirts and wait to be invited in. He invaded, parting her lips with one stroke and moving to plunder what lay within.
And whatever hadn't been quite right about kissing Mash was remedied with him. Experience, presumably. He clearly knew what he was doing. And with a rapidness that should have frightened her (but didn't), a new kind of fire swept through Ritsuka: both hungry and consuming, but not painful.
Was this what it felt like to be fire? she wondered dreamily, as the Caster's probing tongue and soft lips held her captive. She didn't want to flee. She didn't even want to stop. For the first time, she didn't feel afraid or emptied by flames. All she wanted was for this Caster to keep kissing her.
When the Director finally said, "Oh my god, you've been doing that long enough! Stop right now! We have to solve this Singularity!" the Caster didn't stop, and Ritsuka realized the Director's ability to punish her was… limited by having this tall man as her protector. Here, anyhow, in Singularity F. F for fire. F for freedom.
She put her hands on his chest, touching the skin under his collarbone, and he nipped at her mouth, showing her just how teeth could be used.
"Come on!" screeched the Director. "Stop already, please! I think I hear monsters outside!"
The Caster's mouth separated from Ritsuka's just enough for him to murmur, "What d'you think, Master? She's getting a mite heated under the collar."
Ritsuka wanted to kiss him some more, but beyond the walls of the shelter came the familiar growl of the monsters of Singularity F, while beside her was the clank of Mash deploying her shield.
"All right," Ritsuka whispered. "Go and defeat them. Come back after."
He kissed her one more time, and stepped away. With a rakish kind of bow to Ritsuka, he said to Mash, "Let's do this outside, yeah?"
"Yes," said Mash. She and Caster walked outside to face the monsters, and, leaving the Director alone in the building, Ritsuka followed her two Servants to their battle.
