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Annales Priorum: Calor Nocte

What was Harry doing?

We didn't think about this a lot since Harry spends a lot of time with us, but sometimes he went off somewhere we didn't know. We were usually doing something, like playing with Alice or Paul, but now we didn't have much to do. We could go look for other children, they were our friends, but the thought didn't appeal to us today. So, we wandered the halls, waving hello to some of the Servants we saw, but after a while we started to miss Harry. But where was he?

We paused and thought for a moment, where could Harry be. We already ate dinner, and we finished our lessons for today, so…

We suddenly noticed something; all of the lights in the hall were low. Also, there weren't as many Servants as there were a few hours ago…was it night time? We ran to one of the windows and sure enough, the snowy sky outside was dark.

That meant Harry was sleeping! We could sleep with him!

The thought made us happy as we rushed back down the hall, not afraid to run into anyone. We might be a little loud, but we didn't care.

We saw Harry's door in the distance and we saw it open and Mommy Hari stepping out. We quickly slowed down and she turned to look at us with a smile that made us feel warm inside.

"Hello Jackie. Are you here to sleep with Harry?"

We felt our cheeks flush, but we still nodded. We did it so many times that Mommy Hari knew just by looking at us.

"Don't worry" she giggled. "Harry very much enjoys sleeping with you. Serenity and I do it as well, but…" she leans down and whispered in our ear "…he always wakes up happier when you're with him."

Our eyes narrow for a moment at the mention of the other woman's name, but the warm feeling surged through us like the sun when we heard the last part. Harry loves it when we sleep with him. He loves it, we love it, we will do it more often!

"Just be careful not to wake him up. He's had a very tiring day."

She bent down and kissed us on the head, and we gave her a hug in return. "Good night, Jackie" she whispered.

As she walked away from us, we walked in the room and closed the door as quietly as possible, letting the darkness swallow us whole. But it wasn't like the darkness in the alleys of London, where everything was cold and scary. This was good darkness, one filled with warmth and life. We like the darkness, and this was our favorite. We saw the outlines of everything in the room, from the books to the toys and the closet. But the only thing that was important was the only bed in the room, from where we heard soft snores.

We tiptoed our way to the bed, our body climbing it on reflex due to the many times we have been here. We were about to creep under the covers when we noticed we still had our shoes on. Mommy Kitty taught us to never put shoes on beds and chairs, or it will ruin them. We didn't want Mommy to get upset with us, so we took off our shoes and gently placed them on the floor. Carefully lifting up the sheets, we crawl on the bed until we were face to face, his eyes closed peacefully.

We couldn't stop the warm smile that stretched on our face. We slowly slid our thin arms around him as we moved closer to his body. He twitched in his sleep for a moment before he reached out to us and pressed us close to him, nuzzling us.

Harry is warm, so warm. Whenever we were with him, we would try and absorb as much of that warmth as we could. It calmed us, it protected us, just as we would protect him. His warmth pushes away the memories of those cold nights in London, where we were cast out, alone, abandoned, alone…

Unwanted.

Unloved.

But not with him. He was and is our sun, our light, our…ours.

We still remember…we will always remember…when we first felt that warmth…

We felt it. We felt the call. We felt a warmth that we had never felt before. One that we looked for time and time again. It was right there, just out of our reach. A cry for help, a cry for warmth.

Like a mommy.

So we answered.

Light filled our vision. Knowledge filled out mind. The human race is in danger. A Master was summoning us to help defeat the evil that was threatening humanity. Bits and pieces of knowledge we subconsciously filed away. We felt our form shift, like running through water, and the light died down.

"We are Servant Assassin. Are you our mommy?"

What we saw…made us curious, to say the least.

We had been summoned inside a burnt-out hovel. The stench of ash and death lingered all around us as fire – bad fire, dangerous fire – danced in the background. In front of us were three people; two young women, one with silver hair and a cold look on her face while the other was wearing some kind of armor, like the ones we saw on signs and drawings, but meant for a female. She had purple hair and looked relieved at the sight of us.

The last one…the last one took us by surprise. He was a small boy, about our age, if not a little younger. His clothes were torn and he had messy black hair, accentuated by the soot covering his body. A set of broken glasses were on his face, slightly obscuring deep green eyes.

What made him stand out though, was that unlike the two women, he was afraid. Not a fear of us, but a fear that many of us held. A fear that resulted in many of us out on the streets.

"Um…I'm your M-Master" he stuttered in his frightened voice, raising his hand to show a set of red markings – 'command seals', we knew. They were shaped like three snakes, devouring each other in a circle.

"Then you are our mommy!" When we looked at him, we felt warm. That's what mommy feels like!

"N-no, I'm n-not your m-mommy. I'm a M-Master" he turned to the armored woman. "R-right?"

"Um…yes, Harry. You are a Master. I think she just calls a Master 'mommy'" she replied.

"As amusing as this talk is…" cut in the silver-haired woman. "I think we should focus on the matter at hand. Assassin, do you know what is the situation?"

We looked at her, our eyes slightly narrowing. She wasn't mommy. She was too cold.

"Uh…A-Assassin?" the boy asked, his polar fingertips touching. We turned to face him, and he flinched under our gaze. "Could you...answer her?"

Our glare softened at his words. He felt so much like us, and he felt warm. Maybe he wasn't mommy, but he was still warm. We would listen to him.

"Yes. Humanity is in danger. We are a Servant summoned to help save it."

The woman nodded. "Correct. I look forward to seeing what you can do." She turned around and started walking. "Kyrielight, stay here while I send some familiars out to scout. Keep an eye on the children." With those words, she headed outside the hovel.

We returned our gaze to the frightened child. He was staring in the direction the woman had gone in and his little body was shaking. The armored woman – Kyrielight, we remember – looked at him with worry and made to comfort him, but by then we walked towards him (did we step off a shield?) and…wrapped our arms around him.

"Eep!" he let out a little squeak as he stiffened, but we didn't let go as we held him tight. We felt his skinny body under the worn-out clothes…like us. We recognized his shaking…just as we once did in the dark nights of London. The fear in his eyes…we once held that fear too. Fear of not knowing what tomorrow would bring, the fear of those who look at us with scorn, like rats.

But unlike us, he was warm.

We leaned in a little and whispered soothing words to him, words we have heard other mothers tell their children, the ones they did not abandon. "It's alright. You are safe with us. Don't be scared. We are here."

His breathing, once quick and erratic, slowed down. His body, once rigid with fear, slowly relaxed. He hesitantly raised his own thin arms and wrapped them around our cloak. Both us stood there, leaning onto one another. A small rustling made our ears twitch and we saw the Kyrielight woman kneel down and rub our heads. It was nice.

"…what's your name?" we ask.

"…H-Harry."

Harry. We like it. It suits him. But do we tell him our name? The name that everyone in London feared? Will he run away from us? Will he abandon us?

…No, we feel his warmth, echoes of his thoughts. He is afraid, but he is enjoying our presence.

"…Nice to meet you Harry. My name is Jack."

When the monsters first came, we fought them off. Our knives cut all of them to pieces. When Harry cried, we hugged him tight. When the evil man appeared and killed the silver-haired girl, we held Harry close to us. The evil man then set his sights on Harry, we hacked off his filthy arm. When the black knight appeared to cut us down, we unleashed our Mist and ripped her to pieces.

After that, it ended. We were transported to Chaldea where the nice brown-haired lady (who wasn't Mommy) and the doctor person looked over us and Harry. They told Harry some things and Kyrielight (Mash, she was called) took Harry to his room. We followed, naturally.

We reached the room and entered behind them as Mash started explaining to him something. We didn't quite listen as we took in the room. By normal standards, we supposed it was very bare, but to us and probably Harry, it was like a palace bedroom. We were broken out of our thoughts when Harry let out a little yawn.

"O-oh! Sorry, Harry. You must be tired" Mash exclaimed. She went to the small cupboard beside the bed and pulled out a set of clothes, most likely sleepwear. "You should get some sleep for now. I'll come and wake you up in the morning. Do you need help with anything?"

Harry stared at the pile of clothes in his arms. Like us, it was obvious that he never had anything this nice before in his life. "T-this is…for me?"

Mash nodded, although we saw that she looked a little confused. She most likely didn't understand what was going on in Harry's mind, but we did. He would be uncomfortable in asking her for help.

"We will help him" Mash looked at us in slight surprise, as did Harry, although his eyes seemed to lose some of the nervousness he had a few seconds ago. A lot of it was still there. He looked at us in that same fear and confusion before we nodded to him, a smile on our face. He could trust us.

He turned to Mash again. "Thank you"

The girl smiled gently at him before leaning down and hugging him, making him squeak again. She stifled a giggle at his reaction and left the room waving at us.

That left the two of us, Harry unsure what to do. He looked at us expectantly, and we gestured to the sleepwear. He looked like he wanted to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. He fiddled with the clothing for a bit before he drooped a little and started taking off his clothes. We turned around slightly while looking from the corner of our eye. What we saw didn't surprise us, but it didn't stop that awful feeling from settling in our body; his frame was very thin, he didn't seem like he had enough food, and there was a mark or two that stood out. We knew what it was.

Eventually, he put on his sleepwear on and looked at the bed in uncertainty. He wasn't used to something this extravagant (to him, it was – only thanks to some knowledge the summoning gave us we knew this was normal for people today).

We dispelled our cloak and walked over to the bed. When we reached it, we turned to him and motioned him to come over with a smile. His eyebrows perked up in surprise, but he came over hesitantly. We jumped on the bed and slowly pulled him up with us. He sat on the bed for a moment, and we felt his hidden delight as he felt the mattress and covers. So did we. They were warm.

He took off his broken glasses and placed on the nightstand next to the bed. He paused to look at the little light-switch next to it before flicking it, turning off the lights. In one swift movement, we jumped under the covers and pulled him under with us, making him slightly freeze up. We said nothing, but held him tight, lightly rubbing our hands up and down his thin back and pressing him to us.

"It's alright, go to sleep. We will be here; we will protect you." His breath slowed down as we kept holding him. Like before, he slowly hugged us, but this time his grip was stronger.

If we were a cat, we would have been purring with joy at the warmth we felt. Now, with the fear of battle and the evil fires behind us, we truly basked in the warmth he gave us. Such wonderful, wonderful warmth…

And so did he, if the way he snuggled with us is any indication.

We let ourselves drift off to sleep, letting the warmth envelop us like a cocoon…

(Play Elfen Lied – Lilium)

That night we dreamt, but not of misty London. We dreamt of a flash of green light and the scream of a woman. Of cold nights in a cramped space. Of angry voices yelling at us, calling us 'freak'. Of aching hands and feet as we worked for them, lest they lock us up. Of tears and pain as they enjoyed our misery. Of a plea for help, when we could take it no more…

We woke with a start to the thrashing of a body held tight against us. We didn't hesitate to tighten our grip and whisper in his ear.

"It's okay...it's alright…you're safe…you're here…shhh…shhh"

He thrashed around for a few moments, all the while we kept whispering in his ear. His body slacked for a moment, and we thought he stopped…only for him to clutch us and let out a heart-wrenching sob.

In his cries, we heard his pain, his confusion, his fear, his terror, everything. We said nothing, we didn't have to; we just held him as he let it all out.

He kept sobbing for a few more minutes as we held him. When he slowly stopped, he leaned back a little and looked at us in the eyes, his own green eyes tear-stained and bloodshot. We held the stare and pressed our forehead to his own, rubbing his arm in comfort.

"I-is what the d-d-doctor said true? That we h-have to s-s-save the world?" he asked, sniffling.

We nod.

"B-but-but-but how do I d-d-do that!? I d-don't know a-anything about t-this! I-I just learned that m-magic is real! And I-I-I-"

"Shh…shh..shh…" we whispered, calming him down. "We told you, we will protect you, we will fight for you. You are our Master; through us, we will win."

Harry looked at us still sniffling, still distraught over the situation. Not that we expected any different; with what we saw from his life, it was remarkable how he hadn't completely collapsed.

"Why don't we ask the nice doctor tomorrow more about this? Mash seems like she knows a lot too" a flicker of hesitation appeared at the question, so we cut it. "They feel like good people. We can trust them."

He nodded, his eyes blinking as he started to succumb to sleep. Before he fell asleep though, he asked us something that surprised us.

"I…I had a dream. I saw children, l-lots of children, living on the streets, thrown out of homes, d-d-dying in a river. The children suddenly turned b-black, and I was standing in front of a w-woman and…" he stifled back a sob.

"B-B-Blood. L-lots of b-blood."

He raised his head to look us in the eyes.

"…was that you?"

We laid there, still clutching him, a wave of fear flowing through our bodies. A Dream Cycle, a voice whispered, showing each other our lives. We said nothing, waiting for him to continue. Would he run away? Would he reject us? Abandon us?

"…yes."

He looked down and lay still…before pressing his head to our shoulder, making us gasp.

"…did you mean it? Would you protect me?" he asked with a whisper.

…

"…yes. You are like us. We know what it's like. You don't have to feel like that anymore."

…

"…Thank you…thank you…" With that, he drifted off, his soft breaths echoing in our ears.

We lay there, our eyes wide in shock before we felt our lips stretch into a very happy smile. We held him once more, basking in his warmth…and acceptance.

We felt it through our link. He was afraid, but he didn't care. He saw our past, he saw what we became, and yet he didn't care. He wanted us. He didn't abandon us. He accepted us.

We look at Harry's happy face as he sleeps, and observe what we have now. A home we could return to, hot food every day, friends we could play with, a lot of Mommies to be with…

…but best of all, we had Harry. Our precious Harry.

We let ourselves drift off as we float in the warmth that we share, happily knowing that it would still be there when we awoke.

'We swore to protect you, our Harry. We will never forget that promise. We will do everything to protect our warmth…

…forever and always.'

Hi guys! I know, so soon!? But the muse kept singing, so I went with the rhythm! As many of you request, this is the first of the flashback chapters, or the "Annales Priorum" (Records of the Past in Latin). As you can see, here Harry is Jack's first Servant. As I said, Jack holds a special place in my heart, since she is my first SSR. She and Harry are very fitted for each other, considering their pasts and desire for companionship.

As always, feel free to suggest any ideas for future chapters and give your thoughts on this one either in the reviews or PMs! This story is on Spacebattles and AO3 as well, remember that!

Go check out my profile for my other stories and challenges!

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