Kay rolled Taliesin's' token between his fingers as he stumbled across the graveyard. He came here more often than he liked finding solace amongst dead friends. At the very least here he didn't have to look at the city below the castle.
Years had passed since Taliesin had disappeared again; years had passed since Artoria had united the land under her rule. The land was secure and at peace, you could ride with a bag of gold from the English Channel to the furthest reach of Albia and never fear for your life. The Vikings dared not attack and Rome had stopped trying to conquer them after they lost their fourth emperor. A secure and lawful land. everything a seneschal could want.
'So why does it taste so bitter?'
Perhaps it was the fact that for the first time since her return a rebellion had arisen, a cadre of sorceresses had risen up under the Banner of Morgan le Fay and if that weren't bad enough Balin was heading the actual armies, Artoria certainly did not take that well. Or perhaps it was the city below that fouled his mood, peaceful, orderly, again something a seneschal would want yet it was so deep, so quiet it was like the dark.
'So here we are, after battles and vengeance and invasions and blood. the culmination of the dream, empty chairs and empty tables'
They say a kingdom is built upon the blood of martyrs, those who fought and died for a dream. like a castle built on a foundation of corpses, the blood dripping from the walls. How many friends had been slain in these passing years, how many actually rested in the ground below instead of rotting in some far-off land?
Menw who returned tears with tears in his eyes was cut down by Artoria shortly after he tried to kill her. Dinadan, laughing Dinadan holding back Galehaut's onslaught all on their own. Yvain falling against some mysterious black knight, Elyan consumed in poor Belagog's madness, Calogerant in Bors rage, Tegyr, Balan, Safir, Geriant, Morholt, and many more. So many warriors, so many friends, dust now and nothing more.
The token flipped onto his palm and he stared at the cold metal, what was the point of giving him this, what was the point of ever showing up that day. To torment him with thoughts of what could have been? To seed his mind with doubts? Was it key, a symbol wha-
"Sir" He closed his fist and sighed, back to business then.
"Speak Gareth" Her scarred face took on a bitter expression, it would be about Artoria then, her face always took on that look when she was brought up. He supposed seeing your brothers die before your eyes leaves a mark apparently, who would have guessed.
"The Queen has sent word that she has made it to Londinium, defenses are quickly being set up and they'll be ready for Le Fay's attack soon enough" She sounded disappointed, and he couldn't blame her, the rebellions odds were never going to be good in fact when they first heard reports of it the court generally agreed that the rebels only real chance would be ambush tactics. Morgan was a powerful mage but considering Artoria has created her own troop of Mages during the war against Thule her advantage would be repealed somewhat.
"If I may speak sir, this entire play by Le Fay reeks of desperation she has to know that her chances are slim at best, the woman is many things, but she is not an idiot" He nodded in response doing his best not to look at her, she wasn't wrong in her assessment in fact he agreed with her he just didn't like looking at the young girl. He had met her along with the rest of the Lot family when Gawain had returned from one of his quests with Gwyhyr in tow, a diplomatic venture during better days, she had been so happy and cheerful almost like a puppy, exactly the kind of person he'd mock and ridicule yet now… quiet and solemn but tinged with bitterness much like Camelot now.
"Then we continue as directed, come, tell me the reports from the city while we walk" She nodded, handing him his crutch, he never did quite recover from his wounds those many years ago.
"Not much to say, the city is quiet as are the people, war production is going steady, everything is as it has been with every war that has come to our doorstep."
"Even with it not being a foreign army this time?" They walked through the dark corridors Camelot had become, the white shining halls replaced with dark and militaristic passages made for sheer practicality. They had proved their efficiency against Galehaut but he felt a longing for the old keep he once knew, the old people that once sat about a table.
"If there is any true discontent it has been hidden well."
"It's not like they would advertise it."
"Aye but there would still be signs, missing shipments, regular gatherings, murmuring between people who wish to rise up in the chaos" They passed by many servants and knights, he knew their faces but not their names, part of him wonders when he finally looked up and realized that he couldn't recognize almost every soul here.
"Fair enough Gareth how are the people doing besides that" She tilted her head at him, confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Taverns and the like, has there been anything to celebrate?" He stopped going to those more and more as the years went on, more responsibilities, more sleepless nights, more feeling as if he was just a stranger.
"No"
"That quick huh"
"What else is there to say."
"... There should be plenty more to be said…. there should be" A birth that some popular person was proud of, an anniversary of some big event, an upcoming holiday, anything yet-
"Just how it's been for quite some time now" A couple years back he had started asking different people, knights and servants alike, if there was something people were happy about down in the city, he always got the same answer. "No" he had hoped that with Gareth someone might have said something but still.
"Is there a reason why we are in the throne room, sir?" Kay looked up and sure enough, staring back at him was the towering pillars of the throne room. He slowly looked about, a massive crescent table where no one sat, pale blue lights floating in the air giving the room a chilling glow, and at the back of the room sat a dark throne carved from dragonbone engraved with the melted down steel of all who faced the queen and failed to bring her down. It was so different from that old carven throne she once sat upon with pride.
"..." He'd been here before of course, his duty as a seneschal demanded his presence in this room yet right here right now it looked so… wrong like a warped mirror. Or perhaps he'd been looking at a warped mirror all this time but only now does it show the bitter truth.
"Sir?"
"What does Camelot stand for Gareth" She looked at him oddly before saying her piece.
"Order above all else, if I may be so bold why are you asking sir? Shouldn't you know better than anyone?" Perhaps he should've yet he didn't, not this Camelot.
"Because it was supposed to be about an ideal, might for right, the strong protecting the weak, a kind and just world" He weakly chuckled.
"Now look at us, spending lives like coppers, the strong cutting down the weak if they step out of line, a land like a cold and silent tomb" He turned his head giving her a rueful smirk before turning away once more.
He stared at the token in his palm "When did we lose sight of who we wanted to be, when did we throw honor and chivalry into the fires for the sake of pure pragmatism" Rich for someone like him to talk of honor or perhaps all the more poignant, he wasn't sure a disturbingly common trait that appeared more and more in him as he watched his bright-eyed little sister cut down hundreds without nary a flicker in her eye, as she brought nations to their knees and expanded the borders atop the corpses of her foes. "When did the dream burn and crumble away?"
'When did I begin to doubt?'
Gareth seemed disturbed, dissent like this hadn't been openly shared for years, it had been near a decade since Percival "Sir… under Artoria law and order reigns, the people are safe, they don't need to worry about monsters, bandits, or corruption. The troubles of yesteryear have passed" She wasn't wrong by any means but in the end...
"What was the price for that Gareth?"
"I-"
"The blood of family and friends, fear and stifling order. these people don't laugh, don't sing, don't argue don't dance, don't fight. They don't-" She spoke up her voice steady and her eyes distant.
"Act as if they were people at all…" A kingdom could be as safe as could but without the freedom to be happy then what is the point? Was everything he did, everything he fought for in vain? What would Ector say if he could see them now?
"Tell me! Is it worth it? Is any of this worth it? this damned world that we made for ourselves?" A long silence came over the room as she gave him a hollow stare.
"What do you want me to say?" She sighed in exasperation and apathy. Her arms flopping against her sides.
"What is it that you want to hear Seneschal."
"Maybe this all wasn't worth it but so what? What could possibly be done now? Rebellion? not a soul here would follow you here. Discussion and reform? Why would she listen Kay? She has long since stopped taking advice and she long since stopped doubting herself" He'd never seen her so annoyed and still she wasn't wrong by any stretch of the imagination.
"What is it that you want to do Kay?" He paused. Did he even know, and more importantly did it matter? What did he want in the end? He closed his eyes and suddenly he was somewhere else
He was sitting at a wooden table, friends all about him drinking and laughing over shared stories.
'A memory or just a figment of my stressed mind?'
The place was simple and rustic, been quite some time since he found something like that, the fortresses of Camelot were built on efficiency rather than comfort; he misses it in his own way. He turns his head.
"BWAHAHA! You're a pretty princess!" Balin howled his laughter as Bedivere stood in a dress blushing up a storm. Taliesin sat next to Kay with a rare smug grin on her face, the steward doing his best not to look at her, making a silent oath to never bet against the poet ever again.
"Sh-shut up" The silver-haired knight awkwardly shuffled in place as he held the hem of his dress. Cousin Culhwch(The knight refused to acknowledge the fact that he was only related to Artoria) just laughed harder clapping Balin on the shoulder.
"Ooh, Gods I almost spit out my mead through my nose Bedi!" He remembers this day, Cuhlwch hadn't gone on his quest yet and Camelot had been declared only two years past. Things were… better back then, though surrounded on all sides and the site of where Camelot was actually to stand still undecided (For now they resided in the town they grew up in) they had a certain spark that filled their lives, a spark that's long since gone.
"We warned you, Bedi, Tal always wins a bet" It felt strange seeing yourself speak across the room, his voice and his words but it lacked a certain maturity and melancholy that he'd become familiar with.
'We all looked so happy back then.'
"How was I to know she knew what I named my first sword!"
"Because I told you I knew it" She rarely used her voice for something other than singing, she never explained why singing felt more secure, but it was. He never did get to tell her how much it meant to him that she felt safe enough to simply speak in their company.
"But-but-"
"Chin up Bedi I hear some girls like seeing their men in dresses" Cheerful, kind Menw patted him on the back; it didn't help, his mortification just grew.
"How do I make this stop?" He covered his face with his hand groaning, the group laughed once more at the young knight's expense.
Kay softly smiled at the scene; they had all adored Bedivere for different reasons, but his embarrassed flush was a unifying factor.
'Keep the dream alive!' His last words before he went off to die. The smile fell. One more failed oath.
"I have to ask Bedivere, where exactly did you get the dress from?" The younger Kay gruffly grinned as the steward looked towards Artoria. He gave her a probing look; she just smiled and rolled her eyes in amusement on that... poorly carven throne. When had she gotten rid of it?
"The king lent me some of the dresses Guinevere forgot here" Balin and Menw looked at each other.
"Is Bedivere to be queen now?" Balin may have put that forth with a straight face but his eyes gave his amusement away. Kay looked down If there was anyone who could've talked Artoria out of the path she was now on, then it would've him but like so many others he was gone when she needed them most, though in his case it had been certainly not his choice.
"WHAT!?"
"All hail Queen Bedivere!" The first time she spoke since Bedi walked up in that dress, her voice not tinged with pride or cold ice but rather with cheeky joy. How long had it been since he saw that smile?
"YOUR MAJESTY!"
"All hail queen Bedivere!" They all cheered, laughing their hearts out much to his mortification. Kay laughed cold and bitterly, the only ones still here today were Balin, Artoria, and himself; and Balin was to soon die fighting against his friend and he… he'd been lost for years.
the chorus of laughter disappeared as reality faded back into existence and he was standing before that dark throne once more.
What did he want?
'I want my friends back; I want my world back but-'
Nothing can ever bring them back, his friends or the world he knew. So, what then?
'... Something else, anything else I just can't watch this anymore.'
He decided.
"... I want to leave; I want to walk away" She stared at him for a long while before finally sighing.
"She'll chase you; you know that? her pride won't allow anything else" Kay nodded wordlessly, and she turned away.
"So be it (Sigh), I'll pack us some gear" He raised a brow.
"Us?"
"I swore an oath, Sir Kay, to work as your shadow in return for my life, a shadow doesn't abandon its caster."
"I'm abandoning my sister Rough Hands any oaths made in relation to me are null and void, you could go off to some far-off land, build a new life; no need to die with a sour tongued cynic like me" She looked at him from the corner of her eyes and spoke her voice softer than it had been in years.
"Some oaths are worth keeping, I'll be waiting at the stables."
He watched her walk off and despite himself, he smiled; it was bloody nice to have a friend. He turned back to the throne, opulent and imperial so very different from the carved chair she held a court of friends in so long ago.
"Forgive me. All of you, I couldn't keep my oath" and so He walked out on the kingdom he helped raise with his blood sweat, not looking back once feeling lighter than he had in years. Yet as he walked, he did not notice the token still in his hand giving off a chilling glow.
"Anathema to mankind, oh how your light chilled my shadowed soul"
(Linebreak)
Harker wiped the blood off his orifices, that had been quite the show near the end. Like a radiant and beautiful star had appeared upon earth. The phantasm had disappeared upon the glow's end but so had Herakles, he wasn't too sad, despite its beauty the bloodlust had damn near choked him to death, and from the way, Olga was rubbing her neck he wasn't alone in that.
'At least it wasn't a dragon this time. stupid Sirris and her stupid pranks, thank god Ophelia was there.'
Hissing he forced himself to his feet, willing his legs to not collapse beneath him. Exhaustion was something he was used to, had been for a long time.
'Bloody Toole, even now you can keep me from collapsing. Wonder if she'd be proud that her two-week training course leaves an effect on me even now. Root, haven't thought about her in years, haven't thought about any of this'.
He stumbled his way over to the exhausted demigod who was sitting against a broken-down wall. He took Chulainn's outstretched hand and pulled him up.
"Cutting it a bit close their Caster" The servant gave a weary laugh.
"You try summoning a divine weapon next time, see how long it takes you" Harker snorted and stumbled over to the director. Caster went to check on the Eggplant.
"You still with us Olga?" She slapped away his outstretched hand.
"I'm fine Mr. Aldain; Roman, assessment" Harker raised a brow at the chill but simply shrugged, turning to the hologram fizzling into reality a few feet from his face. Her face twisted with irritation (Or was that jealousy?) as she saw his face stuffed with a donut.
"You want the long or short of it?" The Doctor awkwardly scratched his head as quickly scarfed it down.
"We're a bit short on time Doctor" He was still getting used to the bone-white hair of the Eggplant, not as much as Roman who was staring rather pointedly but still something about it seemed off.
"Well, SNAFU" He gave a bark of laughter contrasting with Mash's confused look and Olga's unimpressed glare.
"...Roman"
"Yes...?"
"I'm docking your pay" The man sputtered about.
"Well, it's true! Mash is barely standing, you can't stand at all, Harker strange problem came back up and correct me if I'm wrong, but caster can't use Areadbhar again" he looked to the rock the blueberry sat cross-legged on.
"You are not."
'Where did the He get a pipe?'
"It's just been one thing after another since this all started! It's all fucked up!" The look of passion on his face faded as he looked at the dead look on her face.
"..."
"Director?" Harker was of the firm belief that silence could be more disturbing than yelling and it seemed like a new brother would be joining the fold.
"..."
"Marie?"
"When we get back, I'm going to have Da Vinci block the Magi Mari site for a month" The Doctor froze in horror and then collapsed to his knees, shouting to the heavens.
"NOOO!" Harker laughed for a few moments before he almost hacked out his lungs, specks of blood falling upon the ash-soaked ground, smoke and agony were a bad combination, who knew?
"Is Marie really your name?" Her face flushed adorably, and she quickly turned to the young Demi-servant.
"Kyrielight hit him!" She shrugged and hit him with the flat of her shield. Didn't hesitate for a moment.
"AAHAHAG!" The teen flew through the air and landed in an ash pile face-first "Ow."
'Is the ground rumbling or is that just my skull?'
"Was that really necessary?" The Doctor's voice wobbled clearly imagining himself in that position when she got back.
"No, but it felt good" Mash looked slightly amused at the vicious expression that graced her scarred face.
"All... Right then" Roman coughed awkwardly
"So, what now Director?"
"Any advice Caster?"
"Need to catch my breath for a moment, barring any unforeseen disaster we should be fine to stay here for a little bit."
"That's what you said before apparently" Harker raised his hand still face planted in a pile of ash.
"Fair but my point stands, after we rest, we'll head for my little hideout at the top of that tower a few blocks from here."
"Right then, anyone have a twinkie?"
"Yes" Marie waved her hand.
"Can I have one?"
"No"
"Why?"
"Because I'm sharing it with Mash."
"Also, because I want it?"
"Also, because you want it"
"(Sigh)Feels like home already" Groaning he rolled onto his back his face stinging from the ash, it had been a very long day or night, it was a little hard to tell with ash and smoke covering the sky if he was perfectly honest. He was also kind of surprised he was still breathing concerning the sheer amount of ash he's inhaled.
'Don't dwell on it, probably some feature of the mystic code.'
There had been a surprise, the fact that the ragged clothes he was wearing were a mystic code, he'd never used one, his father discouraged such things and refused to tell him why.
'Probably one of those self-sufficiency things... or plain pride, (sigh) just one of the many charming parts of my childhood' He inwardly winced.
'That was more than a little unfair' There were many good parts of his childhood things he wouldn't trade but it was just so much easier to remember the bad and oddly more satisfying.
"May I ask you something?" The White eggplant plopped down a piece of discarded concrete her shield propped up against the wall.
"Not like I have much else to do" She frowned at the resigned tone. "Shoot"
"Do you take joy in causing pain emotional or otherwise?" He slowly turned his head to her, his brow raised incredulously.
"The hell did that come from?"
"Your dismissive nature and love of insults seem to be in line with some other sadists that worked at Chaldea" She was holding back something; he could tell but considering the fact he was still feeling the occasional rumble he was content to ignore it.
'Already wondering if I'm going insane no need for the guessing game now.'
"No. I'm of the personal belief that if you are going to kill somebody then kill them, no point of dragging it out" Seeing those workshops... he knew his family's actions were justified by what was in there and all the times after that and yet...
He rubbed his nose bridge and forced the memories back.
'Coward'
His sister always had such hurtful words for him, it never helped that more oft than not they were true.
"And the emotional?"
"I- eh- schadenfreude"
"I don't think that means what you think it means."
"Did I hear a reference!"
"Fuck-" "Not-" "-Off" "-Now, Doctor"
"I- um- Okay" Harker snickered, causing Mash to look at him with reproach, the white fluffy thing that had just jumped on her shoulder giving him a similar look.
'What was its name? Fou?' He rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.
"Fine I guess you could describe me as more than a little sadistic with my word choices, few things are as satisfying as a properly placed word shiv" He paused and thought back to Roman "Or the equivalent of a rock" She glared at him, it was odd in a way the innocence in the hardened gaze, didn't affect him all that much but still. Strange.
"You're a bad person" He softly chuckled giving her a lopsided look.
"You're probably right but that's only with the greater humanity, in this moonlit world I am a goddamn saint" His cocky smirk caused her to curl her lip in disgust. She got up from her seat and walked towards Marie who was sitting eating a second twinkie.
'I'm going to get back at her for that, but first, something that's been bothering me.'
"Oi Mash, what's with the hair?" She looked back at him with something approaching hate, her eyes glaring down at the seals on his hand. She walked off without saying a word.
'Alright, I definitely did something previous to this that pissed her off, the command seal maybe but do they actually hurt?
"Do you enjoy pissing off your allies or is this just how you are as a person?" Cu Chulainn sat down next to his head with a look of bemusement on his face.
"The latter but in this case, I'm not entirely sure what I did wrong" seemed like an odd thing to up and change in Harker's mind. Cu Chulainn was either oblivious or just didn't care.
"And I'm sure that you didn't know the mocking smirk was hurtful" He sat up hissing in pain, overflow always made everything painful but usually he could deal with it without complaint, it wasn't that way now, it had been years since he last used prana and his resistance to pain wasn't entirely back yet.
"No, I got why the statement before the question was wrong, honestly most of the time I know when I do something wrong" He looked into the distance he could've sworn he saw something, movement in the flames perhaps.
"And yet onward you go" The hound gave his pipe a puff, the smoke curling in the air. His eyes turned back to the bloodied servant and could not help but look away.
"Aye" Pressure flowed over his spine yet faded just as quickly, Harker knew that sensation well. Yet for the life of him could not place it.
"Why?" He did his best to ignore the sensation as Caster's voice dragged him back to reality.
"She nailed it right on the head, I'm a bad person" Louis would argue this point sometimes, he found it endearing occasionally but he knew who he was, he knew what the consequences would be. He always believed it said a lot about him that he barely hesitated.
Chulainn made a clicking noise with his tongue and twirled his pipe between his fingers. His red eyes boring into his brown ones with a piercing stare.
"Is that really what you believe?" Harker scoffed.
"Had a choice when I was young, made the selfish one" If it been in regard to the actual consequences, he wouldn't have minded Ophelia hating him, though maybe he gave her to little credit the work of a shaman while not the most obscure was still something they didn't go shouting to the heavens about.
"We're all selfish when we're young" He wasn't wrong, yet he was on no uncertain terms about what would be the price.
"Most don't actively choose to be a self-serving coward" There it was again, a swirl of pressure yet different somehow. At the tip of his tongue but escaping before he could grab it. Chulainn spoke again before he could focus.
"Most who are, don't choose to call themselves that" Harker chuckled bitterly.
"Yeah, well I'm unique in my assholery" Caster barked his laughter into his fist but still shook his head at the teen.
'And still, the land rumbles, is that the presence I feel? Or maybe-'
"So, tell me, why are you here?" Harker quirked his head towards the servant.
"Sabotage in the control room caused the coffins er, transportation system to malfunction and shut down, and due to my shall we say-"
"Dickish behavior?"
'Ah good, he was paying attention.'
"Yes that, anyways I was grounded for this mission and as such wasn't trapped when everything exploded unlike every other qualified master" He was doing his best not to think about that, he didn't want to be the one responsible for dealing with all this though the more he thought about Einstein's words the more he feared that was going to happen.
'Save the world ay? What a blighted fool'
"Interesting but not what I asked" Harker froze and looked at the servant from the corner of his eye.
"Ah. I see, why am I in such a place like Chaldea?" The hound nodded.
"The kid explained what the organization was for and you have to admit you're an odd fit for the group" He could feel his spine crawling.
"(Sigh) You aren't wrong, alright look my father called in a debt and if I had a choice, I wouldn't be here. Hell, only reason I saved Marie was because she was important and likely to be rescued" He gave him a wry look, smirking at the blueberry.
"Besides it's an organization of mages, you're more likely to find goatfuckers than good people even in an organization dedicated to protecting the entirety of human existence. Having a selfish cynic is far from the worst person to join in" His smirk faded as he could feel his hair standing on, a stalking sensation like one of those shark movie's he watched with Louis, those really didn't help with his hatred of the open sea.
Cu Chulainn chuckled unaware. "You don't have the best view of mages do you."
"I'm a shaman Caster or was at the very least" Cu Chulainn tilted his head like his namesake and nodded as he processed that information.
"Ah I see, then the hard path is still carried on in the modern age" Harker nodded, duty was everything to a shaman. Helped keep them from falling to the greed that came with magecraft.
"Ran into a few in your life?"
"Just one, helped me attack Forgall Mach's castle in return for some help regarding a rogue elemental, damn helpful but had the humor of a dense rock."
"Yeah, we tend to be, elementals don't understand humor that well. It's also apparently sacrilegious to teach them humor. Boy was Sirris pissed" Was it really his fault that she used what he taught to hide buckets of water on doors? Yes, yes it was.
'I regret nothing.'
"You actually managed to teach one?!" Cu Chulainn guffawed at the young master.
"Wind elemental, very fond of pranks, my father threw me into a city when he found out, didn't want any more spirits dyeing his hair pink" The two laughed at the incredulous image. It felt… nice, it had been a while since he could share bits of his life that involved the fantastical, the last ones had been Goredolf and… Ophelia.
"So, what's your name jackass?" Oh, right he never got a chance to actually introduce himself.
"Harker Aldain" He grinned at the apparently jovial servant, perhaps the gloominess was just from the bad memories?
"Well, Harker I have a bit of advice for the future.
"And what's that."
"Try."
"To what"
"To actively give a damn."
"Excuse me?"
"Cynicism is fine, being an ass is fine to a point, but at the very least in return, you should care about the others around you."
"I'm perfectly capable of caring about people."
"Then show it."
"Why do you care?"
"I could tell you were just egging me on to get me to pull my own head out my ass, I get it it's fine but someone like Mash-"
"..."
"Don't know much about what's coming but I do know it won't end here and I do know you can't afford to burn any more bridges." He was silent at that, a good point yet he was who he was. He wasn't sure if wanted to change much less could.
"Caster, have you rested enough to continue?" Fortunately, Mash interrupted them with her approach, he looked at Marie who was being held in her arms. Somehow, she still looked dignified… to an extent, the burnt skin and missing parts kind of took part of the presence away.
"The rumbling of the ground is disconcerting, and we should really be on our way."
'Really thought I was going insane there.'
"Agreed c'mon Harker let's go to my hidie-hole it has alcohol" He chuckled at his sing-songy voice, despite his distaste towards drugs he had alcohol before, Goredolf snuck him some when they were younger. It was fine.
"Hold your horses, my legs still feel like they are going to snap like twigs."
"You still have your legs Harker so if you'd kindly shut up that'd be lovely."
"Fair, at least I'm not carrying your fat ass this time."
"Why you-!"
"Enough! Both of you" Seemed like Mash was showing more of her spine with the palette change.
"The kids right let's get going." Pressure flared about and this time they all sensed it
"Aww leaving so soon" The voice echoed all about as Caster froze in place and Harker finally realized that what he was feeling was the vileness of a dark god.
"Shirou?" He barely tackled caster out of the way of the three mud spears aiming for his heart. Another three flew towards Marie and Mash but they parted harmlessly upon her shield.
"No…" Harker hissed as the stones dug into his bones but Cu Chulainn landed far harder… And he didn't care in the slightest his face caught in an expression of horror.
"Have to admit it took a while to break him, but I did manage it" A small teen stood before them dressed in rags, though his dark skin was covered in ancient Zoroastrian markings he looked like he could barely hurt a fly. Looked. His aura however screamed of rage and pain, both what it gave off and what it promised. There was no doubt in Harker's mind that despite the cheeky childish grin on its face-
"So How have you been Mario?"
This was Angra Mainyu, the God of Evil.
(Linebreak)
Mash was not ready to face a god, she was barely even ready to face assassin but this? This was beyond her even with the boost of power granted by him and she knew it. It did not help that Roman had long since gone to static with very short intermittent bursts of sound.
"You…" When she first heard Cu Chulainn whisper "No" she was worried that he'd been caught in melancholy again but somewhere she understood that he was not drowning in sorrow, he was burning in seething hatred. She was not sure which one was more disturbing.
"Ah-ah-ah" The boy wagged his finger in mock propriety. Perhaps it was her imagination but were those tattoos moving?
"No need to be nasty just yet, considering I've decided not to kill you all now" He raised his hands to the ash-choked sky as if he expected applause but continued surprisingly easily when silence fell over the area.
"Besides the last time it took all of you at full strength and you still almost lost, hanging on a thread with a bunch of battered weaklings? not a chance" The smarmy grin on his face grew as he sauntered over to Cu Chulainn.
"Why are you here Ahriman?" It was strange to see such venom filling the normally jovial servant's voice, Angra Mainyu simply pouted in return. That seemed to make him even madder.
"Fine be boring, I was here to kill you but eh it failed so I'll wait for a different time, maybe when you think you're going to win?" He tapped his chin while looking up to the sky, this really wasn't what she was expecting from a god of evil and apparently, Harker agreed.
"Not exactly what I imagined a god of evil would be like" Harker grumbled as pushed himself up and pulled the downed servant up as well, placing a tight grip on his shoulder. Useless.
"And what were you expecting, horns and brimstone?" Harker laughed, outright laughed. She set down the director to the side and moved to take Harker's post regarding Cu Chulainn, didn't even acknowledge her.
"Pretty much, maybe a beast's head, carved runes that bleed darkness, a snake coming out of your crotch, something like that" Ahriman chuckled with a shocking amount of warmth, Chulainn's face grew tight as he looked at the two.
"You know what I like you" Harker raised his brow.
"Do I get to live?"
'is he really planning on leaving us behind?'
"No, but you do get a quicker death!" She reassessed that thought (slightly) as Harker looked neither surprised nor perturbed, instead just taking it in stride as if they were just talking about brunch.
"Huh, well thanks" The director's eye twitched wildly as she shouted at the master.
"Why are you making friends with the incarnation of Evil?!" Marie's voice strained as pinched the center of her brow. Harker just shrugged; she had a feeling that this would be his general attitude if they survived
"Honestly I had more problems in the first 30secs with you than him."
"He just tried to kill you!"
"You've attacked me with the intention to kill as well, you know" She froze as they heard this, Marie was a lot of things, but a murderer wasn't one of them. Was Harker justified somewhat?
"What? When- Oh by the root I didn't know it was you!" She felt like she should face-palm.
'Of course,'
"I still get the feeling if you hadn't been severely debilitated you would have tried to continue on your efforts."
"Oh, you little-" Chulainn couldn't take it anymore and shouted at the two.
"Could you two focus!" They both ignored him.
"There's nothing little about me especially compared to you midget."
"I'm 5'3 you bastard!"
"You sure about that? You don't exactly have legs-" She looked to the thing of darkness who was just laughing at the situation and felt her own temper rise, these two were going to be the death of them all.
"WILL THE BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP" That was rather surprising for them all, even herself, irritated as she was. She didn't think she had the strength of character to actually shout at the director.
"Ah man, it was just getting good." She never thought a god could be pedantic.
"Enough of these games Ahriman! What do you want!?" Cu Chulainns' rabid yell boomed through the empty streets.
"I already told you."
"Then why are you still here?"
"Boredom mostly, it gets lonely being surrounded by muck and an absolutely humorless servant" Mash narrowed her eyes at the stray mention but seeing Harker squat down on the ground, touching it, and frowning took a certain level of precedence.
"And don't get me started on the corrupted all they do is silently glare at me!"
"I wonder why" Cu's eyes glimmered a deep red as he took a deep breath, the runes that were coming to life dying between his clenched fingertips. Angra Mainyu ignored him.
"So, when I found out that a bunch of humans were running around about I just had to send Berserker to go make sure their last moments are quick" They all glared at him (Except Harker who was just giving a deadpan stare)
"To my surprise, you all didn't die but actually killed him! And the emotions mmf!" He kissed his fingers and spread them to the winds like a connoisseur she had seen Menuire watching once.
"Such an interesting ballad this will be, and it will end in tragedy as all ballads do" They all had different responses to that, Caster had that same look of barely controlled fury, The Director looked terrified and Harker… Harker looked bored, no not bored contemptuous. Why was he contemptuous?
"Ballad huh? Magical beings and they're fucking love of stories" Ahriman shrugged and laughed.
"I dare say it's a unifying factor, now then in the interest of making sure this story continues a little longer, I shall give you a little warning" He spread his arms wide and made his voice go deeper.
"Foolish mortals my plan is nearly complete and soon death and damnation shall rain down from the skies, all shall know fear and horror! MWAHAHAHA!" They stared at him in silence. Harker coughed into his hand.
"Please clap" He wilted slightly, Harker looked at her and shrugged.
(Clap, clap, clap)
"On that note, I should go" He fumbled around with his belt before looking back up. "I wasn't kidding by the way you really should run, anyways, Toodles!" He slammed a black pellet of smoke and he was gone. Then they started moving unwilling to be caught up in whatever catastrophe that was coming. She and the director were doing their best to re-establish connection with Chaldea while Cu Chulainn sent a salvo of runes up into the sky turning the ash into falling snow his face was worried and unfocused.
Then there was Harker, who instead of doing anything to help knelt to the ground and touched it, mumbling indecipherably. She could tell it wasn't a spell of some sorts, so it was in a sense useless.
'Just like… me, in the long sense'
But then she saw his body stiffen and freeze.
"Aldain what's wrong?" The Director looked up at him with wariness and concern?
He slowly rose to his feet and staring at the distant mountain all the while, with a look of horror on his face, she tried to ignore it they were almost done getting communications back online the bursts of static becoming somewhat recognizable.
"Harker?"
"Run" He whispered just loudly enough for them to hear it and then hear a far larger sound, the booming crack of a land starting to split.
"RUN!" They stared after him and realization slowly dawned on them, a realization that only catalyzed to the forefront of their minds as Roman finally burst through the static.
"-That is holy! Run it's going to blow!" Caster didn't hesitate, he scooped up the director and sprinted after Harker with Mash following close behind. She had never seen one of these before and she could already tell she never wanted to see one again.
"KRACKOOM!" The mountain burst open, and a deluge of darkness spilled forth.
"It's a volcano!"
(Linebreak)
Harker had hated volcanoes with a fiery passion ever since the elemental trial of Ignatium made him surf aboard lava just to escape, difficult on its own and a damn sight more lethal with a vicious fire elemental throwing plasma at your head all the while, took a week for his heels to recover. Thank god for magical ice.
This wasn't quite the same of course instead of the infinitely preferable lava there was a black something falling from the sky like rain, it boiled, bubbled, and grinned with malevolence as the aura of suffering and corruption spread. He didn't know how it was grinning and he didn't want to.
"Jump now!" He didn't hear her; his subconscious didn't regard her as a threat, so he ignored Marie's voice and leapt to the side dodging Mash's attempt to grab and carry him away entirely.
If he looked at the three of them, he'd have seen them have looks of shock on their face and more than a little offense, he didn't though and even if he did, he wouldn't have cared.
Leaping like a gazelle he jumped across outcroppings of stone and concrete as the land began to drown beneath the mud and ash. Darkness crept in at the edges, exhaustion threatening to pull him down. He ignored it with the grit of someone who has done it a thousand times before.
He was running out of land, soon he'd be trapped on an isle, so he clambered up a wall and rolled onto the other side blessedly free of mud.
'Roof and stairs'
He pushed himself up and ran towards the stairs until a second shockwave threw him into the wall sending all the air out of his lungs. Adrenaline faded and his consciousness tried to fail him, he smashed his fist into the wall and the blackness crept away. Wincing he tried to pull himself up, but his body felt so heavy.
"*** **!" Mash was saying something, but his ears were still ringing so she slapped him across the face, somehow that cleared him up.
"Are you done! We have to go!" She didn't wait for him, instead just throwing him over her shoulder and he squawked as his face slammed into her ass.
"Stupid height…" she hissed as she tightened her grip on his leg rather painfully.
'The hell is she irritated for I'm the one whose face got hit!'
"By some strange virtue of luck, you made it into the same building as us but-" A raspy howl interrupted her, and both looked back or in his case a bit up. It looked like that demon Marcovaldo painted, just made of writhing black mud. It looked at them and laughed. Mash didn't bother trying to fight, she just ran up the stairs.
"Son of a-" Harker's eyes widened as the chase began, it was uncomfortable for many reasons such as his face kept on slamming into her plated skirt but the howling monstrosity was what was occupying his thoughts as it did its absolute best to devour them.
"Shut up or you'll bite your tongue!" She growled as she leaped up holes and juked the demonic mud monster.
'Think I said the same thing to Marie.'
"Couldn't have just bridal carried me instead!" They were getting higher now maybe halfway to the top and this mud demon wasn't giving up, not nearly as threatening as Herakles but still not something he wanted to be around under any circumstances.
"That was the plan until you dodged out of the way!" The claws barely missed his neck and resisted the urge to blast it away with a wind burst, he only had one spell left in him before his circuits started popping like balloons. He used to have more.
'May have healed the damage but you can't heal the cause.'
"Excuse me for moving out of the way of someone trying to grab- OW! Sthupid-" he gingerly moved his tongue back behind his teeth.
"Warned you" She softly cursed as the stairs were blocked and neither of them looked like they would survive bursting through the roof. The demon started laughing, somehow understanding their situation.
'Fuck'
"When you can, grab onto my neck" she loosened her grip as the demon charged.
"Wait what!?" She didn't run at the demon she jumped out of the fucking window and the demon jumped right after them.
He screamed as he flew through the air, Mash having let go temporarily. He twisted barely grabbing onto her waist, he heard her yell of indignity but he didn't care, not about her or the demon giving a howl of defeat as it missed them by a hair, no his focus was entirely on the little glass vial that somehow had survived this entire journey flying through the air about to fall right out of his grasp. Part of him wanted to watch it fall purely out of spite but the wiser part…
'Catch it, catch it, catch it!"
-Knew he was going to need it. It bounced his arm as his right arm wasn't strong enough to keep a grip on her waist and he slipped lower, he watched as it continued to bounce, his elbow, his forearm, his fingers until he, at last, caught the stopper between his ring finger and his pinky.
So, there they were, a Demi servant blushing up a storm as she held onto the tower wall with her feet and hands embedded into the steel and glass, and the teen whose chest heaved with panic as one hand barely held onto a vial and the other with a death grip on her inner thigh.
His eyes wide with as much panic as his chest stared down at the ground or rather the sea of mud that had entirely replaced the ground, the black mud from the mountain turned volcano had completely consumed the world below including many of the smaller buildings and the rain was still falling. Terrifying but not as much as the knowledge that there were thousands of those mud demons below, thousands that now saw them.
"Fuck" with all the dexterity he could muster he grabbed the vial and shoved it in his remaining pocket.
"Bloody fuck" He resisted the urge to lurch back as he realized what exactly, he was eye level with, falling into that mud seemed like a bad idea to say the least. So instead, he just pulled himself up until his arms were around her midriff. Any higher and he would be molesting her further (something he was already disgusted by) or choking her which seemed detrimental.
"I'm sorry" she refused to respond instead just focusing on throwing herself upwards faster than the mud sea was rising. To make matters worse the mud demons had started to climb the tower, the sickening howls sent waves of agony through his ears.
And it just kept getting worse the winds tainted and fouled, howled into the two slamming them into the wall (or in his case her back) their faces becoming a giant bruise and despite the height, the heat didn't abate instead they continued to sweat, grip almost giving way for the both of them. Yet they can't stop, the tide smells of hell, and stopping means death. For Mash, it means the end, something she doesn't want just yet even though she knows she has nothing to truly live for. But for Harker it means damnation, even if he never knew why his father wanted him to be heir, he was still taught out about all the little secrets he would have needed to know. He knew there were far, far worse fates than death. And so, one climbs, and one holds on until they at last reach the top bloody, bruised, spent.
"What took you so long!?" Marie called from her spot right in the middle of the rooftop, very pointedly she was doing her best to look away from the newly formed volcano of evil and instead conferring with Roman, probably how they knew they were alive. Looking about, it was evident that this is where Caster had been living for… who knows how long. The rooftop was surprisingly clear until he saw the rune redirecting the mud like an umbrella, useful little things weren't they? Mash picked herself up off the ground and pulled him up too, he briefly nodded his thanks even though his bones protested heavily, taking a few steps towards the middle he shortly collapsed to which Mash just rolled her eyes.
"Got bigger problems, where's Caster" The servant in question was looking over the edge where the mud was still rising and the demons were still climbing, he turned back taking a potshot at one of the demons.
"Kids right, got a butt load of Mud monsters climbing up the walls, they get up we're screwed" His voice sounded better, at least somewhat, but it was easy to tell he was just as weary as the rest of them.
"Like hell do I have the strength to fight them all off right now, if any of you has a plan now would be the time"
"Can't you activate the defenses?" Marie looked back at the servant who just rolled his eyes.
"What defenses?" She gave a start as her voice trembled.
"You-you're a caster aren't you!" While this all was going on Harker noticed Mash moving to Marie's side, her shield at the ready.
"A pretty crappy one besides defenses would've been a beacon to pretty much everything."
"Roman" His hologram turned to Mash.
"Can you use your phantasm, maybe-i" He stopped as soon as he saw that look in her eye, a harsh sharpness that soon faded and she simply shook her head. Harker closed his eyes as he lay on the floor.
'Supported by a god so I'm guessing infinite supply, a fight is going to be useless unless we can move, and the mud is still rising. Mash's phantasm is defensive but how long will she be able to use it if I force the issue? Marie is next to useless and Cu Chulainn has no defensive phantasm as far as I know, without his mind weighed down it's unlikely he'd hold back something that could help. We're fucked'
Harker groaned as he slammed his fist into the ground, once, twice, thrice. He heard the crack and smiled, pain, an old friend. Roman was sputtering about something and the others seemed concerned about something or other, but Harker didn't care instead rolling onto his back.
'We're not fucked, still got time, still got a few moves mostly dumb ones but as long as you can move you can do something!'
The world started to blur, he wasn't entirely sure if it was due to his focus or his mind forcing a shutdown due to exhaustion, either way, he stopped it. His shattered fist slammed back into the ground and the world refocused. He felt like screaming, or at least his body did, his mind on the other hand...
'Think damn it! Some advantage has to be here, Chaldea wouldn't send people into a no-sum game. They had to have some kind of plan to deal with these singularities otherwise this would be the stupidest defense project ever! Okay, they had mystic codes designed for…. Servants, not only that but they had a generator built for them as well as command seals prepared, if all that here then-.'
He opened his eyes only to find Marie horrified orbs looking back into his, he shoved her away and forced his body up. It hurt but then again when didn't it.
"Harker… your hand?" He looked down at it, fingers weren't supposed to look like that. He snickered and twisted the fingers back into position, it was still broken but at least it wasn't horrifying anymore.
"Is the infrastructure in place?" Roman broke out of his alarm first among the mortals (And demi-mortal)
"What-what are you referring to?" Harker rolled his eyes.
"Summoning system, is it set up?
"Yes but-"
"Start it" Marie grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop him.
"Aldain we don't have a leyline"
"I know, start it anyways" It failed.
"Perhaps you didn't know but you can't just turn on the summoning system without a leyline, there is a process!" Her voice was tense, and he knew she wasn't wrong at least under normal circumstances. If she was thinking clearly, she'd be able to know exactly what type of circumstance this was.
"Tell that to the mudmen, I'm sure they'll wait for us to clear the growing ocean beneath us to find a leyline"
"You're insane!" It had been a while since a girl had directly insulted his intelligence, she even threw her hands up in the air.
"Yep, comes with the territory" Mash and Cu seemed eager to simply stand aside for this, couldn't blame them too much besides they have the job of slowing the demons down. Stones and spells
"You don't get it! It just doesn't work that way!" His patience was at an end, they had no time for this, and she clearly had no plans.
"Enough!" He stared directly into her shaken eyes.
"Here are our two options, Director. We try and we might die, we don't, and we will die, I know the one I'd take" It was never a guarantee, tomorrow. You were always gambling with it blind, drunk, and half-dead. still, he had stayed at the table this long, learned a couple of tricks, learned to pick out long shots, learned how to realize when you didn't have a choice.
"You're-"
"I still need a focal point" He looked to the hologram with more than a little shock.
"ROMAN!" Despite her indignity he wasn't trembling or stuttering, the nervous useless energy he'd seen since he met the man was gone. Strange
"He's right Director, I'd rather take a slim chance over no chance, still need a focal point to direct the energy there" He feared that'd be the case. He had a solution, but it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"(Sigh) Use me" His origin would allow it if he was on the money with his theory (and that was a big if, still not like they had a choice), hell with his origin he'd be a sealing designate, it was just no one wanted to piss off the shaman community. There was a reason those who are officially recognized as shaman were put out of the usual hierarchy.
'Stupid boy, we are not some pompous fools looking to become gods. We are stewards, keepers, nothing more.
I remember father'
"WHAT!?" Her voice was kind of shrill when she screamed.
"I've studied the summoning process when I was a kid, Marie served as a refresher for my brain. It'll work"
'I hope.'
"Why? How?" The look of bafflement was more than a little amusing on her face.
"The Aldain's are allowed a lot of access to the forbidden stuff considering we don't give a damn about Akasha, besides what kind of kid doesn't want to see a hero?" He looked to Cu Chulainn with a smile so fragile and bitter that he couldn't help but look away.
"If you're wrong you will die in an awful lot of pain" so as expected.
"So what" Pain had been his life in the moonlit world so far, fitting that'd end with pain as well.
"You're also likely to take the rooftop with you in a massive explosion" He actually sounded like a doctor there.
'I wonder if he watches House.'
"Yeah well at least it'll be quick" Roman rubbed his eyes and turned to his monitor.
"Okay. We don't have a lot of time, once we start, you're going to have to say the chant you choose perfectly, or you will die."
"Got it let's get this show on the road."
"You'll have to do it all in the middle of extreme pain Harker" he gave a bark of bitter laughter.
"What else is new" Roman gave him an odd look and sighed.
"Remember the summon circle?"
"Drawing it now" Must have practiced a hundred times when he was young, it was stupid, no way he'd ever be able to output that much mana on his own but still. He wanted a friend he could trust. Goredolf, as fond as he now was of him, wasn't always the lovable goof he in truth was, he'd been a real shit when he was young (Thank god for Toole) and Ophelia… Was the one person he should have been able to trust, should've. Maybe if he did things would have ended differently.
"Once you're done kneel in the middle" He could hear the screams of the demons as he focused on completing the ritual circle. Funny, the stressful environment of the trials prepared him perfectly for this, wasn't even twitching.
"They're getting close!" Done.
"I'm kneeling what now?"
"Remember the chant… and pray you're right."
'Wonderful, never prayed, never will.'
And then the pain hit, it hurt. Badly but not as much as it would have for another. Or at least it didn't affect him as much as another. For even as he kneeled on the ground bowing from the pressure, he still raised his right fist to the sky and the horse began to run.
Let Silver and Steel be the essence
He channeled the prana flowing through his body into recognizable form.
Let Stone and the Archduke of Contracts be the Foundation
Sigils appeared in the air floating into nothingness and fading away.
Let the Watchers of the Star be my Patron
The two servants fought desperately to hold them back, exhausted as they were
Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall
And once more Marie could do nothing but watch.
Let the four cardinal gates close
It was nearing the tipping point, the formal path or the untrodden one. This time even if he didn't know why it was an option chose it consciously.
Watcher beyond Grant me eyes
His eyes didn't glow with unnatural light this time, instead, they blazed with determination.
Thy Astral existence shall be my Sword and my Shield
He always hated horses, Ophelia always thought it was because of the way his visualization worked. It was the other way around, the object of his hate drowning in mystical waters. Just as it was doing now.
My Soul and Sanity the Tribute
He smirked, those two had long been forfeit.
This covenant be sworn as the veil of my eyes falls and the truth is revealed
as the tide slowly began to overcome them Caster was still holding his own, Mash wasn't.
I swear to stare into the dark without blinking!
His circuits were almost at their limit, he needed to finish this now.
I swear to stand before the light unflinching!
A pulse of pressure slammed into the ground as they all could feel the spell nearing its fruition.
Heed my call as the gate creaks open!
He wanted to scream, he wanted to stop, he could have stopped.
Stand before me now!
He refused to stop.
And honor your oath to protect those who cannot protect themselves!
With a great yell, he slammed his fist into the ground and the light flared outward blinding them all for but a moment, sensing movement Harker forced his eyes open only to see a jagged maw being blocked by a smooth staff of black wood, it swung upward sending the mud beast flying and before it even reached the apex of its arc it was obliterated by lightning, not even a single drop of mud falling to the ground.
"Begone" The voice was soft and yet with the crackling of lighting and the rush of water her will was done. Collapsing to the ground he could only see her uncovered feet until she turned around kneeling before him picking up his head in her hands. It was the same willowy woman he saw in that half-remembered dream before, the one with long black hair. Though this time he noticed more details such as her eyes glowing a soft strange emerald and traces of that same emerald creating strange patterns upon her skin. Resting against her back lay that same dark staff and hanging at the very end of it was a lantern that shed a hopeful glow.
"I am Rider, but my Grandfather called me Cessair"
And now the city is truly drowning. Been holding onto that for a while. Moving on.
Couple of notes, Toole lasted a bit longer, long enough to meet Alva and put him through the same hell as Goredolf before he managed to flee back to England. Goredolf still holds a small grudge for abandoning him to that. I also would like to note that Harker is definitely not well adjusted as he wants to believe in fact, I dare say he's just as screwed up as many mages are, it's just in a different way from the rest.
Now then Cessair(rider) or if you've seen my fan servant post on Spacebattles Cessair(Foreigner) If you haven't seen it please don't go looking for it, it was a pretty early prototype and I'm pretty embarrassed over it. Anyways Cessair is indeed a foreigner, the only reason she introduces herself as a rider is because of an unprovable head-canon that I'm going to use as fact. In my canon, all foreigners are technically dual summons (Abby, Kats, Van Gough are casters. Yang is an assassin, XX is a lancer and Voyager is a rider) Why? Because otherwise, you'd know they're foreigners. When it gets to Salem, I'll explain exactly how the Lovecraftian mythos interacts with Fate but for now, I'll just say that they really shouldn't exist and even the throne would prefer if their existence wasn't widely known so unless you find out on your own or outright told of their existence then you'd never know. Harker will find out eventually, Grand Foreigner should be pretty interesting after all and it'd be a waste for him to never find out(not to mention stupid) but the reason he summoned a Foreigner first isn't related to the singularity(in story) shortly it's Einstein's fault(and no he isn't the grand Foreigner, though he is a foreigner) That's all for now, there should be one more chapter for this singularity and then comes the epilogue. After that, there will be a pause until I can fully take into account whatever changes I decided to add to this singularity into the next. Have a nice day everybody.