FATE/LÚNASA FÓMHAR

"August Harvest"

Chapter 5: Bad Luck Streak

Can I really do this…?

A Japanese woman in her mid-20s sat on the side of her bed and clutched her nightgown. She was in the throes of yet another one of her severe panic attacks. Her breathing was chaotic, her chest felt heavy from some kind of immense weight pressing down on it, and her stomach rumbled in desperation for food after having gone two days without any sustenance beyond water and crackers. Blankets and sheets were strewn about on the bed – a distinct sign that the woman had barely gotten any sleep after tossing and turning for hours on end.

I can't take this anymore.

She reached for a bottle of antidepressants on the bedside table, but it was already empty. The sedatives she asked Roman to prescribe for her had run out as well. No matter how much medication she took, her rampant thoughts refused to subside.

Being one of the last people in the world… out of billions…

She clenched her forehead and gasped in despair.

Why me? Why did I have to take on this absurd job? If I had known this was going to happen, I would have turned it down and allowed myself to be swallowed by the Incineration. To be expected to save all of humanity along with less than a hundred people and a bunch of familiars…

She stumbled off the bed and went to the small kitchen in the corner of her room.

Screw it. I'm tired of this bullshit.

She procured a sharp knife before heading for the washroom in silence.

That afternoon, Connla was running around delivering papers and books to fulfill a backlog of requests for the researchers and Servants who were otherwise too busy to leave their respective laboratories. It was just an ordinary day for the diligent child Servant. She always felt a small sense of pride whenever she could cross off an item on her long list of duties, knowing that she was just one step away from being allowed to take a break without being too hard on herself. As always, Mini-Cu remained perched on his favorite spot over her shoulder, but he didn't say anything to disrupt Connla's work.

At the moment, she headed for another scientist's personal quarters. The nameplate read Tachibana Hinata, and she knocked on the door several times while calling out, "Ms. Tachibana? It's Little Lancer. Ms. Da Vinci wanted me to have a word with you about some research you were doing."

No one responded right away, which piqued her curiosity since the young scientist was always aggressively lecturing her coworkers about punctuality. She knocked again and exclaimed, "Are you there, Ms. Tachibana?"

Silence greeted her again, and she tilted her head in confusion. She knew the researcher had to be in her room, so it was strange that she wasn't responding. Connla keyed in the code to open the door from the outside, then announced, "Pardon the intrusion."

At first, nothing looked unusual. As she stepped onto the rug though, her socks immediately became damp due to a large amount of water saturating the fibers. She gasped and looked down to discover that the water was coming through the crack on the bottom of the door leading to the bathroom. The whole thing was so unusual that she was genuinely perplexed as to what was going on. She swallowed hard and held Mini-Cu closer to her chest, gathering the courage to go in the washroom and investigate.

She pressed her hand against the door, then gently nudged it open…

In the doctor's office, Ritsuka was in the middle of her routine medical check-up with Roman. He instructed to her, "All right, open wide."

"Aaah," the young Master uttered as she pried open her jaw and let him examine her mouth with a tongue depressor.

"Hmm… Looks good. I'll have to schedule a dental cleaning sometime soon, but as long as you eat properly, you should be okay for another month."

"Ugh, you know I don't like those…"

"You don't like dentistry?"

"I don't mind having my teeth cleaned. I just don't like the dentist in particular."

"That's harsh. I'll have you know that studying medicine and dentistry simultaneously is not an easy task for anyone, let alone me," the doctor grumbled. "Or would you rather have Nightingale do it in my stead?"

With a wry glare, Ritsuka immediately blurted, "Not a chance."

"Ha ha. If you don't like it, why not try summoning a Servant who knows a thing or two about teeth?"

"That's an oddly specific requirement for someone to be registered in the Throne of Heroes for."

"Oh, you never know. There's Hesy-Re, the Egyptian scribe credited as history's first dentist. Or you could try Paul Revere, or Pierre Fauchard."

"I'll think about it."

While the two were joking with each other, they heard a pair of feet scrambling into the office. The door slammed open, and a slightly obese blonde-haired man barked in a distinctly French accent, "Hey, Roman! There's a huge emergency!"

"Whoa there, Meuniere," Roman uttered. "What's all the fuss about?"

Jingel Abel Meuniere, who preferred to go by his surname, struggled to fix his unkempt glasses that slid off his nose as he shouted, "No time for explanations! Just get to Tachibana's room as quickly as you can!"

Ritsuka and Roman glanced at each other for a second, then scrambled out of their chairs and followed Meuniere down the winding hallways. Already they could see a small crowd of staff and Servants gathering around the entrance, and the trio had to force their way through to get inside. There, they discovered Boudica and Minamoto-no-Raikou kneeling over an absolutely distraught Connla. The two women were doing their best to calm the girl down, but she was utterly inconsolable.

"What happened here!?" Roman demanded.

Despite the stressful situation, Raikou kept her composure as she explained, "Tachibana slit her wrist in the bathroom."

"What!?"

"Connla found her just now," Boudica added, and her expression grew especially grim. "I took a quick look to be sure I could do anything, but there's no saving her."

"So she's dead?" the doctor asked as he entered the bathroom. A couple of Servants had already removed the corpse from the edge of the tub, where she had dunk her slit arm in running water and let herself die of exsanguination. Roman performed a basic autopsy, then shook his head and announced, "Rigor mortis has already set in her jaw. It's safe to say that two hours have passed since she died."

Ritsuka kneeled in front of Connla and tried to help calm her down, while asking Boudica, "When did she find Tachibana?"

"About five minutes ago. Raikou and I were passing by when we heard the most awful shriek ever."

"Yes," the lovely Berserker swordswoman moaned sadly. "Oh, it was so dreadful. If the door hadn't been closed, I fear I could have gone deaf from hearing such a despairing cry. I was relieved to see that the little one was safe, but as for Tachibana, well…"

Ritsuka bit her lip for a moment, then muttered through broken gasps, "Was it suicide?"

Meuniere approached them and said, "We'll have to do a thorough investigation, but it certainly looks like it."

"I see…"

Boudica gently stroked Connla's back while imploring, "You heard Roman, right? It happened two hours ago. There was nothing you could have done to save her. Finding her and letting us know is the best thing for all of us, you hear?"

"But… but… uuuh… aaaah!" the child Lancer bawled uncontrollably.

"Come on, let's get you out of here," Raikou said, and she and Boudica helped Connla walk out of the room. The girl's gait was so unsteady that they had to help her stay upright.

"What a disaster," Roman sighed sullenly. He then told Meuniere, "Inform Sanson that there's work in the morgue for him. I'll be there to assist him shortly."

"On it."

It didn't take long for word to get around throughout Chaldea about Tachibana's suicide. After Roman and Sanson autopsied the body, the doctor allowed the executioner to perform gravekeeper duties so that she would be buried with customary rites. After the time Lev Lainur betrayed Chaldea and caused so many deaths, no one thought the morgue would ever see operation again since there were so few people remaining, all of whom were young and ready to work their hardest to save humanity. Not only that, there were absolutely no warning signs of Tachibana being so depressed that she would wind up ending her own life. Roman decided that he needed to rally some staff and Servants to form a counseling team who could be called upon for advice should anyone need it.

Alas, those necessary steps came far too late for Connla. She was so upset that she refused to leave her room for the remainder of the day. Boudica and Raikou stayed by her side until she cried herself to sleep, then promised they would check on her tomorrow before leaving her be. Even though she was incredibly stressed out, she actually didn't have another one of her parallel world dreams that night. Deep down, she was hoping she could see Connla Cliste again and tell her what happened, but it never occurred.

At the same time, Ritsuka was likewise having trouble sleeping. She had made friends with Tachibana before, so to suddenly lose that companionship was quite the shock to her. Roman suggested that she not partake in any missions for the rest of the day, so she just returned to her room and laid down on her bed. She was able to get a decent nap during the afternoon, but by the evening, she was too wound up to go back to sleep. Not only was Tachibana's death affecting her, she was also very concerned about Connla and how she was faring after discovering such a grisly scene.

I think I'll go see how she's doing.

Ritsuka left her room and headed for Connla's door before entering. The lights were not turned on, but the monitor's light illuminated the area as the girl watched a documentary. She kept herself wrapped beneath layers of blankets while holding Mini-Cu close. She initially didn't regard her Master's presence, but once Ritsuka came closer, she had no choice but to acknowledge her.

"Hey there," the Mage murmured quietly. "Are you doing all right?"

"Master…" Connla moaned, and her eyes appeared noticeably heavier than ever before.

"I know. We lost such a good friend. If you're thinking you could have done anything to help her, then stop it. She was already long dead when you found her. Plus, she never confided with me about what was wrong with her, even though we were close with each other. Perhaps it's because I'm so busy with the Grand Orders, but I failed to notice anything. Maybe I don't really have any right to call myself her friend if I was that oblivious to her suffering."

"…"

Ritsuka sighed, then wrapped her arm around the child's shoulder and whispered, as if consoling herself more than Connla, "There was nothing we could have done…"

They were silent for a few minutes as the documentary droned on in the background. Then Connla murmured, "I was… actually thinking of something else."

"Really?"

"Well… Maybe this sounds a little selfish of me, but…"

"Go ahead and tell me."

"The thing is… I have such horrible luck. Whenever I overcome one problem, another one seems to pop up right away. It feels like I can never get a break from everything and just be myself… whatever 'being myself' happens to be. I've even heard other Servants joke about how I've become the poster child of Lancers with terrible luck stats."

"They shouldn't be saying such things behind your back. I ought to have a word with them about that."

"No," Connla shook her head. "I think they're right. I am a harbinger of misfortune, aren't I? Even Mother despised me for the misery she felt from being forced to give birth to me. It's gotten so bad that it's become a running joke to compare me to Odysseus' constant ill fortunes."

"That's too cruel for you to say that about yourself. None of what has happened is your fault."

"But even so…" Connla choked up for a moment, then stared the teenager in the eye and sobbed, "Maybe… Maybe I should… um…"

"What is it?"

"I should… retire… as your Servant…"

Ritsuka wasn't sure what the Lancer meant. She raised an eyebrow and asked, "Retire?"

"As in… go back… to the Throne…"

"What!? Why would you say such a thing!?" the Master shouted angrily, clearly not expecting such a demoralizing response.

"But I just keep slowing everyone down. I'm not good at fighting like Father is, I sleep for weeks on end, and I bring nothing but trouble for everyone here. I haven't even accompanied you on an official mission for Chaldea. I've either fought in the simulator to gather QP or materials for you, or I've been dragged into strange incidents being caused by someone other than the King of Mages. That must be putting such a burden on Chaldea's resources when you are all stretched so thin. And now with Ms. Tachibana's death, your work's going to be that much harder, isn't it?"

"Well I suppose, but-"

"Wouldn't it be best to offload dead weight like me while you can? The fewer people there are, the easier it will be to-"

Now Ritsuka was visibly furious, and she made it known by snapping, "That's enough! If you're trying to joke with me, then it's not funny!"

"But I wasn't-"

"Sit up straight!"

Connla yelped and immediately sat in a rigid position. The Mage continued, "If there are two things I do not tolerate from my Servants, it is infighting and self-depreciation! Each and every one of you has an important role in this organization, whether it is in combat or helping with daily life! That's especially true since we're literally the only ones left in this world who can do anything against the King of Mages! If we wind up losing too many people like this, the survivors will be too dispirited to keep up the good fight, and that really will be the end of humanity as we know it!"

"Master…"

"What I'm saying," Ritsuka murmured as she hugged the child Servant, "is that you shouldn't give up. I know how hard you're trying to find your place here. You've been dabbling in all sorts of chores and activities, yet you don't seem dedicated to anything in particular. You might think your contributions are minimal, but many staff and Servants are telling me of how much you help them regardless. Not only that, but despite what they say about you, they're also extremely worried about you."

"They are?"

"Of course. They seem to have trouble admitting it to you though out of fear that it'll make you more distant from everyone. Why don't you go around and ask them what they think about you some time?"

Connla sighed, then murmured, "That's kind of weird for me to do. I mean, what you're telling me doesn't match with what Mother taught me."

Ritsuka shook her head and retorted, "You already know that Aife didn't care about you. I'm not sure what exactly she taught you about interacting with others, but she must have lied through the skin of her teeth to get you to behave the way she wanted. She even went so far as to raise you in an isolated place devoid of social contact. That's why you're so confused – her lies are clashing with reality."

The Servant became disturbingly quiet as she thought about her mother. While growing up, she wholly believed that society at large was cruel and unfeeling, and that she needed to be a warrior who could take care of herself without relying on others for comfort or advice. Having served Chaldea for a few months now, Connla was starting to see that the truth wasn't as simple as Aife let on. Sure, there were unsavory characters who would happily cause harm to those around them, and she certainly needed to be ready to deal with them. But at the same time, there were plenty of good people who would go out of their way to extend a helping hand to those in need. Connla had never experienced such goodwill while growing up, so it was no wonder she felt out of place in an organization where the concepts of 'friend' and 'enemy' didn't matter so long as everyone struggled to their utmost to save humanity.

Ritsuka patted Connla's head and said, "You look like you're feeling a little better."

"I don't know… My chest still feels rather heavy…"

"Why don't we go for a walk then? Confining yourself like this isn't good for you."

"Mm."

They got up and headed for the simulator, where Ritsuka projected a realistic depiction of a beach on one of Okeanos' islands at nighttime. The sound of gently rolling waves already served to calm both of them down, and Connla took Ritsuka's hand as they walked along the quiet shoreline. Although the simulation facility was small, it could warp time and space so that the beach stretched on for miles without them worrying about hitting any walls. The cool wind brushed their hair and skin, and the moon shone bright upon the tumbling ocean waves.

"Look at that," Ritsuka pointed to a large seashell jutting out of the sand. She pulled it out and showed it to her Servant. "It's really pretty, isn't it?"

"What is this supposed to be?"

"Oh, that's right. You grew up in the mountains, so you don't know much about the sea. You see, this is called a-"

Ritsuka spent some time explaining the various objects one could find at a beach, such as shells, starfish, deadwood, seaweed, and even the sand itself. Connla even noted how salty the area smelled due to the ocean water. Before they knew it, they had spent two hours exploring the simulation, which helped them get their minds off of what happened earlier that day. However, they would be interrupted when someone made the door to the simulator slide open, momentarily creating an unnatural gap in the otherwise vast scenery.

"Ah…" Connla mumbled in surprise when she saw who stepped through, and she nervously clutched Ritsuka's shirt.

A familiar blonde-haired man with gemstone-like ruby eyes approached the pair. He wore black clothes beneath a full set of golden armor that accentuated both his regal and divine bearing. He was none other than humanity's oldest Heroic Spirit – Gilgamesh, the King of Sumeria, seeker of immortality, a wise yet tyrannical king, and the owner of unimaginable wealth. Of all of Ritsuka's Archer-class Servants, she definitely regarded him as her most valued and felt honored to have summoned him early in her journey as a Master, although she had trouble deploying him for anything other than the grandest of missions such as destroying Demon God Pillars or taking on large hordes of enemies.

"There you are, my laudable contractor," the King of Heroes declared. "Normally I would have you put through the gamut for not heeding my summons, but my understanding is that there has been some sort of commotion between the mongrels."

"My apologies, Your Highness," Ritsuka bowed her head. "I didn't know you were calling for me. I was just taking Connla out for a walk."

He glanced over at the child Servant and noticed how anxious she appeared. She didn't even have the energy to make eye contact out of fear of offending him, preferring to hang her head low and stare at the sand. He furrowed his brow and muttered, "I would say that is quite the unusually melancholic expression for a proud Heroic Spirit, but at this point, I'm not surprised that it is the runt sporting such an ugly visage. What exactly happened between you rabble?"

Ritsuka took a few minutes to briefly explain about the suicide to Gilgamesh. He narrowed his eyes and murmured, "I see. So the mongrel Tachibana could not shoulder the responsibility of saving humanity, and opted to use an easy method of escaping her duties."

"Please don't say that, sire," the Master implored. "You'll make Connla even more upset than usual."

"I will say as I please, and I am one to state exactly what the circumstances are. One who cannot handle even the weight of a feather's worth of duties is worth even less than a microcosm of my time. As one who is expected to carry the weight of the world, I find such escapism from a commonplace coward most deplorable. Someone who breaks into pieces from even the slightest bend is naught more than a joke to me!"

"Well…"

"Hear me well, runt," Gilgamesh interrupted Ritsuka as he addressed Connla. "Cease shedding tears for such a third-rate imbecile. Those who resort to suicide are cowards who only think about themselves. They fail to consider what would happen to those they consider dear. There is potential for such demonic thoughts to be inherited by the ones left behind. Stoop yourself to that level, and you will discover that no one will want to mourn for you."

Connla became silent, unable to refute his logic.

"Never forget this!" the Sumerian king barked, as if commanding her to stand up straight and listen. "You are a Heroic Spirit of Chaldea, and thus an intrinsic part of my forces! I will not stand to be called the King of Heroes if the heroes spawned from my great deeds are as meek and feeble as that Tachibana wench! My word, my very skin crawls with sheer revulsion every time I have to utter that repulsive name! But that is that, and this is this! Anyway, if you tread down such a path, then you risk tarnishing my impeccable reputation! I will not allow such shame to sully my honor! I will not have the King of Mages laugh at my face as he desecrates my glorious image by reminding me of the weaklings who serve me!"

"Um… uh…" she uttered, clearly at a loss for whether or not he was punishing her or trying to encourage her.

"Fu ha ha ha. I must admit, your muddled expression does garner a fleeting moment of mirth. But do not misunderstand me; I may have grand expectations for how my subjects should behave, but there are some things which should only be savored through small nibbles, if not outright forbidden. Alas, dragging out a growing girl's pitiful state is one such flavor that my palate has trouble appreciating any further. There is only so much entertainment to be found in another's sorrow before it becomes comically dull."

"So you're telling her to cheer up?" Ritsuka wondered.

"Is that the parlance you mongrels use to express such a thing? Well, no matter. I have spoken my piece. I expect the runt to conquer her grief soon, especially if she wants any prayer of being useful to this organization's goals, never mind to me."

Having made his opinion known, he turned on his heel and began to stride away. However, he paused in mid-step and said, "Ah… Now that I think about it, there is one more thing I must address."

He cast his shining crimson eyes upon the bewildered Lancer and tersely said these words before departing:

"Don't let me hear you utter the word 'retire' ever again."

Two days later, someone knocked on the door to Connla's room. She raised an eyebrow perplexedly, having not expected to see anyone that day. She opened the door and found someone standing there with a big grin on his face.

"Father!" she exclaimed upon seeing Cuchulainn Lancer.

"Yo," the spearman greeted her. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"It really has been. What are you doing here?"

"Well y'see, I've been hearing about the trouble you've been getting into lately. I often have my hands tied with hunting for Ascension materials, so I ought to apologize to you for not hanging out with you more often."

"No, don't worry about it. Alter's been stuck to me like glue, so I'm not as lonely as you think," Connla said as she showed Mini-Cu to him.

"Alter, huh? That guy may be gloomy as fuck, but at least he's a thousand times more responsible than me. If anything happens to me, I'm confident that you'll be in good hands with him."

"Mm. Anyway, there's something I've been noticing about you."

"Hm? What is it?"

"I usually see you training with a lot of the same female Servants like Queen Marie Antoinette, Mata Hari and Tamamo Cat. I'm kind of surprised that you don't fight alongside the men that often."

Cuchulainn winced, then replied, "I-It helps me concentrate better. There's just something about the ladies that gets me pumped to fight even harder than usual."

"Like you're trying to protect them?"

"Yeah, that's it!"

Connla mumbled to herself, then said, "Maybe I ought to try the same thing. I'll invite some men into my party and-"

"Ah, no, no, no, no! You will do no such thing!" he suddenly blurted.

"Why not? It works for you, so why wouldn't it work for me?"

"Gah!" Cuchulainn gasped as he realized he had dug himself into a proverbial pit. "It's because… Because, uh… Because you're still just training! You should work on the basics first before attempting any advanced tactics like that!"

"Oh, I see. So I would be putting the cart before the horse if I tried it myself."

"Exactly!"

Connla tilted her head, wondering why he looked so flustered all of a sudden. Off to the side, Mini-Cu gave him the meanest stink eye he could muster, as if silently urging his counterpart to stop this conversation immediately. Oblivious to this little exchange, she asked, "So do you want me to do some more training today?"

He sighed in relief, then said, "No, not this time. I actually want to spend the afternoon shopping around some city with you."

She murmured to herself, then said, "Shopping… I don't think I've ever done such a thing before…"

"Then there's a first time for everything! Come on, get dressed."

"In what?"

"Normal clothes you wear while out in public. What else?"

"I don't think I have such garments. I only have my combat outfit and some nightgowns."

"Ugh… Guess I have no choice," Cuchulainn grumbled as if he was resigning himself to something he didn't want to do. He took Connla's hand and said, "Come with me for a minute. I know someone who will fix that for you."

He took her through the facility until they reached a specific Servant's room, then he gently knocked on the door and blurted, "Sorry for the intrusion, but I need your help with something."

After a short pause, a familiar woman's voice called out from the other side, "Is that you, Lancer? Sorry, but I don't have time to play fetch with you."

He became visibly irate as he shouted, "What's with that attitude!? I need help finding some clothes for my kid! I thought you would be the best person for the job, but to hell with it if you're going to act like you have something jammed up your ass!"

"What a rowdy boor you are, Hound of Ulster. Fine, cease your barking – I'll be there in a moment," the lady retorted, then stepped through the door.

"Ah…" Connla gasped.

The Servant who appeared before them was none other than Medea, the infamous Witch of Colchis and Caster-class Servant of Kuzuki Soichirou during the Fuyuki Grail War dream. The violet-garbed sorceress made eye contact with the child Lancer, and her stern glare immediately softened as she said, "Oh! You've finally healed from your injuries?"

"Yes," the girl bowed. "Master said that you came to visit me shortly after you were summoned."

"That I did. So you're Cuchulainn's little one? I never would have expected such a polite little lady to be the daughter of this uncouth excuse for a human being," Medea said as she glared at Cuchulainn.

"Yeah, yeah, quit baring your fangs at me, woman," he grunted, then explained, "Look, I just want to see if you can hook her up with some casual clothes for shopping in the city. You're into the whole tailoring and dollmaking thing, aren't you? That's why you were the first person who popped into my head for this job."

"Clothes, hm? Well as luck would have it, I have a set all ready to go for her. Of course, it's not going to come cheap."

"I'll pay for it."

"Then it's a done deal. Come inside, missy," Medea took Connla's hand and ushered her inside the room. Cuchulainn attempted to follow them in, but was immediately repelled by an invisible ward that the sorceress had set up. She then snapped, "No men allowed. Or did you intend to peep on your own daughter while she's changing?"

Without another word, she slammed the door shut, and he clenched his teeth while growling, "Yeesh…"

Connla sat down on the sofa and waited as Medea rummaged through her closet stuffed full of various outfits. She couldn't help but think back to when her counterpart fought against Medea's counterpart and Soichirou in the church. The shock of watching Emiya Archer assassinate the other Medea right before her eyes had subsided somewhat, but it was disturbing to know that she had witnessed a Servant's death while interacting with that very same Servant in a different time, place and atmosphere. Connla was sure that Chaldea's Emiya would not do such a thing to this Medea, yet she couldn't ignore that the possibility was always there.

"What's the matter? You look rather gloomy," Medea wondered, then shifted her eyes toward Mini-Cu and grumbled, "Not as gloomy as that godforsaken doll though."

"No, it's nothing to worry yourself over. I just have a lot on my mind."

"That's not good. A growing girl shouldn't brood too much, or else she'll get wrinkles before she knows it. Maybe this will help you out."

From the closet, the sorceress extracted a clothes hanger with some apparel attached to it. There was an oversized sweater with green sleeves and a white torso section with a large pink heart sewn on the front. It also came with some pink pantyhose, loose green socks, and large white sneakers with heart patterns on the side. Connla took them and went into the other room to change, especially since she didn't want Medea to see the numerous scars covering her body. She came out a few minutes later and asked, "Is this okay?"

Medea gushed, "Oh, this is just too precious! Let me check the measurements and take a few photos, then I'll let you be on your way."

"Sure."

Connla stood still and spread her arms out wide while Medea examined her for a few minutes. The Lancer couldn't resist the urge any more, and she wondered, "Can I ask you something, Lady Medea?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"Why did you come to see me in the ICU right after you had been summoned? There's no way either of us had made contact before then, so what compelled you to visit me?"

"Well…" the Caster paused hesitantly. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure. I don't have any memories beyond what I experienced in my original life, so anything that I do here will be brand new. Even so, for some reason, I kept seeing your face as you pleaded with me. I don't know what you were saying, but you looked so sad for me. I can't exactly say it was common pity or sympathy you were expressing, but something else… Like, some kind of kinship? Or acceptance?"

"…"

"Sorry," Medea bitterly chuckled to herself. "I know I'm being silly. There's no way anyone would want to accept an infamous traitor like myself. Although, I can't help but feel like there had been someone who accepted me regardless of my past, but I can't put a face to such a person. I'm sure it was a man, and that he wasn't one of those shallow pretty-boys that always get on my nerves, but that's it."

Connla closed her eyes and thought, Kuzuki Soichirou…

"I'm sure it's just my imagination playing tricks on me. I know it's too risky to so easily trust myself to anyone."

"I don't think so," the child Servant suddenly said. "I can say with certainty that you're not imagining it."

"Hm? What ever do you mean?"

"When you get some time, you should go through the Dream Diary entries I've been writing."

Connla briefly explained her Imbas Forosnai ability to Medea, then said, "Of them, the second major record should interest you the most. The perspective is limited to what I saw from my counterpart's point of view, and I'm not exactly the best writer around, but I think it may help explain that feeling you have."

"Are you saying I could very well have some lingering memory of that world?" Medea wondered, clearly surprised by what she was hearing.

"I'm not going to make any guarantees, but it's a possibility."

"Hm… All right then. I appreciate you telling me that. When I get some time, I'll read through it and see if I can remember anything."

"Okay."

"And done!" the sorceress beamed as she finished adjusting Connla's new clothes. "I'll bug your father for the payment later. You run along and have fun now."

"Thank you, Lady Medea," the girl said, then reunited with Cuchulainn back in the hall. While she was busy, he took the time to change into a simple yet flashy Hawaiian shirt, black pants and shoes.

"Whoa, lookin' snazzy there, kid," he commented with a wide grin as he rubbed her head. "You ready to go?"

"Yes," she replied as she tucked Mini-Cu under her arm. "Before we do anything though, I want to see if Ms. Da Vinci has figured out a way to let me Rayshift without Aisling interfering."

"Ah, right. Can't have that bastard screwing things up for us."

They headed to Da Vinci's workshop, where the inventor was peering through a magnifying scope and polishing some kind of tiny gemstone. Connla said, "Pardon the intrusion. I wanted to speak with you about whether or not I'm allowed to Rayshift now."

"Ah, perfect timing," Da Vinci said, then approached her with the gem. "I'm just making this thing nice and shiny before giving it to you."

"What is this supposed to be?"

"I could go all day into explaining the specifics, but I'll spare you the details and just say it's an anti-Aisling amulet. I was planning on fastening it to your ring. Can you show it to me for a second?"

Connla became perplexed as she showed her the ring affixed to her right thumb, and the inventor carefully inspected it on her work table before finding a spot to safely wedge the gemstone into. Cuchulainn leaned in and wondered, "So how exactly is this tiny bauble supposed to protect her?"

"Think of it as a cloaking mechanism," Da Vinci said. "It can masquerade Connla's Spirit Origin as someone else's while she's traveling. The easiest Servant to have her mimic is you since she technically possesses half of your Spirit Origin, so this little doodad covers the other 50% that I was able to extract from your DNA. Scathach could have been another option since Aife is her sister, but Ritsuka has not been able to summon her yet."

"So she basically disguises herself as another Cuchulainn while Rayshifting?"

"That's the long and short of it. I figured that since Aisling is scoping for Connla as raw 'data' during a Rayshift, then tampering with that 'data' to affect her destination, I would do the same thing by messing with her identity so that Aisling can't find her in the first place. Hee hee, it almost feels like I'm dueling wits with a rival hacker or something."

"I see…" Cuchulainn murmured in fascination, unsure if he really understood what she was saying.

"There we go," Da Vinci announced as she finished inserting the tiny gem into Connla's ring. "You two look like you're ready to enjoy an afternoon out at the park or something. I suppose this is as good a time as any to give my latest invention a whirl."

"Now I'm getting a little nervous," the girl murmured anxiously.

"Oh, I'm about 99.9% sure it'll go off without a hitch."

"And the other 0.1%...?"

"I'm going to monitor your Rayshift just to be absolutely sure that 0.1% doesn't happen. Not even your luck can be that bad, right?"

Neither Cuchulainn nor Connla appeared convinced, but nevertheless accepted what she was saying. The trio headed for the Spiritron Chamber, and he inputted a destination that he had already selected. Once they were ready, the two Lancers disappeared in a bright blue flash and traversed through time and space, while Da Vinci remained to monitor their trip.