Author's Notes:

What's up guys? I'm back with the fourth chapter of this fanfiction. I have to admit, I'm pretty worried writing from this point onward. It'll be hard making the story good and interesting, since everything will have to be totally unique. I'll do my best. Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Enjoy chapter four!

Chapter 4: Coming Back Home

Saito opened his eyes. He inhaled and recognized the familiar smell of smoke. He couldn't see because the smoke was too thick. He stood up slowly, clutching Derflinger's hilt just in case something bad happened. When the smoke cleared, he saw several young people surrounding him wearing what appeared to be school uniforms. As he looked into the crowd, he saw several faces he recognized. Guiche, Kirche, Tabitha, Montmorency, among others. He wanted to say hi, but he realized that this probably wouldn't be the best decision. When he turned around, he found the face he recognized the most.

"Louise…" He said quietly without thinking. Luckily, it was too quiet for anyone to hear. He was in a trance, lost in thought as he looked at her face. After a few seconds, he snapped out of it. He got on one knee, put his hand on his heart, and bowed his towards Louise. He had earlier decided that it would be best to act as her familiar and tell her the truth later, once he had earned her trust. After all, going about it this way would save him several beatings with her whip.

He looked up at her face. He could see she was clearly disappointed to see him. It made his heart feel immense pain, but he didn't show it. He heard her argue with Colbert about having a plebian as a familiar.

"If you do not continue the ritual, you will be expelled." Colbert said.

Louise sighed and looked back at Saito. "You'd better be grateful. You'd normally never get this from an Aristocrat." Hearing this brought back memories for Saito. He smiled very slightly, knowing what was coming next.

Louise began chanting her spell. "Pentagon that governs the five powers, give this thing your blessing and make it my familiar spirit."

With that, she leaned in to give him a kiss. He had to stop himself from holding her and kissing her with all of his heart. She pecked his lips and pulled away, extremely embarrassed. Saito was feeling extremely happy. He savored the moment for several seconds. Sadly, his happiness was then shattered when his hand began to burn furiously. He was at first calm, believing it was simply the Gandalfr rune. However, something was different this time. His entire arm began to burn more painfully than when the rune first showed itself. The Gandalfr rune he already had began to glow bright red. Soon, strange marks started to appear all over his arm.

Colbert rushed to his side looking at his arm, confused. Saito tried to resist the pain, collapsing onto the ground, but it soon overcame him. Louise's worried face watching over him was the last thing he saw before drifting into unconsciousness.

Saito woke up in a bed. He recognized the room he was in as Louise's dorm room. When his eyes slowly cracked open, he saw a few faces he recognized around him. Osmond and Colbert were sitting on chairs next to him, with very serious expressions on their faces. Louise was asleep on a chair, her head laying on a desk. When they noticed he was awake, Colbert and Osmond looked at him.

"Don't try and move. You need to rest." Saito, regardless of their warnings, sat up. The entire left side of his body lit up in pain, particularly his arm. He looked down at his left arm. His face drained of all color when he saw it. It was wrapped in bandages that were stained with dark red spots. Osmond made him lay down.

"I told you not to move," said Osmond. "You gave us quite a scare."

Saito looked at Osmond. "What happened? I can't remember."

Osmond sighed and produced a pipe from his cloak, lighting it with a match. "You completed your contract with that girl. When that happened, you suddenly cried out in pain. Strange runes appeared all over that arm. It was burnt quite badly." He took a puff of his pipe, creating a circle of smoke. "I suggest you stay there and rest for a while. I'll be checking in on you personally for a while."

Saito sighed and smiled. "Thank you, Osmond." Osmond raised an eyebrow. "And how, may I ask, do you know my name?"

"Shit!" Saito thought to himself. He simply remained silent as a sort of defense mechanism. Osmond looked at him very closely. After a little moment, he simply smiled. "I jest! Get some sleep, dear boy." He and Colbert left the room, closing the door behind them. Only Louise and Saito were left there. He watched her sleep. He wanted to get up and hug her, but he could barely move. He simply let her sleep and thought about his situation. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice next to him.

"Hey, Partner! You okay?" Saito slowly looked to his left. Derf was there leaning on the wall. "Partner! You scared me! Thank god you're alive!" Saito smiled weakly.

"It's not like you to be worried, Derf. But thanks anyway." Saito looked back at Louise. She had begun to wake up, so Derf sheathed himself, ending their conversation. Louise looked at Saito, her face filled with a mix of worry and anger. She didn't say anything, instead just leaving the room with an angered expression on her face. This gave Saito a chance to continue his conversation with Derf.

"Hey, Derf. What do you think happened? My arm…my body. Why did this happen?"

Derf unsheathed himself and thought for a few minutes. "I don't know for sure, but it may have something to do with your possession of the Gandalfr rune before coming here. When you sealed your contract with Louise, it had a reaction with the preexisting Gandalfr power, leaving you…the way you are."

Saito looked at Derf. "The way I am? You mean my arm?" Derf was silent for a moment before answering.

"Mostly your arm. It's not important, just cosmetic. More importantly, how are you going to fight in your condition? There is no one around right now that can heal these wounds. The nature of the wound is strange. Something these mages haven't seen before. You'll have to wait for it to heal."

Saito sighed. He wanted to argue, but didn't have the energy to do so. Besides that, Louise had come back to the room, forcing Derf to sheathe himself. She was carrying a tray of food and water. She set the tray on the bed. She put some of the food on the spoon and then looked directly at Saito.

"Open."

Saito was confused. "Open? What do you mean?"

Louise looked frustrated. "Open your mouth!"

Saito complied out of fear. She put the spoon in his mouth, feeding him. Saito was surprised. He remembered that even though Louise had never liked him when they first met, she always went to great lengths to take care of him. She sat there for several minutes, feeding him until the food on the plate was gone. She put the cup of water up to his mouth, letting him sip it slowly. When he was done, he tried to get up to take the tray away, but Louise forced him back into bed. She got up without saying anything, taking the tray away. She came back a few minutes later holding a towel.

She pointed her wand at him. "Léviter." When she uttered this spell, Saito began to float out of bed. She made him float into her bathroom. She set him down in the bathtub, making Saito feel uncomfortable. She began to undress him, which he tried to protest to, but was in too much pain to stop her. She was shocked when she saw his body. He was, of course, somewhat muscular from all of his previous battles. This, however, was not what she was surprised about. His body was riddled with scars. He looked as if he had been cut by swords and pierced by arrows multiple times, which of course, he had. He saw her face turn into a sad one, which made him feel terrible. She began to wash him slowly, doing her best not to aggravate his already painful body. He was touched by this act of kindness, but remained quiet.

When she was finished, she dried him off with the towel she had brought with her. She dressed him in new pajamas, which she had borrowed from one of the men who worked in the kitchen. She levitated him back to the bed and covered him with her blanket. She then sat on her desk and began to drift into sleep, but not before shooting Saito an angry look. Saito did not like this, obviously. But he was in such immense pain, that he decided to ignore it. He got out of bed and walked slowly to where she was sleeping. He picked her up slowly and laid her in her bed. He then sat on the layer of hay on the floor next to the mattress. This much movement had caused his arm to start bleeding again. Derf watched him in silence, feeling immense pride from being able to call Saito his partner. Saito slowly fell asleep, doing his best to ignore the pain.

He suddenly woke up in front of Gandalfr's gate. He wasn't in any pain. He looked into the dark where a large, orange, glowing pair of eyes met his. Saito sat in front of the gate trying to think of what to ask, but Gandalfr spoke first.

"You're wondering what happened to your arm, I presume?"

Saito nodded. "I've never felt pain like that before. Do you know what happened?"

The being sighed and thought for a while. "I know what could have happened. However, it is only a theory. I don't know for sure, since this has never happened before. It seems that your body was injured due to trying to accept a second Gandalfr. Another me, so to speak. However, two of myself can never exist at once. It is the nature of my being, so perhaps…" Gandalfr stopped there, looking directly at Saito.

Saito was confused. "Perhaps what?"

The being continued. "Perhaps you have absorbed the other me. However, this is strictly just a theory. I doubt it actually happened. No human's body can contain me."

Saito, still confused, looked up at Gandalfr's eyes. "But…aren't you already contained within me?"

Gandalfr responded quickly, as if his pride was hurt by that question. "No! I am contained within a separate space. You simply have access to my realm."

Saito nodded, finally beginning to grasp the being's explanation. "How long will it take for me to heal?" Gandalfr was silent for a few seconds, pondering the question. "If my theory I told you is correct, then it would mean you are no longer entirely human. It should not take long. Perhaps a month for it to heal entirely." Saito sighed. He didn't want to be bedridden for a month, but it seems he had no other options. He got up and bowed to Gandalfr.

"Thank you very much." With that, he woke up. He was where he had fallen asleep, on the ground next to Louise's bed. It was early in the morning, before the sun had risen. He looked at his left arm. A large pool of blood had formed next to it. It did appear, however, that the bleeding had stopped. Feeling very weak from the blood loss, he slowly got up and sat on a chair. He decided to watch Louise sleep until she woke up.

About 2 hours later, Louise slowly woke up. She was wondering why she was in her bed, clearly remembering falling asleep sitting on a chair. She looked at her desk, where she saw Saito. He was as pale as a ghost, but was smiling whole-heartedly.

"Good morning, Louise." He said, very weakly.

It took her a few moments to understand what was happening. It finally dawned on her when she got out of bed and stepped on something wet. She thought it was water, but when she looked down, she saw the pool of blood caused by Saito's wounded arm. She was now completely awake and remembered everything like it had just happened. She immediately looked at Saito. He was no longer smiling, but was instead pale with the bandages on his arm soaked in red liquid.

She immediately ran over to him. She levitated him back to her bed, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"What were you thinking?!" she yelled, "You know you're injured! You should have stayed in bed!"

He didn't have the energy to say anything. As Louise was desperately trying to hold her tears back, Osmond walked into the room. He was reading a book. When he looked up, the book slid from his hands. He ran to Saito side and undid his bandages. Saito managed to catch a glimpse of his arm for the first time. It was completely burnt, even charred black in some places. Wherever he wasnt burnt, several gashes could clearly be seen bleeding. On top of that, several glowing, pink runes wrapped around it. The sight nearly made him sick.

Osmond rewrapped his wound, clearly frustrated with Saito's stubbornness. However, when he spoke, he was gentle with Saito. "I told you not to move, young man. We can't take anymore scares." He finished wrapping Saito's arm and then sat back in his chair. "Now, foforgive me for being so sudden, but this matter is of utmost importance. Tell me, who are you? Where are you from? And…" he looked at Saito's arm "why, before arriving here, did you possess a Gandalfr rune?"

Saito hadn't expected the last question. He would have to find a way to lie, but he knew how attentive Osmond was. He was also aware of how bad of a liar he was. He decided it would be best to tell Osmond the truth. He looked at Louise and then back at Osmond. He motioned Osmond to come closer.

"Please ask Louise to leave." he whispered. "She cannot hear this." Osmond was not hesitant. He looked at Louise.

"Ms. Valliére, I hate having to ask this of you, but I will need you to leave me alone with your familiar for just a little while whilst we have a small discussion. I hope you don't mind."

Louise wanted to argue, but Osmond looked extremely serious. She hesitantly left the room, leaving Saito with Osmond. Osmond turned back towards Saito.

"You were saying, young man?"

Saito took a deep breath. "Right...My name is Saito. Hiraga Saito…"

Author's notes:

Well, that was chapter 4. I'm sorry it wasn't action packed. I know you guys must be getting really bored. Please, leave a review and tell me where I can improve. Also, give suggestion for what you guys might want to see. Full disclosure though, Saito will end up with Louise. I will not deviate from that. Sorry. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you next time!