Fate/fractal
by crisis rain
12/19/2029 1:08AM
FUYUKI CITY, JAPAN
The overhanging lamp that was perched above her apartment door gave out an electrical moan as it flickered incessantly for half a minute or so; sparks of the black night pierced her vision momentarily as the light continued to buzz and flicker from above. Looking around carefully, Tsugumi Rekka withdrew her key and swiftly unlocked her front door.
The apartment was dark, save for a framed blue square of light shining from the lone window in the middle. She entered her rented home, and almost silently a figure followed after her, his presence and appearance completely baffling compared to his environment. Without a word, he followed her into the unlit apartment, wordlessly staring at his new surroundings with a keen eye.
She flicked the desk lamp on, and a small circle of warm light filled the room.
"Master -" His voice started, and she abruptly straightened up, casting a long shadow upon his features. "I've already told you this, but 'Rekka' is fine." She replied tiredly, fingers reaching around in the semi-darkness for the plastic of her phone. Fingers curled around the handle of the grounded telephone receiver, and the buttons lit up in the darkness.
The first thing she needed to do was call Touko. That's right - her mentor would know what exactly is going on...
Dialing the number she had memorized by heart, she sat silently in the empty room, hearing nothing but the soft buzz as the telephone attempted to bridge a connection. Lancer stood off by the side, seeing that his master was preoccupied eased against the wall, folding his arms over his chest as he rested for a moment - but remained alert.
There was a click, and then a small pause as the other end scuffled briefly in the static before a familiar voice answered. "Hello?"
"Touko-san, what is the meaning of this?" Rekka fumed immediately, leaping at the earliest chance to snip at her mentor. "It's barely been a day since I arrived and I'm already -"
"Alright, hold on a moment there, Rekka." Touko airily dismissed, letting out an audible sigh at the other end before pausing thoughtfully. "Calmly explain the situation to me. Something happened, and you're not sure what exactly...?"
"Yes, something happened, and I believe you have the answers." Rekka firmly pressed. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips. She drew in a deep breath and cautiously threw a glance over to Lancer's still figure in the darkness. He did not move, nor make any action but simply quietly stood there, perhaps listening, but remained alert.
She turned back to the phone receiver. "...I used up the artifact you gave me. I expected some sort of familiar, but this... this is much more sophisticated than any high-caliber magic I've ever seen."
There was a noticeable pause, and then Touko's voice came.
"...You used the artifact? Already?" An exasperated sigh was heard, but chuckling soon followed. "This is much more interesting than I thought." Touko murmured to herself amusedly. "So you managed to come out in one piece, huh?"
"Y-You knew? You knew that this - this would happen?!" Rekka immediately protested, unaware her tone of voice was rising dangerously and that her servant had spared her an alarmed eye at her outburst. "I thought this job was to scout out the city's leylines, not playing some sort of deranged battle royale with other dangerous magi - "
"Oh, but I'm afraid," Touko paused as she huffed on her cigarette for a moment, "that you're very much involved already with the matter. And though I wasn't expecting you to run into the existence of a Holy Grail War so quickly, I'm glad you're still alive."
Rekka swallowed back the reprimanding words that were dangling on the tip of her tongue, after hearing the sincerity in her mentor's tone.
"The first step is to stop panicking and consider your bearings. This means if you had followed through with the summoning ritual that must have meant that the Grail has chosen you to participate in the War." Touko continued on fluidly.
"Second, as proof of your status as a 'Master' in this war, you should have the Command Seals in your possession. They should resemble a set of red marks somewhere on your skin?"
Rekka held up her right hand, staring at the crimson tattoo illuminated in the darkness from the glow of her lamp. "...they're right there, etched on the back of my right hand." She confirmed in a hazy mumble.
"Those are very important. Do not lose them." Touko advised warningly. "Lastly, you should have summoned a Servant after this whole hooplah. Unless you failed?" Touko laughed bitterly. "If you did, I would have charged you the artifact on your paycheck. It was rather expensive, after all."
"Please, Touko-san. Let's be cordial here." Rekka cleared her throat, uncomfortably glancing back at Lancer once more. His gaze had already subsided; eyes closed and arms crossed tightly as if he would not move, unless summoned.
"...Well, yes. I did. It was thanks to him, that I managed to... escape. There was another magus with a similar familiar - er, Servant." Rekka quickly corrected herself. "I followed a strange prana pattern earlier during the evening, and I discovered a... ahh... ah..." Reminiscing back to the true terror she had felt when she had encountered Assassin, she couldn't find it in herself to piece comprehensible words together; the words clogged in her throat as the experience began to replay itself.
"It was an enemy Servant, no doubt. You probably know this by now... but a magus is no match for a Servant." Touko explained carefully. "Their magical parameters defy even the most illogical laws of magic itself, and their existence is only because of the Holy Grail."
The young woman felt a slight chill run down at her spine at the mention of the Grail.
"Listen, Rekka; you mustn't be afraid. It's only going to become much more dangerous from now on."
"Wait, Touko-san -" She couldn't hang up just now, there were still so many questions that had yet to be answered -
"Find the organizer. There is a supervisor from the Church who oversees and manages the participants of the Grail War. Whoever he is, he will tell you what's needed to know to survive."
"Touko-san-!"
And the line disconnected, leaving behind the mechanical intonations that continued to ring methodically in the silence. Cautiously, Rekka placed the receiver back upon the phone set. Touko's cryptic words only served to fuel her insecurities and growing fear about her situation; without realizing, she had already broken out in a cold sweat. A hand wiped at her brow, and she sat there thinking for a long moment, wondering what her next course of action should be.
At this point, the knight raised his head slightly as if to remind his Master that he was still there. The warrior did not like to be ignored; no, it wasn't that exactly – it was more of him hoping that he wouldn't be confused with other Servants who prefer to cower and conceal their presence in the shadows. Her head seemed to be filled with many thoughts, he observed – but he would not stand by idly watching his Master troubling herself over the very notion of being deeply involved in war.
"Master," He began curtly only to witness Rekka's shoulders jump up in sudden fright. She turned to face him, looking genuinely alert but her stiff expression relaxed when she remembered that he was an ally. Lancer gazed at her, his tawny eyes observing before he opened his mouth once more. "…Master. I wish to speak to you about something."
Shifting her body so that she faced her Servant, Rekka's brow creased slightly as she frowned upon being called 'Master' again. It seems like he refused to address her by her name, after all. Since she was too tired to squabble over such things, Rekka decided to ignore it for now and reluctantly glanced back at her Servant; her eyes guided only by the little light her lamp had to offer.
"I'm aware… that there is a problem with our connection." He plainly spoke, casting his gaze back to the small floor space with the smallest of movements. There was a growing unrest inside his heart to bear the fate of having a young woman as his Master. But he was a knight, and a knight must abide by the code of chivalry. Woman or not, she was his Master after all. And a knight must answer to the summons and commands of his lord – or lady, in this case.
"A problem? I don't quite understand." Her answer came just as frank; her voice clearly showed him that she was not afraid to voice her opinions on matters. A very straight-forward personality, he had noted. "You've mentioned this before by the harbor. Something about… remaining in a physical state?"
Good, Lancer had thought. She seemed to be a level-headed person; one who wasn't lacking in the memory department. His heart eased up a little, but it would take some time for him to warm up to such a… different Master than what he was accustomed to. "Yes, about that; I had mentioned that perhaps during your summoning for me, the circuit that allows your transferal of prana is… how should I put it?" Lancer paused thoughtfully, his mind quickly searching for the word. "Ah, well. It's become crooked."
Rekka raised at brow at this. "Crooked? Well certainly I feel that there is a connection from my prana reserve flowing to you… but what do you mean by that?"
"Servants can shift into two forms. Simply put, when we are not doing battle or other tasks such as spying, surveillance and patrolling, to conserve your prana we can shift into a spiritual form." Somehow he found himself explaining himself; as very well a Servant should, but he was slightly exasperated from his fight with Assassin earlier and seeing that Rekka knew little to none about the rules of the Grail War put him in a bit of a bind. "In my spiritual form, theoretically I can still communicate with you mentally and vice-versa… but because of a minor disruption in the summoning ritual, that seems impossible for me to do."
Rekka gazed at him silently for a minute, slowly breaking down his information. She can confirm the validity of his words, for she can feel her prana slowly but steadily flowing into his being; prana that continues to keep his existence possible in the physical plane. "…I see. So like a switch that was supposed to be installed in your framework, you cannot 'switch' to spiritual form because of an error that occurred during the summoning." She slowly surmised aloud as the gears in her brain clicked together.
"Exactly. That ability that was supposed to be 'etched' into my existence is not present; therefore posing two main problems." Lancer closed his eyes, finally relieved that his Master understood of his situation. "First, my presence may bring you inconvenience due to this physical body taking up space. I cannot discreetly hide myself; Servants can detect each other's presences. Therefore you will be exposed as a Master if an enemy Servant happens to detect my presence, putting you in danger.
"Lastly, since I can only retain my physical form, this will mean a great taxation on your prana reserves in order to keep my existence intact in the physical plane." Rekka swallowed at his words, already beginning to notice the strain on her body. The fatigue from earlier before was beginning to take its toll; coupled with the fact that her prana was continuously being siphoned away to maintain Lancer's existence, she was feeling much more tired than usual.
"If you are not careful enough to keep your prana refilled, I may inadvertently in the worst scenario… kill you." Lancer had to pause for a moment before reaffirming his words. No matter how he would phrase it, it would make no sense to sugarcoat his words. It was a fair warning that he was giving to his Master in the best interest of keeping her alive for her own sake. Noting her silence, he gave her a small moment before continuing. "I will operate in the most efficient methods possible to keep the prana strain to a minimum."
He picked up his spears which had been lying by his side this entire while, and with a slight distortion they disappeared; willed away by their owner. Abruptly after that, a shower of light particles shone over his figure, and his armor and suit disappeared too – sitting before her was Lancer, intact and the same albeit decked in civilian clothing. Looking slightly startled at his sudden transformation, Rekka uttered not a word; for the words she could not say were locked in the middle of her throat.
"Without my spears and my armor, both of which are very potent to your prana, I can reduce the strain by sealing them away temporarily for now." He explained, to which Rekka merely nodded back. Feeling that he had been rather chatty tonight, he cleared his throat before relinquishing a few more words he had left to say in the matter. "For now, you must get some rest to recuperate the prana you've lost. I'm surprised you're still conscious even after the summoning."
Rekka touched her head. Strange, she could hear his voice, but her thoughts weren't processing them at all. Her temple as hot to the touch, but her sweaty, warm fingers did little to comfort the burning sensation. She was tired – unbelievably tired – and she swore she felt fit as a fiddle when she had phoned Touko about her situation until her condition suddenly worsened. Feeling the room sway beneath her, she grasped her knee for support; huffing in slow breaths of air.
Lancer began to notice the strange behavior his Master was exhibiting and immediately was alarmed. "Master—" He started, but she fell lightly upon the tatami mat before him, along with droplets of sweat that was beginning to form quickly along the line of her brow. Her flushed complexion and heavy breathing – his hand swooped down to touch her forehead. Her skin burned under his fingertips.
"…Collapsing just after I warned her about prana relapse." He muttered under his breath. But despite his words, he lifted her off from the floor, and quickly found her bed, easing her on top of the mattress. At the very least, he could ease some of her suffering. Until then, he will wait until she recovers. Sensing that she already had put up a barrier around the small room he found himself cramped in, he decided it would be wise to remain vigilant despite the precautions she had set up already. Sliding down to a seat beside her bed which merely consisted of a thick bed mattress placed against one side of the apartment, he sat there and closed his eyes.
He was not asleep; he was merely thinking while keeping his mind sharp and his instincts even sharper. Lancer leaned back against the soft yet firm edge of the mattress. Wait, he shall.
A cage.
For as long as she had known, she was trapped in a cage. She was imprisoned to a lifestyle that she could never fully bring herself to like. But she accepted it without a word of complaint because otherwise, she would have no home. And her family had been well to her – she had good food, a roof over her head, a soft bed to sleep in. And although she had all of those things, her life was still oppressed by tradition.
She could remember the sounds of laughter from the young children that passed by the front gates of the compound she was bound in. Their voices drifted from far away; but it sounded carefree. She would watch the few people that would pass by, silently envying their position from her windowsill.
It was already rather apparent that she was different than the other children. That fact was established at a very young age. She was told explicitly that she was different. That she had a higher purpose than the other children; that she was going to achieve great things for the name of her clansmen; and that she must strive for perfection. Because she was given a task to achieve great accomplishments, she must perfect everything that is considered 'regular' to make herself 'ordinary' in the eyes of her family.
She was envied but in return, envied people. Isolated from others, she was taught to hold herself in higher regard; that humans who did not even possess a magus lineage were not worthy of being equals to her. But the more she shut herself away from people, the lonelier she felt.
The long, hot summer days were coming to a boiling end. The girl stood by a grove of zelkova trees, standing outside in the garden; her figure bathed in the madder-red rays of sunset. In the unbearably hot heat, she could hear the first wails of a newborn behind the partition screen door. A powerful sound; it came strongly, crying from the heat and from the mere notion of being born.
The cicadas hummed and the crickets chirped endlessly; the sounds, smells and heat of summer melting her mind away.
12/19/2029 3:27PM
FUYUKI CITY, JAPAN
When she awoke, she thought she was still dreaming. The heat had been all too real. Convinced that it was still summer for a long moment, and that she was still trapped in that damn mansion, Rekka immediately sat up in shock, heaving deep breaths and shivering in the still silence when her eyes registered the unfamiliar surroundings. Slowly, her brain processed and confirmed the scenery of the rented apartment in Shinto. She let out a sigh, still feeling overwhelmingly tired and numb as if she was still battling the last stages of a rather nasty cold.
"Master."
Perhaps her senses were dulled by fever, for at the sound of someone's voice she sluggishly turned her head to confront and see who it was. An unfamiliar face peered at her from her right peered back at her. Dusky, unkempt waves of hair saddled back; a pair of tawny-amber eyes; a beauty mark, right below his right eye like a sorrowful teardrop.
Her chest clenched painfully, and Rekka leaned back a little to distance herself from her Servant. "Ugh… Lancer…" She muttered, shielding her eyes from the harsh, afternoon sunlight. No, not just the sunlight – but from just gazing at her Servant made it rather painful to do so. No, that would not make much sense – perhaps it was just her imagination? Lancer merely nodded his head once. "It's already mid-afternoon. You've slept for more than half a day."
Right. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Rekka was slightly mortified to see that she was still wearing yesterday's muddy pair of jeans and turtleneck to bed. Great, more things to throw into the wash, she thought dryly as she pulled the covers off. The nostalgic waves of summer left her mind in a hurry when she shivered in the cold, dry apartment. It was December after all; winter was coming. Stifling a yawn, she got up from bed despite her head feeling like a piece of concrete, and fumbled around for some things.
"You should eat something to quickly regain your strength." Her Servant came again. Despite the very stoic, firm expression on his face, one could easily tell he was masking his concern. It would be troublesome for Lancer to have her collapsing on him again. Rekka ignored him, shuffling the contents of her duffle bag before giving up trying to dig through her things. Picking up the bag, she dumped everything out upon her bed, and began to sort her belongings.
Grabbing a change of clothes, she marched right to the bathroom. "I'll eat after showering." And the bathroom door promptly snapped shut, with the sound of the lock clicking into place shortly after. Lancer glanced back at her messy bundle of belongings, letting out a silent sigh to see such clutter. Perhaps he could make use of the time right now. Surmising that enemy Servants would be less likely to launch an assault during mid-day, much less knowing their location, perhaps going out for a bit to gather some resources wouldn't hurt.
He'll be back in a short while anyhow, he reasoned.
And so he made his way silently out of the silent apartment, save for the muffled sounds of running water. There was much to do while his Master was preoccupied with her grooming and cleaning rituals; scouting out the immediate area, surveying their location… Closing the front door behind him, Lancer was greeted by the scenery of the bustling city in the distance; separated by a channel of water known as the Mion River, the apartment faced the metropolis district of Fuyuki City. Using the railing as a ledge to push himself up upon the roof, he leapt upon the two-storey apartment complex building and stood in the cold wind, his sharp eyes glancing over the entire city.
The sunlight glinted, and the figure disappeared.