Hey! Sorry it took almost a year to update, this year has been much crazier than I expected.
We get to have a look at how Cleo and Rider interact and a bit of Lancer and his Master
In other words, there is a new Fate SYOC that was just published by SeraphOfStars called Fate: Bonds of Silver if anyone is interested in submitting a master, submissions are still open and you can find the story info on her profile page.
Chapter 2- Settling In
Cleo POV
"Look upon my fabulous image Girl! Do I not look magnificent?" Rider asked, showing her his new look.
Cleo sighed as she studied her Servant. She was exhausted, they had only landed in Fuyuki city a few hours ago but instead of going to the house provided for them by Chaldea, Rider had demanded that they first scope out the city. And… that had led them to a clothing store where he then demanded that she buy him some casual clothes. After spending her allowance on two bags of unreasonably expensive clothing Cleo had finally convinced him to go to the house that Chaldea set up for them: the large estate where Marisbury Animusphere resided when he participated in the First Holy Grail War.
And now… Rider was showing off the clothes that she bought and as much as she hated to admit it, he did look good. He was currently dressed in a pair of slim black pants and a black button-down shirt with the top half undone to expose his upper body and he still wore various pieces of Egyptian jewelry on his wrist and on his neck.
"You look good Rider, but do you plan to be out of spirit form most of the time?" Cleo asked. She had wanted to ask before she bought the clothes but didn't have the courage to.
"Of course, Girl. I plan to view and sample all that the modern world has to offer. My realm was vastly superior in every way however, for us to win we must be prepared for anything."
"I guess that makes sense…" Cleo said, looking around. After buying the clothes they had come straight to the Animusphere mansion. It was far too big for just her, but Olga had insisted that she stay where her father had stayed. It was a nice place, but it was just big.
A Week Ago
She looked up to meet the burning, brilliant golden eyes of a brunette man with dark hair and deeply tanned olive skin. He wore an extremely tight, sleeveless, black shirt that showed the curves of his muscles, billowy black pants that had slits in the front from the knees down, and golden armor that had blue accents and a white cape.
"You're a rather insolent Master, aren't you?" Her Servant asked, his deep voice displeased as he looked around the plain room.
"What?" Cleo asked, confused.
"You'd summon me, King amongst Kings in such a shabby room? Not many would dare. I should have been summoned where the almighty Gods are able to look upon my Greatness!"
"What." Cleo felt her heart plummet to her stomach. So much for summoning a compatible Servant.
Her Servant looked her over with burning golden eyes, then back at the summoning circle, the barest hint of amusement playing across his features. "Girl, tell me, what catalyst did you use? I'm not seeing one."
Cleo swallowed, intimidated by the man's presence, it was overwhelming and the way he spoke wasn't a question, his tone was of someone who expected to be obeyed. "I didn't use any catalyst. I thought it would be better if I didn't." I was hoping for a Servant that was compatible with me… but I screwed up somewhere. She added to herself silently. Just her luck.
At her words, the focus of her Servant's gaze seemed to double, as if he was scanning her for something, and she wanted to shrink into her clothes. He was silent as he stared at her, his eyes seemingly staring right into her soul. "Where do you originate from?"
"I… uh… my mom is from London and my dad is from Egypt," Cleo said, confused, eyes widening when he burst out laughing.
"Excellent! It's to be expected that a descendant of Pharaohs can summon me without a catalyst!" He laughed, crossing his arms.
"And… you're which Servant exactly?" Cleo asked.
"Rider."
Present Day
"Girl! Do not ignore me!" Cleo snapped out of her thoughts and flinched at Rider's displeased glare.
"What was it?" Cleo asked, trying to shake off her anxiety.
"I said I want a proper tour of this property." Rider ordered, clearly expecting her to lead the way and she did with an annoyed grumble. What the hell was this Servant anyway? She knew he had been a Pharaoh when he'd been alive, but did he seriously have to be so bossy? Oh well, so far, he wasn't any worse than Olga on a bad day.
"Follow me." She sighed, leading him around the property until he was satisfied. They stopped in front of the front door, with Rider looking around at the neatly trimmed grass and bushes behind the Animusphere closed gates.
"This is a smart choice for a mage to stay. There are already wards up for your safety." Rider praised.
Cleo nodded along but she was expecting a 'but' to come in somewhere and a few seconds later she was proved right.
"But a great pharaoh such as I cannot live here," Rider said in a boastful tone. "But don't worry I always have a place to stay." With a snap of his fingers, a gold circle appeared in above the mansion.
Cleo's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she saw the shape of a pyramid appear from the gold circle. She was at a loss for words as she watched it emerge and gently rest above the house. That was a frickin' pyramid Rider just summoned. And it was gigantic, she knew it was stupid but she was afraid that it would fall on the mansion; it was the size of one the pyramids she had seen as a child when her parents took her to Egypt for a visit.
"Do not worry Girl, no mage or human will be able to see it and I will soon cast various charms and spells around the area to protect us from spies. It will be in addition to the wards already placed here. Now lead me back to the entertainment space," he ordered.
Cleo swallowed her annoyance at his tone and simply nodded, leading him back to the living room where they had left all their shopping bags. Once inside Rider took his staff and drew a hieroglyph on the inner wall of the living room which quickly changed into a door.
"This will take you to my pyramid," Rider explained to her, leading her through the doorway. "Now come and see my glory."
Cleo nodded and followed Rider up the steps. When they reached the top of the staircase, she was in awe at what she saw. "This is all yours?" She said uncertainly as she looked around at the walls, they were filled with hieroglyphs and paintings of various scenes of Egyptian history.
"This is my throne room," Rider said simply as he led her to the front. Rider easily sat on the throne as a blue figure emerged from behind him.
Cleo looked down at the thing in surprise, more curious than anything. Her wonder was beating back her annoyance at Rider's demanding personality, "What is that thing," she asked, kneeling to get a closer look at it. More had appeared in the time she spoke and the more she looked the more she realized that they were rather... cute.
"Sphinxes," Rider said casually. "They are one of my many possessions and will help us with this war," he said as he stroked the chin of one of the sphinxes.
"They look like they're molded out of the night sky," Cleo breathed in awe, noticing that one of the sphinxes was making its way to her. It was a small one, no larger than a big dog. Cleo stared at the creature as it looked at her before rubbing up against her knee like a cat, shocking her.
"He likes you," Rider said. "Go ahead and pet it, he will not harm you."
Cleo gave him a quick glance before hesitatingly reaching out and gently petting the sphinx causing it to purr. Cleo felt a small smile tug at her lips... it really was cute, and it had soft fur which surprised her a bit.
"Now mage, I will fortify our position. Tomorrow, we shall start to strategize for the war." Rider said in a tone that sounded more like an order. "You may have summoned me but as I am the Pharaoh it is your job to only follow my orders. I will win this Holy Grail and you will advise and serve me diligently do you understand?" He said in a stern tone, his eyes looking down at her like molten gold.
Cleo bit back her instinctual reply, knowing that Rider would not take any form of back-talk easily. Never mind that she was the master, and he was a servant.
"Whatever you say Rider; I will do all that I can so that we can win," she said honestly, meeting his gaze. Even if he annoyed her and made her a bit nervous, she would not cower in front of him. Thankfully, this time it seemed to amuse him more than anything.
Rider smirked at her and laughed, "You will soon learn how to properly serve a Pharaoh as great as I now go, and rest we have a war to win."
Cleo nodded, deciding to give her Servant a polite bow before she headed back down to the mansion. Great. Now there were two overly large and grand spaces that were their base.
When she got to her bed, she plopped down on it face first, suddenly feeling completely exhausted. Today had been longer and more stressful than she had ever expected it to be. It was a bit too much to process.
"This war is going to be a bit more stressful than I thought," she sighed as she looked up at the ceiling and smiled. "But I guess he isn't too bad," she thought as she noticed the small sphinx who had greeted her in the pyramid. It hopped onto her bed and stretched out next to her. Cleo grinned and began to scratch the sphinx behind its ear, causing it to purr.
"He is arrogant but at least he is strong. He won't lose easily," She mumbled to herself. "Maybe with him as my Servant, I can get some answers that I needed."
Answers on how her parents had really died.
Bryn POV
Bryn Havard was dreaming, that much she knew. If only she could tell where she was; she was standing in front of a shimmering lake, tall, lush trees surrounding her, it seemed to be early morning since there was a thin layer of mist that hovered over the lake's surface.
"Hello?!" Bryn called, looking around, she wasn't panicking, instead, she felt much more curious, there was a sense of calm to this place as if she had been there before. "Lancer?"
Nothing. She looked around once more and noticed that the mist was thicker than it had been only a moment before. "What the hell?" She started to back away, but the mist was everywhere surrounding her.
She also noticed that it was now night, instead of day, the light of the full moon and stars giving the lake a silvery glow. When the hell did that happen? Wasn't the sun just at its peak?
"Hello," Bryn spun at a voice behind her and saw a woman standing in front of her, the moonlight seemed to caress her skin, but the oddest thing was that even though the two of them were close to each other, the woman's features seemed oddly blurred, making it hard for Bryn to see details and her voice seemed far away.
"Who are you?" Bryn asked, narrowing her eyes on the woman, but she didn't move back. It didn't seem like the woman wanted to hurt her.
The woman tried to reply but her words came out sounding jumbled together.
Bryn blinked and was about to ask the woman to repeat herself when she suddenly felt herself be pulled back by an unseen force, away from the woman and the lake. She let out a startled yelp before darkness took over her vision and she landed on something soft.
"..." Bryn waited a few minutes before she blinked open her eyes to see sunlight streaming into her room, she was back in the room of the small house she was renting for the Holy Grail War and everything looked like it was in place.
"Was that a dream?" She wondered, sitting up slowly in her bed and looking out the window.
"Master, are you okay?" A Servant materialized in the air beside her bed. He was tall and broad-shouldered with fair skin, tousled light silvery hair, and kind blue eyes. He wore a tight full-body suit that was mostly black, but the legs were white. Over the body suit, he wore thick white armor that covered his chest, shoulders, and arms, and a large dark brown belt crossed his hips. Lastly, he wore a white mantle that hung to his ankles, the inside clothes yellow instead of white.
"I'm fine Lancer," Bryn said, giving him a reassuring smile as she stood up, stretching out her limbs. "I think last night's summoning tired me out more than I thought."
It was the truth. She had only summoned Lancer a few hours ago and the summoning ritual had taken more out of her than she had thought. Maybe that was why she was having weird dreams. "Is there anything you wanted to do today?" She asked as she wandered over to the mirror, taking in her appearance. Fair skin, wavy black hair, and cobalt blue eyes. Thank god she looked like herself, for some reason, she didn't think the face looking back at her from the mirror would be hers.
"I'd like to scout out the city," Lancer said immediately. "It would be a good strategy to get the layout of Fuyuki City."
"Right. Just let me get ready." Bryn said, shutting the bathroom door and quickly changing, throwing on a simple dark shirt and jeans before pulling her hair up into a ponytail but leaving a few strands to frame her face. "Okay, let's go!" She said, swinging the door back open and stepping out but didn't get a reply from Lancer.
Bryn blinked in surprise. "Lancer?" She made her way out of her bedroom and looked around the house, freezing at the kitchen door when she saw Lancer making tea.
"I thought you'd like some breakfast before we headed out Master. I'm sure it'll be another long day for you and you did use a lot of magic last night." Lancer said kindly, setting the tea and some pastries down at the table for her.
Bryn blinked stunned at him again. She knew who the servant she had summoned was, so she shouldn't be so surprised he was so courteous, but she was still taken aback. "... thank you." She said sitting down at the table and taking a sip of the tea, smiling a moment later. "It's great! Thank you, Lancer!"
Lancer smiled at her, "I'm glad you like it." He had made himself tea as well but hadn't gotten a pastry, so she gave him one of hers since he had piled too much food onto her plate, to begin with. It was like he thought he was feeding an army.
The two of them ate in compatible silence before Lancer broke it, "Master if you don't mind me asking, I have a question."
"Go ahead." Bryn nodded. It was only natural after all.
"Why are you participating in the Holy Grail War? What is your wish?" Lancer asked.
"Hmmm," Bryn looked into her teacup, wondering how she should answer. "I don't really know. I never wanted to be in the war if I'm honest. But the organization I work for forced me to be. So, I guess I'm fighting for their benefit."
"You don't have a wish?" Lancer pressed.
"If I had a wish it would have to be to cure all diseases." Bryn said, "My mother died from an incurable disease and my older sister had one too. It was my sister's wish to be able to find a way to cure as many ailments as possible in the world, so I guess it's mine too now."
"Are you a doctor?" Lancer asked curiously. He trusted himself to be a good judge of character and he never would have guessed that Bryn was a healer in training.
Bryn snorted "Of course not. I'm by no means a healer or even close to knowing any type of medical knowledge. But my sister did and since she's gone, I just want to carry on her will." She added sadly.
"Even if it's against your organization's interest?" Lancer asked and he blinked in surprise when Bryn laughed.
"I could give two shits about what my organization wants. In every sense of the word, I'm an outcast in that organization and now just because I'm a Master, they think they can butter me up to do what they want? For self-proclaimed geniuses they sure are stupid." She snorted again as she rolled her eyes. They were lucky she never set their stupid building on fire.
"So you won't follow their orders?" Lancer asked.
"I'll play along if it helps me but if it doesn't, I'll just do my own thing." Bryn shrugged. "Does that bother you?" Based on who he was, she imagined loyalty to one's organization would mean a great deal to him.
Lancer shook his head, "You're my Master, so the only orders I'll follow are yours. I give you my word." He smiled kindly at her.
Bryn smiled back. "Thank you, Lancer." Well, that was a relief to know. She stood up, done with their meal, and finally ready to start their day. "Shall we go Lancer?"
"Of course." Lancer dematerialized and silently followed her out the door, ready to get his first glimpse of their battlefield.
And that's chapter 2! Leave a review and let me know what you guys think.
Next chapter we'll get to see more of the other master's. I promise you guys won't have to wait a year till the next update!
And who do you guys think Rider and Lancer are?
