"Is that the best you've got? If you don't improve soon, your arm's gonna break off!"
Scáthach's barks made Bazett both nervous and motivated as she kept punching forward in an attempt to hit her mentor's face. The issue was that Scáthach was twirling her spear in front of her so fast it was releasing a constant windstorm right in Bazett's face and the magus was meant to punch through that makeshift fan, hit the queen, and pull her arm back before the rotating pole hit her extended arm. It was like a child trying to quickly slip their hand past the spinning blades of an electric fan and pull it back before getting hit, only to obviously fail and hurt themselves. Bazett's arm was covered in welts and bruises, the bones within cracked and splintered from colliding into the red spear too many times to count. This was the brutal and probably somewhat inefficient training regime that Scáthach was putting Bazett through to learn the Flashing Fist skill which would let the mage punch at faster-than-light speed. It was one of the many skills that the queen of the Land of Shadows planned to teach Bazett along with the Primordial Runes.
"Come on! You think you can beat a Servant with punches that slow?" The other Scáthach, the one still regrowing her limbs while watching from the sidelines, the one sitting on a parapet at the edge of the castle tower, was also heckling Bazett to try and push her.
There were two Scáthach's now and it made Bazett's already conflicted feelings about the woman become even more complicated. It was the night of the second day of the war and Bazett and Lancer were still recovering and preparing to rejoin the fight. They had retreated to the Land of Shadows and were now under the care of the still living Scáthach. It was kind of her to take care of the duo and she was even generous enough to help with training Bazett while the Servant version of her recovered. The Land of Shadows wasn't the most attractive landscape given it consisted of a gray castle on a gray mountain in a gray mountain range under a gray cloudy sky, but Bazett had no right to complain. The living Scáthach had been as hospitable as can be. The two Scáthachs really were exactly the same, barring Lancer Scáthach lacking limbs beyond the half-finished versions she currently had. They were both powerful and skilled. They were both kind, even if they tried to hide it. They were both calm and quirky. They were both drop dead gorgeous with their velvety hair and stunning red eyes that paired perfectly with her subtle yet plush lips and-aaaaaaaahhhhhhh, Bazett was having the thoughts again!
Bazett's embarrassment wasn't helped by the red bodysuit she was wearing that was quite similar to Scáthach's own. This was the type of outfit Scáthach made all her students wear, even Cú Chulainn, and Bazett wasn't going to be an exception. She said flexible bodysuits like this one allowed the body optimal flexibility and the magus believed her, The thing was that the form fitting nature of the outfit that made it fit across every curve and emphasize them made it difficult not to think that there wasn't at least a part of Scáthach's preference for the outfit that was motivated by more lascivious interests. Bazett wasn't as comfortable with the outfit as her mentor was due to her own lack of confidence in her body, so she had a permanent blush on her face for as long as the bodysuit graced her skin. Bazett didn't have the gentle curves and perfect proportions that Scáthach had, the shapely legs that led into a thin, but fit waist which continued up to her immaculate breasts-aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, no, stop, none of that!
Bazett didn't have time for thoughts like that! She had to train and Scáthach wasn't interested in having any kind of a relationship anyway. Scáthach wanted to die.
She wanted to die.
Both Scáthachs did. It was so sad.
"Da!" Bazett's hand was hit by the spear as it failed to get past its rotation. That was worse than ever. She hadn't managed to extend her arm enough to touch Scáthach yet, but she'd at least been able to get her hand through before her forearm got hit. She was getting tired and regressing rather than improving which was wasting Scáthach's precious time.
A huff from the limbed Scáthach. "Let's take a break."
"Wait, really?" Scáthach never let Bazett have a break unless she absolutely had to. Relentlessness was the core of the queen's teaching methodology.
"You've stopped progressing and we've been at this for a while. Take a break. You've already learned a few skills and some of the Primordial Runes so it isn't like you haven't been learning or working hard. You just need some time to regain your energy." The queen drew a Primordial Rune on Bazett's arm which completely healed it. Normally, Scáthach saw Bazett tiring as a sign that she had to push her harder, at least that's what Bazett had determined based on Scáthach's actions up until now, but perhaps her assessment was imperfect. It wouldn't be the only imperfect thing about her. "Rest for now. I'll start the preparations for our next meal in the meantime."
Bazett watched the living Scáthach leave down a stairway, all while admiring her physical perfection. Such an amazing teacher who raised some of the greatest heroes in Irish history, and yet even she couldn't turn Bazett into a competent fighter. The magus was a whole new level of hopeless.
"You're not hopeless." The other Scáthach said. Bazett would have asked how the Lancer knew what she was thinking, but the queen's intuition and analytical ability was unparalleled so the answer was obvious.
"I know, but…I don't know. I know I've made progress, but it's been barely anything and I feel like I'm wasting your time, both of you."
"I wouldn't be trying to teach you if it wasn't a worthwhile endeavor. You have potential beyond what you realize. You just need to be patient and less self-deprecating."
"I understand."
"No, you don't. You still haven't accepted yourself."
"I don't know how to accept myself."
"You need to understand that you are worth accepting."
"And how do I understand that? Everything in my life has told me I'm not worthy of acceptance. When I decided to join the Clock Tower, my parents disowned me. The Clock Tower didn't want me and since then, the only people who ever treated me as valuable are Kirei Kotomine, and that's just a level of mutual respect, and you, and that's just because I'm your Master and I have some skill at fighting." Bazett sat on the parapet opposite of Scáthach who closed her eyes.
There was silence. Bazett looked at Scáthach as her face remained as emotionless as ever. She just sat there with only her thoughts for company. Bazett was thus stuck with only her self-denial to keep her company which made her view herself with disdain. She was truly a waste of space who had gotten way in over her head when she joined this Holy Grail War. It was only thanks to Kirei that she was even invited to take part in it and it was only because of Scáthach that she had survived for as long as she had.
Twitch. Scáthach's face began to twitch in various ways. This was unprecedented given the monarch's usual poise. She was clearly pondering things that she was struggling with, coming to a decision that was difficult. What could it have possibly been? One of the queen's stumps began to waggle a bit in a fidgety manner that really made Bazett deathly curious as to what the woman was contemplating. At the same time, Bazett considered walking away to give Scáthach time to be alone with her thoughts rather than needing to be conscious of Bazett's presence.
Bazett got up and began to walk away to leave her mentor alone.
"I don't just see value in you as my Master and student." Freeze. Bazett couldn't take another step as Scáthach's words pinned her in place with surprise and confusion. "You are more than that. That is to say, you are more than that to me."
Bazett whipped around to face Scáthach who was looking away with her face hidden by her hair like a curtain. What did she mean by that? Was she implying that Bazett held some special place in the queen's mind? Her heart? Impossible. These had to be empty platitudes for the queen herself had made it clear that their relationship was purely business and nothing more. But Scáthach wasn't one to lie, at least Bazett didn't believe she was. The queen had too much integrity to lie. So what was this? Could she actually have been speaking genuinely? Had she changed her previous stance and was now admitting that? But then what could Bazett have possibly become to Scáthach now that things had changed?
"What do you mean?"
Scáthach took her time before she spoke again. "To me, you are special. You are more than my student and more than my Master. Spending time with you has been enjoyable and not in a way that is merely acceptable. Being with you has been fun. Your presence has made my time here a positive experience and you are someone I'm glad to have met. You are an exceptional individual who is more than worthy of my time and you should never question that."
"Really? You're not just saying that to motivate me, right?"
"I'm not. I just realized that being obtuse at this point is only going to be harmful for the both of us. I like you as a person. You make me happy. If you need proof of how much you mean to me, then let me tell you about a certain part of last night's events." Scáthach rushed out that last sentence as if to make it so she couldn't stop herself.
This was making Bazett's heart pound like she was being told the most riveting tale ever told and Scáthach had yet to even begin relaying her story. The queen said she liked Bazett and that Bazett made Scáthach happy. It was just so much to hear from a person so reticent about everything to the point that the monarch's inner workings were a near enigma to Bazett.
"What happened?"
"Whilst in the midst of combat with Archer, I was eventually struck by his Noble Phantasm and was left without my limbs and drained of most of my energy. I was left on the ground with Archer standing above and about to end my life with his arrow. In that moment, I was given all I had ever wanted. I got to face and be defeated by a warrior of the highest conceivable caliber and was about to have my assuredly long life ended by him. It was the very thing I would have asked the Holy Grail for. I had given in with happiness in my heart, but there was something gnawing at me. It was ripping away at my desire to perish and made me uncomfortable in a way I was unfamiliar with. I had received everything I had wanted, and yet it wasn't satisfying, or rather, it wasn't satisfying enough to justify itself. And so I evaded Archer's arrow and kept on fighting with the resolve to survive."
"You really gave up on your wish?"
"I suppose so. I wasn't sure if that was merely for that moment, or if I had completely abandoned that dream. I think that the answer is the latter, at least for now."
"But what was that thing that was gnawing at you? Just the feeling that you wouldn't be completely happy to die?"
"It was you. I remembered you and I realized that I didn't want to leave you alone."
The words that reached Bazett's ears were hard to believe. They had to be some sort of illusion. Perhaps this whole moment was a dream, or maybe some simulation created by Descartes' demon. There was no way that Scáthach actually just admitted that she abandoned her desire for death purely for Bazett's sake.
"Can you repeat that? I think I misheard."
"I said that I chose not to die, because I like spending time with you. You make me enjoy living." Scáthach turned her head to face Bazett and…was she blushing? Her face was just a little redder than normal. It was really cute. Adorable, actually. The cool and collected Scáthach who was always in control was flustered with her eyes a little wider than normal and her lips pursed just a touch. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed any difference in Scáthach's expression, but it was easy to spot the difference when you've stared at the queen's immaculate face as much as Bazett. This had to be some kind of hallucination that was tricking Bazett into believing that Scáthach had special feelings for her. But there was no reason to deny this reality. Everything told Bazett that this world was real, that this moment was true, and that Scáthach really did care about Bazett.
Bazett was important to Scáthach in a special way beyond the ways that were most obvious. The magus was so important to Scáthach that the queen decided to keep on living despite desiring death for centuries. A wish that had endured for longer than most humans lived suddenly crumbled from just a few days of Scáthach and Bazett enjoying each other's company. Bazett didn't know what she could have possibly have done to become so important to the queen, but she felt pride mixed with a sense of unworthiness. Did she deserve such a special honor? Was she being given a privilege that should have gone to a different individual who was stronger and more kind, someone who was a true hero like Scáthach wanted?
There was no point asking such questions, as doing so would imply Scáthach had made a mistake in her analysis and that she did not understand her own emotions. That would be an insult to Scáthach and would be a rejection of the queen's emotions. Bazett was worthy in Scáthach's eyes and the magus had to accept that and be appreciative, and she was very appreciative. To mean so much to such a legend made Bazett feel like she was on cloud nine for the first time in her life. This was a million steps beyond the true acceptance that Bazett had always craved since she left her home in Ireland and was rejected by almost everyone in her life. Bazett had to hold back her tears out of fear of embarrassing herself in front of what may have become the most important person in her life.
Did this mean Scáthach would stay after the war? They could spend the rest of their lives together and never be alone again, or at least until Bazett died from something or other. That was right, Bazett would still die someday and then Scáthach would be all alone again. She'd probably just choose to run out of magical energy and disappear at that point. The version of Scáthach in the Throne of Heroes wouldn't remember anything they did together, so it would be like they had never met in the first place. Their happiness would be temporary and Bazett would fail to truly make Scáthach's existence eternally fulfilled.
Unless Bazett wished on the Grail to be immortal, too. Then everything would be fine and they would keep each other company for the rest of eternity. That sounded nice. Bazett hadn't been sure of what she was fighting for, but now she was completely sure of why she needed to win the Holy Grail War. She would do it for Scáthach to make sure that the queen never had to suffer in silence the way she had for far too long. For the first time in a long time, Bazett had found a purpose beyond just doing a job. She would make Scáthach happy.
"Thank you, Scáthach. That means more to me than-than anything I think anyone's ever told me before."
"You're welcome. I'm glad you understood what I was trying to say."
Bazett smiled and just stared up at the gray sky that loomed above. It suddenly didn't look so oppressive anymore. The whole world was so much more vibrant now. All the different shades of gray were like a rainbow when they had previously blended together into a muddled mess. This place still wasn't the most visually appealing. It wasn't a place Bazett would want to stay so it was a good thing that Bazett and Scáthach would be leaving soon enough.
But the living Scáthach wouldn't. She was stuck here-wait, was she stuck here? Thanks to the Servant Scáthach, the living Scáthach could leave the Land of Shadows with Lancer and Bazett if she wanted. But she was probably like how Servant Scáthach was in that she felt like she didn't belong in the modern world and just wanted to die. Maybe she could convince the living Scáthach to come with them to get the Grail and wish for someone to kill her, only for Bazett to gradually change the living Scáthach's mind about wanting to die like Bazett did by spending time with the Servant Scáthach. That could work, right? It was worth a shot.
"If you want to try and convince the other me to come with us, we can try." the servant Scáthach said. Bazett really liked Scáthach, but the way she always knew what other people were thinking was getting a little unsettling.
"You think we could?"
"The other Scáthach is functionally the same as me. If I could be swayed by you, the other me can as well."
"But she doesn't know me yet, and she won't want to interfere with the modern world like you. The only reason you showed up and we interacted so much was because of the Holy Grail War. She has no excuse to leave this kingdom."
"The fact that I have found happiness is all that is necessary to sway her. She will see the possibilities she has refused and will be convinced to come with us to the modern world. She'll probably refuse at first and will then come up with some roundabout reason to justify coming along with us."
"Like what you do."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Whenever you do something that upsets me or there's something you want to do that would go against your stated principles, you always come up with a reason afterward to retroactively justify a change in your behavior. Like when we went around town after I first summoned you, you originally said we were just working together in a professional sense, but you noticed that upset me and so you contrived a reason for us to bond. You act like you're more distant than you really are."
"And when did you suddenly become so savvy when it comes to my emotions?"
"I don't know." Even Bazett herself hadn't realized when she came to comprehend how Scáthach operated. "I guess it was just something I started to pick up on."
"That's assuming you're right in your analysis."
"Am I?"
"Who knows? It's up to you to prove your hypothesis is accurate."
"So I need evidence?"
"Yes."
"Does you saying you're the same as the other Scáthach and you also saying she acts the way I just described count?"
"You've grown rather cheeky since we first met." Scáthach was smirking.
"I suppose my confidence has grown, and all thanks to you."
"You flatter me. The potential was within you all along."
"But that potential only came out thanks to you. If I never entered into this war and met you, I would have probably continued doing as I had always done, following the orders of the Clock Tower day-in and day-out."
"So that isn't the life you want to live anymore?"
"No." Bazett's finger interlocked. "I originally left my home in Ireland in order to become something more. I realized thanks to you that I don't need to become something greater or more special than what I am now to be happy. To be honest, nothing is more appealing to me now than the idea of living a normal life with no more magecraft and Mystics involved."
"Do you imagine yourself living in some simple town? Do you see yourself as a housewife or a working woman?"
"I'd definitely need to get a job. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't."
"You could spend your free time rearing some children with whoever you choose as a husband."
"I don't know if I want kids or not. And I can't imagine myself in a romantic relationship with anyone except…" Say it. Say it. She had to say it. She had to give it a shot. "you." Bazett wanted to shut her eyes and just wait for a response, but she knew that if she was going to propose something so serious to Scáthach, she owed her the respect of looking the queen in the eye. Scáthach eyes were full in a way that Bazett had yet to see before. Bazett's words really had hit the queen hard, but it wasn't clear if it was in a good way, a bad way, or some way in between. "I know that you said our relationship isn't going to be romantic, but that was also when you said we were just working together for the sake of the Grail War. I just want to know how you feel now because, well, I like you. I like you in a way that I've never really felt before. We've only just met and I know this is definitely rushing into a relationship, but we don't have to get into some big thing right now. I just want to know if you feel the same way I do, and if we can give it a try. By a try, I mean give us a try, a relationship between us. A romantic relationship. If you say no that's okay, I'll accept that, but I want to know what you really feel. I won't be able to focus if I don't know."
Scáthach gradually lessened her surprise and was about to look away before stopping herself and maintaining eye contact with Bazett.
"I appreciate your forwardness." Scáthach smiled, but it was more forced this time. "I should also be forward with you. I've continued to be inconsistent with you and that must have been jarring. I've put you in an emotional abattoir and that isn't right. As for your desire for us to be together, I can't say it's a terrible idea. I know you are very dedicated to this possibility and are planning to wish for immortality so I won't be left alone someday. You really are kind." The smile on the queen's face became more natural. "I myself have a complex relationship with the romantic. I've had sexual relationships with other people, mostly men. I even had a child with one of those men and thus, my daughter Uathach was born. I even felt an attraction to Setanta when he grew into a man, but it would have been inappropriate to enter a relationship with someone I basically raised so I restrained myself. Despite my sexual knowledge, I never became wise to romance beyond the antediluvian techniques involved in traditional courtship. To truly enter a romantic relationship requires emotional vulnerability and that is something I've avoided for most of my life upon my realization about my eventual isolation in the Land of Shadows. My point is that it is questionable as to my competence when it comes to being in a romantic relationship."
"It's still hard to imagine you being bad at anything."
"Perhaps that's because my greatest skill is appearing to be more special than I am. My point is that I am not sure a relationship between us would work out due to my own ineptitude."
"But I still think we should try!" Bazett took a few steps forward without realizing she had. "You say you aren't sure you can be emotionally open, but you're opening up right now." Bazett was right in front of Scáthach.
"But I am not sure this is something I can maintain."
"And you don't know if you can't maintain it either. We can at least try."
"You might get hurt, emotionally at least."
"I can handle that. I still want to try making this work. This is one of the first times I've ever known what I've wanted to do without it being something someone else told me to do. I won't force you to say yes, but if you do say yes, I will give my all to this relationship. I know I'm not great with emotions or relationships, but that's all the more reason why you shouldn't feel bad that you aren't good with romance. We both don't know what we're doing, so we'll figure it out together." Bazett's blush due to her outfit became even deeper as she realized how overeager she looked. "I'm sorry if I'm being pushy. I don't want to force you into anything so don't agree to us being in a relationship if it's just for my sake. I want you to be happy more than anything else." Bazett braced herself for the worst, but was met with chuckles which soon turned to outright laughter.
"You really are one of a kind." The queen said between gasps for air. Scáthach was laughing so uproariously that it was unsettling in how uncharacteristic it was. "You're so awkward in the most adorable way." Bazett wondered how red she must have been at this point as her body temperature continued to skyrocket. "You really do have me smitten. Alright, I have a little proposal for you."
"P-Pro-Proposal?" Hearing Scáthach say she was smitten had made Bazett's heart aflutter.
"We're going to continue your training, and if you meet or surpass my expectations, we'll have sex."
"Se-s-what? What? We haven't even kissed yet, or done anything? Are we going to be a couple then?"
"The sex will be to see if our feelings are more than just sexual, and to see if we really are compatible with each other. Whether we become a couple or not will depend on how things go and how we're feeling afterwards."
"O-Okay."
"But you have to complete my training first. You need to do what I know you can and learn all the Primordial Runes and the Skills I want to teach you. Also, we'll need to wait for my limbs to finish growing back. Deal?"
"Deal!" Bazett was more motivated than ever. She no longer doubted if she could meet Scáthach's expectations, she was going to do what she had to. There were no more questions. She was going to master every Skill and learn every Primordial Rune and then she and Scáthach would have sex! Bazett had never had sex before and would have no idea what she was doing, but those were worries for later!
"I missed quite an interesting conversation." The living Scáthach had returned and Bazett almost let her boldness waver from embarrassment, but then she steeled herself and became full of temerity. No questioning herself, Bazett had to act. "Are you ready to continue your training?"
"Yes!" Bazett raised her fists and the living Scáthach wasted no time in beginning to twirl Gáe Bolg again.
As the wind blew and Bazett focused, the rotation of the polearm looked like it was slowing, but it was actually that Bazett's senses and thought processing speed were heightening. She was pushing her limits as she was filled with vim and vigor. Some muscles in the magus' body tightened and became rock-solid while other muscles were so soft they were like rubber.
Bazett got ready to punch and for the first time, every motion was perfect. Every part of her body rotated in the most optimal fashion and the energy inside Bazett was all focused and channeled with no strength wasted. The magus' fist moved so fast that it became invisible due to it transcending light speed. The physics-defying punch traveled at the perfect trajectory and with the necessary timing to avoid the spinning spear and head right for Scáthach's face. The queen didn't even have time to realize what was happening before Bazett's fist rammed into her face.
The arm pulled back just as quickly as it extended and it took a second before there was a ripple in the air and Scáthach rocketed away, her heels digging through the stone of the castle roof as she forced herself to a stop before she got launched a kilometer away. The queen's face was unharmed, but her hair was a mess and she stumbled when she tried to take a step before she righted herself.
Bazett's hyper-focused state dissipated and she realized what she had just done.
She hit Scáthach. She actually managed to hit her. Bazett would have considered it a fluke if it weren't for the fact that Scáthach wouldn't get hit by a lucky punch. Did Bazett master the Flashing Fist Skill that quickly thanks to getting just a little bit of extra motivation? Motivation in the form of sex? Was Bazett a pervert or Sexually repressed? Sexually repressed.
Also, Bazett just hit Scáthach, oh God, Bazett felt really bad. She just punched her mentor in the nose which was probably a social faux pas of some kind, the worst kind, the absolute worst kind. It didn't help that the face Bazett just punched was the same face as the woman she had become completely infatuated with.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you like that out of nowhere, well, that isn't true I guess since the whole point of this exercise was to do what I just did, but I didn't want to hurt you, not to say that I did hurt you since there's no way I'm strong enough to do so-"
"Calm yourself. You did nothing wrong." The living Scáthach started straightening out her hair with her hand. "That was perfect. Keep doing that and this training will be a breeze for you."
Bazett really had improved in a flash with just a little encouragement from Scáthach. All that was necessary was an attempt to be more honest and direct and things had made a sudden upturn all around for Bazett.
"Don't think we're done yet. We're going to keep doing this until you can hit me consistently" The limbed Scáthach twirled her Gáe Bolg again and this time it was nowhere near as intimidating as it used to be. This trial that previously appeared insurmountable now looked feasible. She could actually do this.
Bazett snuck a glance at the Scáthach she had fallen for and saw that the queen was pleased. That was all that was necessary to reinforce Bazett's new confidence and ready her for the rest of her training. Bazett finally knew what she wanted in life and she was going to get it no matter what she had to do.
The passion for life Bazett felt when she was a little girl reading the Ulster Cycle and getting sucked into Cú Chulainn's story while dreaming of going on adventures of her own had returned. Bazett had found her way out of the tunnel she had found herself in upon entering the employ of the Clock Tower that left her numb and emotionless and now she was looking upon a sprawling vista of possibilities. The possibility Bazett decided to take a chance on was the one where she might live a simple life full of love with Scáthach. Bazett could get burned, but it was worth a shot.