By the Bonfire: Reaching an Understanding

Ritsuka panted heavily as he continued to push his legs past their limits in order to reach the finish line. However, before he could even think to rest his body, Verndari's voice called out and his words were as welcome as a baseball bat to the kneecaps.

"Another lap, My Liege." Verndari ordered, causing Ritsuka to let out a pain breath as he dragged his body forwards. The incident with the stolen dumplings had once again highlighted that when it came to cross country and continued exercise he wasn't actually that good.

Hence why they were making use of the simulator to create a simple running track for him to use. Ritsuka wasn't too familiar with the intricacies of the simulator itself although considering that Roman had the face of a man who'd long since given up understanding anything while Da Vinci was explaining the basics to him, he imagined that it might not matter all that much beyond 'Hologram room makes Holograms that you can use'.

All of which eventually boiled down to his current situation right now, which was doing runs. A one kilometre run. Every morning, although now it had apparently been pushed to one and a half. Not something he could say he enjoyed right now.

He wasn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination however considering the extent to which he would probably have to run it was decided – mainly by the Director and Roman – that he would have to get himself into slightly better shape. Verndari had already been working on building Ritsuka's fitness with early morning exercises, however he had only increased them.

They weren't exactly strenuous but they were beyond what he was initially comfortable with. Verndari had described it as slowly but surely increasing his limits. Although considering he felt like keeling over any second he imagined he might have reached his limit already.

"You can do it Senpai!" Mash's cheers from the sidelines only made him feel a bit more guilty, she really did have a lot of faith in him. If nothing else, falling flat on his face before he finished the last lap would be embarrassing.

What Ritsuka wasn't aware of was the growing crowd just outside the door to the simulator.

"He looks like he's about to die." Cu pointed out, leaning against the doorframe and staring at the swaggering form of Ritsuka as he tried to maintain some semblance of running technique. "He's not gonna go that much further."

"Because he's pushing himself too hard." Archer sighed "That and he's being treated like a Knight."

"Gee, can't imagine why that is." The Lancer snorted dismissively "Wonder if the guy in full plate armour can answer that little mystery for us."

"Hmph." Archer scoffed "My point stands. If he had been put into a position where he actively needs to run for his life, then his Servants have already failed him. That and I doubt he could outpace anything."

"I think its more about the pride of not being carried like a lass." Cu scoffed "I wouldn't want to have that happen to me every time I needed to get somewhere."

"Pride." Archer huffed "Its the sensible solution to rely on his Servants for transportation." he looked over his shoulder to the woman behind him "He could just as easily use your chariot if he really needed to get somewhere."

Boudica gave him a shake of her head "While that is true, It would consume a fair bit of magical energy and leave us at a disadvantage if we immediately encountered a Servant, depending on how long I had my chariot manifested."

Archer couldn't argue against that particular point, while it was true that their Master could maintain multiple Servants on the field, it was only a physical presence. Noble Phantasms were not something they could use freely and it was still a link channelled through him to Chaldea's generators.

It didn't matter how much magical energy they could provide, it meant nothing if the Master couldn't handle large quantities of it. When it came to Magecraft, the boy was unfortunately quite useless.

"Look at him go…" The three turned their heads towards their final guest, she was sat on the ground just near the edge of the track, they all held similar looks of discomfort at the slightly heated expression on Kiyohime's face. "As expected on Anchin-sama."

"Yeah…" Cu nodded lethargically "Real picture of endurance right there."

Kiyohime set him a rather withering glare "Anchin-sama is trying his best to improve upon his already perfect self."

Archer furrowed his brows. That sentence didn't make sense if one considered that perfection couldn't be improved upon.

"Regardless." She giggled "He looks most marvellous, doesn't he?" her enraptured tone had Boudica let out a sigh and look away. Berserkers all had some manner of insanity to them, although it appeared that hers was troublesome. The way in which their Master was already looking slightly uncomfortable whenever the Dragon Girl made her appearance was becoming more and more noticeable.

However, that discomfort was nothing compared to another individual.

Cu heard the slight clump of something hard striking metal, he looked over his shoulder behind the other two. Archer and Boudica noticed something was wrong by the way his eyes nearly bugged out of his skull and he looked ready to launch himself. The pair turned around and Archer found himself at eye height with a chiselled stone armour piece. His eyes trailed up to see the rather intimidating form of Havel stood just behind them, arms crossed in front of his chest and helmet pointedly looking towards the Master.

That was a slightly rarer sight. Archer and Boudica had already heard much about Havel's encounters with the Magi around Chaldea and the latter had a brief encounter with him during the moon festival.

Archer raised an eyebrow at the Berserker before he turned back around. Cu was slower to do so and Boudica turned in such a way that she could keep an eye on the Berserker and the Master at the same time.

Havel watched as Ritsuka slowed his pace considerable, doubling over and clasping his hands on his knees to try and balance himself. The boy was taking in heavy lungfuls of air as he tried to get oxygen back into his body. He looked tired, horribly so as if he had been fighting for a full day. He hadn't.

He'd been running for around six minutes.

It was actually pathetic. Havel grunted dismissively, turning his head away from the display and moving back down the hallway. A Sorcerer who couldn't even do sorcery was something of an amusing sight, however apparently they had been something of a sudden conscript. That was the best that Havel could understand. So the boy would try and better himself.

But he was weak. He would remain weak and no amount of running would ever absolve him of that.

He must have known that. He must know that. Even in his mentally handicapped state, he understood that the boy had to know that no amount of training would ever be able to prevent him from crushing his skull with all the effort of stepping on an egg. The boy had to know that so why did he even bother?

The Boy was a confusing Sorcerer.

Unless…

Havel paused.

Did using magic make someone a Sorcerer?

Miracle users and Pyromancers used magic but they weren't sorcerers. So was the boy a magic user rather than a sorcerer?

He didn't use Miracles or Pyromancy so there wasn't much else he could be. That and they actively called themselves Mages, a common descriptor for Sorcerers. No, the boy was a Sorcerer. That much Havel knew, they were a sorcerer of awful talent and skill but a sorcerer nonetheless.

It didn't matter to him all that much right now, he'd already decided that the boy would have a single opportunity to prove himself better than other Sorcerers so that he could at least tolerate his presence without having the urge to kill him on the spot. The affection of the Dragon crossbreed however...made it very difficult to adhere to that decision. The boy must have done something to make the beast so enamoured with him.

Either that or they were a Dragon Lover.

He couldn't decide which was the worse option.

The idea that someone who held some meagre sliver of command over him could ever tolerate dragons of the like of Seath was an insult. No, it was sickening. Disgusting to his very being. A horrible thought came to him. The boy was desperate for help of any kind and they had already proven that when it came to dragons they didn't see them for the vermin that they were. Even if he was a terrible sorcerer, those around him weren't.

The boy was an idiot. A naive idiot. He would be manipulated easily or he would be tempted by power.

They could summon Seath.

They could summon Seath and deny him the chance to finally put the creature down once and for all. Worse than that, they could work with him. Allow him the opportunity to sink his fangs into this place. They would become like the Sorcerers he despised so much. He could already see it in some of them, that ambition. That complete lack of any kind of boundary. That fool who tried to look at his weapon was one such, it would have been better for everyone if he had killed them.

Havel turned his body, looking back in the direction of the Simulator. His helmet hid his expression however it couldn't hide the growing aura of aggression emanating from him.

The boy was becoming a puzzle. Havel didn't like puzzles. It was a simple logic, sorcerers were the disciples of Seath and Seath was a worm. Not that the Everlasting Dragons were any better…

No. Perhaps that would be incorrect. Even in his maddened state Havel despised Seath above all other Dragons. That did not mean he liked them, however. He just despised Seath more. Although that other girl of his class seemed to have very little in common with them.

So what if she looked different? She was still a Dragon or of their kin. She'd prove herself to be like them eventually and when she did he would be there to crush her under hammer. Perhaps he could not ignore the girl, but he could overlook her in favour of another target of interest.

He had not spoken to the Sorcerer since he was summoned. Truthfully, he didn't have much interest in speaking to them either but he knew that in order to reach some manner of understanding he'd have to speak with them first. For now however, Havel would continue to watch him. Try and make sense of the puzzle.

They was a Sorcerer but they didn't act like a Sorcerer but they were still a Sorcerer regardless. Perhaps they might not originate from the worm Seath but they were all the same in the end. It just so happened that the current Sorcerer he was affiliated with was of a slightly different origin. He still consorted with Sorcerers.

That Witch...one who was so was a practitioner of the forbidden arts. That said a lot about her that she could not even secure a spot amongst the likes of other Sorcerers because of her lack of restraint.

"Wasn't expecting him." Cu muttered as the sounds of thumping metal disappeared down the hallway "Big bastard normally keeps to himself."

"He's a Servant curious about his Master." Archer replied before a frown came to his face "Although I do question the logic behind maintaining a contract with a Servant who actively despises mages."

"He probably has had bad experience with them in the past." Boudica tried to reason "And I doubt Beatrice is much of an example for all types of Mages from where they are from."

"Oh?" Archer raised an eyebrow at her "So if a Roman soldier were to walk down those halls, you would turn the other cheek because they might appear to be 'one of the nice ones'?" Boudica gave him a cold glare in response, shifting her body and moving her hands to her side. To his credit, Archer didn't so much as bat an eyelid at the display of growing hostility, still staring at her with that infuriatingly blank look on his face.

"…" Grinding her teeth, she looked away from him and back to the Master.

"Now imagine how you would feel if your Master was a Roman-"

"I'd rather die." She answered immediately and before she could help herself, flinching when she got a knowing look from Archer.

"And that is without Madness enhancement clouding your reason." Archer's expression darkened "You've got a Dragon Slayer who hates Mages running around a facility with another Dragon Servant, two Casters and the staff are nearly all mages – including his own Master – so it is a small miracle he has yet to do anything explosive."

"Came close." Cu spoke up from his spot, not turning to look at them "When he was first summoned. Went smashing through the door to the Cafeteria and damn near started a brawl just so he could get his hands on the little dragon and the girl." a breath escaped his lips, shaking his head with an aura of unease about him "Gonna be a pain in the ass to try and get him to do anything."

"And having him sit here is a waste of resources." Archer clicked his tongue "Troublesome."

"Yeah…" Cu shivered "Ew...I've just realised I've agreed with something you've said."

"Indeed." Archer scowled "A rather disturbing experience. Although perhaps an old dog can learn some new tricks."

"Piss off geezer." Cu barked "I'd threaten to beat you up but you'd probably throw your hip out."

"The great hound of Ulster would consider beating on the elderly?" Archer shook his head in amusement, the smirk plastered on his face only made the Lancer's eyes narrow into slits. "For shame."

"The pair of you are children." Boudica huffed, placing her hands on her hips and levelling a chiding glare on both of them "And if you're going to start a fight do it somewhere else. Or better yet, avoid eachother so this doesn't happen. The last thing that Master needs right now is you two trying to kill eachother."

"No try about it." Cu mumbled to himself. Archer scoffed but said nothing more. Boudica continued to stare at the two with some small semblance of annoyance, but she then realised something curious about the two. They bickered as if they were…

"Are you two brothers separated at birth or something?" She asked before she could help herself, the manner in which they both sent her revolted looks did litter to dissuade her of the notion. She obviously knew that they weren't but they sure as heck acted like it.

Havel continued to stomp down the hallways as he approached the entrance to the cafeteria, the door had long since been repaired and improved – Certified Da Vinci Repairs – in order to prevent another incident like his first arrival. Although it was still questionable whether the door would last a direct impact for longer than the last one.

Apparently doors were difficult to replace.

It didn't matter much to him, they should invest in doors that opened the right way if they didn't want them broken. Who put doors that opened upwards anyway? They were better off having doors that opened sideways, then he wouldn't have broken the last one. Sorcerers, always doing things that made life difficult.

The door opened up and something collided with his chest.

"Ouch!" Then recoiled backwards, releasing a somewhat feminine cry. He slowly looked down to see the pointed hat of the witch. The woman raised her hand and rubbed her forehead, displacing her hat and giving a better look at her face, her eyes were shut and her expression worked into a slight grimace "I thought that door...opened….up…" she trailed off, voice raising into a squeak as she found herself staring up at the intimidating form of Havel.

The Bishop stared down at her, the only sound to be heard was the heavy breathing coming from his helmet.

"L-listen…" Beatrice raised her hands, attempting to step backwards "I-I'm sorry about r-running into you. H-h-honest mistake?" her shaky tone did little to hide the obvious fear, her expression had warped into one of terror as well as she tried to avoid setting the Berserker off.

She had failed poorly in that regard. If she had picked any other time to run into him – literally or not – he would have just ignored her and continued on. However, having already worked himself up thinking about Seath and the disgust he held for Sorcerers. Beatrice was perhaps the worst person he could have run into.

Havel walked past her, placing his right hand on her left shoulder and throwing her out of his path. The woman made a high pitched cry as she crashed into the nearest table and was flung over it, tipping it onto its side and causing a heavy crash to echo through the room. The sound, in tandem with the cream, quickly alerted everyone else to the altercation.

Arash's head snapped towards the door in surprise before he stood a single glance at the damage and shot to his feet, levelling a hefty scowl in the direction of the Berserker as he vaulted over his table and rushed towards the downed Caster. The greatest surprise came from Siegward who placed a hand on the countertop and flung himself sideways over and into the dining room before spinning around and fixing a challenging stare at the Berserker.

No words were spoken, not that any needed to be. The tense looks of the Servants were more than enough – in combination with the rather violent entrance of Havel – for the human staff to quickly abandon their tables and make for the opposite side of the room.

Arash crouched down by Beatrice's side, sitting her up while still keeping Havel within the corner of his eye. Siegward was far more direct in that he never let the stone armoured man out of his sight as he made for the Witch, an alien frown was on his face and his eyes were narrowed as he stood protectively in between Havel and the Archer and Caster.

Havel stared at them for a few moments longer before he released a growl, turning on his heel he stomped out of the room, almost slamming into the door a second time when it didn't open fast enough. Once the stomping of his footfalls disappeared down the hallway, Siegward turned to the duo and shifted his expression into one of concern "How are you, my dear?" he immediately asked.

"A bit sore." She winced when she rested her hand on the shoulder Havel had pushed "Think he squeezed too hard." she attempted a smile but faltered when she saw the expressions on the two men "S-sorry…"

"Don't you apologise for anything." Arash reassured her with a pat on the back, the good mood quickly vanished as he looked back towards the door "This can't happen again."

"No. I should think not." Siegward affirmed "We are only going to get more allies in the future and we cannot risk Havel fighting them because he holds a grudge. This needs to be dealt with...and soon."

"Next thing I know…" Beatrice gave a hapless shrug "I'm kind of...airborne." a faint laugh escaped her "Didn't...um...didn't know I was so good at it?" she winced and looked down at the stares she received from across the table. Mash gave her a reassuring smile and a slight pat on the back.

Romani rested his elbows on the table and allowed his head to fall into his hands while Da Vinci frowned. Olga's face remained impassive and, much to the surprise of others, Ritsuka's followed a similar state of being.

"...This isn't going to get better." Da Vinci stared with a sigh "We already knew he disliked mages but he'd never gotten directly physical with them."

"I'd like to say I'm surprised…" Romani grumbled as he raised, his eyes holding a heavy weight in them "But given his reaction to the other staff members around Chaldea when they interact with him."

"We were fortunate that he did this to Caster." Olga crossed her arms with a stern look on his face "If he had done so against a human then the result would have been far worse."

"I don't feel that fortunate." Beatrice whispered to herself.

Olga continued on "He's dangerous and unlike the other Berserker we have, he seems to actively despise his own Master. Whether that is due to his Madness enhancement exaggerating his feelings or not, the issue remains the same. He is a risk."

"We knew that when we took him on." Romani rubbed his forehead "But...I don't know. The magi left him alone for a few days and it got a little better."

"It was ignoring the problem." Da Vinci frowned "He actively despises mages and apparently doesn't discriminate between worlds. He's just as likely to try and punt me through a wall if I look at him wrong."

"Berserkers have always been hard to handle though." Romani attempted to argue "That's the whole point of the Class. You just aim them at something and watch them go."

"There's nothing to 'aim' him at in Chaldea except everyone else." Olga scoffed "From his perspective, all mages are apparently the same and having a Servant as powerful as him with a penchant for disliking his own summoner immediately is dangerous at best and deadly at worst." her lip curled "And we cannot risk a command seal because he might simply use his own brand of magic to cancel it out. That and the order would be so vague that he would only have a strong compulsion to follow it."

"So...what do we do?" Da Vinci tapped her hand on the table "Keeping him around could just lead to more problems. Betty there wasn't hurt that badly but next time he could just as easily do the same to one of the other staff or even Fujimaru-kun." she turned to Ritsuka "No offence to all your training but you're squishy."

Ritsuka hummed in response, still looking at the table with an intense gleam in his eyes.

"We kept him around because his ability to cancel out magical spells appeared to be a boon." Olga clicked her tongue "However as he currently is, it would appear to be that it is one small benefit hampered by a number of problems. Highest of all is his personality."

"And what would you suggest?" Romani asked with a hint of dread.

"Returning him to the throne."

"How?" Romani narrowed his eyes "Are you just going to cut him off from Chaldea's generators?"

"Yes."

Romani wet his lips "Look...I know how much of a danger he represents but it doesn't exactly send a good message to the other Servants. 'Do something we don't like and its goodbye'"

"We're not in a position to debate morality!" Olga snapped "We're down resources and even if I can summon Servants I'm not equipped for field work nor can I summon the type of Servants necessary for it. We have only one remaining viable Master candidate here and we can't revive Team A."

Mash looked concerned "Can't?"

"No." Romani shook his heads "The Rayshift pods had enough power to put them into Cryo-sleep but getting them out is something we don't have the resources for." he replied "We have a couple of Generators active and they're being used to power the key sections of the base and supply the Servants."

"We can't repair them?"

Da Vinci shook her head "A lot of the parts were custom built especially for Chaldea and Lev made sure to destroy the replacements." she flashed a faint smile "I'm a genius but I can't create the parts necessary to repair enough of the Generators. We can only keep the ones we have operational running."

"All the more reason that Fujimaru Ritsuka's safety remains our priority." Olga interrupted "We cannot afford to jeopardize it with sentiment or ethical conundrums."

Da Vinci regarded Olga coolly "Are we in-keeping with Chaldea's history of ethical conundrums then?"

Olga froze on the spot, mouth slightly agape. Her eyes briefly flickered over to Mash before she looked back at Da Vinci with an expression of genuine hurt.

"Leo." Romani frowned at her, Da Vinci looked at him and saw him shake his head slowly.

The Genius sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose "I know what you mean...Sorry, that wasn't very nice of me."

"R-right." Olga looked away "But we cannot have a Servant who doesn't obey their Master."

"Why don't we ask Senpai?" Mash hesitantly raised her hand, drawing the groups attention to her "What do you think Senp-" she cut herself off and widened her eyes as she saw Ritsuka's seat at the table empty, the chair he was sat in still spinning around from a hasty exit.

"He left shortly after you stopped talking about Team A." Beatrice helpfully supplied "Just stood up and marched for the door."

"Where the bloody hell does he think he's going!?" Olga shot to her feet "We're in the middle of a meeting here!"

"I think I can guess." Romani widened his eyes and jumped to his feet as well, quickly making for the door.

Ritsuka made rapid progress through the halls. He knew that they would probably have realised he wasn't there by now but he didn't care about that. If anything, he blamed himself for letting it get this far. Havel had made his stance on mages perfectly clear when he first arrived but Ritsuka had ignored him.

No. He had been a bit too scared to confront him if he was being honest with himself. He couldn't really help it, whenever he thought about trying to get Havel to not bully the other mages he just remembered the way the Berserker loomed over him and referred to him as scum.

It was a little jarring to be hated immediately but he had ignored it. Thinking that if he gave Havel some time then he would eventually get used to having magical practitioners around him.

Now someone was hurt because he didn't act and they were debating whether or not 'send Havel back' but Ritsuka could read inbetween the lines. They were debating whether or not to execute him.

Did it make him angry that Havel had hurt someone? A little. Did he want to see the guy dead? Not in the least.

And it wouldn't matter what they said about Heroic Spirits already being dead or whatever. They looked pretty alive to him.

So he was about to do something very stupid. Very, very stupid that might backfire horribly.

He entered the elevator and pressed the button for the next floor down. Havel had made sure his room was as far away from all other Servants as possible, it was also far away from all the quarters of the remaining staff. That last part had been of their own placement due to how the Berserker had reacted upon being summoned.

His heart rate sped up considerably as it dawned on him just how hair brained his plan was, but right now he figured he had gone too far to turn back now. No matter how much he wanted to.

And he really wanted to.

But in a way it was his fault. The Director was always talking about him making his position as Master to his Servants clear. He wasn't going to make his position as Master clear to anyone. It was basically a partnership.

It wasn't a loud knock but it certainly reverberated through his entire body, he was surprised he even heard it because of how loud his heart was hammering. He wet his lips as he heard muffled stomping from behind the door, it slowly rose up and unveiled Havel's armoured body in all its intimidating glory.

Ritsuka – to his own surprise – didn't balk at the display as he stared up at the helmet.

"Can I come in?" He asked, Havel stared down at him for a few moments in silence.

"...No…" The Berserker moved his arm towards the panel to shut the door again, Ritsuka felt his nerves get the better of him.

"Look, if I don't come in its going to get worse." He spoke rapidly and a little too loudly, Havel's arm paused in its movements. The helmet remained fixed on him before the Berserker made a grunt of intrigue "Look. You...you hurt someone-"

"The...Witch…"

Ritsuka's lip twitched "Beatrice. Her name is Beatrice."

"...Witch…"

"You know what? Fine." He dismissed, his expression flattening out "We can either settle this here or settle it in there." blue eyes narrowed at the Berserker "But we are going to settle this." Havel's head tilted slightly before the Berserker stepped to the side, Ritsuka silently entered the room and took stock of it.

There was nothing done to decorate it at all.

"Sp...eak…" Havel grunted out, closing the door behind them and turning around to face the Master "Quic...kly…"

"You're difficult." Ritsuka began "Its...you hate mages." he let out a bark of mirthless laughter "And now you're surrounded by Mages, alright...that's tough. You're probably a bit stressed out but that doesn't give you the right to-"

Havel stepped off the wall and loomed over Ritsuka, his large form passing a deep shadow over the young boy and cutting him off. Ritsuka swallowed audibly as he stepped away from the Berserker "Ri...ghts?" they growled menacingly "Wha...t…..do…sorce….rers….care…..of…..rig….hts….?"

"What?" Ritsuka blinked, then frowned "What does that even mean?"

"All….same…." Havel strode past him "All….gre...edy….for….po...wer….."

"Greedy for power." Ritsuka flatly replied "Greedy for- did you even meet her before you decided to toss her across the cafeteria?" he demanded "Or did you just decide you had her pegged from the get go like you did me?"

"She's….witch…." Havel growled "Too….ex...tre...me….even….for….oth...er..sorcer..ers.."

"And that was enough for you was it?" Ritsuka scoffed "One look and 'Hey, she must be some power hungry maniac'."

"All….sorcer...ers….crave...power…."

"According to who?" The boy threw up his hands, his expression changing into a pleading one "I'm trying, I'm really to understand your reasoning here so that we can work out a solution because if I can't then something bad might happen."

"...Thre...at…?"

"No!" Ritsuka let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his face "No I'm not trying...I don't want to threaten anyone! I don't want to force anyone to do anything they aren't comfortable with."

"...Why?" Havel asked "Who...le….point...of...Ser...van...t.."

"It makes me sound like some slave driver!" Ritsuka snapped "I don't want to…" he shook his head "I didn't even know magic existed until a few months ago. The most supernatural experience I ever had was with a guy who could bend kitchen spoons." a breathless chuckle escaped him "Now suddenly I have the literal fate of the world on my shoulders and I'm being helped by ghosts…"

"…"

"I'd never even seen someone die before!" He shouted, his expression cracking "Next thing I know I've seen decapitations, incinerations and I've seen monsters spliced from corpses!" his laugh turned more manic "What the hell even is with that!? Who does that!?"

Havel frowned behind his helmet.

"But apparently its sorcerers or whatever." Ritsuka sniffed "I don't know…the guy who did it and they were a literal cannibal monster…" he let out a broken wheeze "Because why not!? Why wouldn't they be!?" the breaths left him in heavy pants, however he was completely ignoring Havel at this point "But I'd already met Beatrice and she's not like that...she gets giddy about making magic wands out of a branch and a copper coin." he chuckled "So I don't know how anyone could really hate her."

He turned his eyes on Havel "Then you show up and the first thing you tell me is that I'm scum." shrugging "Yeah...that hurt, alright. I'll admit it. That hurt. Because when you think of me as a Sorcerer I don't know if you look at me and see the same kind of cannibal monster that the corpse splicer was...But alright." Ritsuka sniffled, rubbing his eyes "Alright, you've only just arrived. I'm thinking you'll probably get better...maybe understand that not everyone is crazy."

"…"

"But you...you don't even make an attempt." He rubbed his brow "First day you're here and you almost kill Caster and Kiyohime."

"Dra...gon…"

"What has she even done to you, personally?" Ritsuka threw up his hands "Hell, what have either Beatrice or I done to you?"

Nothing. They hadn't done anything to him.

"But…" Ritsuka calmed himself down slightly "I'm not going to ask you to like me." he released a scoff "I'm not even going to ask you to respect me. You want to be anti-social? Fine." he stepped forwards, completely ignoring the height difference but wearing a desperate look on his face "But I'm just asking you to work with me here. I really want to believe there is more to you than just hating people. I want to believe its just your Class affecting you. I really want to believe that and I want other people to believe that too but we can't show them if you don't work with us here."

"…"

Ritsuka stepped back and let out a heavy sigh, his head falling into his hands "We're desperate...I'm desperate...whole worlds gone...everyone I ever knew is dead and we've got one shot to get this done and I...I can't do it." he looked up, giving Havel a decent view of his tired eyes "I really can't do it alone...so I'm asking you here...I'm begging you...please help me."

Havel stared at him in continued silence before his hands moved up towards his head, Ritsuka watched as they clasped the side of his helmet and twisted a heavy grating sound signalled the helmet being shaken loose before the Berserker lifted it off their head, revealing their face.

Short messy white hair and a stubbly beard of a similar colour greeted him. The face was rough and aged with heavily chiselled features. Havel's pale amber eyes bore into him for a few moments before the Berserker opened their mouth and spoke.

"One...chance…" He raised a single finger for emphasis "Prove...not...like...oth...er...sorcer...ers…"

Ritsuka let out a shaky breath.

"Do...n't...beg…" Havel also added on, face shifting into a slight grimace "Emba...rrass...ing."

Ritsuka snorted in response before he cast a worried glance at the Berserker "And Kiyohime?"

Havel's expression tightened "...Can...ign..ore...not...Seath…" he paused before snarling "Don't...ask...me...to...be….fri...ends…"

"I'll settle for what you've given me." Ritsuka assured him before letting out a heavy breath and looking at the door before cringing "If you'll excuse me...I'm probably off to die." he chuckled "A bit ironic given what I came here to achieve."

Havel frowned but shrugged their shoulders. Stepping aside and allowing the Master to walk past them, pressing the button to open the door and venturing out into the corridor.

"Fujimaru-kun!" Romani's panicked voice soon called out as the man came sprinting down the hallway towards him "What the heck was that? You can't be so reckless!"

"Eh…" Ritsuka shrugged, giving an uneasy smile "...Probably hasn't hit me yet about what I just did."

"I can fulfil that task for you." Olga muttered darkly as she stalked towards him with a heavy scowl, Ritsuka's complexion paled to match the woman's hair "I finish explaining to you how vital you are and your first response is to fling yourself into danger!?" she lashed out, grabbing his collar and yanking him down to eye level "Are you trying to make a fool of me!?"

"N-no, Ma'am." Ritsuka stammered out a reply "I-I just...figured I needed to talk."

"With him?" Da Vinci gestured with a pointed finger towards the still open door and Havel's scowling face staring at them through the door frame.

Havel continued to stare at them before he grunted out "Don't...kill...in...front...of...room…" he stepped back "Don't...want...sorcer..er...mess...on...door…" the door closed shut before anyone could understand that sentence fully and reply to it.

Romani blinked in surprise "Did he seem...calmer to anyone else?"

"We…" Ritsuka chuckled and gave a shrug as best he could "Reached an understanding…"

"Well…" Da Vinci blinked before grinning "Well done. As expected of Mr Protagonista. Managing to sway even the most difícil of individuals!"

"Sway nothing!" Olga snapped "He just risked his life over a chance!" her grip around his shirt tightened considerably "And I am going to make sure he understands this."

"U-um…" Ritsuka swallowed "W-what about helping get a Servant on our side?"

"Senpai." Mash called out to him with a somewhat relaxed look but her eyes help one of worriment "I would appreciate it if you warn us of something like this in the future."

"S-sorry?"

"Not yet you aren't." Olga hissed at him "Not even close."

AN: Little confrontation because lets face it, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Anyway, little look into Havels logic – he's a Berserker with A+ Rank Madness Enhancement it doesn't have to make logical sense – and Ritsuka.

Because he's a kid with lot of responsibility about him now.

Of course the Havel solution is a plaster right now. Might get worse if we get to some of the less reputable Sorcerers and Casters in fate.

*Looks at Gilles*

Yeah...anyway. Probably going to have one more By the Bonfire and then we'll move on to the next Singularity.