By the Bonfire: Cost of Sin (Part III)

Darkness recedes.

Blackness returns the light to the world, the star of beginning has turned to dust and is scattered to the winds.

The consuming end which promised to sweep away all creation is sated with but a taste, it releases the world from its maw and returns to the point of its origin, the void is pulled back to the sword and the world is whole once more.

The fallen God lies bloodied and broken on the ground, yet still he draws breath. An incredible feat, to have the light consumed and to survive the blackness that would have destroyed everything. To face the literal end of all creation and endure it, even if wounded, stands testament to the will to survive that the Lord of Light possesses.

Even after having endured cycles in the flame, enduring eternity of torment as the strength of his soul is recycled again and again through the ages and used as fuel. He could claw back his sanity and power within a few minutes from what must have been the brink of madness and return to the world once more.

It's incredible.

He has not changed in his power one iota, at least not truly. Though he is broken and bloodied now, that will only spur his desire to survive and prove himself the true ruler of the planet. So long as he survives this encounter, if he does then he will be much smarter next time around. He will see the differences these humans champion compared to the ones of the Dark, their strength could fell even the mightiest of Lordkin.

Gwyn will not allow himself to be bested a second time. Provided such a time emerges, that is. It would not be difficult to ensure he survived and what has he to risk otherwise? Despite the threat Chaldea has posed to the Lord of Light, they are threats that can be easily accounted for now that he knows all that Fujimaru is aware of. More than that, he understands it, and far greater than his host does.

Unfortunate that his mind is not so well suited to his desire, but the enduring will is something he covets most preciously. Never before has there been a host more perfect for him and he suspects there will never be one again, to lose Fujimaru will be a decisive blow but there is little else for it. The Holy Grail stands before him, the tool which might have aided him until he suffered at the hands of his daughter.

But this is a far greater prize, the gratitude of Lord Gwyn and the promise of furthering his own research. The Grail is little more than a bonus at this stage.

Ritsuka feels control slip from him rather swiftly, his joints lock up and his body no longer obeys him. Surprise gives way to shock as the body moves on it's own, a strange sensation floods every fibre of his being, his mind is shut away in the furthest corners and he is left powerless to act, a prisoner in his own skin.

The boy moves all by itself, righting itself up rather swiftly and turning its attention towards the closest of the figures next to them. Power floods into his right hand as he brings it backwards, the skin turns blue and is calcified, his nails extend and harden into long crystalline spears, the fingers hook like scythes.

Ritsuka screams from inside, not a single sound escapes his voice.

The white haired knight freezes, likely sensing something amiss behind him, but he is on the floor and in an inopportune position. Ritsuka's screams of horror become little more than background noise as he swings the sharpened claws downwards, blood stains the snow as the back of Percival's legs are torn open with a single swing, the knight drops like a puppet.

He turns his body, the one of dragon blood is next, if they had been blearily before the sudden scream of pain from Percival had been enough to sober them up. Emerald eyes flashed with fury as her expression twisted, though he is much faster on the draw. She swings up, he steps in close and crystals cover the back of his left arm, he catches her wrist with his forearm before she can get the sword up.

Fingers tighten in his right hand, flattening out into a spear which gores forwards, Ritsuka screams in his mind, a pounding on the mental barricade is ignored as his hand passes through all manner of resistance and he moves in close to the knight, so much so that their bodies pressed against one another. He looks at her from the corner of his eye, head just resting on his shoulder. He scoffs, pulling the hand free and pointing it downwards, light dances between his fingers-

A flash signals through the air, a smell of burnt flesh and then the draconic knight finds they no longer have legs to stand on, dropping to the ground with a new hole in their chest. He turns sharply, bringing his arm up and across and spinning on his heel, his hand swipes through the air to the exposed neck of Percival.

Blood sprays through the air, splattering across his face and his hands, the hand comes back around and takes hold of the head before it drops down. The body remains upright, though a simple kick is all that is required, merely pressing the flat of the shoe on the body and pushing it backwards and it falls to the floor. His eyes linger on the peculiar spear for a moment longer before he hums, the screaming of Fujimaru falls silent, likely from shock.

He turns once more, pointing his left hand to the side and channelling the spell. Light screams, sapphire streaks through the air and then there is a wet thud, he glances to the corner of his eye as Priscilla falls backwards, a hideous burn across her gut that causes her to drop her scythe to the ground, her eyes widen in fear as she stares at him. Likely understanding who he is. Another streak of sapphire catches her in the chest and she falls.

Her body smulders, wisps of smoke flicker upwards as the wounds simmer, there's a faint burning scent on the wind that reaches his nostrils, Ritsuka violently recoils within him, there's a flood of sickness, revulsion, horror and shame all at once, a cocktail that would be somewhat unpleasant to experience. Though he buries each and every one of them, turning his head back towards the direction of Gwyn, his landing on the slight rise and fall of his chest, the weak breathing that reaches his ears.

He opens his mouth to speak-


When Ritsuka awoke, it was as sudden as the noise which violently assaulted his ears, his body contorted inwards as he curled himself into a ball, a feeling of something covering him was vaguely recognised but just as quickly dismissed. His eyes were clamped shut, surrounding him in total darkness as he drew himself in tighter and tighter.

The images flashed through his mind.

That all consuming presence still flooding his body.

Was he even moving at all?

Was he still trapped?

What was going on?

And what was that noise he kept hearing?

And why did his throat start to hurt-?

…Ah.

It took him a second to realise that he was screaming his lungs out, dragging his body inwards and curling in on himself as tight as he could physically manage it, despite being aware of the scream he did little to actually stop himself. Rather, his throat was the one that put an end to the noise.

A sharp pain ran through it, followed by a tremble and crack in his screaming voice, the noise tapered down into something more akin to a panicked whimper, he found himself at a loss for breath, unable to intake any oxygen. He could still feel it in his mind, the brief numbing followed by the lack of sensation in his body as everything slipped away.

He was still in London.

He was still trapped in the dark.

He was still forced to watch as-

Something took hold of his shoulder, he reacted quickly. His eyes snapped open and he clamped his mouth shut, arms flew out and grabbed hold of what had touched him, his heard whirled towards the direction he had been touched and he felt his heart stop a moment later, a dark shadow loomed over him, silent as it could possibly have been, a wide brimmed head blotted out the like and stopped any light from reaching him.

He screamed again in earnest, flinging the shape away from him and scrambling himself backwards on whatever he was lying down on, his back soon slammed into something cold and solid, a metallic clang echoed out through wherever he was, eyes snapped around and all he could find himself seeing was nothing but bleached white.

There was a beeping noise that flooded his hearing, his hands were clenched around something soft that he pulled closer to himself, hiding away whatever cold he was feeling. He was breathing rather heavily, no longer screaming and trying to get air back into his oxygen deprived lungs, though it was doing him precious little good as he couldn't focus on anything. It was too bright to see, he clenched his eyes shut and pressed himself further against the wall.

A feeling like someone was trying to hammer away at his chest from the inside out, his body ached and he felt tired, panic still flooding through him and his expression tightened inwards, his eyes still clenched themselves shut, as tight as he could possibly manage it to avoid any of the light bleeding through. All he could hear around was nothing more than muffled thumps and that damned beeping.

Something took hold of him again, he couldn't even find the energy to scream as a tight pressure fell around both his shoulders and forced him still, he recoiled his body back. Or he made the attempt to, the grip on him was too tight and he kept trying to free himself of it, pushing himself further and further back. When his body refused to free itself, his hands flew up and tried to wave away at whatever was grabbing hold of him.

They struck something solid but pain instantly flooded his knuckles, like he had struck a brick wall or something. Yet he ignored that, continuing to flail his hands about in front of him until he felt the hold on his shoulders loosen. Though it was a brief mercy considering it soon snaked around his wrists in grip just as tight, holding them shut and then driving them backwards. He found his body pushed backwards ever so slightly, his wrists thudded against the same cold and smooth surface.

He let out a whimper, already opening his mouth to scream once again, though he couldn't draw any air into his lungs-

"Master!" He jolted, something screaming in his face with a clear aura of panic about itself, blue eyes flew open and he found his vision consumed with the blurry dark shape same as before, though this time he allowed his eyes to squint slightly to try and take hold of some of the details about the shape. Scanning whatever was now gripping his wrists and keeping them in place against the wall behind him, he had been close to throwing out his legs and kicking but the voice was vaguely familiar to him.

The dark shape remained somewhat black, but the wide brimmed head fell over his own and something just graced upon the top of his head like an umbrella, his entire vision was consumed by a pair of bright brown eyes, he remained locked on the hazel coloured orbs as they stared right back at him, only the sound of his deep breathing echoed out as he took in greatly greedy gulps of air, each intake being a shuddering sound.

Silence stretched out the longer he stared at the individual in front of him, their face gradually coming into focus, face set in a mixture between shock and relief as they remained remarkably close to him, after what must have been years, they eventually let out a single breath as their eyes narrowed slightly, searching his face somewhat before they eventually spoke.

"Mas…" The woman cut herself off, swallowing her words and biting her lip for a few seconds, her eyes flickered away from his face for a split second before they returned with an apprehensive focus about them. "...Ritsuka, can you…do you know where you are?"

"Where I…?" The voice sounded familiar, the woman looked familiar, he knew her name, just sitting on the tip of his tongue as he glanced either side of himself. Did he know where he was? He was in a bleached white room sitting atop something rather comfortable, at least he could feel it so that removed the idea of being trapped in his mind. Where he was…

"Am…am I in…Chaldea?" He almost dared to hope at this point, when the woman nodded her head up and down he never felt more relieved, his eyes closing and the feeling of all resistance leaving his body just as swiftly, his head slumped low and he let out a single relieved sigh, though it more came out as a croak, that same dull pain tingled through his neck for a brief moment. Earning a wince from him as he realised the issue might have been all the screaming he was doing.

"That's…that's good…" The woman in front of him nodded her head up and down, which dragged the large brim of the hat sat atop his head across his hair as she did so, back and forth. "Yes, that's good…very, very good…do…do you know who I am?" her voice came back a little louder, Ritsuka opened his eyes back up and focused on the face for a few moments. The delicate features but slightly rough looking face, the scraggly spear locks of dark hair and the hazel eyes.

"Betty…" He never felt more relieved to see the Caster before in his life, if only because he knew she was safe and sound. He was treated to the sight of a brilliant smile flashing across the womans' face as he spoke her name, the expression being more than a touch relieved as she blew air out from between her lips and then allowed the smile to dim slightly.

Her eyes slowly drifted away from his own and towards the side, he followed their path and eventually found himself looking at his own wrists pressed against the wall, her hands clawed around them and keeping them in place. Becoming acutely aware of the proportional strength of a Servant as he stared at her rather delicate looking frame, then again most of it was hidden behind her long black sleeves. He watched the hands, fidget ever so slightly, his eyes returned to the owner of the limbs.

Beatrice was still staring at the hands she had trapped, then he felt the pressure on his limbs slowly alleviate themselves, she gradually pulled her hands with an almost embarrassed expression on her face, soon pulling back far enough and removing the brim of her had from the top of his head - it was large enough to have completely covered him - then holding up her hands and exposing her palms to him as if to show where her hands were.

Her tongue quickly darted out, wetting her lips before retreating, her eyes crinkled slightly the longer she stared at Ritsuka before she eventually mustered up the courage to speak again, or looked to at any rate.

"Sorry for grabbing you." The apology was quick but wasn't delivered with the same flighty panic he normally associated with Beatrice, this was almost subdued. "But with you screaming and…" she trailed off, making a small gesture with her own hands "Waving about like that, I was worried you were going to end up hurting yourself and I…I just panicked a little bit." a small chuckle came from her throat, her eyes darted downwards and her hands slowly lowered themselves to the top of her lap, just perched over the edge of what Ritsuka could now see was a bed.

Now his own bed, this one looked much different to the ones he was used to.

"I…I didn't hurt you, did I?" Beatrice broke his environmental appreciation with a quick word, his eyes roamed their way back to her somewhat slowly before they landed on her face, seeing the clear guilt now threatening to overcome her features. Ritsuka felt something burn in his chest, something ugly and self aimed. Like an acid building up in the back of his throat the longer he stared at the expression, he forced the feeling down. His lips pulled themselves into a smile that he hoped didn't look too brittle.

"A little tight but I'm fine." He made a show of bringing up his hands and rolling them around like windmills just to demonstrate his flexibility. The truth was there remained a lingering pinching sensation in his wrists but he wasn't going to tell her that, he didn't want to make that expression any worse-


"B-bas-bastar-" The blonde's face was warped with fury, shame colouring her features as she extends a hand towards him, fingers intent on clutching his ankle to try and crush, defiance burns in her eyes-

There's a flash of blue, the defiance is melted into red mist and scattered to the wind-


"-ey!" He jolted, a sudden voice in his face brought him screeching back into the present, a gasp left his throat and his eyes cycled through his surroundings before landing on Beatrice once again, the Caster a couple feet from him and sitting upon the bed. His eyes focused on her for a few moments, the woman biting her lower lip as she stared at him. "Sorry for shouting, you just…froze up for a few seconds."

"...It's fine." He croaked out, allowing himself to fall back onto the wall behind him and letting the tension drain from his shoulders. Ritsuka felt himself more than a little grateful to her for pulling him out of that little vision. Though the memory did not fade from him entirely, nor did the cold sensation. "What…" his eyes roamed the room, furrowing his brows "...Am I in medical?"

Beatrice nodded her head up and down "You…getting news around wasn't very easy. A lot of people are keeping a very tight lid on what went on down in London." she winced for a moment, then reached up and scratched the side of her face "Which you probably don't want to talk about right now…s-so I'll try my best not to bring it up, just don't expect me to be very good at that. I'm not the most careful of individuals."

Closing his eyes, he moved his hand and reached behind himself, feeling along the bed until he found one of the cushions and pulled it out from underneath him, dragging it upwards until it was stood on its end and then leaned back onto it, bracing himself against the wall as comfortably as he could. Though moving was still more than a little sore, he would rather be upright at the moment. Just so he could talk properly.

"Don't worry about it." He shook his head, eyes opening once more and moving towards the woman, he tried to pull his lips into a smile though quickly saw the vaguely disturbed face on Beatrice and quickly dashed it from his face. Probably him being much too hopeful that he would have been able to put her worries at ease.

He couldn't even put his own worries to rest.

"How…how long have you been here?" Changing the topic seemed like the best idea for now, and he was somewhat curious that Beatrice was the first one to greet him rather than someone else. He would have half expected it to be someone like Mash or Romani. Though he didn't know what time it was either…how long had he been out?

"We haven't been here that long." Beatrice explained with a wave of her hand, eyes flickering to the side. "The…everyone has been taking it in turns to sit with you." There was a brief pause before she let out a somewhat awkward chuckle "There was a rather funny incident where Elizabeth wanted to serenade you like something out of a…she called it disney?" she shrugged "I didn't understand it but that might just be me."

"Oh God…" Ritsuka couldn't help the wheezing chuckle, bringing his hand up to nurse his brows. The thought of Elizabeth trying to sing to him as he slept on that bed was so out of this world and so vaguely horrifying that he couldn't even contemplate it. Though it might have woken him up a little earlier. So long as no one tried to kiss him sleeping beauty style, he was alright.

Heck, he couldn't even be certain that Kiyohime wouldn't go to that extent-

…Oh…

…Right…

The arm dropped down from his face, his laughter fading away and being replaced with nothing. Slowly closing his mouth, he let his head fall backwards and allowed it to thud against the wall just above the cushion. Staring straight up towards the light.

Kiyohime was gone.

He hadn't even seen it, she just…vanished.

They were all gone.

All the Servants he called down to help fight just…dead.

"...We?" That word struck out to him for a few moments, then it bounced around again and again as he lowered his eyes back towards the direction of Beatrice, arching his right brow ever so slightly. The Caster - meanwhile - took his sudden intrigue somewhat poorly as she bit her lower lip and made an expression that was somewhat cringing.

Her eyes gradually travelled away from him and towards the floor just to the left of the bed, Ritsuka followed her line of sight and then promptly fought back a snort, Sif flopped out across the floor like a rug was the sight to greet him when he glanced in that direction. The large wolf not looking as though they had even registered the fact he had awoken at all nor the somewhat violent nature of his awakening.

Sif stirred ever so slightly, the white beast releasing a hum from their throat before they loosened once more, returning to their original purpose of cosplaying as a floor rug. Then came the snoring that sounded eerily similar to a car trying to start. It was such an absurd thing but was so very welcome at the time. Just nothing more than Sif acting like an actual dog rather than the Heroic Spirit he was supposed to be in the first place.

The smile that formed on his lips felt small but was a lot more genuine this time around, he looked back towards the Caster and lowered his brow, she looked very awkward at this point, her eyes darting between himself and Sif several times before she gave a nervous chuckle and shrugged her shoulders.

"He…never really left once he showed up and was asleep when I got here." She explained further. "Though it wasn't just me who arrived, most of the other Servants made a point to stop by as well and see how you were doing." was the continued explanation, eyes darting left and right before she leaned closer to him, dropping her voice into a hushed whisper. "There were even these two new ones I haven't seen before. This tallish woman with white hair and this big person with…" she brought her hands up and pointed either side of her head as though she had horns. "This…odd helmet."

Ritsuka blinked at her once, then his eyes purposefully moved towards the enlarged hat that currently sat atop her head before bringing them back down and staring her dead in the face. He liked to imagine he wasn't letting his true feelings show, but the way in which Beatrice's face fell, it was clear he hadn't been as subtle about it as he wished.

The woman lowered her hands and crossed them over her chest, sharply turning away from him in a huff. "This hat has been in my family for generations, you know?" she muttered under her breath, then uncrossed her arms and started tapping the tips of her fingers against one another. "I-it might look a bit large but th-this is a sign of prestige for forest sorcerers, you know?"

He didn't because he'd never really asked. Which seemed a little…distant.

…And he would rather talk about something else right now, he knew a conversation would be coming but for right now he would rather just…talk about anything else.

"What do you mean by prestige?" She paused at his question, then turned to him with a bemused expression "Is it like some sort of achievement? Only the most skilled witches and wizards can wear large hats?" he pointed upwards towards her head before lowering back down. "In which case…" He chuckled somewhat, "How big was the largest?"

Beatrice's expression shifted between several emotions from surprise, to embarrassment and then finally to something like exasperation, shaking her head from side to side and lowering her hands to her lap. Her lips thinned. "Nothing like that, the size of the hat was a way of determining how extensive your knowledge was rather than denoting skill." she reached up, grabbing the brim of her own and pulling on it slightly. "Those with larger hats were those who excelled in the fields of knowledge…though I'm told it was an old practice from when sorcery wasn't as extensive."

Ritsuka hummed and nodded his head "I take it that it would have become rather extreme then?"

Beatrice gave him a wry smile "To say that least…you've seen how big my hat is. Others like Big Hat Logan were the foremost masters of the mystic arts." she lowered her hand back down "Witches could get away with continuing the old tradition because we…well…we didn't know much and didn't attend the magic schools." there was something of note about her voice that didn't sound sad but perhaps regretful. "It…wasn't very popular by the time I was around."

He noticed her diminutive nature return. "How come?"

"It was seen as a little…silly." Searching for the right word, that was evidently the one she decided upon. Exhaling and lowering her eyes "Running around with a large hat to show that you know more than everyone else was a bit…childish. The only reason the likes of Big Hat Logan could get away with it was because of how skilled he was." she waved a hand in his direction "As for the witches and wizards of the forest…it was sort of the only way of denoting what sort of person you were dealing with. We didn't have the same sort of information as the dragon schools."

Rituska furrowed his brows before understanding dawned on him, making a small noise of realisation, pointing to his head "You used the hats as a way of communicating with people, like wearing a badge that said 'I know things' right?"

Beatrice hummed in affirmation but didn't say anything, interlocking her fingers together "First time out of the woods was a little awkward. I don't think people realised what it meant, most thought I was taking after Logan but those who did understand were…" she sighed "They didn't say anything but they didn't really need to. I'm not mad, we were always a little behind the times compared to everyone else…"

"Screw those guys." Beatrice jolted at his words, turning to him in surprise and opening her mouth to speak, though he was just letting himself run wild at this point. "Wear the biggest hat you can find. Heck, go outside in a high vis jacket or something." he pointed towards the hat "Way I see it, that just means you know a heck of a lot more than me." his smile turned a little crooked "Everyone has their quirks and it's not like wearing a big hat is the worst thing in the world. Hell, if this Logan can wear big hats and get away with it, no sense that you can't as well."

Beatrice stared at him in silence for a few moments, then her expression softened to something rather distant. "Dear me…I'm here to try and comfort you and you turn it on my head." shaking her head from side to side, she turned away from him and let out a breath. "That's a little embarrassing, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't say that." Ritsuka replied with a shake of the head, his lips thinning out before being drawn into a small frown. "I…suppose I just wanted something to talk about that was a little out there compared to…" he trailed off, glancing to the side of them and towards Sif for a few moments. "...It was just something to talk about, I guess. Just for a little while at least…something different."

"...I suppose I can do that much." The Caster responded slowly then the flighty nature emerged for a brief moment. "But I can't promise they'll be all that interesting, my life wasn't really something special compared to half of the people that are in Chaldea right now."

"Right now…" Ritsuka shrugged "I could do something a little mundane…" he was silent for a moment before he realised something "When do you think you'll have to get Roman and the Director?"

The Director would certainly…

The Director-!

"Is the Director-!"

"Oh, she's fine." Beatrice virtually flew into comforting him, raising her hands up towards him and nodding her head up and down with such vigour that her hat was very nearly launched off the top of her head. "She came back with you and everyone else. She's actually been here the most compared to Mash and Romani…pretty much once every hour for the last few days-"

"few days?" He let out a strangled noise, he had been out that long? What had happened when he was asleep? What happened to everyone else when he got knocked out? Where was Mash?

…Where was Ash?

His expression cracked, torn between wanting to put it off and-

It steeled a moment later. Putting things off was what got them into this mess in the first place, rather than facing them head on. He had avoided facing some things for a while now, always thinking about doing them at a later time and then it was much too late by that point. All those Servants, Ash's break and even the other world. Everything they had been putting off as best they could…

"...Beatrice?" The woman perked up "Could you go and find the Director?"

The Caster looked him up and down for a moment, expression twisting between something for a moment before it fell into apprehension. "Are you…sure? Y-you could still get some rest." she offered instead, reaching over and patting the bed to prove a point "You've only just woken up and re-really, you could do with something-"

"Betty…" He cut her off, looking her in the eye, she froze at the use of the nickname before she closed her eyes. With pained reluctance, she nodded her head up and down and picked herself up off the bed.

"If that is what you wish, Master." She remarked with a small shake of the head, turning towards the door and advancing on it, pausing just shy of opening it and turning around to look towards him, meeting his eyes with a troubled look on her face. "Just…make sure you don't push yourself too hard." her own expression turned a little forlorn "I…know what happens when you do that. It's…not very good."

…He probably didn't have much of a choice right now.


Olga had practically torn her way through the door the moment news had reached her, all but blurring down the hallways irrespective of whatever anyone else was going to think when they saw her. Right now, what she was aware of was that Fujimaru was awake and that he had asked to see her. The latter part was wholly unnecessary as she would have gone regardless of whether or not he asked for her.

But there was something in regards to the fact he asked which showed that he was taking this as seriously as she was. Though the fact she had been alerted practically in the dead of night meant that she wasn't in much of a position to bemoan the fact it was a Servant who informed her and not Romani himself. Especially since she had been the one to give him a break in the first place.

Nearly four full days hovering over Ritsuka without an ounce of rest would hardly make his level of care anywhere near something useful. Though she hadn't expected Ritsuka to awaken - quite literally - an hour after she sent Romani off and had just been ready to head off to bed herself. Having more than enough sense to change out of her night clothes at least, but she very much doubted that a white button up shirt and smart black trousers were much of an improvement.

The top priority was Fujimaru's current condition and assessment of his combat capability, that was why she was so anxious. If he was harmed in any physical or mental way then it would seriously affect his ability to command Servants in future Singularities and it might even emerge that he was a liability rather than a boon. There was just no way that she would know any of this until she actually got in there and spoke with him.

…It also meant they could finally get a complete story about what occurred in the Singularity, but that would obviously be something for a later time and date, not mere moments after he had awoken.

No. First priority was to ascertain Fujimaru's condition.

…And whether they could do anything about it.

The hiss of the door in front of her never felt more slow in her entire life, between this and entering the room with Ash, she was beginning to wonder who designed these doors and why they made them so slow in the first place. If you wanted to get somewhere quickly, you had to stand in front of a metal door which would slowly pull itself open with an audible click. Quite why they couldn't have regular push and pull doors was beyond her ability to understand.

With the final click, she took in a deep breath and moved into the room, eyes instantly locking onto the shape of Fujimaru, only briefly pausing as she caught sight of the Saber Wolf standing up to their full, and moderately intimidating, height and facing her direction. She locked eyes with the Servant for a good few seconds before it gave a light sniff and then lowered itself back down, sitting on its rump and still managing to be taller than she was.

Not that Fujimaru seemed to care, the dark haired boy looking at her with a tired expression while his left hand was outstretched and slowly running his fingers through the fur around the collar of the wolf, likely some method of keeping himself calm and the wolf seemed to relish in the attention if the now closed eyes were any indication.

She quickly dismissed them and focused solely on the Master candidate currently lying on the bed. Keeping her expectations realistic had lowered most of the shock factor of seeing him in this current state, he looked more than a little tired even after his days long rest, faint bags under his eyes and the lines of his face more pronounced. The lack of a posture was also noted as he was sat up on the bed, his right hand rose just a touch to give her a faint wave before it lowered back down.

"...Hey, Director." His voice was hoarse, sounding as though he had been screaming but he had gone more than a day without water, relying solely on an I.V drip to keep his fluids up so there was that. Though he seemingly noticed it once again, right hand coming up and rubbing along his throat with a minorly irked expression on him for a few moments before he pulled his hand away. "Sorry about the voice…didn't wake up very well."

…She was so dumbfounded by the words she wasn't even sure how she was supposed to respond to them in the first place. It would seem there was a running theme about Chaldea in regards to people making absurd statements that seemed solely aimed towards pressing her nerves. Olga quickly worked to push her reflex response down, keeping her face steady and giving a single nod of the head. "I can afford you some lapses in manners given your current condition.

There, that was a suitable enough response. Fujimaru even went so far as to give her a twitch of the lip that almost looked like a smile, though there was something wrong with his eyes when he did that. As though he didn't mean it in the least but it didn't look as though it was aimed at insulting her either.

"Thanks, Director…" He responded again, swallowing though really quite weakly.

She internally sighed at the lack of sense from around the Servants, eyes drifting away from Fujimaru and towards the direction of one of the cabinets. She was certain that Romani would keep some manner of cup in here and there was a sink mounted into the wall not too far from them, so quite why no one had thought to give him something to drink thus was boggled her mind. Was she the only one thinking straight around here at the moment?

A short trip to the cupboard and the tap later, she was all but shoving the cup into Fujimaru's hand, the boy muttered a thanks to her which he only managed about halfway through before she silenced him with a look.

"You can thank me by being able to speak clearly and concisely." He stared at her, then nodded once before taking a drink from the cup. She made sure to watch him, his movements were a little sluggish but she jotted that down to going days without moving and having only just woken up. As he finished his short drink, she hummed in approval and folded her arms over her chest. "I suspect that Romani will be along soon enough. Comply with his requests to ensure there are no lasting physical problems."

She gave him a pointed look "It would be unfortunate if something…" Olga trailed off in her words, catching herself at the last moment. It was obvious that something would have happened to him down there so that felt like stating the obvious. She wasn't going to humiliate herself quite like that. "...It would be best if we ascertain the extent of harm that has been done."

Fujimaru looked up at her, then gave a silent nod of the head as he returned his left hand back to himself, placing it around the cup and sitting it on his lap. "...What…what happened after I came back?"

"There will be time enough for a debrief once you are rested and fully healed." The dismissal was delivered swiftly and with a wave of the hand, what he needed to be focused on as of this very moment was his own health rather than the situation around Chaldea. It wasn't…

…It was only something that would make matters worse.

Fujimaru slowly shook his head from side to side, bringing his eyes away from the cup on his lap and locking onto her own. "With all due respect, Director…I'd rather know."

The resolution in those sapphire orbs of his cut through whatever argument she had been about to make, her jaw rolled back and forth the longer she stared into his expression. Clicking her tongue, she closed her eyes and broke contact with him first. Even now, she couldn't quite compete with his level of determination, though now she was wondering where it was coming through after all that. There was always the chance he didn't remember, but that would be almost too good to be true.

"...That would depend upon how much you are aware of."

"...Caster escaped with Gwyn and the Holy Grail." She felt her features twitch as he delivered the words with such bluntness that it would be as though he spoke the tongue of hammers. "Mordred, Percival and Priscilla are dead and…" he trailed off for a moment, she opened her eyes and glanced at him, face devoid of emotion but his brows furrowed slightly "...Ash got-" his jaw tightened "…what happened to Ash?"

"He is…" Her pause caused a wave of panic to roll across his face, hands tightening around the cup and his eyes snapping shut, biting his lower lip after a moment longer and hunching his head forwards. "...He is in Chaldea for the moment." and just like that, the tension flooded out of his body and he released a single breath.

She just barely caught his words under his breath "Thank goodness…" her jaw clenched at his relief but she allowed it to pass by. He slowly brought his head back up, then inhaled "Is…I know Mash got out but how is-"

"Kyrielight is fine. I sent her back to her quarters not long before I was told you awoke." For much of the same reason as Romani, she wasn't going to have her sleeping inside this room of all places and worrying over Fujimaru was hardly going to get him up any faster. "Shall I…assume you recall what occurred towards the end of the Singularity?"

"...Yeah."

"...How…clearly?"

"...Very."

Olga found it very hard not to flinch, instead settling on closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath. Because of course he would remember everything that happened, she didn't even need to hear about what he experienced to know what it would be like. Not that it was an experience she could relate to him about, having his body lose control and then go on to kill three individuals without his own say in the matter. Her eyes opened back up, staring into his own. "...How are you currently feeling, Fujimaru?"

He opened and closed his mouth several times, then glanced down and took another short drink of the water before he muttered out under his breath. "...Fine as I can be, I guess-"

"Fujimaru." She cut him off, putting some strength into her words and practically demanding that he bring his attention back to her. After everything of the last few days, what she would appreciate - first and foremost - was finally some honesty. Given that there seemed to be a lot of people just hiding their true thoughts just to make others comfortable or to fit into a mould or whatever. She would just appreciate the truth. "I would like you to consider the consequences of lying not just to me, your superior, but to yourself in terms of future deployments."

He stayed silent, staring up at her with those dull eyes of his.

"Now I shall ask you again." Repeating the words, she lowered her hands back to her side and let the sternness melt from her face. "How are you currently feeling, Fujimaru?"

This time, he gave her a rather empty smile "...Not great."

Yeah…that's what she figured.