The Shadow Border drove through the frozen Lostbelt, stopping every so often for Meuniѐre or da Vinci to take a reading of the surrounding area in search of other humans. So far, in the four hours they'd been at it they'd detected nothing but giants, something that made Patxi very glad he was nice and safe behind the Border's rather thick walls. The fewer times he had to fight those...things the better, at least until he was able to figure out why he'd frozen up like that the first time.

It was odd, though, Patxi mused as he watched the scenery outside the window fly by: he could kill a giant with enough bullets to the face, yet for some reason he'd rather go up against Sigurd again despite the fact that Servants completely outclassed him in terms of combat ability. Wonder why that is. Honestly, it really doesn't make any sense at all. But, he supposed there was no sense dwelling on it now, not when they still had a lot of work to do if they were ever going to reach the 'Wandering Sea' place da Vinci and Holmes kept going on about.

A few minutes later, the PA system rang. "Attention, all personnel! This is your Technical Advisor speaking. The sun's starting to get pretty low in the sky, so before long it's not going to be safe for me to drive this through the forest. As such, I'm going to call it quits as soon as we hit the next clearing. We'll do one last scan of the area, then it's time for dinner! Da Vinci, out."

"Is that really a good idea?" Patxi asked Goredolf, who had just sagged back into his chair. "I mean, seems like it's a good way to get mobbed by a bunch of giants."

"That's what the concealment's for." Goredolf replied. "If it can stop a Servant like Sigurd for a little while it's going to have absolutely no trouble hiding us from any giants having a look around." He shuddered. "At least, I hope so."

"That's not exactly reassuring, you know."

"I said it 'should' keep them away, didn't I? Not to mention that even if they do find us out we'll know from either the scanners or from you." Goredolf smiled. "I have to admit, Yag - I mean, Patxi, I'm starting to think you're better at picking these things up than da Vinci is."

Patxi snorted. "You expect me to believe that?"

"It's the truth!" Goredolf stood up, looking oddly hurt. "I don't just throw out empty praises, you know."

"Uh huh, sure."

Goredolf looked down at him, mouth opening and closing, before turning and heading to get dinner.

As normal, Patxi took his own dinner alone in his quarters. After five years of eating by himself the idea of dinner with another person felt completely alien, and the one time he'd tried to eat up on the bridge with Fujimaru and Mash he'd been too on edge to really focus on the conversation, still half-expecting someone to try and steal his dinner the second he put it down. So he just felt more comfortable eating solo, doubly so after the little spat with Goredolf on the bridge. The meal itself consisted of something that was apparently called Macaroni and Cheese, the taste of which was entirely foreign to him but more delicious than something so simple had any right to be, washed down with some kind of energy drink that everyone else in Chaldea swore was the most disgusting thing on the planet. Personally, Patxi kind of liked it, but then he was used to food not exactly tasting pleasant. Or even edible. After dinner the results of the last scan for the night came in: absolutely nothing, same as before.

Shortly after that the lights in the Shadow Border flicked off. Patxi reclined back in his bed, wishing his left side would just finish up healing already, before closing his eyes and trying not to think of Ivan the Terrible.

He was back in Moscow, hands bound and Oprichniki on both sides. They marched him forwards, gun barrels pressed against his back, and as they walked the decrepit buildings vanished to be replaced with trees made of ice.

Ivan the Terrible strode out of them, roaring, his great staff swirling with lightning.

"Let me go!" Patxi pleaded with the Oprichniki. "I'm not a rebel, I didn't mean to get mixed up with them, it was an accident! Please, let me go."

They were unmoved. "Impossible. You betrayed the Tsar, betrayed Russia itself. For that you must die."

Patxi struggled to get away, twisting and turning, but realized the ice had frozen his feet in place. "No, no, no!"

Deaf to his pleas, Ivan strode forward, each footstep shaking the ground like a thunderclap. He came to a stop directly in front of Patxi and raised his staff, transforming it into a blood-red sword, which he swung downwards across Patxi's entire left side. Patxi yelled from the pain, but almost immediately the breath was strangled out of him. He couldn't breathe, and to his horror he realized that the world was slipping away into a black nothingness.

The darkness closed in, blinding him, deafening him, robbing him of his sense of touch, until all Patxi could feel was darkness itself choking his throat and all he could hear was the final judgement of the Tsar:

"Nothing is the fate awaiting the traitor to his Lostbelt."

Patxi's eyes flew open. Breathing heavily, even harder than he had fighting the Giant, for an impossibly-long moment Patxi thought that his dream had come true and he had in fact been swallowed up by the darkness, but then his eyes began to adjust to the low light just enough that he could make out the familiar outline of the bunk above him. It was just a dream. You're okay. You're not dead. You're fine. You're FINE.

All the same, Patxi was still shaking as he drew the blankets up tighter around him.

Midmorning the next day, the Shadow Border's travels across the Lostbelt hit a wall. Or, more accurately, a bunch of trees.

"Welp," da Vinci said, "That grove is waaaaay too thick for us to plow through."

"But it's all made of ice, isn't it?" Meuniѐre protested. "It'd just break if we went through it."

"Ordinarily, yes, but we don't know for sure if this ice'll work the same way as the ice we're familiar with. Don't forget this is all magical, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's harder to break through."

"So then what?" Fujimaru asked. "Do we just go around?"

"I'm not sure it's worth it - after all, we still didn't sense any humans last time we took a scan."

"That was half an hour ago." Meuniѐre pointed out. "Want me to take another one real quick?"

"Sure, why not?"

By the time the results of the scan were in, Goredolf and Mash had made their way to the bridge, both yawning.

"Eh?" Goredolf rubbed his eyes. "Why'd we stop?" After da Vinci explained the situation, Goredolf sighed and turned to the scanner. "And is that telling us anything? Please tell me it's saying there's like a nice little village just a little ways into the forest."

"Hang on a second, let me look real quick…" Fujimaru leaned over and gave a start. "There's actually something!"

"Really?" Patxi walked over to look for himself and noticed that there was, in fact, a singular dot at the very edge of the radar. "How far out is this?"

"About 5 kilometers." Meuniѐre looked down as well. "Not that we can get there in the Border ."

"Do you want me and Senpai to go investigate?" Mash asked Goredolf. "I've already got the Ortinax on standby."

"Hmm? Oh, yes, that's probably for the best. But take Patxi with you."

Fujimaru and Mash looked over at Patxi, then at each other, then at Goredolf. "Is...is that really the best thing right now?" Fujimaru asked.

"Why wouldn't it be? It's safer that way."

"Well, yeah, but…"

"I can handle it." Patxi growled, stung by Fujimaru's lack of faith. "The giant yesterday just surprised me a little, alright? I can handle it. End of story."

"If you're sure." Still not looking convinced, Fujimaru shrugged before turning away. "How soon do you want us to leave, Director?"

"Ten minutes."

Fujimaru, Mash, and Patxi all nodded before heading back to their individual quarters to get ready. As Patxi slid his rifle over his shoulder, he cursed Goredolf. Damn it, he's just trying to get back at me for snapping at him yesterday, and I walked RIGHT into it. Nice going, Patxi. Still, he'd told everyone that he was going to help scout, so there was nothing for it but to keep pressing forwards.

The forest was almost as silent as it had been when they'd been scouting before the first giant attack, and it was just as warm. All three of them kept silent, not wanting to attract the attention of any hostile inhabitants, and while he was looking around Patxi found himself noticing some interesting things: like, for one, the fact that every step Mash and Fujimaru took seemed to be a massive trial for them, taken almost reluctantly, as though they wanted nothing more than to run back to the Shadow Border and hide. Maybe they're worried about running into Sigurd again.

Another thing Patxi noticed, or rather a pair of things, had started flying overhead soon after they departed the border and continued to circle above them as they walked.

"Hey guys?" Patxi asked. "What are those?"

Mash looked up. "Are those crows?" Her face brightened. "They are!"

"What's a crow?"

"Crows are a type of bird," Fujimaru explained, "and if there's a couple of them here we know that somewhere around here's a place that can sustain animal life."

"So that's probably where the people are?"

"Exactly. We'll know soon enough, I guess, whenever we come across whoever it was that was giving off that signal earlier."

"Right, about that, I was wondering - how do you guys know that there's going to be any people in this Lostbelt? I'm not exactly a person."

"No, you are - just one that was transformed by magic." Mash replied. "And the reason we know this Lostbelt has people in it is because otherwise there wouldn't be any basis for it to have been brought back. Does that make sense?"

"Not really, but I'll take your word for it for now." Patxi unslung his rifle. "I think I can hear a couple of giants ahead of us." Listening closely, he could make out some faint, yet unmistakable footfalls. "No, make that three." Chambering a round, Patxi tried to steady his nerves. Don't freeze up again. You can handle it. You have to.

"How far ahead of us are they?"

"Not far - maybe four hundred meters, if that. Probably less, actually."

"Understood. Senpai, Patxi, get behind me." Mash deployed her shield, and the three of them started to edge forwards. The whole time Patxi kept listening for signs that they'd been heard, trying to ignore the fact that his heart seemed bound and determined to burst clear out of his chest, but thankfully so far they seemed to have been unnoticed.

All of a sudden, a loud, high-pitched scream ripped through the air, coming from the direction of the giants.

Without looking at Mash or Fujimaru, without considering other options, without even so much as thinking , Patxi shot off after it. He'd heard that sort of scream before: it was one of pure terror, the sort of instinctual, unthinking one that came deep inside from some primal instinct, and it was the very same type of scream that his friend Anatoly had screamed when his father was shot. Maybe that was why he ran, because between his reminiscing yesterday on their first scouting mission and Fujimaru's brief stint as a hostage Anatoly and his death was at the forefront of Patxi's mind, but whatever the reason he charged forwards as fast as he could, not caring about anything but getting to whoever it was that was in danger and saving them , no matter what happened after that.

Just as he'd estimated, there were three giants in the clearing, all advancing on a terrified little human girl some ways away. Patxi continued forwards through sheer adrenaline, raising his gun to shoot, his heart leaping to his throat when he saw all three giants raise their clubs to strike as one, a lot like back then…

" TOLYA, GET DOWN! "

The three giants spun around to face the new arrival while the girl dove for cover, and Patxi fired at the nearest one's neck. He shot one bullet, then another and another, bringing down one giant but not stopping the others from charging him, and then his gun was empty right when the two survivors were right on top of him. Patxi dove past and under them, not even bothering to try and reload, but instead rolled below their strikes and up to the little girl. Only then did Patxi spin and drop a hand to his pouch for some extra bullets, hoping that he'd be able to kill the other two giants before his nerve failed him.

Seconds later, Mash burst into the clearing. "Patxi! Stay there!" She rushed the smaller of the two giants with her shield and uprooted it with a strike to the legs, sending the thing toppling to the ground. Then Fujimaru was there with some Servant or another, who leapt at the giant with a pair of shortswords and slit its' throat before turning to face the sole survivor. Patxi shot the fallen one twice just to make sure it was actually dead before raising his gun and firing again, aiming for the giant's neck, but the bullets seemed to only be barely any more effective than they had been against Sigurd.

Fortunately the giant was too focused on the new arrivals to respond, and proceeded to try and crush Mash beneath it's club. Mash blocked, and as she did the other Servant raised his hand towards the club.

"Trace, On. " Suddenly, impossibly, the Servant materialized a copy of the club out of thin air, and the moment he finished Mash dropped herself as the Servant summoned a bow, somehow fit the club against it, and fired. The club flew straight towards the giant's mask, obliterating both it and the giant's head before vanishing in midair. As the giant's body fell to the ground Mash and Fujimaru thanked the Servant, who nodded before dematerializing.

"Sorry for running off like that." Patxi apologized as the other two walked over. "I just heard the screaming and - I couldn't just sit there, y'know?"

"As long as everyone's safe, that's okay." Fujimaru bent down in front of the little girl. "You alright, miss? I hope we didn't scare you."

The girl nodded. "Y-yeah, but can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why did you guys save me? Any child found by the Bergrisar is supposed to be doomed to die, everyone knows that."

Mash shook her head. "That doesn't matter. When we see someone in danger, we always go in to help."

"But…" The girl shook her head. "Sorry, I'm being rude, aren't I?" Looking up at Patxi, she smiled. "Thanks for saving me, mister! The Goddess must have sent you to keep me safe, didn't she?" The girl stood up and bowed. "Oh, wait, I'm forgetting my manners! You're supposed to introduce yourself to strangers when you meet them, right? I remember learning that. My name's Gerda!"

"Gerda, huh?" Mash smiled back. "That's a beautiful name."

"Thank you, miss black armor! But what are all your names?"

"Her name is Mash Kyrielight, the one who saved you is Patxi, and my name is Ritsuka Fujimaru." Fujimaru pointed at each of them in turn. "But you can just call me Fujimaru. What were you doing out here anyways, Gerda?"

"Looking for herbs." Gerda's smile vanished. "Someone in my village needs medicinal herbs real bad, but all the adults are busy getting ready for tomorrow so I went out by myself." She shook her head "What was I thinking? I'm such an idiot. I should've known I'd get squished by giants if I went out on my own."

"Well, we're here, and you didn't get squished. Do you want us to help you find the herbs you need?"

"You'd do that? Thanks mister!"

"No problem." Fujimaru turned to Patxi and Mash. "That good with you two?"

"Of course, Senpai. This way we can see her village!"

Patxi didn't have any issue with it either, and so they started off in the direction Gerda said would bring them to the herbs. As they were walking, Patxi was surprised to find he felt guilty. Helping this girl, only to turn around and kill her entire world once we find the Tree of Emptiness. Great. Then again, it wasn't like he hadn't just gone on a nearly-suicidal charge to save her, so Patxi supposed he really wasn't one to talk.