Saber had to call in sick from work. There was no way she could show up at her workplace while Rin was missing. However she had no idea how to proceed in finding her missing Master.
She had no clues and she had no allies.
For what she knew, Rin could have been taken to the other side of the world already.
The guilt gnawed at her heart, reminding her of her renown incompetence. It seemed that failing everything and everyone she ever cared for was her lot in life. Her fate.
Why did she ever think she could protect anything? Why did she think herself worthy?
Because a magic sword had decreed so?
Wanting to erase her own existence was perhaps the one good choice she had ever made.
Those were the thoughts that oppressed her.
In the past years she had managed to put her self-recriminations aside for the most part, but having lost Shirou had brought them back. Now with Rin missing, her dark thoughts were the only thing that kept her company.
As the saying goes, it's better to be alone that in bad company, but Saber didn't have the luxury of choosing.
She could only wait and hope for a miracle even though it went against her nature to sit by idly but she had no choice.
The daily input of mana she received from Rin kept dwindling, which meant all she could do was preserve her energy as much as she could, which meant eating a lot and sleeping frequently.
The former she could do even though she had no appetite worth mentioning, but the latter was downright impossible.
Even in the most simple years of her life she could sleep very little. With her minds fraught with concerns she had no hope whatsoever to shut her eyes.
She could only lay on the bed she used to share with Shirou and Rin, hoping for a miracle but dreading the inevitable.
One evening, after five days of madness-inducing isolation and silence, the phone rang.
The bed bounced halfway to the ceiling and floor cracked from the sheer speed at which Saber moved across the room.
"Rin!" she shouted into the receiver.
"I'm afraid not, King of Knights," the voice of Waver Velvet replied from the other end of the line.
"Sir Velvet," Saber greeted, unable to withhold the disappointment and crushing despair to drip into her voice. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I might have found something about DuFall."
Saber's back straightened like a rod.
"Tell me," she demanded with every ounce of the power expected from the King she very much didn't feel like.
"I heard through the grapevine that he has a mansion on the outskirts of the city. I have no idea if your Master is there or if it's indeed DuFall who has taken her but I'm giving you the address anyway."
Saber noted it down on a piece of paper next to the phone. It wasn't like she would forget it but that simple motion seemed to give power back to her limbs.
"I'm afraid this is all I am able to do for you."
"No... this is more than enough. I'm in your debt, Sir Velvet."
"Think nothing of it. It was but a small effort on my part. Best of luck in your endeavor, your highness."
No sooner than those words had left his mouth that Saber had hung up the phone and was out of the apartment.
She didn't even bother locking the door. She simply flung herself out and into the street, hailing the first cab she saw.
She would have been faster moving under her own power, but she had only a sliver of Mana left in her and she was going to be cutting it close as she was. If Rin wasn't there then everything would be lost.
This was her final hope. It didn't matter which price she would have to pay for it.
She couldn't protect her kingdom, she couldn't protect Irisviel, she couldn't protect Shirou.
She would at least protect Rin, no matter what she had to do.
This was her oath and she would rather burn in hell than breaking it.
God have mercy of whomever stood in her way, because Saber certainly wouldn't have any.
The cab came to a halt in front of a sturdy metal gate, beyond which there was a path leading through a thick forest.
Saber had no need to step actually through to feel the energy from the boundary wards ready to activate at the slightest intrusion. The moment she went past the perimeter, she presence would be revealed.
She paid the driver and waited for him to get at a sufficient distance not to spot the light emanated by the summoning of her sword and armor.
This act caused her already strained reserves of mana to get an all time low. She could feel her existence starting to slip away and the pull of death clawing at her.
However, there was no time nor opportunity to retreat and recover. There was no other path but forward.
She jumped over the gate and the moment she did so, the Boundary Field activated.
Layered spells rained upon her in the form of lightning, fire, ice and every other conceivable aspect of nature. As a Servant of the Saber Class she had unparalleled magical resistance so the barrage of spellwork couldn't so much as put a scratch on her. However, it still came at the cost of her own energy.
She wasn't slowed down, but each hit she took chipped away at her remaining energy.
The great oaken doors took only a swing of her invisible blade to be torn to pieces. Once inside, the Boundary Field outside could not longer target her, but that didn't mean she was safe.
Her breath was labored and her hands were shaking. Begrudgingly she dispelled her armor to preserve energy. It was already starting to lose substance anyway and it had done her job.
She moved through the mansion carefully but quickly, until a voice echoed seemingly from everywhere around her.
"What is that you are looking for, Servant?" the unmistakable voice of Gerard DuFall asked.
"My Master! Return her at once, cur, and I might see that you live another day."
"Your Master? I haven't seen Rin in days."
"You lie!" she shouted. He was lying, of course. To protect himself and his schemes. She refused to believe he could be telling the truth, otherwise everything would have been pointless.
She tore through the walls of the mansion looking for him. Throwing caution to the wind, she simply broke through every obstacle until she found the door to the cellar.
Magi traditionally built their Workshops underground, because it was easier to fortify and conceal, as well closer to ley lines in general.
She kicked in the door and it went flying down a long stone stair, stopping at the bottom with a loud crash.
Spells were shot at her from deep within the darkness. The loathsome Magus was down there, hiding like the rat he was.
She flew down the stair with a single leap like a rocket and landed not too far away from her quarry.
Gerard DuFall stared at her with unbridled terror. She didn't bother hiding the feral smile this knowledge brought to her.
She raised her sword in preparation to run him through. It had to be somewhere non-vital so that she could get Rin's whereabouts out of him, but as she was about to do exactly that a chain shot out of the wall, wrapping around her wrist. She ripped it off but two more took its place. At the same time, another chain grabbed her ankle from the opposite side, then another one came for her other arm and then the other leg, immediately joined by a number of others. Ordinarly she could have freed herself easily enough, she was already running on fumes.
Still she wasn't one to go down without a fight. If she used the last of her energies to perform a Mana Burst in this small space she would at least turn Gerard in a stain on the wall. She could only hope that his death would give Rin a chance to free herself.
Before she could do that, however, her instinct screamed danger from behind, but before she had a chance to turn her head something struck her hard, knocking her unconscious.
She fought against the darkness as much as she could but she no longer had enough strength in her to do so.
'I'm sorry, Rin...'
That was her last thought before unconsciousness took her and she knew no more.
The first thing Saber's registered was the pain in the back of her head. The second thing was that she felt less tired than the last time she was conscious. From there, memories flooded her consciousness and her eyes shot immediately open.
She was laying on a bed in an unfamiliar room. The style of the decor suggested that she was still in Gerard's mansion.
She immediately checked herself over, but the only thing wrong with herself that she could detect was a faint taste of copper in her mouth. Her sharp mind quickly made the connection. She had been fed mana enriched blood to prevent her from disappearing, but who could have done that?
She had to put aside her thoughts when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She immediately called out her armor and sword, relishing in their presence and prepared herself to strike down whomever came through that door.
A moment later a figure came into the room and upon recognizing him, Saber immediately thrusted her sword forward.
It was so that Gerard DuFall found himself with his back against the wall and the invisible edge of Excalibur stabbed next to his face, between him and the door.
"Could you possibly not do that?" he asked between panicked and annoyed. The tray in his hand was being held remarkably steady for a guy with a Noble Phantasm a few inches from his face.
"Why?" she all but growls in his face.
"Because you've made plenty of holes in my mansion as it is, I'd say."
"Why have you not finished me?"
"Because you were laboring under the delusion that I have something to do with your Master's disappearance."
The sword moved a bit closer to his face.
"You mean to imply you haven't?"
"I would be willing to swear under geas that Rin and I have the most cordial of relationships and that I never so much as harmed a hair on her head or held her anywhere against her will."
Once again, Excalibur drew closer to his face.
"Look, Rin and I are research partners, alright? I literally can't tell you what the research was about but Rin's help was critical. Harming her doesn't advantage me any. I helped you because together we have a better chance to find her."
"Why should I believe you?"
"Why would I have saved you after you wrecked my home and tried to kill me otherwise? I didn't even have to finish you off. A few more minutes and you have died entirely on your own."
Saber looked at him like she wanted to dig a hole in his head with her gaze alone.
To begin with, the reason why she thought he was the culprit was because he was the only other party beside the El-Melloi that she could name.
But his story coincided with what she had heard from Rin, who had also told her that he wasn't so bad a person as the first impression warranted. Considering that he should not have any reason to assist her if he was indeed responsible she concluded that she could give him the benefit of the doubt. Begrudgingly.
"Fine," she said, pulling the sword out of the wall. "Rin said that you were a better person that you made yourself look. I have no other choice but to trust her judgment at this point."
"Oh, thank goodness," he exhaled in relief. "Wo.. would you like some tea?" he asked, gesturing at the tray in his hand. Only then did Saber notice that he was carrying a teapot and two cups.
"No," she replied flatly, "thank you. I'm more interested in what you know about Rin."
"Not much beyond a few whispers. Rin is nothing short of a brilliant Magus. She's a rising star within the Clock Tower and none of the old families like it when an upstart from the East comes taking away their spotlight."
Saber nodded. It was more or less the explanation she had come up with herself.
"But there's just too many possible culprits. It could have been a single family or a coalition. All that I knew for certain all along is that Rin is still alive somewhere."
"And how did you know that?" Saber inquired.
"I can't tell you," he replied, then hastily added "I literally can't! Figure out what it means by yourself."
"... geas," Saber concluded after a brief moment of intense pondering and murderous staring. "You and Rin are bound by a geas-enforced agreement, and if she were dead you would be free from it."
"Exactly," he sighed in relief. "Now that you figured that out on your own, I can at least mention the agreement in loose terms. Simply put, it was about working together and not harming each other in the process, plus a few case-specific caveats. Standard stuff as far as Magi are concerned."
Saber nodded. Rin had explained such things to her in broad terms in the past.
"When Rin missed our scheduled meetings, I went looking for her but no one had seen her in days. I didn't think much of it at first. Sometimes a Magus' got to chase a lead into their research without a second thought. I do that too sometimes."
Saber nodded. Merlin was like that too, disappearing for weeks at times without letting anyone know where he was going... or that he would be gone at all.
"I wasn't a hundred percent sure something had happened at all until you started wrecking my house."
"Sorry about that," she apologized without looking apologetic at all. She knew that if - if - he was telling the truth she had wronged him, but she couldn't bring herself to care.
"Yeah, I can see you're very upset about it," Gerard replied sarcastically. "Anyway I might as well make something good out of this near-death experience. Since you're here we can join forces and search for Rin together."
"Why?" she inquired suspiciously. "What do you care what happens to Rin? What do you stand to gain?"
"Alright, for the sake of argument let's pretend for a moment that I am every little bit the sociopath you so strongly want to believe I am, and that I couldn't possibly care about someone I've been working closely with for months ," he said sardonically.
Saber had the decency to look mildly embarrassed.
"First, I need a research partner," Gerard elaborated. "If I could have done without I would have done so from the start. Rin is the best, both in skills and character. I would be hard pressed to find someone her equal. Second, while I'm bound to Rin I cannot take another research partner anyway. As a Magus it's in my best interest that she's returned safe and sound. End of story."
Saber stared at the Magus in front of her trying to discern whether he was being entirely truthful or not.
She was willing to consider he was being honest only because Rin was willing to work with him and because he had helped when she would have otherwise disappeared.
But Magi were a deceitful sort. There was no reason to think he wasn't playing some sort of bigger game she couldn't see yet.
However, she had no other option than to trust Rin's judgment about him and hope it wouldn't doom them both.
"Very well. I will take your words at face value and trust that you wouldn't harm Rin," she held out her hand, but when Gerard took it she clenched it hard enough to make him squirm. "However should I ever discover that you are responsible for this in any capacity, I shall visit my displeasure upon you and it will be the last thing you'll ever know."
"G-Got it," he agreed with just enough squeak in his voice to satisfy her.
"Good. Now, to you have any idea where to start looking?"
"Sadly, no. The only obvious thing right now is that whomever took Rin needs her alive."
"But for what purpose?"
"Anything's possible. Extorsion of her mysteries. Experimentation on her Crest. Even child-bearing isn't off the table."
"What? They would force...!"
"No, no! Calm down. That's just one possibility among many. It could be something else entirely that we can't even begin to imagine. Regardless, she's been captive for days now. I reckon that whatever they had in mind for her has already happened."
"You can't know that!" Saber protested.
"Rin's tough, but anyone can be broken given enough time. By my count she's been missing for as long as two weeks. That's more than enough time to break anyone."
"You claim to care for Rin... why are you so nonchalant about this?"
"Because you're losing your cool enough for the both of us!" Gerard snapped. "Somebody has to keep their wits and you aren't exactly doing a commendable show of it."
Saber let out a huff from her nose that was very much like the snort of a dragon about to spit fire, hands clenching in preparation to hurt something, but she reigned herself in before she did something she couldn't take back.
"Fine! Then what do you suggest should be our next move?"
"Your next move is to go back home and lay low. Everyone knows you're Rin's familiar so they will be on the lookout for you. On the other hand I am just a colleague of Rin. My looking on her whereabouts won't put people on their guard as much as as you doing the same would."
"You expect me to sit back and do nothing?"
"I expect a Heroic Spirit like you to know there is a time to advance and another to retreat and regroup. Would you field an army without knowing where the enemy is located or their numbers?"
It was a question that she had faced many times in her life and the answer had been invariably a resounding no. At least not if she could help it.
What she wanted was irrelevant. The only thing that mattered was what she had to do.
She needed to summon the countenance of the king, of the perfect, unfeeling machine that she had been for years, because that's what had been required of her back then and because that's what was required of her now.
One more time she would have to crush her own heart and do her duty.
"You are correct," she agreed far more calmly than just moments prior. "Forgive my earlier outburst."
Gerard blinked at her sudden change in demeanor.
"No... well. I understand where you're coming from. I really do. Anyway, I'm going to put my feelers out, see what they can find out. Lots of people owe me lots of favors. It's about time I cashed them."
"If we can bring back Rin safely, I will repay you of whatever expense or loss you may incur, no matter the price."
"Well... I can't say I won't expect compensation for my troubles. I'm still a Magus after all."
"Indeed," Saber acknowledged. Hence why she could not trust him. Magi like Rin and Shirou were rare exceptions, not the rule. "Then... I shall return home and wait to hear from you."
"Wait... what do you plan to do about your shortage of Mana? It's quite evident that you're not getting enough of it. You would have already died if I hadn't give you my blood, but even that much will probably keep you going for a day, at most."
"Do you have a solution?" she asked.
"Well... my craft specializes in Mana trasferts. Even if you already have a Master in Rin I could... set up a secondary contract bewteen us."
Saying so, he glanced toward the bed. Saber understood his meaning perfectly and felt a surge of disgust rise up her throat. However, she would have been willing to put aside her personal dislike for Rin's sake, but she wasn't an idiot.
A Tantric Ritual was meant to bypass the body's defenses, A-Ranked Magic Resistance or not. Once done he would have an unrestricted connection to her that would end only with the death of either one of them. Of course, she didn't trust him nowhere nearly enough to agree to such a thing, even if she were willing to disregard her relationship with Rin and Shirou for their own sake.
"I believe that I shall do without," she replied flatly.
"Then how...?"
"That business is entirely my own and in no part yours," she immediately interrupted.
"Fine, fine," he held up his hands. "Take this at least, so we can keep in touch anytime. It's got my number already memorized."
He handed over a cellphone and Saber couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at him.
"You know how to use it, right?" he asked with some worry.
"I am somewhat proficient, yes," she replied. Shirou had insisted they keep up with the time even though she never needed one. "I am merely surprised a Magus would use modern technology."
Gerard snorted. "I am fairly modern-minded."
"So I see," she acknowledged, taking the object. "I'll expect daily reports from you. I will keep you similarly appraised should I find anything new.
"Sounds good to me. Best of luck out there, Saber."
Saber nodded and left the room, then the mansion itself, proceeding back towards the city on foot.
She needed to clear her head.
She hated having to rely entirely on someone else, particularly on Gerard but there was no one else willing to expose themselves for Rin's sake. Even Waver Velvet had helped her out of courtesy towards an old rival. She could not ask him for more. Besides he was still a Magus. Saber could not expose herself to their machinations or she risked being unable to help Rin when it mattered.
That left her with the issue of finding Mana. She still got some from Rin, wherever she was, and a little more she could harness from food. With that amount she could sustain herself indefinitely so long as she did absolutely nothing.
That wasn't acceptable, because the first time she would have to act it would be a repeat of today events. It had somewhat played in her favor this time but she knew better than to push her luck again.
She needed another source of Mana. As a Servant, she could technically drain the life force of other people to sustain herself but it was an inhuman act that she would refuse to perform no matter the circumstances. She refused to harm innocent people regardless of what misfortune befell her.
... besides there were other methods to acquire energy from ordinary humans. Distateful, unpleasant methods but only to herself.
She would have to swallow her pride and disgust for Rin's sake.
Gerard watched Saber get further and further away. He hadn't expected her to refuse his proposition. He would have loved nothing more than to make her squeal under his touch like he had done with Rin.
Still, even playing the long game was fine with him. Someone like Saber was worth any risk and expense.
Not many in all of human history could claim to have laid with a Heroic Spirit. Gerard himself wouldn't fancy his chances to come out alive from the attempt if he didn't have the support and complicity of her Master.
Even with Rin's help, he very nearly died.
"That was close," Gerard sighed, looking at the form of Saber being suspended in mid air by the chains he had prepared as the last line of defense. Each link was a Mystic Code with enough power to stop a speeding truck cold in its tracks and Saber had ripped a chain open almost easily. "Thanks for the assist, by the way."
"I told you she would be tough to handle," Rin said, stepping out from behind her unconscious Servant. She was massaging her elbow. Even with Reinforcement hitting a Servant was like punching a brick wall.
She walked around and stood in front of Saber, while Gerard came forward until his chest was against Rin's back. A gesture of implied trust and intimacy that would have made Saber want to vomit had she seen it.
"No kidding. She was about to go kamikaze on me."
"She's like that, my little Saber," Rin commended, brushing a loving finger against her girlfriend's face. "Always fighting till the last. I suppose that's why I love her as much as I do."
"You love her?" he asked mockingly. "That's why you led her to me?"
"But of course," Rin purred, further leaning her back into Gerard's chest, while his hands roamed around her body. "I never felt so good and so fulfilled before in my life, Gerard. Of course I would want to share this feeling with the people I care about."
"And I'm sure that it has nothing to do with how much it turns you on to betray those very same people."
"Hmm... that's just a pleasant bonus."
"You're lying," he whispered in her ear. "You are doing this for your own sake, so that you may revel in the knowledge that you turned against the people that would put down their own lives for you."
The thick sludge of black thoughts and seductive darkness which had become her heart responded to his words. It pulsed warmly through her body, leaving her tingling. It was true. So very, very true. It wasn't about helping her friends or family. It wasn't about caring or saving anyone. It was about her. It was about her pussy and her body and her pleasure.
All her emotions and thoughts were filtered through her lust. They came out the other end drenched in lewdness and corruption. She didn't have a single moment of the day where she wasn't contemplating sex in some way or another. It was all about the pleasure.
"Yeees. I admit it. I wanted to betray Saber even more than I already did by fucking around. I want to see her brought down to my level. No, I want to see her reduced even worse than I am."
She licked her lips with her longer than usual tongue. It didn't mean that she didn't love Shirou or Saber anymore. In fact, she loved them more than words could express. That was what made trampling upon it all the sweeter. For Rin loving someone and not betray that love was a complete and utter waste.
"I want her ruined," she sighed. "I want Saber, the kind and regal king destroyed. I want her to be a whore who spreads her legs for anyone. I want it to happen because it makes me fucking hot to betray my girlfriend and turn her into a completely degenerate slut."
Her proclamation was followed by a shudder and by a flood of arousal dripping down her trembling legs. Even just vocalizing her own deviant wishes was enough to give her a minor orgasm.
Who? Who in their right mind would want to share such an experience with their loved ones?
Gerard smiled at the display. Rin had turned out much better that he could have hoped for. That was something possible only when working with high grade material. Material such as Rin and the King of Knights.
"Fuh... that depends entirely on her," Gerard chuckled in response. "It's going to be her choice just as much as it was for you. The only thing I'm going to do is providing her with incentives."
"It doesn't matter," Rin shook her head. "She's going to fall just like I did. Why not just skip the charade and break her right away?"
"I would appreciate it if you didn't insult my craft, Rin. I don't break people. I nudge them in a direction and watch them reshape themselves accordingly. Besides, what you're suggesting to do would be much harder. You too would have put up much more of a fight if you thought you were being pushed."
"Maybe, but it still sounds too much of a chore to me."
"I wouldn't expect a whore like you to understand my art," he said, giving her ass a loud spank, making her yelp. "Run along now. You have a job to do and if she wakes you up and see you here my entire scenario will be ruined."
"Fine," she whined. "But you better keep me in the loop."
"I'll do whatever the hell I want, Rin. You gave Saber to me so she's now mine to do as I see fit."
"You are such a bastard Gerard," she complained.
"I know. That's why you like me, don't you?"
"...hmph! Don't let it go to your head."
"Yeah, yeah. Get going already. Saber and I are going to get acquaintanced now."
Rin started to climb up the stairs, but not without shooting one last longing glance at Saber's unconscious form.
She knew intellectually that was she was doing was completely wrong, but there was not a single shred of guilt to be found inside her heart, just a feeling of intense expectation. She couldn't wait for the moment when Saber would be brought down for good. On that day, they could be fellow whores. Then, with Gerard's help they would get Shirou back so they could cheat on him together forever.
It would be even better than before. It would be heaven.
XXX
AN: I'm a retard! I completely forgot to update this story on here. Whoops. Well, not really much to say about this chapter, though it's important as it shows of deep Rin has fallen. We're going to see a lot more of Saber and a lot less of Rin from here onward but that's to be expected.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading the story so far as much as I did writing it. Don't forget to read and review.
Also, if you wish to support me, make sure to check out my Pa treon account where I publish my fanfics in advance as well as my original fiction. Just go over to "pa treon [dotCOM] / ichaichasennin"
See you there!