Fate: Souls and Singularities

by Mundatorem

Singularities. Points in Human History which have become corrupted with the presence of a Holy Grail with the end result being the incineration of Humanity. However, it is not the Grails alone which are divergent. The Incineration comes about as one world in particular comes to an end. The two become linked as figures from a different Throne reach across the barriers between worlds

202. Almost Weekly Santa Alter: Ending

Almost Weekly Santa Alter: Ending

The first thing he did - when the momentum tapered away - was fall out of the sled and splat face first into the snow, embracing the lack of motion with open arms. It must have made for quite a sight, him being pressed flat against the snow with a reverse angel or something like that, though that was only secondary. The last time he experienced speeds like that was when he was inside a car.

And there was an entire car around him.

He'd never been on a motorcycle before.

All the same, the G-forces had been a nightmare and he wasn't even certain that they had won in the first place. The only thing he won out of this whole endeavour was a bout of dizziness and a sudden urge to turn into a plant. Become the Christmas tree and remain firmly planted on the ground.

Vibrations from next to him, a muffled crunch of snow as someone crouched down and placed a hand onto his shoulder. From the slow moving fingers and the hesitant touch, it was clear to him that it was Mash, rather hesitant about flipping him over. Shaking his head a little to move the snow away from his face, he spoke out loud. His voice echoed around him.

"Can I just lie here in the snow for the rest of my life?"

"...I'm sorry, Senpai. But that's not allowed." The fact she even sounded apologetic made it all the worse. Especially when she nudged him a little, then something plopped down onto his back and started to move around. A frown came upon his lips, feeling four distinct points before it all merged together into a single weight. "Fou, you can't sit on Senpai!"

Yeah, he figured that was it.

"That was worse than falling through the air!" The cry of the Director reached his ears, causing him to pull his head from the snow and squint towards the location of the yell, the elf dressed woman stumbling around and pointing an accusing finger towards Santoria, all while she clutched her other hand over her heart, breathing in and out. Her expression was a mixture of shock, horror and probably morbid intrigue. "How can you fly worse than falling at terminal velocity!?"

"It wasn't that bad." Marie stepped forwards, shrugging her shoulders a touch as she did so. Though judging by the slightly queasy look on her face, she wasn't really feeling all that great after that either. Something that the Director cottoned onto almost immediately.

"That's a Rider class Servant!" She sounded dumbfounded. "You've given a Rider class Servant motion sickness! How can you even achieve something so…so…how!?"

Ritsuka pushed himself off the ground, sighing under his breath and pausing for only a moment as he felt the weight on his back push off, jumping towards the direction of Mash. He spared a glance, seeing the little animal jump onto the girl and find their place on her shoulder once more. Turning his eyes from the little thing and back towards the woman in question.

Santoria was looking over her sled, her back to them and with her head tilted. A curious hum escaped her before she turned around to face them, far from appearing concerned, she was actually wearing a rather triumphant look on her face, her eyes turning to the sky and her arms folding over her chest.

He could figure why she was pleased.

They had won the race, mainly because the second they took off she had turned Excalibur Morgan into a jet engine and blasted them off into the distance. It was only through the grip strength of Mash that he had not turned into the actual Rudolf and become one with the air.

What a time to be alive, and what a terrible idea that worked. If he guessed right, then any second now she was going to say something about how it was worth the struggle.

"All good victories are worth struggling for." The expected sentence arrived without fail, her eyes turning down and looking between him and the Director. Utterly uncaring as to the aftermath of her pseudo-jet plane. "If it was a victory that was merely handed to us, then it would hardly be worth it. Besides, did you truly believe that Santa would be capable of travelling such vast distances without use of excessive speed."

The noise the Director made was rather interesting. "Excessive!? We were mere seconds away from breaking the sound barrier!"

"You exaggerate." A huff from Santoria and a wave of the hand. "Besides, we reached our destination in adequate time. I also demonstrated my superiority in such a way that the pretender will not be able to ignore and have - once and for all - demonstrated that I am the superior Santa."

He was just thankful it was over.

Rising onto his feet, he wobbled for a bit before he looked towards Mash, watching as she pet Fou all while wearing a look on her face. He raised an eyebrow at her, which she caught and then turned onto him with the same thoughtful look. "I understand what she means, Senpai. Though it just seems incredibly dangerous to move at such speeds…though it was a little bit exciting…"

Her hand moved over her heart, a small breath escaped her. "It was…very exhilarating. My heart is still pumping but I don't know if that's a bad sign or not. It was terrifying but it was also different…as though I would be fine if we went again. Is that strange?"

He blinked once. "No, that just means you'd enjoy roller coasters." turning around and staring off towards the sky, he saw the faint - but rapidly growing - blob that was the other Artoria and her sled approaching them. Much as he would have wanted to wait around for them to arrive, there were other things that took priority. Namely the dragon which had been flying right towards the group.

Turning back around, he stared at the forest that was in front of him. Thick with trunks and poorly lit, almost a menacing lack of light from deep within. His arm came up, the communicator flashed on. "Has she arrived yet?"

"Uhhh…yeah, she did."

He didn't sound worried, if he didn't sound worried then it meant that there wasn't anything to worry about. Which meant he might have misinterpreted the speed at which the Goddess had gone charging off towards this location. Gazing at the doctor, the man sat in the chair, waving to him shortly when they made eye contact. "She made contact, found Faraam and…well…they're having a pretty good reunion so far. Not sure what's happened with the others but no sign of violence at all. So…thumbs up."

"That's a relief." Mash exhaled from behind him, he caught the lightness in her tone as she stepped forwards. "I was worried after the incident with Gwyndolin-san that there might be another issue in the future, but if they're happy to see one another, then that means it's alright, doesn't it, Senpai?" she turned on him with a wide smile. "Christmas is the time of year when families are supposed to get together, right?"

"And friends." He added on, more so he could contribute and also try and exclude the family dynamic which was a serious problem with some of those Gods right now. Especially more so with the likes of Ash and his mother. "But yeah…that's a relief to me as well. I'm actually just happy that they can have a proper family meeting that doesn't end in bloodshed or insults…you said the reunion was going well?"

Romani nodded his head to the question. "Well, they're all hugging it out right now. Faraam and the Goddess you encountered, at least. Not sure about the other two but I've been getting some spotty reports in regard to Gwyndolin and Gwynevere…no one has seen Velka yet but she's not in Chaldea at the moment."

"Whose idea was it to let that-that-that menace out of sight?" Olga all but growled the second she was looming over his other shoulder, he jolted a little at her tone. But he understood where she was coming from, at least. The idea of letting Velka run around without someone watching her every move didn't sit right with him at the moment either. Maybe in the future, but definitely not until he could be certain. "In fact, what were you doing through all of this?"

Romani exhaled and lowered his head. "It was a volunteer operation and she volunteered…There were a lot of names down and hers just blended in with the others. I mean…her not showing up for anything means she hasn't tried anything, right?" he perked up, looking between the two of them and clearly trying to find some sort of silver lining. "A-also, she wouldn't try something so soon after the last incident, right?"

The man did have a point, Ritsuka would admit.

"Indeed, that would be a rather foolish thing to do. Much as I might be comfortable with a risk, I'm not one to truly push my luck that far."

"Yeah, what she said-" He caught himself midway through speaking, a frown came upon his face as he straightened himself out. Slowly turning his head towards the Director and staring at her with furrowed brows, she matched the stare with one of her own. Then the two of them turned towards Mash and stared at her, who looked similarly puzzled by the female voice which didn't belong to any of them.

Their heads turned as one, as did their bodies as they now stood with their backs to the forest and facing the horizon. Barely even a couple of feet from them, was the dark dress and amused smile of the Goddess in question. Velka with her hands clapped together, her amber eyes roamed over each of them before she tilted her head, raising a long eyebrow with her black lips pulled into a rather amused smile.

"Oh? Were you expecting me to be up to mischief somewhere?" Her knowing tone of voice was almost telling, she knew exactly what they were expecting. A moment later, she brought her shoulders up in a faint shrug of the shoulders. "Should I find some way to live up to your expectations, if that is what you're expecting me to do…" she trailed off rather meaningfully.

He stared at the Goddess for a couple of seconds in complete silence. "I think we can do without shenanigans. Especially given that I've been put off yours…so then, you volunteered to help but no one has seen you since?" he raised an eyebrow, he would accuse her of shirking but that didn't seem her style. Velka was a lot of things but she didn't seem to be a liar.

Velka hummed and nodded her head up and down, pacing around them almost casually. "Well, as you can imagine there were quite a few other Servants ending up in this Singularity. Someone else opted to patrol and deal with the threats which you've seen for yourself but that took a little bit of time…" she paused and made a gesture with her hand. "They found a couple of the stray Servants and I - with a greater surveillance skill - opted to take to the whole of the Singularity and funnelled all others who were summoned here in this direction."

Coming to a halt, she pointed a single finger over the top of his shoulder and towards the forest, he turned and glanced over his shoulder for only a moment before bringing his eyes back to the Goddess. Well, it certainly seemed harmless enough, not entirely something he could complain about. Actually, it sounded rather like an important job to keep track of all the stray Servants.

"And you did not report this to anyone?" Olga caught the problem instantly, though that might have also been the Director looking for any excuse to go off on the Goddess. Not that Velka seemed to care for the words at all. "You thought it best to vanish without a trace and without even a word of what you were doing? Did you even bother to check to see the intentions of the stray Servants?"

Velka levelled a flat look at the Director. "I can understand you hold me in poor standing but I would invite you not to make such accusations as though I was a simpleton. Ensuring that the Servants who were summoned did not appear hostile was one of the first actions I took…as such with the being known as Krampus." she leaned back, waving a hand to the side. "Whereupon I directed a couple of Servants who would be able to deal with them…the conflict attracted more which ultimately led to your being at the aftermath."

She raised her hands. "And before you ask why I neglected to mention that, I was merely obeying the directive to keep you out of the loop on the whole…I was not alone, though I'm certain you're smart enough, Ritsuka." her eyes landed onto him, her lips pulling themselves up into a small grin, almost as though she was trying to prod him for a little comment. "You've figured it all out by now, surely."

"When you say it like that it feels like you're just patronising me." Grumbling under his breath, he turned his back to the Goddess and faced the woods once more. It had been fairly obvious that if this entire ordeal was planned then their encounters with all those Servants were also part of it. Which meant their goal had been to buy time for whatever was happening on the other side of this forest.

A frown came upon his face. "What about Filianore and the others? Did you bring together the rival Santa as well?"

When he turned around, the face of the Goddess was less amused and much more puzzled. "That I cannot claim credit for, they found one another. Some were summoned in the same place and then they eventually sought out the others nearby, after which they all banded together. My own intervention proved unnecessary after their encounter with some of the other patrolling Servants, who then encountered you." she waved a hand towards him, the smile returning. "Really, my contributions have been rather minimal for this entire thing."

If she said so, he went to the communicator once more and stared at Romani with a raised brow. "So there's nothing about the situation that is actually all that concerning? I'm not going to go walking through those woods and emerge on the other side in the middle of a brawl or something, am I?"

He got a shake of the head. "Not that I can see. Though I'm trying to keep this as vague as I can to not spoil the surprise, because I was really tempted to contact you on several occasions because of…" the doctor winced and waved his hands "Stuff…with the dragon and then with the whole Krampus ordeal where it was fighting Servants. It resolved itself but yeah…"

Ritsuka hummed and nodded along, "Well, I'm not going to try and force you any further then. That would sort of spoil the surprise…" turning his eyes back onto Velka, he pursed his lips as he stared at the Goddess in silence, the seconds ticked past with neither one of them saying anything. Then he flattened his features and dropped his shoulders. "...Good job on the surveillance, I guess."

He could feel the stare of the Director now burning into the side of his head, prompting him to come face to face with it, her expression all but screaming disapproval at his words. All he could do was offer a shrug of the shoulders as he gestured towards the Goddess. "She helped and I'm not going to let past experience detract from that. Bright side was that she didn't get personally involved and stir up trouble or something."

"I feel as though you have a rather skewed opinion of my actual personality-"

"Be quiet, you." Olga snapped at the Goddess, all while keeping her eyes on him. "...Fine. Yes. She's your Servant, do whatever you want." with a huff, her gaze now fell onto the woods as she called over her shoulder towards the silent Rider behind her. "Did you know about all of this?"

Marie made a small noise. "I just knew they were planning something around Christmas time, but I wasn't sure of what it was…one of the other Servants said it would be better if I didn't know so I wouldn't feel guilty about keeping it all a secret from you." a moment later, she was smiling rather widely. "But surprise parties are always some of the best ones, the thrill of having someone jump in your face and shout surprise and then finding yourself surrounded by friends and family. Is that not a magical thing?"

Olga didn't say a word, Ritsuka didn't see her expression either but her posture remained utterly unmoving. Staring off into the woods in silence, then she started to walk forwards and cleared her throat. When she next spoke, it was in a tone of voice bereft of emotion. "Let us just see this through to the end, in that case."

"Shouldn't we wait for the others to land, Director?" Mash called out, gesturing skywards at the approaching Lancer Artoria group, Ritsuka was of a similar mind now that he was certain the danger was gone. Or rather, there had been no danger in the first place. "It just…I think it would be better if we all went together."

The Director stopped walking, just on the cusp of entering the forest.

An audible inhale and exhale through the nose.

"...Fine."

---

"I'm actually impressed you still have that torch."

"It was very important to have and Nudd-san told me that it would be better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." Mash explained as they walked through the woods, only a couple of minutes since they first started and with her taking up the front since she actually had the torch.

"Did Da Vinci upgrade it or something? It looks like it's brighter than last time."

Mash nodded her head up and down. "She said that there were a couple more improvements that she could make to it." she clicked another button, then the torch changed away from the regular bright white light and into a deep blue, parts of the forest illuminated in stains. He cottoned on rather quickly. "She added in an ultra-violet and thermal setting as well."

His brows furrowed just a touch. "Thermal?"

Another hum from the girl. "Yes, Senpai. If I switch it to the thermal settings, then the area of effect lights up and shows the heat signature of the affected zone. It's more refined than the regular torch functions, however."

He wordlessly held out his hand towards her, showing the back of it. Mash stared at the outstretched arm, then made a noise of understanding as she pressed another button and pointed it at the back of the hand. Within the same instant, the faint red circle passed over his hand from the torch, with the area glowing a bright orange which tapered off into a colder blue around his fingers.

"...That's pretty cool." Wiggling his fingers for a couple of seconds, Mash removed the torch from his hand and then shined it back towards the woods. "I mean, that's actually some seriously nice gadget stuff. Can I get one of those as well?"

"I'm sure that Da Vinci-san would be happy to make you one, Senpai." She paused for a moment, then looked over the scarf around his neck and widened her eyes. "I'm actually very impressed that your scarf is still intact, Senpai. I was worried that it might have been damaged during the trip but it is holding up very well."

Smiling, he picked up one of the ends and held it up to look over. "Yeah, talk about durability. I'd be gutted if anything happened to it." a sigh. "Probably the little problem I would have with it."

Mash raised an eyebrow. "How so, Senpai?"

"Well, it would feel like such a waste to not wear it after Maxwell went through all the trouble of making it for me." He explained, to which she nodded her head up and down in understanding, though from the sudden light in her eyes, it seemed as though she quickly came to the conclusion of what the problem was. "Yeah, but given what I actually spend most of my time doing-"

"Then there is a danger that it would get damaged which would be just as bad, if not worse." She summarised, looking rather troubled as he nodded in admission. The look only lasted for an instant, then it faded with one of reassurance taking its place. "Don't worry, Senpai. I'm sure that Da Vinci-san's modifications will keep the scarf intact. There are also plenty of spells that could repair the damage done to it. So keeping the scarf around should be very easy for us."

Well, that was certainly reassuring for him. All the same, he would rather it not get mangled in the first place, but that would probably end up being overly optimistic. That was probably better than being overly cynical, speaking of which, he could not have been the only one to notice the sour nature of the Director the moment that family was brought up. Though everyone else might have been content to let the matter lie, he was a little less willing to sit on it.

Leaning towards Mash, he dropped his voice into a low whisper. "The previous Director was Olga's father, wasn't he?"

A nod of the head from Mash. "Marisbury Animusphere, I only met him a couple of times before…" she trailed off, though he knew what she meant. Still, that was supposed to have happened quite a while ago. "And I never really spoke with him, it was always at a distance. Though from what Doctor Romani told me, he was very good at his job and very devoted to it…I don't think Da Vinci-san liked him at all though, but I'm not sure why."

It didn't sound like the guy celebrated Christmas either, if the lack of response from the Director had been any indication. Still, if Da Vinci didn't like the man then there must have been a pretty good reason for that. Devoted to his job…he could come up with a couple of theories as to what happened, but he really didn't feel like making blind assumptions. Not without further information.

He brought the communicator up, tapping open the screen and finding himself face to face with Romani. "Hey, just a quick question before I get back to walking through the woods…how much time did the old Director put into Chaldea?"

The doctor blinked at him in surprise, then leaned forwards and frowned ever so slightly, a rather puzzled look on his face. "I would ask if this question came out of nowhere, but I'm starting to suspect that you're trying to reach a conclusion around something…" he exhaled, shaking his head from side to side. "I'll tell you right now, Fujimaru-kun…this really isn't the sort of thing you want to walk into half-cocked. It's…magus families have a really different view on legacy. For most, it's just about carrying on the family crest being the most important thing."

He saw Mash wince, her eyes shifted and glanced away rather suddenly. He didn't react to the movement but he saw it all the same.

Wordlessly, he hummed and nodded his head up and down at the doctor's response, then spoke once again. "So that would be an awful lot of time around Chaldea then?"

Romani remained silent, then closed his eyes and replied tonelessly. "...Yes. Most - if not all - of his time was spent with Chaldea once it was fully constructed and up and running." his eyes opened once again, he leaned forwards. "You need to understand, this was what the Animusphere family had been working towards for their entire history, more or less. Marisbury was determined to finally realise the goal that had been worked towards so…I can't say I agree with everything that went on, but I can understand why it happened. Just…just keep that in mind."

Ritsuka pursed his lips, saying nothing as he thought of the words. It was in the past now, really the only thing they could do now was look to the future. Which involved getting the Director to enjoy Christmas which she seemed to be doing so far, with a couple of exceptions.

"That looks like an interesting face you're wearing." He did not jump at the sudden voice in proximity to his ears, but he did turn his head rapidly towards the speaker, the woman Akal standing right next to him, walking with a curious look painted on her features. "I suppose there is one thing that all value, it is connections…but I've known plenty of other humans who put their own goals above all others. The way of the Dragon…I taught many humans to step beyond their mortal coils and look down on the whole of creation, separate from the stream of time itself."

She made a face. "It's terribly boring, mind you, to sit back and watch the world pass you by without ever getting a chance to experience it. So I'm learning to savour these little moments, these exciting times." a smile cut across her features, she glanced down at him for a couple of seconds before turning her eyes straight ahead. "No one wants to remain in the audience forever."

Perhaps she had more to say, he wouldn't know at the moment.

He looked up ahead, catching a dim lighting and some cracks of movement, gentle steps echoing through the woods. His brows furrowed just a touch as he leaned forwards, squinting into the distance. Mash shone her torch towards the direction he was staring, he could see some reflections but couldn't make many of them out, but it seemed to be quite a lot of them.

Moving quicker, he raised his pace faster and faster with the others joining him, right up until he crested the edge of the forest and stepped into a clearing.

The world exploded with light and noise within that one instant.

"Merry Christmas!"

A dazzling array of colours flashed out in front of him, the clearing was bathed in light and brought forth dozens of faces, some he knew from Chaldea and some he didn't. The brightest of the lights came from the towering tree in the centre, shining like a galaxy as it was dressed in rapidly changing streams and hanging baubles, a glittering star resting at the summit.

Hands waved towards him, voices cheered and he was utterly at a loss for words.

Standing at the head of the group was the Directors Berserker, sporting a grin that was perhaps the widest a person could wear, arms wide and looking on the verge of letting out another cheer, only to pause and gape, his eyes moving away from him and towards the Servant he stood beside, his jaw promptly clenched shut and he stared.

Ah, right. Kalameet hadn't seen her since the Singularity.

The part-dragon swiftly turned his eyes from Akal and then past him, his features brightened rather considerably as he stared at something else, Ritsuka turned his eyes to see the Director emerge from behind him, having only been a couple of steps away. She froze on the spot, her eyes flickering from point to point and her expression showing a complete lack of comprehension.

"Olga! I'm glad you finally made it!" Berserker bellowed out, voice thick with cheer as he stepped forwards. "Myself and the others of Chaldea, we all came together for this moment. When I heard of Christmas, I could not let the holiday pass. Not without showing you exactly what this all means. So…" he spread his arms as wide as they could go. "Merry Christmas, Olga! Ritsuka! We all worked together, a celebration for everyone which would not have been possible without everyone…I hope you enjoy it."

His arms lowered, offering a single nod before he stepped back, then turned to the crowd and raised a single finger, pointing out someone.

Ritsuka followed the line of sight and then blanked his face as he stared at them.

"But none of this would have been possible without the help of this one…For that, I believe they deserve a greater recognition."

The blonde woman, bright green eyes, turned to Kalameet and frowned just a touch at them, not in irritation but in unease. She was rather out of place and with a sort of look of complete bemusement that he had seen on only one other person. Combined with the knowledge of a certain Ring that he had been told of, there was only one person that this could possibly be.

"Ash?"

The single word cut through the entire clearing, silencing everyone.

The woman turned back to him and then blinked twice in surprise.

"Pfffthahahahaha!" Laughter, Ritsuka snapped his eyes to the source and then double taked. That was, without a doubt, the Jeanne Alter from the Orleans Singularity. Someone who had apparently been nothing more than a copy created by Gilles and here she was, pointing and laughing at Ash with a look that was almost light hearted teasing, she stumbled for a moment and then slapped her knee, letting out another wheeze. "All that work and he just outs you instantly! Some disguise that turned out to be! Hahahahahaha!"

Ash just sent a rather irritated look at the blonde before she exhaled, shrugging her shoulders and looking rather unconcerned with the entire affair altogether.

"You made this Singularity?" The voice of the Director caught the attention of everyone, the woman having a tone of voice that was rather difficult to place, even her expression was impossible. Her eyes slightly narrowed and her hands firmly on her hips, a demanding look being shot towards Ash. "You are the one responsible for this location?"

Ash remained silent, then nodded her head once. "...I am. I summoned myself into this land and used it as an anchor point to allow for the summoning of other Servants. It has no Holy Grail, once I depart, the Singularity will collapse…" she stepped forwards, an unreadable look on her face. "But the Singularity is my fault…you may punish me as you see fit for this act."

Ritsuka thinned his lips, sending a small look towards the Director, then a look behind her towards Marie. Yet she didn't look concerned in the least, she met his eyes and then winked at him once before looking back to the Director with a ghost of a smile.

"Punish you for what?" The Director asked with a puzzled tone of voice. "This is nothing more than a controlled experiment to determine the extent of your abilities for the purpose of future resource acquisitions." with a dismissive wave, the woman turned her head. "There is no danger to the human order and we have a valid method of transport now."

He very nearly laughed, though he did smile rather widely and sent a glance towards Mash. She was similarly sending the Director a surprised look, it quickly morphed into a faint but very genuine smile.

"Hm. I see that the elf has at last allowed the spirit of Christmas to find a home in it's-"

"Shut up." Olga groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose and slumping her head forwards. Doing her level best to avoid looking at Santoria, even as the Servant sent a rather smug smirk in the direction of the Director, then gradually turned her head towards him and nodded once.

He cleared his throat, then turned to face the expectant crowd, raising a hand and waving back to them. "Merry Christmas, everyone!"

---

"How were you actually able to tell that it was I?" She posed the question, watching the side of Ritsuka's head as he moved across the assembled tables with a plate in his hand, gathering up some of the steamed vegetables which had been laid out for them. He was not the only one, both Jeanne's not far behind him though the Alter looked much less pleased about the entire ordeal.

Ritsuka paused, glancing over his shoulder at her for only a moment, then returned to selecting some of the food. "I just remembered what you said about having a ring that changed genders and thought that your eyes were really familiar. Also the black cape was a dead giveaway…that and I was contracted to you as well."

Ash paused, then blinked twice, then fought back the urge to sigh and palm her face. Of course that would have been the first thing that Ritsuka noticed, effectively it had made all of her effort worthless throughout this entire ordeal. What was the value of a disguise if it didn't actually disguise anything? She might as well have just slapped a helmet on top of her head and called it a day.

"I see."

"You going to be sticking around as a woman for long?"

Ash raised a brow. "Does it bother you?"

A shrug from Ritsuka. "Not really, it's more about you. Though I get the feeling that you don't actually care all that much about gender in the first place."

He was right, she didn't.

"You can remain a woman or change back, ultimately up to you." Ritsuka carried on, putting a couple more parsnips onto his plate and then wandering further up towards what looked like a collection of dried parcels, some manner of 'spring rolls' as they had been called. He made a small noise and then took a couple more of them as well. "I'm just happy you're down here at all. I was getting a little worked up about leaving you behind without asking but I just assumed you wouldn't want to come down and didn't want to force you."

Ash thinned her lips, staring at the side of Ritsuka's head for a couple of seconds, then replied. "I would not have, this was something…that took quite a lot out of me, truth be told. Coming down here and setting up the Singularity was something that I was dubious about from the beginning, even if it was my idea." she shrugged as Ritsuka turned to her once more. "Lapland is the home of Christmas, it seemed logical to celebrate Christmas here…but helping it was…"

An understanding look crossed the face of the teenager, nodding his head up and down. "You don't need to explain. Though…I'm really proud of you, Ash. Even if you didn't get it, you still went out of your way to do this. Honestly, from the bottom of my heart, I'm really thankful that you did this." he chuckled and then pointed further down the line. "I'm certain that Mash and the Director do as well, especially since she came up with that whole excuse for you."

Remaining silent, she hummed and then turned her head down the line to the direction of the raised voices of Jeanne and Jeanne Alter, the two of them bickering over something. It seemed as though the latter was taking on more food than the former was pleased with, if her act of removing some of the meat from the plate and putting it back were any indication, much to the conniptions of the Alter. That they had not yet come to blows was a shock to her, but a welcome one.

"So…how did Jeanne Alter end up here, anyway?" Ash spared Ritsuka a glance, having caught the argument as well. Not sounding all that bothered, more bewildered than anything else. "Seems to be a little bit of a weird place to find here, that and you and her seemed to be on speaking terms."

"...I found her when patrolling the lands for threats, shortly before I encountered Krampus." She explained with a grunt, a final glance to the arguing twins and then back towards Ritsuka, having turned his full attention to her. "She was residing in an old shelter, I determined she was no threat to the Singularity and allowed her to remain…we spoke for a short while with little else to do and then…she challenged me to duel in a board game."

A surprised guffaw from Ritsuka, having clearly not expected the answer. "Seriously? What sort of board game?"

"She called it Monopoly."

Ritsuka winced, shaking his head from side to side and looking as though he was fighting back laughter. "Yeah, those always go well. Did anyone win or was the game interrupted?"

"I caught sense of Krampus before we could conclude the game. Though she was getting exceedingly more aggravated as it went on." Ash added on, nodding her head to the side. She wasn't that clueless, it was readily apparent that she was winning in the game. Whether it was through skill or pure luck was another matter entirely. She was just puzzled as to why someone would play something that would bring only fury, it was an elucidating if partially troubling encounter. "What of you? How have you found it so far?"

"...I've been having the best damn time of my life."

"...That's…" She slowly nodded her head up and down, stepping away from him and casting her eyes across the entire assembly. "That is…acceptable."

---

Gentle taps with the hammer and chisel were much more difficult than he was expecting them to be, that smith had made it look so easy and yet here he was, tapping away at it with all the skill of an infant. It made him feel like a damnable idiot for all the stupidity he was going through, it was a good thing no one he knew saw him like this.

"Odd talent for a warrior, ain't it?"

Gordin briefly paused, then turned his head towards the speaker and rolled his eyes. The child of Light from Ireland, Cu Chulainn. The druid approached, smirking all the while but keeping his words casual. There was no insult, only light teasing.

"Not even a talent." He responded to the question with a grunt, pausing and closing his eyes as another tap sent a rather large crack right the way through the statue. His arms dropped down onto his lap, he stared in silence at the latest failure, then turned his eyes to the sky and looked right up. "An amateur, but I thought I could try my hand at it because it looked fairly simple and I was impressed with the results."

A chuckle from the druid. "Yeah, rather a humbling feeling, that. I went through something much the same. Everyone makes runes look so damn easy and then you remember how much work they put into casting that stuff. I tell you, I'd punch the throat of a man who claimed casting runes was child play."

Gordin's lips twitched upwards, shaking his head from side to side. "And I would strike my younger self over the top of the head with a hammer for thinking he could do something like this in an afternoon. Arrogant idiot that I was…" he turned his eyes back down, then found himself staring at a tankard held in front of him, a vaguely creamy looking liquid inside. "...What is this?"

"Eggnog." Chulainn replied, making a small face. "It's a festive sort of drink, I'm not so single minded that I would start downing whiskey and beer on a holiday to get smashed. Best blend in and all that…" he paused, then leaned forwards and winked. "Nothing to say you can't add a little something extra to it though, give it a little bit of a kick and all that."

With a gentle hum, he took the tankard from the hands of the druid and brought it to his lips, taking a short sip of it before pulling it away, raising a brow at it and then grunting. "Unusual, but not all that unpleasant. It probably existed under a different name, not that I would have tried it."

"Meh, can think of this as a chance to expand your horizons and all that." Chulainn drank from his own tankard. "Yeah, I knew that would be good. Added in some of that Siegbrau stuff or whatever the guy makes. That stuff packs a real punch, let me tell you. Almost feels like it's fancier than it should be…then the guy tells you he invented it while squatting in the woods for months on end."

Gordin chuckled at that, bringing the mug to his lips once more. "Sometimes great treasures just fall right into our laps when we least expect it."

"Sometimes you gotta work for 'em too." Chulainn remarked, exhaling as he did so and looking around. "...Never would have thought I'd be around for something like this though. A bunch of Servants from across history and worlds getting together just to make up a big christmas party…" he grinned. "Sounds like the sort of thing that you'd come up with while black out drunk."

"You'd need to be just as inebriated to believe it as well."

They both turned to the approaching sensation, Gordin kept his expression measured even as he wanted to wince. That odd feeling of familiarity was less invasive than the first time he experienced it, but there was just a touch of it that was too close for him. Brynhildr might not have been a stranger anymore, but she wasn't quite a friend. More like a cordial acquaintance, despite what his senses told him.

"Seeking to get away from the party already, are you?" Chulainn asked the approaching Valkyrie with a raised eyebrow. "Then again, you don't strike me as much of a party girl in the first place so…" he made a gesture with his hands.

Brynhildr hummed and nodded her head. "That would be accurate, I am rather…out of place when surrounded by so many. Though I feel guilty for forcing it upon you two, I am far more at ease around you than the others…" she paused, then looked him dead in the eyes. "Though if you prefer I leave, then I shall do so without-"

He held up his hand, cutting her off. "You do not need to go that far. I would offer the chance for anyone to remain. You've done me no wrong, besides…there isn't much excitement to be had here." he trailed off, turning back towards the ruined ice sculpture with a flat look. "Not unless you take joy in watching me break things with rapidly increasing skill."

"Sculpting is a refined art and doing so with ice instead of marble is a greater challenge."

Gordin grunted as he took another sip of the drink. "Something along those lines, I was planning on starting out small…sculpting a lion. If there is one thing of value with the runes, it is the ability to grant me a supply of materials to work with. Practice makes perfect, as they say…"

Brynhildr replied slowly but surely. "Of that I am certain, with enough time I believe you will make a fine craftsman."

"Not really something I was striving towards, I just looked at it and thought that it didn't seem to be all that difficult and then threw myself into it." Gordin corrected her, looking towards the direction where the others who were a touch more skilled in the art were residing. Namely the smith Andre and the Queen Alsanna, who had just finished making yet another statue of the exact same figure just in a slightly different pose.

"That her husband, then?" Chulainn caught on quickly, raising a brow at the small army of ice sculptures she had assembled. "Looks like a fairly imposing guy, certainly with the whole…mask he's got going on. Anything up with that or just style choice?"

"The Sword of the Dawn was always someone who sought to be more of a symbol than a man." Gordin explained, turning his focus towards Caster. "I believe it was in line with the idea that a symbol was much harder to destroy than a man, a rather profound sentiment though one that is also bypassed." he saw the bemused look of the man which all but demanded an elaboration. "You just need to kill everyone who knows about the symbol."

Chulainn made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cough.

He could feel the stare of Brynhildr on the side of his head, though he turned his eyes back to the Queen and hummed quietly. "Though, given this talk of Servants and the like…I would say that I was proved wrong. Especially if Queen Alsanna carries on the will of the Dawn, even now. But that is neither here nor…I'm just worried that the population of statues will soon exceed the population of Servants."

"Ha! Someone should probably tell her that."

He twitched, something else was approaching. Turning once more, he found himself all but captivated by the sight of the woman who was moving towards them, chestnut coloured hair, unblemished skin and a form fitting gown of pure white silk, a veil reaching from the top of her head and over her shoulders, it was without a doubt one of the most perfect things he had ever seen in his life. Perhaps even the most perfect, he jolted a moment later and turned his head from the woman, staring down into the mug.

"Hmmm? Oh…great." Chulainn sounded exhausted already, he saw the Caster stare at the direction of the divine being from the corner of his eye, turning his head back and rolling his eyes and making his thoughts clear on the matter.

The woman, taller than him by a head, came to a stop over them, the weight of her stare upon him was as though a mountain had been dropped. The overwhelming urge to turn and hide away his face was all but burning, like being stared at by his first crush all over again but much worse, not describing it like that felt wrong to him. It was something more intimate and yet hardly romantic.

By the light, he thought this sort of thing had been behind him for many an aeon.

"I do hope that my arrival is not problematic, it was merely that…I sensed a familiar presence and yet I am certain we have never met before." The words of the woman were like rivers of pure honey, he shuddered at the fact they were directed at him. Chancing a glance out of the corner of his eye and meeting her gaze for a fraction of a second, it was long enough that he could not turn away from her. She offered a delicate smile that sent his heart aflutter. "I sense upon you the touch of a God, so intimate and yet…so foreign to me. A presence much like one I knew…"

"...I am a pseudo-Servant of the War God Tyr."

The Goddess made a face of understanding, nodding her head up and down. "I see, that would explain a great many things and yet…" she trailed off, a new look coming upon her face that he could not quite place, as though she was seeing him under a new light. Her brows furrowed just a touch, she started to lean closer, the urge to turn his head was all but consuming, yet the moment he started to move, she spoke again. "I would ask that you remain still, there is something that…I would very much like to see."

He froze.

Her hand touched his cheek with such a gentle grace, he turned his head with only the faintest of nudging, now staring right towards her. Brilliant golden orbs like the sun bore into him, roaming his face before something else flickered through them. "...Might I ask you an unusual question, young man?"

"Y-you might."

"Thank you." She smiled gratefully, then inclined an eyebrow as she tilted his head to one side. "...Would you happen to know who your father was?"

His expression twitched for only a moment, his lips went thin. He did not wish to show his frustration before the Goddess, but it was difficult not to. "I…do not. He was gone by the time I was born. I know of neither his name nor was it ever revealed to me."

"...I see." Releasing his face, she took a step back and then glanced down towards him. Another look flickered over her. "Left handed, an unusual trait for a swordsman, is it not?"

He blinked at her in surprise. "I suppose it is, I have never met another who wielded the blade with such an arm. Though I am…I do not wish to be offensive, but I am surprised that you could see such a thing immediately."

Laughter like song, she held a hand before her mouth. "I am somewhat familiar with the art of the blade, though it has been many a year since I last took on a student. Though I have some modicum of advice…I understand the burden of finding a tutor who could master the art of the offhand, I'm impressed you could have found one."

He winced. "I confess that I never did." turning to his hand, he moved the mug to his right and flexed his left open and closed. "I made do with what I could learn, however. But it was hardfought to reach the equal of my peers, I managed it all the same…but I do not believe I truly excelled past them."

A hum. "...In that case, should you be summoned unto Chaldea, I would be glad to bestow some small advice upon you, should that be acceptable. I have tutored those in the past who favoured their left, I have experience with such things..in the meantime, you should enjoy your holiday. A frown hardly befits your face, young man."

A blush very nearly came upon his features, he brought his hand up and coughed into his fist beyond that point, but the way her eyes moved to his ears for a split second was proof that he hadn't quite succeeded, she smiled at him once final time before turning away and moving off. Though it was at that point she paused, then turned back. "Dearest me, I never once thought to ask your name. That was rather unbefitting of me, was it not?"

"Gordin, Lady Goddess. My name is Gordin."

"Gordin." She spoke the name like she was tasting it, a second later a smile crossed her features. "A fine name indeed…I am Gwynevere."

And like that, she was away.

He exhaled and turned his head, only to meet the gaze of Chulainn, the man quietly sipping away at his drink with an unreadable look in his eye, he only spoke when the Goddess was far enough away and into the crowd. "That's a risky thing, getting involved with a Goddess. Even if you've got the favour of a God of your own…especially Gods of love and all that. Trust me, never ends well."

Gordin frowned. "I would not say love, more like…" he trailed off, describing the sensation was rather difficult. But he would not say it was as he was attracted to her physically as much as it was something else. There was something about her which was familiar but it did not come from the side of Tyr, it came from him. It was as though he knew she was important to him in some way, but couldn't figure it out. "...Meeting someone important, I cannot explain it…not very well. But It was not love, that much I can assure you."

Chulainn looked rather unconvinced.

"I would say that there are better to be enamoured with." Brynhildr offered from behind him, an odd note in her voice. "But her offer of training seemed to be rather genuine, and her interest lacked a touch of romance…though I cannot say what might have spurred it on."

Gordin rolled his eyes and took a longer drink.

---

"I…wasn't expecting either of you." Kalameet offered silently as he looked between them, sitting himself down on one of the chairs and staring towards the ground. Not quite able to meet their gazes. "I supposed - I hoped - that we might meet again but I could never be certain of it and I…I had hoped that if we did meet again, you would not recognise me."

Artoria had her arms folded, staring down at him with the same blank look she always wore. "Then you were naive, but that is expected. A soul can always be measured through the eyes, yours remains as it ever was."

Akal was more blunt. "You just smelled the same."

Kalameet chuckled. "Well, I figured that would have been the case. Wishful thinking on my part, I suppose." bringing up his hands, he rubbed them together, briefly flickering his gaze between the two of them before lowering it back down. "So, you were both enjoying the festivities then? That's good."

"...They were acceptable." Artoria remarked, she sounded rather troubled about something. That and she kept looking in the direction of the smaller Artoria with a look he couldn't quite place, it resonated within him as one he had seen before but he couldn't find the word. Envy, perhaps. That felt like it, but it was also rather tame. "I understand that you were the mastermind behind this?"

He shook his head. "Not alone, had it not been for the others I would have stumbled around rather blindly, not knowing what I could do." his lips turned thin, though he was more than pleased with how it turned out in the end. His eyes swept over the assembled brothers and sisters…and the Gods, his lips pulled into a faint smile as he watched them. "...But it worked well in the end. I believe that, regardless of whose idea it was, that is the aspect that counts most of all."

"An idea without execution is as useless as action without planning." Artoria declared bluntly, he met her gaze as she stared down at him. "Do not so quickly dismiss your own contributions. This exists because of you, just as much as it exists because of those who acted with you. Do not forget that."

"...You always know the best things to say, sister." He remarked quietly, turning his head from them and seeking out someone in particular.

Finding them quickly, speaking with the others and with a light look on her face, she seemed so at ease. Not quite smiling but the tension he had seen in her was gone, she looked so different to how he remembered when he was first summoned. That was good, she looked much better like this. His lips formed a gentle smile, then turned back to the pair in front of him, the smile quickly faded as he saw their expressions.

Akal raised a brow. "...What happened with the Singularity, because they all know you as Berserker…and this form…" her arms folded, her eyes narrowed and her lips curled down. "...What happened?"

Kalameet dropped his hands onto his knees. "I lost." he explained simply, drumming his fingers on his legs.

The look from Artoria intensified. "This was more than a loss. You would have accepted defeat gracefully, standing before them and offering your service without such a disguise and hiding behind a title…shame clings to you like decay to a corpse." she leaned down, he met her eyes as they demanded his attention. "What happened?"

"...It is a time of joy, sisters." He pushed himself to his feet, offering the pair of them a smile that felt a little forced on his lips, his muscles itched because of it. Eyes moving between the two of them a couple of times before he gestured towards the party. "It would be wrong if we brought up such a sad topic…another time, if you want to know."

He really didn't want them to know and he didn't want them to push the matter either, a period he would rather let lie rather than drag to the surface. Especially now of all times. Neither of his sisters said anything, their eyes firmly remained on him for what felt like years, when they finally spoke, it was as though they pulled the weight off his soul.

"Very well then." Artoria remarked slowly, turning her head from him and looking towards something else. "Then you may lead me to the assembly of food. I expect you have seen to a great many delicacies that would be worthy of my tastes."

"Boudica said I wasn't allowed burgers."

"...What?"

"She said they weren't festive."

The look his sister gave him was as close as he had ever seen her to being mortified, though the look of mild fury that swept through her eyes for a brief second before burning out was another thing he had yet to see, she puffed herself up as though standing taller before her eyes swept across the Servants once more. Then he glanced down, her hands tightened into fists as she started to march forwards. "We shall see about this. Past or future, no child of Britain shall deny me."

He and Akal remained behind, watching as she stormed off.

The brunette leaned towards him. "I don't think I've ever seen her this upset before, this is actually rather interesting…also I like what you've done with your hair." she reached up, patting down his blonde and black lockes with her hand as though she was stroking an animal, he remained still as she did so. "Very nice. I feel rather cheated, actually. You get this bright and dazzling hair and I have a rather…mundane colour. I suppose that suits you, though."

"I didn't really choose it. It just happened."

"Sounds like fate to me."

"I don't believe in destiny or fate."

Akal just smiled at him before turning on her heel, "I don't know about that…I would say that some of these encounters have been more than a little coincidental."

---

"Let us run through this performance again." Mister Nito spoke with a baritone voice as he brought his arms up, gesturing towards the direction of the women, both Miss Nero and another girl who was called Miss Elizabeth, though she liked to be called Miss Liz. For whatever reason, he got the impression that Mister Nito was starting to be rather upset with everything, but it was hard to read.

Mister Nito turned his head towards him, then waved the little conducting stick that he called it, bringing it down in a sharp movement. That was his cue.

He brought his little sticks down onto the xylo-thingy with a gentle tap to make sure he didn't break it like last time. His expression tightened as he continued the rhythm as best he could remember it, it was rather awkward especially when he could feel the stares of everyone upon him, making sure he didn't hit a wrong note.

Mister Nito made a sweeping gesture once he was done.

A silent sigh of relief escaped him, setting down the little drumming sticks and then taking the tambourine into his hand, holding it still as his eyes turned towards Mister Mozart, the man leaned forwards on the piano and stared expectantly, Mister Nito gestured towards him next.

Mozart started playing the piano.

"I~"

Miss Nero and Miss Liz sang at the same moment.

"Don't want a lot for Christmas~"

"There is just one thing I need~"

Mister Nito made a sweeping gesture, telling them to stop.

His arms fell down in the next moment, the skull hung low and he stared at the ground, placing his hands on his hips, both Miss Nero and Miss Liz looked rather annoyed at the sudden interruption while Mister Mozart looked very relieved. Tarkus didn't want to be rude, but he could understand why. But this was what practice was for, to make sure that Miss Nero and Miss Liz didn't mess up during the actual performance like he did a couple of times.

"I fear that this is a vicious cycle I am trapped in." Mister Nito mused aloud, bringing his head up. "I had thought mortals were supposed to gain skill with practice, that was why it existed upon the world. Yet the notes of your talents have remained stagnant in a flat tone. An unchanging, out of tune, tone."

Mister Mozart snorted, then went back to staring at the piano.

"Pah! What do you know anyway! You don't have any ears." Miss Liz pointed at Mister Nito, a rather hefty frown on her face. "We've been doing this dozens of times over, I'm a fan of rehearsal as much as the next idol but I barely get a word out before you cut me off and then start us all over again! What's the point of a rehearsal if I get maybe five seconds worth of singing?"

"Umu!" Miss Nero added on. "I concur, this is getting rather out of sorts. Not that I believe my voice is in need of practice, but I would say that you are doing this just to make a very elaborate joke. Barely even a word and then I am cut off?" Miss Nero sounded rather aghast, she looked just as horrified as well. "This is a rather amusing prank, but it has since worn its welcome."

Mister Nito brought up a bony hand, running his fingers across the front of his face(?) while letting out a deep sigh as he did so. Turning side on to them and then walking away for a couple of steps, going silent and then bringing his shoulders up and down, jostling the thick waterfall of darkness which served as a cloak. "I am of the opinion that without my guidance, your tune would flow freely and chaotically. Disharmony would spread without a conductor. Thus..I am consigned to watch over you until such a time as this performance is done correctly."

Tarkus leaned to his left, the person who had been standing there rather silently since the rehearsals began. "This feels like it's going to go on forever, doesn't it Mister Erik?"

A hum of agreement from them, Mister Erik was a quiet fellow but he felt very nice to be around. He had even given him some pointers when it came to the music and Mister Nito said he knew what he was doing, so he was very grateful to have someone like him to help him out to make sure that he didn't mess up.

"Once the instrument is finely tuned so shall the performance spring forth~" They also have a very nice habit of changing into song when they spoke. Tarkus didn't mind it, he thought they had a very nice singing voice. Erik caught himself, then brought his lips thin once more and spared him a glance, his single eye visible through the half mask he wore. "Though…it would seem that not every beauty can be Christine, a tragedy which ruptures my heart, a soul in dire straits~"

"Is Miss Christine very good at singing then?"

Erik paused, then gave him a look that was rather odd. It looked very troubled, to the point where he thought he might have asked something a bit rude. Though it eventually mellowed out, the look turned almost reverent as his eyes turned upwards. "Ah, Christine, my dear Christine…a beauty like the stars, a voice like the heavens and a heart like pure diamond~."

That sounded very nice.

"Tarkus?"

The voice made him pause, then slowly turn around as he sensed the familiar presence, a smile on his lips as he faced the individual. Bringing his hand up and waving to them. "Hello, Mrs Marie, I was told that you were going to-"

He almost stumbled when she crashed into him without warning, her hands wrapped around the back of his neck and dragged him down. His words died in his throat, whatever blood he had left rushed into his face, it felt as though it was going to burst into flames as he realised that she was hugging him.

His mouth opened and closed as he tried and failed to speak, he didn't realise how strong Mrs Marie was until she was getting close to actually choking him out, but he didn't want to accidentally hurt her if he hugged back as well. But it would be rude if he didn't hug her back, that and he was being hugged by a very pretty girl, he didn't know what the right move to do here was. It hadn't happened before.

She pulled away from him before he could get the chance to debate, stepping back and bringing her hands up, cupping his cheeks and staring at him with a teary eyed smile. A faint laugh rippled from her throat as she sniffed. "Sorry, I just…I wasn't sure you remembered me but then you said hello and…I'm…Merry Christmas, Tarkus."

His face still felt like it was on fire.

Pulling her hands back, she wiped the underside of her nose and sniffed once again before dabbing away at her eyes. She was crying and it was something he did, now he felt bad for her. A little frown as he opened his mouth again, then closed it before nodding right back to her. Smiling as widely as he could. "Merry Christmas as well, Mrs Marie. I'm happy that I woke up again and saw you."

She was crying again.

He blanched, then caught movement behind her and saw the white hair. He waved them over and pointed down. "I don't know what to do, Miss Animusphere, I thought I was saying something nice but Mrs Marie started to cry again and I don't know-"

Miss Animusphere wasn't speaking either, her hands placed on her hips as she stared at him in complete silence. When she did speak, it was only a couple of words. "It took you long enough to pronounce my name correctly."

A faint chuckle, he brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah…yes…It took me a while to realise that. I think I remembered how it was said before I went to sleep elsewhere and then I woke up here and it just stuck with me."

"What are you even doing anyway-?"

"Pale rose! You came to see me perform! I'm touched!" Miss Nero stomped past, all while Miss Animusphere made a face between exasperation and terror as she took a half step backwards, much too late as the blonde swept an arm around her shoulder and dragged her into a side hug. "And you are just in time…and that is a rather fabulous outfit you're wearing. Umu! I approve! Had I known you would wear such a thing, I would have brought forth an outfit worthy of Santa!"

Mrs Marie giggled. "I think we've gone through enough Santa's for one night."

Tarkus noticed that Mister Erik was leaning forwards just a bit, his eyes locked onto Miss Marie with a very intense look in them. "You're voice, your beauty…it's spectacular it is truly…ah, it is that of…ah, Christine~"

"No, Mister Erik. That's Miss Marie." He gently corrected the man with a tap on the shoulder, Miss Marie turned to them both and tilted her head, rather puzzled as to what they were speaking about. "Mister Erik thinks you might be Christine, I think that's very nice but I feel very bad that he hasn't met her yet. I think it means that you must be very good at singing, Mrs Marie."

She blinked at his words. "Oh, I've never thought of that. I could probably give it a go, however. Is that what you're doing here?" she looked past him, then blinked again and furrowed her brows, a flat look crossed her features. "I should have known you would be here, Amadeus."

"Ah, Maria." A chuckle from Mister Mozart. "What can I say? I go where my fingers are most needed."

Mrs Marie smiled at him, it was a rather teasing smile. "It's a wonder they've never ended up in a door hinge then, isn't it?"

"Hah!"

---

These human festivals, they were always so peculiar to him.

Still, if there was one upside to all of them.

"Mmmmmh~"

It would be the fact they never failed to make Caffrey smile, it was always something that could warm any situation. He watched her with only a raised eyebrow and little else, his daughter busy consuming another of the snacks which he would have been much less inclined to feed her had it not been the fact that she had pleaded with him in a rather undignified manner.

She was starting to remind him a little of Hanleth.

The comparison seemed more apt as she put a rather large slice of chocolate pudding into her mouth and then made another noise of pleasure, cupping her cheek and closing her eyes.

Keeping his arms folded, he watched her from a short distance away.

"That's the look of a man whose been bested by a child."

He glanced to the right, a blonde figure clad in simple armour spoke with him, only real feature of importance was the silver left arm they had and little else. Though there was a strength within them, a fellow God they were and there was the posture they brought with them, practised and perfected, yet rather humble. They were of the nobility, yet spoke so casually. A prince, perhaps.

"I do not view it as a weakness." Flann replied with a shrug of his shoulders, turning his eyes back onto Caffrey and watching as she slowly reached across the table to another little treat, having taken a shine to the little human looking beings and brought them to her own table. The undead and the living Miracle, one was at least better company than the other…but Caffrey took a shine to them, and they to her. "Our children are supposed to be our betters."

"A rather profound statement." The blonde replied with a pleased look on his face. "Though I suspect this is just as much a protection to avoid the accusation you were brow beaten into letting her have her way." he showed the flat of his hand, a knowing look on his face. "You can trust me on that, having experienced a similar thing not that long ago, I know as well."

"Only one who has worn the shoes might recognise the feet that have worn the same pair." He intoned, looking at the man with his own look. "A father as well, were you?"

"...A long time ago, yes." He replied, then chuckled. "Both me and my alternate self, a rather long time ago indeed. Though I didn't really give them a childhood like this, I was rather unprepared for it all and it truly showed…an unworthy parent, I made."

"None can know they're worthy until they try." Flann remarked with a shake of the head, turning his eyes back to Caffrey and then flattening them as he watched the trio of children slowly sneak across to steal away another pudding, though his own intervention was prevented when what looked like an old vagrant in rusted armour walked past their table and gave them all a silent look.

His irritation at this elderly undead was only subdued by the fact that they had a point. All the same, it was still his daughter there. It should have been him to deal with it. His eyes roamed after the old undead, briefly landing on Gwynevere a short distance from the man. Little surprise that she had not even walked over to speak with him, though there was nothing left to say. They'd parted ways rather clearly on their last encounter, little else to be done.

If the nature of that blonde undead he encountered was any indication, Gwynevere had sired more children. They had their mothers eyes, the shine and the gleam, if not the colour.

"...Flann. King of the Gods."

"Nuada. First King of the Tuatha Dé Danann." A beat. "Though you may just call me Nudd."

Flann suppressed a twitch of the lip, he was rather close to the guess then, it seemed. Two Kings of the Gods standing beside one another and speaking to such a thing as child rearing. What a world he found himself in, he spared a glance to the slightly shorter blonde and kept his eyes on them for a moment longer. "...She has been at Chaldea for some time, then? As have you."

Nudd caught on swiftly. "She is a boon to have around, certainly living up to her authority. She conducts herself politely and with great respect to her station…she is a fine girl, your daughter. And you should be very proud of her."

"...I truly am." He nodded his head up and down, he admitted it only to this one who was his equal. "...and I was just as unworthy a parent as you. Caffrey was not my first and he…I failed him where it mattered, I failed and it showed in his life, in his actions. How many children did you sire?"

"...A few." Nudd replied with a shrug. "But never there for them, never when it mattered." the blonde frowned a moment later and then nodded his head towards the table. "She's making a snatch for the trifle, by the way."

She was what?

His head whipped around and locked onto Caffrey, a frown on his lips as he stared at her and sure enough, she was looking around as she reached towards the next desert. He cleared his throat loud enough that she turned her head to the source, only to freeze when she made eye contact with him. The staring contest was as short as he expected it to be, she retreated quickly and went back to the food that she had been handed, much like all others.

They were, after all, guests here. God or not, he would see to it that they conducted themselves as proper guests and not starving animals.

Nudd chuckled at his side. "That being said, I should mention that she has developed something of a sweet tooth for the human foods. I would say that she had become rather taken with all of them."

Flann could see that with his own eyes. "...Perhaps I should have put more emphasis on moderation. Still…her older sister would have been much worse and there would be a good chance she wouldn't listen to me."

Nudd hummed. "Believe me…I know that feeling well enough."

---

Finally free of them all, that was all he could think of.

Gwyndolin was away doing whatever, he didn't care, and he was finally free of the menace of his younger self who was similarly away. He crept to the very corner of the forest and found himself a small chair, swiped from those who did not need it. Claiming a small piece of furniture from them was more than enough for him. Especially now.

His fist rested on his chin, propped up with the arm of the chair.

They were all so busy, he could have left and they would not have noticed, not a single one of them would have noticed. Not even the ones he had been working with for hours on end to see to it that this event came to fruition would have noticed his absence, ungrateful louts. Finally making use of his old skills for more than assassination and all it earned him was scorn and hatred, even when he did nothing it was the same.

He was only staying just to spite them at this point, they would be thankful if he left so he was going to stay and do the opposite. He was content with reminding them that he had also contributed, especially Gwyndolin. Just so they could live with the knowledge that he had helped. It was a token victory, to be sure, but it was the best he could possibly salvage from it.

His eyes landed on a glimpse of red and white, he had seen them arrive but they had not spoken. The red hood turned in his direction, then started to approach him with a casual speed. No glimpse of caution or anything else, they approached him as one would approach someone in the street.

Coming to a stop a couple of feet from him, the old man stared down before speaking. "You never struck me as one to go far from the excitement, not after all those stories you forced from me."

"A lifetime ago." Tonelessly, he replied, still staring at the old man. "Besides, I have lost the patience to walk into the rapidfire insults, I have thick skin but even the best of us eventually grow tired from hearing the repeated prattle of idiots." he rolled his eyes, waving a hand to the direction of the party. "...If there is one thing I dislike, even now, it is repetition. The same process again and again is madness I shall not subject myself to."

"...Hmmm." Gael hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with him. "If you say so. I'm an old man watching youths play, a pattern I have seen a thousand times before, I should think…though I do not believe I have ever gotten tired of it-"

"That's your own choice, Gael." He replied before they could even finish, his expression flat. He'd long since dispensed with the altercation to his appearance, the faint shapeshifting to his human appearance. He had no reason to continue to disguise himself, it had only been to spite that imbecile. "My focus has always been on more useful endeavours, work which will actually contribute to something meaningful…"

"Ever the ambitious one, aren't you?" Gael mused, he recognised the tone the old man was speaking with and nearly sighed at him. "I do not believe that has changed in all those years."

He flickered his eyes to them and looked deep into the red hood. "...Why did you come here?"

"...I saw a boy alone in the cold and thought to speak with him before I moved on." He stepped closer, something in his left hand as he reached out towards him with it. Sulyvahn stared, then lowered his own arm and extended out his open palm to it. Gael dropped it into his waiting hand, revealing the object in question.

A small carved dragon, one of the everlasting. Delicately carved out of old wood.

Sulyvahn said nothing as he stared at the little carving, bringing it closer to himself and looking it over. There was nothing to be seen on his face and even if he had a face to be looked at, one would have seen nothing but a mask of an expression as he studied the toy. That is what it was to him, a little toy from a bygone time. His other hand moved across, delicately moving his fingers along the surface. "...Took you a long time to get around to this, I had to die before I even got it."

"I recall saying I would do it if I ever had the time…and you were gone when I looked again."

"...Perhaps I got tired of waiting and wanted to see a real dragon." Sulyvahn replied slowly as he looked it over. "You always made them sound so incredible, you spoiled my expectations of the world, old man…you're the very worst type of story teller." he looked up at the undead. "No matter what, the world was always going to have disappointed me."

An exhale, Gael nodded his head up and down rather slowly. "True, the stories have always been grander than the reality. That is as much a fault of mine as it is of any story teller…though I never lied to you once."

"No…no you didn't." That was certainly true. "Then it would seem that I was just…a little too hasty and much too late at the same time." he stared at the dragon once more, inclining his head to the side. "I noticed you spent some time with the little undead girl and the living miracle, I suppose it is a talent of yours to find lost souls wandering the snows."

"That was you."

"That was…someone else." Sulyvahn groaned and shook his head, his arms going limp onto his lap. "A naive fool and nothing more, of course they would have been swept along with him."

"Hmmm." Another hum from Gael. "Heard that you went and cooked, when did you learn how to do that?"

An almost chuckle escaped his throat. "I learned in the kitchens of Lothric, slowly mastering my talent until I became rather adept in the art. A skill I rarely got the chance to make use of but I ensured I did so to the best of my ability…but you would have probably known what I used it for, you always did know the ins and outs of the Kingdoms you visited."

A nod of the head. "This one won't be poisoned, will it?"

Amusing.

From anyone else, that would have been a snide remark.

Not from Gael.

Never from Gael.

"Not at all." He answered quietly, then made another noise. "Not that you would be able to tell in the first place." closing his eyes, he leaned back into his chair. "Heh, not that you would appreciate it. I suspect you'd consider some oats sprinkled with honey and sugar to be a delicacy. Nevermind what I could construct in a kitchen with the right materials."

Gael made a small noise, his beard crinkled up. "Oats and honey…dare I ask if there would be water mixed with it as well?" he made it sound as though that would be a treat unto itself.

Sulyvahn clicked his hidden tongue. "I'm mortified that in all those times you were briefly cured of the undead curse, you never once thought to expand your culinary horizons. You remain an incredibly boring old man, even now, don't you?"

"I won't apologise."

"I'd never ask you to…simple but reliable, that's always been you."

Gael turned, he followed suit and pointedly noticed the purple suited Lancer woman with the crimson spear in her hand, a gleam in her eyes that was very telling. The old man rolled his shoulders and shook his head from side to side. "Some youngsters are always ready to rush their elders at the last moment, no patience for them."

"She's a few thousand years old, you know?"

"Only a few thousand?" Gael croaked as he glanced back at him. "I thought you were going to tell me she was old."

Sulyvahn sent him a flat look. "She is old. You're just ancient. A marked difference, I can assure you…I know her sort though, she's brute enough to charge here and fight if you don't go over to her now. Entertain her for a few minutes, swing a sword around and beat her down, then go back to playing with the children or something." with a dismissive wave of the hand, he glanced back towards the party.

"...Merry Christmas, Sulyvahn." Gael trudged off without another word, a scrape of steel as his sword was drawn from his scabbard and he approached the Lancer without another word. He ignored the clash of steel from the pair of them, they would not be stupid enough to fight properly here of all places.

Well, he knew Gael would not be, no claims would be made for the woman.

"...Uncle." He whispered into the wind, returning to his original posture.

It was a little while later that his summoner stopped by, accompanied by his ever faithful little Shielder.

"Merry Christmas, Sulyvahn." Ritsuka spoke with a smile on his lips and joy in his words, it was bewildering how he could remain so confident. But it was admirable that even with the full knowledge of what they were up against, he would still find something to grin about. Keeping that confidence that they would win, he hoped it would remain undamaged in the future.

"Hmph." He grunted back to the summoner, then paused as he caught sight of what was on their plate. That was a portion of the beef stew which he had contributed to making. So despite the warnings of Gwyndolin, they still served it did they? How he would have loved to have seen the face of the God when that happened. "...You do know I made that stew, yes?"

"Yes." Shielder nodded her head up and down, smiling at him widely. "It is very delicious, Sulyvahn-san. I'm sure that the others wouldn't object if you helped out in the kitchens more often."

Sulyvahn almost laughed at her naive innocence. "I'm certain they would. Allowing a known poisoner in the kitchens? Yes, they would certainly see no problems with such a thing." his words contained an audible frown. "Furthermore, I am no mere cook. This was a single exception and little else…do not expect this to become a habit."

Shielder looked downcast, his summoner just remained stone faced, then his eyes roamed down and a brow was raised. He had caught sight of the wooden carving, but he kept silent. A touch of a smile on his lips before he spoke again. "Offer is open whenever you want to take it, no problems with me, Sulyvahn…Once again, Merry Christmas."

As if he was going to wish anyone merry on a day celebrating the birth of another lordkin.

He'd sooner be caught covering himself in oil and flinging himself into a kiln.

---

Honestly, sometimes he wondered how humans could get around so easily when they could make such a simple mess.

Reaching out, he took hold of the face of Ritsuka, the boy barely even reacted as he turned it towards him and then brought up the tissue, wiping away the trace amounts of sauce around his lips before he released him and brought his hands back, giving them a final look before nodding to themselves, pleased with their own work and turning their head once more.

He only paused at the stare he could feel from across the table, bringing his eyes up and looking at his older sister, Filianore was giving him a strange look as her eyes darted between him and Ritsuka, it lasted for a couple of seconds before her eyes widened just a touch, her cheeks turned a faint red and then she looked down at her own plate while covering her mouth.

What a peculiar reaction, her arrival was something he hadn't even thought of. He doubted she even realised what her being here even meant for the future, probably ignorant to the fact that their Father was around and he was probably going to kill her. He could probably tell her, reveal the truth.

…No, no sense in being cruel. She'd find out, sooner or later.

For now, it would be best that he returned to the meal at hand.

He could feel a burning glare into the side of his head that he pointedly ignored, turning his eyes towards the next plate and smiling to himself as he reached towards the puddings of yorkshire, as they were called, and attempted to procure a couple for himself. They did not look like puddings to him but he was not going to correct the humans on this day, let them make their childish little mistakes. It was endearing, in its own way.

A hand reached out, pushing the plate a little out of his reach.

His fingers touched nothing but empty space, a twitch and he leaned back into his chair, turning his head and staring at the one seated beside him, she had tried to claim his current seat but he had been a touch too fast for her, the benefits of instant transport as opposed to using limbs to move around. Walking was such a novel concept and something he wasn't good at.

The crossbreed girl glowered at him, amber eyes focused with a fury that made her actions clearly deliberate and tragically petty. He offered her a faint grunt, then brought his focus back to his own plate as he cut into the turkey, bringing it to his lips and then taking a bite from it. Humming to himself and then glancing to the side, frowning as he noticed that Ritsuka hadn't gotten any for himself.

"Do you dislike the taste of turkey?"

"Huh?" Rituska paused in the middle of eating one of the carrots, chomping down and then locking eyes with him as he chewed, it went on for a couple of seconds before he swallowed and shook his head from side to side. "No, it's not that. Just wanted to get my fill of vegetables before I threw myself into all the meat stuff, there's a lot and I want to try everything before we head back…would seem a waste and all that."

Gwyndolin nodded his head. Privately putting forth the motion to steer Ritsuka away from all the food which had been touched by Sulyvahn, that was why he had stuck around that living wax filament for as long as he did, just to be sure he memorised everything that Ritsuka absolutely could not taste.

Ritsuka was giving him an odd look, then spoke again. "I do mean everything, Gwyndolin."

"I heard you."

"...That includes Sulyvahn-"

Ritsuka cut himself off, his eyes going skywards and flickering with confusion, Gwyndolin similarly hummed as he pressed the back of his hand against the forehead of the human. He wasn't sure whether it was too warm, for wandering around in the cold, it felt too warm. But their attire and the long fabric around their neck had been designed to keep them that way, so it might have been interfering with his attempts. Drawing his hand back, he leaned closer and angled his forehead forwards, this was something he always did with Yorshka when she was 'growing' to make sure she was healthy.

Ritsuka leaned back and squinted at him. "Are you-are you checking to see if I have a fever?"

They caught on quickly, Gwyndolin nodded his head up and down. "Naturally, an illness bringing about poor judgement is the only reason I would ever see you trying anything constructed by that foul creature." he explained, leaning back and looking at Ritsuka with concern. "I also fear for the state of your mouth, splinters can be rather nasty."

A cough from Ritsuka as he stared at them in a mixture of shock and surprise, there were a couple of muffled laughs from around which quickly tapered themselves off when Sulyvahn's voice echoed down from further along the table. "Kill yourself, Gwyndolin."

"Not before you, Bark-face."

"Mouse eater."

Ritsuka leaned forwards, clearing his throat rather loudly. "Can we at least sit down and have a meal without resorting to insulting one another from across the table?" he looked between the two of them with a bit of pleading in his eyes. "It's a special time of year and I'd rather that everyone leave in a good mood."

…They really did ask incredibly difficult things, he silently grumbled and turned his head towards the table once more, reaching across and taking his glass into his hands and then drinking from it. He had never been one for alcohol or wine, but he was quickly finding the appeal. It was making this evening seem much more pleasant, even the presence of his family and Sulyvahn could not do it any wrong.

"Why are you drinking so much?" He removed the glass from his lips, turning his attention to Kiyohime at his side, looking at him with what he might have called concern, if it wasn't laced with suspicion. "If you continue, you shall likely make a fool of yourself."

"You underestimate me, as if a God would become ine-eneib-inee-drunk with such simple…" He lost the word, staring at the wine down the end of his nose before he looked back at the girl. "As if I would get drunk on this."

Something pried the glass from his fingers, he whipped around and saw the silver arm of Nudd retreating back across the table with the glass in his hands, setting it down beside the person next to him and then sending him a strained look. "How about, for the sake of argument, we just say you've had enough for the moment and when you can pronounce words clearly, you can have some more, yes?"

Gwyndolin wanted to argue, but then he caught the glimpse of Ritsuka out of the corner of his eye, looking at him and nodding his head up and down. It would seem this was not going to be an argument he was going to win, and he would prefer not to embarrass himself at a time like this. Sulyvahn would lord it over him for as long as they were summoned, he would rather not give the creature any ammunition to insult him further.

"S-so…" Filianore leaned forwards from across the table, giving him and Ritsuka a very pointed look. "How…how is it going between you two? Any problems?"

Gwyndolin furrowed his brows a touch.

"There is nothing going on between them." The cutting response came from Kiyohime, his brow twitched as he turned on her and narrowed his eyes, the confidence with which she spoke was a little grating to him. There was something going on between them, Ritsuka was someone very important to him now. "They are very close acquaintances."

Filianore blinked, then looked towards the gap between himself and Ritsuka, then back to the crossbreed. "Are we discussing physical closeness or emotional closeness?"

Kiyohime froze for half a second. "...P-physical? N-no. They have not gotten physical, they are just…there is nothing going on between them."

A hum from his sister as she leaned back. "If you say so."

He was unsure what this conversation related to and why the stare from Kiyohime was now much more unnerving than before.

---

He would have been fine if he had been situated on one of the far tables away from everyone else, but this felt as though he had been dumped into a crisis waiting to happen. Especially because the person who was sitting opposite him had been staring hard at him ever since she sat down, though he suspected that was on account of the person on his side.

It had been very innocent and harmless at first.

Nursery and Jack wanted to sit next to him and he allowed it, he was rather pleased with it and had let them join him. Which then ended up with Caffrey sitting next to them as well, a little bit of an unusual occurrence but it still wasn't that bad, the Goddess seemed rather at home with Nursery and Jack, and it was a joy to see.

…Then the taller man with the dark beard and bare chest had shown up and was accompanied by an angel. Who had taken seats on the other side of him without even asking, setting themselves down and engaging in what he would only assume was a one sided conversation.

…And then it got to the point where the Flame God Flann had sat himself down opposite Caffrey and had been keeping an eye on her ever since. If it had been just that far, then he would have been a little nervous but would have been otherwise alright with everything. Then it went a step further with two Silver Knights sitting down as well, though on opposite sides of the table and neither speaking to the other.

At that point in time, Sully figured that things were rather awkward.

And then Gwynevere had sat herself down, along with Havel.

Sully had given up eating much, just letting the world blur around him in the hope that it would pass and he would remain very low on everyone's attention. At least that was what he had been hoping, right up until the point he made the mistake of looking up and accidentally made eye contact with Gwynevere, at which point she flashed him a smile and leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the table and interlocking her fingers.

She had been looking at him for the last minute by this point.

"We didn't get the chance to speak with one another in the last encounter, did we?" She suddenly asked, he jumped a little as she reached across and took the ladle into her hand for one of the many dishes, it was something that he couldn't pronounce or even pretend to understand. But it just looked like meat and vegetables in sauce to him.

Then there was this meat wrapped in a flaky pastry which was in front of them, he didn't know what that was either.

"D-did we not?" He cleared his throat rather awkwardly, reaching towards the water and bringing it to his lips for a short sip, which quickly turned into a long gulp. "That's…probably for the best. My memories of you come from the…other me and are a little bit biased." he offered with a strained smile in her direction.

She merely hummed as she poured out her own food and then put the ladle back in, only to draw it out and then approach his plate, putting some out in front of him without even saying a word and returning the instrument to the bowl.

"Well, I don't see why we cannot correct that, Sulyvahn-"

"He prefers to be called Sully." The voice of Nursery might have sounded polite on account of it being young, but he could tell it was cold. "It removes him from his other self, they do not have a very good opinion of the other, unfortunately."

Gwynevere hummed. "Is that so? I see…I suppose I have my own reasons for disliking your older self but it seems we have some things we might agree upon, Sully." she flashed him another smile that felt a little less intimidating than the last, moving her attention onto her own plate as she glanced to the side. "So, Caffrey. I see that you have amassed yourself quite the amusing little troupe."

"We're troops?" The muffled voice of Jack had him sigh, turning his head towards her and waving his hand slightly. She stared back at him and tilted her head, cheeks bulging on account of stuffing her face with some of the buttered bread slices.

"It's a phrase, Jack…and don't speak with your mouth full." He reminded her with a look.

She looked like she was about to speak again, then caught herself at the last moment and closed her lips, nodding her head up and down several times in rapid succession before taking a single powerful gulp, cheeks deflating and a smile coming over her face as she took to her plate once again, tearing into her food with her bare hands and pulling into the mince pie with her fingers.

Flann watched her with a dispassionate eye, then brought his focus towards Caffrey. "...Perhaps a lesson in proper use of cutlery would be appreciated for future reference, daughter."

"Cutery?" Jack tilted her head, then made a face of understanding. "Ah, knives! We know how to use knives, we're very good at using those. That's why we're Assassin!"

It seemed that he wasn't alone in not knowing how to reply to that, at least until Gwynevere delicately cleared her voice and then turned on the girl with a gentle look. "Perhaps expanding your skill to include forks would be a welcome change, and to turn your skill with knives onto your food."

A whisper from his side, from the tall human.

"Told you Sammy, she's got big Milf energy…but my gut is telling me that it's some serious bad mojo. Like getting to the last page and then being hit with a big twist. The risk and the reward…"

Caffrey leaned forwards, then laughed as she looked at the man. "You're speaking such made up words again, Teach. I would have thought it impossible for humans to come up with a language that sounded so fictional and yet was so real…What is big Mi-"

"Ah-ha-ha!" Blackbeard let out a loud laugh, yet Sully could see the hint of panic in his eyes, especially when the many eyes turned onto him. "It just means that she has a really motherly persona, like it just washes over you and all of that." he brought his hands parallel to the side of his face, then swung them forwards in the direction of Gwynevere. "You look at her and you go. That is a mother."

A couple of voices from further down, the two Silver Knights. "I've never heard of something like that before, what about you, Arkon?"

"Don't talk to me."

"There you go again, saying all those cold things."

"..."

"Ahaha! Silent treatment now, you always did that when you were really angry."

Sully was just thankful the focus had shifted from him.

"So, explain to me how you know my daughter, Mister…?" Gwynevere asked with a leading tone in her voice, giving the man an expectant look.

Blackbeard offered a sharp grin. "I am Blackbeard, dread pirate of the seven seas!"

Was this beef supposed to be pink in the middle, perhaps it was something he had been missing?

"A pirate?" Gwynevere's voice was utterly toneless. "A pirate. And why, exactly, is there a criminal sitting near my daughter?"

"Because your daughter is an idol and not being near her is a crime." Blackbeard replied almost instantly, leaning forwards and gesturing across the table towards Caffrey. "I'm going to be honest, she is incredible. She's got this boundless innocent charm and the sort of personality that would make her best girl for a rom-com manga…I mean, she'd probably be the sort to get saddled with the role of childhood friend so she'd end up losing, but yeah…Childhood friends should still get appreciated."

"See?" Caffrey pointed at Blackbeard, looking moments away from laughing. "I was going to appoint him as a jester, he says these really amusing things sometimes and I don't get what they are, but I feel as though they're amusing."

Blackbeard just smiled. "That's alright, Sammy understands me. Don't you, Sammy?"

The Angel remained silent, another trace of food vanished into the void that it called a face and returned the now empty fork back into the world.

"See?"

---

"Why aren't you eating anything, you're freaking people out."

"I can't taste the food-"

"Who cares?" Jeanne Alter sent her a rather sour look before rolling her eyes at her. "Just take something up and eat it. You're sitting there like a damn statue without even a plate in front of you." she waved a turkey leg in her face before taking a large bite out of it. Pointing down with the piece of food towards the spot right in front of her rather pointedly.

Ash knew this was going to continue until she folded or the Singularity ended.

Smacking her lips together, she shook her head from side to side. "Fine. I can humour you this far." she reached towards one of the empty plates which had been tacked up for those seated to take, procuring one and then dropping it in front of herself. She knew this was going to be a waste of time right from the start, especially because it would all taste like ash to her. She assumed those who actually made the food would appreciate it if she could even taste it in the first place.

"Good."

"That was nice of you-"

"I hope you choke on your next mouthful."

As expected, the dialogue between Jeanne and Jeanne Alter was rather lacking in manners, or friendliness. So long as they were not killing one another, then she could relax. Her eyes roaming the food in front of her, right up until a hand came in from her left and lifted up her plate, she watched as Nobunga silently moved along and reached across, taking bits and pieces and dumping it on the plate before returning it to her.

Then followed by a wooden mug full of a very familiar liquid. Siegbräu.

"You may thank me for my diligence." Nobunaga proclaimed, sporting a wide grin before she pointed towards her. "Especially since I'm mad that you wandered off on patrol without even inviting me along. What the heck kind of retainer does that?" red eyes narrowed. "You saddled me with these stuck ups and I couldn't do anything but twiddle my thumbs."

That was unfortunate, her eyes remained on Nobunaga, then returned to the plate as she stared at all of the food. Bringing her shoulders up and then down. "I didn't feel like bringing anyone along with me, even Tamamo-cat was through pure necessity…I was not festive and believed that any who travelled with me would have suffered a sour mood as a result."

A scoff.

"The heck? You're getting ahead of yourself, ain't you?" Nobunaga shook her head from side to side, looking at her as though she was an idiot. "As if you could ever ruin my good mood with some bad look, sure it might be a little annoying but I decide when I'm in a good mood or a bad mood. Not you…I mean, you can influence it but that's my choice. Next time, you invite me along…and avoid picking up strays."

"The hell did you just call me?" Jeanne Alter whipped around and glared at the Archer. "You're one to talk about strays, you look like a kid from a fancy dress party."

"Hah!? At least I get invited out to parties! You're literally a plus one!"

"A plus one is still invited, idiot."

"Don't call me an idiot, idiot!"

Ash brought the Siegbrau to her lips, taking a quick sip of it and then pulling away. Despite the situation, she felt the world bleed away as she stared down at the reflective liquid in the mug, her own warbling reflection staring back at her. This was a bizarre experience, one she would not soon forget and though everything about it screamed as though this was wrong…she could not imagine not doing it in the first place. Deep within her, there was something about this which she was…enamoured with.

She took another sip of it as the other women argued around her.

"This is a festive time, do not embarrass yourself with this display, witch of dragons."

"Huh? Oh, great." Jeanne Alter turned on the voice and then scowled rather fiercely as she found herself looking at Artoria Alter in the dress of Santa. An almost smug look in her eyes as she stared down at the false Saint. "I heard from this one that you were slumming it up as Santa, but I can't believe you actually did it. Who the hell let such a foul and tainted woman like you put on a hat and go near kids? Do they just hate them now or something?"

Artoria Alter inclined her head, raising her brow. "Such cold words, is that any way to speak to the one who intends to grant your wish?"

"Is that wish you pissing off in the next five seconds?"

"Don't swear." Jeanne chimed in only briefly, a disapproving look on her face.

Jeanne Alter responded to that as one would have expected, or Ash would have expected from her at this rate. A rather furious snarl split across her features, looking seconds away from saying words which were anything but kind. Ash just watched her for a moment, taking another sip of her drink and keeping her thoughts to herself.

Then she noticed a flourish of movement from Artoria Alter, something that caused Jeanne Alter to make a croaking sound as the Santa Servant revealed a crumpled up piece of stained brown paper, faint squiggles on it which had to be writing. Artoria flipped it around, holding it directly in front of the face of Jeanne Alter, who remained utterly silent as she stared at it, her expression hidden from Ash.

Though she was still able to see the shaky hands of Jeanne Alter reach towards the paper, then make a grab at it. Unfortunately, Artoria pulled it back at the last moment with a chiding look. "Do you expect Santa to so easily allow their letters from their most devoted targets to be so carelessly handled? Besides…I believe this one is worthy of special care, given the nature of the author."

Artoria Alter's words dripped with veiled amusement, her eyes twinkling with mirth, especially as she returned the letter from whence it came, reaching into the white sack next and pulling forth a box which had been wrapped up, then dropping it onto the lap of Jeanne Alter, all while they were sitting frozen and unable to move. "I have come a very long way to deliver that gift, you should feel honoured that Santa has shown such consideration for you…but how else could I respond to such a heartfelt plea from a child in need?"

Stepping back, Artoria turned around and waved her hand. "Farewell then, Dragon Witch…and Merry Christmas!"

Ash stared at the back of the silent woman's head, Jeanne Alter refusing to speak or even move.

"The heck is that about?" Nobunaga whispered from behind her, she just brought her shoulders up and down.

"Not my place to care." And it really wasn't focused more on the taste of the alcohol than anything else. That being said, there was still something else she was rather curious about. Turning her eyes towards Jeanne Alter, she watched the still silent and frozen woman gradually turn back to the table, a vacant look in her eyes. A disturbing expression, to be sure.

"What do you intend to do?" She asked the woman, prompting a faint grunt from them but no answer. "The moment this Singularity comes to an end, your existence will soon follow. Even I can tell your Spirit Origin is nothing more than a patchwork of lingering energy, you lack the capability of a proper Servant-"

"I know." Jeanne Alter sniffed rather loudly, clicking her tongue and dumping the box on the ground without even so much as opening it. Groaning as she did so and aggressively eating once more, almost as though she was more obsessed with destroying the food than actually consuming it. "Don't even think about trying to offer me pity or say there's a place for me at your shitty little barnyard gang or whatever-"

Ash cut her off with a scoff. "Hardly. It is not even my place to offer in the first place, that and I am still marginally dubious towards you in the first place…but if you have no interest then that is the end of it…Just so long as you are aware."

"This ain't gonna be the last any of you see from me. Be certain of that."

She believed her, that was something about that sentence that was rather damning in its own way. But that was for the future, for the time being there was little else to do but sit down and eat. Pointless as it was…but seeing the happy faces, it was something.

---

Ritsuka looked left and right, then leaned to the side in the direction of Mash and Olga, looking between the two of them as they paused. They turned on him with bemused looks as he whispered. "Should I make a toast or something? Because this feels like the sort of situation where someone should make a toast…Well, I actually want to say thank you to everyone for showing up, but a toast feels better, right?"

Neither Mash nor the Director responded immediately, the two of them staring at him in silence, then the Director pursed her lips and slowly nodded her head up and down. "It is usually expected for a host to toast their guests, rather than the other way around…but given the nature of this, then I suppose that exceptions could be made on account of you being the Master here."

Well, there was that but then the Director was also a Master here as well…and she was the Director on top of that. Also he felt like she would have more experience with this sort of stuff in the first place, his grand total experience with public events was going to comiket a couple of years ago, and in terms of parties it was attending a birthday one.

This didn't feel like it was comparable with either of those two experiences.

"Yeah but you're also a Master, and you know…" He trailed off, nodding to her and then turning his eyes in the direction of where her Servants were, for the case of Stahl it was right behind the Director, in one of the funniest turn of events the Servant was wearing a Santa hat and using tinsel as a scarf, with fairy lights wrapped around its arms.

A suggestion from Astolfo to make them more festive and it had his full blessing.

Olga rolled her eyes at him. "If it has not been made abundantly clear by now, this is not something I am comfortable with in the least." she spoke in a low tone of voice, waving hand to him. "If you wish to make a toast, then you are within your rights to do as such…just don't touch the alcohol. I do not need a repeat of that drunken stupor during the third Singularity."

He didn't remember much of it…though that was probably the point.

Turning his eyes from the Director, he looked down at Mash as she stared up at him, then gave him a single thumbs up and a confident smile. He was busy remembering his last speech in Rome, that had kept him away some nights with how it was. Exhaling, he rose up from his seated position and turned his head the length of the table, sweeping his eyes over everyone before he reached down and picked up a glass in one hand, a spoon in the other.

He brought them up and drummed them together as gently as he could without having to worry about damaging the glass. The tapping sound alerted those around him to be quiet, which quickly spread far enough down either length of the table. Gwyndolin truly was a star for creating something like this, it really did make everything so much easier to get everyone seated with.

Then the eyes turned on him.

Perhaps a hundred pairs of them, at least that was how it felt.

Clearing his throat loudly, he lowered the spoon down to the table and raised his hand to wave at them. "Well…hello everyone…Goodness, what a turnout, right? All of you here together…I just felt like it would be a bit weird to let this slip past and not say a few words."

He gestured down the length of the table towards one person in particular. "But I'd like to start this off by saying a big congratulations to Berserker for coming up with this idea, without him then we wouldn't really be down here and…I really, really am grateful to him for that. And to all of you who came together for this holiday, even if you'd never heard of it before in your life, you all came here and for that…it means more than the world to me."

He brought his glass up, filled with juice. "All of us, coming here together, in the spirit of Christmas…but not just for that, just getting together. Spending time with each other, old friends, allies, even the people who you didn't actually like…all of you coming here, together for a single night, even if we go back to how things were before…this one moment is really what matters most. I just…all of you, each and every single one. I wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy new year and…"

He trailed off, then a smile came upon his features, he sniffed once. "And I look forward to celebrating next Christmas as well…but I've got a feeling it'll never top this one because I know that for right now…as I look across all the people here tonight, Gods, humans, dragons, living stories and legends. For all of you who came here tonight. I can think of nowhere else I would rather be and inspite of the circumstances of us coming here together…You're all carrying the spirit of Christmas inside you, because what really matters…is that we're all here together."

Silence.

Someone down the line raised their own mug, Ritsuka locked onto Ash instantly, the blonde had a vacant look on her face as she rose from her seat, mug still in hand and nodded to him once. Then spoke up. "I…hope you enjoy this holiday and all those that come after. Have a happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas-"

"Happy-"

"-Chri-"

"Merry-"

"Ha-"

They all rose from their seats, one by one and brought up whatever they had been drinking with in celebration, putting their mugs and glasses to the sky and spreading the words. Even a little further, not more than a couple of seats from him, he could see Sulyvahn briefly raise his glass even as he remained seated before going for a drink, that nearly made him laugh again.

Lowering himself back down, he turned towards the Director and smiled. "...Merry Christmas, by the way. Mash, Director."

The Director stared at him in silence, then offered a single faint smile. "...To you as well."

---

Almost Weekly Santa Alter: Epilogue

---

It was a shame they could not have brought everyone back, but he was happy with the knowledge that he had met with his sisters once more, they were not as troubled as he was. Then again, perhaps they were lucky in that they died before him, they never saw the end. But that was in the past now, he had done what was needed and it worked out well in the end.

It was…nice.

"Ah-ha!"

He stopped in the hallways of Chaldea, turning around and finding the finger of Vinci pointed right towards his face. His eyes moved along the length of the digit, then right towards the deep blue eyes of the owner, an accusing look deep within them but countered by the rather wide smile on her lips.

"You're a lot sneakier than I thought, you know that?" Drawing her hand back, she folded her arms over her chest and rocked back and forth on her heel "Didn't even think twice before being drawn into a competition with Pharros, she fessed up the moment I caught wind that something else was happening…You sent her to distract me, did you?"

"That was Romani's idea." He shifted the blame only a little, before he shrugged and added on. "But I thought that it would work out better as well…I had a chance to communicate with you and did not. I supported the plan to keep you in the dark…I had hoped you would have had the chance to come away but in the end, you remained in Chaldea."

That stung.

She must have noticed it, her expression fell a little as the smile on her lips turned more reassuring, her hand reached out and fell onto the side of his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Hey, that was my choice. Much as I might have loved to come down, someone needs to make sure there is a Chaldea to come back to. I'd turn my back for five seconds and someone would break something…that being said, there is also a Christmas party being held here, though it's more of a casual afterparty at this point."

It was not the same, they both had to know that, the clear disparity between the two of them could not be ignored. Yet he could understand it, they both had the same goals. Those two parties, they would bring everyone together in the spirit of this holiday. A single day, set against all others where disparity was just a little bit slimmer than normal.

Nodding his head up and down, he offered her a tiny smile. "In that case, I hope that you have fun at that party, or casual meeting…however you might call it, Vinci. You are owed just as much joy as all those who attended the festival in the snowy land."

She gave him a small look. "...I heard that it was also your idea as well, and how humble you're being about it." it turned into a rather proud expression, she stepped back with her hands on her hips and an approving gleam in her eyes. "Now that…that was something special. You really built something down there, Berserker. You helped build something that brought everyone together, if only for a moment, and that's all you. You should be very proud of that."

His face felt a little warm, he turned his head away from her and stared at the walls around them, the heat still remained. "It…I did what anyone else should have done. It was a holiday to bring together family, it would only make sense to celebrate it, wouldn't it? Besides, everyone contributed to it in the end. So I'm not the only one deserving of praise."

Really, if he had been left to his own means…

"Every great creator starts with only a little idea." Vinci remarked with a shrug of the shoulders. "Just making sure we never lose that spark. You've got one heck of a spark inside you…that much I can tell. But I think the most important part of it is…did you have fun down there, Berserker?"

"...I did indeed."

"Then that is all that matters."

He shook his head from side to side. "There is another matter, far more important…" he brought up his right hand which had been clenched into a light fist. He had been looking for the right moment to find her, but if she was here now then it was all that mattered.

The confusion on the face of Vinci lasted until he held it right in front of her eyes, she blinked a couple of times as she stared at it, then slowly turned her gaze up and towards him. He was certain that when compared to something she made, it would have looked like quite the mockery, but to him it was the best he could do at the time.

"I heard that it is a time to give gifts as well…I have already given my Master one and wanted to give you the other."

Crudely bent black metal into the shape of a five pointed star, in the centre of it lay a small glowing gem of green light, he had gone to the little brother Sully after hearing about their talent with spells. He'd barely needed to ask before they did as he inquired and filled the centre of the metal skeleton with a gem, right behind it was curved metal in the shape of a trail, slightly blackened to look like a trail of smoke.

"Old brother Andre gave me some metal and I…" He trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. "I didn't know if you wanted anything, I am rather new to this holiday, but I thought it would be a shame if you got nothing at all…"

Vinci slowly reached up, taking it out from between his fingers and looking it over with a complicated look in her eyes, humming as she examined it. Then, slowly but surely, a smile crept onto her features. Not as wide as the others but this one felt more pure, it was different from them and much better. That was all he could say, the disparity of a simple smile.

"You gave the Director one?"

"I did."

"And how did she react?"

"...She stared at me for a couple of moments before she took it without saying a word, but she did thank me for the consideration as I left." He was happy she took it at all, he knew what it looked like. Even he with his limited knowledge could tell it was an ugly looking thing made of old metal and simple sorcery. Not truly one of the great works of art like Vinci could make.

"Hmmm." Another hum from Vinci, then she gently closed her fingers around it and nodded her head up and down. "I think it's absolutely stunning. A lot of passion in this little falling star of yours…why did you pick it though?"

"...Because it was beautiful."

"...I'm glad you think so." Vinci nodded her head, rolling her jaw from side to side. "Merry Christmas…Berserker."

"...You as well, Vinci."