"I'll skin that lion-headed son of a bitch with my bare hands when I get my hands upon him!"
The twenty-eighth variation of Mordred's promises of vengeance against Edison rang around the cell. She had been the first one to wake up, and to her frustration, she couldn't summon Clarent, Secret of Pedigree, or even her armor.
The only thing missing was her being poisoned, and it might as well have been that final night of the Greater Holy Grail War all fucking over again!
"If he didn't respond to your shouting the first five times, I highly doubt that Edison will come down here if you keep threatening him like that," Nightingale said in a monotone as she checked over the unconscious body of Jacob.
Thankfully, her quick thinking had prevented Jacob from turning into a pancake. Seriously, did that lion-headed prick not consider the consequences of dropping a magus from such a height? Particularly into an area that apparently reduced the effectiveness of any kind of magecraft to fucking zero?
They were in a rather large cell. The walls, enchanted as they were, didn't have much in the way of looks. Three of the four walls were made of red brick that were sealed with cement. The front of the room was a stereotypical jail cell door, though it was also enchanted in order to prevent Servants or magus from breaking out.
The only theoretical weak spot was in the ceiling, but it was too high up for any of them to reach it, weakened as they were. Meaning they were stuck.
"How's he looking?" Mordred finally said, smothering her anger with concern over her partner's well-being. It did little to alleviate the sense of guilt she felt, though.
"He's not in risk of dying on us anytime soon," Nightingale said, gently prodding Jacob's right hip and upper thigh. The blonde noticed how the Berserker grimaced slightly at whatever it was that she found. "I suspect that his fracture got worse from the impact, but I'll need to examine it some more."
"Can I trust you to not sever his leg again?" Mordred asked pointedly. To her mild amusement, Nightingale actually paused, looked at the Knight of Rebellion, and rolled her eyes slightly.
"Seeing as how I both lack the tools and the proper sanitary levels to perform such an operation, yes, I will not be attempting to solve the problem in the way you suggested," Nightingale said rather sulkily, and Mordred shook her head.
She certainly was living up to the ideal image of a Berserker, alright. Still, at least it wasn't Caligula.
"How are you, Mordred?" Mash suddenly asked in that polite manner of hers. Mordred turned her head slightly so that she could keep watch on Nightingale from the corner of her eye even as she responded to Shieldy's question.
"Well enough, all things considered. Disappointed as hell about what happened up there."
"Yes, it was a most unpleasant experience," Mash said softly. "I'm not sure if Jacob made the right call there, or Ritsuka."
Mordred snorted. "Well, doesn't matter now. They made their choices, and it's up to us to help them see it through, Shieldy." Mordred paused, and under her breath, grumbled, "Even if they sometimes make us want to slap them for how much they make us worry…"
She paused. Shit, Mash must have heard that! Mordred turned, ready to deliver a stern glare, when Nightingale came to the rescue.
"Mordred, he's coming too," Nightingale said suddenly.
Mordred turned to look as she heard her lover's breathing shifted, becoming rather shallow. Jacob was finally starting to wake up.
Pain.
The first thing my brain processed when I woke up was an agonizing sense of pain. It somehow felt worse than the time I had been shot (was it today or yesterday? I had no idea yet). That was probably an irrelevant thought at the moment.
Especially considering the circumstances I last remembered us being in. Falling down into what I presume was a prison. Otherwise, death really, really fucking hurt.
"Jacob?" Mordred asked rather tentatively. Blinking my eyes, I focused on the pale, blurry mass over my face, which was quickly refined into a pair of beautiful emerald eyes and a worried frown.
"Hey, Mordred," I groaned, breathing a bit heavily. "Thanks for catching me in time."
"Don't mention it," she said breezily, smirking. It faded rather quickly, and a stern expression replaced it. "Seriously, don't mention it." I nodded slowly, hesitantly. I began to sit up, but a flare of pain elicited a high-pitch squeak of pain from my lips.
"Here, Jacob Senpai," Mash said suddenly to the left of me, a gloved hand appearing right after she finished speaking. It took me a second to realize that Mash was offering me a bottle of generic painkiller medication. Doctor Roman had told us about them back before the deployment to Orléans, but this was the first time we were actually using them.
Uttering a soft thanks to Mash, I took the bottle and gingerly unscrewed the lid. After tapping the right amount of pills out and putting them in my mouth, I swallowed, making a gagging expression. I hated having to take pills without any water, but while we did have some, I didn't want to waste any at the moment.
The sooner we could get out of here, the better.
"Your fracture has gotten worse. It's not truly broken, but it will feel as if you had. Under normal circumstances, I would order you to bed rest for several weeks at least."
"Too bad we're not, then," I grunted dryly, as the painkillers Mash offered me began to take effect. The burning sensation was reduced to a dull throbbing sensation that, while unpleasant, was manageable. "What's the situation?" I asked Ritsuka.
My fellow Master shook his head. "I swear, you're turning into a machine right now. Emiya, Babbage, and Gilles have been taken."
"Taken? Where? Why?"
"Helena came down with orders from Edison that the three would assist the factory crew on the assembly line for building his mechanized infantry. Cu was also about to be taken, until someone mentioned his name and they realized he is a Celt."
"If it weren't for the fact that he is one of Senpai's Servants, I fear that Edison would have ordered his immediate execution," Mash added. I exhaled slowly, suppressing the urge to curse angrily. "None of our gear or supplies were confiscated, not that there's much need to do so." I shot the Demi-Servant a questioning look, but it was a different Servant who answered.
"We expended a lot of magical energy to recover from that fall. We're currently working on the bare minimum that would sustain us. Something that Caster did is blocking the flow of energy from Chaldea. Otherwise, I would be able to use Ruler Breaker and shatter the enchantments trapping us."
"The doors are extremely strong, too. At least, on the inside. Can't say about the outside. What I wouldn't give to have had a brig like this fitted on the Golden Hind," Drake added, the pirate sounding more a little bit wistful towards the end of her observations.
"Furthermore, we can't contact Doc Roman apparently," Mordred drawled. "That bratty-looking Caster knows her shit damn well."
"That's right," a familiar voice said, accompanied by a light set of footsteps. In the gloomy darkness of the dungeon, Helena Blavatsky appeared, stopping a few feet in front of our cell and staring at us with a sympathetic look on her face. "You can't underestimate a Caster from the 19th century, can you?"
"I've learned to never underestimate any Servants," I replied evenly, forcing myself up onto my feet, and Helena nodded in agreement.
"A wise policy for any Master to have. I'm pleased to see that the two of you fully appreciate that fact despite your relatively young age. Tell the guards if you're willing to cooperate," the Russian Caster said, gesturing at a wood-and-iron door that I presumed was the exit. I didn't know if they were human guards, or more of Edison's mass-produced Mechanized Infantry units. "We'll let you all out immediately if that happens."
"Hope you don't plan for that to happen anytime soon," Jeanne Alter growled, glaring balefully at Helena. She ignored the words of the Dragon Witch, however, focusing on me.
"It seems that in the throne room earlier, you were the one in charge. Tell me, Jacob," she said, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. "Why did you reject Mr. Edison's offer? As the gentleman from Chaldea said, you could have just betrayed us along the way. At the very least, I'm sure you saw this coming. Yet you still chose this path. Why?"
I managed a wry grin. "There are several reasons why."
"Do tell."
"One of the primary principals of the Aronson Family is that we don't make false promises." I sensed Mordred's full approval. Despite being referred to as the Knight of Treachery, I had seen first-hand that Mordred hadn't offered her services to Artoria with the intent of betraying her down the line. It was more of a rebellion, hence her other title, the Knight of Rebellion.
"An understandable, if restrictive, stance. Why else?" My eyes flickered to our allied Berserker."
"For Nightingale's sake as well."
"For my sake?" Nightingale repeated, sounding more than a little confused. I nodded.
"You agreed to assist us. Even if your methods are a bit beyond what we would normally go with, allies don't force their partners to do things they can't agree to." Or at least, within reason. After all, life wasn't as amenable to such honorable concepts and principles like that.
Helena made a soft sound of understanding, nodding slowly. "I can see that. After all, Florence would never agree to those conditions. You never abandon someone once you've become allies, huh?"
"It's a fast way to end up alone, hated, and distrusted," I agreed. Ritsuka nodded in agreement.
"I see that you both share the same mindset," Helena remarked, smiling softly at us. "As Masters and human beings, that's wonderful. Though other people and Servants may think that it's rather foolish, your actions thus far have been noble. More so than anybody else."
"Thank you," Ritsuka said softly. I grunted and lowered my head slightly in a silent sign of acknowledgment. Helena paused, biting the corner of her lip and looking over her shoulder at the door. Her shoulders slumped slightly, and she exhaled slowly, before turning back to look at us.
"Rest easy," she said confidently. "Someone will come to your rescue soon. Until then, just wait here, okay?" Without waiting for a response, the Caster spun around on the back of her heels, and walked out of the room, not even acknowledging any of our shouting.
What did she mean? Who? And if that really was going to happen, why on earth would she let it happen? It made no sense. I frowned slightly as I eased myself back into a sitting position on the ground.
However, we lacked any sort of answers, and we all fell quiet as the only exit to the dungeon slid shut. The only sounds that could be heard were breathing, grumbling, and the fire of the torches crackling and popping merrily.
Finally, I exhaled. "Well, that happened, Mordred," I said, without turning to look at my lover. The other Servants, Nightingale, Mash, and Ritsuka began breaking off into their own groups and began talking to one another.
I waited for a response, but didn't get one. Concerned, I turned to look at Mordred. "Mordred?" I asked softly, noting the distress in her body language. She hid it well, another thing to 'thank' Morgan for, but I had spent enough time with her by now to not be deceived as others might. "What's bothering you?" I added, and after a few more seconds of hesitation, the Knight of Rebellion sat down a foot or so away from me, staring at the stone tiles between us.
A few more seconds went by, but I waited patiently, and was rewarded when my knight finally began to speak.
"I keep letting you get hurt, Master," Mordred whispered morosely, refusing to meet my eyes. "I'm practically failing the main task I have as your primary Servant."
I clicked my tongue against my teeth softly. "Hey, none of that. If you had failed your duty like you claim, I'd be splattered against the floor. You did the best that you could in a bad situation."
"But what if it didn't work?" Mordred protested, still looking down at the space between us. I reached out and gently gripped her shoulder.
"Hey, I promised to take you out to see fireworks when this was over, remember? I'll be damned if I broke that promise, or any of the other promises I made to you."
"My last Master had no intention of dying either," Mordred said sharply, and I fell silent. "And you damn well know what happened to him. What if, the next time you're injured, it's fatal?" I didn't have a response to that.
I had every intention of not dying, especially not on her watch. However, history was filled with people who held similar beliefs. Many of them ended up dying as a result. In all honesty, there was no way to guarantee that I would fulfill my promises, much as I was loath to admit it.
I breathed in then exhaled. "I'll be more careful, then," I said instead. Mordred nodded slowly.
"You got that damn right. No more frontline fighting for you, until you get your body fixed. You can chuck those frozen toothpicks of yours, but if I see you trying to wield that sword of yours, I will put you through training hell when we get back." I actually shivered slightly from the intense glare Mordred was giving me.
I loved her, but damn could she be as intense as Nightingale when she wanted to be.
"Alright. I agree. Good thing I have a first-class knight to protect me," I said, wishing to inject some air of levity into the atmosphere. Mordred stared at me, her lips twitching slightly before she scoffed.
"Idiot princess," she said softly, though not without any affection. I merely smiled, before leaning in and giving her a quick hug. To my pleasant surprise, I felt her slim yet muscular arms wrap around me and squeeze me gently.
Mordred really was worried if she was willing to break her PDA rule. I reluctantly let go, and she did the same. I could see in the dim lighting her cheeks starting to turn a faint red. I also noticed that most of the conversations that had been going on in the background had died down. Time to shift attention away from Mordred. I cleared my throat loudly.
"Alright. So, the first thing we should do is rather obvious, albeit rather troubling. We have to get out of here," I said.
"Agreed, but like you said, Jacob, it's easier said than done. We didn't exactly include any dynamite or C4 in our packs," Ritsuka pointed out. I chuckled softly.
"A mistake we should re-consider when we get back. Helena said something about waiting on someone. I didn't detect any hints of malice in her voice, but I'm not in the mood of waiting to see if she was telling the truth or not." I paused and looked at the others, silently asking them for any ideas.
"I'd say we could blast our way out with my guns or Noble Phantasm, but that magic shite is a problem," Drake huffed. Next to the pink-haired pirate, Fran made a few soft grunts while using her hands for sign language. It had been an idea suggested by both Mordred and Mash as a way for the Berserker to communicate with us, while not straining her vocal chords with the limited word range she was currently capable of. I squinted, not close enough to see her signals properly in the torchlight.
"Fran says that she doesn't have the strength left to try and batter it down, either," Mordred translated, and Fran let out an apologetic grunt.
"It's fine, Fran."
"No, it's not fine! We can't just sit here with our thumb up our asses!" Jeanne Alter snarled angrily. Mordred glared at her so-called nemesis.
"Why don't you put a sock in it, Avenger?" The two prickly Servants began growling at one another, but before either could start attacking the either, Nightingale spoke up.
"Quit your bickering. It's doing nothing. We have to do something to get out of here," Nightingale barked, walking slowly over to the door of the cell. I was about to ask her if she had some sort of plan in the making when she suddenly pulled out that damn pistol of hers and pointed it at the lock. My question began to turn into shouting when she pulled the trigger.
I was left with ringing ears as sparks erupted off of the surface of the steel lock, but no actual damage seemed to have been inflicted.
"I-I agree," Mash stammered, placing herself protectively in front of her boyfriend, while Mordred did something similar to me. "But I think it's impossible to destroy a cell door with a gun!"
Nightingale shook her head, a seemingly mad look of enthusiasm in the Berserker's eyes as she re-cocked her pistol. "No, I think I managed to shave off a bit!" She reported, before firing several shots in rapid succession.
It was with more than a little hysteria that I reflected on the irony that a nurse who was supposed to focus on saving lives was seemingly obsessed with solving problems with a gun. Just like the first time, nothing meaningful was achieved, though an extremely unpleasant outcome occurred in the form of the bullets bouncing off the steel lock and ricocheting inside the reinforced stone blocks of the cell.
"Ah, your bullets are ricocheting inside this cell! Please stop!" Mash pleaded. Mordred was far less restrained in voicing her own demands of the Nurse.
"Oi! Nurse Nutjob, cut it out or I'll shove that gun up your ass!" Mordred snarled. Thankfully, even though she had thrown herself in front of me, my lover was unharmed.
"I'll help!" Jeanne Alter roared angrily, displaying a previously-unseen level of agreement with the Knight of Rebellion.
Thankfully, no one was injured by Nightingale's ill-planned attempt, but there were more than a few irate Servants glaring at the nurse. "Nightingale, that was far too reckless—" Mash started to say, in a rare display of authority, but before she could continue her reproach, a different voice spoke up.
"Yes, that was reckless. On the bright side, however, the sound of the gunshots, and shouting, let me find you all quicker."
Original Endnotes: And done! As I warned, it was rather short, but I hope it was still enjoyable? Also, who enjoyed the moment of Jacob x Mordred fluff?
Ouch, looks like Jacob in particular is in for a bit of a rough time for the foreseeable future in this singularity, huh? Also, le gasp! Mysterious voice guy strikes again! Meanwhile, Nightingale reminds me of that one anime scene (don't know where it's from) where the guy is describing how to make a soup, and then says 'Add a gun!' and sticks a pistol into the damn bowl! Is it just me or does that seem like Nightingale?
Now, for the question(s) of the chapter! First up: Have any of you in FGO gotten any of the event SR and SSR Servants? I have gotten Oki and Musashi so far. Second question: Who's your favorite Indian Heroic Spirit? Third question: Who has seen the first Heaven's Feel movie? I just finished it, so what did those of you who have seen it thought of it?
As always, a big thank you for all the love and support you fabulous readers have given this story in the 13 months since I first started writing The Will to Fight. Means a lot! :) I hope you enjoyed Chapter 110, and I look forward to reading and seeing what you all thought of it! Have a wonderful next four days, and see you in Chapter 111!
Updated Endnotes (01/15/24): As always, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. If you want to skip the wait of me catching up my story on this site, feel free to go visit the original copy on Archive of Our Own, with Chapter 286 having just been posted. Otherwise, have a great week, and I'll see you next Monday (or so)!