Summary: Because before Chaldea's new Director could even think about sending its only Master out to resolve another mess the Foreign God started in Heian-Kyo, Chiron intervenes. Someone has to listen to the little girl who's been crying for help.

Note: This was inspired by four things: the stories known as (1) How Deep the Bullet Lies, and (2) Recommended Treatment, both written by beloved friend Carim/GlyphArchive; (3) the Danganronpa fanfiction known as Extra Life, written by The Apocryphal One; and (4) the Batman The Animated Series episode called Mad Love (I really don't like the episode title, but that's how it is). I also took from what little memories I have of a few therapy sessions I had when I was little, after an incident that changed my life for the worse for a long while. Still processing that now, 14 years later, actually.

Content warning for vague hints of anxious thoughts, past emotional abuse, and implied assault. You've been warned.

The theme for this chapter is Lizz Robinett and Lowlander's cover of Xion's Theme from Kingdom Hearts. The lyrics really fit the feelings I felt when reading How Deep the Bullet Lies for the first time. (I'll even go as far to say I highly recommend you read that story first [as well as Recommended Treatment] before this chapter once Carim publishes it on AO3. Mainly since it gives a lot of context.)

Please enjoy.

Day 52: Therapy

Chiron did his best to keep a straight face once the medbay transport wheeled into the room thanks to Da Vinci's careful guidance, Vy sitting in the wheelchair provided there as the original three Grailed Servants trailed behind it. Achilles — his student, his son — had a sullen look in his yellow eyes that he could only remember from the Great Holy Grail War, spouting lines to support Amakusa Shirou Tokisada when his heart wasn't entirely in it. But it was there despite him doing his best to wipe it away when noticing Chiron's gaze, even clear in his posture as he shared a glance with Robin and Arturia behind him, Da Vinci Caster lingering in the wheelchair's shadow all the while. From that, Chiron honestly did not want to ask them about the bloody handprints staining the bo staff that stood out rather awkwardly from the back pocket of the wheelchair past Vy's head. It painted an already disturbing picture.

"Get her in here," Asclepius said in a no-nonsense tone, his tongue audibly clicking past his mask as he pulled his sleeves back from his arms. "Minor injuries, my ass, Da Vinci. There's more than that here if that dried blood on her hands is any indication. We'll have to prescribe mana supplements at this rate…" He still approached Vy carefully as the named Caster hid a flinch mid-wheeling Vy into the center of the room, taking one of her hands in both of his to turn over with what appeared to be growing surprise. "…At least it wasn't worse. The initial treatments here should help ward off infection." Asclepius raised his head to glance at the three Grailed Servants with a raised brow. "Who had the idea to clean the wounds with water and bandage them afterwards?"

Robin wordlessly raised his one free hand in the air, his other left occupied by his grip on Vy's own. "Rider helped," he said quietly, a tired rasp echoing in his voice to match the dry smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "There was a lot to clean up."

"Good job," Asclepius said with no hint of begrudging, approval clear in his hooded yellow-green eyes. "You got to her just in time."

Robin and Achilles glanced back at Arturia, which resulted in all three sharing a quiet chuckle. "What kind of Servants would we be if we didn't?" Arturia interjected with a hint of mirth, the gauntlet on one hand dissipating in favor of resting a gentle palm on Vy's shoulder, just in time to stop the Chaldean Master from wilting in her wheelchair. "Our Princess was in trouble."

"A-Aye…" Vy said sheepishly.

"May I take Vy then, Asclepius, Robin?" Chiron voices delicately, giving a questioning gaze towards Robin who still held Vy's other hand once he took the courage to approach the transport. "I should be able to help with the treatment."

At that, Asclepius let go of Vy's hand just as Robin loosened his grip too. "You want to do it, Sensei? I can easily handle it."

"Which I do not deny, but I was one of Vy's first gold Archers after EMIYA and Miss Fujino, Asclepius," Chiron reminds him lightly, giving Vy a warm smile once she was directing a shocked glance his way too. "I have experience in handling this as well as psychiatry if you allow me. Unless…" Chiron made sure to turn his body, centaur hooves and all, so that he could fully face Vy and Vy alone, getting down to two knees to look the girl in the eye. "You want to say something else, Master?"

It was in that moment, sitting up close to the girl, that Chiron could see the exhaustion tugging at her figure. It wasn't even the bandaged hands that she cradled in her lap if Robin wasn't already holding one — it was her lowered head, the fogginess of her glasses, and the dried tears at the corners of her eyes that held the risk of bubbling up again in thick streams. He could still remember her tears during the Incineration, her frustration at seeing so much death from the Lahmu and Goetia's doing, but it didn't even stand in the face of the girl currently sitting in front of him. Asking was the least he could do, in the face of all she had sacrificed, in all that everyone else from the opposing side and some of their own supporting mages had disrespected her for.

Vy pursued her lips, some strands from her braid coming more undone from the band keeping it together past her shoulder as she met his gaze. "If…" she swallows, shutting her eyes as a light pink flush covers her cheeks past the sweat and grime. "If Big Robin, Achi, Art-san, and Da Vinci get to stay with me?" The question comes out in an ashamed tone, as if Vy is embarrassed to say such a thing, but if the surprised glances the named Servants share above her head are any indication, it's nothing she should be embarrassed about. "I… I don't wanna be alone right now, Sensei."

Chiron can't help the relieved smile on his lips as he nods. "Of course they can stay."

It was no wonder Achilles fell in love with her once upon a time when she could be so powerful but oh so lonely like this, asking for a comforting presence. Chiron didn't even need to pretend to not see his former student reaching over to press a supporting hand against the space between her shoulder blades, matching the tiny grin of his own growing on his face. The suppressed want, the same desire to be there was still unchanged.

Asclepius ends up being the only one sighing and shaking his head, but it's more of exasperation at the growing-to-be-crowded workspace than anything else.

Despite the occasional whimper, Vy stayed remarkably still in her place sitting on one of the medbay's many cots as Chiron applied the second round of disinfectant to the popped blisters on her fingers, keeping her palms open for him to work with as the others watched from their chairs in the nearby observation area. It's one of the few moments that makes Chiron glad she's such a good patient and student, because if Achilles' own terseness is any indication, the other Servants only appeared to be quiet, instead waiting for something to happen on Vy's end as tension was clear in their sitting postures.

Chiron pushes the stray thought of what could happen if Vy died out of his mind, because that would be the worst-case scenario no one would want to come to pass, himself included. Not when they've come this far. Not when Vy had sacrificed so much.

At least Asclepius had left the room already, saying he had to gather more supplies and herbs for later use. Saved Chiron the time of looking for more gauze, or perhaps another hospital scrub in case Vy wanted a change of clothes aside from the usual Chaldean Mystic Codes.

"…I'm sorry, Sensei," is the first thing that eventually brushes Chiron's ears, and he raises his head from his work of applying bandages to see the beginnings of new tears in the corners of Vy's brown eyes. "I didn't mean to be back in the medical bay so soon."

"I don't think I'm the one you need to apologize to, Master," Chiron answers quietly, but he still ties the final knot of the gauze with one last hard tug, being careful to not make it too tight on Vy's person as her Command Seals disappeared from view. "But as your Servant and one of your many caretakers, what is on your mind?"

Vy freezes in place with a soft noise, but Chiron holds her hands nonetheless, smoothing his thumb over the bandaged knuckles and skin with care. "You wouldn't be this reckless unless something in Atlantis and Olympus made you go back to a place none of us would know about," he elaborates, ignoring the surprised glances of the other Servants in the room as he squeezes Vy's hands. "And I know it was hard for you there, Master, more so because you had to fight another me. But there's more to it, isn't there?" He keeps his voice as gentle as he can, inviting too just so that Vy could open up. Because she's still trembling, still shaking like the way he found her in the safehouse Caster Gilgamesh had provided them once upon what felt like another lifetime in that Babylonia Singularity of the city of Uruk, trying to hold back her tears over what happened to Siduri. "You've seen more than what any other girl outside of Mage Culture has had to. So, if it's alright to ask, Master, what happened?"

Vy swallowed again, lowering her head to look at their intertwined hands. "…It's a long story, Sensei." The sentence is weak, a tired attempt at diverting the conversation, but she still meets his eyes through her hair that's been let loose from the braid that sat on her neck before all this, her brown irises glistening with unshed tears. "Longer than anything I've known because I lived it. Are you… Are you okay with that?"

She's not saying 'no,' he noted quietly to himself. Outwardly, Chiron put on another smile. "As long as you are," he mused with a gentle squeeze to her hands. "I'm not the only one who's seen how exhausted you are, Vy. And if you ever feel uncomfortable at any time, we can stop and Da Vinci and the others can take you wherever you want in Novum Chaldea afterwards. You don't have to say everything. I just want to help, Master, that's all."

The extended offer of goodwill is enough to make the girl relax, enough for Chiron to feel it through her bandaged hands, and a tiny giggle leaves her lips, as weak as it is hopeful. "O-Okay," she relents, turning her head to give what looks like an apologetic smile towards Achilles, Robin, Arturia, and Da Vinci still sitting patiently in their seats at the observation part of the medical bay. "Just don't say I didn't warn you, Sensei." Holding their eyes for a few moments, she then breaks it off to turn to Chiron with a sadder smile tugging at her lips. "…I was told I didn't deserve to live once, to start. It was one of the last things I had before coming to Chaldea, and something I'm still fighting with considering the Crypters keep repeating those words everytime we fight them."

Out of anything Chiron was expecting, he wanted anything but that. Anything except that. Heck, he could hear Achilles choke on his saliva over Vy's shoulder as Robin and Arturia both tensed, a silent gasp echoing from Da Vinci as Vy opened her mouth again.

"It was by a friend I really loved, said to me when I was eleven and over an email when they had just moved away to be in another state." Another giggle covers up the start of Vy's fingers trembling under Chiron's grip, and he squeezes them with as much care as he can muster. "Weird, huh? I… I loved this friend. With all I had — introducing them to Daddy and Mommy, letting them befriend my big brother, and watching my favorite shows and writing stories with them. It should've been a good dream. It was another piece of family in all but name." Vy inhaled and exhaled deep breaths to try hiding the new hitch in her voice, but it still audibly cracked as she continued with a solemn, "It shouldn't have started spiraling with, w-with that."

When I was trying to do all I could. When I wanted to help.

"…You were a child, Vy," Chiron says the words carefully, gently because how else was he supposed to approach this? "That friend had no right to say such things to you, even if you loved them."

"You think so?" Vy lowered her head, gaze dropping down to her bandaged hands, and Chiron couldn't miss how a few droplets fell onto the gauze there and started wetting the pads of his own fingers. "Because it's hard to believe that when I was the 'smartest' kid in school and 'able' to take what they were saying in their eyes. Because I was 'the straight A student Vy,' who is supposed to know everything despite being a crybaby and a tattletale. The 'honors student' who got all the royalties, the 'teacher's pet' who got to study abroad for college before becoming a Master." The laugh that leaves her lips this time sounds more self-deprecating, more depressing as she shakes her head. "Because in their eyes, I was just a little girl who was clinging to useless fantasies and fairy tales and not seeing reality for what they saw. All my 'intellect' was just wasted to the point of not being deserving of life if I kept being that way." With another shake of her head, she sucked in a choked breath, working her jaw awkwardly. "And a lot of the time, even after the Singularities and Lostbelts, I still feel like that little girl, crying for Mommy and Daddy after she hurt them by nearly getting assaulted by her own older sibling right under their noses. Without either the sibling or the little girl knowing better."

Silence reigned in the face of that spiel, and Chiron forced himself to stay very still, pushing the horror and shock aside while taking the chance to glance past Vy's head. Da Vinci had tears welling up in her eyes as her hands covered her mouth, and all the Grailed Servants present had an expression of pure hatred and darkness covering their faces with each consecutive second, wiping it all away only when meeting Chiron's gaze. Achilles and Robin in particular looked murderous, their eyes all but spelling out "Help her" as Chiron took a breath he didn't need.

"Why wouldn't that friend call me a foolish little girl when I was, when I hurt the family who protected me?" More droplets fall onto their intertwined hands as Vy sniffles. Chiron doesn't stop her when she raises one hand to wipe at her face that was shaded somewhat by her hair. "I made my parents cry, Sensei. All because I went along with helping my brother figure out how… how genitals worked. I honestly can't… can't remember much after that. J-Just how much I was a failure as a daughter."

"Vy—"

"That friend was supposed to be that little girl's way of healing, Sensei," Vy says, raising her head to look at him with thick tears brimming at the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over the trails that already marked her cheeks. "They were the first friend she made in a year, and for all we know, they…" she choked, shutting her eyes enough for the tears to wet her eyelashes and make streaks against the lenses of her glasses. "They were still right."

About the person she would become, considering she's a killer now.

Achilles, Robin, and Arturia were already getting up from their seats, all the chair legs screeching against the tile floor of the medical bay thanks to their movements, but Chiron raised a hand in their direction to stop them. "…What makes you think that, Vy?" He voices the words delicately, probing as gently as he could when the emotional storm seemed to be in full control now. "Why say you're a failure? Why agree with that friend's words when it hurts you? I still remember how much Dr. Roman gushed about you—" A statement that has Da Vinci freezing in her chair as she was the only one still seated, but Chiron continued with a softer, "—How the staff here appreciate your work, both before and after the Incineration."

How much we Servants grew to love you, was unsaid, but acknowledged somewhat nonetheless as the Grailed slowly sat back down in their chairs.

"But I didn't do it on my own, Sensei. That ex-friend was still right in how I couldn't do anything alone anyways, like an incompetent piece of trash." The smile on Vy's face fades as soon as she tries making it, tears continuing to trail down her cheeks unabated even as Chiron raises one hand to wipe at them with his thumb. "I had you, Big Robin, Art-san, Achi, Da Vinci, Mash — everybody. I couldn't have done it without you all answering the call of a weak little girl, just pretending to be a confident woman. I-It was all thanks to you, not me." She shook her head, not quite leaning into his palm, but not quite rejecting his gesture of wiping her tears away either. "Not when I'm starting to forget where that little girl came from with all the Lostbelts we destroy, Sensei. N-Not when I'm starting to wonder if my previous life was a dream or not, in the face of all the Lostbelt denizens cursing my name like my thoughts already do on a daily basis."

As Vy trailed off into silence, Chiron's mind started churning forebodingly. Because why wouldn't it? The Chaldean Master in front of him was no Mage like the Yggdemillenia siblings he remembered from the Great Holy Grail War. Vy wasn't Fiore, stuck between real life and magecraft, nor was she entirely Caules either, forced to take on the responsibility for an entire line of mages. Ultimately, Vy was a mere human — someone who volunteered for Chaldea's call only to be thrown into something far beyond her wildest imagination. Her Magic Circuits were barely developed, not even used to daily quests, yet she kept forcing them beyond their limits for the sake of what appeared to be her own twisted version of redemption, scarring her hands, arms, and legs all at once while her mind endured for oh so long.

But for someone she loved — someone she reached out to for help, once upon a time — to honestly tell her she didn't deserve to live? How could someone do that? And to an eleven-year-old girl?

Not even his time in Greece with all the Olympian Gods could truly compare, because that was the Age of Gods, with its whimsical laws and the like.

Because now, even in the middle of the Bleached World Phenomenon, it was still the Age of Man, and it was becoming increasingly apparent one of its denizens had been dealt too heavy of a hand for far too long. With the enemies Chaldea was facing not helping in the slightest.

How dare you worsen the problem, you false deity of a Foreign God, Chiron let himself curse. How dare you start all this over again.

"I'm… I'm losing track of where that little girl starts and ends, Sensei," Vy finished with the beginnings of a sob, slowly letting go of Chiron's hand while bringing her knees up to her face, ducking her eyes into them to soak the hems of her scrubs after she shakily took off her glasses. "Especially when my brain keeps bringing back the darkness, when it's easier to blame myself for everything because I'm — I'm not a Magus. Because I've been a failure, I've been made into a nothing, and thinking otherwise is like — like spitting in the memories I still have. When it feels like I'm betraying them."

When all the Mages in the world keep claiming that I'm nothing just like how that friend did. When I still hurt my family like no tomorrow. When I might've led them to not having a tomorrow.

"That doesn't mean that you are a failure, nor that you are betraying the wishes of your family," Chiron says in a hoarse voice he's never heard from himself before, and he reaches over carefully, taking Vy into his extended arms. Past her shoulders, he gestures with his fingers, and the Grailed immediately stand up from their seats, coming closer as Vy shudders under Chiron's hold. It takes a few seconds more for Da Vinci to do the same as her fellow Servants. "Forgive me for being so bold, Master, but you have never been a failure in my eyes. I'm sure your parents have never seen you as such either."

Not when you saved the world before. Not when you let my student fall in love again, after everything we've both seen before.

"You're not a failure in our eyes either," Achilles puts in solemnly, reaching past Chiron's grip to tuck Vy into his chest from behind as his armor from Hephaestus disappeared to reveal the casual wear underneath. "Never in our eyes, Princess." He bumps the top of her head with his chin, but still leaves both arms open to give some space for Robin to slowly make his way in, Arturia following his example on the other side. All three take the care to hug Vy like Chiron has been doing, just in time for Achilles to murmur into Vy's hair, "Never have been, never will be."

"B-But…" Vy sniffled, not meeting anyone's gaze as she ducked her head deeper into her knees, curling up rather awkwardly thanks to all the limbs surrounding her. "But if I just let things go, it feels like I'm going to become spoiled. O-Overconfident. I-I can't—"

"Can't what, mia bella?" Da Vinci puts in next, gently taking Chiron's next line while sitting down on the last empty space left on the medbay cot as she inhales a deep breath, probably to keep down any excess emotion. "What do you mean?"

"I-I can't… I can't forget." Vy chokes around her next breath. Robin reaches past Achilles' arms to rest a hand against her forearm. "Because I-I don't know what else to do but remember. Remember — remind myself of all the bad things because I was still fortunate, still lucky to not end up in poverty or homelessness or, or—" her voice grew quieter by the second. "Or in a Lostbelt, doomed to die like everyone else we've seen since the original Chaldea's destruction."

I can't hold everyone back again like I did before.

"That doesn't mean shouldering it all alone, Princess," Arturia supplies this time, slowly taking one of Vy's hands in hers to squeeze as Chiron exhaled. "That's why we answered your call. Why we all accepted the contract to become your Servants in the end, Vy. We all need help, you as much as anyone else. And, pardon my language," Arturia grimaced while rubbing Vy's shoulder blade, "your former friend was not as kind or intelligent as they seem to think of themselves as because no one can truly be alone."

"And you shouldn't live like you have to, little sparrow," Robin finishes, picking up the lull of the conversation after giving Chiron a look over his fellow Servants' heads to grin wryly. Chiron doesn't need to see the faint glimmer of unspoken tears in that green eye to know Robin was thinking, Not like I had to. The green Archer still presses a kiss to what little exposed cheek Vy has past her knees, saying in a softer voice, "You shouldn't force yourself into becoming a perfect hero when those just don't exist. When it's unhealthy to be that way."

"Even Heracles fell back in the day," Chiron adds, unable to hide a smile in return once Vy stills in her place sitting between all the hands reaching out to her, "Not to mention Achilles, Jason, Theseus, Orion — all the Greek heroes had their own flaws that became their undoing. That doesn't make them failures — and your perceived mistakes shouldn't be defining you either, Master. Not when your style as a Master never let them get ahead of you before."

"Way to call me out, Sensei," Achilles deadpans, but he still leaned in to tighten his grip on the little Master, the other Grailed and Da Vinci reaching over to do the same. "But we all mean it, Vy."

"U-Uuu…" was mixed in with a choked up sob. "B-But I… I still don't know what to do."

It takes a moment for Chiron to realize Achilles is reaching past Vy to pull him into the hug too, and his smile widens as he reaches over to stroke Vy's hair. "And that's what we all are here for, Master. To help you figure out what to do. Decide for yourself what to define yourself as, to find other memories to satisfy the little girl that you still have within you. Because we are your Servants and we want to help you."

Vy sniffles, gesturing to her head and stomach once she slowly unfurled herself from her manmade ball. "…It… It's gonna be a lot of work, Sensei. H-Helping me, I mean. It's been more than a decade, after all. W-Working with, with this."

"That's what family does, doesn't it? Working with you because they love you." When Vy doesn't answer, Chiron pushes with a gentler, "We can start with that. Maybe, for the next time you come into the medical bay to see me, Master, you can write down two lists of things that you remember. As a homework assignment. One list can consist of the things that you love and enjoy in life, such as Achilles' fighting style and Robin's dry humor. Perhaps even Arturia's dislike for octopus." The statement encourages a gurgled cough of a laugh out of Vy as the named men roll their eyes at Chiron. Arturia is the only one who pointedly gives a chiding yet friendly cuff to the top of Chiron's head. The centaur ignores it. "The other list can include any ideas of what you can do. What you want to do, beyond the bad memories and thoughts."

Vy sniffles again, and Chiron slowly backs off to give her the space to lean back into the embrace of her beloved Grailed Servants, a shaky bandaged hand coming up to wipe at her face. With her glasses clenched tight into her fist, she slowly met his gaze with red-rimmed eyes. "It won't… it won't trouble you?"

Chiron shakes his head as easily as breathing aloud, relief flooding the room as the Grailed and Da Vinci gave him warm looks. "Not when it will help you, Vy. Because you're still here, alive with us. And when we're alive, we've made the impossible 'possible' before." Steadily staring into those wavering brown eyes, Chiron put on one last smile. "So can you try the lists, Vy? So that the next time we meet, we can all talk about it?"

"…Okay." There's a hint of teeth in the response as Vy shakily smiles, accepting the tissue Da Vinci pulls from the nearby nightstand with earnestness. "I-I'll try. I-I'll try…"

From the uncertain yet relieved smiles Arturia, Robin, and Achilles all give him from over Vy's head, it's better than nothing.

Chiron smiles back. "Aye," he echoes. "That's all I ask for, Master."

"A-Aye…" Vy finishes. "Aye…"

Note: For some author's notes —

(1) Arturia's dislike for octopus actually comes from Chapter 25 from Today's Menu for the Emiya Family, where she expresses distaste for it as an ingredient when Medusa Rider was preparing the chapter's recipe of hand-torn salad bowls. The manga showed her remembering the monsters Caster Gilles de Rais made in Fate/Zero as the reason, so I don't blame her.

(2) Chiron also mentions a lot of Babylonia here because I actually took him and Achilles with me when finishing the Singularity on my end. A concept I've had for a chapter but never got to write was him comforting Vy after the first Lahmu attack, because of how he saw the destruction firsthand. I might revisit that concept later on.

Otherwise, I'll see you all next time.