A GHOST IN A STRANGE LAND

CHAPTER 21

CHALDEA MEDICAL ROOM

Ritsuka Fujimaru ('Gudako' to her parents for…reasons. She loved them, sort of, but right now it hurt to think of them - and for more than the usual reasons) was bored.

This wasn't necessarily surprising. She still wasn't allowed to leave Medical, now two days after she had woken up in the sort of situation she'd always been warned about waking up in by her mother if she didn't get good grades and keep her nose clean.

Well, her mother had never ACTUALLY mentioned an exorcism being involved in that horror story, but the chains and bodily fluids, yeah, those absolutely got a starring role in one of her mother's lectures whenever her dander was up about her daughter not doing well enough in school, or not taking her magical studies seriously enough, or…..well, she couldn't accuse her of hanging out with the 'wrong crowd' since the second daughter of the Fujimaru family paled in comparison to her big sister, and suffered socially for it - even from the mundanes who weren't aware of the Moonlit World.

She felt FINE. Her legs might not have been the MOST steady, but she was making progress on that front - aided and abetted by what Roman was calling 'magical acupuncture' he'd picked up from somewhere that was helping stimulate the muscles in her legs to regrow and bulk up faster. While she tired quicker than she had before, well, that burning city (not that she'd ever been what you'd have called athletic - her fitness scores were purely average across the board), she could at least make it to the bathroom and back on her own now.

Even if Mashie had been an absolute sweetheart about helping her when she needed to use the facilities - or the head, as her father still called it. Once a navy man, always a navy man. But she was used to managing on her own, and having to ask her Kohai for help….she didn't MIND it, per se, but part of her rebelled at it.

Blame her parents, at least partially, for heaping all their attention on her big sister, the Heir, who could do no wrong, and only having sporadic time for the spare with no real outstanding magical talent, besides an off-the-charts Master affinity that she didn't even know about until the day after that Blood Drive, when Chaldea came a-knockin'.

In hindsight, her thinking that 'at least this will get me out of the house' was almost prophetic. She really, REALLY didn't comprehend just how FAR out of the house it would get her. In distance, or chronolly.

Anyways, long story short, she was kind of used to relying on herself. Which made this forced helplessness from spending two weeks lying in bed while something unholy tried to do a Gudajack on her all the more vexing.

Romani was being a worrywart. On some level, she could understand it - and honestly appreciated it. The poor guy had seen Chaldea, well…..decimated really didn't do it justice. If she'd offered to have him only lose one in ten of the members of Chaldea, she thought the man would HAPPILY take it, possibly even offering himself as one of the sacrifices, if it would save the lives of a great many of his co-workers. Point is, he'd lost a lot of people in a horrible few minutes. And he'd come damn close to losing her, their only Master (at the time, an ugly part of her mind whispered, before she grabbed her mental mallet and shoved that part of her back in the box), with only what she'd come to learn was a LITERAL, not figurative Deus Ex Machina showing up to save her.

And here she'd thought he was just a really, really dedicated cosplayer at the time. Then again, she was in enough pain that she hadn't realized a cosplayer, no matter how dedicated, wasn't about to be winning a fight with a Servant, even the remains of one - or whatever that Assassin had been.

Besides being an attempt at an unneeded reboot of 'Revenge of the Body Snatchers', starring her as the female lead/victim.

So he was being EXTRA careful with her. Tests, tests, and more tests, on top of daily physical therapy for the foreseeable future. She might have tried the Puppy Dog Eyes while insisting she was fine, but one look at the bags under the poor guy's eyes killed that idea dead.

So she put up with it, for his peace of mind. Really, the goofball doctor(b) she had met the first day seemed to have aged a decade in the two weeks she was napping. And she couldn't find it in her to add to his stress.

She hoped he wasn't still using her room as his secret slacking lair, though. It was her room now, and she had put up with a pushy, intrusive sister barging into her room enough already while growing up. She didn't want to stumble into her room one day and find him watching that virtual idol Mashie kept telling her he was obsessed with. She only prayed that if that day DID happen, he'd at least be wearing pants.

(Even if Magi*Mari did apparently stream Castlevania playthroughs. Respect.)

At least Mashie was visiting her regularly. Her friend Kohai was a welcome sight each day, both for staving off the boredom, and just for nice human contact.

The one girl who had been on duty when she'd started doing the reverse crab-walk and trying to kill the Doctor had apparently spread the story, and now she was getting the side-eye from the rest of the Medical staff - she could only imagine the looks she was going to get when she was released back into General Pop.

(Make life more difficult for her, why don't you? Already from somewhere the Clock Tower considered a podunk backwater, and barely a Mage at that, and she was the last girl standing from all the Master candidates. Yeah, she was going to be watching her back for the next few weeks. And mother had always said she'd never amount to enough to have to worry about people wanting to kill her to take her place. She'd be so…..proud?)

"I brought you some of the books that were packed away in your room, Senpai," said Mash, handing her a stack of paperbacks - mostly manga, but with a couple of actual books in the pile as well. She flipped through them. Tale of Genji, Chaldea handbook - how'd that get in there?, all of Hellsing, Prisoner of Azkaban, Lovecraft collection, wait, The Prince? That wasn't hers…..did she get someone else's luggage?, trashy romance novel, ok, also not hers, what was IN her room? Still reading it, though. - guess Mashie just grabbed a handful of things. Still, they'd keep her entertained well enough.

"Thanks Mashie. You're a lifesaver." She settled back into her pillow-throne - if she was going to be stuck here, she was going to be comfortable, and as the only patient in Medical right now, she was the Queen Patient of this place, and the Queen would have Her Throne. So she may or may not have raided the other beds for their pillows in a daring midnight operation. All Glory to House Fujimaru. "None of the rest of these guys are too eager to make conversation, and I can only listen to the machines beep so much before I start wanting to climb the walls. And NOT in a demonic WAY!" She yelled that last part, some part of her internally chuckling as Rebecca nearly jumped out of her skin.

Man, she was BORED.

Mash gave her a small smile. "I can…..understand that. When I was younger, I wasn't really able to leave my room for…reasons. I got pretty bored in there until Doctor Roman started sneaking me some books - and later he'd let me watch some movies."

"Yeah, nothing to help you pass the time like a good book," she agreed, with a grin. "What'd he start you on? Tell me it wasn't some dry medical textbook or something?" Though she did find the image of a tiny little chibi-Mash, brow furrowed and tongue between her teeth as she stumbled through some dense text on, I dunno, brain surgery to be too cute for words.

Mash brightened, no, she seemed like she was about to start glowing from within. "It was Sherlock Holmes."

"Oooo, classic, total classic." Fujimaru nodded her head. "Points to the Doctor for good taste." She gave the girl a sly smile. "Given by how much you perked up there, I assume those are your favorites?"

Mash eagerly nodded her head. "They really are. I must have read them dozens of times…..I've even seen some of the TV series, too….."

"Ever seen the movies with Downey Jr. as Sherlock?" asked Fujimaru, warming to the subject. "Or the BBC TV series? I think they were talking about doing more of it before….." She gestured at the direction she vaguely thought was 'outside'. "Everyone went 'poof'."

Mash shook her head, and Fujimaru frowned. "That's a shame. This is a Clock Tower facility, they might have some of the BBC one in the archives since….," She put on a bad accent. "Bri-ish solidarity and all that, chums. Pip pip cheerio, guv'nor."

Mash snorted out a laugh, and Fujimaru's chuckles soon followed.

It felt good to laugh. Kept her from thinking too much, and her mind had far too much time to just think in the day and a half since she woke up.

The door to Medical hissed open, which was a tad unusual - Roman was off discussing something with Da Vinci about her situation, he shouldn't be back yet. (She was holding out hope that Da Vinci would be able to talk Roman around and get her out of this place before she started keeping a Diary of Crazy and talking with her finger). No one else should be stopping by - it wasn't shift-change yet - yes, she had been bored enough to know when that was, if only because it gave her new people to try, and fail to talk to - so who?

Oh, it was the one-armed Servant.

Scowling, just like she had been when Fujimaru had woken up on the floor tied and filthy with Mashie and her clinging to her arms, but it seemed to be more her default facial state than any indication of malice or even a bad mood. And, upon seeing the two of them, her eyes widened, and she made a direct beeline for them. "Oi, Squeaks. So this is where you were. Been looking for you all morning."

Wait, hold on. "Squeaks?" asked Fujimaru.

"Yeah, cause she squeaks when she gets flustered, or when you poke her in the side," said the Servant. "Noticed that when the Pink Terror from the Singularity was trying to convince her to come along to the Slumber Party of Doom(™). Words weren't working, so she tried other means - which for her meant jabbing you in the side with those talons of hers."

"Avenger!" Awww, Mashie was blushing. She needed to hear this story in full, it seemed. Also, 'Avenger?'. What kind of name is that? But more importantly…..

"She does? I need to try this out!" Before Mash could process the words she was hearing, Fujimaru had extended a finger and poked Mash in the side.

She DID squeak, and it WAS adorable. Thanks, Avenger!

"See!" said Avenger. "So she gets to be Squeaks."

"Yeah, but…Mashie, what happened?" She poked her in the side again (garnering another squeak, which was every bit as cute as the first one). "That doesn't feel like that smooth tummy I saw poking out of your armor in Fuyuki, it feels like there's some muscle there now. What have you been doing while I've been in Dreamland?"

Mash wrapped her arms around her middle, attempting to protect herself from more pokes, and sending a glare that wouldn't have intimidated a mouse at the two of them. "I've been training in the evenings with Mr. Kratos and Cu Chulainn. I hadn't noticed but…..maybe it's having some effects on me physically….."

Ritsuka had played enough tactical RPGs to know that sometimes, if one front of a war is cut off, you start a second one. So she took hold of the sleeve of Mash's coat and rolled it up. "I'll say. Look at that, would you! You're not about to start selling tickets to the Gun Show anytime soon, but there's some actual definition on those arms now."

"Seeeeenpai!"

The silver-haired Servant flopped into a chair and huffed out a laugh. "And from what I hear, she's only been at it a week or so - the big guy must have one hell of a training regime to have her showing results that fast."

"Senpai….I WILL stop visiting you if you keep this up." Mash was trying very, very hard to look like she meant that threat. No one believed her.

Ritsuka shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "That's fine. I've got my new best friend here to keep me entertained." She extended her hand to the Servant. "Ritsuka Fujimaru, recent coma patient."

The Servant grasped her wrist and gave it a good firm shake. "SchwartzJeanne, Avenger-Class Servant."

Ritsuka blinked. Not at the Class type she hadn't heard Olga mention when the Director was berating her back in Fuyuki, but, because of that name.

Apparently it had about the same effect on Mash. "Schwartz….." She sighed. "Is that the name you've chosen for yourself, Avenger?"

"Trying it out." She shrugged, letting go of Fujimaru's wrist. "It was between that and Jager d'Arc - if I don't like this one, I'll see how that one feels."

Mash blinked. "But…..aren't you French?"

"Yeah, but German just sounds so much better." Avenger (because she couldn't use that ridiculous name and not burst out into giggles) grinned. "You can be saying the most mundane shit in it and you sound like you're spitting pure fire. It's damn cool."

Oh no. Oh dear me. It was a real, live, feral chunnibyou in the wild. They DID exist - and apparently had existed for awhile, since, well, Servant from the dusty past of human history.

"Plus, it helps set me apart from 'me', so there's less confusion if we should ever run into her again - besides the fact that I look like I lost all my color in the wash, and well, this…" She waggled her stump with an audacity that Fujimaru couldn't help but respect just a tad. "Though if that nutcase of a Servant is as good as her word, nobody will mistake me for my good twin once I get that baby bolted on to Stumpers here."

"Wait…you named what was left of your left arm?" Is this Servant possibly the mold from which all future chunnibyou were cast? Is that how she ascended to the Throne, by being the first?

"Yeah, I mean, why the hell not?" She shook her head. "Getting distracted, I came here for a reason. Squeaks! You not doing your English lessons anymore?"

"Oh, no, I am, but not until Senpai gets out of here." She glanced at Fujimaru. "Everyone felt it would be best if I kept her company while she's stuck here, so Mr. Kratos is with Da Vinci - she's supposedly doing something with his shield. More than just repairing it, I mean."

"But you are going to keep doing them?"

Mash nodded. "Yes. Mr. Kratos…he's learning, but he's not very good at it yet. So once Senpai is out of here I'll start teaching him again - I think we'll all get back to a more regular schedule at that time."

"Fantastic," Avenger sat up straighter, and stared Mash right in the eye. "Can I join?"

Mash blinked. "You…..want to join…."

"Can't read, remember?" Avenger rolled her eyes, then leaned forward and snatched up one of the volumes of Hellsing that were lying on Fujimaru's lap, and flipped through it. "I can look at the pictures in these 'comic' things, but that still doesn't do me any real good - and I'm even more shit out of luck in real books." She tossed the manga back to Fujimaru. "Badass pose with those bayonets, though. But there's something I want to do, and I need to be able to read to do it, and you're already teaching the big guy, so…."

Now she was curious. "And what might that be?"

"IwannareadtheBible."

Mash blinked, then glanced over to Fujimaru to see if she understood that any better than she had. No luck. "Come again?"

Avenger held herself stiff for a few seconds, before flopping back into her chair, her bangs falling forward to hide her eyes. "I…..want to read the Bible."

"You…." Mash struggled for words. "You want to read…does this have something to do with…."

"NO!" Avenger deflated. "Maybe." She deflated further. "I don't know. I'll probably need thick gloves to even touch the thing without getting burned, but….there's too damn many coincidences piling up around me. If That Guy is screwing with my life for shits and giggles, then I need to know my enemy so I can be prepared."

"Wait…when you say 'That Guy', you can't possibly mean…" began Fujimaru.

"Yes, HIM." Avenger drew her knees up to her chest, her remaining hand fisting in her hair. "I have no idea why He would bother with someone like me, but…..a million to one chance saving my life in Orleans, then me showing up here when I should have vanished into so much dust after Kratos and Squeaks here fucked back off to their time…..I ain't stupid, y'know." She grumbled something unintelligible. "Even if I don't fucking like it."

Mash gave the distressed Servant a small smile. "I'll talk with Mr. Kratos, but I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to join us. Honestly, I think it's a good thing you want to learn to read."

"Certainly would make getting around this place a shit-ton easier. Having to do it by memory sucks ass." Avenger's arm flopped to her side. "Thanks, anyways." She pointed at the manga still in Fujimaru's hands. "Once I can, you're loaning me that one, Red. Looks badass."

"If you like it, there's plenty more. I brought some of my favorites from home - since I didn't know what I was getting myself into here, or how long I'd be gone." She smirked. "Mama needs her stories."

CHALDEA SIMULATOR

It was much later in the day, and Ritsuka Fujimaru was FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Ok, so she had been told, strictly, with dual parenting glares from Roman AND Da Vinci that she was to be very, VERY careful with how much moving around she did - she'd even been issued some Da Vinci Brand Extendable Crutches to keep on her person and to use in case her legs started to hurt or gave out on her. But she wasn't confined to Medical anymore, and could actually make her way around the base - and sleep in her own room tonight.

This day just kept getting better.

Sadly, her freedom hadn't come until AFTER dinner - they were probably trying to keep her from going wild with the easing of the restrictions she found herself with - because she was totally exploring the base tomorrow when she could. But tonight, and for the foreseeable future, she had a curfew since her body still needed rest and recovery, so she couldn't explore to her heart's content this evening. Clearly, they expected her to just head to her room and crash for the day.

More fools they, since they didn't know she had a new buddy, who had informed her Mash was, right this moment, being put through her paces by a couple of deities. She wasn't missing that for the world.

So, here she was, sitting on a nice blanket, with Avenger sitting by her side, the Servant idly flipping through her manga again (she'd brought them with her from Medical, since she needed to take it back to her room and was EVENTUALLY heading there, and, well, she'd seemed a bit interested in it, so she offered another look, and the woman had gladly accepted) and watching the spectacle before them.

Because it seemed like Mash's training was something of a spectator sport. Or, more correctly, what her teachers did while Mash WAS training.

Kratos' axe whistled through the air, but Cu danced out of its way, slapping it down with the staff he held in one hand, while jabbing at Kratos with the spear he held in the other. Kratos merely ducked under the point, letting it slide by his head, and bulled forward, attempting a shoulder-check that Cu only avoided by pushing down with his staff and using it to vault over Kratos' head.

Brilliant agility, if only Kratos didn't spin about and slap Cu from the air with the flat of his axe. She might have gasped at the brutality of it - if he had used the edge….

"Yeah, it's really damn unfair how FAST that big hulk is, isn't it?" commented Avenger. "You'd think he'd be be all slow and deliberate - and he kind of is, both in and out of combat, and then suddenly he pulls something like that and you're too busy picking your jaw up off the damn floor from seeing that wall of muscles move like greased lightning."

Cu spun and somehow landed on his feet, touching the ground for barely a second before he was flying through the air, spear screaming straight at Kratos' chest. Kratos twisted out of the way, though not quite fast enough, as the spear scraped a line of red on his chest.

"Mind, that Caster's a ton faster than a Caster should be," Avenger chewed on her lower lip. "Or at least the Caster I knew. Gilles wasn't going to be winning any marathons anytime soon, that's for damn sure. You hear 'Caster' and you think of some weedy little nerd in their robes and wizard hat, way back in the backlines throwing fireballs around, not some crazed Irishman who'd be happier solving his problems with his damn fists instead of any damn spells."

She wasn't wrong on that score. Fujimaru had seen serial killers in shows and manga with smiles less crazy than the one Cu was sporting right now. His weird red eyes were wide, and those extra pointy canine teeth of his were on FULL display. Guess you don't get a name like 'The Hound of Chulainn' and not have it reflect on you in some way once you become a Servant.

Unless he always looked like that, in which case him getting that nickname was just an inevitability.

Not that the teeth or eyes took anything away from Cu in her opinion - he was much more to her taste than Kratos was. Pretty enough, but with a hint of danger - much better than the Greek statue look Kratos was sporting. Not that she couldn't enjoy the show where Kratos was concerned, but she had her preferences.

Cu cackled as he landed and spun, spear leading, staff following, pressing Kratos, the Spartan taking slow, measured steps back in the face of Cu's fury.

"He's REALLY missing that shield of his, huh?" The manga was abandoned in Avenger's lap, as she was raptly watching the two men duel. "Guess the local mad scientist hasn't finished fixing it yet."

"Was it as impressive a piece of work as that axe of his?" Asked Fujimaru, with a glance at the Servant. "Or that spear he lent to Cu? Cause I might not be much of a Mage, but I can feel the power in those two things."

Avenger shook her head. "Nope. Seemed like it was just a really good shield. Don't even know if it'd qualify for whatever term you Mages would use for his weapons." She shrugged. "Fact that it broke and his other three toys didn't in that Singularity is another mark against it."

"Wait, three?" She glanced at the giant man's back, really looking this time, and not tracing the lines of those muscles (well, not JUST. She was a healthy girl, alright!). "Hey, you're right, he's got a harness there without anything in it."

Avenger chuckled. "Yeah, he's got a pair of short blades with chains tied to them. You think that axe or that spear he loaned out are nasty pieces of work, just wait until you get a load of those fire-blades of his. They'll knock your damn socks off, and that's before you see the tricks he can pull with them."

"My, Avenger. You being almost civil to another person? Is there some hope for you yet?"

A new voice. A kind of deep, husky voice. Fujimaru twisted her head to look behind her.

Tall. Not like, basketball player tall, but still decently tall for a girl. And obviously a Servant, the purple hair, the odd outfit (though the dress wasn't that outlandish, but that blindfold, yeah), and the bright red sigil on the forehead - yeah, Servant, even if she couldn't tell with Master eyeballs. "So…..just how MANY Servants did we pick up while I was having a bit of shut eye?"

"The stupid snake is the only one you haven't met so far," said Avenger, unphased in the face of the glare (at least Fujimaru thought the purple-haired Servant was glaring at Avenger - she could only guess since, well, she couldn't see her eyes). "The Blue Maniac over there tagged along after whatever the first Singularity was, and I think Kratos picked her up right before he came knocking to what had been my Singularity. And then I somehow ended up here…" She glared right back at the other Servant. "And I TOLD you, my name is SchwartzJeanne."

"And I told you that I wasn't about to use that ridiculous name, Avenger." The woman huffed a small laugh at the other Servant's ire, placidly unconcerned with it in the slightest. She peered down at Fujimaru, who suddenly found herself with the vague sensation of being prey, with a predator looming over them.

Then it was gone, and the Servant nodded at her. "You must be the other Master they spoke of. My summoning came too close to the operation in the French Singularity, so this would be the first time I've laid eyes upon you." She extended a hand. "Servant Rider, True Name Medusa."

Well, that explained the use of 'snake' as a pejorative from her new buddy. But THAT was Medusa? She was expecting something a lot more…..well, snakey and less absolute bombshell.

Aaaaaand from the furrowing of the woman's brow, she just said all that out loud, didn't she? Hellfire.

"Sorry! My mouth runs away with me at times." She took the woman's hand and shook it. "Ritsuka Fujimaru, completely demon-free according to Doctor Roman." She felt her face flushing, and lowered her head, hiding behind her hair. "Sorry about…all that. Mom always said my brain to mouth filter needed some work." Among other things her mother complained about regarding her second daughter.

Medusa stared at her for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. "No harm done. Truly, it is hardly the worst thing that's been said about me upon a first meeting." She turned away from Fujimaru, and settled in to watch the continuing brawl, where Cu had apparently decided two weapons weren't enough, and was now using both legs in his offense. He was raining down blows on Kratos, who was still managing to stay just ahead of the barrage.

After a moment. "How is Mash?" Medusa wasn't watching the two specimens of testosterone duke it out anymore, but had cast her veiled eyes over to where Fujimaru's Kohai was running through yet another series of drills.

"Squeaks is…," Avenger sighed. "I dunno. She seems to be acting alright, but I don't know her all that well. I wasn't the easiest person to get along with back in the Singularity, so she didn't hang out with me much."

While one couldn't see her eyes, you could HEAR the eye-roll in Medusa's response. "You're hardly the easiest person to get along with NOW."

"Hey!" Fujimaru might not have known, well, anything that went down in the Singularity that had just been resolved, but she wasn't about to not stick up for her buddy. "Avenger's been perfectly fine company so far! And what's wrong with Mashie?"

Avenger and Medusa shared a look. "Something happened with her in the last Singularity. She got bulldozed by the Berserker who was working for me before everyone stabbed me in the back…..separated from the group and dragged off into some other part of the castle. I went to help, but I had to deal with Charlie first, and….."

Medusa picked up the story from here. "I went after her. Jeanne still needed to show Kratos where the throne room was, since that was the only place in the Singularity where we could connect with a Leyline and bring Cu Chulainn in, so I was the only remaining choice. We fought the Servant together, but then, I had to return so as to not blow out the generators when we summoned Caster to the Singularity."

"This Berserker was bad news, then?" A pair of nods. "And that means my cute little Kohai was all by her lonesome against that bad news?" Another, slower pair of nods.

Avenger frowned. "In my defense, at the time, I had an entire church lying on top of me, and a chunk ripped out of my side, so I wouldn't have been much help even if I could have gotten there. I had to lean on 'me's' shoulder just to get to where the big battle with Baldur was going down."

"Kratos got to Mash before anything terrible happened…..but neither of us really knows what took place when they fought the Berserker." Medusa leaned against a tree, her arms crossed. "They managed to kill him, I know that much from watching the fight with Baldur - he raged at Kratos, Mash, and the Berserker himself for not managing to kill Mash. But…"

"Y'see that sword she's got on her hip?" Fujimaru looked where Avenger was pointing, and blinked, taking another look to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "Yeah, that's new. As in, she got it sometime in between me losing sight of her, and me limping down the stairs in time to see the three of them put Baldur down. And when I asked her about it, she acted like I'd just drop-kicked that little white furball of hers across the room."

Avenger drew her knees up to her chest. "I apologized, and everything, but whatever's eating at her, I just picked at the scab of it without knowing I was doing so. And now I've got to try not to fuck up and upset her when she starts teaching me how to read tomorrow."

She'd almost expected Medusa to make another snide remark at Avenger, but it never came. The tall woman was just watching Mash, a frown on her face. "Mash is….she's pushing herself to get stronger, to get better, but she's not really…..suited for fighting. Even her weapon - or at least her first weapon is more defensive than offensive."

"Yeah," whispered Fujimaru, remembering the kind, sweet girl who had woken her up after she'd conked out from exhaustion during the scan she'd had to sit through to even get into the base. And how terrified that girl had been, both in that destroyed room where she'd found her, after the explosion - and in that burning city, where she'd been so, so scared, but still fought her hardest, smashing those skeletons, and keeping her and the Director safe.

Until that blackened Servant had showed up.

Fujimaru shivered. NOT thinking about that THING, no siree. She wanted a sleep free of nightmares tonight.

"Guess all I can do is wait for her to open up about it." said Fujimaru. "She seems….ok to me, so if it's bothering her, it's not affecting her too much. Maybe she just needs some time to work through it."

A round of shrugs was what she got from that, no one apparently having any better ideas. In front of them, the spar slowed to a halt - neither side having gained a distinct advantage. With a nod and a grunt to his opponent, Kratos lumbered over to check on Mash.

Cu stretched, popping his neck, and then sauntered over to the blanket, grinning playfully. "Enjoy the show, ladies?"

"Two sweaty men going at each other hammer and tongs?" Fujimaru grinned right back at him. "You better believe it!"

Cu cackled. "Oh, I'm going to like you, I can tell." He flopped down onto the blanket, cross legged. "But I assume you were here to check on our student - and not for the bloodsport like the rest of these lot?" He waved his arm around, indicating the various staff who had also been watching the spar.

Fujimaru blinked. Was….someone collecting bets? Did we have an actual bookie taking wagers on these fights? Oh Lord.

Cu noticed where she was looking, and laughed. "Yeah, didn't take them long to start betting on our friendly little scraps. Don't like that I'm the underdog in the betting pool but…." He shrugged. "A lousy Caster vs an actual god - my record speaks for itself."

He grinned, and lowered his voice. "Shame they didn't know tonight wasn't about wins or losses, but just the love of combat. Kratos would have won it when he slapped me to the ground with his axe if we were playing by the usual rules. And it's a REAL shame that that little Templeman lass just so happened to place a big wager on 'draw' for me."

Avenger snickered. "You sneaky bastard. You're going to drink your winnings, aren't you?"

"It's the BEST way to enjoy them, after all!" He flopped back onto the blanket, obviously pleased with himself.

After a few minutes, Mash staggered over to them. Fujimaru blinked as she took in her Kohai - Mash was literally dripping with sweat, her legs were wobbly, her hair was….it looked like it would aspire to be merely called a mess, instead of whatever it was right now - but for all that she looked like she was about to keel over, there was a glow to her, the kind that came with accomplishment, and she was smiling - tiredly, but proud of herself.

(When was the last time she'd looked like that, Fujimaru wondered to herself. How long had it been since she'd really pushed herself towards a goal - any goal…instead of just not bothering, because she'd never live up to the standard set by her perfect big sister - doubly so if her big sister found out and decided to show her up.)

Wordlessly, she handed a water bottle to Mash, who quickly guzzled it down, taking massive gulps of the water. By the time she had lowered the now empty bottle, Fujimaru was already handing her a second one.

"Sheesh, Mashie. Do you do this every day?" Her Kohai nodded while draining the second water bottle. "No wonder you're starting to pack on the muscle. Maybe we'll get you a funnel so you can just shotgun the water after your workouts."

Mash finished off the second bottle of water, and heaved a deep breath. "No, I…..shotgun? Senpai, I'm not sure I want to know what you mean."

Fujimaru shook her head. "No, as your Senpai in being human, I may have to insist." Mash wobbled on her feet, and Fujimaru took pity on her. "But maybe tomorrow. You look like you need your bed, stat."

CHALDEA CAFETERIA

THE NEXT MORNING

The second best thing about being out of Medical to Risuka Fujimaru was the end of the hospital food. Miso soup and wonderful, wonderful white rice, how she'd MISSED you! She dug in with glee, savoring the tastes dancing across her tongue.

Next to her, the small blonde woman who had been introduced to her as 'Tanya' was talking. "Look, all I'm saying is, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and pulls mysterious coincidences to save your life like a duck, then it's probably some Mysterious Extradimensional Power with an unhealthy interest in your life." Avenger grimaced. "I mean, is it really that hard to believe, Avenger, that some Being might see you as a useful enough chess piece to keep you on the board?" Tanya pointed at Kratos. "You're sitting next to an extradimensional, incarnated deity right now who's keeping his bacon from being stolen by a white ball of fluff - why is it so hard to believe that some other deity, somewhere, might also have their own designs on this mess we've found ourselves in, for their own inscrutable reasons?"

"You think I WANT that? That maybe God Almighty himself is keeping his eye or worse, BOTH of them, on me?" The Servant shivered. "Bad enough I have this lug making sure I keep my nose clean, at least I can tell what he's thinking. But God, watching out for me?" She groaned at the thought.

"I mean, it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be God. It's well established by the Clock Tower that just about all of the deities worshiped by Humanity existed at one point or another." Tanya shrugged. "Even if most of them have retreated to the Other Side of the World - or died wholesale, in the case of the Norse deities. So it could be, say, Zeus, or some fragment of Odin, or Amaterasu, or Kali who decided to give you a helping hand. In the end, isn't one unknowable insanely powerful creature really all that different from another one, no matter what name they go by?"

"You're not HELPING!" groaned Avenger, her head sinking down to rest on the table.

"And that's not even considering the other powers that could be interfering. Alaya, Dead Ancestors, hell, maybe we're not the only collection of Mages who managed to shelter themselves from what happened to the rest of Humanity, and they're trying to throw us whatever help they can." Tanya shrugged. "There's plenty of possibilities for what could explain those strange coincidences besides a god, or gods that have gotten themselves involved with your life, Avenger."

"I do not believe the Greek gods would aid humanity in such a manner." Fujimaru's ears perked up. Kratos talking - she hadn't heard much out of him so far that wasn't instructing Mash on training drills.

She plucked up her courage, and found her voice. "Speaking from experience?"

He turned to look at her, and GOOD GRIEF he could put a glare on you - for all that he wasn't really glaring at her. But him just looking at you came with a pressure like a ton of bricks. Maybe Mash wasn't exhausted in the evening JUST from the workout - having those eyes on her while she was training must have been like getting your reps in in higher gravity. Still, she'd been glared at all her life, by her mom, her dad, and her stupid big sister, so a living god…..well, wasn't NOTHING, but she wasn't about to shrink from that.

So she hammered some steel into her spine, and met his eyes like he was just another guy, and not the God of Swole he was.

After a moment, his face, well, it didn't soften, but the pressure she felt relaxed just a bit, and he spoke. "The Greek gods of my land were…..cruel, and had little regard for the mortals that lived there. The ones of this world seem less cruel…..but seem equally fickle in their attentions." He turned to Avenger. "If you truly think a god has taken a hand in your being here…..the Abrahamic God is a better option than some, if he truly is as Jeanne described him." He grunted. "Though I would prefer it if no gods saw fit to meddle in our affairs."

"Amen to that, Kratos," said Tanya, raising a fist to the man. He stared at it for a second, not comprehending the meaning behind it. "Fist to fist, knuckles to knuckles, Kratos. It's a gesture of respect among comrades." Almost gingerly, Kratos rapped his knuckles to hers. "There you go, just like that."

"Fou fou?" The animal raised one of its paws up to Mash, who, smiling, tapped the paw with her fist.

Fujimaru grinned. ADORABLE, both of them. Mash turned to her. "What are you doing today, Senpai? Do you have more physical therapy?"

Fujimaru felt her grin wither just a little at those words. "Yeah, after this it's right back to the gulag for the rest of the day. Physical therapy until after lunch, then I get to lie still until dinner while Roman pokes me with needles." And then some meeting they wanted her for after that. So much for her plans to explore today.

"Then I guess I'll see you at dinner, Senpai." Oh Mash, you don't know how good it feels to know someone's looking forward to seeing me again. That smile's going to get me through the next few hours.

Avenger perked up, almost as if she had remembered something. "That reminds me. Squeaks, do I need to bring anything to reading lessons? Paper, pencil, pens, any of that shit?"

Mash shook her head. "No, I make sure to have that on hand." She frowned. "The base doesn't really have any good books for teaching someone how to read from scratch, so I had Da Vinci print out a couple of primers for me." She bowed her head. "Please forgive me if I make some mistakes - Mr. Kratos already knows how to read, so…you're going to be a different challenge for me."

Avenger raised her fist and (gently) bonked Mash on the head - garnering a squeak from the girl. "You'll be fine. What's the big lug here keep telling you - " Her voice dropped several octaves. " 'Don't be sorry, be better.' " She shrugged, her voice returning to normal. "I'll probably fuck up more than you do on this thing, so don't stress yourself over it. Not like you're getting an easy student here."

"I mean….it IS good advice." Suddenly she was the focus of every pair of eyes at the table. Eep. "Someone can say they're sorry all day long, but if they never change any of what they're doing, all they're doing is just asking you to forgive them for being a continual screw-up. Actions speak louder than words and all that jazz. I'd rather have someone who screws up but tries to get better watching my back than someone who just makes noises about how sorry they are all the time, but that you know is going to let you down when things get dicey, because they've never tried to fix any of the things that made them screw up in the first place."

(No, she most certainly wasn't talking about herself. She didn't just…..STOP trying one day when she saw she could never compete with her sister. And if she did, that wasn't a trait she had brought with her to…..wherever this base was situated, nope, not at all.)

Her speech got a grunt from the deity sitting next to her. "And even those who continually make the same mistakes are not completely lost…..one that I knew was convinced he could be nothing but a monster…..a destroyer. That that was the only path he could walk. I…..managed to show him there was another way, that he could be better…..for his child." A deep sigh - there was a story behind that sigh, or she was a kappa. "I wonder what he would have become had his father then not slain him for daring to try to be something other than his tool."

And that killed the conversation deader than disco. Avenger groaned. "Man, you're BAD at this telling stories thing."

"I don't know," chimed in Mash. "The one about his son and Garm was fine. It was before we met you, Avenger, so you wouldn't have heard it. But there was nothing wrong with it, or how he told it."

"I'll take your word for it." The Servant pushed herself up from the table. "Going to go bounce ideas off the resident nutbar about my new arm, guess I'll see you there, Kratos, since she's still working on your shield too."

Tanya watched Avenger go, then turned back to the table. "Kratos…..how worried should we be about this new arm? Da Vinci is….." Her hands waved in the air in some indistinct pattern. "Well, you know what she's like. And that new Servant is also…..eccentric. Should I be fortifying my room and stockpiling provisions?"

CHALDEA DIRECTOR'S OFFICE

(TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED BY ROMANI ARCHAMAN)

LATER THAT EVENING

"Yeah, not happening."

And with those words from Avenger, Ritsuka Fujimaru felt her heart fall into her gut, as events began to take on a familiar pattern.

Avenger turned to Fujimaru, who was biting her tongue to keep from letting what she was feeling leak out and crack the mask her face had become. "I'm sure you're a perfectly fine Master, Red, but you ain't who I'm interested in following. You're not the one who's been telling me all this smoke about 'revenge is bad' and 'I've seen the path you're walking' and 'you're not going to be happy if you keep this shit up' - and all the rest of the lectures I've gotten since I signed on with you bunch. No, I want to see if this guy's actually living what he preaches, and isn't just full of shit."

Kratos' face was thunderous, his voice a low growl. "Avenger….."

She wasn't the least bit fazed in the face of his displeasure. "Hey, I get a say in this shit too! If you really want to be rid of me, I'll go with Red. But if I get a vote here - and I damn well better - then I'm staying RIGHT where I already planted my flag. You want my ass to 'be better', then I want a front-row seat to see how you do it."

She crossed her arm across her chest and stubbornly met Kratos' glare with one of her own. Fujimaru almost thought she could see the metaphorical sparks where their eyes were meeting.

"While I am shocked to find I would agree with Avenger about anything…I too would prefer to remain with Kratos - on a permanent basis." Medusa folded her hands in front of her. "I believe I have seen enough over the course of the French Singularity to make my decision, and my decision is to remain at Chaldea - but as one of Kratos' Servants."

It was like she'd been punched in the stomach again, only this time, she'd known it was coming, but at least had been able to brace herself for it.

"I mean no slight," she said, clearly addressing Fujimaru. "But I have no wish to be passed around like some sort of….object, or commodity. I was treated as a disposable thing by Poseidon…..and was told that Chaldea….and the god that was standing before me was different." She tilted her head, as she regarded Kratos. "Unless the words I heard on the Throne were not true?"

Well, that took the wind out of his growing annoyance quickly, while ripping another hole in the stern of her boat. "No. I meant the words I said." He sighed. "If you truly feel so strongly about this…I cannot change your mind? You know my feelings on the power I hold over you."

And wasn't that one of the wildest things she'd heard, when Romani had told her they'd see about getting Kratos' Servant Contracts transferred to her that evening. A god, a literal god who had issues having power over Servants - things most Mages saw as little better than familiars, and he was angsting over having power over them.

It really made her less atypical than she thought, what with her belief that Servants should be treated as people. She'd been walked over all her life, and wasn't about to do that to someone else, whether they were a vat-grown homunculus or a Ghost Liner, but you'd figure a god would have come with a bit more inherent arrogance.

Medusa shook her head, firmly. "No. It is…against my nature to ask for something like this, and to be so stubborn about it, but on this, no. I will not be moved in my decision."

Internally, Romani groaned - this was not going how he thought it would be going. And his budding headache intensified as Cu Chulainn raised his hand, his face uncharacteristically serious.

"If you want my two cents, I'd prefer to stay where I am, too." This third shot to her body barely even registered. She was either growing numb, or had really expected this one - and after watching the two of them fight, how could she have not?

Cu continued. "Girl's probably going to be a fine Master someday, but, well, I'm a damn Celt. I've fought with Kratos, shed blood with him, swapped war stories - done everything but get blind stinking drunk with him." The corners of Cu's face turned up in the start of a grin. "And if we ever get close to my homeland, all bets are off." He laughed, then turned serious again. "Hounds are loyal creatures. Don't ask me to swear myself to a different Master after I've already done so once, and my original Master is still drawing breath. Reminds me too much of what that bastard Kirei did to me - I didn't get a choice there, and look how that turned out."

Romani groaned, this time aloud, and massaged his temples. "Mash….do you agree with them?" Please, he begged, please don't let our only remaining Master not have a single Servant to her name.

"No. I was Senpai's Servant first…," she smiled at Kratos. "I appreciate everything you've done for me, Mr. Kratos, but…..I want to be her Servant again."

Fujimaru felt some of the snakes in her stomach settle. So she wasn't going to be completely abandoned.

"I still want to keep training with you, though!" The words tumbled from Mash's lips in a rush. "I'm….I'm learning so much. I want to be able to protect Senpai to the best of my ability…"

Kratos held up a hand. "Were you to stop now, I would be greatly disappointed in you." He held out a hand to Mash, which she took. "I release you, Mash Kyrielight…..though I will expect you in the Simulator after this."

There was a flash of light, and a sound that half sounded like breaking glass, half like some sort of weird, shrieking horn…..and then Mash was holding out her hand to her, and, just like that, she had her first Servant back.

QUARTERS OF RITSUKA FUJIMARU

THE DEAD OF NIGHT

Ritsuka Fujimaru was trying, and failing to sleep.

Who had she been kidding? She thought, for a second, that if she got away from home, things would be different. Make a fresh start, go somewhere new - maybe make something of herself.

Only to have her life repeat its inevitable pattern.

Oh, she'd heard the whispers in the hall. Not from everyone - but from enough of the surviving Mages.

'Why do we need her? We have a god on our side, after all.'

'She's not even of any family worth the name - and she failed miserably on her first sortie, too. Why even waste the time on her - effort could be better spent elsewhere.'

'He's already handled two Singularities so far. What can someone like her even offer? Mages from that part of the world are primitives to begin with, and she's not even the Heir.'

And other mutterings of that ilk - it wasn't a lot of voices, but they didn't even bother to hide the whispering from her. It was one reason she sat where she did at breakfast - Mashie and Avenger being there meant she'd have sat there regardless, but a table consisting of two Servants, a god, whatever Fou was, and Tanya (she'd been worried when the woman had introduced herself as a fellow Mage, but those worries had died as soon as she had called Fujimaru 'someone lucky enough to have avoided the stupid Clock Tower so far') had been the safest, and most welcoming place for her to sit.

So she'd ignored the jealous - and borderline hostile stares (the latter had at least stopped cold the second she'd sat down next to Kratos - guess they didn't want to risk any splash damage there) for most of the rest of the day. When Roman had told her she was going to be getting Kratos' Servant Contracts, she'd been elated - not just Mashie, but the rest of them as well?

She'd sworn to herself she'd be the best damn Master they could ask for.

Only to hear the same refrain she'd heard all her stupid life - 'not good enough, there's someone better'.

That all three of them had done their level best to state that it wasn't anything with her, but that all three of them had personal reasons for their decision had gone in one ear and out the other. After a decade plus of constantly being overshadowed by her perfect older sister - and not even being ALLOWED to carve out her own space (the few times she had tried to branch out into some new area, Big Sister Susumu just HAD to barge her way into it and show her up), all she'd heard was 'not good enough', and a bunch of static after.

End of the damn world - both literally and figuratively - and who knows how far back in time, and life kept offering her the same role. The runt of the litter, overshadowed by someone better.

She hadn't cried, ok. She'd wanted to, but she hadn't. Though, if Mashie had wanted to stay away from her too…..

It'd be all too easy for her to fall back into her old patterns and just…give up. Put in the minimum effort, coast by, and just stop caring. Wear a mask, pretend everything was ok, and fake it. She'd faked being ok with her life up until this point, why stop now?

The obvious answer why to NOT do this was that it was the actual END OF THE FREAKING WORLD. Humanity was so much ash, and if the responsibility for fixing that didn't rest SOLELY on her shoulders, she at least was carrying some of that burden. There was no place for her neurosis and hang-ups and issues, not here, not now.

And…..'Do not be sorry, be better'. Stupid god and his stupid words making too much sense.

She'd run away from home to get away from her sister, her parents, her sister, her life, her sister, Japanese Mage society, her sister, and to try to MAKE something of herself, to break herself from the patterns she'd been stuck in back in Tokyo. If she fell back into those patterns here, didn't do SOMETHING to change her situation well…

There really wasn't anywhere else for her to run to. She'd already run to the ends of the world, and then someone had wiped everything else off the map, leaving her well and truly stuck here.

And while she might have some very complicated feelings about her family…..she didn't, had never wanted them dead. And even if she had - she'd never wanted to throw out the entire rest of humanity along with them. Baby and the bathwater, or however that saying went, though you had some bigger issues if you missed there was an infant in the tub when you were about to throw out the water in said tub.

She was depressed with an inferiority complex, not some JRPG villain looking to punish all of humanity for not getting enough hugs as a child.

So, yeah, maybe her co-worker was a LITERAL god, and had already taken care of two Singularities while she was taking a snooze. Big deal.

Starting tomorrow, Ritsuka Fujimaru was going to show them all - Mages, Servants, and even a god, what she could do when she put her mind to it.

Come hell or high water, she was going to save Humanity.

AUTHORS NOTES: So, this is the Fujimaru that's developed as I wrote out the 20 previous chapters. Hope she's to your liking.

I had no REAL plan for this chapter beyond starting in Medical, and ending with the discussion on transferring the Servant Contracts and the last scene. Beyond that, I just let the gremlin off the chain and let her bounce off people and wrote what she told me.

Also there's the reveal of Tanya's last name for this fic. Tanya Ashton Templeman is her full name. Because of course the one who's got an axe to grind with the Clock Tower would aid and abet Cu in fleecing some of them of their coin.

Not a TON happens this chapter, since it was mainly a device to establish Fujimaru as a character after she was missing for two Story chapters. More plot will happen next chapter, as we start rolling down the hill to Septem.

JAlter: CALL ME THIS. Everyone else: There are levels of chunni we are willing to tolerate, but this is too far.

This chapter came out ALOT quicker than I expected. The last few chapters have just been DEMANDING to be written.