Gwyndolin Interlude: The Shadow Behind the Sun (Part I)
It has been a quiet couple of days since everything had gone over, he wasn't exactly upset with the quiet but at the same time, he was more pensive about how smoothly it was more or less going over. Or as smoothly as one could imagine it going over, demands from Havel to be included in every single Rayshift team on the offside that they ran into Seath but aside, he might have been paranoid or just overly cautious with the lack of excitement.
"I just want to make sure, Mash." He replied to his kouahi as she walked in step with him, a brief glance to her revealed that she was wearing a somewhat pensive expression as well but that was likely a given considering where they were headed. He was probably just as worried as she was but was opting to keep up the mask of confidence, if only so he could ensure that Mash was slightly comforted with his words. "I know he said to give him some time but two days of nothing seems like more than enough for me to at least come around and let him know that I'm here…besides, I'm not going to ignore the plea from Medusa."
Indeed, the Rider had come around to see him earlier in the day to pass along her own private worries as to Gwyndolin's absence from the library. She wasn't stupid and she probably knew why he was having some time off for himself, he would have wondered why she didn't go as well but he had actually met one of her sisters. They seemed to be interesting people in their own right. Interesting in the sense that he felt on edge around them all the time but not really in a threatening way.
At the end of the day, he was just happy that someone else seemingly cared about Gwyndolin enough to ask him to look into their health. Given that neither Gwynevere nor Velka seemed to care enough to even so much as ask him about what Gwyndolin had been doing during his time in Chaldea. Rushing judgements was not something he was comfortable with but he would have at least preferred they asked something. At least Faraam asked how Gwyndolin had been and he had been exiled eons ago or whatever.
"I understand that, Senpai but…" Mash trailed off for a moment, slowly to a halt. He similarly paused and turned to face her, the myriad of emotions swirled across her face before she closed her eyes and took in a shallow breath, opening them again and changing her expression into being more stern. "Gwyndolin-san seems to really admire his father, everything we know about him says that he maintained the city of the Gods after every other God left which means that…I don't want to sound untrusting but until we know for certain-"
She made a lot of good points and he could see the discomfort in her expression even as she made them. Bless her heart, she didn't want to think anything negative of any of the Servants they had summoned, much less debate whether or not they would end up betraying them or something. He was probably right up there with her when it came to opinions like that as well.
"I get that, Mash. I really do." Bringing up his hand, he gently cut her off with a nod of the head, something she seemed to be more relieved by. "But I…I want Gwyndolin to know that we're not going to start treating him with suspicion or distrust. He's…" he slowly grimaced and shook his head.
He remembered how Gwyndolin had been after the news had broken to him, he…the comparison with Ash was almost frightening with how empty he had felt when he spoke. "He's just found out his father might want him dead and he really does care a lot about it so…It might just be me messing around where I'm not wanted but I have to at least let him know that I'm not about to force him into anything he'll hate. These Servants…they aren't like those from our History. Siegward is literally here out of the goodness of his heart and I will never not appreciate that. Same with Gwyndolin, he really didn't have to show up and do anything for us but he did. I don't really care about the reason but…but he's here now and I want him to know that I appreciate the help he's given us."
Mash slowly thinned her lips for a few seconds, then turned her attention down to her leg, Ritsuka followed her line of sight and watched as Fou rubbed themselves against her ankle before they looked up and straight towards him. Letting out a small noise which he liked to think was support from them or something, it felt as though he hadn't seen Fou in a while.
With a faint smile, Mash leaned down and gently scooped the small white animal into her arms, bringing them up without complaint and hugging them close to her chest. He almost laughed at the way that Fou seemed to snuggle closer to her as though they were finding the perfect spot. Turning their head to face him and then letting out another call. "Fou."
"What he said." He waved a hand towards Fou with a twitch of his lip, for a split second he could have sworn that they gave him an unimpressed look before they tilted their head to one side and looked back up at the girl holding them. Putting the topic of the animal aside in his mind, he continued onwards. "All that aside…no one else in his family seems to want to ask about him except for the guy who can't approach him because Gwyndolin hates his guts and even that seems like a one sided…no, not even that. Gwyndolin has no kind words for anyone in his family for varying reasons. Faraam betrayed them, Gwynevere abandoned him and Velka tried to instigate a rebellion with people who would have killed him in his sleep."
Finding out about the occult rebellions and the role Havel played in those was certainly an eye opener. He would have initially thought Sulyvahn was trying to play it up, right up until Elron told him she got the support of Arkon himself in the matter along with Gwynevere. All of them were saying much the same thing. For whatever reason, Velka worked in secret with some humans and armed them with special weapons - trained by Havel himself - and launched a rebellion against the Gods which apparently lasted a few years. Though the Havel thing was attributed to him just wanting to kill Seath which seemed…exceedingly petty in his eyes, but he had met Seath so…
"Point is, the only member of his family right now that Gwyndolin doesn't seem to despise is Caffrey and he's barely met with her at all." He paused for a moment, then reached up and cupped his chin as a stray thought filtered through his mind. "Speaking of which, have you noticed that Caffrey has been hanging around with Nero more often or something? Because I feel as though I see her, Nero and Pharros hanging around a lot."
Mash opened her mouth, then slowly closed it as a curious look filtered through her eyes, the topic of Gwyndolin temporarily shelved as she seemingly thought on his words. Then brought her brows up as she turned her attention back to him and nodded her head up and down. "I think you are right, Senpai."
"Huh…weird." Clearing his throat, he furrowed his brows as he turned back around "Back to the original point, it's mostly just me wanting to let Gwyndolin know that it's more than just Medusa who appreciates him being here." he wasn't going to go out of his way and say he was wholly expecting Gwyndolin to suddenly side with them after being shown a bit of appreciation or kindness or something. He wasn't quite that naive but he was a Master and it was his job to make sure his Servants were actually alright.
"I…I understand, Senpai." Mash commented behind him, a bit of guilt seeping into her voice "I'm sorry if I seemed too negative-"
"Don't worry about it, I know you're looking out for me." Shrugging his shoulders, he waved away her worries. She was right to be worried, the logical side of his brain told him that much at least. It wasn't like he could say she was unfounded either, he hadn't wanted Nudd there when he broke the news to Gwyndolin and give him the wrong impression, though it seemed to be the right call for the God to be there as Gwyndolin genuinely looked as though he was going to try and kill him for a split second. He kept that to himself though, he didn't want to sour Mash's opinion or make her even more worried for his health.
Though, speaking of which…
"...I heard Ash was seen walking around this morning." He commented after a moment, he'd only caught a rumour of someone being seen prowling around in the early hours of the morning before retreating back to the direction where Ash currently bunked. Though if it was Ash, they had swapped their armour once again. Apparently it had red fabric or something this time around. The news came purely from Siegward though, that was about it.
"Siegward told me that as well, Senpai." Her voice wavered for a moment, he grimaced at the tone of voice she used. He'd definitely need to ask how she felt about Ash after he spoke with Gwyndolin because he was certain something had happened between them while he was asleep but he hadn't asked. They spoke, he knew that much, but he didn't know the contents of it and it was a private conversation at the end of the day. "I…I think it's good he's walking around again."
"Hmmm." Humming back to her, he felt a twitch of relief at the fact she did sound as though she meant that. So it seemed that whatever damage had been done wasn't permanent.
How long are you going to sit in the corner? Don't you have any shame? It's actually funny how pathetic you are right now.
"Shut up."
Ah, that's about right. Looking how sad you are right now, any time anyone brings up a complaint you just wave your hand and tell them to shut up. Easier than facing the problem, right?
"Shut up."
Boo hoo. Really, getting all sad about it now is sort of stupid, isn't it? I mean, we both knew this was going to happen, didn't we? Or rather, you knew it was going to happen when you let that dirty little tramp squat in the halls where the actual beings of worth lived-
"Don't call her that."
Don't call her what? Oh, right. That dirty little mongrel you kept because you were bored and lonely. Honestly, why didn't you just say you wanted a pet? I'm sure one of the knights would have gone out and got you an actual mutt you could train.
"Don't say that about her."
Maybe if you fall before his feet like you've always done, you might actually earn yourself a quick death. Put some real effort into it while you're at it. 'I'm sorry father! I just wanted a pet to spend some time with! After all, everyone else thought I was too hideous to spend time with!'
"..."
Silent treatment? Really? That's just typical though, isn't it? You'll tell someone to be quiet, you'll complain about them but you've never had the strength to back any of it up. That's why you're always so low in everyone's opinion. The little deformed cripple that no one wanted to dirty their hands with putting down.
"...Stop."
Stop? Really? Why don't you start crying next? Maybe then I'll actually laugh long enough to tell the truth. It'd be really funny though, wouldn't it? Son of the Great Lord Gwyn, breaking down in tears because he finally accepts what everyone's always known.
"..."
Come on. No one even wants to waste the time to laugh at you. Gwynevere, Velka and Faraam! They've all been here for days and not once has any of them actually bothered to show up and say hello! Not even so much as a curse lobbed in your general direction…I mean…how unimportant can you get? They actually would rather spend time with humans than with you.
"That's fine with me."
Sure it is. Sure it is. Hey, hey, maybe you can trade some stories with them in the future! Wouldn't that be funny? You know…you can tell them all about the time that you invited Sulyvahn into your court and then befriended him! You could tell them how he was the only one in the world you could have really called a friend and then he-hahahahahaha! He-he-he-you let let him cook your food and then he poisoned you! Pfffthahahahahahahaha!
"Shut…j-just sto–"
'J-j-j-just stop!' Pathetic. Maybe telling them the story like that would actually get them to come around and visit you. If only so they could just laugh at the catastrophic mess you made of everything. I mean…Anor Londo falls directly into your lap and then with all of that you just…squander it. None of the Gods ever return to the city because they all know something governed by you was destined for failure.
"..."
It makes sense though, doesn't it? Not like anyone really expected anything from you in the first place, did they? What an absolute joke you are. All you had going for you was just to stand around and look pretty and - surprise! Surprise! - you couldn't even do that correctly. I'm actually wondering why no one decided to just smother you when you were born. I mean…maybe they thought it would be funny to keep you around?
"..."
A big confidence booster in case they ever had a bad day or something. They'd come back, take one look at you and decide that 'hey, maybe it could be worse? After all! I could have been born looking like Gwyndolin!'
"..."
It makes sense though, doesn't it? Who would ever want to really keep you around if not to just make themselves feel good. You're always the one going to Medusa, aren't you? Amazing how even a fallen Goddess who turned into a monster still looks better than you…outstanding, but then you have always been an expert in exceeding expectations…in reverse.
"..."
Faraam was a big warrior, mighty and full of charisma. Gwynevere was the smart one and the radiance of the sun. Filianore was the soothing one who could make anyone feel good about themselves just with a few choice words and then there's you…who has snake legs and can make worthless fake garbage. You can't even use Gwyn's miracles without frying your delicate little hands…how absolutely pathetic.
"...Go away."
We both know I can't do that, Gwyndolin. After all. I'm you.
"No you're not."
Of course I am. You just don't want to accept the fact you are what you have always been. The inside joke of the Gods and that's where you should have stayed. An inside joke. No wonder they kept you hidden away, it isn't as funny when it's told to a wider audience, is it? No…now you're no longer funny and now you're an embarrassment. In more ways that one…eugh.
"..."
I mean…we could do so much more but you just cling to this dogged faith in daddy because you're hopeful that…what? He might one day look at you with love? Don't be stupid, he didn't love you. He didn't even love Gwynevere, we both know that. Oh, she was ever so useful but there's only one that father really loved…
"I don't care. He's father."
He's your soon to be killer. We both know he's just been waiting for the excuse to finally get rid of you…I mean, all those years, all those cycles slaved away in service to the thing that he built. Keeping that flame burning because it's what Gwyn did, now everyone hates you for doing that. What are you going to say when they come demanding justice? Oh, please don't be mad. I just wanted my dead dad to love me.
"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut…j-just shut up…please don't say any more-"
He didn't love you. He didn't even love you enough to let you stay his son. You are what you have always been, Gwyndolin.
Daddy's little girl.
Just letting him trample over your pride, if it ever existed, because you thought it would finally make him care about you. Guess what. He doesn't. He never did! He's never once given you an ounce of thought and now the only attention you're going to get from him is, if you're lucky, a disgusted frown before he kills you.
And why? Well, we both know why, don't we?
"..."
Come on. I know you know.
"...Because I wasn't…"
Because you aren't?
"...Because I wasn't good enough…"
Exactly. You've never been good enough but, hey, it's good to admit that sort of thing, isn't it? Don't you just feel lighter admitting it?
I know that I feel better about it. Gwyndolin, joke of the family and proud because he's never actually done anything of value once in his life…well, there was all those saps you tricked into ritual suicide but I don't think that really counts. But I can give you a round of applause for…wait, no. You actually made a fake Gwynevere to trick them, didn't you? Probably a good call, if they saw you they'd probably question why someone let a monster into the city of the Gods.
"What do you even want?"
Me? I just want what you want. I want us to actually matter, to actually be taken seriously. I mean, we've got the perfect chance right now though, don't we? It's quite literally fallen into our-
The door knocked several times, he flinched and snapped his head towards the direction of the noise but did not move so much as an inch otherwise as he stared at it. He couldn't hear anything for a few moments through the door as the knocking gradually faded away. For a moment, he was certain that whomever had knocked on his door would depart.
A muffled voice flowed through the steel.
"Gwyndolin? It's Ritsuka…listen it's been a couple of days since we last spoke and…" His hands balled into fists but he did nothing. Of course he did nothing, doing nothing was the only thing he was ever really good at. "I'm not asking for your decision, I just want you to know that you can take as much time as you need with it but…I might not be the best person for it but…but if you ever need someone to talk to."
Talk to?
What did they mean, talk to?
What were they implying?
"It's…you're probably going through a tough time right now and I don't want you to feel pressured into making a decision right away. So, like I said, you can take as much time as you need." Another pause, his hearing barely caught a muffled breath being exhaled on the other side before the human resumed speaking. "Just…I'm here if you need me. Not saying you do but if that is the case then…alright, well. I just stopped by to talk and let you know that I'm still thinking about you…wait, hang on, that came out wrong. I mean that you're still in my thoughts…wait, that sounds just as bad…I'm…er…you still matter to me is what I'm saying. Your opinions and stuff."
He stared at the door in complete and total silence, briefly contemplating the ease at which he could have ripped it open and gotten his hands around the human before they even realised what was happening. He didn't sense anything else on the other side of the door, nothing except the other human girl but that was it. He could definitely kill the humans before they could do anything.
And why could he do this?
Because they…they were stupid enough to trust him, that was why.
Isn't that touching? The little humans came all the way here to tell you they were worried about you. Shame that no one else bothered, eh? Not even Sulyvahn showed up to laugh at you.
Nope. Little Gwyndolin, stuck with the pity of humans.
How sad.
It would honestly be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.
…Ah, what the heck? I'll laugh at it anyway!
Pfffft-HahahahahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
His eyes snapped onto the reflection of himself, clad in black robes and with his features twisted into a mocking grin.
Anger flooded his being.
Then there was nothing but clarity.
He stared at the door in silence before taking a step backwards, letting out a silent breath as he turned towards Mash and Fou, then jerked his head further up the hallway. He had come and said what he wanted to say after stumbling through several different attempts at it, privately hoping that he hadn't made a massive fool of himself with the attempt.
It was only when he thought of himself to be far enough away that he eventually spoke up. "I didn't come across too awkward there, did I?" calling out to Mash, his eyes drifted towards her expression as she froze up for a short moment. Not something that inspired a lot of confidence in him if he was being perfectly honest.
Mash opened her mouth, then offered a small but genuine smile "I believe you got across your sincerity, Senpai. I think that's what matters most." her words were accompanied by a small cheer of support from Fou in her arms. He felt his lips pull themselves upwards into a tiny smile. That sounded kind enough, he supposed and it was what he had been aiming for in the first place.
"As long as I didn't come across too awkward." Chuckling, he brought up his hand and scratched the back of his neck. "Anyway, I was going to go and head up to see how things were going in the kitchen. I haven't had a chance to speak with Tama-cat for a while and I figure she's probably going to be getting a little bit lonely if I don't spend some time with her."
That elicited a serious nod of the head. "Studies show that a lack of social interactions can be detrimental to the health of animals. Cats in particular have been shown to require constant stimuli and interaction, even though they are mostly solitary animals." she paused for a brief moment, then a puzzled look flickered across her face. "But…I'm still not entirely sure if Tama-cat is an actual cat or not. She doesn't seem to have cat ears or a cat tail…"
"Also Tamamo-no-mae is a fox spirit." He added on with his own bemused tone of voice, frankly the more time he spent thinking about it, the less sense it seemed to make to him. Not least of all because it was the Tamamo-no-mae. Then again, he could always just attribute the lack of sense to them being a Berserker. That was supposed to be the class of madness but he wasn't quite sure this was what they envisaged when they came up with that definition.
"There is also the matter of her ability to cook as well." Ritsuka tightened his features at the comment from Mash, painfully aware of the insistence of the fox/cat to try and get into the kitchens to cook food. He might have been an easy going guy but he really wasn't in the mood to sit down and have a meal only to pull long orange hairs out of his food. Mash, meanwhile, continued on. "I heard from Archer-san that she tried to sneak in again. Siegward-san caught her though."
"Tell them to keep up the good work." Mumbling to himself, he shook his head as he continued his walk. He didn't think he was being unfair but he couldn't exactly force people to let her into the kitchen. Julius had made it quite clear that he didn't want someone with literal paws touching up all of his ingredients and Ritsuka could see where he was coming from. As could the other kitchen Servants as well. Tama-cat was just…very stubborn.
He stopped walking.
The hallway was bathed in darkness within an instant, the lights snapped off and left both him and Mash alone in the hallway. He frowned instantly, snapping his head up and squinting as hard as he could towards the ceiling where the lights had been, searching for any sign of life from the electronic.
Nothing.
"We having a power cut or something?" Did they even get power cuts in the first place? That didn't seem like it would be very good. His understanding of Chaldea's power situation was just that everything was running as low as it could go. Hence why they could only power six floors or something along those lines.
A creeping chill seeped into the back of his neck, it felt as though something was closing in on him.
Something gripped his hand.
"Hiiiyyyyeeeee!" He definitely made a very manly scream and most certainly not a high pitched cry. Anyone who ever said anything against him was just being slanderous and he would staunchly glare at them. He whipped around as fast as he could to face whatever had grabbed him only to bring up a hand to his face as a light blinded his eyes instantly. "What the-!?"
The sensation around his hand loosened, a short second later he heard the despairing voice of Mash. "I am so sorry, Senpai! I just wanted to make sure you were still around and then turned on the flashlight and-I'm so deeply, deeply sorry!"
The light was pointed downwards as his eyes were finally granted some mercy from the blistering assault against them. Blinking the spots out of his eyes, he was greeted by the still despairing face of Mash as she was looking up at him with a very guilty look. Bringing up his left hand, he rubbed his eyes and made a small noise before pulling it away from his face.
"The heck…do…" Furrowing his brows, he pointedly looked at the torch held in the girl's hand that was pointed straight down. The discomfort he initially felt quickly gave rise to confusion as he found himself staring at the torch which had seemingly materialised. "Where did…were you just carrying that around with you or something?"
Mash gave a single nod of the head "Yes, Senpai. Da Vinci says that it always pays to be prepared, so I have prepared a series of useful items for this very occasion." bringing the torch up, she pointed it to the ceiling and revealed that it wasn't just a torch, but instead looked something like a multi-tool. "So she made me this and said that it would be very useful to have in dire situations."
"Uh-huh…well…good work." Giving Mash an earnest, if slightly befuddled, nod of the head he freed himself from her grip and brought his wrist up. Tapping at the communicator before the face of Kerry flashed up in front of him. The woman blinked twice as she turned herself over to face him.
"Something the matter, little man?"
"Yeah…powers gone out on the floor we're on." Ritsuka replied, though the fact she was asking was a little weird. He would have thought they would have known about it as well or at least assumed he was calling about it. Then, much to his surprise, Kerry's face twisted in bewilderment before she slid the chair back and turned to the screen on her right.
"Power shortage? That doesn't…those lights have enough charge to last more than my lifetime and…yeah, I'm not seeing anything wrong here." That brought him up short, a quick glance to the direction of Mash revealed that she looked similarly bewildered by this turn of events, tilting her head to the side and then looking back towards the screen with the same look of confusion he was wearing.
"I'm not sure what else to tell you. Me and Mash are standing here in the dark." Shrugging his shoulders, he raised an eyebrow. "Maybe it's some sort of mistake on your end or something like that?"
That was the only explanation he could possibly think of at this very moment.
"Our end? Listen, Ritsuka, you can't exactly-"
The sound of shearing steel ripped through the hallway in the very next moment, drowning out whatever it was that Kerry had been about to say. He whirled around just fast enough to watch the door of Gwyndolin's room fold outwards like wet paper. The steel door was ripped right from it's casting and twisted up into a shape that barely even resembled what it had been, in the next moment it was sent hurtling across the hallway and into the opposite wall, denting it inwards.
Widening his eyes, he managed half a step backwards before the darkness flooded right through the hallway and blotted out the light from Mash's torch. An all consuming void painted on the world, all he could see was the dim red of twin orbs shining through the darkness, swirling around and locking on to him for a moment before they surged towards him.
Something impacted his chest, not very strong but more than enough to sweep him out of the way, a gasp leaving his throat as he was shoved into the wall behind him. Accompanied by the grinding and ripping that came with steel being ripped apart and a deep hissing noise, and a rumbling slithering sound of scales against the ground.
He couldn't see anything through the darkness, dimly aware of Mash calling for his attention over the sound but aware of little else. Blinking profusely as the lights flickered on in the next moment, his head snapped towards the end of the hallway as the darkness virtually slithered away from them, being dragged around the hallway. Ritsuka turned his head back towards Mash and his breath caught in his throat.
Not because Mash was hurt, she was fine, rather it was the state of the hallway they were in.
The best he could describe was pure destruction, deep slash marks in the walls and the floor from where something had cleaved right through the steel. Very clear indentations of four, his eyes turned on the crumbled remains of the door that had triggered the move, staring at the balled up lump of metal in dead silence with his breath catching in his throat.
Then he sprung into action.
"Mash! Get on the word to the command centre! I'm going to follow Gwyndolin!" He didn't wait for her to chide him on how reckless that was, he was already halfway down the hallway before he even realised he was running. Eyes darting left and right as he beheld the claw marks dragged through the wall, his heart hammering in his chest as he did so.
Despite it all, the sound of slithering rang loudly in his ears, rounding a corner as he caught sight of the patch of dark hallway. The lights turned off as whatever lay in the centre of the darkness advanced onwards, uncaring as to whatever lay in its path as it moved.
"Gwyndolin!" His voice echoed through the halls, the darkness halted it's advance and he was aware of the twin orbs of crimson light turning to face him once more. His breath caught in his throat as the orbs started to rise higher and higher, approaching the point where they were nearly touching the ceiling. The faint sound of hissing reached his ears as he took a half step backwards.
Squinting, he could barely make out a shape through the darkness but it was difficult to discern whether he was imagining it or whether it was really there. Steeling his nerves, he took in a deep breath and started to walk forwards. All while Gwyndolin remained still, the twin red eyes staring down at him with nary a sound as he approached.
"Gwyndolin this…" He let out a breath "I'm going to assume your angry but this-"
He didn't receive any indication that something was going to happen, merely there was a flurry of movement and something dark whipping towards him before his arms were tightly bound at his side and he was hoisted upwards into the air. His feet didn't even make a sound as he was dragged towards the darkness and the red eyes, halting just shy of crossing over the void and suspended in the air.
Darting his eyes down, they quickly widened as he realised that what had caught him and bound him was not rope. It was thicker than his leg and matte black, yet the faint pattern of diamond like indentations on the surface of the tendril was obvious enough. Especially when something cold and wet touched the back of his neck and dragged itself up his nape, eliciting a shudder from him as he tried to turn and face it.
Only to freeze at the aggressive hiss that erupted directly behind his left ear, a shape gradually passed into his field of vision and he remained still purely on instinct. The armoured head of the largest snake he had ever seen moved from out behind the back of his head, tongue flicking outwards and tasting the air before it retreated back. The jaws parted, revealing the set of sharpened fangs and releasing another guttural hiss.
The slitted eyes locked onto him, the head gradually moved until it was directly in front of him, looming forwards and flicking out its tongue once again, barely even close enough to touch his skin. He kept eye contact with the serpent, then darted his eyes to the side at the movement directly behind it, he kept his gaze focused as five more of the rather intimidating looking snakes emerged from the murky darkness to join the one in front of him. Each one started to circle around him yet didn't seem to come close.
Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and then opened them up again, looking past all of the snakes and towards the red eyes which lay behind all of them, those twin orbs that had been staring at him impassively since the beginning. Not even a hint of emotion within them.
"I saw what you did to the hallway." He stated immediately, the damage inflicted on the steel door flickered through his mind. "If you were going to kill me, you would have done it then."
The eyes gradually tilted onto their side, a hand slowly emerged from the shadows and reached towards his face, batting aside the snake with an irritable hiss from the serpent as it approached his face. The limb was long and slender, the fingers had more in common with claws with how sharp they were, like with the snakes there was a diamond shaped pattern on the skin, though it remained sickly pale.
Ritsuka made a small noise of discomfort as the clawed hands roughly grabbed his cheeks with the fingers on one side and the thumb on the other, squishing his face inwards. Then he felt a force start to angle his head from one side to the other, a rippling noise that sounded so much like amusement emanated the shadows as he eventually heard a voice, deep and growling.
"Incredible how you can make such bold declarations with so few facts…" Gwyndolin commented with a dark note to his words, yet the tone he used remained almost cordial. But it had an underlying tension to it, like he was mere seconds away from dropping the veneer of kindness and just outright shouting at him. "When you stumble upon a bug at the side of the road, do you go out of your way to squash it underfoot? Of course not…"
The grip on his face became tighter as he was pulled towards the shadow, hand still firmly gripping him, so close to the divide between light and dark that he could feel the chill of Gwyndolin's breath as they spoke, the cold beating against his face with each spoken word.
"But when the bug leaps up and starts to buzz around in your face, then it becomes a different matter altogether." The tightening sensation started to creep in as he became aware of the hold on his face getting stronger and stronger. Then it suddenly loosened, the hand released him and was pulled back into the darkness where it had come from. "Though you are no bug, so you should at least have the benefit of self preservation…go and scuttle back to wherever you came from, little roach."
"Not until you tell me what this is a-whoah!" The snake looped around his waist suddenly loosened its grip and he felt the force keeping him up vanish. His words turned into a gasp of surprise as he abruptly dropped down. Yet his feet did not touch the ground, instead something gripped the back of his shirt and he was left dangling in the air by the scruff of his uniform. Before he could even respond to that, he was swiftly turned around and found himself staring wide eyed at the small battalion of Servants at the other end of the hallway.
Namely consisting of the Nameless Archer, Astolfo, Beatrice and then the lead member. Medusa.
"Woah! Woah!" Bringing his hands up, he waved them from side to side as he noticed they all had their weapons drawn, save for the lead Servant who seemed to be stock still and looking past him. Though it was hard to tell on account of her visor. Medusa wasn't wearing her glasses at the moment for that. "Hang on guys! There's no need for violence-!"
"Then use a command seal and make him drop you for god sake!" Archer called out with the bow drawn tight and an arrow notched in the string. He could hear the faint groaning of the metallic cable for the large bow from his own spot.
Ritsuka glanced at the command seals on the back of his hand, mentally cursing himself for forgetting all about those. However the thought didn't last long before he found himself being shaken from side to side rather lightly but still enough to remind him that he was dangling in the air. If that wasn't enough of a reminder, then Gwyndolin opted to start speaking again.
"I have little interest in starting a battle in which I am obviously outmatched." Ritsuka paused at the tone of voice, it sounded almost mocking. As though he wasn't taking the situation all that seriously in the first place. "Besides. I have more important places to be at the moment and none of them include bothering myself with the likes of you."
A beat, then he spoke again. "Oh, and try not to fiddle with those little brands on the back of your hand. I have just enough Magic resistance to make you regret using one."
"Gwyndolin." Medusa's clipped tone echoed through the halls as she took a single step forwards, first looking in his direction and then towards the large snakes that were busy flanking him on either side, a brief glance revealed that the back of his shirt was currently being held in the mouth of one such snake. The Rider continued on with her voice unchanging. "What do you hope to gain with this stunt?"
"...Gain? What a funny word." A wheeze rippled through the hall. "Truly funny, I genuinely cannot even begin to describe how amusing it actually is. I'm a Servant…I can't gain anything and I can't lose anything. Stuck, forever, at rock bottom." they snarled rather venomously. "Well, that's not true. I have lost something. I've lost the weakness of Gwyndolin after so very long of putting up with his spineless whimpering."
Ritsuka blinked, clearly not the only one dumbfounded by the words as he turned his head to look at the shadow behind him as best he could. "What-?"
"Y-you're stalling!" Beatrice called out rather suddenly, pointing a finger towards Gwyndolin in an almost victorious manner. Silence reigned immediately after she made the declaration, the witch made a small noise as her eyes flickered from side to side and then took a single step backwards, though kept her face somewhat stoic even as her arms trembled.
Gwyndolin was stalling? Then what was he possibly stalling for?
"...No one really expected you to make that statement, did they?" The voice of the God rang out a moment later, dry and uninterested. "I suppose it makes sense though, doesn't it? Dressed in rags and carrying around a rotten old branch for a catalyst. You hold the appearance of a worthless street bum than anyone of real intellect. The quality of Gwyndolin's company has really-"
"Hey!" Ritsuka snapped, turning himself as best he could in the grip of the snake, a deep anger filling him. "Don't you badmouth Betty! This has nothing to do with her! You want to talk? Then let's talk-"
He was cut off by a loud groan of annoyance. "Talk. How fruitless. I assume what you mean is that you keep me chattering away long enough for one of your little Servants to try and put an arrow through my head or sneak up behind me and run me through…"
Ritsuka felt his nerves flinch at the insinuation before he brought up his hand to point at the God, to deny that he was planning that. Yet he wasn't able to form the words before Gwyndolin cut him off.
"But you actually aren't smart enough to do that, are you? No. When you say talk, you really mean to talk with me. Or talk at me, maybe you'd give some sappy speech about the merits of opening up my feelings or telling everyone how I really feel but, quite frankly, neither of us has the time to really dive into that topic."
Before he could understand what they meant, he felt a vibration on his arm as his communicator started to buzz. He kept his eyes focused on Gwyndolin as the red orbs lazily trailed down to the wrist before he chortled in a knowing way and spoke in a sly tone of voice. "You can get that, it sounds as though it's important."
Narrowing his eyes, Ritsuka turned to the communicator and flashed it up. Romani's face greeted him with a clearly panicked look on him, not even giving him the chance to speak before he blurted out a sentence as fast as possible.
"Fujimaru-kun! Gwyndolin broke into Da Vinci's workshop and made off with one of the Holy Grails! You've got to get him with a command seal before he tries to escape!"
Gwyndolin had what?
But that couldn't be possible…Gwyndolin was right here, holding him up by the scruff of his neck. How could Gwyndolin possibly have managed to steal a Holy Grail if he was right here and speaking with…
Reality washed over him like ice water, turning his eyes onto Gwyndolin and staring into those red orbs that now shined with brilliant mirth. The rumbling chuckle from the God sent vibrations through his very bones as his arms limply fell to his side, eyes remaining wide as he swallowed. Speaking in a quiet voice. "...When did you use an illusion?"
"When?" Gwyndolin parroted back with an empty tone of voice. "What an interesting question." they gave a single cold snort as he felt the grip on his shirt loosen, dropping him roughly to the ground with a thud, the shadows vanished without showing any indication they had been present in the first place. "When did you assume I wasn't using an illusion?"
Ritsuka quickly scrambled back to his feet, his expression tightening as he realised that he hadn't been speaking with Gwyndolin from the very beginning. It didn't seem much like their style either, it had been rather physical for someone who apparently wasn't very good at that sort of thing in the first place.
His head rounded in the direction he had come from. Expecting to see the walls still marred with those deep gouges but instead he stared at nothing. No sign of damage at all…which meant it hadn't been Gwyndolin who left the room. Was the door even broken?
"Ah, yes…I never did answer your question, Medusa." The voice of Gwyndolin echoed all around him, with no sign of where it originated. "What did I hope to gain? The answer is rather simple…I want to be free."
"Free of what?" The Rider called back to him after a moment of silence, something else entering her tone of voice.
"...Gwyndolin."
He felt a slight pang on his wrist, something snapping or being drawn elsewhere. The drain from Gwyndolin was still present but it now felt far more distant than it had done so before. To the point where it virtually didn't exist. He could only think of one real reason for that, bringing up his wrist he opened up the communicator. This time he was the one to speak up rather than Romani. "Let me guess…he's not in Chaldea anymore?"
The doctor grimaced and shook his head from side to side, then turned his attention away from the screen and towards something else. The strained expression on his face remained as he leaned over something else. "And that's not all…there's a minute Singularity in Rome…it looks like it was the same location where the Shapeless Isles had been transported to during the events of the second Singularity. It opened up a second ago which means-"
"Which means that's where Gwyndolin went." He finished with a tight frown on his lips, closing his eyes and then taking in a deep breath. "I'm heading to the Rayshift chamber now." he turned around and started to walk without even waiting for anyone else to start speaking. "Make sure you're ready to send me down as soon as I get there and let the Director know what happened."
Romani stared at him, then nodded his head once.
It wasn't long before he registered the clacking of footsteps behind him, sending a brief glance over his shoulder and seeing that Medusa was now following after him with an almost pensive look on her face. The visor stared at him for a moment before her lips parted. "Master…I would like to ask for the opportunity to-"
"Yes, you're coming with me." He felt bad for cutting her off but he wasn't in the mood to waste time right now, especially with a Grail up in the air and the trail leading them to Gwyndolin still warm. There was no telling what he was going to do right now but he doubted that he was going to be running back to his father anytime soon. He wasn't sure how he came to that conclusion other than the fact he was still alive.
Besides, as far as he could tell, Medusa was practically the only person in Chaldea who actually seemed to care about Gwyndolin except for himself. At least she cared about him enough to actually bring his mental health to his attention. Though he wasn't sure how else he could have really done anything about something like this.
He stared at the large figure in the room the very moment he stepped through the doors, neither of them said anything to the other though he could hear the slight tensing of Medusa directly behind him. Even if he didn't, he watched the way in which the eyes of the 'Nameless King' flickered over his shoulder to the Servant behind him and then back to him.
"...At least you showed up." He muttered to himself after he immediately noticed the complete absence of Gwynevere and Velka. It wasn't as though he had kept this a secret. The news had spread across Chaldea to the point where he doubted that anyone was ignorant as to what was going on. Yet neither Gwynevere nor Velka nor even Caffrey had shown up.
Ash…he wasn't counting on Ash to show up and he didn't much blame him. Especially after he received only a single mental communication from the Avenger on his way to the Rayshift chamber when the news had likely reached him.
'If I go down there, I'll probably kill him.'
That had been more than enough for him, besides, he wasn't sure where Ash was in terms of mental state right now. Especially considering that he had only just started to leave his room again and was apparently avoiding visitors like the plague or at least that's what Nobu had been complaining to him about. And being his friend did not give her the permission to break down his door and drag him out.
He continued his advance into the room, marching towards the location where the coffins were. Faraam made a noise as he uncrossed his arms and presumably was about to speak. Though Ritsuka still wasn't all that interested in wasting time at the moment, there would probably be plenty of time for them to actually talk when they got down there and for the time being, he was just happy that someone from Gwyndolin's family actually decided to show up.
"Just stay there and the Rayshift will take care of everything else." He informed God as he approached his coffin. Sparing a glance to his right as he watched Mash similarly approach hers. There was a marginally troubled look on her face as her eyes caught his, she thinned her lips and then looked back to the coffin as it opened up. Taking in a deep breath, he spoke loud enough that everyone in the room could hear him. "We're going down there to chase after Gwyndolin and get the Holy Grail back…we're also going to find out why he took it in the first place."
Turning around, he made a show of pointedly looking both of the Servants in the eyes as he did so. "I'm not going down there to immediately start a fight with him. We're going to get our answers first and after that we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." He looked between the two of them for any inclination that they were reassured by his words.
He got a faint hum of affirmation from Medusa and a low grunt from Faraam, though the latter had a clear look of relief in his eyes as he spoke.
With a satisfied nod of the head, he turned around and looked up towards the windows of the command room as he called out a little louder. He knew they could hear him up there, but it was mainly for the benefit of everyone else so he could be heard clearly. Besides, he could see both Romani and the Director looking down at him through the glass.
"That sounds fair, right?" Even though he said that, it was less of a request for approval and more of him telling them what he intended to do in the first place. Gwyndolin stole a Holy Grail for a reason and could have killed him fairly easily when he was at the door, he was acutely aware of that. Yet he was still alive, which had to mean something for what his intentions were.
And those words still bounced around inside his head.
'I want to be free of Gwyndolin.'
That…that had to mean something.
"Sounds fair, Fujimaru-kun." Romani's voice echoed through the intercom, the Director didn't say anything but he could just about make out her giving a nod of the head. He internally let out a sigh of relief that he wasn't about to start an argument with them over this.
Thinning his lips, he moved to step back into the open coffin before he paused and turned his head towards an empty space. Furrowing his brows the longer he stared at it. Strange, it had only been for a moment but it felt as though there was something there. Keeping his eyes trained on the empty spot for a few seconds longer, he shrugged his shoulders and backed into the coffin, the door closing on him.
Gwyndolin stole the Grail for a reason.
And he wanted to know why.
AN: And thus it begins.