CHAPTER 13:

THE SAVIOUR AND THE HOUND

That night, after dinner, Barghest lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep eluded her that night, though insomnia was an unpleasant but too-frequent acquaintance for her. The bed was massive, as large as the four-poster bed that she had in her manor, large enough to accommodate her and a lover, as it had been with Adonis, and comfortable to boot.

The reminder of her last lover sent another pang through her chest. Adonis, dear, sweet, Adonis. A sickly young human Changeling she had found. How he ended up in their Lostbelt, she had no idea. But she cared for him, and eventually fell in love with him.

All of her previous lovers had been strong, either physically or magically, due to her curse, which exhorted her to devour the strong. But they also had other things that attracted her to them, male or female. Physical appearance was definitely a factor, but in truth, that was only part of the attraction.

In hindsight, her lovers had the same strength Adonis had: strength of heart. In devouring them, had she reduced the amount of virtuous Fae in the Lostbelt, already a small fraction? Then again, Adonis eclipsed them all. Despite his sickliness, he was an attractive young man. And he had a good heart. Yet his lack of physical or magical strength didn't stop her from devouring him. Even now, on occasion, she remembered the feeling of his flesh sliding down her throat. Indeed, many of her nightmares upon arriving in this timeline were to that effect.

Did she even have the right to love again? And not just because of devouring her lovers. That at least could be blamed on the curse branded on her soul since her birth. No, it was what she did under Morgan, willingly obeying her orders. Razing the Welsh forest filled with the refugee Fae (even if Vortigern was the one running it, something she only knew in hindsight, whereas then, he masqueraded as Oberon: how the smug bastard must've laughed inside his head at her) and destroying that human ranch…those were but the latest of her crimes.

And yet, Harry, knowing this, still gave her a chance. They kissed. They actually kissed! She blushed somewhat at the memory. Was it too soon? Not just in their relationship, but rather, so soon, relatively, after Adonis' death? It may have happened shortly before Chaldea's incursion, but she only remembered it just before becoming the Bestial Calamity.

Baobhan Sith's words echoed tauntingly in her mind again. I may be the type to pump and dump, but I'm not a hopeless romantic like you are, falling for people left, right and centre. Like that little bitch could talk. She loved torturing more than a few of her ex-lovers.

In a way, Barghest and Melusine were more alike in that regard, of being hopeless romantics. Melusine, however, pined for someone who would never return her affections, not sincerely, anyway. Barghest, when she thought back to what Melusine told her about Aurora and what that Wind Clan bitch tricked Melusine into doing, wished she could tear that treacherous whore apart with her bare hands herself. That Melusine killed Aurora as an act of mercy…well, such a death was too good for Aurora, though she could not fault Melusine too much for her love. It would make her a hypocrite, after all.

But Baobhan Sith, had she ever capable of love? Had Morgan? If they had, the capacity had been wrung out of them long ago, along with every drop of decency and altruism within them.

Unbidden, Harry's words earlier that day came to mind. It's not a crime for you to want to be happy. Not if you don't want to be happy at the expense of others' own happiness.

And then, he gave her permission to kiss her. That impulse had been almost subconscious, and something she had restrained before. She knew she was a hopeless romantic, and that, thanks to her curse, her romances hadn't ended well. But he wanted her to be happy.

The problem was, would a relationship with him make her happy, and vice versa?

She knew why she was dithering. While she would have felt the stirrings of the curse by now, stirrings she would have to hold back through force of will, what she did had scarred her. She wasn't sure she could be happy. Her reminder of her last night with Adonis, brought back by their trip to Blackpool, had sent her thoughts into a spiral, one that Harry allowing her to kiss him had only worsened.

Lying down on the bed, she closed her eyes for a moment. But when she opened them again, it was in her bedroom in her manor in Fae Manchester. For a moment, she was confused, bewildered, trying to figure out how she was back here. The last she saw of Fae Manchester, it was awash in blood and flames. Indeed, it had been even before she transformed into the Bestial Calamity, with the Fae massacring the human inhabitants and burning down their residences.

"I'm in a dream," she murmured out loud.

"Of course you are. It was the only way I could contact you, Barghest."

Sitting on the side of the bed was a familiar form. Blonde hair, emerald eyes, clutching a staff. Maybe sixteen at most, her slight and slender form clad in country clothing.

But Barghest remembered her instantly. "…Arturia?"

The girl nodded, even as Barghest sat up, and swivelled her body to sit next to the young Chosen One. "Yeah."

"But how?"

"It's a long story. Even I'm not sure of the details, but it involves my being recorded on the Throne of Heroes," Arturia said. "I'm not the only one either. You three Tam Lin were as well, and so did Morgan, though she already had her Proper Human History counterpart there anyway. But that's not the point. The Throne of Heroes exists outside of what you'd consider normal space-time. In other words, it can reach across time and space and different timelines to a degree. I mean, I have so many alternate versions of myself, and so many people who look like me but aren't, like Nero or Okita Souji or…sorry, I got carried away. In a way, it's good to see you." She looked away. "And that's surprising."

"Indeed. I was under the impression you hated me, and from the first time we met, in Ector's smithy."

"Oh, you actually remember that?" Arturia asked, laughing a little sheepishly. "But yeah. Aside from you wanting to take the best thing about my childhood in Tintagel away…the way you spoke to me at times, so dismissively…I actually learned your true name because of my Fae Eyes. I saw the name you had on your invoice."

"And not that long afterwards, Woodwose razed Tintagel to the ground," Barghest mused out loud. She had heard of Fae Eyes before, allowing possessors to discern the truth about others to some degree. But the Fae had lost their ability to use them long before her birth.

"Oh, part of that was actually the Fae living there," Arturia said. "They wanted me to kill Ector to prove I was the real Chosen One. But…I couldn't go through with it."

Barghest turned to Arturia, her eyes wide in horror. "…What? I mean, I'm glad you did not go through with it, but…they ordered you to murder him, as a test of your status?"

Arturia nodded morosely. "So, they locked me up in a basement, and debated whether to kill me and present my corpse to Morgan, or to parade me as a Chosen One anyway. Ector helped me escape, but he died of his wounds afterwards. In a way, I did kill him. And thus began my adventures across Fae Britain." She scoffed quietly. "Such as they were."

After a moment's contemplation, Barghest said, quietly, "I'm sorry. I am sure you feel I have no right to apologise to you for all that I have done, especially after my assault on Oberon…no, Vortigern's stronghold in Wales, such as it was, but…"

"It's fine, Barghest," Arturia said. "I…I know at least you'd mean it. Morgan was right, but she was also wrong. Just because many Fae were unworthy of being protected didn't mean there weren't a few worth protecting. Fae Britain itself, as a land, as a timeline, was beyond saving, I learned that. Instead, all that could happen was that it be brought to an end. But…in the end, I helped save the world, even if I couldn't save our Lostbelt. I helped bring an end to Vortigern, or at least condemned him to a living death within his own Abyssal Worm. Even now, he falls forever within his Abyssal Worm form, even as the exterior of that Abyssal Worm no longer exists in that timeline."

"Good," Barghest said grimly. "If I had remembered who he was, I would have put a lot more effort into ending him in the Welsh forest. But…the others?"

"If you mean Chaldea in that timeline, then yes, they made it." Arturia then looked to the windows, the pink light from the sky of their Lostbelt filtering through, her emerald eyes, so much like Harry's, somewhat solemn. "But so many others did not. It's sad, isn't it? Aside from those inscribed onto the Throne of Heroes, all that remains of our Lostbelt is you, Melusine, and the memories you have, along with those Chaldea in that timeline have."

"Indeed. I have been…trying to avoid thinking about it. In a way, your presence here is soothing, despite our enmity. You were one of the best of us, despite what trials and travails you went through, and I am sorry for how I treated you. You deserved a better life than what you got. I am not sure how your life compares to Harry's, but being chosen by prophecy is a curse."

"Yeah…he and I have too much in common, though I envy him for being able to live afterwards," Arturia said gently. "But that's neither here nor there. I won't begrudge him his happiness…nor will I begrudge you yours. You're free from your curse, Barghest. Whether you and he are truly in love, I cannot say, but…if you are, don't let the chance slip away. But…I will ask you one favour."

"Name it, within reason."

Arturia didn't speak at first, simply handing over an orb of light. Noting Barghest's bemused look, Arturia said, "When you join Chaldea, as I'm sure you will, and the time comes to summon Servants, that will draw me to you. Summoning Servants often relies on compatibility with the Master, but catalysts can strengthen the chances. That wasn't a physical catalyst, though. It's more of a beacon fire for me personally, to light my way through the darkness."

"You wish to fight by my side?" Barghest asked, somewhat surprised. "Despite our prior animosity?"

"Yes. Because you also turned on Morgan, hoping to save some of the Fae and the humans in the Lostbelt. You tried to help, to do the right thing. And because…I guess I want a second chance at happiness myself," Arturia said. "To save the world on my terms, without a prophecy hanging over my head, to make friends who won't turn on me like so many of the Fae did. I know it sounds selfish, but…"

"No, I understand. I would welcome your help, Arturia, if and when that happens."

"Thanks. But Barghest…don't let your worries and fears consume you. I know that feeling too well, even if the causes were different. Instead, be the woman and the knight you wanted to be, someone who could love and be loved in return, and protect the innocent and fight evil. You can do it."

"I will certainly try," Barghest said. "My counterpart on the Round Table of Proper Human History, Sir Gawain, was apparently a most valiant knight, even if a hotheaded one. I may not live up to his name, but I intend to do my best. If most of the Fae refuse to be moral and just, then that means I must put all the more effort into doing so myself. Not out of obligation, even if I intend to atone for my own sins, but because I choose to be. You need not worry about that, Arturia."

"I wasn't that worried, but thanks for reassuring me." The teenaged Fae hopped off the bed, before Barghest stood.

"Arturia…hold," Barghest said quietly, but her voice carried a gentle command. The short blonde halted, even as Barghest walked over, then knelt, and gathered her into a hug.

"Barghest?" Arturia asked.

"…Do you want to cry? To vent about your fate?" Barghest asked in her turn. "You can if you wish."

Arturia froze in her grasp, before breaking away from Barghest's embrace. But the Chosen One smiled sadly at Barghest, her emerald eyes glistening with tears. "I've done enough of that already, Barghest. But…thank you for that. And you didn't have to kneel."

"You should remember what I told you when we first met," Barghest said with a watery smile of her own. "That talking down to you would make my neck sore. I am just making allowances for you."

"You…!" Arturia pouted angrily, her cheeks puffing out, but the two Fae eventually devolved into peals of nostalgic laughter. The sounds of melancholy mirth echoed around the dreamscape, from two former enemies turned into, if not friends, then at least friendly acquaintances. And with it, the feeling of some weight coming off the shoulders of Barghest at least…

Thankfully, for the rest of the night, Barghest slept soundly. And when she woke, her step was considerably lighter. True, not all of her dark thoughts had been relieved, not by a long shot. But even if Arturia appearing to her was just a dream, born of her troubled mind, rather than a link to Arturia herself, then it still leavened her spirit.

So, when she went to cook breakfast that morning, her brighter mood was noticed. "You're looking better this morning, Barghest," Harry observed as he entered the kitchen.

The blonde Fae woman nodded. "Let's just say I had something of an epiphany in a dream. So yes, I am feeling better. My apologies for worrying you. I thought I would cook breakfast this morning, if that's all right."

"Yeah, sure, if it helps you," Harry said. "But you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I know that, but I wish to this morning. We'll talk about matters over breakfast, Harry." And then, she favoured him with a smile.

She would never be a domesticated hound. She had been leashed once before. But cooking a meal for loved ones on occasion, that was nice. And it felt therapeutic. She wondered if Harry did so himself. She knew, albeit only in brief, that part of the reason he was good at cooking was that his guardians had made him cook for them. And yet, she had seen him cooking for pleasure as well as to make food.

Maybe it was because, in the end, the smell of lovingly-cooked food was one of the many scents of home. She chuckled softly to herself at the irony of it all. Fae Oxford wasn't her home. She was made to feel unwelcome there by many within the Fang Clan for her freakish appearance for a Fang Clan Fae, and then, when her curse became apparent, well, that only compounded matters.

Fae Manchester was close to being home for her, yet it was also more of her fiefdom than home. Oh, she made herself at home, and it felt like it. Yet that feeling was marred by the tragedy of eating her lovers, culminating in Adonis' death. And given how the Fae populace in Manchester followed not the example she set deliberately, but the one she set inadvertently…well, in the end, it wasn't home. The irony was, she felt more at home here, in Proper Human History and its equivalent of Oxford, than she ever did in her native timeline.

Oh, Proper Human History was not perfect by any means. If anything, it was a heavily-flawed world limping along. Humans were vicious and selfish creatures, and sometimes could be as bad if not worse than the Fae, especially the Magi and wizards. Weapons of mass destruction that rivalled or even outmatched anything magic could cause had been created, and waited to be unleashed. Wars still took place, despite the horrors of the World Wars. And this was not a world where the chivalry she admired had much of a place.

Yet that was not all there was to the world. Humans were capable of great things. They'd walked on the surface of the Moon, sent automatons to distant worlds, created medicines that rivalled or even surpassed magic's potential, and the art and culture they created was above and beyond anything her people could be bothered to think up. And in Harry, she saw something of the best of humanity.

Maybe that's why she latched onto him. He reminded her of Ritsuka Fujimaru in some regards, albeit without the naïveté. It was telling that, after she first appeared in Ramsay Nyder's Workshop and she fell unconscious, Harry took her home to protect her, and despite seeing her memories, decided she was worth helping.

How ironic, that she, Barghest, former holder of the Tam Lin Gawain title, was more at home in Proper Human History than in her native Lostbelt. And yet, here she was, feeling right at home here. She even was beginning to have a sense of family here she never had in her Lostbelt. And maybe she could get more.

She glanced furtively at Harry as she cooked, before a smile touched her lips. Yes, she was a hopeless romantic. But maybe they could make it work. And they could all be happy…

CHAPTER 13 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Barghest has had a talk with Caster Arturia, and Barghest has accepted her new life and possible love. However, the next chapter will probably be a timeskip to just before the events of Fate/Grand Order.

Now, Caster Arturia's little homing beacon is meant to guarantee her being summoned by Barghest, but before the next chapter, I'd like to discuss the Masters in this story (Harry, Delphi, Barghest, Hermione, and Ritsuka: Melusine won't be summoning anyone for fear of summoning Aurora) and their Servants. I'm going by the usual Nasuverse rules that, if no catalyst is present, Masters summon Servants that are close to them in mindset and temperament. To whit…

HARRY: Harry tends towards Servants who have a relatively heroic and altruistic mindset. Not always traditionally so, but, by way of an example, he'd be more likely to summon Saber Arturia and her knights than Gilgamesh or one of the Hassans (with King Hassan being an exception). But he'd also be able to summon EMIYA or Muramsa because of not-dissimilar mindsets, or even Medusa or Medea, given their own damaged pasts. He'd also have a soft spot for kiddy Servants, especially those with tragic pasts, so Jackie, for example, may get an adoptive father. He'd also be more likely to summon dragon or serpent-themed Servants.

DELPHI: With her gremlin energy, Delphi is more likely to get more chaotic or whimsical Servants. Oda Nobunaga, the various Oni Servants, Nero, Tamamo Cat, Astolfo, Charlemagne and so on. Like Harry, she'll also be more likely to summon dragon or serpent-themed Servants.

BARGHEST: As an admirer of chivalry and the Knights of the Round Table, Barghest would be inclined to summon the more valorous Servants, especially the Knights of the Round Table. However, her nature as a Fae hound also inclines her to summon inhuman Servants, or those with bestial or inhuman elements (Tamamo, Atalanta, etc). It goes without saying that she could also summon Servants who only existed in her Lostbelt: Caster Arturia is guaranteed, but Morgan, Baobhan Sith, and Vortigern are also possibilities.

HERMIONE: While more of a supporting Master, she'll be more inclined to summon Casters and intellectual Servants like Nikola Tesla, or creative ones like Hokusai. As with Harry, she also will summon kiddy Servants. Considering how well-read she is, and that she may be a fangirl of certain historical figures, well, a few surprises may be in store.

RITSUKA: Bog standard gacha luck, but tending towards traditionally heroic Servants, or else Japanese Servants. Main bond is with Mash, though.

So yeah. That should give you some idea of what I'm going for.

Before I go onto answering the reviews, I should point out that this is the last chapter written for now. However, we begin the Chaldea-centric chapters from the next chapter, which is already partly-written, and I hope to have this fic (at least the part up to the Fuyuki Singularity) finished before the end of the year. I hope you enjoyed it so far, regardless…

Review-answering time! ZLC genesmith: I try to do my romances slow-paced, or else partly or even fully-established somehow. And Barghest deserves some love. I was trying to balance her being a hopeless romantic with her scars from her curse and what it forced her to do.

Also, yikes, how long has it been since I've watched The Lion King?

Old steamer: While he will still have a somewhat vanilla personality in my story, he will have some texture in it too. I'm using the anime and manga as inspiration, along with elements of Fragments of Chaldea and Fate: Sunny Order's equivalents of him. Also, apparently, Zelretch is only a Dead Apostle in Tsukihime branches of the Nasuverse, whereas in Fate, he gained immortality in other ways. I only learned this recently, so Zelretch is a vampire in all Nasuverse stories I have written prior to this one. I don't think Crimson Moon was any influence on the conflict between wizards and the Magi, but at the moment, they're in a tenuous peace.

No numbered annotations this time.