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"Master, you're doing that scowling off into space thing again" Lancer leaned on his hand, watching Hakuno glare at the wall of their room, "What's wrong?"

Hakuno gave a long sigh, her eyes softening as she looked over at her companion. "I can't get what Rin said out of my head," she admitted softly. "About me being not human. If I don't address it…"

"It'll eat away at you" his Master was surprisingly anxious behind that deadpan face of hers. "Well, we've already pegged the Classes of our opponents as best I can tell. Perhaps we can use today to figure out what we can do about little miss red's words."

"The Matrix hasn't updated for either though" Hakuno frowned "Neither Lancer nor Berserker are-"

MAXTRIX LEVEL 1 UNLOCKED

"..."

"..."

"...The Moon Cell is really petty for a computer".

"You said it, Master".Lancer gave a scowl at the ceiling despite knowing full well the Moon Cell could not care less about any opinions they formed about it. He turned his attention back to Hakuno. "So, with that fixed, what do you want to do?"

"... I'm… not sure. Maybe Rani or Rin would know?" Hakuno was hesitant to overly rely on the girls in the nurse's office. She didn't want to endanger them by asking for too much help.

Lancer gave a considering hum. "Now that they're out of the Grail War, they should be in less danger. So long as they don't be too obvious about helping." It wasn't against the rules, and even if it had been he was fairly certain everyone was cheating in this Grail War. Technically, the cards Hakuno had given him were an 'outside item' that would almost certainly be deleted should the deck ever spend too long outside of their room. Hakuno seemed surprised at Lancer's statement addressing her unspoken concerns. He grinned wolfishly at her look. He wasn't some empty-headed fool with only muscle for brains after all.

Path decided, the pair headed out of the room towards the Nurse's office. Both girls inside were awake and slowly recovering. Hakuno greeted them politely before gathering her courage. "I wanted to know. Who am I? The statement about not being human… my lost memories…"

The two bed bound girls looked at each other before Rani spoke, offering a small dagger pendant. "This can absorb data from anomalies left when the SERAPH creates an Arena. Perhaps you may be able to uncover something?" Hakuno accepted it gratefully, but Lancer's eyes narrowed. There was something off about Rin and Rani's expressions. Concern certainly. But something else. They were leaving some details about this offer out. Something they both knew. Their scent was curdled sour with guilt. Yet they did not seem to have malicious intent? There was a possibility of something going wrong with this pendant most likely, yet neither believed that case would occur. Lancer didn't like it. Made his hackles rise. But without a solid argument, he grit his teeth in silence. If he protested, Hakuno might believe him and not chance the dagger and whatever it did. But then this problem would continue to plague his Master and Lancer would never forgive himself for that sort of poison.

So, they left the Nurse's Office behind and headed to the Arena. It was a small comfort that even on full materialization Lancer smelled no trace of either of their opponents. It would be challenge enough to be wary of whatever Rin and Rani were colluding. It made no real sense. They had no reason to harm Hakuno, yet they had hidden something. The spear in his hand flared, leaving a trail of red light as it tore through the enemy programs.

"Are you alright Lancer?" Hakuno of course was not going to just let the matter sit. Lancer hadn't exactly been subtle, and she was just as stubborn about helping in this partnership as he was.

What could he even say to her? It was a small fortune to see a glint of one of the anomalies that they'd been looking for. "Found what you wanted Master." He couldn't bring himself to lie to her. So, he distracted her instead. Hakuno gave him side eye, but she still stepped forward to examine the light as planned. Lancer knew Hakuno was never one to pry for secrets despite the stubbornness. Hers was a considerate nature, and that fact just made him feel lower than abyssal depths of the SERAPH He watched her hand reach forward with the pendant. Hakuno's hiss of pain had him instantly in motion, though the instant passed just as quickly as it had begun. "Master?" Lancer hesitated, not feeling entitled to the very question he had just evaded.

"I'm alright Lancer. It stung a bit, and I've got a nasty headache now. But it's nothing I can't cope with. If there was data though, I don't think my mind was able to process it." Hakuno rubbed her temples. "I guess we'll have to see if there's any other way to salvage the data."

Lancer sighed in relief. He could deal with a static shock and a headache. The latest glitches had been worse than that. It still didn't sit quite right in his gut, but at least the possibility of worse was gone.

"So… all you got was a headache?" Rin's stare felt like it was going into Hakuno's soul as the three women conferred in the nurse's office. Rani and Rin were both still bed bound. And shared a carefully neutral expression on their faces.

"I don't know if I did it wrong or what. But any data I got from the knife wasn't in a format my mind could understand it. Gave me a nasty headache." Hakuno nodded.

"That knife can absorb anomalous data" Rani began "However the overflow and influx would kill the brain."

Hakuno blinked.…what? What was Rani saying? Kill?

"What did you just say?" The voice from beside her was an echoing snarl. There was a thrum sound and the nurse's office filled with red light. Lancer stood there, visible with weapon in hand. His spear was practically aflame with ominous power. "You betrayed us?"

"No, we wouldn't have given this if we hadn't been sure. Hakuno, you don't have a body," Rin was quick to start talking. Realizing just how thin a thread her and Rani's lives hung on. Her eyes, pupils narrowed to pinpricks, never left the glowing tip of Lancer's spear.

"…I…" Hakuno could barely formulate thought at this point, it felt like her world was slamming into place and crashing all around her simultaneously.

Rani gave what was supposed to be a reassuring smile. "You mentioned having issues with your memory. And some trouble during prelims. It is likely a disconnect happened there".

This stopped Hakuno's thought spiral, "Disconnect?"

"Your soul got separated from your body. But thankfully you know two top tier hackers that can look into reestablishing that connection for you" Rin crossed her arms "It's not like we can do anything else from here anyways." At this, the ominous red light faded, and Lancer vanished from view. Though Hakuno could feel he was still seething, muttering various curses and threats under his breath to show just how he felt about the whole situation.

Rani finished the conversation. "We can also look into your opponents for you. Not getting in their way of course. But there are no rules against our assistance there". Hakuno, overloaded at this point, could only nod her thanks and retreat to the privacy of her room with Lancer. It was… a lot to process.

Hakuno's gaze landed on her Servant, visible once more as he stewed in his chair. "We'll get you sorted out Master" he finally spoke sighing, and almost visibly shoving his fury down. "I may not like the methods they used, but if I can do something that helps you, then I will."

Touched, she gave him a smile. They'd still need to go back into the Arena after this, but that could wait until tomorrow. For now, she had to take time to process her… did it count as a death?

He could see his Master getting lost in depressing thoughts again. Angry Lancer might still be, but he was not going to allow that. Best to distract her again. "Hey, Master, I just realized something!" Lancer had a mischievous gleam in his eyes, "If you're a spirit disconnected from a body then you're basically a Servant now! Does that mean I get to have a turn being the Master?" Hakuno couldn't help but snort at the exaggerated look of puppy dog excitement on her partner's face "I'm serious! Look, I even have my own fancy schmancy red tattoos!" He tugged up his sleeve to show markings just as red and vibrant as her stigmata command seals.

"What the hell are those?" Hakuno could tell they were important but knew they couldn't be Command Seals. Even if a Servant had been a Master in their lifetime, there's no way that the Moon Cell would allow them to keep the Command Seals when summoned.

"Maybe I'll tell you later." Lancer smirked playfully before sobering up again, "For now though, there is a serious topic we need to talk about."

"What's that?" Hakuno worked hard to keep any trepidation out of her voice.

"That disconnect… it offers a potential tool to help you win. To keep you alive long enough to get reconnected. If you're able to survive data backlashes that would kill a human mind, then we can find new hacks to utilize against our opponents. New tricks that nobody else could perform without eliminating themselves." Lancer's expression was intense "We're the only ones who'll have to do something like a two on one, I guarantee it."

"It's technically a three-way free for all." Hakuno protested weakly.

"With our luck, do you really think it's going to turn out that way?" Lancer gave her a flat look, drawing a sigh from her lips as she relented to his point.

"Fine… Alright Lancer, let's start scheming."