Not-yet-summer resort: III
Her blade slid into the gut of a mighty beast. It screamed in pain, then fell silent.
Her hand grabbed a man's throat before clenching. Blood spurted, drenching everything red.
In front of her, rising from the pool pouring from her wounds, a howl raised.
She watched it all, experienced it all, with a face blank and uncaring.
How many times had she tried to 'understand' humanity?
By slaying monsters, thus showered in adoration.
By making monsters, and endorsing terror.
By protecting humans, and thus being called a saviour.
And by killing humans, thus…
Being called 'a monster'.
As she stood amidst the blood and gore, the seaside town came to her mind again.
Her teacher had said 'understanding is bred in suffering'. Yet she was no closer to that understanding than all those years ago.
Something grabbed her chest, a dark emotion she named 'grief'.
How foolish. She had been born of a monster, and so, how could she understand human emotions?
Yet, that old desire still burned, and burned brightly.
The words passed her lips, as she sunk to her knees.
"I want to know my mother."
The journey had been relatively short once they actually made it towards the elevator, though the encounter with the God was still fresh in his mind, he suspected the same was true of everyone else when, especially given the impact the man had for the short time in which he had spoken.
Something decidedly off about the way they looked and the way they spoke, almost softly for a man who was painted up in tribal looking tattoos and adorned in rags. Doubly so when they went falling from the sky, yet even as odd as that was it was still little when compared to the rest of their time thus far.
There was certainly something decidedly off about this place in general, even if he didn't include the fact Ash was now a child with regressed memories and the fact that a majority of the Servants had been whisked away to this place without any warning to even them, the fact they were all so calm despite the fact they were kidnapped was strange.
Really strange.
Not to mention the time differentiation.
Setting all of that aside, and it was all very weird, this place was almost too welcoming for them. He wasn't sure why that was but he felt at ease here, almost approaching a state of being relaxed as though he was walking around in a location he had lived in for years, the sense of security that came with being familiar with a place, something that he only just got around to feeling when in Chaldea.
Yet this place managed it in less than an hour.
Medusa was right, there was definitely something more afoot here.
Solaire came to a halt and then turned to face them, standing to the side and gesturing to the wooden door in front of them. "This is the elevator that shall lead you towards the office of the resort Director, I'm certain that if she is awake-" he cut himself off and his jaw clamped shut, as though realising what he had just let slip.
Ritsuka furrowed his brows and stared at the man with a long silence.
It continued until the sun warrior awkwardly cleared their throat and then started again. "This is the elevator that shall lead you towards the office of the Director. She will be there to answer any and all questions that you have, in the event that she does not…please return to me and relay the concerns, I shall see what I can do." he offered with a friendly smile, Ritsuka got the feeling that the man really did mean that offer as well. That was good, then again…
No, he wasn't going to start being distrustful of everyone he met.
He wasn't going to let his encounter with Seath turn him into that.
He'd take Solaire at his word until he had reason to do otherwise.
"Alright then. I hope it won't come to that though." His reply was met with a slow nod of the head, Solaire silently answering his statement with their own affirmation, likely hoping for the same thing as well. With that, the Saber turned away from them and started to move away, once again pausing just next to Medusa and sending her one final look with slightly furrowed brows.
"...Hmmm, I wonder…do you have any siblings, perchance?"
Medusa seemingly paused at the question, giving a slow nod of the head after a second or two of silence. "Two."
"Ah, I see." Solaire looked mollified by the answer, letting out a gentle smile and turning his head. "A great deal of sense, nevermind my prying then." And with that, he moved right past the ground while offering a wave to the others and further off into the park.
As he departed around the corner, two of the tall looking golems stepped into view and made an about turn to face them, the darkly armoured figures marched towards them with swords held at the ready but made their movements slow and deliberate, like approaching a cat without trying to scare it. Within a few feet of them, they abruptly stopped and held their position.
The one on the right spoke with a metallic echo, a voice that was bereft of emotion. "Current Assignment: Escorting VIP's to Director's office. Commencing objective."
It didn't take a genius to figure that he and the others were the VIP's.
A quick glance to the others and they all offered him a single nod of the head, with that they turned about and moved towards the door, Mash took point and with a gentle shove opened it up and stepped through first, turning around to gesture him through. With that, they funnelled through the doorway and into the narrow space, a circular room without much in the way of anything beyond a straight shoot upwards.
Ritsuka glanced up, a frown coming upon his features before looking back down and raising a brow, the floor was comprised of smooth planks of wood with thick ropes at each side of the room extending upwards in as close to a square shape as they could manage in here. By the looks of things, it seemed to be an elevator but he didn't see much that would trigger-
The floor jerked with a sudden noise, Ritsuka stumbled for a moment and whipped around to see Ash pull his boot off a small panel in the dead centre of the room, the gentle click as the panel rose back up coupled with the innocent face on the Saber was just enough that he relaxed his posture.
"Did I act too forwardly, Master Ritsuka?"
"No, not at all." He replied quickly, waving his hand from side to side and shooting a thankful smile to the younger boy. "Glad you did otherwise I would have been looking around for a button or just shouting up and waiting for a response." he joked aloud but that was more or less what he would have done, even glancing towards the panel he could barely even see it now with the poor lighting in here.
Ash's face lit up with a beaming smile as though he had just said something utterly profound, just as quickly as it arrived it vanished and was replaced with the stone cold neutral line as previous. The shift had been as jarring as it could have been and very nearly brought a frown to his face, though that was nothing compared to Boudica who had watched the interaction and was now looking deeply thoughtful for the whole thing.
Her eyes danced between Ash and himself a couple of times before they turned away from them, no other indication that she was giving the matter much thought save for the light hum.
Another intrigued noise came from the direction of their guard, he turned to see Gareth looking between the two of them, hand on her chin and a slightly narrowed gaze about her. She must have sensed him staring as she quickly turned and faced him, offering a small wave before she went back to inspecting the knights.
The interest was enough for him to get curious. "Something catch your eye?"
"Hmmm. It's the patterns." Gareth explained quietly, gesturing between the two knights a couple of times. "It reminds me a little of the celts, but there's nothing when I look at them, no information in the throne or anything, but then again this sort of information wouldn't really be known to me until I find out who made them…" she admitted with an awkward chuckle and scratching at the side of her head.
He spared a glance towards the tall knights once more, the darkened armour with pointed helms, big rounded shoulder pauldrons. He wasn't entirely the best person to ask when it came to armour themes because until he started meeting Heroic Spirits, he'd have mostly put all of them down into either European or Japanese and that would have been the extent of it.
Bringing his shoulders up and down, his shrug showcased his own ignorance on the matter, the helmet looked pretty viking like but then he looked at all the swirling patterns carved into the front of them and recalled something to do with the Celts preferring that sort of art, so really he was a bit stumped as to what it was actually based on.
Either way, they seemed to be content with just standing there in silence.
He blinked a moment, the rolled his eyes and slapped his face with his hand, turning his attention onto the actual Celt in the room and calling out to them. "Hey, B-erm, Rider?"
Both Medusa and Boudica turned towards him.
He internally cringed. "Red headed one, I meant. Sorry."
Medusa gave a wordless nod and turned back to standing on a silent vigil while Boudica raised a questioning eyebrow at him, though it soon gave way to comprehension as he pointed towards the golems and spoke up.
"Are those things Celtic style?"
Boudica turned on them with a mildly intrigued look for a moment, then furrowed her brows a little as she looked them up and down, placing one hand on her hip while the other pinched the underside of her chin and humming in a slow and thoughtful way. A few moments of this eventually came to an end as she turned back to him and shrugged. "Not every tribe was the same, most had their own cultures…but the patterns on the armour certainly seem to have been influenced, though I would say you would have better luck asking one of the Irish Celts."
So any of the Cu Chulainn's.
Well, the admittance that they were vaguely Celtic was enough for him, turning back on them with a furrowed brow but little else.
He stepped away from the golems and towards the direction of Mash, coming up beside her and briefly looking over his shoulder towards the golems before glancing back to her, she caught his eye and stepped closer towards him, the mental link activating between the two of them a moment later.
'Is something wrong, Senpai?'
'That's what I'm trying to figure out…rather, there's a lot wrong but there's a lot that isn't wrong in the more traditional sense.' He replied back, his own words confused him as much as they confused Mash, her brows slightly furrowed. 'I mean, loads of Servants get kidnapped but you don't follow them and then expect to walk right into a theme park of all things.'
Mash's lips pursed, a brief flicker of unease and then a slow nod of the head. 'I believe I see what you are talking about, Senpai…and then what was done to Ash-san, it does seem to be odd. There are many things which are out of place to me but then I can't feel any ill intent, it is almost as though I never left Chaldea.'
'It's too relaxing, you mean?' He surmised, bringing his hand up and rubbing the back of his neck, briefly pausing as he glanced at the first filter of light to dance across his eyes from the open window they passed in the tower. The short view was enough for him to see the full extent of the inner fortress and it brought him up short, as though it was divided into multiple sections with each being more different than the last.
His lips parted a little, a few blinks, then the view was gone just as quickly as it arrived.
'And it really doesn't feel like it should be relaxing…Even the Director seemed to get relaxed too quickly.' His eyes sort hers out, he raised an eyebrow. 'You saw how long it took for her to get used to that Christmas thing and that was planned by the Servants, not to mention Marie was pretty important with all that…but then a few minutes here and she's cracking jokes at my expense?'
Admittedly that was an odd thing to complain about, he saw the flicker of doubt in Mash's eyes as she tilted her head. 'I…suppose? Though maybe the Director is trying to keep herself calm? I believe that the doctor called it a coping mechanism for when you get stressed. Like you sometimes make jokes or references, Senpai.'
That gave him pause.
That was something of a pretty big hole in his theory, at least on the part of the Director.
'Okay, yeah, that's fair enough. Suppose it's telling that I'm more at ease when the Director is freaked out…But yeah, I'd have thought some of the Servants would have been more stressed but then again, they've been here for a couple of days according to Altera.' Sighing, he pulled his head back and stared up as they ascended towards the apex of the tower, he could see the ceiling getting closer and closer at this point. They'd be there soon enough. 'Might just be me though…especially with what happened to Ash, I think that soured my mood a little.'
'I…I understand, Senpai…seeing Ash-san like this is strange and I don't know what to feel about it.' The slow admittance from Mash was reassuring but not in the way he would have liked, his head came down and was greeted to her own troubled expression, glancing at her feet and then closing her eyes. 'He said such terrible things and made such…hearing about how he described his younger self and then suddenly being forced into it without realising it…I don't think he would like it.'
Wasn't that the understatement of the year?
To say Ash didn't like his past self - or Gawyn - would have been selling it short.
'No, I don't think so either.' Another understatement 'But I'm going to give whoever did this the benefit of the doubt that they didn't know it would actually be this important to Ash, though I can't really imagine why he alone was turned into a child and the others were left more or less the same but…Just considering it to be a honest mistake.'
He could tell his words had some impact on Mash, the girl shot him a worried look as her thoughts started to filter through the link. 'What if they did it intentionally?'
She gave voice to his own worries in a way he could understand, with deep levels of apprehension projected across the two of them. He grimaced ever so slightly and turned his eyes onto the other three Servants who accompanied them beyond Ash, his eyes moved over each of them before returning to Mash.
'...Then I'm not going to be as diplomatic and I'm not sure how much longer I'd be able to keep it secret.' His grimace deepened further, answering the growing pensive nature of the Shielder. 'Gwynevere has enough problems with her family as is, both Gwyndolin and Faraam don't like her all that much right now and Faraam seems to like Ash well enough but I doubt he's going to be pleased…even without the problems that would cause, it's more for the sake of Ash's privacy. He knows but he's made little effort to openly disclose his family matters.'
Pausing, he brought his hands up and rubbed away at his temples, sighing lightly to himself as he did so. 'If he doesn't want it discussed, then I won't speak of it. It's ultimately his choice but seeing him like this? Just…hope for the best and prepare for the worst at the end of the day, that's all we can really do.'
Coinciding with the end of the conversation, the lift ground to a halt at the summit of the tower with the gate door sliding to the side and opening up the walkway before them, as well as another figure stood on the passage right before them, cloaked in silver armour with pale white cloth draped over their shoulder and an arrow like helmet pointed towards them with a white plume jutting from the top, the figure stood silent with both hands rested on a greatsword.
Ritsuka frowned a little as he took a step forwards, the first off the elevator initially, but then found himself very nearly shouldered to the side as Ash moved before him, raising his hand and blocking him as they took point, advancing with their sword dragged by their side before coming to a halt and swinging it around, raising the tip of the blade pointed towards the figure.
He expected Ash to question them, instead they kept themselves silent and offered nothing in the way of a conversation, neither one of them did so much as twitch. The knight didn't so much as even react to the weapon pointed at them nor did they shift from their rather casual stance of everything.
The helmet of the knight turned in his direction, then moved past him and towards the others before a low noise echoed out from behind the helmet. "The guests have arrived. Fewer than was expected…No matter. Those who were labelled as high priority have arrived."
A rather bored tone of voice from the knight, interrupted by Gareth who moved around him and took her place right beside Ash in a similar state of readiness, once again prompting no reaction from the unnamed knight before them, though Ritsuka was starting to believe they were a Servant, there was something about them that was decidedly different when compared to the golems who stood behind him, but he couldn't much tell what it was.
"I'd ask you to identify yourself, sir." Gareth requested with a polite - if a little forceful - tone of voice, keeping her posture loose but ready. "Are you the other Saber that Solaire spoke of?"
"Saber? No. I am not her." The Servant responded rather swiftly and with a shake of the head. "I am Berserker. Solaire will not know of me, my presence was not necessary for him to do his job, thus I avoided contact with him. Lancer would have known but your surprise at my class indicates he did not inform you either."
Ritsuka blinked at the rapid fire answers he received before he could even think to ask the questions. Well, they answered them before he could even formulate them in his head, leaving him with little else to really say in relation to then, instead he leaned slightly to the side and glanced over the shoulder of the knight towards the far end of the walkway, leading towards yet another tower with this one being decidedly smaller than the last one but still at the summit of the entire fortress.
Bringing his hand up, he gestured past Berserker. "Is that where the manager of this place is?"
"Yes, she resides there." Berserker answered simply. "I am merely present to ensure that you all arrived safely and securely…I am only present to inquire as to where the others you arrived with are."
Ritsuka furrowed his brows. "...Why?"
They wordlessly turned around and the question was answered without the need to speak, instead Ritsuka raised a brow as he found himself staring at the words 'Park Security' printed in big bold letters right on the back of the armour, on the white fabric, they turned back around and faced them, with the indication that they were giving a pointed look from behind the helmet.
He shrugged his shoulders at that. "Fair enough…The Director is away and looking around the park, though you'll probably know that by now, right?"
Berserker turned their head to the side ever so slightly, as though they were speaking with someone else, then brought it back around after a moment of two of nothing. "You speak truly, she is converging towards the treasure hunting trove, I have visual confirmation of this. That is all I came for." They stepped to the side and gestured towards the door. "You may proceed towards your audience with the park manager, I doubt we shall ever speak with one another again."
He didn't even get a chance to ask anything further, the Servant's body dissipated as they entered astral form and vanished from his sight. Both Ash and Gareth loosened their postures a moment later, indicating that the Servant was well and truly gone from them.
"...Well, he seemed…" Ritsuka paused as he searched for the right words, teetering his head from side to side. They called themselves a Berserker but he was rapidly coming to the understanding that the Class wasn't actually as insane as he was previously led to believe, or there were varying levels of it. Actually, Lancelot was so far the only one who seemed to conform to what Romani had even said about the class in the first place.
"Blunt." The supplication from Boudica brought a nod of the head from him towards her, the Rider with her hands on her hips and her brows slightly furrowed. "Though I wouldn't call him rude. If anything, he seemed very polite for a Berserker, more so than one would have expected from the Class that they called themselves…though I'm more puzzled as to why Solaire wouldn't have known about him."
Ritsuka raised a brow at her.
"Recall, he said he was security as well." Boudica continued onwards, gesturing to the spot where the Berserker had been. "Apparently the same job as them and yet Solaire had never even heard of them while they claimed Lancer would have done…so I'm a little bit puzzled by that. Especially as they just casually appeared in front of us as well for what was otherwise something they could have apparently checked for themselves."
He opened his mouth to reply, then paused as he thought about it, soon shutting it again. "Alright, that's another one down for the mystery."
Turning his attention towards the door, he gestured towards the far end of the walkway. "Though at this rate, we're only putting off the meeting. This place is mysterious enough without adding in secret security guards-"
"It is not so secret." He paused, glancing at Ash as they relaxed themselves. "Those of the Black Hand were not known, only that their order existed and conducted business on behalf of the royal family for many generations before I was born. During a time in which the Queen was only an advisor to the original family." turning towards him, they offered a thoughtful frown. "Perhaps this Berserker was of a similar role? It was not expected for the knights to know those of the Black Hand and for those of the Black Hand to know many of the knights."
"You mean like a different security team?" He muttered, then hummed to himself as he nodded his head up and down. "Maybe…though it still seems a little odd. What did the Black Hand do anyway?"
Ash paused for a second, then furrowed their brows. "I do not know. I received such knowledge from Lord Gotthard and I never inquired as to why he knew of such things…" another pause, they looked around for a moment and then continued onwards. "I was asked not to reveal this information to any other than those who would command me, so I ask you to keep it in confidence. Lord Gotthard was very specific on that…He said not even the Queen herself unless she asked it of me."
"Ah, thanks for telling me." A slower response than he would have liked to have given, but he could see it for what it was. Evidently whoever this Gotthard was, there was something more about all of it than was initially seen. Especially if they were asking for it to be a secret unless specifically called upon. "But as for the situation, normally park security don't operate like that so…I'd say that either Solaire is really being kept in the dark for something which is starting to seem like it's the case."
Gareth made an unpleasant face. "This doesn't seem like the sort of thing that people should be lying to one another about, especially if they are some form of town watch. It's strange that all the members wouldn't know each other, how else would they be able to coordinate?"
"We'll find out soon enough then." With that, he turned and started to walk towards the door at the end of the path, glancing left and right to cast his sight over the great distance of the entire fortress and the view from the outside didn't truly do it justice. He slowed his pace just a little to drink in the view, furrowing his brows as he did so.
It truly was a theme park.
Great roller coasters stretched through the skyline and twisted and turned, carts travelling along them even now with figures sitting upon them, great swings falling up and down with more screaming guests, he could even spot a large water park like area in the distance which was where he presumed Gwyndolin was residing.
"...Goodness…" The awe filled hush came from Boudica as she came to a stop as well. "This is…"
"...This is something else."
"Woah…isn't this one of those…uhm…the throne told me about these." Gareth snapped her fingers several times before pointing up and making a pleased sound. "Theme park! This is a giant theme park inside a castle!" The excitement fizzled away into bemusement as she turned her eyes and looked over it once more. "Wait…why would someone even build a theme park in the first place? It just seems sort of strange to do if you had a Holy Grail…and why in the middle of the ocean? You'd never get any guests."
"Save us." Ritsuka muttered back, bringing his hand up and rubbing the underside of his chin. "Or anyone else you ended up summoning. An era completely out of the way and really the only sort of place that you can bring people to rather than wait for them to come to you…" his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his hands lowered themselves to his hips. "...Still, it can't be as simple as this manager kidnapping all these Servants just for a theme park, right?"
"You never know, protagonista." The amused voice of Da Vinci drew his eye to the flashing communicator, pulling up his wrist as the screen burst into life with the genius front and centre. "A lot of people would end up doing a lot of things if they had something like the Holy Grail by their side, some Servants adapt their wishes into the modern era as well. Changing as best they can…we all remember how Edward Teach presented himself-"
Mash visibly shuddered as though touched by something cold.
"-much as I'm certain we'd all rather forget." The woman finished, sparing a side-eye in the direction of Mash for half a second. "The point is that it could well be that the wish of a Servant was to own something like this and now they have the Grail, they're making their dream come true. It's not really beyond the realm of possibility." she remarked, shrugging her shoulders up and down before pointing to herself. "I mean…if given the chance, I would definitely create a theme park. It sounds like quite a lot of fun to me."
"Da Vinci theme park." He thought on it, then thought on it a little more, then gave a light chuckle at the image that it produced and raised an eyebrow at the Caster Servant. "Doubt the Director would greenlight something like that…Well, it is what it is though, certainly not the worst use of a Holy Grail but at the same time…" turning his head, he let out a short breath. "...Just seems like a bit of a shame though, doesn't it? We'll have to get the Holy Grail back and without it…"
An understanding nod from the Caster was accompanied with a solemn look. "I suppose, yes. Though not everyone is bound to use a Holy Grail for devilish purposes, we still need to reclaim it when all is said and done, though that's not to say there isn't something more." she raised a finger and pointed it to him. "Especially when we add on what else is happening around here, kidnapped Servants and all of that."
"Well, yeah."
"I have also been shrunk." The voice of Ash came from behind him, slightly agitated. "They have hampered my abilities with this attack and it seems they have also altered my mind…it is concerning for me. I…am worried they have also affected my abilities as a fighter." Ritsuka turned, the young blonde was staring at his palm with a troubled look on his face, then raised their eyes to meet his.
The two of them shared a silent moment, then Ash moved the hand towards the visor and slammed it back down to cover his face, straightening his posture as he did so. "If they have done so I can…only apologise for what will happen if a battle occurs and I prove to be…incapable." their voice cracked as they spoke, a faint broken tone as though the possibility was horrifying to them.
"It's fine, A-...Gawyn." He corrected himself. "We hopefully won't come to that anyway but I'll still count on you if something happens." walking past the Saber, he patted them twice on the shoulder. "Just so long as you're ready and able, that's all I need."
The helmet turned towards the hand, staring at it silently as he removed it from their shoulder, following the retreating limb before they spoke again in a quiet tone of voice. "If…If you say so, Master Ritsuka. But all the same, I shall assure you that I will improve and reclaim my lost power, undoing all the damage that has been done." they thumped a fist into their chest. "I…ask that you be patient with me until then."
"Again, you don't need to ask that of me." He continued forwards, giving them a faint smile before he moved onto the door once again. Soon aware of a presence by his side and the almost emotionless stare that Boudica was giving him, there was nothing in her gaze. He quickly turned his eyes to avoid it but he could still feel it boring into the side of his head, as though she was searching for something.
He knew how it sounded when Ash spoke, it felt worse for him because he knew where it came from.
It might well have been his reactions that were showing something was wrong.
They reached the door, he extended a hand towards it and pressed it flat against the wooden before giving a firm push. It creaked as it opened inwards, the light from behind them flooded the room as he took a single step forwards then paused as he heard a loud crackling sound like stepping on a dry leaf.
His eyes turned down and his brows furrowed as he pulled his foot up and to the side, only to raise his brows once again as he caught sight of what it was that he had stood on. Lowering himself down into a crouch, he caught the item between his fingers and stood back up, turning around to reveal his prize to the others and watching their own expressions twist in confusion as they stared at it.
"What is that?" Gareth being the first to speak, raising a finger and pointing at it with a bemused expression.
"It appears to be a…crisp packet." Ritsuka replied slowly, he himself wasn't totally sure that is what it was and yet it didn't look as though it could be anything else. Turning it upside down and watching as flakes of the last bits of crisp dropped onto the ground by his shoes, his lips thinned out as he stared at them, then held the packet close to his nose and took a sniff. "...Smells like ready salted as well."
Ash tilted his head. "Is the flavour important?"
"No." He admitted with a shrug of the shoulders, though his brows furrowed once more as he lowered his arm to his side and turned back around to stare at the room. "Just a little bit weird is all…a crisp packet in the middle of a castle just seems strange." he pushed his free hand against the door and opened it all the way, the room was illuminated further to reveal the state of it.
"...This is just weird." The comment came out before he could help himself but that was how he felt, the entire floor was covered in pillows of varying sizes and shapes, not even a trace of the original floorboards could be seen as far as he could tell and it somehow managed to get worse as well, through the ocean of soft comfort he saw what looked like a fridge standing alone near just in the room, not even close to the walls of the tower, just rising like a monolith.
"This is just…" Boudica was the next into the room, her hands fell to her hips, pulling a stern frown out as she cast a disapproving eye around the entire location. A low hum came next as she moved past him, kicking aside the pillows and only pausing at the thwacking sound which echoed out, Ritsuka turned to see that she had kicked a full two litre bottle of coca cola across the room by mistake.
Not that she could have known it was there, given that it was hiding beneath the sea of pillows.
The Rider took in a deep breath, then moved her hands up to cover her face. "...This is repulsive. Who on earth could live in this…? It is worse than a pigsty." she turned towards him, waving a hand to the room. "And I have actually seen those."
"Same." Gareth remarked as she moved in next, frowning as well. "Not that I'd really want to chastise someone for how they live but this is a bit much…there's a lot of rubbish hiding underneath these cushions so cleaning must be really hard." As if to prove her own point, she leaned down and hefted up one of the pillows in front of her, revealing a small mound of used up plastic wrappers for sweet packets, her face shifted into a grimace as she lowered the pillow back down on top of them.
Mash looked just as displeased but she was decidedly less commenting about it, though Medusa had a thoughtful look on her face as she gazed about the room as best she could, only pausing when she caught sight of him staring at her.
"...It reminds me of the lair of a beast." She answered the unasked question. "How they leave the bones of their prey littered around."
The comparison made him snort, bringing his hand up and shifting it into a cough as he turned his eyes away and looked about the room with a newfound perspective. Indeed, when one looked at it like that, then yes. They were practically walking around in the equivalent of a pile of bones and leaf litter. Literally like the nest of some great predator, or a bear.
"Fear the great consumer of smoky bacon crisps." He wheezed out, moving his hand to cover his eyes. "The one who drinks the bubbling oceans of cola and decorates the floors with the husks of the gummy bears."
He really shouldn't have been cracking jokes about it, because it was rather disgusting all things considered, but he really couldn't help it.
Clanking from his side heralded the arrival of Ash, the Saber silently turned his head and looked around the room for a few moments, then lay his sword gently on the ground before crouching down and lifting up the pillows and gazing beneath them. Not offering anything as much as a single comment as they repeated the action several more times, before finally nodding their head and bringing themselves back up.
"...You looking for something?"
"Ah, I was looking for traps or camouflaged monsters, Master Ritsuka." Ash answered him back without even hesitating. "Thus far, I see no signs of them within this room. As Lady Rider says-" he gestured towards the direction of Medusa "-this holds some similarities to the lairs of monsters, many of them would not leave their burrows undefended. But this is the lair of a creature with intellect, so I had to account for traps as well."
"...Okay."
His eyes parted from the Saber and then paused briefly as he saw something poking out of the cushions, turned at an angle and balanced rather poorly, he could tell right off the bat that it was a microwave. His brows crinkled as he stared at it, curling his lips ever so slightly before shaking his head, only to double take as he stared at the large large curved flatscreen tv mounted in the wall off to the side and the large chain link chair hanging down from the ceiling.
How he missed those when he first came into the room was a mystery to him.
A glance towards Mash, she caught what he was staring at and shifted her face into one of determination, giving a single nod as she prepared herself and moved a step forwards, shield at the ready in case something happened-
"Zzzzzzz."
His posture slackened at the loud snore interrupted by a hitch in the breathing which rumbled through the room from the direction of the chair. Leaning on his side, he raised a brow at the chair and managed to catch a glimpse of what looked like a shape in the chair but it was admittedly difficult to see on account of it not quite facing them.
"Uhhhh…Hello?" Tentatively calling out to them with a raised voice, he waited for a moment for any sort of reply. Only being answered by a mumbling followed by another loud snore and smacked lips, a faint rustling sound of cloth and the chair wobbling ever so slightly, evidently the person inside just rolled over.
"Hello? We're from Chaldea." He called out once again, more snoring followed. Shrugging his shoulders, he glanced to the others and then paused at the face of Boudica, aimed solely at whomever was sleeping in the chair, without warning she pushed her way through the fluffy sea at her ankles, shoving aside whatever else was in her way and unearthing even more wrappers and empty plastic bottles as well as what looked to be a couple of pizza boxes as well.
"I'm getting flashbacks of Drake's cabin." He remarked aloud, shuddering at the memory while Mash looked similarly sickened by the comparison but slowly nodded her head up and down.
"Fou…" The pathetic mewl came from the small little white rodent as he popped up from underneath the cushions, looking left and right with an empty sweet wrapper on their head, giving it a shake and throwing it off before pushing out of the abyss fully and jumping onto the nearest pillow. The expression on their face was as physically disgusted as the small animal could probably manage.
Once she was close enough, Boudica came to a halt and then reached out, clasping hold of the dangling chair and then swinging it around to face them.
Ritsuka raised his brows at the sight.
Unkempt chestnut coloured hair draped across the front of a rather pudgy looking face with a faint dusting of freckles sprinkled across her cheeks, a light grey baggy sweater which was clearly several sizes too large for the person wearing it but accompanied with simple logging yoga pants, all without shoes. The woman was strewn out across her little alcove chair like she was a cat, flopped out and still snoring to the world with yet another item of interest in her hand.
A game controller.
Boudica turned back around to stare at them with her brows raised, giving a disbelieving shake of the head before she looked back at the person and released the chair, taking a single step backwards and folding her arms over her chest.
Letting out a faint breath, he pushed himself through the pillows and advanced towards the woman as he did so, making a small effort to step over the top of the worst of the rubbish to avoid making so much noise, intermittently shifting between watching where he was stepping and keeping his eye on the woman. She was undoubtedly a Servant but he had expected…something that wasn't this.
"Fujimaru-kun." Romani's hushed voice came out next. "There's something the matter with the Servant in front of you."
"You think?"
"No, not like that!" The man hastily added on. "I mean the scans are getting really bad now. They just start and then just stop, like they don't want to finish getting anything out of her. The only thing we can get out is that she is related to divinity but that's it, we can't even get a Class out of her…so just be ready."
He took the warning as seriously as he could, but even just looking at the woman all of Solaire's complaints suddenly made much more sense. Well, he wouldn't know until he actually got to speaking with her.
He stopped just shy of the chair, briefly glancing to Boudica and then down at the woman, the others soon joining him as they all stared down at the figure, each of them glancing around to the other without saying anything as they came to terms with whatever was in front of them. Eventually, he opted to break the silence. "So…who's going to wake her?"
"She will wake when she chooses to."
None of them said that, a voice cold as ice cut through the silence of the room, accompanied by the sudden rattle of the chains.
As one, the group lept back - Mash taking hold of him and pulling him away as well - and turned their focus towards the ceiling, swords and the like pointed up towards the very summit where the chain of the hanging chair met the rood, he could barely make out the silhouette if he focused hard enough, vaguely human looking with what looked like long flowing hair as well, but that was about as much as he could make out.
Their voice was also relatively difficult to place, it was either a light spoken man or a deep spoken woman but he really couldn't tell by that alone.
"I'm not here to fight." The figure responded rather tonelessly to the sudden display of arms levelled against them. "...Not if you don't do anything to harm the Director."
Director? Did she mean-no, that would be silly.
He wordlessly brought his hand up and pointed towards the sleeping woman in the chair, an affirmative hum was the response he received from the person but little else. They made no further attempt to climb down the chain and reveal themselves.
"Right…" He lowered his arm to his side and then shook his head. "As for whether or not we're here to fight, that isn't my intention but…" he thinned his lips, opting not to lie to this person. "That depends on whether or not I like the answers to the very many burning questions that I have right now."
The silhouette did not respond to them, instead it didn't feel as though they were even so much as looking at him.
"...When will she wake up?"
Now it felt as though the woman was looking at him once again, it was as though he knew there was a laser pointer aimed right towards his face, though it was only for a brief second but then it vanished just as quickly as it had arrived. The attention of the speaker being sent elsewhere, a faint and almost exasperated sigh echoed out from above them as the speaker raised their voice. "Refuelling time."
Ritsuka had barely a moment to understand the words before the woman in the alcove chair rocketed upright with a jerked motion and a gasp, flapping her wildly long hair about and with wide eyes, a faint trail of drool running down her lip and onto her chin.
"Dorito time!"
Silence followed the shout, the woman blinked several times and waved her hands around before realising that she apparently hadn't caught any Dorito's, slowly she turned her head towards her empty hands and stared at them with a look of utter despondency like someone had just snatched them from her grasp, with a quivering lip she turned her eyes upwards and leaned out of the chair, not even taking notice of them.
"...Where are the snacks?"
"...There are none." The speaker responded coldly, though Ritsuka noticed the slight hesitation before they answered. "It was the fastest method of waking you…Though I can offer to bring some later, if that should appease you."
"...That's mean, Chris…" The woman sniffled rather loudly, bringing her arm up and rubbing her rather baggy sleeve over the front of her face to wipe away the drool as she did so, then lowering her head back down and pausing mid wipe as she caught sight of all of them, briefly making eye contact with him in particular and looking much like a deer in the headlights. "...Uhh…"
Ritsuka slowly raised a hand. "Yo."
The woman lowered her arm down to her side, then her expression started to fizzle out before she sent a rather sour look right up towards the silhouette once again, "...How come you didn't try and wake me up first?"
"You were informed they were arriving shortly. You still fell asleep."
A whine from the woman as she slumped back into her chair, tossing aside the games controller and then throwing her arms into a crossed pose while looking dangerously close to pouting. All while he glanced between the two of them silently, waiting for anything else to happen. When it became clear to him that they were done, he cleared his throat and started again.
"Yeah…so, I'm Ritsuka Fu-"
"Ritsuka Fujimaru from Chaldea." The woman cut him off before he could finish, her eyes shifted to each of the people as she continued onwards. "Boudica of the Iceni, Sir Gareth of the Round Table, Medusa of the Gorgons, Mash Kyrielight of Chaldea and…" she came to a halt as she stared at the last figure, furrowing her brows slightly. "Hey…why is your helmet down?"
"To protect my head?" Ash answered slowly.
"Boooo." The woman pouted even harder, then waved a floppy sleeve towards him. "Take it off, Gawyn."
"...Why?"
"...Don't question it."
"No, wait, no." He stepped forwards and brought his hands up, the focus of the woman shifted away from Ash and towards him, he didn't even know how she knew all these things. "First thing I want to ask is how on earth you know all of our names and then there's all of this!"
A slow blink from the woman. "Why wouldn't I know the names of the guests I invited?"
"Invited?" Ritsuka frowned. "You didn't invite anyone, you kidnapped them. They were stolen right out of the halls of Chaldea."
The woman frowned as though offended by his words. "I didn't kidnap them!"
"Yes, you did." The silhouette - Chris - interrupted with the same bored tone. "There was no consent before you took them here."
"Hey! Fine!" The woman growled, "I forcibly invited them."
Ritsuka squinted. "That's just kidnapping…alright, fine…" he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "...Just…Who even are you anyway?"
A wide smile split the woman's face as she nodded her head up and down. "Finally, you're asking the important questions-"
"The other questions are just as important." Boudica remarked as she loomed closer towards the woman, they briefly glanced at her before they seemed to retreat further into the alcove chair and narrowed their eyes ever so slightly, giving her a look as though there was something the matter.
"...My natural enemy…" She muttered in a low tone of voice.
Boudica just looked at her as though she had said something stupid, having clearly caught the comment and then raising her eyes up and narrowing them at the faint rattling of the chain. Sure enough, when he looked he noticed that Chris had lowered themselves further down the chain though were still obscured by shadow, he wasn't sure when they did that but it had to have been when Boudica closed in.
"Anyway." The woman cleared her throat and started again, dragging her arms up and spreading them wide, the long sleeves hanging down. "I am the illustrious Director of Not-yet-summer resort! Hanleth, the-"
She cut herself off with a yawn, a rather loud one at that.
"-great Goddess of Bliss."
He had…never heard of her in his life.
Looking left and right, he saw similar looks from the others and winced at that, bringing his eyes back to the Goddess as her confident expression started to falter, then her hopeful eyes fell onto Ash for some reason, only to be met with silence from the smaller Saber, her arms dropped down and her confident expression vanished entirely. Replaced only with a disappointed frown.
Her arms dropped back down to her side as she blinked slowly.
"...Seriously? How come you don't even know me…?" Hanleth muttered in a tone of voice that he couldn't quite place. "...Well, nevermind. I can also introduce everyone else."
"There is-" Chris barely got a word out before Hanleth leaned forwards and sent a smirk towards the figure.
"This is Chris, my captain of the security here at Not-yet-summer resorts."
Chris exhaled, then loosened their posture on the chain and slid right the way down until they landed atop the chair, moving from out of the shadows and into the light.
Ritsuka's brows shot up his head, then snapped his focus away from the figure and onto Medusa, double taking between the two of them.
It was hard not to.
Given that they were virtually identical to one another.
AN: This is it.
My final chapter.
I shall now go on break until next year.
See you in [checks clock] a weeks time.