HELLO Happy Jalter Friday my readers and oomfs (at the time of publishing). This has been a long time coming in terms of an update and between Uni and other projects, it was a real grind to edit for completion. The reason that this feels late (at least to me) is that I have since started a bunch of one-shots for Jalter as other projects. Two more of which are completed and waiting for collaborators of sorts (they'll be worth the wait I hope). I've only just finished another that hasn't gone through any editing phases, and yet more are on the way for my seemingly annual Christmas stories. However, this work is still always at the forefront of my mind, so this publication is more or less the result of chipping away at it slowly among all my other projects.

The last chapter, well the last two chapters have been very much an action thriller as I unveiled more of the mystery of the ongoing story here. This chapter, as well as the next, are going to serve as a bit on the more introspective side for our main pairing here, but it will be in terms of pacing, winding the action back down for more character-focused work. This is going to build up to one of the ideas I've had in my head for years and if you haven't seen me complain about on Twitter (x) or anywhere else, I'll just leave it as a surprise for when this story gets there.

This chapter mostly focuses on the fallout of what's happened so far.

As I said above, what is likely to come next is work on my Christmas story and finishing up my Valentine fic, while again chipping away at the editing of both a newer one-shot and of course the next chapter in this long ongoing series.

Once again, I'm AGeekyWriter on pretty much all platforms where you can watch me re-tweet art, complain about my work, and fail miserably at flirting and simping for cosplay and goth girls lol. I also co-host a movie podcast CheapSeatCritics on YouTube and various other audio platforms where we review movies to a ridiculous degree.

Till next time everybody, I'll see you star side, and please enjoy (hopefully lol) the beginning of the latter half of this overly large project XD.

Also Trigger Warnings: Elements of PTSD


###Ritsuka Fujimaru###

Air suddenly burned like hot coals into his lungs and his eyes went wide with a sudden piercing headache. He didn't remember much of anything. But he definitely remembered being swallowed…or was it just being enveloped by a cold dark? He remembered that he couldn't breathe.

His head was hurting.

God did it hurt…

It was searing like someone was drilling into his skull.

Then it suddenly stopped, as that fresh air filled his lungs. His blue went wide with a start as he was suddenly in someplace very familiar. The noises and small talk. The announcement of 'no smoking' was playing on a repeated echo throughout the airport. The white tile floors beneath him were all at once something of dread and something of stability.

Ritsuka coughed as if trying to fill his lungs again, able to breathe.

All at once the memories of his last command seal reverberated through his mind. The one for Medea to use to help the others and the ship retreating in the distance as he fell away. He breathed in quickly and his blue eyes went wide. He dropped his bags on either side of him to the floor as the pain was searing like a headache.

I… died?

First, he saw his sister. Her orange-red hair was tucked neatly back into a ponytail. Far from the frivolous mess that it once had been. Golden eyes fixated on him with a tense expression, the cuts and bruises from the constant fighting were gone too. She was standing there as perfectly as she'd been at the start. The only indication something was horribly different or wrong was the way she was looking at him with equally wide eyes.

Did I?

Edmond was next; he was smiling with relief which had made him only further tormented the thoughts about the possibility of death.

Ushi and Ibaraki likewise had similar expressions of relief and worry.

He breathed out slowly and his gaze turned quickly to the person near him, almost adjacent, but standing beside him. His blue eyes met her amber ones that were standing there. They were swelled with emotion.

Far more than what he'd currently thought or felt from everyone else present only a few meters away from them. Those amber eyes were looking right at him as if he weren't real. Then he shifted a little to face her slightly.

When her bags dropped, and her sword hilts clattered against the tile; he suddenly remembered something else. Something warm in that cold that had enveloped him. Something that had burned like a warm campfire on a cold night. There was a twinge of pain in the center of his back like a large bruise had been there only moments earlier, now vanished completely.

He also saw with some finality, that what had been missing, the stump of her arm had returned to normal. The blood stains and scars that had marred her when he last saw her had vanished as if they had never been there at all. Her clothes though…still carried the story. He had little time to perceive the holes punctured through her right sleeve.

Jeanne Alter stifled a cry as she closed the short distance between them in an instant, burying her face into the crook of his shirt. Both arms wrapping around him to keep him in place, he could feel her hands digging into his back where he felt like the bruise had been.

His movement was reflexive as he kissed between the white folds of her hair, that single strand that tickled his cheek and nose as he did again. Ritsuka wrapped his arms around her and he smiled at her antics. He smiled because he understood.

Someone had saved me.

A breath of relief escaped him, and those aches and pains faded a little more.

The loop had reset.

He kissed beneath the folds of her white hair, thumbing his fingers through the holes in her jacket, his hands brushing her skin.

"Thanks for saving me," He whispered to her.

"Idiot," She mumbled against him, though he could feel the smile of her lips on him. There was a firmness in her fingers speaking to the fact that he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. He was perfectly fine with that.

He kissed her hair again, then he slid lower, and his lips brushed her forehead with a gentle kiss too. Then he looked up at the others with an expression seeing all the worried looks. "I'll admit my memories are a bit hazy…but only about what happened at the end…" He felt Alter tense in his arms, and he tightened his arms around her to hold her close. "But I still remember most of it…Right up until the fight with the Dullahan had ended."

Gudako and Mash's expressions relaxed the most first.

The tension in Alter's arms evaporated as she melted against him and she whimpered.

Worried that she might have to explain things to me all over again. Worried that I lost my memories… and my feelings along with them.

He felt her lips on the underside of his neck as she put her hands against his chest and gave a slight push. Her silent way of letting him know that she needed space again. So he released her as she silently requested.

Gudako was fishing in her bag and pulled out her white Chaldea uniform. She walked over to them and smiled a little at her brother. "You really had us going there for a moment." She laughed a little. Then her expression straightened. "Thought we lost you…I mean…it was bad little brother."

Ritsuka was quiet and then nodded. "Sorry…"

Quietly she watched Gudako hand Jeanne Alter the white jacket.

He tried not to blush as he looked away.

Jeanne Alter's jacket and swimsuit were still damaged and in tatters. He recalled then, that she had mentioned that the clothes were real, and she couldn't dispel them like any other servant might be able to do with their spiritron dress. That also meant they didn't repair like a servant's clothes normally might.

A blush formed beneath those amber eyes as she quickly snagged Gudako's jacket, throwing it over her shoulders and hunched over…covering the tatters of her swimsuit bra. There were holes there too. It left dangerously little to the imagination. She started closing the Chaldea jacket over her clothes.

Gudako chuckled only a little at Alter's predicament.

"Oi," Robin's voice came. "Keep it moving! Nothing to see here." He looked pointedly at a few onlookers who'd gotten distracted by the way Alter looked. Edmond moved to join him.

Ritsuka straightened his eyes onto his sister. "Sorry for the trouble I might have caused you."

She shook her head, some tears had welled in her eyes at that. She nudged his shoulder, "She's right, you really can be a dense moron sometimes. We won because of you, Medea succeeded."

His blue eyes went wide, and he wasn't given the time to react more to it than that. Gudako hugged him. He huffed a chuckle and hugged back, "You're damn right we won." She laughed in his arms and the two held it for a little longer.

Mash came over next to get her hug. "Sorry, Senpai…I…there was nothing we could do without falling into the fog."

Ushiwakamaru exchanged a look with Jeanne Alter first. She hugged him next anyhow. "I'm happy you're alive master! As Gudako said…it was…pretty bad. The last angle I caught of you was your head slamming into the ship's railing."

"Oh…" Ritsuku tried to imagine it. "Yeah…that would've been very bad."

The summer assassin puffed out her cheeks. "Sorry, I couldn't get you either…I was on the other side of the ship…I was…trying to move Mordred out of the way of the snapping rigging and mast that was falling…" She blew out a breath. "Sorry.

Ritsuka nodded at her, "So long as you are okay."

"Yeah," Edmond added. "I was stupid, my own shock got to me. Couldn't get to you in time. I also hesitated just a little too long as well even at the end of the rope…" He blew out a breath and came closer. Then he nodded. "Won't happen again, brother. I promise." He grabbed Ritsuka's shoulder and squeezed them.

He grinned and grabbed Edmond's arm back. Ritsuka nodded at him, knowing he would keep his promise. If not for him, he would do it for the sake of his sister. "I know it won't."

Edmond snorted, "This one though…had barely gotten her sight back." He looked down at Alter with a shit-eating grin.

She was still red from the earlier embarrassment and she did not enjoy being placed at the center of attention again. "Hey, can it!"

However, it was clear that he had no intention of stopping there. "She heroically dived in after you despite all that was going on." Edmond stepped back and folded his arms smirking down at her. "Dare I even call it what it was."

"I said, can it!" Jeanne Alter said again, rising to her feet. The white Chaldea uniform top did enough to hide her tattered clothes for the time being. Ritsuka grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back against his chest before she could get into Edmond's face.

"Yes, I may not know how or why, but I do know it was her who managed to save me." Ritsuka offered her a small grin.

Alter's nostrils flared, "Idiot." She muttered again this time more quietly. Not trying to fight the movement as she was once again near him. Her blush remained present, and her eyes still glared at Edmond. "I only did what I had to… anyone else would've done it. Your idiot sister was even planning to do it."

Edmond snorted, "Yeah, but you just had to be the hero didn't you?"

"Shut up!" Jeanne Alter huffed.

Ritsuka exchanged a look with Gudako.

The siblings were familiar with that sort of sentiment for a long while now.

A voice then cut through their reunion, confused and worried.

"I don't understand what all this is about. We just got here…"

Ritsuka winced a little.

Ibaraki bounced a little on her hips. Her eyes were staring at Jeanne Alter now in the white Chaldea uniform. Her brows knitted together, "What the hell did you do on the plane?! I thought your outfit was kinda cute and all."

Robin winced and his shoulders lowered.

There was a beat of quiet that passed.

Ibaraki's eyes bounced between all of them. "Damn it! I said something improper again didn't I…" Her shoulders slumped too. "It's alright, I need to go find Shouten anyway. I'll leave you guys to it here~"

"No, it's alright! Ibaraki!" Robin said, smiling. "We were just telling an inside joke." He walked up to her quietly and offered his arm to her. "Actually, we are thinking of participating Servfest…and…" he paused for a moment as if trying to remember something. "Well…come on I know of a good candy store, and I'll explain on the way. We'd like you to participate with us if that's alright."

He remembered that Ushiwakamaru was the one who had agreed to help her out on that front a few days ago. Robin sent her a questioning glance.

Ushiwakamaru nodded, understanding immediately. She intended to honor her agreement.

"W-what? Really?" Ibaraki blinked suddenly, eyes alight with the glow of stars. "A candy store!" She shook her head. "Wait, you want me to help out? Why? I mean this is so sudden, there is almost nothing I can probably do to help."

Arm and arm, Robin led her out, and they had all collectively missed what he'd said in turn back to her.

Ritsuka let out a slow breath and turned to Ushiwakamaru standing only a few feet away from her. "I take it she wasn't close enough?"

The summer assassin looked sullen, "No…she wasn't." She blew out a breath. "Medea had called for her but she didn't make it in time."

Before he could think of anything else, he found the ache on the back of his head formed into something strange, like matted hair from water. It felt like an itch. Even before he could tentatively have a look, or feel it, Jeanne Alter's fingers combed through his hair.

He didn't feel any pain, but his blue eyes flicked to Jeanne Alter. Her expression had seemed closed off compared to what it had been only a moment ago. She showed him the fresh blood that still matted his hair. Her frown deepened and she then looked away, "Perhaps…after I get dressed, we can go to the beach showers first?"

###Jeanne Alter###

The bathroom stall at the beach afforded her no mirror to look at herself. But she could look at her tattered black and red spiritron dress. The right side of the swimsuit bra had just holes enough to show parts of her she would rather have kept hidden. She blushed furiously at the thought of it. Unfortunately for her, the other part of the two-piece swimsuit hadn't fared much better. Even the jacket's entire back was missing as well as its sleeve, the sleeve that had been with her missing arm.

She slammed her head into the tile wall.

Stupid.

Dragon Whore.

She forced herself to breathe out slowly as she dug through her bag. There was the other set of clothes she wore when all of Chaldea was celebrating their anniversary at another summer location. It was black with gold trim. She traded out the torn red stocking too, and those black heels for the ones that would fit in this particular style.

Realizing she needed a mirror for her hair she decided she could do that later.

She started with the two-piece black and gold trimmed bikini so that she wasn't so exposed in a public bathroom stall. Next, she adjusted and wrapped a partially translucent skirt that went all the way down to her ankles. It went almost all the way around, except for her right side where it opened enough to give a view to her legs. The strings and ties from her golden-black swimsuit clothes weren't nearly as frayed as her black and red bikini set had been. She looked down at her top for this particular set, realizing that it left even less to the imagination on her chest, exposing the curves of her bosom.

She blushed again.

Whore.

She huffed out another breath.

There had been a time when such things hadn't mattered to her at all. It had all been an afterthought either to make other servants jealous or hoping that she could make Ritsuka distinctly uncomfortable. It was the same reason she'd given him a chocolate of her face. The times had changed drastically since then. Ritsuka had feelings for her, she had feelings for him. Now all those times seemed embarrassing.

I wanted to impress him.

Worse yet. The stupid memories and alarm bells in the back of her mind had only gotten worse.

Am I so afraid of it?

She grit her teeth.

This is so stupid.

Whore.

Shut up! It's just another stupid bathing suit, while I figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do with my berserker's spiritron dress.

Her fingers twitched.

Worse yet, she could already feel a sort of shift in her class, like it was much weaker without the spirit origin's clothing that she'd been wearing. Her lips started began to twist at the thought of how much more useless it could make her.

Not much will change.

Jeanne Alter didn't respond to that as she sighed. Because the stupid voice was right, again. Not much will have changed. She couldn't do much fighting for a fair portion of the previous loop anyway.

A headache started to form as she leaned up against the tile wall alone in her stall. A familiar feeling of that mana supply once more started reaching a level close to unstable. She tracked it now like a hawk since she'd collapsed the first time and had to keep track of it through all of the fighting.

Her bare shoulders slid down along the wall hugging her knees, and she squeezed her biceps harshly under her fingernails.

She ground her teeth together enough to cause her pain.

Stupid Dragon Witch. Useless Dragon Witch.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she sucked in a quick breath. Her shoulders shook silently, and she buried her face in her hands, in the privacy of the bathroom stall where no one would hear or see. She held the pose only a moment longer before finally standing upright. She wiped at her cheeks and headed back to the bench.

With that, she was nearly ready to leave. She put her tattered clothes into the duffle bag, slung the Chaldea uniform over the top of it, and with accessories in hand she walked up to the mirror out of the stall.

There were a few women that looked her way. They shared whispers that she couldn't hear. But it was obvious it had been about her. Probably. Maybe.

Already off to a great start in this loop.

She grew irritated and sent them a glare as she set her accessories near the sink. as if daring them to say it to her face.

That seemed enough to strike their opinions and bravery right out of them, as they filed out.

Jeanne Alter was at last left alone again in the bathroom. She blew out a breath and focused on herself in the mirror. There were ribbons and braids that she liked to do with particular outfits. But that sort of thing was more time-consuming. So instead she did the simpler accessories. A bracelet for her wrist. An armband for her bicep, a clip collar for her neck, connecting back to the center of her bra, and a gold chain for her exposed thigh.

She stepped back, elevating her leg a little to see, the folds of the translucent black skirt falling away just a little.

It was the best she could do.

There was a certain way she liked to wear this outfit, and not completing the look bugged her a bit.

She had to admit that changing outfits had taken her mind off the problem.

Even if it is only for a moment.

For just a moment she got to pretend it wasn't her fault. Her fingers curled quietly at her sides as she continued to look into that mirror. There was that voice laughing in the back corner of her mind at her. The voice that had known everything from the start if she was to believe the implication.

Your fault.

She slammed her fist into the tile wall and felt it crack under her knuckles.

Shut up.

Then she breathed out slowly again, knowing she couldn't just wallow in her misery here. The others were waiting for her. After another moment of adjusting her outfit and accessories to be as perfect as she could make it without the additional changes to her hair…and after swallowing a deep breath, she headed back for the door leading towards the exit in the sunlight.

She exited the bathrooms and looked off to the right.

Rituskua was standing underneath one of the beach showers swashing off the back of his head. Ushiwakamaru and Edmond cracked a joke.

All was seemingly right back to normal like it had been for the start of the loop. And every loop before that.

You're even in a bad mood like you had been back then.

Jeanne Alter hoped her irritation didn't show at the comment. She distracted herself by unhooking the Chaldean white uniform and offering it to Gudako standing just a few feet away from her brother watching him. "Thank you," She said.

"No problem Alter." She raised a brow at her for a moment, and she could feel those golden eyes picking up details that perhaps Alter hadn't done as well to hide as she might've hoped. "Are you okay?"

Her lip twitched. "I'm fine."

Liar.

Jeanne Alter blew out a breath, "For the moment anyway…" She corrected herself, knowing that even that was still a lie. "I can feel the mana supply slipping away once more. I expended a lot of it yesterday anyway."

That explanation worked and Gudako nodded, "Ushi, can you go ahead to the hotel and speak to Medea and Medusa about the problem? They might be able to procure those supplies more easily from Mordred anyhow."

Ushiwakamaru straightened up and gave a mock salute. "I'm on it Master!" She paused in front of Alter and eyed her for a moment. Then she put a hand on Alter's shoulder.

She tried not to look away and met the summer assassin's gaze square in the eyes.

"You look great Alter," Then she gave her a lopsided grin. "And, I'll see about getting some sewing materials from Medea as well to look into your black and red spiritron dress." She huffed out a breath. "It'll probably need to be repaired…."

Jeanne Alter stared for a moment. "Thanks…" She managed, her lips twisting. Those were things that should have been obvious, but she apparently had been too stupid to think about. She wanted to smash her head into the wall again. Because Ushi was right, she could sew her other clothes back together. The thread would have to be mana-infused, but that was manageable, especially with casters around.

If things worked out really well…she could even repair the original problems with its creation in the first place.

Ushi hummed and then pulled Alter into a hug.

The summer berserker was startled. "Wha~ Hey!" She nearly dropped her bag to push her back off.

"You did great Alter," Ushi whispered to her. "I think you did great."

"I…shut up!" Jeanne Alter could feel a blush rising to her cheeks. "I didn't ask you anyhow! Just go get those...stupid camping supplies!"

Ushi giggled as she stepped away. "Same as always, Alter, don't change." She then jogged off without a seeming care in the world toward the hotel.

Ritsuka shut off the water and threw his wet matted hair back. The dried blood had at last all been washed away completely. He still touched the spot he'd been bleeding from with a frown. But it slowly disappeared when his fingers were as clean as his hair now felt. He stepped away from the beach shower, his blue eyes flicked to her and she could see his expression grow tight.

"What?" She asked.

He blew out a slow breath as he looked her over, tracing her skin under the black and gold trim spiritron dress she'd donned. Jeanne Alter suddenly wished she could disappear. His voice seemed to constrict for a second before continuing on. "Nothing…you just…look wonderful."

Gudako and Edmond both snorted, having both overheard the previous conversation. Jeanne Alter hoped her glare could kill.

"Sorry," Ritsuka said. "It just…came out."

"Thanks," She whispered.

He blinked, "What?"

"I said you're an idiot! Come on, I'm running low on mana again, and I need to go to the leyline." She had crafted the sentence hoping to give him an out. She didn't want to feel like she was dragging him down again. Worse for her, however, there was that twinge in his blue eye that said he'd caught on to her.

Avoiding the subject.

Shut up.

Ritsuka hummed a little and offered her his arm.

She stared at it, feeling the weight of her three swords in one hand, and her duffle in the other. It was routine to just simply accept it. Though there was that lingering thought of him nearly dying in her arms. If she'd been more careful, it would have been avoided. If she wasn't so caught up in her own feelings she could and should have done something more.

It had made those nightmares far too close to reality.

"...I told you to ignore me. You shouldn't meddle in the affairs of an accursed witch. It will consume us both in flames."

He chuckled nervously. "It's a bit late for that isn't it? We made a contract."

You still haven't learned your lesson. He still hasn't learned his lesson.

Her lips twitched and she looked away from him. Those blue eyes were such a contrast to what dullness she'd glimpsed. She forced herself to breathe out slowly, trying to expunge those images from her mind.

He eventually will.

"...Let's just get going." She tried to grin. "Hands are full…and…" She trailed off a bit. "And well…my swords won't strap on as easily with this dress…" She looked down at her translucent skirt around her legs.

Maybe on my right leg, where it's exposed…

She blinked and looked up at him again. "I just…kinda want to get out of the sun…right now."

Ritsuka lowered his arm, though there was that familiar glint in his eye. The one she'd grown familiar enough with associated with his thinking. A sinking pit formed in her stomach knowing that he was wasting those thoughts on her. There was a gentle nod as he stepped a bit closer to her.

He adjusted his bags, freeing a hand.

She was startled, nearly jumping, as his fingers touched the nape of her neck, and slid up to cup her where her hair began on the back of her neck, his fingers digging gently into the base of her hair. Her amber eyes were wide on him now as she watched him get closer.

Like with Ushi, she restrained the instinct to…

What?

Push him away?

Pull him closer?

She restrained something as she felt his lips touch her forehead, just on her brow. Jeanne Alter fought a blush and lost. Her lips were twisted in a grimace and they slowly loosened to relax as she inhaled the smell of him. It was more salt, and less iron now. Something safer in all truthfulness compared to what it had been.

She was still stiff but there was nothing she could do about that.

"Sorry," He said again. "You're too beautiful to resist sometimes."

"Idiot…" She said, pressing her forehead down against his collar.

###Ritsuka Fujimaru###

He had obliged her request because he was too sore to offer to carry her swords or duffle for her. If he had, he suspected when he confessed to the fact of soreness or aching muscles later, or when he was struggling to move later in the day, Alter would've just blamed herself. There was also the chance that such a conversation would be used by Edmond and Gudako to embarrass both of them.

While Ritsuka loved to dish right back their mutual teasing, he got the sense it wasn't the best time for that either. He spared Jeanne Alter a glance out of the corner of his eyes, walking beside him, but not quite right next to him. Her expression was more sullen as she bounced between watching the ground and looking out at the ocean.

It was…different than the past week had seemingly been. Always arm in arm. Ritsuka had to admit that he'd grown quite fond of her bouncing between being clingy and the way she would blush when she needed to take a couple of steps away.

But at least she was happy when she was doing that.

He looked away, not wanting to appear too concerned as he watched out for her wellbeing. Something had happened to her, and they desperately needed to catch up properly about all the stuff that had taken place in their time apart before the loop reset. There would be time enough for that later especially since they were planning to head out to the camping spot a bit earlier this time around.

Ritsuka grimaced.

Is that guilt Ritsuka?

He thought about his plans to spend time with Medb in this loop to see if they might avert disasters. Ritsuka blew out a breath as he too found himself deep in thought.

I have three and a half days to hopefully get things right between us.

Ritsuka knew what Medb could be like sometimes. She would push his personal boundaries…and Alter's too if the queen of Connacht could manage it.

He blinked at the thought of using his charm, and her seemingly unending hunger to possess things, including himself, as a means of trying to discern information somehow. It would all be just to confirm that she wasn't at fault for some of the things that had happened.

She and Gilles were definitely not in cahoots. Which at least gives us something…

But the question remained; who was responsible for the attack on the hotel in the last loop, outside of Jeanne D'Arc's and Marie's room?

It was a thought he allowed to fall to the wayside as he once more hefted the bags over his shoulder, adjusting the strap and the weight. There was that sense of tiredness he was feeling himself too. He needed to take that into account because he was only human, and he was reaching a limit of some kind.

While he might not remember it, he can feel that whatever had happened had taken its toll on his body. Even the insides of his body felt sore. He touched about where his lungs would be, breathing freely, but sore. His frown deepened a little, as he thought about the mana limit on his body.

That too was like hot spikes in his body. He'd used up every ounce of it in those final seconds, and it was very dangerous for a mage to use it so willingly. It started draining their life force if they ever pushed it too far. He was certain that while he hadn't been put on empty, it had still reached the capacity to make one lethargic and put them in bed long past hours when they should have been waking up.

Ritsuka could recall that it had happened to his mother on occasion.

At last, he blew out a slower breath and tried to ignore those sore aches. He instead tried to focus on those hazy images that were present. One of the only clear memories, he could remember, was that of a loud snap. He could remember the magic leaving him expunging itself into the command spell. The toll had been near immediate, and whatever had happened right after it went hazy.

The sound though was as clear as it was deafening in his memory, like a thunderous crack that ripped through the sky.

But what had caused the large crack?

It was obvious whatever it was had nearly killed him, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten those relieved faces from earlier.

He glanced down at his chest again.

Gudako coughed and pulled the group's attention. Then she offered them a smile, probably noticing the sullen look on both of their faces."Should we stop for a late breakfast?" She gestured to one of the food carts coming up.

Ritsuka blinked and smiled a bit. He turned and raised a brow to Jeanne Alter.

She was a bit slower but she offered him a tentative smile too. It was clear that her mind was elsewhere still, but she spoke as easily as before. "Sure, that would be nice."

###

They stopped at the front of the hotel, and three familiar figures were there waiting for them. Medusa and Medea would normally have been counted among them, but chances were Ushi had come ahead to nab them.

Nightingale was there, standing quietly.

Mordred was sitting on the steps in her red jacket, crop top, and shorts. She gave the group a toothy grin as they walked up and picked herself up from where she'd been sitting on the stairs.

Emiya meanwhile had forgone his apron and people's clothes in favor of his red mantle, and waistcoat. It earned him odd stares from people passing by, but he wasn't in the mood to be subtle or care about smaller things of such a nature.

They were the ones who could now remember the loop with them that much was obvious to Ritsuka from the start.

Mordred was the first to speak, stretching her arms upwards, "Gave us all quite the scare master."

'Yeah…" He resisted the urge to scratch the back of his neck. "Well, I'm good. All thanks to Jeanne." He turned an eye to the amber-eyed woman beside him.

She kept her mouth shut and looked away, trying to ignore that red tint coming to her cheeks.

"So, what's the plan now?" Archer asked.

Gudako hummed, "Come on, let's take this inside. Robin and Ibaraki will be joining us later."

The seemingly unusual group all gathered together in the elevator which, when including all the luggage had seemed to fill quite quickly. The ride was filled with the small talk one would expect for this odd group. They talked about the final moments of the battle. Gudako and Edmond took the lead on questioning their memory as to how well Medea's spell might've worked.

Ritsuka added a few of his own. All the while his eyes flicked to Alter occasionally wondering if she might enter the conversation.

She never did.

He could tell that she was only partially listening. He didn't mind that so much, wanting to leave her a little to her thoughts. He could fill her in on the juicy details that she might've missed later. However, worry still plagued him.

Ritsuka quietly nudged her just a little.

Alter was startled out of her thoughts, she had to blink them away, her brows forming a question as she looked at his expression.

He sighed and shook his head with a small smile. Ritsuka focused on their bond, flooding it with just the tiniest strain of mana that he could spare beyond the recovery he should be focusing on. Judging by the way her expression started to form a glare, and the way her amber eyes started to narrow towards him, Ritsuka suspected that Alter shared his conclusion on that priority front.

But this was just as important too.

"I can manage at least this much." He thought the words at her with a gentle tone hoping to defuse whatever muddled feelings were still coursing through her.

"You should still worry about yourself first." Her eyes narrowed with a bit more intensity. "We are already going to have prospective mana problems again. And you need your magic more than you need a…" She trailed off a little and averted her eyes again. "Well…"

Ritsuka only eyed her. "A servant like you?" He asked gently, not wanting to scare her away more than this already might.

There was a way that she seemed to flinch as he finished her unspoken thought for her. Her mouth pressed into a line, and a grimace formed on her expression.

"So you do know why I'm here," Ritsuka stated, not as a question, but as a simple fact.

She didn't grace him with an answer and nor did he really expect her to. He'd become familiar enough with her, he'd like to think, that it made sense to him that she wouldn't want to respond to him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

There it was, the question that had plagued him since he'd first seen her at the start of the loop. He would've waited until they were alone to ask, but he got the impression that now that a bunch of other servants were going to join them for now, it would be a while.

Edmond held up a finger as the conversation moved into the hall. "The key to all this now that you are a part of our little group resistant to the time loops memory resets, is discretion. The demon pillar as we observed during the battle, giving our foe an identity, is our enemy."

"Discretion is not really my strong suit," Mordred said pointedly.

Gudako chuckled, "Discretion about whatever changes or tweaks you make to your lifestyles here." She touched her chin. "From what we observed, it has eyes everywhere here and can spy on certain aspects of our lives to keep tabs on us."

Mordred made a noise. "Tch, that's not creepy at all."

Emiya's brow furrowed, "Meaning it will adapt to changes that we might make?" His brow furrowed a bit at the thought.

Ritsuka blew out a breath, still tentatively holding on to the grasp of his bond with Alter while he spoke. It was like having to mentally hold hands while simultaneously focusing on the conversation. It was taxing, but not impossible. "Additionally, that means stick to what you normally might do, and report back to us on things of unusual or abnormal behavior."

The red archer nodded slowly. "Which is partially why, I suppose, the pair of you come by my restaurant here regularly."

The next few questions were directed back towards Edmond and Gudako.

He noted quietly that Jeanne Alter still hadn't answered him. Which, for him, was now such an obvious point in favor that she wasn't doing well. He stepped just a bit closer to her so their arms touched. Those amber eyes swiveled to him without turning her head to look at him again.

Ritsuka was patient, but he wanted to be firm about it. Balancing the understanding of her ability to express her feelings properly was very difficult for her, and the fact he was holding her to the promise that they'd sworn to each other last loop.

Something I'm hardly likely to forget at this rate.

It was like applying a quiet warmth, he'd like to think, to their bond. Just his presence and focus on it would hopefully compel her to answer in her own words.

It was another full minute when they had all gathered in that ever-so-familiar bedroom that they'd spent so much time in. There was an almost lingering disdain that filled their bond. It wasn't either pleasant or warm, cold enough to send a shiver up his back.

His eyes flicked to her as she dropped her stuff on the bed closer to the window this time. At a glance, he could see Ushi had already taken the spot furthest away, closest to the bathroom. With a large group in the bedroom doomed to grow, there was only a moment's worth of awkwardness as everyone found places to stand even while the conversation continued.

"For now, the plan is fairly close to the others. Conduct an investigation and try a new angle." Edmond blew out a breath. "That of…trying to get into Medb's followers."

Nightingale who'd been quiet for most of the conversation just observing finally seemed to unfold her arms at that announcement. "I don't know if I like that suggestion." She raised a brow "Infiltrating a cult is difficult, infiltrating a devoted one, would be even more so…" She touched her chin.

The words were unflattering to Medb's followers and were meant as such to be simple observational notes. But the truth of it was still enough to stun Mordred.

"It can't be that bad? Can it? I know the battle on the beach was…well a rough one…" She trailed off.

Gudako sighed, "We've had multiple altercations with her over several different loops." She looked towards Ritsuka. "The last one, however, might've pushed her into being a sort of catalyst for the chaos that had been caused." She hummed, "Speaking of which, it might be prudent to rehash some of our older conversations in front of her."

"In order to fool the demon pillar?" Emiya raised a brow and hummed. "That could work."

Nightingale still didn't like it. "Who would we even send for the job?"

Ritsuka could feel Alter tense beside him, as both his sister and Edmond looked his way. He grimaced a little as the other followed suit. He blew out a small sigh, "I won't deny that I probably have the best chance." Then he straightened up. "The plan is to try and find her before the beach party in the middle of the week. However, failing that, we go on the beach party day, and try to avoid larger altercations…in the hopes that we might convince her to let us join."

His sister didn't like dangling her brother as bait.

Nor, obviously, did Jeanne Alter.

Edmond hummed, "Medb's made a few passes at him since."

And it was in the quiet corner of his mind that he heard her faint voice through their still mutually upheld bond. It was a faded word that she probably sent through hoping it would get lost as the focus on the bond started to become strained. But it was enough for him to hear, and it was truly enough for him to grasp with an understanding of where she was in her head.

"S-sorry."

It was another apology. He tried not to visibly react to her statement. There was an absurdity laced within he would need to dismiss quickly. Ritsuka stepped away for a second, dropping his bags right next to hers, and grabbed her hand. The movement startled her again, and he could feel her staring at him.

He cleared his throat, "Sis, come get me when the others return." Ritsuka didn't elaborate much but he pulled Jeanne along behind him. Feeling for the keycard he and Robin used for their hotel room. It would be a while yet before he was back, plus Ritsuka had both of them.

No one will bother us.

Whether it was embarrassment or pride, Jeanne Alter didn't offer a protest until they were out of the room.

"I don't need another lecture," She muttered. There were a couple of smaller, subtler movements indicating she wanted to twist out of his grip.

He was quiet the next few steps and still his fingers wrapped around hers, just a bit more tightly. "That's not why I want to speak to you."

She scoffed, "Only you would be idiot enough not to see." It was strange to hear that word now used in the proper context when it came to referencing him. He'd grown used to it being a somewhat term of endearment. But that was not the way she used it here. Her fingernails dug into his palms, not enough, to cause him pain, but enough to reinforce the idea that she wasn't pleased.

She's blaming herself again.

His lip twisted as he slid the keycard, and the door to the other room opened. He stepped inside only then releasing her as he closed the door behind them.

She walked a few paces ahead and was squeezing her bicep, he could see the indents of her nails on her skin as she brooded in silence.

Ritsuka's mouth twitched, and he blew out a slow breath. He stopped behind her, closing his eyes only for a moment to ground himself. His own emotions were running a bit wild. He didn't even know if he had the right to do anything because he couldn't remember nearly dying. There must've been some crucial moment that he missed. Even after all of it, he couldn't be sure about it. His own nails dug into his palms at his side, and then he released them, the tension flowing outward with the heat that had gathered, stretching his fingers out.

When his blue eyes opened again, he could see the twist on her lips. The wrinkle of her nose, the horrible swirl of self-hating emotions on her expression. The nails on her bicep looked about ready to pierce the skin.

In his gut, it felt like a terrible replay as to what had happened right before she broke his arm and left.

"Jeanne…" He tried slowly.

Her eyes roamed to him, that burrowing curiosity of hers managing to override all those negative emotions swirling about her. The wrinkle of her nose faded, the lines in her forehead smoothed. Her amber eyes softened.

Rtiauka tentatively touched her fingers again, this time a bit more gently. Even if he could guess, he wanted her to say it. He wanted to formulate an argument. Something to hopefully dismiss her darker thoughts. "Why are you apologizing? You've done nothing wrong."

She grabbed his hand and turned abruptly, tugging him further into the room. He didn't say anything more as he watched her pace back and forth in front of him. He could see the quirks of her expression. "It's my fault," She started.

There was probably a litany of reasons that she'd been trying to get out. They were probably organized, and well thought out. If it was something she'd been thinking about ever since the airport, or worse since the end of the last loop only a little over two hours ago, she'd probably have it listed in the best way to present whether or not he'd agreed.

He'd only had five minutes, maybe ten to fully prepare as he finally had come around to that very same idea that was bothering her. He'd wanted to say reassurances and affirm that it had changed nothing.

But something had come over him in that split second as she brushed the white strands of her hair away and behind her ears. Her eyes sparkled as they neared the edge of tears. Her lip twisted into a steep frown and her voice seemed to crack at just those three words. Her mouth had clamped shut, like trying to close a leaking dam. It was small and short, another noise escaping from her lips, and then she inhaled a shaky and uneven breath.

Those words he'd been meditating on had fallen to the wayside, as a new feeling rose in him. It coursed through his veins like a hot fire. It set his senses alight and burned him crisp as he found himself doing something he didn't expect.

"It's my fault~" she repeated, and her amber eyes had gone wide in an instant. But whatever words she'd meant to say had clogged the back of her throat with some finality. "Mm~!" Her voice muffled the noise of surprise too and had nearly been lost.

He'd closed the distance in a blink, and he, himself, wasn't sure how or what he'd done so. He'd been so caught up in his worry, that he'd failed to notice the core origin of that worry would override what he'd wanted to say.

She is hurting.

And he hated it.

He hated every second of it.

Ritsuka's blue eyes seemed to soften and he realized what he'd done. A blushing heat rose in contrast to meet it. He ignored it and pressed on, wrapping his arms quickly around her back, and pulling her firmly and fully against him.

She made another noise, and the twists and frustrations of her expression had faded away moments earlier. Her hand on his chest curled its nails into his skin. Her eyes, filled with unshed tears, squeezed shut as her other arm was still stiff at her side.

He could feel her breasts through the fabric of his shirt pushing against him.

Damn it.

It was his only certain thought for the moment. Was it a screw-up that he'd made? It was clearly not his intention from the start. He ran his tongue along the inside of her lips, between her teeth and the mouth.

Her tongue seemed stiff like the rest of her, slowly relaxing into what had happened, as it was pushed and moved by his following around in like an impromptu tango. The blush on her lips went from ear to ear. Her lips stick was fruity and damned if the taste of them wasn't so sweetly addicting.

If it was for her lips, he would become an addict in that instant without any regret or remorse.

Ritsuka still wanted to curse himself for what he'd done. There would be no walking back out of it now.

He smiled into their kiss now, knowing she could feel that too, as he closed his eyes like her.

So much for explaining…

###Jeanne Alter###

He released his hold on her all at once and she fell backward gasping for air. Her heart was thudding in her ears and she knew she was beat red. She'd fallen onto the small desk chair, her chest expanding and contracting as she caught her breath. A thin glistening sweat had formed on her forehead.

W-What?!

WHY?!

WHAT?

She hadn't had the time to comprehend as she reached up to touch her lips sore, the touch of him fresh at the forefront of her mind. Her other hand was sore she realized as it hung over the armchair while she caught her breath. She looked down at herself. Her small top was slightly ajar. Her legs were shaking as she pressed her knees together. The necklace dangled down the center of her chest, cool against her warm skin.

Alter dared a look up at him again. There was a jumble of emotions that had rushed forward but she caught herself, biting down on her lip.

He looked just as winded as she was, chest heaving, cheeks flushed. Those blue eyes looking right back at her.

It made her own heart beat faster, her own blush run deeper. She reigned herself in as much as she could muster as found her voice, sifting through the muddle of all those cascading thoughts. Even as she finally managed to form the words to speak, he'd still beaten her to it, his voice filling the air between them, calming the rising heat and tension.

Too warm.

"It's not your fault." He said it simply and quietly.

At that, there was a flicker of anger that had started to burn away at all those jumbled confused feelings. Had he not been paying attention? Had he not been listening to her at all? Her lips twisted and she finally caught her breath. Her fingers curled against the armchair as she found her feet again.

She didn't stand as steady as she'd have liked, but she was up all the same. "Of course it is!" Her nostrils flared, "I wonder how many times my stupid inadequacy as a servant has gotten us in trouble by now!" Alter took a breath and her amber eyes seemed to fixate on those blue ones. "If it wasn't for~!"

Is he getting closer?

It was different this time enough for her to realize what was about to happen again. She'd scarcely stiffened upright when he was wrapped up in his arms again. Being pressed against him, her tongue dragged around in her own mouth by his.

The blush came to her cheeks anew, and her rant subsided in an instant as it had before. She found the words gone, no longer even bottled in her throat.

Her amber eyes were narrowed, and she tried to keep that composure…

But the feeling that spread through her.

Too warm.

Soothing and ridden with anxiety simultaneously.

Her sharpened brows started to soften, the glare in her amber eyes vanished and she squeezed her eyes shut. Her fingers curled into his clothes again, the soreness of her hand burning as she did, wanting to keep him as close for as long as possible.

As she snaked her arm around him to hold him close, her mind brought her to that floating chunk of wood surrounded by fog and ocean.

Too warm.

The way she'd pulled him and held him firmly against her. Her eyes went wide as that memory shot through her like a spark. Her grip on his shirt turned flat palm as she pushed her lips away gasping for air. Though she was careful to avoid her servant strength leaking in. It was enough for her to get distance.

Only a few inches, his warm breath was on her cheek.

She leaned away looking sideways, her amber eyes still soft.

This time he hadn't let her go, she didn't fall away. This time he guided her back to sitting down in the chair. Her legs brushed against his, her knees pressed together again as she tried to get her breathing back under control.

She could taste his blood still on her lips. Jeanne could feel the warmth of it against the coolness of her skin running over her fingers. It was like an itch that she wanted to scratch away, like the feeling of being in that demon god pillar's clutches. She could scratch her skin raw as she tried. Digging her nails into her bicep.

Too warm.

She shuddered and bit her lip.

He was leaning over her still, his arms on the chair's arm's rest, fingers over hers, stopping her fingers from dragging across her own skin.

"It's my fault." She whispered to him. "If I could've just~" She closed her eyes again and felt herself pressed against the chair. His fingers interwoven with the webbings of her hands pulling her nails away from her skin. "Mm~!"

This kiss was chaste compared to the previous too, long enough for her to feel his tongue gently pull at hers.

Her tongue was outside her mouth when they parted as she stared at him. Steam was coming from her lips. Salvia fell away between them as they parted. Her amber eyes roamed the close features of his expression. The way that his warm smile curled at the corners of his mouth. Every single way that it had done nothing to hide his blush

Too warm.

"It's not your fault." He repeated, those blue eyes seemed to remain steadfast on her amber ones, so gentle that if her heart wasn't already threatening to burst from her chest, it might've done so all over again. His warm breath on her brow, his warm fingers wrapped up in her cool ones that she still wanted to scratch raw.

She bit her lip as she sucked in a gasp of cool air. "Ritsuka…" her voice was small. The opposite of the shouting rants it had been only moments ago. She tried not to wince out how small it was now.

It's my fault.

If I wasn't running low on mana.

If I wasn't captured.

If I wasn't~

If you weren't here.

She squeezed her eyes shut again wanting to block it out. It was always such a damned nuisance just as she'd been right. That idiot was looking at her like she was never any of those things. Her brows contorted.

Is it a lie?

No, he wouldn't…

Jeanne Alter sucked in a breath, unable to move her fingers away from his hands, finding that she really didn't want to. Instead, her amber eyes settled on his blue ones less than a foot away from her. He stood close, leaning over the chair and her. She swallowed hard as she caught her breath.

"It's not your fault." He repeated quietly for her again.

She tsked and her words and denial came forward again. As if spurred by his simple refusal to acknowledge them. But it was fleeting compared to the others. She could feel their half-hearted attempts from earlier having only grown more and quiet like her own voice from earlier. They'd fallen into jumbles of useless unorganized thoughts in her mind.

She scraped and scavenged for them. "But I~!"

He kissed that away too, like he had the others. Sliding the chair back until it thudded against the desk. Her noise of protest, or noise in general had been muffled by his lips against hers again. Her body twitched, and her knees rubbed together.

There was something rising with those alarm bells now in equal measure she'd realized, and it terrified her. There was an insatiable hunger there that threatened to burn through her. Was it that fire she'd long since promised would burn him to death? When they parted again she could feel her clothes as if they'd grown tighter.

She was huffing for air, she could feel saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth. Her amber eyes tried to refocus on him again. Jeanne saw him wipe the corner of his mouth with the back of his wrist.

Her free hand was on his chest.

"It's not your fault." He'd spoken again. And this time it seemed no protests had risen up to meet it. Starkly quenched in silence in the corner of her mind.

Is it really my fault?

No voice came to the surface in response to the question. Her eyes were wide at the silence of her mind. Even as alarm bells screamed at her. Her muscles twitched under the gentle tenderness of his hold on her.

"It's not your fault."

It filled the void this time in her mind and her expression softened. And he pressed his forehead against hers, resting it there.

"Ritsuka-" She tried, her vision blurring. Alter felt the dampness on her cheeks when she opened her eyes again, blinking it away.

"It's not your fault," He said again.

She hesitated, the words seemingly foreign on her lips as if she were trying new and angular words that might hurt her jaw. Jeanne Alter blinked her eyelashes against his nose. "It's…" She seemed to shiver in the grasp of his fingers. "It's not m-my fault…" she managed.

"It's not your fault."

Jeanne Alter's fingers tightened on his mystic code. "It's not my fault…" She repeated again, this time she found her voice filled with more clarity, but still shaky. She tilted her head a little to one side, his mouth against her ear lobe, and she shivered.

His voice was barely above a whisper, but he was so close she could hear it clear as day with warm breath running over her. "It's not your fault."

This time even the shakes were gone, and she found a feeling of confidence had replaced it. She pushed him away, and he obliged, but just far enough so that she could look him in the eye. She

took a deep breath. Her expression was smoothing despite the dampness of her cheeks and blush that was still there. "It's not my fault."

It's not my fault.

The tenseness of her muscles relaxed away as she melted into the chair, and against him.

He smiled, "Good."

In his arms she was lifted back up from the chair to her feet, he was content to hold her there in another long hug. But that was short-lived as she pushed him away gently again. He abided by her request and stepped away. Though he found his arms still lingered on her.

She lifted her biceps and saw the marks she'd left on her skin.

"Don't worry about it, they'll heal up in no time." Ritsuka smiled at her.

Jeanne Alter would've smiled at that. The memory of him in her arms on that floating piece of wood came to mind again. Quiet as she let the arm fall to her side. She didn't say anything but that haunted look was enough for him to fixate his eyes on her. She put a hand up, "Just…give me a moment alright?" She blushed and looked away, "I will explain I just…" Alter trailed off.

He didn't look away and nodded.

###Ritsuka Fujimaru###

Relief was about all he could feel summed up in a single word. While it had been an absolutely unplanned way of talking her down, the fact that it worked was not something he was about to dismiss. The fact that she'd not been bothered by it or was angry at him over it, at least not yet, he was going to chop up to about the biggest win he'd had in his relationship with her so far.

He blushed when trying to explicitly not think about the softness of her lips or the way her chest had felt when pressed against him.

This whole affair was turning him into a damned high schooler again.

He touched his forehead with a small chuckle as he sat on the bed where he'd started out originally. Those amber eyes narrowed a bit towards him with just the barest hints of a playful suspicion.

"I'm relieved." He said, keeping it short. Ritsuka wasn't sure how he'd even explain the rest of those thoughts right now.

Jeanne Alter stared at him but her expression softened. "Sorry." Then her amber eyes went wide, "Not for it being my fault!" She blushed as she spoke… "Wait no-! I mean to say that I'm not apologizing for thinking it's my fault. I mean I'm sorry for…" She waved toward him with a gesture as that blush returned to her cheeks. "This. I'm sorry for…" She forced herself to breathe out slowly.

He waited.

"Damn it!" She huffed, "I wish this was so much simpler!" Jeanne stepped away and paced for a moment. "It's…" She forced herself to breathe out slowly. Then she stiffened upright as she forced herself to stop pacing, her fingers balled into fists at her sides as she stared right at him. "All I do is see you…"

Ritsuka blinked, eyes narrowing with confusion.

That blush intensified, "No, not you now I mean…you…dying." She managed at last. There was a silence that seemed to settle over the room as she spoke. "I…mean…it was too close." Alter shrunk into her shoulders and she hugged herself. "And you've seen my dreams despite…it all…" She wanted to wave it off. "It was too close." She repeated more strongly as if to impress upon him the importance of it.

While it was better than her blaming herself, it was still going to be a small problem. He nodded slowly. "I worried you…or it worried you." Ritsuka nodded again and leaned forward a bit from his spot on the bed. His blue eyes roamed her from figure to amber eyes once again wracking his brain.

Blame was one thing, trauma was another.

"That…and a cascade of…other things." Jeanne Alter managed as she settled onto the bed beside him. She blew out a breath and held out her hand between them.

He reached over and wrapped his fingers around hers.

She huffed, "The plan for Medb worries me. My mana supply problems worry me. The demon pillar worries me…and I'm worried about you, myself, whether or not we are going to get stuck here…" Jeanne Alter huffed again, and found herself bitter and angry at the thought of this whole thing.

Ritsuka smiled, "When you put it like that…it's little wonder why you're so… off-kilter at the moment." His fingers tightened around hers. "It's a lot."

"The demon pillar…" She said those amber eyes were nearly shaking when they looked at him. There was something in them that brought him both anger and worry all at once. He hadn't considered what it had done when she'd been trapped. Probing her knowledge perhaps?

The torture had been obvious when he'd gotten her to them. That too was something he'd done his best to compartmentalize. It wouldn't do him any good to be irrationally angry on behalf of her. Though as he felt his nails dig into his palm at his side, he wondered if he hadn't done a good job of it.

"I'm okay…" She whispered almost too quietly for him to hear.

It was in a voice that was less than convincing for him. However, his expression softened and he forced out a slow breath. He would accept her statement for now, whether it was her lying to him, or simply trying to move the conversation to more important matters.

She seemed to shrink a little bit.

Ritsuka's eyes softened, but retained focus and intent to listen. "Go on," He said gently.

She nodded and her fingers gripped his hand back. "While it had me…I could sense its emotion. It was coming off like waves…not unlike a servant's intent while mixing into the mana in the air or the mana that comes off our bodies with intent…It wasn't like others we faced…in previous singularities…this one…" She trailed off for a moment, nodding at herself. "It was like a vengeful rage."

Vengeful?

"It's why it hadn't killed me…it wanted to torture me…it wanted to…" She tilted her head, "Well…I think it would have killed me eventually…but it liked what it was doing. Torturing me." There was another moment as she took a breath and avoided details. "That feeling…of vengeance…it was not unlike my own wrathful flames."

Ritsuka's eyes narrowed in thought and there was once more that burning sensation in the back of his mind. The reminder from his conversation with Medb from the last loop where he stood. This was…after the time of the temple, right? Which meant…

Could it be a survivor? She'd said she knew because it was similar to that of her flames. But that could have been a coincidence right?

He mentally knocked himself upright on the head. There was no room for doubting her on that sensation of her wrathful flames. They were unmistakable in both their power and whether or not she was under duress, it was too familiar for her to not know. Ritsuka breathed out slowly and his mouth started to twist.

Had we faced it before?

It all came rushing back the plethora of conversations he needed to have. He needed to talk to his sister regarding her memories of the time temple. Worse yet, did she even remember? All of them had that conversation with Dr. Roman yesterday.

There was that image again of him smiling, in his mind.

"I…had nearly forgotten." He breathed out touching his forehead. His blue eyes swept to her and his eyes intense.

She seemed to stiffen a little. "Ritsuka?"

He shook his head, "No…there is something I learned too." Ritsuka's fingers tightened around hers. "That our memories might be far worsley affected than we originally feared…" He forced down his grimace as he met her expression.

Her fingers tightened on his hand too, and she nodded. "Go on?"

"Medb interrogated me…" His mouth twisted a little, "Well, we interrogated each other…but the point of that conversation is that she let slip something that I'd forgotten. Something that we'd all forgotten."

Ritsuka tried to recall in all detail what she'd brought to light about Dr. Roman, about the time of the temple. The potential source of where that feeling of vengeance likely found its origin. Her fingers under his hand tensed and untensed throughout the retelling of it.

He told of the searing pain when that memory had returned.

I guess we both had a lot to deal with.

There was a look of skepticism she'd given him when Gilles had saved him. And when he mentioned the plan of re-attaching his hand, and the implementation of a crest worm so that he might have mana enough, her look had changed to one of horror. He winced even as the words had left his mouth.

I'm a moron, she might've had nightmares about that.

"Stop," She said, her voice quiet.

"Sorry," He said.

"You shouldn't have done that," Her voice turned to ice and her lips twisted as she reached out to touch him.

He froze as her fingers traced the edge of his lips.

Ritsuka forced himself to remain still, and his mouth pressed into a line. The urge to apologize to her for it had happened again. But they'd done enough apologizing to each other already, and it was still morning. He wanted to laugh at himself for it all the same. His blue eyes softened on her as he let her touch his lips. "We needed it, my sister was down to her last command seal, and we needed to get you back." His mouth twisted as he found himself frowning at his own half-truth. Ritsuka blew out his breath slower. The real truth of it was so obvious to him as his heart pounded in his chest.

The fact that he would have done it again without a second thought or hesitation if it could guarantee the same thing.

His lips pressed into a line, and his lips firmed. "I…wanted and needed you back."

Her fingers froze against his lips, her knuckles brushing against his cheek. It was as if she'd realized almost belatedly what she'd done with the motion of touching. Her amber eyes went wide and she looked away. Her fingers trembled on his skin, and he caught her hand as it retreated, kissing her wrist gently.

She hesitated, but there was that self-doubt he saw in her again. This time she hadn't chosen to voice it, but he could see it still lurking in there. The questioning of whether she'd been worth that choice.

Even if he'd already made it.

She blinked and looked away again, blushing. "Just…don't do it again."

Ritsuka huffed a single laugh, "I always do what I have to Jeanne Alter."

There was that way she tried to meet the gaze of his blue eyes again. Her mouth opened and closed as she swallowed. She didn't apologize for it either, just as he wouldn't do so again. That feeling of worry sat between them. That feeling of longing still sat between them, with all the world stuffed into it.

The word went unspoken.

She blew out a slow breath and finally nodded at him.

"It's over now Alter," He reached up and brushed his hand through the locks of her hair, tucking it behind her ears.

She leaned into the touch, eyeing him a bit more gently. Her hand wrapped around his wrist wanting to keep him closer. "What do we do now?"

Ritsuka hummed and looked off to the side, "Well it's best we put all the pieces of the puzzle together with others. I'd rather not have to explain where to stand more than once…and now that we have other servants to help…more pairs of eyes looking for things that can go wrong." He brushed his thumb under her eye.

She nodded once. "Okay…okay."

He stood up first slowly and made sure his hand was still close to her as she tilted her chin up a little toward him. There was a part of him that delighted in the way she seemed to tense at the gesture, their faces once more so close. He could feel her warm breath on his lips as they parted a little.

"I'll remind you, that it isn't your fault as often as you need." While he laced his words with sincerity, he couldn't help but feel like a blushing moron as he spoke.

The only saving grace for himself that he felt was it had worked equally for her. She seemed flabbergasted by the sentence, stumbling for words as red blush to match his came to her cheeks. "Idiot." She ran both hands up through her hair to tuck it behind her ears, her mouth twisted a little, as she removed her chin from the tile of his fingers.

He looked at her straight-faced and nodded.

"Don't say stupid things like that!" She shook her head furiously and then she pointed at him and pushed him in the arm. "It takes on far too different a meaning in context right now for me to properly deal with!"

Ritsuka chuckled and managed to snag her hand kissing her knuckles. "I mean it though…" He said doubling down with his worsening blush. "It…worked a little…"

"Yes! I know!" She hissed, "Don't remind me." Jeanne Alter stepped away, though she didn't pull her arm back. "C-come on, we need to get back to the room with the others." She huffed out a breath, "Last thing I need is some rumors reaching Ushiwakamaru's ears, about you and I waltzed off to a room alone to make out. I'll never hear the end of it!"

Ritsuka smiled, and despite her demeanor, he knew she'd relaxed somewhat. For him, that was all that mattered. He let her tug him along behind her as they quickly made for the door to the room.

He let relief fill him once again.

###Jeanne Alter###

"Stupid." She mouthed under her breath as she led the way, dragging him partly behind her. But he knew he was keeping pace mostly.

Stupid, dumb, idiotic, smile.

Jeanne Alter spared a glance at him behind her and her thought of him kissing her again whenever she tried to express her self-doubt.

It made her blush all over again.

Damn it!

There was still time before they reached their other room for her to fix those jumbled feelings coursing through her. Ritsuka at least had stopped teasing her, or telling her the truth, at least, which was making that very notion a little bit easier to accomplish.

She blew out a slow breath this time and focused on the floor. There were a few obvious things to turn her mind fully back to the task at hand. "Was there anything else that happened in the last loop?" For her, the sentiment had been a much-needed splash of cold water on their conversation. "Anything I might want to know before we talk to them?"

He blinked and then his lips compressed briefly. "Well…there was a fight at the convention center when you set off with Edmond and Robin. A saber Shadow servant attacked us…" He blinked and then laughed. "Oh, Achilles loved our doujin last loop."

Jeanne Alter came to a stop, "He…he read it?"

"And we both managed to prevent Atalante from asking too many questions about it," Ritsuka said pointedly.

Suddenly she felt relief.

"Good."

That was always one conversation I wanted to avoid having.

She continued on and took them to the door of the other room and she came to a stop. There was another pause she'd had as she considered, her lips twisting a little. "We…are going to have to come up with a reason as to why we left?" Jeanne Alter wracked her brain for a moment. "Our next Doujin?"

"You have one?" He asked.

She shook her head, "Not really, we can say we talked over and didn't like it?"

He nodded once, "Fine. We also compared a few notes about the last loop. Since we both walked away with different conclusions…" He blinked and those blue eyes that were alight with memory suddenly focused on her. "Actually…I just remembered something…how did you know we shouldn't attack Gilles's Kaiju?"

Fuck.

She wanted to smack herself in the forehead for forgetting something so obviously important. Jeanne Alter had tensed and her amber eyes narrowed sharply.

Ritsuka had taken half a step back.

She was quick to shake her head, "Sorry, it's not you I'm angry with." She blew out a breath and decided to skip past the fact she was once again angry at herself. Jeanne Alter's lips twisted and her mouth pressed into a line.

Once more she thought about that idiot kissing her if she did voice them.

It was a very confused feeling to be blushing a little and angry at the same time. Her amber eyes still glared at him, as she tried to filter out all the usual insults she often said to him in place of those far more important words. Instead with her berserker spirit origin a little weakened due to her change of dress, she found her mind a little clearer as she pushed all those thoughts to the wayside.

"I've got a theory," She said, "But let's wait until we exchange notes with everyone else…"

His fingers firmed around her knuckles. "Okay,"

###

Emiya, Mordred, and Nightingale had all evidently been brought up to speed by Gudako and Edmond in the intervening time since they'd left. When they'd arrived back into the conversation, they were discussing the likelihood of their ability to remember again without Medea's help at the end of the new loop.

The theory work had been inconclusive, and ultimately they decided it would be better to air on the side of caution, and the safe side, that they all would rejoin Medea at the end of the loop once again. Gudako and Edmond agreed with relative ease to the deduction and assumption. Finally there seemed to be a breath of fresh air that came over the group.

Jeanne Alter angled herself nearer to both hers and Ritsuka's bags. She passed by the mirror and saw that she still needed to fix her hair properly to go with her outfit. She grabbed her hair ties and ribbons but set them aside on the nightstand for now.

She was grateful that neither Ushiwakamaru nor that stupid Saber Alter were there to make fun of them. They bought their story of Doujinshi brainstorming…and they also understood their want to compare notes.

But as she thought about it, and saw the ways the others looked at her, the only person who'd probably been fooled was Mordred. But she was grateful still for the fact that none of them had decided to question her on it.

Plus Ritsuka is the one they would probably question more anyway.

Robin and Ibaraki had arrived soon after. The Oni looked embarrassed and apologized if she had offended anyone with her comment. Robin had reassured her once again and won her over to their side throughout the single candy store visit. He was an expert at it by now. Though there was just that tinge of sadness to him.

Jeanne Alter swore that she would make sure Ibaraki was near Medea when the time comes once again.

The pair of them took their seats opposite to the other servants.

She blew out a breath and straightened up, and her voice filled the room. "Now that most of us are here, I'll fill you in a bit on what Ritsuka and I talked about. The first thing was that Medb is not as she appears to be." She tried to explain everything Ritsuka had told her both in the hopes he might understand that she was listening closely, and also allowing him to correct her if she got statements wrong.

She skipped over the crest worm and hand loss, the others had at least known that before she did. But she connected his story of Medb to their memory losses, and that she was obviously one of the servants under the demon pillar's control or musings. That topic led her into her last subject, the one she'd forgotten.

"I think…that I might be able to remember loops like Edmond." She looked at the avenger servant across from her. Her lips twisted a little and her frown deepened. "I'm not so sure about this…but…my going theory is…my berserker spirit origin has sort…cut it off…" She looked at Ritsuka. "Think of it like that part of my memory is squared off from…well…me. So I don't remember certain things…"

Edmond frowned. "Interesting…why do you think you can remember things?"

Ritsuka spoke up for her, "She remembered something about how we all might have died if we attacked Gilles's monster last loop." His mouth twisted a little. "I…got the impression that you remembered it from before?"

"Something like that…a voice came with my berserker spirit origin."

Liar.

Her mouth twisted, "Well…it got louder with it anyway." She cleared her throat a bit. "It's stated suspicious things and let slip that it knew what was going on with our escape by sea…" Jeanne Alter's brow furrowed. "Actually it might have happened twice…" Her eyes looked at Ritsuka again.

It called Doctor Roman, something odd.

"I…think…you're suspicions regarding contacts with Dr. Roman have been right~" She cut herself off and shook her head. "I mean it knew something about the conversation…stating it was odd." She cleared her throat a bit and her mouth formed a frown, "After you told me some of your memories came back and caused you pain…I theorized it might've been a defensive mechanism completed by my spirit origin…or just my heroic spirit nature that managed to come up with it."

Gudako nodded, "We suspected there was something odd with our communications with Chaldea…is there something to come of it?"

Ritsuka sighed and his head lowered a bit. There was an expression there that Jeanne Alter was surprised to see. Of pain and loss. Tentatively she touched his fingers.

He grabbed her hand, and his blue eyes turned gentle toward her. Then he looked back at Gudako, "May I ask you to sit down sis?" Ritsuka offered a smile and looked at Alter, "Jeanne is right to be suspicious. Medb told me something that I…perhaps we shouldn't have forgotten."

For once, Jeanne Alter saw his sister tense up and spare a glance at Edmond. Then she did as she'd been asked, and sat down in one of the chairs.

Ritsuka gestured for Mash to come over too. She was a little more suspicious but she did as well taking another seat by Gudako.

He blew out a breath, "I…swore to never forget but the damn demon pillar, or the singularity had taken it from me at some point…" Jeanne felt his hand squeeze her fingers a bit tighter as if trying to brace himself.

She squeezed his hand back, hoping he could understand her support. She didn't know what he was about to say. But she could feel worry creep up into her chest at the sight of him suddenly growing distraught. "Ritsuka?" She asked.

Her master shook his head a couple of times, "Just…it's something that I need to say…but I don't know how or…where to start." For once those blue eyes when they looked at her lacked all the confidence. It was hard to see him look at her that way, and she suddenly understood completely why he hated it when she was so…

Like that.

How or why, she didn't understand. Jeanne Alter squeezed his fingers back, "I don't know…but…start where you think it's best."

Ritsuka huffed a small laugh, "I wish it were so simple."

Gudako started, her concern growing as she observed his behavior. There was an anxiety there that she didn't want to tap into. "Brother, what's wrong? Is it about Roman's oddity?"

"It's related to it…yes." He looked at Mash for a moment. "I want to ask what are your exact memories of your Chaldea. But before you start…I also want to want you…and probably everyone else here it's going to hurt. For us though…sis? It's going to be…far worse…a headache that burns like no other."

She hesitated but didn't speak to that. Then she nodded slowly, her brow starting to furrow towards them. "Wait…is this…about whether…you're my real brother?" She tensed anew. And her eyes went wide as she leaned forward in her chair. There was a way her fingers balled into fists as she did.

"Possibly…" Ritsuka admitted.

She nodded slowly, "Okay…uh…we…uh." Gudako cut herself off before again and took a breath. Then her golden eyes peered at her brother. "Where should…I start?"

Ritsuka's mouth twisted, "The time temple." His face contorted a bit as he looked at Edmond and Mash. He wasn't sure how else to broach the subject. Starting there would be the simplest place to get their memories in order.

Jeanne winced, recalling the searing pain being affiliated with returning memories. She hesitated, biting her lip. It was her angle of conversation that had brought this subject back to the surface. "Sorry…" She whispered, "I…didn't know…"

He shook his head and huffed a laugh, "Hardly your fault…"

Gudako was quiet. "Mash…I remember you…dying…and us being pushed against the wall. Or Pushed to the brink…" She continued for a moment looking at Edmond. "You were there to watch our back…" Her brows knitted together suddenly and her expression twisted as if she'd realized something was missing. "Wait…wait. Something is hazy."

Ritsuka nodded with a wince. "Like, every time you try to reach it in your mind you either see it dragged away, or you feel it slip further away."

"It's…g-giving me a headache-!…" She groaned and grabbed her forehead. "What? What the hell is this?!"

Emiya who'd been quiet came forward. "Master?"

"I'm fine," She bit out. Her face had started to turn red and one could see the strained tension in her expression like all her muscles were ablaze.

Edmond grabbed her shoulder to support her, "A spell?" He asked Ritsuka.

"Kind of…" Ritsuka looked at Jeanne. "It's different from Alter's but it's not done out of protection…I think it has a purpose."

Similar kind of magic?

Jeanne Alter felt herself tense as the blue eyes seemed to will her to the correct conclusion. Something that was obvious. If their discussion in the bedroom had meant anything more, then it could mean that it was something done by the demon pillar in order to better hide its origin. A pillar that was brought about in the direct death of…

Suddenly she started to hurt too. She hissed.

Wait. Wait.

Pretender.

Jeanne Alter had those reports. She remembered reading them clearly to know exactly what had happened with Doctor Roman.

"Senpai?" Mash asked, she grabbed her head and fell over onto the floor.

No one in the room would have fared any better.

Nightingale and Emiya had handled it best, managing to still stand upright with sharp grimaces on their expression. Mordred grabbed her head and slammed into the wall.

Robin was holding onto Ibaraki's thrashing.

Jeanne Alter felt some warmth envelop her, as the memory of reading that particular report had come back in an instant. It wasn't as vivid a memory for her as everyone else. But damn did it still hurt. She glared at the ground not wanting to glare Rituska who had guided her to sit down on the bed.

She watched him then go check on Mash, helping her lay upright, and then he returned to her side, grabbing her fingers.

She squeezed them back.

Wait, it affected all of us?

A scream filled the room.

Was that what it had been like?

Gudako thrashed in her chair, and Edmond held her.

When Medb had told him?

Her amber eyes flicked up at him and there was a crack in his expression. "We're human…I guess it hurts us more." She heard him whisper a little as he stepped away from her.

She didn't have the strength to grab him. Alter would have felt wrong if she'd done so. Her amber eyes followed him walking across the room.

Edmond was grabbing his head.

Even he had forgotten Roman died.

Ritsuka grabbed his sister and hugged her. Her arms wrapped around him scratching at his back as she thrashed again. Kicking his hip and legs unintentionally. He grunted at the hits, knowing they'd form bruises.

"Almost there," He said to her.

"Bastard~" Gudako hissed out. It was through a few stained huffs that she managed to speak. "It burns." She said, "Romani!"

"It's the spell dissolving away as you reclaim your memory…at least I think. It's what happened to me." Ritsuka spoke quietly as if talking too loud would make the situation worse. Cause the headache to worsen.

Her strain started to lessen and she just hugged her brother. "I…can't believe I forgot…" She shook her head a few times. "How…?"

Jeanne Alter grabbed her arm as her own headache faded. She was lying sideways on the bed and she straightened herself up. There was an intent that filled the room that was unmistakable. It was the sort of intent that she could muster up when she was an avenger. That rage could fill the air with spice.

While the siblings shared in one another's sorrows, Edmond had risen back up to stand tall.

She hadn't seen him with such a killing intent on his expression.

Ritsuka was slow, but he looked up over his shoulder as Edmond stood over the two of them.

"You didn't forget. It was taken from you." There was a way his golden eyes seemed to burn. There was a promise of unspoken revenge on behalf of the two of them. He exhaled, and then his expression softened.

Her master tensed his arms for her, to hug her more tightly for a second longer before he stepped away, with a quiet expression to make room.

Edmond wrapped her up with a hug.

Jeanne Alter watched Ritsuka come back towards her and saw him hold out his hand towards her. She smiled at him awkwardly. "What did Medb do?" Her voice was hesitant as she asked. Gently he pulled her back to her feet standing upright.

He shook his head, "Beat my head against concrete."

Her eyes went wide.

"And I think…smartly…she chained me to a metal pipe…or an air conditioning on the roof." His mouth twisted. "I can't…I only remember trying not to bite my own tongue off and her pressing the heel of her shoes into my leg…" His mouth twisted a little. "Looking back at it now…it could have been that she was trying to help with the pain she knew the spell could cause…or it might've been my body's lack of energy that I could barely move."

All of which gave her a grizzly picture in his head of him bleeding by the head, chain pinned to a roof. It was so vivid that it made her feel nauseous.

It's blocked off for my protection.

It was so vivid it could've been real. Given the new revelations, she wasn't so sure what would have happened to her if she'd found him like that. Or worse dead from that sort of thing.

Worse yet, I might have.

She didn't want to think about it anymore. Jeanne Alter could feel the reflexive recoil bubbling up in her stomach. She could smell it. She could taste it in the air she inhaled that vivid image. Her amber eyes went wide.

Jeanne Alter was a servant, she could take beatings and worse.

But he is human.

She bit her lip.

Ritsuka paused, feeling her fingers tighten on him.

"S-stop." She whispered.

He did and firmed his grip on her hands and blew out a breath. "Sorry," Then he turned his attention to the rest of them. "My memory of that moment was so hazy that…I couldn't tell if all the pain was from the spell burning away…or…" He kept it vague and his mouth twisted a little. ".. Medb."

This time there was a quiet that filled the room. Mordred stiffened upright suddenly, "Shit, I need to go see Fran." She bolted for the door and skidded to a stop. "No wait, I work for the hotel…" Her mouth twisted. "Maybe I can convince Jeckal and Hyde to give me some much-needed time off."

Nightingale grabbed her arm. "Relax, Modred. Fran is with Moriarty and Babbage right now, remember? She is in her room working on her own Doujin for Servfest at the end of the week."

The rebellious knight also nodded a couple of times quietly. "Right, right. In any case, I should…get back to work." Her mouth twisted a little. "If there is…ah…anything else please don't forget to fill me in."

Jeanne felt herself nod.

Mordred bowed her head and spared a look towards Emiya archer.

He nodded at her too.

She grinned a little and then ran out the door as she originally intended.

Ibaraki spoke quietly, "I…I'm still lost."

Robin consoled her a little and explained things in a small whisper to her.

She seemed to grow worried and weary all at the same time. Ibaraki spoke her head, "Well…that's impossible…I mean this is the first time I'm hearing any of it."

Robin was patient.

Jeanne Alter's frown deepened and looked away.

Ritsuka looked down for a moment, "You were talking about your ability to remember previous loops?" He offered into the quiet.

She blinked, and then Jeanne nodded slowly. "A little…but it seems that it's selective…and…I guess the way to compare it would be to the way I remember Shinjuku…only worse." Jeanne Alter folded her arms. "I have vague images, notions…or perhaps instincts that arise from nowhere that might point me towards some vague memory." She gestured with an open palm, "With…Shinjuku, it's hazy images…which is more than I got for this…which was more…instinct I think."

It was getting more and more difficult.

Gudako leaned forward onto Edmond, who had his arms around her. She breathed out slowly and winced, touching her forehead. "Hhh~" She grit her teeth. Her golden eyes fell to her brother. "Are you sure you still want to investigate Medb? It could just be a trap…" She trailed off and it was as if she was trying to catch her breath.

Jeanne Alter knew where she stood on it. Her lips twisted and she tried to look away so he couldn't see the look on her expression. She didn't want to burden him with her own feelings concerning the other important conversation happening at that moment.

"We can wait, I think, on a final decision," Ritsuka said more neutrally than perhaps either of them would have liked. He blew out a breath, "But yes, I still think we need to make the effort of trying to go undercover with her. Though I will admit I need some time to think over details…" He blinked then huffed, "We all could use the time to think over the details."

Alter nodded, quietly to herself. She could accept that choice to push off the decision for at least a little while.

Gudako spoke more quietly, not quite a whisper so everyone could hear her, but not quite loud enough to make it obvious it was meant for only one person. "I'm okay Ed, thank you."

There was a gruff hum in response.

She giggled and tapped his shoulders.

Finally, he released her and kissed her hand as he pulled away.

Even as she watched Jeanne Alter could see the room start to shift, and a sort of pressuring buzz on her head. Different from the memory-related one. This one was low and ever-present, rather than like a searing headache it was like a small nuisance, one that could continue to grow. But the room's sudden shifting made her dizzy.

Alter plopped herself onto the couch. "Master?" She tugged on his hand, "I need to go to the Leyline soon." She watched his blue eyes narrow, and he gave a small understanding nod.

Ritsuka turned to the rest of them. "Do we have anything else of importance to discuss given the harrowing events of the previous loop? Anything that required immediate attention."

Mash smiled, "Other than our next Doujinshi master?" She shook her head, "I think we can manage it quite well for now without you Alter if you need to go to the leyline?" She stood up a little. "We can also send some work out there to you if you need it?"

Jeanne nodded, "I think that's acceptable." She pushed her lips together and tried to conceal that usual cascade of doubts. This time it had worked surprisingly enough, the voice hadn't cropped in her head like it was supposed to.

Though that might have been because he was smiling at her.

That damn stupid idiotic smile.

Gudako hummed, "Edmond and I will investigate around the convention center early again, and try to track down BB a bit more thoroughly this time." She blew out a breath, "Because it's safe to say…whatever magic she used on us initially for the loop's reset has been a latent one, and she wasn't there to see us off like normal because…all that had happened."

Emiya's arms were folded and he shifted a little, "About that, I might have a possible theory. It could be that grail that you mentioned you are supposed to be winning by competing in the contest."

Nightingale touched her lips in thought. "I suppose that's somewhere we can start. I can keep an eye out for BB as well in my area of the singularity. As a lifeguard, I keep an eye on a good portion of the beach. If she ever makes her way there…as for tracking a grail though…that's usually what Mash and our masters can do."

Ritsuka hummed, "The best we could conclude is that whatever she is using has enough magical energy to manifest a grail. I tend to concur with Emiya though, that source of power might be what BB is using. Can't know that for sure though until we possess it ourselves…"

Jeanne Alter huffed, "Which means winning the contest…"

There was a round of quiet nods.

Emiya drew himself up, "Alright, I need to get back to my restaurant and the nurse back to her lifeguard duties. I'll speak to Artoria about taking up watch for you two again…" His grey eyes fixed themselves onto her. "But for now, it would be best you find a different pair of servants to watch over you…"

"Fran and Mordred?" Edmond suggested. "Or do you think that change would cause too much friction?"

"It's…possible. It might be better to find Nero…or Atalante and Achilles again." Gudako suggested.

"Achilles and Atalante aren't busy today." Emiya supplied. "The latter is not with the nursery today, it's her day off. It will just be Raiku and Irisviel on the first day of each loop." He shrugged, "I'm not sure about Achilles though…he is one of the people who is not aware he is a servant until…I guess things take a particular turn for the worst." Emiya's lips twisted. "In place of him, perhaps Medusa would be willing if the rest of you can harbor Medea nearby. Though I'm not sure how interested the princess of Colchis will be in regards to making a doujinshi."

Robin wrapped his arm around Ibaraki, "Not to worry we got two exquisite recruits joining us."

Ibaraki was blushing mad but said nothing in protest. "Well…it just…you know." She bit down on the candy in her mouth. "It will probably be fun, right?"

There was a round of ironic laughter.

Medusa showed up not long after there to pick them up. She joined the conversation for a little while.

Jeanne Alter was quiet for most of the rest of the conversation. There was little more she could add to say for a few more traumatic details. None of which would have edged them closer to solving the whole crisis in regards to the loops.

Those amber eyes reflected right back at her from the mirror in the bathroom. She finally finished putting her gold and black trimmed ribbons into her hair. Separating out into big two large plumes. The rest was put into smaller French braids that ran down the length of her hair. Four of them were long, and two of them were short on either side of her head.

She clipped a small golden band to her chest, so it ran down the center of her bathing suit top. The last bit of flair she added was a golden band to her thigh, like the one that now ran from her neck between her breasts. Jeanne Alter frowned as she looked over herself, and hugged her shoulders.

It shouldn't matter now.

Her nails dug into her skin.

So why does it feel like it matters more?

She grit her teeth.

Now the outfit as she'd envisioned, the one she'd worn long ago on that first summer party, was completed. She felt prettier, which was the goal, it felt more right than what it had been. But it didn't help her feel any better.

She had a smile on her lips when she left.

Ritsuka kissed her cheek, "I'll join you soon alright?" He ran his fingers under the braid on the side of her head. "Just be careful…and take care of yourself." It was enough to get that warm smile out of her despite those cascading thoughts that plagued her. His voice dropped only to a whisper. "And you're beautiful."

"Thanks." Jeanne Alter took a slow breath and leaned her cheek into his palm, "I'll see you soon."

###

The flight on the pegasus was quiet. Alter had better prepared this time, with her bag resting behind her.

Medusa hummed at her, "You look worried."

Jeanne Alter pressed her lips into a line. "You'll have to get the rest from Ritsuka and the others if you want." She blinked then looked at her. "Would you be willing to stand guard with Atalante?"

"I can," She agreed. "The others mentioned it while you were in the restroom." Her purple hair flew out behind her as she angled them onto their final turn. "Ritsuka mentioned that you were working on a story focusing on a monster?"

Both her curiosity and guard were piqued at that, and her amber eyes narrowed towards the Grecian heroine. "Yeah, what of it?"

"I'm curious to hear what you have so far," Medusa stated plainly. "I think…I might have some experience on the subject matter after all." She smiled a little. "I think I can probably help a little, don't you think?"

She'd fallen silent at that, just looking at the rider servant in front of her. The easy and obvious thing was to say yes because she was looking for things to help inspire that sort of story. But at the moment she also didn't feel like she enjoyed the mood. Her mouth started to twist a bit more. "I…would like that…" She admitted, her expression smoothing. "I'm…just not up for that talk right now…"

Medusa nodded, understanding. "Of course, ask me when you are ready."

It was another short couple of minutes before they were flying over familiar ground.

Medea was there, having already finished her preparations with Ushiwakamaru. The pair of them were bickering about something and sharing a laugh about something else by the time Jeanne Alter could even hear the two of them.

Ushi bounced upright with a smile. "Alter!" She jogged over and before she could say anything to the contrary, the summer assassin grabbed Alter's bag and threw it over her shoulder. "Settle a bet for me would ya?" She grabbed her hand too and pulled her along as soon as she got the ground under her feet again.

Alter blinked, "Hey, hey wait a second!"

"Medea was wondering if ya would have cared if we finished setting up the tent without you?" She dragged Alter to a stop right in front of the other Grecian caster.

For once, the cowl that hid her pointed ears and blue eyes was behind her, now melded in with her cloak. Her blue eyes had a slight look of annoyance, and her long pointed ears made her look more like a fairy elf than the renowned Greek hero she was. "I…it was not a matter of whether we should set up the tent without, I merely wanted to confirm if it was okay."

Ushi said nothing and waited for Alter's input.

She stood stock still, her amber eyes bouncing between them. "I…guess…it wouldn't have been a problem…so long as you did it right?" She said questioningly into the air.

What is going on?

"Ugh…" Medea's nose wrinkled. "Fine fine, Ushi, you win alright?"

"Yes!" Ushiwakamaru fist-bumped the air.

Jeanne Alter got the impression she'd been spending a lot of time with Kintoki. She scratched the back of her head.

Medusa's footsteps came up behind her, and Bellaphrone neighed a few times patting the ground with their hooves. "Medea?" She said, her voice in that low calming pitch. "I'm going to be leaving you here to guard temporarily…but I'm going to be picking up Atalante to come back and take over watch duties."

The caster straightened a little, "Is Emiya not available?"

The rider shook her head, "Not today at least. I won't be missing our date tomorrow."

Medea blinked, "Oh…good…I didn't know we were still on that considering…we did it last week."

Medusa tilted her head, "Of course."

For a moment Alter managed to set her confusion at the situation aside. "Yes, actually you should do that." She touched her chin, "It's been a…rather slow realization for us that the demon pillar has spies throughout the singularity. One of the best things we can do without arousing too much suspicion is to repeat some of our more major patterns."

The caster was quiet. "I…see…" She touched her chin.

Ushiwakamaru hummed, "Which reminds me. Alter, are you okay if I leave you here with just Medea for a while?"

She blinked, "Yes."

The summer assassin nodded, "Good." She blew out a breath and offered Alter her bag back to her. "Your camping tent awaits you then. I'll be by later tonight with Ritsuka when we are finished wrapping a few things with the others. Probably anyway…" She gave a sheepish grin. "I promised to help teach Ibaraki about doujinshi making, didn't I?"

Alter nodded, "You did?"

"Ritsuka made me promise to help. It would help some lingering tensions from Edmond's end."

Her amber eyes narrowed. "When?"

"Little less than halfway through…the last loop. When you were staying with Gilles…or maybe you had already gone with Jeanne D'Arc at that point." Ushiwakamaru tapped her bottom lip with her finger in thought. "Hmm, in any case, I'll leave you to Miss Princess."

Medea blinked. "S-stop that!"

"And you Jeanne, stay safe out here would ya!" She jogged off towards the pegasus waving over her shoulder.

Medusa kissed Medea on the cheek.

Startling the Grecian caster right back out of her annoyance with a small fluster. The rider walked away without saying a word, the kiss serviceable for the goodbye in its place.

Medea huffed, "Is Ushiwakamaru always like that?"

"Always without exception," Alter shook her head and marched off towards the small camping site that had been set up for her. It was more furnished this time she realized with a pair of chairs outside and a small fire pit that had been constructed. There was also, thankfully, a portable air conditioner that could fit inside of the tent.

At least she wouldn't be sweating from the heat so much, accursed as it was. There were a few books she noticed too. Some cooking utensils if they were to have an extensive stay out here this time.

Jeanne Alter blinked, "Where did you get all this?"

Medea straightened out her blue locks and her pointed ears twitched. "Oh…uh, the people we talked to last time…we were in more of a rush just to get you out here. They had all this extra stuff that we loaned from them."

"Loaned?" She questioned.

"We had the spare gilbucks…and so they gave us some advice." She tilted her head. "The main one was to drink a lot of water." Medea picked up her heels and looked at the dirt beneath them. She hummed, "I'll have Rider bring us some when she comes back with your escort later…it will be nice…catching up with Atalante for a bit anyhow…"

Jeanne nodded once.

Medea waved her off. "Go on, I have a barrier to finish. And you should see about settling in." The caster smiled and pulled up her hood and cowl over her head again. The air fluttered around her with a quick flash as she floated upright. "I'll be back in a little while…I want to finish the barrier around the clearing, and I'll walk around with Atalante when she gets here."

Alter watched the Grecian caster disappear into the woods around their small camping spot. She turned to the more furnished campsite. There were things to cook with and a proper fire pit had been dug. Stones formed the ringlet circle around it and beneath it. The two folding chairs had a small thin table between them, with a wooden box sitting on top.

There was a closed cooler and a metal box beside it. A thermal bag too that was meant to keep drinks warm.

Food, and some minor protection for smaller animals.

Alter flipped the cooler open and tugged a juice box out. She sighed for a moment and tucked the cool box under the strap of her swimsuit. There was stuff for fishing, stuff for grilling. She tapped her foot against the ground.

We won't have time to use all of it.

She made a quick walk about the other furnishings. A large duffle bag lay at the entrance to the tent. She zipped it open and peered inside, smiling at other necessities. It was a traveler's Medkit and a few extra blankets. Alter sighed and stood up straight rubbing her chin for a moment picturing some time by the fire that night.

A full day and two nights out here should do the trick. It won't be like last time, just half a night.

It was almost enough to make Jeanne Alter smile, and with one last look around the camp, she stepped at last into the tent. Her duffles were already there, placed on one side of the tent. There were extra blankets to go with the small roll-up air mattresses that were already there for them. She realized there was a bit more time to organize than there had been the previous night.

She opened her bags and started organizing things until out of one of her bags tumbled a used and crumbled up composition book. She blinked and eyed it, brushing away her tattered spirit origin that had gone with her berserker form.

There was a note on it.

Alter's amber eyes widened.

"Hey there Alter, I put this in your other duffle while you were in the bathroom. I hope you don't mind? You asked for me to look after it…"

She blinked and held the notebook more gently aloft again, her memory alight. Realizing that it was that lover's notebook she'd found at the convention center.

That idiot.

Jeanne Alter smiled.

"I gave it off to my sister thankfully a little before I left and got captured. Kinda dodged the whole water damage a bit huh?"

She sat down beside her bags and her side of the tent. Ritsuka's words were sweet in the message and she couldn't help but read it in his voice. It made her realize she already missed him, and they hadn't been part for nearly twenty minutes yet. "Moron," She whispered. "It wouldn't have made a difference anyhow…"

"Anyways, I hope this fills you with whatever inspiration you are looking for."

Ritsuka hadn't written the word 'love' to her yet. It was something she was not ready to hear even if she knew that's what it was what was growing between them. But this was a near thing even for her. There was a heart, signed with his name.

She hugged the tattered composition book to her chest for a moment and blew out a slow breath. In the quiet even before she'd opened her mind went back to the work that was most important to her. The one that makes a monster.

But with it, she couldn't help but wonder.

"I hope this fills you with whatever inspiration you are looking for."

She wiped at her cheeks thinking of that stupid idiotic smile as she wondered.

I wonder what saves a monster?

In the quiet breeze that passed over the tent, and ruffling the distant trees around the clearing far enough from all the noise of the city. There were just the distant sound waves rolling over and crashing, the quiet sound of a Grecian sorceress's footsteps in the woods. But if one lent their ear most distinctly, they could be graced with the sounds of turning pages, scribbling notes, and perhaps the occasional huff of single giggles.

###

Some hours had passed and Alter breathed deeply, feeling the strain of her mana leave her. She was starting to get a bit tired with all of it though. The soreness of her limbs was starting to fade too, a sign that the mana replenishment was working, and all the vivid pains of the previous loop were fading with it.

She set her pen down and stretched her arms high above her head, and shifted her translucent skirt over to one side so as to adjust the thin golden bands that hung around her thigh.

Then there was the sound of familiar wingbeats puncturing the simple ambience of their camp. Achilles and Atalante by now had replaced Medusa and Medea entirely. So it was Achilles's cheerful voice that had filled the air.

"Heya Master, Lady Medusa. It's good to see you!"

Medusa's voice was that same melodious deep voice it always was, but Alter couldn't quite gather what was being said. She closed the notebook and peered outside the tent.

Ritsuka was sliding down off of the pegasus helped by Medusa. "Where's Atalante?"

"She's out taking her turn about the forest, she'll be here soon. It would be hard for Missy to not notice your arrival." Achilles's hands flicked along the pole of his lance, and he grinned a little. "It's good to see ya, never thought you'd leave Chaldea in time enough for the vacation?"

He grinned a bit, "Well, we knew something was going on, figured we should tag along."

It was vague, but Alter knew it enough that Achilles and Atalante weren't servants who remembered that they were looping. Alter frowned a little, knowing that to them, she and Ritsuka had only arrived today.

She frowned looking back at the ground where she'd left her sandal heels, and decided to forgo them. The dirt was soft and warm between the webbings of her feet. Before Medea had left, she noticed Medea had run ropes to either side of the cleaning and tied a much larger canvas sheet over the camp, putting nearly all of it in the shade.

Knows how much I dislike the heat.

Ritsuka had his two duffle bags over his shoulder and smiled upon seeing Alter. And for a moment it looked as if he was ignoring the conversation between the Grecian heroes around them as he eyed her.

She tried not to blush as she folded her arms. With a blush she bounced on the heels of her foot to her toes, and back again, rolling them along the ground. Her smile felt as wide and dumb as that blush coating her cheeks. The small breeze passed over her blowing her skirt and hair a little off to her left.

"Actually, Medusa, I was wondering." Achilles grinned at her. "Did you have some spare time this week at all? I've been meaning to ask if you'd like to race?"

Medusa had a look of surprise. "R-really? Uh?" She scratched the back of her head looking over at Ritsuka.

Thankfully he'd just turned himself back into the conversation. "Don't look at me Medusa, it's your choice to make."

There was another voice, more stern and monotone than Achilles that came from the forest. "I see you're still trying to race people rider." She huffed out a breath, her bow dispelling beside her. "Everyone's here on vacation."

Medusa started shaking her head, "No no, it's quite alright. I…was just caught off guard is all. No one's asked me to race them before."

Achilles frowned, "Really, that Alexander always goes around asking people to race him." Then he scratched his chin. "Then again, he might just be really intimidated by you-"

Atalante nudged him in the stomach.

"Ow, hey!"

The green huntress shook her head. "Ignore him, he's just easily excitable. You don't have to do anything you don't want to Medusa." She raised a brow at Achilles almost daring him to contradict her.

"Yeah…I wasn't going to force her into it. Who do you think I am Missy?"

"Ugh." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

Alter chuckled as she got closer and took one of Ritsuka's bags. They exchanged another smile but both turned back to the conversation with a few light chuckles of their own.

Medusa however laughed the deepest. "You two are wonderful."

Atalante's brows knitted together with confusion. "Huh?"

Achilles rubbed the back of his neck. "Well you know, we both had the same teacher so it goes to show I guess."

"It's little wonder that people like to do doujins of you," Medusa said with a smile.

Something went off then in the back of Alter's mind. A very very different alarm bell than the usual one when it came to intimacy. Her eyes went wide and she could see Ritsuka stiffen outside the corner of her eye.

Atalante's fingers curled, "What? For Servant Fest?"

Medusa also looked at Ritsuka and then seemed to quickly realize her error and coughed. "Y-yes, at least there was one last time." The rider for once seemed to be nervous, though her melodious voice remained so, it had a few clipped edges to it this time. "At least if I recall correctly."

"Huh," Achilles rubbed his chin. "Never saw that when I toured the area."

Atalante snorted, "Of course you read them." She scratched her head, "I don't recall seeing it either. Must've missed it." As she continued, her words came out through gritted teeth.

I guess she wouldn't have been a fan.

"Hey, some of them are good stories!" His eyes seemed to widen a little. "Wait, that means you've read them before right? Or things like them before?"

Her nose wrinkled a little and her lips twisted. There was a way Achilles was looking at her, and she looked away. "N-no, I haven't read any. I admit I didn't see much point in it." She sighed a little bit with a hand on her hips.

Medusa was still in dangerous waters. "It was quite good…I think…you were both partners in a race."

Atalante's ears twitched, a sign that Alter had grown to recognize as subtle interest from any of the cat-eared servants that walked among Chaldea's halls. Her eyes grew skeptical but it was the flicking of her ears that gave away her feelings on the matter.

Achilles didn't bother to hide his excitement. "Oh! Do you think they'll be selling it again?!"

Medusa looked sheepish once again looking at Ritsuka.

Their master chuckled, and finally stepped back into the conversation. "Probably not, sadly, but there might be someone out there who owns a copy." He scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

Alter swung his duffle gently at his knees.

Come on! We don't need that attention idiot!

Atalante's eyes flicked to Alter.

She stiffened.

Shit shitshitshitshit shit.

The summer berserker chuckled nervously. "I mean, Ritsuka's probably right…maybe. I don't know."

Atalante said nothing, but her eyes seemed to bore into them.

Why is she so goddamn terrifying?!

Achilles hummed and then pointed at the two of them. "All three of you read it?"

They all nodded quietly and sheepishly.

The rider grinned, "Well then! Tell us did we win the race?! What happened? How good was the art? What were we like? Who else was involved? Were we the main characters or the side characters?"

Alter's grin twitched and she eyed Medusa and Ritsuka. Then she remembered something. Something that now became obviously the most important thing that needed to happen right in that moment. She grabbed Ritsuka's other bag and hooked them both over her right arm. "A-Actually I have a prior engagement today."

She grabbed Medusa's wrist.

The Gorgon's eyes went wide. "I-what?"

"Remember? You want to talk to me about my Doujin?" Alter grinned nervously. "No time like the present! So-" She looked at Ritsuka.

Well, the idiot brought it up.

A small sadistic smile came over her expression. "I'm sure our master would be delighted to tell you all about it!" She laughed a few times even as his blue eyes started to widen at her. It was the kind of look she would've found amusing if not for the circumstances. "You'll love it-" She sputtered, brow twitching.

Ritsuka's mouth had dropped halfway through Alter's speech and excuse-making. Realizing perhaps only seconds before he was about to be thrown to the pyre in her absence and her excuse making.

Medusa was dragging her feet. "Uh? Alter?" Though they were still getting further away.

"Shh, hold on. You wanted to talk about that doujin anyways right?" Alter wanted to put as much distance between them and the conversation about to happen. As comfortably as she could anyway. While Medusa had gotten them now into the mess, she had every intention of using Medusa to get herself.

Which means I can't have her blurting out the truth accidentally.

The rider blinked, "I uh…suppose…but…sorry for bringing it up."

Alter slowed a little, breathing out in relief that the taller woman had quickly grasped in part the situation. She spoke more easily. "It's alright, not our problem now." Alter grinned up at her. "Come on, I…still really want to hear your opinion about what I have so far." She led Medusa right up to their tent and it was comical in a way to see the tall woman have to bend so low to get through the tent's entrance. But Alter sat Medusa down on one side of the tent and threw Master's bags to his side where he would sleep.

Then she sat down and looked at Medusa.

Medusa was sitting stiffly and upright with a blush on her cheeks.

Alter blew out a breath and forced herself to relax. "S-sorry, I should've…probably warned you or asked you…but I couldn't think of anything."

The rider nodded, "It's alright. You…just caught me off guard with it." She sat cross-legged and stiffly upright. "I assumed that you would be comfortable with telling Achilles and Atalante that they were the subjects of your work."

Alter hummed, "I…am…I just don't want to be there when it happens… it's." She looked away and tried to ignore the small blush rising to her cheeks. "It's embarrassing…I suppose." Alter touched her chin. "Think of it like stage fright?"

"I thought you sang the last loop?" She tilted her head.

"I did but…" Jeanne Alter deflated a little. "Oh… never mind. It's hard to explain," She ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head a few times. She looked over at her bags, and her scattered notes, and realized she had no way of pitching or presenting this particular story. Her frown started to deepen a little.

"Alter?" Medusa asked.

She looked back at the rider and considered the gorgon's history. The perfect candidate to run this story across had practically volunteered herself. Jeanne Alter felt a warm smile come over her lips at the thought of it. Really, the two of them had something in common about that. She thought too of Medea in relation to this rider.

Like me, she has someone looking out for her.

And then she found she was a bit more comfortable."I'm fine," She still chuckled nervously. In that way, any writer or artist might get from showing off their work for the first time, especially in such a roughened state. "I just…don't know where to start."

###Ritsuka Fujimaru###

He was partly irritated, but that was all in part he really could allow himself to feel. Ritsuka took a deep breath and shook his head a bit. The first clear thought that came through his head was as playful as it was truthful.

I'll get her back for this.

But now both Grecian heroes were too curious to drop the subject. So he guided them over to where they had some seats in the center of the furnished camp. He made a mental note to thank Ushi and Medea for the decor, knowing it was probably the two of them that had set the place up.

The canvas ran over the tent, hanging above them and blocking out a majority of the sun's heat, but left enough space for the air to flow, so it didn't trap the heat. It was all so wonderful. He waited for Atalante and Achilles to get comfortable.

Ritsuka fiddled with a pack full of food and found things he could cook over the fire if he wanted.

He'd seen Emiya do it during singularities before, Mash and Boudica too, though with slightly less frequency. Ritsuka and Gudako had taken to learning how to do it very early on, wanting to pitch in and help wherever they could.

Novice.

He took a deep breath as he started sorting things out. It had also given him some time to think about how he would explain it all to them. Because in this line of questioning over the doujinshi inspired by them, he realized he could carefully explain the situation of the singularity. "So," He turned to the two Grecian heroes. "I suppose I'll start from the beginning." In order to filter it out for them, as he wanted to ease them into the fact that they were in the middle of a singularity, he took it, referring to it as the previous servant fest.

It was the perfect way to explain.

Ritsuka found that it allowed him to carefully reconstruct the scenario that they were competing for a chance to win the grail. And that they were inspired by both Achilles and Atalante's love of racing. He was also certain to convey that they merely only used their likeness and that everything that happens could be interpreted as separate from them as individuals.

Which was he, thought, a half-truth.

In reality, the two of them that they used in the story were much closer, but neither of them needed to know that.

Alter will forgive me for taking some artistic liberties with this idea that they'd run with.

"The most difficult choice for us was actually deciding whether the two of you would win the race." He scratched the back of his head a couple of times. The smell of the food he was cooking was filling the air. He wasn't anywhere near done, but he hoped that it might entice Alter to come out of her tent a bit earlier to share in his embarrassment and floundering at getting the story out.

"And did we?" Atalante asked.

"No, we decided it would take away from the realization that the two of you worked better as a team." Ritsuka blew out a breath. "At least I think that's how it went. It's been a while since I've last looked over the story myself."

Achilles was intense as he listened. "A science fiction race…where Missy and I were partners…hm." He was taking in all the information but obviously, he was still trying to picture it perfectly.

Atalante hummed, "Was it enough to win the grail?"

"It was, actually." Ritsuka chuckled a little. "We have thought about writing a sequel, but now that you're in on the knowing of it, we'd probably like to run it by you this time." He scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "We didn't last time because it was kind of an emergency to get the grail back."

The huntress nodded, seeming to accept that logic. "It was strange, I'm surprised we weren't informed about the grail afterward though."

Ritsuka huffed a laugh, "It was top secret at the time." He then winked at her. "I just trust you all despite what the director might say."

Atalante's eyes widened, and her face turned just the barest hints of red. "Oh, thanks Master, we appreciate it." Her eyes narrowed a little further towards him however at the mention of that. There was something about the way Ritsuka purposefully smiled at her.

She's smart and she'll figure it out.

She blinked and her eyes seemed to widen on him. "Wait, if there was a grail for the previous servant fest, does that mean yet another is at stake right now?"

That seemed to pull Achilles from his thoughts. He looked at Missey and then Ritsuka. "Oh shit," He muttered.

Ritsuka touched his lips as if wanting to keep it quiet. "Don't tell," He smiled, confirming that Atalante was right.

The huntress grit her teeth and ran a hand through her hair. "And all I've been thinking about is the nursery." She stood up and bowed her head. "Please forgive me, master, I'll endeavor to do better."

"No no, that's good A." He looked over at Achilles and then at Atalante. "We need someone to look after the kids more or less. It's harder to think of a better candidate than you." He made a few chuckles and gestured for her to come out of her bow of apology.

She did so, a bit slower and reluctant. "I see…" Her eyes narrowed again.

"But this singularity is a bit stranger than the last." Ritsuka continued. Slowly moving the topic away from the doujinshi about them to something far more relevant and important to them. The singularity. He tried to describe what had been happening, while trying to save the revelation of time loops for the end, knowing that would cause the most confusion and questions to be blurted out.

All the while, he continued to cook an elaborate meal for five, not wanting to disinvite Medusa. At worst, they would have some leftovers between them.

It wasn't until he was nearly done that he saw Medusa emerge from the tent with a bright smile on her expression. One to match that of Jeanne Alter just behind who was grinning. They shared a conspiratorial laugh out of the corner of his eye. She then looked right at him and her smile softened.

Ritsuka smiled back and went back to cooking.

It's a good day.

Atalante volunteered to help with the side dishes, as they wrapped up their conversation. Throwing out a blanket for herself on the ground, joining beside master cooking over the fire. "You've given us a lot to think about."

He hummed his agreement with that. "Don't be in a rush to sort it all out. From what we understand so far, it's better to go about what we normally do and just maintain a more casual regular contact."

Achilles flicked his lance against the ground. "And if we need help?" He turned to Medusa, making space for the rider to sit beside him.

She slowly sat herself in the vacant space Achilles had made for her. "Come see either Medea or me. We will be at the hotel, even though extra trouble is unlikely to happen. Plus Medea would need to know beforehand. We are limited in how many servants we can bring across from one loop to the next." Medusa brushed some of her purple hair out behind her cheek and she looked at Alter as if inviting her to speak a bit more on anything.

Jeanne Alter didn't, she simply moved to Ritsuka's other side, quick to figure where he'd been sitting and cooking close to the fire. There weren't enough chairs to accommodate all of them, but blankets had been laid out to cushion the dirt.

And now that she was so close to him again, he could appreciate all the finer details in her spiritron dress for the summer festival. The black and gold lace that accompanied her out slightly translucent dress.

He blew out a breath.

Come on, Ritsuka. Focus damn it.

"What are you cooking?" She asked softly. Jeanne Alter was really close to him now, her fingers tugging at his free hand. It was very cat-like to his mind the way she suddenly pressed her forehead into this shoulder, before turning to rest the side of her head there.

He chuckled. "Careful, careful." Ritsuka smiled. "With any luck, a decent lunch, and a good snack later." He smiled at her.

She feigned a pout at him.

Worth it.

Ritsuka nodded, "Atalante's cooking some vegetables…I'm…trying to cook some chicken skewers…though now that I'm thinking about it. Perhaps I should go fishing tonight and see if that will make the flavors better." He turned back to the cooking station over the fire and smiled. He felt slight movement.

Her hand slowly worked its way up from his chest, and touched his collar bone.

He turned to look, and she was much closer now. Her face was beat red and a shyness had overcome her. But she was so close she didn't back down.

Before he could blurt out any surprise or wonder at her goal. He could feel his own blush overcoming him as she closed the distance the rest of the way. Kissing quickly in part his cheek and the corner of his mouth. Her lips were soft, but the texture was no less lost with the way electricity had shot through his body.

He was still frozen, those blue eyes peering at her wide.

What did I do?

She leaned away and went back to rest her head on his shoulder with a pout now on her expression, but still she was blushing.

He blinked, "I uh…what was that for?"

Alter's amber eyes flicked to him. "Just, for the note you left me." She sighed, and to Ritsuka's ears, despite what had happened to her last loop, she was starting to sound a bit better. It was a relaxed voice he scarcely got the chance to hear from her. Not since the dance after her performance had he heard her sigh so relaxed like that.

A lot has happened since then.

He wrapped his free arm around her, holding her close. He could turn the skewers over with one hand now that the hard work had been done. "You're welcome."

Ritsuka didn't have to look to see, but he could feel the corner of her mouth on his skin, stretching into a smile.

As they shared lunch with the others, all was normal, just for a little while.

###

It was with some insistence on Ritsuka's part, and reluctance on hers, that when Achilles and Atalante returned back to patrol, and Medusa tried to haggle to bring some leftovers back for Medea, he finally managed to convince Alter to rest. Convincing her to go back and take another nap, however, was proving the more difficult part of the challenge.

"Ugh," She was pouting. The fire was out now, and it was just the two of them. "Look, I don't want to sleep, alright?" Her pout faded into something that was just as tired and sore as he'd felt. "I just…it's hard." She'd hugged her knees close still sitting beside him on the blanket. "I mean…you've seen what I deal with."

Ritsuka nodded, "I know Jeanne." He raised a brow at her. "But I think it would be good for you to try."

"I'm just going to wake with a start from another nightmare." She laid her head against his shoulder again. "I'm…I just don't want to deal with that right now."

He sighed, "Okay." He said in understanding. Then he started nodding a few more times. "Okay," He said again, this time with acceptance. "I won't force you to try and sleep outside of sleeping hours." Ritsuka with his arm still wrapped around her enjoyed the warm ocean breeze. Then with a grin, he tried to lay them both back onto the blanket.

She managed to wrangle out of his group just in time to not fall back onto the blanket with him. "Hey, hey! If I can't sleep you can't sleep yet either."

He snorted, "And when did I agree to that?" Ritsuka made a show of yawning. "I got pretty beat up too ya know? I also don't have any fancy servant healing factor, and my body still feels immeasurably sore from all that happened."

She huffed out a breath, her pout deepening.

The tent and tarp swayed gently in the breeze. It is mid-afternoon now, with the sun already starting its descent from its highest peak of the day. The air was slowly growing warmer.

Ritsuka stuck up his hand toward her. "I'm not going to sleep, I think I just want to rest for a while. I need to catch you up on the current doujinshi plans anyways, right?"

Her amber eyes stared at his open hand, offering.

Not opposed to this at least right?

He patted the ground beside him for emphasis.

Though she pouted she took his hand and joined him. Her fingers wrapped tightly around the hand she wouldn't let go of, and with her other, she wrapped her whole arm around his hand and turned away from him, putting her back to him. "Fine," She blew out a breath and looked at the tree line in the distance.

Ritsuka's small chuckles were warm like the air. "Not in the mood for that?"

"Not really." She whispered. Her brows knitted together. "Not right now at least…" She corrected herself. There was that quiet ambience in the air around her for a moment, birds, beasts, and distant ocean waves.

He interlaced his hand with her fingers, enjoying the feeling of the way she tucked it against her belly. His movements were slow, and as he shifted it pierced the ambience a little, as he shifted himself a bit closer.

He kissed her shoulder blade and rested his chin on her upright bicep. "Alright, then…so what about your talk with Medusa?"

With their proximity now, he felt her tense under his chin, and her arm and hand stiffen around his stolen limb.

"Not that one either huh?"

He tilted his head and raised a brow at her.

She turned her head a little so her amber eyes could peer directly at him. She shook her head again. "Look, I'll…talk about that one…later." She trailed off realizing how lame it had sounded out in the open. Jeanne Alter's blush was faint, but he'd long since grown attuned to looking for it.

Ritsuka loved it every time he saw it.

He hummed, now leaning away, deciding he was close enough now to just enjoy her proximity without impeding too much on the personal space she bounced between needing and rejecting. It was also something he was growing fastly accustomed to. "Then perhaps you should pick a subject then?"

She was less than a foot away.

His blue eyes roamed her back, the way her muscles expanded and contracted with each breath.

The grip she'd had around his wrist and hand started to loosen.

It was her turn to shift as she turned towards him lying on her side. One hand was always connected with her fingers, with the other she adjusted her translucent black and gold skirt up and around her knees as she brought them closer to her chest. She bit her lip in a way that he had connected to thinking. It was the corner of her lip rather than the center of her lip. Her brows were knitted together neatly as she seemed to consider. "Maybe…since I tried to tune it out. I want to hear what Achilles and Atalante thought about the doujin.

He wanted to tuck that white hair behind her ear but keenly resisted the urge. This was satisfying enough to have her so close. "Hm, you mean when you threw me under the bus?"

Her smile turned sadistic, "Consequences for your own actions for even suggesting that I would want to be near them at all when we talked of the project." She stuck her nose up, managing to mimic that look of superiority even though she was lying parallel to the ground. "Besides I had every faith that you would succeed."

He snorted, "Why do I find that not even remotely reassuring."

Jeanne Alter's laughter filled the air.

He smiled, like he had earlier when he heard it while she'd been talking with Medusa. Every so often her laughter cut through the air enough for him to hear.

I'm a goner.

"Oi, what's with that look!"

"Nothing," Rituska assured her. "They reacted like I thought they would. I avoided the more romantic explanations, and stuck with the basic premise of the plot." He smiled at Jeanne, "That they were a much better team working together than they were apart."

She blushed a little and her eyes looked away from that expression of his. "Achilles loved every second of it I imagine."

"He did," Ritsuka nodded. "His questions were more about the relationship aspect, and how the characters interacted. While Atalante was more curious about the plot and the reasoning behind why we chose them."

"Which lead to what I was overhearing when we came out…" Jeanne nodded. "You were explaining the singularity issue to them."

"I figured I should…" He paused for a moment, taking in another slow breath. "We could use the help from two more of Greece's greatest heroes." With the hand Alter had trapped, he made sure to close his fingers around her knuckles. Ritsuka couldn't help but smile at the sight of her curled up a little beside him deep in thought.

She nodded absentmindedly, her lips still twisted in that way to imply she was thinking of something else entirely.

Ritsuka looked back up at the tarp hanging above him. Once more he was content not to press her on it. Instead, he took it as a queue for him to continue.

She will complain about it when she has the time. Or speak her mind when she wants.

He trusted her that far. He explained patiently in more thorough detail the way he explained the singularity to them. The idea of repeating loops, and how he'd managed to connect it to the previous summer fest which was a lie, but it was serviceable enough in the long run to get the point across.

Her expression didn't change much, but she hummed and talked to him so that he knew that she was still listening. She even went as far as to ask the occasional question.

It was only after he'd finished, he realized she just wanted to hear him talk. Not of things that could worry her or make her stressed out. That could all be dealt with tomorrow. There would be enough time for all of it.

Ritsuka was smiling again.

"Hmph," Her amber eyes started to refocus themselves again, and it felt like she was no longer staring right into him. "You're smiling like an idiot again." She released the sharp grip she'd had on his hand.

Now free he could shake the layer of sweat that had gathered there.

He huffed out a chuckle. "Of course, I'm smiling like an idiot. I've got you. What man wouldn't be so-" he cut himself off as there was a sharp look from her amber eyes to match her quickly forming blush.

Her hand reached up.

What?

She flicked him gently without her servant strength on the center of his forehead. "Idiot," She started to pick herself up and shake the dirt off.

"Ow," He winced, grabbing the center of his forehead. "What was that for?"

"Nothing at all!" She grinned with just an edge of the crazed smile he hadn't seen much of since she'd turned summer berserker.

It was then he reminded herself she wasn't fully in her berserker spirit origin. She was in something made for her avenger class. Her personality was slightly different as a result she was more…

Confrontational?

He tilted his head a little at the word. The word didn't seem right to describe her. As far as he'd observed the different classes enhance certain traits from her, making it overshadow others. She wasn't, he noticed bouncing so easily from emotion to emotion right now. That blush lingered from his comment.

There was the fact too, that she was just sitting there and listening to him. A mood that might've come and gone otherwise if she was in full berserker spirit origin mode. He hadn't realized how long he'd been allowed to go on without her remarking deeply into what he was saying, or cracking jokes about it. As a more full berserker all of that might've been far more likely. She was never fully intrusive about those sorts of things…but…

In the silence that lingered, she stepped closer to him, pulling him right back out of those thoughts. She smiled a bit wider and stuck her hand out to him. "Fufufu, come on Master, let's head to the beach?"

Ritsuka hummed, and then he smiled back laughing. "You just want to throw me into the ocean."

"N-no not at all!" She folded her arms and stepped away. "We are beyond the nightingale's lifeguard towers. And most of the tourists are back down towards the ways at the hotel." Alter fell quiet for a few seconds. "Medea's probably extended the barrier out to that distance before she left anyhow."

He smiled at that.

She saw it, and her eyes narrowed again.

It made him want to keel over with laughter if he wasn't already on the ground a few feet away from her. "Alright alright."

She wants us to enjoy our alone time too.

It was something she'd been afraid of when they had first discussed coming out here. She hadn't wanted him to waste his time out there with her. Though he was happy she was starting to not see herself at least completely as wasted time. He took her want here as a sign that she was more accepting of the fact that they were stuck out there away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

He curled his chest and sat up first. Ritsuka nodded and allowed her to pull him to his feet. "I'm going to grab a water bottle, and then we can head off together. Does that sound fair?"

She hummed, accepting his answer. Alter stepped away again and scratched her head a few times. "I…uh…"

Ritsuka hummed at her. "What is it?"

"Never mind." She walked away and started sifting through their camping gear. She found a few towels, an umbrella, and a smaller cooler to stuff things in. He watched her go about organizing the rest of the things she wanted to bring.

More than just a walk to the beach then.

He grabbed a few water bottles in that case and thought about his mystic codes that were over him again. They were perfect for swimming if that was something she wanted to do. He spotted a pair of goggles and stuffed them into the pocket of his trunks. Ritsuka blew out a breath and focused his mana for a moment reaching out to Atalante to tell her what they were going to do.

Then he looked back at Alter, slinging a cooler bag over her shoulder, and swinging the umbrella to rest on her shoulder.

He smiled, "Alter, just remember we need to be here for you to get your mana imbalance fixed again."

She froze, sighed, and then nodded. "I know…we won't be gone for more than an hour…maybe two…but I've been here since this morning." She smiled a bit brighter at him. "I'm fine master, really don't worry about me."

Ritsuka nodded once, "Okay."

###Jeanne Alter###

She'd been to the beach many times of course with Ritsuka over the course of the many loops they had now been stuck there together.

Plus ones you can't remember.

Her lip twitched.

The walk was pleasant as there wasn't a finely pruned trail to the ocean from the camp. But following the sounds to the beach proved good enough. The trees had started to shift to palm trees and more low-hanging plants as they neared the water's edge. There were a few inlets of sand that stretched out like a basin where dead and dried wood washed up many days or years earlier thanks to changing and shifting tides.

It felt…adventurous.

Despite the dark thought, she smiled and stood a bit straighter. "I never did finish going over the constellations of the sky from here did I?" She asked, looking over her shoulder.

She could hear his warm chuckles. "You didn't."

The afternoon sun, however, was hotter than she'd anticipated. They had thankfully stuck the forest path that had stretched out from their clearing enough to make sure. But she was getting to another point where she would want to rest a bit again.

The ocean waves were much louder now. Their camp was a short kilometer away, and without the sounds of the city to interfere with the noise, it could still be heard very faintly, almost parallel to the quiet sounds of Ritsuka's breath.

But now it was loud.

She hummed, "I suppose I'll have to take the time to finish that tonight."

They reached the edge of the tree line and it was blue as far as the eye could see. She held up one of her hands as if to block the sun. She heard some shifting of things behind her and found her palm suddenly squeezed by two fingers. The only parts of his hand he could free up from the things he was carrying.

There was a blushing pout on her lips.

How does he always do that?!

The beach was as she predicted, empty. There were tracks and markings that people had come and gone through the sandy shore regularly, but not regularly enough for people to be there all the time. Where the island curved off to their left, a few more kilometers, they would find the beach where they normally hung out, the front of the hotel, where all the parties were held good and bad in her memory.

Ritsuka hummed, "So, where do you want to set up?"

Alter couldn't feel the sand under those sandal heels, but she imagined that it had to be as blisteringly warm as she felt right now under the direct sun. She nudged quietly, and he offered her the only open water bottle they were sharing.

"Rest and relaxation is not something we get all that often is it?" She asked. She set the bags down and tipped the water back enjoying the coolness of it more than the purpose of it. Sweat was starting to gather under her brow.

He hummed, "You did bug me about that during one of the earlier loops I remember, you forced me to go out."

She huffed, well. "I didn't want to force you to follow me with my obsession. And as far as we remember, we hadn't had the full grasp of the situation we were stuck in yet…" Her lips started to twist, and she offered the water back. "Seems even I didn't understand it all back then either really."

He chuckled a bit and tucked the water away again, this time freeing his hand fully. "So, where?"

Alter's lips twitched and she peered around a bit. There were a few angled palm trees that would've helped with shade, outside of the umbrella they'd already brought. It was about twenty meters from the shore. She hummed and pointed, "There, I think that will be the best spot." She picked up all the things she'd been carrying and led the way."

Ritsuka flung out their towels. He was smart enough to bring four, and she hadn't bothered to ask why. The moment she went to question it, she'd figured it out. Two were for the spots they could lay down on, and two were for drying off.

She removed her sandal heel and smiled as she curled her toes into the cool sand. The rest of the beach sand might be too warm, but she would enjoy it in the spot she'd picked. If one could see her expression, they might've seen the way her smile seemed to widen just a little as she started to settle in on her spot.

Laying down on her towel and just admiring the beach at the angle.

Ritsuka set up their umbrella and started organizing the gear and food they decided to bring. He was quiet as he worked, not disturbing her.

She didn't talk much for the moment either, enjoying the pleasantness of her suggestion about going to the beach. It was comforting she found…just being there with someone…with him specifically. Her amber eyes flicked to him, as she eyed him.

Her master's mystic code was in tatters much like her berserker's spiritron dress. So all he had was those swim trunks from that island summer she'd not been a part of. When Skadi and the others had made a deserted island their home. She'd been there only for the festivals that happened afterward.

He had a small sheen of sweat forming too, in his shirtless form. His skin was wrought with burns and other scars. He a drag marks like from a knife that went from his abs to his hips. But he was lean and muscular.

She bit her lip and looked away.

Her face was starting to warm again. She thought about that night before her lack of mana had taken her out completely.

Stupid dragon witch.

Alter's frown formed as she sat up, pulling her knees to her chest underneath her translucent skirt. She leaned on her thighs and watched him again. Running her arms underneath the backside of her knees.

Ritsuka wiped his brow of that sweat as he stepped out into the sun.

Then he'd finished their small fire pit. Something he did, not knowing if they would even want to make food or anything. He'd just volunteered to do so.

"What is it?" He asked gently.

She looked away from him. There was a beat of quiet, but she could hear that he stopped working after the silence was sitting. Those scars were physical representations of all the trials and tribulations he'd been through. Those close calls she'd not been there for. Some of them where she had been. Not understanding how much easier her fires of hatred had come to her when she'd seen it. No doubt psychological ones lingered with him too. That at least was something they had in common.

Alter couldn't help it as she thought of the last loop. Her holding him against her upright on their little island of wooden debris in the middle of nowhere in an ethereal fog on churning uneven water. Things that would've left scars, if they'd been lucky enough to survive.

I don't want to feel grateful for being trapped in a time loop.

She breathed out.

But it saved him.

She peered at him again with an amber eye over her elbow as she watched him come a bit closer to her. Those blue eyes looked at her with concern. Looking at her with such care that she could already feel her heart dance. "It's nothing…"

"Uh-huh?" His voice gave away that he didn't believe her. But that too was something she liked about him. Even since the beginning, he was pushing her to be better than she was.

It was goddamn frustrating at times too. It would've been so much simpler if he'd written her off like she'd been just another servant at his beck and call. But he'd been so insistent on checking in on her. As she'd come to find out, wondering if she was special, he'd done that with nearly all of the others too.

And it had made her feelings even more confused. Anger, jealousy, admiration,...hoping. The latter part had been something new.

Her fingernails dug into her skin. Alter shook her head, "Really…it's not…" She interrupted herself and took a deep breath. "I just… haven't seen your scars in a while…" She turned her amber eyes to look ahead at the beach not wanting to see his reaction to something so inane.

There was a pause as she felt him settle less than a foot away on his towel. "And here I thought someone was admiring me for my looks." He teased.

"Shut up idiot!" She lifted her head back up. "I'm being serious!"

"Alright, alright." He nodded, "Sorry…" He scratched the back of his head. He leaned back on his hands and crossed his legs in front of him. His hand was close to her hip, just behind her form. Those blue eyes softened a bit and he eyed her for a moment and then joined her in observing the rest of the ocean for a moment. "I guess I shouldn't be so arrogant…" He seemed to look down at himself. "I'm only human after all…" His brows knitted together and he huffed out a nervous chuckle with his eyes closed.

She eyed him for a moment and with horror it dawned on her what he was getting at. "N-no, that's not what I-"

Ritsuka shook his head a little. "It's okay. I know my body isn't exactly pristine…I got beat up at Mages Association schools. I get beat up a lot here. And compared to the others…I mean…" He trailed off. Then he sighed, slumping forward a little. "I suppose I should thank the time loop for saving what I had left of my-"

Alter had moved before she realized, and had grabbed both sides of his face, turning his blue eyes squarely onto hers. There was a beat of quiet as her mind had quickly caught up rapidly to what she'd done. She stumbled forward regardless. "N-no! That's not my issue. You look-." She could feel the blush rising to her cheeks. And there had been at least half a dozen words that went through her head, each more embarrassing than the last.

His warm breath was on her lips, and they were so close now she could feel it.

Her grip on his cheeks started to slacken a little. Jeanne Alter suddenly felt lame. "You look fine," She said, collapsing back onto her towel, nearly hitting his fingers. She hugged her knees on the outside this time, and rubbed her thighs, unsure of what to do with her hands. "Uh?...I…"

Ritsuka was still staring at her.

"You look fine." She repeated and a different sort of anger formed at herself.

Coward.

She pouted a little. "It's…a reminder…for me is all." She looked away again facing towards the beach. Still hugging her knees. Her feet brushed his thigh in that awkward way she was sitting toward him now. "I see them…as a part of you…and a reminder of all that you've been through…" She buried her face into her legs and hoped she might disappear. "All that…and sometimes I can't see the luck."

Those blue eyes were on her now, her master silent.

She breathed out slowly. "I get arrogant too…f-far too arrogant. I sometimes dare to see it as fate." Alter curled her lips, burying her eyes in the skin of her knees. "The idea that it was all meant to be. You were fated to defeat me in France, I was fated to make the choices that led me to form a contract with you…I…" She trailed off and felt her throat starting to tighten, nearly growing sore with the angst of things she'd left un said. "I then…I look at all those…" She didn't quite touch the one on his biceps, but her fingers twitched in the air realizing she was reaching out for him.

Alter tried to retract her hand but found it snared into his palm again.

She breathed out slowly and nodded, "And then I look at those and see how many times it could've all been for nothing. Any of them might've been the thing that prevented our reunion. Or prevented us from reaching… here."

Ritsuka nodded once then twice. "It's okay. I think about it sometimes too." He offered her a half smile. She appreciated that about him to, that he always was trying to be up beat for her when things were bad. "I…that last loop certainly didn't help, did it?"

"No." She admitted. "It really didn't…"

Too close to death.

Jeanne Alter blinked a few times and smiled at him. Then another blushed formed, and her toes curled into the fabric of his towel, nails brushing his swim trunks. "Alright…okay." She leaned up right and tapped herself in the forehead a few times.

"Vacation." She muttered.

Ritsuka snorted.

She huffed, "What, still making fun of me?"

"No, I promise I'm not." He smiled and stood back up to offer her a hand. "I'm just…happy to have some time with you away from everyone."

She blew a raspberry. "Lame, couldn't you have said something more original?" Alter took hold of his hand and allowed him to pull her upright to her knees. She straightened out her towel again knelt down, and started to unwind the ribbon on her last remaining sandal heel on her other foot. Alter heard him chuckle again.

"I sometimes forget how abrasive you can be."

Alter felt a retort come into her throat as she looked up.

And found him standing right beside her kneeling down to her. His hand gently grabbed a fistful of her hair tilting her head back just a bit further so his lips met hers in a cross.

She blinked and her amber eyes started to widen. His lips were warm and chapped and oh so addicting in that way she struggled to avoid thinking about. She gave into the sensation, as she reached a hand up to cup his cheek.

They could feel each other's smiles.

Ritsuka pulled away.

"Guess…I'm not a full berserker aren't I?"

He shrugged, "Only mostly."

Jeanne Alter feigned a pout, "It amuses you doesn't it? The way my personality changes so flippantly with a simple change in spiritron dresses?"

"It didn't go away…it's just…slightly…" There was an expression on his lips that dared her to burn him at the stake. "...alters it?" He grinned a bit wider.

"Die." She huffed at him and she took off her sandal heel. It dropped to the ground when she stood back up. "So it does amuse you!" Alter's glare intensified a little bit.

Ritsuka started to laugh.

"Burn in hell bastard!" She grinned and smacked him with a spare towel.

His laughter only grew louder.

It was embarrassing because there really wasn't much she could do about it. The berserker spirit origin of her seemed to manifest her emotions and moods far more than her Avenger class did. The spiritron dress she was in now, didn't change her berserker origin. She, herself, couldn't detect the change.

But clearly, Ritsuka could. It grinded at her, just a little. Her mouth started to twist, even though he knew he didn't care. She still perceived it as a flaw. Alter pressed her lips into a line as she dropped the spare towel over her spot.

Ritsuka walked off a bit into the sun for a moment, and she watched him go to the ocean's edge. Her heart seemed to bounce in her chest, with the short distance that was now between them. She took a step to the edge of the tree's shadow and rested her arms across her chest. Her shoulders shrunk a little.

In the quiet her amber eyes scanned the beach again, as if paranoid someone might interrupt them. She could detect a servant. But she recognized the signature of them now as an archer. Atalante had taken up a nearby residence in the forest behind her. Close enough to come for help, but far enough to still afford them privacy.

There was a splash and it pulled her attention back.

Ritsuka was gone.

Her eyes went wide for a second she froze.

He popped back up with a laugh running his hands through his hair.

Her lips twisted and that twisted feeling started to subside.

"That last loop certainly didn't help, did it?"

She blew out a breath.

"No," She whispered to herself. "It really didn't." This time the words were repeated and she had new feelings looking out across that calm blue ocean. It was like any other normal summer day. The kind of day that was everything but her worst fears and imagination. The opposite of what the end of their last time loop had been.

Jeanne Alter forced herself to breathe out more calmly, as she started to unwind the knot of her black and gold trim translucent skirt. Despite what Ritsuka knew, she had multiple reasons for wanting to come visit the beach with him. She wanted to know if it had bothered him at any point because of what had happened.

She considered the face he dove in, as part of her answer. He either wasn't bothered, or he was far better at hiding his feelings than she was.

Feelings of trepidation and worry.

Fear.

Her lips twisted again, and while she crossed her arms she dug her nails back into her bicep. The other reason was for herself. It was easy for her to notice the great list of things she was piling up great aversions too.

Medb. Gilles. Urchins.

She bit her lip. "Shut up," Her whisper was harsh and plain enough that only she could hear.

Fire.

Shut up.

He'll find someone else who can tolerate sleeping with him.

Her nails dug into her bicep to leave marks. She'd almost…gone there with him. Looking back on it, she certainly might've had that night when her mana supply problem reared its ugly head. Even that now, had another bad memory attached to it.

It had been going so well that night too.

Things she didn't want to think about as paranoia seemed to run amuck about her. Without warning the grip on her biceps loosened and she smacked herself in the face again. That was why she'd wanted to come here. If that list kept growing she was afraid that she would become the very opposite of what she was supposed to be.

Useless.

That sinking feeling seemed only to grow as she overlooked the scene. Ritsuka was swimming now, out and back again as another wave crashed against the shore.

Go on.

She grit her teeth.

Stupid useless dragon witch.

"Just take a fucking step-" She whispered harshly, her amber eyes narrowing with a glow at her feet. It was another full five seconds as she counted the seconds with her breaths. Then she finally left the cover of the shade, and the hot sand burned at her bare feet. She winced at the touch.

Damn, I just had to do this at midday.

The sun was bright and she lifted a hand to shield her eyes for a moment. It added to the layers of discomfort.

Too warm.

That ever-familiar alarm bell chimed in the corner of her mind. However, she knew it wouldn't be as much of a problem the closer to the ocean she got. That in of itself was enough to push her. The sand beneath her feet started to smooth from its uneven rolling hills. Then it began to turn cool.

She was at last at the edge, as the wave crashed and rolled against the shore, coming just short of her toes.

Ritsuka was about thirty meters away now. Then to her surprise, he stood right up and laughed. Her confusion was short-lived as her eyes fixed on the coloration of the water beneath him. Even as he turned to look at her. The answer came to her just as his voice carried over the rolling waves.

"Sand bar!" He shouted.

Jeanne Alter smiled at that and tilted her head as she looked at him. The next wave once more crashed against the shore, it had gotten even closer to her toes, but it hadn't enveloped them.

He gestured for her to come and join him.

She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath, and focused on the distance once more judging with a bit more scrutiny. Her fingers twitched, and debated how long she would have to swim to get to him.

Just small steps.

The sand bar was much more calm and even, the waves barely forming around it. Something that she would consider far more tolerable in wading through. She took a breath and tried to smirk. It was that old avenger adage. Building up emotions to fuel her power. She tried to imagine burning all the water between them.

It satisfied her just enough for a twinge of an idea to appear in her mind.

What's the fun in having mana and being a servant if I can't use it in mundane situations sometimes?

She took a few steps back and settled herself, bending her knees.

Ritsuka stopped waving and waited with a tilted head.

Jeanne Alter blew out a breath and tore into a sprint, three steps, before she kicked off the ground with prana, sending her soaring through the air. She grinned wickedly as her white hair flew behind her and twisted herself to look at the ocean water she'd skipped over.

She flipped it off, giving herself some more satisfaction.

Then she noticed the sandbar was fast approaching. For Ritsuka he was standing in a place where the water barely came halfway up his shins.

A normal landing would do for now, she decided.

The sand and water kicked up from her impact, hard but not damaging for the likes of servants. The water splashed upwards, cool as she'd expected compared to the warm summer air. And then for the moment, the fear was gone, just for the stupid unnecessary stunt that she'd pulled.

And that had made it worth it for those few seconds when she could taste laughter at the edge of her lips.

But it vanished when she realized her legs didn't budge from where they were. Her amber eyes went wide, as she noticed the water was up to her waste, churning about her, feeling the ebbs and flows of the current. The sand of the sand bar that had been kicked up was starting to settle again. And she could see the sand nearly to her knees. The extent of her constant bad luck.

"Oh, damn it all!"

###Ritsuka Fujimaru###

He laughed a bit as his feet trudged through the water along the sandbar. "You're supposed to conserve mana you know?" Ritsuka put a hand on his hip as he got closer wanting to see the extent of what had happened, at first glance she was simply in a spot where it was deeper than where he was.

Guess she didn't want to be left out.

He smiled a bit as he got closer. That's when he felt mana twist in the air around him again. Goosebumps trailed up the side of his arm.

She nearly fell over hand catching herself, her face dunking beneath the ocean surface for a second before she pushed herself back up. There was something in her expression as it turned into a grimace.

"Agh!" She seemed to twist about moving her legs.

She's stuck.

His pace quickened.

The mana tore about the air again as a grunt escaped her lips, and a sort of recognition passed over him. Her movements tore about the water as she grew more frenzied, managing to twist a leg partly free with a cry that pierced the air. She started thrashing and he could sense a growing desperate frenzy in her movements as each second went past. A whimper escaped her as she looked down at herself.

It was an expression he was familiar with, just not from Jeanne Alter.

###

Ritsuka jogged quickly through the empty hallway, his shoulder nearly slamming into the corridor, not able to turn it well.

His sister was waiting in their dorm, hugging her shoulders. Shaking.

"Sorry, I came as quickly as I could." He grabbed a blanket off the couch, wrapped it over her shoulders, and held her.

###

He could remember bad days when anxiety was bad, and he could remember what it was like to have panic attacks. What he was seeing were the signs of the beginning of a panic attack. He still doubted it would turn into a full-on panic, he recognized it still for the signs of one. Jeanne Alter certainly had some mental issues, but most were towards specific things or people. In either case, he closed the distance as quickly as he could.

She is supposed to conserve mana.

The splashes came to a stop as he kneeled down to where she was and wrapped his arms around her.

"Hold on. Hold on." He tried to speak soothingly, and he felt her nails dig reflexively into his skin and for him, there was a fear that she might've thrown him off. Though when that didn't happen, he felt some relief, temporary as it was. She was clinging onto him now that he was there, her hands were shaking despite their grip on his skin. It lasted for a full few seconds before she pushed him away.

"Hey! Get off me! I'm almost free of this wretched thing-." She cursed and tore her hands away from him. Though she was still close enough to feel her breaths coming rapidly against his chest as he lowered himself to get closer to her height.

He breathed out slowly into her hair and grabbed her arms again. "Just hold on, it'll be easier if we dig you out."

"Like hell! I'll just rip my limbs free-" Her amber eyes glowed.

Ritsuka kissed her.

Her fingers were shaking but she went mostly still.

Don't do anything stupid Ritsuka. You have her attention now.

He cupped her cheek and pushed their foreheads together. "It's alright," He whispered. They were close enough now he could hear and feel the quickened heartbeat. There was still that frenzied and frantic look about her.

But it was lessened, which was good enough for him at that moment.

"You need to conserve your mana, and you aren't that deep." He held the nape of her neck gently. "Let me dig you out, alright?"

There was a reflexive denial that he could see in her expression. He wrapped his arms all the way around her again, and he felt the fabric of her bra against his chest when he hugged her tightly again.

She hissed but said nothing.

He kept his chuckles low and warm, hoping that they were calming to her ears. "It's alright, you're alright." Ritsuka pulled away gently and this time kissed on the nose, he ran fingers through her hair. The mana around him slowly started to subside away. And the glow of her amber eyes started to fade to their normal color.

Jeanne Alter retreated into herself a bit, a pattern he was growing familiar with when she didn't know how to broach specific topics. However, that, while on his list of priorities, fell beneath his promise to dig her out.

A part of him thought it was comical she was willing to use her servant strength to rip herself free. The fact she didn't go full bore into it, meant she actually was trying to be somewhat conservative with her power. But that didn't take away from the fact that she was willing to use it over something so seemingly trivial.

He worried for her. He leaned away, and sat himself down in the water, as it barely came up past his hips and abdomen when he did. He had a hand on Alter's shoulder still, water coming up to her waist, a sign of how deep she was buried. The good news was that she'd already gotten one of her legs half free. He could see it, still buried, but now she was just standing awkwardly positioned.

One of her hands was over his, on her shoulder, and the other was over his forearm. She didn't want him to go very far.

He could work with that.

He scooted closer to her in the water, and his legs brushed her thighs. "Okay, I'm going to dig out your mostly freed limb, once it's free, you should be able to push yourself free. If not, I can dig a bit more."

She nodded and touched her forehead with a frown. "S-sorry."

Ritsuka chuckled a bit, being sure that she knew it wasn't meant to be at her expense. "It's alright, people can get stuck and buried under sand more commonly than you might think." He smiled at her and once again ran his hand up to the nape of her neck to convey what he thought was a more intimate gesture of support. "You're alright?"

She blew out a breath. "Better…" She said, admitting that something had been wrong. And from the look in her eye, she was hesitant again. "It was…a culmination of things."

He nodded, "Seems to be happening to you a lot?"

"This one was a surprise even for me…" She muttered.

He dug his hands into the wet clumps of sand and started pulling. The issue was that the sand being kicked up was rapidly replacing. But it was slower than his hands. So ultimately it would work well enough to free the rest of her leg. It was less than a minute before she could easily feel the tension loose enough to try.

Her foot came more and more loose and she smiled wide at him. Hiding that worry a little more beneath the surface.

It was as he said, the rest came easier. Her foot was plucked free and planted firmly on the sandbar's surface. She huffed out a breath looking down at the last left stuck in the sand behind her. "Now what?" She asked. Her fingers gripped both of his shoulders as he adjusted himself standing back up.

Ritsuka smiled, "Now we pull first."

She frowned at him like it was a lame answer.

"I can keep digging if you like, but it will take longer." He kissed her again, trying to diffuse her anger and perhaps other gathered feelings.

Alter pouted, "Pulling is fine."

So they did, and Ritsuka had to admit it was more difficult than he thought it would be. But from the start of it, he could feel her coming loose. It was shorter than that of the digging, especially with the extra leverage.

Alter pulled free and stumbled forward right into him backing him up a few paces, and she wrapped her arms around him. Some awkward laughter escaped her lips as she straightened out and ran some fingers through her long white hair. "Ha…I guess that wasn't so bad." She walked exactly ten feet away from the hole she'd made, now smoothing over with the ebb and flow of the water's current, and fell to her knees.

White hair obscured her expression as it fell around her.

Ritsuka followed a few paces behind her and joined her sitting down beside her. "Better still? I hope so." He asked gently, placing a hand over hers in the water, against the sand.

This time there wasn't a verbal response, only a very quiet nod. Her amber eyes flicked to him and stared at him.

"My sister and I both get them from time to time you know." He smiled gently. "Anxiety…or something to that effect." His words remained calm as he spoke, and there was a twist as her amber eye peered at him through the folds of her white hair.

"Yeah, but you're human," she blew out a breath, "I'm not."

It was an excuse he'd heard the edges of before. He imagined that it traced back to that feeling for her, of uselessness. It had been one of her more ingrained fears that one day she might be discarded if her worth wasn't proven, overlooked. He could repeat the fact that such a thing never mattered to him ever since this…relationship between them had started to turn into something more intimate.

His heart skipped a beat at the thought.

But repetition from his words alone wouldn't suffice forever. Though he hoped in part to wear those fears of hers down by constantly asserting his stance, she needed to both feel and comprehend it too.

His smile was gentle like his others, happy to see the beginning signs of a panic attack fading away as she remained hunched over her knees, propping herself up with her arms. "All the more reason I'm familiar with it." He suggested gently. But he didn't despair about it. It wasn't something he wanted to do as a deflection away from her feelings. The water churned about them slowly, the current an ever-present gentle tug.

"Tch." Jeanne Alter made a noise of disappointment, clicking her teeth. It wasn't at him but at herself. That amber eye drifted away from him, and her long white locks of hair, clumped in braids and fancy black and gold frilly hair ties, hid her expression. "I would've been fine if this didn't happen."

Her fingers dug into the sand bar, curling like pitched claws.

"I shouldn't be reacting this way. I'm supposed to be fearless. I'm a servant for fuck's sake!" Finally, she picked herself up. "I didn't want to come here because I thought it would be fun. I wanted to see if I could even stomach looking at the ocean again." She huffed a few laughs at herself, her eyes taking on a bit of that haze when she was laughing during battles. He imagined it helped her speak her mind.

It didn't surprise him either, that she had ulterior motives in this case. Jeanne Alter was still a mostly fearless heroic spirit afterall. So of course she defaulted in part to just confronting that fear directly. Hopefully, while it was still manageable. A lot of her most recent memories that she accumulated were probably things that didn't help.

He tentatively reached out and touched her shoulder

Her body was tense as she was hugging herself now, still resting on her knees. But she turned to look at him.

Ritsuka tugged at her, and she followed, allowing him to pull her into his lap, sitting on his legs. Slowly the rest of that tension evaporated as he wrapped his arms around her smiling into her hair and skin. He breathed in and out intentionally slowly.

Until finally she rested against him. It was like she deflated as suddenly her full weight was on him, as she leaned her head against his shoulder, ear angled at the perfect spot, where she liked to listen to his heartbeat.

There was a light blush on her cheeks now, and those amber eyes flicked up at his blue ones. "You're a hopeless dork." She muttered. Her arm dragged along the water until she hooked one around his arm. With the other she spread across his chest, holding herself up.

He hummed. "A badge of honor, Lady Alter."

"Hmph." Came a feigned pout.

There was a beat of quiet. "We can stand to spare a few minutes like this right?"

She didn't answer, which for him, at this moment was the answer he wanted.

Ritsuka kissed her temple and curled around her as if trying to envelope her completely with a hug. "Then, I think I have an idea that might help. If you trust me, that is?"

###Jeanne Alter###

She couldn't help but feel derisive skepticism at the suggestion of him helping her with this particular fear. But on the other hand, he did have her trust. It was sometimes difficult for her to even want to acknowledge the fact that she did trust him. Much to her own blush, she realized it was because of those deepening feelings for him.

She hugged her knees as the water churned about her, watching him.

Her master was walking along the sand bar, in a manner that suggested to her that he was looking for something. She ran her fingers over her knees absentmindedly, trying not to think about how she was exactly where she didn't want to be. Distance from the shore, with her master just out of reach enough to cause her problems if something came up.

There was a flicker of mana. A servant she recognized to be an ally was nearby.

Her shoulders slumped again, relief unwinding her tension.

Come on stupid dragon witch.

Her amber eyes tracked Ritsuka.

No use fretting over everything.

Jeanne Alter sat up a bit straighter and unwound her arms from hugging her knees. She looked around at the ocean surface churning around her. The crashing of waves cut through the air every few seconds, a short thirty meters away.

A few more minutes passed like this until at last Ritsuka was there standing near her. He got down onto a knee and fished something from his pocket. An ugly-looking set of glasses rimmed plastic suction cups.

Alter quickly scrolled through her memory bank. It was the knowledge the grail had provided her with, so her memory of what it was called wasn't so direct. She knew it started with a G, and that it was essentially underwater glasses.

He offered them out to her. "Here, put these on."

She blinked and her expression twisted.

"My sister and I were deathly and unreasonably afraid of bodies of water. Be it a pool or the beach whenever our parents manage to find the time to take us." He chuckled a bit, scratching the back of his head. Then he stood back up and offered her his other hand to help her up.

She took his hand first, accepting his offer of help to pull her up.

Then he continued to elaborate after turning her palm and placing the underwater glasses in his hand.

Goggles.

She remembered. "I didn't know that," she said trailing off a bit.

Ritsuka shrugged, "I don't talk about it." He grabbed her hand and started to lead her to a particular end of the sandbar.

Once more she allowed him to lead her. That trust in him was matched only by her curiosity. It was more than enough to override any misgivings or feelings of discomfort that she was having. She tilted her head at him, a sign that he took that he should continue. She didn't make any moves to stop or interrupt him.

Jeanne Alter liked hearing about him.

"All those fears and stuff came to a head when our parents and some of their friends wanted to go to this water park. There was a reunion there with a few classmates they'd had back in high school." Ritsuka smiled as he looked back around at her. "But by then our mom was intimately familiar with the fact we were afraid of swimming or being in the water."

He took her to where the sand bar seemed to start descending, like a ramp. Then he turned all the way around to face her. "My mother used to hold us and cradle us as she slowly went into the water."

Her master started to blush.

She blinked, and then she started to blush, understanding his idea.

Ritsuka coughed trying to clear away his blush and nodded to the goggles. "Put those on," He urged her gently.

She hesitated, but she did. The straps were a little uneven with her hair behind her, but as she wasn't going for a long dive, and she didn't plan anything super fantastical, she decided she could bear that slight discomfort. "Are you sure?"

He hummed, and she could feel his fingers running through her hair, straightening it out for her, and tightening it just a little, once it was more snug. She could then suction a bit to her forehead, just above her eyes. "While understanding might not necessarily rid you of an irrational fear…or in this case a special rational one due to the singularity, hehe, it may, at the very least lessen the fear through some minor exposure.

Alter shrunk into her shoulders a bit and shook her head a few times. "I don't know master…" She pursed her lips, "It's definitely the monsters…and the experience. Not…you know…" She gestured wildly with her hand toward the water, "This."

There was a pause as he grabbed her hand. "I know…" He kissed her knuckles and she gave him a pouty blush. "But one thing that I've learned since all of this is that it helps to know what you're fighting for sometimes right?"

"We're fighting to save the world…" Alter said pointedly. "Pretty sure I know about it."

"You do, the grail gives you tons of practical knowledge." He led her a few steps deeper, the water now just above her belly button. "But I learned something…well my sister and I both learned something. While helping Mash, and a few others." He grinned at her, "The world has wonders to offer everyone if you just know where to look."

Her lips twitched into a small smile, "Like constellations?"

He snorted, "Yes, quite like that." Then he got behind her and lifted her up. She was nearly weightless in the water. One hand supported her back, the other, just behind her knees.

A classic bridal carry. She tucked herself in against his chest, and she could feel her heartbeat picking up. Nerves and embarrassment both. She pouted her lips a little at him. "A little warning next time?"

"Next time?" Ritsuka smiled.

"Idiot." She pushed his face gently with her palm.

Then they moved deeper, and almost instantly, the water was up to her neck.

"Put them on." Ritsuka reminded her.

She feigned a frown at him, but now there was just a small twinge of excitement in her expression. Alter couldn't deny that she felt that at least too. Excitement because her master had correctly deduced that she'd never worn goggles before. Excitement because he was calmly helping her as if it were normal. The water she realized had made her blush just a bit more noticeable as she angled her ear against his chest. That steady heartbeat of his made her smile like a certain idiot that she was growing to like more and more. It was all that and so much more than she could describe.

It's warm.

For once, she realized almost belatedly that those alarm bells weren't sounding. But by then she'd already slid her goggles on.

"There won't be much to see here, but look out towards where the sand bar starts to go down a little further." His fingers tightened onto her skin. "I'm going to take you under for only a short period. It will get progressively longer…alright?"

She nodded.

Jeanne Alter didn't get much of a chance to say anything, but she made sure to take a deep breath because Ritsuka was already watching her closely before pulling them both into the water. That thudding of her heart grew louder in her ears and she tensed in his arms.

Reflexively he held her a bit closer to his chest, his hold on her tightening.

Then all the noise was muffled, her heartbeat, his heartbeat. The way the water moved with each of their steps.

She counted the seconds until they were relatively still in the water. It was only then she allowed herself to open her eyes and peer into the ocean. It was well-lit, unlike her previous experiences. There was no blurred haze to make seeing difficult, and therefore, no need to burn through mana to enhance her vision.

She could see clearly underwater without all of that.

Her head twisted just looking around their immediate area. The sand was still settling at the base of their feet. Her master had his eyes closed, but even in the water, now that she could see him perfectly, she could still see that smile on his lips.

It was only after all of that, did she look where he'd indicated to her. In clear blue ocean water, she could see underwater plant life forming at the edge of the sand bar that was meters away, angling towards the surface. There were little creatures there going about their daily life, small and distant, unwilling to traverse far up the sandbar. Stocks of seaweed swayed about in the ocean current.

And all at once she understood.

Her amber eyes went wide at the simple wondering sight of what lay out there, less than fifteen meters away from them.

The fear was gone.

Ritsuka hadn't let her go, but he moved a hand and touched her cheek.

She blinked and looked back at him. His smile widened, and she felt him trace the shape of her lips with his finger.

Alter huffed out a bubbled laugh. Not bothering to hide the fact that she was smiling at what he'd wanted her to see, at him.

Even when he can't see me, he wants to know that I'm okay.

It made her feel giddy and she was grateful he couldn't see her as well as she could see him. There was a twinge to her cheeks that he might've teased her about otherwise. She grabbed his wrist and brushed her lips along it. Hoping to convey to him that quiet thanks she couldn't verbalize underwater.

And then it was over.

He burst through the air gasping for air, and she came up with him. Watching him catch her breath. She ran her fingers through her hair and stood beside him. Water up her collar bones. Her fingers and arms make swirls in the ocean water around her.

Ritsuka grinned at her and nodded a few times. "Again?"

"Yes." She agreed. "We can get closer…if you don't mind?"

At that, he nodded once. "I won't be able to carry you…"

She hummed, "Then it seems we will have to be content with holding hands." As soon as the words had left her mouth she wanted to smack herself for sounding anything like a love-sick idiot. Alter dunked her head back under water hoping to hide her blush from him blowing bubbles out her nose.

Stupid dragon witch be careful with what you say!

Her lips twitched.

Why?

Even as that question had quickly ground her mind to a halt, she felt them move. Ritsuka carried her a little deeper, until at last he couldn't manage to both hold onto her and keep himself as he dunked his head back underwater with her, his eyes still closed. His hands, which had still been curled around her in a bridal carry, came loose.

Her eyes went wide and she grabbed onto his hands as the current pushed her away from him.

They both popped for air, churning their limbs to keep themselves afloat.

Ritsuka laughed, "I should have thought to find another pair of goggles then I wouldn't be so left out." Then his expression smoothed and those blue eyes seemed to pierce right through to her amber eyes. "Maybe next time."

She hoped her wet matted hair and those goggles hid her expression. She didn't want to look so sheepish with how brazen and open he was starting to get about their relationship. Alter also didn't want to feel embarrassed every time it was brought up. She ran a hand through her hair. "Next time." She agreed simply.

She tugged him along gently by the hand from underwater. He remained close to the surface, and an anchor for. Her nerves were still rattled, but all she had to do was squeeze his fingers, and it chased that feeling away for a little while longer.

Alter was much closer now to all those things that she could see in the distance a few moments ago.

The stocks of seaweed stretched out above the coral reefs. Now that she was closer she could better make out the small fishes that swam in schools of ten, at the biggest she could see. A turtle seemed curious of them and floated toward them peering at her.

Then it seemed to float away.

Luluhawa might have been a fictional Hawaiian island, or a great mish-mash of them all rolled into one. But this was a corner of beauty that she hadn't quite expected. There was an octopus barely the size of her palm walking along the surface of coral, coiling, and uncoiling as it went, as if swinging itself along.

The water muffled her laughter.

She burst through the ocean surface to catch some air and Ritsuka was there waiting patiently for her. Alter had a ton of things to tell him and it seemed like a jumble of words stuck in her throat that she didn't know where to start.

The colors and vibrance of the corals. The way the fish traveled around in groups all the little things that seemed to track along the ocean surface at the sandbar's end.

None of those things she'd wanted to say came out. She hadn't quite swam over the edge of it, contenting herself to enjoy the view of it from where she'd been. Ritsuka's hand on her fingers seemed to tighten a bit.

Then she sunk herself back underwater.

This time Ritsuka had followed, but still close to the surface. His eyes were closed, his head turning in her direction.

Jeanne Alter looked away feeling that heat rising to her cheeks despite the cool water moving about her. Through the goggles, she peered at all the errant beauty on display only meters away. Her heart beat a little faster at the thought of going out there just a bit farther, a bit deeper to touch those seaweed stocks.

But be it her fear, or her duty as a servant she pulled away from it. She touched her heart with her other hand and dug her nails into her skin.

Stupid.

Her eyes flicked back to her Master, floating less than a meter from her, that calm smile on his lips even with his eyes closed.

Idiot.

Jeanne Alter's lips twisted as she floated closer, looking at all those scars that marred his chest, a few on his arms. She let go of his hand.

There was only a fraction of a second where that smile of his flickered. Replaced with a curious frown, his head turning a little in the direction where she'd taken her hand out of his grip. But she didn't leave him to question what had happened for too long.

Both her hands cupped the sides of his head, straightening his face toward her. She drifted closer, those amber eyes in the goggles giving her a clear view of his changing, exaggerated expressions. She smiled, a bit as they were so close now, casting shadows into the sandbar beneath them, as she felt his arms wrap around her torso pressing her close again.

Her lips brushed against his, her grip firming only to keep them there. She closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him.

And for a quiet moment, they drifted in the current together, locking in one another's embrace.

###Ritsuka Fujimaru###

He damned wished he brought his goggles, because all he'd been left to think about was merely the sensation of it. The rest had been a bit of a blur for him in that sense, as even when she picked him and mana jumped them both back to shore, he didn't so much as protest.

That fact that he didn't seem to shock her.

But he couldn't blame her. She was still red in the face after looking at him for too long.

Just as he was red in the face, but couldn't take his damn eyes off of her.

And here I thought I was raised to be respectable.

Ritsuka wanted to hit himself as hard as he could as if the pain or shock of it might wake him up. But he found that it would've just made him look stupider. Instead, he just tried to remember that odd but satisfying sensation that it was. Just…floating with her. It was an unexpected wonder he'd found for himself.

The air tore about them for a brief moment and then once more sand was kicked up by their impact.

Alter mumbled a few apologies for all the sand that got kicked up from their impact. She hadn't quite let go of his hand and ended up dragging him along to go back into the ocean, but this time it was shallow waters they were dealing with against the shore, the waves rising high enough to wash themselves.

It was when she finally ducked down under a wave that he finally seemed to be knocked back to reality. He blinked a few times and huffed a laugh at himself.

Alter rose from the wave mostly sand-free, letting go of his hand to wipe her hair back. Her amber eyes flicked to him.

Then he did the same taking a few steps deeper, taking a deep breath, and letting the water pass over him. The whole excursion out to the sandbar had probably been less than twenty minutes, and he could already feel his skin starting to grow a bit agitated due to the direct sunlight.

It's probably wise to put on sunblock whether I'm here or at our camp.

He came up and like Alter pushed his hair back out of his eyes.

Alter stood a couple feet away, and now that they were both done with that they headed back to their camping site under the trees. After getting to her towel, she grabbed her translucent skirt and tied it back on. She blushed while she did so, and averted her eyes from him again.

He couldn't blame her.

At least we both can't quite eject the feeling from our minds.

They were both quiet and Ritsuka reached into the picnic basket, and pulled out the remaining skewers that he'd made them for lunch, something they could now snack on. He also pulled out some hard plastic-wrapped snacks that he'd put away to serve as some salty side dish to the fried vegetables.

Alter quietly took her portions as he handed them to her.

Then he corked open a water bottle and chugged down half of it in a quick gasp of breath.

They ate mostly quietly too. Alter drinking water to go with her meal a bit more slowly. Her cheeks were still a bit red.

The heat too, was properly starting to set in now, as the mid-afternoon drew nearer. The cool sensations of the breeze seemed far too warm for the skin. The cool ocean waves, while nice, seemed too far away to cross the sand barefoot. So they wrapped up their excursion eating their snacks quietly, with no thought of rushing out.

They weren't sitting quite shoulder to shoulder but as the time went by they came up with some menial excuses for the both of them. Sitting closer to the basket with their food. Sitting closer to the umbrella. Straightening out the towels beneath their feet. Once it was all done and they'd finished eating. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder.

Alter eventually leaned over, her head on his shoulder. "Thank you," The words were difficult to get out, she could tell. Marred with all the issues she'd described to him. She wrapped one hand around his arm, and the other around his waist. A gentle and firm hug from her as she gently pushed them closer.

Ritsuka wrapped an arm over her shoulder and hugged her close too. He smiled into the white locks of her hair and kissed her. "You're welcome."

###

They rolled up their beach towels and stuffed them away. Ritsuka took a few moments to douse himself in sunblock. He didn't quite burn or anything, but he could tell his skin was a bit more tender after the excursion, and prolonged stay at the sandbar. He'd already gathered all the stuff he meant to carry back.

He frowned a bit realizing he couldn't get his back. Ritsuka's blue eyes went over to Alter.

She was looking away from him for the moment, her black and gold trimmed sandal heels were already in place.

Best to avoid cliches right?

He frowned a bit and turned away managing to get his arms, nose, and face rubbed in with the material. He spared Alter another glance.

Only this time he caught the movement, she'd been looking at him over her shoulder, and there was a twinge of red that had returned to her cheeks. The sight of her thinking about the same thing made his own growing blush worse.

Oh, what the hell, she's your girlfriend now anyway.

His lip twitched as his stare hardened at the ground in front of him. Then he found his voice after mustering the courage. "Alter? Can you get my back?" He grinned a bit sheepishly, finding that she appreciated his openness about his nerves. Sometimes it helped her be a bit more open about her own thoughts.

She stiffened, blinking at him. Ritsuka thought she was trying just a little bit too hard to keep her face under control. Her cheeks were still red, and her smile twitched. Somehow, he found it endearing all the same.

She had only a few things left to pack, but she paused coming over. Their last towel was still on the ground underneath him. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she got behind him and took the bottle. He felt more than saw her form plopping onto the towel behind him.

Ritsuka was watching her over his shoulder.

Her face was growing more red by the second. Then she caught his eye, and her embarrassed expression was a bit of frantic surprise. "Stop looking!"

He stiffened and once more stared at the sand in front of him. "Sorry,"

She hummed her frown as she got closer. The sunblock and her hands were cool to the touch compared to the warm summer air around them. Her touch was tentative at first as if wanting to test it out first. But eventually, he could feel all the fingers of her hands on his back, stretching out of his skin.

Her hands were slow, as she started from his shoulders.

And Ritsuka really tried not to think about the end of their date night. Where she had gripped his back in such a way. His brow twitched as he squeezed his eyes shut hoping to exercise his own blush from his mind.

She made a grunt. "Why didn't you already put some on?"

He sighed, "It was the furthest thing from my mind honestly until we got back to the shore." He turned to look over his shoulder at her.

She was blushing madly, but her hand caught his face before he could see more and gently pushed him back to look the other way. Once more he could hear her exaggerate a hum of an emotion he couldn't quite place his finger on.

Ritsuka snorted but did as he was told and faced the other way.

"You need to worry about yourself more." She said quietly as she worked across his shoulder bones down to the middle of his back. Pausing only to add a bit more.

He tried not to laugh, but he chuckled. "I can say the same thing about you, you know?"

"Don't change the subject." Her fingers dug a little harder into his skin. "I don't need sunblock!" Her amber eyes narrowed. "I can't tan. I can't burn from sunlight." Her voice trailed off. The excuses formed a pattern in his mind.

He wanted to turn and look at her but resisted the urge again at least for a few seconds more. "Even if it doesn't, I'm going to worry about you anyway." He grinned and wanted to share that with her.

This time her response was slower, and she saw his grin before she pushed his face to look away again. He also saw her annoyed frown forming with her blush just before he was looking at the sand again.

"Idiot." She muttered.

It was only a painfully short moment that had passed by the time she was done. He stood up and straightened his trunks out again. He turned to smile at her, "Thank you. I appreciate it Alter."

She was still seated, and she was looking away from him with red cheeks. "O-on second t-thought…I think it might be a good idea to use sunblock." She shoved the bottle into his hand and turned away from him, still resting on her knees.

He blinked.

What?

Slowly, she moved her long white hair strands over her shoulders, exposing her back to him. She rigidly was looking the other way.

Ritsuka blinked and before he knew it had settled himself behind her. "Are you sure?"

"Y-yeah! Of course." She huffed a few nervous laughs of her own. "I don't know how much my spirit origin affected me. I can barely summon a single sword to my side after all. And my clothes for some stupid fucking reason are all real because even when I tailor make a spirit origin, I have to screw somethings up. So yes, I'd like to get sunblock-"

He touched her shoulder.

She stiffened but didn't look at him.

Ritsuka could see a red twinge at the base of her ears. He breathed out slowly and forced himself to relax, and for his pounding heart to go away. "Alright," He decided not to tease her about the litany of excuses she threw out for him. She wanted to experience it too, and that for him was reason enough.

She was good about getting all the strands of her hair away. There were two straps along her back, black and gold trimmed like the rest of her outfit. He felt himself frown a bit, but he squeezed the bottle and got to work.

Like her motions, he started from her shoulders and worked his way down. He threw himself at it, trying to focus on rubbing the sunblock into her skin. It at least made him less blushy and awkward about this whole mess they'd found themselves in.

Occasionally his blue eyes caught her amber ones peering over her shoulder. He smiled a little, even though it made him blush. He didn't push her face away offering her the freedom in whatever had made her comfortable.

He slid his fingers gently under the straps along her back. The stiffness in Alter's posture was palpable. But he moved deliberately slowly, along the lines of the straps of her back.

Don't be an idiot, Ritsuka.

Ritsuka finished in a painfully short amount of time. But instead of leaving he wrapped his arms around her stomach. She went stiff in his arms but made no move to stop him. He kissed the base of her neck and trailed three to the base of her ear.

Her hands wrapped into his hair, and the other gripped his waist.

Just for a moment the held each other close. Their warm breaths exchanged in the short distance as she turned to look right at him.

"If you ever need or want anything Alter…you don't have to make excuses."

She nodded and looked away, her shoulder shrinking. "I know…sorry."

He chuckled and kissed her cheek, "Don't be."

Then he pulled away and offered her hand up. After another minute, they headed off back to their camp under the leyline. The walk was quieter than their walk to the beach. But it was filled with a quiet contentment with each other that Ritsuka couldn't quite describe. It made him almost forget all the duties they were supposed to be attending too.

###Jeanne Alter###

Evening came quickly and she had avoided the subject for long enough. She stepped over to the other side of their small campfire. Ritsuka was in the other chair working on something. It was clearly for their next doujin. He was taking notes and out of the corner of her eye, as she passed him, she saw the makings of a few sketches.

Nothing discernable.

It had been a good day, she admitted. It had its ups and downs like any day. But she'd spent most of it out here with him. That's what made it for her. She settled down, folded her legs over one another, and pulled a wine bottle from the cooler. Her amber eyes flicked to him across from her quietly working away.

She smiled a little and uncorked the unopened wine bottle. And poured herself a goblet. Between them, the fire crackled and she leaned back into her chair looking at their arrangements.

She'd spent far longer considering the subject than a normal person might've. But she was far from normal. Alter had all the feelings from anger to being vain, jealous, worry. Even now if she lingered on the thought for too long, she could feel it boiling over. Because she could imagine horrible things.

And that was enough.

Alter's expression smoothed, settling for the simplest way to broach the subject. "So…Medb."

Ritsuka's pencil stopped and he froze for a few seconds. Then he was better and looked up to see her, setting the pencil down in his lap with the sketchbook. "Yes, the plan for now, is to let things play out…as we normally do. At least it was so for today. The goal is to find her before the beach party fight that's had over the beauty contest."

He's been thinking about it too.

She took a small swig from her goblet as she watched him.

He nodded, "Failing that, we go with plan A which is…wait for the beach fight to end, and when she brazenly makes a pass at me…I go with her."

A frown formed.

"...and if you are willing…" Ritsuka straightened himself up a little. "I'd like to have you come with me to watch my back."

She blinked and then straightened up looking at him. "Wait, what? H-how do you think you can manage that?" Alter gestured toward him. "You know how much she despises me. If she remembers loops like us, she probably hates me even more."

Ritsuka nodded, "Yes…but I think I can manage. I'm…working on that pitch for Medb…." His frown deepened, and then it softened a little as he looked at her. "You won't like it…if you do want it."

Jeanne Alter didn't have to consider that aspect for long. "I'm not letting you walk into that…whore's nest alone." Her expression seemed to harden. "I won't like it…how?" She looked right at him.

"I'm going to agree with what she says about you. Will that be okay with you?"

She fell quiet and took a swig from her drink. Her throat cleared and there was a barely guarded tone in her voice. A hesitation that she didn't want to face. But she figured she should hear it now. Rip it off like a bandaid now, so that when it happened later she would be less hurt by it. She hoped it would hurt less. "And…what does she say about me?"

Ritsuka's blue eyes looked her over.

Assessment.

Wants to see if you're even up to the task.

She pressed her lips into a line.

Then he started slowly, "Mostly…she says you're worthless. Sometimes she calls you useless. And those are some of the gentler things." He sighed as he watched her, there was a discomfort about him. She wondered if she should appreciate that, but all she could think about was smashing that dumb bitch queen's head repeatedly into a rock.

Her mouth twisted.

Ritsuka hummed into the evening air. "She…will say much worse if you are there. Wanting to make her point clearer since you're the person I've chosen to spend much of my time with."

"Verbal abuse might be a good departure for me." She said quietly.

"I'm not joking." He said.

"Nor am I," She bit out.

There was a pause, and then there was the sound of something sliding out into the sand. Her eyes flicked back up and Ritsuka was walking around their fire pit to her. She sat up a bit straighter and found her hand in his.

"I know…" He said quietly.

Her amber eyes peered at him. She opened her mouth, but he started speaking just before her again.

"But I won't have you come unless you are certain."

"I said-"

"And just because you can deal with it, doesn't mean you should." He reached over to her and cupped her cheek in his palm.

She fell quiet.

"You are dealing with enough…I don't want you to think that you have to endure this for me, just because I want you there." His thumb brushed the edges of her white hair, and those blue eyes had fixed themselves to her.

Alter found she couldn't look away. There was a logic in his point about warning her about the sort of thing she might be dealing with. Medb disliked her intensely, be it at Chaldea or here stuck in Luluwaha. Her fingers wrapped around his wrist and she took a deep breath. "And I won't let you go to her alone." She leaned into his touch.

Not after what she was doing to you. How could I let you go alone?

Her lips twisted and thought of all those nightmares that she continued to have. How many times had she seen Medb do things to her or him? It wouldn't be a pleasant experience that much was obvious to her from the start. But the alternative was that he was going to go through whatever it was alone.

"And even though it will be a lie, you're okay if I agree with her?"

He knows you're weak.

She looked away from him, but still held his hand to her cheek. "I…will be. Especially now that I have time to prepare for it." Alter adjusted herself on her camping chair making room for him to join her. It would be a tight fit if he wanted to but for this topic, she just wanted him as close as possible.

Too warm.

Ritsuka caught her intentions and instead of joining her, he wrapped his arms under her knees, and the other behind her back.

Her amber eyes went wide, going stiff as she was lifted up.

Then he set her back down on top of him, settling them both more comfortably in her chair. She feigned a pout at him. "A little warning next time."

He responded by quietly running his fingers through the white locks of her hair and settling her head against his chest. Her ear was right above his heart. Ritsuka kissed her forehead and adjusted her legs on top of him.

Slowly that wound-up tension started to grind away and she closed her eyes to listen to that steady heartbeat.

"Good." He said quietly. "If you even think about doubting that it's a lie, I want you to think of small things like this." He tilted her chin upwards and her eyes flicked open again, his warm breath rolled over her lips. "Because there is no one else that I would ever dream of doing this with for as long as you are willing to stay."

She blushed and looked away from him again. "Idiot. I might be a troubled stupid dragon witch, but even I know better than to leave the only good thing that's ever happened to me." Alter didn't want to think about it.

Not again.

Because she knew if she did she would have shied away from the feeling. So Alter quickly closed the gap, grabbing a fistful of his hair to push their lips together.

As it had been predicted, things quickly got too warm for her to deal with. Sweat glistened in the firelight off her brow and she pushed herself away from him. There was no space on the small chair that they were now sharing. But that was enough to pull and lean away from him. Though she hated the fact she could feel her fingers twitching uncontrollably.

He still wrapped her knuckles with his hand. His smile was still as wide as it had been during their kiss.

She pouted, wishing she could push herself more easily.

Eventually, however, he wrapped his arm around her again, and pulled her head gently back against his chest.

Her blush was still worsening and then she shook her head, "I can't…" She whispered.

Then he stopped. "Okay…"

She stood up and stepped away for a few seconds hugging herself. Her back was to him, but she knew he was watching her. Alter pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

Too warm. Too warm. Too warm.

Her brow twitched as she peered at the camp fire a few feet away. She ignored even the sound of movement behind her. That stupid alarm bell was wringing from every corner of her body and it made her feel off. She hunched her shoulders and the grips on her biceps tightened as she dug her nails into her skin.

"Alter?" Ritsuka asked gently.

"I'm gonna be fine." She said, perhaps more bitterly than she wanted.

Medb doesn't have this issue.

Shut the hell up!

I wonder if she'll do things to him in front of you?

Jeanne Alter gritted her teeth and bit down hard on her lip. There were footsteps behind, just a few as Ritsuka joined her. She tore her face away from him, but it was too late, and they both knew it.

"Alter."

She sniffed the air, "I'm going to be fine…really I…" Alter's brow contorted and she turned to him and he could see the water in her eyes. "I just…" She trailed off and wondered what she could even say to get him not to worry over her. Anything so that it wasn't such a little stupid nuisance.

But she'd been honest with him about where it came from.

So of course he worries.

He wrapped his hand around hers, and instinctively she wanted to recoil, but she managed to stand at least that while those alarm bells rang throughout her. That's when he offered her back her wine goblet, an object she'd misplaced throughout their talk. She stared at it and then snagged it away from him, chugging down the rest of it in an instant. Alter tossed the goblet behind her onto the chair.

"Guh," She wiped her lips with the corner of her mouth. "Stupid dragon witch." She muttered and went back digging her nails into the skin. Though the grip he managed to snag one of her other hands grew a bit firmer. "Sorry, you know I'm just fucking awfully sick of it…" Her amber eyes flicked over to him.

"I know." He tilted his head a little at her.

So they stood there awkwardly for a few more minutes while Alter wrangled her emotions back under control.

There were other things to talk about, but she found herself suddenly very tired. The tent was a few meters away. She rubbed the center of her forehead feeling the pressure closing around her eyes.

Her master had been recommending sleep to her. The advice she'd explained why she was ignoring…but now it was getting to a point of inevitability. She blew out a breath and her voice finally came out a bit calmer. "I…think I want to head to sleep…" Her amber eyes flicked to him again.

Ritsuka nodded and his grip on her hand started loosening. "You should."

"I know…" Alter whispered, once more returning to hug herself. Instead of digging her nails into her skin, she ran her hands over her biceps as if smoothing the marks she'd left out. "How…" She shrunk into her shoulders. "H-how long are you going to be?"

She heard him walk away. She blinked and her eyes followed him back around to his chair, as he grabbed a few things off the floor, that sketchbook, and that journal he'd kept with him in the same way she'd kept her own

Ritsuka smiled a bit awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I'd like to eat something for myself…so...in less than an hour?" Then his expression smoothed, "But if you want to…"

Jeanne Alter tried not to look so disappointed. She was pleased that she managed to succeed. "That's fair…" She laughed at herself and ran her hands up over their face. "No no, I…you need to eat."

"You're invited to stay? And I'll save some for you in any case." Ritsuka looked at her.

She shook her head. "No, no I'm fine. I…think I lost my appetite." She blew out a breath and she smiled at him. "Thank you…"

He blinked, "For what?"

"For…just being here." She said and then she turned on her heel and walked towards their tent. Trying to ignore that stupid blush rising to her cheeks. It was growing ever presently and she spared a glance at him. "Just…you know…"

He raised a brow.

"Just hurry up!" If she could slam tent flaps closed she absolutely would have. But she could hear his laughter.

And she smiled at the sound of it.

###

The inside of the tent was equally quieter, but it did little to muffle the noise beyond it just a little. However, she could hear the sizzling of food over the fire. It was the smell of chicken and bell peppers. She wondered if he was making skewers again or something else. However, she left him alone.

She'd been a nag most of the day.

Jeanne Alter blushed at the thought pressing a palm up against her forehead. The stupid reflex of kissing him under the water. Not wanting to leave his side, complaining about Medb. Bugging him when he forgot to put sunblock on. The more she thought about it, the more her list grew to unscrupulous size.

Stupid.

Jeanne Alter sat up, folding that black skirt around her legs, and started shaking her head. Her lips pressed into a tight line.

For the first half hour, she tried to keep herself busy. She started pouring over the additional notes she'd made with Medusa. The Grecian had a lot of things to add and suggestions to make to her story about what makes a monster. When she'd finished with that, she started working on a few sketches for panel ideas.

The half hour turned into later and she could feel exhaustion tugging at her eyelids. They were getting heavier and she was struggling to keep her pen going straight. It was her body telling her she needed to sleep to better build up her mana store again.

Their bedrolls were next to one another now, with no reason or need to keep them apart.

She slid her bottle of water closer and dragged her katanas and the small straps they were connected with to the head of her pillow, just an arm's reach away. Then she arranged her blankets, making sure that they were partially over his bed roll too.

Jeanne Alter looked at the empty space beside her and frowned only a little. She turned to lay on her side taking another calming breath. Her fingers touched his bed roll, cold from his absence, tracing a small line up to his equally empty pillow.

Should be done soon right?

The night air still smelled faintly of the food he'd stopped cooking a while ago. But the subtle noises and clinks hadn't faded away. He was still doing something out there.

She blew out a breath, unable to stand it without at least saying something. She didn't want to nag him…but she also really wanted to know. "Hey! I'm going to sleep ya hear!?"

That wasn't the question I wanted to ask…

She felt lame in the few seconds of quiet that followed after. Jeanne Alter winced at herself.

Nag.

Then his voice reached back, "Alright! I'm almost done, just cleaning up after myself!" She heard him pause, and those movements of his shift again. "I'll be quiet when I join you in a few minutes."

She smiled feeling just a little bit giddy. It was the answer she wanted so now she actually tried to fall asleep. She squeezed her eyes shut nuzzling the edge of her pillow, her foot tracing the edge of his space.

She actually did start dozing off, as her heartbeat started to slow. But fidgets and twitches still surfaced in the intervening minutes as they passed.

His chuckle was suddenly much closer and she squeezed her eyes shut harder as if that would prevent him from knowing. Gently he arranged her hand on his bedroll so could have the space. She smiled a little wider when he didn't let her hand go. She could hear him settle right beside her like she wanted.

His warm breath passed over her eyelid and his lip pressed against her temple.

"Night Alter."

She hummed a little. "Mmm, night Master." Under their covers, she could feel herself growing just a few degrees warmer. But nothing so alarming. It was comforting in this way. The exhaustion tugged at her at last, and she was pulled into sleep.