Summary: On one side, a True Ancestor and the White Princess of the Millennium Castle on the Moon. On the other side, an overworked Princess of a Chaldean Master, trying to unbleach the Earth. No one living expected their bond to work, but considering the Grails being handed to her, there was a lot to unpack.

Note: This is a chapter that came out on a whim, all thanks to Arcueid herself visiting me on NP2 on July 6th for the FGO NA 7th Anniversary and subsequently becoming the Grailed Moon Cancer of my Servant roster. (Because there was NO WAY I would pick BB or Jinako for that slot otherwise. Their antics did not age well for me.)

And with a longtime dream of mine being done with Arcueid's arrival, the least I could do was write for her.

The theme for this chapter is Fatal by GEMN, the second season opening for Oshi no Ko. An alternative is Kibou no kakera, or "Fragments of Hope," by Nana Kitade, the first opening to PowerPuff Girls Z. Because I grew up with it too.

Here we go.

Day 81: Lying Vampire

As much as Arcueid tried to pretend it didn't bother her, waking up as a Servant in a world without Shiki was honestly… well, lonely. Even with two other versions of herself keeping her company in the same Saint Graph. It wasn't like she disliked Chaldea, no. In fact, Chaldea was the most fun she had in a long while. From the many new faces mixed in with the old to the myriad of yummy dishes the kitchen sported during their scheduled meal times, there was no apparent shortage of new experiences to look forward to. In hindsight, hamburgers seemed like such a small thing compared to what the kitchen staff could do. (Not to mention the possibility of endless sparring with one familiar king of a guest with her Holy Sword and another fresher, healthier guest with Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and a knife of all things for a weapon, sharing the same first name as her Shiki being stand-outs in Chaldea's roster. Both of them being Grailed helped. A lot.)

But…

"If a Holy Grail could grant any wish, maybe my own vampiric impulses…" Maybe I could've stayed with him.

Arcueid didn't mean to say those words aloud. The brief glance she had of Chaldea's lifestyle for their only Master proved Vy had better things to worry about. But mid-outing in the simulator of the recently resolved Traum Singularity, her newest companion — "Master", the contract keeping her to the world whispered into her ear as a reminder — still turned to her, small blue stars emerging in her big brown eyes when reflecting Arcueid's image. Worried stars. "…Arc?"

It took Arcueid way too long to realize Vy didn't use her full name. That Vy used a nickname, just like she would for Charlemagne and Robin standing at her side. Not to mention the Grailed Scathach-Skadi who was supporting them all. She still fumbles anyway in her attempt at a reply, not helped by the others giving her raised eyebrows to match their searching stares. "I-It's nothing, Vy, nothing!"

"…You sure?" Vy's voice comes out soft, probing out of an innocent concern Arcueid could barely remember others extending to her before Chaldea. "If you need a break, we can take it, Arc."

Something in Arcueid's chest tightened at the name. "Arc." Had Shiki ever used that name with her?

"Besides," Charlemagne crosses his arms behind his head with a lighthearted grin, unintentionally interrupting her thoughts and aptly dodging the incoming smack of a hand from a chiding Skadi and Robin nearby, "you're a princess, aren't you?"

"Vampire princess," Arcueid hastily corrected him, playing off his grin with a teasing smile of her own and a wiggling pointer finger. It was the least she could do to cover up her own insecurities. "One who doesn't like blood, so I'm a proper lady! Plus I can do the work!"

"…Who's apparently doing better than the other vampire in Yu Mei-ren, who makes Abby's tantrums in Salem seem tame in comparison, no thanks to her Xiang Yu obsession. How Xu-Fu finds that bumbling mess of a woman 'hot' is beyond me." With that grumble out in the open, Robin looks away once Skadi, Charlemagne, and Vy all glance at him, crossing his arms over his chest with a pointed huff. "Anyway. Breaks are still on the agenda, milady, so if you need them, I know our little sparrow can oblige."

"Aye," Vy pitches in, raising a hand to gently pat Robin's forearm past his mantle, the smile on her face a mix of fond exasperation and love. Add in her round glasses, and it almost looked like— "I know I set a bad example, so breaks are a must, Arc! Big Robin said so and I know Charlie and Skadi-san would be okay with it!"

Archer fully turns to her then, the look on his own features screaming, Really?, not helped by his own wrinkled nose. "…You know that, yet still try to farm for QP and swords anyway?"

"I don't see you complaining, Big Robin! I work in the name of love! Plus it's for Charlie, so there!"

"Love doesn't excuse overwork!"

"It's still a reason!"

Charlemagne then laughs, something along the lines of, "Get a room already, you lovebirds, it's hot in here with all the bickering, phew!", much to Skadi's nearby budding exasperation. (Did she mutter something along the lines of, "Why aren't they married yet?", or was it just Arcueid's imagination?) The second attempted whack on her part in Charlie's direction was almost comedic if not for how Arcueid was feeling her chest tighten up.

…Still. Never mind the looking. Comparisons were inevitably pointless when Vy definitely had Shiki beat in terms of work ethic. And this was coming from a funny vampire who had been alive for centuries, sleeping it all off until the next battle.

For this little Master who kept working for a better tomorrow, Arcueid could hold onto her vampiric impulses for a century longer.

…She wanted to hope she could. The last thing she wanted was for said Master to become lint under her fingernails.

The last thing Arcueid expected was the gold cup itself to be offered to her. Because even on her first day as a Heroic Spirit, she only heard rumors about it from the other Servants, about Vy's penchant for choosing only those she loved the most for Palingenesis. Newcomers who didn't already know the petite Master would inevitably have a hard time getting into the "Grailed" waiting list, and that was that. Some Servants tried to delude themselves into thinking they were in the running — the infamously jailed BB who started the Moon Cancer class being one such example — but there was no denying how the decision was ultimately up to Chaldea's last Master.

Power didn't matter in the "race" for the Chaldean Holy Grail stock. Trust and love did.

It was why the "Big Three" were so famous in the first place, even amongst the other Grailed, just because they were the first. The first to be Grailed, the first to be trusted, the first to be loved. That wasn't even factoring in the number of Lostbelts felled to their name, a number of the official reports unable to go without a single mention of their efforts. Fantasies be damned, what they had with Vy was undeniable, even to the most twisted of Servants recorded in the Throne of Heroes.

So—

"…Muu?"

Despite all her millennia alive, all her time as a True Ancestor, Arcueid still found herself gobsmacked at the temporarily mute Vy standing in front of her and offering one of the Holy Grails that brought the "Big Three" to greatness. One of the Holy Grails that were already low in stock due to the number of already-Grailed Servants (and Vy's own quiet way of dissuading Servants such as Amakusa and BB from getting any ideas). Her voice wasn't working to match Vy's own muteness for the time being, a soft "…Vy…" being all Arcueid could get out.

It didn't help that instead of verbally answering, Vy merely tilted her head, the dimming stars in her bespectacled brown eyes spelling out her confusion without putting a proper sentence to it. She looked innocent. Honestly—

Truthful.

Pure.

"Vy," Arcueid tried again, clearing her throat in the most ladylike way she knew how while ignoring how her sharpened nails were starting to poke holes into the tips of her gloves. "I-I was kidding about wanting a Holy Grail back then."

Vy nodded, but still raised her hands towards Arcueid to offer the Grail again. The added glint of her glasses made it look like she wasn't giving up.

Just like Shiki—

Arcueid gulped. "Y-You could use that on another Servant, Vy. Someone who's in more need of it than an airhead like me."

Yet Vy had the same innocent and expectant look in her eyes, her shaking of her head slow yet determined to match. One more raise of her hands, and the Holy Grail was then close enough for Arcueid to bend over and see her own reflection in the gold if she wanted. Don't wanna, Vy's eyes said with their newest gleam, the stars in those brown irises bright and fierce. You get this. No one else.

Arcueid fumbled. "V-Vy, there's other Moon Cancers you could give this to!"

Yet Vy shook her head once more, harder this time too. She even paused before her newest attempt at raising her arms towards Arcueid to offer the Grail again, instead lowering her hands and—

Something was tightening in the air. It took Arcueid a second too long to realize the fault was in her own heart.

Because Vy's pink lips wobbled open. "No… no one… else."

The weakness of her voice made Arcueid drop all pretenses in favor of taking Vy's cheeks in her hands. Because she looked too much like Shiki. Her claws didn't matter when the last thing Arcueid wanted was to see Vy at the brink of death like Shiki was, once upon a time. "M-Master, you don't have to talk—!"

"I… I want to." Vy inhaled shakily, pink flushing her pale cheeks as she opened her mouth in an attempt to continue. "Because the others… in your class… I can barely… trust. But you… Arc… you're better. Than… than all of them."

Arcueid felt the saliva suddenly dry out from the back of her mouth. Because Vy's cheeks were warm in her palms despite how deathly pale they looked in the artificial lighting of the Palingenesis room, a clear sign of the blood still flowing through her veins. That wasn't even getting into the mana still connecting them as Master and Servant through their contract, not just as a shoddy mage and a funny vampire.

Vy was here. She was still alive. And even if she wasn't Shiki—

"Are you… are you really sure, Master?" The title sounds bitter even to Arcueid's own tongue, tangy and metallic like a fresh gulp of blood in her mouth, but she tries. She had to, just to drive the point home. "I'm… I'm a ditz, y'know."

"Pot… meets kettle." Vy responded readily.

Okay, fair, but— "I don't know a lot about Chaldea or, or you."

"And that's… that's okay." Vy raises one hand from the limp Grail to hold one of Arcueid's, leaning into the palms cupping her cheeks and apparently not minding the new close proximity to Arcueid's sharpened nails. The touch is warm even through the cover of Arcueid's thinning gloves. "I… I don't know that… much about… you and… your Shiki. But… you're still Arc. And… so far, I like Arc." She giggles, a weak yet happy kind of laugh, just as her next blink lasts a little too long and Vy forces her eyes open. "Can't… can't deny that."

Arcueid couldn't say a word. Her vampiric impulses weren't screaming at her either, even when they were close enough for her to faintly taste Vy's blood from the scent alone.

"And… And I—" The breath merely leaves Arcueid's lungs once the big and bright stars in Vy's large brown irises reflect her own image back past the unnatural lighting of the Holy Grail between them. "I… I think… a Holy Grail can be… a form of love too… for a funny vampire." Vy giggles again, gulping in a breath to prevent it from sputtering out into a cough, shaking her head one last time. "So… since I can't trust one other vampire, I can… at least be greedy in going… to the friendly one… who answered my summons… right?"

Arcueid had nothing else on her mind but reaching out to pull Vy to her chest in the tightest hug she could muster. Because this— "…Okay. Okay, Vy. You win."

Maybe I can stay, a traitorous part of her thinks as she rests her cheek into Vy's hair. Vy tilts her head against Arcueid's neck from clear confusion, but it doesn't matter. Arcueid merely tightened her grip, praying as hard as she could. This time, maybe I don't have to leave. Because it hurts thinking I can't stay again.

When it hurts knowing that my Shiki isn't here, but Vy is.

It takes a few days for Arcueid to go to the other Grailed. A few more to go to their unofficial leader too. After all, old habits were hard to break, no matter how warm Chaldea felt compared to her castle on the moon. Solitude was something she was used to, no matter how kind the other Servants were in accepting her into their ranks.

(Despite how weak her own mental defense sounded when bringing up excuses in regards to her lack of socializing. The quiet mutters of "At least it was her and not BB," were hard enough to miss as is. That AI was supposed to be jailed per the other Servants and remaining Chaldean staff, never to see the light of day out of her own faults.)

(Not like—)

Nonetheless, Robin thumbs at a mint stalk once Arcueid gets a chance to look at him within a private moment. Thanks to the Palingenesis process, she could feel his apprehension long before he brings one end of the stalk to his mouth to chew, and then he hums quietly. "…So," he starts mildly, giving her a side eye out of the fringe of his ginger hair, "what did you need, milady?"

"Maybe not call me that?" Arcueid replies instinctually, then smiles wryly once Archer fully turns his head to give her an odd look. Their height difference didn't really help her point that much, even if his presence had a touch of the moon to it. A digital moon? "I may be a princess to the True Ancestors, but I'm still a Servant, Archer. You don't have to be so stuffy, especially when we both have the same Master! So lighten up!"

"...Huh. Coming from someone who's the same kind of being as the insufferably selfish 'Paisen' who, by the way, throws a tantrum just from a battle not going her way in front of her 'precious' Xiang Yu," Robin raises one hand to make air quotes, shaking his head, "excuse me for taking precautions. I've had bad experiences with both your kind of vampires and the creators of your Servant class before your Summoning, no offense." Still, Arcueid smiles once she sees the line of tension in his shoulders lighten up some, the mint stalk poking out of his lips wiggling a little with his next shrug. "But okay then. What did you need? I thought the little sparrow already went over everything after you got Grailed."

"She did, but it's…" Arcueid knew it was a simple statement in theory.

What can I do to help Master more?

It was a simple question, made clear in her thoughts from mulling over her observations of Vy's habits — sleep, eat, farm, train, write or file reports, then rinse and repeat — but for some reason, the words weren't leaving her lips. They were on the tip of her tongue, but they weren't coming out. What she got instead was a weaker, "…Don't you ever get scared?"

"…Of what?" Robin's voice pitched lower, toeing a whisper as he took the mint out of his mouth, the previously straight end now bent and wet from his chewing. At least he was humoring her. "The battles we've seen? What the enemy could throw at us for their next dick move? Or—?"

"Of…" Arcueid ducks her head, the glimpse of silver from a ring on Robin's right hand standing out past all the green and her own doubts. "Of these days not lasting forever. Of… of Master not being here forever."

It wasn't a surprise that Robin fell silent after Arcueid finished her train of thought. Because even before becoming part of the Grailed close to Vy's heart, Arcueid knew from the official reports that the length of their little Master's life had been cut down. Not as much as Shiki, thank god, but the amount was still enough for Arcueid to start considering the spectrum of good and evil. Because it was one of Novum Chaldea's own weapons that had used up some of Vy's lifespan, and no one but its creator Sion — the bitchy mage who reminded Arcueid of Ciel — knew how much more it could take. And Arcueid already had to leave Shiki three years ago from her own vampiric impulses. For all Arcueid knew, if the Bleaching of the World didn't kill Shiki, he might've already been dead from his own Mystic Eyes, in the blink of one of Arcueid's eyes after a nap. Who knew how long Vy had compared to him?

Even if the five new Holy Grails in Arcueid's Spirit Origin could stabilize the same impulses that made her break Shiki's heart, why couldn't they just save Vy from another vampire selfishly acting on hers—

A flick of a metal cap suddenly has Arcueid taken out of her thoughts, and raising her head past her bob-cut of hair revealed Robin having kindled a tiny flame from the newly minted lighter in his free hand. The fire comes close to catching the mint in his other hand, but Robin merely sighs before they can make contact with each other, snapping the lighter closed after a second or two. "…Hitting me right where it hurts, huh." His mint sags in his grip despite never catching fire, matching the dark resignation of his voice as he said solemnly, "After falling in love with Vy, I'm getting more scared of that kind of thing every single day. Even if we Servants never had the hopes of that kind of peaceful life to begin with. Because nothing lasts forever."

Arcueid couldn't deny that. True Ancestor, Ghost Liner, Servant — no matter the title, they all were weapons in the end. For the world, for society, for some kind of greater good. The number of times a "happy end" was dangled in her face only for Roa and some other circumstance to take it away made it seem more like a pipe dream than an actual reality. No one could really tell you what would follow after the "happy end," either.

"Still…" Arcueid blinks at hearing Robin's voice rise, and looking up at him reveals a smile having risen up on his face. For the few weeks since she had gotten to know him, it was the first time she had ever seen him smile like he had something to lose. Like he didn't care about what the future could bring. "Just because I'm scared, doesn't mean our little sparrow isn't either. Times change. Nothing stays the same forever, but it's not all a bad thing. Proper Human History proved that much, considering the Lostbelts we've seen. And even if it might be a mistake to get close to people, the me here now knows I can't ever regret meeting Vy. Could never regret falling in love with her either, because it's the closest I've ever felt to being human."

Arcueid felt her heart skip a beat. From what she could see, Robin's smile at that moment looked fond. Proud too. All because he fell in love with one human girl. Just like her with Shiki—

"…Being human, huh?" She echoed.

"Yeah." Robin puts the bent stalk of mint back into his mouth, a leaf flicking towards her as he starts to nibble on it again. "All it took was her to look at me with those bright blue stars in her eyes and call me 'Robin.' That was all it took, even when I can't even remember my human name anymore. She saw me as her Robin Hood and it was enough to convince me to fight for her. To want a future with her." He laughs then, the stalk stuck between his teeth as he grins at her. "That about suffice as an answer?"

Arcueid blinked and for a moment, the white walls of Novum Chaldea faded in favor of an older, blurrier memory. Blue digital walls, a twisting maze within a floating sea, a green haired man standing behind her every move, and fervent calls for "Berserker" and "my God!", echoing in the backs of her ears. Another blink revealed Robin staring at her inquisitively, and Arcueid shook her head with a small smile of her own.

That Moon wasn't mine. Gatou wasn't Shiki either. But—

A tinkly voice calling out "Arc!", in the back of her mind warmed the inside of her veins.

Vy is just fine.

"…Yeah," Arcueid said finally, the tightening of her chest feeling all the more real once she placed a hand against it. Lub-dub, lub-dub. "I think I get it. Thanks, Archer."

Robin grins wider at her, but just before he can say something else, a loud ring ring ring, ring ring ring cuts through the warm atmosphere in the room, making both their heads turn to the source in clear offense. Because even within the normally empty break room, the noise's culprit in the one alarm clock on a nearby table was obvious and obnoxious — enough for Robin to take his unused lighter and, with precise aim, chuck it at the thing's off switch. The clock immediately quieted down once the metal box collided with it, and despite falling over onto its backside with the lighter richeting elsewhere, Robin didn't break his smile.

All he did was look at Arcueid, toss his mint into the nearby trash can, and shrug. "Well then, Moon Cancer," he said mildly, pointing a thumb over his shoulder and at the nearby exit door, "why not follow me? Since you're one of the Grailed now, you have to get something for it."

Arcueid couldn't get the shock out of her systems just from hearing her Servant Class Name being used so fondly fast enough to reply. "Something…?"

"…I know I said vampires can't get their pictures taken, but I wasn't expecting you to go through with it anyway."

"Bah, just because mirrors and cameras can't get you," Oei mused past her canvas and paintbrush, waving away a floating Toto-sama with a face, "doesn't mean I can't paint a beaut like you, Arcueid! Plus ya got Grailed by Vy! Have to commemorate that somehow!"

"Yep," Robin said over Oei's other shoulder, arms crossed over his chest while wisely nodding his head. A silent Holmes at his side seemed just as accepting of the unfolding scene in front of them both as Robin finished with, "And we do have a professional painter here. Not to mention both Da Vincis and Goghie. From what I can see, we have more than enough hands to accommodate 'funny vampire' antics."

Despite the positive words, Arcueid was tempted to frown. The idea of sitting still for hours on end already didn't sound all that pleasing, even if Oei was one of the best painters in all of Proper Human History thanks to her father. Because Arcueid slept off centuries in her castle before becoming a Servant. Why did she have to sit out for what looked like half of a damn good day when she could be out there on the Bleached Earth, fighting the next enemy just for Chaldea? It felt boring, but—

"Fuuuu…"

The quiet noise in her ear made Arcueid instinctively turn her gaze not even a second later, and doing so revealed a soft brown head of hair resting against her shoulder, brows relaxed from sleep.

…Oh. This is why.

Arcueid promptly ignored Oei snorting a few meters away at her place at the easel. Let her look, even if it was slightly embarrassing.

Because sure enough, Vy's tiny head rested against her side, cutely tucked right in the crook between Arcueid's bare shoulder from her Second Ascension dress and her ribbon collared neck. It was almost amazing how quickly Vy could fall asleep against any kind of surface when given the chance to — even after she was picked up by her May King of a future husband from her daily nap 30 minutes before this whole portrait painting mess — a simple shoulder for a painting pose being plenty for her to doze off all over again. And it was adorable.

Hell. With the pointed lack of her glasses and the soft smile on her face, Vy Duong could've looked like Shiki. And Shiki always had a nice smile.

Even if you aren't my Shiki…

Arcueid acted on the growing curl of warmth in her chest to lean into Vy's side back, her cheek bumping the top of the slumbering girl's hair.

You're my Master now, and thank you for being here.

Because for once, in Oei's tatami-filled art studio, Arcueid couldn't smell the iron-filled air of blood anymore. Even if some drifted off of Vy's exposed neck past the hems of her own nightdress, the vampiric impulse to bite just wasn't there now, a stark contrast to what tore Arcueid away from Shiki three years ago. It didn't feel like a lie either. Instead of leaning over and biting like her past self might've, Arcueid raised her free hand to gently tug at Vy's dress collar, just to better conceal the skin that her long brown hair wasn't already shading. An extra pat to the girl's cheek seemed extra nice, more so once Vy made another sleepy noise.

"Being human with you, Vy… it's fun."

And even if Arcueid wasn't liking the idea of sitting for a long while, to let Vy rest for more eventual fun with her? In other worlds, other times, beyond the Moon that housed her lonely castle?

Arcueid Brunestud could sit for as long as the others needed.