Garden of Order: IV

He had every intention of being non-violent, that was never in doubt for him.

Whatever the reasons these Servants had come here, there was a good reason for them and he would have been fine to await the explanation.

…And then Hitachibou opened the door and all Ash could see was red.

He was pulling the door apart before he even realised what he was doing, shouldering down the small doorway and into the apartment.

The faint chill in the air meant nothing to him, nor did the way the Servant - that Hitachibou Kaison - regarded him with a look without emotion. As if this was the expected outcome. It was the outcome that should come about, to have this thing stand here in the guise of a Servant as if he was worth the existence.

Ash marched forwards without stopping, forgetting even to draw Galvatyne.

His hands clenched into fists, he prepared himself to throw the first punch, his target being the face of the coward.

"You have it too, do you not?"

He stopped just before he could raise his arm.

Staring down at him, the Servant muttered in a low tone, then he straightened and narrowed his eyes. Face drawn thin as he first watched Ash, then glanced past him towards the others who were probably entering in his wake. But he concerned himself more with the words of the man.

Or rather, what the man believed he was entitled to say.

Ash reined himself back and watched him for a moment, then spoke. "How are you even here?"

A minute flinch, the eyes of the Servant widened for a moment, then they closed.

It was a sigh of resignation.

"I see. Then it seems you can see through name and flesh to the soul within. Or perhaps my guise is not quite as great as I would boast. Yet perhaps in another summoning, I would do just that."

He opened his eyes.

"But I am not so foolish in this place, in this land where my eyes have at last been opened to my failings and my foolishness. That wrongness of the world that claimed not only my soul, but of every human that has walked this land."

Ash frowned and leaned back.

The scuffle behind him got louder, the clatter of footsteps approached.

"Ash!" Ritsuka called out behind him, but he did not tear his eyes from the Servant. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." He answered curtly, regarding Hitachibou for a moment.

A faint sigh of relief was heard from Ritsuka, then his Master stepped out to the side, the two of them just about filling up the doorway to the living room. "A little warning next time would have been nice, but we'd have to break in anyway-"

"The admittance slips easily from your tongue, young man." Hitachibou turned his attention to Ritsuka and frowned. "For one to be so ready to abandon good faith is saddening to me. Where others see a desire for privacy, you see a challenge to overcome? Such is the folly of humanity. They seek not wisdom and peace, but ugliness and conflict."

Ritsuka grimaced only for a moment. "You say that, but you're guilty of the same thing. You have to be aware of the fact that you're not meant to be in this era either. Especially not if your purpose is to disrupt the natural flow of events."

A slow shake of the head. "I go where I am needed. This…this is where I am needed."

Raising a gauntlet, he pointed it towards the ground, widening his stance. "I answered the call to this place to take a stand. Do you not see what humanity is? They so willingly turn from the heavens and of enlightenment. The path of true peace lays before them and time and time again they will turn from it…"

There was a moment of silence, then the man closed his eyes.

"As I once did, as a coward."

Ash slowly straightened and regarded him. "So that is how this is."

"Indeed." Hitachibou turned and looked at Ash, there was something in those eyes that he could perhaps empathise with. The earlier resentment and dislike faded away, replaced only with a sense of pity.

"...This will end in your death."

"Perhaps." Hitachibou admitted with a hum, then he angled himself back and brought out the naginata. It's presence - and the impending promise of danger - put Ritsuka into a state of alert, he took a half step backwards. "But I will make a stand this time. I cannot allow myself to forget this failure and I will not back down from this belief. Yet even now…I cannot be sure there is something about me that is natural. Perhaps this grudge controls me."

"Grudge?" Ritsuka muttered, then shook his head. "We don't have to…no…We do, don't we? You're not going to take no for an answer and you're not going to back down now that we've seen you."

Hitachibou glanced at Ritsuka, regarding him differently. "You speak with experience, young man. I am not the first to make clear my desires. I am…relief that you can see the signs as clearly in me as you can see in them."

"You a monk then?"

That came from Shiki.

"I am." Hitachibou responded immediately, "Does that offend you?"

"...Not especially." Even if she said that, Ash could detect the distaste in her words. "Just thinking that I have an especially poor fate when it comes to monks and this building."

"Hmph." Hitachibou stomped his foot down and raised the flat of his palm towards them, his eyes went narrow. "Come then. If you wish to banish me from this building, you must do so with fists and with steel."

Ash answered him with fists, immediately moving into range and then swinging into his gut.

Hitachibou grunted as the blow folded him slightly, but it was a momentary thing before he similarly swung out, Ash felt a sensation stretch over the side of his face, turning his head as a backhand sent him staggering. He reached down and pulled across, his sword came free and into the world with a snarl.

Hitachibou straightened, whirled around and pointed a single finger towards Ritsuka and the others.

"Even this violence is proof of your ugliness!"

His voice carried loud, echoing off the walls.

"Instead of mastering wisdom, you all pursue ugliness! It is a sham and each and every one of you, all of you, are abandoned by the Heavens because of it!"

Ash waited for a moment, then stepped in close and brought his sword up, another clash of metal, the blow was angled away at the last moment and struck the flooring, cleaving through the boards under their feet, Ash twisted and yanked, tearing out great chunks of the ground and sending them shooting across the room, clattering to the ground.

Hitachibou jumped back and launched himself through the wall behind him, opening up the path into the kitchen if Ash was correct, the man slammed his elbow into the fridge behind him, crumpling the door like thin tissue paper and swinging around, his hands gripped it at both sides and then he turned, bellowing from his lungs as he stepped forwards and hurled it back through the hole he had thrown himself through.

Ash turned into the fridge, shuddering as it ploughed through and battered into his body, he grunted the metal body folded around him and split apart, spilling the contents all over the floor and his body. Briefly his vision went white, something splattered against his face and armour, he frowned and wiped his hand over himself.

A fist crashed into his chin and knocked him backwards, his body fell through the drywall and into…

He glanced behind him.

It was a bathroom.

There were shouts from the others, then a bark of laughter that was definitely from Mordred. He turned down and gripped the toilet by the seat and pulled, tearing apart the ceramic with a hefty crunch and spinning back around, charging forwards and bursting back into the living room of the apartment.

Hitachibou barely had a chance to turn before Ash slammed the toilet down on top of his head, it broke like cheap plastic, he followed it up by clenching his hands together and swinging the combined fist hard into the side of the man's head, it made a crunch sound as he jerked and staggered.

Mordred followed suit with a kick to the gut, punting him back into the kitchen.

With a shout, the Servant rose up and tore the kitchen sink from the fitting and threw it towards them.

Ash parried it, backhanding the implement through the ceiling above them.

Water sprayed out from where it had been torn from, the man brought forth his halberd once more and charged at them, bellowing loudly.

And then Mash landed a roundhouse kick into his jaw.

It had been a rather sudden thing, she merely appeared and was already driving her heel into his cheek, the moment hung for only a moment, but then time resumed and the Lancer - Ash assumed that to be his class - was sent staggering away from the shielder, who followed her kick through with a thrust to his chest, the shield drove itself into the plate armour and folded it inwards.

Hitachibou wheezed, thrown into the ground and rolled until he struck the wall, quick as lightning he was standing against, wasting no time in finding another weapon to throw at them, this time what appeared to be a television, yanking it from the spot it had been on and throwing it towards them.

Mash intercepted it, and the device exploded in a shower of sparks over the shield.

He and Mordred flanked around her, moving in on the Lancer from either side.

Then Shiki flew in from over the top of the shielder, flipping over the girl and landing directly in front of the Lancer. The knife glinted as she reversed it and swung, Hitachibou retreated a moment and then swung wide, Shiki ducked under the sweeping attack, but brought her arms before her to avoid blocking the knee which drove itself into her guard.

Ash flanked down, his fist cracked against the side of the Lancers head in the brief moment of distraction.

Mordred slashed into his waist, Clarent tore a bloody gash through armour and skin alike, blood splattered onto the wooden flooring.

Another gasp escaped the Lancer, then he stomped his foot down.

Ash brought up his free arm, the scrap of metal and the force of the impact had him step backwards, allowing them to see the Lancer was armed no longer with a spear, but instead a pair of war hammers. Not entirely dissimilar to the drang ones he had once used.

Sweat dripped down the brow of the Lancer.

Blood soaked into the floor and the breathing of the man was heard clear to all in the room.

There was a brief silence.

Ash moved first, stepping into range and swinging for the head of the man with Galvatyne. Lancer blocked the attack, then hissed out in pain and dropped down. Ash's other hand slashed across fully, the burning sword made of pyromancy opened up the thigh and set a fire across Lancers cloth.

As he dropped, Mordred stepped close and drove the pommel of Clarent down into the forehead of Lancer with a dull crack.

Shiki thrust her knife into the chest of the man.

It was a single fluid movement, armour parted as though it was not there.

Her eyes glowing bright as she retracted the knife and stepped backwards, showcasing not a drop of blood on the weapon.

Seconds passed.

Hitachibou made a wheezing noise and then closed his eyes.

He fell forwards, gold peeled from his body.

A wet gurgle echoed above them.

He felt something pulse, like an electric shock running over his skin, and he stepped back and turned. Spinning on his heel and glaring at the hole in the ceiling he had made with the sink. It was a small thing, but he could see it in the darkness.

Eyes of crimson red.

Two of them, staring down before they faded into nothing.

"What the heck was that noi-"

The room rumbled.

Ash jerked forwards, something smashed into his back and launched him across the apartment and crashing through the dry wall. He heard the shouts, felt the movement in the air and then there was the noise. The wet gurgling was louder than before, accompanied by a sound like slithering and hissing.

There was a snarl, it sounded like Mordred, then a crunch before the slithering retreated.

He pushed himself back up and out of the rubble he had been thrown into, stomping back into the open and glaring at the space he had been.

It was a ruin.

He eyed the trench in the floor, the indentation where something large had pushed its way across the ground, then he glanced at the blood splatter where Hitachibou had been before he finally looked upwards. The hole in the ceiling let light peel through, where once it had been pitch black.

Silence filled the room,

Then Ritsuka let out a loud and shocked curse.

"What the hell was that!?"

It was still a rush when they departed the old apartment and once more found themselves in the walkway which led to the others.

Ritsuka had backed out while frequently shooting looks over his eyes.

He had definitely seen it.

He hadn't imagined it.

"Describe it again." Romani's voice came through the communicator, still frowning on the screen.

"A giant snake made of…oil? It looked like oil." Scratching his head, he winced as he recalled the details of it. The rather unsightly creature had just…pushed its way through the wall as if it was made of water and then formed into the creature. "Or tar or something black and slick…it just ate the Servant and then disappeared into the cracks like nothing happened."

Romani continued to stare, then he leaned back and frowned. "That's…we didn't detect anything on our end. The Servant signature just vanished and then…No, that probably doesn't matter right now."

The doctor adjusted himself, leaning forwards once again and wearing a tight frown.

Olga paced into the frame behind him, having been stalking back and forth throughout the recounting.

She stopped and then turned to stare at them.

"What of the Servant? Were you able to determine anything?"

Ritsuka grimaced and looked away. "No…he was rather…He was aggressive. He started talking about some stuff and how humans had been turning away from the proper path. Talked about Buddhism as well, actually."

That was one thing he recalled.

"So I think he was a Buddhist monk."

Romani made a face, then angled his head. "He must have felt pretty strongly about it to fight all of you…I could see how a Buddhist might not be totally pleased with how Human History plays out as a hole but…"

They both started frowning.

That alone couldn't have been the sole reason.

"...He mentioned he felt controlled by a grudge? Or he thought it might be strange for him."

Olga raised a brow, then narrowed her eyes. "A grudge…Hmmm. Perhaps some manner of heightened importance? A subtle alteration on the existing grievances of the Heroic Spirit in question?"

"Maybe?" Ritsuka shrugged, then sighed. "Either way, he was went right for the kill after we exchanged a couple words…and…If he was like that, then there's a chance that the other Servants from Chaldea…"

He trailed off.

He didn't want to consider the possibility that they could all end up like that.

"Speculation serves no purpose for now."

Olga cut into his thoughts with a commanding tone, his eyes were drawn back to her as she pointed at him through the screen.

"We have encountered a single Servant, but their conditions might not translate to the other Servants taken from Chaldea as a whole. If you should encounter one such as that, restrain them with a command spell. We can dispatch reinforcements to examine them and determine if there is evidence of mental influence."

He straightened, a smile spread over his lips.

"Right, yeah." Taking in a breath, he nodded to the woman over the screen. "Thanks for that, Director."

She gave a huff and folded her arms. "For saying the obvious? Get your head back into the here and now, Fujimaru…For now, we can try and determine what else there is to say of this odd snake monster."

"Got it." That seemed the best choice at the moment.

That thing put him on edge for many reasons.

And few he could truly put into words beyond saying 'it felt weird to look at.' because it did, more than that, when he caught a glimpse of it, he could feel nothing but a terrible sense of sadness. As though he was gazing at something that could never truly bring joy to anyone.

A bewildering experience.

The communicator shut down, he lowered his arm and returned his attention to the group, stepping towards them and folding his arms.

"They didn't have much to say."

Mordred scoffed loudly at that, clearly having expected more but remaining unsurprised. He did not chastise her for that, but he did glance at her for a few moments, then looked away and towards the others, primarily towards Ash, seeing as how the Avenger was wearing a slightly more contemplative expression than usual.

Or it could have been annoyance.

He had the same sort of look when it was either, with the squinted eyes and tight drawn lip.

"Ash?"

The blonde perked up a little, green eyes landed on him.

"Your descriptions remind me of pus."

"...That's disgusting."

"It is." Ash agreed readily, but Ritsuka felt as though they might have been speaking of something else. "Pools of human dregs form in hollows and then spill outwards, taking on the grotesque shapes of monsters and then kill whatever happens to be near them. Weak to fire, but resilient to physical attacks."

So they were speaking about something else.

But that brought about another problem.

"Did they ever behave like this? From the way you just described it, they sounded like berserkers."

Ash remained silent, then shook his head. "The attack seemed to be aimed solely at the…individual who was consumed. It prioritised them and escaped before it could be drawn into a prolonged conflict. The ones I encountered did not reveal such a level of self-preservation."

That did not bode well.

It was never a good sign when previously insane creatures suddenly started acting intelligent.

Shiki looked over, he caught her eye and watched a brief flicker of something pass through her gaze. It was a small thing, but she angled her head and then spoke up, drawing eyes towards her.

"Could someone tame them?"

"Tame." Ash frowned at the word, turning and looking at the woman. It was a short silence that passed between them, as if they were holding some silent exchange between the two of them.

Ash broke away first, his eyes parting from her and finding him once more.

"It is not something I would have thought possible. It is humanity which has become corrupted and insane…If they are capable of being influenced, it is through a means which I am unfamiliar with."

That wasn't what he wanted to hear, but it seemed that was all there was to hear.

"Alright." Ritsuka hummed and unfolded his arms. "We'll run under the assumption that someone is controlling this…pus snake…" saying that sounded gross, he tried and failed to avoid souring his expression. "...and that they might show up again. They went for the dying Servant so we can assume it's for some purpose. Just be on the lookout."

He turned and stared at Shiki. "I take it you've not seen this before either?"

"No." She responded quickly, her brows furrowed a touch. "It still had lines, but they were…blurry."

Ash twitched at that.

Then he frowned, sending a small glance at Shiki but saying nothing. All the same, Ritsuka caught the small exchange.

Mordred grunted, then pointed to herself. "Yeah, well, it comes hissing near me again, then I'll just kick its ass…" then she levelled a smirk in Ash's direction. "Rather than get my ass kicked."

Ritsuka rolled his eyes in exasperation.

That probably wasn't going away any time soon.

"We can snipe at one another later, right now we need to keep moving."

Ash held the flailing Hollow at arms length.

Its brethren were dead or in the process of dying around it, he held the lone survivor in his grip and hoisted into the air.

He was becoming more and more reminded of the difference between himself and the others of his sort between the worlds. But this creature did hold some indication of being nothing more than a Hollow, with sickly blue skin and glazed over eyes, the undead human snarled and pawed at his arm, trying to free itself from his grip.

Ash tilted his head as he watched it struggle.

"Hmph."

His pyromancy reduced it to a smouldering lump of charcoal, his fingers closed into a fist as the ash of the corpse drifted away into the wind. Lowering his arm back down, he stepped forwards and pressed his boot down onto the head of the other he had cut in half.

He applied pressure until the skull popped and opened.

Raising his head, he turned and looked at the others.

Mordred stood over the remains of her own victim, the others with corpses surrounding them.

Ash turned his attention to the opened door, it had been full of these undead when it was pried open, upon which they had charged out and immediately gone about trying to kill them.

It was a decidedly short affair.

"So what are you anyway?"

Ash turned and looked at the speaker.

Ryougi Shiki.

The woman he had no mention of in the expanse of human history, and he had searched many times for her.

Yet there was nothing.

The ramifications concerned him.

"Do you care?"

Shiki inclined her head, then gestured down to the corpse at his feet. "You're not quite like them, are you? But you're dead."

Ash blinked. "We are similar enough. I still retain my sanity."

He stopped, then he huffed and turned his head.

He supposed that was technically true, at the very least he wasn't a hollow.

Whether he was truly sane or not was an argument he would never win.

Shiki furrowed her brows, staring at him for a few moments and then straightening herself. "Why do you still live then?"

Why indeed.

"Simply because I haven't died."

"Oh." Shiki nodded her head. "I see…Do you want to?"

He turned back at her and raised a brow. "Are you offering?"

"Maybe." A shrug of the shoulders, then she paused and looked past him. "Would they be upset about you dying?"

"Probably." He stopped for a moment, then looked over his shoulder as Ritsuka and Mash crouched over the bodies, the communicator flashing up as the face of Romani came into existence.

He watched the trio for a moment or two longer, then turned back on Shiki.

"Yes, they would. For some reason."

Shiki made a strange face, then nodded her head up and down. Her focus shifted from point to point, surveying the area for a couple more seconds and then slipping her hands into her jacket, her posture going loose.

"...Why help?"

Ash regarded her curiously for a moment, "Is there a point to these questions?"

"Maybe." Shiki paused for a moment, then thinned her lips. "I'm not sure. Not everyday someone meets an actual undead fighting for living people. You don't look as if you care all that much either. Do you?"

He turned away from her and back towards Ritsuka, despite acknowledging the stupidity of turning his back on someone like her. Perhaps it was simple to think of her killing him as simply being a possibility. Though he could spy that even then, Mordred was still looking their way out of the corner of her eye.

Whether that was to him or to Shiki perhaps didn't matter.

"...Obligation." He muttered back, then exhaled. "I'm not sure. Obligation. Maybe something else. I'm trying to find a reason."

"...Oh." Shiki simply said. "I see. What if you don't?"

He met her question with silence.

But that was a telling action, they both knew what it meant.

"How did you get your eyes?"

"...Just did." A pause. "Why?"

"...My older sister has eyes similar to yours."

"...Oh…Weird."

"..."

"..."

"...She was a crossbreed of a Goddess and a Dragon."

"You can do that?"

"Yes."

"...Huh." Another pause. "What was she like?"

"...A stubborn fool."

"Okay."

The conversation came to an abrupt end, neither one of them seeming interested in continuing it further.

Ash found himself unwilling to care for it.

He looked over and watched Ritsuka nod to Romani, then stand up and look his way, calling out a moment later.

"Romani says these are the things that are crawling all over the place. He's not sure if they're the original occupants or if they're magical anomalies drawn in by the distortion. He says it could be a mixture of both."

"But ending the distortion will end them?"

That was all he wanted to know.

Ritsuka nodded his head. "Yeah."

"Good." Ash glanced down at the corpses and curled his lip, he felt it slip onto his face with remarkable ease. The disgust flooded through him as he pulled his boot back and stared at the smear his stomp had left. The remains of the body and the implication of it's existence. "Then we have further reason to end this distortion."

"Ash?" Ritsuka called out tentatively.

Ash banished the emotion quickly, his face reverted and he raised it back up. "I apologise for my outburst. I am ready to move whenever you command."

"...Alright." Ritsuka replied with a slow nod of the head, then paused and took in a breath. "We're going to get rid of them, Ash. I'm not going to let anyone here suffer through a life like that, okay?"

"...It should go without saying." He muttered and turned, then met the gaze of Shiki once more as she looked at him. He stepped up beside her and was aware that her eyes were still upon him, holding that blank look which was a touch scrutinising. He was sure that she would eventually get around to a question.

He did not have to wait long. "So you hate other undead?"

"...Just this sort."

"The ones without intelligence?"

"Yes."

Another silence followed, the pair of them walked ahead of the others.

He wasn't sure if she would break it sooner or later, she did not strike him as one for conversation often, but he could not be called an expert on anything regarding social cues. Perhaps it would have been wiser for him to interrogate her further.

The idea that she was not within his mind as either a name nor a person was troubling.

More than that, she was a strange individual.

Unlike Priscilla, yet wielding the same skillset.

"Have you ever been summoned before?"

"No." Shiki replied rather quickly, shaking her head for an additional measure. Then she turned and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "A first for me. Though I am willing to try it, at least. It could be a little interesting to fight some of the other people who can be summoned. That last guy was pretty strong, wasn't he?"

Ash curled his lip.

"No."

He replied, keeping his voice level.

"He was not."

"Oh." A short pause, then Shiki hummed. "Just me then. Or maybe it's just you. To be honest, there is something about you I can't stand."

"You're upfront about it."

"I do not see a reason to lie about it." Came the admittance, "Though it might just be your undead nature. Things are supposed to die when they are killed. Coming back to life after that happens just takes away from the act of killing. I suppose that is to say, death loses its value when it can be undone."

What a strange notion to hold.

Death holding value?

"I have seen where death can hold value." He replied with a slow shake of the head, his mind calling upon countless examples. Dozens of names crawled to the forefront of his mind and he swept through each and every one of them. "I have seen what that value is. Yet I cannot decide which is worse. Whether death comes without recognition, or if that recognition and value causes nothing but chaos."

Shiki inclined her head. "That seems strangely deep for you."

"...We hold a conversation for nothing more than mere minutes and you decide you have established a firm grasp on what is or is not common for me?"

There wasn't even a hesitation with her answer. "Yeah. You do not seem all that complicated, to be honest. Very straightforward guy. I like that. But I think you being alive is a mistake."

"You would not be alone in that belief."

The quiet stretched, then Ash turned and looked at her once again.

"What do you intend to do after this distortion has been resolved?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Shiki raised a brow. "Even if I do live through it, then I will end up going back to where I am supposed to be. So there isn't a need for me to worry about something that won't happen for a while. I just need to kill whatever needs killing and then I can deal with whatever comes next."

Ash regarded her silently.

Then he turned his head and pulled his lips thin.

He had little reason to dislike her in the grand scheme of things, rather it was as though everything about her was made to be tolerable to some extent. He did not enjoy her company or even think fondly of her, but he did not dislike her words or consider her to be offensive to the eyes.

She was merely a person who killed because she had the tools to kill and was in the right place at the right time.

Was that the only reason?

No, it was too soon to tell.

As he said to her, they had not spoken long with one another.

There could still come a time where he grew to dislike her.

The next apartment was much like the first.

Ritsuka had his hand hover above the bell before he leaned forwards and pressed it, then stepped backwards and ducked slightly behind Mash. Just in case there was some spate of violence happening with the Servants.

Or if this one was full of zombies.

Silence following the faint ringing from within, then came the thudding of footsteps.

The door swung open, a figure stepped out and looked at each of them.

Ritsuka straightened immediately, his shoulders dropped and he moved out from behind Mash, staring up at the tall figure with a smile on his face. "Verndari…"

The knight in polished silver armour looked at each of them, the carved face lingered on him for a moment, then straightened and lowered their head. Standing to attention, Verndari stepped back and moved to the side, showing the entrance to the apartment. "My Liege. I was not expecting your arrival. Forgive me for the unsightly display."

Unsightly?

Ritsuka was thrown for a brief loop before he dismissed it and stepped forwards. "Ah, it's fine. Really, I'm just glad that you're still alright. I got word that you were among the Servants who vanished from Chaldea so I was a bit on edge."

"I have caused alarm." Verndari lamented with a shake of the head, turning around and trudging further into the apartment. His footsteps carried into the building and away from them.

He hesitated for just a moment, then made to follow after them.

Someone clearing their throat had him pause, he turned and spotted Shiki with her brows furrowed and eyes fixed on the doorway. Her sharp gaze lingered on the apartment, then turned on him, her head inclined a touch as she spoke with a distant voice.

"I assume they are a friend of yours?"

"Yeah." Ritsuka nodded his head. "We had quite a few go missing from where we're from."

"Mmmh." Shiki merely hummed, then pursed her lips. "Aren't you too trusting?"

"...What?"

A shrug. "All the Servants have come here to stay. If your friend wanted to help clear it out…why would they be in an apartment like the others?"

Ritsuka opened his mouth to refute her.

Ash beat them to it.

"Her words have merit." The Avenger did not so much as twitch as he turned wide eyes onto them. "Verndari would have sense to understand this is a land that should not exist. As with the others missing from Chaldea. We can assume that something is preventing her from purging this place. Be it a restriction or their own personal wishes."

Ritsuka tightened his face at the words.

He wanted to deny them.

And therefore, he did.

"I'm sure that he has an explanation for all of that." He replied slowly, then glanced towards the doorframe, meeting the gaze of Mash. "Right?"

"I'm sure you're right, Senpai." Mash quickly responded, bobbing her head up and down. "There could be something that was keeping Verndari-sensei from acting until we got here. We should at least be able to ask him first."

Mordred let out a small grunt and marched through into the apartment. "Standing around here twiddling our thumbs isn't going to give us an answer. Come on, Master. Lets just find out where this idiot gets off on abandoning their post without telling anyone what they're off to do."

Ash's face twisted ever so slightly.

It was a miniscule thing.

But ignoring the sheer level of disgust was next to impossible.

Then it vanished as though it had never been there, changing back into the blank expression as he glanced towards Ritsuka, then jerked his head for the door. Signalling for himself and Mash to follow in.

He did no without much complaint, reminding himself to ask Ash about that face he made as well.

But he had some ideas.

Stepping into the apartment was much the same as the previous one with the unnamed Servant, Ritsuka let out a brief shudder as the cold air slammed into him. A rather deeply unpleasant chill permeated through the room, cold enough that he should have been able to see his breath.

Yet he could not.

He chalked it up to some sort of magical cold and followed after Morded, all of them making their way into the living room.

Verndari had his back to them, pacing into the kitchen area and leaning over the sink. Fumbling around with some of the mugs before he heard a sigh echo out from behind the enclosed helmet.

"You should not have come."

Ritsuka furrowed his brows. "Why not? We had quite a lot of you disappear on us. Even without that…there is something wrong with this place."

"Indeed." Verdnari nodded his head, the hiss of a tap came next and the splash of water, lasting only a few moments before cutting short. The knight turned around with a glass of water held in his hand. "That is why you should not have come. Those of us who already made the journey should be considered lost causes."

"Why?" He looked them up and down, frowning deeply. "What happened?"

"...Nothing."

"It is not nothing."

"It is-"

"Enough with this vague crap." Mordred snapped, interrupting the conversation and stabbing a finger towards the knight. "You gonna tell us why you came here in the first place? Last I understood the vows of a knight, abandoning your post to run away tended to level a pretty hefty punishment."

Ritsuka glanced at Morded and bit his tongue.

He wanted to chastise her for that because it gave the wrong impression, however…

Sharply turning his head away, he closed his eyes and drew in a short breath.

"If you can just explain what happened, please."

Silence from Verndari, then he looked down towards the glass and swirled it around. "There is little to be said. It was a scratching on me…or perhaps a knocking feeling. I sensed the distortion - as did many others - and I took hold of it. There was a compulsion telling me to accept but it was not until I arrived that I understood why I had been summoned here."

His head came up.

The next words were delivered with a cold weight behind them.

"It is because I deserve to be here."

Ritsuka blinked once, then twice.

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because I am and have always been a failure."

He jerked as if slapped, the casual nature of his words nearly sent him reeling, but he kept most of the shock off his face, though he still stared in surprise at the way the knight just spoke about himself in that tone of voice. Worse was the fact that Verndari genuinely sounded as though he believed it.

"Everything about me has always been a failure. In form and in flesh."

It was a venomous tone of voice, Ritsuka nearly flinched at the change in it, despite the fact it was not even aimed towards him.

"I failed in everything I was charged with. I could defend none of the people, all the knights who became the personal guard of King Vendrick failed him when the time mattered most and when I could have stepped up…"

Verndari stopped forwards, his free hand flew up and slammed into his breastplate with a sharp crack, fingers curled into a fist, dragged across the steel and making a slow grinding sound as they did.

"...I was a coward. Nothing more than a wretch and it is because of this body…this body has always been my greatest weakness…"

He was lost.

"What are you-Woah!" Ducking down, the glass of water sailed over his head and smashed into something behind him. The movement had been remarkably slow for a Servant, no faster than a regular person.

But it was the fact it happened at all which shocked him.

Though that paled in comparison to what Verndari did next.

Hands flying upwards, with a snarl that sounded more akin to a wounded animal, the knight gripped the helmet and twisted it to the side, yanking upwards and tearing it from the top of their head, a moment later, they turned their body and drew their arm back, throwing the steel with all their might and embedding it into the wall.

Ritsuka looked back and froze on the spot as the face of Verndari whirled around and glared at him.

Frazzled short chestnut hair, barely extending past the ears of the person.

Soft features and a dusting of freckles on their face.

Ritsuka felt his mind ground to a halt.

That…was definitely a girl.

"You-" He blinked, then felt his mouth drop. "You're a-"

Verndari brought herself up straight and stared at her hands, glared at them would have been a better word for it, hazel eyes narrowed into slits as her hands clenched into fists. "Look at me! How could I ever protect anything or serve anything when born like this!? A mistake!"

She cried out, swinging her right arm across and slamming it into the cupboard door beside her, the wood offered no resistance and caved inwards within a mere breath, wood clattered to the floor as the silence ensued.

The rage of Verndari's face started to fade away, her expression dropped.

"...I'm cursed. There can be no other words for it…"

Her voice came out small and pitiful, Ritsuka still found himself unable to do much more than stare at her.

It was a moment of respite he did not let linger, he straightened himself and looked at the knight.

"This doesn't change anything, Verndari." Ritsuka stated aloud, drawing the eyes of the knight to him. "I don't care what you are. All I ever cared about was you as a person-"

"A person?" She spat back at him, he saw the burning in her pupils come back before her eyes snapped shut, a sharp breath jetted out of her nose as a hiss, she turned away with a loud huff and shook her head. "You cannot grasp it. The nature of it all. I would not care one iota but it was…this body made me into a fiend! Into a liar! Not a single woman was permitted to serve and yet I spat upon that within the same breath that I took my vows!"

She whirled back and pointed towards him.

"I swore to obey the King and yet I had already betrayed him! I betrayed him and everyone else with my every breath! With every swing of the sword I was a traitor to the very Kingdom I pledged loyalty to…"

Her voice cracked.

"...I betrayed him…" Her arm dropped down, her head sunk. "...He believed in me. I rewarded his trust with betrayal because that is all I can ever do…That is all I am good for…"

Turning, she leaned forwards and braced her hands against the countertop, her shoulders fell with a low thud.

"Just…just go…"

Ritsuka opened his mouth.

"...What the hell are you even talking about?"

He jerked and looked at Mordred, the knight wore an expression of pure bewilderment.

"I'm being serious here, what are you talking about?" Raising a hand, Mordred pressed it against the flat of her chest and tilted her head. "Because I'm feeling pretty damn lost right now. What the hell is the matter that has you freaked out or panicking so much? A failure to declare what's between your legs?"

Scoffing loudly, the blonde shook her head from side to side.

"I gotta tell you, that's stupid. Any self-respecting knight doesn't give two shits about that sort of thing. No where in the code of chivalry does it say 'must be a man to enter.'"

A beat past, then Mordred scowled rather heavily and pointed behind her, Ritsuka followed her finger and found it squarely aimed at the face of Mash, the girl herself looked rather lost with the way she was now being forced into the centre of attention.

"Are you gonna now tell me that she is doing something wrong here? Is her being a knight offensive to your eyes?"

Mordred's frown only deepened as she lowered her arm.

"Or what about Gareth? Are you gonna go up to her and tell her that she can't be a knight because she's a woman? Because I'd be very fucking careful about doing that if I were you."

Ritsuka angled his eyebrow at Mordred with the sudden tone, there was no denying what this was, yet seeing it was certainly intriguing in a way. Yet he found himself rather unsurprised by it, the almost protective nature of Mordred's words when Gareth was brought up.

He glanced at Verndari.

The knight brought up her hand and slammed it down into the counter, wood cracked as she pressed off and turned about.

"This has nothing to do with Gareth!" She snapped, "She is a fine knight! But the laws of her Kingdom and the laws of mine are-"

"Then those laws were stupid." Mordred exhaled, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "What? You really think it matters at the end of the day which gender is protecting the common folk? Because I will tell you, here and now, that they really do not care, so long as they can see someone out there to defend them. If anything, the fact you got so far is proof that those laws or rules were stupid."

Raising her hand, Mordred waved it towards Verndari, gesturing up and down before lowering it and turning to him. "Go on. You've known them longer than me. First I've met them and this bullshit is already pissing me off."

It took him a second to realise the verbal floor had been passed over to him.

Blinking, he changed view from Mordred to Verndari and thinned his lips.

"I mean, I would have phrased it differently, but yeah." He shrugged. "I've seen you go above and beyond. If anything, we've long since passed the point where it's clear that a knight is a knight. Gender doesn't even factor into the final accounting of how good a knight they are. I mean…we have Sir Gareth, Ser Sanura and…"

He paused for a moment, then waved a hand.

"Well, you've met both of the Artoria's."

Verndari hissed through her teeth, drawing in a sharp breath. "It is not about the competency, it is about the principle. I ignored the express command of my King in putting myself forwards and-"

"Then…" Ritsuka inhaled, debating whether he should say the next words.

He looked at Verndari.

Then he decided to go ahead with it.

"Then maybe he might have been mistaken." He raised his hands hesitantly when he saw the look flash through the eyes of the knight. "Hear me out. If you were to reveal you were a woman to him right at the end…do you really believe he would turn around and say that everything you had done, everything you had achieved, was now worthless because of the fact you were a woman?"

Ritsuka frowned.

"Do you really think that all your years of service can be ignored because you're not quite the same as all your peers? Because anyone who can just do that…well…I'm not you so I can't say how I would react but…I've never cared."

He pointed to himself.

"I'm not your King, so I can't say either way, but I truly do not care what gender you are."

Verndari stared at him.

Whatever anger was still in her eyes faded away, her head lowered and her face became shadowed.

"...Please go."

It was a quiet voice, so faint he almost did not hear it.

Ritsuka watched her, then slowly nodded his head. "Alright, but Verndari…we are going to come back for you. I want you to remember that. We're coming back and returning to Chaldea. All of us."

He moved for the door, pausing only briefly as he looked back and saw Mash take a couple steps towards Verndari.

She was silent as she stared at the chestnut haired woman, then she spoke.

"Verndari-sensei…I'm not sure I understand all that bothers you, it's still very new to me but…" Mash took in a short breath, then spoke her next words clearly. "I still think I have a lot to learn from you so…I hope that you will come back with us."

Verndari said nothing, nor did she react.

Mash waited for a moment longer, then turned and followed him out of the room.

As he walked past Shiki and Ash, he barely caught wind of their conversation.

"Does this happen often?"

"...It goes either way."

"Huh."

He was not surprised that Romani had called him a few moments after he left.

"We registered Verndari's Spirit Origin still there. Did everything go alright?"

Ritsuka rolled his jaw.

"...I think that she has a lot to think about." He replied slowly. "It's a work in progress but I'm sure that she will come around."

Romani exhaled and nodded his head. "That's a relief the-she? Huh…I wouldn't have figured."

Ritsuka sent him a small look, the doctor raised his hands and waved them from side to side.

"I didn't mean anything bad by it, I just meant that…nevermind. I'm going to stop talking before I put my foot into my mouth or something…Did she have anything to say about the place?"

He welcomed the change in topic. "Yeah, she said that she felt drawn to this place. Like someone had summoned her. Which is probably the same for the others who ended up here as well."

Romani hummed, leaning back and drumming his fingers. "We figured it would be something like that. By we, I mean Leo but yeah, though it's nice to have some confirmation. Anything else?"

Was there anything else?

…There was.

"I think there is something happening with their heads here."

The man on the screen blinked, then furrowed his brows. "How do you figure?"

Ritsuka rolled his jaw. "It might just be me, but Verndari kept her gender a secret from the moment she was summoned and never once brought it up. Then she just announces it within mere moments and demands to be left behind?"

Shaking his head, he looked over at Mash. "That doesn't sound like Verndari to me."

Mash matched his expression with one of her own. "No. It does not sound like Verndari-sensei to me either. Not that she does not feel those things, I do not know if she does or not but…"

Raising his hands to scratch his neck, Romani grunted. "Hmmm. If those emotions always existed but she's just bringing them up now…The previous Servant got aggressive regarding his personal troubles and now this one…I'm going to ask Lord El-Melloi to come up and have a look."

Clicking his finger, Ritsuka pointed at the screen. "Good idea. He'll probably have something to figure out about this."

"In the meantime. See if you can get more info from the other Servants you meet, but watch out."

"Got it."

The screen clicked off.

Ritsuka lowered his arm and placed his hands on his hips, exhaling.

"...Senpai?"

"Mmmh?"

"Is…Sorry if this is a silly question." He glanced over, seeing the hesitation on Mash's face. "But I…I'm not sure that I understand why Verndari-sensei was so upset."

Ritsuka looked over at her.

Sure enough, Mash had her brows drawn tight together and her lips pressed thin.

He supposed how it would be confusing, even for him it was a little tough to wrap his head around.

"She did a lot of good…but then she did something 'bad' in order to do it."

Even if he personally didn't agree that she had done something wrong, she had been raised into believing that there was a set life for her and she went against that in order to do what she wanted.

…Wow.

That put the previous advice he had gotten from them in an entirely new light as well.

"For someone like Verndari, I would say that a good act does not wash away a bad, nor does a bad act spoil the good."

Mash blinked and wet her lips. "Then…all Verndari-sensei can see is the fact that she did something bad in order to do something good?"

"...Yeah."

"But that isn't…" Mash trailed off, raising a hand and turning her head. He watched her shuffle a little, moving her hand across and towards her shoulder, he spied the ball of white fur that shifted between her cheeks and her shoulder and twitched on her. The Shielder rubbing her fingers over the top of Fou. "...That does not seem fair to me, Senpai. Verndari-sensei achieved a lot of things but…"

Ritsuka sighed. "Sometimes…sometimes people can be complicated about that. All we can do is accept it. Verndari was just raised in a different life to us but…but I am thankful that she did what she did. I'm sure that despite what she said…she doesn't regret it either."

If the way they spoke last time held any measure.

Then it was clear that Verndari never considered any other life as being worthwhile for her.

That was why he was convinced there was something else at play here.

And he was definitely going to get to the bottom of that.

"Hey."

The voice behind him brought his attention over his shoulder, raising a brow as Shiki paced closer towards him. Right behind her he could see Ash still shadowing her, green eyes briefly glanced to him before they returned to the woman.

"Yeah?"

"Do you regularly have to deal with something like that?"

He stopped walking and turned to Shiki. "Like what?"

Shiki frowned. "Servants acting like that…Doesn't that get bothersome?"

"Bothersome?" He spoke as if tasting the word, then soured his expression. "You make it sound like it is some sort of chore for me to hear them out."

She angled her head. "Isn't it?"

"It might be to some people." Denying that would have been stupid of him, he was aware of his own patience. "But I've never really thought about it like that. We all have our own problems, so I don't see a problem with setting aside some of my time to hear them out."

"Huh." With a short noise, Shiki frowned. "That sounds like it would take up a lot of time though. Aren't you contracted to a lot of Servants? Do you spend your time listening to all of them when they have problems like that?"

"I try." He shrugged his shoulders. "I know it's a lot of effort but it's hardly like getting to know people is easy to begin with. I think it's worth it in the end…for the most part."

"...Most part, huh?" Shiki pocketed her hands, then walked towards him, moving past and standing by his side. Her eyes fixed on something in the distance, then she turned her head and looked down at him. "You're a strange kid, you know that?"

"Kid?" Ritsuka raised a brow. "I'm pretty sure that you're not that much older than me."

"Still older." She replied without so much as blinking, but he could have sworn there was the barest hint of a smile on her lips. Yet it was such a small thing that he could well have been mistaken with that. "But you didn't say anything about me being wrong."

He supposed he didn't.

"I don't think I'm weird." He muttered, raising a hand and scratching the back of his head. "Just that my circumstances are a little odd…maybe that's why I seem weird? I've not really put a lot of thought into that."

"Maybe you should."

"Meh." A shrug. "Sounds like a lot of work to him."

Shiki stared at him, then furrowed her brows.

He couldn't fight back the smile. "I'm just rolling with the punches."

"...You get punched a lot then, huh?"

The smile slowly slipped off his face.

…

He turned and started to walk.

"...Yeah…I do…"