After what felt like an eternity, Holmes finally returned with Jekyll and Fran in tow. "I assume Fu Hua stepped out to patrol?" He hummed upon noticing her absence. "She already knows the plan so we may proceed without her." With that aside, the detective instructed on their next task for a potential lead: a magical tome that's been causing trouble and attacking civilians in Soho as reported by another informant of theirs. "If its origin is tied to the demon fog, then it's best we— and by that, I mean you —deal with it."
And just like that, they were off on their next mission. They exited 221B and collected Mordred and Fu Hua to carry it out together. The former was naturally pumped to get into yet another fight while the latter was back to her protective behaviour with Ritsuka as they journeyed back through the fog. With Fu Hua around, Ritsuka felt this mission would be a piece of cake.
Along the way, Mordred began filling the air with tales of her and the Knights of the Round Table's exploits— mainly her own though. Ritsuka could only mostly follow along; when she started talking about the Picts though, he was completely lost. "What do you mean they were aliens?"
Despite her claims that the Picts were literally otherworldly, they moved on from the topic of Mordred's backstory to Fu Hua's… again. Ritsuka understood why; out of everyone, she was the one with the most hidden past. However, he still felt bad that she was constantly the subject of everyone's curiosity. "So that kung fu thing you do—"
"I won't answer any of your questions if you continue disrespecting me like that," Fu Hua cut off Mordred before the Saber Servant could finish asking.
Before Mordred could retort, Mash quickly stepped in and apologised. "I believe what Sir Mordred wishes to ask about the school of martial arts you studied under," the Shielder inquired more politely than Mordred did (which wasn't exactly a high bar to clear.)
"It's the school of Taixuan. The founder wished for a way for the average person to be able to fight back against those who logically should be greater than them. For example, those who follow its teachings would be capable of fighting off the monsters within this fog," Fu Hua answered Mash with an unmistakable pride in her voice before letting out a cough and adding in a more even tone. "Before you ask, it is currently not taking any new students."
"What if Fujimaru asks?" Da Vinci asked, her face threatening to break into a snicker.
Fu Hua fell silent for a few seconds before reaffirming, "...As I said, no new students."
"...Hang on."
"Well, I'd give credit where it's due. You certainly have the skill to back up those claims," Mordred huffed as she unintentionally interrupted Ritsuka, who had come to a realisation. "But what does that sword have to do with your school?" She continued to ask, glancing towards her Master.
"In the ideal scenario, it shouldn't matter what one wields... but as you all saw, having a Key of Domination or similar weapon would be a massive boon to whoever uses it," Fu Hua added with a small sigh. Mash then asked if she had one as well. To answer that, the ancient soldier summoned a pair of black and gold gauntlets that gave off a red glow. Even at a glance, they could tell there was some connection between it and the similarly glowing golden sword now in Ritsuka's possession.
"So these Keys can take the form of any sort of weaponry? That's good to know…" Da Vinci noted with a curious hum. Ritsuka held back the urge to add that it was not just the Keys of Domination, but he'd rather not draw attention to Fu Hua's other, more important gift quite yet.
"…awler is more Sen…ype…"
"Hmm, did you say something, Mash?" Ritsuka overheard snippets of her muttering.
"Huh? No-nothing!" the Shielder stammered out with a red face. "Let's just be on our way, Senpai!"
The mission's outcome was to be expected; after running into the informant, who was none other than Hans Christan Anderson, they dealt with the so-called magical tome known as Nursery Rhyme. Ritsuka did feel bad for beating up someone who looked like a young girl but it had to be done.
…Oh yeah, Mordred also decided to pick a fight with Mash on the way. Why? To push Mash further along in her role as Ritsuka's Servant. It did help in the end, especially since Fu Hua decided to sit this fight out, fully understanding Mordred's motives.
Once all was said and done, the group returned with a new addition in tow much to Mordred's frustration. She and Hans were throwing shade at each other the entire time they were returning to Baker Street. "Do we have to bring him back?" The Saber Servant grumbled.
"Yes."
When they got back though, they barely had time to sit down before Jekyll informed them that Jack the Ripper had reappeared. "I'll deal with it," Fu Hua immediately volunteered. "They need to rest after everything to—"
"No, we're coming too." Even if he knew she was more than capable of taking care of the famed murderer by herself, Ritsuka was not going to let her go off on her own. He thought she would try arguing back but he should have expected she knew him better than that.
"...Fine," she conceded without putting much effort in. "Just keep close to me." They thought it'd be another simple mission—that they'd just go to Scotland Yard, take care of Jack the Ripper once and for all, then come back to finally rest.
How wrong they were. By the time they got there, every last man had been killed by the murderous child—and she was not alone. A man in a white robe and flowing dark hair showed himself before them, introducing himself as one of the leaders of Project Demon Frog. P, as he told them to call him, lamented the circumstances but claimed what they did was for the greater good. He rambled about how it was impossible to save humanity from the fate of being incinerated and how everything would be gone.
Needless to say, they concluded that the new Caster Servant was out of his mind—something he did not deny before sicking Jack on them.
After a hard-fought battle, they managed to defeat the Assassin and force P to retreat before they could get any answers out of him. He continued to be contradictory in that he was fine with ultimately being defeated by "heroes," as he dubbed them but retreated to complete his mission first. As they didn't detect the use of a Command Spell, they deduced the Holy Grail's powers were used to facilitate his escape—whether by P's own wish or whoever was in possession of the artifact.
They initially thought that was all the lead they had until Fu Hua revealed she managed to uncover one important detail: "Paracelsus; that is his true name."
"And how did you figure that out?" Mordred asked incredulously.
"I have my ways," she tried to be cryptic only for Romani to come to an out-there conclusion but one that made sense.
"Hmm… Fu Hua, are you a mind reader?" He suddenly questioned her. "Holmes told us you always know the true culprits upon meeting them."
"...I will refrain from answering that."
In any case, by the time they returned again to Baker Street, they were able to figure out that P was Paracelsus von Hohenheim— a famed physician from a few centuries back. Now came the question of what his plans truly were and who his conspirators were. "B and M…" Ritsuka muttered as the group gathered once again in Holmes's sitting room. They were still unsure if M was truly Mephistoltes, but considering Paracelsus didn't mention anything about him…
Before Ritsuka could finish that train of thought, he let out a long yawn as exhaustion finally caught up to him.
"You can leave that to us, Ritsuka. It's time you and the others get some rest." This time, Fu Hua did not give them any room to argue and frankly, Ritsuka wasn't planning on it. At this point, he was ready to just collapse on a bed and fall asleep. Hell, he could pass out here on the couch right then and there; he had to stay awake just a bit longer so that they could escort Dr Jekyll back to his apartment.
…That was the initial plan anyway. Of course Holmes had something to say about it. "Why don't you all stay here for the night? It would not reflect well on me as a host to have you all leave when you're exhausted. I have a few rooms I've flipped into guest rooms you may use.
"You let us leave last night though," Romani pointed out, which Holmes replied didn't count. Either way, it was decided that they would be staying at Baker Street. Unfortunately, they were short a room so Ritsuka volunteered to sleep on the sofa; Fu Hua did offer for him to borrow her room while she stayed in the sitting room but Ritsuka declined. All he wanted was to just lay down and sleep but of course, the others wouldn't let him have a night of peace.
"Fujimaru, you know you could have just shared the bed with Fu Hua. I'm sure she wouldn't mind sleeping together for the night~" Even without looking, Ritsuka could tell Da Vinci had the biggest grin plastered on her face.
"Go away, Da Vinci…" He grumbled as he buried his face in his pillow, too tired to reply in any other manner. As the Caster disappeared undoubtedly with a pout on her face, Ritsuka slipped into the realm of dreams and finally fell asleep…
As he slowly woke up the next morning, Ritsuka was vaguely aware of something wrapped around him. It took another minute for him to realise that it was not something but someone; the blueish-silver hair obscuring his vision made it immediately obvious who it was. It took all his willpower to not accidentally wake up everyone on Baker Street.
"Fu—Fu Hua?" He whispered as he tried to wake her up but was unsuccessful in doing so; Fu Hua must have been too comfortable in their current position to get up.
Well… it couldn't get any worse, and it wasn't like he disliked the feeling of having her right next to him. So long as she woke up before anyone saw them, he could live with— "Rise and shine, Fujimaru! We have a long… day…"
Ritsuka hated it here.
A/N: Uploading this chapter on 9th February so I can say with full confidence I did something for Fu Hua's birthday. If I was smart about it (which is a tall order), I would have done a minor detour where Ritsuka meets with her on her birthday or what others on my other fics suggested with Ritsuka and Fu Hua's married life in that specific sidestory but uh… I had no idea how to tackle that (and I only realised her birthday was coming like 3 days ago). So a simple chapter for today.
Either way, I'm speeding along with London's plot so that I could get back to main stuff this fic was for. Other than that, not much to say so see you all next time!