42: Goodbyes and Hellos
Not thirty minutes after the fight, we find ourselves waiting near the exit of the fort as Jeanne says her goodbyes. After collecting the well-wishes of the fort's defenders, she turns towards us with a small smile on her face - and then, for the first time since we arrived here, the thick oaken doors of the church creak open, and a figure forces her way out of the crammed mass of noncombatants within.
"Jeannette! Jeanette!" A middle-aged woman with brownish-blonde hair all but tackles Jeanne, embracing her tightly. "It is you, isn't it? Oh, my child, how you've grown! And the things I heard - That you had marched to Orleans! Defeated the English! Put Charles on the throne! I even heard you marched on Paris!"
"M-mother…" The girl blushes, hugging her awkwardly. Heedless of her daughter's embarrassment, the woman starts to cry into her shoulder.
"-And I heard such worrying things as well! That you had been shot at Orleans, that you were killed at Paris, that you were captured by the Burgundians, that the king refused to pay your ransom- And even that you had been burned for witchcraft by the English!" She sniffles. "Jeanette, please… you did what the Saints told you, right? You finished their mission, right? So this time… it doesn't have to be you, right?"
"...I'm sorry, mother. I must go." Jeanne lowers her eyes. "It seems that another 'me' has appeared, and that she's commanding these dragons - so I need to stop her. I must stop her."
"You don't have to! Let someone else - those strange knights over there! The French army! The English army, even-! For the Lord to command a girl like you to endanger her life even after the king betrayed you-!"
"-It's fine, mama. I shall fear no evil, for He is with me. God has not yet abandoned us. I shall return peace to His kingdom, for that is His will - that's all." The Saint smiles. "As for remaining here… that choice was already taken from me, four days ago."
And with that, her body melts into motes of golden light, slipping through her mother's arms as she takes a step backwards. "-Jeannette… don't tell me, you-!"
"You always taught me, from a young age, not to lie - I'm sorry, mother."
A choked sob escapes the woman's throat as she falls to her knees like a puppet with its strings cut.
Jeanne kneels down and embraces her mother once more. "...I truly am a terrible daughter. And I'm sorry for that. But the Most High calls me, and I must listen. We will meet again, Mama - at the end of all things, when He returns and puts everything right."
-After that, Jeanne's mother finally gives up, and shortly thereafter, we leave.
"I'm sorry you had to see all of that." Jeanne apologies.
"Don't worry about it, Ruler. If she didn't try to control you, she wouldn't be a Mother, right?" Mordred says with a shrug. That sounds- hang on a minute.
"That sentence has some seriously troubling undertones!" I blurt out, before coughing and regaining my composure. "But yeah, it's seriously fine - in fact, if you really wanted to stay with her, and let us take care of everything, I think we could muddle through-"
"Okay, that's the last straw!" Olga Marie roars as the communicator springs to life. "First you mess with that scabbard so hard it goes back to the Reverse Side, then you let your servant break her weapon, and now you're trying to send allies away!? New mandate, Natsuki - any decision lowering your overall combat ability is strictly forbidden unless you get my permission first, do you hear me?"
"R-right…" I stutter in response to the sudden tongue lashing. "Um, sorry. Jeanne, this is Director Olga Marie Animusphere. She's the one in charge of Chaldea."
"I see… If you don't mind me saying so, you look very tired, Olga Marie. Sleeping is important for keeping a clear head-" Jeanne starts.
"I'll sleep when there isn't this huge crisis going on" She snaps, doing her best to straighten her posture. "In any case, your first engagement with the wyverns was a pretty strong success, and you have recruited a new ally, so congratulations on those achievements. Following that, I suppose exchanging information is necessary, and then we can hopefully put together something resembling a long term plan. With all that being said: Rogue Servant, Jeanne d'Arc - please detail your current knowledge of this singularity."
"I don't really know much about the situation, since I was only recently summoned, but I'll do my best." Jeanne says - and with that, the exposition begins anew.
In the end, there's not really any new information to be had- at the very least, nothing she says contradicts Prelati's admittedly sketchy story, and very little she says wasn't covered by what that guy said.
"-But there is one more thing. I don't know if its because I died so recently, or if there's something else going on, but… it seems my summoning was incomplete. My parameters have been ranked down, and I'm missing some skills - along with my only offensive Noble Phantasm." Jeanne concludes, and I hear the Director let out a close-mouthed scream of frustration as she buries her head in her hands. "Furthermore, since the Throne is outside of time, I ought to have memories of at least one other Holy Grail War, but those seem to be absent as well."
"Geh, for real?" Mordred winces. "That's freaking awkward. There goes all of my ammunition against you."
"A-ammunition?"
"We were on the same side of a particularly messy Grail War. I don't remember all of it, but there's enough that I was gonna try to do some friendly banter…" The knight sighs. "Guess that's out the window, though."
"I'm afraid so." Jeanne gives a nervous chuckle. "For now I'm almost like a brand new servant, so please take care of me."
"Because being useless offensively wasn't enough, she has to be completely inexperienced too!?" Olga hisses.
"Um, I don't mind- that is, I'm kind of glad, to have someone else who's learning the ropes like I am." Mash says, blushing a bit. "It seems kind of… fun, I guess? To be able to learn alongside someone else, I mean."
"Fou! Fou- ou fou!" Fou springs out of the hollow in Mash's shield, grappling her face and performing his secret climbing technique to scurry around her neck and onto her shoulder.
"-By the way, which secret move is that one?" I can't help but ask.
"N-number one, the fluffy face-attacking shoulder mount!" Mash stutters as the fluffy creature continues to rub his fur against her face. "Um, Fou-kun, w-why are you rubbing my cheek like this?"
"Fou, kyu!"
"I see, it's because Mash is cute." I nod. "I agree completely."
"S-senpai!?"
"More to the point, what's the plan, Director?" I turn to Olga Marie, who seems to be still cradling her head in her hands. "Director?"
"Ah, she fell asleep, sorry." The display suddenly switches to an image of Doctor Romani Archaman. "For what it's worth, I do agree that the way Mash said that just now was super cute!"
"Sorry, but I'm already immune to your teasing, Doctor." Mash says with a bit of a sigh as she starts to calm down.
"Anyway, judging by Subaru-kun's strange premonition and what Jeanne d'Arc has told us, it seems like this 'Dark Jeanne' is holed up in Orleans while the dragons do her dirty work… so for now, how about you scout out the area around it? Obviously, a direct assault is out of the question, but…"
"It's possible we could find a weak point in their defenses. I agree, Monsieur…?"
"Doctor Romani Archaman. You can call me Roman, though! Pleased to meat you, Jeanne." She smiles and nods, and he continues. "Other than that, make sure to keep an eye out for a Leyline, okay? In the meantime, I'm gonna see if I can use some of my patented 'fluffy pillow' magecraft to move the Director to her bed without waking her up."
"Ah, so in addition to being fluffy-looking, he has fluffy magecraft as well." Jeanne nods to herself.
"Why does everyone say that about me…?"
A/N:
Oh hey how's it goin just gonna drop this here. I'd like to say there's a good reason this took so long, but it's just cuz I'm easily distracted and lazy.
Gonna try and be ambitious again though... next chapter Friday night/Saturday morning maybe?
On the chapter itself:
Jeanne's mom calls her Jeanette, per Apocrypha. Not sure how much of a thing that is in France, though... if there's any French speakers in the audience, feel free to let me know if it's unbearably awkward or something.
Sorta wound up jumping into Jeanne's family problems more than intended this time... her interaction with mom feels a bit forced to me, and I don't think I like it, but that's my inner perfectionist talking, and that guy's an asshole.
Looking back, this chapter should have been before the dantes interlude, but that one just wound up written first... gonna reorder them in the big Orleans edit later.
Review Responses:
Yes I'm gonna do a few this time. Sorry for skipping it the past few.
allen Vth chapter 41 . Dec 24, 2020
I really want Subaru to summon another [Foreign Class]. The fun is imaginable. I really wanted Daphne to show up. Her own White Whale fighting against the Tarrasque, and then the White Hare or the Black Serpant against Lancelot, and if that doesn't work, just have her use her eyes and Lancelot will eat himself. That would be a fun sight.
I just want Subaru to summon one of the witches :3
The witches and archbishops are all impossible to work with, so he's got no intent of doing it... Well, in theory Echidna could be negotiated with, and Louis could be bullied into line, but he never wants to see either of them again, so he's still gonna pass.
Of course, the gacha never needed anyone's consent to spook them...
allen Vth chapter 42 . Dec 29, 2020
So whenever Subaru resets, the count remembers. Easily the most dangerous enemy Subaru will have to deal. But won't the WoE kill him once he figures out the method of Subaru traveling back? Roswaal knew Subaru restarts, but didn't know the method behind RbD. Which I think is the main trigger of the WoE going into a killing spree.
To be addressed in a future chapter.
Even when weakened, Siegfried is still a badass.
"You thought you could swoop in and unceremoniously kill me? Sumanai."
Andaeus chapter 42 . Jan 1
That was was a great bit. I was initially disappointed when I realized this wasn't a real chapter, but that was a fun read.
Edmond was canon. Christmas special was not.
ExtraterrestrialFlyingCat chapter 12 . Jan 24
subaru summoning without catalyst is more liable to summon either Echidna, Satella and the Egyptian kinda named witch of sloth
Daphne's also a possibility, since he has the Gluttony witch factor in this fic. Tho in general archbishops would be probably be more likely to show up than their witch counterparts...