***Author's note: Sorry for the slightly slower update, I was wretchedly sick last night, and not feeling much better today. Anyway, here is the conclusion of Chapter 2. What awaits Louise on the other side of these encounters?
III.
After saying their respectful goodbyes to the Abbe, Camille and Louise exited the church together. The air outside was immediately refreshing for both of them. Inside the church there had been a stifling sensation, and energy forcing them both ever closer to the aristocratic expectations that were forced on them by those who knew their family name. Now, out on the streets of Paris, they were just two people, two siblings, with no other expectations than those they had for each other as sisters.
"Camille I-" Louise tried to speak but was cut off by her sister.
"No. I'm sorry. It may be best... best to continue as we started with the Abbe. I- I have declared my position, and made my intentions known. Please. Don't rob me of my resolve."
"You may have your resolution back in just a moment, but, my sister. Cammy. For just one more second let me remember you as my sister, and my greatest friend. I will dare not speak of what will be after this war ends, but I will promise this. Even if, WHEN I meet you on the field of combat it will be impossible to forget you as I know you. I love you my dear sister. Nothing that happens in the future, and nothing that father expects of us will change that. So please, let me at least remember you as my sister for just this one moment."
"And when comes the part when you return to me my resolve to destroy you?" Camille kept her faced turned from Louise as she spoke, but Louise knew there were tears her older sister was just barely holding back.
"I will do so now. I love you, but for my honor as a mage and master, for the honor of the Saint-Hermine family, and for my honor as Louise, I vow to defeat you. I will be the victor in the Holy Grail War." Louise was just barely holding back tears herself as she declared her intention to destroy her own sister.
"One last thing. Promise me, dear little sister," Here Camille looked up, letting the tears freely run down her face as she spoke, "Promise no other will defeat you before I can face you in combat. Promise me, and I shall promise you the same."
"I promise."
"Then there is nothing more to say." With these final words Camille swiftly turned and left her sister standing alone in front of the church.
After giving herself a moment to collect her emotions and recover herself she considered her current situation. She had the rest of the day as well as the following one to make her own preparations before Camille would go on the offensive against her. Besides the two of them there was still a third master who had yet to summon a servant, so it was likely aggression between masters would not begin completely just yet, but Louise could not be too cautious. Her first order of business was to obtain new lodgings. She was not horribly familiar with Paris and so decided on a simple method of choosing a new temporary home. Even if Camille had promised to not pursue her until later, Louise needed to start moving unpredictably now so as to evade her sister easier in the future. Two roads ran on either side of the church; the Avenue du Maine on its left, and the Avenue du General Leclerc on its right. A quick coin flip sent Louise down du Maine, and the first of her random selections to outwit her sister had sent her off.
After walking for around twenty minutes Louise stopped to get some food at a cafe she passed. One thing she liked about Paris so far was that no matter where she found herself, there usually was place to get some food not to far off. A bakery, restaurant, or cafe was always on hand to provide her with a respite from the bustling, somewhat overwhelming city around her. After eating she let herself wander the streets of Paris with no real direction in mind. She wanted to explore a bit and get the lay of the city. It would be impossible to learn the whole thing, but if she could dedicate a small portion of it to memory, she could set up her own territory to operate from and have some security when fighting in it.
Louise wandered for some time before she noticed the sun starting to get low and decided it would be best to find an inn of some sort before nightfall, the events of the night before still pestering at the back of her mind. She was walking, her luggage in tow down her latest random street, the Rue d'Assas, when she heard some peculiar noises. There was an alleyway to her right, a narrow path of old neglected concrete with an iron gate, that would normally bar entrance, hanging slightly ajar. Louise's curiosity got the better of her and she stopped to investigate the gate. There were no workers around who may have opened it, and no cars that seemed to have just recently passed through in either direction. She also noticed, on closer inspection, that the lock on the gate looked as though it had been forced. Though it was a matter of simple curiosity, Louise justified her probing as a matter of wanting to know everything about her new territory. Small things, like the sort of criminal activity that happened in the area, could give her ideas into how to conduct battles and set traps for her opponents without alerting the mundane authorities. Slipping through the opening Louise cautiously made her way down the alley, the tall buildings on all sides of the claustrophobic path making it seem darker than it was.
As she proceeded she once again heard the noise that had initially caught her attention. There was a heavy wet slap, and what sounded like hurried, irritated speech. As she got closer to a bend in the alleyway she could more clearly hear the sounds, the messy wet pulling apart, like someone carelessly butchering meat, and the loud incoherent curses being angrily spouted by someone.
"Bastard. Stupid, evil. Bastard. Monster-piece-of-trash! You have his face. His stupid, monster face. Monster. Stole it. Stole him. Bastard-face, his FACE!"
As Louise neared the turn the back of her left hand started to itch and burn slightly. She tried to scratch at it, assuming a mosquito or something had bit her, but she dared not divert her attention from what was ahead. She peeked around the corner to behold a grisly scene. A man, or at least the remains of once was a man, lay sprawled out on the ground, his torso a bleeding mess of puncture marks and stab wounds. A woman sat straddling his mutilated body and was aggressively mutilating his face with a large knife in one hand, and some sort of thin pick like tool in the other, all the while muttering her nonsensical objurgations.
The woman could not have been older than thirty. Her chestnut brown hair fell in messy tangles down to her lightly pink, white shoulders which were exposed by the backless black dress she wore with matching black opera gloves. Her face was obscured by her messy hair and hunched posture, but more than any other details Louise's eyes were drawn to the massive tattoo that dominated the woman's exposed back. An intricate flower with swirling motifs gathered around the bottom of it were depicted in differing shades of black. By the long leaves on the stem, and close petals Louise guessed it was a tulip but couldn't be sure.
Looking away from the scene on the ground Louise noticed another individual calmly seated on a nearby trashcan who seemed to be watching the scene play out with mild interest. They were a tall and somewhat thin, though well built, person wearing a rather outdated form of dress. They had a pair of black breeches that stopped just below the knee, with white socks covering the rest of the leg, and an over-shirt, its sleeves slashed near the shoulders was covered in intricate bronze and silver patterns. Again the face was obscured, but not by the angle of Louise's view. The individual had on their face a thick cage-like metal mask, that obscured everything except for the openings for the mouth and eyes. Thin, wispy, faded blonde hair could be seen slipping out of the bottom of the mask from the back.
"Really Master I do believe you have proved your point. The poor fool is dead. Has been for some time now." The masked individual had a sharp, but polite manner of speech, a strong feminine voice that was trying to cautiously change the focus of the woman on top of the body.
"BASTARD. MONSTER. His horrid. Wretched. FACE!" The woman screamed back as a reply.
"Or spend some more time on this particular diversion I suppose." As if the masked person's words were some sort of cue the woman bent down and tore a chunk of flesh from the face with her teeth then spat it out onto the ground in Louise's direction. As the bloody hunk of what was once a person bounced towards her, Louise was unable to stop herself from taking a small, but audible breath.
"Hwat's that?" The violent woman looked up from her victim towards were Louise was hidden. The young Saint-Hermine had already pulled herself back behind the corner before the murderer had looked over, but Louise could swear she could feel the killer's eyes on her. "Go." She mumbled to the masked figure.
Louise didn't hear any movement. Certainly an individual running up the alleyway towards her would have made some sound. Some footsteps, an intake of breath, the sound of them landing in front of her if they had jumped over. But not a sound preceded the mask individual as they seemed to just appear in front of Louise. "Greetings madame. Lovely evening we're having today. I am honored to make your acquaintance." Louise looked into the masked person's eyes, blue eyes that shook with a madness completely at odds with their owner's calm and polite speech. A pale hand raised up and placed itself on the wall between Louise and the way she had come up the alley. "Let's just wait a moment and see what my master has to say about your being here. Don't worry. She is far more understanding and patient with women than she tends to be with men."
Louise heard the footsteps, slow and uneven, making their way towards her. The woman appeared from around the corner, her head hung low over her chest as she approached. She suddenly looked up, giving Louise her first look at the young woman's face. She had beautiful, but drawn features, not quite gaunt, but with prominent bone structure. Besides her shining emerald eyes, which shone with a sadness at odds with her violent manners and speech, the most striking feature was a massive scar around her left eye. It looked as though the flesh had been twisted and torn in a spiral motion before some attempt was made to twist it back the right way.
"Well? Who is she? You know her? I don't know her. Who knows her? Does she know YOU Berserker?" Though her volume was lower than earlier, the woman's jerking, violent manner of speech remained unchanged.
"I'm afraid I cannot say I do master. However, judging by her luggage I'd say shes likely a tourist of some kind. How's that miss? A lost tourist? Does that sound like you?" The one in the mask continued to be calm and polite despite the very clearly tense air of the situation.
Louise was desperately trying to process a lot of information at once. Master? Berserker? Had she heard them correctly? If she had it could mean only one thing. She had managed to accidentally run into one of her enemies in the Grail War on her second day in Paris, before she had even summoned her servant. But it didn't add up. If the masked individual was the berserker class their manner was completely different from what Louise had come to expect of one. She could mull this over later. Louise's real problem right now was how to survive this situation. The duo in front of her clearly didn't know that she herself was a member of the Grail War, or even a mage for that matter. She had the element of surprise if she decided to set a fighting retreat. Alternatively she could try to play innocent and hope they would release her without conflict. Though judging by the body just around the corner Louise wasn't sure how likely that was.
"Hrng. I don't like her. Ruined my mood. Ruined my time. Don't like it at all. We're done here. Make her go away. Ruined my mood." The blood stained woman waved her knife dismissively toward Louise as she directed her words to her masked companion.
Louise started an incantation under her breath and was about to pull a stone from her bag when she felt a strong grip on the back of her neck. The metal mask was suddenly very close to her right ear, and she could barely breath from the hand crushing the back of her throat, let alone finish the spell.
"Worry not miss. You're clearly visiting Paris on a journey and I've no intention of ending your travels now." The masked person whispered to Louise. "She only told me to make you go away, not kill you. Though I don't envy the headache you'll likely have when you wake."
Louise tried to say something, tried to lift her hand to fight back, but her assailant's free hand grabbed her right hand by the wrist immobilizing it. The figures before her suddenly started to appear as though they were very far away, fading down a black tunnel. Louise gave one last hollow gasp in an attempt to finish the spell she wanted to speak, and then fell into the darkness.