Chapter 8.
The Dreamer, Louise
I.
A sweet, wonderful perfume caressed Louise's senses, lifting her spirit, and calming her nerves. The scent was a tranquilizing mixture of honey, sweet floral pollen, and the nostalgic feeling of a summer day spent in a small cottage in eastern Holland, a feeling that was strange for it was one Louise had never known.
A beautiful, sweeping field of tulips stretched out around her in every direction, the world seeming to curve sharply out of view suddenly as the radiant rainbow vision of the flowers fell away into the infinite void, and the bright blue sky of a cloudless day erupted up overhead from the same skewed horizon. Every possible color of tulip was stretched out in tightly packed fields of splendor around her; dark and enchanting violet in a ring close by, vibrant and joyous yellow, a classic and beloved strain was beyond that, and radiant reds, pinks, and blues picked out in spots throughout the arranged growths. Louise, wearing a white sun dress she did not own or recognize, found herself overcome with joy and comfort at the succoring sensations, and could not help but to let herself dance through the bright bouquet around her.
As she lost herself in the euphoria of her splendid surroundings, Louise came upon a disturbing new tendency amongst the multitudinous flowers. Many of them were starting to wilt and die, their colors fading to a sickly and pale gray, as if something was sapping their essence away. She continued on, concerned as the world spun quickly beneath her feet, more and more of the field falling away to decay and ruin. Slowly the source of the blight came into view: a massive, pitch black tulip, taller than Louise herself, stood at the center of a ring of desolation, as if absorbing the very life of the other flowers into itself. Its sickly aura permeated through the air, a visible green energy creeping out from the destructive bloom.
Louise, driven by impulses she did not understand, dug vigorously at the base of the black tulip, wanting to remove the deadly invader from the world before it could absorb any more victims into its baleful, selfish being. Mounds of soil and decaying flowers came away in Louise's filthy hands as she attacked the dirt. Suddenly some of the root system came into view, and Louise, burgeoned by what she perceived as impending success, dug with yet greater fervor despite her hands being bloody and blistered.
As she dug further and further, her progress accelerating from only a few feet, to being suddenly dozens down, her hand grasped at something beneath the rancid soil. She pulled sharply on the obtrusion and a human hand came away in her grip. She flung the disgusting discovery away and dug more, but she met more and more decaying limbs: feet, hands, arms, and legs by the dozens barred her path. She tried to dig beyond the macabre obstacles, but she was soon pushing whole torsos, and heads aside, their features twisted into pained grimaces, the flesh of every part and piece melding and webbing together like some wretched imitation of a root system.
There was nothing Louise could do to remove the vile plant. Everywhere she looked, dozens, maybe even hundreds of bodies were twisted together to form the base of the profane flower. She sank to her grime and viscera covered knees, a feeling of defeat washing over her. She felt a presence to her right, but her vision on that side was blurred and dark, obscured as if by some black cloud. She turned her head and found herself looking into the eyes of Rosa, who wore a black dress that matched the style of the white one Louise had on. Rosa placed her hands on either side of Louise's face, the right one disappearing into the imperceptible cloud, and held the young mage in a light, but loving embrace. She gave Louise a slight reassuring smile, her eyes shining without their normal sadness, before releasing Louise and beginning to dig at the deathly root system herself.
As Rosa dug, the roots seemed to reach out to greet her, the myriad hands and broken limbs embracing her and pulling the young girl in. The bud of the flower itself bent down form the surface, and let petals slowly rain down onto her, each one slipping under her flesh and into her body, the sickly green aura pouring into her. She turned to Louise one last time and opened her mouth to speak.
"Help."
Louise awoke, all of her senses trying to come back online, but doing so sluggishly and with great strain. Before she was able to visually perceive anything she was simply aware of the feeling of returning to the conscious world. The other sensation that dominated her lethargic faculties was pain, pain that radiated through every fiber of her being. Her head burned with an intense fire that felt concentrated around the right side of it. Her left arm was completely numb, and Louise could feel a heavy sensation of something wrapped around it, paralyzing what minimal movement it might have had access to. The rest of her body was wracked by sporadic surges of stabbing agony, and sore muscles that were too tired and over-extended to move, but pulsed with a constant miserable spasm.
As her vision returned, Louise found herself once again waking in an unfamiliar bed. The first thing she noticed was that she was not in the room she was borrowing from Grimaud. The room she now occupied was monumentally larger, but equally more barren than the more homely quarters of the photographer's quaint living space. The only pieces of furniture in the room were the large but simple bed Louise was laying in, the pure white satin sheets matching the sterile white color of the floor and walls, along with a small two-drawer bedside table, and a single chair in a corner of the room. Two of the walls were completely made of floor-to-ceiling windows, the one to Louise's right looking out over the streets of Paris, while the one directly in front of her afforded a view of a massive rooftop terrace and patio.
The second thing Louise noticed was that there was a strange black blur that was clouding her vision on the right side, obscuring details on that front. She brought her right hand up, difficult and pained as the motion was, and her fingers met a thick leather patch that covered the upper right quarter of her face where her eye was, or at least where it used to be.
"I see you're finally awake."
Louise recognized Rider's voice and turned her head to see him leaning against the wall of the needlessly large room, positioned next to the door that presumably led to the rest of the abode they found themselves in.
Rider continued after giving Louise a pained expression. "I don't know if twenty-six hours of sleep is too much or too little after the sort of night we had, but either way you've been gone for some time."
Louise opened her mouth to speak, her voice frail and weak from everything that had happened. "Rider... I.."
"I am extremely weak right now, Master. Nearly all of your mana has been expended keeping yourself alive. I am absorbing just enough to allow me to stay here and watch over you."
Louise used her hand to cover her one remaining eye, not wanting to see the look of shame and disappointment on Rider's face, and not wanting him to see the tears welling up in it. "I... I messed up. Didn't I, Rider?"
"That depends on which part you're talking about." Rider did his best to pretend he couldn't sense the despair washing over his Master. "Was it a mistake to go after Berserker and Rosa first? No. That was the tactically sound decision to make. The decision to use the hypnotized decoy? I suppose that depends on your point of view. As far as a plan for drawing out our quarry it was perfect, but our morals held us to a standard that made our decoy a liability once combat started. So yes, I would say that in the end that ended up being a mistake. Rosa ended up being a much stronger opponent than I think anyone could have predicted, making the whole thing a mistake. If... that's how you approach it."
Louise removed her hand from her eye as Rider completed his explanation and looked over her left arm. The entire limb was wrapped in heavy gauze and bandages, several splints preventing her from bending it. Rider noticed where Louise was looking.
"She burned you quite badly. Magical fire like that, it will take some time for the wounds to fully heal. But those wounds can heal at least."
Louise opened her mouth to ask the meaning of his last words, but stopped as her hand once more went up to the patch on her face.
The duo sat in pensive, uneasy silence for several minutes, neither one sure of what to say to the other. Just as Louise opened her mouth to speak there was a light knock at the door. Rider immediately drew one of his pistols and placed himself behind where the door would open before he beckoned the visitor to come in.
The door opened and a self-assured step, matched by the awkward tap of an unneeded walking cane sounded as the visitor entered the room. The unknown closed the door behind him, and upon perceiving that Rider's pistol was aimed at him, dismissed the threat presented by the Servant.
"Oh there really is no need for that sort of thing." Leo de Franchi waved his hand pompously as he spoke. "I come here as a friend, and ally, a confidant if you will. Do you really think your friend the imperious billionaire would have allowed my entry if I wasn't?" Leo offered a smug smile to Rider to punctuate his explanation.
Louise and Rider were both equally stunned by the visitor's confident and fearless demeanor, neither one sure of how to approach him.
"I see you still don't believe in me. That's fair. Here, I have proof." Leo pulled a letter from his jacket pocket, a letter with a wax seal that looked very familiar to Louise. "I am Leo de Franchi, one half of the heir to the de Franchi mage bloodline. I hold in my hand a letter of order from the illustrious mage family to which the de Franchi owe fealty. The de Franchi name should, I hope be familiar to you. But failing that, I know the crest on the letter will be."
Louise immediately recognized the seal of the Saint-Hermine family stamped on the letter in Leo's hand. She could only look at Leo in confusion as she raised herself up as much as her broken body would allow. Louise replied, having finally processed everything Leo had said. "I do, in fact, know the name de Franchi, monsieur."
"Splendid! That saves me a whole mess of pointless introduction." As Leo clapped his hands in satisfaction, his walking stick stayed perfectly upright where he had left it. "By all means lie back down, there is no need to get up on my account, injured as you are. It's good we are able to avoid that initial bit because I do unfortunately have some explaining to do."
"Yes monsieur, as to why the de Franchi are here and what that letter of order entails." Louise was wildly curious about Leo's company, but something about him unnerved and worried her almost as completely.
"Nothing simpler. The de Franchi family was given orders by the head of the Saint-Hermines, your father, to enter a participant in the Holy Grail War." Louise and Rider both gave a start at the suddenness and gravity of the revelation, Rider put himself even more on guard. "Now now, I do not have my Servant with me. It was difficult enough gaining entry here by myself, there are myriad magical defenses upon this place. No, the bounded field around it will not even allow me to communicate with my Servant much less bring them in, as their presence is most unwelcome by our illustrious host." Rider relaxed, though only a modicum. "There is more, our family was ordered to enter the Grail War and to provide assistance to the Saint-Hermine entry as an ally and enable their victory."
"I'm afraid I don't understand, surely you are speaking with incomplete or outdated information, there are two of us from the Saint-Hermine participating in the Grail War, myself as well as my sister Camille."
"I beg your pardon." Leo looked a little hurt at the implication that he was operating incorrectly as he pulled the letter from the envelope. "It says within that the de Franchi are under strict orders to assist Louise Saint-Hermine in achieving her goal of securing victory in the Holy Grail War. I assure you madame that I am quite literate and have not misread my instructions."
Louise sank back down into the bed, even more confused now than she had been when Leo had begun his elucidation.
"Trust me I'm just as confused as you are. I only found out when we were on our way to Paris that you and your sister were both entered in the Grail War. I was very baffled at first when the letter did not name the blood daughter of the Saint-Hermine family, and became doubly befuddled when I found out it was not because she was not entering the competition. I was hoping you, madame, would be able to shed some light on the situation for me." Though Leo's words asked Louise for an explanation, his tone communicated that he seemed to have already drawn his own conclusion.
Louise was incapable of offering Leo an answer immediately, her mind too occupied with the myriad questions, doubts, and concerns she dared not give voice to. Was there some reason her father doubted her capabilities? Did he think that this was the only way to give her a fighting chance against her sister or any of the other opponents? Was she being treated as the favored daughter to win the Grail? And if so, why her? Why not the blood daughter of the Saint-Hermine family? If one was favored to win, why enter both? What did Camille think of all this? Was Camille even aware of it?
As Louise silently sought for answers, Leo approached the bed. "Regardless, I am as I am ordered, at your disposal to assist with your task. Though, I must say, that by the looks of you I will have my work cut out for me." Rider gave a start at the harsh and biting words, and the insult was enough to wake Louise from her reflection. "I mean that was what, your first real fight with a Servant and you both come out looking like this? In my opinion it bodes ill for what lies ahead."
"Our second fight, monsieur." Rider, his pride wounded by the affront to his combat capability, finally broke the silence he had maintained.
"No I stand by my statement. It was your first REAL fight. The fight with Archer was never fated to end in your defeat, regardless of how it did or could have concluded."
Leo was having a serious effect on Louise and Rider, each of his revelations just as or more surprising than the one that came before it. Neither of them could speak as the implication of his latest words sank in.
"Archer is the de Franchi Servant, and the decision was made to let them travel around Paris before the Grail War started in earnest. When they reported having found you, Madame Saint-Hermine, summoning your Servant, well, the urge to have them test you out was impossible to ignore." Leo offered another satisfied smile as he tore down what little confidence the pair had left. "Oh, before I go there's just one more thing." Saying this, Leo lowered his head close to Louise, his mouth only centimeters from her ear. He continued on, in a low, threatening whisper. "One, why do you think your father has gone to such lengths to secure a Grail War victory if he doesn't even control the eventual wish the victor is entitled to? And two, know that the de Franchi are not slaves to anyone. We bide our time, and our efforts are not exhausted in the service of someone else. Before this Grail War ends you will have to seriously fight Archer, and it will not go as well as it did last time."
Louise was too weak and overcome from everything Leo had said to offer any reply to his final threat, and could only sit, wallowing in her pain and confusion.
"Heh." Leo sneered as he pulled back away from Louise. "Well, that's all I came here for. I wish you a speedy recovery Madame Saint-Hermine. Keep an eye out for us, we will always be nearby."
Without any ceremony Leo snatched his erect cane from where it had been standing unattended, and left through the door by which he had entered, and was quickly gone from Louise and Rider's presence, the silence of the sterile room standing in stark contrast to the swirling emotions inside both its occupants. Louise wordlessly turned her back to Rider and let her exhausted mind fall back into the void of sleep, her broken body unable to support the strain of her racing mind.