III.
"You were so desperate to have her nearby, and yet now I find you spending so little time in her company. You are a curious man, my Master." Lord Wilmore sat on the plush couch opposite Ali, both of them seated on pieces of furniture designed for nearly a dozen people each. Though the room was absurdly large, and its multiple bars, dizzying amount of seating, and indoor overlook spoke to its intended purpose of entertaining, it was only ever occupied by the Master and Servant.
"She needs her rest. She has experienced much trauma, both physically and, I would imagine, emotionally. That slasher really gave her quite the beat-down-" Ali was cut short by a condescending look from Wilmore, further judgment for letting his words slip to more casual phrasing. "Pardon. My presence would only agitate her, she would assume there was some sort of interrogation in store."
"There is some sort of interrogation in store, Master." Wilmore leaned his head over the back of the sofa, one gloved hand covering his eyes. "What exactly do you plan for her now that she is here?"
Ali, who had gotten up to make himself a beverage at the nearest bar, shot a wry smile to his exasperated companion. "I plan for her to become my partner. We will fight side by side, and when it comes time that we are the only two Masters left, she will order her Servant to destroy himself, and she shall share in the victory of my wish. Though..."
"Though?" Wilmore was, for once, actually intrigued by Ali's words, even if only a modicum.
"Though if I must be honest it feels as though all my wishes are being granted just by being in the Grail War itself." Having finished preparing his beverage, Ali was spinning the ice around with a diamond-topped stir-stick as he boasted of his personal success.
"I doubt many Masters of many Grail Wars have spoken such words." Wilmore moved from the couch to Ali's side. As his Master raised the glass to drink, the Servant gingerly lifted the glass from his hand. Wilmore offered a light toast before imbibing the beverage. "Is bloodshed and constructing convoluted plots really all that appealing to you?"
"Rich, coming from you my implacable companion." Ali returned to the bar and began preparation of a replacement drink. The cognac the hotel provided was supposedly aged for 20 years and said to be from a renowned distillery. "I'm curious, oh judgmental Servant, what is it you seek at the end of all this bloodshed, and all these carefully laid plans?"
"You have grown. As a mage and as a Master." Wilmore was surprised by Ali's daring to pry into his Servant's own ambitions, guarded as they were. He wanted to see Ali grow, and so decided to reward his pretension. "You ask what I seek?"
"We all have a wish waiting for us at the end of this bloody path. Otherwise, I don't think we'd be here."
"Simplicity."
"Pardon?" The answer meant nothing to Ali.
"The simplicity I was robbed of in life. I had a simple life. I was not rich. I was not powerful. I was not known. But, I had something that did matter. I wish to return to that poor simplicity. To avoid the fate that befell me. Avoid the events that brought me to what I am."
Despite the completeness of the answer, Ali still felt as if he were incapable of understanding. His life had been saved by opulence, riches, and the strife of the Grail War. Looking down from the elevated position he now occupied, he could not fathom a desire to return to the harsh, dirty, lonely streets below. Despite that, he knew better than to say something that might antagonize his Servant. "I must confess, my dear partner, that is hardly the answer I expected. Were it to come to pass, would not such a wish have the possibility of removing you from the Throne of Heroes?"
"What do you mean?" Wilmore was further impressed by Ali's perceptiveness.
"To change one's story, to trade strife, conflict, betrayal, and untold wealth for the life of a simple laborer, you would completely alter the man who was placed amongst legends. You would cease to be a Heroic Spirit I would imagine." Ali had a very contemplative look on his face as he spoke, like a man who feared losing something but would not let on what it was. "Your greatness would be erased from history. I don't know that we would be able to meet again were that the case."
"And I know you would miss me terribly, Master. But it is the price I would be willing to pay. I would call it a difference of values between us."
Ali turned his back to the Servant and walked out onto the rooftop patio without exchanging any more words with Wilmore. He stirred the new drink pensively as he looked out upon the city below. "A difference of values indeed. Fortunately I know what is truly valuable." Ali poured the drink out over the balcony edge without so much as a sip. He decided a cigar sounded like a nice alternative.