V.
Despite it still being daytime outside, the room was quite dark. Thick heavy curtains had been, not so much hung, as nailed up in place over the windows to block the incoming illumination and to hide the activity of the inhabitant from any prying eyes. Blood that was now several days old stained numerous surfaces in large quantities all across the once abandoned apartment. There was no working electricity, but through sheer coincidence the city had never shut off water for the dilapidated building. Discarded food packages littered the floor in as much abundance as the bloodstains, though both were now being challenged for dominance by used medical supplies. Huge patches of gauze and bandages that once were so clean and sterile, now soaked through with blood and black ichor, were left in festering puddles. Bottles that had once housed antiseptic and antibacterial ointments were so numerous it was difficult to navigate the room without risk of crushing one underfoot. Not that the current inhabitant was in any position to be moving about much.
Rosa sat slumped against the wall, the lack of a bed or any other furniture not leaving her much else in terms of choices for where to support her crippled frame. Berserker had changed out the dressings on her wounds before leaving to procure more supplies, but Rosa could feel them already getting heavy with the black ooze that insisted on pouring out of the wound. It didn't necessarily hurt anymore, but she felt incredibly drained. Whatever the Tulip was doing to heal her wound, it was an incredible strain on her mana reserves. That coupled with the fact that it would have assuredly been a mortal wound for anyone else, left Rosa in a terrible state, and that wasn't even factoring in Berserker's mana needs.
Berserker had been gone for some time leaving Rosa with nothing more than her own swirling, confused thoughts. She wasn't sure why, but she liked sleep more than usual lately. She put it up to simply being a side effect of how exhausted she was, but there was something else. She just always felt so much warmer, calmer, and more centered shortly after waking up. Sometimes that feeling would last through the whole day.
Sometimes it would be dispelled all too quickly. Even with her back against the heavy boards of the neglected wall, Rosa could feel him there. He was pushing his way past the deteriorated insulation, through the thick layer of mildew growing in the crawlspace, and out past the peeling paint to perch himself, with all his weight, on Rosa's back.
"...Cornelius..." Rosa croaked at the approach of her lover's phantom.
"Rosa, my sweet Rosa. Look at how you wilt." Cornelius was whispering in her ear the way he always did, his tone a mix of affection and disappointment.
"It hurts... It hurts, Cornelius." Rosa moaned.
"I'm sorry it hurts. But it can be fixed."
"How? Fix it... Please, Cornelius, make it stop hurting." Rosa was on the verge of tears.
"It can go away. Just let the Tulip in. Let it help. Let it finally be part of you." Cornelius coaxed.
"I'm scared of it. I don't want it, Cornelius. I never-"
"Don't say that. It's my final gift to you. My life's work. Our greatest accomplishment. There was no one else, Rosa." She could feel his hand caressing her cheek as he spoke. "No one else I could entrust it to. You don't want to shun my dying gift to you do you? That would hurt me so."
"No. Don't... Don't wanna hurt you. But I..."
"But?" There was an ever so slight tone of threat in his voice now.
"I don't wanna let it in. It hurts me. I feel it, pushing me out of myself as it moves in. Can't... Can't let it in any more." She was terrified of upsetting him, of hurting his feelings. But it was true. She was terrified of losing herself to the Tulip.
"Don't defy it, Rosa. Don't defy me. Don't hurt me like this. Can't you see you're hurting me."
"I'm sorry, Cornelius." He felt so heavy now.
"I'm dead, Rosa. I'm dead and that's all you can say?"
"I'm gonna... I'm gonna win. Gonna bring you back. I promised."
"And how are you going to do that in this pitiful state. You couldn't even kill that other Master before, and now look what happened. Why, Rosa? Why didn't you kill her?"
His words took Rosa back to that moment, to that contact she had shared with Louise. Something had shot through her then, something about their magic intertwining had touched Rosa's humanity and brought her back to the surface from under the roots she had been trapped beneath. Since then something had felt different. Whenever she thought of Louise, she felt the same warmth she would feel on waking up. Since then, Cornelius's appearances had contained far less of the calming and loving air they used to, and far more of the twisted guilt that was always wrapped up in it.
"Rosa. Listen to me." Cornelius was burning on her back. More than pressing his weight into her spine, it felt as though he were lighting a fire across her. "You need to kill the others. You need to let the Tulip in. You need to revive me. I miss you so. I want to see you again so much."
"Wanna... Wanna see you again too, Cornelius..." Why did the words that had always felt so true taste so strange in her mouth now?
"I know you do." The fire dwindled away, the weight slowly lifted from her back, and he was gone.
Just as Rosa was breathing a sigh of relief she heard the door of the room open. Berserker was removing the many layers of disguise on their face as they entered, several bags of food and supplies in their hands. A crooked, pained smile crossed Rosa's lips as she perceived her trusted friend returning.
"Berserker... is back..." Rosa was very tired.
"I am, my Master. Happy to be back. Tell me, how do you fare? Is your fever down at all? Do I need to change the bandages again?" Berserker did their best to keep an upbeat mood as they inspected Rosa's wound. Anyone looking at it could tell just how serious it was, but they were sure Rosa didn't need that kind of brutal honesty right now. What she needed was patient love and care, and they were going to provide that to the best of their ability.
Berserker set about the work of tending to Rosa with all the tenderness of a doting parent, the kind they remembered receiving in their own youth. As they offered her a water bottle and handled the less than wholesome task of changing out the dressing on Rosa's stomach wound they decided talking would help to take Rosa's mind off the pain.
"Something you should know, Master. While I was out I ran into that woman. The one we fought." Berserker winced back at first worried Rosa would have a less than pleasant reaction. However they saw an almost serene expression spread over her features.
"You okay...? Not fight?" Her words were soft, the pain of her wound draining much of her energy.
"No, we did not fight, no need to worry after me."
"Good. Neither of you... got hurt..." Rosa gently closed her eyes and smiled. "What happened?"
"Oh well, believe it or not we had a rather civilized conversation. We talked about you in fact. I daresay the young lady seemed worried about you." Berserker was talking almost absentmindedly as they finished applying the new gauze, discarding the gruesome used dressing onto the floor with the rest.
"She was... worried about... me?" There was disbelief and a small note of hope in Rosa's voice. Her eyes were open questioningly, staring at Berserker as she spoke.
For a moment the Servant wasn't sure what the reaction meant, confusion coloring their own features. A realization seemed to hit them though, and their look softened back into a caring smile. "Yes, she was. I daresay she might be someone we could trust. A shame then that she is our opponent in the Grail War. Though..."
"Though?" Rosa was even more curious now.
"Though if my understanding is correct we don't necessarily have to kill her in order to achieve victory. I believe we only need eliminate her Servant." Berserker accompanied the explanation with small bites of a protein bar they fed to Rosa.
"But, Cornelius... Cornelius said. Said I gotta kill the other six people." Rosa was more confused now.
"Perhaps he was mistaken." Berserker still wasn't sure who Cornelius was, but they had learned already it was a detail best left alone.
"Yeah... Maybe... maybe Cornelius can make mistakes..."