77: Some people have bad timing.
Sleep doesn't come easy tonight, for all kinds of reasons. Fear of the battle ahead, worries about what's happened to the others since we were separated, paranoia about the state of my 'save point'.
But things like that are nothing new. The new problem is-
"Prelatiiiii!" I shout again, shaking my fist at the ceiling in futility. "You piece of shit! Just how dedicated are you to making me miserable, huh!?"
"What's wrong?" Professor Velvet asks, looking up from his work on some kind of talisman.
"He stole my [Dreamcatcher] is what's wrong!" I shout, holding up the torn remains of the necklace. Why did he even go out of his way to do that - did it interfere with his illusions or something? No, I bet it was just because he wanted to make sure I'd still be suffering if I passed out! Bastard!
"[Dreamcatcher]?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. "As in the type made by Native Americans? Why do you have something like that?"
"I've got… a recurring problem with nightmares." I mumble. It's a bit of an understatement, but I'd feel embarrassed if I went into full detail. "Basically, I missed class at Clock Tower a couple times, and the next thing I knew, Flat-senpai had shoved the thing into my hand."
The Professor freezes mid-brushstroke. "Flat did?"
"Yeah." I reply. "Is that surprising to you?"
He lets out a small sigh, a smile crawling across his lips. "Not surprising, exactly, but… It's a relief, I guess. I'm glad to hear he was able to make that much progress on interpersonal relations."
"What exactly…?" I start to ask, but reconsider. I feel like this might be drifting into personal territory.
"There's not really any need to keep it secret. I'm sure that guy would just tell you this much outright if asked." The Caster says, resuming his brushwork. "It's a bit of a long story, but to keep it simple - at the time I met him, Flat Escardos was a child on the path to becoming something similar to Francois Prelati."
"...That has to be an exaggeration." I reply. And yet, it sounds right. In fact, it slides right into place in my head. From the start, Prelati had reminded me of someone - I had thought it was the Sin Archbishops, and that's still true - but things like 'I altered the summoning circle to make a random Extra Class show up' are exactly what I'd expect of Flat Escardos.
"He was never a criminal, no." Professor Velvet admits. "But he was already completely isolated from his peers at that time. His family had tried to kill him, and he had been rejected from just about every class at the Clock Tower because none of them could handle someone of his talent - or with his personality, for that matter.
At that time, if you had approached him with your nightmare problem… he likely would have placed some kind of curse on you to prevent you from ever sleeping again. Even the Flat of my 'present day', would still probably hit you with an elaborate spell to make you confront your 'dream self' in mortal combat or something else ridiculous like that. The fact that he addressed your problem with an effective, proportional response… is really relieving to hear."
"I see…" I mutter. I'm glad he's happy, so let's just avoid telling him about that whole incident with the Voynich Manuscript. "Do you really think you made that big of an impact on him, that he was going to become a monster if you hadn't taken him in?"
"Not me." The Professor replies. "I can't remember a day that I wasn't yelling at him for something or other in the first year he was with me. It must have been Svin."
Like hell it was Svin! That guy was still yelling at him every day even in 2016!
Things go silent for a moment, and the only sound is the soft scritch of the Professor's brush across the surface of his fulu.
"...I won't forgive him." The words tumble out of my mouth. "Prelati, I mean. Even if he could have become like Flat-Senpai if someone had reached out to him when he was young. Even if he had some kind of traumatic experience when he was learning magecraft. It doesn't change a thing. I can't possibly pity him; I hate him far too much for that."
"I didn't mean to imply anything like that. It was just a point of comparison." He replies, an apologetic tone in his voice. "There's no reason to entertain counterfactuals with regard to one of our enemies. He's dead, and that's a good thing because it means one less enemy to deal with. If we run into the living Francois Prelati, we'll kill him too." As he finishes saying that, the talisman he was working on gives a faint glow and he holds it up to inspect it. "All of that aside, try putting this fulu on your forehead while you sleep. It should work well enough."
What follows is not a dreamless sleep. But I wake up well rested, without screaming. I guess that'll have to do.
"-And then lift your arms in the air and say 'Victory'!" I finish.
"Victory!" Merry shouts, with startling confidence. She really is the perfect student!~
Siegfried is still too injured to participate, but as for my other victim-
"As if… I would do that!" Professor Velvet gasps between heaving breaths.
I can't tell whether that red face of his is from exertion or because he's embarrassed. Probably both, to be honest. Either way, though… "Hey, Professor, these exercises are even enjoyed by the elderly, you know? Maybe you ought to rethink that whole 'chain smoking cigars' thing."
He gives me an irritated glare, and opens his mouth to respond, but is cut off by a small coughing fit.
I throw back my head to engage in mocking laughter-
"-Lord Siegfried!" Merry shouts, and her second command spell blazes to life.
For a moment, I believe that this is it. This is the part where she betrays me, and reveals her true objective. Carefully, she waited for a moment that both myself and my Servant looked vulnerable, or something like that-
And then the sky goes dark.
A thunderous boom rings out, and those few intact windows in the city square of Lyon erupt into fountains of glass. Gale force wind knocks me flat on my back, and only the instincts from my many months of parkour training allow me to protect my head from smashing against the flagstones. Luckily, the absence of any nasty sound to my side says Merry has managed to do the same.
I say luckily, because whatever her sudden response before the enemy had even arrived may mean, it doesn't mean betrayal.
Still, what a stupid mistake on my part.
"Fafnir will arrive second" - knowing that the guy was flying around at literal supersonic speeds, why on earth did I assume that?
The Evil Dragon's chest gleams with dazzling bluish-green light, death surging forth from his jaws even as the wind from his wings continue to batter us to the ground.
Siegfried has already lept towards him, but he won't make it in time. Between the speed of the flames and the overwhelming force of Fafnir's wingbeats, Siegfried can't possibly reach him before he can incinerate Merry and me.
Wind roars in my ears. Fire fills my vision.
And then, with a snap of Professor Velvet's fingers, everything is silent. An enormous magic circle, drawn in the center of Lyon's town square, glows gently, emitting a faint green breeze.
But above it, a shimmering sphere of air has encased Fafnir, and within I see his fire breath vanish with all the flair of an extinguished candle.
"I can't produce the kind of magic barrier needed to deflect a Dragon's Breath - but there's more than one way to put out a fire." The Caster says with a chuckle. "Creating a vacuum by controlling the wind within my 'territory' is well within my abilities."
Fafnir's wings give a massive flap, his shape flickering backwards as he attempts to retreat-
I almost miss it. One instant, Siegfried's sword is at his left hip. The next, it's suddenly held outstretched, pointing away from his right.
-the dragon surges backwards, but something is wrong with his movement. He lands with a loud crash, tumbling into a building and raining a shower of brick and dust upon himself.
"What-?" I start to ask, but then I realize it. Two "objects" fall uselessly to the ground, shattering the flagstones with their impact.
And on Fafnir's back, two geysers of blood fountain forth from the severed stumps of his wings.
Siegfried's feet barely touch the ground after landing. The next moment, he's already upon the dragon, a crater left where he had stood.
Fafnir's left claw tears through the air-
-and his pinky, ring, and middle finger fly through the air, even more blood pouring out as Siegfried slides under the rest of his strike.
A frantic gouging of massive claws on stone as the Evil Dragon tries to move to a more favorable position, delivering a backhand with his right claw-
-blue light pours out of the sword, and four more fingers fall uselessly to the ground..
He rears back his head, a new breath attack forming now that he's free of the Professor's vacuum trap-
-another greenish sphere forms around his head, and that too is snuffed out.
"Of course, there's no use preparing this trap if I can't move it wherever in the bounded field that I want." The Caster says, a faintly villainous grin on his face.
Fafnir tries to change tactics, but at this point it's too late. The light of Siegfried's blade is blinding now, and he raises it, ready to deliver the blow that will end this fight.
"[Bal… ghk!" His Noble Phantasm is interrupted. Not by Fafnir, not even by the sudden arrival of Berserk Saber.
No, it's interrupted by a sudden spray of blood from his mouth.
I understand immediately what happened. This isn't an enemy attack. This is Siegfried's own error. He pushed his body too far. To begin with, the Command Spell from Merry was only a stopgap measure - Command Spells can only suppress a Servant's injuries, not heal them outright. It's perfectly understandable for the effect to wear off early if the target overdoes things.
For example, using a Noble Phantasm.
Siegfried knew that. He should have known it, anyway. But he said it himself last night - fighting dragons is a matter of pure instinct. There's no room for thoughts like 'can my body handle this' - and so, he did more than it could handle.
Naturally, the dragon does not miss his opportunity. In that instant, he lunges.
"[First Aid]! Merry shouts - that's really not the right call here!
The dragon's left claw swings towards him, and Siegfried swings back with his sword-
"[Emergency Reinforcement]!" I shout - but that was the wrong call too.
I can tell because I see something like a grin flicker across the Dragon's face.
His whole movement pivots. Fafnir throws all of his weight backwards, suddenly drawing his left arm backwards and out of Siegfried's range - and his right arm swings up, impacting the Saber with a thunderous palm strike.
"[Unreturning-!" Professor Velvet shouts.
Fafnir leaps, powerful muscles moving him into the air- and in a flicker of motion, he disappears.
"[-Formation!]" the Professor finishes, and a ring of red and black columns crash down around empty air. "Shit!"
There's a moment's pause. A brief tension where we all wonder whether he will return.
Finally, Siegfried breaks the silence with a wet cough, leaning on his sword to rise to his feet again.
"Lord Siegfried!" Merry shouts, running to him. "Are you…?"
"...Sorry, I messed up there." He mumbles. "As for injuries… Well, I activated my disengage skill, so between that and my Armor-blk!" More blood spews from his mouth. "It seems… my armor was bypassed. Sorry."
Well, I've got [First Aid] up still, so-
"Hm, it would seem I am a bit late. My apologies, everyone." An androgynous voice says, emerging from a side road into the town square.
"Your timing still sucks, so why don't you leave!?" I shout, whirling around to look at her.
"Again, I do apologize." Chevalier d'Eon says, madness dancing in her eyes as she smiles at me. "As penance - do not worry, I will massacre you all with true elegance."
A/N:
A few super nitpicky timeline notes that probably only I care about:
Flat translates the Voynich manuscript prior to the Snowfield Grail War in 2009 in the Strange/Fake timeline, which causes problems™. In this timeline, he translated it in 2015. There's no deeper reason for this than to give Subaru a noodle incideent to reference, probably.
Svin has already graduated before even 2004, but he visits the El-Melloi classroom to help with the Voynich incident and sticks around for the rest of Subaru's time at Clock Tower.
On a somewhat related note, the Snowfield Grail War obviously does not occur in the FGO timeline; there's no fourth grail war, and therefore no Gilles summoning to get Francesca interested in Grail Wars. Faldeus is maybe still working on getting one off the ground, but without Francesca it's probably going to take a few more generations.