-Micheals PoV-
--15 minutes before--
Micheal sighted through his rifle and tried not to feel a sense of unease as he watched the blonde and Lancer talk to each other through his scope. He tried to keep his mana expenditure to as much of a minimum as possible so as not to alert the master servant duo that were sitting on one of the arches of the bridge above him. He quickly checked the spell he had running that had bent the shadows around him to turn him partially invisible and let out a brief sigh of relief as he saw that it had remained intact. He shifted from the snipers nest he had made between one of the support struts that held the Fuyuki Bridge up and tried to get a better angle on Jeannes approach.
(This better fucking work Micheal.)
Came Jeanne over their bond with a hint of impatience. Micheal physically rolled his eyes and angled his scope to the right to see Jeanne walking along the side road to the loading dock stretching as she did so.
[What you think you couldn't take on the blonde and Lancer?]
He teased only to feel Jeanne give the mental equivalent of a middle finger. Movement caught his eye and he looked left to see that the blonde and Lancer exchanging blows. He faintly heard the servant talking loudly above him from his spot on the bridge but ignored him as he swept the scope to the right and saw Jeanne walk in front of some containers and out of his direct line of sight. He swept the rest of the dockyard and paused seeing that someone was crouched on top of a loading crane. He frowned, increased the magnification of his scope, and saw that the person sitting on the crane was facing away from him but was wearing a tattered cloak. He quickly made sure he had a bearing loaded and then re-sighted down the rifle as he heard a yell from above him followed by the crack of thunder.
[Hey the Servant from above my position is coming towards you.]
Micheal looked up from his rifle as he saw a chariot fly down and in front of him only to blink as he could have sworn he saw Waver in the back of it. He shook his head and quickly scanned the dockyard berating himself for not getting an infrared scope only to stop as he remembered something he did years prior. As he looked through the scope he partially activated his eyes and melded them with his mana sense causing him to grin. Who the hell needed infrared when you could just read the mana levels instead. He looked back at the clocked figure and had to quickly remove his eye from the scope as he was briefly blinded by the massive white mass of mana. He shook his head, blinking rapidly, and then noticed his scope was still magnified. Suddenly thankful no one had seen him do that he brought the magnification back down to where it had been before and swore as he saw that the person crouching on the crane had more than enough mana to qualify as a servant.
(Micheal? Wavers in the back of the chariot that landed just now. Whats the plan?)
Micheal looked through his scope and found that he didn't have a clean angle on the street
[If you can avoid killing him then do so. Friends or not, only one of us can win the grail.]
(What about everyone else?)
[I still don't have eyes on Lancers Master so be careful but go for it. Raise some hell.]
Micheal smiled and shook his head fondly as he felt Jeannes prefight anticipation turn into battle lust through their connection. He left the connection open but went back into his own mind as he looked through his scope and saw heatwaves start to rise off the cargo containers. Movement caught his eye and he glanced to his bottom right to see a man with yellow hair and blue robes jump off the roof of a building and then be caught midfall by what looked like liquid silver. He had a clean shot and was about to focus in on it when suddenly several cargo containers on the side of the road blew apart as something blew through them. He refocused on that and saw that Jeanne had engaged Lancer causing Micheal to shake his head. He watched through his scope as they fought across the dock yard causing cargo containers to explode like party poppers. He watched for a few seconds to make sure that Jeanne had it under control when that chariot tried to run her over.
She dodged out of the way, conjured some dark lances, and fired them at Waver and his servant only for the servant, who was obviously Rider, to crack the reins making lighting arc off of the wheels knocking the lances aside but not destroying them outright. Micheal watched as Jeanne fought both servants while the battlefield turned increasingly more scorched and barren as she used her flames with abandon. He wondered where the blonde had gone right as Jeanne leapt back and raised her hand into the air causing more lances to appear than he had seen her summon before. He didn't even need to imagine her face as he watched her throw her arm forward causing a concentrated wave of sharpened darkness to blanket and pierce the street in front of her.
Rider and Waver managed to outrun the lances and tried to take off only for Jeanne to surround them with more lances and drive them down out of the air at an angle. At the same time Lancer, who had gotten struck by several of the dark lances, tried to dash forwards to strike her only for Jeanne to dodge to the right, swing her leg up in an arc so it was above her head, and bring it down hard onto Lancers back causing him to smack face first into the ground with enough force to crater it slightly and then bounce back up. Jeanne then got a foot under him, kicked him higher into the air, and then jumped, twisting in the air to drive the heel of her armored boot into his chest blowing him almost into the water off the edge of the dockyard.
When the hell did she ever learn unarmed combat like THAT? Surely Desmond didn't teach her….
It was at this point that Micheal saw the blonde run up right as a red glow came from where the blonde man with the quicksilver was. At the same time Lancer vanished from where he was in a red flash and reappeared by the mans side. Micheal flexed the finger that hovered over the trigger of his rifle as he aimed and put the mans head squarely in the center of his scope and slowed down his breathing. Right as he was about to take the shot,
(Micheal. I've got Saber, Rider, and Waver here. I've managed to talk them down although Saber still seems to want to fight.)
Micheal sighed and leaned back away from his scope deciding to let the man get away. Truth was they needed allies to make this plan work. During his training with his mom earlier that year he had had a thought that he just couldn't shake that somehow the grail was cursed. He had no basis for it but it was so solidly factual in his brain that he had briefly wondered if his origin had planted it there. So he asked his mom and she had told him in her own research that the Grail War had always had something wrong with it ever since its inception. The 3rd grail war had summoned an extra class servant and had two sabers for example.
The thought that the grail was cursed was further reinforced when Desmond had described what he had gone through during the war as well as surviving the Avenger servant in the 3rd war. After seeing the slashes across the mans chest that were clearly cursed Jeanne and Micheal had agreed that there were at least 90% odds that the grail was cursed. Which meant that needed allies to try and figure out how to cleanse it. The idea of an all powerful wish granting device being cursed meant that any wish made on it would almost certainly get twisted in the worst possible example of a monkeys paw.
[Tell them I want to meet them and their masters at that place we had brunch at earlier two days from now around….3pm. At the cafe on Fukuyama street.]
Micheal felt Jeannes immediate dissatisfaction at this through their connection although he had no idea why so he pressed on as he sighted through his scope again at the four people standing in the middle of the flame blasted hellscape,
[We...might need to have Rider be in Spirit form though. I don't think the chairs were meant for someone his size.]
Micheal felt Jeanne snort a single laugh through their connection when he felt mana. A lot of mana rapidly approaching. He looked up from his rifle and looked around to see something dark rapidly leaping from rooftop to rooftop as it approached the dockyard at speed.
[Jeanne. Another servant is coming. If the others want to help let them but your priority is to get out of there. Something about the mana coming off of this servant is wrong.]
Micheal saw Jeanne stiffen as he looked at the group through the scope, watched as she turned to her right summoning her sword, and then felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the unknown Servant roar. He swung his rifle to the direction the servant had been coming from only to see a black foggy figure rip directly towards Jeanne who summoned a wall of darkened lances as she leapt back to avoid getting hit. Micheal's eyes widened as he watched the unknown servant twist in midair, land on one foot, and then kick out at the wall of lances putting a hole through it right as Saber swung her sword at the Servant who bent backwardsto dodge under the blade, swung his legs up, twisted, and kicked out into Sabers chestguard blowing her back as the he completed the roll and stood there looking between Jeanne and Saber with increasing frequency. The Servant started twitching more and more, scratching at his helmet, until finally with another roar he ran forward, grabbed one of the lances from the wall…
and pulled it out.
He held it in his hand as the darkness covering the lance was slowly replaced with a black sheen covered in red lines. The servant spun the lance a few times experimentally and than looked at Jeanne who had already launched more lances at the new servant only for him to deflect most of them and dodge his way through the rest before pivoting and launching the lance he had grabbed in a javelin throw at Saber who had been rushing forwards, She deflected the thrown lance with her blade and began to attack the new servant.
The entire time this was happening Micheal had been watching through his scope for a chance to fire. He had swapped the bearing magazine he had loaded with "impact shrapnel" rounds meant for soft targets and had instead loaded one meant for punching through armor. He waited for his chance to fire for what felt like an eternity, his finger hovering just over the trigger as he felt sweat run down his face. He watched as Rider finally joined the fight running over the new servant with his chariot and zapping him with lightning for good measure only for the servant to stand up, shake himself, and go after Saber,
(Any second would be great now Micheal!!!!)
Micheal heard Jeanne yell across their connection as he spun up his rifle and let out a long slow breath.
-Jeannes PoV-
Jeanne swore as she dodged another stolen lance, the edge clipping her hair as she twisted to avoid being slashed by it. Dispelling her sword and conjuring a ball of hellfire into her palm, she fueled it with mana while compressing it down at the same time. As she twisted under the lance she curled her fingers around the fiery ball and slammed her open palm into the side of the armor that the servant was wearing. The fireball expanded instantly blowing some of the armor of Jeanne's gauntlet off as it knocked her, Saber, and the new Servant apart from each other. Jeanne shook out her hand as her fingers throbbed painfully. She had probably cracked some bones. She watched as Saber managed to twist in the air to land on her feet and then looked around for the servant. Metallic screeching erupted from Jeannes right and she turned to see the servant lifting an entire cargo container which was quickly covered in red lines as it turned matte black.
She quickly ran through her options and grimly realized she might need to use her trump card. She conjured her sword, pointed it at the servant, and massively increased her mana output only right as she was about to utter the first syllable of her chant she saw the servants head suddenly jerk to the side as a crack sounded off of his helmet. More cracks sounded off of the servants armor as the servant jerked from side to side before evenutally dropping the container and putting up an arm to block further shots. He dodged to the side using his agility to dodge one shot only to somehow get hit with a follow up shot anyway. The servant roared, about to charge where Micheal was shooting from, only to vanish in a flash of red light.
Jeanne lowered and dispelled her sword as she let out a slow breath. She walked slowly over to saber who looked just as bad as she did. Jeanne watched as Saber gingerly put her hand on her side where she had taken the cursed spear and then stood upright narrowing her eyes at Jeanne who just shook her head. Seeing that Jeanne wasn't coming over to pick a fight. Saber finally let the tension out of her posture along with a sigh,
"So that was obviously Berserker," Rider said walking over to them. Jeanne glanced at the man and noticed that Waver wasn't with him. She arched an eyebrow only for Rider to shrug, "Kids passed out. He's safe in my chariot."
Jeanne nodded, satisfied, and stood upright feeling her muscles complain
"So-"
"The cafe at Fukuyama street. I will be there along with my master." Saber said with certainty causing Jeanne to nod as Rider rubbed the back of his neck,
"Then I will bring my master as well."
Saber turned and arched an eyebrow at Rider, "Surely you'd need his input before making a decision like that."
Rider laughed heartily and looked at Saber with a twinkle in his eye, "A king does not wait for his followers. His followers wait for him. I must be off now. Fire Woman….What should I call you? You're clearly not one of the seven classes." Rider turned toward Jeanne looking at her pensively as she arched an eyebrow before catching Saber looking at her intently as well. She blew out her cheeks and folded her arms thinking. Eventually she shook her head and looked at them both, "I'll leave that for my master to figure out. Just call me Jeanne for now since Waver already said that much. Speaking of-" She glared at Rider, "I am allowed one pot shot at your Master for that. I won't kill him."
Rider fully focused on Jeanne and narrowed her eyes at her, "What did you have in mind? I'm assuming he doesn't know who you are fully. I'm fine with one pot shot as long as it doesn't kill him. He needs to grow a spine anyway...well more of one."
"No," Jeanne said shaking her head, "But the fact he said as much as he did warrants I get back at him a little. As for what I had in mind…"
Jeanne trailed off remembering his reaction to the takoyaki and let a cruel smile play itself across her face, "How does Waver do with spice and heat?"
Several minutes later, and after waving her farewells to Saber and Rider, Jeanne finally let how tired she was show as she staggered. She caught herself by extending her foot backwards and steadied herself as she looked back at the Fuyuki bridge. She began to walk back the way she came only to hear boots quickly moving closer. She reached out and upon feeling Micheals mana smiled softly as she fell forward, her eyes already closing, more tired than she had ever been before.
####
Jeanne stirred and felt herself wake up but didn't open her eyes. She was laying on something soft while her head rested on something a bit firmer. She felt someone threading their fingers through her hair and she smiled as she opened her eyes to see Micheal looking down at her. Seeing him smile back she felt herself get butterflies
You don't deserve this. We both know you don't.
Can you not let me enjoy this? Just a bit?
Enjoy what will never truly be yours? Continue deluding yourself then Dragon Witch.
Jeanne sighed, her smile falling from her face, as she sat up on their sofa in the living room of the house and winced a bit as she felt her ribs. She was still in her armor and glanced from it to Micheal who just turned a bit red and averted his gaze,
"I...didn't want to take off your armor while you were sleeping. I tried to heal what I could through it though. You almost broke your hand which took up most of my focus and mana to heal." He said as she watched him stare a hole through the wall. On the one hand she was glad he hadn't tried to undress her while she was sleeping because she would have lashed out on reflex upon waking up….on the other she briefly wondered what he would think if she wasn't wearing her armor-
NOPE. Stopping that line of thought right now. Why am I like this….
Jeanne felt her face flush and she looked away from Micheal as they both let the silence linger awkwardly between them. After a few minutes Micheal finally sighed and ran a hand through his hair,
"We need to talk about what happened during the fight with Berserker." he said a bit forcefully causing Jeanne to internally sigh as he continued, "What you did with your hellfire and that palm strike…..don't do that again."
Jeanne blinked and looked at her Master who was staring at her
"Why not? It snagged me the victory didn't it?"
Micheal shook his head and firmed his lips, "Even as a servant you could have blown your entire hand off doing that. If you hurt yourself to 'win' than thats not any kind of victory in my book. I don't want you hurting yourself to win. Surviving is winning. Got it?"
Jeanne pursed her lips but nodded causing Micheal to visibly relax. She stared at him for a few seconds just watching him breathe before she realized what she was doing and stood up suddenly from the sofa.
"I'm going to go shower." She announced and walked away to her room. Upon entering it she closed the door behind her softly and walked over to her bed, dispelling her armor and falling face forward onto it. She replayed what Micheal had said to her in her mind as she turned onto her side and sighed,
"We have to win this war no matter what...Why are you so concerned about trying to protect a tool…." She muttered to herself as she laid there for a few seconds lost in thought. She eventually sat up and got off the bed to walk into the bathroom. She dispelled her robes and walked over to the shower turning the handle to where the water would be luke warm. As she stepped back she caught sight of her reflection and looked at herself putting a hand on her hip. Right below her left breast was a nasty bruise right where one of her ribs was from where Berserker had landed a shot on her with one of her own lances. She turned around in the mirror looking at herself and allowed herself to feel a little pride in her body.
Too bad no one will ever appreciate it…
No one ever will.
She smacked herself in the forehead with her hand as she felt the Other slip away. She sighed and stepped into the shower pulling the door closed behind her, letting the lukewarm water run across her body.
-Intermission-
Gilles de Ray stared into his crystal ball and narrowed his eyes at the scene he had replayed over and over again. Off to his left he heard a high pitched scream as his master nailed another child to a support pillar. He smiled half closing his eyes as he let the sounds of fear and pain echo around the area washing over him multiple times. He shook his head and refocused. He couldn't lose himself in pleasure.
Not yet.
He rewound the recording that his familiar had taken of the fight between the various other servants and paused it right when the other woman with Jeannes face walked out of the shadows. He quickly matched the time with the other familiars he had watching and got multiple angles. He zoomed in on the woman and then panned back to Saber who was almost a match for his saints face. He cupped his chin as he panned back and forth between the two.
Wet slaps came from his left and he glanced up to see Ryuunoske come up to him looking bored. Ah, how fortunate he was to have such an understanding master.
"What...do you think? Ryuunoske? My Master?"
The man tilted his head clearly confused as he looked from Gilles to the crystal ball. He ran a bloody hand through his hair and blew out his cheeks a bit,
"..About? I'll be honest man. I have no idea whats going on with any of this. I'm not that smart to begin with. You do what you have to do and I'll help how I can as long as I can keep killing people."
Gilles smiled widely and bobbed his head eager to explain,
"Look at these two saints. What makes them similar to each other?" He said snapping his fingers causing the recording to float out of the orb and display itself on the ambient blood in the air. Gilles quickly severed the recording into two views: one of the woman and one of Saber. He heard Ryuunoske walk up next to him.
"...They have almost the same face?"
"EXACTLY!" Gilles yelled clapping his hands together, "And yet one, just one, is more like my fallen saint than the other…."
"So….what do we do with the one who doesn't look similar?"
Gilles turned to look at his master, his face morphing into a cruel smile,
"We kill them. There is only one who is meant to be my fallen saint and I will have her at my side again…"
Gilles began to chuckle only for it to morph into a full blown laugh before he swiped his hand to the side causing the view of Saber to vanish into the airborne blood. He focused on the woman and licked his lips as though he could taste her.
She looked both the same and yet different...but there was no doubt in his mind:
His Fallen Saint had come home to his welcoming embrace.
Just like she always would.