-5:53pm, Seventh Day of the Grail War-
-Micheals PoV-
Micheal stared at the map from before as Waver drew lines on it.
"Rider and I didn't stop at just his base," He said frowning as he drew another line, "We also found some leftover….materials." He said gingerly as he shuddered but continued, "Using those I managed to get a hold on the feeling of his mana after which we went to every location you had fought one of his familiars at."
Waver drew a final line and stood upright smirking as he twirled the marker in his hand. Micheal stared at the map remembering what Jeannes Ruler half had said the not even half a day before,
You have to kill it and him before they make landfall.
At the time Micheal hadn't understood what she meant but…
"Fucking hells…. he's been off the coast the entire time?" Jeanne growled out as she walked over to look at the intersecting lines. Waver had somehow managed to scry the end point of every time Caster had gone after vanishing with the kids. What looked at first like a random series of abductions was really a giant magic circle with the center point being about a kilometer off the coast. Micheal stood up and tested his mana briefly. He was hovering around 80% and his eyes were still recovering. He stretched and looked around at everyone in turn.
Saber, Irisveil, and Kiritsugu were standing nearby while Waver was standing across the table from Micheal while Rider had sat down in one of the chairs. Micheal looked at the map again and realized something at the same time Saber did,
"I'm not the best at reading magic circles…," She said uncertainly, "but should it be concerning that the major anchors to the circle are the Tohsaka and Matou houses… along with Ryudo Temple?"
"...He's using the leylines to amplify his spell." Jeanne breathed out as she looked at Micheal in realization, "He could drain the them entirely."
Micheal mentally overlaid the map of the leylines he had memorized onto the map on the table and felt his stomach twist into a knot. Jeanne was right. He swore,
"Okay change of plans: We sever his connection to the leylines somehow so he has less mana to work with. Saber you-"
"We'll take care of the temple. I know the head priest." Kiritsugu said. Micheal nodded and looked at Waver and Rider, "Iskandar. How do you feel about going up against Tokiomi and Gilgamesh? You sever this connection and its going to piss both of them off."
Iskandar's grin was all teeth as he laughed, "Good. I've been itching for a fight anyway. Come Boy. We leave at once."
"Wait. You don't know what to look for." Jeanne said as Iskandar and Waver began to leave.
They all turned to look at her, "He'll have stuck the...amplifiers as close to the leyline as possible if not directly on top of them. So it would most likely be someplace hidden away and...underground. As for the amplifier itself…. whatever it will look like it will radiate a sense of… wrongness. As though whatever it is shouldn't exist within our world."
"You make this sound like some Lovecraftian horror." Irisveil said shuddering only for Jeanne to shake her head,
"You've seen what he summons so you're not far off from the truth Irisveil."
Suddenly the tension in the room was shattered as Iskandar laughed and stood up, "I don't know about any Lovecraftian horror but I have yet to meet anyone or anything that can stop Iskandar, King of Conquers. Come, We have a castle to storm."
Waver's protests, even for him, were weak as he followed Rider out of the house followed by thunder about a minute later. Kiritsugu looked at Micheal and nodded at him before leaving with Irisveil and Saber.
"Which leaves us with the Matous." Jeanne said neutrally as she stared at the location of the Matou Estate on the map. She narrowed her eyes at the map, looked at Micheal, and then at the clock right as it ticked over to 6:15pm, "We'll be interrupting their dinner."
"Good." Micheal muttered, remembering the familiars that the Matous had sent to scout out the house when he and Jeanne had first moved in and that the bounded field had killed, "I don't like bugs so I want to get this done and dusted as fast as possible."
~~~~~
Micheal stared at the front gate and felt the bounded fields wash over him trying to make him run away, feel abject fear, and everything else mage wards did. He looked to his left at Jeanne who blew a bubble with her gum, walked up to the gate, raised her leg, and kicked it in with a loud bang sending it careening across the yard to embed itself into the house. The response was immediate as the house and surrounding area seemed to come alive, the vines shooting off of the walls to try and entangle them while the disorderly bushes shook violently as they left the soil and began to walk on their roots towards them.
Micheal, deciding to save his mana as best as possible, pulled out a modified ballbearing magazine from his bag, and quickly overloaded the capacitor. He chucked it into the middle of the houses defenses as he and Jeanne covered their ears and turned away. An explosion followed by a massive blast of cold that shot past them covering the street in a thick layer of frost. They turned back around and saw that the defenses had been flash frozen solid while the bounded fields fell apart on themselves as they were shorted out to conflict with each other.
"You've improved your grenades I see," Jeanne said as she walked past the remains of the front gate and up the frost covered pathway to the front door, stopping to flick a frozen vine with her finger causing it to shatter completely, "I thought you weren't good with ice magic."
Micheal finished analyzing the crumbling wards and jogged up next to her, "Its not ice magic outright. Its inverse fire magic, basically magic thermodynamics. I'm sure you could do it too with enough practice."
Jeanne hummed a bit as they got to the front door and she held out her hand to stop him as she narrowed her eyes. She conjured a ball of hellfire and tossed it at the door where it immediately caught fire and dissolved into bugs. Micheal felt his skin crawl as their high pitched keening screams slowly faded. He looked at the house apprehension in his gaze, about to say to just burn the entire thing to the ground, when for the first time since the war started he felt his origin ping him. He stiffened and looked through the open doorway and into the house. Jeanne paused and looked at him,
"Whats wrong?"
"...My origin activated. Which means…"
Jeanne's eyes widened and filled with understanding as she took a step back to examine the house more carefully,
"Which means that its directing you to someone or something in here…" She said more to herself than to Micheal as he held out his hand and summoned Blessed Hellfire. It appeared in his version and he gripped it, racking the slide with his other hand.
"Lets go."
Micheal stepped through the open doorway right behind Jeanne and almost immediately felt a sense of wrongness coming from every direction. He shook his head clear and looked around holding Blessed Hellfire in one hand as she summoned her sword. They explored the floor they had entered on and the floor above they only found insectoid horrors waiting for them in almost every room. Half an hour later Micheal gingerly nudged the remains of a giant centipede that had crawled out of an air vent with his foot. It had almost landed right on top of Jeanne and he had put a beam through it leaving a smoking hole that was slowly expanding and dissolving the bug into white ashes.
"...Okay. I'm at a loss." Jeanne growled out as she twisted her sword in a giant cockroach igniting it from the inside out, "We've been on every fucking floor and in every god damn room yet haven't found shit." She pulled out her sword, flicked off the gore, and sheathed it in one fluid motion. She folded her arms and looked at Micheal expectantly as suddenly pressure was put on their heads as a voice echoed through the house.
"I think you both have intruded long enough. Begone with both of you unless you wish to be reported to the Mages association." Jeanne opened her mouth to respond when Micheal waved her down as he began to trace the spell and frowned as it seemed to have millions of sources.
"If you refuse to leave then I'm afraid neither of you will be seeing tomorrow."
Jeannes eyes widened and she began to move conjuring hellfire in her hand as Micheal heard wallpaper tearing behind him and rolled forward on sheer instinct. He came out of the roll behind Jeanne, turned, and fired right as Jeanne shot hellfire at the crest worms that had tried to attack him. Micheal didn't miss and Jeanne made sure to reduce what was left to ash.
"Are you okay?" Micheal asked after a few seconds as Jeanne breathed heavily and stared at the scorch marks she had left with her flames. She turned her head to look at Micheal and he saw rage burning in her eyes.
"He needs to die. This house needs to be razed to the damn ground," She managed to say through clenched teeth as she walked past Micheal down the hall, "Anyone who uses those fucking things is a monster."
"And who are you to call me a monster? Hm?" The voice once again came with that pressure. Micheal shook his head clear and looked around as the voice continued to taunt them. He went downstairs and his gaze suddenly focused on a spot of the wall beside the stairs where a closet would have gone. He narrowed his eyes as Jeanne came up next to him and followed his line of sight. She grinned and snapped her fingers causing the entire wall to go up in flames as well as making the voice break off. Behind the wall was a stone corridor slanting down.
"Lets go." Jeanne said and walked forward conjuring some fire in her palm to light the path while Micheal followed right behind her. They walked down the corridor eventually leading to a circular stairwell that led further down. Jeanne glanced back at Micheal in a silent question. He took a deep breath and nodded. She firmed her lips, sheathed her sword, and held the fire out in front of her as she led the way down.
The further they went down the more "wrongness" they felt in the air. It was as though the stones themselves were emitting the feeling. Eventually they reached the bottom of the stairs and found themselves in a long corridor lined with torches lit with blue flames and alcoves holding misshapen statues that cast flickering unnatural shadows in the lights of the torches. Jeanne huffed and tapped the heel of her boot on the ground causing the blue flames to instantly be replaced with her own blackened flames.
"Can't do much about the creepy statues." She grumbled as Micheal came up next to her and grinned. He bent down and placed his hand on the ground to send a quick pulse of mana through it and into the statues causing them all to dissolve into sand except for one which he turned into a middle fingered salute.
"Real Mature." Jeanne said, rolling her eyes and turning back to the end of the corridor but not before Micheal caught her smile. He walked alongside her and as they got closer to the doors Jeanne slowed down as her hand twitched near her sword,
"Micheal… do you… hear that?" She asked quietly. Micheal ignored his racing heart, closed his eyes, and listened. He heard the faintest sounds of chittering and then opened his eyes. He locked his gaze to Jeannes and they stared at each other,
"We both know whats behind that door. The question is how do we kill him and his bugs." Jeanne said firmly as she looked from him towards the iron doors as the chittering grew louder.
"With extreme prejudice and as painfully as possible." Micheal replied and put Blessed Hellfire into a two hand grip. The closer he got to the doors the louder the chittering became until it sounded like it was right on the other side only for it to suddenly stop. He scanned the doors and saw that they were encased in a bounded field that prevented escape into the corridor they were in. Frowning, he took a step back from the door and nodded to Jeanne. The fire in her hand grew in size and turned a brilliant yellow as she twisted her hand and flicked her wrist like she was throwing a frisbee. The fire launched forward impacting the doors and they watched as the flames melted through the bounded field and the doors themselves.
They waited for the flames to die out and then saw a small platform with stairs leading further down. Micheal walked up where the doors had been and leaned in at an angle. What he saw made him glad he hadn't eaten. It was a room with a living carpet of crest worms. Standing on the far side of the room on top of the squirming sea of monstrosities was an old man with black eyes who looked right at Micheal and grinned.
"You do know that now you've come this far I can't let you leave correct?" The voice came again. Micheal stepped around the corner and aimed the pistol at the old man who narrowed his eyes, "Whatever mystic code that is you can't-"
A beam of light shot through the old man at centermass and he blew apart into the gory remains of various bugs. Slowly more bugs rose out of the carpet a bit further away and the man reformed, his eyes warily locked onto Blessed Hellfire before flicking his gaze back up to Micheal. He opened his mouth to speak when he was peppered with black lances as Jeanne came forward her mana roiling and cascading off of her in waves in response to her anger. Micheal heard her gauntlet creak as she gripped her sword more tightly as the man dissolved into bugs a second time. The carpet of crest worms began to undulate as a tower quickly rose out of it causing Micheal and Jeanne to both twist and move to attack it when-
A girl.
A small girl with purple hair was being held in the air in front of them by the tower of crest worms. Micheal and Jeanne froze as she opened her eyes and opened her mouth only for a snap to be heard as a crest worm crawled out of her mouth to join the rest of the monsters. Micheal felt pure focused rage in his gut, more than he had ever felt before, and he leveled the pistol at the girl as he focused every energy source he had into Blessed Hellfire. Jeanne glanced at him, at the girl, and the man who had reformed behind the pillar of crest worms his face an evil sneer. She bit her lip,
"Micheal… We can't save her. We need to focus on-"
Micheal didn't hear his servant as he stared the purple haired girl in the eyes. His vision tunnelled as he felt his mana, holy energy, and a third energy he hadn't felt before hit a limiter of some kind in his body. He knew that if he broke past that limiter something about him would change.
He knew it in his very soul…
and he found he didn't care.
He broke past it and a triple pulse of energy came off of him as he watched the girl look at him. He looked into her dead empty eyes and willed her to come back
And then when he spoke his voice was layered on itself three times over,
"Do you Trust me?/ Do you Trust me/ Do you trust me?"
The world around him faded as the girl's eyes seemed to come alive and tears began to leak out of them. She nodded and closed her eyes accepting her Fate.
Micheal focused his gaze further as words he never knew yet at the same time knew so well that they might as well have been carved into his soul came out of his mouth,
I am the Last of my Kind.
The wielder of Justice and Vengeance.
I walk through Paradise and emerge a God.
I will bring down the False Sun at the End of the Timeless Throne.
Micheal was barely aware of what was going on around him as he felt both his mana, holy energy, and that third energy all boil and cascade off of him causing every crest worm to freeze in place as though time had been stopped for them alone,
Releasing Gates One through Seven.
Raising Mana output to 250%.
Transversing Rings One through Nine.
My will reaches beyond the horizon,
Beyond the Tower at the Worlds End,
To pierce the veil of Fate itself,
Blessed Hellfire:
Shot Longinus: Holy Gamma.
An orb of crackling light formed in front of the barrel of Blessed Hellfire right as the Crest worms surged forward finally breaking out of their stupor sensing the danger only for uncountable microscopic lances of brilliant light to suddenly pierce every single one in turn turning them all to white ash. For the first time since the room was constructed Light filled every single corner of it burning away the sustained misery and curses that let the room function as the pit of despair it was meant to be. The purple haired girl stared wide eyed as the light washed over her holding her in place as it healed her wounds, restored her spirit, and mended her mind.
The light grew brighter as the lances continued to burn through everything and then finally the lances slowly vanished into motes of light but the room itself had been turned into a white featureless cube. The light faded slightly and Micheal staggered as he felt his eyes deactivate. He felt the blowback from what he did immediately and he fell to a knee as the room spun under him. He heard movement beside him and managed to look up in time to see Jeanne launching herself forward to catch the purple haired girl as she began to fall. Jeanne landed onto the floor of the room and skidded a few meters along the pure white floor, holding the girl tight.
Micheal managed to stagger upright and watched as Jeanne jumped back up next to him and began to wrap the girl in her cloak. They were silent until they had left the house entirely and then Jeanne looked at him with narrowed eyes as if studying him while they walked away from the Matou estate as it crumbled into itself behind them,
"Before you ask: No. I did not plan any of that. Everything I said just...came out." Micheal said tiredly as he held a hand to his head as it throbbed painfully and glanced at Jeanne who just continued looking at him, "..What?"
"...I don't know how to say this Micheal...but during your chant….you had a black halo floating above your head. Also…." She shook her head, looked at him up and down, and then adjusted the girl in her arms, "You'll see later. Come on. We need to get her back to the house and-"
Micheal felt his phone start to ring as it vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out frowning as he looked at the caller ID. Jeanne fell silent but kept walking forward a few steps and then turned around to look at him quizzically. He had just gotten the phone two days prior and he was certain that the only people who had his number were Waver and Kiritsugu. This number was neither of them. He hung up the call and took three steps to catch back up to Jeanne when it rang again. He pulled it out and saw it was the same number. He frowned and glanced at Jeanne who nodded silently. He flipped open the phone and hit answer,
"Whoever this is you have the wron-" He stated firmly only to be cut off,
"Micheal! Where are you?"
Micheals eyes widened hearing his mothers voice over the line and his mind raced as he stared at Jeanne and mouthed
My mom.
Jeannes eyes widened and her mouth formed a perfect "O-shape" as Micheal leaned back into the phone,
"I'm...at home? I was sleeping." He ventured only for his mom to scoff on her end,
"If that was true I would have woken either you or Jeanne up by now. I've been ringing your doorbell for the past five minutes."
"….Go home. Now."
"Hmmmm~… Not likely. I've declared I'm on leave for the next week and Desmond is currently handling the house. Now where are you?"
Micheal ground his teeth together and tried to think of something, anything, to get his mom out of Japan and away from the Grail War. Eventually he sighed and winced as his head throbbed painfully again. Grinding the heel of his palm against his forehead,
"Why are you even here? How did you even get my number? There is a fucking war going on."
Micheal heard his mothers silent judgement at him cursing but he remained silent until finally she sighed,
"It cannot be worse than what Desmond described to me about the 3rd war. I got your number because you used the family card to buy the phone. Now come home and let me in or I break in."
Micheal groaned and glanced at Jeanne trying to silently ask for her advice. She tilted her head to the side and then her eyes widened as she got an evil smirk on her face. She gestured for the phone and Micheal hesitantly gave it to her. Cradling the girl in one arm Jeanne leaned into the phone,
"Hello Mrs. Lafaire~ Micheal handed me the phone. We're….busy~ right now and to be honest you're interrupting. We'll be home in an hour or two. Toodles~!"
Micheal stared at Jeanne mouth agape as she hung up and flicked the phone closed. She handed the phone back to him,
"….You did not just do that." He groaned taking the phone back and putting it into his pocket as Jeanne huffed and rolled her eyes.
"We needed an excuse to not be home and we need an hour or two to figure out where to keep her," Jeanne said as she meaningfully adjusted the girl in her arms, "Also remember that we are supposed to be dating so just…."
Micheal watched as Jeanne's face got more and more red as she continued making excuses until finally she stopped talking entirely as he swore he saw steam coming off of her head. He ran a hand over his face and looked at his servant.
Its not that he hadn't thought about it. The idea of… doing all of that with her. She was gorgeous after all but what stopped him from even entertaining the idea was her past. He didn't know how she would react if he tried to express his interest in her let alone try to even suggest having sex with her. He thought about the fact that when he saw her first thing in the morning the world dimmed until it was only the two of them. How her smugness made his chest tighten or how despite what had been done to her she still found it in her heart to care about him and show interest in the world around her.
She was getting dangerously close to becoming intoxicating to him and he worried what would happen if he fully indulged in that feeling.
Micheal shook his head clear of his thoughts and looked further down the road trying not to stare at his Servant,
"...You gave us two hours to find someplace to keep her. We might as well try to find someplace."
-2:17am, Eighth day of the Grail War-
-Jeannes PoV-
Jeanne walked a bit behind Micheal as they continued walking trying not to look at her master only to see the top of the girls head leaning onto his shoulder. Which naturally drew her eyes to him anyway along with his….changes. She thought back to what had happened and tried not to feel apprehensive about it. As soon as Micheal had started the chant for Blessed Hellfire a black halo had appeared above his head while his hair and eyes had changed. His hair before had been a sort of light brown while his eyes were storm-cloud gray. Now though….
She watched as Micheal adjusted his grip on the girl and she smiled a bit in his arms as she slept causing Jeanne to stop and hold a hand to her chest as she felt her chest hurt. His hair had changed color to a dark black shot through with white streaks that was almost the opposite of her own hair color. His eyes however had taken her off guard. Instead of the grey that she knew they were now a light almost ice blue. She glared at the pavement and shook her head as she tried to ignore how much hotter the changes made him. He had already been handsome before. He was toned and just muscular enough for it to be distracting but not so much that it was awkward to be around him normally.
Now though….
Micheal came to a stop and sighed,
"Well...it was a good idea at least." He grumbled as Jeanne looked up from the pavement and saw that they were back at the house. She began to panic internally as she remembered what she had said over the phone to Amelia and wondered how to talk her way out of it.
"S- Surely we haven't checked everywhere." Jeanne said haltingly, "Like...There could be a 24 hour hotel or something. Or-"
"Jeanne. The only hotels that would be open at 3am would be love hotels and-" She watched as he seemed to freeze on his next words, "We- That is- I- ….We- We can't go to a love hotel."
"Why not? Whats a love hotel anyway?" Jeanne asked folding her arms as Micheal turned to look at her and she had her breath taken away for a split second seeing him illuminated by the stars overhead.
"A love hotel-"
"A love hotel is where people go to stay overnight who love each other a bunch." Came a small Japanese voice interrupting him and making both of them freeze. They both looked at the girl who was looking between them as though uncertain, "I...didn't stop you from going into one did I?"
The girl began to cry and Jeanne panicked running forward realizing that she and Micheal had been speaking in Japanese which the girl naturally understood,
"No. No you didn't." Micheal said quickly in Japanese while Jeanne felt him in their bond making her stiffen a bit,
[Look I just- I want- I don't want to have this talk before you're ready to have it. I don't… want to rush you.]
Jeanne reached over and took the girl into her arms as she buried her face into Jeannes shoulder. Jeanne leveled a look at Micheal who flinched,
(Rush me through what? Is it my memories or-)
[No, not- To answer your question: A love hotel is where two people go to have sex...and I don't think you'd even want to be seen near a place like that with me.]
Jeanne felt her chest hurt more and looked away as she felt embarrassment from Micheals end of the bond. The Other surged to the front of her mind,
Embarrassment at the idea of being seen near one with you.
Embarrassment at the very notion of loving you to that degree when you are unlovable by your very creation.
I-
No one will never love you.
No one will ever love a tool.
Give up.
Jeanne inhaled a shaky breath as she felt like her chest was caving in on itself.
(….I see. We should… probably avoid a place like that then.)
She did her best to smile at him even as she felt her heart begin to break.
(After all… Who would ever want to be in love with an Evil Dragon Witch anyway.)
Jeanne shut her feelings away and closed her end of their bond tightly as she turned around to quickly walk up the path to the house missing Micheals attempt to grab her arm. She got to the door and looked back at her Master who seemed to have a 1,000 yard stare.
"Come on. We need to get her in bed and then…. try to get your mother to leave."
Jeanne hated how her voice cracked as she turned back to the front door and reached out to grab the handle when it opened suddenly and standing behind it was Amelia who's eyes widened in shock as they flicked from Jeanne to the child and then to Micheal still standing behind her.
Amelia opened her mouth to speak only for Jeanne to interrupt, wincing at the sound of her own voice which sounded like broken glass as she swapped to English, "Hello Amelia. Would you mind helping me a bit?"
Amelia looked at Jeanne sharply and then back at Micheal, firming her lips. She nodded and silently reached out for the girl. Jeanne let Amelia take her and then walked past the woman into the house to go to her room.
It was only after Jeanne entered her room and closed the door that she realized that she had been wearing her armor the entire time.
####
Jeanne didn't know how much time had passed between her going into her room and the first gentle knocking on her door but she ignored it even after the fifth time. She pulled the blankets tighter around her as she silently let tears leak from her eyes,
"Of course he didn't love me. He probably never did in the first place." Jeanne said to herself, "Leave it to me to fall for the first person to show me an inch of kindness and then have my heart shattered when they don't feel the same way back."
The knocking sound came from her door again but she continued ignoring it,
"Who could ever love a tool anyway. You take care of them while their useful and then get rid of them when they aren't needed. Its how the world works. Expecting differently is just…. asking to get hurt."
The knocking came again a bit more forcefully causing Jeanne's face to morph into a glare,
"Not now Micheal!! I want to be left alon-" She snapped only to be cut off,
"Its Amelia."
Jeanne froze at the gentleness in Amelias voice,
"I… don't know what happened but… we should probably talk. I'll be in the living room and..I'll set up a bounded field that Micheal knows to not try and enter."
Jeanne didn't hear her leave. She laid there under her blankets at war with herself as to whether or not to leave her room. After a few minutes she sighed and pulled the blankets off of her as she sat up on her bed. As she did so she caught sight of her reflection in the full length mirror that she and Micheal had bought a few days prior. She got up and walked up to it looking at her own reflection. She gently touched a finger to her face tracing one of the trails her tears had left,
"...I look like a mess."
Because you are a mess.
Can- Can you not? Please? I get it. You need to take me down anytime I feel even remotely happy.
Because you don't deserve to be happy to begin with.
….I know.
Jeanne felt the Other slip away and looked into her own bloodshot eyes as she took a shaky breath.
"Time to go let Amelia know her son summoned a monster for the war."
Jeanne went into the bathroom and washed her face with ice cold water to clean herself up as best as she could and then opened the door to her room. She gingerly stepped out into the hallway and immediately detected a bounded field from down the hall. She looked to her right in the direction of Micheals room, firmed her lips, and turned away to her left curling her fingers into a fist.
She got to the door to the living room and hesitated at the outer edge of a bounded field. True to her word Jeanne could tell Amelia had already keyed her into it but that it was designed to tell everyone else to not go anywhere it. She reached out and hooked two fingers into the indentation in the door and pulled it open, stepping into the living room which she noticed was still a mess from the planning session the evening before. Amelia was sitting on the sofa and studying the map only to look up as Jeanne entered. She closed the door behind her and made to sit down across from Amelia when the woman scooted a bit to the side and patted the cushion.
"I- ...You're not surprised?" Jeanne managed to ask only for Amelia to scoff and roll her eyes.
"I had my suspicions the minute I met you that you were a servant." She scoffed, "I've been trying to get Micheal to express any interest in women since he was 14 only for him to not care in the slightest. Then one day out of nowhere I hear through a friend that my son had absconded with a gorgeous woman that had gotten into the clocktower atrium and who claimed to be his girlfriend."
Jeanne blushed a bit but didn't move from her spot as Amelia sighed,
"Add onto the fact that I knew the moment I met you that the mystic code my son made you was interfering with my ability to perceive you magically and also that you came, no offense, out of literally nowhere and I would have absolutely heard about you in the 'year' you two knew each other given that my son is as much of a heartbreaker as my late brother was. So if he was dating someone, again, I would have heard well before I met you."
Jeanne tried to shrink into her shoulders in response to this.
"Now come. Sit." She patted the cushion again and Jeanne slowly made her way over to sit down. She sank into the cushion and stared at the map. At what they still had to do. Waiting for Amelia to speak,
"I...won't ask what happened between the two of you. That's between you both to sort out." Amelia said staring at the map, "But I'd be truly horrible if I didn't try to help out someone I cared about when they were hurting."
Jeanne felt her breath catch in her throat as fresh tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes,
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for lying to you. I just- If you know who I really was you'd- You'd think of me as the monster I am. That I was created to be."
Amelia hummed a bit and Jeanne felt her snake an arm around her shoulders. She didn't tell Amelia to stop and so she hugged Jeanne to herself, "You may have been created as a monster Jeanne….but you aren't one. Not really. You're just scared and alone. Too afraid to reach out or ask for the help you know you need."
Jeanne turned herself into the hug and buried her face into Amelias shirt to bury her sobs as Amelia wrapped her other arm around to hug Jeanne tightly,
"I know what its like to be a monster….and I know what its like to be offered light after years of darkness."
Jeanne broke down, clinging to Amelia who just rubbed her hand in circles on her back letting her get it all out. How long they sat like that Jeanne didn't know but eventually her sobs turned into hiccups and Amelia continued to hold her. Even later still Jeanne finally pushed away only for Amelia to firm her arms around her,
"Whenever you need to talk. It can be about anything. I'll be here."
and with that she let Jeanne sit upright. She was still sniffling but looked at Amelia regardless,
"Are you sure? I'm not the most- I'm not a nice person."
Amelia huffed a single laugh and arched an eyebrow, "And I am? Jeanne. How do you think I became the 'Modern Asclepius' as I am often called?"
Jeanne opened her mouth and closed it, unsure. Amelia sighed and looked back at the map as her gaze unfocused,
"I…. took Jarods last name when I married him. Because I was tired of the reactions my previous family name would garner. My family as far back as I have been able to find were always practitioners of medicine. Jarods family goes back to the earliest part of King Charlemagnes reign but my family? Older but not in any way that matters. At the tale end of the Black Plague in the 14th century is where my circuits can be traced back to. Before that, despite our family name we had had no magic users for...centuries. My ancestor didn't know he had magical abilities, he only knew that he was able to heal people better than other doctors. He used this to cure as many people as he could find but other healers grew jealous of him. He was healing purely for the sake of healing and not to run a business."
Jeanne sat listening as she remembered her Ruler selfs memories of the Black Death. How it would turn entire cities into one mass grave.
"What- What did the other healers do to him?" Jeanne asked quietly her voice hoarse. Amelia smiled a smile with no warmth as she said,
"They discredited him. Made it known that he was a fraud. That his healing abilities were not a gift from God but a power from the Devil. Slandered his name in a way that exists to this day. Not long after the monarchy had been informed about this "healer from hell" and they decided to do something about it but he had already vanished. By that time he had moved out of Briton and was living in a small village in Spain as the town doctor. He lived there for a few decades, had several kids, and even more grandchildren. Several of which later migrated back up to Briton in the early 16th century which is where I came from. However he would be accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death by the Inquisition who had been tipped off by the British Monarchy."
Silence for a few seconds,
"Would….. you like to know what my old name was, Jeanne?"
Jeanne looked at Amelia and hesitated for a second before shaking her head.
"No. I don't. You're Amelia Lafaire. No more. No less."
Amelia looked at her with a small approving smile and then reached over to tousle Jeannes hair only for Jeanne to complain and shoo her hand away as Amelia laughed. They quieted down and sat there for a few minutes,
"Do you know why I don't care if you're a monster Jeanne? Because of what I've done. What I've seen others do."
Jeanne looked sharply at Amelia who was staring at her hands,
"I got the title of Modern Asclepius due to… an incident almost 30 years ago. ….Do you know what it takes to completely wipe out an entire line of mages?"
Jeanne stared not quite understanding,
"I was 17 at the time and I had been apprenticing under a Clocktower lord who was skilled in healing magecraft. One of the things I learned under him was that any cure in inadequate amounts could harm just as well as it could heal on top of how to redirect the bodies natural energies to better heal injuries. This also included healing magecraft. Around this time there were a series of incidents where people within London were falling into an endless sleep while their life essence slowly vanished eventually leading all of them to die. Curious I did some digging but couldn't find any connection between any of them and for the next two years this continued. It had people running scared, terrified that they'll fall asleep and never wake up. Sometime later I had graduated from my apprenticeship from the Clock Tower Lord and was working in my own practice. We helped anyone, mage or human, to be healthier."
Jeanne stayed silent as Amelia took a shaky breath and continued,
"One day someone came in specifically asking for me. I started talking with them and they had come to me in spite of my name because they had no other choice: Their partner had fallen into Endless Sleep but then they said something that I can still hear as though they were right in front of me still," Amelia leaned her head back into the sofa and went silent for a few seconds, "That their partner had been getting more and more tired ever since they started taking some medication prescribed to them by the same Clock Tower Lord I had apprenticed under."
Jeannes eyes widened,
"So this lord-"
"Was the one doing it yes." Amelia said bitterly.
"But- How does this tie into you killing off an entire mage line?" Jeanne asked confused as Amelia chuckled darkly.
"The medication was super charging the part of the brain that produces the stuff that helps you fall asleep and stay asleep. Once the person fell into a permanent sleep the medication would then metabolize as a complex bruise that would function as a magic circle to then sap the victims life force and then send it back to that Clock Tower Lord. So I examined the spell… and figured out how to reverse it but I couldn't redirect it back to the people who had fallen into comas without the central focus. Given how angry I was, I did the next thing that came to my mind: I broke into his workshop, found the focus that everyones vitality was going into, and adjusted the spell so that instead of supplying him with extra life it would instead cause his cells to replicate at an unchecked rapid pace while leaving all the victims alone and cutting off the flow of life force. In a months time, and after no one had heard from him, Magecraft Association members broke into his estate and found him, along with his entire family, all turned into giant magical cancer tumors."
"But- You couldn't have known that-"
"He wasn't keeping that stolen life force for just himself. He was splitting it across his entire family. So when I altered that spell...I destroyed an entire line of mages. As an unintended side effect of this every single person who had fallen into a coma woke up as soon as the Lord's heart stopped beating. The result of this is that I was given the title of the 'Modern Asclepius' for bringing hundreds of people back from the dead...all at the cost of a husband, wife, and their four kids."
Amelia fell silent as Jeanne tried to think of what to say in response to that. What could she say in response to it. So she said nothing and sat there letting the silence stretch between them until finally,
"We all have our dark moments Jeanne. We all have done things that we can't take back. What matters is that we have people around us who can bring light to us and help us out of that darkness," Amelia looked over at Jeanne and narrowed her eyes at her, "I've already figured out that you're Jeanne D'Arc while at the same time….. not her. Who are you really?"
There was no accusation in her voice. No ill intent.
Just honest curiosity.
Jeanne tried to arrange her face into a neutral one,
"My name is Jeanne D'Arc Alter. My class is Avenger… and I'm Micheals Servant for the Fourth Holy Grail War."