Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the Nasuverse.
Chapter 1 - Broken
The city was burning, it was a terribly familiar sight.
It was like a vision of hell, and the broken knight trudged through the blasted landscape. Flames licked at her from all sides, and she could feel their searing heat against her skin. She choked on the great, black clouds of smoke that rose from the ashes and billowed towards the sky. The ground beneath her feet seemed to crack and break with each step.
They had failed, she had failed.
Her vision was blurred and her eyes stung, but she could feel the tears streaming down her face. Her chest burned, and every lungful of air was agonising; the air itself tasted foul, but she forced herself to keep breathing. The taste of iron and sulphur was in her mouth, and it made the bile rise in the back of her throat, but she swallowed it down. Her every muscle ached, and protested every movement she made, but despite the pain that permeated her whole body, she kept pushing herself forward.
Yet despite her grim determination, she was wandering aimlessly. There was no goal to pursue, no obstacle to be overcome, no enemy to fight. All was already lost, and now everything burned, including her.
Finally, her legs gave out from under her, and she came crashing to the ground. The impact drove the air from her lungs, and with the suffocating atmosphere it was difficult to regain it. She felt lifeless, like all of her strength had left her, and for just a moment she contemplated just giving up.
But there was a stubborn determination within her, spurring her to use what energy she had left in defiance of this fate. She dug her fingers into the dirt, and began to drag herself onward.
It was not a determination to continue on despite the odds, or the vain hope of accomplishing something before she died. It was closer to spite. After everything she had seen, everything she had been forced to endure, she just wanted to spit in the eye of fate and its cruelty.
In her mind she could see the faces of all the people she had loved, all the people she had sworn to protect. She had failed each and every one of them.
That was when, at last,her strength failed her. Her arms had carried her as far as they could, and would no longer respond to her commands. So she lay there, face down in the dirt, lacking even the energy to push herself on to her back.
Not that it mattered,she would not be able to see the stars like this.
She wondered whether this ignoble death was her punishment for her failures, and for her past transgressions. There must have been something she could have done? Some way to make it all transpire differently?
If she could have screamed, she would have.
Finally, after an untold amount of time struggling for breath she felt the darkness encroaching on the edges of her vision. So she shut her eyes, and allowed oblivion to take her.
- - -
When Arturia awoke she did not know where she was, her vision was blurred, and all she could see was red. She fought down the panic rising inside her, and felt about with her hands. The material under them felt soft, and smooth,was she in a bed? She pushed her head back, and felt whatever was underneath give way easily, a pillow?
She felt relief course through her, and for one moment she allowed herself to believe it was all a dream. Still, even if it had been, she had no idea where she was.
She threw back the covers, and made to rise. Her entire body felt stiff, and sore, as though she had been running for miles. Her feet touched the floor,and she could feel the soft carpet beneath them. She pushed herself up, and was seized by a sudden vertigo, which almost sent crashing to the ground. Her legs felt weak, and she had to spend a moment leaning on the bed, before she could trust herself to stand under her own power.
It almost came as a relief when she took a step forward without falling.
“You're awake.”
Arturia span in the direction of the voice, and almost stumbled. Idiot! She should have guessed that there would be someone else nearby, or else, how would she have come to be here?
Yet she did not panic, for she recognised the voice almost immediately.
“Rin?” she asked. Her voice sounded strange, a little rough, as though she had not used it for a while.
Her vision had improved a little though, she could discern some indistinct shapes. She saw a figure that she took to be Rin, walking towards her.
“That's good,” Rin replied. Now that she was listening a little closer, she thought that Rin's voice sounded a little strained.
Arturia felt a light pressure on her shoulder, and fumblingly grasped at it, to find Rin's hand resting there.
“You were in really bad shape when I found you,” Rin continued.
“When you found me?” Arturia echoed.
“Yeah,” Rin replied. “In the middle of the street, I thought... I thought I was already too late.”
Arturia contemplated this for a moment, so it had not been a dream after all.
“What is it like outside?” she asked.
“Dangerous,” Rin answered. “The streets are crawling with … things.”
“Things? What things?” she asked.
She thought she could see Rin shaking her head.
“I didn't really get a good look,” she answered. “But I think some of them might be ghouls.”
For a moment Arturia's mind went blank, ghouls walking the streets? Then she remembered the foul taste of the air, the awful taste, and she found that she could believe it. However, there was nothing she could really say about it, nothing meaningful, anyway. So she said nothing, and a heavy silence hung in the air.
Damn it! She felt sick.
Arturia's vision was finally clear enough to see Rin almost properly, and for the first time she noticed just how pale she seemed. Along with how strained her voice sounded, she did not seem the picture of good health.
“Rin,” she began. “Are you feeling well?”
Rin sighed, it was a tired, heavy noise. The she smiled, but it looked forced, and did absolutely nothing to reassure her.
“I'm fine,” she replied.
“You do not look fine,” Arturia replied, trying to sound stern.
Rin rolled her eyes,causing Arturia to narrow hers. The two stared at each other for a couple of seconds, before Rin looked away.
“Fine,” she said. “I'm a little tired, but I can't just lay down yet. I've got someone else that needs looking after.”
“Who?” Arturia asked, immediately.
She was trying not to get her hopes up, but despite herself, she could feel the excitement welling-up inside. The last she had seen of Shirou had been just before everything erupted into fire and darkness. Had Rin found him? He could not have been too far away from where she had fallen,surely?
Rin did not actually answer her question, instead she beckoned her forward, and left the room. Arturia followed quickly, almost stumbling over the first couple of steps. Her legs felt incredibly stiff, almost as though she had not used them for a month.
Fortunately, she did not have to walk far. They had only gone a few steps down the corridor, before Rin was pushing open the door to another bedroom.
Inside a girl was lying on the bed, she seemed to be sweating profusely. Even from the doorway, Arturia could hear her heavy breathing, see how rapidly her chest rose and fell, and how tense her muscles were. Whoever this girl was, she was very ill.
“I found her before I found you,” Rin said. “It's been all I can do to keep her alive.”
Arturia stepped closer to the bed, and fancied she could feel the girl's fever against her skin. The girl had short, brown hair, and looking closer, she thought that she recognised her. She could not quite remember.
“This is...” she began.
“Mitsuzuri,” Rin supplied. “Mitsuzuri Ayako. She's … she was the captain of the archery club.”
Yes, that was it. They had met when Shirou had been showing her around the school.
“What is wrong with her,” she asked.
“I don't know,” Rin answered. “It's like some sort of infection, but I can't stop the spread.”
Arturia nodded her head, and shivered. She remembered when the grail had broke, and the darkness within had spilled forth. It washed over her like a flood,and she had felt it's corruption spreading her like a plague.
“It's evil,” she said, eventually.
“You won't get any argument from me,” Rin replied.
“No, I mean it's literally evil,” she explained. “The Grail was corrupted by all the evils of the world, once it was cracked open, that evil spread.”
There was a deathly silence as Rin absorbed her words. The magus opened and closed her mouth several times, as thought about to speak, then rethinking her words. It would have been amusing, if the situation was not so serious.
In the background she could hear the ticking of a clock, counting down the seconds.
“You mean, she's being poisoned by literal evil?” she asked, eventually.
“Yes,” Arturia answered.
“What'll happen if I can't cure it?” Rin's voice cracked as she asked the question, she pretended not to notice.
Arturia swallowed, her throat suddenly dry.
“If she's lucky, she'll die,” she said. “If not...”
She remembered Rin's words from mere minutes ago, about ghouls roaming the streets.
A sudden crash from behind her caused her to jump, and she spun around to find Rin standing there, a broken ornament at her feet. Her face was contorted in a grimace, and Arturia could tell from the way her shoulders shook, she was holding back tears.
“Rin...”
“Damn it,” Rin muttered. “Is there nothing we can do?”
Arturia barely even had to think about it. There was one thing they had that could cure any affliction, no matter how severe; the same thing that had allowed her to survive until Rin found her.
Shirou had given it back to her, just before...
“Avalon,” she whispered.
“What?” Rin asked.
“My Noble Phantasm,”she explained. “Should be able to cure it.”
She said it with a lot more certainty than she felt. Her sheathe had brought her back from the brink of death a number of times, but it had never faced anything like this before. However, it had worked for her enemies once, to not work for her now would be a cruel joke.
Moving to stand beside the bed she looked down at the girl, Ayako, and contemplated what she was about to do.
In her mind, she could see all those she had failed to save in the past. She could the faces of her knights, who died upon the field in Camlann, she could see Mordred's face as he glared at her. She could clearly remember the restrained fear on Guinevere's face as she faced her execution,and the look of rage on Lancelot.
Saving her meant giving-up her most precious artefact, at least for a time, and so soon after she had been reunited with it. Yet, the sight of the girl struggling for breath, fighting to live, strengthened her resolve.
Once upon a time, she had sacrificed so many in the name of a higher cause, only for that cause to fall to ruin. Besides, what higher cause would sacrificing this girl serve?
Despite whatever logical protests her mind could have made, she would not just allow someone to die in front of her, not if she could help them. Not now.
She closed her eyes and concentrated, her hands held before her, as though asking for assistance. She felt the electricity across her skin as she forced it to manifest, felt the energy thrum inside her. It was a little more difficult than she had anticipated, as though she was struggling against the tide; but little by little, it came free. Eventually,she could feel the solid weight in her hands.
When she opened her eyes there it was, and completely unchanged from how she remember edit, Avalon.
“Saber, what...?” Rin asked.
Arturia ignored her,and instead lifted her sheathe, and pressed it against the prone form of the sick girl. Again she reached out with her mind, willing her sheathe into a new shape.
Slowly, the artefact began to dissolve. It melted into a million tiny specks of golden light, that rained down upon Ayako, and Arturia could feel them permeating her body. For just a moment the girl was surrounded by a golden aura, that quickly faded.
“Is … did it work?” Rin asked.
Arturia shook her head.
“Not yet,” she replied.
Morgana had used her blood, but she did not have to go that far. Slowly she leaned over Ayako's prone form, and pushed their lips firmly together. As soon as she made contact, she could feel Avalon pulling the prana from her, and after a second she pulled back.
Suddenly she felt incredibly weak, her legs folded beneath her, and she sank to her knees.
“Saber!” Rin exclaimed, rushing to her side.
“I am fine, Rin,” she said.
“Like hell you are,” Rin replied.
Rin's voice sounded a little muted to her ears, and the darkness was starting to encroach on the edges of her vision again. She tried to fight it back, but it was no use.
Suddenly she felt weightless, and the world was moving around her. The last thing she realised, was that she was being carried in Rin's arms.
- - -
The second time she awoke was without memory loss, she was almost instantly aware of where she was, and what had happened. She was also aware of someone sitting at the end of her bed.
She struggled to sit-up, to see Rin staring back at her.
“Good morning, again,” she said.
“How long this time?” Arturia asked. Her head was feeling remarkably clear, considering she had passed out from exhaustion.
“Only a couple of hours,” Rin replied. “I just needed to restore some of your prana.”
Arturia raised an eyebrow, and felt the heat creep into her cheeks, she remembered that particular process very well. Rin stared at her blankly for a moment, then her face flushed scarlet.
“N-Not like that!” she stammered. “We're in my house, I was able to set-up a proper ritual this time.”
Arturia held back her sigh of relief. Not that she was ungrateful for Rin's aid, but it was still something of an uncomfortable idea.
“How is Ayako?” she asked. It was more to change the subject, than anything else.
For the first time, the smile on Rin's face actually seemed genuine.
“Improving,” she answered. “I don't think she's out of danger yet, but for the first time she seems to be getting better instead of worse.”
Arturia nodded. She had not doubted that Avalon would do its job, but it was still nice to get confirmation.
“Speaking of which,” Rin continued. “I never would have expected that you of all people, would take advantage of a sleeping maiden like that.”
Arturia merely rolled her eyes at Rin's attempt at humour, and remained silent. At this point, she was well aware of Rin's propensity for teasing. Instead, she once more threw back the covers, and swung herself out of bed.
She heard Rin sigh, and ignored it.
“Yes, well,” she said. “Now that I am fully rested, it is your turn.”
“My turn for what?” Rin asked, grinning.
It took Arturia a moment to figure out what she was implying. Then she realised how her words could have been taken as a response to Rin's last sentence. She felt the blood flowing into her cheeks again, and shook her head, to rid her mind of such thoughts.
“What I meant was,” she replied. “With both of your patients getting better, it is your turn to get some rest.”
“Mitsuzuri isn't better yet,” she protested. “I still need to keep an eye on her.”
“You can not watch over her if you collapse,” Arturia responded.
“I -” Rin began, but Arturia cut her off.
“I will wake you if anything happens,” she said.
Rin looked at her with a stony expression, and Arturia stared right back. She tried to wrap herself in the air of authority she had been so accustomed to. The battle of wills lasted only a few seconds, and it was Rin who backed-down first.
“You'd better,” she muttered.
Arturia smiled.
“Excellent!” she said.
Rin fell asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow, finally giving in to her exhaustion. Arturia stayed beside the bed for a few minutes, watching her sleep, making sure she was resting soundly.
Eventually, she decided she should try and learn the layout off the house. For the next hour she wandered the lonely halls of the mansion, making sure to remember where everything was, in case she needed to get there in a hurry. The only thing she could hear was the sound of her own footsteps against he carpeted floor, and the ticking of the clocks.
This house was a castle now, she thought. If Rin was right, and she had no reason to doubt her, then they were surrounded by enemies on all sides. She would have to take stock of the amount of food and water, and to properly assess how defensible this place was. She wondered how much Rin had done already?
At point, she would also need to go outside, to see the conditions for herself.
If she felt any sense of discomfort at her mind falling back into old patterns, she pushed it aside. The was necessary, she was the only one here with any knowledge of siege tactics.
Finally, she returned to the room where Rin's friend was resting. She looked a lot better now, her breathing had evened out, and she seemed more relax. Arturia placed a hand against her head, she was still hot, but not as hot as she had been before.
She pulled up a chair, and sat down beside the ill girl. She had told Rin she would keep a vigil over her, so she would.
- - -
Ayako knew something was wrong as soon as she awoke. Her body ached like she had just run a marathon, and she could feel her clothes sticking to her. The ceiling she was staring at was unfamiliar to her, and the bed she was lying in certainly was not hers, it was too big and soft.
There was a vague sense of panic at the back of her mind, but it failed to take hold. Her thoughts felt weird, like she was struggling to pull them together.
She had been dreaming,and it had been a terrible dream. She had been drowning, but not in water, in darkness. It had been this all-consuming black void, that had pressed down on her, crushing the air from her lungs. Voices in the darkness had whispered to her, reminding her of every mistake she had ever made, every failure she had ever endured.
Then there had been a golden light that silenced the voices, and she had been able to breathe again.
She tried to push herself up, but soon gave that up as futile, her body was just too heavy. It was like all of the bones in her body had been replaced with lead.
“You are awake,” a voice said.
Ayako turned her head to the side, allowing gravity to do most of the work, and found a strange, blonde woman staring back at her. It was weird, this woman seemed vaguely familiar, but she could not remember where she might have seen her before.
“I'll go get Rin,” the woman said.
Wait, Tohsaka? She was here? Ayako tried to speak, to give voice to her question, but nothing came out. Before she could even try to do anything else, the foreign woman was gone. So she went back to staring at the ceiling,and drifted into her own thoughts.
Where was she? The last thing she remembered, she was in a convenience store, looking for something to eat. Her parents had both been working late, leaving her to cook, she had been wondering about whether to cook an actual meal, or to just go with ramen.
Then there had been screaming, and … a burning darkness? It was no good, the memories were not coming.
She did not know how long she was staring at the ceiling, struggling to remember, but suddenly there was someone at her side.
She turned her head again, and found Tohsaka standing over her. She was pale, with dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was a complete mess. She had never seen Tohsaka look so dishevelled.
She tried to speak again, but all that came out was a dry rasp, that quickly turned into coughing. Then Tohsaka was there, pressing aglass of water to her lips, and Ayako swallowed it down greedily. She had not realised how dry her throat was.
When she was finished she sighed in relief.
“Thanks,” she managed to say.
Tohsaka nodded, and placed the now empty glass to the side.
“Hey Tohsaka,” Ayako said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like crap.”
Tohsaka snorted, and Ayako grinned for what felt like the first time in forever.
“You don't exactly look too hot yourself right now,” Tohsaka replied.
“I bet,” Ayako said. “I feel like I've been asleep for a thousand years.”
Suddenly Tohsaka would not meet her eyes, and Ayako felt her heart drop into her stomach.
“Not a thousand years,” Tohsaka said. “Just a couple of days.”
Wait, a couple of days?! It felt like the blood in her veins had turned to ice.
“Wait, what?” she asked. “What happened?”
Rin was looking very determinedly at her own feet.
“There was … an accident,” she answered. “I'll tell you more about it later.”
An accident?! What kind of accident?! If it was really something like that, then why was she not in a hospital?
“Like hell,” she responded. “Tell me now.”
She tried to sit-up again, but the only thing she accomplished was to start another coughing fit. Once again, she found Tohsaka pressing a glass of water to her lips. She must have a whole pitcher down by the side of the bed, or something.
“I'll tell you later, I promise,” she said. “So just concentrate on getting better, for now.”
“Ugh, fine,” Ayako replied.
She allowed herself to sink back into the soft bed. She did not have the energy for a fight with Tohsaka right now, anyway, just that much had left her feeling drained.
Neither of them spoke for a while after that, but the silence between them was not exactly uncomfortable. With her mind clearer than it had been earlier, Ayako was able to process the details she had not been able to earlier. She was able to note just how soft the bed was, the silkiness of the sheets, and even how rich the curtains looked.
“So, I guess this is your place, Tohsaka,” she said.
“Yes, it is,” Tohsaka answered.
Ayako grinned again, it was slightly less painful than the first time.
“It looks like something out of a TV drama,” she said. “I guess I should have been calling you Ojou-sama all along, huh?”
Rin chuckled.
“Don't you dare,” she replied.
Ayako stuck her tongue out at her.
“Ah, that's no way for a real lady to speak, Ojou-sama,” she said.
Rin actually growled, and narrowed her eyes.
“Need I remind you that you're currently bed-bound?” she asked. “So there's no way for you to escape.”
“You wouldn't attack an injured girl, would you, Ojou-sama?” she replied. “Because that would be totally unladylike.”
Rin sighed, and dropped her head into her hands; but she was smiling, and so was Ayako.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Author's Note: You know that feeling where you're not sure if something's a good idea but you do it anyway? That's me right now. But this is an idea I've been toying with for a couple of years, and now that I'm back on BL, I decided to give it a try.
Also, this isn't strictly-speaking, a Fate fic. It'll be Fate-lead, but other Nasu properties will be included, eventually.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Hymn of Ragnarok
