[1] OPEN - INTRO

[scorchedchivalry]

Characters: Saber (Alter) and YOU!
Setting: 9/7 (Dorm 1-09, Cafeteria, 4th Floor)
Format: Prose or Action (I will match your preference)
Summary: Saber wakes up and isn't happy about her predicament.
Warnings: possible violence


[Room 1-09]

From with 1-09, there was a loud crashing sound and anyone capable of sensing energy will have just felt a big spike from within the room. Those investigating - roommates or others passing by - will find the door ajar and half the furniture turned over or blown back from the black armored knight standing in the center of the room. An ominous-looking black sword with glowing red markings on it was held down at her side, a visor covered her face and she had her free hand grasping her collar (violet in color).

It seems someone just woke up.


[Cafeteria]

Sitting at a table was a young woman with pale hair and yellow eyes in a black dress. She had three empty bowls sitting before her and was starting on her forth bowl of oatmeal. As she ate, she watched anyone passing by with a look of disdain.


[4th Floor]

Saber stood at one of the windows with a rigid posture, looking out over the land outside the Tower. So bleak... Her eyes narrowed. Where in all this was her master. Someone was providing her ample prana.

The knight paused to glance over the lounge and the others taking a rest for a moment before walking to the other side of the floor and gazing out those windows in case there was anything different to see.

There wasn't.

Comments

[scorchedchivalry]

His soul is blackened far beyond that of others who have been in contact with the corrupted Grail.

[Saber reached out to take Hakuno's upper arm in a firm grip.]

Now, how do you know him and not know the name Emiya - Shirou or Kiritugi?

[doesnotgetit]

[She flinches at the grip - sometimes it's easy to underestimate just how strong a Servant can be. She wisely doesn't try to pull away. That... would probably just hurt more.]

There were a lot of other Masters in the Grail War! Maybe I just didn't run into them. And Kotomine harasses all the participants... just because I know him doesn't mean I know all the Masters!

[scorchedchivalry]

Six is not a lot.

[Yes, this girl must be an idiot.]

[doesnotgetit]

... Six? There were around a hundred Masters when the war began.

[scorchedchivalry]

There are always a great amount of potential masters, but there are only seven Servants to be summoned.

[doesnotgetit]

... No, each one of those Masters had a Servant. There are seven classes, yeah... but more than one of each.

[It's... weird, having to explain this. Just how different have things become...?]

[scorchedchivalry]

...which Grail War do you hail from?

[doesnotgetit]

To be honest, I'm not sure how many Grail Wars were fought before mine... [She trails off. The sight of all those pillars surrounding Twice, what they represented...] It's somewhere in the double-digits, for sure...

[scorchedchivalry]

[Another from a time that is after hers. Saber isn't sure if she should interpret that as Rin having succeeded in stopping Sakura or if it was just a-- No. She need not think about all that and reflect on it. It just let too much of that pathetic child's ways push against the black bars she was imprisoned behind in her mind.]

Then things have changed. Another I spoke with is from a War after the ones I participated in, speaking of changes as well, though not in the Servants themselves.

Do the names Einzbern, Tohsaka and Makiri or Matou mean anything to you?

[She really isn't expecting anything from Hakuno as she felt asking her about these matters was just as bad as asking Shirou about things masters and other magi should know.]

[doesnotgetit]

[Ah... there's another twist to the knife, amidst the confusion of if she's not the same Saber how does she know them... she thought that wound caused by killing Shinji had healed over by now, but... obviously she was wrong.]

I've never heard of anyone by the name of Einzbern or Makiri... but yeah, those other two are familiar. Shinji was my first opponent in the war... [She could still hear his cries, screaming about how terrifying being deleted was. When he revealed his true age, that was just... a punch to the gut, right there.]

And Rin is a dear friend of mine! Or... was... [She's not sure how she stands with Rin now, after meeting her again in the tower.] She helped me a lot throughout the war. I definitely wouldn't have won without her help...

[scorchedchivalry]

[Shinji Matou. There was an intense hatred and rage toward the man bearing that name that rises up in Saber's chest. If only she'd had the privilege to kill him. It was better that Sakura had killed him herself - her master needed to avenge herself - but had Shirou just -let her- kill him back when she'd first defeated Rider...

She would not have taken pleasure in the death then, but she could think about how sweet it would've been to drive Excalibur straight into Shinji's heart. Assuming he possessed a heart - that disgusting creature.

Whether Hakuno picked up on that rage, as it momentarily flooded the room until Rin was mentioned... Saber needed more information and it took a lot of willpower to not shake Hakuno as she insisted answers.]

You knew Rin Tohsaka? And what Servant did Shinji Matou possess?

[doesnotgetit]

[Oh, she can sense it. She can be a bit... dim sometimes, but she can be pretty perspective other times. Some of the things she's been able to sense from Saber have been chilling, yeah, but not downright terrifying like that rage is. And that's what causes her, for the first time during this whole confrontation, to take a step back.]

Shinji was partnered with Rider... [She won't say the Servant's true name. She's seen Assassin back from the dead again in this tower, so... who's to say it won't happen with the others?] And Rin was partnered with Lancer... I think. I only saw a little of how he fought, but he used a spear...

[And then he died right after. Fucking Luck stat.]

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber's grip tightens as Hakuno tries to pull away. It's not enough to hurt, but sends the clear message that the girl will not be getting away from her.]

Describe how Lancer looked.

[Saber was starting to form a wrong theory and she wasn't happy about it.]

[doesnotgetit]

[Right... right. She almost forgot about the hand still on her arm. Don't worry, Saber, she won't be trying to get away again.]

He was tall... dressed all in blue. His hair was blue, too, tied into a long ponytail. But his spear was red.

He fought hard, too. He was able to match a Berserker's moves without too much trouble.

[And yet he was still defeated. Not by Berserker, though, but by a nasty surprise its Master had stored inside her...]

[scorchedchivalry]

Him again.

[The way Saber says that gives away that she is aware of that particular hero's true identity. This knowledge combined with her conversations with the other two Servants was making this theory even more plausible.

She didn't like it. Magecraft and sorcery were not the province of a king, so her understanding was rudimentary at best other than her knowledge that most of it didn't affect her at all. What was it Rin had spoken of before to Shirou - something about Third Magic?

She had to accept that either Lancer's memories had been somehow altered, making him remember the events of the Fifth War, and its participants, differently, or he took part in two Fifth Wars occurring simultaneously. She didn't like that and had her master been present, she would rely on Sakura to aid her in understanding the situation.

But this also lead her to believe that, via that magic she didn't understand, Shinji and Rin participated in a war with Hakuno. The girl did, at times, remind her of Shirou, and her insistence that her Saber Servant was the same as she...]

This is just a theory, and an incomplete one at best, but unlike other Heroic Spirits, I recall the events of the past wars in which I've been summoned. I do not possess any knowledge of the future ones to which I will be summoned.

[She loosens her grip on Hakuno's arm.] I may very well be your Saber.

[doesnotgetit]

[This... should have made Hakuno happy. She should have been overjoyed! But there's still something so... wrong about this whole thing. Even if this was her Saber... she was so different now. It breaks her heart, to see the proud, flamboyant Emperor she knows warped into the harsh girl before her.]

... I thought that would be something good to hear. I mean... it is, a little. It would make sense if you were just from an earlier war... [She frowns.] But that just brings up a lot more questions.

[scorchedchivalry]

I am from the Fourth and Fifth Wars. If yours was even the Tenth, a lot of time will have passed between the War I remember and the one you do. Typically, the Holy Grail War occurs every sixty years.

[doesnotgetit]

No, not about time or things like that. [Though that does cause a lot more questions to be brought up. But all of this is getting to be too much for her. She'll hold that off for some other time.] I mean about... you.

[scorchedchivalry]

What of me? I will admit that the Fifth War has changed me.

[For the better, but she'd keep that to herself.]

[doesnotgetit]

But wouldn't that mean that you'd be the same in later wars...?

[She feels stupid now. Maybe, despite the physical similarities, this really isn't her Saber...] Your eyes were a different color, and your hair was a little more yellow. But other than that, you're physically still the same.

[Well. There's differences in height and chest, but that kind of thing she doesn't really pick up on.]

You dress and act differently too.

[scorchedchivalry]

I am unable to answer that question. I presume that Heroic Spirits are summoned in their original state as they are brought from a singular point in origin. It may take time, but it is possible I can return to what I once was. The ruler I once was is still inside me.

Without Angra Manyu's influence I have the tawny hair of a lion's fur and green eyes. The black color suited my new perspective better and it pleased my master. My armor reflects this as well.

[doesnotgetit]

[... Angra whatnow?]

Hm, that makes sense. Still, it seems a little odd... that such dramatic changes can just be erased like that.

[Golden hair, green eyes... yep, that checks out. The armor bit doesn't throw her off, since her Saber did wear armor... but only greaves.]

[scorchedchivalry]

Is not the Holy Grail itself something that makes little sense as to how it exists or is even possible?

[doesnotgetit]

... Good point.

[She sighs.] I'm still completely confused. As much as it makes sense to say that nothing involving it makes sense...

But... thanks. For trying to help me figure things out.

[scorchedchivalry]

There is no need to thank me. If you are indeed a future master of mine, there must be some reason I was willing to fight for you.

[Probably that silly 'save everyone' ideal Hakuno mentioned earlier. She'd heard THAT before. Twice.

...she really could see herself serving the girl. How pathetic.]

That being the case, I am not going to dismiss this meeting of ours or you.