Saber (Alter) | Reul's Right Hand (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scorchedchivalry) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2012-09-13 07:22 pm
scorchedchivalry) wrote in towerofanimus2012-09-13 07:22 pm
Entry tags:
Who never doubted, never half believed. [CLOSED]
Characters: Saber (Alter) and Rin Matou
Setting: 29th floor
Format: Prose
Summary: In the hedge maze, Saber encounters Rin in trouble. This isn't the Rin she knows.
Warnings: violence and Type-Moon characters (will update if needed)
There was a crispness to the air as Saber stepped into the hedge maze. It was both refreshing and odd as she knew she was inside a tower, yet this floor registered to all her senses as being outdoors. Whatever light source there was hung low in the sky, making her wonder how the daylight cycles worked. Was it a regular twenty-four hour cycle like on Earth or did it vary from floor to floor? If she wasn't so infuriated with the public access network, she'd ask others their opinion using it. Yet, despite Ruler's own experience and suggestion for the knight to use it, Saber found she wanted to drive her sword through those that she talked to on it.
Useless thing.
As angry as she'd been, Saber had stormed out of the dormitories and off to explore the tower. She'd heard there were monsters that roamed the place; perhaps she would be able to vent some of her anger on something stupid enough to attack her or someone hapless around. In her anger, she'd forgotten that she'd agreed to take Hakuno with her when she explored. Not that she needed the healing support. If anything in this tower was such a challenge that she needed healing, either it was another Servant or something no one should be engaging without a full company in support.
Several minutes into the maze, Saber stopped and tilted head up. Something was brushing the edge of her senses, fainter than the breeze, that was resonating within her. But that wasn't her biggest concern right then.
Blood. She smelled blood.
That distinct tang cut through the natural greenery and drew the knight just as it would hungry predator scenting what could be wounded prey... An easy meal. Turning deliberately down the next leg of the maze, more touched Saber's senses as she tried to zero in on where it was coming from.
A dead end greeted her, as did the musk of something distinctly non-human. Yellow eyes narrowed as the visor descended over them. One hand barely touched the side of the hedge maze while the other held Excalibur as she headed back the way she came, choosing a different path.
Less headstrong... more cautious. She didn't know what she was going to find. Yet.
Setting: 29th floor
Format: Prose
Summary: In the hedge maze, Saber encounters Rin in trouble. This isn't the Rin she knows.
Warnings: violence and Type-Moon characters (will update if needed)
There was a crispness to the air as Saber stepped into the hedge maze. It was both refreshing and odd as she knew she was inside a tower, yet this floor registered to all her senses as being outdoors. Whatever light source there was hung low in the sky, making her wonder how the daylight cycles worked. Was it a regular twenty-four hour cycle like on Earth or did it vary from floor to floor? If she wasn't so infuriated with the public access network, she'd ask others their opinion using it. Yet, despite Ruler's own experience and suggestion for the knight to use it, Saber found she wanted to drive her sword through those that she talked to on it.
Useless thing.
As angry as she'd been, Saber had stormed out of the dormitories and off to explore the tower. She'd heard there were monsters that roamed the place; perhaps she would be able to vent some of her anger on something stupid enough to attack her or someone hapless around. In her anger, she'd forgotten that she'd agreed to take Hakuno with her when she explored. Not that she needed the healing support. If anything in this tower was such a challenge that she needed healing, either it was another Servant or something no one should be engaging without a full company in support.
Several minutes into the maze, Saber stopped and tilted head up. Something was brushing the edge of her senses, fainter than the breeze, that was resonating within her. But that wasn't her biggest concern right then.
Blood. She smelled blood.
That distinct tang cut through the natural greenery and drew the knight just as it would hungry predator scenting what could be wounded prey... An easy meal. Turning deliberately down the next leg of the maze, more touched Saber's senses as she tried to zero in on where it was coming from.
A dead end greeted her, as did the musk of something distinctly non-human. Yellow eyes narrowed as the visor descended over them. One hand barely touched the side of the hedge maze while the other held Excalibur as she headed back the way she came, choosing a different path.
Less headstrong... more cautious. She didn't know what she was going to find. Yet.
no subject
"Sounds about right. I had slain a Servant the first night as well as her Master. Well..." Rin paused to think it over. "I had killed Saber in my version of the war, but Lancer had killed Shirou."
What she didn't want to admit was that she could have saved his life if she felt like it. Leaving that to herself, she didn't show any more emotion other than the loss of someone she might have watched from afar. Why would she admit she had to do it all against her will?
"So Sakura acquired you somehow. What an improper Servant... couldn't even summon one herself." Was that a hint of disappointment in her tone?
no subject
Saber tilted her head, eyes narrowing. She didn't like the tone of voice. There was nothing to be disappointed in regarding her master other than the girl taking as long as she had and that she would never get to walk in the sun again with the man she loved.
That was disappointing considering how much she had tried to save Shirou. Deep inside, underneath the darkness, Saber felt sorrow for her. For Rin.
"She did not wish to fight at the beginning of the War, so Shinji stood as Rider's master in her place." If Saber had been anyone else, she may have turned her head and spit upon saying that name.
no subject
"I suspect he was of little value in the war."
She should inquire more about the war, but the blood loss had already started to take it's toll on her. With a weak nod, she'd add. "He had been of no value in my own war."
no subject
The knight stepped forward then to grab the hand of Rin's uninjured arm with the intent of pulling the magus to her. The longer they stood there, the closer she would get to passing out. Despite not being Rin's Servant, she could not distance herself from the woman yet. It all felt too familiar, that white hair, the taste of Angra Mainyu in the air...
She could not leave her there, vulnerable.
"It is time to leave. I will escort you out of this maze."
no subject
Pride stuck to her core, but her body still went limp in her hold. Gravitating towards her, Rin couldn't help but feel drawn in. Everything about Saber fascinated her, from the familiarity of corruption down to how majestic she looked even now.
"My room... it shouldn't be too hard to find."
no subject
Saber lifted Rin up in her arms easily, having dismissed her sword, and held the injured girl to her armored chest. With a brisk pace, Saber stepped about the corpses of their fallen enemies to follow the maze back to the staircase before it go too dark. There was something ominous about the hedge maze itself, the darker and darker it got that wasn't just because of the creatures she'd slain.
"The number, Rin. I will take you there."
no subject
"One-fifteen." That would be why she'd give the room number up so easily.
no subject
Her steps were quick, but she took care not to jostle the Rin. She did not want to cause any undo pain to the girl. "Will you regenerate or will you need medical aide?"
The staircase was nearing, and the darkness had almost completely descended upon them.
no subject
Rin remained ignorant of the fact that darkness had started to fall around them, thinking it only natural due to her exhaustion. Drooping eyelids, things becoming darker, it had been an easy conclusion to make.
"I could probably take care of it on my own when I wake up." Concentrating on it now would only result in damaging it further. "So don't worry about that."
no subject
A few more twists, turns and Saber had to shift Rin to one arm. Sword now back in hand, she cut down a small pack of creatures she didn't bother to take the time to analyze with a single cut of Excalibur. She didn't even slow down, stepping over the fallen bodies. Her concern was the hedges themselves.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she caught glimpses of them moving and she knew the longer they stayed there the more irritating getting out would be.
no subject
"So they do come out more at night." In fact, her amusement stemmed from this fact alone. "I wonder if they could all be killed in a single evening."
no subject
"Not by you alone," she commented.
Just a friendly reminder that those monsters Saber had killed when rescuing her had been something the magus had been unable to handle. And with a lesser Servant like Lancer at her command, Saber was not confident at all in Rin's ability to take them all in one night.
no subject
"Of course not." A sigh to show her frustration. "I just think if everyone got together to fight them at once, we could purge this tower of them fully. If there are other heroic spirits here like yourself, then who knows how powerful other beings from alternate worlds are?"
no subject
Saber cut some more monsters down and, upon turning a corner, halted suddenly. Her grip of Rin tightened slightly as she turned her gaze onto the brambles of the hedge wrapped about her sword arm. With a creaking sound and rustling of leaves, the hedges surrounding them started to move, converging upon them.
"I have no desire to step into such a role again." And she knew Rin wasn't suited to it. It would take another. Probably someone 'good'.
Ripping her arm free, the sound of metal scraping over metal, Saber moved faster. "Hold onto me with your free arm. The hedge is alive."
no subject
"Could I just light it all on fire?" While she would be unable to remain focused in pain, would it matter if she was igniting the entire maze? Maybe it would be better to wait until the exit had been found before they trapped themselves in a blazing inferno.
A spark or two wouldn't hurt, would it? As tempted as she might be, listening to Saber seemed a better way to earn her respect.
And when you're in the arms of a spirit that could snap you in two without trouble, you sort of had to listen to what little manners there may be present within the mind. Shifting her weight, she'd instead choose to hold onto Saber with both of her arms, draped over the shoulders and clasped behind her upper back.
"I almost feel as though I'm a princess in this position." A jest, hopefully to lighten the mood. She would be in pain and her low tolerance started to show with agitation in her voice. "Let's get out of here quickly."
no subject
With Rin holding on, Saber greatly increased her speed to avoid being captured by the hedge's barbed tendrils. She cut a few branches down when they got too close, but there was the sound of scraping metal occasionally as the brambles brushed against Saber's armor, unable to grab on due to the speed she was moving at.
"Light it on fire if you wish. I do not care."
no subject
Although now that she had Saber's blessing to burn the entire floor, the thought brought some excitement. She watched as it tried to grab at Saber and how her armored appeared to strike it down with each step. With a raised arm, she murmured an incantation she must have learned from her father early on. The embers leap from her fingertips along the brambles, Rin watching it with an all too eager smirk.
no subject
"That depends on what one thinks a princess is," Saber commented, slashing through some brambles trying to close off the path she was following. "Not every princess' story becomes a fairy tale. At least not the whole tale. Queens were once princesses, Rin."
no subject
Another jest, but it kept her from being infuriatingly frustrated at the lack of damage she inflicted on their surroundings. At least what little there had been calmed her, the warmth causing her to settle back down into Saber's hold.
"This place is much larger than I recall. I imagine if I were to be trapped here alongside an ally, I would never be able to find them. We'd just scream at each other endlessly."
no subject
And Saber's frustration with the hedge was growing. She leaped over one whole bramble wall to sight her end destination. There. Now she had a better path in her mind's eye to take. This shouldn't take more than a few more minutes.
"It is in the nature of mazes to make one think such. I suggest heeding caution the next time you are here. I will not save you again."