towerofanimus | One failure too many... [open]

Entry tags:

One failure too many... [open]

Characters: Saber (Alter) and YOU
Setting: Floor 48 (Graveyard)
Format: Action (but I'll match)
Summary: Saber finds Irisviel's gravestone and loses control of her emotions
Warnings: Violence - ANY SERVANT ENTERING THE GRAVEYARD HAS A REAL CHANCE OF DYING VIA EXCALIBUR

[She should be used to not being allowed to have the things she wanted. After all those years being king, denying her emotions, ruling fairly and justly, and the time spent watching her once master with the woman she loved... she should be used to to it. Everything was always taken from her, no matter what she did to try and hold onto it.

Avalon, her kingdom, her knights, her ideals, her trust, her faith... All of it taken away because of her own failures. She'd lost Irisviel in the Fourth War, but had been granted a second chance with her. And yet, she still couldn't have what she wanted for Kiritsugu's ghost lingered even now, even here in the Tower, staying Saber's hand, making her swallow her emotion - her love - for the woman in white. Again, she had tried to be content as nothing more than Irisviel's knight and leave it at that. But it had been so hard with the taint of Angra Mainyu within her, making her feel all those emotions she suppressed so clearly. So, the knight had found other outlets to keep Irisviel pure, to not let her purity be stained by Saber's corruption. And Irisviel was a married woman; Saber could not and would not do what had been done to her back in Camelot. Circumstances may have been different then, but her honor would not allow her to walk the path Lancelot did.

But when Saber could not find Irisviel and instead found the gravestone bearing her name, everything came crashing down upon her at once.

Failure... failure... failure... She'd failed to keep Irisviel safe again. She'd failed to make her princess happy. She'd failed in her duty as a knight. Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Small moments of happiness, all she could ever have, were taken from her again. The one person who understood her as well as, if not better, than herself had disappeared. The loneliness inside of the Saber was a dark and hollow place. She was always lonely and in that emptiness surrounding her heart, Angra Mainyu sat and twisted and squeezed and poisoned Saber's heart. All the Evil of the World wrapped about Saber's core and fed on that emotion she suppressed.

Betrayal.

Failure.

Hatred.

Anger.

Sorrow.

Pain.

Longing.

Rage.

The longer Saber stood there looking down at the stone bearing the name of Irisviel von Einzbern, the more the taint coiled in that kernel of emotion.

Rage.

The evidence of her failure was right before her. The Tower Administrators were rubbing it right into her face.

Rage.

Mocking her. Taunting her. As if she wasn't suffering from self-castigation knowing her failure had sent Irisviel straight back to her death.

Rage.

Such an apt symbol of her failure - this gravestone - knowing Irisviel's fate. But it wasn't a real stone. Irisviel's body wasn't there underneath it. Irisviel had become the Holy Grail. The very thing Kiritsugu forced her against her will to destroy.

Rage.

She'd been the one to destroy Irisviel, to end her existence, commanded to by the man who supposedly loved her. Did he even love her as much as Saber did? Did he even acknowledge that she was there... And now, now, Irisviel was gone again. It was just like Saber had cleaved her in half again. The gravestone started to look to Saber like it was covered in mud as her emotions grew inside.

Rage.

Angra Mainyu coiled tighter and the emotionless king couldn't be emotionless anymore. She hated this place. Hated the stone before her. Hated the way everything she touched corroded and disintegrated. Her kingdom, her wishes, her desires, her hopes, her goals, her dreams... All of them crumbled in her grasp.

Rage.

Legend may call her a great king, the Once and Future King, that lead Britain to a time of golden prosperity, but she knew what she really was. She wasn't the King of Knights. She was the King of Nothing. Nothing... nothing... but RAGE.

Corrupt, dark prana flooded the graveyard then as the red marks of Angra Mainyu spread up Saber's neck and along her jaw and her armor materialized. Visor sliding down to cover her eyes, the black knight had little to no control over her prana, over her anger, as she raised her right hand.]

Excalibur.

[The black sword, tainted with her own corruption and pulling on the dark side of the fae, was summoned into hand. No Invisible Wind obscured the blade from sight. It glowed with a pulsing red and the swirling of dark violet prana around Saber traveled up the sword and then back down in opposite to the pulsing of the red.

She was the King of Nothing and Fuyuki City had been nothing. Her kingdom had become nothing. Her heart was well on its way to becoming nothing. Nothing but rage.

This graveyard should be NOTHING.

With a tremendous surge of prana, Saber activated her Noble Phantasm. The sword in her hand grew in length until it was hard to tell exactly how long it was. Power and corruption crackled along its length as the black knight wielded it like it was also nothing. The rage Angra Mainyu was squeezing out of her black heart was manifest in this version of her Noble Phantasm. Vortigern had indeed been a vile king of Britain before her father. His infamy was almost as famous as her legend.

She would smash everything to nothing. So it would be just like her. Just as all should be. Nothing. Then there would be nothing left to lose. Nothing left to fail.

Nothing.

And with that, Saber swung Excalibur and leveled the entire row of gravestones, Irisviel's included. Clearing a swath, she took another step and turned, cutting another row. Two more rows later, she turned back and saw that name on a stone behind her.

Irisviel von Einzbern.

Rage in her grew and she let out a primal scream as she cut the stone down again. Every few seconds, it would return, as did any other she destroyed. The more they returned, the more she was fueled by emotion to destroy them. Destroy them all.

Nothing... She wanted this place to be nothing. Why did it refuse to end? Unable to answer her own rage-filled question, Saber furiously destroyed row of gravestones after gravestones. It was unending. Neverending.

The stones just kept coming back...]

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[Kazumi had been looking for Saber already, but it was the sound of that explosion, soon followed by another, that caught the girl's attention. Donning her magical girl outfit and preparing her staff for whatever trouble their might be, she ran down the stairs, long leaps that covered flights at a time. As she drew closer, she could hear that voice crying out, just barely recognizable as she entered the graveyard]

Saber!?

[The call of her name barely registered. Saber was too buried in her rage, her higher mind lost to the corruption. This was what she'd always told Catarina she guarded against. This was almost as bad as the madness that infected the Berserker class. The difference was that she -wasn't- mindless.

And it was only that fact that had her tilt her wrist upward just a bit as she pivoted and cut her sword parallel to the ground to take out another group of stones. Had she not done that, Excalibur would have killed Kazumi. Instead, the tainted blade of Vortigern passes a scant inch above the girl's head.]

[Hakuno could feel the wave of dark prana, even several floors below the graveyard. It was the most chilling thing she ever felt - worse than that feeling of an invisible blade at her neck, the one that crept up every time she had encountered Assassin. This was like someone had clamped a hand on the back of her neck and squeezed, and every part of her brain was screaming at her to run.

But... no. She didn't. Amidst the darkness and anger, she could recognize something... familiar about this energy. It was that Saber. The Black one... if this kind of energy was flowing from her, she was either in trouble, or angry. And, well... Hakuno didn't know her that well, but she was still someone that she had a connection to. She couldn't just ignore this.

So she climbed the stairs as quickly as possible, and nearly stumbled back down them when she reached the graveyard floor. Between all the battles she had witnessed, this was without a doubt the most intense display of a Servant's power she had seen. Again, she knew that the smart thing to do would be to get the hell out of there, but she wasn't. The way Saber raged against the gravestones... something was very wrong here.]

Saber, stop! [She has to yell to make her voice heard among the chaos, but she manages.] Whatever you're doing, it's not working!

[Saber whirled about at Hakuno's voice and the group of gravestones next to the girl exploded as the servant's noble phantasm smashed them. Chips of stone flew into the air as the faceless visor seemed focused on her.

The girl. The stupid girl. She was just like him. Like that idiot of a master she had. Like Shirou. She didn't say anything before turning her back to the girl and striding to a far end of the floor. Excalibur was twirled in her hands once before she cut a two handed strike at the wall itself as if the cut the Tower in half.

Which was her aim, except the wall remained intact and the blacked scorch mark from the blow faded before their eyes.]

[Hakuno flinched, arms raising to protect herself from the debris flying everywhere at the attack. But she didn't fall back. She didn't run from battle when she had her Saber by her side, so... she can't do it now. She has to be strong. Especially with Black Saber doing what she was doing now. It was one thing to destroy the gravestones, but trying to destroy the tower???

She ran forward, stopping far enough behind the Servant to hopefully not invade her personal space, but close enough so that she can keep talking to her.]

You can't do this! Even if you manage to break a hole in the wall, something really awful is going to happen to you! Is that what you want/

[Seething up at the wall, Saber swung her sword out to the side, destroying some more stones, before turning back toward Hakuno. She brought the sword before her, as if bearing the noble phantasm at the girl.]

Failure deserves punishment. But if all is nothing, there is nothing to fail.

[She then reversed the sword so it was point down and drove it into the ground beneath her feet before pivoting and ripping the blade out. It should have cut straight through to the floor below, but all that happened was a few empty caskets were unearthed before disintegrating under the power of Excalibur.]

Saber growled in frustration and lashed out at more gravestones.]

[Again, Hakuno took a step back. But only one. If Saber had really wanted to kill her... well. She had two perfect shots already, right? She can't be scared now.]

Failure...? [Ah. Then it clicked. The anger, the claim of failure, the rage against the gravestones which bore the names of all the people that had disappeared in this tower.]

You... someone important to you was taken from the tower.

[Her voice is softer this time, sadder. It wasn't a question: she knew. It had to be the only explanation.]

[Kazumi ducked instinctively as that blade whipped around, but considering how it struck her hat and sent if flying - no, completely disintegrated it - it was obvious she would have died had it been any lower. Crouched near the ground, Kazumi felt a chill run up her spine. This was... everything she'd felt hidden behind Saber's dignity, her sternness, unleashed. Some animal instinct in her told her to run away but... she couldn't just abandon her, not when she was obviously in pain. And considering where they were, she had a feeling she knew why...]

Saber!

[Calling out again, she started to try to move closer, slowly, this time erecting a barrier around herself. It was... painful, in a way, to use this magic like it was her own, but she knew she had to be careful...]

[Unbiddden, Saber found herself looking back at the spot where Irisviel's stone was. It stood once more, as if nothing had ever happened to it, but it still looked covered in mud to her.]

She is dead. I killed her.

[And with another rage-filled scream, Saber leveled that area of the graveyard again.]

[Hakuno waits for Saber's attack to finish before she speaks up again.]

I don't believe that. If this person... [She had gotten a brief glimpse of the name before Saber destroyed it. Irisviel...? Sounds feminine.] If this woman really was important enough to you to cause this much of a reaction, there's no way you could have killed her.

[The barrier at least protected Kazumi from the shards of stone being thrown about with every destroyed stone. Whether it would help if she got in the path of Excalibur was another question.]

Leave.

[That one word was spoken in a hot, strained voice, so unlike the knight Kazumi knew. All that emotion spilling out, she couldn't maintain her stoic demeanor at all.]

I did. He made me. He made me.

[She lashed out again, turning toward Hakuno, stalking toward her.] You are a master. You know how to make us do it.

[ Sakura had felt the energy from some servant on this floor, so she had come up to cautiously observe and retreat.

That plan was scrapped as soon as she saw that Saber was responsible. And that there was an innocent girl crying out to her servant. No, that was no good. Sakura knew what it was like to feel what Saber was feeling and she knew no amount of words could calm her. Sakura didn't have any command spells either so that was out of the question.

She made a split second decision to rescue Kazumi, it's what Saber would have wanted considering she hadn't obliterated the girl on her first strike. Sakura isn't a great runner, but she sprints forward towards Kazumi and grabs her arm, staying low. ]

We've gotta go. Now.

[She holds up her hands in surrender, taking half a step back but no more. Saber... Saber was in pain, wasn't she? She can't run away from someone who's hurting like that.]

I don't- [Wait. "Make us do it"? Her eyes drift to the back of one of her raised hands, glancing at the faded marks where her command spells used to be.] Your... your Master made you kill someone you care about?

[The disbelief and horror - and perhaps even a tinge of disgust? - was quite clear in the girl's voice. How... how could someone even think of forcing a Servant to do that?]

[That command was chilling in its intensity, but it wasn't quite enough to discourage the girl as she tried to approach her friend. But before she could step forwards, she felt that hand grabbing her arm, and she turned back to see a girl she didn't recognize]

B, but Saber is...

[The protest is weak though, and Kazumi doesn't resist being pulled... she just wants to help her, and not being able to hurts so badly...]

His wife.

[Saber shifted Excalibur, still brimming with all that power and corruption, to one hand and moved quickly to grab Hakuno about the neck and lift her off the ground.]

I loved her. I swore to protect her. I was her knight. And I failed her. Now I have lost her again. We Servants are nothing to you Masters than tools. Weapons. Swords to cut down everything in your path to obtain power or your greatest wish.

And you all wonder why I chose the path that would lead to destroying it all.

[ If Kazumi isn't resisting, then Sakura is pulling her all the way to the steps. She can explain once they're both far away from the raging Servant. ]

[It took all Saber had of her willpower upon seeing Sakura to force herself to drive Excalibur straight into the ground and drop to one knee. The grass and stone in a large radius about her shattered and the knight's prana crackled between each shard. She held herself there, fighting against the rage for the few seconds she could, hoping it would be enough time for her master to get Kazumi out of there.

Even with the visor down, Sakura would be able to see the signs. The way Saber's gorget no longer hid the red marks, the pulsing of her rage... But it seemed Saber's honor and sense of duty was still just a hair stronger than Angra Mainyu's influence right then. Had Sakura been as before... the chance wouldn't have even existed.

Or if Rin was nearby...]

[Kazumi is pulled along a few steps, still looking back towards the knight, but finally she turns and starts to run with Sakura, retreating back to the stairs. Fortunately, she hadn't actually managed to get very close, so it wasn't very far, the girls stumbling onto that safe zone as the floor shook with that impact. Kazumi's expression was clearly upset though, tears welling up as they moved down a floor to be safe]

[ Once the two are down to a much safer floor, Sakura pulls Kazumi into a hug. In her mind, all of this was her fault. It was Sakura's fault that Saber is the way she is, and her fault that Kazumi had to go through that experience. The guilt was overwhelming and brought tears to her eyes. ]

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

[Hakuno lets out a choked gasp, hands immediately flying to grasp at Saber's wrist. She didn't struggle - no, that would only make it worse, most likely - but she continues to speak. It's slow going, but she manages to force the words out.]

I can't... speak for other Masters. [She winces. It's hard, trying to speak with the pressure around her neck, but she tries anyway.] But Servants... aren't anything like that to me...!

[She grits her teeth, eyes clenching shut. She'd been trying to bottle up all the hurt that she's felt since Saber disappeared, but that jab caused it all to just spill out.] It would be an insult... t-to call all of you less than human...

What is one more insult on top of another? A hero is one who is hated.

[She threw Hakuno to the ground.]

So be it. [And she draws Excalibur back, for the moment looking like she was going to cut Hakuno down, before turning and destroying that damn stone again.]

[Hakuno coughs and gasps for breath a few times, wincing as she pulls herself up into a sitting position. Ouch... she's definitely going to be hurting for a while.

But when she looks up, she notices that Saber had flung her to a spot in the graveyard that she knew quite well. She had been visiting a lot, after all.]

That's not true. [Her voice is soft again, staring not at Saber's turned back, but at the gravestone right in front of her.

The gravestone that bears the name "Saber".

But it's not in the location that this Saber would know her own gravestone to be. So that must mean...]

A hero can be hated, sure. But they're not someone who must be hated. A real hero is someone who's tales can shine above what the people who hate them may think. It's easy to remember people only for the bad things they do. But to be able to remember the good amongst the bad? That's... well. That's special.

[She sighs, rubbing her neck, flinching as she does.] I know I'm probably not making any sense. Sorry...

A hero does what must be done despite the hatred that comes from it. That is what a hero is. My people hated me enough to rebel.

'Arthur does not know the feelings of men.'

[She turned back and saw the stone Hakuno was at. She drove Excalibur through it.]

I protected them. From the Romans. From the Saxons and the Gauls. From everyone. I did everything for them and their prosperity and it got me nothing. My own son fought me.

It would be better if there really was nothing and all our worlds destroyed.

[And embraced in that hug, Kazumi starts crying, burying her face against the other girl]

No, I... I'm glad you pulled me away. I don't know if I can help her like this... I just... I had to try...

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One failure too many... [open]

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