ITP: 'Tis only a flesh wound

[no_longer_a_king]

Characters: Saber Lily; open
Setting: All throughout the tower.
Format: Prose. Will follow what you reply with.
Summary: Arturia is in D Group and being made to do things while screaming in her head the entire time. It's almost like being a Counter Guardian again.
Warnings: Brainwashing, violence character death, and so on.
Note: If you want your character to die please let me know in the subject header of your first comment.


[A: Various ]
Her body ached. Arturia had dealt with worse pain in her life: broken bones, stabbings, near disembowelment, the very surreal experience of Excalibur being stabbed through her own gut, the general exhaustion after a long war. This was different. This was her very skin being tugged on, pulled at, as if it were several sizes too small.

Which was true. She had armor grafted to her skin, black as Lancelot's had been in the war, and a sword sheathed at her side that was not Caliburn. The sensation was like her skin should rip itself off at any moment, but simply did not have the space to thanks to the armor holding it together. Painful, yes, but not the worst pain she had experienced. That part she could deal with. It was the fact she could not control her body at all that unsettled her.

Despite whatever Jason had done to her to make her body walk these halls her mind was still hers. For that she was grateful. At least she could still think, much as she despised the current situation. This hit too close to home, too close to those memories of screaming and ohgodmakeitstop in the back of her mind. If she'd been able to, she would have screamed when the first thing she'd done upon awakening had been to throw the piece of the Round Table she'd been given into the incinerator. Her one reminder, her one clue that she still existed somehow in her world was gone now. Was this why it'd been given to her in the first place? If so, then damn Jason. Damn him to hell.

What would be a true test would be if she came across someone else. If she were made to attack them, if she were once again little more than a killing machine with no will of her own, then this would truly be hell. Hopefully she could hold herself back long enough to keep from hurting anyone.

Spoilers: she won't

[B: Dormitories]
When she next came to, she was at the foot of someone's bed. Arturia started at the realization but found she could not move her feet. It was troubling, bringing up far too many memories of her time before the Tower, but at least she was not being forced to attack. At least she was not being forced to do anything she did not want to do.

Watching over someone at their bedside while they slept was fine. She found she could make tiny shifts in her stance to try to relieve the constant tug and pull of the metal grafted to her. It wasn't much, but at least she had some form of freedom. That might change when the person awoke, but for now she enjoyed the small reprieve she had from what had been done to her.

[Addendum: 4/21/2013. Event fallout to avoid spamming the main comm.]

[C: Dorm Hall, by the terminal]
For once, Arturia wanted to simply sleep, to lay still after being forced to move for so long against her will. Her body ached from the surgery, phantoms of pain lacing through her skin from where it had pulled. She never thought she would feel grateful for the lightness of the dress she'd been forced to wear, but after having that armor grafted to her skin.

But she at least had to check on the state of the Tower after so much chaos. The best way to do that was the Network. So Arturia heaved herself out of bed, did not bother to put on her shoes or do more to her hair than run a comb through it, and headed into the hall. The terminals were located at the end of the hallway. It wouldn't hurt to check.

....naturally, it turned out there was yet more sinister things going on with Jason's experiment. Arturia sighed wearily, her mind tired. Of course nothing would be that easy. Once she had a chance she would need to ask the others if the information they found down below had been compromised. No sense letting the resistance be discovered. She conversed with a few people for a moment, not quite wanting to move yet and enjoying her freedom yet again. When she finished she turned around to find someone a few feet away from her.

"I'm sorry. Do you wish to use the terminal?" Arturia really did enjoy being able to talk again, even if she sounded as weary as she felt.

[D: Dorm 3-17]

And then she spent the day languishing in bed, for once simply wishing to rest. She could check up on the others tomorrow, after she didn't feel ready to fall over. The only time she got up was when someone inevitably knocked on her door and she forced herself up to get it.

"Yes?"

[E: Various; Shortest prompts ever.]

And now that she had had her moment of rest, she dressed properly, put her hair in its now-customary tail, and began to walk the Tower to ensure those she cared about were safe.

Comments

[no_longer_a_king]

Your.... death?

[That startles her, despite how much Arturia has died in the Tower. Then again, one of her own deaths had been intentional and she knew she was not as on her guard as she should be. Saber has something left to protect, Arturia has every reason to look through everything, even if it results in her own death.]

How.... and when?! [She stops short after saying that, forcing the surprised look off her face. Even if Saber had been killed would it be rude to ask her such a thing?]

I apologize. I should not pry like that.

[scorchedchivalry]

It is alright.

I am unsure how much time passed between it and my revival, but it was not long before I found you. It was one who had been modified that possessed a very powerful ability that normally cannot be used against heroic spirits, but something Jason did made it stronger.

It is okay. I protected my Master. There is no better way to die.

[no_longer_a_king]

["There is no better way to die."

Arturia manages to not let how that phrase strikes a cord within her show. Saber is not making a jab at her, not insulting her. It's simply how things happened and it is a fact of life. Nothing more and nothing less.]

Good. As long as Sakura is all right. From what I've seen everyone has been released from what the Administrators have done to us.

[And the Resistance compromised. Arturia still needs to find a way to speak with the others, figure out what to do next. But with the eyes of the Administrators watching everywhere, she has no idea what to do, nor what to say. She certainly cannot tell anyone of the infiltration just yet, even Saber. Not because she does not trust her, but because she knows they are likely being scrutinized even more than before.]

[scorchedchivalry]

That is good, though I believe this particular experiment will have deeper, lasting effects than I have gathered from previous ones.

[Saber closed her eyes.]

Would you like to see something to take your mind off what happened to you? You must give me your word with what honor you still maintain that you will not speak to anyone of what I show you.

[no_longer_a_king]

[If only Saber knew.]

You have my word, with what honor I have left.

[This is a vow she knows she can keep. She might have betrayed Shirou, but secrets are something she has faith in herself she can keep.]

And should I break that word, well, I'd forfeit my life to you, but that's meaningless here.

[scorchedchivalry]

Then we must return to my room.

[And she leads the way. Bye-bye shores of Avalon.]

[no_longer_a_king]

[With one last look over her shoulder at the shores, she follows Saber to the dorms.]

[scorchedchivalry]

[At least it wasn't a long trip to the dorms. Saber was pleased to see her roommates were out and she made sure to capture her cat before Amy slipped out into the hall before closing the door. Setting the cat on her bed, Saber opened her trunk.]

You will recognize most of the things I will remove, but they are not the point of this. You may touch them if you wish. They were once yours.

[Said as she pulled the pimpcloak and crown out before a pair of shinai. It seemed whatever she is looking for is buried at the bottom.]

[no_longer_a_king]

[Once again, her heart aches. Seeing these things, these very familiar things that she had once worn proudly makes her heart ache. Despite what Saber says, they are not hers. She discarded them the moment she made her wish. Despite this she picks up the ornate cloak from where Saber put it down.

She remembers one of the few times she'd indulged in childishness, shortly after hers and Gwen's marriage. Arturia had been practicing her 'dramatic turn' in her chambers with the cloak when Gwen walked in on her. It'd been impossible to act dignified at that point.

Part of her wants to put it on again, like it was an old security blanket she's found after believing it torn up by the cat years and years ago. Instead, she folded it up, neat and proper, and placed it back on the bed, awaiting Saber finding what she wished to share.]

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber had chosen her words - 'once were yours' - because she knew they weren't now. They were hers and evidence that the Tower was insistent upon reminding her of her self-forged shackles and the silver knight she once was.

Reaching what she wanted to show Arturia, Saber paused as she always did, just looking down at it, for a few moments before taking the padded box out of the bottom of her trunk. Her other self should recognize it immediately, but its contents were more readily apparent when she removed the lid and showed it to Arturia.

...Saber's expression was a bit pained and her fingers never touched the holy sheath itself, but only the case it was in.]

[no_longer_a_king]

[Her mouth forms a perfect 'o' as she stares at the sheathe. Part of her hadn't wanted to believe it when she saw the case, and then it opened. Avalon, the sheathe she'd been given alongside Excalibur. Of course Saber would have it.

Arturia's hand hovers in the air for a moment, before she draws it back to her chest, afraid to sully it after betraying her honor. Afraid to sully the thing that connected her to her homeland. It was another thing that reminded her of all she'd given up, all she'd betrayed, but there's a smile on her face despite that. Memories of the night she realized Kiritsugu had had the sheathe the entire time, had used it to save Shirou's life, flooding her. He'd faced down Gilgamesh for her sake, nearly gotten himself killed for her sake.

He'd always been such an idiot.

And before that, she suspected, Irisviel must have had it. It would explain one of the reasons why Iri had stood by her side and not someone else during the Fourth War.

And before that, when Merlin had taken her to the Lake to receive it and then scolded her like a child when she claimed Excalibur was more important.

Maybe she is finally moving on from the pain of the past if she can smile despite the memories.]

How long have you had it here?

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber's eyes, so stonewalling her own feelings over Avalon, watched Arturia's as her other self gazed upon it. She could imagine a lot of what she was thinking, but not all of it.]

Since the moment I first awoke.

[no_longer_a_king]

[It figures Saber would get Avalon while Arturia merely got a box.]

May I?

[She wants to look it over again, but is afraid to touch it. It is Saber's Avalon, not hers. It isn't right to touch it without permission.]

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber nods. With Arturia possessing Caliburn, she isn't worried about whether her other self would be able to touch it. After all, she wasn't tainted like Saber.]

[no_longer_a_king]

[Carefully, like the precious thing it is to her, she lifts it from the box, looking it over, heart simultaneously clenching in pain and rejoicing in the memories this sheathe held, the meaning behind it. Her smile becomes a strange mixture of sadness and fondness. To think, she'd only discovered its whereabouts the day before she made her mistake.

To think, her very presence had been what had saved Shirou's life when he made those stupid decisions when they first met.

To think, her presence may have been able to save Irisviel if she had found her sooner.

To think, that once upon a time this sheathe had protected her, kept her from aging, and kept her from being anything close to human.]

....you cannot use it anymore, can you?

[That is why it is here, instead of with the one Saber wishes to protect. Judging by Saber's unwillingness to hold Caliburn when Arturia had offered it to her, that is the only explanation she can think of for it.]

[scorchedchivalry]

I cannot even touch it. It rejects my prana. I am no longer connected to it.

[And there... there the pain and loneliness bleeds into her voice. She looks at Avalon and not her other self's eyes.]

Irisviel was holding onto it for me while she was here.

[no_longer_a_king]

I.... I see.

[The pain. The loneliness. She eases Avalon back into the case, paying extra attention to it not touching Saber's fingers. Irisviel. The mention of her name makes the smile fade from her face as she thinks of how the woman is either dead or wandering in a desolate world.

She who was among the many Arturia intended to save, if only she could find more information on how to do it.]

She is perhaps the most appropriate person to look after it.

[scorchedchivalry]

[When the sheath was back in the box, Saber closed the lid over it and stoked her fingers over the lid as she would the sheath itself.]

I will find her again.

[no_longer_a_king]

I will make sure you can.

[She will find a way to restore the worlds. She will find a way for Saber to have her happiness. Arturia's love was dead and gone by her own hand. There might be another like him in this world but the Shirou she had known and may have even loved was not among the living. There was no way he could be brought to this tower.

But Saber's love was out there wandering a dead world and Arturia's duty was to her World itself. That meant finding a way out of this Tower. That meant finding a way to restore the dead worlds. That meant doing whatever was in her power to keep the destruction from spreading.

And doing that would ultimately lead to Saber finding Irisviel.

Her hand goes over Saber's stroking the sheathe that the people they loved had once guarded within themselves, fingers curling just so.]

I swear this to you, on my very soul.

[scorchedchivalry]

[Her hand comes to a stop then, unsure how to respond. Comfort wasn't never their forte. At all. She did raise her eyes to meet her other self's.]

She is somewhere not far. Not here, but not far. Ganondorf spoke of it once before.

[no_longer_a_king]

[She isn't sure where to go from here, either. So her hand lingers over Saber's, simply for lack of an idea of what to do next.]

Oh? And where did Ganondorf say she is?

[scorchedchivalry]

I do not remember it all. I was not... in the right mind at the time. I think he said she was... 'lost' but only because the Administrators had given up looking for her, focusing on us and not on the 'lost'. That any who have been 'lost' can be brought back if found, as I believe I was when I thought I was in Fuyuki City.

I would need to ask for more information.

[ooc: as the thread got dropped.]

[no_longer_a_king]

Yes, there have been a few cases of such happening. I have spoken to several people who have been sent to their homeworlds and brought back, as well as heard from others of such things happening.

I believe the reason the Administrators are forced to give up is simply due to the limits of the boy called Zo. From what I understand, he is the one who brings us here and he is only a child, still learning just how to use his powers.

[scorchedchivalry]

That simply means he will grow in strength through the use of his power. If I must convince him personally to find her, I shall. If I must direct my blade to do so, I will.

[no_longer_a_king]

[She would willingly turn her blade on a child who has likely done nothing wrong? That gives Arturia pause that she does not hide from her face. What is the point when she is speaking with 'herself'?]

Then please, be patient. You know as well as I do that if magic is forced too early it can have disastrous consequences. I know neither of us want to risk Irisviel's safety in being brought back here.