La Pucelle (3)

Ritsuka could feel the tension permeating throughout the air, and based on his overall impression of Saber Alter, she may actually not be joking with what she'd said.

Egg yolk left long viscous trails of yellow strings that trickled down from Saber Alter's forehead, and dripped to the floor from her chin. The iciness of her gaze was petrifying in their intensity, but her current restraint was testament of her fortitude and tolerance. In honesty, this wasn't even the worst of how people had scorned her for her brutality in her own past alternative timeline.

The fact was though, Saber Alter had killed for less.

It was the ultimate offence to dishonour the King that brought peace to the island nation through countless battles in which she triumphed.

Of course, Saber Alter knew that this was all in her alternative past, but she was still a King nonetheless, and maintained her bearings as one of her stature.

Could she simply let this travesty go?

As Saber Alter silently brooded on an answer, the violent intent around her was steadily growing until it reached its zenith. People were scared by just looking at her, especially those that had thrown something. Their complexions were pale while beads of sweat matted their brows. A few however remained stubbornly glaring as if Saber Alter had killed their loved ones.

You fools. You don't know what you've done! Olga was inwardly screaming. It doesn't matter if you get scared now, it's already over.

None understood this concept better than Olga who bit at the nail of her thumb while already looking at the people in pub as if it had nothing to d with her and they were already dead bodies.

Who gave common people the audacity to attack someone that could clearly slaughter them if offended?

T-This was out of her hands, so don't look at me like that.

Olga could vaguely see Ritsuka staring at her to do something as the superior Master and commander of Chaldea, and in response, she awkwardly shifted her weight from foot to foot while feeling helpless. Of course, she could ask her Servants to intervene, but Sasaki would probably snap like a twig and Spartacus clearly didn't take well to orders.

"An Oppressor?" Spartacus eyed Saber Alter. She had a striking resemblance to an Emperor he knew.

Olga panicked. Oh, for goodness's sake!

"NO. Not oppressor!" She shrieked, throwing herself in front of Spartacus before he did anything stupid to add onto the situation.

Sasaki cleared his throat and moved to step forward with baseless confidence. "Perhaps I should be of ser-"

"Please. Not now," Olga interjected. Her perceptions and assumption about her Servants had already solidified themselves in her mind. She was a Master and she had full access to the parameters of her Servants. Compared to Saber Alter, there was just no competition.

"If I may interject, honoured Master, but-"

"You may not," Olga couldn't deal with this anymore.

Sasaki frowned, and then took a step back behind Olga while she stressed for a solution. Ritsuka was silently pleading with her, and this was perhaps her first opportunity to display her capability as a Master and the overseer of Chaldea.

Someone was actually putting their faith in her, how could she let them down?

Once Olga made up her mind and thoroughly tried to put her apprehensions behind her, she finally returned her attention to Saber Alter and balked after seeing her holding up a woman by the collar of her now torn blouse.

Incidentally, in trying to motivate herself and keep her Servants in order, Olga had distracted herself from the main priority.

"You've slighted me, and still refuse to repent or beg for forgiveness?" There was a lethal edge to Saber Alter's tone. Coupled with her less than stellar mood, she was practically strangling the woman who flailed in her grip like a chicken.

Unease welled up from within Olga. It hadn't been quite apparent in the beginning, but Spartacus wasn't smiling while staring at Saber Alter. In Spartacus's own understanding, Saber Alter was looking every bit a vile oppressor.

With Olga's connection to Spartacus, she could vaguely feel his thoughts which was all the more reason this had to stop.

She could accept not being able to complete the Grand Order due to incapability or being defeated by their adversaries, but infighting was not only too tragic, but reflected a serious lack of leadership. As the leader of the Grand Order, this directly translated towards Olga's inadequacy, and that thought horrified her.

The woman flailing in Saber Alter's hold continued glaring, trying to kick at Saber Alter's face while clawing at Saber Alter's grip in a bid to escape. Her nails were bleeding at this point, Saber Alter's gauntlets too durable, but she kept trying.

"Beg?!" The woman burst into tears of anguish and despair. "Haven't you done enough?! Didn't you say you'd let this town go?! You killed my family! Get out! No one wants you here!"

For the first time since entering the pub, a portion of Saber Alter's anger and indignation abated. She'd killed many people in the past, and done many less than honourable deeds for the sake of peace, but she remembered each and every one. Killing this woman's family wasn't in her list.

Saber Alter forcibly suppressed the impulse to kill through sheer willpower and stared the woman right in the eyes. "I have killed no one you would have known."

The woman didn't believe her and spat on her face, instantly darkening Saber Alter's already limited patience.

Saber Alter's grip shifted from the collar of the woman's blouse to the woman's neck, her armoured fingers digging into the skin.

"Guards! Guards!" The woman yelled in panic and alarm.

"S-Saber! Y-You should stop." Olga coughed to get attention, but balked and drooped her shoulders when Saber Alter eyed her down.

"You are not my Master, and they have slighted me numerous times in the span of a few minutes," Saber Alter said indifferently.

"That's, uhm…" Olga had no response. She was guilty of acting out on her anger just as much as Saber Alter when she considered how she'd thrown Ritsuka out of the Command Room for sleeping on her speech.

"If you have nothing else to say as a battery, then keep silent," Saber Alter chastised, indignation causing Olga to almost shout back, but she didn't because it was Saber Alter.

"The methods of an oppressor indeed," Spartacus was growing more and more solemn.

"Don't you dare," Olga warned her Servant. Affronted as she was at Saber Alter's attitude towards her, she was still sane of mind and knew the people were in the wrong first.

As the woman's screams grew more and more desperate by the second, a platoon of a dozen spear-wielding guards in rounded helmets, plate armour, and decorative cloth and tassels surrounded the bar.

There was a brief second in which Saber Alter languidly regarded them before her eyes narrowed when they charged at her in attack. Her unoccupied right hand immediately drew her sword. Mocking the King was one thing as it smeared her reputation, but directly attacking the King was grounds for immediate execution.

Saber Alter glanced at the woman left strangling in the grip of her left hand before scoffing and tossing the woman aside to focus her attention on the guards. The woman crashed into a table, toppling chairs and splintering wood.

"Die, you witch!"

Four of the spearmen attacked from all sides in a bid to cut off her escape. Watching the spears slowly encroach on her from her heightened vision as a Heroic Spirit, she hardly batted an eye and deftly chambered her sword arm for a swing.

One sword, four deaths.

It was a premediated outcome from the moment they chose to raise their weapons on her without hesitation. It was just like the past. No one could understand her; no one could know of the sacrifices she'd made for the sake of her own people who openly scorned her.

"You will walk in solitude, and others may no longer be willing to understand you. You will be a tyrant, a figure of hate, animosity, and fear. Even so, will you take up this sword for the sake of order and for the country?"

The wise wizard had known of her fate and warned her justly.

From the moment she picked up that sword from the stone, she knew that an ordinary life was over. This was her burden to bear; a lonely road to walk…and then there appeared someone who called out to her, who needed her without any ulterior motive.

For a fraction of a second, she hesitated and didn't immediately swing at the incoming guards.

A voice had called out to her.

"Wait! Saber don't kill them!"

Why shouldn't she? She could see Sieg under Ritsuka's order moving into intervene, but there was no way they were fast enough to prevent from her acting if she was willing.

Suddenly, an image of Shirou shaking his head at her in disappointment slackened her resolve.

"Tch," She grimaced and shifted the aim of her swing from the necks of the guards, to the shafts of their spears, effortlessly snapping them all in two. She then throttled each guard with a firm kick to their sternum and blew them out of the pub. "Get out of me sight."

Saber Alter scoffed and directly walked out of the pub.

Watching all of this unfold, Ritsuka let out a sigh of relief before looking towards Olga and Mash. "I think it's best we leave for now?" He suggested.

"R-Right," Olga didn't have any complaints.

"We're sorry for the trouble!" Mash, ever so considerate was bowing her head in apology to the pub goers while following everyone and leaving the establishment.

Once outside the pub, the sight of all the city guards groaning over the ground with dents in their armour and broken weapons awaited Olga and company.

Saber Alter was in the midst of it all, and she scoffed before simply walking away back into the forest.

She wouldn't be venturing into the town again.

------------------------------------------

If the members of Chaldea had to ask what was wrong with the present timeline, it was now apparent that they already knew the answer after Mash and Ritsuka ventured off on their own to gather information.

Olga was too proud and 'overbearing' at times in Mash's words to handle information gathering properly without resorting to magecraft, so Mash and Ritsuka had gone instead after the group made camp at a distant forest.

Moreover, Olga couldn't be the one to leave as she was required to keep a lookout on Spartacus who kept eyeing Saber Alter after the altercation in the pub.

Left with little choice, Ritsuka had been the one to volunteer and get an idea of the situation in the town, and here everyone was now quietly taking it all in while Saber Alter remained the furthers on the side.

Charles and Pierre Cauchon, a King and a Pope of France respectively, were dead while Jeanne d'Arc was still alive and was now hell bent on revenge. Accusation of her being a witch were spread throughout Orleans after she came back from the dead, and word was that she leads an army of wyverns and a black Dragon.

The Dragon Witch, Jeanne d'Arc.

This was a clear deviation from recorded human history, and the revelation practically unnerved Sieg who'd been quiet about the day's matters all the while.

"Jeanne d'Arc shouldn't be alive," Romani solemnly addressed the elephant in the room. "She is likely related to the anomaly regarding this singularity, and may in fact be the heart of it."

Olga listened and nodded while incessantly tapping a finger over her crossed arms. "Did you both find out anything else?"

Ritsuka and Mash glanced at each other before looking at Saber Alter.

"The villagers weren't the friendliest," Mash recounted. "They all thought we'd sold ourselves out to the devil because we were with Saber. She apparently looks strikingly similar to Jeanne d'Arc."

"I can vouch for that," Sieg said softly.

Ritsuka didn't say anything, but he'd noticed Sieg stare at Saber Alter in confusion from time to time. There was a story here, but he wouldn't force Sieg to tell him anything unrelated to the problem at hand.

"That sounds like an excuse, and I don't really care," Saber Alter cut in before leveling Ritsuka and Mash with a stern look. "Did you ask them about what actually matters?"

The 'to me' was left unsaid.

Mash still couldn't get used to Saber Alter's cold disposition and shrank under the weight of Saber Alter's stare.

Sieg stayed silent, unable to meet Saber Alter's eyes, as the image in his mind refused to associate Saber Alter's indifferent expression with the compassionate one in his memories.

Ritsuka had no reservations though. As far as he was concerned, he could relate to how Saber Alter was feeling, as he saw her convictions and sentiments towards Shirou first hand in Fuyuki.

"No one with red hair passed through the town, but I managed to get a few villagers to trust me enough to keep a lookout," he said.

Saber Alter nodded civilly while Olga cleared her throat to gather attention.

"As the director of Chaldea, our first priority is to ascertain the status of our missing colleague, and we will then concern ourselves with solving this singularity in human history. To me, the answer seems fairly straight forward. Someone who should be dead is alive, therefore, to solve this singularity, we should fix things according to proper history."

It was a sound argument, entirely reasonable with their goals in mind, and yet the implications of this statement weren't unnoticed.

"Are you really saying we should eliminate Jeanne d'Arc to set the course of proper human history?" Romani asked from the coms, prompting a strange silence to descend. "My hands are getting sweaty just thinking about this. She was a Saint you know? A genuine Saint! Why would she be a witch?"

Olga too was perturbed at this revelation, but it still didn't change anything.

It was here when Sasaki spoke up, voice tranquil, heart serene as still water. "Regardless of what's right and wrong, we know for a fact that she who was dead shouldn't be around on a revenge campaign leading Phantasmals."

"Agreed." Olga nodded. "Like it or not, we're going to have to deal with her."

"I can't agree with that. There has to be a mistake," Sieg interjected, creases forming over his forehead. "She isn't this kind of person."

"And you would know?" Olga raised a brow.

Sieg didn't elaborate, and instead just looked imploringly at Ritsuka to believe in him.

"Lets just drop the matter for now. We need to find Shirou first," Ritsuka mediated.

Off to the side, appreciation for Ritsuka bled through Saber Alter indifferent features.

Shirou was still one of the group's main priorities, and speculation about the singularity could wait for a bit later until everything was verified with their own eyes.

While everyone began to discuss a course of action, none of them were aware that the commotion that they'd caused in the nearby town was enough to draw attention. The town itself was fairly secluded at the border of the towns surrounding Orleans, making it difficult to find and ravage, but honestly, the town had been overlooked as it was too small to care about.

The people in the town however, were free to do as they wished and freely leave the vicinity.

It didn't take long before rumours about a sighting of the 'Dragon Witch' appearing in the town spread by word of mouth, garnering the attention of all who cared.

Two people set out at the same time towards this remote village, one of which was far faster as she travelled atop a wyvern all the way from the city of Orleans.

"Careful!" The urgent beep of a transmission sounded out in Chaldea's temporary camp. "There's a high-level magic reading nearby showing up on radar!"

Romani was instantly on alert in Chaldea's Command Room with DaVinci managing the devices and panels on the side with the other operators.

"The magical readings are off the charts! It's a Servant!" Romani warned through the intercom, causing Olga, Ritsuka, and Mash to tense while the other Servants got ready for a potential confrontation. "It's coming fast! Up above!"

From outside the tree line where Olga and the others were camping, a lone black wyvern could be seen swooping around in the skies above the nearby small town. Its leathery wings flapped occasionally as it hovered in place, its fangs gleaming in the light of a fire over its back.

There was a figure that could be seen atop the wyvern.

Black armour, pale skin, golden eyes, a menacing aura, and a face that was all too familiar.

"So, that's the Saint, Jeanne d'Arc. She really does look like you," Sasaki noted the similarities between the figure on the wyvern and Saber Alter.

Saber Alter merely grunted at the observation, but what mattered now was what would happen from here on.

Before anyone could react, Jeanne Alter raised her hand, the smoldering fires already burning over her palms expanding violently into a torrent of flames which she unremorsefully leveled on the small town.

Everything burned, embers drifting in the wind along with the scent of charred flesh and wood. The screams of anguish could be heard for miles away even from where everyone stood. There were no doubts that only ashes would remain once the fires over the small town eventually abated.

"How terrible," Mash covered her mouth with her hands and turned her back on the scene. Ritsuka shared Mash's thoughts, while everyone was just appalled.

One however, appeared as if everything he'd ever believed in was shattering apart.

"Stay low. It doesn't seem like she knows we're here. Based on her readings, it's not good to engage her right now," Romani advised.

Olga seconded the decision.

The rest nodded their heads, even Saber Alter relented on the prospect of not engaging a formidable foe until she could get to Shirou.

Sieg on the other hand, didn't respond in the affirmative. It wasn't even certain that he'd listened to Romani's advice.

He couldn't believe it. I-It was her, but not her.

There was a grim smile of satisfaction over Jeanne Alter's face while watching everything burn around her. She'd arrived personally to ascertain certain rumours, but it didn't seem as if anyone note worthy was in the town. A pity.

She willed her wyvern to circle back, but cancelled the order when someone unexpectedly had the nerve to scold her.

"How could you do this!" Sieg ran out in the open in outrage. "What happened to you?!"

"Ritsuka, control your Servant!" Olga immediately chastised, but it was too late.

Jeanne Alter inevitably discovered their location from up high and began willing her wyvern into a slow descent. Ritsuka could smile nervously before following to stand by his Servant with Mash. The others glanced at each other and sighed before they too headed out with Saber Alter.

"Answer me!" Sieg continued to yell almost desperately.

Jeanne Alter gave a cursory stare at Sieg, didn't recognize him, and ignored him completely.

Leaping off the back of her wyvern, she landed on the ground and left two deep depressions beneath her heeled feet. Cracks stemmed from the point of impact, but Jeanne was hardly phased.

Sieg ran up to her immediately, appalled at the changes between the Jeanne he knew and the Jeanne before him. The sheer malicious aura around her was suffocating. He couldn't believe it. No, he wouldn't accept this, but the thing was, he meant nothing to Jeanne Alter.

She walked right past him as if he didn't even exist.

A blaze of fire forced Sieg back from Jeanne Alter when he tried to grab her arm for an explanation.

"Don't. Touch. Me," she said evenly.

Sieg blocked the flames with his arms, his sleeves catching fire and burning away into ashes. Still, he was relatively unharmed physically, but the mental blow was staggering.

Jeanne Alter could care less.

She took a good look at Olga, Ritsuka, and the Servants around them, and knew immediately that she'd found her targets. What was troublesome though was how numerous they were. She hadn't expected them to summon this many Servants, and she'd rushed here on her own. There was no guarantee that she could kill all of them and Saber Alter was particularly intimidating.

Regardless, if worst came to worst, she could summon her Servants, but where would be the fun in that?

"So, you are the rest from Chaldea?" She showed not an ounce of fear or trepidation. If all else failed, she could summon a wyvern at will and return to her stronghold at Orleans. "I suppose this can serve as my first greetings to you all. My name is Jeanne d'Arc."

There was something about her words that instantly had everyone on edge. What did she possibly mean by 'the rest?'

"You know of us?" Olga inquired puzzled.

Jeanne Alter grinned in what could only have been dark amusement. "Gilles has said much about your organization, and I already met with one of your colleagues," she admitted freely like she was talking about the weather.

In any case, Jeanne Alter sensed the sudden tension in the air, and began making her guesses as to the importance Shirou had with them.

She began circling the group, assessing them one at a time while they remained vigilant as a tight-knit unit. They didn't dare initiate the attack as they must have felt the sheer magical energy exuding off of her. It was only natural.

Jeanne Alter didn't know it, but there was also the fact that Spartacus had his reservations with Saber Alter, and may not work too well with her, forcing Olga to consider her options and keep Sasaki close for her own safety.

"What happened to this colleague?" Olga tried to sound nonchalant, but the trepidation in her eyes gave Olga away.

Interesting. Jeanne Alter mused. What expression would you show in despair?

"I killed him; roasted him under my foot." She demonstrated by digging the heel of her right foot into the dirt beneath her. The most convincing lies were half-truths.

Ritsuka nervously glanced to Saber Alter, but found her utterly unaffected. One of the first rules of engagement was to not trust in the words of an adversary without proof. It makes you irrational, exactly what they would have wanted.

Olga grimaced and managed to keep her composure, but Mash couldn't believe it.

"You're lying!" Mash grew worked up. Innocent and naïve, she thought back to that dependable figure in the Fuyuki singularity. "Emiya Senpai's strong!" She argued.

Jeanne was prepared for something like this, as this wasn't her first time dealing with people who didn't believe her.

"Oh? Is that so?" She quipped lightly before fumbling for something on her person which she'd pilfered from Shirou. Grabbing it, she then threw it by Mash's feet. "Then what's that? It looks quite similar to what some of you are wearing."

Yes indeed.

It was the Mystic Code, Chaldea Combat Uniform, that every Master had worn before Rayshifting into the singularity. It was charred and burnt black on the edges; traces of cauterized blood heated into the fabric. There was no denying things any longer.

The only reason the Mystic Code could have ended up in such a sorry state was through violence.

"T-That's!" Mash let out a chocked gasp of denial. Everyone did while Jeanne Alter drew satisfaction from the despondent expressions Ritsuka, Olga, and Mash were making.

It was worth it just to lie about Shirou's condition if only to relish in this sight of grief; to make others suffer and despair in their lowest points as much as she had while burned at the stake.

"You see, some fool decided to drop him from out of nowhere right in front of me," Jeanne elaborated much to Romani and Olga's guilt. "I killed him right then and there before he could do anything."

Jeanne Alter was gloating, and amidst all this, Saber Alter stepped up next to Mash and quietly picked up the torn piece of the Chaldea Mystic Code. There was no expression on her face; no feeling in her actions; just an overwhelming sense of loss that coalesced and broke through even a façade of indifference.

Saber Alter rubbed at her cheek and looked at the moisture on her hands.

Jeanne Alter's laughter only grew more pronounced at the scene. There was a feeling of curiosity about why Saber Alter appeared so much like her, but it took a back seat to her own amusement. She didn't even consider whether she'd had a bad idea or not.

Saber Alter didn't react to the jeers. She took a shuddering breath while mutedly wiping away the tears that trickled down her face.

Heedless of anything, Jeanne Alter wasn't one to miss an opportunity to kick someone while they were down.

"Are you actually crying?" Jeanne Alter leered. "How pathetic. What sort of Heroic Spirit are y-"

There were no words, but the murderous rage in the air was palpable when there was no longer anymore tears to shed.

Danger. Hurry leave!

The same warning kept repeating over and over in Jeanne Alter's mind like a broken recorder that just wouldn't stop. Saber Alter instantly drew her sword, a blanket of malevolent magical energy smothering the area.

Danger!

Without even thinking, Jeanne Alter pulled back her head, a torrent of black energy blasting by a fraction of a second later. A chill went down her spine.

Carefully, she felt the shallow cut over her left cheek and grew appalled at the thought of what would have happened if she hadn't reacted in time. The opponent's capabilities were no joke.

She knew that she had a greater magical capacity, but this one strike from Saber Alter just proved that any strike from Saber Alter could prove lethal.

The revelation stunned her while the growing bloodlust translated into an overbearing intent.

"Run," Saber Alter rasped with chocked breath. "Hide-Beg-Plead!" She yelled out in rapid fire, her voice cracking from sheer emotion. "Do what you wish, but know one thing."

Saber Alter was shivering, the metal of her armour around her fingers grating over the hilt of her sword from how tightly she held it. Menacingly, she took a step forward, golden eyes flashing ominously.

"I'm going to kill you."

Jeanne flinched at the threat and nearly tripped on her feet when forced to dodge another swing of Saber Alter's sword.

Jeanne Alter grew annoyed at her own show of weakness, and any entertainment she'd been having disappeared, replaced by an unmistakable anxiety.

With a thought, a wyvern swooped down from the sky, catching her as she leapt into the air.

"Go ahead and try!" She mounted the wyvern's back and allowed the lizard to hover high in the air. "I'd burn you to ashes right here and now, but I find myself outnumbered! I'll be waiting in the cathedral at the heart of Orleans!"

A pillar of dark magical energy that threatened to nearly cut down her ride was the only reply.

Jeanne Alter shut her mouth and beat a sorry figure as she ran like a scared dog with her tail between her legs.

It wasn't that Jeanne Alter was running away, but there was no way she could admit that Saber Alter's cold fury eliminated any confidence Jeanne Alter had at the moment.

Left behind, Saber Alter didn't even hesitate while walking off without any intention of staying with anyone.

There was already a clear destination she would head to.

"Saber, no! Stop! She's baiting you out," Olga tried to warn, but she faltered when met with the hollowness of Saber Alter's features.

"I'm leaving," Saber Alter said, and that was it. It was final.

Saber Alter walked off on her own without another word.

"Well, I suppose that could have gone better," Romani tried to lighten the mood from the intercom, but it wasn't working.

"Maybe if someone listened to orders," Olga quipped, causing Sieg to flinch.

"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting anything like this," Sieg admitted.

"Then what were you expecting!?" Olga raged. "That the clearly hostile Servant would have a change of heart after massacring an entire town?!"

Sieg didn't have the heart to say yes. The Jeanne he knew was too deeply etched within him. No one else knew her the way he did.

"There's someone else coming," Romani interjected in the silence. "Be prepared."

The readings displayed another Heroic Spirit nearby.

Due to their encounter with Jeanne Alter, and with Saber Alter gone, the need to be cautious had never been greater. Sasaki and Spartacus stood before Olga while Mash and Sieg readied their shield and sword respectively.

The nearby bushes from the underbrush of the trees rustled before a figure emerged disoriented from the bushes. Twigs and leaves were mixed up in her long wheat-coloured hair, and there was an aura of warmth surrounding the individual.

It was another Jeanne.

She'd clearly been exerting herself to arrive as soon as possible since her cheeks were flushed from exertion. Seeing the ruined town nearby, a flash of sorrow flittered across her gaze. Her attention then fell on Ritsuka and everyone else who were all on guard.

It may have been a blessing that Saber Alter had left because another Jeanne appearing may have been enough for Saber Alter to attack without warning.

This Jeanne however was different from the last. Her features were warm and bright, a far cry from the other who reeked of blood and murder.

"Uhm, ugh, I'm Jeanne d'Arc. Is this a bad time? I came to help and offer an alliance, but I guess it's too late?" Jeanne deflated somewhat due to how guarded she could see everyone was.

"An alliance?" Olga said diplomatically. "On what terms?"

"To defeat my other self?" Jeanne tried innocently.

Olga was unphased. Too much had already happened to act so recklessly. "We're already going to do that at this point, and you honestly can't expect us to trust a random stranger on their first meeting?"

Olga didn't know anyone so stupid.

Ritsuka awkwardly shifted his gaze away. If Shirou were around he may have done the same. There were two such stupid people in the party Olga leads in Chaldea.

Ritsuka had always been the trusting sort, and this Jeanne didn't harbour the same malicious aura as the other one. Just when he wanted to interject on this other Jeanne's behalf, Olga continued.

"Especially another Heroic Spirit with the same face as the one trying to kill us. So, what can you possibly offer us in an alliance other than facing a similar foe?"

"…We have a chef?" Jeanne said owlishly. The argument was quite weak, and Jeanne must have known it herself as a wry frown came to her face.

"Master, agree," Sieg abruptly spoke up before anyone else could.

"Okay," Ritsuka trusted in the words of his Servant, and Mash seemed to have a similar opinion.

Olga wasn't amused. T-They agreed because the other side had a chef?

"Are you all daaaaft?!"

This was ridiculous. Guilt and regret about what happened to Shirou, and now anger forced her to her wits end.

She reached the limits of her frustration for the day.

"Then it will be a pleasure to work with you all." Jeanne smiled softly, radiantly.

In the gloominess of prior events, that smile was like an angel had descended.

-------------------------------------

Shirou didn't know how much time had passed, but he distinctly heard it when the creaking of the door leading to the dungeon that he was housed in was pushed open and then closed. The room was naturally dark, and no light could get in unless Jeanne Alter lit a flame with her hands, and this was what she did upon entering in a bad mood.

"You're back," he replied.

"I am," she answered without care.

"Your cheek's bleeding," he observed.

"I know." Here Jeanne Alter actually grew miffed and instantly put out the flame in her hands, darkness obscuring all vision such that he couldn't see her at all. This was probably the point.

"Want to talk about it?" He offered.

"Do you want to die?" It was obviously the wrong thing to say.

Unseen in the dark, Jeanne Alter quietly tended to her wound. Understanding what she was likely doing, Shirou kept his silence while in deep thought. The cut on Jeanne Alter's cheek appeared to be a sword wound, and he could think of few individuals capable of hurting her like that.

"I take it you met my friends?" He probed.

"The weakling? They aren't anything much," Jeanne Alter answered callously, but couldn't hide the bit of frustration that seeped into her tone.

Saber Alter must have left an impression. This was all Shirou could assume must have happened. He didn't bring up the topic again lest he drive Jeanne Alter to kill him or just leave his company.

What he ended up doing was changing the topic.

"You're staring at me again," he observed.

"I'm not," she answered.

"You are. I can see your eyes."

The hue of the potent magical energy Jeanne Alter possessed caused a dim glow to shine from her golden pupils. This was how Shirou could tell that she was watching him in the dark.

"You're imagining it," Jeanne Alter refused to admit anything.

"Am I?"

Jeanne Alter sighed. Threats didn't work, rudeness didn't work, and pain wasn't something she was going to test on Shirou as he had endured being burned alive but still refused to talk. "…You're impossible. What was the point of me coming here?" she murmured to herself.

"A change of heart?" Shirou tried.

She leveled a frigid glare on him. "Don't push it," she warned.

"Then why?" Shirou pressed even if it irritated her. Honestly, he had nothing to lose from it anyway. She was strangely keeping him alive, and she must have her reasons for doing so.

"We've been through with this. You're the prisoner, so why don't you act like it? I ask, you answer, and that's all." Jeanne Alter gave her ultimatum.

"I don't have anything of value," he said flatly.

"I'll be the judge of that."

Shirou raised a brow in the dark. Jeanne had answered too quickly as if there actually was something that she wished to know from him other than information on Chaldea.

What about him did she possibly want to know that was worth keeping him alive, and prompted her to keep visiting him? She didn't seem to be the merciful sort to begin with, but was more of a misunderstood sort.

She seemed to hesitate if only for a moment in the darkness. When she spoke next, it was without her haughty tone.

"Who are you?"

She began the first of many questions that had nothing to do with France, the Singularity, or Chaldea, and by the end of it, she said something that shocked him.

"I'll be back tomorrow."