Cut It Out

{C. Forvedge Room, Fortress of Millenia, Transylvania. 2004. 1 hour after summoning.}

Stupid! Stupid! What was her brother thinking!? All he had to do was put on his glasses so he wouldn't faint from the sheer mystic overstimulation.

Oh Root, what was SHE thinking!? She should've forced the glasses on him back when Lancer first used his Noble Phantasm.

"And now you're here. Lying in your bed. With a blindfold I personally made for situations like this. And you're going to wear that for the rest of week even if I have to force you." She said to the unconscious idiot.

Fiore knew it was some notion of pride that led him to personally 'see it through' as if he had something to prove. It sounded...hypocritical and illogical coming from him. Cal usually knew when to be casual and when to be serious, she just thought he knew what limits to not cross when it came to pride.

All his talk about combat philosophy, about taking no quarter, using every factor to one's advantage, shore up your weaknesses and exploit what your enemy knew about you...and he falls to hubris like this!? During the technical start of the Grail War!? Unbelievable.

Her anger simmered down, and now she was just disappointed.

Brief introductions between themselves aside - with Rider concisely just introducing herself as Rider. With the help of Archer, they already treated the worst of the damage to his brain, but some blood vessels and the optic nerves would need their own time to recover, independent of magical treatment. His Pure Eyes were a psychic mutation in itself that was connected to his physical eyes and the nerves connected to them, and the spiritual organ would heal in time granted that he didn't strain his vision further. Just like an overstressed magic circuit, you either needed a very skilled spiritual doctor, or you let it heal naturally.

She stayed at his bedside, the Ardent Stilt propping her legs into a sitting position, her Servant behind her, and Caules' Rider not too far from his own bed.

The past hour was still so amazing and so nerve-wracking. To know she would be the one to command Chiron, the famous mentor of heroes himself.

Sure, she had his catalyst for the summoning ritual, but this and that were different. She was in the presence of a once-divine hero whose deeds were carved into human history, and it was an honor and a weight on her shoulders.

She turned to her Servant and sighed. "I apologize for my brother's actions, Archer. He should've known better than to cross his limits so recklessly."

"Once again, there's no need to apologize for this, Master. It stands to reason that he was simply...unprepared for the backlash to his senses. Has this ever happened before?" Archer calmly inquired.

"Nothing that I can remember." Even after some of his more dangerous assignments, he never told of anything more than light eye strain and quick headaches. "At least, not to this extent. I think the worst he's ever experienced was when I practiced a high thaumaturgy formula with him in the same room. His scleras were red, and he said he had a migrane halfway through my incantation and...yes, that's pretty much it. Crying blood and passing out is all new to him, to me, and I'm worried that it'll keep happening throughout the War if he doesn't have his glasses with him."

"So the presence of Servants and our combat will detriment him further?"

"Sadly yes. And..."

She looked to Archer, wondering for a moment if she should resume her words with Rider in the room...then proceeded anyway, because she realised there was still some leftover annoyance in her mind and she trusted Rider to hopefully understand. Besides, even Caules wouldn't mind her scolding him in his sleep. Not that he could care, unconscious as he was.

"The sole reason this stupid brother of mine joined this war was because he couldn't leave me alone. He cares about me very much, yes, but it's to the point where I can realistically see him fighting a Servant if I was in danger. "

"And you do not want that?"

"Of course I don't want that. In fact, what I want is for him stay as close to the Fortress as possible, preferably inside and close to reinforcements. Here at castle, every Servant in the Black faction would be supplied with enough prana to fight for hours on end, at full power. And his eyes...well, you already saw what happened."

Archer looked to Rider with an expression she couldn't read. Rider stared back - or at least Fiore thought she stared back, it was hard to tell with the blindfold.

"Forgive me if I trespass with some questions, Master-"

"You're forgiven." She automatically responded. What was she gonna do? Ignore the words of a sage known for their wisdom and teaching prowess?

Probably reading her underlying thoughts through Clairvoyance, Archer kindly smiled. "If such a situation where you fear for you and your brother's life did come to pass, how would you adapt to it?"

"Adapt to it? I've no intention of letting it happen it the first place. We can plan around it. We have you and the other Servants. We have Caster's golems, and we have uncle Gordes' homunculi. Us Masters stepping into the battlefield ourselves...that's just a tragedy waiting to happen."

His kind eyes gained a more firm gaze, as if to scold her. "I believe that is overly wishful thinking, Master. You are not completely wrong in hoping for a complete victory, but that mindset is too narrow, too short-sighted. War can often become unpredictable in many natures, and the worse case scenarios happen when you have little information to act on. It is, at its core, based on deception. And with a war between Servants, nearly anything becomes a possibility. So the question still stands. How do you adapt and plan for an unexpected scenario?"

"...I don't know. If it's unexpected, then I think we can only prepare as much as we can, for what we can prepare for."

There was that prominent thought in the back of her mind that rejected Archer's accusation, but it was overtaken by the shame she felt at not considering it sooner.

Caules had spent a not inconsiderable amount of their free time hammering a foundation of tactical sense into her since she made the Ardent Stilt. Fiore took to her brother's teachings with reluctant understanding at the time, but at this point she was confident in beating a moderately equipped Magus on her lonesome. And now she was feeling inadequate at her own half-assed effort. There was fear in the shadow of her confidence - the doubt that lingered and thought 'what if it's not enough?'.

Yggdmillenia had decades to prepare, but she'd be stupid to underestimate the lengths that even the current Mage's Association would take. And for many intents and purposes, she was at the helm of it all next to Grandfather, as the heir to the clan.

It was only now that she recognised the possible depths of what the War represented, rather than the overt politics involved in it. And it scared her.

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. "And that is sadly all we can do. We can take it one step at a time, Master. Don't worry. I'll be here with you every step of the way."

"Thank you, Archer. It means a lot to me." She shook of the mental turmoil for now.

Turning her sight back to her bedridden brother, she sighed.

"Stupid..." Fiore muttered. She didn't know if she said it to Caules or herself this time. There were a few too many things to think about, and she regretted that it only had to be now.

"Sorry-"

"Gwak!" She then recoiled in surprise as Caules suddenly sat up and responded.

Cal continued. "Sorry for worrying you, Fei. I just got blinded by the lights is all."

"You- wha- why-" Her anger was mixing with confusion and the anxiety from just a minute ago, so she was pretty much stumped on what to feel.

So she reverted back to calmness with a flash of self-hypnosis.

"How long have you been awake?"

"D-uhhh..." He scratched his head in thought.

"That's just a tragedy waiting to happen?" He playfully mocked, then chuckled. "Get real, sis. You think any of us WON'T be sent out of the castle for one reason or another? The karmic line that connects us to our Servants aren't strong enough for us to supply sufficient prana from several kilometers away. Closer proximity means more energy for them to work with. Plus, even with the basement homunculi providing an obscene prana capacity for the Servants, it would only be effective within the vicinity of the Fortress. I don't care about having to fight Servants if I have to. We're winning this war."

"...Caules, I refuse to let you die due to stupidity. Yours or anyone else's."

"Your lack of faith disturbs me a little, but I understand." He took her hand in both of his with a gentle squeeze. "I promise I won't die on you."

"You can't promise something like that, damn you."

"Yes, I can. I just did."

"Caules." She forcefully said.

And was summarily ignored. "Wanna see me do it again? Cause' I can. You can't stop me, because it'll take more than a Servant to keep me down. I promise you."

"I...fine. Make your promises. If you can't keep them, that's on you." She could let it go this time, even with how stupid it sounded.

Seriously, fighting a Servant? The only official record of that happening was when several highly equipped Enforcers ambushed a Lancer Servant in America, one that was summoned with a significantly weaker Grail. With the caliber of this War's Servants...

Lancer of Black had already made that demonstration.

"If you'll excuse me, I don't wanna use my spatial awareness to navigate a castle for a week."

"Huh?"

Caules quickly unwrapped the blindfold on his eyes, much to her sudden horror, misty silver overlayed on blue irises.

He squinted, face scrunching in effort.

"Well this was a mildly bad idea."

"Cal, what the hell!? Put it back on!" That was made specifically to block out ocular mystics. If he were to look at the weight of Mystery in the room-

"Master, it seems there's no need to panic."

"Pardon?" She turned to Archer.

"Fixed myself with a personal spell. No big deal." Cal waved off.

To her further confusion, Archer leaned in closer to her brother. "That is...peculiar. May I inspect how you healed yourself, Sir Forvedge?"

"...Okay, but hearing you call me that sounds wrong. Please just call me Caules. I don't mind you checking as long as you don't communicate of what you find. Magic confidentiality, you understand."

Now she was even more confused by that serious implication. When did Cal ever develop a personal magecraft to the point it could recover him in a short time frame? This was probably the most well kept secret he kept from her.

"Thank you then, Caules. Curiosity just... struck me at this moment."

Some moments passed as Archer turned Cal's head in several angles, inspecting whatever it was that caught his attention about her brother's eyes.

If anything strange appeared, she obviously couldn't see it, but Archer was renowned for his medical knowledge AND had a B rank Claivoyance improving his visual acuity to greatly superhuman levels.

Whatever it was, it seemed to surprise him.

"Ah, that...really IS personal."

And now she was curious too.

"Yes, Archer, very personal. You must speak no word of this so I can continue basking on how special I am." Caules said with casual sarcasm and a small grin.

"I understand. Your secret is safe with me, Caules." Archer complied with an amused yet understanding look.

Fiore looked at her brother with a pointedly raised eyebrow.

"I think I'll keep my secrets secret for now, Fei. But right now I can absolutely assure you that my magecraft means no harm to me whatsoever. I promise."

She glared at him for a few more seconds, just to let him know she was serious about this. "Fine. But don't think I trust you enough to keep that. So..."

Fiore turned to Rider, who stayed the silent bystander throughout the entire hour. She just had this...hunch, a feeling that she could trust the Servant despite the cold way she held herself.

"Rider, please protect my brother with your life. He's blunt. He could be stupid at times, as evidenced by this. But in this war, I have more faith in his abilities than I do for every other Master in our faction. Caules is the only family I have, and if it takes a wish on the Grail to keep us safe, I'd do so in a heartbeat. But I currently don't have the power to make that possible. So please. Guard him. Keep him in your care. And make sure Caules doesn't die. That's all I ask of you."

She poured her heart out with firm resolve. A response came a few moments later.

"You are not my Master."

Her heart dipped at that.

The pink haired Servant turned to her Master. "My duty, however, is tied to his orders. And if he abides to that will of yours, then I will not object whatsoever."

"Please follow my sister's orders, Rider." Caules readily said.

"I have no more objection." She said, face still blank and stony.

Fiore blinked at the comical turn of conversation. "Then I guess I could leave you for now. I'll leave you to get acquainted while I go rest a bit. I'll see you at dinner, Cal."

"I think I'll just bring the food to my room. I don't wanna deal with Celenike while eating again. It's exhausting. Speaking of, what about the others? The Masters, I mean. Did they leave already?"

"Oh right, Grandfather messaged me a while ago that everyone else just went back to their rooms - dungeon, I guess, for Celenike. It's been an hour since you passed out, Cal. They couldn't care less."

"Alright, but how're your legs? You and Archer healed me. So no problems? No pain?"

She waved him off. "There was barely any exertion from me, so no. No pain. Archer did all the heavy lifting."

"Good, good. Glad to hear." Caules stood up from the bed. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go for a walk now. Just to clear my head and get rid of this dizziness. See you later?"

She was reluctant to let him out of the room considering his state just a few minutes ago, but with Archer's okay and knowing he had a dislike of sitting still, she might as well let him go ahead.

"Right, I'll see you later. Don't trip and fall on your way to the courtyard, brother."

He gave her a quick hug. "Great, see ya later. C'mon Rider, I'll brief you on the SOP's while we walk."

Rider nodded affirmatively and followed her Master out of the room. Fiore had some doubtful thoughts on the Servant as of now, but at least she had a degree of discipline that matched her brother in work mode.

The pink haired woman definitely wasn't the hero Perseus, but with Caules' catalyst Fiore was sure she was of Greek origin. Maybe later she could ask Archer? He was Greek too, so perhaps he knew of her.

...that thought wasn't too assuming, was it?

-0-0-0-

"So what was the secret?" Fiore immediately asked once they were alone in her room.

She felt like she had the right to know. This was her brother after all. If she had to pull the older sibling card to make sure he was safe, so be it.

Archer, however, had other plans.

"As your brother and I agreed, I can't disclose it, Master."

"But I want to know what he's up to. He WILLINGLY sustained a severe injury today, and I'm not sure if I trust him enough during this War to not do something this stupid again."

"If you can't trust his words, then you can assuredly trust mine, Master. I can admit that that spell of his was...strong, especially in the ways he may execute it, but the price for it leaves no short or long-term harm to him whatsoever."

Archer confirmed, but she had doubts all the same. Just a little bit of paranoia that pushed her to wanting to find out the secret. Caules willingly didn't keep many of those from her. But if he did, then he was apparently really good at it.

Fiore shored up what she currently knew of the mystical phenomenon. Just another puzzle in the big picture of magecraft.

"General Foundations. Mastery of practical aspects in Forvedge summoning. Ectoplasmic mediums. Elemental magecrafts of fire and water... Spiritual surgery. Of all the fields he practices, Caules is known in the Clock Tower as a spiritual doctor of decent reputation - creating series of alterations on the soul to affect they body, without working a single cut." Decent for a freelancer, to be exact. He had his own niche of patients from the 'less dignified' magi, but he was more known in the social circles of spellcasters. "From what I've known and observed, all of his most powerful restorative capabilities stem from that specialization. That, and I know for a fact that every other field I mentioned is something that he hasn't mastered, or would take far more magical energy than what he could generate in the state he was in. The last point I want to mention is that it was subtle enough that the prana output wasn't any different than his normal state, at least to an observable degree. Therefore, with all the personal information I know that's compiled in a minute, I figure there are two likely scenarios."

She raised her left index finger. "One: the spell is already mastered to its logical maximum, and is so conceptually tied to his affinites that it became as powerful and efficient as it is. My brother can be single-mindedly determined enough that I can see it happen."

And then her middle finger. "Or two: It is something directly related to his Origin - the primal prerogative of his soul."

Fiore let the moment sink in.

Then Archer, to her internal frustration, put his arms behind his back and kept his mouth shut. All while looking at her with a vacant but welcoming expression.

There was no yes. There was no no. Only silence.

She didn't let the creeping feeling of annoyance get to her. Fiore had more self respect and control than that! Absolutely!

Instead, she just pouted at him. "Fine. Be that way. I'll figure it out eventually. Let's just...go over our combat abilities, I guess? What I can do, what you can do, and the resources at our disposal? That should be a good change of subject since you won't tell me about the spell."

Archer chuckled, "On that, we can agree, Master. We can start with yours first."

"All right then. So the main equipment I have is...this." She picked up the deceptively inconspicuous metal suitcase on her bed. "The Bronze Link Manipulators. It's imbued with 4 wolf spirits, and transforms into 4 large mechanical arms strapped to my back. Since my legs are...useless, it's my primary method of maneuverability. Each end of the arm can fire different variations of ether-based projectiles, and its sheer durability makes it a balanced blend of offense and defense. The dolls on the shelf are-"

Fiore continued the spiel of the information on her magical equipment. There was honestly a lot of things she brought from the dorm. From trinkets to regents to minor mystic codes. And then she got to one of Caules' recommendations.

She held the sleek black weapon in her hand. Pointed downward, safety on, and finger off the trigger.

"Pardon, Master, the Grail is a bit sparse on the more esoteric details of this era...but is that a firearm?"

"Yes. Caules bought it for me on one of his overseas missions." She briefly looked at the engravings on the gun. "Glock 21. He said it's the mundane option for when my Magecraft fails me, or as a 'surprise option'. I practiced the basics of how to shoot with him, but he's the one that does the maintenance on it every month or so. He keeps some of them unenchanted like this so they won't be easily detected by other magi."

"Some of them? Ah, so those were what I saw in his room. It's a good decision."

"Yup. He has a few hidden for emergencies. Wait until I tell you about the time Caules' classmate grabbed one of his grenades."

-0-0-0-

AN: Oh boi, here I go posting again. I'm gonna keep sticking to this format of just two main perspectives/protagonists for the forseeable future of the story. Minor interludes excluded.

With my abominable update schedule tho, it'll probably be like a year or two until we get to the next arc so uhhh...you guys can go hibernate or something. But hopefully it won't get to that.

Anyway.

Peace✌️out.