Remaining Days: 3
I awake next to Saber. I'm not lying on the bed, merely my upper body rests on the bed; I've been worrying about and caring for Saber pretty much all night. Her face is contorted in pain and she's been mumbling in her sleep; half conscious, half unconscious; all night, barely comprehensible.
"Father… why," she repeats again and again. "I… loved you." Is this a side effect from the poison or does Saber have such nightmares every night? They seem to be related to her past. I know close to nothing about her life, and she wouldn't want me to pry. Yet, I can't help but worry about her well-being.
Suddenly, there is a sound resembling a door bell. I get to the room's door and check with my terminal—it's Rin. She's earlier than I would have expected, but that's probably for the better. I open the door and Rin immediately dashes in, towards the bed in which Saber is still barely conscious, due to her condition. "Come right in," I mutter anyways, albeit too late for the words to carry any meaning.
Rin looks at Saber, then holds her hand towards her after which a greenish light emits from it. "Are you—" The ravenette interrupts me. "Scanning her, yes. That gives me more information than you could… No offense."
I shake my head. "None taken." After all, I know I'm not the best Master or magus around, I'm barely mediocre at writing Code Casts by now.
"Hm. That's weird," Rin says. I step next to her, as if I could see what she means this way.
"What do you mean?" There is a moment of silence; Rin seems to be pondering whether to tell me or not, and probably what exactly to say.
"The link between you and Saber is… broken. No, more, your access rights are more disabled than they should."
She continues her explanation after I show no sign of understanding the meaning behind her words, "It's like a punishment of SERAPH. When Masters break one of the Moon Cell's rules, the SERAPH. denies them part of the access to their Servant, which limits their supporting abilities and the Servant's strength."
"But… I did nothing that deserves punishment." I'm confused, why am I being punished when I did nothing wrong?
"No, it's not like that. If there was some rule breaking you did, I could see that, but there's nothing of that sort. You really are a weirdo."
I laugh weakly at the name-calling, but this throws up an important question—what should I do to fix this? And what exactly caused the punishment? As if she can read my thoughts, Rin tells me what to do.
"You should ask those witches at the church. Looking into your soul and hacking it is their job, after all." I nod at her, I'll be sure to do that as soon as Saber is fine again.
"So," I look at my Servant, then back to Rin, "Can you help her?"
Rin is pondering again. "Well, yes. If not for this anomaly, you could, too. But like this, I have a better chance. Did you collect the Triggers already?"
Oh. I was procrastinating this, again and again. I avert her gaze by looking down.
"Not… really. Not a single one," I mutter weakly, to Rin's shock. This is a rough situation; taking away today, there's only two days left to get them. I can't possibly go get a Trigger by myself, the Enemy Programs would slaughter me.
Suddenly, a blue-haired man in a black and blue suit appears, most likely Rin's Servant, who I've never formally met before. "How about I go get a Trigger with her?" He can't possibly be serious about this offer. Aren't they my opponents ? Even if not now, but surely someday, if I don't lose earlier.
Rin doesn't exactly seem happy about this idea either. "It's the only choice, isn't it?" She really plans to send me off with a stranger Servant. He probably notices my uneasiness.
"Don't worry, Missy. I wouldn't harm you. After all, you're my Master's little girlfriend," he says, to which Rin's face turns bright red, probably out of anger.
"Shut up! And you should go already," she yells at her Servant before turning to me, "Leave Saber to me. I promise she'll be fine."
I have no other choice but to trust them, so, with Rin's Servant following me, I make my way to the Arena. Before stepping in, I come to a halt. "I'm a poor excuse of a Master, so… I cannot really help you in battles," I warn him.
He merely chuckles. "Yeah, I know. You don't remember a thing, all you can do you learned here. Don't worry, I can take care of myself." This alleviates my concern, though this attitude reminds me of Saber. I hope she's fine. I hope nothing happens to Rin's Servant because of me, because I can't focus again.
Then, I feel a soft push on my back. "Stop beating yourself up about last round. You did nothing wrong, and there are two very special girls who can't help but give everything for you. Cheer up a bit, Missy." It sounds really easy, coming from him. Without wasting more time, we go into the Arena.
We walk in silence through the halls, him using a blood-red spear, longer than his own height, to destroy every Enemy Program on the way.
"So, you're a Lancer," I try to start some small conversation.
He nods. "Yeah, your Servant's a Saber, isn't she?"
There's no reason for me to hide this fact. After all, I'm sure after her scan, Rin would know Saber's class anyways. "Yes, she is. But I don't know her True Name." There is silence for a short time. "Do you think Rin's scan will make her know, Lancer?"
He rests his spear on his shoulders, coming to a halt. "Don't think so. Our True Names are pretty well encrypted."
So, information-wise, we're still on the same level.
"Who's your current opponent? The Servant, I mean," Lancer continues our conversation. Despite my initial impression, we get along decently. I'm glad Rin has such a nice Servant.
"I don't really know. He's an Archer, wears a green cloak and apparently uses poisoned arrows," I explain.
Lancer seems to be brooding for a while. "Maybe it's Robin Hood? From the Sherwood Forest in Nottingham, ahaha," he jokes. But, that might be not too far off. I'll definitely keep this in mind. At worst, they are just similar, and even then this would help our battle.
"Oh, look, there's the Trigger," Lancer points at it. I save it in my terminal, Trigger Code Gamma .
"Thanks, Lancer. I owe you."
He smirks. "Sure, I'll make sure to have you pay that favour back someday." With that, we head back to my private room, though Lancer goes back into his spirit form for the way.
Upon arriving back, Rin sits on my bed, watching Saber. Her face is more at ease and less pained. "Did you—"
But again, before I can finish my question, Rin interrupts me with the answer. "Yes. But she needs to rest tonight. Tomorrow she should be completely fine, though."
I can't help but jump on her and embrace her tightly. "Thank you so much!"
Her cheeks heat up slightly before she softly pushes me away. "It's not that special… Besides, what about you?" At first, I'm not sure as to what she's referring to, but then it hits me.
"Well, I'm still having… nightmares. When I can sleep, that is," I tell her truthfully. She pulls me into a hug, which is quite contrary to her usual personality.
"It'll be alright, don't hate yourself, okay?" So many people worry about me and try to cheer me up. I really shouldn't be such a downer.
"A-Anyways," Rin breaks up the hug, "I'll need to go now. Make preparations and all. Hope to see you still around next week. Bye!" And suddenly, she's gone out of the door. I take a look at Saber and pull away the blanket. I run my fingertips softly over her hip, where the arrow wound used to be, but it's gone. All I feel is her smooth, seemingly flawless skin.
As soon as I catch myself keeping the touch for longer than intended or needed, I pull away my hand fast and feel my cheeks heating up. That was awkward. I'm just glad Saber is fast asleep.
I take off my school uniform and change into my pajama and lay down in our bed, hoping for a relatively normal day tomorrow. As soon as I slip below our blanket, Saber instantly clings to me. "Don't leave… father," she mumbles. Her adorableness puts a smile on my face and I'm sure, I'll be able to catch at least some sleep today.
And tomorrow, we'll go see Aoko and Touko in the church.