Who would have thought that the Main Gate to this Base would make the perfect hideaway?
Atalanta, the Chaste Huntress, follower of Artemis, and now Archer of Ritsuka Fujimaru, loved the isolation the Main Gate provided her, which also amused her, since in theory a Main Gate should always be bustling with activity.
But due to the Incineration of Humanity that was supposedly happening, the Gate was locked down and all the areas nearby were turned into impromptu storage areas.
And with the couple of months it had been since this mess had started, the currently useless Main Gate was essentially considered ‘lost’ to most of Chaldea’s staff and Servants.
And the few who like the isolation also know to stick their noses elsewhere. Atalantae mused, as she noticed signs of a servant having passed through.
The Main Gate was unofficially considered hers, and as such, only a few were allowed within.
So far, it was either Medea, or the beast that Heracles had become.
As she followed the mess and claw marks, she considered which of the two it was.
She doubted it was Medea.
The Medea she knew was nothing like the Medea her Master had summoned.
The bright and happy young had grown into a cold and bitter woman, who who knew the true extent of betrayal.
The powerful healer who had become a Mage so strong she could directly interfere with the magical rules binding them.
But she still saw glimmers of that once happy girl.
I hope she finally found someone who treated her like she deserved. She was wasted on our fool of a leader.
Plus, she would often send her Dragonteeth warriors instead, and Medea was a skilled Mage, so she always sent a Construct perfectly designed for getting to Atalntae.
They had started off as rats and lizards, but as Medea had grown comfortable in Chaldea and with the knowledge that her fellow Argonauts now dwelled in Chaldea, she had changed the Constructs to those of a feline nature.
A change Atalantae appreciated.
She also doubted it was Heracles.
The enraged Giant only came when he couldn’t handle the hustle and bustle of Chaldea, or when he seemingly felt lonely.
Poor Bastard. Even in this life, you are still on a whole other level that isolates you from everyone.
She had started exploring what she considered his ‘den’ in her territory, but all she had found was a simple but fancy canopy bed (Why did Chaldea have one of those?) and a small, silver haired doll with red eyes.
She had refused to touch what she found, and she knew better than to walk in and disturb the invincible Heracles when he was possible seeking isolation.
Despite his bulk and large stature, she knew he could easily vault most of the obstacles that made the area harder to get to.
Plus, he had a habit of just walking through walls, instead of clearing doorway blockages.
Luckily, those new ‘doors’ are deep enough that I don’t have to worry about hiding them.
Then who was leaving these large claw marks, and moving aside all these objects that had originally blocked the way to her territory?
The only other person who might head in this direction was her Goddess.
But that also didn’t work.
While her Goddess was a lot more air-headed and…..lovedrunk? than she expected.
And while her……..consort might have the means of causing this damage, there was no way he’d have made it this far.
Both she and her Goddess had come to the unspoken agreement that Orion was not allowed to know of this territory.
“Grrhhhhrrrhhgg!”
Atalante froze, figuring out that roar came from deep within her territory, somewhere between her little haven and Heracle’s den.
……that wasn’t a sound she knew Heracles to make.
She ran as fast as she could. That roar begged of trouble coming to ruin her peace, and Atalantae would be damned by her Goddess before she would allow her peace to be lost.
————-
“….who is this?” the feline huntress whispered from her small alcove, watching the dark armoured figure, almost definitely a servant, just standing in the middle of one of the larger rooms.
Based on the amount of movable room and detritus moved around, this must be one of Heracles’ more common routes.
She watched as the black suit of armoured slowly inspected the room, the slight point of its red and black visor shifting back and forth repeatedly.
Almost as if this Servant is sniffing a trail……. she mused as the servant finally decided on a direction.
……one she knew led eventually led the lumbering lion’s lair.
Can’t have that. He’s in one of his moods, and I’d hate for Master to have to deal with the resulting damage.
She slowly yet surely cocked an arrow, and aimed it down a passage she knew led back to the territory of the Chaldean staff.
Rage suddenly filled the air.
“▂▂▃▃▅▅■■■■ーー！！” bellowed the Lion berserker, apparently having come to from his stupor, his huge stone axe-sword held tightly in one muscled hand.
“GAAAAAAAAA!!!” The black knight bellowed back, body shifting downwards and tensing, the tapered chains on his back flaring out like tentacles, ready to attack.
Atalanta carefully eased the tense bow back, and slid her arrow back in place.
The two monstrous servants hadn’t moved, despite having bellowed a challenge to each other.
After a few more tense moments, the black Knight stood back up, pointed to itself then to the passage beyond Heracles.
The hulking brute brought his giant blade down across the entrance he stood inside of, unmistakably marking a line in the floor.
The knight’s visor seemingly glowed and narrowed at the mark, before a slight nod was made, followed by Heracles ‘calming down’, atleast as much as was possible for such an angry servant.
The knight repeated the process for other entrances, most of which Heracles just huffed dismissively.
The dark Knight then pointed down a path that effectively got as close to her lair as was possible for most Servants to get.
At which point Heracles proceeded to a desk at her position, knocking her cover away and revealing her hiding spot, the Knight turning to look at the newly revealed third party.
Apparently unperturbed by the violent throw, the dark Knight studied her, before looking back to Heracles, who made an affirmative huffing sound.
Looking back to her, the knight repeated the gesture he had started with Heracles, first pointing to itself, then pointing to the passage that got close to her ‘private’ territory.
Knowing that words could easily be wasted on Berserkers without knowing them personally, she responded in the only way she knew how.
She hissed in rage at the Knight, and quickly shot an arrow into the passage doorframe.
Studying the doorframe and the spot where she had hid, the Knight gave a quick nod.
Turning towards the final passage, he repeated the gesture, looking at her first, before looking at the hulking Heracles.
The passage itself led to a small and isolated area that was easily accessible to the Staff territory, but both she and Heracles came here for privacy, so they had both ignored it beyond casual explorations.
She watched as Heracles nodded, then looked at her.
Since she DID know what this Berserker was like, she knew his gaze meant.
She also nodded.
Having seemingly gotten permission from the other big predators of this small slice of abandoned Chaldea, the black Knight went over to the doorframe that led towards its’ new lair, and slashed across the roof of the frame, before using its tapered chains to make small holes around the large divot.
The knight pointed to the large slash Heracles had made, then to Heracles.
Then the Knight pointed to the arrow in the door frame, then to her.
Finally, it indicated the mark it had made, then to itself.
Heracles nodded, the Knight nodded, and Atalanta reluctantly nodded.
Looks like I’ll need to do some more marking to make sure my area is safe from this new servant.
Seemingly satisfied with the mutual agreement between the now three hunters of the Gate of Chaldea, Heracles lumbered down a passage that led back to Staff territory.
Watching the giant leave, the Knight turned to watch her briefly, before going down to explore the territory it had claimed.
Sighing, Atalanta went down a longer, more winding path to Staff territory.
As much as I like my private place, I think I’ll see if I Artemis isn’t fawning over that stupid bear thing.
——————–
On her way to one of the areas she knew the bear thing liked to hide from Atalanta’s Goddess and would therefore ALSO have her Goddess looking for him, Atalanta heard an exuberant voice calling for someone.
“Lancelot! Come here boy!” A servant in a billowing and revealing red dress was seemingly calling for a pet of some sort.
Turning in her direction, a brilliant smile crossed her rather beautiful features.
“Oh, graceful green Archer! How you seen my pet?”
Atalanta had been keeping to herself, so it made sense this red Saber wouldn’t know who she is.
“Besides Fou, I didn’t realise Chaldea had any pets to speak of. What does your pet look like?”
“Oh, he’s hard to miss. Tall, dark armour, growls a lot, has a habit of attacking anyone who looks, smells or sounds like the beautiful Artoria?” She said in all seriousness.
Atalanta sighed.
“I know where he is. All I ask is that you don’t explore further than his territory.”
She led the red Saber towards the closest entrance.