“……….what are these?” Atalantae was….confused, to say the least.
She knew cats had a habit of finding isolated spaces and staying there, its literally why she and a few of the solitary servants had their own personal ‘hunting grounds’.
…….but strange, winged creatures with bodies seemingly made of the universe shaped into kittens playing in ‘shared’ zone of her hunting ground was just….weird.
Probably should consult the other two.
Looking around, the Huntress of Artemis found the set of pipes that ran through most of the territory, and focused some mana through it, and caused it to pulse green in such a way that you could follow it to where she was.
As the only ‘sane’ one who lived here, she’d managed to get across the idea of ‘signal for a meeting’ to the Mad Dog and Hulking Lion.
I don’t think I’ll get a useful answer, but its better than bringing in new people.
While waiting for the other two, she set about the task of making a makeshift pen for the rambunctious winged kittens, to atleast vaguely keep them corralled.
Watching the strange kittens play, she started to notice some alarming differences between actual kittens, and these strange beasts, beyond the gold and ‘universe’ that made up their colouring.
They were bitter than house cats, yet obviously weren’t past the ‘kitten’ stage of development.
They were more like lion cubs with wings, than anything.
Wait, didn’t that Persian Archer say one of the Egyptian servants had a Sp–
Her thoughts were interrupted by the concurrent arrival of both Berserkers who stalked this area.
Lancelot, the Mad Dog of Chaldea, had arrived to Atalantae’s left, the tendril spikes on his armour flaring up, his body starting to jitter in the way it did when he lent himself to the madness that made him such a formidable opponent.
But before he could make his move, the hulking beast that was Heracles had launched himself from the doorway to her right, and now stood intimidatingly over the Black Knight, using his height to stare the other Berserker into submission.
Apparently not thinking the target of his rage was worth tangling with the mighty greek Hero, Lancelot backed down.
Seeing the situation having resolved itself, Atalantae lowered her bow, and brought their attention to her and the cubs.
“Do either of you two know where these creatures came fr–oof!”
One of the cubs had landed on her back, pushing her down on to one of the boxes she had used to make the corral, and was now standing triumphantly over its siblings and flaring its gold wings, while its siblings pawed at her legs to try and join the overachiever.
Heracles lumbered over, a reluctant Lancelot following slowly behind him.
The greek hero held his giant hand for the strange cub to smell, a tactic she knew worked on some felines to help gain their trust.
Apparently having gained its trust, he carefully but forcefully pushed the cub off her back, allowing her to stand up.
She offered him a smile, as she proceeded to sit on the box that had previously been holding her up under the weight of the cub.
“Thank you. As I was saying, do either of you know where they came from?”
The hulking hero carefully sat down in front of the entrance of the impromptu corral, watching the beasts play.
It wasn’t often, but she had occasionally seen moments of clarity in the brute’s eyes, and he apparently was having one of these moments with the cubs.
Lancelot finally joined them, skulking behind her and apparently using her body as a barrier from the intimidating servant.
She could sense the agitation at the cubs, but it quickly subsided as the Mad Dog realised they weren’t what he thought they were.
Heracles growled quietly, catching her attention.
He had a large finger pointed at some blue panelling.
“Yeah, what about it? You think they came out of the broken panelling?”
He shook his head, then pointed to the large chunk of stone he currently used as a sword.
She stiffened, hoping she was wrong in her line of thinking.
“…..you aren’t going to kill them, are you?”
The large servant shook his head again, much to her relief, and proceed to point back at the blue panel, then to his sword, then back again.
What does he mean?
A black gauntlet touched her shoulder, as Lancelot seemingly wanted her attention.
She felt him go rigid, as his clawed hand gripped her, as if physically forcing himself to do something.
“Ah……..ahh……..ahtu…….Arthur.”
Thats when it clicked.
Not the panelling, but the colour blue.
Master’s blue Sword, their Blue Saber.
Arthur Pendragon, the King of Knights.
“What does the King of Knights have to do with these creatures?” Atalantae asked, perplexed at both the fact she had gotten a somewhat clear answer from the two Berserkers, and the fact she didn’t know how the King of Knights factored into this at all.
The pair of Berserkers just stared at her, before Lancelot turned to leave, apparently not wanting to be near the cubs if the Blue Saber was going to be here.
She sighed.
Looks like I’m bringing yet another Saber into our territory.
“Hey, can I ask you to wat-“
Heracles growled, using his hand to make a shooing gesture, as he continued to watch the cubs, as they tried to climb over him.
Well, guess it means I won’t be bringing the King through Lancelot’s territory. That’ll make this easier.
—————————-
“I’m sorry to sound rude, Miss Archer, but where are you taking me?” Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights, calmly asked her guide, more curious than anything.
She didn’t exactly have plans for today, but she was partially concerned at the path they were taking.
DevilMayCryeToday at 5:53 PM
“According to the others I share this territory with, you are the one who can help us with a dilemma we have encountered.” her cat-eared guide replied, not even looking back as she seemingly made a path through a field of detritus that had originally seemed incredibly hard for someone like Artoria to pass through.
“If I may, who are these others?” Artoria was even more curious now.
Who could it be? Definitely not any of her Round Table. Only Tristan could match the easy of movement the green Archer before her had in this difficult terrain, but this wasn’t his style.
It wasn’t one of her ‘sisters’ The Alters were too stubborn for the amount of effort needed to move around here and would’ve left a path to follow, as would have the , as would the Altrias’ with their mounts.
And I doubt Lily would come down here alone. Not even Merlin be that much of a fool as to lure her down here.
Could it be one of the Fuyuki crowd, those she shared vague memories of a bizarre and broken Holy Grail War?
This wasn’t Medea’s style, too messy and hard to move.
Cu Chulainn would have no troubles here, but considering the distance from the Cafeteria and the female Servants, she severely doubted the Child of Light made a habit of coming here.
She knew EMIYA rarely left the Kitchen, he had too much work to do and not enough people capable of meeting his standards.
Hassan of the Cursed Arm was a possibility, but she was quick to dismiss that too. He took his job of guarding the ‘children’ seriously, and it was a 24 hour job.
Sasaki wasn’t even an option, this just wasn’t his sort of thing.
That only le–
Artoria paused, seeing the large gashes and broken doorways that now accompanied the detritus of this abandoned part of Chaldea.
“……what did this?” She asked, slightly horrified that such destruction had happened here and she had not even known.
“Oh, don’t mind that. Just a mix of territory markings and the other two not giving a damn.” her guide responded nonchalantly.
Artoria wanted to press her on who these other two were, when a strange red object caught her eye.
A single petal, of a vibrant rose, lined one of the sword slashes in a doorway.
This confused her more than the destruction.
Having doubled back after noticing her charge hadn’t kept up, her Guide noticed what she was looking at.
“Oh, never mind the roses. Thats so the Mad Emperor can find her Dog without trespassing. Now, this way, we’re almost there.” her guide stated as she began to pull on Artoria’s arm, into a doorway that was bent outwards, as if something large had stood within the frame and started to move through, but had stopped before passing through.
…..right towards the back of a large, musclebound servant, who hadn’t yet noticed them.
HIS presence explained all the wanton destruction.
Artoria pulled back from the grip of her Guide, and readied her invisible blade. This fiend could withstand a full strike from both her Excalibur AND her Alter’s Excalibur Morgan, she was not going to willingly get within arm’s reach of the beast of a servant.
“WAIT!” her Guide shouted, putting herself between Artoria and the hulking Servant, who still hadn’t turned to acknowledge them.
“He was the one who suggested I bring you here. So long as you don’t attack him, he’ll be passive. We’re in neutral territory, its what we agreed on.”
Turning back to the large servant, her Guide went to nearby box, and leant over it to look at something.
“Did they give you any trouble?” her guide asked the docile beast.
Artoria didn’t know how to handle all of this. Her vague and broken memories of Fuyuki had shown the Greek Hero known as Heracles to be a Mad Beast who would bring ruin to the battlefield.
Yet he just sat there, as the cat-earred Archer acted polite, and almost friendly to him.
A refutative growl answered back, then the huge servant finally turned a single eye towards Artoria.
……and she saw the clarity of the warrior buried beneath the Madness of the Berserker Class, a clarity she had once heard her Fuyuki Master say was only present when Heracles was alone with his own Fuyuki Master.
Artoria dissipated her blade, and cautiously approached, the Archer beckoning her over to come look at something.
Standing between the green Archer and the large Berserker, Artoria leant over the same box as the Archer.
…..she was not prepared for the adorable pile of cuteness that was sleeping all over the Berserker’s lap, and almost let out a noise that was not acceptable for a King to let out in public.
“WHERE DID YOU FIND LION CUBS?!??!?!” Artoria asked her guide, barely able to keep her excited voice below a whisper, not wanting to wake the strange cubs.
“We just found them here. Heracles indicated you might know something, hence why I brought you into our secret territory.” Her guide answered with slight amusement.
“I know not how they got here, but I am overjoyed to know they are here.” Artoria beamed at the strange cubs.
They weren’t like the lion cubs she had known, but they had a similar body shape and effect on her that only a similar creature could have.
“Good, you can have them. Summons your Knights, have them meet near the Intersection. Their presence annoys the one who isn’t here, and bringing your friends here would just start a rampage.” The faint smile was gone as the Archer lifted herself off the box, her usual all business attitude back in place.
Artoria was flabbergasted.
“What have I done to earn such a boon? How can i rep–“
The Archer held up a hand, making her pause.
“Just take them, so the fragile peace here stays intact. That will be repayment enough.” The faint smile returned in the corner of the Archer’s eyes.
Artoria was already quickly at work, barely bale to contain her excitement.
I’ll finally get to spend time with some cubs, without my Duty interfering!!!!!!
—————-
“Mash, have you found them yet? I don’t know how they escaped!” The frantic worry of her Senpai’s voice flowed through her communicator.
Upon rounding the corner, she found a useful group of Servants who would make this search much easier, and who would take the secret to their graves.
Or rather, they’d atleast keep the knowledge away from Cleopatra and Nitocris.
“Not yet, Senpai. But I’ve found some help. I’ll get back to you after I organise them.” Mash ended the call, and looked upon the Knights of the Round Table, who were all waiting expectantly for something.
“Excuse me, everyone. Senpai needs your assistance!” Mash asked loudly, feeling at home with the Servants she technically shared some sort of bond with.
She was greeted with a chorus of friendly welcomes.
While they were all peculiar in their own right, they were all dependable, especially since they had multiple Kings to serve.
“While I don’t speak for everyone, I’m sure we’d all be happy to help Master, once our current job is done.” Gawain stepped forward, he usually being the one to act as the Spokesperson for the Knights as a group when none of them had reason to be.
His response was greeted by various forms of agreement.
This had Mash curious. As far as she knew, there weren’t any missions scheduled for the Knights, and beyond using them as manual labor, there weren’t many jobs at Chaldea suited for their skills.
“Do you mind if I ask what you are doing?”
“Oh, its nothing much. Father just needs some help moving stuff, and was told to use all of us.” Mordred spoke up from behind Gawain, pushing past him good-naturedly.
“We were told to meet up here and wait for Father, which is what we’re doing now.”
“……I think our King is almost here.” Tristan quietly stated, his knack for sound well known among those who dealt with him.
The puzzled look on his face was new though. Not much puzzled the Child of Sadness, since it was not often he cared for most of the strangeness that invaded Chaldea.
Shortly after, the doorway they had been standing in front of slid open, and a happily exasperated Artoria walked forward, wrangling some strange creatures.
“…….Father, where the fuck did you find those?” Mordred asked disbelievingly.
“A benevolent Archer gave them to me. Now, help me wrangle them to my room. Gawain, I’ll need your strength behind me. Lancelot, to the front. Tristan, scout the path and lead us down whichever corridor will gives us the least effort. Mordred and Bedieve, assist Mash in whatever she needs, then follow us afterwards to ensure we made it.” Artoria was quick to take command and control her Knights.
Watching the King of Knights and her entourage wrangle the strange beasts, Bedivere approached Mash.
“So, Sir Mash, how may we assist you?”
Blushing at the title Bedivere gave her, Mash then sighed in relief.
“It seems I was mistaken, the job has resolved itself while I talked with you. Please, go and help our King.”
Exchanging a confused glance with Mordred, both Knights quickly followed after their fellows.
Mash then reopened her communicator.
“Senpai, they’ve been found. Apparently, Artoria has gotten her hands on them, and she couldn’t be happier about that fact.”
A relieved sigh answered her.
“Oh thank god. Can you go keep Cleopatra and Nitocris occupied for a while? I think Artoria should be allowed to have some time to enjoy herself, as thanks for unintentionally helping.”
Mash smiled at the kind act.
“No worries, Senpai. I’ll do so immediately.”