pullmeoutalive | Fate/Echo's Call

Fate/Echo's Call

[ She hadn't wanted this. She had disagreed with her father's plan, to participate in the Holy Grail war at all, but perhaps it hadn't been loud enough.

(Perhaps, Haru thinks, tiredly now, as though she didn't know that it had been nowhere near loud.)

But with mages hearing the stirrings of a powerful man ready to put Tokyo beneath his heel, she ought to have expected this. Instead, she had come home and found her father, face-down on the ivory shag carpet, body having long since grown cold. But the armor. The armor was still where he had hidden it, five sets of hidden drawers locked with a seal only a member of the Okumura family could undo.

She hadn't wanted this. But things couldn't stay as they were, and only a few days after his funeral, Haru had finished preparations. The circle, etched carefully and painstakingly on the floor with care given to each individual symbol. The armor, placed in the center.

... She can't shake the feeling that she is still her father's subservient puppet, but as she finishes chanting--

The room explodes in light and her hand burns as the lines of three Command Seals engrave themselves onto her skin.

Much to her embarrassment, she's tipped over backwards from the shock. ]

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B-because I scared you earlier... and now you're gonna go off 'cause I wasn't a good girl-- [ Her grip tightens, even though she's pretty much largely talking into his armored back and now huffing. ]

But your bare chest was just so niiiiiice...

[ Caster clears his throat, now sounding a little bit... flummoxed.

"I... interesting. Bringing her under the thrall of wine was supposed to have her attack you."

Oops. ]

[ This sure escalated quickly, and Arenvald is just as blindsided as Caster apparently is -- only he's embarrassed as hell about it. ]

Haru!

[ Don't talk about his bare chest in the middle of enemy territory!! If he's lucky, Rhalgr's comet will find its way across time and space to obliterate him right on the spot. ]

Y-you didn't scare me off, but can we talk about this later?

[ The enemy should be jealous that they don't get to see his bare chest!! Let them seethe with envy!!

Which is to say Haru is making soft, whiny incoherent noises now but also not letting go, which may have to be the best that Arenvald can hope for.

But if Arenvald manages to pay close enough attention, the air will ripple just off to the side, and a Servant with an impressive beard appears, murmuring thoughtfully to himself about "thought he said her Magic Resistance wouldn't handle it well". ]

[ Whether she fights him or not, she may well be his undoing with the way she refuses to let go. He's half a second from prying her off when he notices the distortion in the air out of his periphery. Shield at the ready, he turns to face the Servant that appears. ]

Obviously whatever you were hoping to do won't work, so just undo it.

[ Caster scoffs, derisive.

"She's still deterring you, is she not? Besides, wouldn't you agree that a needy woman is so much better than a commanding one?"

He shrugs, waving a hand at the both of them.

"Or I suppose you could knock her unconscious first."

There are vines now, though, slithering up from the ground to try and wrap around his legs. ]

[ In response, Arenvald glares. ]

Some of the strongest, most admirable people I know are women, and that includes Haru.

[ Lyse, Alisaie, Minfilia, Aulie, the list goes on and on. None of them would ever bow to a man, least of all pigs like Caster and his Master.

Arenvald grits his teeth, glancing down at his own Master, still clinging to him. The vines snake around his ankles, slowly crawling up his greaves, and it's only a matter of time before he's incapacitated completely. ]

Haru, listen to me. You remember why we're here, right? I broke your so-called fiance's nose, because I just couldn't stand to hear him say those awful things about you. You're one of the most amazing people I've ever known, and I don't ever want to leave you, but right now, you have to let me fight.

[ For a few seconds, Haru doesn't say anything. Nor does she move, as her dazed mind tries to make sense of what he's saying. He broke... right, he broke Sugimura's nose. He'd been angry...

And right now, she's... stopping him. Is she afraid? He'd said he didn't want to leave. But-- ]

You'll... come back?

I promise I’ll come back.

[ It’s as sincere as he can make it, and coming from Arenvald, that is very sincere indeed. He sure hopes this works, though, because much longer and these vines will be a real problem. ]

…

Have a safe trip.

[ It's a monumental effort of will t hat finally gets Haru to loosen her arms and release him-- and also the last act of consciousness, as she immediately topples over, but that's probably for the best right now.

Especially because Caster now looks incredibly unnerved. ]

[ Haru drops onto the grass, either exhausted from fighting the influence over her mind or a victim of it. Now free to move, Arenvald bends to scoop her up... and then he's gone, rocketing from his place with speed only a Servant can possess, ripping free of the vines grasping at his ankles.

Haru gets deposited elsewhere on the grounds, at the base of a tree, and then Arenvald is right there again, re-materializing in the same space as Caster, sword drawn ]

Lycurgus, is it? I hope you can fight as well as you hide.

[ He can't, and he knows it, which is why he's already shrinking back and clutching at his staff.

"Listen, Saber... must you result to violence? As you can see, your Master is unharmed, and I'm sure there's something we can do to make it worth your while, I could present to you the heads of anyone you desired, I who have driven out the gods themselves--!" ]

[ "Must you resort to violence?" What cowardly words from a cowardly man. If Arenvald were a different sort of Heroic Spirit, perhaps he'd be swayed by such promises, but he has ever been fiercely loyal and kindhearted in a way that most might consider a weakness.

There is only one way this confrontation could end.

Arenvald, silent in the face of those pleas, shifts his blade to a two-handed grip and lunges with all his speed at the Servant before him. ]

[ Caster seems to realize that this is it, ready to flee-- but in the end, Arenvald is too fast and the blade tears right through him, emerging bloody on the other side.

It's a choked, offended noise that burbles out of him, but then the Servants simply... falls, fading away into nothingness. So too does the aroma in the air dissipate. ]

[ Arenvald spends one last lingering moment looking over the estate, wondering if Sugimura is looking back, and hoping that, in the end, he feels as weak and useless as his Servant turned out to be.

He flicks his sword clean, letting the blood spatter into the grass, before he turns to make his way back to the place he left Haru. If she remains unconscious when he gets there, then he will bear her back home and settle her into bed.

And from there, he will wait for her to wake up. ]

[ Wake up, she does, though she does so fitfully, one hand clutching at her blanket until suddenly she bolts upright with wide, alarmed eyes. ]

...!

[ ... Wait, where on earth-- ]

What--

[ At some point, in order to conserve energy, Arenvald had gone incorporeal, though he lingered nearby. When Haru stirs, he manifests in a soft swirl of light, reaching out to cover her hand with his own. ]

Easy, Haru. It's alright, you're back home.

I'm...

[ Haru trails off, looking down at his (much larger) hand covering her own, and draws a shaky breath. Her head's pounding a bit, but the haze that had wrapped around her mind is completely gone. If Arenvald had brought her back home, he must have defeated Caster.

But... ]

You're all right? You weren't injured?

I'm fine. When it came down to it, he didn't put up much of a fight.

[ Not surprising, he supposes, given how his Master had run off with his tail between his legs after Arenvald decked him. ]

How are you feeling?

... As though it might be better if we never discussed much of what happened ever again.

[ Yeah, remembering it... she's definitely feeling more than a little mortified. ]

[ An amused little chuckle, barely more than a soft exhale, escapes him, and he gingerly settles himself on the edge of her bed. ]

Come on now, it wasn't that bad. You could have been trying to kill me.

[ Haru sits up a little more properly, just as gingerly. ]

I believe that was the intent... I fought it back as much as I could, but then it, er... manifested as something problematic.

And I did hold you back.

No harm done in the end. You still had your wits about you enough to listen to me, after all.

[ He squeezes her hand a bit. ]

And I kept my promise, didn't I?

... Mm, you did.

[ And finally, tentatively, there's her smile. ]

I didn't doubt you, but... thank you, Arenvald. And I'm sorry for causing you trouble.

No trouble at all. I understand what it’s like to not want to be alone.

[ He found his place eventually, a family on which he could rely, but those years spent on the streets of Ala Mhigo were torturous in more ways than one. Loneliness can gnaw at a person just as surely as hunger. ]

Well, I mean that and... the, um. Other things I...

[ Kill her. ]

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