...
"...Lancer. If you don't mind me asking... How is it you wish to be remembered...?"
The girl's soft-spoken words just barely reached the ears of the jaded man, Lancer.
"...I'm sorry. I know that's pretty personal... But, I just thought... Since we're working together--"
"...No, it's fine. You're within your rights to ask that of me, Master."
Lancer interrupted the girl resting on the couch. After that, though, he was silent. Thinking, perhaps, or maybe...
The girl took in the silence and broke it again with her soft voice.
"...I think I'd like to be remembered fondly. I... Don't really care how, but... I'd really like... For, when people look back on me after I've gone... I want them to think about the good I've done..."
Even just talking, like this, was hard for her, what with her injury. She was sweating and clearly distressed, but something about her words stopped Lancer from interrupting her again.
"My brother... Has always helped me... I know, when I remember him, I think about that... So... Even if it is a bit selfish... I'd like to... Have someone look upon me... Like that..."
She fell back down against the couch, lying down from where she had been sitting up. Lancer sighed and knelt next to her to check her temperature. He removed his gauntlet and rested his right hand on her forehead.
Just as he was about to pull away, the girl grabbed weakly onto his hand. She looked at him, in her delirium, almost pleadingly.
"...Do you... Have a wish... Lancer...?"
He's surprised, for a moment. Lancer closes his eyes and sighs, and when he opens them, the girl is asleep.
He sighs again and stands up, removing his hand from his Master's forehead.
"...Yes, Master Chiho. I do have a wish. ...Sleep well, please."
With that, he sat back down on the chair in the corner of the room, keeping a watchful eye on his sleeping Master.
Just as he was instructed.
...
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"...Commander. I have a report."
"Yes, Archer?"
The three figures knelt further down on the snowbank, and a watchful eye kept on the figures in the distance.
"Around 500 soldiers. They seem to be heavily armed. Mainly armor-piercing weapons. They are en route to surround that forest, there."
Kato nods, his eye still trained on the moving column. So they were.
"...Hey, Archer? How many do you think you could kill without being detected?"
Archer thought for a moment. He looked to the treeline, then the soldiers, his expression unmoving, calculating.
"...About half of them. Not enough."
In response, Kato nods again.
"Then we move on. Ignore it."
A chorus of "Yes, master" came from the accompanying servants. And so, they began to move...
...
It had only been a day. An uneventful day, nonetheless. All the group had done was walk.
and walk.
and walk.
and-
"Oh, come on! How much longer are we- where are we even going, Kato?!"
Aneka, clearly, had had enough. She was temperamental already, but now Assassin was refusing to answer her summons... ugh.
"I told you, we're looking for allies-"
"You always do that! You always- surround yourself with people stronger than you! Is it really so damn hard just to run?!"
...For the first time that day, Kato stopped. The scenery had changed, from forest to ravine to river, then snowy forest... and now, the great expanse of desert.
As if sensing his emotions, Saber materialized, looking between the two worriedly,
"Uh... Admiral, don't worry 'bout her! Really, I don't mind! I mean, everybody-"
"...Stop, Saber."
His voice was low, cold. He didn't look back.
It was the first time he had spoken like that.
"...C'mon. It's almost night."
Without even waiting for the two women, Kato began walking, leaving them to just... stare at him, for a moment.
Then at each other.
Then, they began walking as well.
...
...
The dancing of the campfire cast long shadows over the empty desert. Aneka was already asleep, snoring loudly. Berserker was dormant, as his mana consumption was too great to sustain. Archer was patrolling the perimeter. Saber was sleeping, too... until she was woken up. Woken up by a dream of fire and death and grief.
A memory not her own.
She looked around. Saw nothing but the empty desert... and got up anyway.
After only a few moments of looking, she found Kato atop a desert dune. Staring up at the night sky.
There were no stars.
"...Heya, Admiral... couldn't sleep. You, uh... you good...?"
Saber sat beside her master, who only nodded in response.
He was clearly not.
"You... you wanna talk about it...? ...Listen, I was dreaming, and... well, there was this kid..."
"...Yeah. I know, Saber..."
She waited in silence for another few moments. It was too dark to see his face, the distant campfire illuminating only his back.
Finally, he spoke. Quieter than he has ever spoken before.
"...Yeah. I'll tell you... about that dream you had..."
...
...
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