...
Quiet. Not silence, as there was still noise. Quiet. That was the only word to describe the state of that room.
The two figures were still, yet not unmoving: the boy was shaking ever so slightly.
The man in armor- Saber- still kneeled in front of Wakata, who had taken a seat on the edge of the bed in that room. Ever patient, Saber had remained there throughout all of the boy's shaky attempts at speaking.
Finally, when it seemed Wakata had finished speaking, and as he finally managed to quell the tears, the room was silent once more.
He seemed so small, now;- truly little more than a child.
Yet from Saber, there was no sign of pity; only sadness.
The room was still for another few moments, until Saber stood up- not abruptly, just without warning- and stood in front of Wakata. The boy still had his eyes closed in a sort of wince, as he struggled to restrain his tears.
The room remained silent.
Wakata barely noticed Saber's arm wrap around him. Warmly, comfortingly--
The room was no longer silent.
...
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...
"...Master. It's getting dark."
"...Yes. ...It is."
But Haji was not ready to stop walking. What he had seen at that riverbank, what he had heard, shook him. The implications of a statement like that, the implication that destruction normally attainable only by armies, had apparently been triggered by a single attack- and, what's more, neither Caster nor that Assassin had seemed bothered by it.
If something like that can happen so easily...
He never finished the thought. Already, it was too much for him. Every other thought, even as he tried to force them out of his mind, told him: How easy would it be for me to get stuck in the crossfire of something like that? And so, there was only one conclusion he could reach.
...I have to get out of this place.
Haji told himself, all throughout these thoughts, that he couldn't die here, not in a place like this. So many people, he thought, were waiting for him, for the knowledge he bears-- He was their only chance of freedom.
These thoughts that played on a loop in the aging priest's mind were like comfort to him. Most others in this labyrinth were criminals or drunks, nihilistic sinners with no drive for life, for light-- that is what he told himself. These thoughts were his justification.
"...Master."
Caster had become more insistent. Haji turned back to look at him, rather irritably, as he was still slightly agitated, though he had calmed down significantly.
"Yes? Is something the matter, Caster?"
"...There's something in the trees."
Indeed, there was. Fortunately, just as Caster alerted his master, whatever he had spotted had already disappeared.
"...What was it, Caster?"
Understanding immediately that with matters as serious as this, he could not take his servant's words for granted, Haji chose to be on guard as Caster responded.
"I'm not sure. But... it wasn't human.
...We better find shelter, Master. If I'm correct... from what behavior I observed, I believe it's an ambush predator of some sort."
"...Yes. Yes, that's... a great idea..."
Haji couldn't pretend he wasn't at least a little spooked. Even so, he ran his hand through the clump of silvery hair that sat on his head, and continued onward.
...
...
The sun had long since set. Eerie sounds echoed through the trees, cries and moans-- Animals in pain, perhaps? Any sounds of bugs chirping, too, were long gone, replaced instead by the howl of wind. An ethereal, otherworldly feeling had come with the night.
Perhaps it was because Caster had disappeared, telling Haji it would conserve mana.
Maybe it was the sighting of that creature, earlier in the day.
Whatever the reason, whatever the cause, Haji couldn't sleep.
...A walk. Yes, a walk always helps me sleep. I'll take a walk.
"..."
...On second thought, I'm already quite tired.
With the dismissal of the idea of a walk to calm himself, there was nothing more to be done, and Haji simply had to drift off into sleep in that hollow tree Caster had carved out.
...
It almost worked. He was so, so close to falling asleep, when he heard something. It was the sound of... singing. The song was enchanting, but so strangely haunting. The singer spoke a language separate from Haji's own, but he noticed very quickly how similar the two dialects were.
And so, he began to try to pick out any words he could...
"-Night-... -Fear no longer-... -Home-... -Cold-... -Cold-... -Cold-... -Love-..."
The voice sounded vaguely male, though at that distance, it was hard to hear. Those words, to Haji, sounded so utterly lonely, so much so that he found himself wanting to comfort the singer.
Even so, he stayed in that little tree until morning, hidden away.
If there was any regret at not comforting that person, it was overshadowed by Haji's own thoughts once more.
What if it had been a siren? Even if they weren't, their singing would only attract more of those things... it was too dangerous. Caster surely would've reprimanded me...
Those were his excuses. His justification.
...
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...
How long had it been? Not long. Surely, it hasn't been so long--
Still, no reassurances could quell Kato's anxiety. Every so often, a searing pain would come over his hand where that red mark sat, leaving him to wince in pain. Something told him, though, that Saber was having a much worse time... Or maybe a better time. Kato didn't even know anymore, that lady was crazy.
As he paced around camp, Kato glimpsed sight of the two unconscious bodies-- Aneka, who was still asleep... somehow... And the other one, the man they saved from that black knight. A man with dark skin and royal adjournments, he was wearing only a pair of baggy white pants. He had a type of horns-- Maybe a Cursed One? And long, wavy white hair.
...Still unconscious, huh... I'll ask Saber about that when she gets back...
In the meantime, though, there was a lot of waiting to be done.
As if on cue, another searing pain shot through Kato's hand.
....
"Alright! Here he is, Admiral!"
Saber's excited words rang out into the empty clearing. As soon as he heard her, Kato swirled around to face her, only to see her dragging a man dressed in a full white cloak, and some kind of mask covering most of his face, outside of his eyes. All in all... There was no way that man dressed accordingly for the weather.
"...Bastard shot me... Eh, I won anyway, though."
"...It was a battle, and I am a soldier-"
Even as the man protested -fairly weakly, at that- Saber responded harshly, as if she'd heard those same words a hundred times over already, with a kick to the side.
"Shut it! Enough of that soldier talk, buddy! We're all soldiers right now, and I'll be damned if I can't get angry 'bout being shot! ...Ahem. Anyway! I brought him back alive, Admiral!"
"Eh, yes... Yes, great job. Now... could someone please tell me what happened?"
...
...
"...I see. So... This guy and Assassin were fighting, but Assassin was about to do something that would've put Aneka in danger... So you stepped in, Saber, and... Won? I mean... I believe it, but against this guy?"
After Saber had finished explaining the situation to Kato, with a few interjections from the cloaked man, Kato's reaction confused Saber.
"What do you mean? He's really not all that impressive, though..."
Kato, too, seemed confused to an extent. He stared intently at the defeated man, searching for something, anything that could give an indication of who this man was.
The cloaked man seemed comfortable with the silence, though certainly not with his situation. As opposed to Saber, who detested the silence that came over the grove while Kato scanned the other man.
"...Ughhh... God, my head hurts... Hey, Kato- Woah, who's that?" Is he with that king guy?"
Much to Saber's relief, someone finally spoke- Aneka. She had woken up.
Before either Saber or Kato could answer her questions, Aneka was spoken to by the Archer himself, the man taking up a serious tone, bordering on dark.
"No. He, more than anyone else, is the man I've sworn to kill. ...But, of course... As his followers, you would take offense to that? ...I care not. I have lost, failed my final mission-"
...
It took a moment for Archer's words to fully register with everyone present. But, once they did, the silence was... dumbfounded. Saber, Kato, Aneka; everyone simply stared.
Ever the blunt one, Aneka spoke first.
"...I'm sorry, are you an idiot?"
She had interrupted him, just as he was speaking. It made her words more effective though, as the bluntness of her question really managed to shine through.
"...Excuse me?"
It was all Archer could say. Most of his face was covered, but from the eyes alone, he was confused. Incredibly confused.
Aneka, on the other hand, just doubled down.
"I asked you, are you an idiot?! That bastard's the one who threw us in this hellhole, why the fuck would we follow him?! I wanna gut him like a fish flopping on the deck, while watching the man-baby piss his pants, and you expect I'd willingly work for him?!"
Now, it wasn't just Archer confused or intimidated: Kato was too. Aneka had so quickly gone from asleep, to friendly, to intimidatingly angry. It was just the whiplash of the situation, for Kato... With every angry word, she stepped closer to Archer.
Mind, Aneka being this angry wasn't an uncommon sight. She had... tendencies.
"Say it! Say it again, you sad excuse for a sack of meat! I swear, I'll--"
"-Eh, that's enough, that's enough. He's... He's got the point, I think."
Saber hadn't minded seeing Archer getting yelled at. However, when she glanced over at her master... the woman had felt bad for Kato. The poor guy was very, very confused: no one had even answered his questions yet. Plus, he was still gazing at the man with a very focused expression...
Heheh... Kinda cute... Ah! No, what am I thinking, Admiral looks confused... I gotta stay quiet, I can't tease him, he needs to focus...!!!
It was near chaos now, in the small grove. While Saber held Aneka back from verbally abusing Archer, she also had to resist every temptation to tease and/or bully her master for his focused expression, one that made him seem a lot younger than he probably was.
The man's name was on the tip of Kato's tongue- he knew this man, or at least, his story- but he couldn't put a name to the legend. A man with a gun and no scope, a silent killer dressed in all white- untouchable in battle, fighting a war of attrition... The longer Kato thought, the more details came to him. But still... The name! How elusive the name was...
"...542."
It was all he could come up with. Yet, it was enough, as that single number made Archer freeze, then turn slowly to face Kato. Aneka continued trying to verbally abuse Archer- as Saber was stopping her from physically abusing him- so she barely noticed Kato speak, nor would she care had she heard.
Archer was silent. The number meant something to him, clearly, but it was just as apparent that, whatever it meant, it was something he wasn't proud of...
"...Do you understand what that number means in relation to me, Master of Saber...?"
His words were hesitant. He didn't want to know, didn't want to be reminded, not again.
By this point, Saber had begun to listen attentively, and Aneka had even quieted down a bit as she saw the look in the cloaked man's eyes.
Kato saw it too. He saw it, and above everyone else there, he understood it.
And so, in response to Archer's question, all he responded with was a small nod.
And Archer, understanding, nodded in return, after only a slight pause.
He then reached out his hand, and made a proposition to the small group.
"...I apologize for what I've done. I have attacked you, innocents, under false pretenses... I cannot allow myself to justify this action. All I can do, to apologize for this unforgivable act, is to request that you allow me to aid in whatever journey you depart on... and ask, perhaps, that you aid me in mine."
Kato didn't even have to think. If he was right... if this man was truly that man... if such a person was willing to help them...
"Of course. And, call me Kato, please. ...Or Kiyohira, or some variant, if you're really old-fashioned..."
The two hands met, and once they met, a burning feeling washed over Kato's upper right arm, before fading just as quickly as it began. It was uncomfortable and somewhat unpleasant, but not unbearably painful.
"I thank you, Master, for your forgiveness. And... Well. I look forward to working with you... With your permission, I will now return to spirit form. I... have been fighting for a long time, you see."
With a nod from his new master, Archer disappeared from sight.
Aneka had seemed to calm down significantly by now, though she was still very annoyed.
Saber set her down on a log closer to the makeshift camp, before walking back to where her master stood, at the edge of the trees, looking out into the forest.
The woman trotted up next to her master, looked up at him questionably and a little curiously, before looking into the trees just as he was doing.
There was nothing there, of course. The man was just lost in thought.
The silence was strange between the two. It was... not awkward. But, not quite comfortable. Just... expectant. Saber clearly wanted to talk to him, but didn't want to risk being disrespectful by interrupting his thoughts.
Kato had seen her glance up at him, he was simply too focused on his thoughts to consider why she might be doing that. Even so, he had seen her curious expression, and the way she slightly tilted her head, and the way some of her blond hair had gotten loose from her ponytail and fallen over her face as bangs... The small smudge of dirt on her upper cheek annoyed him slightly, though.
Finally, Saber could wait no longer. She hesitated to speak up at first, but eventually made her voice louder.
"...H-hey, Admiral... What'd that number mean? I mean... I fought the guy, and he wasn't... bad, I guess, but... he also fought honourably. So... it kinda rubbed me the wrong way, to see him look... 'like that'... y'know? A-anyway..."
...It was strange. Saber usually had such bravado, but she seemed almost... shy, perhaps? Or nervous? Sympathetic. That's the word to describe it. Still, she did ask politely...
"...Right. Yeah, sorry... I was just... Zoning out... Ahem. So... There was a story, Saber. Where I'm from... They say, long, long ago- thousands of years- there was... a man. Even then, some people doubted that... They denied his existence as a man. Believed him to be something... more. Something closer to a force of nature, a natural disaster..."
As Kato began his story, Saber looked interested- that interest only grew as he continued.
"He was a soldier. One of... One of the most famous. A marksman completely unparalleled throughout history... His home country, Saber, was covered in snow constantly. That's why he wears a pure white cloak and a white mask, he had to cover as much of his body as he could... he blended in. That man had something at his disposal that could've let him shoot better, called a 'sight', but he didn't use it. He never did. But still... They say he never missed a shot."
Hesitation entered Kato's voice now. He knew what that number meant... But, does Archer want other people to know? In the end, Kato came to the conclusion that, if he couldn't trust Saber, he couldn't trust anyone.
"...And... That number. 542... That was the number of people he killed. Not in his whole life- in three months. He took a shot straight to the face and survived... That man wasn't known by a name, amongst his enemies... Only a title."
Kato took a breath, now. He had finally remembered the man's name, but he knew better than to reveal it. Saber was apprehensive now, invested in the story- like a kid being told about a great hero of legends.
He was silent for a moment more. He understood now- How lucky both he, Saber, and Assassin were. All he knew, all Kato could be certain of was that something was handicapping Archer in their battles. Because, going off of the stories alone...
"That man... Archer... was known by his enemies, only as... 'The White Death'."
...
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