[ unintentional video - a knight cannot save the world. ]

[regalbearing]

[ the video opens abruptly, with the sickening, wet sound of something being impaled. no. not something - someone. the sickening sound of metal piercing flesh, piercing right through with enough force to kill. ]

[ the image becomes clearer. it's dark. nighttime, as it was the last time the community spied on Saber's life. maybe even the same night. Saber flinches back from the sound, blood splattering on her face. not her blood. she opens her eyes - and looks shocked. horrified. the white-haired woman behind her looks equally as stricken. ]

[ and then it becomes clear what they're looking at. what caused their faces. caused the sound. Diarmuid Ua Duibhne - Lancer - stands before them, the same look of shock on his own face.

his red lance pierces his chest, and it is clear that he did it with his own hands.

there's a horrible, deathly silence. then Lancer breaks it with a wet, hacking cough, blood spilling out of his mouth to join that from his chest that already lies spilt on the ground. ]

[ out of the shadows, two shapes appear. one of them, a man in black; black suit, black coat, black hair. he looks calm about the whole situation. the other, a blond, injured man in a wheelchair, looks shocked. he carries the body of a red-haired woman in his arms.

the man in black - Emiya Kiritsugu, Saber's Master - speaks: ] Use your remaining Command Seals to force your servant to commit suicide. [ Saber gasps, looking even more horrified than before - revolted, even, by the words coming out of her Master's mouth. ] The conditions have been fulfilled.

[ Kayneth - the man in the wheelchair, Lancer's Master - looks pretty horrified himself by this point. and Diarmuid - he lets out this horrible, wet sound of pain and anger and desperation and despair, dropping to his knees with the lance still impaling him. ]

You want to win... You want to win so desperately? You desire the Grail so desperately? You have crushed... You have crushed my sole remaining wish... And you?! [ his voice raises, and Diarmuid turns violently, looks up at Saber with nothing but hate and accusation in his eyes - betrayed, in his view, by someone he could never have expected it from. blood has filled his eyes by now, and as he continues to curse her, Saber takes a step backward at how truly demonic he looks, as if his words are physically striking her. unable to defend herself, to explain that she had no part in this, that it wasn't her-- ] You feel no shame at all?! I will never forgive you. [ again he turns - casting the same terrible look on kayneth, with blood running down his chin. ] I will never forgive any of you! Inhuman monsters, who have ruined the honour of a knight, let my blood taint your dreams!

[ slowly, his lance begins to dissolve, the first signs of his fading from the world back into the throne of heroes. ] Let the Grail be cursed! Let the wish it grants bring disorder! [ he looks up at the sky, casting his rage into the heavens. ] And when you fall into the pits of hell, remember the rage of Diarmuid!

[ he fades away completely, and is gone. silence. everyone remaining is frozen in place, as if Diarmuid's words really had been cursed. all but Kiritsugu, who turns away and takes a few steps. ]

[ it's Kayneth who breaks the silence. ] Now the Geas binds you?

Yes, the contract is complete. I cannot kill you. [ Kiritsugu casually lights a cigarette, not looking at the other man. takes a drag, and--

a gunshot rings out. another one. Kayneth cries out in shock and pain. and the gunshots continue. again and again they ring out, coming from somewhere that cannot be seen through the community's viewpoint. eventually, Kayneth's wheelchair falls backwards; the woman's body is thrown dead from his arms as he tips sideways. ]

... Not myself, anyway.

[ Kayneth struggles pitifully on the ground, whimpering in pain and fear. the wheels of his abandoned chair spin uselessly in the air. the fallen Master tries to use his arms to pull himself towards Kiritsugu. wheezes: ]

Kill me... kill me, please...

Sorry. But I can't according to our contract.

[ it's the once and future king that answers the suffering man's plea. Saber steps slowly forward, her mouth a grim line, her face shadowed in more ways than just the literal. Excalibur shines in the darkness, as bright with its golden light as it had shone on the river. Irisviel turns away, covering her mouth - and Saber raises her trusted blade swiftly and brings it down with a definitive, wet sound. a clean cut. a mercy killing.

the wheel on Kayneth's chair stops spinning. Saber stalks past Kiritsugu without looking at him. and then, her voice level, but soaked with barely-contained rage and betrayal: ]

Emiya Kiritsugu... I finally understand what a terrible man you are.

[ the feed ends. ]

(( ooc: assume that all replies to this post from Saber ICly come a few hours later. ))

Comments

video

[answerer_sword]

Lancer? Saber? W-what?

[Bazett can barely stutter out these words. Even not she cannot completely believe what happened.]

[ text ]

[regalbearing]

[ normally, Saber would respond to a video in kind. but the events of the night have left her drained, and angry, and seeing that the community has broadcast this moment - that it has put her shame and Diarmuid's out in public for anyone to see and laugh at - has left her unable to even consider her usual show of politeness. it's safer for everyone if she sticks to text replies, where her lingering rage and her worry over Irisviel, lying unconscious within the magic circle even now, is not so easily perceived. ]

Bazett. It is a long story, I am afraid.

Re: [ text ]

[answerer_sword]

[Meanwhile, Bazett is too shocked to attempt to type anything. It would not be legible, anyway.]

Lancer...why did he meet his end like that? Who were those people? The man you killed?

[And one question that goes unasked: "Why did you stand and watch something so dishonorable."]

[regalbearing]

Lancer and I were engaged in a duel that we had sworn on our honour as knights to finish. [ maybe if she just regurgitates this information like it's just cold, hard facts, it will be less painful. ] Unknown to us both, my Master went behind both of our backs and made a deal with Lancer's Master. What it was exactly I do not know. But the conditions appear to have been that if he made his own Servant commit suicide, Kiritsugu would not kill him.

Apparently he was unable to honour even that agreement, despite having made it with a magical binding. He disgraced all of us.

text

[answerer_sword]

[After reading the words several times and understanding the situation, Bazett has calmed down enough to reply with text.]

The two of them do not deserve to be anyone's Master. At this point, they are no more than prana supplies. Especially Lancer's Master. He bargained away the life and honor or a loyal knight for but seconds of his own dastardly life. He deserves death.

As for the man who holds your command seals, he does not deserve to stand at the back of the King of Knights. But his method, at least, was ruthlessly efficient.

[regalbearing]

You cannot tell me that you approve of Kiritsugu's methods?!

[answerer_sword]

It is at the extreme end of what I will tolerate.

[And likely a method that she will never use.]

But he accomplished his methods with minimal time, effort, and bloodshed. He was able to gain an advantage with clever wording. It is something most magi will applaud.

[Bazett, of course, is not "most magi."]

His strategic abilities, at least, must be respected. However, this does not excuse what he inflicted upon both you and Lancer.

Is there any to punish him for what he has done? Or at least sever you from his control?

[regalbearing]

[ as she reads the message, she tenses up all over again, prepared to type something with as much vitriol as she had directed at Kiritsugu earlier - but then, she reads the rest of the message. re-reads the entire thing and decides - Bazett is on their side. ]

There are ways. But they are not ones I am willing to take. Kiritsugu retains my loyalty only through our contract and my own honour, but there is another here who has earned it and more, and I will not leave her.

[answerer_sword]

Can she be persuaded to leave him?

[regalbearing]

She is his wife. And she loves him.

I do not think that would be possible.

[ for more reasons than one. Irisviel would not survive now without a magical circle ready for her to recover; Saber is sure of that. they would not make the journey out. ]

[answerer_sword]

So you are stuck with that man.

Would there be any way to remove him from influencing you without killing him?

[regalbearing]

Only if it were possible to somehow remove his Command Seals. But doing so would be breaking our contract. While I do not deny he would deserve it, I am not sure I am ready to become an oathbreaker.

[answerer_sword]

And if you did not know how the removal occurred?

If he were waylaid and his seals taken while you were elsewhere, what would you do?

[regalbearing]

Then I suppose, nominally, I would be under the control of whoever took them, but




Bazett, you cannot be suggesting what I am thinking! Absolutely not!

[answerer_sword]

He already besmirched your honor. Having thus degraded himself and you, is he still accorded the honor of a Master? If you would still keep your oath to him, then your loyalty and honor are even more praiseworthy than I thought.

No matter what happens, you will not be made to bear the shame of being a traitor.

[regalbearing]

... Good. Thank you.

[answerer_sword]

It was a shame, really. On the anon meme from some time ago, someone mentioned that Lancer had disagreements with his Master. If I only knew the result, I would have done more than make mere suggestions.

[regalbearing]

... I remember that meme. I had assumed - at the time, that they were talking about Issei.

[answerer_sword]

That man in the wheelchair looked nothing like how I would expect a man named Issei to look.

What happened with Lancer and his Masters?

[regalbearing]

That man was not Issei. He was Lancer's original Master. In my timeline, his only Master, unless the woman with him was also involved somehow.

As I understand it... the Lancer we have spoken to here on this community is from a timeline separate to my own, where he managed to escape and form a new contract with Issei, which stands to this day.

[answerer_sword]

So that is what happened.

I am glad to know that he found a happy fate in at least one world. It would be too horrible otherwise.

[regalbearing]

Yes... indeed it would.

[answerer_sword]

If it is any comfort, none of this happened in my world, since the Grail was dismantled before any summonings could occur.

[regalbearing]

That... is some small comfort, yes.

[ but with no Grail, there would be no chance for her country. no chance for her mistakes to be fixed to avert that terrible catastrophe. ]

[answerer_sword]

Are all Masters like this, ignoring the need of heroes who are many levels above them?

[Had she been like this in Cu Chulainn's world? Had the entire ritual been like this? The filth of Masters' greed polluting what should have been honorable duels between heroes?]

[On some level, she knows this is inevitable, but it is a very, very harsh truth.]