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ohmytheon · 6 years

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Good Men Don’t Become Legends (FMA/Fate Zero AU, 15)

I’m shook. I can’t believe I’m updating this again so soon. No joke, writing that BNHA stuff really helped me get a jump on this again. Also, the fact that my three major fics all feature some sort of mind control is ridiculous and completely unintentional, as I’ve had this planned for like a year, but I’m slow as molasses. There was supposed to be more action in this, but I got tired and didn’t want to do it after writing so much action in my other fics. The next one will be all action then, so expect me to drag my feet.

good men don’t become legends war must be

They spend the next hour rushing around the house, packing up whatever they deem necessary. Edward is particularly moody about it, mumbling his complaints under his breath. Riza knows that he doesn’t understand the necessity to leave, but they do. This house is a death trap waiting to happen. If Roy comes back under the spell of Father, he can turn all his defensive spells back on them. They can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous.

“Can you defeat him?” Winry asked after Riza explained the situation.

Riza didn’t give her an answer then and she doesn’t have one now. It’s not really a matter if she can or not at this point. If it comes to it, she doesn’t have much of a choice. Roy will either force her hand or he’ll be able to hold himself back. If he can’t do the latter, she will be forced to fight him and even kill him if she finds the opportunity. If she doesn’t defeat him, then he will defeat her -- it’s that simple -- and it’s something Riza can’t allow.

Does she have the ability to defeat Roy? She’s honestly not sure. He’s in a class of his own.

Nonetheless, he’d given her permission to end his life should it be necessary to stop him. If he’s lost control to a Master with terrible intentions, then it will be necessary to at least try. There can only be one Servant remaining in the end for the Holy Grail to work anyways. They’ve both deluded themselves into thinking this could end in any other way than good. Maybe the Holy Grail could bring the other person back, but would it be the same? Would it really be her or him or just the instrument’s impression of them?

“Are you ready?” Riza asks.

Edward shoves a bun in his mouth and attempts to speak around it, but all Riza can gather is that he thinks this is stupid or something like that. Still, he slings a backpack over his shoulders and nods his head.

“Where are we going?” Winry asks while they pile into the car.

“We just need to find a place to lay low,” Riza explains, starting the car. It’s mostly futile. Roy and Assassin will be able to find her most likely, but at least they could make it on their turf. There are too many traps lying in wait here at the house that are far above any of their levels as mages. She knew that Ed didn’t like to be reminded that he wasn’t as strong as Roy, but it was the truth. “A hotel or something.”

Alphonse has been silent since being reunited with Edward. It was all smiles and hugs at first, but now he’s staring out the car window, a glazed look about his eyes. With the exception of Rider’s brief words, none of them know what happened while Alphonse was with Father. The marks on his wrists and ankles let them know that he was imprisoned and not kindly either, but that’s the extent of it. He offers them no details and pretends as if everything is okay, like doing that will make it go away.

What kind of monster would do that to an innocent child? She can’t picture Roy under the thumb of a man like that. He would rage against it.

Pinako finds them a motel on the outskirts of town where they can hole up. There isn’t a lot surrounding it, so that when the fight comes to them -- because it will -- there will be less in the way of collateral damage and Riza will be able to go all out. There can be no holding back, not if Roy is the one she has to fight. The rooms are nothing to get excited about, but she’s slept on dirt grounds with no tent, so it’s the least her problems. She keeps guard outside by the car as the other four get settled. The two rooms are joined by a door, which they leave open for now.

It’s a quiet night right now. Despite the nervous energy and thick tension radiating from everyone, no one says a word. Even though there’s so much to talk about, none of them know what to say. There isn’t anything they can say that will make this better. They’re not for sure who they’re running from, if Roy is no longer on their side, and what’s going to happen. Edward doesn’t even know if he’s a part of the Holy Grail War or not, which leaves him in a confused and angry fog as he storms about.

Winry teeters anxiously in the doorway of hers and Pinako’s room. “We can set up some defensive spells that will at least alert us to a Servant’s or Master’s presence, but…”

“That won’t matter for shit if it’s Caster,” Edward snaps. “He can bypass them easily without any of us knowing.” A frown cuts across his face as he stares off into the distance. He doesn’t look defeated by any means, despite losing his Command Seals, but there’s an edge to him now that wasn’t there before. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s lost his place. She idly wonders if that was how Roy felt after he lost her. “I couldn’t even tell he was nearby when he was--”

He bites his tongue before he can continue. When he was Caster’s Master. He isn’t anymore. Or maybe he can be once again if they break whatever spell Father put over Roy. None of them know. Pinako’s knowledge has extended as far as it can and Rider’s information only confirmed their fears but gave them nothing they didn’t already know. They are flying in the dark and Riza truly hates it.

“What are we going to do?” Winry asks in a quiet voice. She wraps her arms around herself and looks up into the night sky as a gentle breeze blows through the air.

“We wait,” Riza simply replies.

“We fight,” Ed growls.

We try not to die.

“You disobeyed a direct order!” Olivier roars. “You let them go with barely a fight!”

“I fought honorably!” Rider counters, the first time he has ever said anything against her.

Olivier’s blood boils and she whips out her sword, a family heirloom that was charmed centuries ago to inflict wounds that bleed every few days. Rider does not flinch when she points the gleaming tip of her weapon an inch away from his neck. He knows that she won’t purposely hurt him, seeing as how it might make him weaker in any upcoming battles, but she is tempted.

“Disobey me like that again,” Olivier warns, “and I will force you to do something you truly regret.”

He thinks he regrets what he did now? This is war. She will make him feel all kinds of regret. It’s not a matter of punishment either. It just is what it is. She came into the Holy Grail War with the understanding and acceptance that she would be forced to give up a part of herself and he will have to do the same. The path to victory is not always paved with good deeds or even intentions.

She knows that Rider hates being involved in the Elric boy’s kidnapping. She knows that he hates being mixed up with Father, Assassin, Saber, and his loony Master. She even knows that he might even hate her being his Master. None of that matters. She doesn’t care what Rider hates and she doesn’t give a damn about his regret. It does nothing for them in this war. His compassion is a weakness that she wishes she could carve out of him.

Curse the Holy Grail for giving her this pathetic whelp to work with. Caster is little better with his arrogance, but at least he is powerful and willing to go the distance.

At the thought of the other Servant in the basement, Olivier’s thoughts turn dark. She sheathes her sword and turns away from Rider, too furious to look at him. It’s like he’s staying in his corporeal form just to anger her further because his presence is doing nothing but make matters worse between them. It’s punishment. She hopes he understands that hers will be much worser. She needs him strong for this though.

They didn’t want Father to get a hold of Caster. It’s the last thing they need. As much as she loathes the other mage, Caster’s strength is undeniable and the last person they need to control him is Father. The dagger he used to steal Edward Elric’s Command Seals is locked away in a safe. No doubt there are many magical traps lurking about to protect it from thieves. It’s a conundrum that needs to be solved fast. If she was able to somehow get Caster on her side, she’d be unstoppable.

Of course then she would have to deal with two difficult Servants that would want to fight her on every decision. It’s enough to make Olivier want to stab something.

Not to mention that she knows Father has every intention of stabbing her and Rider in the back the second they are seen as being no longer useful. She’s an exceptional mage, but there is something off about Father that has her hackles rising. He doesn’t just use magic; it’s like he bends magic to his will. It’s unnatural. He is not a mage that should exist. There will able be dark mages out there, as long as their are good ones, but it’s as if Father is dark magic. He needs to be take out not just to ensure her victory in this war, but also because it is the right thing to do. At least that’s one thing Rider can agree on her with.

She would stab him while he is sleeping if she didn’t know Assassin would be there to stop it. He’s a sneaky, little bastard. Even though he looks to be no more than an innocent child, she can feel that his malice knows no bounds. He knows that he is a stronger than most and he lords it over them like a black fog.

“Rider,” Olivier prompts. Even without looking back at him, she knows that his eyes are on her. “The next time you cross paths with Archer, you will kill her. Do you understand me?”

If he doesn’t like her words, he doesn’t show it. Rider simply replies, “Of course,” in his deep voice like thunder.

Olivier turns to face him and catches his eyes. “And you will eliminate hers and Caster’s former Masters as well. Even with their Servants out of the War, Masters are dangerous foes.” Rider’s eyes widen, his nostrils flare, and a look of indignation crosses his face, but she ignores them all, giving him such a furious glare that he almost backs down physically. “They are not children anymore. They’re our enemies. You will do as you’re told and take them out.”

If she has to use two of her Command Seals, then so be it. Her Servant will listen to her, whether he likes it or not. It will be easier if he did so she doesn’t have to waste them, but she almost relishes the power that will come over her when she does. Rider has been so stubborn up until now, but the fact that he completely disobeyed her when retreated from Archer has angered her beyond repair. She won’t have any mercy with her enemies and she won’t have any for him either.

That’s just the way war is.

Considering that he doesn’t know this city well and May is unconscious, it takes some time for Ling to figure out where to go. It’s more or less by accident that he finds himself at a motel on the outskirts of town. They need to stay away from where it’s busy. The motel is on the opposite side of the city from the forest where he first battled Saber is and also is cheap. Judging from the money he found in May’s wallet, it’s still almost too expensive, but he’s able to figure it out without resorting to stealing.

Good gods, Ling was once the wealthiest emperor in the entire world and now he’s been reduced to considering pickpocketing innocent civilians. He almost tailspins into melodramatics, but stops himself.

He would pay them back later, after they win the War, but he highly doubts that May would be pleased with him doing such things. Still, if it comes to either that or starving on the streets, he’ll stoop that low. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, even if it’s just finding a roof to put over her head and warm food in her belly. He’s her Servant, after all.

Also, he’s really hungry. May flooded him with her mana when she unlocked whatever was holding her magic back, but now he’s beginning to feel the strains of his fight with Saber and wandering around the city with his unconscious Master in his arms.

Getting a room at the motel is kind of awkward. May dealt with those things before while he drifted around the area in his incorporeal form. Now he’s stuck pretending that he’s some regular mortal in the modern world. It doesn’t help that he’s carrying an unconscious girl around in his arms. He highly doubts that he’ll be able to just stroll in and get a room. Still, he can’t just set her down somewhere outside.

Ling is clever if nothing else. He grabbed a blanket along with her meager belongings (all of which fit into a single backpack) from their old hotel room. After shifting her in his arms so that the side of her face is resting on his shoulder and one arm is slug around his neck, he puts the blanket over her. It looks like she’s just fallen asleep, which she kind of has. Knocked unconscious by unleashing an insane amount of magical power and mana -- same difference.

“Hi!” Ling greets the night clerk in a quiet whisper.

The woman blinks at him in surprise, noticing the young girl sleeping in his arms. “How can I help you?” She matches him in volume immediately.

“My little sister and I are in the city to meet our father, but she tuckered out,” Ling explains. “I thought it would be best if we just stopped here.”

It was similar to the lie May told the other people at their old hotel. They were half siblings coming to the city to meet their father. They look like each other just enough for the lie to pass. Ling can play the big brother role when necessary. It is easy with May. Although he’ll never say it out loud, it’s like she makes him want to be a brother. He had siblings back when he was fighting to become emperor in his own life, but he was forced to kill them or be killed in a series of many assassination attempts.

“Oh, of course!” the woman says happily. “You’re such a sweet big brother.” She types away at the computer as she searches for a room. This isn’t the best place -- certainly not one fit for a princess and the former emperor of half the world -- and the woman is wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but she’s suddenly as kind as a clerk at a four star hotel. Some people are still good. “My brothers were never so nice.”

Ling gives her a winning smile. He knows how charming he can be. After getting the details of a room, he digs the appropriate amount of money out of May’s wallet. It’s cheaper than their old place at least. There’s not much left in that wallet though. He’s uncertain what they will do next, but they can figure that out when she wakes up. It is difficult to believe that he is willingly waiting to talk things over with a little girl when he never listened to anyone before, but it feels right.

The room is dingy and dim even after turning on a light, but it will make do. He lays her down on the bed farthest from the window and then takes a deep breath as he stands up straight. She looks peaceful, her face soft and flush with youth, her mouth open as she lightly snores. He’s still too wired from all the mana she gave him and what he really wants is something to eat, so he snags more money and slips out of the room to find a vending machine.

Right when Ling is trying to decide on what he wants to eat and if he should just break into it and get whatever he wants, someone shouts, “What are you doing here!”

Not afraid in the slightest, Ling turns his head to the side and sees Caster’s young Master gawking at him, clutching a container of ice like he might be able to use it as a weapon. Completely uninterested, Ling returns to examining his options in the vending machine. “What does it look like? I’m getting something eat.”

“I mean, here! At this motel!”

“Whatever it is people do at these places.”

Edward gawks at him and asks, “So...you’re not...looking for a fight?”

Ling huffs and finally chose something. “Does it look like I am?” Honestly, he can go for one right now. He has the energy and the strength. Of course, he doesn’t really fancy a fight with Caster, especially not when May is still out of commission, but Edward doesn’t need to know that. He takes his food and turns around to face the other Master. He’s got a few years on May, but hasn’t hit his growth spurt yet apparently. “You might as well bring Caster out. He can’t hide from my Master.”

A strange looks flitters across Edward’s face. It’s like he can’t decide between anger, discomfort, or something else that Ling doesn’t recognize. Fear maybe?

It gives Ling pause and he narrows his eyes. “If you’re not looking for a fight then, what are you doing all the way out here?” This seems like a reasonable question, despite the ridiculousness of a situation. Edward is a Master to another Servant that will try to kill Ling if he isn’t already -- they’re enemies in a very powerful and dangerous war over a wish granting object -- and here they are having a conversation by a vending machine.

Archer appears out of thin air behind Edward, laying a hand on his shoulder. That’s curious. Shouldn’t Caster be the one defending him? There is a hard expression on her face, but she’s not in her armor and she doesn’t have her magical bow. “What are you doing here, Lancer?”

Again with the same question? Ling just wants to eat, maybe watch a little television like a regular person, and relax while May gets some rest. That’s all he wants, truth be told. He doesn’t want to fight, but he will. It would be more fun than answering the same question over and over again. “Do you expect my Master to stay on the streets?” He points a finger at them. “Your presence is the unusual one. I know you’re not based in this part of the city.” Casually munching on his food, he eyes them carefully. “Are you hiding?”

That’s technically what he and May are doing here. He chose this place because it was out of the way and he didn’t think any of the other Masters or Servants would come looking for them here. The fact that two other Masters and Servants were here caught him off guard, but maybe they’re here because of the same reason. What are the odds that all of them would end up here? It’s one hell of a coincidence. If so, all Ling can do is stay calm and keep a fight from starting out. As much as he would love to fight them, he can’t do it while May is in such a vulnerable position.

When neither Archer nor Edward respond to him, Ling straightens up in surprise and exclaims, “Oh, you are! How interesting.” His eyes leave Archer and rest on Edward. He’s clutching that ice bucket against his chest like it will protect him somehow. Only when Ling notices the back of Edward’s hands does he stop cold. “Your Command Seals.”

“It’s nothing,” Edward snaps hastily, scowling at him and hiding one of his hands in his pockets. The sight of their bareness can’t be unseen though. The Command Seals that mark a Master in the Holy Grail War aren’t smudged after being used; they’re completely gone, as if they hadn’t been there in the first place. It throws Ling completely off and now he’s the one gawking at them.

“We will ignore your presence for this one night, Lancer,” Archer warns him, “but if you are not gone by the morning, I will end you.”

“Alright, alright,” Ling replies, holding up a hand. “Don’t get all worked up.”

What is going on? It is more than clear to him now that they are in hiding. Somewhere in this building Archer’s Master is probably sleeping. But where is Caster? What happened to Edward’s Command Seals? Did the marks completely vanish after being used up? If he did do that, then what had they gone through in the days since he saw them last?

Assassin peers closely at Caster. “How is he holding up?”

“It is nearly over with,” Father confirms.

His Master is confident, but Assassin is less certain. Caster has been fighting the command transfer from the beginning to the point where they thought it was going to kill him instead. He acted like he would rather die than allow Father to take over the role of his Master. Caster’s horrible screams had echoed throughout the castle, sounding as if they were being physically ripped from him, until he would pass out from the pain. Whenever he came to, it would happen all over again, though weaker with each round that passed.

Currently, Caster is chained up to a wall, having been heaved up into the position by Rider, hanging limply from the magic dampening manacles around his wrists. They digs into his skin, rivulets of blood to streak down his forearms and stain the sleeves of his shirt. Sweat drips from his pale face and stains his shirt. He looks terribly ill, like he’s been trying to sweat out a fever, and weak, as if he can’t possibly stay on standing his feet if they take the shackles off.

“He looks pathetic,” Assassin decides. He gives his Master an unimpressed glance. “Are you certain you’re going to be able to use him after this?”

“He’s not connected to my mana yet,” Father explains, examining Caster like he might a map. “He’s using the last bit of his own energy to fight it, but he’s at an end. He’ll have no choice but to give in or die.”

How unpleasant. “And if he chooses death?”

“Then that’s one less Servant we have to worry about,” Father answers simply. Honestly, Assassin won’t mind that outcome. Even if the magic dagger does completely sever Caster from the Elric boy and transfers his bond over to Father, Assassin will not be able to trust Caster. If there is one Servant class that is trickier than him and more likely to turn on a Master, it is that one. Plus, Assassin just doesn’t like Caster. Him dying is an outcome that he prefers.

Father steps towards Caster and waves a hand over his face. The magic must be a shock to Caster, who is being slowly drained of it, as his eyes snap open and he jerks hard in his shackles. It doesn’t phase Father at all; he merely stands just out of Caster’s reach and watches the mage with a critical eye.

“You…” Caster rasps, his throat most likely raw from screaming.

“Rise and shine, Caster,” Assassin greets in a pleasant tone. Caster’s dark eyes shift over to him. Normally, he will hide what he’s thinking, but after days of mental and magical torture, he lacks the ability to hide his thoughts. A faint snarl curls onto his face, but he is too exhausted to do little more. He sags in his chains again, letting them hold him up, his knees bent and his feet barely doing any work.

“How are you feeling?” Father asks, like a parent might a child.

Caster closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath. “Been better.” The last few times they checked on him, he tried to resist, fight back, jerk away, anything. This time he does none of those things. Besides being startled awake, he is almost placid by comparison. Assassin doesn’t know if it was a lack of will or energy.

“Are you ready to accept your true fate?” Father uses the same tone. It has a strange effect of making him appear kinder than he is when Assassin knows that there’s a kind bone in the man’s body. It’s not a bad thing. Assassin doesn’t have any in him either. He didn’t in life and he doesn’t now as a Servant. For all the horrific stories about the Flame Alchemist though, he is a kind man in his heart. It’s a weakness, one that Father seeks to exploit.

Unlike before, when Caster would snarl back a response, this time, he doesn’t respond right away. His tired eyes flicker from Servant to Master, only a little heat in them. He’s worn down, but more importantly, he’s not putting up near as much of a fight anymore. He might still be struggling against it by not giving a proper answer, but it’s as good as one. Father seems pleased, allowing a small smile to appear on his face as he straightens up.

“You’re very close,” he says. “I knew you would give in.”

Caster’s gaze falls to the ground as he begins to breathe steadily. It’s a look of defeat and shame. For all his strength and magic, it is impossible to ignore the call of the Holy Grail War. The bond between a Master and their Servant is too strong to ignore, especially when it has been forced upon a Servant. Assassin knows that it isn’t just the Command Seals that now adorn Father’s other hand that bind Caster to him. He’s been weaving some powerful magic over the other mage, bending Caster to his will, molding his mind to match Father’s own desires. It’s very dark stuff.

Assassin bets it was the kind of magic that even the Flame Alchemist stayed away from in the Mage Wars. He probably killed mages for using such magic, no doubt, and now it was being used on him.

After deciding that Caster needs to suffer a little longer before unleashing him, Father and Assassin make their way back up the stairs from the cells. It stung to lose the younger Elric boy, but they gained a much better weapon and bargaining chip with Caster. Surely he was aware of that when he showed up on their castle steps the other night. The fact that Rider could not retrieve the boy was another slight, but it was no matter. They have Archer spooked. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens when the Hawk’s Eye sees her beloved Flame Alchemist again.

“It’s almost time,” Father decides as he sits down in a luxurious chair in front of the hearth.

“Do you think Rider and his Master are prepared?” Assassin asks.

Father waves a dismissive hand. “It makes no matter if they are or not. The second Archer is taken out, we will kill them as well.”

The two have come in handy, but both of them know that Rider and Armstrong aren’t necessary in order to defeat the rest of the Servants. Once their purpose is served, Assassin and Saber can take out that huge emotional piss pot of a Servant and his arrogant Master. They’ll have to take Lancer out afterwards, which Assassin knows that Saber is itching for. He’s still infuriated over his last defeat, hellbent on killing Lancer’s little Master even more. Assassin likes Saber well enough, but it’ll be nice when they can chuck him in the bin as well.

If his thoughts sound cold, it’s because they are. He’s never known to feel anything but that and it serves him well in the Holy Grail War.

“What if Caster is able to break free?” Assassin asks.

“He won’t,” Father replies with utter confidence.

Assassin isn’t so sure, but he doesn’t question his Master again. He’ll just have to keep an eye out. If worse comes to worse and Caster is able to snap out of it or Father is forced to use all his Command Seals, then it will be up to his original Servant to take Caster out. Assassin smiles to himself. He’s definitely looking forward to that.

When the sun rises in the morning, Riza feels as if she can’t breathe, so she sets to walking around the motel. It’s a beautiful morning, only a few fluffy clouds in the sky. Being on the outskirts of town means that there are more trees and greenery, something that she takes comfort in, even when the backdrop is a dingy motel. For a moment, she can pretend that everything is fine.

Roy will come back. He has to come back.

As far as she can tell, Lancer is gone, but there’s always the chance that his Master is hiding them. She remembers how the young mage was able to pinpoint Roy’s location when he was hiding in his incorporeal form when no one else was capable of it, not even his own Master. She’s a strong, little thing, no matter how innocent she looks. She sensed how strong Lancer was last night as well, radiating power that far exceeded what she felt during their last encounter. It is concerning, but there’s nothing to be done about it right now.

Pulling her loose hair from her right side to her left to hold it in a side ponytail, Riza lets out a sigh and turns back around the head back to Winry’s room.

And then there is Roy, standing five feet in front of her, greeting, “There you are, Riza.”

Riza’s first instinct is to run towards him. It is always her first instinct. She can’t imagine a world in which she doesn’t go to him. He’s a part of her as much as she is a part of him. Her heart swells. He’s here. He’s back. He’s came to her. Her mind doesn’t question how, not when he’s right before her eyes, not when he’s close enough to touch with just a few steps.

Her second thought stills her though. She’s not just Riza or even the Hawk’s Eye. She’s a Servant in the Holy Grail War -- and so is he.

“Roy?” she calls out softly.

There’s something wrong with his eyes. When she really looks at him, it’s the first thing she notices. They’re very focused on her, but there’s no light in them. His face is more than blank. It’s like there’s nothing there at all. As if he’s been entirely wiped clean. Even the way he holds himself, hands in his pockets but arms limp, like someone would look like if they were trying to imitate his lackadaisical attitude.

It looks like Roy, but it isn’t him. She doesn’t know who this is at all.

Riza takes a step back and he takes a step forward.

A smile twitches onto his face. It looks wrong. “What’s wrong?” His voice is wrong.

“Where have you been, Roy?” she asks him, keeping her distance from him.

“I got caught up with Father, but I managed to escape,” he tells her. “I went back to the house, but you all were gone. It took some time to finding you.”

Not long enough apparently. It’s not enough of an explanation. Roy certainly looks like he’s been through a ringer now that she looks at him. He’s disheveled and tired-looking, as if he’d spent days struggling against the torture many mages were subjected to before the Mage Wars. His movements are halting. All of it makes her wary. He wouldn’t just show up here unannounced. Something is seriously off.

“Where’s Edward?” Roy asks casually, but there is intent underlining the two words.

“He’s not here,” Riza lies, though she knows that he’ll be able to see through it.

Roy furrows his brow. “Now why would you say that? I ought to know where my Master is.”

His tone almost freezes the blood in Riza’s veins. It’s so cold. She clenches her hands at her side and turns away from him, ready to materialize her bow and arrows in less than a second. “Then where is Father?” This time, it’s Roy that halts. He rears back and blinks at her. “We know about the weapon that transfers the bond between Masters. I saw Edward’s Command Seals vanish. It was like they were ripped out of his soul. It hurt him. It almost killed him.”

A cold, disinterested look comes over Roy’s face and he says, “Pity it didn’t. Would’ve saved me the trouble and would’ve been less painful.”

Her heart clenches in her chest and the bow appears in her hands as she raises them, an arrow already notched and ready to be let loose. She aims it directly at Roy’s heart. He doesn’t flinch -- barely even reacts -- as if it is exactly how he believed she would react. He knew that she would point an arrow at him. There’s not a hint of shock or hurt.

“Are you going to shoot me this time?” Roy questions her. He tilts his head, eyeing her so coldly. “This is how many times you’ve pointed an arrow at me? You couldn’t let loose then. I doubt you can now.”

He smirks, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. She knows instinctively that this was what he was after her death. This was who he became. This is the monster he allowed to take control once she was gone. There were glimpses of it before her death, peeking out when something particularly awful happened. She thinks of the village they came across, completely destroyed, and the bodies of children gathered in a church. When they caught the dark mages responsible for it, Roy spared none of them. There was no mercy in him then, but he wasn’t cruel either. He didn’t prolong their deaths as those mages had done to the innocents they killed.

This Roy is different. Maybe he won’t take pleasure in killing, but he won’t make it quick either.

Before Riza can prove him wrong though, she hears movement behind her and she rolls out of the way just before Rider slams his heavy fists into the ground where she was standing. It’s so strong that he breaks the concrete, his two fists creating creators. She pops back onto her feet, aiming again. It might appear like she’s still aiming at Roy, but he doesn’t know the extent of her Noble Phantasm. Rider, who has seen it in action, is more hesitant, but there is an intensity in his bright blue eyes that she knows comes from a Command Seal being used on him.

“Really, Riza, it would be easier to just tell me where Edward is,” Roy says, holding out his hands palms up, like he’s being merciful. “We’ll make yours and Winry’s deaths quick. I would rather spare you the pain.”

“You’re going to kill us?” Riza asks.

“It’s the Holy Grail War and I am a Servant in it,” Roy replies. “That’s what we were brought here to do.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Besides, once we win, I can use the Holy Grail to bring you back. What does it matter who I win it with? Edward? Father? Either way, I get what I want.”

Riza shakes her head. “That’s not what I want.” Roy drops his hands to his side and narrows his eyes. “If you think like that, don’t you dare bring me back because that is not the man I love and I won’t stay with you.” He stares back at her, as if not quite sure he’s hearing her right. What did Father do to him? “You do this now and I will never forgive you.”

“We’ll see what you say after I bring you back,” Roy says. “I’ll make you understand.”

And then he snaps his fingers and fire roars to life.

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sundove88 · 4 years

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Bandori Covers I oh so Desire: Part 4: Roselia

Note: Sorry for the lack of Bandori Posts. I’m finally back with them!

-Life Light (Smash Ultimate)

-Live and Learn (Sonic)

-X-Buster (ROCKMAN HOLIC)

-Let Butterflies Spread Until The Dawn (Persona 1)

-The One They Call The Witch (Octopath Traveler)

-Life Returns (Fire Emblem)

-ambigious (GARNiDELiA)

-aLIEz (Aldnoah.Zero)

-Beneath The Mask (Persona 5)

-Kuuso Mesorogiwi (Mirai Nikki)

-Danzai Wa Amaneku Nigen No Moto Ni (Ft. Kasumi) (Unlucky Morpheus)

-Sins of the Father (Metal Gear Solid)

-Brave Shine (Fate/Stay Night)

-Lovers (Naruto)

-Paper Moon (Soul Eater)

-Innocence (SAO)

-To the Beginning (Fate/Zero)

-Dead END (Mirai Nikki)

-Vitaliazation (Nana Mizuki)

-Exterminate (Symphogear)

-Alice of Human Sacrifice (Vocaloid)

-Black Swallowtail (Rokka no Yuusha)

-Mysterious Destiny (Bayonetta)

-progress (Tales of Xilla)

-Hikari no Senritsu (Kalafina)

-A Way of Life (Persona 3)

-Oath Sign (Fate/Zero)

-Manten (Kalafina)

-Magia (Ft. Morfonica) (Madoka Magica)

-Naraku no Hana (Higurashi)

-Might+U (My Hero Academia)

-Pollyanna (Yukina and Sayo Duet) (Earthbound)

-Lost in Thoughts All Alone (Fire Emblem Fates)

-Blizzard (DBS: Broly)

-Shinzo wo Sasageyo! (Attack on Titan)

-Period (FMA Brotherhood)

-Only a Chilling Elegy (DBZ)

-White Light (Tales of Zestiria)

-ENERGY (earthmind)

-Theme of Love (Final Fantasy)

-Senka Ryouran (Yuuhei Satellite)

-Beautiful One Day (Rhythm Heaven)

-Tokimoriuta (Pop’n Music)

-Fly in The Freedom (Sonic Adventure 2)

-Gurenge (Demon Slayer)

-Homura (Demon Slayer: Mugen Train)

-Unravel (Death Note) (COVERED)

-Iku Zo (Pokemon)

-No, Thank You!! (K-ON!!)

-Rain (Sekai no Owari)

-Here (Ancient Magus’ Bride)

-Tsuki ni Murakumo Hana ni Kaze (Touhou)

-The Eternally Young Scarlet Devil Moon (Touhou)

-Day of Fate ~Spirit VS. Spirit~ (Dragon Ball Z)

-Neo Stargate (Momoiro Clover Z)

-Glass Doll (Aikatsu)

-Gothic Vampire Cage (Aikatsu)

-Queen of Roses (Aikatsu)

-Eien to lu Bashou Ni (Corrector Yui)

-Leia (Vocaloid)

-Touch Off (The Promised Neverland)

-Ghost Rule (Vocaloid)

-Angel Blossom (Nana Mizuki)

- ENERGY (Vividred Operation)

#bandori #cover songs #wishlist #yukina minato #sayo hikawa #lisa imai #ako udagawa #rinko shirokane #bang dream

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medea10 · 5 years

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My Review of Little Witch Academia

Atsuko Kagari (nicknamed Akko) has always had a fascination with witches. Or should I say one particular witch! When she was a child, she saw a magic performance done by a famous witch named Shiny Chariot. After that, Akko decided then and there that she was going to become a witch just like Shiny Chariot. So when she became a teenager, she got the opportunity to enroll at Luna Nova Magical Academy. While this school has primarily been a place for witch’s only to hone on their skills, due to financial issues they opened the school up to non-magic users. And Akko has no magic in her whatsoever!

We follow the antics of Akko as she tries to survive in a witch academy. During her time she’s managed to snag a wand that was once owned by Shiny Chariot (which she plans to return to), meet friends like Lotte and Sucy, start a rival with the school star Diana Cavendish, get one-on-one training from Professor Ursula (who has her own kind of past), and learn everything there is to know about becoming a great witch. But Akko is going to have a tough time because like I said, she has no magic in her whatsoever! BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: As I mentioned at the beginning, this series is under the thumb of Netflix (in every country). I haven’t had the opportunity to check out the subtitled version. As for the dub…boy, Erica Mendez is getting the choice roles in Netflix exclusive animes. I can’t complain, the lady does fine work. Plus Netflix gives me a chance to hear other new voice actors and seiyuus. Some were big misses with me, but others (like Sucy’s voice) won me over. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from. JAPANESE CAST: *Akko is played by Megumi Han (known for Yamato on Ore Monogatari, Momiji on Fruits Basket 2019, Kagari on Steins;Gate 0, Rio on YGO Zexal, and Chie on Tokyo Ghoul) *Sucy is played by Michiyo Murase *Lotte is played by Fumiko Orikase (known for Dianthe on Pokemon XY, Kyubei on Gintama, Riza on FMA: Brotherhood, Seras Victoria on Hellsing, Shirley on Code Geass, Rukia on Bleach, and Aki on Inazuma Elven) ENGLISH CAST: *Akko is played by Erica Mendez (known for Ryuko on Kill la Kill, Haruka/Uranus on Sailor Moon redub, Emma on The Promised Neverland, Nico on Love Live, Yuuki on SAO II, Retsuko on Aggretsuko, and Tsubaki on Your Lie in April) *Sucy is played by Rachelle Heger *Lotte is played by Stephanie Sheh (known for Mikuru on Haruhi Suzumiya, Kuro on Blue Exorcist, Nui on Kill la Kill, Hinata on Naruto, Orihime on Bleach, Illiya on Fate/stay night, Yui on K-ON, and Usagi/Sailor Moon on Sailor Moon) FAVORITE CHARACTER: I know in stories like these I always root for the underdog and they end up my favorite character…buuuuuuut…

I like Sucy! Yeah, I like the little mischevious, mushroom-loving witch. And yes, I love the episode where Akko goes inside Sucy's subconscious and we see all the Sucy's inside Sucy.

DISLIKED CHARACTER: I knew I couldn’t really hate Diana! I think most of the hatred I shared at her direction for the majority of the season was because of those two cronies that hung around her. Those two were catty bitches and I just hate those kinds of characters. But nothing could compare to Diana’s bitch aunt.

God, fuck this woman! She literally tries to usurp Diana from taking over as head of the Cavendish family line. Just so she can give it to one of her bitch daughters! She’s seriously giving me Lady Tremaine vibes, it’s not even funny. You know it’s bad that I was rooting for them to die when they got into trouble. But Diana wasn’t going to let her bitch aunt and bitch cousins die so I should stop hoping for severe payback. SHIPPING: Hmm…the shipping category is going to be fun! I think it’s only because of that one episode that involves a bee sting and the person is smitten with the next person they see. And boy did Akko get her fill when not only Andrew falls for her, but Diana as well!

Actually, I have thoughts of Andrew really taking a shine to Akko. I honestly thought there would only be two interactions at the most between him and Akko during the show. But surprisingly, there were more. I’m not really a fan of this ship, but I still find it cute. Hell, even Lotte found a boy that was interested in her at one point. She turns him down, but he still holds out hope. Also a cute moment! Hmm…at the moment I’m an open multishipper for this series. If Akko ends up with Diana, cool man! If she ends up with Andrew, whatever, I can dig it! If Akko ends up with Amanda, more power to you (and I can totally see that because Amanda is giving me total lesbo-vibes). What do you expect, this is like an all-girls school!

You know what, I’m now leaning towards Akko x Amanda more than all the others. Don’t fight me on this, I just know I like it! ENDING: Up until the halfway point, a lot of the episodes are about Akko trying to make it as a witch. Did she surpass everyone’s doubts? While Akko was able to improve her magic a bit (I give it 5%), it’s not at the level as many of her classmates. I mean by episode 20, Akko still cannot fly a broom! That should tell you something. But what’s the one thing that seems to be missing from this series?

An antagonist? Yeah, in comes Professor Croix! And to many of the students, she feels like she’s able to bring witchcraft into today’s era with her technology driven methods. And Akko certainly has taken a shine to her. However, Professor Ursula can smell this woman’s bullshit a mile away. Ursula was once the classmate of Croix. But back then Ursula was known as… Oh come on, it was so bloody obvious the moment Ursula met Akko.

Ursula is really Shiny Chariot! Meanwhile, Akko ends up trying to speak these seven secret words that’ll unlock the wand she obtained in the first episode. You know, the wand that belonged to Shiny Chariot?! And Akko has managed to obtain six out of the seven secret words. She could be the one to get the seventh word, which was something Chariot was unable to do as a student. But this positivity ends with a looming war (over a soccer match) on the rise. In actuality, there’s a force around the town as well as certain moments at the school that have caused chaos. Yes, it’s Professor Croix exploiting people’s anger for her own research. Not only that, but she used Akko for her own selfish ambitions and as a result ended up injuring Shiny Chariot to a point of altering her magic (possibly permanently). That’s one thing. Then we get quite a big bombshell!

AKKO’S MAGIC: Ever wonder why Akko has like zero magic ability?! When she saw Shiny Chariot’s performance as a child, her dreams and potential magic were taken by Chariot in order to make her performances more magical (due to audience members becoming disinterested in Chariot’s magic). Akko’s magic was taken away from her before she could even realize a thing. Damn! And you can just imagine Akko’s heartache finding out that her professor was really Chariot and that Chariot did that to not just Akko, but other children! After Chariot found out what her magic shows were doing, she immediately fell off the map.

BACK TO THE CONCLUSION: One of Croix’s inventions went rogue and is officially threatening the world. And it’s up to Akko, Sucy, Lotte, Diana, Amanda, Constance, and Jasminka to catch up to this rogue missile invention. Now that Akko was able to obtain the seventh word, there’s a good chance they can take out Croix’s out of control missile. Croix thankfully realized the errors of her way and understood the pain she’s caused to her students and her former classmate. Croix and Chariot decide to give their all to help the girls as well. While five of the seven girls were able to give a big boost, it was Akko and Diana who took out the looming threat. That’s right, witches saved the world! Yeah, during the series a lot of people were kinda mean to or looked down upon Luna Nova and the witch race in general. Especially, those dickheads at Andrew’s prep school! With this act, I’m sure Luna Nova and the witches will finally get the respect they deserve. In the aftermath, yes Luna Nova is now receiving more respect from those that have been quite cruel to them throughout the series run. Croix is going away to do some research. One of her biggest plans was to restore Ursula/Chariot’s magic that was lost due to her own recklessness with Akko. The students go back to their lessons and…

Akko (after 25 episodes) was able to float a few inches off the ground using her broom. She flew…sort of. I’ll let it count as a victory! THE TWO SPECIALS: A few years prior to the television series run, Little Witch Academia had two movies air. Now this is a different telling of the story. In the first special (which is 25 minutes), it has Akko come upon Chariot’s rod during a class assignment (instead of coming upon it in a forest like the first episode).

And here’s a real kicker, while Akko is still the class screw-up and has the least amount of magic, here she actually has SOME magic. In the second special (which is 55 minutes), Akko ends up in trouble (like normal) and ends up having to do a punishment assignment. She has to help orchestrate a ritual which ends up turning into a parade. So Akko, Sucy, Lotte, Amanda, Constance, and Jasminka all end up working together to do this. But Akko wants to turn this into something for people to remember and always cherish. Like her experiences with the Shiny Chariot performances she saw as a child! But there’s always blow-back because at Luna Nova, Shiny Chariot is seen as a disgrace to traditional witches. And of course there was bound to be some disagreements when working with a big group. And despite a few hiccups, everyone was able to come together to put on a convincing parade for the crowd. Little Witch Academia was quite the enjoyable little story. Yes, it’s a root for the underdog kind of story and even though the television series seems to give Akko the short-end of the stick on the magic matter, it’s full-filling to see her accomplish quite a bit. Even if it took her until the final seconds to learn how to fly! I know it’s been about 2-3 years since the ending of the TV series and am wondering if this is it for the franchise. I know there are novels and games out for this, so maybe one day.

But I do give a recommendation for those into witches, magic, and all that good stuff! It's full of fun characters, there's no harm in that. Currently, Netflix is the only outlet for this series (in just about every country). But Netflix does carry both the sub and dub (and several other languages). Now then, what’s my next Amazon/Netflix exclusive anime? Nope. You’re watching this.

Rising of the Shield Hero? But isn’t that Crunchyroll or FUNimation? Don’t care. You’re watching this now. But I have a big list of other animes to wat… Tough shit. You’re watching this. You have no choice but to watch a modern Isekai!

#anime review #little witch academia #akko kagari #sucy manbavaran #diana cavendish #amanda o'neill #shiny chariot #ursula callistis #lotte yanson #chariot du nord #andrew hanbridge #croix meridies

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clair-audients · 5 years

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Heyyy I am looking for a new anime to watch, I am a huge fan of Fullmetal Alchemist and I'd like something similar... Preference for strong female characters and LGBTQ characters Any recommendation?? Thanks 😊

stuff that i’d personally recommend in boldlgbtq movies/ova: liz and the blue bird (yuri), when marnie was there (sorta queer), doukyuusei, tokyo godfathers

movies/ova with strong (or great) female characters: ghost in the shell 1995, princess mononoke, nausicaa, only yesterday, secret world of arrietty, FLCL, gunbuster/diebuster, queen emeraldas, patlabor the movie, galaxy express 999 movies (the only good one is the first movie, but helmazaria in the third movie is such a great character), in this corner of the world, the tale of princess kaguya, mary and the witch’s flower, maquia, the dragon dentist

lgbtq shows: .hack//sign (sorta yuri), CARDCAPTOR SAKURA, paradise kiss, revolutionary girl utena/adolesence of utena (watch both), stop hibari-kun, kuragehime, hibike euphonium, flip flappers, yuri on ice, SSSS.Gridman, sarazanmai, revue starlight, banana fish, houseki no kuni (the characters have no gender despite the very moe voice acting, would probably recommend with more androgynous voices)shows with strong female characters: turn A gundam, rose of versailles, patlabor, magic knight rayearth, ghost in the shell stand alone complex, kino no tabi (the 2003 one not the newest one god damn), madoka magica, fate/zero, psycho-pass, shinsekai yori, kill la kill, yakusoku no neverland, shingeki no kyojin (if you want to count mikasa as a strong woman), panty & stocking with garterbelt

other stuff that might not be exactly what you’re looking for but falls somewhere in between: NANA, hakumei and mikochi, yuru camp, akage no anne, figure 17, heidi girl of the alps, a place further than the universe, shoujo shuumatsu ryokou, niea_7

there’s also a lot of obvious stuff that would fit in here that i haven’t seen like hourou musuko and sailor moon, maybe someone else can chip in i’ll end this by stating that i’m a straight cis dude and haven’t seen too many anime with good lgbtq representation so i might not be the best person to ask

honestly i can’t think of any anime that is like FMA with strong female characters AND lgbtq characters since, well, strong female characters and good lgbtq representation don’t tend to jive with the MO for most shounen manga and their adaptations (despite, ironically enough, FMA being written by a woman). having something that checks off all those three of those boxes is sadly a lot to ask from an anime just from my experience. my best guess would be like boku no hero academia or hunter x hunter. though from my understanding boku no hero academia has a bad portrayal of a trans character so.

if you’re into manga i’d check out witch hat atelier. it’s fairly basic bordering on cliche in terms of its story so far but it has a lot of great characters in it, mostly female. also SHIMANAMI TASOGARE is an incredible manga that covers pretty much every part of the lgbtq spectrum whose author identifies as “x-gender” and asexual. there’s also claudine by riyoko ikeda featuring the titular trans character but i honestly hated that one.

#recs #azaleastrum

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roloko-karlstein · 5 years

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If anyone wants to know my tastes here it is.

SS: Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Clannad After Story, Code Geass S1

S: Banana Fish, Sakamoto-kun,Durarara!!,JJBA,Daily Lives of High School Boys,Psycho Pass,Re: Zero,Assassination Classroom,Gintama,Clannad,Disastrous Life of Saiki.K,Mob Psycho 100,The Devil Is A Part-timer,Angel Beats,Black Lagoon

A: Free!,Rainbow,Sora no Otoshimono,Your Lie in April,Yuri! On Ice,Trigun (Haven’t completed it,but really enjoyed it),Kanon (2006),Pokemon,Is This A Zombie?,Toradora,Noragami,Parasyte,Steins;Gate,FMA: Brotherhood,Usagi Drop,Kuroko no Basket,Attack on Titan,Death Parade,Erased,Inuyashiki

B: Reborn!,Kekkai Sensen,Bungou Stray Dogs,Cowboy Bebop,Evangelion,Owari no Seraph,Arslan Senki,Umaru-chan!,The Promised Neverland,Ouran Highschool Host Club,Yowamushi Pedal,Gurren Lagann,Haikyuu!,Fate/Zero,One Punch Man,Magi,My Hero Academia,Made in Abyss (Only seen half the series its pretty good)

C: Yu Yu Hakushou,Madoka Magica,Rurouni Kenshin,Another,Chuuninbyou (sp?),Mirai Nikki,Beelzebub,Ano Hana,Highschool DxD,Love Live!,No Game No Life,Overlord,Fairy Tail,Golden Time,Detective Conan,Black Clover (The manga is S tier btw well at least for now),Seven Deadly Sins,Guilty Crown,Death Note, Food Wars

D: Monster Musume,Deadman Wonderland,Darling in the Franxx,Goblin Slayer,Sword Art Online,Elfen Lied,Akame ga Kill!,Kakegurui,Blue Exorcist,Tokyo Ghoul,Charlotte,Highschool of the Dead

F: Berserk,Kuroshitsuji (manga is S tier the first and second seasons are garbo),Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress,Dangan Ronpa: The Animation

Haven’t Watched: Nichijou,Hyouka,Ergo Proxy, D Gray Man,Log Horizon,Soul Eater, Kill la Kill,March Comes Like a Lion,Run With The Wind,Re: Life,K: On,The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya,Welcome to the Ballroom,Accel World,Love Live Sunshine,???,Is it Wrong to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon?,Dragon Maid, Infinite Stratos,Corpse Party,???,???,Zombieland Saga,Bakuman,Laid Back Camp,Afro Samurai,Nisekoi,Ping Pong: The Animation,The Pet Girl of Sakurasou,Love is War,Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai,Hunter x Hunter,SNAFU,Fate/Stay Night,Another title in the Fate universe,Golden Kamuy

Want to Watch: Monster, Prison School,Claymore,Mushishi,??? (I forgot the title, but I’m familiar with the two characters plus its rated high on MAL),Bakemonogatari,Hanebado!,Hellsing Ultimate,Devilman Crybaby,Hinamatsuri,Konosuba,Diamond no Ace,Megalo Box,Grand Blue,Welcome to the NHK,(this one is supposed to be under Haven’t watched oops),Samurai Champloo,Violet Evergarden,Bacanno,Place Further than the Universe

Won’t Watch: Eromanga Sensei,Bleach,Inuyasha,RWBY,Toriko,Keijo,DBZ,Boruto,Hajime no Ippo,Inuzama franchise,Naruto,One Piece (Pretty much this is split into two categories too long,or its just not my type of show)

#roloko's texts #shit taste confirmed

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arkus-rhapsode · 6 years

Note

Do have any manga recs? I'd love to hear your choice since I genuinely like how thoughtful your reviews are :)) I've already read fma, bnha, death note, fairy tail, and noragami.

So if you like Death Note I suggest Bakuman (a manga about making manga)there’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure that I recommend to anyone (my personal favorite part is part four)Seven Deadly Sins, But it’s understandable if you’re turned off by the start of itOne Piece is worth investing time inA silent voice is a beautiful story in my opinion I couldn’t put it down when I started it The ancient magus bride if you like Noragami Golden KamuyTokyo GhoulOne Punch ManBerserk (very bleak and graphic and might not be best to start on) Fate (the franchise is big but I started on Unlimited Blade Works which got me into the series and then Fate/Zero I think is the better written installment)Soul Eater (The anime is good up to the last season where they diverge from the manga)Hunter x Hunter is a gloriously written series Yu Yu HakushoOuran High School Host Club was a very funny series especially in the dub.

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fanfictionlive · 4 years

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I will read and critique your story – under the following conditions. Please read carefully

Since I'm currently going through writer's block and getting little engagement from my fandom communities, I've decided to offer my critiquing services here in the hopes of some inspiration.

Let me preface this by saying:

I will not read fandom-blind.

See below for a list of the admittedly small selection of fandoms I'm interested in.

I consider myself a meticulous editor who places great emphasis on presentation and execution. Please don't ask me to review your story if you're not willing to accept constructive criticism. While I will happily dish out compliments where they are warranted, I will not hesitate to point out problematic issues, nor will I sugarcoat them.

I will read and critique one-shots up to 10k long. To make my workload manageable, every author is limited to one fic. If your story is longer than that, or it's multi-chapter, I will continue reading so long as it holds my interest. This means that I may read three chapters, up to the middle of the story, or the entirety of the fic. If I drop the story before reaching the end, I will write a critique based on however far I've read, and advise you as to why the story has lost my interest.

My preferred genres: drama, tragedy, angst, romance. Serious, dark or depressing stories get my vote, especially if they are character-driven as opposed to plot-driven. Gen fics without a romantic pairing focus are fine, so long as it features a relationship (be it platonic or familial) with interesting dynamics that I can sink my teeth into.

Smut (including non/dub-con) is welcome, but I'd rather not have it be the central theme of the story. If you want me to critique your smut specifically, do let me know. That said, I am particularly nitpicky on this front, so be prepared to have your work disassembled. :-P

I strongly prefer F/M pairings. But M/M, F/F, NB/polyamorous pansexual alien/whatever are fine so long as the pairing is not cracktastic levels of implausible and you can sell me the romance.

Here are my dealbreakers:

No AUs except for Canon-Divergence. (To clarify, this means the story must be set in the canon universe)

No underage smut or sexual relationship where there's a questionable/unethical age gap

No high school/college fics

No reader/self-insert

No original character as main protagonist. However, if the OC is non-human, I will consider it

No self-indulgent fluff where OTP gets their happily-ever-after with 2.5 kids and a picturesque house in middle-class suburbia. Sorry, not my cup of tea

No Voldemort/Anyone

If your story contains one or more of the above, I'm afraid I must decline.

Fandoms I have written for:

NieR: Automata

Final Fantasy XIII

Kingdom Hearts

Valkyrie Profile

Dragonball Z

Golden Sun

Blood+

Sekirei

Fandoms I'm well acquainted with:

Final Fantasies IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, XV (not XI or XIV)

Harry Potter

Evangelion

FSN and Fate: Zero

Pokemon

Fandoms I have a passing familiarity with:

AoT

PMMM

Re:Zero

FMA (original and Brotherhood)

SAO (seasons 1 & 2)

Death Note

Elfen Lied

Darling in the Franxx

Zelda (N64 era)

Star Wars

The above lists are by no means exhaustive and I'm likely to have missed a fandom or three. From those, you can surmise that I'm mostly into anime and JRPGs. You're welcome to suggest fics outside those fandoms, but please bear in mind that I will decline if the fandom is not one I'm remotely familiar with.

Please don't suggest fics from the following fandoms:

Marvel Universe

Supernatural

Bleach

Naruto

One Piece

Inuyasha

Fruits Basket

Twilight

Alright, show me your fics, guys! First come, first serve :-)

If I comment on your fic, I would greatly appreciate if you return the favour and comment on one of my stories as well. Here are my account links:

[AO3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/In_a_Quandary/works)

[FFN](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1410668/)

Lastly, please note that I may not get back to you in a timely manner, as I am a SAH parent subject to the whims of my mercurial, screaming infant :-P

submitted by /u/Under_A_Hermit_Rock [link] [comments] from FanFiction: Where Magical Ponies battle Imperial Titans https://ift.tt/2NANBlm

#fan fiction #writing #fanfiction #tv show #series #movie #fan #write

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ohmytheon · 6 years

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Good Men Don’t Become Legends (FMA/Fate Zero AU, 14)

Oh my god, can you believe it? I actually updated this fic twice in the span of ONE MONTH. I know, I know. I'm shocked too. Many thanks to my baby girl, who has jumped up in milestones for playing on her own more in the past month, allowing me the opportunity to write more. This chapter is all action and we all know how much I hate writing action. We also get to see Rider’s, uh, ride. I had an amusing time with it. Also, who can spot the Lord of the Rings reference?

good men don’t become legends great heroes need great sorrows

Ling wakes up almost a second too late. He just barely manages to jump up and throw himself over his Master’s sleeping form before she is stabbed in the middle by Saber’s sword. However, because he was so focused on saving her, he didn’t haven’t the time to form his own Noble Phantasm over his skin to save himself. The sword pierces him in his side, going all the way through and into the bed.

For a brief moment, May’s eyes fly wide open and stare at into his, just only inches away. There is pure terror in those eyes and rage swells up in his own. This is the only place she has felt safe in years. He was able to pry out the truth of her home life: how she lived in poverty near a border devastated by constant war, how even as the lowest daughter of her country’s emperor she was subjected to abuse and assassination attempts, how as that daughter her family sought to use her.

With him here now, with her Servant guarding her, she could sleep soundly.

And of course Saber had to ruin that.

When Saber jerks his sword out, growling in displeasure at having missed his intended target, Ling’s blood spills over the bed and blanket covering May. In the time it takes for Saber to retrieve his weapon, the ultimate shield covers Ling’s skin and he is able to twist around and wrap his hand around the sword.

“Too slow,” Ling snarls as he jerks on the sword and throws it and Saber with it through the window. The glass and wood shatters, falling to the ground, while Saber is more agile. He lands on his feet as glass rains down upon and around him and slices a piece of wood in half with the sharp edge of his sword before it can hit him. Ling jumps onto the broken window sill and glares down at him as his two swords appear in his hands.

“Ling?” May queries from behind him.

“Stay back,” Ling tells her. He can’t afford to have any distractions during this fight. Saber didn’t come here just to win -- he came here to kill -- and Ling isn’t about to let that happen.

With that, the fight is on. Saber rushes up to him in a flash, quicker than the blink of an eye, and Ling parries him as he leaps from the window and over him, landing on the ground. Saber is quick to change course without even stopping, jumping over the window and pushing off the side of the building so hard that the bricks under his feet crack. Ling could’ve ran, but he meets Saber’s attack head on instead.

Their swords become a blur as they slash, stab, and dodge one another. Saber is a better swordsman, as his title in this War suggests, forcing Ling on the defensive for most of their fight, but whenever he’s struck, Saber’s sword only scrapes against his ultimate shield. Despite being a Noble Phantasm, he can’t cut through Ling’s own and it begins to infuriate Saber.

A terrible grins cuts across Ling’s face. “Having fun yet?”

Saber doesn’t respond. He slashes hard at Ling, who is unable to dodge him in time, but he can only cut through Ling’s shirt, the sword scraping along his chest and causing sparks to fly as its sharp edge connects with his hardened skin. Ling takes advantage of Saber’s momentum and close proximity, slashing at him with his fingers turned claws instead of one of his swords. Unlike Saber, Ling’s attack connects with skin and blood spurts out of his arm from the gashes that Ling made.

Instead of swinging at him again, Saber kicks out and Ling, having grown used to not worrying about swords, is thrown at least thirty feet down a dead end alley until his back slams into the wall. It knocks the air out of his lungs and he is busy gasping for breath when Saber appears through the dust, his eyes glowing red and a black fog hanging over his swords.

Ling barely manages to duck and roll out of the way of Saber’s swords, which pierce the wall so forcefully that the brick explodes and rains down upon them. Holy hell, the Servant is fast in an ungodly manner.

“Why are you doing this?” Ling questions. “Did your Master command you to hunt down a little girl or do you enjoy it?”

Saber stands up ramrod straight, glaring furiously, like a statue made of ice. There is nothing but cold hatred emanating from him. Ling can sense things like that. He could always read people, but his abilities have been heightened as a Heroic Spirit. It is the kind of hate that can make a person shiver on a cold night when you feel that glare land on you. Luckily, Ling is made of harder stuff and so is May.

“A child,” Saber finally speaks, his voice filled with contempt. “You would listen to her? Were you not an emperor of half the world in your time? Have you fallen so low?”

“Have you?” Ling counters. “Taking orders from a man beneath your station -- a man who is clearly under the thumb of someone else?” He laughs, caustic and filled with no warmth. “It’s pathetic.”

They circle one another, the anger and hatred bubbling in the air between them. Ever since the moment they first ran into each other and fought, Ling has felt only disdain towards the other Servant. He’s not like Berserker, who was mad and depraved, or Assassin, who is pure darkness. No, Saber is something almost worst. He acts as if he is above the rest of humanity when he is one of them. He’s more of a sword, a weapon. It doesn’t fill him with joy but with purpose.

He’s no leader, no king, no emperor. He doesn’t care about the people below him.

“I will kill you and her,” Saber tells him, getting into a proper sword stance.

Ling drops his swords. He doesn’t need them. “You will not touch her.”

Raising her bow, an arrow in the notch, Riza is ready for war. Even from this distance, where the black form against the sun is barely more than a speck, she knows that she could hit her target. She had impeccable aim when she was a mere human; as a Servant in this Holy Grail War, she is capable of unimaginable feats. She draws the arrow back, aims directly at the target, and--

She doesn’t let loose. Her eyes widen and she nearly drops the bow and arrow when she realizes just what exactly she is seeing. No, not what -- who. It’s Alphonse.

Impossibly, it’s him, clinging onto the neck of a firebird. She recognizes it as a phoenix and instinctively knows that it is Roy’s. He did this. Somehow, some way, he was not only able to find Alphonse, but save him. It’s an incredible sight, one that has Riza smiling, but then she realizes something was wrong and her heart sinks in her chest. It isn’t what she sees that bothers her; it’s what she doesn’t see. There is only one person riding the phoenix.

Where is Roy?

Even though she was told to stay back, Winry peeks her head out the window, probably having seen Riza’s strange behavior. “Riza, what is it?”

“Alphonse!” Riza calls back. “It’s Alphonse!”

Before Winry can rush outside in excitement, Riza holds out a hand to stop her. Something isn’t right. She can feel it in the air. The phoenix is close now, close enough to be seen by even Winry, but Riza isn’t about to be passive in this. She takes aim again and quickly releases an arrow. Winry chokes back a scream as the arrow flies directly at Alphonse and the phoenix, but then cuts herself off when the arrow flies past them and curves downward toward the ground in an arch. It’s impossible to see from here, but she knows that her arrow connects with something when it hits, light exploding above the houses.

“What are you doing?” Winry demands.

Riza’s heart is pounding as she notches another arrow. “He’s not alone.”

Winry pales. “Another Servant? It’s not Mustang?”

No, it’s not. It’s someone else and that someone is not on their side. She can see Alphonse’s frantic face now as he looks back at whoever is behind him. Stones shoot up at him like rockets and the phoenix twists out of the way just in time to avoid being hit, but Alphonse slips, unable to grip the bird’s body with his legs, and loses his hold around the its neck. His body is limp as it falls through the air. This time, Winry doesn’t hold back her scream as Riza runs at breakneck speed, hoping against hope that she can reach him. If not…

She doesn’t think about that possibility. She doesn’t have the time.

They have to get the fight out of the inner city. The number one rule of the Holy Grail War is that civilians aren’t to be involved. If they are, the church that runs the War will have to get involved -- unless the witnesses are silenced. The problem is that Ling is more careful about what he’s doing while Saber doesn’t care. He’ll kill anyone that stands in his way, including innocent bystanders, and May won’t tolerate that of Ling. He will either be expected to intervene or, even worse, she will do something about it.

His little Master has far too big of a heart. Why did she have to join this War? She’s too compassionate, too kind, too loving. She does not have the ability to allow her soul to be condemned in order to win. He won’t let it besides.

Ling slashes at Saber’s middle, missing by mere millimeters, and is then forced to black flip out of the way of a counterattack. He doesn’t even have time to recover before he has to duck and roll out of the way of another vicious swing from Saber’s sword, which cuts a street lamp pole in half. The metal comes crashing down, which Ling deftly leaps away from, but then Saber manages to kick one of the sparking wires his way. He’s unable to dodge it and the snapped electricity wire connects with his leg, shooting thousands of volts through his body.

He’s never been hit by something like this and his body spasms violently as heat scores through his body. His ultimate shield works against him, making him like a conduit for the electricity, and he’s blown off his feet. He skids across the ground, gasping for breath when he stops, and actually smoking a little. If he had been human, it would’ve killed him. As it stands, it only pisses him off that something so pathetically human actually managed to hurt him.

By the time he realizes that he’s grasping at actual skin on his leg instead of his shield, it’s too late.

Saber is upon him and he pierces Ling’s leg with one of his swords. The scream that tears out of Ling’s throat sounds more like an animal’s, so high and loud. He bats Saber’s other sword away with his hand, still encased in his shield, and kicks out with his free leg, hitting Saber’s jaw and sending him flying to the side. He grasps the sword with his hands and pulls as hard as he can, yowling as it goes through his skin. Blood bursts out of the wound once the sword is free and the shield goes over it again.

It looks as if he was never struck, but Ling can feel it -- the throbbing pain, the tear in his muscles, the damage. As a Heroic Spirit, he will heal quickly, but he still needs that time for it to heal. Still, he ignores the pain as he stands up fully and sharpens his claws. Anger boils in his blood. He’s furious at getting caught off guard, furious that he let Saber hit him, furious that Saber found them.

This was May’s only safe place and now it’s gone.

I’m going to tear Saber apart limb by limb.

Riza speeds through the streets, little more than a blur, and then jumps, one foot connecting with a wall to push off so that she can land on the roof of another building. Without stopping, she leaps from that roof to another until she is leaping houses in bounds. She barely breathes as she runs and keeps her eyes on the prize. With one last burst, she uses a chimney as a stand and jumps long and hard. With near perfect timing (or perhaps at the last second), Alphonse lands in her arms midair, solid weight but little more than a sack of flour for her. He gasps in shock, no doubt her armor still painful to land on, but it’s better than the ground.

When she lands, her feet skid on the street and they slide nearly ten feet before coming to a stop. Alphonse has his arms wrapped around her neck, his normally neat blonde hair windblown, his cheeks red and wet. However, what she notices the most is that his whole upper body is shaking. He must be exhausted, his muscles tense from holding on so tightly to the phoenix.

There is a piercing cry from above and Riza looks up just in time to see the phoenix shimmer and vanish into the sunrise, its purpose complete now that Alphonse is in safe hands.

“I d-didn’t think--” Alphonse’s voice is as shaky as he is. “He was f-fading and I-- Mustang, he--”

“Later,” Riza tells him, even if it’s not what she wishes. She wants to know everything -- she’s desperate to know, if she’s being honest -- but she doesn’t have the time and it’s not her place to know. As much as it pains her, Roy is not her true concern. Her sole focus needs to be on Winry, her place in the Holy Grail War, and the battle ahead. Because she knows one is coming. She can feel it. “Who’s chasing you?”

“Rider,” Alphonse replies. “He’s not super fast, considering, but what he lacks in speed, he… He makes up for it.”

A grim frown cuts across Riza’s face. She can’t fight Rider here, not with Alphonse in her arms and unable to escape on his own, but she doesn’t want to lead Rider to the house either. She has little choice in the matter. Her first priority is to get Alphonse to safety. Then she can lure the other Servant to safer grounds. It’s the only way.

A terrifying roar from behind causes Alphonse to jump in her arms. Riza doesn’t bother to look back, not wanting to waste the time, and instead rushes back to the house at breakneck speed. She can hear trees breaking and falling behind her as whatever Rider is on crashes through them, far too close for comfort. He might not be fast, but he’s certainly quicker than she is on foot.

It takes too much energy for her to reach the house whereas Rider has saved his for the fight, but she knows where she’s going and that gives her a small advantage. When the house comes into view, she sees Winry standing in the doorway, waving a hand, but then the girl freezes, eyes wide with shock, as she sees whatever is behind Riza. Still, even then, she doesn’t look back. Because she knows something that Rider and his Master don’t. Riza is able to cross the line of defensive spells without any issues. Rider will not have the same luck.

She spins around so quick that dust blows up around her heels. What bursts out into the clearing has her tensing in surprise and even Alphonse gasps. Out of all the things Riza was expecting to be chasing them, Rider sitting upon a massive armored polar bear is not one of them.

The beast is beautiful, its armor gleaming in the moonlight and carved with spells that match Rider’s metal gauntlets, its white fur shining like snow. If she didn’t notice the sharp teeth and deadly claws sticking out of its large paws, she might have even loved it. When the bear comes to a stop, it lets out a mighty roar that makes the trees around them tremble.

Atop of the polar bear sits Rider in glowing silver armor that matches the bear’s. “Archer!” he booms. “Hand over the boy and I will spare you this once!”

“If you want him,” Riza responds, “come and claim him!”

Rider guffaws mightily and then sets his bear to charge forward. Despite the ground shaking underneath her feet and the large monster of a beast roaring ferociously, Riza stands her ground. The second Rider’s beast touches the edge of the defensive spells, a nasty red shock of magic explodes, electrocuting both Servant and animal. The two of them roar as one, frozen on the spot as the spell finishes its assault.

“Take him,” Riza urges Winry and Pinako as she hands Alphonse over to them. Winry gives her a worried look before she turns around and they carry him back into the house. By the time Riza returns her attention back to Rider, the spell is over and he is left smoldering in its wake. Roy had strengthened them alongside of Pinako last night to go on the offensive should someone unwanted cross. He must have done it knowing that he was going to leave them to find Alphonse on his own.

Where is he? She tries not to think about it -- she can’t waste getting distracted -- but it’s hard. Roy wouldn’t have let someone chase after Alphonse… Unless he isn’t capable of fighting back. Was he captured while freeing Alphonse? Was he killed or injured?

No, she can’t think about it, not with Rider’s bear slowly standing up again.

Rider works his jaw. “Very clever, Archer, but such a thing cannot keep us down.”

Snapping the reigns, Rider forces the bear to charge forward. It roars again as it runs, smoke still coming off of its now patchy fur. Riza runs directly at it, despite the animal being massive. Right before it can take a bite out of her or swipe one of its large paws, she drops to her knees and bends backwards, sliding underneath the bear’s stomach between its legs. She’s so close that its soft fur brushes against her face before she’s free and jumps back into a standing position. The bear, strong as it may be, is too large and cumbersome to turn around quickly, which she takes advantage of.

When she pulls an arrow back, it turns from looking normal to glowing until it is white hot and then she lets loose, a beam of light cutting through the air instead of an arrow. Rider tries to block it from hitting his bear, using one of his metal gauntlets as a shield, but then the light hits him, it splinters around him into a hundred thinner beams of light, like sparks hitting the ground, and pierces both the bear and Rider’s legs. Unlike arrows, the strings of light don’t stay stuck, but they burn something terrible.

Rider pounds his chest repeatedly, as if beating the pain out of him, and then leaps off his bear. When his feet hit the concrete, he creates a crater and a shockwave blows through the air. He fondly places a hand on the bear’s snout, as if telling it that it has done a good job, and then turns back to face her, raising his fists and bending his legs into a fighting stance.

Riza knocks another arrow back. She can’t fight Rider head on, so she’ll have to be creative. One hit will send her reeling. So she can’t let him get a single hit in.

Ling was exhausted, but he was not going to give up.

After finding out his weak spot with electricity, Saber has done his best to exploit it more throughout their fight and Ling has done what he can to avoid it. All in all, he is hit two more times, a fact that burns through him also hotter than the electricity itself. He manages to get a few more digs into Saber as well. The two of them are left breathing heavily, glowering, and bleeding as the dust settles around them.

“Tired, old man?” Ling taunts. He’s bleeding from a cut on his cheek, the other wounds hidden underneath his hardened charcoal-colored skin, while blood drips down Saber’s wrist and hand to fall on the ground. His torn up shirt is no longer simply white, red blossoming all over his chest and arm from the blood leaking out of the gashes Ling gave him.

Saber doesn’t give in to the taunts, staring back with those dead angry eyes of his. When he lifts his swords up to make an “x” in front of himself, the two twin blades begin to glow a furious black and purple aura, reminding Ling of a bruise and a gaping hole. Saber throws them back and the fog explodes all around him, covering his body as if engulfing him in flames, his eyes shining red like a demon’s.

And then he’s suddenly there, right in front of Ling, in less than a blink of the eye. Ling throws his arms up to block the swords, which slam down on his forearms so hard that the concrete shatters underneath his feet. The next swing he leaps away from, but Saber flies at him in a flurry that he’s not even a blur. It’s like he’s not even there at all, even though Ling can feel every scrape of his swords against his shield. It’s impossible to dodge him an Ling is forced to jump back every time. Sparks fly and metal sings. It’s like Saber is trying to hack away at Ling’s skin. Ling makes the mistake of trying to grab for one of the swords to stop the insanely fast onslaught and is met with another kick to his chest.

The power is way more than before. Ling is tossed backwards, his body rolling around the ground like a ragdoll. He digs his claws into the concrete to stop himself, rock and dirt flinging all around him. The kick was so hard that it knocked the air out of him and he bends over trying to catch his breath. It’s only for a second -- he has to release the shield to properly breathe -- but it’s a second too much. Saber is on him again with that impossible speed and Ling leaps backwards, but one of the sword slices through his shirt and grazes his skin.

It’s a pitiful wound, little more than a papercut, but it drops Ling cold.

Blood spurts out of his mouth as he collapses onto his knees, one hand pressing against the ground to hold him up while the other wraps around his waist. There’s barely any blood to tell of the wound, but Ling can feel the dark magic seeping into his veins through the cut and it burns something fierce. He curls in on himself and lets out a scream, as if it might bring him relief, but it just hurts more.

Saber’s swords must be cursed. He tries to think of something -- tries to get his body to move -- but his mind dizzy and scattered from the pain. Eyes focused on the ground, Ling watches as the tip of Saber’s other sword scrapes across the ground, the sound toe-curling. When he tries to move, he coughs up blood again and curses under his breath. Damnit, damnit, this can’t be happening. He can’t do this. He can’t fail.

“Pathetic,” Saber condemns with a sneer.

Ling growls. No, no, he can’t die. This can’t be the end. He clenches a fist over the wound, his claws tearing into his shirt, and he wills his body to get up. His mind screams at him to fight. He can’t die. If he dies, then May will be thrown from the Holy Grail War. No, worse, if he dies -- if he dies -- Saber will kill her. The second Ling fades from this world, Saber will hunt her down and brutally end her life.

Damnit, May, I--

“Ling!” she shouts from somewhere.

He pounds a fist on the ground as Saber raises his sword. “Run! Get out of here!”

“No!” she cries out, her voice closer now. She’s running towards them. Ling closes his eyes and grits his teeth so that he doesn’t groan. No, no, she needs to leave. She needs to escape. She needs to live. What kind of Heroic Spirit is he that he can’t protect a little girl? What kind of emperor had he been?

“Her blood is on your hands too,” Saber tells him without any emotion in his voice.

“May, go now!”

And then Ling feels her hand on her back, so small, so clean, and the sword is falling and he body is on fire and May screams, “STOP!”

The explosion swallows the whole block, bathing them in a light so bright that it’s devoid of any color, and sends Saber flying back like a bomb landed at his feet. May’s magic washes over them so overwhelmingly that it’s like he’s drowning in it. He doesn’t know how it doesn’t knock him flat on his stomach, except it’s like her hand touching him is keeping him locked in position on his hand and knees.

Then he feels the magic burrowing into him, tiny little slivers of light digging into the wounds. Ice chases away the fire in his veins, sliding through his blood, until it feels like he’s glowing too, white like a star despite the black of his Noble Phantasm. The air is too rich, like it’s filled with pure oxygen, and when he breathes in deeply, he lets out a scream. It’s too much -- it’s way too much -- her magic and mana flooding him until there is nothing left.

As suddenly as it happened, it ends, the light of her magic winking out as if turned off and the darkness of the night hangs over them.

When Ling stands, he’s stunned at how he feels. His whole body is healed, not a single scar remaining. He feels great -- better than great. He feels like he can go another ten rounds with Saber without getting tired. He’s never felt so alive in his life, like he’s riding the high of magic and can’t come down. His eyes fall to May standing slightly in front of him to his left. She’s standing there limply, eyes blinking in confusion until she finally looks up to him.

Ling grins at her. “I knew you were holding out on me.”

“I…” May looks around. Saber is nowhere to be found, although one of his swords lies in pieces a few meters from them. “What happened?”

“You saved my life,” Ling tells her.

She shined like a star, more precious than anything he had taken or been given in his lifetime as an emperor of half the world. This is power. This is strength. It is something that someone like Saber or his Master will never be able to understand. Ling is not even half close to deserving it.

For a moment, May stares up at him, mouth parted and eyes wide, and then she blinks and exhaustion rushes into her eyes. She staggers and then topples over, but Ling catches her with ease. Once more, he thinks of how light she is in his arms. He hauls her up and holds her against him with one arm, holding his other out with his fingers curled into claws, but there is no Saber to be seen. He knows that she didn’t kill the other Servant, but it appears as if he left them alone.

Ling takes a deep breath, but he doesn’t let his guard down. He has to find them a new place to lay low. May lays limply in his arm, breathing quietly against his shoulder. It crosses his mind that he has never had anyone put their faith in him so implicitly, but what he thinks about more is the way she threw herself in front of him. This tiny girl, this innocent, was ready to risk her life for his.

It reminds him painfully of a girl he used to know. Her near-constantly serious face. Her pure determination. Her reckless abandon to jump in the way of a poisoned dagger to save his life. Ling slumps against a wall despite not being tired. He can’t let that happen again. He won’t. Enough people have died for him. Now it is his turn to protect.

Rider looks particularly frustrated with the current status of their fight. No matter how many times he comes charging at Riza, she manages to dodge him, sliding out of the range of his fists and kicks at the last second. So far, she has managed to avoid him, jumping out of the way to take petty shots at him. While he’s been able to block most of them, a few arrows stick out of him from vulnerable spaces in between his armor. He acts like they aren’t even there, not showing a single sign of wearing down.

Still, they can’t keep this up forever. He might not be tired, but Riza can feel herself getting slower. Winry can supply her with only so much mana. Rider appears to have much more stamina than her, but then his Master is a full-grown mage. Riza doesn’t begrudge Winry for this; she only thinks that it isn’t fair that the Holy Grail would choose a child for its war.

Rider stomps on the ground hard, sending slabs of concrete in the air, and then punches them so that they fly in her direction. There isn’t time to dodge these, so Riza jumps up, her feet landing on the slabs mid-air, so that she leaps onto them like stairs until she launches herself higher in the air over Rider’s head. As she flips over, she lets off three more arrows while upside down and then twists and lands so that she’s facing him again, another arrow ready to be let loose.

“They’re children, Rider!” Riza exclaims, hoping that she can appeal to him. Despite his burly nature and the fact that he and his Master had a hand in kidnapping Alphonse, she doesn’t see the same cruelty in him as she has in Assassin or Saber. His Master might be cold-hearted in order to win, but Rider clearly is not. He has too much passion. Even his simple fondness for his massive polar bear gave him away.

Even though Rider doesn’t respond out loud, when he turns around to face her again, she can see the anguish in his bright blue eyes. He doesn’t want to be here. He doesn’t want to be doing this. It’s not an honorable fight. He would enjoy it then -- a fight for glory, for honor -- but this is not that. He’s here to retrieve a child. He’s here under the orders of darkness and it is killing him.

Riza wonders if his Master used a Command Seal on him to come here or if he was here to prove to his Master that he didn’t need one. Either way, Riza knew that he would not be fighting her right now under these terrible circumstances if it was up to him.

“You don’t have to do this,” Riza said, barely louder than a whisper.

“I must!” Rider shouts defiantly, but it sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself than her. “I must do as my Master says! That is my role in this war. I will not fail her!”

“By kidnapping a child? By hurting him?” Riza demands. “I saw the bruises on his wrists and ankles.” At this, Rider flinches. Perhaps he doesn’t know the extent of what had been done to Alphonse and she won’t until she is able to speak with him. Still, she saw the markings on his skin and her stomach rolls just thinking about it. “What kind of hero does that make you?”

Rider falters, his fists falling ever so slightly.

“Do you want to win this War?” Riza asks.

“Of course!” Rider looks aghast that she is even questioning him.

“At what cost?” Riza questions. “Are you prepared to stain your soul with the blood of the innocent in order to win that precious Holy Grail for your Master?”

Rider shakes his head. “That’s not… I’m not…” His face is pale. “When we win, I will see to it that all innocents are protected. I will keep them safe.”

Thoughts that she long kept to herself come rising to the surface. She has been thinking them for a while until now it consumes her. “Rider,” she asks, very serious, “how can an omnipotent object be capable of such good when it forces us to do this?” When he blinks at her, seemingly confused, she presses on. “It forces us to kill. All Servants but one must die in order for the Holy Grail to be taken and no doubt many Masters will die in the process. And I learned in my lifetime that nothing and no one that demands blood as payment is truly good.”

There is a moment when Rider lifts his fists up and shakes his head when Riza is certain that she failed to get through to him. But then his eyes, while still in her direction, go far away and she knows that she has won this battle. Slowly his hands drop, shame marking his face, and his shoulders slump in defeat -- not by her, but by his own heart. She knows he must think himself weak, but having a good heart is not a bad thing.

“You must get the children out of here,” Rider tells her hoarsely.

Riza lowers her bow and the arrow she had in place vanishes into thin air. “I will.”

“My Master will not be pleased,” Rider continues. “She will use a Command Seal on me and no words of wisdom and compassion will stop me then.”

“I understand.”

Rider turns, but then hesitates. “The boy… I meant him no harm. I did what I could to protect him, but Assassin and his Master are cold beings. They feel nothing but darkness. They must be destroyed.”

Riza nods her head. It is not up to him. As of right now, his Master aligns herself with them and so must he. Still, there is one more thing she must ask of him before he goes. She takes a step forward and then stops. “Caster--?” She can’t bring herself to ask the question. Is he alive? Is he okay? They would know if Roy was killed, wouldn’t they? But no, the Command Seals were ripped away from Ed…

“I’m sorry,” Rider says without looking back at her. “Assassin’s Master took him. I doubt he will be the man that you remember when you see him next.” He glances back at Riza, sorrow in his eyes. “I would put an arrow in his heart to ease his suffering quickly, if I were you.”

He vanishes into his incorporeal form, shimmering lights in the night sky, leaving Riza alone with her thoughts. Her bow dissolves in her hand. Roy is gone. She doesn’t want to believe it -- she can’t believe it -- yet she doesn’t know what else to think or do. How could this happen? How had she not known what he would do? She forgot how so willing Roy was to throw himself into the fire.

“Should I stray from the path of the light, you have my permission to end my life.”

An arrow to the heart. Three times she has aimed her bow at him in this War. If she has to do it again… Riza closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She doesn’t know. She knows what she must do, but she doesn’t know if she can. Gods help if Winry needs to use a Command Seal on her again. But she doesn’t know.

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fangirlfromdownunder · 7 years

Note

To provide future reference and learn more about you, what characters do you enjoy writing the most and the least? What particular themes are you most uncomfortable writing? And what are some of your favorite pairings? Thank you in advance, bubblegum!

Sure.Okay so as to who I enjoy writing the most i really enjoy writing Yang, and most characters from the fate series. As to who I don’t particularly enjoy, probably Salem or Cinder. Themes to do with death sometimes make me uncomfortable just because I’m very easily influenced by a lot of things, but don’t get me wrong I love angst. And I generally avoid themes to do with self harm (during not post) and all together avoid suicide.Favourite pairings is gonna be a long thing. So here we go!

RWBY:BumblebeeRed SunRose GardenDaddy IssuesY’all made me ship TopazNeo x Roman (What is this called? Pumpkin spice ice cream? Partners in crime?)Sea monkeys All of team CFVYPenny x RubyAttic Oceans or Under the sea or whatever they’re calling it nowRenora has a special place in my heart as both romantic and platonic Emergency

Gorren Laragan:All ships presented in canon honestly

Voltron;Everyone x Pidge. I ship her with everyone because it’s cuteKlanceLancelot

Miraculous:Guilty pleasure Nathaniel x Chloe Marichat is my fave in the love squareAnd DJWifi is always great

Magi:Alibaba x kougyaku Aladdin x kougyaku Sharkhan x yhamrihaJafar x sinbadJudar x pretty much everyoneMuu x Shiharizard LoLo x Myron

Haikyuu:Mom and dad (daichi and suga)Hinata x kageyamaHinata x OikawaOikawa x IwaKyoko x yachi

Free:Everyone x everyone. Just a love pile

Durarara:Shizuo x VeronaTom x ShizuoJust the main trioErica x walker

Tokyo ghoul:Hinami x Ayato

Assclass:Nagisa x karmaKarma x okuda Nagisa x Kayano

RomeoXJuliet:See above

Yuri on ice:Leoji is god

Fate:Rin x ShirouSaber x Zero lancerGuilty pleasure saber x Gilgamesh because the art is nice

FMA:Ed x WinryRoy X Riza Jean x Riza

Beyond the boundary:Akihito x mirai

AoT:Erwin x LeviArmin x Jean

I could add my other fandoms but this list would go on forever

#ask

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tekka-dan · 7 years

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Who am I.

So @staygclden and I came up with this game that we call "Who Am I" which is a series of compiled questions or statements regarding characters from various animes that explain one or more of the characters or their contribution to the story itself.

We originally created the game in light of our Unpopular Opinion game but decided to up the antics of the rules and thus we created this game.

Just to make it clear to you all playing, there can be multiple right answers or answers in general to a question or a statement. So answer to your best knowledge.

It was not my idea to include which anime the statement or question derives from because it would only make it more interesting (and difficult..) to answer them. So, for the sake of making the game possible on fair ground I am including the anime of which it'll be entailing. You're welcome because I wouldn't have added that without his consistent suggestion..lol. I can be a little unfair sometimes..

Anyone can play this. It's for fun, we were bored and we decided to be constructive with our boredom.

1. I am so unnecessarily overpowered that I had to have an entire back story created about me that still miraculously managed to make absolutely no sense. (Naruto)

2. I created the Yandere Class. (Future Diary)

3. My abridged series is more climatic and logical than my actual series. (This one is too obvious)

4. My cousin wants a romantic relationship with me. (Elfen Lied)

5. "People die if they are killed." (Fate/Zero)

6. I give sadist an entirely new meaning. (Gintama)

7. I am a main supporting character, however a swing set has more screen time than I do. (Naruto)

8. I'm the oldest host member. (Ouran High School)

9. I have a superiority complex that's mistaken for a god complex. (Death Note)

10. Tein is not biologically related to me. (DBZ)

11. The only thing I contribute to the plot is my floatation devices located on my chest. (Bleach)

12. You probably didn't know I was a main character until that one episode. (Assassination Classroom)

13. I'm the stereotypical, generic black guy so that the show seems ethically appropriate. (Naruto)

14. I talk and I'm not a human nor an animal. (Hunter x Hunter)

15. I'm literally fucking useless. (Fairy Tail)

16. God forbid you forget I have a tragic back story. (Bungou Stray Dogs)

17. I take everything way too seriously, even my immature, drunk lieutenant tells me this. (Bleach)

18. I wear a human, despite some people think I am one. (Gintama)

19. I was married against my will and understanding. (DBZ)

20. I'm literally the prime example of why a mute button should exist in an anime. (Future Diary)

21. I had one hell of a first date. (Tokyo Ghoul)

22. The clown from IT has nothing on me. (Hunter x Hunter)

23. I'm a talking, demonized teddy bear that is obsessed with tits. (Bleach)

24. I'm obsessed with my brothers body. (FMA/B)

25. I died very young and I don't ever come to accept it. (Noragami)

26. Even in the next generation I prove to be even slightly more irrelevant than my own father. (Boruto)

27. I'm the number one bitchest male character of literally any anime ever. (Owari no Seraph)

28. I have zero development throughout the entire series. (Naruto)

29. Until you get to know me, you really hated me. (Assassination Classroom)

30. I was friendzoned and rejected and I'm forever a sour pussy about it. (Seven Deadly Sins)

31. My death was a critical moment. (One Piece)

32. My back was unrealistically broken due to the recoil of an AK-47 being shot from the crevice of my tits while laying lateral. (High school DxD)

33. Contrary to belief, I am not a rapist. (Berserk)

34. I am considered the most hated character ever. (FMA/B)

35. I will fuck literally anyone with a vagina. (School Days)

36. I have every single super power in the world and yet I'm terrified of bugs. (Disastrous Life)

37. I disappear for literally half of the anime and I am literally forgotten to be mentioned throughout half of the storyline. (Fairy Tail)

38. I don't talk. (Gintama)

39. My gender is a mystery and goes undisclosed. (No.6)

40. This character has never once called Sanji by his actual name. (One Piece)

41. I am literally the weakest, most god awful protagonist. (Sword Art Online)

42. I serve no purpose to the plot other than to prove the main antagonist is still human. (Inuyasha)

43. My first name is also my last name. (My Hero Academia)

44. I literally don't know how to correctly apologize to someone. (Fruits Baskets)

45. "Doo-Duh-Dooo" (Steins;Gate)

46. I'm literally second choice behind a dead girl. (Your lie in April)

47. I created the inferiority complex troupe used in anime. (Soul Eater)

48. I just need to shut the fuck up. (Black Clover)

49. I'm literally the Orihime of this series minus the tits. (Hyouka)

50. I'm the second top bitchest male in anime ever. (Attack on Titan)

#anime #game

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strongxv · 7 years

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“10″ Favorite Characters

Tagged by: @fxrmless-being

Okkaayy, this’ll be tough, so they aren’t in any particular order.

1.Geralt of Rivia [Witcher series]

2. Zero [Mega Man X & Zero series]

3. Jotaro Kujo [JJBA]

4. Josuke Higashikata [JJBA]

5.Edward Elric [FMA]

6. Kamina [Gurren Lagann]

7. Archer [Fate series]

8. 2B [Nier: Automata]

9. Spike Spiegel [Cowboy Bebop]

10. Gon Freecss [Hunter x Hunter]

Tagging: Nobody.

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pr1nc3-ed · 7 years

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More tag games yay, thanks for tag @aileenaison <3 damn this will be a long one :P sooooooo here we go:

1. Favorite anime? Okay (little edit: i forgot to update this one LMAO) fullmetal alchemist, both versions, Fate/Zero and... aaaaaah i like many stuff tbh ;-; 2. Your worst anime? 11eyes. I CANT BELIEVE HOW I WAS ABLE TO EVEN FINISH THIS PIECE OF CRAP. Honorable mention to Mars of Destruction, but at least this one was the “so bad its good” trope and funny af to watch. 3. Do you read the manga that goes along with the anime you watch? Sometimes I would do that like when Reborn was airing, same for FMA Brotherhood. But its been a looong time though... 4. Most favorite genre? Comedy, action,adventure... and (it will go kinda offtopic but its related to a genre) nowadays I feel like i'm really getting attached to mecha shows. I liked Evangelion (not a favorite, but still really good) in my teenage years along with Code Geass (didnt see season 2 yet tho, fuck me), I used to enjoy Aldnoah.Zero 1st season a lot (until it went to shit, this show traumatized me) and since last year I started checking out Gundam animes, I was able to finish a few ones, even the 1st one despite being so old... so uhh yeah I joined the Sunrise/Bandai mecha empire, it wont be long until i buy a gunpla lmao. 5. Least favorite genres? Idk... kinda hard to pick one. Maybe some slice of life stuff with a lot of moe? Tried watching things like K-ON and... i couldnt resist lmao. 6. Favorite character/s? Kaneki, Touka and Eto (Tokyo Ghoul), Yato (Noragami), Kotomine Kirei, Archer and Gilgamesh (Fate series), Setsuna (Gundam 00), Char Aznable (Gundam/Gundam Zeta), Koyomi Araragi and Suruga Kanbaru (Monogatari series), Chrollo Lucifer and Killua (Hunter x Hunter), Death the Kid (Soul Eater), Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist), Joseph Joestar (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), Aigis and Elizabeth (Persona 3), Golbez, Kain and Rydia (Final Fantasy IV), Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII), Zidane (Final Fantasy IX), Ike (Fire Emblem), Dante (Devil May Cry), Laharl (Disgaea), D.va, Tracer, Mercy and Mei (Overwatch), Darth Sidious, Han Solo and Obi Wan Kenobi (Star Wars), Demon Hunter (Diablo 3; okay its only a class in game but I love the female DH okay?), Link and Sheik (Legend of Zelda; ok Sheik is Zelda, so I guess both? haha)... OKAY THATS ENOUGH FOR TODAY, see, this is why I say those top 10 characters arent enough LMAO 7. Least favorite character/s? Kirino from Ore no Imouto, Kirito from Sword Art Online, Miyuki Shiba from Mahouka, Yuka from 11eyes, many characters from Bleach, Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist (people who watched any version can already imagine why I hate him), Seryuu from Akame ga Kill (only because she is a legitimate hypocrite and piece of shit in the story) aaaand the list goes on. 8. Qualities you like in a character? Well, idk what to list, but feeling kinda unique and having personalities that stand out in the show? Someone who can singlehandedly carry an anime (like Yato would do in Noragami for me) by him/herself, etc 9. Short or long anime? Short animes. Idk how im going to watch a long anime anymore... maybe the 50/60 episodes ones, but going for the 100/200 list is harder to me nowadays :( 10. Anime or manga? Anime. But mangas tend to be better when it comes to plot since some adaptations are just a trainwreck (hi tokyo ghoul)... 11. How do you choose the anime you watch? Recommendations, suggestions, checking out synopsis and genre, seeing if its similar to something i enjoy... usually these are the ways i choose something. OR also if I really feel like watching something and taking a break from some anime genre. 12. Skip or listen to intros/outros? I skip after watching in the first episodes... but whenever i watch any last episode, i tend to not do that. 13. How do you cope if your friends or family don’t like you watching anime? I don't mind... unless someone starts acting like a fucking retard and being ignorant about it, not even respecting my opinion etc. 14. Do you stop an anime midway if you don’t like it? I tend to forget or get lazy even if I like some animes... so when it comes to stuff i dont like and i think they are bad: i drop them. UNLESS some kind of miracle forces me to continue it until the end... or the "so bad its good" vibe helps too.

tagging @s-e-l-f-i-s-h-n-e-s-s @kurome-in-wonderland @nora-amiticia @mut4ti0ns @xsinonx @yetanotherfluffyotaku @kanashiri @softchubs @yorozuya-ken-chan @teyilai @myluchanblog @meanimes @valkyrievillain @kamekku @taeyanng optional to do that and sorry if i bothered anyone by tagging ;;

#me #tag #tags #tag game #tag post

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ohmytheon · 7 years

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Good Men Don’t Become Legends (FMA/Fate Zero AU, 12)

Can you fucking believe that I’m updating this monstrosity? I can’t believe it and it’s actually happening right now. lmao I’m not really happy with this chapter. It’s so quiet and slow, especially after how intense the last chapter it was – and also how long ago it’s been since I’ve updated. Like the last chapter was one gunshot after another and this is like…the lull in between. But it’s necessary. Everyone is reeling from the aftermaths of what happened and no one is able to strike. I apologize for taking a gajillion years to get this done, but hey, I did it and while wearing a baby half the time too!

good men don’t become legends the only power that matters

The second Mustang walks into the house, Ed bears down on him. He doesn’t think, doesn’t even realize what he’s doing, until he’s right in front of Mustang. The indifferent expression on the Servant’s face only infuriates him more. Why isn’t Mustang more concerned? More upset? More furious? Honestly, there are so many conflicting emotions and thoughts flying through Ed’s mind that he can’t get any words out and all Mustang stares down at him, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Underneath his cold eyes are dark circles, indicating just what Mustang has gone through tonight, but Ed doesn’t give a damn. He himself feels like he’s been through the ringer, almost just as exhausted as he’d felt the day after he’d come to when Mustang had shared his mana with him. Ed doesn’t care. There is only one thing on his mind right now: Al. Everything else takes a back seat to his little brother.

I’ll save you, Al. I promise.

None of this is worth it without his brother. None of it means a damn thing at all.

Without saying anything, Mustang sweeps past him and heads towards the bedrooms. A powerful rage builds inside of Ed, filling him to the brim, and he rounds on him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To bed,” Mustang replies without stopping. There is nothing in his voice. No emotion, no inflection. Nothing.

It sends Ed reeling, nearly knocking him off his feet. “To bed? That’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

There is absolutely nothing in Mustang’s voice. Ed doesn’t even know how that’s possible, especially right now, but there’s nothing and he doesn’t know what to do. His brother is gone. They’re in the middle of a war. He witnessed a Holy Spirit almost lose everything in him that made him good. Ed clenches and unclenches his fist. He wants to fight someone, but the only person in front of him in a mage stronger than him, even though they’ve both been significantly weakened after tonight.

“Al is gone,” Ed snaps.

At this, Mustang pauses, but he doesn’t turn around to face Ed. “I know.” Again, flat tone, completely emotionless. It nearly sends Ed into a fit.

“He’s been kidnapped.”

Mustang rears on him and finally there is heat in his eyes. It both relieves Ed and startles him into taking a step back from how hot it is. “I know.”

Ed flaps his arms uselessly in the air. “We can’t just–”

“Can’t just what?” The finality in Mustang’s voice is shocking, but it’s no longer cold. He takes a step closer and Ed, despite himself, takes another step back. It pisses him off. “What would you have me do? What do you need from me? What do you want?”

Ed knows what he wants. I want my brother back! But he can’t get the words out of his mouth. His throat constricts and he bites his tongue, glaring furiously at Mustang. It doesn’t matter. The older mage knows exactly what Ed wants, despite his bitter silence. He can feel his desires dragging them both down into a dark abyss, the same one that Mustang had been in earlier at the park. Ed knows – he knows – that he can’t fall victim to it, but it’s hard. Alphonse is gone. He wants his little brother back desperately.

“I want my brother,” Ed says. he knows it sounds so pitiful – he knows that he sounds weak – but he can’t help it. It’s the truth. It’s the barest bones of him. He can’t fight in this War without his brother at home. He can’t sacrifice parts of himself without it meaning anything.

The way Mustang peers at him, down the bridge of his nose, like he’s somehow superior to all of this, both infuriates Ed and makes him feel weak at the same time. He can see it now. The Flame Alchemist. The man in the Mage Wars that could silence the enemy with a single look. Ed never wanted to admit it before, but after tonight, he can see just exactly why so many history textbooks noted that people feared this man. He could silence people with a single look, make them gasp with a raise of his hand, cause them to quiver with a twist of his lips.

Ed doesn’t want to admit it, but the truth is this: maybe he raised up a monster for this War.

“What do you want me to do?” Mustang repeats, quieter this time.

“I want–” Ed runs his fingers through his hair and then pulls at it. “I want you to do something.”

“What?” Mustang demands, bearing down on him. “What is it that you want me to do?”

Ed knows. His mind flickers back to the park. Mustang. Horrible, fierce, terrifying, cold. He was ready to destroy everything. He could have obliterated Assassin, Rider, and Rider’s Master if Ed had let him. If Ed hadn’t used one of his Command Seals. His hand feels a little empty now, especially with the weight of his brother’s disappearance sitting on his shoulders.

“I can get you your brother back,” Mustang tells him flatly, “but it will be at a cost I don’t think you can pay.” His words cause a fire to burn in Ed, but it dies down the second he realizes that Mustang is right. For however much of a bastard that this man is, he knows what he’s talking about. After all, he’s been in the position of bargaining his soul before, hasn’t he? “I’m tired. I’m broken.” He waves his still-bandaged hands in the air. “We’re both running low on mana.”

Ed’s hands slid from his hair to his face. “I know, I know.”

“But I can do what you want,” Mustang continues, his voice low yet feverous. Desperate even. He wants to fight. He wants to throw caution to the wind – he wants to find Al – but he can’t. Not without Ed’s permission, not without a lack of control. “I can still fight. But you stopped me before. Are you so willing to break that now?”

What would it feel like to allow Caster to just let loose? Could Ed bear that weight as well? Mustang seems willing to do it, but then, he’s buried himself with his sins. Ed doesn’t know. He doesn’t know if he can do that and he feels ashamed. It’s what Al would want and yet Ed still feels like he’s letting him down. How much do morals mean in the end when it comes to a War like this?

And yet Ed bites his lip and he says nothing.

Mustang takes a breath and steps back. “I didn’t think so.” He sounds almost relieved. Ed hates him for it. Mustang moves to walk away and then pauses again. “There is another option.”

Ed turns his head away, shame filling him even further. “No.”

“Are you sure?” Mustang asks, eyeing him out of the corner of his eyes.

“No,” Ed repeats, closing his eyes, willing Al to forgive him from wherever he is. “I can’t.”

At least Mustang doesn’t say anything scathing this time. Ed doesn’t know if he would be able to handle it. This is his little brother. He should be able to give up anything for him – do anything for him – and yet here he is, hesitating over the simplest of things. He stands there, silent and defeated, as Mustang spares him one last glance and then disappears down the hallway. Only when the older mage is gone does Ed’s head drop against his chest.

Probably sensing him falling into despair – she’s so intuned with the emotions in the air – Winry steps over to him and lays a hand on his arm. “Ed…”

But he doesn’t want her comfort. He doesn’t want her pity or her grief. He wants to find his brother and he can’t. He’s too weak. He has the strongest Servant in the Holy Grail War and neither of them are strong enough to save an innocent boy. He brought this on them. Al warned him, but Ed refused to listen. He wanted to be in the Holy Grail War – he would be in the War – and now the consequences were upon them and Al was the one to take the brunt of them.

Ed smacks her hand away and jerks his head up to glare at him. “Where’s your granny, huh? She was supposed to be here! She was supposed to watch over him while we were gone!”

“I–” Winry blinks, tears in her eyes, visibly upset over the whole thing. “She just got back. He sent her to the store. He wanted herbs to help–”

“She should have stayed!” Ed shouts. “Instead she left him alone and they took him!”

Winry stumbles backwards away from him, stung by his words, but instead of yelling back at him like she always did before, she bites a trembling lip and stares at him with wide, wet eyes. Guilt seeps further into his bones. He’s looking back at her, willing her to yell at him, remind him of why he’s in a Master in this War, tell him that they’ll get him back – they’ll save his brother – point out that he’s being stupid and a jerk. But she doesn’t say anything. Instead she wipes her eyes and leaves the room.

The emptiness and silence nearly swallows him whole. All Ed wants to do is scream, but he can’t even do that, not with how hollow he feels.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. They are supposed to be together. This is Ed’s fight, not Al’s. Why did they drag him into this? It isn’t right.

And yet Ed can’t just give up Caster either. It’s the simplest and easiest solution, but he can’t do it. He won’t. Maybe he’s more selfish than he realized. Maybe he isn’t as good as he thought.

Return what is mine and I’ll return what is yours.

Ed collapses against a wall and sinks to the ground, pulling his legs up against his chest and burying his face in his hands. He doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know if there’s anything he can do. Mustang was right. They’re both broken and tired and he feels like he’s falling into a hole that he can’t crawl out of.

(He wishes his mom was here.)

Olivier can’t help but eye the door to the basement out of the corner of her eyes. This castle is huge and old, a relic in itself, hidden away in the forest so that it’s lost in time. The spells surrounding it have kept it out of the prying eyes of enemies and bystanders for centuries, turning it into a myth. Father does not look like an incredibly old man, but she has a feeling that he has been around for a lot longer than he looks. This place has been his fortress for a long time.

She isn’t surprised that a place like this has a dungeon below, but it does make her wary. She must be careful now that she’s in the belly of the beast or there’s a chance that she too will be shackled. She would not put it past Father. Just because they’re partners now does not mean that she trusts him in the slightest. This is a War. There can only be one winner. If he thinks turning on her will give him an advantage, he’ll do it, just as he knows the same of her, no matter what she has done to prove her commitment to their partnership.

“Olivier…”

She tries not to groan when she hears her Servant calling her name from behind her. Despite telling him not to materialize unless he was needed, without the use of a Command Seal, he could ignore her order if he wanted. For the most part, he listens to her well and she hasn’t had to use one while ordering him, but he’s grown restless since they arrived at the castle. He doesn’t like it here or maybe it has to do with Assassin. The little boy turned Servant is very unsettling.

“What do you want, Rider?” Olivier demands, turning her gaze away from the door and onto him.

Rider looks very uneasy. It’s a strange look on a man as tall and muscular as him. Someone like him looks as if they shouldn’t be afraid or bothered by anything, but Rider is…emotional. It’s driven her up a wall more times than she can count on both hands. She did not expect him to be so open with how he feels all the time. Had he never been told to keep things to himself? She stabbed him the time he tried to hug her.

When he doesn’t say anything, just continues to gaze at her and squirm in an uncomfortable manner, Olivier snaps, “Well?”

“I do not agree with this,” Rider finally says.

Olivier huffs and turns away from him. “You said that before and my response is still the same. I don’t care.”

“This isn’t right,” Rider continues.

“There is no right or wrong here,” Olivier points out. “This is war. We do what we must to win.”

“But he’s a child!” Rider explodes, looking ready to cry. She really might use a Command Seal on him if he bursts into tears. “He’s an innocent bystander and has nothing to do with this!”

“Oh, he’s involved,” Olivier counters. “Living under a roof with two Masters and Servants. He even admitted to helping his brother perform the summoning ritual and using his own magic to counteract Saber’s attack on Caster.” She waved a dismissive hand in the air. “I’d hardly call that the actions of a bystander.”

“He’s a child,” Rider repeats, quieter this time but no less emotional.

When she peers at him out of the corner of her eyes, she can see just how distraught he is, trembling under the weight of what they’d done. He had promised to fight to the death for her in this war – he had promised to take on whatever impossible task to win – but he was not meant for subterfuge or cold, underhanded tactics. It had devastated him to stay out of the horrific mess that Berserker was causing, his heart so pure and good, but it was pointless to get involved when it had nothing to do with them.

“People are dying!” Rider cried out.

“That’s what people do in war,” Olivier told him.

She’s not quite sure he’s forgiven her for that. Ever since then, he has been more distant with her, staying in his incorporeal form most of the time when she doesn’t need him. It put her in a foul mood. Strange, him giving her exactly what she wanted and then her feeling like something was wrong. Like there was something missing. She squashed that feeling as quickly as it rose inside of her. She can’t afford to be soft. She knew when the Command Signals appeared on her hand that a part of her would be lost. She was willing to give it up.

She refuses to admit that hole that is left in its place stings.

“Having second doubts, Rider?”

The shadows in the corner seem to shimmer before a young boy appears. Assassin. Olivier does her best not to make a move, but Rider noticeably stiffens, causing a smirk to stretch across other Servant’s face. It should be impossible for someone that appears so innocent to look so demented and yet he does it with ease. She doesn’t look at him directly on, but keeps an eye on him.

“My Master and I are committed to this War,” Rider replies firmly, though it’s not much of an answer. Honestly, it’s almost comical to see the two of them standing next to each other. Olivier knows how large Rider is, but he’s downright monstrous-looking when compared to Assassin. However, the two of them know just how deadly this small Servant is. He truly is a monster. Even Berserker was just playing at one compared to Assassin. What was this boy in his old life?

The smirk slides away from Assassin’s face, replaced with a careless one as he shrugs and walks further into the light of the room. “No need to be ashamed, Rider,” he says. “The Holy Grail War isn’t for everyone, even some Heroic Spirits that are summoned.”

“Are you saying that we aren’t good enough?” Olivier questions, still not looking at him right on. There is only a slight edge in her tone, not the full force that she’s used to giving. She knows that there is a delicate balance when it comes to dealing with Assassin. He’s not sensitive like Rider, but he remembers everything and is completely callous in his retributions. The gold-toothed Master stays far away from him these days, though none of them know why.

“Of course not,” Assassin replies almost innocently. “I’m saying that you might be too good.” He jumps on top of the table instead of one of the chairs, his feet swinging in the air. Like an actual child. He’s good at this – it’s very disarming – but she knows better than to trust him with even a millimeter. “The Holy Grail is not some pure and lovely artifact though. It digs into the very soul of a person in order to give them what they want and it knows what it wants as well.” When he smiles again, it’s not childlike; it’s cold and sharp. “And people are very rarely good. The Holy Grail is like that in a way.”

Rider frowns. “So the Holy Grail is not good?”

“No, but it’s not bad either,” Assassin says, “and that can cause…issues for some people. What a person imagines they want might not be the same thing when it comes to reality.” He turns his dark eyes on Olivier and only then does she look at him directly. “Why do you want to win the War?”

Olivier folds her arms across her chest and leans back in her seat. “Well, if what you’re saying is true, then I suppose I’ll only find out when I win and the Holy Grail shows me.”

Instead of getting mad, Assassin laughs and kicks his feet in the air. “Very good!” He peers up at Rider, an amused gleam in his eyes. Still, they manage to look cold. “And what about you? I suppose you think to do good. Protect the innocent, bring peace, stop wars, save the world, and the like. All you heroes are the same.” Before Rider can even protest, Assassin waves a finger in the air and slowly points it towards the basement door. “Hard to be a good person when you’re doing things in the dark.”

“I did not kidnap the boy,” Rider grumbles, looking away in shame. Weak.

Assassin tsks. “Do not fool yourself. You knew the plan and you helped anyways. You’re complicit.” The amused look dies in his eyes as they sharpen into a glare. It makes Rider grunt in discomfort. “You would be wise not to act as if you’re better because you are ‘good’. As far as the Holy Grail would be concerned, you are just as bad as me. It is best that you learn that and accept it if you do win or what you get might not be what you wanted.”

The two Servants fall into an uncomfortable silence. She can tell that Rider wants to leave but to vanish would admit some sort of defeat and he won’t do it. And so they sit, waiting on Father to return from the basement, all eyes on the door. Olivier clenches her hands into fists. They will do whatever it takes to win. She swore it, even if it means doing unsavory things, even if it means losing herself if only for a moment. After all, if Assassin is right, then even the younger Elric boy downstairs is no innocent and it shouldn’t bother her.

This is War and she will not lose.

Ling knows that something is wrong when he catches May nudging her food around the bowl with disinterest. She’s staring down at the rice, but he can tell that she’s not really seeing it. There’s a lost look in his eyes that he’s very familiar with. Despite the fact that she should be starving, her mind is elsewhere. This last battle took a lot out of them, so that even a day later they’re recovering. For some, it meant sleeping for half a day; for them, it meant a lot of eating.

But she’s not the slightest bit interested.

Pushing his own empty bowl to the side, Ling leans down over the table and lays his chin on his crossed arms, peering at her with open, curious eyes. “You going to eat that?”

May starts and glances up at him. “What?” When his eyes flicker to the bowl, she looks down at it, as if seeing it for the first time even though she was gazing at it moments ago. He knows that she thinks he’s food-obsessed (which, to be fair, he is), but usually that gets on her nerves and perks her up. “Oh, no, I don’t think so.” She shoves it over to him without a second thought and looks back at the view of the city through the window.

Now he knows something is really wrong.

Instead of devouring the food, Ling straightens up and pushes it back to her. “You’re distracted.”

May makes a noncommittal sound, but doesn’t look back at him. She seems…sad. He doesn’t like it – and he definitely doesn’t like the way he doesn’t like it. Caring about how someone feels has never been a strong point of his and he certainly wasn’t planning on being concerned over a little girl and yet here he is, openly worrying over the fact that she isn’t eating.

Hell, when did he become so soft? Lan Fan would’ve been stunned and asked him if he was feeling well.

He used to be good at hiding how he felt. Now it feels like his concern is bursting at the seams. His mind falls back to last night when Caster nearly let loose with all his strength. Nothing could penetrate or hurt him through his Noble Phantasm, but even he could still feel the extraordinary heat of Caster’s flames. It made him feel like a clay pot in a fiery stove as he covered May with his entire body.

Though Ling didn’t say a word, it was the first actual moment he felt afraid in this War. Even during and after his first fight with Saber and his attack on May, he didn’t feel fear like that. It wasn’t a cold chill; it was a hot flash of fear that shocked him to his core. He was afraid – and it was for a little girl that was his Master. When did that happen? The fact that she can very well die if he does not protect her sat in his mind all night and day, causing him to feel paranoid and twitchy.

He definitely doesn’t like this.

The old him, before he came an emperor, would’ve called him weak. He’s not sure what it makes him now that he’s no longer truly human. It’s ironic that he has achieved one of the very things he sought out for when he was alive – ultimate magical power beyond any human’s dreams – and it isn’t even the most important thing to him anymore. He doesn’t even think about it much. This War is very confusing.

“Ling,” May says, still not looking at him, “you’re a hero, right?”

Not really knowing where she’s going or how to be serious, Ling perks up. “Well, that’s what they call me in the history books, don’t they? Although regular heroes aren’t this good-looking.” He knows that he’s deflecting and he knows that’s not what she means, but he also knows that she’s upset about something. He just wants her to smile or laugh. She’s so young; she deserves that, not all this death and fighting.

Feeling anxious over someone not smiling is annoying in itself.

May looks down at her hands, which she’s pulled into her lap. “Servants are also called Heroic Spirits. They’re people who have accomplished incredible feats, sometimes beyond the imagination, but…” There is such a sad look on her face. It’s more pitiful than anything else. It hits him when he sees her eyes: she’s heartbroken. He hasn’t seen that expression in a long time. “How can someone like Berserker be called a Heroic Spirit? It’s not right. How can you be put in the same category as Assassin, who is made of pure darkness, or a monster like Saber?”

“Ah.” Ling leans back in his seat and scratches the back of his head. “Heroic Spirits are Servants, but not all Servants are Heroic Spirits.”

“That doesn’t many any sense and you know it,” May shoots back, giving him a flat look.

“Do you doubt that I’m a hero?” Ling asks, not in the least bit hurt.

May startles. “No, of course not!” He doesn’t remind her that she asked him just moments ago. He believes her. A lot has been on her mind. This Holy Grail War is not for the faint of heart, but she has seen a lot that has made her question things that she never thought of before. “It’s just that…”

“Heroes aren’t always pure of heart,” Ling tells her as gently as he can. “They were human once and we all make mistakes and have our flaws. Even Heroic Spirits are made up of both light and dark parts.”

“But what about evil?” May questions. “You felt Assassin. It was like…” She shivers involuntarily. “It wasn’t like Berserker where you could feel how terrible he was. It was like there was nothing there – nothing but darkness.”

Ling frowns and rubs his chin. “That was troublesome.”

Curling in on herself, May pulls her feet onto the chair and against her chest, wrapping her arms around them and hiding the bottom of her face on top of her knees. “I’m scared.”

He knows how hard it is for to admit that. She’s so young and yet she’s been through so much, more than she’ll ever be able to tell him. He sees it now. This little mage has been fighting her entire life and likely always will – unless she wins this War. So much is weighing down on her. It’s no wonder she has a block on her magic. She’s been struggling since day one. If he could just find a way to unlock that door for her, if he could figure out what she needed without the bloody Holy Grail…

“You shouldn’t be,” he tells her instead. “I’m here to protect you, aren’t I?”

“I trust you to protect me from the others,” May says, tilting her head down so that she can hide her eyes. It’s to keep him from seeing the tears that are building up in them, but he doesn’t comment on it. “But what about from myself? I’m scared that I’ll have to lose a part of myself to win this War. I’m scared that I’ll have to do something truly awful – let or force you to do something terrible – in order to make it.” She sniffs, stifling a cry. “Does that make me weak?”

“I think,” Ling replies, “it takes a strong person to choose a path that allows them to stay true to themselves, even if it doesn’t give them what they want.”

May lifts her head up and peers at him. “What would you do?”

Ling shakes his head and grins. “Don’t ask me. I’ll do almost anything for food.”

A small smile finds its way onto her face before she looks out the window. The grin on his face falls away. Of course, many textbooks noted on how powerful his greed was during his rise to emperor and how it only became worse afterwards. He doesn’t want to admit to some of the things he did that the history books didn’t remember. The idea of May’s vision of him being tainted shames him too much. Does that make him weak?

Riza finds Roy outside standing where they found Alphonse’s abandoned wheelchair the night before. He’s still and quiet, as he has been since his fight with Edward. A part of her is almost afraid to reach out to him, like he might snap at her like a wild animal if she gets too close. She can tell by the set of his shoulders that despite his careless demeanor he’s a volcano ready to blow. Edward might not be able to read Roy, but Riza can see right through his act.

It hurts her to see him this way, but she knows that there’s nothing she can do for either of them.

Neither one of them showed much of their faces throughout the day. Edward left the house and Roy… She’s not quite sure where he went. She wants to think that he followed Edward in his incorporeal form to keep an eye on him, especially after Alphonse’s kidnapping, but the rift between them is so painfully raw that he might’ve just put a tracker on him. Roy either followed him or stayed in his room all day, only appearing to get food. By the time Edward came back, dragging his feet in exhaustion, he could do little more than shuffle off to bed.

Both of them were acting like sullen children, but that was all they could do. Winry has been fretting over them all day. Edward brushed her off when he left that morning, not out of anger but pain. He’s not one to accept pity even though it’s actually comfort. Someone that is used to doing everything on their own has difficulty deciphering the difference between the two. Roy has been the same way for as long as she’s known him.

“Should we do something?” Winry asked her during dinner.

It shames Riza even now to admit to shaking her head. There’s nothing they can do. They could go on their own and try to find Alphonse, but Riza knows that they’re outmatched alone. As desperate as she is to bring Alphonse home safe and sound, doing anything will only get the both of them killed or captured as more bait. Whoever this Father is, Assassin’s Master, is a mage far greater than any of them can imagine. She knows without ever meeting him that only Roy will be able to compare to him and he’s still thoroughly worn down by the fight at the park.

When she finds him staring at the garden, his hands are in his pocket and she knows it’s to keep them from shaking. He hasn’t fully recovered from whatever Saber’s Noble Phantasm did to him.

“You should be resting,” Riza tells him once she’s standing at his side.

“I’m not tired,” Roy replies, though she knows it’s not true. What he really means is that he can’t sleep; his mind won’t let him. He’s always been restless, but he’s much worse when he feels guilty.

Riza looks at him, carefully examining him. There’s nothing to be seen on his face yet it tells a story nonetheless. He would be embarrassed to know that she can still read him so well. “We’ll get Alphonse back.”

Roy turns to face her with a blank look in his eyes. “Will we?”

“Of course,” Riza responds firmly. “You can’t think like that.”

“It’s all I can think about,” Roy says, looking down at the trodden garden. “I should have seen it coming after Assassin’s first attack. We got lazy. We became too relaxed. We came back here every time, expecting to rest, expecting nothing – to be left alone – when we’re at our most vulnerable here, even with the defenses.” He scowls. “We’re weak. In war, there is no safety, no place where we are untouched. I’d forgotten.”

“It’s not just on you,” Riza points out.

“It is on me!” Roy snaps.

He’s not mad at her – he’s mad at himself – so she doesn’t blink or falter at the fire in his eyes. He’s so angry when he’s ashamed. There’s little that can fix it. She wishes that she could, but there’s nothing she can do. She’s worthless here. Words of comfort have always meant so little to him. They’re just flowery lies. Still, she can’t help herself. She wants to believe that there is more that they can do.

“I was an idiot,” Roy says. “I thought it could be different this time – that I could be different.”

Riza frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I thought…maybe…” He closes his eyes and takes a breath. “Maybe I could do some good. Maybe I could leave behind something great instead of bringing nothing but horror.” When he opens his eyes, he looks down at his hands, palms up. The bandages need fixed. She can tell that he did them himself and it was a clumsy attempt. What did Saber do to him? “But I cause nothing but pain in the end. Maybe I’m only capable of destruction.”

It’s his self-loathing again, piling down on him, and Riza feels both upset and frustrated by this. How can a man so incredible hate himself so much at times? A part of her wants to soothe him, as always, while another part of her wants to grab him by the shoulders and shake some sense into him. They don’t have the time for this – and yet, there is nothing else they can do right now either. It’s a terrible situation. Immobile and recuperating, too weak to fight back yet.

She forgot how helpless war could feel.

Instead of fighting him on this, Riza puts a hand on his arm, forcing him to look at her. “Fire isn’t only meant for destruction. It gives life too and brings light in dark times.”

“I don’t know if I can do that anymore,” Roy says hopelessly.

“Well, I know you can,” Riza tells him. “You weren’t given this gift only to cause ruin and you weren’t brought back in this War to only bring suffering. That’s not who you are.”

A small smile appears on Roy’s face. It’s filled with misery and yet she can see a sliver of hope in it. He wants to believe her – he wants to be all the things she thinks he is – but no one ever mentions how hard you have to fight in order to be what you want. She knows that there is darkness in his heart – that is something she can no longer avoid, especially after what happened with Berserker and his Master – but she has seen the light in it too and it is so blinding when he accepts it himself.

“I still brought this on them,” Roy sighs. “If not for me…”

“Did you summon yourself into this War?” Riza questions. “You cannot blame yourself for the actions of others. All you can do is react and do something about them. All this self-pity�� It will do nothing but drown you.”

“What can we do though? Is there anything we can do?” Roy stares up at the few stars that can be seen in between the clouds drifting through the night sky. “I’m not finding many options.”

“We’ll figure something out. You’ll figure something out.” Riza smiles at him. “I trust you still.”

When Roy chuckles, there’s little humor in it, but she tries to take comfort in the response anyways. “I’m glad someone does.” He turns to face her, a softer expression on his face. It puts her at ease – and then she tenses up again when he raises a hand to take a strand of her hair behind her ear and cup the side of her face. “Get some rest, Riza. We’re going to need it.”

Her heart aches, but she nods her head and walks back inside, her cheek burning from where he’d touched her. It’s going to be another long night, but she feels a little lighter.

The moon is high in the sky, almost full, casting an unearthly glow over the silent castle through the open space of trees surrounding it. One might call it beautiful as long as they didn’t know the evil lurking inside of it. Out of all the places he’s been, this castle feels like home the most to him. Strange since the concept of home felt so foreign to him before, but he can at least say this place doesn’t disagree with him. The shadows are practically molded to him, every nook and cranny like a space carved out just for him.

It’s perhaps for this reason why his Master fighting to take control of another Servant doesn’t bother him as much as it should. Honestly, not being enough for his Master should wound his pride, but he’s not about to let a man’s greedy whims get the best of him. Even if Father is one of the strongest mages that he’s ever seen, he’s still nothing but a man. They all have their weaknesses. He knows that Father would be the same way with any other Heroic Spirit. The problem does not lie with him.

Assassin knows that he is a power to be feared and reckoned with. It took Archer and Lancer combined to take out Berserker. He would have ended it much longer before had he cared an inch.

Everyone in the castle is resting with the exception of the Servants, but Assassin is alone like he prefers. When he was called to fight in the Holy Grail War, he did not expect to have a Master that was so open to working with others, especially considering the type of man he was. He wanted it all and was not willing to share, something that the other two Masters did not seem to realize yet or concern themselves with. They should. Father’s greed was all-consuming and fatal.

The other Servants know better at least. Saber doesn’t care. Winning isn’t as important to him so much as the fight itself, which makes him easier to predict. Rider is another matter. He’s not meant for this place – he’s much too good – but his Master is made of a colder metal. The imbalance makes Assassin feel wary. Despite the Command Signals, there’s always a chance that Rider could go off course at the worst moment. Even a slight deviation during a tense time could cause problems.

Father doesn’t seem to think it’s an issue, but Assassin has seen many men fall because of arrogance and he knows better than to dismiss Rider’s Master. She’s absolutely brutal. Then again, she doesn’t appear to be one for partnerships either, which makes him question her motives. He’ll have to keep a close eye on them. For now, he will work with them for as long as Father deems it necessary, but he’ll be pleased to rid himself of them when the time comes.

The quiet left by nuisances’ absences is always so pleasant.

And then the feeling hits him – a resounding beat in his head and a thump in his chest, enough to stop him in his tracks. For a few seconds, all he can do is stand still in shock at the top of one of the castle towers. Whatever peace he had is shattered. Because he knows within a second that he’s no longer alone and this… This is power that he has only felt twice before. It’s a little dimmer, but still there, simmering from below.

Assassin jerks around on his feet and vanishes from the tower into the darkness in a flash, only to reappear at the top of the stairs in front of the castle. He can barely stop his eyes from widening in surprise.

There, standing coolly at the foot of the stairs with his hands in his pockets, is Caster.

“It took you long enough to realize I was here,” Caster greets, his voice infuriatingly calm, almost amused.

Assassin seethes. He still hasn’t figured out a way around Caster hiding himself from everyone. It shouldn’t be possible, not from him, and yet it is. “I’m surprised. I thought you’d still be too weak to fight.”

Caster shrugs his shoulders. “Oh, I am, hence why I’m not here to fight.”

Suspicious, very suspicious. “Where’s that little Master of yours? Planning some sort of sneak attack using yourself as bait? I’m disappointed.”

“He’s not here,” Caster replies and this time there is a sharp edge to his voice. He looks cool as can be, but if Assassin peers at him carefully, there’s something hard underneath the exterior.

It strikes Assassin suddenly and he can’t stop himself from widening his eyes. In fact, he almost laughs, but he’s too surprised. “He doesn’t know you’re here, does he?” When Caster doesn’t respond, it’s all but confirmed. Assassin does laugh – a child’s laugh, seemingly innocent. He knows what he looks like and it’s never bothered him. He rather enjoys being underestimated. “You’re a terrible Servant, Caster.”

“I’ve never been good at following orders,” Caster says. “Your Master should know that it wouldn’t be any different for him.”

“He knows how to make a stubborn dog heel,” Assassin replies with a smile.

Caster tilts his head curiously. “Like you?”

Assassin holds out his hands. “Not everyone requires a leash in order to know how to obey.”

A bark of laughter tumbles out of Caster. “You’re worse at obeying than me. Tell me, how many times have you slit the throat or stabbed the back of the person that was supposedly controlling you?”

“Eh, it works in my favor this time,” Assassin replies carelessly. Which is true. Assassin does not like being controlled and he never has – men very rarely know how to wield power when they have it – but Father knows what he is doing for the most part. It’s been almost pleasant to work under someone like him.

And when it no longer is and Father is a loose end, he’ll cut that off too, just as he has always done. It makes things much easier in the end.

“Well, aren’t you going to invite me inside?” Caster asks. “Or did I get through all your defenses for nothing?”

“What do you want, Caster?” Assassin demands.

“To have a little chat, mage to mage,” Caster answers. “I miss being around someone on my level.”

“Tiring of the pipsqueak?”

Caster grins, but doesn’t give a response. Ah, it doesn’t matter anyways. Father knew that Caster would begin to grow restless under the control of someone as weak as the Elric boy. He’s a strong mage, for sure, but so young and inexperienced and good, much too good. Caster needs someone that will understand him on the deepest, darkest level, just as Father did with him. It’s good to be appreciated, but even better to be known and Caster has been hiding his true self even from himself.

Stepping aside, Assassin holds out a hand towards the door and Caster starts up the stairs, an unspoken truce built between them without either one of them speaking. Assassin won’t attack Caster unless Father orders it and Caster seems to know this, even though Caster is weak and could be taken out easily right now. It wouldn’t be nearly as fun if he did it that way.

Besides, Assassin knows how to be patient. All he has to do is wait in the dark.

19 notes · View notes

ohmytheon · 7 years

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Good Men Don't Become Legends (FMA/Fate Zero AU, 11)

[laughs at myself for saying that wouldn’t take 10 years for me to update when I posted the last chapter] Anyways, now that I’ve gotten over that bit of irony… Apologies for taking just that long. No excuses really. I had to finish my Soul Eater/FMA AU fic and then Rogue One took over my life. This chapter was very difficult for me to write. It’s heavily action-centered and a lot of awful no-good, shit happens to characters from an outsider’s perspective. This is also just one huge scene, which was tough, but there was no good points for breaks. Well, I hope you all enjoy this behemoth mess of a chapter!

good men don’t become legends find what you love and let it kill you

Riza runs ahead of them, throwing caution to the wind. She can’t be for certain how long Roy can last fighting against Berserker’s Master on his own in his condition, especially when she has a nasty feeling that the other Mage will know how to dig under Roy’s skin. Roy is made of stone, but he can easily be hurt if the person turns him against himself. She knows this all too well.

She needs to get back to him as soon as possible. Even though she is in this War for Winry, she cannot bear the idea of not fighting by Roy’s side. She doesn’t feel complete without him, like she’s missing a piece of herself. She didn’t even recognize that until the first night they fought together. Of course, she can’t admit this out loud. It sounds too much like a weakness and she knows Edward won’t be happy about it, but it’s the truth.

“Where is that monster?” Edward growls as they pause to look around.

The park isn’t that big, but it’s daunting at night, as if the dark magic surrounding Berserker and his Master have corrupted the place. Everywhere they turn, it looks as if demons might pop out of the shadows. It looks like it was a nightmare dreamed into reality. She waves a hand at the two Masters to stay close to one another while she walks ahead of them, an arrow at the ready in her bow. She feels as taut as the string, like she might rupture at any given moment.

“Do you think he went back to give his Master support?” Winry asks.

At the mention of Berserker’s Master, Edward’s head turns and his eyes lock in the direction of his own Servant, who is battling the other mage. The connection between Edward and Roy is strong, whether they realize it or not. He doesn’t even need to think in order to know where Roy is. A sudden explosion of fire erupts above the treeline, causing Winry to bite her lip and Edward to grit his teeth, but the boy says nothing. He did as Roy told him and there is no time to regret it now that they are hunting another Servant.

That’s what Riza feels the most. She doesn’t have time for this childish yet deadly game. She needs to end… whatever this is with Berserker now.

“I’m disappointed, Berserker!” Riza calls out as she peers through the darkness of the trees. “I thought you would want to fight face-to-face with me instead of playing this hide-and-seek game.” Despite the horrified and confused expressions respectively on Winry’s and Edward’s faces, Riza continues on. She only gets silence from the trees, but she knows he’s there, listening, simmering, eager to show her up. “A real man wouldn’t do this to me. I thought you were different!”

He’s not a real man, of course - he’s a monster parading as Heroic Spirit serving in the Holy Grail War - but he has the ego of one. That she can count on.

A loud crash comes from behind and Riza barely rolls out of the way when Berserker crashes down where she was standing just moments ago, his butcher blade larger than ever before. It cracks through the concrete, causing the street to quake, but she gains her balance with ease and aims at him. However, she stops short of gasping when she catches sight of him.

Berserker is… He’s not what he used to be. Before, he was shorter than her, though squatter and muscular. Now, he is a behemoth, nearly twice her height, snarling through the nose of his mask. His eyes, the same glowing red, are twice as bright and wide, like he can’t close them for all the energy soaring through him. He can wrap one of his hands around her body easily and break her bones just by squeezing.

Edward’s exclamation of, “Holy shit,” is an understatement.

“Do you like what you see?” Berserker asks as he stands up straight and turns to face her. At least his voice is the same, but it sounds at odd with his image now. He shifts his hefty cleaver to his other hand as he stares her down, rage and want mixing with one another until she can’t tell the difference. The stench of his madness is almost overwhelming, rolling off of him in powerful waves that make her grind her teeth. “Who’s a real man now? I don’t see your precious Flame Alchemist anywhere to save you.”

“Berserker,” Riza breathes as she plants a foot back behind her, strengthening her stance as best as she can, “what did your Master do to you?”

“What did he do to me?” Berserker cackles and raises his arms in the air. Moonlight beams off of the metal of his weapon while his muscles flex in what looks like a painful, horrible way. “You mean what did he give me! Endless strength, mana to last me for days, life! I can feel the power and magic flowing through me. It’s…” He shudders in pleasure. “It’s exquisite. If only you could feel it too, my dear, but oh” - he all but giggles - “I can show you. You can feel the power through me.”

The way he says it to her, so lovingly, so madly, it sounds extremely horrific.

In another world, she would try to reason with him, but she knows that would be useless. There is no reasoning with a monstrous madman like Berserker; he’s beyond any logic or empathy. There is only one way to stop Berserker - and that is to put an end to him. She has to kill him. There is the no other way. Riza takes a deep breath and lets the knowledge seep in and embolden her. She can still feel the power of the Command Seal that Winry used on her the first time she and Berserker clashed. She didn’t defeat Berserker then.

She will do what she can to destroy him now.

Berserker lets out a yell and charges towards her, sword held high, his feet thundering against the pavement, but Riza stands her ground even as the world seems to tremble around her. Winry shrieks as Riza steps to the side at the last second, the heavy blade blowing past her by inches so hard that the air blows around her. When it collides with the ground, it sticks and she uses the sword as a stair, stepping onto it like the sharp edges are nothing and spinning to slam her bow into the side of Berserker’s head hard enough to make it snap back. He jerks the cleaver up at the same time that she leaps high into the air and releases two arrows, one that he manages to block, the other which grazes his face, piercing through the metal mask like it’s water and lodging into the ground.

In a matter of seconds, she’s back on the ground as Berserker stumbles backwards and roars in anger and pain, holding the side of his face as black blood spurts out. Even that is corrupted by the dark magic that his Master has imbued him with. She doesn’t give him time to recover or a second to pity him, firing off more bright arrows that appear out of thin air whenever she raises her hand to the string. He spins the sword wildly, deflecting the shots, but she rushes him while he defends himself, vaulting over him and then focusing her energy to deliver an impossibly harsh kick to his back that sends him flying into the trees, breaking them with his weight.

Edward whoops in glee, but Riza grits her teeth as she prepares herself for another onslaught. He’s young. He doesn’t see it yet, but she knows the truth. Berserker is clumsy with such unfamiliar power, but he’s much stronger than her. One solid blow could be the end of her and she knows it.

It’s not enough. She’s not enough. To be honest, she doesn’t know if Roy would be in his current state after what Saber did to him.

“So feisty!” Berserker exclaims as he crawls out of the broken trees. “I like it.”

“Are you sure?” Riza asks coolly. “You don’t seem too pleased.”

Berserker chuckles as he hefts his blade over his shoulder. “My dear, I wouldn’t be pleased if this was easy. I like it when a girl puts up a fight. And you” - he tilts his head towards her - “I knew you would be my biggest challenge.”

Every word wafts over her like slime, making her want to shudder in discomfort. She hates everything that he says and wants more than anything for him to stop, but she knows that he won’t. This is part of his game. He enjoys the taunting, the degrading, the fearmongering. It’s a part of him as much as his blade is, as his Master is. He’s not broken or out of touch; it just is who he is. He feels no guilt. That is what makes him terrifying.

Roy thinks that he himself is a monster, but Riza knows a monster when she sees one. He is nothing like Berserker or his dark mage of a Master.

“But you should know by now,” Berserker adds with a laugh as he brings his cleaver up. “Size isn’t everything!”

He slashes the cleaver in front of him, too far from her for her to even bother moving, but then a black shadow slices through the air towards her. There’s no time for her to move, so she’s forced to block it with her bow, hoping against hope that it won’t shatter. The blow is tremendous, tossing her at least ten feet back and creating such a heavy shockwave that it knocks Winry and Edward off their feet. Her hands and wrists ache from withstanding the hit, but while the bow vibrates in her grip, it’s still intact, shimmering in defiance.

If that black shadow hit her, she isn’t so sure that she’d be as well off as her bow.

Berserker doesn’t give her any time to recover, bearing down on her as he creates another black shadow with his weapon. All she can do is lift her bow again in defense, but the shock of both the shadow and his blade is enough to cause her to buckle and she cries out as her knee slams hard enough into the ground to break the concrete.

“Riza!” Winry shouts, leaping forward to help, but Riza grits her teeth and shakes her head, causing her Master to stop short. Her blue eyes are wide, filled with mixture of ferocity and fear. She’s willing to jump in, even if it means throwing herself in the line of danger, but the idea of Berserker coming in close contact with Winry burns Riza to her core. She won’t allow this monster to get anywhere near her. Luckily, Edward has enough sense to drag Winry back, but even he looks ready to fight, despite his Servant not being the one involved.

Roy.

The flames rising in the dark behind her. They’re far away, but Riza can feel the heat if she pictures the fire strong enough. Explosions echo around them even now, some big enough to shake the ground below them despite the distance. They give her comfort. If there’s still fire, then he’s still alive.

Berserker moves to deliver a powerful kick, but Riza bends and pulls her bow down, throwing him off balance and giving her enough time to roll to the side. She slides away from him, on one knee, and takes aim again just as he lets off another shadow. This time, she’s ready for him though and fires off a round of arrows in rapid succession. The first arrow, instead of disintegrating when the shadow hits it, explodes in a fiery burst of light, actually cutting through the shadow like it’s solid and allowing the three other arrows to shoot forward unimpeached. They pierce Berserker in between his armor right where his arm connects with his body.

The howl of pain that echoes into the air drowns out the clanging sound his sword makes when it hits the ground. He rips the arrows out, his hand sizzling as they burn him, and blood pours out of the wounds, hot and unforgiving. Worse though is the way his arm dangles limply at his side, his fingers twitching with effort. It’s not entirely useless, she knows, but it’ll be impossible for him to pick up his over-sized weapon now with his dominant hand. The moment he realizes it, he bellows furiously once more.

How do you like me now? Riza thinks harshly, but she doesn’t say it out loud. She’s not like Roy, who uses words to get into the heads of his competition, or Berserker, who enjoys getting underneath his victim’s skins. She doesn’t need to speak her thoughts for people to know them; she uses her arrows.

“Oh, you’re good,” Berserker growls, “better than good!”

“I wouldn’t be a very good legend if I wasn’t,” Riza points out as she stands up straight.

Picking up his weapon with his left hand, Berserker swings it casually in a circle like a fan, as if testing it, and then glances back at her. “But are they?”

The slash of his sword is ugly and short, but it sends another shadowy blast out of it, not towards Riza, but in Winry and Edward’s direction. They duck in time, Edward dragging Winry to the ground, and shadow passes over their heads, slicing through the trees behind them. Riza screams wordlessly as she rushes forward and lets off another volley of arrows, not thinking straight, all of which he blocks, but just barely.

When the next shadow rockets towards them, Winry casts a large defensive shield, very similar to the one Roy cast over her to defend her from Saber’s surprise attack a few nights ago, but when the shadow collides with hers, it doesn’t hold nearly as well. Both magical shield and shadow explode in a mess of smoke and sparks and the two Masters are sent sprawling. All Riza can see is black, hopeless and terrible.

Before Berserker can attack them again, she lets off another arrow, lower this time, so that it digs deep into the meat of his calf. This arrow is different though, as a rope appears attached to the shaft and leads to her hand. As Berserker staggers at the pain, Riza uses her momentum to slide through his legs, twisting the rope around him, and jerks as hard as she can, bringing the monster of a Servant down. He lands with a heavy thud, shaking the ground and causing leaves to fall from the trees.

But it only seems to enrage him further. He roars, more beast than man at this point, and grabs the rope, not even bothering with the arrow still piercing him, and rips it towards him. Not expecting the reaction, Riza did not let go of the rope attached to her arrow in time, and pitches forward. She digs the heel of one of her feet into the ground to try to gain balance, but tears through the concrete before losing it. He snatches her bow in one hand and grasps her body in a firm grip with other, trapping one of her arms at her side, and slams her into the ground, knocking the wind out of her chest as her head bounces against the ground.

Her vision blurs for a moment, but when it comes back, Berserker is leaning over her, smoke coming out of the nostrils of his mask as he breathes, his red eyes glowing manically. She can smell the blood on him, so powerful that it makes her gag. This is death at its worst. It reminds her of the battlefields during the Mage Wars after Roy was put on the frontlines. Though the mask hides his face, she knows that he’s leering down at her, so close to her face that she turns her head away involuntarily. Her bow lies far from her reach, having been tossed aside like it is nothing. Every time she wiggles in his grasp, he only squeezes harder and she gasps in an attempt to breathe.

“I’ve wanted to hold you since the moment I saw you,” Berserker tells her in a fevered whisper.

She only growls furiously in response. This is not holding. She thinks of waking up in Roy’s arms at Ed’s house, just a few days ago – the warmth of his body, the gentleness of his touch, the comforting sound of his beating heart next to hers. That was holding. Something so delicate and intimate yet stronger than anything in the world. This is a twisted abomination, a reflection of what Berserker truly is.

Berserker chuckles. “Oh, my dear, what is an archer without her bow?”

“An arrow,” Riza snarls, “straight and true.”

As if a reaction to her words, a golden arrow of light materializes in her free hand and she jams it hard and deep into one of the eye sockets of Berserker’s mask. There’s a terrible sizzling sound as steam spills out from arrowed the embedded arrow and he yowls, letting go of her and stumbling backwards as he attempt to jerk it out. She gasps, sucking in air greedily, and tries to scramble in the direction of her bow, but he sweeps out a hand wildly and nearly takes her out by accident.

Blocked from retrieving her bow, she moves to stand in front of Winry and Edward, protecting them, when Berserker pulls out the arrow and throws it into the trees. Blood spills out of the socket, staining his mask with black streaks. Two more arrows appear in her hands and she spins them around, wielding them like daggers. The two Masters also take fighting positions, even if they are terrified of fighting a very furious and deranged Servant.

“I will enjoy cutting you in half!” Berserker exclaims, picking his weapon up with his good hand, the one that held her down.

Riza readies herself, even as her ribs ache horribly in protest. At least two of them are broken, possibly three, snapped in Berserker’s crushing grip. But she won’t give up and neither will Winry or Edward. They can’t. If they do, all is lost. It is her sacred duty to put down monsters like Berserker, not just to protect and serve her Master in this War. What kind of Heroic Spirit would she be if she lost sight of what made her one in the first place? No, she will fight until there is nothing left in her and then she will fight more.

“If he pins me down again, run,” Riza tells the two children behind her. Because that’s what they are. Yes, they are mages in their own right and they are Masters in the Holy Grail War, but they are children and this is her fight to bear, win or lose.

Edward scoffs. “Like hell–”

“You cannot win the War if you are dead!” Riza snaps, not looking back at either of them. “Do not argue with me!”

Despite the fact that Edward’s natural reaction to everything is to argue, he does not speak a word and she knows that he will heed her words. Winry is burning silently behind her, determined to fight until the end. And this very well could be for the two of them. Riza is weak. She’s injured and left with only her bones to fight with. Still, she’s not afraid.

Some might say that she is born to die in battle.

And then, somewhere above them, five daggers pierce the ground in a perfect circle surrounding Berserker, each knife standing up straight, the hilts pointing home to the sky. Before anyone can process what is happening, blue lightning crackles around Berserker, connecting with the daggers, before shooting up and electrocuting the large Servant in a brilliant fashion. Riza has to throw an arm over her eyes to shield herself from the light, only catching glimpses of Berserker twitching violently until the light dies down and he collapses to his knees, smoking and charred like a piece of meat.

“Wow, that looked extraordinarily painful!” a familiar voice cheers from the side.

Riza blinks in shock when she recognizes Lancer of all people, lazily swinging a sword with one hand while he leans against the other, its tip gleaming against the concrete. His Master, looking so small next to him, has both of her hands raised, five daggers carefully held between her fingers in each of them. She threw the knives. They came for her.

No, they came for Berserker and his Master. However little and young she is, more so than Ed and Winry, she’s an incredibly powerful mage, strong enough to find Roy through all his tricks. She too must’ve felt whatever Berserker’s Master was doing and couldn’t ignore it.

“You have lousy timing!” Edward yells, his face already getting red with aggravation. Lancer really knows how to get under his skin.

Indeed, the other Servant looks positively gleeful when he responds, “I don’t know. It looks like excellent timing to me.” He cocks his head towards Berserker, who is trying to pull himself to his feet, somehow swelling up even further through his pain and rage. “Nasty fellow, isn’t he?”

“What are you doing here, Lancer?” Riza demands. She can’t fight them both. While Berserker is clearly more injured than her, she doesn’t know what his Master might’ve done to him. It looks as if the more pain he’s in, the bigger he gets, his anger causing him to get stronger. He will burn out faster like this, but not before he crushes her like a bug if he gets a hold of her. Meanwhile, Lancer is fresh, uninjured, and has a Master that seems quite capable in battle herself. Riza knows terrible odds when she sees them.

Lancer shrugs. “It was rude of me to ambush you like that with Saber. I wasn’t expecting Assassin to show up too.” That can’t be it. Another explosion behind them, this one with flames rising high and close enough for them to feel the heat, drags his Master’s attention away and she zeroes in on them like they’re a target. “And a few people aren’t playing by the rules. It’s time to take out the trash, don’t you think?”

“Finish Berserker,” his Master orders, her voice high and childish. It’s a stark contrast with the intense look on her face. This is a child that has seen and been through more than most three times her age. “I will deal with the mage.”

“Not on my watch,” Edward growls, stepping forward.

The little girl fixes him with a sharp, reprimanding look that causes him to actually halt and blink. “I am not about to fight Caster on my own, you short-minded idiot.”

Edward sputters. “Who are you calling short?”

“That’s what you take offense to?” Winry mutters.

“Pleasant, isn’t she?” Lancer says cheekily.

To the side, Berserker begins to huff as he straightens up. His clothes tear as his muscles bulge out, dark veins twisting like veins up his ashy skin. The arm that he damaged seems to be working again as he picks up his large cleaver with both hands, either because of the mana of so many innocent victims coursing through him or because of the adrenaline. He has handled pain far better than expected, almost ignoring every wound after it is inflicted. What did his Master do to him?

“Lancer,” his Master says warningly, and that’s all she has to say.

The Servant nods his head and kicks the flat of the sword he was leaning on. It spins in the air before he catches it and crashes the hilts of each of his swords together. There is a flurry of sparks and then he pulls, revealing a dual-edged lance in his hands instead of two separate blades. He twirls it in a whirlwind circle before it snaps into place in one hand and he crouches down in a pounce. “Are you ready to end this, Archer?”

Riza hasn’t fought alongside anyone except for Roy in a long time, but for a brief moment, Lancer reminds her of Havoc, one of the two people in the camp to know her secret during the Mage Wars, probably the only man she ever trusted before Roy. Laughing and joking one minute, serious and deadly in the next. She can work with that.

For the first time in this war, Riza smiles, but there is no warmth in it. “With pleasure.”

When Berserker raises his weapon and charges towards Lancer, the smaller Servant leaps gracefully out of the way. As Lancer seemingly taunts Berserker, filled with so much more speed and agility than Berserker and Riza combined, Riza takes the opportunity to snatch up her bow again. The second it’s in her hands, she feels a pleasant hum vibrate her, as if the bow is as happy as her to be reunited. She catches a glimpse of Lancer’s little Master tearing through the woods towards Roy and Berserker’s Master and then Edward’s hesitation.

“Go,” Riza tells him.

Edward frowns. “But he said–”

“Never mind what he said,” Riza interrupts him, far gentler than what the situation calls for. It’s what Edward needs though – reassurance yet firmness. He’s a mage, but he’s younger than he realizes. Even Roy was hesitant at his age, despite his obvious strength and natural talents. “You’re the Master, are you not?”

Her words go through Edward like a shock to the system. He jerks upright and a hardened expression falls over his face. He takes a breath and follows after the girl while Winry stays behind with her. Yes, he is the Master and Roy is the Servant. She knows how much Roy hates that – how he hates to be under the control of anyone that isn’t himself – but it’s the truth. He must accept it if he’s going to win this War. Riza did so immediately, but then, she has always been good at following.

Now that it’s two against one, the fight changes drastically. Even with Berserker amped up by his Master’s dark magic and the stolen mana and od from their victims, he’s hurt and acting out impulsively. Lancer remains uninjured and bolstered by his Master. He’s simply too quick for Berserker to even come close. It looks to Riza as if the young-looking Servant is actually toying with Berserker, spinning around him, knicking him here and there with his blades, leaping over him, all with a small but serious smile on his face.

With him distracted by Lancer, Riza is able to take aim and her arrows dig in the back of his knees, causing him to buckle once more. Berserker swings out wildly, narrowly missing Lancer who dodges it, but Riza can tell he could’ve moved faster if he wanted to. He’s playing . It’s a different sort of playing than Berserker’s madness. It’s taunting and cold. Lancer knows that he’s better and wants Berserker to know it too, wants to drive him further into his insanity. It makes him even more reckless and prone to stupid mistakes in the fight.

“Come on now!” Lancer taunts. “Show me that heroic spirit of yours!”

Berserker is beyond words now, merely bellowing like a beast, and slashes his weapon in the air. The black shadow is larger than before, racing towards them with a vicious speed. Riza ducks under it while Lancer leaps over it and lands gracefully on a tree branch.

“Now that’s more like it!” he exclaims. Another black shadow cuts the tree he’s perched in down, but he jumps from the branch and actually lands on Berserker’s shoulders before vaulting off and slicing his lance up so that the blade cuts a line up Berserker’s back.

Just when Riza thinks that Berserker is close to being done, bent over his sword on his knees, something foul and dark ripples in the air around them, causing both Lancer and her to pull back. It’s… She doesn’t know how to describe it, except that everything in the air feels wrong, slightly out of order. If she was a mage, she might be able to describe it better, but neither she nor Lancer know much about magic. That’s Roy’s area of expertise. Winry, for all her talents, is still learning.

Black shadows burst out of Berserker’s back, at first flailing around like tentacles, reminding her of Assassin’s shadows. They’re not the same though, not as solid or controllable. It’s ugly and wrong. When he stands up though, there is a bright light surrounding his weapon and Riza’s breath hitches in her chest. It’s the same light that nearly took them out in the car. Can he pull off a Noble Phantasm again in this state so soon? It doesn’t matter; they can’t risk it.

Berserker leaps high in the hair, the black shadows now flapping like shapeless wings, raising his cleaver up high above his head. Lancer digs his feet in and bursts forward in a blur, jumping up in the air so suddenly that it forms a perfect ninety degree angle. The two Servants rise in the air, Berserker’s weapon glowing brightly, a horrible contrast to the darkness surrounding him, and the skin on Lancer’s arms and skins turning a coal black.

Riza doesn’t give out a warning. She raises her bow, aims true, and shoots. The arrow shoots off like a rocket into the dark sky, speeding towards them in a deadly line, light streaking behind it. Right before it hits Lancer, he snatches it out of the air with his bare hand without looking, just as he did the last time they met. He smiles grimly just as Berserker begins to bring his weapon down and jams it through Berserker’s chest. The arrow, imbued with magic, pierces through the metal like it’s cloth.

Lancer kicks off of Berserker as the other Servant drops his weapon uselessly and struggles to pull the arrow out of his chest. It does no good. When the two land, Lancer on his feet and Berserker on his back, the aftershock of the crash is so powerful that it nearly blows Riza off balance. Luckily, she positioned herself in front of Winry so that Riza herself takes most of the blow and the two of them stay on their feet. Berserker claws at his chest, but the arrow sinks in further. Light begins to peek out from the weeping wounds on his body until he is heaving, his body jerking and twitching in an ugly manner.

Turning quickly, Riza throws her arms around Winry, pulling the young girl into her chest and using her body as a shield. The light burns Berserker from the inside out until all the darkness surrounding him is eaten away and he lets out a pained, almost frightened cry the second before light explodes out of his body, turning the world white for a moment. It burns hot, but not painfully so, not to Riza at least. It’s her light, after all, that burned every last bit of corruption out of his body and destroyed him.

When the light dies down, Riza slowly lets go of Winry and surveys the area. There is nothing left of Berserker except for the shimmering remains of his spirit dissolving in the air. Lancer scratches the back of his head as he examines the area with a hint of curiosity, his lance propped up at his side. His skin, she notes, is back to normal, his fingers back to normal. Her arrow didn’t burn him this time when his skin was changed. That’s both peculiar and dangerous.

“I would’ve killed for some fireworks like that back in my day,” Lancer says thoughtfully.

However, before Riza can think to thank him or return to Roy, the ground begins to shake again. This time, it’s more like an earthquake. All of them throw out their hands to balance themselves, though Lancer seems to ride the rumble easily. When stone walls begin to erupt around them though, trapping them, even he looks wary and ready to take flight. Winry runs to one of the walls, pressing her hands against it, but pulls her hands back and shakes her head.

A woman steps out of the shadows, the same Master that threatened them at the temple where the Holy Grail would be summoned. It feels like a lifetime ago, but it couldn’t have been two weeks. So much has happened since then. Riza feels like another person; she feels centuries older. More tired, as well. She remembers the size and strength of the cold woman’s Servant; he hadn’t needed to be bolstered by dark magic to get there.

“I wouldn’t bother,” she says callously. “I strengthened those walls myself. They’re impenetrable.”

Lancer considers them for a second, looking decidedly unimpressed, but his hands twitch as he folds his arms across his chest. That’s when Riza realizes it: he’s not looking at the wall itself, but in the direction of his Master, who he is blocked off from. Everyone else is with their Masters. They’re all protective of their Masters, as they are their Servants, but Lancer seems especially so with his. She’s so young and innocent-looking.

“Thank you for getting rid of Berserker,” the woman tells them, not sounding a bit gracious. “I’ve never liked dealing with the trash myself.” She snaps her fingers and her Servant appears, his bare, muscled chest almost sparkling in the moonlight. This causes Lancer to raise an eyebrow finally. “But it’s time to thin the competition. Rider!”

The large man slams his fists together, his stone gloves sparking, and flexes his muscles. It’s a show, both strange and intimidating. He’s built not unlike Berserker was when corrupted with magic, but this is all Rider. One direct hit from him would knock any of them out. In her weakened state, Riza knows that she won’t be able to take him on; her best bet is to escape, but she can’t leave Winry behind either.

“If I were you, Lancer,” the woman says, “I would return to your Master. Who knows what might happen to her while pinned against Caster and Berserker’s Master? They’re both murderers.”

She smiles, the kind of smile that says she knows she’s right. It’s probably what Lancer is thinking right now. The Flame Alchemist was not known for his kindness during the Mage Wars; he was known for ridding himself of any obstacle that stood in his way of victory. Lancer’s little Master is one of those obstacles now. And Riza is one of Lancer’s. She’s wounded. Having helped her take care of Berserker, whatever debt he may have felt towards her was now paid in full. He could leave Riza to be cast down and it would be of no harm to him or his conscience.

This was War. There could only be one victor.

In the end, Lancer doesn’t have to make a decision. A loud explosion rocks them, Riza once again using her body to shield Winry as rocks pelt her. The woman throws up a shield, somewhat carelessly, but it defends her well as Rider knocks any debris aside with his fists. Lancer dodges the bits of stone flying towards him.

When Riza looks up, she has to refrain from gasping. There is Roy, dust settling around him, standing in a hole she knows he created in the wall. That’s not what causes her heart to leap in her throat. Blood slicks the side of his face, along with sweat and dirt, and there are cuts in his robes. Even worse is the cold look in his eyes. She knows, somehow, that he gave up a part of himself to get here. He was hurt before they came to this battle. She can only imagine what pain has been inflicted upon him now.

Edward stands behind him, looking both fierce and somewhat dazed. He remains uninjured, but there is a strangely unsettled look in his golden eyes. It doesn’t fit his normal, steadfast demeanor. Lancer’s little Master darts in between them and rushes to Lancer’s side. It almost looks as if he stops himself from picking her up, but instead moves to stand slightly in front of her. He lets her briefly touch his wrist and stills himself.

“Impenetrable, you say?” Lancer queries, cocky even now.

Roy gazes at the wall dispassionately, even more unimpressed than Lancer. “Amature magic, at best.”

Rider’s Master snarls like a wolf. “You’re weak, Caster. I could kill you myself.”

“And you’re alone,” Roy counters. Even now, Riza wants to join his side, but she keeps herself in front of Winry as Roy steps forward. Edward does not follow him, but instead returns to Winry and Riza. It makes Roy look like a man fighting an army by himself.

“Oh?” the woman says. “You think so?”

“Assassin is a terrible ally,” Roy tells her. “You’re partners now, but only until you’re no longer useful.”

Out of nowhere - no, out of shadows that appear in thin air, a trick of the eyes - Assassin appears. He looks comically small standing next to Rider, nothing more than a mere schoolboy. He’s the same height as Lancer’s Master, but somehow manages to look even more childish than her. His eyes though – those are not the eyes of a child. They’re the eyes of a cold-blooded killer.

“The same could be said of you,” Assassin points out in his boyish voice. He smiles, a child’s smile, a murderer’s smile. It’s jarring. “How long before you tire of the boy, hm?”

Edward stiffens, but says nothing. Neither does Roy for that matter. He doesn’t react at all, which speaks volumes to her. She knows what that means and it’s an uncomfortable thought. He’s been thinking of how to get out. The leash tugging on his collar, the Command signals on Edward’s hands, must burn and itch. It’s too dangerous though. A untethered Servant could do serious damage on the world, even someone like Roy whose intentions are good. Were good.

“Berserker has been defeated,” Assassin notes. “Where is his Master? They can still be a problem in this War, even without a Servant.”

“Dead,” is all Roy says in a flat voice and a cold chill runs down Riza’s spine. That is not the voice of the man she fell in love with. Is this who he became after she died? Was it a part of him all along and she was just blind to it?

Assassin chuckles, but there is a pleased look on his face. It’s what he would’ve done. Best take a Master out of the equation completely. There is something else to it though. “You’re progressing along nicely, Caster, faster than I expected. Father will be happy.”

“Spare me with bullshit about your Master,” Roy snaps. “I’ve got a Master already; I don’t need another.”

“Do you really think you’re in the position to fight this?” Rider’s Master questions.

“Yes,” Roy says in a quiet, dangerous tone. There’s a fire in his eyes now, one that Riza doesn’t recognize. It’s feverish, manic, vaguely reminding her of Berserker, which catches her off guard. What is this? “I could kill you. I could end you all right now.”

A sharp look passes between Assassin and Rider’s Master. It almost looks like they’re wary. Roy ended the Mage Wars. Roy broke the enemy single-handedly. How? If he was strong enough to do it then, why didn’t he do it before when she was alive? What did he do? What did he become?

I have plenty of blood on my hands as it is, the memory of Roy’s voice whispers in her mind. A little more won’t hurt.

Rider steps forward first. “Flame Alchemist–”

Roy cuts him off with a fireball, which Rider actually punches, the flames dissipating around him. “I am tired!” Another fireball. “I am sick of this!” And then another and another, each one stronger than the last, until Rider can no longer uses his fists and is forced to bring up a wall shielding him, which causes Roy to snarl and make an ugly cut his hand in the air in front of him. A line of fire, so precise and thin like a knife, cuts the stone wall in half like it’s nothing. “I don’t care who you are. You know who I am and I will end this!”

She sees it happen before it does. The scene plays out in her mind in a flash, but it feels like a lifetime, like it’s already happened. And it has. But centuries ago, back in their time. Roy, at the end of things, lost in darkness, rage curling around him and allowing nothing else in, terrifying and incredible and awful. He ended things then and he will end things now. Brought back into the world by the Holy Grail, who knows what he is capable of? Who knows of how powerful he actually is?

He will end this, just as he says, but the price is too much.

Fire swirls around them, licking the air hungrily, lashing out at them. All of the other Servants prepare their defenses. Shadows twist around Assassin, but they’re almost burned out by the light of Roy’s flames. Rider’s Master shields herself as Rider stands in front of her. Black skin creeps up over Lancer’s body until he is completely covered, even his face, making him look like a creature; he bends over his Master and wraps his arms around her, shielding her with his body and leaving himself entirely exposed.

The flames are too much for Riza even. She can barely see in the flames, barely stand the heat of them. It feels like she’s cooking in her armor. All she can see is Roy, looking terrible and beautiful. This is him. This is his magic. It’s a thing of wonder but also of terror.

Fire is death as much as it is life and he is fire.

Tears pricking her eyes, whether because of the brightness and heat of the flames or something else, Riza raises her bow and aims an arrow – but not at the enemy. Instead, she points it directly at Roy, at the man she loves, but it’s not him. This isn’t him. It can’t be. “Stop!” she shouts. She will shoot him. She has that right – she has always had that right since he first appointed her the Captain of the Old Guard. If he was to ever lose control, she was to put him down. She doesn’t want to - every fiber in her screams against it and for the first time she trembles while taking aim - but she will. For him. “Roy, STOP!”

It’s only a second, but when Roy doesn’t look back at her, she knows. Her heart shatters.

He won’t stop.

Please, something in her begs as she stares at him through tears, but the word won’t come out. The flames burn it away. Please.

“Caster!” Edward screams from behind. He’s lost in the fire, standing somewhere in the middle between Riza and Roy. “Stand down!” For a moment, the fires flicker and Riza can see. Roy is still focused on Assassin and Rider, but his jaw tightens as he tries to ignore Edward. “I said, stand DOWN!” Even now, Roy won’t look at him, but his rigid body begins to shake as he fights. Sweat beads across Edward’s face, but he doesn’t stop. He raises a hand, the Command Signals glowing against his skin. “I am your Master, and you will listen to me, Caster !”

A gush of air explodes around them. Riza can’t tell if it’s from the Command Signal or from Roy that causes the flames to be blown out, but they disappear in the wind. Roy gasps like it’s been ages since he last breathed and collapses to his knees, bleeding hands clutched to his chest. He doubles over, nearly toppling, but manages to hold himself up, trembling with effort. Riza remembers the feeling of a Command Signal being used on her; it was strange and overpowering, but it hadn’t been painful. Then again, she did not fight it like Roy did.

When she looks around, Riza is relieved to find that Assassin, Rider, and his Master are all gone. Likely, they left as soon as the flames vanished, deciding to make an attempt another time. Riza isn’t certain why. They are practically defenseless now. Perhaps, whatever schemes they concocted for Roy, they can not use him broken like this in such a way. To be honest, Riza doesn’t know what to think of him now. She isn’t afraid of him – she could never be – but this is… This is painfully visceral.

All of them are standing silently in shock, even Lancer, who slowly returns to normal with the exception of his hands. Edward is huffing and glaring as furiously as Roy’s flames, a look of contempt covering his face. Winry likely doesn’t know what to say. She’s been so hopeful this entire time. To see Roy like this, a Heroic Spirit on their side, is very unsettling.

Without warning, Lancer’s Master strides towards Roy – and then slaps him across his face.

Everyone jerks in response. Edward jumps, the contempt leaving immediately, while Winry squeaks and Lancer actually chokes. He rushes forward, ready to sweep her out of Roy’s reach, but she holds out a hand and stops him cold. Roy blinks in surprise, his gaze meandering until it finally settles on the girl’s face and the realization that a child hit him washes over him.

“ You ,” the little Master seethes, simmering with disappointment, “you know better than this. You are better than this! I did not grow up hearing stories of the Flame Alchemist’s magic to see a man who is not worthy of wielding his own power.” She doesn’t strike him again, but her words are like a slap in the face. Roy actually recoils. In a way, this young mage reminds Riza of back when Roy was her father’s apprentice and learning magic. It feels as if she’s scolding him like a teacher would. “You would sink to their level? You would throw yourself into the pit?”

Roy rubs his face with a shaky hand, accidentally smearing blood across it. “I…”

“Do you know what is in that darkness?” she demands and then throws her hands in the air. “Nothing! There is nothing! If you go there, even if you win this War, the Holy Grail will only see darkness and will give you nothing in return. It can only give you what you are made of! Is that what you want?”

He scowls at her, looking more like himself, boyish even with his years on her. “No, it’s not.”

“Then act like the mage I was told you are,” she tells him, voice filled with disgust, before turning away from him and stomping back over to Lancer’s side. Her Servant looks torn between horror and amusement. Edward looks plain perplexed.

Gathering his Master in his arm, Lancer tips his lance to them. “I’ll, ah, leave you to discuss things.” Instead of using the hole that Roy created earlier, he scales up the wall with ease. Impenetrable or not by anyone besides Roy, Lancer was never in fear of being trapped by the walls Rider created. They weren’t closed off at the top.

Riza turns back to Roy, more hesitant than she has ever felt towards him. Edward won’t go anywhere closer to him. She can see the two mages closing themselves off from one another and it hurts her soul. Edward turns and stomps away while Roy sighs and hangs his head, his entire body going limp in defeat. After nodding to Winry, she watches her Master follow after Edward and then Riza tentatively makes her way towards Roy.

She almost shot him, she recalls dizzily. She almost killed him.

When she reaches him, Riza hesitates, but then reaches out to put a hand on Roy’s shoulder. Immediately, he leans into her touch, turning his head so that his cheek presses against her. He’s warmer than ever before, like his fire was burning him from the inside as her arrow had done to Berserker. His hands clench into fists on his thighs as he tries to steady his breathing, like he wants to cry but refuses to do so. She wishes he would. It’s not healthy to hold everything in, as he has done for all his life. It comes out in the worst of ways.

“I thought I lost you,” Riza tells him.

“You did,” Roy sighs, “for a moment.”

It hurts them both for him to admit such a thing. It’s a weakness. She doesn’t want to admit that Roy is capable of losing himself, as he’s always been so strong in her eyes, but with power as great as his, it’s all too tempting to let the magic take over. It has a lure of its own that she has never understood or felt. As strong of a mage as he is, it’s only worse for him. Magic takes its toll on the users in different ways. She wishes she could help him. She thought she could before, but now… Now she isn’t so sure. Maybe the Holy Grail twisted them in some way, took their greatest strengths and weaknesses and transformed them into something else, as they were made stronger.

“Maybe it’s a good thing then – to have a Master,” Roy says. “Maybe I need to be leashed.”

“Not leashed,” Riza says gently, bending down to his level, “tethered.”

Roy opens his eyes and peers at her blearily. “It used to be you.”

“This War has changed many things,” Riza replies. Her hand slides down from his shoulder to his hands. She can tell it hurts him to grasp her hand, but he does so anyways. She ignores the heat of his wet blood coating her palm. “But I can still be that to you. Perhaps you just need more. We’re not really human, are we?”

“No,” Roy says, “we aren’t.”

Not monsters, but not human either. They are something else. Heroic Spirits. Legends in the flesh. It’s surreal to think of it so plainly. And they thought they could live normally in the moments in between.

“What do we do now?” Roy asks her.

“We go home,” Riza answers. It’s not nearly a good enough response, but it’s all she has. Every inch of her body aches, mind and soul alike. She needs to rest. Roy looks fit to topple over. She’s not sure how long he can manage before returning into his incorporeal state.

Still, he nods his head and gets to his feet without much help from her. Maybe his exhaustion is more mental than physical, although his body is certainly wounded enough. The two of them walk through the park in silence, their arms around each other as they help one another move forward. With each step, Riza can’t help but feel all the sharp pains in her body.

By the time they make it back to the car, Winry and Edward are already inside, sitting on opposite sides and not looking at one another. The sight cuts Riza slightly. She helps Roy inside and gets in herself. The car ride is surreal in itself after everything they went through. It’s jarringly normal. Tense silence permeates the car, but Riza is too tired to do anything else but focus on the road. She thinks of Alphonse waiting for their return and how he’ll get into a frenzy over their injuries.

Home. When did the little house begin to feel like that to her? When was the last time she ever felt it?

The lights are off in the house when they pull into the driveway. All of them are battered from the fight, broken and bone tired. It’s dark and Riza has just enough awareness in her to keep a lookout as they shuffle inside. Roy nearly stumbles when he walks through the doorway, but catches himself with Winry’s help. He pulls away from her quickly after a sharp look from Edward and then waits for Riza to come inside.

“Al?” Edward calls out. So normal, so simple. To fight in war and then come home right after. It doesn’t feel right. She never got to return home during the Mage Wars. She died before that could happen – before she could make a place feel like home with Roy, as he promised they would. “Al, we’re back!”

“Sh, he could be asleep,” Winry hisses, nudging him in the side.

“Al is a worrywort,” Ed snaps, but without any heat. He’s too tired. “He wouldn’t just fall asleep.” He moves around the house, flicking on lights, and calls out again. “Al!”

No response. It’s eerily quiet. The only sound in the house comes from then. Despite her exhaustion, Riza feels an uneasiness building inside of her again. They all begin to search the house in earnest now, feet dragging, voices calling out for the younger Elric, but there is nothing but themselves. It’s too late for him to have gone out and it was too dangerous besides. The house was the safest place to stay due to all the protective enchantments surrounding it.

Riza steps outside into the backyard the moment Edward freezes. He’s standing unnaturally still, like he’s ready to pitch forward over a cliff even though he’s standing on flat ground. The small garden that Alphonse tends to carefully is in front of him. His face is milky white and his eyes are wide with fear. She’s never seen him look so openly afraid before, not even when Roy almost lost control just an hour ago. When Riza reaches him, she sees what stopped Edward cold and her mind comes to a screeching halt.

Alphonse’s wheelchair, turned over and still, trampling the garden.

Having noticed their absence from inside the house, Roy walks up to them. “What are you–?” He also freezes when he spots the wheelchair. Winry gasps, having appeared after him, and presses both of her hands to her mouth. It’s one thing to know that innocent people are being involved in the War; it’s another to know that specific person, to care for them, to love them.

Besides this War, Alphonse is all that Edward has.

Slowly, Roy bends down and picks up a piece of paper that Riza didn’t notice lying on the wheelchair. She was too busy staring at the object. It looks wrong unoccupied by Alphonse, like it doesn’t belong. Whatever is on the paper causes Roy’s eyes to narrow and he nearly burns it in his hands. Instead he thrusts it out in disgust and she takes it from him, watching as he stalks away to the corner under a tree, one hand worrying at the bottom of his face as the other clenches and unclenches in barely checked rage.

Riza glances down at the paper and feels her blood turn to ice in her veins.

Return what is mine and I will return what is yours.

It doesn’t take a genius to immediately who this note is from and what it means. A ransom note from Assassin’s mysterious Master, Father: Roy in exchange for Alphonse.

Edward snatches the paper out of her hands, staring down at it like it will tell him exactly where Alphonse is. When Winry moves to comfort him, he shrugs away from her, throws the note to the ground, and storms inside. It’s his brother. Edward thought he would do anything to win this War, but allow his brother to come to harm or be sacrificed…

It’s too much. This War asks too much of them all.

Riza glances at Roy. She thought she knew what he was capable of. She isn’t so sure after tonight. Winry takes her hand and Riza looks down at her, trying to appear reassuring but knowing that nothing she can say or do right now will be of use. The helpless look on Winry’s face almost causes her to buckle. She thinks of how she almost shot Roy, how she helped kill Berserker, of the empty wheelchair. She isn’t sure of what she’s capable of anymore.

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