Rise Of The Wrought Iron King

chapter 41: Another Victim (Rewrite)

Yukino Agria wasn't quite sure how she should be feeling at the moment, the previous night was without contest the absolute worst event, that she had ever suffered through ever since her childhood. She had worked so hard to become a member of Saber Tooth, clawed her way towards that goal, with every ounce of strength she had. With the hopes, that doing so would finally give her some sense of accomplishment of validation.

That upon joining, she would at last be able to cast-off the remnants of the pathetic girl, she once was by joining the strongest guild, it would be definitive proof that she wasn't weak that she wasn't useless that her existence actually meant something, and that her sister's sacrifice wouldn't have been in vain.
But that all came crumbling down after a single loss, because for Saber Tooth, defeat is inexcusableand is worthy of punishment of the highest degree.

Yukino, just never realized, what that truly entailed the humiliation, she suffered at their hands was enough to break her down and revert her to the sad little girl that she once was and she hated that.
She hated Kagura for being so merciless and for holding back her true strength, she hated Ziemma for his cruelty towards her. She hated her former guildmates for leaving her to suffer, to not even try to stand up for her She especially hated the ones who took advantage of the situation by recording her shame on lacrima crystals and even groped her, as she left.

But more than anything else, she hated herself for being so weak, despite all the hardships she endured, all the training she forced herself through, and the challenges she faced in order to earn her Golden Keys it still wasn't enough.
After having gone through all that and still failing in the end, she was more than willing to give up on being a mage and simply live out the rest of her miserable life in isolation.

However that changed, after her encounter with Lucy, it wasn't much, but, the blonde's words were enough to convince her to keep moving forward. If only just barely and yet things took another turn later that same night, when she broke down once more, only this time it was in front of two members from the other competing guilds, her weakness was put on display once again and she hated herself for it.

After a rough nights sleep at one of the less than stellar inn's, Yukino had woken up to hushed whispers of an apparent attack on Crocus Gardens the place where Saber Tooth was staying, her heart dropped at the thought, that Natsu and Nightingale actually went and attacked her former guild as their defeat was all but assured.

After hearing the news, her body seemingly went on autopilot as she made her way towards where Chaldea was staying, as she wanted to see if Nightingale was alright, she would then head to Fairy Tail to check on Natsu as well. However these plans rapidly went askew, when she was picked up (quite literally) by Merlin from Chaldea's team. Even with his face bruised and bandaged, from who knows what, the man was quick to make his best attempts at wooing her with whatever tricks he could manage.

At first Yukino was highly resistant to his advances and even tried to flail out of his grasp, but, she soon found herself to be far too flustered by his sweet words and improvised poetry to put up any real fight, what she failed to realize at the time, was that he was utilizing a pre-recorded track of pick-up lines, via an audio-lacrima that he managed to conceal through the use of flowery illusions that kept Yukino distracted.

Fortunately for Merlin, he was able to reach their destination before the crystals recording ended which just so happened to be the very same place Yukino was headed for, and while she did enjoy her 'escort' to the inn, it wasn't enough to qualm her concern over Nightingale condition that is, until she was greeted by said woman in the foyer looking no different from how Yukino saw her the night before.

The white-haired girl had let out a sigh of relief, at the time it seemed that Nightingale wasn't involved in whatever happened with Saber Tooth, after all thus she had planned to check on Natsu once Merlin let her go, but, such plans were thrown out the window, when said wizard carried her deeper into the inn and gingerly placed her in a comfy chair in, what appeared to be a meeting room followed by him pulling a little sleight-of-hand to present her a white-rose from his sleeve.

Flattered as she was the mood was shattered once the door swung open and the Chaldea leaders entered the room looking particularly haggered, following a short discussion, which involved Merlin getting mauled by a cute rabbit/dog thing, Yukino's worries were fully dispelled in regards to what happened with Saber Tooth.

Apparently she had thought too highly of Ziemma's power, as the man had been thrashed by Natsu and Nightingale, so this left her at a bit of an impasse her forward momentum of what to do next, had been brought to a halt and now she lacked a concrete goal. But seeing as how Chaldea had gone out of their way to help her in her time of need, even offering her a place to stay, so that she could settle her thoughts she wouldn't have felt right if she didn't offer to help them in exchange for their kindness.

Anything that she could do to pay them back, and it just so happened that they had something for her to do, which lead her to her current situation Da vinci was leading her down the halls to, as she put it .

'help out with the kids'

Apparently the guilds younger members were somewhat troublesome and thus needed near constant watch.

"Now, before we get there, I'll give you a quick rundown of how to deal with these little hellions," Da Vinci said before stifling a yawn. "Do not show any signs of weakness, do not give in to their more outrageous demands, do not give them excessive amounts of sugar,"

Yukino nodded with each passing instruction fully expecting things along the lines of what Da Vinci was saying.

"Don't worry ma'am, I'm sure I can handle this," Yukino said optimistically.

Da vinci spun around to stare at her with a haunted look on her face, that was the first sign that things weren't going to be as easy as she thought.

"No you can't," Da Vinci spoke out dead serious. "Very few of us, and even with the help of the Fairy Tail, are able to maintain any sense of control over these kids, if you let your guard down for even a moment they'll eat you alive,"

For some reason Yukino got the impression that da vinci meant that in a literal sense.

"Next, I'll give you the specifics on some of the kids" Da Vinci said.

As she start to tell her all the detail of the child servant that she was about to keep in charge are and she was suprise that one of the children have the ability to.

"Her size?" Yukino asked.

"You'll find that Bunyan's height is subjective, as it constantly alters itself without her being any the wiser, one minute she could be five feet tall, and then you blink and she's suddenly twenty. But so long as someone keeps her in their sight her height won't change," Da Vinci explained.

Finally arriving at their destination, Da Vinxi opened the door to the room where the youngsters were.
To describe the scene inside as chaotic, would be an understatement, the severity of the situation was further increased upon Yukino.

Noticing Flare from Raven Tail, was slumped against the far wall in a barely conscious state, any questions pertaining to why the girl was there, were immediately written off once Yukino got a better view of the red heads current condition her hair was a frazzled mess.

Someone had written on her face in crayon, her mouth was starting to fome, and her limbs would occasionally twitch in a slightly disturbing manner.

"Now, that I've gone over the easier ones to handle, it's time for me to tell you about the more problematic kids, don't worry, you two can handle it," Da Vinci give a quick thumbs up, and a supporting smile.

Yukino whimpered .

Suddenly the idea of living the life of a hermit wasn't looking so much bad by comparison.

Disclaimer : I do not own fate