Fate: Hammer Time

Chapter 37: Plenty For the Both of Us

Illya, for the first time in a long, long while, was entirely content with her current situation.

She was away from the Einzbern, together with Sella and Leysritt, and would soon be living with her brother and his girlfriends in their house in Japan. She would be away from the depressing atmosphere of the Einzbern-castle, away from her evil family, and away from the daily torment.

The fact that her brother was entirely confident that he could change her and her maids into normal humans was a cherry on the cake at that point.

Even the fact that she was confined to her brother's Vault for the moment did nothing to ruin her good mood, for she knew that it was necessary.

She was not a fool. She knew very well that the Einzbern would raise hell to get her back once they realised she was gone, making her was very happy to be in a place that was completely beyond their reach. No matter what the Einzbern would try, they would never be able to get at her now that she was in a different dimension entirely.

Some might say that it was like exchanging a prison for another prison, but that wasn't true. It was exchanging a prison for a safe hiding place. Consent made all the difference here, not to mention her stay in the Vault would only be temporary, until they were back in Fuyuki.

It might take a few weeks before that happened, but boredom wouldn't be a problem either. There was plenty for her to play around with in the Vault, plenty of new things to see and discover –seriously, the place was huge and filled to the brim with all kinds of stuff– and she had Sella and Leysritt with her too.

The maids had woken up not long after Shirou had left the Vault, very confused about what had happened and very shocked to find themselves in strange surroundings. That they were still tied up probably didn't help them to calm down either.

Illya had tried to reassure them, and like the proper, composed servants they were supposed to be, they had calmed down at once, falling back into a proper maid mindset once they saw she was present as well.

Then, Illya had verified that their conditioning was indeed removed–Leysritt barely reacted to the news that she was conditioning-free aside from a small, happy smile, but Sella had been shocked enough for the three of them– before she had untied them.

After that, Illya threw some pillows onto the couch, placed herself down in-between her maids, and started filling them in on everything Shirou had told her so far.

She told them about the nature of the pocket dimension they were staying in, about Mjolnir, about the fact that Shirou was completely confident that he could change the three of them into humans, and several other things.

The maids' reaction? It was almost as if she had two Leysritts sitting next to her now, both looking forward into eternity with glazed eyes as they slowly processed everything Illya had told them.

"I understand, mistress." Sella spoke up after half a minute or so, her eyes zoning back into focus, which allowed Illya to distinguish her from her sister again. "It is not my place to question you or your brother, so I shall not protest. I am not sure I believe his fanciful tales however."

"So business as usual then?" Illya asked jokingly, knowing very well how sceptical Sella was of everything she couldn't verify for herself.

"I believe you, mistress." Leysritt piped up from Illya's other side, giving her a lazy smile.

"Yes! I knew you would, Leysritt. You were always much smarter than Sella!" Illya cheered, giving the maid a hug, ignoring Sella's insulted huff from behind her. "I love you!"

"Love you too." Leysritt murmured, wiggling happily in place.

"Mistress." Sella sighed. "I-"

"Ah! Don't worry, Sella, I love you too." Illya added quickly, turning around on the sofa to hug the older maid as well. "Even if you don't believe me."