The Fight for a Broken Dream

A Summoning to Remember

"You'll never be enough," they said,
"You've never done anything good in your life,"
"You've never proven useful,"
"You're a failure,"
"I wish you were never born!"
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Reina shot up from her bed after her horrible nightmare. Only, she knew deep down it wasn't a dream; but rather, reality. She looked down at her right hand to confirm the source of her nightmare; three dark red command seals sat comfortably on her hand, waiting to be used.

"Why me?" she breathed aloud.

She had received the command seals one year prior. She was simply eating at the dinner table with her family when she dropped her cup of tea; for pain dominated the back of her hand. Rushing over to her aid, her father, Lord Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, discovered three command seals beginning to take form on her hand. Outraged, her shoved his daughter onto the floor. For it was not Reina that was to be chosen; but rather Kayneth himself. He wanted the Holy Grail for his glory; to bring pride to the Archibald family. To have someone like his daughter chosen for the grail, it was absolutely pure lunacy that the grail would even think of doing this. He prepared his whole life for the Holy Grail War, and he wasn't about to just let his daughter take it away from him.

Angered by the turn of events, Kayneth did whatever it took to obtain Reina's command seals. He gave her daily "lessons" of not only magic, but disobedience and the punishment that follows. He'd teach her the ways of first-rate mages for hours on end; exhausting her so she couldn't fight back when the moon rose in the sky. As soon as night would fall, he'd beat her; trying to kill her spirit. However, Reina would never give in. No matter how many times he whipped her, no matter how many times he starved her, no matter how many times he raped her; Reina continued to stand up for her participation in the Holy Grail War. She wasn't going to let her father bench her and take away her only hopes of a better future, and she certainly wasn't going to give him her command seals in order to please him. Therefore, night after night, he repeated his actions; desperate for his daughter to give in to his will.

Unable to change her mind; Lord Kayneth came up with a plan. If Reina wouldn't give up her command seals by choice; he'd force her to go mad so that she'd unwillingly give them to him. However, his wife, Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, voted against it. As powerful of a mage Reina was, her biggest weakness was whatever penetrated the mind. Vulnerable to psychological magic, she could easily be taken down if a mage were to pollute her mind with madness. Knowing this, Kayneth wanted to shove mad hallucinations in Reina's mind, but Sola-Ui knew deep down that was the vilest thing Kayneth could do. She knew that by committing that act, Kayneth would lose his pride and honor as head of the Archibald family.

Being aware of all of this from constantly listening in to her parents' conversations, Reina was stuck in a rut. Looking at her command spells as she sat in her bed, she literally had no idea what to do with herself.

"Today's the day..." she thought to herself, 

And indeed, it was. It was the day when she was to summon her servant. She got out of bed and bathed herself; wanting to make an impression on whichever servant she summoned. After finishing, she put on a short, lacy blue dress that had sleeves down to her elbows. She slipped on a pair of off-white flats and pulled her brown hair into a French braid that extended down her back. Ready for the summoning, she headed down to the basement where she found her parents waiting for her.

"You're late," Her father snapped,

"You never gave me a set time." Reina noted,

"I don't care. You know you're to get up before seven. It's eight-thirty,"

Sola-Ui rested a hand on Kayneth's shoulder, "It's okay, love. She's here now. Let's just proceed, it's not a big deal." She preceded to massage his shoulders smoothly, "I know you're stressed, but everything is going to work out okay. Just stick to the plan."

Kayneth straightened himself out and took a deep breath, "Let's begin. Do you have the incantation memorized, Reina?"

"Yes, father," she replied,

"Good. I had to get a new relic since our other one somehow went missing. Hopefully we'll still get a decent-Class servant. Don't mess this up, Reina. You know what'll happen." He threatened, "Now. . . begin."

Reina stood in front of the summoning circle, right arm outstretched with her left hand resting on her forearm. She began;

"Let silver and steel be thy essence.
Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.
Let red be the color I pay tribute to and let my great Master Archibald be the ancestor.
Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.
Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate. Heed my words: my will creates your body and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning! I hearby swear, that I shall be all the good in the world that I shall defeat all evil in the world!
From the Seventh's Heaven, attended to by three great words or power,
Come forth from the ring of restraints,
Guardian of the Holy Scales!"

With her final words, a gust of wind blew from the summoning circle. Reina stumbled back, but held her ground. Light filled the room and slowly faded away in a mist. Before her knelt a knight on one knee. Looking down at the ground, he spoke,

"I ask you," he looked up and locked eyes with Reina, "Are you my master?"