The Hound's Moon

Intertwining Fates

--Chapter 29--
Intertwining Fates

The raven sat within the garden hallways, her mind endlessly wandering to the inevitable path that she refused to acknowledge. She was confused on how she would go about to eventually finding a way to obtain the Grail–not for her own purpose but rather to keep her Celtic alive and to have him be at her side. She tried multiple simulations within her mind to find some sort of way for it to happen. However, nothing that she could possibly come up with would work without some sort of sacrifice. With how the raven's ideals were, she couldn't possibly go for the sacrificial path. She sighed, feeling dejected and hurt.

"Yuu..." She glanced toward the garden grounds, seeing her companion materialized a few feet in front of her. "What is it, mo ridire?" He crossed his arms as he leaned onto the right side of his body. "Something's bothering you, isn't it. I can sense your mana wavering all throughout your body." Her emerald eyes fell onto the ground, unsure of how to put her concerns into words. "I'm... not sure how this war is going to end up. The victor is a Master and their Servant, right? Then that means there's a good chance you're going to disappear before anything else could occur. And... I don't want that to happen."

The Celtic grinned, walking up to stand right in front of the petite body. "Princess. My original wish was to just fight. That changed when I got to see how beautiful you grew up to be. From that spoiled runt to a gorgeous babe, what more can I ask for?" Her face blew up into hues of multitudes of red as she heard his comment. "G-Gor..." His chuckles were quite low in pitch, a shiver instantly going down her back. "Yes, I meant what I said Yuuki. You are gorgeous despite your imperfect appearance. I can actually die quite happy from this. What I want from this war is to make sure you're living well, knowing that I may not appear in this era anymore."

Droplets of water fell onto her pants as she heard the last part of his sentence. "H-Hey, princess don't cry..." He sat right next to her as he brought her into his embrace. "Heroic spirits aren't meant to stay longer than they are supposed to after the war. You know that." Her nails dug into his back as she hugged him. "I... I just can't, Cú. If you do disappear... I'll be alone once more. I can't return... to that desolated feeling a second time..." He heard her sniffle, causing him to bite his lip. Another thing he shouldn't have said; now he made his own companion cry.

His hand raked through her hair slowly before he lifted her face. The hurtful look within those half-lidded emerald eyes and the slightly puffy areas around it made his heart clench. He honestly didn't want her to be in a situation full of suffering if it involved him at the core. Cú lightly pulled her head in with his hand as their lips came in contact. The serene feeling washed over the raven as they kissed. Glimmering moonlight fell upon the ground, illuminating the area as they eventually parted.

"I can't promise you on staying, milady. Knowing that things are going to get even more rough with how the war's going to be, I doubt I'll be able to stay. Fights are meant to happen." He pulled her into a tight embrace as their upper bodies touched. "I'll grant whatever your heart desires tonight then if that's going to at least relieve you." She nodded, sniffling as she returned the embrace and hugged him tightly.

Lancer glanced toward the end of the garden hallways, holding his index finger to his mouth as he winked toward the female servant who was peeking from the corner of the hallway. She made a dramatic cough as the raven quickly moved away from her companion and wiped her face with her sleeves. "...Satou-san, if you would like to go bathe I can lead you to the bathroom. Shirou is resting right now so I felt it's best for me to show some sort of hospitality while you are here. We can have something to eat after he wakes up."

"U-Um, okay Saber. Thank you..." She quickly got up from where she sat and scurried along to where the female servant was. Saber soon led her down the hallway where they eventually disappeared. The male glanced up at the sky, lit up by the full moon and sighed. 'How in the world am I going to make her happy again with how things are? The boy and Saber are definitely going to rescue the lady. The bastard's definitely up to no good. Kotomine's an ass regardless of how I look at it. Nothing is good up his sleeves.' Unable to actually think of a solution, he got up and jumped onto the roof to feel the wind blow through his hair to cool his head off.