The Thirsty Girl's Guide To Summoning (Fate/Isekai)

Chapter 13

As the night-blue light poured into the small figure shrouded in black, Ren's heart climbed into her throat. She knew exactly who she'd summoned this time, and—

—and she definitely wasn't ready.

She'd summoned everything she'd specified in her silent prayer, though. Of course, she'd forgotten to specify heroic. She hadn't even considered specifying not a serial killer.

The summoning energy faded away and the portal once again returned to its sedate swirling blue, although the missing strands of energy supporting the chamber didn't regenerate. A child shrouded in a shredded man's black jacket, decked out with a profusion of knifes, with mist-pale hair and huge green eyes looked around in clear confusion.

Then again, what chance had the child ever had to be heroic? The angry thought rose from the black depths of her mind. When the little Servant again said, "Mommy? Where are you?" she opened her arms.

"I'm here. You're Jack, and I'm Serendipity and," she swallowed against a dry throat. "I'll be your Mommy now."

Those green eyes studied her with a good deal more shrewdness than Ren expected. Then they softened and the child said, "Okay." Lilac light flared briefly around them as Jack stepped forward. "What do you want us to do, Mommy?"

Ren glanced over her shoulder, realizing as she did so that Merlin must have done something because she wasn't nearly as close to collapsing from exhaustion this time. Merlin, his eyes sparkling, gave her a double thumbs-up before scooping up the dazed Ritsu and bringing her into the room to tuck her into her blankets, the golden foxette following behind.

Ren returned her attention to Jack. "For now, I want you to get comfortable here. Uh, would you like some berries?"

Jack's brow furrowed. "Why?"

Picking up the mostly-empty basket, Ren said, "They taste good. And then... and then I need to brush your hair." Because it would be better, Ren decided, to introduce the wraithborn Servant to a source of magic nutrition other than human innards as soon as possible.

"Oh," said Jack. "Okay."

Ren gave her the basket and told her, "I'll be right back." She darted down the hall to the kitchen, snatched up the grooming basket and raced back again. But she wasn't fast enough to stop Merlin from causing trouble. When she arrived, Jack was huddled protectively over the basket while the magus knelt near her.

"No," said Jack, holding the basket close to her thin chest. "You're the worst. You'll make everything awful. You smell bad too. Go away."

"Merlin!" said Ren sharply. She'd hoped for somebody who wouldn't clash with the magus, but possibly there wasn't a Servant born who could stand strong against his terrible personality.

The look of exaggerated dismay Merlin turned on her was almost ludicrous. "I only asked her if she knew who I was already! Truly, honestly!"

"He's like the men who took our Mommy away from us," accused Jack. "Who made it so our Mommy had to throw us away."

Merlin's face froze and then went completely expressionless. For a moment it was like somebody else looked out from his eyes. Ren blinked and the moment vanished as Merlin put his hand behind his head and laughed. "Eheheh, I suppose you're right. I am like them... but Jack..." His laugh vanished as he said gently, "I'm not them. And I won't let those men take this Mommy away."

Unmollified, Jack said, "Neither will I. Mommy, what's that?"

"Try the berries," said Ren. "I'm going to use this to brush your hair. That should... taste good in a different way than the berries?" She rolled her eyes desperately toward Merlin, aware of the inadequacy of her explanation.

"Feel good, Ren," corrected Merlin. "I expect it will feel like a connection is forming from her to you, although since I'm still waiting for my turn under the brush I don't really know."

Jack picked up one of the blueberries, rolled it between her fingers, and then squashed it. "Heheh, fun!" Then she licked the juice off her fingers and her eyes widened. She repeated the experiment with a plump red berry.

Ren moved behind her and started gently combing through Jack's hair, relieved to see that parasites and filth hadn't been included at the factory. Jack continued to crush berries and lick her hands, without paying much attention to what was happening with her hair, so Ren said, "You straight up said you didn't need me to recharge you."

"Well, no," said Merlin. "I don't need your piddling recharge, but have you seen my hair?" He picked up a long hank, letting it spill over his palm like a waterfall. "The whole point of hair like this is to lure pretty girls into playing with it."

"And does that ever work?" Ren inquired sweetly.

Merlin opened his mouth to respond but his gaze fell on Jack and he closed it again. After a moment, instead of answering Ren, he said, "Hey, Jack, try crushing them with your teeth instead of your fingers."

Jack gave him a startled, wary look, and then put one of the tiny red berries in her mouth. "Ooh! That's a good pop."

Merlin nodded. "Just like—well, we don't want to make Mommy sick to her stomach."

Before Ren could think about that too hard, Ritsu, sitting up among her blankets, said blearily, "What happened? Did you..." Her brow furrowed. "Who is that?"

"I protected you from the negative aura, Miss Ritsu," said Merlin cheerfully. "This is Jack, the newest member of our little team."

Jack looked at Ritsu with flat, expressionless eyes, while Ritsu bit her lip. Ren said, "I summoned her too. Jack, your primary job—other than letting me brush your hair—will be to keep Ritsu safe, all right?"

"Is she... " Ritsu caught and corrected herself. "Are you a child? Or just very small? Is that rude to ask?"

Jack reached up to catch Ren's hand, holding it with a painfully strong grip. "We're Mommy's."

Rather than being confused by this as Ren expected, Ritsu smiled as if everything made sense. "Yes, of course." She scrambled to her feet and gave a ceremonial bow. "I look forward to sharing sweets with you!"

Merlin said, "Hey, hey, why didn't we get the pretty bow?"

Ritsu gave him a scornful look. "Because you're adults." She gave Jack an inquiring, expectant look.

"Mommy?" Jack looked up at Ren with that nearly expressionless face. Only the slant of her eyebrows indicated her confusion.

Ren squeezed Jack's hand. "I think she wants to be friends."

"Yes," said Ritsu patiently. "That's what I said."

"Oh," said Jack. She considered the other girl for a long moment. "Does that mean you'll play with us?"

Ritsu nodded. "I know a lot of games."

"Okay." Jack's hand loosened on Ren's. "We'd like that."