Repost: 1. Initial arrival

[answerer_sword]

OOC: This was originally posted in testrun_box

1. Arrival
[Bazett Fraga McRemitz wakes up with a start. Her head is heavy and her body feels strange in a way that she can't put her finger on.]

What happened?

[A quick look around tells her that this isn't her Japanese hotel room. For one thing, it's too large and the furnishings are completely different. For

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Re: 3

[answerer_sword]

[So this is the source of the strange, persistent feeling that she had ever since she came to this place. Her usual card sensing skills were shot--this feeling was no more than a hunch. But it seems likely to be a card. After all, only class cards could twist the fabric of reality to create pocket universes.]

[Now, she sees that she has been proven correct. This man looks almost exactly like the Lancer card except for a change of costume. She would assume that it was the card having once again taken human form, but from the fact that he was capable of speech, she can see that he has more self-awareness and intelligence than the cards that she had previously fought. This meant that he was most likely a human bound to a card.]

[The Lancer card had clearly been left with Miyu Edelfelt after Bazett's last encounter with the other mages. So what was it doing in the possession of this man? Perhaps he had taken it from her and was using it for his own purposes? If so, then why did he look so much like its human form? She has no answers to these questions, but she knows that she has to stop him as quickly as possible, before he could become a danger to innocent bystanders.]

I am Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Church First-Rank Combat Specialist: Sealing Designation Enforcer. If you have any Class Cards, disengage from it and hand it to me quietly. Do not try to resist.

[She feels compelled to offer him a warning, if only as a formality.]

[riastrad_ridire]

Wh...wait, hang on, what the hell is a Class Card?! You don't recognize me?!

[answerer_sword]

I recognize your form, but enough of the nonsense. Disengage from your card and hand it over. Resistance will be futile. I will not repeat myself a second time.

[Even as she speaks, her body tenses, ready to attack at any minute. Not only is the man sentient, but he seems to be playing mind games with her.]

[riastrad_ridire]

Bazett, knock it off--! What are you talking about?!

[She couldn't just not know him, right? Not like Rin had at first. This was his Master, the woman that had summoned him and the woman he'd failed so badly.]

[So...she couldn't.]

Don't you know who I am? It's me, Lancer--Cu Chulainn! Stop screwing around, you have to know who I am!

[answerer_sword]

[She grits her teeth. The sheer rage of hearing this man throw her hero's name around so lightly keeps her temporarily in place. Is it not enough that he has taken on a twisted version of the hero's form? Is it not enough that she, who has admired him, no, been infatuated with him since childhood, must now defeat and destroy him a second time? And yet, he has the gall of pretending to be Cu Chulainn just to mess with her mind.]

Do. Not. Say. That. Name. To. Me.

[She spits out each word, following them up with punches. Her rage blinds her to the fact that her punches are weaker than before and that her Reinforcement spells are not working. She only knows no words she could say would describe her anger and pain.]

[Even as she swung her fists at him, she could feel that horrible sensation again. The mix of sadness, horror, and pain that tore her up from within when she had first realized the spirit being channeled by the Lancer Card. The feeling had remained with her throughout the fight with the twisted form. It had become even worse than the pain of the spirit's spear entering her chest when she pierced its heart with her Fragarach and watched it fall. The feeling had remained with her even as her superior's healing spells repaired the physical damage she had taken. And that night, locked in her lonely hotel room, with only that horrible throbbing feeling for company, she had even allowed herself to be weak and cry a few tears of regret.]

[Yet even if she must feel the pain again; even if she will be weak enough to cry again, she will still show no mercy to the copy created by the card. She will defeat him again and free her hero to return to his eternal rest. It is her duty as an Enforcer.]

[riastrad_ridire]

Wh--Bazett-?!

[He blocked and dodged her strikes easily; it was nothing, for a Servant. Humans could never hope to match someone like him.]

What the hell's wrong with you?!

[answerer_sword]

[Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him even as he calls out to her as if he is familiar with him. Do not fall prey to his manipulations even as his words cause you to remember your childhood dreams of meeting and speaking your hero one day. He's just lying. He's just a copy. That's right, you can't forgive him for using Cu Chulainn's image like this. ]

Shut up!

[She does her best to focus on his movements instead. As expected from a card user, he is fast and strong. However, he is blocking her movements easily, too easily. Either he has found some way to strengthen himself beyond the regular capacity of the cards or...]

[She comes to the horrifying realization that she might be the one who has gotten weaker. She tries to cast Reinforcement on herself again, noticing that her magic circuits were not activating. Something was supressing her powers.]

[This just makes her punch harder. She would take him down or die trying, even if she has no Noble Phantasm. She could not let him go unpunished for mocking her hero.]

[riastrad_ridire]

Will you stop hitting me so I can figure out what's going on here?!

[This wasn't right. This wasn't right, this wasn't right. It was worse than meeting Rin here, at least she hadn't attacked him on sight.]

I'm not going to fight you! [Which was probably clear by the fact that he kept blocking her strikes like they were nothing.]

[answerer_sword]

[This actually makes her pause. The man seems genuinely confused by her reactions. She notices that he has indeed remained on the defensive, even as her angry attacks left her stances full of openings. She jumps back and stops punching, but remains in an agressive stance.]

Can I believe that? Give me a reason to trust you.

[She holds out her hand.]

I believe that you are currently in possession of a class card, an artifact that channels Heroic Spirits of the past. In your case, it appears to be the Lancer card, which should, by all rights, belong to a girl named Miyu Edelfelt. I will not ask you how you came by the card, but if you wish to avoid conflict, then disengage from the card and give it to me. Otherwise, I will take it from you by force.

[She glares at him, still angry over his previous comments.]

And do not try any tricks. Most of all, do not sully that hero's name.

[riastrad_ridire]

Just listen to me. I've never heard of anything like a class card before.

I am a Servant of the Lancer class currently under contract to Rin Tohsaka. I was summoned for the Fifth Holy Grail War by you. Bazett Fraga McRemitz, holder of the sword Fragarach. You summoned one hero specifically out of all others to fight for you, and it was exactly that hero who answered your call.

[answerer_sword]

[Nothing she can observe from the man's tone or body language indicates that he is lying. She wishes that her superior was here. He was always better at picking up lies than she was.]

[But if the man was being honest, what was a Holy Grail War? She had only heard it mentioned once before in passing by two of her superiors who had been engaged in conversation with each other. Even that was years ago, when she had first joined as an Enforcer. Why did this man claim to know her from when she participated in one of them? She knew that the transformation devices that Tohsaka's and Edelfelt's apprentices used were connected to alternate universe, so maybe this man was from one of them? Then why was he interacting with her? Had she been thrown into an alternate universe?]

[She stops considering these questions when the second half of the man's words set in. The version of her that he had known had called out him out as a hero...and the only hero she could imagine herself calling out was the man that she had read of as a child; the man that she had wished to save.]

[That meant...In at least one universe...And here he was...Her face turns an interesting shade of red.]

I um...ah...I...you're t-telling the truth, right? I...well, t-the me that you remember called you out? You specifically? And Holy Grail War? No c-class cards...Um...I...M-my bangers...

[Despite all attempts to keep calm, her words descend into a trail of half-Gaelic, half Belfast slang filled gibberish. Here he was! Him! And not a copy! The real deal! Her face gets redder as she realized how she must have made a complete spectable of herself by trying to fight him. It was even worse now that she was spouting gibberish. She had dreamed of this meeting ever since she first read his story, but now it was turning into quite the nightmare.]

S-so scoundred...N-no, not about you! A-about me! That's it!

[She shakes her head, trying gather her scattered thoughts.]

S-so t-tell me. W-was I a g-g-good partner?

[She barely whispers that last sentence. She desperately hopes that he will answer in the affirmative and not tell her that she disappointed him in any way.]

[If this was another of his mental tricks...then congratulations, it actually worked.]

[riastrad_ridire]

Breathe. One thing at a time, kid.

[This was definitely not quite the Bazett he'd known, that much was clear. And it stung considerably, knowing alternate universes were slapping him in the face again. On the other hand, the sudden switch in disposition--that was remarkably like her. So it wasn't a total mess. Just like Rin, she was still herself. Just with different memories.]

...You were a good master--a good partner, and a good friend. I was the one who screwed up.

[That much was true, spoken with a faint note of disappointment to his voice. Even after all this time, her death--no, he knew it wasn't quite death for her, but knowing that just made it worse. Whatever it had been, he'd failed her as a Servant and again when she'd been droned here.]

[And now, after everything, he said the words he'd wanted to say a thousand times over since the day Kotomine stole her Command Spells.]

I'm sorry, Bazett.

[answerer_sword]

[She follows his advice and takes several deep breaths. Her face is still red, but mind is a lot clearer.]

[She does not understand what he is trying to say about being the one who failed. He was a hero--there was no way he could fail, right? But he seemd so honest about it.]

I-I'm sure the me that you knew didn't blame you. I know I never would blame you even if you made a mistake. For every mistake you made, I'm sure that I made so many more. And in any case, I should have been watching your back, right? So I'm sure I must shoulder some of the blame too.

[She falls silent at the apology. She's not sure whether he is apologizing to her specifically or trying to apologize to his alternate universe version of her. However, he seems so sad that she feels the need to comfort him.]

I...I'm not sure if I have the right to say this. After all, the me that you know and the me standing right here must have had different experienced. A-and from the way you're speaking, she must have been special to you and I can't replace her. Still, speaking for the Bazett that you know, and also for myself, I forgive you. Regardless of anything that happened between me and you and that other me, I forgive you for everything. I'm sure you're the best partner that I could have ever hoped to work with and that even if our time was brief, I treasured every minute of it and regretted nothing no matter what the outcome.

[She hopes that was enough her. Her superior was the one who responsible for doing the confessions and offering the comforting words, not her.]

[riastrad_ridire]

...

[He knew she wasn't the same person, exactly. But even so...that was what he needed to hear. It wasn't the first or the last mistake he'd made, but if he could be forgiven for this one...then maybe he could manage to forgive himself. Eventually.]

...It's good to see you again, kid.

[answerer_sword]

[She smiles. She feels happy that she has managed to ease his guilt somewhat.]

It's good to meet you for the first time. Even though, well, I suppose we have met before.

[She had no idea what she should call him. Cu Chulainn sounds too...familiar, but she's not sure about any other names for him.]

Is it alright if I call you Lancer? The Lancer card in my world did channel your spirit after all.

[She pauses a little before making her next offer. She's not sure how he will take it.]

I-ah...I know I'm not the best at comforting people. My superior usually does that. He's Japanese and he's a little twisted in some places, but he's got a valid grasp of theology and he's taken my confessions before. I've picked up one or two things from him, and, well, what I want to say is...if you ever want to talk to me about what happened between you and that other me, I'd be willing to talk to you about that. That is, if you ever want to. You don't have to. I'm not as good at taking confessions as my superior is, but I can always try.

[She hopes that didn't come off as too presumptuous.]

[riastrad_ridire]

It's my class name, so everyone here calls me Lancer anyway.

I appreciate it. [He smiled at that, looking remarkably casual now.] And I'd hope you understand you can talk to me about anythin' you need here, as well. I've been around a while, I think I've got a good idea about how things work. Plus I'm better than you might think at listeni--...hang on. Your superior?

[Funny, the way she phrased it almost sounded like...]

Don't tell me it's Kotomine.