[ One arm remains wrapped around her waist, but the other comes up to rest on her head and pull her close. ]
Idiot...
[ She had already found "real" love with her children... and to the very end, she had been overflowing with it, hadn't she? And to say she was undeserving of it herself...
Well, it's not like he can talk in that regard, but... still... ]
[ Her breath comes out, soft and surprised. It strikes her that he's probably holding her much the same way in reality too and the realization gives her the strangest sense of deja-vu, or something like it. The itching, oozing pain in her stomach doesn't vanish, not quite, but it gradually eases into something tolerable she can more easily dismiss as the anxious reaction of her body it truly is.
Well, if she's already being this pathetic, she might as well really indulge.
She pulls her feet up - was she ever wearing shoes when she got here? she doesn't remember - and settles them onto the seat so she can tuck herself more tightly into him. For as clingy and needy for her touch as he'd been, Ai knows she's just as bad. ]
I don't think it was a mistake. [ Still in that low, airy voice. ] I'm glad that I tried. It meant I knew how to do it properly when the time finally came.
[ "You're an idiot, then" he thinks, but refrains from saying. He supposes this is one difference between them, then. Oberon was unworthy of love, so he rejected it... Hoshino Ai, meanwhile, gave it endlessly.
Well, he supposes it was very much her to do so... she had the benefit of being human, after all. Her words could become the truth, unlike his. ]
Well... you know love now, don't you? Save that kind of thing for them from now on...
Aah, you're right. Maybe I should. I owe it to them after I spent so long trying to work out how to say it. When I go back... I don't want them to wonder for a single moment. I want them to know for sure that I really do love them. This time, I want to make it really work. I want to be an idol and a mom and I don't care who fights me about it.
[ Her hand drifts up. There's chaos and carnage and ancient magic playing out across the screen right now but as she brushes some of his hair back, her eyes are exclusively on him. ]
So do your best not to get jealous of my fans. You kind of seem like the type.
[ The flame-spewing dragon, the rampaging black dog, a man whose love could not be understood... chaos and carnage is the best way to describe it, yet they can't help but be engrossed in each other. ]
Hah... it'll be a goddamn pain, but...
[ He returns the favor, brushing aside her hair and returning her gaze. ]
You always have been a handful, so it's not like it'll be any different.
[ He might complain when she makes a point about how he's not allowed to mark her so thoroughly when she's actually an idol, though. ]
[ Another smile. It's softer and a little more tentative than her smiles usually are but somehow, it suits her more. ]
Heehee. Alright. Maybe I can talk Prez Saitou into hiring you as my bodyguard, just so you can make sure there's no funny business going on.
[ Not in a million years. But it's pretty funny to imagine.
She drops her hand and tilts her face up just enough to press a kiss to his jaw before she settles back down and turns her attention back to the screen. It's about time for the final act, after all. ]
I'd make it work, somehow. I just have to figure out how exactly.
[ Yes - even with what she's about to see, she's still holding herself to that. ]
Hah! An idol and her bodyguard... practically asking for a scandal now, aren't you?
[ As if he, the most suspicious guy ever, would ever be accepted as a bodyguard. Not that he's ever met "Saitou" in more than just her memories, but he can imagine how well that conversation would go.
...Well, for now, he supposes he should focus on trying to reach that bridge at all before he considers crossing it.
The battle ends, the curtain closes... the faerie of paradise sacrifices her life at last, the spinster faerie fades away like mist, and the divine corpse is destroyed along with it's endless sea of curses.
It's time for the curtains to fall on this tragedy, yet inexplicably, everything starts to collapse. ]
"But we dealt with all the calamities! There shouldn't be anything left to threaten Britain! So why is the collapse beginning now!? There's no sign of a new enemy anywhere!"
"Sure there is. You just didn't notice it because you'd been looking at it the whole time. Remember that mural in Londinium? THere was a depiction of the Prophecy of Destruction Cernunnos' priestess made just as she was being dismembered. 'As the world grows newer, unbeknownst to all, its roots will grow older... until one day, they will be so brittle as to crumble with a bite from a single, insignificant insect.' That prophecy wasn't about Britain's future. What you're seeing now is what happens when the roots of even the strongest human history are gnawed through. Soon, the entire planet will be gone, as though it never existed."
"...I knew it."
"Huh? You mean you've been on to me, Fujimaru? Well, that sucks. Now I feel silly for biding my time waiting for the perfect moment to make my reappearance. But, really, so what? I never bothered to hide it from you in the first place. Of all my little pawns, you were by far the most insignificant."
"..."
"Oh? What's wrong, Blanca? Your pretty antennae stopped moving. Ah. You're dead. Were you taking all the mors' poison being directed at me from all of Britain, in my place? Thanks, I guess. Not that it really matters."
[ There he is, the true villain of this story, the doomsday device designed to destroy Britain, yet aiming for the destruction of the whole world. Well, it's not like he ever hid his villainous nature from Ai. His softer side, sure... but the Faerie King aside, he was always the very picture of a villain. ]
[ A horrible thought surfaces in her mind as she watches: Being the villain really does suit him better.
It's a cruel thing to think. In a story like this, nothing good comes of being the villain. The best you can expect is to be scorned and rejected even as the heroes sympathize with you, just to make a show of how pure and good they are. They'll smash you into the dirt all the same but you know they're the heroes because doing it makes them feel just a little bad.
But in a twisted way, it's more honest. Even if she can tell he's pouring out more lies the whole time. The bitterness, the frustration and the contempt - that feels much more real than the cheery, affable Faerie King. Like this, you could almost mistake him for something human. After all, it's only humans whose hearts end up so terribly cracked and filthy. ]
Mm. You really did pull this off much better.
[ It's bizarre. Up on screen, he's preparing to bring the whole world down with him, the very picture of the most loathsome sort of villain imaginable. And here she is, shamelessly perched in his lap like it's exactly where she belongs.
She wonders which one is the bigger lie. ]
You were scary like this back when I first summoned you.
[ It's cruel, and yet despite knowing that... he smiles. As if finally his performance is getting some appreciation, especially after she had literally burst into laughter at his introduction as the Faerie King. ]
Hah, good. It would've damaged my pride if you didn't think I was scary back then.
[ It was peculiar, after all. When Fujimaru summoned him, he appeared first as the Faerie King. That much had been his own choice, at least... but when Ai summoned him, he appeared as Vortigern. He had no choice but to appear as Vortigern.
Yet another result of their compatibility, he imagines.
Onscreen is the sight of his "true form", one that Ai herself has witnessed. That massive gaping hole in the world taking the form of something that was both insect and dragon. ]
"Tell me your True Name, Oberon."
"...Well, since you asked, I'd be happy to oblige."
"...Senpai. Oberon's form—no, his very Spirit Origin is—"
[ And at last, the facade completely crumbles. ]
"I swear, these faeries are just unbelievable. First, they kill a god and use his body to create a small island to replace the land that disappeared because of their screwup. Then, still not satisfied, they kill uncountable numbers of their own kind to fill in the sea and make an entire landmass from their corpses. Ugh, their sheer audacity and greed is enough to make me sick. Don't you agree, Fujimaru? Even as a human, you think they're pretty awful... so imagine how disgusted the original Britain must be with them after it was returned to nothing. No wonder it sent calamities after them to try and wipe them all out."
"Oberon..."
"Anyway, Cernunnos wasn't part of it. In some way, he was actually trying to protect the faeries. The only reason I made it up to the surface now is because he's finally gone. Morgan ensured Faerie Britain's creation by sealing Cernunnos away instead of defeating him. I honestly wasn't sure what to do. I certainly had no means of defeating Morgan myself. So, I waited. I waited for a human who could defeat her to appear. I waited for someone who could pop the lid off Cernunnos and finally get rid of him. The Child of Prophecy was just the chance I was waiting for. It was even a kind of amusing idea. So I helped it along a little. I did my part to ensure the Child of Prophecy would set off on her journey, and successfully complete her pilgrimage... all so you could be the ones to ruin everything you were working towards."
"Tell us your name, Oberon!!!"
"Gladly.
I've taken the form of Oberon the Faerie King, a fantasy, a fiction created by your own Proper Human History. I'm the embodiment of Britain's will—the very will that wished for it's own destruction when the Age of Mystics ended.
...My name is Vortigern. Oberon Vortigern. I'm the Abyssal Worm who destroyed Faerie Britain, with a little help from all of you."
[ ...in hindsight, he must have felt rather relieved to finally let it all out like this. He really is rather talkative, isn't he? ]
[ It's shocking entirely for how unshocking it is. It's too huge - too unreal for someone like her to really comprehend. In some strange way, she'd have been more stunned and upset if he'd proved to be a simple murderer, a mundanely evil existence on a level she could make sense of. But this...
No wonder it's being shown like a movie. How could something like this ever have happened in real life? She's a Master in her own right, pathetic as she is, and she can barely even accept it. ]
You sure do love to talk. [ Her voice is a little dry. ] If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd been writing that speech in your head since you got summoned.
[ . . . ]
Which one is right? Your name, I mean. I call you Oberon, but...
[ The one that's really him is the one she should use, right? ]
[ He doesn't blame her for being overwhelmed. Hell, she and Fujimaru are alike in that regard, but Fujimaru has the benefit of this being far from their first rodeo. No one else in the world has as much experience with world-ending threads than them... an ordinary person who just so happened to have Rayshift and Master compatibility, and has been fighting for humanity for a long time. ]
Heh, no such luck... I was just letting everything I kept tucked away out for once.
[ The best monologues are the ones improvised off the top of one's head, right? ]
Both are correct. I'm the Vile King, Vortigern... but Vortigern is, by itself, just a concept. The forms he takes vary... hell, before I was "Oberon", I was the "Mors King", and after I was defeated, I returned as a Heroic Spirit using "Oberon" as the basis for my existence. In Proper Human History, Vortigern was the White Dragon to King Arthur's existence as the Red Dragon.
[ ...it occurs to him that a lot of that might just be flying over Ai's head, but what can he say? Habits are hard to break, and his talkative tendencies seem to be one of them. ]
...Put simply, it'd be weird if you started calling me something else after all this time. Besides, "Oberon" rolls off the tongue better than "Vortigern", doesn't it?
[ Ai stares at him for just long enough for it to feel a little piercing. She's just a human and there's nothing her eyes can do to see past deception like those of a fae and yet, just for a moment, her gaze gouges just a little too deep. It looks so horribly like understanding.
Both are correct. "Ai of B-Komachi" is a pure and perfect idol but without a performer to play her role, she doesn't exist. She's just a concept, defined purely by her contrast to the dirty, broken woman who pretends to be her.
Finally, she nods. ]
I think I get it. [ She understands entirely too well. ] It's not one or the other. It can't be.
[ Her hand drifts up again but this time, she curls the strands of his fur stole around her fingers. ]
So I'll handle both of them.
[ And though she certainly doesn't know that she's said it - maybe she doesn't even think or feel it in any way conscious enough to even be aware - her words come shot through with a bright and horrible truth even so.
[ What a greedy woman... for all her hangups on it, she certainly seems eager to love as much as she can... even if it's all the sides of himself, even the ones he tends to keep tucked away. ]
So long as you're prepared for the troubles that'll come with that, then...
[ The movie continues, words are spoken that Ai has heard already, at the very least in passing. Though his words are, of course, still nothing but lies. The Abyssal Worm falls on the ship, plunging both it and the Master of Chaldea into the void. His birth is shown... though Ai is already intimately familiar with that, isn't she?
Yet even amidst the almost casual chat that they have when the Master of Chaldea wakes up, even as they fall down an endless void... a single star, unnoticed by Oberon, continues to shine in the distance. ]
"Come! Caster!!"
"...! You... No... No, it can't be!"
[ She appeared in a blinding flash of light, the powerful and imposing figure of a King... the protagonist of this story, even after the curtain fell on her performance. ]
"I have heard the foreign mage's summons, and come to her aid in accordance with our contract. If this battle is not to punish Britain, but to save the world... then I will cross even the ends of time to deliver this sword into her hands."
[ Simply chasing a single, small star that shone in the distance, an insignificantly small light amidst a storm... yet it kept her going, even now. ]
[ She'd promised she'd watch to the end. This part is hardest - her hand curls even tighter into the furs around his shoulders. Her forehead presses to the side of his neck. Maybe it's reassurance for both of them. But she'd promised, so she watches. ]
Maybe I shouldn't say it... but you were probably always going to lose here. If you were the villain in a story like this, there was no way you could've.
[ But it isn't a scolding - it's more gentle reassurance, somehow. ]
But I guess with the kind of story this was, nobody won.
Well, Chaldea certainly did. Even came out of this with their own Excalibur to use to fight against the Alien God. The world is rather ruined over on that side, after all.
[ He says it in a bitter tone of voice, but considering how he was summoned to their side afterwards, he doesn’t sound too bothered. ]
Still… I had my reasons, and I really did try my best. Seriously, that girl… I suppose I dug my own grave with her.
[ It’s almost funny how she proceeds to admonish him for his actions, her presence alone allowing the rest of Chaldea to stir from their slumbers and give them another fighting chance. ]
…well, as far as Deus Ex Machina’s go, it wasn’t terrible.
I guess. [ Her mouth twitches upwards into a tiny smile. ] I think if anyone deserved a chance to scold you after all the trouble you caused, it'd be her.
[ She's still lazily and gently coming her fingers though his stole, a soothing, repetitive motion. ]
Maybe I shouldn't say this while you're getting kicked around... [ artoria really is uh kind of beating his ass right now. ] But I'm glad it worked out like this.
[ Almost cautiously, she peeks up at him. ]
If you'd gotten your way... neither of us would be here. Right? I wouldn't have gotten a chance to meet you, let alone be your Master.
[ She combs her fingers through his stole, so at the same time, he runs his hands through her hair, gently caressing her in the process. It's... nice, having her here like this.
It's also nice having her be at least somewhat distracted while Artoria kicks his ass. To his credit, he's fighting just as well as he always does... hell, he's fighting even better, actually. He's a true threat, a powerful enemy... ]
"Round of Avalon!!"
"Gah!!"
[ In this clash between light and darkness in this void of perpetual falling, the combined efforts of the Avalon le Fae, the Faerie Knight Galahad, and the Last Master of Humanity... the final blow was struck.
Yet, just before that... the red-haired Master, just as ordinary as Ai herself, chooses to dream. ]
"Seriously? Just how shameless are you, you bastard?"
[ Ai was his, and Oberon was hers, that much they had confirmed to each other... but really, to be the Master of someone like Oberon... ]
"This is the end, right? What's the harm in being honest with me about how you feel now?"
"Are you kidding me!? You really are an idiot, aren't you? Even I'm not this bad. I've met insects with better memories than you."
"Hey, you're the one who said you're a liar, right?"
"...Okay, you've got me there. Well played."
[ That kind of attitude is necessary to be his Master, isn't it? ]
"You're right. I do feel strongly about some things. A lot of things, actually. Vortigern was Britain's destiny incarnate, and I was born as part of him... but I'm not just Vortigern, though. I'm Oberon, too. Did I ever tell you about what the land of the fae really is? It's all a big, well, fairy tale. A single story, nothing more.
A fourteen-thousand year picture book Morgan wrote just to have somewhere to belong, even if it had to be fictional. And you people rejected it, just like you have all the others. You said it was wrong—that it was meaningless.
I didn't like that. So much so that it even made me forget my disgust with everything. You make up characters who behave exactly how you want, put them in the kind of stories people dream about... stories so good they even change your very lives... then you just laugh and dismiss them as nothing more than flights of fancy."
"So... this is about stories?"
"That's right. There's still meaning to be found in even the most hackneyed of kingdoms, or the most unsung side characters. All those stories you people from reality just forgot the moment you finished the last page? They had every bit as much right to remain afterward as anything else.
...Oh well, there's no point in telling you this. You're human. You'll forget all about it once the next story comes along. Proper Human History's all about growth and progress, right? Nothing is permanent there. It all just keeps going forever. Me? I find all that stuff a huge pain in the ass.
I was absolutely livid; that's why I wanted to end everything. There. Happy? Now wake up already. You don't need a morning lark, or even an evening one. Not yet, anyway. All right, see you later, Asshole of Chaldea! This journey might've sucked, but at least it was full of surprises!"
"Where are you going? Where are you going? I'll come with you! I'll come with you! Goodbye, friend of Oberon! Come visit Oberon's woods again sometime!"
[ And just like that, it was over. The heroes struck him down, shattering his Spirit Core and knocking him off the side, sending him falling into the endless abyss. The Vile King was felled, and the dying remains of a dragon—no, a Faerie Knight—provided them the last miracle they needed to escape.
He had no strength left to fly after them... no, in the first place... ]
"The wings on my back are just for show... I could never fly, idiot...!"
[ Defeated after accomplishing his goal, he fell, looking up at the Chaldeans flying away and back into that blindingly bright sky. ]
"Go on, get out of here! It'll be a relief to not have to see your damn faces anymore!
...Oh well, who cares? What matters is that I killed Britain, just like I wanted. Although... I'm sorry, Titania. My fictional queen, who loved me in all my twisted ways. I couldn't get rid of those Proper Human History bastards for you."
[ Yet in the end... it was all motivated by love, wasn't it? For a fictional love that never existed. It was no wonder, then, that he fought so hard for that which was fictional... that which didn't exist.
In which case... Ai could never find another Servant who would be as loyal to her as him. Who would fight as hard as him... for her sake. ]
"You know, it's weird. Even though I got the ever-living shit kicked out of me... I still feel strangely at peace. Hmph. So that's Proper Human History's sky, huh. Dammit. It's so beautiful it makes me sick."
[ And thus, the curtains closed as the infinite hollow sealed and the Abyssal Worm fell towards a destination forever beyond his reach. ]
[ This is easily the worst part. Not because it's hard to watch him lose - though that certainly isn't pleasant - but because she feels like she's intruding. She shouldn't be seeing any of this. Especially not after the fall from the ship. Those aren't words for anyone else but here she is, eavesdropping all the same. She really is the worst.
And yet at the same time... something about it is soothing to hear. A balm to a stinging bruise she hadn't even realised was there until the pain let up. A fairy tale some foolish girl made up, just so she could try and have somewhere to belong, even if it had to be a story. Even if she had to lie with everything she had.
He really didn't have any choice but to answer her call, did he?
By now, her fingers have curled into his stole, gripping like she's a like little afraid he'll vanish if she doesn't. ]
You're such a troublemaker. All that for somebody else's story.
[ Her voice is low and soft again. That almost airily breathless tone. ]
[ He huffs, gripping her back as if to assure her that he won't disappear. For what it's worth, he knew what she would see, what she would hear by letting her stay. ]
Hmph, right? All that trouble, just for myself...
[ For a story he ended as well... but in the end, that's all he can do, isn't it? Destroy everything he doesn't like... be it faerie britain for it's sins or Proper Human History for rejecting it. It's all a being like him can do, and it's not like that's changed here.
Whatever it takes to grant her wish. He'll use his lies to grant her victory, or he'll die trying. ]
Well, of course... I could never refuse your call.
[ The story ends, the blue sky stretches out over a bleached earth, and the heroes continue on their journey. ]
All screenings for today have ended. Please make sure to take all of your belongings when leaving the theater. Once again, thank you for visiting us today, and we hope to see you again.
[ The lights come on, filling the theater as it does when a movie ends. It feels a little more embarrassing to have Ai in his lap with the lights on, but he keeps that to himself. ]
Aaaahh... I've seen this one so many times I've lost count, and it's always left me in the same refreshed-yet-terrible mood afterwards, but...
[ He brings his hand to Ai's chin so he can tilt her face up to look at him. ]
[ For once, they're on the exact same wavelength... it'd felt a little easier to forget where they were when the lights had been down and the noise and motion of the movie had seemed to shrink the whole room to just their seats but now it's a little... jeez, she really gets shameless when someone indulges her, doesn't she? ]
I'm not really a movie person but it wasn't so bad. It did get kind of miserable at some points, though. Definitely written by some kind of sadist.
[ Maybe it's a little mean to make jokes about it, but... she wonders if taking it too seriously will just be picking at the scab. For all he's pretending to be over it... there must be some ache left over for him to be watching it over and over like this.
It occurs to her that their faces are probably this close in reality, too. She wonders what faces they've been wearing in sleep this whole time.
She wonders if this strange little link will ever form again. ]
Oberon. [ Her voice is soft but she speaks so suddenly it surprises her. It's just like before - if she's going to say it, it has to be when he's looking at her with those eyes that won't let her lie to him. ] I don't... I don't know if someone like me can give you the thing you're looking for. I don't know if I can be...
[ She doesn't even want to say the name. Even though both of them know it. It took her this long to learn how to love her own children, after all - how can someone like her promise to love anybody?
But before her words can sting like rejection, she lifts her hands so she can cradle his face in her palms. Gently, like she's touching something precious. ]
But I'm glad it was you. I'm glad you came to find me. I wouldn't have ever wanted it to be anybody else.
[ Considering what he just did to her while they were awake... you know, biting, biting, and more biting... even drawing a little blood in the neck and plenty from her lips. Sadist isn't too far off.
She's not wrong that it's still sore. Of course it still aches to fail to realize your true goal at the very end of it all... but honestly? The ache and soreness... he doesn't mind it. Watching it over and over again may not be entertaining, but you take what you can get when falling endlessly, right?
He doesn't look away from her as she speaks, and honestly... even without his Fae Eyes, he'd have understood. They were the same, after all.
Honestly, the idea that she would be unsure at this point if she can love him is ridiculous for any number of reasons... but he keeps that to himself. He understands the feeling, at least... ]
Idiot, don't worry about that at this point...
[ Perhaps it's too convenient, that he's able to see through her words that could easily cause a misunderstanding so easily... but whatever. It's not like he could do anything about that anyway.
He leans down to kiss her... it's an awkward position, but so long as he can reach her lips, it's fine. ]
[ He frowns at her... though it's more of a pout than anything else. Of course he knows what the real her is like, it's who he's been looking at this whole time. ]
Except it's ridiculous to worry about that now, isn't it? You've already done it.
[ In the first place, if love was something you "knew" how to do, then humanity would be a whole lot less of a pain, wouldn't it? ]
And no, I don't just mean with your kids. Besides, as if I would have a problem with the real you at this point.
[ ... Her hand slowly lowers from the space between their mouths. ]
... Is it really okay, then?
[ She says it softly and tentatively enough that it comes out a little like a plea. ]
I don't know if I'll ever be able to say it. ... I'm still scared. I could only say it to Aqua and Ruby because I knew I'd never have another chance. And even then... I was so sure it'd be a lie.
[ It's all she knows how to do, after all. ]
... You've been looking for her all this time. It's the thing you've always wanted. ... Is it... is it really okay for it to be me?
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no subject
Idiot...
[ She had already found "real" love with her children... and to the very end, she had been overflowing with it, hadn't she? And to say she was undeserving of it herself...
Well, it's not like he can talk in that regard, but... still... ]
no subject
Well, if she's already being this pathetic, she might as well really indulge.
She pulls her feet up - was she ever wearing shoes when she got here? she doesn't remember - and settles them onto the seat so she can tuck herself more tightly into him. For as clingy and needy for her touch as he'd been, Ai knows she's just as bad. ]
I don't think it was a mistake. [ Still in that low, airy voice. ] I'm glad that I tried. It meant I knew how to do it properly when the time finally came.
no subject
[ "You're an idiot, then" he thinks, but refrains from saying. He supposes this is one difference between them, then. Oberon was unworthy of love, so he rejected it... Hoshino Ai, meanwhile, gave it endlessly.
Well, he supposes it was very much her to do so... she had the benefit of being human, after all. Her words could become the truth, unlike his. ]
Well... you know love now, don't you? Save that kind of thing for them from now on...
no subject
Aah, you're right. Maybe I should. I owe it to them after I spent so long trying to work out how to say it. When I go back... I don't want them to wonder for a single moment. I want them to know for sure that I really do love them. This time, I want to make it really work. I want to be an idol and a mom and I don't care who fights me about it.
[ Her hand drifts up. There's chaos and carnage and ancient magic playing out across the screen right now but as she brushes some of his hair back, her eyes are exclusively on him. ]
So do your best not to get jealous of my fans. You kind of seem like the type.
no subject
Hah... it'll be a goddamn pain, but...
[ He returns the favor, brushing aside her hair and returning her gaze. ]
You always have been a handful, so it's not like it'll be any different.
[
He might complain when she makes a point about how he's not allowed to mark her so thoroughly when she's actually an idol, though.]no subject
Heehee. Alright. Maybe I can talk Prez Saitou into hiring you as my bodyguard, just so you can make sure there's no funny business going on.
[ Not in a million years. But it's pretty funny to imagine.
She drops her hand and tilts her face up just enough to press a kiss to his jaw before she settles back down and turns her attention back to the screen. It's about time for the final act, after all. ]
I'd make it work, somehow. I just have to figure out how exactly.
[ Yes - even with what she's about to see, she's still holding herself to that. ]
no subject
[ As if he, the most suspicious guy ever, would ever be accepted as a bodyguard. Not that he's ever met "Saitou" in more than just her memories, but he can imagine how well that conversation would go.
...Well, for now, he supposes he should focus on trying to reach that bridge at all before he considers crossing it.
The battle ends, the curtain closes... the faerie of paradise sacrifices her life at last, the spinster faerie fades away like mist, and the divine corpse is destroyed along with it's endless sea of curses.
It's time for the curtains to fall on this tragedy, yet inexplicably, everything starts to collapse. ]
"But we dealt with all the calamities! There shouldn't be anything left to threaten Britain! So why is the collapse beginning now!? There's no sign of a new enemy anywhere!"
"Sure there is. You just didn't notice it because you'd been looking at it the whole time. Remember that mural in Londinium? THere was a depiction of the Prophecy of Destruction Cernunnos' priestess made just as she was being dismembered. 'As the world grows newer, unbeknownst to all, its roots will grow older... until one day, they will be so brittle as to crumble with a bite from a single, insignificant insect.' That prophecy wasn't about Britain's future. What you're seeing now is what happens when the roots of even the strongest human history are gnawed through. Soon, the entire planet will be gone, as though it never existed."
"...I knew it."
"Huh? You mean you've been on to me, Fujimaru? Well, that sucks. Now I feel silly for biding my time waiting for the perfect moment to make my reappearance. But, really, so what? I never bothered to hide it from you in the first place. Of all my little pawns, you were by far the most insignificant."
"..."
"Oh? What's wrong, Blanca? Your pretty antennae stopped moving. Ah. You're dead. Were you taking all the mors' poison being directed at me from all of Britain, in my place? Thanks, I guess. Not that it really matters."
[ There he is, the true villain of this story, the doomsday device designed to destroy Britain, yet aiming for the destruction of the whole world. Well, it's not like he ever hid his villainous nature from Ai. His softer side, sure... but the Faerie King aside, he was always the very picture of a villain. ]
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It's a cruel thing to think. In a story like this, nothing good comes of being the villain. The best you can expect is to be scorned and rejected even as the heroes sympathize with you, just to make a show of how pure and good they are. They'll smash you into the dirt all the same but you know they're the heroes because doing it makes them feel just a little bad.
But in a twisted way, it's more honest. Even if she can tell he's pouring out more lies the whole time. The bitterness, the frustration and the contempt - that feels much more real than the cheery, affable Faerie King. Like this, you could almost mistake him for something human. After all, it's only humans whose hearts end up so terribly cracked and filthy. ]
Mm. You really did pull this off much better.
[ It's bizarre. Up on screen, he's preparing to bring the whole world down with him, the very picture of the most loathsome sort of villain imaginable. And here she is, shamelessly perched in his lap like it's exactly where she belongs.
She wonders which one is the bigger lie. ]
You were scary like this back when I first summoned you.
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Hah, good. It would've damaged my pride if you didn't think I was scary back then.
[ It was peculiar, after all. When Fujimaru summoned him, he appeared first as the Faerie King. That much had been his own choice, at least... but when Ai summoned him, he appeared as Vortigern. He had no choice but to appear as Vortigern.
Yet another result of their compatibility, he imagines.
Onscreen is the sight of his "true form", one that Ai herself has witnessed. That massive gaping hole in the world taking the form of something that was both insect and dragon. ]
"Tell me your True Name, Oberon."
"...Well, since you asked, I'd be happy to oblige."
"...Senpai. Oberon's form—no, his very Spirit Origin is—"
[ And at last, the facade completely crumbles. ]
"I swear, these faeries are just unbelievable. First, they kill a god and use his body to create a small island to replace the land that disappeared because of their screwup. Then, still not satisfied, they kill uncountable numbers of their own kind to fill in the sea and make an entire landmass from their corpses. Ugh, their sheer audacity and greed is enough to make me sick. Don't you agree, Fujimaru? Even as a human, you think they're pretty awful... so imagine how disgusted the original Britain must be with them after it was returned to nothing. No wonder it sent calamities after them to try and wipe them all out."
"Oberon..."
"Anyway, Cernunnos wasn't part of it. In some way, he was actually trying to protect the faeries. The only reason I made it up to the surface now is because he's finally gone. Morgan ensured Faerie Britain's creation by sealing Cernunnos away instead of defeating him. I honestly wasn't sure what to do. I certainly had no means of defeating Morgan myself. So, I waited. I waited for a human who could defeat her to appear. I waited for someone who could pop the lid off Cernunnos and finally get rid of him. The Child of Prophecy was just the chance I was waiting for. It was even a kind of amusing idea. So I helped it along a little. I did my part to ensure the Child of Prophecy would set off on her journey, and successfully complete her pilgrimage... all so you could be the ones to ruin everything you were working towards."
"Tell us your name, Oberon!!!"
"Gladly.
I've taken the form of Oberon the Faerie King, a fantasy, a fiction created by your own Proper Human History. I'm the embodiment of Britain's will—the very will that wished for it's own destruction when the Age of Mystics ended.
...My name is Vortigern. Oberon Vortigern. I'm the Abyssal Worm who destroyed Faerie Britain, with a little help from all of you."
[ ...in hindsight, he must have felt rather relieved to finally let it all out like this. He really is rather talkative, isn't he? ]
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No wonder it's being shown like a movie. How could something like this ever have happened in real life? She's a Master in her own right, pathetic as she is, and she can barely even accept it. ]
You sure do love to talk. [ Her voice is a little dry. ] If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd been writing that speech in your head since you got summoned.
[ . . . ]
Which one is right? Your name, I mean. I call you Oberon, but...
[ The one that's really him is the one she should use, right? ]
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Heh, no such luck... I was just letting everything I kept tucked away out for once.
[ The best monologues are the ones improvised off the top of one's head, right? ]
Both are correct. I'm the Vile King, Vortigern... but Vortigern is, by itself, just a concept. The forms he takes vary... hell, before I was "Oberon", I was the "Mors King", and after I was defeated, I returned as a Heroic Spirit using "Oberon" as the basis for my existence. In Proper Human History, Vortigern was the White Dragon to King Arthur's existence as the Red Dragon.
[ ...it occurs to him that a lot of that might just be flying over Ai's head, but what can he say? Habits are hard to break, and his talkative tendencies seem to be one of them. ]
...Put simply, it'd be weird if you started calling me something else after all this time. Besides, "Oberon" rolls off the tongue better than "Vortigern", doesn't it?
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Both are correct. "Ai of B-Komachi" is a pure and perfect idol but without a performer to play her role, she doesn't exist. She's just a concept, defined purely by her contrast to the dirty, broken woman who pretends to be her.
Finally, she nods. ]
I think I get it. [ She understands entirely too well. ] It's not one or the other. It can't be.
[ Her hand drifts up again but this time, she curls the strands of his fur stole around her fingers. ]
So I'll handle both of them.
[ And though she certainly doesn't know that she's said it - maybe she doesn't even think or feel it in any way conscious enough to even be aware - her words come shot through with a bright and horrible truth even so.
"So I'll love both of them." ]
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[ What a greedy woman... for all her hangups on it, she certainly seems eager to love as much as she can... even if it's all the sides of himself, even the ones he tends to keep tucked away. ]
So long as you're prepared for the troubles that'll come with that, then...
[ The movie continues, words are spoken that Ai has heard already, at the very least in passing. Though his words are, of course, still nothing but lies. The Abyssal Worm falls on the ship, plunging both it and the Master of Chaldea into the void. His birth is shown... though Ai is already intimately familiar with that, isn't she?
Yet even amidst the almost casual chat that they have when the Master of Chaldea wakes up, even as they fall down an endless void... a single star, unnoticed by Oberon, continues to shine in the distance. ]
"Come! Caster!!"
"...! You... No... No, it can't be!"
[ She appeared in a blinding flash of light, the powerful and imposing figure of a King... the protagonist of this story, even after the curtain fell on her performance. ]
"I have heard the foreign mage's summons, and come to her aid in accordance with our contract. If this battle is not to punish Britain, but to save the world... then I will cross even the ends of time to deliver this sword into her hands."
[ Simply chasing a single, small star that shone in the distance, an insignificantly small light amidst a storm... yet it kept her going, even now. ]
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Maybe I shouldn't say it... but you were probably always going to lose here. If you were the villain in a story like this, there was no way you could've.
[ But it isn't a scolding - it's more gentle reassurance, somehow. ]
But I guess with the kind of story this was, nobody won.
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[ He says it in a bitter tone of voice, but considering how he was summoned to their side afterwards, he doesn’t sound too bothered. ]
Still… I had my reasons, and I really did try my best. Seriously, that girl… I suppose I dug my own grave with her.
[ It’s almost funny how she proceeds to admonish him for his actions, her presence alone allowing the rest of Chaldea to stir from their slumbers and give them another fighting chance. ]
…well, as far as Deus Ex Machina’s go, it wasn’t terrible.
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[ She's still lazily and gently coming her fingers though his stole, a soothing, repetitive motion. ]
Maybe I shouldn't say this while you're getting kicked around... [ artoria really is uh kind of beating his ass right now. ] But I'm glad it worked out like this.
[ Almost cautiously, she peeks up at him. ]
If you'd gotten your way... neither of us would be here. Right? I wouldn't have gotten a chance to meet you, let alone be your Master.
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[ She combs her fingers through his stole, so at the same time, he runs his hands through her hair, gently caressing her in the process. It's... nice, having her here like this.
It's also nice having her be at least somewhat distracted while Artoria kicks his ass. To his credit, he's fighting just as well as he always does... hell, he's fighting even better, actually. He's a true threat, a powerful enemy... ]
"Round of Avalon!!"
"Gah!!"
[ In this clash between light and darkness in this void of perpetual falling, the combined efforts of the Avalon le Fae, the Faerie Knight Galahad, and the Last Master of Humanity... the final blow was struck.
Yet, just before that... the red-haired Master, just as ordinary as Ai herself, chooses to dream. ]
"Seriously? Just how shameless are you, you bastard?"
[ Ai was his, and Oberon was hers, that much they had confirmed to each other... but really, to be the Master of someone like Oberon... ]
"This is the end, right? What's the harm in being honest with me about how you feel now?"
"Are you kidding me!? You really are an idiot, aren't you? Even I'm not this bad. I've met insects with better memories than you."
"Hey, you're the one who said you're a liar, right?"
"...Okay, you've got me there. Well played."
[ That kind of attitude is necessary to be his Master, isn't it? ]
"You're right. I do feel strongly about some things. A lot of things, actually. Vortigern was Britain's destiny incarnate, and I was born as part of him... but I'm not just Vortigern, though. I'm Oberon, too. Did I ever tell you about what the land of the fae really is? It's all a big, well, fairy tale. A single story, nothing more.
A fourteen-thousand year picture book Morgan wrote just to have somewhere to belong, even if it had to be fictional. And you people rejected it, just like you have all the others. You said it was wrong—that it was meaningless.
I didn't like that. So much so that it even made me forget my disgust with everything. You make up characters who behave exactly how you want, put them in the kind of stories people dream about... stories so good they even change your very lives... then you just laugh and dismiss them as nothing more than flights of fancy."
"So... this is about stories?"
"That's right. There's still meaning to be found in even the most hackneyed of kingdoms, or the most unsung side characters. All those stories you people from reality just forgot the moment you finished the last page? They had every bit as much right to remain afterward as anything else.
...Oh well, there's no point in telling you this. You're human. You'll forget all about it once the next story comes along. Proper Human History's all about growth and progress, right? Nothing is permanent there. It all just keeps going forever. Me? I find all that stuff a huge pain in the ass.
I was absolutely livid; that's why I wanted to end everything. There. Happy? Now wake up already. You don't need a morning lark, or even an evening one. Not yet, anyway. All right, see you later, Asshole of Chaldea! This journey might've sucked, but at least it was full of surprises!"
"Where are you going? Where are you going? I'll come with you! I'll come with you! Goodbye, friend of Oberon! Come visit Oberon's woods again sometime!"
[ And just like that, it was over. The heroes struck him down, shattering his Spirit Core and knocking him off the side, sending him falling into the endless abyss. The Vile King was felled, and the dying remains of a dragon—no, a Faerie Knight—provided them the last miracle they needed to escape.
He had no strength left to fly after them... no, in the first place... ]
"The wings on my back are just for show... I could never fly, idiot...!"
[ Defeated after accomplishing his goal, he fell, looking up at the Chaldeans flying away and back into that blindingly bright sky. ]
"Go on, get out of here! It'll be a relief to not have to see your damn faces anymore!
...Oh well, who cares? What matters is that I killed Britain, just like I wanted. Although... I'm sorry, Titania. My fictional queen, who loved me in all my twisted ways. I couldn't get rid of those Proper Human History bastards for you."
[ Yet in the end... it was all motivated by love, wasn't it? For a fictional love that never existed. It was no wonder, then, that he fought so hard for that which was fictional... that which didn't exist.
In which case... Ai could never find another Servant who would be as loyal to her as him. Who would fight as hard as him... for her sake. ]
"You know, it's weird. Even though I got the ever-living shit kicked out of me... I still feel strangely at peace. Hmph. So that's Proper Human History's sky, huh. Dammit. It's so beautiful it makes me sick."
[ And thus, the curtains closed as the infinite hollow sealed and the Abyssal Worm fell towards a destination forever beyond his reach. ]
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And yet at the same time... something about it is soothing to hear. A balm to a stinging bruise she hadn't even realised was there until the pain let up. A fairy tale some foolish girl made up, just so she could try and have somewhere to belong, even if it had to be a story. Even if she had to lie with everything she had.
He really didn't have any choice but to answer her call, did he?
By now, her fingers have curled into his stole, gripping like she's a like little afraid he'll vanish if she doesn't. ]
You're such a troublemaker. All that for somebody else's story.
[ Her voice is low and soft again. That almost airily breathless tone. ]
And then you came along for mine, too.
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For what it's worth, he knew what she would see, what she would hear by letting her stay.]Hmph, right? All that trouble, just for myself...
[ For a story he ended as well... but in the end, that's all he can do, isn't it? Destroy everything he doesn't like... be it faerie britain for it's sins or Proper Human History for rejecting it. It's all a being like him can do, and it's not like that's changed here.
Whatever it takes to grant her wish. He'll use his lies to grant her victory, or he'll die trying. ]
Well, of course... I could never refuse your call.
[ The story ends, the blue sky stretches out over a bleached earth, and the heroes continue on their journey. ]
All screenings for today have ended. Please make sure to take all of your belongings when leaving the theater. Once again, thank you for visiting us today, and we hope to see you again.
[ The lights come on, filling the theater as it does when a movie ends. It feels a little more embarrassing to have Ai in his lap with the lights on, but he keeps that to himself. ]
Aaaahh... I've seen this one so many times I've lost count, and it's always left me in the same refreshed-yet-terrible mood afterwards, but...
[ He brings his hand to Ai's chin so he can tilt her face up to look at him. ]
...I guess having company isn't too bad.
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I'm not really a movie person but it wasn't so bad. It did get kind of miserable at some points, though. Definitely written by some kind of sadist.
[ Maybe it's a little mean to make jokes about it, but... she wonders if taking it too seriously will just be picking at the scab. For all he's pretending to be over it... there must be some ache left over for him to be watching it over and over like this.
It occurs to her that their faces are probably this close in reality, too. She wonders what faces they've been wearing in sleep this whole time.
She wonders if this strange little link will ever form again. ]
Oberon. [ Her voice is soft but she speaks so suddenly it surprises her. It's just like before - if she's going to say it, it has to be when he's looking at her with those eyes that won't let her lie to him. ] I don't... I don't know if someone like me can give you the thing you're looking for. I don't know if I can be...
[ She doesn't even want to say the name. Even though both of them know it. It took her this long to learn how to love her own children, after all - how can someone like her promise to love anybody?
But before her words can sting like rejection, she lifts her hands so she can cradle his face in her palms. Gently, like she's touching something precious. ]
But I'm glad it was you. I'm glad you came to find me. I wouldn't have ever wanted it to be anybody else.
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[ Considering what he just did to her while they were awake... you know, biting, biting, and more biting... even drawing a little blood in the neck and plenty from her lips. Sadist isn't too far off.
She's not wrong that it's still sore. Of course it still aches to fail to realize your true goal at the very end of it all... but honestly? The ache and soreness... he doesn't mind it. Watching it over and over again may not be entertaining, but you take what you can get when falling endlessly, right?
He doesn't look away from her as she speaks, and honestly... even without his Fae Eyes, he'd have understood. They were the same, after all.
Honestly, the idea that she would be unsure at this point if she can love him is ridiculous for any number of reasons... but he keeps that to himself. He understands the feeling, at least... ]
Idiot, don't worry about that at this point...
[ Perhaps it's too convenient, that he's able to see through her words that could easily cause a misunderstanding so easily... but whatever. It's not like he could do anything about that anyway.
He leans down to kiss her... it's an awkward position, but so long as he can reach her lips, it's fine. ]
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[ Just look how huffy she got all of a sudden. She even puts a hand between their mouths to stop him kissing her. ]
I'm serious, you know...! How am I supposed to not worry when I just say through that whole movie?
[ Ah, now she's the one who's sulking a bit. ]
You've already seen what kind of idol I am, right? ... You know what the real me is like.
[ She softens just a little but that self directed doubt is still in her eyes. ]
I just... don't want to promise you something I still don't know how to do. It's not fair.
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[ He frowns at her... though it's more of a pout than anything else. Of course he knows what the real her is like, it's who he's been looking at this whole time. ]
Except it's ridiculous to worry about that now, isn't it? You've already done it.
[ In the first place, if love was something you "knew" how to do, then humanity would be a whole lot less of a pain, wouldn't it? ]
And no, I don't just mean with your kids. Besides, as if I would have a problem with the real you at this point.
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... Is it really okay, then?
[ She says it softly and tentatively enough that it comes out a little like a plea. ]
I don't know if I'll ever be able to say it. ... I'm still scared. I could only say it to Aqua and Ruby because I knew I'd never have another chance. And even then... I was so sure it'd be a lie.
[ It's all she knows how to do, after all. ]
... You've been looking for her all this time. It's the thing you've always wanted. ... Is it... is it really okay for it to be me?
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…Yes. No, please…
[ Her hand lowers, but he doesn’t lean in for a kiss. He keeps his eyes firmly in hers. ]
This may be the only place I can acknowledge it… so please… if you’ll love someone as vile as myself, then…
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