1FATE/OUTSIDE EXPERIENCE
Epilogue: Descent Into Another Domain
Connla rested for a short bit before finding the Leyline to establish the summoning circle. Once she was finished, Da Vinci called her back to Chaldea, and she warped through the tunnel of blue light. She opened her eyes and finally saw the crowd that had gathered around, which somewhat surprised her. She had only heard Da Vinci's voice the entire time, but Roman, Ritsuka, Mash, Cuchulainn Lancer, Medb, and other staff and Servants were present to welcome her home.
Medb gasped and exclaimed in a girly voice, "Connie! Oh, sweetie, you're finally back!"
Connla had such a terrible headache that she couldn't respond right away. The stress from withstanding Berserker's attacks plus unleashing her Noble Phantasm completely drained her energy.
"Connie? Are you okay?" the queen asked worriedly. "You look like a zombie…"
She no longer had any strength to move, and she fell forward. Cuchulainn immediately caught her before she could hit the floor, and he picked her up. Already she was fast sleep and lightly snoring.
"Geez… Why must you do such reckless things all the time?" he grumbled.
"This is all my fault," Da Vinci frowned. "I shouldn't have let her go to an unknown timeline on her own."
"Alter's gonna have a word or two with you about this, y'know."
"I believe it. Well, guess I better prepare myself for a right royal thrashing from Papa Wolf, hm?"
"You make it sound like getting him upset is no big deal," Cuchulainn glared at her wryly. "Don't blame me if you wind up with a few cuts and bruises afterwards. Heaven knows what my 'darker side' is capable of when he's really angry."
"Thanks for the kind warning."
Medb implored, "I'll come with you, Cu!"
"No way," he retorted sharply. "The last thing we need is your squealing waking Connla up."
"Aww… Oh well. Guess a girl needs her beauty sleep, hm?"
He scoffed at her and carried Connla back to her room, where he laid her on the bed and healed some of her injuries with his Runes. He changed her into her nightgown, finally getting to see the old scars that Alter was talking about earlier.
How terrible… No wonder he was so mad at me.
His heart felt like it was going to be torn asunder with guilt, but he kept himself in check and focused his energy on healing her current injuries before covering her with sheets and blankets. She didn't even so much as stir - if he didn't know better, he would have mistaken her for a corpse. He sat next to her bed for the next hour to make sure no more wounds opened up before feeling confident enough to leave her be.
Man, it's worse than I thought. She'll definitely be in a coma for the next while, he thought as he turned the light off and left. Well, at least she won't go running off and causing headaches for me and the other Cus.
As he headed back to his room however, the fatigued Lancer turned the corner and came across another Servant who was leaning against the wall. Cuchulainn immediately recognized him and scowled a little, but remained professional and quietly demanded, "What do you want?"
"Nothing from you, cur."
"Guess that's a blessing in disguise. But I've noticed you've been hanging around the place lately. Aren't you the type to coop yourself in your room and get plastered on fine wine all the time?"
"Who do you take me for, some kind of commonplace drunk? You'd do well to not compare me to yourself, Hound of Ulster."
"Feh. Like I give a shit. So what's the deal with the wallflowering? You looking for your next victim's suffering to satisfy your demented jollies?"
The armored man suppressed a hearty chuckle. "Well, I have to admit that the child's display was rather entertaining."
"Hey… That's not funny."
"Why not? Because she's your daughter? Or because she is foolish enough to not know her place in the hierarchy of us Servants?"
"Today was an accident," Cuchulainn retorted. "She's not stupid enough to go looking for fights she can't win. Not until I put her through the gamut with my rigorous training regime, anyway."
"That might not be enough," the man replied coolly. "Stick her in the training room all you want – it'll all be pointless if she doesn't understand what it's like to live as a proper human being. She's trapped beneath your overblown shadow, always fighting and surviving by virtue of being your one and only scion."
The blue-garbed Lancer scowled and exclaimed, "You think I don't know that!? Aife is the one who forced her to grow up too fast! It was all part of her plan to get back at me for defeating her so long ago! How else am I supposed to help Connla besides training her in the art of battle!?"
"Hmm…"
The unseen Servant turned his gaze toward the angry spearman and smirked a little.
"Perhaps what she needs is a light to guide her out of the darkness you cast over her. No light is as brilliant as gold, and no gold is as majestic as mine."
"… What are you trying to say?" Cuchulainn snarled. "What do you intend to do with my daughter?"
"Nothing, for now. She's still much too clueless of a whelp to be of any service to me. All I want to see is whether or not she will improve. If she can break out of the pitfall that her own family pushed her into, that is when she will be worthy of my attention."
"So you're just watching her?"
"Indeed. Nothing tires me more than a damsel who has the power to break free of her constraints, but refuses to do so."
Cuchulainn sighed, relieved that the other man didn't have terribly sinister plans for Connla. What the other Servant's real intentions were remained uncertain at this point though, which made him feel rather wary. Still, he had to remember that they were all Servants summoned under the same Master, and the primary rule that Ritsuka imposed upon them was to not be hostile toward each other regardless of their personal histories. They all shared the same goal of saving humanity's history, so any form of partnerships or collusions would have to benefit Chaldea's goal. Although Cuchulainn didn't like the other Servant whatsoever, he had confidence that the man's machinations would not endanger Connla's life in the end.
"Fine," he relented. "If there's anything you can do to help her, then knock yourself out. But if you're just looking to make her your doormat, then there will be problems. Aife already treated her like garbage by putting those three geasa on her, among other things…" he trailed off while thinking of her scars. "The last thing I need is someone else carrying that woman's torch."
"Hmph. I am not so low as to behave like that wench. Unlike her, I reward my vassals for their hard work. Fear not; if your child proves herself, then she will be deserving of being among my ranks, and the perks for serving me are quite substantial."
Cuchulainn raised an eyebrow. It sounded like the other Servant knew more about Aife's poor treatment of Connla than even he did. It mystified him - what was prompting this arrogant bastard to observe Connla anyway? She wasn't exactly one of the strongest Servants around, and she was too young to fight the more intense battles that the adults could survive. She still needed plenty of time to train and grow before she was ready to join the big leagues with him. What did the other Servant see in her even though she was just a trainee? The Lancer's lips thinned into a pensive line, but he said nothing more and left the unseen fellow alone.
At the very least, I should warn the other Cus about this.
In her dark bedchamber, Connla remained fast asleep. No sort of outside noise or disturbance would stir her awake. The doors to her room slid open and Cuchulainn Alter walked in, swaying his long spiked tail about as he approached the bed and observed the child. He placed his hand on her forehead and felt how high her temperature was. He frowned and grumbled lightly.
I know it's only been a day since then, but this is getting serious.
He pushed on the intercom button and said, "Hey, Roman. You there?"
A male's voice responded, "Is that you, Cu Alter?"
"If you've got a moment, then get your butt in here. Connla's got a terrible fever."
"That's strange… I didn't think Servants were capable of getting sick."
"Well believe it now. I don't know what's going on either, but she's been getting worse ever since she fought that Berserker. It might be because her body is not developed enough to handle such stress, so it breaks down anytime she uses her abilities. Or maybe she caught something weird while in that era."
"All right, I'll be over there."
Cuchulainn cut the connection, then sat next to Connla's bed and waited for the doctor to arrive. He took a damp cloth and wiped her face clean of sweat. News spread quickly of her deadly battle against the Berserker in early Camelot, and it didn't take long for him to hear what happened to his daughter while he was away on an unrelated mission. Although the other Cuchulainns were displeased with Da Vinci for allowing Connla to venture out alone, he was especially furious - it actually took two of Ritsuka's Command Spells plus some fellow Servants restraining him to prevent him from killing the inventor.
After cooling down, he refused to leave Connla's bedside until she woke up and he gave her a stern lecture. He wouldn't even go out on missions with Ritsuka and Mash while the child Servant was recovering, and he barred anyone save Dr. Roman from seeing her. He made no attempt to wake her up by force though; her injuries were so substantial that he understood she just needed plenty of rest.
What he didn't know was that it wasn't just difficult to wake her up – it would be downright impossible for now.
While her body was present in Chaldea, some kind of external force had taken hold of her mind and was dragging her subconsciousness somewhere far, far away. As she dove through the phantasmagorical world of dreams and alternate realities, she could see beautiful dolphins and fish swimming by. She continued sinking, sinking, sinking, until she reached some strange destination, and the darkness opened up like a pair of eyes to let in the light.
Where… is this?
TO BE CONTINUED
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yay, another one done! This one was a bit shorter than LGF since I wanted to transition from that to the next big epic following this. Not much else to say other than to look forward to what's coming up. As per usual, if you have any comments, suggestions or questions, feel free to send a private message to me, a review for the story, or send me a tweet benit149 (more likely to see it that way). See you in the next story!
- Benit149, 2018
