tvk | [Video]

This phone is so much smaller than it should be. I wonder how far advanced this place is...

[Ordinary technology, no magic, what was this place? She'd spent plenty of time raging already. More than enough. She had to find him. Although the woman's voice is rather ordinary, there is an odd coldness to it. She speaks like an aristocrat, authorative and cool.]

Excuse me. My name is Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri. [A pause to let that elaborate name sink in.] You may call me "Lady Sophia-Ri", or- [Her voice softens a little.] If my Servant, or my fiancè happen to be at the other end of this call, you may call me Sola. Please do respond.

I doubt there is an easy way out of this place. However, if there is, I would be delighted to hear of it. I am sure my dear fiancè would be willing to offer a reward to one who would help me in this situation.

[And then a brief pause before she adds.] If you happen to be the owner of this phone, please return the call and claim it. I will repay you for the use of it once I manage to acquire the means to.

Lastly, and I do appreciate your patience - I'm looking for a man. [...] A particular one. With dark hair and a mark below his eye. If you have seen him, please do respond immediately. It is imperative that I find him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Understatement of the millenia, Lancer...]

You... were insistant in protecting me. You refused to allow me to fight with you against Caster and went off on your own. So I waited. And then everything went dark and I awoke on the ground here.

[Oh, hell.]

...I see.

[He did at least want to apologize for that failure. If he had been more cautious, then....no. No, it no longer mattered.]

And you've just arrived here?

A little while ago. I spent... some time looking around.

[And trying out her magic. Speaking of which...]

A man just tried to spread lies about you, Lancer.

What do you mean, exactly?

[His alias wasn't the best, sure, but somehow he doubted that was her problem.]

Issei Ryudo. He claims that you were on bad terms with Kayneth. Yet you were always the most loyal...

You wouldn't say something like that, would you?

. . .

[The fact that he didn't answer said far more than any words might have.]

...Lancer.

[The slight tremble of the video feed shows that her hand is shaking.]

What is the meaning of this?

...It's over, Sola. [He took off his glasses, voice calm and even.] All of it. For me, the Fourth Holy Grail War has ended. I do not know what specifically became of you or Kayneth, but I know that it has ended.

[Saber had told him that much. The Fourth had ended, as did the Fifth ten years later.]

[But what was arguably the most telling in that? 'Kayneth'. Spoken without an honorific and with the faintest trace of distate--it was the first Lancer had spoken his Master's name since his death.]

[And that small spark of resentment was still lingering in the darkest corners of his heart.]

...you are angry at Kayneth? Why, Lancer? What did he do?

[What did that fool do to cause Lancer pain?]

I would much rather not discuss it.

I will see that he regrets it.

Lancer... please. Let me ease your pain, somehow.

There is no longer anything that can be done, Sola.

There must be something... please, Lancer. [There must be some way to keep him at her side. Something she can do...]

I must find some way to make up for my fiancè's actions.

There isn't, Sola.

[He didn't want to hurt her, but he had to distance himself. For her sake as well as his own. Could the curse even wear off, he wondered? Surely there would be some way she could recover from it.]

[Lancer was... No! She wouldn't lose him. Time to play a little close to the game.]

...so you hate me too? For what he did?

Is this revenge? That you'd cast me aside here, powerless and alone, without a single ally to call my own?

I don't hate you, Sola. [And that was true. It wasn't her fault, just as it hadn't been Grainne's fault. Or any of the other women that had fallen for him in his lifetime.]

But I must be absolutely clear so that no mistakes can be made. I do not hate you--but I do not love you, either.

[The tears come too easily at those words and she shakes her head.]

Why, Lancer? What's wrong with me?

Does there need to be something wrong for one person not to love another? That is not the case here.

Am I not good enough for you, Lancer? Did I not treat you right?

Please...I know what obsession looks like. I more than any other understand that. And I don't wish to see any more suffering because of me.

I'm just...tired, Sola. I'm so tired of being hurt and hurting others, and I don't wish to stand for it in a world where my curse is no longer an active factor.

So it's best that we should stop, now that I am no longer Servant to you or to Kayneth.

[Disregarding all of that!]

Your loyalty to Kayneth was betrayed. That's all I know of this. If nothing else, please. Allow me to make up for it.

If you don't want to see suffering, then turn your back on me! Because this hurts, Lancer.

...

[Dammit, woman, take a hint.]

If there truly is no other choice, then that's what I will have to do. For your own sake, I ask that you try to find someone more suited for you than myself.

Farewell, Sola.

[Lancer hung up without another word, feeling oddly shaken by the whole conversation in a way he couldn't quite put into words.]

[Does this look like the face of someone who will take no for an answer?

...this battle is just beginning.

Right after she goes and cries in a corner.]

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