⚔ 005; [text]

[croibhristeoir]

[Lancer didn't appear on the network himself today. Whether out of shame or cowardice, he didn't know. But today, he simply couldn't show his face. The message he sent out was short and directly to the point.]

I seem to have something of a problem today.

I would like to ask for advice, if I could. Could anyone listen for a minute?

Comments

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

Be safe and don't get in over your head.

[croibhristeoir]

It's nothing so serious as all that. As long as she lacks Command Spells, I expect I'll be fine.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

What are those?

[croibhristeoir]

Oh--right, sorry. I keep forgetting you wouldn't know.

Essentially, they are the mark of one's status as a Master--they appear as a mark in three parts most commonly on the back of one's hand.

[He reached offscreen, pausing for a moment or two before holding up a piece of paper with a design somewhat like a pair of wings drawn on it.]

This is more or less what my Master's resembled. A simple way to phrase it would be that they are the manifestation of the authority a Master holds over their Servant.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that they do something.

[croibhristeoir]

Well, yes. Humans, even magi, can't always hope to control a Servant. Gilgamesh, for example. I can't imagine the trouble his Master must have had with him--he doesn't seem the type to be subservient to anyone.

Command Spells are in three parts because they represent three absolute orders. When a Master issues one, the Servant absolutely has to follow it.

[He tore the paper in half with a bitter look on his face.]

No matter what.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

[Issei stared at the screen for a second, trying to process the full implications of that.]

...I am not letting her near you.

[croibhristeoir]

Tch...she no longer has them. Even if she did, I'm a human. There's no order she or my former Master could give that I would follow now.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

I don't care! She was willing to use those for despicable ends when she had them, wasn't she? How can I stand to let that kind of person have her way?

[croibhristeoir]

She didn't. I think you're imagining a scenario that didn't occur, Issei.

[It was only forced suicide, nbd.]

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

What did she intend to do with them?

[croibhristeoir]

I can't say I claim to know, or that she ever really got the chance. The contract between myself and my Master...ended abruptly.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

I don't think it would have been good. Say that I'm pessimistic, but I don't.

[croibhristeoir]

It doesn't matter anymore.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

It matters. She could get the power to do what she wants to you again.

[croibhristeoir]

How do you suppose she could ever do that? I'm not bound to any Master now, and I have the greatest knight ever to live as my Persona.

Even if I should become a Servant again, my contract to her fiance has been terminated. I would not be so foolish as to look for her should I require a Master.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

Forgive me if I'm a little concerned just about what she would like to do to you, feasible or not.

[croibhristeoir]

There's nothing to worry about. I think she'll listen to me if no one else.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

I really, truly hope you're right.

[croibhristeoir]

Even when she had Command Spells, she didn't use them if memory serves. [Dying violently tended to make one forget the details.]

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

And she had them for how long?

[croibhristeoir]

I honestly am not sure when exactly she took them from my actual Master. I admit I don't believe it was that long.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

So, not entirely reassuring.

[croibhristeoir]

It doesn't matter. My actual Master used one before she could.

[More than he'd wanted to say? Maybe. But Issei was just the kind of person he really couldn't help but trust.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

[Because he is actually a nice guy, unlike certain Masters you actually ended up with.]

I'm not sure that 'it doesn't matter' is entirely reassuring, either.