tvk | ⚔ 006; [video/action]

[phone; morning; locked to Sola-Ui on Saber's phone]

Saber? [He wasn't worried, strictly speaking. Of course Saber could take care of herself, occasional mishap aside. But it was strange that she hadn't returned last night. And the fact that he hadn't heard from her...he almost might have called that 'suspicious'.]

I haven't spoken to you recently, are you alright?

[Surely she was just with Shirou. Right?]

[Intuition rarely failed a knight. And Lancer's was telling him something was not right at all.]

[action; early evening]

[Lancer didn't know what to do. He didn't know anything. The former Servant in glasses sat on a park bench staring blankly at exactly nothing.]

[It was all his fault. Saber had died--by a hand not his own--and it was all his fault.]

[He didn't know what hurt more. The fact that again one of that pair had ruined everything and stolen his chance for a fight with her, or the fact that this would not have happened if he'd kept his mouth shut and just gone along with Sola's obsession. She would have been unhurt, Saber would have been alive, and Lancer...]

[Lancer would have been as miserable now as he was in Fuyuki. A small price to pay.]

[Today he likely looked nothing like the amicable, smiling and cheerful indivudual he so often was--there was a touch of ice in gold eyes, a strange sense of detachment in the way he held himself and stared at nothing. He had to stay that way. Lancer...didn't want to be angry. He didn't want to fly into the screaming anger of that vengeful spirit that had died in the Fourth War.]

[More than anything he didn't want it to keep hurting.]

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[She flinched, her hand tensing around the phone. It took her a moment to respond.]

She fell. Into the water. I couldn't catch her. [A tremor in her voice.]

I couldn't do anything to help her. Not without my magic.

And you're honestly going to tell me you can't swim yourself?

It was too late. I was in shock. By the time I realised she couldn't swim...

Lancer. Are you... are you blaming me for this?

I'm not sure yet whether I should or not.

[This...didn't sound right. Something here wasn't making sense if Sola was blameless, and Lancer damn well knew it.]

Lancer... [Her hands gripped the phone tightly. Something like rage entered her, fire and distress and-]

Then kill me!

...Sola. Answer me honestly.

Are you responsible for this?

I was the one that invited her. I was the one that knocked her into the water. I was the one that stood there and watched as she drowned.

[I'm the one to blame for that whore's death!]

If you're angry at me, then kill me. I'd sooner die at your hands than have you be angry at me!

. . .

[This was his fault. Even if it had been done by Sola's hand, it was his fault. And there was no way Saber would forgive him when--if she came back.]

[But in all this his voice was completely (even disturbingly) calm.]

Do you have any comprehension of what you've done? Do you have the slightest idea of it?

[No, he wasn't going to kill her. Not out of obligation as the Servant of her fiance or because he liked her whatsoever--he just wouldn't do it because killing a woman would have felt wrong to him.]

I know what she meant to you. I didn't mean it, Lancer... It was an accident.

Was it, Sola?!

...so cruel. To accuse me of such a thing.

You would be amazed how little such a thing would surprise me at this rate.

I'm meant to believe that you happened to be on a boat with Saber, accidentally knocked her off, and just stood there while she drowned?!

I invited her so we could try to get to know each other, since I knew she was important to you!

[Nononono... This is going so wrong.]

Do you think I'm an idiot, Sola?

You deserve better, Lancer. [Her voice is soft.] It hurts, but it'll pass. It's going to be alright.

Sola, you have no idea what the hell you've done!

Don't shout at me, Lancer! ...please.

Stop talking. Just stop talking.

[That anger he had tried to push away, the sudden explosive rage he had died with...all came rushing back in a matter of moments.]

You don't--you could never understand. You don't realize what this means. I am the only one allowed to kill Saber, and when I do it will be in a fair and honorable fight. I won't drown her like some coward!

...

......

.......................

I'm... sorry...

[Her voice choked with sobs, she let her finger hover over the "end call" button but stilled it there. No, it would be an insult to him to run. To cut the call and hide. If he was angry, let him take it out on her. It hurt, but she had hurt him. She had hurt him.

When had she forgotten that she wanted to make him smile at her again?]

...

[Deep breath. He didn't want to be angry anymore, Lancer had to remember that. The enraged spirit that had died in Fuyuki...he didn't want to be like that. When he did speak again, his tone was annoyed but notably calmer.]

Sola. Where are you right now?