「 Altrouge's Pov. 」
"Hynnn…" {Why can't I eat her…} Cath whimpered in a depressed tone, while Sakura proceeded to add a seventh ribbon to his tail.
The girl had been fiddling around with the little critter for over an hour, and she still hadn't gotten enough of him.
She'd even smile on occasion, including the times when Cath would scurry to hide under the sofa in an attempt to get away from her. She was either rather taken with him, or, like most girls, she liked fluffy animals.
But who cares? I have discovered a way to make her smile, meaning Alistair will be happy with me, and the fact that I'm doing better than Morgan on the Sakura front. Even though I'm not even trying, I'm simply better than her!
"Because I said so," I retorted in a pleased tone, causing Cath to move his head, and shove it in between the couch cushions in an attempt to hide.
Having seen our interaction, Sakura stopped tying the ribbon on his tail, and instead looked at me with a curious look. "What did he say?" She asked, with a tilt to her head.
Smiling, I pointed to the room's door. "He wants another bath," I lied gleefully.
A muffled "NYYUUUUU!!!" {NOOOOO!!!} could be heard as he almost bolted out of Sakura's lap, and continued to try to bury himself in between the couch pillows.
She had picked up the fact that I could understand what he said, or maybe she is just really gullible; I'm not sure which, but she clearly hasn't picked up on the fact that I spew pure bullshit.
Nonplussed, she tugged at Cath's tail, as it was the only thing that stuck out from between the pillows, before she gave it a proper pull, dragging him out from his hidey-hole.
The second he was pulled out, Cath went limp like a dead animal, knowing that resisting, and possibly hurting Sakura, would lead to various cruel punishments, like the dreadful 'no more walks' punishment.
Clapping my hands together, I gave a smile. "Great, let's use Morgan's bathtub—" I cut myself off, as I heard the sound of hurried footsteps coming from behind the door.
Clicking my tongue, I gave a disappointed shrug. It would seem my fun would be cut short for now.
The room's door was hurriedly opened, causing Sakura and me to turn to look at the interloper.
Raising a brow, I sent the intruding Amelia a confused look. She looked tense, on edge even, which was odd, given that I'm fairly sure that such an expression was very unusual for someone who had just been to a friend's funeral.
Though admittedly, I could be wrong.
"Ah, there you are," Amelia said while briskly walking towards Sakura, who gave a confused tilt of her head. "Amelia?" She asked confusedly.
Not answering, Amelia walked up to the little girl, hesitating slightly when seeing Cath in her arms, before bravely picking her up.
"We need to go on a… walk," she said uncertainly, before shaking her head. "No, we're going on a short drive to a nearby playground," she corrected herself, causing me to furrow my brow.
"And you're bringing Cath?" I questioned flatly, causing the older woman to glance at the terrifying beast in Sakura's arms, before hesitantly nodding. "Yes… though maybe we won't go to a playground… A park would be safer for the civilians."
… What?
Before I could question it more, Amelia walked briskly out of the room, leaving me alone.
What the hell?
Blinking slowly, I glanced at the door Amelia had left through with great confusion.
The Office Bitch is utterly terrified of Cath, understandably so, but this has to be the first time I've seen her willingly be so close to him.
Before I could further question the madness I had just witnessed, another set of footsteps could be heard, along with a rather heated conversation.
Walking over to the door, I was met by a slightly tired, but adamant-looking Alistair, and an annoyed-looking Morgan.
Seeing the two, I could only blink.
…
Was I dreaming?
I don't know what bullshit is going on between them, but it would seem a wedge is growing between them.
Closing my eyes, I released a sweet sigh.
Is this what victory feels like?
Because I could get FUCKING used to it.
"There you are, Altrouge," Morgan said impatiently, and I started to feel energized by the slight annoyance in her tone. "I need you to help me stop Alistair from potentially bedding some old hag."
…
What?!
Snapping my eyes open, I glared at her.
"Excuse you?" I spluttered out, and the witch only sharpened her gaze. "Alistair plans on going to the Land of Shadows," she stated.
… I'm drawing a bit of a blank, as I keep on thinking of Elden Ring from Alistair's memories, but I'm fairly sure she's not referring to that place… though maybe she is, Zelretch is a man of annoyingly many talents, so it is possible.
Seeing that I was drawing a blank at her words, the witch gave a scoff. "It's the realm which Scáthatch rules over, as in the woman who trained Cú Chulainn."
Oh…
OHHH!
FUCK!
She was the hot, big-tittied, redhead with the bunny outfit that was Lv.90 on Alistair's FGO team…
I'm so fucked if she's actual competition.
"He's not going," I affirmed, causing the witch to give an appreciative hum and look to Alistair, while giving him a look that screamed 'Even she agrees!'.
Seeing the look, he gave a tired sigh, and raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose while closing his eyes. "I'm really not in the mood to discuss this today," he bit out, and I could see Morgan slightly flinch at the tone and underlying message, given that today had been his mother's funeral.
"But even then," he continued in a far less biting tone. "I've been playing around with the thought ever since I learned that Kaleidoscope owed my family a favour. I was just hesitating, because I was afraid that the training would have made me miss the Grail War," he explained calmly, though I felt a small frown adorn my face at his words.
"I call bullshit," I said while pointing a finger at him. "You would have told me, or at least mentioned it in passing," I accused.
Cracking open an eye, he gave me a look conveying how stupid he felt my opinion had been. "Do you think I am stupid enough to tell you, of all people, that I plan on spending more than a minute with a woman who parades around in a skintight leather outfit?"
… It's hard to argue with that one.
But I can still salvage this.
Walking up to him, I stopped pointing at him, choosing to instead poke him in the chest. "Why don't you just have the bastard send you to another Grail War, or to some other trainer of heroes?! I could have sworn there was some weird fucking horse that trained Hercules, why not him?!"
A look of discomfort grew on both Alistair and Morgan's face at the mention of another Grail War. "I'm not willing to become a victim of tentacle porn," he stated firmly, and I just drew a blank at that.
"What?"
Morgan frowned in thought, before nodding slightly. "I would not use the same words, but all you need to know is that Alistair is not incorrect in his assertion," she said with some distaste.
… Don't tell me that Zelretch has a fetish for tentacle porn as well… Wouldn't put it past him, the weird fucking old man.
Alright, half that battle is apparently dead in the water, but I still had a good point!
"Why not pick some other trainer?" I said while snapping my fingers in thought. "The… the…" I fumbled, before getting a eureka moment. "Chiron!" I exclaimed, with a smile. "The horse fucker," I reaffirmed, before taking a step back, and giving him a sly look.
"Let's be real here," I said with a smirk. "Cú is referred to as 'Irish Hercules', meaning that Hercules is the point of reference, or the benchmark. So why settle for the woman who could only make second best, rather than the horse-thing that made the best?"
Sighing, he stopped pinching his nose, and fixed me with a blank look. "I can think of a dozen issues with that," he said, which caused me to give him a scoff. "Bullshit, list me a dozen issues then."
Rolling his eyes, he gave me an annoyed look. "For one, I'm afraid there is a 'time difference' or 'time dilation' effect while I'm there. My luck is garbage, and for all I know, one day there might be a year here, and knowing Kaleidoscope, he'd definitely try to get some favour out of me for ensuring that all is as it should be."
Waving a hand, he continued. "But even if we consider the fact that all goes well, I would not put it past Alaya classifying my training in the past as me 'tampering with the timeline', and summoning a bunch of Counter Guardians to kill me to 'erase the anomaly'."
"Wait!" I cut in while snapping my finger to snap him out of his little monologue, before pointing at him. "Wouldn't that go against Alaya's interests? Wouldn't it be all for you to get as strong as possible before you die?" I countered, but this time Morgan spoke up with a bitter look on her face.
"You think too small," she chided. "If I were in Alaya's shoes, I'd allow Alistair to partake in the training, and only summon the Counter Guardians when he is close to finishing his training to reap the maximum rewards," she explained bitterly, clearly not liking the line of thought.
… I can still salvage this…
Pressing a hand on my chest, I gave a confident smile. "Then I'll invoke our deal, and forcefully tag along! As he promised to never leave me!"
The slow, almost mechanical turn of Morgan's head to look disappointingly at Alistair, while he pretended that nothing of note was happening, truly made my day.
And of course I was not above clinging onto him like some koala with detachment issues, like, is this even a question at this point?
"When did this happen?" Morgan asked, and Alistair didn't even meet her eyes, instead choosing to give me a dry look. "I was caught very off guard, and was fully taken advantage of in a moment of weakness."
Why is he giving me that look? It's not like I'll actually harm him if we aren't in the same vicinity, and the agreement goes both ways, kinda.
Waving my hand, I got their attention back on me. "Anyways, I've faced Counter Guardians before, and I've never lost!" I exclaimed.
Morgan, raising an unimpressed brow, looked at me as if I was an idiot. "And how many of those times was Cath the reason you won?"
Gritting my teeth, I didn't dignify her with an answer. "The two of us are a package deal, so I don't see an issue," I ground out, and the fairy only shook her head.
"Let me ask you this? Would Gaia empower Cath in a scenario where it doesn't even recognize him?"
The question felt like a bucket of cold water had been dunked onto me.
Cath and I were about equal in age, him being slightly older than me, meaning that a Gaia from the time of Hercules wouldn't recognise him, as he didn't exist back then, so it wouldn't empower him…
Fuck.
Groaning loudly, Alistair gave me a tired look. "Point is, I'm currently not comfortable with multi-dimensional travel, and would much rather 'stay in my own lane' until I can handle myself," he explained, and I couldn't really disagree with him.
But… there had to be something, some other option.
"How about Merli–" "I will gouge your eyes out, and feed them back to you through a tube," Morgan viciously cut in, causing me to groan.
Worth a shot.
This is a shit situation. He's clearly made up his mind about this, and I am fairly sure that if worse comes to worst, Zelretch will likely whisk him away to the Land of Shadows to keep his end of the bargain, regardless of my, or Morgan's attempts at getting him to stay.
My best option is a compromise, as distasteful as the notion is.
"Alright," I groaned out. "I'll support your shit idea," I said, causing Alistair's expression to relax, but causing Morgan to purse her lips.
Fuck you too bitch, I'm not exactly ecstatic about this either.
"Butttt…" I said while raising a finger, causing him to raise a brow. "I'm tagging along," I pressed, causing his face to turn into a confused one.
"Why? There shouldn't be any Counter Guardians, or any real need for you to be there," he stated with a hint of confusion.
"No real need for me to be there?" I asked with mock offense, before shaking my head in disapproval. "My dear, lovely, stupid Alistair," I said, causing him to let out a groan. "I need to be there, because…" I said before staring at Morgan for extra emphasis. "I'm not letting you sleep with ANY witch while under my watch."
"Charming," Morgan said dryly, and I only shrugged.
"Deal or no deal?" I asked Alistair, only for him to return the shrug. "I'm not going to be caught in another of your stupid deals, like I did with the whole 'staying close' thing," he retorted, and I could only internally click my tongue at the missed opportunity. "But I am more than happy to have a familiar face close by while I'm whipped into shape."
Meh, close enough.
Clapping my hands together, I nodded my head. "Alright, it's settled, two against one on Alistair's shit idea. Woo-hoo!" I cheered unenergetically.
Walking over to the door, I shot Alistair a thumbs up. "I'll start packing a bit, but I'll need to head out for a day or two, since I'll be MIA for a bit, so my cronies need to know about it," I explained, before walking past them.
Walking a bit further down the hallway, I turned around, and moved my hands to cup around my mouth for an echo effect. "OH, AND BEFORE I FORGET! WE'RE HAVING OUR DATE TOMORROW, OR THE DAY AFTER!" I yelled, before quickly scurrying off.
I don't care if he's going to some shithole to meet the slutty bunnygirl, I am having that date before then, and now was the best time to remind him, while rubbing it in the whore's dumb face.
Suck it bitch.
~~Fate/False Order~~
「 Alistair's Pov. 」
Impatiently tapping the car's windowsill, I glanced at Altrouge. "I'm not exactly seeing any salt mine signs yet. Will the drive be much longer?" I asked flatly while looking at the gremlin, who was driving the car, while sitting on a slightly elevated seat. (It's a fucking booster seat, but she's been sensitive about it ever since Morgan pointed out that she needed one.)
"That's not too surprising, as we passed it like four hours ago," she said airily, causing me to frown. "I only said that there was a popular salt mine close by, which was somewhat of a local hotspot for romantic dates, not that we were going there."
Groaning loudly, I turned my head and looked out from the passenger's window.
Waking up at six in the morning, only to take a two-hour flight, and then a four-hour drive was not exactly my description of a good start to a day, and only caused my recent lethargy to increase, but I had promised her this, so I was not exactly in a prime position to complain.
Admittedly, the fact that she had somehow pulled a 300 SLR Coupe out of her ass certainly made this far more tolerable, and I would totally need to find a way to steal this thing from her later, as this thing was simply superb.
Looking out the window, I was finding it increasingly difficult to appreciate the little town's architecture, as it was a dime a dozen here in Europe. At the very least, it wasn't the same dull farm landscape that most of the car ride had been.
Unfortunately, it would seem we were heading out of the village, as houses had started becoming sparse.
Why Altrouge wanted to do this was very much so beyond me, but I'd give her the benefit of the doubt.
"Oh, I can see our destination, we're almost there!" She exclaimed, causing me to focus on the windscreen.
What greeted me was a VERY familiar brick railway with a giant watchtower atop it. The sight made me give an involuntary gasp, before I slammed a hand over my eyes, and slumped back into my seat.
Please tell me I'm wrong, please tell me I'm wrong, please tell me I'm wrong, please tell me I'm wrong....
I could be seeing things, or my memory is like really fucking foggy… yeah, let's hope for that one…
"You doing alright over there?" Came the cheerful voice of Altrouge, but I was not exactly in the mood right now. "Is that fucking Auschwitz?" I crooked out. Only to get an amused chuckle. "Heh, got it in one."
…
All that 'benefit of the doubt' bullshit I spouted earlier… Yeah, throw that shit in the trash, where it fucking belongs.
Exhaling a deep breath, I tried to desperately rationalize the reason she brought me here for a fucking date. It didn't make a lick of sense, even when considering her fucked up sense of rationality, as she tends to be rational most of the time, albeit in a very illogical way.
Inhaling a deep breath, I gathered the level of patience equivalent to that of a blessed saint. "Please, explain your thought process for picking this place."
"Huh?" She said in a slightly surprised tone, likely somehow not understanding why I sounded too 'upset' at her choice of venue. "I could have sworn you mentioned that you wanted to visit it at some point in your memories, and seeing as I only ever bothered to look at the internment camps in Japan, I thought this a great opportunity for the two of us to visit!" She said jubilantly, and I could only slowly drag my hand down my face in utter stupefaction at the mental gymnastics I was just subjected to.
Opening my eyes, I fixed an utter dead look at her. "Yeah, I wanted to visit it with my school during Upper Sixth, not go to Auschwitz on vacation, let alone a fucking date!"
My words caused Altrouge to slowly look away from me, and robotically face the road. "Well… there is more to it than just that," she mumbled, trying and failing to sound reassuring. "I thought it would be fitting for something I had planned."
Pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes, I tried my best to calm down and justify this bullshit.
I got Solomon's ring for this, going on a date in Auschwitz in return is still a fucking bargain in comparison, even if it is tone-deaf as fuck.
Feeling the car come to a stop, I opened my eyes, allowing me to see the very infamous Gate of Death.
Flicking off my seatbelt, I gave Altrouge a pointed glance. "This better be good, or I'll bolt half-way through this 'date'," I threatened, before opening the door, causing the wing door to swing upwards.
Stepping out, I gently closed the car door, before giving a good stretch. Awesome as the car was, it was made in the 50's, and people tended to be slightly shorter back then, so it was a bit of a squeeze for me, though nothing I wouldn't put up with.
Seeing that Altrouge had stepped out of the car, I moved to join her. "Do you have something to do with the fact that no one is here?" I questioned, while idly glancing at the surroundings.
"Jup, cost a bit, but I had both parts of the camp reserved for the two of us," she said with a slight impish tone, clearly having come to the conclusion that this might not have been the best bonding experience that she had hoped.
"Wonderful," I said dryly.
Walking up to the front of the large arch, I groaned aloud, while looking down into the camp.
"Ready?" Altrouge asked with some enthusiasm lacing her voice. Leaning slightly to the side, I grabbed her hand for authenticity's sake, as while this was a shit idea, it was still a date. "Los geht's," I returned unenthusiastically.
This is going to be a disaster.
~~Fate/False Order~~
「 Alistair's Pov. 」
"Say it," Altrouge ordered in a smug tone.
"Fuck you," I groaned out, only causing her smile to grow.
"Hopefully after you say it," she countered, causing me to give a low groan of annoyance.
"Fine…" I ground out. "This wasn't as horrible an idea as I first thought," I bit out in annoyance.
Letting go of my hand, Altrouge walked jubilantly through the infamous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' gates in Auschwitz I, because there was apparently more than one Auschwitz facility in this city.
"I'd like to reaffirm that this is still a shit idea for a first date," I said while walking through the same set of gates, and walking up next to her. "The only thing keeping this 'date' acceptable, is the fact that this whole experience has been really informative and interesting so far, atop the fact that since I already know you, I can't say that I'm too surprised or put off from the venue, as this is very much something up your alley."
Had this been a 'true' first date, as in getting to know someone, then this whole thing would have scared off any sane man or woman. But knowing half the shit Altrouge has likely seen or done, I get the feeling that this is more of an inspiration trip for her, or to compare notes with other deranged individuals.
Still, putting all of that aside, it has so far been very interesting, and the snow covering most of the buildings and grounds helps make the place seem far less gloomy and depressing.
"Meh," Altrouge said, before poking her head into one of the open buildings. "I thought this was a nice way to give perspective," she said, before shrugging. "And from what I learned of this place, I thought it would have been a dream come true for my younger self to have ended up here in the early days," she added nonchalantly.
Blinking, I gave her a look one would give to an idiot. "I beg your pardon?" I asked with exasperation, causing her to give me a questioning hum.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I fixed her with a pointed stare. "Are you seriously trying to make me believe that you, of all people, would have enjoyed being a prisoner here, not a guard mind you, when you were a child?"
My question caused her to nod. "I honestly, in my heart of hearts think that I'd have been happier here, than I was when I was younger," she said earnestly, and I felt incredibly baffled at how genuine she was sounding.
Seeing my expression, she tilted her head cutely to the side. "What do you know of my early days?" She questioned, and I frowned. "Nothing really, as you'd deflect the topic every time by saying that back in the days everything smelled like shit, and that the world was really boring."
Hell, if that wasn't her subtly telling me to fuck off, and pick another topic, then I don't know what is.
Snorting lightly, she gave a nod. "Yeah," she said with a huff. "I didn't exactly have a pleasant time 'growing up'," she stated, before fixing me with a frown.
"Are you sure that you want to hear about my past? It's really shitty, and it'll ruin our good mood," she questioned, and I nodded.
"Altrouge, you are all but trying to get me interested in it, when you throw out such outrageous claims as you just did, and dangle the facts in front of my face," I said neutrally. "If you're actually willing to tell me about it, then I'm willing to lend an ear."
Sighing theatrically, she shrugged. "Alright, but I'll warn you, I'll probably get a little heated when retelling my story, it was a shit time, so be mindful, alright?" She said, and I nodded along.
"Let me paint the scene for you," she said while theatrically spreading her arms. "The year is in the early sixth century, twelve of the most powerful, and the most sane True Ancestors gather in Albion, along with a few of the more influential Dead Apostle Ancestors, for the birth of a True Ancestor," she said, and I crossed my arms, and paid rapt attention to the story.
"They can tell this one is meant to be special, as everyone can feel the presence of True Ether and Mystery vanish by the day, meaning that this might even be the last of the True Ancestors to ever be born, due to the future conditions being too bleak for another to be formed," she explained with a smile on her face.
"Everyone knew that once they were born, their 'consumption' of the surrounding Mystery and True Ether would likely drain the whole island's supply, and bring us into an Age of Man, but with the feat of ending an era, the hope was that they'd be able to do it again, leading to a new Age of Mystery," she said excitedly, before her face slowly fell.
"Unfortunately, right as the 'egg', or birth capsule, was pulled from the Reverse Side to enter Albion, a massive exodus of Mystery and True Ether occurred, and as the 'egg' burst through the ground, there was no Ether to feed on, and Mystery had weakened to a tenth of its potency," she gritted out.
Turning to look at me, she showed a deep frown. "How do you think that affected me?" She asked pointedly, and I frowned in turn at the seriousness.
Raising a hand, I gestured at her. "I think I'm looking at it," I stated. "A somewhat stunted growth, and likely a significant drop in your potential power," I added, and she only furthered her grimace, and shook her head.
"Worse."
Pointing at her chest, she continued. "Everyone knew that something had gone wrong, and soon after, they were proven right when I was spat out of the incubator," she said bitterly.
"Instead of coming out of it like a 10-14 year old, as is the average," she spat. "I came out like a frail, malnourished six-year-old," she said with hate, before glancing at me with some veiled exasperation. "A frail, malnourished six-year-old by today's human standards to boot."
Oh dear…
Having the strength of a six-year-old wouldn't be a good place to start no matter the time, but given the fact that a human six-year-old today, vs one born in the tail end of the Age of Gods, would likely have their head caved in relatively easily by the one from the Age of Gods.
It's even worse when considering the fact that a True Ancestor, one of the strongest entities on Earth when they don't need to repress their bloodlust, is having their strength compared to a human in any capacity, which should be an insult, even if they were an 'infant' at the time.
Seeing my expression, she nodded. "Don't worry, it gets worse," she continued.
"While everyone was immediately extremely disappointed, it all got much worse when they felt something off about me," she said with a sigh, before slowly lowering the hand that she was pointing at herself. "I was recorded as having a 'dead soul', or something equivalent to a Dead Apostle's soul, despite having a pulse," she said with a frown.
"This caused an uproar, as while I had miraculously achieved something next to all Dead Apostles had dreamed of, neither camp could accept my existence, as some sort of 'failed miscarriage' True Ancestor," she explained calmly.
"After a lot of yelling and screaming, I was all but forgotten, and thrown aside as a mysterious mixed-breed failure by the True Ancestors, and I was seen as a top-grade research subject, or potential pet to those who hated True Ancestors," she asserted grimly. "The only reason I left unaccosted was due to the fact that by virtue of having been recently born, I was granted something akin to 'sanctuary' from Ancestors and Apostles by Gaia for a limited period of time."
Kicking a pile of snow, she gave me a hesitant look, before sighing to herself. "Fuck it," she mumbled, before giving me a tired look. "Before they left, they kindly named me: Alterius-Sanguinis," she said, and I raised my brow in confusion.
"You changed your name?" I asked with a bit of confusion. I mean, to me it sounded wrong, but I had been calling her Altrouge for a decade, so it might just be that the name is unfamiliar.
She gave a cramped-up smile at the question. "I grew tired of being named Bastard," she explained, and I gave a grimace. "'Alterius' and 'Sanguinis' together mean 'Different Blood' in Latin, but refers to a Bastard when put together like that," she further explained, and I nodded.
I too would have changed my name if I knew I was given such a naming convention.
Giving a strained smile, she continued. "Point is, little Bastard me," she said with venom. "Was forced to roam Albion alone, and with no knowledge of the greater world, as of course the knowledge that is given to all True Ancestors upon birth was not properly transmitted to me," she said bitterly.
"The only thing I could do was 'regenerate', or instinctively reverse time on myself, which I learned when I was mauled to death by a wild boar, only to 'regenerate' and die again and again, until the boar found out that anything it ate vanished from its stomach, so it left me alone," she spat.
"I spent weeks trying and failing to catch something, as I was too slow to ambush anything, or too weak and unimaginative to create traps out of materials I could find in the forests," she said with a shrug. "Eventually, I gave into my baser instincts, and eventually found a human settlement."
Giving me a side-eye, she released a snort. "You can guess about how good that attempt went, right?" She said with derision in her tone.
Yeah, a six-year-old trying to kill anyone would be difficult, but when the prey this six-year-old is after is, comparably speaking, adults on an extreme steroid schedule, then most could guess that it was doomed to failure.
"My hunger blinded me, and I was unceremoniously stabbed with pitchforks and whatever other pointy things they had lying around," she bemoaned, while idly rubbing at her neck. "All in all, it was a blessing in disguise, as they had the decency to give me a shallow grave, among their own dead," she explained.
"Upon waking up half-buried, I noticed that I had been dumped in a place surrounded by 'expired food'," she said with a grimace. "And since I was desperate, I dug up a few corpses, and drank my fill of all the disgusting, and almost non-nutritious, blood as I could, allowing me to keep 'living'," she said with clear shame.
"I continued this trend for nearly two hundred years. Find a town, find its graveyard, or corpse dump, and eat what I could before anyone could notice me, before leaving for a new place," she said with a shake of her head. "It was likely the closest I have been to experiencing the emotion described as depression, as I was suffering through 'life' and barely getting anything out of it."
"Rotten blood is so low on Od, that I barely got anything out of it, causing me to barely have enough to grow in age and strength," she explained in a wistful tone. "It took me two hundred years just to match an average ghoul in strength, which allowed me to finally hunt some isolated humans, but I still mostly kept to my graveyard plundering for safety's sake."
"But of course, this terrible diet, and the fact that I kept on being killed by random animals or people, led to my body actually starting to slowly die," she said while extending a hand in front of herself. "First my sense of pain started to vanish," she remarked uncaringly. "Then my sense of touch grew duller by the day, feeling as if I was wearing an increasingly thicker glove when interacting with objects," she explained with an incensed sound of detachment. "Staying too long in the sun suddenly drained some of my stored Od, and lastly…" she said, now placing a hand on her chest. "My heart only beat every minute or so."
"I was dying, and I had no real way to circumvent it, other than gambling on killing a large group of humans, allowing me to fix most of my problems, but likely die a few times or even flat-out fail. Or, go with the safe option, and go on a mass 'grave hunting' session, and stay longer to eat more, but potentially get caught, to stop me from dying," she said while lowering her hand. "I took the safe option, and started digging up tens of graves a night to fix my situation, and one day I was discovered…"
Her tone shifted completely, and her face scrunched up in pure loathing. "But not by a human, no, that would have been too lucky," she spat. "I was uncovered by the then 9th seat on the Dead Apostle Ancestor list, while he was terrorizing the citizens of the graveyard's nearby village where I was feasting at."
… I have this odd feeling Altrouge goes on to kill this man, and by the tone of it, quite brutally.
"Seeing me literally dig for scraps, he found it hilarious, and started ripping me to shreds due to how pathetic I was, along with the power trip that came from utterly dominating a 'True Ancestor'," she gritted out. "It got so bad that I begged for mercy, eventually offering to serve him for life," she spat. "I didn't know he could bind me to my desperate ramblings, as I was of course just spouting nonsense in hopes of escaping him."
Oh shit.
Balling her fists together, she radiated a whole different level of anger. "The bastard collared me like some dog, and paraded his 'Pet True Ancestor' around, though he was forced to rename me to his 'Pet False Ancestor', due to the 'real ones' not wanting to be associated with me," she ground out spitefully.
"In the end, I ended up as the lab rat that I feared I'd end up as, and was poked and prodded, torn and cut open to see how I was a living Apostle for months. Gaining the affectionate nickname as the 'Apostle of Black Blood' due to my 'eating habits' of black and rotten blood throughout my life, leading to my own blood tasting of rot."
Honestly regretting asking about her past, I finally decided to interject. "How did you escape?"
My question caused her to reel back in surprise. "Me, escape?" She asked in a mocking tone. "With my pitiful strength?" she continued in the same tone of voice. "Impossible," she answered matter-of-factly.
"How this part of the story ends is through the accumulation of all of my good luck being used up at one point," she explained dismissively. "You see, he found the most results when killing, and allowing me to revive, since then he could 'tell the difference' apparently."
"One day, he does it for too long, without having fed me enough to properly reverse time on myself," she said, but this time her voice lacked a lot of the anger that she had held in it earlier. "I was being left in the sun, and carved open to see how my organs reacted to sunlight, and after one too many cuts, I stopped regenerating."
"Desperately, the bastard tried to save his 'lab rat', and eventually, he compromised, and tried to turn me into his 'child' out of desperation to study me for a bit longer," she said, before a wicked smile spread over her face. "But at the same time, as I lay there dying, the moon created an eclipse, and I felt a pull to it, to a level I had never felt before."
Wrapping her arms around herself, she gave a bloodthirsty smile. "For the first time in my life, I felt strong," she said in a tone reminiscent of how a junkie talks about their first high. "My body grew, my appearance changed, turning me into a woman in my mid-twenties," she said while flashing me a wink. "Despite no longer having a pulse, I felt so alive."
Smiling cruelly, she continued. "But thanks to not being alive anymore, I had upheld my end of the deal, serving him for life… meaning I was free."
"I had no idea what was happening to me, but for once my True Ancestor side pulled through, and information was 'downloaded' into my brain. And in a blink, for the first time in four hundred years, the Millennium Castle Brunestud was once more seen on Earth!" She said triumphantly.
Smiling wryly, she continued with a smug smile. "The next minute or so is incredibly hazy, but suffice to say, the Bastard was as dead as they came by the end of the eclipse," she said, before looking a bit morosely. "Unfortunately, my powers and incredible figure vanished with it as well… but after eating him I became as strong as him, along with usurping his 'Idea Blood', allowing me to forcefully claim his seat, so it wasn't all bad," she said pleasantly.
"Umm, not to interrupt, but how didn't you learn earlier that you got empowered by a solar eclipse? Wouldn't two hundred years be long enough for you to find that out?" I asked, earning a blank look from the teenage-looking vampire.
"Eclipses are stupid rare, and seeing as I tended to 'sleep' during the day, and the fact that I had no reason to 'test' if random shit, like a solar eclipse, to see if it boosted my power," she retorted dryly. "Like, for one, have YOU tested if you get some random bullshit power-up from an exceedingly rare phase of the moon?" She asked rhetorically, and I only shook my head.
Her question made me give her a blank stare. Yes, my question had been a bit stupid, but there was no need to be so rude about it.
"No, surprisingly I too, have not had the urge to test something as asinine as that to see if it would empower me," I replied blandly, only for the girl to place her hands on her hips, and nod approvingly at my statement.
"Exactly, because in practically every case, that would be stupid," she said sagely.
I don't know if she understands that she is calling her own power system stupid, but I'm not in the mood to test that out…
Honestly, her 'childhood' or whatever you want to call it, was a lot worse than I had imagined. With how she acted, I thought the worst that had happened to her would be a broken nail, not… well… all that!
"Are you okay?" I asked, causing Altrouge to tilt her head to the side in confusion. "Huh?! I got crazy cool moon powers, and buried some asshole's legacy to the ground so thoroughly that only twelve others know his name," she said matter-of-factly. "I dare say that I'm doing better than okay!"
Alright… that did not sound like how a healthy person would go about talking about their 'trauma', if that term can even apply to an Apostle.
"Actually," she said with a sly look present in her eyes. "I could do with more 'us' time," she said while waggling her brows.
"Oh?" I said with faux playfulness. "You only say that because you're after my body," I said dramatically, while covering a part of my neck, as if protecting myself from being bitten by her.
Rolling her eyes, she stepped closer and gave me a sly look. "Oh, I can prove that I am after more than just your body," she said suggestively.
Raising my brows in surprise, I gave her a surprised look. "Oh really?" I asked challengingly. "Go ahead," I said with a smirk, causing her to mirror my expression.
"Tell me…" she said while grabbing my hand, and yanking it forward. "Do I need a better proof when…" her words trailed off as she slipped my hand under her shirt and onto her cold chest. Before I could retract my hand, I felt something impossible. "My heart literally beats for you!"
A pulse.
"H–How?" I reflexively asked in surprise, not even bothering to remove my hand.
Smirking, she gave me an amused look. "True Ancestors are incredibly difficult to kill, cockroaches in the truest sense," she said amusedly. "Though admittedly, I myself was shocked when after two years of drinking your blood that my heart actually pumped blood through my system, for the first time in over a thousand years."
Not wanting to continue 'feeling her up', I retracted my hand, causing her to pout. "You could have waited for the next beat," she said prudently, causing me to raise a brow. "How long would that have been?" I asked, and she shrugged. "Six or so minutes."
Yeah, no…
"Still, how did my blood 'revive' you?" I asked, and she frowned. "Let's not talk shop, we are on this lovely date, and you've just learned that as long as you give me more of your blood and give me a few decades, that I'll grow up into some hot bombshell," she said dismissively. "Let's not sweat the boring small stuff, and instead have the two of us continue this lovely date."
Fuck it, I'll leave the 'business' talk for when she comes back home, though I am still very interested.
I can only assume this has something to do about how she was meant to absorb Mystery when she was born, and seeing as Morgan compared my blood to something from the Age of Gods, the Mystery in it might have been able to 'heal' her, or fill in some of the 'empty spots' in her 'diet', or whatever, from back then.
I'd need to look into this, maybe I could find a way to concentrate the dosage to properly revive her, and make her grow up.
But that was for later.
"Sure, but I'm still against calling this date 'lovely' due to your terrible pick of location," I expressed with mild amusement.
"Oh, come on!" She groaned out, while flailing her arms around. "The whole point of coming here was to get your mind off things, and hopefully to relax," she stated, and I gave a slight frown at her 'explanation'.
"I would have preferred a different location for a date, even if this has been very interesting," I rebuked, causing her to roll her eyes.
"Let me ask you this? Have you even once thought about your Mother, the Grail War, or how shit things have been recently?" She asked loudly.
And… the mood has been ruined.
Her question took me a bit aback, but thinking back a bit, I could only shake my head. "I suppose not, though that was mostly due to the shocking things on display here," I stated, and for some odd reason, Altrouge beamed a large smile.
"Exactly!" She exclaimed, while gesturing to everything around her. "Look around, and you'll be surrounded by reminders of how terrible and painful life can truly be!" She said while gesticulating to the surroundings.
"You've gone through a rough patch, but compare yourself to the survivors of this place, or hell, even myself," she said while pointing a hand at her face, before waving a dismissive hand. "I'm sure you might be able to relate a smidge with some of the survivors of this place, as I presume a good chunk of them had survivors' guilt for outliving someone they loved here, or having them die in their place."
"... Are you trying to compare my situation with that of a holocaust survivor?" I asked with a hint of incredulity.
"Yes."
I don't know what I expected, but I'm still floored by how tone-deaf her examples are.
I had it bad, really bad, but the worst of it was losing my mother, and getting my legs mangled by Avenger. Certainly things I'd never want to re-live again, but not something I'd trade in for a stay in a concentration camp.
Seeing my contorted expression, Altrouge flashed another smile. "Am I a bit off the mark, maybe?" She asked rhetorically, while tapping a finger on her chin. "If so…" as her words trailed off, she fixed me with a piercing look. "Then why are you, unlike many of these survivors, incapable of moving on?"
…
"You never talk about your Mother or the Grail War, hell I haven't heard you speak her name," she said while inching closer to me. "You work in your office alone, barely even utilizing Amelia for her intended job, and you never interact with anyone, unless they physically come to see you," she continued unhurriedly.
"I mean," she said with a huff. "You don't even bother to hang out with me unprompted anymore!"
Seeing that she was finished with her little rant, I gave a sigh. "It's not that simple," I said patiently. "I failed on so many levels during the War, and there are so many things that I could have done to salvage the situation, and I just can't stop myself from constantly thinking of 'what-ifs'," I explained, but for some odd reason, Altrouge's face scrunched up in annoyance at my words.
"Oh, come ON!" She practically yelled, while throwing her arms up. "You screwed the pooch, you royally fucked up," she spat, before lowering her arms and using a hand to poke me in the chest. "But. It. Already. Happened," she said while poking me each time she spoke.
"Don't torture yourself about what could have been," she said tiredly, while lowering her arm. "I've gone down that road myself when I got my powers, or when I understood why my birth was so important," she said bitterly. "It gets you nowhere, other than stuck in your own head, dreaming up a reality that makes the one you're already living seem even bleaker."
Closing her eyes, she gave me an impromptu hug. "Even the doll girl you picked up smiles more often and more genuinely than you," she muttered, and I felt myself go still at the remark.
Slowly, I returned the hug.
Her words had been… illuminating. She wasn't wrong, not really. I hadn't been acting like myself recently, and had been having difficulties adjusting.
"It's really difficult," I said, and she broke the hug, and fixed me with a look. "If it was easy, then you never would have loved her," she stated softly. "But proving to her that you can move on from this, would show that you truly cared for her, and that you're capable of carrying on the torch."
Jesus, where is she pulling these lines from?
Scoffing slightly, I completely broke the hug and gave her a smile. "Alright, in what book did you fish that line from?" I asked amusedly, and Altrouge returned the smile. "I'm quite articulate, you know?"
Scoffing, I gave her an incredulous look. "You are articulate in the same way a sailor is."
Snorting slightly, she shot me an impressed look. "Wow, your audacity is astounding, such confidence… How about we see if you'll be as confident when we enter a hotel room together," she stated while grabbing my hand, and I felt whatever goodwill I got at her little inspirational speech shrivel up.
"I'm not having sex with you," I said while not bothering to resist her pulling me towards the exit.
Turning her head to look at me, she flashed a grin. "I never mentioned sex, but I like where your instincts are pointing you," she said before waggling her brows. "Now, let us see where that confidence will get you with that attitude," she said suggestively.
"I repeat, I'm not having sex with you."
My words caused her to pout. "But you touched my boob!" She complained petulantly while pointing at her chest.
"I'm fairly sure you placed my hand on your rib, as it was far too flat and hard to be called a 'boob'," I corrected, and she squeezed my hand, causing me to wince.
"I'll be keeping the 300 SLR because of that comment."
"I'm sorry…"
---
A/N
Welcome back, my reader Overlords, please add this to your library and give me some comments, stones and reviews, as it would be much appreciated.
Ok, massive fucking lore dump, a bit heavy, I know, but there aren't really a lot of opportunities to learn about her past, as she is obviously ashamed of it, so the fewer who know, the better. So I am using this as an opportunity for us to get the lore dump on her, as she has practically none when it comes to canon.
So, hope you all were alright with the lore dump, as it needed to happen somewhere, and I feel it appropriate for Altrouge to try and leverage it against Alistair on an occasion like this, to get some pity points, while having someone to vent to.
Plus, I added a few parallels between Alistair and Altrouge, like the forced contract, but while Altrouge was bound in life, Alistair would be bound in death, and a few small other things, which you might catch if you re-read her part and try to look for parallels between them.
Probably not the best lore for a character, but I found it a bit difficult to come up with one for a so-called True Ancestor Apostle mix, as it makes almost no sense lore wise, so I had to cook up some mental gymnastics for it to work. So I hope it wasn't terrible.
Though, I must admit, I wrote a lot as well to make up for being so slow (8K ish, so a two in one), as I thought you all deserved some extra words for my delay in posting!
If you have any questions, please leave them here, I'll be more than happy to answer most things!
And on a happier note, I'll be back to NYC tomorrow-ish, so I'll be able to write with more consistency! Hurrah!
Hop onto my Discord Server, I'd love to have a chat: https://discord.gg/HAPhryp5M2
Now, hand over those Power Stones, can't you see they are lonely when not used? Give them to me, and allow them to socialize, it's for their best... I swear…