Micheal swerved to avoid more sludge and gunned the engine around the last corner finally getting his eyes directly on the civic center. He ran the car up and onto the sidewalk before he vaulted over the side of the car,
Mom would kill me knowing I drove like that without a seatbelt.
He thought dryly to himself as he ran into the civic center and summoned Blessed Hellfire into his hand in its pistol form. He slowed down as he looked around but he felt a servants presence directly ahead of him. He glanced up and saw the signage saying it was the concert hall. He smiled with no warmth as he walked up to the door and opened it striding into the room to immediately take stock of what he saw. He saw Saber standing in the conductors pit below but it wasn't the Saber he knew while behind her…
"So thats the Holy Grail." He said whistling appreciatively as he walked down the stairs at a casual pace one hand hand in his pocket while the other loosely gripped Blessed Hellfire, "I knew it'd be shiny but not that shiny."
Saber moved to stand in front of the grail and she glared up into his face from her spot in the pit. He just smirked at her and looked past her at the grail. He looked back into the pale yellow eyes of the Darkened Saber and gave her a look of pity,
"So this is what it came to to make your wish reality. I pity you Artoria Pendragon but more than that… I am disappointed in you."
The woman stiffened and her glare intensified as he continued,
"You were the epitome of chivalry. The Knight-King that everyone, including me, aspired to be as kids. Now look at you. You tainted yourself, ruined your legacy, and spat on the legend that gave you the form you have now" His anger flared up as his mana began to leak off of him like black smoke, "The vaunted King of Knights. King Arthur- No."
He glared at her as he felt his anger at this entire farce of a grail war.
His anger at Caster and what he did to the woman he loved.
His rage at the world that Jeanne Alter came from and for how it seemed content to let her simply vanish.
His pure hatred for himself for doing what he had to do to give his Servant the slimmest of chances to be able to make her wish,
"I will never forgive you for this."
Micheal heard her voice in his head as he laughed outloud which clearly unnerved Saber as she involuntarily took a step back as he snapped his gaze to her,
"Artoria Pendragon. You are a traitor to your own existence."
"I am only doing what I must for my wish-"
She started only for Micheal to flare his mana as the air became hotter,
"Yes. Your Wish for the grail. Let me ask you this then Servant. Now that you've become this. Now that you've changed your very being and tainted your soul at the whims of your new Master…. Are you sure your wish is still even your own?"
She stilled and stared at him as he gripped Blessed Hellfire tighter in his hand feeling every single bump and curve on the grip. He levelled a glare full of venom and outright hatred at Saber as he flared his mana further.
Artoria's eyes widened and she took another step back as Micheal spoke while activating his attribute causing his mana to take on aspects both holy and hellish. He imagined his mana coalescing behind him into two sets of wings. One made of white feathers and the other pure black ravens wings.
His mana responded as he felt himself sink fully into his rage much like how he had in the pit where he had activated Blessed Hellfire for the first time. This time was different however as now he was not rescuing someone in need of help.
He was not going to save anyone.
No.
He was going to Consign his enemy to Death.
He spoke and his voice echoed on itself slightly,
"Artoria Pendragon. I loathe your existence as it is now. You, who was once a shining star to ever aspire to walk towards… are now a blight upon the world. In my agency and capacity as the Eleventh Saint I hereby state your sentence in the eyes of both Heaven and Hell."
He levelled his pistol at the grail and imagined stepping into the bonfire that he had been mentally walking towards the entire time. The response was immediate as his white wings Fell turning into the same raven black as the other set while his mana shifted its alignment to fully encompass Hell. As he walked down the steps to the conductors pit he left flaming footprints in his wake while the mana he was exuding began to actively char and burn his surroundings as he saw fear flit across the face of the Servant below him,
"I will not be the one to kill you. You… are entirely and utterly beneath me Artoria Pendragon. The one who shall kill you shall be my Servant."
He finally reached the bottom of the stairs and stared into the pale yellow eyes of the Darkened Artoria Pendragon as she stood motionless in front of him as he spoke,
I am the Eleventh Saint.
I walk upon the earth wielding both Heaven and Hell in equal measure.
With my Right Hand I give Salvation;
With my Left Hand I bring Deserved Death.
I am Saint Micheal Anthony Lefaire,
Master of Avenger and Wielder of Blessed Hellfire
In my full capacity as the Eleventh Saint
I condemn you, Artoria Pendragon, to die.
He felt Blessed Hellfire change in his hand as his finished speaking into Jeanne Alters version and he pulled the trigger three times firing three explosive mana rounds. One at the grail, another at the ceiling above them, and the last at Sabers center mass. He flooded his legs with mana and shot forward at the fastest speed he'd ever moved right as he heard an explosion behind him and he activated his eyes. He watched in slow motion as the explosive mana bullet hit the grails surface only to be absorbed by it which confirmed his theory on how he was going to get into the thing.
He sensed more than heard or saw the second bullet hitting the ceiling blowing a massive hole into it exposing the night sky overhead.
The third bullet Saber attempted to deflect with the flat of her blade but it exploded regardless knocking her out of the way just enough for Micheal to shoot past her. He gritted his teeth….
and turned his Saint Origin into magical energy right as he touched the grail, feeling himself turn into Magical Energy as he was absorbed into it with the last thing he heard being his own Servants raw despair fueled scream.
An unknown amount of time later his vision slowly came into focus causing him to blink and look around where he was. He frowned seeing he was in the middle of a hallway back home in the Lafaire mansion. He blinked and held up his hand flexing his fingers sensing that he had successfully turned himself into magical energy. He scanned himself and confirmed it noticing that he wasn't fully human anymore. He felt the magical energy he had obtained by sacrificing his Origin slowly dwindling which he assumed was it being absorbed into the grail.
"So this is what being a servant feels like huh?" He said to himself before taking stock of what he had on him.
Sacrificing his Saint origin had been a gamble but it had given him enough magical energy to sustain his sense of self even as he could sense the mana it supplied him with being slowly siphoned away from him. He patted his pockets and felt his wallet, the pen he had been using to mark the map, and something else. He frowned and pulled out a perfectly carved obsidian jewel shot through with purple and gold streaks. He turned it over in his hands a few times and then held it up to his eye to see that the inside was a series of intertwined runes. He briefly sensed Jeanne's mana pulse off of it and he smiled sadly,
"Sorry Jeanne…. But you need to make your wish… and I will do anything to make it happen."
He put the crystallization of his bond with Jeanne D'Arc Alter back into his pocket as he began to walk down the hallway noting that it seemed to extend forever. He kept walking down it until it eventually turned a corner leading to an oak door with a polished brass handle. He firmed his jaw, grabbed the handle, and pushed open the door to see he had walked into one of the lounge areas. There was a fire crackling softly in the hearth, fresh tea sitting on the table, and alongside the tea were some of the biscuits that his uncle had liked to eat. Micheal sighed, realizing what was going on right as he heard another door open, and saw his uncle walk in. For what it was worth it was an excellent copy of his uncle.
It even got his beard stubble right.
"Oh! Micheal! Come in my boy, do come in. I've just made a pot of tea."
Micheal walked into the room, glancing behind him to see that the hallway and door he had come through had turned into a solid wall before looking back at Arnehearte who had sat down in one of the plush chairs.
"Micheal? Whats wrong lad? You look like you've seen a ghost." Arnehearte chuckled, "Please do sit down though. We need to talk about your 'gut feeling' on you being able to join the Grail war in two years."
Micheal stared at his uncle and sighed before moving to sit down. They sat in silence for a bit before Arnehearte started speaking,
"Always been proud of you Micheal. You're going to do things that most magus could only dream of. I'm sure of it"
Micheal hummed neutrally and grabbed his wrist with his other hand to squeeze it to center himself,
"I only wish I could have lived to see and hear about everything you've done so far in your life."
Micheal blinked and slowly turned his head to look at his uncle as he seemed to flicker with static like a badly tuned TV,
"Not sure if, when, or how you're going to get this message but your mother and I decided to plant a… memory of ourselves in case either one of us died and you were near death yourself. Something to… get you moving again if you ever got stuck. As for when we did this… I won't bore you with that."
Micheal stared at his Uncle knowing that somehow, someway, while the Grail had created a replica of him, Arnehearte had co-opted it from beyond the grave. He tried to swallow past the ball of emotions in his throat to speak but could only make a choking sound as he felt his eyes begin to water,
"I won't ask you to tell me where you are or what you're doing right now to be able to see this message…. But I wanted to make sure you knew this," His uncle turned to look at him and Micheal swore the memory of Shear Arnehearte smiled at him, "I'm proud of you lad. More than you could ever know. Get back there and take them for all their worth."
The room fuzzed with static as Micheal reached out with his hand,
"Uncle Arnehearte-!"
.....He was gone.
Slowly Micheal curled the fingers on his outstretched hand into a fist as he dug his nails into his palm right as the static seemed to clear. He was suddenly standing in his moms workshop and he looked around noticing that it looked to be smaller than what he knew it to be right as he heard humming from behind him. He looked around just in time to see a younger version of his mom walking forward with-
"Mom? Why do we need to do more crest stuff? I don't like it. It makes me feel funny…"
Amelia chuckled a bit as she tapped her heel on the stone floor and the stone table rose out of it. She picked up the young Micheal and sat him on it before poking him on the nose,
"Because you are a Lafaire and Lafaires don't back away from any challenge. Before we start however…."
She held up her fingers between their faces and snapped them. Immediately Young Micheals posture went slack as he stared at Amelia who walked away to get a chair to sit down in. She came back, sat down, and stared at her son as Micheal walked closer. After a few seconds she started speaking hoarsely,
"I- ….I don't want to know… what you did or who got you to the point where you're seeing this message honey but… you're strong. Stronger than you know and think you are. You won't remember this but you were born with fully activated circuits. Literally shocked the hell out of me and your father…."
She trailed off and seemed to shake a bit as though she was crying,
"Whatever you do. Whenever and however you see this. Know that your father and I… have always loved you…. And whoever is with you right now, fighting or surviving alongside you, they surely care about you too. So-"
She took a heaving breath as she lowered her head,
"Don't die. You aren't allowed to die… so just- Keep fighting. Keep living. Keep struggling against Fate for as long as you can and when you do go out…"
She looked back up at Young Micheal with a ferocious grin on her tear stained face,
"Go out swinging. Make sure the bastards remember your name."
The room fuzzed with Static again as Micheal suddenly felt he was moving rapidly backwards until finally he slowed down and looked around where he was. It was clearly the Lafaire manor but it was a section that looked like it had been through a war. The windows were shattered, one of the walls had been blown open, the ceiling had been ripped off, and there were countless holes in floor and walls around him that he realized were from Holy lances. He took a step forward towards one of the holes in the wall only to hear ragged coughing behind him and a voice that made him freeze in place.
"Mon Fils…."
Slowly, as though moving any faster would make whatever was going on stop, Micheal turned in place to see a bounded field fall away exposing a bloody and wounded man holding a toddler with sandy blonde hair in his arms. The man was had cauterization scars lining his body as he sat back against the wall in a puddle of slowly expanding blood,
"I… Do not have long Micheal. I only hope that you… aren't in a similar position to moi when you see this. Frankly I'm not even sure I'm doing it correctly… memory and mental spellcraft were always more of your mothers thing."
The man coughed violently as the toddler slept in his arms.
"I'm… sad I won't get to see the man you become. I'm sure you will be strong and brave but more than anything kind. Kind to your allies, Kind to your friends, and kind to those around you who deserve it. I'm sorry I'm leaving you right now, That I won't get to see you grow up or see the person you fell for as they walk down the aisle towards you but I do wish to leave you with one thing before I go…"
The man gathered mana into his finger and drew a symbol that Micheal didn't recognize onto the toddlers arm. He stared at it as it glowed bright blue then glowed a brilliant gold before vanishing without leaving a mark,
"I knew right away who and what you were my son… I would recognize the mana you were born with as though it were my own but you are more than your mana, more than what She would want or desire you to be. You are a Lafaire and with this rune… I hopefully grant you freedom from your Fate…."
Slowly the toddler was enveloped in a soft blue glow that morphed to a bright golden white before fading away,
"More than…. A little ironic to be trusting my only son to the churches God given our history with that same church but…."
Shouting came from outside causing the man to snap his head up. He slowly lowered the toddler to the floor and stood up clearly anemic but smiled down at the toddler right as Micheal remembered to breath,
"My name is Jarod Ignatius Lafaire, I am the 93rd head of the Lafaire Family, and I give unto you, my son, the Blessing of St. George that has seen me through every battle and won me every victory. May it protect you and grant you safety in your time of need."
The toddler suddenly glowed with a bright white light and for the briefest of moments a halo flickered over the childs head. Jarod watched stunned and then looked up at the glittering night sky with a soft smile,
"Watch over him for me."
Suddenly the shouting was much closer as Jarod quickly placed a bounded field over his son turning his toddler self invisible before his father turned in place and changed physically. Micheal watched as Jarod Lafaire activated his Beast magic growing bright gold claws over his arms as his head was encased in a golden wolfs skull.
He roared and shot like a bullet through the opening in the wall as the scene fuzzed into static again into pitch black darkness. He looked out into the blackened void and then looked around his immediate surroundings not seeing anything. When he looked down he saw himself looking back up at him. He arched an eyebrow and focused on the void around him,
"Guess I'll just pick a direction and walk then."
He said putting a hand into his pocket as he started walking in a random direction. After walking for a bit he sensed more than saw the curses in the Grail take notice of him. Suddenly as he was walking he saw scenes of truly evil acts appear beside him. He walked past soldiers dying of mustard gas, through torture rooms where not a second went by that someone wasn't screaming, and through burning towns, their occupants begging for help. He did his best to ignore all of this as he kept moving forward until finally the curses conjured a scene that he had seen many times before. He was standing in front of a stake and tied onto it was Jeanne Alter.
"..."
He stared at her with his hand in his pocket as someone walked by him with a lit torch. He closed his eyes and breathed out a shaky breath as the flames caught and soon after the woman he loved began to scream except this time the screams were worse. They rang out with hatred, pain, acceptance, despair, and a sense that she would always be alone.
Eventually the screams stopped and he opened his eyes as he felt cold rage in his gut. He flared his mana and tore the scene to shreds right as he felt hundreds of curses latch into his skin like fishhooks tearing at the magic energy holding him together. He ignored them as best as he could, grit his teeth, and kept walking forward.
As he walked he found himself thinking back over what had happened in the last year to distract himself from the feeling of the curses in his skin. He remembered how he had found Arnehearte twisted and bloodied.
He felt the prick of the knife on his finger as he thought back to dyeing that silk cloth with his blood in order to be sure to summon the Jeanne Alter he had met and who had died in his lap. He looked down and saw that his finger had been cut open so blood was steadily dripping down onto the 'ground' where it sent out small ripples in the darkness under him.
He remembered Jeanne Alters first reaction to seeing him and how it had been to pin him to the ground and threaten to stab him.
Her reaction to the first meal he had made her.
Their trip into Orleans for Bastille day...
"Feels like a lifetime ago…"
He muttered shaking his head but still moving forward.
Still remembering.
Still feeling.
He briefly wondered how she was doing fighting Artoria and then scoffed at himself for worrying knowing she'd be fine.
As he walked he found that the feeling of the fishhooks slowly faded from his senses and he briefly wondered if he had lost his sense of touch. He slapped himself across the face and swore at the pain. He massaged his cheek as he stopped.
"Of all the times to not have my saint origin." He grumbled. He sighed and looked around where he was before turning on his eyes on a hunch only to immediately slam them shut and turn them off trying to forget what he just saw. To forget the the acts of pure anti-human evil being done not even three meters away from him. He heaved a bit before finally shaking his head and looking around again.
As he did this he caught movement out of the corner of his eye right as the entire void pulsed and seemed to grow more claustrophobic. It was as though the void itself was pressing itself against him now as he looked back to where he had seen movement and tilted his head to the side at what he saw laying on the darkness.
It was a cut flower.
He walked over and picked it up turning it over in his hands noticing that it was flower that he didn't recognize. The petals were a light blue-gold gradient while the stem was a mirrored dark blue-black gradient. He looked up from the flower, wondering where it came from before putting it into his pocket on a hunch as he picked another direction to walk.
He knew that as long as he kept marching forward he would see her again at the end of all this. The curses grew again in number, latching onto his skin trying to slow him down, to stop him from his goal, but he moved forward regardless. After walking for what felt like hours he reached a point where the curses felt the densest and noticed a hole floating in the air at his eye level from which curses flowed out like a steady river.
He stopped in front of it feeling the curses pool around his ankles and stared at the hole as it seemed to look back at him. He pulled his right hand out of his pocket, briefly looking at his spent command seals on the back of his hand, and then turned it palm up inbetween him and the hole as he channeled his mana.
Suddenly a womans voice was in his head as time stopped within the realm he was in. The woman spoke with a sense of self importance and grandeur,
<|Ah. Finally I've connected with you.|>
Micheal blinked and tried to refocus on getting rid of the hole that the curses were flowing out of,
[Whoever you are can you wait a minute? I'm in the middle of something]
Micheal heard what sounded like an indignant choking noise from whoever was on the other end and then,
<|And here I was going to help you solve your little Cursed Grail problem.|>
Micheal scoffed as he tried to place the voice. It was like something within him knew who it was but for the life of him who it might be slipped through his fingers,
[I don't even know who you are and you say you want to help me? For all I know you could be a mental hallucination caused by the curses I've been subjected to.]
Silence then,
<|A fair assessment given what you've been subjected to so far. Let me prove to you, then, that I am… an ally.|>
Micheal didn't like the slyness in how she said 'ally' but before he could say anything he felt his eyes activate on their own alongside something else turning on within him that flooded his body with mana. He quickly shut his eyes not wanting to see more horrors before noticing that the feeling was wildly different from his mystic eyes as well as one other thing,
[There's no headache…]
He heard a smug sound and would have rolled his eyes if they weren't closed.
<|I've merely activated your eyes truly and fully for the moment along with…..something else for you to fulfill this task with. If you ever make it to my realm I am curious to know what it all felt like for research and documentation purposes.|>
[Wait!]
Silence,
[...Thank you. I don't know what you did but… thank you. I've never been able to use my eyes without excruciating headaches and I have enough mana to do what I need to so… again. Thank you]
More silence then
<|You are quite welcome.|>
He sensed the person was smiling smugly on the other end and then wondered how he knew that,
[Who are you and how did you even make this connection?]
He heard a scoffing sound as if whoever this was was insulted by the fact he even asked
<|Please. Where you are right now is basically a sub dimension within your reality thats contained within the Holy Grail. A concept so beneath me at this point it might as well be basic addition and is just as easy to break into. As soon as you sacrificed your Saint Origin and entered this realm I was able to finally establish this mental link as brief as it may be. As for who I am….|>
Silence and then,
<|You may call me...Titania for now. Open your eyes Micheal Anthony Lafaire and see the [Truth] of your world|>
Micheal felt the presence slowly vanish. He took a deep breath and when he opened his eyes he [Saw/Perceived/Witnessed] everything as time resumed.
Immediately the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] assaulted his mind with curses to prevent him from [seeing] its weakness. He stared into the Abyss unblinking as blood began to freely drip from his eyes as [The Seven Virtues/Heaven/Divinity] began to gather in his upward facing palm illuminating the [Center] for the first time in its entire existence turning it from a blackened void of curses into half light-half dark as the Void tried to fight back against him.
Micheal felt the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] gather its power and spear him through with concentrated curses. He coughed blood as he felt one pierce a lung and smiled a bloody smile as he held out his left hand palm down as he felt the curses begin to erode his senses. He closed his eyes and remembered what she had gone through.
What she was currently going through to make this plan work.
What he did to her to even make what he had done so far possible.
He opened his eyes and in his left hand he gathered [The Seven Sins/Hell/The Absence of God] into a roiling ball of blackened fire. He then stared at the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] and aligned his hands together fingers facing upwards. More curses cut through him and he felt his [Origin/Core/Soul/True Self] slowly being torn apart.
His smile widened at the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] and he [felt] it shiver as his smile turned into one reminiscent of the woman he loved. The same woman who was using her hellfire to hold back the grail mud on her own.
He slammed his palms together right as a lance of curses reached for his face only for the lance to stop millimeters away and begin to crumble as the shockwave that spawned from the combination of both [Heaven] and [Hell] blew the [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] apart curse by curse, layer by layer.
The [Grails Corruption/Origin of Curses/Fallen Divinity] howled as it was blown away into dust until finally it left Micheal standing in a white void that seemed to go on forever. He felt his eyes along with the source of that mana deactivate and it was only then that the wounds the Grails Corruption had inflicted on him finally registered to him. He fell to a knee as he felt every cell in his body scream all at the same time. He grit his teeth as he fell forward onto his stomach. He managed to turn his head to the side after he fell only to see the tips of his fingers slowly dissolving into golden particles, right as he felt his mind begin to fade. He smiled and closed his eyes,
"Alright Jeanne. The rest is on you. I'm gonna rest for a bit…"
"Not a chance in Hell. You'd better get up Micheal Lafaire before I make you get up." came an extremely annoyed womans voice as an armored silver boot came into his vision. He suddenly felt all his exhaustion melt away as his fingers restored themselves. He rolled over and smiled at Jeanne D'Arc as she stood over him with her arms folded and a murderous glare on her face which killed any joy at her coming to help him.
He immediately winced and opened his mouth,
"I know. I'm furious at you for doing that to her but it was what was needed to make this happen. That does not mean I have to like it though and rest assured: I truly do not like what you did to her." The Saint said angrily as Micheal slowly stood up and looked around the empty white void,
"So this…"
"Is the inner world of the Holy Grail...or what it should look like at least."
Jeanne sighed and walked away for a few paces before turning around to look at him with a pained expression,
"You performed a Miracle today Micheal. Something reserved for divinity. Normally you'd die as a result of reaching beyond your mortal limits into the realm of the divine but you managed to mitigate that by turning your Saint origin into magical energy which the Miracle mostly used instead. You will… experience some complications once you go back however."
"Frankly the fact I can go back at all I'm considering a victory."
She nodded and gave him a once over,
"Your magical circuits and crest have degraded tremendously. I'd say both are nonfunctional."
Micheal groaned but nodded his head accepting this.
"Also… whatevers changed within your eyes means that you'll effectively be blind without activating them…. and I don't recommend activating them."
Micheal looked at her not understanding,
"If I'm blind without my eyes being activated then why wouldn't I use them?"
"Because you don't have 'Mystic Eyes' Micheal. You don't even have human eyes."
Micheal stared at her and opened his mouth to speak only for nothing to come out.
"Frankly I'm not sure who or what activated them while you were in here but they did so without any regard for what it would be like when you went back to the outside, and very human, world."
"My eyes...aren't human?"
Micheal said touching under one of them as Jeanne D'Arc looked at him sadly,
"I can't say anything more than that. Its not my place to do so."
As she said this Micheal had the sensation of being pulled up by his neck and he looked at Saint Jeanne to see her turning into golden particles,
"Goodbye Micheal Lafaire. Don't do what you did to her again."
Micheal opened his mouth to respond when suddenly the white void blurred around him as everything turned into a mess of colors. Right as he felt he was about to vomit he slammed backwards into something hard causing him to shut his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~
He was sore. It was like every muscle in his body had been pulled and stretched by a spiked taffy machine. His mind felt foggy and his thoughts were skipping over each other like a scratched record. He heard movement to his left and then,
"Please….open your eyes….please…."
He snapped his eyes open and sat up inhaling as he suddenly remembered how to breath. He blinked and looked around seeing only darkness. He couldn't see. He held his hand in front of his face only to find he couldn't see it. On a hunch he activated his eyes and immediately slammed them shut to turn off the visual noise right as he felt someone slug him in the shoulder knocking him sideways onto whatever he was sitting on before catching his arm and pulling him in a tight hug.
"Idiot… you're a rotten bastard. A jackass. The worst person I've ever met. Just the fucking worst….."
Micheal turned off his eyes and gently touched Jeanne Alters hand as she shook,
"...I am so glad your back Micheal. Don't- Don't ever leave me again."
"...I won't."
He turned his head towards Jeanne and had an idea. He activated his mana sense and felt his mana expand out from him only to immediately felt lightheaded as he felt like he was running out of mana.
"I'd say your circuits and crest are nonfunctional."
Micheal stopped the spell and sat there until the lightheaded feeling went away.
"Jeanne...Can you tell me whats going on? Did we win? Where's Saber?"
"What do you mean-"
She paused and he could imagine the look of horror on her face as she sensed what was left of his mana.
"No... No no no no! Did I- Micheal are you okay!? Open your eyes. Look at me. Please!"
Micheal turned his head around to look in the direction of her voice and gingerly cracked open his eyes making sure they were turned off. He heard Jeannes shocked gasp and guessed his eyes looked worse than he thought they would. He smiled dryly in the direction her voice was coming from as he closed them again,
"You didn't do anything wrong Jeanne."
"But- your mana! Your eyes! How-"
"The price I had to pay to pull off a Miracle. The fact I was able to come back at all I am calling a victory."
He couldn't see her face but he knew she was glaring at him,
"Just… tell me whats around us. Please."
He heard her sigh and then heard movement. He frowned as it sounded off to him,
"We're still in the concert hall. Saber's dead. I killed her with Blessed Hellfire. As for the grail...I'd tell you to turn around but- Are you really blind? Actually?"
Micheal turned his head out of habit to look behind him before remembering. He turned his head to look at where Jeannes voice was coming from again.
"While I was in there….I found out a few things about my eyes. First of all, they aren't human."
He heard an intake of breath,
"Please let me finish Jeanne."
Silence and then, "oh right.. you can't see me…. nod anymore… go on."
He smiled in her general direction,
"In the process of cleansing the grail I had my eyes truly activated for a brief moment and….Its like I saw Everything."
A gasp,
"You don't have all seeing eyes do you?"
"No, not like that. More like… I could see the [Truth] of things. I don't know how to explain it. When I was in the Grail I looked at the centerpoint of the curses and [saw] that it was the lingering remnants of Angra Mainyu. As for why I can't see normally… Thats the price I had to pay, alongside my circuits, for being able to come back after performing a capital 'M' Miracle."
Silence and then, "So… what happens when you activate your eyes? Can you activate them?"
He shook his head, "I tried just a minute or two ago and got severe vertigo from the information overload. I don't think I can ever use my eyes again."
They sat there for a bit before Jeanne sighed and he heard her get up only to stumble. He whipped his head around right as he heard her mutter some curses under her breath,
"Jeanne? You're not injured are you?"
"….Saber got in some good hits at the end there."
She paused,
"She took off my leg from the knee down. I cauterized it shut but…. I can't exactly walk."
Micheal felt himself panic for a brief second before he had an idea. He held up his right hand in the direction of her voice
"Jeanne? Do I still have a command seal?"
"Yes… the middle one."
Micheal breathed a sigh of relief and then held his right hand up,
"By my command seal. Restore my servant, Jeanne D'Arc Alter, to pristine perfect health."
He immediately felt woozy as his felt his final command seal activate followed by Jeannes gasp.
'
"Did it work?"
"It…. it did. It even restored my armor."
He smiled and then looked up trying to place where the grail might be only to see darkness. He sighed, realizing he was going to have to unlearn a lot of habits, and then asked,
"Jeanne I hate to trouble you right after you've been fully healed but could help guide me to the grail? I still need to make my wish… assuming you're still wanting to stick around."
He heard a scoffing sound followed by the familiar sounds of armored heels on wood. He felt Jeanne slip an arm around his back to hold him to her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder to steady himself as she helped him stand up and let his servant guide him for a few steps,
"Its right in front of you. I physically touched it when I made my wish so…"
"Wait- Did you reincarnate already?"
"...No. My wish was… to bring you back…. also I don't want to stay by reincarnation. Just trust me on that. It would be a bad idea."
Micheal paused and waited,
"Use your wish to have the grail function as my source of mana for however long it will last. That way I'm not putting you at risk and I get to stay."
Micheal nodded and reached out only for Jeanne to gently grab his wrist and guide his hand over to land on warm metal.
He cleared his throat and mentally went over what he would say to make sure he said it correctly on the first go,
"My wish for the holy grail is for it to become the source of mana for my servant Jeanne D'Arc Alter to help sustain her existence so she can stay as long as she wants to do so."
The Holy Grail vanished from under his hand while Jeanne gasped from beside him. He smiled down at her and wished he could see her face. He settled for wrapping his other arm around her and pulling her into a hug,
"I'm back Jeanne."
She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his shirt,
"Don't fucking leave like that ever again."
"I won't."
He felt her look up at him and could imagine her glare,
"I promise."
"...If you don't keep it this time then when I bring you back I am putting you through hell. You do not get to put me through any of that shit again. Understand?"
"Crystal." He moved to let go only for Jeanne to tighten her arms around him. He tilted his head down at her confused only to suddenly feel sublime softness on his lips as his brain shorted out while his heart tried to speed up and slow down at the same time. He frantically tried to memorize the feeling but the only part of it he could catch was the scent of ash and pine trees as she pulled away. He opened and shut his mouth unable to speak as Jeanne buried her face into his shirt.
"Thank you… Master."
He swallowed as his mouth went dry at the pure vulnerable sincerity in her voice as she started to shake. He knew he had to respond and forced his mouth to work,
"You're welcome."