Chapter Text
Ritsuka would have loved to have said that getting both Avengers to cooperate and work together was a simple and easy thing to do, but…
"You want to say that to my face, you bastard?"
"I just did! But if your hearing is so impaired, then I suppose I can say it once more! You, you abnormality, should not be here! Your very presence in this place is a mistake!"
"I'll show you mistake, you…!"
…he would have been lying his butt off. Neither Avenger nor Jeanne Alter could stand each other at all, and they seemed ready to tear one another's face off at the slightest provocation. He might have thought that two Avengers would actually be able to get along fairly well, considering their similarities, but that was probably about as reductive as expecting two Sabers to get along well just because they were both Sabers.
That…might have been a bad example, too, since he wasn't sure he'd ever seen two Sabers in the same place before, let alone interacting meaningfully. Riders… Yeah. After all, Hippolyta and Aífe both got along pretty well, didn't they? They hadn't thrown a single unkind word at each other yet.
Maybe because they both understood: both of their legends had been cut short by an adventuring hero. Hippolyta had been killed by Herakles and Aífe had been defeated by Cúchulainn, and as a result, both of their legends had come to an end prematurely. That understanding probably made it really easy for them to get along.
If only the same could have been said for these two Avengers.
"Hey."
They stopped arguing for a moment, turning to him. Jeanne Alter still looked furious, but Avenger only looked somewhere between disgusted and annoyed. Like he couldn't stand the sight of her, but didn't hate her enough to actually try killing her.
"At least for now, you're both my Servants, aren't you? So we're all on the same side here, aren't we?"
"Tch." Jeanne Alter scoffed. "I don't know why you think we need him. I can barbeque anything that comes after us in this place, so he's just taking up wasted space."
Avenger grinned nastily. "You think so, do you? Be my guest, then! Go on! Lead Master through this hellscape and show him the way forward! Guide him through this Prison Tower, if you are so certain you need no help from me!"
Ritsuka opened his mouth, intending to stop the fight before it really started.
"— seems like the best option we have available. If things start to deteriorate, we can reconsider our other options, but without a better idea of what exactly is going on inside of that curse, we shouldn't rush to send in anyone else and risk losing either them or our only chance to mount a rescue operation. Right, Director?"
And for a moment, he saw Chaldea. Mash, Rika, the Director, Doctor Roman, Miss Da Vinci, Senpai, all gathered around him. His body refused to move. Even his eyes stared straight ahead, no matter how hard he tried to look somewhere, anywhere by his room's ceiling.
"That's right," Director Marie said. "If we rush into things, then we might just make them worse. We need to know more about what we're getting into before doing anything else."
"But Onii-chan…!" came Rika's voice.
"Right now, Rika, it's the best of a lot of bad options," Doctor Roman told her. "If things take a turn for the worse, we'll throw caution to the wind and do whatever it takes —"
Static scratched across the surface of his brain. Chaldea faded away, like someone was erasing the image of it from his eyes one stroke at a time.
"…back with us, Master?"
Ritsuka gasped, and the prison slid back into focus, and he realized, suddenly, that he was doubled over, panting and barely upright.
"I was…" he managed to get out. "I was just in Chaldea."
"Too bad you couldn't stay there," said Jeanne Alter, "so I didn't have to drag your carcass through this place."
"Have you forgotten so easily?" asked Avenger, a hint of mocking in his voice. "I've already told you, haven't I? Your body remains behind in Chaldea, and what is trapped here in this place is your soul. You may indeed catch glimpses of reality throughout, but the only way to truly leave this place is to defeat the Lords in their Halls of Judgment and overcome the challenges that await you."
"With only you to help him?" Jeanne Alter drawled. "He might as well give up right now."
Even if that had been the case, Ritsuka still wouldn't have just laid down and waited to die, but now…
"I have you here, too, though, don't I?" he asked her. "In that case, there's no way I can just give up. We're both getting out of here."
We have to, he didn't say. There was no one else who could save him now. Even if… No, especially if the others found some way to join him… No, as tempting as it was, he couldn't get anyone else caught up in this mess. No one else needed to have to go through this as long as he could make it out on his own, with help from Avenger and Jeanne Alter.
He couldn't rely on Senpai forever, and he refused to let Rika go through this, too. He just… Just, for the first time, he had to stand on his own two feet.
Avenger laughed. "Good resolve, Master! Indeed, but I can't help wondering how long it will last in the face of the challenges to come! Now, enough dawdling! Let us return to your cell so that we might make our way to the next Hall of Judgment!"
And so, they did, the three of them making their way back to the decrepit room that served as his cell, a familiar place, when he actually looked at it, because everything might have been different, made of sturdy wood, iron, and stone instead of the sleeker, almost futuristic design he was used to, but the layout was essentially the same as his room in Chaldea.
"Feel free to lie down on that bed and wait," Avenger mocked, "long for a miracle, if you like. Of course, that's the simplest solution, but there's only a single result that can come of it."
"I die," said Ritsuka, "right?"
Avenger huffed. "Hmph! So you were paying attention after all, were you? Then maybe there is some glimmer of hope for you."
"And what happens to me, in that case?" Jeanne Alter asked. "What, does he take me with him?"
Avenger sneered at her. "I have no obligation to help you escape, you wretch. You can wander off and spend eternity lost in these halls, and it will make no difference to me."
Jeanne Alter grinned back at him. "Then I guess I'm sticking right here, asshole. If you want to be rid of me, grow a pair and do it yourself."
"I'm fine for now," Ritsuka announced. "If I need to rest, then we can just come back here for a little while, can't we?"
"Indeed. Ha!" Avenger grinned, too. "But take care, my Master! There is a fine line between resting to regain your strength and allowing yourself to fall to indolence! Should you cross that line into helpless apathy, then I myself will leave you here to rot!"
"Like fuck you will," Jeanne Alter snapped. "This guy may be just shy of completely useless, but if he's my ticket out of here, then I'm not letting you leave him behind just because you can't hold your fucking breeches!"
"Then let's go," said Ritsuka, pushing through the starting of another argument. "We might as well go after the next Lord. The sooner they're all taken care of, the sooner I can get out of here."
And back to Chaldea. If he really was back there earlier for however short a time that was, then enough time had passed there for everyone to notice something was wrong. He couldn't afford to take his time escaping this hellhole.
Avenger glowered at Jeanne Alter briefly, but only briefly. "Indeed. Follow me, then, Master, and don't tarry. Bring your rabid mutt, if you must. I suppose it might have some use distracting the enemy with its yapping."
"Woof-woof," Jeanne Alter drawled.
The instant Avenger's back was turned, she made a rude gesture at his back with her finger, and it took all of Ritsuka's self-control not to react. The less they fought each other, the easier it would be to get them to fight the enemy together.
Nonetheless, despite how much they seemed to dislike each other, Jeanne Alter fell into step with him when he followed Avenger, and the clink of her armor echoed off the walls as they walked. Everything looked the same as it had to the first Hall of Judgment, and yet, despite that, there was something different about the path they were taking, too, and Ritsuka couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
Time was still just as wonky, though. When all the walls and all the torches looked exactly the same and there was no sun or moon to mark the passage of time, it became hard to tell how much time had actually passed. An hour? Two? Five minutes? Ritsuka wouldn't have been surprised, no matter what the answer wound up being.
"Damn," Jeanne Alter complained. "How far do we have to walk, anyway? Is this place really that big?"
"This prison is not bound by the normal rules of time and space," Avenger said dispassionately. "Distance is all an illusion. It takes exactly as long as it must to reach the next Hall of Judgment. No more and no less."
"No shit? Ugh." Jeanne Alter groaned. "This is such a pain in the ass!"
"If it bothers you so much, then feel free to wander off and die."
"I already told you," she sneered, "if you want to get rid of me, grow some balls and do it yourself!"
"H-Hello?" a new voice called out, trembling. "I-is someone there?"
Ritsuka stopped. A moment later, so did Avenger and Jeanne Alter, turning to look at him.
"P-please," the voice continued, "I don't know where I am or…or how I got here…"
Before he could even think about it, Ritsuka's feet started moving, carrying him in the direction of the new voice.
"What's that?" asked Avenger. "Are you distracted from your goal so easily? Hmph! Does your sense of justice overrule your sense of purpose so readily that you would drop everything to help someone even in a place like this?"
Maybe it was a bad idea, but…
"I can't just turn away from her."
There were so many outstretched hands that he hadn't been able to grasp. In Septem, when that fake Rome was destroyed in an instant, and in Orléans, when they'd had to run away from La Charité. Lyon and Orléans itself were already gone before they could do anything about it aside from avenging them.
The only saving grace of Okeanos had been that there weren't any innocent civilians in the line of fire. The whole place had been essentially empty, save for the Servants there for the Grail.
That was why… Here and now, Ritsuka couldn't leave someone behind to suffer if there was anything he could do about it.
"I guess you just don't know him very well, do you?" drawled Jeanne Alter. "The whole lot of them are a bunch of goody two-shoes. Ugh, it's disgusting, you know?"
But despite her words, she was still following him.
Avenger just laughed. "Very well! If you insist on endangering yourself, I suppose I can't stop you. Help that pitiful voice, if you feel you must. My only warning for you is to stay on your guard, even on this mission of mercy."
Avenger's mouth pulled into a broad grin.
"Or you'll die."