Fate/Labyrinth

...

Kato could only stand and watch, as Saber delved into the misty cloud echoing with the sounds of a clash. He could see the occasional spark flying, and sometimes a flash of blue light --maybe a skill?-- but mainly, it was eerily still. 

And so, he sat beside Aneka's unconscious body, watching with apprehension at the battle being waged below. 

Suddenly, a searing pain arced through his left hand, where that foreign mark was. The pain was almost unbearable, but it subsided almost immediately. Something, maybe intuition, maybe a lucky guess, told him; Saber was injured. 

Kato was even more anxious now, and yet he could do nothing. 

Finally, after what felt like hours yet was likely no more than a few minutes, Saber rocketed out of the cloud of fog. Kato was relieved, but only for a moment. The relief went away the moment he saw the two figures with Saber, one being carried, another pursuing. 

The man being carried was of darker skin, with short, almost white hair, wearing simple black clothes reminiscent of southeastern culture, though adorned with gold and jewels, transforming a would-be average looking outfit into something transcending royal, something almost divine. What caught Kato's eye most, though, were the two large gold objects hovering behind him, in the shape of a rough oval, almost reminiscent of wings, with eight small, glowing blue spheres on each, and one large on each. The man looked to be unconscious, and heavily depleted of mana... no, it was almost as if the servant was never given any mana. 

The second figure, the one chasing Saber, was a tall man wearing pitch black armor, jagged and imposing. He wielded a staff adorned with red veins, and there seemed to be a dark fog seeping off of him. It was clear to see, then, that he was the source of the fog. 

"Admiral-!! We gotta run for now, get ready!"

Saber's words cut across Kato's thoughts, springing him into action the moment he registered what she meant. 

"Got it! I'll grab these two, can you hold 'im off for a while!?"

The man yelled back to Saber, which she answered only with a smirk, and an adjustment of her bicorne.

"Don't worry 'bout me, Admiral. You just get these two outta here, I'll be right behind you. -Go, there's a ravine about half a mile south, you should be able to hide in there!"

With those words, Saber dropped the man she was carrying all that time, presumably during her fight as well, and spun around to face the oncoming armored man. It was at that moment, while Kato was preparing to carry both Aneka and the unconscious servant, that he noticed... Saber's arm was hanging loosely at her side. 

Scratches all over it, bruising too, and Kato could even see a bit of bone. 

The blood poured down, so how-?

No. There is no time for that. Saber knows what she can do better than I do, I should trust her... good luck, Saber... don't die.

Kato had no time to speak as he was grabbing the unconscious figures, and so he thought those words as he began to run. But somehow, something told him Saber understood. 

...

Saber watched as Kato moved away with surprising speed, considering the load he was carrying. Once she was satisfied with his distance, she spun around with a smirk to face the oncoming Berserker. She spoke while drawing her ceremonial sabre, not with any goal in mind, simply to deprive the Berserker of his atmosphere of intimidation and silence.

"Hey there, ugly. Looks like it's you 'n me, huh? ...well, let's see if ya can keep up with a servant who actually has mana, rather than some starved, frail Berserker... heh. This really takes me back, fighting for the losers... c'mon then."

If Saber's words affected Berserker at all, there was no sign of it, as he launched himself towards her, staff raised in preparation for a strike. Saber noticed immediately that his aim was to end the fight with one blow, an instant kill.

Saber took great offense to that. 

She let out a growl of annoyance, mana surging around her as Saber activated her mana burst skill. Swiftly raising her blade, she parried Berserker's strike, after which she used the opening to dart past him, swiping her blade across the armored man's leg.

Berserker seemed not to even register her slash, spinning around and striking Saber in the stomach with his staff immediately. The swing hit, and Saber was sent flying into a nearby mountain. She was given no time to regain her bearings, as Berserker seemed to appear above her, striking down once more. 

This time, however, Saber had a plan. 

However, it all depended on if Kato could wake Aneka up in time... 

...

As the sounds of the battle rang out, becoming steadily quieter behind him, Kato could feel some sense of relief. It didn't last long, of course, as his legs buckled beneath him.

Damn... Damn! Just a little farther, just gotta... Get to the ravine... 

Thus, Kato continued running, his legs spurred by that thought. 

Repeating those words to himself over and over, he ran. 

After what seemed like hours, the ravine Saber told him about finally came into view. And just as Kato allowed himself a moment's relief, he caught a glimpse of what looked to be a cloud of fog moving towards him, and Saber fighting something inside of it. A sense of desperation filled the young man, as he realized; Saber was losing, and if Saber did lose... Himself, Aneka, and the mana-less servant he had been carrying would be done for. 

Desperation, desperation.

...

...A thought, turning into an idea... an idea that would be likely to fail, yet Kato had no other option. He would have to make the gamble. 

And so, he halted, ceasing all movements, and placing the two people he was carrying onto the ground. 

Kato was putting everything on the line, with nothing more than a hope to save them all.

The hope that whoever Aneka summoned as a servant would be able to fight that Berserker.

"Aneka... Aneka, hey, wake up! ...Aneka, come on, wake up! ...Damn, dammit!"

Despite his repeated shouts, nothing seemed to stir her. Kato cursed once more, before reaching into his bag and withdrawing a crimson red gemstone mounted on a necklace. 

"...damn you, for making me use this..."

He held the gemstone above Aneka's heart and spoke a few quiet words to activate the magic item. The necklace glowed brightly for a moment and while Kato was chanting, but it dissolved as soon as he finished the chant, which, at the very same moment, Aneka's head shot up, hitting Kato in the nose.

"Gahh-! H-hey, Kato, where--"

There was no time for Kato to answer her questions, and he knew it. Saber was holding out for now, luring him into the ravine, but it couldn't last long. 

"Not now, not now! Listen very carefully, 'cause if you don't, we're all dead... Aneka, while you were in your cell, the spirit of a historical figure or myth appeared to you and formed a contract. We need their help now, otherwise, we're dead. Figure it out, I need to help Saber!"

Kato dashed off to the edge of the ravine to more accurately command Saber, leaving Aneka on her own, bewildered. 

But she understood something. 

That dark, unsettling feeling she had gotten, that distorted voice... 

They needed that thing now.

...What did it say it was called...? ...'Assassin'? ...Gods, that thing was horrible... No, no, I shouldn't be thinking that... Assassin will help us...

Aneka took in one more shaky breath, hesitating. She glanced to Kato, her friend, standing on the side of a ravine, back to her, shouting out orders to a battle fighting below, and a thought occurred to her, one that gave her strength.

...He... needs my help... I can't afford to wait any longer, then-!

"...Assassin, are you there...?"

Silence, for one terrible moment. One terrible moment, where Aneka believed both she and her friend were doomed. One terrible moment, ended with the sound of a distorted voice echoing only in her mind, and the dark cloud-like presence which she recognized as Assassin.

...Master... You have called for me... State your orders...

Hearing those distorted words projected into her mind, Aneka let out a sigh of relief, though still tinged with the initial and primal fear that Assassin invoked in her.

"Oh, Assassin, thank the Gods... We need your help, please! Two people like you are fighting in that ravine, a-and, Our friend is losing, so-"

...Understood, Master... I shall kill any being in that ravine...

...Wait. No, that's-- Kato's servant is still in there!

Aneka was too late with her thought, however, and only succeeded in thinking that much before the dark presence of Assassin was gone. She wanted to reach out to Kato, to call out to him, warn him--

But, her sight dimmed.

Her knees buckled. 

And once more, she fell onto the ground, unconscious.

...

"Saber-!!! Get out of there, something's coming-!"

Even though Aneka could not warn him, Kato was able to spot the faint cloud, something that would be completely invisible if Saber had not told him to watch for any disruptions to the battle, and certainly invisible to any fighting servants. He worried that his shout would not reach her ears, of course, but fortunately, Saber seemed to notice. 

However, it could not be that easy. 

Saber was locked in a bind with Berserker at the moment, one she was decisively losing. Kato's shout distracted her for just a moment, which Berserker took as an opportunity, slamming her small sabre away from the bind with his much larger staff, and bringing it down onto her with enough force to crack a mountain in half. She dodged, but the shockwave alone sent her flying... flying towards that eerie, unsettling cloud creeping across the floor of the ravine, the darkness spreading like a plague. 

Saber saw it, and knew at once the danger lurking within it. She twisted her body desperately, a grimace of pain on her face as her broken arm drags across the ravine floor, smearing a trail of blood in its wake, all in an effort to stop herself in time. 

She was able to, just barely. Berserker, though, was not nearly as smart. He saw his opponent on the ground and vulnerable, disarmed and wounded. 

And so, the man in the dark armor sprang like a rocket towards her small figure, eager to deal the finishing blow. 

The dark cloud crept ever closer, slithering into every crack and crevice it could reach.

Saber coughed blood, propping herself onto her one good arm, glaring at Berserker's oncoming figure with anger and defiance, through blood pouring down into her eye from a wound on the head.

Feebly, she reached for her bicorne, torn from her head by Berserker's blows, and replaced it on her head, gritting her teeth through the pain. 

And through the pain, she sprang up on broken legs to the cliffs edge, narrowly avoiding Berserker's charge. 

Tumbling down onto the cliff side next to her master, Saber smirked weakly as she heard Berserker's cries go silent, as the eerie cloud swept across the ravine, leaving only an unsettling silence in its wake. 

Saber tried to stand, only to fall back down on her injured legs. Her appearance was battered, her red and white uniform tattered and covered in holes. Fresh blood was running from countless wounds, and scabbing in old ones. Her blade, her mark of honor, was bent, and her blonde ponytail had come undone. 

Yet, despite it all... she smiled at him, covering a grimace of pain with a tip of her hat.

"...Hey Admiral... I... heh, I kept ya waitin', huh...?"

...Silence... Kato couldn't say anything, not to her, not now... emotions welled high in the young man, making him dash forward to embrace Saber, holding onto her tightly yet mindful of her injuries.

"...Saber... I- I'm so... I'm so sorry... I... I couldn't do anything to help you, I-... I left you... a-and now, you're... you're injured, and it's my fault... I never should have made you fought that- that monster--!"

Saber was taken aback, standing there, surprised by Kato's display of emotion. After a moment, though, her expression softens, and she wraps her one good arm around him in return, wincing as she did so.

"...S'alright, Kiyohira... I'm used to this kinda thing, y'know... you were just trying to help that other servant, when you gave me that order... Plus, these wounds ain't half as bad as they look! heh-!

...now, eh... maybe you should take a look at your friend, there? ...whatever her servant did, it drained her of most of her mana... this all should heal after a while in my spirit form, so don't you worry 'bout me!"

Kato only nodded at Saber's reassurance, quickly drawing back and allowing her to return to spirit form. Once she was gone, he knelt beside Aneka's once more unconscious body. Normally, he would sigh in annoyance at her antics, or have a little laugh. 

But not now. 

Something else was taking up Kato's thoughts, inducing a strange feeling...

...

...Saber had called him by his name.