Chương 55: 55. A Flower, For A Girl
====Artoria====
Watching Godrick leap from the temple grounds with Shirou on his back, Artoria readied herself to go after them before a voice stopped her.
"That was an absolute privilege to watch." Lancer said as he walked through the archway into the temple grounds.
"I was following you ever since you left that red haired brats place." He said hoisting his spear and resting it on his shoulder.
"What are you doing here Lancer?"Artoria asked, stepping in front of Rin.
"Ah…" Lancer had the good decency to look embarrassed at the reason he was there, bringing his hand up and rubbing the back of his head as he sheepishly responded.
"Look. I don't like this anymore than you do, but I'm actually here for her." He said, pointing at Rin.
"My master has some issues that he'd like to settle with the little miss here. I'll be taking her if you don't mind."
"I do mind, and you won't be taking her." Artoria said, brandishing Excalibur before stepping in front of Rin.
Lancer just sighed. "I knew it would come to this." He said, pulling his spear from his shoulder.
"Just know, I don't take any pleasure from what I'm about to do." He said.
"I understand. You have been commanded, and I will not hold it against you." Saber replied.
The two servants stood apart from each other, their weapons at the ready.
Lancer moved first, dashing forward and stabbing out with his spear. Artoria stepped to her left, bringing Excalibur down on the shaft, knocking it towards the ground before running her blade up the length to try and take Lancers fingers.
Shocking Artoria, he let go of his weapon completely. He then lashed out with his foot, striking the far end of his spear, whipping the end towards Artoria.
She leaned backwards as she spun to her left, whipping Excalibur around to smash into Gae Bolgs shaft, knocking it the way it came.
Lancer grabbed hold of his weapon from the air, and spun in the air to build momentum before bringing it down on Saber full force.
His spear seemed to almost bend as he brought it down on Excalibur, and when the two weapons met, a shockwave decimated the ground around them, and destroyed the ground around Artoria as she caught the blow on Excalibur.
Her legs were buried into the ground up to her calves, and with a great heave and a grunt of strain, she pushed up with all her strength, throwing Lancer into the air before leaping towards him.
Their weapons clashed as they met in the air before Artoria twisted from one of Lancers stabs, allowing her to bring her blade around and smash it into Lancers unprotected stomach, sending him crashing into the ground below.
Artoria landed next to Rin, who was getting to her feet after she had been knocked down due to the servants' earlier clash.
"Damn, you pack one hell of a punch." Lancer said, standing from the crater he had made.
Artoria made no reply as she lowered her center of gravity, taking a stance for a lunge. Excalibur was held close to her face, its blade fogging from her breath.
Her left leg was in front of her, while her right leg held all her weight behind her. Her left elbow was next to her left hip, while her right elbow was poised in the air behind her head.
Her sword was steady, it's blade unmoving denoting her control over her weapon.
Lancers' playful expression seemed to drain from his face and he took the same stance with his spear.
"I see you're getting serious." Lancer said, tightening his grip on his spear.
"I have somewhere to be. And you are in my way." Artoria said matter-of-factly.
"Very well. Let's finish this short battle then." Lancer said.
Artoria saw his muscles tense, and lunged herself forward.
The ground around the two servants shattered around them as they blitzed towards each other.
Excalibur and Gae Bolg stabbed out at the same time, their tips smashing together, creating another shockwave.
Artoria and Lancer both pulled their weapons back before stabbing out once more, creating the same phenomenon, their weapons tips meeting again and again.
Their weapons tips smashed against each other dozens of times as the servant's planted themselves where they stood, before Artoria broke the engagement by slightly lowering her sword before knocking Gae Bolg skywards.
Fast as lightning, Artoria whipped Excalibur down to her left, spinning her body as she then brought it up and back down on Lancer, visually creating a silver circle as she spun with Excalibur before smashing it down on Lancer.
Lancer was able to twist in such a way that he brought his head down towards Artoria feet, simultaneously bringing Gae Bolg in-between his body and Excalibur.
The sword hit Gae Bolg, smashing it down into Lancers back. Instead of cutting clean through the Servant, Lancer had essentially used his weapon as more of a shield, though he was knocked downwards into the ground.
The moment Lancer struck the ground, he whipped his legs back around, hitting Artoria's, and causing her to fall to the ground.
As she fell, Lancer shot to his feet, and stabbed out with Gae Bolg, only for it to smash into the flat side of Excaliburs blade, throwing Artoria backwards.
She landed on her side near where Rin was, slowly getting to her feet, as she used Excalibur as a sort of cane.
She then ripped Excalibur from the ground and took the same lunge stance she had taken earlier.
"Back to square one hm?" Lancer asked before taking the same stance again, though it had a few differences.
"Let's see how you fare against this then." He said under his breath as energy began to coarse around him, his blue hair dancing around him.
Artoria recognized the energy of a Noble Phantasm being unleashed, and turned to Rin.
"Do it." She said simply.
Artoria released her own Phantasmal energy, causing Lancers eyes to dilate.
Leaping backwards into the air, Lancer tensed all his muscles before bringing his right arm back behind his head.
He tightened his grip on his spear as he brought it back, then threw it forward.
"GAE BOLG!" He shouted, throwing his spear with all his might.
The crystal spear let out a blood red glow as it seemed to teleport directly in front of Saber, but she wasn't flustered.
"Excalibur!" She screamed, her blade roaring to life as gold met red, the two fighting for dominion.
Artoria pushed with all her might against the spear as it did its best to make its way towards her heart.
A sudden gasp took the Sabers attention away, as she looked back, seeing Lancer holding an unconscious Rin under one arm, a solemn expression on his face.
"Don't lose focus, Saber, or it might cost you." He said in a solemn tone of voice.
Artoria then felt Gae Bolg break from Excalibur, it's Noble Phantasm having been expelled during its struggle against the sword. It then came back to Lancer, who stabbed Artoria in the back, severing a part of her spine.
She let out a scream of agonized pain before falling to the ground, and bringing a hand to the small of her back.
"I'm sorry for this deceptive act, but my master's order was clear."
"There is a house on the outskirts of the city near the forest about five miles from the old church. If you want to save her, that's where my master has ordered me to take her." Lancer said before leaping away with Rin.
"NO!" Artoria said, standing to her feet before pain shot through her back, forcing her to a knee once more.
Lancer hadn't struck anything vital other than her spine, but he made sure that he would be able to get away safely, leaving her body spasming from the pain for a couple moments before it subsided.
Struggling to her feet, she slowly walked out of the temple grounds before forcing herself to dematerialize and travel in spirit form to where she felt the connection with her master.
"Hang on Rin, I'm coming!"
====Godrick====
The Juggernaut opened his eyes and was greeted by a blue sky, slowly turning orange. His eyes flicked to the figure sitting to his left, their eyes meeting for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
'A dream.' He thought to himself.
He unconsciously reached up with his left hand and tenderly stroked her cheek with his fingers.
Jeanne reached up and held the back of his hand as she pushed the side of her face into his palm, trying to be closer to him.
The skin of his left arm felt almost like stone, and was as cold as it as well against her pale cheek but she didn't mind.
"Hi" She said softly, her hand running through his hair.
Godrick made no reply, believing he was still in a dream. He looked at her face, engraining every detail of her beautiful face into his mind, not knowing when he would get another chance to gaze upon her beauty again.
"I'm here." She said to him, gripping his hand tighter than before.
"And I won't be going anywhere again." She finished.
Godricks eyes widened a bit as she spoke before his eyes flicked to the right, seeing Berserker standing over him, looking down at him with the small girl Illya on his shoulder, holding her left eye with her left hand. Shirou stood next to them, gazing down at the Juggernaut with a hint of concern.
Godrick furrowed his brow as it started to dawn on him that this wasn't a dream. He was in a sort of seated position, giving him the opportunity to look over his body.
Much of his flesh had been burned away, leaving the muscles and tendons exposed. The skin that was still intact was raw and red, leaving him more a burnt corpse than anything.
His eyes flicked back to Jeanne, but she held nothing in them other than compassion and love.
"Here," She said gently, transferring the energy he needed to heal himself.
When she had materialized, she had wiped out his entire reserve of energy. The least she could do was to give him back the remnants.
Godrick used the energy to slowly heal himself, his eyes twitching in pain as his muscles, tendons, skin, and other parts of his body regrew to good as new. But they never left Jeanne's.
Once he was healed, he slowly sat up, and drew her into a kiss, one that she eagerly returned.
Berserker just rolled his eyes as he turned around, but Illya let out a small "awww" as she watched the two from his shoulder.
Breaking the kiss, Godrick slowly shook his head, disbelief clear on his face.
"How are you here?" He asked her.
"I've always been here, Godrick." She said, holding his left hand.
He looked down and saw the mark of the Celestial Flame Iris missing from the back of his hand, but he felt that it was a good trade. A flower, for a girl.
"You saw everything?" He asked, as he slightly pursed his lips.
"Everything." She said, drawing him into another kiss.
"Get a room you two." Shirou huffed quietly to himself before turning around as well.
Breaking the kiss after a while, Jeanne told Godrick of all that had happened.
His fists clenched when he learned that Alaya had hurt her, and was also relieved that the blue orbed bitch couldn't actually do anything to them, and resolved to find a way to stop what was happening to them.
"I think we need to wait until this "Root" wakes up. But after that, I'm not sure what will happen." She said, helping him to his feet.
He materialized his clothes over himself, as EA had literally burned everything from him. But everyone had the good decency to not make any fuss about it.
With Jeanne supporting him, Godrick turned to Berserker and held his right hand out to him.
The gesture was clear, and with a great clash, Berserker gripped Godricks forearm as they shook hands.
Soon everyone began to walk away before Artoria's voice made everyone turn around and look at her.
"Godrick!" She called, materializing next to them before falling to her knees.
Jeanne helped her Juggernaut over to his mother, helping him kneel next to her as he reached out and took her into his arms.
Turning her over, Godrick saw the wound in her back.
"Lancer… He took- her- and severed- my spine-" Artoria gasped in pain.
Godrick looked up to Jeanne, who nodded and looked down at Artoria.
"This is going to hurt, but I'll help you heal when it's done alright?" Jeanne said.
Godrick took two fingers, and stuck them into Artoria's back, causing her to shout out in pain. He absorbed the cursed energy drawing a pained moan from his mother.
After pulling the fingers from her, Jeanne helped the Saber to heal her back, and a moment later, Artoria was breathing deeply, sweat beading on her forehead.
"So-" She said in gasps.
"You must be the girl my son won't shut up about, and is head over heels in love with?" She said breathlessly.
Godricks cheeks went a light shade of red in embarrassment before Jeanne's words made him look at her.
"I am, and I'd say the feelings are mutual." She said with a dazzling smile.
=====
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