This wasn’t an unfamiliar scene. Once upon a time, he had been in Atsuko’s position, cradling the same relic with a reverence he didn’t understand until later. At least it was borrowed in her case and not stolen. He would have been forgiving had she taken it without permission, but he would have reprimanded her to hell and back until she understood the mistake she had made. It was the last piece he possessed of his dear friend; he would be able to forgive if it granted him a chance to see Iskandar again.
Hand falling away from her shoulder, he took a step back, nostalgia washing over him. “Atsuko,” her name was uttered upon seeing that familiar silhouette conjure from thin air, a teacher’s pride resounding in the way it was spoken. There was never any thought that she would fail, but being able to see what she was capable of – It was a remarkable sight to behold. To watch something, someone manifest from nothing more than relic and her own power, the feeling was different from when he had been a Master to the same Servant. He could feel the ground quake beneath his feet, the trees bend and shake from the forces pulling the heroic spirit to their world, and that voice –
El-Melloi did not wait to be addressed, taking a knee out of respect for being in the presence of a King. Dark hair cascaded toward the ground as he bowed his head, only peering up when he heard that word. Boy… Boy? He had understood the sentiment when he was younger, but his appearance did not resemble a small child at all! It was impossible to huff or complain when this moment was granted to him after waiting so long. “I am the girl’s professor,” he answered, pushing long strands away from his face, “She is your Master this time.”
For a moment those crimson eyes went so wide. There was only one man they could be reminded of when they saw those crimson hues with catlike pupils - Gilgamesh. Yes, her eyes were so incredibly like his, weren’t they? The way those catlike slits expanded and contracted could remind both of them of none other. Yet she had no idea of the recollection of that Gilded King that her eyes would stir in them. But her breath caught in her throat as he stepped from the ether into the room. Those pupils expanded and contracted in fascination, and her hand came to her chest - where crimson command seals hid under her sweater.
He was more than she ever could have imagined - even with what the professor had told her of him. She could never have pictured, or imagined, the way he looked, the feeling of his presence. He was so tall, and the very sense of him was enormous. It took her breath away, stole a few of her heartbeats.
She took a deep breath and steeled herself, looking up (WAY UP!!!) to meet Iskander’s eyes with a burning, fiery determination. “Yes,” she said incredibly firmly. “I am your master. My name is Atsuko. Atsuko Daidouji. Head and sole remaining member of the Daidouji family. I would like to form a pact with you – Iskander, the King of Conquerors. I do not wish to profess…to be something more than you. For clearly you are more than me. But together…I should seek the Holy Grail alongside you. Does this suit you?”
This, was, by far, the most humble Waver had ever seen the princess-like Magus. But clearly she was not arrogant. Noble. Regal. Even as she held herself, she was standing with a straight back, and with her neck arched, and meeting the King’s eyes levelly. She was not meek, or mewling. She was seeking an accord as allies with her Servant. And not putting herself above or below him in a great measure.
Still as she stood and wished to treat with him, he could see that undying determination burning in those eyes so eerily similar to the man who had killed him in the last war.
@endlxssocean | @obdurcte
This time? A strange use of phrase. Perhaps it would make sense before long but the professor did seem familiar. Something in his bearing. He fixed his gaze back on his Master, Atsuko. Her eyes caught his attention readily. They were so much like those of the Golden King, almost exactly like them really. The one man to soundly defeat him in battle. They were memories he did not dislike for that campaign had been a glorious venture.
But her eyes had a different light to them. She was fiercely determined and that showed also in how she stood and spoke. Atsuko wanted to work together to seek the Grail, did she?
“Such an arrangement does suit me,” he said. “But tell me, Atsuko, why do you seek the Grail?”
He wanted to hear her reason for entering the War. For seeking such a grand prize.
“And you, professor,” he said to El-Melloi, “still kneeling to me after all this time, Waver?”
@obdurcte | @pinksaltfreckles
