Interlude: Alter
~The Moonlit Lake Told Me~
"Why did you want to save this country? Why did you want to bring salvation to these people? Knowing that they were the ones who spit on us, betrayed us! I will not be fooled again. I will not be betrayed again. I no longer hear the voice of the Lord.”
“That’s–”
“So what, you’re gonna burn France to the ground because of what happened to you?”
“Exactly! And for your reward, you’ll be spared the suffering of having to watch it happen.”
Jeanne d’Arc Alter raised her banner, her wyverns tensing up in preparation to take flight.
“W-wait, hang on!”
“What for? All that is left is for you to burn, as I did!”
“Jeanne d’Arc didn’t die angry, though!”
The Dragon Witch spat at that.
“And you were there? You knew what I thought?”
“The stories said you wanted to see a cross as you burned, you never went back on your faith even to the death.”
The air grew tense, and Val could feel Mash and their Jeanne, waiting for the tenuous ceasefire to end.
“That’s all they were, then. Stories. I died cursing the Lord, and cursing the nation that left me to die!”
“Jeanne d’Arc was a saint. A martyr, beloved by France. I might be new to this, but if you were summoned, that’s what you would have been summoned as, even if that wasn’t your life. You can’t be Jeanne d’Arc, so who are you?”
For a moment, the banner faltered. A knot formed in the throat of the Dragon Witch. Then, she raised the banner high, her voice howling with rage.
“I AM THE SCOURGE OF FRANCE! I AM THE RAGE OF THE MAIDEN OF ORLEANS, HERE TO PURGE THIS LAND OF THE SCUM THAT WOULD SEE ME BURN! HEAR THE ROAR OF MY HATRED!”
The wyverns took flight, and Mash threw Val to the ground, shielding her Master from the onslaught of claw and fang that was now atop them. Amidst the chaos, those words rang through her head, like the solution to a question she hadn’t known needed an answer.
~When You Think Your Words Don’t Sound Like Your Own~
“You intend to summon reinforcements? I’m hurt that you don’t think that I would be enough help on my own...is what I would say if we weren’t in desperate need of additional allies! Alas, if we are to bring an end to this singularity, you will need all the help you can muster.”
Val rolled her eyes at the Archer of Shinjuku, then returned her focus on the summoning process. She couldn’t try summoning a specific servant, not without a catalyst, but she still tried to clear her mind and focus on what was needed. Shinjuku was a singularity where evil was the law of the day. More than someone who would fight it, she needed someone to understand it. Someone who wouldn’t run off saving people. Someone who wasn’t just going to trust everyone around them. She had almost fallen for that trap herself, better to find someone who could help with that.
It was slower without a leyline or Chaldea’s reserves, but pulling mana from the environment would work with enough time, at least in theory. She circulated the mana through her mystic code, through herself, through anything she had that could contain it, until she had amassed enough. Finally, she recited her incantation, releasing the mana into the summoning circle. Energy crackled from her, as glowing blue sigils rose from the circle, circling in the air before her.
Then, in a moment that felt like her stomach was being twisted inside out, the lights went out with a crack. Their glass shattered, and the room grew dark but for the sigils, now glowing an angry red. They spun faster and faster, blurring together until they became a halo of crimson light. With a flash, the spell finished, and Val fell to her knees before the servant she had summoned.
“Servant, Avenger. Summoned upon your request.”
Val looked up, in shock at the impossible servant standing before her.
“...What’s with that look? Come on, here’s the contract.”
With a sneer, Jeanne Alter took her Master’s hand and dragged her to her feet.
—
“...The hell do you want?”
Val sat next to her servant on the edge of the roof, looking out over the city skyline.
“I–”
“What, kicking my ass in Orleans wasn’t enough, so you wanted to come up here and rub it in?”
“...Well, that answers one question. Anyway, can’t say I do. I just want to know why you would, yknow, come here to help me after all of...that.”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one that summoned me, dumbass, I should be asking why YOU thought summoning ME was a good idea!”
“...Because I can’t pick who I summon? And servants can choose to reject being summoned if they don’t want to?”
“...”
“...Fine, I won’t push, just-”
“Not like I could really say no. It’s like you said back then, I’m just “the dark parts of that holy bitch”. That fish-eyed fuck made me a goddamn puppet, what am I supposed to do besides play on your fucking strings?”
“Nnnnnot exactly what I said, but whatever. Is that really what you think though?”
“Why the fuck else would you do with someone like me? The fuck else does someone need the leftover hatred of some goody good saint? So fuck off until you need somebody torched.”
Val sighed, a tired grin on her face.
“Heh, I guess I got what I asked for, didn’t I?”
Before she knew it, Jeanne Alter was dangling Val over the street by her shirt collar.
“The fuck does that mean? Thought you said you couldn’t pick who you summoned? Want to try that again, or are you looking to eat the pavement?”
Despite grabbing tight at the wrist holding her, Val somehow looked like she wasn’t afraid of being dropped.
“I said I can’t pick, but I knew what I needed to summon. Guess I didn’t think through wanting someone who didn’t trust easily, though.”
“...Why the hell are you so calm? You think that’s good enough that I’m not gonna toss you?”
She shook Val to reinforce her point.
“I mean, if you wanted to do that, wouldn’t you just burn me?”
Jeanne Alter snarled, and after a second tossed Val back onto the roof. Wincing, Val brushed herself off and got up, walking back over to the Servant.
“Look, I...well, I can’t say that I get it, I’m not a living embodiment of hatred created by a crazed asshole to exact revenge on the country that killed the beloved leader he based me on in order to destabilize and ultimately destroy history.”
“...”
“Still, so what? You’re the physical embodiment of Jeanne d’Arc’s repressed anger. Who says that’s gotta be the end of it? If that’s all you were, you’d probably be a phantom. I wouldn’t be able to summon you, and we wouldn’t be here right now. So if you were made to be a puppet in the shape of Jeanne d’Arc, I say fuck that. You can be more than that.”
Alter stared out over the city lights, and a moment of silence passed.
“...Get the fuck out of here, I’m done listening to your bullshit.”
Val sighed, turning around and making her way back inside. At least it could have gone worse.
~Your Words Will Never Make Me Disappear~
“...The hell are you staring at?”
“Not that I’m complaining, but…do you really want to keep walking around in your swimsuit? Even if it were still summer, this is Antarctica. Bit cold outside for that, isn't it?”
Alter just stared at Val as black fire wreathed her arms.
“...Point made. Still, can’t help but feel like something’s up.”
“...”
Alter opened the door next to her, a small meeting room. Two staff members were eating their lunch, but quickly realized they had important business in other places doing things that didn’t involve angry women with swords. Val followed her in and closed the door, making sure to turn on the “Room Occupied” indicator.
“So...”
“I’m not going back.”
“Going back?”
“My Spirit Origin. I’m not going back to my old one.”
“Sure, okay.”
“...That’s it?”
“Yeah. I mean, maybe see if you can register that other outfit you had to this Spirit Origin too, just in case you don’t want to set yourself on fire all the time, but otherwise why not?”
“Because I’m stronger as an Avenger! Because these bullshit singularities keep cropping up and you’ll want the firepower!”
“Are you saying you’re not strong enough right now?”
“Fuck you.”
“Exactly. So whatever reason you’ve got, good enough for me.”
“And you’re not gonna ask what those reasons are?”
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready, I’m not gonna push.”
Alter muttered something.
“What?”
“I said I’m sick of it. Being an Avenger, being nothing but that fucker’s hate-on. I’m tired of being his goddamn puppet. If I’m gonna hate something, I want it to be my hate, not his. This? I chose this. It’s my rage. This is me, and I’m not going to go back to being his.”
“...Damn straight.”
Alter stared at Val, like she was waiting for an argument that wasn’t coming. Slowly, as it became clear that nothing else was happening, her face softened to a satisfied smile. She opened the door, stopped, then turned around to drag Val out with her.
“Wh-”
“We’re celebrating, don’t even try saying no.”
“...Wouldn’t dream of it.”
---
A/N: Gilles de Rais Get Fucked Challenge. Yes this was inspired by Smell of the Game, it's a song about Alter and I will not take criticism on this
