#merguda

Merlin was truly happy for his Master.

No matter what she did, he did his best to support her through battles even as it wore him out. Through minute singularities to the smallest things she sought him out for, he did his best to provide her assistance.

As he was asked to be by her side to boost her luck, it made sense he would match her enthusiasm as well. He really was but...

Seeing as there was literally no one on top of the summoning circle, he also looked at Ritsuka with pity.

...Poor girl...All the lostbelts and gacha she did were so bad she was starting to see things...

This does give him an opportunity to help her with her dreams though.

Merlin reached out to pat her head and nuzzle it, hugging her from behind while he chuckled, "Ahaha, now, now, My Lord. Do be easy on yourself. Why don't I carry you to your room as I regale you with more tales about my ki-"

He didn't even get to finish his offer when a sudden powerful force had collided with his side.

He could hear a majority of his ribs cracking under the pressure before he was sent flying over to the wall from the other side of the room.

The world spun as he was knocked out, but even with the impact he could...still register Ritsuka's voice and blurry image of her- ah, suddenly getting... princess carried by the air?

"Uwah!? Oberon, what the hell!? I didn't even get to plan stuff with Mer- mmfgh!?"

Seeing as she was suddenly forced to be quiet by something pressing against her lips, Merlin laughed to himself weakly before wincing from the pain he suffered from breaking some bones.

As his Lord squirmed and complained to the air to let go of her, she was nonchalantly carried out of the summoning chamber.

Merlin tried his best to stand even with a spell to heal him but he could only go so far as Nightingale caught his condition, hauling his ass to the clinic.

Later, even as he had a grudge to this air for taking away his Lord, it seemed worth it though...

 one day gudako asks merlin to watch a horror movie with her to overcome her fears to be a good master by the suggestion of shincha. and a good master, in her opinion, is one who makes calm and rational decisions on the fly.

and when that doesnt work, they go to tamamo where they do the “one hundred ghost stories”, a game that people play at night to tell... well, horror stories. anyways, its a test of courage! so from okita, nobu, ryouma, oryou-san, tamamo, and merlin, they blow on the candles after each story told as per tradition

it goes on until its tamamo’s turn again. (im not sure if they reached 99th or so but its her turn when things start going down)

“There are many strange things in this world,” She says, face grave before the candlelight, “Each has a different trigger for it to begin.”

“That also includes us Servants, mysterious phenomena like ghosts, apparitions,” Tamamo pauses, holds her breath, turns to look at Ritsuka and points at her, who now frozen in shock.

“And living spirits.”

Confusion paints the girl’s face before Tamamo clarified, “In order for spirits to materialize, it must have a vessel they can occupy (yorishiro).”

She continues as Gudako’s dread deepens, “And it goes without saying that people (living spirits) are good vessels for souls and apparitions.”

Then Tamamo jokes a little and reassures her, before saying: “I truly wonder where your fear comes from?”

“Wait,” Gudako staggers, something behind her moving, “What do you mea-”

Then we get this:

“The manifestation of Fujimaru Ritsuka’s fear.”

So apparently by scaring her with the stories, her fear/terror becomes stronger until its become a living spirit... and it turns into that. but the goal is for ritsuka to accept her fear

The servants are alarmed, panicked, but when they turn to Ritsuka...

She smiles.

She just, smiles.

“Ah, it’s just another big enemy.”

She smiles and stands as the rest are stunned, “Okita-san,” Her face couldn’t be seen, but she stands as if there was no looming threat over her, “Cut it down.”

The others hesitate and Merlin protests, “Accepting and cutting are two different things! If you do that--!!”

Ritsuka cuts him off with a smile, “It’s okay. I don’t need fear or emotions.”

Her reassuring smile gives Merlin a kind of dread in his stomach he can’t begin to fathom. “After all, even Merlin agrees.” 

(forgot to say but earlier in the story they talk about getting used to all the horrors and unknown that you can’t help but go “ah, okay. it’s that kind of thing.” nonchalantly. because ritsuka wants to know how merlin isn’t scared even after watching a horror movie with her)

next (translated bc ughh its chilling) pages are these:

‘command’ for command spell was cut im so sorry i scanned this in an awkward angle...

Look at them....They are adorable....

How strange. How strange indeed.

Merlin sighs. What has gotten into him now? Earlier, he had teased a few female Servants as usual, and a few of the Round Table Knights...thus earning him several death threats with swords and magic alike.

He had never gone too far as to physically harass someone, it was just the usual teasing over words.

But it seemed that Cleopatra was rather in a bad mood today, and thus had earned him a swollen cheek.

...Somehow his feet took him to his Master’s room instead of the infirmary where he could get it treated.

What was he thinking, coming all the way here to disturb the red-headed girl who needed her downtime now that a pseudo-singularity had just been repaired?

Perhaps, it was loneliness, or perhaps it was merely a way to entertain himself. Either way, there was no denying the painful sting that was throbbing on the side of his face.

So Merlin tries knocking, while cradling his cheek, hoping that the girl would both answer and ignore him.

Because it did not make sense. He could have just healed this minor injury himself, why would he go so far as to-

In that moment, the very same person who he wished to see appeared before him.

“Merlin!” Ritsuka exclaims, surprised before glancing to the injury he had. Without even skipping a beat, her gaze grew from pleasant surprise to concern and worry,“Y-Your cheek--!! Crap, let’s get that treated!”

...She didn’t even think to question him at first.

And so he was held by his other hand gently with the girl leading him to sit on her bed, hurrying to her mini-freezer as soon as she made sure he sat comfortably.

“That looks really bad... I know I have some cold gel packs here stored, so don’t worry about having to wait...” The girl says as she opened the mini-freezer’s door.

Merlin continued to stare at her with a dumbfounded look. While this wasn’t the first time he visited her room, it certainly was with this injury. The other times were mostly a way to see her journey up close, a reason he had thought to tell himself time and time again.

From his teasing, to their shared laughter and meals, to unspoken trust in both the battlefield and casual conversation-

...This was certainly just to have a front row view of her journey.

Ritsuka returns to him after washing the cold compress a little, now dried after the girl had rubbed it with cloth.

“I don’t know what happened, but I could hazard a guess...” She sighed as she sat down beside him. 

Merlin tries smiling, only failing to show a wide one as the pain grew even more, “Ahaha, my Lord, do be soft on the blow~”

But she only continued to give him a stare full of worry, “Cleo is the only one who has that kind of heels.” She points out to the red imprint on his cheek. “So I’m 100% sure you got hit by her.”

Truly, his Master knew her Servants well...

Her hand moves from hovering over his cheek to leading him further into her bed, “Caesar must have glanced at Scheherazade or something. Jealousy is probably the only reason she could get mad after all.” The couple rarely fought as they were in love with each other. But Caesar sometimes... can’t help but admire other women without the Egyptian queen. Luckily, it was rare, so chances of this happening next time were extremely low.

Merlin automatically kicked his shoes off in response, “Hm...Then I need to be extra careful around married women then...” A sensual smirk grows on his face, “Now, is this my Lord’s way of inviting me to sleep with her, hm?”

Even as Gudako’s cheeks turned pink, she didn’t let that get in the way of their conversation, “I wanted you to heal, idiot.” She rolled her eyes, her smile unwavering. Then, she patted her lap. “And it’s rare that I get to do this. Plus, I think I’ll miss my favorite mage once Chaldea starts unsummoning Heroic Spirits.” Though her tone was teasing, the slight tremble in her voice did nothing to hide what she felt as their time together drew near.

...In this moment, Merlin wanted nothing more than to hug her and stay by her side. How this girl had started her journey by holding a hand out to another, how this girl stood tall for those she loved even as she faced death-

Even now, she was doing that despite knowing that most of her Servants are not inherently good people.

Including him.

A scummy mage. A bastard, a prankster, a fool-

A cambion who was inhuman at heart.

Yet he was treated so preciously by his Master, just like what Artoria did to him.

Merlin sighed. Troublesome. How troublesome the world was to enforce this kind of fate onto the people who cared for him the most. He wants humanity to survive, he wants them to take back their ‘tomorrow’-

But if that ‘tomorrow’ didn’t include Ritsuka-

The flower mage melodramatically put a hand to his forehead and pretended to faint on her lap, “To think that I’m getting special treatment from the Master herself...Ah! I wonder what terrible fate I’m getting after this. For sure, Sir Gawain and Sir Lancelot would be after my head once they hear of thi- ow, ow, ow!”

His other cheek was pulled by Gudako, who wore an expression close to... exasperated fondness, “Stop pretending and sleep, Merlin. You look like you’re on the verge from passing out in pain.”

Was he? Come to think about it, talking and teasing his way through distracted him from it, but it doubled his efforts into making sure his facade was perfectly crafted in front of another.

And now that she called him on it, the throbbing sensation practically screamed at him to rest.

Without another word, his Master made sure his head was on her lap with an angle that allowed her to comfortably apply the cold pack on his cheek without hurting him too much.

That wasn’t all, Ritsuka had started to pat his head and card her fingers through his hair as well, something that made something stir inside him in a way that almost felt painful...yet nice. Not painful painful, but in a way where... his chest felt full, or something like that...

-

Happy Endings. They are myths. They are but fairy tales from children’s picture books. They are things that can rarely be obtained by many.

It was also his wish. To see someone achieve an ending they can be happy with after a long journey filled with love and hope, despair and tragedy.

That was why... after a direct shot at the heart, Merlin knew he had less than a second to make sure Ritsuka was alive.

A literal gaping hole in her chest as he carried her limp form and off to the Reverse Side of the World. In the midst of all the chaos, he had appeared before Chaldea whithout so much as his usual grandeur that he would sometimes flourish before using his magic to suspend both her soul and body in a glass coffin full of flowers.

Without another word, he hurried back to where he resided along with the Master he had grown to love.

Chaldea understood, at that moment. Even Mash and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Gran Cavallo, he knew the moment he took her body. They cannot let the World take Fujimaru Ritsuka’s soul no matter what. The Foreign God had released Olga Marie’s soul along with the Chaldeas World with it. Restoration was finally brought back to the planet, but at the near cost of the life of the very person who saved it.

...Had it not been for his meddling again, he could have lost her today.

In Avalon, where the mana was dense enough to make a normal human explode on the spot, it would certainly be the opposite for this girl who slept so peacefully as if she hadn’t witnessed all kinds of horrors within the span of three years.

Merlin tucks a lock red-orange hair behind her ear, “...Would my Lord slap me if I told her that she makes a stunning sleeping beauty right now?”

There was no response. A coffin filled to the brim with flowers, a girl who wore her last mystic code to initiate a final fight in order to live.

...Live.

Amethyst irises flicker over to blackened hands covered by gloves, to the one that held red command spells.

He sighs. A thousand years of slumber to heal the curses and blessings so intertwined within her spirit that it was akin to physically segregating white, brown, and red rice grains, as well as to heal the hole in her chest when the Black Barrel had been used against them by the Foreign God herself.

...It really was a miracle she hadn’t died then and there.

Merlin clenches his fist to the point where his knuckles turned white, before sighing and slumping against his former Master.

A thousand years of waiting... All the people she knew would be gone before even a hundred years had past. Was this the right decision? To make her sure she lived a little longer instead of letting it end like that when they had the chance?

Had she lived without the Foreign God’s direct assault, the outcome would be the same. Ritsuka would be seal-designated and experimented upon for the rest of her life. It wouldn’t be much different than death, after all.

Either way, between the World turning her soul into fragments and shadows to fight for a worthless Grail and having the Mages Association capture her, he would rather have let her rest for a little while before letting her go once things have completely settled down.

By then, she would be able to return to a normal life. It wasn’t an ideal happy ending. But he was sure that she would understand their decisions.

Merlin brushes her bangs from her face, and kisses her forehead just like what she had done to him later that day during when his cheek throbbed painfully.

For sure, Ritsuka wouldn’t like what happened... but until the world has forgotten the mystics and the holy grail wars with it, he would not let her become a shadow of panhistory to fight for a useless cause.

Mash and the rest of Chaldea had sent letters and gifts with him (after threatening to go to Avalon themselves when they knew what the consequences would be), hoping that they survive long enough for the girl who loved them to receive it.

His hand drifts to a warm yet cold gloved one from Ritsuka and brings it to his lips, “Just when I am no longer alone in this tower of mine, my sole companion will be mostly asleep.” After the brief kiss, he tucks her hand back before sealing the coffin in glass. “How cruel you are, my Lord.”

...He’d become attached. Too attached to the point where he no longer acted as mediator and watcher, no longer a part of the audience in her life but a supporting character in her story.