~ Reyes’ POV ~

Waking up to the smell of food, I was curious as to what was causing as I opened my eyes to find Caster who was attending to a pot of what seemed to be soup.

“Ah, it seems that you’re up just in time.” Caster calls out seemingly pleased.

Not wanting to seem rude I just voice out thanks and eat my share of breakfast.

‘Didn’t think she could cook, and it tastes great too.’ I thought, impressed.

Finishing our meals, we lounged around for a moment before I approached her, “I ask of thee, are you willing to be my Servant Caster, and accept I, Berserker, as your Master?”

Standing up tall she firmly replied, “I, Caster, vow to serve my Master faithfully. Will thou accept thy as your Servant?”

“I do, let this contract join us together as Master and Servant.” As I finished speaking, our prana joined together, serving as a connection between us.

Bowing down on her knees, Caster addressed me respectfully, “I thank you for accepting me Master.”

“…Reyes… you may call me Reyes, not publicly of course.” I stated.

With a smile spreading across her face she merely says, “What a wonderful name.”

‘Hm? There’s that feeling again. I thought it only occurred when I was around Illya, to think that Caster would cause it too is strange.’ I thought, feeling a little spark of…happiness?

My feelings aside, I now have to address the problem at hand. “We shall return to my Master so that you may meet with one another.”

She simply replied, “Yes Master.”

So, we set off to the Einzbern Castle…. right after we get some spare clothes for Caster.

~ Einzbern Castle ~

‘Yeah… Illya’s definitely pissed.’ I mentally groaned.

As I arrived, the two maids/homunculi were on guard around Casters presence. Illya however wasn’t concerned about her but was upset at me for some unknown reason. I just stood still, waiting for my Illya rant to end. Caster seemed fairly amused at seeing her own Master being scolded by what appeared to be a child.

Setting aside her annoyance for a moment, Illya turned serious and asked what we should do in the future now that I’ve gone and messed around with the timeline. I didn’t want to lie to Caster about the truth after all that she has been through, so I told her everything. Just as I had told Illya the first time.

Truthfully, she looked a bit pissed off that her life seemed to be nothing more than fiction, but quickly calmed down after I had explained how the multiverse works. It probably helped that I believed my own life to be some part of a fucked-up story made by some author with a messed-up mind for imagination.

(AN: Oi oi oi, I find that offensive.)

Soon after I had finished my story she jumped at the opportunity to join us on our travels across worlds. She mostly talked about how she would follow me wherever I would go and other things along the same line, but I just accepted it as it was.

I suggested that Caster would stay out of the fighting until Gilgamesh entered the fray. Now that we had an expert in magic on our side, it would be a lot easier to pull off a fake death with illusions. I’m not as experienced yet to use it for an important event.

As for approaching Kotomine about Caster’s newest Master, I just sent an anonymous letter sending my regards. Now we just had to stay out of the story until it was time to confront Saber in combat.

*Sigh*, I’ve had to do nothing but wait for two months. Though it was enjoyable while it lasted.

~ Illya’s POV (few days before canon) ~

Sleeping has been… troubling for me in the past two months. Although I tried not to show any signs of it, I could tell that Reyes was already aware of my dilemma but chose to stay quiet. I’m guessing that he either, doesn’t want to talk about it, or, wants me to question him when I was ready to.

I admit it was troubling at first, having someone else’s memories appear in my mind was strange indeed, but that’s not what was troubling. It was what those memories contained that worried me.

His life… I don’t even know where to start. On the bright side, I now know what he looks like under his mask which made me ecstatic, at least when he was younger.

Some dreams where just small snippets put together randomly, while others were detailed and chronological.

It was nice knowing that Reyes had a decent childhood, something I was slightly jealous about. Maybe just a bit more then slightly. But that all went out the window once I was forced to witness the horrors that was his life.

It wasn’t pretty, not at all. His past was filled with what could be considered a living hell, compared to his life mine was mere child’s play.

I was always curious about Reyes past, such as how he developed such a bizarre habit of cracking his fingers to the point of breaking themselves from bone crunching sounds they made. My curiosity died as soon as I got my answer from one of many memories that haunted me.

Events about his torture were rare, but the small scenes that I got terrified me to no end. One of them included his healing factor that seemed to be unstable. From what I gathered, Reyes had a healing factor that could heal almost any injury he received and restore himself back to 100%. Although, it was inconsistent, it would work at times and at others it wouldn’t.

Back in his ‘testing’ stages in the army, the Order attempted to unlock his ability by applying more pressure on him in hopes that his subconscious instincts would force it to activate permanently as a passive ability. Their solution, constant torture 24/7 for god knows how long.

His fingers were constantly broken, bent, snapped, sawed off, sliced, you name it, it was done. And this was one of the more… ‘tame’ forms of torture he was exposed to.

Actually, I started questioning how Reyes kept his sanity in check with all that has happened to him. Most of the memories I’ve seen only related to his time before and in the army, and even then, they were only small glimpses. I couldn’t imagine how anyone else could survive and come out… somewhat sane.

There are times where I could see some of Reyes’ insanity that he had locked up coming to the surface only to fade away just as quickly as they came.

Once I heard him spouting out random numbers and another where he was rambling about something ‘crawling’ around. I couldn’t make out the specifics but, in all honesty, I didn’t really want to know. But if it means helping out Reyes, then I’m prepared to do anything.

He saved me from the dark and dull life I had and was willing to stay with me, he was willing to listen to my problems, and he was willing to remove all that would dare to harm me. I can say in full confidence that if it’s for Reyes, then I’d stop at nothing to simply help and support the man I love.

Yes, I love him. I only came to terms with my feelings after spending a month alone with him. How could I not? Sure, he was cold and unsociable, but he could be the kindest, gentlest and most caring person ever at times.

The small interactions between him and the maids was heart-warming in a weird sense. To see the battle-hardened veteran, sympathise and accept who they were. Leysritt and Sella were surprised at his acceptance and caring nature, for what seemed to be a cold-hearted person at a glance, that they couldn’t help but voice out their thoughts.

Just like me, he related to them and their lives. His main point, we were all ‘tools’ to be used and casted aside. This was one of the reasons that I liked the two of them, why I actually felt a sort of friendship even as their master.

This lead to them finding out about his origins and plans for the future which shocked them, but what they said next almost made me break down into tears. They wanted to come along with me, they wanted to follow me even if the Einzberns wouldn’t allow here to leave peacefully, they were willing to follow her against their wishes.

(AN: this happened back during the first month Reyes appeared)

I got side-tracked a bit there, but the main point was that I had fallen for the cloaked man and I was happy to be able to fall for someone as amazing as him, even if he doesn’t see himself that way, I always will.

It would have been better if he didn’t bring along Caster with him though, I could tell that she had fallen for my Berserker as much as I did. A woman’s intuition never fails.

~ Caster’s POV ~

My Master was certainly unique. His outward look makes him seem to be distant and uncaring, yet when he first met me he was the very opposite of it. He took me in without question and provided shelter when I had none.

Yet he was a Servant just like me. We were meant to fight to the death in a War for the Grail, and there he was, looking after a broken woman with nowhere left to go.

After I was taken in, I had started to dream of his past, his memories. It was both intriguing and horrifying at the same time. I had only seen a few of them over the past few days but from what I could see it was a dark past that’s for sure.

Maybe I’d ask Illya about it, she might know more than me being his Master and all. But that’s for another time.

(AN: I know it’s only supposed to be the Master that sees memories of the Servant but just go with it for the sake of the story)

Right now, I needed to focus on what the future holds, because as of right now I was clueless on what my goal was from here on out. I didn’t really think about it to tell the truth, it’s not like I had any spare time to relax and think to myself.

The fact that my entire existence was made for the entertainment for others angered me greatly, but Reyes had calmed my anger down as he explained how the multiverse worked.

It was strange for her to hear him speak of multiple realities as if it was the most common thing to talk about, not even being fazed at the thought of his own reality being a mere figment of imagination of some crazed lunatic.

(AN: My own characters are bullying me *sniff*)

One thing’s for certain though, no matter where my Master would go, I would follow. For the man I love, I will go to the depths of hell and back for him. It was strange really, to feel love. I was forced to love a man against my own will back in my time, manipulated and used. Yet to feel love naturally, was certainly different.

I felt like a small child whenever I was near him, giddy at simply feeling his presence nearby and nervous when speaking with him. It was silly for me, a grown woman to feel this way but I never felt ashamed or embarrassed about my love for my Master despite the short time I’ve known him for. I wouldn’t deny my feelings.

I could only hope for him to return them in future, and it seemed like I have competition to deal with as well. Illya was just as disgruntled as I was with the situation, but we didn’t voice it out to each other. I’d probably speak to her about it soon, better to do so before the war begins.