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The rhythmic clapping of heels walking on marbled floor echoed through the empty halls of Chaldea. A blond female Servant, known as the goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal, carried with her a cup of hot chocolate and two slices of toast topped with butter in perfect balance through the power of her A-ranked Strength. Along the hallways of the living quarters, she passed by multiple closed doors before finally nearing one such room whose light never seemed to dim.
Several singularities ago, the female Lancer would have never been this...audacious -for lack of a better word- to visit her human Master and give him some refreshments for the long night ahead of him. A goddess needed to present herself with dignity and authority, so that the humans around her would feel confident in her ability and rest at ease under her watch , she had reminded herself over and over again. She would never steep so low as to prepare food for another. Instead, she preferred waiting for her Master to approach, usually in the wee hours of dawn, entrusting her with the battle plan for the next rayshifting, before running off somewhere else looking for others that would be complementary for the next operation.
Time and time again, he would choose Ereshkigal, and the goddess would always answer with a polite, "Yes, Master." Some Servants had began to chatter about this, that the Master was clearly showing favoritism towards the goddess, but neither of them had seemed to mind. Ereshkigal simply relished in the knowledge that the work became much easier ever since she was summoned during the Okeanos singularity.
Slowly, his hard work and enthusiasm in battle and attentiveness in dealing with issues around different singularities, regardless of how major or minor they were, resonated well with her, and in her heart she began to accept that this was a human definitely worth her time serving.
It was then she noticed that lots of Servants tended to flock to her Master at ungodly hours with concerns that didn't require immediate attention. Frankly, they would bother him with problems that they were just too proud to solve themselves. Elizabeth Barthory could just have replaced her microphone batteries herself; Ozymandias simply needed to apologize to Nitocris for denting her mirror; and Ishtar, god, Ishtar, just needed to stop losing every single thing entrusted to her.
It irritated her to see how much time they ate from the Master's sleep and rest, and how even when he would be groggy in the morning, he would still flash a bright energetic grin as he would greet and instruct the day's team, with none of the night's fatigue evident in his face. Gudao actually stopped closing his door and his room's light altogether, just so that everyone would see that he was always available. And even with Mash's stern warning to the rest of the Servants regarding Gudao's rest time, there were still a lot of consultations happening after office hours.
Eventually, she decided enough was enough. At first, she had been content to peek from the corner of the room, whispering soft words of encouragement and using her Blessings of Kur to boost his vitality and concentration. And when he would notice her, she would bashfully wave at him before dashing away. When she soon found him getting stuck with paperwork backlog as he addressed the needs of the other servants, she mustered enough courage to approach him and tell him that he could delegate some of his work to her. He refused initially, but as Ereshkigal stubbornly returned each day with the same proposal, he relented and gave her the job of Chaldean quarters and living arrangements maintenance that had to be monitored every week (otherwise he would face the wrath of Ozymandias and Ishtar, who dictated it was Gudao's privilege for them to even consider staying at Chaldea).
And after she had taken the duty, a huge load was off Gudao's shoulders. Centuries and eons being the sole manager of the underworld probably made her one of the best suited for the job, and she never complained to him. Of course, some Servants like Blackbeard, Lu Bu, and Elizabeth Barthory had given her headaches, but as long as their needs were address fast, they weren't much of a problem. Elizabeth had even offered her the position of stage manager, which she politely declined.
Gudao's workload never diminished, however, and he began to skip meals in favor of finishing the different paperwork Chaldea had to fill in preparation for the Magus Association and UN meeting that was happening in a few months. Long singularity logs, Servant data and logs, Code Casts, and outcome measurements were all required of him, and even though Mash started working with him, the mountain climb before just never seemed to cease. As such, Ereshkigal took some time to ask Emiya for some tips on how to cook, and though she was a lethal chef at first, she was at least able to do this much for him, bringing him simple refreshments once a week at first that eventually turned to a nightly occurrence for the both of them.
And so tonight she peered her head over the door, chocolate and toast in hand, ready to be the stern goddess and tell him to get some rest, when she found him hunched over at his desk, already asleep with a pen in his hand. Slowly, she tiptoed towards him and leaned over to see what he had kept him up this late. To her surprise, it wasn't a document of words that he was sleeping on - it was a drawing. She couldn't see the full image but... it was a pencil-only sketch of a field of flowers? She couldn't really ascertain given how much of the drawing he was covering, but by the corner she saw the petals of a few magnolias, daffodils, primroses, and camellias, and -wow she didn't know her Master could draw? The shading mesmerized her in the texture and depth of each flower, where every petal and bud had differing levels of black, silver, and grey, and some imperfections were kept to keep the image honest. She noted it looked like a photograph, and the memories of the Battle of Kur flooded her mind, where Merlin had filled her domain with his Garden of Avalon, a sight she had never beheld before. Tears had fallen from her face then, and the same ones were welling around her eyes now.
Sudden beeping in the room caused her to jump and turn towards the sound. It had been Gudao's alarm clock, and as she moved to turn it off, Gudao stirred, opening his eyes, and yawning, and noticed the blond goddess.
"Oh, Eree?"
"Um, y-yes. Hello, G-guh, Master."
Her heart thumped as she heard him call her by her pet-name. Even after all the singularities they've been together, she still couldn't fathom why her heart continued to flutter so. No. Ereshkigal, stop. You need to scold him.
He blinked a few times, his eyes widened slightly, and then he smiled.
"What's up? Oh, for me? Thank you!"
He took the food she brought for him, which gave Ereshkigal the chance to wipe her eyes. Her fingers eventually found themselves playfully fidgeting with the curled ends of her hair as she watched him eat. She appreciated the view (she tried to stop herself from thinking that but to no avail) and she noted more clearly the bags beneath his eyes, the bits of acne on his forehead that were probably due to stress, and the singular strands of facial hair that haphazardly sprouted from his face, and even with all that whenever his lips curled up at her it was like the first time she felt sunshine all over again.
No. She was a goddess. She had to put her foot down. Clearing her throat and crossing her arms, she frowned.
"Master, you should be getting your rest already. It's late and we still have quite a few floors to go before we finish the Oni Tower."
The master stopped to consider her as he took a bite out of the toast, chuckled, and looked at his watch. "Oh, what time is it? Ah, I see, would you look at that..." he mumbled, while scratching his hair, which wasn't unnoticed by the Lancer.
She walked closer to him, having a bit more confidence in herself.
"Master, I-"
Before she could say another word, he held up his hand as he finished chewing. He brushed the bread crumbs off his hands, and presented her a scarlet paper bag with gold adornments that looked like roses with purple leaves designed on its right lower area. It was sealed at the top with tape so she couldn't yet see what was inside.
"Happy Birthday!!!"
She stood there gawking at him as her hands trembled.
"Huh?"
"Well truth be told, I didn't know when your real birthday was, but Emiya said that your host's birthday is today so I guess that counts for something? Haha, open it up!"
She paused for a few seconds before she took the present and neatly peeled the tape off to reveal a beige scarf with some embroidery traced down its middle. She turned to her master, who made a satisfied hum after finishing his drink.
"Try it," he seemed to say, and she pulled it out and wrapped it around her neck.
The stitching was uneven, some parts felt more layered than other parts, and sometimes the embroidery looked like a Gallu spirit rather than what was probably intended to be a flower.
It snugly fit her neck. It was warm. Definitely like sunshine.
"Did you-?"
"I made it myself." Gudao's tired smile betrayed none of his genuine glee at her expression. "Honestly, it was all thanks to Medea, Emiya, and Euryale's guidance that I was even able to do this."
"H-how did you find the time to make this?"
Ereshkigal's gaze drifted to his fingers, which looked calloused and worn. Sensing her apprehension, he offered his hands for her to see. His warm hands had some cuts and puncture wounds, and she gently traced them, her healing magic leaving a cool sensation behind.
Gudao placed one of his hands atop hers.
"Hey," he said, catching her attention, "I recall you telling me that, 'Even if my hands are cold, I want to protect that vibrancy forever.' I thought maybe this would help you keep warm, but of course haha, what am I even saying. But even if it helps out just a bit, that it would make me really happy."
She sniffled and Gudao wiped a stream off her cheek. Even as she couldn't help herself, her lips tried to turn to a smile.
"Hey, Eree?"
"Yes?"
"One day I hope that I could show you a real garden, like the one we saw back in Uruk. We haven't summoned Merlin yet but I've been to some places where there were fields of different flowers that stretched as far as the eye could see, and once we're given the clear from Chaldea, I want to take you there. But for now, I hope you could appreciate something like this."
She turned to the drawing he was pointing at, which, as she had guessed, was the Garden of Avalon in Kur. Unlike tailoring, Gudao definitely had a talent for drawing and sketching, and in the middle of it all was a small sketch of her, her eyes closed in peace as the wind blew the petals around her.
She took a deep breath and smiled with the same expression as the drawing.
"It's a promise then."
"Definitely."
Gudao took out his pinky and held it out to her. She paused for a moment before recognizing the gesture and grinned as she linked it with her own pinky. And at once, Gudao's eyelids became heavy and he fell forward towards her. His breathing became soft and Ereshkigal began stroking his hair until she ascertained he was fast asleep.
Ereshkigal took a soft breath before carrying him, bridal-style, onto his bed and tucking him in. After sniffling some more and wiping away the stray tears from her face, she whispered in his ear.
"I hope you don't mind me forcing you to sleep now. But I'd be too embarrassed to say this while you're awake. Thank you for everything, Gudao, for accepting even gloomy, old me, and giving me a home. I'll cherish these things, and until that day comes when we undoubtedly have to part, I hope to make more memories with you."
She bent over and softly planted a kiss on his forehead.
"Sleep well, my sweet little grapevine."
And thank you , she said to the soul of her body's host, as she closed the lights to Gudao's room and closed the door. Without you reaching out your hand, I might have stayed the stupid socially inept goddess I really am. Thank you, Rin.
Happy Birthday.
With that, the slightly-more perky goddess grabbed the empty mug and plate and hummed a soft tune as she walked under the silent moonlight of Chaldea.