608Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace
I do not own Familiar Of Zero
Hello again to everyone reading my story, and thank you to the people that have left me reviews. I would also like to send thanks to PCHeintz72 for our discussions and Mythking18 for getting me to start reading manga. Hopefully, this chapter does not disappoint.
One must truly hit rock bottom before one can reach the top
*Action*
"Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
{Saito's other Inner Voice}
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Chapter Two
Saving Saito
With Eleonore starting up her part of the day, Agnes has a chance to try and check on Saito. She comes around the corner and into the area where Louise had taken him. As she approaches, she takes notice of his state and she starts to get a little worried.
Saito was still sitting in the same spot he had slumped down into just a little bit ago like a large sack of potatoes. He was motionless and had his knees curled up to his chest. His eyes were dark and lifeless. The only thing to move was his hair whenever a slight breeze would come by.
'Damnit! What have you done Louise.'
Agnes recognizes this kind of look and it doesn't paint a pretty picture in her mind. She has come across this a handful of times because of her position.
'Why is it that you broke the one man that has seemed to have gotten my attention? Maybe I'm just paranoid. I will just go up to him and he will be just fine. Right?'
She starts a slow approach. Each step not putting any of her worries to rest as she gets closer. She notices the gash in his cheek and some blood that came down from the wound. She gets within a few feet of him.
"Saito?"She says in a mildly soft voice
*No response*
"Saito." She says, but this time a little more stern.
Saito opens his eyes and sits up within the grassy plains in his mind. 'Did I just hear something?'
'Shit.' Thinks Agnes.
"Saito." She says again. A little bit louder than the last.
*No response*
'There is that voice again.' He starts to look around in his head to find the source. 'That voice sounds familiar.'
'This is not good at all. I have to get him out of this. How can the person that has not only saved my life, but also Henrietta's, be reduced to this. He is better than this, and deserves better. This would break Henrietta's heart. I know she loves him, but this is personal for me too.'
Agnes is not exactly the motherly and loving type like Henrietta. So she tries the only thing that she could think of to try to snap him back into reality (Plus the fact that she is also very pissed at Louise right now). She leans over a little and grabs Saito by the front of his tunic.
"Saito!"
With the thump of a heartbeat, a ripple makes it's way through Saito's reality and gets his attention.
'Agnes.'
Life sweeps back into his eyes just to see Agnes's face in front of his. He jolts back and lifts his arms in the air in defense.
After seeing him bring his arms up, and possibly that she might have been a smidge rough about this, she lets go of him and backs up a foot.
"It's ok Saito. I am not going hurt you. You weren't responding to me when I was calling to you."
She looks away and starts to scratch the back of her head.
"Sorry." She gets a slight blush on her cheeks. She isn't used to apologizing, but she thought it was fair for what she did. She was glad she did it though.
Saito puts his hands down. He was thankful that she didn't do it because she was angry. He gets a little bit of sadness in his eyes, though, realizing that he is back in reality, but he decides to respond to Agnes in kind.
"It's ok."
Agnes tries to get a closer look at his cheek.
"How about you get that cheek taken care of?"
Saito remembers the gash on his cheek and quickly turns his head in shame so she can't see it.
"It's ok. I'll be fine. It's. . . just a scratch that I got."
Agnes knew better, but she decides not to try to push the matter further. She didn't want him to dart off.
"Very well."
Now that she got his attention, she didn't think ahead of what to do next. She didn't want to bring up the current issue in her mind. This situation does have to be handled soon though.
'Maybe some training to start would help.'
"We should do some training."
Saito looks up slightly from his position.
"Sorry. I just don't really feel like it right now." He looks back down again.
'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! What else can I do to get him up?'
She looks a little to the side. She closes her eyes while she says her next sentence.
"I noticed you were watching the training earlier. Wouldn't you like to compare our stances and movements?" Her arms around her stomache.
'I can't believe I am doing this.'
A shock comes to Saito when he hears that she noticed him watching.
'I wonder how much she noticed?'
He still just doesn't really feel like anything today.
"I'm sorry Agnes, but I just want to sit here for now."
Agnes does a mental stumble and face plant.
'If he wasn't in the situation that he is in… I am trying hard to put myself out there for him. To reach him.'
One of her subordinates from the musketeer group approaches Agnes.
"Sorry to bother you, but we have a couple security issues that need to be looked at."
Agnes gets a T shaped tick of annoyance on her forehead.
'Dang it! Of all the rotten times duty has to take me away from personal matters.'
"Saito." She looks over at him. She slips back into her on-duty look.
He looks up at her.
"I have to go take care of this. So you are off the hook today, but tomorrow we ARE going to train together."
Saito simply says "OK" in agreement.
As she starts to walk away with the other musketeer, Agnes gives another look over her shoulder at Saito. She gets a slightly sorrowful look on her face as he slumps back down.
'I am going to have to get Henrietta involved in this. This might be too big for even for me to handle (let alone Siesta). Hopefully Siesta will have better luck than me with him later. Why did he have to be HER familiar? I have to save Saito.'
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Around dinner time Siesta went looking for Saito. She found out that he hadn't been around the dining hall with Louise for his scraps. So she made up a quick sandwich for him wrapped up in butcher paper. It wasn't much, but it was all that she had time enough to do with her busy schedule.
She still found him outside, propped up against a wall. It looks like he must have thankfully walked around a little bit to stretch his legs because he wasn't in the exact same spot that he was before.
She had a sad look on her face at first. She saw how gloomy he was.
'This is not my Saito.'
Especially after he saved her from count Mott's clutches, she has tried to do everything she could to not only be by his side, but also be a pillar of support for him. That reason alone is the very reason why she puts on a smile every time she sees him.
She puts on her happy face for him as she gets closer to him with the sandwich that she made.
"Saitooo!"
Just like it did for Agnes, Siesta's voice registers in Saito's head and he manages to look up. He still looks gloomy and glazed over though. At least she didn't have to try too hard though.
Siesta starts waving.
When she gets up to him she notices that the gash is still there and mentally she is cursing Louise out.
"Saito. I heard you weren't at dinner. So I made you a little sandwich so that you had something to eat." She was actually ecstatic on the inside from the thought of making food for him.
"Um. I am not actually very hungry, but thank . . "
Siesta didn't give him any more time to refute and she shoved the sandwich at him.
"Your welcome." She says with a smile on her face.
She goes to reach for his face to look at the gash in his cheek from the whip.
"How about we get that taken care of."
Saito jerks his head and turns it so that Siesta couldn't see it.
"No! It's nothing to worry about. It will be fine."
If Siesta wasn't in such a rush, then she would have tried a little harder.
"Alright Saito. Maybe later. I have to get back to work for now."
She closes her eyes and smiles at Saito as she turns around. When she turns around a tear strolls down her cheek and she crosses her hands together.
'Please! Agnes. Somebody. Anybody. Save Saito.'
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Shortly after Siesta left, Saito was sitting there by himself staring at the sandwich Siesta had given him.
'For some reason I am just not very hungry today. I just don't care.'
Somehow, amongst his solitude, Sylphid had managed to fly down and sit next to Saito. How a dragon (That's about 5 times as tall as a human when it is just sitting upright) could ever be that impossibly stealthy and light-footed will forever be unknown.
After a minute, it finally registers that a blue dragon is next to him. This startles him and he jumps to the side a little.
"Sylphid?"
She nods.
When he gets the confirmation the dragon was Sylphid, he calms down and slumps back down into his normal position.
'Maybe she would want the sandwich Siesta made. I am not hungry. So why waste it?'
He un-wraps it and holds it up to her.
She knew she probably shouldn't take it. Tabitha (after talking with Kirche) had explained the situation to her and wanted her to check up on him for a short while. That sandwich smelled sooooooooooo good though.
Sylphid motions with her head for him to eat it.
Saito shakes his head.
"I am not very hungry today. It's ok if you eat it."
Then he gives her a half hearted smile.
Excitedly. She takes it into her mouth and eats it, and then licks her mouth in content. Then she decides to nuzzle her head into his chest in appreciation.
Saito pets her head.
She stayed with him for a little while. She was trying really hard to make sure that it didn't look like she was observing, and watching over him. She was only right next to him. Staring at him, and then whenever he would turn his head in her direction, she would look away in any and all directions from him. If she were in her human form, she would probably be whistling as she did so. This would have actually been quite comical from a spectator's point of view.
Saito didn't really care that she was there. He thought that Sylphid's actions were a little odd, but he chalked it up to just plain curiosity. He probably would have been a little more interactive, but today was not that kind of day. He really just wanted to be left alone and away from everyone. He wasn't going to be rude though. He might have been depressed and out of it, but his nice personality still came through.
Eventually, Sylphid did leave him. She did nuzzle her hear into his chest again before she left.
'I hope big sis is able to save Saito.'
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Later that night.
Walking across the greens was Siesta. Well, walking wouldn't exactly be the right term. She was walking, but she had an extra giddy hop into her step as she was going to get Saito. She had a smile going from ear to ear.
'I get to take a bath again with Saito!'
She really wanted to help him feel a little better, and she remembered how much he loved being able to take that bath the last time. She also enjoyed it too. She enjoyed being able to converse with Saito like she did that night. If only she could do this every night with him.
This actually would have been quite a tough task to do by herself though. So she decided to get some help. She remembered what the head of the kitchen staff said when she asked him.
"Ha! Ha! Haaaaa! Anything for Our Sword!" He exclaimed with his hands on his hips and his chest heaving with every word he said.
She found Saito still in the same area as before leaning against the wall. He doesn't seem to be acknowledging her presence yet.
'I really hope he snaps out if this funk he is in. This would be so much more fun.'
She walks over by him, and makes sure that she has a smile on her face for him. She bends over and pops her head down in front of him.
"Saitoooooo."
'Siesta.'
He looks up at her.
"Come with me. I have a special surprise for you."
'I'm not in the mood for surprises today. I like her, but I just want to be left alone.'
He puts up his hand stop like sign.
"Sorry Siesta. I just want to be gahhhhh!"
Siesta was not going to let him turn her down. Mid sentence she grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. She then proceeds to walk away with him, holding his hand. She looks back to him with a warm smile on her face for him.
"I think you will thank me for this later."
She takes him to that quiet little corner where he had set up the make shift bath last time. It has already going. There was a place to hang the clothes and a bucket with a cleaning cloth and soap in it waiting for them.
He was actually surprised to see this.
"How?"
She quotes the head of the Kitchen staff.
"Anything for Our Sword!"
He face palms.
"Now take your clothes off and get in. I am not going to take no for an answer."
He waves his hands in front of him.
"Alright Siesta."
He goes behind the bath, takes his clothes off, and slowly gets in. The warms water makes him realize his aches and pains as he winces a little, but it then quickly goes away as the sensation becomes soothing. He slumps onto the edge of the bath and faces out towards the wall next to it.
Siesta grabs his clothes and hangs them.
Saito hears some rustling behind him and then the sound of someone getting in the bath. He turns his head to see Siesta getting in with him. She was trying to modestly cover her breasts with one of her hands (not that it helped too much considering their size).
He was Awe-struck by her beauty. All of that hard work she does has toned her body nicely. Every curve was accentuating her beautiful figure. The steam from the bath created even more allure to this scene. Saito was probably about to burst a blood vessel looking at her as she slowly slinked in.
{You shouldn't be staring at other women. Louise is the only one for you.}
Saito snaps out of his gaze and turns around.
"I should let you bathe." He then starts to get out of the bath when a hand grabs his shoulder.
"No. I didn't do all this just for me to bathe. I did it for you Saito, and I wanted to enjoy it with you. I really enjoyed the last time we shared the bath together."
{You shouldn't. Louise would be mad.}
Saito furrows his brow and scratches his forehead.
Siesta notices this.
"Are you ok Saito?"
"Sure."
'Why do these thoughts keep popping up? It's not like she does much of anything nice to me.'
{She is your master.}
He turns and slumps back onto the edge of the tub.
'What is going on in that head of yours Saito?'
Siesta notices all of the welt marks all over his body from today's events. She gets next to Saito and places her hands on his shoulders and then she proceeds to gently press herself into his back as a warm, comforting embrace. She leans her head onto his shoulder. She sheds a tear while her face is hidden from his view.
Saito knows Louise would be mad if she found him like this, but he didn't want to leave this feeling he is getting from Siesta's embrace.
'Louise would never do this.'
{But Louise is your master. She is your only one.}
Saito tries to ignore the voice this time. Siesta being there gave him something he needed.
Saito gets a very mild headache all of a sudden.
Siesta breaks away and gets the wash cloth. She starts to gently run the cloth along his back and shoulders. Saito closes his eyes as he remembers each lashing that Siesta grazes over with the rag. He also feels the comfort from her kind hands.
After a few minutes Siesta stops.
"Turn to me Saito."
He turns around.
"I am going to wash your face."
"No. I will . . do it later." He almost shuts down when he realized she wanted to wash where his gash is at.
"Saito. Please let me do this. Don't be ashamed to let me do this."
She inches closer to him, and puts one hand on his good cheek. He actually nuzzles into her hand and closes his eyes. She takes her other hand (with the cloth) and starts by dabbing at the wound. Eventually she was able to clean up the gash.
"Thank you." She says softly to him.
"Thank you."
The rest of the time actually went by kind of quietly. Siesta wanted to let Saito just enjoy a relaxing bath. She actually really wanted to talk to Saito about Louise, but she didn't want to ruin this little bit of tranquility. Perhaps tomorrow she can try to talk to him after she has a talk with Agnes.
He really enjoyed the nice bath. It relaxed him a lot. He stayed pretty quiet while he soaked in the bath. He listened to Siesta talk about her day and some of the funny things that the other staff did. It took his mind off of things for a little while.
Unfortunately, they had to get out at some point.
"I will have the head of staff help me take care of this tomorrow. It's late. So I should turn in. You are turning in too, right?"
"Yeah."
He didn't want to tell her that he didn't know where to sleep, because Louise told him not to stay in her room tonight. He didn't want to disobey Louise and get another lashing.
His headache seems to have subsided.
Siesta got herself together, and then she left after giving him a hug.
"I will see you tomorrow Saito."
"Yeah."
He feels a bit of sorrow come over him as she walks away.
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Without having anywhere else to go he decides to settle himself into a dark corner where he couldn't easily be seen by any night patrol that would walk by.
After sitting there a little while Derflinger pops out of his sheath.
"Hey partner. You should have seen if you could have slept in her room. You wouldn't be out here if you did."
"I can't bother her with my issues. I don't want to worry her. Plus Louise would get mad at me."
"She gets mad at you no matter what you do bro."
"I just couldn't do it. My problems are my problems."
He then leans his head against the cool brick of the building.
"Hey. Are you ok?"
"Yes. No. I don't know."
"I am kind of worried about you partner."
"I will be fine. Just leave me be for now."
"Very well."
Derf sinks back into his sheath.
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For the most of the night Saito spends his time fighting a losing battle in his head.
'Why am I out here?'
{Because your master told you not to stay in her room tonight.}
'Why should I listen to her?'
{She is you master and you love her.}
'And she doesn't whip me if I listen to her.'
{That's right.}
'If I do everything she says, then I get to eat and sleep in her room.'
{Yes.}
'I even feel good when I do things for her like dressing her and doing her laundry.'
{Why wouldn't you?}
'But Siesta isn't like that towards me. She treats me nice, and she always has a warm smile for me. Some of the others are pretty nice to me too. Like Tabitha, Henrietta, Kirche, and even Agnes. All I see from Louise is her angry face.'
'I guess that's because I am a bad dog. I shouldn't want to be around girls other than her.'
{That's right. If you didn't do that, then she wouldn't have to show her angry face.}
'This is wrong though. Isn't it? She shouldn't be treating me like this. I am human after all.'
{But you are also HER familiar.}
'I wouldn't want to be around other people if she was nicer to me.'
{This is how she is though, and you love that about her.}
After arguing all night like this within his own thoughts, and without any support, it seems like Saito lost his battle.
'Maybe that really is true. Maybe I really am at fault here. I am a bad dog. I shouldn't want to be around anyone else except her. She is right and I should be a better familiar. I will do what she says. I will just escape whenever I need to endure her punishments. Everything will be ok if I just be a good dog and listen.'
Saito finally closes his eyes to catch at least a little bit of sleep. His legs are curled up into his chest.
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Morning finally came to Harkeginia.
Students were starting to collect outside of their rooms including Tabitha and Kirche. It would have actually been a pretty prosperous morning had it not been for the slamming of a door. And the figure that did that slamming stormed past the fore mentioned duet.
Louise looked quite pissed. She also had very mild dark circles under her eyes
After she stormed by, Tabitha and Kirche looked at each other.
"If Saito isn't with her, then where is he?" Kirche looked at Tabitha with concern.
Tabitha looked at kirche straight in the eye and then briskly turned back to her room. After the initial shock of how quickly she moved, Kiche followed suit.
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"Where is he? Where is he? Where is that useless dog?"
She didn't find him right away, but she eventually found him. He was huddled up into the corner that he had spent most of the night at.
"Saito!"
He opens his blood shot eyes just to see Louise towering over him. Granted, the only reason why someone as short as her seemed towering was only because he was sitting and she was a raging inferno.
'Oh no. What did I do now.'
Saito was quite tired. He really didn't get much sleep.
"Why didn't you come back to my room last night?"
"You told me not to."
He might have been exhausted, but he was pretty sure that is exactly what she said.
"I might have said that, but there was still laundry to do, and you should have came back this morning to dress me."
{You will have to remember that for next time.}
"I'm sorry Louise."
"Sorry isn't good enough you useless dog. I am going to have to punish you."
Louise begins to get out her riding crop.
After hearing Louise say that he instantly shut down in expectancy. Life left his eyes once again as he went to his plains again where he could be at peace. He sat there motionless waiting for his whipping to begin.
Louise swung her hand in the air with the riding crop in it.
All of a sudden there was a gush of wind that blew. Louise shielded her eyes for a moment for the wind to pass. In the background you heard a thump and some footsteps were also heard.
*Smack*
That sound you could have sworn echoed for miles from it's origin. It was one that could not have even been seen coming. That sound came from Louise's face being smacked.
There is only one question left.
Who smacked Louise?
After the wind died, it was revealed to a very shocked Louise (with a nice rosy cheek) who the source was.
It was Tabitha.
"That is enough!"
This wasn't the typical stoic Tabitha that everyone is used to seeing. This time, she was very animated and angry.
Kirche (whom Tabitha dropped off by another building while flying on Sylphid) stood on-looking with shock and an open mouth.
Saito's autopilot checked over his body. He was looking for the smack to him that never came. After realizing that nothing happened to him, he looked up. Life starting to return to his eyes.
'Tabitha.?'
"What the hell was that for Tabitha?"
Louise's cluelessness further angered Tabitha even more as she furrows her brows.
"Enough Louise. Saito is coming with me."
"How dare you! Saito is mine! He is MY familiar! Come here Saito."
She point's down by her feet.
He shuts down again when he hears Louise call for him. Saito begins to get up when Tabitha uses a hand to temporarily push him back down so he wouldn't go to her.
"No."
What happens next is something else that no one would even think would happen, and something that most people would fear happening.
Tabitha begins yelling at Louise in an unleashed rant.
"How can you do this to Saito?! This is the man that has saved you on multiple occasions! This is the man that stood up against a noble to save Siesta from being raped and forced to work for a man that she didn't want to! This is the man that took on a squad of dragon knights when he could have gone home instead! This is the man that saved both Agnes and Henrietta, your childhood friend, from being stabbed! He personally stopped the water spirit at Lagdorian lake from flooding the world for a ring! He is the most selfless and heroic man that I have ever met! He has done all of these things, and THIS is how you treat him?! You treat him like a dog just because he is YOUR familiar. Think about what you are doing to him?! He should be treated like a knight! You don't deserve him you self-centered selfish BITCH!"
She turns around and begins to help Saito up.
Calmly, she tells Saito "Let's go".
Still kind of out of the situation he says "OK" to Tabitha's kind words towards him.
Even after losing much of her fire during Tabitha's rant, she tries her luck one more time to refute against Tabitha taking off with HER familiar.
"But. ."
That was the last straw.
Tabitha snaps her head back towards Louise and gives her final peace, yelling again.
"Don't you dare try to stop me! I AM going to borrow him for a while! If you don't like it, then you can fight me!"
Tabitha gave Louise a look that said "I dare You".
Louise didn't utter another word. She knew that Tabitha was one of the strongest mages at the school. Louise the zero gave in.
After a moment of silence, Tabitha took off with Saito on Sylphid.
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Wow! That was a lot longer than I expected this to be.
I wanted to give a couple characters a little more depth, and I hope to give some other characters a little more depth too.
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Next chapter Saito gets rid of his bond to Louise.
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Thanks for sticking through this and I hope you keep reading. I can't wait to get the next chapter started.
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