The Mansion of Crossroads

"No, I didn't. My sister died because she was special. She killed my mother against her will." Aya took the sunglasses off, looking at the forest ahead, a little annoyed at the wind. Nature could be a bitch, in a way. But then, humans had a tendency of being bitch to nature...

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"Master, I did not stop the enemies. As your servant, I am to carry your words with a great weight. I am your weapon, and that weapon failed to strike the enemy." Saber opened her eyes, and looked at her Master, her normal, calm expression on per usual.

"I suppose you don't know what mage craft is. I suppose I'll have to compensate for your inability in that department. I suppose as long as you have the circuits, which you do, I will still be able to exist."

Lia was startled and looked down at the girl. Strange that she had not picked up on her approaching. "Oh...well I was just looking at the forest." She looked around and noticed that there wasn't really anyone around. "Hey, you never did answer my question. Who is your mother and where is she?"

"Dunno." The little girl giggled, looking up at Lia.

"So, do you like it here, on Earth? I mean, you can't actually feel it. Not with the power of science, anyway. But there's um....magic? Screwing the laws of physics over since fantasy was invented!" The little girl looked up at Lia expectantly, waiting for her response. This was really cool, actually being able to talk to a real life alien.

Andrew's smile immedietly dropped, as he looked over at Aya, leaning back slightly. "Look, sorry. I didn't mean to drag that up." The Knight noticed how this woman had such pretty eyes as she took off her sunglasses.

He then shook himself out of his admiration of her. What the fuck was he thinking? He'd just reminded her of her dead sister and mother, which was bad enough. Now he was eye-goggling her. He was too mature for that. Why did he even take notice? Maybe it was because of how much she reminded him of Sarah Lyons. Tough, beautiful, and good. But she had made it clear that there could be nothing between him and her...

---

"I've failed at things before too, and I know that no one, no matter how fictional or powerful, is perfect. You're no different. You didn't fail me, so what if they got away? We're alive right? That's all that matters." James then fully laid onto his back, tucking his hands behind his head and watching the clouds fly over from the clearing.

"It's fine. I came to terms with that when my little sister came back and tried to kill me. I put her to her final rest." Aya spoke calm, but in the inside, she was at turmoil. She missed Maya....even if she had Eve, a dark part of her said she was just a clone...a copy...nothing more.

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"A Epic Hero does not fail. Please, stop trying to avert the blame from me. I would rather attone for faliure then act as if it never happend, Master. Going down that path with a person....never works." Saber's annoyance was aparant in her voice, and the tiny scowl she gave. It was getting cold out, and she could feel a storm coming soon. But it wasn't right to treat her Master like this....he probably didn't even know what magecraft was.... She may have been just tapping into that potential, but she could do something for him.

"Master, would you like an apple for the start of your day?" Saber motioned her head towards one of the long dead trees to her right, a hint of a smile now on her face.

Lia eyes had returned to the little girl, who she had now learned was without a mother. She completely missed the other question as she thought about her life on the fleet, how both her parents had died when a band of pirates attacked and the captain ordered a self destruct rather than let the pirates have the slaves and ship. Three of the pods that had been launched were saved from the pirates' fire because the ship was lost in the explosion that engulfed both ships.

Ignoring the question, she pressed her first one, "What about a father? Do you have a father, or anyone else?"

"Nup. I don't have anyone. But I can beat the crap outta anyone. So I can fend for myself." The little girl threw a half hearted flying punch at Lia's abdomen area, with a smile on her face. Then relaized just how bad that could hurt someone. She was super strong, after all. Fridge Horror, it always scared her.

Andrew looked over at Aya, he really didn't know what to say. He'd comforted kids about losing their parents before, like Ian and Bryant. But never a fully grown woman about something long in the past.

"Hey, whatever happened, I'm sure she loved you very much..."

---

James half sat-up and looked at the tree Saber was pointing to, smirking a little bit. By now he'd already learned that this woman sitting next to him could do things nigh impossible. It really didn't bother the Marine.

"That would be wonderful." He replied, returning the smile.

Lia took the punch with a little smile, but the frown returned, "You have no one? Why don't you stick around here with me?" Lia tried her best to stay upbeat during the conversation but a hint of sadness had crept its way into her voice.

"Maya is still with me. She gave me everything she had...." Aya looked up at the clouds above, deciding to finally leave the roof. They had most of the day before they were supposed to get ready to leave. Might as well live it up.

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Trace on
Duplicating Base Materials : Succses
Reproducing Time of Growth : Succses
Forming : Flawed
Recreating with increased base status Flawed; Slightly better than base memory of apple

Saber held her palms open, as she used up uneccesary energy to create her Master a meal. Hopefully, it would work...

A small, typical apple appeared in her hand, seemingly normal compared to any other. However, Saber had used her best memory of an apple she had in life, and slightly improved on it. Given there were flaws. But she was lucky to even get it to work...


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"Mmmmmmmm. Okay, Misses Alien." The little girl simply hugged Lia, wrapping around her in a happy embrace.

Lia hugged the little girl back, smiling as she did so. When the hug was over, and the little girl had released her, Lia asked, "Now then, what's your name?"

"We should head inside, we have a long day ahead of us..." Andrew replied softly as he turned to head inside, stopping to wait for Aya to follow.

---

James leaned forward slightly, a 'whoa' on the edge of his lips. He gingerly picked the apple from Saber's hands, looking at it as if it had fallen from the sky and clunked him on the head.

"How did you do that? Doesn't that like, wear you out?"

"Right. Lets go, we have a big day ahead of us." Aya simply let her slide off the roof, hitting the ground without a notice.

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"It's Pepsi. My real name is hidden. Like a ninja. Are you a ninja? You have an awesome voice like one...." The little girl talked, but didn't stop her hug.

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"No, not now Master. I have enourmous amounts of energy at my disposal, far more than any other Heroic Spirit, even Casters. However, we need to finish the contract later so that I can use you as a more suitable passive energy source. As for my abilities, that is Mage Craft." Saber looked at the clouds above, looking for any cloud that looked like a lion. She couldn't find any.

Andrew looked over the edge as Aya jumped, laughing to himself. "Heheh, okay..." He then leaped over too, using air resistence and Parkour training to slow, and soften his fall. Rolling into a standing position on the ground.

---

"Passive energy source? What does that mean? And how do I fufill the 'contract'?" James questioned, as he cautiously took a bite of the apple. Looking directly at Saber.

"Yes Master. I take a portion of your Prana, or energy your circuits produce, as the way to keep myself here. And the contract is simple to fulfill. You must simply say that you are my Master, and the command seals should appear. They're small symbols on your arm. You only get three, and once they're used, my contract with you is over. That being said, you should know the formal rules of the game, as it appears you’re not an experienced or taught magus." Saber stood, and began to walk towards the trail leading up to the house, ready to explain as she returned. First however, she picked up a seemingly invisible object lying in the ground, her right hand wrapped around it.

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"Well, at least you’re spry." Aya muttered, walking back into the house. She was ready to just sit down, and tal with the others about what the hell happened yesterday...

Lia gave a slight chuckle and picked the little girl up set her on the Quarian's lap, "Well, Pepsi, what do you want to do?" The Quarian had never really thought of having a family, being an exile made you forget about those kinds of things in favor of not dying. Something about this little girl made something inside her snap and now she felt that she might finally, possibly, have a family again. Her own daughter, albeit human and adopted, but it would still be the same thing really.

Having returned to the mansion (though she had been knocked out for ... well, she wasn't sure how long) and having stored her armour and equipment aside (though she kept her fatigues and boots on), Nova leaned on a wall outside on the balcony, listening in on the conversation going back and forth. She allowed her mind to wander as she stared out on the cityscape; this world reminded her of the capital of the Dominion, Korhal, seat of Emperor Mengsk.

She sighed as she pushed a lock of hair out of her face and continued gazing out over the balcony, quietly thinking.

Leon found himself sitting on the front steps of the mansion, wondering how it'd all gone wrong only for all the trouble they'd caused to be simply sweapt under the rug. Maybe it was the old man with the monitor in the back of his truck? He seemed like an individual with connections. The events of the night before were mostly a blur once he was re-arrested which seemed like it was becoming a trend. But, by keeping his good behavior and what-not, his bail being paid by some unscene individual, he was free to take in the sunrise once more as a free man under watch of the government at all times.

"Yeah, I've had some... bad experiences with gravity in the past. Thought it was time to learn how to not die falling from a balcony..." Andrew mumbled as he followed Aya inside, stepping past Leon who sat upon the stairs. He remembered that one time in the Alien Mothership, Zeta. When he was in that massive, mobile trashcan-thing. It had opened and flipped him out. He'd fallen and broke his leg upon landing. Of course that didn' stop him from killing every Alien on that level, and finding the proper equipment to fix his leg.

---

James sighed, he really didn't want to go back up to the mansion quite yet. "Well, first things first. All I have to do is say I'm your Master?" The Marine popped his neck, then shrugged. "Alright, fine. I guess I'm your master. Now, how do you take a portion of my... Prana? And what's magus?"

"There's no need for the former, unless I were to use so much of my energy at one time. And a Magus is someone who has circuits, which allow someone to use magecraft. Contrary to belief, magecraft is not magic. Magic is a miracle, an original, powerful thing. For example, I could in theory bring one of these trees back into fruitation. But, true magic is the ability to bring back hundreds of miles of forest with an easy, simple ideal. There were only around seven true magic’s in my world left in modern times. The year was.....2005. And I believe two were destroyed that year." Saber looked at some of the clouds above, seeing nothing that foretold any form of snow. However, off in the distance she could see some snow clouds. Though, she imagined they had plenty of time to stay outside, for now.

"You will have to forgive my inability to use these powers effectively. I am not the best at magecraft, and to be honest, I am simply improvising. In life, I never used such powers. Though, I am training an ability I hope will be able to turn the tide of any battle, but it is a third rate knock off of someone else’s ability. He was a servant Archer, whom could use a reality marble. I am trying to replicate said reality marble."

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"Hmmmmmmm. You wanna go inside, play some Mass Effect?" The little girl looked up at the sky, knowing this wouldn't last forever. Soon enough, worse things would come. Stranger tides. Just like that Pirate movie! She wondered if Captain Jack was on this world....but what if Captain Crunch was as well? Would he try to take over the world? Subjugate the ninja's to death?

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Aya sat down in one of the couches, waiting for Andrew to take a set opposite of her. It would be much easier to talk, and review what had happened yesterday (In the town, not the road. Maybe he knew something she didn't about that skirmish...) That being said, they shouldn't talk about only serious business. Might as well enjoy their time around, since they were heading off at the end of the day. It would be a long night on the plane ride, at the least. She wandered slightly if Andrew had ever seen the ocean, or not. Probably not-or at least, not the REAL, un radiated Ocean. It truly was a lovely sight in her eyes, something one of a kind. Something she could never really take for granted; a special place for all life, in her opinion.

James listened to Saber's rather large information dump intently, glancing up at the barely visible clouds in the distance. It'd be snowing soon. He wasn't wearing the proper winter clothes. But there was a mansion a couple hundred meters away for when it actually began snowing.

"A reality marble? Care to explain exactly what that is? Also, how do you take my energy?" The Marine questioned. He wondered if it would be a painful experience. And if so, how painful. He'd gotten through the CS Gas Chambers in Paris Island rather well.

---

Andrew stepped inside, sitting on the couch opposite of Aya with a sigh. He thought about what had happened last night, and the pathetic Police Interrorgation that had occured. Back where he came from, the Police were much more brutal. Which was probably a bad thing. Instead he decided to stray off of that subject.

"So, we're going to England, huh? Ever been there before?"

"It is.....passive. So long as you live, I will live. Unless I use to much energy at one time, I should be fine. I have far more prana than other Servants, so hopefully it won't be a problem. And a reality marble is the creation of your own inner world in the world. As it is not my inner world, Archers reality marble won't be as potent as I hoped. That being said, I wish to make my own reality marble, reflecting my inner world. It would be best to master Archers first, however." Saber leaned up against a tree, neutral as usual. She hoped it would be a nice enough day, though it would be time for an early lunch soon enough, or if she had known it, brunch.

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"Not in a long time, I suppose. It rains a lot, and has a lot of history. Other than that, I really can't remember much about it." Aya crossed her arms, glad she was in the mansion. She loved snow, but it could get oh so annoying at times, and besides that, the shelter was nice and toasty. But then again, she'd like to see the snow later today, maybe after a snack or lunch.

"Huh..." James mumbled, thinking over what she said about the 'reality marble'. It sounded like it'd be difficult to create, or whatever. And it'd probably need to be used by the creater to be effective. Otherwise it sounded potent.

"So, what happens if you use a lot of energy at one time?"

---

"Heh, sounds like southern Asia. I've never been to England. Heard it was a nice place, never had the chance to go." Andrew glanced up at a clock, his stomach growling. He hadn't eaten a bite of food the day before, and now he was starting to get hungry again. And they'd forgotten to get the food yesterday after the skirmish. So there was nothing in the house.

"So, what do you say we go out for some breakfast?" The Knight asked Aya, turning back to look at her, waiting for her response. It was only around 7:30 AM, early enough for a breakfast, and to make it back to the Mansion befor it snowed... maybe.

"I would have to kill innocent humans for their energy, or......." Saber broke her normal expression, looking down at the ground, trying to hide a blush.

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"Sure, go find some money, or something. I just want to go back to bed really, but lets head out." Aya looked out the window, yawning. It was going to be interesting, being here, on Earth "Prime". Maybe she'd go see an old friend today, before she left tonight.

James raised a playful eyebrow at Saber's seemingly random blush. Killing innocents was out of the question, even for someone such as him. So they'd have to go with the second option instead. "Or what?" He pressed lightly.

---

"Alright. You can take a nap later." Andrew replied with a wink, standing up and walking off into the mansion. He was gone for a few minutes before he returned with three $20 bills in his hand, which he held up. "Found these in a safe in some Master Bedroom. There was a lot more in there, but I just took a little bit."

The Knight stepped over to the door, turning the doorknob and motioning for Aya. "Ladies first."