Week 3.

[trustfellowship]

WEEK 3 Grace and Doug are dead. It seems that there isn't anything more to do but mourn your losses and try to move forward. The Transmitter's rules still hang in every room, a reminder of the only means of escaping this place. But surely no one else will give into them, right? Saturday is given to regrouping and rest; the static blares out early on Sunday, but at least there are no bodies to find today - it seems you're safe for now. The night before wasn't necessarily a peaceful one, however; you'll probably feel a bit groggy when you wake up, and it seems you've regained something that you didn't realize you'd lost... Once again, however, it seems your efforts won't go unrewarded; another set of corridors have opened up, much in the same fashion as the other new area did last week. With them come new rooms to explore; maybe some of them will be to your liking. Or perhaps it's better to say that hopefully some of them will; after all, if the Transmitter gets her way, you may be here for a very, very long time. PATIENTS REMAINING: 26

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week three of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Transmitter, you can do so through text or the phone in your room!]

Comments

[heritrix]

[Rin stiffens.]

Sakura, you're not going to botch this for me, are you?

[imaginex]

What reason would I have to do that?

[Her voice is light; if anything, Rin's reaction makes her double down on herself]

I'm agreeing to your plan. There needs to be a murder if it comes to it.

[heritrix]

[Somewhere beyond her ribs is a tight, uncomfortable feeling.]

...If you need to do that, I won't stop you. But it might be better if you wait. If I fail, you'll need to act next, but the commotion should be good cover for you.

[imaginex]

[...]

Tohsaka-senpai.

I'm saying I'll do this in your place.

[...]

No, I probably couldn't do it as well. But I'm sure I can be the victim well enough.

[heritrix]

No.

[Flat and adamant. It's not going to happen.]

[imaginex]

Why?

[heritrix]

Because it's not going to happen, Sakura.

[You're my—]

Kogami knows we're from the same world. He'd smell we worked together from a mile away. You're the back-up, and that's how it's staying!

[imaginex]

[There's a visible flinch on her face at the mention of him, the one person who'd probably make her reconsider this.

... Which is why it's all the more significant that Sakura still holds her position, though she looks away]

There's no reason for me to be back-up. [Her voice is quiet] It's more beneficial that I be...

[Shifting on her feet (she hasn't sat down yet), Sakura's hands twist against each other]

B-because... there's no point in me going home anymore.

[heritrix]

[Rin is still furious, eyes gleaming more silver than blue, but it ebbs to confusion. A foreboding feeling.]

What are you talking about? [Incredulous.] Just say it plainly.

1/2

[imaginex]

[Sakura had assumed she was speaking plainly, but Rin's tone snaps her back into the moment. The girl looks at the other in brief confusion.]

You don't--

[--remember. Aaah, she sees.

Then she really will have to tell the truth. Sakura settles her eyes back on the floor.]

It happened after school, when Nii-san... [A pause, and it's heavy] ... when he brought me there in order to lure Senpai to him. Senpai tried to save me, and I assume you had formed an alliance with him, because you were there, too.

[Her voice grows weighted with each sentence, like she's struggling under the effort] Nii-san ended up losing the book that helped him control Rider, so she came back under my command. And...

[Nii-san ordered me to kill you both.]

He was angry that I wouldn't listen to him. One of my earrings contains a... liquid, that quickly drains my mana, so he... made it break. [Breaths coming slightly faster] Because Rider was under me again, I think the bounded field became too strong. I didn't realize what I was doing.

[I didn't mean to--]

I... I think I attacked someone. Then Senpai got in the way, trying to stop me from hurting anyone.

[I didn't, I didn't, I didn't--]

He was going to die. Rider wouldn't let anyone escape, she wanted to make sure I'd be well again, so I--

[imaginex]

[A long, long breath, gently exhaled. Sakura composes herself]

I'm unconscious, or have already passed. Even if I wasn't, I don't think there's a way to wake me up, either.

[A lie. Sakura can think of one immediately, except her mind would be dead.

Best not to dwell on it.]

1/2

[heritrix]

[How would you hurt someone, if you were low on mana?

This is the first question that comes to Rin's mind; a discrepancy that doesn't make sense. Sakura described Rider's attack as separate from hers (and Rider's Noble Phantasm is a bounded field; the one I discovered at school? Sakura, did that plan come from your head, or Shinji's?). They were both attacking, but if Sakura was being drained of mana on top of her Servant drawing so much, she should have been as weak as a kitten.

It's an inconsistency that immediately raises a red flag. Sakura is lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. Rin thinks to accuse her of this, but holds back. This is all buildup. Why Sakura would want to kill herself over this has not been answered, so she waits.

Waits, and wonders what horrible thing Sakura may have done; if she offers because all of their classmates are already dead, and she stupidly thinks one life can repay that. Bring her angry pacing to a stop, like a tiger ready to go in for the kill, she waits—]

[heritrix]

["I'm unconscious, or have already passed."

Every cell in her body is frozen.

"I don't think there's a way to wake me up, either."

In an instant, everything she wanted to say — every hurtful word — turns to ash on her tongue.]

[imaginex]

[... Rin is silent. Sakura doesn't dare look at her face, so she assumes the lack of voice as a blessing. The girl keeps talking]

So it's... best if I'm the victim. Whoever kills me will likely be caught, but it means you and the others will at least have one more week to find an escape.

[heritrix]

[Like an engine turning over, Rin's thoughts kick back into gear. They're racing too quickly, but she works faster to sort them.]

Don't— [Calm down, try again. Rin makes a sweeping hand gesture, like the arc of a blade, and strips the vulnerability from her voice. She starts over, stronger.]

Don't jump to hasty conclusions, Sakura. You're drawing from unreliable memories, so you can't take that as fact.

[imaginex]

[Oh, Sakura is aware of the discrepancies. It's taken all way to convince herself she doesn't care about them. Shirou's (and Rin's) safety plus her own self-inflicted punishment must come first.]

But it's true. [For all the softness of her voice, a crack makes it shudder] I turned my magecraft against me. I tried to kill my own mind to keep from hurting Senpai.

... I don't even know if I was successful or not.

[heritrix]

Well let's try and figure this out. I've gotten memories out of order, so I might remember something further than you do. What was the date?

[imaginex]

The... the 8th, I'm sure.

[heritrix]

Then there you have it.

[She remembers hearing a couple chatting in her memory, after spending the night in the park. The date came up in their simple banter.]

I received a memory last week that took place on February 11th, and Emiya-kun was perfectly fine.

[...okay, so he wasn't fine, but Sakura doesn't need to know that. Shirou had a serious injury; she remembers herself in the memory berating him for coming after her for it, with such a wound.

But how he got it, she can't remember. Was it Sakura...?]

[imaginex]

[Slowly, some of the life seeps back into her eyes.]

He's okay...

[Then her shoulders slump like she's taken a blow, and her head drops forward]

Good... I'm so glad.

[heritrix]

That's right. Really, why were you worrying in the first place? Saber would never let any harm come to him. The only reason Rider was able to scratch him before that is because he foolishly didn't bring his Servant to school with him.

Well, and because you apparently loaned her to your inept brother. How Emiya-kun was able to survive that long makes greater sense now...

[imaginex]

[...

There isn't a reply. Sakura is too busy staring at Rin with her mouth hung slightly open]

[heritrix]

...What is it? You're gaping at me like a fish.

[imaginex]

... Tohsaka-senpai.

Saber-san is... gone.

[She speaks slowly, not because she thinks her upperclassman can somehow miss the point, but like the words are meant to calm an incoming storm]

Senpai lost her the night before. Not that Nii-san realized it, but that's why I... didn't want him to come for me.

[Among other reasons]

[heritrix]

[Rin blinks, a bit stupidly. Saber was defeated? First, she doesn't want to begin to think what kind of Servant could do such a thing, but more importantly than that, it makes no sense.]

That's impossible. I saw her in my memory. My— [ha] Archer and I approached the church in my memory of February 11th. Caster had stolen Saber from Emiya-kun somehow, and attacked the overseer to boot. Saber was captured and rendered helpless, but she was still alive. I saw that with my own eyes.