A short reminisce before battle
Earth (fate grand order alt timeline)
Some years ago
Chaldea
The room was bright and cold, decorated with unadulterated white tiles arranged all over the four corner walls and floor. Its whole appearance had a cold unwelcoming feeling to it, and so it was almost empty except for what or rather who laid in what was in the middle.
A young female figure was sat unto a slanted chair, her head covered in a mental contraption half obscuring her facial features with both her hands and legs strapped, effectively binding her from moving away.
BRZZZRT!!
The sound of electricity was accompanied by the agonised cry of the female, her legs and arms twitched erratically desperately doing its very best to escape from its torment but unfortunately the unfeeling straps that served as her chains did a good job in not providing her any form of mercy.
"Ahhh!!!!!!!"
Electricity rang out again for the female, tears streamed down from her unseen face as her all unsaid pleas for the pain to end to her unseen tormentors went in vain.
At the right corner high above the white room, there was a satin glass, and just behind it, was an observation room filled with a small group of individuals as they looked down, at the young adolescent without any form of expression unheeding and uncaring to her pain filled cries.
"How goes the subject 'aegis' neural-brain activity?" a man called out, he wore a smart brown English overcoat, pants and stood supportably on a walking stick, adorning a monocle on his left eye, his face smooth of age except for the weary eye lines, with a top hat that mud brown hair peeked over. He had a fussy feeling to him as he looked towards one of the men in front that sat in front of a computer.
"No signs of abnormality, Sir" one of the men in white lab coats replied.
He tsked in irritation with narrowed eyes he began to pounder 'the spirit still refuses to resurfaces even upon the physiological pressure mounted on specimen 'aegis' huh…. Or maybe, we haven't reached the thresh-hold yet…. Well then in that case'
"Increase the neural shock voltage by ten more percent" he ordered to one of the men in lab coat.
"B-but sir, ten more percent will exceed the minimum thresh-hold a brain can withstand" he asked in obvious alarm as he warned the man in overcoat.
The brown haired frowned at the man's light warning as he coolly replied back "of course I know that you imbecile, but you're forgetting something. She isn't a human she was built specifically to withstand things like this… well, don't stay looking like idiots, increase the amps"
The man in coat looked for a moment before turning back to the computer screen with clear hesitation in his movement, just as he was about to increase the voltage…
The rooms door abruptly whirled opened with a clearly much more younger olga marie marching in with a perpetual scowl fixated on her features, her irritation to all who was present in this room was clear to see "and on who's authority was the permission for this… barbarity carried out" she demanded. Her eyes screened across the occupant in scrutiny before settling on the English man "lord Murnerve inelius Alba. Is this your own doing" the words posed in a way that sounded like a question that needed no answer.
The said lord puffed his chest a little as he replied back "yes I believe so, Lord Olga Marie Animusphere…" with snide laced in his tone "and please the word barbarity sounds a little too crude don't you think. I believe that since the experiment 'aegis' haven't produced any sort of success apart from the pandemonium it caused after its first spirit possession, physiological and psychological pressure must be mounted to see at least what had made her to turn like this or at least if possible reproduced the possession once again." He raised a finger shaking it at her as if chiding a naughty child "so rather than barbarity, I call it exploring all forms of hypothetical options"
Olga marie gritted her teeth as she balled her fist, she knew that as a tower lord at the clock tower she was much too green, just like a small snivelling sheep in the midst of ferocious wolfs. But. This isn't the clock tower. This was Chaldea, the blood work of her father, and one that is free from the clutches of the old coots back at the mage association. And it will be a cold day in hell before another tells her what to do in her own home territory.
It won't be without a fight, and if this is how Lord Alba is going to play his game well. "two to play tango then' she decided internally, and so with a faux smile that never reached her eyes, she replied back "oh is that so lord Alba, colour me impressed by your thought process. Then, I believe it won't be presumptuous of me to assume that by now, that you have a concrete idea over the core issue of the subject not being able to attain possession and how to correct it, right" but between them the unvoiced words were 'does that mean you have enough reasons for all this test and… can you prove it'
The lord bristled as he clenched his walking staff 'this puerile brat!' he thought contemptuously, of course he knew her game, and her unasked words, if this were anywhere else he wouldn't deign her an answer, but this was Chaldea, the stand of the mage association is shaky at best and he doesn't possess the needed leverage to do as he pleased.
'Not to the mention the fact that….' He trailed off as he caught glances at the stealthy spectators, who deceive only themselves when they think that he doesn't know that they're listening to their words, a bead of sweat trailed down 'reputation manipulation eh… impressive Olga Marie Animusphere, but don't think that I am not prepared for this little girl'
"W-well, while not a full composition" he began while placing a free hand on his chin "the core issue of the matter has long been clear to me from the beginning…."
She waved in mock eagerness "and that is" she asked.
"The sprit itself" he replied "during the videos available of the first possession, the objective behaviour of the spirit wasn't in line with the summoner, thereby leading to her adorned unstable mental state. And as for why the spirit behaved like that? Well I honestly do not know, after all, we can't hope to ever understand the intricacies pertaining to heroes of antiquity" he ended with a falsely tired sigh.
"And so with that conclusion, why do you believe that the use of this kind of… 'Exercises' are needed if it's only going to agitate the spirit more negatively" she fired back.
With a smirk he answered back "what more if not to gather data, like I said in the beginning, proper investigation from all forms of avenues will provide to us a much more detailed blueprint to begin the next fertilisation of the next project 'aegis'"
She smirked internally 'gotcha now' before placing a hand of her cheeks "so are you saying that from the beginning that the end goal of all of this isn't to correct the problem but to scrape as much as you can" she ambiguously asked.
"That is correct" he said absent-mindly, just before his eyes widened in alarm, at the growing smirk present on the younglings face. As he slowly digested the insinuation of his words, he tried to laugh it up "n-no what I meant to say is that…." But alas now the advantage has been given to the younger lord and she refuses to let it go.
She turned to one of the lab coats men "you there, stop the ECT now" the said man hesitantly looked at both the lords in hesitancy before the white hair barked even more loudly "did you not hear me, I said NOW!" the man flinched at that before hastily turning to shut it off, as the screams of the subject began to die down at that.
Lord alba stood face red as all this went on "how dare you, olga marie animusphere…" he growled lightly.
But the lady did not back down from the wrath, from her fellow tower lord "how dare me" her face incredulous as she fired back "no how dare you, murnerve inelius alba, to come into my organization and tell me how things are run around here. Your supposed hypothesis is nothing new my fellow lord, from day one we already knew that spirit wanted was in clash with its host, that was why it wanted to break free, and seeing that 'aegis' fought against his control then it would be of no wonder that, the spirit refuses to resurface for a second time. That is why she shouldn't have to be tortured and prodded like an animal, any form of shown care only serve to foster the good relationship between us and the spirit rather than to be strapped for an electrical therapy!"
The lord's chin twitched before he asked one question "even though she was made without a normal lifespan?"
"What?"
"You heard me, and for how long do you think that it'll take, for your soft-hearted plan to become fruitful, young girl you seem to have forgotten two things" he said raising two fingers "she is not a human, but a resource, and to a mage resources are always there for one thing alone; merit. If she has no merit then she has to be stringed for it" he dropped one finger "and second 'you are a mage' and true mages don't hold the kind of sentimentality I've detected from you now, and so act like a true one olga marie animusphere"
The female tower lord eyes narrowed at his counter argument before she replied coldly "tower lord alba, I am a mage whether you like it or not, and how I do my things are up to me and me alone… you got it"
For a moment the room was tense as a result of the stare down between the tower influential mages, both did not seem to give an edge to the other as they fought a visual battle for dominance, a moment felt like an eternity before lord alba chuckle "well it seems like I am not welcome here, and so fact deems itself that I must have to excuse myself, after all, I am a busy man, well then good day to you all ladies and gentlemen" he tipped his hat as he headed straight for the door, just as he was crossed paths with the Chaldea director he slowed slightly and whisper "and I pray that may your endeavours be fruitful… we shall surely meet again back at the clock-tower" but his word contained a thinly-veiled unsaid threat 'Chaldeas may protect you from me but the clock tower wont'
And he quickly left after that.
The room was quiet as the occupants looked at their boss for further instructions, she stood still for a few seconds before turning to her employees a scowl on her face as she clapped urgently "well what are you waiting for the farce is over leave now" as she turned heading for the exit before stopping as she continued "and also take 'aegis' to the medical resting unit, she deserves her rest after all she's been through" and left as well….
...
The room was still quiet with only the sounds of transfusion glucose dripping into a tube, the room's occupant sat at the edge of her bed her eyes seemly dead despite the white lights that filled the room as she faced downwards tired and aimless.
The room's door suddenly slide open as a pink haired man in coat cheerfully walked in, on one of his hand he held a coffee cup "Heya aegis, it seems like we meet once again" seeing the lack of response from the young girl, the man's smile slipped off as a solemn one took its place, he gave a sigh as he walked slowly and sat beside her without a word.
The silence persisted before he raised the coffee "here 'aegis' for you, it will serve as nutrient after your-…" he trailed off unable to continue. The words felt too disgusting for him to continue.
The girl slowly raised her head to the offered drink, before slowly taking it. The doctor warned as she took it
"Be careful, it's still a little hot"
She paused a bit, before accepting it. She lifted the coffee as she looked at it, making no notion to drink, just starring. The doctor sighed once more just as he was about to talk with the girl, as she suddenly threw at him a question "doctor, for what purpose was I created?"
The doctor was stumped as he tried to brush the question off weakly laughing "what are you talking about, you were created for the aegis project right, an alienated class for the purpose of protection right"
"But since I couldn't do even that doesn't that mean that I am a failure"
The doctor shook his head "no. no it definitely isn't your fault, you were…" he struggled for words to say before continuing "designed for a purpose, what you were created to do and it worked perfectly, the main issue itself comes from the stubborn spirit inside of you" he pointed out.
"But since the spirit did not accept me, doesn't that mean I still failed"
The doctor shook his head as he commented "no I don't think that's the reason 'aegis'" he then added mentally 'at least I don't believe you're at fault, we are for placing everything on you, even though you were made for this purpose you do not deserve this' he pursed his lips, before he continued "… ok 'aegis' what about if you look at it this way, if there was anything you want to do apart from this, what you were created for, like any dream, what would it be"
She looked confused "what does that have anything to do with this doctor"
"Am coming at that just humour me"
She titled her head in a sign of concentration as she answered "the stars…" she replied back before timidly continuing "if there ever was anything I ever wanted, it would be to see the stars, that i once saw a picture in inside an astrology book"
The doctor smiled "the stars huh… that's a good dream you got there 'aegis' now that you've gotten that dream, that goal, it proves now that you now have something to fight for even though it's quite far away" the pessimistic unsaid word was if it was even possible at all "holding unto that dream grants to you the means of pushing forward I assure you, people who have big dreams and are capable of holding onto it no matter what stands in their way, will achieve it in one way or the other. So cheer up 'aegis' this small pit-stop of spirit not manifesting is not going to stop you now"
She stared at him, her lilac eyes brighten with hope "do you really think so doctor?"
The pink haired doctor puffed his chest and banged it lightly "this head doctor romaine archarman guarantee that as long as you hold on to that dream 'aegis', you are definitely not a failure"
The girl turned back to her drink only this time a hint of smile adorned her countenance with a small whispered 'thank you' and began taking small sips.
The doctor smiled happy she no longer felt down, but he then cupped his chin "but if we're gonna be commemorating your now desired goal we could do without the 'aegis' name"
"Doctor?"
"I mean all this talk of calling you aegis this and that, is just too distracting how about we give you a normal name… like samandra hark!" he perked up as he suggested.
The girl sweat dropped at the name "s-samandra hark" she said as her disapproval was clearly written all over her face.
The doctor slouched "that's no good for you huh… alright what about sasha cart!"
"…"
"Elena staurt!"
"..."
"Zactize macpherson"
"D-doctor it's ok…"
But the doctor wasn't deterred, as he raised a hand "wait 'aegis' just give me time to think, mnnnnnn…." He scrunched his face in total concentration before he snapped his fingers "what about… Mash Kyrielight, sounds cool right"
The girl paused as strangely she liked the name it somehow seemed to fit her notwithstanding the fact that she also found it cool, and so she nodded back "mash kyrielight" she tasted the name "that name I like it"
"Yosh, that's good cause my brain cells just ran out of names list" before they could continue his wrist gadget began to blink, as he looked at it and pressed it brining up an holographic screen when he saw what it was he began to panic "damn-damn-damn. I so dead I forgot" he quickly stood up as he headed towards the door "am sorry but it seems like we're gonna have to cut our small chit-chat, the director's going to want my hide right now" just as he reached the door at the exit he turned with a small grin "so 'mash kyrielight' can we meet again for another enlightening talk between you and I"
The now christened mash eyes widen before she replied back her smile totally obvious "yes doctor I would love that" and she added lightly "and thank you doctor"
The said doctor waved a hand as he left "any time mash, anytime"