tvklogs | Dark Hour Log

...I see. [And while that made shockingly little sense, it was still more easy to follow than Lancer's own story.]

I'm sure we'll figure this out one way or another.

I'm sorry. There's a lot about it that I can't talk about.

[Ainosuke decided to leave the topic there for now, opening his mouth to change the topic when everything seemed to change in an instant. He had to blink his eyes a few times, then rubbed his sleeve across his eyes again to focus now that the lights had come back on. It also made him realize how silent their surroundings had been, now that all the noises were back. The coffins were gone, and people were wandering around inside the station acting as though nothing had happened.

A girl at the front desk was watching the pair while Ainosuke stared back at her, equally as shocked at seeing someone who hadn't been there moments before.

He jumped nearly a foot in the air when his pocket vibrated and he dug for the cell phone, bringing it out and flipping it open. His hands were visibly shaking as he did so, checking the time on it and surprised to see it suddenly working. 00:00.

What just happened?

[Lancer nearly punched out the nearest person as a reflex when his own phone vibrated; he must have been a little more on edge than he thought. He ignored the strange looks he was getting--he was in armor, of course he was going to get stared at--in favor of first checking the phone for the time and looking around himself.]

[No coffins, no discolored surroundings, the lights were back on...everything was back to normal. It would have been like a Reality Marble had deactivated, if the two worlds weren't nearly identical. They didn't work like that, as far as Lancer knew.]

[He opened his mouth to reply, but almost immediately closed it. He had no answer for this. Caster wouldn't have simply given up, and lancer seriously doubted he was the one responsible anyway. It was almost safe to say it wasn't a Reality Marble, and what magus could have possibly sustained one for so long if it was?]

I...I'm not sure.

[And for the first time there was a look of honest uncertainty on his face.]

[Ainosuke turned the phone over, examining it, then started back outside before he did anything else, waving for the other to follow. He noticed the way the other was getting stared at and didn't want to worry about unnecessary attention while they were trying to get their bearings. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the outdoors, much brighter than he remembered with the street lights and cars now active again.

Moving off to the side of the door, Ainosuke kept trying to take deep breaths, shaking his free hand out. His body was still far too tense. The fact that he seemed to have received a text message did nothing to make him feel better, especially when it didn't come with a name or number attached.

He read it out loud, slightly muttering the words.]

'Welcome to Prospero. Please enjoy your stay at the Bayview Hotel.' ...

[Ainosuke didn't have a response to that. He just stared at it, trying to wrap his head around the message.]

[Lancer followed, in the back of his mind cursing the fact that he couldn't revert to spirit form. Hiding out was a simple matter for a Servant, but notably difficult in a physical body.

He looked over Ainosuke's shoulder at the message rather than check his own--because while he had a vague understanding of what its function was, Lancer was a couple millenia too early to know how to use it.]

Prospero? Where on earth...?

[It was nowhere he knew of in Japan or Ireland, which was admittedly the extent of his geographical knowledge.]

I'm not sure...

[Ainosuke clicked down further in the message, which listed various directions depending on the direction the receiver of the message was coming from. It listed a lot of street names. Realizing they were close to a major road, Ainosuke jogged a bit away to the corner, looking up and reading the street signs. He checked the phone again, looked back up to confirm, and then headed back to Lancer.]

I guess we're checking this place out first then. Follow me.

[He looked a little displeased by that. It was probably whoever had brought them there, moving them around and forcing them in specific directions. Though if they were going to get out of there, they had to start somewhere.]

I suppose there are few preferable options--better to have even something small to work with for now.

[He followed without complaint, though the whole thing confused him considerably.]

...I wonder if such a drastic change is standard for a place like this. Those people, the ones that the coffins changed into? They didn't seem too disturbed by it.

[Ainosuke hadn't consciously realized the point Lancer was making until the other said it out loud. He had been too focused on the mysterious message and his suspicions about trying to figure out who was behind it. It was true... The people inside didn't seem to have noticed anything at all. It was as though they'd thought nothing had happened, or at least that they were used to it. Or maybe it was some weird kind of mass hallucination.

For now, he kept walking as he spoke, checking street signs as they went to make sure they were heading in the right direction. Walking this late at night didn't leave him all that comfortable either, but he trusted Lancer to protect him.]

You're right. I'm still... not sure it was real, you know? But I can still feel what it's like to hit one of those things. ... if it was real... do you think they even know it's happening? I guess the only way to find out is to ask someone, but I doubt they'd tell a stranger.

[More and more, the longer he was here and experiencing things, the more Ainosuke started to realize that this wasn't a dream. Now he definitely was somewhere that was most certainly not home.]

I don't believe speaking of this would be a wise idea just yet.

[Seeing an individual in armor was strange enough. Having said individual ask if anyone else had seen the distorted colors and black monsters that had disappeared without a trace was another thing entirely.]

We know very little of where we are, how we arrived, or what exactly that occurence was. For the moment, I feel it would be best to keep it to ourselves. ...At least until we look a little less conspicuous.

[And by 'we', he'd meant mostly himself. Lancer was not a particularly shy or self-conscious individual, but the occasional odd look was making him wish he was at least wearing different clothes.]

[Another thought struck him...he was getting strange looks, understandable. But something was off; there had been a woman behind the desk at the police station, hadn't there? She'd looked right at him and nothing had happened. He raised a hand to his face--specifically, to the small mark below his right eye--lost in thought for a moment. Was it still there? If he wasn't a Servant and he didn't have his Noble Phantasms...just how much had he lost?]

Ainosuke, this will seem like a strange request, but do you have a mirror on hand?

Mm. Probably.

[At this point, Ainosuke was mostly thinking out loud, trying to calm himself by gaining some semblance of control over the situation. Maybe if he could sleep -- somewhere safe -- for a few hours, then he would have a clearer head about everything. Even though he had been sleeping just before arriving, his body was already exhausted.

Ainosuke actually smiled when Lancer asked him the question, slightly teasing now that their dark surroundings were gone. This was closer to how he usually acted around people.]

After what I asked, you think that's a strange request?

[With a slightly more serious look, he shook his head.]

I don't have one, though. What do you need it for?

[He gave a slight smile in return, also slightly more at ease without an immediate threat around them.]

You have your unusual powers and I have mine. Humor me for just a moment; is there a mark on my face as far as you can tell?

[Lancer raised a hand, pointing to a small birthmark just under his right eye.]

It would be right about there if I still have it.

[Ainosuke stopped walking long enough to turn and look back at the other. He reached up -- quite a bit up, considering how much taller the other was than him -- and carefully rested his fingers on Lancer's. Looking at the spot, Ainosuke made a face, wondering exactly what the mark was. It looked perfectly normal, but then again, he knew he couldn't say much with what signs he got from his powers.]

It's still there.

Really?

[That was strange. If it was still there, then surely it would have had an effect on someone by now. A human's magic resistance was no real defense against a curse like that.]

...I'm beginning to think there's a very good reason you didn't see anything.

[Lowering his hand back down to his side, Ainosuke stared up at Lancer and kept his eyes on the mark, still turning over a few things in his head. What the other said seemed to click surprisingly fast.]

Yours isn't working either?

[He shifted his weight, then turned and started walking again. Though the streets didn't make him uncomfortable, he still didn't want to be out much longer.]

Mine comes and goes a lot. It... really depends a lot on someone else.

There's quite a lot of things I have missing, honestly.

[Including the fact that he was human. A Servant on his own could not maintain an existence in the modern era--they needed a link in the form of a contract with a magus.]

[In short, even if he hadn't recently died, Lancer should not have been standing there.]

If you can't or don't want to say it, I'll understand.

[Ainosuke shivered a bit, rubbing at his arms as he walked. He wasn't sure if it was a bad feeling (it certainly wasn't a vision coming in, as much as he hoped for it) or how cool the night seemed to be.

Turning and starting down another road, he kept checking the signs to make sure they were going the right way. At least it wasn't much further now.]

Ah, it's nothing. At the very least, nothing I need to immediately worry about.

[Just, you know. Everything that defined him as a heroic spirit. Nothing important.]

All right. I'll try and help you, if you need it.

[Though he had no idea exactly what the other was missing, Ainosuke felt he owed the other a great deal. Usually, he was the one trying to protect people and offering to avenge them. Now someone else had gone out of their way for him and he wasn't about to let Lancer get away without repaying him.

It took a few more minutes of walking in silence before he reached the hotel, shuffling up and pushing the front doors open. He stood in the lobby area, looking around almost as though he expected to recognize the place, before his gaze settled on the front desk.]

... my English isn't the best, but it's probably better if I do it.

I should be able to get by well enough.

[Not needing to rely on a Master was admittedly something of a blessing; he wasn't going to need to worry about suddenly disappearing. His missing weapon and lowered reflexes, however, were a bit more difficult to deal with.]

You're likely the less suspicious-looking one here, so by all means go ahead.

[Lancer hadn't quite registered that he hadn't seen or heard anything in a language he didn't understand--blame the Holy Grail again. If it didn't make language barriers nonexistent, Lancer would be speaking nothing but archaic Irish Gaelic.]

[Ainosuke wasn't sure that he should be speaking English, but everything that he'd read so far had seemed to be geared towards that language. He was admittedly surprised that his comprehension level seemed that good. Though he'd never done horribly while studying it, he hadn't thought he'd accomplished this much.

Giving Lancer an awkward but encouraging smile, Ainosuke made his way up to the front desk. He leaned over the counter, clearly choosing his words carefully as he gave them his name and asked if they knew what he was supposed to do. When they handed him a small envelope in response, he knew he should have been more surprised than he was. More and more, he wavered between wondering why they were there and suspecting his brother for the involvement.

Ainosuke opened the envelope while he was at the counter, peeking inside and only finding a few cards. There was one that looked like a room key, plus a few others that looked like they belonged to specific businesses.

... there was a moment of hesitation before he spoke to the individuals at the front desk again, having a short exchange with them (that involved some awkward glances in Lancer's direction). Shortly after, Ainosuke was heading right back over to Lancer's side, holding one of the envelopes out at him.]

They said that one is for you.

...You make it sound as if they expected us. [Lancer took the envelope, confused as he was, and opened it.]

[He took out the hotel room key and examined it, trying to hide the fact that he was completely clueless. He usually entered a room by going through a wall in spirit form, what the heck was this? Well, first things first.]

Was that the case, or am I imagining it?

No. That's exactly what it is. I thought because of the message on my phone that maybe there'd just be a message here for me.

[He holds up his own envelope, shaking it a bit for emphasis.]

But they're serious about me having a room here. I gave them my name, they gave me this. So I asked about you and you have one too.

... that means it's a lot bigger than both of us. I don't have any idea how we would be connected.

[Lancer put the key back in the envelope, a serious look on his face as he considered this. Who would expect a heroic spirit to arrive here, especially a dead one? This was something of a far larger scale than either of them could imagine, Ainosuke was right about that much. But he had no idea just what Lancer was--that made all of this so much more striking.]

[There was some incredibly powerful something at work, to turn a Servant human as well as collect people from who-only-knew-where. There had to be some answers, possibly having to do with those black creatures that they had encountered.]

...you're right, there's much more at work here than even I can imagine.

[Not that Ainosuke hadn't suspected that this was already much bigger than them before, with the weird world shifting that was going on, but most of it he could have easily blamed on hallucinations or his brother. Up to this point, he could have blamed a great deal on his brother, even down to the fact that an envelope was being left for him. But how was Lancer tied into this? He didn't seem like the type of person his brother would target, but there were always people working for his brother who kept grabbing out and feeding off of others.

... he really needed to think about this more.]

We don't really have a choice but to keep going where they're leading us, either.

[There was always another option, but where would that lead them? Randomly wandering the streets again? Ainosuke turned and looked around the inside of the lobby, spotting an elevator, and waving for the other to follow him to it.]

We'll see if there's anything else up there.

[Lancer sighed, brushing his hair out of his face absentmindedly. he didn't understand this in the slightest--more than that, he couldn't comprehend what could cause this. Even the Holy Grail itself couldn't be responsible for this. This was more than the Grail's Third Magic, far more even than the miracles it was said to be capable of.]

We've nowhere else to go and nothing to do but wait for something to make sense, so we may as well.

Dark Hour Log

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