The group of Chaldea plus Marie, Jeanne, and Amadeus made their way into a forest after fleeing La Charite.
"I think we are far enough, Master is also tired of running this much," Mash said after they traveled a big distance from the battlefield.
"Sorry I can't keep up with you," Fujimaru said in an apologetic tone determined to hit the gym once he was back at Chaldea.
"O-Oh no, don't misunderstand Master, It's understandable since you are not a Servant," Mash said a little agitated thinking her Senpai had taken her words the wrong way.
"Ah...youth is such a wonderful thing, isn't it Amadeus? Young love blooming on the battlefield is certainly a rare but incredible sight." Marie said making both teens blush.
"Can't you see you are making them uncomfortable, Maria?" He sighed at her antics.
"Oh! Is that so? Allow me to apologize, then." Although she said that. Her happy face didn't look apologetic at all.
"Sorry to interrupt you guys, but I have detected a leyline near you. It would be for the best if you could set up a base there, that way we could send you supplies and some other things. For now, our top priority is to help Kuro and Saber recover." Dr. Roman decided to put an end to the cheerful atmosphere to give way to more important matters.
"So there was one more person? Hello there!" Marie said, still maintaining her cheerful personality.
"I have been here from the beginning! How couldn't you notice me?!" Romani shouted in injustice.
Jeanne, who was lending her shoulder so Saber could walk, asked Dr. Roman with an impatient voice. "Roman, where exactly is it?" At this moment, her Master and Saber were wounded. While Saber had many holes in her body, none were located in vital parts. Her Master, however, didn't have such luck.
Looking at him who was being carried by Mash, Jeanne noticed the paleness of his skin, although his breathing remained somehow stable, she didn't want to risk it. She didn't know where this sense of duty came from. If it was simply because he was her Master or because of the things she saw in that dream. Be as it may, she couldn't allow him to die.
"Keep going in a straight path. You will know when you are near it." Romani answered understanding Jeanne's concerns.
With a destination in mind, Fujimaru turned toward their helpers. "We are going to search for a leyline so we can get supplies, what are you going to do?" He asked, unsure of their response.
It was Marie who answered for both of them. "We would like you to follow you, of course! As people fighting to stop the Dragon Witch from destroying the lives of the citizens of my country, we need to stick together!" She said with a smile.
"That's great! We need to have as many helpers as we can if we want to defeat the other Jeanne, just her Servants alone gave us so much trouble after all." Mash happily said from the side.
Walking for five more minutes, they noticed the leyline along with some werewolves who were standing in the zone where it was located.
"It seems you've got company. You must defeat them if you want to set up a camp, good luck!" Dr. Roman said while drinking his coffee, he needed to stay awake as much as possible to be of help.
"Alright!" If there was one person who wanted to get this over with the most, that would be Jeanne. Gently putting Saber next to Fujimaru who proceeded to heal her with his mystic code. Although it didn't do too much, at least it stopped the bleeding. Mash followed up by placing Seth next to Saber, that way she could protect both of them at the same time.
Marie and Amadeus decided to lend a hand to finish the battle as soon as possible, she also took the opportunity to heal both of them, even if it wasn't much.
After a ten minutes fight, without any complications, they managed to beat every single werewolf in the area. Now they were finally ready to set up a camp.
"Good job, we will start sending supplies as soon as the summoning circle is established." Romani congratulated them on successfully capturing the zone containing the leyline.
"Order confirmed. Commencing establishment of the summoning circle." Mash got to work using her shield as a medium for the supplies and miscellaneous things to be transported from Chaldea to them.
Once everything was ready, Dr. Roman started sending them all the things they needed now and will need in the future.
The wounded took priority, Saber got a really big supply of junk food that she started eating immediately, it worked better than any healthy food for her so there were no complaints while Seth received liquified food filled with nutrients to recover his lost blood courtesy of Archer.
It was already midday so Fujimaru also got something to eat and replenish his magical energy. The constant fights took a toll on him. He was not yet used to everything that entitled 'saving the world' but he was sure that with time, things were going to change for the better.
They also received some bandages and band-aids in the possible case he got injured as a consequence of a battle between Servants.
At the moment, Fujimaru, Mash, Amadeus, and Marie were all sitting in a circle on top of logs they found spread on the ground. Artoria was eating her hamburgers with Jeanne by her side. The said Saint occasionally gave some glances to the makeshift bed of grass where her Master was receiving treatment to check everything was working properly.
Everyone — for the most part — had some friendly chats to pass the time, talking about random things that most often than not diverged into the problems Jeanne's tainted version was having, causing the blonde to sigh. However, she didn't let it show on her face as she didn't want to bring the mood down for everyone else. After all, morale was one of the most important things in a battle.
"Ugh...What's with all this noise?" A weak voice asked. The people present turned to look at the figure who was slowly opening his eyes. It seemed even moving a little was proving to be a challenging task.
"—Eh? You are already awake?! What's with that recovery rate?!" Even though he kind of expected it, the speed of his recovery was something that still managed to leave him dumbfounded.
"Why do you make it sound like it's a bad thing...? Anyway, it's all thanks to EMIYA's food." It was strange but miraculous. He definitely wouldn't complain about it if the thing worked.
"No no, that wasn't what I meant, I'm glad you are okay!" He smiled before a doubt surged in his mind. "How did you know it was EMIYA's cooking?"
"It has a particular taste that is hard to forget if that's what you are asking." The Egyptian God could unashamedly say that it was one of the best foods he had ever eaten.
"Good point. But—" "Yo! I heard you took quite the beating haha. You are hopeless!" Cu's voice interrupted Roman, adding salt to the wound without remorse.
"Good to see you are doing fine too..." Seth decided to believe he was worried but was just too embarrassed to show it otherwise he would force Fujimaru to use a Command Spell to make him kiss Archer's feet with a smile on his face.
"You shouldn't be that reckless, remember you are not who you used to be." Caster's tone adopted a more serious manner. From the group, only Saber understood the meaning of his words. To the others, it was nothing more than gibberish, but they at least understood that he was stronger than his current self. As for how much, that remained unknown.
"Yeah..." His response left the topic hanging in the air, yet it didn't seem like he would be elaborating much further, so the blue-haired man decided to just move on from there.
"Well, I just came here to see how you were doing. Now that I see you are fine I will continue to explore this place, be careful from now on, will ya?" He said before disappearing from the hologram, now only Romani remained.
"As I was saying, are you able to move? Although the readings regarding your body are strange they DO show it is not functioning at full capacity." Dr. Roman asked now that Caster was gone.
"I can't. Why do you think I am still laying down? I'm fine, I just concentrated on replenishing my lost blood. I need to eat normally to move." He said, clearly uncomfortable with the situation he was in. Being helplessly defenseless didn't suit well with him.
"I'm sorry we couldn't create something more comfortable. We are not exactly good at making beds." Since she was just a farmer girl as a child, this was as much as she could manage in terms of make-shift lodgings.
Seth shook his head a little, not bothered by it in the slightest. "It's fine, I have been through words." The Kingslayer then looked at the rest of the group, especially at the new additions. "What's the situation? And how did the battle go?"
"U-Um...right. Let me explain it to you, then." Mash said and began retelling all the events, from hitting Jeanne all over the place to where Marie saved him from being killed by the angry Saint.
"I see...I caused all of you many problems, I...apologize." Although it was hard, he managed to squeeze the last part. Turning to Marie he gave a heartfelt thanks.
"Non, it's my duty as the Queen of France, even if that will be in the future, to protect my citizens and the people that fight for them!" She said with a contagious smile.
"Well, now that all the pleasantries are over, why don't we introduce ourselves properly? I will start! My True Name is Marie Antoinette, Rider Class!" She said giving a spin. Seth could swear he saw little stars coming from her.
"Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Caster class. I have no Master, same as her." He presented himself while bowing.
"My name is Mash Kyrielight and I'm a Demi-Servant." She said before looking at Fujimaru. "And this is Fujimaru Ritsuka, my Master."
"Nice to meet you, thanks for helping us." He gave a smile that didn't lose to Marie's.
Now looking at Artoria, she tried to introduce her, "This is—" but was cut short. "I don't remember needing help for something as simple as introducing oneself. You can call me by my class, Saber."
"R-Right...sorry." In her excitement, she forgot how Saber didn't like people knowing her name.
Seth raised an eyebrow at her sassiness but made no comment on the matter. "I guess it's my time to introduce myself. I can't say my name due to some reasons, but you can call me Kuro like those kids have been calling me for a while, it doesn't really matter much." Maybe he should introduce himself as Lancer in the future. He had a spear and all.
Now it was Jeanne's turn to introduce herself. "My name is—" "Jeanne D'Arc, right? The Saint that saved France!" Moving faster than the speed of light, Marie took Jeanne's hands with her own. Her face was dangerously close to her.
Jeanne was awkward for a moment, not knowing how to respond to this...fanatism that Marie had. Taking a deep breath, she answered in a serious tone quite unbecoming of herself. "I'm not a Saint, that's why please don't call me that."
Marie, far from being sad, nodded with a smile. "Yes, everyone knows that you didn't see yourself as one, but the things you did during your life were truly the work of one!"
"Your final moments were not happy ones, though. In the end, you ended up burned at the stake and ostracised by the people you fought for. It's no wonder you don't like being called a Saint." Amadeus said without a touch of delicacy.
"Amadeus is right, Queen Marie Antoinette. I held my flag for what I believed in and defended my country, but the result was me drenching my hands in blood. The people only looked at the result of my actions but I can not. I don't regret taking arms but I don't feel I deserve that kind of title." She said with a downcast tone.
"I understand, I won't call you a saint anymore. In exchange, you will call me Marie and I will call you Jeanne. Is that fine with you?" She asked not at all minding Jeanne's personal space.
"U-Um...I will call you Marie, then." Although she felt a little overwhelmed by the girl's enthusiasm, she still did her best to respond in kind.
"Thank you! I will support you when you face the other you. You still have questions that you want her to answer, right? Then I will gladly help in what I can!" She smiled at Jeanne.
"We will do our best to help you too, Jeanne! Right, Master?" Mash said to which Fujimaru nodded with a smile.
"Thank you!" She thanked them with a smile of her own before looking expectantly at her Master. The said man rolled his eyes internally. 'Why am I getting dragged into this too...?' "Yes, I will also be there to help you if you need it. Just tell the other Jeanne how you feel, I got your back." He had to admit it, he sucked at motivational speeches.
To Jeanne, however, they were the words she wanted to hear the most. With a brighter smile than before, she replied. "Yes!"
Their little chat was interrupted by roars coming from the forest surrounding them, it seemed with all the commotion they attracted some monsters.
The battle was the same as the one before, with no surprises, they defeated all the approaching monsters. This time, however, it was Saber that had recovered with the power of junk food instead of Ruler who was fighting as she still needed to take care of her Master.
Once it was all over, they all started to relax and talk about various things, it was a nice change of pace to all the fighting they have been doing.