Singularity-F 17

Olga resisted the urge to yawn. Getting an actual two hours of sleep in the perilous situation she was in was a massive luxury, but even with it, she could feel the bags under her eyes hidden by her makeup and she was utterly exhausted.

The stress and lack of rest and eating ever since she took over Chaldea for the past few years had been troublesome enough, but it was hitting her hard here.

As much as she hated to admit it, if she was travelling on her own, she wasn't sure how far she'd get before her legs gave out on her.

It rankled her to be so useless a leader she had to rely on someone else, especially a teenager eight years her junior, but she was incredibly grateful for Faeran's strength and reliability.

Her head rested atop his shoulder while he supported her on his back, arms wrapped around her thighs to keep her steady. His skin was surprisingly warm and the strength she could feel in his muscles was comforting, "Hey." she spoke up, a questioning coming to her mind. She didn't know why it came to her, but it had been niggling her for a while now.

"What's up?" Faeran asked, sparing a glance at her from the corner of his eye.

Butterflies tingled in her belly as they soared through the air. Faeran with her on his back was jumping high into the air, leaping over buildings in single bounds towards their destination. It was honestly quite the thrilling experience and it was disappointing she could not take the time to partake in the enjoyment of it.

The blazing scenery of the City of Fuyuki made it hard to do so.

"...Why did you help me?" Olga asked, biting her lip. To be perfectly honest, while he'd gained from contracting with Mash and she'd been able to help him find what he wanted to increase his strength even further, they were little more than a burden to him.

If his words were anything to go by. He could escape from this world whenever he pleased and probably would have if not for her and her telling him of the mission of Chaldea.

Faeran looked at her again out of the corner of his eye and she saw that he had raised one of his eyebrows in response to her question, "As in, why did I save you at first? Or agree to help fix this Singularity?" he asked.

"Both, I don't understand why, you're the heir of a magus family and yet you've..." Olga bit her lip trailing off. It wasn't normal for magi to come to the rescue of another without demanding favours or compensation, "And you've made it no secret that you could leave to a more safe world whenever you please."

It was honestly absurd that he was capable of such. so much was going on that she couldn't even properly give the amazed response such feats he'd accomplished deserved. Not only did he have the power, strength and noble Phantasms of the legendary Herakles, he'd practically touched upon the second magic!

She knew of magi that would sell their first born just to be given a single lesson from someone like that!

"Oh, that's it?" Faeran chuckled, and Olga wrinkled her brows, "Well, let's just say from experiences I've got that I simply don't get along with the Morganach family and I'm not quite the same as your typical magi. Besides, I'm not so big a piece of shit that I'd leave an innocent person to die in front of me when saving them is as easy breathing."

Olga opened her mouth. There was a lot there she wanted to ask about. Specifically why he didn't get along with his family, but she held it in. It said good things about him that he wouldn't leave an innocent person to suffer. She had always struggled with the cold uncaring, ruthless ways of being a magus herself.

"Then what about agreeing to help me- us, Chaldea fix this Singularity?" she asked. While it was true he stood to gain and had done so, taking part in a battle with servants wasn't something that should be approached lightly. "You know all the risks that come with this and we Chaldea failed spectacularly, to the point where you an outsider who we just met today is carrying our useless dead weight." it burned to say that about her Chaldea, the Chaldea built by her father, the Chaldea she was so proud of. But, she must face reality.

They were useless compared to him right now who was doing all of the heavy lifting. He had made the contract with Mash to allow her to act as a Demi-servant. He was the one who managed to convince Caster to form a contract with Fujimaru. He was the one who defeated Medusa and knew about the absurdity of those ownerless Noble Phantasms.

They were practically dead weight.

It was why she had not bothered at all about even asking for him to part with one of the Noble Phantasms he'd found. As useful as one would be in the hands of Mash who didn't even know how to use her own Noble Phantasm, what right did she have to even ask? Despite all the awe she felt upon seeing each Noble Phantasms, sans the last one they found, she couldn't help but tremble inwardly at her own incompetence. Clearly, they would be in better hands with Faeran than any ideas she could come up with.

"Is it so hard to think I did it out of the goodness of my heart?" Faeran asked after a moment. Olga did not deign to dignify that with a response. The younger boy chuckled, shaking his head, "Alright, to be absolutely truthful then. I just thought it was an absolute waste to see that despair on someone as beautiful as you love. Heh, I suppose you could say your good looks won me over. Hell earlier on the thought occurred to me when I met you, that I could see why all those absolute tools in the past went to war over a single woman."

Olga s cheeks burned at his words and she opened and closed her mouth like a fish, eyes going wide. "Y-you.." the white haired woman spluttered, "You can't honestly expect me to believe that! Shouldering our deadweight because you find me attractive? Absurd!" flattering as it was and she couldn't get rid of the heat in her cheeks and the way her heart pounded, that was just too absurd to believe!

He was speaking as if she was Helen of Troy and that was how she knew he was just making fun of her. She'd had plenty of suitors in the past, but not once had they been interested in her, they had only cared for the resources and abilities of her family!

"Deadweight?" Faeran turned to look at her over his shoulder giving her an odd look, "Don't sell yourself so short Olga. You really are that good looking, and don't forget what I just got my hands on thanks to you, thanks to you I was able to track down all these honest to god Noble Phantasms in record time. You might not be strong enough to fight a servant, but that doesn't at all detract from the help you've given me here."

Olga felt her lips twitch involuntarily, "You're just saying that..." She looked away from his disturbingly bright blue eyes. Something about the way he looked at her made her feel skittish.

"Nah, I wouldn't lie about this, you've been a massive help," he praised, "And beyond that, I'm honestly impressed by how well you've held up and kept yourself together. You're pretty amazing Olga."

Her heart suddenly began hammering in her chest and she whipped back to look at him, opening her mouth-

But before she could say anything she saw Faeran's eyes widen as he caught sight of something, "Oh!" a noise of surprise and interest left his mouth.

She followed his gaze and found him looking down at a surprisingly untouched Japanese estate.

She didn't understand what was so important about it. But, if Faeran thought it was of interest, then it probably had some value.

Olga bit her lip and admired his face from the side. 'Perhaps...' she trailed off in her thoughts as they began to descend.

Once upon a time, in amongst the many courtship letters she had received, she had gotten one from the Morganach family as well. She had dismissed it out of hand because of the low ranking of the family.

But now she couldn't help but think. What if she had taken the time to meet with them instead? And possibly met the Faeran of her own world? If she had him backing her up as her fiance and future spouse, perhaps things wouldn't have gone as badly as they had?