retribution

[misheard]

Title: retribution
Fandom: Fate/Grand Order
Character(s): Oberon, Ritsuka
Pairing(s): Oberon/Ritsuka
Genre: Drama
Word Count: 560
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Spoilers
Summary: Oberon slips up, and Ritsuka gets hurt.
Notes:

---

This is the thing about humans: for all their stubborness, they are fragile creatures.

Ritsuka is no exception. If anything, he's more delicate than the average mage. He needs the right Mystic Code to heal even minor injuries, and without his Servants to protect him he would be dead many times over by now. The Ritsuka he's been summoned to is even weaker than the one he met in Fairy Britain.

Oberon knows this. Of course Oberon knows this. And yet-

The boar Oberon has been toying with (how boring, being sent to fight enemies as weak as this, he has to entertain himself somehow without breaking character) pulls away from him, and for a second Oberon thinks it's going to flee - before it charges Ritsuka, instead. A creature that can barely scratch Oberon can still gore an ordinary human, and Ritsuka's red blood spills over the ground.

The sound that Ritsuka makes is nothing special, just the noise any human would make with their stomach gored. And yet Oberon thinks that it might be the worst sound he's heard.

Vortigern roars, and devours.

---

Of course Da Vinci Rayshifts them back as soon as the boars are gone, and Ritsuka is whisked away by a cabal of medical Servants. Oberon retires to his room before anyone can accost him. If anyone were to realize that he hadn't been giving his all in that fight, the lecture would be unpleasant at best.

He's washing blood out of his robes when a knock comes at the door. Ritsuka, sounding tired but not accusatory: "Oberon, can I come in?"

"Of course." Oberon would be accommodating to an injured Master, wouldn't he? So he really has no choice but to open the door for him.

Ritsuka has heavy bandages wrapped around his torso, but he's steady on his feet. "I'm fine," he says before Oberon asks. "Doctor Roman says I should avoid straining myself for a few weeks, but other than that I should be okay. Magical healing really is amazing."

"That's a relief! I don't know what I'd do if you died on my watch." Well, obviously he'd disappear from lack of a Master maintaining his tie to the world, but it seems like the sort of thing he should say.

"I could tell." Ritsuka looks Oberon over like he might suddenly manifest Fairy Eyes if he just squints hard enough. "…What was that giant worm… thing you summoned?"

Oh. Oberon is in his first ascension, and the Lostbelts are still a long way off. And yet with Ritsuka bleeding out, Oberon had responded with the most power his Saint Graph could muster without even thinking.

Fffuck.

"It's a bug," he replies, and even if he's sweating internally, none of it shows on his face. "But not one I'm a big fan of using when I don't need to. It doesn't suit my aesthetic, you know?"

Ritsuka… seems to take Oberon at his word, or at least, he doesn't ask any more questions. It's amazing that such a foolish Master has lasted even this long.

And yet-

"Thank you, for saving me." Ritsuka smiles at him, warm despite the pain at the edges of his expression, and Oberon feels faintly ill.

If it's this unpleasant for every Servant to see Ritsuka hurt, then he'll make it through all of the Lostbelts just fine.