when the berserker has a shield ( fate au );

[dadiolus]

( he'd decided from the very moment of the initial summoning that he did not care very much for his new master; it hadn't taken him very long at all to learn that the family his master belonged to was a vicious one, caring only for things like personal gain regardless of what it took to get it and the man he had been before, the man his legend is now based upon is not one that would stand for being chained to servitude to such a self-serving name.

we amicitia are the king's sworn shields.

he is sworn to his master, that much has been made abundantly clear by the command seals on the back of a pristine hand, though he finds himself unwilling to look at the face attached to it, the coldness in it, the malice on top of everything else and he does not count himself a weakened spirit for having to answer to such a farce but it does make him think that there is someone more worthy of his attention, of his devotion —

guard the king with our lives— that's the way it's always been.

and still, he goes through the motions and remains loyal, not only because he has no real choice in the matter but because he's taken to watching another form in the house, a small, quiet one that never asks for anything and in turn only bears the brunt of a future wrong from the sort of shadow she was never meant for and that … that alone gives him the sort of draw to her that he shouldn't have, because she is not his master. and yet still he softens whenever she's around.

i've embraced my duty, and i take pride in it.

one particularly brutal battle with another servant and master leaves him a little worse for the wear, and while he insists that he doesn't need tending to, they send her to him; still small, pale and dark all at once and beautiful, whether she's ever been told as much or not, and he's never been able to speak to her before now, though the thought alone makes some hollow presence in him feel a little less in hers.

she seeks to tend to his wounds, and while he does not shy away from her touch, he insists: ) You don't have to do this. ( pause. ) Not … 'cause I don't want you to. But because it's not your responsibility.