Rider - Living puppets

Sensing something unusual, the husband looked at his right arm.

“Mm...?”

There was a black spot. At first glance, it looked like a bruise. He frowned, wondering if he had bumped against something. He looked over to his wife. “Dear, what do you think this... hey!?” He was shocked. Similar black spots appeared all over her face and her arms—and then, she collapsed to the ground, like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

“H-hey...!?

He tried to get to his wife, but his field of view grew mushy and indistinct. Everything split into a rainbow of colors and fell upwards. By the time he realized that it was he who was falling, it was too late. He did not even have the strength to stand. As he laid on the verge of unconsciousness, he understood what was happening. Magical energy was being sucked out of his body and carried off to somewhere else. As it was not his actual life energy that was being stolen, he would not die from this. However, he would certainly fall into a stupor.

— This can’t be.

— If someone... attacks us now....

— No, what if... somebody... already....

Even as he fell into an eternal darkness, his mind was full of thoughts about the Holy Grail War. Not once did his daughter cross his mind. And then, a few minutes later—

Both of them leaped to their feet as though nothing had happened. Their bodies were still covered with the black spots.

“...Come to think of it, today is Tsubaki’s birthday, isn’t it?”

“Ah, that’s right, dear! I’ve got to bake a cake!”

They were conspicuously unwell, and yet they spoke calmly. And about something out of the ordinary for them, at that. Indeed, they had lost whatever personalities they once had and—

They became living dolls, who lived their lives just as their daughter wanted them to.

***

Fate/Strange Fake, Volume 1, Prologue 5: Rider