White Ink

27

Shirou walked down the empty streets to his house ignoring the chill breeze. His head was full of thoughts, conjectures and uncertainties. While he would normally have teleported straight home this time he decided to appreciate the time he spent walking home and use it to clear his mind. Despite the self-assurance he displayed when in front of Rizo-Waal Strout and Rin he was actually caught quite off guard by the presence of the Dead Apostle Ancestor. This was magnified by the selection of his servant. Achilles as a lancer was bad without taking into account any external factors but if the rumours from Clocktower he heard were true then right beyond their sight there was a whole other dimension of bad just waiting to unfurl. Sighing Shirou resolved to crank the bounded field up to maximum. While he would miss Taiga's antics in the mornings he wanted to keep her away from this approaching clusterfuck.

Turning left off the street he entered the yard of his house, the familiar bounded field washing over him as he passed the perimeter. His eyes momentarily displayed his shock as he was informed of the presence of another person in the house, then he relaxed. The person was sitting in the dining room and Nine was there with him, most likely serving him refreshments.
Stepping inside the hallway he noticed the brown coat hanging upon the coat hanger and silently wished he could have taken his own similar white coat out into the cold weather. The night was freezing and while his chosen attire was perfectly suitable in sneaking around it had no place in the battlefield of body temperature. Striding into the dining room he immediately started to analyse the person sitting down on the table and to his shock the man did the same to him as well, disguising it perfectly with a simple glance down the length of his body.
The man wore a brown waistcoat over a white shirt and brown pants. His hair was short and black and immaculately combed. His features were delicate and had the look of the English aristocracy. Off to his side was an umbrella. Most tellingly of all he carried in his hand a pipe of a very particular make. At this realisation Shirou was torn between smiling in happiness at the identity in front of him and groaning in despair.
"I see you recognized me Master of Rider," Sherlock Holmes said as he put the pipe to his lips. "I wonder how familiar you actually are with the Grail War."
Shirou sighed and sat down making his special hand sign to Nine that basically said, "Stow the tea and bring out the scotch." Nine acquiesced and in less than a minute two glasses filled with scotch were laid out in front of the two men.
"Unfortunately I know enough about the grail to know that your presence here means somethings fucked up royally," Shirou said morosely as he downed his glass and placed it down on the table where Nine promptly took it back to be refilled.
"Quite," the world's most famous detective said, showing slight distaste at Shirou's crude nature before he returned to his standard stoic look. "I must say that when I didn't expect to meet a fan in this part of the world. You must have a fine gift for languages to be able to read and enjoy Doyle's works despite not being your native language."
"I have always been very good at languages," Shirou admitted ignoring his curiosity at how Sherlock got his information. "English, German, French and even some languages from the orient," Shirou stated matter-of-factly, ignoring the fact that he was now calling it the orient. It seems he was subconsciously slipping into Victorian terms and from the look of the man opposite him it did not go unnoticed.
"A traveller I see," Sherlock concluded. "And no ordinary magus," he amended. "No the fact that you were able to learn so many languages speaks that you are not from a magus family who would have forced you to prioritise the study of magecraft over travelling and you are not a second son either or you wouldn't have inherited," Holmes concluded to himself glancing downwards for a moment. "Furthermore you have created a miracle of a familiar and use him as a servant rather than dismantling him to further your studies. That speaks of both your power and knowledge and your lack of concern for the standard magus goals. In fact this entire time you have showed both no concern for your wellbeing or eagerness to access Akasha. "Sherlock put down his pipe and looked at Shirou his blue eyes glowing in eagerness for a moment as if to pierce Shirou's thoughts. "It is a surprise to see a Magician enter the Holy Grail War."
Shirou couldn't help it. Overwhelmed he started to clap. "I really want you to sign my 'The Lost World' book," Shirou said impulsively to the man sitting opposite him.
Holmes merely smiled back, "A lover of irony also I see." Then his expression grew grave. "As a Ruler class I am bound by impartiality," he said. "No matter any personal feelings my job is only to prevent a servant rebellion and to protect the grail. I believe you are a good man but I can't help you," he finished.
"You've already helped me enough Servant Ruler," Shirou said. "Thank you for the warning. I will take all you have said under consideration."
Sherlock Holmes nodded to him and left the room Nine following him and assisting the Servant in leaving the house. After a while his smile at meeting THE Sherlock Holmes faded and a scowl overtook it.
"Damn," he said. "Fuck I'm glad Illya is out of the country now." About half a year ago Illya, now looking about sixteen had reappeared in the worlds stage as the head of the Einzbern family crushing any dissenting voices amongst the few remaining living members of the family. At Shirou's request Illya had taken Sakura as a show of good faith between members of the Einzbern family and the Matou. In actuality it was a fairly transparent attempt to get both of the former grails out of the city. Despite his skills he wasn't entirely sure that contamination wouldn't occur to either of those when the servants started to die.
In exchange the actual lesser grail, a vital part of the ceremony was constructed by Shirou, Illya and Sumire and hidden somewhere in the city where it couldn't be damaged. Staring into the night sky through his window he felt his servant materialize behind him.
"Master," she said with a voice like honey, "you looked quite pathetic mewling over that man like a child over his first sweetheart."
Shirou felt his smile grow wider, "How can I not," he said. "The greatest detective in the world suddenly showed up on my doorstep. Despite the bad news he brought, this memory is surely going to be one of my best."
"He also knew I was a Rider," the voice behind him stated. "You're so soft Master. Honestly why am I even spending any time with you. I usually prefer my men hard." Shirou could visualise her almost licking her lips like a hungry predator.
He prevented himself from turning around. That added temptation was not something he needed at the moment. He thanked his lucky stars every day that she did not obtain the Archer class and even greater freedom. Only by a large amount of prior studying of the Einzbern and Matou research was he able to modify the initial summoning ritual so that he could cut off the magic supply to his servant anytime. This allowed him to exert a modicum of control over an otherwise uncontrollable servant. At this point he remembered the words that he had heard from the entity in the Root so many years ago and wholeheartedly agreed with them. "Women will ruin you," he said.
"What did you say?" his servant said behind him. Instead of sounding angry her voice contained simple curiosity with a hint of another emotion.
"Nevermind," Shirou said shaking his head his thoughts still dwelling on the entity in the Root. Even after all these years he had yet to be able to comprehend it or even recollect its face. It was quite frankly a bit depressing to Shirou to see that some beings were still so far above him that he couldn't even perceive the level at which they operate at.
"My Master is going insane it seems," the voice behind him sounding regretful for a few moments. "Oh well I only need the body." He could almost picture her head pityingly. "Ready for some heavenly pleasure Master," the voice said and he could feel the breath on his neck.
Her body brushed up against his body, a rush of heat pooling in his lower regions and he had enough. His Magic circuits flared up his muscles tensed and he whirled around bent on killing his own servant.
However when he turned around he found only an empty room. His servant having already having left. He took a deep breath anger warring with arousal in his body.
And then he smiled. Unexpectedly it was not a dark smile promising revenge or an anticipatory smile of a future coupling. But a genuine smile that Shirou did not often show on his face. It was as if all the happiness was buried in his body was like water and it had welled up to such an extent that he couldn't help but let it out. It transformed his already somewhat handsome face into something beautiful for a split second before it disappeared as Shirou shook his head. With the faint remnants of the smile still on his face he left the room.
Just out of sight, ethereal and hidden in the corner of the room. A beautiful female servant tried to slow down her breath as she clutched her chest. Her face was slightly flushed she faded through the walls and went on patrol.
xxx
Rin couldn't sleep no matter how much she tossed and turned. It was already three 'o clock in the morning and she had the feeling that even if she entered dreamland at this very second she would be a zombie all through school. Staring into the darkness for the next few minutes she gave up on getting any sleep at all. Resolving herself to a day of slight loss of function and a long afternoon nap in return for being fresh enough to patrol tonight. Walking down to the kitchen she resolved to make herself a midnight snack.
While she was eating Gawain appeared in front of her bowing as he did so. Rin felt a sudden irrational stab of annoyance that he wasn't able to protect her but fought it down. It was her fault she summoned him to a war that he was at a disadvantage in and despite losing he had acquitted himself well. Gawain straightened up from his bow and spoke.
"Master," he said. "I believe I have the identity of lancer."
Rin perked up slightly hearing this. Knowing who the hero was could prevent them from further losing again. "Please tell me his identity Saber."
"Due to the words and actions of your classmate Inke I believe that Laner was Achilles the Greek hero."
Those words shocked Rin. Achilles was one of the most famous heroes of all time. In fact he was probably the second most famous Greek hero. Not to mention he was famed for his invulnerability except for one specific part of his body.
"Wait a minute," said Rin as a thought suddenly hit her. "The servant was hurt. I saw his arm covered in burns."
"Apparently your classmate Inke's servant has a way to bypass his invulnerability," Gawain said. "As for me, I was only able to land one blow and it did not harm him at all."
"Are you sure Saber," Rin said sceptically. "It seemed to be a bit of a stretch."
"Reasonably certain Master," Gawain replied unflapped. "I observed every strike that Inke made was against the feet and ankles of Lancer, after which Lancer accused him of knowing his secret identity."
Rin nodded her head. It was a reasonable deduction. Then a thought struck her. "Wait what did Inke say that caused you to believe he was Achilles?"
At this Gawain looked a bit annoyed, "The second piece of evidence was when Achilles accused him of knowing his identity. Shirou stated that he believed he was Patroclus." Rin nodded at this still not seeing the link. "Patroclus was Achille's best friend who with his permission donned his armour and took the field pretending to be him only to be killed when Hector killed him instead and stole his armour."
Rin paled at that. "So when he was saying that…" she trailed off.
"Yes he was deliberately goading him into battle by mocking him about the death of his friend. Those are not words that you use if you want to avoid a fight," Gawain said and Rin could detect an audible note of distaste in his voice.
Rin sighed, "That's the Inke I know. He really does not know how to back down from a challenge."
"Be careful of him Master," Gawain said and Rin looked at him with some surprise to see her servant looking at her seriously. "He's very dangerous. While I didn't see much of him I am fairly certain he was the one who attacked that vampire. A spell of that magnitude would easily kill a normal person." Gawain straightened up and a look of determination entered his eyes. "You should not meet him without me present and by your side."
Rin pondered that. She didn't believe that Shirou would ever hurt her, but apparently the Shirou she knew didn't even exist. She could still barely comprehend it. To think he knew about magecraft this whole time. It made his previous stance on the whole business seem invalid. To think all the times he mocked her about a belief in magic he was a magus this whole time.
In fact he had all but declared himself a magus to her face. Rin remembered the various times he had shown her his card tricks while stating that he was an excellent magician.
.
.
.
Rin choked on her snack trying to get air inside her lungs. After a second or two she felt a sharp strike on her back causing her to discharge the piece of food that had momentarily taken up residence in her windpipe. Even as she felt her servant rub his hands along her back and she gulped air into her lungs one thought rang though her head.
"No, surely not, he can't be."
Author Note: I did this chapter quickly so it is a bit shorter than the rest. Can you do me a favour? If you guess a servant or uncover some plot spoiling revalation can you PM me and I will confirm or deny it. (Within Reason) Rather than post it as a review for everybody to see. Thanks it would really help.
Fathira: Yes it's going to be the last 'arc'. But it's going to be incredibly long. Probably equal to the rest of the story in length. Unfortunately all things have to end in time. It makes space for new things to begin. I am aware of outstanding plot threads and I... Without wishing to spoil. Let's say I'm on top of things.
Gilgamesh King of Mongrels: Yes you're right. Correcting that fucking mistake was part of the reason I got the next chapter out so fast. I passed the 24hrs before I had the opportunity to correct it and I couldn't leave it there.
BakonoftheUnknown: There are a lot more than 4 I promise you that. Making up a servant is something I could do. But there are so many it's almost more of a problems to find historical figures that Nasu hasn't got his hands on.
RIDDicK0011: Congrats you got the Lancer correct.
DPSS: Rizo-Waal Strout. Another Dead Apostle Ancestor. Man there are so many dead in the story that soon I'm going to be able to claim something artsy like white is the colour of death in Japan and it is contrasted by the natural blackness of ink which indicates how Dead Apostles naturally disrupt the state of life or death. Or some nonsense like that.