She dreamed of a girl. Even in her youth, the girl was one marked for great beauty when she grew into her full womanhood. Though there were many young men who would have gladly risked much for a simple chaste kiss from her, none could pass the two greatest obstacles in the way. The first was a group of bodyguards, as expected to be around a beloved princess. The other was her older brother. Though he was a man who enjoyed a good jest and was not above a fling with young girls himself, anyone who attempted to flirt with his sister was a deadman.
Literally.
His intentions were good and honest, but the girl's brother was a bit bloodthirsty when it came to protecting her. Still, he made his point rather clearly after the first few corpses, no one was to try to take his little sister away from him. It also had the unfortunate side effect of no sane man wanting to have the girl for fear of the brother killing them regardless of marriage agreements.
The girl who loved to laugh and play soon found herself without friends or confidants. It was lonely for her. All she had left to comfort herself, besides her brother, were her books and studies that were generously given to her from her wise father. She loved to read every scroll, every tome, every scrap of paper she could get her hands on was read over and over again until she memorized the contents and could list off everything in them word for word, she was a funny child like that. Smart too.
She learned many things from the books. How to grind various potions, how to build a workshop. how to launch a fireball... and accidentally light the curtains on fire... and burn down a portion of the palace.
...Oops.
Her father forgave her, eventually, but she had been punished by forcing to assist the caring for the great animals that her father possessed including his prized fire breathing bulls, and even feeding the guardian dragon in the castle garden. In time it became a new pleasant activity for her. It wasn't human interaction, true, and the animals themselves were rather peculiar compared to what most humans could safely spend time with, but they could be just as affectionate as people if given the chance to bond. She learned much of the care for animals both magical and mundane in that short span of time and would always enjoy the company of them thereafter even when she was allowed to go back to her studies again.
More and more she learned in her studies, always shutting out the thoughts of loneliness as best she could. However she was still human, and like every other human of that era she was prone to quietly casting her wishes to the gods. One day, when she could bear it no more she made a single prayer to the gods, a single wish that she might find a man her brother could not object her to be with.
She had no idea what horrors that one wish would bring upon her.
The gods are cruel existences, frequently granting the wishes of their worshipers in the cruelest and most ironic ways they can conceive. She found a man alright, on a ship unlike anything ever seen before. He came from a distant land with many companions of vast differences to seek the greatest treasure that her country possessed.
Her father, though impressed with the drive the man had and respected the companions he brought with him, would not give up the golden gift given to him so easily. Still he was not foolish enough to outright deny a man who was given a task by the gods themselves and so sent the man to complete several otherwise suicidal challenges in order to prove his worth, and most likely get himself killed in the process. Tasks from the gods were not supposed to be easy after all.
The King had summoned his youngest daughter to lead the man to his first task. How could the King have known that the gods would touch her mind the moment she beheld the leader of the expedition? How could he have foreseen the young woman who spent almost all her time with either books or animals would throw away her pride to tell the man how to pass each trial with ease?
She gave him an ointment to protect him from the bulls' fiery breath that she had long used to care for the bulls. She taught him the trick to defeat the dragon's teeth soldiers that she had read in her books. She had even ground up a special sleeping powder strong enough to knock out even a dragon for a time. All this, because she suddenly found love with a man she had just met.
In the end, she had found a man that her brother could not object to all right, the dead cannot object after all. When she gazed upon her brother's mangled and dismembered corpse and looked at her blood stained hands, the fog that had been on her mind since the man's arrival abated. For the first time since That Man had come to her land, her mind was free, and for the first time she could do what she wished.
She screamed
o. o. o.
Battle after battle. Life after life.
His existence was nothing but one dangerous situation after another, walking into hells in the form of deserts, cities, jungles, and others for the sake of aiding those that could not protect themselves in such worlds.
He never stayed for the celebrations, for the reconstruction, for the people to say "thank you" or offer him what they believed he deserved. No, he just continued onto the next place that he believed needed him.
Whenever he did go to a place that knew of his exploits, he was met not with praise or awe, but skepticism and suspicion. Not that it mattered to him much save for his reputation causing some negotiations to be a bit more difficult than they needed to be.
His friends had left him a while ago. They still talked on occasion, but they simply couldn't keep up with him… or rather they just didn't see the same path he did. They couldn't understand or follow the ways he went like he could, and so they couldn't go that far on it and went on to do their own things.
Onwards he kept on marching. Fighting and traveling, forward ever on to the next conflict, not realizing how twisted things were becoming…The beautiful things were ugly and the ugly things were beautiful. There was nothing disgusting once looked at objectively…
Sophistry. Falsehood. Trickery. Vanity. These were what he saw the most of in his travels, before and, eventually, after death.
But still he did not seem to care. His ideal and oath to protect were far more significant to him. He did not mind what he lost in order to maintain them. Even when he was betrayed, he believed there would be a next time if he did not betray himself. He did not show grief or pain.
He was like a cold blooded machine to others now. A convenient existence to be conveniently used. Casted out and discarded once it had served its purpose. He was nothing more than a cheap, disposable tool in the eyes of others. But the machine had an ideal it wanted to protect, so it accepted its role as a tool without argument. At first he thought it would be a useful way to help other people, by accepting jobs to the worst places on earth for easier access and resources which he could use to do even more good… however…
It wasn't something he could go around proclaiming. He ended up killing more and more people in the pursuit of his dream. His failure to save the ones he had ended personally prevented him from talking about his fantasy like ideal. The dream of saving everyone he could see blinded himself to the isolation that remained. His friends were gone, his presence a hindrance, his family was dead, and he lacked anything to love or care for. He was alone, and even his ideal could not be considered what it once was or be something to proudly declare. Conclusively, the only thing left for him to protect was the image of the ideal itself until his end.
And the result… the ideal Shirou Emiya dreamed so firmly of had never been accomplished. He found out that it was just nonsense dreamed of by a fool who is only a nuisance to others. He learned that what he believed in was not wanted or wished for by the masses. Yet, he still clung to that damned mockery of an ideal believing in it with all his being.
The image of a man impaled by numerous weapons could now be seen. Betrayed by a man who he had once saved, used as a scapegoat to blame the beginnings of an almost war that he had fought tooth and nail to stop…
And yet the most truly terrifying part of the picture to the one watching all this was not the nature of the man's death. It was not his past, nor the alien like nature of his way of life…
It was the honest, gentle, small, content, and worst of all, happy smile on his face during his last moments…
o. o. o.
She saw Tartarus through the eyes of a small boy.
The screams. The begging. The pain. The lost hope. The smell of decay. The unholy fire that yearned for flesh. The atmosphere of death.
Yes, this was without a doubt hell. Even though she had never been there herself, she had heard of it enough from spirits and the other gods to know that this was true. The only thing it seemed to lack was the local demons tasked with ensuring the doomed were tortured, but given the situation of the humans here, their unholy presence did not seem necessary.
The boy that hosted her was an anomaly. She did not know why he was condemned there because he himself did not know why. It was a paradox as condemned spirits were made fully aware of why they were there when they first incarcerated, tortured by their past decisions and current situation. Yet another example of the cruelty of gods…
But he seemed to be free where others were held back and slain. Able to walk on his two burned legs, he saw his parents, people he knew around the neighborhood, friends, and complete strangers succumb to the new world. Some... indescribably quality was present in the boy, pushing him forward when he should have fallen.
This did not mean that the child did not suffer though, as he too was assaulted by the fire that reined supreme all around him. Burns, wounds, and exhaustion quickly took hold as he somehow trudged on forward step after step, ignoring the screams of those who wished to be saved that were beyond saving to search for his own salvation.
Yet the child was still just a child, human at that. Weak. Frail. Unremarkable. It did not take long for him to reach his limits…
However that was when he did something that the watcher did not expect. He threw parts of himself away in order to continue. Feeling. Sympathy. Empathy. Faith. Curiosity. Sadness. Anger. Jealousy. Pity. Humor. One by one, parts of the fractured child's self fell off in order to allow the rest to keep on going much like how a lizard sacrifices their tail to keep their priceless life maintained.
Once again though, he was but a child with limitations. Sooner rather than later, without encountering anyone that could save him the boy had shed "hope" and in the following step fallen to the smoldering ground on his back.
The woman watching through the eyes of the child observed the cloudy sky and like him noted that it would rain soon. She was slightly unnerved by the boy, by what he had become. An empty shell devoid of everything… had even the gods ever reduced a person to such a state in their infinite reckless whims? They had raped, manipulated, scorned, murdered, tricked, tortured, and warped so many including herself… but to turn someone into just a shell… which god could derive satisfaction from this? Even she did not know the answer to such a question.
The boy's hand, which had been reaching out not for aid but merely to try and touch the endless sky, had begun to fall when it was caught by a complete stranger. A man, holding onto his hand with all of his might… and was crying unrestrained tears of joy. It was this that brought the fading child's consciousness and life back, not out of relief that he was saved, but mere curiosity of the man's expression.
And while the boy pondered if he could ever be so happy, the woman seeing the world through his eyes thought something else…
Such happiness existed? Would someone ever look at me like that?
o. o. o.
Emiya Residence:
Rider regained consciousness and picked herself off of the floor she had been somewhat laying on. As she was in spiritual form she technically couldn't interact with the physical world, however the formalcraft circle underneath her generated enough magic that it could provide her with a pseudo surface…
Taking in her situation, she noted that her spiritual body was still heavily injured from the previous night's exploits. It had only been through luck and Archer's quick order to jump that prevented her from being the first kill of the war when the rooftop behind her exploded magnificently. Still, she did not emerge unscathed from the ordeal as she was covered from head to toe in various wounds be they bullet, burn, or shrapnel. The instant she had managed to arrive back at the Emiya household, which thankfully was not too far away, both of her masters had set up a place for her to collapse and recover in.
Shirou in particular had been especially apologetic for the ordeal she had gone through and had done everything in his power to speed up her recovery which included ordering her to actually sleep, drinking more of her blood as soon as she returned without hesitation despite his clear distaste for doing so…
… And apparently willingly sleeping in the same room as her during the night to maximize the amount of prana she got from him. True, he was virtually in the farthest corner from her, but given his rather polite and, at times, innocent behavior, she was somewhat surprised he would go this far. Weren't Servants but tools for their Masters? Indispensable tools yes, but she assumed that she would be left alone once it was established that she would recover from her wounds in time.
Checking her body, the Gorgon saw that she still had a ways to go before she fully healed. She was in no danger of succumbing to her wounds anymore, not that they were visible, but it would still take another few days to fully recover. Given that she had expected to take nearly a week to reach, such a result enforced her surprise. It appeared that her step in Master valued her more than she had originally thought…
"Rider?" Sakura spoke up from the other side of the slide door. "Are you awake?"
"Yes." She replied turning to the door. She did not need to materialize herself and waste prana for her original Master to hear her.
"How are you?" The girl asked as the door opened and she walked inside. She spared a brief glance at Shirou before turning to the subject of interest. "We were extremely worried when you got here the way you did."
The Servant flexed her ethereal muscles, testing to see if there had been any unwanted side effects to Assassin's attacks. "Everything seems to be in order, however I still need some time to fully recover." She replied evenly. "My apologies. Had I not been so careless…"
"There's no need for that." Sakura admonished. "Archer and Shirou were caught off guard by Assassin just as much as you were and they too suffered for it. We're just glad you're okay now."
The two women looked at the male in the room, unconscious and unaware of what was happening.
"How is he?" The Servant asked. She did not need to be specific about what she was asking about.
"As far as we can tell he's fine." The other female nodded. "The blood you gave him earlier seemed to help out greatly with the transfer of prana and refilling his reserves to a degree. Even so, he gave pretty much all he had to you last night and stayed in here after you fell asleep to help you out even more. He didn't put himself in any danger, but any potential prana he might have stored up is gone now."
Rider nodded in understanding. Due to her condition and Shirou's nature, their overall situation had only gotten worse that night.
Yet she did not seem to feel as disappointed as she should have been. Odd.
"I'll talk to him about holding back a bit for now." Sakura continued. "I'll set up some more bounded fields to absorb prana from the environment and channel the contents to you to help make things more manageable. Actually I have a few that are ready to be tapped into today that can speed things up. If you're in good enough condition, I could take you with me to them and give you a boost…"
"And Master?" Rider questioned, turning to Shirou once more.
"Saber is more than capable of handling things here." Sakura smiled genuinely. "Even if she is only running on what she has, it's still more than enough to last her for a fight or two. Plus it's daytime. None of the other Masters will risk doing anything for now."
Even as she talked to her Master, Rider found herself mentally frowning. Was it her imagination, or did the scent of the moon folk seem stronger than before?
o. o. o.
With Illya:
She couldn't take it anymore. It was one thing to spend a good deal of time preparing for a battle or a large event, it was another to just laze around the castle and do absolutely nothing.
Getting her coat and other clothes ready earlier that morning, the homunculus set her plan into motion by first giving Sella and Lyserit some large and outlandish tasks. It wasn't the first time she had done such things to them so the two maids merely assumed that their charge was simply still irritable about her encounter with the Apostle and being stuck inside all day, which was technically true.
Still it wasn't as if her orders weren't completely unwarranted. Frankly, there seemed an infestation problem or something, because Illya swore she had seen a rat or two earlier. She'd have to check the bounded fields around the castle to see that they were working soon just in case.
The moment she saw her opening with the distracted maids, the girl had run out the front door of the building and ordered Berserker, who had regained two of his lost lives by this point, to take her to the city. While she wouldn't mind encountering or killing another servant during her visit, she was primarily interested in exploring this day to vent some stress.
She had never really been allowed to go out on her own in Germany, and was curious as to what a normal life entailed for the standard human. The few times she had asked other members of the family had been met with ridicule and scorn. She was in turn asked why she would even need to bother with such useless knowledge as she was a sacrifice.
Well those old farts weren't around now and she had Heracles as a bodyguard on a leash so what was the harm in a little indulgence?
o. o. o.
He checked his remaining equipment as the sun rose.
One fifty bullet clip of automatic ammunition, complete with submachinegun. Half of a twenty four bullet clip of standard handgun ammunition, complete with pistol. One six bullet clip of sniper ammunition, complete with sniper rifle accompanied with telescopic and infrared scopes. Three fragmentation grenades. Five remaining land mines of varying types, already set up in various strategic locations nearby. One chipped combat knife. One smoke grenade.
Other Noble Phantasms still unused and will remain so until otherwise required.
Prana supply largely untouched and ready to be used.
Breaking or enchanting any additional ammunition is counterproductive. The ambient prana would interfere with stealth capabilities and reduce efficiency.
Final assessment. Confrontation with Servants of any sort before weapons are restocked is highly inadvisable. Lack of direct combat weaponry and prepared terrain leaves him in a distinct disadvantage with regards to combat potential. Should contact be made, primary goal is to disengage. Should combat be unavoidable, focus should be on the enemy Master while avoiding the Servant at all costs.
Assassin silently finished his stock check before placing it all in the folds of his cloak where they would remain until they are used again or are replaced.
Had he not intended to let Archer and Rider live, he would have berated himself for such a sloppy encounter. Revealing himself at the beginning. Speaking to the targets pointlessly. Actually engaging the targets in close combat for a brief moment. Exposing many tactics he had to the enemy. He had virtually broken every combat rule he had set up when he had a target.
As a result, he had left himself vastly under armed and gave up valuable tactical information about himself.
Under most circumstances, he would have a great deal of trouble managing even one opponent in a straight fight. In fact it was almost a miracle he had managed as well as he did against the two. Only his combination of guerrilla tactics and constantly controlling the flow of the battle enabled him to overwhelm the other two Servants.
That and the enemy were actually foolish enough to pick the most obvious rooftop to oversee and inspect the temple entrance from. He saw them coming and had instantly made up some quick plans before they had even left the building. Then again, how many Servants actually worked with traps and triggered explosives?
One thing was for certain though, should Archer or Rider come again, he would be extremely hard pressed handling even one of them… no, Saber should be considered as well, as she and Rider were supposedly teamed up and their Masters would no doubt share such important information. Lancer too if he and his master were still alive.
Good.
"Now that I look at it, your weapons leave much to be desired." Caster aridly sighed from behind him. "No finesse. No elegance. No mystery. Just well timed flying pieces of metal and manmade fireballs."
Assassin remained quiet and continued to put away his weaponry. Small talking with the woman behind him would serve no purpose in the end.
"But with such simple tools you managed to cripple a Master and Servant, and pushed away two more Servants at the same time… possibly even killed them if that last trick of yours worked as expected." She continued, not at all bothered by the man's silence. "Well… you are a heroic spirit I suppose. There must have been a reason you were able to be summoned after all."
The massive sniper rifle disappeared into his cloak. He rarely used it in the daytime and more often than not he kept it for the telescopic sight in place of binoculars.
"Still you have some skill with modern thaumaturgy, so it does make me wonder if you have some sort of tool that isn't so… boring." The Witch of Betrayal whimsically mused.
With the last of his equipment put away, Assassin turned to his summoner and looked at her from under his hood with his dull eyes. Anyone with common sense could tell that he was asking what she wanted, in addition to conveying his well hidden annoyance.
"My, you are an expressive one." The woman snorted in sarcastic amusement. "Well then, I guess I'll have to spell it out for you after all. I know that you've used up most of your tools last night Servant. Since you won't be able to serve your purpose staying here anyways, I've decided to put you to work elsewhere. Think of it as a reward for all your hard work."
Assassin turned more towards the woman, giving him a better view of her. She interpreted it correctly as a sign that she had his interest, not that it mattered.
"Since you somehow have Independent Action, we might as well put it to use." Medea continued casually. "During the day I want you to go throughout the city and spy and learn about the other Masters and Servants if possible. Who are they? Where do they live? What are their strengths? Weaknesses? Their Noble Phantasms? How do they interact with one another?" A sickening grin was made on her face. "You know. Anything that you would find valuable for your next job."
The male Servant remained quiet for a few seconds before he finally spoke. "Is that an order?"
A small twitch on the woman's mouth was seen. Whether it was due to his emotionless voice or the blunt nature of his question was unknown. "Yes. It is. And while we're at it, let me just throw in a few more rules to be safe. You are not to interact with any other Masters or Servants or the overseer of the war, save for myself unless I deem otherwise later. You are not to leave any hints or items of any form for them to come across regarding you or me in any way. Should you see an enemy in a prime position to be taken out without issue, you will take it…" There was a brief pause. "And you will not return here until shortly before dusk unless it is urgent to resume your primary duty."
Ah. So the real motive behind this is known. She was afraid of him, saw him as a threat. Keeping him around all the time would only give him the opportunity to learn of what she was doing and come up with something to sabotage it at one point or another. Her additional commands would prevent him from betraying her indirectly while still serving a purpose to support her goals.
Smart woman. It was a foolish decision, but still made for the right reasons from her perspective. He wouldn't trust himself in this situation either… or virtually anyone else for that matter. But then, he wouldn't have sent away a Servant that could act out on its own without supervision and leave so many loopholes in her orders.
Without acknowledging her command in any other way, the Servant of Murder faded into spiritual form and made his way down the stairs to Fuyuki city…
o. o. o.
Tohsaka Residence:
Wrong.
That was the word that Rin best described her Servant that was Shirou Emiya. Not distorted. Not altered, twisted, confused, annoying, interesting, or strong.
Wrong.
The image of him traveling the world alone was wrong. The nature of his selfless ideal was wrong. The way he just helped others and kept on going was wrong. His interaction with other people was wrong…
Most of all though, his death was wrong. Especially that smile…
"Rin? Is something on your mind?" The subject of her confusion and fear asked in spiritual form and hovering inside a formalcraft circle designed to help him recover from his wounds. "Are you irritated that you have to make your tea in the morning again?"
"Shut up wise-ass." The brunette grumbled as she let the wonderful chemical known as caffeine in her system wake up the parts of her mind that had yet to reboot. "You have no right to ask about how other people are doing after last night."
"Such a cruel Master I have. No pity for the wounded." The Servant sighed.
"No pity be damned. How the hell could you forget about Assassin being good enough to hand you and Rider your asses at the same time?" Rin growled, focusing her anger on another legitimate reason before she slipped and started to ask about what she learned from his dreams. She could do that later.
"Embarrassing as it is, I did not remember this." The man stated coolly. "Otherwise, I believe I would have taken steps to prevent such an embarrassing event from happening. Wouldn't you? After all, getting shot and blown up sounds like a wonderful way to fight a war."
The Master faltered before moaning in frustration and palming her forehead. "Ugh. Ok! I get it. You couldn't have helped it this time. Far be it for me to assume that having a Servant from the future would actually know useful things that we could use."
"As opposed to just merely having a servant that has an unlimited number of Noble Phantasms at his disposal." The spirit snorted sarcastically.
"Not like you actually use them." The girl countered. "The only ones you make are those boring black and white ones." She filed away the fact that Archer had not used either Maiya or Natalia, but blades similar in shape to the two. She added that to the list of oddities that needed to be answered.
"They match my fighting style and I'm so used to making them in particular that they're cheaper for me to make." Archer shrugged without shame. "I can simply spam swords if you want, however it would require more prana than you'd think to pull it off. Noble Phantasms aren't cheap to make you know."
"Then just act like an Archer for once." Rin snapped. "Fire them off one at a time with your bow and nuke them with a broken phantasm or something! You've always been better with a bow than with swords anyways for some bizarre reason."
"That's normally my other main strategy, but I actually need range and a clear shot at the target to do that." EMIYA admitted. "It's a shame that standing out in the open is not a strategy that the enemy utilizes often."
The Master grunted, feeling a headache coming. "Do you at least have any idea who this guy is? He's a modern day assassin and saboteur…"
"No." Archer relented. "Most notable saboteurs came from Europe during the early nineteen hundreds when the world wars were going on, but even then I have doubts that any of them managed to get on the throne. Also there's the weapons he was using…"
"What's so special about them other than the fact that they were guns?"
"They were more modern Rin, particularly the submachine gun." The Servant corrected. "I've encountered many guns over the years. I'm far from an expert, but I do know a thing or two about them. While the ones he used were not state of the art, they were clearly designed after the world war era. Far after."
"Great, then we're dealing with ANOTHER Heroic Spirit that has made their legend in the future. Wonderful." The magus threw her hands up in the air in frustration before walking to the exit of her workshop.
"Getting some fresh air?" EMIYA mused as he simply floated there. To be honest, he liked having Rin around. It reminded him of old times and prevented him from dwelling on how messed up his situation was. Plus, teasing her was a lot of fun, as always.
"Going to YOUR place." The girl replied much to his surprise. "Since you're next to useless now I might as well do something productive that could shake up your memories a bit. Maybe find out who your Servant is or see if you've been any fights recently."
"You do realize that this could end very poorly for you, right?" If Saber was the same as before, she would very likely cut apart Rin before she could ask her first question. And if Saber wasn't… well technically anything could happen if that was the case.
The girl laughed and turned around at the spirit. "Shirou you worry too much. You sound as if we don't trust each other."
o. o. o.
With Lancer:
"She should be awake by now." Lancer had repeated himself for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning as he glanced at his still unconscious Master.
"Humans aren't as strong as they used to be." Merem shrugged. "Miss McRemitz is a rather strong individual for this day and age, however my statement still stands."
The spearman spat out in irritation while still sitting in his chair. "Man this blows. I wouldn't feel half as pissed as I am right now if we had been stuck in this situation because of a straight up fight. Instead we got taken out by some coward that didn't even show himself."
"Well that is the nature of an Assassin." The vampire rebutted as if it was obvious. "They kill in the way that poses the least amount of risk and most yield. Had it not been for your Master's habit of using runes on her clothing to further protect herself, neither of you wouldn't even be here to talk about this with me."
"Instead we're stuck here on the sidelines, and even when she does wake…" Lancer bit his tongue in frustration.
"You would be hard pressed to continue on in the war as you have." The Apostle finished the sentence factually. There was no pity in his voice whatsoever, which was good because if there was, the Servant would have attempted to kill him then and there. "A shame too, since she was a rather significant force in the war."
"Don't just write her off so easily." The demigod growled. "I know her well enough to tell that something like this wouldn't stop her, and she does know a good number of tricks."
"But will it be enough to win, let alone survive, in her current state?" Merem rose an eyebrow skeptically.
The room was silent as Lancer reluctantly contemplated the question. Even in their top conditions he had no misgivings that there would be tough fighting in the future. Hell he wanted that in the first place. But then that annoying old man had to go ahead and tell him that the entire war was just a setup that could go south fast. Just once he wanted to be in a great big brawl against someone good with no strings attached.
But as it stood right now, going through things normally didn't sit well with him which in turn caused him to get frustrated. He wasn't a thinker, he was a fighter. True he warped a few commands and orders on people that he didn't like on occasion, but this was beyond small word play. He needed as much firepower and as few liabilities as possible at the moment.
Looking at the vampire warily who was watching him in return in mild interest, Lancer weighed his options carefully.
"You look like a man that's about to make a deal with the devil." Merem observed.
"… You're a vampire that's interfering with a mystical war involving reincarnated legends that's already feeling like its nothing but a hoax and about to turn into something far worse… just for the hell of it."
"Point." The twentieth Apostle Ancestor relented without much effort. "So then. What do you want and what do you have to offer?"
o. o. o.
With Shirou:
"They should have at least woke me up and let me know what they were doing before they left." The Emiya pouted to his first Servant as he served her a quick brunch and sat down.
"You needed your rest." The King of Knights began to eat her meal without hesitation. "Rider's wounds were grievous yes, but so far you've taken on more damage and risked more in general than any of the Servants so far in the war. Sleeping in is the least of your worries."
"How was Rider when she left?" Shirou began to feed himself as well. Hopefully the food would get rid of the unusually tempting aftertaste of Rider's blood in his mouth. "I can't believe that she would be able to move around so easily after what happened."
"Her physical wounds were healed and thanks to your efforts she had recovered more than expected." Saber acknowledged. "It would still take some time for her to regain her full strength, however a minor trip with Sakura to get her more prana will do you both good."
He held his tongue. Personally he felt it would be best if Sakura didn't do anything that could tempt Zouken to make matters worse, however Saber did have a point. He had drunk far more blood the previous night than he would ever consider during most situations, and it had done a number on his stomach and tongue. Despite the Apostle influence on his body, he was still primarily human. Human stomachs were not designed to digest raw blood, let alone in such quantities. There were a few times when he almost threw up while trying to supply Rider with extra prana when things turned sour the night before, but he stubbornly held it back in. In the end he had nearly fallen asleep as fast as Rider did after she had arrived back home.
In a way this breakfast was for him as much as Saber. He needed something to settle his stomach as badly as Saber desired to fill hers.
"What I don't understand is why Assassin is different." The Magus Killer decided to change the subject after a minute or so of silence. "No matter how I approach the situation, I can't make heads or tails out of it. From what we've gathered, Caster still summoned him while she was at the Temple, so how is it that she could get someone else? Let alone someone that fights like that?"
"I do not know." Saber admitted while still eating. "Perhaps this is simply another unfortunate result of your father's interference. Maybe there was someone of significance buried there now that had not been before. Regardless it does not change the overall plan. Caster must fall and Assassin is in the way of that."
Shirou nodded quietly while chewing. "You're right. Caster's been draining the leylines more frequently lately and causing people to pass out. She needs to be stopped first before we can deal with anyone else. Even Kotomine is at least more subtle and controlled of his actions than this."
"Despite our feelings for him and what he has done, should we ask him for aid?" Saber asked with focused eyes. "As overseer, would he not see that what she is doing is possibly exposing the existence of the war?"
"No." Shirou shook his head. "I need him for later and if I ask him for help too much he'll likely find out that we know more than we should. Besides, if he hasn't done anything about Caster yet then he probably believes the situation is still manageable. Trying to push him to do something would not work well in our favor. Remember what it took for the previous overseer to set the other masters against the fourth war's Caster?"
Saber scowled as she vaguely recalled the numbers of missing children and persons prior to the fight against the insane Gil de Rais. "Point made. What do you intend to do then? You must also be prepared for when Illyasviel returns as well as Zouken and Gilgamesh. You have to be conservative if you wish to survive."
"And I can't make any additional solid alliances until at least Zouken is addressed otherwise he'll find out and use Sakura against us and virtually everyone in town." Shirou began to get a headache but he ignored it. "… And dealing with Zouken will, without a doubt, result in Gilgamesh starting to move, if he hasn't by then, because we need Kirei's help dealing with the old bastard. Illya's a wildcard at the moment regardless given the way she reacted to me last time, so figuring out a solid way to deal with her alongside everything else is going to be a nightmare in itself."
"Indeed, we are stuck in quite the quagmire." Saber agreed with her Master's summarization of the situation. Two insidious factions required alliances to fight against each other while an uncontrollable force of destruction lurked off to the side and only needed the slightest of whims to attack. In the mean time several other parties did as they pleased only to further complicate the issues at hand. It was Britain's problems all over again, with Servants and Masters instead of armies. And then there was Archer... "May I give you some advice?"
"By all means. We're partners, not Master and Servant, or King and Sword. You don't need to ask permission to do something of the like." The Master shrugged.
The Servant nodded in thanks with a small appreciative smile on her face. "When I was in dire situations like this, my strategists and I would frequently focus not on the enemy or that which directly influenced the battle, but on everything else. The weather. The land and wildlife. The local populace. Individuals of note. Rumors and the like. More often than not we would encounter overlooked factors that ended up turning the tide of battle to my favor or at least avert a humiliating defeat."
"… On everything else but the immediate threats?" Shirou mused as he looked at his food. "Dad did focus on those a lot in his notes when he went for his kills…"
"As efficient as Kiritsugu was in what he did, I would appreciate it if you didn't try to emulate him too much." Saber's eyes hardened for a moment. She would very much like to not repeat what happened to Darmuid again.
"We all would. Dad included." The son agreed absently while chewing on some food. Quietly he thought about everything else he had glossed over. The other participants in the war. His own standing in the war. Where everyone was. The Clocktower. Merem's presence. His jobs. Fuyuki City. The Greater Grail…
"You have something in mind." The blonde noted casually.
"Mmm." Shirou nodded without turning away from his food. "We're going out for a walk after lunch."
o. o. o.
Assassin crouched over the edge of a building and looked through the lens of his sniper rifle, examining the faces and people that walked by on the busy market road in the morning. It was mostly housewives doing food shopping so far as it was in the morning, but it had been growing more balanced since noon approached and people started to go out for lunch.
He personally didn't like his current setup as it was in the middle of the day and in the dead center of a highly populated area, but then again he'd have to be a novice to actually expect any situation to be ideal.
Caster's orders had made things slightly tricky for him to work around, but there were a few loopholes he could manage. First of all, he only had less than a handful of people in this city that he would actually consider "enemies". Those that weren't in that category were either "allies", "targets", or "inconsequential".
The difference between "targets" and "enemies" was that "targets" were far easier to kill with proper planning and posed less of a threat to him.
It didn't need to be said that such labels were subject to change.
Regardless, so long as he didn't bother to prepare a shot, his presence concealment would ensure that he would be able to escape from anything long before the stalked could take proper action. Despite his gun being a Noble Phantasm, it used up little to no prana by itself making it difficult to detect. That was if he didn't break or enchant the bullets of course.
Enchanting his bullets… now there was something he never really did when alive, not that he could have done it often back then anyways. It was only because this was a battle of Epic Spirits, legendary figures that were neigh impossible for mundane methods to destroy, that he had even bothered to enhance his weaponry. His knowledge of thaumaturgy during his living days was limited to what he thought was useful and what wasn't for his job. Magic was detectable by other Magi, hence it gave away what he was going to do and where he was. Guns, bullets, and explosives by themselves though, weren't.
Magic was an option that was somewhat more available when he was hunting normal humans that pissed off one government organization or another, but not by much. A flaming bullet in the head yielded no different results than a normal bullet in the head.
Actually, he still preferred not to use the enchantments for anything but direct combat purposes, which he avoided when possible. As far as he was concerned, if he had to actually fight, then he did something wrong. Then again, he could only do the enchanting to this efficiency now that he was a Servant but that was beside the point.
Very briefly he once more went through the data that Caster had given him about the other Servants. Rider was Medusa and the Servant of Sakura Matou. Saber was a blonde unknown with an invisible sword and a strong magic resistance that belonged to Shirou Emiya, a supposedly very dangerous magus that seemed to know more about the war than he let on. Berserker was Heracles and belonged to Illyasviel Von Einzbern, suspected sister of Shirou Emiya. There seemed to be a good deal of animosity from the sister to the brother.
Lancer and Archer he had dealt with personally.
A grim smile briefly appeared on his mouth.
How ironic. The biggest threat to his plans at the moment was none other than himself.
A brief itching in the back of his head caught the Assassin's attention and caused him to turn down to the other side of the road. The source was far out of his line of sight at the moment, but he didn't do anything else. Moving or expending any prana would just expose him to any Servant nearby, which was the last thing he needed. Waiting and patience was the key to any job after all. A boring job was a job done right as far as he was concerned. Virtually none of that bullshit that the Americans tended to put in their movies was actually needed to kill a man if the assassin actually knew what he was doing.
Soon enough he spied the purple haired Matou walking down the street with grocery bags seemingly alone and with a content look on her face. Unknown to the people around her though, the girl had a Servant hovering above her defensively, ready to move at the nearest provocation.
Assassin's eyes narrowed as he contemplated the situation. It was rather peculiar for Rider to be active so quickly after the damage he dealt to her the previous night. There should be no way for her to be in top form after what he did to her… meaning that he could easily kill the Master right now if he wanted to with a single shot…
No. It wouldn't benefit him to do so, at least not yet. There were too many witnesses and it might cause the Priest to actually do something if he did things in broad daylight…
It was pointless to focus on the two females now. He would gain nothing from observing them from this range for this short period of time. The best thing to do was just leave them alone and wait for someone else to hopefully pass by. He had a good guess where she was residing and if he was correct… it would only complicate the situation. It was best if he didn't visit that place or encounter its occupants.
Assassin began to make quick vague sweeps of the area below him. Given what he knew about the magi and servants in the war, he doubted that there was anyone else…
Shit.
In the other direction of the same road the Matou girl was walking on stood a man with golden blond hair and blood red eyes, looking right at him with the barest of curiosity despite the vast amount of land between them. There was no doubt in Assassin's mind that he had been seen.
The two men did not do anything but stare at one another. One in pure fear, the other on a bored whim… or so it was initially before the latter man's face slowly adjusted and began to smile as if realizing something that was rather amusing.
This would not end well.
Combat was next to useless in the current situation and would only serve to provoke the enemy. Retreat would take priority the instant he took hostile measures…
Which had yet to happen. So far the golden man simply looked back at Assassin as if having trouble trying to figure out what to do with the new toy in front of him. Not that the analogy wasn't far off the mark considering the power difference between them. The Servant of Murder was no match for the reincarnated King of Heroes. Both were very well aware of this and the fact that the other knew of it as well.
So when stronger of the two simply began to chuckle and continue down the road without doing anything, Assassin was left even more unnerved. His position was compromised and unstable, yet even so he didn't move. Though the golden king did not seem to regard him at all after breaking eye contact, the shrouded Servant knew that if he budged from his spot it would, if not spell his end, then at least make things extremely uncomfortable for him in the near future.
Casually the reincarnated Servant walked down the street, not paying anything or anyone of mind as the normal people seemingly instinctively walked around him. Whether it was due to his aura, the way he carried himself, or the fact that he simply looked like he was worth more than everyone else on the street that day was beyond the observer's ability to determine, not that it mattered.
Soon enough though, he had crossed paths with the Matou. Even worse he had actually stopped and decided to talk to her, bending over and whispering something into her ear with an all too pleased look in his eyes.
And then she turned to look right at Assassin's direction with a pale face. During the same time, Rider had instantly moved in between her Master and the Assassin.
Assassin took that as his cue to leave and moved as fast as possible. As good as the eldest Servant was, even he would not expose himself just yet. His pride wouldn't let him. Likewise Rider would not leave Sakura alone when such a strange man was right next to Sakura.
Increasing his speed and damning stealth, the Servant raced over the rooftops of the residential district erratically for at least a minute. Once he saw that no enemy was at least directly following him, he instantly stopped using his prana, dropped down an alleyway and utilized his presence concealment. Not stopping there, he took a roundabout way back to the general area he originally ran from, though he ensured that he would appear in a location that would not cross paths with the King of Heroes or the girl.
Wonderful. The person he didn't want to encounter the most had just taken an interest in him. Even worse he'd probably be forced to tell Caster about him, which would force the psychotic woman to drain even more prana from the leylines and force Kirei to take focus on her.
Expanding his senses some more in the alleyway, Assassin attempted to regain his bearings with respect to the enemy. One of the convenient things about being Assassin was that his class was usually among the best for keeping tabs on other Servants, and as such he could feel possible enemies from a good ways off. He wasn't as good as Caster, and Archer could easily see him from outside his range if his view was unobstructed, but all in all he was up there.
He nearly swore as another Servant and Master were detected and slowly approached his position. Not taking any chances, he made his way back to the rooftops as quickly as possible without losing any of his stealth, reaching the top within seconds. He had long since adapted to the convenient benefits of his superhuman strength and speed, though rather subpar when compared to any of the other Servants', which were more than absent during life. He didn't worry about being spotted by this new group as Rider and her Master, who did not seem to have been killed yet, moved in the opposite direction and Gilgamesh was not the type to hound a target in broad daylight. If the so called King wanted to kill any one of them, they all would have been dead by now.
Less than a minute later though, he had wished that it had been a wary Rider and Sakura.
Illyasviel and Berserker.
The insane Servant's mere presence in spiritual form was enough to cause virtually every person on the street to give the girl a wide berth as she merrily and innocently looked around the stores to see what they had for sale. How on earth she managed to not encounter the King of Heroes or the Matou was beyond Assassin's guess, but he was thankful for it. Even from this distance he could feel the terrifying presence of the black giant as it hovered over its Master, ready to literally tear apart anyone who attempted to harm her and everything around the said fool.
In the current situation and setup… Assassin was sure that he could kill Heracles three times, at an unlikely best. Maybe four if he was extremely lucky, right before he was torn apart limb to limb like a rag doll.
And yet his primary focus was not on the nearly invisible giant, but on the girl it was with…
"It must be difficult for you watching her like this."
Faster than anything he could have done in life Assassin had turned around and pointed his submachine gun at the man behind him. He appeared to be an aging old priest, but the aura around him was anything but human.
"There's no need for hostilities." The non human smiled genuinely. "I am not a participant in the war, nor an enemy, nor an observer for the Church though I do work for the latter in my spare time. I'm merely someone you can talk to if you wish."
Assassin didn't lower the gun, but he did make a small gesture that indicated that the old man had his attention. It was clear that somehow he had spied on his conversation with Caster, however that did not mean that he was an ally.
"Such professionalism." The priest marveled at the Servant's self control. "The rumors about you certainly did you no justice, both metaphorically and literally. Controlled movements. Minimal conversation. No emotion. Just like a machine. Yes, I can see why so many were afraid of you Kiritsugu Emiya."
"… What do you want?"
He didn't know how, but this thing was interested in him for some reason. Interested enough to properly identify him and risk coming out into the open. Under normal circumstances, the Servant would have just killed the thing in front of him, but two things were preventing that. The first was that it could prove to be of use to get around Caster's orders.
The second was that if he started anything, Berserker would be on top of him in an instant.
"Again there's no need for hostilities." The priest raised his hands in surrender. "I have no desire to become an enemy or target of the sire of my Lord's good friend. I hold Lord Emiya in the highest regards, and as such I respect you just as much."
That got a bigger reaction out of the Servant. The end of his gun twitched slightly. He certainly did not like the fact that the creature had said "Lord Emiya". "Prove it."
The old man's disposition did not change. "Unlimited Blade Works."
Assassin's eyes widened.
"Oh, my Lord and I are very well aware of his disposition, among other traits he has acquired since your passing that you are not aware of. We have even aided him on a few occasions." He continued without pause. "Other than Arturia Pendragon, or Servant Saber as she is publicly known as, we are the only ones on this continent who are aware of what extremes you went through to prepare for this premature ritual. Granted Lord Shirou is not exactly aware that my Master and I know of what you did and why, however we are none the less interested in his activities. Then of course there is Angra Mainyu and your daughter's rather interesting condition…"
The soft but distinct clicking of Kiritsugu's gun silenced the King of Rats. Obviously he had talked too much.
"What do you want?" The Magus Killer asked again, this time with a cold tinge to his voice.
"Personally it would be one of your son's four cheese pizzas. He really is a marvelous chef, but I doubt that's what you mean. " The priest admitted shamelessly before getting back on subject. "To be blunt we simply wish for things to progress in a favorable direction. We have directly interfered with the war too much as it is, however merely subtly influencing events is something that we see no harm in doing. We would prefer to abstain from interfering with the War completely and merely watch these interesting events progress, however the continued existence of that King of Heroes and the tainted Greater Grail are rather concerning. We would like to see them… addressed."
The gun between the pair lowered slowly until it was pointing towards the ground. "You have information."
It was not a question but a fact. The Priest had already proved himself resourceful enough to get plenty of major secrets from his son, and was the first to figure out his identity. Whether or not he was an ally though was still up for debate. It was extremely easy for a seasoned information specialist to claim he was backing one side or another and support the claim, when the opposite was the truth. It was the reason why most realistic ones worked for the highest bidder or were completely dedicated to a single employer.
Freelancers that worked for the greater good were nonexistent as far as Kiritsugu was concerned. Hence, the creature in front of him was playing him and working towards an alternate goal. Unfortunately at the moment, the Servant needed the resources more than he needed to avoid the game. Even if he wasn't that desperate, he needed a solid link to this thing's so called Lord to take him out. He knew too much about Shirou to simply just leave alone.
However it had already made a mistake. It had unknowingly admitted that it did not know of all the precautions Kiritsugu had made before he died.
"And then some." The King of Rats nodded without shame. "I assure you, you will find much of what I know quite interesting."
Tiny brown creatures waited in the shadows. Their King had need of them and they had come. More and more of their number were arriving by the day to bolster the losses constantly occurring in the battle between the kingdom and the worms. Many were lost, but more will come. More will always come.
o. o. o.
With Illya:
"How boring." The girl pouted as the Servant she sensed nearby disappeared. She had been hoping that it would have done something interesting while it spied on her, but apparently it had gotten cold feet. Not that she blamed it considering Berserker was with her. Her Heracles was the strongest Servant after all.
Still, it was quite off putting to see a person hailed in legends getting cold feet like that. Whoever it was must have been a coward in life.
Well whatever. She'd kill him sooner or later.
At that moment however, her murderous train of thought was interrupted by a more pressing matter, coming in the form of her stomach rumbling.
"Auuu. I'm hungry." The albino wept like the child she appeared to be. In her rush to leave the castle, she had forgotten to grab some of the local currency before leaving.
Her Servant twitched slightly above her, responding to her distress.
"No. There's no need to do anything Berserker." The girl sighed, tears of self pity running down her face. She'd just have to hypnotize some random passerby and steal their money to get something to eat. It was an insulting use of her mystic eyes, but her stomach took priority and…
"What is this?!" A woman's loud voice echoed through the street, originating from very close to the partially deafened and surprised homunculus. "A young child alone and crying in the street? Why hasn't someone offered to help this poor girl yet?!"
Illyasviel responded to the question as best as she could. "Huh?"
Standing in front of her was an energetic, albeit pissed looking young woman with short brownish hair in a green summer dress and a black and yellow shirt underneath it. Standing next to the woman was a rather emotionless and boring looking middle aged man in a standard suit and tie with glasses that seemed all but invisible when standing next to the walking foghorn.
"What is Japan coming to when our people just stand around and do nothing when the young are left alone and distraught!?" The woman continued to rant with an impressive ferocity that seemed to cause people to give her as much distance as Illya did with Berserker hovering over her.
"Fujimura-sensei." The man next to her stated evenly, clearly not at all bothered by her behavior. "You are letting your emotions get the better of you again. You won't accomplish anything if you keep on ranting like this. Quite the contrary, you might scare the girl even further if you continue."
"Erk!" The woman froze, clearly having only just realizing that possible fact before turning to the very confused Albino with tears in her eyes. Actually upon a closer look it was clear that she was about to cry more than the suspected lost and helpless girl, but no one wanted to point that out. "I-I'm so soorryy. I didn't mean to scare you!"
"Er. I… that is…"
"She's clearly foreign." The man spoke up. "She might not understand Japanese."
"I'm very sorry if I scared you. Do you speak English? Are you lost?" The woman switched to the western language on the dot. Her accent was a bit thick for Illya's taste, but overall the woman was quite fluent.
"I'm actually German." The albino sheepishly replied in fluent Japanese. "But I can speak the local language, and no I'm not lost."
"Bilingual at such a young age. Impressive." The man acknowledged with a brief nod.
"Are you ok?" The woman switched back to her native language as well with a concerned look in her eyes. "It's not safe for young girls like you to be outside alone when there are so many things happening lately."
"I'm fine." The girl pouted, once again annoyed that her physical appearance didn't match her real age. "I can take care of myself." For some reason, she swore she heard the sound of a muted gunshot originating from the woman's chest, but that was just ridiculous.
"She's so… adorable." The immature woman began to tear up even more while still quite close to the girl. "Like one of those expensive foreign dolls."
"Fujimura-sensei, I believe she's unnerved by the situation enough as it is. Please do not accidentally have her mistaken you for something you are not and make her scream for the police." The emotionless man calmly advised, though the people in hearing distance detected a hint of weariness in his tone.
"Is she really a Sensei?" Illya asked the man more confused than anything at the moment. How could such an immature woman be responsible for the education of youth?
"Yes." The man nodded tersely. Apparently he wasn't one for small talk.
"So… cute. I just want to take her home and dress her up." The woman continued, further losing grip with reality.
"Ah… ahahahah…" The homunculus laughed nervously. She wasn't really used to these kinds of people, primarily because such behavior was not usually tolerated in the Einzbern household. She could play the part of the innocent child or the shrewd politician whenever she wanted, but she was always at her best when she was in control of the flow of conversation. Such control was cruelly ripped from her grasp in the presence of the woman known as Taiga Fujimura. "Thank you, I think."
The rumbling of the girl's stomach was heard by all three humans and Servant.
"I take it you have yet to eat." The man observed.
Illya nodded in shame.
"And you most likely do not have any money on you."
She nodded again.
"And your caretaker has all the money and is most likely looking for you as we speak."
A third nod, this time tears of embarrassment started to come from the albino's eyes. Why did this old geezer have to be so blunt about it?
Taiga sighed. "Honestly. I guess there's no helping it. We'll take you out to lunch and then help you find your family."
Illya had to hold back a bitter snort. She knew exactly where her family was, and they were the last people she wanted to talk to at the moment. Both Emiya and Einzbern.
"Fujimura-sensei. Please remember what we were tasked to do today." The so far nameless man stated calmly. It was only at that point that Illya noticed that his eyes were roaming the area as if looking for something he couldn't see. Most likely it was Berserker, however the girl was impressed. Even though the man apparently had no circuits, he could still tell that her Servant's presence was something more than just a chill down his spine. It spoke a great deal about his situational awareness, not that it would help him if she actually told Berserker to kill him. "We were tasked by the school to speak with the police in person about the recent events to determine if the schools should keep on running."
The woman pouted and turned to her companion. "Oh come on Kuzuki-sensei. How can you see this adorable little thing and not feel anything? It's our job to help and guide the young and that's what we're gonna do! You know that the police rep can wait a while for us to at least feed little… little… uh."
"Illyasviel von Einzbern." The girl introduced herself, somewhat annoyed that it took them this long to ask her for her name.
"… Illya." Taiga instantly shortened the name for her convenience. "Besides we can drop her off at the cop's place as a missing person afterwards."
"Even if the police accept our tardiness, where would we eat?" The man inquired. "I hope you are not thinking of freeloading off of Emiya's generosity again. It is one thing to frequent a student's home for food, even if you are his legal guardian, it's another to ask him to service to complete strangers unannounced."
That had the small Master's attention.
"I'm not that bad!" The immature teacher moaned. "It's not my fault that Shirou's cooking is better than most of the restaurants here and he won't turn people away. Besides I don't like him living in that big house by himself all the time. Kids get lonely you know?" Her demeanor calmed down a bit. "Besides, I don't want to put any extra stress on him right now."
"Stress?" Kuzuki questioned curiously.
"Ah!" Taiga realized her blunder and began frantically to try and grasp at straws. "I mean! You know how he is! With all the people getting hurt and those fires going around lately he's been in a touchy mood! I just didn't want to add to all that!"
"Who are you talking about?" Illya asked with all the innocence of the child she appeared to be.
"He's a student that Fujimura-sensei has been taking care of on the side for the past few years since his father died." Kuzuki replied as evenly as ever.
"Also he's unofficially one of the best chefs in the city, very reliable, and a complete selfless idiot at times." Taiga added with finality... before her stomach began to rumble in tandem with Illya's. "Unfortunately, Chez Emiya is closed for the moment, so we'll have to go somewhere else to fill our stomachs. Any requests?"
"I have no preferences." The token male stated.
"I figured as much." His affiliate muttered.
"How about some hamburgers? Not fast food, but a decent place." Illya suggested to Taiga. The energetic woman was more responsive to her and could be milked for more information about her target. Plus Kuzuki creeped her out. How could a guy with a face like that be a teacher? "They don't cost much here do they?"
After a small debate and a pleasant stop at a nearby diner, Illya hypnotized the two teachers to forget all about her while simultaneously implanting a suggestive subconscious impulse in Taiga for the future.
All in all, it had been an interesting day for the Einzbern.
o. o. o.
Edelfelt Mansion:
"I must admit, I did not expect to have a conversation with you again so soon." Luvia drank her tea with a good deal of poise and elegance, none of which betrayed the uncertainty she was feeling at the moment, sitting in the same room as Shirou.
After all, even with what she had set up, the magus had little doubt that she would not survive if Saber truly wished to end her instead of imitating a statue next to her Master. Likewise Caster was just as still and quiet while sitting next to Luvia. Truthfully the homeowner did not believe Shirou would try to do anything outrageous in the middle of the day, however the same could not be said for his Servant.
"Neither did I until a few hours ago." Shirou admitted, dressed up in his "work" attire sans the holy shroud which he was still wearing under his suit. "I see you've significantly increased the defenses of your workshop. Caster's doing?"
"Of course." Luvia rolled her eyes. "We are at war after all. Why wouldn't I exploit the knowledge of my Servant to increase my home field capabilities? Do you take me for a novice?"
"Depends." Shirou smirked with light humor. To his side, Saber had remained focused on the task at hand, ready to protect her Master in a moment's notice. "Did you study and understand the new additions she gave you?"
"The ones I could make sense of." The blonde admitted without shame. "The ancient language is quite remarkable after all. Speaking to the world itself to provoke an effect. Why it's in a way just short of utilizing a Marble Phantasm."
"Actually there's a bit more of a gap between the two than you think, but they do follow the same base theory." Shirou added knowingly. One couldn't conduct significant research on Reality Marbles without learning a good deal about Marble Phantasms.
"Hmm? Caster said the same thing. I'm a bit surprised that you were aware of it as well." Luvia was honest. People knew of the general theory about this subject, but those who had deeper knowledge on them were rather small. "I take it this was something you picked up while hunting Apostles. Don't tell me you have the bright idea of hunting the White Princess."
Shirou shivered, ignoring the brief look that Saber gave him. "Please don't joke like that. I'd be wrecked in a heartbeat against her."
"White Princess?" Caster asked confused.
"The last of the True Ancestors. The Moon Folk." Shirou supplied. "She's currently one of the most powerful beings on the planet."
"When was the last time you were here?" The blonde changed the subject on a whim, seemingly not getting to the topic at hand just yet.
"I believe it was your over the top Christmas party." The male supplied, going with the flow for now. "You set it up after Rin told us she was hosting one of her own and you decided to one up her."
He didn't say however that Rin had done that just to call Luvia's bluff so the girl would host the massive and expensive party in the first place and get free expensive high class food… that Shirou didn't make.
"Ah right. That little get together. Not one of my better gatherings I admit, however given the company at the time it was adequate." Luvia had attempted to get her sister and some other acquaintances to come over for the party, but her sibling and the others had flat out rejected her offering simply due to the fact that she was in Japan. Of course she had anticipated that, but the invitations were merely sent to uphold her generous image more than anything.
Shirou didn't mention that he was still getting asked by various classmates what exactly happened in the party, which due to its exclusivity and Luvia's home had been unintentionally elevated to legendary status among the student body.
"Do you want anything to drink or eat?" The host asked. "I am rather unprepared for guests, however I do believe that Sebastian can scrounge up something for you none the less."
Shirou shook his head. "No. Under the current circumstances it would be unwise to accept such an offer." Especially after I have told you so many of my father's tactics. He left unsaid but clearly heard. Hell, he had inspected everything in the room as he walked in just to make sure that the table and chairs weren't rigged with some sort of spell or explosive just to be sure.
"Mmm. A shame. Sebastian really was quite eager on seeing how well his skills had improved according to you." Luvia made eye contact with Shirou, ignoring the Servants in the room. "Why are you here?"
The room was silent for several seconds as neither side blinked.
"Where's Marjatta Luvia?"
"I didn't know you went for younger girls Shirou." Luvia smirked with tea in hand, however the sudden stillness in her body was not missed by anyone.
"Where's Marjatta?"
"She's out and I will ensure that it stays that way if you have unsettling thoughts about my sister." There was more steel in her voice this time.
"If she's doing anything that I find objectionable, you know I will act." Shirou narrowed his gaze. "People are falling unconscious all over the place in greater numbers. Caster is the only Servant that can do such a thing and I cannot see you responsible for such a tactic."
"If you have any other false accusations without proof for me, I'm afraid that your stay will be shorter than either of us had anticipated." Luvia's polite demeanor was gone, replaced with ice and pre-battle tension. "As much as I do value you as a friend Emiya, I do not tolerate such slander."
On either side of the table, both Servants made subtle movements to prepare for battle. The switch in addressing Shirou was not lost on anyone. While under most circumstances Saber would dominate the battle from the get go, the group was within Caster's territory. There was no guessing what she could have done to shift things in her favor here.
"… You don't know do you?" All the attention in the room focused on Shirou once more. "I know you Luvia. You're a good person. Not a saint, but you aren't bad. You'd risk a lot for this war. Your pride. Your life. Your future. While I don't like it, you'd even risk an occasional civilian if they were at the wrong place at the wrong time without worry or care. Given the nature of this war, such a thing obviously cannot be helped… but I know for a fact that you would never actively go out and actively risk the lives of innocents on purpose, nor would you condone such an action. You consider such actions deprave and desperate, things that you would never associate with yourself if you could help it."
"So given that you surmise that my sister has been acting on her own without me." Luvia laughed bitterly. She was pegged and she knew it, however she knew that this was not the end of things. If Shirou knew something about her sister she didn't, she would get it out of him War be damned. "And? What proof do you have that my sister is responsible for all of this? Acting without credible reason is not like you Emiya."
Shirou didn't talk or move at all before reaching into his coat and took out a small file of papers. "I encountered the Witch of Betrayal and the recently summoned Assassin, working together and set up at Fuyuki Temple, which you know lies on one of the major leylines in town. I don't know about what the others saw, but personally she seemed have set up to camp there for a while. Bounded fields. A workshop. The works."
"The temple?" Luvia swallowed heavily as she recalled everything she could about the local landmark while absently taking the papers. "She teamed up with Assassin's Master? Who is he?"
"I don't know." Shirou admitted with a half truth. After all, he didn't actually see any proof to support his speculation that Caster had indeed summoned a slave. "For all I know, Caster might have found a loophole and summoned him herself. Regardless, Assassin alone proved dangerous enough to repel two Servants at once with his unique abilities. He fights completely differently compared to the other Servants in the war. What I gave you is everything I compiled on his stats, abilities, and tactics."
"And Marjatta?" The sister asked, not looking at the papers yet. "What happened to my sister?"
"You tell me." Shirou frowned. "Last time I saw her, I forced her to use a command seal to make Caster warp her back here."
"I don't know." Luvia's temper was reaching a breaking point, but she remained as calm as she could. "She should have been here when I returned that night but I never saw her and her things were gone. No blood. No signs of struggle, and no fighting else my home would be in shambles by now. The best I know is that she's still alive due to our connection with Ore Scales."
"So she left on her own, or it appears to be that at least." The Emiya surmised, making note of Luvia's slip in her sorcery trait's ability. "In either case, it's safe to say that at least the Witch of Betrayal is your enemy now."
"So help me sister…" The Edelfelt was grinding her teeth in frustration. "If she actually betrayed me I swear I'll…"
"I suggest actually figuring out a way to get to her first." Shirou interrupted. "Assassin is more dangerous than anticipated. Actually I believe that your Caster has the best chance to clear a safe path through his traps than any of the other Servants."
"So that's why you bothered to tell me this." Luvia snorted darkly. "I didn't think you were the type to use others Emiya."
"I was hoping to take care of the situation myself without bothering you." The young man admitted with reluctance. "I wasn't going to harm Marjatta if I could help it. I'm trying to end this war with as few casualties as possible. This includes the Masters."
"Well you're doing a fine job of that right now." Her biting sarcasm was not lost on anyone despite the proper demeanor she attempted to maintain. "Do tell me, how are you going to do that with your dear sister out for your blood with Heracles as an attack dog?"
Shirou's eyes widened momentarily before he regained composure and sighed. "So you saw that after all. I had a feeling that someone had been watching but I had nothing to go on."
"So it's true then. The Einzbern representative is Kiritsugu Emiya's true child."
Among other things. Shirou mentally added with bitterness, remembering the real reason why is sister was here.
Luvia laughed bitterly at her guest's expression and shook her head. "The things we do for family."
"Forgive me for interrupting, but I believe now would be an appropriate time to ask the Master of Saber about your questions on the grail." Caster spoke up. "I too would like to hear what he has to say on the subject as he seems to know more about it than anyone else involved in the war."
Neither Saber nor Shirou liked the sound of that.
"Care to elaborate?" The male in the room asked warily.
Luvia's posture grew more confident again as the subject was turned away from her sister. "As you surmised, we witnessed the entirety of your encounter with Einzbern and heard every word. So as expected you piqued my curiosity and prompted me to visit the memorial park. And guess who I happened to meet by chance there?"
Shirou and Saber both paled, knowing exactly who Luvia was referring to.
Luvia played with her hair. "So imagine my surprise when Caster inspected that interesting sword you gave your sister and came up with the fact that not only did the weapon's curse match the park's, but that it got the curse BEFORE the park did…" She made eye contact with Shirou. "Or should I say, Kiritsugu Emiya was cursed before the park."
The Edelfelt did not stop there. "Your father effectively won the war, yet turned down the grail, somehow destroying it in the process. As a result, the entire area that would be the park was immolated in a dark curse and fire that killed everyone but you. However at some point shortly before he did this, he had somehow been tainted with what altered the land here. Given the absurd area that had been affected, none of the remaining Servants could have been responsible for the curse itself, which leaves me to only one outlandish, yet logical conclusion…"
"The Holy Grail we are fighting for is cursed, isn't it Shirou Emiya?"
Shirou remained quiet for several seconds before letting out a dry laugh. "Damn. And here I was waiting to tell everyone at once in a controlled setting after getting more things done first."
"… How?" Caster frowned. "The grail itself if a magnificently powerful artifact. How could it have been corrupted without anyone knowing?"
"It will take too long to go into the details now, but it happened during the third war when one of the competitors tried to tweak the rules to their favor, resulting in an abnormal Heroic Spirit being summoned who ironically enough in life was tasked to be a living wish." Shirou supplied evenly. "The end result though is that the Grail is now essentially a monkey's paw and virtually no one knows about it. Only instead of merely tweaking the results of the wish, it attempts to kill as many humans as possible in the process to achieve it. The results would still be what you desired, the grail's wish granting function is still there, but the method would be as destructive as possible. And if someone desired something large, such as world peace or access to the Akashic Records…"
Luvia's and Caster's faces were white as they realized the repercussions of such a thing. Luvia had little doubt that the results would be nothing short of catastrophic. Many magi would still go through such a reckless ritual simply because it yielded results, even if it risked exposing thaumaturgy to the rest of the world and potential genocide. "Why? Why didn't you tell anyone this? This is completely unlike you! You'd be the FIRST person to try and stop the war from happening at all if this was known earlier."
"There's something else afoot isn't there?" Caster frowned. "You would not remain silent if it were not the case."
"Several." The Emiya stated in a dead tone. "Most of which are just as concerning as the Grail itself. Should the war be canceled, I risk letting these factors go unaddressed or in a worst case scenario unleash them without proper resources available to address them without dire consequences…"
"The Servants." Luvia surmised. It was not difficult to guess that. After all, only a heroic spirit could truly fight on par with another one, with the possible exceptions of beings like Dead Apostles Ancestors or the White Princess. With the right preparation, it would not be difficult to prepare an adequate force or counter to almost any situation. Plus if he knew about the war long before anyone else it wouldn't be beyond her to assume that he could influence… what the other Masters… did…
She froze. Shirou was far too knowledgeable about the situation for this to be something recent. No, if he was prepared for all of this and was using the war to his advantage, he would most likely have had weeks if not months to prepare for everything, utilizing every resource he had to ensure his results…
EVERY resource…
"Shirou." She swallowed. "How long did you know of these threats?"
Saber was as stoic as ever, but she could tell that things were about to take a turn for the worse.
Shirou seemed to know as well, however Luvia had already learned of this much already. To stop now would only damn him more. Besides, he sucked at lying and he didn't have his shroud over his face. "Years." He stated bluntly.
"Years…" She laughed, her throat tightening and shook her head. "You knew this war was coming earlier than everyone else and was preparing behind everyone's backs. How stupid we all were to miss this. It's all fitting into place now. It makes sense with McGinty and Lord El Melloi the Second training you before anyone knew who you were. Supporting you...every step...of the way…"
"Lord El…" Caster's eyes narrowed before she realized what her Master was insinuating and her stomach dropped like a rock. "No. No. You couldn't mean…"
"My summoning of Caster was not a decision made out of logic due to my sister and I having Ore Scales, was it?" Luvia stated in a soft dead tone.
The room was dead silent for what seemed like an eternity before Shirou closed his eyes, held out his hand, traced Rule Breaker, and placed it gently on the table.
The silence in the room was damning.
"I see. We were being used from the beginning and we didn't even know it." The blonde nodded faintly, understanding exactly what Shirou's gesture meant. "Even if the Grail was genuine, we never had a chance at winning in the first place, did we?"
"You." Caster growled as prana began to grow visible around her. Her anger and malice was nearly palpable to the others there. "YOU! How DARE you boy! To use me like some tool just to throw away?! You are no better than the rest of the trash and servants that follow the whims of the gods!" The power around her increased in intensity as did her murderous intent. It just went to show that even the weakest of the classes in the war, even further debilitated by a split summoning, were far beyond what humans of this era were capable of. "I will not be controlled again! My life and will are my own!"
In an instant the table between the two sides shattered completely with the traced dagger, forcing Saber to grab her Master and drag him back a small distance before pushing him behind her. No one missed the oppressive feeling the woman was giving off, nor that the mansion itself responding to her ire.
No, not the Mansion. There was something in the building reacting to her. Something tremendous and unnatural…
… And unnervingly familiar to the King of Knights.
"Shirou…" Saber warned as she donned her armor and materialized her invisible sword.
"I know." The master grunted. He still was not in a good position to fight. He could stall for time against Luvia, but inside Caster's Workshop the odds were against them regardless. Things would have been better if he had more Prana, but that was not the case. "She's completely entitled to be angry with me, even kill me if she wants."
"One chance Emiya." Luvia stepped forward and placed a hand on her Servant, as if the action was the only thing stopping the Princess from unleashing whatever she had set up in the building. The dead calm expression was not missed by everyone. "I have known you long enough to know that you would never consider doing something like this without a suitable reason. Tell me one reason why I shouldn't kill you and warn everyone about the grail right now. Tell me why I shouldn't murder you for slighting the Edelfelt name and potentially killing off our legacy."
Shirou remained quiet as he weighed his options. Telling her about Gilgamesh would without a doubt catch her attention, but it did not explain at all of his need for Rule Breaker. Likewise telling her about Sakura's situation would be pointless as Luvia, as a magus would simply take the practical route and just kill the girl and be done with it. Even if Rule Breaker was a remarkably useful Noble Phantasm to have, Luvia would not justify that to be enough to have been manipulated for.
"I guess this is what I get for trying to plan out something like the war in the long term." He sighed and shook his head before walking forward past his surprised Servant. "Everything falls apart before I can get something significant done. No wonder dad never bothered with long elaborate schemes before this."
"Before this?" Luvia blinked. "Your father knew that this war would happen? But that would mean…"
"I said I knew this was coming for years didn't I?" Shirou frowned. "And don't think that you were some pawn in everything. Dad put me on the path to save Illya but I swore to myself that I would save everyone regardless of what his intentions were."
"Save her?" Luvia snorted. "From what? She has Heracles as a Servant! She's an Einzbern and probably has a better life style than any of us! She's…"
"The grail." Shirou interrupted, surprising Luvia and Caster with his outbreak.
"Make sense boy." The Princess growled. "The homunculus is a Master of the War. Why on earth would she be-"
"A living sacrifice, just like her mother who had served the exact same role in the fourth war." Shirou once again spoke up in a dead even tone that would yield for no one. It was the same one he used when playing his role as the Magus Killer, killing undead and Apostles alike without restriction. "And believe it or not she's not the only one in this farce of a war. Which is why I needed Rule Breaker, in case their conditions got out of hand before I could address them in the preferred way. So if you don't mind, can we please calm down and let me talk before someone does something foolish. I have a great deal to get done to ensure that the world does not end, or at least that Counter Guardians are not summoned and wipe Fuyuki off of the face of the planet."
"You seem to know much about the mechanics of the grail and these threats boy." Caster's prana had calmed down somewhat, her curiosity about what the boy knew tempering her anger slightly. However her dead cold expression still told everyone that she would like nothing more than to kill him now. "Even if you could not stop this war, why did you not inform the moderator of this to manipulate things to your benefit?"
Shirou's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Kotomine is one of the threats I mean to address by the end of the events here. At the least, he is nothing short of a catalyst for every possible calamity that can happen in this war, manipulating events to ensure that others suffer at their most for his pointless reasons. At the worst, he can easily cause things to spin out of control and pit us against one another. The man thrives on the misery of others regardless of what form it takes, while excelling at keeping his hands clean in the process. He was also responsible for the fourth war becoming so unstable during its second half. Unfortunately killing him now would cause far more problems than it would solve."
"And why is that?" Luvia asked skeptically. As far as she knew, Shirou never expressed a desire to kill humans. As such his loathing for the priest was a bit surprising… however his reluctance to act on the impulse caught her attention even more.
The Magus Killer laughed bitterly and shook his head. "Well first off, he's the only one that's holding back the ninth servant in this war from going nuts on everyone in this war prematurely."
"Ninth Servant?" Luvia and Caster echoed in confusion. The more the boy spoke, the more they realized that he might have not been stretching the truth and there were indeed several unknown parties at work.
"Technically he's the ninth Servant." Shirou admitted. "In reality he just never left after accidentally being reincarnated at the end of the previous war. The Servant Killer that wields all the treasures in the world and a genuine Anti-World Noble Phantasm. Gilgamesh."
The room was as quiet as a grave.
"Keep talking Emiya. You are only just starting to sound convincing. Anymore and I might debate on not to kill you later."
The Magus Killer snorted. "Hold your decisions till after I tell you how the game you're playing in is currently set up."
o. o. o.
Emiya Residence:
Rin sat quietly and drank some tea, peacefully ignoring the world around her…
… Which included her sister and the servant that were across the table.
"Leave it to Shirou to stock the stuff he knows other people likes." The Tohsaka sighed as she put down the cup in front of her.
"I'm pretty fond of that brand myself, although it's not my favorite." The underclassman admitted with a faint smile. "It's a good thing there was still some left over."
"Mmm." Rin nodded before leaning back a bit. "Gotta admit, I'm kinda surprised that this is where you're staying Sakura. I totally thought you were Shirou when I felt a Master opening the door."
"Likewise." Sakura shuffled uncomfortably. "I can't thank him enough for opening his home for me after mine burned down."
"Who was it that did it anyways?" The elder probed almost bored. "I was on the other side of town when I noticed the fires, but I got held up on getting back."
Obviously it was another Servant that did it. "Fishing for information on the war already?"
"Hey it's not about you. I don't see what the big deal is." The brunette yawned, clearly not denying the accusation.
"Then do tell me about the Servant that held you up sister." Sakura smiled innocently. "After all, as far as I know, none of the Servants have been killed yet, so whatever heroic spirit you came across must be something to not die against your amazing Servant. I would obviously want to be prepared against such an opponent after all."
Rider wisely remained quiet as she observed the two siblings smile innocently at one another. Mentally, she debated whether or not to just kill the intruder now, daylight truce or not, but deliberately held off. She could smell the similarity between the two of them. Not only that, but she could tell that there was much regret and grief held by the two siblings. Something that the original Gorgon knew all too well. There are some things that should never be trampled upon lightly, this is one of them.
"Fine then." The elder shrugged as if was not an issue. "I fought against Lancer, or Cu Chulainn. The Hound of Ireland. A tall lanky man with blue hair, red eyes, and blue armor." She paused before snorting. "Actually his armor looked like a giant spandex suit. Didn't leave much room for imagination if you ask me."
"The wielder of Gae Bolg…" Sakura muttered as she reviewed what she knew about the legend. "Did he use it? What were its abilities?"
"No, and my guess is that it probably has something to do with a spear thrust." Rin waved her hand lazily. "You know, the thousand barbs piercing the target from the inside out thing. Really it was his absurd speed that was the most dangerous thing about him."
"And his Master?" Sakura pressed.
"A Magus from the Association." Rin's answer was slightly more ambiguous, but there was no hesitation in it. "She was very strong too. She's definitely an Enforcer or at the very least a Magus with a combat and application focus. She used mostly runes and enchanted her clothes to fight up close."
"I see. It certainly does not sound like someone most magi could take on without preparation." Sakura nodded in understanding. "I guess the best way to fight her is when she doesn't have any clothes on, but that would just be silly."
"Strike when she's in the shower like in that old corny American horror film." Rin laughed at the idea of trying to do that. She also held back a wince at the follow up image of Bazett beating the living tar out of her while wrapped in a towel because she was dumb enough to try and get in close again. "So? Who burned your home down?"
Sakura sighed before drinking some of her tea. "The Edelfelts did with their Casters. They somehow managed to split their spirit into two variants, one for each of them."
"Two Casters?" Rin blinked curiously, as if this was new to her. "Hold on, I think I remember hearing about them doing something like that in the third war, but they did it with Saber then."
"Mmm." Sakura confirmed. "They were both Medea of Colchis but their powers and Noble Phantasms were completely different. One focused on her magic while the other utilized summoning as her main form of combat, bringing out a heard of fire breathing oxen. It made them extremely versatile and difficult to deal with alone, even if individually they are weaker than the standard Servant."
Rin knew very well not to underestimate seemingly weaker Servants after dealing with Assassin, however this bit of information was still a bit interesting. From what Sakura had just said, both Casters had a solid combo going for themselves. If that was the case, why risk splitting up just so one can reside at the temple with Assassin and the other acts by itself? Neither one is strong enough to pose a threat to the other Servants by themselves, so the situation itself poses a giant threat to the Caster that isn't at the Temple.
Perhaps she should give Luvia a little house visit as soon as Archer recovers…
"You're scheming something again." Sakura pegged the nature of Rin's thought process without hesitation.
"We've known each other for how long?" Rin asked skeptically.
"Shirou would at least appreciate it if you didn't do that in his home while he wasn't here. It makes him uncomfortable enough when you do that when he is around."
"Hey I supplied his holy land as a gift so I'm allowed some leg room in when and where I produce my dastardly plans." Rin crossed her arms in mock authority while looking smugly in the direction of the kitchen... right before a pained expression crossed her face for a moment.
Sakura sighed tiredly. "Can you just hold on doing that this time? I've had a tiring morning."
"Hm? What happened? Did Shirou get too touchy or something?" Rin's sarcastic comment was not out of the ordinary. She occasionally made snipes at the boy's lack of a sex drive and assertiveness.
Sakura couldn't argue against them. Most of the time she had to deliberately set the mood whenever they did have sex.
Once he finally got going, though, was another story all together. She could say for certain that the Emiya's fingers definitely knew how to tweak and play whatever they landed on. She had a new respect for mechanics, that much was for sure.
Unfortunately what was bugging her was of a more serious topic.
"I went out shopping earlier, and this strange man warned me that I was being watched from the roofs." She told her story. "I only saw a flicker, but R-my Servant told me that it was definitely a Servant up there. I think it was Assassin since he disappeared almost instantly…"
Rin schooled her features, however on the inside she was panicking. This was not good news. The war was fought during the night for a reason. The fighting was mystery based, and no one wanted to expose it. To fight it during the day was to expose the war and thaumaturgy… under normal circumstances.
Assassin, on the other hand, used modern weaponry. Guns. Bombs. Things that would not draw any abnormal attention. He was in reality the ONLY Servant that could operate in public during the day and not raise suspicions outside of the idea that some homicidal nut is going around killing people.
If Assassin was working during the day the number of safe activities any Master could do just got drastically reduced.
In fact, her decision to visit Shirou's place during the day without Archer now seemed quite suicidal in hindsight.
Of course, Rin was certain that Sakura didn't know that she knew what Assassin could do, so she had to play it dumb. "Seriously? What the hell is Assassin's Master thinking? Are they trying to expose the war to everyone in the city?"
"I think he was out spying on everyone." The younger sister admitted. "I'm more scared of the guy that warned me. He wasn't a Servant or a Master, and something about him just felt wrong to me. My Servant didn't like him either." She repressed a shiver at the memory of that man. Something was wrong with him, unnaturally wrong.
Rin rose an eyebrow. "Not a Master or a Servant, but he still detected Assassin while he was hiding?" Her sister nodded. "… Well that can't be good."
Not good was putting it lightly. The War itself was not an unknown thing in the Magus community. It was widely acknowledged that unless you were part of the overseeing group or one of the participants, it would be akin to suicidal to be in Fuyuki if you were magically capable since you'd be seen as a potential enemy or a loose end by the participants.
"He just disappeared after warning me so I didn't even get a good look at him too." Sakura fidgeted. "He was very good looking though with blond hair and red eyes."
"Red eyes? You think he might be one of the cross breeds here?" Rin blinked in confusion. Japan did have a notoriously large number of human demon hybrids. "Then again red hair is more common for them… actually I don't think I've ever heard of a blond hybrid before."
"He might be an American hybrid." Sakura offered. "I've heard that they are more tolerant of geniality there."
"Haven't heard of one that can speak decent Japanese though." There was a joke when it came to languages and Americans. If you know two or three languages, you're normal. If you know four or more, you're special. One? You're American. "Do you seriously think this guy is a threat?"
"I don't know." Sakura was conflicted. "He definitely gave me a bad vibe and my Servant didn't like him, but he didn't do anything either save for pointing out Assassin to me."
"The fact that he's here and not a part of the war is enough to make him suspicious." The elder frowned, realizing that for the moment there was little point in worrying about the mystery man. "Unfortunately since we don't have much else to go by, there's nothing we can do about it. The best we can do is just keep an eye out for him and make sure he doesn't mess with the war."
"That's what I was afraid of." Sakura relented.
"Best to focus on the war at hand." Rin shrugged as she drank some more tea. "Still, I'm a bit jealous that you already teamed up with Shirou. It would be really hard to beat you two up front and come out unscathed regardless of what Servant he summons." She paused. "Unless he summoned Berserker, but I don't think he was unlucky enough for that to happen."
"He summoned Saber." It was pointless to hide the fact now. Rin probably wasn't going to go back home until she had Shirou escort her back, and by then Saber's existence would be well known since she couldn't go into spiritual form.
Rin's eyebrow twitched. "I shouldn't be surprised. He probably was his own damn catalyst given his condition." Actually, if she didn't summon Archer first, she wondered if Shirou would have ended up summoning himself by accident. "Wait, didn't you mention earlier that Saber was a girl?"
Sakura nodded. "You'll probably see her when Shirou comes back. She's surprisingly young looking but carries herself with lots of authority and talks as if she's older than she is. I don't know who she was in life though."
"And her sword?" The Tohsaka asked curiously. "I have to be wary of Shirou's latest addition to his stock after all."
"I don't know." The girl answered honestly, not at all being pressed for information about Shirou's Servant. "She has a Noble Phantasm that makes it invisible, so I can't tell you what it looks like in the slightest."
A groan escaped from the elder's mouth. "Seriously? A Noble Phantasm to hide her Noble Phantasm? That's so convoluted it's no wonder Shirou summoned her."
Sakura laughed lightly. "Well there must have been a reason why he caught our attention in the first place after all. It wouldn't do for him to be boring."
Rin momentarily stiffened as she remembered all the "interesting" things she knew about her crush. It was not missed by the other two people in the room.
"Is something wrong?" The youngest one there blinked in confusion.
There was a slight hesitation. "Sakura… remember what the requirements were for having a Reality Marble were? That you had to have a strong alternate view of the world that went against Gaia's standards?"
"Yes? I thought that we came to terms with that after the Louvre incident years ago."
Rin licked her lips hesitantly. "I think… I think we might have underestimated what exactly that means for Shirou."
The temperature in the room dropped. "What exactly do you mean by that sister?"
"I don't know." Rin answered honestly as she tried to gather her thoughts and figure out a way to explain this without exposing too much. "My Servant… he knows more about Reality Marbles than most do, than most would ever know. What I saw, what I FELT, it made me realize that there's more to Shirou's condition than we thought, and it scares me."
"Are you saying that Shirou is dangerous? That we should keep our distance from him?" There was a distinct edge to Sakura's voice now.
Rin laughed bitterly. "Dangerous? Of course he is. He's the Magus Killer. He has a Reality Marble that makes any sword he wants after all… but… you know as well as I do that the most dangerous one he is to is himself."
It took a few seconds for Sakura to understand what her sibling was saying. "You think he's going to end up killing himself to help people."
"Alone, possibly framed for something he didn't do by someone he helped, with a bloody satisfied smile on his face." Bile threatened to go up the Tohsaka's throat as she recalled the image from last night.
"We won't let that happen. We swore that we wouldn't when we learned about what he was." The Matou argued, but was a bit more gentle this time. Whatever Rin had seen had without a doubt gotten to her.
"But what did we actually know Sakura? We knew how he thought yes, but we just assumed that if we stuck by him he'd either get better or be convinced to follow our advice." Rin grunted. "Tell me honestly, if Shirou got an idea in his head, no matter how stupid or suicidal we thought it was, do you think that we would be able to stop him if he was dead set on it? No, do you think he would even tell us about it if he thought that it didn't concern us?"
It only took a few seconds for Sakura to realize that she couldn't answer that question in good conscience. How could she? Entering the war for her. Becoming Rider's Master on top of being Saber's Master. Making a deal with Zouken. All while being an unstable Apostle at that…
And she had not once argued against his decisions, because he had done virtually all of it for her.
Rin misinterpreted Sakura slowly crossing her arms and pinching one of them to be her way of reluctantly realizing her point. "Looks like you're getting the same conclusion I got." She shook her head as if hearing a bad joke. "Honestly, here we are worried about him when we were supposed to have resolved ourselves to the fact that we're fighting to the death…"
"Shirou wouldn't kill us." Sakura mumbled, more to herself than to her sister. "He'd do anything to make sure we didn't die…"
"Unfortunately his definition of "anything" encompasses more reckless actions than ours does." She let out a sigh. "Not that I'm ungrateful for it mind you, but doing it wouldn't even qualify as a decision for him. It would be the default setting. At least for us." She made a wry grin. "Somehow we've become a part of the system that is Shirou Emiya. Remember?"
Sakura laughed nervously. "The sheaths for the sword. Yeah. But still how do we –"
Before the conversation could continue however, the front door opened and a pair of loud and fast footsteps were heard. Moments later Saber and Shirou had appeared, both geared for battle. Obviously Shirou had felt Rin's presence and assumed the worst.
"You were right." The Tohsaka mused as she inspected the still battle ready Servant. "She does look young…" She paused for a moment as she saw Saber's profile. "But with those stats she could look like anything for all I care. How the hell did you manage to get a Servant this strong Shirou?"
"Mostly luck." The Emiya sighed as he relaxed slightly. "Why are you here and without your Servant Rin? Don't tell me it got killed off already."
The brunette snorted and lifted up her hand to reveal the command seals on it. "I'll be damned before I become the first casualty in the war Shirou. My partner's just guarding home while I visit since I can only tolerate so much of his sarcasm. I had thought that it would be fine since it was still daytime but…"
"I saw Assassin briefly while walking in town." Sakura finished.
"What?" Saber frowned. "But if he did anything it would expose the war!"
"Not with his Noble Phantasm. He could act in plain sight if he wanted and merely attract an arrest warrant." Shirou clicked his teeth, realizing his distinct disadvantage before looking at Rin. "I'll have Saber escort you back home before night comes so there aren't any problems."
"Shirou!" The blonde blinked in surprise.
"Oh darn, and I had the whole request and list of reasons why you should have done that planned out too." The Tohsaka mock pouted.
"Rin won't try anything on you for this since we're doing her a favor." Shirou calmly defended his decision to Saber before sitting down at the table. "Sakura's Servant is here to protect us in case anything happens while you're gone, and even then it should still be day by the time you get back."
Saber remained quiet for a few seconds before relenting to her Master's decision and dispelled her armor, once again dressed in a white button up and blue jeans.
"Not that the look isn't bad on you, but why don't you just go into… oh right, he said before that you can't." Rin caught her mistake before inspecting the young woman. She was very beautiful looking for her age and clearly a foreigner, but the Tohsaka didn't believe that she was a "threat" as a woman.
"They were going to find out sooner or later." Shirou laughed nervously as his Servant glared at him.
It was then that both human girls noticed the Emiya's condition, including bags under his eyes and being dressed in his work clothes. "Are you ok?" Sakura asked first. "You don't look so good. Where did you go anyways?"
"Oh here and there. I wanted to give Saber a brief tour of the area just in case. Good places to fight and choke points and the like." The owner of the house's explanation obviously wasn't everything, but he didn't seem to be lying either. "Do I really look that bad?"
"You do appear to be rather haggard Shirou. While our activities today were not all that eventful, they have seemed to have impaired your condition than aided it." Saber noted. "Perhaps it would do for you to rest more. It would do no one a favor if my Master was in such a feeble condition should the fighting continue again."
Shirou looked like he wanted to argue, but one look from the King of Knights was all it took to get the message across. The message being: "go to bed yourself or I will make you go to bed". "Fine. Fine. You win. I'll take a nap when Rin goes home. I might be tired, but I won't ignore a guest… even if she was uninvited."
"You make it sound like this is the first time this has happened." The accused smiled innocently.
"And bad things have frequently happened whenever you have." The male countered just as easily with little humor in his voice.
"I accidentally change your skin color one time and you just won't let it go will you?"
"It wouldn't have been so bad if Fuji-nee accidentally saw me and accidentally tripped over some equipment we stupidly left outside and getting hurt. We ended up "kidnapping" her for a week. Remember?" The Emiya deadpanned. "Old Man Fujimura nearly tore apart the city looking for her before we snuck her into her room."
"Wait that was because of you two?" Sakura blinked in confusion as she remembered a period of time several years ago when the Fujimura Yakuza group was notably more active in the city.
"That woman seems to get into a lot of trouble doesn't she?" Saber mused curiously.
"Why can't you believe I just came over to say hi?" Rin grumbled irritably.
"Because we're technically at war and you tend to always have alternative motives?" Shirou asked as if it was the most obvious thing.
"Aside from the obvious?" The Tohsaka brushed away his reasoning as if it didn't count. "Honestly if I were taking the war seriously do you think I'd come here running on that basic path of logic? Without my Servant no less?"
"If you were trying to let our guard down you would." Sakura pointed out.
"No, it would be a dumb thing to do that without a Servant as insurance, even if Rin was on an off day." Shirou countered.
"What are these off days of which you speak of?" The Tohsaka asked politely, not fooling anyone. Unless she was pressed into a corner she would never admit to making mistakes, a fact that was well known by the rest of the age group.
"The ones where you accidentally change people's skin colors and are forced to kidnap injured people."
"Don't worry. We'll completely brush away the fact that you could have been picked off by Assassin on the way here and needs help to get back home safely." Sakura smiled in a very similar manner.
Realizing that the situation wasn't going to escalate further than what it normally did in his home, Shirou sat down at the table with a heavy sigh and relaxed. "Saber, nothing's going to happen here. You can do what you want for the time being. You can brush up on the area, look at my plans in the workshop, or take the bike out for another ride."
Rider took the opportunity to move a bit to the exit of the room, all but telling Saber that she had something on her mind. "Then by your leave I'll be outside for a bit. I will however still be on the premises should you need my aid."
"She's an obedient one isn't she?" Rin chuckled as the blonde walked to the back yard. "I didn't know you were into that sort of…"
"There is something that is bothering you." Saber stated as she closed the door behind her and walked into the yard.
"You were the best I could think of to speak to about this." Rider admitted as she materialized a few feet away. "Given the nature of the subject, I was not sure how Master or Sakura would react."
The King of Knights frowned, not liking what her comrade was hinting at. "Something that our Masters would not take well? So much so that you would speak to me about it instead?"
Rider nodded shallowly. "I have reason to believe that Archer from last night is a future form of our Master."
"… You were right to come to me about this first."
YOU ARE READING
From Fake Dreams
FanfictieEmiya Kiritsugu was happy living the rest of his short days. He had put his past behind him... until he began to dream of futures that had yet to be. Let it be known that the Magus Killer was not dangerous simply because he was dying and had no plan...
