Fate/X-Factor

By Candescence

I haven't written a fic chapter in ages. Geez. I need to update my old stuff. But at any rate, hey, everyone. I know the whole "replace the Servants with fictional characters" thing has been done already, but I want to explore interactions with certain Master/Servant combinations. The first two chapters will be uploaded together, encompassing the events of the prologue of the visual novel. I'm not used to working with Fate characters and the Nasuverse, but we'll see how it goes.

So, yeah, enjoy.

Chapter 1

"Oh, dear. I really am getting old..."

Zelretch Schweinorg, the Wizard Marshall, was checking his pockets while sitting in a cafe in Fuyuki City. On his usual dimensional travels, he had come across a few fascinating gemstones that positively radiated with prana. However, he had soon realised that he had absent-mindedly misplaced them. And right before the Fifth Holy Grail War was about to begin, as well. He shrugged his shoulders, having decided that there was no rush, he could easily take his time with trying to find them.

Besides, he considered, with a hearty chuckle, the effects could prove quite interesting to watch...

In an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night, Bazett Fraga McRemitz had been preparing her summoning ritual, and memorising it by heart. Though Kirei Kotomine had offered his assistance in the summoning, Bazett had politely declined, and not even alerted him to the location of the summoning. Despite his assistance so far, she simply didn't trust the priest.

She took a deep breath. She could do this on her own, she knew it. She needed to summon Cú Chulainn by herself. She had been preparing this for so long...

She chanted the incantations she had been memorising, holding her hand outwards towards the summoning circle drawn in blood. Every word had been practiced, and all of her Od funnelled into the ritual before her. "You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of detterence, O keeper of the balance...!"

The flash of light that occurred at the end of the ritual soon faded, and in the middle of the circle, stood a young man.

However, much to Bazett's bewilderment, this was obviously not the man she had intended to summon, by any means. He had long, blonde hair that went down to his shoulders, and blue eyes – his face was somewhat effeminate. He wore striking red armor and a blue cape, along with black boots. In his right hand, was a long red lance, though it resembled a polearm in some ways. "I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Bazett nodded tentatively. "And are you my Servant? Are you Cú Chulainn?"

The young man shook his head. "I apologise, Master. I am not him. My name is Eric Lecarde, vampire hunter, wielder of the Alucard Spear, and Servant of the Lancer class, at your service." He kneel politely in front of his Master.

Bazett was frozen in thought. For some bizzare reason, she had not gotten the servant she desired, or even a Heroic Spirit that she even knew. A lifelong dream, dashed so soon... Though she had to wonder if she could achieve it by winning the Grail.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Lancer. "I know you are disappointed, Master. I'm sorry I could not be the Servant you wanted."

"No, it's alright, Lancer," Bazett resigned herself to this choice, "If you can win me the Grail, then..."

Lancer chuckled, standing up, "I will do all in my power to do so, Master."

"Hmm... You may not be what I wanted... But perhaps we might be able to come to an understanding," Bazett said. "Didn't you say you were an Apostle hunter?"

Luviagelita Edelfelt, or Luvia for short, had also been preparing her own summoning circle in the bedroom of the mansion she had bought for herself in Fuyuki City. The daughter of a distinguished line of magi and prestigious student of the Clock Tower, Luvia had been, for a long time, the rival of one Rin Tohsaka, even if much of that rivalry was from afar. Her family had suffered defeat in Tohsaka territory in the Third War, and she would avenge that loss.

And thus, it was only inevitable that when Tohsaka was going to participate in the Holy Grail War, Luvia could not resist the opportunity to show her up once and for all. She had spared no expense in coming to Fuyuki City and acquiring the materials and catalyst for the summoning – an old mirror dug up from a temple in Eritrea, with ties to an old Earth goddess of Greece, perfect for summoning Medusa for the Rider class. She was initially worried when someone else had tried to secure it, but it turned out her worries were unfounded in the end.

Luvia had to admit, even if she wouldn't say it out loud, she didn't mind Japan. She could see why Tohsaka preferred to live here rather than study in London for the time being. Politeness was a big thing in Japanese culture, which Luvia liked especially. Though she would say it didn't compare to her home country, Finland, she wouldn't mind living here at all for an extended duration.

She was quite giddy when it was time for the summoning. That being said, she had to calm herself, a ritual like this required the utmost concentration.

She had been practising diligently, and when she began to speak the incantations, she made absolutely no mistakes.

However, the end result of the summoning was far from what she had been expecting. Brash, flashy and muscular in appearance, the man before her, looking in his early thirties, stood tall and firm. His outfit is was combination of a flight suit and body armor. It consisted of blue pants, blue form-fitting armor and a red helmet, as well as a single pauldron on his right shoulder. He carried a sidearm, some kind of pistol, in a holster on his right hip. "I am Rider, ready to serve. Young lady, are you my Master?"

Luvia clammed up, "I-I... Yes! Of course! And who are you?! You're not Medusa!"

"Do you see any snakes on my hair?" the man remarked, as he removed his helmet, revealing dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a scar above his left eye. "I am Captain Falcon, bounty hunter and repeat champion of the F-Zero Grand Prix. I'm sorry I couldn't be the Servant you expected, but I don't think it's your fault. There must've been something interfering with the summoning ritual."

Well, if he is a Heroic Spirit, then at least his abilities should be enough... Luvia considered, as she replied, "I am Luviagelita Edelfelt. And I expect and you will do everything in your power to win us the Holy Grail."

"As per my duty, ma'am," Rider replied with a chuckled, putting his helmet back on. "Well, then, let's discuss our strategy for the war!"

Luvia smiled. At least this man knew his priorities.

At the foot of the Ryuudouji Temple, the hapless magus who had tried summoning Medea had gotten himself completely fried when trying to summon her as Caster, due to unknown and unforeseen reactions caused by a rather different Caster being summoned.

And that is how Souichirou Kuzuki easily came across the young woman in the middle of the circle later that day. She had blonde hair in a ponytail, purple eyes, a sleeveless red dress with floral patterns, red boots, and a purple-pink cloak with the same flowered design as her tights. There was an unearthly quality about her.

"Miss? Are you alright?" Souichirou asked, kneeling in front of her. He had always been regarded as a serious, impersonal man, but he was not heartless by any means. The woman looked up at him, her expression almost blank, before frowning.

"Please... Help me... I cannot stay in this world without a Master..."

Souichirou briefly regarded the remains of the magus that had tried to summon her. Despite his lack of knowledge in magecraft, connecting the dots was a trivial exercise. This young woman must have been summoned as some kind of familiar, but the summoning must have backfired and killed the summoner. He looked back at her, and nodded. "Very well. I will do whatever you ask of me."

The young woman smiled. "Thank you, you are very kind. My name is Caster."

"Souichirou Kuzuki," the man replied politely. He had always felt like he lacked purpose. But this woman... He felt that perhaps he had found purpose at last.

Sakura Matou and Shinji Matou had been preparing their own ritual, with the intent of Sakura summoning Assassin, and Shinji controlling him via a mystic code. Within the Matou mansion, where no sunlight could reach, Sakura had been tirelessly preparing the summoning circle, with Shinji impatiently telling her to hurry up periodically.

However, the man who appeared before them when the summoning was complete was clearly not Hassan-i Sabbah.

Instead, they had gotten a man who wore a set of white and red robes with a hood, and armor, as well as a wide red sash displaying an insignia neither of them recognised. There was a cape draped over his left arm and shoulder. There was a variety of pouches and bags on his cape, presumably for all kinds of equipment. He also had a sword at his side. Under the hood, was the face of a man in his late thirties at least, with brown eyes and stubble across his face. "I have been summoned as a Servant of the class of Assassin. Which of you is my Master?"

Sakura stepped forward, smiling, "M-Me. Are you Hassan-i Sabbah?"

"No, I am not," Assassin replied. "But I am one of many who followed in his legacy, in a sense. My name is Ezio Auditorie da Firenze, former grandmaster of the Assassin Order in Italy."

"Hmph, Whatever, as long as you can win us the Grail," Shinji said. "I won't accept a weak Servant." He held up a strange book, "As long as I have this, once Sakura enchants it as a Book of False Attendant, you will answer to m-"

BANG.

Shinji dropped the book immediately, utterly shocked by Assassin's reaction. The man had some kind of gun hidden in his sleeve, under his wrist, and the bullet went straight through the book, wrecking it. "I will not answer to anyone but my Master, even if you have a Mystic Code such as that. Am I clear?"

"Assassin, that's enough!"

Sakura, much to Ezio's bewilderment, was standing up for her brother, frowning at her Servant. "Nii-san and I made the agreement. I would like if you... Um..."

Assassin nodded slowly. As much as he had a bad feeling about all this, but he decided to respect the wishes of his Master. "Very well. But I hope your brother is capable enough to command me."

"At least you have standards, I'll give you that. Fine. I'll prove to you that I'm a worthy master for you. You watch!" Shinji replied, as he went off to get another book, grumbling to himself. The Servant's action had rattled him, but he reminded himself that Servants were far beyond mere humans, it was only natural. As soon we make another Book of False Attendant, then this foreigner will follow me for sure. Sakura followed him, glancing at Assassin, before leaving the room.

Assassin was at a loss for words, and he was about to follow as well, but then a voice stopped him. "Heh... Interesting. Seems an outside influence has changed the summoning. No matter. If you are indeed an Assassin, then you should be able to fill Hassan's shoes quite nicely, I think."

Assassin turned towards the voice, that of an old man... No, not just old. Ancient. It was easy to think that this man wasn't even human. Assassin had to admit, he didn't realise that the old man was there until he made himself known, it was difficult to tell if he had just entered or if he had been there the entire time. "And who may you be?"

"I am the head of the Matou clan, Zouken, Sakura and Shinji's grandfather," the old man introduced himself. "That outfit of yours... It doesn't seem suited to hiding in the shadows."

"Not all assassins hide in the shadows. Sometimes it is more useful to hide in plain sight, to blend in with the crowd," Assassin replied calmly, looking Zouken in the eyes. "'Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.' That is the philosophy I have been taught as an Assassin."

This actually got a chuckle out of Zouken, who formed a wry smile, "A fascinating philosophy indeed. I look forward to seeing your effectiveness in this war. How many tricks do you keep hidden in those pouches and under your sleeves, Ezio Auditorie?"

"I think I may have lost count," Assassin remarked, as he left the room. However, despite his remark, he felt extremely unsettled around Zouken. Something was definitely not right about the old man. He needed to look into the Matou family. The last thing he needed would be unknown factors interfering with his own performance in this war.

2 months before the other summoning rituals...

Illyasviel von Einzbern had been left in the wilderness by her family... Or, at least, the closest thing to 'family' she had. Illya's biological mother had died ten years ago, and all known information about her father, Kiritsugu Emiya, suggested that he had died of natural causes five years prior. Not that it mattered. Her 'grandfather' had been adamant that her father had abandoned her in favour of his new adopted son, Shirou. While she didn't entirely believe it, she was still angry at both her father and her 'adoptive brother'. When the time came... She was going to get answers.

The cold, snowy forest was the testing ground for Illya's abilities as a magus. She was left with only a white dress, the required materials for the ritual, and little else. Here, she needed to use the slab of rock from a Greek temple as a catalyst to summon the legendary hero, Heracles, as Berserker. However, she also had access to materials from the Greater Grail, enabling her to summon the Servant early.

She took a deep breath, starting the ritual when she was fully prepared, adding additional lines to the incantation that was reserved for the Berserker class. She was not even remotely prepared for the results.

The figure that stood in the middle of the circle of blood had a humanoid shape, but was clearly not human by any stretch of the imagination. The figure was encased in some kind of advanced armor, mostly yellow and orange, with parts of it being red around the upper torso and helmet, and black around the joints. The shoulders had distinctive, bulky shoulder pads with protrusions emerging. The right lower arm was covered by some kind of arm cannon.

But what was underneath the armor was most distrubing. Behind the green-tinted visor, was a human-like face, but entirely smooth, no distinguishing features, and entirely white eyes. It held no illusion of attempting to fully imitate a human being, a perfect representation of madness. It was not Heracles, but otherwise exactly the class Ilya had intended to summon.

Illya, unsure of what to say in such unexpected circumstances, opened her mouth to speak, but then she heard the howling of wolves. They had been surrounded by an entire pack, and they were moving in on their outnumbered prey.

Berserker turned its head from side to side, as if analysing the situation, moving towards Illya to protect her, knowing that she was the more exposed target. The arm cannon started charging up energy, and it aimed at the closest tree, before releasing it.

The shot caused the tree to come tumbling down with ease, the shot itself not even stopping there, instead smashing through several over obstacles in its path before finally dissipating. This display of power caused the wolves to flee with little hesitation, the ones that were still prepared to fight were quickly scared off by quick warning shots.

Illya was amazed. Even moreso when she realised that Berserker was removing its helmet.

However, the face that she saw was not what she had seen before. She thought that Berserker was not human, but instead, the face she saw was that of a woman's, with long flowing blonde hair, a beauty mark under her lip on the left side, and clear blue eyes. She was beautiful. In some ways, Illya was envious of the woman's age and beauty.

The light chuckle from the woman also surprised Illya. "Surprised, Master?"

"Y-You're not supposed to be able to talk!" Illya replied, confused by the response. The Mad Enhancement should've removed all traces of Berserker's sanity.

"Not when I fully wear my Power Suit, no," Berserker replied, with a kind smile. "When I am not fully armoured, I am not affected by Mad Enhancement... Whether it be its benefits or downsides. My name is Samus Aran, galactic bounty hunter and Servant of the Berserker class at your service... If you are indeed my Master, of course."

"O-Of course I am!" Illya replied, a bit annoyed by this woman. "I was supposed to summon Heracles, not you!"

"Well, I'm not him, that's for sure," Samus replied, kneeling down to Illya's level. "But I am not an inferior substitute, I promise you this. I have done what armies have been incapable of doing, many times."

Illya nodded. "Very well, Beserker... I, Illyasviel von Einzbern, command you to do everything in your power to win the Einzbern family the Holy Grail, and revive the Third Magic."

"As you wish, my Master," Samus bowed. She stayed like that, before noting, "If I may, perhaps we should find shelter? Surely it must be freezing out there with only that dress."

"I-I know that!" Illya pouted, but she couldn't really feel angry at her Servant for pointing out the obvious. She wanted to get out of the snow as quickly as possible as well. To say it was freezing was an understatement, though she was used to the cold.

Samus stood up, offering a hand to her Master, "Perhaps you know the way, Illyasviel?"

"I do... And please, call me Illya," the little girl smiled, taking her Servant's hand. Perhaps she would appreciate the company of this bounty hunter after all...

When the pair returned to the castle, though the feat of summoning Berserker 2 months early was a celebrated feat, the Einzberns were bewildered by the results. Jubstacheit von Einzbern examined the site of the summoning himself, and determined that the results were not affected by anything Illya had done wrong, by any means, but possibly because of an outside influence none of them were aware of...

The second-last summoning would occur after midnight, in the basement of the Tohsaka mansion. Rin Tohsaka had meticulously prepared the summoning ritual, intended to summon the Saber class by brute force, using her father's treasured pendant that she had inherited.

However the conditions were off – due to the fact that all the clocks in her house were running an hour early for some bizzare reason, which she forgot, this meant she was performing the summoning an hour before her magical potential was at its peak.

Though the summoning worked, she didn't get the results she desired. Not that any of the Masters had gotten their desired results anyway, luckily for her. But she had the additional misfortune of having her living room completely wrecked by the summoning. And when she had rushed upstairs to see it...

Standing in the middle of the wreckage, was what appeared to be a young man either in his late teens or twenties, with green eyes. His entire body, sans his face, was covered in blue armor (though his hands were white), his chest plate was segmented, and his helmet had light-coloured sharp ridges, and a distinctive red gemstone. He was frowning, worried about the mess he had presumably made.

When he and Rin made eye-contact, both of them were completely speechless, and with good reason. The young man was the first to speak, "Are you my Master?"

"And you are my Servant?" Rin asked tentatively, not sure of what to think of this man.

The man nodded. "I am freshly-summoned, so it was difficult to be sure... Why am I in the middle of a wrecked living room?"

Rin groaned, "I screwed up at the worst of times... Look, let's take this conversation up to the bedroom, okay?"

The young man nodded, as they headed to Rin's bedroom, and Rin sat down on her bed. "Please tell me I got something right... You are Saber, aren't you?"

The young man frowned, shaking his head. This confirmed Rin's suspicions immediately. "I'm sorry, miss. I'm not Saber. I know Archer isn't that flashy..."

"Well, at least I got one of the knight classes," Rin mused. "What legend are you from? You can't possibly be from the past..."

Archer chuckled, sitting down by her, "Heroic Spirits are displaced from time, Master, you should know this as well as I do. It doesn't matter when our legends are made, we can appear in any time period. My name is X. I am a Reploid."

"... A what, now?" Rin was completely bewildered.

Archer sighed, "Basically, I'm a highly advanced robot, the first to have true free will. My creator was Dr. Thomas Light, the father of robotics-"

"You're a ROBOT?!" Rin gawked. Her head was spinning from all this information. "Ugh, this isn't good, I'm terrible with technology... Or anything more advanced than a VCR..." She once had to try and record something on a Blu-Ray player. It didn't go well. At all. Traditional magi were often disdainful of modern technology, considering it 'beneath them', despite technology sometimes being more convenient for various purposes than magecraft was. The Magus Association in general was old money – VERY old.

Archer sighed. "This is gonna be a long explanation... Look, my memory is a bit hazy in parts, but I can assure you, it's not going to affect my capabilities in battle."

"Well, at long as you know what you're doing," Rin nodded. "We'll talk strategy in the morning. I have an order to give..."

She then handed a perplexed Archer a dustpan and broom. "Clean up the living room. You made the mess, after all."

"Well... Technically, you summoned me improperly like that, and I'm not a cleaning robo-" Archer's objections were silenced by Rin's glare, and he promptly grabbed both items and hurried out of the room, "alright, alright... Sheesh, and I thought Alia's glares were scary..."

Rin sat there, and sighed to herself, wondering how she was going to be able to work with this...

"Ah, there it is," Zelretch remarked, picking up the last gemstone, and storing it safely in his bag. "Just in time for the last summoning... Leaving the Saber class intact would make things more entertaining."

To be continued