"Acta Est Fabula"

- Haunting Ground


Rin could feel her heartbeat between her hips. Simply keeping her balance was a chore when she felt like everything below her belly button was crawling in a hundred different directions. She was fighting at least three different brands of failed binding spells as their lingering aftereffects overlapped and stacked together, driving her magical impulses and her nervous system into a small on-and-off temper tantrum localized to her lower waist.

It seemed like every day now, some other lunatic zealot would throw in their wiggling live bait trying to catch Rin's fish. It never worked. She'd always manage to cast a purification field on the parts at risk of becoming enchanted, or she'd outsquirm the squirmers so they couldn't get that far to begin with. But some of the stronger mana handlers who had taken their poke at her had used hexes powerful enough to leave her with a weak and subversive itch that could last for days. The combined efforts of twelve different Magii and Servants trying unsuccessfully to tame her with different strains of tiny crawling curses over the past several months were taking their tolls on her mind and her interior merchandise. She was trained as a witch, but she was close to becoming a walking cauldron with all the trouble and toil she feel starting to bubble down there.

The dark nylon of her thigh stockings shuffled against itself as she walked through the basement corridor on staggering closed legs. She tried as hard as she could to keep herself steady and conceal her weakness, but a lot of the time she wound up leaning her shoulder into the steel wall just to keep her balance. Every few minutes, she would scowl in annoyance and briefly squeeze her eyes shut to keep her vision from going blurry again.

"Dammit. Don't let it get to you, Rin," she would growl privately to herself. Her spirit would always be stubborn and assertive, even if her body could only withstand the feeling of living mana fragments crawling deep under her skin and trying to form a magical bond with her for so long.

It was torturous. She could simply stay out of the war and avoid the physiological drama caused by all of her opponents trying to cast their love potion on her mana bank, but then she'd be a weakling watching history pass her by from the sidelines. She could just accept what was going to happen sooner rather than later, close her eyes, and let the next Crest swarm that hit her move in without a fight. That would let her body actually adapt to its new functions and restabilize her mana system so all the weird muscle feelings and immune reactions would settle down. But her mind would also be taken under contract by whosever worms ended up swimming around inside her, and she wouldn't be herself anymore. If she had to be some mythical special maiden whose power over life would control the course of history, she wished God or the Fates or whoever would have at least come up with a more dignified way to let her play the part. Sometimes she felt like that three-inch wide lump of hollow tubes and chambers tucked within her waistline was her entire being, or at least the only part people identified as her, and there just happened to be a girl built around it.

Rin continued through the subbasement in a half-determined and half-hobbling stride. This was probably going to turn into Attempt #13 before she even reached the top floor, but she didn't believe in stupid things like unlucky numbers or black cats crossing paths under ladders. The new opponent she was about the meet face to face was a threat to everyone she cared for. He was an almost unknown and mysterious figure who had just arrived from overseas and set up shop in Japan. But she knew he was the shadowy true master behind many of the Servants she had to deal with as of late, including Medb.

Medb. That stuck-up seventh century Irish bitch. She had taken a shot at Rin with her own cupcake sprinkle variation of Crest worms and got pretty close to hitting her intrauterine mark. Now she was determined to never let Rin live it down. She would brag about how when she was alive in her own era, she always had a fondness for helping pregnant mares with bearing their foals in her royal stables, and she was excited to try the same ancient technique in reverse on a thoroughbred like Rin the next time she had the opportunity.

Medb was going to be sorry she ever climbed out of her grave. Rin had a personal score to settle on top of taking down the bigger threat waiting for her at the final floor of the complex.

She wasn't going into this at 100%. She couldn't deny that. The closely spaced battles and the near-successes of various Crest spells over the past weeks hand left her a little tender around her mana epicenter. It seemed like she couldn't go for more than five minutes without nursing the phantom tickling sensations deep in her gut, but she still insisted on coming to confront the challenge.

Shirou thought she was crazy. Sakura was convinced she had gone suicidal. Archer had pleaded with her to lie low and spend some time recovering her magic reserves. But the threat looming against them was too dangerous and she would feel even more disgusted with herself if she did nothing. She'd show them how they were wrong. And if the wormy stuff ever started to creep in and become a problem, she'd just cast a quick Purge Curse spell and endure through it like she always did. She was taking the most remote way possible into the building and her enemies would never see her coming.

Medb nudged back into her thoughts as another wave of quivering tingly pangs crossed her waist. She remembered a more recent incident when she bumped into the spoiled pink-haired faerie queen while doing reconnaissance. Her mind saw the hazy details of a Magus research lab in the middle of the night. Medb was holding a glass vial packed full of a new untested strain of writhing parasitic things. Their blue bioluminescent glow lit up her ghastly grinning face and the protruding curves of her breasts. She could have passed for a haunted lighthouse wearing negligee.

She may have fought it off once, Medb taunted her in her memories, but the next time was going to be different. Next time, she wouldn't be so lucky. Next time, Medb promised she'd get 'em in there. Next time, she'd make it good for Rin.

Rin shook the chilling memory out her mind. Failure was the last thing she wanted on her mind even when the stakes weren't this high. She continued down the corridor alone, fading into the dark as she approached her fight with destiny.

Twenty minutes later, Rin's provocative screams were filling the subterranean halls of the complex while the most powerful, aggressive, and efficient Crest worms ever synthesized were writhing in a dense swarm in a subter-Rin-ean magic hive. The complex's defenders had completely anticipated her arrival and had geared up for her extensively. They outnumbered her and outmatched her, and there was only a quick pointless skirmish before things were able to get squeamish. Her magic immunities were so weakened that only one worm from this new formula would have been enough to perform the bond and shatter her free will, but she was meant to be an abundant mana converter and they treated her to a cozy 100,000 specimens in all. Rin's womb met its brazen fate in the diligent and aptly skilled hands of its new caretakers. Rin herself never stood a chance.


Kotomine watched the numbers of the floors light up in sequence as a Caribbean jazz rendition of "Angel of Love" by the group CHAM played through the muffled elevator speakers. 73… 74… 75… 76. The compartment stopped rising and the door dinged. He walked out of the elevator and left the innocent angels singing about their harmless romance.

It was a short walk to the chairman's office once he was on the right floor. His stride was calm and relaxed as he made his way to the door. What he was walking toward would not be an argument between heated business competitors, but a simply a reconvening of like minds. He had hopes the meeting would benefit them both.

Kotomine walked into the office and was greeted by Lars Drako, the owner and lead executive of Rokest Enterprises. The pharmaceutical company originated from Eastern Europe and had recently expanded toward Asia to grow its health and restoration businesses.

Kotomine was completely aware that was only the cover story for Drako's participation in the Holy Grail Wars.

The chairman was a serious and aloof man wearing a black suit with combed back black hair. Kotomine had a strange hazy recollection of this man having thinning gray hair the last time they met. Despite his contemporary business appearance, he projected a subtle sense of otherworldliness and timelessness, and he came with a secretary who fit the same bill.

Drako was seated with his hands folded palms down on his desk. Rin was standing a very close inch to his right. Her sharp yellow eyes stood out from almost all of the other more muted colors in the room, while light Crest scars crossed her face in the shape of whiskers. The plush black velvet ribbons tied in her raven hair were perked somewhat like pointed ears. She was leaning with her slim red waist slightly over the desk so her hips resembled the form of a fertile pear draped in a short black curtain. Her fingers kneaded the edge of the varnished table in timed waves, each ripple starting from her left pinkie and traveling toward her right pinkie. The crucifix on the front of her turtleneck matched a similar small token propped up among the paper holders near Drako's hands. Outside of this guarded corporate castle, she could have used an extra layer of makeup and a pair of contact lenses or a magic guise to hide her inhuman traits. But in here, she wasn't afraid to show off her natural looks.

Taken together, Drako and Rin seemed less like a company CEO with his fresh college grad secretary, and more like a modern warlock with his familiar confidante.

"So you've obtained the fabled Ark of the Covenant. I didn't expect her to be so… frisky," Kotomine said to the chairman with mild intrigue.

"Yes. I wasn't sure what her temperament would be once her internal affairs with the Drako Crests were settled," the chairman calmly answered. "She can act a bit odd at times, but she's very loyal and friendly if she knows your scent. I let her do as she likes. We groom her and give her a nice home as a reward for catching the rats who try to sneak in the front door. We extensively examine her once a week to make sure she's keeping healthy. She's probably the only pet you can own where having worms is a good thing."

"You must have a lot of bitter enemies," Kotomine suggested. "They've been fighting over her for so long."

"Their previous efforts were noble," Drako said with a small nod of appreciation, "But I simply took advantage of her willingness to come here despite her… compromised status. The early worm gets the bird, I suppose."

He moved his right hand off of his desk and behind Rin, lightly resting his palm against her miniskirt. She closed her eyes partway and sighed with a light purr.

"It was better to make sure she was infested with my seal then let some inferior serf claim her. The rest will just have to accept less sweet fruit," Drako continued to say in a quietly, moving his arm in a slow petting motion. Rin subtly wiggled her hips in enjoyment so her tailbone angled out.

"Some would say I was unfair in my approach. Or my methods were artificial. I would say it's more natural to capitalize on a situation rather than let random chance decide or wait for whatever some scripture proclaims. Can you believe my sources tell me she was meant to go to her sister? I had the hiring managers give her a substantial sign-on bonus to convince her otherwise."

Drako crooked his head and turned his eyes toward the right.

"Tell me, Rin. Do you feel I cheated to defeat you? Are you in any pain from the ordeal? Are you embarrassed at all?"

"Mm-mm," Rin said in a sultry hum. "I was always supposed to be bound to you. These wonderful bugs are yours to command and mine to keep."

She stretched forward and made a faint belly dancer-like ripple move through her waist under her sweater. The motion helped the constant feelings of comfort in her middle spread evenly through her body. A simple warm-up stretch for a proud and happy Crest vessel.

"You turned this woman into your monster," Kotomine said with passive observation.

"We helped her find her true nature," Drako shrugged without concern. "If not that, than my Servants downstairs at least filled her with a sense of belonging."

Rin mewed in agreement while Drako's nails delicately scratched behind the curved left rear of her skirt.

"Rin is a rare creature truly like none other. I almost wish I had three of them keeping me company," he mused casually. "Her mana provides me limitless benefits. But she's also quite skilled in battle. Would you like her to show you to the training center so she can give you a demonstration?"

Drako asked the question in a way that sounded inviting and just slightly threatening.

"I'll try to keep my claws in if I'm too much for you," Rin whispered playfully. Her glaring eyes narrowed toward Kotomine as her mouth crossed into a grin. Her small canines sat over her glossy bottom lip like stubby fangs.

"I had no intention of coming here to get on your bad side," Kotomine jokingly declined. He added his host's true name for good measure. "You've always known how to run your ambitions through the people who make that mistake, Tepes."

"Yes," Drako said as he lightly clicked his tongue to his teeth. "Well, history has a tendency of repeating itself."


Author's note: "Holy Grail" was already taken. We're Indiana Jones now.

Author's note 2: My Lars Drako OC is indeed that one guy you've probably heard of. Some of his performance was inspired by Christopher Lee playing Sam Rees in the Tomorrow People. Other sources include Robert De Niro in Angel Heart. My apologies to the Fate nerds if there's already an official Vlad the Impaler Servant and my character is totally off-model.