Title: Beginnings
Rating: PG-14
Summary: The final search for the Holy Grail takes place in Victorian England.
Characters/Pairings: Eventual Archer x Rin, others soon to follow.
Dedication: To rjmadere. When are you going to update Precepts of Destiny, anyway?
A/N: After the fic.
Cross-posted to fsn fiction and my personal lj.
Like so many others, the story of the four families began with the coming of Perry's Black Ships. At the time it was feared to be the end for them all.
For a long time they had been the greatest, the only practitioners of western magic within the Floating World; noble and commoner alike connected by spells and chants and rituals unlike any other in Japan.
Tohsaka.
Matou.
Emiya.
Kotomine.
It was a time of chaos and turbulence, but the Black Ships provided a long-sought chance for those wily enough to see it. For the traditional eastern mages who had long been a part of Japan's foundation, the opportunity to get rid of the western-style upstarts wasn't to be missed, even in the face of impending civil war. A few bribes to key members of the shogunate, some well placed accusations of kakure kirishitan sympathies, and some unsubtle threats involving a mobilization of the samurai was all it took to make getting out of Japan a very real necessity for the four families. The year of their forced emigration was 1860; six years after Perry first came to Japan.
By far, the Tohsaka clan was the most fortunate of the four mage families. Being one of the few who traded with the west allowed the Tohsaka, led by then-eighteen year old Tohsaka Tokiomi in the wake of his father's sudden death, to find safe haven in England with wealth, status and connections intact. Their good luck afforded them the opportunity to help the last remaining member of the Emiya, Emiya Kiritsugu, and the Kotomine out of Japan soon afterwards. Having reached England in safety, Emiya Kiritsugu retained enough of his wealth to have a comfortable, if lonely life. The Kotomine family's prospects were a different story by far.
The Matou clan, not wishing to chance waiting for the Tohsakas' help, left by their own means. Although the price they paid was not nearly as great as it could have been, already declining clan sacrificed some power, status, and last of all, their name. Marrying into a French merchant family soon after their arrival in England, the Matou anglicized their name permanently to Mateaux. While this lessened their material worries somewhat, the damage to the magical strength of their bloodline had already been done. No more mages would come naturally from the Matou line, their extensive knowledge chained by a lack of power.
Naturally, the arrival of so many foreign mages, same style of power or not, was viewed with more than a little apprehension by the Western magical community. The efforts of the Einzbern family, a long time ally and trading partner of the Tohsaka clan, went a long way to smoothing out hostilities against the foreign mages. While completely doing away with the fear and suspicions was impossible, nonetheless support from such a well respected mage family made a relatively peaceful life in England possible.
Of course, there was more to the Einzbern's generosity than simple benevolence and they all knew it. But like so many other trials in their lives after the arrival of the Black Ships, the four families didn't have much of a choice beyond accepting the favor and hoping what would be asked in return would give them cause for regret. The habit of simply looking to survive the day, burned into them from escaping the Revolution was one none of them were ever able to let go of, with one exception.
Tohsaka Tokiomi had a far easier time than the other families in escaping and surviving to the safe haven of England. It freed his sight enough to notice certain patterns that gave him cause for alarm. Strange magical influxes in the south of the country he now called home, natural phenomena unusual to the land, the increase, conscious or not, of mages in southern England, drawn to the island nation almost magnetically.
Then there were the children.
Tokiomi may not have been at the top of the Mage's Association, but he kept his ears open, and disturbingly truthful rumors of special non-mage children kept reaching him. Children with physical abilities far beyond that of ordinary men, with talent for fighting and battle, with magic of the body as opposed to the magic of the spirit possessed by mages. All bearing a unique mark somewhere on their left arms where magi bore them on the right. Children, whom once found, identified, and assessed by the Association, were sent to mage families best judged to nurture their fledgling skills, simultaneously building a bond of loyalty, at least in theory. The children called potential Servants. For they shall serve our needs to great purpose, the old head of the Mateaux had said to him at the time. Even thinking on it years later had made Tokiomi feel sick. It had only been outstripped by the relief he had felt when the only marks his offspring bore were on the right arm.
Much as Tokiomi worried for the future, and felt for the children, he couldn't bring himself to take action. He had just gotten out of one chaotic mess, and with a growing family to take care of and a business to oversee he was quite unwilling to put himself into another. Years passed in this manner, tinted with guilt but not the will to do anything about it.
Then his beloved Aoi was murdered. The detached precision with which the act was done, and the fact the attacker managed to overcome a woman who was a talented mage in her own right, pointed to none other than a Servant-trained perpetrator. The only clue Tokiomi had to the cause of the crime was the one item that was missing. Aoi's expensive furs, purse, and fine jewelry had all been left untouched; it was a old book, The Trials and Triumphs of Saint Joseph of Arimathea, that had been stolen. Only a mage could have known the true value of the book, and exactly what it was supposed to lead to.
The Holy Grail.
As a practitioner of western magic, Tokiomi constantly heard stories about the Holy Grail, but had never believed in it himself. Even after Aoi's death, all he was willing to accept was at the most the Grail was a simple cup that happened to be used by an extraordinary man. But it was undeniable that there was a mage-or a group of mages-that believed in its existence enough to kill his wife to get to it.
The path to follow was obvious; to find the killer, follow the Grail. Tokiomi had barely allowed himself a month to mourn before starting on his travels in 1881, leaving his nine-year old daughter and heir, Rin, in the care of a small army of nannies, servants, and bodyguards. He scoured the globe, returning home less and less frequently. Months, then years would pass between the times he would return to England and his daughter, and even then it was never for very long.
Whenever his daughter worked up the courage to ask what he was always traveling for, his reply would always be the same.
"The path to regain your mother's honor, Rin-chan."
His daughter would later think that even seeing her father but rarely was preferable to never seeing him again when she received news of his murder in Jerusalem-and his ashes-on a cold day in late May 1889. It had been three years since the barely eighteen-year old girl had seen her father. At the heart, it didn't matter. Tohsaka Tokiomi had died inside long before that.
Rin had been alone for almost nine years. Her father's death just made any chance of changing that between them impossible. What really stung was that he hadn't even tried. Beyond his will, naming all Tohsaka properties, businesses, and titles hers, there were no last words from her father.
Until that fateful spring day that changed everything, there was nothing at all.
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April 4th, 1890-London, England
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Tohsaka Rin was being followed. Normally, it wouldn't have been all that out of the ordinary. London was a big city that had its fair share of criminals looking for an easy mark. A simple thief who didn't know better would look at Rin and see a pretty girl with subtle but obvious wealth, unaccompanied by even a single maid. The very same simple thief foolish enough to actually try robbing her would usually end up with all the nerves in his arm torn out, in excruciating pain, arrested, then imprisoned in that order.
But it was no mundane thief that was following her now, and that made Rin nervous. It took a good deal of willpower-as well as the fact that doing so would give her intentions away to her pursuer-not to speed up her pace as she headed back to her townhouse and to safety and the ward that covered the grounds. All she could do for the moment was fool whoever was tailing her into thinking she hadn't noticed, gripping some of her stronger offensive gems for reassurance. Even so, the feeling of being the deer stalked by an unknown wolf didn't lessen. It wasn't even the first day she had been followed by the mysterious stalker. Rin had noticed it three days ago, and it could have been even longer without her noticing.
Not a mundane, and no magic circuits so it isn't a mage...who or what is stalking me? More importantly, why? If they're going through this much trouble to disguise their identity, I doubt it's for something as simple as money.
Relief filled her when she finally reached the Tohsaka family's London townhouse. Opening the gate with a steady hand, she felt the pressure of the invisible eyes on her back decrease rapidly. Still, Rin refused to let herself relax until she was in the privacy of the townhouse, shielded from prying eyes.
Sighing tiredly, Rin slumped down against the door, drawing her knees to her chest like a small child. It wasn't like there was anyone in the house to see her. One of its great virtues-and the reason she had lived in it since receiving news of her father's death-was that a single competent mage could manage it as well as a team of hired help with only a little effort. Rin had never possessed much taste for company, even inadvertent ones, and had lost most of what remained of it once she had learned she was truly alone in the world.
Rin remained where she was sitting for a long while, listening to the sudden rainfall that was common of England in early spring drum against the window panes. The huge grandfather clock finally signaled nine at night, moving Rin enough to prepare herself a small tea service and some biscuits. She wasn't really that hungry anyway.
Once she had finished and cleaned her mess up, Rin headed off to bed. Changing into her warm, thick nightgown, Rin dropped off into an uneasy sleep.
Tomorrow...tomorrow I'll figure out what to do. It's not like I have a choice, Rin thought just before her eyes slid shut.
If she had been awake, Rin would have noticed the sigil on her right wrist, shaped like an arrow shooting straight towards its target, start to darken to the color of dried blood.
On a boat sailing down the river Thames to the London docks, a man noticed his own sigil darkening before he pulled his sleeve over his wrist to hide it from sight. If anyone had been on the deck to see, they might have noticed his tired smirk. As it was, he was alone, but no matter. That would change in a very short amount of time.
The man looked over the railing, intently studying what he could see of the city in the dark and the rain. The ever-present pull of this area, like a constant itch underneath his skin, was still there. The old man had spoken of strange happenings around the island nation; hopefully he could just dismiss the off-putting sensation as that. Or there was the other possibility; a means of insurance by the old man to make sure his heir received his last words and his last gift. The man on the deck snorted in irritation. Well, Tohsaka Tokiomi could rest in peace. Tomorrow morning Serenity would dock, he would go deliver Tohsaka's last letter to his daughter, then he'd be free to get the hell out of England, hopefully as far away as possible. Anyone who knew what to look for could see that the peace blanketing the country was nothing more than the calm before the storm. A vicious, magical storm that he had no intention of staying around to experience.
Not for the first time, the man took out the letter. It was still magically sealed, but that didn't stop him from reading the characters Tohsaka Rin written on the envelope in flawlessly beautiful kanji.
"Well, Rin, I hope you appreciate what your father had to say to you. I am going through a lot of trouble to get this to you, after all."
The man exhaled as he tucked the letter safely away, his gaze all the while set firmly on the old city. Tomorrow he would finally be free to go his own way.
If only he didn't feel his darkening sigil was a portent for something huge on the horizon. Something he couldn't avoid no matter how much he wanted to.
It was the next day, and Tohsaka Rin was being followed. It was a shame that her stalker was marring what was otherwise a nice spring day, the sun shining and the air cool and fresh from last night's rain.
That wasn't all that was unfortunate. Rin had spent the entire morning researching, and had come up with almost nothing useful. The closest she could think of for something between a mundane and a mage was a homunculus, and whatever was following her didn't have the feeling of artificial creation they naturally gave out. The most irritating part of the whole situation was the conviction that her father would have known the answer.
Well, it's just up to me now. I stocked up on jewels, and put up more than a few personal wards. I just wish I felt more assured that doing so is enough.
Rin was careful not to stay out in the open streets for too long. When she felt ready to do so, she would draw her pursuer out and deal with him, but for the moment what was important was giving the impression of obliviousness. Considering how little the average male thought of female intelligence it shouldn't be too hard. By this point Rin was sure her follower was a man. A woman alone would simply stand out too much, and without great physical shape wouldn't have a chance of overpowering her.
Of course, there were certain things one didn't have to worry about with a woman. Rin grew a little tenser even as she pushed irrational thoughts of Jack the Ripper out of her mind. Even if it had only been two years since the last of the murders, she wasn't anywhere near Whitechapel nor was she a prostitute. If anything, the danger of being killed by a mage rather than a random psychopath was much greater for her.
Rin's attention was so divided between deep thought and keeping mental track of her stalker that she almost missed the redheaded boy directly in her path. Neatly sidestepping him, Rin continued on her way, but his presence got her thinking.
That was Emiya Kiritsugu's adopted son, Shi-something. Shino? No, wait, Shirou. Shouldn't he be at University this time of year? More and more members of the four families have been showing up around London and southern England lately. Just two months ago the Mateaux came back to London when they normally spend this part of the year in Normandy. Even Kirei came back from Rome to serve as a priest in one of the few Catholic churches in here, and he hates England. With the way things are going, the Einzberns are going to be here any day now.
This may be a greater problem then I originally thought.
Rin tightly clenched the gems hidden in her pocket. If she was right, and her mysterious shadow was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, it would be smarter to deal with him while he was still a relatively manageable problem.
Already mentally mapping out the best possible route to an isolated area near her house, Rin began the careful process of leading her pursuer to exactly where she wanted him to be without him realizing it. By the time Rin had reached the recently abandoned neighborhood, brought to ruin by an out of control fire, the sun had already dipped below the horizon.
I'm only going to get one shot at a surprise attack, so I have to make this count. Only one of my strongest spells will do for an opponent I know nothing about.
As soon as Rin felt her stalker get within range she struck.
"Spalten Sie das Herz sofort auf!" A lethal beam of energy shot instantly from her uplifted right hand. Fifty feet away a tree toppled over, split perfectly in half down the middle. Rin didn't even have time to wonder if she had missed before she dodged a blood-red spear. It went without saying that she had never been so grateful to be slender enough to get away with not wearing a corset. Ignoring her rapidly beating heart, Rin got her first look at the man who had been following her for at least four days.
Long dark blue hair tied at the nape of his neck, red eyes that gleamed as brightly as his silver earrings, blue pants and shirt, steel shoulder guards, all set off with an irritatingly confident smirk. The kind of smirk that said he felt he had already beaten her.
"I say it's a little late for introductions, but nonetheless-who are you?" Rin asked with as much authority she could muster.
"It is late," the man agreed, voice laced with a Irish accent, "but I've never been one for doing things by society's rules. Lancer is my name for what little time you have left to know it. A shame really, as I was only ordered to kill you if you noticed my spying. I like assertive women, and that nice little spell of yours makes you fit the bill. If agility wasn't the specialty of my class I'd definitely be dead right now."
Rin scowled at that, mentally filing away the term "class" even as she turned and ran, her flight aided by the Reinforcement spell on her legs. Anyone who saw Rin would have been amazed at how much ground she managed to cover.
It still wasn't enough to get away from Lancer.
I'm going to die. Rin thought unusually calmly, still determined to take Lancer out with her in the process. Her pride as a Tohsaka demanded it. However just as she was preparing to meet Lancer's charge with a gem combination that would have taken out what remained of the destroyed neighborhood, a red blur threw the blue-clad fighter off and into a nearby wall.
Rin stared in shock for a second. What had appeared at first to be a red blur was actually a man in a dark red duster, moving too fast for her eyes to follow. Grateful as she was to be saved from imminent death, the twin falchions he carried with the ease that spoke of many years of use kept her muscles tense. Her attempts to guess his age faltered, for while his bronze skin was still smooth and his body obviously fit, the ivory white of his hair and the cynicism in his eyes made placing his age difficult. The best she could do was somewhere in his mid-twenties.
Once it appeared to her defender that Lancer wasn't going to get up anytime soon, he turned to look at her. The look in those dark, jaded eyes clearly conveyed that he less than impressed. Somehow, it was even worse than Lancer's annoying smirk.
Rin was wrong about the man's impression of her, but could hardly be blamed for being off considering how her week had been. How she would of reacted if she had known that for all Tokiomi had talked about her to the man who had been his traveling partner until his death, he never elaborated on just how attractive she was. As it was, the man was covering his interest with a thick layer of indifference and an even thicker one of sarcasm.
"Let me guess, you've never had any formal mage training?" The man said cooly. Rin glared at him as she tilted her chin stubbornly.
"I can assure I am more than a match for any mage trained by the Association."
"I can't imagine why you had so much trouble with that Irish maniac currently embedded into a wall, then. Did you have some brilliant strategy involving almost dying to fall back on?"
Rin opened her mouth to issue a scathing reply, but was saved from having to think up one witty enough to stand up against her rescuer thanks to the man grabbing her in his arms and making a swift leap to a nearby roof. Startled as Rin was, once she caught sight of the still quivering spear in the dirt where she had been standing understanding dawned on her.
"Lancer, eh? I'd recognize Gae Bolg anywhere." The man said, setting her carefully down on the roof. Rin was just about to ask the man-whose name she still didn't know-if the two knew each other when he leapt down from the roof, falchions out with unmistakable killing intent. Just before the man clad in red reached Lancer, a magic circle flared up underneath him. By the time the light had dimmed enough for either of them to see, Lancer was gone.
The man in red scowled at the spot where the spear-wielder had stood before recalling his falchions in twin flashes of red light. Confused as Rin was by the turn of events, she managed to collect herself enough to fly off the roof and land next to him.
"Would you care to tell me what possessed you to take on an opponent you know nothing about? I had the devil's own time finding you, especially considering how many details were given to me in regard to your location."
Rin's eyes widened as she ignored his question in favor of concentrating on his last statement. "Details? Who would give you details about where I live, and why would you be interested in it to begin with?" Just barely Rin restrained herself from taking a step away from him. Now was not the time to show any signs of weakness. "I don't even know who you are."
He looked right at her, eyes revealing nothing and taking in everything. "My name is Archer. As for who first told me of you..." He held up a delicate silver necklace, a single blood-red gem hanging from it.
"It was Tohsaka Tokiomi. I was with him when he was killed, and even though I'm not sure how this necklace would prove it, he entrusted it, as well as a letter, into my care to give to you."
Rin paled, gaze fixed on her father's necklace. Even if Archer didn't know how the necklace would be proof, she did. It was enough for Rin to give him a chance to tell her his story. Her father's letter, too, would hopefully shed some light on some of the very strange things that had been happening lately. Aware that Archer was waiting for a reply she nodded, saying "Please come with me", as she turned around and began walking back to the townhouse.
Archer stared thoughtfully at her back before following. He had come this far already, and seeing it to the end would free him to be on his way.
Naturally, he had no way of knowing that his ability to leave England vanished the second he had saved Rin's life. Fate had already tied the two of them together, and there would be no escaping their shared destiny now.
Author's Notes:
Here is finally the prologue/first chapter of a fic I've been working on researching for a while now- a Fate/Stay Night Archer x Rin Victorian AU. The entire thing was actually inspired by this pic, and kind of spiraled into something a lot bigger. This will be my first multi-chapter fic, so I'm kind of nervous, but it's something I'm really inspired to do. Besides, the world could always use more Archer x Rin.
Anyway, this won't be basically a retelling of the Fate/Stay Night anime set in Victorian England as I have my own plot worked out, so hopefully that will keep things from getting repetative. All the characters will be making appearances at some point or another (some greater than others) with a special cameo from a certain dimension crossing vampire-mage from Tsukihime.
Finally: The paradox involving Archer's identity is not an issue with this AU. So please don't bring it up. I know who he really is in canon, and trust me, it isn't an issue here.
Also: All the Servants that appear in this story are human, not eirei. They haven't been summoned from some other time period. Rather, they were noticed for their unusual abilities (as well as the identifiying marks one their left arms, which I'll discuss in later chapters), and trained accordingly by certain members of the Mage's Association.
Terms
Perry's Black Ships-The sailing fleet of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry, who forcefully opened Japan to the West in 1854.
Floating World-Tokugawa Era Japan, about 1600-1854
Shogunate-The Shogun's administration
Kakure Kirishitan- Literally "hidden Christians", this is the term used for the Japanese Christians who practiced their beliefes secretly for fear of reprisal.
Serenity-Yes, I named the boat Archer is on after the spaceship in Firefly. Yes, I am a huge dork.
Spalten Sie das Herz sofort auf-German, translates as "Split the heart in half immediately"
falchions-Obviously Archer's twin short swords, Kansho and Bakuya.