Fate/Lost Dream

Chapter 1: Calling Through Time and Space

The snow whirled around his head, blinding him to everything beyond a few feet. With the wind whiping whiteness all around him, he was trapped in a white void with only the faint outlines of nearby trees breaking the all-encompassing snow. Despite that, Marcellus had no fear of getting lost. This land, the land of the Einzberns, had been engraved in his heart and mind since his birth.

It is a poor mage who cannot find his way around his own territory, after all. Marcellus mused. He wondered what is would be like to have no homeland. There were magi who had to make do with mere houses inside towns, with non-magical neighbors living a scant few meters away. How could you practice magic under such conditions? With no connection to the local ley lines, no real territory to call your own or even a real workshop, it was a deplorable way to live. And soon seven mages would be dropped into the same city. Things were going to get crowded fast.

Abruptly, Marcellus realized the pointlessness of such musings. He had gone for a stroll to clear his head, and it seemed worthless thoughts had decided to nest in the newly empty space. He tsked to himself. His war was beginning in a few hours, yet he was wasting his time with nonsense like this. Shaking his head at his lack of discipline, he made his way back to the castle.

Despite the raging storm, Marcellus wore only a long coat, no gloves or hat. Just as the snowstorm couldn't make him lose his bearings, the cold posed no trouble for him. The frigid wind would have put an ordinary person in danger and made a mage shield themself with an abjuration. But to a child of Einzbern, it felt just right. Marcellus had heard Japan was a far warmer country. It was autumn now so hopefully it wouldn't be too unpleasant. It would be troublesome to have to be bespelled the entire war just to stand the heat.

Let us hope that is the worst of my troubles.

The white walls of the castle loomed over him as he approached. The heavy gates slowly swung open on their own power as he walked toward them, the spells on them recognizing him as a member of the family. They shut with a resounding boom once he was inside. The snowflakes in his hair began to melt, soaking his white hair. After the raging fury of the storm outside, the stillness of the entrance hall felt almost unnatural.

"Ah, Marcellus. I had not known you had left the castle."

He followed the voice to its source, a young woman with hair that matched his own and eyes red as blood. She was flanked by a pair of expressionless maids whose hands were clasped in front of them.

"Yes, I wanted to see our land one more time before we departed." Marcellus replied. He self-consciously ran a hand through his damp hair. "Sorry for skipping out on the preparations, Idra."

"No, it was no trouble." Idrasviel said. "The circle has been fully inscribed now anyway. Grandfather insisted that only skilled mages do the work, so I took care of it while he observed to make sure there were no errors."

Great. Grandfather was watching? "You shouldn't have done that, Idra. Now the old man is going to give me hell, not to mention I ought to be preparing my own summoning circle."

Idra flushed and glanced at the wall. Anything she was going to say was cut off by one of her maids stepping forward. "Master Marcellus, it is not fitting that you scold Mistress Idrasviel. Rather, you ought to be thanking her for covering for your laxity in preparing for the war."

Marcellus suppressed his annoyance at being rebuked by a homunculus, but only because she was right. "True. I apologize, Idra, and thank you."

"It's not like I've done everything." Idra demurely stated, still not meeting his eyes. "The catalyst still needs to be placed on the altar." Marcellus' mind went to the rusty, broken piece of armor resting in a sealed chest in his room. "Hmph. There is that."

"B-besides," Idra's confidence was slowly coming back. "you'll be doing all the fighting in the war while I just sit on the sidelines."

"Your role is important too." As soon as he said the words, Marcellus regretted them. He knew full well Idra's role in the war was a sore spot for her. Sure enough, her faced became as emotionless as the maids flanking her, a clear sign she was upset. She took Grandfather's talk of maintaining decorum to objectionable levels, he had always felt. An awkward silence filled the hall.

Marcellus finally spoke. "I should head over to the chapel. The longer I wait to check in on everything, the madder Grandfather will get." He made to walk down the long hall to the eastern wing of the castle.

"Mark." He stopped, turning back to Idra. "Are… are you sure you want to proceed like this?" She asked quietly. "Are you really willing to risk your life in this battle?"

He had a good guess of what she was really asking. "Don't worry, I will not lose. The Servant I'm summoning is a famous and powerful Heroic Spirit. And I'll be stronger than most of the other masters, too. I promise you, I will not let your sacrifice be in vain. I will achieve the dream of the Einzberns, after all these years."

"I know you will." Idra smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. She bowed and turned away departing back towards her chambers with her maids in tow. Marcellus felt an urge to say something, but when words didn't come he bit his tongue and said nothing. He took a moment to compose himself before continuing on to the chapel. That's right, from now on I am a soldier of the Grail War. I need to devoted, mind, body, and soul, to victory. Filled with new resolve, he marched off to face his grandfather.

Sneaking into the workshop was easy. Hina had figured out how to bypass the wards even before Dad had 'taught' her how to. She tiptoed down the stairs into the basement. She'd told him it'd be a good idea to move the workshop into his much less crowded study on the second floor but he had gone on about connections to the earth and seclusion from outside eyes. Sure, they had neighbors on either side, but they also had blinds. Whatever, just one of those things she'd change once she was the head of the Takaharu family.

At the bottom of the stairs she paused for a moment, listening for Dad's footsteps. He had gone to the store, but he could be back at any minute. She needed to get what she was after and be gone before he returned. Hearing nothing, she crossed over to the bookshelf and began to scan the titles. She knew there was a tome on summoning rituals somewhere… She found it just as she heard the front door open. She took the steps two at a time, hastily throwing back up the wards as she went.

"Hina? I got those yogurts you said you wanted." Dad called from the kitchen. Good, he had gone straight to put away his purchases and hadn't noticed her coming up. "Okay, dad."

"Did you want one?" He asked over the sound of the fridge door opening.

"Uh, no thanks." Hina kicked herself for sounding unnatural. "I'm gonna go for a walk."

"Okay, just be back in time for dinner." Great, that meant she'd have to find another reason to leave the house after dinner if she wanted to do the summoning when her mana was at its peak. And since she lacked the resources of the three great houses, she needed all the boosts she could get. Still, as she headed out to the clearing where she was going to set up the circle, pilfered tome tucked under her arm, Hina couldn't help but have a good feeling. The Holy Grail was going to be hers, she could feel it.

"Isshin!" Where was that useless boy? Of all the times to go goofing off… "Isshin!" Kagura called louder.

"Lady Kagura, your apprentice is below." A serving man, whose name she didn't care to remember currently, bowed as he indicated the door to the spawning chamber. Kagura brusquely turned from him and descended into the chamber. "Isshin!"

From the gloom of the chamber a voice issued. "Yes, Lady Kagura?" Isshin asked with his usual tone that just stopped short of being disrespectful. "What is it you need?"

"You know full well what I need." Kagura was in no mood to dance around with her apprentice. "I need a better catalyst, more information on the other masters, and more stored mana, to start."

As she descended further, she spotted Isshin through the thin light. He looked up from his work on the altar, another sign of his disrespect. He should have immediately moved to her side the second he heard her calling for him. He ran a hand through messy hair. "This catalyst is a pretty good one, to be honest. Sure, it's not going to get us someone like King Arthur, but the hero we're summoning is an old and famous one. He'll be one of the strongest Servants in the battle, to be sure."

We're summoning, Kagura noted. Before she could comment on that presumption, Isshin continued. "We have spies and familiars out in droves, but this early in the game it's unlikely most of the foreign masters will have arrived yet. We're certain the Einzbern master is still in Europe and will receive a report when he sets off for Japan. And for your final point, if we want to draw in mana any faster we'll have to abandon secrecy. Is that your decision?"

"Of course not, certainly not before the Grail War has officially begun." Honestly, sometimes she wondered how a boy so seemingly skilled could be so dense. Still, her foul mood abated somewhat, both from his words and from the comforting scuttling noises that pervaded the spawning chamber. While the Matou family had a whole compound, it was in this room that they truly belonged.

"Are you certain this hero will be particularly powerful?" She asked Isshin suspiciously. "I've certainly never heard of him."

Isshin gestured to the knife on the altar. "He is a hero who many other heroes draw on for their own stories. Their fame becomes his, at least as far as Heroic Spirits are concerned."

Kagura didn't reply to that beyond peering at the knife. It was an old, rusty thing, with chips and notches covering its length. While the age of the relic was a good thing, she instinctively disliked placing her hopes in a knife that couldn't so much as cut butter. Not for the first time, she wished her agents had managed to dig up the powerful relic that they had heard rumors of in Cornwall.

Her musing was interrupted by a voice the top of the stairs. "Lady Kagura? Masters Kenshin and Amata are requesting your presence." The serving man didn't descend to her, which in other locations she would have taken for disrespect. But not here, all the servants of the household were terrified of the spawning chamber. Only Isshin would dare enter in anything but an emergency. A wise precaution; if any of them work up the nerve, they would most likely be devoured.

Kagura rolled her eyes. "Tell them I am busy." As if she had time to waste on her children with the Holy Grail War upon them. She needed to devote all of her time and energy on the battles to come, not playing nursemaid. If either of them had shown any talent, then maybe she would have involved them. "Isshin. Review for me the proper verses. I want to be sure you're ready to play your part."

Naoko crouched at the top of the stairs. If you were in just the right spot, you could hear everything being said in the entrance hall at the bottom of the stairs without being seen. Right now, it was Mother and Father arguing. They had been doing that more and more lately. Ever since Father had gotten that mark on his hand.

"I still don't see why we have to leave." Mother was saying. "The bounded fields around the house should repel any sort of intruder, we are in no danger here."

Father sounded tired. That was happening more often too. He looked worse too, with dark circles under his eyes and despite his oft used quote about Tohsakas needing to be dignified and refined his dress and appearance was sloppy. Naoko wasn't sure he had bathed recently; she knew he was skipping his daily exercises. It wasn't really fair; Naoko still had to exercise until her muscles burned. And she didn't even need to, she could already outrun Father during their laps.

She stopped her fuming and focused back on the conversation. "The bounded fields only guarantee our safety from mundane intruders, not other mages. In the battles to come, this house may very well come under attack by other masters. And our barriers would be as effective as a paper screen against a servant."

Father was talking about the war he was going to fight in. He and Mother were trying to keep it from her, but Naoko had overheard them talking, well, arguing about it a bunch of times. Since Naoko figured wars were pretty important things and she hadn't heard anything about it on the news or at school, she figured it had to be a magic thing. The war was why they were having to pack up their things and leave the house, although Naoko was skipping packing in favor of eavesdropping. She wasn't sure what they meant by 'servant', especially if whatever it was could tear apart the house's bounded fields, but the sudden mental image of a butler wielding a massive sword almost made her giggle and give herself away.

Mother didn't want to go. Really, she didn't want Father to take part at all but when she had suggested he not was one of the few times Naoko had seen Father angry and the only time he'd been angry at Mother. "Even if we can't stay at the house, we don't need to leave Fuyuki. We could stay with Father Kotomine, the church is supposed to grant sanctuary."

"I've already asked him, he won't permit it. To shelter you would be to deny the enemy a weakness of a participating master, instead of defending a defeated one. The church cannot so flagrantly favor one contender in the war."

"He's supposed to be your friend." Mother's voice was bitter, which Naoko understood. Like her mother, she had never liked the priest of Fuyuki Church. He droned on and on about God and stuff and Naoko just didn't care. The only reason they even went was because Father wanted to "maintain good relations with the church" whatever that meant. And weren't priests supposed to hate mages anyway? Frankly, she was glad Mother and her couldn't stay there.

"Before he is my friend, Rikuto is a man of God. He's willing to help us but will not go against his role as a priest and overseer to do so." There was a long pause. "I do not want to send you and Naoko to your parents in Ichikawa but it is the only way to keep you both safe."

"And what about you?" Mother's voice had tears in it. "If we can't be safe here, how will you be?"

There was a faint sound of clothes rustling. "I will be fine. I have trained and prepared for this battle for all my life and the servant I am going to summon will be the strongest the Tohsakas will ever have called forth. I will be quite safe, but there may be times when both he and I must leave the house for battle. That would leave you and Naoko in great danger."

Mother sniffed, her voice sounding muffled. "I can't lose you. I just can't."

"And you won't. I promise you." Father spoke not like Father there, but like the head of the Tohsakas. And when he talked like that, he meant it.

"Naoko?" He called. "Can you really be packing in the hallway?"

Naoko jumped, thinking fast. "No Father, I was just, uh, grabbing something from the bathroom." Somehow Father always knew when she was hiding.

"Well then grab it and hurry up with your packing. You need to be finished before dinner." Oh good, he bought it. Naoko felt a little guilty for lying to him, but not guilty enough to admit what she'd really been doing. "I will, Father."

"Good." Minato smiled. Naoko had yet to realize that while the floor of the second floor hallway blocked her from seeing the entrance hall, it didn't block him from seeing her feet when she stood at the landing. He maintained the smile as Shiori walked into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. When she was gone, it curdled like sour milk. There was still so much he had to do, so many preparations. Minato descended into his workshop in the basement to review the summoning circle one more time. Even the slightest error could mar the summoning.

"Make sure the lines are drawn properly. With all the alterations we've made to the standard rites, if anything else is out of place who knows what might happen."

John, not looking up from the circle he was very carefully inscribing on the floor, had several ideas as to what might happen. They might get a Servant who wouldn't obey their instructions at all. Or instead of a Heroic Spirit they might get a lesser spiritual being, or a Heroic Spirit too weak to fight in the war, without the benefits of Caster or Assassin. "Are you sure we ought to be doing this?" He asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

Samantha glanced up from her part of the circle. "Are you really asking that again? Without a catalyst to ensure we get Saber, we need some other way to give us an edge." She gestured down at the scrolling runes and lines. "This is it."

John shook his head. This time he was going to stand his ground. "We could always summon Berserker. He would probably be even more powerful than Saber. And it wouldn't require you put yourself at risk."

"Summoning Berserker is already a risk." Samantha replied. "The mana it requires is immense and there's always the chance it could break free of my control. Our plan is much safer for both of us."

Yes, the plan. It had been John's idea, at first. He had merely explored it as a thought experiment when the red sigils had appeared on his hand, signifying his rights as a master. He'd played around with various adjustments to the summoning process, seals and binding circles were his area of expertise. Then Samantha had gotten involved.

John absently rubbed at the back of his hand, where the command seals had used to be. It wasn't that he particularly wanted to fight in the Grail War, it was just the idea of sending his girlfriend to fight his battle for him was even less appealing. Unfortunately, she was all for the idea and he couldn't dissuade her. Certainly not after she found the loophole that would let them both take part.

It was simple enough, if you knew your way around magical contracts and seals. John would bind himself to the Servant and supply it mana while also binding Sam to the Servant as its master. She had the command seals now, so with a little modification to the summoning ritual it was certainly possible. But it being possible didn't mean they should do it.

"What about the Servant itself?" He asked her, trying to find a crack in her conviction. "What if it disapproves of us trying to cheat the system like this?"

"What if it likes the idea?" Sam countered. "Until we complete the summoning, how will we know?"

John didn't have an answer to that. Sam gave him a reassuring smile. "Stop worrying so much. This will work, I promise. With you providing the mana I can take out the masters, so the Servant we summon will only need to be strong enough to hold theirs off for long enough to get the job done."

John stayed silent, glancing absently at the precariously piled furniture they had stacked to clear space on the apartment floor for the circle. He wracked his brain for a rebuttal, but couldn't find one that hadn't already been rejected. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. When she smiled like that, he just couldn't refuse her. "Fine. Just be careful, okay?"

"I will. I promise." She said it with so much conviction he almost believed her.

Marcellus looked everything over one more time, conscious of the eyes on him. Most of the Einzbern had gathered in the castle's chapel, both human and homunculus, to witness the ceremony. Grandfather and Idra were in the front row, his gaze relentless, hers worried. Marcellus carefully checked each part of the summoning circle. There was no need to rush and he only got one chance to perform the summoning.

Hina finished splattering the last few drops of blood on the damp dirt. Though it had rained recently, she had still had plenty of time to draw the circle she had found in the book in cat's blood. The text said blood was the most effective way to create circles, well, that or metal but that wasn't really an option for her. She'd had a hard enough time trapping a stray cat, not to mention the first one had had a collar so she had to let it go.

Kagura stood impassively as Isshin bent here and there to get a closer look at the lines. "Well? Are we ready?"

"Yes, Lady Kagura. I believe we are." He grinned widely, but she would tolerate his youthful excitement. This was a momentous occasion, after all.

Minato fretted, wracking his brains for anything he might have missed. He had the catalyst, the circle was perfectly drawn, he'd checked three times…

John took his place in the secondary circle and motioned Sam to her spot. He took a deep breath and nodded to her to continue.

Marcellus' eyes roamed over the lines until they blurred. Behind him, Grandfather cleared his throat. "Are you quite ready to begin?" He asked with a faint tinge of impatience.

"Yes, Grandfather." Marcellus stepped over to his place and took a long, slow breath to get his heart to stop pounding. This was it.

"Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Repeat five times, but when each is filled, unmake it."

A sense of reckless abandon took Minato. He decided to do the summoning right now, at once. He raised the hand with the Command Seals towards the circle.

"Through the elements silver and iron, the foundations stone and the Archduke of Pacts. And for my great master, Schweinorg."

Hina's heart jumped as the blood began to glow. She almost stammered during the next line of the invocation.

"Raise a wall against the wind and close the gates of four directions. Come forth from the crown and follow the forked road leading to the kingdom."

Kagura's robe stirred as wind began to rise from the circle. Isshin was unabashedly staring at her and it with awe.

"Heed my words. My will creates your body and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning."

John raised a hand to ward off the increasing pressure. Sam's voice continued without the slightest hesitation or change.

"I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world. That I shall defeat all evil in the world."

Marcellus shook from the force emanating from the summoning circle as mana amassed and surged. He forced himself to be still. He needed to complete the ritual. On the back of his outstretched hand, his Command Seals blazed.

"Seventh heaven clad and the great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding, guardian of scales!"

The power finally overflowed the circle and a bright flash of light blinded the summoner and onlookers.

Marcellus blinked away the spots in his eyes and hurriedly looked back at the circle. There he was. Cool, gray eyes surveyed the chapel before landing on him.

"I ask of you, are you my master?"

AN: Well, this was an idea I got from a list of legendary items I found on Wikipedia. I ended up making a full set of seven Servants, and then I just had to pit them all against each other. So a few notes on the Servants' identities; none of them have been in any real Fate media and there is one of them that is a different gender than the historical figure. We'll see more of them in the next chapter, good luck figuring them out!