Author's Note: No, you still haven't gotten rid of me. And I'm still writing Issei fic. I like Issei fic.
Um, this is actually my first attempt at writing anything adventure-y. With a plot that spans multiple chapters, even. To be honest, it's my first non-oneshot other than Leanne's Diary, which is sort of plotless, so if I fail at this let me know, okay?
The Fifth Grail War. A strange war from the start, with eight Servants and seven - quickly six - Masters. Two of the Masters, Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou, became the victors in many versions of the war.
In one timeline, a few things were different.
One, a catalyst to summon a particular Servant was possessed that usually was not. An insignificant item, but enough to establish a connection that equaled the link the spirit had with another Master.
Two, the possessor of the aforementioned catalyst happened to stumble into the summoning circle used previously to summon another Servant and somehow managed to summon a Servant without an incantation. Historians debated how that happened in arguments that mirrored the ones about Emiya Shirou in most timelines. Their best conclusion was, "To make things more interesting."
Issei greeted his friend with a cheerful, "Good morning, Emiya."
"Good morning, Issei. The other student council members aren't here yet?" Emiya asked.
It was an ordinary day.
"Unfortunately not," Issei replied with a small sigh. "I've tried getting them to put in more of an effort, but they refuse to listen."
"That's a problem…" Emiya said. "So, what am I doing today?"
Later, they would both look back on how unusually ordinary that day was.
"Hm? There's no rush. Please, sit down," the student council president answered. "I insist that you get some rest."
Emiya pulled himself a chair. "Thanks, Issei."
They could be forgiven for not noticing it at the time.
"No problem. If you didn't show up to help me, you could sleep in later, so this is the least I can do," Issei reasoned.
"You say that, but I think I would still have to get up and wake Fuji-nee at the normal time anyway," Emiya pointed out.
After all, there was no reason for them to expect anything unusual to happen.
"I guess you're right…" Issei admitted. "But I can't just let you keep working for me every day for no reward, either."
Emiya smiled at him reassuringly. "I don't mind."
Issei frowned. "Ha… saying things like that just makes me worry more about you."
"Sorry," Emiya answered, sounding anything but. "Now, what can I do for you?"
Certainly, what happened that day was something beyond the scope of 'expect the unexpected'. It was much closer to 'expect the impossible'.
Issei had no special feelings about cleaning the temple floors. It was boring. It was menial labor. It had to be done. It often fell upon him to do it. When he was told to mop the floors, invariably he sighed, found a mop and bucket, and went to work.
He wondered, if half of these rooms hadn't been used in months, how their floors managed to get so dirty. Certainly the rooms with layers of dust over their floors could be excused, but why did he need to mop the floor of every closet? What kinds of things did people put on the floors of closets?
He had finished with one closet and was about to move onto the next room when something caught his eye. A book sat innocuously on one of the shelves. The book was about archery. More importantly, he had borrowed it from Emiya and promised to bring it back several months ago. Naturally, he forgot about it.
"And even though I was months late, he never brought it up again." Issei sighed and plucked it off its shelf. "How typical of Emiya. I'll have to return it to him tomorrow."
Tucking the book under his arm, he attempted to open the door of the next room, only to find it locked. "This happens every time," he groused, fishing his master key out of his pocket. It opened easily. "Someone always locks the door behind them, and because it's not a room they use often they for-"
The room was covered in blood.
No, that wasn't quite right. The walls were pristine. Even the floor wasn't covered in it. It just had a complex, obviously deliberately-drawn circle drawn across most of the floor that was made with blood.
Issei thought about his word choice mainly to keep himself from thinking about the fact that there was blood on the floor. It only worked for a few seconds. "W…what? I'm… I'm dreaming, or something, why would there be - what is this?"
If he had turned and fled, things would have gone differently.
If he had remembered his mop and wiped away part of the circle, things would have gone differently.
If he had put the book down before stepping onto the circle, things would have gone differently.
He didn't. Almost as if in a trance, Issei moved forward. The tip of his foot touched the edge of the circle-
Pain. An absolute, searing pain stung at his right hand. He clutched it and watched in horror as three red lines - blood? blood wasn't that shade - curled around each other.
The room filled with sweltering heat. Distantly, he heard the crashing sounds of what must have been the objects in the room flying about, though he could barely make it out over the pounding in his ears. He shut his eyes tightly - when I open them again everything will be normal.
The heat died down. The crashing sounds stopped. Issei sighed in relief. He almost hadn't been sure that that would work-
A deep voice shattered his illusion. "Are you my Master?"
Slowly, Issei opened his eyes.
A man stood in front of him. Tall, dark-skinned, and white-haired, he looked absolutely nothing like any of the monks in the temple. None of them would have been wearing armor - that is armor, right? - underneath their red coats. None of them would have been glaring at him like they were disappointed he was taking so long to come up with an answer.
"…No?"
And none of them would have given him an even slightly surprised look at that. What part of walking into a circle of blood made you the master of the person who suddenly appeared?
…Why was that man holding Issei's wrist? Well, it was obvious that he was doing it to get a better look at those red marks, but why was he holding his wrist?
Issei flushed, and just as soon the man let go. "Tch, and I thought I would be summoned by someone who had a clue what he was doing. Well, it can't be helped." The man sighed. "My Master is my Master, and I have a duty to protect him. If you stay and hide in this place, you should be safe no matter how incompetent-"
"In the next sixty seconds," Issei hissed, "you will either tell me what on earth you're going on about or you will get out of my temple."
"You mean you don't-"
"Fifty-six."
"What kind of mage-"
"Fifty-one."
"I'm a Servant and you summoned me in order to take part in a war for the Holy Grail."
Issei paused before answering, a tad less harshly, "Can we discuss this somewhere where there isn't blood on the floor? I think I might be sick if I stay in here much longer."
"So, to recap."
Issei tried to avoid looking at the man leaning against his bedroom wall. He gripped the book he'd carried into that room tightly and began to summarize. "Servants, or heroic spirits, are summoned into this world by magi. The Servants fight and kill each other in an effort to be the last one remaining. The last Servant and his or her Master each get a wish from the Holy Grail.
"Servants are able to exist in this world because their Masters provide them with mana. Not being a mage, I don't have any mana to personally provide. However, you believe that your current source of mana is the ground on which this temple is built.
"The marks on my hand are Command Spells. They can be used to order you to do something that you do not wish to do, or something you are not usually able to do. Using all of them will make me no longer your Master. …However, I will probably not live for very long after that, so it's not a good idea.
"While it's only necessary to get rid of all the opposing Servants to win the war, epic spirits like them are difficult to defeat. Since the Master is the one allowing for the Servant's continued existence, it's usually more economical to take out the Master. While that won't work in your case, because your mana comes from the temple, our enemies don't know that and will attempt to kill me. Did I miss anything important?"
The Servant shook his head. "You catch on quickly, for someone who isn't even a mage," he noted.
"There are people who are going to be trying to kill me, and right now it looks like they would be easily able to. I'd say this was evening the playing field, but I'm still outclassed by a wide margin," Issei replied. "Which reminds me…"
He got off of his bed and bowed low. "I apologize for my inability to assist you. You ought to have a proper Master in order to get your wish fulfilled. I'll only be a handicap to you."
The other man blinked at him. "…Well, it's not precisely your fault that someone left a summoning circle lying around," he admitted quietly. "It is a handicap, but not one that I can't work with."
"So I'm forgiven for being a terrible Master?" Issei asked as he straightened up.
"I suppose," the man sighed. "There's nothing I can do about it either way."
Issei chuckled. "I'll pretend that that's a yes. Now then… My name is Ryudo Issei. What should I call you?"
He answered simply, "Archer."
"…This is a little unnerving," Issei confessed softly as he - they walked through the halls of the temple. "I mean, of course I prefer it over having to explain to my father who you are, but it's strange talking to someone you can't see."
"You'll get used to it," Archer assured him.
"I hope-" At seeing another person around the corner, Issei shut his mouth. At seeing exactly which person was around the corner, he let his mouth hang open again.
Kuzuki's fiancée smiled at him warmly before brushing past him. "Good evening, Ryudo."
Desperately, he tried to make his vocal chords work again. "…G-Good evening." After he was sure that she had gone, he let out a sigh of relief. "…That was Kuzuki's fiancée. As you can see, she's a beautiful woman."
"So she appears," Archer replied, a hard edge to his voice.
Issei frowned. "You don't like her? That's strange… Apart from my brother, I can't think of anyone in the temple who doesn't adore her."
"Issei, turn around."
Confused, Issei complied with the request. The woman had stopped further down the hall and was staring off to the side of Issei at what would have looked like nothing in particular, had he not known that Archer was standing there.
"She's another Servant."