This is my first ever OC-centric story so I hope you all will be kind to me and offer reviews/constructive criticism for me to improve! On another note, the image used is edited by myself and by no means say that I own any of the Fate franchise. The series is owned by Type-Moon and Nasu, so yeah.
Warning: This is set in a wholly different universe where Emiya and the others DO NOT EXIST. The Grail here is not owned by the Einzberns and everything is washed and rinsed and is a completely different story using the Holy Grail War as its premise. The Fate VN, Anime, and games might be mentioned and alluded to, but all the characters here are Original and aren't related to any of the characters in the franchise. There are new Servants and might probably use existing Servants, but all the Masters are OC. IF THIS BOTHERS YOU, PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. Thank you!
Revelation ~啓示~
Morita Otsune stared at the seated students around her, all of them sporting such calm and relaxed expressions that she didn't know what to think. How could they take all of this in stride when she herself felt that she would faint at any time? She could feel the bile rise up from her throat and she had to bring up at a hand to her mouth to keep it in.
The six of them were seated in a rectangular position with the same shaped table in their midst, three on each elongated side with no one sitting at the end. A large projector was on top of the mahogany furniture which was facing a large white cloth held together by twin black poles made of ceramic. The atmosphere in the lightly dimmed room was not at all tense, but Otsune knew that every last one of them was on guard.
Her position was located in the middle of two students on the left side of the table from the door, and the feeling of being in the center of two males that were very capable of ripping her innards out with just a flick of their wrists didn't really sit well with her at all. She wished that one of her members were here, just so that she could feel as if she was a tiny bit protected.
On her right was the president of the Student Council, a tall silver haired male with soft green eyes, but she shouldn't be fooled by his almost gentle countenance. Harada Yoshio was anything but, hiding a horrifyingly sharp mind behind a well-practiced smile. His influence on the school was terrifying; with the entire normal students ready to prostate themselves before him with just one word of order. The rumors surrounding him and the Council were also taken into account, as they weren't known for their legal jargon, and they made the saying that justice wasn't for the weak a fact to all the young people in the campus.
The one seated to her left was the charming president of the school's Newspaper club, but all of them knew that the organization was just hiding the fact that they were more of an underground information facility masquerading as a harmless mass communications group. Mochizuki Ryobe had wavy blue hair hugging the nape of his neck with a few stray fringes falling down his forehead from the gel that he was using and soft purple eyes bordering on lavender. Every time she passed by him in the halls, he always sported a perpetual smile on his handsome face that made him look more approachable, which belied a more sinister and wicked personality win would gladly sell your soul in exchange for information.
He was just that kind of person.
"You look tense."
Otsune literally bounced on her seat when one of the males in front of her directly regarded her with molten gold eyes and a misleading smirk on his well-structured face. His red hair bordering maroon fell over his half-lidded eyes meant to seduce. Good thing that she was somewhat immune of his charms, or else she would have fallen for him long ago. Furukawa Toshiro was a despicable man who had no qualms in using his sexuality as a weapon to get what he wanted. His position as president of the famed Performance club was just a means to an end, because he loved attention and craved for it more than breathing. He was disgusting, and Otsune utterly despised him to the deepest parts of hell.
"I-I'm not," she inwardly cursed herself for stumbling over her words, because although she hated the male, he was still one handsome boy, "I'm just quite annoyed. Why isn't the meeting starting yet?"
"Patience was never your virtue, as I recall."
Her attention shifted to the only other girl in the room. Her eyes were like the sky itself, calming, peaceful, but devoid of clouds, expressive yet blank at the same time. Her silver locks fell down to an inch just above her shoulders, making her look younger than she really was. Asuka Teru appeared harmless, but there was a reason she was the president of the Disciplinary Committee. Her words, hidden beneath sweet nothings, stung like a large hungry bee, desperate for despair, and her ways to make everyone submit was subtle, but brutal at most. She was a walking torture chamber.
"What's it to you, Asuka?" Otsune grumbled, narrowing her dark blue eyes at the smaller girl who just shrugged. Otsune could admit that she was brave enough to talk back to Teru because the latter would let her. Maybe her attempt to hide her fear was entertaining to the girl, but Otsune was glad to have any outlet for her frustrations.
"She was just asking, Morita-san. She's just asking," a soft voice interjected and Otsune glanced at the boy beside Teru, his blue hair wild and steel gray eyes sharp, "hostility will get you nowhere."
Sakurai Tessai was probably the most dangerous one in the room, his true intentions being kept by a frail body and pale skin. He was shy, barely standing straight even though he was shorter than many, and hesitation followed his footsteps like a well-trained dog. But that was when he was sane. He seemed to suffer a case of schizophrenia, docile the first and physically violent the next. As president of the Manga Recommendations club, he was expected to be weird but he took it to a whole new level. He actually used his manga as bases for bloody torture, and Otsune was freaking terrified of him.
He was a lot worse than the others because he committed these crimes in cold blood, actually prolonging the pain just to crack a smile with wide eyes.
Insanity.
The school housed such demented students that Otsune had half a mind to pack her things and go home, but she couldn't. There was something holding her back. As president of the Language Center, she had people to protect, her members that firmly believed in her and followed her loyally without question. They were the ones who kept her going, so in turn, she would make sure they stayed alive throughout their habitation within the asylum called school.
"I heard that Kato Shinsaku-kun is coming back to continue his studies here," Ryobe abruptly changed topic, turning to face Yoshio with a curious tilt of his head, "and he's still a Council member. Is this true?"
Yoshio chuckled, leaning backward with a wave of his hand, "Stop playing, Ryobe-san. We all know that you know everything."
The duo laughed good-naturedly, but everyone knew how fake their camaraderie was. Between the presidents, friendship was only the cover of an internal want to dominate their more weak-willed peers. As they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and all of them were as tightly knit as a beautifully threaded scarf. Except for herself of course. Otsune had no such desire to incline herself with such immoral people.
The tension was so thick that one could cut it with a knife. Even as Yoshio and Ryobe smiled at each other, their eyes held suspicion of the other's intent, hidden well enough that you would only see it if you were looking hard enough.
Otsune subtly glanced at the others, curious of their reactions. She prided herself in making hypotheses in psychology, but she had problems with drawing correct conclusions.
Toshiro was watching the spectacle with a look of unholy glee in his golden eyes which was currently shining like that a feline. His mouth was stretched into a wide grin and he licked his lips slowly, as if already savoring the taste of the heat Yoshio and Ryobe were releasing. His fingers were gripping the edge of the table that it was turning white with the force exerted and Otsune was afraid that he would join the fray resulting in more bloody circumstances.
She was not ready for that.
Teru's eyes were trained on the two opposing males, face betraying none of her thoughts. Her entire body was relaxed, hands folded in her lap like she was attending some sort of tea party as she surely looked the part of a demure guest. Her rhythmic blinking showed that she neither cared nor liked the way they were fighting, but Otsune noticed that her pupils were minutely moving and twitching, giving her the notion that Teru wasn't as apathetic as she thought.
Lastly, Tessai was silently observing from his seat, form rigid and preparing to strike if needed. His shoulders were trembling and his teeth were clenched so hard that she was certain his jaw would break. His eyes were alternately darting from the subjects and back to the projector, as if hoping that the thing would turn on distracting everyone from the impending verbal war.
And as if on cue, the machinery flashed to life and the room was flooded into darkness, with only the light from the projector illuminating them and making their faces look pale and ghostly with the dim lighting.
They all sat straight and expectantly stared at the makeshift monitor, eagerly waiting for the instructions that were soon to be given to them. The motion picture blurred, then out came the familiar figure of their master.
Onizuka Doryuu.
As one, all six of them present in the room bowed their heads in a sign of respect for someone with higher rank than them, and in low voices, acknowledged his presence in their midst.
"Okaeri, Onizuka-sama."
Their tone was the same; mechanical and indifferent, as they were ordered to do so when they talked to their master.
Otsune looked up and was met with the creepy smiling clown mark that Onizuka was rather fond of wearing to hide his whole face with only wisps of his graying hair visible poking from his dark hood. The clown mask, in all honesty, disturbed the crap out of her, with a single tear drop etched just underneath an eyehole giving it the expression that it was crying tears of joy. But what scared Otsune the most was the eyes through the mask that stared at all of them with an all-knowing emotion behind its red color.
He was always watching them.
Shuddering, Otsune subtly gulped mouthfuls of air as best as she could without opening her mouth too wide so as not to attract the attention of her seatmates. Good thing the darkness hid her actions and nobody even suspected that she was on the brink of spontaneously combusting in her chair.
Thank the gods for small favors.
"Good evening my children," Onizuka exclaimed in a rasp, arms spreading as if welcoming them into a hug, "I'm glad that all of you are healthy and all accounted for. I'm terribly sorry but I have to skip the pleasantries for now as I have an urgent announcement to make."
"How urgent, Onizuka-sama? The usual normal circumstances or," Yoshio spoke up then slid his narrowed eyes towards Ryobe who just smiled and raised an eyebrow, "the life and death kind?"
"Excellent question, Yoshio-chan," Onizuka gestured towards the silver haired student council president who twitched at the childish honorific.
Yoshio did nothing to chastise their master, of course, and Onizuka continued, "I'm afraid to say that the latter part of your question is the one in the right. The time has come, children, for the war to once again commence."
War? What war?
Otsune looked around with wide eyes and was surprised at how well all of them were taking the news, as if they knew all along what was going to happen. Their relaxed stances were proving to be unnerving, because she dared to open her mouth and demand an explanation.
"War? I'm sorry for speaking out of turn, Onizuka-sama, but I know nothing about this so-called war," she hissed out the last part as if it was acid, glaring at everyone present. She almost growled when it was the silver haired doll that reacted, and with an insulting look, to add to injury.
"That's right, Otsune-san is a new student and she knows close to nothing," Teru looked positively gleeful at the prospect that Otsune was out of the loop, her blank expression melting and was being replaced by a bright smile, "I would explain, but I know that you hate being treated like a burden."
"You know nothing, Ningyou-sama," Otsune sarcastically retorted, resisting the urge to reach over the table and strangle the smaller girl, "If I really do need an explanation, I won't be taking it from a spoiled liar like you."
Teru frowned, "Hold your tongue."
Before Otsune could make a comeback, Onizuka cleared his throat and waved his hands in a placating manner, "Now now girls, this is no time to fight. A war is at hand, and you two could fight anytime you want during the event, within rules of course, but right now, I shall explain the war for the less knowledgeable in this room. Other than Otsune-chan, who here doesn't know about the war?"
Ryobe immediately shot his hand up with a serene smile on his face, "Same as Otsune-san, I am a new student, but I know some of the information since I dared not to breach the school security system to know more. It was quite heavily guarded."
If Mochizuki Ryobe himself felt that it was heavily guarded, then Otsune knew that she had no chance in hell to acquire such protected information. And it was only Ryobe who would proudly declare that he tried to destroy school property.
As Onizuka nodded contemplatively, Tessai also raised a hesitant hand, his eyes downcast.
"The first time Okimoto-sensei tried to explain to me the war system, he gave me a choice, which I thought was weird at first," he muttered, squirming in his seat as all eyes turned to him, "I thought it was unimportant, an optional choice. I mean, why else would he make me choose? So I stopped him from talking further."
"And of course, Okimoto-sensei let you walk off with no care whatsoever," Toshiro chuckled, smirking at the younger male who averted his eyes, "typical of him."
"Which means Otsune-chan, Ryobe-chan, and Tessai-chan are the ones who has limited knowledge of this event," Onizuka gave a fake, long-suffering sigh, his flair for dramatics showing once more, "I was hoping to spare the explanations but I guess there is no helping it. Fate must want me to talk."
The screen blurred once more then a picture of an antique cup appeared. It was silvery-gold in color with on designs at all but it was molded with intricate care so that it looked like the chalice of a church's priest. Otsune noticed it was empty and was standing on top of either a white cloth or white table.
"Can anyone tell me what this wonderful artifact is?"
"The Holy Grail."
As one, Yoshio, Teru, and Toshiro uttered the words as if it was something of reverence, whispery undertone and different pitched wonder. The trio's eyes were glassy as they stared at the screen, as if the cup was something they had coveted all their lives. Otsune resisted the urge to shudder, as what they were doing was making her hackles rise like a cornered feline.
At her confused look, Ryobe leaned towards her with a glint in his hooded eyes.
"They have expected this since they were born, you know," he whispered and she furrowed her brows.
"What do you mean?"
Ryobe shrugged innocently and went back to gazing at the Grail. What was so special about an old cup that it had caught the others' attention so easily?
Onizuka's voice echoed once again, bouncing off the walls in an ominous way that this time Otsune couldn't help but shiver a bit. This was getting quite disturbing and she wanted to escape as fast she could from this small gathering of circus freaks.
"Yes, the Holy Grail!" he boomed and Otsune imagined him with his arms outstretched and his masked face turning towards the sky. Their master was weird like that.
"The Holy Grail that has the power to grant your deepest, darkest desires," Onizuka continued, a hand moving to cover his masked mouth, "well technically, it's just something used to summon the real Grail, anyway."
The Holy Grail? Wasn't that just a legend? A bedtime myth for children under six years old? Otsune voiced her opinion out loud and their master chuckled.
"Oh, it's true. So very true," he placed his fingers in the corners of his mouth and childishly tilted his head, "in fact, the current vessel is right here in this very campus."
Otsune didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to react, since she still couldn't understand what this so-called war was all about. The Holy Grail was the cup where Christ's blood was held in Christian beliefs, so how could it grant wishes? And what did Onizuka mean when he said that the vessel was in the campus? What vessel?
Resisting the urge to demand for answers, she roamed her eyes around to look at her companions while subtly bringing a hand to massage her slowly aching head. As expected, Ryobe and Tessai both looked unaffected with the news since they too had no past knowledge of the war other than textbook ones, and Otsune was slightly glad, but if their reactions were as calm as pie, she couldn't say the same for the other trio in the room.
Yoshio was looking as if someone just stabbed him in the gut and twisted the knife painfully with the grimace that made its way to his face. Teru seemed ready to either cry out of despair or throw a huge temper tantrum of massive proportions. Toshiro had his hands fisted so tightly that Otsune was sure that his fingernails were digging into tender skin and half-expected to see blood trailing down his palms.
"Yes," Onizuka's voice deepened, as if he was speaking from inside a well, and Otsune swore that his eyes actually flashed, "the vessel is just inside this campus."
She didn't know why, but Otsune felt fear.
She was scared.