Disclaimer: None of the characters in this fic are of my property.
This fic was born when I decided to properly re-do my first Fate/stay night megacrossover fic "Fate/redemption chronicles", which was basically a dead fic because I walled myself into far too many conflicting choices for Servants, power level issues and trying to stick closely to the original combinations of Master and Servant.
x~~*~~x
Prologue
The blonde Finn didn't know what hit her; right after she had summoned her Servant, a figure appeared from the darkness, a figure that she didn't notice due to the concentration she had devoted to the summoning ritual.
Feeling weak from the ritual, she was prepared to expend a Command Spell to force her Servant to dispose of the intruder.
She never got it off, as a short rapier pierced her heart, thrown by the intruder. She was far too slow in shielding herself, even if she had a stock of jewels that contained her prana right in her pockets.
"Tch," snorted the assassin as without any remorse, he took a dagger out of his pocket and sliced the blonde's arm containing the Command Spells off, as the Servant watched him warily. For good measure, the assassin pocketed the jewels that tumbled out of the girl's pocket.
The man looked at the Servant. She was barely five feet tall, wearing a nun's habit with chopine as her footwear. She was holding a long silver staff with six prongs at the top that resembled a lotus.
"Are you my master now?" inquired the Servant.
"Yes. Your class?" replied the assassin.
"Lancer."
x~~*~~x
I glanced at the grandfather clock in the spacious living room – the clock read that the current time was fifty-five minutes past one in the morning, Japan Standard Time or Greenwich Mean Time + 9. Five minutes left until two in the morning, where my magic would be strongest, thus facilitating, hopefully, my successful summoning of a Servant.
My entire life had been geared until this moment, ever since my father Tokiomi left ten years ago to participate in the Fourth Heaven's Feel. When he didn't return, I knew that he was gone, and I hardened my heart so that I could carry out the duty of being a Tohsaka; to represent the family in the next Heaven's Feel.
This brings me to my current situation as I head to the basement where I've already set up the ritual circle beforehand; the only thing left to do is to actually invoke the summoning and hopefully not botch the contract. I have confidence in my skills and abilities as a magus, but I'll be fucking lying if I said that I wasn't afraid in the slightest right now.
Even if I did summon a Servant, if the Command Seals did not present themselves accordingly, I could get killed by my own Servant if it was a particularly belligerent hero that did not want to take flak and orders from anyone. Worst. Death. Ever. I would sully the good name of Tohsaka if I lost the Grail War in that manner.
Finagle's Law, more commonly known as Murphy's Law in action: if anything can go wrong, it will. Sighing heavily, I reached the basement and before my feet was the large summoning circle I had done earlier. I glanced at the clock that hung from the basement wall. One fifty-eight. I had two minutes to get this show on the road.
In the midst of the summoning circle was the catalyst I would be using for my summoning. In theory, it would be the most valuable of my jewels, a particularly large ruby pendant that I had been pouring prana in ever since the day my father Tokiomi left. It was my largest store of prana outside of my own body, and in lieu with the Tohsaka style of magecraft would boost the success and possibly the rank of the Servant I would obtain.
There was an unforeseen and unexplainable aberration though. The pendant I hold in my hands is not the ruby I had been putting prana into for the past ten years, but an unidentified red sphere attached to a sturdy chain. Its hue of red was similar to my pendant, but in all respects, they were two entirely different objects. I couldn't explain it either; I found this red sphere inside the mahogany box I always kept my ruby pendant in. No one else knew of its existence, save for perhaps a certain relative who no longer lives here. I frankly cannot explain how my ruby was replaced by this red sphere, but I could practically feel the power and prana thrum through the air when I was near this small object. I sensed that it contained much more prana than my ruby pendant, so I just filed the incident aside as a blessing in disguise.
One minute left.
It's no surprise that the Servant I'm gunning to summon would be Servant Saber, said to be the most powerful amongst Servants. Statistically, Sabers have been the winners of previous Heaven's Feels, barring the unusual ones, such as the previous war which resulted in a roughly two kilometer radius of Fuyuki City being leveled into a blazing inferno. My mentor, Kotomine Kirei, the priest at the church on the hill, was one of the last Masters in the previous war and was right there when it happened.
It is time.
Taking a book from the table on the side, I stepped into the middle of the circle and held the red sphere in my left hand.
"I command thee," I intone. "Thou shalt come forth to my side. Thy sword shalt control my fate. Abiding by the Holy Grail's haven, if thou accedest to this will and reason, then answer me. The oath set forth here; I am the embodiment of good in the eternal world. I am the disposer of evil in the eternal world. Thee, the seven heavens that bear the great trinity, come forth from the circle of constraint."
Using my magic, I create a small cut in my fingers and let the blood drip onto the summoning circle, patching up my own wound with a simple healing spell once the blood has fallen. The summoning circle suddenly glows a fiery red, and I felt the insane amount of prana flowing through my body. I steeled myself, knowing that this was part of the ritual.
"O, guardian of the balance!" I cried.
I exhaled loudly and suddenly, I heard a loud explosion come from somewhere above me. I immediately knew that I had botched the summoning; my Servant was not in front of me and chances are s/he would be somewhere near the explosion that happened upstairs.
God, I wish my Servant was an amiable one or else I might be toast…
x~~*~~x
I opened the door to the living room and the sight that befell my eyes was one of chaos and destruction. The entire roof had caved in, thus allowing the moonlight to pour into the living room unfettered. Three-quarters of the room had been destroyed and I could hear someone coughing amidst the dust that got thrown up due to the mishap in my summoning. I can't understand why I blew the summoning; I did do it at the time when my magic was the strong—
My blood ran cold and I facepalmed; I had forgotten oh so inconveniently that I had moved the clocks back by an hour in the household, similar to the concept of Daylight Savings Time that Americans utilize. I did this to allow myself an hour of allowance for punctuality issues, not to mention that I am not a morning person at all.
I sighed loudly and then called out towards the rubble.
"Servant! Are you there?"
A figure emerged from the dust and my eyes narrowed to take in the person's features. A tall brunette stood there, her hair arranged in a single ponytail off to the side of her head. She appeared to be wearing a flight attendant's uniform, and her sapphire eyes looked at me in curiosity and inquisitiveness. She looked to be no older than twenty.
"Um, excuse me, but am I correct in assuming that you are my master?" asked the woman tentatively.
I nodded crisply. "Are you, as my Servant, prepared to be my sword and shield, to swear absolute fealty to me, your Master throughout the duration of the Holy Grail War, in the hope that we may emerge victorious?"
The brunette nodded and replied, "Yes, Master," before she started to giggle unexpectedly.
I raised my eyebrow in inquiry and the brunette sobered up. "I'm sorry; it's just that I'm used to being told that, not saying it."
"In any case," I continued, plowing forward with the speed of the Tunguska fireball that decimated a large portion of Siberia, "What class are you?"
"Archer," answered the brunette, looking around her for a place where she could sit. Of course, there was nowhere to sit but the floor because she had busted up her entire living room.
I sighed; I had failed in obtaining the Servant class I wanted. The brunette had her eyes trained on me as she sat down when she heard my sigh.
"Are you dissatisfied, my Master?" she asked. "Please do not feel that way; though my mission escapes me at the moment, I will do all I can to help you win, uh— what's your name?"
"Rin," I replied in surprise. Servants rarely asked for the names of their Masters; most of them preferred impersonal relationships so that their emotions would not be clouded when they had to act logically under the most dire of circumstances. Clearly, Archer did not subscribe to such nuances.
"Then… may I call you Rin-chan?" asked Archer tentatively, her sapphire eyes boring intently into me.
I must have opened my mouth in shock because she then said, "Nu-uh, I think good girls should be more refined than that, Rin-chan."
"Don't call me that!" I grumbled.
Archer looked at me with the infamous puppy dog eyes and said, "B-but I address all of my female friends with the –chan honorific. Please?"
"We are not friends," I brusquely replied. "We are Master and Servant; nothing more, nothing less."
"I'd like to change that, Rin-chan. Wouldn't it hurt for me to know the person I'll be fighting alongside with?" asked Archer.
"It wouldn't hurt," I began. "All right, I'll make a compromise. Call me Rin. Just Rin is fine."
"Rin," said Archer, clearly tasting the word on her lips. "Oh, I'm so sorry that I ruined your living room. You look tired; might I suggest you turn in to get some rest while I tidy up here?"
"Alright, Archer, I shall do that then," I said. "I expect that we have more to discuss in the morning when I wake up; we should begin strategizing as soon as possible, along with patrols."
"Good night, Rin," she said as I left the living room for my bedroom. I heard her talking to what appeared to be herself, but I was surprised to hear a monotonously digital voice reply to her in English.
"Translation magic bestowed by the Grail aside, I'm fairly certain that I just heard modern English," I muttered as I set the alarm on my bedside table to seven in the morning, thus effectively waking me at six in the morning.
x~~*~~x
When the clock struck seven in the morning, I groggily rose out of bed and immediately proceeded to the bathroom to take a morning shower to dispel sleepiness I still felt. I am not a morning person, and I won't allow Archer to see this somewhat embarrassing facet of my personality if it could be helped.
After my morning ablutions, I dressed up and went to the living room to inspect Archer's handiwork. To my pleasure, the living room was as good as new, and on the oak table was a tray with a couple of teacups and a teapot. I poured myself some tea and noted that Archer was dozing off in the couch.
"My Servant is quite unusual, isn't she," I muttered to myself. "Archer! Wake up!"
Immediately, the brunette sat up and blearily rubbed her eyes of sleep. "G-Good morning Rin-chan," she managed through a yawn.
"Don't call me that!" I reminded her brusquely.
"Okay, Rin," she replied. "In any case, what are our plans for the day? Do you have school today?"
I was puzzled at my Servant's interest in whether or not I had school on this day. To others, it would've been a trivial matter, something they didn't give one whit about. If I had to drop out of school to win, I would gladly do so.
"Today's a Sunday, so no. I plan to patrol the entire city today with you, so that you'll be able to familiarize yourself with the terrain, especially the tall buildings which are advantageous for an Archer class Servant such as yourself," I replied. "But first, I have to get some things in order. Please shift into spirit form for me."
The brunette fidgeted and replied uncertainly, "Uh, is that like illusory magic or something, so that I won't be seen?"
I sighed; how could my Servant not know how to shift into spirit form? "I don't know how you Servants do it, but you're all supposed to be able to disappear physically from the world and remain as a spirit that I can still communicate with and detect as your Master."
The brunette's face brightened. "Oh, you mean like this?"
She took three steps toward me, standing no more than a meter away when she disappeared before my eyes.
"Can you hear me, Rin?" came the telepathic voice of Archer.
"Loud and clear, Archer," I replied likewise as she came back into existence.
"Telepathic magic, huh. This makes things so much easier; it reminds me of home," said Archer wistfully.
My eyebrows shot up as far as they could. She could use telepathic magic in her past life.
"You were a magus in your past life? Who are you?" I asked, genuinely curious about the whereabouts of my Servant. Not just in the sense of strategizing for the war, but I felt myself… feel for her, as though she was someone like me.
Tohsaka Rin is not a true magus. I wouldn't kill anyone if I could help it. Not even Sakura's stupid brother Shinji, no matter how much of a groveling worm he truly is.
When Archer told me her name, my face drew a blank. "I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no idea who you are."
Archer merely smiled back and replied, "It doesn't matter to me Rin; I will be your ally and friend and help you win no matter what. I have a few requests first and foremost, regarding the extent of what I am willing to do."
"Go on," I told her when she waited for my reaction.
"For starters, I know that to defeat other Servants, I have to kill either them or their Masters. I would very much prefer to kill the Servants over the Masters, unless I see fit to kill the Master. I will defer to your judgment regarding the Masters, Rin."
"What would be your criterion in regard to killing Masters?" I inquired, curious as to the alignment of my Servant. My gut was telling me that she was Neutral Good like myself.
"I would only want to kill the Master if any and all attempts to redeem them will fail. I have a… way with crying children from my past life," said Archer with a slight chuckle. "Of course, the final word lies with you Rin, but I am sincerely hoping that you're a good girl and won't just resort to wanton violence."
I smiled at Archer's statement. The two of us are quite alike. Perhaps this is what Kirei told me about summoning a Servant closest to your personality and principles.
"I have no problem with your terms, Archer. I look forward to working with you," I said with a genuine smile on my face.
"The same to you, Rin," said Archer as she extended her left hand to me.
I shook her hand and commanded Archer to fade to spirit form. "Let's take a slow stroll around the city, so that you can easily get acclimatized to the layout of the city."
x~~*~~x
"And this is the tallest building in the city of Fuyuki," I said to Archer as she stood by my side.
"I have a question, Rin," came Archer's voice. "Why do you refer to the city as Fuyuki, Shinto and Miyama?"
"The city of Fuyuki is divided into both Shinto and Miyama. Shinto, where we are right now, is the urbanized area of Fuyuki, and Miyama is the rural and residential area. The Tohsaka mansion is in Miyama and both cities are separated by a large red bridge. There it is," I pointed to the red bridge that shone in the distance.
"Alright Archer, I want you to take me to the bridge from here. Can you do it?" I asked, having ascended the building and traveled across the city on foot at normal human speeds for the entire day.
"Rin, flying was one of the first things I learned when I first became a mage," said Archer with a light chuckle as she gently wrapped her right arm around my waist and took off into the night sky.
Pink fins suddenly sprouted from her feet and I immediately thought that we looked extremely conspicuous against the gentle night sky. "Archer, can't you do anything about the fins on your feet? Any Servant with good eyesight can spot us from at least two miles away."
"I can disillusion the fins with some magic," said Archer as she pointed her left hand at her feet. Her hand began to glow pink and suddenly, the fins disappeared from my view, though we were still flying at nearly eighty kilometers per hour towards the bridge.
"Say Archer, is that the fastest you can go?" I inquired as we arrived at the bridge a few seconds later.
"Not really; I've flown at the speed of sound before," replied Archer cheerfully, following me as I began walking towards the park in the middle of Fuyuki City. "I didn't want to try breaking the sound barrier though; I'd expect the effect on my eardrums to be unpleasant, magic or no magic."
Archer chuckled as she fell into step beside me, the two of us walking in silence as she observed the surroundings, hopefully committing every detail to her memory.
In what seemed like no time at all, we arrived at Fuyuki Central Park. It was a large meadow amidst trees, with streetlights and benches lining the roads meandering through the forest.
"Why are we here, Rin?" inquired Archer.
"I just wanted to show you where the previous War ended. My mentor was one of the participants and he was at the scene of the horrible tragedy."
I shuddered as Archer spoke. "Tragedy? What happened?"
"Ten years ago, this entire meadow used to be a residential district. At the climax of the Fourth Heaven's Feel, a huge conflagration took place here, incinerating 95% of all the people who lived here. A few children survived and were taken to the hospital, then put up for adoption," I whispered, feeling sadness for the hundreds of people who perished in the conflagration.
Kirei spared me the details of what happened that night, and neither was I curious enough to press the matter.
"Let's go home, Archer," I said when suddenly, Archer cried out.
"Rin-chan!"
I spun on my heel, hands in my pocket ready to throw one of my precious jewels at the assailant when suddenly, a pink barrier appeared in front of me, blocking the projectile that would have surely taken my life had it passed unimpeded.
At the opposite end of the clearing, two figures appeared. They were roughly the same height. One was a little girl with long white hair and piercing ruby eyes, wearing a purple winter coat. The other was another girl with long white hair, though her eyes were a gentle hazel. Her mouth was set in such a way that she displayed next to no emotion, and I was indeed, unable to discern her demeanor from simple observation. She was wearing a white blazer with a light-blue skirt, and my eyes traveled to her arms.
Her hands.
At the ends of her hands, twin blades of crystal were there, and without warning, she swung her right arm in a fierce cross, causing a crystal blade to rocket towards me at speeds approaching the speed of sound. The pink barrier appeared in front of me and Archer again, and this time, I was able to observe that the pink shield had foreign looking runes on its outer edge. I gazed to my right and surely enough, Archer's left hand was extended, the shield emanating from her hand and protecting us both.
"Good evening, Tohsaka Rin," said the girl wearing the winter coat. "My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern; I'm sure you've heard of my family. You may call me Ilya."
"An Einzbern, huh. I know a lot about you people," I said neutrally. "Archer, you may release your shield."
"As you should, Rin," replied Ilya. "Us Einzberns used to be allies with your family, after all. Of course, things have changed since then."
"Rin, what should I do?" whispered Archer who was standing beside me, ready to move at my command.
"React accordingly," came my reply. "So Ilya, I assume that the girl beside you is your Servant? The two of you look quite alike."
"Correct, Rin," said Ilya with a slight giggle. "This is Assassin. Apparently, there's a bug with the Grail for this war and I was able to summon a false assassin. This girl here is clearly not a descendant of the original Hassan-i-Sabbah. Of course, I had to find for myself if she was a formidable Servant and I was pleased with what I saw."
As if in reply, Assassin nodded slightly at Ilya and faced us once more, the twin blades of crystal still present.
"Assassin, slice them up," said Ilya with a sweet smile on her face as she issued the command.
Without warning, Assassin dashed in and threw a volley of crystal daggers at Archer and I, and Archer once again created the pink shield that protected us both.
"Rin! I need to equip myself for this battle. This shield should hold, and the moment I'm ready, I want you to get away as far as you can from Ilya and Assassin, alright?" came Archer's voice through my mind.
I nodded and without warning, a blinding pink light shone in the midst of a clearing, bright enough for Assassin to back off in surprise. When the brightness abated, I saw the red sphere I had used to summon Archer enlarge and suddenly form a staff in her left hand that was colored pink, yellow and white, with the sphere being the core of the staff.
"The catalyst I used is part of her equipment?" I uttered in disbelief. "Just how much prana does that thing have anyway?"
The next thing that happened completely blew me away in surprise.
"Set up," intoned the staff, the digital voice obviously issuing from the red sphere. "Protection."
The shield suddenly hummed and it was no longer flat like the previous shield; this time, it was a rippling shield of pink and to my immense surprise, the crystal daggers that flew at us rebounded off the shield and locked onto Assassin, who tried to dodge them and did so successfully.
In the intensity of the flying projectiles, I forgot about Archer and spared her a glance. To my surprise, she was now wearing a blue-and-white dress, with large cuffs on her arms. Her hair was now tied in pigtails like my own and without warning pink balls of magical energy formed around her as she began to float a few meters above the ground.
"Rin, I changed my mind. It's better if you're near me so I can easily reach you in case you're in danger. I trust that you've trained yourself for this and can hold a minor assault off, alright?"
"Of course Archer, I've trained my entire life for this very war," I replied through our telepathic link.
I could've sworn that I saw a sad smile on Archer's face when she suddenly shot the pink orbs at a volley of crystal daggers that headed my way. I took a jewel in my hands, about to utter the incantation for a shielding spell when Archer's orbs collided with every single dagger, destroying them in the process.
She began to fly circles around Assassin, who was still on the ground, seemingly analyzing her situation while Ilya was beside her, confident in her Servant's abilities.
"Rin, what do I do about the Master, Ilya? Should I k-kill her?"
I thought I heard Archer's voice crack through our link when I replied, "That won't be necessary yet; I'd like to evaluate your skills against Assassin first and foremost. I like what I see so far; seems like there's no need for me to provide cover fire."
Without replying, Archer formed more pink orbs around her while Assassin continued to throw volleys of crystal daggers at Archer who dodged them through the use of acrobatic flight moves.
"Axel Shooter," intoned the staff, as around thirty orbs formed around Archer that immediately strategically circled Ilya and Assassin in ways that cut off nearly every possible escape route. The pink orbs homed in towards their targets at lightning fast speeds, rending them apart with the magical energy invested in them.
Only thing was, it didn't happen because Assassin muttered in a low voice.
"Guard Skill: Distortion."
Suddenly, all the pink orbs that Archer and her staff controlled wildly veered off their intended paths and exploded at random intervals along the grass field.
"She can disrupt my shots, Rin. I can take control of them again, but that will leave you exposed since I have to expend more effort to regain their control," came Archer's voice.
I nodded in distraction, seeing how effortlessly Assassin redirected Archer's magic orbs.
"How boring," said Ilya. "Is that the best your puny Archer can do? Assassin, show them what else you've got!"
Assassin nodded and suddenly, the twin blades on her arms glowed in light.
"Guard Skill: Hand Sonic, version three."
The blades on her hands suddenly morphed into a pair of sai, and she swung her arms at us rapidly, shooting crystal sai at us. Archer formed more pink orbs as she began to counterattack.
"Round Shield," intoned the staff as the familiar pink barrier rose between Assassin and Archer encompassing myself, when suddenly, the projectiles all split in half, the other half of the sai going around the shield that Archer created.
"Axel Shooter," intoned the staff once again as the pink orbs shot down all the projectiles that the shield did not manage to stop.
"This is really boring me, Rin," said Ilya. "Our Servants are a far too even match. Come Assassin, let's go home."
Archer then descended and landed beside me on the grass when suddenly, Ilya looked to the west with a look of fear on her eyes.
"Onii-chan… Should I…?"
I noted that this was the first time tonight I had seen fear on Ilya's eyes. I didn't understand what that was supposed to mean, but suddenly, Archer spoke.
"Rin, the Wide Area Search I cast while we were flying earlier towards the bridge has detected a large magical disturbance roughly eight kilometers to the west. Perhaps that is something we should check out?"
"Eight kilometers to the west…," I mused, as Ilya hopped into Assassin's arms as the latter began to dash towards the west at inhuman speeds.
My blood ran cold. Eight kilometers to the west… oh no no no no no. It can't be… his house?
"Archer!" I screamed. "Let's get there as fast as we can; this might be really really important!"
"Yes Rin," replied Archer instantly as she gently wrapped her right arm around my waist as we took off into the night sky headed for Miyama City.
Please, please, don't let it be his house…
x~~*~~x
I hope the prologue was somewhat true to the prologue in the visual novel in terms of writing.
I think both the identities of Archer and Assassin are very very obvious, since they used key attacks in this chapter. As for Lancer, either you know her, or you don't as of this prologue.
Please read and review!
