This is the rewrite of the story I started a few months ago, A Convergence of Fate. I'm fixing a lot of the problems that original version had with POV and hiding information unnecessarily. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The only thing I own is my Saber in Fate Grand Order.
Bright green eyes snapped open as their owner awoke to the soft morning light streaming in from the nearby window. Saber, Arturia to her partners, was used to quickly awakening at any moment from her time as King and so found it easy to rise early each day.
Saber took a short moment to assess her surroundings. The room around her was sparsely furnished, typical for a college dorm room. The most distinctive feature of the room was the large, comfortable bed her body was currently resting on and the two warm bodies that lay on either side of her. One belonged to a young man that was now slowly clambering out of bed. She caught sight of his red hair with specks of grey as he exited the bedroom.
She was always a little amazed by Shirou Emiya's self-discipline. She had known many knights from her time as King that were able to get up at a moment's notice and she even possessed this trait herself. But that was because those knights needed to be able to react quickly in times of war. For Shirou, someone who lived in modern times, to be able to rise at the same time each morning without fail was impressive. It made her feel a little miffed at him sometimes, she was the King of Knights after all, and it should be her that awakened first to prepare for the day.
Slowly, Saber's mind focused on a fact that it had ignored earlier in her tired state. She was still in bed, Shirou had just left, and there was still another body sprawled next to her. That meant it was her turn to wake Rin Tohsaka up. With a groan Saber sat up and brushed strands of her golden blonde hair out of her face, lamenting that it was too uncomfortable to keep it in her signature bun while sleeping. She glanced down at the third member of their ménage à trois.
Rin's body was lying haphazardly on one side of the bed. Her long, disheveled black hair was strewn about herself like the reaching branches of a tree. It took Rin a long time each morning to straighten and arrange her hair, especially now that she no longer used her twin tails style and instead wore her hair straight. Saber was very thankful that her own shorter hair was not nearly as difficult to handle.
Saber sighed internally at the short detour her thoughts had taken. She mentally emboldened herself, it would not do to continue to delay her task of waking Rin. It had to be done. Reluctantly, Saber moved off the bed and walked around to the side Rin was sleeping on. 'She looks peaceful, not tossing in her sleep right now, that's a good sign,' Saber mused to herself, 'maybe I could wake her up gently this time.'
"Rin, Rin," Saber called quietly, softly shaking Rin's shoulder. Rin only mumbled incoherently and shifted slightly in her sleep. Saber began to shake Rin a bit harder and called louder but Rin only groaned, refusing to wake. Not wanting to shout, Saber bent down to lift Rin out of bed.
"Mmm, Shirou," Rin mumbled, now that she was this close Saber could make out Rin's words. Saber wondered if this was how Shirou usually woke Rin up when it was his turn. Before Saber could begin to lift Rin, she was suddenly grabbed and brought down closer to the bed. Saber's exclamation of surprise was quickly muffled as her mouth was caught by Rin's lips.
Saber froze up in surprise, not sure how to deal with this unexpected event. Dimly, Saber was aware that Rin's lips were pressed against her own in a sleepy imitation of a kiss before Rin pushed her away, mumbling something about five more minutes. In a daze, Saber walked on autopilot out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, her mind not registering anything of the trip.
Awareness flooded back into Saber and she found herself staring at her own reflection in the bathroom mirror. Recalling what had just occurred, her face instantly exploded into a massive red blush. In an attempt to calm down, Saber began to try to rationalize what had just happened.
'Calm down, Arturia. There shouldn't be anything surprising about Rin kissing you, you are l-lovers after all. So what if that was the first time Rin's kissed you, you've certainly done much more with Shirou and Rin before. Although, Shirou has always been there as a kind of buffer. It's always been him and me, him and Rin, or all three of us. But Rin and I haven't really done anything together without Shirou there. Did Rin know it was me in the room? Maybe Rin wants to advance her relationship with me? Or maybe she thinks it's natural and I'm being weird for worrying so much? Gah! I'm overthinking this. Alright, I'll just act normal and wait to see what Rin does. A-And we'll go from there.'
Her mind made up, Saber completed her morning ablutions and exited the bathroom. Returning to the bedroom to put on her outfit for the day, Saber found that Rin must have somehow woken herself up or Shirou came in because she was no longer sleeping on the bed. After changing out of her nightclothes, Saber followed the delicious smell of Shirou's cooking and entered the kitchen. Upon seeing the large portion of breakfast set out for her, Saber fell into a food trance and began to quickly inhale all that was on her plate.
Only when her plate had been cleaned and the edge of her hunger sated did Saber look up and across the table. Shirou was busy filling her plate with its second portion of breakfast and in Rin's usual spot was a cup of half full tea.
"Rin went to the bathroom when she saw you get here for breakfast," Shirou explained after seeing Saber's gaze directed at Rin's cup. Saber nodded in acknowledgement, now that her initial hunger had been filled she could hold a conversation while consuming her second helping at a slightly more dignified pace.
"What do you think will be the topic of our first lecture today?" Shirou asked.
"Most likely a continuation on the differences between general magic and magic that requires a specific Element or Origin," Saber replied while she was once again reminded of how she came to study magic with Shirou.
Saber always had to smile when she remembered the events that led her to join the same novice magic courses as Shirou. She had no intention of learning magic when she had first arrived at Clocktower in London, England with her two partners, even though she had the ability with her powerful magical, draconic core. She had wanted to experience a simple life as a normal girl that she had given up when she had taken the mantle of King Arthur.
Of course, her plan hadn't worked out exactly in the way Saber imagined. Rin was the one who had originally received the invitation to Clocktower by the Mages Association. As a foreign student with little family connections, Rin was not given as many concessions as other, more influential students were. Because of this, Rin was only allowed to bring an apprentice and bodyguard with her to Clocktower.
As Shirou already filled the role of Rin's apprentice, it fell to Saber to act as the official bodyguard to the Tohsaka heiress. Additionally, the Noble families of the Mages Association payed close attention to the results of the 5th Holy Grail War that Rin and Shirou were a part of. It did not take long for the Mages Association to put facts together and discover that Saber was one of the Servants summoned by the Holy Grail for the War. So basically everyone in Clocktower knew that she was a Hero from legend, though not her true identity. It didn't help that she still went by the title of Saber and only allowed Shirou and Rin to call her by her real name in private. But even though everyone was in awe of her status as a Hero, she was determined to experience a normal girl's life.
There was only one thing that Saber didn't count on. How absolutely bored she was without anything to do. It only took two days before she realized that she had nothing to do with her time and that though she enjoyed eating, a real hobby it was not. At first, she had wanted to learn to cook as she felt it was something she would have learned as a woman living in her original time and that she would enjoy the end result.
Shortly after that decision, Shirou and Rin had returned from class to find a panicking Saber attempting to put out a wall of fire coming from their old kitchen. Luckily they were able to contain the flames. Afterwards, while a solitary tear marked its way down her slightly soot covered face in remembrance of the good food that was sacrificed, Saber had agreed that she would only cook under Shirou's or Rin's supervision until she became more skilled. The trio were quickly kicked out of that dormitory and they were forced to find other accommodation.
Saber again ran into the same problem of having nothing to do while Shirou and Rin were in class. Eventually, Saber admitted to her original interest in magic and expressed a desire to learn, after a few of her concerns were answered. Shirou and Rin assured her that the only one who would be willing to perform a magical prank on her would be Zelretch, who they couldn't stop, and that there would be no magical genitalia of any kind, the pair deciding they really didn't want to know the story behind this concern. Saber then agreed to begin taking the General Fundamental courses with Shirou to learn how to use her massive magic core for more than bursts of Prana and use with her sword, Excalibur.
After a while, Saber noticed Rin emerge from the bathroom and sit down at the table to begin her own breakfast. Saber could feel her face begin to heat up again but tried to compose herself. Rin and Shirou began a conversation though Saber could only reply in short, one word answers as her throat seemed to tighten and words would die in her mouth.
Saber watched Rin carefully for any sign of something, of what she didn't really know, only for some hint that things were different. But Saber could not discern any change, Rin seemed to be acting the same as ever. Eventually Saber was able to relax around Rin and take part in the conversation more. She concluded that Rin, in her half asleep state, must have thought it was Shirou that had come to wake her up. Saber couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed by this conclusion.
After their meal the trio left their dorm and entered the main lecture building, beginning to walk down the long hallways to their classes; Rin to her independent study as an apprentice of Zelretch, while Shirou and Saber attended some of the novice magic courses. Though Shirou was technically Rin's apprentice, there wasn't anything she could teach him regarding his specialty of Reinforcement and Projection magic and it was more efficient time-wise for him to just attend the general magic courses for his fundamentals along with Saber, with Rin teaching them a few of the more advanced lessons they could use.
Saber knew that Shirou was originally skeptical of how effective the classes would be since his Father and Rin had constantly told him about how Magi didn't like to spread their knowledge outside of their families, but he was pleasantly surprised. Of course the classes didn't teach any advanced magic or specific magic types, but they were actually very useful for learning the basic fundamentals of magic. Something that Shirou and Saber both needed since his father didn't actually teach him very much and the only magic training Saber had was picked up from watching her Court Wizard, Merlin.
Along the way to their classes, Rin was mumbling about infuriating vampires while preparing for her continued experiments into how to properly use the Second True Magic or operation of parallel worlds as Shirou and Saber reviewed their notes in preparation for their upcoming lecture. The trio had just reached the hallway leading to the beginner magic lecture hall when they were stopped by a voice calling out from behind them.
"Yoohoo! Sherou!"
Rin cringed as she recognized the voice, it belonged to Luviagelita Edelfelt. To Rin, the sound of Edelfelt's falsely sweet voice grated on her ears. Rin could not understand how everyone else could think Edelfelt had a beautiful voice, but not even Shirou or Saber agreed with her that the sound was horrible.
"Oh, hello Miss Edelfelt," Shirou replied, turning to face the speaker.
Rin's face became strained and her clear blue eyes darkened as she turned to face the Edelfelt heiress, Luviagelita was a young woman about Rin's and Shirou's age; she was easily identified by her long blond hair that was styled in a distinctive design of multiple coils which resembled large drills. Rin and her were not friendly towards one another and competed in a rivalry of sorts. Both of their families specialized in Jewelcraft magic and each family accused the other of stealing their secrets. The two had even competed for the position of Zelretch's apprentice when they had first arrived at Clocktower. In the end, Rin was chosen as the apprentice; which she had smugly lorded over the Edelfelt heiress for days afterwards.
"What's with the 'Miss Edelfelt'? I told you to call me Luvia, Sherou," Luvia said wearing a small frown.
Rin began to twitch at hearing Edelfelt speak to Shirou so frankly. The two had met sometime after Saber had caused them to be kicked out of their old dorms. Edelfelt apparently took a liking to Shirou and offered him an apartment on the floor of a dormitory her family had bought out. Of course, she didn't know at the time that Saber and Rin were living with him as well.
Ever since, Edelfelt had subtly flirted with Shirou while making not so subtle insults towards Rin. For some reason, she seemed alright with Saber and would often make offers for the two of them to live with her, 'as she could provide a much better employment for the two than they had currently'. Rin decided to quickly nip this conversation in the bud; not that she didn't trust Shirou, though Saber's forceful statement that "Under no circumstances would any new members be added to their relationship" helped, but she didn't want Edelfelt to get too close with him.
"Ha!" she interrupted, "Shirou's polite to a fault. There's no way he would address someone he has only known recently so informally. In fact, even I, his partner and mentor for years, am still addressed by 'Tohsaka' from time to time. So there's no chance in-"
"Alright, Luvia. Since we're close friends I'll call you by your first name," Shirou interrupted with a ghost of a smile on his face. Upon hearing this, Luvia directed a smug, triumphant grin at Rin.
"Bu-Shirou!" Rin yelled, her confusion and slight pain quickly turning to anger, "why would you call that…that…HER by her first name but not do the same for me?"
"It's like I said before, Tohsaka," Shirou answered, ignoring the small flinch Rin gave off when he addressed her, "Luvia and I have known each other for a while now, and I would say we're pretty good friends, so I'm perfectly comfortable with speaking to her on a first name basis."
"Fine," Rin all but growled, "but then why won't you do the same for me? We've known each other for much longer plus we've fought together and…exchanged Prana," she said, mumbling the last few words.
"I'm sorry, Tohsaka," Shirou replied innocently. "I thought you liked being addressed by your family name."
"Why would you think tha-"
"Would you like me to call you by your given name from now on, Tohsaka?" Shirou asked with a smirk on his face.
And suddenly, Rin realized that Shirou had been teasing her this whole time. His apparent cluelessness, his continual calling her by 'Tohsaka', his subtly goading words, they were all to make her feel jealous of Luvia and play on her emotions. Looking at his face, Rin could tell that from nearly the beginning Shirou had manipulated the conversation until it had reached this exact moment. Forcing her to tell him how intimately he wanted to speak to her in public, and in front of her rival Luvia too. It was low, it was manipulative, and it was even a little mean. And Rin was so proud!
Finally after months, no, years of trying to break him and Saber out of their shells with her own teasing and manipulative remarks, she could recognize him as a worthy adversary in the art of banter. She knew he had a sarcastic and witty side, it just needed to be brought out. But even these feelings of pride in her student didn't distract her from her problem for long. She still had to respond to his question after all, but how to do so?
She could haughtily tell him to call her 'Tohsaka'. It would save her pride from being damaged in front of him, Saber, and Luvia. Unfortunately, Shirou would mock her mercilessly if she did that. He would cite this as proof that she was a Tsundere. He may even bring back the long hated nickname he had given her, TsundeRin! That mustn't be allowed to happen. Her other option was to tell him to call her 'Rin'. On the plus, he would probably keep his word and actually call her by her given name from now on. But, to tell him that would be a huge blow to her pride as the Tohsaka heiress, not to mention she would have to do so in front of Luvia, her rival, and Saber, her fellow lover.
Faced with such a difficult choice, Rin looked to the only one who would be willing to get her out of this predicament. However, Saber was watching intently with a satisfied and humored expression. No help there. Blushing slightly, Rin opened her mouth and answered with the best choice she could see.
"…"
"What was that?" Shirou asked mockingly, "I couldn't quite hear, could you say it a bit louder?"
Rin glared at him, her blush only growing in intensity. He wasn't even trying to hide his smirk now, the bastard.
"I said to call me 'Rin' alright?" she exclaimed in embarrassment.
"Alright Rin," he said, now smiling at her sincerely. Of course this only served to increase Rin's embarrassment as she ducked her head slightly and began mumbling incoherently.
"Ohoho," Luvia laughed, "what happened to that vaunted Tohsaka pride, I wonder?"
"Grrrrrr," Rin actually growled at her.
"Ooh scary, how brutish," Luvia mocked, "Sherou, if you ever get tired of being the butler to this poor excuse of a lady, I'd be happy to hire you on as part of my staff. Your Servant can come too."
"That won't be necessary Luvia," Shirou replied. "Besides I'm not actually-"
"Alright, that's it," Rin yelled suddenly, her earlier embarrassment already forgotten. "Change in plans, our next class will be Combat!"
"Oh?" Luvia questioned. "You want to spar with me?"
"That's right! Now march your prissy butt down to the ring."
Rin had just taken a step in the direction of the sparing arena when a hand with the strength of iron clamped down onto her shoulder, forcibly halting her movement.
"Rin," the word came out tense from Saber's voice, "do you remember the last time you missed a lesson with Zelretch, the sole being with mastery of the Second Magic which allows him to manipulate and operate parallel worlds?"
Rin blanched. Just the memory of that awful world Zelretch sent her to was enough to make her pause, there was just something fundamentally wrong with a world of giant, killer stuffed animals and muscular men in pink schoolgirl uniforms. But…one look at Luvia's face caused her anger to return. It would be worth it to teach Luvia a lesson. After all, Rin had survived that place once, surely she could do it again. She made to continue to the sparing arena when the hand on her shoulder tightened even further, becoming a vice like grip that actually hurt a little.
"Rin," this time the word was spoken with hints of malice, "I said, do you remember what happened the last time you missed a lesson with Zelretch?"
"I do, bu-"
"Because I remember, Rin. And do you know why I can remember? It's because Shirou and I were there with you. Zelretch sent us to that terrible, terrible place with you." Rin watched with growing horror as Saber's normally bright, green eyes began to turn a dull yellow and a shadow seemed to fall across her face, her usual golden hair started to bleach into a pale yellow color. With dread, Rin saw the strand of Saber's hair that always stood up fall to lie flat on her head.
"And I am not going back for your stupid need to fight your so called rival," Saber stated darkly. Suddenly her eyes turned green again and her hair became normal once more.
"Ok?" Saber asked.
Rin could only nod her head and shakily follow after Saber with Shirou, leaving Luvia behind wondering what happened.
"Saber can be really scary sometimes," Shirou whispered to Rin.
"What was that Shirou?"
"Nothing Saber! It was nothing!"
Saber sat in the classroom next to Shirou, paying attention to the instructor and taking notes diligently amid the quiet murmur of her fellow students, when her peaceful day was rudely interrupted by the door slamming open in the middle of the teacher's lecture. The professor spun around angrily, seemingly intent on punishing whoever had the nerve to disturb his teaching, but upon seeing who had entered his class, the teacher paled and stumbled back in shock and horror.
The class looked on in confusion as to who could have made their normally stern professor act like this, when the one that forcefully opened the door stepped fully into the lecture room. Instantly, the entire class became completely silent in fear. Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, otherwise known as the Wizard Marshall, the Old Man of the Jewels, Kaleidoscope, and That Bastard, strode into the room with a mischievous smirk upon his face. The class did not dare to move as his piercing red eyes scanned the room, afraid that movement would attract his interest. Even beginners such as them had heard the stories of Zelretch and how he would send unfortunate victims into horrible alternate realities with his mastery of the Second True Magic, for a prank.
Coming further into the room until he stood next to the now trembling lecturer, Zelretch spoke the last words anyone wanted to hear from him.
"I will be taking two from this class to…assist me," he stated malevolently.
Nearly the entire room stilled even further if that was possible, only Saber and Shirou remained how they were; Saber already knowing it was they who he would take to assist him, it had happened more times before than she cared to remember.
"Hmmmm," Zelretch hummed, "no volunteers? Guess I'll have to pick then."
Immediately, the tension in the room snapped like a rubber band pulled to far apart. The rest of the class made a mad stampede for any exit they could find, calls of 'Run for your sanity!' echoing throughout the room. Some, upon seeing that the doorways had been blocked by their fellow students' bodies, made the decision to leap out of the third story windows rather than be drafted into anything to do with Zelretch.
Throughout it all, Saber calmly put her study materials back into the rudimentary pocket dimension she had been able to create. Shirou had to content himself with an ordinary bag as he did not possess the truly massive amounts of prana needed to maintain one of his own. Saber had been just as surprised as anyone when after Rin had come back to their dorm one day after training with Zelretch, she had showed Saber the technique to create a pocket dimension that she had learned from Zelretch.
Apparently, the Second Magic's ability to manipulate alternate realities meant that it was possible to anchor an empty dimension to oneself and use it as storage. Unfortunately, even Rin did not possess the efficiency or prana output needed to sustain one but she had figured that Saber might be able to. Since learning it though, Saber had become the pack mule of their trio, holding all of the possessions they needed but could not carry around easily.
It was the same when Rin had realized that Saber's A rank Riding skill translated to cars, Saber had instantly become the chauffeur when a car was available. Saber truly did not mind though, Rin was liable to destroy any car she got behind the wheel of out of frustration and she did not want to take the chance that Shirou could somehow inherit Irisviel's reckless driving style since he had been adopted into the Emiya family at a young age. So Saber was perfectly fine being the one to operate vehicles of their group.
Saber finished putting away the last of her items and watched with Shirou as the last of their classmates escaped the room. She was proud that she was getting faster at accessing her pocket dimension, though for some reason she could not move the entrance from behind her back. Finally, after the class was completely empty when Zelretch had turned to the lecturer and stated pleasantly that he never specified he needed two students, the two walked up to Rin's mentor.
"What do you need us for this time, Zelretch?" Shirou asked warily.
"Not here," he replied while scanning the lecture hall, "we'll speak in my office, Rin's waiting there as well."
"Do you believe someone is listening in on our conversation here?" Saber inquired.
"Not at all, but my favorite chair is in my office and the only places to sit here are those uncomfortable student chairs."
'Unfortunately, Zelretch continues to remind me of Merlin every time I speak with him,' Saber thought with a scowl as she and Shirou followed him on the relatively short trip to his office. The walk was made in silence and upon reaching Zelretch's office they found that Rin was indeed waiting inside already. The office was plain, with only a comfortable looking chair seated behind a desk and a few plain chairs in front. The walls contained maps of the world and little else. It was not what one would first expect as the office of someone like Zelretch; even though he was eccentric, he was still a Magus, and as such he did not leave any important devices or information in a well known place like this.
"Hello Shirou, Saber," Rin greeted them in turn pleasantly before turning to Zelretch and continuing in a much harsher tone. "Now what is this all about, Zelretch? You wouldn't answer any of my questions or even state why you needed us until Shirou and Saber were here, so out with it."
"My, my," Zelretch began in fake appall as he took a seat in his comfortable chair, "where did the polite, little apprentice I used to have go? When you first came here you would have never spoken to me like that."
"That polite apprentice died when you threw the three of us into that world of carnivorous food," she growled; Saber shuddered, that place was even more traumatizing for her than the one with killer stuffed animals. "Now stop stalling and get to your point."
"I still find it very interesting that placing you three on such a world caused you to stop tiptoeing around me in fear, usually the opposite happens," he chuckled, "but I suppose I should get around to why I've called you here today."
Zelretch's face suddenly turned grave, the trio were taken aback as they had rarely seen such an expression on his face. Usually he kept the air of a mischievous grandfather so such a drastic change meant that whatever he had to say was probably serious.
"First of all," he began, "I'd like to know how familiar you are with the information on the other Dead Apostle Ancestors."
"Fairly average, I suppose," Rin replied. "I know most of the common knowledge from studies as the Tohsaka heiress, but not many of the finer details. I imagine that Shirou knows next to nothing aside from that they are usually 'the bad guys' due to his lack of proper instruction for basic knowledge of the Moonlit World."
"I also do not know much," Saber offered. "Besides a description of what they were, the Grail did not impart me with any information on the Ancestors and the primary classes here have not covered them."
"Alright then," Zelretch stated giddily, "some history and an overview to start with then." The trio settled into some of the stray seats in the room as they realized this would be a long lecture.
"Long ago, the will of the planet, Gaia, realized it had no defense against the numerous humans living on the Earth who were corrupting the planet. So it sought out the other celestial bodies for help."
"Geez, you're starting this far back?" Rin asked rhetorically.
"Wait, the planet actually asked the other planets for help? Like they can communicate with each other? How?" Shirou questioned.
"Brunestud of the Crimson Moon was the one who ultimately answered Gaia's request," Zelretch continued without pause, ignoring the questions in the background. "In exchange for being able to live on Earth, Brunestud agreed to the creation of a defense force against the humans based on himself. This was the birth of the True Ancestors and their mission was to return the planet to the time before it's corruption by humans.
"The True Ancestors were essentially spirits of nature, based off of Brunestud and given the forms and minds of humans so they would blend in better. However, because they were based off Brunestud they gained their traits from him, including a psychological need to suck the blood out of others. They used to be more important a long time ago and there might be others still around at this time after almost all of them died off, but the only True Ancestor left that you three need to know about is Arcuied Brunestud."
"Like the Brunestud of the Crimson Moon he was talking about earlier?" Shirou asked.
"A different Brunestud but related to the Crimson Moon," Rin replied.
"So, a relative or something? Is Brunestud the family name?"
"Kind of, more like a title, Zelretch will probably explain if you listen," Rin said exasperatedly.
"Getting back to Arcuied later," Zelretch stated, "the True Ancestors realized that their inherent bloodlust would cause them to eventually lose control. So they created the first Dead Apostles by turning humans into what we now know as vampires, this was done as a countermeasure in case a True Ancestor became overwhelmed by their thirst for blood they would be destroyed by the Dead Apostles. Of course the Dead Apostles had a bloodthirst as well. But theirs' was a physical need instead of a psychological, so there was less chance of them being consumed by their bloodlust; once they made the full transition from ghoul to vampire of course, which usually takes hundreds of years and only about 1 in 10,000 humans have this potential."
Saber continued to listen silently, her organized, tactical mind honed through its use in many battles and duties as a King carefully considered each new piece of information.
"Eventually these Dead Apostles began to break free from the mental control the True Ancestors had over them. The strongest that broke free became the first 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors. Over time, many of those original 27 have been killed or sealed in some way. However, every time one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors is killed or sealed away by the Church, another Dead Apostle is chosen to take their place as an Ancestor. This is why there have always been 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors. Nowadays, the 27 Ancestors are split between several different factions that have their own leader and goals.
"That's the general overview of what the Dead Apostle Ancestors are. Their abilities vary but all have increased strength, speed, reflexes, and a great regeneration ability. As the most powerful of the Dead Apostles, the Ancestors also each have their own special abilities that they spent centuries developing. Many have Reality Marbles, the ability to temporarily project their inner world onto the physical Earth, as well. All are extremely difficult, but not impossible, to kill, with the strongest of the Apostles having achieved a level of power on par with Phantasmal Beings and as such can only be killed by extremely powerful concepts and items.
"Now, some history and the reason I brought you three here. Years ago, Brunestud the Crimson Moon was living on this planet. He killed a lot of humans and challenged the strongest of them to fights while gaining followers that later became Dead Apostle Ancestors such as Trhvmn Ortenrosse, Gransurg Blackmore, and Merem Solomon. Eventually he and I fought, and after a long, epic battle, during which I stopped Brunestud from bringing the moon down to collide with Earth, I defeated him. In his last moments though, Brunestud sucked out my blood and I became a Dead Apostle Ancestor myself."
Zelretch then paused while staring at Shirou expectantly.
"What?" Shirou asked, then after a long pause, "I already knew you were a Dead Apostle Ancestor," he continued quietly.
"Since the Crimson Moon's demise, the title of Brunestud has been passed to the ones closest to being his successor," Zelretch continued. "Those two are Arcuied and Altrouge Brunestud. Arcuied is the strongest True Ancestor ever made and Altrouge was born as a hybrid from a True Ancestor and a Dead Apostle. Both are successors to the Crimson Moon though only Arcuied had the support of the Crimson Moon's followers as they believed her to be the true future Crimson Moon and Altrouge to be a fake.
"However recently, Arcuied has fallen out of favor with Crimson Moon's followers and they no longer look to her as the successor. Nor have they changed their opinion on Altrouge as being the successor either. Now, as a direct result of Arcuied's previous actions, both of the Brunestud 'sisters' have been deemed unworthy and the disciples of Crimson Moon will not follow either of them," Zelretch stated gravely.
"Wait a second," Rin interjected, "what did Arcuied do that would cause her to lose her acknowledgment as the future Crimson Moon? From what I know she's touted as the Moon Princess, it would have to be a dramatic change for her to fall out of favor among those Dead Apostle Ancestors who practically worshipped Brunestud."
"You're right, it was something so dramatic that once Crimson Moon's followers heard of it they immediately denounced her. Some time ago, while on the hunt for a Dead Apostle by the name Micheal Roa Valdamjong who had stolen much of her power, she met a human boy called Shiki Tohno. I'm not privy to the details, but after some time in his presence she began to develop feelings for this boy. Those feelings turned to love and the boy returned them. As soon as word reached those Dead Apostle Ancestors that their Moon Princess had fallen in love with a human boy, they quickly decided that this was a sign that she couldn't be the new Crimson Moon."
"Hold on," Shirou interrupted, "you mean to tell me that some guy got the actual Princess of the vampires to fall in love with him? That's…unbelievable. It sounds more like a romance fantasy than real life."
"Shirou," Rin groaned while pinching her nose in exasperation, "first of all there was some reason that Arcuied fell for him, and I doubt a normal human would ever catch her attention. Second of all, turn to your left and tell me what you see."
Saber watched as Shirou reluctantly turned to face her direction, he was probably aware that he had somehow made a fool of himself again. "I see Saber sitting in Zelretch's office," he replied.
"Good, now who is Saber?"
"Arturia?"
"YES! Arturia, otherwise known as King Arthur! Ring any bells! We are literally dating the most legendary King of all time who is actually a girl, so you have no room at all to complain about unrealistic romance!"
"Oh, yeah," Shirou said awkwardly, "sorry about that Saber, I know in my head that you were King Arthur but it usually doesn't even register. I just see you as Saber, really."
"That's quite alright, Shirou," Saber replied with a dusting of red on her cheeks, "I prefer it that way."
"This is nice and all," Zelretch began sternly, "but we should get back to the point of this conversation." The trio was even more shocked by this, they had never seen Zelretch stern, ever.
"Alright, long story short, because Arcuied fell in love with a human, some of the Dead Apostle Ancestors have decided that the only one worthy of being the Crimson Moon is the original Crimson Moon Brunestud. So now they're currently trying to find a way to bring him back to life, after which he will probably rule this world as its king as I don't have the power to fight him like I did in my youth."
With a flash of insight, Saber suddenly knew what Zelretch wanted of them.
"Zelretch," she stated, "have you called us here because you want us to stop the Dead Apostle Ancestors from resurrecting the Crimson Moon?"
"Ah, you always did catch on quick, Arturia-"
"I told you that only Shirou and Rin can call me by that name," Saber interrupted hotly.
"But yes, in essence that is what I have called you here to do," Zelretch continued as if he hadn't heard her.
"That's insane," Rin said," you can't expect the three of us to be able to go up against multiple Dead Apostle Ancestors at once. Call in the Burial Agency or even the vice director of the Mage's Association, Lorelei Barthomeloi, isn't it their job to handle this?"
"Well, you see," Zelretch started with discomfort in his tone, "the reason I can't exactly get those people to help is the same reason as to how the Ancestors plan on resurrecting Crimson Moon. I, might have, accidentally forgot about some artifacts I made that allowed someone to access a portion of the Second Magic and travel to different worlds. And the Ancestors, might have, gotten their hands on them. So most of them aren't actually here in this reality right now, they're split up between different worlds trying to find a way to bring back Crimson Moon.
"The Ancestors have heard about the Holy Grail War and how the winner was supposedly granted an unlimited wish. They believe that such a wish would be enough to bring the Crimson Moon back to life on this world. They're searching other realities for similar wish granting devices as we speak."
"So it was your carelessness that allowed this situation to develop is it?" Rin questioned.
"You could lay much of the blame at my feet yes," Zelretch replied softly.
"How do you even know what those Ancestors are doing?" Shirou asked. "It's not like they told you or anything, right?"
"And that is exactly one of the advantages we have right now," Zelretch stated enthusiastically. "The other Ancestors believe that they are acting without anyone's knowledge right now, but because they're using my artifacts to access my signature magic, I know exactly where they are and what plans they make in the vicinity of the artifact."
"So why don't you just go and stop them then?" Rin asked logically. "You're one of the strongest ranked Dead Apostle Ancestors, so why don't you confront them and take back your artifacts?"
"Well, I could do that," Zelretch said slowly, "but that would be way too boring. This is one of the most interesting things to happen in this reality in years, there's no way I would ruin that by just simply beating the other Ancestors and taking my artifacts back. Now if a small group of Heroes such as yourselves were to try with little chance of success, wouldn't that just be so much more interesting? And you're even lovers as well, yes this would make for a much more enjoyable tale."
"What?!" Shirou yelled in shock. "You're going to potentially risk billions of lives just for a more interesting story to watch?"
"Bingo! We have a winner!" Zelretch stated with an unrepentant grin on his face.
"Calm down, Shirou," Rin said though her eyes also looked to Zelretch in anger, "And what would you do if we refused to act out your little story? Would you just watch as Crimson Moon is revived and probably kills you for destroying him in the first place? No, if we do nothing then you have to eventually get off your lazy ass and solve the problem you essentially created," she finished with a smug expression.
"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, my apprentice," Zelretch said darkly. "It wasn't a request; I'm calling in my favor, the one where you promised me anything."
Saber felt the blood drain from her face as she suddenly realized what Zelretch was saying. Back when the three had first arrived at Clocktower, she still relied on Shirou's mana with boosts from Rin to stay in this world as his Servant and not disappear back to that hill she was dying on at the end of her reign as King. However, shortly after Rin secured her apprenticeship with Zelretch, the strain of holding her body together on Shirou's small reserves started to become too much and she began to slowly disappear.
Shirou and Rin tried everything they could, they even begged Zelretch for some way to save her. To their surprise, Zelretch agreed, saying he could search through the alternate worlds for a dying version of herself that her spirit could be placed into. The only stipulation was that the three would owe him any one favor that he could call on at any time. And even though it seemed like they were making a deal with the devil, Rin and Shirou agreed just so Saber could stay with them. Even thinking on that moment caused Saber's emotions to rise and affection to swell in her heart for the two people who had grown closer to her than any other.
Needless to say, Zelretch found a body for Saber, though it wasn't quite what she was expecting. Apparently the body that Zelretch brought back was of some dark Alter of herself. She wasn't a villain, but a dark hero that believed only in cutting down her foes. Her appearance was different as well, with lighter hair and yellow eyes as the major difference, though this was changed back into Saber's normal appearance when her spirit entered the body.
Another thing that Zelretch failed to tell her, was that the old spirit of the Altered Saber still possessed a presence in the body. Fortunately, the Alter was content to merely experience life as a passenger for the time being as she decided she did not have a true reason to live. So Saber was able to take control of the body with little struggle. However the Alter still affects her sometimes, particularly when she is feeling anger. After the transfer though, she was able to remain in the world with Shirou and Rin without the need for a drain on their mana reserves.
A side effect of entering the body of her Alter, was that Avalon, Saber's magical sheath that provided healing and protection, did not fully recognize her as its master since she was essentially a slightly different person now. As such, the immortality that the sheath previously granted her was lost. Though, that wasn't such a bad thing. Saber was extremely excited to actually grow out of the 16 year old form she had been in since she first possessed Avalon. She had even grown three inches in these few years! Though Rin was still a bit taller than her.
"Right," Zelrecth stated, breaking Saber from her musings, "unless you want to get the department of Spiritual Evocation down here to attempt an exorcism, you'll be going on this adventure. Now, anymore questions?"
The trio glanced at each other in concern, unable to see a way out of their predicament that didn't involve running from the Mage's Association and Zelretch while Dead Apostle Ancestors worked to revive the Crimson Moon. Resignedly, they turned to face Zelretch once more.
"Do we at least get to know anything about this first world you're sending us to? I assume you'll have us leave immediately and with no preparation," Rin asked crossly.
"Hmmm, I suppose I can give you a bit of a heads-up," Zelretch agreed. "This first one will be pretty fun, especially since it's you three. Louvre is a subordinate of Trhvmn Ortenrosse and he replaced the spot for the 10th Dead Apostle Ancestor after the previous one was destroyed by Acruied and Shiki Tohno. He isn't really powerful enough to be considered so high up, but he has decided that winning the Holy Grail War would be easy for an Ancestor such as himself. He's traveled to a close alternate to this world and is planning on entering the Fifth Holy Grail War, incidentally the same one you three were part of.
"You will all be sent to this world as Servants, just to ensure you're in the middle of the action. While there you will stop Louvre from winning the Grail War, retrieve the artifact he has, and either destroy him or return him to this world so he can be sealed by the Burial Agency."
"We'll all be Servants then? Saber will obviously be Saber, Shirou will probably replace Archer, and I guess I can take Caster's spot," Rin thought out loud.
"Oh, look at the time," Zelretch said while opening a portal spinning with all the colors of the rainbow and some Saber could not even identify as colors, "better get out of here before you're late."
"Wait! How will we know what the artifact is?" Rin yelled frantically.
"Don't worry you'll know it when you see it, my apprentice," Zelretch replied.
The portal began to spin faster and faster until the colors were a single, kaleidoscopic blur. Then just as the tension reached its peak, the portal flashed a bright light and disappeared with an annoying screech marking its exit. Zelretch stood staring at the place where the portal was for a moment before chuckling and making his way out of his office and to the even more comfortable chair he had at his residence.
"Honestly," he muttered to himself, "Saber as Saber, Shirou as Archer, and Rin as Caster; how boring that would have been. Good thing I made a few…tweaks." And with a spring in his step and a tune whistling out of his throat, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg headed off to watch the unfolding action from the convenience of his home.
Thank you for reading the first chapter to this rewrite, feedback and comments much appreciated. I'm really, really going to try to have a more consistent update schedule than last version but I won't make any specific deadlines that I will inevitably miss. The upcoming winter break should help for at least the next chapter though.