Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Stay Night or anything else from the Nasuverse at all, though I really have enjoyed the anime and the movie as well as a bit of the prologue from the visual novel.
Fate/Stay Night Actress Again
By EmperorDraco7 and co-written by Lily Nadesico
Shirou Emiya, a young man who wished to become a hero like his father, was completely silent as he glanced at a beautiful a young woman with a slender physique and light, soft blonde hair, donning a blue dress resembling a ball gown with a silverish armor on top of it, and had her hair braided with iron boots and eyes that are green and filled with courage as something to be amazed by. She glanced down before him without showing a hint of emotion. "I am Saber, your servant… I have come in response to your summons." She said with a serious tone to her voice. "And you… you are my master, correct?"
He didn't say a single word as he was wondering why he was unable to do so but concluded that it was due to all the confusion around him since he was marked for death by a mysterious assassin from having witnessed a battle prior. Though he immediately ruled that out as he was speechless as he glanced at the beauty of the girl who appeared before him in awe. "Your master?" he finally managed to speak, wondering what is going on. "I'm your master?"
"Yes, you summoned me and as a Saber, I heeded your call… What are your orders, master?" said the woman in question, explaining why she is here before him despite him being unsure of what to think of the whole situation. "My sword will be by your side from now on. Whatever fate awaits you, awaits me as well. The accord between us has now been formed."
"What?" asked Shirou, still trying to take in everything that has happened just now but before he could ask her, she headed out of the shed much to his dismay and promoted him to go after here. "Hey wait!" However, as soon as he got outside, he saw a battle was taking place between the girl and that mysterious assassin though there was something off about it as she looked like she was attacking her opponent with nothing at all. What the? Her weapon is invisible. He thought, realizing what was happening.
However, so also did the mysterious person who had attacked Shirou just a few minutes before, and who was now looking at Saber in a mixture of surprise and admiration. The man in question looked pretty young, and did not seem to be more than twenty years old, wearing a tight, form-fitting blue bodysuit covered in silver-tinted runic protection, showing an impressive yet agile-looking physique, and he had blue hair tied in a loose ponytail at the back of his head. He had a very intense stare in his blood-red eyes, and a long spear with a crimson handle and point was being held in his right hand.
"So, it seems that a new Servant has just entered the fray!" he commented in a jovial tone, not seeming concerned at all about the young girl in armor facing him now. In fact, he almost seemed to be looking forward to the battle. "Well, this only makes things a lot more interesting. You are a Saber type Servant, right? This should be an interesting fight!"
The blonde girl called Saber did not waver and held her sword tightly in her right hand, keeping concentrated on the blue-haired man, who twirled his lance in the air for a moment, showing off his skill, and then stood on guard, holding his weapon with both hands. Shirou was still very surprised about the whole deal, and found himself staring at Saber and the blue-haired man as they faced off against each other… and then, as if obeying to a single order, they dashed towards each other. The blue-haired young man smiled and tried a powerful thrust with his spear, which Saber countered with a circular swipe from her weapon. There was a deafening sound of metal clashing against metal when the two mighty weapons met each other in midair, and Shirou saw the crimson spear being held away from Saber's body by seemingly thin air: this confirmed to him that Saber's sword was in fact invisible. So surprised he was, in fact, that only then he seemed to focus on another problem – that girl was going up by herself against that spear-wielding warrior, without anyone helping her, and armed with nothing but an invisible sword. Sure, she seemed to be a competent enough fighter, and was easily holding out against her opponent, skillfully dodging his thrusts and keeping him at bay with a series of blows from her invisible blade… but still, Shirou couldn't just stand there and let someone else risk his or her life for him… He looked around, trying to find something that could allow him to help out Saber…
The spear-wielding fighter was lightly scratched on the arm by Saber's sword, and backed away a couple step before clutching the wound and giving the blonde an excited smile. "Hehehee… not bad, really!" he said. "You are a skilled fighter. It is just my luck to have run into someone as strong as you are."
It was then that Saber decided to charge right back into the fight, attempting to slice right through her opponent only for the Spear to save him by blocking each slash that she performed on him. "Well Lancer, it seems that the situation has changed" she said to him, with a serious glance. "If you won't come to me then I'll come to you."
Shirou was still in awe by just how strong the young woman is; much more powerful than the man he had seen previously before he was stabbed by the spear that belonged to the opponent that she was currently fighting against. Just what the hell is going on here? He wondered, while he was glad that nobody else was present as he didn't wish for any innocent lives to end just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time like him.
"Let me ask you a question first, your Noble Phantasm is a sword right?" the man known as Lancer asked the young woman, not noticing a smirk forming on her face upon hearing the question as if he was suspecting what the invisible weapon truly was but decided to 'answer' it for now.
"Maybe or maybe not, it could be an axe or not… maybe it might be something completely different like a bow…" her sly smile grew even wider, much to Lancer's slight annoyance but no matter… he has yet to reveal what his Noble Phantasm is and she will be the first Servant to ever experience it's power. The blue-haired man parried a few blows from Saber's invisible blade with his blood-red lance and quickly backflipped out of harm's way, before landing on his feet a few metres away and smiling again, that roguish, amused grin that told both Shirou and Saber that he was greatly enjoying the battle.
"My, my… you sure are providing me with a battle that tests my limits! I respect that in an opponent… and so, I find myself forced to use my own trump card!" he said, easily twirling his spear in his hands. He struck a fighting stance and got ready for another round, while Saber simply took a defensive position and stood ready to repel him.
However, what neither Saber nor Shirou expected was for Lancer to suddenly jump high in the air, his spear glowing angrily with energy as he got ready to thrust it at Saber!
"Can you dodge this?" Lancer exclaimed. "The Spear Of Striking Death, Gae Bolg!"
With a roar like thunder, the glowig spear dashed through the air and raced towards Saber, who easily saw the attack coming and got ready to dodge it… surely, it looked like it was a very powerful attack, and Saber knew it could deal a huge amount of damage if it connected. However, while it was very fast, it was telegraphed enough that she would be able to easily avoid it, so she stepped aside and got ready to counter as Lancer landed from his leap…
"Saber, watch out!" she heard Shirou's voice call out to her, and she raised her head in surprise, only to be completely flabbergasted when Lancer's Gae Bolg turned around in midair, defying all laws of physics, and made a beeline for her heart! Shirou rushed towards the swordswoman and tried to push her out of the way of the spear, not caring if he was also risking his own life in the process… but even as he did so, the spear turned again, as if it had a mind of its own, and struck Saber, penetrating her breastplate as if it was made in tissue paper, and lodging itself in her chest, dangerously close to her heart! Her eyes widening in pain, Saber fell to the ground and grabbed the spear with both hands, forcing it out of her chest before throwing the weapon away and clutching her wound with her free hand.
"Saber!" Shirou exclaimed, kneeling close to the swordswoman in worry. He was relieved to see Saber standing up and managing to recover just a little, even with such a wound… while Lancer, who had just landed, seemed to be quite impressed with Saber surviving such a powerful blow! "Saber, how are you feeling? Come on, let me fight at your side. I can't just stay here and do nothing while you risk your own life for me!"
"Master, stay back…" Saber told him, climbing to her feet after a moment of dizziness. "You are no match for a Servant, you should know that…"
"Well, well… that's a surprise, isn't it?" Lancer said, genuinely impressed with the outcome. "I do not recall anyone ever surviving my Gae Bolg, the cursed Spear of Striking Death. You should thank your luck, as without it you would not have survived."
"You… what is the meaning of this?" Shirou demanded to know, as Gae Bolg floated back into Lancer's hands. Saber's wound seemed to have stopped bleeding, but Saber was still in quite a bit of pain. "Why have you attacked us, and what is this Servant and Master deal?"
Lancer looked away for a moment, seemingly uninterested in answering… and then sighed as if in disappointment. "I would love to stay here and chat a little more, but I'm afraid some more guests are around, and I'm beginning to feel like I'm overmatched. Therefore, I'm afraid I will have to retreat for now! It's been fun though, and I look forward to our next bout, miss! Be seeing ya!"
"Hey, hold on a second!" Saber exclaimed, but she was too late as Lancer leapt away and disappeared in the distance.
"He's gone…" muttered Shirou, running up towards Saber in order to make sure that she was alright as that spear had managed to wound her pretty badly. He stopped once he was close enough and when she turned to face him, there was nothing but silence between the two as the mark on her breastplate slowly faded away to nothing. "Just who… who are you?"
"Must you even ask that? I am a Saber, your servant" explained the young woman, still having her hand where the wound was inflicted despite it having looked like it had healed itself; she needed her master to properly treat it. "As I recall, you were the one who summoned me so you should know all too well why I'm here."
"You're a Saber servant?" asked Shirou, still confused by what was going on while Saber nodded to confirm of who she is, making him wonder even more on the events that had taken place earlier.
"Yes so perhaps it's easier if you just call me Saber" answered the blonde-haired servant with a serious expression on her face while glancing at her master.
"Well okay, that's kind of an odd name… my name is Shirou Emiya, so then my next question is..."
Saber didn't say a word, yet there was something about Shirou's name that sounded familiar to her but decided against asking that, at least not yet. "I see… Now I understand, you aren't exactly a typical master are you?" she said, catching Shirou off-guard as she had been calling him master ever since she appeared before him not too long ago.
"Master?" he asked once again, wanting to know how he is even a master to begin with since they both seem to be the same age.
"I'm right, but be that as it may you are still my master" explained Saber, which seemed to make Shirou rather uncomfortable whenever she called him that but she wasn't done with what she has to say. "Now that our pact has been concluded, I will never once do anything to betray you."
"Hey, hold on a sec! Stop calling me master, will you? It's freaking me out…" Shirou told the young woman, more so as he wanted more answers to the questions that were currently floating around in his mind which Saber seemed to understand.
"Then I will call you Shirou. Yes, I think I like the sound of that name much better anyway" said Saber, it was after she spoke that Shirou started to feel some serious pain on his left hand and clutched it, revealing a symbol of what appeared to be a sword on the back of it. Yet to the swordswoman, she could sense that there was something nearby which made her frown then she turned her attention back towards him as another servant could be nearby and if that is the case, then said servant's master would be present as well. "Shirou, heal this wound for me…"
"What? Do you really think I can do that?" he asked her, despite the fact that he wasn't sure how he would heal Saber to begin with and a frown formed on his face as he looked back. "Sorry, that's way beyond the level of magic I can do and besides, it looks like it already healed on its own."
Slightly disappointed, Saber turned away and said. "Fine, I still have plenty of strength… My own regeneration only took care of the exposed part, never the less it shouldn't hinder me in one more battle…" With that, she ran off in order to find the enemy servant and master that she had sensed before, much to Shirou's dismay.
"Hey, hold on!" he called out, but it she was already gone and he mentally cursed himself as he ran off in the same direction, hoping that she wouldn't do anything reckless in her injured state.
In the distance, a mysterious young girl with long black hair tied in a couple of pigtails, wearing a red shirt with a black skirt and black leggings and shoes was watching the scene from a point where she couldn't be seen, the wind lightly blowing her long hair and her blue eyes narrowing in a mysterious way as she watched the whole incident.
"This is something I didn't expect." She admitted, seemingly talking to herself. "So, Emiya actually became a Master, huh? And his servant is none other than Saber. This is really unexpected; I didn't think that guy had it in him. What do you say about this, Archer?"
From the darkness, an imposing dark-skinned man with short white hair, a red overcoat and a cold expression seemed to just appear out of nowhere, staring at the place where Saber and Shirou were standing only a few moments before. "That young man is not to be underestimated, Rin. He may be an inexperienced Magus, but I think he has got a lot of potential and might become a wild card in this Grail War." The mysterious man called Archer stated in a stern voice. "I would advise you to keep an eye out for him."
The girl called Rin Tohsaka nodded in understanding. "Yes, I can see that. I cannot let anyone claim the Grail in my place." She stated. "But for now, I'll be content to watch how he does. If he turns out to be a potential threat, we'll eliminate him and his Servant."
Archer nodded, while looking at the retreating form of Shirou. That young man was just what he was looking for… now, all that remained to do was to wait for the right moment to do what he was there to do… and soon after, he would be free after all that time…
"Saber! Wait up!" Shirou called after the blonde swordswoman, causing her to turn towards him with a slightly dubious look on her face. The red-haired young man sighed as he finally caught up with her. For someone who had just almost taken a spear to the heart, Saber sure could be fast… "Phew… boy, just wait a moment, will you? Isn't it dangerous for you to walk around while you're still injured? I mean, I see you can heal on your own, but still…"
Shirou couldn't finish his sentence as he felt the back of his hand burning him again, trying his best to fight off the pain he was experiencing and glanced at the symbol that was present…. The same strange mark that resembled a tattoo he saw on his hand before Saber had taken off not too long back and had no idea on where it came from or why it was hurting him. "What the…" he barely managed to speak
"That is a Command Spell… It is the three claims on a Servant's obedience and the life of a Master, please do not use it thoughtlessly." explained Saber, yet it would be a few seconds before the pain he was experiencing subsided enough for him to get a proper glance at the mark then he turned back towards Saber, who had her attention out in the direction she was previously headed for. "There are two enemies nearby. Judging by their presence, it should only take a few seconds to defeat them."
"Enemies nearby?" he asked himself, before witnessing Saber jumping lightly off to find those enemies and something soon clicked inside of him. "Hold on, is she really going to fight again?!"
Muttering another curse, he ran as fast as he could to try and catch up with the mysterious girl in question, but to no avail, easily losing sight of her. "Saber, where are you?" he called out, searching through the dark which wasn't easy especially with the moon being hidden at the worse possible time "Huh?" it was then that he heard something nearby and ran to a small road with sign of anyone on it, which was a relief since he didn't want any innocent people getting hurt.
Needless to say, he stopped in his tracks as he would soon witness that Saber was present and is currently confronting a familiar man in red, the same man who was facing off against Lancer last night. Wait a minute, I remember him! he thought in disbelief, thinking back to that fateful night and how he nearly died when he was impaled by Lancer's weapon, yet was somehow alive for some reason he didn't know why. Well, now might be the right time to get some answers. I'd like to understand something more about this business of Servants and Masters…
"Wait a minute!" Shirou exclaimed, approaching the man in red. Both him and Saber turned to the red-haired young man, and Shirou could see that the mysterious stranger looked to be about in his thirties, with dark skin and short white hair, and he had a mysterious aura about him… he looked somewhat world-weary, as if he was some sort of traveler who had seen it all. However, the fact that Saber was regarding him with suspect meant that there was obviously more to him than met the eye, and Shirou felt like he could trust Saber's judgment on this matter, for some reason.
"Saber?" he asked, before addressing the mysterious stranger. "And… who are you? Are you another one of those… Servants?"
"You know, Emiya, you shouldn't say such things like they were nothing." A female voice intervened, and out of the darkness walked out a young girl whom Shirou immediately recognized, much to his surprise: dressed in a red shirt with a black skirt, black thigh-high socks and shoes, and her raven hair tied in a couple of pigtails at the sides of her head, she walked beside the man in red, regarding Shirou with dead seriousness, despite the scathing humor in her voice. "The Grail War isn't something that normal people should know about. There are things ordinary people are not meant to know, and this is one of them."
Shirou blinked in surprise. "Ah… is that you, Tohsaka? You… you know something of this whole mess as well?"
"You know this woman, Shirou?" Saber asked, lowering her invisible weapon just a little, while the dark-skinned white-haired man kept regarding her and Shirou with a cold appraising eye, never showing any emotion.
The red-haired young man nodded, still shocked by the revelation. "Yes… she's one of my schoolmates, Rin Tohsaka." He answered, taking a good look at both the girl and what appeared to be her Servant. "She's an honor student who is well-regarded at my school… but I had no idea she was actually…"
"A Master, you were going to say?" Rin answered, shooting a dirty look towards Shirou. "Yeah, you could say that; even though I would have preferred to have a Saber-class Servant myself in order to take part in the Fifth Grail War. But, that's not for me to decide."
"I don't really understand this whole deal with Servants and Masters…" Shirou answered. "And what is this Grail War, exactly? You seem to know more than I do about it…"
Rin had an irritated look on her face, and then turned her attention towards Archer. "Can you turn into spirit form for a while? I'm pissed right now." she told him before glancing back at Shirou. "I can't calm down unless I make him realize what kind of a situation he's in. You won't have anything to do until then, besides Saber won't lower her sword as long as you're present."
"I understand, if I may warn you however, what you are about to do is needless." Archer explained to his Master, knowing that he had no choice but to obey and disappeared without a trace much to Shirou's shock.
"Tohsaka, what was that all about?" he asked the raven-haired girl, yet she closed her eyes as this was something that needed to be discussed with him away from any witnesses in the area. "How did he…"
"Let's talk inside, I take it that you don't know anything right Emiya?" she said while facing the entrance, having figured that he would be oblivious about the war that was occurring between other servants and the only way he would be better prepared is to know the whole story. "You can rest assured that I'll tell you everything, even if you say you don't want to know."
With that in mind, she went towards the entrance only for Shirou to stop her in her tracks as he would see a smile on her face, unlike the one she had previously. "What are you thinking?" he asked her, which made the smile disappear for a moment.
"Are you that stupid?" she asked him, she is rather astounded by this and wanted to put it in more clearly so he can better understand. "I'm thinking about a lot of things, that's way I want to talk to you. It's alright to be surprised by sudden turns of events but it might cost you your life if you don't just accept it. Incidentally, do you understand that now is one of those times?"
"Well I…" Shirou wasn't sure how to respond to the honor student's question, which she gave another smirk and had an idea on where the two can further talk on the issue at hand.
"It's fine if you understand. So let's go to your place..." suggested Rin, and then turned to face Saber, who still had her invisible weapon raised at the female master while at the same time not so willing to trust her right now. "You're fine with that too right Saber? I'll explain things to Emiya in return for sparing my life."
"It is not my way to attack an opponent who cannot fight back." Saber stated. "Furthermore, Shirou does seem to consider you a friend. Therefore, I will not try anything against you."
"That is satisfactory." Rin said with a slight nod. The group entered Shirou's house after taking off their shoes, and Shirou motioned for Rin and Saber to sit down at the family table, wanting all of them to sit comfortably before the issue could be discussed.
"Okay, here we are… I think we should be able to speak about this whole Grail War issue without anyone listening on us." Shirou said, before looking around suspiciously. "Hmm… on second thought, I still need you to wait a moment before we start discussing this. Can you wait for a moment?"
Rin blinked in surprise at this. "Er… Yeah, I guess we can wait." She answered. "But what seems to be the problem?"
Shirou stood up, without answering, and crept towards the kitchen, taking a look there. As he noticed something – or better say, someone – sneaking up to the table upon which a few cookies had been placed. With a sigh, Shirou walked up to the table as well and gently but firmly grabbed a hand that was trying to scoop up a few cookies.
"Seriously, big sister Taiga." He said. "One would think you'd have learned it by now."
The person in question was a young woman in her mid-twenties to early thirties, with short light brown hair, wearing a yellow dress with green stripes all over it, and a green apron-like overall upon it. She made a childish face and pouted at Shirou. "Awww, you're soooo mean, Shirou. What's your damage if I eat one of the cookies you've baked, now?" she exclaimed.
"You know you shouldn't eat them separate from meals, don't you?" the red-haired young man answered. Taiga Fujimura, the English teacher at Shirou's school as well as his legal guardian, sighed in defeated and chuckled to herself.
"I know, I know… I can never get away with anything when you're around, huh, Shirou?" she joked. "Well… I do hope everything went ok today."
Shirou felt for a moment the temptation of telling Taiga about Saber, Lancer, Rin and the Grail War… but he quickly quashed it. It was too dangerous for her to get involved. "Oh… don't worry, big sister, everything went well. I… just had a couple friends of mine come over to dinner, if you don't mind. Of course, I'll be the one doing the cooking."
"Oh, but that's great to now!" Taiga exclaimed in a jolly way. "Perhaps one of them is that nice Sakura Matou girl in the archery cub?"
Shirou chuckled nervously for a moment. "Actually, no… you know how she always has to be home early." He stated. "It's Tohsaka and… er… one of her friends."
"Aw, bummer." Taiga murmured. "Oh, well, it's no problem anyway. I'll be keeping you company, if you don't mind."
Shirou gulped silently. He hated to have to lie to Taiga, but there wasn't much else to do. "Of course we'd love to have you around, big sister." He said. "But first, we need to discuss… some private matters, so to speak, on our own. We… er… kind of need to be alone for that."
"Of course, Shirou. I don't want to intrude in private matters." Taiga answered with a short nod.
Shirou gave a light smile before heading out at to the porch, since it would be the best spot for his conversation with Rin to remain private without Taiga knowing about what is currently happening, though in a way it still felt that it was a strange situation that he was now in as he was actually interacting with Rin Tohsaka, the school's number one idol and someone he had admired. Outside, Rin examined the shattered shard of glass in her hand and to his surprise, he watched as the glass began to reassemble itself back together until it was good as new like it was never smashed to pieces at all. "There, that's better..." she said, now that that has been taken care of, there's still a matter of important business to attend to. "I expect that you are at least capable of that Emiya."
Needless to say, Shirou was rather impressed with what the girl had done and something that he himself wouldn't be able to do. "Awesome, are you kidding? I can't do anything like that" he told her, even though she had a rather unimpressed expression on her face which was soon replaced with her own look of surprise upon learning that.
"What? You can't be serious! That's the first thing they teach you" she said, wondering how he can even have a servant like Saber if he wasn't that good of a Magus, she herself had been studying her entire life in the ways of magic.
"Well I'm sorry, but I only know the few things that my dad told me and I'm afraid even that stuff is nothing formal."
Hearing this, Rin felt rather disappointed at Shirou and said. "Huh? So you're saying that you can't created a pact, control the five elements or anything?" she asked, a shake of his head confirmed that he wasn't that experienced to do those things and she lowered her head. "So you're a complete novice then?"
"No, but I can do reinforcement spells" he replied, though once again Rin wasn't very impressed by this.
"Of all the magic you chose to learn, you chose that?" she asked with a small huff, not wanting to believe that she was interacting with someone who is inexperienced in magic right now and turned away. "Are you sure that there isn't anything else you can do?"
Shirou frowned again, shaking his head again. "No, that's it…"
"How can someone like you summon Saber?" With that in mind, she needed to properly explain what Shirou had gotten himself into by calling the blonde-haired servant into the real world after a quick glance at Saber for a while. "I'm guessing that you have no clue about the situation you're in… You've been dragged into a tournament known as the Holy Grail War, a battle royal between seven masters."
"What are you talking about?" asked Shirou, still having no clue on what this Holy Grail War was or what it has to do with him to begin with. With another serious expression on her face, it seemed that he deserved to know the full story on the war that he was now going to be part of.
"You recently had a stigma appear on the palm of your hand, right? Those three command seals are your mark as a master." reminded human girl, thinking back to the symbol she had seen when he stopped Saber from attacking her and Archer. "So you see Emiya, you are definitely a master."
Remaining silent, Shirou took a look at the command spells that he now bore as the female Tohsaka continued. "Every few decades, seven masters are chosen… each master is granted a servant. Once that happens, the battle to obtain the Holy Grail begins to unfold." She started thinking back to when she became Archer's master which occurred two days prior to this night. "I was chosen to be a master as well. As long as you have your command seals, your servant will continue to obey you… the command seals give you absolute authority over them. Those seals are what make them obey your will, they can even force them to do something they don't want to…" Her attention returned towards the young male, looking him in the face. "However, each time you force them against their will, you will lose a command so must always keep your last command."
"Hold on, I still don't get any of this!" snapped Shirou, he couldn't believe that he had this kind of responsibility and wasn't too sure that he liked the idea at all or having to fight against other masters and servants in this so-called war that Rin's talking about while watching her approaching Saber, examining her for nearly a few seconds.
"It looks as if you still haven't fully materialized. I assume that it's because of your master… his incompetence must have interfered with your summoning" she told the female servant, suspecting that it was due to Shirou's lack of experience a master and as magus which Saber silently nodded.
"Correct, Shirou doesn't possess nearly enough magical power to complete the process so I can't become a spirit here and regenerating my force would take time" answered the swordswoman, having a stern expression while looking Rin in the eye.
"Good grief, if I was your master I could take care of both those problems in a matter of seconds" Rin had turned away and gave a small sigh, she never would have thought that it would be that difficult for Shirou to do such a simple task as healing his own servant and such, she didn't experience that kind of problem with Archer at all.
Shirou didn't like where this is getting, frowning once again. "So then… are you're saying that I'm not fit to be a master?" he asked the female master, getting her to look at him with a look of annoyance.
"You're not even close, genius!" she replied, making him unsure of what else to say and without another thought, the girl knew that there was only one thing left to do before everything is fully-cleared up to the orange-haired young man. "Okay then… We should get going."
"Go where?"
"We're going to pay a visit to the man who oversees this whole war" answered Rin, giving another smirk much like the one she had when Shirou chose to spare her life before much to his wondering what kind of person would oversee a war taking place that nobody else in Japan is even aware of. With a sigh, the young newly-minted Master stood up, as Rin and Saber did the same thing, and began taking off the plates from the table. He was rather surprised to see that Saber had no less than three empty bowls of rice by her side, though.
"Huh? Saber, you mean to tell me… that you managed to eat all of that while we were chatting?" he asked the blonde Servant, who nonchalantly wiped her mouth clean and took a sip of water.
"Being manifest in this world and using my powers takes a lot out of me." She explained, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Eating helps replenish my mana."
"Okay… guess I had never thought about it under this point of view…" Shirou chuckled in embarrassment, thinking it was in fact only natural. "Alright then, Tohsaka… who is this person we are going to talk to?"
"An old acquaintance of my father, one Kirei Kotomine." Rin explained, wearing a somewhat annoyed expression on her face. "To be honest, I don't like him very much. He's kind of a shady guy, and he always gives me a vibe of knowing more than he lets on. However, there is no denying that he is pretty knowledgeable about the workings of the Grail War, and he never told me any actual lie. I think he could actually be a help to you as well."
"Alright… I guess I need to thank you, Tohsaka!" Shirou thanked the black-haired maga with a small nod.
Rin grunted in annoyance and crossed her arms, looking in the other direction. "Hmph… now, don't get strange ideas, Emiya. I'm not doing this because I care about you or how you fare in this war. I just thought it would be fair to give you a fighting chance. Even though we might actually end up facing each other in battle soon enough. And remember, this is not a fighting game or things like that. You lose, you die, and there's no second place."
"I… understand…" Shirou answered with a slight chuckle, before turning back to the kitchen and warning Taiga about him going out so late in the evening. "Big sister Taiga, I will have to go out for now. Don't worry about me, I will be back before midnight!"
"Okay, Shirou! I'm definitely not stopping you!" the perky English teacher happily answered. "I promise I will not eat you out of the house, okay?"
Shirou chuckled slightly at Taiga's joke, as he knew Taiga was a bit of a glutton and he needed to take care that she didn't end up eating too much. "Hehehee… okay, I'll put my trust in you. I will be back soon anyway!" he said, before going out along with Rin and Saber.
The walk to the place Rin was talking about was surprisingly brief, but much more surprising was the fact that Shirou, Saber and Rin found themselves in front of a church, and a rather small one at that. "Huh? Is… is this really the place, Tohsaka? This Kotomine guy you were talking about is a priest, or something like that?" he asked. When Rin nodded slightly in asset, Shirou cleared his voice and went on. "Sorry for asking this question, but I never thought someone from the Church would know anything about this… Grail War, or whatever it is."
"You'd be surprised, Emiya." Rin answered. "Don't think that the Church isn't involved in supernatural matters. In fact, the church does act as an arbiter in internal disputes of the Mages Association, and they are responsible for starting important operation like vampire hunts through the Burial Agency."
"Vampire hunts?" Shirou asked in amazement. "You mean… there are actually vampires roaming the world as we speak?"
"You really know nothing, do you?" Rin said in annoyance, putting an hand to her face. "And someone like you actually managed to become Saber's Master? The mind boggles, for sure."
"Vampires always existed alongside humanity." Saber explained. "It is just that there are so few of them that their existence an easily remain a secret. That, and most of them are objectively paranoid and secretive enough that even knowing about their existence is extremely difficult. But I guess this is neither the time nor the place for discussing the matter."
"You're right. We're here to speak to Kotomine right now." Rin stated. With an heavy sigh, Shirou walked to the door of the small church and slowly pushed it inwards, as he and the two girls entered a small, cold but rather well-lit main room with several seats lined in front of a small altar, where a tall man in clerical robes was lighting a few candles. As Shirou and the girls slowly made their way into the church, the man turned to them with a pleasant smile on his face, greeting them with a nod.
"Come in peace in the house of God, young ones. How may I help you?" he asked, recognizing Rin at once.
Shirou took a good look at the man in front of him. Kirei Kotomine was a good-looking, handsome man who seemed to be in his mid-thirties at most, towering at more than 6 feet of height, with shoulder-long black hair and a shaven face, wearing a blue clerical coat and black shirt and trousers, along with black shoes. He had a golden cross hanging by his neck, and his grey eyes seemed calm but had a somewhat unearthly quality to them, as if something was roaring to get freed from within his soul. He was certainly bulky and well-built, though not overly so, and Shirou found himself wondering if this man wasn't a martial artist of some kind. He certainly gave Shirou this vibe.
"I've brought the seventh master to meet with you and talk with you…" she explained to her teacher, seeing him at the only one who can explain to Shirou everything about the Holy Grail War and the costs at stake in this conflict. "He's technically a magus but he's unbelievably inept and it pained me to ignore it."
Kotomine had started grinning quite a bit as he examined the boy right in front of him and said. "Tell me my son, what would your name be?" This made Shirou recoil rather slightly but kept a serious expression on his face as he responded to this mysterious priest's question.
"Shirou Emiya"
While it wasn't shown, Kotomine seemed to be rather surprised by the young man's name and it felt familiar to him as well. "Well then… it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance…" he spoke without another thought in mind, his glance never leaving Shirou as he continued his speech. "And you are certain that you are Saber's master?"
"Far from it!" snapped Shirou, he never wanted to be part of this whole damned war to begin with but never the less he has no choice but to learn why the masters are pitted against one another. "Listen, all this stuff about masters and grail wars, I don't understand any of it!"
Closing his eyes, Kotomine doesn't seem to blame the younger male for now knowing why was really going on. "Yes, that is a problem…" he said, turning his head to the left before deciding to reveal what the Holy Grail Wars are truly about so he can better grasp on why he needs to take part in this battle royale. "Very well, seeing how this is the first time Rin has ever asked for my help… I believe the least I can do for you Shirou, is to oblige." His attention quickly returned to Shirou as his expression seemed to have hardened. "Listen to me, being a master is not something you can hand from one person to the next, and once you become a master, you can't just walk away from it either. Those command seals on your hand are a sign, the role of masters and trial that has been awarded to you; you can't turn away from it simply because it's inconvenient."
Remaining silent, Shirou glanced at the symbol on his hand once more and wasn't sure how to reply to this, even more so as Kotomine continued his explanation. "If you truly want to give up your status as master, your only option is to obtain the grail and make your wish."
"I see… and what wish is that?" he asked the man in question, finally deciding to speak even if it still didn't seem to make any sense to him.
"It can be any wish, you desire… If you win the grail, you'll have the rare chance to have the contents of your soul wiped clean" answered Kotomine, though there is much more that this legendary Holy Grail is capable of doing which also needed to be properly addressed. "In fact, if you wanted, you could go back in time and start your life all over… So if you get the opportunity, to make your wish and it comes true, then you'll be thanking your lucky stars that you were chosen to be a master." The silence from the boy shows that he isn't so willing to trust him right now which is understandable but in Shirou's mind, memories of a destructive fire that had changed him forever flashed before his very eyes. "If you want to rid yourself of those invisible burdens, your only choice is to except your destiny."
"Kirei, could you please get to the point?" Rin began, hoping that it would make Shirou see what he has to do even though she wasn't too fond of this idea of bringing him to the church in the first place. "I only brought him here so you can explain the rules him, okay?"
"Very well, I'll cut to the chase then…" Kotomine realized that his apprentice was right in a way, so he decided to get to it and turned his head away since it was a rather important matter as of right now, one that needed to be addressed. "Here the principles behind the Grail Wars, it is a series of battles to be fought by seven masters in conjunction with their servants… participants of this war are not chosen simply because they wish to be, they are chosen as part of a ritual to determine who is the most worthy to possess the Holy Grail."
"You're kidding!" exclaimed Shirou in complete shock at this revelation, not liking the idea of having to kill an opponent in battle even if it was another master like himself and Rin but that wasn't the only thing that shocked him. "Are you talking about the actual Holy Grail?"
"Trust me when the Holy Grail materializes in this city, it will be the genuine item… The miracle which is performed by the servants should be proof enough that it real" answered Kotomine, confirming what he was saying about the grail itself was indeed the truth, reminding Shirou of witnessing Saber's brief battle against Lancer from earlier. "Servants are beings who approached the high levels of spirits; they are either legends or historical figures who have been summoned forth by the Holy Grail and materialized here in physical form…. In theory, they remain in spirit form and stay close to their master's side. They are to materialize and fight only when the need arises."
"Yes but Emiya's servant is a bit different," Rin decided to interrupt once again, recalling why she was able to get Archer to go into his spirit form while Saber can't turn into one herself, it still astounded her even to this very moment. "Because her master's an amateur, she can't spirit form."
"Is that so?" Kirei answered, looking at Shirou with interest. "This is quite interesting, though admittedly it can be a bit of a problem for a Magus who takes part in the Grail War. Tell me, young man… how is it that you have met your Servant?"
"Well… I honestly am not sure how it really happened, or why was I chosen…" Shirou explained. "All I know is, it happened right after I was ambushed by some weird-looking guy in a blue suit calling himself Lancer – I guess he was a Servant as well. What happened was… that Saber appeared in front of me and asked whether I was her Master. And… that's pretty much all."
"Oh, I see…" Kotomine answered, his interest growing. This young man was proving to be a far more fortunate catch than he had expected at first. "Well then, as Tohsaka could already have explained to you, the Holy Grail War is a competition between Masters, who battle using the Servants in order for only one of them to remain. The winner will be able to use the Holy Grail to make his deepest wish come true. However, I need to warn you. Is it going to be a brutal competition. You can only rely on yourself and your Servant to make it out alive, and remember that no tactic is off limits. Trying to disable the Servant by killing the Master is a perfectly viable tactic, and has been done before."
Shirou listened to Kirei's words with interest and growing apprehension. His first impressions about the Grail War was that it was going to be a rather brutal affair, and this explanation really made it sound like his first impressions were right… With that in mind, the young man stood and listened to the priest talking about the Grail War, paying particular attention when Kirei spoke of something called Command Spells…
"Exactly, what is a Command Spell?" Shirou asked, as soon as Kirei mentioned the word. The priest motioned for the back of Shirou's left hand, telling him to take a look at it… and when Shirou did so, he saw that there was a strange red mystical-looking symbol engraved in light upon it.
"As you can see, young man… those are your Command Spells." The priest explained. "They represent a Master's absolute authority over your Servant, and they can be used to either restrain or reinforce the actions of a Servant, to the point of allowing them to perform even otherwise impossible actions. They can be used whenever you think you need your Servant to solve a dangerous situation… but take care of using them only when you have no other choice, since you only have three of them."
"This is getting complicated… How did I get into this mess?" Shirou murmured to himself, casting a glance to Saber, who was standing close to him, keeping a straight, almost emotionless face. For all that he was still not convinced about his role in this whole mess, at least Saber was a valid ally, and he was convinced she would try to defend him at all costs…
But this was exactly what worried Shirou the most. He was worried that Saber was going to find herself in a dangerous situation to protect him, and that was exactly what he couldn't accept. He thought to himself that he would have to do something about it, and try his best to protect Saber instead…
"So… in other words, now that I'm Saber's Master… I can use the Command Spells to have her do something that normally she couldn't do?" Shirou asked, wanting to see if he had understood correctly. "And above all… I'm stuck in this Grail War business, and I cannot back down, can I?"
Kirei nodded, smiling thinly to himself. "Indeed. Still, this could very well be your greatest chance. You have been chosen by your Servant to take part in an event thatmight shape the future of the world, for better or for worse." He said. "So, young man, what will you do? With the power of a Servant in your hands, your heart's greatest desire might just come true…"
"Well, that wasn't too bad, was it?" Rin stated, as the three of them began walking back to Shirou's house. The night had fallen, and Fuyuki City was now wrapped in a cloak of darkness and mist, which managed to make the city look mysterious and disquieting… or was it just Shirou's imagination playing tricks on him? "Now you know what to do in the Grail War… even though I still find it incredible that someone like you became a Master!"
Rin chuckled at that, somewhat bitterly… and Shirou sighed and rubbed his forehead, calling to Rin's attention an issue that seemed to have escaped her notice. "I don't know how you can be so nonchalant about it, Tohsaka… you know that, if this story about the Grail War is true, we will have to fight between ourselves as well, sooner or later."
"Of course I know that." Rin answered simply, shrugging nonchalantly. "I just don't give it much thought. Why should I? That's how it goes in the Grail War, Emiya. And you'd better get used to the idea, because there can be only one at the end of the games. There are no friends here. No rules, no fair play, nothing is off limits. Unless you understand that, you aren't going to last long…"
Saber stopped walking all of a sudden and held out her left hand, motioning for Shirou and Rin to stay behind. "Wait. Someone is coming." She stated, a grim determination lighting up in her eyes. The two Masters stopped, with a somewhat quizzical expression on their faces.
"What's the matter, Saber? Did you feel something?" Shirou asked. The blonde Servant reached for her sword, while Rin frowned and took a fighting stance…
"Somebody is coming. I do not know who, but it is very powerful…" Saber stated, her eyes making out a hulking, muscular figure advancing menacingly towards them, its wild hair waving in the wind, and a pair of baleful eyes glaring at the trio… "It's another Servant, I'm sure of it…"
"What?" Shirou exclaimed, tensing as the huge creature came forward, the ground shakin under its massive feet… and when it stepped out into the light, Shirou, Rin and Saber could see that it was a huge humanoid monster, more than eight feet tall, with lead-gray skin and glowing red eyes, wearing iron bracelets around his wrists and ankles, and a Greek-style iron skirt. However, the most surprising thing was the small girl, no more than 12 or 13 by the looks of her, who was sitting on the giant's shoulder, wearing a purple dress with a matching Russian-style headdress, purple boots and a pure white knee skirt, whose long white hair swayed gently in the breeze, and whose blood-red eyes looked at Shirou, Saber and Rin with a disquieting curiosity, like a child looking at some toys she was about to play with.
"Hello there!" the girl greeted cheerfully, casting a glance at Shirou. "Wow, just as I thought! I found someone to play with! So… will you play a game with me, big brother Shirou?"
"What?" Shirou exclaimed. "Who… who are you? And how do you know me?"
TO BE CONTINUED…