Chapter 1 is a go! While I was writing this, I realized how short the in-game timeline is... Well I figured out a way to solve that issue but we'll see how it goes, haha.

Archer took a deep breath and appeared within the throne room to obey Nero's summons. Like always the golden-haired Servant was going on about beauty of something or other to that Master of hers. Or was she fawning over her Master this time? Archer wasn't sure, he had come in late to the conversation.

"Oh, there you are Archer. We've been waiting for you." Nero turned away from her Master and acknowledged Archer's presence. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Were they actually waiting for him? Probably not.

"Is the capturing of our territories going well?"

Archer turned his attention the speaker, the girl sitting on the throne. He always had to steel himself when he came in here and was in her presence. He liked it better when she was Nero's damn ring. At least then he would not have to see her wavy brown hair and bright inquisitive eyes. A mirror to his own Hakuno, the one that had been lost when his world became a dead end. Well, not exactly. Unlike hers, this one was only the Mind. For some reason or another, the Hakuno of this world had split herself. Tamamo had the Soul in her possession. Speaking of that fox…

"We're working on it," replied Archer. "We're slowly taking over the territory in order to not alert Tamamo of our presence. So far, we haven't attracted the attention of her generals. Li Shuwen was a great help in that regard."

"Umu, did you hear that Praetor?" Nero nodded proudly, like she had played a part the conquest of territory. "Soon we will have all of my lands back and we can take down that fox!"

Archer would not have been surprised if Nero pulled a rose out of her ass in that moment.

Hakuno smiled and Archer had to look away before it tugged on his heart too much. It was his choice to become one of Nero's generals but being around Hakuno was…painful.

"Remember the other reason we called Archer back?" Hakuno reminded gently.

"Oh yes." Nero put her hands on her hips. "Archimedes says he needs you for a small side project."

Archer's brow furrowed. What could that man want with him of all people? Archer wasn't anyone important in this world. "Did he say why?"

"No but he said you would understand when you meet him." Nero shrugged. "It was a new weapon or something right Praetor?"

Hakuno nodded. "Archimedes said it was something that will be able to help us in the long run."

"He did huh?" Well whatever. The generals could handle things without him for a little bit. "Where is he?"

"He said he would be waiting by my glorious dual with the lion," said Nero.

Oh. That gaudy gold statue. "Well, if you don't need me for anything else, excuse me."

Archer stepped into the area of the statue and looked around for the Caster-class servant. He didn't have his weapons out but he was ready to bring them out at a moment's notice. It was too early for Sephyr's appearance, hell Altera was probably not active either.

"Oh, you've come."

Archer didn't flinch as Archimedes stepped out from behind the statue. His haughty attitude made it clear that whatever was running through that Servant's head, it was probably not good for Archer.

"Why did you ask for me? Nero spoke of a side project, a weapon of sorts?" He crossed his arms and did not break his gaze from the dangerous servant in front of him.

"Yes, a side project." He chuckled. "I guess it can be called a weapon. My own personal weapon."

Archer's eyes narrowed. He didn't sense anything off around him. This was a territory they had only gotten back recently, there was no way Archimedes could set something up here so fast. Or could he?

"I know that you, like me slip between dimensions," said Archimedes. "Well, with less flexibility than me but nonetheless, you know exactly what it waiting at the end of this road."

"Is that why you wanted to talk to me? To gloat? Don't you have the dragon under your control to talk about these things with?"

Archimedes laughed. "Oh, you talk like this now but I cannot wait to hear you change that tune of yours." He opened a terminal in front of him and brought up a picture. "Here, take a look for yourself."

The picture was large enough that Archer could see it from his position. It was her, Hakuno, lying on the stone floor in a cage of sorts. The cage was made from odd orange glyphs that seemed to be moving. The Hakuno in the cage appeared to be asleep, or Archer assumed she was, as dead things did not last long in the Moon Cell. He stared at it for a moment and then at Archimedes. "So you have captured the body of Hakuno this time?"

Archimedes laughed. "Captured the body? Well that is kind of what this but no. Altera won't let me near that. No, this is another Hakuno, a different Hakuno."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Archer wanted to punch the smug Caster in the jaw.

"This is the Hakuno from your dead world."

Archer stared at Archimedes. A couple seconds past. No laughter, no sudden exclamation that this was all a joke. He couldn't help but smirk. Seriously? Did Archimedes really think that would work?

"You don't believe me? Oh, of course the idea of it is something your mind cannot handle." He snapped his fingers.

Some of the glyphs in the picture-no the video-began to glow. Immediately the sleeping Hakuno began to stir. Her hands wrapped around her stomach and her face scrunched up into one of pain.

"Stop it," growled Archer. Whoever that was, it was still Hakuno and seeing her in pain…he hated that.

Archimedes snapped his fingers again the glyphs faded. Hakuno's body relaxed but her eyes never opened.

Archer frowned as his eyes took in something on her left hand. The image was grainy but…it couldn't be…

"What are you…oh." Archimedes chuckled. "I should have thought of that first." He opened his terminal and pushed a few buttons. The angle of the video changed. Now it was at her eye level and showed her from the waist up.

Her left hand was in full view. The crown-like band around her ring finger, the gemstone both red and black. A Regalia. His Regalia.

"How?" Archer looked at Archimedes in horror as the full brunt of what this meant hit him.

"The Regalia has limitless power after all. She has been rewritten so she can be accepted in this world and live in this world with no fear of being deleted or destroyed to correct the discrepancy."

Archer could barely hear Archimedes's words anymore. She was here, she was alive!

Shit. She was here and a prisoner of Archimedes.

"What do you want from me?"

Archimedes grinned. "That was what I wanted to hear. I want you to help me, help me get the ending that this world should take but keeps getting stopped." His easy-going demeanor broke for a moment and his face twisted into one of rage. "But anyway, I'm sure this time will be a success."

"Why would I want that to happen?"

"Because if you don't, that girl in the cell is going to suffer and, from my understanding, she is your weakness. You cannot stand by and let her die."

Damn him. There was no point in trying to hide it. Obviously Archimedes knew what kind of relationship the two of them had.

"I'll even give you the final moments together to sweeten the deal," continued Archimedes. He held out a hand. The hand without the corruption, Archer noted.

Archer grimaced but he took the traitor's hand and shook on it. Let Archimedes think he's won for now. Archer need information. He needed to know where she was, what kind of spells were keeping her trapped, whatever else this son of a bitch did to her.

Fine.

For now he would be a pawn but once she was free, once she was safe, Archer was coming for Archimedes head.

Hakuno was in darkness. It wasn't dark like that of a room with the lights off but more of an absence of light at all. She wasn't sure how she got here. She remembered Archimedes trapping Archer in that odd cage and then he had grabbed her.

She couldn't remember anything of what Archimedes did to her or where he took her but since then she had been wandering in this dark place. No matter how much she walked she didn't hit anything. No walls, no hole in the ground, nothing. It had gotten to the point that she kept her eyes open and walked forward confidently. Why be scared if there was nothing to be scared of?

How long has it been since she had started walking? She never got hungry, she never got tired. Her prana level stayed the same. She couldn't code cast in this space. It was like she was a ghost wandering the void.

She paused as something caught the corner of her eye. A light. There was something glowing faintly to her left. Despite being in darkness for so long her eyes did not cry in pain at the sudden appearance of this light.

She didn't want to hold out hope but she ran towards it. Much to her surprise, it got closer and closer until finally she passed through it.

It took her a moment to take in her location. She was no longer in the darkness but in what appeared to be a large cavern. Mounds of gold coins and other treasures surrounded a huge stone slab. What was on the slab, drew Hakuno's attention.

It took a few minutes for her mind to comprehend what she was looking at. It-no she, was huge. Larger than any human Hakuno had seen before clad in white with tanned skin and red eyes. A veil covered her hair. No. This woman wasn't human. She could feel the power coming off of the woman. Whatever she was, it wasn't human or even a Servant but something else.

"Huh? What are you doing here? I thought you were with the other me." The titan (for how else could Hakuno describe her?) turned her head to look at Hakuno. She reached out one of her large hands.

She was too fast, Hakuno could not dodge her in time. However, instead of feeling the hand wrap tightly around her body, the hand passed through her. Hakuno didn't know which was more concerning. The fact that she didn't feel anything or the look of confusion on the titan's face.

The titan looked at her hand and back at Hakuno. She closed her eyes.

Hakuno looked down at the coins at her feet and tried to kick one. Nope, her foot passed through the coins.

"Odd, you are with the other me. Then…" The titan's brow furrowed. "No, you are different from my Prisoner."

"What are you talking about?" asked Hakuno. From the evidence she had gathered so far, she wasn't in danger of being hurt by this titan. Since she had no idea what was going on or where she was, while she was here, at least she could gather some sort of information. She slowly began moving around the edge of the room.

The titan's eyes followed her progress but made no move to stop her. "You are not broken into pieces but as a whole person." Her eyes narrowed. "But there is something wrong with you. It is like you are missing your body and yet…not."

Hakuno had no idea what the titan was talking about but maybe that did that matter. She was almost to the other side of the room. There had to be a way-

Her stomach heaved and her vision grew fuzzy. She stumbled back a few steps and the feeling faded. Frowning, she took a cautious step in the direction she had been going and felt her stomach clench.

That was not good. It seemed like whatever happened to her she couldn't leave this room. She looked up at the titan, her apparently new roommate. Since she couldn't leave, right now she needed information. Maybe a few pleasantries were in order? "My name is Hakuno Kishinami. May I have yours?"

The titan seemed to be confused for Hakuno's words. "The same as my Prisoner?" Her expression darkened and in a deeper voice she said, "I am Altera, the harbinger of destruction of your planet, a piece of Velber and the Umbral Star."

Hakuno's breath hitched in her throat as fear washed over her body. She knew of this titan. Archimedes had spoken of her, the harbinger that would destroy everything. The one that she and Archer had been fighting against.

Altera said nothing but watched Hakuno as the fear coursed through her. However, once the initial shock passed through her, Hakuno's brain kicked in again. For a harbinger, Altera had been pretty courteous so far, well despite trying to grab Hakuno but that seemed like a justified action based on the circumstance. All she knew of Altera was through Archimedes who betrayed them so how much of his information was even valid?

"Odd, you feared me now you don't anymore."

Hakuno looked up at Altera. Maybe it was foolish to not fear her but Hakuno didn't get a sense of anything dangerous. Although it probably helped that she was apparently not physically here.

"Do you know someone by the name of Archimedes?"

Altera's expression turned to one of disgust.

"Oh, good I don't like him either." Perhaps if she gave a little she might get something in return? She quickly went over the details of what had happened in her throne room.

Altera made no comment until Hakuno was finished. "So that is what is going on."

Altera stared at her for a moment or two and then nodded. "Alright, in return for your story I will share my own."

Hakuno could not believe the words coming out of Altera's mouth. Apparently Archimedes had escorted a Hakuno here and then that Hakuno had ended up splitting her mind, body and soul to get away from Altera. The body was here with Altera while Nero had the mind and Tamamo had the soul.

How could it be possible? Two Hakunos in the same world? Well, technically four at the moment. She remembered reading information in the Moon Cell about parallel worlds. Could this be a parallel world to her own? She looked down at her left hand but there was no Regalia there. Of course not, Archimedes had taken it from her. Her right hand was devoid of command seals.

"Archimedes brought me from a different world," she said slowly. "He probably used the Regalia to make it so this world would accept having two of the same person. But…why?"

Hakuno let out a cry as pain coursed through her body. She crumpled to the ground, her hands clutching her stomach.

"Prisoner!?"

Hakuno looked up and saw Altera was now fuzzy. Before she could say anything, she felt herself get knocked backwards. The golden room was gone and again she was surrounded by darkness. The pain was gone, and the memory of it fading fast. What in the world?

She stood(or she thought she stood) and looked around. There was no trace of that golden room and Altera. Had that all been a dream?

No, it felt too real. Well, as real as it could have gotten and that pain had been real as well.

If she was wearing the school uniform that she wore during the Grail War, she would have pushed up the sleeves. Now she was no longer wandering aimlessly through the darkness. Now there was a goal. She needed to figure out a way to get back into that room.

Archer wanted to kill Archimedes.

The first thing that traitor had asked for Archer to do was to make Tamamo aware her territory was being taken back. He wanted the two of them to start fighting and have one kill the other in order to reunite two pieces of the Regalia.

So that was why Archer was currently hiding out on the edge of the Millennium Capital territory, waiting for one of Tamamo's generals. Based on the scouting report, the generals patrolled the area regularly. The general was random but thankfully Lu Bu was rarely on guard duty. That was the only general that would not be able to deliver a message back to his leader.

Sensing a presence, he peered around the corner of the pillar and grimaced as he saw Medusa approach. If it was Lu Bu at least he could make an excuse. This though…

He took a deep breath and took off running as loudly as he could. As he thought Medusa gave chase. At first he made sure to keep out of her line of sight. He kept making tight turns until he got to Nero's territory. A small piece of territory that had been taken away from Tamamo earlier in the week.

There was nowhere to hide for him here but that was fine by him. He summoned his bow and a Hrunting arrow. He pointed it at Medusa as she entered the area and fired.

She barely had time to dodge away from the full brunt of the attack. It nicked her in the side but she was still standing. Just how Archer predicted it.

"Archer," said Medusa.

"I would get going if I were you." Archer made the bow disappear and summoned his swords. "Gawain is close." He smirked. "I don't think you can handle two servants."

Medusa was silent for a moment. "Odd that you would apparently help me but I will heed your warning for now Archer." She turned and fled.

Archer sighed and made his swords vanish. That worked out better than he thought.

"Archer!" Gawain entered the area with his sword at the ready. Seeing Archer relaxed, the knight looked around in confusion. "I thought I saw the snake woman pass by here."

Archer nodded. "She as here but fled when she realized you were approaching." He wondered if Archimedes was laughing at him nearby. "We need to inform Nero that Tamamo now knows we are taking territory."

"Why the long face? What is it that they say on Earth? Oh, like your puppy was kicked or something?"

Archer stopped walking and glared at Archimedes. That son of the bitch leaned against the wall, seemingly enjoying the view of Nero's Rome.

His nails dug into his palms as he had to fight the urge to grab the man by the collar and slam him against the wall.

The conversation with Nero had gone as well as he thought it would. Nero was pissed and Hakuno looked worried. The plan for right now was for the generals to patrol the territories and to make sure Tamamo did not take back anything else and to be alert if Tamamo was on the move.

A temporary response for now but Nero was planning on launching an attack on Tamamo's Capital once a solid plan was in place on how to tackle this endevour. Nero's camp may have strong servants on their side but Tamamo had the advantage of territory.

"Oh don't look at me like that. I'm keeping my end of the bargain." Archimedes pulled up the video of his Hakuno's cell. Nothing had changed from the previous video. If Archer had not been paying attention to the steady rise and fall of her chest he would have thought she was dead.

"If you are worried about her dying from starvation, don't worry, the cage I have her in provides all of the nutrients a Master-well, she's technically not a Master anymore- like her needs to survive. It would do no good to remove my bargaining chip no?"

Archer did not give Archimedes the pleasure of a response. If only looks could kill, the traitor would be dead where he stood.

"Anyway, the plan has been set into motion. I might need your assistance again soon depending on how this goes. Go back to playing as Nero's lapdog for now. Or…" He grinned. "Perhaps the lapdog of the Mind of Hakuno would be a better assessment."

Archer had to remind himself over and over again that he couldn't let his temper get the best of him. Archimedes was obviously goading him.

"Are we done here? I do need to continue to patrol the territory to avoid suspicion."

"Of course, I wouldn't want to keep you from that goal." Archimedes stepped away from the wall. "If you will excuse me, I have a trip to the Millennium Capital to make."

Archer watched him go before he focused back on his own round. He made mental notes as he walked of areas where sector traps could be placed. He had a feeling that Archimedes would ask for something like that in the future.