Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night, nor any additions, spin-offs, or adaptations of the Fate series. All titles are owned by Type Moon, and I am in no way shape of form claiming ownership of their characters, ideas, or works. Please support the official release.

A/N: And here we are at the second part of the Zero Chapter! Sorry that took so long; I was really dishing out new chapters for aSiW, but after spitting out so many in so short a time, I thought it best to shift gears and get back on the thing I really wanna work on. ...Okay, I also wanted to take a break. There, I said it. Happy? Hopefully, only one more chapter remains before we get to Shirou. Oh, and if you're feeling embarrassed if you're secretly fangasming over Ufotable's remake of Unlimited Blade Works and FINALLY getting around to making a Heaven's Feel adaption-don't be. You are among friends.

Ahem, now that that's outta the way... Just so you know, much of the rest of the story is over on Beast's Lair, though I'm thinking of rewriting a great deal of it, if not all of it. Looking back on something you wrote years ago can be... embarrassing. And if you truly like this fic, REVIEW! I can't get enough of people saying they enjoy my fanfics! Helps me be less distracted by writer's block. *wink wink*


Fuyuki Municipal Hall, 1994, 5:28 AM

"H...hey...!" Waver wheezed, struggling not to collapse as he chased after Theodore. If Waver ever thought himself a fool at school for cutting gym, it would have probably been at that moment, what with his legs about ready to collapse under his own weight and his lungs on fire. Why did that little scamper of a familiar have to be so damned fast?!

It was only after his legs finally gave way and his face hit the carpeted floor that Waver felt his ferret friend finally stop, if the chittering noises near his ear were any indication. "Well, what? Did you find her...?" He sighed, looking up straight ahead.

The hall gave way to the massive auditorium, which seemed akin to a sort of theater or something-a large stage stood in the center, red curtains arraying it. Rows upon rows of seats lined the outer part, all the way towards the exits. But it was the stage Waver turned back his attention to.

For atop a pedestal situated right smack dab in the middle of the chamber, there was a familiar figure, still as the air in the room. Waver made his way down one of the aisles, before climbing up one of the side stairs onto the stage. Drawing nearer to the still form, he was able to get a better look at the woman Emiya Kiritsugu had charged them to find.

Irisviel von Einzbern.

If Waver had to compare her to something, the only thing he could think of was the moon. Her alabaster hair fanned out beneath her, each lock like a delicate ribbon of ivory silk. Her porcelain-esqe skin seemed equally ethereal, being so pale and yet so beautiful. Her maroon top, white skirt, and matching boots made her look like she was the daughter of some ludicrously wealthy family-which was exactly what she was, he gathered, if the Einzberns were as huge a family of magi as Waver had heard.

It was almost story-book. The nineteen-year-old was never really one to bluster around pretty women, but even he couldn't deny that Emiya had bloody scored somewhere along the way. It was always the dark, scary, brooding ones.

But Waver's thoughts were interrupted when he saw Theodore climb up onto the pedestal, the ferret coming up to the still woman, sniffing at her face before he licked her cheek some. When no response came, however, the ferret nudged her again, before it turned back to Waver and made an uncomfortable whine. The latter figured his familiar was trying to tell him something, and some cold pit formed in Waver's stomach as he reached out beneath her chin, trying to look for a pulse-

Only to flinch when he felt something out of place in her neck, and to feel no beating from her heart. Waver swallowed in realization.

"...She's dead..." He grimaced. Whoever had taken her had snapped her neck, almost like it was a twig.

{BGM: Fate/Zero OST - The Gilgamesh}

"Indeed," Came a new yet familiar voice in reply, causing Waver to gasp and spin his head around to find the source. Theodore practically shrieked, bolting into Waver's sweater, as though vainly seeking shelter within the confines of it's master's cloths. "Now remove yourself from that corpse, mongrel." From the opposite side of the stage, golden strands of light gathered together, and to Waver's frozen terror, they formed from the bottom up a golden-armored figure, his eyes the color of scarlet red, and blonde hair which the boy readily recognized. He looked almost bored by the situation, but his fiery gaze tore into Waver, making the boy feel like a gnat to the figure.

Archer. The single most powerful Heroic Spirit in the Holy Grail War.

Waver swallowed hard, struggling to not allow what composure he could muster to be shattered. "So, you were involved in all this," He managed to utter in a trembling voice, though he otherwise tried to hold his ground as best he could.

"Ho?" the golden Servant said, a chilling smirk crossing his face. "You are Rider's Master, are you not, boy? Then that must mean both he and Saber have finally arrived. Undoubtedly, they are fighting the rabid dog at the moment. Did you perchance flee from the battle as the mongrel craven you are?"

Waver felt frozen by the intense presence he felt from the golden hero, knowing full well the creature before him could slay him at any given moment, and upon a mere whim. Running was obviously not going to do any good, so though he was undoubtedly afraid, Waver somehow found it in himself to stand unmoving against the figure. "No..." He said in a small voice. "I would've simply got in their way back there... But... I still wanted to be useful to them. And the only way I could do that was..."

The golden Servant seemed somewhat surprised by his answer, his smirk fading as he regarded the boy for a moment. "Hm. You say that as though you are his vassal, rather than his Master."

To that, Waver could not answer. In a way, Archer was right. He wasn't Rider's Master anymore. The three Command Seals he'd kept up to that point had been used up on their way over to the city hall, as they were riding through the cold winter air.

"By my Command Spell, I Waver Velvet order you. Rider, fight until you gain victory. And by another Command Spell, I order you. Rider win the Holy Grail. And by yet another Command Spell, I order you. Rider, conquer the world. I won't accept failure."

His desire was to sever his ties with Rider, not wanting to get in his way for what they all knew to be the final battle. After the fiasco with Saber, coupled with all the times he'd used his Reality Marble, he knew that Rider needed the Command Seals to have a fighting chance at what was to come. He was ready to accept that his part was over in the War, and that all he could do was trust Rider to win...

And yet the King of Conquerors had insisted he still fight beside him. Not as a Master... but as a friend.

"Don't die, boy," The last words Iskandar had spoken before he charged into the fray against Berserker resounding in his head. "We shall see this Holy Grail War to the end, together; regardless of outcome."

Finally, Waver spoke again, a new-found determination and courage in his voice. "You're right. He's not my Servant. Not anymore. Rider is my friend. If there were ever a man I wanted to follow, it'd be him. And I intend to see this War through until the very end, right by his side."

For a long moment, Waver stared straight at the golden hero, no hesitation or cowardice in his eyes as the strongest Servant looked impassively back at him. Theodore, seeming to have calmed down, poked his head out of the back of Waver's sweater, climbing up until he was again perched on his master's shoulder. Then, his armor clinking softly as he turned his back, Archer said in an imperious voice, "Very well, boy. I shall permit you to wait here until Rider comes. However, you are not the only one here who covets what lurks within that woman's body. Prove your loyalty and survive until the King of Conquerors arrives."

"Eh...?" Waver blinked, but before he could think further, Theodore screeched excitedly to his side, alerting Waver of a sudden loud buzzing noise emanating from the same entrance they'd come from. From the shadows emerged a limping figure... surrounded by a swarm of ghastly, monstrous insects.

"Stay away... FROM MY GRAIL!"

The inept magus had barely enough time to start running before the screeching familiars flew straight towards him from across the chamber, with razor-sharp claws and fang-like teeth to rip and tear flesh. His adrenaline kicking in, Waver's prior exhaustion evaporated in the face of primal fear, as he and Theodore began madly running away from the approaching swarm.

And all the while, the golden hero merely watched, a small smirk appearing on his face, as though the matter were nothing more than entertainment to stave off his boredom.


Underground Parking Lot

{BGM: Fate/Zero OST - The Berserker}

Saber and Rider were in a stand-off as they faced down Berserker, the smoking ruin of the deserted parking lots beneath the town hall still aflame, even as the water spewed from the indoor fire sprinklers overhead. They had attacked the mad Servant together, and had even managed to momentarily overpower him-but Saber's intended fatal strike from her invisible sword never ran true. The mindless black beast had somehow known the trajectory of the blue knight's invisible sword, and had actually stopped the blade with his gauntlet-clad hands.

This had unnerved Saber greatly, as only a man who knew her sword well could have gauged it with such eerie accuracy. The only Servant in the War who had seen it up close was Lancer, but she grimly knew him to be already slain, betrayed by his own Master who'd ordered him to fall on his own spear. And that could only mean one thing-that Berserker was possibly a knight from her time.

Rider, however, had come to that conclusion already, his face grim and his eyes set with a piercing, burning intensity. The King of Conqueror's Master had, in a stroke of realizing brilliance, even narrowed down the feral warrior's true identity... but it did not please Iskandar. For if what Waver thought was true, if his observances of Berserker's power was as uncanny as Rider thought... He did not know how Saber would react. It wasn't his place to divulge such knowledge to Saber, not when her own actions, her own way of kingship, had likely brought about such a tragic end for a warrior as noble as the man Rider suspected Berserker to be. But she was, in all honesty, just a girl. She put on the role of martyr, to be sure, but she was only a child at heart, trying to play the role of a man. And no child needed to see such a thing they had wrought.

The King of Knights then brandished her blade, it's ethereal tip pointed towards Berserker. "I ask this, assuming you to be a skilled knight." She asked with solemn dignity and pride. "If you know me to be Arturia Pendragon, King of Britain, give me your name, as a knight's honor demands! Attacking whilst unrevealed befits only an assassin!"

For a short moment, there was a silence between the three of them, before the black knight's armor seemed to creak and shudder, like the steel of his armor was quaking against his violent trembling. He let out something they could only describe as a muted growl, or perhaps some sinister chortle. Then, the dark mist with which he girdled himself in suddenly began to dissipate, revealing the battle-scarred but flawless armor he wore beneath, as black as night and spikes lining the fine plate. Saber let out a small gasp at first, her eyes widening as more and more of the mad warrior was revealed.

"N-no..." She uttered in disbelief. Saber had seen that armor before. She had seen it many a time in her life. But... it simply could not be. This was not the noble knight she had known! He couldn't possibly be the insane, wretched figure she saw before her!

And yet, as though to shatter her denial, a wisp of black mist swirled from his hand, until it gave way to reveal a sword as black as the armor he wore, the very air around it distorted in demonic energy.

"Arondight?" Saber uttered in horror. "No... no, you cannot be...!"

"Then the lad was right," Rider said gravely, his eyes narrowing as he saw the crack Bucephalus had inflicted on Berserker's helmet rip the helmet further asunder. Yet if his comment had impacted Saber, she did not show it, for she could only gape as she stared at the black knight, and heard it growl a single word.

"Aaaaaarrrrrrthuuuurrrr...!"

His helmet finally snapped in twain, each half falling to either side of him, as the mad warrior's horrifying visage was revealed. Where once there may have been a fair look about him, Berserker's face was now gaunt, pallid, and ghastly; like a man not counted amount the living, but more as a vengeful phantom of an unquenchable malice. His teeth seemed as terrible fangs, like a rabid monster which rent and tore at it's food. But what truly set out were his eyes. They appeared almost soulless, and yet at the same time, there was a light to them-the light of undying hatred and spite, of pure anger and rage.

"Sir... Lancelot..." Saber said mutely, stricken more than she had ever been as she beheld the man she had called nigh her brother, warped from the valiant and loyal figure she had known in life into the monster she now stood against. Pain filled Saber's eyes, as she implored him. "Why, my friend? You were the first among my Knights of the Round Table! So, why...? How could you have become a Berserker-!"

But before Saber could continue her desperate pleas, Lancelot charged against them with a furious roar, his eyes that of a man possessed, brandishing his sword with a new-found deadliness and skill. Rider grimaced at the blue knight's eyes, so full of fractured resolve and weakened will to fight, and surged Bucephalus forward, intercepting the black knight. He knew she couldn't fight against that beast and hope to survive-not in her dispirited state.

Iskandar's war-mount went up on it's hind legs, kicking and flailing it's hooves, each with enough brute force to easily shatter steel a meter thick, against the mad warrior in an attempt to deter him. But the ebon Knight of the Lake would not be repelled, not when it had finally found it's quarry. Instead of charging into Bucephalus' battering-ram-esqe hooves, he leaped high in the air, the trajectory of his jump enough for him to bypass the King of Conquerors entirely, and dive in to strike the form of the little girl behind him-

But the sound of thunder suddenly roared in the burning parking lot, and a surge of lightening suddenly struck the mad warrior in the back, sending him hurdling back into the far wall, smashing a crater into the concrete as his armored form slammed into the mesh of stone and metal. Rider's sword, now brandished towards Lancelot, seemed to have small wisps of smoke coming off it, sparks of electricity pulsating off the blade. "It is most unwise-and rather incredibly rude, might I add- to turn your back on an opponent, Knight of the Lake," The Macedonian king said with some disdain in his regal voice, his red eyes boring into the mad warrior with a silent but deadly light in them. "I would warn you to not repeat that mistake, lest I make an example of you."

"Rider!" Saber protested, sounding almost appalled. "This is not your battle! Lancelot is-"

"If your resolve is so easily shaken from merely seeing a ghost from your past," Iskandar spoke up, interrupting her with a brazen casualty, "Then you are less of a hero than I had thought, Saber." The words seemed to have effect on her, as she grit her teeth at him angrily. "Do not forget we have a mission to accomplish here! We have your dainty lady-friend to still search for, and after that is the matter of the Grail. If you allow your past to cloud the goal before you, how shall you ever move forward?"

"Rider..." Saber uttered, before her attention was again affixed to Lancelot, the latter rising up from off the ground, growling like a mad dog as he glowered at the, his sword clutched in hand.

"For now, we must focus to the task at hand. This fellow may be your old friend indeed, but if we are to have any hope of saving Lady Irisviel and stopping whatever foes lie ahead from obtaining the Grail, you must not allow your past bond to sway your blade. We must get pass him, or we'll be failures as Servants by leaving our Masters in the drift."

For a moment, there was a look of conflict in Saber's poise, but Rider nodded approvingly as the steely conviction returned to her eyes, gripping her sword with a renewed strength. Together, they faced down their now-recovered foe, both waiting for him to make the next strike.


{BGM: Fate/Zero Anime OST - Dogfight 2}

As a general rule, Waver Velvet did not like explosions. They were louder and less subtle than Americans, and had the same lack of delicacy and tidiness as those overpaid, oversexed burger-eaters. And besides, anytime something exploded when preforming alchemy, it was virtually always bad news.

So when Emiya Kiritsugu gave him a few pinches of napalm and told him to make impromptu grenades out of them using his alchemical knowledge, Waver thought he was a nutter.

However, opinions have a tendency to change when one is being chased by a horde of monstrously hideous, obscenely shaped, presumably man-eating locust-beetle-worm... things. Now, Waver sincerely regretted he hadn't made more, as whenever he chucked a capsule full of the putty material back into his and Theodore's arthropod pursuers, a healthy chunk of them promptly began to violently combust into flambeed chunks, before their remains began to fade into nothing on the floor, as proper familiars ought. Sure, his ears should have been bleeding by that point, and was narrowly avoiding being caught in the blasts himself, and the damage caused by the explosives were both crude and unsubtle; but it was better than letting those little buggers sink their rather nasty-looking teeth into his tender, squishy flesh.

Alas, however, no matter how many Waver managed to blow up, more kept coming at him, almost as infuriatingly relentless as Berserker was to Saber. His legs, fueled by adrenaline and bolstered by Reinforcement, would give out soon if he didn't do something-and to top it all off, he was running dangerously short on those napalm capsules.

Not to mention Theodore's nearly incessant screeching was both unbelievably irritating and distracting amidst the cacophony of life-and-death panic and noise.

"Shut up, dammit!" Waver panted as he struggled to keep running alongside his ferret familiar, wondering how the little rodent could run so fast. "Have you got any better ideas to ward them off?!" Lobbing yet another napalm capsule back at the swarm, Waver quickly turned his head back forward, just in time to avoid being blinded by the flash of light which not-too-discreetly signaled the capsule had worked, followed immediately by the inhuman screeching of the insect familiars as they were ripped and smouldered to pieces. Somehow, throughout all this, Waver had managed not being caught within the blast radius of any of his capsules. Wincing from the noise and heat from behind him, he could not have seen that one of the insects, aflame from the napalm and grotesquely mutilated, shooting out like a bullet from the smoke and fire which had claimed so many of it's brothers. Closing in on Waver with a hungry desperation, it bared it's monstrous fangs to it's target's back-

Before Theodore leaped into the air, the usually cowardly ferret displaying a courage one would hardly expect from so small a creature as he snarled, catching the ugly worm's soft neck between his jaws and using all his strength to bite down on the enemy familiar's flesh with all the force of his tiny body. Waver only became aware that his familiar had saved his life when he heard him hit the floor just behind him, causing him to gape. Theodore was truthfully just a familiar he'd found, rather than one he had personally made. As a result, the ferret was less than wholly obedient when it came to following his orders, though they had somehow managed on their own. But... to see him risk himself like that for his sake...

Waver's thoughts were interrupted when he looked farther back, a new wave of insect familiars surging forward-and with Theodore still on the ground, wrestling for his life against that one familiar...

Time seemed to slow down for him in that moment, everything moving at a crawl as his brain fired up into gear. If he tried to help Theodore, the bugs would likely get them both before they could get away. He could still use the napalm, but the risk of using it at so close a range would be too great. If he kept running, he could likely still have a chance at buying himself some time until Rider got there-but to do so would mean he'd leave his mustilid companion behind... and at the mercy of those monstrosities.

The choice was obvious to Waver.

"-Dammit!" Gritting his teeth, Waver cursed as he spun himself around, triggered what he only then realized was the last of the napalm capsules, and flung it at full swing towards the approaching swarm, before rushing over to Theodore and scooping him up in his arms, leaving the twitching worm familiar bleeding on the ground-

*BOOM*

Before the loudest noise in Waver would ever hear hit his ears as the napalm capsule did it's terrible duty. This time, he wasn't able to run away to escape the blast. The resulting explosion sent him and Theodore hurdling through the air... and then Waver knew only darkness.


{BGM: Fate/Zero OST; Struggle and Spun}

Not for the first time since the Holy Grail War began, Saber owed a debt to the King of Conquerors.

On her own, she knew she'd have had no resolve to face down her comrade Lancelot. In her time, he had been the greatest among all the chevaliers she had ever know, unmatched in skill, ferocity, and valor-even her feats of arms found fault in the face of his masterful grace and deadliness. Still she felt like a cold, long blade had run her through as she beheld her former friend, the one knight she had trusted in life above all others. Every terrible blow he rained down upon her-every strike she parried and blocked against, felt as though they were a battering ram which made her resolve tremor, her will to fight, buckle.

Alone, she knew, she'd have had little chance. Even were she fully resolved to win, she held no delusions that the battle would have been an easy one.

But she was not alone. Though Rider's words from their banquet still haunted her, his presence in that moment seemed to ironically keep her eyes unclouded by grief and anguish. His larger than life frame seemed to stand firm as a mountain even as her own strength faltered; her pride as a king and a knight forced her to keep fighting whenever she saw him so resolutely battling the maddened warrior, not wanting to appear lacking against him.

She had caught a glimpse of the King of Conquerors' martial prowess both when he annihilated Assassin as well as when she had pursued him when she believed him responsible for kidnapping Irisviel. Swinging his comparatively massive spatha sword like it was nothing but a feather in his hands, it's steel flashing in the dark like the lightening he hurled. To be sure, he was not the most gifted of swordsmen; Saber doubted he would triumph against her or Berserker in a pure duel.

But, despite being the slowest of the three Servants battling amidst the flames, despite being the least versed in feats of arms... Rider's boldness and ferocity was not shamed by them. Rather, somehow his strength and valor seemed to shine all the more, even as his blade began to chip and crack against the onslaught of Arondight. By all rights, Lancelot should have landed a fatal blow against Rider many times before, and yet at every turn, fortune seemed to smile on the King of Conquerors. It was the same as when he'd intervened in the nick of time when she had first fought Berserker, where she would have been slain by the black knight and Lancer. The same as when he had narrowly managed to emerge unscathed from Excalibur's blinding light when his chariot had been destroyed beneath him.

Luck. The measure of one's ability in life to overcome the expectations and realities of the world. The affinity to naturally manipulate or outright defy fate. Each Servant possessed this as one of the parameters which judged a Servant's strengths and weaknesses. While Saber herself couldn't read another Servant's statistics, Rider himself had boasted having the best of fortune both in life and during the Grail War... and it showed. At each critical juncture in every battle he'd fought in up to that moment, some turn of fate seemed to allow him to avoid a fatal blow, or manage to intervene at his pleasure right when it would have been needed.

And it was not luck alone which augmented Iskandar's fighting ability in this crossing of blades, either. Saber was amazed she hadn't noticed it before, but she could feel an extremely potent aura surrounding him; one that quickened his reflexes, strengthened his sword-arm, and made his magical power jump to levels Saber could hardly comprehend. She could not understand where he had gained such a boon.

But now was not the time to dwell on that. Even with his bolstered strength and peerless fortune in battle, Rider was still only managing to hold his own against the onslaught of the Knight of the Lake. Certainly, Iskandar had the fortitude to withstand blocking Lancelot's blows, but with Arondight in his hands, the black knight pulverized all in his path like a black, desolating storm. He swung his demonic sword so fast Saber could scarcely see the blade beyond that of a flashing dark blur, cutting through the air at speeds rivaling Lancer's easily. And the force which each blow carried could easily cut both her and Rider down with but a single direct hit, even as they both boasted extremely high constitutions among Servants.

Fortunately, the fact that she and Rider now faced him together meant that the battle was not one-sided. Even with his superior power, Saber could tell that between the two of them, they could hold Lancelot at bay and perchance keep up the stalemate until her former brother-in-arms finally drained his Master. She knew that the Berserker class of Servant was notorious for always killing their summoner through the sheer overwhelming amounts of prana necessary to maintain their monstrous strength. While the notion of simply waiting to finish off Lancelot when he was helpless was nothing short of revolting and unjust to Saber, she knew she had to endure and keep fighting if she were to have any chance of saving Irisviel... and the Grail.


{BGM: Fate Zero Anime OST; Forebodings}

Kariya howled through gritted teeth as he felt another of his veins explode from the sheer pressure of Beserker's toll combined with the manipulation of the worms at his side. Half-mad from sheer, unadulterated agony, the white sheep of the Matous looked down at the unconscious, prone form of the boy and his familiar. He'd been annoyingly evasive as Kariya hounded him with his crest worms, causing him even more agonizing pain as the parasites still inside him tore his body further and further apart.

It was frankly a miracle he hadn't collapsed yet, because between him chasing the boy, the strain of summoning more and more worms, and the impossibly massive drain of prana Berserker was imposing on him was mind-shatteringly painful.

His already broken psyche threatening to fracture from the unadulterated, excruciating agony wracking his body, the man saw through his hazy vision a figure he did not expect to see... and yet found nothing at all out of place.

"Why are you in so much pain...?" The little girl asked, her eyes listless and empty to the world around her, and yet filled with a deep, subtle sorrow.

"Because... Berserker has to fight..." Kariya wheezed out, looking at Matou Sakura with his one good eye, sweat and blood staining his already marred face. He then turned his head back to the boy on the ground. The only reason he was still alive was because Kariya hadn't released any new worms on him. "And... I had to stop him from getting the Grail..."

"Why do you have to?" Sakura asked again. "Are you going to kill him?"

"Yeah... I'd rather not... but I can't let him take what that priest promised..."

"The priest promised you something?"

"Yeah... he said he'd give me the Grail, if I did as he asked-*hack*" A small amount of blood sputtered from Kariya's lips, as he coughed and gasped for a few moments, before he turned to look at the girl again. "If I have the Grail, I can... save you."

"You're going to save me?" There was a small yet desperate hope in her voice.

"That's right... I promised you..." A disturbing light danced in Matou Kariya's eyes as he looked at the girl he was fighting so hard for-something between madness, desperation, and hope. "We'll go playing in the park... like we used to."

"Then... I'll be able to see my mother again?"

And in an instant, Sakura was gone from Kariya's sight. A new figure took her place-one which caused Kariya's eyes to be filled with a realizing, maddened horror. "Your... mother..."

There, looking down upon Kariya with empty, cold eyes, was Tohsaka Aoi. The woman who brought Sakura and Rin into the world. The woman he'd loved... and killed.

With an agonized cry, Kariya dug his fingers into the ground, his fingernails cracking against the floor. When his voice became hoarse, he reaffirmed what must be done to at least save Sakura. With eyes filled with lunatic, murderous intent, he looked down at the boy's prone form. With clammy, bloody hands, he reached out to the boy's neck...