Illyasviel fumed.

She had just suffered yet another hour of that insufferable blond's complaints about how impossible having so many different languages was. If it wasn't for Alphonse calming his brother down, she would have strangled him within the first five minutes.

Still, when he wasn't being a pain in the ass, there was something she liked about Edward.

He didn't complain about how unfair life was, he just got up and moved on. As he said repeatedly, there was no point living life with one foot in the past. He never spoke one word against her mother or the castle homunculi, aside from giving them a respectful distance. There was just something about him that drew her in. A sort of subtle strength.

That didn't mean she wouldn't strangle him with her bare hands of course, it just meant she did have some admiration for the rather irritating blond menace.

To quote Leysritt, it was adorable to watch the blizzard and the inferno work together. You knew it was going to end badly for someone, but it was always a question of who would give in first.

So when she received the Command Seals, she could only feel relief. Finally, a break from that blasted blond!

Edward felt something coming from the room Illyasviel went into three hours ago.

Contrary to what Alphonse thought, he did not have a crush on the 'little blizzard'. He just had fun riling her up. It was like his arguments with Mustang...they were for fun.

Alphonse however had an open bet among the castle homunculi on how long it would take before the two realized that they liked each other. Or how long it would take Illyasviel to snap and try to kill his brother.

So far, the odds were more in favor of her trying to strangle him bare handed first.

Both brothers looked up when Illya came out of the room with a new companion.

This guy put Major Armstrong to shame. He had muscles on top of muscles on top of more muscles.

"Who or what is that?" asked Edward with trepidation.

"My new Servant. Berserker, known as the Greek Hero Herakles," said Illyasviel smugly.

She had been ordered to summon Berserker, and she had delivered. She was the first one to summon too!

"Herakles? And here I thought we had a crappy dad," said Edward with a whistle.

Seeing Illyasviel's confusion (and somehow Ed could sense Herakles was surprised by the comment as well, despite being insane) he explained.

"He's the product of a serial rapist, and his step-mother was so pissed about his father's indiscretions that she took it out on the only people she could... his children. Herakles had the bad luck of being the son of Zeus and Hera decided to take it out on him, since she couldn't take it out on the real culprit," said Edward.

Illya blinked. She hadn't thought of it that way.

Edward had been entirely unimpressed with her lineage as well, stating that as long as Kiritsugu had been a decent father who loved her, he could care less if the man was a heartless assassin. Sure he disagreed with some of Emiya's methods, but when he considered how far he had gone to save his brother and return his body, he could understand why.

He had a unique ability to empathize with the strangest people. So yes, he felt sorry for Herakles for having a crappy father and a vengeful step mother.

"Still... Why exactly do you call someone that intimidating your 'Servant'?"

"None of your business, you shrimp," said Illya in irritation.

Ed twitched, and it was only the mountain of muscle that kept him from reacting like he usually did. He might have gotten bigger (finally) but he still reacted to being called short.

"This coming from someone smaller than the shelves?" said Ed in return.

Illya growled. It was only because she didn't want to waste one of her Seals that kept her from sicking Herakles on him.

It wasn't her fault her growth had stopped when she was eleven!

Alphonse intervened before their usual shouting match could occur.

Two months after Illya summoned Herakles, Ed found the weirdest marking on his flesh and blood hand. Markings that were formed from his blood.

Illya was furious when she saw them. She had kept Edward from discovering about the Grail War, not wanting him to join in out of curiosity, but now he would have to participate.

When told of what the Grail did, Ed showed no actual interest.

He had no use for a wish, as he sincerely doubted that it would work in his home world. And he had no desire whatsoever to get his ass kicked by Herakles. He was not an idiot.

Still, Jubstacheit was not about to let such a valuable opportunity pass him by. Two masters were better than one.

So he gave Edward the circle and the incantation and let the boy summon his own Servant. Without a catalyst, it would be purely pot luck what he got.

Edward was not comfortable with the idea of being Master to a legendary hero. In his opinion, heroes should be allowed to rest once their lives were over with. He liked the idea of this 'Grail' even less.

It sounded far too much like the Stone for his tastes.

Still, he wasn't about to run away from a challenge.

As the blood dripped freely from his left arm, he felt something connect to what he had always considered the source of his alchemy ability.

He had never had a name for it before coming here, but now he had a better understanding of alchemy. At least now he knew why he always felt so drained when he used the really difficult circles. And why the younger alchemists started, the better they were. Even Mustang had started when he was around thirteen.

There was a great deal of smoke, and even more of that weird energy in the air.

"As per the Grail's refuge, I have answered your summons. Are you my Master?"

"Um... I think so," said Ed. He still didn't like this whole 'Master-Servant' thing.

"I am Servant Rider."

"Call me Ed."

Once he was out of the room, he was able to get a good look at her. She was quite beautiful, for a woman. But he had spent years with females like his teacher, Winry, and Riza Hawkeye. He knew better than to let his eyes stray or to treat her like an object. Besides, he wasn't that interested in physical beauty.

She had long purple hair that reached to the floor, and a strange symbol on her forehead. Her eyes were covered by a blindfold, so he had no idea what they looked like. Her dress just barely covered her body, and revealed she had quite the figure. She had a restrained grace, and something about her screamed 'snake' for some reason. Even her voice had a lyrical hiss to it.

All-in-all, she was not what he expected of a Rider.

From the look she shot Herakles, he had little doubt that she knew of him. Which narrowed her legend down to Greece at least.

Illya was most certainly not pleased when she saw her.

Edward noticed Illya's behavior change after he summoned Rider. From what he could tell, she knew what it was like to have siblings and seemed to like the fact that Edward treated her with respect and not as something to ogle.

They also shared a love of books, which Rider dove into with great pleasure. She stuck mostly to the fantasy section though.

It took Edward two weeks to figure out who Rider was, and the first thing he did was ask her version of events.

His opinion of gods only went lower. Then he asked Herakles what his story was.

The more he heard, the less he liked the Greeks.

If Ed had thought getting to Fuyuki would be simple, he failed to take in account modern-day paranoia and a few choice terrorist attacks on a democratic nation.

Also, the devices that had given Ed such a massive headache hadn't been invented just yet.

The primary reason for him to take a week long cruise to Japan in a rather cheap room could be summed up in two simple words.

Metal. Detectors.

Illya, the evil brat, was cackling all the way to the plane with an invisible Herakles behind her...with Alphonse following her. Ed had glared at his brother like he had committed some cardinal sin against him, but Alphonse merely raised an eyebrow in response before looking pointedly at Illya and then back at Ed. It took a few seconds before Ed had an epiphany.

Damn hormones.

Though when he later confronted his brother about it, Alphonse would flippantly reply he was Illya's bodyguard, and he knew full well what Ed was like on boats. He was not dealing with a seasick brother when Rider was perfectly capable of taking care of that headache.

It had amused Rider and Illya both...even if said chibi did become very angry when, during a stopover near Greece, Ed convinced Rider to at least pay her respects to her sisters and they accidentally found out that Stheno and Euryale were in fact still alive.

Ed had insured the captain wouldn't ask about them by giving him something else to worry about. Like why all the computers on board were fried. He didn't mess with the navigation, but when they couldn't back up his claims that the girls were already paid by looking it up on the computer they had no choice but to push on.

But Ed made a point to hide the sister's unique hair color before they left the ship. Fortunately they were getting off at the docks in Fuyuki, even if they had to take a smaller boat to do it.

"So why are we going to this creepy as hell church again?" asked Ed.

"Because we have to register with the one monitoring the Grail War and covering up after us and the weaker Magi," said Illya from Herakles' shoulder.

"And it doesn't bother you that this place has the same vibe as any area that the homunculi I used to deal with happened to be in? Besides, where exactly does it say that we have to show up in person?"

"It's considered polite," said Illya irritably.

"I just don't like that place. Feels worse than dealing with that ass Envy."

"Envy?"

"My homunculi half brother. Bastard could shape shift which made it a total pain in the ass finding him."

"He the reason why you dislike homunculi?" asked Illya tightly.

"Mostly. Lust was even worse. So why can't we just call them on the phone?"

Illya paused.

Why didn't they just call by phone? No one said they had to show up in person, and it wasn't like she didn't have the number.

"You win this round blondie," said Illya.

"We were arguing? I didn't notice," said Ed grinning like the Cheshire cat. Illya hissed at him.

Herakles and Rider immediately went to another room, as did Alphonse. It wasn't long before you could hear Illya shouting at the infuriating blond alchemist.

Alphonse chuckled.

"If those two don't end up together by the time this war is over, I'll give up alchemy."

Rider snorted in agreement.

Edward wandered around Fuyuki, until he found a face he had only ever seen on the dart board in the area Illya spent the most time in. It was Shirou, Illya's adopted younger brother from before her father died.

From how vehemently she declared she was going to kill him for taking her father from her, Ed did not envy him one bit. Still, he did want to see if this poor kid was deserving of the Illyasviel Flurry as it was called. Something only Ed had ever felt the full brunt of.

So Ed waited until the guy was alone before he introduced himself.

"Hello!"

Shirou looked really confused, and Ed realized his mistake.

"Sorry. Hello," said Ed in Japanese. Having multiple languages was a total pain in the ass.

(He had previously been speaking only German, but once he got the hang of English he made a point of learning more. So he knew about three other languages now.)

"Hello?" said Shirou.

"Are you Shirou Emiya?"

"Um, yes?"

"Good! Didn't want the wrong person targeted by the blizzard. I figure it was a better idea to meet you before she found you and sent her bodyguard after you because of who your dad was," said Ed cheerfully.

Shirou looked utterly confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"Kiritsugu Emiya, your dad right?"

Shirou nodded.

"He has a daughter, Illyasviel. She's pretty damn pissed because he never came back even though she knew he had survived the fight. And she's blaming you for keeping him away," explained Ed.

"I didn't even know he had a daughter," said Shirou.

"If I were you, I'd get into this fight and fast, before she sicks her bodyguard on you. That guy is huge," warned Ed.

Shirou seemed like a nice guy, so Ed felt somewhat sorry for him.

"EDWARD ELRIC! GET BACK HERE!" shouted Illya.

"NOT A CHANCE IN HELL, RUNT!" cackled Ed.

Alphonse sighed. Rider was next to him while Stheno and Euryale were learning how to cook from the castle homunculi.

"And this is proving that they don't like each other how?" he asked Rider.

Medusa snorted in agreement.

"I think Ed didn't want any competition for her, that would explain why he went to see Shirou," said Medusa.

"I DON'T LIKE THE CHIBI LIKE THAT!" shouted Ed, who had sharp hearing when he wanted to.

"Then why did you introduce yourself to Shirou, other than to make sure he didn't try to make any moves on Illya?" Alphonse shot back.

Ed growled and would have tackled his brother to start a fight, but Illya got to him first.

"Can we talk about this?"

"NO!"