Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Purified by Fire, Dancing with Fairies

Chapter 3

Ayame stood up, and picking up the notebook on a nearby desk checked the magic circle recorded there and compared it with the one she'd drawn on the floor. "I think…this'll do…" she muttered to herself, scratching at her cheek with one hand while rolling a stick of chalk in her other hand.

Well, iron-infused chalk actually, as chalk does not conduct magical energy well. Iron does, too well, it might even be said, though not as good as silver does. But by mixing iron filings with powdered chalk and then compacting them into sticks, Ayame could moderate iron's conductive properties by using the chalk as an insulator, making it a perfect material to write magic circles with.

Though, there was a touch of irony there (pun not intended), considering Ayame's sorcery trait. Fairies or indeed, the Fair Folk in general, did have a weakness to iron, after all.

"Right then," Ayame said, putting the notebook down and cracking her fingers before stretching her limbs. "Let's get this show on the road. Let's see…the circle's fine, the door's unlocked, the house is clean, the letter explaining to Fuji-nee what's going on in case things go really bad is here…right…"

Ayame stood still for a few moments, reviewing the summoning spell in her head, and then taking the notebook checked her recollection against the spell written there one last time. Nodding in satisfaction, she put the notebook down again, and stepped up against the edge of the circle. Taking a pocket knife, Ayame cut her finger, and allowed a few drops of blood to drip on the chalk, the circle beginning to faintly glow as the mystery was invoked.

"Let silver and steel be the essence." Ayame said, her body going numb as prana flooded all of her magic circuits, one hand raised over the circle. "Let stone and the Archduke of Contracts be the foundation. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the kingdom rotate."

The magic circle glowed bright now, an unearthly breeze beginning to blow gently through the workshop. "Let it be declared now," Ayame continued. "Your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and truth. An oath shall be sworn here: I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven, and I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell."

The circle flashed, and then rotating, a glowing replica began to rise up, slowly through the air, matching the one on the floor. It rose higher than Ayame was tall, motes of prana dancing in the air between it and its counterpart on the ground. But Ayame cared nothing for that.

Instead, the girl gasped in surprise, not at the circle's activity, but instead at the gentle, golden glow that suddenly began to emanate from her body. The numbness of her magic circuits vanished, replaced with a comforting warmth that seemed to enfold her body even as it came from within, and it was almost like she was floating, removed from the world and all its worries and problems, pain and difficulty. For a moment she teetered on the brink, to simply let go and vanish into the light and the warmth, but she hung on, keeping her grip on reality, unwilling to simply disappear, never to be seen again, by her friends and loved ones alike.

How…how do I…how do I know this?

I…I just…I just do.

But…how?

But even with her refusal, neither the warmth nor the light vanished, no, instead a voice almost seemed to be whispering into her ear, telling her to finish what she had started, to bring forth the one who would bring her victory and salvation alike. "From the Seventh Heaven," Ayame whispered. "Attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protector of the Holy Balance…"

The circles flashed blinding bright, a powerful blast of wind erupting outward and bowling Ayame off her feet. Papers and materials were scattered across the workshop, but as the wind died and the light faded, Ayame slowly lowered her arms, which she had raised to protect her face, and her eyes widened.

"Are you alright, my Master?" a young man asked her, with a gentle but strong voice, and smiling down at her extended his hand as though to help her up.

Ayame had never believed in such a thing as love at first sight, but now…

…as she looked up at the handsome face of the knight in blue and silver standing before her…

…in hindsight…

…maybe…just maybe…

…she had been wrong?

Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the Archduke of Contracts be the foundation. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate.

Let it be declared now: your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and truth.

An oath shall be sworn here: I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven, and I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell.

From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protector of the Holy Balance!

The house shook with an explosion, clouds of dust shrouding the newly-summoned Servant as he lay on a pile of rubble fallen from the broken roof overhead. "Some things never change." he muttered, and glanced in the door's direction as the dust began to clear.

In the distance, footsteps could be hard, fast and heavy headed in his direction. The Servant smiled and sighed, closing his eyes and lowering his head. "Here we go again." He thought. "Once again, let's play our role in this tasteless drama, all for that small, one per cent chance of succeeding."

The Servant's smile twitched, turning mocking, even as the door leading to the room he was in shook with repeated impacts. Finally, it gave way, collapsing to the floor with shattered hinges. Without even opening his eyes, the Servant knew who and what was standing there.

A girl, no, a magus, about seventeen years-old or so, with long dark hair tied into pigtails. She'd be wearing a red, long-sleeved shirt, a black mini-skirt and matching thigh-highs. She'd look miffed, and would cross her arms while looking at me with a judging expression.

"Oh dear," Archer said, finally opening his eyes while lifting his head, smile twitching ever so wider as he saw what he expected to see. "What a Master I have."

Ayame sighed as she prepared breakfast during the following morning, her movements slower and less energetic than usual. "Are you alright, Master?" Saber asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ayame said, turning to face her Servant. Saber had taken off his armor, leaving him in a blue shirt with its sleeves trimmed in silver, along with matching trousers.

"You don't look and sound it." Saber countered, and Ayame chuckled.

"Well, aren't you perceptive?" she mockingly asked, the Servant smiling and shrugging indulgently in response. Ayame sighed again before continuing. "It's not that I'm feeling sick or anything, it's more that I still haven't recovered from last night."

"The summoning, you mean?" Saber asked.

Ayame nodded. "Yes." She said. "It took a lot out of me, though to be honest I kind of expected that. Even limited by the Servant system, Heroic Spirits, or their summoning, is near-magic. Normally it'd be impossible to summon one for a single magus, with even decades if not generations of preparation by a cabal of magi barely able to make it possible."

"That is part of the miracle of the Grail of Fuyuki, is it not?" Saber asked.

"Yes," Ayame said, nodding while turning eggs on a frying pan. "It is. Though even then, it takes decades – normally – to gather enough mana to support the summoning of seven Heroic Spirits as Servants. And the summoning ritual still costs individual magi – the Masters – a lot in terms of prana and preparation."

"I understand." Saber said with a nod. "In that case, I apologize for having cost so much to bring into the world. In return, allow me to offer you my word as a knight and as a king, that I will do everything in my power to make our wishes reality, Master."

Ayame laughed at that. "Going so far as to give me your word as king and knight," she said. "I'm flattered, I really am. In that case though, I promise I'll do my best as your Master. I'm sure a promise from an amateur magus of a girl my age isn't worth much by comparison, but, I'll do what I can."

Saber nodded. "No," he said with a reassuring smile. "I'm sure, if you put all you have into it, there's no reason for me to find fault with you as my Master."

Ayame smiled and nodded, and Saber nodded back. "That said," Ayame began, turning back to her cooking. "It was more than just a simple summoning."

"Oh?"

"My sorcery trait acted up during the summoning." Ayame said with a thoughtful tone. "Come to think of it…"

Ayame trailed off, while Saber raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Sorcery trait?" he echoed.

"Huh? Oh right, I see…um, sorcery traits are special features. Or better put, latent but passive talent," Ayame explained. "They're usually passed down lineages so in a way they're as if not more valuable than crests, but more to the point, they allow magi to do things that would usually not be possible or only with great difficulty."

Saber blinked. "And how is that connected to your weariness, Master?" he asked.

"I don't have a catalyst." Ayame said, Saber blinking again at the apparent disconnect with the topic. "I summoned based purely on affinity. I…guess, it's not impossible for you and I to have an affinity with each other…heh, that makes me so arrogant, doesn't it?"

"No offense, Master," Saber gently said. "But I grew up as an ordinary stable boy. I didn't know I was, or what I was destined to be, until I was man full grown."

Ayame stared, and Saber smiled wider. "Greatness is not always clearly to be seen," he said. "And may hide, asleep hidden beneath snow and earth, waiting only for the chance to shine as bright as the stars above."

Saber beamed at Ayame, who blushed and slightly lowered her face. "Flatterer," she said, scratching at her head. "But thanks. Anyway…"

Ayame paused and coughed, briefly closing her eyes. "I'm not entirely sure affinity is the only reason I was able to summon you, though there has to be at least some affinity, if you accepted my call." She said. "You see my sorcery trait is 'Fairy Lights'. I'm sure you can make the connection, can't you?"

"Fairy Lights?" Saber echoed. "You have a connection to the fey then?"

"Kind of," Ayame said. "I can…summon fairies, small ones, and, well, my magecraft is…well, that's the core of my personal spells. Fairies and…yeah…"

Saber narrowed his eyes, and stroked his chin in thought for a couple of minutes. Ayame, not wanting to disturb him, turned back to her cooking. "I imagine then," Saber finally said. "That your sorcery trait functioned similarly to a catalyst with regard to my summoning."

"Yes, I think so."

"And it may have cost you more than might be normal for a summoning?"

"I…don't know." Ayame said, turning back to Saber and scratching at her cheek. "In hindsight…even if it did, it's not really a problem, apart from taking more time to recover the excess prana used, assuming Fairy Lights really did cost me more prana than normal. But…yeah, it's not really a problem. It shouldn't be…after all,"

Ayame paused and laughed weakly before giving a quick bow of apology to a surprised Saber. "It's probably the reason why I have such a good Servant." She said. "Sorry, I think I came off as being…dissatisfied, with you, when I was the one who asked for your help in the first place."

"No, it's no problem." Saber said with a nod. "And you're a magus. It's only to be expected that you question and look at things like you do."

"Magus, eh?" Ayame said with a strange smile, and prompting Saber to tilt his head. Before he could say anything though, the front doors could be heard slamming open, followed by a woman's voice, shouting loudly and enthusiastically about breakfast. "Ah…that's my guardian, quick, turn to spirit form!"

Saber smiled and bowed, and with a flicker of white light, shifted into astral form. "I'm sorry, Saber." Ayame said telepathically. "Fuji-nee doesn't know I'm a magus, much less about the Holy Grail War. And it's better if it stays that way, it's safer for one thing. Sorry, but it looks like you won't be able to join us for meals, except if it's just the two of us."

"No, I understand." Saber replied in kind. "I wouldn't want to inconvenience you, or to put the lives of your loved ones at risk. It's no trouble at all."

"Thank you, Saber." Ayame said. "In any case, I'll set some food aside for you, Fuji-nee usually leaves before me anyway. That way, you can have something to eat while I finish preparing for the day."

"Thank you." Saber said. "Your hospitality is most appreciated."

Ayame silently laughed. "By the way," she said. "I should have said this last night, but…there's no need to keep calling me 'Master' all the time. Just Ayame will do."

"I do not wish to be inappropriately forward…"

"It's fine." Ayame interrupted. "No, really, it's better this way. It'll make things more comfortable for us, even more so since it's just the two of us in this contest, and we'll be risking our lives together."

"But…"

"I insist, Saber."

Saber gave a sigh, and Ayame beamed. "Very well," Saber conceded. "Ayame."

Ayame smiled wider, feeling very satisfied with herself.

"Are you still hung up over last night?"

Archer leaned back against a wall, looking on as Rin drank tea while sitting on the living room couch. "Don't take it personally," she said. "It's not like I'm dissatisfied with you or anything. It's just that I'm really disgusted over myself at missing something that should have been so obvious."

The Servant stayed silent, as Rin took another drink of her tea. And then smiling, she turned to face him. "This tea of yours is very delicious, by the way." She said, and Archer smiled while closing his eyes.

"I'm glad you like it." He said. Of course she would like it: she was the one who taught him how to make good tea after all. But she didn't need to know that, at least not yet, and not necessarily.

"Moving on," Rin said after taking another drink, and placing her teacup back on its saucer. "I believe 'Archer' is your class, isn't it? I believe I have the right to know my Servant's true identity, his legend, as well as his Noble Phantasms."

Archer against stayed silent, and after a long moment Rin gave a sound indicative of exasperation and irritation. "Don't tell me you still don't remember who you are!" she exclaimed. "Is it even possible for a Heroic Spirit to forget who they are?"

"Who knows?" Archer replied. "All I can say is that my memories are blurred, and in any case, this is also a result of your flawed summoning."

"What?" Rin exploded. "Are you trying to say I'm responsible for you not being able to remember about yourself?"

"I wouldn't go that far," Archer said after a moment, and sitting at another couch. "But it's not all bad. Don't worry about it."

"I have to worry about it." Rin sternly countered. "It'll be hard coming up with a proper strategy if I don't really know who you are and what you're capable of."

"About that," Archer began. "Let me say this: Rin, you're a superior Master. Whether its prana output or magecraft, you're first class. And as your Servant, there can be no way I can be anything less than first class myself."

Initially lost for words, Rin quickly waved the flattery away. "Flattery will get you nowhere." She said with a dismissive wave of a hand.

"It's the truth."

"…maybe," Rin conceded after a moment. "Well, at the very least the enemy isn't likely to know about who you really are either, though I'm still not giving up on finding out myself in the future."

Finishing her tea, Rin got to her feet and glanced at Archer. "More importantly," she said. "The Holy Grail War involves seven Servants and Masters. I already know that Matou has a Servant, but I wonder if…"

Archer kept his face stoic and neutral, but that was news to him. This wasn't how he remembered things…then again, timelines weren't uniform throughout. Even if some – or likely most – things didn't seem to have changed…others clearly had, in particular Rin knowing this early on the Matou already had a Servant. Though…

…Matou, like Tohsaka and Einzbern, were guaranteed spots in the contest. It's likely she was just making an assumption based on that, that they already had a Servant. After all, she'd already summoned him, didn't she? Couldn't they have done the same as her?

But if so…

…then why didn't she mention Einzbern along with Matou?

"Well," Archer began. "I wouldn't know."

How different is this timeline compared to what I remember?

"Ayame," Saber began. "I sense the presence of two Servants in this school of yours."

"I was afraid of that." Ayame replied. "Looks like I might have summoned you just in time, Saber."

"What?"

"From the sound of things," Ayame said. "Matou and Tohsaka have already summoned their Servants. If they found out I was a potential Master before I'd summoned you, I probably wouldn't have been able to do much if they reacted badly."

"…what do we know about them?"

"The Tohsaka are the Second Owners of this territory." Ayame said. "Basically, they're the…landlords, at least when it comes to the supernatural, though their authority doesn't apply during the contest."

"I see."

"From what my dad told me before he died," Ayame continued. "Tohsaka's all but died out, with the exception of their heiress, a girl of my age named Rin. She'll be their Master, and one of our enemies."

Ayame paused her explanations to exchange greetings with some schoolmates, before heading over to the shoe racks to exchange her outdoor shoes for indoor ones. As she sat down on a bench and began to remove her shoes, she continued explaining to Saber.

"As for Matou," she said. "Dad told me they were a declining clan, though he didn't know why that was the case. Rumor is that's because they 'uprooted' their magecraft by emigrating from Russia to Japan a few centuries back, though he wasn't too sure about that. In any case, there's two known members of that clan left, an old man named Zouken, and his grandson Shinji. The latter's their heir, and likely their Master. That said, the old man would no doubt support his grandson as best he can."

"I see." Saber said. "And, how do you compare against them, Ayame?"

"I'm outmatched." Ayame said bluntly, and Saber snorted telepathically.

"That's…honest, I suppose, and rather pessimistic."

"It's also very true." Ayame said, getting up and placing her outdoor shoes onto a rack before taking her things and heading out into the school. "I'm good, too good even…for a first-generation magus. I've got good tricks up my sleeve, but…that's just it. I'm an amateur who's barely got a decade's worth of study to back me up. Those two families? They go back centuries. I've got no chance in a fair fight."

"…perhaps that is so," Saber said after a long moment. "But while honesty about your limits is a good thing, pessimism is not. It leads to overestimation of the enemy, overly cautious behavior on one's part, all resulting in opportunities being missed, and in one being unable to fight at their fullest. And more than that, it could result in a…subconscious, belief that one has already lost. And once one starts to think that…"

"…then they really have lost already before the battle even begins." Ayame finished.

"Just so."

"I know." Ayame said. "Don't worry, I don't plan on losing. For one thing, this contest's history usually means if you lose, you die. And I don't plan on dying anytime soon. I've got a life ahead of me."

Saber laughed. "That's a good way to think." He approved, and Ayame smiled softly.

"And for another thing," Ayame continued. "Well, I did say I'd do everything I can as your Master. And I doubt just giving up or messing up being your Master would count as doing everything I can."

"No, I don't think it does."

Saber and Ayame shared a silent laugh at that. "Unfortunately though," Ayame continued. "As I said, I don't stand a chance in a fair fight. Which means if I have to fight them, I'm going to have to…do what I have to do, to even the odds at least. Sorry, Saber. Your Master can't really follow the rules of honorable conduct."

"…it's alright." Saber said. "In any case, this is war. I know war. And part of war is strategy, one basic principle of which is to never fight in an equal situation with the enemy. So, in order to win this war, I can accept having to – in certain cases such as yours – give way to necessity, in pursuit of victory."

"Thank you, Saber."

"You're welcome."

"I sense the presence of two Servants."

"…what? Two?"

"Yes, two." Archer confirmed. "Both are hiding their presence as best as they can, but there's no doubt about it. I can't find them specifically, just their general location like say, which classroom they and probably their Masters as well are in, but they're there."

Rin made an unhappy noise. "One of them is Matou's Servant, there's no doubt about it." She said. "But, who's the other?"

"Well, that I do not know." Archer replied.

"…in any case," Rin said after a moment's pause. "Hide your presence as well. Matou's expecting me, so he wouldn't be surprised if his Servant sensed your presence, but the third…"

"I'm already hiding my presence as best I can." Archer said. "However, I'd just like to point out, Rin, that your family's participation in this war is expected as part of the contest's history. You have a guaranteed spot, after all."

"I know." Rin said. "Even if you hide your presence…even if they can't sense you, they probably know I'm involved, or will be soon. Either way, we're under threat, so let's do this properly, alright?"

"I understand, Rin."

Rin nodded slightly, and entering her classroom made for her desk. Ignoring the chattering of her classmates and the appraising and admiring looks thrown her way ever so often, she placed her things under her desk before sitting down. Turning her head, she looked out at the cloudy sky, her stoic expression betraying none of her thoughts.

"A third Master and Servant in this school…but who?"

Archer floated through the air and walls in astral form, approaching the third Servant, but moving slowly and carefully all the while masking his presence as best he could. He already had a very big suspicion who the third Master was, and it was a very curious change from the norm.

Did his younger self somehow get proper training as a magus? If so, that could mean Shirou Emiya had properly summoned Saber. And that was not a completely welcome development, as Archer knew well the power of the King of Knights. He'd seen it before, after all.

An improperly-trained Shirou Emiya could barely support her, forcing her to fight at less than full strength…but even then, Archer would admit she was a dangerous enemy, even for him. Saber properly supported and able to fight at full strength?

That…could be a problem.

That said…if Shirou Emiya had been properly trained as a magus, there was also a chance, a slim chance, that those stupid ideals of his that would eventually drag him to hell had been drummed out of his head. Somehow…hopefully…

…if that was the case, oh well and good. Archer would still not hold back in order to win, or rather to prevent this war from turning into a disaster, or at least keep that disaster's scale to a minimum considering the circumstances meant it would inevitably result in disaster one way or another…

…but more to the point, even if Archer did do what he had to do, if Shirou Emiya was no longer chasing after his asinine ideals…

…perhaps the boy need not die after all.

If he was in physical form, Archer would have nodded slowly at the thought. As it was, he still did so, in astral form, though he'd still have to think it over at length. Assuming that was the case, of course.

It could very well not be, after all.

As he entered the classroom in which he could sense the presence of the third Servant, Archer did a double-take, or the spiritual equivalent of it. Sensing the Servant – hovering protectively in spirit form around a girl seated near the windows – turn its attention to him, Archer made sure to stay against the wall, and edge around the classroom, all the while feeling the other Servant's attention cautiously aimed at him.

Good…it seemed whoever they were, they weren't that belligerent, unlike Illya's monstrous Berserker.

But more to the point…did…was Shirou Emiya a girl in this timeline? Well…that wasn't impossible, it could happen, but that would be…surreal. Would that also mean there was another him out there, only female?

…

…

…

…

…

Maybe he shouldn't think too much about it.

In any case, Archer finally managed to catch a glimpse of the other Servant's Master…and found himself staring at a distinctly Tohsaka face.

What…the…hell?

A/N

Sorry EMIYA, but you're not going to find a means to self-terminate (if that's even possible) in this timeline.

I imagine some of you are wondering why it was Arthur and not Altria who got summoned. Well, for one thing, Ayame is a girl, and it seemed to fit better, for Arthur to be summoned instead of Altria. Second, Altria's not really a good match in terms of affinity for Ayame. For all her stoic façade, Altria's actually very much like Shirou, or his father before him, with her internal issues born of her ideals and what pursuing them cost her. Arthur based on Prototype and Grand Order, don't share their internal difficulties, even if he does seem to have the same ideals as Altria.

Ayame…well, that'd be a spoiler, but she and Arthur resonate better with each other. And finally…the Throne of Heroes and the Heroic Spirits therein exist outside of the time axis. Just as EMIYA can be summoned into a timeline where Shirou isn't destined to become him, Arthur should also be able to be summoned into a timeline where he was born a pretty girl instead of as a handsome man.