Fate/ fake prophecy
Chapter Four: Ghost of the Bygone Grave
"This graveyard, why is it in such disrepair?" Anubis asked himself as he strolled through London in spirit form, he didn't have an assignment to attend to so despite initial impressions he took some time off. "Disgraceful, this shrine should know better".
The jackal god walked up to the small church and assumed his real form then knocked on the door, "guardian of the grave, show yourself!"
A minute passed so Anubis opened the heavy front doors to the church and walked in, ducking so that his ears would avoid the top of the frame. "Hmm, it would appear that priests are not stationed here at all times". He looked around then examined the stained glass windows and the altar.
"No matter, I shall tend to it myself", Anubis concluded then turned around and walked back out of the church and into the graveyard. The grass and weeds were terribly overgrown and the gravestones were covered with thick moss and lichen.
"Now, where may I obtain gardening supplies?" Anubis asked himself then looked around, "this may be troublesome, perhaps a nearby resident possesses the tools I need".
Anubis dematerialized and wandered down the road while looking out for houses that had gardens, he spotted one at the end of the street so reappeared beside the outer fence. "This dwelling needs better defenses", he said and walked through the trellis like it wasn't even there, the crash of the collapsing fence attracted the attention of the resident dog who came to the window and began barking.
"None of your concern".
"Bark bark bark".
"No, I will not fetch the lead".
"Bark bark bark".
"I shall destroy this dwelling if you call me that again, mortal".
Anubis turned away and pulled the lock off of the garden shed with ease. "Ah, this is what I require..."
Half an hour later, Anubis returned with a shovel, hedge clippers, a brush and various other gardening implements. "It is a shame I had to destroy his garden shed, no matter, this graveyard shall be restored in no time".
"You know what makes this situation even worse, Rider?" Cecilia asked as she lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling.
"What?" Iskandar replied as he flipped through some magazines at the desk.
"We still have no idea who the Masters of Assassin and Archer are, hell we haven't even seen them yet and that second Rider that Hargrave dude has just complicates things more. I don't know if I'm cut out for this crap, I'm only nineteen".
Iskandar closed the magazine then looked over to Cecilia, "you are not giving up so soon! My Master died for this war before he could even compete so I'll be damned before you drop out as well!"
Cecilia sat upright then looked at Iskandar and sighed, "I guess you're right, but I'm just feeling so overwhelmed right now, I don't even know if it's worth it anymore. There's also Rin and Lancer to deal with..." A sudden pang of realization hit her, "oh shit, she knows where I live!"
"Calm down, I highly doubt she will go for such underhanded tactics".
"Yeah, but what if she sells me out to the other Masters? What if I get killed in my sleep?"
"Fear not, Master. I am here and my body is your shield".
"Thank you, I guess I should get some sleep, wake me if you need me", Cecilia replied then rolled over and hit the pillows.
"Aye, indeed I will".
"Is there a problem, Lancer?" Rin asked as they walked down the street the next day. Diarmuid was agitated and straitened his tie.
"It would be a lie to say nothing was bothering me, Master", Diarmuid replied then stopped walking.
"Well, what's wrong?" Rin asked, "are you low on mana?"
"No-no, nothing of the sort, but I keep getting these weird feelings, like déjà vu or something similar, I've never experienced this before".
"What is it then? Tell me what you feel".
"I- I keep seeing these figures in the corner of my vision and sometimes when I close my eyes, I see the outline of a warrior woman and a man in black, but the strangest thing is I sense their presence as well, it isn't imaginary as far as I know, I know they're there", Diarmuid explained and leaned on a lamppost. "Any ideas?"
Rin put a finger to her chin, "I know it's a longshot but perhaps the False Grail is overlapping your stored memories, maybe you're remembering things from past summons or something".
"Master, I feel like you're withholding something from me".
Rin looked puzzled then gave up the attempt at trying to hide her knowledge from him, "damn your Eye of the Mind skill..."
"Master?"
"I think I get it, I know who these people are that you're feeling. The last time you were summoned you were forced to kill yourself because of the man named Kiritsugu Emiya who threatened your previous Master and you resent him still, you just don't know it. As for the warrior woman, you're seeing King Arthur, she was one of my previous Servants as well but from what I've been told you fought honorably with her but you blamed her for your betrayal, I don't know all the details but I don't believe that she was really in on the plan to kill you".
Diarmuid analyzed the words carefully and his fist clenched tightly in simmering anger, "so you're saying I have ghosts following me?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Remnant memories are being sent back to you because this Grail is abnormal, it could also explain why there's a second Rider class Servant running around as well".
"Do you know how I would go about combating these phantoms? I'm starting to recall meeting the Rider in red now", Diarmuid said and closed his eyes.
"Unfortunately not, but because you have unfinished business with both of them it's not going to go away. One of them hasn't been summoned and the other is long de..." Rin was cut off abruptly as a gunshot rang out in the distance, immediately Diarmuid drew Gae Dearg and deflected the shot with extreme precision so that it ricocheted back to its firer thus giving away their location, he followed the returning bullet to a dark figure standing atop the train station building. People ran in terror around them but Rin and Diarmuid stayed where they were and watched the would be assassin.
"We seem to have someone tagging us", Diarmuid said, switching from passive lamenting to full battle mode in the blink of an eye.
"Who the hell is that?" Rin exclaimed and aimed her hand like a pistol at the man.
The man discarded his cigarette then slung his sniper rifle over his shoulder then turned and leaped away at incredible speeds, almost as fast as Diarmuid himself. "Plan of action, Master?"
"Follow him, he's a Servant!" Rin replied so Diarmuid picked her up and leaped up onto the closest building, breaking the sound barrier in the process. "He must be the missing Assassin".
"About time he showed up", Diarmuid muttered then strafed a shot fired from the man's rifle as he casually fired it backwards without looking with impressive skill. They leaped the street below and landed on the other side of the building and carried on their pursuit.
"He's getting away!"
Diarmuid stopped suddenly then put Rin down and drew back Gae Dearg and launched it like a javelin at the man, it whistled through the air and was about to hit home when the man whirled around and snatched it out of its flight. He then turned back to them and drew up the spear in one hand and a single chambered pistol in the other, the sniper rifle had dematerialized.
"Bastard!" Diarmuid roared then pounced on him with Gae Buidhe and the two spears clashed. They pushed against each other but Diarmuid was clearly stronger, forcing the man back a step.
"You don't remember me, do you?" The man said in monotone as he looked Diarmuid in the eyes.
"What do you mean?" Diarmuid replied then broke off the hold and spun around; sending the golden spear straight for his torso but the mysterious man muttered something under his breath and somehow moved with speed greater than any Servant could at base parameters. He drew up his pistol then fired into Diarmuid's chest, blowing out the back of it and hitting Rin in the shoulder who collapsed in agony beyond that of a bullet wound.
"W-who... are you?" Diarmuid gasped but was kicked away and collided with the wreathing Rin and they both fell to the roof of the building, defeated.
"You should know", the man replied then discarded the red spear and reloaded his pistol then aimed it so that the bullet would pierce both Servant and Master at once.
Before he could pull the trigger, a thunderous roar reverberated throughout the air; the light shimmered and a massive figure charged out of the warp and struck the man with enough force to vaporize the chimney stack and part of the building behind them. The man was catapulted away with such velocity that he became lost from sight and his landing point was undiscernible.
"It is not yet your time..." Anubis growled then turned back to the dying Servant and Master. He picked up Diarmuid then lay him against the roof and placed his hand over the seething bullet wound, it began to burn and he roared in agony but it finally subsided when the jackal headed man expended enough mana to close and partially heal it.
Next, he turned to Rin and propped her up, "your magic circuits have been severely damaged but they are not unrepairable", he said then did the same to the Master but with her entire body, her agony lessened with each passing second until she fell unconscious and the wound had closed up.
"W-what are you doing?" Diarmuid gasped with a hand to his chest but the bleeding had ceased completely.
"Saving you. I am the one to dictate what happens to you during your final hour, not him".
"Why did you save us?"
"Because I may have need of you. I am going to take you both back to your place of residence, you must rest and heal", Anubis explained the picked up Rin over his shoulder with ease. "Can you walk, Lancer?"
"I- I can", Diarmuid replied then took the jackal's hand to get up, he then took Gae Dearg back and dematerialized it.
"Good, we depart however I must know the location of your current residence first".
"I don't know if I'm allowed to do that, it would compromise my base of operations to the enemy".
"I am not your enemy here, I have declared an alliance between your Master and myself however that fool Hargrave does not know of it".
"You mean to say that you're working on your own accord?" Diarmuid asked then steadied himself on his feet.
"Indeed, he has very little control over me and I may have use of your Master if her wish to destroy the Grail is true. While my Master needs it, I do not and I have now seen the error of his ways. While I will not actively stop him, I can guarantee your safety for the time being until the war is close to its end".
"I understand", Diarmuid nodded, "let's get out of here".
"Ah, so you are awake..."
Rin sat up in bed and touched her shoulder, they were in her hotel room in central London. She rubbed her eyes and blinked but winced as she tried to move her left arm, she then realized that there was a god in the room. "L-lancer!"
"Don't worry, Master, I gave him permission to be here on your behalf", Diarmuid said and materialized beside the bed.
Anubis was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace of the five star business suite with the local newspaper in hand. "It would seem my healing was effective, your magic circuits should return to normal within the day. While I do not know what kind of weapon caused them to malfunction, I was able to save them from being paralyzed forever".
"What are you doing here, Caster?!" Rin exclaimed then tried to stand but couldn't.
"I have already explained to Lancer here my motives. I have declared a form of alliance until near the end of this war for I am unsure of its future and will require an ally who has similar goals to me. My initial plan was to work with Hargrave to get the Grail and in doing so granting me the required mana to become permanently anchored to this world again, he would then get his wish from the False Grail and I would go on to destroy it, the Greater Grail and the Throne of Heroes after he had claimed his prize. However, I am uncertain that what comes after will be of benefit to the world".
"Well no shit, he wants to become the strongest mage in the world!" Rin swore.
"Indeed but that is not what bothers me, do you wish to know his motives?"
Rin frowned, "well yeah, I guess".
"Duke Hargrave wants to use the power of the False Grail to become a necromancer of unquantifiable power and use his new found abilities to resurrect his late wife, this is something that goes against everything I stand for. It was not until this morning that I discovered that he is in fact a necromancer, this also repulses me".
"Right... so what are you trying to say?"
"When the time comes, if the situation allows, I wish to help you destroy the Grail and slay Hargrave in the process before he can utilize its power, however until then he is the most powerful ally and my primary source of mana".
"I can provide mana for you, we can make the pact now and you can become my Servant as well", Rin suggested.
"No, I would consume your entire soul with the amount of mana I expend, Hargrave is powerful enough to sustain me for a time, I have been feeding off this command spell he gave me for extra mana", Anubis explained then raised his right clawed hand. "Another thing I dislike is that he has had his Head Mage become the Master of a second Rider, the Dullahan, which I despise for it feeds off of souls".
"Okay, I understand. I agree to the alliance until then but I'll abstain from showing any sign of it", Rin replied then managed to sit on the side of her bed without feeling pain.
"As will I".
"Do you know who it was who attacked us? We think it's the Assassin that's been absent recently, although the same goes for Archer".
"I do not know that man, but I agree that he is of the Assassin class. His projectile weapon caused serious damage to your magic circuits so I would be careful around him, it was not easy to fix them".