Fate/Revenant Sword
By:
James D. Fawkes

Chapter IX: The World is Tumbling Down
— o.0.O.O.0.o —

Shirou woke up from a dreamless sleep early the next morning. He blinked his eyes open, once, twice, three times, as his vision went from blurry to focused in the cool light of the early morning. He was in his room, asleep on his futon, lying on his side.

Once his brain had caught up with the orientation of the world, sensation came back next — after awareness of his position relative to up and down, smell, touch, and hearing came next. He became aware of the soft sound of another's breathing, the crisp, clean smell of a woman's hair under his nose, and the warm body pressed so close to him that he could feel it every time her chest expanded as she inhaled.

His first thought was, "When did Saber start using Rin's shampoo?"

His second was, "I want to wake up this way every morning."

His third thought was the realization that something had changed, because Saber was sleeping much closer to him than she usually did (as he ought to know, having slept beside her for the better part of the last week). He wondered what it was that had spurred her to bury herself into his chest at night, as though he were some overly large protective blanket.

Immediately following that, he remembered the night spent in the ruins, the silky feel of her skin, of her legs, so small and lean yet so powerful, wrapped with nearly crushing force around his hips, of her body flush against his — and, quite suddenly, the reason became as obvious as a zebra with polka dots.

"Right, Shirou," he said to himself, "you made love to this girl and you didn't expect your relationship to change at all — never mind that this is exactly what you were trying to accomplish in the first place."

He felt stupid, but didn't think on it much — anyone who hung around with Rin for long enough wound up feeling stupid on a regular basis.

Getting out of bed would be a lot harder from now on, Shirou could not help thinking. With Saber sleeping so close, managing to get out of bed without waking her would be nearly impossible.

Well, that was one of the trials of success, right?

"May you live in interesting times," the old curse went. "May you find what you're looking for."

It seemed he had been struck by both, though, came the amusing thought as he gently tried to free his right arm. If you couldn't call the Grail Wars "interesting times," then there wasn't much else that could fit the definition. And, of course, what he was looking for was currently pinning his right arm to the floor.

"You are awake, Shirou?" Saber asked suddenly. The vibration of her voice hummed through her chest and into his arm, and he froze. Had he not been gentle enough to keep from interrupting her sleep?

"…Yes," he said at length. "I just woke up a moment ago. I was going to go make breakfast."

Saber hummed. "Yes," she said, "this is as good a time as any to start the day."

She sat up from the bed and off his arm, twisting around as she peeled the covers away from her body. Shirou didn't move. She paused and looked up at him.

"Is something the matter, Shirou?"

"…No, nothing."

Shirou stood up and waited for her to climb to her feet, as well. His entire right arm tingled and was suddenly cold — even his body was missing the comfort of her warmth. He felt like a naked blade, missing the protection of its sheath.

A bit ironic, since she was "Saber" and he carried her sheath, Avalon, inside himself.

"We'd best hurry," Saber said sensibly. "Taiga and Sakura will be along soon enough, and we should be prepared for them when they do."

"Right," Shirou nodded simply.

— o.0.O.O.0.o —

Shirou had just started making breakfast when Rin stumbled into the living room with a mumbled greeting and plopped down at the table. Shirou called a greeting back, and so did Saber, but he expected that she hadn't heard either of them, not with the way her head lolled back and forth like she was desperately trying to keep herself awake.

There was a long moment where Rin did nothing but mumble incoherently, then, as Shirou continued cooking, Saber took mercy on her and gave her a tall glass of milk. Shirou heard Rin murmur a sleepy thanks, and then, a few seconds later, the sound of the empty glass hitting the table a little harder than necessary.

Geez. Rin was really terrible in the morning.

Well, it couldn't be helped. As much as some of her habits were a bit questionable, Rin was his ally, and more importantly, his friend. He would no sooner kick her out than he would Saber or Ilya.

"So what are you going to do, Shirou?" Rin asked after a long silence. She seemed fully awake, now. Shirou didn't really understand — was milk that effective at waking her up?

"About what?"

"About the other Masters," Rin clarified. "There's still three left, and the Holy Grail War can't last forever. The best idea would be to take the initiative before they can come after you — force them to react to you, so you can control the momentum of the battle."

Shirou hummed.

"Well, Archer, Berserker, and Rider are all out," he mused aloud, "so that means that the guys left are Caster, Assassin, and that Lancer from the first night."

He didn't count Gilgamesh, of course, because there was still no reason he should know about that impossible Servant. Well, he didn't count Gilgamesh out loud, but he did in his head.

Either way, he needed that weapon, so if he could, he'd try again when everyone went to bed later on. It was just a matter of figuring out what he'd done wrong the night before and fixing the problem. If he did that, everything should go smoothly.

"And at least one of them is up on mountain," Rin pointed out. "Given what they were doing, though, I'm willing to bet that it's probably a Caster up at the Ryûdô Temple, which will probably make things a lot harder for us."

Shirou paused to look back at her.

"Were doing? Past tense? Here, Saber."

He handed Saber a plate of rice-balls, and she took it and carried it over to the table. Shirou thought, for a moment, that it felt rather like he and Saber were a married couple hosting a bunch of friends, but wisely didn't say so aloud.

"Yeah," Rin affirmed with a nod. "Whoever it is stopped gathering energy sometime last night, which means they've accomplished whatever it was they were trying to do. A Caster means that whoever it is was gathering energy to prepare for a fight, and with a Caster Servant, that could mean that they either have very powerful, very draining magic, or that they're not a very powerful Caster in the first place."

"Wait a moment, Rin," Saber interrupted. She set the fresh loaf of bread on the table as well. "This is about that discussion you had the other day? Then this Master or Servant who is gathering energy — they are doing it by draining the life force from the townspeople?"

"Exactly," Rin said. "Or they were, at any rate. They've stopped now, which means either they've got all the energy they need, or all the energy they could hope to gather in time for what they're going to do. It probably means they're going on the offensive, so we should do that, too."

"Not now," Shirou said when she gave him an intense look. "I mean, not in broad daylight."

"Of course not," Rin waved it away. "It'd probably be a good idea to try tonight, even if only to test whatever defenses are set up at that place."

"Very well, then," Saber agreed. "But that only takes care of one — there are still three other Servants —"

At that moment, the bell to the front door rang and everyone stopped.

"That'll be Sakura," Shirou murmured.

"We'll finish this discussion later," Rin promised as she stood from the table. The living room door slid open, then closed, and her footsteps started down the hall.

"Are you sure about this, Shirou?" Saber asked after Rin had left. "There is still time to rest and recover our energy."

Because he was ahead of schedule, she was technically right. They had the time to rest up and make sure they were at their absolute best before trying to confront Caster, and if he were honest, he would have preferred take one more night to try his summoning thing. Even so…

"The sooner we take care of this, the better," he said firmly.

Even if he wasn't as prepared as he would like, Caster needed to be defeated. An enemy like that would only wait so long before attacking, and it really would be a better idea to take the offense against a Servant as devious as Caster.

Sakura walking into the living room stopped their conversation.

"Good morning, Senpai," she said with a smile.

"Good morning, Sakura," he greeted with a wave. She blinked at him.

"Oh," she said, "I see you've already started breakfast."

"Yeah, so don't worry about it."

"Um," Sakura fidgeted. "A-Alright."

She and Rin sat back down at the table and started talking — Shirou tuned it out, for the most part, occasionally handing another plate of food to Saber, who assisted him wordlessly. It was nothing overly important, so there wasn't any reason for him to eavesdrop on whatever it was they were talking about.

Ten minutes later, the front door slammed open.

"SHIROU, I'M BACK!" Fuji-nee's voice cried.

There was a beat of silence, and then heavy footfalls thundered through the hallway and the living room door was thrown open.

"Your beloved Fuji-nee has finally returned!" Fuji-nee crowed proudly.

"Ah — Good morning, Fuji-nee," Shirou called over his shoulder. He handed one more plate to Saber, then finished the last dish, turned off the stove, and picked it up himself. "Breakfast is ready, so you arrived just in time."

"Good morning, Fujimura-sensei," Rin and Sakura greeted.

"Good morning, Taiga," Saber said politely as she set her plate down on the table. "How are the repairs of the school going?"

"So slow," Fuji-nee groaned as she loaded up her plate. Shirou set the final dish down and sat next to Saber. "The police are still investigating what caused it all, so we haven't even gotten a chance to see the extent of the damage yet. At this rate, we'll never get anything done."

"That's terrible!" Sakura said sympathetically.

Shirou saw a secret smile steal across Rin's face for a moment, but it was gone a second later when she blinked owlishly and glanced down at her food.

"I'd almost forgotten," she announced to the table. "We need to get Ilya up."

"Ilya?" Fuji-nee parroted.

Rin ignored her, stood, said, "I'll be right back," and left.

Fuji-nee's face wrinkled into a scowl and she rounded on Shirou. A sense of dread dropped into his stomach. "Shirou! Who is this Ilya girl? Do you have another one staying with you?"

"She's a relative," Shirou explained quickly, before Fuji-nee could get started. "Erm, that is — she's a relative of Kiritsugu's from abroad, but she never got the news about him dying, so she, uh, came to visit, and, well, uh, I offered to let her stay for a while…?"

There was a long moment of silence. Shirou winced and waited for the inevitable bout of screaming that would follow.

"HOW MANY GIRLS ARE YOU GONNA GATHER HERE, HUH?!" Fuji-nee erupted. "SHIROU! DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOME KIND OF ERO-GAME?!"

Shirou winced and braced for the practice sword that would find his head at any moment —

"Could you guys keep it down? I just woke up a minute ago."

Except that Ilya's voice interrupted, and she was standing in the door dressed in a purple blouse and white skirt, rubbing one bleary eye with her right hand. It fell back to her side, she blinked at them all once, and then loosed a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Ah — Good morning, Ilya," Shirou greeted reflexively. "Did you sleep well last night?"

Ilya mumbled something noncommittally, then plopped down at the free spot next to Rin's seat, took a deep whiff of the food laid out in front of her, and seemed to come to life.

"Wow!" she gushed. "This smells great!"

Rin sat down and poked her in the shoulder with one long finger. "Now, now, don't forget your manners."

Ilya blinked and looked around the table at Sakura and Fuji-nee, then smiled. "Sorry," she said, "I forgot to introduce myself."

She bowed as much as she could while sitting down. "My name is Ilya, Ilyasviel von Einzbern. Pleasure to meet you."

"So cute!" Fuji-nee gushed and wriggled around in her seat. She gave Ilya a thumbs up. "Nice to meet ya, Ilya! Just call me Fuji-nee, because from now on, I'm your big sister!"

— o.0.O.O.0.o —

"So, what are you going to do, Shirou?" Rin asked again once Sakura and Fuji-nee had left.

Shirou frowned and paused for a moment on the dish he was washing.

"I guess," he started slowly, "we're going to attack the Temple tonight."

"Then we had best be prepared," Saber said from beside him. She was drying the dishes that he washed and stacking them back in their proper places. "Especially if Caster and her Master have an ally staying with them."

"They do," Ilya interrupted. "You guys are talking about that stuff going on up at the Ryûdô Temple, right?"

"It's nothing that concerns you," Rin told her coolly. "Little girls should do what little girls do and go outside to play."

"I could do that," Ilya said sweetly. "But then I wouldn't get to tell you what I know about Caster."

Beside him, Saber stopped and turned to look at Ilya. "You know about what is going on up at the Temple?"

"Yup!" Shirou could practically hear the bright smile that must have been on Ilya's face. "All those coma victims in town? It's definitely not the Master up at Ryûdô Temple. It's Caster's work."

"Hold on a second," Rin said. "You just said that Caster and her Master have an ally staying with them, right? What did you mean by that?"

"Just what I said," Ilya declared simply. "Caster is the one responsible for the stuff happening at the Temple, and there's a second Servant up there with her. I guess you guys haven't seen him yet, so I'll just tell you that it's Assassin."

Assassin would be a problem, now that Shirou thought of it. Assassin, being who he was, would be perfectly willing to let Shirou and Rin past, but there was no way he'd let Saber go, too. It was the nature of Assassin as a swordsman to seek out opponents worth fighting — at least, the Assassin that had been summoned for this particular Grail War. Saber was the class that focused on the sword and sword skills, so it was only natural that someone like Assassin would want to fight someone like Saber.

But without Saber's help…Yes, without Saber's help, fighting Caster and Kuzuki would be nearly impossible. They hadn't managed it last time, and they'd only been saved by Gilgamesh's interference.

Could they count on the same thing again? No, Shirou didn't think so.

"So there are two Servants up at the Temple," Rin murmured to herself. "So, wait, does that mean that the Master up at Ryûdô Temple somehow managed to get himself two Servants?"

"Basically," Ilya agreed. "But the one who summoned Assassin is actually Caster."

"No way," Rin shook her head. "A Servant doesn't have the power to summon another Servant! That's impossible!"

Ilya giggled. "Normally, you'd be right. But any Magus can summon a Servant for the Grail Wars, and who do you think is the best Magus in the city?"

"Caster. Of course," Rin sighed. "A Servant of the Caster class is, by definition, a Magus. So she just used her skill and power as a Magus to summon Assassin as her Servant. But if Caster is Assassin's Master, then who is Caster's Master?"

"Caster is a Magus beyond any modern Magus," Ilya spoke with her rare solemnity. "She doesn't really need to have a Master if she doesn't want one. She just killed the one who had summoned her, then secluded herself up at Ryûdô Temple to take advantage of the Leyline. Her current Master is an ordinary human, and she's probably got him under some sort of curse or hypnotism to make him into her obedient slave. It isn't that surprising, really, when you consider that Caster is Medea, the Witch of Betrayal."

"So that's who we're up against," Rin smiled grimly. "Medea of Colchis, the Witch of Betrayal."

"And what if her Master is perfectly willing?" Shirou pointed out coldly. "What if all this talk about him being a puppet is wrong, and he's actually complicit in all of this?"

Kuzuki had admitted, up front and to his face, that he was nothing more or less than a killer, the kind that stalked the night, at home in the dark. Whether he indulged in murderous tendencies outside of the Grail War was moot; he was exactly the kind of person that shouldn't be left alone.

Rin arched an eyebrow. "I don't know if I believe my ears right now. Shirou, who offered sanctuary to a Master who tried to kill him on more than one occasion, is suggesting that Medea's Master might not be a bewitched slave forced to carry out her every whim? Out of all of us, Shirou, you've always been the one least willing to harm an enemy Master —"

"It's different," Shirou insisted. "Ilya was only ever after me, so it doesn't matter. If Caster's Master is actually taking part in this whole thing of his own free will, then that means he's endangered the lives of everyone in the city. If that's the case, then if we let him go, stopping Caster won't mean anything."

Rin sighed again. "You have an uncanny knack for making a very good point, Shirou. But how are we supposed to find the Master, then? Do we just defeat Caster and ransack the Temple to find out which of them is her Master?"

"That is not a feasible option," Saber said. "After we defeat Caster, her link to her Master will be gone, and so finding her Master using that link would be impossible."

"And even still, her Master is an ordinary person, so whether or not the Command Seals work properly for him is questionable, too," Rin mused.

"They should," Ilya informed them matter-of-factly.

"Well, you said that there was another Master up at school, right?" Shirou asked. "But you said it wasn't Shinji. So maybe we should start by checking out the people from school who live up at the Temple?"

Rin gave a small nod. "That's a pretty good idea, I think. Well, it's not the best — and I said that there was another Magus in the city, not that there was another Master in the school — but it's the most we've got to go on, right now. So who do we know that lives up at the Temple?"

"Issei," Shirou said immediately, "and Kuzuki-sensei, too."

Rin hummed. "That's suspiciously convenient. Alright, then. We'll check on Kuzuki-sensei first. That's what we'll do tonight instead of attacking the Temple. He's up at school right now, right?"

"That's where Fuji-nee's at," Shirou said. "School might be cancelled, but the teachers still have to meet and discuss what's going to happen when everything is sorted out and classes start up again."

"Then we'll go after him tonight, when he's on his way back to the Temple," Rin said. "I'll hit him with a low powered Gandr shot. If we're wrong and he's not a Master, then the worst he'll experience is a few flu symptoms for a day or two. But if we're right…"

"Caster will probably defend him," Saber concluded.

— o.0.O.O.0.o —

That was how they found themselves crouched in an alleyway later that night, with only the streetlights to illuminate the dark. Shirou had Caliburn clenched in his hands and Saber stood at the ready decked out in her full armor. Rin looked relaxed, but Shirou, who knew her better than most, could see the tension in her posture and her legs.

"If he goes straight back up to the Temple from school, he'll have to come down this road," Rin whispered quietly. Shirou already knew that, but kept his mouth shut. "I've put up a Bounded Field to block out sound in case this winds up being a fight, so we can do this without catching attention from bystanders."

"And if this does turn into a fight?" Shirou whispered back.

"Then Saber takes care of Caster while you and I handle Kuzuki-sensei," Rin answered. "If all goes well, both will be taken care of quickly and quietly and the only one we'll have to worry about is Lancer."

"Somehow, I don't think this is gonna work out quite so cleanly," Shirou mumbled.

He already knew that it wouldn't, but what worried Shirou the most was that Caster might use Rule Breaker and screw everything up after he'd come so far. No, above all else, there was the fear that everything he'd worked for, every change he had tried to make and every change he had made, would all be ruined in one blow from Caster's Noble Phantasm.

That meant that, above all else, they couldn't afford to let this leave beyond this area. If Caster escaped, then it was all as good as over. There was only one path to victory before him and he had to take it while he still had the chance.

The sound of footsteps broke Shirou from his thoughts.

"Hear that?" Rin asked quietly, so quietly that he almost didn't hear her. "He's coming this way. Get ready."

A shadow passed in front of the light of the convenience store sign across the street, and then continued on as the footsteps clacked against the pavement. The moment the shadow — Kuzuki, as his features had been illuminated in the light of the sign — had turned its back to them, Rin rushed out of the alleyway as quietly as she possibly could and lifted her finger.

With her hand in the shape of a gun, a small black ball grew on her fingertip, let out a barely-there warble, and shot off like a bullet for the back of Kuzuki's head. For a moment, it looked like it would hit him and their suspicions would be proven wrong, and for that same moment, Shirou wondered if his knowledge of the future could be wrong, that Caster had found someone else to be her Master.

But then, from out of nowhere, a black shroud appeared and deflected the Gandr shot. It landed softly on the ground, immobile.

"It was blocked?" Rin murmured.

The shroud on the ground surged upwards and grew to the size of a full human being — "Teleportation," Rin growled — and Caster was suddenly standing at Kuzuki's back, dressed in her long, black and purple robes.

"I believe I warned you that this might happen, Souichirou-sama," Caster said silkily. "I told you that you should remain at the Temple in case something like this should occur."

"I would say exactly the opposite," Kuzuki intoned deeply as he turned around. "It seems to me that our trap has been sprung, and our mice have finally shown themselves."

"That's true," Caster admitted with smug glee. "And what a big catch we've got tonight — we've got the cute little Second Owner, Tousaka Rin, our lovely little Saber, King Arthur, and the Master who managed to get his hands on a genuine Noble Phantasm, Emiya Shirou. So you might as well come out, Emiya-kun."

Shirou gripped Caliburn tightly and surged out of the alleyway to stand defensively in front of Rin — Saber stood beside him a moment later.

"Oh?" Caster crowed. "It seems you catch on rather quick, don't you, Emiya-kun?"

"If you know who we are, then you probably know what we're capable of, too, don't you?" Shirou demanded. "So you know what would happen if I used this sword on you right now."

"My, it seems he's quite a bit more merciless than you originally estimated, Souichirou-sama," Caster tittered. "Of course I know, boy, but I also know that you're not foolish enough to believe you could charge that up and hit me before I managed to escape with my Master."

And she was right, too. It would take only a second or two to turn on his Circuits and fill Caliburn with Prana, but a Servant like Caster could tell the moment he did and she could simply teleport away. Trying to hit her like that would be nothing more than a waste of Prana.

"But this doesn't have to end in a fight," Caster purred silkily. "There's no reason we have to be enemies, so my proposal is this: join forces with us."

"You think…after what you've done to the people of this town?!" Saber growled.

"Just listen," Caster insisted. "Your objective is the Holy Grail, correct? In that case, why bother fighting? I know how to call down the Grail without us having to kill each other."

And if Caliburn didn't work, then just what could Shirou use? It needed to be something that could be precise, but also something that wouldn't take too much time and could overwhelm Caster without harming Rin or Saber.

"You mean…" Rin whispered. "You know how —?"

"I know how the Grail works," Caster went on. "If you agree to cooperate, then I'd be perfectly willing to share the Holy Grail and its blessings with all of you."

"And just how…how do you intend to summon the Holy Grail?" Saber demanded.

Caster smiled, an evil expression that was clearly visible beneath the cowl of her cloak, even in the darkness of the night.

"The Grail requires a powerful enough leyline, which is part of the reason it was set up here in the first place," Caster explained. "With the Grail set up here on the leyline, all you need is a vessel and enough Prana to fill it up. With those two things, calling forth the Grail is actually rather simple."

Could he use the bow and sword-arrow trick he'd used on Berserker? But that would take too long. Between the time required to Trace the bow and the time required to Trace and reshape the sword, that was a whole lot longer than it would take to use just Caliburn. That idea was out.

"And just how many souls would doing all of that require, Caster?" Rin asked with that sardonic sort of grin on her face. "How many lives would you need to sacrifice to gather the kind of Prana we're talking about, here?"

"Every single soul in the city," Caster explained easily, as though she were talking about the weather. It burned Shirou not to retort, but he forced himself to focus. He still needed a plan. "But even that won't be enough to keep it working indefinitely. Then again, there are far too many humans in this world anyway, so I'm sure that I could always find supplies to maintain it when the need arises — plenty of logs to throw on the fire, if you know what I mean."

Logs for the fire — the fire in Fuyuki park, that hell that had forged Emiya Shirou — Emiya Kiritsugu, who had been cursed by the sludge from the Grail and wandered out into that fire, looking for survivors — Gilgamesh, who had achieved a full form and body in the sludge from the Grail that had caused that very fire —

Gilgamesh.

Gate of Babylon.

"Just one other question," Rin said. "The vessel you need — it would have to be a Magus, right? Your Master isn't a Magus, so he doesn't qualify. But not just that. It wouldn't have to just be any old Magus, it'd have to be a Magus of extraordinary potential, right? Someone who could handle channeling all of that Prana, even if they were burned out in the process."

In his head, Shirou imagined the innumerable swords that had existed within the Gate of Babylon. He didn't go over them all in detail — he just gave each a swift check to make sure that there weren't any holes, then moved on to the next one. Yes, that was how Gilgamesh had defeated Caster: an unending rain of Noble Phantasms.

"My, you're quite clever, aren't you?" Caster purred. "Unfortunately, you're right — what I need is a Magus of extraordinary potential to serve as the vessel to call down the Grail. You might suffice, girl, but I suppose you're going to say no, regardless. What luck I have that the Einzbern have so generously supplied us with one already."

Instantly, the swords Shirou had been prepared to call up slipped away from his mind. "Ilya!"

"Race you!" Caster sing-songed. She threw her cloak up and in an instant, she and Kuzuki were gone.

— o.0.O.O.0.o —

"The Bounded Field's gone!" Rin called out as they dashed through the front gate and towards the front door.

"Which means that she's already here!" Shirou said. He threw the front door open and was immediately hit by Medea's stench — he must've been too distracted to notice it before. The only way to describe it was "bloodstained silk."

Shirou ran inside and into the hallway without even bothering to remove his shoes. No, it wasn't that he didn't bother, nor even simply that there wasn't time, it was that he couldn't find the presence of mind to remove his shoes. Concern for Ilya flooded through his entire being, because last time, Caster had targeted Sakura, but this time, she had specifically made mention of Ilya.

Ilya, who had been intended to be the vessel for the Grail from the beginning, who already had the souls of Berserker, Rider, and Archer inside of her, and so who would be far easier to prepare than Sakura would have been.

Shirou made straight for the living room and threw open the door. The lights were off, but there, in the darkness —

"Oh. I thought I'd just take her, but you made it back here faster than I estimated you would," Caster said silkily. Cradled in one arm, there was Ilya, limp and unconscious, and in the other, Fuji-nee hung like a ragdoll with one of Caster's fingers pressed threateningly against her jugular.

"Caster!" Saber's voice growled from behind him. Shirou's grip on Caliburn became so tight that his hand felt numb.

There was no way out. Caster had two hostages, and Shirou had only been prepared for this moment if it had been Sakura who had been taken. But it wasn't Sakura, it was Fuji-nee and Ilya, and there was nothing they could do to rescue either before Caster could kill one and take the other.

None of them could attack her. Caster's finger would light up first. Even if Shirou attacked, even if Saber attacked, even if Rin cast a spell, Caster's finger would light up first and Fuji-nee's head would explode like a tomato.

There were no words to describe the impotent fury that boiled up inside of Shirou and settled into a frigid calm in his head. There were no words to describe the sudden clarity that filled his mind. There were no words to describe just how horrible Shirou's revenge would be the moment Caster decided to kill Fuji-nee.

"You were careless, Emiya-kun," Caster said. "You should have put more care into your Bounded Field. I tore it away without any effort whatsoever."

"So you're taking a hostage to ensure your escape? Is that it?" Rin asked in her usual tone.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Caster purred. "You see, I wasn't entirely forthcoming earlier. It's certainly true that I need a vessel for the Grail, and using the souls of the townspeople is definitely a way to get the proper amount of energy…so I suppose you could say that it's all about my own selfish wants, now."

She smiled at Shirou. "Would you like to join up with me, boy?"

Shirou's mind slammed to a halt. "What?"

Caster tittered. "This is the Fifth Holy Grail War, but I don't think there's been a Master like you in any single one of them. Oh, there's certainly another specimen like you currently in my employ, but you're a living, breathing human being, and that makes you so much more interesting — and so much easier to control."

Shirou grit his teeth so hard that he thought they might crack. "You think…you can just come in here and…!"

Caster laughed again.

"You shouldn't need to think about it," Caster said. "You've already lost. The entire town is mine to do with as I please, and not even your Saber can stand up to me. The amount of energy I have access to is infinite — with a supply like that, no one can hope to stand up to me. So then…will you obey me, Emiya Shirou?"

"…Let go of Fuji-nee."

It was a stupid question that wasn't even worth answering. He had gone into this second chance knowing that he would have to face Caster again eventually. Nothing she could say now would change the fact that he had to eliminate her from the Grail War.

Caster frowned.

"Maybe you didn't hear me," she said in a firmer, less silky voice. "I said that you've already lost, so join me."

"I don't care about any of that," Shirou told her. "Let go of Fuji-nee."

"My, what a hard man," she remarked. "So eager to throw away my generosity. It's rather disappointing. My offer from before was genuine, you know. I was perfectly willing to share the Grail."

Shirou scowled. "The Holy Grail is worthless. It has nothing to do with any of this. The reason I'm in this War…It's to stop people like you!"

And Caster laughed again. "The Holy Grail has nothing to do with this? Idiot boy! The Holy Grail is the very reason you're here! It's the very reason you, the sole survivor of that fire ten years ago, stand in front of me right now! That is why you — you have the right to detest the Grail, and the right to take your revenge for the suffering it's put you through."

She chuckled a little, and the broad grin that split her lips was positively maddening. "I said earlier that I lied, Emiya Shirou. I don't need the townspeople to fill the Grail, I simply need the enormous energy output of that Servant you have there. If you helped me, you and your Saber, then I could call down the Grail right now and allow you the wish you want deep in your heart."

Her smile turned sinister. "All you have to do is accept."

If he had been the naïve boy who had first gone into the Fifth Holy Grail War, then Shirou felt that he may have been tempted to accept her offer. But he already knew Medea's true character, and he already knew about the true nature of the corrupted Grail, so there was only one answer he could possibly give.

"I refuse," he said solemnly.

From the look on her face, the way her mouth dropped open in surprise, she hadn't expected him to refuse. "What?"

"I have no need for the Grail, no desire for it," Shirou said. "And even though I promised Saber I'd help her get it if she wanted it, I refuse to accept it when it means stepping on all those lives you've already sacrificed for this!"

Caster was silent for a long moment, then she laughed again. "Then I guess, since I have no more use for her, I'll just dispose of this hostage —"

"Damn it!" Shirou made to move as Caster's finger began to glow.

"Caster!" But Saber was faster and had already crossed the distance, her invisible sword cleaving downwards —

Except that the black cloak fluttered and Caster was no longer in front of her, but behind her, and held in one spider-like hand was the long, crooked dagger, Rule Breaker, lifted up to be stabbed down.

"What —?"

Saber spun around, surprise etched across her face, and if she had reacted just a little bit faster, she would have escaped the dagger whose tip plunged past her armor and into her chest. The blank, stupefied amazement on her face was completely unnecessary — the dagger had little worth as a weapon, and even what it did was incapable of leaving more than a minor flesh wound.

But Shirou was surging forward because he already knew what the dagger was supposed to accomplish — not from his memories of the first time through, but from the information now flooding through his brain: Rule Breaker, its history, its making, the concept of its creation, its power.

Nullification of all magic and contracts.

"You're mine now, Saber," Caster said sinisterly.

Red light poured from the tiny stab wound, so bright and blinding that Shirou had to stumble back through the living room door and throw his arms up to protect his eyes. Magical energy rushed forth like a waterfall, and every contract, every magic binding Saber was mercilessly and simultaneously cancelled. The Command Seals on Shirou's hand burned, then vanished.

They were on Caster's hand now.

Saber fell to the floor, panting as though she had run a mile and soaked with sweat.

"And now, everything comes together," Caster tittered again. "Oh — I have no more need of her, so you can have her back."

She tossed Fuji-nee aside like a ragdoll and pulled Ilya closer to herself. Saber now stood in between Shirou and beating Caster.

Which meant that he needed to find something that could beat them both.

The image appeared in his mind and the hammer in his head cocked back, then fired.

Trace, on.

Judge the concept of creation.

Visualize the basic structure.

"But now that I think about it," she purred, "I no longer have any need of you two, either. Saber, kill them."

Saber slowly pulled herself to her feet, but made no move to fulfill the order given to her. Of course she wouldn't. To force Saber to follow an order like that required more than just a simple verbal command.

Duplicate the component materials.

Match the original craftsmanship.

"Guh! Don't be…! Ridiculous!"

"Oh? So you're going to be stubborn about it, are you?" Caster chuckled. "Very well, then. Saber, by the power of this Command Spell, kill those two. Start with the girl. Or the boy, if he tries to interfere."

Sympathize with the experience of its growth.

Saber's arms shook, but she didn't move. Caster recoiled. "Saber's Magic Resistance is powerful enough to fight the Command Spell?"

Saber took one halting step forward. Caster's sudden fear disappeared and she laughed again. "Of course. Even Saber's Magic Resistance can only hold it off so long!"

Saber grunted. Despite her incredible Magic Resistance and her indomitable will power, her hands were shakily moving, one inch at a time, to follow the command she had been given.

"Sh-Shirou," she groaned, "r-run away!"

Shirou growled and stood his ground. "You think you've won?"

Reproduce the accumulated age.

Caster's laughter only got louder. "I have your Servant, boy, and an unlimited amount of magical energy! There's no way you could —"

Shirou smirked grimly. "Of course there is."

The image was still in his head, was actually still in front of him, too, so recreating it had been much easier than normal.

Excel every manufacturing process.

"You just gave it to me."

He threw Caliburn to the side and it clattered uselessly to the floor. In its place, his hands grasped the twisted form of Rule Breaker, perfectly and flawlessly reproduced, and he charged forward — not towards Medea, but towards Saber, whose face was twisted into an expression of dumbfounded surprise.

He'd told her, hadn't he? At the beginning of the War, he'd said that his specialty was Projection.

The plan was simple. Medea had used Rule Breaker, her Noble Phantasm, to take the contract that had bound Saber and Shirou together and make Saber her Servant. Shirou, using his Projected Rule Breaker, would stab Saber and take that contract back.

If he was lucky, then it would even fix the connection problem they had had from the beginning.

But Caster flinched before he'd finished taking his second step and lifted her free hand. "Tροψα!"

A flare of energy, and then, like that, Caster, Ilya, and Saber were all gone. Shirou charged through empty air and tumbled to the floor — the warm body he expected to be there when he stabbed forward was no longer there. There was no armored, blue-clad body to receive his attack. Saber was gone.

Saber was gone.

Shirou lied still as Rule Breaker dissipated into the air like so much dust in the wind. He lied still with his face pressed against the floor and his left arm pinned uncomfortably beneath his chest. He lied still with the edge of the dinner table poking painfully into his right thigh.

He wasn't injured in his fall. He hadn't been hurt when he hit the ground. Shirou was no more wounded physically than he had been the moment he entered the Emiya house.

The reason Shirou didn't move was because he understood what had just happened. He understood what had just occurred in his living room and where it left him. He understood what all of it meant — from Caster invading to Ilya being kidnapped to Saber being taken from him.

It meant that Shirou had just lost.

— o.0.O.O.0.o —

To be continued

Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Stay Night.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year's, Happy Holidays in general.

Caster did a lot of purring in this chapter. Rest assured, I didn't turn her into a nekomimi at any point, so it was all about tone of voice and delivery. Heh. Caster had kittens when Shirou Traced Rule Breaker.

Geddit? "Delivery?" "Caster had kittens?" That was actually an accident, believe it or not.

Some of you have expressed dissatisfaction with Rider and her death. The thing you must remember, though, is that this Shirou is behaving and thinking more like Kerry or EMIYA than he did in canon, so Rider was simply an enemy to be beaten. If Sakura had come forward and said that she was Rider's true Master, things might've been a whole lot different, but she had no reason to, so she didn't.

My whole life was…

James Daniel Godric Alan Fawkes
James Daniel Godric Alan Fawkes(Signature best viewed in Wendy Medium font style)