CHAPTER 9:
OFFER AND REVELATION
Ryuudou Temple was indeed very beautiful. It wasn't as gaudy as Asgard, but that made it even more beautiful. There was a serenity here that Loki rarely found in Asgard. He was sitting out on a bench in the garden of the temple, with the quiet surroundings helping him consider matters. Namely, trying to find a way to winkle out Sakura from the clutches of Zouken Matou.
Medea walked over and sat down next to him, dressed in modern clothing. Loki was once more struck by her ethereal beauty. He knew something of her legend, of course, and considered Jason all the more a fool for discarding her in favour of Glauce. Beautiful and intelligent. Then again, the Greeks weren't generally fond of intelligent women, unless they were deities like Athena. The Spartans had more respect for women than the rest of Greece at the time, but then again, the Spartans had their own quirks, some less savoury than others. Like the Helots, or their crude eugenics executed by murdering any child they thought sickly or deformed. Though Loki loved their comebacks and insults. The Spartans had tongues to rival his own.
But back to Medea. He was willing to bet that the so-called Witch of Betrayal was shaped into being who she was by what the gods did to her. The question though was…
"Medea…do you hate me because I am a god?"
Medea, after a moment's thought, said, "I have many gods to hate, but I do not hate you. You exasperate me somewhat with your impulses…but you were not of the pantheon that destroyed my life. In any case, your particular people are mortal, are they not? Long-lived and strong by human standards, but not actually gods. In any case, you are, for the most part, capable of intelligent conversation. Given what you have said about your past, you too have suffered betrayal from those you loved."
"I am glad. Thank you for putting so much trust in me, Medea. Few do."
"Do not mistake me. I am wary of you, and understandably so given your reputation. But I do not hate you. I already hate myself for my falling into treacherous ways. And I feel that you, like myself, have been wronged too often." After a pause, she then said, "I've tested some of my abilities. I believe I may be ready to walk onstage. Casters normally are at their most powerful within their lairs. The leylines here, combined with what I am getting from you, help boost my powers. But I believe if I go further abroad, my powers can be devastating. I certainly felt a lot of power at my disposal when we visited Kariya Matou. I believe that I may be able to even entrap a Servant and a Master with my power, with my Atlas ability, before using Rule Breaker to obtain that Servant for my own."
"You never mentioned that before," Loki said.
"That's because I wasn't sure if it would work. We Casters must be patient, biding our time, before striking decisively. I had to be sure that I could do it. That little melee last night helped me gauge the strength of the enemy Servants, as well as their personalities, not to mention what we learned about their Masters. Lancer is a good choice, but Diarmuid is overly loyal to his Master, despite it being wholly unwarranted."
"He may have died during the Magus Killer's attack, too," Loki pointed out.
Medea shook her head. "I kept an eye on the hotel. Just before I came out to see you, I saw what looked like a ball of mercury being loaded into a truck. Given that Lancer's Master has such a Mystic Code…"
"Hmm. I'd prefer if you tell me these things sooner, Medea. But thank you. Berserker might be a possibility, except that we are considering an alliance with Kariya, in order to save Sakura. Taking Berserker from him would be too much of a gesture of bad faith. Archer has Independent Action, and given the impression I made last night, I doubt he would willingly submit. We may have a potential ally with Kirei Kotomine, so we won't target Assassin for now. That leaves Rider and Saber, aka Alexander the Great and Arturia. I'm personally leaning towards Arturia. Her relationship with Kiritsugu Emiya may be a fractious one, and while she has her code of honour, unlike Lancer, she does not seem as devoted to her Master, only staying with him out of obligation."
"And Arturia is one of the most powerful Saber Servants," Medea mused. "Whereas Alexander seems set on sticking with his Master. And I doubt he would be content bending the knee. I doubt Arturia would either, but we could play on the fact that Kiritsugu did not respect her or her abilities. She won't be happy, but it may quell some of the rebellious tendencies."
"They'll be based, at least for the time being, at the Einzbern Castle on the outskirts of Fuyuki," Loki mused, thinking back to the book Zelretch gave him.
Medea suddenly flinched. "A Servant is here. I erected Bounded Fields to alert us to their approach. They are staying at the very edge of the Bounded Fields. They are inviting us there."
"Let's see who has come up here, then," Loki said.
The woman was slender and athletic, with long purple hair done up in a ponytail, and a beautiful tanned face, albeit one where the eyes glinted coldly. She was dressed in simple black clothing. Loki and Medea were wary.
"Loki and Caster," the woman said. "My Master, Kirei Kotomine, sent me here to treat with you."
"So, you are Assassin?" Loki asked. "Sans skull mask, I see."
"This is the disguise I take when I walk amongst the living, to hide in plain sight," Assassin said. "I advertised my presence deliberately. My Master, as I have stated before, sent me here to treat with you."
Loki and Medea looked at each other, before they nodded. "What does your Master want?" Loki asked.
"Through me, he has gained intelligence that Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald has survived the attack on his hotel, and intends to wreak revenge on Kiritsugu Emiya tonight." A smirk played about Assassin's lips. "He also wished for your prolonged and painful demise, but he was unable to locate you. My Master believes that, when Kayneth attacks, along with Lancer, Kiritsugu will send the two women assisting him to safety, while sending his Saber Servant to stop Lancer. My Master intends to intercept the two women who work with Kiritsugu in the confusion, in order to confirm why Kiritsugu desires the Grail. He desires your assistance in the matter."
"He is quick to trust us," Medea said.
Assassin smiled. "My Master is not to be trifled with. But he is intrigued by your Master. It is less a matter of trust, and more of a matter of interest. He had an unexpected visitor since you brought him back to the church: Archer. Archer is also interested in the assorted Masters of the Grail War, and despite your angering of him, he finds you interesting too, Loki of Asgard."
"Would he find me interesting enough not to turn me into a pincushion when we next meet?" Loki asked.
"No. I was watching, albeit from concealment, during their conversation. He said, and I quote, 'If that Asgardian serpent makes the mistake of showing his face in my divine presence again, I may not be able to refrain from turning him into mince'. Archer seems to have taken a particular interest in my Master. But my Master has taken an interest in you. Meet him outside the church at six if you agree." With that, her appearance shifted to a dark-skinned, muscled woman with the same hair, her face concealed by the skull mask of the Hassan-i Sabbah, dressed only in trousers and broad strips of cloth supporting her breasts, before she vanished in a cloud of darkness.
They turned and walked back to the Temple. As they did so, Medea asked, "Do you intend to agree?"
"Of course. If I am right, though, he may be an effective distraction for Kiritsugu, so we may snatch Arturia from under his nose."
Medea pursed her lips. "Risky. Especially as she will be fighting Diarmuid. If I start fighting them and am unable to use Atlas, they may team up to bring me down. I'll use my Dragon Tooth Warriors as a suitable distraction to try and drive them apart."
"Use them before revealing yourself. Wear them out," Loki said. "You may be my Servant, but you are far from expendable. Do not take any unnecessary risks." He blinked as a thought occurred to him. "You know, if we do manage to obtain Arturia, I know how we can persuade her to aid us willingly. Once we have used Rule Breaker, anyway."
"How?"
"Ask her to help us rescue Sakura," Loki said. "What knight wouldn't want to rescue a fair maiden in distress?"
"That could work, and she would be something of a boon," Medea mused. "This could be a trap."
"Perhaps. But I think I have engaged Kirei Kotomine's interest just as he has mine…"
After spending the day preparing and napping (well, Loki napped: a Frost Giant he might be, but even he needed sleep), Loki and Medea used her teleportation to make their way to the church, where Kirei was waiting. He seemed mildly surprised to see them appear in a swirl of Medea's robes (with Medea now back in her robes). "Loki. Caster," he said politely, if warily.
"Kirei Kotomine," Medea acknowledged. "My Master is intrigued by you. We will be using my abilities to make our way to the edge of the Bounded Fields of the Einzbern Castle. Is Assassin stationed there?"
"One of them is," Kirei admitted, finally conceding to the existence of multiple Assassins. "Keep in mind that, should you betray me, my father and Tohsaka will view this as a violation of my being in sanctuary, and will bring their influence to bear on you, even bringing the other Masters in to hunt you down. They had besought me not to bring you along, saying that you are untrustworthy."
"Well, they are correct. But I won't be killing you yet, if at all, Kirei," Loki said. "You interest me."
"Archer said the same thing," Kirei said. "What is it about me that is so fascinating?"
"Little things that add up," Loki said. "During our walk here earlier, you seemed to be filled with more self-loathing and guilt than is natural for even a Catholic. I doubted you indulged in child molestation because, let's face it, that is a somewhat too-frequent assumption. You seemed more like the sort to eviscerate and exsanguinate a paedophile."
"Indeed," Kirei said. "I had done that very thing before. A priest I was ordered to terminate with extreme prejudice. I enjoyed his last moments."
And there is was, Loki realised. Kirei had let slip, albeit quite by accident, why he hated himself. The brief expression of both passion and shame that flitted across his features betrayed him. "You enjoy making people suffer," Loki murmured. "That is why you hate yourself."
Kirei flinched. It was barely noticeable, given how stoic the priest was, but it was there. He did flinch even more when Loki put an arm around his shoulders, smiling. "Maybe I have the solution for you."
Kirei all but shoved Loki away from him. "Get thee behind me," he snapped.
"I'm not Satan. I'm not the Devil. I am merely Loki," Loki said. "But I can help you."
"Nobody can. Nobody understands me."
"I do. And I have a possible solution. Suffering for the deserving. Not so much as physical suffering, but mental and emotional. Via pranks. After all, well, did your Assassin see what I did to Kiritsugu Emiya?"
"Froze his gun and dropped him off a crane, albeit without killing him. And the Master of Lancer was most vocal about the humiliations you put him through, according to Assassin," Kirei said. "He made a number of lurid threats, most of them revolving around removing your member and force-feeding it to you."
"Charming," Medea remarked.
"Indeed. Though I'd like to see him try," Loki said with a smirk. "Well then, Kirei Kotomine, shall we?"
Kirei sighed, his reluctance now that Loki and Medea knew the truth apparent. But he allowed himself to be taken by them to the forest surrounding the Einzbern Castle, there, to wait for the right time to strike…
CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:
So, we've got Kirei having exposed his secret to Loki, and the beginnings of a fruitful partnership. Oh, and Medea and Loki plan to add Arturia to their collection.
Medea's discussion of her powers came about due to Kaiser Dragon pointing out how powerful she was. Which is why I wrote in the explanation, that Medea wanted to bide her time and assess the competition first.
Review-answering time! demonic hellfire: In the unlikely event that I do a sequel involving the events of Fate/Stay Night, I am SO doing that.
No numbered annotations this time.