The lights of Fuyuki streamed by Saber as she dashed through the city. This world was filled with so many strange things, but she could understand the chase. Leaping through an urban jungle, sprinting between cars, jumping off walls…. Even with the unfamiliar buildings and unusual city layout, she almost felt like she was back at home.
Although most the enemies she'd pursued in her life couldn't fly. In spite of her experience and impossibly fast acrobatics, she'd lost sight of Lancer. Saber had hoped running to the top of a nearby skyscraper would get her line of sight back on him, but even that idea had failed. No matter how much she inspected the skyline, there wasn't anyone flying in sight.
"Stupid, stupid Titan!" Eris yelled, slamming her foot down onto the skyscraper's roof with enough strength to crack the ground. He'd made such a big deal about "honor" and her supposed "cowardice," only to run off the moment things started looking bad. And she'd been so close to winning…. If she'd just had a few more minutes, and maybe permission to use her Noble Phantasm, she'd have been able to add Lancer's head to her collection. And if he just went and vanished from lack of mana, without letting her be the one to take him down….
This wasn't over yet. There was no way she was going to let the opportunity to kill a Titan slip through her fingers. She'd find Lancer. She'd find him if she had to search the whole darn city!
Those were Saber's thoughts as she leaped from her perch and continued her dash through Fuyuki's streets. Unfortunately, she didn't realize that she was running in the complete wrong direction.
(*)
Waver hadn't spoken a single word since leaving the Fuyuki Bridge. It concerned Rider, but after stumbling over her first few attempts to start a conversation, she'd stopped talking as well. Their entire ride back home was in complete silence.
Rider was having a hard time understanding her Master. As a mage, he must be familiar with death. And he must surely have seen someone killed before; no one would be rash enough to voluntarily join something as dangerous as the Holy Grail War without any experience.
And how much experience did I have the first time I saw someone be killed? The thought came unbidden to her mind, bringing unpleasant memories with it.
She still hadn't come up with anything to say when their ride stopped at the MacKenzie's house. When Rider had learned Waver was hypnotizing the elderly couple living here into thinking he was their grandson, she had been… uncomfortable with the plan. Even if Waver wasn't harming them, Rider didn't like the idea of using magecraft to control people's minds. But she wasn't sure how to bring up that topic with her Master, especially in the state he was now.
Neither Glen or Martha Mackenzie were awake when went inside, and Waver's silent march to his room didn't disturb their rest. Upon reaching his room, he immediately fell onto his bed. Rider was becoming increasingly concerned at his behavior, and shyly said, "Master, are you alright?"
"I'm fine"
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"I said I'm fine!" He shouted, making Rider jump in fright. She stepped away from Waver and didn't speak another word.
Waver turned over in his bed so he wasn't looking at Rider. He knew he shouldn't have yelled at her. But right now, he didn't want to talk to anyone. The scene from the docks kept replaying in his head. It had all happened so quickly that he still was trying to understand how he felt about it. It's not as if he'd liked Kayneth; the man had been at the top of his list of "Assholes who I'll prove wrong one day." But there was a difference between hating someone and watching them be killed.
The worst part had been how Kayneth was killed. Even if he hadn't come from an established bloodline, Waver had spent his whole life immersed in Magus culture. The idea that duels between mages was supposed to be a test of each other's magecraft had been taught to him since birth. And yet there hadn't been any magecraft in Kayneth's death. All it had taken to kill one of the strongest mages in the Association was a normal, man-made bullet. Waver didn't know if the shooter had even been a mage; any ordinary person could have done it.
What was the point of Magecraft if it could be beaten so easily? How could he defend against something like that? All of his preparations for the war had assumed he would be facing other mages. There would be nothing he could do to stop someone from just shooting a bullet through his window while he slept.
Nervously, Waver glanced out the bedroom window just to be safe. There didn't seem to be anyone hiding out in the shadows waiting to kill him, but that didn't settle his worries. "Hey, Rider?" He finally said after failing to find a blind spot he could lie down in.
"...Yes?" Rider answered, cautiously. She seemed to be expecting more shouting, which just made Waver feel even guiltier.
"Could you… keep watch tonight?"
The request seemed to catch her by surprise for a moment, but she soon smiled and said, "Of course. No harm will come to you as long as I am here. You have my word."
The tension drained from Waver as he finally let himself relax. "Thank you. Um… Rider, I'm sorry for-"
The sound of the door opening up caught the two completely off guard. Martha Mackenzie poked her head into the room, quietly saying, "Waver? Are you back? I heard you talking…." She stopped when she saw Rider. Waver and his Servant had completely frozen when she'd entered, their minds racing to think of an explanation for Rider's presence.
Martha came up with an explanation of her own. "Oh my!" She said, followed by a giggle. "Waver dear, you should have told us you were bringing a girlfriend over! I'll leave you two alone. Remember not to stay up too late!"
She was out the door before either could respond, leaving Waver and Rider standing in shocked silence, their mouths hanging slightly open. After an awkward few seconds, Rider quickly said, "I'm going to go keep watch," and vanished.
"Right… you go do that…." Waver spoke in a strained voice. He could already predict the awkward conversations he'd be having with his "grandparents" tomorrow….
(*)
Something had gone terribly wrong.
Sola-Ui had to admit that Kayneth's plan of having her, rather than himself, provide Lancer mana was one of the few intelligent decisions her fiance had made. It would have let him use the full strength of his magecraft without having to worry about draining his Servant's mana supply. Of course he had to ruin his own plan by hiding like a coward while Lancer did all the work, but Sola-Ui had expected such incompetence from him.
Sola-Ui had resented her engagement with Kayneth from the moment her family had announced it, and everything she'd seen since just made those feelings worse. Here she was, one of the most talented members of her bloodline, forced to marry the most egotistical idiot in the world and be dragged to some backwards country halfway across the planet while her brother got to inherit everything. It was no surprise she was feeling a tad grumpy.
She'd been stewing in her resentment at the apartment when she felt something change. Lancer's drain on her mana had been a constant sensation since the summoning ritual; long enough for her to become accustomed to the feeling. When the mana drain suddenly increased, she knew something must have happened. But she hadn't imagined how bad it would be.
Several minutes after feeling that change, a furious Lancer flew in through the window, carrying the bloody body of Kayneth. Sola-Ui didn't believe her eyes at first, until Lancer began ranting. "The treacherous cowards!" He roared, loud enough to shake the ceiling. "They knew they were too weak to defeat me properly! I will make them burn in eternal fire for their crimes!"
Sola-Ui ignored the raving Servant to focus on Kayneth. After getting over the first moment of shock, she couldn't say that she was very upset about his death. More than anything, she felt satisfaction that she'd been proven right about his chances in the war. Only someone as foolish as Kayneth would manage to get killed on the first night.
Satisfying as his death may be, this was going to cause problems. All the politics surrounding their engagement were going to become even more complicated. And then there was the issue of the Servant…. Now that she knew Kayneth was dead, it was obvious why Lancer was taking more mana. Without an actual Master, Lancer wouldn't receive any mana from the Grail. Likely the only reason he hadn't vanished was by drawing energy from her. And while Sola-Ui may have an above average number of magical circuits, it was impossible for her to maintain something as powerful as a Heroic Spirit for very long. And she had no intention of becoming a Master and getting involved in this nonsensical Grail War.
Lancer still wouldn't shut up. "... will squeeze the life out of their throats! My revenge shall be merciless and just! They will regret stepping foot in this city! I-"
"Lancer." Sola-Ui finally interrupted him. He glared at her, but stopped speaking. She'd never gotten along with him; it had always been like dealing with a second Kayneth. When he'd first been summoned she'd hoped that their strong personalities would clash, but instead they ended up having such similar beliefs that the two had practically become soulmates. Listening to her fiance and his Servant talking for hours about noble bloodlines and such had been torture on her ears.
"Yes, my lady?" He snarled out.
While she may have wanted to just leave immediately, the issue of this Servant needed to be taken care of first. "I need to return to my family in London and deal with the fallout of this mess. I can provide you mana for two days, so you can find a new Master." There, that should be an acceptable compromise.
Lancer swung his spear at Sola-Ui's throat, stopping just a hair's breadth from piercing the skin. Apparently not acceptable enough for him.
"You dare speak of fleeing? After what the craven cowards did to your lord?" Lancer shouted again. Sola-Ui bit back a sharp remark about him calling Kayneth 'her lord,' but the blade pricking her neck was a strong argument for silence. "I swore my loyalty to Lord Kayneth El-Melloi!" He continued. "He is the only Master I shall serve in this war, and it is our duty to avenge his death! If you so much as think about running away, then I will cut you down like the traitorous deserter you are."
Sola-Ui tried to keep her breathing steady as the Servant furious gaze stared down at her. In just one night, everything had managed to fall apart. Her fiance, and with it her family's alliance with the El-Melloi's, dead. Her mana being drained faster than she could recover. And an insane Heroic Spirit pointing a blade right at her. She couldn't think of a way out of this. Without Command Spells, a Servant was too much for a Mage to control. But unless she stopped him, this madman was going to get her killed….
Lancer suddenly pulled the spear away and spun to face the window, his interest in Sola-Ui completely gone. A menacing smile spread across his face as he whispered, "They're here."