CHAPTER 11:

TO PLAY THE KING(1)

Medea peered at her new Servant. Loki had decided to rest after the night's events, but had asked her to try and persuade Arturia to join their cause. Not that Arturia really had much choice, but rhetoric would probably work better than Command Seals. After all, she only had three, and they weren't to be squandered on a whim.

Her new Servant. There was something strangely empowering about that. For a brief moment, Medea idly considered finding some way to free herself from Loki's servitude without risking her dissolution. But she dismissed it almost as swiftly. For all Loki's faults, he had a lot going for him. Handsome in his own way, intelligent, and what was more, his antics were entertaining. And surprisingly, given what she had learned about him, he showed some compassion for her. She didn't know whether it was false or not: he was, after all, one of the most infamous liars in myth around the world.

She had feelings for him, she was now just beginning to realise, and that disturbed her. Not the sudden infatuation like she had towards Jason that the damned Olympians infected her with as part of their little game with mortal lives. No, this was far more insidious. It couldn't be called love, not yet, but it was the seeds of that emotion, she knew it.

That was why she was glad she had Arturia as her Servant. Because if Loki took advantage of those feelings, she would use Rule Breaker on herself, and then use the King of Knights to help her end the Liesmith's existence. She would then have to find an alternate source of mana, but she would burn that bridge if and when she came to it.

Arturia glared back at Medea. Medea had removed the chains, but had used a form of Atlas, one that could be sustained for longer periods, to keep her from attacking. But she hadn't spoken to Medea since the Caster Servant revealed what had happened, instead sitting sullenly on a chair in the Workshop as if it was her throne at Camelot. Oh, she had wept quietly for Diarmuid, but that was it.

Medea frowned when she thought of the Lancer Servant. She remembered that Loki had said that Irisviel had cried out in pain when Lancer died. But Diarmuid wasn't contracted to Irisviel, obviously, not unless Kiritsugu and Kayneth were collaborating in some overly complicated ploy, which was ridiculous. And yet, Loki had noticed it. Either Irisviel was sensitive to a massive surge in magic, or…

Medea blinked. Son of a bitch, she thought to herself. Loki had left the book Zelretch had given him in the Workshop, and she hurried over to it and began flipping through it to the information on the von Einzberns…and the Lesser Grail.

In previous Grail Wars, the Lesser Grail was an actual physical container provided by the von Einzberns. Its purpose was to contain the essence of the Servants as they were slain. Six Servants were needed to prime it into becoming the Holy Grail itself. But in the previous Grail War, the Grail was attacked and destroyed.

And yet…Irisviel was a Homunculus of some kind created by the von Einzberns. She had felt pain when Diarmuid was destroyed, according to Loki. Either she was very sensitive to magic from the blast, or…

She was the Lesser Grail.

Now, Medea didn't know this for sure. This was more of a hunch, based on two pieces of evidence: Irisviel being a creation of the same family who always provided the Lesser Grail, and her reaction to Diarmuid's death. It could be a coincidence, a possible case of Post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy. Diarmuid's death and Irisviel crying out in pain may not have been linked.

But if they were, they had just missed a golden opportunity to take not just a Servant, but the Lesser Grail.

Medea then had to suppress a smirk, as Arturia was still looking on. Even if it wasn't true, it sounded plausible. Plausible enough to be useful when persuading Arturia.

"Tell me something, Arturia, how did you feel about your former Master?" Medea asked.

"Why ask me such a question?" Arturia replied.

"Indulge my curiosity. I thought that the King of Knights and one of this age's most brutal assassins would be…incompatible, to say the least. I witnessed many of your conversations with Irisviel. You didn't seem to like him."

"Then your question is answered," Arturia said coldly.

Medea's lips pursed in annoyance. "I would rather hear it from your lips."

After a moment, Arturia admitted, "I share his dream. A dream of a peaceful world, free of war. That is what Irisviel told me."

"Ah, yes, Irisviel. His wife. And, if I am correct, as much a tool of Kiritsugu Emiya as you are."

Her words had Arturia freezing in shock. "What folly is this of which you speak?"

"It is no folly, but rather, speculation. Do you know how the Holy Grail is manifested? Where the energy from the Servants is stored? I know. The von Einzberns provide a vessel designed to store it, a Lesser Grail that, when enough Servants are slain…becomes the Holy Grail. In previous Grail Wars, it was a physical cup, an enchanted one, but in the previous Grail War, it was damaged. I believe the von Einzberns decided that a redesign was in order, to make the Lesser Grail mobile, intelligent, theoretically capable of defending itself…"

Arturia may have been a physical powerhouse, but she was no idiot. The horror that crept over her features betrayed that. "No, that cannot be. You are attempting to mislead me."

"I cannot mislead with speculation. Even I do not know whether this is true. But if it is true, Irisviel will become the Grail, dying in the process. Kiritsugu Emiya would sacrifice his own wife for peace. Loki told me that in the instant I killed Diarmuid, Irisviel cried out in pain for no apparent reason." Medea walked over to Arturia, pulled up another nearby chair, and sat across from her. "You and I are both royalty, Arturia. We understand the responsibilities that come with such a station. I, to my shame, abdicated those responsibilities for a man who was not worth it, thanks in no small part to the meddling of the gods. You, on the other hand, took those responsibilities to an extreme. You suffered civil war because your subjects could not comprehend how inhuman you were as a king, holding yourself to the highest standard you could. I was too human, and you were not human enough. By our detractors, we are considered inhuman. Kiritsugu Emiya, however, sees himself not as human or as king, but as a god. You have killed, but at least you did so in defence of your kingdom and people, as was your right by your station. For what reason does he kill? Peace? A corpse is remarkably peaceful, and he is no king defending a kingdom. His family? If I am correct, he is more than willing to sacrifice his wife for the Grail. No, you and I may have stained our hands with blood, but he has stained his soul. He cares nothing for your honour. To him, you are not a king or even a person. You are merely a tool, one that, once he has no use for you, he will gladly discard."

"…Nevertheless," Arturia said. "Nevertheless, I care about my honour."

Time to change tack, then, Medea thought. "Well, how about you agree to help us on a little errand? As a knight, you are sure to care about damsels in distress, am I correct?"

"Give me one good reason why I should even listen? Aside from the Command Seals you keep in reserve like a spur for a recalcitrant steed."

"I'd prefer to keep them in reserve, Arturia. And the one good reason can be summed up in two words. Crest Worms."

Arturia looked up sharply. After a moment, she said, "I am listening."

"One of Loki's allies is the Master of Berserker, a man by the name of Kariya Matou. He joined the Holy Grail War upon learning that the Master of Archer, Tokiomi Tohsaka, had adopted out his child, Sakura, to the Matous. They are a dying line of Magi, you see, and they needed fresh blood. The patriarch of the Matous, Zouken, took a child not even six and infested her with Crest Worms. You and I know what they do to women, to girls. Kariya had disowned himself from the family some time beforehand, but upon learning of Sakura being left with the Matous, he bargained with Zouken, becoming a Master in exchange for her freedom. But Kariya is dying due to the Crest Worms he had put in him during the past year. We agreed to help him free Sakura."

Arturia peered at Medea, her emerald eyes narrowed. "Why would you?"

"Loki found parallels between his life and Sakura's, and realised that Sakura had suffered a worse fate than he did. We intend to rescue her. Naturally, it's almost wholly unrelated to the Grail War and against the rules, I am sure. However, the more help we have, the better, and it was one of the reasons I used Rule Breaker on you. Aside from having a powerful Servant at our beck and call, but that is so obvious, even a Berserker Servant can grasp that. Arturia…no, King Arthur Pendragon, the Once and Future King of Britain, we beseech you for your assistance."

Arturia was quiet for a time. After a moment, she said, "Caster…what wish does Loki have for the Grail?"

"I have none." Loki's voice was unexpected, and Medea whirled to find him entering. "Or rather, I have a number of desires, but I am wary of using something like the Holy Grail to fulfil them. I am far from a fool. Even miracles come with price tags. Sometimes, the cost is not from one's purse, but rather, one's heart and soul. I would rather stick to the desires I know that I can achieve myself, Arturia. I have functioning limbs, a sharp mind, and a silver tongue. For a mere human, that is more than enough. So, if I may be so bold to ask, what is your desire that you want the Grail for?"

Again, Arturia was quiet, debating with herself whether to divulge it, before she seemed to settle on something. "You are aware of how my life ended, with my kingdom falling to chaos and civil war. I wish to be able to go back to the beginning, when I drew the Sword from the Stone, and do things again, with knowledge of how it turned out, and thus save my kingdom."

Loki, after a moment, chuckled softly. When Arturia glared at him, he said, "Oh, you poor, foolish woman. Asgard has stood longer than your Camelot, and even I know that kingdoms and empires are ephemeral things. Oh, it should have lasted longer than your reign. Why do you do want this? Is it pride, because you couldn't stand your mistakes? Or is it the ghosts of the knights who died or became disaffected with your rule?"

"Are you mocking me?"

"I mock everyone. I'd ask that you not take it personally, but I doubt you'd heed me," Loki said. "Don't get me wrong, your wish is actually quite sane, given the circumstances. If it had been something like, say, wanting someone else to be king in your stead, then I would consider you to be not just a fool, but an irredeemable one, for there would be no guarantee that your replacement would be anywhere near as good as you. Arturia, you have stood as an example, as a hero, to people throughout the ages. What if, by making your wish, you inadvertently end up destroying the beauty of your myth? What if those inspired by your myth to do better never are, or are inspired to do worse? The results of meddling with time are incalculable, and I am sure that if Merlin was here, he would share that opinion with me at least, if nothing else."

"Then tell me, Loki of Asgard, how would you rule?"

Medea noted that the question seemed to strike a chord with Loki, causing him to be somewhat taken aback. He seemed to consider his answer very carefully. "I am a better administrator than monarch," he admitted. "I ruled Asgard briefly, and that period was filled with treason, some admittedly of my own making, some of it from others. I personally believe I would make a better ruler than Thor, but to be a king is such an onerous career. A throne and a crown are merely a set of shackles in the shape of an ornate chair and a shiny band of metal and jewels. And the Asgardians would never accept a Frost Giant as a king, in any case, any more than they would have accepted a woman in your time and place. And our ideas of what a king or queen should be like would doubtless be as different as, say, that oaf Iskandar's, or that Archer. In truth, I don't know how a ruler should rule. I thought I did. Perhaps there is no right answer, Arturia Pendragon. After all, your style of rule still caused discontent and civil war in the end, and from within as well as without. And who knows what Mordred would have made of Camelot. A mess would be my guess."

"Do you not desire a second chance yourself?" Arturia demanded.

After a moment, Loki admitted, "Yes. I would like to do things over, to wipe the slate clean, live my life again with prior knowledge of my heritage. But in the process, would I do something wrong? What if what I am doing is the wrong thing? I am the greatest mind in Asgard, no matter what my so-called father thinks, and yet even I would not know whether I was changing my life for better or for worse. So the question I have to ask you, Arturia Pendragon…can you be sure you can change your life, and those of your knights, for the better?"

"You make me doubt my purpose," Arturia scowled.

"It is those who act with utter certainty and conviction that I detest," Loki said. "Those who wholeheartedly believe they are in the right. Doubt once made me act with certainty and conviction…and in doing so, I lost the nearest thing I had to family. How many of your friends and comrades did you lose through your own conviction? How much of yourself did you lose?"

The question seemed to strike harder than Medea thought it would, and judging by Loki's blink of surprise, he didn't think it would affect Arturia as much as it did. Arturia looked profoundly shocked, in a way few would be able to look. After a moment, Loki said, "I cannot promise you answers or conviction, Arturia Pendragon. I cannot promise you that you and I have compatible goals and ideals. But at the very least, help Caster and I right at least one wrong."

Arturia closed her eyes, and said, quietly, "I must be taking leave of my senses to even consider this, even with the power you have over me and your rhetoric. But if there is any truth to what you say, and there is an innocent suffering, then I will help."

After a moment, Medea gently removed Atlas, and Arturia, realising she no longer felt the pressure on her, rose to her feet. Despite her captivity, she still had the dignity, grace and gravitas of a monarch. "I presume you have a plan, then?" Arturia asked Loki.

"There is a human saying, that no plan survives contact with the enemy, and I enjoy a certain degree of improvisation. Medea, will you be able to penetrate any Bounded Fields around the Matou residence?"

"Given time, yes," Medea said.

Loki nodded. "Now, under most circumstances, I would consider going in and using my silver tongue to get her out of there. However, Zouken Matou has offended me greatly for what he's done to Sakura." He clenched his fist, with cold mist coalescing around it. "Winter is coming for Zouken Matou, a winter he will wish to have the luxury to die in…"

CHAPTER 11 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Arturia has agreed, albeit reluctantly, to help Loki and Medea, and Loki is looking to give Zouken Matou the worst case of frostbite ever. Good times.

Incidentally, I have a number of new Fate/Zero fanfics. I've done yet another Harry Potter one in Gorgon and Thanatos, which has a post-Hogwarts Harry/Medusa pairing, and with him adopting Sakura. I've also posted the first marked crossover with Final Fantasy IX, Kuja von Einzbern, based to a degree on Gabriel Herrol's Everything For My Family challenge, except with Kuja substituted for Harry. It also has Medea as Kiritsugu Emiya's Servant, for Medea fans.

I'm also strongly considering my first pure Fate/Zero fic, based on Res Nullius, an abortive Harry Potter/Fate/Zero fic that paired Harry with a grown-up Illya (who had travelled back in time). The pure Fate/Zero fic won't be published for a while, but for a general idea of what it's like, look for Res Nullius in The Cauldron.

Review-answering time! Thunder Dragon: Look, I couldn't resist a Fate/Cero reference, okay? Just view it as Arturia's mind being thrown askew slightly by being stabbed by Rule Breaker, as well as a touch of concussion from the Rain of Light attack. What humour I put in is up to me.

DalkonCledwin: Serpents are considered to be smooth liars in myth in general, so many would call him a serpent. And it is a separate serpent who drips poison into Loki's eyes when he is imprisoned…in Norse myth, anyway. And as for the line…well, you should hear the lines Irisviel utters while in Lancer's presence in Fate/Cero, the most innocuous of which is "LET ME STRADDLE YOUR MOLE, THE MOLE SPECIFICALLY!"

PikaMew1288: I intend for Arturia to head back to the MCU with Loki in tow. As for the line, well, keep in mind that Arturia is very much a woman of honour and chivalry, so being captured and forced to serve another Master is traumatic. True, she doesn't get along with Kiritsugu, but she gets along with Irisviel, and she takes protecting Irisviel seriously.

Mangahero18: The title of the next chapter will tickle your fancy, then.

1. I made this chapter title as a deliberate reference to the second book in the House of Cards series. I mentioned Francis Urquhart in a previous chapter…