The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but heaven's door is barred to sinners. So where does the soul of a soldiers go at the end?
"I Believe you." Bazett said when he finished his tale.
"Oh? That was fast, what convinced you?" Kiritsugu asked taken aback by how easily she accepted his tale.
Bazett stood up and walked over to him, she pointed at a small glyph prominent just over his heart. "Every Fraga is given a unique mark upon birth to use when they create something. That one is mine, the one below it I don't know, but the one above is mine."
"Huh, didn't know that." Kiritsugu admitted looking at the marks. He had assumed that it was just anothercouple of runes like the hundreds of others found on the inside of his armor that granted him protection, speed, power, and lightness.
"Only a Fraga would know," Bazett told him.
"Is there any odds that a future Fraga would have the same rune?" Kiritsugu asked.
Bazett waved her hand, "Not unless you're tens of millenia from the future, which I doubt the freelancer signs would remain the same."
"I see...that makes life easy. I had planned to start revealing private things like your stuffed moose's name and what went wrong on your first mission." Kiritsugu said a bit depressed. He had wanted to see her expression when he pulled out such trivial nonsense.
"Wouldn't work for me, you could have bribed or spied upon our family." Bazett countered.
"How about the complete process to make a Fragarach?" Kiritsugu asked
"Don't know," Bazett answered honestly, "Does it matter?"
"No, not really. Just wish I knew how to make it." Kiritsugu asked with a smile, though she could not see it with his helmet.
Bazett smiled herself, "There is just one thing, you mentioned your siblings and their mothers, but what about you? Where do you fit in?"
Kiritsugu sighed, "I possess a most unique Noble Phantasm." He explained. "So long as I do not reveal my name, use my other Noble Phantasms, or my identity is revealed by someone, I can use it. Once my name is revealed, I am unable to use it for the duration of the Summons."
"Interesting," Bazett said placing her hand under her chin, she thought about it for a minute then asked, "How long does it usually take before you lose the ability to use it?" It sounded like a Noble Phantasm that was only good for initial forays and scouting, but was quickly nullified once the conflict escalated.
"Depends on the conflict. Sometimes years, sometimes minutes. If I have been summoned more than once to the world, not long." Kiritsugu admitted. Getting summoned by Louise six times had basically made it impossible to use Unknown Ability in that world.
Kiritsugu stopped thinking back to old times when he saw Bazett pacing. "What's on your mind?" He asked curious.
"It doesn't make sense," She said simply. "Why are we not summoning our proper Servants. The catalyst are perfectly aligned with Servants of old, and we have our own children, but why did we summon others?"
Kiritsugu thought about it and agreed that it was strange. He knew that the earring was once Cu Cuchulain's as they had summoned him later in an attempt to have him baby sit...didn't work out very well. In addition, Ivone should have been summoned by her mother and Reiko by Rin. Shirou...well honestly any of them could have been summoned by him, but Avalon should have summoned Kaa-san anyway.
"If the catalysts are correct, but the Servants are not, only one thing makes sense," Bazett concluded, "There's something wrong with the Grail."
"What? Besides having Angra Mainyu inside it tainting the Grail?" Kiritsugu asked deadpanned.
Bazett shook her head, "No, that can't be it. The status of the Grail determines what kind of Servants are summoned." Bazett went on. "When it was corrupted, it allowed corrupted Servants into the War. That much is obvious from what you're telling me. So, if this war is full of the children of Emiya Shirou, then that must mean that somehow, he is affecting the Grail."
Kiritsugu analyzed Bazett's hypothesis and agreed with her. No matter how good the catalyst is, the Grail is truly the one that ultimately decides who is summoned. "There's just one flaw in your theory. If my Father was somehow connected to the Grail, it would have still caused you to summon your daughter Ivone. Yet, you got me. Rin should have summoned her daughter, but another summoned her first. Finally, Sakura should have summoned Sakuya. I'm not sure, but if the pattern still holds, then Ivone was summoned by her instead."
"What about the one your father summoned?" Bazett asked trying to analyze a pattern.
"Chiyo? No, she makes sense to a degree. She possess something powerful made by Tou-san." He pointed to the pendant hanging around Bazett's neck. "I gained it after she died." He admitted. "In addition, she is probably the closest in mentality compared to Tou-san. Me, I took on a bit more of my mother than Father."
Bazett nodded then sat back on her pallet, "This has been interesting Rider, but it's probably best if you leave me to think. Besides, shouldn't you get back to you..." Her face contorted into disgust, "Master?"
Kiritsugu nodded and stood, "While I do not have to report to him, it would be best if I did not come back here again for some time." With that, he pulled out a map he had obtained earlier and marked three different places on it. He then scribbled a few notes on each place. He handed the map back to her.
"There's an old lifeboat on this wreck. It's leaky, but it should get you to shore. Leave here within a day or two. These places and times are where I will try to be, but I cannot guarantee I will be there. Call sign will be the question, 'What would you say is the darkest night in this city?' The response will be 'The night a priest decides to go to war.' Understood?"
Bazett read over the map and memorized the contents before crumpling the map. "Got it. Good luck Rider."
"Thank you." He said as he turned back towards the rising sun and hopped a great distance back to land.
Unknown to him, the news was filled with another three houses full of corpses. This time, children and old people had been involved. These ones had been residents of the houses rather than unknown strangers who were suddenly found in houses. Was it a copycat? Or was the murderer branching out?
Shirou stumbled home after the strangest night in his life. First he had been impaled by a spear that was no spear. At least, he thought it was. No matter how he had looked at it, the spear kept shifting into a blade. Then he ended up facing the spearman again and was somehow able to create a blade while listening to poetry that made his head ache.
That poem, even though he had heard it once, he still remembered it.
I am the bone of my Sword
Steel is my body, and Fire is my blood
I have created over a thousand blades
Unaware of loss
Nor aware of gain.
Withstood pain to create many weapons
Waiting for one's arrival I have no regrets
This is the only path
My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works
Just thinking about it made him shudder. What was that? What was that poem? It seemed so familiar, yet that was impossible. His body was not a sword, he had not created any blades before this night. Loss? Gain? One's arrival? Such a strange poem, yet so alluring. So tempting to use for his magic.
After the poem, he had summoned a beautiful girl who fought off the spearman and introduced him to the Grail War. In addition, her brother, a strange man to bear the name Berserker as he seemed very much sane, and Rin turned out to be participants in this war. Somehow, he had been dragged by Rin back to her house and fed a jewel to open his magic circuits. To think, he was doing wrong the whole time. Not just wrong, so wrong that he was beyond lucky to be alive. Yet, he felt that he had been doing it right the whole time, especially when he made that sword.
Rin had negotiated with Archer without his say so and the two had agreed to a ceasefire and tentative alliance for a few days until the situation was made clear. It appeared that Archer shared his disgust with how all the people were being killed and was more than willing to work together with her brother and Rin, at least for a time. Now, after coming back Home, Shirou collapsed in relief as the stress of the day had finally caught up with him. He needed a good six or seven hours of sleep, but could only afford one or two before he had to get up.
Shirou had been unaware that Archer and Berserker had confirmed that they were of two different time lines. The Haru Archer knew was missing his signature scars he had gained from Einzbern War and the Chiyo Haru knew never wore such an outfit with so much tribute to Archer. No, the Chiyo he knew just wore army fatigues and camouflage. Still, the two had come to an accord for a time, and Chiyo was happy that the Haru and Reiko of her time had helped make a better world. She was, unfortunately, unaware of a third time line, a timeline where a Black Knight had roamed free until he had been summoned into another world and saved his daughter. Haru had seen no reason to mention a timeline that he was only peripherally aware of.
They say it's what you don't know that kills you in the end. This may be true for the two of them.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
"Sempai, wake up sempai." Sakura said gently.
"mmm, Sakura?" Shirou asked. "What are you doing so early?"
"It's almost 6:45 Sempai," Sakura told him gently, "Breakfast is ready."
Shirou wanted to bolt out of bed. 6:45, he had slept in way too much, yet, his body ached like he had gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson as well as his right arm felt wrong...numb actually. Still, he felt like he was missing something. Now what was it?
Sakura calmly left the room while he changed into new clothing. Shirou found that it was difficult dressing himself with only one arm working normally, but he managed. He sat down to the table and prepared to endure a sound tongue lashing from Taiga. Wait, why wasn't Taiga making any noise. Shirou looked around and felt a chill crawl up his spine. She was missing, Taiga was missing.
Oh God.
Had something happened to her? Had a Servant killed her? Oh God. He felt like throwing up right then and there. If Tiaga died, he wasn't sure what he would do...
Sakura saw him look around wildly then said smiling sadly, "Fujimura-sensei is in the bathroom. She ate something suspicious that was left on the table and felt violently ill." Shirou sighed with relief at that. So she had just eaten something she shouldn't. That's...good, at least she wasn't dead. Though...there shouldn't have been anything left on the table, especially anything that could make someone sick.
The door suddenly slammed open and Fujimura ran into the room and began gobbling food at an unprecedented speed.
"Oi, Fuji-nee, what's going on?" Shirou asked
Taiga ignored him and continued to feed at her unmatched rate. "Sorry Shirou," She said between bites, I suddenly have too much energy right now and I need to get that taste out of my mouth." Food kept spraying as she ate, but she couldn't stop. Within moments, she had eaten her fill and ran to school far faster than any time she had been late before.
Shirou and Sakura looked out at the open door that Fujimura had bolted out of and stared.
"What was that?" Shirou asked aloud. Sakura had no reply to that question.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Good Intentions and Money are the roots of all evils
Chiyo felt bad about Taigi. She had made that bowl of porridge for Tou-san to help him get energized for the day. She had forgotten about Taiga-obaasan's obsession with eating. Instead of a tired boy eatign her best pick me up meal, she had given one of the most hyperactive people in the world something to the effect of twenty five cups of coffee. Yes, the taste was as bad as usual, but she he mastered the energizing meal. Right now, Taiga was probably like a gerbil after drinking a cup of coffee. Today was going to be...interesting to say the least.
She thought back to what she remembered her father telling him about the Grail war. Right now, right now he should have asked Taiga to let him skip a day so that he could train with Saber-kaasan. Instead, she was taking the place of the King of Knights, and she was...afraid to train him. She fought as he fought, trained as he had trained. The styles were identical, would it alter the timeframe? Or would it set the timeline back on track since EMIYA wasn't here to transfer the knowledge to him. Someone had already taught him the aria. In all probability, he remembered it too well. It would haunt him until he tried it and finally got what he was missing. His world, his identity, his Unlimited Blade Works.
She who had been gifted with a True Mind's Eye began contemplating what she knew so far. The message, the aria, the sudden murders right before she was summoned. The more she looked it over, the more she was convinced that another was orchestrating everything and had as strong, if not stronger Mind's Eye than her. Judging by how careful each move was done and the timing, it could not be a false, but a True Mind's Eye B rank or higher possibly the illusive A rank. That skill was given only to the most experienced, most clever, most successful of Servants. It would take someone like Sun Tzu or Genghis Khan to have such a skill.
Whoever it was, he/she was clever. Manipulating events, if not Servants like the Hound to do his/her bidding. Haru had given her a map of where the murders had occurred and came to a distasteful conclusion. The murders had been done for no reason other than for father to summon a Servant. The murders were at random at first, but there were a few consistencies. First, the school was the center of the incidents. Second, no magi house was near the murders. Finally, the fact that there was a poem that began the same way as the note thrown at her, she was sure that this...conspiracy was all oriented around Tou-san. The question was, what was the next phase for this mastermind?
To some degree, she felt like she was playing a game of chess blindfolded and the opponent wasn't calling out what pieces he was moving and where he was moving them. She hated it when she was on the defensive waiting for the enemy to make the next move.
Sun Tzu believed that one should 'Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.'
Well, the enemy was truly mysterious to the point of soundless and as elusive as a shadow. For the moment, he/she was controlling their fates. Until she could figure out how the enemy thought, she was forced to adapt to the enemy's strategy. Not that this was anything new for her. She had hunted powerful opponents before who had been manipulating mankind for centuries, and she had killed them in the end.
Looks like she would be adding one more to her kill count soon enough.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The day at school was filled with even more rumors of murders. This time, women and children were involved. Everyone was sure that this was the work of a new cult or the worst sicko Japan had ever seen. Apparently, even the national news might begin broadcasting the murders, maybe even international.
"Honestly, what is Kirei thinking?" Rin muttered under her breath. This was why the Association had agreed for a priest to oversee the war. The priest was supposed to deal with these things before they became too known to the public.
"Are you sure it's in his interest to get involved?" Berserker muttered in her ear hidden in his Astral form.
"Of course it is, that's his job." Rin said.
"Yet, you have nothing but hate and suspicion about him. Isn't that saying something? His own student doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him." Berserker hinted
Rin waved it off, "Not really, most Magi don't trust each other that much. Students are tools to the teachers to further their studies after they are gone. Most Magi view each other with distrust."
Berserker sighed, "I guess that it was an exception then..."
"What was?" Rin asked curious.
"Oh, a magi family I knew. They were usually a happy, fun loving family. Studies were second to family." Berserker said wistfully.
Rin snorted, "Then they must not have been all that powerful, or important. A family like that would take far longer to make any progress. Thay're not even real Magi to begin with if they stop focusing on improving their magic."
"Oh they improved." Berserker said, "They worked together, studies together, and fought together. In one to two generations, they were viewed as one of the strongest Magi families in the world."
Rin sighed, Berserker kept going back to the subject of families. It was clear he was trying to hint something, but he had no idea the responsibility she had to bear. She would have to find a suitable Magi to marry and bear children. In all probability, the marriage would be nothing more than business. Much like how her mother was with her father. Still...she did admit she wished she had been a part of that family. It sounded nice. No sisters having to be torn apart for something as meaningless as succession. No families having to deny each other because only one can have a crest. It would be nice, but that is not her fate.
Or so she told herself.
xxxxxxxxxxx
Kiritsugu stood in line taking the form of an ordinary man.
"Next," a bored woman said calling him forward. Kiritsugu looked forward to the revamped customer service wave due in the next few years. Seriously, were people always this rude? Would it have killed them to at least have said, 'I can help you sir?'
Kiritsugu held out three letters addressed to three very different locations in the world. "I need these sent on the fastest routes possible. The sooner the better."
The postal worker picked up the three letters and glanced at the addresses. "This will be expensive sir." She said. Her sudden demeanor changed when someone was willing to spend big on delivering simple letters.
"Money is no problem, this is urgent and needs to be fixed right away. It truly is a life and death situation for me." Kiritsugu said.
The postal officer nodded and began calculating how much each would cost. One was being sent to a certain house in Finland, one to a certain Inn residing in Shin Tokyo, and finally, a post office box in London, these three locations were paramount for his new plan.
Alone Kiritsugu stood no chance of sending things along the proper path, only with help could he fix that which should not have been. Only with three very powerful, in their own way, individuals, could he accomplish all that he set out to do. Only with them, could he hope to send Tou-san on the right path.