The sun peered through the window falling perfectly on the young mage's face. He groaned as he raised his hand to try and block the light, but it still peered between his fingers. He groaned again as he turned his body to block the sunlight before he felt the brief sensation of weightlessness and then the sudden impact of the hard floor. "Who's there!" Came another shout.

Andrew moaned in pain as he sat up from the floor. He looked over and saw that he hadn't been in a bed, he was sitting in a chair in front of the room's table. He looked over and saw the nervous look on Alia's face. "Did I fall asleep last night?" He asked as he sat normally on the floor and rubbed his eye.

"Yes." The Einzbern said as she visibly relaxed realizing it was just her American companion. Was that the right wording? She didn't really know what to call him. "I didn't want to wake you, so I just got into bed and went to sleep on my own."

"Damn." Andrew said as he stood up and looked out the window. "I never realized how brightly the sun shines against the pure, white snow."

"What do you mean?" Alia asked as she reached for a sheer gown and walked to stand beside him.

"Well where I come from the sun just shines from the sky. But here," He said as he marveled at the area outside. "it's beautiful. I didn't really look yesterday because of everything that was happening, but now I see it."

Alia rested her head on his shoulder before an idea reached her head. She stood in front of him and started to push him back towards the door. "Go get dressed into something warm, we're going outside." She said as she finally got him out the door. "Don't ask questions just do it." She said before the door shut in his confused face.

He looked around and saw that the hall was mostly empty, but if he was a betting man, he'd assume Archer was close. "Guess I'm going to get dressed." He said rubbing the back of his neck before he started to walk towards his room.

He pushed his room door open to find his servant sitting on a chair and grinning. "I didn't expect that to happen."

"Bite me Gil." Andrew said with a yawn. "Nothing happened."

"Oh I know nothing sexual happened." Gilgamesh said with a chuckle. "I would've felt the mana leave your body. But you did stay in there all night with the doll."

Andrew shrugged off the comments as he tossed his sleeping pants onto the bed and grabbed his now cleaned black slacks and threw his inherited jacket over his shoulder and walked towards the door. "Don't tell the others." He half asked, half told.

"Don't need to talk to them." Gilgamesh said as he held his hand out and a golden chalice appeared in it. "Have fun." He said as Andrew rushed out the door and headed towards the long stair case.

He practically jumped down them before his feet hit the ground he was already turning in place. "Times Two." He said before pushing off the ground much faster than he usually did. He almost seemed to fly through the air as he did. Looking around the few homunculi that saw him looked in awe as they all watched the unknown mage burst through their home. He skid to a halt in front of the main door and took a deep breath before he turned to see Alia looking at him trying to hold in her laughter. "Sorry." He said with a laugh of his own. "Guess I haven't really used the new runes." He said looking at his hands as the glowing symbols disappeared.

"That's fine." Alia said grabbing his arm and pulling him out. "There's something I've always wanted to do out here."

"What's that?" Andrew asked as he was pulled out into an open field. His arm was released and he was lightly pushed farther away from the girl, but he was still half hypnotized by the view around him. "Wow." He said before he felt a cold thump on the back of his head before frozen water slowly crept down the back of his shirt and jacket. "Gah!" He screamed as he tried in vain to grab the cold water but couldn't warm the spot through his jacket. He turned on his heel to see Alia holding a snowball in her hand and a devious grin on her face.

"I Aliasviel Von Einzbern challenge you, Andrew West to a snowball fight!" She shouted before whipping another snowball that hit him directly into the face.

Andrew said nothing as he slowly wiped the snow off his face and shook his hand to get the remaining bits of water off. He slowly bent down and grabbed a handful of snow. "I'll make you regret that challenge." He said before he whipped a mass of snow into the air between them and then grabbed a single snow ball that he pelted her with in the chest.

"You're asking for it." The girl said as a wicked smile came over her face. She held her hands out as familiars started to come to life all around her. Each one picked up a pile of snow as they threw it at Andrew.

The mage smirked as he ducked under the first barrage of snow. "Time Two!" He shouted as he ran forward cupping his arm out as he quickly shoveled snow into his hands. He jumped into high into the air as he aimed the snow ball at the girl's head.

She raised her hand up to catch the ball but it was only a diversion before another was thrown into her stomach knocking the wind out of her and causing her to topple over and fall on the ground. Andrew landed on the ground breathing heavily. "Alia?" He asked looking at her unmoving body. "Alia?" He asked before he ran over to her sliding on his knees to check on her. "Alia!" He shouted as he reached for her.

"Got you!" She shouted as she pushed his head down into the snow and got up laughing with her hands in the air. "I win!"

"You cheated!" He shouted standing up and wiping the water off of his face.

She stuck her tongue out and winked. "If you're done, we all need to talk." Archer said kneeling on a tree branch and looking at the two.

"Aww, Robin don't be like that." Alia said with a smile.

"Mistress, the others want to talk about our future plans." Archer replied as he stood up straight before disappearing.

"You heard him." Andrew said standing up straight.

"I suppose so." Alia said noticing the light and relaxed look on Andrew's face was gone, replaced with his hardened gaze. She walked back towards the castle before she felt a wet thump on the back of her head, and then the cold-water trickle down her neck. "Gah!" She screamed turning around to see a still bored looking Andrew walking towards her with his hands in his pockets. "You'll pay for that." She whispered just loud enough for him to hear as he walked past her.

XXXX

Andrew was about to walk into the meeting room when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Shiro looking closely at him. "What's up?"

"We need to talk." Shiro said before he looked into the meeting room where the King of Heroes was sitting with his feet up on a chair.

"Sure." Andrew said looking around to see that no one else was nearby. The two started to walk down one of the hall ways. "Is everything ok?"

"I don't know." Shiro said shaking his head. "I've been trying, I really have, but I just can't accept that he's here with us."

"Who? Gil?" Andrew asked louder than he had meant to. "Why not?"

"You know why." Shiro said quickly. "Even with all the stuff I've seen, I've never seen anyone as evil as he is."

"Evil?" Andrew asked quickly. "None of us are saints." He pointed out. "I mean you summoned someone who in life was called The Mage Killer." Shiro grimaced at the point. "This all started as us needing him because of how strong he is."

"And now?" Shiro asked narrowing his eyes.

Andrew didn't really know how to say what he wanted to. He knew everything that Gilgamesh had done to people. He had planned the death of Rin's father, he had killed Assassin's daughter in a heartless manner, he tried to end the world of humans once and for all. And with all of his shortcomings Andrew still felt the same way. "He's my friend." He said quickly. "I can't expect any of you to forgive him, but right now he's already here."

"He wouldn't have to be." Shiro said holding his hand up and showing his command seals to the younger mage. "You could solve the problem for all of us."

Andrew looked at his teacher for a moment. He knew that Shiro's every action was to further his ideal of being a hero of justice. If he was trying to convince Andrew to betray his servant than he honestly had to believe that killing Gilgamesh was the just thing to do. He looked down at his hand and saw the single command seal left, that's all it would take. One single command and the King of Heroes would no longer be someone to worry about. They could move on with this war and win it and end all of the fighting. Deep down even he was waiting for the shoe to drop and Gilgamesh to turn on everyone for his own desires. "I…" He paused as the command seal on his hand started to glow. "I won't do it." He said looking back up with conviction in his eyes. "We're a package deal Shiro. If you want one of us gone, we're both going. We'll stop Angra Mainyu on our own."

"That's not what I want." Shiro said shaking his head. "This is just something I don't want to be right about."

Andrew shoved past the mage and back towards the planning room. "You won't be." He whispered as he made it to the entrance of the planning room where he saw Gilgamesh leaning on the door frame just out of sight. He was completely blocking the entrance to the room as his red eyes scanned Andrew's face. After a moment he moved out of the way and let the young mage past.

Shiro turned to watch Andrew walk into the room. He lowered his head and then looked back up to see Gilgamesh looking at him with his arms crossed. "Faker." The King said before he walked back into the room leaving the projection mage alone in the hall.