Sakura smiled to herself. An ocean of ink surrounded her, it's icy coldness numbing her to the constant pain and heat the worms generated. There was a distant light in front of her, the light of a cloudy winter's day and she could hear her laughter echoing through the darkness. She closed her eyes, focusing on the noise. She heard some sobbing, causing her to frown. She thought about moving to try and see what was happening, but it was just so relaxing in the cold ink that she didn't want to move. She didn't want to feel the pain of the worms returning, or that horrible burning she felt when...when what happened? There was something. Something involving Rider. A fight with Berserker?
"Sakura!? What are you doing?" Shirou's voice cut through the darkness. Sakura opened her eyes, blinked. She pushed through the ink towards the light, and came back to herself, to find her hands around Illya's throat.
"Ah!" Sakura released Illya, staggering backwards. She looked to Shirou, who was staring at her, horrified. "No! Don't! Ah, what is going on?" she glanced at herself, seeing the dark black dress covering her body in a shroud of numbness. "Wha-" Sakura choked, as she felt the numbness start to climb up her throat.
Hush. Go back to sleep. Look away from Senpai's fear. Dream of better days to come, when this is all over, a voice echoed inside Sakura's head. Her body felt heavy and she slumped to the ground. She watched in a daze as Shirou ran towards her.
"No, stop! Onee-chan!" Illya shouted. "Don't step into the shadow!" Shirou skidded to a stop, only a step away from falling into the shadow. It rose up, like a wave, to consume him.
No, I can't let that happen. This isn't a dream, it's a nightmare. I can't let Shirou get eaten! Sakura thought, struggling to free herself. The wave paused at her command, as Sakura tried to reabsorb it. Saber dashed forward, grabbed Shirou, and shot backwards. With a sigh of relief, Sakura relaxed, letting the wave crash to the ground.
"Ow," Sakura whimpered as a sudden pain shot through her. Looking down she saw a half dozen thin wire frame blades sticking through her.
"Let's see you regenerate from this!" Illya shouted, flinging Sakura into the air. She tumbled helplessly, falling towards the blades that had fused into a gigantic grinder.
"Not so fast!" Saber yelled, leaping forward and swinging her sword, cutting the wires free. The grinder dissipated, leaving Sakura to slam into the dirt with a thud.
"It hurts. It hurts so much," Sakura moaned.
Life always does. Just relax. Go to sleep, and I'll take away all the pain. Dream of what can never be, and I'll take care of the rest, The voice said.
I can't let you hurt Senpai, Sakura thought, struggling to keep her eyes from closing.
Tch. Fine. I don't have time for your stubbornness, so I'll make you sleep if that's what it takes, the voice said, the ink of Sakura's dress shooting up towards her face, before two tendrils shot into her ears.
Sakura felt a spike of pure ice shoot through her brain before her vision went dark.
/*/
Shirou watched helplessly as Sakura was flung into the air by Illya. He ground his teeth in frustration, as he saw her flail as she fell.
"Saber," he began.
"Do not worry, Shirou. I shall protect her," Saber said, shooting forward as the grinder formed. She cut it to pieces and Shirou breathed a sigh of relief before wincing as Sakura hit the dirt. He saw her clutch at her arms before the darkness that made up her dress suddenly attacked her, stabbing her in the ears.
"Sakura are you okay?" he yelled, running over to her. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see holding her blade up to Illya's throat, who held her hands up in surrender.
"Senpai?" Sakura said, her eyes tightly shut. "Oh, no, what are you doing here?"
"Sakura? What-" Shirou began.
"Don't you know it's bad luck to see your bride in her wedding gown before the ceremony?" Sakura continued as if Shirou hadn't spoken, all while trying to hide herself with her arms. "You need to leave, go on, get! I want this day to be perfect."
"Umm, Sakura?" Shirou asked, hesitantly reaching a hand forward. Before he could touch her, Sakura shot away, her body flowing across the field.
"Oh there is so much to do still. We're going to be late if I don't get back to work," Sakura said, fretting. She darted from spot to spot, barely seeming to travel the distance in between.
"Sakura wait!" Shirou called, reaching out with a hand
"Don't worry Senpai, everything is going to be fine. I'll see you at the temple," Sakura called back, sinking into a puddle of darkness. "Oh, this is going to be the best day ever!" her voice chirped cheerfully as she disappeared.
"What just happened?" Shirou asked, hand hanging limply in front of him.
"Your Sakura is possessed by something Onii-chan," Illya said, ignoring Saber's blade at her throat. "She needs to be put down before she kills us all."
"There's a lot of that going around," Nanoha said, flying in with Archer showing up behind her, who was carrying Leysritt. "And I'm sure we can find some way to free Sakura from whatever is possessing her. Hello Illyasviel, have you cooled your head?"
"Hmmph," Illya pouted, looking away.
"What is he doing here? And what do you mean, going around?" Shirou asked, pointing at Archer.
"Hello to you to," Archer said, smirking. "It looks like you forgot something."
"We are not so foolish as to bring wounded to a potential fight. And there were no more of those Sins nearby to threaten her," Saber said, hotly. Illya gasped, and moved forward, Saber quickly removing her blade from her path. She ran to Archer and grabbed at Leysritt, only for Archer to lift his arms higher and keep Leysritt out of reach.
"Careful," he chided Illya, "she's badly hurt, and doesn't need you pulling on her."
"I wasn't going to!" Illya protested. "Now put her down. I can heal her," she commanded, imperiously.
"I can handle that," Nanoha said, getting Illya to glare at her.
"She's my maid, I'm the one who will take care of her. You keep your grubby hands to yourself," Illya snapped.
"Don't be silly. If we can both heal her, then we should work together to heal her faster," Nanoha argued.
"You might want to hold off on that. We've got incoming," Archer said, moving towards the castle doors. Nanoha turned to see a sea of shadows emerging from the forest.
"Everyone inside, quickly!" Illya ordered. The group hurried to do as she said while Illya closed her eyes and began to softly chant in German. Her hair began to float as wire after wire sprang from her body shooting up into the sky and slowly forming a box around the entire castle.
"Wait for me!" Lancer yelled in the distance, shooting forward as a blue blur. Illya didn't respond, and kept forming her gridwork barrier. Lancer sped through the gaps in the shield, even as they closed around him. With a faint humming noise, the grid was completed, and Illya opened her eyes, turning to look at Lancer.
"What are you doing-What on Earth happened to her?" Illya asked, interrupting herself, as she saw Fate's battered body in Lancer's arms.
"I did. Now where is Nanoha? She doesn't have much time left and Nanoha either needs to heal her or hear her last will and testament," Lancer said, impatiently.
"Inside. Probably healing my maid without my permission," Illya said, making a face.
/*/
Nanoha clasped her hands together to hide their trembling and forced a smile through the burning sensation filling her muscles as she kneeled in front of Leysritt, who was resting on a couch.
"There, that should do it," she said, patting the freshly healed Leysritt on the head.
"Thank you," Leysritt said, standing up from the couch she was slumped in. "Where is Sella?"
"I don't know," Nanoha said, closing her eyes.
"Oy, where's Nanoha?" Lancer yelled, bursting through the door to the salon they were in.
"I'm- Fate! Oh, no! What happened?" Nanoha asked, rising to her feet and rushing over to Lancer.
"We fought, and mortally wounded each other. She saved me by making me her familiar, I'll save her by bringing her to you. Now heal her! She doesn't have much time left," Lancer explained quickly.
"Of course," Nanoha said, looking around the room. "Just lay her down on the floor. Leysritt, give me that cushion for her head," Nanoha ordered.
"Can you help her?" Lancer asked, as Nanoha inspected the injury, placing the couch cushion under Fate's head.
"I will. I'm not a very good healer. But I can super charge a basic healing spell to regenerate the physical damage. Most of it anyways," Nanoha said, wincing.
"What do you mean?" Archer asked, watching Lancer carefully.
"Physical Heal is meant to knit flesh and bone back together. Not fully regenerate missing flesh, or damaged organs. It's meant to handle minor injuries, or as a stop gap to make it to an actual doctor. It's not meant to handle...this. So I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, Fate will be alive, and that'll have to be enough, no matter what side effects there are," Nanoha explained, switching to Exelion mode. "This is going to take a while. We'll talk afterwards, okay?" She said, raising her staff. "Blaster Three! Divine Regeneration!" she yelled, not waiting for a response.
-Loading Cartridge- Raising Heart said, loading an entire clip's worth of cartridges in one go. Without hesitation, Nanoha slammed in a fresh cartridge without hesitation, and Raising Heart began to consume those as well. A magical circle filled the room, before a blinding column of light appeared, completely covering Fate. Nanoha's arm trembled involuntarily as the muscles in her arms began to tear, even as Raising Heart cracked under the strain. Bruises shot up and down Nanoha's arms as she grabbed a hold of Raising Heart with both arms. Her lips split, blood began to run from her nose, and when she blinked her eyes immediately gummed up from the spilling blood. She fought the urge to cough as she felt liquid begin to gather in her lungs.
Finally the light faded, and Nanoha allowed herself to collapse. Her bones aching, she crawled over to Fate, trying to rub the blood out of her eyes with the back of a hand. She felt a cool, too cool, fingers touch her face gently, wiping beads of blood out of her eyes.
"You shouldn't push yourself so hard, Nanoha," Fate said, weakly. Nanoha snorted, and coughed up a little bit of blood as she tried to laugh.
"You're one to talk," she said, smiling as she cradled Fate's head. "I'm not the one to come home with a hole in my chest."
"This time," Fate said, her lips quirking up in a smile of own.
"This time," Nanoha agreed, kissing Fate's forehead. "How are you feeling?"
"Weak. And tired," Fate said. "But alive. And that's what matters. And you?"
"Ahaha, I may have overdone it a little today. I'm not going to be flying any time soon," Nanoha admitted, rubbing the back of her head as she laughed.
"Wait, so the two of you are effectively crippled?" Archer asked, stepping forward. Lancer immediately stood between him and the two girls.
"Back off. Don't even think about switching sides again and completing your original mission to kill them," Lancer warned, materializing his spear.
"Relax. I'm not so dumb to repeat the same mistake over and over," Archer said, calmly.
"Bah. Once a traitor, twice a traitor as they say back home," Lancer growled, not moving a muscle.
"Oh? And how are you any better I wonder?" Archer asked, smirking. "You've abandoned your old master as well."
"My old master was scum and is hopefully dead. He stabbed my first master in the back and stole me from her before making me hold back in every fight and refusing to let me actually finish any battles," Lancer said, grimacing.
"So wait? You're already on your third master, and you are lecturing me about disloyalty? At least I didn't break my contract with Rin. In fact, I'm pretty much trying to rescue her from her own bad decisions. In a way, I haven't betrayed my master at all, I'm just using an alternative method to fulfill her goals," Archer said, smirking as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"Uh huh," Lancer said, not relaxing in the slightest. "I'm sure that was your plan from the beginning and you were never going to have your master killed so you could sign a contract with one of these girls," he added sarcastically.
"Of course not," Archer said, keeping his smirk on his face.
"Wow, you're a bad liar," Lancer said, suddenly laughing and relaxing. "Let me guess, Lady Nanoha talked you out of it?"
"Yeah," Archer admitted with a sigh. "She pointed out how short-sighted I was being and how I was allowing myself to stick to what I know would work instead of trying to find a better way. What happened with you?"
"Fate and I fought to a draw. I mean, I beat her obviously. But it took all my magical energy to do it. I was going to finish her off, but she offered me a contract instead. And honestly? I wasn't ready to call it quits yet. That fight may have been great, but I've got some business to take care of with my ex-Master and that Avenger fellow," Lancer said, cracking his knuckles as he finished speaking.
"Great. Now that we're all-," Nanoha yawned, blinking sleepily. "-all friends, I'm going to get some sleep. We'll need our rest to deal with Avenger and all." Nanoha attempted to stagger to her feet, only to fall flat on her face from how numb her legs were.
"Whoa there, are you alright?" Lancer said, darting to Nanoha's side. "She's already passed out. She must have really exhausted herself," he chuckled, gently moving Nanoha so she was sleeping beside Fate. With a murmur Nanoha curled around Fate and nuzzled her face against the blonde girl's neck, who smiled in her sleep and wrapped her arms around Nanoha.
"I will fetch them a blanket. Then I must go find Sella," Leysritt said, standing up.
"Sella's dead," Illya said, entering the room with Shirou at her side. Shirou glanced at the sleeping mages, and began gently shooing everyone from the room.
"How do you know she's dead?" Shirou asked, as the group walked down a lavish hallway.
"She's not in the castle, or the forest. Since she would never leave the castle without my say so, she must be dead," Illya said, coolly. Leysritt let out a low whining noise. Illya glanced back at the maid, whose face remained placid.
"She could have been taken captive," Shirou suggested, hopefully as he glanced at Leysritt. Illya shook her head, her silvery hair whipping Shirou in the arm.
"Why would they bother? Who would even bother? Your insane girlfriend? The literal incarnation of all the evil in the world? Or one of the mindless monsters it created? No, she's dead and pretending otherwise is just an exercise in denial. Better to mourn her properly rather than live in a lie," Illya said, firmly.
"Mistress..." Leysritt whined, even as her face remained blank.
"Yes, Leysritt. I give you permission to mourn. Take as much time as you need. Your duties in this Grail War are finished anyways," Illya said, glancing back at her maid.
"Thank you," Leysritt whispered, sinking down to the floor and closing her eyes. Without missing a beat, the Servants following them walked around her without a single glance.
"Wait, shouldn't we comfort her?" Shirou asked, twisting around to keep Leysritt in his sight. As he slowed, Illya grabbed his hand and tugged him along.
"She doesn't want that," Illya said, as she walked.
"People mourn in different ways Master. Leave her in peace for now," Saber said. Shirou swallowed and nodded. The group made their way to a dining room, where Illya sat imperiously at the head of the table. Archer sat at her left side, staring across at Shirou who sat at her right. Saber sat down, her back straight, while Lancer immediately leaned back, putting his feet on the table.
"I officially call the first meeting of the Anti-Avenger Alliance to order," Illya declared.
"The Anti-Avenger Alliance?" Avenger repeated, a faint smile on his lips.
"More importantly, at what point did we become officially aligned? As far as I'm concerned, you are no longer a part of this war Illyasviel," Saber said, shooting a quick glare at Archer.
"Considering that you are all hiding in my castle, and behind my magic, I'd say I'm the most important part of this Holy Grail War," Illya said, with a sniff.
"In more ways than one," Archer murmured, getting a glare from both Illya and Saber.
"Shouldn't we wait for Nanoha and Fate?" Shirou asked, looking between all the Servants.
"Those two will be sleeping for quite some time, and we are fully capable of coming up with a battle plan on our own," Saber said, shooting a glare at Shirou.
"Besides, Fate won't be fighting anyways," Lancer said, confidently.
"And Nanoha might not be fighting either. So we shouldn't plan on their help anyways," Archer said.
"Okay, so where do we start?" Shirou asked.
"With Rin," Archer said, firmly, tapping a hand against the table. "So long as she has her Command Seals she can force me to fight for Avenger. The good news is that Rin doesn't want to be fighting Avenger. The bad news is she still hopes to win the Grail War."
"And she doesn't even have a wish," Shirou muttered, bitterly. Archer glanced at Shirou, raising an eyebrow.
"So what? Do we just kill the little lady?" Lancer asked.
"That would work. But it isn't necessary," Archer said, smiling bitterly. "Just rendering her unconscious will be enough. Or getting her to use both Command Seals. But if that's too hard for you, then you can resort to killing her. After all, you've got a lot of experience in cutting down women, don't you Lancer?" he added, mockingly.
"Bite me," Lancer growled. "So dealing with your Master is first to make sure you don't backstab us. Sure. What's next?"
"At that point, we can expect Avenger to counter attack us. So we'll have to deal with him next," Saber said. "He's a surprisingly defensive fighter, but nothing I can't handle in a duel."
"Which isn't the problem," Archer said, waving a hand. "I think any of us Servants could beat him in a duel, but he just regenerates."
"So we just need to obliterate him than," Illya said, "Saber should be able to do that with her Noble Phantasm."
"That won't work. When Berserker destroyed his body, he just reincarnated into one of the nearby Sins," Archer explained. "I don't think we can kill him at all."
"So what then? Do we go after his Master?" Lancer asked, frowning.
"That won't work," Illya said. "Avenger has a direct connection to the Grail. I'm not sure killing his Master would actually do anything. It wouldn't hurt though. That old worm deserves nothing less."
"Regardless, we should focus on our main objective. How do we destroy Avenger if even obliterating him wouldn't work?" Saber asked, scowling.
"Simple. We need to kill every bit of him. Hunt down and destroy every Sin, kill his main body, and then destroy the Grail itself," Lancer said, with a savage grin.
"Right. Cause killing the thousands upon thousands of Sins is going to be so doable. And if we miss even a single one, or Avenger manages to run away, the whole process starts over," Archer drawls. "There's a much easier way to deal with Avenger."
"And what would that be?" Illya asked, as everyone looked expectantly at Archer.
"We seal him away. If trap him in some sort of magical prison, or transformation, we might be able to block off his ability to reincarnate from a Sin," Archer said.
"That might work," Illya said, tapping a finger against her lips as she looked upwards at the ceiling. "But we need a container that can actually hold the power of a Servant."
"We would also still need to eliminate all of the Sins. While killing Avenger might destroy them, sealing him will likely leave them active," Saber added.
"Sure, but we'll have to destroy those no matter what. As for a container to seal Avenger into well we have one already, don't we?" Archer said, glancing meaningfully at Illya. She went paler than normal if possible and cleared her throat.
"I suppose we do," Illya began, before being interrupted by Saber smashing her fist on the table.
"How dare you suggest that?" She yelled. "We will not sacrifice Illyasviel to seal that beast away!"
"Wait what? Since when were we talking about that?" Lancer asked, surprised, sitting up normally for the first time.
"The Einzbern family holds a special relationship with the Grail. Specifically, they can create a homunculus who acts as the Lesser Grail, the physical container that collects the spirits of the fallen Heroic Spirits," Illya explained. "In this case the container is a homunculus, me," she added, holding a hand to her chest.
"But a human body, even an artificial one, can't withstand the pressure of containing so many Heroic Spirits. The strain causes them to fall apart," Saber said, grimly.
"Fall apart? What does that mean?" Shirou asked, looking worried.
"It means she'd die," Archer said, bluntly.
"Well we aren't going to let that happen," Shirou said, firmly.
"We may not have a choice," Archer said. He held up a hand to interrupt Saber and Shirou as they began to speak. "However," he paused, making sure he wasn't about to be interupted. "I am optimistic that Illya should be able to survive sealing away Avenger. After all, she is designed to keep fighting after absorbing all seven Servants. So she should be able to contain Avenger without too much strain on her body. So long as the rest of us Servants don't die."
"Alright, so maybe we can seal Avenger into the little miss over there without killing or corrupting her," Lancer said, leaning forward. "But do any of us actually have the ability to seal a Heroic Spirit away? None of my runes would be able to do anything."
"I've got a couple of weapons I can try. But no guarantees," Archer admitted. "And even if they work, there is still the problem of getting him into Illya."
"Well why don't we have Nanoha teleport him to another planet?" Shirou asked.
"...What?" Illya asked, flatly.
"The TSAB can teleport to different planets," Saber confirmed. "That is an excellent idea Shirou. We may not be able to seal him away, but dropping Avenger off on an abandoned rock will certainly work as a substitute." she praised, smiling at Shirou.
"Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that Fate and Nanoha are aliens? That they can teleport from planet to planet? Why haven't they been just teleporting us away than?" Lancer asked, sitting up straight in shock.
"The teleportation needs careful calculation and stationary targets," Saber explained. "It is not something that can be used in a fight. But if Archer can disable Avenger, than Nanoha will be able to teleport him away. Also yes, Fate and Nanoha are aliens to this planet."
"That explains so much," Archer said, smiling and shaking his head. "But this is good. It seems like we've got a nice plan. I disable Avenger, and they teleport him off-world. What's next?"
"Sakura," Shirou said, firmly. "I don't know what happened to...make her like that, but we need to save her."
"Do we though?" Lancer asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving the damsel in distress, but is she a priority? Like, at all?"
"She is," Illya said, her face grim. "Not just because she's courting my brother, but because in her insanity she's done...something. I'm not sure what. But whatever she did, it allowed her to eat Berserker. And her own Rider for that matter. As the leader of the AAA I declare that a power that can take out a Servant so easily is cheating and I won't stand for it!" she said, petulantly.
"She was acting oddly. Like she was hallucinating or something," Shirou said, frowning.
"Well if she's under some sort of enchantment, I can help with that," Archer offered. He held up a hand, and with a brief murmur, a wicked dagger with a blade like a lightning bolt appeared in his hand. "This is Rule Breaker, a Noble Phantasm to break all bonds and enchantments. If it can break the bond between a Servant and a Master, it should have no problems dealing with whatever is controlling her."
"And if she isn't being controlled? If she's just gone crazy?" Lancer asked.
"Than we feed Shirou to her," Archer said, shrugging. Illya glared at him, but Archer just shrugged. "What? You know he'll refuse to just kill her, and so will Nanoha. And if it is just insanity, than Shirou is our best hope of talking her down peacefully."
"We have a different problem than that," Saber said, speaking up. "We are talking as if we can just handle these tasks one by one. But it is likely that as soon as we begin to fight, that Avenger and whatever allies he can muster will begin to interfere."
"Right. So first we capture Rin Tohsaka. That frees up Archer to come join us. He heads straight for Avenger, I'm sure he'll be fighting one of us by then. Shirou, you deal with Sakura. You don't need to kill her or anything, just make sure she isn't trying to attack any of us," Lancer proposed.
"And what will you and I be doing?" Illya demanded, frowning. "And don't even think about suggesting that I stay behind."
"We'll be on fuck up patrol. When one of these guys fuck up, and they will, it'll be our job to get things back on track," Lancer said, smirking at Archer, who gave him an unimpressed look back.
"And I shall be with my Master. If he is unable to talk Sakura down, than I shall rescue him and rejoin the battle elsewhere," Saber declared.
"Well that sounds like a plan," Illya said, clapping her hands together. "I officially declare this meeting of the Anti-Avenger Alliance closed!"
"Wait what about-"
"I said it's closed!"
Author's Notes: So this was meant to be a quick interlude, and ended up being a full chapter in its own right. It also took me way longer than I wanted to get those conversations written out. But hey, it's done and we are moving on. Up next, the actual interlude and things going horribly wrong.