Ch9

Tokiomi slammed his fist onto the table in frustration, "Archer why did you not fight," he yelled at his servant.

Gilgamesh gave him a look that was a mixture of boredom and annoyance as he sipped some wine. "Simple, I was enjoying a drink among kings and a king would never break a parley," he snorted in contempt.

Tokiomi glared at his servant, he had been trying to be accommodating to him. He gave him the respect he required yet he was starting to get sick of his attitude and the way he treated him. Calm down the war will almost be over he thought to himself as he tried to control his breathing. He is the strongest Heroic spirit just put up with him a little more and I will have everything.

Thankfully Kirei came in breaking the tense situation between them. "Hello Tokiomi, you really shouldn't fight with your servant," he said in his usual calm tone.

Tokiomi gave a hard look at him and sighed, "Well if he had Rider would either be dead or on our side. Instead we lost Assassin and Lord Kayneth dead." The report came to him this morning, he was found with a bullet in his head on his way back to his hideout, an act most likely done by Saber's master.

Kirei nodded, "True but we should rejoice Tokiomi for the war is about to reach a climax soon."

Tokiomi took a deep breath as he clenched his fists. He had no love for Lord Kayneth Archibald but he and his family had some prominence in mage society. If word got out that he died while doing a joint mission together it could damage his family's reputation. I won't let it come to that he thought as he glared at Archer. Whatever it takes I will win this war.

"If things from the Archibald family come up we will deal with them; nothing happened between him and I do you understand?" He said to Kirei

Kirei smiled and nodded, "Of course Tokiomi."

"What of his fiancé?" Tokiomi asked curiously.

"Our familiars found her with a bullet in her head in their hideout," Kirei said as if it were some mundane topic. "Their hideout was raided most likely by Saber's party. I suspect that Kiritsugu took the opportunity to take them out, he apparently raided the place of their magical supplies as well."

Saber, only her and Rider truly stand between me and winning he thought as he looked at Kirei. "Fine, we will figure it out somehow, we should try our best to wash are hands of them."

"True also it appears that Rider sent a group of magical beasts to where Caster was making his base. It is safe to assume that Caster will come out soon since his workshop is destroyed," Kirei said.

Kotomine nodded, "Great, Caster should not be a problem but still he should be taken care of as soon as possible. Both he and his master are deranged and could bring unnecessary attention to the war."

Tokiomi sighed, "True we are almost done we cannot afford for any slip ups."

Kirei nodded and he swore he heard his suppress a laugh. With that Tokiomi Tohsaka left the two alone and headed to do his own things. He needed something to drink to calm his nerves from the disaster that was last night. Waver Velvet he said the name in his head with a mixture of intrigue and contempt. The fact that someone like him outsmarted him and his plans made his blood boil. He won't last long, even if he survives the war I will make sure he has no chance in magus society. He'll just take the fall for Kayneth Archibald if push comes to shove he thought as a smile spread across his face.

"Well it looks like they are up and ready," He said as he headed downstairs to say hi to the McKenzies. He felt a little bad at having put them under this spell and had knocked them out last night but he was just glad that they were safe.

"Good morning boy," Rider greeted him with a smile. He wore his casual outfit of a black button-down jacket and pants. His smile was as bright as ever and he was drinking some coffee while talking with Mr. McKenzie.

"Good morning Waver stay inside today apparently there was a gas leak in the neighborhood. They are telling us to stay inside, Ms. McKenzie said in a worried tone.

Waver nodded keeping his composure, "Ah ok good to now," he looked at Rider who winked at him and he just sighed and sat down next to him and ate breakfast with his 'family.' The breakfast was fine, Rider mainly talked about some interesting stories about Egypt and Mr. McKenzie talked about strange things have been sighted nearby.

Waver nodded and didn't say a word and just nodded once in a while. Last night Rider had summoned a bunch of magical beasts to patrol the area around their house and the few people that saw them probably thought that they were large dogs or something. Rider also informed him that he sent a bunch of sphinxes to destroy Caster's workshop and apparently the mission was a success though Caster was not in it.

After breakfast Waver took a nice warm shower and got ready for the day. After getting dressed he went up to see Rider in his pyramid. He found Rider sitting in his throne room sipping a glass of wine. When Rider noticed him enter he smiled at him, "Good morning boy, I hope you were able to rest."

Waver gave him a weak smile. "Y-Yeah I did," he said looking into Rider's bright eyes. Looking into his eyes he couldn't help but feel calm, he didn't know why but he felt as if Rider in his own egotistical way cared about him.

Rider closed his eyes and nodded, "Good, I understand that combat is not for everyone. My beloved Nefertari for example hated violence. You have my thanks as your pharaoh for standing by my side during the ordeal."

Waver looked to the ground, "It was my pleasure to be with you. It is only right for me to be by your side in this war."

Rider looked at him and nodded, "True, now it appears as if we will be entering the climax of this war." Waver looked at him and nodded. "Oh now boy about your teacher," Rider said in a cool tone.

Waver gulped and avoided his servant's gaze. "Wh-What about it?" He asked in a careful tone not wanting to betray anything that could be used against him. He had not heard anything from his teacher, though he figured that without a servant he was most likely dead.

"In life a man will have to make many hard choices; sometimes those choices will have to be done against those we once cared about. This is a war where sacrifice is everything," Rider said looking at him with his golden eyes. "Your former teacher and his fiancé are dead, both gave up their lives for this war."

Waver felt his eyes widen but said nothing and just nodded taking in his words. He didn't know how to respond or even how to feel, should he cry or feel sad?. Yeah he looked up to him but Lord Kayneth never treated him well. He knew there was the possibility where he would die or be in a situation where he would have to use force, but the fact that it was against his former teacher still made it sting inside of him. He took a deep breath as he looked up at Rider, his golden eyes were like two small suns peering at him. "Thanks, Rider. It was not easy for me to fight against him and its not easy for me to know that he is dead. Even though he never cared for me and was more than prepared to kill me."

He honestly didn't know how to feel at the moment. A part of him was sick with himself what happened to his teacher while another felt proud that he and his servant had bested him in battle and that what happened was out of his control. Also Rider seems to be praising me he realized, a person as great as Ozymandias was praising him and saw use in him. He felt both shocked and a bit proud that Rider saw him as useful.

Rider looked at him and nodded, "True boy, fighting is not for everyone. My beloved Nefertari, bless her heart. She could never watch the death of someone; even for a humane style of execution she would cry and be down the entire day," he said with a sigh. "Even though I am a great pharaoh, I know that it is not easy to have to face someone you once respected or even loved. You have my condolences for your bond with your former teacher."

Waver only nodded, he appreciated his servant's efforts to try and make him feel better. To be honest he was surprised he even cared and felt a little better that he was making an effort. "Thanks Rider," he said smiling at his servant. I don't know when or if I will be able to get over what happened but I cannot afford to let that get in the way of this war. I have made it this far and I will have do all that I can to win.

Rider smiled at him and laughed loudly. "That's the spirit boy now let us celebrate for a bit, for the enemy has tasted the power of my greatness!"

Waver looked at Rider and smiled, the rest of the day he tried not to think of what had happened the night before. Rider threw a small celebration and he had to admit it was fun. He ate some interesting stuff, the wine was good, and he even played with Rider on those video game consoles he liked (Rider had him guy one and he often played it in his own room down at the house).

Archer also joined them later that day arriving on his airship. "Congratulations Pharaoh," he said as he got off his ship. "Your victory is well known."

"It was nothing Archer, I just let a lesser being know the consequences of defying a Pharaoh," Rider said with a laugh. "Boy, give Archer here some wine," he ordered.

Waver sighed as he got up and poured Archer some wine and gave it to him. Archer nodded at him, "Thanks Mongrel," he said as he drank the wine. The rest of the day was pretty fun; Waver had to admit being with Rider and Archer was actually cool when they weren't acting arrogant. He watched as Rider and Archer drank and boasted about their accomplishments from long ago, he even played some video games with them (he knew better than to win of course). They even shared another bath, it was nice and Waver felt like he was getting used to bathing with both of them.

As the day went on and the day turned to night Waver continued to have fun with Rider and Archer. However, during the night Archer abruptly stood up, "Tokiomi, you bastard you dare disrupt me," he yelled dropping his cup of wine all over him.

Waver nearly jumped from his seat as he heard Archer yell, he could tell that he was furious. "You have to go now Archer?" Rider said with a sigh

Archer nodded, "It appears that I must leave, that worthless man is calling me by command seal," he said with huff. Waver looked and saw that Archer's face was anything but happy and appeared to want to destroy something unpleasant.

Rider nodded, "Well we will continue this again in the future Archer." Gilgamesh nodded and sighed before leaving the pyramid.

Waver watched Archer leave and sighed when he left, "I wonder why he would had to leave?" He asked as he watched Rider stand up suddenly as a sphinx came up to him. The sphinx appeared to say something to him and when he was done a serious look spread across his face.

"Let us go boy, another fight is commencing," He said as he turned to leave to his ship.

"Wait what is happening?" He asked as he followed Rider to his ship.

"It appears that Caster is on a rampage," he said as he helped him onto his ship. "Remember when I sent some beasts to the location you told me about and had them destroy it. It appears Caster is making some sort of last stand." Waver sighed and nodded as the ship left the pyramid and flew through the skies. Well here goes another battle he thought as the ship left the pyramid and flew through the skies.