Fate is the creation and intellectual property of Nasu Kinoko and Type-Moon.
All other franchises and characters mentioned within this story are the intellectual properties of their respective copyright and trademark holders.
FATE: Realta Nua of 2814.
Based on the original by Shadow Crystal Mage.
The man's hand was large, almost as big as the little girl's head itself, or at least it looked that way to the little girl, through the haze of her memories. It rested on her hair and, after a moment of hesitation, rubbed through and over it almost forcefully, as if wanting to leave an impression on her but also fearful of hurting her. Of course, it was not like he could caress her scalp tenderly, even though he wanted to, and the girl could easily tell. This was the first time ever he had rubbed her scalp, while looking down at her smiling face. The girl smiled brightly because she was fully unaware of what was about to happen, and only felt good because her father was finally paying her the attention she had wanted from him for so long.
And then he spoke. He gave her a book, one that made the girl's smile grow even wider, as she was well aware of how much did that tome mean to him. But just as she reveled in that sudden gift and its meaning, he turned around and walked back towards the large manor, leaving her and her mother standing by the limousine that would take them to Mahora.
The girl hugged the book against her chest and softly said, "Take good care, Father."
Now, ten years later, the night fell. It's a simple, small bunch of words, but it holds a lot of activity.
Tohsaka Rin, magus, looked down at her research. To think she'd be part of the Fifth Murder Death Kill! Ha! She'd show that bitch Luvia. A Saber, yes, she'd finally get a Saber, and as soon as she did, the first order of business would be to get it to kick the gaijin bitch's ass!
The dark haired girl felt an evil laugh bubbling up and didn't even try to suppress it as she threw back her head and made like Mark Hamill in a Paul Dini production. The shade of the lamp next to her shifted ominously...
A slightly younger, but much bustier and curvaceous girl with purple hair peeked into the room, smiling sweetly.
"Oneesama?" she asked. "Are you winning, Oneesama?"
Tohsaka Sakura lost her smile, replaced by an uneasy grimace. "Oh. Oh, that's right. The Grail War thing, huh... W-Well, carry on, then!"
She closed the door and retreated quickly while Rin kept on chanting the summon spell, without even noticing her little sister had just been there.
Luviagelita Edelfelt, magus, looked down at her research. To think she'd be part of the Fifth Heaven's Feel! Hah! She'd show that bitch Rin! A Servant, yes, she'd finally get a Servant, a real Servant and not just a maid, and as soon as she did, the first order of business would be to get it to kick the Japanese bitch's ass!
She felt an evil laugh bubbling up and didn't even try to suppress it as she threw back her head and made like Neil Patrick Harris in a Joss Whedon production. The shade of the lamp next to her shifted ominously…
Miyu, in her room, looked up in concern as the sound of her employer's laughter echoed through the mansion, sighed, and went back to cuddling her Illya dakimakura…
A dark, tall, imposing caped figure posed dramatically on top of the tallest building in Academy City. Fittingly, there was a burst of lightning and then the roar of thunder, even though the night was otherwise clear.
The Batman was tired, frustrated, angry, grim and gritty, and the criminals of this city would be paying for that. So far, he wasn't any closer to finding the serial killer of women he had come to Japan for, and he was starting to suspect maybe Etrigan had just duped him through Jason Blood. Never mind, he thought while posing in surveillance over the streets below. If that was the case, both of them would get a real piece of his mind upon his return.
Because he was Batman, this posing was not only suitably dramatic, being outlined in the sky and everything, but also served to give him the quickest overview of the city.
Drawing out his grappling hook, he leapt, and the last of his brooding ruminations on the subject was subsumed. Tonight, one way or another, justice would be done!
In the residential areas of the Mahora District, Matou Shinji stared, fascinated, at the gorgeous woman he had just summoned. Despite the large scar crossing her face, her curvaceous figure was perfectly flattered by her tight pants, tall boots, and the chest hugging shirt she wore under her half buttoned jacket, generously showing her abundant cleavage off. Her striking hot pink hair and full lips only made her even more attractive.
"Servant Rider, at your service," she introduced herself, flashing a confident smile and flippantly gesturing at the stunned, purple haired young man, who felt his heart briefly flutter and his pants tighten. "I hope we can get along for a productive partnership..."
Another night passed.
'Kuro Illya' von Einzbern-Emiya pushed open the door to the house she shared with her 'sister' Illyasviel, the luscious Shirou, the maids Sella and Leysritt, and on occasion their 'parents'. It was strangely quieter than usual and she frowned around as the tanned, pink haired little girl exchanged her footgear.
"Hello? Hey, meidos!" she called out.
Heading to the kitchen, Kuro spotted a note on the table. Dropping her bag, she read it aloud. "Dear Illyas. Went to fix up our castle in the woods. Might need to move in there in case of emergency. Probably won't be back until tomorrow or later. Have dinner, keep the house clean, and don't kill any burglars or attempted rapists, hiding the evidence of them dying by magic is difficult. Love, Mom."
Kuro blinked. "We own a castle in the woods?"
Shrugging, she put the note back for Shirou and Illya to read when they came back. It was really unlike Shirou to not be home at this time. Heh, he'd probably been shanghaied into doing something for the archery club. Kuro sniffed. Those wannabes called themselves archers? Hah! Could they shoot a fly's wings off at two kilometers?
Then she wondered where her 'sister' had gone off to. She was feeling a little light-headed, and could do with a little mana…
Grinning, she went to see what Miyu was doing. She felt her Maid Switch snap up as she traipsed off across the street…
For the next hour, the large house and its surroundings were eerily quiet and silent.
But then...
Emiya Shirou had been having a bad night.
First, he had stayed late at school, which in all fairness had been his own fault since he was the one offering himself to repair that air conditioner.
Then he had been stabbed, somehow recovered but in extreme pain, ran all the way home being chased by a maniac with a spear, and was now bleeding to death in the storeroom in the backyard where his father had sometimes taught him magic. And now…
The red haired young man gasped from his awkward prone position on the old shed's floor, staring up at the figure that had just appeared standing over him.
It was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, with a delicate and fair face that was nonetheless cold and devoid of feelings. Her eyes were large, round and light green, and her hair a pale shade of golden blonde, pulled back into a small bun. She wore a long dress of regal blue cloth, along with a metal chestplate and armored gauntlets and boots. In a hand she held the sturdy handle of a sword, apparently unattached to any blade.
"I am Servant Saber," she told him, bathed from behind by the silver moonlight filtered through the large hole in the ceiling, with a calm and aloof voice. "I ask of you, are you my Master?"
"Geh…!" Shirou stuttered, too shocked to say anything else. "Geh…!"
She nodded. "I'll assume that's a yes, then. Negatives are usually conveyed as 'Gah!'…"
But then, zooming across the air, the maniac in blue tights who had been chasing Shirou around from school broke into the shed, waving that long spear of his, and this 'Saber' immediately spun around, swinging her hilt with both hands, and just as soon, there was a thundering boom and the man was swatted by some invisible force, directly back out of the shed and onto the Emiya house's backyard.
Now, things were just getting fucked up…
Illyasviel and Miyu walked home tiredly. Their classmates had insisted on seeing a movie that had just come out, and they were only just heading home. Miyu in particular was stressed from their classmates pestering her to 'unlock the Miyu path'!
Thus, they didn't notice the dark shadow lurking beneath a dead lamppost until it barred their path. "Hello, little girliesh..." it slurred, sounding drunk and generally dislikable.
Before the girls could react though, there was an 'erk', and the drunk suddenly collapsed, something metallic clattering to the ground next to him.
"EH?" Illya said in shock, looking around. "W-who did that?!"
The girl with shorter, darker hair blinked at her. "Illya-chan?"
"This was the perfect opportunity for some new character to introduce themselves dramatically by rescuing us!" Illya cried. "Where are they!?"
Miyu sweatdropped, before looking down and frowning. She picked up a forearm-length piece of black metal, curved and symmetrical, its overall appearance hard to make out in the darkness. She flexed it experimentally, and some catch in it released, and a hinge in the middle bent. Miyu folded it experimentally, unfolded it, and folded it again.
"What did you find there, Miyu-chan?" Illya said after accepting that no one was about to dramatically introduce themselves.
Miyu handed it to her. "I can't tell what it is, it's too dark," she said.
Illya frowned down at it, turning it around in her hands. "Let's wait until we get home," she said, walking on the unconscious would-be attacker, tucking the metal thing in her bag. "There might be more of this guy around!"
Miyu followed her down the road, the two hurrying now, more alert and looking around.
On top of a building, Batman grunted and chalked one batarang as a loss.
The first thing they noticed was the hole in the wall.
Really.
With Rin and Luvia around, loud screaming, bright flashes of light, blasts of magic and general sounds of violence were not all that unusual, hence why the neighbors hadn't come out to see what was happening beyond a cry for them to "GO TO SLEEP, YOU CRAZY TEENAGERS!"
Illya frowned. "There's a hole in my wall," she said. "Why is there a hole in my wall?"
The two looked at each other and pulled out their Kaleidosticks, transforming into Magical Girls. We dearly apologize for the lack of detailed naked transformation sequences, but those don't quite work all that well in prose.
They leapt the wall, posed, and froze. This was not so that people would be able to appreciate their pose.
"I don't care if he saw anything!" Luvia was berating a lean, blue haired man dressed in blue tights and holding a long, blood red spear. "You don't hurt Sherou, got that?!"
"But he's a MASTER!" the man said, pointing at Shirou with his spear.
Luvia thwapped him upside the head. "I DON'T CARE! SHEROU'S OFF LIMITS!"
Shirou, at this point, was trying to hold back the blonde woman from before, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other gripping her arm at the wrist and trying to keep her from moving or, alternately, using her sword. At the very least, he thought that the invisible thing she swung around was a sword. "No Saber-san, no fighting, no fighting!"
"Master, I must fight! I am your weapon in the Holy Grail War, and that is how it is done! Now release me!"
"No!"
"LUVIA!" Rin cried, bounding over the opposite wall. "DON'T YOU DARE HURT EMIYA, YOU BITCH! ARCHER, TAKE HER!"
"So troublesome..." a tall, tanned, white haired man wearing a long red coat grumbled, but drew a set of paired short blades.
"Damn you, Rin! Lancer, kill the bitch!"
"Finally, an order that makes sense!" Lancer grumbled, and charged.
"No, no fighting!" Shirou cried, still trying to hold on to Saber. "You'll ruin the roses! Mom's favorite roses, damn you!"
"NO!" the two girls chorused. "DIE, BITCH!"
"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE!-?-!-?-!-?-!-?" Illya cried.
"Shut up, people are trying to sleep!" someone cried, and a thrown shoe hit Illya in the face.
"Agh!" she cried, falling off the fence.
"Illya!" Miyu cried, leaping down to help her. "I mean, Prisma-chan! Don't worry, Prisma-chan, I know mouth to mouth!"
"Eh? What does mouth to mouth have to do with this?" Illya asked, sitting up on the grass and rubbing her own face.
"You're supposed to use it on people who are falling," the other child explained.
"Drowning, Miyu, I mean, Sapphiric-chan, that's for drowning."
"Are you sure? Maybe we should just try…"
"NO!"
"Another Master?" Saber observed, head snapping towards them. "This is the perfect opportunity to gain a strategic advantage in this war! EX-"
"No, Saber, NO FIGHTING, NO FIGHTING!" Shirou lunged at her, pulling her back.
"Master, unhand my sword!"
"No!"
"You'll hurt yourself!"
Illya struggled back up to the top of the wall, and Miyu boosted her up. "Thanks for the help, Kaleido Sapphiric," she said.
"You're welcome, Kaleido Prisma."
"You can take your hand off my ass now."
"All right."
A beat.
"Saph?"
"Yes?"
"Your hand, my ass?"
"Oh, sorry."
"That's all right."
Another beat.
"Really, Saph, you can take it off now, I'm not going to fall off the fence. I'm not even up there anymore."
"Oh, okay…"
"Thank you. Ruby, harisen mode! Transfer all power to maximize speed!"
"On it, Illya! Ready to go!"
"ACCELERATION MODULE!"
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
"No fighting, no fighti– ACK!" THWACK!
The combatants all reeled back from the harisen blows to the head, stunned and confused and in Shiro's case sporting a pair of swirly eyes.
Illya landed lightly on top of Shirou's shed in the backyard, where she knew he kept all sorts of appliances he tried to fix. Her nose was bleeding slightly from the shoe, but she didn't notice. "All right, what's going on here? Why are all you people fighting in this random family's house while we passed by?-!-?"
"Illya, good timing!" Rin called, holding her head. She pointed. "Attack Luvia, and I promise I'll make it worth your while!"
"Agh! Traitorous Rin! Miyu, I know you're there! Attack Tohsaka, now!"
"Can't I stay out of this?" Miyu muttered, clenching Sapphire and shuffling nervously.
"Illya-chan?" Shirou blinked. "What are you doing in that stupid getup?"
Illya blinked back. "Eh?! Y-You are mistaken, random young citizen!" she began panicking. "I don't know anyone named Illya, I'm just the magical defender of justice, Magical Kaleido Prisma!"
Rin sighed. "Illya?" she said. "Why do you think I always insisted so much on never being seen by anyone? You aren't a Sailor Senshi! There's no spell protecting your secret identity!"
"EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH!-?-!-?-!-?-!-?"
Illya, startled by this information that should have been obvious from the start of her association with Rin, lost her footing as a shingle came loose under her feet, and gave a cry as her legs slipped forward out from under her, causing her to slide off the roof. She fell ass-first on the thankfully spring grass, but ended up rolling backwards into the shed. They all heard a cry as she fell down the steps and rolled into the building, followed by a crash as she hit the appliances Shirou had left all over the floor. The mere mortals winced.
Illya's haggard voice drifted out of the shed. "Sailor Moon warned us about days like this..."
Shirou frowned. "Sailor Moon? Illya-chan, have you been talking to weird cosplayers again?"
Rin, Luvia and Miyu all looked away nervously and whistled.
Then the light of a summoning circle appeared.
Illya's surprised yelp came from the shed, followed almost immediately by a low, deep, gravelly growl that somehow hit all the same notes in everyone's brains that the words "This army!" or "I'm pregnant and yes, it's yours!" usually did. Purest, unadulterated terror suddenly coursed through everyone's veins, but nobody was more scared than Illya, who had quickly ran back out almost on all fours, horrified at what she had just seen inside.
The ground shook as two blazing red eyes appeared in the darkness of the shed, all the brighter for the contrast. A hulking figure stepped out of the shed, its every step felt through feet and bones and the little hind part of the brain humans inherited from their distant not-quite-mammal ancestors that warned them a Tyrannosaurus Rex was about to eat them. It straightened as it crossed the threshold, revealing a muscular, shirtless giant with grayish skin.
The man was truly gigantic, a mass of grotesque muscle wielding a massive slab of rock that was to the sword what the rock is to the bullet. It was easily twice as big as Illya herself. Rin guessed that it had to be her servant's Servant, although how or why she had summoned one without a ritual was anyone's guess. Still, he definitely gave a matching sense of threat and undiluted power, and not even Tohsaka could blame Emiya-kun for freezing in place where he stood, one of his hands tightly wrapped around one of Saber's wrists.
"Servant?" Saber asked quietly, more to reaffirm to herself she was still alive and not already a corpse.
"Servant," Archer confirmed.
"A Berserker," Lancer said. "It has to be...!"
"No fighting?" Shirou ventured hopefully.
"Archer, defend me!" Rin cried.
"Lancer, Miyu!" Luvia called.
The two Servants leapt to position themselves in front of their Masters, while Miyu came more hesitantly. Saber was able to pull off Shirou's suddenly hesitant hand from her wrist, shrugging him off her waist and holding her sword in both hands before her.
Then there was a roar, not unlike that of a huge beast from long gone eras, something that might have haunted the nightmares of the first men and women in a young world, something that chilled Rin, Luvia and Shirou to their very cores, and made Miyu shriek while covering her ears.
And then, in a blink, before any of them could truly react past the primal dread or awe that roar elicited from them, the massive titan was charging at them with incredible speed, so fast as a matter of fact only one of them could react to it. That was Saber, who similarly charged forward, leaving Emiya's hand suddenly holding nothing but air, and ducking under the first mace swing of the colossus, striking with her invisible weapon at the muscular midsection of the Berserker.
Rin could literally feel the shockwaves of the clash making the ground rattle under her feet. She hadn't ever seen such display of power before; even the earlier battle between Archer and Lancer seemed to be nothing compared to the raw aura of power literally emanating from this behemoth, who didn't even flinch at the obviously also very powerful direct attack Saber had directed at his granitic body.
Instead of expressing any pain or being set back at all, the Berserker simply swatted Saber aside like a fly, sending her crashing against a wall. "SABER!" Shirou cried, trying to rush for her, before Rin, still mostly reacting instinctively, held him from behind, pulling him back before the taller young man could advance.
Illya, blinking at seeing her brother in danger, took a deep breath and resolved to stop fooling around anymore. She frowned, raised Magical Ruby, and slapped the harisen on the end of it on the side of Berserker's face.
Everyone's jaws dropped.
"You heard my big brother!" Illya said. "No fighting! Anyone got a problem with that!?"
Berserker, against everyone else's expectations, had just stopped right on his tracks and regarded her down with animal curiosity.
"GRRRRRRRRR?" he said.
"What the hell is going on here?" another voice asked.
Everyone turned towards the front gate, where Kuro was surveying the scene with a very annoyed look. "Look, right now, I need Prana badly, I want to go to sleep and I'm not in the mood for nonsense," the dark-skinned girl said. "So what's– HEY!"
She pointed at Archer, who raised an eyebrow.
"What are you doing stealing my look?!" she demanded. "That's my look! How dare you make it less revealing and liable to get me arrested for indecent exposure! And you're using Kanshou and Bakuya! I'm the one who uses Kanshou and Bakuya around here buddy! I want a good explanation for this right now! But first…!"
Miyu 'eeped" in surprise as Kuro suddenly grabbed her, their lips slamming together.
KISS! WITH LOTS OF TONGUE! PRACTICALLY MOUTH RAPE!
A faint Miyu hung from Kuro's arms as the other girl sighed in contentment. "Ah, I needed that! Now, my explanation, please?"
"Kuro! Get your hands off Miyu!" Illya exclaimed.
Another shoe hit her in the face. "I said KEEP IT DOWN! PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP OVER HERE!"
Somewhere else in Academy City, Batman was crouched down at the middle of an underground laboratory. Said laboratory- Wayne understood magi would rather call them 'workshops'- was located under a small house in the outskirts, close to the sea. It was a veritable chamber of horrors, not only because of all the arcane, macabre artifacts and images of forbidden, repulsive lore in it, but because of the still fresh young bodies stripped down and attached to engines whose utility he barely could begin understand. And at the middle of it all, right under the examining eye of the human bat, the lifeless body of a man, the same Wayne had stalked in Gotham, before being sidetracked by the Joker's latest mad scheme.
"I'm sorry," he softly told the victims of this other madman, but also the madman himself, for murder was murder, whoever it was commited upon. He closed the man's eyelids with his fingertips gloved in black and studied the deadly wound running from his chest to his stomach. A zigzagging perforation, made by strong, obviously raging hands. Not the hands of any of the young girls who had been found days ago, wandering with no memories around the local waterfront. Most likely, the hands of whatever Atrum Galliasta had unleashed upon the world.
"You shouldn't be," said a husky, intoxicating voice from the shadows behind him, and Batman frowned, rising back to his booted feet. Slowly, he turned around and faced the familiar figure of firm, athletic curves, clad in the black and body hugging spy catsuit. By each side of hers stood a hulking, grimacing man heavily armed. Assassins of the League of Shadows.
"Talia," the Batman growled at the woman of long dark hair and large, sad brown eyes. "I should have known your father would be behind this."
"Beloved," Talia al Ghul replied dryly. "Surely, if my father placed any faith on the doings of these people, he would have joined them in their pursuits long ago. He has the best mystics of the East at his beck and call, and it has been so since long before these farces started. However, he has been wise enough to recognize the folly of involving himself in these mad rituals."
"Then why are you here?" the costumed vigilante asked her.
"Much like yourself, we have been trailing this man with the hopes he would lead us to the latest Heaven's Feel," Talia readily answered. "Months ago, several relics were stolen from our order's headquarters. The bone mask of the best poisoner in our history. The cloak of our stealthiest agent. The bones of our most fanatical zealot. Even a piece of armor reputed to have belonged to the Founder."
"And do you think Galliasta was the culprit?"
Talia shook her head.
"As you must know as well, we are aware he bought the means to invoke another to fight in his stead. But he was the best clue we had to learn from this latest iteration of the mad contest. Beloved, you must understand the meaning of these thefts, their importance. To summon a spirit from our ranks, technically, no catalyst is necessary. By the mere mention of the name of the Hassan, a member of our lineage will answer the call... but which one, there is no way to know. What the mastermind behind these thefts intends, then, is an impossibility, a complete token of the purest insanity, from our viewpoint or the magi's. And yet, the mere fact they were able to commit the sacrilege at all... it makes Father fear they might, somehow, be able to perform it."
The Batman pondered this in a grim silence. "I know a man here who might be able to help us."
To be Continued.