Voices echoed with sounds of exclamation and speculation, but it might as well have all been distant murmuring or whispers to a certain woman's ears. The noise was like radio static, the hum of the crowd, shifting into a muted crescendo that did little to ease the woman's nerves.

Her name was Gray, a member of the Clock Tower and close associate of Waver Velvet. She was something of a student or apprentice to the man, really, and she'd been called here prior to well, this.

Members of the El-Melloi family had contacted her in secret on instructions from both Waver and Lady Reines, but in the end, she didn't end up coming alone. She obviously wasn't yet sure if this complicated anything, but she was never really the type to understand the politics of the Tower like Waver and Lady Reines could.

All that she could infer from the instructions that she'd received and her own observations, was that the Gate through the Reality Marble of the Sealing Designate, Shirou Emiya, was of utmost important to the El-Melloi.

The Reality Marble of the Sealing Designate himself, was being maintained by tapping into the Tower's magic reserves. The Clock Tower was built over the deceased body of a True Dragon you see, filling the area with an abundance of magic energy from the corpse, and minimizing the difficulty of perpetually sustaining a Realty Marble. The other issue regarding the space and laws regarding a Reality Marble's inclination to subjugate and overwrite them was levied by the Spiritual Evocation department.

When Reality Marbles deployed, they would encompass and enclose a space severed from the laws of actuality, thereby creating a separate world altogether within the confines of a set boundary. Generally, this boundary couldn't be easily breached, but considering that Reality Marbles were reflections of a user's inner world or soul, aspects of evocation could be used.

Of course, this wasn't on the level of summoning down a deity or divine spirit, but more towards the act of bringing or recalling a feeling, memory, or image to the conscious mind. Reality Marbles were inner worlds, and often connected with the thoughts and beliefs of the user's brain. By creating a spiritual evocation of the user's mind, and matching it with the laws of the deployed Realty Marble, a corridor to that world could theoretically be created and maintained with sufficient energy.

Gray would not claim to understand the full mechanics of it, but what mattered was that Realty Marbles bordering on True Magic, would no doubt attract the attention and interest of many magi. Therefore, no matter how covert she'd tried to be, there was always a group of magi around to notice her. Most wouldn't have honestly cared about what she did, but the fact that she was associated with the El-Melloi family whose Lord was on an expedition through a mysterious Gate, drew many eyes and ears. This was especially so after not hearing a word from Lord El-Melloi II, and only getting status reports that they were still alive and well.

Gray's movements were quite obtruded from the perspective of nearby magi.

The people of the Sophia-Ri family managing the evocation spell were the first to take interest and sent a retinue of their members alongside Gray.

-Sophia-Ri, a prominent member of the Clock Tower, and one of it's Lords.

The current head was Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, First-Class professor of the Tower's Spiritual Evocation department, and the sibling of the deceased Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri.

Gray was aware that Lady Reines had some sort of dispute with the Sophia-Ri family and was on bad terms with them ever since, so she felt too awkward to even bother approaching the Sophia-Ri's. Her affiliation with the El-Melloi may even lead to confrontation which was horrible considering that the present El-Melloi members including herself lacked both Waver and Reines. Diplomatic skills alone without sufficient means to reinforce their words were too lacking and hollow to be anywhere near effective.

Most importantly, Gray had been raised rather sheltered in a sense. Her upbringing didn't prepare her at all for any sort of socializing, so she strongly preferred hiding behind Waver's back and hoping no one would directly address her. To even entertain the notion of her striking up a conversation with a stranger on her own was far too unrealistic a task given how shy yet aloof she could be, let alone the Sophia-Ri's.

Gray had no grounds to refuse the members of Sophia-Ri joining her through the Gate, along with other curious magi that decided to tag along.

Hence, the current development.

Gray pulled the hood of her cloak further over her face, never quite parading her features out in the open unless necessary. Too many negative connotations, mainly personal, were attached to her appearance, and was the reason she often dressed in heavy black and grey. She always wore a skirt, a hood with a cape, a jacket, or other things similar like now.

Gray had verdant green eyes, grey hair, and a slight Welsh accent in her voice, but it was only really noticeable when she grew flustered like now. She didn't dare open her mouth to speak, in fact, she'd rather no one be paying attention to her, so she'd drifted to the back of the group where she remained on the trek through the Gate.

Upon emerging on the other side, she was just as shocked as everyone else to see an entirely new world.

Verdant forest surrounded them for the most part, but the Gate exited on a hill, making the vast fields and open arable land over the horizon visible for all to see. Wind and warmth bore down from soft sunlight, and the crunching of twigs and rustling leaves revealed a plethora of vegetation and wildlife.

"I-Incredible," a magus muttered in a daze, the word mirroring the thoughts of many.

To the ambience in mana in the air, to the overall feel of foreign mystics in a land where the Age of the Gods had yet to end, it was all so surreal and breathtaking at the same time.

Gray was momentarily caught in a daze, but this changed quickly when she noted the stunned expression of the members of the El-Melloi family that had been accompanied by Lady Reines and Waver earlier. They were the ones who'd already set up a bounded field around the exit of the Gate, camouflaging it from sight and creating a basic detection system around the premise.

Evidently, they'd only been expecting Gray, and not such a large crowd and were tongue tied.

"As expected of the El-Melloi, coveting all this for themselves…" A member of the Sophia-Ri family muttered before shaking her head. "Send back a report to the head."

"Understood. Should we inform the rest of the Tower as well?"

Gray felt the hairs on the back of her neck tingle, feeling as if she'd started a disaster. Perhaps it would have been best if she'd just stay still? Balling her hands into fists, she preened her ears and listened fixedly on the conversation around her.

"No. Understandably, its easy to infer why the El-Melloi suddenly had such a vested interest in the Gate to ask for more exploration time. They want to monopolize as much as they can before the rest of the Lords and the families take action. The El-Melloi's are already ahead of the game. Why should we give the others prior notice when we can follow the El-Melloi suit? We may not be the first, but the Sophia-Ri family still has much to gain at this discovery."

"That, that makes a lot of sense. We'll keep the information for the head's ears only, but what of the El-Melloi members…?"

Gray suddenly found herself and her fellow compatriots under the intrusive gazes of the Sophia-Ri, but the main person in charge shook her head.

"Detestable as they are, the El-Melloi's aren't stupid. They won't rat us out now that they've been found. Instead, knowing Reines and El-Melloi II, they'd rush to consolidate their foundations. Besides, would we rather waste time infighting, or explore the prospective nature of this new world?"

"U-Uhm, ugh," Gray tried to work her mouth to voice her objection, but she didn't get far before tucking her head into her shoulders from the intensity of the stares directed at her.

She didn't have the authority, identity, nor sway to speak against the crowd even if she tried. If only her teacher were here, or barring that, Lady Reines.

"Then we are agreed?"

"Naturally. We'll keep the Gate's exit as a rally point back to the tower, but we can establish our own family camps in suitable locations."

"In fact, its even better here for most of us, as Clock Tower regulations may not even apply, so… a free pass on all research methods?"

The eyes of numerous magi gleamed, and they spoke as if Gray and the other El-Melloi members were just air.

Helpless, Gray could only watch as many magi began to part their separate ways, driven by their own prerogatives on the prospect of freed limitation on their research, and interest in this new world.

Left behind, Gray pursed her lips, feeling as if this wasn't going to end well.

She needed to find her teacher. He'd know what to do, some sort of plan maybe?

Gray schooled her features and began her own search after questioning the El-Melloi members about where Lady Reins and Waver had gone.

-Elsewhere.

After the successful defence and repulsion of the Empire's invasion of the Warrior Bunny Kingdom, the group had made a temporary camp on the spot to rest from fatigue. Primarily though, it was so that Reines and Tyuule could have a proper, uninterrupted, and heated discussion about 'terms' of leasing to consider the situation moving forward.

At the same time, Waver was constantly surrounded by other Warrior Bunnies on the premise of asking for advice. Blinking, Waver thought nothing much of it and instead pictured all the Warrior Bunnies around him as students from the Clock Tower queuing to ask him questions on his lectures. This winning mentality allowed him to maintain an upright and straight-faced demeanor unaffected by the severe temptation of well-proportioned women of all types with bobbing bunny ears around him.

They were just student. Nothing more.

What could they want from someone like him, anyway?

Waver inadvertently deluded himself.

The admiration of the Warrior Bunnies only grew. That, and it was no secret that Waver ranked higher than even Bram of the Sophia-Ri family for the Tower women's 'most desired to sleep with.'

Waver had grown and adopted such a sophisticated display of aristocratic demeanor that he was quite well received in the Clock Tower, let alone as a 'Male Warrior Bunny strategist.'

To Shirou, it was quite clear from the unfriendly looks in that the Warrior Bunnies were sending him and the others that they just didn't want anyone close to Waver even remotely associated with Reines.

Shirou, Tuka, and Caila were able to infer the nature of this due to the enhanced hearing of their elven heritage, and the colder and colder tone Tyuule used with Reines.

What a pitiful man.

Shirou could imagine what was in store him as Reines's gains continued to increase.

Shirou, Tuka, and Caila looked at Waver with varying degrees of emotion, but Tuka and Caila themselves were ignorant that they too had taken a similar approach to the Warrior Bunnies.

Seeing the large number of women, and knowing the reputation of the Warrior Bunnies to bed men of other races, Tuka and Caila were sticking tight to Shirou lest their Apostle be seduced.

Shirou sighed, feeling quite helpless on the matter, but trying to respect his boundaries.

For the longest time now, he felt as if there was something off about the flowers blooming in the grass around him. It was like he was being watched and judged if he did anything untoward.

Shirou coughed, and took a few steps back, such that Tuka and Caila were no longer pressing against him.

Again, it could have been his imagination, but the flowers rustled, appeased.

Tuka and Caila glanced at each other, but still couldn't infer what they did wrong, if at all, but neither of the two would pursue anything anyway. Not against their race's apostle.

As Reines continued her discussion with Tyuule, and the late afternoon stretched into the evening, tents began to be pitched around a large bonfire created from broken pieces of the Empire's battering rams. Flames crackled and crept over the Empire's emblem before breaking off into drifting embers.

In the meantime, the Warrior Bunnies had allocated Shirou, Tuka, Caila, and Reines their own tents, while Waver's was noticeably placed on the opposite side.

Obviously, Waver was confounded with this arrangement and inquired about it from Reines, but the only response was uncontrolled laughter and amusement followed by the encouraging words of 'keep it up,' or 'as expected of big brother.'

Suddenly, Waver recalled the way Shirou had been staring at him before and shuddered subconsciously.

As for Shirou himself, after insisting that Caila and Tuka rest in their own tents, he'd retreated into his own where a single bed mat lay beside one of Rin's gems used for her jewel-craft. It wasn't anything important really. The minor amount of stored energy inside allowed the gem to emit a faint light, kind of like the dimness of a night stand that he could turn off by siphoning the power away. Alternatively, he could turn it on by channelling his magic energy through it.

For the time being, Shirou had no intention of staying up any longer in his exhaustion from the day, and quickly put the gem out.

As soon as Shirou had laid down on his bed mat, he passed out like a log.

Inevitably, he found himself dreaming again back in that same world he'd dreamt of before, except now it was more vivid, clearer. The clouds beneath his knees had thinned to reveal a field of grass, and the haze around the Gate before him and the one in the distance, less murky.

If he had to note the biggest difference between then and before, it was that the being that had spoken with him prior was utterly absent. There wasn't even a shadow of a being to be seen, but in exchange, Shirou noticed quickly that he didn't have much room to freely move around anymore.

Each step that he took made him feel heavier and heavier, the sensation only relieved when he decided to just stand in place to think.

Nothing was happening, but at the same time, Shirou's gaze was becoming more and more drawn to the second Gate.

If the first Gate represented the one that he'd exited from, then did the other Gate also connected to someone else's Reality Marble? It was an intriguing thought, and one with some degree of merit, but not something he could verify. Even if a second Gate existed, did he even know where it would be?

This was the point exactly.

Soon enough, Shirou moved his gaze away from the Gates entirely, in order to look around him instead.

Is that..?

Shirou crouched and carefully scrutinized what hew as seeing in front of him.

A flower?

Not just any flower, but one identical to the one he'd seen when he was awake by Tuka and Caila.

The petals around the flower began to shake, the stem swaying as a thin layer of light began to wrap around the base of the flower. Soon, a pink glow encompassed it in full.

"My my, the hero of the hour graces us with his presence," the flower trembled as a pompous voice spoke from it.

To Shirou, the voice was both familiar in foreign, in that he'd once heard it before in the record of a sword's history that he'd Traced.

"Merlin, give me the flower!"

This voice, however, he could recognize anywhere.

His Saber. Dear Arturia.

His heart hammered in his chest, his blood rushing up to his head in a fluster, his hands scrambling to cup the flower between them. Digging into the dirt around the flower, he uplifted the entire thing, careful not to tear the roots, and then brought the flower closer to his face.

"Arturia, oh Arturia, what did I teach you about being too hasty?"

"That if you don't get what you want, then you're not using enough force, now give it here."

The flower would turn pink whenever Camelot's Court Wizard spoke, and would turn blue when Saber's voice took over.

"I do believe those were Sir Kay's words."

The sounds of scuffling were now transmitting through, followed by clanging steel as the two evidently decided to get physical.

"Y-You know how long I've waited for this!"

"All the more reason. Yearning is truly a very sweet flavour- wait don't pull the ahoge off! You can't do that!"

The line went dead.

"Merlin."

A cough, a carefully concealed shiver, and the slumping of shoulders.

"Very well, if you want to speak with him first that much, then go ahead."

More rustling noise sounded from the flower before the flower settled down while displaying vivid blue petals.

"S-Shirou?" The voice was nervous, tentative, but all the same, it was enough to take Shirou's breath away.

He'd long since believed that so long as he'd remain true to himself and the promise to keep searching, that he and Saber could reunite. Just being able to communicate with her now after all he'd been through since the Fifth Holy Grail War left him breathless.

"Arturia."

"Shirou."

"Arturia."

"…Welcome back."

"I'm home."

"-What is this? I gave up the chance to speak for this?"

The flower abruptly turned pink for a second, before immediately shifting back into blue.

"Merlin. Last warning."

"H-Hey wait, I'm only doing it for our own good. Time is limited as it is, and you know it."

Shirou furrowed his brows at the words, already understanding that there was much more to this situation then what was being led on. To begin with, the emergence of a mysterious Gate in his inner world had already rung many alarms.

"Sorry, Shirou. It's like Merlin said, we don't have much time. Reluctant as I am, I'm probably not the best at explaining things, but I can give you a rough idea. I, ugh, well, I made a deal with a certain being, and in exchange, we agreed on your behalf to the terms of a Quest."

Shirou could hear guilt laced into Arturia's tone, but if he was correct in assuming that she'd been watching over him with Merlin in Avalon since their separation, then she should be well aware of his situation as a Sealing Designate. Any deal would have been better in Arturia's opinion than for the man she loved to be locked away for the purpose of experimentation and research.

"It's fine. I understand, and thank you, really. I'd do the same for you if I was in your place if it meant keeping you safe."

"…"

"Wow, you left the King speechless enough that she didn't even notice me take the flower from her hands. In any case, I'm taking it from here."

Merlin directly took control of the flow of conversation.

"A great evil is set to arrive. Other than the Order of the Apostles appointed by this world's Gods, this world's development has grown stagnant. Individually strong as the Order may be, the Order of Apostles cannot bear the weight of the threat on their own, let alone the internal divisions between them and their patron Gods. Hence, the Gates are nothing more than stimulus for the world to experience rapid growth in technology and magecraft for the populace."

Shirou hummed while taking this all in. "And the quest that was agreed on my behalf?"

"A heavy one that dear Arturia had all the confidence in you for. Not only does it involve preparing for the invasion of a supposed Evil Deity, but it includes mediating between the forces brought to this new world to work together. Neither of these is a simple feat, but what if I told you that should you succeed, your promised miracle would come sooner than you'd think?"

For a moment, Shirou's mind blanked. A second later, and the steel in his eyes had taken on a dangerously meaningful hue.

The starting line had been reached; the end goal envisioned.

"Save this world."

For a chance at happiness, he found himself waking up from the dream wearing the face of the Nameless Hero who'd do what needed to be done…Sealing Designation or not.

Thanks for reading!

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