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NOTE: Ayaka and other characters may be a bit OC!

Chapter 11- Repercussions of the War

Arthur POV

Arthur knocked on Ayaka's door, worry and guilt churning inside of him. "Ayaka. Please open the door."

"Leave me, Saber." Ayaka said, her voice soft through the door. She was curled up next to the door, her room completely dark except for the thin streaks of light that came from under it. "I don't want to see you."

"Please Ayaka. You have to give me a chance to explain myself." Arthur said, a hint of desperation filling his voice. This was really tearing him up inside, he never thought that Ayaka would react like this. He was only trying to protect her from the past since it was clear that it traumatized her.

There was a long pause and the silence stretched on for so long that he was certain she would go back to ignoring him like she had done the night before.

"There's nothing to talk about, Saber." Ayaka said, bitterness filling her voice. "Even if my Sister did all those horrible things, you still killed her."

"I may have done that, but your sister is alive and well." Arthur said, remembering Manaka's appearance in the cave and how she still wore her blood soaked dress. "And I did it to protect you, Ayaka. Your sister would have killed you otherwise... just like she killed your Father and those girls."

Arthur could hear shuffling on the other side of the door and suddenly it flew open, revealing an angry Ayaka without her glasses on, tears pulling in her eyes.

"Even if that's the case," Ayaka began her voice loud with her frenzied emotions. "It was your duty to protect them wasn't it?! If you were the perfect Servant, wouldn't you have been able to figure out what Manaka was planning from the start?! That way you could have stopped her without killing her! If you had... If you had I would still have a family!"

She waited for Arthur to say something but he just stared at her stunned. He didn't know how to respond, so Ayaka continued. "Aren't you supposed to be the strongest Servant?! You're King Arthur aren't you?! Or maybe you're just a phony! A phony who wanted to see his wish come true so bad that he was blinded by everything else!"

The two of them stared at each other in shocked silence. Ayaka because she honestly couldn't believe that she had just screamed all that at Arthur in a fit and Arthur because he never would have dreamed Ayaka would have said something like that in a million years.

The silence stretched on before Ayaka stumbled back a step, exhaustion suddenly filling her body. "Just leave me alone, Saber." She said quietly before slamming the door in his face.

Arthur stared at the wooden door silently, despair swirling inside him. How did things become like this...?

"Give her some space." He turned to see Ariene walking towards him, her dark violet blue eyes on the door. "She's not going to respond well if you keep trying to baby her."

"I'm not." Arthur protested.

"Right." The disbelief was plane in Ariene's voice as she grabbed his wrist and led him away from Ayaka's door.

Ariene was silent for a moment, looking back at him with neutral eyes. "She'll forgive you eventually. Once she calms down and thinks the situation through. It was just yesterday that she learned of everything Manaka did."

Arthur sighed, "I don't know about that. I mean, I assume you heard her yelling at me."

Ariene smiled slightly, "I did. From what I gathered, as a child, Ayaka adored Manaka. Younger siblings usually admire their older ones. It couldn't have helped that both her Sister and Father died at the same time and Ayaka never knew the real reasons for their death, so she kept that pristine memory of her sister. Yesterday ruined it, she probably feels as if she woke up from a nightmare. Normally, family doesn't try to kill you."

Arthur winced, he supposed so. He did remember Ayaka loving Manaka more than anything and wanting her approval. Finding out your ideal tried to kill you would make you question everything he supposed. "You seem to understand Ayaka more than I do."

"Well," Ariene began, Arthur looked over at her, a frown forming on his face when he saw the distant look in her eyes, it was if she was in a different world. "I also had a Sister who wanted to kill me, the only difference is that she succeeded."

"I'm sorry." Arthur immediately said, "I should have remembered that."

"Remember a legend you just learned about? Hardly." Ariene smiled lightly, "Anyways, I just wanted you to know that Boudica, Atalanta and I are going to search the city and surrounding area for any magical traces of Manaka. We'll be back tonight."

That surprised Arthur. "I thought today is a rest day? You used a lot of mana yesterday. You should rest."

"It is, but we still have to be on guard." She said back, "Besides, we won't be expending that much energy just looking around. I'll rest when I get back.

Arthur's frown deepened. He had a feeling that this had happened before, that he couldn't stop her from overexerting herself, no matter what he said and it frustrated him to no end. "You're brilliant, you really are. Like a burning star in the night sky. But, even the most brilliant stars burn out before their time if they work too hard, Maryse."

Ariene froze completely at that, looking at him with large, dark eyes. "What... did you just say?"

Arthur blinked, uncertain himself. "I don't know, honestly, it just slipped out."

She nodded, slowly. "Of course. It's just... never mind." She shook her head before walking away with Arthur. "It's not possible for a soul to be reborn in a different world."

Arthur stared at her in confusion he was certain that he was not meant to hear the last part. Once Ariene disappeared from view, Arthur felt his chest tighten. Why did she so familiar to him when he was certain that they had never met before? Even she confirmed that they had never met so why? Why did every fiber of his being want to embrace her?

Jeanne POV

Jeanne sighed as she looked out the window of Ayaka's house. The mood in the house was so low that it was almost palpable.

"Is everything alright Jeanne?" Siegfried asked from his place beside her.

Jeanne shook her head, she was still feeling rather fatigued after the battle yesterday. "I just wish that there was more I could have done to help. I am the Servant Ruler but I wasn't able to defeat the threat to this world. I didn't even do anything."

"What kind of Ruler am I? The others must think me weak for not taking a more active part in the battle. This was not a satisfying result."

Siegfried nodded, "Personally, I don't think that any of us were satisfied. We got answers however and know that Manaka has the Grail though, and apparently a connection to the true Holy Grail in this world."

He frowned the next second, "And no one thinks that you are weak, Jeanne. They all know has strong you can be. And as for not taking a more active role in battle, well, you are more of an overseer aren't you? Plus, you watched over our Masters when the rest of us were occupied and protected them from danger. If you think about it, you were far from useless."

Jeanne looked over at her old friend, unable to help the fact that her heart was beating slightly faster. "Thank you. I must pull myself together, wishing will not fix the situation that we are in." She paused before continuing, "How are the others?"

"Boudica, Atalanta and Ariene are looking around the city, Arthur is sulking because Ayaka won't talk to him and Gawain is with Rin. And Cleo and Issie are talking to Roman."

"I see..." Jeanne trailed of. "I'm worried about Ayaka and Arthur. Their relationship seems to be deteriorating. Their trust has been breached."

"Cleo and Ariene have faith that it will work out and I trust them." Siegfried smiled.

"You trust them." Jeanne smiled back. This was not like the Siegfried she had met in Trifas before he had given his heart to Sieg. While he was still very much reserved, he seemed to smile more, and acted on what he wanted to do than others. It was as if the Heroic Spirit Siegfried and the Homunculus Sieg had fully merged to make this wonderful person.

Siegfried nodded, "I do. They're the longest Master-Servant pair in Chaldea. But that's because Ariene appeared in Chaldea four years ago, and met Cleo when she was only fifteen." He laughed lightly, "I hear they didn't get along at first."

"Really? How did they meet?" Jeanne asked curiously. She had always assumed that they had met first through a singularity. "When Mr. Roman was explaining Chaldea, he said that the Servant, Leonardo da Vinci was the first successful spirit summoned to Chaldea. Well... the one that actually stayed that is."

"And she is." Siegfried said, "Cleo and Ariene met after an accident and that's all I really know. Cleo and Ariene don't talk really talk about it in front of others. If they do hint at it, it's about how Cleo couldn't stand Ariene's attitude at first."

Jeanne nodded, Siegfried had been telling her stories about Chaldea. She just wished that he had more about Ariene because of how her legend didn't exist in their world. She'd just have to deal with the fact that she'd have to figure out Ariene's tale along with everything else.

Rin POV

"... Let me get this straight." Rin looked at the two blonde Servants in front of her, incredulous. "You want me to talk to Ayaka. When she clearly wants to be left alone."

"I'm worried." Arthur said insistently, a pleading note to his voice. "I doubt that she'd talk to Gawain on my behave because he's my Knight. "And I don't think she'll talk to Siegfried or Jeanne or even the Chaldean Masters so it has to be you."

Rin felt her brow twitch. Couldn't they just leave her alone? She was sulking too. After all, she just realized that the chances of her getting home were lowering. "Didn't Ariene tell you to give her space?"

"It's you that will be talking to her so technically I am giving her space." Arthur pointed out, flashing her a smile.

Gawain leaned forward, giving his Master the best pleading look that he could manage. Though, in hindsight, it wasn't that good since Gawain was not prone to begging. "I want you to check on Ayaka as well Master. She shouldn't be left alone after all."

Rin sighed, her annoyance was skyrocketing but even she had to admit that they did have a point. Besides, she was worried for the other black-haired Master. "Fine, fine. But I'm not telling you what is said between us."

"Thank you so much Rin." Arthur said, hugging her tightly.

"There's no need to be so enthusiastic about it..." Rin said, a full on blush appearing on her face. Not only was this Arthur Pendragon male, but he was so much more happy and easy going than the King Arthur in her own world. At times, he even seemed to have the same attitude as Archer and that was disturbing.

A few moments, later after threatening both the Servants with a severe ego bashing if they followed her in spirit form and ease-dropped, Rin found herself in front of Ayaka's door, hand raised to knock. "Ayaka?" knock, knock, "It's me, Rin."

"What do you want?" Ayaka asked after a long pause, her voice muffled by the door.

"Can we talk?" Rin asked softly.

In response, the door pushed open slightly and Rin took that as an invitation to go into the girl's room. When she did, she found the other girl crouched near her bed, face buried in her knees.

"Ayaka, will you tell me truthfully? How are you?" Rin asked. closing the door after her and going towards the girl.

"I don't know." Ayaka muttered. "I'm feeling so many different emotions at the same time that I don't know how to feel. I feel so angry and sad. I even feel a little betrayed."

Rin didn't say anything, she just draped her arm over Ayaka's shoulders, rubbing small circles into her back. "Betrayed by who? Your sister or Arthur?"

"Both." Ayaka said softly. "My Sister was my Sister, she was the person I looked up to most. I can't imagine her doing what Saber said she did... but at the same time, I can't imagine him lying about it either." Ayaka sniffed as tears formed in her eyes. "I also can't believe that he didn't tell me right away... what happened to my Sister and Father."

Rin frowned, "I suppose it's hard to not know... in my world, my Father participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War."

Ayaka looked at Rin stunned, surprised that she would be sharing such private information to a person she barely knew. "You're telling me?"

Rin nodded, "I don't see the harm. We live in different worlds, literally, but I suppose that we do share something. I lost my Father and Sister to a previous Grail war as well."

"Did you know the details?" Ayaka asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Rin's smile grew bitter. "I did, and it was all caused by a man named, Matou Kariya, he was a family friend to my Mother, Aoi, and his birth family, the Matou were long time allies to the Tohsaka."

"I suppose the problem started when the magic started to run out of the Matou bloodline, they could no longer produce heirs that could study magic." Rin explained, "So, the Matou made a request to my Father, asking him for one of his children."

"One of his children?" Ayaka asked, not liking where this was going at all.

"You must know that the secret of the family magic is only passed down to one child." Rin said, "Well, the Tohsaka had two children, myself and... Sakura. Sakura ended up being given away to the Matou and during the Fourth Holy Grail War, Kariya Matou entered it to fight my Father because he hated him."

"I don't know the details of the entire War. I just know that Kariya lost his mind, killed my Father and strangled my Mother to the point of her becoming brain damaged. He pretended to be our friend but all this time, he had it out for my family." Rin finished. "The Matou had literally taken away every single member of my family and all I had left was that stupid Fake Priest."

Ayaka was quiet for a long time, some of that seemed worse than her own situation. "Do you still see her? Your sister?"

"We go to the same school." Rin said, "But we don't speak or acknowledge each other. We've never spoken as sisters."

"That's sad." Ayaka said. "I know mage families try to have only one child. It's the same here but my parents didn't give me away. Mainly because my Mom had other subjects set up for me. But after I lost my family, everything got harder to take care of. I can't even look at blood without feeling sick. Yesterday I... I almost threw up the entire time we were in the cave and I could barely stand. Truth be told, I can barely do any magic, even though I'm from a magus family."

"You're not the only one I know of who's in that situation." Rin said, remembering Shirou's dopey face, "But that's nothing to be ashamed of Ayaka. You know your weakness, so you can become stronger." She didn't continue, "And you have others to help you become stronger, like Arthur."

"I don't know about Saber at the moment. Please don't ask me about him, Rin." Ayaka said softly.

Rin felt uneasy at that statement, but she nodded nonetheless. "If that's how you truly feel." She rose to her feet, feeling that Ayaka would want to be alone again but she shot her a warm smile. "If you want to talk more, I'm always available okay?"

Ayaka gave her a genuine smile as well, even if it was a bit small. "I will. Thank you Rin."

"It's no problem." Rin said, leaving. She sighed once she was away from Ayaka's room. "This looks like it can turn real bad fast." The rift between Arthur and Ayaka would definitely need time to heal, she just didn't know how much time they had.

Issie POV

Issie sighed as Roman's hologram disappeared. They had talked for a few hours on what to do next. Apparently, Kakeru was having more trouble in Londinium than they originally thought and now they had a crazed Corpse-Girl running around. Why was this her first singularity?

"Are you alright Isolde?" Cleo asked, looking at her with concerned green eyes. "you were mostly quiet when we were talking to Roman."

Issie looked away. "What could I have added? The fact that I just stood there and was shaking in my boots? That I was afraid and absolutely nothing?" Issie felt angry with herself. She had wanted to show Cleo how good of a Master she could be but when it was time to support her, she could do nothing!

"What do you mean? You were as much a part of that battle as I was." Cleo said. "It's not like you ran away."

Issie scoffed, feeling as if her self-worth was going down and down. "You're just saying that. We both know I did nothing. You gave all the commands that mattered and kept a cool head. I wasn't even able to remember what Ariene's Noble Phantasm could do... maybe you were right and I can't be a Chaldean Master after all." The thought was disappointing, but if it would lead to a better outcome, who was she to protest?

"I think you're an idiot." Cleo said crossing her arms. "And that you're loud, brash, over-emotional, a tad bit childish and act before you think-"

Issie's brow began to twitch as she tried to rein her temper in. She would not rise to Cleo's jibes. "You're also quick to judgement and have an equally quick temper."

"Who do you think you are?!" Issie snapped, throwing her restraints to the wind. She was not going to take Cleo's words lying down. "I don't-"

"You didn't let me finish." Cleo said, "But you're also compassionate and caring. You have a great relationship with almost all the Servants in Chaldea and you'd probably throw yourself in the way of someone else just to protect them, even though you know it would do no good. And your magic isn't bad. Even if I had a choice between a hundred of the best mages, I'd choose you and Kakeru any day." Cleo finished, this time, not saying anything to show that she was well and truly done with her little speech.

Issie stared at her stunned. She never knew that Cleo thought all those good stuff about her... though at the moment, she was sure the bad out-weighed the good. "What are you saying?"

"I need to spell it out?" Cleo asked. "I think you are an amazing Mage, Isolde, despite all your flaws. I'm glad you're here with me and despite what you may think, I don't dislike you personally."

"So you think my first full singularity is going okay?" Issie asked hopefully. If she could get Cleo's approval then there was hope.

"Of course. Like you said, this is your first full singularity. I didn't expect you to be perfect and you almost met my expectations. Next time that creepy Blonde shows her face, we'll be ready."

"Next time there won't be any mistakes! I promise Cleo!" Issie nodded, happily. She'd prove Cleo right and show that she was a great mage! She knew she would!

Manaka POV

Manaka pouted as she sat against a series of pods that held her ever evolving "toys", she couldn't help but be upset at what yesterday had brought.

"You seem upset." She looked up to see Lev walking towards her, a smile on his face.

"Of course I'm upset. I'm so upset that I may just kill you." Manaka said angrily. "You never told me that there was a Servant capable of resisting corruption!"

"I didn't think she'd activate her Noble Phantasm." Lev explained, "It has a negative side effect that can possibly effect the Master if not used carefully."

"But there was none!" Manaka whined as she remembered the battle. That Servant had stopped her from getting Saber. It was an act that she could not forgive.

"I know you're upset and that's why I came to give you a present." Lev said, he threw something through the air and Manaka easily caught it.

"A spearhead?" Manaka asked in confusion. From what she could see, it was the tip of a broken gold spear that had a series of deep garnet and rubies set in the metal with unknown engravings. "What can I do with it?"

"Summon a Servant that is able to perfectly counter Ariene, the Servant who can fight of corruption."

Manaka smiled in glee at the news before frowning. "That's specific. Where did you even find something like this?"

"Took me a few years to find it, but I knew that I would eventually have to deal with Ariene so I looked for this spearhead. It belongs to the person who killed her in life." Lev explained, bringing the smile back to Manaka's face.

"I should warn you however," Lev said, his smile growing to reveal his teeth, "That you won't be able to corrupt or control this Servant. She will have absolute free will."

"I can't corrupt her...?" Manaka questioned confused. "Then how will I know what she'll do what I say?"

"Because Manaka, sometimes, you don't need control, you just need a hatred strong enough that makes nothing else matter." Lev said. "And this specific Servant has an abundance of hatred for that Servant that's trying to take Saber away from you."

Manaka didn't say anything as she stared down at the spearhead, she couldn't wait to summon it. Her troubles would be over and Saber would be hers. All she needed to do was kill everyone else.

End! Hope you guys enjoyed!

NOTE: Just to be clear, Rin thinks that Kariya Matou killed her Father because in this story she's pulled from her own world at a point where she does not learn YET that Kirei was the one who killed her Father.

Please review for feedback!

NEXT CHAPTER: Connections and Convictions