Chapter 9: Don't Look Back.
The atmosphere was silent and tense as Rin started down the road, leaving Shiro standing at the intersection with Saber. Her last statement rang in her mind, and her gut twisted with the lie of it.
'It's not something I care about. …Well, I fulfilled my original objective, so it's all your problem now.'
Why did this bother her so much? It shouldn't matter, as long as Shiro could be helpful to her. That was the proper way to look at it. The way a true Magus should look at it. She turned her head slightly as she heard Saber asking her master if they should be heading home, but resisted the urge to turn it further. Why was this war so damned complicated?
The girl was jarred abruptly out of her train of thought as an explosion burst from down the street, and the wall around Shiro's home erupted out in a shower of stone shards. Her circuits flared instantly, and she felt Shiro and Saber approaching rapidly from behind as a blur of black charged through the hole, turning in a half-skid onto the street and galloping towards them.
She'd released a Gandr shot without even thinking about it, but the magical projectile bounced off of the approaching black mass, which eventually resolved itself into a massive boar, a human figure flailing around on its back.
Wait, was that…
"Fuji-nee?!" Shiro yelled, darting past the black haired girl and towards the animal. Rather than attempting to gore the boy with its long, white tusks, the boar came to a stop before him, and Taiga Fujimura slid off of its back, gasping for breath.
"Shiro, get back!" Saber ordered, getting in front of the boy as he pulled the struggling woman away from the massive creature. The boar, for its part, almost seemed to ignore them as it turned as quickly as its lumbering form could manage and charged back down the street.
"What's going on here?" Rin demanded.
"I… I don't know," the teacher returned, her voice shaking. "There was a woman…" She started to struggle out of Shiro's grasp and to her feet. "Ranma called her caster. She showed up with these… skeleton things, blasting holes in the walls."
"Caster, of course…" Rin growled, almost wanting to kick herself. She knew the mage Servant was watching the house, and it only made sense to attack when there was only one master there. Next to her, Shiro had apparently gone through the same thought process, and immediately started running towards the hole the boar had made.
"Wait!" Taiga called, reaching after him but missing. "She's got some sort of… wire… thing, it can control your body. She got Ranma with it!"
"Shiro, circuits open!" Rin called, before turning back to the teacher for a moment, double-checking that she was following her own advice. Channeling mana into her eyes, she gazed steadily into the teacher's. "Listen to me carefully," she said in a calm, steady tone.
HR.
Shiro heard Rin's call and did what she said as he approached his home, hearing the sound of Saber's armored footsteps drawing up beside him. As the two crossed the gap in the Emiya residence's outer wall, they came to a stumbling halt, blinking.
Sitting on the front lawn and cradling Ranma's head in her lap was Caster. Her hood was pulled back, revealing her face, and the two of them were in the center of a glowing magic circle. The thing that had brought both Master and Servant up short, however, was the fact that the blue haired woman had one of Ranma's arms clasped in her hand, and was alternately sticking it into one of two floating orbs in mid-air.
"What are you doing to he- erm, him!" Shiro demanded, as the witch stuck her captive's arm into one of the orbs, and red hair shifted to black, the body in her lap growing slightly.
When the Servant looked up at him, she actually seemed a bit startled, banishing the two orbs of water. "Ah, I thought I'd have more time. Oh well." She stood, dragging the unconscious boy with her, held in one arm. "That transformation is very interesting. It doesn't merely change the body through magic, instead altering its concept on a basic level and forcing the world to go along. Honestly if it weren't for my other goals I'd be glad to just take and study this one."
Shiro heard a porcine growl from nearby, catching sight of the giant boar looming near a wall, murder in its eyes.
"Be quiet," the woman demanded, waving a hand at the creature.
"What is it you want?" Saber asked, her invisible blade already held in gauntleted hands as she stood next to her Master.
"Why, you of course, along with that cute little Master of yours," Caster said matter-of-factly.
"You're not taking Saber, and I already told you what I think of your offer!" Shiro snapped.
"Really now?" The mage Servant asked, raising her free hand. Shiro caught a glimpse of thin filaments wrapped around the woman's fingers before Ranma started choking. "Then you don't value your ally very highly, do you?" She sighed. "This is why I initially wanted that woman. I know you at least cared for her. Live and learn, I suppose. I'll just kill this one, then?"
Her hand twisted, and Shiro saw deep grooves appearing in Ranma's throat. "Wait!" he yelled, as one broke the skin, producing a small trickle of blood.
"There we go," Caster said, relaxing the hand that contained the strings. Shifting the other slightly, she passed it over Ranma's neck and the cut there faded away. "I really don't like resorting to something this… inelegant," she said, the distaste evident in her voice. "It's just an indicator of how much I want you on my side, alive. My Master doesn't even know what I'm doing here."
"Why do you want me so badly?" Shiro asked, as he heard a new set of footsteps behind him. That would be Rin, he guessed, and he wondered for a moment what had taken her so long.
Caster shrugged. "While this one is interesting, they are an example of a breed. I can find more, if I really wish to. You, however… In five Holy Grail Wars, Shiro Emiya, I believe you are unique."
"So, you are just doing whatever you want and manipulating your master?" Rin asked, finally joining the conversation.
HR.
His glare never wavered. As soon as the damned command seal's effects had worn off, he'd charged back… and stood, as helpless as before.
Once again, the dark thought ran through his mind. At least if Ranma died here, his younger self wouldn't have been the one to do it. Again, it didn't matter. He had barely taken notice of the conversation going on, focused intently on only his target, the rage slowly building in the back of his mind. He still wasn't a huge fan of his cursed form, even though he was no longer helpless while in it. When he was a boar, he knew he thought slower in general, and got angry much, much more easily.
There had been some yelling. Something about the Holy Grail ruining Shiro's life, and a denial that that mattered. A loud, adamant refusal… and then his target had moved. The strings had disappeared from the witch's hands, a knife taking their place, but it hadn't stabbed Ranma, instead doing so to Saber.
His Master's unconscious body was just casually discarded, flicked away from her by magic, like trash. Shiro caught it, and he charged over to the boy's side. There was some yelling, and then Saber came running back as well. Shiro dropped Ranma on the ground, running towards Saber. Then… red. Saber's invisible blade passing through her Master's body, trailing droplets of blood into the air.
Ryoga turned from his own Master, charging toward the other Servant and bellowing in rage. A flash of steel met him, and a stinging pain ran across his nose. Saber's weapon shrieked as it clashed with his gleaming white tusk, chipping it badly. He didn't care why Saber was fighting him. The fury had overtaken his vision in a blur of red.
"No, go for caster!" Rin yelled.
While saber liked to clash her blade against her opponent's, she also tended to leap away and charge in at different angles, but this time she just kept pushing. Ryoga didn't question why she was trying to match him strength for strength, he just overwhelmed her, smashing past her guard and kept on toward his new target. Caster's robes billowed and she flew upwards, then swooped just over his head as he attempted to leap to intercept. By the time he'd managed to skid to a stop and turn around, she had reached Saber, wrapping the blonde Servant in her robes before the two vanished in a blue flash.
He and Rin suddenly found themselves standing in a wrecked, silent yard, Shiro and Ranma laying on the ground. The rage slowly faded, letting him think somewhat clearly again.
There was a short standoff, Rin looking at him suspiciously as she edged toward Shiro. The assassin snorted irritably, but wasn't really sure how to resolve this. Hot water wasn't easy to come by at the moment, especially since his gear seemed to vanish when his curse was triggered now. Well, he did still have one thing. Riggling slightly, he managed to get his mouth on his bandanas, tugging the top one off and nudging it towards her with a hoof before letting off a rumbling bwee.
Rin didn't waste any time, grabbing the cloth and rushing over to Shiro to bandage his wound. After she'd gotten sufficient pressure on it, however, she looked up at the large boar who had taken up a protective position near Ranma.
"You've… got to be kidding me," she muttered, but then shook her head. "Assassin?"
When Ryoga slowly nodded, she sighed. "That's… one really strange ability to have, but it's a pretty convenient one. This place is a write-off, we're going to have to relocate to my place. Can you carry these two?"
Ryoga nodded again.
HR.
The two ran into Archer on their way to Rin's home. Ryoga had had a number of questions for him, but Rin managed to ask most of them, with a lot more anger and at higher volume. He'd said something about Caster forming a barrier to keep him out that he'd just been in the process of breaking when they had left the house. Rin had looked dubious, but had demanded his help getting Ranma and Shiro inside.
When Ryoga had changed back to human form, the dark haired girl had given him a long, speculative look but hadn't said anything. They'd gotten Ranma and Shiro settled in, Shiro in Rin's room and Ranma in a spare, and he'd stayed, watching him for a few hours.
According to Rin, he'd both been hypnotized and drained of a large amount of his 'odic energy,' which was what she called Chi. She was sure that he would recover, but wasn't sure when. So Ryoga had waited, for several hours, before he'd been hit by the vision. He knew it could happen. Servants and Masters shared memories, it was part of the bond between them, and how Ranma had found out that he'd killed him. Still, until this point, all Ryoga had gotten was fragments. Thoughts on the day, training, dim memories or shards of nightmare.
This time, he'd seen something clearly, and he was sure that he knew what it meant. It had been a set of blue eyes, glowing with magical energy. Along with them came a sense of fear. Dark, cold, clawing fear that welled up from somewhere deep, crawling across his skin like a swarm of angry insects. There was a gleam of metal at the corner of his eye, something reflecting the glow of the hypnotic eyes, and then nothing.
"What the hell did she do to you?" He looked down at his master and frowned.
'seriously, kid. My advice? Order your servant to kill himself and get as far from this city as you can. Both of you are out of your depth.'
He remembered Lancer's words, and couldn't help but agree with them. He'd agreed with them back then, too, but Ranma had just seen another challenge and charged straight in. Even worse, he'd done so while suffering from a weakness that could kill him at any moment.
Standing and looking out the window, the Servant made a decision. Sliding it open, he leapt out into the winter night.
HR. - 02/11.
"Wouldn't even let me take a shot…" Lancer muttered to himself, walking down the street and pondering what he was going to do. "Then again I guess he didn't let the other guy at her either… what's he playing at?" Shaking his head, he resolved once more that understanding the mind of his Master was impossible.
"Well, Lancer ol' buddy, you've got five hours of boredom. What to do about…"
"Lancer, prepare to die!"
"Well, ask and ye shall receive," the blue clad man grinned, his weapon appearing in his hands as he caught the overhead swing of a massive red bamboo umbrella. "Nice to see you too, Assassin. What, your Master decide I needed to go? Really doesn't seem like her style, but…" He was speaking as he fought, deflecting several more heavy swings by the other Servant's weapon as he dodged back, being sure to keep out of grappling range.
"I don't have to repeat the whole "I can vanish any time I want since my Master isn't around' thing, right?" He asked, but only got a growl from his foe. This broadened his grin. There was no way his Master could fault him here, right? Assassin was definitely out for blood. He hadn't sought him out, this was strictly self-defense. He tested that thought, and found the command that had been issued to him didn't flare up in the back of his mind.
Truthfully, that command had been so broad that if he was really determined, he could fight it and succeed, but he was trying to obey the spirit, no matter how much it drove him nuts. "Just to warn ya," he said, "Don't have to hold back this time. You're gonna come out on the wrong end here."
"Die!" Assassin bellowed, leaping back and tearing several of his bandanas from his head, sending them flying at his foe.
"Such a wonderful conversationalist…" The blue haired Servant muttered, easily deflecting the thrown projectiles just as he had in their first battle. Actually, now that thought ran across his mind, a lot of this was seeming like their first battle. One where the bandana throwing Servant was off balance, on the defensive, and disoriented. He hadn't even managed to get a hit in, here, like he had then.
Sighing, Lancer deflected his opponent's weapon wide and used the opportunity to gain some distance before dropping his arms to his sides. "We're not doing this, Assassin," he said flatly.
The other Servant stopped half way through a swing of his umbrella and blinked, surprised.
"I'm not going to kill you," the lance wielder explained. "At least not so long as you're putting up this piss-poor fight. And I'd kinda like to know why, too." As the Assassin raised his umbrella again, the Lancer merely raised a finger. "For the third time I repeat, I can leave any time I want."
The dark haired man sighed, lowering his umbrella.
"Okay, that's a start," Lancer said. "Now what the hell's going on here?"
"You were right," The lost one answered, starting to walk down the street. "Ranma should've ordered me to kill myself and gotten out of the city days ago."
Lancer tilted his head, following. "Dunno about that. She's turned out to be a lot tougher and more resourceful than I gave her credit for."
"You know he's a guy, right? I told you that before."
Lancer shrugged. "I reject your reality, I prefer mine."
"That'll go over well," Assassin muttered under his breath.
"It shouldn't matter to you if you're that determined to off yourself," Lancer answered. "You still haven't answered my question, though."
"He's been throwing himself into danger this whole time and it's caught up with him," Assassin growled. "I'm not even sure if he's going to wake up, and Caster did… something… to him."
"That's been goin' around lately," Lancer muttered. "Okay, so what happens if you succeed. You're dead, your Master's stuck in a coma. Or worse, she wakes up and you're not there. What happens then?"
"He gets the hell out of here," Assassin answered vehemently.
"Nope," Lancer shook his head. At the other man's confused look, he continued. "Someone who didn't even know about the war when she got into this, and didn't even seem to know much about magic, and she got as far as allying with two other masters. From what I saw, she even managed to jump screaming at a Servant and shank her with a blade of ice. You really think not having you around is going to keep her from trying to help those other two?"
"Wait, you saw that?!" Assassin demanded. "Why didn't you…"
"My Master's got me staking out Caster. At least they did. Fairly sure she knew I was there and didn't care, but whatever. As for why I didn't help, against orders. As in, command seal orders." The blue clad man tapped the side of his head to demonstrate.
The lost one nodded sullenly. "You're… probably right," he admitted reluctantly. "Damned idiot's going to get himself killed no matter what I do, isn't he? This whole thing's impossible to stop… Is his death just… fate, or something?" Lancer stepped back as an aura burst out around the other Servant. For a moment, he thought he was going to be attacked, before he realized that the shorter man was just standing, looking at the ground as a glowing green light slowly expanded from his body.
Cautiously reaching out to touch the energy, he felt… heavy downward pressure, and something else, almost like… "Hey!" he yelled, "However you're doing that, stop it!"
"Hmm?" Assassin asked, shaking his head.
"You were about to… blow up, or something," Lancer explained. "And whatever you're so afraid of happening again, it probably won't. Most of our legends were… well, kind of exceptional. That's why we're here, right? If you're comparing your Master to someone from your legend, it's probably not a great idea."
The shorter man laughed, but there wasn't any humor in it. "You have no idea…"
"Your Master's safe right now, right? Or you wouldn't be out here," Lancer said, before stopping for a moment and concentrating. His blue skin-tight battlesuit suddenly shifted, turning into a pair of blue jeans and… an incredibly loud, bright red and orange hawaiian shirt. "Let's go get a couple drinks or something. Maybe I can get you to tell me what's really wrong with you so I can at least get a decent fight out of you."
"What are you…" Assassin looked the other man over, incredulous. "...Where did you get that shirt?" He asked, finally.
Lancer shrugged. "Church donation bin. So, you coming or what?" He turned, and started walking.
HR.
He nuzzled into the blankets, reveling in the comfort of the soft, warm bed. He'd expected to feel countless little wounds and a bone deep ache the next time he awoke, but somehow it felt like he'd slept in on a lazy Sunday instead. Eyes cracking slowly, he squinted up at a gently illuminated ceiling, the first rays of sun revealing a well-appointed western-style bedroom. For half a second, he wondered if he were back at the Chardin mansion or something, before a greater concern cut through his consciousness.
"Caster?!" He gasped, bolting up and sending the fluffy comforters to the end of the bed. As his gaze flicked around the room, he saw no sign of her, though he did realize that what he'd first mistaken for the sunrise was actually the sunset, judging from a clock on a nearby dresser. ("Ryoga?")
("You're awake!") The response felt… odd. He seemed relieved, but also something else Ranma couldn't put his finger on.
("Yeah, what the hell…") The pigtailed martial artist stopped, hearing a sound from deeper in whatever house he was in. ("P-chan, you know where I am? Where are you?") He couldn't sense the martial artist turned Servant anywhere.
("You're at the Tohsaka mansion, and I'm on my way back,") Ryoga answered.
Ranma nodded, getting out of bed. As he stood and looked himself over, still wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing when he fought Caster, he realized something. His shoulder didn't hurt. Experimentally, he moved his arm around in a circle. Had Rin patched him up? He shook his head, leaving the room and heading downstairs, taking a moment to marvel at how fancy the place was.
When he reached the base of the stairs and looked into the living room, he realized what the noise he'd heard before had been. Rin and Shiro were sitting on a couch. She'd just said something he'd missed, and the two were looking away from each other, flushing. For a second he couldn't help thinking that it looked kind of cute, before he noticed the first-aid kit on her lap, and the fact that most of Shiro's shirt was cut away to reveal tightly wrapped white bandage.
"Guessin' something happened while I was out," Ranma said, worriedly. The two other Masters jerked apart, their embarrassed looks rapidly vanishing. While Rin merely looked startled, Shiro almost looked guilty.
"You're awake?" The Tohsaka girl asked, looking him over carefully. "Caster took most of your energy, how…"
Ranma shrugged. "Been drained before. I actually feel pretty good. Hungry as hell, though." He stopped and thought for a moment, the details of the fight with Caster coming back to him. "I guess you guys got there and beat her? Ms. Fujimura get out okay?" This was evidently the wrong thing to say. Rin almost seemed to deflate. For his part, Shiro winced.
"Fuji-nee got out," he answered, quietly. "But we didn't beat Caster."
"Oh." Ranma said. Given how bad the wound on the boy's side looked, and the expression on Rin's face, things seemed to be worse than that. In fact, now that he looked, Shiro had heavy bags under his eyes and Rin looked almost like she'd been crying. "I'm gunna, uh…" He fumbled for something to say, fairly sure that demanding answers right now wouldn't be the greatest idea.
"Can you get dinner?" Rin asked, out of the blue. At Ranma's strange look, she explained. "You said you were hungry, and neither of us have eaten all day either."
"Yeah, I can do that," he decided, heading for her kitchen. Rummaging through the cabinets, he realized that the dark haired girl was really into Chinese food, which was fortunate, since he knew how to make most of it. Pulling down several pouches of spices, he was interrupted by a clearing throat behind him.
Turning, he saw that it was Rin, standing in the doorframe with her arms clasped around her sides. "I need to talk to you," she said, simply.
"Yeah?" He asked as he removed some frozen chicken from the freezer.
"Your Servant," She said, without preamble. "He's related to you in some way, isn't he? An ancestor, something like that?"
Ranma had trouble holding back a snort at that thought, but it was made a good deal easier by how serious she looked. "Thought we weren't supposed to guess at each other's Servants while we were allied?" He asked. It had been one of the ground rules she, herself, had put down.
"This is serious, I need to know if we can trust him." Her hands seemed to dig into her sides, the expression on her face turning dark.
"I… kinda wondered why Saber wasn't here," He said, wincing. "Was it her who…"
"Yes," Rin nodded, but then continued. "But she's not the one who turned on us. After Caster got you, she used you as a hostage to force Shiro to turn Saber over to her. She somehow rebound her command seals, and then ordered her to stab me."
"And Shiro got in the way," Ranma nodded. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. He was obviously glad he wasn't dead, but it seemed… just plain strange for Shiro to give up something like that to save his life. As Rin had continued to remind them, in the end they were enemies.
"Ryoga's got a serious problem with me bein' in danger here," he eventually said. "That's Assassin's true name, by the way. You ain't going to find anything on him if you look it up, though. He's not an ancestor, he was a rival. There's a living version of the guy runnin' around right now, probably yelling about how I deserve to die for ruining his happiness."
Rin blinked. "You're… sure about that?" She asked, looking back down the hall into the living room for a moment.
"Pretty sure," Ranma replied, having finished the basic preparations for the meal as they talked. "P-chan's pretty distinctive. But to answer your question, I trust that he's not going to screw us over."
"You just said that his present version wants you dead." The black haired girl deadpanned.
"Thinks," Ranma disagreed, looking off to the side. "Turns out getting what he wanted… didn't end well."
"He killed you?" She asked, her voice squeaking incredulously.
Ranma winced. "Not lookin' at it that way. Besides, it's not gonna happen here." Seeing that she was going to interject again, he beat her to it. "So, was it Archer?"
He realized he'd hit the target when her mouth snapped shut, and she merely nodded mutely. The room descended into an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, before she turned and left.
HR.
Ranma stayed silent most of the way through Dinner, still trying to catch up with what he'd missed. Shiro had filled him in on some of what had happened, though a couple of looks Rin had shot him made the pigtailed martial artist think the other boy was leaving some things out. As he'd talked about a fight with Caster's Master, Kuzuki, in the church where the two had set up a base of operations, the two mages began to go over some aspect of Shiro's projection magic he couldn't really follow.
All of the talk of conceptualization and reality versus imagination didn't really make much sense to him. Magic, along with Chi, was an energy in his body that he could make manifest, in magic's case as water or ice, but… to them it was something totally different. He stretched a hand out, concentrating and attempting to project a copy of the fork next to his plate.
Picking the fork up with his other hand, he muttered 'Structure Analyze," his circuits open, knowledge of the impliment's composition flooding his mind, and did his best to replicate it with the mana in his empty hand. A transparent, wobbly-edged fork seemed to materialize for a moment, and then fade out of existence.
A moment later, he flexed the hand, shaping the magic in the same way he would Chi. a mist formed, eventually solidifying into an icy fork. He hadn't even needed to know what the original was made of to do it. Carefully, he dropped it in his glass of water before letting the magic fade. Anything he constructed tended to turn into cold water when he stopped powering it by magic, and he wanted to stay a guy for at least a while before the inevitable next splash.
"A pretty good demonstration of why most Mages consider projection such a weak art," Rin said, jolting him out of his concentration. "Usually its effects can be replicated through other means, with much less concentration."
"Yeah, I get it," Shiro said, sighing and dragging a hand through his hair. "But I've got what I've got, right?"
"Yeah," Rin said. "So what have we got? You and your projections, and me, I know for sure. Ranma, are you willing to help us get Saber back?"
"Yeah, I'm in," Ranma responded, not even having to think about it.
"And that gives us Assassin," Rin nodded.
"We've got a chance of doing this," Shiro said, excited. "If Assassin engages Archer, then.."
"We've still got Caster and her master to deal with," Rin cut him off. "It's possible, and if it's all we have then I'll take it, but if she uses another command seal on Saber, we'll have a problem. Is there anything else we have access to?"
"There is one thing, but you're not going to like it," Shiro said slowly. Rin just gave him a 'get on with it' gesture. "Well, we're already a group of three cooperating Masters... There's one other Master we know."
"Her?" Rin demanded, incredulously. "You saw how she was looking at you during our fight, right? She barely took her eyes off of you and her expression didn't look friendly."
"Maybe," Shiro countered, "But she wouldn't want Caster to gain control of Saber either, right? And she probably wouldn't ask us much in return, either."
"Um, you guys aren't talkin' about Berserker's Master, are you?" Ranma asked, a little sheepishly.
At Rin's nod, he winced.
"Me 'n Assassin… sorta attacked her once already at the start of the war," the dark haired boy admitted reluctantly.
"Then it's definitely impossible," Rin said, seeming relieved.
"Maybe not," Shiro disagreed. "I mean, if things go bad we could always just run, but it's worth trying, right? Besides, I've got an idea about that… if Ranma's willing to risk one of Assassin's command seals on it."
"I'm not orderin' Ryoga to do something unless I have to," Ranma objected.
"No, not for that, you can actually use one to forcefully pull a Servant towards you from a distance," the auburn haired boy explained. "I did it with Saber once, right through Rider's bloodfort."
"Okay…" Rin said, slowly, "Why are we leaving Assassin behind?"
"What form were you in when you attacked Berserker's Master?" Shiro asked, turning to Ranma.
He facepalmed.
HR - 02/12.
"Ryoga would like to inform you that he hates this plan," Ranma muttered, irritably deciding that if she had to hear the griping in her head, the other two would suffer with her.
The three masters were standing at the edge of the forest just outside of town, and Ranma's Servant was stationed back at the Tohsaka residence, ready to be called in by command seal if they needed him, and not too happy about it.
"I'm not that big a fan either," Rin admitted, before squaring her shoulders. "But we're doing it, so there's no use standing here complaining about it." With that, she stepped forward, the two redheads following her. They only made it a few meters before the black haired girl yelped, falling backwards onto the ground. Ranma and Shiro stopped just in front of her,looking back in confusion.
"...Very funny," the girl grumbled, standing and brushing off her skirt. "I can tell I'm going to love dealing with this girl already."
'Better you than me,' Ranma thought, but managed not to say as the three continued deeper into the forest, a tingle running across their skin as they entered the other mage's wards. They'd talked about various approaches to the situation before arriving, though about the only thing they could figure out was that the Master, Illyasviel von Einzbern, was a really creepy little girl with an evil laugh. That… really didn't help. Surprisingly, when asked Ryoga had had a bit more to offer. Apparently he'd managed to get himself lost inside of her castle at one point, and claimed that she was actually very willing to talk if approached politely, though she also had a hair trigger temper.
Both Ranma and Shiro had unanimously decided that Rin would make the best spokesperson, given she was the only one of the three of them who knew anything about mage society, and she clearly was nervous about the idea.
As the group turned a corner in the twisting trail that lead towards the old, european looking castle that lay in the middle of the forest, Ranma blinked. "Is that smoke?" She asked, squinting at the stone building on the horizon.
Rin shaded her eyes as Shiro just narrowed his. "Sure looks like it," the black haired mage said, just as the pigtailed martial artist charged forward and leapt up into the trees. "Hey wait!"
Ranma wasn't listening, making a B-line for the castle. ("Think we got trouble, P-chan,") she said as she approached, noting that the heavy black smoke had dissipated, but revealed a gaping hole torn in the side of the main building. Landing quietly on the terras near the wall, she took note of two rapidly cooling bodies laying in spreading pools of blood. Dashing past them, she carefully peered around the edge of the hole, taking in the scene in the large hall beyond.
Berserker and his Master were standing at the base of a set of stairs at the end of the hall, the floor nearby badly torn up. Several blades were vanishing into mana around them as the martial artist watched. At the other end of the hall, closer to her, a blond haired man was floating in mid-air. As he extended a hand, several glowing golden portals materialized around and above him, firing blades like crossbow bolts at the defending Servant.
Ranma's eyes narrowed as she took in the patterns the blades were fired in. The massive grey Servant managed to block several waves of them, his huge stone weapon letting off tiny flakes of chipped rock with every shrieking deflection, but in the end it was too much. One blade that had been fired at an angle penetrated the Berserker's side, and as his stance faltered, several more buried themselves in his chest.
'So much for allying with Berserker,' she found herself thinking distantly, the majority of her brain trying to make sense of the situation. Was this man a Servant? He almost had to be. The casual summoning of all of those blades? Ones that could hurt something like Berserker? But all of the Servants had been accounted for… Still, he 'felt' like a Servant, that strange sense of otherworldly unreality that even Ryoga gave off to some degree, though something about it reminded her of… Saber?
She was distracted from her thoughts when Berserker roared, the swords in his flesh vanishing as it knit back together.
"You won't be able to stop my Berserker!" That was the girl's voice, trying to sound confident, but a quaver of fear clearly audible underneath. Far different from the mad laughter that had chased Ranma through the trees at the start of the war.
"I don't know how he survived that, but he's merely a target," the blond newcomer spoke, and even though Ranma couldn't see his face from her current angle, she could practically hear the confident smirk in the tone.
"▄▄▃▅▃▅▅▄!"
Berserker let off a bellow of rage and stepped forward, even as another wave of blades descended on him. As he did, Ranma began to realize something. The sword that had hit him the first time, he'd stepped back and gotten in its way. Even now, he was walking forward in a straight line. Though his weapon blurred in a constant countering attack, he didn't dodge or change course, confronting and wading through the rain of projectiles… because of the white haired girl who stood behind him.
Just like that fight so long ago, when despite Ranma's constant change of direction, the girl had somehow always been behind her massive grey protector. As if to confirm this thought, she saw him step just slightly sideways,his body deflecting a blade that would have hit her if it had been let past, a large, irregular cut tearing open in his flesh. Seconds later, an axe found its way past his guard, tearing a chunk from his head, and he slumped once more.
The unknown attacker seemed to want to be sure of his kill, over a dozen more blades cutting into Berserker's flesh, before he sighed. "Now for you, girl, I…" he started.
"▃▃▄▄▄▅▅▅!"
The massive Servant rose again, stomping forward another step as blades clattered from his body. "Why won't you die?!" The blond man snarled, bringing his hand up again.
Ranma hadn't realized when she moved. The crack of shattering wood was hidden by the sound of the resumed assault of blades, and the two combatants only realized that something was different when a spinning length of hardwood railing tore a hole through the center of the barrage, blades embedded in it as it spun off and slammed into a wall.
"W-what?" The white haired girl stammered, Ranma finding herself standing at the top of the stairs behind her, another length of railing held in one hand. "Bombard him from a distance, ensuring he's always between you and his master so that he can't dodge without killing her," the pigtailed redhead said, conversationally. "Pretty sound tactic for something as scary as he is."
Taking in the man who she could now see from the front, she noted that yes, he was wearing a self-assured smirk, even though his eyes were slightly wide in surprise. He really didn't look much like a Servant, wearing a black jacket, dress-shirt and grey pants, but he definitely had the attitude of one.
"And you are?" The man asked, the battle having come to a stop for a moment.
"Someone who doesn't like you," Ranma replied. It was true, though she didn't know why. She'd been telling the truth about his tactic being sound, even if it was one she'd never use. Still, something about the man seemed to put her on edge, deep down on an almost instinctive level.
"Hmm… hehe…" the man chuckled dismissively, a golden portal appearing over his head and shooting a blade directly at her. She easily stepped out of the way of it, but this seemed to be the sign for the resumption of combat.
Ranma had only a limited amount of railing, and Berserker really wasn't making much progress towards their mutual enemy. Making a decision, she leapt off of the top of the stairs as hard as she could, bringing her impromptu weapon around and smacking as many blades off course or out of the air as possible. This apparently got Blondie's attention, and she started needing to dodge weapons aimed at her along with trying to cover for Berserker. The most annoying part was that he wasn't slackening his assault at all. Was he still holding back?
Her question was answered as she landed from her leap, and a dome of golden portals formed around her position. Wait, that meant… Her eyes widened, as she frantically dodged the attacks from every direction, only barely managing it and actually thankful for her female form's added flexibility.
She stood, panting, the ground around her pockmarked with holes from the blades that had just missed her, and cursed. If the guy really wanted, he could just materialize a portal behind Illyasviel, and this fight was over. Fortunately, the new Servant seemed to be focused on Berserker for the moment. Making a snap decision, Ranma began to concentrate. ("Ryoga, I need a distraction, big as you can manage!") She projected the thought as forcefully as she could, and a command seal activated.
The Assassin class Servant materialized in a blaze of red light, arm already driving down at the ground, his fist impacting and unleashing a wave of energy into the stone. "Tenketsu!" Nothing happened for a moment, but then the ground nearby exploded in spiked rock shards, expanding out in an ever-growing circle which began crawling up the walls. When Ryoga realized that their opponent was launching swords at them, several of the shards of rock tore themselves free and flew through the air to block the blades.
Ranma stopped, shocked for a second. Was that supposed to be some variant of the breaking point? She made a note that she really did have to learn that trick soon, and then charged forward, outpacing the steadily growing circle of destruction. Given what she was planning, that wasn't the only thing she had to out-run.
Berserker realized what she was doing a moment too late for even his enhanced speed. She was just a little bit too far away for him to turn and strike quickly enough, the stone blade brushing across her back and almost sending her stumbling. Illya barely had time to scream, the red haired martial artist barrelling into her, scooping her forcefully into her arms.
She didn't bother stopping when she hit the wall, charging right up it and jumping back off at an angle. "I'm not going to hurt you…" She managed to gasp out. "We need to get you out of here or Berserker can't fight properly, got it?" The girl might have nodded against her chest, or might just have been struggling. She really didn't have time to find out. This entire chain of events had only taken about thirty seconds, but she could already feel the blood pounding in her ears. As she landed and rolled across the floor, stone behind her exploding either with Ryoga's strange Bakusai Tenketsu variant or the blond guy's swords, she caught sight of her target. The hole she'd come in through.
Regaining her feet, she leapt for it… and was spun forcefully as something cut deeply into her side. The scream came unwillingly, but she bit back most of it. Whatever it had been, it was sarated, something scraping across her ribs on one side, but not slipping between them. She tried to ignore the pain, stumbling on her landing outside of the hole in the castle wall and lunging, rather than running to the edge. As she tumbled over, she caught a glimpse of red.
Impact was a lot softer than she'd have expected, until she heard a loud, pained cough. "Maybe… that was a bit stupid," Shiro groaned from where he lay under her. She felt someone grabbing her and pulling her up.
"We… gotta get outta here," She managed to blurt out as Rin pulled her the rest of the way to her feet, still faintly able to hear the battle above.
"What are you talking about?" The black haired mage demanded.
"There's someone up there who's a threat to Berserker," Ranma explained hurriedly. "I've got no idea if he can win normally, but as long as his Master's here the guy was using her as a hostage. We've gotta go!"
"Right," the Tohsaka girl nodded. "Shiro, take Illyasviel. Ranma, I've got you…"
"I'll be fine…" Ranma started, and then stumbled slightly as she tried to take a step, stopped from falling as Rin's arm made it under her shoulder. "...right."
The four made their way away from the castle as quickly as they could. As Rin helped her along, Ranma really wanted to check on Ryoga, but was aware that it could distract him in the middle of the fight. The best plan was probably for them to get far enough away that their Servants could safely retreat into their spiritual forms. She was interrupted from her contemplation as the young girl began to struggle in Shiro's arms, and then screamed "Berserker!"
The sky above them suddenly turned blood red, a line etching itself across it that… blinked… at the edges in some indescribable way, a shriek emanating from all around them as the world... flickered... for a moment. When they turned back, half of the castle was just… gone.
("...Ryoga?") Ranma asked, as the group stood in stunned shock, Illyasviel crying into Shiro's chest.
("I… I'm here,") The Lost One's voice came back after an unnerving silent moment. ("I got lost, got flung into a hallway and couldn't find my way back into the main hall. I think I'm in a different building somewhere in town, but I'm on my way back to you now.")
("Don't come here. Wait a bit and we'll meet back at Rin's place.") Ranma returned, as the group slowly proceeded out of the forest.
END.
Author's Note.
That's right, no Dojo this chapter, just me. A while ago, I went on a rant about how difficult it was to keep things on track until a specific point where my desired plot would really kick in. You may have also noticed that I've skipped quite a few scenes, such as what happened on Shiro, Rin and Saber's date, or Archer's defection. I did this because, as I was trying to keep the timeline generally on track, these scenes would have been very similar to their canon counterparts, save a few lines, and authors reproducing canon scenes drives me nuts.
Why am I bringing this up now? Because we're here! The end of this chapter was what I was aiming for, as could probably be guessed by Ranma punching the Unlimited Blade Works timeline in the nuts and stealing its Illya. I'm not making any promices about speed, but whenever the next few chapters come out they're going to markedly change things up, and I couldn't be happier about it. Read, review, and wish me luck! Or, I guess if you like seeing trainwrecks, wish me bad luck.
Anyhow, thanks for reading so far!