Chapter 10: Stay/Night.

The small group made its way out of the forest as quietly as they could, suppressing their magical energy and listening carefully for any sound of pursuit. Neither Rin nor Shiro really knew who they were running from, but even the hot-tempered Magus wasn't likely to make too big a deal of it, given the sheer force of the strike that had destroyed the Einzbern castle. It had reduced its mistress from the cold, confident person who had hunted the two of them in the graveyard into the quivering child who huddled in Shiro's arms.

After almost twenty minutes of hiking, having gone through the woods rather than taking the obvious path, the group stumbled out into a small clearing, a ramshackle maintenance shed standing in its center. Their precautions proved to be less than perfect, as a ponytailed man in a blue bodysuit stood in front of the hut, leaning slightly against a spear in his right hand.

"Lancer…" Ranma and Shiro growled almost in unison, the boy's eyes flicking around a little as he realized that carrying Illyasviel seriously compromised his ability to fight.

The pigtailed martial artist, on the other hand, moved as quickly as she could, pushing away from Rin's supporting shoulder so hard that the dark haired girl stumbled back. In mere moments she crossed the ground between herself and the Servant in a distance eating run.

Said Servant grinned broadly, but didn't make any move to defend himself, or attempt explanation, until she reached striking distance. She lashed out with her left hand, Chi hardened fingers stabbing into joints on his right wrist and the back of his hand, aiming less to harm and more to force the hand open.

This actually worked, his fingers spasming wide, and the redhead's right hand lashed out and scooped up the spear that had fallen free from them before kicking off of her opponent's chest, landing several feet in front of him, in a defensive stance. All of this happened so quickly that Rin was still recovering from her stumble, blinking rapidly to try and catch up with what had happened.

The Lancer chuckled, his grin changing slightly, though his stance only shifted to balance without his weapon. "Nice," he nodded at Ranma. "Gotta admit havin' a redhead crouched glaring' at me with a Gae Bolg in her hand gives me more than a few traumatic flashbacks. Teach me for being so relaxed since there's no Servant around."

"I might not be able to hurt you myself," Ranma said, her voice obviously strained, "But I'm pretty sure this thing'll make some pretty good holes. Now what do ya want?"

Lancer tilted his head. "It would…" he admitted, "except first, I'm not here to fight you. Second, you're bleeding like a stuck pig. And third…" he raised his hand, snapping two fingers. Abruptly, the lance vanished from Ranma's grip, dissolving into red light. "Stealing Noble Phantasms really doesn't work."

"Sonofa…" The pigtailed martial artist muttered, her legs giving out from under her, the rapid movement having aggravated the already severe wound in her side that they'd only really been able to pressure bandage, given their rapid escape.

Rin immediately stepped forward, crouching down next to the wounded girl and working to fix the binding, before Shiro spoke from where he was still carrying Illyasviel. "So, you don't want to fight?"

"No," Lancer shook his head. "Not you, anyway. My master actually wanted me to offer my services in helping get rid of Caster. She's been a bit of a pain to us lately, too."

"That's a sensible motive," Rin admitted.

Shiro shifted a bit. "Maybe, but I'm not likely to trust you just like that. You tried to kill me twice, after all."

"Fair enough," Lancer nodded. "You aren't the only one here, though. I can guess what Red's opinion of the idea is, given she attacked me on sight, and I doubt Ms. Einzbern over there has much of an opinion at the moment. But one of you's got beauty as well as common sense. To tell the truth I'm a little desperate, here. This would be about the only instruction I've been given that I actively want to follow." He looked over to Rin, trying to look charming. "So, pretty lady, what do you say?"

"Disregarding the obvious flattery," the dark haired girl started, "We came out of trying to get help today even worse off than we started, given Ranma's injury. Your motives check out, and I'd be fine with the help… but… if Ranma or Shiro have a serious problem with you, then that's it, even for me."

Ranma shrugged. "I actually don't. I've worked with people who tried ta kill me plenty of times. Just watch out for the stab in the back at the end, that's all."

"I'm wounded!" Lancer said, feigning offense for a moment. "Don't worry, though. Backstabbing's not usually my style. You'll see it coming."

"Fair enough," Ranma nodded back.

Shiro looked between the martial artist and the Servant for a moment, before nodding as well. "I'm fine with it," he started, before narrowing his eyes. "On one condition."

"Oh?" Lancer asked, curious. "What is it you want in return? You wanna know who my master is?"

"No," Shiro shook his head. "We'd be allies, so that's not important. I just want to make this clear, you don't cozy up to Tohsaka, got it?"

"Gah!" Ranma yelped, smacking Rin's hands away from her side, loosening the suddenly too tight binding and fixing it herself. "Blamin' you for that, Emiya…"

Lancer actually started laughing, raising one hand to rub at the side of his head. "Yeah, I got ya, kid," he said, finally. "That's definitely more important than my master's identity. Still, you've made yourself clear. No poaching your girlfriend."

""G-girlfriend?" Rin stammered, her face getting steadily redder as she bolted to her feet. "Wh-what are you talking about?! We're just allies, and partners in battle. Tell him, Shiro!"

"Ah, I see, that's what that is," Lancer said, in a falsely interested voice, rolling his red eyes so hard it looked as if he could strain something.

"Go on, tell him, Shiro! Back me up here!" The black haired girl exclaimed in a tone that almost shifted from demand to whine, stepping up into the taller boy's face.

Shiro, for his part, was staying entirely silent.

"This is kinda hilarious from the outside," Ranma interrupted, "Especially since it's way less violent than usual, but I'm still kinda bleedin' out here and we might wanna get home before Berserker's master wakes up." She tilted her head slightly. "Besides, you guys are kinda obvious."

"You're not helping!" Rin yelled, spinning to glare at the shorter redhead as she forced herself to her feet. "But you're right… About Illyasviel and your injuries, I mean! Nothing else! So… we should head back home now… right?" Her voice had been getting steadily quieter after her last exclamation.

"Heh," Lancer chuckled, before stepping forward and offering Ranma an arm for support. "Even if I don't try makin' any moves on her, she's fun to taunt. I can do that, right Saber's master?"

Shiro grunted, seeming to avoid answering the question. "I guess we'll do this your way," he just said, simply, though it was clear how Lancer had taken it from the widening of his grin. "We'll accept your help to take on Caster. In the meantime, Tohsaka's right, we should get back."

Both Ranma and Lancer nodded in agreement, the group continuing out of the forest.

HR.

Ryoga had managed to meet the group as they'd been half way to Rin's place, but due to the fact that they were in the middle of town, no one had felt comfortable talking. Still, Ranma noticed that her Servant and Lancer exchanged looks as they met. It was clear that everyone had a fair amount to say, however.

When they got to Rin's place, Shiro took Illyasviel up to Rin's bedroom, while Ranma headed for the first-aid kit in the kitchen. She paused for a moment, and then shrugged as she passed by the sink, running some warm water. It would probably be a better idea to stay in one form while the wound in his side healed, but he'd already spent several days straight as a girl, and shifting wouldn't do nearly as much damage to it as it would have to his shoulder.

He entered the living room a few minutes later, a proper bandage under his still torn shirt, just as Shiro came down the stairs. "I left a note for her," the red haired boy explained, shifting a little from foot to foot. "It was kinda hard to get her to let go, though."

"Yeah," Ranma nodded. "For a kid like that, that fight was probably pretty terrifying."

"I'm not so sure about that," Rin disagreed, shuffling over to make room for Shiro on the couch she was sitting on. "What exactly happened, anyway?"

Ranma quickly outlined what had happened after he'd left Rin and Shiro up to the point he'd leapt out of the castle. "Not sure what happened after that, though," he finished.

"The blond guy nuked the castle, that's what happened," Ryoga grumbled. As the masters and other Servant looked at him, expectantly, he continued. "Ranma summoned me to cover his retreat, and I did my best to block some of the swords so Berserker could get in range. I think we might've actually scared the guy, because after he threw this big pile of chains at Berserker and I threw my umbrella to stop it, he started screaming at us and summoned this big, red, spinning, cylinder sword like thing." The Assassin Class Servant shook his head. "Not sure what happened after that. Something about the thing made me think it would be a really good idea to run, I turned for a hallway while yelling for Berserker to run too. Then… everything went red, and I ended up charging out of a library."

Lancer whistled. "You must've really pissed him off." As the others gave him strange looks, he shifted a bit. "I mean, that sounds like a noble phantasm."

"Yeah," Shiro nodded. "Except, what Servant is he supposed to be? We know all seven, right?"

"There are… a few other Servant classes possible," Rin said, narrowing her eyes as if she were trying to dredge up old memories. "The only one I could think of showing up in a grail war when it's already started would be the 'Ruler' class, though, and if that's happened…"

"If that's happened?" Ranma asked.

"It'd mean the war's broken, somehow," Rin explained. "They're meant to fix imbalances or put the war back on track if something major's messed it up."

"I don't think he's a ruler class," Lancer shook his head.

"Maybe not," Rin looked unsure. "Honestly if one of those was going to show up, it would make more sense for it to attack us, because half the masters are teaming up against one, or Caster, for her Servant stealing scheme."

"Yeah," Shiro nodded. "Now that we've got this on top of Caster, we've got to get Saber back soon…"

"We did get another Servant," the Tohsaka girl agreed, going with the change of subject. "Ranma, are you going to be able to fight if we go tonight?"

The pigtailed boy nodded without hesitation. "I'll be a bit slower than I normally would, but yeah."

"Until that wound on your side opens up from the strain," Ryoga cut in. "Then you'd have a whole lot of trouble on your hands."

"And you can't heal in a day like Shiro over here," Rin frowned. "no, I think you should stay here."

"But-" Ranma started, before being cut off from an unexpected source.

"There's another thing you're not considering," Lancer tossed in. "You're not gunna take the little lady upstairs to the church with you, are you? Someone should probably stay here and keep an eye on her."

"I-" Ranma opened his mouth, but was met with the unified gazes of all of the others, even if Shiro looked a bit shifty. "I'm seriously outvoted here, huh?" He sighed. He considered pushing against the point, but it did make a fair amount of sense. "Someone's gotta keep a hand on P-chan," he said, reluctantly. "Only reason he hasn't gotten lost already is because he can track our mana link. And I mean keep a hand on 'im. Guide him, and don't ever let him lead."

To Ranma's slight irritation, Ryoga merely nodded, rather than getting angry. "Don't worry," Lancer said. "I'll ride herd on your lost little shoat here." Okay, that got an eye twitch.

"So we go at dusk?" Shiro asked, getting grunts of agreement from the others.

HR.

Ranma sighed as he looked out into the small courtyard at the back of Rin's place where Shiro was practicing. He really wanted to join him, but had to admit that recovering a little first would be a better idea. He was still feeling a bit faint from blood loss, but Shiro was cooking tonight, so he was sure that wouldn't be a problem for long.

Turning back into the house, he walked past Rin where she was sitting in the living room, carefully examining several gems that were arranged on the coffee table in front of her. Ryoga was lurking outside of the place, as usual. Uncertainly, he headed up the stairs, carefully pushing Rin's bedroom door open.

Laying in the dark haired girl's bed, covers pulled up to her chin, a pale haired young girl slept, slight signs of redness surrounding her tightly closed eyes. Her face looked unusually peaceful as Ranma stepped over to look down at her, compared to the past few times he'd seen it, and her breathing was quiet and regular, but he couldn't help but be uneasy. If he were unlucky, he'd be the only one at the house when she woke, and his track record with introductions wasn't exactly great.

At least, he comforted himself, she looked a bit too small to clobber him with a statue. He couldn't help but smile at that memory, despite the phantom sensation of the pain of the hit. He reached down to adjust the comforter slightly, and paused. Just for a moment, something had felt strange. It'd been when his hand briefly brushed across the girl's skin. Frowning and concentrating, he brought a hand gently to rest against her cheek, and abruptly everything went to hell.

He fell to his knees as it hit him. An overwhelming sense of anger, pain and disgust, lashing out at everything it could touch. It wasn't actually the girl's aura. He was close enough that he could sense that, almost lost behind the wave of darker emotions, but it was emanating from inside of her body. His mind moved sluggishly, trying to understand what was going on even as it recoiled from the information his extra senses were giving him, until the onslaught abruptly stopped. "Urrrgh…" He panted, limbs trembling, eyes slightly unfocussed as they gazed at the blankets his face was less than an inch from.

"If you're going to kill me, I'd prefer to be awake." The voice was calm and flat, despite its words.

Ranma's senses slowly drifted back a bit more at this, and he realized that the hand he'd placed on Illyasviel's cheek wasn't there anymore, instead, held in a surprisingly strong grip from a small hand. He raised his eyes from the bed and blinked. Bright red eyes stared out at him from the girl's face, several shallow scratches adorning one side just below her eye. She had a hand around his wrist, holding a hand with its fingers locked into a clawing motion away from her skin.

With a little effort, he relaxed his fingers. "I'm not…" He said, weakly. "Gunna kill you, I mean. Can ya lemme go?" He could still feel a strange sensation from where her skin touched his wrist, doing his best not to concentrate on it for fear he'd send himself back into… whatever had happened before.

The girl obliged, and the pigtailed martial artist climbed to his feet. "Um, sorry 'bout that," he muttered, gesturing to her face. "Didn't mean to." He stopped, how was he supposed to explain that he'd gotten blindsided by the fact that she was apparently walking around with a hundred Ryogas worth of depression and anger somehow trapped inside her body? "Yeah, sorry," he continued lamely, after a minute or so of silence.

"It's fine," the girl returned. Her body lit up with dark red magic circuits for a moment, before the scratches disappeared. When she was done, her eyes narrowed at him. "You're the one who attacked me at the start of the war." She took a moment to look around, eyes catching on several elements of Rin's bedroom's decor. "Where am I?"

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that, too," Ranma nodded. "You're at Rin Tohsaka's place. We took you here after…" He trailed off, remembering the girl's anguished scream as her castle was destroyed and Servant killed.

"After Berserker died." He'd expected more tears at this, but once again, the girl's voice was level. Something did flicker in her eyes for a moment, and her mouth turned down. "I was sort of hoping that was a bad dream," She confessed. "So that's it, then," She said after a moment with an air of finality. "You captured me because you know what I am."

"What you are?" Ranma asked, blinking. "I got you outta there because a maniac sword thrower was tryin' to stab you."

"You?" The girl asked, raising an eyebrow. "The way I remember it, a strange girl with a death wish kidnapped me. She did have your Servant with her, though..."

"Oh, right…" Ranma winced. "That was actually me. I've got a shapeshifting curse, and Shiro figured it'd be better if I showed up in a form that hadn't tried to attack you before."

"Shiro…" The girl's eyes narrowed, her attention caught by a completely different aspect of the answer than Ranma was expecting. "Shiro… Emiya." The last name was spat with a sense of disgust that registered fully on her previously impassive expression.

"Yeah," Ranma said, slowly. "He's downstairs, cookin' dinner. He's Actually the one who carried you back here, since I kinda got stabbed. Think he said he left a note for you up here somewhere." He looked around for a moment, and then gestured to the bedside table where a white piece of paper was leaning against the alarm clock.

Illyasviel read it carefully, frowning and crumpling it up. "Guessin' you don't like him?" Ranma ventured.

"I…" The white haired girl said, her angry expression fading. "He's an Emiya," She eventually said, offering no further explanation.

"Right…" Ranma said, unsure about what to do in the current situation. "Dinner's gunna be in a bit, and the others are goin' out to try and deal with Caster around sunset. If ya wanna avoid Shiro, I can bring the meal up to you, and you'll be able to wander 'round after they leave."

The girl only nodded, before turning to look pensively out the window. Ranma stood, waiting for a few moments before turning and leaving the room. "Damn I'm bad with kids…" he muttered, after the door was securely closed behind him.

"Might've gone better if you'd been a girl," a casual voice came from right beside his ear. He resisted the urge to jump, head snapping around to spot Lancer leaning against the wall, arms crossed. 'Course, I might just be sayin' that because I'd enjoy that form more, never know."

Ranma blinked at him. "I doubt it'd have made any difference," he said, shrugging. "How long were you standing there?"

"Not long," the Servant answered, straightening up. "I wanted to talk to you."

Ranma raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Emiya demanded something from me for agreeing to work with me," the blue haired Servant said. "And it was a pretty steep price. Figured I should offer you something, too."

"...huh?" The pigtailed boy scratched his head.

"It's just a little warning," The Servant said, though despite the lightness of his tone, he looked serious. "Everyone probably thinks I backed them up about keeping you here because of your injury, but I didn't. Don't let your guard down tonight."

'You captured me because you know what I am.' The thought came unbidden to Ranma's mind. "Wasn't plannin' on it," he said, nodding. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," The taller man said, heading downstairs.

HR.

"I've seen it before and I still can't believe it," Lancer muttered as he lead Assassin by the hand back to the group. He'd only taken his eyes off of the other Servant for a few seconds while they'd turned a corner, and somehow he'd ended up a block and a half away. The worst part was that his presence concealment made finding him again a game of hot and cold which lasted a full fifteen minutes, even though Ryoga had stopped in place when he'd realized what had happened.

The other Servant didn't say anything as they reached the others, only shifting a little uncomfortably at Rin's irritated glare. "Don't worry, I've got him this time," Lancer said, confidently, revealing a rope tied around his wrist.

"Right," the black haired girl said, dubiously. "At least we're almost there."

"Yeah," Shiro nodded. "Everyone know the plan?"

The others nodded back. It had been hashed out over dinner.

"I've wanted a rematch with that guy for ages," Lancer said, grinning.

"Yeah, well, I'm not too happy with things, but it's what we've got," Rin said, grumpily. She hadn't been too thrilled with certain aspects of the plan, especially Ranma's blunt assessment that Shiro would be far better suited for engaging in close quarters fighting than she would.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," the red haired boy said, seeming to read some of her mood.

"Say that after you come out of this without getting nearly killed again," Rin shot back.

"Now now children, no fighting, we're almost there," Lancer said, gesturing at the shadowed form of the church silhouetted against the night sky. The two Servantless masters threw him irritable looks, but both gained dark expressions as the group turned onto the building's wide, stoney walk and noticed the white haired man standing sentry in the church's open entrance.

"Archer…" Rin hissed under her breath.

"As I expected of you," the Servant said, stepping forward a couple of feet. "You came a little early, but I know you too well to think that you'd just give up." He was aiming the words directly at the black haired girl as he stared levelly into her eyes. She stared back defiantly, unflinching as he glanced from side to side. "I hope your plan isn't just overwhelming me with numbers, because that won't work even with your new Servant."

"My new…" Rin looked over at Lancer for a moment, before Archer continued.

"Honestly, forming a new pact so quickly," his lips twisted cruelly. "I expected you to keep going, but to be so fickle?" He chuckled. "I think I made the right decision to get away from you."

The girl's teeth clenched, and Lancer could actually see the slight glimmer of tears in the corners of her eyes before she forced them back.

"I think that's about enough," the blue haired man said, glaring. "I'm her ally, not her Servant, and I'm here because I want to wipe that smug smile off of your face." summoning his spear with a flash of light, he fell into a combat stance with a snarl on his lips. "I really hate Servants like you. In fact, I think I'm gunna keep you alive after this just so you can grovel for forgiveness at her feet!"

"...Lancer?" Rin asked, eyes wide in surprise. He didn't look away from his opponent, who had summoned his two swords and was holding them before him, but he did nod. "Thank you," she continued, softly. "I'm glad you chose to ally with us."

The lance wielding Servant just smirked. "Same here. Now go in there and deal with Caster. I've got this guy." Pushing forward, he charged yelling at Archer, mana gathering around his body and spear.

The rest of the group started forward, Assassin looking for a long moment at Archer, a puzzled expression on his face before Shiro grabbed the rope Lancer had tied to him and pulled on it.

HR.

The two Masters and Servant stepped into the church, and Shiro jumped as the front door slammed behind them. Rin, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes. "Cheap theatrics," she muttered under her breath, before noticing that the third member of their group looked a little distant. "Assassin, is something wrong?" He didn't answer for a few seconds, so she repeated. "Assassin?"

"Huh? Oh… no," Ryoga shook his head. "I… something's going on with Ranma. He's moving away from your house. I asked what was happening and he told me not to worry about it."

"I see…" Rin said, frowning. "We've already started this, if you've got to go back now…"

Ryoga considered it for a long moment. He really wanted to, but knew that the plan would have a much larger chance of failure without his help. "He's got a command seal left," he said, reluctantly. "If it's serious, he'll call me in."

"Good," Rin said, sighing in relief before a quiet slithering sound made itself known in the stairway in front of them, two bone soldiers materializing out of the mist. "It seems like Caster wants to get this over with as much as we do…"

Ryoga nodded, stepping forward and cutting down the two summoned familiars with a strike each, and the three proceeded deeper into the church.

A few moments later, the three made their way into the main worship hall, which looked like it'd been hastily ransacked, a bound female figure in a white dress laying on the altar.

Shiro's teeth clenched at the sight, and Rin stifled a gasp. "I was trying to spare your life, little girl." The mage Servant's voice came from the shadows as she stepped out of them, her master following slightly behind and to one side. "Archer was correct, your foolishness really does know no bounds."

"Foolishness?" Rin asked. "You're outnumbered here, Caster. Didn't they teach people how to count in the age of the gods?" She loaded the statement with as much derision as she could manage, and Ryoga silently admitted that she'd almost gotten to Ranma levels.

Caster didn't seem to respond to that, just smiling slightly. "Not quite," she said, "And if I were, this would be much easier. You didn't bring that fascinating little red haired girl? I suppose even you would be smart enough to realize that would be a bad idea after I had several minutes of unsupervised time with her."

"Wha- What did you do to Ranma?" Shiro asked, angrily.

"Oho, you didn't even realize that?" Caster asked, laughing genuinely. "But don't worry, your little friend will be fine, so long as she doesn't directly oppose me."

Rin clenched her teeth, making a barely audible noise before regaining her composure. "I really should have suspected cheap tricks like that," she rallied. "A third rate mage like you couldn't risk a direct confrontation with someone like me."

"Oh you are adorable!" the robed woman chuckled, though as she did so she levitated into the air, several glowing magic circles forming around her. "As for facing you directly, I'd be happy to. I just need to take care of something first."

She snapped her fingers, and the figure on the altar behind her was abruptly dragged to its feet, pulled by the magical bindings around its hands.

"Saber!" Shiro called, as the sword wielding Servant's head raised enough for her face to be visible.

"That's right," Caster nodded. "She really hasn't been cooperating the way Archer has. Still, I think she's far along enough for this." She raised a hand, the one remaining command seal glowing through the glove. "Saber, kill them."

The blonde's eyes snapped open as her bindings vanished. Armor materialized, banishing the thin white, bridal style gown she'd previously been dressed in, and she walked forward three steps before coming to a shuddering halt. Rin had explained that, in the last fight, it had taken two command seals to get Saber to attack Shiro, and she was clearly fighting the order now, but her expression was haggard, eyes bloodshot, and as she struggled a ring of mystic script seemed to spiral around her neck, causing her to grunt in pain.

The blonde Servant's eyes flicked between Shiro, Rin and Ryoga, a sense of flickering resolve keeping her from stepping forward even as her breathing became more laboured. "I said kill them!" Caster yelled, the script around the smaller girl's neck flaring brightly as she grunted in pain once again.

Cursing under his breath, Ryoga lowered a shoulder, charging with a bellow. Caster raised a shield to defend, but he completely ignored her as he raced past. The mage Servant was Rin's problem. The lost one barrelled into Saber, knocking her off of her feet and dragging her with him as he smashed through the altar and into the far stone wall with a crunch.

"Th… thank you," Saber stammered in a shaken yet relieved tone as her armored fist buried itself in Ryoga's gut.

"Urgh…" The lost one gasped, mentally adding 'hell of a way to say thanks,' as the resounding sound of magical blasts reverberated behind him.

HR.

This was officially the strangest fight Ryoga Hibiki had ever been in. He was an Assassin Class Servant, fighting a Saber, and he'd lost his only effective parrying weapon when that sword shooting guy had destroyed the Einzbern castle with his umbrella inside of it earlier in the day. Normally he'd be completely screwed, even with the umbrella, but Saber herself was both tired and desperately trying to avoid killing him despite the compulsion of the command spell. As a result, the two had engaged in countless small, violent, inconclusive skirmishes as they moved across the edges of the worship hall.

Ryoga had once tried to parry the blonde woman's invisible blade with his belt using the iron cloth, but she'd neatly chopped it in half and almost removed his arm. Still, he had managed to connect with the breaking point against her chest plate, blowing a small hole in the metal. He'd considered trying the same on the blade, but when he'd tried for the correct state of mind, the sword's radiance almost blinded him. That time, she'd sliced a confessional booth into chunks.

Managing to get ahold of one of his opponent's arms, Ryoga spun Saber harshly to get her away from where Rin was apparently having some sort of anime style energy blast battle with Caster, the occasional backwash of dissipated spells rippling across the room and making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Seeing that she was heading for a wall, the Saber class lashed out with her blade, tearing the wooden obstruction down and regaining her footing on the other side. "What…" She stammered, a sense of surprise managing to batter past her compulsion for a moment. Tracing her confused glance, Ryoga spotted a woman propped up against the wall in the newly revealed room, a line of dried blood dripping down from the stump where her left hand had once been. Some sort of magic circle was etched into the floor, and sparks of mana seemed to be dissolving into the air as the woman slumped forward.

'What the hell was Caster doing here?' Ryoga thought. Unfortunately, he couldn't really do anything about the woman at the moment, and Saber seemed to be recovering from her surprise, falling back into a fighting stance.

Once again, Ryoga lowered his shoulder down and charged, dodging a sluggish slash and shoving Saber backwards, into the far wooden wall, and abruptly out into the church's back courtyard.

Taking a quick glance back, he noted that yes, there was an unbroken concrete wall behind him and cursed his ability to get lost, but did his best to refocus. On the bright side, in a situation where he didn't have to worry about Saber taking a swing at Shiro or Rin, and where he had a lot more space, he had one last idea. Leaping backwards, he ripped a solid handful of yellow, black spotted bandanas off of his forehead, and threw them.

Saber cut several out of the air, ignoring the others as they spun past her. Her eyes widened as the flying cloth projectiles she'd ignored turned in mid-air, spinning back at her as Ryoga reached up and removed another handful. Suddenly, the smaller Servant found herself dancing through a blizzard of whirling, sharp edged cloth blades, her sword lashing out to cut them out of the air by the dozen.

This lasted more than thirty seconds, but eventually the swordmaster managed to destroy the last one, and lowered her blade…much more quickly than she'd expected. Her arms fell to her sides as though dragged down by a heavy weight.

A look of incredulous surprise bloomed across the controlled girl's face, before her opponent charged towards her. When she attempted to open some distance, she quickly found that her feet were difficult to move also. Looking down, she spotted a single, softly glowing bandanna wrapped around each of her wrists and ankles.

HR.

"Where the hell am I now?!" Ryoga bellowed, as he walked through the drab, darkened stone halls of whatever building he'd found himself in. He could hear the sound of fighting nearby, and something about the place was making him feel both nervous and nauseous at the same time. It was like a sense of wrongness just hung over the place like a bad smell. Finding yet another dead end containing nothing but a stone wall and a lamp, the lost boy growled angrily and reached out with a single finger.

When the wall crumbled away in an explosion of dust, Ryoga felt the sensation of cold night air against his skin and took a deep, relieved breath as he stepped out. He was about to grin in triumph when the sight in the middle of the enclosed courtyard he found himself in stopped him cold. A man who looked startlingly like him was beating a smaller woman who seemed to put up no resistance. There was a resounding crack as his fist slammed into her face.

The girl took a few stumbling steps back, blood flowing from her nose, but the man just stepped forward after her, this time landing a blow to her chest that caused the metallic armor she was wearing to let out a tortured shriek.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!" Ryoga bellowed, charging forward and reaching over his shoulder with one hand while grabbing a couple of bandannas with the other. He aimed the bandanas at the man, but he barely took any notice, letting them bounce off of one arm without even reacting. Still, his sudden entrance had startled the man, who halted mid-attack, allowing his opponent enough time to tear herself free of what seemed to be restraints around her limbs.

The girl paused for a moment after pulling her hands free of their binds, looking between the two males in confusion. "What… I…" She started, her eyes clouding with something as she began trembling.

"Damn it," the older man snarled. "Of all the… Get out of here!"

"No way! What are you doing beating up this girl?" Ryoga asked, looking her over as he took up a stance with his umbrella raised. She looked half dead, in spite of the strange armor she seemed to be wearing, her eyes wild. "I'm not going to let you get away with that!"

"You don't understand what's going on here, you have to-" the older man started, before the girl moved. Suddenly, she was holding her hands as though there were a two-handed sword between them, and she was charging at Ryoga. "No!" The girl's opponent snarled, slamming into Ryoga and pushing him aside. An invisible blade seemed to find purchase in the older man's chest before his hands clamped on the girl's wrists, struggling to push them away.

A spray of blood splattered across Ryoga's face and chest, the unexpected warmth startling as-

His blow found almost no resistance, his former rival seeming to crumple at his fist's impact point, flying backwards into the wall like a broken ragdoll.

"Wh… what was that?!" The lost boy stammered, the vision of Ranma's bloody body fading as he fell backwards. The older version of him didn't respond, just grunting as he planted a leg in Saber's stomach and kicked her away. Wait, how did he know-

"Get out of here!" The older man bellowed again, clutching at the wound in his chest with one hand. "She can't tell the difference between us and she's under orders to kill me!"

Ryoga suddenly knew that. He suddenly knew a lot of things, but he wasn't sure how. He knew that Saber was under Caster's control, and that Rin and Shiro were fighting Caster and her master deeper inside of the church. He had no idea who Rin, Shiro, Caster or Saber were, but he did know what they were doing. He also knew that he didn't stand a chance in hell against Saber if she got serious, and was only stalling. He was jolted out of his contemplation as the blonde girl recovered from his older self's kick, firming her stance and grip on her invisible sword. As much as he hated to admit it, the other was right. He needed to get out of here.

Picking a direction at random, he charged right back through the exit he'd come out of, spotting a hole in one of the walls that he'd missed before. When he caught sight of the unconscious woman within, and his strangely fragmented memories of the situation failed to tell him she was some sort of weird weapon-named murderer, he crouched down to check on her. Her skin was pale, probably from blood loss given her missing hand, and her almost plum colored hair was plastered against her forehead with sweat. Making a quick decision, he pulled some first aid supplies from his pack, patched her up as best as he could and picked her up.

He could still hear the sound of fighting from nearby, but was also fairly sure that most of it was out of his league, and had no idea what was actually going on. Fortunately, it usually wasn't a bad idea to try and get help for an unconscious injured person in pretty much any situation, so he decided to do that, marching resolutely out of the room.

HR.

He wanted to cry. Or laugh, or do something, he wasn't sure what. All Ryoga could do was curse himself internally in the most literal fashion possible. He'd actually been managing it. His trick with the bandanas had knocked Saber totally off balance, and if he'd have been able to keep up the pressure, he might have even had a chance to win given the fact that she wasn't as strong as him and couldn't use her sword properly with her hands bound and weighted.

Then, the event he'd been waiting for all war had happened at the worst time possible and his younger self had blundered into the middle of the fight. The kid had gotten away, but in the meantime Saber had both gotten loose and inflicted a pretty bad wound on him which was slowing him down more than he could afford. He'd been steadily pushed back, constantly on the defensive, until a rock had slipped out from under a foot and he'd stumbled to the ground. The blonde Servant now stood over him, raising her blade for a final strike. He kicked out with one foot, but she deflected it with her own armored knee, barely grunting.

The Assassin just hoped he'd done enough. Both to buy time for Shiro and Rin's plan, and to avert his own future, as the blade swung down… and the ring of glyphs around Saber's neck exploded. She immediately diverted her blade to the side, burying it in the dirt next to his head, and falling to the ground, panting.

"Did… did they get it?" The Assassin class croaked, tiredly.

"I… I think so," Saber stammered, pulling her sword free of the ground and offering the other Servant a hand up. "I don't feel the command spell anymore. I'm-"

"Don't say it," Ryoga responded quickly, accepting the hand. "It wasn't your fault."

Saber nodded, smiling slightly, before she bolted towards the hole in the courtyard wall. Ryoga was about to follow when a splitting pain slammed through his head, and he stumbled to the ground. "Wh… what's…" he groaned. Something was… crawling… screaming… struggling…. Got to get out… got to… get… gottogetout please I'm sorry i'msorryletmeout gottogetout pleaseletmeout, GOTTOGETOUT!

The stone wall gave with a loud crack, Ryoga coming to rest laying in the rubble as his mind finally cleared from the overwhelming sense of terror. "What… the hell was that?" He gasped, rolling over and staring up at the night sky. It had felt a little like Ranma's mental communication through their mana link, but the voice had been wrong. {"Ranma?"} He asked, tentatively. {"Ranma? What the hell's going on?"} He tried again after several seconds. There was no response.

His master had gotten pretty far away, was it possible he couldn't hear? The lost one pulled himself to his feet, taking in his surroundings. He was definitely no longer in the church courtyard. Next to him loomed a large, red brick building that now had a man-sized hole leading into what looked like a laundromat. Dusting himself off a little, he headed for the nearest street, and then turned to where he could feel Ranma's presence, beginning to walk.

He didn't actually notice that the terrain was familiar until he walked past the church. He was about to shrug and keep going, when a huge pulse of magical power came flooding out of the building. He started towards it, before forcefully stopping himself. {"Ranma?"} He tried again.

{"Yeah."} The response came back, faint, but present.

The lost one let out a huge sigh of relief. {"What's going on over there?"}

The silence was unusually long before Ranma responded. {"Nothin'. Everything's fine, and me 'n Illya are fine. Tell Rin I'm sorry about the damage to her place, but we got it sorted out."}

Ryoga frowned. Something about Ranma's mental tone seemed off. It seemed flatter, less enthusiastic than it should be, especially if he'd just done something he felt proud of. {"Are you sure?"} The Servant asked.

{"Yeah,"} Ranma replied. {"We're on our way back. Is Saber okay?"}

{"I think so,"} Ryoga said. {"We'll talk back at Rin's house."}

Ranma didn't respond, but someone else did. "Assassin! Did you see Archer?" Shiro yelled, as he and Saber exited the church at a run, the blonde Servant looking much healthier than she had earlier, in her full armor.

"Archer? Uh, no," Ryoga shook his head. "Why?"

"He's taken Rin," Saber reported.

"He's what?" A new voice butted in, Lancer materializing from mana behind Ryoga.

"Shiro, behind me!" Saber said, pushing her master back and entering a defensive stance.

"Saber, it's fine!" The boy said, hurriedly. "Lancer's an ally, he helped us get in to rescue you."

"What?" The blonde Servant demanded, but didn't move to lower her weapon.

"He's right, but I think I might've screwed up," the blue haired man admitted. "I figured out Archer was planning to betray Caster. That's why I didn't finish the fight. Had no idea he was planning on kidnapping his old master, though. Why the hell is he doin' that?"

"That's not exactly what he wants," Shiro said, sighing. "He wants to kill me. He's taken Rin to make sure that everyone else stays out of it when we fight."

"Sonofa..." the lance wielding Servant growled. "Look, unless my Master complains, I'm in this until we get your girlfriend back, got it?"

"Yeah," Shiro nodded. "But it shouldn't be a problem. I don't think he's going to hurt Rin."

"Not sure I'd put anything past that guy at this point," Lancer disagreed. The red haired boy didn't respond, turning and heading back towards the Tohsaka mansion.

END.

Taiga Dojo!

"Well, isn't this interesting! Illya's definitely survived this time, at least so far, and something's going on in the background of the church attack! We'll get into that in the next chapter, 'Other/Night."

"I can't say I'm unhappy about this change to the route, though some of this is worrying, and it still isn't the Illya route."

"Ah, cheer up, Illya-chan! For now, I've got something to cover for Fate series newbies. Specifically, that thing with Ryoga and… Hmm, this is going to get confusing."

"HIBIKI?"

"Ah, right, yeah. Ryoga and his future self, HIBIKI. It was kind of odd how Ryoga suddenly knew some things after he got splashed with his older self's blood, right? Well that, or something like it, is a known thing in the Fate universe. Specifically, when two versions of the same person exist in the same time, they tend to, pardon the pun, bleed over a bit. The phenomenon gets more severe as they get closer, anywhere from being in the city to, oh I don't know, receiving an arm transplant. In Ryoga's case, he was bodychecked by his older self and then splashed with his blood, which is a pretty dramatic introduction, so he got a fairly heavy effect."

"What was that about an arm transplant?"

"Hehe… nothing! Not relevant to this route, at least… Anyhow, thanks for reading, everyone! Please don't forget to tell us what you think of the chapter!"