Fate/Stay Night: Umbra Bello
Wow. Feels like it's been a whole decade since we all last met! How have you all been?
Bad Jokes aside, asking for a little feedback here. Do the rest of you feel that after this chapter that there's been enough filler? Cause I guess I could just skip it, and come back to it in short flashbacks latter, although that feels kinda like a cop-out.
Anyway, you tell me.
Actually beyond that, start talking to me. Any opinions on the story so far?
Chapter V- Magic 101/Grand Tour
Date: Thursday, 01/20/2004
Time: 11:48 am
Location: Fuyuki City, Miyama Side Harbor, Abandoned Warehouse
This was it.
After interrogating that merchant for hours, they had gotten all they needed.
Anti-Bukufu extremists were gathered in there, waiting for just the right night to strike.
Once the winds were picked up, Kyoto would burn.
Kondo had gathered us all for the raid an hour ago. There were supposed to be more, but reinforcements wouldn't arrive in time. So thirty of us would have to be enough.
It was go time. We burst into the building in accordance with the plan.
I ran to the upper floor with Kondô, we ordered them all to surrender. None were too keen to do so. But that suited me just fine.
In seconds, one of the rebels was dead by my blade. The others tried escaping through the window, and into the back. They weren't fast enough.
I lept on through to give chas-
Wh-wha-?
'c-cough!'
"Okita? What's wrong?" Someone asked, but… but I couldn't-
"I-I'm fine- just-"
'c-cough'▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂'cough!''c-cough'▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂'cou-!'
Wait.
The world just… stopped.
Hold on… who's tha-
"'Gah!'... What?" I woke up on a futon in my new HQ, wondering what that was about.
"Was… was that Okita? Why- oh right." The dream cycle. A side effect of the Master-Servant bond. Apparently as a result of two souls being connected in a such a way memories begin to transfer over in the form of dreams.
I think that was a bit from that Ikedaya incident she talked about.
Kinda… surreal, and… I think it just feels wrong. Invading someone's memories like that. My dreams are some of the few things I can call my own. The idea of someone invading them… well, jokes on them. Most of my dreams consist of either weird kinks, or nonsense.
"I guess that's gonna be a thing now… still… what was that at the end?" there was… 'Gah'! I'm already forgetting.
Can never remember my own dreams, let alone someone else's…
"_" Okita apparates out of nowhere.
"AHHHHHH FUU-!" fully online.
THUD
Ok! I'm okay! Just… somehow found a way to bump my head while falling off a futon.
I am now truly a Master in the art of accidental self harm.
"...You okay Master?" Okita asked innocently.
"...We're going to be having a talk about your use of presence concealment… but otherwise, yeah." I say while trying to full the minor pain where my head net the concrete floor. More on that in a minute.
"So… how about you?" I carry the conversation on.
"Eh?"
"I-uh… I mean did you sleep well?" that's better.
"...I… definitely slept." …okaaaay?
"That was… an answer." another non-sequitar, this time from me.
"Look, let's just say this is gonna take more getting used to than I thought." what is she on about? This whole operation was her ide- oh.
...yeah… the dream cycle goes both ways.
"...what did you see?" I ask, already fearing the answer.
She doesn't use words of any kind. She simply turns as red as a tomato, and apparates once more out of existence.
"...yeah, today's off to a great start."
Theme Song- Chosen Ones/ Mountains vs machines
Four hours later...
"Alright… if I'm reading this right… Magic sucks."
That's the only conclusion I can come to after reading about ten pages into this book.
"Or, I guess I should say "Magecraft sucks", it's stupid complicated, hurts when you try to use it, and without some serious bullshittery, you can basically do everything it can do with technology. Expensive, advanced technology, but nonetheless, technology."
Not to mention that everything in this book is incredibly vague, and unhelpful. 'For Dummy's' my ass.
And that's not eve- oh. Hello there.
Nice to see you all again, almost thought I'd be on my own again.
What am I doin you ask? It's obvious isn't it? I'm trying, and failing, to self-teach magecraft. Turns out trying to figure out how to cast firaga over and over isn't as easy as it looks.
"So there's Mana, which is the magic energy in the air, Od, which is the magic energy in the body, and Prana, which is what is what you get when Mana, and Od are mixed. Kinda like a chemical reaction. Oh! And there is also true magic, which is entirely different from magecraft, but is also similar to magecraft just stronger because it's connected to five big concepts… it doesn't list what those concepts are… Magic Circuits are what Magi have that lets them do what they do… Magic Crests are the accumulated Magic Circuits of however many generations a Magi family has ever been around. Only one person can get this crest so someone is getting screwed over in the family…"
Ok, well, while I'm doing a bit of a montage about unravelling the convoluted mess that is magic in this universe, let me explain what I've been up to since we left off.
So while you were gone, we decided that it would probably be best to steer clear of basically everybody until the war starts in earnest.
For one thing, I don't know shit about fighting. So getting into trouble will probably end in tears, and blood (most likely mine). Even once the three weeks are up, I'll need someone else as basically a human shie- I mean I'll need someone that actually knows how to fight to keep me safe.
My initial thoughts would be to go running to Shirou… but there's a problem with that. He's nearly as weak as I am right now. And possibly even dumber.
...Okay, dumber is a bit harsh. As Archer's existence can attest, he's got the potential to be pretty sharp (heh, puns), but the problem right now is that he's naive, stubborn, thickheaded, and reckless.
There's no telling how he'll react if he learns what's going to happen to early. By the time he summons Saber, he'll basically be in the thick of it. Already involved. If I tell him early, we both figured he'd do something reckless to try and stop the War before it starts.
It feels kinda like a dick move not warning him about this… it's his life that's going to be put on the line, but I'm going to need him against Gilgamesh. His Archer self is just too unreliable, and shifty with his own goals in mind (Namely, killing himself). I need him in this war. I don't see how to stop Gilgamesh otherwise.
Considering that this is a dick move to save the world… I'm sure he'll be fine with it if he ever figures it out.
So, yeah, staying out of the lives of the rest of the cast until it's the right time.
Next thing, we're not in the motel anymore.
A few reasons for that, first being staying there for a month would've been expensive. Another thing, it's probably safer. I mean, if I were looking for an unknown foreign Master, any local hotels, or anything of the sort, would be the first place I'd look. And I don't need anyone looking right now. It's also safer for the civilians. Harder to get innocent people involved when there aren't any for about two blocks.
So that lead us here. An abandoned warehouse at the docks. Not exactly the most comfortable abode, but it's isolated, out of the way, and probably the third, or fourth place someone would look. It's also fairly defensible. Minimal windows, few entrances, plenty of places to use as escape plans, second floor catwalk, lots of trap locations… all in all, not bad for a secret set up.
Had bought some camping equipment, and two futons to give it a few… homey touches.
Just hope Okita was okay with roasting food over an open fire for a while.
Which lead me to this point. Trying out the magecraft book for a few lessons. Tried reading through the thing for the last two days. Today would be the first day putting any of it into practice, I'd just feel happy knowing I got a feel for what doing magecraft actually felt like. Didn't really need to cast anything too complicated, just get a feel for magic. That's a solid enough foundation to build on.
So I set up a small target range, with some old beer bottles as targets, and inscribed the rune for Gandr onto my left arm as the book told me too.
My handwriting is kinda terrible, but it should be within… acceptable deviations.
"Alright… here goes something." I clear my mind.
Activating magic circuits requires a catalyst, or trigger. An image in your mind, unique to you. That, and it requires an aria, or incantation. Shirou's 'Trace On' for example. This is described as 'speaking to oneself' in the book. Kinda like applying to use magecraft to your own inner subconscious. Magi with Magic Crests can kinda skip this step by using the crest, as technically most of the spells in there aren't their own, more borrowed from their ancestors. Seeing as I don't have a Magic Crest however, this isn't particularly relevant to me.
Anyhow, the next step in spellcasting would be combining the Od in your body, and the Mana in the world around you to create Prana. You then offer this Prana to a foundation. Now foundations are a bit complicated. Technically, foundations are the concepts behind spells. The best way I can explain this is kinda like multiplayer games online. You order a character to 'move to the left', your computer sends a message to a server about the move you made, the server confirms this and makes the action true in the game. In other words, you're accessing foundation, telling it you are using a spell, and the foundation makes it true. So, in order to cast Gandr, I'd have to use my magic circuits, convert mana, and od into prana, then pass that Prana into the rune on my arm, which would then pass that energy to a foundation to make the spell I want to cast true.
"...Begin Access!...Game Start!...Flame On!...hm…" still didn't feel anythi- wait, feel!
Moving through the blood. Feeling the pull, judging the change in flow, approving alter, taking direct control.
Taking a deep breath.
"...Finding course of life (controlling energy), Creating ephemeral fate (accessing foundation), Revealing the unreal truth (performing spell), A song in strange color for the world-!"
BZZZTBZZZZTZBZZT BZZZTBZZZZTZBZZT BZZZTBZZZZTZBZZT
Yes! There it is! It kinda hurts, but it's something!
BZZZTBZZZZTZBZZT
"Define Real!"
And like that, my body lit the fuck up.
Like I was daring the world to tell me what could be true, I remade what was true on a small level. Both, a small defiance of the truth of the world, and a command to myself to define what I could do for myself.
By feeling through the connection between me and Okita, I felt the manner in which magical energy flowed through me, and into her. That basically cut down days, or potentially weeks worth of inner searching into less than an hour to find my circuits.
Through that, I took control of the energy within me, allowing Mana to trickle into my body, and began controlling the reaction of Mana, and Od like a combustion engine (the image I used as a trigger), and then passed the resulting Prana through the Gandr rune which caused a small black orb to form before my index finger, which was firmly pointed at-
'Shatter!'
What was now a bunch of shattered glass.
"...Whoa." The idea that I did that was simply mind-blowing.
Granted, I think I didn't actually break the thing. I just sort of blew it off the stand, and knocked it to the floor, where it shattered. But hey! Progress!
"Master! Are you o-... oh." Okita came by, rushing by with concern after hearing the glass shatter.
"Y-Yeah! Never better!" I cannot truly describe how life changing the idea of being able to perform magic can be. "I think… I think there is some hope for me."
"See? What I tell you?" she said in an 'I told you so' tone. "Think you're ready to start summoning dango from thin air yet?" she continued in a joking manner.
"Let's hope… just gotta find the "summoning sweets" section of the text… although that might be a subsection of graduation air… food for thought (heh, more puns), you think someone might be able to use projection magic to make snacks? It would literally be zero calories! You could eat forever, and all the food would disappear once you wanted it gone!" Hm… might have to run that by Shirou when we do meet.
"'Heh', definitely worth looking into… So, you sure changed your tune from earlier." Okita remarked, "I haven't heard you bemoan your situation once today."
"Oh… um… right. Guess I was just a little excited…"
"Hey now, I didn't say stop!" she stopped me riiight there. "Believe it or not, being happy every now, and then is a good thing... So, you think you got it down then?" switching right back to business.
"Er… I finally did something magical if that's what you're asking. The glass can attest to that much…" I pointed to the shattered bits, and pieces all over the place. "Although it took a long time to actually do… and… I think the Aria I used didn't come through as clear as it should have. Not too sure what that means myself actually... so, in other words- it's not exactly a practical thing for combat right now, but hey! Practice makes perfect, and this is only my first time… so, how's things on your end?" Think I might've phrased that a bit awkwardly.
"Oh you know… kinda just… standing around. Waiting for something to do… y'know, for like… six hours." she leaned on the walls with an inpatient expression, and spoke with a hint of boredom.
"I told you you could go do whatever. This was gonna take a while." I lightly scolded.
"What? And leave you alone where another Master or Servant can swing on by and snatch you away? What kind of Servant would that make me?" She spoke like a doting elder sibling.
"I'm not a small child Okita. Besides, the war isn't supposed to start for another three weeks. You can go do... whatever it is you do for fun." Not sure what a Heroic Spirit does for fun.
"'Argh'… I can never figure out what to do with free time…" she groaned. Who the hell complains about getting a chance to relax? "Mostly I just end up doing overtime on patrol hoping something happens."
"Hm. You didn't strike me as a person that's married to their work." pegged her as a more 'laid back' type.
"Nah~! I loved my job. I mean, in what other profession do you get to fight people at their best?" she states earnestly.
Oh, so she's of that kind of character?
"I take it fighting means a lot to you then?"
"Would I be a genius swordsman if I wasn't?" she asked rhetorically.
"Touche… although you could've been one of those "I didn't ask for this!" types." I mock-quoted Adam Jensen.
"Already told you didn't I? I signed up for thi- oh! I had an idea! Let's go on patrol!" she jumped at the idea.
"Patrol..? We're supposed to be avoiding everyone else." she froze reanalyzing her idea.
"Y-Yeah, but we don't have to fight anybody do we? I just… look, we've been standing around for about two days. You have your magic stuff to do, but I'm just sitting on the roof doing nothing while hoping something happens. We don't have to go looking for a fight, we can just… you can think of it as recon! And… familiarize ourselves with the area?" She part suggested, part begged.
I was about to dismiss this. We really don't need to run into any trouble.
But at the same time… I get where she's coming from…
"...'sigh', fine. We'll explore Miyama for a while. Scout out some of the locations I know are gonna be important…" that, and it'll be a good chance to stretch my legs.
"(Yes!)" She yelped, "Let's go!"
One Hour later…
"... Alright, since you brought up the idea of scouting around, here we are. Welcome to Honomora Academy. Or, as I like to call it, Grail Central Station." I present my Servant the High School.
"...this generation of schools have courtyards bigger than our entire schools…" she notes with mild surprise. "So, anything particularly interesting here?"
"Besides the fact that at least three Masters attend school here, and one teaches? Not much. Although they do seem to have more funding for sports than my school did…" let's see… Kendo, Track, whatever sport Shirou was doing with those High-Jumps, Archery, …. I think I see a soccer field- sorry- football field out there… "Mine did American Football, and Basketball… although there are rumors we'd be getting an Archery program set up. Buuut, I can already see the lawsuits on the horizon for that one."
"C'mon, it can't be that bad. A good, and responsible coach is really all you need."
"People at my school are a lot of things. Responsible isn't always one of them. I mean, they're considering banning soda cans because somebody found a way to turn one into a fairly sharp knife and tried to stab someone with it. It was an interesting week, let me tell you." Sorry Mrs Obama, some jackass beat you to banning diabetes in a can from school lunches. "Personally, I don't trust anybody there with an object designed to cause damage."
"... Rough neighborhood?"
"Kinda sorta. Could be a lot worse than it is." Least in our town if you get mugged there's a 50/50 chance of the mugger having a BB gun. "Anyhow, sometime later we'll have to properly familiarize ourselves with the interior of the building. Since so many of the Masters go there, I'll bet good money a fight is gonna break out there."
School's still in. Can't exactly walk in now. Even if I could use hypnosis or something to seem like I belong, there's at least one of them that's competent enough of a mage to single me ou-
BZZZT-BZZZT-BZZZT-BZZZT-BZZZT-BZZZT
… kinda felt that one coming the second I thought about it.
There was someone staring at me through one of the school's windows, but I couldn't quite make them out.
"...Time to move." I stated with no room for argument.
"Right." Okita could feel it too.
A bus passed by, obstructing the line of sight between us. The second it left-
We were gone.
… Could've sworn I heard someone shouting something about 'challenge accepted'.
Probably not important.
Ten minutes later...
"And this is Ryuudou Temple. Home to Buddhist monks, Witches, and a particularly creepy History teacher." I remark as we stand at least twenty feet away from the gate.
I'm hesitant to step too close to said gate.
I do have the Assassin Servant. So the odds of Caster still having Sasaki Kojiro are a lot lower… but still, that woman is a rule breaker by nature. She could have managed to steal someone else's Servant.
Actually, if anything that's probably the best possibility. At least then her actions will closely mirror the ones she took in the UBW route.
"Hm… alright. Guess this is gonna be a battlefield too?"
"You're catching on. You've already seen Kotomine Church, so that-"
Step-Step-Step-Step-Step-Step-
The world grows silent for a moment as an ominous presence forms behind us.
"Master-!" Okita places herself between me, and the being responsible. Her voice shifting deeper.
"Young man… Young lady… for what purpose have you disturbed these sacred grounds?"
A tall, stiff, and very dangerous looking man stood below us on the steps. Staring expressionless.
"Stay back Orso, something is off about this guy." Okita glares at the man with killing intent to match the atmosphere he gives off.
"Young Lady." The sun reflected off his glasses, obscuring his eyes. "If you stand in the way of my goal, I will have no choice… but to remove you."
Okita grit her teeth, and reached for the invisible hilt of her blade.
Still, she couldn't help but smirk. This was gonna be good.
The tension could be cut with a spoon. And just as it looked like the pin was about to drop-
"((Mr Yamashiro, we're going to be having a talk about your use of the P.A system. A lot of the students are feeling threatened, and it's lowering my approval rati- oh.))" Someone in a student's uniform walks up behind the tall man, and suddenly notices us.
He also immediately notices the tension in the area.
"...((Alright let's all relax here… there's no need for things to get out of hand… there's no need for any lawsuits… I'm sure this is a big misunderstanding…)" he tries to placate everybody.
I have no fucking clue what he's saying, but the body language is enough of a clue to get the jist.
"((Issei… if you stand before me now, the final curtain has fallen on your cabal.))" The man states to him in Japanese.
"((I swear you're going to be the death of me...))" the student remarks as if lamenting his fate. "((Yes, student council let out early today. Thankfully there were no incidents for once. Now can we please just go home before you cause one?))" he asks exasperated.
The tall man nods. "((That is acceptable… what say you, young lady?))"
Okita judges the situation for a moment, relaxes slightly, then guides me to standing aside. Never letting up on her glare.
The man walked passed us on his way to the Temple.
"((However…))" he stops for a moment. And begins to speak in English. "Do not believe that I cannot see your special connection… I wish you both luck."
And like that he's gone.
"Ah… don't mind Mr Kazuki. He's something of an oddity, but he's mostly harmless." The student tries to explain.
My eyes grow wide for a moment.
That was Kazuki? The same Kazuki that's the master of Caster?
I mean… I remember him being more of an emotionless android. This guy seemed more like a Shakespearean villain.
"Harmless? I'm pretty sure he threatened us… like twice." I question the student's hearing for a moment.
"I'm fairly sure he was just asking you to move over so he could get to the Temple… he just has an odd way of doing things." he tries to explain. "Listen, I'm sure he didn't mean any harm, so could we all cool it down?"
He seemed to be honest about not wanting anything to get out of hand, so I decided to let it drop for now.
"...'sigh', alright fine. I'm not looking for trouble anyway… so I take it you know that man?" I guess we're supposed to be having a conversation here.
"Unfortunately… names Issei Ryuudou. I'm a student at the school he works at." he offers his hand for shaking.
Issei? Now why does that name sound familiar… oh right. He's Shirou's friend right? The one he ended up sexually assaulting?
"Robert Orso." I take it firmly. "This is my friend Sakura Okita. I'm visiting the city, and she's been showing me around. I've never seen an Eastern Temple before and, well, here we are."
We decided a while ago that we'd be using that as a half assed attempt to disguise her identity. I was already used to calling her Okita, and unlike Saber, Rider, or Archer, Assassin doesn't sound like it could be a name. It's mainly a title.
As for Sakura, well… that was more her idea. Apparently it was what she used when she had to go undercover as a Shinsengumi. That, and pink was a preferred color of hers.
"Hm…" he seemed to be judging me for a moment. "How long you staying in Fuyuki?"
"Oh, uh… hard to say. At least three… four weeks?" bare minimum. UBW wasn't clear about how long the war actually was.
"Well, I'd imagine a bit more than that really. That's only if things end up for the worse." Okita reasoned.
"Well, as long as that's the case, you should come by next month. The Cherry Blossom festival is coming up. If you're here for the sights, I'd recommend at least passing by." he says.
Cherry Blossom festival? We're not going to have time to stop and smell the flowers. We got a war to get ready for.
I'm about to dismiss this when-
"Sorry, I don't think we'l- 'gah'!" Okita elbows me in the ribs.
"We'd love to go!" She says excited.
"...I guess we'll see if we can get around to it." I say, a bit less enthused.
"...well, make it if you can. Take care Orso." Issei says as he leaves for the Temple.
"Ditto. See you around." I tell him, then turn to Okita."Sooo… what was that abo- you want that dango you were talking about."
I think I'm starting to see a pattern here…
"What can I say? Sweets are my kryptonite." She admits, kinda embarrassed.
"Greaaat… my Servant is a glutton… that's the last thing I need..." I sigh in exasperation.
"Gl-Glutton!? Bu-But I... Waaaaah! My Master is becoming mean! Oh woe is Okita-San!" she cried out.
"Okay, okay, that's overdoing it a little…" I try placating her. "Look, if we're still alive by the time it rolls around, and Caster isn't around to cause trouble, we might stop by."
"Wha-Really? I was just messi- oh yeah sure!" she stumbles, surprised.
Hmph, 'sure changed your tune'.
"Ah... Sanshok-'cough'!" Her daydreaming was interrupted.
I moved to help her, but she swatted me away, and kept coughing into her sleeve.
"...yeah, this war is off to a great start..."
End Theme: Fate/Grand Order: Nisha Senitsu (二者穿一) by Rokka (六花)
Voice Actors decided for characters so far, at least in my headcanon.
Okita Souji- ParsleyVA (example can be found at the one-shot "Bunny Girl Senpai in 30 seconds)
Robert Orso- Tomandre. (Examples can be found on "A Slap on Titan.")
