Day 2: Explanations and Fusterclucks
Ryouko blinked her eyes open, rubbing the sleep out of them. Feeling the surface beneath her, it seemed she'd been lying on her futon. If that was true... then the events of last night must have been a dream... But when did the dream begin? She wondered. Hm... so I passed the practical, walked that girl to her house, went home... ah. I must have went to sleep after eating dinner.
She turned her head to the side, checking her clock. It was only four in the morning. Well, that's fine. I'll just go back to sleep. She began to nuzzle back into the pillow, intent on forgetting that dream.
"Ah, Master! You're awake!" Called an unfamiliar voice, causing a spark of indignation in Ryouko. Seriously, why was Ryouko meeting so many new people recently? It was like she didn't know anyone in Fuyuki. While true, she still denied the fact. She had to at least pretend[/i] that she cared for Civilian A or Random Student B.
Sighing, she sat up to take a look at this newcomer. She looked strangely familiar, reminding Ryouko of the person she'd seen at the end of her dream. Her blond hair framed a cheerful, girlish face with innocent green eyes. She was clad in an armored white dress with black accents, and at her hip was an extravagant blue and gold scabbard which held a sword, most likely the one Ryouko had seen... earlier. It wasn't a dream, was it? She lamented internally.
"Somewhat." Ryouko answered the girl. "You're... King Arthur, right?" It was the best conclusion she could come up with. If Kiritsugu had used Avalon to summon King Arthur, then Ryouko guessed that her usage of Avalon would summon King Arthur as well.
"Oh, no no no." The girl said hastily, waving her hands in denial. "I'm not King Arthur... not yet, anyway. I haven't completed my training to become a Knight, and I'm still a novice with the sword. But I hope to one day become a true King!"
"Uh... okay then..." Ryouko could take this in stride. She really had no idea what exactly to expect from the Holy Grail War, so she hadn't formed too many prior expectations. "So... what's your name, then?"
"I am Arturia Pendragon, Knight-Princess of Britain." Answered... Arturia cheerfully. It didn't sound like a British name to Ryouko, but she supposed Old English names were different enough that it worked. "However, it seems Servants go by their class names to keep their true identities and abilities hidden, so you can also call me 'Saber.'"
Servant? Ryouko thought. Right, Shinji used that word to describe Rider... who herself was going by what seems to be a class name. "So, what are the classes then?" Ryouko asked.
"Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker, Master." The Knight-Princess said, excited. "We shall duel against all of them, and emerge victorious!"
That's... going to be a problem. Ryouko thought, then spoke a question that had sparked in her mind. "What... actually happened last night, anyway? Rider was pretending to be a vampire, Shinji was gloating, you showed up... then what?"
"I intervened, surprising Rider, causing you to fall out of her evil clutches, Master." Arturia recounted. "After that, her master ordered her to retreat, and they fled into the night. I look forward to our future battles!"
"That's... surprisingly tame." Ryouko said. "Although, why are you so... obsessed with battles?
Saber stood up, and began to speak passionately. "Every duel is a step along my path, a waystone in my journey to become king. We learn chivalry from honorable combat, and so I shall learn to be king, grow and develop through hardship... Or at least that's what Merlin says." She blushed, before sitting back down.
"I... see." Ryouko nodded. "Is there anything else I should be aware of?"
"When a Servant is summoned, they're granted instinctive knowledge of the modern world and the Grail War. Likewise, you should have a measure of instinctive knowledge of our opponents, at least those we encounter. With that on our side, our quest will undoubtedly succeed so long as I continue to improve!" Arturia said.
Now that Ryouko thought about it, Arturia was right. When she concentrated, she saw what looked to be encyclopedia entries in her mind's eye. Seven in total, they corresponded to the classes Saber had mentioned earlier, yet only two had any information in them: one on Saber, and one on Rider. They summarized and expanded on information she already knew, but she could still see the use, due to the fact that the stats classified things she'd only observed indirectly.
Now for the more important things: Objectives, Strategy, and Tactics. "So," Ryouko said, "what is your wish?"
"My wish is to seek the grail." Saber answered, making Ryouko think she'd been misunderstood.
"No, what I mean is 'what will you wish for if we win?'" She clarified.
"I don't have a wish." Saber said. "At least, not one that has not already been granted, at least in part. I want to fight through this war so that I can become worthy of kingship."
...Eh? "But... if you look at your history, you ended up proving yourself worthy of kingship already. That is to say, your future self was worthy, which is... also your past self in a manner of speaking." Ryouko pointed out. "If that's the case, what's the use in proving yourself today after you have already succeeded? For that matter, how would it make... any difference?"
"I'm not actually sure." Saber chuckled nervously. "I honestly have no idea why I was summoned."
A moment passed, and Ryouko gave up on trying to understand that part of the situation. "Actually, I'd say this is fairly appropriate." She remarked. "You see, I don't really have a wish for the grail myself. I just want to protect those I care about. So... how 'bout this? You help me protect my family, and I aid you in your quest for the grail."
"Of course!" Arturia responded enthusiastically. "Protecting innocents is one of the most important duties of a knight!"
Ryouko smiled. "Thanks." She then tilted her head as she began to contemplate something. "Actually, if we really do win, we probably should have a wish prepared for the grail, y'know?"
"Do you have any ideas?" Saber asked.
"Well..." Ryouko smiled sadly. "My dad fought in the last grail war. The wish that he wanted to come true was to create a world where no one would ever need to cry again. It's not a wish I'm fully invested in, but still, it's a very beautiful wish, and it's the one he wanted to come true. If I could fulfill his wish... I would like that very much."
"A world where nobody needs to cry..." Arturia smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like a worthy goal."
Ryouko nodded. "I'm glad you agree. Now, I'm going to need to get prepared for this war."
\==*==/
Ryouko pulled a book on the shelf in the surface part of her workshop - really just the tool shed, more or less. As anyone with any sort of appreciation for secret passages could realize, the book was not actually a book. Rather, it was a switch that, when pulled, opened the real part of Ryouko's workshop. A part of the floor telescoped outards, and a pole reached out from underneath to the ceiling. Sliding down the pole, Ryouko noted the oddly sterile environment that she'd built from hand - or rather, from magic. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of a simple plastic, and the lights she'd installed were designed to simulate daylight.
The pole was the main entrance of her workshop, a hall that was basically a monument to her academic interests. The right wall was dominated by a series of sliding whiteboards, each of which was filled with various equations, symbols, crappy drawings, and whatever half-baked idea she'd come up as of late. Meanwhile, the left wall was most prominent for its enormous collection of books. Ryouko was an avid reader, and while this place didn't fuel that particular craving, it did the next best thing: provide reference materials for every possible subject she could find interesting, and allow her to develop her magecraft. The main area of her laboratory was littered with random tools, pencils, open notebooks, and chairs of far too many varieties. There was also the occasional half-finished project, but those typically ended up getting in the way when she was designing her next project.
Past the "lounge" area lay the true results of Ryouko's experiments and tinkering: a series of mystic codes, standing proud on top of pedestals that displayed them in all their glory. There were swords, bows, guns, and sci-fi styled armor, surrounding what had to be the most important machine in Ryouko's collection. It was designed to use microneedles to extract her blood plasma, and through a series of possibly excessive steps, affix the prana stored inside the plasma to liquified hydrogen, producing what she had titled Merlin Gas. While it wasn't actually gaseous, it still was made of a material that was a gas at room temperature, so as far as she was concerned, it counted.
Why was it so important? Simple: everything she'd made used it as a power source, and for good reason too. Nothing that existed could quite compete with the energy released by the combustion of Magically Reinforced Hydrogen... aside from nuclear energy sources, but Ryouko absolutely refused to have any contact with those whatsoever. There were lengths that even she wouldn't go to.
From the display pedestals, Ryouko took a pair of bracers and strapped them to her wrists, ensuring they were firmly secured. Then, she took an aerogel-lined tube, filled it with Merlin gas from the tank she had beneath the floor, and transferred it to her bracers. This mystic code was a simple one, mostly used for storing Merlin Gas, but when she wasn't extracting exergy from that combustion, she could use them to shoot beams of flame much stronger than those she'd shot at Rider.
That was the only Mystic Code she took as of this moment: anything else would be much too conspicuous to carry around at school. Once she had a better idea of how exactly to handle this War, she'd most likely fully arm herself, but that was not now.
There was one final thing in Ryouko's workshop that did not quite fit with... anything in there, really. A simple, wooden shrine, on top of which rested a series of pictures and memorabilia. This was Kiritsugu's shrine. When he died, Ryouko had... not been in the best shape for some time afterwards, but she'd still wanted to erect a shrine to him in the main house. However, Taiga had put her foot down on the matter, saying that it would have the exact opposite effect on Ryouko than she'd wanted: causing her to grieve even more, rather than moving on. In a fit of pique, she had decided to build one in her workshop, dedicating it not only to her dad, but also to her older sister, who she'd never met, and all of the other parents she'd had, which totalled to five once she counted Kiritsugu. Still though, it was mainly his shrine, and underneath it, she housed the last thing he had ever given her.
Opening the bottom part of the shrine, she reached in and pulled it out. Avalon. The Everdistant Utopia. The legendary scabbard of King Arthur, a Noble Phantasm that her father had used throughout the Grail War. Now that she had a past version of Arturia, her servant could hopefully use it to the effect described in the legends. Whether or not that was actually possible, Ryouko didn't know, but she had to try.
She held Avalon close as she jumped out of her workshop, using the energy in her bracers to propel herself the whole way.
\==*==/
"You should take it."
"No, you should!"
"I don't deserve it. It belongs to you."
"But you'll need it more than me."
Ryouko sighed. This Canadian Standoff was getting nowhere. "Look, I have been holding this thing out for, like, a minute, and my arms are quite literally shaking from the strain. Can you please at least take it for a couple seconds?"
In response, Arturia gently pushed the scabbard back towards Ryouko's chest. When her fingers touched the Noble Phantasm, Ryouko could swear that her outfit... flickered slightly, briefly turning blue before returning to its natural white color, but she couldn't be exactly sure.
"I am not the true king." Arturia said. "Not yet. Besides, Avalon will help you heal your wound."
"Eh?" Ryouko exclaimed, confused. "What wound?"
"Rider tried to suck your blood before I was able to save you." She explained. "She succeeded to an extent."
Ryouko instinctively reached up to the side of her neck that had been bitten, and felt the puncture holes, the remnants of Rider's attack, where her blood had been shed and... consumed. The area around the wounds was crusted with lines of dried blood, coming off in flakes when Ryouko removed her hand.
"How didn't I notice that earlier?" Ryouko wondered out loud, even as she began to break out into a cold sweat. She gave a thin smile. "Y'know, I think I will take Avalon, at least for now."
As she began the process of internalizing the Noble Phantasm, Arturia asked her a question. "Are you okay, Master?"
"Oh yeah, perfectly fine." Ryouko said, dizzily washing the blood off. "I'm just a little squeamish about blood loss. I'm going to go lie down in my bed now." She began walking towards her room, but the cold feeling got worse. "Or... maybe I'll just lie down here." She lay on the floor, resting her head on one of the pillows that was normally used for sitting.
"Is... is there anything I can do to help?" Saber asked, concerned.
"Nah, it'll fade in a bit." Ryouko waved off the offer. "I'm kinda used to it by this point."
"Okay, um..." The Servant scratched her head nervously. "What should I do now?"
The moment Saber said that, Ryouko heard the sound of the front door sliding open. "Quick, go into Spirit form!" She ordered, which had a weird effect when she was just lying down, but Saber complied, concentrating.
Or at least, she tried to. "I can't enter spirit form." She informed, even as Sakura began walking to the kitchen.
"Then hide!" Ryouko whispered.
"Where?"
"Anywhere!" Ryouko urged. Thankfully, Saber left immediately, running out of the living area even as Sakura entered. "Good morning." Ryouko greeted casually, as if this was a completely normal occurrence and in no way out of place.
Sakura stood in the threshold, staring at Ryouko, with a rather dumbfounded expression on her face. "Um... Ryouko..."
"Yes?" Ryouko smiled nonchalantly.
"Why are you on the floor?" Sakura asked.
"It's actually very comfy." Ryouko lied, pointedly ignoring the hardness of the wood. "Would you like to join me?"
Sakura continued standing there, trying to make sense of the situation, before eventually shaking her head and walking over to Ryouko. She crouched, putting her hand to the other girl's forehead. "Your skin is clammy, and your temperature is pretty high. What happened?"
"Um..." Ryouko tried to think of an explanation. She couldn't really say 'Your brother ordered a woman in bondage gear to suck my blood, causing my body to react in an extremely unproductive way hours later,' could she? "I was feeling a little sick, but I should be good in a bit." She said, without technically lying.
Sakura's forehead scrunched up in concern. "Do you have any idea what the cause is?"
Ryouko looked away. "Nah, but I know I'll be fine."
"How could you possibly know that if you don't know what caused it?" Sakura pointed out.
"I..." Ryouko began, but then sighed, shrugging helplessly. "I couldn't."
Sakura shook her head yet again, and went to go and take Ryouko's temperature, which was only mildly higher than normal, but Sakura decided that was enough reason to keep Ryouko where she was. After that, Sakura went on to make breakfast, the supposed most important meal of the day. (This was actually a topic subject to much debate in the Emiya Residence. Taiga, being a rather ravenous eater, was of the opinion that every meal was the most important meal of the day, while Ryouko said that the most important meal was dinner, as it served the purpose of giving everybody something to look forward to throughout the day. Sakura technically supported Taiga's viewpoint, but that was only because she refused to take sides.) Meanwhile, Ryouko continued lying on the floor, pouting.
\===*===/
"Why are you on the floor?" Taiga asked.
Ryouko lifted her head slightly. "Because Sakura thinks I'm sick." She'd long since recovered from her body reacting in stupid ways, but Sakura continued to insist that she should continue lying down.
"You have a fever. That means you're sick." Sakura called from the kitchen.
"I used to have one, but not anymore!" Ryouko retorted.
"Then go and take your temperature to prove it." Sakura suggested.
"I would, but I can't really do that when you're keeping me here." Ryouko asserted.
Taiga sighed, muttering something about old couples. "I'll go get a thermometer." With that, she went further into the house, passing the medical kit that Sakura had already got out. However, neither Sakura nor Ryouko were actually focusing on Taiga's actions, so neither of them bothered to mention it.
Ryouko gave a sigh, resigned to spending the rest of the day on the floor, when she heard a shout of surprise from another room.
"RYOUKO! WHY IS THERE A GIRL IN YOUR ROOM!?" Taiga yelled.
A lot of things happened immediately afterwards. Sakura jumped in shock, dropping the ladle into the pot. Ryouko's eyes widened, realizing that she'd completely forgotten about Saber, and she got up to run to her room, with Sakura calling out for her to stop, but deciding to follow Ryouko after that didn't work. Upon arrival, Ryouko skidded to a stop in the face of an angry Tiger. Sakura, however, didn't have time to react as she turned the corner, and accidentally ran into Ryouko, causing both girls to fall over.
Arturia nervously walked out of Ryouko's room, revealing that she'd had the presence of mind to dematerialize her arms and armor. That would have been even harder to explain. Still, though... "Sakura, can you please get up?" Ryouko grimaced. "You're making me feel inadequate."
"Oh, sorry!" Sakura quickly stood up, giving Ryouko the space to do the same.
"Well?" Taiga pressed.
"I'm sorry, Fuji-nee, but there's a perfectly logical explanation for this." Ryouko affirmed, giving Saber an intense look that said 'play along.' She didn't actually have any ideas about what to say, so she quickly scanned Taiga and Sakura for signs of suspicion or ideas that she could use, but then saw something that made Ryouko's blood run cold: Sakura had a faint, almost imperceptible bruise on her cheek. Considering the situation surrounding the only possible person that she knew who would do something like that to Sakura... Ryouko knew what she was going to say, her logic driven by a cold anger.
"So I was walking home after I made sure that Sakura had gotten to her house safely, when Shinji approached me." Ryouko said, as her voice began to grow more frigid. "He was apparently offended that I told him off at yesterday's archery club meeting, and decided to take a joke I made way too far. Namely, he pulled a knife on me, justified by a fake suggestion of 'knives at sunset.'"
"Okay... but how does this girl come into all of this?" Taiga asked, eyes still wide in shock, in a way akin to literally everyone in the situation aside from Ryouko.
"Well, I was just getting to that." Ryouko reassured. "You see, I was able to hold Shinji off for a time, until she came along with a pipe, and used it to fend him off and force him to retreat. After a bit of conversation, I learned that she was..." Ryouko trailed off for a bit, trying to think of something applicable. "She's a foreign exchange student from England that, due to a paperwork error, thought that we were going to house her while she attended Homurahara, despite there being no real family that agreed to house her. So, I decided that she could stay here, given her circumstances."
"Are you sure?" Taiga said. "That seems a little far-fetched. Also," she turned to Saber, "what is your name?"
Oh shit shit shit shit. Ryouko thought. She needed to think of a good name, and fast.
"I've had far stranger things happen to me. As for my name, it's Sab-" Atruria began.
"-rina!" Ryouko interrupted, completing the name. "Sabrina, uh... Lily! Sabrina Lily-san."
"Er... Yes!" The servant that was not named Sabrina said. "That is definitely my full name. There is absolutely no doubt about that."
Taiga took a deep breath. "So, what should we do about this Shinji situation?"
"Absolutely nothing." Ryouko answered. "He's an unstable, spoiled rich kid. He'd probably be able to circumvent any charges levied against him. Although... Sakura."
The girl in question perked up. "Yes?"
"Would it be fine for you if you stayed here instead of at the Matou manor? I personally do not like the idea of you spending any more time near Shinji than is necessary."
"I... um... Ah... that is to say..." Sakura stuttered, surprised at the offer. She finished by saying something under her breath, too quiet for Ryouko to hear.
"Sorry, what? I didn't catch that." Ryouko said.
"I said... that I would like that very much." Sakura repeated, blush evident on her face.
Taiga chuckled. "I'll go call her grandfather." She left the area, missing Ryouko's frozen smile upon the mention of Sakura's grandfather. Ryouko didn't know how he knew what he did, but she did know that he had no right to know those things. There was also the fact that he was confident of his ability to hurt her even considering their respective ages, and it really just gave Ryouko the impression that she should stay away from that man as much as possible.
Sakura sighed. "I'll go finish breakfast." She left the hallway as well.
Once Sakura was gone, Ryouko looked at "Sabrina." "Okay, so you got a general understanding of the current situation?"
Saber laughed nervously. "I think I did... Your family is even stranger than mine was."
Ryouko smiled thinly. "Yeah, things get like that sometimes. Anyway, you're going to be attending school with us, so you're going to need a uniform." She walked over to the dresser, and brought out one of her spares. "Here. Put this on." She tossed it over to the Servant.
Saber caught it flawlessly. "Okay... but first, what should I call you, Master?"
"Oh yeah, I never did introduce myself..." Ryouko mused. "Ryouko. Emiya Ryouko. Any variation is fine."
Meanwhile, Arturia took on a thoughtful expression. "Emiya..."
"Yeah?"
"Oh, nothing!" Saber said. "It's just that your surname seems familiar to me somehow, but I can't place from where..."
Ryouko considered that. "Well, my father did summon King Arthur, who I assume is your future self, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of bleed through."
"Hm... Yeah, I guess that makes sense... I should change now." Arturia said.
"Right." Ryouko slid the door shut, and a couple minutes later, the family had breakfast, albeit with one rather... large stomached newcomer. When it came time to leave for archery practice, they left, assuming nothing could go wrong...
\===*===/
Ryouko froze when she entered the school's gates. She heard something, but her ears didn't pick up the sound. The air in the school's courtyard was filled with that not-sound, its noise feeling almost like a sinister sizzling, but muffled, as if it were obstructed by some sort of membrane.
"Hm?" Taiga said, turning around. "What is it, Ryouko?"
"I... think I'll be skipping Archery practice today." Ryouko excused herself. "I'll need to show Lily-san around school." Obviously, that wasn't her real purpose. All magi are capable of perceiving magic, to a certain extent, but since it was not something that humanity had any natural awareness of, a person's magic sense had to be expressed via a preexisting sensory neural pathway. For Ryouko, that sense was hearing. Taking that into account, alongside the nature of the noise she'd heard and the situation at hand, it was obvious that this Bounded Field was dangerous, and required investigation. The fact that she felt her Od slowly being absorbed by the field in tiny amounts was also a rather clear indicator.
Besides, Ryouko also needed to smooth over the details of Saber's "enrollment" in Homurahara.
"That's okay. Have fun!" Taiga gave Ryouko leave to roam about the school.
"Thanks!" Ryouko said. "Please follow me, Lily-san."
With that, the pair left, not noticing Sakura's accusatory glance towards them.
\===*===/
"So, how are we going to find this dastardly schemer?" Arturia asked.
"We aren't." Ryouko answered. "This field is obviously extremely dangerous, so I will not allow it to be activated while it can harm Fuji-nee or Sakura."
"But how will you do that without finding the culprit?"
"Well, there are quite a lot of ways." Ryouko said. "The easiest would be to hypnotize them to not come to school, but that poses several issues, both ethical and practical. The practical issues could be partially eliminated if they were excused from school officially, but that still may rouse suspicions among any masters among the student population, which is honestly unusually high, even though there are only two... at least, anyway. Ultimately, after considering my options carefully, I determined that the best course of action would be to blow up the school."
Arturia was dumbfounded. "You're going to try to save the people in a building by blowing up said building?"
"Pretty much, yeah. I mean, I won't do it when there are people in the building, it's just to keep people out of the vicinity, after all." Ryouko reasons. "Besides, it won't be the whole building, just most of it."
The Servant considered that logic. "But how will we find the culprit? What if they just build the barrier somewhere else?"
"Well, yes, finding the culprit would be preferable, but we really have no way of knowing exactly who did his... even though it's probably Shinji, considering he's the only other master here that we know of. There's also the question of exactly when this barrier will do things beyond just harvesting miniscule amounts of Od from everyone. We don't want him to activate it here and now, so this is ultimately the safest route."
"I... suppose." Arturia seems to accept the logic.
"Anyway, look alive." Ryouko suggests. "We're here." She indicated the door to the Dean's office, which they'd been walking towards.
Arturia glanced sideways at Ryouko. "How are you going to explain this, anyway?"
Ryouko grinned. "You'll see." With that, she opened the door, revealing a small, sparsely-appointed room, which housed a desk with a couple trinkets on it, a couple chairs, and not much else. The Dean of Homurahara Academy sat behind the desk, looking like just the sort of tired, resigned person you'd expect to be in a position where they dealt with people like Ryouko daily.
She looked up when Ryouko entered, and her expression quickly soured. "What is it now, Ryouko?" She sighed, conveying the universally sympathetic sentiment of 'It's too early.'
Ryouko, however, wasn't here to chat, as fun as that may be. "These are not the droids you're looking for." She intoned, staring straight into the Deen's eyes and waving her hand.
The Deen blinked as the spell-because it was a spell-washed over her. "These are not the droids we're looking for." She agreed, confirming that the hypnosis had worked. Yes, Ryouko had based her aria for hypnosis on a Jedi Mind Trick. It'd just seemed like the right thing to do. Now for the more important part.
"This person right here," Ryouko indicated Saber, "is a British foreign exchange student named Lily Sabrina. She is most definitely supposed to be a student here, and according to the paperwork, she is currently residing in the Emiya Household."
The Deen repeated the words back to her. Honestly, Ryouko wasn't having that much fun with this, considering that it was a one-sided conversation. Still...
"Today, the reason I came here is that I was complaining about the mismanagement of the budget for extracurricular clubs, but you informed me that it was out of your hands." Ryouko made up, to the agreement of the Deen, giving a plausible excuse for why she was visiting her. After that, she and Arturia left the office, and began to set up a couple of the explosives before class began.
\===*===/
Second period ended, and Tohsaka Rin left the music room. It was a troublesome situation, really. She didn't know who had constructed this Bounded Field, she couldn't go and investigate it until the entire school left, for a vast slew of reasons.
Well, as things stood, her current situation was the best she could get at the moment. If she went to investigate this field, she'd both tarnish her reputation and, more importantly, risk someone seeing her perform magic. If that happened, she might end up needing to remove their memories or, failing that... kill them. She'd always been careful, and wasn't about to tarnish her perfect reputation now.
When she turned a corner, she noticed a first-year she hadn't seen before carrying a large stack of papers. She had a very slight build, so Rin thought that she would've had trouble carrying the papers, but she wasn't. Instead, she was doing so with ease. Rin's eyes drifted up to get a better look at her face, and was briefly stunned. The girl had green, jewel-like eyes, flaxen-gold hair, and a bright complexion. She wore an innocent, yet courageous smile that made Rin feel more cheerful just by looking at it, and the soft contours of her face simply reaffirmed the kindness and beauty readily apparent.
A blush rose to Rin's face, unbidden. This person didn't look like she was having trouble, but you could never be completely sure, after all.
"I'll help." Rin said, approaching the girl, who looked up in surprise, which was quickly wiped away as her smile widened in gratitude.
"Thanks!" She said, letting Rin take half of the stack. Rin was again flat-footed by the bell-like voice of the girl, but managed to regain her composure more quickly.
"So, where are we taking these?" Rin asked.
"Apparently... Kuzuki-sensei wanted them recalled because there was a misspelling." The girl answered.
"Oh, he's my homeroom teacher." Rin remarked. "Do you know where his office is?"
The first year's eyes widened in surprise, before a blush rose up her face. "...No." She said, embarrassed.
"It's okay." Rin consoled, chuckling slightly. "You just got here, didn't you?"
"...Yes." The first-year answered reluctantly.
"Then I'll show you the way." Rin said, and began leading the girl to the World History teacher's office. "I'm Rin, Tohsaka Rin. What's your name?"
"Sabrina. Lily Sabrina." The girl mimicked the order Rin gave her name in. The two of them walked in silence for a bit, before Sabrina spoke up. "Actually..."
"Yes, Lily-chan?" Rin inquired.
"Um... do you know which classroom a student named Matou Shinji is in?"
Rin sighed. "Do you really want to know?" She asked, to which Sabrina nodded earnestly in response. "Class 2-C. Why?"
"Oh, no reason..." Sabrina trailed off.
When no further response seemed forthcoming, Rin spoke. "Well, take my word for it. He's not a nice guy, and a cute girl like yourself shouldn't get involved with him, okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I know." Sabrina's smile turned a bit more daring. Rin considered the topic for a bit, before noticing their location.
"We're here, Lily-chan." Rin informed, before Sabrina took back the papers and went to give them to Kuzuki-sensei. Meanwhile, Rin returned to her classroom, trying to not think of the overwhelming adorableness of the girl she'd met. She half-expected Archer to make fun of her, but he seemed deep in thought.
Odd.
\===*===/
Ryouko stood up from the bucket her servant had placed on the roof, stretching her back under the moonlight. "That should be the last of them." She said, to which Saber breathed a sigh of relief.
"Finally. I thought we'd keep setting up these explosives until dawn."
Ryouko chortled. "God no. We don't need nearly that much. Besides, we'd need to probably wait longer than a day for them to be fully set if we did that many." She began to turn to go back to the ground floor, but stopped when an unfamiliar voice spoke up from the top of the water tower.
"Oh, you're just going to leave them? What a waste." The voice, a male one, lamented.
Ryouko whirled around alongside Arturia, and looked upon the newcomer. The man was dressed in a deep blue bodysuit that would have normally looked ridiculous, but he managed to make it seem fearsome. He casually carried a rather large spear on his back, and his posture was like that of a bird of prey, or perhaps a cat, casually looking at his intended targets, with the ability to deal death at any moment.
He smirked.
Considering his attire and his weapon, Ryouko surmised that this was a servant of the Lancer class. Assuming that was true, retreat was not a real option. Thus, she could engage in combat or diplo-
"I'll defend you, Master." Saber said, interrupting Ryouko's thoughts. "You should get to safety." She stepped forward in front of Ryouko as her armored dress materialized, making some weird, unfocused part of Ryouko's brain start imagining Arturia as the star of some sort of magical girl anime. Tuning that thought out, she sprinted to the fence and leapt above it, powering the maneuver with her bracers.
"As if I'd let you." Lancer said grimly, and then shot from the water tower to Ryouko, intending to strike her in midair. However, she was able to quickly form a rudimentary shield to protect herself. It wouldn't be enough to hold against a normal thrust while on the ground, but that wasn't what it was supposed to do. All it was doing was distributing the strike's force, and so Ryouko, instead of being skewered, was launched clear of the rooftop.
His attempt foiled, Lancer was just barely able to bring his spear up to block when Saber appeared by his side and swung her sword. Still, he was forced into the side of a wall, reducing his mobility. He grimaced.
Saber continued pressing the attack, trading blow after blow with the spearman, a grin matching Lancer's earlier one clear on her face. She was truly enjoying this battle, an opportunity to test her skills against an opponent who carried enough renown to become a heroic spirit.
Lancer didn't disappoint. Even after being put on the back foot, he was able to hold his own at a range where his spear became unwieldy. After only a couple seconds-the equivalent of nearly twenty different strikes- he was able to respond with attacks of his own, and managed to begin pushing Saber back far enough that he was able to extricate himself from the corner, after which he swifty ran around to begin attacking Saber from another angle.
He pushed forward with a strong thrust, but her instincts saw it coming. She sidestepped, and swung Caliburn at his unprotected legs. In order to avoid the potentially crippling blow, Lancer thrusted his spear's head against the ground and leapt, reaching the other side of the rooftop within moments. Arturia reoriented herself to face her foe.
"So, I take it that your sword is your Noble Phantasm?" He said, positioning himself into a defensive stance.
Arturia grinned. "Indeed, Servant of the Lance. I would like to reveal its name, but-"
"Caliburn." Lancer interrupted. "While not as famed as your other sword, there is no Heroic Spirit who wouldn't recognize that blade."
Arturia's shoulders slumped. "Already? I thought that people would take at least a couple days to figure it out." She pouted.
Lancer chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint, King of Knights. As recompense, perhaps we could call this a draw?"
Arturia considered the option. She really did, but there was really only one real option. "No. Now that my identity has been revealed, there's no need to hold back." With that, she held Caliburn close, and began charging her Noble Phantasm.
Lancer grinned, and set his spear, causing it to absorb mana in massive quantities, coalescing into a demonic red-black aura around the entire lance. The next moment would be a contest of their legends, to see who was truly the stronger Hero.
And then the door to the roof opened, revealing the second-year student that Arturia had met earlier that day, Tohsaka Rin. The two servants looked at her in surprise, an expression which she returned in kind.
"...Lily-chan?" Rin said, dumbfounded by the Kouhai's current... status.
Lancer was the first to act, letting the prana dissipate from his spear and lunging at the student, full force. Saber ran at him in a path that she hoped would allow her to to intercept him in time, but part of her knew it was futile. She wouldn't get there in time. The spearhead was thrust at Rin...
But it was deflected. A tall man in black and red materialized by her side, holding a dark, short, crescent-shaped sword. Lancer was pushed back, shocked by the intervention. When she reached Rin, Saber decided to stand by the side of the unknown Servant. They might not have been officially allies, but they still had a common enemy at the moment.
"So, you're a master. And you..." Lancer said grimly, analyzing the unknown servant. "Are an Archer. I'm wise enough to know I'm outmatched when against two servants. I'll leave you all be for now." With that, he ran and jumped over the rooftop's fence, fleeing at incredible speeds-fast enough that neither Saber nor Archer could keep up with him.
The trio that was left on the roof proceeded to sheath their weapons, if they had them out, and stand there awkwardly. Neither Rin nor Saber had any idea what to say, nor did Archer, for that matter.
Arturia opened her mouth to say something, but then the forest caught fire.
Ryouko!
\===*===/
Ryouko twisted in midair and mentally plotted her trajectory. Lancer's strike had carried extremely large amounts of force, so considering her current speed, she'd intercept the ground... somewhere in the forest, so long as she managed to avoid getting impaled by a branch or something stupid like that. She repositioned the rudimentary shield of air she'd created, forced as much power into it as it could take, and hoped that it could take enough punishment.
Thankfully, the shield managed to hold out against the branches. However, they still obscured her vision, so she didn't know when she would-
-Crash!-
She landed, completely unprepared, and her shield broke against the force, protecting her from the worst of it, while still letting her shamelessly drop to the ground. She struggled to her feet, brushing herself off.
Well, she thought, I'm not doing that again. She turned around, looking back in the direction of the school. At least I'm more safe now. I guess I can cross "getting thrown from a building by a man in blue tights" off the bucket list.
Then, as if to punish her for thinking she was safe, a familiar voice spoke up from behind.
"Ah, Emiya. I've been expecting you." Matou Shinji said. Ryouko whirled around to see the seaweed-haired asshole smugly leaning against a tree, an unfamiliar book in his hands. "True, I thought that you'd have that adorable knight with you, but I suppose I can't get lucky all the time."
Ryouko scowled, rolling up her sleeves and pointing her left bracer at Shinji. "What do you want?"
"Oh, I'm hurt." Shinji mock-protested. "This is the response I get after I went out of my way to offer an alliance to my sister's best friend?"
"Seriously?" Ryouko raised an eyebrow. "That's your motive? What makes you think that I'd join up with you of all people?"
"Well, your servant seemed amicable enough after I promised to help search for the person who created that Bounded Field. I thought that she'd tell you about it, but I guess she forgot."
Ryouko blinked.
"What."
\===*===/
Eight hours earlier...
"Halt, evildoer!" Saber shouted at the master who had attacked hers by proxy the previous night. He turned around, and looked at her with a disinterested expression.
"Ah, Emiya's servant. Why are you here?" He didn't seem too concerned, probably because she was unlikely to actually attack him in daylight, even if they were outside at the moment and away from witnesses within earshot.
"Undo this Bounded Field right now!" Arturia ordered.
"Oh, you mean the Bounded Field around the school? I would if I could." He said. "But since I'm not the one who put it up, that's pretty difficult."
Arturia relaxed her stance, surprised. "You're not the one who put up this Bounded Field?"
"No, I'm not. I'm actually trying to find the person responsible myself." He claimed.
"Really?"
"Yeah." Shinji answered, but then raised a finger as if a thought had occurred to him. "Actually, I have an idea. What if your master and I join forces to find out who did this?"
\===*===/
Present time.
"And that's how I found out you were going to be in the school after it ended." Shinji finished.
Ryouko narrowed her eyes. "And where's Rider?"
"I sent her away for the time being. Her presence would not be very good for these negotiations."
Ryouko grinned. "Perfect." She shot a beam of concentrated fire at Shinji, who was just able to duck. The beam dissipated soon after, without hitting any trees.
"I see. That's how it is." Shinji scowled, and opened his book. Its pages began to move of their own accord, as if a wind was blowing through them. Suddenly, the shadows in the forest began to darken, and coalesced into four different blade-like, surrounding Ryouko, before they shot towards her.
Shit! Ryouko cursed mentally. With these attacking her, she couldn't focus on Shinji without risking getting hit. Still...
She rolled out of the way as the shadow blades converged on her location. Instead of hitting each other, they repositioned themselves so their paths didn't intersect, and shot at Ryouko once more. She raised her right bracer and shot a beam at one of them, testing its durability. When the jet of fire hit it, it dissolved. So she could damage them effectively.
She dodged between gap formed by the loss of one of the blades, and before they could reposition themselves, she drew on her bracers to create a crescent of wind, slashing through the shadows. Now that she didn't have those shadows attacking her, she could focus on the real problem.
Ryouko turned to Shinji, who was standing straight up now, fear in his eyes. She took the chance to fire twin beams of flame at him from both her bracers, positioned just so that even if he dodged one, he'd be straight in the path of another.
The moment before the beams made contact, a chain whipped out, intercepting their paths. Rider materialized in front of her master.
"You should leave." The servant said to Shinji, making it the first time Ryouko had heard her speak. "This opponent is too much for you." The anthropomorphic turd scowled even harder, before giving in and running away.
Once Shinji was out of earshot, Ryouko considered her options. She could either try to fight a foe who was stronger, faster, and tougher than she was, or she could try to talk it out with the servant...
Well, her alignment was apparently Chaotic Good. That meant that Ryouko had at least a chance to turn Rider, as far as she could tell.
Surprisingly, Rider was the first to talk. "You aren't going to use a Command Seal?"
Ryouko... had no idea what those were, but she obviously couldn't reveal that, so... "I don't need one. More importantly, are you sure you want Shinji to be your Master?" Ryouko asked. "He's a really terrible person. Like, seriously, he hits his sister."
"So you are trying to convince me to abandon that boy and join you?" Rider said. "I wonder, how much are you motivated by sympathy, and how much are you motivated by simple fear?"
Well shit. She saw through me. "Well, when I said that, I was more focused on the fact that you could probably kill me with a glance, but now that I think about it... Oh god, I'm ninety nine percent sure that Shinji is at least some variety of womanizer, but... Are you okay?" Ryouko's eyes were wide in horror, feelings of concern distracting her from the sheer absurdity of the fact that she'd just asked a Heroic Spirit, who, by her own admission, could probably kill her with a glance, if she was okay.
Rider chuckled. "I see. So you actually are a good person. In that case, I shall kill you mercifully." Then, before Ryouko was able to open her mouth to object, either to the "good person" part or the "kill" part, Rider threw one of her dagger spike chain... things at Ryouko, who was just able to jump out of the way. She hit the ground and took a couple scrapes, but nothing too serious.
Ryouko clamored to her feet, only to find the chain-spike snaking back around towards her, even as Rider threw another spike. Of course. Why wouldn't she move them with her mind? It's not like she's blatantly overpowered or anything. Ryouko complained mentally as she created a circular shield of force around herself, barely deflecting the spikes. She looked back at where Rider was, and didn't see her.
Shit. Ryouko thought as chain-spikes began to shoot around the forest in every direction, wrapping around trees and cutting off any path of escape. She was so occupied with trying to find Rider that she didn't notice the spike heading towards her side until it was nearly too late. She was just able to create a shield around her bracer and block the projectile, but that proved to be just as bad of an option, as the spike's chain circled around her torso, trapping her.
Ryouko began to try and struggle free of the chain, but it was rather futile, especially after she was lifted up by it, another chain acting as a sort of pulley. She found herself face to face with Rider, who was kneeling atop another one of her chains.
"Do you have any last words?" Rider asked, pressing a spike against Ryouko's throat.
Ryouko closed her eyes, desperately trying to think of something, anything that could get her out of this situation and in a wide open space, where Rider wouldn't be so overpoweringly strong in her element.
Then it hit. In her element, huh? Well, you could say I'm also in my element. With all of these trees around, it's practically a fire hazard. Screw it, I'm going to do it.
Ryouko mumbled something that could possibly count as her "Last Words." Rider leaned closer.
"What was that?"
Ryouko opened her eyes. "I said, I never liked this forest anyway." With that, she expended a significant amount of Merlin Gas in her left bracer, producing a wave of force so strong that the chains around her shattered, and Rider was blown backwards. With the remaining power in her left bracer, Ryouko softened her fall and drew a circular boundary marking in the Earth that encompassed a significant region of the forest. She then ejected both gas vials and caught them.
"You see, you're blatantly overpowered in tight spaces where there are a lot of stable things to wrap chains around." Ryouko explained, holding the remaining vial aloft. "So the only way to counteract that is to remove everything stable here besides the ground itself." She dropped the vial full of Merlin Gas, and burned all of its contents, producing enough energy to ignite every single tree within the boundary she'd established.
The forest became noticeably hotter when everything caught flame, but not as much as one would expect. Rider, in an attempt to stop... whatever it was that Ryouko was going to do, threw a dagger at her, but it was forced aside by some unknown source. That's when Rider realized what the girl was doing: she was burning the trees not just to cut off Rider's advantage, but also to fuel whatever magecraft she was about to pull off.
The fire grew in magnitude, and Ryouko began to float upwards in the air, a sphere of whirling wind surrounding her as she began to chant.
\===*===/
Rin gazed at the forest, wreathed in flame, before turning to L- Saber. "Do you know what's going on there?"
Saber's eyes were wide. "My master's probably in danger... I'm sorry. I'll explain everything later." She jumped over the fence with a burst of prana, and began running toward the wildfire.
"Lily-chan!" Rin futilely reached out for the rapidly shrinking figure. Her frustration with the situation grew rapidly. "Archer! Support me!"
"Are you sure this is the wisest course of action?" Her servant questioned, but she was already gone, having jumped over the fence herself. Archer sighed, and surveyed the situation from above. The fire was contained in a perfect circle, at the center of which, within a spherical wall of wind, a person wearing the Homurahara Academy girl's uniform floated. She was easily within the range of his Clairvoyance, and he could tell that she had orange-red hair, tied in a tight braid behind her back. He didn't recognize this person, but he... felt that she should not exist, if his-admittedly disjointed-were correct. On the forest floor, he saw Rider, desperately trying to stop the girl, using a truly massive number of her spiked chains. Meanwhile, Rin and the odd Saber were trying to find a safe way into the circle of flame, while... Shinji was fleeing the scene. He was about to try to open a path for Rin and Saber via copious use of projectile bombardment, but then the flames changed color to a pure white.
That's not good. Archer thought.
\===*===/
Ryouko accessed her family's crest for the ritual's formula-because it was a ritual, with a full ten counts. She hadn't ever actually used this one before, as she'd never had anything that she was willing to sacrifice something as substantial as, for example, a forest for. Thankfully, the knowledge recorded in her crest was enough to compensate for any lack of experience. Once she was finished going over the ritual's characteristics, she began her chant.
"Oh flame, first gift of humanity, I beseech thee
Fuel: I offer up a forest full of life
Breath: I offer up a wealth of my own Od
Spark: I offer up the life of my foe, a Heroic Spirit
I seek the destructive power of the inferno
The distant sun, brought down to Earth
Thou art a paragon of potential
Against this foe who has stolen my life's blood
I will wield thy power
Igni-"
"Breaker Gorgon"
\===*===/
Saber watched as the flames of the forest changed colors from orange to white, and began shining not with a natural orange light, but with a radiant, sparkling silver light. The flames twisted and spiraled upwards to a single point above Ryouko, growing brighter with every moment. As the chant, spoken in a calm, yet determined voice, barely audible over the roaring flames, neared completion, another voice, smooth as bared steel, spoke out.
"Breaker Gorgon"
Those words resonated throughout the blazing forest with great weight, despite being spoken incredibly softly. The fire emitted a blinding flash of silver light, and then vanished, leaving behind a perfect circle of scorched earth, covered with trees made entirely out of ice, with an opaque white core, yet barren of any living foliage, vegetation, or animal life, aside from two figures that Arturia recognized: her master, unconscious, falling from the sky, and the Rider-class Servant she'd fought the previous day. Saber knew what she had to do.
She dashed forwards, weaving through the trees of ice, even as they (for some reason) began to explode around her. If she failed to save the life of a companion, what sort of knight could she call herself, much less a king?
But on some level, she knew it was in vain, as Rider threw one of her chain-spikes straight at her master's heart. Before it could contact, however, the convergence point of the flames burst open, releasing a massive blast of light, heat, and force, smashing the unconscious Ryouko onto the forest floor with a sharp crack.
\===*===/
"-tion!" Ryouko finished, and then instantly realized something was wrong. The air in... wherever she was now was far too warm to be a winter night, the lighting, or at least what she could see of it through her eyelids, was entirely incorrect, she wasn't floating, and instead seemed to be lying on some sort of cushion. She kept her eyes closed
Well, she thought as she began analyzing her situation, I imagine this is where I'm supposed to ask if I've died and gone to heaven, but I know that isn't how it works, so that can be crossed off the list. Seeing as there was a seamless transition from the forest to... here, I can be reasonably certain that I didn't fall unconscious. Therefore, the only reasonable explanations for my current situation are teleportation or some form of illusion. Given what I know about magecraft, the latter is more likely. Well, only one way to find out.
Ryouko sat up and opened her eyes, or at least she tried to. When she made her attempt, she felt someone put a hand on her shoulder and another on her hip, gently pushing her down. Ryouko opened her eyes anyway, and came face to face with a woman of otherworldly beauty. Now, Ryouko was a person who tended to not pay that much attention to people's appearances and their attractiveness, but even she had to admit that this was a gorgeous individual, with flowing purple hair, hard features interrupted by a soft, ethereal smile, and eyes that glimmered like carved gemstones... which also had rectangular pupils. Strangely enough, this woman's face seemed familiar.
Ryouko began trying to place where she'd seen the woman before, when the woman spoke up in a very recognizable voice.
"Shh... just relax." Rider said.
Ryouko scrambled backwards, and her head slammed into what seemed to be wood. Looking around, she seemed to be in a very richly-appointed bedroom, full of pillows and soft light streaming in from many windows. That was all Ryouko was able to observe before the pain of hitting what most likely was a headboard... hit her, so to speak. She lurched forward, clutching her head as the stinging pain began to fade.
Rider sighed. "You do know that you are doing the exact opposite of relaxing, right? I was going to make the transition as peaceful as I could, but you're making it rather difficult."
Ryouko, once the pain faded looked back at Rider, who was now sitting calmly on the bed. She narrowed her eyes.
"What transition? Why are you trying to make it as peaceful as you can?" Ryouko interrogated. "...And what is going on, anyway?"
Rider put her hand to her forehead, sighing again. Ryouko seemed to induce that reaction in nearly everyone she met. "You're going to die soon, and I decided that you deserved at least a little mercy. As for what is going on, you're trapped inside my mind. Now can you please just relax and enjoy this gift?"
Ryouko thought back to the last words Rider had said before she'd... woken up here, or whatever. "Breaker Gorgon," she'd said. That sounded like the name of some sort of special ability, so Ryouko accessed the handy dandy servant database that the grail provided in order to find out exactly what "Breaker Gorgon" was.
A cursory read-over revealed several pieces of new information. Rider's true name was actually Medusa, she possessed Cybele, the Mystic Eyes of Petrification, and Breaker Gorgon was one of her Noble Phantasms.
It was one of the most blatantly overpowered things Ryouko had ever seen (read?), and only served to make Medusa more blatantly overpowered. Despite having a rank of C-, it irrevokably incapacitated an enemy, cancelling Magecraft and Noble Phantasms, and trapped them inside her mind. Also, it worked as a Mystic Eye Killer, turning it into the most valuable blindfold Ryouko had ever seen (granted, she hadn't seen that many blindfolds, but the principle still applied).
Once she had reviewed all the information, Ryouko noticed something strange.
"So... You said I was dying." She said.
"I did." Rider agreed.
"So... why haven't you killed me yet?" Ryouko asked. "Not that I particularly want to be killed."
"You fell from a rather significant height, were struck by a significant discharge of force, and then got struck by shards of ice from exploding trees." Rider explained. "Your allies managed to rescue your body, but you should die soon."
Ryouko processed that information. "...Okay then. Yeah, that'll probably kill me. The human body is pretty damn fragile." Even with Avalon, she didn't think its healing would be enough to heal... most likely, broken everything, severe organ trauma, and potentially punctured lungs.
The two of them sat there silently for a while, until Ryouko physically could not take the awkwardness.
"Okay, I'm bored." She pouted. "Is there anything to do here?"
Rider once again sighed in exasperation. "Anything that I can think of, we can do. This really wouldn't be a problem if you'd just relaxed and let me take care of everything."
"Well, what would we have done in that case?" Ryouko asked.
"You're sitting on a comfortable bed, and wearing nightclothes." Rider pointed out. "The intent was to change a violent end into simply falling asleep."
Ryouko was a bit surprised at the nightclothes statement, but a quick check revealed that she was wearing a generic nightgown, which was mildly relieving: if she was wearing her normal clothes, she'd be a bit worried about Rider being some sort of stalker.
"Yeah, well I suppose that's well-intentioned enough..." Ryouko mused. "But I'm not going to go to sleep now. I just need to think of something to do..."
Medusa closed her eyes, exasperated, but sat there quietly nonetheless.
"Can we do something like... playing a game?" Ryouko asked. "I've become pretty experienced at shogi out of necessity, so maybe we could play that."
"You do know that I could plunge you into a nightmare of infinite pain, right?" Rider informed.
"Probably, yeah, but you aren't." Ryouko guessed. "Because you are actually a good person who just so happens to be working for the shittiest human being on the planet!"
Rider cringed. "Let's just play this game."
After that, Ryouko and Rider played many different board games throughout the night, waiting for Ryouko to die. It was one of the strangest situations Ryouko had ever been in, but she got used to chatting with the Gorgon that had imprisoned her inside her mind before she died.
After Rider won their fifteenth game of checkers, she spoke up. "So it seems that you did survive. Congratulations, I suppose."
Ryouko looked up. "What? No, you won that game."
Rider gave her a look, of the sort that basically said that she was being an idiot.
Ryouko considered that, taking a couple minutes to understand what Rider had said. "Oh yeah, right, the battle..." She realized. "I guess then... could you send me back to reality, please?"
"Very well." Rider obliged. "Prepare yourself."
Ryouko nodded, steeling her resolve, and as she woke up to reality, was promptly hit by an abject lack of od, passing out in her own bed.
