"Yo, what's up!" Slim Prime greets the reader appearing from a flash of red light, "Welcome back to the next chapter! The story is really climbing the ladder of Fate notoriety. Can't say I saw us going this far with such growth. But I guess that's more Fate's popularity than any real plot power on my part. Anyways, enough humility from me, if you want to know what's going down in this chapter. Well, it's time for one of the moments to pop up, and if you missed the outro of the last chapter no it's not Shirou and Arturia meeting up. But I will let you read the chapter."
"There aren't really any guest reviews for me to get to so." Slim paused when his tablet began to beep. "Or not just got a new one, let's have a read."
Thunlin (Reply by Slim): *reads through* So basically you want more interaction between Shirou and the Greek. Alright, could have just said that but who am I to judge?
Thank you for all statement-based reviews and for your continued support. If I missed a question you had, do not be afraid to PM me! Now I think I should also say this because it seems to happen semi-often. If you have a problem/criticism with the story then don't use the guest review system. It only stops me from answering your questions forcing me to put them in the chapter intro. I'm not going to bite your head off for not liking the story.
Now on an IRL now the real me has started College again, so that means updates will more than likely slow down. It sucks but that's just how it is. It may further slow down given that I kinda need to put food on the table, so I will have to start diverting writing time to writing the few original book ideas I have. Now that does not mean yearly updates as I will have moments where I can hammer out a few thousand words. I will still try to get out these chapters from time to time.
Right then, what you all have been waiting for?
The fairy queen descended the mossy stone stairs. She wore the standard official dress as well as her crown, yet she had a serious expression on her face. Viviane, or by her more known title The Lady of The Lake, was an old fairy. Among the oldest still alive, and thus held a great deal of respect even above the royalty even if the queen's position put her over the older fairy.
As Titania reached the end of the stairs she came to a semi-small lake with a heavy mist surrounding the area. Many small critters roamed the lakeside and surrounding trees. They were all going about their own business, eating, scavenging, and doing other things animals did. The queen approached the edge of the lake before stopping.
"Lady Viviane." Titania spoke softly.
In an instant, all commotion surrounding the lake ceased. As if given a command from some unheard voice all of the animals retreated to their own homes in the trees or fled the lake. The water at the center of the lake began to ripple, soon followed by the face of a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and green eyes with the rest of her body following after it. Her skin was perfectly smooth and without blemish, the water fell off her body as if there was nothing there for it to hold onto. She wore a white gown one would typically find on a merchant-class woman during the Middle Ages.
The fairy approached Titania walking on the surface of the water. When they were ten feet apart the fairy stopped and bowed her head ever so slightly.
"Queen Marina." The Lady of the Lake greeted.
"It's Titania now." Titania corrected.
Viviane smiled. "Oh yes, forgive me it's been such a long time since we last spoke and you know I grow weary of titles. Especially when we are having a private conversation."
"I assume you were informed why I requested your console," Titania stated getting right to the subject of her visit.
"The boy with traces of Avalon upon him. Yes, I was informed. Though I am rather saddened that I was not informed of this sooner rather than later." Viviane answered getting a slightly annoyed tone in her voice. "An odd anomaly since all of the artifacts linked to Avalon are accounted for."
"Thus, why I did not see fit to inform you if this connection was proven false or minor."
"No connection to Avalon is minor my dear queen. To have even the slightest of connections would infer exposure to Avalon itself or extended exposure to an artifact connected to it." Viviane corrected sharply. "Tell me what became of the boy?"
"He escaped our custody and disappeared for a few days before reappearing at one of his hideouts. I ordered that his father be brought in to encourage him to surrender himself willingly, however, the boy has proven to be more powerful. He wiped out much of the forces sent to encircle him in the human city in which he resides."
Viviane narrowed her eyes. "Was his father involved in the mythological world?"
"He knew of it but was not involved."
The Lady of The Lake let out a tired sigh. "Foolish girl, you incur the wrath of the golems with your actions."
"It was a necessary risk to ascertain his possible connection to Avalon, and while I am young by your standards, I am still queen, and you will refer to me as such."
"Then act like one." Viviane snapped taking on a disciplinary tone. "Safeguarding Avalon is one of our race's charges but it is not our only charge. Moreover, your charge as queen is to protect our people. Do you know your history girl? Do you know what happened to your fourth predecessor? Altan crushed her head in between his hands and with her thousands of our people."
"And many golems found their end if I am not mistaken." Titania countered.
"I for one do not wish to see dead piles of my kin, but we are getting off-topic," Viviane replied before bringing the topic back to the reason they were meeting. "What is the boy's name."
"Shirou Donovan."
"A Japanese first name and an Irish surname," Viviane observed. "What of his abilities?"
"He seems to keep many powerful weapons in a pocket dimension, one such weapon allowed him to teleport himself out of one of our strongholds. He also seems to be a magician as well."
"A powerful one if he wiped out so many fairies on his lonesome. No doubt the kidnapping of his father will drive him to more extreme measures. With him hailed as an enemy our own enemies will be more likely to seek him out." Viviane became quiet for a moment before looking off into the mist as if hearing a noise.
"This is why I requested your console on the matter," Titania stated after waiting for a few moments.
"First, I would have you turn over his father to me," Vivian answered still looking off into the mist.
"I suspect that will not help. If you return him then the boy will go underground with his father, and we shall not find out his connection to Avalon. Unless you are relying on the chance he might reveal his connection to Avalon."
"Unfortunately, that is not my plan," Vivian answered quietly.
"Then what is your plan?"
"To avoid an incident with the Tuatha Dé Danann."
"What does this have to do with them?"
"As it would seem this Shirou is a godling. His mother is ordering that we release Shirou's father at once."
"How come I was not informed!" Tatiana demanded insulted that his goddess would go to Viviane rather than official channels. "The boy did not show any signs of being a demigod when he had him in our custody."
"That is why she went through me rather than official channels. She wants to keep this quiet." Vivian answered turning back to face the queen. "If you would have him transferred here as soon as possible I may be able to negotiate something out of this mess."
"What of the boy?"
"I would like to see him for myself."
Shirou had just finished setting the table for breakfast when Brian emerged from his room. He had de-aged again, now appearing to be in his mid-twenties. The redhead had to admit he was interested in learning how Brian was able to regress his age. He would admit that it would be interesting to learn how if not just to learn even if he could not perform it himself. Though that line of thought was thrown out the window when Brian sat down and spoke.
"So how did your late-night hunt go?" Brian asked as he began to eat his breakfast.
"You knew about that?"
"Not until a few moments ago. I can smell the blood on you and from the bathroom. Fairy blood has a different smell to human blood and given the amount of it I could only guess you had yourself quite the hunt. From the amount of it I would guess between fifty and hundred fairies have been "ushered along"."
"I didn't count but I can guess it in the double digits. One group of them related some information about the location of where my father is being kept. From what I've been told they were keeping him in a nearby outpost but moved him to one of their central bases on the continent once they learned I wasn't coming in quietly. On the way back I ran into a group of well-trained fairies in armor, a lord and his personal guard."
"I see, did you happen to get the lord's name?"
"Arguses Lebinord." Shirou answered, Arguses' halberd told him after all.
"Hmm, never heard of that clan must be a new name." Brian mused. "Well with you making a dent in their forces I imagine we could slip through their perimeter much easier now if they have not retreated altogether."
"Why would they retreat?"
"Other than the fact that you almost handed them a board wipe, the king of Olympus has descended into the city. In his disguised form but he's down here on official business. I would put money on the chance that he has detected the amount of blood on the ground and if not one of the many dryads would have brought it up." Brian chuckled slightly. "Nymphs love to gossip."
'Wait if this just happen, then how did he hear about it already?' Shirou thought before the better side of him decided to chock it up to Brian's connections.
"So, what do we do now?" Shirou asked aloud.
"Well for starters we need to know what the sky god wants. Given that he himself came down and not someone like Hermes I can only guess that he is looking for you."
"Me, how-" Shirou stopped his train of thought as the events that led him to meeting Hades played in his mind. The kids he saved and the noticeable drop in monster activity. Hades said a "child of a murderer", it was obviously personal to Hades as to why he hated this person he mentioned. Shirou had to assume this person must have been another god given that slighting a god did not look good for your life expectancy unless you had the power to back it up. If Hades was not going after said god directly they must hold some position greater or equal to him. There were only a few gods in the Greek pantheon who held the authority to butt heads with Hades and get away with it, that being Poseidon and Ze-
"No… the chances of that…" His luck was bad, but it couldn't be that bad.. "Brian, how often do monsters go after demigods?"
"For the Greeks? Well, whenever they get the chance. I can only guess that you have been carving up the monster population of the years living here. Without making yourself known to the powers that be in this part of the world. It would seem that you have gotten to the point where you have been noticed by the head guy himself. Given that the Greek's Camp Half-Blood is near here it's likely that your one-man crusade has made it far safer for demigods to reach his camp, judging by your expression. While saving one of these possible demigods you inadvertently put yourself in the middle of a feud between… who was it that visited you again… Hades? Well, I can only guess one of Zeus' spawns."
"It would make sense given that you have gone undisturbed for so long." Brian went on. "Zeus is known for his paranoia with unknowns. While very useful your rune would have only kept you hidden for so long. Helping this Zeus spawn put you into his good graces so he might have declared you off limits for a time. As it would seem, that time has run out."
"So what do we do?"
"Hmm, running will be harder given he already has one god on a continent that wants answers. So unless you feel like heading to Asia we may have to meet this one head on and seeing as we are not done here." Brian let his words hang in the air for a moment. "It's better to meet him rather than run. If I'm right and you're in Zeus' good graces, then this might just be a serious meet and greet. He gives you the rules of the lands and makes the "if you do this, then this bad thing happens" type of deal."
"And if my luck decides to be cute?"
"Then I'm sure you got something in that world of yours to help out, lad. I can only guess that Zeus is heading to your home given that your rune hides you from the supernatural world. So, we better get their first." Brian finished standing from the table.
"Alright." Shirou sighed standing as well.
The two set out quickly heading back into the city using the rooftops and some concealing magic to quicken their pace. Luckily, they arrived at Shirou's family home before Zeus had arrived, Shirou noted that the hole in the wall had been repaired seamlessly. Brian also got distracted by the tea that was for sale and it took Shirou calling out his name to get his attention again.
Brian decided to set up a strong ward in the back room as he did not feel like showing himself just yet. Before he did, however, he made sure to give some advice.
" Don't bring up any woman or he WILL start going over ALL of his conquests and you literally will want to make killing him your life goal."
"Anything else." Shirou asked a little tired from the long list of "don't while talking to Zeus".
"Yes, but this can apply to any god, always sell yourself short when they ask about your abilities. It got me out of a lot of godly challenges, let me tell you." Brian added before he wrinkled his nose. "Yeah that would be Zeus approaching."
Shirou rose an eyebrow as he did not sense anything, but Brian's senses were more than likely sharper than his.
"Alright lad, remember what I told you. Good luck." Brian finished shutting the door a rune appeared on the door before fading from sight.
Shirou turned back to the rest of the shop and began to make some tea for his coming guests. He was not aware of any Greek-styled tea that was drunk as a pleasant drink. So he put together some tea that was on hand, once done he poured it into three cups and sat said cups upon one of the vacant tables. After taking his own seat he waited, occasionally taking a sip out of his tea.
Soon enough the bell hanging just above the entrance rang. Shirou looked up to see two "men" entering his father's store. The electric-eyed one with a full black beard and hair Shirou assumed to be Zeus. He was wearing a blue suit with a white undershirt and red tie, and now being in the store, Shirou's senses become overwhelmed with the smell of a heavy thunderstorm. So great was the smell assaulting Shirou's nose that he almost did not notice the smell of what could only be described as a traveler, a myriad of scents all combined into one.
The being next to Zeus, who Shirou guessed to be Hermes, wore something akin to a mailman's suit/uniform. The blue eye and curly black hair with a handsome appearance but such a thing were given consisting that the being before him was a god. Both of them were muscular and looked much larger than they truly were, again to be expended from a god. The two gods' eyes fell on Shirou just as he finished taking in their appearance. Zeus whispered something to Hermes before turning back to Shirou and walking towards him, Hermes following after his father.
"Shirou Donovan, I presume," Zeus stated looking down at the sitting Shirou. His voice as Shirou expected it to be, strong, radiating mythical power, and superiority.
"Lord Zeus," Shirou greeted, bowing his head. "What can I do for you?"
"You know who we are." Zeus went on not surprised, he was simply digging for information.
"It was only a matter of time, my lord," Shirou replied semi-warily, it was bound to happen given his luck. "Won't you take a seat?" Shirou went on offering the two seats across from him. The two gods to the seats across from them. "What can a humble magus do for you."
Zeus and Hermes' eyebrows went up slightly before Zeus spoke. "I wanted to confirm some things with you. You might have noticed the sudden decline in monster activity in the city. This is what you're doing."
"It is."
"Why?"
"Because they are dangerous creatures, many of which have no right to be among the living. I do hope I have not offended you in doing this lord Zeus."
"To the contrary, your actions have made the city much safer for our demigod children moving through the area. However, you still are an unknown to us and have not declared yourself to any of our official emissaries during your stay here. One of our pantheon's minor goddesses reportedly contacted you only to have their physical form destroyed not long after. You might see how this has made us wary of you."
"I mean you nor your pantheon any harm, lord Zeus." Shirou began. "I was brought here by my father when I was a baby, my father, to my knowledge, is unaware of the moonlit word until very recently. I myself discovered my own talents on my own and am largely unaware of many of the proper formalities of a large majority of the pantheons across the planet. The goddess in question, Lady Hecate, did meet with me. I do admit to fleeing the area as soon as I identified the goddess, given that mortals that encounter gods have unpleasant endings. Especially for those of the Greek pantheon."
Hermes bit back a chuckle. Zeus also eased back into his chair.
"So you do not know what happened to Hecate?"
"I was rendered unconscious soon after she felt the need to… test my magical talent."
"Did she attack you?"
"She launched dangerous magical orbs in my direction, but they were not deadly."
Zeus narrowed his eyes. "Attacking mortals without due cause is again our laws-"
'But not heavily enforced I can imagine.' Shirou thought to himself.
"Yet the circumstances surrounding the death of her physical form are still unknown and you are the prime suspect."
"As I said, I was rendered unconscious soon after one of her attacks hit me," Shirou reassured the gods.
"Hmm, fine, Hecate will reform in a few months." The pressure in the room increased sharply as if an invisible force was pushing down on Shirou. "If I find that you have been lying to me, you will wish you were able to regret it," Zeus replied, his voice taking on an unnatural deep tone before the pressure returned to normal. "To that end, your actions against the local monsters have been helpful to Olympus, and thus I will pardon your failure to declare yourself. Be warned mortal you are now on Olympus's radar and your actions will be noticed from henceforth."
"I appreciate your mercy, Lord Zeus." Shirou replied, doing his best to sound earnest.
"Then our business here is done." Zeus spoke standing from his chair while Hermes followed after him.
Shirou stood as well and waited for the two gods to leave. Brian exited from the back room soon after.
"That went well. Now, how about we get out of here?"
Shirou nodded before the doorbell to the shop went off again.
Rider had to admit, despite the smell Garret was nothing short of a workhorse. Not soon after she released him had they set to work cleaning up her current home. She had expected him to slow down after the beating he took as well as how late it became. Yet with each passing hour and as the restaurant began to look cleaner the so-called Grimm did not slow down in the slightest. It was around four in the morning when they had finished cleaning much of the restaurant. But as it stood the walls were still covered in bullet holes beyond the point of being salvageable. Much of the furniture had to be thrown out as well. However, this might be a blessing in disguise. The restaurant was too far gone to repair and she now had a boy who "owned" a car and was indebted to her for sparing his life. Reading was an enjoyable hobby but perhaps it was time to go traveling for a little while. Looking over to the monster hunter across the table from her, Rider considered the idea formulating in her head.
But first.
"What?" Garret annoyingly growled as he was pulled out of his nap by Rider pulling him out of his chair.
"You smell. You need a bath but given that you will be more than likely be bathing in your own filth a longer shower will have to do." Rider ordered the man dragging him towards the back like a disgruntled child.
"I don't need a shower, I'm fine," Garret argued.
"Have you gone nose blind to your own smell? You reek of sweat, blood, and garbage. I refuse to smell it any longer. You also need a proper set of clothes when we are done, we are going to get you some clothes." Rider observed dragging Garret into the bathroom.
Rider let go of the monster hunter and made her way over to the tub and turned on the shower. Before Garret could get another word in Rider returned to him and began to remove his clothes causing the hunter to cry out.
"Hey what are you doing!" Garret demanded as Rider began to strip him.
"I am going to clean you, if you let it get this bad then you will not know if you are clean." Rider answered simply as she stripped the Grimm down despite his attempts to stop her, she was far stronger than he was.
"You're not my mom, I can wash myself!" Garret declared while fruitlessly trying to stop the reborn servant.
"If you keep making this difficult, I will have to incapacitate you." Rider stopped for a moment, her steely eyes meeting the hunters.
For the first time in a long time, Garret had felt fear. He looked away and mumbled a "fine" before he stopped resisting. Rider quickly finished stripping the hunter down and tossed his clothes to the side. He had used his hands to cover his manhood up but this was not the first time Rider had seen a naked man. She then led the hunter by his arm to the shower. She noticed he held a few deep scars on his body, most likely from his time hunting monster, it was to be expected. Rider was however surprised to see the wounds she had given him had already scabbed over and looked to be nearly healed. Most likely a stronger healing factor that his species had.
Garret hissed as the hot water hit his skin and wounds. Grunts followed as Rider began to use a rag and a small portion of her strength began cleaning the grime-covered Grimm. There were more than a few mass build-ups of dead skin and other black spots. Rider was honestly shocked that he was still alive and able to fight her as long as he did. Another advantage of being a Grimm she supposed. It took some time but the smell that had been attached to the hunter for so long was beginning to fade. Of course, as Rider got closer to his manhood she noticed that Garret had become aroused but a quick look at his face showed his embarrassed expression.
"Sorry." He murmured.
"Don't worry about it." Rider replied, most of his body was clean except for his crotch and rear areas. Deciding to spare him any more humiliation Rider handed him a new rag as the old one was filthy. "Here you can finish, or do you still need help?" Rider added giving him a smug expression it was a little cute to see the so-called big bad monster hunter squirm under a little exposure.
"I think I can manage, thanks." He answered by taking the offered rag and closing the curtain.
Rider let out a small chuckle as she excused herself. As she went, she took Garret's dirty clothes with her. They smelt so bad she had half a mind to incinerate them on the spot. Deciding he needed a new set of clothes Rider took it upon herself to get him into something that didn't look like he pulled them from a dumpster.
"I'm going to get you clothes, I will be back soon."
"Wait! Those are my only pair!" He called frantically from behind the curtain but his words would fall on deaf ears.
Rider exited her house and using her speed sprinted towards the nearest clothing store she knew of. She was fully aware that it would not be open at this time, yet she was not above stealing a few articles of clothing. Besides, it was not like she needed anything special. She soon found what she was looking for and with a little magic got inside the building. There she acquired a simple black jacket, a blue collared t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and some sneakers with a few pairs of socks. Once she got what she needed she returned to her house.
Along the way here sense began to pick up ever so subtle bursts of mana coming from New York. Such power spikes would be semi-common in this world. However, these were not normal, these were the power bursts of Noble Phantasms. Although a lesser Noble Phantasms, they were Noble Phantasms nonetheless. It had been the first sign that she had gotten that others like her might be in this world. This was something that needed to be investigated before the owner moved on. Once she returned Rider quickly found a disgruntled Garret waiting in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around him.
She handed off the clothes to him which he accepted eagerly wanting to get back into something that was not a towel. By then the sun was beginning to make its appearance on the horizon. As soon as Garret emerged from the bathroom his instincts told him to catch something that had been tossed to him. Opening his hand, he found his car's keys sitting in his hand, looking up he saw Rider waiting by the door.
"We're going into the city, something is happening," Rider ordered before exiting the restaurant.
After retrieving his weapons and stowing them in the car's trunk, Garret opened the driver's side door. Rider was already in the passenger seat waiting for him. Turning the key in the car's ignition caused the muscle car to roar to life, soon enough the two were on their way to New York. Most of the ride was done in silence with the occasional glance from Garret, finally, the man built up the courage to speak.
"Thanks for not killing me… and cleaning me up." Garret thanked the servant semi-shyly.
"You're welcome."
Silence followed for a few moments.
"So, what happens after all this?"
"I'm not sure, perhaps I will ride along with you and see what happens."
Garret's eyes widened. "W-Why I tried to kill you."
"To be honest you are the most interesting thing that has happened around here. I have also never encountered a Grimm before. I am interested to see what a Grimm is and who better than someone who doesn't even know himself. You're more likely to follow your instincts and by extension reveal your true self."
Garret looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Like I said, we are just glorified monster hunters."
"Every hunter has their preferred prey, a wolf doesn't try to catch a bird." Rider countered.
"I try only to go after things that are a threat to humans."
"That sounds more like a police officer."
The Grimm shrugged.
The rest of the ride was finished in relative silence.
Rider's magical sense began to go crazy soon after they had entered the city. Something powerful was moving around among the normal humans. Something strong enough for her to detect, whoever it wasn't bothering to control their power. Though it was not wild enough for anyone to detect. She had begun to direct Garret through the city as she felt the energy. Soon enough they found the source of the energy, a little store not far from the river. Rider got out of the car soon after leaving Garret to find a place to park.
The reborn servant quickly maneuvered her way through the crowd. Once she was across the street she was able to see into the shop. She was not expecting what she saw. There sitting at the table was who her other self knew to be Zeus and Hermes. However, what truly drew her attention was the red-haired boy sitting across from them.
"Shirou." Rider breathed out loud, completely surprised.
Rider never expected to see him again after coming here. Hope began to uplift her heart as the possibility arose that Sakura could be in this world as well. She had to stop herself from crossing the street. She couldn't draw the attention of the gods just yet. So she opted to wait for the gods to finish whatever conversation they were having with Shirou before she would go to him herself. Luckily, she did not have to wait long. Soon enough the gods stood and began to leave, Rider made sure to hide her own presence to avoid the gods' attention. Once they were out of sight Rider made her way over to the store. She noticed Shirou had begun to speak with another man who seemed to be a few years older than him, but Rider sensed something powerful about him. He was much older than he appeared to be.
Rider opened the door to the shop causing the two men to turn their heads towards her. Shirou's eyes widened in recognition, then narrowed in hostility, as the weapons of Archer appeared in his hands.
Rider one of the servant classes Shirou fought during the Holy Grail war. Shirou was shocked to see that servant after their last encounter, moreover that she was in this world. So many questions were running through his mind, however, the problem before him came first. In his own universe, Shirou's encounter with Rider was relatively brief. Shinji had placed a lifedraining spell over the school in an attempt to power up his servant. Shirou did his best to stop him, but he was no match for a servant. Rider attacked him forcing him to use one of his command seals to summon Saber. While they managed to escape their first in counter, the following battle atop one of the skyscrapers would be Rider's last. As Saber used her Noble Phantasm Excalibur to annihilate the opposing servant.
Now it would seem they would meet again in this new world. He was not sure just how this battle would turn out given he lacked a servant of his own. Even with his significant increase in magic circuits, Shirou was still worry about taking on a servant. She felt stronger than their encounter during the Holy Grail War. However, With Brian here, this fight may not turn out so bad. Though there still was a problem with their location.
Another odd thing is her appearance both physical and entrance. Physical in that she was wearing a simple black sweater and black pants with gray shoes, she was not in her battle apparel. Entrance-wise, she just walked into his father's store, no sneaking in, no ambush, and she seemed to be… shocked? It was possible that she was not expecting to meet him again. In another world no less, just his luck he supposed.
"Someone you know lad?" Brian asked, walking up beside Shirou standing upright as if he were having a casual conversation.
"We fought once, I thought she was dead," Shirou replied, causing the servant's expression to change slightly.
Before Brian could reply Rider spoke up.
"Shirou, what happened to Sakura?"
"Sakura?" Brian repeated confused.
'Great she's talking about our world.' Shirou thought to himself. 'I'd rather not explain it to Brian. Why would she bring up Sakura of all people?'
Sakura was an underclassman at his school, she was kidnapped by Caster, after he and Saber defeated Berserker, in an attempt to summon the Holy Grail. He, Rin, and Saber managed to rescue her before Caster could complete the ritual. After the war, she and Rin began to reconnect as it was discovered that they were siblings. Shirou fell out of contact soon after he began to take his job as a freelancer/enforcer more seriously. Though it wouldn't hurt to tell her. Sakura was a universe away and more than likely had well since moved on with her life.
"She survived being attacked by Caster. The others and I were able to save her in time. After that, she went about her own life." Shirou answered the servant.
"I see." Rider replied, looking away.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you make it here?" Shirou asked, choosing his words carefully.
Rider looked back at him. "I woke up here not long after Sakura sent me to protect you."
Now it was Shirou's turn to be shocked again. "What? Sakura was barely involved in the wa- er, incident. Shinji was your summoner." Shirou added being careful to avoid certain words.
Rider narrowed her eyes in distance at the mention of Shinji's name. "No, he wasn't, not truly."
"Mind bringing me into the loop lad?" Brian asked, noticing the hidden talk that was going on. "I thought you told me everything that happened to you here."
"I left out a few personal details."
"Has something to do with your world?"
Seeing the out Shirou jumped at it. "Yeah, more specifically events that closely followed."
"I see. Well, I'll let you two have your talk." Brian replied heading for the door passing Rider. "Flare your energy if you need support."
With him gone Rider and Shirou dropped the coded talk.
"You can relax, I am not here to fight you." Rider started as soon as Brian left. "Is Sakura with you?"
"No, you and I are the only ones that are not of this world. As far as I'm aware." Shirou still held the married blades in his hands. "I was reborn here after a war in our world, well after the Grail War. Where you summoned?"
"No, I have seemed to have taken over the existence of this world's version of me." Bad news, that means this was Rider's true self and more than likely had full access to the full scope of her abilities. He never did learn who Rider really was. "I came here after detecting a Noble phantasm activating."
"And here I thought I was careful this time around." The redhead sighed to himself. "You said Sakura summoned you, then why was Shinji your master?"
"Sakura did not want to participate in the war and gave Shinji control over me." Rider answered. "However, our paths seem to diverge. I was defeated by you and Saber early on in the Grail War, I survived by feeding off your mana supply. A few days later Saber is defeated by Assassin."
'WHAT?!' Shirou cried rage filling his being but he did not interrupt. This was not how his Grail War turned out.
"Shinji then uses Sakura as bait to lure you into the school where he orders me to beat you to death. However, you and I quickly made a plan to save Sakura from Shinji. It worked, however as Shinji fled he caused Sakura to lose control of her magic forcing me to protect her from Archer. After that, you learned that Sakura had been raped by Shinji by order of Zouken on many occasions."
Shirou could not believe that he was hearing. Sakura was being raped by Shinji and he never knew! It was then Shirou realized why Sakura had a closed-off and empty personality and why bruises would show up from time to time. Shirou's fist began to tighten on his sword's handles, if he ever found a way back, he would find Shinji and end him. Rider seemed to have noticed Shirou's hands tightening but made no comment.
"You later went to help Ilya who was fighting Assassin and a shadow entity. Sakura sent me to assist you. However, something happened to me and brought me here."
"I see, my own war was much different. Saber and I managed to win the war, but we only encountered you twice. Saber defeated you on the second encounter."
"You are from a different timeline then."
"As it would seem."
"Does that make us enemies now?" Rider asked.
Shirou thought about it. Fighting Rider here without a servant would be dangerous even with his power up and Brian's assistance. If her story was to be believed, she was an ally in her timeline. There was no reason for them to fight now. Dismissing his projections Shirou relaxed his stance.
"No, I am dealing with a fairy problem, and fighting you here would serve no purpose."
"Hmm, you are more grown-up than my version of you." She then narrowed her eyes a little. "And more like Archer."
"Archer was supposedly another version of myself."
"Yes, he had a similar took as you had a moment ago. Before I was forced to petrify him."
Shirou's mind began to connect dots as soon as she said that. 'I-is her true identity-'
"Medusa, that is my true identity." She let an ever so slight smile appear on her face. "Don't worry, unlike this world's version of myself I can control the severity of my mystic eyes. You said you were having a fairy problem. Sakura ordered me to help you before I was brought here. I can help you."
"Sakura is not in this world," Shirou replied, slightly confused as to why she would still follow her master's orders even after being reborn. "You can follow your own path now."
"It doesn't matter. She ordered me to help you and I will do so." Rider countered adamant about her position.
"Humph, well I won't turn down the help of a reborn servant. I ran into some fairies who wanted to know about a connection I have to Avalon. Given the circumstances at the time I escaped when I had the chance, now they kidnapped my father from this world. The Noble Phantasm you sensed last night was me dealing with a number of them."
"I see, what is your plan?"
"Right now, my "master" is planning on taking me to the local Druid enclave to make this a problem between the Fey and the Druids rather than between me and the former. With their forces here depleted and the Greek gods allowing me to pass through their territory, we are planning on heading there next."
"Very well, I happen to have someone who can transport us to this enclave."
"I'll gladly accept," Shirou said, walking past the purple-haired servant heading for the exit.
"Another chapter down! Woot. So the meeting between Rider and Shirou was not very exciting as I had played with the idea of a fight breaking out but I really couldn't get it to flow very well. Hell, I was half tempted to end the chapter at the end of Rider's part to keep in line with my Great Blue Baller title, but I feel like most of us are getting to the point where we are skimming the chapter waiting for something plot moving to happen. So I went ahead and just did the encounter.
"For those of you like me and a little help with parts in stories, this version of Rider comes from Heaven's Feel route at the request of my second officer. So yeah this Rider has smashed Shirou once or twice… imagine that coming up in conversation when Artoria comes around. Yikes."
"So next chapter will be a little more road trippy with the following chapter might be Shirou meeting up with the lady of the Lake. Not for sure as it also may happen in the next chapter too, depending on how it turns out. As promised best girl Artoria will make her showing before or on chapter 15. Hehehe, so I have five chapters to fit that together, hmmm the moment of fan judgment approaches. If I had to give you "guess'ta-ments" I would say chapter 13 at best 14 is more likely, 15 to adhere to the promise. I do have an idea on how I want them to meet. Once again keeping with my title, let's just say… when we get to the point where Shirou starts to go all out in a fight… Artoria is near."
"HEHEHEHEHEAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!"
Now you are probably looking at the page scroll real and realizing that there is still more… well once more it's outtake time. Rogue, this one's for you Eldritch horror with a Mordred fetish you. This will also be a slightly different take on the outtake last chapter. And here we go."
*outtake*
'Father's energy was near! I can feel it!' Mordred excitedly exclaimed in her head as her armored form dashed through the forest. This was the moment, after all this time. She would face her father once again!
Mordred began to dash up a hill easily reaching its summit in moments. However just as she was about to pass the lone tree upon its top she ran into something. The knight stumbled back shaking off the daze after she recovered. She looked up to see what had stuck her only, yet nothing was there. The knight of the round table reached out with her senses. There in front of her was an invisible barrier. Her father's energy signature was on the other side of this barrier, for that reason alone. This barrier would fall.
Drawing her sword, Mordred channeled her magical energy into the blade causing it to spark with red electricity. With her sword raised Mordred slashed at the magic barrier. A resonating boom went out from the sight of impact, yet the barrier held. The knight raised her sword again and swing it at the barrier. Swing after swing blow after blow the knight of rebellion hammered on the barrier. Soon enough the barrier began to falter allowing the knight to slash past it. With the barrier out of her way, Mordred charged on.
She soon came upon a large campground. With an array of different buildings that did not belong in a camp in this area. Though this was of little import to her, her father's energy signature was clearer than ever. Resuming her mad sprint Mordred dash off towards her father. She soon entered another forest where a bunch of kids seemed to be playing some game. She paid them little mind, though some did try to get in her way probably thinking she was a part of their game. They did not last long against a knight of the round. Her father was getting closer.
Mordred burst through a large bush and came to a stop. Her father's energy was right in front of her, but standing there was not her, rather an unimpressive looking red-haired boy yet he was the source of her father's energy signature. Quickly approaching the boy Mordred grabbed him by the back of his shirt and lifted him off the ground.
"Hey! Have you seen another knight around here!" Mordred demand.
Before the boy could reply Mordred felt an overwhelming sense of dread and power from behind her.
"Ara ara, if it isn't one of my knights." A kind and older voice command from behind Mordred.
Turning her head she met the smiling face of her father, albeit much older looking and… well endowed. She was wearing a white robe that while covering her still would have made any man stop and stare. While this was not the father she had grown up to know, that stare and smile that promised pain belonged to no other.
"M-my-" Mordred only managed a single world before she found her head being thrown into the ground with tremendous strength. Pulling her head out of the ground Mordred looked up to see the red-haired boy being held possessively by her father. He was flushing heavily as her father's bosom was slightly resting on his head.
"Oh my, It would seem that you tripped." The King of Knights innocently observed before looking at the boy she held onto. "Would you be a good boy and run along for a moment."
The boy nodded wordlessly before running off into the forest.
"F-father-"
"Enough Mordred, my traitorous knight." Artoria cut off the knight, losing her "pleasant" voice and adopting a familiar voice of authority. "As you have no doubt learned, we have been reborn into a new world where things are not as they were for us. You, a moral born to a warrior of notable achievements, and I a goddess to a pantheon that would be better left in the past."
"What you don't know is that in my time as a heroic spirit I came across an individual who I cherish very much. I would willingly give up Camelot and all my worldly possession to have him. However, I know I have also wronged you in our past world and as such, I am willing to start over will you."
Artoria's stare became deadly. "I will warn you though, lay a hand on my Shirou again and the next you shall see is the throne room of my uncle. Do I make myself clear?"
Mordred nodded slowly.
Artoria's smile returned. "Good girl, now up you go, you have some explaining to do to the camp's director."
"And now we are done. I look forward to seeing you guys next chapter!"
God bless and keep up with that school work!
