Ritsuka was frozen in his spot as he looked at the darkness where the woman had vanished into. That… no, it couldn't be Mash. He knew logically it couldn't be. Mash was born in the year 2000, and they were only 4 years after that. It wasn't Mash… It definitely wasn't Mash.
But the way her eyes looked…
"Sen… pai…? Would you mind… holding my hand?"
Ritsuka shook his head, trying to focus on the present. Now wasn't the time to get caught up in these kinds of details. He needed to stop Medea… and he needed to come clean. The time for vagueness was over. In fact, he probably shouldn't have been so vague in the first place.
"Rin," He finally said, shocking the said girl with his voice. "Let's head back to Emiya's. It's time for me to come completely clean,"
Her eyes snapped open as she let out a gasp. Her arm, her arm was gone, there was nothing but pain. She should have been dead, she was-
Under blankets, in a warm bed. She slowly sat up, looking down at her body. She was fully clothed, although her jacket and tie were taken off, and… she had both her arms. Maybe that awful experience was just a nightmare? No, that didn't make sense. She didn't recognize where she was at all. She looked down her left side, staring at her arm as she tried to move it.
It felt as if it was submerged in molasses. She could barely move it, and when it did move, it went so slowly. She rolled up the sleeve to see if something was wrong, only to narrow her eyes as she saw the stitches that desperately kept her arm attached. So it really did happen… she should have been more surprised, but she knew he was dangerous.
Really, how did she get charmed by such an evil man?
She found her jacket and her gloves folded neatly next to her, so she reached down, slipping them on. Quietly, she went to stand up, but her legs stumbled, causing her to tumble to the floor. She heard voices from another room. It seemed her clumsiness caught other people's attention. She unsteadily got back to her feet, doing her best to stand. The two voices she heard seemed to be arguing about something, but soon a shadow came across her sliding door. Clenching her fist she got ready to defend herself.
The door exploded open, a tall woman with long purple hair wielding a chain and a blue haired boy wielding a rolling pin standing at the entrance. So she wasn't safe after all. Gritting her teeth, the injured woman took in the two and immediately went for the weak link. Her fist flew like a rocket as she nailed the blue haired boy in the cheek, letting her punch bury itself in the boy's jaw and carry him all the way to the wall on the other side of the hall, before she rushed down the hallway, her fist dragging the blue haired boy's face along for the ride, the other side of his head being smeared against the wall.
It didn't escape her notice that the purple haired woman just let her do this.
Finally, the two came to the end of the hall, where there was a redhead boy standing there, looking confused. The injured woman took her fist buried in the blue haired boy's face and swung it at the red headed boy, launching the one on her fist into the red head, knocking the two over like bowling pins.
That was… easier than she expected it to be. Then again, many people had underestimated her strength before, so she wasn't too surprised. She moved to head out the front door when she felt something wrap around her leg. Looking back, she saw the purple haired woman had used her chain like a rope to hold her back. Gritting her teeth, the injured woman held up her good arm while slipping into a fighting stance as her opponent lowered herself to the floor.
The air was tense as the two took each other in, trying to formulate a strategy. The injured woman's gloved hand lit up as Primordial Runes etched themselves into the glove, enhancing her power far beyond a normal human's. Her legs went through a similar process as she took one careful step towards the long haired woman. Her opponent in turn lowered herself to the floor, mana starting to seep through the Servant's very being.
The floor beneath them cracked as the two rushed at each other at full speed. While the injured woman was fast, the long haired one was like a speeding train, her sheer speed taking the injured woman by surprise. The chain the long haired woman had rapidly wrapped around her body, causing her to fall to the floor, the chains tightening around her as she struggled.
One injured arm and she was in such a compromising position? Pathetic. No wonder why Kirei was able to blindside her so easily.
Before she could make an attempt to break free of her chains, the front door opened up, revealing a boy carrying a small child on his back, and a very exasperated girl. An awkward silence filled the air as the group stared at each other, until the silence was finally broken.
"Oh, hey, you're finally awake," the boy said with a weak smile.
There was an awkward silence as the group got settled in the living room. Shinji was now sporting a black eye and a swollen cheek, although the blue haired boy couldn't complain too much, as Rin was forced to touch him in an attempt to heal his injuries.
Shirou wasn't hurt at all, in fact, he was barely inconvenienced from the whole experience. That was why he was able to force Ritsuka to sit down and not attempt to make soup and tea for their mystery guest. The uncomfortable silence prevailed, causing Ritsuka to get fidgety. He attempted to get up, to do something to get his mind off all this, but Medusa placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him to sit down.
She didn't say anything to him, but he could tell she was angry at him. He could completely see that she was right for being so, but he wasn't the one at fault here. At least he didn't think so. Jack forced herself into Ritsuka's lap, the excuse that close proximity to her Mommy would help her heal faster not being a lie, so the boy couldn't argue against it. Archer took to the rooftop, avoiding the uncomfortable silence all together by keeping a lookout for Medea and her minions.
The mystery woman was released from Medusa's chains, sitting at the table quietly as she watched everyone intently. Rin seemed oddly jumpy around her, although Ritsuka couldn't imagine why. Sure, she looked absolutely tough, and sure, she looked as if she was looking for 99 ways to twist them all into pretzels, but that wasn't any reason to be uncomfortable around her.
Chaldea was ruining him, wasn't it?
The silence was finally broken by Shirou speaking up. "So, who wants tea?" he asked as he didn't wait for an answer as he placed a cup in front of everyone. Ritsuka could only stare at his cup for a few seconds before looking down at his broken hand. With a sigh, he went to reach for it with his good hand, before seeing that their mysterious friend hadn't made a single move towards her tea.
"You're not gonna take a drink?" Ritsuka asked as he grabbed his cup. The woman's eyes narrowed as she stared at the cup.
"Naturally," Was her simple reply, her voice low and guarded. "I refuse to eat in enemy territory," While the others seemed shocked or put off by her answer, Ritsuka could only nod.
"Yeah, no, that's… that's pretty smart. Honestly, it's something I should do more," Ritsuka admitted. "But you aren't in enemy territory,"
"And how do I know that?" she retorted evenly.
"Well, what sort of enemy would find you passed out by a summoning circle, and instead of leaving you to die, do their best to sew your arm back on and bring you back to their base to let you heal?" Ritsuka countered, causing the woman to reach over and grab her shoulder, right where her stitches were. "Sorry your patch job's not pretty. We didn't have much time, after all. I was planning on bringing in the best doctor to finish fixing up your arm, but…," He motioned to his own broken arm. "It didn't go so well,"
The woman looked back at her tea and nodded. "I understand… alright then, this isn't enemy territory… as proof of that-," the group watched in silent awe and horror as she drank the entire cup in one smooth gulp. They stared at her, as if asking for some explanation, but to their horror, she didn't acknowledge their looks, not as if she just swallowed tea like some sort of cosmic black hole.
"Was… was it not to your taste?" Shirou asked as they watched her put down her cup. The woman only gave a confused look.
"No, it was tea," She answered.
"But like, it must have tasted bad, right? Emiya's tea is good and all, but statistically, eventually, someone would think it tastes bad," Shinji commented. The woman's eyes narrowed at this line of questioning.
"Surely there's no good or bad when it comes to tea. If it tastes like tea, then it's unmistakably tea,"
Ritsuka could only chuckle at this line of thought. "I mean, you ain't wrong. Tea is tea," He tilted his head back, chugging down the tea before coughing a little. "Okay, I dunno how you chugged hot tea," He muttered. The woman watched the display unwaveringly, not a single crack in her facade. Ritsuka could see why that would unnerve people, but...
"Anyways, introductions are in order." Rin commented. "Things would be a lot easier if we knew your name. I'm Tohsaka Rin, Second Owner of this land,"
"Emiya Shirou… I don't… I don't have any affiliation," Shirou greeted awkwardly.
"Matou Shinji," Shinji muttered, grumpy that Rin was no longer touching him. Ritsuka looked at the group and sighed, smacking his cheek with his good hand. Time to put his game face on.
"Fujimaru Ritsuka of Chaldea," Ritsuka smiled with the confidence of a man that wasn't in the pits like he currently was. "So, what's your name?"
The woman was quiet for a moment before finally giving an answer. "I am Bazett Fraga McRemitz," Ritsuka blinked as he heard the name.
"That sounds… Irish," Ritsuka muttered. "So Bazett… what happened? I mean, if you feel up to talking about it," Bazett was silent for a second before she looked around the room.
"I don't trust you all enough yet," She said bluntly.
"No, yeah, that's fair," Ritsuka muttered before he sighed. "Well, everyone has their secrets, it's fine. Speaking of secrets, it's… it's time to come completely clean,"
"Come clean, huh?" Rin asked. "And what were you hiding from us, Fu-ji-maru?" Rin asked, reminding Ritsuka about her promise to not take it easy on him if she found out he was lying.
"I haven't lied," Ritsuka clarified. "It's just… I didn't tell you all some things because… it's… look. I'm… I'm going to say a lot of things, and I'm not going to have evidence on hand for it. I understand if you don't believe me, but at least hear me out, alright?" Ritsuka said as he took a deep breath. "So, I'm Fujimaru Ritsuka, nineteen years old… give or take a year or two, and I'm from a place called Chaldea. I'm from the future and an alternative timeline,"
"You still sound insane," Shinji muttered.
"Man, you couldn't even let me finish before you piled on the snark?" Ritsuka shot. "Anyways," He cleared his throat. "Chaldea is an organization dedicated to preserving the Human Order, and in order to do that, we use Servants to help us. That's why I know so much about them and especially the ones in this Holy Grail War. I've summoned all of them, and they've helped me through a lot,"
"That does explain why you're so friendly with Lancer," Medusa commented as for the first time, something other than stoicness crossed Bazett's face, even if it was only for a split second.
"Yeah, well, there are other reasons for that as well," Ritsuka muttered. "Anyways, Chaldea observes humanity's past and future, and if there's a problem, they send in me and Servants to help take care of the problem,"
"So," Rin interrupted, "You're trying to convince me that your Chaldea somehow tapped into Second Magic, found an anomaly in a different timeline from your own, and then sent you in to fix it, despite the fact that it has nothing to do with 'your own timeline'?" Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Ritsuka, obviously not buying his explanation.
"No… no, it sounds even worse than what you said," Ritsuka admitted. "I fell asleep in the cafeteria, and I woke up in the school courtyard where Archer and Lancer were fighting. Second Magic isn't even involved in our normal operations, let alone this," Rin gave him a look that was a mix of disgust and confusion. "There's more. To make it even worse, this isn't even the first time I was taken to some other world in my dreams. Last time was also in a different timeline's Japan, now that I think about it… that's kinda weird,"
"I… i don't know how you say this stuff with a straight face," Shinji admitted. "It almost makes me want to believe you,"
"Still not done, after all, I only told you where I'm from and how I got here," Ritsuka added. "Now, when I said I don't know why I'm here, well… yeah, I just woke up here without a mission or the like. But I have to be here for some reason, because I can't even take a vacation to Hawaii without it turning into a problem I have to fix. Even now, I still don't know why I'm here, but I do know it has nothing to do with this Holy Grail War directly. There's no way whatever I'm here for hasn't wormed its way into this War, but the War itself doesn't seem to be why I'm here,"
Ritsuka paused, thinking to himself. He was sure some bridges were about to be burned, but he had no choice. He did say he was laying everything on the table, and if he didn't mention this, it could cause more problems in the future. "The Holy Grail War you're all in is a sham,"
Shinji and Rin perked up at that, the two looking at him intently.
"The hell do you mean by that?" Shinji snapped at Ritsuka.
"The Holy Grail's been infected by the Avenger Angra Mainyu," Ritsuka said simply. "It won't grant wishes, it'll only bring about destruction,"
"And how the hell do you know that?" Shinji was getting more irritated, about to stand up and walk to Ritsuka, but everyone else surrounding him made him think twice about it.
"Man, here we go," Ritsuka muttered. "So you know how I said Chaldea observes the past and the future, finds problems, and then fixes them? Well, we found a problem back in an alternative timeline, in the city of Fuyuki in the year 1994,"
"The Fourth Holy Grail War," Rin muttered.
"Exactly," Ritsuka answered. "Found out about Angra Mainyu while I was there, and had to do our best to stop it. Wasn't… wasn't that easy,"
"How… convenient," Rin stated, unknowingly voicing her Servant's exact thoughts.
"It gets worse. I can't prove to you. If you see the Grail, you'll know exactly what I mean, you'll see the corruption," Ritsuka explained. "However… it won't manifest until four Servants are dead. And when four Servants die, I'm in deep trouble,"
"Deep trouble, huh?" Rin asked, obviously not convinced. "And how, pray tell, will you be in deep trouble?" Ritsuka sighed to himself, uncomfortable how fast he was losing her.
"So, the last war's Archer was incarnated because of the Grail, and he wants to let the curses that corrupt the grail flow out into the world. He's given me an ultimatum… I have to fix everything going on before four Servants die, or he'll toss me directly into the curses," Ritsuka could feel a pit growing in his stomach as he saw Rin's look. He was losing her faster and faster by the second.
"I don't know, Fujimaru, this is hard to believe," Shinji commented, looking just a little bit smug that Rin was starting to see things in a way that made him look just a little better.
"Oh, come off it," Ritsuka shot back. "You're the one that tried to kill me the day I showed up under orders from your grandfather. Why would he think me, specifically me, would ruin this Holy Grail War if I was just some crazy person running around randomly?"
"Oh?" Rin's eyes drifted to Shinji. "Your grandfather knows something about this?" Shinji looked at Rin before nodding. Rin just hummed to herself as she turned back to Ritsuka. "Well, is there anything else you want to say?"
"Well, I can tell I'm losing you, but I do have to point out you did just meet Shielder tonight, which is not a class that is normally summoned, period. And all the women's disappearances can't be…," Ritsuka drifted off, a thought coming to his mind. The group looked at him with confusion before Shirou spoke up for the first time.
"Something on your mind?"
"... There are over 500 women that have disappeared, and over the past two nights, I have been attacked by women made of some sort of liquid… Could… could there be a connection?" Ritsuka explained.
"Like… you think these 'mud women' you talked about might be a byproduct of whatever ritual the bug familiar mage is making?" Shinji asked, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.
"Yeah, exactly," Ritsuka paused. Were… were the women trying to get him to help them? Rin sighed, before standing up.
"Well, this has given me far more questions than answers. For now, we'll drop this. It's late, and most of us need rest," Rin said. "I'll do some investigation of my own tomorrow, and decide what to do with you then Fujimaru," She stretched and yawned, heading to the bedroom she claimed. Shinji stood up as well, placing his hands in his pocket as he walked off.
Shirou was quiet as he sat there, staring at Ritsuka.
"Well… do you believe me?" Ritsuka asked weakly after watching the others leave. Shirou looked down at his tea, thinking.
"I… I'll be honest, I didn't understand a lot of what you guys were talking about. It sounded like you're a time traveling superhero, and something wrong is going on here," Shirou admitted. "I'm not happy you and Shinji lied to me, but… I get it. That's not a story anyone would believe," He stood up, stretching. "I guess the best way to say it is not that I believe your story, more that I believe you're a good person, Fujimaru. I'll help you as much as I can," Shirou chuckled weakly. "Right now, it's just giving you a roof to sleep under, but who knows? Maybe after I summon my Servant, I can be some real help,"
Shirou's words lifted a weight off Ritsuka's shoulders, the last Master of Chaldea smiling a genuine smile. "Thanks Emiya. That means a lot to me," Shirou smiled back, before heading off to his own room, leaving Ritsuka alone with three women. Jack was cuddled up against his chest, acting as his emotional support daughter, while Medusa picked up the tea cups and headed into the kitchen to put them into the sink.
Bazett only stared at the boy as she tried to make sense of his story. Ritsuka looked at her and shrugged a little. "Sorry, I know we were talking a lot about things that were really weird. You should probably get some sleep, you know?" he said, but Bazett shook her head.
"I've slept for long enough," She said as she stood up. "More importantly, did you bring a metal tube from my base with you?" Ritsuka stared at her for a few seconds, his mind running through the memories of that night before shaking his head.
"No, I-," He paused as he heard what sounded like a bell ringing. What was that? It was a soft sound, almost beautiful… but nothing seemed to be happening, so he continued. "I didn't see anything like that," He stood up, Jackie grumbling as she clinged to his chest, causing Ritsuka to quickly shift his attention. "Hey, hey, go to sleep, alright Jack? I promise I'll be there when you wake up,"
"Promise?" She muttered sleepily.
"Promise," He rubbed her head before she stumbled off, heading down the hall. He turned back to Bazett. "Was there something important we didn't see?" Bazett simply nodded.
"I'm going to retrieve it," She stated as she turned to leave.
"Hey, hang on, I'll go with ya," Ritsuka offered as he walked to her.
"Not necessary," She rejected. "Your injury would only slow us down. It's more efficient if you stay here,"
"Hey, hey, you're injured too," Ritsuka countered, pointing to her arm. "You really shouldn't go out alone when you're like that. Safety's just as important as efficiency," Bazett looked over to her arm, but before she could say anything else, Medusa walked up to the two.
"I will go with both of you, okay? Let's move, before her things get stolen," She said as she grabbed Ritsuka's good arm and led him outside. Bazett could only sigh to herself before she followed the two, letting the injured boy lead the two to the house that was Bazett's base.
The three walked in silence, even their breathing was barely audible. While Ritsuka did eventually wrench his arm out of Medusa's grip, she stood by Ritsuka's side, refusing to let him get more than two feet away from her. He was all too familiar with this, she was definitely mad at him, even if her face betrayed no emotions.
He did something that was perceived as stupid, and now his Servant wouldn't let him out of grabbing range. Mordred did this to him far more times than he could count. It was oddly nostalgic, even if he should have been more frustrated about this.
It didn't take long for them to find the house again. Bazett walked to the door, grabbing the doorknob and turning… only to find it locked. Ritsuka tilted his head. Did he lock the door before he left? He had no idea.
"You didn't happen to leave the keys inside the house, did you?" He asked. Bazett was quiet, but the way she reared back her fist, ancient Primordial Runes etching themselves into her gloves told him that was the case.
Wait, Primordial Runes?
Before Bazett could punch down the door, and before Ritsuka could ask about the runes, a sharp whistle echoed through the streets. Ritsuka stiffened up, slowly turning around. The sight before him caused his mind to work into overdrive.
Perched on top of a streetlight was a man with bright red hair, his face obscured by the grey mask over his face, black streaks scratched out on the right side of the mask. His body was covered by a cloak of some sort, hiding away any details. However, the thing that caught their eye the most was a large grey metal tube slung over his shoulder.
"He has my weapon," Bazett informed as her legs began to glow with runic power. Without a word, the man leapt off the street light, landing on a nearby roof and running off at inhuman speeds. There was no question about it.
This man was a Servant.
Bazett took off, leaping to the rooftops and chasing after him, while Medusa stayed by Ritsuka's side.
"Rider, go, chase them down! We can't let that guy get away!" Ritsuka commanded. Medusa refused to budge though. "Don't worry about me. I'll catch up to you!" Medusa's head turned to him at that comment, eyebrow raised. Ritsuka sighed and picked up a rock, using his finger to trace a symbol on it, his finger leaving a trail of magic in its wake. "I'll track you guys down wherever you end up. Please hurry, we can't lose them!"
"Stay safe," Medusa finally relented. "I will not go back to Shinji," She then took off like a speed bullet after the other two. Ritsuka sighed, looking down at his rock before his eyes widened.
He drew the wrong symbol.
Quickly, he tossed the rock away as it exploded into a brilliant explosion of light. "It's gonna be one of those nights, huh?" He muttered as he picked up a different rock, trying again.
Medea could only let out a sigh of relief as she watched Souichirou fall asleep, the ancient mage's head hitting the bed as she felt the tension leave her body. She managed to heal his body from the Assassin's attack, not even a scar left behind. She moved her head slightly to watch Souichirou's sleeping face, slowly reaching out and running her hand through his short hair. The man didn't wake up, which caused her heart to flutter every time. He had lowered his guard around her, and only her.
As it should be.
After recharging her emotional energy, she stood up, slipping her hood back on as she headed out of her Master's room and towards the temple's gates, where her two Servants were still fighting. Artoria Alter's mana infused sword made it hard for Kojiro to close the distance, but Kojiro's unpredictable sword swings kept the draconic king at bay.
"That is enough, both of you!" Medea called out, the two sword fighters stopping at the sound of their Master's words, Artoria Alter slamming her sword's blade into the ground as Kojiro rested his blade on his shoulder. "Now, Assassin, do you wish to explain why you went against my orders and let them escape?" Kojiro let out a playful humming noise before he answered.
"Our King of Knights here can be described by many words. Powerful, beautiful, inspiring. However, 'delicate' is not one of those words. Remember, you told us to make sure the star gazer stayed alive, since his Shadow Servants could be key to keeping your Master safe while also helping take down Berserker,"
"Yes, I did say that. What's your point?" Medea snapped, which only caused Kojiro to chuckle.
"The King of Knights here was coming to stop them with all the force of a dragon… something that likely would kill the star gazer," Kojiro explained, causing Artoria Alter's grip to tighten on her sword's hilt. "I decided it would be better to keep him alive and collect him at a different date then to let him die and lose him forever,"
Medea really hated this pretty boy. She knew that he was technically correct, but at this moment, she didn't care. It didn't make him right. She held out her hand, Kojiro feeling a pressure in his chest. It kept building and building, like something was going to explode outwards, but at the very last second, the pressure subsidized, Medea lowering her hand as she changed her mind.
The star gazer was gone, but she did discover that those shadowy Servants he summoned weren't as strong as a proper Servant, so her plan of using him to help against that musclebound monster Heracles was up in flames. She originally planned to leave the boy alone since for some reason she didn't understand, he reminded her of her brother, but after his Assassin had gutted her Master, her sympathy was like smoke in the wind.
Besides, she had already killed her brother once before. What was one more time if doing so would let her stay here with Souichirou forever?
"From now on, that boy is our enemy," Medea stated in a cold tone. "If he ever steps foot on this mountain again, kill him and all his allies,"
"Should I go and destroy them for you now, Master?" Artoria Alter asked as she went to pull her sword out of the stone stairway. Medea pondered over Artoria's offer. There was no way that they could handle an assault from her King of Knights, especially with how injured they were now… but… she then remembered the eyes of the star gazer's Assassin.
"If you chase Mommy… he'll die. We'll make sure of it," The look in that small child's eyes as she said that… They weren't the eyes of someone bluffing. Only a person who was truly obsessed with someone they loved could say something like that with such a terrifying look. She knew that better than most… after all, that was the kind of look she had back with her time with Jason, right before she murdered her brother in cold blood…
Combine that with the Assassin making past all her defenses without her even realizing it, and she was very sure that if she made a move against them, Souichiro would die. She needed to greatly increase the defences around the mountain before she even thought about facing them again.
"No, not until I've reinforced this mountain," Medea finally decided. "For now, you two stay on guard. We never know when they might show up again," The two swordsmen nodded as Medea left.
Next time, she would be ready.
