Fate/Kyon's Order: Arcueid's Arrival

A Haruhi Suzumiya & Fate/Grand Order Crossover Fan Fiction

by Derald Snyder

Part 4- Arcueid Imprisoned

*The next day...*

After a meeting between the three Masters, Sherlock Holmes, Da Vinci, Sion, and Goredolf Musik, it was decided via majority vote that Arcueid Brunestud would be staying, albeit under restraint until it was determined that she was no longer a threat to Haruhi, Sion, or anyone else in Chaldea. Thus it was that Arcueid found herself shackled to the wall of Haruhi's room, though there was just enough slack in the chains to allow her to sit on the floor. And it was in this situation, that she was confronted by Haruhi's first summoned servant, the blackened Artoria Pendragon, who was known by her nickname of 'Artesia'.

"Why did you try to kill Master?" Artesia asked bluntly.

"I didn't! That was the other 'me'!" Arcueid shook her head. "I like Master! I'm just locked up as a precaution!"

"Oh really?" the saber's eyes narrowed. "How do I know you aren't just biding your time until you can try to kill her again?"

"So what are you going to do, kill me first?" Arcueid taunted. "Because even chained up like this, I'm not defenseless!"

"Are you sure about that?" Another voice spoke up, Asagami Fujino entering the room. "Because I'm pretty sure you can't defend against my Mystic Eyes of Distortion..." Her eyes suddenly flashed gold.

"Aaaaggghh!" Arcueid cried as she felt her internal organs twisting in a very painful manner. "Ahh, that hurts! Stoooop!"

"Fujino-san! What are you doing?!" Haruhi yelled as she walked up behind the esper. "Knock it off!"

"Just giving her a warning, Master," Fujino said as the glow faded from her eyes, Arcueid going limp and gasping in relief. "Don't you remember what happened last time, with that Vritra?"

"Vritra was an out-an-out villain from Hindu mythology," Haruhi countered. "We only got caught off-guard because of her Absolute Defense... I mean, how I was I supposed to know her weakness was seafoam, of all things?" Shaking her head, she continued, "Look, that's in the past. And I don't think Arcueid is 'evil' in the general sense... she just doesn't understand human morals very well."

"She tried. To kill you." Artesia stated slowly.

"So did Vritra," Haruhi crossed her arms. "Look, if this happens again, then I'll send her back to the Throne. But we gave Vritra a chance, we should give Arcueid here a chance too."

"Um, what happened with this Vritra?" Arcueid asked curiously.

"Well, me and the other Masters were checking out this weird singularity that was underground, based on old fables and whatnot. First place we investigated was this pirate town, led by a brainwashed Francis Drake. But when we were fighting her, one of her rivals from a neighboring city sabotaged the floodgates, and we would have all drowned if it hadn't been for Vritra using her powers as the Dragon of Drought to evaporate it all." Shaking her head, Haruhi continued, "But that act was all it took for her to revert to full-blown villain, turn into her true dragon form and try to kill us all... and due to her Absolute Defense, even Artesia's Excalibur Morgan didn't leave a scratch. It only due to Drake ramming that bitch with her pirate ship, at the cost of her life, that we managed to escape."

"Once we were out of the danger zone, we contacted Karna back at Chaldea HQ, and he told us what he knew of the legend, including Vritra's only weakness. So I swapped Artesia with Fujino-san here, and we went back to confront Vritra at dusk's twilight, Fujino using her twisting ability to distract her long enough for me to conjure a pillar of seafoam, which weakened her enough for Ritsuka and Gudako's servants to take her down with a combined attack. She was actually happy we managed to win, though, her last words being, 'Don't you dare falter again, Master, or I'll be back to kill you again.' Needless to say, it was unanimously decided not to resummon her after that debacle."

"That's terrible... turning on you just because she decided to re-enact her legend?" Arcueid shook her head. "Look, that other me doesn't hate humanity, she just doesn't care one way or the other. She's more like a natural disaster than a 'villain'... At least there's some humans that I actually cared about in life!"

"Well, they couldn't have been normal humans, to get the attention of someone as powerful as you," Artesia pointed out.

"...Yeah, you're right. My beloved Shiki, when we first met, ended up cutting me into 17 pieces! I managed to reform myself, though."

"Beloved? You fell in love with someone who tried to kill you?" Artesia said in disbelief.

"Well, when you think you're invincible, and suddenly this human chops you to pieces... you're obviously going to take an interest in him," Arcueid closed one eye and stuck out her tongue. "Also, if I remember right, Shiki kinda had two personalities himself, and it was that other one that I fell in love with..."

"...Did this 'Shiki' have the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception?" Fujino inquired.

"That's right! How did you know?!" Arc gasped in shock.

"Because, in my life, I also encountered a person with that name, who possessed such an ability," the esper elaborated. "But she was a woman, not a man."

"Yeah, we actually summoned that Shiki here before Fujino-san," Haruhi added.

"Really? Do you... think I could meet her?" Arcueid asked curiously.

Fujino and Haruhi looked at each other for a moment. "Well, sure, just don't expect Fujino-san to stick around. Even if they've buried the hatchet, she'd rather not be in the same room as her, for reasons."

"I will go fetch her, then," Artesia said, vanishing into spirit form.

"...So, anyway, am I going to get a chance to serve you properly, Master?" Arc asked next.

"Yeah, I was thinking of deploying you on our next supply sortie," Haruhi nodded. "Artesia will come along too, to keep an eye on you, just in case. She's my first and most loyal servant, after all."

"I'm not sure if she's actually powerful enough to kill me if that other me takes control, but okay," the vampire shrugged.

"I'm sure she could hold you off long enough for me to finish the job, at least," Haruhi pointed out. "But like I said before, I hope it doesn't come to that..."

"Me neither," Arcueid concurred.

*And so...*

"Hiii-yah!" Arc cried as she power-slammed a zombie head-first into the ground, causing the undead's parts to splatter everywhere! She then charged forth, cutting apart two more with her claws! Not far away, Artesia chopped one zombie in half with her sword, blasting another's head off with dark energy!

"Yeah! Get 'em guys!" Riyo Gudako cheered, her own servant Kiyjo Koyo biting and punching apart several more zombies, the horned T-rex then blasting flames from her mouth, immolating five more! Needless to say, it wasn't long before the entire undead army had been decimated by the combined effort.

"Good work, everyone," said Ritsuka, Mash at his side in her Ortinax suit. "Sion, Da Vinci, do you have a lock on the Grail yet?"

"Still too much interference," the young Da Vinci replied with an undertone of frustration. "Wait, I'm picking up a Berserker! On your guard, everyone!" The Masters and their servants regrouped, watching as a dark humanoid shape appeared in the distance...

"...Who dares to trespass upon the domain of Dracula?" the shadow spoke in a refined tone, sporting long hair and a lance. "I will impale you all and drain your blood for my sustenance..."

"Huh? I thought you said Dracula wasn't really a vampire?" Arc asked, perplexed.

"Yeah, the Dracula we summoned is a Lancer, right?" Gudako concurred.

"When summoned as Berserker, Vlad III is tainted by the legend of the vampire that was wrongly associated with him," Da Vinci elaborated. "But it looks like this one is just a shadow servant..."

"Okay! I'll take care of this!" Arcueid exclaimed, leaping high into the air, doing a graceful backflip, then shooting downward as she was engulfed in blue light, fist outstretched, smashing into the shadow Vlad with incredible force!

"Whoa!" Haruhi put up her arms as a large cloud of dust erupted from the impact, Mash and Koyo protecting their respective Masters... When the dust settled, Arcueid was standing alone in the center of a massive crater, no sign of the Berserker anywhere to be seen.

"Oops... Looks like I kinda overdid it," Arc closed one eye and stuck out her tongue.

"...Yeah, that shadow servant's as dead as dead can be," Sion deadpanned over the com-link. "All the more reason for me to stay the hell away Miss Brunestud... Wait, hold on, I'm picking up something... it's not a servant, but..."

"It's a Dead Apostle," Arcueid cut in, her face turning serious. For some reason, she was having a strange sense of deja vu... then the party heard distant clapping, slow and methodical.

"Well done. Well done indeed," said a male voice, a lanky shadow appearing at the opposite edge of the crater. "I should have expected no less from you... my dear Arcueid."

"YOU!" the vampire princess cried in recognition and uncharacteristic anger...

*To be continued...*

A/N: Anyone who has even a passing knowledge of Tsukihime probably knows who this mysterious man is... ;-)