"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Master/Servant Link"

Noble Phantasm


Chapter 8: A well deserved respite.

It was soon after leaving the Church, that was as much as Illya could make out from this dream, Shirou and Rin were taking their leave from eachother, Saber was Shirou's partner in the 'Holy Grail War.'

Illya hadn't seen Rin's servant yet, but from the conversation it had been an Archer.

"See you around." Shirou waved Rin off before Saber suddenly spun around.

Illya turned to see what they were looking at before her eye's widened and her vision trailed up.

And up.

And up.

The man, if she could call him that, was a giant grey skinned muscled figure with a metal skirt and nothing else.

In his left hand he held what Illya could only describe as a sharpened piece of rock.

"So…" A familiar voice reached Illya's ears, her vision trailed away from the giant to the smaller figure standing next to him, she recoiled in surprise as she was met with her own face "Are you done chatting?"

Illya was staring at herself, she was wearing a purple coat and large hat with a big white scarf around her neck.

Her copy fixed her eyes on Shirou before smiling "Good evening, Onii-chan. This is the second time we've met." her eyes went from Shirou to Rin and she did a slight curtsy "Nice to meet you, Rin. My name is Illyasviel Von Einzbern. You know the name, don't you?"

The group stilled and began to slightly back away.

"I'm going to kill you now." She said easily, Illya herself froze as she heard her copy say something really scary so easily.

"Go get them, Berserker~" She virtually sang.

The Giant behind her crouched slightly and opened his mouth "▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"


Illya awoke with a start.

She was heavily breathing as she thought back to the dream. This was getting freaky now, before it was about her brother and Rin with the Saber card.

Now there was an evil version of her with a Servant called Berserker? Maybe these were just nightmares about the class cards or something.

Her mind coming up with fantasy situations to make sense of the craziness.

That had to be it...right?


Shirou felt awful.

His latest dream felt more like a nightmare with everything that was happening in it.

'What the hell even was that… that thing?' He thought to himself, the dream ended when his fantasy self or whatever made contact with some strange shadow thing. But… it felt… wrong. Even within his dream that thing freaked him out.

What was up with that Shadow? More importantly why was he still dreaming of this freaky stuff?

More importantly… there was something that stood out to him.

That tanned jerk in red in his dream, he felt like he had seen him before somewhere but couldn't place it.

He gripped his head as he felt an oncoming headache. Why did he have to deal with these freaky dreams which made no sense?


Both Shirou and Illya seemed… off in Kiritsugu and Irisviels eyes this morning.

Whereas usually Shirou would have raced to get breakfast done early, he wouldn't have been fast enough today given that Sella had specifically awoken early to beat him to the kitchen, and made breakfast while Illya would soon follow and lap up whatever cooking he made.

Today they both practically dragged themselves down the stairs, each sporting rather distant expression and prominent bags under their eyes.

Kiritsugu exchanged a worried glance with Irisviel as their two children slowly ate their breakfast while in an almost trance like state.

"Is something the matter you two?" Irisviel's worried voice had the pair snap their attention to her "You look tired…" she frowned and gave them concerned looks.

Shirou gave her a shaky smile and waved her off, it wasn't very convincing and he probably knew it, "It's fine Mom. Just… bad dreams is all, didn't get much sleep last night." he punctuated the end of his sentence by rubbing his eyes and yawning.

Illya gave Shirou a weird look before turning back to her mother and giving the same shaky smile "Yeah… same."

"That's no good!" Irisviel slammed her hands on the table, Kiritsugu made sure to raise his coffee and plate to avoid the contents spilling "Tonight your both sleeping with me!"

"Eh?/What?" The pair seemed to freeze up and give her a rather confused expression.

Shirou raised an eyebrow at her then looked between both Kiritsugu and Irisviel "What about the old man? Where would he sleep?"

"Oh, Kiri doesn't mind sleeping on the sofa." Irisviel waved him off with a large grin, Kiritsugu to the left of her simply raised an eyebrow at the choice being made for him "Don't you dear?"

Kiritsugu released a sigh "Apparently I don't…" Irisviel beamed before giving her kids the same smile.

"Shirou-chan, you're coming shopping with me today!" She exclaimed.

"I am?" He blinked a few times as what she said settled in "Why?"

"Because I haven't seen you in months and I want to spend time with my beloved son!" She simply replied before breaking out in a mischievous grin "I also want to know if I can look forward to grand kids in the future..."

Shirou choked on his breakfast and his face turned the same colour as his hear, Illya gaped and blushed as well.

Kiritsugu simply sighed while Irisviel giggled.

"Mom!" Shirou exclaimed while looking rather red in the face, either embarrassment or indignation. Kiritsugu couldn't really tell.

"What?" The woman tilted her head as if she hadn't said anything scandalous mere moments ago.

"Wh- you- Why!?" Shirou continued making strangled sounds before stopping and letting loose a rather loud sigh "Really… what a troublesome person you are…"

"What was that, Shirou?" Irisviel gave him a smile, which was anything but pleasant.

"Nothing!"

Illya meanwhile was staring at Shirou, that last sentence he said...He almost looked like…


Archer was staring at Miyu.

Miyu was staring back at him with a pensive expression.

He had managed to catch her just outside the grounds while she was 'cleaning' he really didn't see why Luvia had a ten year old girl dressed in a maid outfit sweeping the paths outside a mansion but he couldn't claim to understand the mentality of the average magus.

"We never finished our conversation, did we?" He asked, the girl immediately flinched and Archer narrowed his eyes at her.

"...No." She shook her head, she was fidgeting rather severely and looking everywhere that wasn't Archer.

"Archer-san." Sapphire floated out from behind the girl, her tone of voice rather more severe than usual "Has Miyu-sama done something to justify your questioning."

"Yes." Archer replied, not looking at the Mystic Code "Have you told anyone?"

The girl shook her head, now looking at the ground.

"Do you intend to tell anyone?" Again, she shook her head, without making a single sound.

"You won't tell me how you know, will you?" The girl once again shook her head.

Archer studied her for a few more moments before he let out a sigh "...I suppose that's the best I can ask for." he turned away to leave but paused when Sapphire shouted to him.

"What was so important that you needed to interrogate my Master, Archer-san?"

He paused for a few moments before answering in a bland voice "Nothing worth mentioning." he faded away after he said that, leaving Miyu and Sapphire alone.

"Miyu-sama, is it nothing?"

"It's fine, Sapphire." Miyu replied in a hollow tone "Like Oni-...Archer-san said, it's nothing worth mentioning."

"...As you wish, Miyu-sama." Sapphire replied, not pointing out how her Master looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Archer was swift to return back to the house following his brief talk with Miyu.

'I'm getting soft.' He chastised himself 'I didn't want to push her further because of that pitiful face… Honestly, what a troublesome little girl she is…'

When he returned he was greeted by the sigh of Irisviel dragging Shirou out of the house, proclaiming that she would bring him back in one piece… and with a date.

Archer raised a mental eyebrow at their exchange but didn't think on it for very long, he found himself rather bored while waiting for Tohsaka and Luvia to discover the location of the final card.

He supposed could have another walk around Fuyuki city, there were worse ways for him to spend his time.

"Master." He send a small message through the link "Do you have need of me for anything today?"

"No…" Was the reply he got "Papa said that he and Mama would overlook my magic training… also he said to tell you that you were right to call Ruby 'Trash', at the moment they are arguing over my outfit."

Archer chuckled, he imagined that would have been a point of contention between the two. Kiritsugu watching his daughter dress up like a clown would probably irritated the man to no end.

"Wait… are you transformed right now?"

"...Yes…"

"I see… I will return later today, or if you have need of me."

"Okay, Archer. See you later."


Illya cut off the mental link, then turned to see her father and Ruby still arguing.

"It lacks any kind of practicality!" Kiritsugu shouted while throwing his hands up "If you are going to force my daughter to dress up like a… like a…"

"Attractive Magical Girl." Ruby offered, that only seemed to infuriate Kiritsugu further.

"That is another thing…" He pinched the bridge of his nose and released a long sigh "She's ten years old… so why on Earth would would make her wear a skirt when she is capable of flight!" he gestured to the entire outfit "The second she takes off, she's going to show every creep a view of her underwear!"

"Hey!" Ruby crossed her wings "I'll have you know this is the perfect form every professional magical girl should take."

"That makes it worse! Have you even taught her anything to do with the moonlit world or did you just break in and sweep her away like a snake oil peddler!?"

"I have taught her how to maximise her cuteness!" Ruby huffed "That is the only magic she needs to learn."

"...I'm going for a lie-down." Kiritsugu turned around and walked towards the stairs "You are perhaps the worst Mystic code I've ever laid eyes on…" were his parting words as he ascended the steps.

"Geez." Ruby shook herself "He sounds like Satan. What is it with you and attracting grumpy people, Illya-chan?"

"I think its just your a little…" Illya scrunched her face up in thought as she searched for the right word "...Confrontational?"

"I think the word you mean is 'passionate' Illya-chan." Ruby huffed "It's not my fault nobody understands the appeal of Magical Girls!"

"Right, right…" Illya nodded along, not entirely agreeing with Ruby but being smart enough to know not to push it further "I wonder what Miyu-san is doing today…"

"Want to call her?"

"Sure. I haven't really hung out with her that much."


"I am NOT wearing that." Shirou declared while pointing at the set of clothes Irisviel had brought out for him.

"Why not?" She pouted "I'm sure you'd look great in them." she pressed them into his chest and gave him a rather large smile "Just try them on."

"No." Shirou pushed them away, only to find them pressed back into him "Mom, I am not wearing them."

"Mou!" Irisviel began to frown and puff out her cheeks "Shirou, you meanie! I'm just trying to make you more presentable."

"How are butler clothes any better than my regular clothes!?"

"Because…" Irisviel began to explain to him as if he were a child "If you look like you're a professional at housework, women are more likely to fall in love with you."

"I don't do housework because I want girls to love me!" Shirou exclaimed while blushing at the implication "I do it because I enjoy it."

Irisviel waved him off "That's just makes you more of a catch, Shirou-chan. What's the name of that nice girl you go to school with? The one with pink hair?"

"Moriyama-san?" Shirou raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yes!" Irisviel nodded "I'm sure she'd appreciate you wearing butler clothes."

"Why would she care about my clothes?"

"...You're very dense, aren't you Shirou?" Irisviel deadpanned at him, Shirou just blinked and looked at her in confusion.

"Eh?"


"Ah, there you two are." Both Illya and Miyu turned to see Tohsaka approaching them. The girls had decided to take a brief trip outside and hang out at the park, it was also there that Tohsaka found them.

"Rin-san?" Illya tilted her head in confusion "Were you looking for us."

"Yeah." She then turned to Miyu "Also explains why sausage witch was whining to me about not finding you, doesn't matter. We found out where the next card is going to be."

"Ah." Illya nodded "So this will be the last card."

"Right, the Berserker card." Rin nodded "Did Archer offer any insight as a fellow Servant?"

"He said it would probably be as strong as him."

"Oh…" Rin trailed off and frowned "That's bad, Archer himself is a full blown Servant, if the Berserker can match him…"

"He's got us though." Illya offered "Also are we going out again at midnight?"

"Yes." Rin nodded, then tilted her head "Why?"

Illya shifted "It's just… Mama said she was going to sleep with me tonight. I didn't know how to actually escape."

Rin raised an eyebrow "Can't you just sneak out or something?"

"Escaping Mama is impossible." Illya's eyes became lifeless and were focused on something a million miles away

Rin and Miyu exchanged a look before Rin shook her head "Just… think of something or try and convince her to let you sleep on your own." she then slumped her shoulders "Or just tell her what you're actually going to be doing, I'd rather not lie to your parents."

"Huh?" Illya furrowed her brows "Why?"

"...You're dad is scary."

"Oh...Okay." Illya nodded "He got pretty mad at Ruby too."

"Really?" Rin snorted "I can't imagine why."

"I shall return to Luvia-san's mansion." Miyu nodded then turned to Illya "I'll see you later tonight."

"Bye, Miyu-san!" Illya waved at the girl as she left.

"You two seem to be getting on well." Rin mused "Suppose that's good news, at least she's reasonable to work with."

"Yep." Illya nodded, then frowned "Although she seemed jumpy around Archer for some reason."

Rin frowned "Why? He didn't strike me as the kind to scare kids. He also doesn't seem to hate her."

Illya shook her head "I don't know, I could try talking to him about it-"

"Don't bother." Rin huffed "He'll never explain anything if he doesn't want to… like who your parents were." she muttered to herself, low enough that Illya couldn't hear her.

Illya remained confused as to why Rin was scowling, or why she had seemed hesitant to meet her at her home ever since meeting her parents. Archer had said not to worry about it, Illya figured that if it was important they would probably tell her.


Archer waited outside the house along with Rin. Illya had told him that she had met with Tohsaka earlier and that they had discovered the location of the final card. The problem was that Irisviel had decided that both Illya and his younger self were to sleep with her due to nightmares.

Illya's nightmares made sense to him, Shirou's did not.

"How long do we have to wait?" Rin moaned while tapping her foot repeatedly with her arms crossed.

"Would you rather I simply steal my Master away from under the watchful gaze of such accomplished Magi?" Archer raised an amused eyebrow at Rin, her foot stopped tapping and her eyes narrowed at Archer.

"You knew about them being Magi?" Rin accused "Didn't you? You set me up with the-" she looked around before leaning in and whispering "The Magus Killer!"

"I was already aware for their relation to the moonlit world, given that my Masters guardians were both Homunculi." Archer shrugged "I didn't know at the time that they were the Einzberns and the magical boogeyman." A lie, he knew well enough and thought it would act as a strong incentive for Rin to not let her mystic codes get away from her in the future.

"Ah! It's a little power group." A jolly voice had Archer and Rin turn their heads, and immediately widen their eyes.

Illya was in her magical girl outfit, while being followed by a very amused looking Irisviel.

"Master…" Archer began and then sighed "I thought the plan was to get away from Irisviel."

"I tried." Illya whimpered "Then she woke up, then Onii-chan woke up. Then Mama used hypnosis on him or something. Then she said she was going to come with us because she wanted to watch me."

"While I don't doubt little Tohsaka-sans abilities." Irisviel began as she smiled "I'd rather be with my daughter. Also It's a parents responsibility to protect their child." she puffed her chest.

Archer raised an eyebrow "You just want to see her act like a magical girl, don't you?"

"Yes." She admitted unashamedly.

"Ha!" Ruby cheered "See what I mean Satan? Magical Girls are popular!"

Archer scowled "I hate you." then turned to Irisviel "I trust that you are a competent Magus, because I might not be able to protect you."

"I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, thank you very much." Irisviel pouted "Besides, shouldn't you be focused on protecting your Master?"

Archer shook his head "Finally, someone who gets it." he turned to Rin "Lets go."

The group took step, Archer quickly noticed that Irisviel parted from Illya and began to walk side by side with him.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked, not looking at her. The woman pouted at Archers lack of eye contact.

"Don't you know its rude to not look a person in the eye when you talk to them?"

"From what that little Mystic code has been spouting, apparently I'm Satan." Archer smirked "Surely being rude is a little on par with my identity?"

"True." Irisviel giggled "But if you were actually Satan you wouldn't be helping Illya, would you?"

"No." Archer nodded "But how do you know I'm not simply using her to win her trust before I steal her soul."

"Because your a good person." Archer almost stopped when she said that, not because she called him a good person, he could imagine someone else saying something similar in the circumstances. No, he almost paused because her tone was so certain. She genuinely believed him to be a good person.

"Rather optimistic, aren't you?" Archer chuckled "How do you know I'm a good person?"

"You have Kiritsugu's eyes."

This time Archer did stop, he did well to mask his features "Is that so." Archer replied before resuming his step.

"Yep." Irisviel's smile turned nostalgic "He was different when I first met him, a bit colder. He thought that as long as he could save people, the ends justified the means. He was turning himself into a machine." She looked ahead at Illya and Rin "Then he changed when we had her, he looked so full of life when he held her for the first time. We wouldn't trade her for anything in the world."

"I'm happy for you."

"You never had that, did you?" She was still looking ahead "I see in your eyes, your the old Kiritsugu. The one who never had that little bit of joy."

"You have it wrong." Archer replied, his voice bitter "I'm like this because I was after nothing but that little bit of joy."

"Archer...Why did you decide to help Illya?"

"...She reminds me of someone. Someone I failed once." He let out a mirthless chuckle "I can't even remember her face anymore, or what she was like. All I know was that she was important to me...and I failed her."

"Is that why you stuck around, even without the Grail?"

Archer scoffed "I never had any wish for the Grail. Throwing myself into a bloodsport for such a dubious prize would be the height of stupidity...My goal was related in part to a Grail War. That's why I answered the summons."

Irisviel remained silent for awhile before she replied "You really are a good person aren't you, Archer?"

"I'm not." He shot her down, her smile never faded though "I'm not good person. I killed many, many people in my life."

"So has Kiritsugu." Irisviels smile turned gentler "That doesn't mean you're a bad person, Archer."

Archer didn't reply. He didn't want to, or her couldn't. He didn't want to think about it at all.

"Why are you really here?" Archer, for the first time in the conversation, looked the woman in the eyes "It's not just to see Illya, is it?"

"...No." Irisviel nodded "I suppose it wasn't. I actually wanted to get a chance to talk with you, before you left."

"Is that so." Archer mused "There were safer ways to do it than get involved with a Servant hunt."

Irisviel giggled "Well, maybe I also wanted to look cool in front of my daughter."

"Hmph." Archer grunted in response "Really, what a troublesome person you are."

Irisviel froze this time "What did yo-"

"Archer, we're here." She was interrupted by Tohsaka's shout up ahead. Archer moved upwards to join herself, Illya, Luvia and Miyu.

He looked up at the skyscraper in front of them. Then at Rin and Luvia. "So, where is the anomaly located this time?"

"Top of the building" Luvia replied, then narrowed her eyes at Irisviel "What is she doing here, I thought Illyasviel was supposed to get away from her."

"She couldn't." Archer sighed "Besides, she's as good a Magus as the pair of you, she'll be fine."

"Fine then." Luvia sighed "Nothing we can do about it now." She turned to the building "How do we plan on getting up there?"

"Climb." Archer replied "My Master and Miyu could probably carry you up there."

"What about me though?" Irisviel turned to Archer, the latter frowned in thought before turning to Rin.

"Top of the building you said, right?"

"Yes." Rin nodded.

Archer said nothing, then scooped Irisviel into a bridal carry, the woman let out a startled gasp before Archer jumped onto a nearby roof.

"Archer!?" Irisviel called out in surprise as the Servant jumped from roof top to roof top as he ascended towards the top of the building.

He eventually landed gently onto the roof of the skyscraper and set Irisviel down. The woman pouted and Archer and slapped his arm "Who taught you how to hold a woman? You're supposed to be gentle with a maiden!"

"I'll try to remember than on the way down."

"Liar."

The two waited in silence until Illya and Miyu arrived while carrying Rin and Luvia.

"Geez, Archer." Ruby chuckled "I didn't know you were in a habit of stealing away young women."

Archer raised an eyebrow "I'm going to avoid making a comment about you." he turned to Miyu "I'd say we're as ready as we're ever going to be. Get started on that spell."

"Yes." Miyu replied, not meeting Archers eyes.

The pair of magical girls began their incantation, they group transported over to the Mirror world. Archer stared around at the surrounding area.

"This place is far smaller than the others." He murmured.

"Indeed." Luvia added "It's proof that the distortions are disappearing." she turned to Rin "Once we collect the card here, w-"

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!" she was cut off by an inhuman roar, Archer spun round just in time to witness a large blur racing towards him. He barely had time to trace Kanshou and Bakuya and hold them in front of him before a fist made contact with his guard.

"Archer!" Illya cried out in shock, the resulting impact between the two servants blasted everyone else back. Illya got back up quickly, only to freeze when she saw who was attacking Archer.

"...Berserker…" she whispered out in shock, this was the Servant she had seen in her dreams.

Archer felt the ground beneath his feet crack, he was thankful, evidently Berserker was considerable weaker than if he were at full strength.

If he were to guess the Berserker had C rank strength and judging by the speed at which he had raced towards him, C rank agility.

Still stronger than Archer, but not enough to be considered a no win scenario.

He redirected the fist away from him and into the ground and leapt away.

Berserker was completely ignoring everyone else and focused entire on him. Evidently it recognised him as the greatest threat, like every other class card had.

Archer however, his mind was shouting in the back of his mind that even though this Servant was weakened, it was no less dangerous to him.

Something screaming familiarity.


AN: Slightly shorter chapter this time, my bad.

But I wanted to get all of the action into the next chapter.

Also wanted Irisviel and Archer to have a little talk.

But yeah, we'll have the final chapter of the first Arc next. Then we'll move onto the second Arc.