"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Master/Servant Link"

Noble Phantasm


Chapter 16: Better than Homeschool.

Archer considered himself to be a calm man.

Mind's eye had allowed him to remain cool under pressure through even the grimmest of battles and against the toughest of opponents.

He also really wished it would kick in right about now to try and tell him how to navigate his current predicament.

"It's just so sad!" Said predicament being one Taiga Fujimura crying her eyes out while giving him a rather tight hug "To think you would have to raise a child all by yourself!" all working under false pretences surrounding the Illya clone.

It was made worse by the fact she had stormed into his classroom in the middle of his English lesson.

Thus he was also treated to the sight of Tohsaka Rin and Luvia Edelfelt struggling to contain their smirks at his clearly uncomfortable situation.

Shirou didn't even bother hiding his, much to Archers conniption.

"Don't you worry!" Taiga pulled her head out of Archer's chest and gave him a rather wide grin and thrust a thumb into herself "I'll be her Onee-san while she's at school! Don't you worry Bow-sensei! I'll make sure she's raised right!" with that, she darted out of the room.

There was an awkward silence that followed after she slammed the door closed, most of the students staring at Archer with either barely concealed amusement or second-hand embarrassment.

Someone coughed.

"Well then." Archer turned back to the class with a tired expression "Act three of Macbeth, Scene five." he looked around the classroom "Emiya Shirou, I thank you for volunteering to read out loud for us." he enjoyed how the idiots face fell into a glower "I can see you are enthusiastic about reading for us."

Shirou narrowed his eyes before standing up, his delivery wasn't horrible, but it was certainly clunky with the occasional word being mispronounced. Still, Archer accomplished his mission.

Although he was slightly curious how Chloe was getting on in her lesson, it did concern him when she wasn't within his line of sight. The good news, was that his penchant for keeping her within constant line of sight could easily be written off as him being an overly concerned father.

The bad news was that everyone now thought he was an overly concerned father.


Illya continued to send fleeting glances in the direction of Chloe, the tanned girl sitting only a few seats away from her. The moment she had been introduced, she had been bombarded with questions about her relationship with Archer.

Primarily by Fujimura-sensei, to the extent that when the girl said she was Archer's daughter, the woman immediately darted out of the room and left them alone. Since then, Chloe had taken her seat and virtually ignored Illya and Miyu.

"I'm back!" Fujimura-sensei burst back into the room with a wide grin, her eyes scanned everyone and then landed back on Chloe where her gaze seemed to intensify "Don't worry Chloe-chan! Bow-sensei has said he has the utmost faith in me taking care of you when he isn't available!"

"Did he?" Chloe crossed her arms and gave Fujimura and amused look, Taiga virtually ignored it and continued on.

"Of course! Feel free to come to your Sensei for any troubles!" She boasted, then looked around "Seriously, please do!"

"Is this to make you look more mature for Yumio?" Chloe smirked, Taiga sputtered and sent the girl a rather bashful look.

"N-no! Of course not!" She composed herself, although the slightly embarrassed look on her face signified she'd been caught out "I-it's just a Teacher's responsibility to look after their students, and-"

"And getting close to my father is a welcome bonus?"

"And getting close to Bow-chan-Ach!" The woman coughed and sent Chloe a less than amused look, before her face contorted into an amused expression "Huh, you even smirk like him."

Chloe rolled her eyes at the woman, Taiga laughed and then turned back to the class "Now then, as I was saying before I left. I hope we can all welcome Emiya Chloe with open arms into our lovely little class."

"Yes, Sensei!" The entire class replied in an affirmative before the teacher turned back around to the board.

"Now then! We'll be working on our artistic skills first!" She grinned and looked down at her desk and paled "...Which I forgot to bring the supplies for." she gave a sheepish look and then slowly made her way back to the classroom door "Talk amongst yourselves while Sensei just grabs some things." the woman disappeared out of the classroom at Servant like speeds.

Instantly, the class descended into chaos, most of the students began talking amongst themselves or rushed over to speak with Chloe.

Illya had.

Mixed feelings about her twin.

Chloe seemed to inherit Archer's personality, but she was far more cynical and brutal in her honest nature than the Servant although she began to fear that Archer was just better at hiding that side of him out of respect for her.

Something Chloe obviously lacked, the tanned girl obviously hated Illya. Despite her best attempts at trying to make peace with her, Chloe wanted nothing to do with her.

And perhaps Illya was mad at Chloe as well, she had been rather cruel to Mama last night. She had never seen her mother look so broken as when Chloe delivered her verbal assault and left the dinner table.

The woman had slumped into her chair and refused to move for nearly half an hour before she eventually went to bed, Illya hadn't even seen her during breakfast. She had seen Papa, although he had insisted that it wasn't anything for Illya to worry about. The problem was that while Illya wanted to try and make peace with Chloe she just couldn't.

Probably because she couldn't understand her. Even looking at her now, smiling and talking to the other children, she couldn't understand her. How she could be so angry one moment and then happy the next.

In fairness, she couldn't really understand the position Chloe had been in. Trapped in her own mind like that for years but at the same time Illya couldn't really see that as justification for being so...so needlessly cruel. Especially to mama.

Illya's feelings were further muddled when Shirou actively did his best to separate Chloe and Illya as two different people. That and the way Chloe and Shirou looked at eachother, as if they were aware of some hidden secret made her feel jealous.

For someone who was so angry about being cheated out of life, Chloe certainly did well for herself to worm her way into Shirou's almost immediately. That and Shirou hadn't even tried to berate the girl for being mean to Mama.

She froze, then again...Neither did Archer. The whole time Chloe had been insulting mama, Shirou and Archer had remained relatively quiet. Trying to get Chloe to calm down, but neither of them tried to tell her she was wrong, which she had to be.

Mama didn't ignore her children. She had always been loving and supportive of Illya and Shirou, she was probably just waiting for the right time to bring up Shirou's nightmares before Chloe brought it up. That was probably it.

But why hadn't she? A voice in the back of Illya's mind whispered to her. She knew about Shirou's nightmares, the way he had been somewhat sluggish for the past few days. She should have tried to bring it up.

But she didn't, because she thought Mama would. Sure, Mama could be airheaded sometimes but she couldn't possibly have been unaware of Shirou's problems. Right?

She released a sigh of exasperation and placed her head in her hands.

Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why couldn't she just save people! Why did Chloe have to...Why did Archer have to...Why didn't she?

Why did everything in the world have to make her feel so confused?


Miyu could see the turmoil in Illya's expression, the girl wasn't really very good at hiding her trouble, and while she desperately wanted to do something to make her friend feel better. She didn't really know how.

The only person she ever really knew was her brother, and he seemed to cheer up at every little thing that she did. That and she could see the turmoil in Illya's expression, the young girl couldn't quite grasp her situation and neither could Miyu for her part. Initially, she could have.

Archer not quite being her brother and not quite being Illya's brother either, through his own admission, had given them some form of solidarity between the two. Now though, with 'Chloe' in the mix, Illya had become slightly despondent. Miyu didn't know what had happened after she and Luvia left, but it had obviously affected the girl in some way which had left her troubled.

"Illya." Miyu called out to her, the white haired girl jolted slightly, turning to the voice and then allowed a smile on her face when she saw the caller.

"Miyu." She nodded back to the dark haired girl "Good morning." she let out a slight chuckle and rubbed the back of her head awkwardly "Sorry about the trouble yesterday."

Miyu frowned and shook her head "Not your fault." she glanced over at Chloe before back at Illya "Are you alright?" she asked after a few moments, Illya's eyes briefly widened in surprise before settling into a more anxious look, the girl doing her best to put on a more jolly expression however her eyes clearly exposed the act.

"Fine!" She exclaimed, false positivity that caused even her to wince, to say nothing of Miyu's concerned expression suddenly growing more intense "W-well...I'm not too bad." she eventually settled with, casting another glance at Chloe, the tanned girl talking and smiling as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Miyu got the impression that Illya was troubled by that.

"Is it her?" Miyu narrowed her eyes at the copy, suddenly feeling more protective of her only friend "Did she do something to you?"

"Huh?" Illya's eyes snapped back to her, expression morphing into shock before she waved her hands "N-no! She didn't do anything!" her hands froze and she gained a forlorn look in her eyes "Well, not to me anyway…"

Miyu found herself frowning, obviously the Chloe girl had done something to upset Illya, although is wasn't directed at her. Oni-...Shirou then? Had Chloe done something to Illya's brother which had upset her.

"She looks happy, doesn't she?" Illya's quiet words broke her out of her thoughtful trance, her head moving away from Chloe and towards Illya, her friend's shoulders were slumped and her eyes filled with a veritable storm of conflicting emotions. Miyu felt her stomach drop at the sight of her friend looking so vulnerable.

She cast another quick glance at Chloe before looking back at Illya "She looks...sociable." was the word that Miyu chose to give, Illya released a small sigh.

"I know." She nodded her head "She was so, so angry yesterday." she took in a deep breath and looked back at Miyu "Lashing out at Mama, but now. She acts as if she's so happy. Only when she isn't around me though." she looked down at her hands "She hasn't smiled at me once since we met. She just looks at me with-" she let out a choked sob "So much anger. Sh-she genuinely hates me I think." her eyes travelled upwards, tears beginning to form in the corners of her red orbs "The way she looks at Mama. And the way she does it with my face. I can't. I want to help her, really I do. But- the way she treats Mama and me. The way she laughs and makes fun of what I want to do. I don't know if she'd let me."

"If she doesn't want your help, then you shouldn't help her." Miyu replied quickly, another irritated glance over at the girl who caused so much heartache in Illya "You shouldn't feel responsible for her happiness."

"Shouldn't I?" Illya asked in a quiet voice "She was trapped in my head for...for a long time, and I didn't even know. If this whole 'Magical girl' thing had never happened, then she'd still be trapped there. Now that's she's free, I can't help but want to...to take responsibility for what happened. Make her feel welcomed."

"You can't help her if she doesn't want help."

"I know that." Illya whispered, her voice taking on a more determined aspect to it "I know. But I just can't leave her. She's hurting. I know she is, because I would be hurting as well. I want to help her try and find something to smile about at home. I want to show her my dream to help people isn't wrong." she looked up, a serious expression on her face "And I'll start with helping her. Even if she doesn't want it. Even if she just tries to hate me more, I'll save her."


On the other side of the classroom, Chloe's ears perked up slightly as she heard Illya speaking about her to Miyu. Then as the conversation went on, she found herself internally raging at the sheer naivety of the girl.

Illya was going to 'Save her'? What nonsense. She could save her by not trying. By just ignoring her and going back to being just a school girl. But Illya would never do that, she'd gotten it into her head that she'd become a Hero of Justice, in spite of all that she'd seen happen to the last two people who'd held that dream.

A broken man, who died under the moon and a boy who became jaded when he realised his dream could never truly be achieved.

Chloe was saving her in a more runabout way. The sooner Illya came to the realisation that the dream couldn't be achieved in the way that she wanted it to, the better. The girl needed a dose of realism. A lot of people did.

Irisviel most of all. She had reason to hate her...progenitor for her rather clumsy handling of Chloe's mind and the grail project trapping her in Illya's head. Now her actions had caused Shirou to experience something similar and something much, much worse.

That haunted look in his eyes had been stuck in her head. She found is harrowing that her brother, the one who'd she'd always seen from Illya's perspective as the source of reliability, even during his less intelligent moments, be reduced to a traumatised little boy in less then a few hours.

And Irisviel hadn't even noticed. Or if she had, she never bothered to care about it in any meaningful way. Anyone could see that Shirou was carrying the weight of something on his shoulders. Archer was right. Irisviel only cared for the image of family, rather than its contents. So long as they all looked the part in her eyes, that was enough.

She supposed Illya was as much a victim of Irisviel as well. The girl seemed to be under the belief at this point that she was responsible for what happened to Chloe, while Chloe resented her for living the life she wanted, she didn't actually blame the girl for it. She blamed Irisviel.

She finished interacting with the more curious students, then crossed her arms as Fujimura-sensei returned to the classroom with her supplies. Chloe crossed her arms and smirked. If Illya was going to try and save Chloe, then Chloe was going to make her work for it.

The girl needed to know that not everyone could be saved, or not everyone could be saved by her.


Breaktime didn't come soon enough for Archer. While he would have liked to ensure that the Chloe girl hadn't done anything suspicious, or threatened Illya in any way he did, unfortunately, have an actual job to do.

Which meant marking.

Lots of marking. He momentarily wondered why Irisviel couldn't have just signed him on as a custodian to the school or something.

Now that he'd thought about it, it was probably her attempt to get him and Shirou to spend more time together. He didn't exactly hate the boy, although it was more akin to his face dredging up old memories which he wasn't exactly pleased with.

This Emiya Shirou obviously wasn't going to be a Hero of Justice. He was far to scared for that. Archer recognised that look in his eyes when Irisviel offered to remove the memories, the boy was traumatised. It made sense why he wanted to learn magecraft now.

He just didn't want to be powerless like that again, he imagined anyway. Whatever memories Emiya Shirou had seen in that class card, they were bad enough to convince him that he needed to learn of the moonlit world, and all its many, many horrible aspects.

He paused in his marking and frowned, this mess with Sakura however…

Something motivated Emiya Shirou to act in a way that Archer found disturbingly reminiscent of his youth. Matou Zouken was a monster, in both the literal and figurative sense. He was fortunate that Rin had shut him down with the promise of an investigation, although he imagined that Kiritsugu also would have stopped him from trying to charge into the lair of a literal worm.

He cringed. He wanted Illya to realise that being a Hero meant that sometimes things would get ugly, he had hoped that she'd eventually encounter something that would have stopped her in her tracks if neither him nor Kiritsugu were able to convince her otherwise. He just wished that the first ugly thing she encountered wasn't Zouken.

Shirou had been sparing in his details of what he believed Zouken had been doing to Sakura. Even with the little information that was provided, it painted a very grim picture. A grim and disgusting picture. From the way Illya had looked, it was obvious she was of the same mind as Shirou and had wanted to break down the door and start flinging spells around the place.

Archer sighed and rubbed his temple, he knew Rin's investigation would probably discover something and when it did, they would act.

The problem was what came after.

Dying though it might have been, it was still one of the oldest families in Fuyuki. Something like that can't disappear overnight.

Questions would be asked. Questions which would have to be answered, Rin and Luvia had done the Emiya family a kindness in leaving out details about their partnership with Illya and Miyu. However, God forbid the association launch and inquiry. Rin was only 'acting Second Owner' meaning her Father was likely in London for whatever reason and had placed her in charge.

The man would likely return immediately if he even heard about conflict with the Matou's. Then he'd learn about the Magus Killer and Einzbern mage who had been hiding in his territory, likely without his knowledge.

Magi pride was a fickle thing and Rin's father might very well take it as a personal slight against him.

"Hey, Pops." Archer jumped slightly, his knee hitting the desk causing some of his papers to jolt. He scowled as a pot of pens fell over. He looked to his left to see Chloe leaning in the door frame, a very familiar smirk on her face.

"Pops?" He parroted with a frown, she let out a chuckle of amusement as she slinked into the classroom "I would ask that you at least refer to me as 'Sensei' while in school." he reminded her, crossing his arms and staring down at her "What do you need?"

"I figured I'd come and see how you were doing." She shrugged, twirling around and leaning on his desk "You know...before you decided to tear the school apart making sure I didn't do anything threatening."

"Hmph." Archer grunted "...I suppose I should thank you for that." he titled his head "I hear you are in the same class as Illya and Miyu."

Like that, her smirk disappeared into a frown, she straightened herself out and crossed her arms "I haven't spoken to her, or even looked in her general direction if that's what worries you. Wouldn't be much point in trying something, considering she's always got that stick with her."

It was Archer's turn to give an irritated groan at that, head falling into his hands "I suppose whatever else it is, Ruby is still dedicated to protecting her Master."

"Quite the hassle for me." Chloe shrugged "Of course if it was just Ruby, I'd chance it...but then there's you and Miyu." she huffed.

"Quite." Archer raised his head and gave her a level stare "Well. You're experiencing something independent of Illya for the first time in your life." he raised an eyebrow "How does it feel?"

Chloe blinked at the question, narrowing her eye's slightly before jumping up on one of the student desks and crossing her legs "It's...weird." she eventually got out "I actually forgot they were talking to me and not Illya at some point." she let out a small huff of disbelief "I'm so used to not actually talking to people. It's a little jarring."

Archer leaned back into his chair and smirked "Made any new friends?"

"Yeah." She nodded "Little blonde haired girl. Tatsuko." she gave a small genuine smile "Kind of...in your face. First time I've actually talked to her." she chuckled "I can kind of see why Illya felt so out of place around her."

"I see." Archer nodded along "I realise Irisviel forced you into this-"

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day." Chloe interrupted him with a small frown, it quickly turned into a bitter smile "She was right that I needed to meet people. If only so I could get out of the house." she looked up at Archer, a tired expression on her face "You were right. It's hard to hate her. If only because it feels like I'm bullying a little kid."

"She did live a sheltered life for many years." Archer argued back "You could never expect her to be the perfect parent."

"I know that." Chloe snapped "Its just...She tries so hard to act like she is. That everything is fine. I don't want her to-to…"

"Ignore your pain." Archer sighed "She'll be going through a difficult time over the next few weeks."

"And I'm not!?"

"You are." Archer nodded "But so is she. You can't demand from her what you aren't willing to do yourself. That isn't fair on either of you." he leaned back in his chair "She's coming to terms with the consequences of her own actions, both years ago when she was younger and only a few weeks ago." he looked out of the window "You'll probably need eachother for that."

"Easier said than done. Can't ask me to forgive her for what she did to me."

"I know." Archer let out a tired breath "And she probably won't forgive herself either."

"Tch." Chloe clicked her tongue and jumped off the table "Why did you have to make this all so complicated? It was simple when I was in her head. Everything was Irisviels fault and Illya was dumb for wanting to be a Hero."

"Heh." Archer let out a bitter chuckle "You might not want to try and make things simple. You'll only drive yourself mad when you find out its never black and white."

Chloe let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed her forehead "I know that now! That's why I'm so irritated." she looked up and towards him "I think myself and Illya have an English lesson with you at the end of the day."

"You do." Archer nodded, then sighed "No, I won't be playing favourites." he blinked "You only mentioned Illya. What about Miyu? Surely you've spoken with her?"

"She's been giving me the stink eye." Chloe explained "I think she's mad at me because I made Illya a little upset. Although I heard she was going to the new guidance counsellor for advice."

"Guidance counsellor?" Archer raked his mind for a few moments, then they lit up in understanding "Oh yes. They joined at the same time the new Nurse did."

"Yeah." Chloe nodded "Only talked to a couple people. Apparently the Nurse is a little weird. Counsellor seems to be a little intimidating."

"How so?"

"Well...for one thing he's apparently taller than you are." She chuckled "That and everyone says he feels a little cold for a counsellor." her eyes gleamed with amusement "Tatsuko said he used to be a Priest."

"A priest huh?" Archer's mind immediately soured. Some small part of him indicating that past experiences with men of the cloth had been less than ideal.


Miyu stood at the door to the guidance counsellors office. She had been debating whether or not to ask for advice on how to cheer Illya up all morning. She was a little concerned that Illya might become too dedicated towards her apparent goal of 'saving Chloe'. Miyu's brief interactions with the girl at the Emiya house indicated that Chloe was unlikely to appreciate anything to do with Illya.

Miyu needed to think of a way to at least take her mind off of the problem for the time being.

She debated going to Archer, although she imagined his version of help wouldn't have been too different from her brothers.

A very long winded lecture which Illya would probably ignore.

Miyu didn't really have any idea's of her own...so this was the best she could think of.

She reached up and turned the handle, pushing the door open.

"Pardon the intrusion." She called out, peaking her head around the door and into the room. She blinked.

It was empty.

She frowned in annoyance, pushing the door open all the way but not quite walking into the room just yet. The room was rather spartan in its design.

A single desk with a large chair behind it, a small stack of chairs on the right side of the room, no doubt for visitors and a single metal chair placed just in front of the desk. More reminiscent of a court than a place of guidance.

The blinds hand been drawn down, allowing only a few rays of sunlight to enter the rather barren room.

Miyu suddenly felt claustrophobic, despite not even being inside yet. There was nothing welcoming about this place. Her amber eyes quickly scanned the rest of the room, a vacant shelf with only a few books on it, on the wall was a Cross. She'd heard rumours the counsellor had once been a priest, so she at least confirmed that part.

Her eyes eventually travelled back to the desk. A high risen and made of old wood.

The counsellor wasn't here at the moment, and a small part of her felt very grateful that she wouldn't have to enter. While she wasn't pleased she'd effectively wasted her time, she supposed she could put it past her.

She went to pull the door closed again when her breath caught in her throat.

A chill travelled down her spin as a large shadow fell over her.

The back of her neck burned where she felt eyes staring down on her. She slowly uncurled her fingers from around the door handle, arm weakly falling back to her side. She swallowed, although her now dry mouth made that difficult.

"What's this?" A deep baritone voice called out from behind her. The voice sounded empty, neither portraying intrigue nor boredom "A lost lamb of the Lord perhaps?"

Miyu's head robotically turned, she could swear she felt the sounds of the outside world disappear as she turned around, finding herself staring at a long black coat.

Slowly trailing her eyes up, towards the top of the figure who had snuck up behind her, she immediately wished she hadn't.

If the man's voice had sounded empty.

Then his eyes were hollow.

She froze as those empty Hazel orbs locked onto her own, his mouth set in a perfectly blank expression.

Empty

Was the one word which ran through her mind the second she saw him. Miyu had been a relatively expressionless child, she would admit that she didn't exactly show as much enthusiasm as other children.

She instinctively knew that this wasn't that. This man wasn't hiding his true feelings away.

He didn't have any to begin with.

"I am Kotomine Kirei." The man introduced himself "Serving as the temporary Counsellor at the academy." he raised an arm towards the open room. Miyu very nearly flinched at the movement "Is there anything I can help you with?"


AN: The man, the myth, the Mapo Tofu consumer.

Its Kotomine!

But he isn't going to be all smug, because there hasn't been a Gilgamesh to motivate him. He never found his purpose in the fourth Grail war.

Anyway!

Answering Questions!

NotXeno – In a similar way that the Class card invaded Miyuverse Shirou, it briefly invaded Prillyashirou. Negating the need for the fire.

Ares00263 – Sadly no. No Saber. Was only going to include people who would reasonably be here.

B4TM4N-WH0-L4U6H5 – Shirou experienced the HF true end. And yes. He did experience it. In all its horrifying and physically painful ways!

XiHeng – Timeframe? Oof...Not for a while. I was going to go into the who 'parallel world' after the whole Zouken, Gilgamesh and Bazett mess was sorted.

Xian0451 – 1: I was going with 'He really is that unlucky', 2: True end (But he doesn't see the happy ending part), 3: Spoilers. 4: Rin knows about Sakura in the same way she did in the original plot. But with Tokiomi still being alive, she doesn't see it as her place to question him as the head of the family.

Lord Alania – That will be explored in the coming Chapters.

Hatred and Love – Yes. Yes they will.