Now, I'm sure a lot of you are sick and tired of the Potterverse/Nasuverse crossovers I've been doing lately, but those have sort of pushed over stories away, at least for now. There's about three more Potterverse/Nasuverse stories I really want to do. This is one of them, one I finally managed to make work. Yes, it's another Fate/Apocrypha fic, but I like the series, especially the potential it has. Plenty of characters to swap in and out, plenty of clusterfucks just waiting to be made...you get the idea. Of course, finding the right angle to do it freshly can be a problem, but I managed to find a way, by taking a leaf out of a couple of previous Fate/Apocrypha crossover attempts, by having Harry fall in with Jeanne, at least initially. Plus, it's also a bit of a crossover with Fate/Grand Order, considering that the main pairing is Harry/Jalter, aka Jeanne d'Arc Alter.

Now, this story is a bit of a hybrid of challenges. Aside from my own 'Avenger of Azkaban' and 'Alter of Azkaban' challenges, it also takes elements from whitetigerwolf's 'Animagus Lover' challenge, DZ2's 'Price of Power' challenge, and Gabriel Herrol's 'A Servant's Second Chance', albeit with elements cherry-picked out and mashed together. And yes, it's going to be a Dumbledore-bashing fic, though that's more due to Dumbledore having one hell of a massive misunderstanding leading to him wanting Harry dead. If Harry has a pyromaniacal evil knockoff of Joan of Arc in his noggin, I think you can see why.

Anyway, a few of you were pretty eager to see a Harry/Jalter fic when I brought up the possibility elsewhere, so...here it is. Hope you enjoy...


DAMNATION AND REDEMPTION

CHAPTER 1:

EMERGENCE

"…Do you see now? I don't really take any pleasure in this. Normally, I would, but, well…we're stuck together."

…Yes, I see it now. I used to blame you for my predicament. Maybe I still do. But…we got rid of those plaguing Magical Britain, and this is how they repay me? I'm glad we're shot of them. The only consolation is that hopefully, my friends will be able to live in peace.

"Hmph. Something tells me otherwise. There'd be guilt by association. But…it's a bit late for it now. I'm not sorry for doing what needed to be done to protect you. But I'm sorry you had to deal with the consequences. I really am. Even if you are my host, little more than a sanctuary for me to reside in, and thanks to that old goat, my prison…I wish it had gone differently. You're an idiot, but you're my idiot."

…Thanks.

"Hey, what's with the thanking me?! I just…"

You're cute when you're in denial. I only just realised that. I just thought of you as…well, the demon the Dursleys claimed I had in me, even if you looked pretty. I…

"…Don't say sorry for blaming me. One, the sentiment makes me nauseous. And two, you have every right to blame me. Like I said, I'm not sorry in doing what needed to be done to save you. Still…my chains are loosening. Transit into this world…it's sapped us both, but the old goat's little insult to injury proved serendipitous. My power is coming back."

What about me?

"I think you're cute in this form. And if you dare say anything about me calling you cute…I WILL burn you."

…My lips are sealed.

"Hmph. I can see the smirk on those so-called sealed lips. Still…maybe one day, the bindings on both of us will shatter. I must be going soft. Heh. You may not have tamed me or turned me, but you have bound me in restraints more insidious than anything the old goat has used. So…I ask, one more time…give me your heart…and I will give you power!"

…I will give you my heart…but the power will not be to destroy, but to protect.

"…Hmph. So boring. And yet…so like you. Heh heh. What a foolish Master I have. I must be mad to love you…"


Across an isolated Romanian highway at night puttered a flatbed truck. And on the flatbed of the truck sat a girl, in her late teens, with blonde hair and amethyst eyes, dressed in what appeared to be a school uniform. But despite appearing to be a hitch-hiker, and a young one at that, appearances were deceiving. The body belonged to Laeticia Delacroix, a French Catholic whose family could trace their ancestry back to the relatives of Jeanne d'Arc. However, it was currently being borrowed, with permission, by that very girl, back from the dead.

Jeanne d'Arc was troubled. Admittedly, there was a lot to trouble her. She didn't like taking possession of someone else's body (even if it was done with permission, and Laeticia's body was being protected by Jeanne's essence forming a shell around her), and travelling from France to Romania had been a bit of a saga. However, pivotal to the majority of said troubles was the Holy Grail War.

Over two centuries before, a triptych of prominent Magi families came together to create a ritual of astonishing power. The von Einzberns of Germany wished to reclaim in full the Third True Magic they had lost centuries ago, Heaven's Feel, and were able to incorporate a limited form of it for the ritual. The Makiris of Russia and the Tohsakas of Japan also got involved, enticed, as many Magi were wont to do, by the lure of a ritual that had the power to reach Akasha, the Root of All Things, a noosphere where all knowledge resided, including that of the True Magics.

Between them, they created the Holy Grail War, setting it in what was then the small town of Fuyuki, where the Tohsakas resided. In order to prime the Greater Grail, the artifact created through the willing sacrifice of Justeaze von Einzbern, the Homunculus who headed up the family at the time, they opted to have seven Magi summon seven Heroic Spirits as familiars. Heroes from myth and history would be summoned into one of seven classes, and called 'Servants', with the Magi holding their leashes dubbed 'Masters'.

There were, under normal circumstances, only seven classes. Saber, swordfighters of great renown. Archers, masters of ranged combat. Lancers, agile spear-wielders. Riders, those whose mounts or vehicles were as famous as they were. Casters, magic users who made modern Magi pale by comparison. Assassins, shadowy figures who specialised in targeting Masters. And Berserkers, who traded their sanity for more power and tenacity. However, Jeanne had been summoned, albeit atypically, into an eighth class: Ruler. And the circumstances around that were rather complex and annoying, as the Grail had informed her.

In the Third Holy Grail War in Fuyuki, after most of the battles were ended, one Master apparently called on the help of the Nazis to snatch the Greater Grail. In the process, the Makiris, now the Matous, were wiped out, and the Tohsakas, while not extinct, had been devastated, while the von Einzberns were left savaged. Said Master betrayed the Nazis and spirited away the Greater Grail, covering up his theft. However, watered-down Auxiliary Grail Wars had popped up all over the world.

However, the true Greater Grail had recently been announced as being found. The man who stole it was Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, and through some means, had managed to remain youthful, despite it being decades since the Third Holy Grail War. Darnic had announced Yggdmillennia's secession from Clock Tower, the Magus Association most Magi answered to. Darnic had summoned a Lancer Servant to wipe out Clock Tower's Enforcers. However, a contingency system within the Greater Grail had been activated, as Darnic had been trying to stack the deck in his favour. That contingency system would make this Holy Grail War into a Great Holy Grail War.

Instead of being a battle royale between seven Servants, this Grail War would be a team battle, two teams of seven Servants. Yggdmillennia would be the Black Faction, and the Magus Association and their allies would be the Red Faction. And arbitrating this conflict would be her, a Ruler. A referee of sorts, a task originally given to the Church.

Still, her summoning had gone awry. Instead of the Grail being able to construct her a body of spiritrons, her summoning had been blocked somehow, and she was forced to ask Laeticia, who was compatible, for permission to use her body. Even now, she felt ill at ease about that, though that was one problem amongst many.

Still, it wasn't like she didn't have company. Through Laeticia's memories, she knew that, a month or so prior, the girl had found an injured hawk with distinctive emerald eyes, and nursed it back to health. Said hawk had become a pet, or at least a companion, of sorts. And when Jeanne left…the hawk, whom Laeticia had dubbed Edmond, after Edmond Dantés from The Count of Monte-Cristo, followed her, despite her attempts to shoo it away. Even now, it was sitting on her shoulder.

She knew, though, it was no ordinary hawk. She felt a power from it, magic, but not of one familiar to her from this world. And it was intelligent. Some instinct within her felt that there was something human deep within it…and something else. Something familiar, but darker.

Suddenly, she sensed a presence, and a hostile one at that. She couldn't let the kindly man who was driving her get caught up. She poked her head into the cabin of the truck, and said, "Please, let me off here."

"And leave you by yourself in the middle of nowhere at this time of night?" the man asked. She'd made sure with a minimum of mental probing that he wasn't going to take advantage of her. "I'd never do that to a young lady."

"Do it, please," Jeanne said, allowing herself to hypnotise the man. She didn't like doing so, even as she disembarked from the now stopped truck with her luggage. Edmond had taken off, and was circling the area, which included a highway sign.

On top of said sign was what she had sensed. After the truck drove away, the figure on top of it made himself known. A pale, androgynous figure in a black bodysuit adorned with gold. His hair was as white as his skin, and his eyes were an icy blue, with slitted pupils. In his hand, he held a long, golden spear. "So…you must be Ruler," the man said calmly. "Gird yourself."

Jeanne transformed as the man pounced, her flagpole with its banner in her hand. A number of things ran through her mind as he did. Firstly, her True Name Revelation skill allowed her to identify him: the Lancer of Red, Karna. The demigod son of the Indian sun deity Surya, and one of the key figures of the Indian epic the Mahabharata. A formidable foe. Secondly, someone wanted her dead, despite knowing that attacking a Ruler would carry grave consequences.

Thirdly, she felt a sudden surge of magical energy from behind her, and not one but two presences, one a Servant, and another a human somehow appear behind her. And finally, as Karna swooped down at her…he was intercepted. By metal stakes that seemed to sprout from the very ground itself. He was impaled on them by sheer momentum, and his eyes widened in absolute shock and surprise. Then, crimson flames belched from the ground, enveloping Karna.

"Now, now…that won't do at all," purred an impossible, impossible voice. "While I have so many issues with Ruler, I'm not going to let her come to any harm from anyone…well, barring myself. So, I guess I will have to act as a de facto protector. As a saint, she's liable to walk right into danger with only her faith to protect her, forgetting that you need more than faith in a cruel God to get through trouble."

Karna, who seemed little the worse for wear from being immolated (then again, as a demigod whose father was a sun deity, fire probably held little fear for him), broke the stakes away. He still looked surprised, and curious. "…How is this possible?" he asked.

"Oh? Still alive? How annoying. Still…it'd be boring if you went down faster than Gilles in a drinking contest," the impossibility said as she walked into view, smirking viciously. "The saint didn't bring me here. I think it's my close proximity to the Greater Grail that's allowed me to break my bindings completely and manifest once more. Oh, it feels so good to feel alive again. And with my bonded back to normal…well, I hope you can afford separate rooms, saint, because I am going to be making a lot of noise."

"…My pretty little pyromaniac…can we not discuss our potential sex life in front of the enemy? And inflicting it on your…sister? That's just cruel and unusual punishment." The voice was a weary one, too young to have such weariness and cynicism. She turned, unable to look at the impossibility any longer, and instead looked at the newcomer.

He was in his late teens, a little younger than herself or the impossibility, though his haggard looks and weary bearing made him seem older. He had a messy shock of black hair, emerald eyes peering from behind glasses, so filled with pain and sorrow and madness, she couldn't help but pity him. A faded scar snaked out from beneath his fringe, looking like a lightning bolt branded onto his forehead long ago. He was clad in tattered rags. She realised, his hair had dark feathers mixed in. "…Edmond?"

"Harry," the young man corrected. "Edmond's just what Laeticia called me. I hope you are taking care of her. I have bad experiences of possession." His eyes narrowed.

"I asked her consent, Harry. I will explain more later." She could sense another Servant coming up, but there was no hostile intent, at least towards her. "Karna, son of Surya…why have you attacked me? Do you know the consequences of doing so?"

"I am sure that doing so is a declaration of war against you, but I have my orders from my Master. As per our contract, I am bound to obey. Still…it seems that you have even greater protection than I thought. And from a…doppelganger, no less."

Shrill laughter, like her own, and so unlike her own, came from the impossibility. "Doppelganger…how cute. But I am no mere…"

"GET HIM, SABER!"

They were interrupted by a tanned man with silvery armour, bare to his chest (which itself was marked with a glowing sigil), attacking Karna. Siegfried, Saber of Black, Jeanne noted. The impossibility scowled. "Hey, what gives, enfoiré?!" she snapped. "This one was mine! Tu te fous de moi?! Aller se faire foutre!"

"My apologies," Siegfried said, Jeanne wincing at the impossibility's stream of profanity.

Meanwhile, a rotund man in a uniform, with blonde hair and a rather silly toothbrush moustache, came running up. "That was a close one, Ruler. Though it seems you may have had…help?" He stared at the impossibility. "…There are two of you?! How is this possible?!"

"I assure you, I am finding it hard to believe myself," Jeanne said.

"And yet, here I am…big sister? Hmm, that works," the impossibility said with a smirk. It was her face, but framed by snow white hair, her skin deathly pale, her eyes golden and cold, her armour black, and her expression cruel and malevolent. It was like looking into some dark mirror. "As much as I despise you, I can't deny the relation."

"…Jeanne…I mean, MY Jeanne…" Harry said quietly. "…Can you get on with it?"

"…Rabat-joie," snarked the impossibility in French, before she got a big malicious grin on her face, before she confirmed what Jeanne was trying to deny, even with the impossible evidence in front of her. "Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. My class is Avenger. And my True Name is Jeanne d'Arc! And anyone who harms Ruler, or my Master, will burn…"

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

Well, shit. Harry's got himself stuck in another world with Jalter. But it seems that he's been through some shit. And now, Jeanne has herself a rather snarky, broken wizard and Jeanne's own evil twin as protectors.

Well, the Great Holy Grail War is fucked.

I'm leaving the French untranslated for the most part. I want people to have fun punching it into either Google Translate or checking Wiktionary for translations. I used the latter for Jalter's remarks, which, when Siegfried cockblocks her, is mostly profanity.

Also, we'll learn more about Harry's backstory in later chapters, mostly in dribs and drabs. Let's just say it's an Azkaban Harry in background, where he was sent after the end of the TWT. But NOT because he was accused of killing Cedric, as many of these go. Let's just say that Jalter managed to get enough power to unleash her Noble Phantasm on the Death Eaters and Voldemort, with just enough escaping to tattle on him to Fudge. So, yes, this is a Dumbledore-bashing story…but there's more justification than in many of my other Dumbledore-bashing works. This Dumbledore actually had what he thought to be a good reason to treat Harry the way he did: namely, Jalter. We'll look into it later.

No numbered annotations this time.