My spear lies buried in Mordred's heart, and her blade is planted in my guts. We stand, holding each other up in a sick parody of a familial embrace.
Mordred's head hangs down, sparing me the sight of her face. At least she died quickly. My own death will be nowhere near as fast. Avalon strains against the injury, unable to close it with the sword still in my flesh, yet still trying all the same, accomplishing nothing more than prolonging my death. By that point, I have lost too much blood. Even removing Clarent won't save me.
That is fair. It is no less than I deserve.
These are the fields of Camlann. This is the last battle of Camelot's civil war.
This is where I die, among the ashes of my dreams. This is where the story of King Arthur ends.
And this is here, surrounded by the dead, that I am left alone with one burning question.
Was I wrong ?
I took on all the sins of the Kingdom upon myself. I cast aside my humanity to become the King I thought the people needed.
And in the end, it was all for nothing.
I didn't want this for you, Mordred. You, whose emotions shone so brightly, were not fit to carry this burden. It would have broken you. I didn't want that for you, and so I rejected you, refused to give you something I now understand you only wanted because, in your eyes, it equated to my acceptance of you.
Ah … there is no hiding from it now. I can feel it, everything I tried to pretend I did not for so long.
It hurts. It hurts so much. The pain of Clarent tearing through my guts is nothing in comparison.
My people, whom I sacrificed to protect the rest. My queen, who was condemned to death because I couldn't love her. My knights, set against each other by the consequences of my failings.
My son. My daughter. My child, whom I never called such out loud, whom I have killed as you have killed me.
Please …
Forgive me.
I wish … but no. Merlin told me, didn't he ? The past cannot be changed. Not even the Gods can undo what has already happened. Only the present and the future may be shaped by our choices and deeds.
There is no undoing this, no matter how much I may crave it. Here, at last, I face the same regrets, the same pain that is shared across all of Humanity.
This, too, is fair. In truth, it is the least of what I deserve.
But if my mistakes can't be undone …
If the past can't be unmade …
If so, then …
I wish I could tell you -
November 23rd, 2004 AD – Homurahara Academy
"Alright, everyone," said Taiga Fujimura. "Today, we have a new student joining us."
There were various noises of agreement and curiosity, which Saber took as her cue to enter. The moment she came into view, a stunned silence descended upon the classroom.
"Hello," she greeted the young men and women. "I am Miranda Watson. I have recently moved to Fuyuki from Britain for personal reasons, and will be staying here for the foreseeable future. I hope you'll treat me well." She smiled. "And if you have read the Sherlock Holmes books, I have already heard all the jokes."
And she had. Irisviel had been introduced to the series by Kiritsugu, and once she had seen the name on the passport that had been arranged for her, she had bombarded Saber with jokes during their long flight from Germany to Japan.
There were a few chuckles.
"Miranda-chan," said the teacher (who shared the same name as the crime boss Shirou and she had met before, and was apparently her Master's legal guardian), "you can sit behind Shirou. Don't hesitate to ask for his help, he's used to it. Oh, and Shirou, I need to see you and Miranda-chan during lunch break."
It was not a coincidence that the seat behind her Master was free. They had gotten up early this morning to set everything up for this – all of them except Illyasviel, who had barely emerged from bed when the rest of them had left. Shirou and Saber had met with several teachers and the principal in the morning, and a combination of Shirou's reputation as a trustworthy student, several small applications of hypnosis, and liberal use of her E-ranked Charisma had been more than enough to see her admitted into Homurahara Academy as a student in the same year and class as her Master. Meanwhile, Sakura and Rin had made sure one of the seats near Shirou was free – the whole point of this whole endeavour was to let her protect Shirou during the day, so it wouldn't have made any sense for her not to be as close to him as possible.
The entire class was looking at her as she sat down, as well they should. Saber knew she was beautiful; she remembered Irisviel saying so, and she had seen the appreciation in her Master's eyes when she laid with him, even if he had been the perfect gentleman, much to her frustration. She thought she had him yesterday morning, but the intervention of her prudish other self had stopped things from progressing; although with Illyasviel being in the room, perhaps that was for the best.
The first period started and went by without issue. At the first break, however, Saber found herself swarmed by questions the moment the teacher had left the room, as it seemed every girl in the class rushed around her desk.
"Where in Britain do you come from ?"
"Is that your natural hair color ?"
"What about your eyes ? They are really pretty !"
The questions went by too fast for her to answer, until Shirou got up and placed himself between her and the horde.
"Alright, alright. One at a time, and give her some space. What kind of impression do you think you are giving right now ?"
With apologetic whispers, the young women retreated a few steps.
"Thank you, Shirou," she said. He had made it clear she couldn't call him 'Master' while they were in school.
"The two of you already know each other, it looks like" observed a girl with shoulder-length brown hair who hadn't been as pushy as the others. "Is that why you weren't at the Archery club this morning, Emiya ?"
"Yes, Mitsuzuri," confirmed Shirou. "I accompanied her to the school and guided her to the faculty's offices."
"Oooh ?" The girl – Mitsuzuri, her Master had called her – was smiling, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Watson-san, what's your relationship with Emiya-san ?"
"Shirou is the reason I came to Japan," she replied, causing a gasp from the listeners. "He and I are bound together by a contract made by his father and a relative of mine ten years ago, and I am here to fulfill it."
There was a moment of shocked silence, then the classroom erupted in whispers and exclamations of disbelief, along with a choking sound from Shirou.
"Emiya !" shouted Mitsuzuri. "What the hell ?!"
"Her Japanese still isn't perfect," muttered Shirou. "She doesn't mean what you think she mean."
How ridiculous. She meant exactly what she had said, both what had been directly stated and what had only been implied. She may have taken liberties, with the script her Master and his friends had come up with, but she was confident there would be no issues with what she had said instead. It even had the advantage of being technically true, so she could always tell Shirou she didn't feel comfortable about lying to innocent civilians when she could avoid it if he was angry at her later.
"You already have Sakura-chan as a girlfriend, you are close to Tohsaka-san, and now you are getting a British princess as a fiancee ?! What are you, some kind of eroge protagonist ?!"
"Mitsuzuri," protested Shirou, "that's not what's going on at all !"
"Oh, really ?!"
It was amusing, thought Saber, to see her Master, who had faced Lancer at her side without hesitation and within whom lurked a power as vast as it was alien, squirm in his chair under the accusing glare of his classmate. No doubt Mitsuzuri's verbal onslaught would have continued for some time, but at that moment, the door to the classroom opened, and everyone suddenly fell silent and returned to their seats.
The man who entered moved like no human she had ever seen. Each of his movements was perfectly deliberate and controlled, and his breathing was completely even. Behind his glasses, his eyes were piercing, and he took in the students returning to their seats without comment.
Master, she silently asked. Who is this ?
That's Suzuki-sensei, her Master answered. I know how he looks, but I checked, and he has nothing to do with the Moonlit World.
How interesting.
Classes resumed, much quieter than under Taiga. Saber's knowledge of the era was enough to follow lessons without issues, though the History this Suzuki taught was certainly novel to her. All the while, she kept an eye out for threats, knowing Berserker and Rider were doing the same in Spirit Form at the side of their respective Masters elsewhere in the building.
At lunch break, she accompanied Shirou to the staff room, where she watched him with amusement as he attempted the arduous task of placating his guardian. The woman's grandfather had informed her of the warning Shirou had brought two days before, so she had some inkling of the true reason 'Miranda' was staying at Shirou's home. It still took ten minutes of lambasting Shirou for getting himself involved in such a dangerous situation in the first place (all away from the ears of the other teachers, of course) before she let them go, promising to come check on them at their home later this day. At which point Shirou informed her that they would all need to leave the house early and reminded her that she had a staff meeting this evening, prompting another few moments of worried recriminations.
And then, no sooner had they left the staff room that they had been approached by a bespectacled, serious-looking young man. There was a wariness in his gaze as he looked at Saber.
"Emiya," he greeted Shirou with a nod. "And Watson-san, a pleasure to meet you. I am Issei Ryuudou, the student council president. Welcome to our school. If you need any assistance, please come to me. Shirou knows where to find me."
"Thank you," she replied.
"If you don't mind me asking, though, can you tell me what is going on between the two of you ? There are a lot of rumors circulating right now, and some of them are downright ridiculous."
Next to her, Shirou groaned. "Please don't tell me what they are. I didn't realize our classmates had so much free time."
"We are in a building full of teenagers," the young man shrugged. "We both know rumors spread faster than the speed of light in such an environment. So ? What's the truth ?"
"Miranda is a relative of one of my dad's acquaintances," explained Shirou. "She's come to Japan for familial reasons and is living in my house with Sakura. That's all."
This was the backstory they had agreed upon and that Saber had decided needed to be developed. Several students were within earshot, but somehow, the Servant of the Sword was certain that if her Master hoped to stop the rumors with this, he would be disappointed.
"Of course." Issei shook his head. "That's very much like you, I suppose. I should've guessed there was nothing to it. Well, I won't keep you from your lunch any longer."
"Oh, and Issei," Shirou called out, "I'm going to be busy helping Miranda with various things for the next few days, so I won't be able to help the Student Council. Sorry in advance."
"You aren't part of the Council in the first place, Emiya," waved off Issei. "I'm sure we can manage to keep the school standing without your help."
They joined Sakura and Rin on the roof. They had already heard the rumors Issei had mentioned; Sakura from people genuinely concerned about her due to her well-known relationship with Shirou, Rin because she apparently kept up the persona of an exemplary, socialized student at school.
"Why did you do that ?" asked the older girl, glaring at Saber as Shirou and she sat down.
She looked at Rin, then at Sakura, then at Shirou, and shrugged. "Because it was funny," she said. "Shirou is cute when he's embarrassed, don't you think ?"
Her Master shot her a betrayed look, then did the same to his two lovers when they nodded in agreement.
"You are drawing attention, though," said Rin.
"She was always going to do that, Nee-san," pointed out Sakura. "At least that way, everyone's attention will be focused on her relationship with Senpai, rather than where she comes from or any inconsistencies with her background."
"And all it cost was my dignity and reputation," muttered Shirou.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Senpai," smiled Sakura. "If anything, your reputation has increased in the eyes of many."
"I don't want that kind of reputation, Sakura," groaned Shirou.
"Then you shouldn't have slept with your Servant, you moron," said Rin. "And yes, I know you didn't do it like that. Now shut up and eat. We waited for the two of you, and I am hungry."
By that time, Saber too was famished. A Heroic Spirit might not really need to eat, but Shirou's cooking had a way of convincing her mind she did.
The meal Shirou had packed for her was as tasty as the rest of his cooking, though there wasn't nearly enough of it for her tastes. Back when Kiritsugu had summoned her, Saber hadn't had many opportunities to eat : Irisviel had shared some of her meals with her, but that was the extent of her experience. With the memories of her mortal life spread among two other Servants, that meant that the lunch she had eaten after being freed from the Grail had been the single best meal she could remember, and she had found that she enjoyed eating immensely.
Although, judging by how Rider and Lancer had also devoured everything presented to them in the Emiya household, Saber suspected her amnesia might not play as important a part in her appetite as she thought at first. Rather, her Master and his lover were both incredible cooks.
The rest of the afternoon went by swiftly, with the number of gazes on Shirou and her only increasing as time passed, as did the whispered conversations about the two of them. Already some believed Shirou was leading her and Sakura on, two-timing on them and living a life of debauchery.
Which was ridiculous. As if her Master had it in him to do anything that would hurt Sakura or Rin. Saber could feel the bond between them through her own to Shirou, and it fascinated her. She wanted the same thing they had, only more.
She wanted her Master, who had saved her from the darkness, who had welcomed her in his home and promised her vengeance against the horror that had wronged her. But she didn't intend to take him from the girls he had already welcomed in his home and in his heart. For while Saber might not remember her mortal life, she did remember Lancelot as he had been in the Fourth War : a twisted and broken creature, wracked by hatred and madness. She was more than willing to allow Shirou to keep other lovers to prevent that tragedy from repeating. He would be hers, and the other girls would be his. Simple. Not allowed according to the morals of era, perhaps, but what did she care about those ?
"You know," her Master said as they approached his home, having joined up with the others at the school gates, "I am seriously considering punishing you for that stunt you pulled today, Miranda."
"Oh ?" She smiled. Her Master was far too kind-hearted to -
"Keep this up, and I'm going to cut your food portions in half when we eat at home. No seconds, too."
She froze in place, the blood fleeing from her face at the mere idea of what Shirou was threatening. No. Surely he wasn't serious. He wouldn't dare.
Would he ?
… Maybe she should ease up on the teasing. Just in case.
"Illya ! We're home !"
Illya most certainly did not rush toward the entrance when she heard her brother's voice. No, she calmly walked to greet him, with all the poise and dignity expected from a daughter of the Einzbern.
She might have slightly broken that image by hugging her brother with a big smile on her face.
"Welcome back, Onii-chan !"
"Welcome," said Sella in a more measured tone. "I trust everything went well ?"
"Well, Saber decided it would be funny to go off-script, but we managed," replied Shirou with a rueful smile. "How about you, Illya ? Were you bored ?"
"I'm not a child, Onii-chan," Illya pouted, while fighting a blush at the simple fact that he actually cared about how her day had gone. "I didn't spend the day playing around, thank you very much. I was doing research, like I told you."
"Oh ?" Shirou's expression turned serious. "Alright. We'll discuss this after dinner, before we go out."
"I am looking forward to it. Sella made lunch, but her cooking isn't as good as yours."
"Ojou-sama ..." the maid said with a pained face.
"What ? It's true. Besides, Shirou has a lot more practice at cooking than you, so it's nothing to be ashamed of."
Her maid continued to grumble as Shirou prepared dinner, while Tohsaka and Sakura prepared for their patrols later tonight. They ate a bit early, but all three versions of King Arthur agreed that hunger was the enemy, and one should eat when one could while on campaign.
Once the meal was over, Illya dropped the bombshell she had uncovered during her research :
"I think I figured out what the Grail's corruption actually is."
As she had thought, the announcement got everyone's attention. Saber looked especially tense, as if she were preparing to fight right away.
"You did ?" Her brother looked flabbergasted. Then he broke into a smile. "That's incredible. We've been trying to figure that out since the Command Seals appeared on our hands."
"She said she 'thinks' she has figured it out, Shirou," cautioned Tohsaka. "Doesn't mean she's right."
"Even a theory is more than what we have right now," replied the only male in the room. "Well done, Illya."
The white-haired girl preened under Shirou's praise.
"It wasn't easy," she said, before sobering up. "And if I am right, we are in deep trouble."
"Keeping in mind what you told me, I went through the files Sella and Leysritt put together for me. The castle's archives were full of notes from the Einzbern Magi who built it, along with the accounts of the previous Masters. Except for Papa. I'm not sure whether he never made one, or if it was purged-"
"He never made one," interjected Saber. "Jubstacheit asked him to, and he told him that doing so before the War was won was both dangerous and a waste of time."
Illya nodded. "That makes sense. The documents I found certainly would have been dangerous if they had fallen in the hands of rival Masters. As you all know, the Einzbern built the Greater Grail along the Matou and Tohsaka of the time, but … well, they cheated. They set up systems to remotely monitor the Grail from Germany, which the other two families knew about, but secretly modified them in order to be able to influence the Grail. They wanted to be able to tweak the Servant selection process for their own summons, to remove some of the restrictions placed upon the summoning system."
"Typical Magi," muttered Sakura.
"Indeed." Illya felt absolutely no need to defend the actions of her ancestors. "As far as I can tell, they didn't use this cheat until the Third War. By that point, after two failed Wars, they were getting desperate, and tried to summon a Divine Spirit so that they could crush the opposition and finally get the Grail. They purchased a catalyst from the East (it just says that in the notes, nothing more as to its nature or where they found it), and spent an obscene amount of money confirming its authenticity. And then, when they used it, what they got was the weakest Servant ever summoned in any Grail War, who was killed as soon as the hostilities started. I think that's why Jubstacheit didn't try to be clever with the choice of Servant in the Fourth War and just went for King Arthur."
"Alright," said Shirou. "I'm following you so far. But what does that have to do with the corruption of the Grail ?"
"Well, for one thing, that Servant wasn't one of the standard seven Classes. He was from a so-called 'Extra' Class, which were only theorized to be possible during the construction of the Greater Grail. In that case, the Class was 'Avenger'."
"That name certainly doesn't sound good," pointed out Sakura.
"Yes, but the real problem is that Servant's identity. I found his True Name in a draft letter that was left in the castle, written by one of the Einzbern who witnessed the Third Grail War."
"Well ? What is it ?" asked Tohsaka. "Come on, don't leave us hanging."
"Angra Mainyu," Illya said quietly. "The devil of Zoroastrianism, the Source of All Evil."
It took several seconds for the group to digest that answer.
"Yes," said Tohsaka at last. "I suppose that would explain a lot. Though I wonder just how the Einzbern managed to lose the Third War, with that sort of monster under their command."
"As I said, Avenger was nowhere near as powerful as the Einzbern had hoped," explained Illya. She didn't feel the need to defend her ancestors, far from it in fact. But they needed to have as complete a picture of the situation as possible. "Given that he should have been summoned as a Divine Spirit, it seems their meddling with the Grail backfired in some way and resulted in the Servant being summoned with crippled abilities."
"Or perhaps Gaia objected to summoning a God of Evil," offered Rider. "The World has means of defending itself from such blatant foolishness."
"In that case, I wish it had done a more thorough job," Shirou scowled, before turning more thoughtful. "Upon the defeat of Avenger, his spirit would have been drawn into the Lesser Grail of the Third War, which was later destroyed before the conclusion of the ritual, if I remember correctly."
"Yes," confirmed Illya. "That's why the Einzbern created Mama for the Fourth, in order for the Lesser Grail to be able to defend itself. Not that it mattered in the end," she added bitterly.
"And when that happened, the essence of Angra Mainyu leaked inside the Greater Grail, resulting in its corruption, which began to show in the Fourth War with the summoning of Gilles de Rais as Caster," concluded Saber. "Kiritsugu must have learned about this at some point. Probably at the very last moment, judging by his actions."
It also gave more context to her brother's condition, Illya thought to herself. In its legend, Angra Mainyu was a complex force/entity, but one wholly aligned with what could only be described as 'evil'. And while Shirou was both nice and adorable, Tohsaka's notes had made it very clear that wasn't the case of the Dark Angel. It was possible that, when Saber had destroyed the Grail, the accumulated energy that hadn't been spent turning a portion of Fuyuki into a flaming hellscape had been spent through the Heaven's Feel's connection to the Kaleidoscope, and had partially summoned the Dark Angel from the possible timeline in which it could have existed.
She didn't say that out loud, though. They had already enough on their plate, and she knew Shirou was smart enough to piece it together himself.
… she also didn't like to think of what her family's stupidity had cost her brother.
"Saber, you are the one who has had the most experience with the Grail's corruption. Does this sound like what you encountered ?"
It was clear from Shirou's tone that he was uncomfortable asking this to his Servant.
"I know nothing about Zoroastrianism, Master. That being said, a force of absolute evil certainly sounds like what I encountered in the Grail, and we could hardly be underestimating our foe by assuming they are a God of Evil."
"So now we know, or at least have a good idea, what the source of the problem is," said Tohsaka. "The question is, what do we do about it ?"
"Keeping Servants from dying remains our priority." Shirou grimaced, looking at Saber. "We know what happened to you when the black mud caught you, but it's likely the other Servants of the Fourth War were devoured by Angra Mainyu. Whatever the original process was supposed to be like, I doubt it's been made pleasant by the addition of an evil god to the mix. Regardless of the risks of having it manifest from a fully-activated Grail, I won't inflict that on anyone."
"Do you think there are still in there ? The Servants of the Fourth War, I mean," clarified Saber, looking slightly perturbed.
"I doubt it," answered Illya. "The Grail was destroyed, remember ? If the Heroic Spirits hadn't been digested by then, surely the cataclysm would have been enough to destroy their summoned selves completely."
"That's probably for the best." Saber couldn't quite hide her shiver. Given what she had gone through while being trapped by the Grail with her Heroic Graph still intact, she was undoubtedly right.
"The problem will be convincing the other Masters," said Tohsaka, bringing the conversation back on track.
"If we can't convince the Masters, we'll just have to kill them and offer a new contract to their Servants," said Illya. "If the choice is joining us or being devoured by the Grail, I think they will make the correct decision. I am worried about the Animusphere Servant, though."
"I doubt we could convince them to go along with us," agreed Shirou. "We'll probably end up having to defeat them. I'm sorry, Illya."
"One Servant isn't enough to activate the Grail, Onii-chan," Illya comforted him. "I should be able to bear having the essence of one Heroic Spirit inside me, especially with Avalon helping."
"Fine," Shirou sighed. "Then we need to find and deal with Caster, Archer and Assassin. Then we'll take care of Kirei.
Shirou had told Illya of his suspicions concerning the Grail War's Overseer yesterday. She didn't really care that he had murdered Tokiomi Tohsaka : they had been fighting in a war where they could only be one winner, even if the Magus had believed the priest was his ally. But trying to subvert the entire Grail War for his own ends and serving what they now believed to be the literal God of Evil was another story.
"Kirei doesn't know we suspect his true allegiance," Shirou continued. "As a direct pawn of the Grail, it's best we keep him ignorant until the cooperation of the other Servants is secured. And on that note, since they have already engaged us, I think we need to find Archer's Master first and explain the situation to them."
Everyone turned to look at him, their expressions making it clear what they thought of the idea. Illya frowned. Was her brother serious ? Gods help them, he was.
"Shirou, Archer tried to kill you," said Rin, sounding as if she were talking to a particularly dumb child.
"She's right," added Illya. "They tried to kill me and almost killed you, Onii-chan."
"I'm not particularly happy about it either, Illya." Somehow she got the impression he was more angry at the fact Illya had been targeted than the fact he had almost died as a result. "But if their Master thought this was a typical Grail War, there wasn't anything wrong with it from a Magus' point of view, was there ?"
She pouted. That made entirely too much sense for her liking. She didn't want to be understanding and diplomatic with the one who had tried to kill her Onii-chan; she wanted to hunt them down and unleash Lancer on them. And yes, she was aware of the irony.
"If Archer's Master is a typical Magus, they are unlikely to be willing to hear us out," pointed out Tohsaka. "And even if they are, and they believe us about the Grail's corruption, it's not impossible that they would still be willing to risk unleashing it so long as they get their wish."
"We'll deal with that situation as it arises. It depends on whether we can find them in the first place in any case," said Saber. She, too, looked a bit ticked off at her Master's cavalier disregard for the attack of two days prior. "Do we have any leads ?"
"I saw something on the television today," said Leysritt softly, speaking up for the first time in the meeting. Illya's second maid was a lot quieter and more reserved than Sella, if also less concerned with propriety and Illya's image as representative of the Einzbern. She had also spent the entire day watching the television that sat in a corner of the room, apparently fascinated by the glimpses of the wider world it showed. "There were other two dozen people found unconscious across the city, with no sign of wounds. They were taken to the hospital, but they have yet to wake up."
"A Servant hunting for prana," said Shirou, voicing the conclusion everyone had already reached. "At least nobody died, which implies restraint either on the part of the Servant or the Master."
"Most likely the Servant," added Sakura. "A Master willing to have their Servant prey on mundane people would hardly be concerned with their lives."
"Usually, the Animusphere Servant would be the most likely suspect, since there is a large chance they killed their own Master," pointed out Rider. "But since none of the victims are dead, it probably isn't them."
"Not necessarily," frowned Tohsaka. "Shirou, you should take a look at the victims when you can. Make sure all that happened to them was being drained of their od, rather than anything more sinister."
"You are right. I will pass by one of the hospitals tonight. In any case, thanks for informing us, Leysritt-san," said Shirou with a nod toward the homunculus. "With everything going on, I forgot something as basic as checking the news; we'll need to be more careful in the future. Even with the secrecy of Magecraft, the actions of the Moonlit World still cause ripples in the mundane one."
Considering her brother had become who and what he was as a result of one such 'ripple', that felt like one hell of an understatement to Illya.
"And with that," continued Shirou, "onto our plans for tonight. There are potentially three enemy Servants out there. And while alliances between Masters are normally rare and short-lived, our own situation notwithstanding, the mere fact that our own alliance exists may encourage the other Masters to work together in order to take us down."
"So patrolling on our own would be a bad idea," said Rin, catching on quickly. "They could defeat us in detail then. But we can't cover enough ground unless we split up."
"Which is why I have come up with a plan. The Command Seals allow us to summon our Servant directly to our side, regardless of distance, and as long as they stay within the Fuyuki area, the link between us will still carry prana without issue, right ?"
"Right," confirmed Illya. Teleportation was a long-lost True Magic, but the Grail system enabled a limited version of it, reserved to Servants and depending on the use of Command Seals as well as the Servants' own spiritual nature.
"Then here is what I propose : we split up in two groups, and we swap the Servants accompanying each Master around. That way, if one group is attacked, they can summon their own Servant to their side and double their firepower instantly."
It was an utterly bizarre idea. It flew in the face of every tradition of the Grail War, and was downright heretical if judged through the mentality of a Magus. It would be seen as a waste of Command Seals, and a blatant invitation to treachery – all one of the Masters had to do was summon their own Servant away at the same time as an arranged attack on the other Master took place.
But.
"It might work," Illya agreed, still stunned by the brazenness of her brother's proposal. Then she frowned. "I doubt anyone would see it coming, if not for the fact Saber can't go in Spirit Form. Archer's Master knows she is your Servant, Onii-chan."
"They also know I can fight on a Servant's level, so me sending my Servant to an ally's side won't automatically mean we are all doing it," Shirou pointed out, making Illya want to tear her hair out at how casually he could say something most Magi would consider a ridiculous boast. He looked at the assembled Masters and continued : "Here is the setup I am thinking we use : Rin and Sakura accompanied by Saber and Lancer, and Illya and me accompanied by Rider and Berserker."
It was a good plan, Illya had to admit. Unorthodox and uncaring of Magi mores, focused only on making the most efficient use of their resources. She wondered if this was how her father had fought.
It would also mean she would be separated from Lancer for the first time since she had summoned her Servant.
"I'm not sure I agree with this plan, Shirou," frowned Lancer, picking up on her Master's discomfort. Shirou looked at her pensively before replying :
"Well, I guess I could swap your and Rider's positions. Our group would still be able to call three Servants plus me – and you too, of course, Illya," he quickly added. "But Rin and Sakura would only be able to have three on their side at once in case of emergency."
"We'll be fine, Senpai," said Sakura with a reassuring smile. "Nee-san and I may not be able to fight on your level, but we can handle ourselves well enough not to get in the way of the Servants, and deal with whatever threat the other Masters may pose."
"… Alright," Shirou conceded after a moment. "But don't hesitate to call Berserker to your side the moment things get tense. Will that be fine, Lancer ?"
"Yes. Thank you for accommodating my misgivings," replied Lancer, bowing slightly.
The next half-hour was spent over a map of Fuyuki, noting the locations of the suspected attacks with red pins and planning the patrol routes. The attacks were too scattered to find a pattern : if they were the result of a Servant draining civilians of prana, their Master was at least careful enough not to make it obvious where they were operating from. Then they made their preparations, which included a spell Tohsaka had developed. Essentially, it piggy-backed on the connection between Servant and Master and the link that existed between the female Masters thanks to their contracts with Shirou in order to enable telepathic communication between everyone in the group.
It was an impressive piece of Magecraft, Illya had to admit, especially since Rin had essentially thrown it together in the few days since she had woken up with the Command Seals on her hand. Not that she said so out loud, of course. Besides, there were plenty of limitations : for one thing, none of the girls could communicate with each other without Shirou listening in, since Illya's brother was the relay (or 'router' as he had tried in vain to explain) for the whole thing.
Finally, as the sun set, the four Masters left the Emiya residence. They left Sella and Leysritt behind, the two maids having been keyed into the Bounded Fields, with instructions to use the phone (both the one in the house and the pair of cellphones Shirou had painstakingly taught them to use in case the landline was severed, whatever that meant) to call for help if the house was attacked in their absence.
Even though they were going on the hunt for other Servants, Illya couldn't help but smile. This, after all, could be considered a date with her brother.
Elsewhere in Fuyuki, Darius Ainsworth sat in dim lighting and watched something that a mundane observer would have described as a hole through reality, leading to a roof in Fuyuki. It was no such thing, of course : light alone could pass through that particular piece of Magecraft. A more elaborate working couldn't have gone undetected by the three Magi inhabiting the house it surveyed.
Through the spell, Darius saw as the rival Masters emerged from the residence – all four of them.
After the engagement at the Fuyuki Park, Darius had consulted the files he had brought over from his castle. He still had no idea what the hell the Master of Saber was that let him fight against a Servant on equal footing, but he had discovered that his attack's failure was a blessing in disguise. The white-haired girl was clearly the Einzbern Master, that much he had known as soon as he had seen her, but she was also the Lesser Grail, a homunculus specifically designed by the Einzbern for that task. If Archer had killed her, then the entire Grail War would have ended right then, just as it had the first, second and third time the Three Families had attempted the Heaven's Feel ritual.
Darius had to admire the sheer gall of the Einzbern, though. By making their Master essentially untouchable if one wanted the War's prize, they had given themselves a sizeable advantage in the competition, since the other Masters would need to take down their Servant without killing the Master. Still, he wasn't one to complain about cheating, not when he had two Servants of his own thanks to a glitch in the Grail's selection system.
A bit of investigative work had swiftly revealed that the other residents of the house were Magi, specifically the last members of the Matou and Tohsaka lineages, which meant they had to be Masters themselves. Identifying Saber's Master might have been more arduous, if not for the fact his name was literally written on the front gate : Emiya.
The advantage he had thought he held thanks to being the Master of two Servants had somewhat waned when he had realized that every Master native to Fuyuki was in an alliance, one that the Einzbern Master had apparently joined after being saved from Archer's attack. There was nothing in the rules of the War against alliances; it was merely the common sense of Magi that kept them from forming. Darius had given thought to finding the last remaining Master and allying with them in turn, but had eventually decided not to. While the alliance of the locals wasn't forbidden, his own status as a double Master very much was, and any alliance came with the risk of that secret leaking out.
The strange abilities displayed by the Emiya Master could be explained if he had the help of another Master : it was plausible that a Caster-Class Servant could enhance the abilities of the Magus Killer's son to that degree. Even recluses like the Ainsworth family had heard of Kiritsugu Emiya's skills, though the man was supposed to be dead, and Darius had never heard anything about him having an heir. But the fact that the house he had tracked the other Masters to was in the name of an Emiya was too much a coincidence to ignore, especially with the Magus Killer having taken part in the last Grail War.
He had considered attacking the house while two of the Masters were away. But even with his own two Servants and the Dolls he had brought, fighting Saber and Lancer in their own territory had been too dangerous a proposition. Archer and Assassin were not Servants suited for direct confrontation : their talents would be best used in ambushes and traps. Fortunately, it appeared that the opportunity to defeat his enemies was going to be presented by his enemies themselves.
His enemies were splitting up, the fools. Darius smiled. This was the opportunity he had waited for. They were hunting him, or so they thought; now was the time for him to hunt them. They were, at least, smart enough to move in pairs rather than on their own, but it wouldn't save them.
"Archer, Assassin," he called, and two young girls appeared in front of him, looking at him impassively.
Darius was still awed by the two Servants' appearance. Centuries of life had long since inured him to the temptations of the flesh, but even he couldn't deny that Archer and Assassin were beautiful.
They would have to die in the end, of course. The notes he had stolen were clear : opening of a path to the Root required seven Servants' worth of prana, and while their status as Divine Spirits may mean one could do the job of two, Darius wasn't going to take any chances. Besides, it wasn't as if the survivor would thank him for it. The bond between the two sisters was obvious even to Darius, to the point it had taken a Command Seal to force Archer to leave the house and separate herself from Assassin. Thankfully, the command had been minor enough by the Grail's standards that it was still in effect, which meant he wouldn't have to spend another Seal to send her hunting tonight.
Neither of them had protested when he had sent them out to feed on the population, not that he had expected them to. Their legend made it clear they had little love lost for humans. They hadn't killed anyone, which was fine by Darius, so long as the pull on his prana reserves was diminished. With that burden lifted, he had been able to turn the abandoned house he had chosen as his lair for the War into a stronghold, laying down enough Bounded Fields and traps that this could now be counted as his Workshop.
Of course, the feeding of his Servants might threaten the secrecy of Magecraft when their victims eventually woke up, but the Ainsworth Head planned to have reached the Root or be long gone from the region and into the body of his next descendant by then, so it wasn't his problem.
He paused, waiting for a reaction from Zachary to that last thought. Nothing came. His current host was well and truly gone.
"It is time," he said out loud. "Go to your assigned positions."
The two Servants glared at him for a moment, before the strength of the Command Seal compelled Archer to obey. Assassin followed suit, reminded that she could neither defy nor control Darius.
Despite all the advantages he held and all the preparations he had made, this was still going to be a challenge. He was up against several Magi of unknown capabilities, their Servants, and whatever the hell Emiya was.
The Servants moved to their assigned positions. Elsewhere, the dolls Darius had brought from his castle stirred. Dead Magi, Magecraft users and mercenaries, selected among the most versatile and dangerous of the extensive Ainsworth collection, answered the silent orders he sent through the spells that animated them. They were dispersed through the city, hidden by small Mystic Codes he had once spent a decade crafting in bulk a century ago, during a lull in his quest for the Root. Some wore modern clothing, but others would definitively draw attention, even this late. More work for the Overseer, but again, it wasn't Darius' problem.
Even if he lost and failed to reach the Root, the next Head of the Ainsworth would simply make a token apology for his predecessor's behavior, offer compensation for the Overseer's troubles, and the whole thing would be forgotten. After all, the one truly responsible would already be dead, and the great powers of the Moonlit World were nothing if not pragmatic.
Darius' immortality was a secret he had carefully kept contained among his descendants. This geas-enforced secrecy served a dual purpose : it kept the Church from hunting him down as an abomination, and it prevented his descendants from seeking outside help to free themselves of the undying parasite that threatened to overwrite their very existence or that of their male kin.
It had led to some issues when dealing with spouses from outside the family, but a few cleverly formulated marriage vows had taken care of any danger on that end. So long as he stopped his descendants from marrying with important Magus families, no one noticed anything. It wasn't as if the Ainsworth were the only bloodline with strange quirks, after all.
… His thoughts were wandering again. Darius forced himself to focus. It would be a shame to waste the opportunity the Grail War presented because he was too busy dwelling on the past.
It had been a long time, he reflected, since he had last gone to war. Even now, he found that there was nothing quite like it, especially when he was the only Magus involved whose life was not at risk in the whole affair.
Alone, without even the ghost of the man whose existence he had usurped to keep him company, the Head of the Ainsworth laughed quietly.
Omake : What's in a name ?
or
Making Shirou Suffer Through The Same Stupid Stuff I Did
"Vivian ?"
"No."
"Nimue ?"
"No."
"Elaine ?"
"No."
"Guinevere ... well, no. How about Ginevra instead ?"
"No."
"Morgan ?" That one was a stretch, admittedly, but maybe, given what he had seen of her sword's falsified history …
"Hell no." The Servant of the Sword glared at her Master.
"Saber," Shirou sighed, putting down the book of Arthurian legends he had been picking the names from, "we have been at this for an hour. We need to decide on a name for tomorrow morning. Why are you being so difficult ? People in Japan mostly call each other by their family name anyway, so it's just for the paperwork."
"I know. I just don't like any of those you have proposed so far." Left unsaid but not unheard was the whole 'this is your fault for failing in such a simple task as finding an acceptable name'.
He sighed again. He supposed they were lucky Saber had remembered the name that had been on her passport during the Fourth War and was willing to use the same family name, instead of having to figure out two names she would accept.
They had first gone through a list of British names, only for Saber to reject all of them. Shirou had thought something closer to her legend might work, but it hadn't. He was honestly starting to get desperate.
Shirou's gaze wandered around the room. They were in what had been his father's office, surrounded by bookshelves full of all manner of literature. The collection was eclectic, if entirely mundane : there were historical treatises, compilations of myths, law texts, romance novels, and even a small section of manga Kiritsugu had purchased for him during his childhood.
His eyes fell upon one particular book. It was a slim volume, its title written on the spine in English. Shirou remembered reading it for the first time years ago, as part of his English classes. It was a play, written by a man who was widely considered the greatest dramaturge to have ever lived, about a sorcerer exiled on an island, his daughter, and their tribulations.
The sorcerer had done the right thing in the end. Shirou still hoped he would do the same.
"Miranda," he said, making Saber raise an eyebrow. "Your name will be Miranda Watson."
Saber looked at him contemplatively, before nodding with a small smile.
"Yes. I think I like that one. It will do."
Finally. Now all he had to do was fill in the blanks in the papers for tomorrow morning, and he could go to sleep.
… if he could fall asleep , that is. He may be used to sharing a bed with Sakura and Rin, but he wasn't such a degenerate that he could relax with another woman pressed against him.
AN : Well, this took less time than the previous chapter, though still entirely too much for my tastes. I managed to write the bulk of it very quickly, but then I spent longer tweaking it and rewriting bits of it until I was satisfied enough to publish it - and truth be told, I am still not happy with how the first part turned out. But I also didn't want to spend another month fiddling with it, so here we are.
Thank you all for your kind words regarding both this story in general and the omakes of the last chapter in particular. As you have read, this chapter has a "slice-of-like" omake, this one inspired by the fact it took me hours to decide on what pseudonym Saber would use in school, despite the fact it's likely never going to come up again. And yes, the name 'Miranda' does come from the play Tempest, by William Shakespeare.
I will probably focus on that type of Omake when I have an idea for them linked to the associated chapter, and keep the "other fanfic idea" ones for when I can't think of one.
In this chapter, I am basing Illya's research on her actions in the third Heaven Feel's movie. In it, she tells Shirou and Rin about Angra Mainyu and how it's responsible for the problems they are facing. Assuming the Einzbern didn't already know about this before they sent her (not that I don't think Jubstacheit is stupidly evil enough for that), that means she put it together with only what she had access to in Fuyuki. And if I'm wrong or it's explained differently in the VN, well, this is an AU, after all. Some of the differences are small things like that, others are stuff like Lancer's memory indicating Artoria's wish for the Grail in the Fourth War wasn't the same as in canon.
In his review of the previous chapter, Raltol Lotlar mentioned (I am paraphrasing) that there hasn't been much character development for the Servants. Which is entirely correct. I do have plans to use their POVs in the future, however. Also, thanks to him pointing that out, I ended up rewriting the timeline for the entire first part of the War precisely to give more time for the Servants to interact with the Masters and each other, so thank you very much for pointing that out.
On a less cheerful note, I checked the latest IP regulations from Games Workshop. Good news : from what I understand of it (and I checked the interpretation of other, more qualified people), there shouldn't be any issues with me continuing writing my stories. Although the bit about "not include text, artwork or imagery copied from any official Games Workshop material" confuses me a bit. Hopefully this doesn't mean I can't use the speech "In the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, there is only war ...". I may be publishing my stuff for free and anonymously, but let me tell you, I do NOT want GW's legal team after me. And that's ALL I will say on the subject. Please don't turn the review section of this story into a flame war, I only mentioned this so that none of my readers would worry about everything I wrote suddenly vanishing from the Internet.
Also, this story is no longer updated on Spacebattles. Fair enough, especially since there is no age rating on that website that I am aware of. I am currently considering backing up all my works on AO3, but the sheer scale of the work involved in re-editing everything (especially the earliest chapters of Warband of the Forsaken Sons) is more than a bit daunting.
Currently, my writing plans are to focus on this story until the end of September (wherever this leaves us), and then try to have the next installment of the Roboutian Heresy finished for Halloween. After that, I am hoping to finish Warband of the Forsaken Sons by the end of the year, although we shall see if this becomes anything more than a fool's hope.
And ... that's it. Oh, I did burn a lot of Saint Quartz and Summoning Tickets last week-end in FGO trying and failing to get Stheno, but I got a bunch of 4 and 5 stars Servants, so I can't complain. Also, I didn't make a pledge to the RNG before rolling, so really I have only myself to blame.
Zahariel out.