Prologue — Day 2: Rin — Dual Saber
Rin surveyed the damage to the school's hallway in disbelief. The grenade detonation had cratered the floor, scorched the walls, blown out several windows, and peppered the hallway with fragments of metnal.
"A grenade?" she asked. "You're an epic sprit, and you used a grenade? Does that even work on Servants?"
"It's not very effective." Homura admitted. "However, in this case, the element of surprise was enough to force Lancer to retreat. Of course, we'll eventually run into a Servant's Master, and I believe you'll find that grenades are exceptionally effective against them.
"It just doesn't fit my image of a Heroic Spirit at all." Rin said. "Well, anyway. We can't leave the school in this condition. Let me do a quick clean-up."
Though even the most hardened janitor would have despaired at seeing the mess Black Archer had made of the hallway, the situation didn't pose a problem for a magus like Rin. It wasn't that uncommon for magi to find themselves needing to repair property damage like this, so a basic spell for fixing things was among the first that any magus learned. The constructional formula for the spell was stored within Rin's Magic Crest; she only had to speak the words of activation and a spell which had been slowly built up through the study and hard work of generations of Tohsakas was at her disposal.
Broken shards of glass leapt back into window frames. Scorch marks erased themselves from the walls. Broken tiles skittered across the floor and settled back into the proper places. In only a few moments, the hallway had remade itself into something approximating its former state.
"There." Rin said with satisfaction. "Not quite as good as new, but it shouldn't draw any attention."
"Rin, do you really think you should be congratulation yourself right now?" Red Archer asked.
"Hey, I just had my first battle as a Master in this War, and it went pretty well." Rin said. "Maybe Black Archer didn't finish Lancer off, but she did force him to flee; and on top of that, she exposed his Noble Phantasm and his identity. The wielder of Gae Bolg can only be the Hound of Ulster, Ireland's Man of Light: Cu Chulainn. All in all, that makes this a success."
The two Archers looked at each other, then sighed and shook their heads.
"What!?" Rin demanded.
"You wasted yet another of your previous Command Spells on something trivial." Homura said.
"I wouldn't call saving a life trivial." Rin said defensively.
"I did as you asked and protected the boy for the moment." Homura said. "But do you really think Lancer is going to give up so easily, after saying he'd do him the respect of fighting him seriously?"
The question froze Rin.
"But... even if he wanted to finish Emiya off, you got him to safety, right?" Rin asked.
"For the moment." Homura said. "But my power is not unlimited. I was able to remove the boy from the school grounds, but Lancer might still pick up his trail — especially if the boy lingers around in confusion instead of starting to run right away. And even in the best-case scenario, Lancer knows that the boy is a student at this school. He simply has to stake out the location until the boy returns."
"He wouldn't..." Rin began.
"He would." Homura said flatly. "To maintain the secrecy of the Grail War, all witnesses must be eliminated. You're a magus; you should be able to understand. Unless romantic infatuation is clouding your judgement, of course."
"Don't be absurd!" Rin said, perhaps a little more heatedly than she'd intended. "It's just... well, I feel somewhat responsible for getting him into this mess, since it was my decision to fight at the school. I'm just trying to take responsibility for my own actions instead of forcing someone else to suffer for my mistake."
"Your sentiment, at least, is admirable." Homura said. "But it is unsuitable for a participant in the Grail War. Unless you are capable of utter ruthlessness, you will not be able to succeed."
"How about you stop criticizing and start thinking of something to do?" Rin snapped.
"Just let the kid die." Red Archer said coldly. "Someone as soft as him doesn't deserve to live."
"How can you say he's soft?" Rin demanded of her Servant. "You don't even know him!"
Red Archer hesitated for a moment before responding.
"He saw that Black Archer was in danger, and he ran in to help." Red Archer said. "He had watched her and Lancer fight, so he must have known that he was even weaker than she was, that there was nothing he could against Lancer but die. And yet, even knowing this, he ran in anyway, because he couldn't bear to witness someone get hurt. That's why he's soft."
"To me, that sounds like nobility." Rin said.
"Just another word for foolishness." Red Archer shot back.
"There's no point arguing with me over this." Rin said. "I've made up my mind, and you're not going to change it. So if you want to make yourself useful, stop complaining and start thinking of a way to get him out of this mess."
There was a long silence as Rin's Servants regarded her. Rin clenched her fists and stared right back at them. She wouldn't back down on this point. Shirou Emiya was, when it came down to it, a decent person. She wasn't going to allow someone like that to get dragged into the bloodshed of the Holy Grail War.
"Well, if you really want to protect the boy, the simplest way would be to eliminate Lancer before Lancer kills him." Homura finally said. "No one else has any reason to target the boy, and Lancer is after all the enemy."
"We could lay an ambush against Lancer." Red Archer said grudgingly. "If we know Lancer is going to be going after this kid, then we can lie in wait to attack him when he makes his move."
"See?" Rin said. "Now you're thinking sensibly. We'll stake out Emiya's house and eliminate Lancer. He doesn't seem to be working with another Servant; and even if he was, his Master likely wouldn't send two Servants on such a simple mission as taking out an ordinary person. So, if both of you attack at once, you'll certainly have the upper hand. Emiya will be safe, and we'll be one step closer to winning the War."
Rin departed the school and began walking to Emiya's house.
"You already know where he lives, then?" Homura asked. "How interesting."
"Don't get the wrong idea, okay?" Rin said. "It's just because Sakura and Fujimura-sensei spend a lot of time there. It doesn't have anything to do with him in particular."
"Naturally." Red Archer said. "And the fact that you're willing to go to such lengths for him means nothing."
"It's not that big of a deal." Rin said. "We're only staking out his house for one night; if Lancer doesn't track him down tonight, he'll just plan to pick up his trail again at the school tomorrow."
Emiya's house was a fairly large traditional compound. Rin estimated that it could comfortably housed half a dozen people, though Emiya and Fujimura were currently the only residents.
"We should find a comfortable spot to spend the night." Rin said. "There's no telling how long it might take for—"
"Rin!: Red Archer interrupted. "I hear fighting!"
"What!?" Rin said. "He can't have found Emiya's house already — there's no way..."
But her Servant's grim faces told her all she needed to know.
"Lancer." Homura confirmed. "It sounds like he and the boy are in that shed."
"Damn it!" Rin said. "Come on, we're going to help him!"
She vaulted the fence surrounding the compound and began running towards the shed. To her satisfaction, her Servants didn't hesitate; as soon as Rin took off running, they leapt into motion as well and quickly outpaced her. Emiya couldn't survive long against a Servant, but maybe if they reached the shed fast enough they'd be in time...
However, her Servants were only halfway to the shed when the windows suddenly lit up with a dazzling golden light. An intense wave of prana radiated from the shed, hitting Rin with enough force to knock her on her butt. As she began to stand back up, one of the shed's windows exploded outwards as Lancer was knocked through it. He tumbled several times before rolling back to his feet. He raised his spear, seemingly preparing to resume fighting, but then spotted Rin's Archers bearing down on him. With a shake of his head, he turned and fled, disappearing into the night. Seeing his departure, Rin's Servants returned to her side.
"That power." Homura said. "Could that have been...?"
"Emiya?" Rin said. "No way. It's not possible. He couldn't possibly..."
But the words died in her throat as the shed's door opened. Emiya stepped out, two Servants following behind him. One was a one-armed man in a black coat that exposed his chest; his class wasn't immediately obvious. But the second was a young woman clad in the armor of a knight, and the stance in which she held her hands before her — the invisible weapon gripped in them visible only as a vague blur in the air — left no doubt at all about which Servant she was.
Shirou Emiya, who Rin had always believed to be nothing more than an ordinary highschool student, was a participant in the Holy Grail War as the Master of Saber.
End of Prologue. Beginning... of Fate/Parallel Fantasia.