What Marks a Monster

(Shirou)

Before Shirou had much of a chance to do anything but ask a few perfunctory questions, Sasaku was trying to move him out of the room, his room, somewhat to his annoyance. "What gives?" he asked over their link.

"She needs to recover and, to your credit I will add, you will disturb her more than help. Also, we need to discuss some things now before people start asking questions."

"Fine, fine." He glanced backwards while leaving. Sakura was looking at Rider with an expression of astonishment. To be honest, he probably would as well, though perhaps a less generous soul might think he was just gawking at the Servant's expos- er, perfectly toned body. "Actually, is it safe to just leave them alone? I'm worried about Rider changing her mind about revenge now that she doesn't need you."

"If she changes her mind, we're doomed unless you're suggesting holding Sakura hostage." The rather sarcastic tone of that meant she took it as an impossibility. Nevertheless... "I didn't mean it that way."

"Look, if anything, Sakura would cause Medua to change her mind back to cooperating. It's best to let them fill one another in without any overt observation. Humans tend to behave erratically when they feel like they're watched, let alone manipulated."

Sasaku closed the door behind them as Sasaki and Kuro arrived on the scene. "Oh, did she manage to fix that? No wait..."

Kojirou hefted the sword slung over his shoulder before taking out another, bent, one and handing it over. "Kuro made a temporary replacement. Can you do anything with this?"

The Caster looked for a moment at the damaged weapon in her hand before it shimmered away, into her Armory. "Given enough time, yes. Before we're attacked, no idea." She looked at the replacement's beaming maker. "Thanks Kuro, I owe you one."

"Oh, it was noth-" she started, but Kojirou with a wide grin cut in, "Her methods are quite mana intensive, so..."

Sasaku glared at him as Kuro started laughing. "And what is Rin doing? It is not funny to run down to the wire on energy, you know."

There was a brief silence before Kuro finally spoke up, "How exactly did onii-chan manage to support both of you if he didn't even practice magecraft?"

Shirou tried to chip in helpfully with, "Well, Casters... have their ways?" This was followed by a longer, much more awkward silence.

"Look," Sasaku said finally, "We'll get into that, but first I need to get Shirou-nii's permission for a bunch of things. Ok? It's a promise, then." With that, she pulled the mentioned magus into her room and closed the door before putting up a couple of wards.

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(Sasaku)

"We have a problem." was the first thing she said once they were private. Shirou appeared completely unsurprised by this. "Explain. Do you have a solution?"

She went straight to the point. "There's something wrong with Sakura. Medusa didn't go into details, but it is most likely that what happened was a result of Zouken... experimenting."

"On her." It wasn't really a question, but Sasaku nodded anyway. "You said it wasn't Zouken though?"

"He wasn't the one controlling her, no. It probably wasn't intended but..."

Sasaku laid out the many things she and Medusa had discussed before and after Sakura's "operation". Zouken's identity as one of the original magi who created the Grail System, the lingering curse in the park linked to the fire at the end of the previous Grail War. That same curse being linked to a new Heroic Spirit, who tried to take over Sakura. Medusa absorbing the curse, leading to both the spirit being weakened and her changed appearance."

Shirou took it all in with an increasingly deep frown, until the very end. "Kuro identified her as Gorgon? Isn't that a more serious problem?"

His Servant shook her head, "Medusa's no rampaging destroyer. Her body changed, but her mind has not. Sakura might be the reverse, I suspect Zouken was trying to mess with her cognitive processes, but for what purpose I have no idea. It's been going on from long before Medusa ever appeared."

(Shirou)

Shirou looked about the room while thinking. It was kept tidily, probably aided by being mostly empty. "Are you telling me she's been insane the whole time? But she seemed..." normal he finished to himself.

Sasaku shrugged, though her demeanor was certainly not one of indifference. "Sane, insane, human, monster, these labels are not laws of the universe." She noticed his start at the additions. "The instant you heard 'Gorgon' you jumped to the 'monster' label, even though you just saw us working together."

He couldn't deny that. Legends are, true or not, the basis of Heroic Spirits.

"You know I'm both insane and a monster, right?"

"Aren't you just a visitor trying to get back home?" he asked in confusion, not sure what she meant by attaching those labels to herself like that.

"Yes, or so I thought. But you remember I told you how a number of my memories are missing?" -Something like ninety-five percent.- Shirou simply nodded in order to not interrupt her.

"I hope you had enough faith in me to assume that I wouldn't just leave it at that. But that's a matter for later, we're getting sidetracked."

Sasaku paused for a moment before returning to her initial thoughts. "I'm thinking that, since we're pretty much all-or-nothing here, it would be a good idea to teach Sakura magecraft as well. She's in your position, better or worse depending on how much she can control the magecraft she already has."

"Er, fine, but you mean those shadows?"

"Yes. I'll have you know that they're capable of taking down even Servants, which is exceptional for any human magus. Needless to say, a human would fall prey to it practically instantly."

"I see. Was that the main thing?" he asked as she got up and made her way to the door.

"No, but to avoid repeating myself, I'll wait until Sakura can join us. By the way," she added as he followed her, "If she snaps we'll all probably die. I'm sure you'll make an excellent husband even without that knowledge though."

"What?"

Since she had dropped the ward and already stepped outside into the corridor, Sasaku replied over their link, "Well I told you before magi guard their secrets very closely? Agreeing open-endedly to share magecraft is, if anything, more binding than deciding to have children. Especially since inheriting magic crests can be finagled somewhat, though I don't know the details."

"Are you screwing with me?"

Sasaku opened the door to his room without missing a beat. "No, entirely serious on all counts. I have to pick Rin's brains on the crests though, her library didn't have anything useful on it."

"Medusa," she said out loud, waiting for the Rider's nod in response. "The four of us Servants need to get on the same page, ideally before a crazy giant and heart-piercer get here."

The not-crazy giant simply nodded and put Sakura down. Wait a moment, why was she cradling her in the first place? Shirou wondered as the Servant quite deliberately walked past him and carefully exited the door before turning around. "Take good care of her," she said in a surprisingly gentle tone before leaving.

Sakura blushed. Sasaku only laughed while turning to follow suit, "You do that now, I'll come fetch you to afterwards. Don't worry, I won't barge in if you're busy."

"

" he asked in annoyance after the door had closed, leaving the two humans alone in his room. "After dropping all those warnings, now you're just 'Hop in bed together. Have fun!'..."

"Eh, she needs the mana, but more importantly she needs your attention."

Shirou glanced at Sakura who was at this point edging towards him. I can see that, he admitted to himself. Though it was still annoying that Sasaku was clearly trying to get Medusa alone, and probably wanted him occupied as well.

Sakura looked up at him hesitantly and hopefully. Their eyes met. And he realized something.

"Do you have a mirror I can borrow?"

(Sakura)

Sakura noticed immediately when he abruptly averted his eyes, which made her worry in turn. There was a moment of silence as Shirou walked over to his table and picked up something, clearly worrying.

"Is something wrong, Sen-, ah Shirou?" she asked timidly as he handed her the mirror.

"I just thought you should know," Shirou mumbled. She looked into the reflective surface and...

Oh no. For quite a while now, her eyecolor had been a very unusual purple, and she had a good guess why. Still, at least no one really gave it a second thought. But now it had clearly deepened, obviously much closer to black. Furthermore, the coloration, or rather discoloration, had spread outwards in a clearly unnatural manner that was impossible to miss. She had a good guess for this, too.

She blinked away sudden tears while simultaneously transfixed by the reflected sight of her, definitely her, inhuman-looking eyes. Rider turned into a guardian angel and protected me, but I myself... she remembered what she had said earlier in her rage. Ah, so instead... "I became the monster," she mumbled.

"No."

She looked up in surprise as Shirou pried the mirror out of her hands and put it down behind him. "I shouldn't have brought it up. It doesn't matter right now."

"What do you mean?" she said in shock at his flat denial. "But it- I-"

"It's nothing," he said harshly, though more directed at himself if anyone. "A scar." He pushed her backwards away from where the mirror was lying. "I'll have Caster fix it for you..." he said, though really addressing himself.

Something hit the back of her legs, and as she tumbled into a sitting position, she realized it was the bed she had been lying on earlier. Sakura looked up at Shirou standing just a little in front of her, looking to have made his mind up over something.

He looks so delicious, she thought in a daze. Isn't he going to eat me up? She had no idea what she'd do if he turned away from her.

"Huh, what are you doing?" he asked, realizing she hadn't heard him, lost in her own thoughts earlier. His next words, though, crowded everything out of her mind again. They were also the most welcome words she could remember hearing in a long time.

"Go on, take those off."

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Notes:
Yep, because Medusa turned into a white Gorgon, Sakura thinks she looks like an angel, whereas Kuro (and Rin) who know about Gorgon immediately think of her has an automatic threat. But she's not really either.

And Sasaku delivered the mirror onto Shirou's table, she didn't just have one lying there for no reason. If she has access anywhere it's his room as it is precisely the "center" of the Realm. Think of it as the equivalent of a command bunker.