Off the Rails
(Fuyuki Church, evening - after the last battle)
(Illyasviel von Einzbern)
The homunculus watched the one human in the church's expression develop as the King of Heroes related seeing Jeanne d'Arc at Fuyuki Park. It seemed as though the magi-turned-priest was considering jumping on this threat immediately. Too bad that, for all his Overseer-level access, he doesn't know that an actual Ruler was summoned well before Assassin.
When Kotomine showed off Gilgamesh, probably both to impress/intimidate her as well as demonstrate that he, too, had a Servant, it all but proved her long-held suspicion that he had been responsible for Father's death.
i
(Flashback: Shortly before the final battle of the last Holy Grail War)
Father checked his favorite two weapons again before nodding to the nearby maids. "I'm trusting you to send her back safely." They nodded and left to fetch the various piece of packed luggage.
"Is there really no other option?" she had asked yet another time once the two of them, and Artoria of course, were alone. Father simply exhaled and glanced at his Servant for some help.
Artoria shook her head, fingers tightening on the shaft of her spear as thoughts of the upcoming battle filled her mind. "Gilgamesh's Master is highly unlikely to agree with our assessment, and without... proof... the best chance to avert disaster is to strike quickly rather than show ourselves."
Father's eyes darted side to side for a moment, "Going straight for the Grail before it fully materializes..." he mused at his two Command Seals, cutting off as one of the maids returned with three coats in hand. The smallest, a thick purple one for colder climates went to her.
The largest, with hidden compartments and straps for ammunition, firearms and more, went to Father.
The longest, but lightest, went to Artoria, who threw it on over her brilliantly white dress while trying not to look too much at it. Although she had been there when Mother had bought the garment, in the end the Servant would be its only wearer.
Illyasviel hesitated when the maid took her hand. Success or not, Father was unlikely to be able to see her again. I know that, but- she tried to reassure herself with Mother's last words to Father: "Take care of them." It couldn't be her and Artoria, so he had to survive, at least...
"I'll be waiting," she told Father at last, trying to hold back tears that wouldn't help their parting. As it was, he had wanted to send her away earlier just to be sure of her safety. He nodded, though his expression didn't change much. Father had already switched on his combat discipline.
"Take care of him," she asked Artoria, who nodded and tried to give a confident smile.
...
Neither of them returned. Fuyuki's theater and large parts of the city burned as through struck by the wrath of a god. But Illyasviel knew it meant -Father won-.
(Several months later)
"I... have a brother?" she asked in shock as Mother's words returned to her in an instant. "How is that possible? You said he died right after the War-" Her accusing tone asked the Einzbern magus who was her current guardian the real question.
"Apparently he decided to save a boy from the fire," the man responded, uncaring. "We were wondering about him as well. Did you meet any boys your age during the War?" Ah, so that's why you brought it up.
"No." She answered directly. Though she had been interested in meeting Alexandros and Gilgamesh, everyone had made sure it never happened.
"Are you sure nothing comes to mind? You know that boy has now disinherited you?"
More like Father wanted to keep it out of your hands she thought while saying nothing. While homunculi matured faster than humans, her own odd "origins" meant she looked her age, meaning that as Father had expected, the Einzbern magi thought of her more like a troublesome child rather than someone who could understand their careless attempts to manipulate her.
"There must be some reason for him to do such a thing," the magus muttered as though to himself, leaving the unsaid implication in the air.
"Of course, it's Father after all," she said with a heartfelt pride, while pretending not to catch on. She was pretty sure, though, that the boy was Father's final proof of his life philosophy.
That's right, even if it was only one boy, he saved him because it was the best he could do.
i
(Present day)
"Hate and revenge are not the best reasons to kill someone," Father had told her and Artoria once, in one of their little discussions after Artoria had been arguing with Alexandros and Gilgamesh about being a king again. "But, they are not necessary reasons to do so either."
"So, are we going to chase Jeanne?" Illyasviel asked pointedly. While Kotomine was worried because Jeanne d'Arc was usually a Ruler and might thus be able to interfere with his plans, the fact that a holy saint Servant was using fire and stakes to fight was proof of a bigger truth...
Though the mere ten years since the last War was already very suggestive, Assassin's state meant that the Grail had been neither destroyed nor cleansed. It's ironic, that a Servant like Lu Bu has been pushed into being a hero of justice.
Although, that didn't give enough credit to her own rather masterful, if it was fair for the person herself to say so, manipulation of the Madness Enhancement portion of a Berserker summon. As it was, she still felt a little upset that to be sufficiently certain that his ((Nature of a Rebellious Spirit)) "Skill" was disabled, it was necessary to give up a number of his higher thought functions. In any case though, she had read up on his history and made sure to avoid behaving like the many people who had met their end in him.
"Are you going to work with me properly this time?" Kotomine shot back, probably feeling a little needled. Though he had been grumbling a lot about Lancer's failure to take out Jeanne, in truth it seemed he felt well at least Lancer will do what I say in comparison to Gilgamesh who did whatever he pleased.
Listening to the priest practically scream when he realized the very independent Archer had simply let Emiya's Caster go was rather amusing, though not only for his fustraction. From what she understood at the time of the previous Grail War, Gilgamesh had apparently been quite taken with Artoria for some reason, and though he was not particularly off-put by her polite refusals in the several meetings of their Three Kings Alliance group, any hope had definitely been lost when he killed Alexandros.
It wasn't like one of those love triangles in light novels. Probably. Rather, Artoria had been very upset that the 'mutual agreement between monarchs' had been broken, and furious when Gilgamesh refused to explain himself other than saying it was an honorable duel (though apparently he overwhelmed Rider). Putting everything together, it was clear that Kotomine probably used a Command Spell on him.
Still, did people in ancient Uruk court girls by challenging them to swordfights?
"Let's go." Kotomine suddenly announced. "With luck, Emiya's group will be busy regrouping after that failure of yours."
She frowned in annoyance, but was glad he didn't seem to have realized her aim was to get Tohsaka alone in order to extract information from her. The Einzbern's and his story didn't match up well, and she had every suspicion he was also lying to them in his secret reports in order to position everything for his aims in this War.
Given that Father put everything down to stop him last War, I'll have to make sure he gets put down for sure this time. She nodded to the priest as Lu Bu appeared and picked her up. Of course Kotomine would have to walk to the park.
"That man underestimates our power," Lu Bu sent over their mental link. "In every age, there are such fools."
"You've already proved you are stronger than Cu Chulainn," she sent back. "Wouldn't the legendary Jeanne d'Arc be an interesting opponent?"
"Better than that girl, at least," Berzerker grumbled.
Illyasviel's eyes widened slightly in anger as she remembered how that Archer had spoken so familiarly about her parents. But who was she? Gilgamesh had said her True Name was Kuro... he seemed to know more than he let on.
i
Notes:
I know I said earlier that the events of Kiritsugu's Grail War were different from FateZero, but since pretty much everyone is dead (or returned to the Throne) besides Illya and Gil, they're pretty much the ones who'll go into it I guess A bit awkward since she didn't directly witness most of the "story beats" on the battlefield. Gil and Illya haven't been talking though thanks to his NPs he knows about her.
In this story, Kuro's True Name is indeed "Kuro" though elsewhere it would actually be "Kuro/Chloe von Einzbern".
At this point, we've met the regular seven Servants and Gilgamesh, but not Ruler.