Journey of Flowers
(In the way to Fuyuki Park)
(Illyasviel)
As the group of five ("I doubt you actually intend to fight though," Kotomine said to Gilgamesh) made haste to the park, Illya noted that they weren't particularly slowed down by the priest's speed. It seems he, too, has taken to heart the need for physical training.
Unfortunately for her, while certainly there were homunculi with above-human physical traits, she wasn't one of them. That said, she was beyond the frontier of homunculus-creation, since it was apparently impossible to make a brother or sister to her without them having at least some capabilities well below her own.
It wasn't the worst trade-off though. Though it pushed even her limits to do so, sustaining such a powerful Servant as Berserker Lu Bu while also maintaining a useful level of control was only possible this way. The Einzberns had even arranged for additional help in the form of Kotomine Kirei, though it was almost certain he had been playing them from the end of the previous War.
I wonder if this was what Artoria's "adventures" (missions) with Father were like, she thought. Probably not, since she had that Gift, ((Journey of Flowers)).
Although they didn't know it at the time, due to having researched the related-but-different Heroic Spirit of (adult) Artoria Pendragon, that passive skill lifts the hearts of anyone involved on one of her "journeys". It was a subtle effect compared to powerful skills like ((Charisma)) and its variants, but by her estimates affected not just Father, but also Mother, Maiya, Illya herself and even all the maids in the castle. The possibility existed that it also enabled the Three Kings Alliance to continue as long as she was in it.
While it was not possible to fully research all such things, with her current connection to the Grail and Artoria's involvement in the previous War, she could see some details, such as they were, about the Gift. Frightening in the sense of being non-direct, Illya thought. There was a chance that, even now a decade later, she herself was still on that Journey. It was certainly true that thinking about those days was extraordinarily comforting.
"What does it mean to be a hero, as opposed to a king?" Artoria had asked suddenly one day as Father joined Illyasviel in observing the Einzbern Servant practice her swordwork.
Kiritsugu seemed taken aback for a moment at the question abruptly sent his way. "Isn't your main weapon the spear?" he asked back instead.
"Oh, there isn't enough room here to practice tilting with that," she replied straightforwardly. Before Father could make a quick retreat though, Illya quickly indulged her own curiosity on the topic by adding, "You didn't answer Artoria's question."
It wasn't just her, Mother didn't exactly understand Father's particular philosophy either. Though she had guessed it might be due to being a homunculus, Irisviel had strictly warned her daughter about mentioning this to her husband. But Artoria is a human so surely she can understand it was Illya's thought at the time.
"You want to become a king, why ask about heros?" he responded rather than answer.
"Well, Merlin's Skill for raising a king is called ((Hero Creation)) so I was wondering if it meant anything." She paused and put away her weapon. "And I just felt like I had to ask."
Kiritsugu sighed, "((Instinct)) works off the battlefield too, I see." Father took a moment to think over his answer before finally giving it. "I suppose that one would have a cause as a hero, but not necessarily as a king. Hmm, your cause is 'to become king' though?"
"At yesterday's Alliance meeting, Gilgamesh said that it was impossible, as there's already king-Me in the Throne of Heroes, with I myself specifically the before-becoming-King-Me."
"Does that mean its possible to meet your future self?" Illya thought it would be an interesting encounter, but Artoria shook her head. "The World, or specifically, this World doesn't seem to like duplicates, Gil was quite certain about that, probably because he hates his adult self."
"Isn't that a problem?" Kiritsugu mumbled to himself. "It was odd enough, since Servants don't develop further, but even if you used the Grail for that, current-you would still be in the Throne as the Knight Princess."
"Not exactly," Artoria countered, taking out her spear. "There's a Skill called ((Self-Reform)) that 'before'-type Servants can gain. It allows for development in what you might consider the normal way. Take this ((Rhongomyniad)), it has future forms more powerful than ((Caliburn)) which might be why I was summed as a Lancer, even though currently I don't know the specific uses for this Noble Phantasm. Merlin said it could even be more powerful than ((Excalibur)) so similarly it is possible adult-me could also be a Lancer if she had the full use of this."
The Servant fell silent and let her spear dematerialize. "And anyway, the the other part of that, the fact that Camelot already fell centuries ago..." It was a touchy subject for her ever since coming up in the first Alliance meeting. In a way, all three before-Kings were in similar situations, though Gilgamesh wasn't sure if he cared to build a new Uruk, and Alexandros really liked the idea of conquering a new empire, from scratch this time.
"So... you're looking for a cause to become a hero, is that it?"
"I suppose." Artoria's direct statement was more than enough.
"I'm beginning to think a hero of justice can't actually exist in this world," was all he was willing to say on the subject.
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"Gilgamesh, I had a question," she said to the Archer who didn't look nearly as gold-covered as Artoria had mentioned.
"Really." He didn't seem surprised at all by the request. "I might have an answer."
"Did you make up with Artoria before the end?"
"What?" Oh that actually did surprise him. "Is it my fault now? She blew up my Grail, which was a far greater injury than anything I did to anyone."
"How did that even happen?" Kirei poked his shoulder. "I thought you'd be able to stop her."
"She broke her sword at it," Gilgamesh grumbled, though perhaps with a bit of humor in it. "I thought she was going to fight me when she took it out, but instead she overcharged it, Command Spells probably, and took out the Grail while I was prepared to defend myself against it. Expected that she would use the really powerful Holy Lance for something like that, but apparently not."
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"Gil had a message for you," Artoria said to her Master after returning from one of the Alliance meetings.
"That's somewhat concerning," he muttered.
"He said, ahem 'If you love saving people, you should try saving humanity over and over until you're sick of it' and then he laughed and said 'Become one of Alaya's dogs, that's basically their job description,' I think it was," she relayed the message in a not-convincing attempt at a boy's voice.
"I'm guessing you had Merlin's help to pass as a man," Father said while digesting this unexpected bit of 'advice'. "That shouldn't be possible for humans of the modern age though? Are you sure he meant that for me?"
Artoria frowned, "He immediately said it wasn't for me, since..." she rolled her eyes in exasperation at the memory. "Heroic Spirits don't even get married after becoming one! This wouldn't happen if it was adult-Me who looked like a man."
"My, my, you shouldn't think that," a suddenly-appearing Irisviel said. Father immediately rushed over to support her. "You know in at least some of the stories he and Enkidu had themselves some 'male bonding' time."
"You shouldn't exert yourself unnecessarily," Father said, but she shrugged it off. "In the first place it wasn't due to..." she paused upon realizing her daughter was there, just a little behind Artoria. "I take it your stake-out wasn't successful today. Let's sit down rather than standing around the entranceway."
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News of the War's end reached the Einzberns in Germany faster than Illyasviel did. It was fortunate that they thought of her as another one of their 'assets' and... wait
It wasn't just mere good luck, the main family had to have known about the timing of this War, because if it had come on the regular cycle, Illya would never have survived long enough to take part. Compared to several decades between Wars, if this had occurred just a year or two later, all their efforts would have been wasted.
Regardless, they gave me everything I needed. Especially information, though they got some bits wrong.
She had come to Fuyuki expecting to find a rather mundane "Shirou" but her various plans were thrown into disarray upon discovering that he was not only a magus, but also a Master. This could open up some new possibilities she had thought when Gilgamesh revealed this to them. She had been silently thoughtful about this rather than upset by Berserker and Lancer's failed attempt to grab Tohsaka, as Kirei might have imagined.
Now, Gilgamesh had only volunteered his knowledge of the group after that battle, which was very suspicious. Come to think of it, Father had a rather sizable group in the last War, all of them women too. And everyone but me in this group is a man. She pushed away the irrelevant thought.
The main problem was that her little brother had gathered up four Servants, which while that drove Kirei into a bit of a tizzy at the thought, meant that at any moment they might fall into the same dilemma the first Grail War participants had; everyone pre-empting the others to the backstab.
Mother's last words can't have been for Father, or rather... they weren't only for him. Various options were possible, especially since Kirei had directly demonstrated it was possible to keep even a Servant like Gilgamesh around for a decade.
It would have been nice to summon Artoria for this, but Avalon wasn't on Father's corpse and thus was lost to the Einzberns. Lu Bu had been the best choice going into this affair, but he would be extremely hard to support after the War's end.
But if we had the use of a Caster Servant... furthermore, she was Shirou's Servant which made it much easier to fit everything together.
I may not seek revenge on the family for dragging Father and Mother's name through the mud. I may not hate them for thinking to use me as a final snide joke to wipe out both Father's name and line at once. But there are many good reasons to neutralize the lot of them.
She nodded to herself and glanced at Gilgamesh. The boy just smiled at her in a fetching, but disturbingly knowing way. "Emiya is mine," he said, putting to rest any question about what he knew. He wasn't talking about her brother.
To think, Father's line had a Heroic Spirit as an ancestor. Maybe this is Fate's way of paying us back for the loss of what was left of the Emiya magic crest. Then again, we'd have to deal with...
Gilgamesh simply kept on smiling as though he didn't care about what anyone thought or did as long as he got his desired prize.
As they reached the edge of the park, two figures appeared in front of them, prepared for a fight. The Servant, Assassin Jeanne d'Arc, was carrying a spear with something wrapped around the top third of it. Ah that must be her banner Noble Phantasm, ((Luminosité Eternelle)). Which means that sword is the self-sacrificial ((La Pucelle)).
Her Master, equipped with only her fists, was wearing a smart suit that clashed somewhat with her gloves. But it seems they have been reinforced by runes like the ones Lancer uses.
Lu Bu let his small rider to the ground and took out his massive halberd. Kirei was about to say something, but was interrupted by the opposing Master.
She pointed a gloved finger at Lancer. "Cu Chulainn, I challenge you to-"
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Notes:
We will actually hop back to the Emiya house for two chapters before seeing the battle against Jeanne and Bazette unfold. Mostly because these bits were "Illya's plans/information" and the next ones are "Emiya faction's plans/information". Then both sides' actions follow, though I'll admit the interleaving is in the telling, not chronological as the Jeanne fight is approximately 3am Sunday while the Emiya faction's next major move is at say 6pm Sunday.
As a minor historical fact, it seems that at the time Phillip of Macedon (Alexander's father) was considered highly for having "unified" the Greeks, his son who "only" defeated the Persians with that unified Greece was not viewed necessarily as highly back at home. Like how the Macedonians took Phillip to be a god, but not for Alexander (the Egyptians/Persians did). That's sort of what was being referenced.
So in this story, rather then Kiritsugu having the hero of justice talks with Shirou (because he died very soon after the War's end) he actually had it with Artoria Lily instead. If you were wondering she has both Dun Stallion and Lamrei, but they're smaller than the ones adult Lancer Artorias use (ie: to Lily's scale).