The sun had not reached its zenith when Shirou was awoken by a fidgeting body on his left arm. He opened his eyes to see a fidgeting Arcueid wide awake. A body on his right arm indicated that the other goddess lay at his other side. A quick glance confirmed that she was also awake but she remained quiet and merely examined him.

Shirou sighed. "Why are you so restless today," he asked the True Ancestor.

"Oh," Arcueid took notice of him. "It's that time of the month Shirou."

Shirou could physically feel Ishtar's amused smirk at Arc's innocent statement. However in all the time that he knew her, the White Princess never failed to be energetic when the moon achieved its fullness.

"Three days of full moon," Shirou said to himself. He had already figured out the purpose of the Aylesbury ritual and he was very aware that the vampires would be aiming for the completion of the ritual by the third night. He teleported out of bed, donning some of his clothes, and walked towards the door before he was halted by the sound of his servant's voice.

"Wait Master," Ishtar said her clothes materialising over her naked form. "Why don't we take the day off? I don't think I've even got to explore Japan at all during my time here."

"We don't have that much time Ishtar," Shirou said defending his actions. "Death is our constant companion throughout this war. Any bit of preparation that I do would improve our odds."

"But you overwork yourself Shirou," Arc countered as she drew her sweater over her head. "Besides this might be the last time we get to do this."

"Arc don't say th…" Shirou began.

"I'm not foolish Shirou," Arc said smiling. "All of us could die here. Furthermore Ishtar would naturally fade away at the end of the Holy Grail War. Unless you have conjured up a method to keep her around."

Shirou bit his lip and then turned to face the goddess. "If you were a normal heroic spirit I could. Hell I could do that to somebody as powerful as Gilgamesh," he said not missing the look of disdain at the mention of her least favourite mortal. "But the system for Gods to survive does not exist in this day and age. While my command seals currently anchor your existence, when the grail war ends life will become unsustainable for gods." He shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said with his voice dripping bitterness. "But to keep you alive after the grail war I would have to somehow bring back the age of the gods."

Ishtar nodded. "I know," she said. "And you wouldn't bring back the age of the gods anyway even if you had the power." She held up a hand halting any reply. "That is not an accusation. Most gods were poison to mankind. To bring back those times would be a deep betrayal of the human race."

The silence stretched on for a few seconds until it was characteristically broken by the pair's favourite vampire.

"Fun day now," Arcueid said her voice brooking no disagreement. "We are going out to the arcade and the movies and the pool and anyplace else that Ishtar wants to go." The ancestor crossed her arms and Shirou uncharacteristically discovered he could raise no objection. He felt himself weighed down by the possibility of imminent demise the next few days promised and for the first time in a long while he wished that he could just leave the fight. Unfortunately now that he knew how much damage the ritual would do if completed he found himself trapped by his very nature. He opened his mouth and then closed it.

"Arcueid," he said. "Let's make this the best day ever."

xxx

The three of them sat around the table eating their respective breakfasts. According to Nine, who was playing their chef and waiter, Rin had not come down yet, Satsuki was about the house and Aoko had left the house. Sure enough during their planning of the day Satsuki wandered in.

"Morning guys," she said yawning. "Shirou did you analyse the liquid that I gave you."

"Yup," Shirou said pulling out a vial. "Drink up," he continued chucking the vial to her.

"Is it safe," Satsuki said looking at the clear vial with interest and a bit of apprehension.

"For you it is," Shirou replied. "The closest descriptor I could give it is primordial soup. It breaks down anything it touches but preserves the DNA. To others it is akin to an acid but for you." He smiled. "Well just try it."

Satsuki scrutinised his features and then in one swift motion gulped down the liquid. Her eyes widened and her body shook as she absorbed the contents. "What was that," she said staring at Shirou with wide eyes. "It feels like I know how your body works. I mean how it is put together."

"You absorbed the DNA that I inserted in the glass," Shirou said. "Blood," he clarified immediately upon seeing her reaction. "Now try to assume my form."

Satsuki concentrated for a moment and those sitting around her in the table looked expectantly at her. After a moment she sighed. "I haven't got it yet," she admitted. "Guess it's more training with Nine for me."

"Do you want to join us for a day out?" Shirou asked. Under most circumstances he would just take Arcueid and Ishtar, the two people he was 'involved' with to avoid awkwardness. However Satsuki was a friend and had been for a while and he wanted to spend some time with her… just in case.

"Nah," Satsuki said. "A bit more training for me. Then I'm going to have a nap." Her face suddenly turned serious. "Tonight is the night I'm going to confront Sumire again," she said.

"Good luck with that," Arcueid said with Rider nodding in agreement.

"Yeah good luck Satsuki," Shirou said and watched as the girl went back to her training.

xxx

"So which kind of movie do you want to watch," Shirou asked Ishtar following the unspoken rule of visitor gets to choose.

"Master," Ishtar responded dryly. "I have never watched a movie before. I have no frame of reference to decide what is good or not."

"You will love a lot of the foreign love films," Arcueid said looping her arm over the goddesses shoulder. "I'm sure you will enjoy them."

"Especially since the grail gave you the ability to understand all languages," Shirou said smiling. "Imagine if you were summoned only knowing ancient Babylonian," he joked.

"Shirou, nobody knows ancient Babylonian," the goddess said staring him in the face. "The language was fissured a long time ago."

At seeing her master's blank look she shook her head. "Ignore me," she said. "It would take too long to explain the intricacies of Sumerian history right now. I will watch Arcueid's choice."

"To the romance movie," Arcueid yelled wrapping her strong grip around the Magician's arm and dragging him into the theatre.

The goddess watched them go and a flash of pain ran through her eyes before she smiled and followed them in.

xxx

The three of them sat in a nice restaurant at the conclusion of the flick ruminating on the movie they had just seen. The restaurant was new and catered to those with a passion for Italian foods. It was quite frankly a compromise. Shirou refused to eat Arcueid's suggestion of Chinese food out of misbegotten cultural pride. Arcueid had grown tired of Shirou's love for Japanese food. Neither of them had any idea of how to even start looking for a restaurant that served Babylonian cuisine like Ishtar wanted. The Italian was a compromise and all of them were pinned to the table by their stubbornness.

"I don't get what the point of the movie was," the goddess spoke up first. "They both loved each other. They both knew it. Why didn't they just…? "She said showing visible signs of annoyance. "Why didn't they just fuck? The movie would have been at most half an hour and we could have actually got to the good stuff. Instead we get two hours of some outlandish on and off monkeyshines and then just after they finally confess their love the movie ends."

Arcueid pouted into her cannelloni and refused to answer. Truth be told she had not found it the best movie either but she would be damned if she let Shirou hear her say that and give him more ammunition. Fortunately the magician had a different target.

"Monkeyshines," Shirou said amusedly. "Really are we American now. Do they even say that any more there? Ya know over the pond."

"What happened to being grateful I could speak any language at all," the Babylonian goddess said defensively.

"Nothing," Shirou said putting up his hands. "I'm just imagining some old American magus posting Monkeyshines onto the grail's dictionary."

Shaking his head to dispel the image Shirou tucked into his lasagne as he listened to Arcueid and Ishtar discuss the movie further. When the three of them had finished they left to the arcade.

"So let me get this straight," Ishtar said staring at the arcade sign. "These games are like simulated worlds that you interact with through a few buttons to achieve an objective."

Shirou and Arcueid nodded simultaneously.

"That sounds pretty amazing," Ishtar admitted. "Do you have any games where you build up a civilisation and wage war on your enemies?"

"At home I do," Shirou admitted. "I rather enjoy playing them now and again. The games you would find at the arcade would be faster paced and designed more towards taking money from the customers."

"Humans always chasing after more and more wealth," Ishtar said. "It's one of the things I hate about the species."

"If I chose to write all the things I dislike about the gods," a voice made itself known. "Several libraries would be filled by the collection of my thoughts."

The trio turned to see the King of Heroes standing next to a black haired boy that only Arcueid recognized. "Merem," Arcueid said ignoring the looks of hatred between the king and the god while Shirou frantically looked between the two of them with a look of horror on his face. "What are you doing here?"

Merem laughed. "My companion over here was just showing me his conquests at the arcade. I haven't been to one of these in far too long. My reflexes were a bit rusty."

"Shirou," Gilgamesh said breaking contact with the hateful stare of his fellow servant. "Come speak to me privately for a while."

"Don't go with him Shirou," his servant next to him piped up. "He can't be trusted."

Gilgamesh opened his mouth to retort but was forestalled by Shirou who placed a hand on Ishtar's shoulder. "You and I both know he won't do that," Shirou said gazing into the eyes of the Babylonian goddess. "Just wait I'll be back soon and then we can go to the arcade together."

Gilgamesh nodded and he sent one last look at Ishtar that promised pain in the future before he walked off with Shirou following close behind him.

"Wow," Merem said. "What did you do to make him hate you so badly?"

"You know that's he's Gilgamesh Merem," Arcueid said while Rider continued to stare at the backs of the retreating men. "Let me introduce you to Ishtar."

"I see," Merem said and then his eyes went wide and he let out a chuckle. "I just got that joke about Venus," he said laughing to himself.

xxx

The first hero turned into a nearby alley followed by the magician and in the next second Gilgamesh was soaring through the sky and landing on the skyscraper on the left. Shirou raised an eyebrow before he followed him, manipulating the water in his body to leap ten stories in one jump. When he arrived on the building after Gilgamesh he was once again surprised to see the King of Heroes sitting on the floor holding a glass of wine. Another glass sat opposite him and Shirou accepted the unspoken invitation and sat down while sipping at the glass.

Shirou savoured the wine for a moment. The quality of the drink far surpassed anything that he had ever tasted outside of the gate of Babylon. He had a feeling that Sumire would give an arm up to have a taste of the wine, after making sure that she could regenerate it soon after of course.

"How have you been finding the grail war so far," Gilgamesh asked causing Shirou to raise an eyebrow at the casual way he put it.

"Oh you know," Shirou replied. "Good weather, met my sister almost got killed by the walking, shedding death of mankind."

"That thing was pretty dangerous," Gilgamesh said. "But it's specialised for humans, so you and that bitch goddess would actually have the advantage against it." Gilgamesh shook his head. "I did not foresee all of this happening," he said solemnly. "There are still six vampires and their servants roaming through the streets." Gilgamesh suddenly stared Shirou right in the eyes, his glowing red orbs inspecting Shirou, gazing into his soul. "I still want to fight you Inke. I need to fight you," Gilgamesh said and for the first time he didn't seem to be certain of himself. "The vampires do not plan to ever activate the grail," he said.

"I know," Shirou confirmed. "They just need the souls to power their ritual. After all a crucible has to be hot to burn away all the impurities."

"Oh, you worked it out as well," Gilgamesh said impressed. He took another sip of his wine. "I am also not sure of the seventh master. I have only caught glimpses of her. She's very powerful and incredibly dangerous. I do not know what she wants but her existence not only threatens the 'proper' manifestation of the Holy Grail but the entire world."

"What are you getting at Gilgamesh," Shirou said eying the King of Heroes who was acting most uncharacteristically.

"I suppose you wouldn't notice Inke," Gilgamesh said. "After all you cannot remember me before the fourth grail war." He paused and a look of reluctance showed on his face before he sighed in weariness. "At the end of the day you will not only be facing those two possibly world-ending threats but me as well."

"I always knew I was going to fight you Gilgamesh," the young magician stated. "What has changed?"

Gilgamesh stared at the Magician before he sighed and changed. For a moment there the Gilgamesh that Shirou knew, his friend was gone, to be replaced by an ashen grey version with red tattoos all over his body and armour. Malevolent crimson eyes glared menacingly at Shirou but the Magician somehow knew he was not their real target. A feeling that Shirou could only ever call evil hit his senses and the surrounding area screamed of impending death and torture.

"It happened slowly at first," the blackened King of Heroes said, his voice soft and menacing. "It took me many years to notice it. As the years grew I began to feel contempt for this weak humanity. Dismissive of their lives I was willing to wipe them all out for my amusement. Even now I can barely remember that my duty as a king was to watch over them. By the time that I fully became aware of the perversity of my existence it was too late. I do not know whether the original Gilgamesh would have resisted or if it was only able to affect a cheap copy." The Black King raised his arms. "I am given leeway to act against those that do not intend to 'properly' use the Grail but mark my words Inke. If I am not stopped I will cause…"

The king suddenly paused and his body shifted until the original golden Gilgamesh was sitting opposite Shirou. "My leeway ran out a bit there," he said chuckling, but there was nothing funny about this situation.

Shirou stared at his friend trying to wrap his mind around the situation. His friend was infected all these years and he didn't even notice. His identity was slowly being chipped away and Shirou couldn't even help him. He opened his mouth and was stopped by Gilgamesh's raised hand.

"Stop," he said. "There is no use blaming yourself. On the contrary I feel better having spoken about it. I suppose those books were right," the King of Heroes said joking but the words sounded hollow in his mouth. "I have a gift for you," Gilgamesh said.

He reached into his vault and pulled out a pair of golden swords that he handed to Shirou. Shirou eyed the swords and tentatively grasped them shock resounding through his body as he did. Immediately upon grasping them he felt power resound through his body. Hyperawareness of the surrounding water flowed through his mind. He flicked his sword and a tornado of water formed atop the roof. The expenditure costing very little prana at all.

"The swords name is Enki," Gilgamesh said referring to the dual blades in singular. "They have the power to summon a flood after seven days of use. Even without seven days they can still be used to give or enhance control over water. Plus they are naturally powerful weapons capable of going head-to-head with any Noble Phantasms.

"Thank you," Shirou said bowing his head, an unusual gesture for him. Already by wielding the swords he felt more powerful, more in control, more complete. "How can I repay you?"

"You can repay me by ending my existence with those blades," Gilgamesh said. "Now you better get going. It's a full moon tonight, you should enjoy the day while you can."

Shirou nodded and with a last goodbye he teleported out of the King of Heroes sight. Gilgamesh stood up and with a single sweep of his arm the bottle of wine and glass disappeared in gold portals. "Thanking me for that sword," the King chuckled to himself as he thought back to the day he had acquired the blade. Enki as a weapon was incredible and it would rank in the top five treasures of his vault easily. Still however there was a vast difference between what was gained and what was given up. The difference between five and one was far greater than even the difference between heaven and earth.

"Good luck Inke," the King of Heroes thought to himself. "I know you can do it."

xxx

The three walked into the entranceway of the house. Even upon entering the threshold Shirou could feel the vast pressure in the air. The anticipation that spoke of great battles to be fought.

"I quite enjoyed today Master," the goddess spoke up killing the tension. "While my opinion of humans in general has not changed I do believe that whoever came up with those 'fighting games' is most deserved of praise. I can even overlook the incompetence of the person controlling my opponent. It was not their fault they could not match a goddess."

"That was an AI Ishtar," Shirou said sounding exasperated. "I don't think they were built to match the reflexes of a servant."

"Besides the dancing games are far better," Arcueid piped up.

"I enjoyed them also," Ishtar said. "And from the looks of it so did Shirou."

"I would have enjoyed it more, Arcueid," Shirou bit out with no true fire. "If you had stopped playing that Super Affection song. The damn thing is going to be stuck in my head for weeks."

"Sorry Shirou," Arcueid said, not at all apologetic. "The song just makes me want to shake my body."

Shirou was a bit exasperated but he just smiled along. In his pocket there was a bag that contained far more than it would appear to do so at first glance. The two swords in there weighed heavily on him. They were a physical manifestation of the promise made by their donor. He was going to lose Gilgamesh. His friend was going to die. The King of Heroes had announced it as such. He gave Arcueid a spontaneous pat on the head and walked forward. Outside it was almost twilight and Shirou knew he would have to push himself to the limits to keep the rest of his friends.

Author Note: A lot of the time I say that a chapter was hard to write. This one however was among the hardest. The end of White Ink is approaching with a speed. Deaths, revelations and conclusions abound and while I know how it is going to end I'm so nervous to actually write it down and end my first story. I'm already thinking of a new story and still the ending is weighing upon my brain. Some of these thoughts may have shown up in this chapter.

Aesir 19 I may have explained it in this chapter but let me elaborate. A god in modern times in the Nasuverse would be like a shark in a freshwater lake. No matter how powerful they are the environment is not suited to them.

Please Read and Review. They truly help motivate me.