On a dark, stormy night, from a desolate castle far away, I, Neolyph, have brought you another chapter of A Broken Wizard and a Broken Magus. After the last two chapters of non-action, we're going to be getting back into the war. Fortunately, with this chapter I think I can get into weekly updates so long as nothing interrupts my schedule too much. Also, if you missed the notification on last chapter, I had it beta'd by Arawn and significantly improved, so if you haven't re-read it, go ahead and do so now because it is a bit longer now and more clear about certain aspects. Also, because I know that I'm going to get some reviews regarding this, Saber is not still alive, frozen in time, and making some deal with Alaya. She is dead and a full fledged heroic spirit. Her wish to fix the mistakes of her past remains the same. Now, to answer some reviews.
Also, real quick, regarding the fact that I have stated my intention on not making this a WBWL story in the Hogwarts section, I did some thinking on the various things I could do with that and gave it some more thought. I couldn't decide what to do, so I will leave it up to you readers. On my profile, I put up a poll on whether this should become a WBWL story. Check it out and cast your votes. Voting will close at the end of the Grail War. Now to actually answer some reviews!
Thundramon: Yes, Denial of Nothingness if pretty powerful, but only if you know how to properly apply it. While Harry is a very talented Magus for his age, he is still ten and hasn't thought up all the applications. He will have to experiment with it quite a bit to unlock its true potential. For example, technically with Denial of Nothingness, one could project Magic Circuits, but he has no idea how to do that. I define True Magics differently in that all it takes to pull one off is to surpass the regular rules of magecraft. As Denial of Nothingness is basically the creation of matter and energy that Gaia does not reject, all it takes to technically possess it is for Gaia to stop eroding one's projections. I don't quite understand why in canon Gaia hates humanity. She is essentially the will of life on earth to survive, which includes humans. The only reason that she kills humans is because they are capable of doing harm to the planet due to possessing their own will in the form of Alaya, but humans also have a vested interest in their own survival and as such need to keep the planet alive to do so. They may have their own internal squabbles, but ultimately Alaya and Gaia should be on the same side most of the time. Because of this, I'm painting Gaia in a more sympathetic light and making her a sort of motherly figure to Harry. Thanks for the ideas for the WBWL story. Check out the poll on my profile to vote.
AnimeA55Kicker: I agree that it was sudden, but A) I hate oblivious harem protagonists and B) Harry is an intelligent kid. He'd have figured it out eventually so I just decided to expedite things before the big Grail War showdown.
Have a Little Feith: Ahh, I see where you're going with that. I might put something like that in, for comedic value if nothing else. We'll see when we get around to Hogwarts.
riffin121294: I don't think I'd write a WBWL story quite like that if I wrote one, but check the poll on my profile to express your opinion anyway.
Akuma-Heika: Rin and Luvia can date whoever they like. I put Luvia in with the same lot I put Rin in. Assassin can duplicate the miracles of seventeen Hassans, but she only uses seven of them in canon. Because of this, we know she has ten other abilities that were miraculous enough to be considered miracles for an assassin. I assumed that one of those ten unknowns acted like HP metamorphism. Yes, Gabriel is male, but few seem to be aware of that, even among Christians due to pop culture. See my reply to Thundramon regarding Gaia. Harry is more her version of a Counter Guardian, removing planetary threats. With a bounded field set up by Caster actively drawing from Harry, it would have taken quite a while for Saber to wear the field down. See my reply to Thundramon regarding DoN.
Silent Reader: Dark mentor Snape. Dumbles, Ron, and if I go WBWL, Potter. No fem Gilgamesh. Never quite understood that fandom.
Pedo: Rider, Homunculi, and Assassin. Maybe more depending on additions to the harem. Harry is a D through and through.
OverlordAinz: Yeah, it's kind of hard to write impressions and exposition without going wall of text. Fortunately, Arawn helped me break it up some. Semiramis will not be in the harem, sorry but I don't know enough about her to write her. She's kind of an obscure character.
Lord Anime: Don't worry. I've always felt certain Nasuverse characters were a bit underpowered, good and bad. I don't think anyone from Potterverse except possibly Fleur or Daphne will make it into the harem. Saber will be, Rin will not. Hermione will be horrified by the idea and actively oppose it, sort of like how she is with house elves.
Chapter 7: Gathering Forces
Silence permeated the living room at Caster's announcement. Everyone in the room knew exactly what it meant to be a True Magician. Simply possessing a True Magic gave one equal rank to the Queen of the Clocktower and made them feared and respected by any intelligent magus out there. If one wanted proof, all one had to do was look at Zelretch, the Dead Apostle who lived in the building run by quite possibly the single most bloodthirsty hater of Dead Apostles on earth. The fact that he was still alive, and that the Clocktower was still standing, was a clear demonstration of how much a True Magician was feared.
Harry just stood there, looking at the knife he had made, not just projected. His mind was moving at a million miles an hour as he thought of the various implication of this. Unfortunately, this left him not paying very much attention to the white blur that slammed into his stomach, knocking him to the ground. His Servants all immediately moved to protect him but he halted them when he realized what it was. He raised his head to see Illya looking at him with wide, awe-filled eyes as she hugged him as hard as she could.
"Big Brother, you're a True Magician!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, apparently so overwhelmed by the announcement that she had forgotten the decorum drilled into her by the Einzberns. He smiled obligingly and patted her head like the older sibling he was supposed to be, before he pulled himself back up onto the couch, only slightly impeded by her being apparently determined to hang on to him like an adorable sociopathic little limpet. One should never forget that even a girl as cute as the white-haired loli, was a Magus raised by the Eizberns, and as such, not quite as concerned with the idea of killing people than most people easily thrice her age.
He had just sat back down when the door to Kiritsugu's room slammed opened and he stepped into the room, looking haggard and worn. Harry could instantly see why he'd chosen to remain in his room this morning. The man's veins stood out against his skin, dark red and pulsing like something inside them was trying to get out. It reminded him slightly of what his own veins looked like sometimes when the worms would get restless.
"What's this I hear about about you being a True Magician Harry?" Kiritsugu asked, interrupted by fits of coughing. Harry quickly explained his dream the previous night regarding Gaia, the following incident with his magic circuits, and Gaia's lack of rejection on his projections. The former Magus Killer sat quietly, listening to the explanation with only a question here or there. When the explanation was finished, he sat looking at Harry quietly for a moment before phrasing his question.
"Harry, would you take mastership of Saber?"
He blinked, caught off guard by the question nobody would expect of a magus in the Grail War, even under these circumstances. A Servant was a force of nature, and most Magi dreamed of being able to summon one, not only for the honor of being chosen by the Holy Grail, but also because they were almost unstoppable forces of destruction if they so wished. Most Magi would literally die before giving their command seals, the proof of their pact with a Servant, to anyone outside of their family. And despite the quickly forming bond between Harry and the older man, they had known each other for barely more than a few days, hardly enough for him to trust a child raised by a Magus known for being completely ruthless.
Eventually snapping out of his shock, he cautiously asked:
"Why, exactly? And is Saber alright with this?"
Kiritsugu looked at Saber for a moment and she gave him a look, letting him know her feelings on the subject.
"She was actually the one who requested it. You see, due to this curse I bear from my participation in the last war, my circuits are crippled and I can't support her at full strength. I was barely able to even summon her, and the drain since is slowly driving me even more ill. Not to mention, due to mistakes in our past partnership, she somewhat justifiably hates me. The only reason she didn't stab me right out of the summoning was because she needed my help to destroy the Grail. She seems to have taken quite a shine to you though, and since you're apparently a True Magician, you shouldn't have too much trouble supporting an additional Servant. That's why I'm agreeing to it, not that I could stop her if she really wanted to change Masters. So, will you take her on as a Servant?"
Harry gave a glance at Saber to gauge the truthfulness of Kiritsugu's statements and saw her looking at him blushing, with a pleading look on her face. A small part of him felt like cursing the Root, as it was quite clear that he was soon going to pick yet another female in his apparent Harem, although given what he had heard of Saber, it would probably take her a while to act on her feelings, and that was if she did feel like his other Servants. He wasn't exactly sure as to why she would have feelings for him, as while he understood somewhat Sakura's infatuation with him, and his Homonculi's as well, he was still persuaded that somehow his Servants were not quite seeing him for who he was. After all, he was hardly someone you could love.
Watching Saber fidgeting slightly, apparently nervous at his prolonged silence, he decided that he might as well just ask, after all she was a grown woman, and could make her own decisions. He had no right to deny her something she wanted, after all.
"Saber, are you sure you're alright with this?"
"Harry, in the short time I've known you, I have seen in you, bravery, nobility, and selflessness I had rarely seen even during my time. Were I not a Servant I would still swear fealty to you as my Master. You may not think it Harry, but you do display the qualities of a knight. Had I felt your soul from the Throne, I would have answered it in a second. I have never felt that way about any living man Harry. As such, I wish to be yours, as a Servant… and as a woman."
The last part was whispered, although the huge blush that lit up her face was a clear indication as to what she had just said. Harry held in a groan at this happening yet again. Someone was to blame for this, he knew, and he had an inkling that he would have to kick a certain Dead Apostle in the privates for it, since he was quite certain the man was laughing his ass of somewhere, while watching him. Once he found him, there would be Hell to pay.
Knowing that there would be no stopping her without deeply hurting her, he gave her a nod before she strode over and knelt before him. She drew Excalibur and held it in front of her, point toward the ground like a knight of old swearing fealty and obedience to their king. The irony of the action was not lost on him, since many, many histories painted King Arthur as the perfect King, yet here said King was kneeling in front of prepubescent boy, willing to swear her loyalty to someone who had only a fraction of her age when she had been crowned King.
The solemn atmosphere was reinforced by the hooded figure of Caster, who had taken position behind the kneeling Servant, Rule Breaker clutched in her hand, ready to break the contract between Kiritsugu and the King of Knights, and to see her swear herself to her new Master.
"I, Arthuria Pendragon, first of my name and former King of England, do on this day swear complete loyalty and obedience to you, Harry James Potter as my rightful Master and King. From this day forth, my sword shall be your sword. Offenses against you shall be offenses against me. Your enemies shall be my enemies and your word shall become my law. No harm shall befall you while I stand vigil and no misfortune shall near you. I shall be your sword in the day and your shield in the night. So I swear this on my life and honor, for all eternity. Do you accept this oath, Master?"
He nodded solemnly, knowing exactly how much trust and faith she was putting in him. For someone like her, who lived and breathed knightly virtues, an oath like this was the equivalent of a command seal. If he accepted this oath, he would be responsible for yet another person. It was quite a lot of pressure, especially since a small part of him kept whispering that he would never be up to the task. Fortunately for the kneeling blonde, this part of him was silenced by the much larger one who would do anything to help friends in need, and in but a moment, he composed himself and spoke the words that sealed his fourth Servant to him.
"Yes, Saber. I do hereby accept your oath and all that it entails. May your loyalty forever bring you happiness and may you never fail in your duties. So mote it be."
As he intoned those final words, Caster stepped forward and pricked Saber's hand with Rule Breaker. He felt the familiar pain of command seals shifting around on his body to achieve symmetry. The ones on his back had shifted to his right arm while Saber's had burned themselves to his left. Rider's still bore the shield motif, Caster's were shaped like wands, Assassin's like chains, and Saber's like swords in sheaths. Another tiny drain appeared on his prana, drawing in what most magi would consider an immense amount of prana before slowing down to barely existent amounts, indicating exactly how low her prana amount had been prior to their linkage if it had taken that much to recharge her.
Saber herself let out a sigh as what looked like an immense burden was lifted from her shoulders, her prana reserves fully recharging, to the point of bursting and all her rankings shot up. C or D ranks shot up to A, A+, or in a few cases, A++ stats, changing the blonde Servant from someone who would have struggled against, for example, Archer, to a living weapon who could wipe the floor with all but the most powerful of Servants.
Sakura shot him her patented pouty look, displeased at his having taken on yet another female Servant and he mentally promised to make it up to her, since he had promised himself that he would never let her feel unwanted, or neglected, no matter what. Illya was much more physically demonstrative as she walked over to him and latched on, sticking out her tongue out at and glaring venomously at the new Servant threatening to take her Big Brother away from her. He appeased her by picking her up bridal style to set her down on the couch playfully and tickling her until she was begging him to stop, much to the amusement of his Servants, while Sakura was pouting even more fiercely.
With Illya dealt with, he returned his attention to Saber to find her blushing slightly and standing at attention before him. It was quite unsettling for him to know that a woman hailed as a living legend for centuries before he was even born, was blushing like a lovestruck girl simply because he had smiled to her. Although given her history, he was quite sure that Saber had rarely had the opportunity to even show that much emotion during her reign.
Smiling reassuringly at the reddening blonde, he only succeeded in making her blush even more, making her look like a living tomato.
"Alright everyone, right now, we need to prepare to summon and destroy the Grail. We should expect to face heavy opposition from it in the form of whatever the incarnation of evil can throw at us. We're going to need to marshal every force we can in order to take it out. Because of that, Illya, I understand that you sent your maids to get your luggage. Can you mentally call Berserker to come back with them? Also please ensure that you keep a tight handle on him. We don't need any accidents."
Illya huffed at him. "Of course Big Brother! Beserky would never hurt anyone if I didn't want him to! He's a good Servant!" She pouted again, but this time it seemed more deliberately designed to get his attention. Deliberate or not, he couldn't stand her making that face and started tickling her again.
When he was done, Illya spaced out for a minute before confirming that she had called her Servant and that he would arrive shortly with her maids.
Everyone sat around discussing strategy before half an hour later, Harry felt a massive amount of killing intent approach the house. His now four Servants all jumped in front of him to shield him from the bloodlust, but he didn't have time to grab his little sister as she beamed and rushed toward the door, throwing it open. Standing in the threshold was a giant of a man. He towered seven or eight feet tall and seemed to be nothing but pure stone-black muscle. He was mostly naked, with the exception of an armored loincloth and metal bracers and anklets. In one hand he held a sword bigger than most men, a crude thing that looked to have been hacked out of a single piece of rock.
What really put Harry off though was the sheer malice the giant radiated, seeming like he would like nothing more than to annihilate everything that could pose a threat to his Mistress. Oddly enough though, he couldn't feel any of the malice directed toward himself. It seemed that some of his Mistress' affection for him came across the giant's mental link with Illya and caused him register his Mistress' brother as an ally. Harry was grateful for that, as the same didn't seem to have happened for Kiritsugu, that or prior to their reconciliation her desire to cause him pain was enough that it still lingered in her Servant's head because the giant seemed to be barely restrained from charging through the entry way and reducing the magus killer to a stain on the carpet.
Regardless of the Mad Servant's appearance, Illya didn't seem to care as she skipped up to him and with the ease of routine the giant put one hand down, a hand she stepped on to and he gently, or as gently as a Berserker could, placed her on his shoulder. She placed one arm around his neck to steady herself and waved at Harry. He had to blink at the sight, for it was quite surreal to see a tiny, pure white girl, sitting on the shoulder of a man who seemed to be her complete opposite, especially in such a position that would make most think of a father indulging his daughter.
"Big Brother, I'd like to introduce you to Berserker. Berserker, these are my daddy, Big Brother, and all the women trying to steal him from me!"
Berserker gave an intimidating growl at the end of that statement, feeling his Mistress' jealousy towards the various women surrounding her older sibling. Said older sibling simply sighed at her clinginess, her father smiled a bit at her calling him "daddy", and everyone else either blushed or looked offended at the white haired homunculus' accusation.
"Alright, now that Berserker is here, what do we do now?" asked the German homunculus, as her pet giant stooped to get through the doorway before standing in the corner, barely able to fit even with the high ceilings, understandable since the Emiya estate was rather traditional, and had a ceiling about seven feet tall, which was barely enough for the giant, even when he was slouched.
Once the massive monstrosity was through the doorway, Sella and Leysritt followed behind, carrying quite a number of suitcases. They went into the guest room Kiritsugu had given them, placing their own luggage in there and left the rest in the room Illya shared with Harry. It seemed that her reconciliation with Kiritsugu, which had been organized by Harry, had led them to like him a bit more than they had initially. They still didn't like the former Magus Killer much, but at the very least they could respect the fact that he had set things straight with his daughter, without regards for his own safety, and such resolve was something they could respect.
"Now, Illya, we get Rin down here." His unofficial little sister gave him a look.
"Rin? As in the Tohsaka heir? Why would she help us?" she asked innocently, before frowning. "She isn't going to try and steal you from me too, is she, Big Brother?"
"Yeah, why would someone like her help someone when it wouldn't benefit her?" Sakura said, in one of the few times he'd ever heard her speak with hate in her voice. It was understandable though. Sakura viewed Rin as having abandoned her when the Tohsaka family threw her away to the Matous and despite going to the same school, Rin ignored and scorned her, despite the obvious torture the Matous were putting her through.
Seeing the shadows in the room start to move as Sakura involuntarily activated her magecraft, Harry took a step towards her and took her hand. The shadows instantly retracted as she leaned into him, a blushing smile on her face. He led her over to the couch and she sat herself in his lap, hugging him all the while. It still baffled him that all it took to snap her out of whatever negative emotion she experienced, was for him to touch her, even only holding her hand was enough to snap her out of her fits, and leave her a smiling, blushing mess.
"She is going to help us, Sakura, because she has to. When we met in the school, I didn't just threaten her. I intimidated her into signing a geass scroll Caster wrote up. Due to Caster's past history, she easily stuck in a little loophole stating that we can request any help we deem necessary in relation to the Grail War and she will be forced to comply. If I say that we need to destroy the Grail, she'll either comply or be compelled to. Given her past with you, I somewhat hope it's the second."
Sakura smiled a bit at the thought of her sister being manipulated so easily by Harry. She knew that he only did that to her sister for her sake. Another blush lit up her face and she snuggled into his shoulder, feeling like she could just lie in his arms forever. She sighed as he brushed her hair like he used to do when she would get scared in the worm pit. She knew that she had problems with her sister, but it was the bitch's fault. She still had memories of when her parents had given her to that worm Zouken. She had cried and tried to fight it, not understanding why her parents were giving her to this old man like a prized pig. Her parents had told her that a magus family only needed one child to be the heir. Two was just one too many apparently, so she was tossed off to an allied magus family to replenish them. What hurt the most was when, the adults having turned against her, she turned to her beloved older sister for help but was only given a cold dismissal, saying that it was her duty to the Tohsaka family to become a Matou magus. That had been the straw that broke the camel's back.
From that day forth, she had hated her sister with every fiber of her being. Had Harry not advised caution and patience, she might have killed Rin already. Fortunately, he had stepped into her life and guided her, and instead of killing her sister, she instead subtly sabotaged her efforts in everything, from breaking into the school in the middle of the night and altering her test answers to make her grades fall to hurt her pride as a student, to slipping past her workshop defenses and secretly sabotaging her experiments in the middle of the night to hurt her pride as a magus. Nothing hurt Rin's pride like getting a test back she thought she had passed with flying colors to find she failed or slowly filling a gem with prana only for it to explode in her face. She mentally giggled at the times she had seen the fruits of her labor in class, watching the haughty "perfect student" persona her sister so carefully set up to hide her inner nature as a bitch fall down in front of everybody as she loudly argued with the teacher about her test results before being told off and sometimes even given detention. She knew it was cruel, but it was hardly equivalent to what she had felt, being abandoned by the sister she had looked up to, admired, when she was being violated by worms every night, her body on fire as she screamed her lungs off. So to her, anything she did would never be enough to avenge the pain she had had to go through.
"Alright. Leanna, Monica, Joy, go collect Rin and bring her here. If she doesn't comply, tell me over the mental link and I'll invoke the contract. Make sure she brings her Servant. If something happens, leave her and come straight back here. I value your lives far more than I value her help."
The three black haired homunculi all visibly preened at his words, before nodding and leaving to do the job their Master had tasked them with. With them gone, the rest all sat around the table, with the exception of Berserker (who would have broken any chair they could offer him anyway), and planned how they would go about summoning the Grail.
They were interrupted when noon rolled around and took a break from the conversation so Harry and Sakura could make lunch. They could have continued the conversation, but nobody wanted to risk delaying a lunch made by Harry with Sakura's assistance by distracting them with battle plans, so they patiently and eagerly waited for the food to be brought out, devoured it with gusto, and helped him clean up.
By the time they finally got back to the discussion, his homunculi maids had returned with a grouchy looking Rin, followed by a bemused Archer. He gave each of his maids a welcome back kiss, to which all of the Servants and Sakura all got jealous, so he had to give each of them one as well. Saber, for her part, looked rather flustered, and it seemed rather obvious to all those in the know, that she was internally debating whether or not to ask for one as well. However, it seemed that the presence of people she considered as tentative allies at best, deterred her, and she eventually settled for keeping silent. The other Servants gave her reassuring smiles, since they knew she had deep scars when it came to acting like a woman, since they had had several discussions together whenever Harry was busy and didn't need them.
In a way, those conversations had served to make the four Servants closer, as each of them had certain issues lingering due to their life, and to have others who could somewhat understand what they had had to endure was something of a breath of fresh air. Not everything was alright between them, but they could acknowledge the hardships the others had experienced, and offer sympathetic words.
The mood was slightly ruined as Sakura saw her sister. Almost instantly, the shadows in the room reached toward the Tohsaka magus, ready to tear the brunette to pieces, but fortunately, Sakura managed to reign them in, although only just, and settled for gripping Harry's hand in her hand, and giving her sister a glare that would have made Berserker himself run for the hills.
Harry would never admit it to her face, but Sakura was terrifying when she was angry, which was fortunately rather rare. Deciding to step in before anything else happened, he gave the homunculi their leftovers from lunch, which they dug into like starving wolves, and sat Rin down at the table to explain the situation to her. She initially argued against him as the information he gave went against everything she knew of the Grail war, but eventually she broke down and accepted the reality of the situation when Kiritsugu explained his action in the last war and how they fit into her knowledge of events. As he convinced her of the danger the Grail presented, Harry couldn't help but notice the harsh, smug glares the homunculi were sending Rin when they thought he wasn't looking. Now he was very interested as to what exactly had happened when they picked her up.
-Break-
-Earlier-With Rin-
Rin was furious. Ever since her confrontation and subsequent agreement with Harry at the school, she had been looking over her shoulder. If a boy she had known since kindergarten, who was best friends with her sister, had been a magus and she hadn't noticed, she needed to be more paranoid. She had locked herself in her workshop, both to prepare as much as she could for attack and to get away from that irritating Archer. The white haired Servant seemed to take a perverse pleasure in making her life difficult by being deliberately unhelpful in everything and constantly making fun of her. Even when she had been negotiating with Harry to not kill her, he had not stopped with the wise cracks. To make things worse, she had been in the middle of filling one of her gems with prana when it once again exploded in her face. She had no idea why they did that! She had examined her technique and could not find a flaw in it, but sometimes her gems simply blew up!
She was in the middle of cleaning up the mess when she heard a knocking at the door. She mentally cursed Archer. He was supposed to be on watch, but he seemed to have ignored that duty yet again. She quickly cleaned herself up and went to answer the door, though not without a sense of trepidation. After all, few people knew where she lived and the fake priest wouldn't have knocked. For good measure, she took one of the most powerful gems she possessed and put it in her pocket. It wasn't much, but it might buy her enough time to make it to Archer if the need arose.
She walked out of her workshop in the basement to see that her lazy Servant sleeping on the couch. She gave him a quick kick to wake him up. He immediately jumped up, looked around, and glared at her like she had just committed some great crime against him. She just sighed and continued towards the door. She hesitantly opened it to see three stunning black haired women, who, for some reason unknown to her, were wearing maid uniforms. They really were exquisitely beautiful triplets, with long flowing black hair, maid uniforms that they filled out very nicely, black lipstick that gave them a femme fatale look, delicate features, and... red eyes. It was too late she realized what these women were as she pulled the gem out of her pocket and tried to slam the door shut. One of the homunculi casually held the door open with one hand while a second sister struck out with a baton, easily disarming her. She powered up her circuits, prepared to fight when the third held up her hand in a sign of peace. Rin paused for just a moment, which was all the third homunculus needed.
"Calm yourself, girl. We serve Master Harry. He sent us to retrieve you."
Rin paused, and considered the thing's words, before accepting them and powering down. She may not trust these things, but they seemed to be good quality mystic codes, even surpassing what she had heard could be found in the Einzberns homunculi. Homunculi were useful tools to be used and easy to discard, and if anyone could make them this quality, it was likely the boy she had last seen supporting three Servants. Not to mention, she had wards designed to detect hostile intent set up around the mansion, so it was unlikely that they meant her harm. Nodding her assent, she looked at them imperiously.
"Alright. I will graciously meet with your Master. Await my return here. I must go freshen up for going out and your Master can wait. I shall only be an hour or so. Do not touch anything while I'm gone," she said while turning on her heel and strolling back into the house, or at least, she would have had a hand not tightly gripped down on her shoulder, preventing her movement. She turned to tell off the thing that thought it could manhandle her in such a fashion when she froze. When she had last looked at the three, they had been at least professional and cordial, though they seemed to hold her with distaste. This time when she looked at them, she had apparently angered them with her dismissal of their Master. The faces of the three homunculi resembled Balkan carvings of Satan. For a moment, she genuinely feared for her life. Since homunculi were considered independent mystic codes, if one killed her without Harry's orders, it would not be considered a violation of the geass scroll. The third one in the back and apparent spokeswoman spoke again, this time with audible malice in her voice.
"Listen girl. Master Harry has sent us to retrieve you. You can either come with us as you are, or we can beat you and your Servant into unconsciousness and drag you both to him. We were not sent to wait on you and you will not delay him with your attempted power play. You will come or we will make you come. It matters little to us."
The entire ultimatum was given in the same cold, inflectionless tone that also somehow radiated pure irritation and disgust. It was like the maid would like nothing more than to reduce her to a bloody pulp and transport that back to her Master, but thought that taking the action unprovoked might displease him. The aura she felt was something she imagined only a powerful Berserker class Servant could emit. Regardless, Rin decided that it would be a very good idea to accompany these three maids back to Harry. It wasn't because she was actually terrified of them... no... it was... it was... because she didn't want to jeopardize her useful alliance with Harry. That was it! She saw a potentially advantageous partnership and decided that offending the mystic codes he sent to retrieve her was not worth it... it absolutely was not because the three homunculi completely terrified her.
-Break-
Back at the Emiya estate, Harry and Rin had just come to another agreement on their cooperation for the battle with the Grail. It was decided that since Harry had an immense amount of prana (he neglected to mention the Denial of Nothing business) he could make better use of Archer. After the battle, should the Servant of the Bow survive, he would be returned to Rin. Really this agreement was unnecessary as if he wanted to he could simply demand Archer using the contract, but it was best to give someone under your thumb the illusion of equality and control. If Rin thought she still had cards to play, it made her that much easier to manage. The two shook on the deal and a quick use of Rule Breaker later and Archer's command seals were on his right arm, in the shape of a hammer used in a forge. The Servant noticed in a second the immense degrees of prana his new Master put off, but said boy sent him a quick mental message to keep quiet. Not having any reason to say no, the white haired Servant complied. Now Servantless and in a room with five of them, Rin made her excuses and left, still shooting fearful glances at his homunculi oddly enough instead of the other Servants.
Harry once again didn't miss the smug glances from his homunculi. He made a mental note to interrogate them later over what exactly had occurred between his maids and his "ally." Whatever it was, it could wait for later. He still had to go over the plans for the Grail.
The basic plan was that Harry, Illya, Sakura, and the Servants would go to the location of the Grail, which Illya confirmed was Ryuudou Temple. He had tried to keep Sakura with Kiritsugu since she wasn't a Master, but she had instantly shot that down when she sat down on his lap and pinched his arm until he agreed to let her go.
Once at the temple, Caster would hypnotize all the priests into leaving and Illya would use her ability as Lesser Grail combined with Harry's Denial of Nothingness to summon the Grail without the power it would normally get from the souls of the Servants. Once it was fully manifested, Saber and Archer would simultaneously use fully powered Excaliburs to take it out. It was slightly curious how exactly Archer knew and could perfectly project Excalibur, but he left it for another time. Everyone else would provide security in case any problems arose, but they weren't expecting too much resistance. Of course, saying that practically guaranteed that things would go horribly wrong, but they were prepared either way.
After a long day of planning contingency after contingency, Harry and Sakura cooked dinner for everyone. Dinner was a noisy affair as after the squabble for sitting next to Harry, which resulted in Sakura on his right again and Illya on his left, all of the Servants seemed to have a competition over who could eat the most, which amusingly seemed to embarrass all of them whenever it was pointed out. Assassin of course, ate while standing behind Harry despite his insistence that she sit to eat. It was something most could agree would take a while, as the woman was really, really stubborn.
Everyone got a good laugh in when Illya and Sakura got in a glaring match over who got to feed Harry while he just tried to stay out of it. This of course did not work as it ended with both girls nearly taking his eyes out with chopsticks as they competed over who could get food in his mouth first. Rider was her usual teasing self as she relentlessly poked fun at Saber for not even lasting a day as Harry's Servant before confessing love for him. The former King, who was usually the very epitome of calm and composed, could do nothing but blush and stutter under the relentless tide of insinuations and innuendos the purple haired Servant threw at her. Across the table, Caster seemed to be engrossed in a discussion regarding political and social policies of ancient Greece with Monica, who had apparently read quite a lot on the subject. Leanna was occupied with trying to hook a spoon on her nose, despite repeatedly failing as she didn't know the trick of moistening the spoon first. Joy seemed amused by her sister's antics as she chuckled whenever she looked over the book on herbology she was reading. Assassin, while standing behind Harry's shoulder, watched the battle going on between Sakura and Illya like a hawk, as if trying to work out some way to get involved herself. Kiritsugu, who was sitting at one end of the table, silently observed the scene, feeling for the first time in a long time like he had a family.
It was a shame the feeling was interrupted by half the house exploding.
