Archer was waiting for the moment. He always did, once he realized the loop he was in.
So when Rin stayed behind to fight the Servant, he knew exactly what would happen. This was one moment he could never change.
Except it did change.
Cuchulain wasn't the Lancer standing before Rin. It was a mysterious blond in black, wearing leather gloves and wielding the scythe with expert ease.
"Looks like I hooked a wild one! Lucky!"
Something about this kid reminded him far too much of Gilgamesh, his natural rival. Yet he didn't have the condescending attitude.
He didn't know this Servant. He could tell the structural composition of the spear, but that was it. There was no way for him to tell who this boy was or what his legend was. The spear had literally been made an hour earlier.
Either his Master was a cautious one, or this was the Master playing Servant.
He'd find out soon enough.
Rin jumped off the roof, relying on Archer to deal with the landing.
Archer couldn't look, but he could tell "Lancer" was doing the same. If he landed without help, he was a Servant. If he had someone assisting him, then he was possibly a Master. With those gloves it was impossible to tell if he had command seals.
So what his opponent did next startled both Rin and Archer.
He heard the sound of someone clapping their hands once, before a series of massive hands slowed his fall as he nimbly jumped down from hand to hand. A second clap made the hands revert to the way they were before.
Archer had never seen such magic before. Neither had Rin. It was beyond what he considered possible, manipulating matter with a clap of hands.
If he could create hands out of the side of the school, then making a spear wasn't that too far fetched.
It made determining if this was a Master or a Servant that much harder.
"Shall we begin, whitey?" grinned the mysterious blonde.
"Tell me... are you a Master or a Servant?" asked Archer bluntly.
Something about the smile on the boy's face made the mental comparison between him and Gilgamesh at his most annoying only stronger.
"Are you sure you have any right to talk... counter-guardian?"
Archer froze. No one should know about that, not this early. And even then it was only after Rin realized what his real name was. He could sense the shock in Rin, even without turning.
"I have to admit, it's hilarious that a counter-guardian managed to make it to the Throne of Heroes. You must have been one unlucky bastard to get those two crossed."
"Who are you?" demanded Rin. She could tell from the way Archer was acting, that there was some merit to the accusation, and it explained why he couldn't remember his name.
What he said next chilled Archer to his bones. Only two people knew what Kotomine said right before Illyasviel first appeared, and it had yet to happen, so Rin wouldn't know it.
"Rejoice, my son! Your dreams will finally come true."
Archer shivered, whether in fear or anticipation, it was impossible to tell.
"Shall we?"
"What is he up to?" muttered Shirou (Emiya) under his breath. His counterpart Elric was fighting a white haired man with a strange grin on his face. What was more was that he could tell from the many sparring sessions before bed that Elric was only playing with the man in red.
There was a very disturbed expression on the swordsman's face, as if Elric were an enigma that he couldn't solve no matter what he did.
The two figures were evenly matched, almost. Elric's height was the only real difference between them.
But what he made up for in height and striking distance, he made up for speed, power and the flexibility of a gymnast. And it showed.
A sudden snap of a twig decided the matter. The swordsman and Elric suddenly turned, as if just now noticing him. The swordsman suddenly bolted in his direction, ignoring the cry of the girl nearby.
Shirou ran for his life, knowing instinctively that if he didn't, he was going to die.
Unseen by him, Elric had a strange smirk on his face.
"And that takes care of that," said Shirou (Elric).
"Was it wise? Antagonizing Archer like that?"
"Oh trust me, what happens next is going to be worth it. Besides, if I didn't set that idiot up, he would never have had the push to summon Saber and start the war."
Not to mention this would give him the perfect chance to follow Emiya and give Illyasviel a good shock.
Shirou Elric took his sweet time getting back to the house. Odds were that Emiya would need something strong to get over all the shocks that were about to happen.
And that wasn't taking into account the fact he could totally prank Saber.
Enkidu had commented how strange it was that he looked so similar to Gilgamesh. So why not freak her out with a major misunderstanding and drive Emiya up the wall again.
Shirou (Elric) would openly admit he loved messing with his past self's mind because Shirou Emiya was such a naive moron.
"What are you doing?"
"Just watch," said Shirou.
He removed his familiar hair tie (it was seriously a pain having to keep buying/making these things) and used a few pins to hold his hair up discreetly. Once it was the right length, he took off the coat and then used a little projection magic to create a pair of red contacts to change his eye color.
He had seen Gilgamesh wearing something similar to his current outfit, so it was sure to mess with Saber's head.
Shirou Emiya might realize it was his rather strict teacher, but Saber and the others wouldn't.
Time to have some fun.
Rin had cleared up the "misunderstanding", never mind it had been HER Servant that damn near killed Emiya.
So once she went to take Emiya to the church to register, she was completely caught off guard when someone approached them, heading to the house.
Especially when Saber started growling.
"What are you doing here?" she snarled. Saber looked seriously pissed about something.
"Now is that any way to talk to your King?" smirked the man arrogantly.
For some reason, this man did look familiar. Rin would swear she had seen him before, and not just because he looked like that arrogant bastard who attacked her earlier. Suddenly it clicked.
"YOU! You were my father's Servant in the last war! What are you doing here?!"
"Gilgamesh," snarled Saber.
The man identified as "Gilgamesh" was definitely trying not to laugh.
Shirou, rather than speak, looked a bit closer at the guy. Then he recognized the clothes and the stance.
"Really? Why'd you put in red contacts and cut your hair anyway?"
"Gilgamesh" looked a bit annoyed.
"Emiya?" said Rin. She would swear this was Gilgamesh. Hell, even Saber identified him as such!
Before Shirou could say anything, several ripples appeared behind the figure. Any doubts that this wasn't the King of Heroes vanished from Saber's mind. However Shirou was almost positive that this was really Elric playing a prank.
For one thing, this "Gilgamesh" was a bit short for someone called the King of Heroes. Suddenly an idea occurred to him to prove that theory.
If there was one thing to prove this was Elric and not some famous Servant, then he just had to set 'that' off.
Shirou Emiya's face turned rather...odd. This was going to be revenge for all the headaches Elric gave him when he riled Taiga up and then left him to deal with the fallout.
"Aren't you a bit short to be a Servant? I mean Saber isn't that tall, but she's still bigger than you."
"Gilgamesh" twitched.
"And what's with that stray hair? Is that some sort of antenna to make up for the fact you're lacking in height?"
That twitch only got worse, and now Shirou was positive this was Elric.
"Well, aren't you going to defend yourself, runt?"
That did it.
Any pretense of this being Gilgamesh was blown out of the water when his temper went off.
"Who are you calling so short that he can fit in a clown car?! Prepare to die!" ranted Elric, his cover fully blown.
Emiya had a sweet smile on his face, and he had to fight not to laugh at the baffled looks on Saber and Rin's faces. If he could see Archer, he would have seen the disbelieving look on his face as well.
Suddenly Rin laughed, and it wasn't very pleasant. Now that she knew this wasn't Gilgamesh, she was back in her own element.
"So he's a runt is he? Shouldn't little boys stay with their mothers?" she said a little too sweetly.
"Shouldn't a massive tsundere like you find a masochist that can put up with your Tsun-tsun side?" Elric shot back.
"Why you...!"
Shirou could see where this was going.
"Aren't we supposed to meet the supervisor of this war?" he said pointedly.
Rin took a calming breath, but it was clear she wasn't going to let the prank Elric had played on her go, not by a long shot.
"And you. Why did you put contacts in and cut you hair anyway?"
"Actually it's just a little projection and some hair pins. Not my fault people keep mistaking me for the Golden Troll for some reason," admitted Elric. Just to prove his point he took out the contacts and pins.
Saber blinked.
"Shirou, how do you know him?"
"He's been living with me for a few months now."
"I'm Lancer's Master," deadpanned Elric. "I've been waiting for months for this stupid war to kick off to prove a point to my family in Germany."
"Wait, you're the one who killed Caster off prematurely?!" said Rin incredulous.
"What?" said Saber, startling.
"The observer for this war was bitching about that when I went to register I had summoned Archer. Lancer killed Caster before the war was officially started, though from all indications Caster has just killed her master a few hours previous."
"Isn't that against the rules?" asked Saber.
"Officially no. Normally Servants stay astralized or the Masters avoid the area until most of them have been summoned. But there's nothing that officially states it's against the rules to kill them off before all seven have been summoned and the masters recognized. But it does pose a problem, because there's no telling what eliminating a Servant before the full set have been summoned could do to the Grail."
"I gave her a dignified death and a few shots at Lancer. Even she acknowledged that it was a fair fight," said Elric flatly.
Medea had acknowledged that maybe her luck was just that shitty for her to die before finding a second Master.
"But it isn't done!" said Rin heatedly.
"You're really saying that?" deadpanned Elric. "Magi are all about underhanded tactics and questionable methods. Hell, Kiritsugu Emiya once emptied out an entire hotel before blowing it up just to kill the master of Lancer in the last war. And don't get me started on the damage Caster made last time."
Saber's face tightened. She had almost no fond memories of Kiritsugu. And the less said about that Caster servant, the better.
"...He has a point you know," said Shirou.
"You shut up. You couldn't even summon Saber properly!" said Rin angrily.
Elric snickered. He was going to have so much fun spreading confusion before he sent the Grail to Truth's gate.
"Where is your Servant anyway?" demanded Rin furious.
"He's around. Like I'd show him this early, when he's more useful in the shadows," said Elric flatly.
"You are a disgrace of a magus," said Rin.
"I'm not a magus. I'm an alchemist," said Elric smugly.
"That's even worse! Atlas shouldn't have sent on of it's agents to fight in a war between Magi!" said Rin.
"I'm not part of that pathetic Atlas. I'm here on my own terms," said Elric.
"I feel sorry for your brother. You must drive your entire family up the wall," said Shirou.
Elric's only answer was to smile in a smug manner that only made the fact they had mistaken him for Gilgamesh that much easier to take for Saber.
The entire walk to the Church, Rin was clearly trying very, very hard not to strangle Elric with her bare hands.
Whether it was from his arrogant tone, the condescending way he talked to her (she wouldn't realize until later he sounded far too much like Archer), or his attitude in general...it was difficult to tell.
One thing was for sure though. Shirou quickly realized that Elric's description of Rin's personality as a "tsundere" was spot on.
Which meant she was a prime target for Elric's wicked personality. He took far too much enjoyment in being a pain in the ass.
He had a naturally antagonistic personality, and he had no regard for authority figures. But...there was another side of him. If he genuinely respected you, or took you seriously, then he would at least listen to what you had to say before blowing you off.
He respected a grand total of four people in the city. Old Man Fujimura, Taiga when she was being serious, his bodyguard, and for some weird reason, Sakura Matou.
Sakura was rather fond of Elric, and she was one of the only people Shirou knew that he didn't antagonize or try to get a rise out of. In fact he was very respectful to her and actually nice.
"So are you going into the Church to register or not?" asked Saber.
"Hell no. Like I'd trust that fake priest with anything. That guy summoned Assassin in the last war, and then faked his Servant's death to work from the shadows," said Elric flatly.
