Shirou Emiya was appalled at the idea of using alchemy on humans. Especially when he found out the true price of it.
It was clear from the way Elric spoke of it, he had seen it happen. More than once. Saber assumed it was because he had done it himself...but the price he paid for it was still unclear.
However it was what he let slip about Gaia, Alaya and this being called Truth that really held Emiya's attention.
Something about the way he spoke about "Truth" felt familiar. Like it was information that he had learned a long time ago, but forgot. The thing was that he knew it wasn't from Kiritsugu's teachings.
It wasn't until Elric offered to teach him alchemy, which unlike magecraft didn't become weaker the more people that used it, that he started to suspect something.
He picked up alchemy circles far too quickly. They looked like a combination of runes and formalcraft.
Shirou felt something in the back of his mind wake up and take notice. Unlike magecraft, which had always felt forced to him, this felt natural. Almost instinctive.
Seeing the first product of alchemy, Shirou Emiya felt something inside him hum. Almost like a cat that had been sleeping in the sun for a long time stretching lazily.
It felt...right. More than using his nerves as circuits ever did.
"It would seem Emiya has an aptitude for real alchemy. In that case Saber can take over the sword training and I'll teach you as much as I can before this war is over. Somehow I get the feeling you're going to need it."
"But isn't formalcraft really time consuming?" said Emiya. At least Kiritsugu had said it was while describing it.
"Alchemy may look like formalcraft on the surface, but in reality it's far simpler. And the runes mostly act as foci. For example there was once a man who manipulated fire simply by snapping his fingers, even to the point where he could cause an explosion with water. He was completely useless when it rained, but other than that he was a devastating opponent."
Edward's memory of the Flame Alchemist immediately came to mind. It was weird, shifting through three sets of memories at once.
"How is that possible?"
"He used a lighter. Hydrogen and oxygen are both combustible, after all," said Elric.
Saber looked fascinated with the concept.
"So what will it be, Emiya? Will you continue trying to learn magecraft or do you want to try your luck as an alchemist?"
Shirou Emiya thought that one over. He had never been very good at magecraft, and had mostly learned it because his father was a magus. But some of the horror stories of Caster in the last war had never really sit well with him. To say the least of the fact that the Association branded anyone who came up with something very unique and turned them into lab rats.
And from what Elric had been able to tell, he had something that was so rare, there was almost no doubt he'd get stuck with a sealing designation.
A reality marble.
With his newly bought tablet, Emiya could research his rare gift in peace. No Magus from an important or long family line would be able to figure out how to use something so modern. Especially not password protected and under a false name.
As far as any Magus would assume, the folder contained porn. It was a joke that Emiya felt was in bad taste, but no sane person would want to look through that.
And the folder that said reality marble had something entirely different. He didn't know where Elric found those videos, but he knew anyone springing that trap probably deserved it.
(The videos ranged from anything to a woman giving birth in graphic detail, to some rather questionable videos that were best not discussed in public.)
"Let me think about it."
The next day...
Emiya was dodging like crazy.
It was official. Magi were all nuts.
Rin had taken the fact he couldn't bring Saber to school with him personally. So much so that she was actively trying to take out her frustrations on him.
Unfortunately for her, Shirou had a bit more than just reinforcement under his belt, and he most certainly hadn't forgotten it was HER Archer that damn near caved his head in before Saber was summoned.
And he had taken to alchemy like a duck to water, even if Elric had spent most of the night teaching him as much as he could.
It was a good thing he was in a school. He merely swiped a few pieces of chalk and started drawing on the bottom of the desk. Two seconds later, before he was bombarded by blasts, he was protected by a half-inch of solid steel.
Thanks in part to the lessons, he was able to revert it back before anyone found out.
But the first thing he did once he got a clear shot of her was give Rin a black eye.
Normally he wouldn't hit a girl, because he knew Taiga would skin him alive. But Elric had spent the past month and a half beating the shit out of him...and that treating someone who had made an honest effort to kill you with anything less than equal force was just stupid.
A fact Saber had surprisingly agreed on. She was a testament to how dangerous a woman could be if she put her mind to it.
Since he hadn't sensed any real lethal intent from Rin, just vast amounts of irritation, he felt the black eye was justified. Had she done more than shoot Gandr curses at him, he would have done a lot worse.
"You... You hit me!" she said in disbelief, holding her eye in pain.
"You attacked me just because I can't exactly bring Saber to school!" countered Shirou. "Consider us even!"
"But I'm a girl," she said, as if Shirou couldn't tell the difference.
"You're an enemy Master, one that made an attempt to kill me because of something I have no control over," Shirou, more than a bit irritated that she had attacked him when she was already aware that Saber couldn't astralize.
"Then why didn't you just ask that stupid boarder of yours to lend you Lancer for a couple of hours you idiot! It's not like Saber would have argued considering Lancer can disappear and she can't!"
Shirou blinked. That was actually a good point, and he had the sneaking suspicion "Midori" was really Lancer.
Suddenly they both heard a scream. Without thinking, they ran towards it.
It was going to be a long day.
Elric wasn't idle. In fact he was doing the same thing Kiritsugu did during the last war.
He was using remote cameras.
Which was why the second he saw what Shirou did in response to Rin trying to hit him with her favorite curse, he started laughing. Like an idiot.
"It's about time!"
"What happened?" asked Saber.
"Mr. Hero just gave little-miss-perfect-student a black eye after she tried to kill him!"
"She WHAT?!"
"Relax. The idiot put our rather hurried lessons to good use and managed to get out of it. Hell, once she gave him a breather and was in his strike range, he punched her hard enough to give her a black eye. I'd love to see how she explains that!"
Elric rewound the video, and Saber had to crack a smile at the way Shirou handle himself. It was nice to know their efforts of trying to cave his skull in weren't totally wasted.
"And Rin did make a good point. Lancer could cover for Shirou since you can't astralize. And it's not like you couldn't cover for Lancer in the meantime."
"...An acceptable strategy, so long as Lancer agrees to it."
"I don't think that will be a problem."
Enkidu liked Emiya to a point, but it was doubtful that he would humor him as much as his real Master did.
Elric took his Servant to parks and the woods around Fuyuki. Mostly because of his weird ability to sense Servants and Masters through nature, but also because he rather enjoyed just exploring without the possibility of combat.
And whenever he found a good spot, he could always read while Enkidu played around.
They made a strangely good combination.
"Are you sure Lancer would be up to the task?" asked Saber.
"I'm sure he can handle long enough for us to get there."
"So your Servant is a he?"
"I think so. It's hard to tell with him. I mean the face and hair look girlish, but the rest of him makes it hard to tell whether Lancer is a boy or a girl. I just call Lancer a boy for convenience sake."
Saber stared at him.
"Surely you jest."
"I wish. Lancer could pass for both and it's not like he really cares either way. So long as he has a garden to play with, or is allowed to visit the woods, he's happy enough."
Not to mention that if Gilgamesh even remotely got word of who was summoned as Lancer, he wouldn't hesitate to make an appearance. It was bad enough Saber had been summoned a second time.
"So what are we going to do?" asked Saber.
"For now we'll temporarily switch Servants. That should cover the holes in our defenses."
"Acceptable, as long as you remain our ally and Lancer agrees to this."
"I agree to it. I don't mind really," said Enkidu suddenly.
"I knew that hair coloring of yours couldn't possibly be dye," said Saber.
"Oh you'd really hate him if you knew which king he served, in a manner of speaking. And at least the man he worked with had a real sense of what loyalty is supposed to be," snarked Elric.
Saber looked at him with fury in her eyes, before he raised a single golden eyebrow.
"Remind me again how your legend ended?" he said pointedly.
Saber winced.
Okay, she might have had that one coming.
"Can I at least get a hint?"
"His legend originates in Mesopotamia," deadpanned Elric. Which was as much a clue as she needed.
The next day...
Rin, Shirou (Emiya), Archer and the still hiding Lancer were running around the school like chickens with their heads cut off getting rid of seals.
However it was Lancer who happened to whisper something in Emiya's ear.
"The archery club. We never checked it."
"Rin, what about the archery club? With all the after school ones canceled, it would be easy to place a seal there without notice."
"You're right. I never even thought of that!" said Rin. "Let's check it just to be sure!"
Once there, Rin's estimation of Elric's servant went up. If he hadn't said anything to Emiya, they would have missed this seal entirely!
"Well done Lancer. I never considered checking the archery club," said Rin. "Are you sure you don't want to materialize?"
Emiya waited, before relaying Lancer's reply.
"A good Servant doesn't show up until he's needed, and until then enjoys going into places that he doesn't have to pay for. Like movies."
Archer blinked.
"Why didn't I think of that," he grumbled. Since no one could see him, no one would bitch about him wandering off to see a few movies.
"Do it and die," growled Rin.
"Even if you were in the perfectly capable hands of Saber and Lancer?" pleaded Archer. He never got to do anything fun during these stupid wars. Rin just glared at him.
Lancer smiled enigmatically at Archer. Then it hit him.
He had independent action, and Rin had only one command seal left. The worst she would do was fire Gandr's at him or curse him out.
Archer had an evil grin on his face.
He was so abusing the fact he could astralize to have a bit of free fun.
Right as Rin was about to destroy the main seal Rider appeared.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Shinji.
"And I wouldn't trust a snake so quickly, if I were you," said Shirou, relaying what Lancer commented on.
Shinji tensed, but didn't hide it very well. Rider didn't bother trying to hide her surprise.
"What are you talking about Emiya? I don't see your Servant here to protect you!"
"A good Servant knows when to hide, and when to strike when their opponent isn't expecting it," said Shirou a little too calmly.
Shinji sneered at them, but Rin took the hint. Lancer was able to attack without being seen, far more effectively than Archer. If Rider tried anything, odds were he'd do the same thing.
Rin moved closer to the seal, to break it. Rider tensed, ready to skewer her. Shirou remained calm.
The moment Rin touched the seal, Rider was a split second from attacking her. Except she didn't get anywhere close.
Chains attached to Rider, cutting her off. The same chains that had stopped Berserker a few days earlier.
Rider tensed, and tried to break the chains. Except they weren't budging.
"I wouldn't bother if I were you. Those chains were meant to hold back a god, and the higher your divinity, the stronger they become," commented Lancer from outside.
Archer frowned. Those chains looked familiar, but that sure as hell wasn't Gilgamesh.
"What... how?! Where's your Servant Emiya?!" shouted Shinji, his tune changing rather quick.
"See here's the thing. Saber couldn't come to school with me, so my boarder agreed to loan me Lancer in exchange. For some reason he's rather shy," said Shirou flatly, glaring at Shinji.
"He's not shy, he's smart," said Rin. She looked at Shinji. "I don't know, should I kill you know and save myself the trouble later, or let him go after cutting off his... wait."
Shirou looked at Rin quizzically.
"Look at his hands."
"There's no command seals," said Shirou, realizing what she had caught.
"Alright you little rat, how are you controlling Rider without command seals? Talk fast or Archer puts a few more holes in you!" said Rin.
"Calm down Tohsaka," said Shirou. Shinji relaxed a bit, until Shirou spoke again. "There's no need to call Archer when I could probably hit him just as easily without exposing him to the little weasel."
Rin blinked, before a slow, evil smile crept on her face.
"I didn't know you had it in you, Emiya."
"Well I didn't know Shinji had it in him to rape his own sister, even if it was on his grandfather's orders," said Shirou, glaring at Shinji. Elric had been quite enlightening on Sakura's living conditions.
Needless to say Shirou's saint-like tolerance snapped when he heard that.
"He what."
If Rin was 'calm' before, now she was an ocean of tranquility. Shinji was so screwed.
Then again, Shirou Emiya was unaware Sakura Matou was originally Sakura Tohsaka, Rin's younger sister.
