Disclaimer: I don't own Type-Moon or any works related to the Nasuverse
A/N: New chapter up, moving onto the third day. Enjoy.
Intentions
Despite having been up for most of the night, Kiritsugu still managed to wake up early in the morning. He was used to having an erratic schedule from the jobs he'd taken over the years. It wasn't like targets would wait around for him while he slept and the Holy Grail War wouldn't stop either. Sleep wasn't a big necessity for Kiritsugu, but he had gotten in quite a few hours last night after Irisviel had fixed up his arm and insisted on him getting some rest. While no Masters or Servants had been eliminated from the War and there was still a lot of work to do, the night had been productive in a way.
After all, now he could put one of his greatest fears of the Holy Grail War to rest.
Of course, now he had to wait until night fell again before taking action. Kiritsugu hated these periods of inactivity. It was one thing to stake out an enemy or observe from the shadows. There wasn't much to do during the daytime except for scout the city or monitor the other Masters in case they made any suspicious moves. He'd find some way to keep himself occupied in the meantime…
As Kiritsugu was making his way down the hall he caught the scent of something cooking in the castle's kitchens. Curious, Kiritsugu made his way towards where the scent was coming from. He seriously hoped that Irisviel hadn't decided to try her hand at cooking again. After they had watched some of those cooking shows together back when he was teaching her about the world she had been inspired to venture into the kitchens of the Einzbern castle to cook something herself and the results of that inspiration were… not fit for human consumption.
However, what Kiritsugu found when he arrived at the kitchens was far more surprising than Irisviel attempting to bake something.
"Good morning, Master. Sleep well?"
Kiritsugu just stood in the doorway with a bewildered look on his face, trying to make sense of what was in front of him.
His Servant, a Heroic Spirit, was… wearing a frilly apron and cooking breakfast. Even odder than that was the fact Archer made it look like it was the most natural thing in the world for him to be doing.
For his part, Archer took a moment to savor the expression on Kiritsugu's face.
Of course, Kiritsugu was the type of man who adapted to the unexpected so his shock only lasted for a moment. The situation was still a little surreal, but it wasn't anything to get worked up over. Kiritsugu took a deep breath and gave voice to his thoughts.
"You can cook?"
"I can cook." Archer replied with a smirk.
Kiritsugu just couldn't nod as if everything made sense after hearing that. How was a Servant capable of working the electrical appliances needed to cook anyway? The Grail system provided Servants with enough knowledge to prevent them from experiencing culture shock, but was it thorough to the point of granting Servants culinary talents? Kiritsugu doubted that.
Suddenly, Kiritsugu remembered that there was one other person in the room who he hadn't addressed yet, being too distracted by Archer and questioning his actions to give her any attention. Kiritsugu turned towards his assistant who was calmly eating at the other end of the table.
"Archer invited me here shortly after I awoke." Maiya told the man, as if reading from a report. "He told me I couldn't patrol the city on an empty stomach."
It was faint, but Kiritsugu could hear the bewilderment in her tone. He couldn't fault her for it.
"Why don't you join us, Master?" Archer offered. Kiritsugu found that smirk of his very irritating for some reason. "I cooked plenty, and I'd hate to see it all go to waste."
Kiritsugu opened his mouth to decline, wanting to escape this strange situation, when another voice interrupted him.
"Good morning, Kiritsugu."
Kiritsugu stepped to the side as his wife slowly stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes and stretching her arms as she yawned. Irisviel glanced around the kitchen, only half-awake.
"I woke up and smelled something really good down here so I…" Irisviel trailed off when she found the source of the smell. She clapped her hands together when she spied the dining table large assortment of food. "Ah! It all looks so delicious! But who…"
Unlike Kiritsugu and Maiya, who had restrained and hidden most of their surprise when they had beheld the sight, Irisviel clearly expressed her shock at the scene before her.
"Morning, Iri." Archer answered the woman's shock with a careless smile as he rubbed his hands off on his apron.
"Archer, you… you cooked all this?"
"You're welcome to join Maiya-san at the table if you want." Archer replied simply. "You too, Master."
Kiritsugu sighed as Irisviel beamed at him and took a seat, gesturing for him to take the one next to her. Kiritsugu stiffly sat down in a chair and took a sampling glance at the array of food set out on the table. There were various dishes prepared, traditional and western, showcasing Archer's obvious talent. Irisviel was already helping herself, picking out a few dishes to have as her breakfast while Kiritsugu chose his some for his own, which consisted of consisted of rice, miso soup, a broiled fish with a rolled omelet on the side. He decided to have a more traditional Japanese breakfast. Kiritsugu decided to sample the omelet first, slowly chewing the food before swallowing.
"How is it?"
Kiritsugu gave no outward reaction when he heard Archer's voice call to him. The man was silent for a moment before replying.
"It's not bad."
Kiritsugu frowned when he heard the Servant chuckle in response to his neutral comment.
"It's really good!" Irisviel gave her opinion of the food. "I'm surprised you can cook so well!"
"That's what I was hoping for." Archer said as he turned towards them. "What about you, Master?"
Kiritsugu arched his eyebrow as the smugness in Archer's tone.
"Are you surprised?"
The Magus Killer only continued to eat in silence, ignoring both his Servant and the growing irritation he suddenly felt.
Sola-Ui glanced down at the Command Seal on her right hand. She stared at it for several long moments, eyes tracing over the design. She dropped her hand back down, sighed, and brought her hand back up to stare at the sigil as if it was the first time she had noticed it. She'd lost count of the number of times she'd repeated the process. It was all too surreal. Every time she looked away she convinced herself that she was just imagining things. She told herself that she was just imaging things. The Command Seal wasn't really on her hand. It was a delusion. An illusion. Stress. She believed that. She really did.
…At least until the moment where she raised her hand again and found the Command Seal staring back at her.
Finally, the woman broke the cycle as her face finally collapsed into her hands. She let out a long groan as she held her head in her hands.
"I don't believe this…" Sola-Ui muttered to herself.
"Is it so unbelievable?"
Sola-Ui pulled her head up and turned her tired eyes toward the Servant sitting opposite to her. Rider sat in a cushion chair that barely fit him while she sat on the couch. His face was impassive and solemn, eyes staring straight into her and refusing to look away. Sola-Ui returned his gaze, eyes dull and uncaring before her head drooped again and she heaved a long sigh.
"I'm not… this shouldn't…" Sola-Ui seemed to struggle with her words for a moment before waving her hand at the king, showing off the sigil on her hand. "I'm not a Master."
"Ah, but you are. Can you not feel the connection?" Rider said, cracking a grin at her. "You bear a Command Seal. Masters are those that bear Command Seals, are they not?"
Sola-Ui didn't bother replying when they both knew how she would respond to him. They both understood what was going on and what had happened. The woman's eyes drifted towards a door on the other side of the room which led to the bedroom. In that room, lying on one of the two queen-sized beds was the corpse of Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi.
The two surprises that had accompanied Rider's return had kept her from getting much sleep that night. She'd spend most of it coming to terms with what had occurred. Rider had given her the details regarding the events that had transpired and Sola-Ui had come to two conclusions. First was that somehow, someway the student Kayneth had gone to kill had killed him instead. Second was that the remaining Command Seal had been transferred to her. She had a vague idea about how that had happened. Or at least a good guess about how it was possible.
Kayneth had tampered a little with the summoning of Rider, making it so he would bear the Command Seals while she herself would be the one that supplied Rider with the prana to maintain his existence. Instead of having Kayneth bear the Command Seals and provide Rider with prana, he had established a sort of shared contract that, in a way, made them share the role of Master. Now with Kayneth dead, that role fell to her since she was still contracted to Rider which was probably why the Command Seals had gone to her instead of the judge of the War. By proxy, she was Rider's secondary Master and lucky for him this meant that he was still in the War.
But that was the problem. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be in the War.
Oh, who was she kidding? She didn't want to risk her life getting caught up in fights between Heroic Spirits. She was a magus more than capable of taking care of herself, but she was not as apt as Kayneth when it came to fighting and was worried that she couldn't stand up to the other Masters. It was bad enough that the Magus Killer was supposedly participating in the War, but there were also the three founding families. She was sure that the Einzbern, Tohsaka and the Matou had strong competitors and facing one of them would be… well, unlike Kayneth she didn't let her pride or arrogance influence her. While she was proud of the abilities she had and thought herself better than most, she wouldn't let that go to her head. Acting rashly in this tournament and underestimating anyone that the Grail had chosen to be a Master would lead to that participant's grisly demise.
Kayneth's death had proved that.
"Waver Velvet." Sola-Ui thought of the name of the student that, according to Rider, had murdered her fiancé.
She was vaguely familiar with the name, but not with the student himself. She'd attended classes with Kayneth a time or two, mildly curious about his method of teaching and what his lectures were like. She remembered a few students who were more outspoken than most, and Kayneth always made sure to deal with the uppity students who challenged any point of his lectures by reciting old rules and foundations that magus had lived by for decades and humiliating students by presenting these facts. Rolling her eyes at the memory, Sola-Ui also remembered Kayneth took a cruel pleasure in teaching students their proper place, complaining to her about the fools who tried to challenge what had already been determined. She remembered the name Waver coming up a couple of times when Kayneth told her of his humbling of his students, but there had been others. Still, that name may have been heard more often than most since she felt it was familiar.
Regardless, this student had killed Kayneth and proven that he was more than meets the eye. Kayneth had seriously underestimated him, and he had paid the price. She had cautioned him before he had gone out that night, telling him to take a mystic code or prepare for unexpected surprises, but he had brushed her off saying that he didn't need anything more than his own skills to deal with one student.
What a fool.
"Is something funny, Sola-san?"
Sola-Ui wiped the smile from her face when Rider addressed her, not realizing that her lips had turned upward as she thought of Kayneth being defeated by his supposedly inferior student.
"So what now?"
"Hm?" Sola turned her head up to look at Rider, who stared at her with an inquiring expression on his face.
"What do you intend to do now?" Rider asked. "Your fiancé is dead and all the responsibilities of a Master have been pushed onto your shoulders. I'm curious. What are your plans for the immediate future?"
The fatigue and weariness returned as Rider reminded her of her current position. Again her eyes trailed down to her hand where the Command Seal mark was. What to do indeed? She wanted no part in this War. Kayneth's goal had been to defeat the other participants in the War and be renowned by the Association for winning the Grail. It had been his goal and his goal alone, and she had been roped into supporting him by acting as a prana battery for the Servant he had summoned. Now with him dead, she was no longer under any obligation to keep participating in this dangerous game. She could relinquish her rights as a Master and then return home.
"I can only imagine what Lord El-Melloi's family will say, let alone my own." Sola-Ui thought to herself. "What would become of me then…?"
She felt an odd sense of… disappointment overcome her after thinking about that. Granted, she hadn't been too enthused about her engagement to Kayneth in the first place and as heartless as it sounded was actually a little relieved that she wouldn't have to marry him but… there was a likely chance that she'd be engaged to some other magus from a prestigious family in order to raise her own family's status.
"Sola-san, I extend to you an invitation to join me on my conquest."
"Eh?" Sola-Ui's thoughts derailed when Rider's words registered.
"Why do you look so lost? Is this not a great opportunity?" Rider grinned boastfully. "After all, with Kayneth dead I'll need someone new to ride alongside me. A Master. A person more fitting than the previous one."
Sola-Ui stared at Rider for a moment before letting out a small chuckle. "Rider… I'm not a Master."
"That mark upon your hand is not a fake." Rider insisted, making the woman sigh. "It is an opportunity! A chance to join in this War, to vie for the ultimate prize and witness the greatest heroes to ever walk the earth cross blades… does it not excite you?!"
"Aha… not as much as you." Sola-Ui responded wryly, eliciting a bark of laughter from the Servant. "And while I may be a Master, I'm no conqueror like you. I'm no fighter."
"You have talents of your own that will come in handy I'm sure."
"Those talents will do little to protect me against Heroic Spirits, or even some of the other Masters." Sola-Ui said, standing up from the couch. "I don't want to end up like my dead fiancé."
"So you're afraid of falling in battle then?" Rider asked, frowning.
"Among other things." Sola-Ui admitted. "Don't worry, King of Conquerors. Just because I won't be your Master doesn't mean that your conquest has to end. I'm sure there is another more worthy than I to ride alongside you."
"Speaking of yourself so humbly, I say you're more than worthy to ride alongside me."
Sola-Ui shook her head in bemusement as she headed towards the door. Rider sat up and followed after her once she gestured to him. She gave the Servant a small smile before opening the door. She glanced down at her had one more time before making her decision.
"Even though I have this Command Seal I'm no Master. I have no desire to be one so…"
It was better if she ended things here. She had no interest in risking her life in a tournament she stood to gain nothing from.
Darkness.
Silence.
Nothing.
Then a voice was heard, and it awoke.
It didn't recognize the place it had found itself in upon opening its eyes. It didn't recognize anything. It possessed no intellect at all, no knowledge. Everything it saw, everything it felt, everything it heard… it was just a cacophony of strange sensations that were new and vibrant to its apparent existence. Even its own actions were made without a conscious thought, as it was unable to even register or think about what it was doing even as it took its first few steps since coming into existence.
But it had instinct. It was what guided it. It was all it had been born with.
And it heard a voice. It was what it followed after. It was all it had been greeted with.
It was a strange existence, but it was adaptable. It couldn't recognize the things around it. The trees surrounding it, the grass under its feet, the animals it saw, the sky that stretched overhead… it wasn't capable of such thought. Even still, the perceived strangeness of the world around it forced it to learn. That unconscious desire to understand the world around it could arguably be the thing's first thought. Or something resembling its first thought. I sought to mimic and copy what it heard, felt and saw in an attempt to understand the world. In this way, it came to recognize vague concepts that it saw as it followed the voice and its own instinct.
It was only when it came across something different that it changed. What it came across was… different than the trees, the animals, the grass, and the sky that it had come to vaguely recognize. It moved differently for one thing, not to mention it made strange sounds and other such noise from something on its mouth, and then there was the way it looked…
If the thing had been capable of understanding words and using them for itself at the time, it would have called the existence in front of it beautiful.
Fascinated, it had followed the thing, the woman as it later came to recognize and she welcomed the thing. It spent much time with the woman, learning from her and being taught by her. Mimicking her. It was how it found meaning in the vague concepts around it. It could finally recognize the world. It learned about nature and how to appreciate it. It learned about animals and how to communicate with them. It learned about feelings how to express them. It could feel its body changing and transforming as it gained more wisdom and knowledge. It could even understand words and soon learned to speak on its own. Six times the sun rose and seven times it fell beneath the horizon, and in that time the existence learned much. It thought. It gained an intellect.
"Your reflection of me is flattering." The woman smiled at it on the last night. "Am I really so beautiful that you decided to emulate me so, Enkidu?"
Names.
It had learned names.
It learned that it possessed one.
And with that, everything became so much simpler.
It recognized the voice that whispered to it. The voice that guided it through the forests. The voice that led it to the woman who had taught it to think and to feel.
It recognized that it had a soul.
"I am Enkidu."
It recognized that it had a purpose.
As the sun rose for the seventh time since it began staying with the woman, it departed following the voice. It left to go and do what it was created to do. What it had to do. It left to fulfill its purpose.
"Where are you going?" The woman had called after it. "What do you intend to do?"
Enkidu's reply was simple and blunt, reciting its task to the woman as a farewell.
"To reprimand him."
And so the existence known as Enkidu left to fulfill its duty.
Waver groaned as the sunlight filtered through the blinds and hit his eyes. He shifted in bed and turned around, pulling the covers higher in order to shield himself from the morning light. His whole body felt sore and he just wanted to rest. To forget…
"Master."
Waver grumbled to himself when a familiar voice blared in his eardrums. He didn't reply or make any indication that he had heard the person speaking to him. He just pretended to still be sleeping. Go back to sleep and keep dreaming…
"Master."
Waver pulled the covers over his head completely in an attempt to block out the voice. He didn't need this. Not when it was so early…
Lancer stared at the bundle of sheets its Master had encased himself in. It kicked the mattress a few times, shaking the bed and hoping its Master would respond. Waver remained still. Shrugging to itself, Lancer decided that a less delicate touch would be needed to rouse its Master. It bent down and slipped its hands underneath the mattress before pulling upwards.
Waver let out an undignified squawk of protest when he felt his body fly upwards as the mattress was flipped up. Of course, the bed was set against the wall, so when Lancer flipped the mattress upwards, Waver's body had smacked right into the adjacent wall. Lancer dropped the mattress and Waver was sent rolling and tumbling off the other side and onto the floor. Lancer stared at its Master's inert body for several moments before Waver suddenly sprang upwards. His hair was disheveled, he still wore his clothes from last night and there were marks under his eyes that led to the assumption that he had gotten a distinct lack of sleep.
"What was that for?!" Waver demanded.
"There's no sense in sleeping for the whole day, Master. There are so many other things to do." Lancer replied, tone completely unapologetic much to Waver's frustration. "I wanted to explore the city today."
Waver bristled, ready to start shouting at his Servant for waking him up the way it did and demand an apology for bouncing him off the wall but as he started at Lancer's serene expression that it almost always maintained, Waver felt his anger subside and the boy deflated. He probably wouldn't be able to extract an apology from the Servant anyway.
He fell backwards and collapsed onto the bed, wincing a little when his left hand throbbed. He glanced back at it and rolled up the sleeve of his sweater and gazed at the bandages wrapped around it.
"I don't want to go outside today." Waver muttered.
"Don't be like that." Lancer protested. "I've only gotten a brief glimpse of the city so far. I was only able to observe one part of the city during that brief trip to the library, and even then you insisted that I stayed in spirit form. With the clothes Martha-san gave me, I can see with my eyes and feel with my hands how the land has changed over the years. To do otherwise would be wasting the opportunity."
Waver ignored his Servant's complaints as his thoughts went to last night and what had happened after Rider left with Kayneth's body. Waver and Lancer had walked all the way back to the Mackenzie house. It had been past midnight when they arrived back, and while Martha was already asleep Glen had stayed up and waited for the two of them to return. Waver had been unable to hide the sprain on his wrist and Glen had quickly iced his hand to reduce the swelling that had already started and bandaged it up before sending Waver and Enkidu off to bed. Waver was grateful to the old man for the kind gesture, and pushed away the feelings of discomfort and guilt when he only did it out of concern for his "grandson".
Waver bit his lip as his thoughts inevitably moved to his dead teacher, the person he had killed. The boy felt his stomach flip as he remembered his teacher's convulsing body before he stilled and quietly bled out onto the dirt and grass of the forest. It had always been his secret desire to show up his teacher and humiliate him like he had done to him someday, but it hadn't been by his own skills that he had bested Kayneth.
"I didn't do anything." Waver thought numbly to himself as he sat up. His eyes drifted towards the object on the nightstand next to his bed. "All I did was-"
"Waver!"
The boy's heart suddenly jumped into his throat and his hands shot forward, grabbing the gun and shoving it underneath his pillow. He quickly turned to address Martha who spoke to him from just behind the door.
"Y-Yes, grandma?" Waver stammered as he tried to calm down.
"Are you and Enkidu-chan hungry by any chance? I made some sandwiches for lunch and you both are welcome to come downstairs and help yourselves."
"We'll be down in a minute, Martha-san." Enkidu replied before Waver had a chance to. The Servant turned towards its Master. "Well?"
Waver was about to make a retort and claim that he wasn't hungry, but it was the second he opened his mouth his stomach made an audible growling noise that caused a knowing smile to make its way to Lancer's lips. Waver felt his face burning as he turned away from his Servant embarrassedly.
"I-I'll be down in a minute…"
Waver waited until he heard the door to the room open and close before leaning on the bed and retrieving the gun he had hastily stashed behind the pillow. He held it lightly in his hands, staring at it for several long moments. He ran one hand along the gun, mildly fascinated by the way it felt.
He took a deep, shaky breath before deciding against it and Waver hid the gun under the bed, sliding it across the floor until it hit the wall and was barely in reach. Waver got back to his feet and grimaced to himself, hoping that the Mackenzies wouldn't find it. He probably should of hid it last night, but after entering the room and taking it out from where it was hidden underneath his shirt he could only think about getting some sleep and had placed it on the nightstand before collapsing onto the sheets.
"I should have just tossed it away and left it in the forest…"
Of course, he had told himself that countless times already. But Waver couldn't bring himself to get rid of the tool. Though seemingly simple in both design and purpose, just one simple pull of the trigger had all it took to get the best of his teacher.
…It was more impressive and magical than Waver would ever admit.
Waver quietly left the room as his mind kept swarming with thoughts of last night. He barely registered taking a seat at the kitchen table as he finally made his way downstairs and grabbed a sandwich off the plate Martha had set out. Only after he took his first bite did his hunger finally succeed in distracting him from his troubling thoughts as Waver quickly devoured the sandwich.
"Thanks." Waver said to Martha who nodded and smiled happily at him as she washed dishes at the counter.
"How's your arm, Waver?" Glen asked as he sat on the opposite of the table reading the newspaper.
"Much better actually." Waver replied with a small smile. "That's for fixing it up last night, grandpa."
"Honestly, I'd like to give that biker that ran into you a talking to!" Martha huffed. "Riding that late at night he should at least be aware of where he was going."
"I-It's fine, really! It was my fault too." Waver assured her, going along with the cover story he had told Glen the previous night. It wasn't like he could tell them he snapped his wrist firing a gun.
"So, do you and Enkidu-chan have any plans today?" Glen asked.
"Waver-kun actually promised me he'd take me out to see the city." Lancer said.
Waver choked on the second sandwich he'd been munching on and quickly took a gulp from a glass of water nearby to wash it down, sputtering at Lancer when he finally managed to open his mouth to protest. "Hey! I-I never said…!"
"Ah, that's good then. You boys have fun today." Glen smiled.
"Oh, stop it Glen. Show Enkidu-chan a good time, Waver." Martha said, giving the boy a coy smile. "I want you and her to be careful so you don't get in another accident because someone is being a little to careless, okay?"
Waver opened his mouth to protest but gave up and resigned himself to Lancer's wishes. Looks like he couldn't hide in the house all day after all…
After Waver and Enkidu had finished cleaning the plate both Master and Servant had bid the two elders goodbye and stepped outside. The sun was high in the sky and Waver stretched the collar of his sweater as the heat beat down on them. Waver glanced at Lancer as it stretched its arms and smiled, humming to itself as it moved around. Waver idly noted to himself that the Servant was wearing Martha's clothes again and was amazed how the well the clothes fit when they were loose enough to hide any and all curves of the Servant's body.
"So, where should we go?" Lancer suddenly asked, turning towards Waver.
"Why are you asking me?" Waver retorted bitterly. "You're the one who wanted to come out here and I know as much about Fuyuki City as you do. I'm not from here so I don't know where anything is."
Waver turned away when Lancer narrowed its eyes at him. The Servant was silent as it gazed at its Master before heading down the steps that led away from the Mackenzie house and out onto the street. Waver slowly followed after the Heroic Spirit, warily watching it as they walked along. Waver watched his Servant, eyes moving up and down as he analyzed what he had summoned.
…Come to think of it, what kind of hero had he summoned?
Waver rubbed his forehead as several images flashed through his mind. Those images that came to him with surprisingly clarity weren't anything he'd seen before, at least not to his knowledge. He vaguely realized that those images all came from the dream he'd had, and his Servant had been a subject in those dreams.
Enkidu…
The name was unfamiliar. It didn't sound heroic or recognizable, not like Rider who was King Iskander or Saber who Waver had deduced was King Arthur based on the Servant's words on the first night. That trip to the library had been fruitless, seeing as how there were no records or historical books on a hero named Enkidu.
Waver's brow furrowed as he tried to recall the details of the strange dream. At first it was like he'd been looking through the eyes of someone else, though at first he couldn't see anything. It was dark and images were hazy and unrecognizable. Then suddenly, everything was clear and Waver could see. He realized he was watching Enkidu and how the Servant lived during its life. Waver remembered reading in a text while researching the Holy Grail War at the Clock Tower that sometimes the memories of a Servant could be experienced by the Master in dreams due to the connection between them. Waver was surprised he hadn't had one sooner. Still, what else had been in the dream…
Suddenly, the face of a woman suddenly appeared in his mind. A name soon accompanied the image.
"Shamhat…"
"What about her?"
Waver jumped when he heard Lancer address him, flushing when he realized at some point they had stopped walking and that Lancer had been staring at him for quite some time.
"N-Nothing." Waver muttered, refusing to look his Servant in the eye. "I-I was just thinking about her since I remembered reading about her somewhere… is all. Did you know her?"
"Of course. She was the first person I met after I was created." Enkidu smiled.
"Created?"
"I'm grateful to her. I nothing but ignorance before she found me. She taught me about the world and I learned much from her. She helped me recognize my strength and lack of wisdom. Helped lead me to my purpose and showed me so many other things." Enkidu smiled. The Servant gestured to itself. "The appearance of this body is actually a rough imitation of her and a testament to how fascinated I was by her."
"I… I'm not sure I understand." Waver said confusedly. "Your body is an imitation of hers? Does that mean you're a girl?"
Lancer tilted its head to the side in slight puzzlement. "Does that really matter?"
"…Yes." Waver declared solemnly.
"It's irrelevant." Lancer replied, brushing off Waver's concern regarding the issue much to his exasperation. The Servant sighed as it seemed to reflect on itself. "Ah, Shamhat… she really was a beautiful woman…"
In that moment, Waver's view of Lancer suddenly changed. It wasn't just the Servant's androgynous appearance its inhumanly perfect face. It was then that Waver truly felt his Servant's presence, the strangeness encompassing the Heroic Spirit's entire being that made it seem so inhuman when Lancer looked no different than a regular person.
"…What are you?" Waver found himself asking.
Lancer stared at Waver with an odd expression on its face before finally smiling.
"Hm… I wonder about that…" Lancer replied as it resumed walking down the street.
"Ah…! Hey!" Waver shouted, as he quickly ran to catch up with his Servant. "That's no answer!"
"Say, Master, do you know what an arcade is?" Lancer asked, still grinning. "Glen-san gave me some money, suggesting I spend it playing some of the games there. I think it sounds like fun."
"Don't just brush it off! Don't say cryptic things like that!" Waver snapped. "Answer my question?"
"Were you asking me a question?"
"YES!"
"Don't shout so much, Master. People are beginning to give you strange looks."
"You… you…!
Previous troubles forgotten, Waver continued to argue with his Servant as they walked through Fuyuki city. Waver was still worried, about many things… but at least for now he could ignore them and focus on the strange mystery that was his Servant.
"You seem like you're in a good mood."
Archer smirked at Irisviel's words. He was in a good mood. After the morning he had it was no surprise.
"I'm just happy the food I cooked was enjoyed." Archer replied, the cook in him prideful of his small victory and the man annoyed with his stoic Master satisfied that he'd been able to catch the man off guard once again.
Even as he talked to Irisviel he kept his eyes on the road ahead of him. Much to Irisviel's disappointment, Archer had snatched the keys to the car they had taken out and decided that'd he'd be the one driving them around today. Irisviel had tried to argue that he wouldn't know how to drive a car, but both knew it was a weak argument and Archer retorted that if he could work a stove he'd have no problems driving a car and had a sufficient rank in Riding to understand how the vehicle worked. So they drove down a secluded road near the outskirts of the city with Archer at the wheel and Irisviel sitting in the passenger's seat.
"I'm surprised you had such talent. The food you made was better than what the chefs back home would cook." Irisviel complimented him with a bright smile. Just because she didn't need to eat food didn't mean she didn't enjoy having it. "And you cooked so much! Where did you find the ingredients?"
"With a castle that big it's no wonder you hadn't taken the time to check the pantry." Archer said. "I just used what was available, and I had plenty to work with."
"A Heroic Spirit cooking in a kitchen… and you were wearing that apron too!" Irisviel giggled to herself.
"I didn't want to get the clothes my Master let me borrow dirty while I was cooking."
"You probably wore it just to see the face he'd make, didn't you?" Irisviel asked, and the smirk she got in response served as an answer to that.
After they had finished breakfast Kiritsugu and Maiya had both left without saying a word, heading off to either patrol the city or check up on the Masters Kiritsugu was keeping an eye on. Well, the man hadn't said anything to his Servant at least. Before departing Kiritsugu had leaned close to his wife and spoke quietly about something to her. Once he was gone Irisviel had turned towards him with a smile and one cheek with a bit of syrup sticking to it and told the Servant of the errand they'd be running for the day.
"This should be fine." Archer said as his eyes turned towards the forest next to them.
Archer pulled the car over to the side of the road and slowed to a stop. The Servant stepped out of the car and pocketed the keys, walking around the vehicle and opening the door for Irisviel who stepped beside him. Together the two of them made their way into the forest. It was the same forest Archer and Kiritsugu had encountered Kirei and the Assassins in, and the same area where they had made their getaway from. The sound of leaves crunching underneath their feet was the only sound that penetrated the quiet area, at least until Archer decided to make a remark.
"What a way to spend the day," Archer said, sighing helplessly to himself. "Searching for my Master's favorite gun that he carelessly dropped on the ground. He should be more careful with his possessions."
"Archer…" Irisviel began in a warning tone, though she couldn't keep herself from smiling at the Servant's words.
"I'm actually more surprised he did have a spare lying around." Archer continued. "If the gun was so important why the hell didn't he have a backup? I would have thought a man like Kiritsugu would have made preparations for the day he lost his gun."
"Not all of us can make weapons appear out of thin air like you do, Archer." Irisviel replied lightly. "And it isn't just a regular gun. Kiritsugu modified that gun especially in order to use his Mystic Code. I don't think he could just buy another copy of it."
"This is a big forest." Archer emphasized. "I doubt we'll find it that easily."
"We won't know until we try." Irisviel replied. She sighed and spun around for a brief moment, taking in her surroundings. "Besides, I like forests. This almost reminds me of home. There's just no snow."
"Is that so…?"
There were a number of things Archer wanted to ask in response to that but decided against it, content with the fact that Irisviel seemed to be enjoying herself despite the menial task Kiritsugu had saddled the two of them with. Archer slowed his pace so that he was walking just behind Irisviel, keeping his eyes on the ground as he searched for something metal hidden among the leaves.
"Hey, Archer…"
"What is it?" Archer asked when he heard Irisviel address him. "Did you find something?"
"No. I just have a question for you."
"And that is…?"
"Well, I was wondering… do you have a wish for the Grail?"
Archer's eyebrows went up, slightly taken aback by the question but realized that he should've expected it sooner or later. The Servant sighed and stared up past the trees and at the sky, thinking about how he should answer this.
"…I have a wish, but it isn't something the Grail can grant. It's something only I can accomplish." Archer answered.
"What wish is that?" Irisviel asked curiously.
"That's not important."
"Hey…"
Archer smirked as Irisviel began to pout, unsatisfied with the answer he'd given her. However, his smirk faded away once his own words registered.
"Damn. What have I been doing this whole time?" Archer thought disdainfully when he realized he had done nothing to accomplish his goal since he'd been summoned.
That is, his goal to kill his past self and end his existence as a Heroic Spirit.
That was his wish, wasn't it? After countless battles, spilling so much blood, killing so many people all for the sake of an ideal that couldn't be realized… he'd wanted nothing more than to end it all. He'd wished for the chance to abolish the contract he'd made with the world long ago, and now he had an opportunity to do it. So why hadn't he gone out hunting? Why hadn't he searched Fuyuki City? Why hadn't he done everything in his power to track down his past self and kill that boy who would make the foolish mistake of taking on a dream that would lead him to ruin and leave him with nothing?
Well, there had been… distractions.
First of all, he'd never expected to get summoned in the past by his father of all people. Though he could see how it was possible with Avalon as the summoning catalyst though since he'd been in possession of the scabbard for quite some time during his life. For the past few days he'd spent observing his Master, Archer was frustrated to find that the man was quite different than what he'd remembered. Archer had taken to prodding his Master for reactions and refusing to be ignored in order to test the man and see if the man that was his Master was the real Kiritsugu. His cold disposition, his methods, the way he distanced himself not only from his Servant but from his own wife…
Why?
Archer's eyes fell upon Irisviel as he thought about that. She definitely played a large part in taking his focus away from his initial goal. He'd been absorbed by this stranger that he had met. The woman that he hadn't even known existed. Her very existence had raised so many questions and Archer had found himself uncharacteristically curious about who she was.
"I shouldn't be." Archer told himself. "If I didn't know her then that meant that in this War she… ah…"
Something inside him tugged painfully as he thought about the obvious answer to why he'd never known Irisviel von Einzbern. She was a homunculus and the vessel of the Holy Grail. He was vaguely aware of what that meant. How he knew, he wasn't exactly sure, but he knew that because of what she was, how she was created, eventually she would…
Archer's fists clenched. He found himself growing increasingly frustrated as he thought about it. Now he was annoyed by his inability to remember the finer details, especially concerning the War. A couple things had jogged his memory somewhat though. He remembered Saber and that he knew the King of Knights, after entering the Einzbern Castle for the first time he'd remembered that he had been to the castle at some point and had encountered two other people whose faces and names escaped him, and lastly he had remembered that there had been someone… a person who he had lived and fought with. An ally that he and worked with but couldn't remember.
He hated it. He knew the details were important, and on nights where everyone was asleep he had stayed awake and tried to recollect his past but it was to no avail. Every time he tried to recall specific details of the Holy Grail War he'd fought it his mind would fog up and everything became hazy, preventing him from explicitly remembering anyone or anything.
"…It doesn't matter." Archer decided, shaking his head to clear away his troubling thoughts. He couldn't spend time worrying about Irisviel's fate or how different Kiritsugu appeared to be. The only thing he should really be focusing on is accomplishing his own goal.
He'd have to make time to go out and search on his own. He'd look through the neighborhoods and find out where the kids in the city hung out. He realized that the chances of him stumbling across his past self were about as likely as tripping over Kiritsugu's gun in this forest, but he still had to try.
It was his only option. The only way to escape and end it all…
No longer lost in his thoughts, Archer finally noticed that Irisviel's eyes weren't on the forest floor, but instead her head was turned up and searching the tree branches looming over them.
"I don't think you'll find Kiritsugu's gun hanging off one of the tree branches, Iri." Archer commented teasingly.
"I know. I was just looking to see if any of these were walnut trees." Irisviel told him.
"…Why?"
"It was a game Kiritsugu and Ilya often played together back home."
"…Is that right?" Archer muttered. Come to think of it, the day before he and Irisviel left for Fuyuki he remembered Kiritsugu played out in the forest with his daughter. "What kind of game was it?"
"Well, I only heard about it from Ilya, but it sounded like a relatively simple game." Irisviel smiled. "She and Kiritsugu would compete to see who could spot the most walnut buds. Ilya always complained about Kiritsugu cheating by counting wingnuts and platycarya, other types of walnut buds that she didn't know about."
"Huh…" Archer found himself trying to imagine a scene of Kiritsugu walking in the forest with his daughter. It was hard for him to picture. "So that guy did things like that…"
"You sound like you don't believe me." Irisviel said softly, tone understanding rather than accusing.
"…I just can't imagine a person like him playing around like that." Archer said after a moment.
"I'll admit that given what you've seen of him you probably can't imagine him like that. You only know Kiritsugu as a Master. He's cold and meticulous, only focused on the enemy in front of him." Irisviel smiled wistfully as she gazed up at the trees. "But if you saw the other side him… if you knew him as a father you might be able to better understand."
Archer stopped in his tracks after she said that. He found himself chuckling, a small smile making its way to his lips.
But he did know Kiritsugu as a father.
He'd been focused on the mask his Master had worn throughout the War and had momentarily forgotten those times where he had made it crack. He'd almost forgotten that moment Kiritsugu had shared with his family before the War when Ilya had come to say goodbye. He'd completely forgotten the many times Kiritsugu had smiled at him at their home when he was a child, taking care of him and raising him before he died quietly under the moon with a smile on his face.
"Suddenly, him playing with his daughter is a lot easier to imagine." Archer smiled.
"Ah… okay?" Irisviel nodded slowly, tilting her head in confusion at the odd expression on Archer's face.
"Say, Iri… what does my Master want to use the Grail for?" Archer asked.
Irisviel was about to refuse the answer as payback for refusing to answer her, but as she stared into Archer's eyes… she found herself smiling for a reason she didn't know but knew that she could telling Archer of Kiritsugu's dreams in confidence.
"Kiritsugu's Emiya plans to use the Grail for humanity's salvation." Irisviel smiled. "To end strife and conflict. To bring about a world of peace where nobody sheds a tear and where everyone smiles. That's the world he wishes for."
"…I see." Archer muttered with a small smile. "Not bad for a wish."
"I'm happy you think so." Irisviel beamed. "Most people would see such a wish as foolish."
Archer bit back his first response to that. Instead he gave a small chuckle.
"I have no right to call his wish foolish."
Not when he had sought to fulfill it at one time.
"…I was right." Irisviel proclaimed suddenly.
"About what?"
"That you would understand Kiritsugu." Irisviel smiled. "I'm glad."
"If there is one person who understand him, it would be me." Archer found himself answering. "After all, I wished for something similar and followed a path like his once. It's what made me who I am."
The ideal that had shaped the Heroic Spirit EMIYA.
Archer blinked as his eyes fell upon Irisviel, who was suddenly staring at him quite intently. Archer shifted uneasily on his feet, wondering what it was she was staring at.
"…What?" Archer asked.
"Who are you?"
Archer's eyebrows went up before a smirk made its way onto his face. Perhaps he had said too much? The Servant shoved his hands in his pockets as he replied. "Why the sudden interest?"
"I just realized that it's a really important issue!" Irisviel insisted, narrowing her eyes at Archer as she stared at him intensely. "There's a lot about you that's really strange, Archer."
"I like to think of myself as 'unique', personally." Archer replied wryly.
"Mm… fine. Unique." Irisviel amended, crossing her arms and tapping her chin with one finger thoughtfully as she thought about what she knew about the Servant Kiritsugu had summoned. "We used Avalon as the catalyst, but you're not King Arthur. You were summoned as an Archer, yet you use swords. You claim to have forgotten your past and who you are, but is that really the case?"
"You don't believe me?"
"I believed you when you first said it, but surely you must have recalled something by now. Your words just now make it seem like you know more than you let on." Irisviel said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Your memory can't be a complete blank slate, can it?"
"…I'll admit that I've recalled a few things, but most of the important details of my past are still hazy." Archer allowed. "But there really isn't anything significant worth sharing."
"It's significant to me!" Irisviel shouted, surprising Archer with how seriously she was taking this. The woman's face flushed for a moment when she realized she had shouted and quickly composed herself, clearing her throat before speaking again. "I-I'm just curious, is all. I'm really interested in you and I'd like to find out more about you and how you lived your life. Can you tell me what you do remember?"
Archer sighed to himself and closed his eyes. There were only a few things he really remembered other than the few details he'd recalled since his summoning. He remembered the fire and Kiritsugu picking him up. He remembered the night under the moon when he had promised Kiritsugu that he'd fulfill his dream and become a hero just before the old man died. He remembered the Holy Grail War and that he participated in it. He remembered surviving it and living past that. He remembered killing many, many people and where he ended up.
What he had been left with on that hill of swords…
"…Nothing I remember is really significant." Archer said with a dismissive tone, masking his true feelings on the matter. "I remember the path I took and what I was left with at the end, but that's all."
"What was that?"
"Just my name and nothing but-" Archer paused when he realized his slip up. He smiled uneasily when he saw the glint in Irisviel's eyes.
"So you DO remember your name at least!"
"My name doesn't matter. And I think I've talked enough about myself." Archer said, stepping past Irisviel who quickly followed after him.
"What's your name?"
"Doesn't matter."
"What's your name?"
"Not telling."
"Tell me!"
"Why don't you see if you can guess?"
"Deal!"
"What?"
"If I guess your identity you have to tell me if I'm right or not!" Irisviel smiled. "Agreed?"
Archer stared at her, bewildered that she had gotten so obsessed with this all of a sudden but a mischievous smirk made its way to his face when he realized how much fun he could have with this.
"…Alright then." Archer smirked. "If you guess it right, I'll tell you, but only if you guess the right name."
Irisviel stared at his face for a few moments, frowning at his smug expression.
"You don't think I can guess it right, do you?"
"It's not that I think you can't guess it right," Archer said, his threatening to consume his entire face. "I know you can't guess it right."
The homunculus and Servant both smirked at each other, standing off against each other as they challenged one another.
"…I'll find out your name eventually." Irisviel promised Archer with a confident smile.
Archer laughed, shaking his head in amusement before returning her smile with a smirk that told her he was completely assured with himself.
"Iri, I can guarantee you that you'll never be able to guess my name."
"I will! Just you wait and see!"
"Trust me." Archer chuckled as began moving through the forest again with Irisviel hot on his heels. "I'm absolutely one-hundred percent sure that you won't be able to figure it out."
"It's a surprisingly large chapel."
Sola-Ui made note of this as she arrived at the church that was the designated neutral ground of the Holy Grail War. She idly wondered how many people visited the place. Taking a deep breath she stepped up the door and slowly reached forward, knocking on the church doors a few times before quickly pulling back. She waited for a couple moments, not sure what she had been expecting before pushing the doors open and stepping inside.
"…Hm."
Churches always seemed so empty when there weren't any other people inside it. The place was quiet, almost eerily so. Sola-Ui scratched the back of her hand as she slowly approached the altar, eyes searching around the place for a priest. She jumped when she heard the creaking of a door being opened and her eyes immediately went to the door near the back of the church.
A tall, lean man with white hair stepped out and his eyebrows went up when he spotted her. His lips turned upward a bit as he leaned backwards and looked into the room he was leaving.
"Risei-san, you have a guest."
The man held open the door and allowed an older gentleman to step past him and into the chapel. Both were wearing priest robes but the old man's clothes were a little different from the younger man's, leading Sola-Ui to believe that he was the person in charge. The younger priest stepped up the aisle, stopping just before he stepped past Sola-Ui. He stared at her for a moment and Sola-Ui shifted uncomfortably on her feet, wondering why he was staring at her. Her eyes widened a fraction when she noticed his gaze move down and she quickly covered the mark on her right hand. The man smiled thinly before finally averting his gaze and stepping past her. Sola-Ui's eyes followed him as he left, staying on his back until he opened the church doors and departed.
"Is there something I can help you with?"
Sola-Ui's gaze switched back to the church stage where the old man stood in front of the altar. He smiled welcomingly at her and Sola-Ui sighed before uncovering her hand and showing her Command Seal to the man.
Risei's eyes widened as he recognized the mark, expression becoming solemn as the woman approached him.
"You are the supervisor of the Holy Grail War, correct?" Sola-Ui asked the man.
"I am Risei Kotomine, supervisor of the War, yes." Risei confirmed.
"Alright then." The woman nodded. "Rider!"
Risei watched as suddenly a Servant materialized next to the woman. He was a tall man with bulging muscles and burning red hair. Bronze armor covered the man's body while a long red cape was tossed behind his shoulders. Risei gazed at the Servant for a moment before turning back towards the woman who opened her mouth to speak.
"I'm Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, and I'm here to relinquish my rights as a Master."
A/N: Hey! I just found out that this fic is now part of the remaining 10% worth dying for on TvTropes! Thanks to Nanya for the recommendation. I feel like I've really accomplished something!
Anyway, not much else to say here. Archer's finally taking the time to think about his goal while Irisviel decided to take challenge of guess who he is. Should be entertaining. And Team Rider might be under new management given that Sola doesn't want to follow in her fiancé's footsteps. Anyway, the other teams should be addressed next chapter as we progress to the third night.
As always, any feedback is appreciated as it helps improve the story and I extend my thanks to anyone who dropped by to give this story a read. I fix grammar mistakes later. Have a good one.
Kiiam