[PROLOGUE V - A GRAIL WAR SHOULDN'T REALLY BE A TOPIC YOU CASUALLY DISCUSS OVER TEA]

In the back alleys of London, where no sane man would step foot in, there were rumors of a certain shady little café-slash-pub. While not exactly making profits, the place was almost always open, and it was said that even the strangest of requests or odd jobs could be found in there. Naturally, that would attract similarly strange people too – Mages. Rather than the usual upstart ones of the Clock Tower, the breed that sometimes showed up here were the outliers of mage society – freelancers, Spellcasters, or the occasional oddball who wandered in, which earned the place a reputation as a location to be avoided.

However, if one were to disregard such rumors and walk into this so-called lair of degeneracy, they'd be surprised. A fairly fashionable interior, well-kept, blending the modern and the vintage together. If the part-timers were in, perhaps a tall blue-haired man (who had a noticeable Irish accent), a blond young woman who had a regal air around hair, or a pair of foreign girls (probably exchange students at some local college) would guide the visitor to their seats. The orders would be brought quickly, by a group of what seemed to be Cat Sith spirits. The air would be filled with the scent of pie and exotic ingredients, and the aroma of freshly roasted coffee. The food was excellent, the coffee was to die for, it offered a sense of privacy no matter where you sat, and most importantly, the prices were affordable. No wonder this place had turned into a rendezvous spot for freelancing mages and their clients.

That day, the place was mostly empty, except for two people sitting together at a corner table across the main bar. The older one was dressed in very, very formal clothing that seemed to come straight out of a Winter Catalogue from one of Italian fashion labels, and the younger in an a rather avant-garde outfit that'd be right at home in a prog rock mosh pit. Of course, being mages, the two would obviously never ever go close to such events, but oh well, the clothing does make the man.

The rocker peered at the coffee his companion had ordered. It certainly smelt pretty fancy, but all the coffee he'd ever know was milk and sugar in bean water. Upper-class "Roasted Kenyan Mountain Blend" stuff like this never sat well with him. He instead picked up a cookie from the snack tray that lay between them, and bit on it. Chocolate chip, very sweet. He downed the rest of his cookie in a quick *nom, nom* motion and looked up to the man sitting across him.

"Are you seriously telling me that Marisbury, or even the rest of Astromancy won't have a problem if just give up your spot, just like, to a no-name nobody like me?"

The addressed man, Kadoc Zemlupus, simply smiled as he took a sip from his cup. Apparently savoring the flavor, he looked out through the window to their side. His gaze lifted up until they were fixated to the clouds, and he smiled. "Perhaps."

"Perhaps? Perhaps? THIS ISN'T A JOKING MATTER! You do realize you're giving up a chance to fix everything? To take back everything you've lost? What madman would–" The other man slammed his fists on the table, rattling the cups and the silverware and whatever was on the table. A shaky breath escaped from him, before he turned his face away and sat back down. "You could bring them back, you know."

Kadoc, his eyes still fixated on the clouds that were slowly moving past the evening sky, sighed. "I once tried to fix humanity by trying to restart it all. And I wasn't even the first one. But it turns out I was wrong. We were wrong." He lifted up a hand and pressed it against the glass windowpane.

"But–"

Kadoc picked up a cookie and pushed it into his companion's face. "No buts. Team A's seven aces, all of us, we lost sight of what was important. If it wasn't for her, we would've made a terrible mistake. You wouldn't even be here – None of all of this would be, really – If that idiot hadn't given up. Although it may only seem like a year or few, if Ritsuka wasn't there, nothing would've been left."

The other person took a bite of their second cookie. "Fujimaru Ritsuka, huh. Among the mages, she bears the title of Grand. Skilled enough to climbed the ranks of the Department of Summoning, to the point she's even said to be next in line to take over as the Head. There are countless rumors about her, including ones where they claim that even the Twelve Lords fear her power, or that she's one of the Beasts of Humanity." He picked up yet another cookie and tossed it into his mouth.

Kadoc laughed. "Trust me, those rumors are likely truer than you believe. Just don't tell her I said that."

The rocker boy shook his head in disbelief. "No way. No way that's real. It's true that I try to avoid that woman like the plague, but there's no way those are true. If they are, why hasn't she taken over the Tower already? Or at least Chaldea, for that matter?"

"Kid, don't you dare jinx us all – I know what she's capable of when she snaps, and that was years ago, almost a decade or so."

The rocker boy clicked his tongue. "You and that friend of yours, you're both crazy, you know? What did I do deserve you as–"

He was interrupted mid-sentence by one of the café's Cat Sith spirits. Handing over their bill, the cat(?) nodded vigorously (very, very, very vigorously) before going back to wherever it came from. As he turned back to resume the conversation, he was, well, extremely surprised (and shocked, and annoyed, and several other feelings too) to see that Kadoc was no longer there. On his side of the table, there was a note, on which it was simply scrawled, "I forgot I have a concert to attend in like, 10 minutes, so bye!"

Marcin Zemlupus sighed in frustration as he paid up and left the café. Once outside, he faced the skies, and took in a deep breath.

"I AM SO DONE WITH YOUR ANTICS, YOU SHITTY OLD EXCUSE FOR A FATHER!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE : So yeah, sorry about the delay, folks. I was completely fucked over by the flu post-Christmas, and it took me a while to go back to being human again. So yeah, 5 done, three prologues remaining before the true action starts haha!

So yeah, so far we've got Shirou's apprentice, some girl who'll who'll be important later, a yandere nun, Neko "My middle name is RACISM!" Arc, and now the son of the beloved Kadoc Zemlupus. Who indeed are the other two masters, i wonder, I wonder haha . . .

Next update, if stuff goes well, will pop up around the last week of the month. Follow and favourite this fic, join the discord server (link in my bio / account / whatever it's called), post some reviews, and in all, don't let me be lonely UwU

NOTE: I DO NOT OWN FATE STAY/NIGHT OR ANY OF THE RELATED ENTITIES OWNED BY TYPE-MOON (yet, because oh lord, med are expensive. Like, I know I can afford them, but still, why are meds so expensive?)