Waver's PoV
I saw a young girl. She was having a mundane day - going to school, talking to friends, going back home...That kind of thing.
It seemed so mundane, I could barely even associate it with Caster.
As I made that connection, though, I realized I was dreaming about her past, or, more specifically, having a vision of it.
It wasn't entirely uncommon for that to happen, because of the connection that a Master and a Servant share, but I wonder just how such a normal girl even managed to do...everything she said she did.
Dismissing that thought, for the moment, I turned my attention back to what was happening in this vision.
After noticing something, she started looking outside the window with the lights off, to try and see something she noticed in the dark of the night, on the sky.
After a very awkward moment in which her brother entered the bathroom thinking she had left… I saw the unlikely encounter between her and a...magical wand? Which immediately attacked her brother by flying onto his face upon arriving through the window, instantly knocking him out.
So, a rather...weird magical wand. One that speaks, and is very... Haah, I'm not even sure what to think about how it acts.
And apparently, it's cunning too, I thought, as I saw that the wand was deliberately teasing the girl about her love to get her flustered...
...For the sake of completing a contract. And it succeeded...Resulting in the girl getting a rather awkward outfit through the wand's magic. Though, considering she was bathing before the wand showed up, that's probably less awkward than the previous situation. I still feel kind of bad for her now, anyway. Maybe I should be kinder to her once I'm awake…
Shaking myself out of those thoughts for the time being, I watched on.
I saw the wand's previous Master, which was probably a magus, ask for it back, more kindly than what I would expect from most magi...At least, until the wand was extremely rude to her, and somehow glued itself to the girl's hand...Not only that, but it tricked the girl into attacking the magus. What a cunning wand...
After that, the girl blacked out, because of a point-blank Gandr spell. Courtesy of the previous Master of the wand. I winced at the sight, and, as she blacked out, my dream did too. It seems I can only see what she had experienced. Still, as a magus I must admit that Gandr was fairly powerful.
It was for just a moment, though, as I watched her wake up, and, while still not quite awake, she was told by the wand's previous master, quite bluntly, which fits my image of a magus better, about her situation.
That she had no right to refuse. If she wanted to blame anyone, she was to blame the wand. And that she had to do the job of the magus for her, collecting something she called Class Cards.
I saw the girl's eyes widen slowly at those words, and it only made me feel worse about the neutral tone I addressed her with.
She wasn't imposing, and, since I was still half expecting that she had a background similar to most Servants despite her looks, I decided to act like a proper magus would…
...And that isn't exactly the friendliest of the ways I could've used to treat her with. The Clock Tower is full of that neutral, somewhat icy tone, and I usually don't agree with the atmosphere it gives off, either.
I was getting angry at my luck back then, and couldn't bring myself to care about her situation, I realized…after all, I was expecting Alexander the Great to be summoned, not a little girl like her.
Just as I realized that, I woke up from that dream about her past.
I still remember it clearly, so maybe I'll see more of her past eventually?
As I thought that, I looked around. Surprisingly, I wasn't on the ground, or feeling uncomfortable, after waking up. It seems she had carried me to my bed while I was unconscious, which would be completely unbelievable if she wasn't a Servant, and yet, even though she is one, still is rather hard to believe because of her small frame and the fact she is a Caster.
After a while of looking around, I noticed that the sun was already rising, and that Caster was currently staring at one of the magazines I had on my room, looking somewhat shocked. So, I figured I should greet her and ask what was wrong.
"Good morning, Caster... What's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost."
As I said that, she looked at me, apparently somewhat flustered, and quickly replied...A bit too quickly, even.
"Huh? Oh, well, there's nothing wrong, nothing at all...Ahahaha"
She said that, scratching the back of her head, while doing a rather forced sheepish laugh...Very suspicious, but I'll leave it be for now. So, deciding that, I changed topics.
"Okay, so, we need to do some planning for the Grail War later, but I think we can leave that for the afternoon. After all, not every Servant was summoned yet, so it isn't officially started. Since I'm hiding you from my 'Grandparents'...Oh, their names are Glen and Martha, by the way. Anyways, since I'm doing that, I thought I'd ask if you need, or would like to, well, eat breakfast at all…I could ask them to eat upstairs, or something, and bring your share...or something..."
Well, that was awkward to ask, and I started to hunt for words as I tried to elaborate…I mentally sighed when I had that thought.
Since she's, in a way, a spirit, I don't know if she needs to eat. But, feeling a bit badly about what I saw of her past, I decided the least I could do was to offer breakfast...And of course, I couldn't do that in a natural way...That makes sense, though. I don't know her too well, and I guess she knows even less about me.
Yet, despite my rather awkward suggestion she replied, with a bright smile on her face.
"Yes, that'd be great! Thank you."
That was enough to make me feel less awkward, both about the way I suggested it and about how I treated her yesterday.
So, I went to the bathroom, to start fixing my clothes, and to wash my hands. Once I was done, I headed downstairs.
I was greeted, rather enthusiastically, by Martha.
"Good Morning, Waver! Breakfast is already ready. By the way, you're up rather early today! I expected you to sleep until later, today, since Glen told me about how you left the house very late yesterday. Did you sleep well enough?"
As she said that, I noticed the worried tone she used for that question. I feel kind of bad for making Martha worry like this, but it can't be helped.
I reassured her, telling her that I am feeling alright, and she nodded.
"That's alright, then. Just make sure you're taking care of yourself. Anyways, what do you want today? I made pancakes because Glen asked, but I was already preparing some bacon and eggs when he did - so we have more prepared than usual today."
I'm in luck, it seems. It's not every day that she makes extra food, after all, Glen usually isn't looking forward to anything specific. I wonder if anything happened...Well, I guess that doesn't matter too much.
So, I asked her to give me a little of both, but also asked her if it was fine to give me some more than usual. I explained that by saying I needed to study, and wanted to eat while studying. I also said I needed to eat more than usual because I woke up feeling very hungry.
Martha was about to complain, but Glen, who was already in the table, gave me an understanding nod, then told her...
"What's the problem, Martha? If the boy wants more food then we should give him it. He's a growing boy after all."
That made me feel a little awkward, as he seemed a little sad while saying that.
But with that, Martha agreed, despite looking a little sad, and gave me two rather generously filled plates, one of pancakes, the other of bacon and eggs. Thanking her, I went back upstairs, one plate on each hand.
When I reached my room, Caster was looking intently at the television for some reason, watching the news.
I didn't even have enough time to see what was being broadcasted, because as soon as I went inside, she turned the TV off, and greeted me.
"Oh, you're back! Thanks for offering me breakfast, really. I wasn't exactly expecting that, since spirits don't need to eat…"
With that, she trailed off. Well, looking from her point of view, I was probably not that kind of person, considering how I treated her yesterday.
So, with that in mind, using the kindest tone I could manage, I said...
"Well, I'm glad you liked the idea. If you want to, we can have breakfast like this every day, for the time being. I admit I was acting rather coldly, yesterday...So I apologize for that. I hope you understand how I felt though."
While I said that, she seemed to brighten up. After I was done speaking, she quickly replied…
"Oh, that's okay. I don't really need to have breakfast every day. But it would be good to have a normal meal sometimes, I guess. And I understand, I don't exactly look like a hero, do I?"
Noticing how she was acting, I couldn't help but wonder how she even became a Heroic Spirit. From that dream, she seemed to be involved in magecraft, but that wouldn't really be enough to become one, normally.
So, while I was distracted by that line of thought, before I could stop myself, I asked…
"Come to think of it, how did you become a Heroic Spirit?"
Her somewhat happy smile quickly crumbled at those words, and with that, I inwardly grimaced. Trying to fix the situation, I added…
"Well, there's no need to say it if you don't want to…"
I trailed off with that. She gave me an understanding nod, though, and replied.
"No, it's okay. Since you summoned me, I kind of thought I'd need to tell you at some point, anyways… It's a rather long story, but… This is not the first Grail War I've been part of...I guess?"
She said all that, with a rather sad, somewhat longing tone. It took me a few moments to register the meaning of her words…
This is not the first Grail War she's been part of?
She does sound rather unsure about it, but assuming she's right...Does that mean that, somehow, she was part of one of the previous Grail Wars?
...But even then, her clothes are too modern for that. They seem brand new, not the kind of clothing you'd see 60 years ago…
While that gave me a lot to think about, I decided to be kind to her for the time being, and changed topics.
"Well, I guess we can leave that for later. We should eat breakfast before it's cold."
I said that, pointing at the food I had placed on a small table in the middle of my room.
After quickly nodding in agreement, she sat down near the table and started eating, a happy look on her face. I decided to follow suit and eat a little myself. I wasn't particularly hungry, but I felt it was important.
After eating breakfast, which went rather quickly and uneventfully, despite her initial surprise at the rather American meal, I decided it was time to plan our course of action for the Grail War.
With that line of thought, I asked her, rather awkwardly because of the conversation we had before breakfast…
"Uhm, we probably should start planning for the Grail War now, right?"
She nodded. Because she had agreed, I resumed...
"I remember what you told me yesterday, and, well…I had a very basic plan thought out."
She was looking intently at me, and I proceeded to explain my plan to her. It was a very basic plan, without much thought on specific situations. I just made sure she would not reveal her trump cards too early if possible, and gave some suggestions on how we should act.
After a few hours, we finished planning, and not long after that, the phone rang.
I answered it quickly, as it might be a message from the organizers of the Grail War. And, as expected, it was.
It seems every Servant was already summoned, and the War can now officially start. I feel goosebumps, but I'm certain that if we do this right, Caster and I can win the Grail War.
So, with that in mind, I went out, to gather information on the other Masters. Caster was right behind me, already astralized, because while Glen and Martha were already asleep, because of how late it is, it doesn't hurt to keep Caster hidden just in case.
Not too long after we left, I noticed my rat familiar's presence not too far away - coming directly to where I was. I wonder if it has any important information…
After all, I had left it spying on Tohsaka's mansion, as it was a location of great importance for the upcoming War. The Tohsaka, Matou, and Einzbern families are all guranteed to participate, being the founders of the War, but I only knew where the Tohsaka and the Matou were located, and the Matou managed to somehow remove any familiars I sent that way.
I'm somewhat worried about what may be so important that could have happened within the Tohsaka's Bounded Field - right after the War started...But I'll leave worrying for after my familiar arrives and lets me know what happened.
Soon afterwards, my familiar arrived, chittering rather quickly to convey what happened. It seems there was a battle in Tohsaka's mansion right on the first day - and not only that, but Assassin was likely defeated in the process.
Unfortunately, my familiar couldn't see Tohsaka's Servant well enough to get any information on him, besides the fact he was golden and flashy...But, at any rate, I conveyed what I just learned to Caster, who seemed to be deep in thought. After a while, Caster replied.
"Well...I don't really know if that helps, but for now, I guess we're lucky… If Assassin is anything like what the one I fought was, though… We should be careful…"
She seemed to shudder at the thought - I wonder what happened in her War? Still unable to understand what she meant, though, I asked…
"What do you mean? Assassin is already dead, isn't he?"
She thought for a bit, and then replied.
"I hope I'm wrong about this, but if I'm not, and that was the same Assassin...There is probably more than one Assassin out there…"
I'm pretty sure my eyes widened in shock, as I realized the implications of that statement. If Assassin is not one individual, but rather an army of them...We might have not seen the last of them. Still, that is just one possibility.
So, with that in mind, and not having any more leads to follow for the night, I decided we should go back home, and figure out those two Servants later.
For now, it is confirmed that Tohsaka and his Servant will be a rather important pair of participants of the War, and Assassin might be done for, so that is more than enough.
It didn't take long before I arrived back home, with Caster right behind me, and went to sleep.
Author's Notes: Well, this was somewhat slow to write, but I hope it was a decent chapter. The dream sequence was mostly meant to have Waver see Illya as a person more than just Caster.
After that, I tried to split my goals in two.
On the first half of it, I decided to focus on the interactions between Waver and Illya, while introducing Glen and Martha to canon-blind readers.
And, on the second half, I went for plot progression. I hope I gave the right image on the chapter, overall. Next chapter should have things pick up quicker.
Also, I'm glad that this story was so well-received so far! Out of the many reactions from the community I had expected, 10 reviews before I finished the second chapter was not one of them - and most seem positive up to this point! Thank you very much for the feedback, and I hope you continue enjoying this story!