Illyasivel Von Einzbern was an impatient girl, having come from an ancient and rich family everything she could ever possibly want was handed to her on a , often literal, silver platter. Tended to by a small army of maids and other servants to say she was spoiled would be an understatement. But she was not an entirely happy girl, mistreated, used, and abused in the name of her family's thousand-year old dream, she was more a pawn in a grand game then an real human being. Having lived almost her entire life for the goals of others, having desires of her own was an oddity rather then the norm. That was the train of thought running through the current Grail vessel as she sat on her bed in a huff, quietly contemplating the events of the previous night.
"I could have killed them both right there." She murmured into the pillow clutched to her chest. "But I didn't, even though I would have been one step closer to winning the war." And kill them both then there, had she not been memorized by the site of the servant of the pair, a woman of knightly bearings who, despite her battered body, stood her ground even against the strongest of servants. Illya huffed. "Who the heck is that woman? I know I've seen her somewhere a long time ago." She wondered aloud.
Searching her memories produced blurry and distant images of her mother, father, and grand father speaking of some important matter and the eventual arrival in the Einzbern ancestral home of woman with blond hair and the same regal bearing as the batted servant from the night before. They looked similar, yes, but for the same servant to besummoned in two consecutive Grail Wars, while not entirely unheard of, was an exceedingly rare event. So, in other words, for the blond-haired servant to be one and the same as the woman who had met with her parent's a decade ago was possible, though high improbable. Illya silently cursed her own memory for not remembering such a moment in more detail, exhaling another annoyed sigh in the process. Wracking her brain for a while longer, no new information came to mind, frustrating the young homunculus to no end. "This is not working!" She screamed, tossing the pillow in her grip across the bedroom and careening into a nearby wall. If her own memory betrayed her, it was time to take matters into her own hands. She and Berserker had fought that girl and her master in the old part of Fuyuki, making it likely her master lived in that area. That, she thought, was enough to go on.
"I'm going out!" Illya yelled to her caretakers, a pair of maids made in much the same way as herself, as she grabbed her coat and sped off for down town Fuyuki and hopefully some answers regarding the girl who had so captivated her attention the night before.
It was midday by the time Illya finally reached her destination, as people scurried about doing errands or getting a bite to eat she looked for a place to sit and people watch. Eventually settling on a bench by the park, she plopped her self down and settled in for a long day of watching and waiting. With any luck, the girl's master would cross her path, making her job of solving the mystery of the blond-haired servant all that much easier. And she waited, and waited, and waited. No one of note had come by in hours. A dog had bitten her somewhere around hour two, and in the fourth some children had asked her to play with them. She had refused, giving them a nasty glare and a few sharp words in return for their precocious offer. It was in the mid afternoon, as the sun had begun to set on a cold February day that He finally arrived. Hair a bright shade of red and of average build he was the master of the girl whose identity vexed Illya Von Einzbern so very much. She rushed to his side, nearly toppling the youth and his many bags of groceries to the ground in the process.
"Hey there, Onii-chan." Illya said with a smile and a giggle. She had reason to sound happy, as all of her efforts had finally paid off. Good for her, but perhaps not so much for the master of Servant Saber.
The young man back peddled from in surprise and fear, almost instantly recognizing Illya as the girl who had nearly killed him the night before. "Whhhhy, are you here?!" He stammered. "Are you going to finish what you started last night?"
"Of course not. It would be very stupid of me to attack you in broad daylight, I just came to talk, that is all right, right Onii-chan?" Her voice rang of jovial intrigue.
"I guess, but what's so important that you came all the way out here just to talk to one of your enemies?" Shirou, the master of the blond-haired girl spoke as he sat beside the small snowy-haired girl.
"Wellll, I just want to meet with that servant of yours. I have a few questions that only she can answer." Illya sounded a bit sad, as her own memory had failed her, this was the only method available to her if she was ever to know the truth of what had happened ten years ago. "Could you do that for me, Onii-chan?" Her eyes like those of a small puppy dog and her voice set to the 10th degree of adorable, Illya brought out all of her tricks to secure Shirou's approval for her plan. Shirou thought for a moment, this little girl was dangerous in an extreme degree. One false move could land him firmly on the blunt end of her massive servant's stone ax. In this situation, refusing her request was just as dangerous as giving into it. In the end, it would be better to agree to this for now. At least this way he could meet with her with Saber at his side and help in case things went south.
"I have a few conditions on letting you meet with Saber." Shirou raised his hand to Illya's face, three fingers pointed towards the heavens as he counted out the terms of the deal. "First, I have be with at Saber's side during all of this. Second, if you try anything funny I reserve the right to get up at leave at any time. And third, I get to pick the meeting place. That all acceptable to you?" Illya quickly and vigorously nodded in agreement, she hadn't intended to pull any dirty tricks this time, she just wanted her burning questions answered.
"All right, Onii-chan! Where are we gonna meet?"
"How about here, there are a lot of people around most of the day and it's not far from my house. We can meet tomorrow after I get home from school."
"Ok, I'll see you then." Illya's smile was as bright as the sun reflecting off of pure snow. Almost blindingly cute to any who happened to gaze upon it. Even Shirou found himself caught off guard by the gentle cuteness of this strange girl. If he could imagine the perfect little sister, she would likely be a lot like Illya, but without the murderous intent, of course.
"See you then." Shirou answered as he gathered his things and walked away. He wondered if it was really a good idea to agree to meeting her again. But, as things stood, it was likely he didn't have another choice. He steeled his will quietly, preparing himself for the coming storm of having to explain the meeting to his stern servant.
"I'm home, Saber." Shirou spoke as he walked into the dining room of the Emiya manor.
"Welcome home Shirou, I assume dinner will be ready soon." Saber said in a direct way from her seated position before the dining room table.
"Of course, but there is something we need to talk about first."
"What is It, Shirou?" Saber said between sips of green tea.
"Well, Berserker's master invited us to a meeting tomorrow afternoon, I thought we should take her up on the offer because we might be able to talk things out rather than spark another bloody battle like last nights." Saber froze, the Einzbern master had laid heavily on her mind since the battle, causing her also to dredge up old memories of the fourth war in search of the connection between the past and present.
"Though it would be foolish to meet with another master in the open, if you do think this is necessary to win the grail I will do what I must." Saber's stern stance hid her interest in the meeting, so long ago she had promised a dying woman that she would protect her one and only daughter. She had failed that poor girl so badly, if the snowy-haired master was who Saber thought she was, this was may have been her only chance to remedy the mistakes she had made a decade ago.
"Sounds good, since that's settled I'll go make dinner. How does chicken and rice sound?" Saber nodded in the positive, her mind still firmly on the girl and the promise she had been the subject of so long ago.
As master and servant arrived in the busy shopping arcade the sun began its lazy accent over the horizon, marking the transition between day and night. As they approached the bench where the promised meeting was to be held, they found the progenitor of the meeting already sitting and waiting, kicking her feet back and forth in a happy rhythm.
"Hi there, Onii-chan and servant! I came early just to make sure you two weren't going to chicken out on me." Shirou smiled awkwardly, as the sly tone of Illya's voice sent a shiver down his spine. As the last time she had been in this mood she had threatened to kill him, it was a natural reaction. His servant, meanwhile, stared stoically at the small girl. As she did her mind overflowed with memories of a decade ago, of the war she had fought, of the woman she had failed, and the promise she had made. Though her face showed no signs of emotions, the weight of a decade's worth of memories weighed down her very soul.
"Illya, this is Saber." Shirou introduced the blond-haired woman as he took a seat beside the Einzbern master. "And Saber, this is Illya. She's promised not to do anything stupid so I think we should answer her questions for the time being." Saber remained unfazed by the situation at hand, but hearing Illya's name sent a wave of relief through her body. This little fairy of a girl was the same as the daughter of her prior master. She would finally be able to fulfill the promise she had made to her most precious of friends.
"Miss Illya, if it is fine with you I would like to get to the matter at hand as quickly as possible." Saber spoke, taking a seat on a bench parallel to Illya and Shirou's.
"Ok then!" Illya shouted while throwing her arms into the air. "I'll get to the point. A long time ago, when my mom and dad were still around, there was a blond-haired woman who stayed with us for a few days. What I want to know is..." Illya paused for a moment, directing the full power of her gaze upon Saber. "Are you and that woman the same person?"
"That's just silly!" Shirou interrupted. "How could Saber be staying with your parents? She's a servant, and unless I'm missing something, they only appear when a Grail War is going on."
"There was a Grail War going on when I was little, and my mom, dad, and a servant that looked just like yours were all involved. I'm sure of that." Illya former jovial personality was gone, replaced instead by a state of stoic introspection as she recounted her shrouded memories.
"Come on, Saber. Tell her she's wrong already." Shirou implored to his servant in a pleading tone. An aura of silence gripped the small playground, with nothing but the roar of the last remnants of the day's crowd sounding through the cold winter air. Saber wanted to speak, to tell this tiny girl who she knew her mother and that she would protect her always. But the world simply did not come. Instead she maintained her stoic gaze, hoping something would come to mind. "Saber?" Shirou gently nudged his servant, hoping to break her silent stupor in the process.
"I would like to speak with her in private, with your permission of course. I think Illya has proven herself worthy of trust, after all." In truth they had only been talking for a few moments, and nothing the small master had said or done could have justified Saber's trust in her. Rather it was Illya's link to her own past that tempered her trust.
"Um, all right. Just yell if anything happens, all right? I'm going to go shop around for a bit while you two talk." Shirou wandered off. Illya was far from being a threat without her servant at her side, and Saber was a strong woman, perfectly capable of acting on her own. And, if worse came to worse, there was always the command seals. Though he was nervous, if an alliance could be secured with Illya, it would make this whole Grail War mess a lot easier to hand. "Good luck, Saber." He thought as the two girls passed out of his field of vision.
"Now, to answer your question, Illya." Saber spoke, finally finding words for the sentiments she had held within her heart for the past decade. "You'd be correct in assuming I was present at Einzbern Castle for a time during the previous Grail War. Take that as you will." Illya's heart skipped a beat as Saber spoke. There was so many questions she had. About her father and mother and myriad other things, but she could only manage the simplest of statements in her state of shock.
"Do you think my mom and dad were good people?" Illya asked with her eyes wide as those of a small puppy.
Saber thought for a moment, her former master, the man known as the Magus Killer in many circles, was a cold-blooded mercenary with a warped sense of justice and honor that had caused her very blood to boil when he spoke. Not that she would tell a small child that. "They were." Saber half-lied.
Illya heard line after line about how awful her father was, how he had abandon her and the entire Einzbern family to run off to God knows where after failing the very mission he was hired to carry out. To believe her grandfather or this woman, it was a hard choice to make and not one that could be made lightly or in a short moment such as this. For now, she merely nodded with a smile. It was nice to hear such kind words in a time of war.
"And I promised someone very important to me that ,should we meet again, that I would always protect the girl named Illyasivel Von Einzbern. And, now that we've finally meet again, I intend to uphold that promise."
Abandon by those she loved most. Raised by a family who only cared for her as a tool. And put through hell in the name of an impossible dream, to hear someone, without irony or an ulterior motive, promise to protect her for all times set her heart aflutter at she gazed upon the servant known as Saber. With her back to the setting sun and her clothes and hair in immaculate condition, Illya could assign only one word to describe the King of Knights. "Beautiful..." She thought, to awestruck to speak such words. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course," Saber smiled as she patted the youngest Einzbern on the head, messing her perfect silver hair in the process. "So long as you live, I will keep my promise."
"But what about the war, we're enemies." Illya spoke in a troubled way.
"I have spoken to Shirou about that, as long as you don't bring harm to us. I see no reason we need fight any longer. Is that acceptable?"
Illya thought long and hard. Agreeing meant giving up her family's dream, but losing the wonderful feeling that came from Saber's honeyed words. Her family's dream, she reasoned, was not her own. But rather something that came down upon her from above. To put herself in Saber's care, however, was a personal choice to be made by her and her alone. Though unsure of what repercussions it may bring, the warmth Saber brought to her heart won out, in the end.
"That will be fine, in exchange for a not attacking you I expect you to live up to the very letter of your word." Illya spoke as her heart raced at a fevered pace.
"From the day forth I shall be your knight, and so long as I live no harm will come to you, Milady." Saber took Illya's dainty hand, sealing her promise with a simple kiss. Bringing a bright blush to the small master's face.
"Aaaallll right then, I have to go back to my castle now! I'll talk to you soon! Goodbye!" Illyasivel dashed off, her heart beating at a mile a minute and her stomach rumbling as it was full of small winged insects. Though she did not know why Saber made her feel this way, she very well knew she liked it.
"Well, how did it go?" Shirou returned to his servant's side, bearing ice cream for the two of them.
"I would like to think it has been a fruitful meeting. I've secured a non-aggression pact with the Einzbern master. So long as we do not attack her, she will in turn leave us in peace."
"That's great! But I think Tohsaka will be a more than a bit mad we made an agreement like that after we turned her down just a few days ago."
"I will deal with such circumstances should they arise." Saber's voice was full of grim determination. Rin Tohsaka, friend she to her master she maybe, was the enemy and would be dealt with in a way befitting the title.