-Page 1 C) I don't get any of this. Saber, explain all the things!-

-Page 4-

I have so many questions: Masters, Servants, Grail Wars, It goes all over my head. I'm only a third-rate magus not instructed in the lore of the magi. It is only logical that I do not understand it. "I don't get any of this. Saber, please explain all the things I do not understand."

"Hah…" Cirno sighs, not happy with this development. "I guess you're better at the fighting stuff then the thinking stuff. But no matter, I'll fill the gaps in your knowledge. And while it may not help much it will at least reduce the chance of an encounter with that Shinra president gap hag." Who? Shinra hag? Is that another term I need to remember? This is getting more difficult to understand with every passing minute.

Cirno stands up and returns inside, gesturing to me to follow her. I do as told, going after her into my house. It's still a rummage inside, the battle between me and Lancer having left quite a few marks in my house. The worst part is the hole in the wall that he left when he kicked me through it, that will be hard to clean up quickly.

I clean up a bit of the mess around the dinner table, and the two of us sit down. A magic pulse swirls around Cirno, as I see her change form once again. The black clothing disappears, and the only thing that comes in the place for it is a pair of red half-rimmed glasses. The power she had just moments ago suddenly feels so far away, but in this form she feels not… less, so to say. It's more of an exchange that happened. Instead of power this girl in front of me holds wisdom, intelligence; it's not hard to say that she's a-

"Genius?"

Yes indeed, a geniu-"Hold on, did you just read my mind?" What the hell, is she telepathic?

"No, I'm not a Satori or something like their kind. I simply read your facial expressions. From that I could make an elaborate guess, which seems to have been right." This… this is incredible, a feat that's even hard to reproduce with magecraft. Is this the power of pure knowledge? "Of course, a genius like me cannot have any problems with something as simple as this!" She laughs loud, unfitting but deserved. At the moment, even though she looks like a kid, she sounds like a genius.

"Anyhow, there's more important business to conduct. While I prefer to teach others perfect math I'm not too shabby at teaching you some history and lore." She begins explaining about the artifact that caused me to be involved in this mess. With each word wisdom flows from her mouth, her genius flowing into mine: "The Holy Grail. While non-magi only know it as the cup the Messiah drank from, magi use it for every object that is capable of granting miracles, the wishes of humanity. There have been a few hundred of these in the existence of the world, and the Grail we're fighting for is the latest addition to that group."

It's a thing of unimaginable existence. "So there have also been a few hundred wishes made? What did they wish for?"

"Well, that's only in theory. Not even nine percent of these grails successfully managed to fulfill the wish of its owner. Sometimes the Grail got lost, wasn't stabilized enough to remain in the world, or some other condition wasn't fulfilled to let it grant its miracle. For example, there have been four previous wars of this type held in Fuyuki, and not a single person got their wish granted. The first time it ended before the Grail was completed, the second time it ended in a murder spree with no survivors, the third time… let's just keep it at a wacky Nazi incident, and the fourth one ended because some idiot thought that it was a good idea to destroy the grail. This happened ten years ago, which led to a great fire that-"

I know this. "-destroyed an entire district and killed 500 people." After all, I was in it. I could've easily been another of those numbers, another dead person. But I survived. I survived where others died. For those people, I need to live. And who was the idiot that caused the fire to begin with? I do not know his name, or whether this fire was an accident, a miscalculation or on purpose; However, I know I cannot like someone who unleashes such evil. "This Grail, it is dangerous. What would happen if someone with evil intentions gets the Grail? And we can't destroy that thing, that will only lead to unleashing its wrath on the city."

"Indeed." Cirno speaks slightly solemn, not happy about the Grail itself. "But that's not something to worry about. After all, you've summoned this genius, the servant who's undeniably the strongest. If we lose it's completely your fault." A sneer, but not with evil intent. This is akin a prank one plays on his friend to cheer him up.

I smile a bit in return, unable to not enjoy her company. "I guess you're right, Cirno." I stand up and walk to the kitchen, being a bit thirsty from everything that happened. "I'm setting tea right now. Any kind of tea that you like?"

"Hmm… give me an ice tea!" I almost let out a laugh at that stupid yet genius answer. I set some tea for myself and pour a glass of that drink for Cirno. I wait a while for the tea to finish, while Cirno and I speak about a bit of unrelated and unimportant topics.

Meanwhile, outside of the Emiya mansion…

Outside of the Emiya mansion are a master-servant pair desperately searching for Lancer, to prevent him from killing innocent people like the master's classmate, Emiya Shirou.

"So…" the master, known by everyone around her as Rin Tohsaka, speaks, "There's…not really anyone left."

"Indeed." The servant, a white-haired man clad in red and black, replies. "If Lancer really was here he probably would've gotten the job done and retreated. Don't forget that Lancers are one of the fastest servants in the war, and this guy belongs to the absolute top of these speedsters."

The girl looks down, saddened by this loss. "Emiya…" The sadness, however, quite gives rise to anger. "Eeeemiyaaa…! I spend my most precious jewel to revive you and you use it to die an hour later. Hehehe… hahaha!" Oh boy, something evil is awakening inside of Rin.

"Calm down, Rin." Her servant speaks, trying to prevent her from holding such thoughts. "That guy you saved survived a blow from the cursed spear Gae Bolg. He's the type of guy who doesn't die from something as simple as being killed."

"But people die when they are killed!" Rin shouts out, objecting to Archer's words, "That's how it's supposed to be!"

"There exist these kind of people who perform miraculous feats. You may know them as Heroic Spirits. And this guy, Emiya Shirou, is the type of guy whose attitude might get him into the Throne. So just hope for a miracle."

"Hah…" Rin takes a deep breath, and let's all the excess air out of her lungs in one deep exhalation. "Yeah, you're right, Archer. I just have to hope for the best." She stands up, next to Archer, ready to go.

…

…

…

"Hey Archer?" Rin asks slightly annoyed.

"Yes, Master?"

"What are we supposed to do right now?" Rin asks a pretty good question. They already fought Lancer, and the two got separated from each other after combat. And there's not really anything else to do.

"Well…" Archer starts to propose, "I was personally thinking to be ambushed around this place by Saber, only to be saved because Saber's master didn't wish for fighting. We take the idiot master to the church, where Kotomine will explain the rules of the war, and afterward Saber and I fight Berserker together. After that and a lot of other stuff you've fallen in love with Saber's master and I will be the last Servant standing, thereby effectively winning the Grail."

"Archer, are you making fun of me?" Rin speaks out with tranquil fury.

"I wouldn't dare, Rin. Since there's no Saber to ambush us how about we just go home? I'll pour you a good cup of tea."

Rin looks at Archer, agreeing with what he says. Quickly looking away from him she walks away, towards her home, thereby majorly screwing the original Fate/Stay Night plot over.

And back to our protagonist:

"And that's why frozen frogsicles are now a culinary delicacy in Malawi." I have to laugh a bit at her ridiculous but true story. It's something I would've never guessed, but it was fun to listen to. The water finished cooking, so I pour a cup for myself. Together with a tea bag and Cirno's drink I take it back to the table.

The two of us are now enjoying a refreshing drink, something to keep us sharp just a bit longer for this night. Cirno takes a small sip of her drink before continuing where we left off: "But back on topic, now that you know the origin of the Grail let me explain the workings of the Grail: To be able to grant miracles a massive amount of prana is needed. The Grail accumulates this by siphoning energy from this land. When the Grail is nearly filled it selects seven people who can qualify as masters. These are marked by the grail itself, as you can see on the back of your hand."

I look on the back of my hand. Indeed, the markings are there. I realize now that I felt a burning sensation before, when that blue spearman tried to kill me. Was that the moment when I was chosen by the Grail and engraved with these? Nine figures, all in red, combined to form a figure like… my servant? "Huh?" One for the head, one for the body, one for the feet, and six for the wings. "Is it always supposed to look like your servant?"

"Hold on, did you say that the command seals look like me?" I'll take that as a no. Grabbing my hand she looks in admiration at the simple drawing in her image, amazed that such a thing is possible. "Ah, it's true! It's so cute!" She nearly squees from excitement, but tries to maintain her image and reassume her now somewhat ruined posture. "A-Anyhow, those are command seals. They're what give masters the right to bind servants to them as their familiars. We're Ghost Liners, the strongest type of familiars, and each of us is a legendary hero molded into a certain class, but I'll get to that later. These command seals are basically a large amount of prana stored on your hand. You can use them as a prana source to temporarily increase my power, or to force me to do something I don't want or let me do something that restrictions would normally not allow. But in general I recommend that you use it when you find your own prana lacking to do something necessary. Got that?"

I understand most of the story, but there is one thing that doesn't sit well with me. "I have a question. You said you were a Ghost Liner… does that mean you can turn invisible and pass through walls like any other ghost?"

"Well, it's not so much of 'turn invisble' as it is 'change my plane of existence'. Servants can usually turn to the astral plane, become invisible and intangible, at the cost of being unable to do things other than telepathically speaking to their master. You don't need to worry about it, because due to an incorrect summoning and canon continuity I am unable to take astral form. I have to follow you around continuously. To protect you."

I nod as she drinks another gulp from her ice tea, before continuing about the servants of a war:

"The reason I need to protect you is because the other six masters have their own servants. These are copies of legendary heroic spirits summoned into a class container to give them form. These containers are Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker. You've already met Lancer and Caster as enemies, remember?"

"Of course." I'm not one to forget faces an hour after seeing them. "They're quite obvious representations of their class. I remember them calling you Saber, so you're Saber, right?"

"…" Cirno does not answer, looking a bit brooding over the question.

"Cirno?" I ask, wondering if something is wrong with the question I have. Is she embarrassed with my question? Is there something else I did or said wrong?

"No, it's not exactly right. I do not represent the Saber class; I replace it. You see, servants have so-called Noble Phantasms. These are the crystallized forms of the myths surrounding us heroes. The reason you have nine command seals instead of three and why my class is so vague is because of my own Noble Phantasm, [The Many Parallel Myths: Nine Forms of the Strongest]."

"Hold on, normal masters have only three command seals? And I have thrice that amount?" Isn't this pretty much cheating?

"Well, these command seals of yours are a bit weaker than those of other masters. If we compare he power of all your seals combined with that of other masters, you have sqrt(sqrt(9)) times the amount of prana in your command seals then your opponents."

Hmm… well, that sound somewhat more reasonable. "?" I just realize that I'm talking about these complex magi terms with great ease. While I might understand it all with full concentration and in peak condition "Cirno, is part of your Noble Phantasm that I take in all this information so well?"

"No, that's caused by one of my skills. Skills are basically parameters that define a servant and gives them boosts in certain situations. For example, kings usually have a few levels in Charisma, which allows them to give combat boosts to those they lead. Other skills are given to a servant because of the class they're summoned in. That Lancer we met has the skill Magic Resistance, reducing his damage against magical attacks, while Caster can create magic items and set up a territory in which she can strengthen herself."

"And which skills do you have, Cirno? She tells me of many interesting skills, but my original question isn't answered. "I don't believe I've heard the skill that allows me to absorb knowledge so easily."

"To understand my skills you first need to have full understanding of my Noble Phantasm. [The Many Parallel Myths: Nine Forms of the Strongest] is a unique ability that lets me switch between classes. "When you summoned me I was in my classless form. It's the original form, and also the weakest, but it also has the lowest prana consumption, which makes it perfect for when I need to be in standby. From this form I can switch to nine other classes, of which you have seen two: When I fought Lancer, and also when I fought Caster's minions I was in my Saber form, and right now I'm in my Scholar form. Next to these two I have seven other forms, each with their own skills and Noble Phantasms. But there are also restrictions and negative aspects. For example, I can only assume my Saber form when protecting someone from another servant, and going into scholar form will cost me most of my combat ability in exchange for wisdom and intelligence. If you want more info on it you can read in the Servant Status Screen."

{Servant Status Screen unlocked!}

"Hold on, what's this, Cirno?" I see a strange line, colored differently from the rest of the world, claiming that I can look in the servant status screen. I try touching it, but all I feel is the softness of air. Is this another of her skills?

"The Servant Status Screen." She speaks monotonously as if it is the most ordinary thing in the world. "It allows you to see the information of your servant. Just open it with your mind already! If that doesn't work then just open it in an alternate tab window. The recommended way of opening is to open the reviews page in a new window, then return to the story and select the servant status screen tab. You can find it near the bottom of the chapter selection screen, named Status Screen.. The more you get to know about me the more you unlock! Good luck getting 100%, readers!"

Come again? What was that all about?

…

No matter, it's not something I want to concern myself with or get mad over. Ignoring most of the crazy talk she speaks I try to image the status of my servant in my mind.

Like a bright yet unobtainable light I sense it in the far corners of my mind, a place hard to reach for any person. But still, I have to make it to that place. I reach out for it, coming closer the more I concentrate on it. The light becomes brighter the more I focus, and eventually it overwhelms me. As it dims down I find myself in another corner of my mind, a part that explains everything about my servant…

However, it feels incomplete. No, it is incomplete. A lot of data on my servant is missing. "Hey Cirno, is this information supposed to be this incomplete?"

"Well, yes. You'll unlock more of it over time, as you come into contact with other people and in other fights. And if there's information you cannot get in this lifetime then maybe a parallel storyline of this grail war might offer a solution. It's a bit of very complicated fourth-wall breaking second magic that powers it. Right now I'd say you can see a fifth, but when looking at it at a different time you may see more."

…I have no idea what is going on anymore, her last fifty or so words completely failing to grasp anything inside my head. "Cirno, you lost me."

"Yeah, I expected as much. Just keep it at the fact that you'll be able to read more of it as time progresses." Ah, that finally makes sense again. "So, where were we going with this? I explained the Grail, Skills, Noble Phantasms, my NP and restrictions…hmm… oh! I think this is obvious, but the Grail war is a last man standing type of battle royale. You need to defeat all other six masters and their servants, which should be a piece of cake for us!"

Hold on, she speaks of defeat, but… "Do I need to kill the masters? I cannot accept such a thing."

She nods, understanding what I say and the message about me it conveys. "It's not necessary," I give a small smile of relief. It's great to hear that that is possible. Hopefully I can save everyone in this conflict. "Although all other six servants do have to die, no matter what. But we're mere ghosts of the past, people who are already dead. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

It's a simple logic I cannot refuse. Those who have died are dead. Therefore, sending them back to the grave should not be considered killing. "Indeed, but we cannot kill the masters. That is something I won't allow."

"That's okay." She smiles cockily, certain of her abilities. "It's a nice bonus challenge for the strongest. The war would be a bit more boring without it. So let's win this war, Shirou!" She cannot lose. Of that she is fully assured. She will win. With me by my side she will win. And I'm certain of that too. Simply hearing her speak like that boosts my morale.

"Let's do this together, Cirno." We both grin widely, a happiness not seen often in the Emiya household since the death of old man Kiritsugu. "Although I do have one question left." There is one thing that hasn't been answered. One thing I do not understand.

"Ask away." She's ready to answer anything I give her. Then so be it. I'll ask her the only question left. "What's Shinra, and who's the Shinra Hag?"

"Ugh…" She hangs her head on the table, with a large sweat drop appearing on her face. "Well, it is something you don't understand, I'll admit." She looks up, her face completely deadpan. "But it's not something important. The gap hag, or Shinra president, is merely a very annoying person who has a tendency to screw important things over. But as long as we're not in her home territory we should be fine." She stands up, and looks at me with a serious face. "Since there are no other questions our talk is over. I recommend that we clean up a bit and go to bed."

"Uhm… sure." It's only 11 p.m. Normally I'd be practicing magecraft in the shed until a few hours past midnight. It's a bit early for my taste, but I'll live with it.

I start cleaning up the rest of the mess. Most of it is easily cleanable, only the sliding door to the inner yard is destroyed beyond repair. I have no way of cleaning that up easily, so I need to have an excuse ready for when Sakura and Fuji-nee come for breakfast. Considering that a break-in happened I can twist that into a believable form?

I turn to where I last found Cirno, and see her sleeping on the ground. Her glasses are gone, and I cannot feel the wisdom she once held anymore. This has to be her classless form. I sigh, and lift her up from the ground. Tomorrow can wait. I've cleaned enough to make it orderly, only the wall being something that I have to fix tomorrow. Now I'll follow my servant's example and go to bed.

Putting Cirno in the guest room next to my chamber I walk over to the next room, where my simple futon lies. It's not really a fancy room, I don't even use it much because I mostly sleep and wake up in the shed. Even so, I still clean it regularly, as there is and never will be dust to find in the entire room. I simply lie down in the futon and close my eyes, easily falling asleep. Tonight I have a good a simple rest.

…

…

…

"Senpai?" I hear a voice. I know the voice, but who was it again? "Senpai, please wake up!" Someone gently pushes my shoulder, trying to wake me up.

"…Sakura?" I open my eyes, seeing her in front of my eyes. "Ah, did I oversleep again? Sorry, sorry." I wake up completely, my mind sharp once again. "I'll start working on breakfast."

"Senpai, what happened to the wall of your house? You didn't get hurt, I hope?" Sakura, ever thoughtful as always. A good childhood friend, a nice person who always comes over for breakfast and a nice chat, together with my legal guardian who acts more like a sister figure. These two are part of my life, even in this holy grail war.

"Don't worry, Sakura, I'm fine. There was a break-in in my house last night, but I managed to repel the invaders." It's a pretty decent half-truth, as there were invaders, and they were repelled. There's nothing to worry about, Sakura should accept this lie, and the only bad thing to happen is that she'll worry a bit more about me.

"How horrible!" She shouts out as she stands up, "Take your time to get up, I'll make the food." She stands up and walks out of the room, in the direction of the living room.

Well, that could've gone worse. I've kept the secret of magi, although I do feel a bit bad that I'm not allowed to cook. I get up from my futon, and change my clothes. I walk to the dresser in my room and pick a new shirt. It's not hard to choose which shirt I'll put under my school uniform: around 6 months ago Taiga saw a sale in a clothing store, with one shirt costing less than a tenth of its original value. Taiga being Taiga decided that it is a good idea to buy thirty shirts at the same time. And now I'm stuck with thirty of these white, blue-sleeved shirts. And including the one that got pierced yesterday I've only gone through four. Hah, If it continues like this I'll never wear something else…

I take the fifth of the shirts, and together with the school uniform I fully clothe myself in my standard garb. I walk out of the room, into the hallway, where I smell the delicious cooking of Sakura. It smells amazing, in a few months she might surpass her teacher, me!

I open the door to the living room, with my biggest smile on my face. "Sakura, this smells ama…zing…" That's where I see Taiga and Cirno playing tag in the living room, making it a slight mess. Oh yeah…I knew I forgot to explain something to these two. Taiga doesn't seem to mind Cirno in her presence. Hopefully Sakura is the sa-

"Senpai?" Bloodlust. Not once have I felt the same level of danger. The bloodlust that appears when two servants fought each other was probably higher, but I didn't feel it as much because it was never aimed at me. Lancer held bloodlust against me, but it wasn't a fully serious bloodlust. Caster's minions tried to kill me, but they only gave an eerie unhuman feeling that couldn't be called bloodlust. This, however, is sickening, maddening! I look at the direction of the voice, and see a very, very tranquil Sakura. So tranquil, in fact, that it scares me out of my wits. "Who is this girl, Senpai?"

"Uhm, well, you see, she… helped me against the robbers!" Yes that's i-no, it's horrible! There's no way she will believe me! "Uhm… she… was… outside, yes, when the robbers fled, and she lost those important to her. Yes, that's it!" Did I just say that out loud? Ugh, I'm in trouble. "And because I want to make her, just like everyone, happy I took her in!" There is no way Sakura is going to believe this.

"Senpai…" Hold on, are my eyes deceiving me or is Sakura's hair going white? "…in what way do you want to make her happy? Do you mean in a loving way?" A very, very dark aura seems to surround her, yet neither Cirno nor Taiga seem to notice. Is it that concentrated on me?

"O-Of course not! I simply want to save her! At most it will be just like what old man Kiritsugu did!"

"So it's like she's a cute daughter…" Suddenly everything around her disappears, like all that evil surrounding Sakura was just a bad dream. "I believe you, Senpai!" She smiles at me, this time a smile filled with happiness. "It will be good practice before we have a kid of our own!"

Completely ignoring everything Sakura said after 'I believe you' I turn to Taiga. "Taiga, you don't have any problems with this either?"

"Of course not, Shirou!" Like a tiger she jumps after Cirno, who seems to dodge her every move. "I think that she's a wonderful kid for you and Sakura to raise! Now she just needs. To. Hold. STILL!" With a fast jump she aims at Cirno, but she simply dodges to the side.

"You couldn't catch me even if I stood still, tiger granny." Okay, Cirno is in trouble now. Taiga becomes furious, raging wildly, as her speed and power both quadruple. Cirno can barely dodge her anymore, and now she's trapped in the corner of the room.

"Gotcha!" Taiga sprints at Cirno, catching her in the corner… but hits a wall. My servant barely dodged a blow as powerful as a real tiger by… flying up? Yes, Cirno is flying in the top of the room, and the secret of magecraft suddenly becomes very hard to keep up.

"Hahaha!" Cirno laughs out loud! "You're nothing compared to the strongest!" Without any regard for the laws of nature she hovers in the air.

"Cirno, get down!" Taiga should not see this. Sakura is still focused on cooking, but can turn around any moment and see this. "Using those new newfangled gimmicky toys is forbidden! I had you if you didn't cheat!" Taiga cries out loud, apparently not caring about the complete disregard of common sense. To be fair, she never had much of it, but still!

Cirno flies to the exits of the room, outside to the inner yard. "Oh yeah? Even without flying I can still beat any old tiger!"

Taiga falls for the taunt, rampaging after my servant, luckily avoiding obstacles like the dinner table. I don't want to have more of a mess. These two continue playing while Sakura and I speak about ordinary live. Eventually the food is ready, and the four of us start eating.

The talk is quite ordinary. Cirno is mainly childishly bragging about how awesome she is (even though no one really listens), and in a way she reminds me of Taiga. Perhaps that's the reason those two get along so well. Taiga is eating most of the food without talking much while Sakura and I are talking about school and the new kid Cirno.

"And Senpai, what are you going to do when the three of us go to school? Doesn't little Cirno have school?" She has a point. What am I going to do with Cirno? As a heroic spirit, even if she looks like ten, she doesn't need school. But taking her with me is hard because she cannot astralize. Or should I skip school and make up plans for today? Or maybe…

No, I have to make my choice here:

A) I have to skip school.

B) I cannot take Cirno with me to school. - Go to page 50.

C) Both school and Cirno are important to me.

-Page 4 end-