FateStay Night Prismatic Chaos

by Alyeris

The second magic, the doorway to infinite possibilities. Exposed to it's effects from a young age, the Emiya Shirou that should have been is no more. In his stead is... Emiya Kirika? Why are there two Sabers? What's going on with this grail war!

2. Chapter 2

2-1

Static, a world filled with corrupted images.

Error. Mental landscape erosion accelerated. Error. Ego contamination. Error. EgosSssghsnNSUDSjSNgidj g- Error. Error. Error. Error. Tracing conceptu8etJHGYJE*gdgjbb gd3sdjjdfjsbsk3u#&nnjUBwDNS $44$jBdjfhjdkl;hlanmxcs_ al fragm-SUBKSJG DBKsjdjfhsdu3q riG&#GBDfjbjbj# JEHWESRLLBUSHUWOHJSRD S -

Reflection paradigm located. Stabilising.

War, in all its terrible glory. A silver spear formed of knights charged through the middle of a horde of footmen, while overhead arrows filled the skies with a whistling noise as they plunged down towards the crowds below.

In the centre of it all, one bright figure caught her attention. A knight clad in blue and silver, leading one army from the front as she struck her way through all opposition. Saber, Arthur, Arturia Pendragon, all those names and meanings in one petite body. True to her legend she was an unstoppable figure on the battlefield as she carried her followers towards victory and glory.

... But that was all that she could feel from her.

There was no emotion upon that face, only a grim determination to rid the land of its enemies. Hope existed, but was not shared. There was no doubt that she was someone who could be leant upon, but she herself would not allow herself to lean on anyone else. A person perfect unto herself, but flawed because of that perfection. That was Kirika's impression of Saber as she watched her around her men in the aftermath of the battle.

It was... Almost sad.

Paradigm shift. Reflection angle modified.

The world broke down again, the battlefield replaced by a view out of a medieval tale. A majestic castle, overlooking a field of white flowers that stretched all the way to the forest to the east. Upon the minarets that decked the upper heights of the tastefully designed fortress, banners that bore the red dragon proclaimed the identity of the castle's lord.

Pendragon. The house of the King of the Britons.

Beside that honored symbol however flew another banner. A white lily upon blue. The history behind this symbol was not a very long one, but no one could doubt that its owner hadn't brought it glory and power.

With a loud rattling of chains and the creaking of gears, the drawbridge of the castle was lowered. When the sturdy settled onto the ground with a heavy thud, a procession exited the cleared portal with a familiar face in the lead.

Clad in black trimmed white and silver armor, her golden hair tied back with a voluminous black ribbon, the golden sword at her waist completed the picture of a royal figure headed for war. Lily, otherwise known as Arturia Pendragon, King of Knights.

It was strange, Kirika thought as she watched Lily ride with her men. The way that they were all clad for war left no doubt that their destination was the battlefield. So why did they all seem... So joyous? Laughing and joking amongst themselves, with Lily joining in occasionally as suited the mood. The knights that led the column seemed more like a family than a group formed for battle. A pretty big contrast to the relationship between Saber and her knights.

Kirika smiled in her sleep as she watched the young woman whose destiny lay with the golden sword at her side. Lily had been happy, at least during this moment that she had been privileged to see. Then again, maybe it hadn't been so unexpected of the white knight whose personality and presence could best be described with one short comparison.

She was the sun, a magnificent and warm presence that overlooked all those she ruled.

With someone like that by her side, maybe this whole Grail War thing wouldn't be so bad after all.

-x-x-x-

The first thing that Kirika's sleep addled eyes saw when she opened them were two pools of forest green, so vibrant and deep that she thought that she could fall into them.

*Chu* "Good morning Kirika," Lily said after a quick peck on Kirika nose.

Kirika instantly took back what she had thought in her dreams. Life with Lily was going to test her sanity like nothing else ever had.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she quickly shuffled back. Her pyjamas... Why was her shirt half open?

"Don't you remember Kirika?" Lily said cheerfully from her position astride her master. "Saber and I told you that we would take turns to watch over you at night didn't we?"

Kirika thought she remembered them saying something like that, but that wasn't what was important here.

"... I will grant you that," she hastily said in order to get to the point. "But why are you on top of me?"

"The closer I am to you, the better I can guard you," Lily said innocently. "It's perfectly logical."

Kirika had to put in a tackle here. "How is that logical?"

Her shout must have startled the others, because the door flew open as Saber rushed into the room.

"Master! What's -,"

Or rather she had intended to rush into the room.

"Good morning, me." Lily greeted her alternate image matter-of-factly.

"Uh, ah... Uhm... I'm very sorry!" Saber apologised with a red face and made to back out of the room.

"Huh?" Kirika wondered why Saber was so flustered and realised what her position under Lily's body must look like. "Ah! It isn't like that! I swear!"

"..." Saber looked at her then glanced away.

"AHHHH! Lily! Get off me!" Kirika shouted, her reason knocked aside by embarassment.

"Tired of me already Kirika?" Lily joked as she got up from her knees.

"LILY!"

The white knight chuckled as she ignored her master's agitation and left the room.

Left behind by themselves, Saber and Kirika shared a moment of awkward silence. They both had no idea what to say after seeing something like that in the morning.

"... Good morning, Saber," Kirika finally broke the silence with a strained greeting.

"G-good morning master," Saber replied with a slightly fluttery voice.

"..."

"..."

Silence again as the two ran out of things to say to each other so early in the morning.

"... Uhm... How's your lip?" Kirika asked in an attempt to ease the tension.

She failed miserably.

"My... Lip?" Saber blushed and looked away. "It's... Fine, master. I am a servant... We heal faster..."

Kirika realised what she had asked and blushed. Why had she brought that up again? Hadn't she and Saber silently agreed never to discuss the matter again last night? Did she really need to remember the... The... Kiss with... Waaah~! #&%G! She was never going to get married at this rate!

... Where the hell had that thought come from?

"Could you... Please leave?" Kirika asked as she hid her face under the covers. "I need to get dressed."

"Yes, of course!" Saber replied quickly, and immediately stepped out through the door and shut it.

Kirika wanted to cry. How had things turned out like this? All she wanted from life was to carry out justice where it was needed, following in her dad's footsteps. So why did she have to be turned into a girl by some cursed artefact, become embroiled in a war between magi, and have her innocence (?) taken by not just one but three girls?

... And why did she imagine that she could hear her dad say 'good job' from heaven with his thumb raised?

-x-x-x-

Breakfast passed by with little fuss... Or so Kirika wished.

To begin with she had fought with Archer over who prepared breakfast (an argument that she lost) and who would pack lunch (an argument which she won in a phyrric victory as she remembered how much she needed to make for Taiga). Then had come the awe-inspiring display for the human capacity to consume food as Saber proceeded to demolish nine people's worth of breakfast... And then asked for more. Lily had consumed a relatively tiny (?) four portions, but she too had seemed hungry once the meal was over.

It was then that Kirika had decided that her greatest enemy was not the other servants in this war. No, her worries were much greater than that. She had to face the bottomless pits that were Saber, Lily, and Taiga armed with only the money from Kiritsugu's savings and the little money that came out from the investments Raiga-san managed for her.

At this rate she might have to think about mortgaging the house, and she was only half-joking with herself about that.

Hah... The only thing she had really managed to achieve this morning was to get Saber and Lily to allow her to come to school without them. She didn't want to find out what kind of impact the appearance of two such beautiful girls would have on the school population, especially not if they hung around her all the time. A slightly empty victory though, since she had been forced to compromise by letting them come pick her up after school.

"Oh! It's Emiyan!" somebody called out as she went towards her class.

She turned to see the athletics club trio, and smiled at them as she remembered the help they had given her yesterday.

"Ack," Makidera frowned and made a warding gesture. "Put that weapon away Emiyan."

"Indeed, it would be uncomfortable to start the day with that image in mind," added Himuro.

"Good morning, Emiya-san," Saegusa said in what was the only normal greeting among them, but she had her face turned towards the ground as she greeted her.

"?" Kirika put a finger to the lips in honest confusion. "What are you talking about Makidera, Himuro?"

"""Hwah...""" the athletics trio sighed together when they saw that she didn't understand.

The cool glasses girl amongst them came up to her and clapped her hands on her shoulders. "Emiya Kirika, I know that you are too slow to understand why, but just keep in mind that you are an enemy to all women in this world." She stopped and appeared to think about something. "Even if you do make quite the picture..." Kirika thought she heard her mumble.

"Eh? Eh?" Kirika wanted to know what the heck had brought this about.

"Ugh, I can't believe this rockhead is one of the three women I acknowledge as a rival," Makidera muttered as if offended by something. "And do something about that smile of yours Emiyan! It's unfair!"

"..." Even if she said that, she couldn't fix something when she didn't even know what was wrong.

"Ignore the idiot - "HEY!" - for now," said Himuro over Makidera's protest. "How is your leg? You did get home alright yesterday didn't you?"

"Huh? Oh, that?" Kirika laughed nervously. "It's fine now, thanks for worrying. See?"

She raised her skirt to show the unblemished skin where yesterday she had stabbed herself. Makidera's eyes narrowed and Saegusa blushed as heads turned at the display, but Himuro only frowned and touched the spot where the wound had been.

"... There's no mark," she muttered as if confused.

"Huh?" Kirika only then noticed what was odd. "Eh? That's weird, I could have sworn I had a mark there yesterday."

"Ohhh! It's official! Emiyan is a top secret cyborg with regenerative skin!" Makidera suddenly cried out. "No wonder you always beat me! I bet that those obscenely perfect boobs of yours are also - gack!"

Himuro choked off Makidera's rant with a chokehold around the neck. "Sorry about that Emiya," she apologised. "It's good to see that you are fine. We will see you around school okay?"

"Goodbye Emiya-san," Saegusa also added.

"Gah - Join the club Emiyan! It's your destiny! Gack!" Makidera tossed out yet another recruitment offer before Himuro choked her off again.

"See you later," Kirika gave them a little wave as they left for their class, 2-A like Rin.

As she turned around to head for her own classroom, she thought about the wound and other things that seemed a little off. The little stab mark was one thing, since that had been a relatively small and clean cut. On the other hand she could have sworn that Rider had broken some of her ribs yesterday, but right now she couldn't feel anything wrong with them. Had she been mistaken?

... Meh, whatever. What was good was good. It didn't seem like there was anything wrong, so why bother wasting time worrying about it?

Glossing over what was inconvenient as long as there was no harm done to herself or others. Though she didn't realise it, Emiya Kirika had been 'slightly' infected by Rin's suppressed neetism over the years they had spent together.

-x-x-x-

Ding - dang- dong. The end of the school day, and time for all the student to disperse to their clubs or their homes.

Kirika was a member of the 'Go Straight Home' club like Rin, but today she had a place to visit here at the school, and set out to find her objective as soon as class finished.

"Emiya? What are you doing here?" asked her target, Mitsuzuri Ayako as they ran into each other outside her class.

Kirika waved at her. "Not much. I just decided to take you up on that offer from before."

Ayako's eyes lit up. "You are finally going to disobey your mistress and join the club?"

Kirika shook her head. "No, only for - who's my mistress?"

Ayako laughed loudly. "Just joking Emiya, just joking. Geez, it's because you react like this that people want to tease you."

"Muuu," Kirika frowned and crossed her arms. Why did she have so many people around her that loved to tease others?

"Aww, don't sulk Emiya," Ayako said as she took her hand. "Come on, it will be good to see you in a hakama again."

Giving up the struggle against her fate, Kirika let Ayako pull her along as they headed for the archery dojo. A few whispers seemed to start as they passed by, but she ignored them. It was probably just idle gossip anyway.

When they got to the dojo Kirika realised that she had forgotten about someone whose presence would complicate things.

"Kirika!" Taiga cried out when she spotted them. "It's been ages since you came here! Are you finally going to join? Are you? Are you?"

Kirika backed off in the face of Taiga's forceful suggestions. Hahaha, this was a part of the reason why she had avoided this building for a good year and a half now. The way that Fuji-nee always looked at her as if expecting something always put a burden upon her mind.

"Emiya's just visiting Fujimura-sensei," Ayako came to the rescue. "Now, back off a little, or you will scare her away for another year."

"Ughhhh, and here Onee-san finally thought she could count on you for the championship later this year," Taiga gave Kirika a disappointed stare. "We get bonuses if the clubs we oversee win you know? Big bonuses! Onee-san needs money to supplement her allowance Kirika!"

Kirika laughed weakly as Ayako mumbled something about the Archery club's image being ruined. Yep, Fuji-nee was just as energetic and poor as usual. Why couldn't Raiga-san give her some more pocket money?

... Wait, that was a bad idea. She spent all of her wages on junk and snacks already. If she got even more money her house would be filled with useless knick knacks in no time.

"Come on Emiya, let's get you dressed," Ayako suggested as the rest of the club members began to filter in. "You do remember how to put on everything right?"

Kirika nodded. "Yep. Do you still have the spares in the far lockers?"

"You betcha," Ayako confirmed. "Well, come out quickly Emiya. I can't wait to see how much I've caught up to you."

"Psh, I'm not that good," Kirika said modestly.

Ayako raised an eyebrow. "So says the person who hits the target one hundred times out of a hundred."

Kirika tried to ignore Ayako's look as she slipped inside the changing rooms.

When she emerged again, she was dressed in the short-sleeved white gi and the navy hakama that the club kept for the occasional casual member. The get up was surprisingly comfortable even after all this time, and Kirika felt her mood lift slightly as she went up to the range.

"Nui! Kirika-chan's hakama look, spotted!" Taiga squeaked excitedly when she saw her. "Ah, it looks so good on you Kirika-chan! Why won't you join the club so that I can see you like that every day?"

Your reactions are part of the reason why, Kirika wanted to say as Taiga rubbed herself against her face, but she kept her silence with stoic determination. Ayako gave her a look of sympathy but didn't move to help her. They were both used to Taiga's behaviour and trying to stop her now would only make things noisier.

"Think you still have it Emiya?" Ayako inquired as Taiga was forced to stop in order to go answer a query from one of the third years. "It's been a while since you drew a bow hasn't it?"

Kirika didn't reply immediately and took an arrow from the case nearby. Flexing the bow a few times to get the feel for its tension, she waited for her turn to come by, then drew the string back and released the arrow.

"I think I've still got it," she told Ayako as she turned around without bothering to check where the arrow went. She didn't need to.

"Ack, you monster," Ayako clicked her tongue as she saw that the arrow had buried itself deeply into the centre of the target. "And here I thought that I might finally be able to outscore you today."

Kirika giggled quietly. "You will. That shot just now was more of a fluke than anything. I nearly lost it when that breeze picked up as I released."

Ayako frowned and tried to feel the wind. Nothing. "Whatever you say Emiya," she sighed. "I've got to go and help the others as well as get some practice in myself. Will you be fine here by yourself?"

Kirika nodded. "I will just shoot a quiver or two and then observe. I just felt like shooting some arrows for once."

"Okay, have fun," Ayako told her as she went off.

Left to herself, Kirika tuned out the rest of the world as she focussed on the target and the distance in between. Aiming was a concept she was unfamiliar with. Instead, she imaged the possibilities that came of releasing the arrow, and chose the one that led to it hitting the centre. When the target next to hers thudded to the impact of an arrow on the outer ring, she released the string, and nodded as she hit the centre with her shot.

Draw, release. Draw, release. Draw, release. She continued the mechanical pattern until her fingers clutched empty air as she reached down for more arrows. When she realised that she had exhausted her load, Kirika lowered the bow and backed away from the shooting spot.

It was then that she noticed that the rest of the dojo had fallen silent, and that she was the focus of dozens of stares from all of the archery club members who had stopped to watch her.

"Eh? Eh?" she looked about with her feet frozen to the spot. What was going on? Why was everyone looking at her?

"And that folks, is why we call Emiya 'Sniper-san' around here," Ayako's voice cut through the silence. "You all saw her form as you shot didn't you? That's what we are all aiming for, so go off and practice while you still remember it. Go off now, shoo, shoo."

Kirika breathed a sigh of relief when the impromptu crowd dispersed, and smiled gratefully at Ayako when the fiesty club captain approached.

"Wow, haven't you gotten better Emiya?" Ayako asked when they were alone. "How could you hit the centre with all those arrows? You can't even see the bullseye anymore because you packed them in so densely!"

"Luck?" Kirika shrugged. "I just had a good run today."

"Right," Ayako looked at her doubtfully. "Too much modesty is unbecoming you know. Still, are you sure you don't want to join Emiya? With your talent I bet you could even aim for the Olympics if you transferred over to Archery (Western) in university."

"No I'm fine," Kirika replied as she put the bow down in a rest. "Archery is just something I do when I get the fancy. I don't want to get heavily involved in it."

"Pity," Ayako said with her voice full of honest disappointment. "Well, go and play with Fujimura-sensei or something if you plan to observe Emiya. I've got to go and practice."

Kirika nodded and waved her off again. She was about to take Ayako's advice and join Taiga for a cup of tea when a prickling on the back of her neck stopped her in her tracks. Killing intent? Or simple hostility? When she turned to see who it was, she saw a girl she recognised at the other end of the hostile glare.

Matou Sakura, that was the name. A pale beauty with slightly faded black hair that looked almost purple in the light. She was pretty famous around the school as the Ice Princess of the first years, but that wasn't how Kirika knew her, not really. Her familiarity with Sakura came from the times that she had noticed Rin go blank as the girl walked by. Every time Rin had looked as if she wanted to say something, but had stopped without uttering a word. Sensing the emotions behind Rin's actions, Kirika had asked Rin for an explanation, but had been warned off by an angry Rin. One of the few times that she could remember Rin truly getting angry at her.

Kirika frowned. What had she done to earn the girl's enmity? She had never even talked to the girl before.

"KIRIKA!" Taiga's sudden scream grabbed her attention. "Who are these two foreign beauties? And why are they calling you master?"

Oh, lord... Kirika rushed off to try and contain the situation, but the damage had already been done. As the dojo descended into chaos with the arrival of Saber and Lily, Kirika got caught up in a mish mash of wild gossip and whispered ruminations about her orientation. It was all so confusing that she promptly forgot all about the girl who had been looking at her so angrily.

-x-x-x-

Leaving the hustle and bustle of the archery club behind her, Sakura headed for the woods, the nearest place she could think of where she could be by herself. As she ran she fought to control the conflicting feelings in her heart. It was only when she finally got far enough away that no one could possibly hear or see her from the dojo that she allowed herself to come to a stop, and let the flurry of emotions she felt run free.

"Why?" she hissed as she put her weight against a tree with one hand. "Why does she have to be so perfect?"

Jealousy, rage, admiration. All this and more. What Sakura felt towards Kirika was no simple thing. Five years of observing the girl who had taken her desired place in life had been plenty of time for Sakura to develop feelings both dangerous and sweet for the young magus. Right now though it was her jealousy of the other girl's ability to claim everyone's attention for herself that was foremost in her thoughts.

"Just when I thought that I could take her place... Why did she have to come back again?" Sakura muttered darkly.

While it was true that Shinji had told her to come to the Archery club to pick up after him, the true motive for Sakura coming along so obediently was actually quite different. An image from a year ago, of a girl who stood in the light that she so desired from the depths of her soul. A pure and clean image that she dreamt of for herself but knew that she could never attain, not really anyway. Out of a wish to at least imitate that person she had gladly followed her brother to the club.

When she had gotten there and found out that the cause for her being there had quit, she had been half glad and half disappointed. Glad that there would be no cause for comparisons to be drawn between her and the one she envied, disappointed that the one she admired would not be beside her. Not knowing how she should really feel, she had settled into the club with the mechanical motions that were typical of her.

It was a few weeks into the school year that Sakura realised that this was a chance for her. Till then she had only dreamt of becoming like the one she had watched that lonely autumn evening. In the absence of that person's presence however, wasn't it possible that she could live out that little dream of hers? Not perfectly, for she could never be as innocent and open as that person, but she could pretend at least. A fantasy lived out, a short escape from cruel reality in a role that she longed to become.

So with a trembling heart, she had tried, and was accepted. With her quiet manner and dainty looks, it didn't take long before she was one of the most liked of the first year members. After that it was only a matter of time before she was one of the central members of the club, with people looking at her in a similar manner as they had towards that person.

Sakura had basked in that newfound attention. Thinking that maybe, just maybe, if she became popular enough that everyone would look at her, those people would look at her too. Just like they were always looking at each other.

But, that hadn't happened. Although more and more people looked at her with respect or adoration, those two continued to pass her by. As if she was no one, as if she wasn't worth noticing in the first place.

And now. Just when she thought that she had taken up a place in the archery club, that girl had come and proven that a position like the one that Sakura had needed months to build, she could overtake in a matter of minutes. It was almost as if that girl was saying that no matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to catch up. No, it would actually have been better if that girl had even implied such a thing in her behaviour. Instead, Sakura had seen the curious light in that girl's eyes when their sights had met. A telling sign that it was the first time that she had even been noticed by that person.

When she thought about it, dark and hateful emotions rose up inside her. They told her to the other girl, to her and take her place. Another side of her told her to the girl, to her and her so that she would be forced to notice the one doing such things to her. To that girl so deeply that the scars on her soul would never fade, leaving forever the knowledge of who it was that was responsible.

"No, no, no. That's bad. I can't do something like that," Sakura whispered to herself as she shook her head to clear it of such wild ideas. She was breathing a bit raggedly, her body unconsciously responding to the thoughts inside her head.

A crunching noise behind her as someone stepped on the leaves that littered the forest floor. Sakura whirled around, anxious to prevent anyone from seeing her in such a state, but she quickly let down her guard when she saw that it was only her brother.

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" Shinji said with a frown on his face.

"Just cooling my head a bit nii-san," Sakura replied as she straightened up. "Why are you here?"

Shinji scowled. "Since when do you need to know what I am doing?"

Sakura winced and shook her head. "I was only curious nii-san. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Hmph, if you must know I was on my way home. I expect that you are going to prepare dinner on time?"

"Yes, nii-san."

Shinji scowled again, annoyed with something.

"See you later then," he nodded at her.

"See you at home nii-san."

"Damn lesbians, why do they always have to stick together like that?" he complained out loud as he walked away.

Sakura froze mid-step when she heard what Shinji had said. 'They' were 'together'? There was no mistaking who he was talking about. It could only be those two people.

Pshhk. A crackling noise under her hand. Sakura looked up, surprised by the noise and was disconcerted to find that she had inadvertently stolen the life from the tree she was leaning against.

"Ugh..." she couldn't go back to the dojo. Not when her emotional control was this messy. Not when she would have to face 'them' as if nothing was wrong.

"Not now... I can't face them yet..." Sakura mumbled as she walked away to distance herself from the tree she had killed with her sorcery.

There was an air of fragility about Sakura as she walked back towards the main school building to get a spare change of clothes from the lockers. A mood about her that made her seem as if there was thin porcelain skin that hid beneath it a dark light that could burst forth at any moment.

"Not yet... But soon, sempai."

Sakura's last words seemed to hang in the air after she had departed, a chilly promise of things to come and deeds to be accomplished.

2-2

The school looked very different in the night. Grounds that were full of life by day turned into desolate shells from which a ghost could come out at any time and not look out of place. It truly struck home the fact that what made up a school was its students and staff, not the buildings themselves.

It was into this lonesome domain and Kirika and Rin intruded with their servants. At an hour when all good students should be stuck in their books or asleep, they jumped the fence at the back of the school to head for their objective. The archery dojo where earlier they had located the heart of the ward around the school.

They were going past the last of the trees when Kirika remembered something she had forgotten to ask before.

"Hey Rin."

"Yes Kirika?"

"Now that I'm a master aren't I supposed to go register myself and my servants at the Church?" Kirika asked with her head tilted curiously.

"Huh? Don't worry I..." Rin froze as she remembered that she had meant to go to the Church the day before but had completely forgotten due to the shock she had received from Kirika's twisting of the Grail Wars rules.

"Rin?"

"... Ha ha ha. Oops?" Rin chuckled nervously. "I guess we will have to go do that once we are done here."

Kirika's face scrunched up in displeasure. "Can't we just ring up that pseudo-priest?"

"I don't want to see him either," Rin sighed. "But it would be bad manners to not see him at least once."

Giving up, but not happily, Kirika pouted and looked away. Seeing Kirei was not something she enjoyed. There was something about the man and his manner that always offended her on a basic level, and it wasn't just his inability to appreciate any food that wasn't hot enough to set your tongue on fire.

"Excuse me Kirika, but is there something between you and this man of the church?" asked Lily who had been walking behind them.

"Not really," Kirika said with a strained face.

Puzzled by her expression, Lily inquired further.

"Then why not go see him?" she asked. "According to my knowledge all you have to do is go and tell him your name and the class of your servant, do you not?"

"If it were anyone else, yes," Kirika replied mournfully. "The problem is, Kirei is technically my guardian as well as a former teacher of mine."

Saber didn't understand what was so wrong about this and asked about it. "In that shouldn't you be on better terms with him master?"

"..."

"Master?/Kirika?" Saber and Lily blinked simultaneously as a gloomy aura seemed to form around their mistress.

"Good terms? With him?" Kirika's voice was shaking as she stared blankly into the air. "That perverted priest? The sadist who treated me like some kind of dress-up doll? The freak who thinks good cuisine involves filling one's mouth with the edible equivalent of molten lava? Ha ha ha..."

Next to the traumatised Kirika, Rin winced slightly and looked away. It was one secret of hers that she could never tell her friend and apprentice that a lot of the dress-up sessions had been carried out with her input. She had only helped out in order to escape the same fate herself, but she didn't think Kirika would take the knowledge that she had been sold out very well.

"Lily, do you remember all the frilly dresses that were in my wardrobe?" Kirika continued numbly.

Lily nodded, she had seen quite a few such outfits when she had looked in there to find something for herself to wear.

Kirika noted the affirmation and hung her head. "All of those were gifts from Kirei. Half which he made me dress up in and walk around town... Including the maid outfit..."

Again, Rin couldn't prevent herself from a guilty wince. The maid outfit had been her idea, and a good one too! Kirika had looked so good in it, and the photos from then were stored securely in her secret photo album. The one that she sometimes took out when she was home alone to go over with a goofy grin on her face.

Archer noted his master's odd reactions to Kirika's monologue, but didn't say anything about it. It didn't seem like anything that he could reveal out here while they were at risk of attack at any time. Never mind the fact that if it was what he thought it was, the retribution that Rin would deal out would be a thing of legend.

"Ah," Lily thought back to some of the outfits she had seen. Dressing Kirika up in them... Hu hu hu. Interesting. Was there any way she would be able to persuade her master to try some of them on again?

With various thoughts on their minds, the group arrived at the archery dojo. The door was locked, but it was a simple matter for Kirika to gain access for them through the side door which could be unlocked by a strong push on the hinges. She hadn't spent an year in this facility doing club activities and chores for nothing.

"Well, there it is," Archer pointed out as they entered the main hall area where the sigil was. "Do you really think you can do something about it Rin?"

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Well I don't know until I try, do I?"

"Huh," Archer smirked. "Just checking. Can't allow you to mess this up like you did with my summoning after all."

Rin's confident expression faltered as Archer brought up what would no doubt remain a smear on her self-image as a mage until the day she died.

"If you are so unsure I would hate to waste your time Archer," she replied through gritted teeth. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go keep an eye out for other servants?"

"Will do," Archer said obediently as he put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I will just go up on the roof and -."

What Archer would have done would remain a mystery, as all three servants present suddenly went on guard and turned towards the shooting yard. The reason for their wariness was self-evident as a shape leapt over the walls to land softly on the dirt floor.

"Master, please get behind me," Saber told Kirika as she moved into a position from which she could cover her.

"You there, announce yourself," Lily cried out, her normal flippant manner discarded for the regal authority of the king she had been.

Archer didn't say anything, choosing instead to simply observe and figure out what the newcomer's next move would be.

The stranger stood up from where he had been kneeling, a graceful motion that brought to mind the movement of a big cat. The comparison was fitting, as the air he gave off was of someone just as dangerous and imposing as one of those great beasts.

"It should be fairly obvious who I am," the servant replied, his red eyes glinting with a feral light. "I would ask what such lovely young women as yourselves are doing here so late at night, but..." A long red spear appeared in mid-air as Lancer reached out for his weapon. "Such a question need not even be asked of a servant of the sword, right?"

Lancer's voice was full of anticipation as he looked at Lily with a provocative smirk on his face. Lily glanced towards Kirika to ask if it was okay to respond, but didn't get an immediate response as Saber came forward to challenge her for the right to go up against their opponent.

Lancer noticed the interaction and the similarities between the two, and frowned in puzzlement.

"Eh? Hold on. Why are there two of you?"

Ignoring him, the two swordswomen continued their silent stand-off, their fingers playing with the hilts of their weapons as if they were eager to settle the dispute that way.

"Saber? Lily? Is this really the time?" Kirika said nervously.

"It would be a simple matter if Saber was to back off as would be polite Kirika," replied Lily. "I was the one that was challenged first, and therefore it is my right to face him."

"I didn't hear any specific challenge Lily," Saber countered. "He asked to face a servant of the sword, and that we both are. Why don't you stand down and let the more thoughtful of us two go first, or were you planning to just rush him carelessly like you seem to do everything else."

"Like you are so much better, miss 'I-have-my-scabbard-stuck-up-my-spine'!" Lily replied loudly.

"You just proved my point," Saber said condescendingly. "Stop acting like such a child and let an adult take care of things."

"I do not need to hear that from someone who hasn't grown up in any way since they were a child," Lily snarled.

"Uhm... You two, calm down please?" Kirika didn't know what to do with her feuding servants.

Left to his own devices, Lancer yawned and scratched his head. "Look, I don't really care who it is, so could you please fight me already? Why don't the both of you come at me if you can't decide who goes first? It won't make much difference to the result either way."

Lancer's arrogant comment bought him the shared emnity of Saber and Lily for a brief moment, but soon enough the two started to bicker again as Kirika tried to calm them down. It was then that a fourth player stepped onto the mat.

"No need to wait up Lancer. I will take you on," announced Archer as he stepped up.

"Archer?"

"Archer-san?"

"Hah?"

Archer's proclamation surprised everyone there, not least of all Saber and Lily, who stopped their fight to look at their ally disapprovingly.

"Archer, what do you think you are doing?" Lily asked, confused by his apparent fit of insanity. "Your opponent is the fastest of the servants. You can't be thinking to take him on when he's this close."

"Yes Archer," Saber agreed with her counter-part. "Leave this to us. Your abilities will be better used in later battles instead of a duel like this."

Archer frowned as both Sabers dismissed his combat ability. Okay, so maybe his stats were a bit low compared to some of the other servants, but this didn't mean they could ignore him. Hell, they didn't even know how he fought! Where did they get off dismissing him like this?

Rin was no help to Archer's mood either as she berated him for his apparent foolishness. "Saber is right Archer, you can't take on Lancer like this. Stand back and let them take care of it."

Lancer too seemed disdainful of his fellow male servant. "Archer huh? Go away you louse, I want to see whether or not the Saber class lives up to their reputation."

That was the final straw. Shaking with anger, Archer ignored the protests of his master and allies and strode forth into the yard.

"All of you, shut up," Archer ordered as he came to a stop a few metres away from Lancer.

The servant of the lance narrowed his eyes at the figure before him as he noted the change in the atmosphere. Something had changed, but he wasn't sure what.

"Ar-cher?" Rin's voice was careful now. this was the first time since she had summoned him that she had seen Archer get angry.

"Rin," the servant called out her name instead of giving her a proper answer.

"Yes Archer?"

"Watch me," Archer smirked. "I will show you what I meant when I said that you had drawn one of the best cards you could have."

Twin swords appeared in his hands, one white and one black. They were of exquisite make, and even an amateur could tell that great care had gone into their forging.

Lancer frowned when he saw the weapons that Archer was holding. "Hah? Swords? Are you kidding me? Get out your bow Archer, or are you really stupid enough to think you can face me like this?"

Archer snorted. "You can say something like that only when you've beaten me. So..." the servant of the bow tensed his muscles, then used the energy to leap forward at inhuman speeds. "Get ready to go down!"

"You asked for it then!" Lancer replied as he moved to meet Archer's challenge.

-x-x-x-

Sparks flew as the two duelling servants proved why Eirei were considered examples of what the peak of human ability looked like. While Saber and Lily were relatively unmoved by what was for them a pretty good fight between others of their level, Rin was in a state of mild shock as she finally began to appreciate just what they were dealing with in this Grail War.

"So, this is what a battle between servants is like..." she murmured as she tried to keep up with the two combatants with her eyes.

Off to the side however, Kirika was having a much different reaction to the clash of heroes. Or more precisely the particular way that Archer was fighting.

Wielding his two short dao, the engimatic servant was engaging Lancer at a range where the servant of the lance should have held an overwhelming advantage. Contrary to what common sense dictated however, the servant of the bow was holding his own, and even gaining ground as he took one step after another towards his opponent. This surprising state of affairs was only made possible by Archer's strange treatment of his swords. Each time Lancer managed to damage or stike away one of the two dao in Archer's hands, a copy of the same would appear and immediately be wielded as if nothing had happened.

"Just what kind of Archer are you?" Lancer said with growing frustration evident in his voice.

"A good one," Archer grinned as he took yet another step into his opponent's territory.

Lancer's brow furrowed as Archer brushed aside the question. Here he was faced with what was supposed to be the weakest of the three knight classes in this war, and he was losing? Even with the restrictions that were on him, it was an insult to his pride. What made things worse was that this was an Archer he was facing. For a servant to be classified as such it meant that they had to have a weapon worthy of the title and the skill to match. In other words, this bastard wasn't using his full strength in this fight.

Offended as he was by this fact, Lancer stepped things up a notch. Faced with a flurry of strikes that only got faster with time, Archer was forced to retreat a little, and it was this that allowed Lancer to notice what was odd about his opponent.

It wasn't just those weird swords of his that kept on reappearing in his hands. It wasn't even the fact that an Archer had such proficiency with the blades. What was truly odd was how desperate Archer seemed in his defence and offence. The servant's eyes were calm, but Lancer could feel the heart and soul that went into each swing of the twin blades. Such a phenomenon could not be found in someone who wasn't used to treating his weapons as a part of himself, but it didn't make sense for an Archer to have such a connection to a sword. With all the curiousities about Archer piling up, Lancer found himself growing increasingly agitated by the growing mystery that was his opponent.

Kirika was no less agitated herself. As she watched Archer fight she had at first been mesmerised by the way he used the twin swords to shrug off every attack Lancer threw at him, a level of ability that she one day hoped to be able to replicate herself. Then had come the strange sense of... Familiarity and confusion, was the best she could describe it. A strange perturbation that seemed to stem from her soul itself.

It had started softly at first, her mind creaking a little as it tried to figure out why she was so ruffled up by the way Archer was fighting. It had only gotten worse from there as she continued to watch, and... Learn? Was that it? Something about Archer's combat style felt so natural to her that she unconsciously began to image herself fighting as he did. As soon as she did so however, her instincts protested that it was all wrong, and the image fell apart as her brain protested against the foreign movements that she was trying copy. Strange. It was all so strange. What was it about this servant that affected her so?

The young magus' eyes were drawn to the swords in Archer's hands. Twin chinese dao, wider blades than those she preferred, but close enough in form that she had felt something akin to lust when she had first seen them. These two carried that same haunting familiarity about them. As if she had seen them before somewhere when she knew for a fact that she had not. By what means Archer was making them disappear and reappear in his hands she didn't know, but when she watched closely she could almost have sworn he was forming the things out of thin air. Which was... Impossible. It had to be. Gradation Air was not an ability that could copy the weight of history that an item bore. Not even her Projection could manage the same feat, being but an improved version of the same which allowed her to form copies closer to the original, but empty shells all the same. Archer's swords went far beyond that, bearing an unmistakeable quality about them which told of their making at the hands of a master smith.

Warning, mental contamination. Possibility line 12A-TRUE convergence within ego and id. Mental landscape erosion, cause - sympathetic resonance with foreign mindscape. Attempting merge to harmonise dialogues, failure. Attempting segregation of affected self-images, failure. Warning, mental contamination irreversible.

The fight had built up to a crescendo while Kirika was occupied in her thoughts, and the tempo reached a frenzied peak before Lancer suddenly brought a temporary halt to the exchange by leaping back. Far enough that Archer couldn't immediately come after him.

Lancer was silent for a moment as he glared angrily at Archer, but then he appeared to shake his mood off and straightened up.

"I admit, I underestimated you Archer," Lancer said slowly. "I apologise for that."

"No need to apologise, but I won't refuse what's given," Archer replied smoothly.

"Right," Lancer chuckled darkly before he got serious again. "Let's begin again then, but before we do, get out your bow Archer."

Archer looked at Lancer curiously. "Oh? And if I don't?"

"If you don't, you die," Lancer stated in a tone that held only certainty about Archer's fate. "Last time Archer, get out your bow."

"No need," Archer growled as he took up his stance again. "I'm fine as I am now thank you."

Lancer frowned as his courtesy went ignored, and his mood turned chilly as he slowly brought his lance to point towards the ground.

With that slight motion, all those gathered there sensed the sudden change in the atmosphere. Where before Lancer's presence had been that of a wild beast, it now felt more like that of a guillotine blade ready to fall. Dreadful, and certain in its purpose. A weapon that held a promise of death for those it had targeted.

As the two men faced off, Kirika had been focussed on Archer's hands. She had kept a close eye on the spot where Archer's swords would appear, and she had been rewarded by the sight of the swords unmistakeably coming into being from empty air. How that could be she didn't know, and although she attributed it to some property of the swords themselves, she knew at some base level that this was not so. Archer really was creating those swords every time. She couldn't explain why she was so certain about this, but this was the reality.

Warning, mental contamination has spread. Warning, destructive resonance between baseline and foreign mindscape. Warning, possibility alignment broken. Attempting to suppress link, failure. Link activated. Warning, control impossible. Warning, suppression impossible.

Cracks began to show in Kirika's inner reality, but they were cracks that she was unaware of. With her head aching, Kirika turned her attention to Lancer and the spear in his hands. It was a foreboding weapon, with runes across its length that promised death and pain for those it was wielded against. The curse of the thorn from which... Wait a second, how did she know that? She had never seen the thing before, let alone heard or read anything about a spear like that.

Warning, paradigm link active at 2, 3, 4, 5 percent and increasing. Total mental contamination expected. All attempts at suppression, failure. All attempts at segregation, failure. Restoration of baseline - impossible. Warning, mental contamination - assimilation of inherent skill from possibility line 12A-TRUE through to 90-RENA. Breakdown of mental architecture. Overflow, restricting stream, failure. Overflow, cross contamination. Overflow, Gae Bolg, DWYIMYS, (J#J curse. )()()()( JKSFD& overturn time 3987Hkk#Y *HREiiUEn xawgw#*YH-(ER)2839HDUhfisu8Y#*Y(#WHPFD:J-

Strained past breaking point by the information that was being forced into it, Kirika's mind finally broke down and gave up its control over the streams of information that it had helped to suppress since the incident six years ago. Loosed from its bounds, the data crashed across Kirika's unprepared mind like a flood hitting a city. Fragile memories and mental structures were swept away, and even the stronger pillars that formed the core of Kirika's personality and self began to groan under the forces being brought to bear against them.

Externally, this chaos was expressed quite vocally by Kirika's scream of pain.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Kirika!"

"Master?"

Rin and Kirika's two servants forgot about the duel between Archer and Lancer and rushed to Kirika's side. They called out to her but in her suffering Kirika was not able to hear them, and continued to scream.

"Kirika? What's wrong Kirika?" Rin cried out as she tried to calm Kirika down, frantic to discover what had happened to the girl who was one of the most cherished people in her heart.

"Saber, hold her down!" Lily called out to her mirror image. "She's going to hurt herself if she keeps thrashing around like this!"

"I'll take her legs. You get her arms Lily," Saber replied calmly, but a slight trembling in her voice betrayed her agitation.

While the girls were panicking over Kirika's sudden fit, the two servants who had just been about to let loose with some of the deadliest tools in their arsenal were caught in a limbo, unsure of what to do. They cast glances at each other surreptitiously, looking between the commotion going on beside them and the one facing them. The uneasy standoff between them continued for a long awkward moment before Lancer finally sighed and flipped up his spear into a position at rest.

"I can't fight like this," Lancer admitted when Archer raised an eyebrow.

Archer looked towards where his master was kicking up a fuss over the collapsed girl and understood what Lancer was saying. Letting Kanshou and Bakuya fade away, he straightened up and looked at Lancer with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Uh... You going to stick around?" he asked his fellow servant and man. "I mean, I don't mind fighting you but... It looks like this is going to take a while."

"Nah, I like women and all, but not when they are like that," Lancer gestured towards the girls with his lance.

"Hmm."

"Uh, yeah." Lancer scratched his head and then shrugged. "See you around. We can finish this next time."

"Yeah, you too," Archer replied. "Keep an eye out for arrows when you are out and about."

"Heh," Lancer barked out a laugh as if he found the idea amusing and turned away. "Bye then. You aren't actually so bad."

Archer snorted and waved the other servant off. He made sure that Lancer had departed and that there were no other servants around, then he walked over to where Rin and the others were still panicking over the girl.

He observed them for a moment, ignoring the screams and Rin's abortive attempts to find out what was wrong with her sorcery. Then, when he decided that not much progress was being made, he stepped in and landed a sharp chop on the back of Kirika's head, shutting her up instantly.

"Archer! What do you think you are doing?" Rin shouted, outraged by his action.

"Whoa, I just did that because I thought it would be easier on all of us if she was unconscious for a while." Archer held up his hands as if to proclaim his innocence. "Doesn't help anyone if she's thrashing around like that."

It was a convincing argument, but Rin nevertheless glared at him until Lily agreed that Archer's decision made sense. Even then she didn't forget to throw him an angry look that promised trouble for him later. Archer noted that, and felt once again the difference between the Rin in his memories and the Rin in this... Parallel reality or whatever it was. Back in his timeline Rin had never shown such closeness to anyone until well after the Grail War and all its chaotic effects on their lives had ended. He really had to wonder what had gone on in this world for her to... Have such a close relationship with this unfamiliar girl that had taken his place.

"How is she Tohsaka-san?" Saber asked Rin when the girl finished her examination and sat back.

Rin shook her head slowly. "I don't know what's wrong. There's nothing wrong with her body, but her circuits are going wild." Now that they looked closer, she was shaking as she looked down at her unconscious friend. "I've never seen or heard of anything like this before. It's not like she's burning out her circuits, the amount of prana going through them is too small for that. But something's happening, and I have no idea what it is! Just what is going on?"

"Calm down Rin," Archer said soothingly as he knelt down beside her rubbed her back. "Panicking won't help. Calm down a bit before you think about what to do next."

Realising that she was overly agitated, Rin closed her eyes and began to mumble a meditation charm to calm herself. It was only when she thought she could think straight that she opened her eyes again.

"Whew," seeing that nothing had changed, she turned to Archer and smiled weakly at him. "Thanks Archer, that wasn't like me."

"No, it wasn't," Archer agreed. "The Tohsaka Rin that I've seen was always more graceful than that."

"Eh?" For a moment Rin was surprised by the similarity between what Archer was saying and her family's motto, but Kirika's state soon turned her thoughts back to the immediate concern.

"Rin," Lily's voice was calm, but firm. "Is there anything you can do?"

Rin thought about it for a moment, then sighed. "No, I can't do anything without knowing what's wrong, but Kirei might be able to."

"Kirei? The priest that you spoke of earlier?" Lily asked as if to confirm her memory.

"Yes, him." Rin nodded. "He's a lot better at healing than I am, so he might be able to find out what's wrong with her."

"Then we should go as quickly as possible," said Saber as she stood up. "It wouldn't do for our master to be incapacitated when so many enemies could be after us."

"Yes, you are right," Rin's face was gloomy as she got to her feet. She didn't like being helpless to help Kirika, and she vowed to become more proficient at healing in the future. "Saber, Lily, can you bring her. I would ask Archer to but it would be better for him to scout the route to make sure that we aren't intercepted on our way there."

"I will get her," Lily quickly told Saber. "If something happens I trust you to make sure nothing gets close to me and our master Saber."

Though Lily was smiling with something closer to her usual lighthearted expression in her face, Saber could feel the serious trust that was implied in Lily's statement. Nodding in confirmation, she tightened her grip on Excalibur's hilt. She didn't really like Lily all that much, but she understood the spirit under which such a request was made. It was also a spirit that she would not betray, no matter what it took to see that it was so.

"Come on you two, let's go already!" Rin demanded, concern edging into her voice again.

"Coming," Lily answered as she pulled Kirika up over her back. Saber followed a few steps behind her, while Archer ran forward to scout the path.

It was going to be a long night for the group, and though they didn't know it, this was just the beginning.

2-3

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The cessation of all motion imposed a strange order upon the chaos that had overtaken Kirika's mind. Nonsensical images of people and places that she did not recognise, impossible pictures of things that she had never done, all scattered across a dark sky like the countless stars that decorated the night. Under this unfamiliar heaven stood a lonely temple, a ruin in the Greco-Roman style, all the more mysterious for its imperfection. This alone would have been strange enough, but around this structure lay scattered a multitude of things for whose presence there was no discernible meaning. Swords that came out of legend stood planted in the ground next to a rusty spear. Elegant dresses lay draped over a suit of armour that looked as if it were made from the skeleton of a human. Flowers dotted the mirrored floor, over which trickled a thin film of water which had no visible source. This was but the tip of the mountain of curiosities that could be seen here, and the overall impression that this confusion gave put in mind a surrealist's painting of a scattered mind.

Which pretty much described Kirika's state as she was now.

It was only when one looked carefully at the heart of this insane domain, at the center of the ruined temple that was the only visible structure in this otherwise undeveloped land, that one was able to spot the sole inhabitant of this bewildering kingdom. A little girl of about six, staring blankly into space with lifeless golden eyes while curled up with her knees below her chin.

A flash of light, and a new figure intruded upon this most private of areas. A feminine figure, clad in a black jacket with red trims that accentuated her lines in all the right places. Looking left and right, the copper haired woman appeared to search for something. When she spotted the temple a light of recognition filled her glimmering gold eyes, and it was with a gentle smile that she walked into the broken down edifice.

"Hey there, it's time to wake up," she called out softly as she approached the central altar and the girl who sat crouched before it.

There was no reply from the girl, who showed no signs that she had even heard her.

"Hmmm," the young woman knelt down beside the girl and began to stroke her hair. "Come on now. This isn't a place for you to come to yet, especially not when it's all messy like this."

Looking pointedly at a disorganised pile of odds and ends nearby, the woman sniffed disdainfully and flicked a finger. As a result of that motion, the objects that had been the target of her displeasure floated up into the air and began to organise themselves into some semblance of order.

Nodding to herself in satisfaction, the woman turned back to the girl, and smiled as she saw that the girl had woken up from her daze. The doll like face was still blank, but the eyes were full of questioning, as if they were asking 'how did you do that?'.

"Interested?" the woman asked, to which the girl responded with a slow nod. The smile on her face got a little wider as she chuckled and ran her finger's through the girl's long hair again.

"Don't worry, you will be able to do it soon too," she assured her tiny companion. "We did learn it the same way after all. Or is that will learn?"

With a finger to her lips, the woman wondered about how the grammar would work when she described the event in question. Her actions were incomprehensible to the little girl, whose form suddenly shifted into that of a young boy of about twelve as he got up.

"Who are you?" the boy asked, wary of this stranger in this place that he instinctively knew was forbidden to all others but him. "How did you get in here?"

The woman didn't answer, and only stared at him with an odd glint in her eyes.

"Tell me how you got here already!" the boy shouted when he felt that he was being ignored. "If you don't I will - ack?"

"Kyah! So cute!" The woman cut off his angry demands as she took hold of him in a hug that squeezed him tightly to her larger than average chest. "Pictures! Pictures! Where's a camera?"

"Hey, let go!" the boy protested as he struggled to free himself. What was this crazy lady? And why was she so strong?

The woman finally found what she was looking for in a distant pile of junk, and flicked her finger again. This time a digital camera freed itself from the jumble that covered it and flew over to smack into her hand. With the tool ready, she instantly began to click away like there was no tomorrow, and it was only when the camera signaled that its memory was full that she let go of the boy.

"Hee hee, Rin's going to be so jealous," she giggled as she somehow put that camera into a pocket that was far too small for it.

Breathing hard, the boy looked at her angrily. "What was that? Who do you think you are coming in here and doing whatever you want?"

The object of his ire annoyed him even further as she laughed and pat him on the head.

"Why, me? I am just a possibility," she told him. "Much like yourself actually."

"?" The boy stared at her in confusion. What did she mean by that?

When she saw that he didn't understand she gave him a patronising smile, which made him pout when he realised he was being treated like a child.

"There there," she pat him on the head again. "You will understand eventually. For now though, it's time for you to wake up. You don't want to keep everyone waiting do you?"

The boy frowned, wondering why he felt that he should know what she was talking about. While he continued to think, his body slowly began to change again. Getting a bit taller, and a bit filled out in places, 'he' became a 'she' again.

When looked at side by side, one could see the similarities between the two young women. Both had long copper hair and the same basic facial structure, but the older of the two had the beauty that came with maturity, whereas the younger still had some of the doll-like innocence of youth.

"Ready to go?" the older of the pair asked when her counterpart looked up.

"Not yet," replied the younger as she looked at her older image intently. "One more question."

"Ask away," the older women replied cheerfully.

The younger woman nodded and spoke.

"Who am I?"

A soft laugh, a sound like glass chimes ringing in the wind.

"Anyone who you want to be," the one who had been questioned answered. "You, me, all of us. All of us exist somewhere. But that's not what you want to know right now is it?" she paused to look at the younger woman to confirm her thought, and continued when she got a nod. "Very well. Right now, the name you are probably looking for is Emiya-."

-x-x-x-

"Kirika? Kirika?" someone was calling her name. "Kirei! You said she's alright now. Why isn't she waking up?"

"I never claimed that she was awake Rin," answered a heavy voice, which for some reason made her want to punch someone. "I did almost nothing to help her, and I still do not understand how anyone whose soul was so weakened could recover with such speed. If you have any idea I would very much appreciate the sharing of that knowledge."

"Rin, I think she's awake," said someone else. A voice that she couldn't recall at all.

"Kirika? Are you alright?" the first voice, a very familiar one, asked hurriedly as its owner approached her.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a young woman hovering over her with concern obvious in her blue eyes. It was a face that was actually quite prominent in her scattered memories.

"Ri... Rin?" she said somewhat uncertainly.

The uncertainty in her voice must have worried Rin, because the other girl suddenly looked uneasy.

"Kirika? Is something wrong?" she asked Kirika anxiously.

Was there something wrong? When she looked around Kirika saw that she lay on a bed in a dimly lit room with people standing by looking at her. One was a face that was vaguely familiar, for all the wrong reasons if the slight apprehension she felt was any hint, but the other faces were all ones that were new to her.

"Rin," she whispered to herself as she reaffirmed the identity of the girl who she was now certain was a close friend. She turned her eyes towards the tall man who was dressed in the garb of a priest, and frowned. "... Uhm... Kirei?" she whispered uncertainly. She thought she was right, but a part of her insisted that he be called 'kuro-san'.

Rin was looking at her a bit strangely now, but Kirika temporarily ignored the look to examine the other three people in the room.

A tall man with tanned skin and white hair, dressed in a garb that was a strange mix of the old and the new. Closer to her were a pair of pretty young women, who looked like they might be twins judging by the way they looked like mirror images of each other.

"..." Kirika frowned as she tried to think of who these people could be.

"""...""" Tense silence.

"Uhm..." Nothing. She couldn't for the life of her remember who these people were. "Who are you people?"

Archer frowned, while the twins sighed as if they had expected the question. Rin's reaction to her question was unexpected however, as she began to almost glow with anger for some reason as she glared at the tall tanned man.

"Ar-cher..." Rin growled in a voice that promised intense pain for somebody in the near future.

"What did I do?" the man with a really strange name protested.

"You hit her on the head!" Rin shouted. "Why else would she have lost her memory?"

"Oh, come on! You can't expect me to believe that this is because of me!"

"Isn't it? Mind explaining what did it then?" Rin stalked up to the man and jabbed his chest with her finger.

"Ugh..." The man had no ready answer to Rin's demand.

Any further commotion that might have resulted was stopped as one of the twin girls came between Rin and Archer.

"Tohsaka, it's not your servant's fault, so you don't need to question him like this," said the twin who had her hair in a bun. Kirika noted that the white shirt and navy skirt she wore was also a lot more.

"Saber would be correct," said Kirei, backing up the girl's statement. "It's more than likely that whatever caused her mind such stress fragmented her memories, though not too greatly if she can recognise us." He then looked at the twins as if there was something interesting about them. "I wonder how it is however that you two recognise this."

The other twin, the one who had her hair tied back with a large black ribbon sighed.

"We guessed that something was wrong when we felt our connection to our master disappear," she explained. "Or at least that was how I knew. What about you Saber?"

Saber nodded. "I too noticed this. At first I thought that she might have been fatally affected by her affliction, but since this is not so I must assume something happened to her soul which was powerful enough in its effect to destroy the link between master and servant."

... Master? Servant? Judging by the way everyone was talking the good looking guy with the white hair was Rin's servant while the twins were... Her servants? She didn't remember anything about this, but that might be because she had lost her memory if what was being said was any guide.

Rin sat down beside Kirika and smoothed back some stray strands of hair that had fallen across Kirika's face.

"Kirika, what do you remember about the Grail War?" she asked quietly.

"... The what?" Kirika blinked in incomprehension.

Rin flinched and then palmed her face as she mumbled something about how she should have expected something like this.

"A contest of wills between seven mages, who all battle for the prize with the help of seven heroes summoned out of legend," Kirei stepped into the conversation with his oppressively heavy voice. "The war continues until only one magus remains, granting unto that victor the ultimate prize, the holy grail."

Kirika had no idea what the hell Kirei was talking about, and it showed on her face as she stared at him blankly.

"Hmmm, I may have explained that a little too briefly," Kirei mused as he smiled, an expression Kirika had always thought made him look a little villainous. "Tell me Kirika, what is the last thing you remember?"

"Uhm..." Kirika racked her head to try and answer him.

What followed was a quite long session of inquiry as all sides involved tried to gauge what memories Kirika retained and explain to her the situation that she was in. It took a while, but eventually they made out that Kirika generally remembered events up to about a month ago, albeit with large gaps about things that hadn't left much of an impression upon her. She remembered nothing about the Grail War, apart from the fact that Rin had talked about it some time ago, in no great detail.

"Wait a second, Kirei," Kirika raised a hand to stop Rin as her friend continued to fill her in about some of the events that she had forgotten. "You said that this Grail War will continue until only one person remains. What do you mean by that?"

Kirei looked at her with half-closed eyes. "Exactly what I meant Kirika. Is there something you need explained?"

Kirika nodded. "Yes, I do. Am I to understand that we are supposed to kill these other mages?"

"In most cases, yes," Kirei replied with that annoying smirk of his again. "Across the history of this grail war, very few have been the mages who came out of the contest alive."

Kirika frowned. That was not the answer she had wanted to hear.

"And there's no other way to end the war? I mean, there must be a way to avoid killing them all," she pressed the priest for an answer. "Well?"

Rin sighed, and the... Servants, sighed as well. For his part Kirei only smiled at her with a strangely pleased look on his face.

"Technically, no. There are other methods by which you can force a mage to retire from the war Kirika," said Kirei. "You may find however that this will prove a much more difficult task."

"How so?" Kirika asked, she had remembered enough about Kirei by now that she knew that he would answer any questions honestly, though maybe incompletely if he thought the result would be amusing. She needed him to explain this matter fully if she was going to be able to make any decisions.

"Tell me Kirika," Kirei suddenly stopped and got an annoyed look on his face. "No, I suppose that you wouldn't remember anything about the servants themselves. Let me instead ask you which of these two you would think easier to dispatch. Your average, everyday human, or a dead apostle ancestor."

Kirika's face twitched. "Is this a trick question?"

Rin interrupted them. "What Kirei is trying to say Kirika, is that the difference between a servant and your standard magus is that large."

"Indeed," Kirei agreed. "Each servant is a hero out of legend, with the skills to match. If you consider that they also possess the conceptual weapons that helped turn them into legends... It becomes a much more practical choice for anyone involved in this war to target the master instead of the servant."

"Because if the master dies, than so does the servant," Rin finished for Kirei.

Having to take in all of this at once, Kirika was having difficulties accepting it all. Everything within her protested against the taking of life, whether by her hands or by those of another. However, she also understood from her association with Rin that most mages would not hesitate to kill if it got them closer to their ultimate goal. The Root, the Origin, that ˹ ˼ from which all things came. The holy grail that was the prize of this war, if it truly could do what it was supposed to be able to, would be an irresistible prize for all involved.

Struck by the though, Kirika looked towards Rin, her closest friend and someone who in some ways was something beyond a mere friend. If Rin also was a master in this war, didn't that mean that they would eventually have to fight as well? How was she supposed to be able to do that?

That aside, there was the question of the servants as well. They too had wishes they wanted from the Grail as well didn't they? How was that supposed to work? It was all so very confusing, and there was no clear answer to her dilemma that she could identify.

"This would be a good time I think Kirika, to confirm as the Church referee of this fifth grail war, your participation as a master," Kirei suddenly said to her.

Kirika looked up but didn't say anything immediately. Instead, it was Rin who jumped up to glare at Kirei.

"Of course Kirika is participating Kirei! What do you think you are asking her?" she said fiercely.

Kirei looked at his protege condescendingly. "All participants must confirm their participation of their own accord Rin. I also suspect that Kirika is not so sure of her involvement in this contest as you are. Are you so cruel a 'friend' as to ignore her wishes for your own gain Rin?"

Kirei's sneer only accentuated the taunting tone of his words as Rin turned red from embarrassment. Clearing her throat, Rin turned back to Kirika and made as if to say something, but appeared to think better of it and meekly sat down again beside her.

Having sunk Rin where she stood, Kirei turned his attention towards Kirika.

"As you have figured out by now, this is your last chance to give up Kirika. With the connection between you and your servants gone, it's also the best opportunity you could have asked for should you decide as much. In this case you will be under the protection of the Church during the war." The priest's gaze turned hard as he got down to the more serious talk. "Should you decide to participate, you will become a target for other mages, as surely as the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. Your convictions may tell you not to kill, but let me assure you that the others will have no such scruples. Kill or be killed, the strong surviving over the weak. Will you test your convictions against the trials of this war young Kirika? Or will you instead accept the easy way out to return to your normal life?"

Decision time. As Kirei spoke, Kirika had been thinking fiercely, and now began looking for the last few answers that would decide her path.

"Rin, I have to ask you," she said as she turned to look at the other girl. "If I decide to fight, will you fight me?"

Rin bit her lip as the question she had dreaded was asked, but nodded slowly.

"Yes," Rin said quietly as if the word had been forced out of her. "I have to, for my family's honour as well as to reach to goal that my family has been after for these last 300 years." Rin took a deep breath, sat up, and looked Kirika in the eye. "When that time comes, I will come at you with everything I have Kirika," Rin said firmly. "I will try to avoid killing you, but... I can't promise anything. I'm sorry."

Even as she said this, her strong facade appeared to crack, and Kirika noticed that Rin's eyes were a bit moist as the normally confident young woman appeared to shrink into herself. Unable to stand by watching this without doing anything, Kirika moved closer to Rin and put an arm around her friend and spiritual family member. Rin tried to avoid her but Kirika refused to let her, and held onto her firmly, until Rin gave in and let herself slump against the other girl.

Kirika sighed and looked towards the servants. They were all looking at her with looks of doubt and interest in their eyes. Probably wondering what choice she would make and how it might affect them.

Archer first, she decided, and said. "Archer, could you possibly tell me what your wish is?"

The tall servant got a complicated look on his face upon being asked that question.

"I don't suppose I have one really," he finally said after a while. "There is one thing I might ask of the grail I suppose, but I doubt that even the grail would be able to do that."

Everyone gathered there wondered just what Archer's wish was that he was doubtful of the grail's ability to grant it. This when the grail was supposed to be able to grant any wish.

Not really the kind of answer Kirika was looking for, but she supposed it was the best she was going to get from the servant who was beginning to hit her radar as an aberration for some reason. Kirika nodded and looked to the two Sabers that she had supposedly summoned.

"Lily, Saber, what about you two?" she asked them the same question as she had Archer.

"... It is not something I wish to speak of at this moment," Saber said stiffly after a long pause.

Lily raised an eyebrow in response to the way Saber was openly staring at her as she spoke, but Kirika ignored the byplay and tried for another approach to the question.

"Okay, in that case, just tell me if it involves something like world conquest, or turning everyone on the planet into your slaves."

"No! Why in the world would I want to do something like that?" Saber replied quickly, mildly outraged by Kirika's suggestions.

"Oh, good," Kirika nodded. "Lily, you are the only one left."

Lily played with her hair as she appeared to think about the question.

"Hmmm, my wish of the grail Kirika? In that case I would have to say that I wish that I had been born a man," Lily said matter-of-factly.

... Eh?

Everyone, including the normally unshakable Kirei, froze as Lily stated her wish. Kirika herself wondered if she had heard wrong, but no matter how much she went over her memories of the last few seconds, she heard the same thing every time.

"... Excuse me?" Kirika said numbly, needing further explanation for this to make sense to her.

"I wish that I had been born a man," Lily repeated proudly.

"..." Kirika's head was beginning to hurt again. "Why?"

Lily pouted. "Because it would have been more fun! Guys are naturally stronger, so I would have been able to beat that playboy around! No one would have been after me to wear those heavy court dresses either! Most importantly, do you have any idea how much more difficult it is for a woman to make love to another woman? All a guy has to do is stick it in and -."

"That's enough!" shouted a red-faced Saber. "What kind of shameless harlot are you?"

"Hey, I resemble that remark!" Lily replied with a cheeky smile on her face.

"Ha, ha, ha..." Kirika felt drained as all her fantasies about the noble King Arthur crumbled away into dust. She supposed she should feel happier about this since the last of her doubts about the war was solved, but... The revealing of one of Western mythologies greatest heros as a blatant lesbian... Was more than a little shocking to her modest Japanese sensibilities. Archer too appeared to have been K.O'ed by the revelation, as he was crouched over in a corner mumbling, 'this isn't my king Arthur' over and over again.

Well, whatever, Kirika thought as she watched Saber chase Lily about the room. She had made up her mind.

"Hey, Kirei," she called the priest.

"Yes?" he replied as he looked at Lily with the eyes of a scientist watching an experiment gone wrong come to life, a look with equal parts horror and fascination.

"I've made up my mind," Kirika said firmly, and she waited for Kirei to turn and face her before she continued. "I will participate in this Grail War, and I will make sure that none die who do not have to. If that means that I must win the war... Then so be it." Kirika's eyes turned hard, the gold shifting from the warm light of a setting sun into a metallic shine that reflected the strength of her conviction. "I will let no one prevent me from carrying out my will."

Kirei looked at her in silence for a long while, his face so still as to make it impossible to discern what he was thinking. Then, he laughed. A long loud laugh that was full of the malicious joy that Kirika had realised years ago revealed Kirei's true nature.

"Wonderful, wonderful! Such spirit, such strength of will! Why, I haven't seen it's like since I faced Kiritsugu all those years ago!" Kirei surprised Kirika by saying her adopted parent's name, but didn't give her time to comment on it as he continued, subdued now but with steel in his voice. "I, Kotomine Kirei, hereby declare that Emiya Kirika has declared of her own accord her intent to participate in this grail war. Let all know that the seven thrones have been filled, and the battleground set. Under my authority as the church overseer for the war, I pronounce the official beginning of the war. To the victor, glory and power. To the defeated," here he cast Kirika an amused look. "Despair and death, unless they accept the shelter of the Church."

Kirika frowned at Kirei's pronouncement, but kept her counsel about what he should say, more interested for now in how he knew her father.

"Hah," Rin sighed as she stood up. "Melodramatic much Kirei? Come on Kirika, we are finished here."

"Ah, wait Rin," Kirika stopped her and looked at Kirei again. "Kirei, what do you mean you faced my dad? What does he have to do with anything?"

Kirei frowned, as if he wasn't sure why she asked, but soon he was smiling darkly again.

"You did not know?" Kirei asked rhetorically. "Strange, I would have thought that he would have told his heir that he was the winner of the fourth grail war ten years ago."

Kirika stared at Kirei with wide eyes, surprised by what he had just said. Her reaction however was nothing compared to Rin's.

"What? I thought there was no winner in the last war?" Rin shouted, but then froze and looked at Kirika. "Wait a second, your dad? This Kiritsugu person was Kirika's dad? The guy who taught her that crazy method of making her circuits? A mage like that won?"

Kirika frowned again when Rin implied that Kiritsugu was a little... Odd. Still, she had a point, and she didn't want to interrupt Kirei who was about to speak.

"Contrary to the official report, there was indeed a victor in the last grail war," Kirei said in a patronising voice. "Emiya Kiritsugu, a mage who disdained the path of a mage to become the magic-user known as 'Mage-killer'. He and his servant struck down all they faced, until only one remained. Isn't that right, Saber?"

All eyes turned towards the petite servant, who had unexpectedly summoned her armour and had her sword ready as she glared at Kirei.

"Yes, that is right Kotomine," said Saber. "And if I am not mistaken, that last opponent... Was none other than you."

Everyone's gazes followed the end of Saber's arms as she pointed her sword at the priest, and Rin again blew her top.

"You too? And Saber?" she cried out, to which Kirei nodded. "But you never said anything about that!"

Kirei shrugged, as if it wasn't that big a deal. "I was your father's apprentice Rin, what did you think I would have been doing back then?"

"But, but..." Rin palmed her face as she tried to sort through all the sudden revelations that were coming out into the open.

"I am surprised, priest," said Saber, interrupting Rin's train of thought. "How is it that you survived? Kiritsugu won the war as you said, and that means that he must have killed you, his opponent. Your presence here, alive and well, does not make sense."

"I am not sure what happened, servant Saber," Kirei replied solemnly. "All that I know for certain is that while we fought I was near fatally wounded by Kiritsugu. I suppose that the Grail must have decided I had been defeated then, for it appeared before him. After that... Well, I am sure you know better than I would."

Saber's face turned dark at that, as if the memory disturbed her. Kirika would have commented, but she was too busy thinking about something else.

"Kirei, you said this was ten years ago," she spoke hesitantly. "Does that mean that... The fire..."

Kirei sneered, a truly satisfied expression. "Yes Kirika. I do not know what it is that Kiritsugu did with the Grail, but I do know that soon after he went to claim it, the fires descended upon the city."

Kirika's face paled, and her hands shook as she tried to absorb the fact that the person who had saved her and become a role model to her could have been responsible for the disaster that had caused the danger to her in the first place. She looked desperately towards Saber, who seemed to be the only other person who had any answers about that time for her, for any words that might contradict what Kirei had told her, but found no help there.

Saber had her hands clenched tightly around the hilt of her invisible blade as she stared at the floor, saying out loud. "I went with Kiritsugu before the Grail, but when I got there... He commanded me to destroy it."

She fell silent after that, but there was nothing more to be said. Kirei seemed very content about something, whereas Rin had fallen to her knees, as if shocked beyond words that anyone would destroy such a item as the Grail. Lily and Archer were a bit more composed, but the tanned servant seemed troubled by something, and Lily had her mouth tightly shut.

Kirika was no better off than Rin. She had collapsed back onto the bed, still unable to reconcile her memories of Kiritsugu with what she had just heard. It couldn't be possible, she felt, that the Kiritsugu she knew could have done such things. However, she couldn't deny cold reality when it hit her in the face, and she knew that Kirei and Saber had told her the truth. At least as they knew it. Which didn't really make things any better.

"... I don't... Understand..." she muttered. "Why would Kiritsugu have done something like that? It just doesn't make sense!"

Kirika was shouting towards the end, and Kirei looked at her contemplatively.

"Does it really matter?" he asked her.

"What?" Kirika replied angrily, her temper flaring.

Kirei didn't so much as flinch and calmly asked again, "Does it really matter?"

"Of course it matters!" Kirika shouted.

"Why? Tell me that," Kirei questioned her. "His reasons, however incomprehensible are his own. Those of a dead man. Obsessing over them now will not help you, especially not now when you have your own monumental task in front of you."

He could be right, but Kirika did not wish to admit it. Kiritsugu and his teachings were one of the pillars of her self-identity, and right now that pillar was shaking. How was she supposed to focus when she wasn't sure of her own self?

"Kirika, the priest has a point," said Lily, opening her mouth again after a long silence. "Your father, no matter what kind of man he may have been, is now a figure of your past. Dwelling on it can be useful, but you can't let it blind you to the demands of the present."

Was Lily right? Kirika had to think about it for a while. She and Kirei did make a valid point, the grail war was the task immediately before her, and it would demand everything she had if she was to make true the announcement she had made just moments ago. On the other hand, this was Kiritsugu they were talking about. Everything he had taught her, every belief she had taken as her own, they all ran counter to the sort of man who could do the kind of thing he was supposed to have done. Could she fight with her heart uncertain about the very foundation it stood upon? Could she prove her convictions with all these questions within her heart?

It was Archer surprisingly enough who broke the deadlock inside her mind. Striding over to her, he surprised her by suddenly flicking her on the head with his finger.

"Ow!" Kirika yelped and looked to him for explanation.

"You don't have to think so hard about all this," he told her, ignoring her outrage. "Just because Kiritsugu was different in the past, doesn't mean that what you learnt from him was wrong. People change as they get older, and their experiences can change the way they view the world. Think about what he taught you. Does it sound wrong? Is it something that a normal person would think was morally corrupt? No, it doesn't, does it? In that case, just ignore the rest for now. Questioning yourself is something you can do when all your enemies are dead and you have all the free time in the world to do anything you want."

Stunned at first by the flow of words, Kirika stared at Archer. By the time he was talking about questioning herself however, she had a thin smile on her face. He was right. It didn't really matter who Kiritsugu had been in the past, did it? All that mattered right now was that Kiritsugu as a person had been someone she had admired. A champion of justice, whose spirit she had sworn to suceed.

"Thanks Archer," she said as she got to her feet. "I needed that."

Archer ignored her, strangely stiff as he stared blankly into the air. His mouth was moving though, and when Kirika focused her hearing she could make out something along the lines of, '... my god. What was I thinking saying something... I stupid or... the whole point!'.

Strange, but she supposed that everyone had their little oddities. Kirika shrugged and twirled in place so that she was face to face with Kirei as she looked up at his face.

"Archer is right," she told her former teacher and tormentor. "It doesn't matter who Kiritsugu may have been. What he taught me was right. The strength of my own convictions, that's what will be tested now. Not yours, not my fathers, but mine."

Kirei looked more pleased than ever as he looked at her as a teacher might at a pupil who had grown up much better than they had ever hoped.

"I take it then that you still fully intend to do as you said and win this war?" he asked as if to make sure.

Kirika nodded. "Yes, I will. Because that's what's right."

Kirei laughed again, but it wasn't a mocking laughter like it could have been. It sounded more to Kirika as if he had suddenly found joy in life or something. Odd, but that was the closest she could come to describing the emotional tones that Kirei's laughter conveyed.

Kirei calmed down, and coughed as if he found his outburst a little embarrassing.

"Ahem. In that case Kirika, as your guardian and as your former teacher, I can only wish you well for the future." Kirei smiled thinly. "May you find in this war everything that you are looking for."

An odd thing to say to someone, but Kirei was just strange like that. Kirika nodded to him once more and turned to face the others.

"Come on Rin," she said to her friend and possible future rival. "Time to go."

Rin had mostly recovered, and she quickly took her place beside Kirika. She didn't forget however to look back at Kirei before they walked out the door.

"Don't think this is over Kirei!" she called out to the annoying priest. "We will be having words about this later. You remember that!"

"I look forward to it Rin, but let me remind you that the moment you walk out that door the grounds of this church are forbidden to you until either the war ends or you come here, defeated." Kirei sneered. "Feel free to come here before then if you wish to give up though. The Church welcomes all, even cowards."

"Ugh!" Rin grimaced, outmaneuvered once again by Kirei's slippery tongue.

Kirei chuckled, and added another comment as they exited.

"Oh, and don't worry about having to fight Kirika to avenge your father Rin," he called out to them as he came to stand by the door. "Kiritsugu never got anywhere near your father. It was the Matou mage that killed him."

Rin turned around to shout something when Kirei revealed just who had killed her father, but the sadistic priest had already slammed the door to the private room shut. She stood there for a while, apparently torn between kicking the door open to demand answers and continuing on their way out. Finally, she let out a heavy breath and relaxed.

"Damn pseudo-priest," she muttered darkly. "He has a lot of explaining to do once this whole war is over."

After that no words passed between the members of the group as they walked out towards the road that led back home. Each of them had things to think about. Rin wondering about the name Matou and its implications, Kirika about her father, and the servants about their own complicated pasts and their present. So wrapped up in their own thoughts were they that it would have been a silent walk back to the Emiya residence had not their second opponent in this Grail War happened upon them.

2-4

They had just crossed the bridge and were going through the park when she appeared.

"Finally!" They heard a bright young voice exclaim. "I found you onii-chan~!"

With their servants instantly alert for threats, Rin and Kirika were wondering what was going on when a little girl holding a strange stick jumped out of the bushes on the far end of the path they were on.

"That took forever!" she complained out loud as she brushed away a leaf that had stuck to her purple coat. "Never mind though. Now that I've found you I can ki-ki... Huh?"

As everyone on Kirika's side wondered what was going on, the girl began to look up and down between them and the stick in her hand. She appeared to be confused about something as her expression was that of someone who couldn't understand why something was in front of her when it should obviously be something else.

The strange interlude continued for a while longer before the girl finally sighed and threw the stick away into the bushes. For the oddest reason, Kirika felt like telling the girl not to litter, the motion being so similar to that of throwing away an empty juice can after one was done with it.

"Uuuuu," the girl pouted and looked at them annoyedly. "I knew I shouldn't have listened to that stupid old man. What does he mean that worthless stick is a priceless artefact? It can't even find one person!"

Kirika was still confused but Rin had apparently gotten some idea of the situation, and she moved to try and clear things up.

"Excuse me," she called out.

The girl stopped here muttering and turned her eyes to Rin. "What is it oba-san?"

Twitch. Rin froze for an instant before she responded, in a much frostier voice than before.

"That white hair and those red eyes. I had assumed that they indicated that you were a member of the noble Einzbern family, but I must have been mistaken," Rin stressed the word 'noble'. "There is no way that they would have sent such a rude little brat as their representative after all."

When she heard Rin's thinly veiled insult, the silver haired girl put her hands to her waist as she leaned forward to glare cutely at Rin.

"Oh, I'm sorry O-ba-san," the girl apologised, making sure to pronounce each syllable clearly. "I suppose you are one of the local mages that live around here? Let me introduce myself then. My name is Ilyasviel von Einzbern, mage of the Einzbern family. Pleased to meet you all."

The girl curtsied graciously, but then ruined it by spinning nonchalantly in place as soon as she had finished. Rin was near boiling point by now, and Saber didn't look all too happy with their new enemy either. Lily and Archer on the other hand were looking at the little girl almost fondly, as if she were just another child acting as children will.

Kirika was the only one who showed no real reaction to the girl's presence. She was caught up in that odd feeling again, the one where she felt as if she should know something, but the knowledge lay just beyond her reach. The feeling had started up with Ilya's appearance, and had only gotten stronger the longer she looked at her. Frustrating, to say the least.

"Oh, that's right," Ilya said as she clapped her hands delightedly. "Baka-san! That was the name of the family that lived here!"

"That's TOHSAKA you abominable little brat!" shouted Rin, unable to restrain her temper any longer.

Ilya tipped her head sideways, visibly surprised by the correction. Soon enough though she put on a naughty smile and danced around in a small circle.

"Toh~saka, Toh~baka, Chew~bacca," she sang in a charming voice. "Could you please tell me if you know someone called Emiya Shirou?"

"I said that's Tohsaka you -... Eh?" Rin was about to protest against the mangling of her family name when the content of Ilya's request penetrated the red haze of her outrage.

"Did you say Emiya Shirou?" Kirika asked, surprised by the mention of the name she had thought buried amidst the ruins of her past.

Ilya's eyes lit up as she spun around to face Kirika.

"Oh! Do you know where he is pretty nee-san?" Ilya skipped up to them until Saber cut her off her approach.

"Uhm... I guess I do," Kirika said sheepishly.

"Yay! The stick wasn't so useless after all!" Ilya said gleefully. "Tell me, tell me!"

"Well Emiya Shirou is..." Kirika's reply to Ilya's question was delayed as she watched Rin frantically signal for her to stop talking.

"Emiya Shirou is... ?" Ilya's eyes were wide as she focused all of her attention on Kirika. She looked so innocent that even Saber felt a bit of her wariness fade away.

Kirika laughed half-heartedly, remembering all the scary stories Rin and Kirei had told her about what would happen if her identity was revealed to a mage. "That's a bit difficult to explain," she told Ilya as she tried to fumble her way out of the pit she had dug for herself.

Ilya pouted. "Oh come on pretty onee-chan! Tell me! I will even promise that I won't kill you if you do!"

Ilya's bribe sunk the atmosphere instantly as the servants bristled at the implied threat to their masters' wellbeings. Archer summoned Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands, while Saber and Lily took up positions in front of Kirika.

"You go a little too far Ilyasviel," Saber told the Einzbern mage as she planted her sword point down in the ground to reinforce the message.

"Eh?" Ilya looked Saber up and down before she looked at Kirika again. "Is this your servant pretty onee-chan? She looks really weak."

It was Saber's turn to restrain herself as her hands tightened upon the hilt of her sword upon being dismissed by a child.

"Would you care to test that remark Ilyasviel?" Saber said through clenched teeth.

For some reason Lily suddenly became alarmed and was about to say something when she was interrupted by Rin.

"You are pretty confident Einzbern for someone who has three enemy servants in front of them," Rin said in a polite voice. "Or is just that you haven't learned to count yet?"

No sir, Rin wasn't angry about being called 'oba-san' while Ilya called Kirika 'pretty onee-chan' at all.

"You stay out of this oba-san," said Ilya, and followed this up by pulling a redeye at Rin. "It's just that all your servants are so wee~eak."

There was the sound of popping joints, which originated from Rin's closed fist. No sir, Rin wasn't angry at all.

"As I said just a moment ago, Ilyasviel von Einzbern," Saber raised her sword and pointed it towards Ilya's face. "Would you care to. Test. That. Remark?"

Ilya rolled her eyes. "Oh fine! I will just kill all of you and get the answer out of the pretty onee-chan later!" Ilya skipped back and threw up her arms. "Berserker! Get them!"

"-!"

The ground-shaking roar accompanied the grey-skinned giant that emerged from the air behind Ilya. Unshaken, Saber calmly attempted to jump back so as to avoid the wild swing that was aimed at her.

Attempted being the key word here.

"Saber?" Kirika let out an exclamation of surprise as Saber failed to get clear and barely managed to interpose her sword between herself and Berserker's crude sword-axe. Saber herself appeared confused as to why she hadn't been able to get back in time, and was having trouble holding her sword properly as she landed on her feet close to Kirika.

"Heh? Your servant is so weak pretty onee-chan!" Ilya commented as Berserker charged towards them.

Kirika was still too surprised at the way things had gone to react in time, but found herself moving back anyway as somebody grabbed her by the waist. When she looked, she saw that it was Lily. Who, for some reason, had an abashed grin on her face.

"-!"

Sparks flew off Berserker as Archer rained down a storm of arrows upon him, but to no apparent effect. Berserker did not even slow down as he chased down Saber, who had abandoned any thoughts of a direct confrontation in favour of simple avoidance for now.

"Lily, what's going on?" Rin asked as she shot a gandr at the enemy servant, only to see it splatter against Berserker like a drop of water. "Why is Saber so weak right now?"

"It can't be helped Rin," Lily said meekly. "Our link to Kirika was broken, and we are both in the state we were in when we were first summoned."

"Eh?" Rin looked at Lily in consternation. "But that means..."

Lily was staring up at the sky. "Yes. To borrow the words of one of my knights. We are in quite the mess."

"Ha, ha, ha..." Rin's laugh was dry as she took in that information. Looking up at the rooftops where Archer had taken station, she then shouted, "Archer, we need some time! Can you hold Berserker off by yourself?"

"What, alone? With all of you here? Are you kidding me?" was Archer's reply.

Ilya was scornful of Rin's order as well. "Oh please Baka-san. There's no way your pathetic Archer could even hope to scratch my Berserker."

That was it. Rin couldn't take any more.

"Archer!" she shrieked. "I don't care what you do! Take that thing down and show this brat why you don't mess with the Tohsakas!"

Archer made a face, but summoned a peculiar arrow into his hand anyway. He probably would have pulled it out anyway but it went against his grain to reveal one of his hidden aces this early in the game. Oh well, it wasn't as if he could use it immediately anyway. Not unless he wanted to kill Saber as well as Berserker.

Below him, Saber was stuck in a deadly dance with Berserker as she continuously evaded death by the narrowest of margins. Her body was a lot slower than she remembered, and it was only her almost supernatural instincts that allowed her to remain relatively harm free and mobile. Even then she was already covered countless little wounds as the force of Berserker's wild blows turned the air around his crude weapon into a scything blade that tore at her as it passed by.

"-!"

As she ducked under another ground-shattering blow and got the armour on her back torn away in return, Saber realised that this was an opponent that she would have had difficulty against in her best condition. As she was now she had no chance at all, and she belatedly recalled Lily's look of alarm when she had challenged Ilyasviel. Her 'twin' had probably wanted to warn her about just this, but it was too late now, and she doubted she could even maintain this situation much longer.

While Saber put her life on the line to stay alive, Kirika was faced with a different dilemma in the background.

"I can't do that!" she screeched as Rin once again told her how they needed to do things.

"We don't have a choice," Rin snapped. "I would have preferred we use the standard contract as well, but we are only going to get one chance while Ilyasviel is distracted, and the last time you couldn't do it without this."

"But, but..."

"Not the time Kirika," Rin grumbled. "Hurry up and do it!"

"..." Kirika glanced nervously at Lily, and then at Saber who was barely staying beyond Berserker's reach as Archer distracted the grey giant with his arrows.

Ilya must have gotten a little tired of the cat and mouse game between Berserker and Saber, because she stamped her foot and shouted, "Berserker! Ignore Rin's servant and just take care of Saber! Those piddly arrows can't even hurt you anyway!"

Archer was being looked down on a lot these days.

"Enough dithering," Rin said impatiently. "Lily, just do it!"

"My pleasure," Lily said cheerfully.

Kirika looked at her servant a little fearfully, unnerved by the way she was being looked at.

"Now master," the white knight whispered in a hushed voice. "I would like to take my time and enjoy this like before (before? was Kirika's sudden thought) but Saber's situation requires me to help her quickly, so-."

Moving faster than any normal human could, Lily suddenly ambushed Kirika before she could even think of resisting. Kirika's gasp was smothered as Lily covered her mouth with her own, and Kirika felt her lips being forced open. Something sticky and coppery was passed between them, and her breath cut off until she was forced to swallow. Only then did Lily let her go, and Kirika slumped against her servant as she coughed and gasped for air.

Her head was in such a muddle from the unexpected kiss that Kirika missed what went on for a few seconds after that. She unconsciously did everything that was asked of her, but when she could think clearly again it was to see Berserker leaping at them like some gigantic wrecking ball of doom.

Fight or flight, the ancient equation. Unable to decide, everything slowed down as Kirika's instincts fought each other to a standstill. Sound faded, and Kirika's world shrank until it encompassed only that which she could see. The grey giant flying through the air, Lily shouting for her to get down, and a bright speck of light in the corner of her eyes. She saw everything with an unnatural clarity, but was unable to do anything as her body refused to act as she wanted it to.

She didn't know what it was that first signalled a return to normal perception. It might have been Berserker's sudden twist in mid-air to face something, or it might have been Lily crashing into her so that they both went down to the ground. Whatever it was, sound returned to her world, and it announced its reappearance in the most violent manner possible.

"-!"

As loud as Berserker's roar was, it was dwarfed by the explosion that rocked the still night air. Kirika's ears popped as the overpressure wave passed over her, and if the heat was as intense as it felt, she thought she might have a mild burn on the side of her that faced the epicentre of the blast.

Somebody shook her shoulder. When she looked she saw Lily as she lay on top of her, saying something that she couldn't hear through the ringing in her ears. Kirika motioned her condition to the servant, who nodded as she realised what was wrong and stood to let her up.

Kirika took the offered hand and let Lily help her to her feet. The temporary damage to her ears had thrown her sense of balance out of whack as well, and she doubted she could have stood up without her servant's help.

The flames that the explosion had left behind illuminated park with a ruddy light as Kirika looked around for Rin. She had just located Rin as the other girl got up from behind a concrete decoration, when something hit her foot.

"A... Sword?" Kirika mumbled to herself as the odd item faded out of existence as she watched.

Error - cataloguing of item: Caladbolg failed. Reason: Parallel line personality actualisation UBW impossible. Conciliating.

First Shard activation - Successful. Possibility assimilation and registry function, beginning operation.

Kirika felt her a headache coming on as she thought about the strange missile she had just seen. She called it a missile because she somehow knew that the strange twisted sword had caused the explosion, and that it had come from Archer. How she knew this was a mystery, but dwelling on the matter made the headache worse, and so she ignored it for now.

"Ow," Rin was looking at a skinned elbow as she walked up to them. "Stupid Archer, he could have given us more warning if he was going to do something like this."

Oh, she could hear things again. Kirika nodded in agreement with Rin as she looked around for Saber.

"Do you think it was enough?" she asked as she looked around for any signs that Berserker had survived, even as she searched for Saber, who she had last seen jumping away from the enemy servant.

"I think so," said Rin. "I mean, that was an A rank attack no matter how you look at it. No servant could have survived a direct hit like that."

"..." Kirika wasn't so sure, and apparently neither was Lily. The fair haired knight was on her guard as she stared intently at the heart of the flames that licked the crater that Archer's attack had created.

"Be careful," Saber warned as she trudged out of the bushes nearby. To Kirika's relief she didn't look much worse than before. "I can still sense Berserker."

"You are joking," Rin stated flatly as she turned to look at the crater.

With little fuel to burn on, the flames had retreated, and they could see the still form of the huge servant through the heat rippled air. Missing an arm and a significant portion of the upper chest, he would under any normal circumstances have been declared dead. As they watched however, the hulk began to move, and all those there were treated to the sight of a servant defying the laws of nature to restore their body from a fatal wound.

"Regeneration?" Rin wondered out loud as she observed the way that Berserker's body returned to normal. "No, that's more than simple regeneration. It's more akin to an overturning of a result. But, how?"

"Your servant is more interesting than I thought at first Baka-san," Ilya said as she reappeared from wherever she had hidden herself, interrupting Rin's train of thought. "He actually managed to take off one of my servant's twelve lives."

"Twelve lives?" Rin frowned as that phrase pinged something in her brain. "That strength, ignorance of damage, and that restoration. It can't be that..."

"You are right! My servant is Hercules!" Ilya clapped in congratulation of Rin solving the mystery of Berserker's identity. "For his labours in life he was granted immortality by the gods after death. My Berserker is invincible!"

"Hercules..." Kirika murmured.

Ilya's casual revelation of her servant's true name went against all common sense in this grail war, but it was understandable. Hercules was a mythological figure famous across the world and there was nothing in his legends that might prove a critical weakness to him. Ilya had nothing to lose from telling them this, and the knowledge that they faced the greatest of Greek heroes was enough to give anyone pause.

"I admit that I looked down on your Archer, Baka-san," Ilya continued. "But I bet he can't do that again though~."

Rin didn't reply to Ilya's teasing assertion. Saber and Lily were quiet as well. They knew very well what Archer had just done. Though they didn't understand why he would have done such a thing, they knew the cost involved and were silent in the knowledge that Ilyasviel was absolutely correct.

Which left Kirika wondering by herself what the heck Ilya was talking about. Why wouldn't Archer be able to do that again? It was just another arrow wasn't it?

"Anyway, this is boring now," Ilya said sullenly. "I need to find Shirou nii-san, and for that I need that pretty nee-chan over there. So, Berserker! Beat aside that weak Saber and grab the girl!"

"-!" Berserker roared in answer to his master's order.

"Master, get back!" Saber shouted as she ran over to bar Berserker's way. Though she knew she had no chance of stopping him, in her current condition it was the only thing she could do. Hopefully her sacrifice would give Kirika time to retreat with Rin.

In so doing however, Saber had completely forgotten about Lily's presence on the battlefield.

"Ah~ah Ilya-chan," Lily wagged her finger at the doll-like girl as she strode confidently past Saber. "To get to our master, first you have to get past me!"

Lily swung her sword at Berserker, and a golden arc inscribed itself onto the darkness. Clashing with the charging giant, the dazzling light tore through the arm of Berserker to cut deeply into the body beneath. With his arm lost again and a gaping wound in his chest Berserker's dead body continued on for a few steps, carried on by the inertia of his charge, but soon stopped and crashed to a stop onto the ground.

"Berserker?" Ilya's eyes were wide. "What? No way! How did your servant get so much stronger all of a sudden pretty nee-chan? Berserker just lost four lives!"

"Four?" Lily got an unsatisfied look on her face as she herded Kirika away from the temporarily fallen servant. "Only four? I suppose I should have expected that from that way he moved at the last moment, but nevertheless..."

Ilya was obviously upset now. Looking back and forth between Berserker and Lily with frustrated tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Uuuuuuu," Ilya turned her attention to Saber, who had restored her wounds but was still just as weak as she had been when the fight began, if not weaker. The two servants were obivously of the same class, but why were they so different in power?

Noticing Ilya's interest in Saber, Lily glanced at Kirika. "Kirika, could you please recreate the link between you and Saber right now? Something tells me that we will need her at full strength."

Kirika's face went red as an apple, as did Saber's. Neither of them was comfortable with the idea of doing that, especially with another girl. Lily's request however had the effect of tipping the balance of Ilya's considerations, and the little girl let out a shrill shriek of frustration.

"Berserker, come! We are going back," she ordered her servant, judging the situation to be against her. "I'm going home for today, pretty onee-chan. Wait for me though, because I will be getting some answers from you!" Leaving that promise behind Ilya clambered onto Berserker's shoulder with his help. "Oh, and Baka-san? Meh~!"

Ilya stuck out her tongue at Rin over Berserker's back as the grey giant strode away into the night. Rin was too tired to respond to the provocation however, and she simply shook her head as she watched the pair go.

"First you summon king Arthur, and now the Einzberns pull out Hercules from under their robes. How ridiculous is this grail war going to get?" Rin asked of the world in a weary tone.

"Cheer up Rin, at least no one got hurt," said Kirika as she tried to find the bright side in all this.

"For which we were very lucky," Rin reminded her, eyes flashing. "I can't believe we forgot to restore the connection between you and your servants before we left the church!"

"..." Kirika didn't regret the lapse, and for a good reason. "Rin, there was no way I was going to do that anywhere near that place. Do you think Kirei would ever let me live it down if he saw me like that?"

Rin thought about it, and realised that Kirika was right. The sadistic priest would have delighted in being able to sit Kirika down in order to lecture her about the evils of same sex relationships, regardless of the truth of the matter.

"They are gone Rin," said Archer as he came down from the rooftops. "I just saw Ilya get picked up by a car."

"Thank goodness for small mercies," Rin muttered. She hadn't been sure that the rude little brat had really gone.

"Saber, are you alright?" Kirika asked her servant, concerned about the damage that she had seen her take.

Saber looked down at herself. Her armour was in pieces, the blue dress underneath torn and stained with blood where she had suffered wounds.

"A healing spell would be greatly appreciated if possible master, but there is nothing that will hinder me in future battles if that's what you mean," Saber replied once she had gauged her current condition.

"Let me take care of that," said Rin who had overheard. "Kirika isn't that good with healing and restoration."

Rin got out a small stone, and whispered a few words. A soft blue light enveloped Saber, and when it was gone the servant stood there in perfect condition again. At least externally.

"Thanks Rin," Kirika said gratefully. There was no way she could have done that all at once like Rin just had. She would have had to treat one wound at a time, and each one would have taken longer to take care of than Rin's spell just now.

"Thank you Tohsaka-san," Saber bowed slightly towards Rin as she expressed her gratitude.

"I told you, call me Rin," replied the young but skilled mage. "How's your condition now Saber?"

Saber frowned. "Not very good I'm afraid. Fighting with Berserker wearied me much more than it should have. I don't have any problems maintaining my existence for now, but I wouldn't be able to fight another battle until I've restored my reserves of magic power."

"That's why I tried to stop you Saber," Lily told her twin. "It was a bit rash of you to challenge Ilya like that when you knew what state you were in." She paused. "You did know what state you were in, didn't you?"

Saber coughed softly and looked away. "I was a little, distracted. And... I may have temporarily forgotten when Ilya announced her intentions towards our master."

"Silly Saber," Lily chuckled.

Saber coughed again, louder this time. But then, there wasn't much she could say. She had forgotten about her condition, and she had underestimated their opponent. There was no refuting that she had made a mistake.

"Well, I'm tired, and the rest of you must be tired too after everything that's happened," said Rin. "Hurry up and redo your contract with Saber so we can go home Kirika."

"Hah?"

"..." Saber had frozen up.

When Kirika showed no signs of moving anytime soon, Rin sighed and wagged a finger at her.

"We can't leave this till later Kirika. What will we do if we get attack again on the way home?" she waited for an answer but didn't get any from Kirika. "In any case, it's not as if it's your first kiss. Or even your second or third for that matter."

Kirika was staring up at the starry night sky, wondering just which god had decreed that all of her kisses would be with others of her own sex.

When neither Kirika or Saber moved from their spots, Rin frowned slightly and shared a conspiratory look with Lily.

"Again?" she asked the open minded knight.

"Yes," Lily nodded.

"Uhm, just a minute Rin. I feel much better now," Saber told them as she began to creep away from them. "Really, I do. There's no need to rush. I am sure we can do this later. Are you listening Lily?"

"Grab her Lily!" Rin suddenly shouted. "Get her over here!"

Realising that her attempts to delay the event were pointless, Saber tried to run. Weak as she was however, she was unable to get very far before the fully powered up Lily grabbed her and dragged her back despite her strident protests about the indecency of the whole thing.

"..."

"..."

Kirika and Saber tried not to meet each other's eyes as they were forced close to each other by Rin and Lily. Both were red-faced, and their hesitation over the act required was not helped by the two other girls who were hanging over them.

"Uhm, Rin," Kirika spoke up as she accepted, in her head if not her heart, that they were going to have to do this sooner or later. "If we are going to do this, could we get some privacy? It's a bit embarrassing with everyone looking at us."

"Archer, turn around," Rin ordered immediately. "And wipe that goofy grin off your face."

"If anyone has a goofy face around here, it's Lily," Archer replied drily as he obeyed Rin's order. He wasn't so shy that he wouldn't admit to taking a degree of perverse pleasure in watching Saber make out with another girl, but if ordered not to he wouldn't.

Kirika watched him turn around, but raised an eyebrow when no one else moved.

"Don't mind me, I've seen it all before," Lily said with a bright smile on her face. "Carry on."

"What? It's not as if I haven't kissed you either," said Rin when Kirika looked at her after she had glared at Lily.

Kirika sighed. "Rin, Lily, you too."

Lily looked at her plaintively, but acquiesced to Kirika's demand when her master didn't so much as flinch. Rin too seemed to want to keep looking, but saw the growing annoyance in Kirika's eyes and quickly turned around.

With the audience gone, Kirika carefully snuck a look at Saber, but found that Saber was staring at her at the same time.

"..." Saber was fidgeting with her fingers.

"Uhm..." Kirika had no idea what to say.

It took a while before either of them drew up the courage to speak, and when they tried to do so it was at the same time as the other. Which only ended with both of them urging the other to talk first.

"You go first Saber."

"Ah, no. You first master."

A standoff again.

"..."

"..."

As the seconds ticked by, the atmosphere grew more and more uncomfortable for both of them. It was only when Rin cleared her throat to signal that they were taking too long that Kirika sighed and got a little closer to Saber.

"..." Her face only inches from Saber's, Kirika could feel herself going red from embarrassment.

Saber wasn't much better, and was visibly shaking as she tried to keep herself from moving away.

"Uhm... I'm really sorry about this," Kirika said meekly as she bobbed her head.

Saber blushed and shook her head. "It's not a problem master. We are only connecting a pass between us after all."

Contrary to the ease conveyed by her words, Saber's hands were opening and closing as she fought her nervousness about the whole deal.

"..."

"..."

There was nothing more they could say really, and Kirika knew that if they didn't do something soon Rin or Lily was going to lose patience and do it for them. Knowing that whatever Rin and Lily did would be much more embarrassing than a simple kiss would be, Kirika took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and leant in towards Saber.

A short eternity passed by for Kirika as she sensed Saber's lips approach hers. Just before they would have touched, both of them froze, restrained by the morals that they had grown up with. That moment soon passed, and the two of them made contact. Kirika felt Saber jump as their lips met each other, and knew that she had done the same. They fumbled clumsily like that for a while, neither of them very sure as to how they were going to get this done. Finally, remembering how Lily had done it earlier, Kirika covered Saber's mouth with her own.

"Mmph?" Saber gasped, and Kirika almost choked as she felt some air go down her throat. Despite this she maintained the contact, and hesitantly stretched her tongue into Saber's mouth.

To her surprise Kirika felt a sweet taste at the end of her tongue when she entered Saber's mouth, and she stopped for a second to enjoy it. When she came back to her senses, it was to the realisation that Saber was trying to pass something across through their joined mouths and into her. Remembering that this was one of the last steps, Kirika carefully accepted the sticky coppery fluid and swallowed it.

Task complete, Kirika opened her eyes and found Saber's green eyes staring into her own. She became lost in those pools of turquoise for a while, feeling as if she were floating in the warm waters of the Carribbean. It was such a comfortable feeling in fact, that Kirika only remembered that she was still kissing Saber when she heard someone gulp loudly somewhere to their side.

Shocked back to her proper senses, Kirika jumped back from Saber and turned towards the rest of the group. To her displeasure she found that all three of them had turned back to look at them as they... Made a connection.

"Rin! Lily! I thought I told you not to look!" she cried out with her face cherry red from mortification.

"Sorry, sorry," Rin put up a hand in apology. "It's just that you were taking so long, and I got curious."

That wasn't the only reason, but never was Rin going to admit to Kirika that over last few days she had begun to wonder if she was bisexual.

Lily said nothing and backed away from the angry pair. She had never been one for excuses, and she wasn't about to start making them now.

Archer was quiet, but had a smug smile on his face that none of them could see as he stood facing the other way from where Kirika and Saber had been. Having a clairvoyance rank of C had its advantages. An eyesight good enough to pick out individual strands of a person's hair from a tiny reflection being one of them.

"You people..." Saber said ominously in a shaking voice. "Learn some manners already!"

Roaring like a lion on the savannah, Saber leapt after Lily with her invisible sword held high. Since she hadn't completed the connection ritual yet, Lily was easily able to keep beyond her enraged twin's reach, and it took a while for Rin and Kirika to defuse the situation.

This was pretty much the last event of the night. After she had calmed down, Saber swore to serve as Kirika's sword once more, and then everyone returned to the Tohsaka mansion to unburden themselves of the fatigue from the night's activities behind the formidable wards of the estate. For the four girls this involved going to sleep, while the lone full astral retreated to the rooftop, where he spent the lonely hours of dawn thinking about his past and his future. One and the same for him, yet twisted somehow in this strange version of his world that he found himself in. What that meant for him was a mystery beyond his ability to ken, but he had high hopes.

It wasn't as if he had anything to lose by hoping after all.