This is an original fiction, set in the Fate/Stay Night universe. Attempts have been made to explain mechanics where needed, but novices will likely be in over their head, if unfamiliar. Most parts were written by me. Saber and Lacie's parts were written by a friend in real-life, who goes by the handle RagDollPuppy. As usual with something like, this, all hail Nasu and Type-Moon, and this universe belongs to them, along with characters, names, concepts, etc., they came up with. Most characters are original. If you can look up their name and find them on Type Moon wiki, then they're not ours. Finally, please don't steal this. We'd be quite cross. If you wish to post this somewhere else, just fire me a message! I don't bite. :)

Fate/False Sacrifice

Chapter 5:

Assassin

In an apartment suite, there was a woman only referred to as 'Mistress' To the outside, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary, except perhaps to the right sort of discerning magus. The spell of hypnotism was top-class, and one would have to actually look to know that there was a 'Lair' worthy of a Dead Apostle, were this 'Mistress' interested in her subjects blood.

Her purpose, was the Holy Grail War. Assassin thought he had known the purpose, to kill the other servants and gain dominion over the Holy Grail, but her actions were incomprehensible to him as it was right now. Fortunately, he wasn't one given to angsting, and preferred simple solutions. In short, he'd just ask her, this mysterious woman who seemed shy beyond belief, and yet had these luxurious surrounding built by her own design. She clearly had a complex, was what he thought.

"Master, why did you spare Albert?" She was sprawled on the couch, just looking at the ceiling. There were fourteen servants she had underneath her command, but she made all of them stay outside her room so she could think in peace. What a troublesome woman, he didn't like that she made no sense to him.

"Well, I don't want anyone to die." Assassin blinked. "I can't control it that the servants have to die, but if at all possible, I want the masters to live. My closest friends are among them, and the other ones potential friends. I couldn't hurt them." This view was so…foreign to him. He had been a samurai in an age of killing others just to show off ones technique, so for her to completely be the opposite was rather strange to him.

However, they were well suited to each other on second thought. He had rejected that way in the end, preferring the execution of the technique, to the senseless killings that had pervaded his early life. So, he could sympathize somewhat with someone who didn't want to kill, if simply by that it was an opposite from something he saw as demeaning.

The other end of that, was the inevitable conclusion that this would mean he would have to fight those other classes of servants, and would not go a roundabout way to kill the master, which was what would be expected of the servant class Assassin. Going up against these heroic spirits was exhilarating, and he wished for many fights against them. Of course then, he would accept any sort of path where he would face more of them. To prove he was invincible under the sun, he had to fight every one of them and prove himself superior.

Lily's thoughts looked to the future as well. The servants that Assassin had faced so far were, Saber, Rider, and Berserker for a brief enough moment after Rider. It was not enough intelligence, but she placed her odds at good so long as Noble Phantasms didn't get mixed in. That was not enough however. Of course a Noble Phantasm would be used. But, if Assassin could play on the honor of these combatants and strike where they were weak…it might be possible.

Really, to have to use honor as a sneaky way to win a battle, it was too much, she mused. But, at the very least, she could give those servants a good way to go, defeat in battle, like they wished. They didn't belong in this world, those heroes of old. Todays world wasn't one of duels to the death in honorable battle, it was one of complex ideologies. They didn't fit, these simple-minded knights of yesterday. Musashi was not one. His life was as an artist, not as a warrior, he had been a master of so many things other than killing. Such a person was more suited to the modern world than a brute who thought they could prove they're right through mortal combat.

Albert

Truthfully, now he wondered if it was a good idea. On his way up the stairs he had a million thoughts about the ways Lacie could beat him in this situation. A master of runes certainly would be able to create a sanctuary resistant to penetration. She was also, he had to admit, a better magus in combat than him. And she had Saber, the class almost guaranteed to be strongest.

That last fact gave him hope however. Rider was Charlemagne and Saber was Roland. They were relatives pitted against each other by insane coincidence. They had stated how they didn't wish to fight, so at the very least they didn't wish to fight.

He gave a small smile, not of victory or anything positive like that. It was more like the smile of someone damned to execution. Lacie had ample reason to kill him. He had been one of those who doubted her, and publicly decried her magic, like a true magus would. It all depended on his apology. That was bad. He wasn't very good at apologies.

He came all the way up to the floor that the attendant had told him about. The number….221. Slowly, he approached the doorway, and was about to lightly rap his knuckle on the hard wood, but, right before he knocked he heard an aggravated voice from inside "Come in."

He pressed his hand to the handle, and turned, no resistance. Possible traps from any angle as soon as he came in, so he pushed open the door without actually entering. A prepared prana packet could push him any way if there was a trap that he could dodge on reflex. Worse probably, would be Lacie standing right there, ready to punch his face in, though.

His nightmare of Lacie being there ready to bash his face in was not far from the truth. Looking through, he saw her standing in a mess of papers and books, twirling one of her brace knuckles on one of her index fingers. "You have more guts than I thought, Albert. Why are you here?" She said with a chilling stare.

Shit. That image of her standing there was a bit more intimidating than he thought. He couldn't give an apology to that, so maybe she'd…"I'm here for an alliance. I have Berserker's stats. Neither of us can beat him alone, so I thought we should team up together. Our servants are already averse to fighting anyways, so this'll keep us from wasting command seals." An intellectual approach. It didn't express what he felt in his heart, but mayhaps that was better when he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Lacie raised her eyebrow "Interesting, in the case that we do form an alliance, what are we going to do about the problem of our Servants? Before we join we should determine how we'll end this." Albert raised his eyebrow as well. "They are Charlemagne and Roland, they…" The servant materialized next to him casually, so quietly he only noticed it through that bond master and servant share. Rider was bold.

"*I* don't wish to fight my nephew. I'm sure he feels the same, if he would materialize and state it." Albert couldn't see Rider's gaze, but he was sure that it rested on Lacie with a grim, steely demeanor fitting the servant. Albert wondered at his statement though. Roland had been eager to fight before, and he seemed the type to glory in this combat. Charlemagne had given himself to an ideal, while Roland was a brash knight, even though they were related.

As if in response Roland materializes but Lacie starts before he can speak "That is exactly the problem I'm getting at. If me and Albert join forces and are the last two standing then how is this going to be settled. True, I could simply fight and kill Albert myself at the end with little worry of interference but that is not ideal." Now Lacie stared Rider in the eye as if to say she's not afraid of him.

Rider nodded simply. "There is a simple answer to that. I'm not sure if you have thought of it yet, Roland, you were always brash, but once we have our mutual survival guaranteed, a fight would be fine. There's a logical side to this. You know my wish, Roland, and if I were to lose, you could carry this wish as well as I could." Roland had given his life in pursuit of that dream after all. Charlemagne had worked his entire life for it. A unified Europe, though that was just one step. A unified world, where all of God's children didn't have to live in that agony of existence.

Lacie turned to her Servant, awaiting for a response. "I...I understand. If that's what it takes, I will fight my uncle in the end, only at the end. I look forward to our duel, uncle, I'll give it everything I've got." His pale Master smiled at that response. "Of course, Charlemagne is the more intelligent of the two."

This struck Roland and Albert as ambiguous, neither of them were sure which of them she had been insulted. She walked over to a pile of books and pulls out one labeled: Imyndunarafl, which seems to be gibberish. "If we're to fight together we need to understand each other. This book is a compilation of Norse sagas and legends that I have put together." She hands the book to Albert and offers to shake his hand.

Albert, hesitantly extended his hand. He hadn't really believed that he would get through this conversation with such a half-assed attempt, but Rider had carried the rest of the way for him. With that, he guessed the apology wasn't really necessary…

Buts, as Albert shaked her hand, she rapidly punched him the nose with her left, catching him off guard. Luckily however the she didn't have strengthening magic nor her brass knuckles on. "That's for revealing my Servant so early in the game." This kind of response is to be expected. Still, it hurt like hell.

Albert rubbed his jaw, after stumbling backwards, releasing her hand. He trained his body like all magi, but still, he had never actually taken a punch before. "H-hey, mine was revealed too!" And his notes on various cultures were destroyed by her dramatic entrance. Forget that apology, she was a damned annoying woman.

?

Thump.

It had a heartbeat that wasn't there, a perfect imitation of life, down to the smallest detail, but it still seemed empty to the entity that had no name. All that gave it form and substance was one thing. Magic. And the form of others.

A true heartbeat emanated around 30 meters forward. There were spells surrounding the location, but those were easily circumvented. It had the knowledge of a magus, and everything that entailed, so it could simply use that magus to understand these barriers and destroy them.

It was somewhat like those foods with a hard outer shell, like a coconut. One had to crack the outer layer before they could go inside. But, this creature had such a hunger, and such a shapeless nature, that it could simply break through all the layers at once.

Perhaps, to the magus inside, it seemed like all the walls collapsed, and shadow seeped in through every crack, but that conceptualization of his existence didn't last for long. Soon, he was part of that shadow, and his essence was absorbed into the whole.

One step closer to the vague goal in its mind, the creature gathered the prana of this meager soul, along with its knowledge. Soon, it would be able to predict the path that would lead to that promised time.