Wait, what?
"I fail to see the problem. If there's two grails that means two wishes, what's the big problem?" Rin asked.
"Well, there's only the fact that we have servants walking around without any actual masters. But don't worry it's not like they're out to kill us or anything." Archer sarcastically commented.
"While Archer here was no doubt being sarcastic he does bring up a good point. Problem is that doesn't even begin to explain the magnitude of what we're dealing with." The Grail continued on, unfazed.
"How bad could it be?" Arturia asked, "Servants, while powerful, are still servants and can be destroyed."
"This is indeed true but have you given any thought to where they could've come from?" The Grail conceded.
"Why, that's easy. The Grail, wait a minute…" Rin answered.
"Why have they been summoned?" The Grail finished.
"It couldn't possibly be for another Grail War, could it?" Rin asked.
"Good try but no. Allow me to explain. If you'll recall how I said there was another Grail…" The Grail started explained.
"Wait, don't tell me that you're going where I think you are with this?" Illya piped in.
"Sharp kid." The Grail complimented.
"Thanks." Illya replied.
"Now, allow me to explain exactly what we're dealing with. There is a second Grail but unlike myself, the original, this Grail has been corrupted beyond redemption by the use of the human sacrifice used in it's summoning." The Grail explained.
"Wait, you can mean?" Arturia gasped.
"The one and the same." The Grail clarified.
"But I destroyed it, I saw it disintegrate myself." Arturia protested.
"And that should've been the end of it and this is where things get a bit complicated and involved. When you attempted to destroy the Grail it suffered irreparable damage, or at least what would've been irreparable without outside help." The Grail explained.
"Outside help?" The group asked, incredulous.
"When it was slowly falling apart the other Grail reached out for mana that would've allowed it to regenerate itself. It couldn't survive without it since the Grail is a massive vessel that is an intricate network of Magic Circuits, a network that had been severed in far too many places to continue working. However, this Grail found a source of mana, a Magus to be exact. I believe you have met him before, yes?" The Grail explained.
"Wait, you can't possibly be saying…" Rin gasped.
"I am. The Dark Grail reached out to the one individual it knew would help it willingly. Kotomine was an extremely cooperative accomplice in this. After all, he had everything to gain and nothing to lose." The Grail continued.
"What could he possibly gain from having all his magic circuits being ripped out?" Rin asked.
"It's quite simple. The Grail, even with his circuits, couldn't repair its magic circuits to the point that would allow it to repair itself, so it opted for a far simpler option. It opted for a far simpler option. It saved Kotomine's life and used his magic circuits to slowly restore itself to its full power. This, in effect, turned Kotomine into the Dark Grail and he is at the same time the Kotomine you knew and the Dark Grail." The Grail explained.
"Ok, that's great and all but if Kotomine is the Dark Grail, why even bother summoning servants? Why not just use his limitless power to kill us and get whatever it is he wants?" Rin asked.
"Oh, trust me. He has certainly tried and he was quite persistent. Unfortunately for him, I've had centuries of experience with my powers while he has had mere days. I've been able to keep him contained up until now and nearly succeeded in destroying him but he had learned to use enough of his powers by that point to escape my grasp." The Grail explained.
"And so he summoned Servants to destroy you since that is the one being capable of controlling you?" Rin guessed.
"Yes, which brings me to why I need your help. I need you to destroy the Dark Grail since I cannot do it myself since we would simply cancel each other out given that we are copies of each other. I also cannot risk revealing myself where any of his servants could use their powers to destroy me." The Grail asked.
"But if what I did last time didn't do the trick, how are we supposed to destroy it for good this time?" Arturia asked.
"That is the simple part, the Dark Grail is still bound by the same rules as myself. It must grant any wish of the holder; even if that wish should be that it destroys itself. The plan is quite simple, a Servant must touch it when there is no one to oppose them." The Grail explained.
"That's great but I doubt any of those Servants are going to do that if we ask nicely." A voice complained from the edge of the room.
"Shirou! Are you ok?" Arturia asked in a worried tone.
"I'm fine, I hurt all over but I'll live." Shirou groaned.
"Well, looks like we're all here so I'll just outline the plan. Archer and Arturia will need to defeat all of the Dark Grail's servants and use their powers to wish for the Dark Grail to destroy itself." The Grail finished.
"You mean that you're going to…" Arturia started.
"Yes, I'm restoring your Servant powers. And you needn't worry about after the Dark Grail is destroyed; you won't be dragged back to your own time. You are simply being given the powers you had as a Servant, you aren't being turned into one and these powers will disappear after the Dark Grail has been dealt with." The Grail explained, noting the fear in Arturia's eyes.
"Additionally, I should warn you that the servants Kotomine is summoning are mostly from your time. Don't be surprised if you see a few familiar faces." The Grail continued.
"Familiar faces?" Arturia asked.
"Yes, I only know the identities of a few of the servants but you already know the Archer he has summoned. I do know the identities of these servants. Saber, as you may have guessed, is Mordred. Caster is Morgan le Fay. Lancer is The Black Knight. I will attempt to discover the identities of the others but you may have to figure them out on your own." The Grail revealed.
"Well, it's a start. But if the Dark Grail can stop time whenever it wishes, as I suspect it was behind the incident just now, what is to stop it from freezing us in place and then just destroying you that way?" Rin asked.
"I have to admit I was surprised by that move but I should be able to stop the Dark Grail from directly affecting you. Now if you'll excuse me, I should be going before my presence here comes to the attention of our enemies. I will be in touch if anything should come to light." The Grail said, before leaving.
"Well, it beginning to sound like the Grail War all over again, doesn't it?" Shirou said as the Grail left.
"Yeah, and that's what scares me. I don't doubt there will be more victims this time, Kotomine will no longer be bound by the Council of Mages rules against bringing the existence of Magi to the knowledge of the general public. We are on our own out here since the council is undoubtedly aware of the futility of stopping him now that he has the power of the Grail at his disposal." Rin noted, "But unless I miss my guess you should have more of your powers now than you did then, don't you Arturia?"
"Yes, generating my own mana should be no problem. Also I've regained all of my powers, including the ones that I had to do without due to my… irregular summoning." Arturia said in a tone that was all business.
"Well, that's a relief. Let's just hope Kotomine is unaware of that fact." Rin replied.
"The real question now is where are we supposed to find Kotomine? We really need to take care of him before he harms too many innocents." Shirou quietly said.
"No, Shirou. We need to wait, you're still not fully healed and we can't take any risks because I don't doubt that Kotomine is going to center his efforts on killing you and Arturia for revenge." Rin rebutted.
"That's nonsense. I'm not just going to sit here and let him kill more innocents if I can help it!" Shirou said.
With that said Shirou tried to get up but only managed to make it two steps before collapsing to the floor. Arturia ran over to him to see if he was okay and slowly hooked his arm over her shoulder and helped him back to his bed.
"I'm sorry, it seems I'm nothing but a burden to you." Shirou apologized.
"You could never be a burden. I seem to remember one time when I could barely walk and you carried me. It's about time I returned the favor." Arturia replied with a smile.
"I'm sorry, it seems all I ever do is make you worry. I'm sorry for being so useless." Shirou continued, unconvinced.
"Oh, Shirou. You don't understand do you? I love you and you are far from useless. What I said that day in Kotomine Church still holds true. You will now and always be my scabbard and nothing can ever change that." Arturia reassured him.
"Thanks, you always seem to know what to say. What did I ever do to deserve you?" Shirou asked as Arturia helped him down onto the mattress.
"Shirou, you are the most selfless person I know. If that isn't enough of a reason for me to love you than I don't know what is." Arturia answered.
At that time there was a large crash and the door was torn off its hinges and Shirou and Arturia were confronted by a person on a jet-black suit of armor.
"A Servant! Wait, where are the others?" Shirou gasped.
"Oh, you needn't worry about them interrupting us. They had a little accident you might say." A voice from within the armor revealed.
"Mordred!" Arturia growled, the malice evident in here eyes.
"Why hello mother!" Mordred replied.
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I know my updates have been a bit sporadic and that is unfortunately not anything I have any real control over. I end up writing as I have the inspiration, usually as a result of extreme boredom at work leading to me considering possible directions to take with this, and thus I can't really keep any real schedule. As always, helpful reviews are welcome and I do apologize for the short chapter but at least this way you needn't worry that I'm padding out the story to get to some predetermined length. Enjoy!