The Unexpected Twist
After finishing dinner the gang cleaned up the dishes and were about to discuss their next move.
"WHOA! Where did you come from!?" Shirou screamed, upon noticing their new visitor.
"Sorry, I didn't exactly have many options from where I was and chose the place I was most familiar with to escape to." The Grail apologized.
"Um, escape?" Arturia asked, her curiosity kicking in.
"Yes, unfortunately my plan to lay low isn't going to work. Kotomine managed to find me despite my best efforts. The only place that's going to be safe is here, unfortunately." The Grail elaborated.
"Won't that make this house a much more attractive target?" Rin cut in.
"Yes, it will but now that I don't need to worry about being found I can focus my efforts on making the house nigh-invincible." The Grail replied.
"I suppose there is a silver lining to this after all." Archer remarked.
"Look, I'm as thrilled about this as you, I don't like the fact that I'm putting lives in danger any more than you do. But the way I see it there is little in the way of choices. Let's just try to get this crisis over with as quickly as possible." The Grail conceded.
At that exact moment there was loud sound of something massive landing outside.
"What was that?" Arturia asked.
"I suspect that we are about to find out." Rin mused.
"Arturia Pendragon, I demand you come out of this pathetic fortress you've constructed for yourself before I become impatient and force you out!" A voice boomed.
"Oh no. It can't be…" Arturia panicked.
"You know who it is?" Rin asked, "Care to share?"
"It's hard to explain it would be better to show you. Follow me and it will become all too clear." Arturia promised as she walked outside.
The group followed her and walked outside where they were met with a completely unexpected and alarming sight.
"A FUCKING DRAGON! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" Shirou screamed barely able to stop from fainting of shock.
"Yes, my boy. Has anyone ever told you that you have a talent for stating the obvious?" The voice replied, a sinister tone crept in.
"Arveia, whatever business you have, it is with me. What do you want?" Arturia demanded unfazed.
"I'm here for my children, who you so cruelly took from me. I demand you free my children immediately or prepare to watch your friends be slowly devoured as you watch." Arveia roared, her face mere inches from Arturia's.
"What are you talking about? Explain this madness!" Arturia demanded.
"You can't fool me, he told me everything. He told me how you were planning this from the beginning, about how you faked your own death. How you had your pet wizard send you to this time with my eggs in tow. You even had him use his magic to conceal what you did. A perfect plan with but a single flaw, you didn't plan on falling in love with this boy, did you?" Arveia taunted her.
"What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind? I upheld my end of our bargain!" Arturia complained.
"Sure you did! But don't worry, my dear! Even though you betrayed me and despite my reputation, I have standards. I'll make sure this is as painless as possible." Arveia promised.
At this she swiped a claw towards Arturia with lethal intent.
"Arturia, look out!" Shirou cried out as he pushed Arturia out of the way.
Shirou steeled himself for the lethal blow he was sure was coming. Instead Arveia opened her claws and snatched Shirou from in front of Arturia and flapped her wings. This sent everyone below her to the ground as she hovered a few feet above the ground.
"Humans are so amusingly predictable. Did you think I would actually be dumb enough to kill the only person who can tell me where my eggs are?" Arveia taunted the prone party.
"Arveia, you leave him alone! He has nothing to do with this!" Arturia screamed.
"Always the proper Queen, aren't we? In case you hadn't noticed you aren't in a position to demand anything. Don't worry, he's just insurance that you don't do anything rash, like say, destroy my eggs. Once I have my eggs back I'll happily give him back to you. You have my word that no harm will come to him as long as my eggs remain untouched." Arveia vowed as she flew off.
As Arveia faded from view, Arturia lost control of her knees and collapsed shuddering.
"This is all my fault! I should've done something! And now because of me Shirou will…" Arturia panicked.
"Aren't you forgetting something? Didn't she promise not to harm him, even if she is a habitual liar, I see little point in killing him if she thinks it will ruin her chances at getting her eggs back." Rin comforted her.
"I know but I just stood there as she took him away! What kind of monster am I to just abandon him?" Arturia cried.
"Abandon him? The way I see it you didn't have much choice, servant or not you'd still be hard pressed to be able to defeat a dragon, not to mention that you would have to protect him at the same time." The Grail added.
"I know but, hey, wait a minute! Where did she even come from? I thought the Grail could only summon human souls." Arturia challenged.
"Well, the truth is that it is theoretically possible to summon the souls of non-human heroes, but it is extremely difficult. In short, you'd have to insane to try to summon the soul of a hero that wasn't human to begin with but to summon a dragon is just this side of suicidal." The Grail.
"But I thought the Grail did the actual summoning allowing the summoner to only focus on the hero they wanted to summon." Rin questioned.
"That is indeed true but that's all the Grail does, the rest is up to the prospective master." The Grail clarified.
"Meaning that if you were to summon a Dragon, you'd have to deal with the issue of asserting command over it. Not an easy task given the strength of even the weakest Dragon, not to mention that the only class that can be used to summon famous beasts would have to be Berserker." Illya added.
"But I thought the Berserker class had to be mentally insane to be even considered for the class, she seemed rather sane to me." Arturia asked.
"That they do but you'll find that what is considered sane is less of a concrete term and exists more on a spectrum and that even the most sane person can slip into it. The only requirement that a Berserker needs is the capacity for irrational thought." The Grail continued.
"But she seemed rational, if a bit misguided, so why was she eligible for the Berserker class?" Arturia questioned.
"I see I'm not getting through, let me try another approach. Are you considering rescuing Shirou?" The Grail asked.
"Of course I am. I can't just leave him there." Arturia responded.
"Even though he is in no danger and that in attempting to rescue him you might die? Despite the fact that as you are, you are no match for a dragon?" The Grail needled.
"Well, yes." Arturia responded, a bit unsettled by the turn this conversation was taking.
"Can you give me a rational reason why you're even considering going toe to toe with Arveia?" The Grail.
"But I can't just leave him, if he stays where he is Arveia may have a change of heart and kill him anyway. I don't want to lose him." Arturia protested, a panicked tone slipping into her voice.
"Congratulations, you just qualified for the Berserker class." The Grail chuckled.
"What, but how?" Arturia asked, not entirely getting it.
"Think back about what you said, you admitted that you were going to fight Arveia even though you were aware that you would likely die in the attempt and leave Shirou in her claws. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with your decision; I'm simply saying that on a purely rational basis you can't support it. So the mere fact that you seriously considered going through with it proved your ability for irrational thought." The Grail finished.
"I think I get it but there's one thing that bothers me and I can't quite put my finger on it." Arturia conceded.
"In that case, might I ask a question? If no one ever attempted to summon a non-human hero before, how did Kotomine do it?" Rin asked.
"Actually that isn't entirely true, there was one attempt made. In the First Holy Grail War, there was a master who successfully summoned the legendary beast Grendel. I believe it was your ancient ancestor Von Einzbern who summoned him but was unable to assert control and thus was killed immediately upon the completion of the summoning ritual." The Grail argued, turning towards Illya.
"But there would have to be some sort of contact point in order to summon such a being, what could Kotomine have used to summon Arveia's soul?" Arturia pondered.
"Well it is true that you would need an artifact of some sort that was associated with the hero you want to summon. But I don't think that's what happened here. Do you remember that incident where time stopped for a while?" The Grail asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Rin responded.
"What if it wasn't simply a spell to stop time but a spell to control it completely?" The Grail suggested.
"What are you getting at?" Rin and Arturia asked simultaneously.
"What if the spell was merely to act as an anchor point to return to while Kotomine went back in time? What if he didn't come back alone?" The Grail asked.
"Wait, you're telling us that Kotomine went back in time and physically brought Arveia back with him? How is that even possible?" Illya challenged.
"For a normal magus it would be out of the question to even attempt it, they would die before they even got close to activating the time anchor. But now that he is the Dark Grail, he would have nearly unlimited mana reserves. It would actually be quite simple, all he would need…" The Grail explored.
"All he would need some sort of assurance he wouldn't be noticed or stopped. He purposely tipped his hand by sending an enormous amount of magic at you in the hopes you would be too busy to notice his little jaunt through time." Rin finished for him.
"And it worked, I can't believe it, he pulled one over on me. Thankfully though, he can't assert direct control over her and can't force her to do his bidding." The Grail exclaimed.
"But isn't that what she is doing, she did kidnap Shirou after all. That strikes me as something that Kotomine would do short of killing him outright." Arturia argued, managing to keep the panic out of her voice this time.
"That, while true, ignores the fact that she won't turn him over to Kotomine. She believes she needs him as leverage to get her eggs back, after all." The Grail cut in.
"Then why she is even working for Kotomine in the first place? He doesn't have anything she needs." Rin retorted.
"And what if she believes he does? Let's suppose for the sake of argument that she does. Then she would do what he asked if she believed it would make him more inclined to help her. If we look at it from this direction then I think it is clear what happened. Kotomine used magic to make her believe that we have her eggs and that only by helping him can she get him back. However, I don't think she entirely trusts him despite his best efforts. I think she is going to try to get her eggs back herself to prevent a double-cross from Kotomine." Archer inserted himself into the conversation.
"That makes perfect sense, it would explain why she is helping Kotomine but at the same time is keeping him at arms length." Rin agreed.
"Well, now that we've got that dealt with, I think we can safely plan how we're going to get Shirou out." The Grail concluded.
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"You don't need to worry, I may be a dragon but I don't make a habit of eating of humans. Not unless they give me good reason to." Arveia promised.
"Why should I trust you? You tried to kill Arturia and you dragged me off to who knows where. And for what! So you can convince Arturia to give you something she doesn't have?" Shirou raged.
"Do you think I'm so easily fooled? She may be able to fool you into believing her little tale regarding my eggs but I'm not that naïve." Arveia retorted.
"You can't keep me here, I'm leaving." Shirou said as he got up to leave.
"Do you actually think you'll live long enough to regret leaving here?" Arveia asked simply.
"You and I both know you won't kill me, killing me would be rash since you seem to believe that my death would lead to the destruction of your precious eggs." Shirou retorted.
"That is true, but wouldn't you rather stay here with me? Forever?" Arveia asked in a sultry tone.
"Frankly, no." Shirou responded.
"Oh, this is why I love you humans so much, you are so amusingly complex. When you thought I was going to kill your beloved Arturia I decided to give your mind a little push to seal the deal. I might as well not have bothered as I immediately saw that there was no need since you were more than willing than to sacrifice yourself for her. And yet now when I tried to make you forget about her, there was nothing I could've done to make you turn on her. It is so deliciously contradictory that you can be both so vulnerable to suggestion and yet so impervious to it at seemingly random." Arveia chuckled.
Shirou remained silent at this merely taken back by the Dragon's calm response to his rejection of her advances.
"So if you're not going to kill me, why should I stay here instead of going back home?" Shirou asked.
"Isn't it obvious? Just because I won't kill you doesn't mean others will have the same courtesy. You are quite safe here but once you leave this lair that will all change. I believe we have a visitor, if you'll excuse me while I get rid of her." Arveia said as she crouched as if ready to pounce.
And pounce she did. At a speed belying her large size she pinned a dark figure to the ground under one of her enormous feet, her claws cutting off any chance for the figure to slid out from under her foot.
"Well, let's see who dropped in for tea, shall we?" Arveia taunted as she bit into the figure's black helm shattering it while leaving its bearers head miraculously untouched.
"Ah, Mordred. How nice of you to join us, I take it you're here for my world famous tea and biscuits?" Arveia jokingly asked, clearly taking full advantage of her captive audience.
"Let me go, you overgrown lizard! I'll have your head for this!" Mordred hissed.
"Oh my my, I see you haven't lost any of your world renowned table manners. Hmm, this situation seems quite familiar. Oh I know why, it seems you wanted my help to kill your dear mother. How is the old girl these days, is she well?" Arveia continued unfazed.
"Don't play dumb we both know you just came back from seeing her and didn't kill her like you were supposed to." Mordred spat back.
"Oh, that's right, how silly of me. I happen to like her, why would I kill her? You're a different story but I let you go since you were considerate enough to bring lunch last time. A pity you weren't as considerate this time." Arveia mockingly whined.
"You butchered my men!" Mordred screamed.
"See, glad to see we finally agreed on something." Arveia mocked.
"If you're going to kill me just do it and be done with it." Mordred fumed.
"Ah, tempting as your offer is, I have guests. Killing someone without asking their permission wouldn't be good manners would it? Shirou, what do you think? Think I should eat her, she doesn't look awfully appetizing but I'm in no position to be picky." Arveia asked as Shirou walked up.
"SHIROU! Let me up! I'll kill that bastard!" Mordred raged as she struggled in vain.
"Such language. Where did your manners go, didn't your mother ever teach you it's not nice to threaten guests?" Arveia taunted.
At this Mordred starting cursing Arveia even more heartily as she struggled in vain to escape the black dragon's vice-like grip.
"Oh, my. It appears that I may have struck a nerve. She is getting to be quite a handful, what do you think we should do with her. Should I kill her?" Arveia asked.
"No, it's not right." Shirou responded.
"Ah, why not? It's been ages since I've had this kind of entertainment." Arveia protested jokingly.
"Arturia would never forgive herself if someone else did it. She would feel that she had pushed her problems onto others. She needs to deal with Mordred herself, perhaps then she'll be finally able lay her ghosts to rest." Shirou explained.
"I knew you'd say something like that. Well, you heard the man, you get to see sunrise." Arveia said as she wrapped her claws around Mordred and lifted her up.
"Please make sure that your seatbelts are securely fastened and your tray tables are in the full upright locked position. We hope you have a pleasant flight and we thank you for choosing Arveia Airlines for your travel needs." Arveia said as she dropped Mordred.
At this she swung her gigantic mace-like tail and sent Mordred speeding out of the cave as if shot out of a canon.
"Hmm, it looks like she got some good airtime out of that one." Arveia joked.
"Uh, that isn't going to kill her is it?" Shirou asked.
"Don't be silly, she's a servant, it will take a lot more than that to kill her." Arveia reassured him.
"You say that as if you aren't one. If Kotomine brought you here, how are you not a servant?" Shirou asked.
"Now that is a long story, it's been ages since I've had company and I'd be more than happy to tell you that particular story. Would you like to hear it?" Arveia asked.
"Yes but there's something I've been meaning to ask you. I thought dragons were terribly powerful creatures who particularly enjoyed eating any human they came across and would hunt them for sport." Shirou mused.
"That was most certainly true for quite some time, at least until myself and some similarly rational minds realized the short-sightedness of this behavior. We realized that if we followed the example of our fellow dragons we would just die like they did. We may be dragons and immensely powerful ones at that, we can still be killed and so myself and a handful of other dragons decided to make a dietary change from humans to deer and the like. But unfortunately old fears die hard and so we were hunted like regular dragons until I was the only one of my kind left and I was not far from joining them when your beloved Arturia intervened." Arveia explained.
"Is this the bargain that you referred to earlier?" Shirou asked.
"It most certainly is. Would you like to hear the story?" Arveia asked.
"I would love to."
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There you have it. Please do leave your comments.