Come on Now, Really?
"You know who it is?" Rin asked.
"Yes, in the 4th Grail War I fought against Assassin and his true identity was The Old Man of the Mountain of Persia. He was a rather dangerous opponent given his ability to manifest as every single one of his alternate identities simultaneously." Arturia elaborated.
"So you think this Assassin was this Old Man of the Mountain?" Rin asked.
"No, I don't. Did you notice anything odd about this Assassin?" Arturia prompted.
After a moment every shook their head.
"You mean to tell me that you didn't notice that his left ring finger was missing? Even when he proudly displayed his left hand for all of us to see?" Arturia asked, a bit flustered.
"Where are you going with this?" Rin asked.
"This Assassin is the man who first killed The Old Man of the Mountain and succeeded him." Arturia revealed.
"How do you know this?" Rin questioned her.
"Shortly before he faded away after his defeat I was assailed by visions from his life. One of them was of the man we encountered today." Arturia elaborated for everyone.
"So you think he's that man? And he's more powerful than the Assassin from that war?" Rin mused.
"Yes, I recognized the blade he used on Shirou as it is the exact blade he used to kill his own master, The Old Man of the Mountain. But there is one thing I don't understand." Arturia said.
"And what is that?" Archer asked interestedly.
"I can understand why The Old Man wanted the Grail, to have revenge against his former pupil. But from the glimpses I got of his past told me in no uncertain terms that even though he is an assassin, he only kills to better mankind. His belief was something along the lines of killing one to save a thousand. So I have no idea why he's obeying Kotomine when Kotomine plans to destroy the entire human race." Arturia puzzled out.
"Perhaps he simply doesn't know? Maybe he thinks, somehow, that all of us pose some threat to the world? What if Kotomine told him that we want to use his powers and that if allowed to do so we will kill innocents?" Archer replied.
"That would make a lot of sense. It is similar to what he did with me to get me to want to kill you guys." Arveia chimed in.
"This is all well and good but while one of our number is seriously injured, none of us is going anywhere. So why don't we take it easy for a days and relax for once. We all know that we haven't had a chance to do that in a long while. Let's do so while we can." Arturia said, finishing the discussion.
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After gently settling Shirou into his bed Arturia snuggled in beside him and was about to drift off to sleep when she noticed a disturbing development. Sometime between when she had gotten Shirou settled and when she had snuggled up next to him, in order to comfort him should he awaken, Illya had managed to attach herself to Shirou with the hope that her small form would go unnoticed snuggled up to Shirou. Not one to have her territory encroached upon, Arturia grabbed Illya who yelped in shock but managed to not awaken Shirou, no doubt due to the extent of his injuries.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" Illya complained.
"Young lady, you know full well where your bed is. Don't play the innocent child with me." Arturia glowered at her.
"Hey, you get him all to yourself. Why can't you share him?" Illya pouted.
Arturia blushed quite furiously at this before she continued.
"Well, um, uh…" She tried anyway but was far too flustered by Illya's question.
"You want me to say it? Fine! I love him! You better get used to the idea because he is mine and I will not share him with anyone." Arturia declared.
This seemed to silence Illya as her only response was to adopt a shocked expression before she started struggling against Arturia's vice grip.
"As for you, young lady. You can consider yourself grounded starting this very instant except for when I have need of your services." Arturia announced with a triumphant gleam as she stomped off towards Illya's room.
"You can't ground me. You aren't my mother." Illya argued.
"I'm the closest thing you've got unless you'd rather Fujimura-sensei adopted you. And I shouldn't have to remind you that you wouldn't be the first child I've raised." Arturia retorted.
"Yeah, because that turned out oh so well!" Illya countered.
"You know, I think just leaving it at a simple grounding is letting you off a bit too easy. Come on, let's visit Auntie Rin!" Arturia promised, noting with pleasure the look of sheer terror on Illya's face.
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Rin received a knock on her door and opened it to a rather interesting sight. Arturia had in her vice grip a platinum haired child who appeared to be under the impression she was about to be executed.
"Arturia! To what do I owe the pleasure of such a late night visit?" Rin asked, regaining her composure.
"You know that thing you do?" Arturia hinted.
"What thing?" Rin asked, feigning ignorance.
"You know that thing you do when Illya really gets on your nerves?" Arturia played along.
"I don't know what you are implying. That would be very wrong." Rin joked.
"Rin, just do your thing." Arturia growled.
"Oh, you mean this?" As Rin delivered a quick chop to the back of Illya's neck.
"Thank you, the reason I'm here is she crawled into Shirou's bed and I don't think a simple grounding will cut it." Arturia explained.
"She played the 'Lookie How Mordred Turned Out' card didn't she?" Rin guessed.
"How did you know?" Arturia asked in amazement.
"Female intuition." Rin stated simply.
"And mine tells me that you may have something planned for such a situation. It's also telling me that you might still want to get her back for what she put Archer through." Arturia continued.
"Boy, would I. I mean, uh, if you insist." Rin smirked as she rifled through her shelf of pills and potions.
Apparently finding the one she was looking for she grabbed a reddish pink pill from one of the bottles and popped it into Illya's mouth.
"What exactly will that do?" Arturia asked.
"I don't want to ruin the surprise but I assure you that you won't be disappointed by the results." Rin smiled.
Arturia decided the anticipation would make it much more enjoyable and bid Rin goodnight as she went to put Illya in her real bed.
After she finished her task Arturia quietly closed the door behind her and put her arms around Shirou and nuzzled the side of his head. She noticed with pleasure that he seemed to be sleeping much more peacefully with her next to him and she drifted off to sleep with a loving smile on her face at this fact.
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The next morning Arturia was awoken by the ear splitting screams of a very distraught Illya. Mercifully, Shirou somehow managed to stay asleep through the commotion.
"Can someone tell me exactly why I've been rudely awoken this early? You know that I don't do mornings, right?" Arturia complained as she shook off the remnants of her slumber.
"You, what the hell did you do to me? My magic is gone, why on earth did you have to go and steal it?" Illya accused her.
"Steal? Are you actually trying to say I stole your magic? What is it, like a jewelry box that you can just abscond with when no one is looking?" Arturia teased her.
At this Illya silently fumed as Rin stumbled into the room in her usual morning fashion.
"Come on now, really? Is it really necessary to make this much noise this early in the morning? Especially with an injured person in the house who really needs his rest?" Rin challenged the feuding pair.
"You! You're going to help me get my magic back!" Illya demanded.
"Not with that tone of voice I'm not. I think you're much more manageable without your magic anyway." Rin retorted with a smirk.
"Please! I'll do anything! Just give my magic back!" Illya begged.
"That's more like it! Let me have a look at you." Rin said as she examined Illya, "Oh my. It appears that spell you cast on the church may have caused you to lose your magic. You may never be able to use magic again."
"Is there anything you can do?" Illya said with a desperate look on her face.
"I can look into it but only if you behave yourself and you're nice to me and Arturia." Rin promised.
Illya promised she would and ran off to her room and was extremely quiet from then on.
"Was this what you were referring to earlier? Did she really lose her magic?" Arturia asked of Rin.
"No, I just gave her a little something. It just hid her magic circuits from her, not to worry, though. I have the pill that will undo it but it's not like we're in any danger so I'll probably hold onto it for a few days before I give it to her. After all, admit it, its kind of fun to see her dancing to my tune." Rin reassured her.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side, especially not at that time of the month." Arturia responded.
"I'd be more scared of you. Come on a woman who can throw magic against a woman who has an ungodly amount of magic resistance and can wield a sword with authority? That time of the month couldn't have been fun for Camelot." Rin shot back.
"You don't know the half of it. Do you know how hard it was to come up with excuses for my irritability on a monthly basis?" Arturia responded.
"I guess not. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to make breakfast and come up with some sort of explanation as to why Shirou is injured for when Fujinee comes over for her morning breakfast. You should get some rest, you look like you need it." Rin promised.
Arturia simply nodded and trudged off to her and Shirou's room and slid back into their bed and snuggled up to him and drifted off again.
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Rin had just finished putting breakfast on the table when she heard a familiar sound.
"GOOD MOOOORNING, SHIROU!" Fujinee yelled out.
Rin practically bolted out to the front door and immediately got to work.
"Fujimura-sensei, please keep your voice down. Shirou needs his rest." Rin implored her.
"What for? OH, DON'T TELL ME! I'LL SHOW HER TO HURT MY SHIROU!" Fujinee fumed as she stormed off.
"Well, shit." Rin complained as she followed Fujinee.
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Arturia was rudely awoken by the sensation of being dragged out of bed and off the floor by her foot.
"Young lady, you have some explaining to do." Fujinee fumed at her.
"So do you, you psycho. I am not your property so what makes you think you have the right to manhandle me like this." Arturia raged as she kicked Fujinee with her free foot.
Rin ran up just in time to see Fujinee sent flying through the open door and into the adjacent wall.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Arturia and Fujinee both screamed at each other.
It was at this exact moment that Shirou finally noticed the commotion and came out of his unconscious slumber.
"Hey, what's going on?" He asked quietly as he shifted upright.
They both looked up at him in shock while still not dropping the murderous glares they had.
"Will someone please just tell me what is going on?" Shirou asked more insistently.
"How should I know? I'm asleep one moment and the next thing I know I'm being attacked by this psycho." Arturia accused.
"Attacked? You're the one who not only attacked Shirou but you attacked me too. I don't know why he even puts up with you anymore if this is the way you treat me." Fujinee shot back.
It was at this moment that Arturia was nursing the back of her head and the puzzle seemed to solve itself.
"Fujinee, please tell me you didn't?" Shirou begged Fujinee.
"I didn't what?" Fujinee asked, slightly confused.
"That you did not just drag her out of bed and hold her up by her foot." Shirou asked, a little angrily.
"I did, why?" Fujinee asked.
"You colossal idiot. You did the one thing that pisses her off more than anything else. You know who else did that? You remember that old boyfriend of hers from England, you care to guess how he tried to propose to her?" Shirou asked, outraged.
"Grabbed her by her foot and dangled her upside down?" Fujinee guessed.
"Bingo. Now does it make sense?" Shirou confirmed.
"Oh, geez. I'm so sorry. I just got so carried away thinking you had hurt him that I just went off the deep end, I'm sorry." Fujinee apologized to Arturia.
"I owe you an apology as well. When you grabbed me like that I thought of him and just lost it." Arturia apologized in return.
"Am I to guess that he's responsible for Shirou's current injury?" Fujinee reasoned.
"In a way. It wasn't him but he was behind it." Arturia played along.
"You must really hate him. I've never been sent flying into a wall like that before in all my years of competitive Kendo.
"Seeing what he did to Shirou, can you really blame me?" Arturia replied.
"I suppose not. Shall we eat?" Fujinee answered.
Arturia and Rin both nodded and supported Shirou as he limped his way to the dining room. They had just finished breakfast when there was a loud crash at the front door and the door to the dining room was sent flying off its hinges.
Everyone looked up in surprise except for Fujinee who looked up in shock as if she had seen a ghost.
"Well, isn't this sweet? Brings a fucking tear to my eye just thinking about it. I'm almost sorry to disrupt it with a brutal quadruple murder." Mordred taunted as she burst in.
"Dear lord, not again. Didn't you learn your lesson last time you barged in here?" Archer shouted at her.
"What can I say? I'm a slow learner." Mordred retorted.
"I should think so. You know, there's a saying, maybe you've heard it? Don't meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. Ring a bell?" Arveia threatened as she walked in.
"Not you again!" Mordred screamed.
"Yes, me. And I must admit you're becoming quite a nuisance." Arveia replied.
"I, uh, I'll just be going now." Mordred backtracked.
"I don't think so. You just interrupted breakfast and I haven't had a decent meal in ages. I think you'll do just nicely. You know I bet you taste delicious especially cooked well done." Arveia tormented her as she delivered a punch to her gut that sent her through the wall and into the yard.
"And it just occurred to me that I still haven't paid you back for the pain and suffering you inflicted on my dear friend Arturia. Not to worry, though. I'll be rectifying that little oversight rather quickly." Arveia taunted as she stomped towards Mordred with a deliberately intimidating stride.
It was at this exact moment that Mordred disappeared from the yard in a flash of light.
"Dammit. Every time I actually get to have some fun it gets cut short by some odd coincidence." Arveia complained.
"Sorry. I would've gotten rid of her sooner but I was just putting the finishing touches on that particular spell when she burst her way in." the Grail apologized.
"Ugh, fine. Let's get back to breakfast. I'm starving." Arveia replied.
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"Ok, just what is going on? Who the hell was that? And what the hell is a dragon doing at our dining table? I demand an explanation of what is going on!" Fujinee screamed in the other room.
"I'll be more than happy to explain. If you could just come with me and I'll explain everything." Arveia chimed as she offered her hand.
Fujinee grabbed her hand and promptly fell into a deep sleep.
"What exactly did you just do to her?" Arturia demanded of Arveia.
"I just put a sleep spell on her so that we can decide exactly what to do with her. In case you hadn't noticed she knows that I'm a dragon and it'll be a matter time before she figures the rest out. I don't know exactly what you told her but we need to figure something out and quick." Arveia explained.
"Well, we can't just wipe her memory, can we? Kotomine probably knows that Fujinee comes here on a daily basis and is probably going to target her now. In fact the worst thing we could do is wipe her memory at this point as it would leave her with no idea the kind of danger she is in." Rin reasoned out.
"Very well, then. Here goes nothing. I'm going to be surprised if she takes any of this very well." Arveia complained as she went to wake up Fujinee.
"I can already tell, this is going to be a long day." Archer complained.
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