The choice Shirou would have made, was in fact, embarrassingly enough, exactly what Caster thought it was going to be.
There was no ounce of hesitation nor the leisure to sit and analyze, rather, Caster stared at Shirou as a creature of 'impulse.'
The edges of Caster's lips curled as she was reminded of her own past. Her eyes that had once been lively, replaced with a subdued and dull gray. Her magics, focused on healing and support, now tempered with draconic skeletal aberrations and potent energies centered on lethality and curses.
Caster's True Name was Medea of Greek Mythology, famously known as the Betrayal of Medea the Witch. She who only knew to stab others in the back was blinded by love, used, and then discarded.
What had she been thinking then before participating in a flight of fancy? Coercion by Aphrodite? Her own sentiments?
If she hadn't been as irrational as she was then, would her end have been different?
'You don't regret it though…'
An inner voice whispered into Caster's ears; a lingering voice and sentiment of her younger self- a Medea Lily.
The Argo, the Argonauts, and the memory of that journey itself all held together by a foolish captain, would never fade. He who gathered a merry band of heroes the likes of which none would ever replicate, was the worst of scum who fled from her like a coward as soon as the word 'commitment' came into the fold.
A man who'd never come back after saying he was going out to buy milk from the farmer's market.
Truly the worst. Scum. Filth.
But the journey hadn't been wrong. It hadn't been a mistake as much as the betrayal had been.
Caster sighed heavily while staring at the others around her. Her magic had already made its way to wrap around Shirou's legs and forcibly keep his mouth shut while she and everyone else was thinking.
Unfortunately, no matter how Caster dwelt over the issue internally, like the Argo, this war was one fought by many allies with differing opinions.
"It looks like a good fight," Cu grinned while staring at the image Merlin was projecting with his staff. "How soon can we get there?"
Nonchalantly, Merlin shrugged.
In the projection, the alternative version of Saber Arturia was being carried by the silver haired woman in a Greek toga, while the other version of Shirou was fighting. Swarms of the White Faction's Hollows were pestering the group of three.
"In an instant." Merlin answered Cu after a moment of thought before he elaborated further. "The world we are in now is but a dreamscape without an anchor to tether it in place. Naturally, I decide its location, making it something of a mobile Camelot, or in broader terms, a mobile base or castle."
"That's what I like to hear," Cu began stretching while making a face. "I need to relieve some stress. Nothing like watching a kid replicate skills I trained hard to obtain like its nothing, but you know, it kind of pisses you off. Like, where is the hardship in training under a monster of woman who throws spears if you annoy her? Where is the grueling physical torture designed in a training plan?!"
Cu gnashed his teeth before taking in a deep breath and urging Merlin to hurry.
"Don't decide things for yourself Lancer," Caster intervened with a sharp tone. "I for one propose to analyse the situation a bit longer before acting."
"Of course, you would," Cu grunted, Caster glaring at him, but it wasn't as if Caster's words were unreasonable. "Well then, what do the rest of you think?"
Shirou tried to speak, but a swath of magic muffled his mouth. Saber looked annoyed at Caster, but could understand the sentiment considering everything ends if Shirou endangers himself.
"I follow the will of my Master," Archer EMIYA said while crossing his arms, shifting the ball to Rin who frowned in silence.
"I say we go. The more allies we make against stronger enemies, the more beneficial it may prove," Saber said, Shirou nodding in agreement.
"Risk must be factored in any mission," Assassin muttered in a hoarse voice, speaking for the first time. "If we go, how many may we lose?"
A round of silence passed.
All things considered, Assassin was right. The scale of danger was such that even being a Heroic Spirit could not guarantee survival.
"What of you Rider?" Caster asked. In regards to Berserker, the group consciously skipped over him and Illya who had a complicated expression directed on Shirou.
"…"
Put on the spot, Rider was visibly absent-minded. She'd been like this ever since Merlin revealed the woman with the silver hair carrying away the alternative version of Saber.
"Rider?" Sakura placed a gentle hand on Rider's shoulder, startling her enough to realize every was looking at her.
"Ah, yes," Rider's expression hardened beneath her blind fold. "I say we stay. Nothing good comes from associating with Gods…"
At Rider's words, a certain tag along couldn't agree more, but nonetheless, what mattered was what Rider was hinting at.
Closer scrutiny revealed the Divine nature of the woman carrying the alternative version of Saber. The energy was nowhere near as diluted as that of a Demi-God's, rather the woman was a true Divine Spirit.
Rider's words made sense, but Sakura could somehow feel that there were other reservations involved.
"Have we come to an accord?" Merlin interrupted.
Looking at the situation projected before them, they couldn't afford to delay for much longer.
"Archer and I alone will go," Rin finally spoke up while everyone was busy thinking. "All of us going makes no sense, and its better to send the Servant most suited for scouting and reconnaissance."
"Now hold on one moment, lady, my Master and I already volunteered first," Cu cut in, Bazett already readying her pair of gloves behind him.
"We're not there to fight," Rin pinched the bridge of her nose while answering.
"She's right," Caster smirked while picking at Cu and Bazett. "What are the chances of getting along if the first thing they see is a savage? But I think I understand. If Archer is the one to go, his Independent Action enables him to survive even if the Master falls in danger. Moreover, a familiar face may draw less caution."
"Close enough," Rin shrugged.
"B-But Rin," Sakura stammered.
Rin shook her head. Even without saying it, Rin could read Sakura too well.
Sakura would have volunteered to go with Rider just because she could tell Shirou wanted to help save others.
Ah, dammit, her sister was smitten.
Rin cursed.
All Rin could do was try to find reason in her actions.
Of course, risking herself didn't feel rational, but at the same time, allies sounded really nice when she considered the power scaling of the current war.
"Archer, get ready to go." Rin hardened her resolve.
Other than a certain Lancer, no one protested to the arrangement aside from Shirou, but sadly Caster was keeping true to her prior threats and making Shirou's opinion irrelevant.
Cu grimaced when he realized he wasn't going to get his fight. Arguing now in a group war was the surest way to destabilize group cohesion.
Reluctantly, he tucked his tail and let the matter drop.
"You said you lost Xenovia here?"
Irina's expression drooped with guilt, unable to answer for the longest time under a certain woman's stern reproach.
She was in a wasteland that had been leveled by an attack that left nothing but a crater in its wake. Green lightning danced over the dirt, lightly crackling before fizzing out. Sand and wind then formed clouds of dust that spiraled out into the edge of the crater where Irina stood with three other individuals from the Holyman's Faction.
It was the woman that Irina was the most apprehensive of, and with good reason.
One look, and the woman appeared like the spitting image of an older Rin, and accompanying the woman was her husband, a happier looking Archer.
"Y-Yes, I think…" Irina trailed off, nervously scratching her cheek. Her lackadaisical response was more of a coping mechanism that buried her worries lest she make a fool of herself and panic. "I was knocked unconscious."
Irina pursed her lips at the admission. "B-But I swear I-"
Irina's words were cut off by several explosions echoing in the distance. The woman, narrowed her eyes to the horizon.
A flock of the White Factions Hollows were pursuing something relentlessly.
"If you can't pinpoint the exact area, then there's a chance Xenovia might be caught up in all of that," the woman muttered before turning to address her partner. "Archer, lets go."
"Already on it. For all your frustration with dealing with 'air heads,' you still care," the man held back a smile as the woman nearly tripped on her feet.
The woman's face reddened, her chin raising haughtily. "That's not it, just that…my surrogate nephews would be sad if they lost their mother."
"Would it kill you to be honest from the start?"
"Shut up!"
"Mommy, don't yell at Daddy!"
The woman's countenance fell as she was reminded of an unneeded tagalong whom her partner spoiled far too much. No. It was better to say that her partner was amused at her fluster. The snarky bastard.
"That's my girl," the man said while patting his ten-year old daughter's head.
The daughter's name was Sakura, named after her mother's sister.
"Hehe," the girl laughed in delight at the praise.
The older woman was not amused, rather, her worries were bleeding through and spurring her into action.
The woman picked up the kid who insisted that they could help and take care of themself to no avail. Then, giving the girl to Irina, the woman glared.
"Take her and go…Why is she even here in the first place?!"
Suspiciously, Irina began sweating.
Sorry for smaller chapter, but there's nothing much I can do to progress the story forward just yet, and I spend more time thinking how to avoid spoilers than I do writing. It sucks since not all stories included in this war are complete.
For example, I planned an event out for the Campione crew only to realize I hadn't reached that point in Birth of a Legend V2 yet, and had to come up with an alternative scene. This would have been a lot easier if I'd started this story later, but for now we're stuck with longer waiting periods per updates for this until more stories are completed.
As of recent, Fate Kill is the closest to finishing.
