CHAPTER 17:

THE FOE FROM THE FUTURE(1)

It was after school, and Medea and Archer were going around destroying some of the sigils, while Rin, Shirou and Arturia did the same. As she analysed the one on the rooftop, Medea remarked, "Now that we're alone, I wanted to ask you some things. You see, I've been paying attention to you ever since you were summoned. When I first appeared, I noticed that you recognised me instantly. Indeed, you haven't really let your guard up around me since. I don't recognise you, though. I am sure I would have recognised a contemporary of mine. You have a good poker face, I will admit, but I am also a good reader of people."

Archer kept up his slight scowl. "If you're fishing for information, I doubt you're going to get it from me."

"Not directly, no," Medea said. "But I do know that you were, at the very least, stretching the truth when you claimed to have little memory of your life. You're an Archer, but one who is ridiculously skilled at swordplay, Projecting weapons that could even be copies of Noble Phantasms. Definitely a Magus of some sort in life. And don't think I haven't noticed the little glances you've been shooting Shirou Emiya. If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd want him dead."

"And you don't?" Archer asked. "He's an enemy Master."

"He is also a friend of my Master, and yours," Medea pointed out. "There are many ways to deal with him that don't involve his demise."

"And why do you care?"

"My Master cares. He may be sentimental, but I find him to be agreeable. He knows of my true identity, and doesn't hate me for it. He is wary, and understandably, but he trusts me more than many have." Deciding she wouldn't get anything more from him, she said, "What do you make of this? I want an honest opinion."

"Only that it's trouble," Archer said, walking over and peering at the sigil. "Noble Phantasms are."

"Hmmph. Well, I agree with you on that much if nothing else, but I'm beginning to feel a sense of foreboding," Medea said. "I am almost certain that the Servant who planted it comes from Greece or the Mediterranean near Greece."

"So why aren't you destroying it?" Archer asked.

"Why destroy it when you can exploit it?" Medea countered. "If this works to convert people into mana and drain that mana into a Servant, then there must, logically, be a link to that very Servant, even when they are Astralized. In modern terms, it is like tracing a phone call. Most Servants wouldn't be capable of such a thing…but I am a Caster."

Archer, after a moment, nodded approvingly. "Good idea. Can you do it without the Noble Phantasm being active?"

"Of course. The link is active all the time, even when the Noble Phantasm isn't," Medea said. "Tracing it is still not easy, but…" She grinned, pulling out her viewing crystal. She peered into it, only to grimace when she saw the image displayed. "Archer, Rider's stalking one of the students nearby."

Archer looked at the image, and then dashed over to the fence surrounding the roof. "I see her."

Medea followed, and watched as Rider Deastralized, preparing to pounce. She frowned as she considered Rider. The Servant was a buxom young woman in a daringly short black and purple dress that seemed vaguely toga-like, furthering the impression that she may have come from Greek myth, though the accessories seemed to tie into modern BDSM motifs. Her hair was a vivid purple, her forehead marred by an occult symbol Medea found familiar, and her eyes were covered by a strange, rigid-looking blindfold. A blindfold that Medea realised, with a thrill of horror, was in all likelihood a Mystic Eyes restraint.

And she now had a good idea of who Rider was.

"Distract her! I'll get the student away and deal with her memories!" Medea snapped.

She half-expected some backchat from her fellow Servant, but he merely leapt over the fence, and landed behind Rider. The noise had the student turn, and scream in fright. Medea teleported behind her, and gently cast a spell on her, making her fall asleep for now, dragging her to cover. "I have to wonder what has driven you to do this," Medea remarked as the Rider Servant watched them warily (insomuch as a blindfolded woman could be said to be 'watching'). "Is it a lack of mana supply, or a lack of scruples?"

Rider scoffed quietly. "The former, though my Master certainly lacks scruples."

"You mean your little stand-in Master…I presume it's some blue-haired oik with an ego in inverse proportion to his magecraft ability and his penis size?" Medea asked, standing up. Rider's raised eyebrow and smirk suggested Medea was on the ball. Then, she switched to Ancient Greek. "You're the most infamous of the three who inhabited the Shapeless Isle, aren't you?"

The look of surprise on Rider's face made it clear that Medea's suspicions were confirmed. This was Medusa, the most infamous of the Gorgons. In the same tongue, she replied, "You have me at a disadvantage in that if nothing else. Are you collaborating with the Archer?"

"For the time being. Though we intend to help your true Master, Sakura."

"Normally, I wouldn't believe you…but Sakura has told me of you, Caster," Medusa said. "That being said, the boy who is my proxy Master is currently recalling me. He has an interesting book with him. Good luck." And with that, she Astralized.

Archer frowned. "You let her get away?"

"For now. It seems we were correct, Shinji Matou is the one forcing Rider to plant the sigils. We deal with him, and she goes back to her proper Master."

"And how do I know that?" Archer asked. "You could have been plotting with her when you were talking in Ancient Greek."

Medea chuckled. "It depends on who the plot is against. And don't forget, Mr Amnesiac Archer, that I haven't missed those looks you have been giving myself and Shirou. Somehow, despite our existences being millennia apart, you know us both. Now, I wonder how that could be?"

"That is none of your business."

"Oh? Then let us exchange names. I'm sure you know my name. Say it."

After a moment, Archer bit out, "Medea of Colchis."

Medea merely gave a sardonic smirk as she approached Archer, before she hissed, "Atlas." As space froze around the tanned Servant, Medea said, "So you did know. And yet, I don't know you. Or rather…there's something about you, niggling at the back of my mind. Something very vaguely familiar about your features, and that Projection ability of yours. You're definitely not one of the Argonauts, or one of the Greek so-called heroes I knew in life. Now, as our Masters have signed a geas, I don't want to risk Harry going into a coma and my losing my mana supply by destroying you, just in case the magic interprets it that way…but I am sure there are ways to get you to talk…"

"What are you doing?!" yelled Rin as she, Shirou and Arturia burst out of the school building.

"Playing a game of 20 Questions," Medea remarked. "Archer knows who I am. He also seems to have a grudge against Shirou. I'm not letting him loose until I have an answer."

"Caster, let him loose!" Rin snapped.

"How about I give a better suggestion?" Medea asked. "Use a Command Seal on him. I want to know who he is, given that he is almost certainly lying about not knowing his true identity. If you do, I promise to give you any I happen to tear out of some imbecile later. Like Lancer's Master, for example."

"Trace On…" Shirou muttered, before forming a sabre out of the air, and then pointing it at Medea. "Caster, just let him go! We need to stop Rider and their Master!"

Medea tittered. "Oh, really, you're pointing a sword at me? Your Projection is nothing to sneeze at, Shirou, but…Projection…" She trailed off into silence as she realised the sabre he was wielding was exactly like the one Archer wielded before, one of the pair.

And then, it hit her. She looked back and forth between Shirou and Archer, a horrible, cold feeling running down her spine. Hair colour, eye colour, skin colour, all different…and yet, if you looked at some elements of the face, that Projection specialty, and…and…

Medea didn't realise she had released Atlas as she staggered back. Archer rushed forward, his own sabres at the ready, only for Arturia to intercept him. "No…no, no, no…" Medea murmured. "Of all things…"

"Archer, stop this!" Rin snarled. "Don't make me use a Command Seal!"

"You don't know who this is! This is Medea of Colchis, the Witch of Betrayal!" Archer snarled.

"And?" Medea asked, chuckling weakly and bitterly. "I wonder…when were you going to break Rin's heart by stabbing one of her friends in the back? I mean, as far as methods of suicide go, I have to admit, it's convoluted." Her chuckles became loud and bleak guffaws. "And funny! It's so hilarious! What a farce!" She straightened up, and looked Archer in the eyes, grinning viciously. "I should have considered the possibility that a Heroic Spirit could come from a time period other than the past…that we have a foe from the future! And he's just as suicidal as he used to be!"

"He's from the future?!" Shirou yelped.

"Yes. Shirou Emiya…meet Shirou Emiya. I must say, your looks do improve with age, even if your attitude does not." With that, Medea burst into hysterical cackles once more, like a robed hyena.

Rin did a number of double takes as she looked from Shirou to Archer, while Shirou stared dumbfounded at his future self, who didn't even seem to bother denying the accusations. Arturia stared at the future version of her Master in horror and disbelief. "Shirou…?" she whispered.

"…Saber," Archer responded, softly.

"I don't get it!" Rin snapped. "How is this possible?"

"The Throne of Heroes exists outside normal space and time, girl," Medea said with a roll of her eyes. "While there aren't as many Heroic Spirits in recent times, and doubtless there will be less in times to come, it doesn't mean they can't exist. Though your being summoned by Rin does stink of being too much of a coincidence. Was there a catalyst involved?"

After a moment, Archer reached into his mantle, and pulled out a crimson jewelled pendant. Rin recognised it, and then fished out an identical one. "The same pendant…"

"Though it didn't happen to Shirou in this timeline, I was stabbed by Lancer," Archer said. "Rin saved me by using the mana within that pendant to heal me. I wasn't lying about my memories being scrambled. Some elements of the Grail War aren't accessible to my mind. And in truth, there's a lot that has changed." He looked over at Medea. "Instead of Harry, your second Master was Souichirou Kuzuki. He's not a Magus, just a former assassin. In order to gain the mana to stay alive and gain power to fight, you started draining mana from the citizens of this city. Is it any wonder I held you in suspicion?"

Medea raised an eyebrow. "I must have been desperate…or Kuzuki must have been worth staying with."

"He saved your life, and showed you what kindness a retired, hollow killer could," Archer said with a shrug. "Make of that what you will."

"And Shirou?" Arturia asked, keeping herself interposed between Archer and Shirou. "What do you hold against him?"

Archer chuckled bitterly. "…You knew my father, Arturia. Imagine his regrets. He wanted to be a Hero of Justice, but instead, became the Magus Killer. Let's just say that, one day, I wasn't able to save everyone I could…and that was the day I started following in Kiritsugu Emiya's footsteps. Only worse." He gently reached forward with his hand, and grasped Arturia's face, a wistful look in his eyes. "I didn't realise until a long time after you were gone that I had fallen for you. I doubt you would feel the same way towards me now."

"…You want to kill me…before I end up like you?" Shirou asked.

"At the moment, I'm not so sure about that," Archer said quietly. He brushed past Arturia, and looked down at his past self. His eyes held contempt, hatred…and yet pity and hope as well. "Things are different, perhaps different enough to prevent you from becoming like me. You're in a strong relationship with Sakura, you're on good enough terms with the Tohsakas…Harry did not exist in my time, or at least he never came back to this world. Harry has been mentoring you. He knows better than any human in this world the pitfalls of being a hero. So does your Servant."

"…Archer," Rin said quietly. "Is there any information you do remember? About the Grail, or about the other Servants?"

"The Grail is indeed tainted. With what, I can't remember," Archer said. "Assassin was an irregular Servant summoned by Caster, claiming to be the Japanese swordsman Kojiro Sasaki, so we'll have to be careful. And there's other complicating factors: Lancer was stolen from his original Master. In addition, Arturia, there's an old acquaintance of yours running around after the previous Grail War: Gilgamesh of Uruk, better known as Archer."

Arturia's eyes widened in shock. "But…how can…how can that be?" the blonde knight asked, horrified.

"Indeed," Medea mused. "Surely he would have disappeared along with the Grail. It may be possible to bind a Servant as a familiar outside of a Grail War under certain circumstances, but you suggest otherwise."

"I don't remember the details, only that something from what happened ten years ago did it to him. But it is Gilgamesh. And he still lusts after you after all this time, Arturia."

"Wait, wait…" Rin said. "I thought my father summoned an Archer. Are you telling me my father's old Servant is still walking amongst the living?"

"Unfortunately. Gilgamesh is on a whole other level to most Heroic Spirits. I know you faced him yourself, Arturia. He fires Noble Phantasms from dimensional portals to his treasury, an ability called the Gate of Babylon. And Akasha help you if he decides to get serious in stopping you."

Arturia nodded morosely. "Gilgamesh boasted of defeating Iskandar, the previous Grail War's Rider, using his ultimate Noble Phantasm, Ea, the Sword of Rupture, an anti-World Noble Phantasm that was capable of destroying Iskandar's Reality Marble. Another complication to this situation. You said the Grail is tainted. Shall I never get my wish?"

Archer shook his head. "I'm sorry, Arturia. But…perhaps it's for the best. I remember what you wanted to wish for, for you to be replaced by someone more worthy of the throne, better able to protect Britain. A foolish wish. But…I'm sorry all the same."

Medea shot a look at Arturia, before she said, "Never mind that for now. We've wasted enough time on this. We need to find Rider and her Master…or rather, her proxy Master." She conjured up her viewing crystal, and peered at it.

"Caster figured out a means of tracking Rider via one of the sigils," Archer explained. "I have to admit, despite my experience with her before, I actually like Caster this time around."

"That's amazing, Caster!" Shirou enthused.

"Thank you," the Greek witch preened, before she frowned at what she saw. "Hmm, Rider seems to be in the park…she seems to be stalking someone…oh no…"

They all gathered around the viewing crystal, and saw the features of Harry as he walked along a path in the park…

Shinji grimaced as he clutched the Book of False Attendant to his chest. He had retreated with his Servant to the shitty little park where the last Grail War concluded. Those two Servants of the bloody Tohsakas had interfered when he had Rider try to harvest that little tart's soul for mana.

But now, as he peeked out from behind a tree, he saw someone walking nearby. A very familiar someone. Dark hair, green eyes, and glasses, along with that scarred forehead. He grinned. This interfering prick had prevented Shinji from taking what he wanted…no, what he was rightfully due from that little slut Sakura. Okay, the same could be said for Rin and for Shirou, but Harry Tohsaka was even more of a thorn in Shinji's side. Snooty little fuck, lording it over Shinji because he had magic and Shinji didn't.

Well, he'd show him.

Rider, harvest that bastard's soul for your mana, Shinji said.

My apologies, but Sakura has asked that I do not hurt him.

Shinji sneered, activating the Command Seals on the Book of False Attendant. I am your Master, not Sakura. By my Command Seal…I order you to consume the soul of Harry Tohsaka!

CHAPTER 17 ANNOTATIONS:

Oh shit. Shit just got real. Archer has revealed his identity to the others, and Harry is about to be attacked by Medusa.

Now, why doesn't Archer reveal more about what happened? Well, that's a good point, and one that should be asked about what he does in Fate/Stay Night canon. My theory is that his memories were genuinely scrambled to a degree (presumably by the Grail, to prevent him from doing much about it), and the rest is him concealing what he knows to further his agenda of killing Shirou.

So…I'm not that far from 100K views, and this story will probably overtake Ex Umbra in Solem as my most-reviewed Nasuverse story.

Review-answering time! Okay, I'll be blunt. While I expected a lot of people to get who Assassin is (I used some very heavy hints, admittedly), I didn't expect the negative backlash (mostly from vitriolic anonymous reviews that I deleted). I chose that person to give a more personal struggle for Harry, and believe me, said person will have some MAJOR buffing…like super-Legilimency…or Potterverse magic turned up to Age of the Gods level.

However, those who gave negative comments seem to fail to understand one VERY simple precept. YOU are not the authors of this fic. YOU have little say in how it goes, if at all. I am the author of this work, not YOU. It is NOT difficult to understand this concept, and the fact that this seems to be the case adds insult to injury. I have stated time and time before, if you don't like it, don't read it, and don't leave a review. I write on my own terms, not yours, and if you don't like it, then get out of here, and don't let the door hit you on your arses on the way out. This especially goes for guest reviewers and those who make accounts, but don't write anything. Or can't.

Right, rant over. Now, onto the people who deserve answering.

AznPuffyHair: Well, it's stated in Nasuverse material that most of the von Einzberns are Homunculi anyway. And yes, Harry went with Joan instead of Jeanne because he's British. Then again, so's Arturia.

KaiserDragon: I will consider your idea about how Illya will live past the Grail War, for once. But please stop spamming suggestions every time you and your…friends post reviews. Assuming they're not sockpuppets.

1. The Foe from the Future is a name of a Doctor Who story by Robert Banks Stewart, originally meant for Tom Baker's tenure as the Doctor. The story fell through, and elements of the story were re-used for Robert Holmes' story The Talons of Weng-Chiang, though The Foe from the Future was eventually adapted for the Big Finish audios, and the differences are as telling as the similarities.