Shiro was walking Sakura home when she noticed his arm bleeding. When he went home, he found Kaede frowning at the mark on her arm.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"The Grail is sending out the Command Seals to those it has marked as Masters," said Kiritsugu. So it had begun. He planned to leave the house until the Servants had all been summoned. He didn't want to get picked by accident.
Rin came in looking distinctly unhappy.
"I take it you've all been picked as well?" she asked. Kaede and Shiro showed her the marks.
"We'll team up with you so we can destroy this stupid Grail once and for all," said Kaede.
Kiritsugu put a book on the table.
"Here is the full ritual for summoning. Shiro, you had better summon before tomorrow. Kaede, I don't know if Gil will qualify as your Servant or not since you summoned him before the war even started," said Kiritsugu.
"I don't think I'll qualify," said Gil. He looked like he was sick or something.
"Gil! What's wrong with you?"
"I think the Grail is throwing up a fuss now that the war has restarted. You might have to resummon me later," he said pale.
"I'm almost positive you'll have to resummon him under a new Class. There can't be two of the same Servant hanging around unless there is something keeping them here," said Kiritsugu.
"And to make matters worse the Gilgamesh you are already familiar with is still around. Add to the fact Shiro will almost certainly summon her...well, you don't need me to spell it out do you?" said Gil looking even worse.
Kiritsugu's head whipped around.
"What do you mean Gilgamesh is still around?"
"I mean he's inside the Church, feasting on the souls of the orphans that were placed there," said Gil.
"How do you know that?" asked Rin looking ill.
"I've been getting glimpses from his mind for several years now...it wasn't until recently I realized what was going on. He's aware that I exist as well, but he doesn't know where or what I look like beyond the fact I appear to be him. From what we've been able to tell, Kaede somehow managed to summon all the better aspects of the King of Heroes while his less pleasant ones stayed in the Church."
Rin made a face.
"I bet that damn Kotomine is the one supplying him," she said.
"He is."
"In that case you two had better summon your Servants and fast," said Kiritsugu.
Rin was the first to summon her Servant, and once she got a good look at him she barely repressed the urge to cackle. Oh this would be amusing to see Archer's face when he realized Kiritsugu was still alive. And Shiro's once he found out who her Servant was.
Kaede was summoning inside Rin's house, as she wanted to surprise Alturia with her own Servant first. Kiritsugu had already left, though he had given the twins a magical camera with the order to make sure they got the Kaede double's look when she realized that she had a granddaughter.
From the cackles of the twins, they were sure to take several shots.
Kaede felt something tug against her magic, and fought back. Someone was summoning the same Servant, and she wasn't going to let them win. Finally she won the minor tug of war, though her hair shifted more to blond than it had been. At the rate she was going there wasn't going to be a strand of red left in her hair!
"Are you my master?" she asked bowing.
"I am."
"Servant Rider," she said.
Kaede frowned.
"Why are you wearing a blindfold?" she had to ask.
"If I did not, then I might turn you into stone by mistake," she replied.
Turned to stone? There was only one hero she knew of that had that power...but she had better check.
"How fascinating. By any chance do you know of Athena?" she asked in parseltongue.
Rider tensed, her facial features contorting in rage before she remembered who she was with. This was her Master, whether she liked it or not.
"I knew it. You're Medusa aren't you?"
Medusa, for that was her true name, looked at her Master in shock.
"How did you know so quickly?"
"The only legendary figure I know of that could turn the unwary to stone with their gaze and speak parseltongue is Medusa. Fortunately I don't own any owls, and I've never fully believed the Greeks to be all that smart either. Fate has already tried to screw me over once," said Kaede.
Medusa relaxed a bit.
"Are you done yet?" asked Gil.
"Gil, meet Rider," said Kaede, kissing him on the cheek.
"Hello. Keep her safe until I get back will you?" said Gil.
"Where are you going?" Medusa had to ask.
"Kaede has to resummon me. There can't be two Saber class Servants around, not unless we want double the Servants in the war," explained Gil.
He then looked at his girlfriend.
"Use the ring as your artifact. That should bring me back," said Gil.
He vanished into spirit particles, though he didn't go back into the Grail. Instead he went back into Archer Gilgamesh until Kaede could figure out how to bring him out.
"Let's head back. Hopefully Shiro will have summoned Saber already so we can make her faint," said Kaede eagerly.
"Are you my Master?" asked Saber.
Shiro showed her his Command Seals.
"Then by the Holy Grail's Refuge, Servant Saber has answered your summons," she said formally.
"Just to warn you Saber, there's going to be at least one other Servant who will be living with me. So don't attack them on sight," he said.
"Understood."
"Shiro! I'm back and I brought a friend!" came a girl's voice.
Shiro and Saber went into the living room where Fred and George were waiting eagerly with the camera prepped and ready.
Saber immediately saw Rider, and realized that this must be the second Servant. Then she saw Rider's Master and her jaw almost dropped.
It was like looking into a mirror. If it wasn't for the fact that this girl was looking at her with anything but hate, she would have sworn that she was seeing Mordred.
"Welcome back Kaede. So who's your friend?"
"Her name is Rider," said the girl. Then she looked right at Saber and smiled.
"Hi Grandma!"
Saber took a few moments to process this statement, before her mind shut down and she keeled over in a faint. She vaguely noticed the cameras in the twin's hands going off and catching her moment of weakness.
"Oh my gods... Did you see the look on her face?" Kaede cracked up.
Shiro was trying (and failing) not to laugh at Saber's expression when Kaede called her 'grandma'. That was hilarious.
"Shiro! Is dinner ready yet?" came Rin's voice.
"Give me a few minutes to get started...and watch where you walk! We have a fainted Servant in here!" said Shiro.
"You mean I missed it? Damn!" said Rin.
"We'll show you the memory later Rin!" said Kaede.
Rider tensed when she sensed Archer, but Kaede shook her head.
"So Rin, which ones were drawn?" asked Kaede.
"Berserker was drawn first, then Lancer, Caster, Archer, Rider and of course Saber. So all that's left is Assassin," said Rin, stepping over the fainted Saber.
Archer's look of disbelief when he saw Saber on the floor looking like someone had slapped her silly with a fish was almost as amusing as the doubletake he did when he saw Kaede.
Once Shiro was done with dinner, Saber had woken up and was displeased to learn that the twins had taken pictures of her fainting spell. She looked at Kaede with a piercing gaze.
"What you said earlier..."
"You're my ancestor. We learned at the bank that my many-times ancestor was Mordred, though Gil had suspected something the first time he saw my green eyes. Something about how only the child of Alturia could have been able to summon him without knowing what magic was," said Kaede.
"Gil?"
"Her betrothed. Let me guess, you're going to wait until Assassin is drawn before you try to bring him back," said Rin. Gilgamesh could assume any class but Assassin.
"Her betrothed? How old is she?!" said Archer looking incredulous.
"I'm almost sixteen. Gil thought it was a better idea to ask for my hand before any of the other idiots pressed their luck first," said Kaede.
"Who is Gil?" asked Saber, not sure she wanted her 'granddaughter' to marry someone, despite having just met her.
Saber might have only been summoned, but she took family seriously. After the mess she had made with Mordred, she was determined to at least try to get along with anyone of her bloodline.
Rin was grinning evilly now. The twins got their cameras ready to capture Archer and Saber's expressions.
"Gilgamesh of Uruk," said Kaede as if that was the most normal thing in the world, sipping her tea.
Saber's reaction was immediate.
"That blackguard?!" she nearly shrieked.
"Gil is the nicest person you would ever meet!" said Kaede angrily at her grandmother.
"Gilgamesh is the spawn of the devil," hissed Saber.
"Gilgamesh, from what we've heard, is an asshole. Gil, however is Kaede's overprotective boyfriend. He once stared down a dragon just because he had been in a really bad mood," corrected Rin.
"Don't forget that little wizard twit who kept calling him a vampire. Remember how they reacted to his eyes," snorted Kaede.
Archer looked very confused.
"Why do you call him Gil instead of Gilgamesh? And why hasn't he killed you for it yet?"
"Gil," said Rin calmly, "Is the more reasonable version of Gilgamesh. He was summoned under Saber class while the Archer version currently lives in the Church which is why we are not going anywhere near that place. I know for a fact that bastard Kirei has a phone, and no where in the rules does it state we have to announce our Servants directly to the so called Mediator."
Which was what they did. Rin called the annoying priest. Told him who had summoned what, then hung up before he could say a word to her. She hated the bastard and could care less what he had to say.
Suddenly she looked up from her food.
"Assassin was just summoned. Shiro, you want to call and tell him it's safe to return?" she asked.
"He'll probably be happy that he wasn't picked by mistake," said Shiro.
"Who are you talking about?" asked Saber.
"Shiro and Kaede's adopted dad. He knew about the Grail War, but he didn't want to accidentally get marked so he left the area and went into the warded section of the Academy to avoid getting Command Seals," said Rin.
Archer's eyebrows twitched. The only person who Shiro willingly called Dad should have been dead for years now.
"Hey Twitchy, what's got you so upset?" asked Fred. Rin saw who they were looking at and snorted. Archer was now labeled Twitchy. This should be fun...especially when Rin pounced on him that she knew full well who he was the second she saw him.
Shiro put down his cell phone.
"Dad said he would come home tomorrow. Apparently he's eating out and Sirius said that he's paying."
"Why's his face look like he's having a spasm attack?" asked George, pointing his chopsticks at Archer.
"I have an idea," said Rin.
Archer was in a state of permanent shock it seemed. Rin couldn't help but poke at her Servant while she packed her clothes. While her bounded fields were good, Gil had already mentioned that Gilgamesh could enter them at any time he wanted. No way was she living in a house where Gilgamesh could come after her before she knew he was there!
Besides, the entertainment value of seeing Archer freak out over the fact that they were well aware that the Grail was corrupted and they fully intended to destroy the thing would be fun.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked, her voice absolutely amused.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? Where do you want me to start?" said Archer, his eyebrows twitching rampantly.
He was definitely going to be stuck with the nickname Twitchy by the time this war was over.
"How about the fact I recognized who you were before I knew what your Class was?" said Rin.
Archer's twitch seemed to be a permanent fixture on his face.
"Or the fact that from the way you reacted to Shiro calling his father, that Kiritsugu apparently died the last time you were out?" she continued.
Oh it was worse now!
"Perhaps it's the fact that Shiro is aware of his Reality Marble and happens to be a more competent wizard than he is a magus?" mused Rin.
Archer phased out before she could throw some more curveballs at him. Rin laughed openly at the expression of annoyed disbelief on his face. Who knew Shiro got so uptight once he hit Hero status?
Shiro was helping Rin carry her bags to the house when they ran into Illyasviel.
Kaede, who had come with them, recognized her from the memories Kiritsugu had shared from shortly before the Fourth Grail War.
"Illyasviel von Einzbern," whispered Kaede.
"Hello Onii-san. Onee-san," she said curtseying.
Kaede's eyebrow twitched. Oh Kiritsugu was going to love this... his daughter was the lesser grail!
"Nee-sama," said Kaede in way of greeting. Judging by the surprised look on Illya's face, she had believed they weren't aware of her relation to Kiritsugu.
"Dad's going to love this..." muttered Shiro. He tapped Rin's bags with a portkey spell, and they vanished. If they were going to fight, he would prefer not to hear Rin yelling at him for getting her clothes destroyed by accident.
"Illyasviel von Einzbern... the biological daughter of Kiritsugu the Magus Killer and the previous lesser Grail Irisviel. And judging by that mass of muscle, Master of Berserker," said Kaede continuing.
"You know about me, but I don't know anything about you," said Illya. Her eyes clearly indicated that she wanted to know where this girl had heard of her.
"Dad was rather chatty when he compared me to you, since the castle Homunculi wouldn't let him come near you. Eventually he gave up trying when he realized that the next Grail war would happen sooner than anyone would anticipate and decided to wait until you left the castle yourself to act as the next Einzbern master," explained Kaede.
"Kiritsugu is dead," said Illya, her eyes angry.
"Kiritsugu Emiya the Magus is dead. Kiritsugu Emiya the wizard is very much alive. The only reason he's not in Fuyuki is because he didn't want to get another Command Seal and become a Master again. He'll be back by morning since Assassin was brought out finally," corrected Kaede.
"You're lying!" screamed Illya.
"Dad was hit with a nasty curse from the Grail, and if we hadn't been attending the Magical Academy near Misaki he would have died. Instead they transferred his soul into another body, though the only one they had on hand was one with a wizard's core instead of a Magi one. He did say that once we had something that could handle storming the Einzbern castle that we would come in after you," said Shiro.
"You have to be lying..." said Illya.
"If you don't believe us, come to Fuyuki Park tomorrow once the sun sets," said Kaede.