Kaede felt like openly throwing up at the feeling of the barrier around the school. It was disgusting, but more than that it felt wrong against her Magus senses. She could hear Medusa croon a little, rubbing her back, but it didn't help. Jack and Cassi (formerly Sakura) weren't nearly as affected. Then again, after swapping her soul Cassi felt so much lighter...all the horrible things her 'grandfather' had forced her body to endure were quickly becoming a passing memory.
"Kaede, maybe you should head home," said Shiro in concern.
"No...somehow I get the feeling this will only get worse the longer it's here," she said. Though she nearly threw up again as she breathed. This boundary field was really bad for her health.
And that was before the damn thing was active.
Kiritsugu was again out of the city when the barrier finally did activate, however he was present during the counter attack Caster had on his house.
To say he was less than happy with the fact she had mistaken Kaede for Saber and almost caused her Servant to vanish was a severe understatement.
He was pissed as hell.
There was a very good reason why he had wanted nothing to do with the fifth Grail War after surviving the fourth, and it had little to do with what happened with Caster last time, or the fact that the damn thing was the Magi equivalent of a Monkey's paw.
Which was why the minute he found out Kaede had been taken (Medusa had followed quickly after her, not wanting her Master to suffer one of her relapses, as Shiro had warned her about) he went straight to the Einzbern castle on the outskirts of town and brought his daughter to the heavily warded area of Sirius's house just outside Fuyuki. It wouldn't give them much protection against say, someone of Saber's caliber, but it was better than the protections around his home until he could upgrade the things and it would give them enough warning to escape to one of the many predetermined locations.
One of which was the school itself. Too far for a Servant to go and it would alert the Church that the wars were getting out of hand and bring them down on Kotomine for certain. He was supposed to keep them contained in Fuyuki after all...cleaning up after the last one had been a bitch and a half from what he heard.
Kaede shivered. In less than three days the school had been attacked directly, Archer had somehow managed to break his contract with Rin, and she had been mistaken for her grandmother by Caster and captured.
She was bound by the wrists and in a mock parody of a wedding dress. Every time Caster raked her eyes on her prize, she felt like something slimy had slithered across her skin.
Kaede happened to spy Archer who was looking at her expression oddly. He hadn't been there when Shiro warned Medusa and Arturia about Kaede's minor episodes before she was made to go to therapy by Gil.
The female Servants all promised to keep an eye out just in case, but it was rather rare for her to have one.
However what Caster was putting her through could trigger a relapse if she became aware of it.
Right now Kaede was wishing to every higher power she could think of barring the gods that Gil hadn't been reclaimed by his Archer half...he would have dealt with this witch rather quickly if he had been around.
As it was she took some small comfort that Medusa had escaped having their contract broken...instead it appeared that the dagger (which she would later learn was called 'Rule Breaker') had destroyed the original contract she had with Gil, somehow missing Medusa's command seals entirely. How that happened she had no idea, but she took it as a blessing that it was.
She still had no idea where Gil's command seals were, since she never actually used them. He was mostly kept in line via the dragon's head she had learned to manifest by watching a certain series repeatedly until she figured out the trick of it.
Gil didn't know whether to hate the series 'Sekirei' for giving her the idea, or to simply enjoy the fact that the creators had nothing against fan service and a lot of it, along with exposing cleavage frequently.
Why those alien chicks never thought to get at least some armor or armored clothing he had no idea. However he could care less about that, seeing as how he was a guy after all.
(Didn't stop Kaede from braining him with a ladle when she caught him ogling the more...endowed...characters of the show during a fight scene.)
Kaede shivered when Caster dragged a long, manicured finger down her exposed back. Archer frowned. Unlike Medea he could see the expression on the girl's face and it was one that made his hands itch to skewer the Witch of Betrayal. Something about this scene was horribly wrong, and it had more to do than the fact that Medusa was still around. What the hell had this girl's life been like if she was reacting that badly?
It had been bad for Arturia being captured and put through mental torture... how bad was it for Kaede?
Archer was the only one in the room when he actually noticed something was wrong. It took him a few seconds to realize what, but when he did he reacted accordingly.
Kaede was starting to go through the initial stages of shock, and despite how he felt about the fact she had been captured instead of Saber, he wasn't going to let her die.
Archer quickly removed the shackles around her wrists and was startled to discover that they appeared burned...how was that possible?
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Caster annoyed.
"She's going into shock. If I don't do something fast you'll be down a hostage and have a harder time capturing the real Saber, let alone this girl's original Servant."
Archer had let it be known that she could summon Gilgamesh, and Caster wanted him badly as one of her pawns. She had no idea what the Servant was like, and Archer neglected to mention that Gilgamesh would be far more likely to kill her than to serve her.
Caster's "Master", who wasn't the one who actually summoned her, examined her eyes carefully.
"He's right. She's going into the initial stages of shock and with her current condition it would be child's play for that to kill her off," he confirmed.
Kaede's eyes were very dilated, like there was a poison in her blood. Her body was feverish and it was clear that if he didn't do something to cool her off she would start going into convulsions. She looked like she was barely holding down the contents of her stomach as it was.
Soichiro noticed something else.
"Did you add some sort of slow-burning spell to those shackles?" he asked.
"No. Why would I bother?" she asked.
"Her wrists are heavily burned and there is scar damage."
"What are those shackles made of?" asked Archer. Though his structural analysis said they were made of cold iron, nothing special.
"How should I know? I found them in the basement here and put them to use," said Caster crossly.
"If she's in this state, one of us will have to keep an eye on her at all times," said Soichiro. He didn't actually care about his student, but he wasn't going to lose a hostage because they were being lazy.
"Or we can use another method," said Archer.
He made a cage of plain swords, with the edges pointed inward at the girl. She wouldn't be able to leave, but anyone rescuing her would have even more difficulty avoiding the sharp edge. Unless they had Shiro with them, which made it a moot point.
Archer noted that with a cage around her, her breathing seemed to calm down just a little. What the hell happened to her for her to feel safe in a cage of swords?
Seeing the look on her face, Soichiro calmly mentioned an odd notice about Kaede Emiya for the male teachers.
"Interesting fact about Kaede... she's not allowed around any adult males without an escort from her boyfriend, Shiro, or Tohsaka."
Archer raised an eyebrow. That raised several alarms in his head, none of them good.
Archer delayed Medusa and Lancer long enough for Rin and Shiro to make it below. Assassin and Saber kept Medea busy, and eventually he let them through.
However, this was just a ruse. He couldn't let them leave with Kaede, not in her condition. All it would take would be a single word to Gilgamesh or Zouken of her current state and they would descend upon her like wolves on a lamb ready for slaughter.
So he killed Medea before the others had a chance to...then made off with the still unconscious Kaede.
It would take them hours to figure out what happened.
Kaede felt sick to her stomach. She knew someone was in the room, but for some reason she could care less since she also could tell it wasn't that witch or that bastard teacher of Shiro's.
That person gently guided her to a trash can and helped keep her from having her hair in her face while she threw up what little she had in her stomach.
It took her a few moments to realize it was Archer...and that he had some cold, clean water.
"Easy. You were reacting badly to the shackles for some reason, so I had to wait before I could kidnap you," he said.
"Fairy magic," she said, once her throat cleared thanks to the water.
"I figured as much, though I couldn't tell why you had it."
"My armor, they tied it directly to my magic. They neglected to mention that it would make me vulnerable to iron. Then again, the ones who made the armor were fae. They probably didn't care and thought I would have enough sense to get away once I found out."
"Instead you find out the worst way possible, by accident while you're being a hostage for Medea, Witch of Betrayal," said Archer, realizing what she meant. He was rubbing soothing circles on her back, letting her calm down.
"Why did you react so badly to being held captive?" he asked. It had been bothering him for a while.
"I had an abusive past. Gil saved me from it. I went through years of therapy, but I still have relapses. Shiro warned Saber and Rider, but I thought he warned you with them," said Kaede.
"I was talking with Kiritsugu when he called them into another room," said Archer.
"Probably didn't know how I would react around you since you're a guy," said Kaede. She was starting to breath normally, though she was still really, really weak. She didn't think she could walk at this rate.
"Easy. You've been kept in that basement for the better part of three days, and you weren't given any food or water. Combined with your reaction to the iron you won't be getting out of bed for a few hours at least. You should just get some sleep. It's unlikely anyone will come here after the mess Gilgamesh left of the castle. I heard Illyasviel was furious that he had mistaken one of her guards for her," said Archer.
Kaede didn't feel like arguing. She was still rather sick. Archer left the waste basket near the bed for her, before letting her get back to sleep.
It was easier for him to lure Shiro here when his hostage certainly wasn't able to get up, and was too weak to just up and leave. Archer did, however, manage to make a simple soup she was able to hold down. Unlike Medea he wasn't heartless, and he did feel somewhat bad for not getting her out of there sooner.
It was because of her that he had been able to talk to Kiritsugu for once while he was alive, and that his alternate actually had a chance of avoiding his particular future.
Besides, the memory of Arturia fainting from the knowledge that her granddaughter was dating and betrothed to Gilgamesh was one of the funniest memories he had of a Grail War!
"Do we have any idea where Archer took her?" asked Shiro in concern.
"None. Archer wasn't exactly talkative when he grabbed her," said Saber scowling. That bastard stole her granddaughter away when it was very clear the poor girl had been tortured by Caster for nearly the entire time she was there. Though she did give him credit when she realized that the sword cage was his work.
It doubled as a way to keep Caster away from Kaede and kept her safe from Caster's Master at the same time.
Shiro was beyond alarmed when he realized that there was bits of skin in the shackles...and that his structural analysis confirmed it was his sister. From what little Caster had let slip, Kaede had to be put into the sword cage because she had almost gone into what Archer and her Master said was 'shock'.
Which meant Kaede would be vulnerable for at least two days, if she were lucky. Not something you'd want people like Zouken or Gilgamesh to be aware of when they were out for your blood.
"Why did the shackles affect her?" asked Rin. They had brought them back in hopes of using a tracking spell.
"What are they made out of?" asked Saber.
"Iron, mostly. They're at least a few hundred years old, probably brought when the Church was built," said Shiro immediately.
Saber paled.
"Cold iron?" she asked.
"I think so."
"You once said she had fairy armor, correct? Given to her freely by one of the fae?" asked Saber to Shiro.
"Yeah. She bought it for some ball after they tried to rope her into a contest and kept it when Gil said it had special magic. Apparently she made a really good impression on them," said Rin.
"Is it tied to her specifically?"
"I'm fairly certain it was. I certainly couldn't get the magic to work," said Rin. She had tried it on as a lark. Nothing happened, even when she tried to overload it with prana.
"Fairy magic reacts badly to cold iron. When I was first given Avalon and Excalibur, I found that I would get sick from touching it for too long. I've never dared to hold it more than five minutes, but it wasn't pleasant," said Saber.
Rin, Shiro and Kiritsugu all paled.
"Iron affected you?" said Rin.
"I believe that even though I have no fae's blood in me, I had enough contact with them that their biggest weakness got passed on. Thanks to Avalon it wasn't immediately obvious, but I made a point to avoid it on principle," confirmed Saber.
"This is bad. From the amount of skin I saw on those shackles Caster definitely had her in them. I'm betting Archer noticed she was getting worse and put her into the cage to keep her from getting too sick," said Shiro grimly.
"I'm just surprised he bothered at all. Archer wasn't exactly a big fan of the fact that she was here," said Medusa sourly.
"Where did he take her though?" asked Rin. That was what bugged her the most. They knew he had taken her to draw Shiro out for some reason, but Archer had left before saying where they were going.
Suddenly Illya appeared with Sirius guarding her in dog form. She had been staying with him and Cassi since Kiritsugu had 'kidnapped' his daughter from a local park since he didn't want her to be anywhere near Fuyuki when war was getting bad. The last thing he needed was for Illya to be targeted because she was the lesser grail.
"Alright, which one of you has been going into my forest?" she asked crossly.
"What?"
"The boundary wards are tied to the lesser grail. They've been telling me someone has trespassed into my area and has not left, and I want to know which one of you is missing," she said flatly.
"He must have gone to the castle because he knew it would be abandoned," said Shiro.
"Makes sense. Aside from the damage Gilgamesh did trying to find Illya, no's there. Even Stella moved out of the place once we told her where Illya was," said Rin.
"Who?"
"Archer. Caster captured him and mistook Kaede for Saber. From what we can tell she was tortured physically and possibly mentally for three days. Archer nabbed her before we could return home with her," explained Shiro.
"Kaede-chan was tortured?" said Illya, eyes wide.
Her eyes fell on the shackles on the table. Medusa was openly growling.
"Apparently Caster had these shackles, or found them in the Church. What the faeries neglected to mention and Saber forgot to warn us about was that those blessed by faeries inherit their weakness to iron," said Shiro.
"Hmm. Three springs of mistletoe woven around the wrist have been known to counter the effects or a black stone," said Illya.
Everyone stopped and stared at her.
"What? You think Einzbern homunculi got their white hair and red eyes from the coining process? Our original ancestor made a deal with the fae centuries ago and they gave us the original recipe for homunculi. We don't suffer the effects anymore but their touch still lingers. It was mostly dealings with the Unseelie though," said Illya.
"Considering the main Einzbern castle is in the Black Forests of Germany, I'm not surprised," said Kiritsugu dryly.