"Disclaimer: We do not own the Fate series. We'd have Gotten F/GO a lot quicker if we did.
My Comrades commentary will be added with later Chapters, worry not.
Chapter 0-2: The Marked Warrior's Revival
A young girl walks in the snowstorm, alone and scared, unaware of the amount of time that has passed since she became separated from her parents. Had it been mere seconds, minutes, hours? She no longer knows how long it's been, all she knows is it will be getting dark soon and the snow was beginning to pile up, making it harder for her to move. Her body was slowly starting to go numb.
"Mom…..Dad!"
She cried out, desperately trying to hear a response through the gusts of wind. But it is too late, her body can't go on anymore, the cold has finally gotten to her. Feeling her slowly losing consciousness she continues to cry out, hoping that her parents will eventually come and save her, like they always did.
"Mom…..Dad!"
She cries out again, as it's her only hope, her only chance of being saved. Suddenly in the distance, she sees a silhouette moving toward her direction, could this be one of her parents? Overcome with joy she continues to yell toward the silhouette, attracting its attention.
"Mom….Dad!" she screams.
The silhouette is moving into my direction, it has to be mother or father, she thinks to herself.
Suddenly she realizes four more silhouettes behind the initial silhouette, and as the silhouette begins to move closer to her, the face once full of joy and hope, quickly turns to that of terror and despair. The silhouette wasn't a silhouette of one of her parents, but a leader of a pack of wolves. As the wolves get closer she feels herself finally losing consciousness. Her vision starting to fade, she can barely keep her eyes open. She cries out one last time.
"Mom…..Dad….save me….please!"
The last thing she sees before she falls unconscious is a wolf lunging at her, and then everything went white.
/Einzbern's Castle, in the middle of a German Forest, 7:09 a.m. (Monday, Week 1)
"Ahh"
Hoshi screams as she wakes up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. It took her a minute to realize she was only reliving the fear and terror that she had experienced that day.
"Tch, the same dream again."
She growled and shook her head, the dream having had disgruntled her.
How on earth am I going to win the Grail War if I am afraid of my own dreams?
She looks at her clock and noticed that it was 4:00 A.M.
Well I guess one of the benefits to having these nightmares is that it gets me up early enough to train.
She started to prepare for her daily regimen.
It's been the same schedule for her for the past 18 years. Wake up, train, and sleep, over and over in a never ending cycle. Around 8:00 3 individuals dressed in cloaks appear in her training room.
"Huh, you guys are early today, aren't you?"
She smirks as she says this, causing one of the hooded figures to reach in its hood and pull out a string of hair that manifested into a dagger and launches it directly at Hoshi. Hoshi easily dodged the dagger and prepared to face the two figures charging at her. Each of those figures pulled out their own strand of hair; one of them creating a sword out of their strand, and the other turning theirs into gauntlets. As her opponents attacked her, Hoshi managed to dodge each of their strikes gracefully, eventually running past them to her first target: the hooded figure who threw the dagger at her. Before he could even react, she kicked him in the face, knocking him out.
She turns around to prepare to fight the other two figures. The one with the sword charged at her. She noticed the way he was holding the sword and used this observation to predict the angle and speed at which it would strike, allowing her to dodge it with ease. As the sword swung down, she used the opportunity to dash behind her opponent, revealing a flowing red garrote wire hidden in her watch, and started to wrap it around her opponent's neck. Hearing her last opponent running in her direction, she spun around the individual she had in her wire and used him as a meat shield to block the blow from the gauntlet hooded figure. Having no need for the shield anymore, she discarded her opponent, who after being punched by his ally, was unable to stand up or move.
Her final opponent charged at her, closing the gap in between them. Seeing the damage done by his previous attack, she realized that one strike would be enough to finish her off. Unfortunately, she was also aware that this opponent was much faster than the last two, so she was forced to use hand-to-hand combat against him. She dodged each of his attacks swiftly, patiently waiting for an opportunity to counter attack. As she ducked and weaved, she noticed that he would overextend some of his punches. After his next few swings, she dodged the last attack, slid under the arm to where the elbow was, and struck it with a large amount of force, causing the elbow to be dislocated. This strike caused her opponent to fall to the ground in sheer pain, incapacitating him. Hoshi stood over her three opponents, satisfied with her victory.
"Must you be so aggressive during these training sessions?"
The voice came from near the door of the room. Hoshi turned in the voice's direction and saw a young man with pale skin, white hair and red eyes.
"Of course, Marco; the Grail War is a fight to the death. If I'm going to train for it, it would be best to fight as if my life depended on it."
She says with a smile on her face.
"I suppose you do have a point there."
Marco replied with an expressionless face.
"I am assuming you haven't eaten breakfast yet?"
Hoshi replied.
"You know I haven't; it takes time away from my training."
"Not eating at the appropriate time will have an impact on your health and your ability to fight. I will be having breakfast myself right now; you should join me, as we have some important matters to discuss."
Marco then turned to leave the room. Hoshi, intrigued by what Marco said, decided to accept his invitation, tossing her work out towel onto the face of one of her downed training partners.
Sitting at a table, in an extravagant dining hall, Hoshi and Marco eat silently. Hoshi, starting to become annoyed with the fact that this meeting is taking time away from her training, voiced her impatience to Marco.
"So what is this important matter that you have to discuss with me?"
She said this while cutting her food with a knife. Marco glared up at her after finishing a bite of his food, replying in turn.
"I assume you are aware that the Holy Grail War will be beginning soon?"
"Of course I know, I have been preparing for it for 18 years."
"Indeed you have" Marco replies "and as a participant in the Holy Grail war you are required to have a Servant assist you."
Hoshi, well aware of what a Servant was, responded curtly.
"Great, so when exactly do I get my Servant? I'm going to need to develop strategies around its class and attributes."
"Unfortunately that's the catch. In order to receive a Servant you, the Master, must summon it."
The Einzbern's taught Hoshi many things about Servants; however, they seemed to have omitted the lesson on summoning. Hoshi's tone became more serious.
"And how do I do that?"
"Well, in order to summon a Servant, you will require a catalyst. Unfortunately, the Einzbern's have been unable to find a catalyst that can be used to summon a decent Servant, until now that is."
Marco expressionless face seemed to turn into a faint smile.
"When will we start the summoning?" Hoshi asked.
"The preparations for the summoning are being dealt with now. I will lead you to the room momentarily."
"Alright, what type of Ser…?"
Hoshi stops mid-sentence, as she notices the room has become slight colder, and she instinctively arms herself with the knife that she has in her left hand. Within seconds there were three ice shards coming straight at her from nearly point blank range. She is able to avoid the shards and instinctively strikes at their source. Merely seconds after she dodged the ice shards, she had her knife pressing against Marco's neck where the jugular vein is located; one more push of the knife would kill him. Hoshi lets out a chuckle and smiles at Marco.
"You're always trying to keep me on my toes, aren't you?"
Marco, keeping a calm expression even with the knife pressing against his neck replied.
"Well, you did say that you dislike having breakfast because it takes away from your training, so I decided to take advantage of that. No matter, it's about time that we proceeded to the summoning room."
Hoshi removed the knife from Marco's neck and followed after him.
Hoshi and Marco arrive in an extravagant chapel filled with pews. At the end of the chapel stood and altar with a spear and a shield resting on top. Surrounding the altar was a strange circle, made from copper, with strange markings on the inside. Marco hands Hoshi a paper and gives her instructions.
"Recite the incantation on the paper while focusing your energy on the catalyst; this will allow you to anchor the spirit in the world."
As Hoshi began to make the preparations for the summoning, she felt both excitement and anticipation. Finally all of her years of training would come into fruition, on this day, she would summon her servant. However, the Eizenberns did not inform her of what spirit she would receive, maybe they didn't even know themselves. Once all the preparations were complete she began her incantation.
"Fallen Hero, I call you in my time of need!
Through this pact I will you bring you back into this world!
Become my weapon and lay waste to all who stand in my way!
Fight for me and I will never abandon you, no matter what perils stand before us!
Now arise my servant and together we shall defeat all of those who oppose us!"
With those final words coming out of Hoshi's mouth, a strange symbol appeared on Hoshi's hand. The room began to become filled with a blinding light. Once the light began to dim and both Hoshi and Marco bean to regain their vision, they noticed a man standing behind the altar. In front of them was a middle-aged tanned man with markings on the right side of his body. His upper body was without armor aside from one piece covering his shoulder. The rest of his attire appeared to be akin to something similar to that of Ancient Greece. Without any words or hesitation the man picked up both the shield and spear in front of him. Wanting to break the ice, Marco begins to walk up to the man.
"Greetings, I am Marco, and this young lady is Hoshi, your master….and what might your name b.."
Before Marco could even finish his sentence the man began to charge at him with a high amount of speed and vigor. Marco was hit by the man's shield and was sent flying, before he could even retaliate. The man then turned his attention towards Hoshi.
Within seconds he closed the gap between them and attempted to impale her with his spear. Hoshi was able to dodge the spear, though just barely. She was shocked at the speed the spear travelled coming at her. Throughout her training with the Einzberns, she had never seen an attack move with that much speed and animosity, not even from Marco. It was only from sheer luck that she was able to make it out un-skewered.
Quickly shaking out of her shock, she instinctively retaliated against the man and launched a kick at his lower stomach. The kick managed to connect, however Hoshi's leg was stricken with extreme pain. To her, it felt as if she just hit a piece of thick steel.
So this is what a Servant is like.
After her kick connected, her opponent ceased all actions, even though he could have easily ended the fight.
"You would fight against me?"
Hoshi appeared confused to his question, understandable given the man's attitude thus far. The man noticed this and rephrased it.
"I am a Servant, my powers and abilities exceed that of any human."
"I am fully aware of that."
"Then why bother fighting a battle you know you cannot win?"
"Falling down and accepting defeat is not my style. Even if the battle an impossible victory, I refuse to simply kneel down and accept defeat."
The room was filled with silence for a brief moment, until eventually the man broke it.
"So you are my master, are you not?"
He said this while looking at Hoshi's hand. Noticing this, Hoshi looked at her hand and saw a strange marking on it.
"That mark is the symbol of our pact, and as long as you wield it, I will follow you."
Surprised by her Servants sudden change of personality, she responded as best she could.
"You're willing to follow me? Weren't you just trying to kill me before?"
The man smiled and replied.
"Yes I did; but you, my master, have shown that you are worthy of my respect."
In response to what her Servant said, Hoshi smiled, seeing that she will be able to along with her Servant.
"Oh",
Hoshi just came to a realization.
"I never asked, just what type of Servant are you?"
"My Servant class is Lancer."
Just then, Marco appears, heavily battered from the assault he experienced a few moments ago.
"Well, glad to see that you to a both getting along. Now that everything is in order, we can begin to make our departure to the place of the Grail War."
"And where is that?" Lancer replied.
"The Grail War will be taking place in a city in Japan called Seihai city. Since most of the Servants are being summoned, I would advise that we make our way there as soon as possible. The Einzberns have already prepared a plane that will bring us to the city, whenever you both are ready to go."
Lancer looked at his Master.
"Whenever you are ready to depart Master, I will follow."
Hoshi smiled with confidence.
"Well, there is no reason to waste any time. We'll be leaving now."
Lancer smiled approvingly at his Masters command. With that, the trio prepared for their departure to Seihai City, for the battle of a lifetime.
So yeah, the Einzberns just don't know when to quit. They really, really want to win.