Hayato
Disclaimer: I'd make some joke about "If I owned Fates, they'd be all remade into MOBAs", but I'm not that evil.
Vanitas: I've been rather successful with Moon festival, and it's only been a day. Summoning tickets are the key, my friends.
Forsaken: Yeah you are right, my summoning tickets have only been black key.
Vanitas: Well, it's unfortunate, but it seems Kotomine has spooked you. I wish you well my Lancer Friend!
Ch.0-7: Making the Worst of a Bad Situation
/The East side of the City, 6:30 p.m. (Monday, Week 1)
Three black Humvees drove by with all speed, dart down each road in this abandoned part of the city. For a recently built city, to have so a large amount of space abandoned and in disrepair was a stain on Seihai City's reputation. To the drivers of the Humvees, the trashy neighborhoods origins were the least of their concerns.
5 Plasma Arrows had been stolen from the Weapons Tech. lab at base, and 12 guards were killed by the thief as they escaped. This thief also got away with several experimental high-powered rifles, as well as (for some reason) the base's colonel's hat. Orders are shoot to kill upon finding the target, as the weapons developed in the city are top secret, and any proof of their existence could bring the whole worlds' forces down upon this independent state.
Hayato was perfectly aware of the trouble stirred up by his theft, and wasn't concerned in the slightest about the consequences. So far as he was concerned, once the Holy Grail War has properly started, he can just win and leave the city before the worlds' armies, the Mages' Association, or the Church's Exorcists feel like sticking their hands in and taking control. And win the war he shall, there was no doubt in his mind.
Mages can be such simple, stubborn folk. So set in their ways that they refuse to install phone lines, hideaway in the little family mansions, and scoff at the idea of using modern weaponry. And to those brave enough to suggest adapting to the modern day, they slap such big thinkers down with an iron hand.
Well Hayato was tired to of being struck by them, and with this chance that the Grail War presents, he aims to return the favor.
Making sure that there were no other Humvees passing by, he ran out of the bush he was hiding in and darted for the alleyway. Brushing aside the debris he had set up earlier to hide the rusted door behind it, Hayato ducked inside his secret hideout.
/Some Forgotten Theater, 6:30 p.m.
The summoning circle was marked on the floor, the various acquired weapons were laid out upon it, and he had his summoning chant prepared and memorized. Hayato was extremely pleased with himself.
With this, the future is mine. If a Tohsaka brat can pull a Servant from the future, then it should be nothing for one such as me to bring forth some brutal norm soldier from the future as well. With these untested weapons as an anchor, it should be literal child's play to gain the ace I need.
He was about to start his summoning chant, when his eye caught something off about the summoning circle. Inspecting it closely, he slapped his head in frustration as he saw his error.
"Ox's blood, I forgot to apply the ox's blood. Where did I leave that accursed vial?"
Looking all over the stage, he could not find the misplaced vial. It wasn't on the table he had set up, on any of the left over props from the last production that he'd occasionally leave a book or jacket on.
I must have left it old director's office. It's no matter, it's not like there's a real timer for these things.
Leaving via stage right, Hayato failed to notice some rumbling coming from behind the prop tower used in some old Romeo and Juliet play. A young child poked his head out from under a tarp covered closet, and seeing no one around he came out.
The little runaway had a ragged sweater on, riddled with holes, along with some torn jeans and a surprisingly well-kept baseball hat. He couldn't have been older than 9 years old, and looked like he'd barely had anything to eat in days.
The child was frantically looking around, wanting to be sure that Hayato was nowhere to be seen.
"Finally, that Satanist is gone. Just what is he doing?"
His eyes fell upon the shimmering summoning circle, and the boy cringed as he recalled when he first saw Hayato.
/5 days ago
Previously, this child was the only occupant of this abandoned theater. The other orphans had moved on to another spot to squat in or where taken by child services to be put in proper homes. That morning, two grown men came bursting in onto the stage, dragging with them a strange looking deer and carrying various bags on their shoulders.
The child was up in the balcony seats above, having been trying to get the projector to play an old DVD he had found scrounging through some boxes. When the two men came inside, he ducked behind some seats, not knowing whether they were gang members or undercover cops. Peeking over the wall to see what they were up to, he saw them slit the throat of the deer-ish creature, one of them pulling out a large paint brush from one of their bags and marking the floor in the creature's blood. The boy had to look away, and despite wanting not to make a single sound he barfed all over a nearby seat.
The men below failed to hear them, and in fact were getting into an argument. One that intensified enough for one of the two to start firing silver rings from their fingertips at the other, which cut into the target's legs and arms. When the boy regained control of his stomach and dared to peek over at them again, the previously attacking mage was burnt to a crisp, and the other man was waving his hands in the air, seemingly dismissing the orange orb that was holding the burnt dead mage. This victor was Hayato, who then heaved his former associate's body onto his shoulder and left with it out the way they had come in.
The boy tried telling the other orphans about what he had seen, but they ridiculed and dismissed him, saying how magic wasn't real and he's always going on about having seen fairies or brick-bears wandering about. To be fair, the boy had told these tales before, but even then he truly had seen these things. He has no idea why the others never witnessed them, but after having suffered bite marks from a nasty bunch of fairies, he swore never to doubt what he saw, as whether or not others believed him he had the scars to prove their existence.
Not wanting to leave his abandoned home, but not daring to be seen by this murderous magic user, the boy hid out in various spots for the next four days. He witnessed Hayato bringing in various beakers full of strange liquids, satchels filled with rolled up papers, and every once in a while the boy swore he saw blood stained on the man's hands. What little he remembered of his parents, he doesn't recall them being particularly religious. But what they did teach him was to look out for dangerous men, or cultish looking villains. And this man reeked of something foul.
In the present, the boy was trying to think of what to do. He had swiped Hayato's vial of Ox's blood before he left this morning to go wherever it was he grabbed those guns from. Being caught with it wouldn't be the best thing to do, but even if he just kept it away from the man, he'd likely just give up on this vial and go get another one. How could the boy thwart whatever he was planning?
Thinking back to what he's seem Hayato do over the past 5 days, the boy believed that this circle must be intended to summon some sort of demon. Why the man wanted to do this, the boy didn't know, but he wasn't going to let something as dangerous as a demon loose in the Eastside. For all the teasing, the other orphans were the boy's friends, and they'd surely be the first victims of whatever was unleashed from this circle if he just let Hayato complete his task.
But…
What if the boy summoned something first?
Not only would it use up all the resources Hayato had spent making this circle, but if whatever to kid brings forth was pretty strong, he could hold Hayato prisoner until he got the police to arrive.
"Yeah, that's it. I'll just summon a demon before he does. No, not a demon stupid. An angel!"
He hurriedly uncorked the vial and ran around the circle, outlining it with the ox's blood. The summoning circle did shimmer a little bit, but nothing else happened after 3 minutes. Confused and impatient, but more importantly worried about Hayato returning and seeing him, the kid paced back and forth trying to figure out what went wrong.
"Oh wait, he was going to chant something before he realized he was missing the vial. And two days ago, he was mumbling to himself about placing relics down on the circle."
Looking around, he saw the guns that Hayato had stolen laying a little away from the circle.
Those look heavy. And mom never wanted me to mess around with guns.
Suddenly the boy remembered something. An important gift some nice woman had given him, when his parents were still alive.
Racing back under the tarp he was keeping his stuff under, the boy came back out holding a blue helmet, with a yellow visor shaped like a beak. Returning to the circle, the boy's memory leapt back to a convention his dad had taken him to, when he was about 7. A lady dressed up as some video game character, who his dad called a "cosplayer", noticed that he was staring intently at her helmet. She had smiled and asked if he wanted it, and though his dad told her that it's fine and that he would just get the boy a cheap version at the mall, the lady insisted and took off her costume's helmet, kneeling down and giving it to boy, while patting him on the head.
"She said that hero's name was Pharah. Pharah would know what to do with that guy."
Placing the helmet down in the middle of the circle, the boy tip-toed back out, being careful not to smudge the line of ox's blood he had just applied.
Moving his hand out like he'd seen Hayato do earlier, the boy tried to come up with an on the spot incantation.
Brave lady who…flies through the sky!
Please hear me, for I…I
I need your help!
There's a scary man here, and I think he's trying
To summon a demon!
The nice lady said that you're a hero, so if you can hear me
Please come quickly, he's already killed someone!
A red symbol appeared on the young boy's hand, and the circle began to swirl with a sudden gust of wind, blowing the tarp off of various covered objects and nearly knocking the boy back off of his feet. He covered his face in fright, pretty sure that he'd messed up and summoned a demon instead.
"Child, are you the one who called to me?"
That voice couldn't be a demon's…could it?
Lowering his arms to look in front of him, the boy saw the heroine that the lady was cosplaying years before. But her armor fit better, and didn't appear to be well designed plastic, but metal. Her suit's wings actually let off some sparks, like the jetpack actually worked. And as for her weapon…
"Is that real? Are you…really here?"
Walking out of the circle, the woman moved towards the boy. He backed away and raised his arms in fright, so she slowed down, placed her rocket launcher on the floor, and offered her hand as a sign of peace.
"I mean you no harm. You called for me, did you not?"
"…you're Pharah?"
"Indeed, child."
"The real Pharah?"
"There are fake me's?"
"What the hell is going on here?!"
The boy turned around to see Hayato coming down the stair, looking pissed off beyond belief at what was in front of him. Pharah quickly reached down for her rocket launcher, but before she could fire the boy was wrapped up in an orb and flew backwards towards Hayato, stopping in mid-air in front of him and between him and Pharah. Snarling as he spoke, the mage addressed the heroine.
"Who are you?! Are you with those soldiers from the weapons tech. base?!"
Keeping her launcher pointed in his direction, she answered as calmly as she could manage.
"I know nothing about this 'tech base'; I was only answering the call of a frightened child. Put him down, and I'll leave something of you to be tried in court."
Hayato rolled his eyes in annoyance. The then twitched his fingers, which caused the orb around the boy to constrict somewhat. Pharah shouted at the mage in response.
"Stop! Let the boy go!"
"Or what? You aim to kill me as it is, soldier, but while I have the boy your underdeveloped morality keeps you in check. Now I won't ask you again, who are you?!"
For all her anger, she couldn't risk harming the child. Lowering her launcher, but keeping in a ready position, she answered the mage.
"My call sign is Pharah, and I've been summoned to your world as the…servant class called Archer. That boy there is apparently-"
"Your master."
The shock of what was going on took Hayato a moment to recover from, though when he did he grasped the orb with both hands and tried shrinking by physically crushing it (this is not how the spell works).
"You disgusting little insect, you robbed me of my chance! Now then who are you, some Mage Association midget spy?! A brat trained to interfere with outcast mages' affairs?!"
The boy was crying in fear, which was enough to push Archer to action and have her fly and dash towards to two. Seeing that his anger was endangering himself, Hayato quickly released the orb and started muttering something.
"Archer, stop!"
To her shock, Archer found herself unable to move, after the boy of all people had spoken. His tone was completely different from before, almost emotionless as he gave his command. Looking over at him, Archer saw that one of the marks on his hand was gone, with only two remaining. And around his neck…
"This boy, for whatever reason, has robbed me of the…privilege of being your direct master, Archer. So to make up for this, I've placed a geas on the boy. He will obey my every command, and in turn, so will you."
"By those Command Seals, you mean. I'm still learning what this whole Master/Servant deal is, but I know that you only get three of those. Just how many are you willing to waste?"
"That depends, Archer-"
The orb holding the boy began to cackle with orange lightning, barely missing the boy with each strike. The boy didn't fidget or flinch in response, just staring emotionlessly in Archer's directions.
"-are you willing to test my patience? Swear fealty to me and I'll keep your young Master alive. Raise your tone around me or attempt to kill me, and I'll have the boy bite down his own tongue, or just order him to command you to kill yourself. So, what are your next words to me going to be, then?"
Seeing no other option, as much as it disgusted her Archer got down on one knee, like a knight before her king.
"… I pledge fealty to you, mage. I shall fight this war on your behalf. Till I find a way to free the boy."
"Oh you're welcome to try."
Releasing the orb from around the child, Hayato pushed the boy forward, whose consciousness seemed to resurface as he walked towards Archer. Running the last few steps into her arms, the boy cried messily against her. Patting his back, while staring daggers up at their captor, Archer started to plan for ways to get the boy out of this man's grasp. Smirking, Hayato walked past them and grabbed one of the Plasma Arrow rifles he's swiped before.
This is not the way I wanted things to go. But in a way, it's not the worst scenario. That boy will be seen as the real master of Archer, so while the enemy is focused on containing him, I can snipe away from afar. And if they hesitate to act so as not to harm a child, those are just more openings for me to take advantage of. If nothing else, I'm the real Archer of this war, but I remain my own master!
FRR: Well he's a real piece of work, isn't he? Whelp folks, next chapter is official "Chapter 1".