An indeterminate amount of time later, Tokiomi was in the same chair in his lounge, and he was using his jewel communicator to speak with Risei.
"Yes, he did seem rather uncharacteristically cooperative. Then again, it was a Command Seal."
"Ah, but Tokiomi, you asked him details about his past. This is a Heroic Spirit we're talking about, and if he's not as conventionally powerful as we expected, then he has to have reached his status some other way. You phrased the Command as 'Answer my questions,' did you not?"
"Indeed. Was that a mistake?"
"Possibly. If you asked him for information he did not have, he was probably under no obligation to speak, even with an 'in spirit' clause tacked on. If so, he could have lead you on a merry chase of leading answers to provoke the right questions. You should have had me listening in, if not just so I could test my wits."
"Well, the questions regarding Kirei-kun were pretty clear cut, at least."
"Indeed, but Heroic Spirits are not supposed to keep their memories of previous incarnations in a situation like this. From what you've told me yourself, something seems off about what he was saying. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like a perfect transcript of that entire conversation, just so I can test it for holes. The worst case scenario I can imagine is that he's afraid we'll be unimpressed by his actual identity and switch our focus to Assassin winning the War proper."
"Hmm. Very well. Let me think for a moment and then start quoting . . ."
Elsewhere in the Tohsaka estate, Archer was . . . cooking. Outside the dining room, Kirei hesitated. The Servant disturbed him, true, but what he was more afraid of was the answers to the questions he had.
The many questions.
Just as he turned to leave, Archer's voice rang out from the kitchen.
"Breakfast is ready, Kotomine-kun. Please, come in and have a seat."
Kirei froze, then steeled himself and sat down. Archer proceeded to come out with two trays; one with miso and traditional Japanese breakfast items; and one with waffles and omelets, a more western flare. He was also wearing a kitchen apron. Kirei tried not to focus on this fact; the absurdity of the situation was on the verge of taking him off guard. He sat, professed his thankfulness, and served himself an omelet. As he reached for the hot sauce, he voiced his first concern.
"Archer. Regarding your answers last night . . . I noticed a few discrepancies."
Archer served himself from the eastern tray.
"Oh? Would it help clear things up if I mentioned I actually fought in the 5th War as a Master, and reached my status as a Servant after that event?"
Kirei didn't vocalize his satisfaction. That had been one of the holes that Tokiomi had failed to account for. However, it wasn't the only one.
"Actually, I was more concerned about the timefra-"
"Ah, yes. I never mentioned to Tokiomi that the 5th War takes place 10 years from now."
Kirei was dumbstruck. That . . . shifted around his entire set of postulations. It left him with fewer, less pleasing options.
Much less pleasing. He took a deep breath.
"You know why I'm here. Tell me what I want to know."
Archer lifted an eyebrow. Not exactly what I expected, but I can run with it.
"Oh? Whatever do you mean? I thought I was quite clear last night."
"Don't be coy. What do I become?"
Archer blinked. Then he frowned. Then he turned the full force of his mind on what he knew about this Kotomine Kirei.
He is young, unconfident, and unsure of himself. Despite this, I see all the signs of power, of strength, of talent. He is more deadly, more skilled right now than he ever was when I knew him in life. He is quiet and subordinate. He seems a bit obsessed with Kiritsugu. He is a man searching for . . . an answer? To what question?
Archer considered, leaning back and rubbing his chin. Kirei tensed.
He's not smiling. Not now. Not once. That's why I dismissed him. That's why I never factored him into any of my earlier plans. This isn't my Kotomine Kirei. He's not smiling. He's not plotting. He's not . . .
. . . he's not having any fun.
At all.
Archer thought. Hard. His Kotomine Kirei was a master of using the truth as a bludgeoning weapon, and as a knife. He could analyze people in seconds upon meeting, then knock them upside the head with their own hypocrisy and insecurities.
Honestly, in that, he strove to emulate the man. It was a wonderful tactical skill for potential enemies. This Kirei showed none of that.
He's . . . miserable. Utterly and completely. And his exact question. Not "how did I lose?" Not "what do I do?"
"What do I become?"
A question that can only come from a man that knows he has the potential to change. And in this case, probably for the worse.
Let's see. In my Kotomine's honor (heh), I'll give him the truth.
Archer looked him straight in the eye.
"You became a man that was always smiling."
Kirei blanched.
"You always looked like you knew more than you were saying. On first glance, you could determine a man's nature and faults, and you gleefully pointed them out in the cruelest way possible, if you had the inclination."
Kirei was still.
"You told me, at the end of the 5th war, that you betrayed Tokiomi and murdered him at the end of the 4th war while forming a new contract with his servant, Gilgamesh. The two of you proceeded to arrive at the finale of the war, where you were defeated by Emiya Kiritsugu and yet were saved in the aftermath of his decision to destroy the grail."
Kirei was suddenly intent at the mention of Kiritsugu's name.
"The grail was corrupt, as I said last night. That was the reason Kiritsugu had Saber destroy it. Any wish made on it would only bring suffering."
Something in Kirei's heart leaped at that statement, but he crushed it down and continued to listen. Archer didn't appear to notice.
"You were saved, and Gilgamesh was . . . corrupted by the Grail. Or at least, he would have been corrupted if he wasn't Gilgamesh, so he said. He wound up with a fleshy body and a permanent anchor to the world.
"The inferno consumed the entire neighborhood. You're aware of the four spiritual points, are you not? Then you know where the final battle took place. That entire area is a lifeless wasteland ten years later; it's a memorial park to the 400 who died."
"That's horrifying." Kirei looked down.
Archer didn't detect any falseness. He continued.
"There were few survivors. Mostly children. The Church, in other words, you, adopted them with the local orphanage and took responsibility for them in the wake of the disaster."
Kirei looked worried, then relieved.
Archer leveled his gaze, looked Kirei directly in the eyes, and spoke.
"As Gilgamesh required little prana to subsist on, but would need great quantities if he was to fight again, you needed a way to supply him. You took the burned and mutilated bodies of those children, had them clandestinely transferred out of the hospitals they were in, and interred them in the catacombs beneath the church."
Kirei's face froze.
"You then spiritually linked them, paralyzed them, and set them up as living prana batteries for Gilgamesh for the next ten years."
Kirei didn't realize he had jumped to his feet, sending his chair flying backwards.
"RIDICULOUS!"
Archer noted the expression on Kirei's face.
Not disgust.
Not denial.
Fear. Absolute, pure terror.
"it's not ridiculous, Kirei. After all, you proudly showed them off to me yourself. Well, more like I had stumbled upon them when searching for you for advice, but then you explained exactly what purpose they were serving in meticulous detail right before you offered me the Grail."
This caught Kirei's attention again and he looked up sharply from bracing himself on the table with both hands.
"Yes, by then you had no interest in making a wish yourself. You just wanted the purest person with the purest wish to have it, so you could watch as it was corrupted."
Kirei's hands clenched to fists, and his knuckles were white, starkly in contrast to the ebony of the table.
"Of course, I refused. You then left me to rot after having Archer dispose of Lancer."
Kirei looked slightly confused, then dropped his gaze.
"Oh, I should clarify. I was Master of Saber. You kept Archer from the 4th War, then at the onset of the 5th you betrayed Lancer's Master, left her for dead, and stole her Command Seals. You used him as a glorified scout for the duration of the war, then discarded him like garbage when he was no longer of use.
"After that, you visited Rin and sliced her up, leaving her for dead."
Kirei flinched.
"Next you crucified the then-current Grail vessel, a 10 year old looking girl, and waited for me by the Temple with Gilgamesh. By the time we arrived, a corrupt mud was pouring from her, and you were basking in the stuff, more than happy to lob gobs of it at me while telling me how disappointed you were in the son of Emiya Kiritsugu,"
Kirei slowly raised his head again and met Archer's stare dead on, a new fear slowly spreading inside him. He was, very slightly, shaking.
I have, personally, rendered Kotomine Kirei into a quivering wreck. With words alone. If I was still alive, that life would be utterly complete.
Archer went on.
"It was one of the last things you said to me before I detonated your heart with the very Azoth knife you gave to Rin after she graduated from your tutelage."
Kirei held his gaze and for a few seconds the only sound was breathing.
"After that, I rescued my sister, said goodbye to Saber, and began walking towards my own destiny. You were quite possibly the greatest monster I ever fought. Not the strongest, not the most terrifying, but without doubt the most evil. You sought the suffering of others for your own pleasure, and glorified in it. You then took all of your skill and talent and focused it towards that singular goal for your own entertainment."
Kirei had stopped quivering. He stood, composure restored. He retrieved his chair, sat down, and resumed eating. Archer watched, then spoke up once more.
"You seem to be at peace, considering what I just told you."
Kirei finished his mouthful and responded.
"Here I was, desperately worrying for my soul, and then you appear before me, a being with every conceivable reason to slay me where I stand." He took a swig of orange juice, then another bite of food. "If you kill me here, you solve every problem. I will not be consigned to Hell as a suicide, and I will not have a chance to become the monster you prophecize."
He laughed.
"I'll actually see Heaven. I didn't think such a thing was possible. This is the best news. You even prepared a wonderful last meal, and for that I sincerely thank you."
Archer considered the man before him. He saw . . . many disturbing similarities to himself at that moment. He decided on one last probe. Leaning back, he closed one eye.
"Oh? And what makes you so sure you'll ascend to Heaven?"
Kotomine chuckled, a disturbingly familiar sight. There. There he is.
"I do not mean to brag, Servant Archer. I will simply state this fact." He looked up, met Archer's gaze, and smiled. "As of this moment, I am, to the best of my knowledge, utterly without damnable sin. Every act that could have damned me under normal circumstances is either mitigated by the inhuman and monstrous status of my opponents, or the fact that the ones I have hurt were fighting of their free will in this farce of a contest. Even that woman last night, I did not attempt nor intend to kill."
Archer knew many things about his Kotomine Kirei. He was brutal. He was sadistic. And most terrifyingly of all . . .
. . . he was honest to a fault. If Kotomine Kirei stood in front of him and claimed to be free of sin (in that greasy, slippery, Church-technical sense at least), he would believe it. Moreover, he was welcoming death as a solution to his little dilemma. This wouldn't do. Not to him, to what he was.
"Unfortunately, Kirei-kun, I harbor no ill-will towards you."
How could I? You, of all people, told me what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it most. I simply failed to listen. All the hints were there. You laid it out right in front of us that you were the one that needed to be stopped. We were just foolish children. Your entire scenario played out such that even after your defeat, we'd regret almost every decision, question every fact, and take no joy from victory. For simply crafting your scenario according to your goal of maximizing suffering, it was artfully done.
Every human opponent he faced during the rest of his life was compared to Kotomine Kirei, and in some way, lost. Shirou's experience in the 5th war prepared him more for fighting humans than anything else. Kotomine Kirei indirectly helped him save far, far more lives than the ones that were lost in the 5th War. As each of his future opponents failed to defeat him, he found himself thanking Kirei in the back of his mind for preparing him. That first, horrible prophecy was completed in full; indeed, his one true wish had been granted.
Kirei's demeanor deflated instantly.
"Ah. So you will choose the appropriate route, and maximize my suffering before finishing me. That, or you will wait until I damn myself before finishing me. Ha. As to be expected, I guess." He dropped his fork.
"On the contrary. Yesterday I was but a man. Today, I'm a hero."
Kirei's expression changed into something unidentifiable. Archer smiled widely.
"Rejoice, Kotomine Kirei! Your wish will finally be granted."
Kirei's eyes widened almost imperceptibly.
"It is now my full intention in this War to save both your life, and your soul. Not only that, but you'll help me do it."
He then finished his miso soup, and began cleaning off the table. Kirei sat, stunned for a moment, then wordlessly stood up to assist.