Chapter 4: Madened Sakura
Why did it have to be her- Wait...
...
How do I know her again? My head hurts so much, by looking at her-?"
"You seem to be staring in the wrong direction, swordsman...", she looked at Saber. "I understand you may find a female knight unnerving, but be at ease Eastern-Knight."
"It's- Wait, Eastern?"
"Yes, judging by you're fighting style and clothing." Saber looked confused.
Well shit. I can't really say who I am... And I can't lie because then if they are here, I'll be in deep shit... My name... Shirou... My name is-?
"I understand if you do not wish to tell me your name, it is expected from a Servant in this war..." Lancer began walking into the courtyard, looking up at the sky. "You can hardly see the stars..."
"Well it's to be expected, the light from the city pollutes the night sky."
"Yes, it is somewhat sad... and though, I assume, my kingdom no longer stands in the way it was. At least people could flourish into this era without needing to fear dragons or beasts..."
Not completely true...
"Saber?"
He raised his eyes. "Yes?"
"During the day we could go out to see the city. We could gather rations and other such materials. It would also give us a chance to scout the area."
"Not a bad plan." Saber looked with a relaxed smile at the city.
"Yes, you could even try cooking."
"?! What do you-"
"Call it intuition. You seem skilled in cooking at the least..." Lancer turned to look at the swordsman with a cheeky smile, filling the swordsman with an odd sense of nostalgia.
...
Somewhere deep beneath an old mansion, a young woman walks down a set of stone stairs towards a tomb-like room.
"Quit wasting time." A young dark haired man rushes down to push her forward with a book in hand. "We don't want to waste our guest's and grandfather's time..."
"Yes brother..." They continued down the stairs until they arrived at the center of the room where and round backed and a tall cloaked man stood next to crimson red circle with candles around it. The cloaked figure held a long wrapped package.
"MMMM...! This world is truly amazing! I could find something like this faster than could have ever imagined."
"Yes yes... Now get on with it, we've been wasting time on teaching you and Sakura..." The old man looked up at his "two" grandchildren. "Finally. I trust Sakura wasn't too much trouble?"
"What could this weak willed wretch do-"
"I APOLOGIZE IF THIS SEEMS A BIT FORWARD, BUT SHUT UP." The tall man coughed. "Sorry, his voice just sounds like a bunch of rusty nails were being run across a thin sheet of metal. This Origin is also a bit unstable..."
"It does get in the way from time to time..."
"Yes, but now let's begin this ritual... The Grail took a bit of hacking. The people who made it sure knew, or know, what they were doing... Truly impressive..."
"Get on with it Caster."
"YES YES MASTER. But let me enjoy such a moment of curiosity." The man took the woman by the hand and led her to the circle, handing her the staff. "Be sure to add Madness young lady."
"I-I understand Caster...", she responded meekly.
The girl took in a deep breath and began chanting. The boy stepped back in shock and with a gaping mouth. And as the chant reached it's climax, the wrapped staff glowed a bright red. And as the light dimmed, a giant figure stood among the smoke. He had a sharp-horned helmet, wore a thick armor and wielded a long spear.
He grumbled. "What da hell?" He looked at the girl standing in front of him. "Oh, you my Master?"
"Thankfully no." The boy walked in front of the towering beast. "By this book, I'm your Master now."
"Now? So she still has the rights to me in the end?"
"Technically speaking, yes-"
"Nice to meat ya little miss! I'm Mori Nagayoshi! What's your name-"
"Damn it Sakura, would you please explain to this baffoon who his Master is?!"
"Well I-" She spoke softly.
The boy walked towards her, slapping her accross the face. Sakura looked at her with blood on her cheek.
"Oh come on! I didn't even hit you tha-" He screamed in agony. As he dropped to his knees he looked at his hand. It was sliced clean off. And as he looked at the Servant, he saw his blade covered in blood and a grim smile on his face.
Sakura looked at her grandfather in fear.
"So that's how this is. Well, you third-rate shit fondlers ain't ever treating my Master like shit again!" Mori quickly slammed his fist into Shinji, splattering him accross the room while charging at the two men.
"Caster-" Before he could finish, his Servant was already slammed into a black goo. "One down-" And before he could let out any more sound, he was torn apart into a pile of dead insects.
"Fucking gross."
"B-Berserker...?"
"Yeah, Master. Guessing we should leave", he looked around the room which was slowly filling with thousands of large insects. He grabbed the girl and rushed out, breaking everything in sight.
"Be careful, I-I..."
"You want to destroy this place right? You said so just now?"
Sakura looked at her Servant in shock while they were crashing through walls. "What are you talking about?"
"Back there when that guy hit you, you told me you wanted to destroy everything in there and go back to Shirou?"
Sakura flinched. She felt something tugging at her heart. It's the same thing she felt when Caster would come take her into the basement to tune her body.
Kill everyone. Rip everyone. Flay everyone.
"Got it."
"What?!"
"Just now. You gave me an order?"
"Please don't do anything unless I say it... Please..."
Mori stayed silent. "Okay, got it. You got problems, I won't listen to the things you think."
"Thank you Mori..."
"But if I see those two ass fuckers, I'll rip em apart. Just for you."
"Berserker -"
"You deserve the best. And after you're safe, I'll take you to Shirou..." Mori bashed out of the house, leaving it to burn.
... to devour him whole. In pleasure. Devour him.
"Take me to Shirou, but maybe in the morning. I still need to go to school." Sakura said with a giggle while the place that she called "home" burned away. She felt a wonderfull rush of joy as Berserker leaped into the air, revealing the bright lights of Fuyuki.
"It sure feels nice to be somewhere home. Can't believe lord Nobunaga ever wanted more than enjoying a pleasant view."
"Yes, it's really beautiful."
"But I feel like I'm faster. Like suuuuuper fast."
"Must really be you being home."
"Yeah, lucky I didn't get sent anywhere else."
"Yes. I'm really happy you're here..." Sakura looked around, before seeing a free rooftop. "Let's stop there."
"Yes sir!" Landing on the roof, Mori let Sakura down. "I'll go get some blankets and food... But you propably don't want me to steal, right?."
"... Yes. But if no-one needs it, you can take it. But make sure you can take it. I think you should get the blankets first, I have some money in my pocket and if you go back to the mansion, you should find some money in a safe."
"Well I'm off then, I'll be back with those blankets soon."
...
The next day.
"Just say if ya need help, I'll be nearby."
"Thank you...", Sakura said as she exited a forest path into a walk path while no-one was around.
"Now go get that Shirou!"
Thank you...
Sakura took in the view of the rising sun while going to school, running into a few classmates. Following them to school they then separated as Sakura went to find Shirou.
"Oh did you hear about Emiya and Tohsaka?"
?!
"She apparently came with Emiya from his place!"
No...
"Lucky bastard..."
Not again... No. They're just rumors...
Sakura then walked to the roof after hearing that Rin and Shirou went there.
"Master, what's wrong?"
Nothing.
Sakura then looked above the roof's foor, seeing Rin and Shirou together.
"Shirou?"
"O-Oh Sakura? Wanna join us?"
?! Maybe it really is nothing...
"Yes-" She was cut off when Rin began to whisper something in Shirou's ear.
They love each-other...
...
You should just kill them...
Send Mori to slaughter them and have Shirou all to yourself...
No...
...
They continued, but Sakura could no longer hold herself.
Get me out of here...
"..."
"Okay."
Rin sighed. "So Sakura, come join-" She was cut off as a giant armored Servant leaped towards Sakura, running off with her.
"Sakura!" Shirou leeped after the Sevant that took the girl into the nearby woods. "Lancer-"
"Shirou!" Rin grabbed him from behind. "We can't go after them during the day, in the middle of the school...!"
"But what if she's in danger? Maybe that's why she came to us?"
"And what if that's her Servant?!"
Shirou calmed down. "What?"
"She was adopted by the Matous, by Shinji's family, remember what I told you about the war? Let's go see Kirei and then investigate the Matous, maybe they know something..."
"But-"
"But nothing. We can't go after them and we don't know enough. Plus we can't just leave school, people WILL get suspicious."
...
...
"So that's what your grandchild has been up to... MMMMMMM! Young romance... so wonderfull...", Caster said as he looked into a mirror connected to a crow familiar. "Though I am a bit saddened by that Berserker's motivations..."
"Caster..." A bug flew close to the Servant.
"Yes, Master. I have located three Masters. Your grandchild is off in the woods. One Master I am not familiar with, but the third Master is Tohsaka..."
"How fitting... to die in her father's footsteps..."
"And how about you? How long until I can move from here?"
"Calm yourself. You are operating in a place that should be familiar to you and that other Servant clearly doesn't care what you do, as long as you don't cause trouble to the temple and his Master..."
"But these people are just too boring..."
"Be glad, in the last war the Rider was a loudmouth who wouldn't bat an eye if it meant he could squash you in your current situation."
"Fine, but how long until you're body is done?"
"A few more days. Maybe a week. That Berserker reacted in an unexpected way, burning down my reserves... I knew we should've tried to summon a different class... That fame boost might've not been as dangerous..."
"Well not like we planned to summon Mori Nagayoshi... Can not believe I was tricked... I thought it to be related to that god of love. Couldn't have been farther from the truth..."
"Well if anything, we can blame that failure of a grandson... Did you manage to recover something from him?"
"Yes actually, though we will still need to gather more materials to get anything useful from him..."
"Just inform me if you can manage to get something of value figured out. Until then..."
"MmmmMmm..."
"Have fun with the boatman..."