A great weight had formed inside Irisviel.
In a realm that she knew was a dreamland, Irisviel was standing on a murky sea. It should have been a crystal clear body of water that was motionless and mirror-like. Instead it was a dirty bog of arcing waves that splashed rancid droplets onto Irisviel, turning her white dress an ugly brown that continued to darken and make her heave. She coughed repeatedly as she felt something slowly working its way through her organs and up her throat. It felt like there was some lump covered in broken glass that she needed to get out of her or she'd lose her mind from the pain. Her head was swimming and there was this overwhelming sharp ache that she wanted to make stop, but it just wouldn't. The thing in Irisviel crawled out of her throat and into her mouth. It was sour, bitter, spoiled, and it burned like fire while possessing a texture that was both ashy and tar-like. It stuck to the inside of Irisviel's mouth like moss on a rock so she tried to peel it off with her tongue. It still just stayed stuck so Irisviel dug her fingers into her mouth to try and drag out the 'thing.' Irisviel's digits burned as if they were melting as they peeled the 'thing' off the sides and top of her mouth and pulled it out of her mouth.
Finally the 'thing' was wrenched free from Irisviel's mouth and it slipped from her fingers and plopped into the swamp before she could get a look at it. The 'thing' sank out of sight and Irisviel just inhaled and exhaled as she was finally free of the horrible intruder in her body. Waves crested high and slapped Irisviel, soaking her. The waters were becoming more untamed as if there were a storm overhead, but the cause was not the fictitious clouds above, it was the 'thing' that had dove into the sea below. There was a prodigious shadow in the water and it was only getting larger as it took on a clear shape. It had arms, legs, wings, a long neck and an even longer tail. The 'thing' had become a dragon. Irisviel shook as she saw the voracious predator looming under the water's surface that continued to lap higher at the sky every second. Irisviel couldn't stand on the berserk sea any longer and fell forward. She dropped into the tainted water and the poisoned liquid rushed to fill her body. The avaricious dragon looked at Irisviel with its green-blue eyes that glowed in the dark water and it lunged for her. Irisviel flailed as she tried to get away to no avail. The dragon's maw opened and moved around Irisviel before clamping shut with a loud boom.
Irisviel awakened and she groaned from a familiar pain. She felt the great mass of a Heroic Spirit inside her. A Servant had finally fallen and it had chosen Irisviel as its new home. But this didn't feel right. This pain, this overwhelming feeling was far greater than it should have been, far greater than it had been in the Fourth War. The Greater Grail was interfering to make the struggle greater so Irisviel would finally break and give in to the false wish granter's will. Irisviel rolled around in her bed as she tried to acclimate to the pain. She was drenched in sweat and her breathing was ragged and quick.
Gravity felt like it had been multiplied tenfold as Irisviel sat up and inched her way to the bed's edge. She pushed off the bed with arms that felt like twigs on the border of snapping as she tried to stand. Right as all her weight was on her legs, Irisviel's body gave out and she fell into a nightstand, grasping at it to try to not plummet to the carpet. Holding onto the bedside table, Irisviel slowly put her body weight into her legs again and gradually managed to stand up. Her legs were reminiscent of plucked guitar strings as they quivered. Irisviel took a step towards the door and though she almost fell again, she stayed up. Another step and this time she managed to stand firm.
At this rate, she'd manage to walk normally by the time she met up with her family. Irisviel didn't want to worry them.
The door to the bedroom swung open as Artoria ran in.
"Iri, are you okay? I heard a loud sound earlier."
Well there went not worrying anyone.
"I'm okay, I just trip-" Irisviel's focus broke and she fell when she attempted to take another step forward.
Kind arms scooped Irisviel up and saved her from her fall. Artoria held Irisviel close and tight, but not so much that it hurt or made Irisviel feel trapped. Every act Artoria took was so calculated, genuine, and thoughtful. She was a woman who deserved to be a king, a hero, a legend. Artoria was fantastic in every way that mattered and yet Irisviel dared to get mad at her over stupid things.
"What's wrong?" Artoria's heart was on her sleeve and it was clear that Irisviel had to do the same if their relationship was going to withstand the coming trials.
"There's a lot. We need to sit down and talk for a bit."
"Alright." Artoria carried Irisviel to the bed like a princess and sat her down, making sure that she was comfortable and wouldn't fall over before she sat herself down right next to her beloved and put an arm around her shoulders. Once again there was that firm and kind grip that held Irisviel and made her feel like nothing in the world could hurt her. "You can start whenever you feel ready."
Irisviel swallowed and took a long deep breath.
"Firstly, I just absorbed a Heroic Spirit. It looks like the first Servant has been defeated, assuming that Illya and Chloe haven't taken in any Saint Graphs."
"They didn't mention anything, so it's probably just the one inside you. Are you feeling your human functionality fading?"
"Yes, but it's far more intense than it's supposed to. I think the Greater Grail is amplifying the negative effects of absorbing Heroic Spirits to try and break my will."
"Do you think you'll turn into the Lesser Grail earlier than you normally should?"
"I think the Grail will take control of me long before I can lose my human form." Irisviel put a hand on her stomach.
"Do you think you can endure the pain until you leave Fuyuki? Will you still be in pain after you leave?"
"I'll probably still be in pain until the war is over. I can handle it. It isn't much different than when I had multiple Heroic Spirits inside me at the end of the Fourth War. It just feels more aggressive by comparison. The pain will likely tone down once I'm outside the city since the Grail's connection to me should weaken."
"That's good at least."
"Small victories, right?"
"Indeed. Do you know the class of the Heroic Spirit inside you?"
"It's Rider. From what I can tell, they have a draconian element to them, kind of like you."
"Really? If the situation weren't so dire, I'd be disappointed I didn't get to face such a foe in battle. In this case, it's for the best that what was surely a dangerous foe was taken out early."
"Why do you assume they were dangerous? Do all dragon related Servants have to be strong?"
"Not necessarily, but dragons are the pinnacle of Phantasmal Species. If this Rider could summon one or had the power of one, they could win this whole Grail War easily under the right circumstances."
"I feel like you're just saying that because you're part dragon."
"I have no idea what you could be implying."
"That you might have a bias."
"I have no such thing." Artoria blushed and Irisviel giggled, but then the pain she felt intensified and she was forced to stop. Artoria held her beloved tighter and looked her over as if there was something on her she could find to make her feel better. "Just in case, how many more Heroic Spirits will you think it will take before it's too much?"
"Probably only one. My mind will break with just a little more weight than I'm dealing with right now."
The alarm bells in Artoria's mind went off so loudly that Irisviel swore she could hear them herself.
"You need to leave. We can't waste any time." Artoria stood up and grabbed Irisviel's arm.
"I agree, but first we need to talk about some other things." Irisviel resisted Artoria's grasp.
"Is it more important than making sure that you don't get possessed by the Grail?"
"I suppose not." Irisviel pulled her head back timidly.
"Then it can wait until the war is over." Artoria yanked Irisviel onto her feet.
"Hold on, I know it may not be very important, but there are some things I think we need to talk about." Irisviel tried to pull out of Artoria's hold, but her condition curtailed her strength, not that she would have been strong enough to overpower a Servant anyway.
"I'm sorry, but we need to get you out of Fuyuki as soon as possible. This is for your own good."
"Just hold on a second! It won't take that long!" Irisviel wanted to talk to Artoria about her insecurities like she promised Mordred, but Artoria wasn't listening. Irisviel could feel her frustration bubble up and seep into every corner of her Body, Mind, and Soul
"Every second we waste could be one second too many."
"Please, just listen to me for a second!" Why wouldn't Artoria just listen? Why did she have to be so stubborn? Why was she always like this? It was like trying to get a donkey to do something which was fitting for what an ass Artoria was being.
"Iri, please just do what I say."
"Arrggghhhh, no wonder Camelot fell!" Artoria became like a statue before slowly turning to look Irisviel in the eye. "You never listen to anyone else, you just do whatever you think is best without bothering to even hear other people out! Do you think you know everything? Do you even care about what happens to everyone else or do you just protect us for the sake of your own stupid ego? You haven't changed at all!"
Regret, self-hatred, humiliation, sadness, guilt, confusion, despair. All these emotions took their turns dancing across Artoria's face. By the time Irisviel realized the ramifications of her words, it was too late to dismiss them. She had just stabbed Artoria in her most sensitive place, right in the wound in her heart that was still healing. The undying strength that the King of Knights had disappeared and she became just like any other person who had been hurt by someone they loved.
"I'm sorry, Irisviel."
"No, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that! I'm-I'm so sorry, I was just angry and I wanted to hurt you!"
"You're right though. I was ignoring your feelings and making the same mistakes I did before."
"No! You were just trying to help me! I'm so sorry!" Irisviel was crying. "You did nothing wrong. I'm just a bad person."
"No you're not." Artoria lightly touched Irisviel's shoulder. "You're amazing. You're a beautiful jewel that deserves to be protected and polished. That's why I'm so overprotective of you, but that isn't right. You shouldn't be kept in a glass box. I should protect you, not imprison you. I'm sorry."
"Please, don't say you're sorry." The tears flowed even more forcefully from Irisviel's eyes as she was reminded of the boundless depths of Artoria's kindness. "This is all my fault. I keep getting mad at you for things that aren't your fault."
"That's just because of the Grail's corruption and the pain you're in."
"That isn't an excuse. I-" Irisviel remembered her talk with Mordred the other day. "Can we sit down and continue talking? There are some other things I need to say."
"That's more than fine." Artoria guided Irisviel back to the bed and they both sat down with locked eyes. "What's been bothering you?"
"To start, well, there are things that have been making me mad, things related to you."
"And what are they?" Artoria didn't show the slightest hint of being offended.
"Remember how in the sewers we had our vote over whether to work with Chloe or not?"
"Yes."
"You abstained from voting and that fact upset me. Working with Chloe could have been dangerous, so the fact that you didn't vote made it seem like you didn't care whether we worked with Chloe or not, meaning you didn't care whether we were put in danger or not. I know it's stupid-"
"It's not stupid. It's a completely valid way to feel. I didn't vote because I saw the benefits and risks to both options in that situation, so I abstained, but that may have been irresponsible of me. It worked out, but it could have ended very poorly. I have a duty to our family to be an active participant in the determining of its fate."
"It's unreasonable how reasonable you are sometimes." Irisviel smirked.
"Should I take that as a compliment?"
"Yes, you should." Irisviel leaned her head into Artoria's shoulder. "My other issue has to do with how I've been acting lately. You've obviously realized that I've been more abrasive lately, right?"
"I have."
"Did you plan on ever confronting me about that fact?"
"I did, but I wasn't sure when to do so, or how. I'm not very skilled at handling situations requiring emotional finesse, so I was afraid that directly confronting you would just make things worse."
"So that's what it was. I was afraid you didn't care, or that you were being dismissive of my behavior, that you thought it was just me acting up from my bad thoughts again."
"I would never dismiss your feelings." Artoria's fingers wrapped around Irisviel's hand. "Your every action, your every emotion shifts my whole world. That's why I was so hesitant to act; I was afraid of the consequences. I was a coward."
"No, you were considerate. I just overreacted. I'm sorry."
"And I'm sorry for not acting sooner."
Artoria and Irisviel's faces got close and they kissed. It wasn't a long kiss, nor was it sexual or intense. It was just a brief moment of passion, a reassurance that their love was still there and it was strong.
"Artoria." Irisviel said after their kiss ended. "Please don't agree with what I said before, about you not having changed. I really was just lashing out."
"But I was doing the exact same thing I had in Camelot. I was ignoring the hearts of others for the sake of what I thought was best."
"You just momentarily lapsed into a bad habit. You've changed for the better. The fact that you listened to me just now is proof of how much you've grown as a person. Don't ever doubt that. Consider that an order."
"From my queen?"
"Absolutely."
The lovers softly laughed before kissing again.
"I love you, Artoria."
"And I love you, Iri."
"Let's be direct with each other when we have problems, okay?"
"Definitely."
Irisviel stood with Artoria's assistance.
"We already got your things ready. We just need to wait for Mordred to finish cleaning the car since it still smells of the sewer. Do you want some breakfast? Sella made us another feast."
"I would." Irisviel, with Artoria's assistance, changed into casual clothes before they left the bedroom and slowly headed for the dining room. "You said Mordred was cleaning the car? Did you have to force him?"
"No. Originally I was going to do it. Actually it was Sella and Leysritt who were going to initially, but then I said that they didn't have to after cleaning our luggage and clothing, and so I was going to clean the car. Then Mordred surprised me by saying he would do it."
"That really is surprising."
"I don't think he actually wanted to do it, but he said that he would do it if I made sure to speak with you later. I guess he knew you had some things you wanted to talk about."
"He was the one who told me I should talk to you about what I was feeling."
"Really?"
"Yes. He let me vent for a bit like I normally do with you and he said we should talk things out."
"That's uncharacteristic of him. He normally isn't so wise."
"He's a lot more capable than we think."
"I guess he is." Artoria had a look of realization as she sighed in a way that made her seem pleased. "I'll have to thank him."
"I'm sure he'd appreciate that."
Before even reaching the dining room, Irisviel was entranced by the wafting smells of various breakfast foods that made any of her lingering grogginess vanish. Once actually reaching the feast, Irisviel felt her stomach twist into knots from hunger as she stared at french toast, pancakes, bacon, eggs, fresh fruit, oatmeal, croissants, coffee, and tea. Illya and Chloe were sitting together at the table while talking about their apparent shared interest in maids. It turned out that the fetish was genetic. It was nice to know that Chloe and Illya were getting along. Next to them was Sella and Leysritt while Gray sat apart at another part of the table, picking at her food while looking deceptively unflappable. She was probably still thinking about her potential loss of self.
As good mornings were exchanged and everyone was updated as to Irisviel's current condition and the defeat of Rider, Irisviel and Artoria sat next to Gray.
"Gray, how are you?" Irisviel said.
"I'm fine." Gray said so neutrally that it was almost robotic. Her emotions were becoming more veiled as time was passing.
"Are you sure? It's okay to talk about it if you aren't feeling good."
"I know."
"Gray, we know you're dealing with a lot right now, so maybe it would help to try and express your emotions outwardly rather than letting them stay sealed inside." Artoria's hand loitered in the air as she wanted to touch her daughter in reassurance, whilst also being hesitant to actually make contact.
"I'm fine."
"Gray, I know what you're feeling." Irisviel did what Artoria couldn't bring herself to do and put a hand on Gray's back.
"How could you know?"
"Gray, I'm currently losing myself to the Greater Grail's control, just like you're losing control to the Divine Spirit."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I forgot."
"Not only that, ever since I was born I was told I had to eventually die and turn into an inanimate vessel for the Greater Grail. I have always felt like I was just a stand-in for something else people cared about more and that I was eventually going to become something that wasn't me. That's exactly what you're going through." Gray was silent, face still like a statue. "You aren't alone. You aren't facing this problem alone, the same way I'm not. We're going to beat both the Greater Grail and the Divine Spirit inside you together."
"Thank you, mama." The tiniest of smiles came on Gray's face. "That makes me feel better."
Irisviel smiled back, but then her smile shrank away when she saw Artoria looking ashamed in the background, likely feeling impotent in the face of her daughter's plight.
"Aight, car's-well it still smells, but it isn't as bad now and that's as close to clean as we're probably gonna get it unless we go to a car wash." The doors to the dining room swung open hard enough to make a loud bang as Mordred power walked into the room. "By the way, I smell now." Mordred ran over and hugged Chloe from behind.
"Oh, God!" Chloe lashed her limbs all over the place as she tried in vain to free herself of Mordred's savage prison of stink to no avail. "Let go of me you bitch! You smell like horsepiss!"
"No, I smell like a sewer."
"Fuck off!"
"Let her go, Mordred." Artoria said sternly.
"Why? I'm just being friendly."
Illya reached over and tickled Mordred's armpit, his body jerking as he laughed which caused him to let go of Chloe.
"Thanks." Chloe said.
"No problem." Illya's goofy grin showed she was more than happy to help Chloe.
After that, Mordred was updated on Irisviel's current condition due to Rider having entered her.
"That fucking sucks! Can you take the Servant out of mama and put it in Illya or Chloe?"
"No, unfortunately."
"Fuck!" Mordred dragged her hands down her face and groaned. "We gotta finish this war fast. Well, you guys do since I'm going to be outta here with Irisviel and Gray. What are you guys planning anyway?"
"We haven't decided yet." Sella said. "Perhaps we should tell the overseer about our theory that the Avenger from the Third War is what corrupted the Grail. If two Masters bring up this idea, we might be able to convince the overseer that the war needs to at least be postponed."
"It might work, but the fact that we're both Einzberns might make it look like we've been working together the whole time and are scheming or something" Illya put her head in her hands. "It would be better if we didn't have any clear connections between us."
"The overseer definitely knows about our fight last night, so that would make it surprising that we're working together." Chloe smelled herself and heaved at her new stink courtesy of Mordred. "That might show that we wouldn't be working together like this unless we had a good reason to unify."
"That's unless Kotomine assumes our fight on the first night was just a facade to bury the lead of our relationship." Irisviel said.
"It's a bit outlandish that a fight like the one we had was anything but legitimate." Artoria made a good point. "I think that telling the overseer is an idea worth trying. It's the best option we have." Artoria looked at Chloe. "Are there any physical records of the Einzberns having summoned Avenger and what he was like?"
"There would definitely be some kind of physical evidence of Avenger being summoned. As for what he was like, I'm not sure. The problem is that such evidence would be in the Einzbern Castle back in Germany. Finding it would also require parsing through, like, thousands of different papers and books in the archives. The point is that getting any solid evidence would take forever and might not even be substantial enough to convince the overseer if our word doesn't."
"So we'll have to just try being genuine and speak to him together." Artoria sounded tired.
"Fuck, by the way, I forgot to tell you guys something." Chloe said as she rubbed her forehead and winced. "The overseer actually contacted me last night."
"What? How could you forget that?"
"It wasn't that big a deal. The overseer just sent a familiar telling us to be more covert about our fighting from now on. He was pissed that we made that big ass show in the middle of Shinto on the first night."
"We did cause a lot of chaos." Irisviel looked down like a child getting reprimanded by their parents.
"It's not like we tried to go crazy like we did. It just turned out that way. Anywho, he said we need to behave from now on or the war's canceled."
"Wouldn't that be good?" Leysritt said.
A long pause.
Leysritt's question caused Chloe, along with everyone else, to instantaneously understand what she meant.
"If we cause another commotion intentionally, the overseer will cancel the Holy Grail War and the risk of the Grail destroying the world will go down, like, a fuckton!" Chloe burst to her feet hard enough to cause her chair to fall back. "The war will be over and we'll have sixty years to figure out how to destroy the Greater Grail!"
"That would be perfect." Artoria was revitalized, but then deflated. "The problem is…"
"If we make another display like last night, we'll make ourselves targets for the Mage's Association and Holy Church's ire. They care most about keeping Mystery in the World alive. If we make another big display of Mystics, they'll see us as a threat and will hunt us down for the rest of our days." Gray rattled off the risks of goading the overseer to end the Grail War in a deadpan voice.
"There's no way we could hide it was us if we made another commotion like last time." Chloe scratched at her head and began pacing. "If we claim it was an accident, that wouldn't change the Mage's Association and Holy Church's reaction. Could we instigate one or more of the other Masters or their Servants into causing chaos instead of us?"
"I have no idea how we could achieve that." Illya said.
"We wouldn't be able to manipulate Lancer and her Master due to Lancer probably being able to access some kind of skill that sees through lies or deception. The Rider team's gone and we know nothing about the Berserker, Assassin, or Caster teams."
"How exactly would the overseer cancel the Grail War?" Gray asked.
"What do you mean?"
"The overseer acts as a judge and referee of sorts, but by what authority can he forcibly cancel the Holy Grail War? What if all the Masters just ignore him when he says the Grail War is over. In a literal and practical sense, how does he definitively terminate the Grail War?"
That was a fantastic question. Was Kirei bluffing, or did he possess some sort of control over the Grail? Could the Grail be deactivated in some sense?
"He might know how to activate a backup system of the Greater Grail." Sella said.
"The Grail has backup systems?" Artoria asked.
"Yes. The Greater Grail has numerous protocols that can be activated when one has the right knowledge. For example, the Greater Grail can be made to summon an extra seven Servants and give them to seven more Masters while also summoning a Ruler to officiate a special war where the Servants and Masters form teams. The overseer may know how to use such a function of the Grail to end the Grail War. He might be able to forcibly desummon the Servant summoned by the Grail or he could possibly summon a Ruler who would use their Command Spells to make all the other Servants self-homicide."
"How would Kirei initiate one of these protocols? Can he initiate them at will from any location or does it require a terminal like a Lesser Grail?"
"He would either need a Lesser Grail, which he shouldn't have, or he would need to get close enough to the Greater Grail. Actually, he'd probably need to go wherever the Grail has been hidden."
"Then if we cause havoc and he decides to end the war, he'll have to go to the Grail and he'll see it's been corrupted." Illya pointed out.
"He'll see we've been telling the truth and he'll let us destroy the Grail!" Mordred pumped his fist. "Fuck yeah!"
"Would the Mage's Association and Holy Church pardon our displaying Mystics publicly if it turns out to be for a good cause?" Artoria asked.
"The Holy Church might." Chloe plopped into a chair. "The Mage's Associate definitely won't. If anything, the shithead Lords from the Clock Tower wouldn't be deterred by the Grail's corruption and would still want its power. They may even want to use the Grail's corruption as an excuse to confiscate it for their own goals."
"For fuck's sake!" Mordred was definitely sick of how complicated things had been.
"It would be best if the Greater Grail was destroyed before the Mage's Association or Holy Church learned anything about its true nature." Irisviel said. "As long as we get the overseer on our side, he'd likely let us destroy the Greater Grail as soon as possible." Irisviel hated Kirei, but she couldn't deny he had been reasonable so far. The issue was that the commotion would still attract the attention of the Mage's Association and Holy Church. "Maybe we shouldn't actually cause a commotion. Instead we can confront Kirei and let him know that, if he doesn't go visit the Grail himself, we'll display Mystics in the city. We'll have at least one of us already in the city ready to go wild when we confront him so there's no way he could stop us."
"His hand will be forced and he'll see the true nature of the Greater Grail." Chloe leaned her cheek against her thumb. "It would be best if we tell him about our Avenger theory first and only force him to reveal the Grail's location if that doesn't convince him."
"What if he prioritizes keeping the Greater Grail out of unworthy hands over keeping Mystics secret?" Sella said.
"He's already willing to physically go to the Grail if another big display of the supernatural occurs, so he'd likely prefer going the the Grail and all the risks that comes with without a chaotic display of Mystic rather than be forced to go to the Grail anyway after we've caused the display of Mystics. He'd be picking between one evil and two evils. The point is that if we give him the ultimatum, he'll do what we want and things should work out."
"This could work." Artoria rubbed her chin. "We should speak to the overseer as soon as possible."
"I'd like to do some more preparations first. There are some archives in this castle, so I wanna do a quick check to see if there's anything on Avenger and the Third War. It ain't likely, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
"Okay. We should still visit the overseer before nightfall."
This plan could actually work as long as Kirei didn't react in an unexpected way. He seemed to be the type to prioritize following rules so he'd do anything to avoid having Mystics revealed to the common populace. As long as that assumption was true, the plan would work and the Grail would be destroyed.
"Great, the Fuyuki team's got a plan. I'm gonna hit the shower before my team leaves to look for that puppet lady." Mordred left with his hands behind his head. Artoria watched him intently as everyone else continued talking about the plan to get the overseer on their side.
"Irisviel, I'm going to go talk to Mordred." Artoria stood up and left the room.
She was probably going to thank Mordred for convincing Irisviel to talk about her feelings. That was good. Artoria needed to be honest with her feelings, especially with Mordred. He had earned honest praise and acknowledgement more than anyone.
Things were looking up. If all went according to plan, Kirei would be convinced and would let them blow up the Greater Grail with Excalibur and then Irisviel would be free of its pollution. From there, they'd find Touko Aozaki who'd make Gray a new body and Erosion would free Gray of the Divine Spirit's influence.
Things were going to be okay. Irisviel kept telling herself that. She needed to fight back against the dark thoughts the Grail seeped into her and hold her head high. The pain and despair couldn't stop her, she wouldn't let it, for her children, for her wife, for humanity.