Harry Clark put a cigarette in his mouth before taking out a lighter and igniting it. "Never thought I'd be back in this city."
Harry was a man in his forties with shaggy brown hair, blue eyes, and a scruffy beard. He wore a black leather jacket, red shirt, light brown cargo pants, and black leather boots.
He leaned back until he was laying on his back on his bed. He had rented a hotel room shortly after arriving in Philburg for the Holy Grail War. He still wondered how he wound up getting dragged into some sort of magic war.
Lancer of Omega, his Servant, sat on a sofa. He was bored and wanted some entertainment in the meantime, so his Master had recommended a sport one of his friends was fond of. But Lancer wasn't seeing the appeal. It was just a bunch of guys kicking a ball around and occasionally tripping each other.
"Oh, come on, that was obviously a dive!" he yelled at the television. "This game is bulls*** if the ref allows this! Anyone who tried that kind of s*** back in my day would have their legs broke for real so they wouldn't be liars!"
"It's an away game. Of course the ref's going to side with the Bohemians. Shelbourne'll still make up the difference, though." Harry said.
They never really did much when not fighting in the War and mostly just stayed in the hotel room.
"So, what do you think of the competition so far?" Lancer asked.
"It seems decent. Probably won't leave you bored." the Master said.
There was a little bit of silence before something else happened to upset Lancer.
"Oi! That's complete and utter bulls***!" the blue-haired man growled before grabbing the remote. "I'm sick of this! The ref can't do his d*** job right!"
The television was turned off.
Fate/new dawn
Chapter 9: A Small Break
Wesley stepped into his apartment. It was in a bad part of the city and the apartment complex was quite rundown. He wasn't very happy about it, but he couldn't afford much better living arrangements. Omega seemed to be licking its wounds after how rough the brawl from the previous night was, so he didn't find any of that faction's Masters. Berserker was furious at the 'cowardly oppressors' and wouldn't shut up about it.
What annoyed Wesley was the fact that the Servant would always start ranting about oppressors more than usual whenever they returned to the apartment. The insane gladiator had somehow got it in his head that his Master was the victim of some sort of oppression. The thuggish man was irritated at the fact that he wound up with the insane Servant.
"We must find the oppressors quickly! The sooner that they are defeated, the sooner you are free from your oppressed living."
Wesley let out a low groan.
It was likely sheer luck that he had managed to convince Berserker to withdraw the night before. He told Spartacus that if the public knew of the Grail War's existence, they'd panic and think that he is an oppressor. The brunette was honestly amazed that worked.
He sat down on the couch in the living room and switched the television on. He then began switching channels until he came across a channel that was airing The Avengers. He shrugged and was content to simply watch the movie. Unfortunately, Berserker saw fit to give his own commentary on the film.
Wesley swore that if he won the Holy Grail War, he'd wish for enough money to get some much better living arrangements.
Abraham Irving always believed that he would never in his life have to prepare an amount of food large enough to feed seven people for just one person. Yet here he was, having had to prepare that exact amount of food for Saber. And apparently, Heroic Spirits didn't even need to eat! All the raven-haired young adult could do was sigh as the Servant continued to pack an unbelievable amount of at an absurd speed.
Abraham meanwhile prepared a decent-sized serving of breakfast and was finished a few minutes after Saber. He then quickly finished getting ready for the day before heading off to college. It was another boring day full of lectures. He swore that he could feel Saber falling asleep while dematerialized. He couldn't say that he blamed her though; the professor truly was quite boring at times. And none of the curriculum was of her concern anyway. Really, he only had Saber accompany him in case an enemy Master was dumb enough to send their Servant to attack him in broad daylight.
'Saber.' Abraham said after the lecture finally ended, waking Saber up.
"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Saber blurted out.
'Class is over. We're leaving.' Abraham said.
Alexandre du Bois sighed as he saw a news report on a terrorist attack in France. Yet again, the culprit was a Muslim. Rider was furious.
"I cannot believe how stupid and incompetent the people of this age are!" the King of the Franks yelled. "It's obvious that the Islamic rats are the problem! Why not kill them all or at least run them out of the d***ed continent?"
The Frenchman didn't comment. He knew that Charles Martel had fought off a Muslim invasion of Western Europe. Of course he'd hate the Muslims.
"Wherever Islam goes, trouble is sure to follow." He growled. "Why didn't the Church invade their territories and exterminate so long ago?"
"My King." Alexandre's son, Louis, spoke. "I do not think that they ever had the resources to invade the entire Middle East."
Louis was a lot like his father in appearance, but was seventeen-years-old. He wore a red t-shirt, blue jeans, and black tennis shoes.
"Fair enough I suppose." Rider sighed. "We all know how disastrously the Crusades wound up. The fourth didn't even reach the Holy Land, for God's sake! And they were just wanting to invade the Holy Land!"
"I swear, when I win the Holy Grail, I am permanently establishing my existence her so that I can retake control of my land and then I'm getting rid of the d*** Muslims."
A few hours into the day, Ian was in class. He was listening to music on his headphones while waiting for the class to actually start. Leeroy then sat in the desk in front of him and turned around, prompting the anti-social boy to take his headphones off.
"So, I've seen you with a girl lately." Leeroy said. "Why didn't you tell me you got a girlfriend?"
"I didn't." Ian said, mildly exasperated that Leeroy thought that just because he was friends with a girl meant that they were dating.
"But she's cute. How come you haven't asked her out yet?" Leeroy said.
"Because I'm not really interested in romance." Ian said. "And then there's the matter of the you-know-what."
"Ah, right. It probably wouldn't be a smart idea to make a move that could accidentally drag someone uninvolved with the you-know-what into it." Leeroy nodded. "So, what's her name?"
"Lily Wright." Ian said.
"I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before." Leeroy said thoughtfully. "Rings a bell, for some reason."
'Probably overheard gossip about her.' Ian groaned inwardly. 'Thank God that Leeroy's not the type to put much stock in rumors.'
Leeroy went straight home after school. As soon as he walked in, he heard his older sister, Wendy, call out.
"Hey, Leeroy!" she called. "Can you help me out with putting dinner together?"
"Okay." Leeroy went to set his backpack down, wash his hands, and start helping Wendy.
Wendy was Leeroy's older sister. Ever since their parents were killed in an accident, she had been taking care of Leeroy and their younger sister, Kimberly, particularly the latter. Unfortunately, she had to drop out of college to be able to do so.
She had brown hair and hazel eyes. Her skin was a fair complexion, contrasting Leeroy, who spent a lot of time outside during the previous summer. She wore a red button-up shirt, black slacks, and black shoes.
"How was school?" she asked.
"It went well." Leeroy said.
"That's good."
"How did work go?" Leeroy asked.
"Decent."
"Hello, Leeroy." another voice said.
Leeroy turned around to see Kimberly, his twelve-year-old sister. She looked a lot like a younger version of Wendy, but wore a red shirt, blue pants, and blue shoes. She was crippled by the accident that killed their parents and was confined to a wheelchair.
Leeroy knew what his goal for the Holy Grail was; to allow Kimberly to walk again.
Jeffery was sitting in his apartment before he got a sudden headache and ringing in his ears. He fell forward off the bed and onto the floor. He then got on his knees, holding his head. There was now someone in front of him; an eleven-year-old girl with long brown hair and bangs that obscured her eyes. She was dressed in rags and had an ethereal presence, as if she were a spirit.
"I know what you want." Jeffery grunted. "But please wait a little longer. I can't afford to carry out your dream now."
"But I promise, I will eventually. All in good time."
So, we have some more development of characters; Lancer of Omega's Master is revealed, Wesley wants money, Rider of Omega wants to become human and reassume control of France, Leeroy wants to heal his sister's legs, and Jeffery is haunted by some girl. The girl is connected to the events of the previous Grail War. While more details about Ghost Girl will be revealed, it will only be scratching the surface and her story will be fully explored in the prequel; Fate/Dusk.
Now for the reviews.
ZenoZen: The two factions will be changing tactics very soon. In fact, first blood is going to be drawn soon.
Devin sands: Archer of Omega was not in the last War. She's remembering how she and Assassin of Alpha fought in the Great Holy Grail War in Fate/Apocrypha. As for Agrius Metamorphosis, that's obviously going to be saved for much later on.
KnightOfZaku: Thanks. I'm glad you think so. Honestly, I feel the same way about how underused (if at all) the FGO Servants are in fanfics. I feel that they could be used for some amazing Grail Wars. As for finding good stories that feature Jack as a main character, there are too few. She's very interesting, honestly. But when the prequel rolls around, I will only be using Servants that first appeared in Grand Order, OCs and Jack notwithstanding.
That's all for this Author's Note. Leave a review. Constructive criticism will be accepted. I will sic the Killer Rabbit of Caerbanog on anyone who Flames. See ya!
