Yukiko looked about herself. After she returned to consciousness, she realised that the Goddess had taken over again. This drove her back to the same feelings she always had when this happened: Despair, regret, and frustrated anger. It was the nature of the persona soul-binding ritual that the persona-user would be tied to their persona through life and death - and apparently, even to the Throne of Heroes. She supposed that at the time, there had been no choice in the matter. Too many of her loved ones were in danger of being spirited away - no, killed - by that evil deity, Izanami. Yukiko had never had any patience for gods meddling in human afairs, only to satisfy their own curiosity and sate their immortal boredom. She as glad, at least, that those days of deceptive gods manipulating human events were far behind her.

She walked over to the charred corpse of her former Master, bent down, and silently kissed his forehead. She then used her fingers to close his eyes, the empty orbs in their sockets still bulging out in surprise. He was - perhaps unfortunately? - not the worst master she had ever had, though he was one of the bad ones. Still, there was something in him that she could relate to. What happened was truly a pity; she liked to think that if he had lived, the two of them could somehow have forged a friendship.

Well, maybe 'friendship' was stretching it a bit. 'Cordiality,' that seemed a more appropriate word.

She sat on the ground, and allowed herself several minutes to weep over the lifeless form before her. She could not afford to take any more time than that. As a member of the Caster class, she knew things that others did not. One of those things was that she was the final Servant to be summoned. This meant only one thing.

The Holy Grail War had already begun.

XXXXX

There was blood, so much blood. It was everywhere, all over the carpets, the couch, and his clothes. Staining everything with its wine-red hue. It was just...

Beautiful.

Uryuu Ryuunosuke stood up, satisfied with the magic circle he had drawn. He wasn't entirely sure whether he had properly followed the instructions in the old magic book he found in his family's attic, but he hoped that whatever he lacked in precision, was made up for by his enthusiasm. He didn't know what the hell would come out of this, but he knew that whatever it was, it would be-

"Cooooooool!" he shouted. "Hey," he said, kicking the body lying on the ground next to him. The bound boy, his mouth gagged, could only moan in reply. This annoyed Ryuunosuke; did this kid really not understand how amazing this was? A real life bona fide DEMON! Not every day you got to see that. But if there was one thing Ryuunosuke knew about demons, it was that they were just like the rest of us. They got hungry, and needed a snack occasionally. Fortunately, he had prepared for that in advance.

"Listen, kid," he said to the quivering form below him. The child was apparently too frightened to reply. Ryuunosuke couldn't wait to see the kid's face when the demon finally showed up; it'd be priceless, he knew it. "Aren't you excited? A demon's gonna show up, and you'll get to meet him!" He gestured to the surrounding corpses of the child's family. A man in a suit; probably a company man. A woman, probably attractive by most people's standards, but a little old for Ryuunosuke. He generally preferred women in their lower 20s at the most; any older, and they didn't have the same vivacity when you slit their throats. Especially not the married ones. Those seemed so bored that they almost welcomed their demise with pleasure, which annoyed him. A lot of things annoyed Ryuunosuke. This kid was one, right now. "Look, your parents won't get the chance, but you will! You'll meet him, he'll meet you, and he'll eat you!" Ryuunosuke bent down and patted the kid's flat stomach. "What have they been feeding you? God, you're practically a skeleton. I hope the demon's ok with just you, and doesn't decide to eat your parents too. That'd..." He paused. "Well, actually, it'd be pretty convenient. Saves me a ton of work on the cleanup of the bodies. All right, yeah!" He stood up and pumped his fist into the air. "LET'S GOOOOO!"

A crackling. "The hell was that," Ryuunosuke said, searching for the source of the noise. "Well, whatever." He drew a knife from its sheath on his belt. It dripped red blood as he took it out. He bent down and pulled the gag out of the boy's mouth. He then held the knife, point down, directly over the boy's face. "Thirsty?" He laughed.

The first droplets of blood fell onto the boy's face. Suddenly, a light shone behind Ryuunosuke. He turned around, to see his magic circle illuminated in an otherworldly glow. He fell onto his knees before it, and rejoiced. "I KNEW ITTTTT! Don't go anywhere, kid. The main event is just beginning." He continued to gaze at the light in wonder, as lightning began flashing above the circle, and the light soon consumed the whole room.

After the light dissipated, Ryuunosuke rubbed his eyes. He saw there was a form standing in the center of the circle, and immediately ran to it. "Hey, how are you?"

The form appeared to ignore him. "I am the Servant Lancer. I ask you, are you my Master?"

"Umm," Ryuunosuke put his hand behind his head. "I don't really know what you're talking about, but I did summon you, so... I guess? Either way, don't worry," he gestured to the bound child. "I made sure there would be some food ready for you. You hungry?"

The demon walked toward the boy. It bent down, and Ryuunosuke was almost salivating with anticipation of what would come next. The biting of teeth through flesh, the slurping of viscera; the sounds filled his mind with memories of warmth. He could almost hear it now. He closed his eyes to hear the sounds as distinctly as possible, but his mind was invaded by the sound of unraveling ropes.

He opened his eyes, and saw the demon untying the child. Unbelievable! He ran over to the demon, and began to speak. "Hey, man, what are you-"

He was interrupted by the demon putting a finger to his lips, urging silence. Ryuunosuke didn't understand what was going on, but he decided that if this guy was a demon, he probably knew what he was doing. He decided to watch for a bit.

The demon untied all the ropes holding the boy. The boy was trembling, but the demon took him into his arms. Embraced him, and even smiled. "It's all right, child," the demon said. "You needn't worry anymore. Your heart is fragile, like glass, but it will be spared further suffering."

The child's eyes widened, and he began to cry. Big, thick tears rolled down his cheeks, and his sobs filled the room. The demon patted his back. "Shh, shh... It will all be ok." The demon's hand then began to move up the boy's back. It reached the shoulder blades, but didn't stop there. Soon enough it was on the back of the boy's neck. Still embracing the child with his other hand, still cooing words of comfort, the demon squeezed the neck with incredible force. The boy stopped crying, and started screaming. The demon kept squeezing, tighter and tighter. The boy started to flail, like the death throes of a slaughtered cow. Still the demon kept him in a tight embrace, whispering how he would never let him go and suffer again. Soon the screaming stopped, then the flailing, and finally the child lay like a limp ragdoll in the demon's arms.

The demon then kissed the child's cold forehead, and stood up. He faced Ryuunosuke. Grey hair - with a lavender tint - covered his head, and a beautiful white smile of maternal warmth adorned his face. His eyes were red like the sunset, possessed of both wisdom and sorrow in vast measure. They seemed to stare directly into one's heart, penetrating all of one's emotional barriers along the way. It was as if anyone the demon looked at felt as if they were the only one in the world, like nothing mattered but the love shared between them and the demon. It was a captivating face, and it drew Ryuunosuke in. He was, for once, too awestruck to speak. He could only sit, mouth agape.

"He was in pain," the demon said, in the same soft voice he used when he spoke to the child. "I couldn't bear it. The heart of the Lilin is capable of soaring the highest mountains of culture and artistic expression, but they pay for that pleasure with suffering in equal amounts. I felt his pain deeply inside myself, and I knew I couldn't let that go on. It would eventually peak, and stale, deteriorating into a slow burn of dull pain until one day he simply died. That would be a terrible waste. I wished to preserve his life as it was meant to be remembered, as the nadir of human experience crystallized into a single moment."

"S-sir...?"

"If only he didn't have to die. If only I could have preserved him forever, a living display of the deepest fear one of your race could experience, at such a tender age. Yet here he lies, his face covered in tears and snot, a monument that will soon fade away to nothingness." Throughout the demon's speech, his smile never left his face. He walked toward Ryuunosuke, and held out his hand. Ryuunosuke took it, finding himself trembling a little. This was not out of fear, though. It was admiration. He took the demon's hand with reverence. His hand felt safe and protected inside the demon's. The demon shook Ryuunosuke's hand, and spoke. "I swear before you: Thine offering shall form my flesh and blood. Thy will shall create my sword, and I shall be thy shield. Now, what is your name, friend?"

"Ur-Uryuu Ryuunosuke, sir. I do odd jobs for a living. My hobby is serial killing; especially kids and young women." He gestured to the corpse of the boy on the ground.

The demon closed his eyes. "Uryuu Ryuunosuke," he said, as if tasting every sound in the name. "My Master. I look forward to accompanying you on your journey, and feeling the soft beat of your heart synchronizing with my own, as we search together for the Artifact of Kings; the Holy Grail."

"The Holy Grail?"

"Yes, Ryuunosuke, the Holy Grail. Once we attain it, we shall be at liberty to enjoy the sweet tragedies suffered by all men forever. We shall feel our hearts pulled down to the earth by vicarious torment, and the catharsis as we rise back up. We will be able to admire the beauty found in the souls of all, and we will be able to love every heart we meet. The inner nature of humans is most fascinating, is it not? Labyrinthine hearts, concealing the darkest of desires, but so fragile, so easy to break. Come, Ryuunosuke. Let us begin our quest of love."

Ryuunosuke was taken aback a bit, not having expected the demon he summoned to be quite like this. Either way, though, the guy was definitely the real deal, if he could squish that kid's neck like a bug. That was pretty freakin' cool. "Sure, but, one thing I need to know," he said.

"Hmm?" The same smile stared at him, the same deep red eyes boring into the depths of Ryuunosuke's soul.

Ryuunosuke swallowed, then continued. "Sir, you're amazing. You're brilliant; you're the coolest thing I've ever seen. I want you to teach me everything you know about dragging people down and preserving them and stuff, but if we're going to do this, I have to have something to call you. What's your name?"

The demon's smile remained unchanged. He stretched out his arms, and coiled them around Ryuunosuke's back. He hugged him, and Ryuunosuke knew the demon would never hurt him. The demon put his face close, and whispered in Ryuunosuke's ear. "My name is Nagisa Kaworu. I was born to meet you, Ryuunosuke."

Thanks for reading!

Hadn't been planning to continue this, but why not, really. This is now a multi-verse crossover, and I've always wanted to write an Eva/Fate crossover anyway. This Kaworu is probably somewhat more like Sadamoto's manga Kaworu than anything, now I think about it. Good manga, that was.

Much like last chapter, this one was mostly written while listening to Caramelldansen on loop. I think it puts me in a sort of meditative trance at this point. Hmm.

Next update will almost certainly focus on the summoning of another one of the Servants, though exactly which one has not yet been decided. See ya!