Ciel sat in the rectory of Fuyuki Church, her chin resting on her palm, thinking. Her Master's prone body lay beside her, and after the little stunt she had pulled in Tokiomi's manor, she was glad he wasn't awake to give her a tongue-lashing.

(All right. First thing's first. I have a tiny, really little problem. This being, that my Master's vital force, after having been so lovingly extracted by that annoying grey-haired Lancer Servant, is now contained in Roa.

The bastard's vampirism extracted too much, and now...

Oh God, what do we do?

I can't go back to Tohsaka's place, or that Archer might skewer me.

Why did I help that kid anyway?)

A voice spoke from inside her, gleeful.

Oh, don't be like that, Ciel. As if my vampirism wasn't your ace in the hole for this war.

She sighed. (You're not wrong, I suppose. All right then. Time to see what can be done about this.)

"Oh, Ciel, dear girl. Pleasure to see you again!"

Kotomine Risei entered the rectory through the door Ciel held open for him.

"Yes, the pleasure's all mine. Or something."

She closed the door, and entered after Risei. Kirei's body was laid out on his bed, surrounded by candles. His arms were folded over his chest like a corpse.

"So what do we do about this?" she asked.

"Well, to be perfectly frank, I was quite impressed," Risei said, sitting down on the bed next to his son. "A Servant that could extract a soul is fairly typical; that is what your kind subsist on, after all." He looked her up and down, her taut muscles and smooth curves exciting him even in his old age. "But to think it was possible to extract it while preserving its individuality? Extracting only the externally leached magical energy while leaving the inner yolk untouched? Miraculous! Truly, the Holy Cup of our Saviour is limitless in its blessing, bestowing upon us faithful the strong hand of divine providence." He wagged his gloved finger at Ciel. "Have you given thanks, sung Hosanna to your Maker for this bounty?"

"You're not answering my question," Ciel said. She saw his eyes, how they roved. It would have disgusted her to deal with this man if not for the fact that within her lay another no better. "How do we bring him back? You must surely know, being the overseer."

"Careful, my pet. If we do not render our thanks to the Most High, how do you expect to win His chalice? Patience. It is a virtue." He brought his hands together, bowed his head, and closed his eyes. "Come, Ciel, daughter of Heaven, thou who incubatest the Son of Darkness. Join me in prayer, and perhaps we shall be granted the answer we seek."

"If I do ask you ask, will you help?"

"But of course!" Risei said. He opened one eye and winked. "Do not rely on me, though. Cursed is the man who trusts in flesh. David said that, you know, in his Psalms. A smart man; I've always looked up to him."

"Fine," Ciel said. She sat in the chair across from Risei, closed her eyes, and clasped her palms.

"Excellent!" Risei exclaimed. "Now, repeat after me."

He intoned. "Gloria tibi altissime Di, et tibi omnes de caelis ad infernum. Hoc servum tuum voca, ut tuam regem portetur. Ex inferno eius animus redditur." Then he crossed himself. "In nominibus patris, filii, et spiritus sancti. Amen."

Ciel repeated after him, silently.

Then, she opened her eyes, and ran to Kirei's side. He was still, and she put her ear to his heart, hoping to feel its beating confirming life, like a door knocked upon confirms the presence of a visitor.

But there was nothing.

She lifted her head and turned to Risei.

"I thought you were going to help him," she said.

"I am!" he protested. "But the Lord must come before all things. Really, what would have led you to think that He would simply grant our prayer without us having to do anything? How ineffectual that would render us, those who are intended to reflect His majesty, and act as His avatars on the mortal plane!" He shook his head. "Ah, youth. I remember it well, but cannot say I envy you it; even if I were to be returned to your vigour, I could not preserve my wisdom of age. The sanguinity would shove it all out of me." He smiled, as a sage. "Come now, Ciel, lovely young girl that you are. Now that we have the Lord's blessing, for He doth not refuse any suppliant their request, so long as they come to Him in purity of heart and clean hands, we may begin the process of restoring my son to his fleshly raiment."

Ciel was lying across Kirei's body, perpendicularly, her heart above his. She did not want to think of what would happen should Kirei's magical energy be permanently separated from his body like this. She knew she couldn't save him, not completely, but she wanted to give him every chance she could to save himself. So even if she were irreperably corrupted with the soul of Roa within her, a True Ancestor, she hoped that something within Kirei's soul, a light, would surface. Thereby, he might bring himself to a realization of the good inside himself, and no longer wander through this world, struggling against his evil. A perfect harmony of good and evil, a helpmate opposite himself. He might realize that happiness that she had sought, and never found, even in death and banishment to the Throne.

He reminded her of Tohno-kun, and that was a memory that, though she knew intellectually that her Master was a very different person from her former kouhai, pervaded her perception of him. To her, no matter how little sense it made, Kirei was essentially like Shiki. A good man, though he was cursed with a fundamental defect in his nature. And like Shiki, if he could surpass it, he could be happy, as Shiki had been with her.

So she could not let him be forever lost, even if she would still have his magical energy within her to feed her journey forward in this Holy Grail War.

"How?" she said, weakly, her body curled against her Master's cold, cold form.

"Simple!" Risei said. "Have you not read the Book of Kings, Ciel? What did Elisha do, when faced with this very problem?"

"Elisha was reviving the dead," she said, "This is not the same case."

"Details!" He patted her hair, and she recoiled from his touch. He stood up. "Do as he did, and your desire will be granted. After all, you and he are not so different, in some sense; Elisha, and Elesia, are similar in the way they feel on the tongue."

He left before she could think to answer.

Why did she always do this? Why did she always submit herself to the whims of others, letting them do with her as they wished? It hurt so much, and yet in the end, when the time actually came to bring herself out of their sadistic acts, she always failed. It was as if something inside of her always died at those critical times.

Ciel, that's what I'm here for. I can help you then. I know you wanted to get him, I could feel it. Why didn't you let me come out of you then?

There is no reason for unchecked anger, no matter how I feel. I... I have something inside me that cannot be expressed, something besides for the man who lives within me. Oh, Roa. How I hated you in life.

Indeed you did.

But now? Now I sit and cry on the breast of my Master, a man of no real worth, to whom I am simply tied by the arbitrary threads spun by the Grail. There is nothing to him, and in point of fact my own wish for the Grail is something which is so insufferably stupid I want to stab myself through the heart if only to quiet it.

But it would accomplish nothing, due to this accursed immortality!

I desire only the sweet release of death, even now, even after I was released from the Fathers. I desire only to escape the endless wheel of - I think the Asians call it karma? - purgatory through which I walk. Are there not two other sections to the Divine Comedy? Why can I not progress past Purgatorio?

Well, look at it this way. Based on my own investigations, I'd say you're probably the only Servant who wants to use the Grail to kill themselves. I mean, honestly, erase your Saint Graph from the Throne of Heroes entirely?

You do not understand, Roa. I cannot bring myself to hate you, now that you are a part of me, but by the same token, you should feel the pain that I do, walking through this life? Tohno-kun brought temporary salvation, but now, I feel as if I am nothing but a vessel for my memories of trauma, which will always haunt me as long as any record of myself exists.

I feel as if no matter how much happiness is poured into me, I will only ever reflect that darkness.

Be glad you don't have to see the inside of this dude's head then. He's fucked up, and coming from me, that's saying something.

Wait. What are you talking about?

You know how I sucked your Master's essence out of that Lancer Servant?

Yes, we share our memories and experiences. Why?

Thing is, when I did that, I brought him inside myself, his entire soul. So, I have a fairly good understanding of who he is, and how he feels.

You... do?

Yep!

Well.

Yeah?

For some reason I don't. I don't know anything more about him now than I did before.

Huh, interesting. Maybe it's because I absorbed him directly into myself, so I act as a sort of buffer between his soul and yours. Yeah, that makes sense. I can come up with explanations for the weird shit that happens in this War too, you know. I was a Magus in life. We can't all get lucky and obtain vampirism without putting any effort into it, Ciel. Some of us had to do it the hard way.

I would be offended but it's not really possible for you to offend me at this point.

I love you too.

Shut up. Anyway, how do we fix him? Do you have any ideas?

In all honesty I think the creep was right. We have to put it back into him.

And how?

But here's the thing. You probably don't want to do that. In fact I highly suggest you don't do that.

Ok. Why?

The man is lacking even the happiness that you have. Or rather, he is able to obtain happiness, and he has no real traumas to speak of. In fact, in a sense, he's entirely healthy, psychologically. Or he would be, if not for the fact that his basic nature is entirely incompatible with anything society would consider healthy. But I suppose if he were able to live in a different sort of world, one oriented more after his own heart, he could be a truly happy man. Perhaps the happiest; his soul is so gosh-darned simple that it's like the desired path to happiness, that most never find after a lifetime of searching, in his case, is just a single word. Lucky bastard. Doesn't even require the love of an unattainable woman like my Arcueid. I envy him.

My personal feelings aside, there may be something I can do about it. I may be able to... allow him another way to fulfillment of his heart. In a way that you would find less objectionable than, say, gratuitously kicking a blind puppy, setting it on fire, and throwing it into a crowded orphanage which happened to be doused in petrol. Which, for your information, if he were in his body and heard me say that would probably ejaculate at the thought. It's like I said. He's fucked up.

There has to be a downside. There's no way there's not a downside.

Funny you should mention that. Well. The only way I know how to do it, since there is nothing inside me but him and yours truly, is to exchange some of my essence with his before putting it back inside his body.

Fuck you, Roa.

Come on! You've gotten to know me, and to tell you the truth I've mellowed out a fair bit since all that troublesome stuff went down between us. Admit it. I'm basically just your garden-variety 'loveable rogue'-type character now, aren't I? You'd never recognize me if you met me on the street in passing, not with the personality I've got now. You'd certainly never think I had anything at all in common with that scary vampire who possessed you for like five minutes God knows how many years ago, right?

...

Ok, maybe that one was a bit of a stretch. My point is, though, I either put your Master back in his body entirely untouched, and he stays the sort of person who would, I guarantee it, use the Grail to destroy the entire city just to see if he could. He would take a little tape recorder and capture the screams of burning children, and play it to himself at night when he masturbates into a bible. Or, I give him something of my own personality, and, while he may not be Mr. Rogers, he will at least not be a sadistic bastard. I assure you, between the whole getting-killed-by-conceptual-armaments, and passing into the collective memory of Humanity's legends - who even thought that was a good idea? Since when did people know I existed, anyway - I am now a relatively decent individual. He will be... not perfect, but better. Somewhat.

You do make a compelling argument, but how do you know he is beyond salvation? Couldn't... God help him?

Oh please. Don't tell me you've still retained the Catholic upbringing you were given in France? Do you actually believe there's a guy in the sky who sent his son to commit suicide-by-Pilate?

I... I don't know. I can't say if I do, and I can't say if I don't.

And suppose Jesus existed, and really did die for our sins. Then how is it that you and I ended up in the Throne after death, and not in Heaven, or Hell? How do you explain that?

I can't. If I had to say something, I would say that it's a sort of holding cell for individuals who made a special contribution to humanity before they died, for good or ill. Or maybe it's a way we can be given a second chance at life.

What about the literal saints in the Throne? Do they need a second chance? They can't just get straight into Heaven as they are?

Perhaps not. Perhaps their true reward is the chance to come back to this flawed Earth and help people as they did in life. Maybe you just can't remember what it was like to be pure of heart, as you yourself were before you became entranced with that Ancestor woman. Before you perverted your own flesh with Magecraft to become an immortal monster, as I too am now. There are individuals who would sacrifice everything, even their own richly deserved eternal rewards in God's Heaven, basking in the Divine light bestowed by His Son, just for the chance to help others. EMIYA, for example.

Oh god, not him! I'm glad I never ran into him myself; going by what I saw in your memories, that guy was simply insufferable.

Say what you want, I thought he was kind of cute.

I hope, that if I ever return to this world, that the next time I possess a baby, I don't become a girl with as poor taste in men as you have.

What about you? Sacrificing your entire life for the singleminded pursuit of that... vampire bitch.

Yes, I understand, you and Arc never quite got along.

She was a vampire bitch.

In all fairness, you were also a vampire.

Yes, but she was born as one, not made one after the fact. There's a difference.

Dear God, yes, there's a difference.

Why do I get the feeling I wish you were out of me, so I could punch you?

The world may never know.

Hmm. Speaking of segues, how much risk is there if we just keep Kirei's body here, while we figure out if we have any other, less absolutely risky strategies - assuming you're telling the truth, and that he really is beyond repair - to employ? You think you can hold him in there?

So here's the thing. I can hold him in here as long as I want. My vampirism is high enough that there is no danger of the prey escaping my soul. But there's a slight issue. The longer I keep him in me, the more quickly the boundary around his soul, like a shell around an egg, will deteriorate. Small cracks will appear, and just like an egg with a cracked shell, little bits of his essence will start to ooze out, and mix with mine. Chaotically. Once that happens, there's irreversible damage to his psyche, and while I'll probably be ok, it's not something I want to mess with.

Bad idea, I take it?

Very bad idea. Plus his body will start to decay without a soul within it to preserve its form, and there's really no way around that unless you're able to call in some incredibly skilled user of healing through Cursecraft. Not that we can get anyone like that, since, ya know, the only person who can do that is currently in a coma.

Point taken. Fine. Do what you need. Just tell me what I need to do.

Like I said, you've got to put his essence back inside his body. It shouldn't take me any time at all to make the necessary modifications first, so here's how you do it...

Ciel straddled Kirei's lifeless body, sitting on his thighs. She bent forward, tucked her hair behind her ear, opened his mouth with her fingers, then sealed it again with her lips.

Once she was in position, the darkness inside her began to move.

It electrified her nerves. It felt like every one of her organs was on fire with pleasure. Roa, hateful though he was, provided her with something that she couldn't understand or quantify, and could not bring herself to despise. It was the feeling of pure power, of raw magical energy coursing through her veins. Say what you will, but vampirism had its perks, especially for a being like her, nothing more than a ghost of Magical Energy and accumulated legend given form by a hole to the Root of all Creation.

She felt it building in her abdomen, and an irresistible urge to vomit.

All right, Ciel, you know what to do. Follow the path first traced out by Inari-no-kami, one of this land's native deities. I have implanted some of the more... positive aspects of my character in your Master. Pour it back into him.

With her lips planted on Kirei's, and her body pressing itself against his, she vomited.

Black mud flowed from her stomach, up through her throat, and into his mouth. As it flowed over her tongue, she could see isolated incidents in her Master's life, like the dreams Servants were supposed to have of their Masters but which she herself had never experienced.

Standing at the bedside of a woman, faint and fading, without any ties bound to him.

A daughter, a wife, playing together, entreating him to join. But whenever he did, it was a farce, it was something that caused him no end of pain, cursing himself for his inability to be happy and to do his paternal and husbandly duty to his family. He was wrongly made, an aberration against God's holy plan for His Creation. When he tried to play the part, Claudia always looked at him with pity, as one feels for a crippled child trying to walk. One cannot laugh at such a child, and one must congratulate its efforts no matter how fruitless they must inevitably be, but one cannot help but hold a look of pity on one's face, even while praising.

Caren would just look up at him, uncomprehending. Kirei wondered if she too were broken as he was, and he wished he cared.

Soon, the mud had all flowed into Kirei, and she heard him try to cough, and convulse against her. She released her hold on his face, and sat upon him, waiting for him to react.

He coughed, and spat out a globule of black and red substance. It landed on the bed, and dissipated into a cloud of sulfuric smoke.

Oh, well, hopefully that wasn't an important bit. Hate to leave him lobotomized, though when you think about it...

He opened his eyes, saw Ciel on top of him.

Her eyes opened wide in excitement. "Master?"

He spoke like one who has just woken from a long sleep, with gravel in his throat. "Yes, Assassin..."

He looked at her.

He felt her weight upon him.

"Hello there!" he said.

"H-hello," she replied, a bit taken aback by his sudden change in personality.

Roa, I wasn't expecting...

Don't worry about it, he's fine.

(Are you entirely sure about that?)

Yes. Very. Extremely, incredibly so.

(Hmm.)

Something occurred to her.

(Roa.)

Kirei was smiling. This was very creepy.

Hmm?

(What do I feel pressing against my leg?)

I should think you would know by now. Or have you forgotten that lover boy of yours completely?

(What did you do to Kirei.)

Exactly what I told you I would. Aren't we a great team?*

(You know, you are very, very lucky, that I can't actually cause you any harm. But rest assured, next time I have the chance to put you in a situation where you will suffer immensely for no real reason, I will be sure to go there as fast as possible and bring you out of me. And I won't let you back in, for a long time.)

Looking forward to it, Ciel.

(Die.)

I wish.

(Fuck you.)

Oh that's even better!

"You know, I can see your lips moving," said Kirei. "I hate to interrupt what I'm sure is a fascinating conversation with young Mr Valdamjong in there, but would you mind getting off of me? It's quite difficult to concentrate like this. There is a war on."

Kirei had built a fire in the fireplace of the rectory, and he sat on his bed, while Ciel sat opposite him in the chair.

"I have absolutely no idea what is going on, Servant," he said. "But for whatever reason, I feel..."

Happy?

"Do you feel different, Master?"

"Well, in a matter of speaking, yes, I do. It feels as if there is something breathing inside of me, instead of the empty lungs respirating to fuel a body that was too dead to even qualify as a machine. Is this perhaps your doing?"

"Not mine, per se," Ciel said. "If you must thank someone, thank Roa. I must render unto him what is his, after all." She was in a fairly good mood. Aside from the, unfortunate bit before, her Master seemed still in possession of his faculties, and yet also seemed to now have a reason to live. She was quite happy for him.

(You bastard. You should have told me this would happen, instead of making me worry like that. To be honest I wanted the chance to fix him myself, in more traditional ways.)

Dirty mind, have you? Anyway it was far more fun to watch you worry. Plus, when you get angry, there's a little vein on your forehead that just bulges and I wish I could just reach out of you and pop it.

(I meant by getting him to open up about his problems.)

Mhmm.

(Don't tease me.)

Oh no, you bad girl, you dirty slut, I would never, you naughty woman, I would never shame you for the fires in your loins.

"Kirei?"

"Yes, Ciel?"

"Do you happen to have a magical encyclopedia in this room?"

"Well, of course. What do we need? Perhaps something regarding the Grail, or an enemy Servant?"

"Something like that, yes," she said. "Where is it?"

He stood and selected a volume from the bookshelf above the fireplace. He handed it to her, and she grabbed it.

"A... A... Aha!"

She tore a page out, and showed it to Kirei.

"What do you think, Master?"

He considered the image on the paper. "Hmm, the greatest of all the True Ancestors, the built-in failsafe against any of them going berserk. I am quite grateful we do not need to contend with the likes of her in this Holy Grail War; though we do have that Archer to deal with, he is allied to us. We have nothing to fear from him, I think." He smiled.

"Yes, yes, I agree, this is very true," Ciel said. "Now since we're not fighting her in this War, we don't really need to know about her, do we?"

"No, in fact."

"Good." Ciel threw the page into the fire, and began laughing. "HA! Serves you right, you asshole!"

Then she collapsed to the floor, clutching her abdomen.

Kirei could hear a voice from inside her. "-cking kill you, you bitch! All right, we're even. Happy?!"

Ciel coughed up blood, and licked it back up into her mouth. "Yep. Honestly, it's so much fun to torture you like this. If I had been so weak as you, the Fathers would've obliterated my consciousness until there was nothing left, immortality or not."

Kirei looked at her, bemused, then started to laugh.

Ciel reached out, grabbed his ankle from the ground, and pulled him down.

He fell with a thud, but kept laughing.

"Oh, Ciel, it's truly a lovely sight."

"What's that, Master?"

"What do you think? The smile does put a bit of a damper on it, but there's nothing quite like watching you in obvious physical pain."

She looked uncomfortable.

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't already know?"

"I did," she said quietly. "I knew, though I didn't want to accept it."

"Servant, there is an objective truth in this world. It just so happens that this truth, decreed by God himself, has included that I be fated to be a broken man, an empty vessel of nothing but darkness in a world of light. Thanks to your friend in there, I have been able to come to terms with this fact about myself, but the fact still remains. There is nothing I, or you, or anyone can do about it. I was hoping this journey through the Holy Grail War would enlighten me as to my true nature, and I'm afraid it has, though far earlier than I thought."

"Master, it cannot be this way! There has to be a way for you to be happy."

"Oh, Ciel. I am happy. Now," he said, standing up, and dusting off his jacket, "We really should get on with things."

He walked to the door. "And welcome our guest."

(Guest?)

Oh, not him again.

(Who-)

The door swung open, apparently on its own.

"Kirei, as much as I love the opportunity to visit your, erm, charming residence, would you mind not making me share the company of such mongrels as these?" Gilgamesh walked in casually, and plopped himself down on the nearest couch. "They disgust me. One Servant coming out of another - and in such a distasteful manner! What a perverse backwater idland nation this is, that even its deities vomit and excrete foods. How do you live in such a land?"

Ciel got to her feet and wiped the blood from her mouth. "Master, I thought you had decided to-"

"Quiet, mongrel. You bitch, and mother of that irreverent *ass* lying within you. Be glad I spared you earlier as a favour to your Master."

"Relax, Ciel," Kirei said. Gilgamesh lifted his legs, and Kirei sat down on the couch cushion they had occupied, at which point Gilgamesh let his legs fall back onto Kirei's lap. "As I said, Archer here is our ally."

"Better you than that insufferable twat, eh, Kirei?" said Gilgamesh with a wry grin.

"Oh, Archer, don't say that," chided Kirei. "Tokiomi is a great, honourable man. So much so," he took a cup of wine from the thin air, materialized there from one of Gilgamesh's golden portals, "That I will ensure fulfillment of his life's ambition, with everything I have in me." He looked at the wineglass in his hand, swirled it around, and let the wine coat the sides of the glass. As the liquid flowed back down to the bottom of the glass, leaving only the dregs, he tipped it into his mouth. After loudly gulping it down, he threw it to the side, where it was saved from shattering against the floor by a new portal Gilgamesh opened to receive it. "The man desires a path to the Root be opened, right? It is the honourable desire of all Magi, let alone one of such bearing and breeding as the heir to the great Zelretch. Even I can understand that. The Root is the Swirl of Creation, and simply imagine the divinity inherent in it! Why, by opening a path to the Root, a mortal such as myself might be able to come to see the Creator Himself! Is it not likely that the Son of God sits at the end of that road? And just as wine has pure liquid and dregs, so does the race of Man, made in His Image; Tokiomi and others are the pure liquid, and I the dregs. For most of my life I have disdained this role the Creator has assigned me to, and questioned why I must be forced to act as an opposing force against the beauty that He has formed. But now I understand! Now I know! Oh, thank you, a thousand Hail Roa's from the bottom of my heart!

"Now, Assassin," he leaned forward to her in excitement. "Now I know! My role in this world is the *villain*. The Lord has been so gracious as to provide me with the most difficult of all roles to play, and in fact, to give me the pure joy in its fulfillment! What a miracle! What a beautiful fate for the dog sprung from Kotomine Risei's loins!"

"Careful, Kirei," Gilgamesh tutted. "You mustn't reveal everything just yet. You are but a new playwright, and still unskilled in the matters of suspense. Come, learn from the greatest of your predecessors, and soon you shall carve into this incorrigible realm, brought down by the softness of these moderns, a story to delight the heart of the King of Kings."

"The Lord Himself will enjoy my work?" Kirei asked.

"If he exists, indubitably," Gilgamesh said, drinking some wine of his own. "With my hand guiding you, there is no doubt. Unless this Hebraic god of yours is entirely lacking a sense of humour, in which case, I suppose we shall have to topple him from his throne, eh? You've read about the Tower of Babel?"

"Of course," Kirei said. "Genesis is my favourite of the Pentateuch."

Gilgamesh nodded. "As well it should be, for it details the beginning of all things. If not for the fact that those stupid Semites decided to strike the most important parts of the beginning of this world! Really, the brazenness! Filing away Uruk and Babylon's role to a mere footnote under the name 'Nimrod'. I'd go back in time and destroy that stupid Solomon's Temple if my Babylonian successors hadn't done it already."

"Gilgamesh, have you been perusing my library?"

"Of course," said the blond man. "At least you have some things worth reading. That bastard Tokiomi has nothing but books on Japanese history - duller than dirt, by the way; all fanciful myths written to cover up the fact that they are a weak provincial island nation that has always had an inferiority complex with regard to their mainland betters -, European heraldry - effeminate men (if they even were men in the first place) jumping about in a weak mockery of real heroism and honour -, and finally, Magecraft. Oh, that last is the worst of them all. I suppose I cannot blame them that the ancient tomes have been lost, but really. Modern tracts on magecraft-induced perpetual motion? Sociological studies on Magical students' attitudes as a function of the age of their families' magic circuits? Drivel! It is nothing like the way Magic was, when I and others wielded it. I had to restrain myself from vomiting on his volumes, and availed myself of the books here."

"Do you mean to say that you, enjoyed my books, Gilgamesh?" Kirei asked. The innocence on his face was beautiful; or rather it would have been, if it were not just an expression of his complete abandonment of himself to the evil nature running through his blood. He was like a hopeful child waiting for a treat from his father, just returned from an overseas business trip, and who had promised to bring him back exotic toys, candy, and a hug, that the boy, left alone with the house's cleaning staff, had desperately craved most of all.

Gilgamesh smiled, confident that his work was progressing smoothly. "Of course I do, Kirei. They are the closest thing to true literature that still exists in this day and age. While it is truly regrettable that not all of the old tablets of my legend have yet been discovered in this modern era, I can see that you have done your best to try to hold onto the lost glories of the past, when gods still walked this earth, as well as the beginning of the Age of Man, when I banished them back to their heavens, that all might be right with the world. All this has shown me, as much as anything else, that you are truly the best vessel that exists in this world to bring back some strength to your degenerate race. Anywho," he chucked his own, now empty, cup into another golden portal that winked into and out of existence at command, merely another extension of the Golden King's body, like a little finger, that he commanded without even thinking, due to its insignificance. "Who do you think built that tower of Babel? Nimrod? He was but a hunter in the palace's employ. No, Kirei, those Hebrews, and their infection of this world with their culture, have turned everything upside down! To think that my toppling of Ishtar and her cohort from their thrones, and forcing them to stop meddling in human affairs, and to protect my city, was turned into a simple cautionary tale! Oh, Kirei, distract me from my rage. It is not seemly for a king to lose himself like this, o jester mine." He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Gilgamesh," Kirei said, stunned, "it never even occurred to me to question Scripture's accuracy, being, as it is, God's pure message to His chosen people."

Gilgamesh kneaded the skin between his eyes with his fingers. "Kirei, I am getting a migraine. Perhaps the Hebrews' god simply enjoys toying with them. Perhaps their scribes were a little too wanton in their revisions. It matters not. Distract me, somehow."

"I shall do my best," Kirei said. He straightened himself in his seat, and turned to Ciel. "Well, Servant, you must have questions."

She began to open her mouth, when-

"Ah ah ah! No need, I am sure I know what they are."

(You fucking bastard, Roa.)

Hey. Don't blame all your problems on me. It's not a good look for you. Besides, I told you there was risk.

(I hope Gilgamesh kills me so he can kill you after, and makes sure you don't enjoy it. If nothing else, I think he can be relied upon to do that.)

Your abuse is hurtful, mommy.

"Assassin, you forget yourself," Kirei said, amused. "It is rude to converse with another when someone is talking to you. Now, let me dispel your confusion. Gilgamesh and I have been talking lately, and we have realized that we possess certain, ah, common interests."

Gilgamesh opened one eye, and as if he were still suffering from a headache, said, "That's certainly one way to put it, Kirei."

"Factually correct, is it not?" Kirei said.

Gilgamesh chuckled weakly and buried the back of his head in the cushion, summoning a sleep mask from a portal just above his face. "Gods, Kirei, what is in this modern wine?"

"I'm afraid it's not quite as refined as yours, King of Heroes, though it is just as strong."

"Please. Our wine was so strong we used to dilute it. Yours is as nothing in comparison."

"Whatever you say, my King," said Kirei. "Assassin, I had a question I needed answered. Why did the Grail choose me? I had nothing to wish for, or so I thought. But then, Gilgamesh was kind enough as to direct me in the right way, and show me what it was I had been missing all these years."

He paused, waiting for Ciel to say something. She did not.

"You must surely be wondering, 'Does Tokiomi know of this?'. And the answer to that is 'no.' Gilgamesh has explained to me that Tokiomi and his ilk have, in fact, no mission holier than their own honour, and increasing their fame and prestige in the aristocratic circles in which they travel. I protested, saying 'No, Archer, for they seek the Root! The beginning of all things!' But he explained that they had no real interest in what the Root held, only that they be the ones to have successfully completed the Third Magic, the Materialization of the Soul, and then they and their descendants could claim the most exalted positions the Mages' Association has to offer. They do not even desire to use it in its capacity as a dynamo for infinite, world-changing power! A man with the magical energy of the Root at his disposal could, quite literally, rewrite the very laws of physics! And yet they, with their entirely conservative bent, are far too cowardly to risk anything going wrong. Where is the heroism in that? Where, I ask, is the honour? Assassin, you must see that it simply makes no sense that the Creator would endow the Mages with such great power for them only to do nothing with it."

"Master, is this world really so evil? Does it really need to be changed?"

"Assassin, I personally do not care a bit for changing the world. I love it the way it is, with suffering pervading every corner of it, variegated in dazzling rubies and emeralds. An orphan dying of cancer, a woman raped. It brings me to bliss. But Gilgamesh showed me the hypocrisy of their ideals, these Mages'. I thus had no reason to work to further Tokiomi's ambitions. None, that is, except for filial piety."

"Risei?"

"Yes, Assassin. Kotomine Risei, who sired me, and brought me up to love what is good, and to turn from evil. But that man, he never understood me. He always told me he was working for my good, and that my impulses needed to be controlled lest I carry myself away from happiness in God's world. But he was *wrong*. Following my impulses, finally, is what has given me joy, and I shall never leave it again. This wine must be drunk, over and over again, that I may more fully appreciate its tang. So, as far as his paternal commands are concerned: They too are only for my good, yes? My father only cares for my emotional wellbeing? In that case, I shall fulfill the Spirit of his command, if not the letter; I shall pursue my own path. That path may not be the one he thought it was, but that, I think you will agree, matters very little in the grand scheme of things."

"Kirei," Ciel said, quietly.

"Yes, Assassin? What wisdom do you offer from those lips, drenched in your own blood?"

"Is there no plea left to humanity that can turn you back from this path? Even if you yourself will be fulfilled thereby, you must agree that others will suffer, and that this is evil. Is there no way for you to salve your wounds without harming others, like a would-be rapist engaging in masturbatory fantasies to hold his impulses at bay, and prevent a dangerous explosion of desire?"

"Oh, Assassin. I will agree, it was hard for me for so long. Whether to follow my path, regardless of how it should affect others, or whether to do the best I could to strike the balance between the morality I was taught, and what I felt. But then I learned, that very few people truly follow their moralities. They merely use it as a convenient excuse to impose what they felt on others, always pushing them down, and never allowing others to do as they wish. I, on the contrary, am perfectly happy to let others do as they wish. I do not wish to disrupt the natural order of things; if anything, I wish to restore it. So if a hero, one carrying the light of God with them, wishes to put an end to my actions, let them try. I welcome it. In fact, I even hope they succeed, for it would be the poetic, the beautiful thing, for them to finally destroy me while sacrificing themselves to do so. Ah, how lovely would the pain in their soul taste when they proceed to the Throne, as saviours of humanity, only to find that this morality that they sacrificed themselves for was nothing but the task of a menial cleaner, picking up after an unworthy race.

"But, it would be simply ugly for me to put an end to my own path, or to repress myself anymore for the sake of others for whom I care nothing. I am done with that way of life, for it is indeed no life at all."

"I see," said Ciel. She stood up, and bowed. "Then I must ask you to dismiss me."

"Assassin, what do you mean?" Kirei smirked. "Why would you want to forgo this bona fide resurrection that the Lord has granted you? Do you wish to insult Him by refusing His gift?"

"It's hardly a gift, if it must be spent in this way. You will agree, will you not, Master, that with Gilgamesh on your side, the strongest of all heroes, you are assured victory in this War?"

"Indubitably."

"Then you don't need me. Dismiss me, I don't care how; you know of my immortality, but not even EX-Rank Vampirism can protect a Heroic Spirit from the power of the Command Seals pulling her back to the Throne. If there is anything that can be called 'human' still within you, you will permit me this one mercy, after you have entirely broken my faith in my own ability to bring you to the light, in the inner desire I thought you had to be brought there, and in humanity as a whole for allowing such wrongness to fester inside you long enough as to be truly incurable. I have nothing left, and I curse my continued existence."

A tear fell from her eyes.

"So let me go."

"Assassin, your plea is truly impassioned. Why, indeed, should I keep you around?"

Gilgamesh threw the cover off of his eyes. "Oh, Kirei, get to the point. I require entertainment."

"As do I, Archer," Kirei said. "And that, Assassin, is exactly why I must keep you around! I too require entertainment; I require the doors of my soul be opened up to hitherto unknown joys, and for that I *do* need your help."

He lifted his arm, and his Command Spells glowed.

"Come, Ciel. Entertain us."

Heyo folks. It has been... a very very long time. Wow. I actually wrote this chapter months ago, but promised myself I wouldn't publish anything until I had at least three chapters written. And now I do. I've actually sustained a fairly significant injury recently, which gave me the chance to finish up that third chapter. I think I'd like to focus on Ciel and co. for a bit. Hope y'all like it!