"No." The stack of papers swung like a sword and crashed down on his shoulder as Fuji-nee stared up at him. A stern frown unsuited to her staring back at him as she swung again. "You're not dropping out of school no matter what."

But his only choice was to parry her words and continue on. "It's already something I've decided so I won't be coming back tomorrow."

Fuji-nee's eyes narrowed even as she went on the offensive again. "What would I tell Kiritsugu if he was still here if I just let you throw your life away and drop out of highschool. Your grades aren't even bad so if you found something else to do you should drop your part time job instead." The fire in her eyes burned brighter. "Look if its money you need I can go and ask Grandfather and talk about it you don't need to give up on things."

What would he tell Kiritsugu at that time? That he was fulfilling his promise to become a hero of course so there wouldn't be any problems at all. "Ah it's not about money, in fact I'm quitting the part time job as well."

She stared at him anger mounting as the stack of papers crashed down again harmlessly. The paper itself crumpling as it met steel and crumpled. She eyed it as though it had personally offended her and then looked back to him. "Wait here for a moment while I get a proper wooden sword to hit you with."

He looked around the staff room for help, even as Caster's presence hung invisible in the air around them, a trace of magic flowing out as Fuji-nee turned back into the office to face him again. "We'll fight and I'll only let you leave if you can beat me, before that it's a thousand years too early for you to consider dropping out of school."

"If he lacks the will then there is no point wasting his time and ours." A hand closed on his shoulder and the steel gave way to flesh, even as he met the eyes of his World History teacher, Kuzuki standing in the doorway. "If he has the resolve then as a teacher we should send him off."

Fuji-nee pouted and scrunched her face as she looked him over. "Nope he hasn't got the slightest bit of resolve he's just being an idiot."

"Perhaps so, but we are not here to save them from their mistakes merely to guide them on their way." Kuzuki stepped past into the room. "I will take care of filing your future departure, it is clear you won't be able to return anyway."

An ethereal voice echoed in his ear. "He can see through the veil of my illusion." He blinked wondering what that meant, was Kuzuki another magus? He wasn't actually sure how many were normally in Fuyuki, only that he had always been supposed to be beneath their notice.

"You really have nothing else to say." Fuji-nee crossed her arms and stared him down, but something like that could never make his resolve falter.

He considered it for a moment and handed over her bento. "I might be gone completely so remember to pack your own lunch from now on and don't just rely on Sakura all the time." He nodded even as the last swing came crashing down on his head.

A hand settled on his shoulder even as he began tucking into his lunch. "Someone's at the door for you." He blinked and checked expecting Fuji-nee or possibly Sakura or Shinji. But there was no one he knew and after a moment he turned back to his food.

The man shook his arm again, even as he glanced at the door before backing away slowly.

An idol stood in front of his desk. Beautiful and intelligent as Tohsaka Rin stared down at him with a frown on her face. "I'm inviting you to lunch." He merely blinked in response unsure of how to respond.

"She has a servant." Caster's whisper rang in his ear and that changed everything. Even as he frowned because he couldn't give a response. He looked again but she seemed no different, except maybe some slight impatience waiting for his answer.

But more importantly than that he didn't want to fight in the school. A quick glance around the classroom filled with people and he relented. "Lead the way."

She strode with purpose even as the silence stretched on. Stopping only for a moment to grab some food from a vending machine and dragging him towards the roof. The moment they reached some degree of privacy she spoke. "Are you an idiot? You aren't even hiding your servant and just outing yourself for anyone who cares to see. Just what hero did you summon to give you that kind of confidence?"

He thought for a moment. "One that doesn't want to hide I guess, or maybe I'm bait and you've walked into a trap given how you've outed yourself as well."

A whisper echoed in his ear. "Two of them on the rooftop." He tensed his stride slowing as he eyed her. The question of whether to make a break for it to somewhere with less people hanging in his mind. "But they're not here to fight, ah sacred hospitality you will be fine to go up."

Rin was staring back at him, face frowning as she looked back at him. "Maybe I'm confident enough to spring that trap."

He nodded along, "I guess that makes both of them your servant then does it?" She looked back confused even as he stepped past onto the roof itself.

The scent of gunpowder and smoke mingled with bloodshed assailing him as he crossed the divide. A Japanese girl and a darker skinned man both wearing the male school uniform sat in the far side of the roof conversing with one another. And as they arrived the girl turned, a grin as she gestured at the space between them. "Observe and behold its wonder."

With faux seriousness he stepped up to look closer, eyed it carefully. "It's a portable induction stove." A cheap one at that as well. Sitting in the corner of the roof even as they had a collection of meat and vegetables on opposite sides of the pot.

She nodded calmly smile growing as she stared at it in wonder. "Heat with neither smoke nor fire, capable of being taken anywhere you need it, it is sublime perfection for the army on the march just waiting to ambush their enemy. A modern wonder that renders food attainable even as night falls and the enemy rests unsuspecting in their homes." She eyed him closer, leaning in conspiratorially. "And it only explodes one in three times you use it, Can you afford to go without this marvellous piece of technology?"

He paused at his answer. "It really shouldn't explode if you're using it properly… how do you even manage to make it explode?"

The man on the side tilted his head. "That did seem rather lethal, Archer why would anyone use it if that happened?"

The now named Archer grinned wider. "Ah but there are people in this world who with but a touch can bring any such device to explode, for their magic flows strong and everything from stove to phone can be made to do so with but a moment."

It was a truly terrifying ability. The modern world was filled with electronics at every turn, and with just a wave of their hand they could turn everything in their sight into an explosive. There would be nowhere safe, and he frowned as he looked at Archer. "That would be impressive."

She nodded calmly a smug look on her face. "Master see people are impressed by your talents be prouder of them."

Rin blushed even as she stuttered, "That was a one time thing." Her eyes narrowed, "and where did he come from?" She gestured to the man.

He smiled back and shrugged. "Everyone else was on the roof so I thought I should introduce myself of course, it's only polite to do so. Assassin if you were wondering."

Archer shrugged. "He brought food and we were already having a discussion so why not? Haven't you already outed us both by going and talking to the obvious master in the school?"

Rin marshalled herself, the picture-perfect expression of a confident idol returning to her face as she smiled. "But why are we treating him as though he's a friend you can just sit down and eat hot pot with. If the enemy turns up shouldn't you be at least a bit worried."

Archer shrugged. "If you can't even greet your enemies once how will you command them after your victory. Some of my best friends tried to murder me at one point or another."

"Tomorrow perhaps I will try, but not over lunch at the very least." The man looked on at her and smiled. "We are all enemies here and there can only be one winner, but are we all equally enemies in this game?" He spread his arms and gestured to them all. "You would all break bread with me on this day and I'm sure I can find worse company to have. Would you not join arms with me to wipe out greater threats should the need arise?"

After a moment Rin spoke. "You want us to team up with you against Saber." The man frowned in response and she continued. "Because Saber always reaches the end of the Grail War."

Archer wrapped a hand around Rin and grinned. "And it hardly matters for I am here, and overturning traditions is mere child's play when I arrive."

Assassin nodded. "Saber would have to be strong indeed at this point, but no that was not my meaning for I did not even know that fact. More those of us of good moral standing should work together to rid the less desirable elements of the war first. If you are of good moral standing of course hence why I wish to speak to you all, if we have compatible wishes we should work together."

Assassin stared off into the distance, his eyes focussing on something far away. "This period is truly a strange thing for never before have I seen a time of such plenty. There is no lack of food and even the thought of a famine is far away from the minds of the people, and I have never seen it's like before."

"So why are there so many starving?"

He blinked at the sudden topic change and eyed the man. That kind of question wasn't something he even had the power to do anything about. But Caster smiled back her voice coming without hesitation. "Because we haven't gotten around to expanding our kitchen enough just yet. Soon Shirou will feed all of them and be happy."

With a smile he laughed. "Good at least your trying, although I was more hoping for a sweeping societal change. If virtue and prosperity go hand in hand, and those with plenty know their place to look out for those without then it will be a better world. As they do not, I shall use my wish to correct them, although I still have more to read to find the best wording to make it real."

"Ah the good old burn the Zaibatsu and salt the earth with their corpses problem." Archer grinned, a glimpse of fire leaking out around her frame. "But you don't really need an all-powerful wish for something like that do you, lets just burn them ourselves and then everything gets better."

He swallowed his own spit as he stared at her smiling. "I don't think you should be setting people of fire at all." Because he could still hear the screams as he left them behind.

Archer shrugged, even as Caster stared him down. "You only bring suffering and fear if you control people like that. It is better to help good kids then to punish the bad ones, better to save the weak then punish the guilty."

"Little girl they are much the same I think, when the world falls into warfare and the streets run red only having the biggest gun can let you save people. Anything else is the preaching of moralistic idiots who haven't fought a real battle."

"I'm not against burning them if they are in the wrong, but normally I find people doing the burning are worse." Assassin frowned even as he tapped his fingers against the ground. "The Zaibatsu would be merchants would they not? Those who bring prosperity to a nation should not be looked down upon, for it comes entwined with virtue that only a wealthy man can be good. For only he has the freedom to give unto others beyond their means and save the helpless."

Archer stared back in wonder. "You've literally never met a wealthy man and seen him deal with the peasants in your life have you. Ah but I guess that's why you can see food and starving people and not put two and two together. The wealthiest of merchants don't get that way by being good to their servants they do so by being good to money itself." She flicked her fingers the fire rising into smoke and ash. "And like their fortunes they go up so nicely when you burn them."

"It is truly a different age than my times, isn't it? That they try even after their ancestor said not to use money as a weapon against the poor." The air filled with the scent of rotten flesh, a cloying scent that enveloped the entire rooftop as the world seemed to shift. "It seems that my guidance last time was not sufficient."

Archer laughed. "Men were never like that in the first place, there is always greed and hope, light and shadow intertwined as we become demons or heroes. Light a fire in their hearts and men will rise regardless of status."

The stench of rot grew in his nose. "If they would covet their betters and dare think they could rise then the king can no longer be absolute. At that moment he becomes forced to defend his position lest it be taken from him and can no longer oversee the wellbeing of the realm. Do you not invite your own doom by encouraging to rise above their station?"

"Ah well my own followers killed me, and then avenged me and carried my dream forward. That now when I stepped forth it's almost meaningless to say it aloud for everyone already knows it to be true." She smiled, the madness fading into a truly honest smile. "I would be glad to show it to them all that we won our war."

The scent of rot and decay slowly faded. "And you would still see them again even after such a disaster?" Assassin stared off into the sky. "Perhaps I will read up on this then, if letting them fight sooner would have let them bury their spears perhaps more of my nephews would have survived."

Archer paused at that. "You cannot wish for them to come back to you? Wouldn't that be the point of an all-powerful wish? I certainly want to see my family again for mine."

Assassin grimaced. "They are gone because they killed each other, without concern for anything else as they ruined my kingdom amidst the fires of war. Bringing them back merely to hit them again seems like a failing prospect when there are others of my descendants who have not yet died."

Caster nodded along. "Time takes them all away anyway, go and see the descendants you have left and play with them. We will build the world you want, rather than destroy the one we have."

"Thank you for that." Assassin stood. "Of course, I have heard both of your viewpoints, so now I have the most important part. I'm going to read and see how much evidence there is to support either of them. Because it has been thousands of years since my time and just look at how much vaster the world has become."

He stepped off the roof, fading away into the thin air with a forlorn smile.

"A fate unwoven,

A shell so hollow,

A word unspoken,

And steel to follow?"

A hint of confusion echoed along with the words in his mind, "I don't understand that one at all."

"Well maybe you would if you were listening." The teacher spoke from the front of the classroom, and he ignored it. Even as he felt Caster becoming more tangible as she seemed to half form into reality.

"The enemy is here I think, they are many and we need to act." He rose at her words without question grabbing his bag and making for the door. Because the battles of the moonlit world shouldn't involve those who had no part in it.

"Emiya where do you think you're going?" He met eyes with the teacher a response half prepared even as the bullet slammed through the teacher's head. Blood and brains splattering against the classroom wall as the body started to fall.

The crack sounded a moment later, even as a second bullet met steel as it slammed into his head the impact sending him stumbling for a moment even as he turned. Eyes focusing on the distance as he scanned the rooftops across from the school.

A third bullet racing towards him even as he stepped forward and it crashed into a wall of steel.

Pain blossomed once more but he set his feet even as the rest of the class had hit the floor, eyes focusing on the distance as he picked them out on a faraway building. Two people in JSDF uniforms perched over a kilometre away. Spotter and sniper even as the rifle fired again.

Taking the bullets wasn't enough, because they'd already shown themselves to be willing to target other people. If he continued not to die they'd move on and…

What even was the point of this?

Even as a student he didn't remember tossed a bow through, half blank face and the familiar sweet scent confirming it as another of Casters apparitions. He pulled back the string without thinking, arrow falling into place in a moment. The Rifle itself was already moving its aim onwards, the trigger depressed as another bullet came out aiming for someone else.

He pulled its path into his shot, arrow loosed through the bullet and into the head of the sniper.

A second arrow already aiming at the spotter beside him. His mind's eye saw the path, the arrow loosed itself in a single perfect motion. The distance disappearing as it raced towards a target who only smiled as it closed in. Two hands reaching out as they formed a heart that swiftly clamped down on the arrow in mid-flight.

With a flourish she tipped the army cap from her head, long pink hair falling down around her as she smiled and blew a kiss back in return. Waving and smiling as though it was all a joke.

A third arrow was loosed, and a fourth and with nary a care she plucked both from the sky as though they moved in slow motion, even as one hand dropped to pull a slip of paper from a chest pocket. Tying it around her new arrow as she winked back at him across the divide.

A moment later it came back, drilling itself into the wall behind him at an angle, never coming close to hitting him but leaving an impact. And then she was gone, fading away from the faraway rooftop amidst a gust of wind as he was left without a target.

He strained his senses even as he felt nothing. "Caster?"

She sat fully formed, even as more faceless students charged downstairs pulling themselves from supply cupboards. "There are more, lots more."

More gunshots rang from outside even as the screaming continued from outside the classroom. He surged forward to the window where more soldiers were dispensing themselves from a truck on the street.

Her whisper came through. "There are more on the other side of the school… Assassin is there too."

Absently he assessed the words even as he struck another arrow and let it loose, a figure crumpling in the distance. Bullets rained back up at him, deflected by stray gusts of wind as they hit the walls and windows of the school around him.

And then the main body of soldiers opened fire, bullets pouring into the ground floor of the school through the windows as they ignored him. Glass shattering as even the sound of their screaming was drowned out by their gunfire.

The bow in his hands wasn't enough, his ability to draw back the string unable to get enough arrows out. Still he knocked the next and fired away each shot slamming through the head of a soldier perfectly as he pushed back the horror and kept firing.

Absently he felt the world twist around him, the building taking on faded tones as the world was leeched free of colour, and the wind itself stirred up tearing across the divide and killing more soldiers. It was still not enough. As another truck moved up and begun disgorging more troops.

Guns fell from the sky by the thousand. Row after row of muskets holding themselves in place for a moment as they surrounded the entire school and pointed outwards. One trigger and the world ignited in fire and smoke as the muskets went off as one. Pouring a rain of steel back out into the courtyard.

The soldiers ceasing to exist as they went from advancing to mulch in a single volley. Leaving only an empty courtyard and the screams and sobs emanating from the school itself.

As quickly as they'd come the guns were drawn back up, spiralling into the sky and converging on the roof until only a single musket remained. Archer dropping off the roof to land in the courtyard amidst the carnage. Fire flickering around her as she looked back up at the two of them. "Caster which way did their servant go."

He pointed out the rooftop, and Archer flashed forward dissolving into the air as well leaving only the massacre behind.

He breathed out deeply, the smell of blood rising up choking and pushed it down, there might still be survivors. Had to still be survivors on the ground floor.

Caster was crying, tears leaking free of her eyes even as she gazed out of the wreckage and he picked her up patting her lightly on the head. Even as he started walking towards the door, avoiding the people still in the classroom cowering under their desks.

After a short moment she raised her head again her form flickering slightly for a few moments. "Are you feeling better?" She stared back eyes blankly meeting his own as the tears had vanished.

"No." Still she motioned, and he set her down even as her form changed, dress changing to a white uniform, cap marked with a red cross even as she stood ready to split. Quietly asking permission even as he assented. Her form flickering as she became many as she became everywhere, an endless array of hands reaching out to pull bullets from wounds and close them once more. The school itself filling with magic as she acted openly.

A single apparition staying behind to look over him, even as she cried. Gently he rested a hand on her head, "I guess we both did our best." His best needed to be better, if he'd reacted faster, or aimed at those below in the courtyard sooner would there be more survivors?

A stilted call came from behind. "The paramedics will be here soon, call her off." Rin stood with an arm outstretched, the thrum of magic touching its edge even as she hesitated. Conflicted emotions spreading across her face even as she held the weapon aimed at him.

Calmly he met her gaze even as he pushed Caster behind him and toward the stairwell, using his body as cover. He stretched his legs the edge of the hall just within reach, the stairwell close enough even as he wondered where Archer was. "I couldn't even if I wanted to, she's a much better mage that I ever was."

Rin bit down on her lip. "Use a command seal, that's the whole point of them."

He didn't know what a command seal was, but it almost certainly was beyond him to use anyway. But it had only ever been an excuse because he didn't want her to stop. "Is Archer backing you up on this?"

She grimaced.

"Even if she was it wouldn't matter." Assassin phased into existence in the hallway between them, his presence filling the room with the scent of decay even as Rin swung her arm to aim at him instead. "A contest in these close quarters would favour me quite heavily."

Rin looked at him deeply as she considered for a moment. "Revealing magic to them is a problem for everyone, both for accelerating the decline of magecraft and the response when the Clocktower finds out."

Assassin raised an eyebrow. "Knowledge is a precious thing filled with power, but it is not the place of those with wisdom to use it to lord over their lessers. If the spread of knowledge causes magic to die out then so be it, better than to have them decay as they scrabble over morsels and degrade themselves as they cling to something past its due. If your Clocktower does not understand that then I will be sure to offer them my guidance and help free them from their torments."

The smell of decay receded, Assassin resting lightly on his feet once more as he leaned back against the wall. "But these walls have been stained with enough blood right now, and I would like to see Archer catch our erstwhile guest if she can. Do you intend to fight me child."

Rin stepped back fear and something almost like relief as she backed down and turned away.

Most of the students up here were still okay, but the ground floor with the first years would be bad. He knew it, and stepped onwards regardless because if there was still something he could do it was worth it.

"I would say you should not, for it is a sight better kept from humanity." Assassin stared off into the distance eyes unfocused. "As bad as the worst days perhaps when all I could see was corpses, but you will go anyway as children do."

He descended the stairs into the bloodshed. Corpses caught as they fled their classrooms, as people had sat in their seats before they had time to react, the floor was strewn with corpses.

But still more were sobbing and bleeding as Caster slowly split herself further, fragments of her existence reaching out to pull bullets from their wounds and knit the flesh back together. But he had no talent for that kind of magic, so after making sure she was there all he could do was move on.

Just like in the fire he was too weak to help anyone.

As he walked through the halls useless again he found himself in front of a corpse. Untended as it was already far too late as several bullets passed through her chest. Because even if there was nothing he could do, this was something he should do.

He reached down and gently set her to rest, closing her eyes until it was more like she was sleeping than dead.

"So long, Fuji-nee."

He turned away only to find Kuzuki standing behind him watching as well. The man had been injured, the blood where the bullet wound had been still visible, even as the injury itself was clearly healed. "She was a good teacher."

"I know."

Like that the two of them stood in silence, even as Kuzuki remained expressionless watching over the corpses remaining. "My contract with the school suggests I'm supposed to be responsible for looking after the students."

It was an absurd statement considering the state of the school. Still he hadn't fared much better so he could only nod in acknowledgement at the tragedy. "I will be going after them."

"I will be going as well, even if I did not measure up to the moonlit world I have not left it fully yet it seems." He paused standing like an iron pole tied to the ground unmoving.

The list of crimes recanted back to her was true, and she giggled to hear it even as she refuted it in full. "Wasn't the only real rule not to expose magic to the world? I mean it was just a normal everyday mundane school shooting in broad daylight so it's something humanity can accept."

Kotomine sighed on the other end, a wonderful reaction so she pressed on. "And like this didn't you get what you want? Your poor student crying to you even as you gloat in your own mind knowing it's all your fault. The suffering of hundreds of school children, being dragged out to watch them break down traumatised and pretending to give comfort to the parents of the lost.

"You enjoyed it didn't you."

Kotomine paused, and she took in the silence knowing he was thinking of her. Because there was no way a man who would openly torture his student wouldn't relish in the feeling.

Finally, he spoke a single word. "Immensely."

She soaked it up, basking in the affirmation of her existence as she let it stroke her own ego. "I'm the only one who can make you feel like this you know; you'll never find someone as wonderful as me anywhere else."

She got a wry chuckle at that from him. "Yes, well two of you would kill me quite quickly I fear, I still have to work hard cleaning up the current mess. Where in the world did you even find so many guns?"

She smiled even if he couldn't see it, how had her day gone? Well of course she'd answer. "You know a couple of minutes away there was this base, JSDF something or other. And well they had no magical protections so I just astralised myself and walked in and took everything that caught my fancy."

He sputtered for a moment and then composed himself. "The other masters are I believe calling for your head, and in fact I have three requests to call a hunt."

She glowed curling up around the phone as she smiled. "You will of course, and lead them by the nose pointing them whichever way you please while feeding me information all the time. Where will it be held so I can know to turn up myself."

The perfect stage already set in place for a grand entrance. The final three fights to rid herself of the seal placed on her, and a chance to hopefully meet another three strapping young men in the prime of their life as the fixed their gaze on her. Ah she swooned she would need to look her best.

And she had just the things to do it with. A workshop of ancient mysteries long lost to humanity painstakingly crafted over the ages. But to her they were just words, normal everyday words she had known all along.

AN: So, er yes my overtime is now over and I have free time once more. Zombie bucket list is right on everything and nothing is worse than accepting overtime contracts.

I rewrote my scene for my conversation on the rooftop so many times, and now Rin hasn't gotten enough lines and Archer and Assassin I think have too many. But it is out, and any rewrites can wait, it's not like we haven't spent plenty of time with Shirou and Nursery Rhyme already. Well such scenes can only be tested by dying on the sands of the arena, go spill your blood writing piece. Ah well many other scenes flowed easily, I will survive.

It does no good me scratching my head endlessly and bouncing it off a wall.

For servants, I will confirm that all of them are canon servants in canon classes except Assassin. So that people don't spend too much time getting frustrated over trying to place him.