Prologue
Angra Mainyu boiled and churned in anger. Humans. They were the root of all evil. As a thought experiment, he'd used his current… unique situation to explore histories. Not normal history, but other histories. Proper Human History. What a disgusting title. These Lostbelts had been far more fascinating to watch. But then he'd seen something in the distance. Distance wasn't actually a concept out here but it felt like a distance. Something… Else. Worlds. Not Lostbelts, but worlds. Established worlds, with their own timelines and… it was too much. Angra Mainyu seethed. HUMANS AGAIN! Was there no corner of existence that could be free of them? He needed to cleanse it. All of it. Those… other worlds were beyond him. Even other timelines were beyond him. He had plans in motion to obliterate this timeline's humans, and any one of them could world but… he knew it wouldn't be enough. It would never be enough. The anger in him would not be sated with just one timeline's worth of revenge for what they'd made him. What they'd made him. Worlds beyond the Lostbelts. A plan clicked into place. This would do. With this, he could sate his burning anger. Or nothing could.
Chapter 1: Winter Days, Fateful Night pt.1
January 31st, 2007
Rin Tohsaka dreamed of the last time she had seen her father. In the manner of dreams, most of her vision was blurred out, only Father, Tokiyomi Tohsaka, and her own person held any definition. Father smiled at her, and initially it made her feel warm and happy.
Father was a mage, and while he'd been patient and loving as mages went, smiles from him were rare. Often they only came after she made a grand leap in her own magecraft. But there was something odd about this smile. It was genuine, but there was a twinge of sadness in it her seven-year-old mind couldn't understand. How could someone genuinely smile while they were sad?
His words were indistinct, the dream refusing to give her the chance to hear Father's voice again. He patted her head and handed her a book, a magecraft book. Her fading smile returned with renewed joy, Father had gotten her a present! That joy was dampened again when he gave her some final words of instruction and turned to speak with mother. Final. Somehow she knew, even then. Seven years old and somehow she'd known. Because he had known. He walked away into the blurry dream.
"Please come home soon Father" she said though no one would hear.
The alarm clock rang and Rin woke up. The seventeen-year old was surrounded in darkness, she'd pulled her covers over her head. She peeked out from under them and found the offending non-entity.
"Oh shut up! Stop ringing!" She grabbed the evil contraption and tried to turn it off by throwing it away from her bed. It cluncked around once or twice but did not turn off.
"Oh come on already! I was up late last night so give me a few more minutes!"
The alarm clock gave no indication that it had heard her.
"Heartless jerk…" she mumbled as she gave in and climbed out of her warm, comfortable bed.
She picked up the clock and clicked it off properly this time, something she could have done before… but if she had she would almost certainly have been late for school. As the head and only member of the great Tohsaka family: that would not be acceptable. She stretched and yawned, then set about her morning routine. Evil alarm clocks aside, she was actually very excited for today.
Everything done, she was just about to leave for school when something occurred to her, "Oh right. That pendent."
She hurried downstairs to the basement, where everything nearly related to magecraft stayed. Old books and gizmos littered the area, while she kept the rest of her mansion perfectly clean and spotless. Magecraft usually did better in smaller, cluttered places, with earth or stone walls. Or at a layline. Her home had both.
While she owned multiple fortunes in gemstones, only one concerned her at the moment. A red stone cut in a vague shape somewhere between a heart and a triangle.
She picked it up, "It hasn't begun yet… but I can't be too careful can I?"
She hung it around her neck and tucked it under her clothes, her school uniform covered in a beautiful red coat she'd practically become synonymous with at school. One of the odder aspects of being the most popular girl at a highschool, that.
Shirou Emiya dreamed of… that day. The first day. The day so impactful and scarring that he remembered nothing before it. Fire, darkness, destruction, despair, and death were all around him. He was seven years old, and he watched people trapped by falling buildings burn up, crying and begging for something, someone to save them. He watched as some people actually tried to help others… and every time it didn't matter, both the helper and the one they tried to help died, crushed by rubble or trapped and burned alive by the flames.
His mind was numb. His body tried to cry but the heat evaporated the tears before he even felt them. One thought reverberated in his mind, centered on one word. A word he hadn't understood until today. A word no seven-year-old should have to understand.
This is Hell.
He didn't even cry out when the rubble crashed down on him, burying him past hope of being found.
"Senpai..."
Shirou heard the word even if his mind wouldn't quite register it.
"Senpai, are you awake?" Sakura asked him.
"Good morning, Sakura" He said, his mind catching up quickly to his current circumstance.
He was in his shed, a dark enclosed space full of junk. He used it for practice, as his actual house was far too open an area. He looked up at the beautiful girl who had woken him. Medium length purple hair and a slender form that emphasized her well endowed chest, Shirou tried not to think of that but at this angle it took effort to look only at the shy but kind expression on her face.
"Thank you. And the same to you Senpai!" she said with a smile on her face, the kind that you couldn't help but return.
Then Shirou remembered he was in the shed, he had slept in the shed again, "Sorry, Sakura, I ought to be helping with the morning chores" he apologized, sitting up.
"Don't worry about that Senpai. You were up late again last night weren't you?" she asked.
at's no excuse."
She didn't seem to care, "Senpai, let me handle the morning chores. If you leave the storehouse this messy, you'll get scolded by Miss Fujimura"
It was true and, looking at the spread of apparent junk he'd fallen asleep in, he really didn't see another option, "Good point. You really don't mind then?"
"Not at all, I'll be waiting for you Senpai." she said as she turned and left.
"Falling asleep before finishing shows I lack focus" he chastised himself. He turned and laid a hand on a metal bar. His magic circuits pulsed as he pushed mana through them to Trace it.
A short time later Shirou could be found finishing up his morning workout routine in the small dojo. Sweat beaded off his forehead and onto the wood floor while he completed his push-ups. Finally done, he pulled on his shirt and school uniform then walked back into the living room/kitchen where Sakura had already put breakfast onto the table. Miss Fujimura had her nose conspicuously buried in a newspaper, but he had more important things to think about.
"I feel terrible, making you do all this Sakura"
It wasn't that she never did all the chores or anything, all this had started two years ago when he'd gotten an injury. Sakura, who he was sure saw him as a replacement for her awful older brother (he tried very hard to return the same sentiment, but she was a very attractive girl), had come and helped him while he couldn't do as much for himself. Since then she'd come over nearly every day to help with chores and sometimes make breakfast, though he usually took that job, as he was easily the best cook of the three of them. Taiga Fujimura, on the other hand, was technically his legal guardian after his father, Kiritsugu Emiya, had passed away but, in practice, she was really just a freeloader.
"It's really no trouble at all! I do it because I enjoy it." Sakura assured him.
He sat down to the table gratefully and greeted Fujimura, "Good morning, Fuji-nee" he said pleasantly.
"Morning." was her only response. It was completely out of character, but Shirou dismissed it. Maybe whatever she was reading really was that enrapturing.
"Let's eat!" he said, and poured soy sauce on his rice.
Right as he put his first bite into his mouth, Fuji-nee peered over the newspaper. He could only see her eyes but... the taste hit his mouth and he gagged up instantly, and struggled not to spit it out or drop his rice bowl.
"Senpai!" Sakura asked with concern when he fell back from the sheer violation of rice he'd just put in his mouth.
"Th-this isn't soy sauce!" he exclaimed with indignation, "Other sauces don't belong on rice with creamed yams! ESPECIALLY not oyster sauce!"
The culprit of the culinary crime laughed and stood up dramatically and spun in a circle as she confessed with pride, "I swapped the labels on the bottles earlier! HA HA HA HA!"
"Who pulls a stunt like that first thing in the morning?!" Shirou asked, "You'll be 25 this year but you'll always be the same old Fuji-nee!" he chastised.
Miss Fujimura was still dancing in celebration of her wrongdoing, but she explained, "You deserved it! It's payback from yesterday!" She sat down and dug into her food with incredible gusto.
"Senpai, have some tea!" Sakura said, passing a mug she'd already poured for him. He took it gratefully.
"You seemed awfully quiet, it's because you were planning this since yesterday." he accused Fuji-nee.
"Damn straight! And as a result, I need to rush off and score some tests!" Fuji-nee was a teacher at Shirou's and Sakura's school, but it was highly unlikely that planning the simple prank had been the reason she'd put off scoring tests, "So I gotta run or I'll never finish in time!"
She cleared her previously untouched breakfast with a speed only a superhuman could've managed, gave a word of thanks, and was gone before Shirou and Sakura had recovered. Shirou turned back to his... 'food' if it could be called that anymore. He was not one to waste anything, though, and started forcing the horrific confection down.
"Did you do something to her yesterday?" Sakura asked, later.
"I accidentally called her by her nickname yesterday" he admitted. "Then you deserved it, Senpai. You should be more careful, you using that nickname is the one thing she hates."
As they cleaned up, Shirou put on the news. "In our next story: workers in a building in New City's office district passed out and were taken to the hospital late last night." Shirou turned to read the headline which read, "NEW CITY HAS YET ANOTHER GAS LEAK" before the man continued: "According to a police spokesman, since the victims seemed to be suffering from hypoxia when found, they believe it may be the result of a gas leak."
"Hear that? Another gas leak in New City." Shirou spoke up over the reporter in case Sakura hadn't been listening, "That's messed up, we need to be careful too."
"Don't worry!" Sakura said with earnest pride, "I always double-check the gas valve so we're safe!"
"No. Not about that" he said, but he wasn't sure how to explain further... so he didn't.
Rin walked to school surrounded by an earie silence. What's going on, she thought to herself, I don't see a single student. It's too quiet. It unnerved her, and she wasn't one to be unnerved easily. It hadn't started yet, so nothing should be able to happen... but... if it did... she'd be in a lot of danger. She made it to school without incident, however, and remarked to herself "I guess it's just one of those days" trying to put it all out of her head.
As she approached Homurahara Academy, a voice called out to her, "Hey, Tohsaka! You're here early today!"
Rin sighed, "Ah, so that's it."
"Morning! Sure is cold today huh?" the girl said as they drew closer together. She was a tall girl, with short brown hair, though what really made her stand out was her archery uniform. She was the captain of the archery club.
"Good morning, Mitsuzuri, by the way, do you know what time it is?" Rin asked wanting to get all the way to the bottom of this.
"Are you kidding?" Mitsuzuri seemed genuinely confused, "It's just before 7. Tohsaka, are you half-asleep?" But Rin was no longer listening.
She turned to a clock on a distant wall and could just barely make out that Mitsuzuri was right, "It's looks like the clocks at my house were an hour fast" she thought out loud, "Not just my alarm clock, but the wall clocks too. By exactly one hour."
"It happened right after I found the pendant..." she said, referencing in her mind a kickback of magical energy that had burst from the box she'd found said pendant in last night, "could it be caused by Father?"
She suddenly became aware that she wasn't alone, "Tohsaka?" Mitsuzuri asked.
Rin changed the topic, "Holding morning practice again, Mitsuzuri?"
"Yeah, I lost one of our best people. I have to try to put on a good show so that new students will join our club."
Rin had a slight interest in the goings on in the archery club, though from a distance only, so she decided to keep Mitsuzuri talking, "When you become team captain, it's always something, huh?"
"Hey, since you're here and all, why don't you come and watch us practice?" Mitsuzuri asked, hopefully.
Shirou and Sakura arrived at Homurahara Academy before most would be there. Only a few clubs operated before classes, but Sakura's club, archery, did, so they usually arrived at this time.
"Well, work hard at club practice" he told her in farewell.
Sakura glanced down as if uncertain about something, "About that, Senpai, maybe you could stop by the dojo?"
He would've liked that to an extent, but… "I have to go to the student council office this morning" he said.
Sakura looked away, yeah Mitsuzuri almost certainly put her up to that, "O-oh, of course. I'm sorry, forget I asked." She looked back with a smile on her face, "Well, I should get going. Look forward to dinner tonight, ok?" She hurried off to the archery dojo.
Rin followed Mitsuzuri to the club building, but asserted that she didn't want to watch from up close. She knew it wasn't really what Mitsuzuri was hoping for, Rin's presence would attract several others watching, and more importantly, several guys would likely join the club, mistakenly thinking she saw something in archery and hoping to impress her. They would learn otherwise soon, but by then they might enjoy the sport and decide to stay. It was a good plan, and Rin wasn't above using her good looks to get some small advantage or benefit, but she... didn't want to be too close to the building for other reasons.
"You really don't want to watch?" Mitsuzuri tried one last time.
"I don't know anything about archery, so watching you guys from a distance would be fine enough for me."
The door behind her slid open and, turning, Rin saw Sakura Matou entering the archery dojo.
"Good morning, Captain." Sakura greeted.
"Good morning, Matou." Mitsuzuri responded, "It's just you this morning?"
"Yes." Sakura said, a hint of failure was in her timid voice and she bowed her head in apology, "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to help."
"It's fine, don't worry." Mitsuzuri assured, "If someone isn't into it, there's no point in forcing them to participate."
"I'll be going then. See you later, Mitsuzuri" Rin failed to keep a tiny bit of tension out of her voice, but no one seemed to notice.
"Sure. Later, Tohsaka." Mitsuzuri said.
"Thank you for visiting, Tohsaka senpai" Sakura said.
Rin stopped for a moment and looked at the purple-haired girl, "Thanks. Work hard Sakura."
She sighed when she closed the door behind her. She shouldn't have done that, it was too familiar a method of addressing the girl, but her heart ached for her. Tohsaka prided herself on knowing what she wanted and shooting for it. In all places... but one.
As she re-entered the main building of the school, the worst person she could imagine greeted from behind, "Hey Tohsaka! Good morning." he said. She was unable to keep the disgust out of her face initially as he continued, "This must be my lucky day, running into you first thing in the morning."
She sighed, put on the most fake cheerful face and smile she could manage, and turned, "Good morning, Shinji Matou. You're here early this morning."
"Of course!" he said, leaning up against a column and oozing self-importance like toxic waste, "I'm team-captain after all."
The worst part was that he was considered one of the more handsome men in the school so, naturally, half the school shipped the two of them, it was a revolting thought. His statement wasn't even true, he was really only the vice-captain of the archery club and that by seniority more than skill.
"Assistant manager, more-like..." she couldn't keep herself from muttering under her breath. "See you." she said, hoping against hope for a fast exit.
"Hey, wait up!" Shinji called out, leaving his supposedly cool, relaxed pose on the column, "You should sit in on our morning practice."
"I'll pass." Tohsaka responded, "I don't want to get in the way of them practicing."
Shinji, of course, had a completely different reason for wanting Rin to watch than Mitsuzuri had.
"Nobody will mind." Shinji assured her.
"My point is that I don't want to be a bother." Rin responded, he was falling for her trap, just a little more... "Besides, I'm not all that interested in archery."
"Really? I thought you were... hmm..." he started with an absolutely infuriatingly smug tone, "I thought you kept coming to watch our after-school practices because you were." He actually walked over to her side and tried to grab her arm, and she pulled away instantly turning away from him, "Oh, you were there to watch something else, huh?"
It was grating on her to put up with this, even if he was doing exactly what she needed him to, but she smoothed her voice and kept out the venom, "Stay away from me, will you?"
"Huh?" he seemed genuinely surprised, the maggot.
She spun and faced him directly, looking down her nose at him with all the contempt she had for him, what was quite a lot, "Let me be clear, Matou. Not only am I not interested in archery, I'm not interested in you. The fact is, I only noticed just now that you were in the archery range, and I'm sure I will not notice you in the future, either."
"Say what!" He yelled, a wonderful look of outrage plastered on his face, "How dare you, Tohsaka!"
"You're too self-conscious, and you should dial it down." Rin concluded her assault on his pride and walked away. If this didn't put an end to this nonsense, nothing would short of her marriage would, maybe not even that.
Shirou sat in a heap of tools and parts working on a broken heater. His friend and student council president, Issei, had asked for help in attempting to fix it. Shirou was always willing to help, and he also happened to be pretty good at this kind of thing. He did, of course, have an edge in the matter.
"The school's budgeting priorities are completely out of whack" Issei complained.
"Yeah, athletic clubs get the lion's share of the budget, and the rest get the crumbs" Shirou sympathized.
"Mmm" His friend assented, "As a result, the rooms of the non-athletic clubs are in poor repair. They've given zero thought to how to deal with our stove crisis."
Shirou looked up at him, "There are more broken heaters?"
"There are."
Shirou found what he was looking for, but in order to really do his work from here, he'd need a moment of privacy, so he said: "Like I figured, this one's just showing it's age."
"Can you fix it?" Issei questioned.
"I can."
"Really?!" Issei looked relieved, and that look was what Emiya lived for.
"I'll have fixed it in a jiffy, Issei, so could you wait outside?" Shirou still needed to work his magic, and he couldn't exactly let Issei see.
"Of course, I'll get out of your way" Issei promptly stood up and opened the door to leave, he was used to Shirou's need for privacy.
"Okay then..." Shirou put his hand to the heater and pushed mana through his magical circuits, they lit up green on his hand, and he used Trace magic to scan the heater, "Two spots where the heating element is about to break... the heat transfer pipe is still good... I can patch the power cord with electrical tape for now." Scan complete, Shirou got to work actually fixing the thing. Ideally, he should be able to switch from Trace to Strengthening and just fix the whole thing like that, but... he just wasn't that good.
A few minutes later, though, he was nearly done anyway when he heard Issei speak outside.
"Tohsaka"
Shirou looked up. Well he could hardly be blamed, Tohsaka was the easily the most beautiful girl at school. Well, maybe Sakura could give her a run for her money, but the two were complete opposites in nearly every way, including where their beauty came from, so it was hardly fair to compare them.
"Well, if it isn't the student council president," Tohsaka's voice rang confident and clear through the closed door in the otherwise silent school, "Are you patrolling the campus this early in the morning? Or are you making maintenance rounds in the club rooms? Not that I care either way. Still, you're ever the diligent student."
"Hmph!" Issei's voice rang with suspicion and contempt, "And what do you have up your sleeve? Why are you here so early when you aren't in any clubs?"
Issei disliked Tohsaka for a couple reasons. First, because he was also a monk at Ryuudou Temple, and she a very beautiful girl his age. Second, because she had both the beauty and the brains to beat him if they ran against each other for student council president. He was, in a word, intimidated by her. Which, Shirou supposed, was fair.
Shirou finished the heater and picked it up to bring out of the student council office as Tohsaka responded, "I felt like it, that's all."
"I fixed it, Issei." Shirou said, rescuing his friend from very possibly letting Tohsaka trick him into digging his own hole.
"Oh!" Issei came back to himself and hurried over to help with the heavy heater, "I asked you for help, but you did everything, Emiya. My bad" he said, giving Emiya a bow of apology.
"Where's the next one?" Shirou asked, he could feel Tohsaka watching them and... well if he was intimidated by her, it wasn't for quite the same reasons as Issei, "I don't have a lot of time."
"The next one's in the AV room. They say it's been acting up lately, but it's finally lived out it's life span."
"If it's dead, I can't fix that. It'd be faster to buy a new one."
"That's true, but I'd appreciate it if you could take a look at it anyway. It looked dead to me, but you may be able to see if it's just faking or really dead." Tohsaka finally lost interest and starting walking past them.
"Okay, I'll try." Shirou told his friend. He stood up, but despite his innate fear... he wanted to at least greet Tohsaka... "You're here early, Tohsaka."
She didn't so much as give a polite response. Great, you just confirmed what you already knew, you're beneath her notice. Feel better?
"Was that is way of saying hello?" Rin asked aloud but quietly, to herself. She'd thought she could have a little fun teasing Issei Ryuudou, but Emiya's appearance... she hadn't been ready for that. Shirou Emiya was an enigma even to her. One that, she admitted in a very very small corner of her consciousness, she wanted to unravel.
"The art club's stove will have to wait until lunch" Shirou informed Issei, as it was time for homeroom.
"Sure" Issei said.
When they made it to their classroom, Shinji Matou greeted him: "You're quite the busy bee this morning, Emiya" he was standing there, twirling his wavy blue hair, "I was wondering what you've been up to after quitting the club. You're the student council president's errand boy, eh?"
The tone was mocking, and Issei immediately tried to jump to Shirou's defence, but there really was no need, and Shirou held up a hand to forestall him before answering Shinji himself: "If you need anything, you can tell me, Shinji. If it's something I can help with, I will. You were never very good at re-stringing and mending bows."
There, an offer of help always seemed to be the right way to diffuse tension. Though, oddly, Shinji looked offended. Shirou had never worked out why, but Shirou's willingness to help always seemed to make him upset, but then Shinji would inevitably ask for it later so Shirou knew how he really felt. Shinji was Sakura's older brother, so Shirou wasn't going to do anything to strain this relationship.
"I don't want your help" Shinji began, voicing his feigned offense, "And anyway, you're not a member, so stay out of the dojo!" He stalked off back to his seat.
"What a jerk, talking to you like that when he's the one who drove you out of the club." Issei said with contempt.
"It's ok, that's just how he is" Shirou explained, "You get used to it the longer you know him."
"Do you, now?" Issei questioned, sounding like he didn't want to get used to Shinji.
"You do." Shirou said, fondly.
Shirou spent lunch break with Issei, in the student council office again, fixing another heater. His food was left so far untouched.
"Emiya, you'd better wolf that down, or you won't finish it before lunch break ends." Issei warned. "It's ok, I'm almost done." Emiya said, it was true, he'd probably have enough time, not that it mattered too much if he didn't.
There was a brief pause before Issei brought up another subject, "You could've stopped with the stoves, you didn't have to agree to fix personal items too."
"Don't worry about it, like they say: in for a penny in for a pound." Shirou tried to deflect.
He could tell where this conversation was going, and some people tended to think he took a high horse in it, when he really didn't. Still, he wanted to avoid misconceptions where possible.
"There's such a thing as being too considerate. Being helpful is all well and good but you should really learn to say no. You take 'turn no one away' too far, Emiya."
Emiya looked up at his friend, "Do I look that unprincipled to you?"
"You're opening yourself up to being taken advantage of by the inconsiderate. Surely you could turn people down every once in a while."
"What are you talking about? Helping others is a good deed. The heir to a temple shouldn't fuss over that."
"I'm just saying you take it too far, Emiya. If you keep going like this, it'll burn you out." Issei's voice carried genuine concern.
Emiya didn't want to disregard that so he said, "Duly noted."
His friend meant well, but he didn't understand. Shirou didn't blame him for that.
"Ok, all done." Shirou said.
The rest of the school day went completely normally. Even the attempt by one girl to sit with her for lunch wasn't completely uncommon. Rin gave her habitual excuse of sleeping late and needing to eat at the cafeteria. She ate alone on the rooftop as was her habit, eating lunch with her classmates had never once gone well since high school started. She pulled out the beautiful pendant and unlatched it to hold in her hand. I had such high hopes for Father's last will, she thought to herself. The night before, she'd found his memento after solving an annoyingly difficult puzzle he'd left. When she'd finally gotten it open, all she'd found was what looked like a smashed up catalyst and this pendant. At the same time, all the clocks in the house had gone crazy,
Still, the pendant was amazing in it's own right, but it wouldn't help her summon Saber, the most powerful Servant. According to that... 'priest', there were only two Master's left to be chosen and summon a Servant. She didn't have time to mope and worry.
That was when her left hand started itching.
It was dark out by the time Shirou went home. Helping those he'd promised help to and his part-time job had taken all day. Still, it was well lit, and there was no-one on the road. Or there usually wasn't, but then Shirou looked up to the top of a hill and saw someone strange.
A girl, younger than him if he had to guess, with long pure-white hair and wearing an odd, purple foreign dress (maybe… Russian?). She stood still, looking down at him. As he drew close, he saw that she had red eyes.
She started walking again right as he passed her, and, when she was fully behind him, she spoke: "If you don't summon yours soon, you're gonna die, Brother." He started, the last word hitting him like a ton of bricks, he spun but she was nowhere to be seen. Had he imagined it? No, it couldn't have been his imagination, he hadn't ever seen anyone like her. Who was she? And why had she called him 'brother'? Was it just how you greeted someone where she was from?
Unsatisfied, but unable to do anything about it, Shirou continued on his way home.
Rin arrived home at dusk, and the windows let in a beautiful sunset orange hue that lit her home. She hardly noticed, she had something important to be preparing for. Though, she did notice that someone had left a message on her home phone. She didn't own a cellphone, she didn't know a single mage who did. They only occasionally, begrudgingly used landlines. Only one person ever called her anyway, and she'd heard enough of his voice to fill multiple lifetimes. Still, she clicked the button to play the message.
"You have one message, recorded January 31st, 3:21 pm" the automated voice announced.
"It's me" a deep voice said, "As I'm sure you are aware, the deadline is tomorrow, Rin. I insist that you start taking this seriously. There has been a new develop-"
Rin shut him off. She knew what she had to do, her delay had only been that she had not been able to obtain a decent catalyst, and she'd hoped her father's box might have the answer. Unfortunately, while there ha d been some kind of catalyst in there, she couldn't fathom what spirit it might link, so she didn't want to use it. She wanted to summon the Saber Servant, and using an unknown catalyst would likely be harmful in that endeavor.
In that moment, her right hand burned, and her Command Seals appeared.
"You should really come home early at times like this!" Fuji-nee complained over dinner, "I said in homeroom that it hasn't been safe in town lately, remember?!"
"Um… something came up" Shirou said, he really wasn't in the mood for this, the encounter with the strange girl was still weighing on his mind.
Fuji-nee sighed, "Do you get that from Kiritsugu? I worry about you because you're always trying to help people."
Really? This again, why does it matter to everyone that I do this?
"Excuse me? Miss Fujimura?" Sakura asked. When Fuji-nee looked up she continued, "Has Senpai always been this way?"
"Yeah, for as long as I've known him" Fuji-nee said enthusiastically, "Shirou just doesn't have it him to ignore people in need. 'Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable' you know? In an essay he wrote as a kid he wrote: 'My dream is to become a hero of justice."
Sakura looked far too pleased by this, "Wow! You were an amazing little boy!"
"Chalk it up to Fuji-nee" Shirou said, hoping to divert the conversation, "when kids see immature adults they get funny ideas in their heads. If you don't like it, cook your own meal for once." He finished with a smirk.
"Wha-?!" Fuji-nee gave an over-dramatic expression, only she used her whole body, acting as if he'd speared her through the heart. Then she feigned tears, "You're bringing your big sister to tears… Sakura, refill please!" She finished, holding out her rice bowl.
Sakura leaped to help, while Shirou groaned at Fuji-nee's shamelessness.
Soon, Fuji-nee departed to walk Sakura home for the evening and Shirou walked back out to the shed he'd so carelessly fallen asleep in last night. Then he got to training. In the mornings, he worked his body with push-ups and the like. But at night, he practiced his magecraft. Mana flow was often better at night anyway, something to do with how humanity perceived magic and monsters, his father had once told him.
His father hadn't originally wanted to teach Shirou magecraft, but at Shirou's insistence, he'd relented. After that he'd drilled into Shirou the need to practice every day and Shirou had, even after his father's death several years back.
Shirou held his hand over a pipe and pushed mana through his magic circuits.
"Trace On" he said, "Tracing basic structure. Trace component materials" he touched the pipe with both hands now, and altered the flow of his mana, pushing through a different set of circuits at the same time, "Altering fundamental structure."
The mana flowed into the pipe and started rewriting its structure, hardening it and adding stronger elements, bonding it all together. It was difficult work, and Shirou strained, sweating.
"Strengthening component materials."
The mana flow disrupted, and he lost control. Something snapped, and the spell was lost. A small kickback poured back into Shirou painfully, but he'd experienced it every night since he'd started, so he didn't even flinch.
I failed again. I can't believe I still can't do something this basic. I'm gonna be a novice forever.
He flopped onto his back and spoke aloud, "I just don't know. How do I become a hero of justice?"
The words spoken by his family and friends, they stung, even if they were only unintentionally hurtful. He knew there was a difference between fixing someone's minor problems like broken heaters and saving lives, but he couldn't very well save lives if he wasn't there or didn't have the means. He'd begged to learn magic to fix those problems, but he was… well… terrible at it. He felt doomed to be a glorified handy-man forever.
Rin started shoving everything aside in her magecraft workshop just before 2am. Books hit the ground, scrolls and gizmos toppled over each other, and her desks and tables ended up in awkward positions around the room as she cleared a space. It finally revealed an old magic circle, the one used by her father in the last Holy Grail War. It was perfectly placed over the leyline that intersected under her home, amplifying it's traits. You didn't need a leyline to summon a Servant, but it couldn't hurt either. And, since Rin was about to do her summoning without a catalyst, she'd need every advantage if she wanted the Saber Class Servant.
"Preparations ready" Rin checked her clock, "Time, good" she checked her own pulse, "Wavelength, ideal." "By performing the summoning at 2am, when my mana is at its peak, I'll get Saber even without a catalyst, just you watch!" the stupid priest wasn't here... but her words were for him anyway.
She held out a large fortune in gemstones, tightly clenched in her fist, and started the summoning, "For the elements, silver and iron. For the foundation, stone and the Archduke of Pacts."
The stones melted into a liquid in her hand, her spell transforming them into that state so she could imbue them into the magic circle. The blood that had been used to originally draw it was long spent.
"And for the ancestor, my great master Schweinorg."
The liquid dripped from her hand, the multicolored stones had melded into a beautiful turquoise color, and, when the spell was completed, it ran along the markings of the summoning circle. Perfect, she'd done that part flawlessly.
"Close the gates of the four directions. Come forth from the Crown and follow the forked road leading to the Kingdom."
That part of the incantation was another of her plans to get the Saber Servant. It should lock her mana in the circle, not letting any leak out. This HAD to work. But now for the actual summoning. Already her circle glowed a powerful green.
"Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Repeat five times. But when each is filled, destroy it. Anfang."
Her circle turned an angry red, the connection to the Throne of Heroes had been established.
"Heed my words. My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call and obey my will and reason, then answer me! I hereby swear. That I will be all the good in the world. That I shall defeat all the evil in the world."
The power arched invisibly, causing the air to swirl as if buffered by a great wind, and the circle's red glow filled the room.
"Thou Seventh Heaven, clad in the three great words of power, come forth from the circle of binding, Guardian of the Scales!"
The power climaxed and the glow faded from the room, Rin fell to her knees, breathing heavily. That had been tough, but she'd done it! Everything had gone perfectly! "That was flawless!" She congratulated herself, "I know I drew the most powerful card!" She turned but... she was alone. There was so Servant.
"Huh...?"
Right as she started to doubt herself, a tremendous crash echoed from right above her workshop. She got up and dashed out the door and up the stairs. "Why?" she yelled in frustration.
She didn't finish as the door ahead of her didn't want to open, so she just broke it down. Her parlor was trashed, somehow all the furniture had been blasted around, the majority of it piled up in one corner where... a man in light, black armor that was very close fitting and topped by a red coat that... actually matched her own, lounged. He looked up at her with incredibly handsome features that matched his white hair perfectly, and smirked. For a seventeen-year-old girl, he was instantly both devilishly attractive and unbearably infuriating. Then Rin noticed the clock on the wall that had somehow survived... whatever had happened in here, and realized her mistake. Wait, all the clocks in the house were an hour early today. Which means it's now 1am, not 2am?
"I did it again!" she berated herself aloud, referencing her early arrival to school the morning before, "What's done is done, why did you give me that task, Father?" she complained, ignoring the red guy sitting on a pile of her furniture. "So what are you supposed to be?" She asked the entity she hoped at least was a Servant and not an intruder.
"That's the first thing you say to me? Looks like I've been drawn by the unusual little Master" he said, waving his hand like she meant nothing to him, "Oh dear, or was it I who drew the short straw."
"Well, it's a fair question. After all, she has no way of knowing whether you're the normal one or..." a man, who wore an extremely expensive looking three-piece suit, started to say as he walked in from another door, but was cut off when the red guy leapt to his feet, holding himself in a aggressive pose. Rin couldn't blame him, which one was her Servant?
"Which Servant are you!?" the red guy demanded, a short, thick, curved sword appearing in his hand, held out in challenge.
The suit guy held up his hands in a non-offensive pose, "Whoa! Calm down Spirit Boy! We're both the Little Lady's Servants! Didn't the Grail show you? Something's going on."
The red guy took on look Rin couldn't quite place. What did Suit mean? They were both her Servants? Did she somehow take both the remaining slots in the Holy Grail War? That... should be impossible... right?
"So. You're an Else-Servant then. I see. Well, I don't suppose you can be any more of a short straw than our underage Master" red guy said, Rin was starting to think of him as attractive less and less, "Well, fine. If I'm saddled with you, you can at least just keep her here and safe. I'll go win the war. You'll get your wish without any difficulty, sound good?"
Rin was both very tired of being left out of the conversation and very very very not okay with being kept safe at home. She wasn't entering the war to hide in her room.
"Who are you two! Why where two Servants summoned?" She knew she sounded petulant, but at the moment, she didn't care. She was the Master. She'd teach them that if she had to.
Suit turned to her, "Sorry, Twintails, the grown-ups are talking. I'll explain in a moment, ok?"
Oh. That. Was. It. If these were both her servants, she should be able to Command Spell the both of them at once. She held up her right hand, the first Command Spell glowed to life, burning slightly on her hand. Oddly, her left hand burned as well, but she could look at that in a moment.
"You two are unbelievable! If that's how you're gonna be, I'm using this on you!"
The red guy actually reacted, "You wouldn't!"
"Oh I would! Anfang !"
"Wait! Be careful what you... no one would use a Command Seal for something so-"
Rin wasn't waiting anymore, "Shut up! If you two are my Servants, then that means answering my questions and absolute obedience to everything I say!"
The Command Spell on her right hand blazed for a moment and the expected red wave of magic blasted out and washed over her Servant. However, sitting ignored on her left hand, another Command Spell activated. The unexpected blue wave of power surged out in exactly the same manner as the first, and at the same time, this one effecting her 'Else-Servant'. The two men stepped backward, as if struck by a strong wind.
"I'm surprised you managed to do that, especially since you didn't seem to know a you had a separate set of Command Spells at all" Suit said.
The red guy looked furious, but Rin cut off whatever he was going to say. She knew that had been both incredibly impulsive and reckless. If one of these hadn't been her Servant, she might've just crippled the one that was and let the imposter get away with whatever he wanted. But now she'd already done it and it had worked. She was going to use it.
"Let's take this elsewhere" she said. She dragged the two men off to her father's old study, which she almost never used. Moonlight lit the room through the window and Rin felt a little better.
"I believe I have a fair understanding of your disposition now, Master" Red said, poking a gizmo on the bookshelf, "Just to be sure, you do realize how precious Command Seals are, don't you?"
Rin sat on a velvet chair and hugged her knees, what's with his superior tone with me? Absolute obedience, my butt.
Aloud she said, "They symbolize our power to compel our Servants three times. What about it?"
Red guy sighed, "Listen, Command Seals compel a Servant to perform an action. For example, I am incapable of teleporting far away from here. However, if you were to use a Command Seal and say 'Go!', it would use both our mana and make that possible. The three Command Seals are the crystallization of High Magic and can overcome the limits of flesh and blood. Though, I suppose that number has been reduced to two, now, on both of the sets you've been given" he said, gesturing at the second set on her left hand, identical to the first except for the color, which was a deep blue instead of red.
Suit seemed to be listening with interest, and Rin had to admit, she wasn't actually aware of most of that, though she wouldn't admit as much. "I know all that" she lied, "So what, I still have two."
"I'm guessing that would mean your command to answer all your questions and obey you perfectly would be pretty weak" Suit said, "Am I right, Red Flag?"
"Yes, but how could you not know? The Grail should've told you about Command Seals."
"It gave me a basic, but I didn't know anything about magic in my world. It seemed like there weren't any real rules to follow, technology is my thing. Though I was able to guess that from what you just told me."
"Well, yes. That is basically what it should've meant, but you feel it too right? Vaguely worded Command Seals are less effective, even a hundred Command Seals on their own could not cause true, absolute obedience in all words and actions. We shouldn't be able to feel almost anything from that spell, but" he looked back at Rin with... a slight tinge of awe? "It seems your skill as a mage is extraordinary."
"Extraordinary?" Rin asked, she'd started feeling depressed when he'd said how much power the command she'd given would've actually needed, but now she had a bit of hope again.
"Yes, though not nearly perfect, your words now carry a powerful compulsion over me. Your other Servant feels it too, I'm sure."
They both looked at Suit, who shrugged and said "Yeah a bit. Though, I thought that was just par for the course of being a Servant. I really don't understand magic at all, yet."
"That said" Red started again, "I take back what I said about you two. Master, you may be young in years, but you are an outstanding mage. I was mistaken in looking down on you and trying to keep you from the fighting. I apologize for both that and my poor manners" he put a hand over his heart and gave a small, but respectful bow.
Rin felt elated, "Then, you acknowledge me as your Master even without me using a Command Spell?" she asked. "Of course. I had just been summoned, so I was not fully acclimated, but we are now completely connected, as is the Else-Servant over there. As a mage, you should be able to sense the bond between us through our pact."
"Well, almost. She hasn't given us her name yet. That will really seal it" Suit said.
Rin flushed a bit. In the confusion, she'd entirely forgotten that was supposed to be the first thing Masters and Servants did. "My name is Rin Tohsaka" she said, trying to just smooth her neglect over, "Now, what are your True Names? And which of you is the Saber and which the Archer? We're fighting a war, I need to know what tools are in our arsenal" she asked, awareness of both Red and Suit appearing in her mind when she gave her name.
Suit answered first, "Uh actually, I'm a Caster. Else-Caster, really. But my true name is Tony Stark. And I agree with Red Flag, we're getting the power we need from you. With me as your Else-Servant, this Holy Grail War thing is in the bag." Not a Saber or an Archer? Rin looked at Red hopefully, but he just spread his hands.
"I'm sorry to disappoint, but I have no sword, holy or demonic, to call my own" he said, "I am the Archer Class Servant."
"Darn, and I used all those gems too, oh well. But what's with this 'Else-Servant' business?"
They both furrowed their brows at the question. "It's not exactly clear, Little Lady" Suit, no, Stark, said: "All I... we can really say is, something happened a little while ago, maybe earlier this morning? Anyway, the Grail suddenly branched out and connected with other worlds' Thrones. Anyway, all seven containers should show up under the 'Else' banner separate from the Servants that would normally be summoned. Though, their Masters are selected independently. They might not all go to the previously selected Masters. And that's... really all there is. It's actually kind of worrying" he really did look troubled, and Rin thought she understood. Despite his appearance, they had a lot more enemies now, both Servants and maybe even Masters.
"Well, it won't all be so bad" Archer said, "the Grail does have a failsafe for when something like this goes wrong. It'll summon a Ruler now, to make sure the war goes by the rules. They'll play fair unless something really goes wrong."
"Ruler?" Rin asked, she'd never heard of that class.
"Yes, they'll be named overseer instead of whoever was going to play that role. Rulers are pretty strict though, and not all are great with mercy. So be careful around them, and don't try to tempt them to help you over another Master. They'll enforce the rules of the Holy Grail War, but there aren't a lot of rules to begin with. So be careful. A lot of underhanded tactics are fair game here."
"Well no matter" Rin said, "Still, two Saber Class Servants out there, and I didn't manage to draw either one. Man, I messed up."
Stark shrugged, not seeming to care, but Archer seemed annoyed, "Too bad for you" he said, bitterly.
"Huh?" Rin asked, but then realized he must think she was unhappy with him, "Oh, it was a painful blunder, but I'm to blame."
"I'll make you rue those words" Archer said, with a dark look in his eye, "and when that day comes, apologize all you want, but I won't forgive you."
Well, there her mouth went, running off and saying things she didn't mean, though she figured she could salvage this one. People were, after all, very likely to forgive pretty girls.
She walked over to stand directly in front of him, "See to it that I regret my words, Archer. When you do, I'll make you let me apologize. That goes for you too, Else-Caster." Both of her Servants smiled, accepting the challenge. "So, what is your True Name, Archer?"
Archer actually grimaced at the question, "I... can't give you any answers regarding who I am" he said, sounding pained, "for the simple reason that I myself don't know." Rin started, surprised. She looked at her Else-Servant, who looked equally confused. "I don't mean to insult you, Master, but it is the result of your imperfect summoning."
"Yeah, not buying that, Red Flag" Stark said, "Her summon was fine accept that we didn't end up in the same rooms at all."
Archer look at him disapprovingly, "Even you should know better, Else-Caster. Since you're from another world, another entire Throne of Heroes, there was no possible way for a catalyst to be provided by any Master. The Grail provided it's own, or it selected a Servant well suited to the Master, hard to say which. But I was summoned without a catalyst at all, and I'm from this world. That can have some ill-effects if other measures aren't taken. In my case, I lack my memories, though I still retain my warrior's instincts and training. I will be able to fight without any difficulty. So Master need not worry."
"I am worried, though" Rin said, exasperated, "I get two Servants and I'm left without knowing anything about either of them? How am I supposed to know how powerful you two are and how am I supposed to strategize without knowing your arsenals and limits?"
Stark spoke up, "Well, I'm not actually combat ready yet anyway. Like I said, I'm a technology man. In life I was a genius who mainly built weapons. So now, as a Servant, I can build those again, and my Nobel Phantasm allows me to transform mana directly into the materials I need, but I still have to physically build them. So, I'll need some time to work. Even with the amount of mana you're able to give me, your also supporting another Servant, so it'll probably take a couple days before I'm really ready. I'm sure Archer can manage not to forget who his Master is and join another team in that time, then I'll be able to carry the team to victory." he said the last part with a smirk.
Rin sighed, this was going to be a long war...
