Chapter 38: Deliberation
I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs.
o. o. o.
When Shirou had first turned down Merem Solomon's offer to be the Tenth Ancestor after the Louvre incident, he had assumed that would be the end of the matter.
Initially, Merem had been under the same impression.
He continued to make the offer every other time they met more as a friendly inside joke than anything.
At least, that had been his reason at first.
He didn't really have much interest in his own title and power that it carried, much less who took it in the end. The individuals that held them were of far more importance than the politics that were played around them. True, he held the title of the Twentieth for so long that it was as much him as his actual name, but few put much weight into that these days.
He was a member of the Church. A traitor to his kin. A firm believer in Crimson Moon. A supporter of the White Princess. A demon summoner. A Planet Terminal. In his opinion, all of those were far more important to his daily existence than his Apostle status.
All of that didn't stop him from befriending the latest Magus Killer.
He had visited the boy a few weeks after their initial meeting without warning. The child was in an interesting condition given the minor amount of blood in his system and he was curious.
By that point, Shirou had ample time to come to terms that his body was not what it once was. The change in taste. The lethargic reaction to being in the sun. The influence of the moon. Most importantly: the thirst.
When they had talked then, Shirou had been under the impression that it was something he could simply deal with. That if he ignored it enough then it wouldn't be a problem.
Merem knew better. It had been a meager injection, but there was blood of the moon folk in him. Sooner or later the infection would spread and take dominance, decomposing and killing his insides until only the corrupted blood itself was left to keep everything moving…
… Or that was what normally happened. What should have happened.
Truth be told, he had never seen or heard of a case where a human had taken in blood and survived with their minds, or at least their humanity, intact and in control. Most Apostles made their servants by flooding the target's systems with their own blood to make a nearly instant ghoul or dead. A quick death followed by a quick undeath.
He had also heard of Magi who studied Dead Apostles, experimenting with restricted amounts of blood and other controls to try and find a "perfect balance" to achieve a transformation without losing their minds or humanity.
Seeing as the research was still banned and there weren't more Magi-turned-Apostles running about the Clocktower, it was safe to say that no breakthroughs had been made on that front either.
That or Barthomelloi had been killing the ones that did manage to pull it off before word got out. Either one was a feasible possibility.
Sure, there were a few singular cases of people who had been bitten, had the parent vampire killed almost immediately afterwards, and then lasted a year or two without drinking blood in complete agony, but in the end they turned like the others… or killed themselves. Either or.
If Louvre or his children had been still alive, if Shirou had had more blood injected in him, if he hadn't been treated so quickly, the odds of the boy's transformation being this manageable would have been next to zero, but that wasn't the case.
Shirou was still here. Rational. Functional. Showing signs, but still alive.
Throw in his halfway managed Reality Marble, his lineage, and the fact that he had gotten the eye of Barthomelloi herself and well… there really wasn't a reason not to keep an eye on him.
The terrifying woman must have assumed that he had a complete blood transfusion as a treatment if she didn't suspect that he was a risk. It was the only thing that came to mind that could possibly halt a transformation process, and only if it was done immediately after being bitten. Even then it was a longshot with a poor chance of success. Either that or the Queen must have simply assumed that the Church had managed to find some other "holy" way to purge the boy before it was too late. How amusing.
Yes, the boy was definitely an adequate subject to pass the next decade or so observing in his spare time. Much like a television show or reading a book.
So observe he did.
He watched as Shirou's skills grew. He became satisfied as his friend gained a stronger control over his impulses. He learned as the boy revealed hints and rules about his inner world.
And eventually, he came to the conclusion that Shirou had the potential to be something… different.
The thousand and some hundred year old vampire didn't know what exactly, he was drawing a blank in terms of scale and degree, and it wasn't an idea that came to him overnight. It wasn't like he was undergoing some outlandish transformation into an existence that could overwhelm ORT or the like.
That would have just been stupid and made no sense in the slightest.
This was real life. Not some silly children's comic. Being something different wasn't some sort of free pass to become or surpass god. More often than not, it just resulted in something slightly unique compared to everything else but still in the end yielding unremarkable results or at least a set of fairly amusing tricks.
Still, sometimes tricks were all that were needed to cause the world to shake… he had seen it happen enough over his existence to acknowledge that at least. Plus it wasn't every century that one saw Apostle blood become something that it originally wasn't by accident.
The more he trained the boy and spent time with him, the more he noted discrepancies between what should be and what was.
Certain instincts that were standard in Apostles were either curbed or completely non-existent in his new friend. The boy's control over what he did develop was exceedingly strong, even during the full moon when most newly transformed lost rationality.
No uncontrolled altered body parts. Little enhanced strength and speed. For a while Merem had assumed that the boy simply had a stunted transformation process given the small injection and the quick surgery he had soon after. A cripple so to speak. So much so that he doubted that the Emiya would develop the full scope of Apostle traits, and instead the boy would remain at best an average vampire.
The Ancestor had been relieved that Shirou had declined the offer. He had thought he had jumped the gun in making it initially and had thankfully dodged a bullet with the boy's response. His reputation was not the best among his kind, and if anyone ever found out that he had given the title of Tenth to a weak, albeit interesting, child, far too many problems would arise in the future…
… And then Shirou got his Pure Eyes, catching everyone by surprise.
While Apostles with Mystic Eyes were not that uncommon of a phenomena, it normally occurred in those that were aged and experienced, meaning it had been at least a century or two since the transformation process had been complete. They had been given time to develop their powers, minds, and their bodies.
They were not something that simply appeared from out of nowhere, and certainly not within the bodies of those developing at a supposed stunted pace.
It was too great of a change. Too fast. Too significant. Too outstanding compared to the state the rest of his body was in.
It had not taken long to determine that the boy's Reality Marble had been responsible for not only this anomaly, but others as well.
My body is made of blades.
The first line of the boy's incomplete aria spoke of far more than even the creator knew. When Merem finally realized that he had been wrong the entire time, he had berated himself severely while laughing at the irony of it all.
He had been looking at the entire thing from the wrong perspective. He had been watching Shirou as a human developing Apostle-like traits… when he should have been looking at a sword being exposed to a curse… no, not a sword… a world of swords.
Reality Marbles were the reflection of inner worlds, so much so that they defined the users more than their names and appearances ever would. Normally they only developed in non-humans, giving them an alien-like theme. When it came to Apostles, their nature was also reflected in their Marble in one way or another.
Whether it was related to their ever constant need to feed, an overwhelming predatory instinct, or their connection to the moon, the bottom line was that these Reality Marbles were developed as a consequence of the owners being Apostles in the first place.
Most Apostle's powers were things they could have gained had they lived just as long as they did as normal humans if that had been possible, outside the whole blood drinking, ghoul making super human strength and speed, regenerating, and claws parts. However, the transformation process also tended to alter their minds and senses greatly as well.
So much so that it was near impossible to come across a vampire with a Reality Marble that didn't heavily reflect or rely on their condition and altered state of mind in the first place. Considering the fact that these worlds were the reflection of the user's soul… this should be pretty obvious. It could even be said that the majority of the process of developing their inner worlds took place once they were no longer human.
Blackwing's Nevermore bathed under the full moon.
Tatari was a living and wandering phenomena that took the form of whatever curses and rumors were pervading the area it was in.
Nero Chaos' Lair of the Beast King comprised of 666 lives that could take the form of any of the myriad of creatures, magical and not, that the man had taken in over the centuries.
Ennishae in itself was pretty much one massive Reality Marble that consisted of a blood thirsty forest that could consume entire villages in a single night. Not surprising since it had originally been a forest in the first place.
As for Fina's Parade… well there was a reason why he didn't use Ghouls or Undead.
However, Shirou was a different case. Unlimited Blade Works had already been in the process of development and manifestation before any Apostle had even learned of the owner's existence. Unlike the previously mentioned alien worlds, this one was completely independent of the Moon Folk's influence... which in turn led to the odd results being seen.
In fact, one could say that Shirou was developing his inner world in spiteof his condition.
His Reality Marble itself was the reason why his transformation was stagnating to such an unheard of degree… without anyone being the wiser.
It was not a perfect defense or treatment. The boy's body was still changing over time, his adjusting tastes and his reaction to the sun and moon were as clear as day to anyone that knew better. However, where there were crosses and contradictions between the Reality Marble and his new instincts, there was little change. He could easily ignore his thirst under most circumstances, and his desire to feed on the living was curbed even more. His logic and thinking processes were almost completely untouched to the point that Merem had trouble believing that the boy had even been bitten in the first place at times.
In Merem's eyes, his friend was a curiosity. He was new. He wasn't a genuine Apostle, living or dead. He was… different.
A sibling? A cousin? Perhaps… but he wasn't a genuine Dead Apostle. Not that it wasn't the first time something like this has happened. Everyone had completely given up on trying to categorize the Forest of Ennishae as anything but itself.
Regardless of what he was, Shirou was bound to be in a great deal of trouble sooner or later. A condition like his would not go unnoticed forever, and when that eventually happened, given the circles the child was currently involved with…
… It would not end well… would be one way to put it.
Depending on the Association for backup was all but a joke. The only reason why Kaleidoscope was still untouched despite being an Apostle Ancestor with the Queen still in charge was simply because he was too powerful and didn't cause too much trouble when he was around. Shirou had only been working for Barthomelloi for a couple of years, and while he was earning his keep, there was no way in hell the woman or those there would simply brush aside his condition and achievements if they found out. The boy didn't have the clout, the connections, the history, nor the power to keep those corrupted humans at bay.
He didn't want to even touch the idea of how pissed Barthomelloi would get when she found out that her prized dog that she had been parading everywhere was one of the foxes that she despised with unnatural hostility. She might even take out her anger on him if she managed to piece together that he had been aware of Shirou's state the entire time.
The Church was out too for similar reasons. There were only two Apostles under the Cross' employ, and that was two too many in many of their eyes. The only reason why he and that curry fanatic were allowed to step on the holy grounds at all was because they had proven far, FAR, more useful to them alive than dead.
Well, that and the curry fanatic had somehow managed to convert his perpetual need for blood into a perpetual need for curry which made him slightly more acceptable to the Church. He had no idea how the hell that happened, and in all honesty, he didn't want to know. Ever.
So, by process of elimination, that left only one of the three underground global superpowers left. Fortunately or not, it was the most unstable of the lot as well.
The Twenty Seven Apostle Ancestors, with convenient openings available.
It wasn't as if he had announced it to the world that Shirou had taken the spot… or more accurately that he had shoved Shirou into it without the boy knowing that he did in the first place. He didn't live over a thousand years witnessing the rise and fall of nations and dynasties without developing some political knowhow.
He was taking a big risk himself with this ploy. He didn't involve himself much with his kin and their games (unless it involved an opportunity to off Altrouge or helping Arucreid of course). He didn't make power plays. The Church did, using him as a medium. It was convenient to pass the blame that way, but that also meant that if his name alone was plastered onto a big event, more people would notice.
He, of all Ancestors, announcing that a position was taken would cause more than a few heads to turn.
Him declaring that the coveted position of Tenth, had made everyone's heads to turn.
It was a stupid thing, but there really was power in names and titles as much as he liked to pretend otherwise. Apostles and Humans alike would fight for those they despised simply because of what they were called and what position the latter party held. It was an imaginary shield that would cause even the strongest warriors and influential individuals to stop and think before making a move, buying valuable time for the other side.
And Shirou, above all else, needed time.
He called the boy the Ash of Miracles.
He could have gone with anything really, so long as it didn't glaringly hint at Shirou's power or his past, but after much deliberation (along with some back and forth with his left arm who seemed to enjoy the task more than it should), he had decided on that one.
It spoke of mystery rather than power, with multiple ways to interpret it. Yet, it still carried a certain finality that would cause many from trying their luck. Fitting for a future lynchpin of the magical underworld that no one knew much about.
The King of Rats was rather attached to its true meaning though. Shirou was an immensely stubborn child that had overcome many challenges, but he would forever be defined by the incident that had made him in the first place.
He had survived a Miracle.
It had been corrupted, polluted, and twisted, but what had destroyed Fuyuki ten years prior was nonetheless a Miracle. The boy had been pulled out from the ashes, where there should have only been nothing but ashes, alive.
How could they call that anything else but astounding?
A name. A title.
Useful meaningless things in the right conditions, and given without the target even knowing what he's received…
But that wasn't enough to keep him safe. Not for long. They would not protect him from the Queen's magic, the Church's baptisms, or the Ancestors' powers.
The boy needed more. He needed to be more powerful. He needed to be valuable. He needed to be useful. He needed resources. He needed contacts. He needed knowledge. He needed experience. He needed to grow…
But that posed a rather perplexing issue. How would Shirou grow in the first place? He was something new, something never seen before, and yet the misleading changes were barely even there in the first place. There was no telling how he would develop with stimuli and pressure. Should the senior force him to come into his Apostle heritage, or take another route to try and cause something else to happen?
Decisions decisions…
The answer came to him more easily than he had expected.
The Holy Grail War.
The opportunities it presented were too numerous to count. Noble Phantasms. Battle experience. Constant pressure on Magic Circuits and the body. Possible reaction to mortal wounds, forgotten mysteries, and death. It was an ideal way to see, nurture, enhance, and influence the boy's development…
He was not stupid. He was very well aware of Shirou's plans from his multiple conversations, and admittedly some spying done as well. He didn't know everything just yet, but he had enough to get a good idea of what to expect.
So he decided to play a bit as well. Mostly in the background of course, but moves were made.
Stalling Illya during the night of Caster's attack. Making the rats of the city consume Zouken's worms. Influencing the Fraga's and Lancer's movements. Giving out minor pieces of information to key individuals…
All to keep the status quo in the war. All to keep Shirou in a position of power while allowing his opposition to keep up pressure.
All to force Shirou grow and develop…
There had already been results.
The battle between Saber, Rider, and the two Casters had been informative. The constant drain on the boy's reserves and the reaction he had indicated that there was a unique relationship between his human and Apostle natures. If it was simply a normal corruption, the boy's organs and bodily functions would have simultaneously shut down and mutated instead of attempting to consume itself to produce prana for the very body it was eating.
This was again, different.
Human-to-Apostle transformations, for the few that manage to skip the whole undead part of the process at least, don't work like that. It was an all or nothing thing. Even if a person tries to resist the change, by the time it affects the mind the body is already long gone. He had long since known that the process had been altered a bit in his friend's case, but what he learned that night was certainly unexpected.
Shirou's body wasn't gone. It wasn't decayed, or decaying. At all.
What was more astounding was that the Apostle instinct only kicked in when the body was in danger of dying. During the minor spars that they had, the boy had been pushed to the limits physically and yet it didn't yield the results that had been seen.
Somehow, as bizarre as it sounds, the Apostle blood in Shirou was trying to do the exact opposite of what it had originally been designed for. It had been trying to keep him alive.
When Merem came to this conclusion, he paused for several moments before palming his face and laughed at himself for his stupidity. He had had been so focused on the small signs that he had completely overlooked one of the biggest ones there.
Shirou was alive. He had been focused on that, but he had misinterpreted that fact, seeing it from the wrong angle. Again.
It wasn't that the boy was still kicking with a heart and organs… but that he wasn't dying.
Shirou had been changing all this time, but at some point the cursed blood in his body had for some unknown reason stopped trying to actively kill him.
Merem had been stressing on the fact that Shirou was essentially a Living Apostle all this time, (admittedly it was a bit of a joke on his part since he found the name itself rather silly but didn't have a better way to describe the condition), and yet he had missed something so blatantly obvious. It was embarrassing really.
Nothing new had come up after that until the night when the boy had his heart blown out and he turned into… whatever it was. Merem didn't know how to put it. Shirou had recovered thanks to his Servant's artifact yes, and there were signs of his Apostle nature and his Reality Marble working as well…
… But they were all working in tandem, reinforcing one another's functions to keep the body alive. His blades and healing sealed the wound while his undead nature gave him the energy and ability to stay conscious and keep on moving. His eyes. His fangs. His claws. All were exposed for all to see.
At that moment the boy appeared and felt like an Apostle… but his mind and soul was without a doubt still his. Untouched. Untainted. And sharper than any blade in existence.
But that was only for a moment, like a firework. Merem was not satisfied with a brief show. He wanted an odyssey. A storm or fire of legend that would last and rage for years.
He wanted to see a sword of legend before it existed in any history books or tale. One whose story would exist in rumors and lore for centuries to come. Would it be of salvation or damnation in the end? No one knew, but that was half the fun in the end, wasn't it? Suspense was something that Apostles rarely enjoyed after a certain age.
Well, the war was still going. There was plenty of time to use it to see where this went, and he couldn't ask for a better setting.
Happy with his discovery, the vampire stayed in the background and watched, giving out a few choice words when he thought needed.
Admittedly he did stick his nose in things a bit more than he would have preferred once Caster summoned Assassin. Kiritsugu Emiya… he should have known that the man responsible for Shirou would make it to the Throne. Seeing him in action was a real eye opener. There was another member of the Church's Burial Agency that was a bit of a gun and explosives nut, but he was nowhere near as precise and ruthless as the first Magus Killer.
Power could be found everywhere here. Precision though, a deft hand that could go untouched in a war like this…
He then managed to find out what Caster was doing with her Master, and even he couldn't stay quiet.
He wasn't against the nature of her plan. There were plenty of events over the past thousand odd years that easily surpassed the destruction that could possibly happen should her experiment go wrong… or right.
What he did have an issue with was that happening on his friend's territory. As a member of the Church, he didn't have any genuine property of his own, but Apostle Ancestors in general had places that were theirs. It was considered among the greatest of insults from one Ancestor to another to trespass onto the other's realm without permission, much in the same way that it was taboo to intrude on a Magus' workshop. Even though Shirou didn't know what he was at the moment, Merem still would not have even considered going in and out of Fuyuki so casually if the boy didn't offhandedly give him permission during their conversations.
He stayed his hand though. The matter required a delicate touch, and with all the pieces on the board now aware of the situation, it was best that the commander take charge and rally his troops. Even unconscious, the boy's influence on the rest of the war's participants was too great to ignore. An enemy. An ally. A lover. A traitor. A leader. A threat. A planner. A curiosity. A factor. An unknown. An obstacle that could not be ignored. He had proven himself to be all of these things and more to friends and foes alike.
… And when he regained consciousness…
Merem shivered in anticipation as he watched the Emiya household from a short distance away. His left arm hung limply at his side, unresponsive and unmoving. It would be some time before his limb regained functionality. Even he didn't know just how terrifying his friend would be with this much potential at his disposal, but he was absolutely certain that it would be magnificent.
He had been unsure at first, but now he was certain. That boy was without a doubt worthy of being the Tenth, regardless of the fact that no one knew what he was turning into.
o. o. o.
"Now that things have calmed down again, can anyone please explain what just happened?" Rin asked politely over the line to those on the other end.
She was well aware that Saber and Illya were the only ones in the Emiya Household that could hear her. Shirou was unconscious and was resting in his room with Sakura keeping a close watch as she was the only person that could remotely treat whatever was going wrong with him.
Saber pretended not to notice the stern and demanding glare that Illya was giving her, tearing her crimson eyes off of the notes that Shirou had handed her just before losing consciousness. Adorable as it was, she had gone through worse in life.
Still it didn't excuse her from the fact that at the moment she was the only one available that knew what on earth was going on, thus she was the only one that was able to keep everything together.
Thank you B ranked Charisma.
"Seeing as we do have more important issues to discuss tonight, I believe it would be best to cover this topic as quickly as possible," she started off diplomatically as if the problem was something superfluous. "As most of you know, there was an incident several years prior regarding my Master and an Apostle named Louvre. While I do not have all the facts of the event, I do know that my Master was bitten and treated in quick order, with the culprit being dealt with shortly after. Due to those and some other factors, Shirou now shares some minor traits with Dead Apostles, but he is not one according to the third party that we discussed earlier."
"Wait, are you telling me that Emiya is some half Apostle?" Luvia asked incredulously.
"It certainly would explain the signs he has shown," the Princess mused as she went over what she had seen and felt from the boy.
"To be blunt, we honestly do not know what he is," Saber relented. "Not even the Apostle Ancestor here seems to."
"Wait. You met up with him too?" Illya pressed.
This was not going in a direction she wanted, but the former King decided to at least steer things to her advantage. "If you must know, Shirou's condition has come with unexpected side effects that no one had anticipated. Because he had been supporting Rider and I since the War began, his prana reserves were constantly being drawn upon. The situation grew so desperate in fact that during our battle against the Casters, it forced his body to react in a way that would have killed him had the Vampire not provided assistance and advice."
"… And what, dare I ask, happened?" Luvia asked skeptically.
Saber patiently drank some more tea to allow herself some breathing room. "His Apostle side attempted to replenish his reserves by consuming his body, as it was the closest source of living flesh and blood nearby. Had I not donated some of my blood, he would have unconsciously fed upon himself until either his reserves had stabilized or until he died, likely the latter."
The room was silent as everyone digested the information.
"Wait… that doesn't make sense." Luvia said slowly. "Emiya was near Matou and you and Rider at the time, but his instincts targeted him first?"
"He did attempt to bite Rider on our way back," Saber corrected her statement. "However even in his unconscious delirium he never made a violent gesture to Sakura. In fact she was the only one that could get near him without any sort of negative reaction. The Rat made some comments when inspecting Shirou that gives me the impression that several factors including his quick treatment may be interfering in some way. After it was determined that his low reserves were the cause of his state, we fed him some of my blood. The effects were near instant and he was back to normal by the next morning. According to Shirou, this was the first time an event like that had ever happened."
"And how is he otherwise?" Illya prodded. "I can't imagine that being turned like that could be so easy to deal with."
"As peculiar as it sounds, he claims it isn't much of an issue and from what I have seen I am inclined to believe him." The Servant stood her ground. "He admits to having a thirst for blood and can obtain more prana from drinking it more than most magi could, but highly discourages the action and the taste at the same time. At worst he compares it to an annoying craving for a certain type of food. The sun and moon do affect his performance somewhat, but otherwise if this had been a problem I would have noted it by now."
"Well if that's all there is I don't…" Luvia started before suddenly stopping. "… Tohsaka?"
"Is something the matter?" Saber wasn't that familiar with everyone whom she was speaking to, but even she could tell that something was wrong.
"… Keep going." Rin's voice was strained and broken. "Please. I… I don't think I can add anything to the conversation for now."
How could she? All this time, right under her very nose Shirou had been turned into… into something and he didn't even seem to care about it. Instead he had been completely focused on the War. On them. On everything but himself… again.
Hell, he was so twisted he even somehow fucked up becoming an Apostle. She would have laughed at the fact if she wasn't already growing nauseous at the repercussions of this getting out.
As much as she wanted to storm out of the room, to scream, to tear something apart, to go to Archer, use her command seals, and grill him for everything and then some to the point that his heroic spirit throat would get sore from talking to assure her that he was not and never was a vampire in his life, that he would be fine, she couldn't. The best she could do now was keep quiet and learn as much as she could and try to fix things before it was too late.
"Tohsaka…" Luvia started before the girl interrupted her.
"I said keep going." The Master of Archer demanded in a tone that would not bode well for anyone that tried to argue otherwise. "What happened tonight? Was his… condition, the real reason why he lived having his heart torn apart or were you speaking the truth for once about your artifact?"
"We did not lie." Saber frowned. "Avalon's healing abilities are unsurpassed. It has saved me from death's embrace on more occasions than I dare to count. I have read some Kiritsugu's notes and from what we have gathered the… odd, means of his recovery is not a unique occurrence. His Reality Marble interacts with it in peculiar ways that even I have trouble perceiving."
"We can only assume that it would have just as great impact on his… Apostle nature as well. Reality Marbles are a forbidden subject after all, but artifacts of the Fae of that quality are just as rarely observed and studied. There is much we don't know about them," Luvia pointed out. "Regardless, we are now in a bit of a situation, are we not? If what you claimed is true, than the reason for Emiya's current state is unknown as he seemed to be doing well in terms of prana until his episode. There is no telling how long it will take for him to regain consciousness."
"He has survived worse, and my scabbard is still within him," the King confidently declared. "Even with my worst wounds, I was never immobile for more than a day. Shirou's recovery is certain."
"Wonderful. So now that we've confirmed that the one driving all of us mad this past week is some mutant demi-Apostle with misguided priorities, I believe it would be best to get back to the issue at hand." Luvia was clearly getting exhausted just trying to keep everything she learned in this conversation organized. Shirou's condition was without a doubt a highlight but unfortunately not related to the main problems that they needed addressed.
"Wait." Illya looked up from her book with a frown. "I have one question before we go anywhere else."
"Why do I have a feeling that it will be one that we do not need at the moment?" Caster mused out loud.
"Answer me Tohsaka. Is Archer Onii-chan?" The girl didn't pull any punches.
The line grew quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time before Rin laughed bitterly. "… Figures that Kiritsugu saw that too."
"Given that he didn't tell Shirou, that much is assumed," Saber relented. Since Luvia and Caster didn't seem to be reacting in surprise or saying anything, she assumed that the pair already learned of this fact.
"Are you going anywhere with this Einzbern? Archer has proved to be less reliable than his modern version so far. His personality is lacking and his memories are as broken as his mind." Luvia spoke instead of Rin. She didn't even bother to go over the fact that he tried to kill her earlier, that would only cause more problems that they didn't need to deal with at the moment.
"I see." Surprisingly, the true child of Kiritsugu Emiya didn't push the subject as her face softened and her attention went back to the notes again. Whatever was going through her mind, she didn't feel like sharing.
"Does Sakura know?" Rin surprisingly asked.
"No." Saber personally didn't want the girl to know about Archer less than Shirou did. She had never encountered this Archer yet but she had a feeling that it would not end well if the two ever spoke.
"… Good," the Tohsaka simply replied, causing those that weren't aware of the Matou's dependence on Shirou to blink in confusion. "How much do you know about Archer?"
Saber resisted the urge to show her discomfort with the subject. The fact that she knew more about EMIYA than the others was not lost on them, and if she wanted any hope of keeping this loose alliance together, she could not afford to hid major secrets from them now. "Enough to know that he regrets becoming a Counter Guardian to the point of desperation."
"Desperation?" Luvia blinked in confusion.
"His greatest ally or enemy…" Princess repeated herself in realization. "No, you don't mean…"
"He wants to kill his younger self to create a paradox to try and eject himself from the Throne." Illya bluntly, not looking up from her papers. "Being a Counter Guardian, killing people endlessly, something that is completely against his very foundation, has driven him mad. In his mind, Shirou Emiya should never have become a Hero and seeks to correct his mistake."
Saber and Illya didn't see it, but Rin had resorted to resting her head on the table face down. Her face was hidden from the world, but judging from her shaking body, it didn't take Luvia and Caster much to tell that she was hiding her stress. She had been hammered relentlessly by unpleasant information for the past twenty four hours and still wasn't stopping. She was bound to hit her limit sooner or later.
"… I should have known." She had figured it would be something along those lines ever since she pieced together that her Servant was a Counter Guardian. It was terrible. It was sickening. It made her want to scream even louder than she did earlier. But she settled for depressed laughing.
"This isn't his timeline though. There are too many discrepancies between his and our situations," Saber pointed out. "Archer is smart enough to figure that out by this point. He's not one to take pointless actions or risks."
"How do you know that?" Luvia frowned. "For all we know, Archer was from this timeline and messed up in the ones that Kiritsugu supposedly saw."
"Saber's right," Rin spoke up with an empty voice. Just listening to her sent shivers down everyone's spine. "… Archer's memories. I saw enough of them when I slept to agree with what she said. He's Shirou… but he's not at the same time. Even if they are both complete idiots…"
Saber glanced at Illya. The girl was rather convincing at how she appeared to be buried in the notes, but the Servant wasn't fooled. Kiritsugu's elder child was more focused on the conversation than she let on. Her clenched fingers gave her away instantly. "I believe it would be best to leave the subject of Archer and Shirou for another time and get back to the more immediate issue."
"Caster's ever growing army." Illya muttered under her breath.
"Caster," Saber corrected factually. "Once she is gone there is no army or reason for them to battle us as a group so long as we do not give them one."
"It doesn't change the fact that we have to deal with said army until then," the other Caster pointed out. "As it stands, she has half of the Servants in this war on her side. As much as I dislike admitting it, if we are to have any opportunity of victory, let alone survival, the rest of us must join forces lest we are picked off individually."
"That's an enticing proposal," Luvia's tone with saturated with sarcasm. "Care to put wagers how we are stabbed in the back this time, Caster? It will be just like that child's game Clue. Is it Shirou Emiya with a Noble Phantasm in the city? Or perhaps Archer with his Reality Marble in the Temple?"
"I'd prefer Berserker in the Park with his bare hands." Caster played along. "It's faster and more painless that way. Not particularly clean, but at this point I just want it over with."
Saber didn't try to excuse herself or her Master. Out of everyone here, Luvia and Caster had borne the brunt of mishaps that originated from Shirou's machinations. She was completely in the right in that regard. However, regardless of her feelings or who was to blame it didn't change the matter at hand. "The culprit would more likely be someone under your counterpart's control should you refuse to cooperate. I do regret the situation and your trials, do not think otherwise. Unfortunately our enemy does not seem to care about these facts."
Surprisingly, Illya was the first to speak up after Saber's polite scolding. "Onii-chan said that you were needed. I'm assuming he was referring to the fact that only Caster is able to dismantle her counterpart's mysteries."
"That was his intention, yes," the King of Knights nodded. "Out of all of us, he considered the Princess to be the most vital Servant on our side at the moment. Even I am considered at best an asset of slightly less importance to her at the moment."
"I am assuming that means he was already trying to figure out some way to manipulate us on the trip back," the mentioned Servant accused.
"He was trying to figure out a way to deal with your counterpart without setting off her experiments and keep us alive," Saber corrected politically. "He didn't get far given his exhausted condition. However his priorities were clear. He wants us to live by any cost. All of us."
"That… will be difficult, given who Assassin is," Luvia slowly voiced her thoughts, wincing at the reality of the situation. The situation had been escalating more and more over the past few days, and it had finally gotten to the point that it was really time to play for keeps. The Witch would be absolutely foolish to leave any potential targets alive if she had an opportunity, and would without a doubt take measures to ensure that those under her control would follow through…
… And Kiritsugu Emiya was the best when it came to following through. It was just their fortune that he had been trying his hardest to avoid doing just that for the entirety of the war.
"The Witch is not foolish to push her luck. Not after tonight." Saber attempted to recall the dozens of minor facts that Shirou had dredged up while they had been connected mentally. The boy was not a master strategist, but he certainly did possess a talent and an eye for detail and was easily the most informed individual of the war. There was no question that he probably knew more about the participants than many of them combined, and could come up with facts and traits about everyone in a fraction of the time the others would. "She will be busy consolidating her forces and tightening her hold on them after what Shirou revealed her single remaining Command Seal."
"He's pushed her into a corner that she made," Luvia summed up Caster's situation. "The problem is that if anyone pushes anymore then it might all blow up in our faces."
"Assassin, Lancer and Rider will need some time to fully recover," Illya pointed out factually. "She will be focused on the defensive for at least a couple of days and plan out ways to use them effectively."
"I can't see someone that turned their Master into an experiment to simply play the waiting game all that time." Rin took her head up, her eyes were now puffy and sunken. "I wouldn't be surprised if she sends a couple of her new toys out to off Edelfelt and I to try and prevent an alliance. She doesn't know that we were watching the entire thing the entire thing and might assume that she's catching us by surprise. The only Servants that can defend against a two on one ambush in the open are Saber and Berserker."
"No, she'd be more likely to use such tactics if she did know," the Princess added. "If that's the case, then travelling and acting alone would be akin to suicide now more than ever. This truly has become a war."
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I am uncomfortable enough speaking to everyone here as it is." Illya looked up from her notes. "I doubt I would be able to contain myself or Berserker if we all attempted to stay together for an extended period of time."
"I share similar sentiments," Luvia agreed. "After everything that most of us have been through, trying to consolidate all of us in one location for long at this point in time would be a mistake on far too many levels."
Saber knew a lost cause when she saw it. "If that is what you feel, then I will not try to convince you otherwise. Perhaps maybe in the future we may be able to come to better terms, but we must still take measures to keep ourselves alive until we have a plan of attack. The Witch will likely stay in her workshop for the time being to gather information, and she is not foolish or desperate enough to send out more than half of her forces at any point. Not with me and Berserker sharing a possible alliance and showing up at the same time with her forces out. Two Servants at once is ideal to stave off any possible attack while we wait. Given that we are already paired up, I suggest we keep things the way they are for now. Are there any issues with this?"
It was a rhetorical question. There were a thousand and a half issues with the mere idea, and double that for the particular setup. Unfortunately, it was probably the most ideal at the moment.
Luvia and Caster were barely tolerating Shirou at the moment despite his good intentions and efforts, so mixing with them was a no go. She would cooperate, but exposing them to one another for long periods of time would destroy more bridges than fix at the moment.
Rin and Archer was an even worse decision. The master seemed to be on the verge of hysterics with everything she had learned and exposing her to Shirou would only make things worse. It really had been a terrible idea to put off informing her of everything until the penultimate battle, but there was little they could do to rectify that for the moment. Plus there was the whole Shirou Archer issue and now was clearly not the time to address it.
On the other side of the coin, from what Saber understood, pairing Rin and Luvia together was akin to tossing a match into an explosives shed. It was only a matter of time until the two exploded. Only the dire situation itself and their rationality was enough to keep them together, and even then it would be a temporary fix. The girls were both incredibly prideful and stubborn, but neither one of them were stupid.
Illyasviel and Berserker on the other hand… well she could technically work with anyone without too much issue, but her relationship with Shirou was the hardest to determine at the moment. She had calmed down somewhat since the debacle earlier, but there was no way of telling what exactly was going through her mind. Still, among all the three parties, she was the safest thing at the moment… Berserker not pending.
Plus this pairing was the best way to mend some long broken bridges that were in desperate need of fixing.
The line was silent for some time before the Princess spoke up first. "I will agree to the terms so long as Archer's Master takes measures to keep him in line. Enemy forces or not, I will not risk exposing my back to that one without assurances. This agreement will of course, only last until my other has been dealt with."
"Caster…" Luvia address her Servant with some concern.
"It's our best option." She held her ground. "Any other combination could reveal our alliance to my counterpart should she move before we do. I would prefer to team with Heracles' Master for the duration. However the idea of two of the boys in one place for any duration of time honestly terrifies me."
The blonde teen stared at her partner for a few seconds before relenting. "You've made your point. However it won't happen unless Tohsaka also…"
"It's fine," the Second Owner of Fuyuki all but whispered, her head still on the desk with little energy in it. "I was planning on sticking it to Archer after this anyways. You can watch if you want."
The girl's statement would have been rather unnerving if it weren't for the fact that her voice was completely devoid of energy and emotion. No, it was still unnerving, just for different reasons.
Saber's face fell slightly. She had hoped that her Master's relations with these girls that he had so much faith in would be in better shape, but she had underestimated the damages that had been done. She only hoped that things would get better in time. His decisions weren't popular, there was no doubt, but he still didn't deserve such harsh treatment.
She turned to look at the only person left in the conversation with any input on the subject.
"It's fine," Illya softly spoke, still absorbed in the notes. "I have things I need to discuss with Onii-chan anyways."
"We have reached a consensus then," Saber declared. "Should any of us come across any important information, we should find a secure way to inform the others. Is it possible to contact one another like this tomorrow?"
"Yes, though preferably at a more accommodating time. Sundown tends to take place early this time of year, so I suggest six." Luvia proposed, seeing at it was now nearly three in the morning.
"That's fine." Illya absently turned a page. "I need to contact my maids at some point tonight to let them know of the situation and my stay here. They won't be happy, but they'll fall in line."
"Don't let them in the kitchen," Rin mumbled as if she wasn't paying attention. "He lets less people in there than in his Workshop."
The Einzbern blinked and looked up from her book. "Wait… seriously?"
"Don't get me started." They could practically hear Luvia roll her eyes over the line. "He could have probably mastered his Reality Marble by now if he tended to his Workshop with as much care as that kitchen. To this day I've only seen him entrust it to Matou and Tohsaka. Whenever anyone else goes in without his permission he nearly has a panic attack."
"Wait… what about Sakura?" Rin's voice gained more energy. "She doesn't have her Servant anymore. Powers or not, there's no way we're using her for dealing with Caster again."
"I agree." Saber nodded. "She is aware of Sakura's potential now. Shirou's strategy tonight was an effective, if not risky one. Unfortunately now that she is a known factor, her effectiveness is drastically reduced."
"The best cards to play are the ones that aren't known yet." Luvia nodded in agreement before her mind went to a certain teacher assassin. She had initially thought to use him as backup in the near future for her plans, but now the situation was too severe to leave things to chance. Emiya had a knack for catching everyone off guard during this war. It was best to see what he would come up with first before doing anything.
"She won't like that," Rin mused. She knew her sister would take being put on the sidelines hard, but there really wasn't anything they could do about it. Even if she was as effective against Servants as Shirou claimed, he wouldn't risk her abilities getting out to Kirei or Gilgamesh unless it was either absolutely needed or it was time to use said powers against them. That was just how he thought.
"She will understand if we explain it to her. Without a Servant or another way to protect herself, she would be a walking target in the current situation," Saber confidently stated. "The only reason why she was so active tonight was because Shirou set the situation up such that all attention would be on him, Rider, and I. And that was after he had confirmed the locations of all the Servants that we had assumed were under her control. The same tactic won't work twice in a row."
"I'm surprised it worked even once." Luvia shook her head. "Then again this is Emiya we are talking about."
Everyone silently agreed with her statement. No one could dispute the boy's strategic maneuvering during the war, even if it was a bit distasteful at times. Had it not been for the countless unforeseen circumstances that seemed to perpetually spawn at the worst possible moments and the fact that he was trying to keep a majority of the participants alive, he likely would have won the damn thing two fold by now.
"So for now both sides are left to lick their wounds while wary of when the other will strike." The Princess mused.
"Indeed. If possible it would be to our benefit if you could utilize your observation magic to keep an eye out for any opening moves," Saber warned. "No doubt your other will be doing the same."
"Of course. That goes without saying." The summoner nodded. "I will send you a familiar so we may relay messages to one another soon. They are poor for having conversations, but they are enough for getting important information across fast."
"What about the information that we already have on the enemy? Or not?" Luvia interjected. "I do not want to be caught off guard by some trick that Lancer or Rider may or may not have that you have been sitting on the entire time."
"You have a point." Saber nodded solemnly. Although they may have been enemies initially, it was clear that their goals did not cross one another. Having them as enemies now left a bad taste in her mouth. "It would take too long to go over every detail like this though. Would it suffice to give you a summary of what I believe you should be most aware of? If you have any questions after that I'll make sure to address them."
"That would be a good start." The Princess nodded.
Illya remained silent. She could learn a good deal from this for later should things not turn out the way she wanted.
Saber nodded. She knew that Rider and Lancer would not appreciate the divulging of their abilities, but this was hardly the time to complain about such things. "I believe it would be best to start with Rider, who is Medusa, since we know more of her. She has two abilities outside of what she has already used that you must be aware of now that she is under the enemy's control. Of them, the one I feel is more concerning given our situation is a bounded field Noble Phantasm called Bloodfort Andromeda…"
o. o. o.
She was alone in her Workshop, not counting her near vegetative Master.
It was the only place left that she felt remotely in control of anything anymore.
Everyone wanted her dead. Her enemies. Her "allies". Even "herself" was against her. The only thing that was keeping the world from literally tearing her to pieces was a single magical inscription on her right hand.
It was such an absurd situation that she couldn't help but laugh in borderline hysterics as she frantically paced around the room in an attempt to alleviate the stress and possibly figure a way out of the mess. Even her trials with the Argonauts and afterwards paled to just how dire of a situation she was in now… mostly because unlike those times, she was the priority target for once unlike that meat sack Jason.
That boy. That damn boy.
It was always him. Every time she felt as if she had finally gotten a leg up in the war, he would do something that would render it all almost meaningless. She wouldn't be surprised if he had purposefully sacrificed Rider's ownership just to stick her in this abysmal situation.
Noble? Rational? Loyal? Caring?! If that brat didn't somehow wormed his way into Medusa's surprisingly soft heart, the Witch would have at least managed to get one Servant under her control that wouldn't betray her at the earliest opportunity.
Ironically, the easiest minion to control was Lancer even though she didn't use a Command Seal on him. Having his Master's life in her hands was good enough motivation, and the Witch made sure to keep her mind and body on lockdown whenever possible. All it took was a single syllable word, one that could be uttered even with a dying breath, and the Fraga girl would be destroyed in a blast of pure power.
She would have put a dormant curse on the woman to cause her chest to explode out with minimal effort, but the damn Banshee girls wouldn't let her near their host. If they weren't such a vital asset now the Servant would have offed them already and used their bodies as a catalyst for a powerful mystic code.
Lancer and Rider's innate Magical Resistance were unfortunately too powerful to cast such a simple spell on them either. She could come up with something eventually, but time was against her and wasting it on something as trivial as that was simply foolish.
At least she managed to put the aforementioned spell on Assassin. She feared him now more than ever by this point for a salvo of reasons. The problem was that she was in such a deplorable situation that she couldn't just kill him then and there. As it stood, she was stuck checking in on him twice as often as the other Servants combined out of sheer paranoia.
She was stuck on the defensive. All of her forces were wounded or low on energy. Attacking anyone now would hurt her more than benefit her. Especially if Saber and Berserker were to team up.
The very idea of such a combination made her shudder in fear. The two strongest Servants in the war side by side. Legends of the greatest caliber. In a battle of raw power, she doubted that the other six Servants in the war combined would be able to surmount such a force directly.
… But it wasn't impossible if they fought to their advantage. She did have the fastest Servants under her control, and the versatility of her forces were unnaturally high. Her magic, Assassin's tools, Rider's Noble Phantasms, and Lancer's Runes combined were more than enough to turn any assault on the entrance of her temple into a certified deathtrap.
Unfortunately she was not the only one with options.
She wasn't stupid. She knew that her counterpart had been watching the events that had transpired. After that debacle the other night, it would be the height of foolishness to not keep an eye on the mountain for any further events. It wouldn't be a coin toss if she was asked which side she would pick if forced to choose sides.
That left Archer unaccounted for… and if he was any bit deplorable as his younger counterpart, then expecting him to come to her side or be unaware of the situation was not only unlikely, but incredibly suicidal.
Too many. There were too many enemies and she was going to be overwhelmed as it was maintaining Marjatta's chamber and keeping an eye on her own forces.
She couldn't even run away if she wanted to. Her Master was stuck here, and she had invested so much into this location that setting up again anywhere else in the city would just lead to her inevitable death. Her counterpart would find her easily now that she's had time to analyze and deconstruct the nature of her mysteries. The only reason why she wasn't outed earlier was because the Mountain's natural defenses gave her that extra edge.
She was grasping at straws, and everyone knew it.
Thankfully, the straws that she had left were remarkably strong ones.
Rider was a plethora of vital information, obviously. She had been privy to most of the boy's secrets. Not all of them frustratingly, apparently his paranoia rivaled her own in this case, but enough to give her a good idea of what she was up against… which in the end only made her even more unnerved and frantic.
Prior information of the war and their participants. Training. Strategies. Tactics. No wonder the child had managed to play everyone so efficiently. Not perfectly, obviously, but to far greater effectiveness than should have been possible. By all means he really should have won the war by now.
The Apostle blood in him was an interesting side fact that she had all but confirmed during their initial encounter, but not of much use. Holy and sacred based mysteries were not her forte, and if it had been that easy she could have easily just been rid of him with a blast of raw prana by now. It might be reasonable material to sow discord into her attacker's ranks, but at this stage she was willing to bet that the ones she was fighting against would rather take their chances with an Apostle than her.
As bad as he was, even she would admit that to an outsider, he was clearly the lesser of two evils. Three if they counted Angra Mainyu.
Regardless of all of the aforementioned, Rider's revelation of the ninth Servant in the war was the biggest bomb of all.
Gilgamesh. Of all the possible curve balls to be thrown at her now, it had to be the bloody King of Heroes himself.
Even if she managed to defeat the boy. Even if she managed to trounce Saber, Berserker, Archer and her counterpart. Even if she drained the entire city's populace of their prana to the very last drop… she would still be utterly trounced by the oldest legend in humanity.
She needed the Grail. It was her only hope of surviving now. It was her only hope of getting the life she both desired and deserved countless times over.
But she couldn't win. Not like this. Not as she was now.
Stealing another Servant was suicide. She didn't have the means to control anymore of them, even if she had an abundance of power.
Fighting and killing the rest of the normal participants would only work if she wiped them all out, killed Assassin with the spell in him instantly and used her last seal to have Rider kill herself. Lancer she could keep alive or kill so long as the Fraga was under her control, and she had tapped enough power from the land itself that six Servants was enough to enact the Greater Grail by this point. If things went well, she might even manage with five.
Once it was activated, she would probably have enough to defeat the King of Heroes by herself… but even then she wasn't too sure of the outcome.
Teaming with the boy and his allies to kill Gilgamesh first… just wasn't going to happen. She wasn't even to go over the "why's" at this point.
Teaming up with Gilgamesh to kill the boy to stab him in the back afterwards? Possible… if he wasn't likely to kill her just as much as the boy.
Kill the Masters to try and corner the Servants to her side willingly? No. The Servants didn't like or trust her any more than their summoners did. They were more likely to die than side with her. The King of Knights was too noble to stoop so low. Her counterpart knew better. Berserker was impossible to reason with. And Archer… no. She would be a fool to EVER let him into her service. That much was obvious.
Kidnap the masters and control them to control the Servants like she was with Lancer? Possible, but in the end she knew she would end up killing the Emiya boy out of paranoia. She didn't feel safe with that one alive, but with him gone Saber would be left to go wild… and overall she wasn't very comfortable with the idea of King Arthur unleashing Excalibur on her, even if she had all of the other Servants under her control.
Archer, again, was not an option. At best she would kidnap his Master just to kill him and get him out of the way… which was an extremely tempting idea all things considered.
Berserker's and her counterpart's Masters were the best options, but that still posed the issue of how to get to them in the first place. The albino was likely to never be allowed out of the boy's sight now, and as much as she loathed to admit it her other self's capabilities were far more prominent when fighting on her home turf. Getting to either one without spreading herself too thin for a counterattack from another party would be exceptionally difficult and risky to say the least.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance and fleetingly sent her consciousness to the areas where her minions were stationed. She was not foolish enough to keep them in the same area alone to conspire against her for any period of time.
Lancer was stationed at the main gate. He was the only force under her control that could stop and hold off Berserker for any period of time should he come back again. Assassin could kill the giant, but with its regeneration ability it would only be a minor temporary stall.
Speaking of the eldest Emiya, she had put him to work rigging the entrance of the temple with as many traps as possible. In the case the rest of the War's participants decided to rush her at once, they would be decimated by his explosives from every angle imaginable.
As for Rider… well, that Bounded Field Noble Phantasm of hers was rather useful. A bit unwieldy and time consuming to set up, but that was of little matter when the process was accelerated by a Caster from the Age of Gods with near unlimited power at her disposal.
But even with those she would not hold out forever. It was an excellent stall and defensive measure, but it was far from perfect. At best it would buy her a few more days to plan something else while her attackers worked their way around or through her defenses. It wasn't enough time to set off the Grail using her own improvised methods.
Her eyes turned to her entrapped Master, floating aimlessly in the clear fluid without any idea of what misery had befallen the Servant.
She needed something else. A wildcard that the boy did not yet know of. Something that he would not expect specifically. The girl that snuck into her Workshop had no doubt seen what had become of the younger Edelfelt, but it was likely she didn't know what she had actually become. How could she? The child had been there for at most a couple of...
… No. That was wrong. Assuming she knew something he didn't would only get her killed. She had lucked out with Assassin's change. Had she summoned the one the boy had expected, she would likely have already been finished off days ago.
It was best if she pretended that he knew everything and everything she did. It was best to act as if he was aware of everything she had at her disposal at this very moment, which unfortunately was a very likely scenario.
So he knew about all of the Servants and their abilities. He knew of the Fraga girl's condition. He knew about her legs. He knew about Marjatta's condition. He knew about Assassin's identity. He knew about her one command seal. He knew about her temple and traps. He knew about her investigation into the Greater Grail below. He knew its system. He knew about its…
She paused.
He knew about the Grail.
He knew about the Grail and acted accordingly.
He knew about the Grail and didn't tell anyone, acting accordingly.
All his actions. All his words. All his goals. All his plans. All his intentions…
… and if that was the case, then what he wanted in the end was…
A faint chuckle escaped from her lips. It was faint. It was a stretch and a gamble…
… But ultimately, she managed to piece together a way that would hopefully get her out of the hole she had found herself in.
It was a relief that heroes were so predictable.
o. o. o.
Waver leaned back on the cheap foldable chair with his hands behind his head, staring aimlessly at the concrete ceiling with a single light hanging from it while the trails of random smoke lazily danced up from the cigar he was smoking.
The room he was in had no windows. No pictures. No trinkets to display wealth. Just a door, a light, a table with a chair on either end, a drain, and him.
"I wish they'd hurry up," he muttered out loud. He had been stuck for three hours by his estimate. They had taken his watch just before he had been shoved into the room so he couldn't be too sure. Thankfully they let him keep the cigars. "The waiting tactic doesn't work that well on people that knew they'd be caught eventually."
As if on cue, the lone door to the small chamber opened to reveal Lorelei Barthomelloi with her standard impassive face, gauntlet armed and sword at her side.
The tools were for mere show. They both knew that she didn't need them to torture or kill him if needed.
"My Lady." Waver nodded respectfully while dropping his arms and allowed his chair to resume its normal position.
"Lord El-Melloi," the woman evenly returned his greeting, closing the door behind her but not bothering to sit in the cheap mass produced chair provided for her.
"So you found out." It was a statement, not a question.
"McGinty didn't make it hard to find out once I asked."
"I wager he made it difficult to listen to though. All in all I'm surprised you went to him first." The imprisoned Lord resisted the urge to crack a smile at the joke. "You have questions no doubt."
The two didn't break eye contact for several long moments. "Are you aware of what you are being accused of?"
"I can make a few educated guesses." Waver relented. "No doubt there would be a few more excessive claims tacked on to make me more miserable as punishment. The prime ones I assume would be conspiracy against the Archibalds, the Edelfelts, the Einzberns, the Barthomelloi, the Association, perjury, sabotage, assisted murder… and money laundering."
"Money laundering?" Lorelei couldn't help but question that last one.
"Might as well." The man shrugged, blowing some smoke to the side. It may be slightly disrespectful, but they both knew that the woman was more than capable enough to not be bothered at all by the fumes. "A deal was made with me in the middle, and I had part in a plan that would interfere with it. Grander accusations have been made here with far less evidence."
He had kept quiet about any involvement regarding forbidden mysteries. He and Sirius had agreed ahead of time that unless someone came to them with proof of Shirou's Reality Marble, they would pretend that it didn't exist. Show people enough fires and they won't bother to suspect an even bigger one hidden among them all.
He expected that the woman in front of him knew this as well, but so long as she saw no evidence or reason to believe it didn't exist, she wouldn't go down that route. It was to her benefit, seeing as if she did act on it, she'd lose an extremely valuable resource and have a publicly known black mark on her name and reputation.
The fact that he had been pulled from his apartment without warning just as he was about to go to work only meant that either something had happened from Shirou's side, or someone on their end had found something out. From what he had heard as he had gathered his things, he was being accused of the standard traitorous actions and backstabbing that frequently went on in the Clocktower… and had heard nothing about forbidden research.
"You are remarkably calm for someone whose entire foundation is just about to fall from beneath his feet." Lorelei's expression slightly darkened, a sign that she was getting angrier than shown.
Waver saw this and quickly pieced together what was really going on. Resting back on his chair and straightening his back, he closed his eyes. "I am terrible at running away and held no illusions that my actions would go unnoticed forever. I don't regret any of them, but I am apologetic that you are involved in this mess if nothing else."
"I don't see you groveling."
"It would waste both of our time and serve no purpose if I tried. Your dislike for pointless things is well known."
"This entire situation is a pointless endeavor that should not have occurred in the first place had you dealt with it accordingly. You hid vital information from me, Lord Melloi, and now I am involved whether you like it or not." Her expression didn't change but her tone did.
"I hid it from everyone," he admitted. "And for adequate reasons, if you are not aware of them already."
"I am aware," she informed him. "The Servant Gilgamesh."
She really did talk to Sirius. He concluded from her admittance. There was no way she would know of Gilgamesh's existence otherwise. Her earlier admittance that she learned of the situation from the blacksmith was not a bluff. "Among others."
"Did you think so little of us to believe that we are incapable of managing him ourselves?"
"Without risking revealing ourselves to the world or heavy casualties? Yes." he admitted without shame with a stone cold face. "I have done my research into the combative capabilities available to the Tower and Association, my Lady. No doubt it is imperfect and limited, however even with a wide margin of error I would frequently get the same results. We are capable of many things, but they pale in comparison to what I saw that day. Even the strongest of the Twenty Seven would find their equal if not superior in that one."
He meant it too. With Ea under his belt, he firmly believed that Gilgamesh was as great of a threat to the planet as Crimson Moon or ORT themselves. Whether or not he was right was a different matter, but it got the point across.
"So you decided to play along with a dying and possibly insane man's plan at the mere mention of the Servant's name," she accused.
"Once I saw the proof." He didn't lie. "I needed that much to even start to believe that that nightmare was still alive. He had it. I gave an answer."
"And thus you began to play everyone here."
"Of course not." He snorted. "I was working on fixing the Archibald's crest before I had been approached, and they gave me my lordship without me knowing any better or asking. As far as I was concerned what I did with Shirou was completely independent of what I did here. It wasn't until Louvre that I did anything that related to both. If he had remained unknown I would have continued to keep both matters separate and this whole mess would have resolved without me doing anything more than teaching the boy what he needed to know."
"And what did he need to know from you that he couldn't get from his father and McGinty?"
"How to survive in our world. Why do you think I was so comfortable with teaching when I started?" He blew out some more smoke. "Sirius and Kiritsugu were experts in their fields but absolutely abysmal when it came to nearly everything else. Poor kid would have been clueless if I didn't teach him the tips and tricks of the Tower beforehand. He's a better fighter than most of us, you know that. But he would have fallen for an obvious trap or unknowingly pissed off the wrong lord within a week without me. He's too trusting, that one. Not that any of us expected him to be revealed the way he did, but nothing's perfect."
"Is that all?"
"People. Places. Rules. History. Information. Theory. A range of minor spells that he actually could pull off in spite of his overspecialized circuits. Some common text books. I gave him a free basic education essentially. Just short of an off-hand apprenticeship since he couldn't learn many of my mysteries in general." He helplessly shrugged. "Before I knew it he grew on me like a little brother. Kinda hard not to. You've known him long enough to understand that he's a good kid, unlike most of the vultures here."
"I do not need a brother. I need a dog. And this one has bitten my hand at the command of another master." Her voice was cold and her voice was stern.
This was the point of her coming personally. She was looking for an excuse for her to not off both of them. It was already an unofficial rumor that Waver and Lorelei had occasional discussions about the various going ons of the Clocktower. More importantly, that she put value in his input. The fact that he was being put on charges was a massive tarnish on her reputation. The fact that her prized "dog" could also be dragged through the mud would genuinely stain it.
She was perfect. She did not have or associate with people in possession of spotty reputations.
"How?" he asked almost as innocently as a child. "This was something he had been working on since before you even knew he existed, and I assure you he had no intention of involving you in the first place. His end goals do not go against any particular guidelines you have set up for him. He's not conspiring against Apostles. If anything his actions would only show that he doesn't need your permission to do his job."
"There is a difference between being proactive and withholding critical information from superiors."
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This woman really wanted Shirou to be her dog after all, for him to bark and heel on command as well as attack. "You know it wouldn't take much to get him to play along with the idea that you knew of the entire thing in the first place and give you credit for resolving this debacle so long as he gets what he wants. This isn't some asinine gimmick to make a name for himself or his family or claim some new magic for his own."
"And what does he want?" Lorelei pressed. "He appeared to be a simple child with simple goals, but clearly that is not the case."
Waver shook his head. "No. You're right. He is a simple child with simple goals. He wants his friends and family safe and happy. It's just that the world and situation he's in isn't that simple, so he's been forced to adapt. And here we are."
"It can't be that straightforward." The Queen's eyes narrowed. "It never is."
"He is. Scarily so. Like I said, it's the situation that's the issue. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't." Waver shrugged helplessly before matching the woman's gaze.
The two didn't break eye contact, let alone budge for the several moments that they continued their contest. The first to do so would be the loser, expressing their doubts not only in the situation but in what they knew of it as well.
"… Who are you, Waver Velvet? What is your role?" she asked without blinking. "Are you a man that tricks others for his gain? For other's gain? A coward? I want to hear the answer from your mouth."
If he had been surprised by her question, he didn't show it. "… I am a mediocre magus whose only claims are ones of my own doing, my Lady. I am a teacher that happens to produce exceptional students and results. I am a survivor of the Fourth Grail War. I am a coward that values his life, like any other rational human. I am a conspirator to the fall of the King Gilgamesh. I am a follower of King Alexander. I like to think that I am a passible human being. I certainly do not bear you any form of ill will, even now. And make no mistake, I am very aware of how small I really am."
"A very humbling, if not true thing to state. At the very least, you appear to be realistic."
"A scientist cannot make strides in pointless subjects that cannot exist or be brought into existence."
"What is real and what is assumed to be real are exceptionally differing topics."
"A shame that few truly take that to heart these days."
The silence between them was damning, neither turned away from the other's stern gaze.
"The Archibalds already know about what you've done."
"The Archibalds collaborated with the Einzberns to hire the Edelfelts to kill your precious dog during the war and used me as an accomplice. I somewhat expected better treatment for the one that helped pull them from the fire and returned them to glory, but I clearly was getting my hopes up for nothing," Waver pointed out factually.
Normally he was unable to speak of such things, but the family he was subservient to were in turn subservient to Lorelei's, so the magic preventing him from doing so was rendered moot. The fact that the family knew about the situation either meant that they found out about his betrayal first, or Lorelei did and she had told them about it in order to corner him to do something for her. He was willing to bet on the latter as she was the first person to talk to him since being thrown into the room.
"I expected my dog to be capable enough to manage such rabble without any issue. Do not presume that their actions did not go unnoticed," She countered coolly, managing to cause Waver to actually blink in surprise before grimacing.
Finally the real purpose of her visit had been revealed. He saw what she had tried to do.
She was banking on Shirou obliterating the competition in such a way that when Lorelei finally did confront the family about their actions against her, she would hold it over their heads for decades to make them fall in line without issue, cowering in fear and wallowing in their failure. The story would get out and force the other families that had been displeased with Shirou's mere existence to not get similar ideas as the Archibalds and never question her decisions.
Just as Shirou and the rest of them had been using the War and its combatants to serve their hidden goals, Barthomelloi had been as well. The only difference was that unlike everyone else, the Queen had been using a potentially revolutionary ritual as a mere example to parade the prize she already had.
Before she had discovered the hidden plots of the war, Lorelei Barthomelloi had, believe it or not, actually valued Shirou's employment more than the Holy Grail itself.
The unfortunate thing was, even if she knew that the world was possibly at risk, Barthomelloi was likely more concerned with her plans being disrupted than theirs.
"Well, today's certainly enlightening. I doubt its even noon." He allowed some frustration to escape his control in the form of sarcasm. He was actually pretty hungry now so he was willing to bet that lunch passed some time ago.
"I'm certain that we can get much done to make it even more productive." She didn't leave any room for argument. He was going to aid her in managing the situation in a way that would suit her needs or there would be consequences. As far as she was concerned, this situation was his fault, not hers.
He looked at her warily. He had spoken to her enough times over the past few years to get a good enough idea of what she wanted, or at least the direction that it would be in. The fact that she said "we" instead of "I" was not missed either. As displeased as she is by his actions, she did recognize his worth, either from his experience as a Master in the former war or as one of the orchestrators to the current one.
She was expecting him to talk. To start to work to her benefit in a desperate attempt to save his life and reputation. To submit.
It was tempting. It was very tempting to just go with it all and hope for the best. If things turned for the worse, he'd be in a prime position to gather and organize forces for Anti-Servant warfare.
But he wouldn't. Oh he'd help organize the troops and set up strategies for sure if things turned bad, but it wasn't in him to simply roll over like some pet at a command. Not for her.
"That is likely true. With my guidance and your… well, frankly, everything else, there is a great deal that we can likely do regarding the situation," he started off almost casually.
"You won't," she summarized his rejection with apathy. "You are knowingly placing yourself into a poor position, Lord El Melloi."
"Perhaps. However I may simply have more confidence in your dog's capabilities than you do." He held back a smile. "It is reckless I admit, but, should… no, when Shirou manages to rectify the situation regarding the Grail, Gilgamesh, Kirei Kotomine, and the other participants, and the Archibalds learn that they were interfering with such a critical operation…"
"I never took you for a gambler."
This time Waver did smirk. "You're one to talk."
She stood her ground. "It's not a gamble if it's all but assured. Had this war been without complications, his victory would have been obvious for all to see. You, on the other hand, can't make such a claim under your current circumstances."
"No, I can't," he admitted, the smile never leaving his face. "But that's what makes it interesting in the end, isn't it? And while it isn't assured, I did make moves to fix things in my favor when possible."
This time the woman did for a moment lose composure for but a moment. "… What did you do?"
She wasn't talking about his actions regarding the Holy Grail War.
Waver blew out the last bit of smoke from his cigar before throwing the butt on the ground and grinding it with his shoe. "Like I said my Lady, the waiting game doesn't work on those that knew they'd be caught in the first place, and while I do intend to save the world using Shirou as my means, that does not imply that I have any stupid intention of sacrificing myself and my reputation in the process. I have far too much work to do to bother with such a meaningless thing."
He had to admit, Kiritsugu may have rubbed off on him in a bad way. If his employers wanted to play dirty, he would match and raise the stakes in kind.
He was a Magus after all.
o. o. o.
Edelfelt Mannor:
Archer walked through the rather affluent building somewhat warily to where he knew his Master was waiting for him along with Caster and Luvia.
He didn't know what was going on, but even though their mental link was closed he could tell that the girl was emotionally unstable at the moment. Granted, that was normally to be expected whenever she was in the same room as Luvia for more than ten seconds, but he had a bad feeling that this was a different case.
The lack of explosions and yelling backed up his suspicions greatly.
Ever since the previous night Rin had been avoiding him. He had little doubt it was due to what happened at the Temple, with him disobeying her commands so he could off much of the competition and… Assassin.
He would be lying if he claimed that Kiritsugu's revelation didn't get to him. The man that put him on this cursed path in the first place, the man that had been broken before they had met, the man that had given up on his dream had somehow made it to the throne.
It was almost as insulting as it was astounding. What was the purpose of taking his dream when it had already been fulfilled? What was the purpose of those words said that night under the full moon? What the fuck was the point of the endless hell that he had put himself through during life and the beyond?
No, he was somewhat grateful that Rin had isolated him soon afterwards. Even if it was more for her reasons than his. He needed the time to cool off and get his head on right again.
That didn't mean that he had come to any conclusions that satisfied him. It just meant that he was able to have a conversation without accidentally pissing off everyone within hearing distance in the first five words.
Whether he did it on purpose was still up in the air.
He would have gone in spiritual form the entire way back to Rin, but appearing out of nowhere near her in her current state of mind wouldn't have been the best of ideas, especially with Luvia and Caster around. He wasn't exactly sure why they held such an animosity towards him, attempted murder aside, but he was certain that his younger self was responsible. Regardless of the reason, exciting them now would have been a poor idea.
Women. Why couldn't they be sane on average when they had powers, like Saber, or Ciel? She was a nice girl that wasn't overly manipulative or murder happy and didn't explode everything when she fought. Hell she used swords as her main weapon too. More points in his book as far as he was concerned.
"I'm coming in now," he announced his arrival just before he opened the door. "If you wanted tea…?!"
On the other side of the professionally carved oak door was a large, well decorated, and not ravaged by magical teenage angst meeting room. Pictures and little trinkets that were common in such places to display the owner's wealth covered every painted blue wall, but not so much as to seem excessive. There were two other doors leading elsewhere visible from where he was, in addition to a fireplace, some cabinets, a dinner table… and three women all turned towards in his direction with identical pissed and exhausted looks. Whatever he was going to say died in his mouth as he saw the three women there sitting with their eyes all focused on him.
He would be lying if he said that he had never been in a situation like this before. He would also be lying if he said that he wasn't momentarily paralyzed with fear and flashbacks.
Even so, the Servant's sharp eyes didn't miss several key facts in the moments after he opened the door. All three females were physically displaying signs of stress with pale complexions and human two having bags under their eyes. Rin being the most prominent of all of them. The girl looked like she had been put through a genuine emotional rollercoaster and wouldn't have been able to stand if she tried.
The red coloring in her eyes also indicated that she had actually been crying earlier. He could count on one hand the number of times he remembered her do that in earnest, and every one of them was in the wake of something he would rather forget.
All of that information though paled when put up with one simple yet glaring fact. Rin was holding her hand up, Command Seal glowing.
"By my command Servant, I order you to from now on always tell me the full truth to the best of your abilities, never omitting details and settling for half truths or misleading answers."
A flash of red. A wave of nerves firing, and then everything was as it had been, save for there being only one Command Seal left on Rin's hand.
Long lasting commands normally weren't that effective on Servants. Even in most worlds where Rin had wasted one on his obedience at the beginning of the war, it at best made it so that he was slightly crippled if he went against them, lowering his stats by a rank. An annoyance to be sure, but not an overwhelming hurdle.
However the command this time merely dictated what he would say to her. It was not demanding an impossible mystery or dictating his superhuman physical actions. It was just dictating what noises came out of his mouth. A simple action that anyone could do at anytime.
"What is your name?" Rin asked the moment she felt that the prana in the area calmed down.
"Shirou Emiya, but I discarded my first name a long time ago." The words escaped his mouth automatically. He had no control now.
"Why?" She pressed.
"Several reasons. I only remember bits and pieces of when I was alive anymore. I am more the ideal of being the Hero of justice that Shirou Emiya strived and eventually grew up to become, and less the individual that possessed the ideal in the first place. The Hero that he promised Kiritsugu Emiya to become the night he died," he continued to speak without control, but it didn't prevent him from expressing his displeasure of it given the glare he was giving the girl.
"So you were lying when you told me that the makers of the war put in measures to prevent you from remembering the events of the war." Her accusation held a slew of mixed emotions that he couldn't make out before he replied.
"It was a half truth. I don't know if that's actually the case or not. To be honest I do remember more than I normally do when summoned but my memory is still far from perfect."
"Explain what you mean by normally summoned." Rin didn't flinch.
"This isn't the first time I've been called to the Fifth Grail War, nor by you. What happens most often is when you summon me, you accidentally forget to take into account your clocks changing earlier for who knows why and summon me an hour off from your peak. It affects my stats and my memories to the point that I really don't know who I am until I piece it together later on. Still this is the first world that I can recall you recognizing me the instant I was summoned. I thought you were mad when you burst out laughing when you saw me."
Luvia couldn't help but snort in amusement. "It looks like your incompetence is a multiversal constant Tohsaka."
"How can you remember the other wars?" Caster frowned. "We are mere copies of the original in the Throne. What we learn shouldn't be able to go back to the original."
The Emiya was only obligated to answer Rin, but since she would ask him anyways, he decided not to make things worse for himself. "I'm a Counter Guardian. I'm not a normal heroic spirit. Because I'm frequently called by Alaya to do dirty work, I'm allowed to access records of what my incarnations have done in order to be more efficient at my job."
He frowned as he watched all three females flinched at his declaration, but otherwise remained composed. "You knew."
"You don't have a legend," Caster replied, matching his glare without fear.
Everyone remained silent for several seconds before the sole male there clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Tch. To be found out because of something so meaningless. How stupid."
Rin's disposition made more sense now. If she was as close to her counterpart as he thought, then the revelation of him being a Counter Guardian must have hit hard. More so given that she knew about his disposition and state of mind. She must feel guilty and partially responsible for what happened to him.
That couldn't be everything though. Even if they figured all that out, it wouldn't explain why Luvia and Caster were distressed as well. Something else had happened.
"How much do you remember?" Luvia spoke up for the first time out of mild curiosity that would have fooled anyone that didn't know her better. "From what Tohsaka's been saying, you've been rather remiss when it comes to this war."
Archer shrugged casually. "I remember being absolutely useless as a magus at this time, to the point that Rin was completely surprised that I was one at all when we first had a decent conversation during the war. I didn't even know how to use my circuits correctly. The only thing I could accomplish consistently was structural grasping. I was lucky if I could even accomplish strengthening a piece of lead twice in a night."
Everyone looked at him as if he was mad. The idea of Shirou, a magus whose name was close to being legendary in the magus world, being so incompetent to that degree was baffling. True he wasn't a conventional magus, or a revolutionary genius for that matter, but to be simply incompetent after what their version had managed to do was simply unimaginable.
The fact that this version of Shirou had actually become someone like Archer even more so.
"Just str… how the hell did that even happen?" Luvia tried to wrap her head around what the man had just said.
"My fa… teacher, wasn't exactly quality material." No one had missed his slipup and no one had bothered to comment on it. Given the look of distaste on his face, it was clear that Kiritsugu was one subject that everyone would avoid for a good while if they wanted to keep things remotely civil. "He didn't want me to learn thaumaturgy in the first place, and when he finally did cave in he didn't exactly do a good job with the fundamentals."
"So you were a hack as a magus at the time." Rin bluntly got him back on track. She clearly wasn't in the mood to marvel at his failures. "What else do you remember?"
"… I remember being stabbed by Lancer through the heart with no idea what was going on before summoning Saber, yet somehow surviving afterwards. I remember Saber coming out of nowhere after Lancer coming after me again just a while later. I remember Caster taking up residence at the Temple. I remember Illyasviel Von Einsbern trying to kill me and Rin with Berserker. I don't remember who killed who and in what order." He went on after some time gathering himself. He didn't hold back the bitter tone in his voice from recalling Assassin's identity.
"Anything of particular use?" Luvia pressed. "Major events? The victor of the war?"
"No. I don't remember how my war ended specifically. I don't even remember who lived in the end other than Rin, me, Sakura, and… never mind, she died in the end regardless. I could go on, but as you can see, there are gaps, and it is fairly apparent that this isn't the world I come from. I don't ever recall there being two Casters for example, nor you being here Luvia. You didn't meet Rin or I until we went to the Clocktower a while after this mess. You two ended up destroying an entire floor of student apartments the first time you laid eyes on one another, or so I heard."
Rin and Luvia had the decency to blush in embarrassment and ignore the other's existence at that last bit.
He didn't have to acknowledge any of that excessive information at the end, but Rin was here. It wouldn't hurt his case to add a few useless facts to make her feel comfortable with him again, if only slightly.
The few bits and pieces that she had slipped of this modern Shirou clearly indicated that he was trained, competent, and not useless. If he wanted an easier time getting to him, he would need as much leniency and information as possible.
Still, he was getting a bad feeling from this conversation, and not simply because he was forced to spew out his secrets at will. They were leading him up to something. They knew something he didn't, or rather, they knew something that they suspected that he also knew, but didn't bother to tell them.
"How did you survive your heart being pierced, and why are you so sure it was Lancer if your memories are skewed?" Caster inquired, getting them back on track.
Sighing to himself, Archer reached into one of the hidden folds in his pants and took out the pendant he had carried on him since that day. "I found this when I woke up in a puddle of my blood. There is only one of its kind in the world, and it had at one point contained a sizeable quantity of prana. Reconstructing or refabricating a functional heart would have been possible with it in the hands of a capable magus, though why they would waste it on such a useless person I will never know."
"Tohsaka." Luvia glanced at her guest skeptically. "I'm assuming that you have the current version."
Rin nodded slowly as she took out her version, still full to the brim with power unlike the empty husk that EMIYA had. "… I thought that the shroud I had borrowed from Shirou was the catalyst in the ritual, but apparently there were other factors involved."
"Who knows? They might as well have been for all we know. If he's had it for long enough, his blood and sweat could have possibly served as a suitable catalyst," Archer admitted. He didn't particularly care as to how he had been summoned here. He was here and that was that as far as he was concerned. "As for how I know it was Lancer…"
Much to the girls' surprise, Archer decided to go for broke and dispelled the armor on his upper body to reveal his bare chest and the angry and particularly fresh looking scar over his heart. The slew of additional holes and slash marks that littered his body didn't even compare to it.
"There aren't many Noble Phantasms that leave such stubborn wounds," he casually explained as if half flashing the three gaping females wasn't worth noting. "The moment I saw Cu Culaiin and that spear of his, I knew instantly he had been the one responsible for almost killing me back then."
"I… well… you…" Luvia stumbled over her words as her brain attempted to reboot from the show she was getting. She had always known that Shirou was well built, but this was a Heroic Spirit version of him, and the condition of his body mixed with the scars he had were… surprising.
Caster recovered well considering that she had essentially isolated herself from men and the outside world after her short time with Jason. She had managed to force herself to look away and use a hand to shield her gaze, but didn't hide the blush on her face. "R-Really Archer? Did you have to be so vulgar?"
"SHIROU!" Rin exploded, her face as red as the shroud he wore. He was doing this on purpose. They all knew it, but that didn't stop it from working.
"You wanted me to tell you the truth to the best of my abilities." The shameless man shrugged as if it wasn't his problem before pointing to his most prominent scar again and turning around to give the ladies a good view of his muscular back, the scars there, and the matching angry exit wound. "I can't get much better than this."
The ladies wanted the truth, so he gave them the whole truth. They had no one else to blame but themselves as far as he was concerned.
"Yes… and… impressive…" Luvia's ability to speak coherently appeared to match her ability to control her facial expressions if her wide eyes, blushing cheeks, and inability to close her mouth were any indication.
"Archer. If you don't want me to add to your collection of scars you will make yourself decent now," Caster growled while still looking away, one hand blocking her view and the other glowing with pure power.
"Really. And here I thought you'd be the most mature of the lot." He sighed dismissively as his armor rematerialized on his body and he crossed his arms. "While I clearly am the subject of scrutiny tonight, can someone please care to at least explain to me what brought this on? I thought that you would be more interested in the commotion that took place just now at the Temple, given that you have that convenient observation room."
He paused for a moment before sighing and closed his eyes. "… Unless of course Shirou Emiya did something incredibly stupid again in the middle of that commotion. Wonderful."
"Of course you did something stupid! Past or future you're always doing stupid things! Stupid!" Rin managed to regain some of her unique brand of composure.
"Please calm down, Tohsaka. Your limited vocabulary is embarrassing us." Luvia shook her head, ashamed by her rival's behavior despite the fact that she had been all but drooling moments before. "Archer, have you ever been bitten by an Apostle before?"
"An Apostle?" The Counter Guardian blinked, again caught completely off guard by the seemingly random question. "No. Never. I've been slashed and cursed a time or three, but not bitten."
"… Do you know of the Apostle Ancestor Louvre?" Luvia continued with a pressure of a hunter that was not missed by anyone.
"Louvre?" The name was familiar but not one that he would know off the top of his head. "… Wasn't he the replacement for Chaos? The Tenth Ancestor? Rumor had it he was killed by Satsujinki, the White Princess' bodyguard, just before Barthomelloi raided his castle to kill him. I think. The only reason why I remember that much is because the Queen went on an obsessed rampage trying to find him for a good while after that event. It's a bit hard to forget anything big that woman does. Why? What importance does he have in all of this?"
That was the last nail in the coffin. Archer and Shirou were two completely independent entities. Even their pre-war histories didn't match up. There was no point in asking him further questions on the matter or about Merem.
"No, just… never mind. We just needed to make sure of something." Rin and Luvia looked at one another knowingly.
"Please don't tell me that Shirou Emiya is some sort of Dead Apostle that's on the verge of losing control of himself but everyone is convinced that there is a bare minimal chance that he can be saved," Archer groaned. "This isn't some childish fairy tale story. Vampirism has never been cured, even in the future. People have tried and were still trying when I died. The only ones that managed to maintain even some of their humanity despite transforming were Zelretch and a director of the Wandering Tomb. Even then they had complications for the rest of their lives. Somehow I highly doubt that your Shirou Emiya has the means to replicate their achievements regardless of what he has done so far."
None of the women in the room had the urge or desire to tell him that Shirou had somehow screwed up the transformation process and was becoming essentially a completely new sub-species.
"He had a close call, but if he was going to be a mindless zombie he would have been dealt with already," Luvia tried to placate the Servant. "The incident happened years ago."
"Forgive me if I don't feel relieved." He turned to Caster. "As much as I enjoy being compared and grilled about what I may or may not know about my other, can we please get back to the more pressing matter that we are all here for in the first place? It would be rather productive to know what happened at the Temple that has everyone's tempers running and their sights aimed particularly at me."
"My counterpart has obtained control over Rider in addition to Assassin and Lancer." Caster got to the point. "Your current self along with Berserker's Master retreated in order to regroup and rethink the situation. It appears as my counterpart has also turned her Master into a Lesser Grail. I take it that you know what that means?"
The hardened expression on his face spoke for itself. He didn't say anything at first. It was obvious he was trying to wrap his head around the situation. "Since that doesn't answer the second part of my question, I assume you've been talking to Shirou Emiya to know of how things progressed."
A series of slow nods seemed to only further his irritable mood. The way he spoke of someone with his name with such distance sent chills through all of their spines.
"In my world there were only a handful of people in the War outside of myself that were even aware of the Lesser Grail's existence at the beginning of everything, let alone what it actually was. Illyasviel must believe that the situation is almost beyond redemption is if she's willingly revealed that information to outsiders. All in all though, I'm almost more surprised that she didn't kill him yet if she still has the grudge against me from before."
No one bothered to correct him in the fact that she actually wanted to kill Shirou Emiya more in this world than in his.
"The boy passed out due to his wounds during the conversation. Needless to say, we were given plenty of answers and almost as many questions." Caster nodded, not bothering to correct him that it was Shirou and Saber that revealed to them what a Lesser Grail was in the first place. "We know of the status of the Grail and how it works, so our goal of completing it is non-existent now, but we want to know of anything else of importance that he may have conveniently forgotten or omitted."
"And given my past behavior you don't trust me without assurances." Archer sighed in annoyance. He really couldn't blame them given what he had learned, but that didn't mean that he couldn't hold it against them. "Fine. I can't promise you'll like what you hear, nor can I assure you that my information with align with his, but I won't hold back if that is what you want."
"What do you want, Archer?" Rin demanded, her weary eyes narrowed. "You know the Grail is tainted, so you shouldn't have a reason to be here. Plus given your actions, and lack thereof, it's clear that you have no interest in actually helping us deal with the thing in the first place. If you didn't have any particular wish or desire to be fulfilled, you wouldn't have been able to be called in the first place."
"I want to kill the Shirou Emiya that would one day become me." He didn't hesitate, knowing full well that it would not go over well.
The fact that none of the three he was talking to reacted appropriately was not lost on him, but he continued regardless. He'd inquire about that later. "If I can manage to kill the spirit and body of Shirou Emiya, the paradox induced made might be enough to get me out of the Throne. Purgatory or non-existence is better than being in that perpetual hell. The Fifth Fuyuki Grail War is the only opportunity I have to make that possibility real from where I am."
Even hearing it from his mouth, the three women had trouble believing it. The mere idea that one hated his existence so much that he would rather not have existed at all was absurd.
"… Is… is it truly that terrible, Archer?" Caster hesitated to ask. She knew that Counter Guardians did, but what Archer was willing to do to escape went even beyond that.
A bitter, dark, and overall insulting laugh escaped the man's lips. "Caster, I envy you. Truly I do. You are not only a hero of circumstance, but you actually managed to escape from your fate too and still have your name in legends. You had peace. Me… I was a fool. I attempted to be a hypocrite without even knowing it. I tried to be a hero of justice and at the same time tried to save everyone in sight. Justice and Salvation. Two contradicting goals that would never cross, a fact that you yourself are very familiar with. All I wanted was to make everyone happy, to never see anyone experience what I had to go through that day… but all I saw after I died was hell."
His fists tightened and the normally impassive face he had scrunched up into the enraged madness that was left to drive him beneath his apathetic demeanor. The Command Seal forcing the truth from his heart out despite his efforts to keep it and his emotions concealed. "I killed. I killed and killed and killed and killed and killed. Never ending. Never stopping. Meaningless massacres. Meaningless peace. Meaningless happiness. I was forced to watch it all even when I wanted to turn away. Even now my original is in some other era and time perpetually ending lives without control. I didn't become a Counter Guardian for this. The justice of the world that dictates peace will never lead to the image of salvation that I dreamed for. So long as I am a Heroic Spirit, I will never see my wish true. If it's a choice between being nothing and being forced to into an endless hell of murder, I have no reservations on which path I would take regardless of how much blood will be on my hands."
There it was. The true nature of the Heroic Spirit EMIYA was laid out for them. He wasn't a legend. He wasn't the child of a god. He wasn't fated to be some savior of humanity.
He was just a man that wanted everyone around him to be happy. A tired, worn, beaten, and simple soul that had been betrayed by his actions, his dreams, and the nature of humanity itself.
His magic and nature enabled him to go far, farther than most in this era would ever hope to go. Perhaps if he didn't make a deal with Alaya, if he had been a bit smarter in his actions… he might have even managed to make it to the Throne on his own steam. Even if he didn't, it wouldn't have been difficult to assume that he would had have died and moved on happy knowing he helped who knows how many people in the end. But instead he was a Counter Guardian. A cleaner, sweeping away the refuse in the form of humans to let humans thrive.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Normally when someone said this, they were describing how someone's actions, however good intentioned, eventually caused more problems than solved.
In Archer's case the only problems made in the end were his own, and they really did send him to his own hell.
He had wronged them. He had misled them. He had put their lives in danger and even attempted to kill some of them. But the three females there all couldn't help but pity the cursed individual in front of them. For all that he had done, he didn't deserve what he was going through.
"But by your own admission this isn't your world," Luvia continued, managing to gain her voice seeing as Rin was poorly trying to hide her tears and Caster was still staring at the man. "Too much is different. You yourself said that. Our Shirou won't become you. Are you still going to go with your pointless plan here?"
"It's likely." He nodded, surprising the three women.
"Why?" Caster couldn't comprehend why he would continue with such a pointless endeavor if it wouldn't yield any beneficial results. "You are a terrible excuse for a person but you don't do meaningless things."
"Because Shirou Emiya is still a hopeless fool," he concluded with a firm but obvious tone as if stating the sky is blue. "Even with a greater mastery of his skills and self-control, he's still heading down a road that will damn himself in the end and beyond for the sake of others. Killing him before he does something irreversible would be a mercy for everyone."
He wisely left out that doing it would also make him feel slightly better.
"How on earth did you come to that conclusion?" Caster frowned. "From what I've been told, you've only encountered the boy in passing. As much as I would enjoy the boy reaping what he has sewn, I don't see what would make him make the same mistake of agreeing to a pact with Alaya."
Archer snorted. "It's not hard when you know what to look for. The ridiculous plans. The fact that he seemed to be needlessly involved in everything. The familiarity and ease he has with our mysteries and Reality Marble. Those alone were proof that he is a fool like I once was. But the greatest tells of how far gone he was were when Rin told me Shinji had been dead for years and he had been teamed up with Sakura from the start."
"Sakura?" Rin blinked in confusion as she wiped her face. She honestly had no idea how those two facts could lead to anything particularly damning, and she wasn't in the current state of mind focus hard on vague topics either. "Why would that annoying bug Shinji being dead have anything to do with that?"
The Servant was compelled to answer her, and he would, but the Command Seal used on him didn't seem to force him to reply immediately. Instead he looked at Luvia and Caster with concern. "… It is not pleasant. Nor is it my secret to reveal. It would be best if I told you that privately if possible."
For once the three females believed that he was acting out of the good of his heart. He didn't make eye contact with them and his expression was that of extreme displeasure. Whatever he was about to say wouldn't go well with any of them.
Rin shook her head. "We don't have the time or the patience for such luxuries Archer. Tell us."
He held back an annoyed sigh and settled for glaring at the three. He wasn't in exactly in a peaceful state of mind either after going over his goals. "As you might or might not know, Sakura underwent constant torturous processes in her training as a Matou. I won't bother you with the details of those. What you likely didn't know is that Zouken also altered her body to become a second Lesser Grail using the remains of the one used in the fourth war. The alterations put a constant drain on her reserves as the worms in her body fed these shards. The end goal was to use her to trigger the Greater Grail system without the need for sacrificing us Servants in the future. The rate of which she fed the shards prana surpassed what she could naturally produce. As a result, Sakura needed a constant external source to keep her alive, and thus Shinji actually had a purpose he could serve to Zouken."
All three women's faces went white. They had automatically arrived to the right conclusion.
"I… I don't know who is more sick…" Luvia blanched. "That man for doing such a thing… or the child for… this was ten years ago. She would have been seven or eight when they first…"
"That… that little shit." Rin's fists were so tight that her hands were bleeding. "He… all that time he was raping her and he still had the nerve to come after me. If he wasn't already dead I would have… wait…"
Archer didn't bother to go into further details. His memory was partial and not even that reliable in this world, but he knew Rin well enough to know that she was on her way to piecing it all together. She was a genius after all.
Shinji was dead, so Zouken needed a new constant and reliable source of prana for Sakura. He could have used anyone, but he decided to go for the most powerful and competent young male magi in the city who happened to be unusually invested in the girl. He'd kill three birds with one stone that way.
He'd have Sakura alive, Shirou would be in an ideal position to protect her from near anything, and Zouken would have a solid grasp on a very likely candidate for the next Grail War… no, that wasn't right. Shirou was not just a likely candidate for the war, but the one that everyone believed had the highest odds of winning. Even without the knowledge that Kiritsugu had given his son, Shirou was the Magus Killer. His raw combat aptitude and tactics dwarfed the vast majority of every other Magus' out there save the best of the Enforcers and a few others and everyone knew it. Sure there were plenty of ways around his mysteries, and the Master of Lancer was a bigger threat than he was in a direct fight, but overall the odds were not against the boy.
Shirou on the other hand, was clearly preparing for the war in turn and used the deal to his advantage. Whether or not he was aware of how dangerous Zouken was in the first place didn't matter.
Fast forward to the present. Shirou had teamed up with Sakura from the get go before anyone got their bearings straight. And a while later Zouken had been killed before anyone else in the war with Kotomine telling everyone that the worm had been screwing with the system.
Shirou had planned all of this out years in advance. He had fooled everyone by playing the lap dog, even Zouken of all people. Hell, given that Kotomine had made the announcement, there was even reason to believe that he had managed to somehow rope the priest into the scheme, and it was no secret that he hated the man.
He had also been fucking Sakura without anyone else knowing better. He had been keeping the girl alive for two years with a straight face. He had been keeping quiet about Zouken, the war, his sister, his transformation, and who knows how much for two whole years.
"I've been around a number of people, but I won't lie when I say that Zouken is one of the worst. It takes a special kind of person to be able to stay around him willingly for so long without losing their mind," Archer offhandedly commented as Rin's and Luvia's faces hardened, though their complexions didn't change. "Even if it's to kill the wrinkled monster, to risk spending so much time in his presence isn't exactly the definition of safe. Then again, from what I remember, Zouken was always a particularly large pain whenever he did decide to act. Stupid or not, it is somewhat relieving to know that he's gone… if it's true at least."
"… How… no." Luvia attempted to reign in her rampaging thoughts. "Saber… Saber and Shirou confirmed that Zouken was finished. Shirou, our Shirou, wouldn't make such a claim unless he was certain. He works for Barthomelloi hunting Apostles and designates. Being thorough is second nature by this point."
Archer blanched. Out of all the possible screw ups that his other self might have gotten himself into, working directly for that woman was not one of them. "The Queen? How in the nine hells did my other self manage to get her attention without getting a Sealing Designation?"
"It's a long story." Rin was slightly relieved that at least some things stayed the same. Granted, it wasn't hard to be terrified of one of the most powerful women in the world. It did little to help her mood though.
The Counter Guardian closed his eyes and grimaced. "You see. That. That right there. It's those exact kinds of situations that I'm trying to relieve everyone from in the end."
"Even in our current situation?" Caster rose her argument skeptically. "With my counterpart controlling three Servants in addition to herself and a makeshift Lesser Grail?"
The stated fact gave Archer reason to pause. He might have been able to sneak into her ranks and play the double agent like in other iterations of the war, but with his identity out and his counterpart screwing pretty much everyone over, no one would trust him. Killing his other self now in general would be bad timing regardless, and even if he wanted to try and simply sacrifice everyone on and near the Mountain just to be done with the situation, he didn't have the means to pull it off by himself.
"Acting out now would lead to more problems than solve," he replied honestly before looking at the women skeptically. "Out of curiosity, did he tell you anything else interesting other than Zouken and the nature of the Grail?"
"You weren't going to hide Gilgamesh's existence from us, were you?" Rin asked dangerously.
"I can't hide what I can't confirm to exist, Rin," he deflected the accusation expertly, hiding the fact that he was surprised that they also knew of the King of Heroes. That didn't stop him from noticing the expressions on all three women darken dangerously. "For all I knew he died in the last war of this world. The Grail was originally designed to summon standard Heroic Spirits plus Hassan-I-Sabbah. I wouldn't have been capable of being summoned if it wasn't corrupted. For Sakura, a quick structural grasping was all I needed to know that Zouken hasn't changed. As for the Gilgamesh…"
"What?" Luvia frowned as the Servant paused for a moment to think before chuckling bitterly to himself.
"No. I'm just annoyed by the irony. In a majority of the wars I'm summoned in, the pompous monster actually does show up near the beginning." He smirked and shook his head at the fact. "He took up a hobby of walking around town at night while things were still calm. We even crossed paths with him during our night out on town with us being none the wiser."
"And because of your botched summonings you don't remember him," Luvia concluded.
"He's got a body now, so it's not like I can just say he's a Servant. Unless he's fighting it's near impossible to locate him by normal sensory methods," Archer pointed out factually. "Still, if Saber is convinced he's still around then the argument is moot point. She wouldn't lie about something like that."
"And why's that? She shouldn't remember who he is, even if she was summoned in the previous…" Rin's declaration was stopped mid-way before she groaned and put a hand on her face. "… She's not a normal Servant either, is she?"
Archer couldn't help but smile in amusement. "Not in the slightest. Even I'm normal compared to her. There's a reason why she can't turn into a spirit. I can tell you what I know, but I'd rather not betray her trust."
"Why not?" Caster frowned. "You've seemed to be doing a good job of it so far."
"Because it has absolutely no relevance with the situation," he argued reasonably, ignoring the shot at his pride. "Her condition is of her own doing, not the Grail's or my counterpart's. Given what is supposedly going on, I thought I'd at least give you lot the benefit of not having another meaningless issue to gripe about."
"… You like her." Rin read him like a book. Despite his harsh words, it was clear to her that he was protecting his former Servant.
"I respect her. Even if her desires and decisions are as foolish as mine," he corrected her almost automatically before glaring at the three, as if daring them to ask what they were.
"At the very least, it is refreshing to know that there is someone you won't backstab." Luvia's comment seemed to worm into everyone's skin for various reasons. "Thankfully she's on our side so we won't have to worry too much about you betraying us for her."
"Heh," Archer snorted, getting everyone's attention. "Really. I've become so bad that Luvia is more worried about me pulling one over on her than Rin. It's so absurd it's depressing."
"You have no one to blame but yourself." The blonde glared at him.
"Archer… what was I to you?" It was the softer tone that Rin used that caught everyone's attention. It was tired, but held more meaning in it than the other times she had spoken. "I saw the dreams. You were alone for so long. What happened to me?"
"… You became a magus at the Clocktower, like you always wanted. A prominent one too." His answer came out smoothly, but he never met her gaze. "You were someone I looked up to. Admired even. You are a genius after all, and I'm essentially a one trick pony, in your words. You helped me out of quite a few jams, probably more since I don't remember everything."
"Go on," Rin pressed, tears in her eyes. "I know it's not all rainbows and praises."
"Eventually you had enough. Like everyone else," he relented. "I wanted to focus on helping people. You wanted to focus on your studies and research. Things came to a head when we dismantled the Grail a decade from now and we found out what Zouken did to Sakura and things got… complicated. Words were exchanged. You went back to England and nearly drowned yourself in your work. I went… I think to the Middle East. That area was a bit of a hot bed of activity at the time so it made sense."
Rin didn't need to be a genius to know that something happened to Sakura during the incident. She had already suspected a worst case scenario. "That was it? That was the last time we saw one another? I gave up that easily?"
"You lasted longer than everyone else, if that makes you feel any better. You were almost as stubborn as I was in that regard," he relented. "But as for the last time we saw one another… I don't know."
"What do you mean by that?" Caster pressed.
The subject seemed to frustrate him as he flexed his hands and looked up sternly. "I say that because I'm not sure if I heard her when I was being executed."
o. o. o.
Shirou Emiya woke up. His silver eyes stared at the ceiling.
o. o. o.
Omake:
"And now for everyone's favorite show, Ask Archer! Where the contestants ask our favorite nihilistic bastard Servant questions about the Future!" The Princess of Colchis smiled cheerfully in a game show host's uniform. "Today with us are Luvia Edelfelt and Rin Toshaka!"
"Why on earth are you so cheerful?" Archer deadpanned at the uncharacteristically happy woman.
"Because silly! I'm not canon! Anything asked during the show won't relate to me at all!" The Servant's smile developed a hint of sadism.
"She's your servant all right." Rin deadpanned at the blonde right next to her.
"Oh shut up. Whose Servant is the reason we're here for this in the first place?" the European grunted back.
"Let's just agree that this is Shirou's fault," the former wept comically.
"NO! NO, IT'S NOT!" Shirou shouted from the audience.
"No complaints here. I'm only existing till the end of the war." EMIYA shrugged casually. It should be noted that he was tied down into the chair he was currently on.
"First question!" the Princess announced with a piece of paper in her hand. "Luvia! You're up!"
"Already? Don't we… never mind. Question about the future." Luvia paused as she looked around at the audience where the rest of the cast of FFD was forced to watch with mixed expressions… before turning to Rin with an evil look. "Archer, do tell us, does Tohsaka here ever grow up physically? I'm rather disappointed in having a rival with the appearance of a preteen."
"Woot!" several voices in the audience cheered.
"WHY?!" the current Shirou wept.
"▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!" Berserker raged.
"DEATH! DEATH TO THE FOREIGNER WITH COW GENES!" Rin was surrounded by rupturing jewels of various elements in addition to all ten of her fingers spawning fin curses.
Archer took the show in stride. "I have no idea how much she'll change now, but when I last saw my Rin she had filled out a bit. Not as much as you Luvia, but in her words, enough to be sexy and not have two sagging sacks of potatoes on her chest when she gets older."
"These are not potatoes! These are voluptuous melons of the highest quality!" Luvia shouted before pausing and turning to the sky with a crimson face. "I will kill you author! I will end your half assed writing career and…" She paused. "Apology accepted! Archer! What are Tohsaka's three siz…"
BZZT.
"Sorry! But you will have to wait for your opponent's turn to ask," Caster interrupted her Master's ranting with a careless smile.
"Boooo!" several male voices in the audience cried.
"Salvation!" she current Shirou wept.
"▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!" Berserker raged.
"Death to the author!"
"Can I make a request for him to kill her?" Rin asked while pointing to the violent blonde.
"Sorry, but this is an omake. Nothing's permanent here," the Servant apologized.
"Damn. Can I ask him to not answer her questions?"
"That's against the rules."
"Can I go now?" Archer asked skeptically.
Caster pressed a button, causing him to be electrocuted for five seconds.
"Can I have the button?" Rin looked at the device with stars in her eyes. Fuck command seals. That device would keep him in line far more efficiently than magic ever would.
"No."
"Fine." Rin pouted. "Archer, if you had so much trouble with me in the other worlds, why didn't you use Rule Breaker to get rid of the contract and kill yourself from the beginning?"
Archer, steaming from being electrocuted, opened his mouth to respond before his eyes widened considerably. "… I had Rule Breaker the entire time…"
Caster blinked as the tied up Servant began to slam his head against the podium in front of him, repeating the mantra "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." Endlessly. "Wow. I didn't think that he'd react like that."
"Hindsight's 20/20." Luvia shrugged, not turning away from the show. "B ranked eye of the mind isn't I guess."
"Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid…"
"How long do you think he's going to keep doing this?" Caster looked at Rin.
"Stupid stupid…"
"No clue. He could be at it for a while. He is stubborn like that."
"STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID…"
"Oh wonderful, he's working himself up for this one." Caster groaned. "Let's cut to a break and hopefully we can get back to the show when the next chapter comes up in…" She paused… "HOW MANY MONTHS?!"
o. o. o.
A/N:
Thanks again wayfarer for betaing.
I LIVE! LIKE AN ANNOYING TROPE THAT WON'T GO AWAY, I THE BANE OF TYPE LOONATICS AM BACK WITH ANOTHER FFD THAT IS… honestly a bit subpar in my opinion. Really, I personally liked the omake the most in this chapter, and I made it in like… fifteen minutes. Kinda depressing really.
Unfortunately it had to be done. I know there was a ton of exposition last chapter and it hurts to wait this long just to have more, but really, none of the characters in this story are dumb enough to skip over the details when they have so many more questions to be answered. Again, it had to be done.
As for why it took so bloody long, Let me give you a rundown of what happened since my last chapter: I worked on several chapters of my other story. Monty Oum died. Due to the timing of his death, I stuck with that story for another two chapters. I lost my job due to bullshit management. My grandfather died. I worked my ass off. I went to Anime Boston. I got my Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering. I'm currently in the middle of the interviewing process for two massive companies.
As for the chapter itself, I started off well, but the Waver Lorelei scene took me forever to get down. Major writers block on that part.
Ok. Now a time of brutal honesty.
I don't like Rin. Not nearly as much as the other female characters in the fate universe at least.
Now I don't hate her. Her character is solid, her powers are solid, and she is a good tool in the original game for explaining… everything…
You see where I'm going with this?
I played the visual novel first, before the trainwreck that deen pulled out of their asses. All three routes. All bad endings etc. Here's the thing… Rin never stuck out for me. She was generic when I was playing. Either she was a tool to explain what the hell was going on, or she was essentially just trolling Shirou or playing a standard tsundere stereotype.
Saber was a whole mess of pro's and con's on her own. Illya was a 19 year old loli with a sadistic streak and had Berserker for fcks sake. No one knew what the hell was going on with Rider, giving her that appealing mystery. Caster was a bitch that had plans and could pull them off and had versatility. Sakura was a girl that seemed normal for the majority of the entire game until her issues get thrown in everyone's faces and it's been revealed that she had been fucked over figuratively and metaphorically in so many damn ways that I'm impressed that she didn't snap in the other routes, plus her powers are actually interesting. And Taiga's… well, taiga dojo.
Rin… she was just too normal compared to the rest of the cast. Everything went well for her. I mean yeah, her parents died and Kirei raised her, which is fcked up, but that doesn't even show up on her character at all. I mean I don't want her to go emo like batman, hell no, but I mean… there's really nothing. She doesn't snap. She has no unique gimmick. Despite being some super special magus, her crowning moments of epic that come to mind are when she beats up Caster with her fists and when she uses Zelretch during HF.
People can argue that she's a genius and uses gems but… really, when she uses gems you kinda expect her spells to do something that doesn't resemble something you'd expect from a standard magic caster in any other anime, or specialize in it so much that she can do something really nuts or impressive. But in the end… nothing really sticks out for me there.
My impression might have been different if ufotable's ubw series came out earlier, but even so I feel as if my impression would only change a small bit. Overhyped… I believe is the best word to describe her from my perspective.
I guess I'm just one of those people that don't fall head over heels for competent tsuderes at first sight.
So yeah, that's roughly the reason why I've been so harsh on her in the fic. I gave her a bit of an attitude because honestly that's what stuck out for me when I was first introduced to the series.
However that attitude comes with pride, which is the other part of her personality which I'm trying (to varying degrees of success) to exemplify admittedly magnify to some degree. I might have over and under done it at times, but that's generally what I'm trying to go for.
And in these past few chapters, that pride has been hammered and impaled over and over again. Hence her current defeated and stressed out state.
Yeah. I'm a bit of an asshole like that. Normal characters kinda bore me.
And yes, I took some liberties with Archer's past and Shirou's apostle-but-not-really state. So fcking sue me.
Anyways, I'm back working on FFD! Rejoice readers for horrible and awesome things are coming! Blood's finally gonna flow… eventually bitches! Muahahahahaha!
SO REVIEW! WORSHIP THE LOG! I'M BACK BITCHESS! AND REVIEW AGAIN EVEN THOUGH THE CHAPTER IS KINDA LACKLUSTER!
