Chapter 1: As the Sun Rises
Hiya everybody! I just got to say… That I am fucking disappointed in all of you! Well, except for Quatermass. That man is awesome. I posted a spanking new chapter in the Drabbles over two weeks ago now, and I have gotten NO FUCKING REVIEWS AT ALL! THE FUCK PEOPLE!
I know it's been quite a long time since I updated anything, but come on! NOTHING!
This story is a crossover between the Naruto universe and the Fate universe. Fate/Zero to be specific. I don't want to add too many spoilers before you guys read, but for a bit of fun, I have decided to take a new approach to the "summoning Naruto and replacing a Servant from the lineup with him" plot that everyone likes to do with rare exceptions. In this, I took the concept of Fate/Strange Fake's Servant lineup, where its like the Apocrypha with fourteen servants, plus a Ruler, BUT, it is still a battle royale rather than two teams mashing each other's faces.
I forgot to do this for my Elder Scrolls story that nobody reviewed sadly. But I don't own the Elder Scrolls universe or franchise, and I don't own the Harry Potter characters and franchise.
Now for this story. I do not own anything except select merchandise that I bought at anime conventions from Naruto or Fate. The originals belong to their respective creators and I only own the idea that made this fiction.
Now then, have fun reading…
Matou Family Manor, Fuyuki, Japan; 1994
'What did I do to end up here…?'
'What did I do wrong Papa, Mama… Big sister…?'
The girl these thoughts belonged to stared blankly at the ceiling of the crypt as the Crest Worms of Zolgen Makiri flowed over her body. It had been this way for the past year ever since her father, Tokiomi Tohsaka, gave her away to the Matou family.
Her father had told her that she would become a powerful mage this way. That she wouldn't have to fight with her older sister over the family Crest.
Did he honestly think so little of his daughters as to think they would kill each other over such a thing…?
She hated that man now.
Hated the mere mention of Tokiomi Tohsaka. A man that was her father but had given her away because he had no need for a spare.
Maybe this was why Uncle Kariya hated her ex-Papa so much…
Tokiomi had given her to the ancient monster named Zolgen Makiri, who masqueraded as an elderly man named Zouken Matou. That monster had thrown her down here. Into the pit. With the worms.
Without a second's hesitation.
'Won't anybody help me…?' She cried out mentally, blank eyes briefly watering at the pain of one of the worms burrowing into her body again for whatever purpose its monster of a master had for it. 'Uncle Kariya? Anybody…? WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!'
'HELP ME!'
Two stories above the unfortunate girl's head, a certain circle flared with power and light, drawing the curiosity of an old worm from where he was cleaning up the mess left from all the training he had forced his "son" through and the leftovers from the summoning of Berserker.
"Well, well, what is this?" Zouken Matou asked nobody but himself as he stalked closer to the once again glowing summoning circle. Was he about to summon a Servant? He checked the back of his hands and wrists at that stray thought; however, the worm found no Command Spells forming to signify his role as a last-minute Master in the Fourth Holy Grail War. No. He gazed in curiosity at the circle, wondering who was summoning another Servant inside his home.
"It can't be little Byakuya, can it?" The monster asked himself as he turned his black and white gaze in the direction of where his eldest 'son' currently lay in a drunken stupor. Blinking in resigned disappointment as he discovered there was no link between his drunken descendant, or any mana flow from him at all, Zouken returned his gaze to the circle just in time for a concussive blast of force to blow everything, including himself, back from the circle. The room becoming torn apart by the sheer force of the pulses emanating from the circle and heat emanating from the circle. Whatever this Servant was, it was powerful.
The worm that carried the desecrated soul of Zolgen Makiri snarled as he was thrown out the window of the room by the wave of power that washed over him, smashing the glass and losing a few fingers when he attempted to grab hold of the shattered windowsill.
Now in the empty room, the worm that had been investigating the circle currently laying stunned in the garden of the manor, the pulse slowed and weakened until in an explosion of light and heat, a tall man appeared in the middle of the circle.
"Well, this is unusual!" The man hummed to himself as he looked around at the room he had been summoned into, blinking slightly in confusion as he saw that no other soul occupied the room. "I didn't think I could be summoned!"
He looked down at his large hands that seemed to give off a constant glow of light and heat, his golden brow furrowing further in confusion as he searched for any form of energy in the house. "I wonder where my Master is."
Looking around the house as he walked out of the room, unaware of the wrath currently boiling in Zolgen as the lich pulled itself to its feet outside in the garden. He found himself looking around as he tried to locate the person that was connected to him by the rather small string of mana. The house itself was rather traditional for a Japanese style. At least he wouldn't feel so out of place in this new world.
As he came to a sealed door on the ground floor, the Servant could still sense the tiny beacon he'd been following further down, but as he grabbed the doorknob and pushed the slab of wood open, he felt another presence alongside the little Light.
It was a foul, tainted presence that made him want to incinerate the entirety of the mansion just from being near it.
"Well. I can just tell this is going to be unpleasant." He set his jaw and started down the stairs, light flickering into existence above his hand like a miniature sun.
No sooner had he reached the middle of the stairs than he found himself greeted by a cloud of winged insects. They were incinerated within seven feet of his presence as he cocked an eyebrow at the poor attempt to keep him away from his goal. It was when he fully descended to the basement that his rage awoke inside him and the pleasant warmth around his body soared to burning heights. What he saw laying in the middle of what appeared to be an ancient wine cellar stripped the emotion from his face and obliterated any mercy he had for whoever was the owner of this accursed house as if it were a rock that tried to fly into the sun.
Within the pit he had stumbled upon, were thousands of writhing worms shaped like phallus'. Such an abomination that he was sure his beloved wife would have deemed them to be a blight on sight. But that was not the worst thing about the cellar.
No.
For there was someone down there amidst the worms.
A tiny, naked girl no older than six was staring blankly at the ceiling as the abominations writhed over her body.
A snarl that was defiantly not of human origins forced its way from his throat at the sight. Her eyes were glassy, the broken gaze of someone who'd long since lost the will to live. The heat released by his body skyrocketed again, and his cold blue eyes became balls of fire as the wood and stone around him curled and scorched respectively. His hand snapped up and a large ball of fire in the shape of a sun formed in his palm. With nary a flick of his hand, the fireball blasted towards the insects, incinerating all in its path while avoiding the child, any worm that was close to the flames turned to ash in seconds.
The Servant dropped down into the pit and picked up the girl, the remaining worms on her body falling away and the heat around his body dimming to resemble a warm blanket as he removed his cloak from his body and wrapped her small frame in it to preserve her modesty. He was going to take the girl away from here and raze this house and all memories of it to the ground; there would be no way that the home of whatever monster did this to her would make it into the history books. And when he discovered who said monster was, he would work to eradicate any trace of it from this plane of reality.
Leaping away from the pit to land on the balcony of the stairs, he cocked an eyebrow as he discovered that they had just barely avoided another horde of the abomination that tried to devour them both.
Not that it would have worked.
"I am besieged by failure at all turns," the voice of an elder filled with old cruelty spoke up, making the Servant turn towards the top of the staircase that led into the house proper, where a decrepit old man lingered, leaning on a gnarled cane. At least he assumed it was human, until he saw its inverted eyes and felt the horrid aura coming from it. Its mere presence reminded him of a certain body-snatching snake. "Though I suppose the useless brat did manage to net another Servant for me. Odd though that an eighth servant could even be summoned, especially this late after the start of the Grail War."
The speaking worm barely flinched when blue eyes became no more than blazing twin suns that stared him down, the worm actually had the arrogance to believe that it could control him. HIM!
And it intended to use the barely responsive child he held in his arms to do such a thing.
That simply wouldn't do.
This creature was the abomination that was clearly responsible for the girl's suffering. The evidence made clear by its words and just now by the worm that wormed its way up the old man's hakama. He was sure of his course of action now as he reached out to finalize the contract with the child.
He was going to turn everything it held dear in its un-life to ashes…
"My, my, my." Zouken Matou sneered as he took in the obvious rage in the sun-like eyes of the Servant before him, it would seem as though he had underestimated the raw potential of Tokiomi's youngest. To be able to summon a Servant, and quite a powerful one at such a young age was nothing short of extraordinary. All he had to do was bring said Servant to heel before it got any insubordinate ideas in its head like it did now with the rebellion in those suns. "I was wondering who could be summoning a Servant after little Kariya left with Berserker. How very fascinating. I seem to have underestimated young Sakura's potential. She'll make a lovely host when she is older."
The Servant shifted his body to block the worm's view of his Master. His grasp slightly tightening around her small body.
Those beady eyes glinted in dark amusement at the Servant's 'rebellion', "I'll thank you to release my granddaughter, Servant." The heat in the room skyrocketed again at the mention that Sakura was this worm's granddaughter, Zouken smiling cruelly as he thought of how he'd enjoy breaking this hero. "Her training is still far from complete, you see. I, Zolgen Makiri, will be taking over as your Master, Servant."
His words elicited only the heat rising even higher until it felt like the worm was standing in a locked steam house. He then made a sign with his right hand, before, much to Zouken's curiosity, a clone of the Servant appeared in a flash of light. The Servant handed Sakura off to his doppelganger and took a step towards the ancient man.
"You're to be my Master, you say?"
Zouken frowned at the Servant's words, but before he could speak in response to the man's words to confirm their Master-Servant bond, the titan continued.
"Who decided that?"
As he said those words and continued to stalk forward, the heat rising to very unbearable levels for Zouken, the old man started to shuffle back towards the steps. A rumbling noise made the worm look at the ceiling in shock as the Servant's aura appeared to be shaking the entire room.
"This girl is to be your future host, abomination. Who decided that?" With each step, the temperature steadily grew higher and higher, until Zouken was forced to drop his now melting cane as simply holding it caused his hands to flare with flames, his eyes widening in horror as he saw the very ground begin to melt with each step the Servant took, sinking down beneath his feet. "I am to fight for you as a Servant. WHO DECIDED THAT!?"
Solar fire rained down on the now fleeing Matou despite the fact that it was nighttime, roaring pillars of golden flame flared into existence and burned stone and bug alike, only refraining from striking the innocent child held by the clone.
"I AM THE ONE TO DECIDE SUCH THINGS!"
Zouken did his best to flee the pillars that tried to mow him down as if he was a piece of grass. However, despite having a body completely made up of Crest Worms, the last remaining founder of the Heaven's Feel was still pushing two and a half centuries in age, and as such could not move in the ways he needed to in order to survive this overwhelming onslaught. He could not use his insects to protect him from the powerful Servant, for they were incinerated within mere feet of the behemoth whenever he tried.
"Stop this idiocy, you foolish familiar!" Zouken roared as one of the beams connected and liberated him of his left arm at the shoulder when he tried to summon another wave of bugs, the limb and haori sleeve covering it turning to ash in a second's time before even the ashes were consumed and erased by the flames. "You cannot do this!"
The blazing suns snapped towards him before uttering those accursed words once again. "…And who decided that?"
In an instant, the Servant was standing before him, blocking his passage up the stairs, the old man screaming in a thousand voices as fingers wreathed in golden fire and pure light clenched around his face, the heat and flames burning through his body, jumping from worm to worm as they chased after his fleeing soul.
This wasn't supposed to go this way! This was finally his chance! He was supposed to gain a Servant this night from little Sakura's unknowing blunder. And an extremely powerful one that would rival little Tokiomi's Archer at that! He would achieve victory over the Heaven's Feel finally, supporting his foolish descendant from the shadows until the idiot dropped dead, before taking over officially as Master of the Matou.
He would finally have his wish!
His thoughts were halted as searing pain overcame his body the likes he had never felt before, even when he was consumed by his familiars at the end of his natural life to live on. The fingers clenched tighter, and Zouken's head simply ceased to be as it was consumed by sun fire.
'Damn him!' Zouken raged as he scurried away from his dying body in the body of one of his surviving worms. 'How dare that upstart Servant! All of my preparations, all of my planning to achieve the Grail, ruined! I'm going to have to breed hundreds of worms just to have a body again!'
There was no way he'd have the strength to even become Berserker's Master when Kariya kicked the bucket with the damage he'd taken tonight.
His thoughts were silenced when a foot descended and crushed the fleeing body. The man's eyes focused coldly on the black eyeball that partially reformed from several worms nearby.
"How?!" Zouken's disembodied voice snarled in absolute rage. "How did you know where I was?!"
"Do you think me as some third-rate hero who gained his legend from spinning lies and fairy tales?" The Servant asked as he continued his pace towards the 'man', eyes made of nothing but flame now. "In my life, I was considered one of the greatest sensors in the world. I felt it the moment your soul left your body and moved to this one."
"You can't kill me, you filthy familiar!" Zouken snarled as he moved to another set of worms in order to escape a sun-shaped fireball that incinerated his reformed eye. "It goes against the rules of the Grail War!"
A burning hand obliterated his new face, sending the worm reeling into the wall, only for his body to fall apart into a hundred worms.
"See. That's the funny thing about this little ritual." The Servant said calmly and with disinterest as he crushed another set of worms. "You mages are all so assured that we will bend to your will like real-life servants cleaning up your fancy homes, all because of some rules you tried to put in place when you created this ritual. Acting like you are gods in comparison to we few heroes who etched our names into the very fabric of reality simply because you wield artificial copies of true magic. Well guess what little magus…"
To his credit, Zouken really did try to run.
"I slew gods during my life."
Solar fire blasted out as an all-consuming wave from the Servant's body and consumed the wine cellar, young Sakura kept safe from the blast by her Servant's cloak and clone interposing itself between her and the flames.
Zouken died a thousand times in the span of seconds as the flames obliterated all the worms they found and turned the basement into a pit of ash and flame. As the walls were turned to molten slag and the floor became a glowing red crater that descended for several meters beneath the now floating Servant, who was wreathed in golden light.
The Servant ceased the expulsion of his power when he could no longer feel the foul essence of Zouken. He then turned to the girl that had started this entire charade. "I guess that leaves you, little one."
Gently with the tenderness of a man that had held many children in his life, the man reached down and plucked his charge from the arms of his copy, leaving the clone to disappear in a flash. As she didn't move in his arms; he feared the worst as he climbed out of the crypt and back to the main house, where he witnessed a lanky blue-haired man running for his life from the mansion.
As he took a step outside of the mansion, he raised a hand to form a sun in his palm, before launching it at the building to consuming it in an immense blast of flame and light. Looking down at the girl, he found she hadn't even moved in the time he'd carried her. Were it not for the faint rise and fall of her chest, he would've thought her dead.
"C'mon, little one," he said softly as he laid her down on a bench in the nearby park. "Don't quit on me just yet."
At first, nothing happened as he held his glowing hand to her forehead. Then she stirred, nestling her small head into his large palm. A tremor passed through her frail form. "Papa."
Naruto nearly broke his neck with that subsequent double take.
In the end, only one word came to him.
"EH?!"
There you guys go. We will be hopefully launching into the mixing of the Servants in the next chapter. I don't really have anything to say other than I probably won't be writing any more stories if this whole trend of no reviews keeps happening. I get that I was gone for a while, but still to have nothing to show for a couple sleepless nights of writing what I thought was a good story beginning and chapter, is so friggin disappointing.
So until next time, have fun.