Chapter Twenty Seven

Shirou crawled forward. Tears were streaming down his face and his limbs were screaming in pain, but why should he care about something like that when Illya had been taken? What kind of idiot... would...

His eyes fought against him. He jabbed himself in the leg to force them to stay open. Damn it! All he'd taken was a hit to the head. He had no right to complain. Not after what his Servants had gone through.

The sound of groaning made him turn back.

Damn him! What was he doing? His Servants were all injured and unable to move. Sakura hadn't opened her eyes since he'd briefly woken her, and Rin and Luvia were still on the ground. He couldn't abandon them. But he couldn't abandon Illya either. Bile rose up in his throat and he quickly vomited all over the ground.

Damn it. He couldn't do anything to help Illya, even if he wasn't so hurt. He would save her. He would. But right now his Servants were injured, and it was his duty as a Master to look after them. Changing directions, he began to turn around and crawl back towards his Servants. It took him far longer than it should have to carry them back to bed and check on their wounds before collapsing himself, but he managed it. He managed that much, at least.

X X X

When he woke up, three beautiful faces were hovering over him. He was confused at first, his head hurt so hard that he wanted nothing more than to fall back asleep. But for some reason his subconscious wouldn't allow him to. The side of his face still felt weird, like somehow he'd gotten a massive bruise. He tried to poke at it, but there were so many warm figures around him that he didn't have the leverage to move his arm.

"Master?"

"He's waking up!"

Shirou groaned, trying to push them away. As comforting as their presence was it threatened to lull him back to sleep. "Huh? Wha?"

Warm arms surrounded him from all sides. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"Huh?" He couldn't see clearly, because so many people were surrounding him. Hair was falling all over his skin and tickling him everywhere.

"Here. Let me help you." A weak and feminine voice said. Shirou felt a pair of soft arms grab him, delicately hauling him up. The figure they were attached to was completely naked, but he was too tired to fully appreciate that. "Here. Are you okay?"

It took him at least a few second to recognize Luvia's voice. His back was resting against her torso, but she gently lowered him against the wall. He blinked a few times to steady his eyes.

He was surrounded by all three of his Servants, Rin, Sakura, and Luvia, who were kneeling on the floor in front of him. All of them were alive. He would have sagged in relief, but despite all of the attention they were giving him, every single one of them was worse-off than him. His single blow to the head was nothing compared to the injuries on Rin and Luvia's arms and body, or the healed but still existent burns across Sakura's skin. With their nudity, it was far too easy to see every blemish or injury on their skins.

"Hey. You should all be resting." He said, with a deep frown.

For some reason, that seemed to make them all relax. "Thank goodness, Master." Sakura said. She smiled at him, brushing her purple hair out of her eye. "You're okay."

Rin looked relieved to see him okay, but her expression was far from as carefree as her sister's. "Master, what happened? Where's Illya?"

Memories flashed through his mind. If he'd had anything left in his stomach, he would have thrown up again. He shouted wordlessly, trying to throw himself to his feet, but his Servants united to hold him down. Even injured as they were, they were far stronger than him. "I-Illya!"

Rin kept a firm hand on his shoulder, repeating herself. "What happened? Master?"

"He- he took her." Shirou said. It killed him to admit it, or think about it. "Damn it, I couldn't do anything!"

"You couldn't have been expected to, Master." Luvia assured him. "That Servant was some kind of freak. He blew apart my Noble Phantasm like it was nothing. Rin and I didn't last even a few minutes against him."

Rin scowled. "I would say he was stealing my technique, but...Master you saw it too right?"

He didn't need to ask what she meant. He nodded. Sakura and Luvia looked confused though, so he quickly explained as best as he could. "Yeah. Those weapons of his were all real. Not like the copies we can make. I'd say they're even more real than the Noble Phantasms the rest of the Servant's wield."

Luvia gasped. "Impossible. A hero who can wield so many Noble Phantasm... there's only one person who that could be."

"Who?" Sakura asked.

"The King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. The earth's oldest hero, who defined what it means to be one in the first place." Rin said. Her eyes were slightly wide with horror. "What the hell!? That Goldie somehow hit the world's biggest jackpot."

"And that's not all." Shirou said. "You heard him, right? He talked about you like you were... different from him. Like he wasn't a Demi-Servant at all, but the real thing."

Luvia nodded sagely. "That's right. He seemed to have one hell of an ego. But, there's no way that he's the real thing. It's more likely that he's some kind of lunatic."

Shirou grit his teeth. Luvia was certainly being logical... but he felt his mind refuse to let go of the idea. He would have brought it up again, but there was something more important to worry about. "Wait a minute! What did he want with Illya? He talked about her like she was some kind of a possession." He complained. He was aware of the irony of someone like him complaining about that, but it didn't make him any less sick to his stomach to think about it.

Rin faltered for a second, before bowing her head to him. "It's the responsibility of the Eizenbern to prepare the container for the Holy Grail. If Gilgamesh... or whatever his class is... took her. That must mean the container they prepared was her."

His eyes flared open. What the hell was he doing sitting here? Again he tried to get up, and again his Servant rebuked him. "A container? They made her into something like that?"

"Master, you need to stay down." Sakura insisted. He looked into her eyes and found them completely determined. "You're hurt. You can't help Illya if you run off like this."

Shirou ground his teeth.

"Do you even know where to start looking?" Luvia questioned him, with one eyebrow raised.

Damn it. He didn't. That Servant could have taken him anywhere.

"Come back to bed." Sakura said. He didn't notice the burns at all as she gently pressed herself against him for a hug. "We all need rest. You're not going to do anything in that state."

"You're all more hurt than me." He complained.

"We're Servants. You're only human, Master." Rin said. Like the others, he could see no compromise in her eyes. "Come back. Rest. Right now, there's nothing else you can do.

Shirou wanted to argue more, but they were so warm and inviting, and his eyes were already starting to drift close. As soon as he'd stopped trying to fight his body had been quick to remind him just how tired he really was. Lulled to sleep by his Servants, he once again fell uselessly asleep.

X X X

When Shirou woke up the next time, he had a plan. Despite the protests of all three of his Servants, he cooked them a simple lunch and made them eat. It was nice of them to care about him, but they were all still more injured than he was. Just because their magical energy would heal them far faster than he could heal didn't change that simple fact. He stuffed them all full of delicious and nutritious food, and ordered them to rest. It took only one warning that they could rest in the bed or in the cage before even Sakura was willing to comply.

And while they were all getting some much needed sleep, he put on his jacket.

Fuyuki wasn't as cold in the winter as some other places in Japan, but he appreciated the cold air that kept him awake. Although all he'd taken was a hit to the head, his body was still acting sluggish and unresponsive. Perhaps the walk would be good for him. His feet began to ache, and then his muscles began to burn, but he kept walking even as his heart felt like it would give out.

He travelled through both parts of town, until he'd arrived at his destination. The church he had come to in the start, before he'd even met Illya. It felt strange to return here now, but it was the only place he was going to get answers.

"Kotomine!" He called out, even though he knew exactly where the priest would be.

Standing directly behind him, as always. "Oh? This is certainly a first. You are the only Master to arrive more than once in the first place, and now you've shown up for the third time. Are you here to surrender and retreat, Emiya Shirou?"

He turned around and glared at the tall priest, who had seemed to emerge from the very shadows. "How many times do I have to tell you? I have no intention of abandoning my Servants." He said. "Wait. Other Masters? There are other Masters who have come here?"

The corner of the priest's mouth turned up, like he'd heard some hilarious joke. "Indeed. The Masters of Assassin and Saber have both been inside this church. But I trust you will respect my position as the administrator of this Holy Grail War, and not attempt to pry away information about their fate."

"I don't have time to worry about something like that in the first place." Shirou said. He had to carefully control his emotions. For some reason, the priest seemed far too good at riling him up. "Listen, I met a Servant yesterday who was incredibly strange. Is it possible for the Holy Grail to summon a Heroic Spirit that isn't dormant inside of a magus? A true Servant instead of a Demi-Servant?"

Kotomine's face twisted into shock and then a quiet anger. The priest stiffed those emotions before he spoke again. "I see... what you're describing is impossible. The Holy Grail as it exists right now can only create Demi-Servants. It was before either us was born so I can't describe their reasons for certain, but it is believed that the founders feared that a true Heroic Spirit with their will intact would prove far too egotistical or irrational to control. Even with the command seals, there are a thousand ways they could end the lives of any magus who summoned them."

Shirou wasn't sure if he should be relieved or angry to hear it. Nevertheless, he found a tension disappearing from his shoulders. "I see." So Luvia had been right. Coming up here had been a waste of time. But at least the exercise had been good for his body. "Maybe I misunderstood him..."

"That said, in the previous war we had to deal with a situation like the one you are describing." Kotomine said. He spoke as if Shirou hadn't responded at all. Clasping his hands behind his back, he seemed very pleased for some reason. "Servant Archer, Gilgamesh, walked among us and he was as close to a complete Servant as it is possible to be."

"!" Shirou couldn't do anything but gasp. Gilgamesh? The same Servant had been summoned in both wars?

"He possessed all of his skills and memories, with a grasp over his abilities far beyond what even a Demi-Servant with a Master could replicate. After all, he was the one who perfected them in the first place."

"But, you said that wasn't possible!" Shirou yelled, not caring how childish he sounded. Did this damn priest get a kick out of dragging him around?

"It was not, in the matter you described it, where a Servant would need to be summoned without a magus as their container. However, there was something that the magi of the past few wars failed to account for. A magus of the modern era is only so powerful, while many of the Heroic Spirits recorded in the Throne of Heroes were capable of miracles we couldn't even understand. A sufficiently powerful Heroic Spirit could simply overwrite any magus they were summoned into, like taping over a pre-existing recording." Kotomine explained.

Shirou's eyes widened, as he tried to take that in, but the priest wasn't finished.

"Records say that there were certainly supposed to be security measures in place to prevent the system from summoning such a Heroic Spirit, but if those existed they have long since failed with time. Or perhaps, someone weakened them on purpose in a mad attempt to claim victory." Again the priest smiled, like he knew a joke he wasn't letting Shirou in on. "Regardless of how it happened, in the fourth war the Heroic Spirit Gilgamesh was summoned and he simply overwrote the body and personality of the magus he was in to take control."

Shirou felt like sitting down, but he refused to show such weakness in front of that damn priest. "Gilgamesh... just to check, was he a man with blond hair and Golden Armour? Did he fight by throwing swords around?"

The priest laughed. "He was."

"But... how could he have been summoned twice!? In two wars in a row?"

"He was not." Kotomine said. And Shirou realized what he meant before he ever even said it. "He appeared in my war, and has simply remained in the world ever since."

"Damn you! Why wouldn't you mention that in the first place!?" Shirou screamed. He was aware that he must have sounded like a madman, but he didn't care. His Servants had gotten hurt because they hadn't known about this! And Illya... she might be...

"I assure you, he promised me that he had no intention of killing any Demi-Servants unless they were foolish enough to attack him first." Kotomine said. "You may believe you were fighting him, but to him that was no different than brushing you aside to retrieve something he wanted. Whatever he took, I advise you to give up on it."

"I can't do that!" Shirou screamed. Illya... he wouldn't let that bastard hold onto her! "Do you know him, Kotomine?"

None of the panic Shirou was feeling seemed to be reflected in the priest. If anything, he seemed to find this whole situation entertaining. He loomed above Shirou, ceaselessly battering him down with more words. "We spoke many times, although I doubt he would call us friends. The magus who summoned him was Rin's father, after all."

Rin's – ! So the reason he'd died was... no, Shirou couldn't worry about that right now. "Do you know how to find him? Can you take me to him?" He didn't know how he would do it, but there was no way he could continue to live with himself if he didn't rescue Illya. So it had to be done.

Kotomine smiled again. He'd been terribly close to Shirou, but not he walked away towards the alter at the centre of the church. "Indeed. Survive, and you will see him soon. Him and the girl he took from you."

"Survive?" Shirou asked. He only caught what Kotomine had said a few seconds later. He tensed. He'd never told Kotomine that Gilgamesh had taken a girl. "What are you – !?"

"Saber." Kotomine said.

Shirou threw himself to one side, as he heard another person step into the room. Fear grabbed at him as he saw a familiar figure stride out of some back room. She was dressed in skin tight clothing, as she'd been when he'd seen her at the beginning of the war. Her appearance was strikingly beautiful, with her athletic body and magenta coloured hair. This was the very first Servant Shirou had ever seen, the one who'd been fighting with Rin on that first night. The one who would have killed him, if not for Rin's quick thinking.

He sucked in a deep breath. He was surprised how well his tired body responded to him, he would have expected it to collapse from how tired he was, but suddenly he found himself thinking more clearly than he had all day. "Kotomine..." He growled the word. "This entire time, Saber was your Servant?"

"You have no right to complain. If I hadn't left that loophole in her orders, she would have killed you before you could even become a Master." Kotomine said. He wasn't just not embarrassed about his betrayal of Shirou's trust. He was the opposite. He seemed to find it endlessly entertaining. "Saber. I'm giving you the chance to make up for your mistake. Kill him, and perhaps I'll end that particular punishment."

Saber fell into a combat stance.

"Trace, on!" Shirou called out. He heard the trigger of a gun as his magic circuits came to life. In his hands, he now clutched the married blades. Their comforting weight gave him some confidence.

"I'm sorry." Saber said, advancing on him step by careful step. "I have no wish to continue killing for such a monster. But I can no longer disobey. I will make this quick."

Shirou had no time for her sympathy. If she killed him, he wouldn't be able to rescue Illya. "Don't think it will be so easy!"

Saber launched into motion like a released bow string, intent on crushing the life from Shirou's skull as quickly and efficiently as possible. The strength and speed of a Servant was so far beyond his that he had no hope of dodging.

But even so...!

She was standing in the way of saving Illya! "Hah!" Shirou screamed. He knew the path the Servant would take. By the time her fist reached him, Kanshou was already in it's way. It wasn't that he was faster than her, it was just that he'd judged the best path she could take and gotten in the way before she could complete the attack.

He screamed internally. It would have been an insult to her fist to compare it to a hammer. Nevertheless, Kanshou survived without even a mark. The quality of these blades was a hundred times better than what he'd been able to make practising with Rin. There was no more time for mistakes.

As her fist was deflected, the cold beauty's expression went from neutral to a pained frown.

His blades and her fist crossed paths as the two exchanged blows. She hadn't revealed the weapon that made her a Saber yet, but she hardly needed it. Shirou's eyes blurred as he tried to keep track of her attacks, throwing his weapons in the way with skills that he'd never trained but felt so innately suited for him. Even so, he didn't have even the slightest chance to get a counter attack in.

But he didn't need one. He didn't care about killing Saber. He just had to get away, so that he could rescue Illya!

Drawing his arms back, Shirou feinted a large overhead swing with both curved swords. Saber took the bait, crossing her arms into an x above her head. Shirou kicked at her shins, and she took a half-step back. Then he threw himself to one side. He heard her gasp softly in surprise, but couldn't stay to watch.

His shoulder clipped against the edge of one of those long benches, but he scrambled himself to his feet as he ignored the pain. He turned around to throw Kanshou at Saber, forcing her to pause to deflect the blow. As soon as she'd swiped it aside he tossed Bakuya at her, and the bond between the blades drew Kanshou into her back.

It wasn't a good enough trick to kill somebody like her. But it was enough to buy him time. Feet pounding against the floor, Shirou sprinted towards the exit. The scenery blurred past him as she threw himself at top speed towards the exit. He just had to get out!

"You are too slow."

"Gh!" Shirou couldn't hold in the scream.

Seconds away from reaching the door, the large priest stepped out of a shadow. Not metaphorically. Literally, like he'd been completely invisible until he'd wanted to strike. Shirou tried to dodge, but he had too much momentum to stop now. Kotomine struck him in the back with a long black sword, and it drove right through him.

"Agh!" He spit up blood, trying to will his legs to keep moving. But he was already losing too much strength. He'd pushed himself too far already.

"Another failure. You could have at least provided more entertainment." Kotomine said. He turned his back to Shirou, but not before he saw a terribly normal smile on the priest's face. Like the bastard was catching up with a friend. "Saber. Kill him."

Kotomine held up a hand as he spoke, and Shirou saw the flash of light even from behind his back as the Command Spell activated. Saber's body shook as her face twisted with pain. He saw her struggle for a second, and then another, and then started to walk forward.

Shirou crawled an inch towards the door, but the sword literally stuck inside of him was too much of an anchor. He couldn't get far. No, even if he was healthy trying to get away from Saber would have been impossible. A human couldn't defeat a Servant.

He needed another solution... if Emiya Shirou didn't have the power to fight back, then he just needed to make a weapon that could...

In his mind's eye, he saw the briefest glimpse of a world covered in swords and a man wearing a red coat.

Saber stepped over him, raising her fist like a cocked gun aimed at his head. She ignored his pitiful attempts to fight back, with the scorn they rightfully deserved.

"Rule Breaker."

When his projected Noble Phantasm stabbed into her leg, it took her completely by surprise. Shirou felt the backlash of the great magical contract unravelling, and he sucked in a breath as he realized his attempt had succeeded. Saber stared at her hands. She was free, but she didn't understand why.

"Saber!" He screamed. "My will shall empower your body! Your sword shall create my destiny! Obey the Grail's call and answer to my will and reason. Answer me!"

Fire ran through his veins as a new set of command spells burned their way onto his upper arm, opposite Luvia's set.

"Get us out of here!" He screamed

"What?" Kotomine had time only to turn around and stare.

For the first time, he saw Saber smile. Her expression was one of the coldest satisfaction, but her voice was filled with pride. "Yes, Master!"

She scooped him up in her arms, and carried him away from that awful place.