Well, I'm gratified at the response my prologue chapter for Separated at Birth has garnered. It's worth pointing out, though, that the full story won't be as humour-filled as that one. I thought about Archer and his character, and thought, instead of having angsty dialogue about his admittedly shitty situation, he would just snark at everything as a coping mechanism. Keep in mind, he does have some very dry snark at times. This story will still have some humour in it, mostly some snark. Hell, even Sakura gets in on it (calling Harry sick of living when he keeps calling Taiga 'Tiger', for example). And Harry will make some cynical observations of the various Servants. But this will be a mostly serious story.
Incidentally, this chapter marks a few milestones. Over 400K words in The Cauldron, over 900 reviews, over 380K views...
SEPARATED AT BIRTH
CHAPTER 1:
REUNION
About a year ago…
A young European man, maybe eighteen or nineteen, walked down the street in Fuyuki one cold Saturday. Beyond his apparently being a foreigner, there wasn't much remarkable about him. He was somewhat scrawny, with a shaggy mop of untameable black hair, from underneath a lightning-like scar snaked out, scarring his forehead.
Not for the first time, he cursed the spite of one man who had exposed a secret he hadn't known about, one that had severed ties that were already tenuous. At least one friendship had been thoughtlessly broken off before it could begin anew, the press, having lauded him as their saviour, had once more turned on him (big surprise there). And it was only through the friends that remained that he even had a chance to start anew.
He used to call himself Harry Potter. But thanks to that bastard Snape, he didn't even have that. His birth name was Risei Tohsaka(1). He was born Japanese, from another world. And as he found out from the letter Snape had published in The Daily Prophet. Well, it was a rather extended epistle. Whatever small goodwill Snape had garnered from Harry for his sacrifice and for showing him his love for Lily had been wiped away. Snape had probably known it would only come out after his death: his letter opened with Captain Ahab's dying words as he harpoons Moby Dick. From hell's heart I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.
Snape was no hero. He was just a spiteful man filled with self-interest, dying only because he hoped to take down Voldemort and Harry with him. And as he knew Harry had a chance of surviving due to that damned harebrained plan of Dumbledore, he set up this letter. He exposed a lot of Dumbledore's dirty laundry, stuff that even Rita Skeeter hadn't found out about for her sensationalist biography. Including Harry's true origins.
Apparently James had been sterile for some time, ever since a curse from Snape hit him. Concerned, Dumbledore decided to take matters into his own hands. Lily, at his behest, had faked a pregnancy, and he had found, it was claimed, an orphaned baby boy, one that they used a Blood Adoption ritual on. Snape later learned from Dumbledore (as late as Harry's Second Year) that Dumbledore had used a ritual and his Phoenix Fawkes to claim a child, one from another world. One with the magical potential to vanquish Voldemort. Someone Dumbledore could make into his protégé. Or puppet.
Harry hadn't been inclined to believe the words coming from Snape's poison pen at first, but too many were. There had been a lot of chaos, not least because Snape had exposed Voldemort's true heritage as a Halfblood too. Apparently Sirius and Remus had known, as Harry found out when he went back and found the Resurrection Stone to ask them, but they had been subject to Memory Charms from Dumbledore. Which meant the Blood Wards did sod all. Dumbledore had lied to justify Harry staying at the Dursleys.
For final confirmation, Harry went to Gringotts. The Goblins had fined him much of his money in response to that saga, and had only refrained from taking the rest of it because Harry explained about the Horcrux. Still, relations between Harry and the Goblins were fraught, and they had charged him far more than usual to do the inheritance test.
And there it was, the undeniable truth. Harry's birth name was Risei Tohsaka, blood adopted by the Potters. What was more, Snape's words of Harry coming from another world meant that he needed to find a way to get to that world. He had sacrificed so much to save this damned country from Voldemort, and for what? Ginny had, after some thoughts of getting back together, broken off with him in a thoughtless act, thinking he had lied to her. Ron had taken Harry's side, albeit for the reason that Snape was a spiteful bastard (though Ron's words were far stronger, to Molly's annoyance), though his relationship with Hermione broke down for unrelated purposes. Molly, thankfully, had been a comfort to Harry.
Into this appalling situation came an unlikely saviour. Luna Lovegood.
Luna Lovegood was, admittedly, a rather strange girl, but they began to realise she was very strange indeed. It became even more apparent when they met a man she called a grandfather, a tall, powerfully-built man by the name of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, better known and cursed as Zelretch. Despite looking old, he had a vitality and an impish sense of humour that clicked with George Weasley.
Oh, and he was a centuries-old vampire from another world.
Zelretch came from a world where magic, while hidden, was different in many regards. It was more rigidly structured in many regards, and its study was, much to Hermione's delight, more 'scientific', if such a word could be applied to magic, or rather, magecraft. Having heard of Harry's plight during a rare visit to Luna, he wanted to meet Harry. After all, he had connections with the Tohsaka family, with Harry's ancestor Nagato being one of Zelretch's most famous apprentices (and one of the few he hadn't broken). And Harry was pleased to learn that the sisters the inheritance test had indicated were still alive. Rin, and Sakura, though his birth parents were dead. Oh, and time passed weirdly between the two worlds: Harry was nineteen, but his twin sister was now sixteen.
It was months of preparation before Harry, along with his friends, took Zelretch up on his offer to shift to another world. Part of it was Hermione retrieving her parents and dealing with the fallout after restoring their memories. They reconciled, but relations were fraught for a time. There was also education in magecraft and the nature of the new world they were going to head to. The Lovegoods, Harry, the Grangers, George Weasley, Andromeda Tonks and Teddy Lupin. Outcasts and the broken. They left Magical Britain, though not before Harry left a letter of his own to be published in The Daily Prophet. It ended with Harry telling them that, if another Dark Lord arose, then they could save themselves. Fawkes had come with them, the Phoenix apparently wishing to make up for his crime in kidnapping Harry in the first place by becoming his familiar.
This world was, if anything, even harsher than the one he left behind. Older magic families held sway again, though at least this time, there was some small justification. Older families had more of a connection to magic. Magecraft was developed through research. And, ironically, the more people who could use it, the less effective it was, partly thanks to Gaia, the consciousness of the world. Not that it effected magic from his former world, but Harry found himself able to use both, amazingly, something only the others could only match with difficulty and transplanted magic circuits.
Okay, learning magecraft was hard as hell, and having to shift gears from what he thought of as magic to a different form was jarring. But he managed to cram the basics in. He was appalled at the amoral attitude of many Magi, and he knew that Clock Tower was not for him. Hermione became the research assistant to Waver Velvet, Lord El-Melloi II, a young man of considerable note, and one of the few higher-ups in Clock Tower without a major stick up his arse. George became Zelretch's protégé, not in magic, but in pranking, though Luna became an apprentice for magic.
But Harry wanted to reconnect with his family. And after learning the translation charms needed to speak Japanese, as well as material needed for him to learn the language properly, he set out for Japan, and to Fuyuki. Beforehand, Zelretch engaged with Rin in correspondence, letting her know about her long lost relative. She was sceptical for various reasons (not least of which was Zelretch's reputation for being a troll), but eventually agreed to see him.
There was a possible reason for her recalcitrance, Harry knew. Magi's magic research was engraved within the magic circuits within their body, as a semi-biological component. This could be transplanted upon death into a relative or even an heir not of their blood. These were known as Magic Crests, and were valuable beyond belief. As they could only be granted to a single heir, multiple children could lead to an inheritance dispute. Well, unless you had the Ore Scales sorcery trait of the Edelfelt family. Rin may have been worried that, as priority was given to male heirs normally, and Harry was, despite being her twin, technically older.
It was why his youngest sister, Sakura, had been adopted out. Apparently she was now the heiress to the Matou family, formerly the Makiris of Russia. He thought that rather callous, but Zelretch had sadly relayed to him that this was not uncommon, and the Matous were lately producing the Magi equivalent of Squibs.
As his thoughts came to an end, so did his journey. He found himself in front of an old, dilapidated estate. Grand, yes, but with ivy crawling all over the house, and the gardens unkempt. Still, there was an intercom next to the gate, and he pressed the button. After a moment, the speaker crackled, and he was greeted in Japanese.
In English, he asked, "Rin Tohsaka?"
"Yes? Who is this?" the girl replied in quite good English.
"It's Harry. Zelretch mentioned I was coming here."
After a moment, he heard her reply, her voice filled with irritation and wariness, "Come in. But no funny stuff."
He was greeted at the door by a suspicious Rin. It was startling how much he resembled her, her oriental features notwithstanding. True, her eyes were more aqua, and her hair wasn't as messy, but the shape of the face and the colour of the hair were similar. She wore a red shirt with a white cross-like symbol stitched into it, and a black skirt that was rather scandalously short. A silence fell, before Harry said, rather awkwardly, "Hi."
"Hello," Rin said stiffly, shaking his proffered hand warily after he entered. "You're the one who is supposed to be my twin brother."
"If it makes you feel any better, it was very much a surprise to me too," Harry said.
"It doesn't. I wouldn't have even given it credit if it weren't for Zelretch, and even then, that damned Dead Apostle is infamous for his practical jokes," Rin said. "Which is why I have prepared a certain ritual in advance. It allows me to determine whether you are my brother or not, as well as whether you are a Homunculus. More than a few Magi family have fallen prey to a lost heir turning out to be a Homunculus, planted by another family. The von Einzberns did that more than once."
Ah, yes. The von Einzberns. Zelretch gave him a crash course on Fuyuki, and the event it was most famous for, the Holy Grail War. An event that was founded not only by Zelretch himself, but by three prominent Magus families: the von Einzberns, the Tohsakas, and the Matous, back when they were the Makiris. He found that hard to believe, what happened in these bloody tournaments, but he was glad he probably wouldn't have to see it: they only occurred every sixty years, and the last one was nine years ago.
"Well, would it make you feel any better if I said I had no desire for the Magic Crest?"
"No."
"…What about if I brought along some money, tomes, and magical artifacts…sorry, you call them Mystic Codes, don't you? Jeez, I keep messing up with the terminology."
"…Did you happen to bring any jewels?" Rin asked, her attitude going from suspicious to tentatively hopeful.
Harry grinned. Zelretch had mentioned that the Tohsakas had an affinity with Jewelcraft, infusing jewels with magical properties. He pulled out of his pocket his shrunken trunk, and placed it on the floor. He touched a special switch, then opened up the trunk, revealing the compartment that held the precious jewels he had taken from the Potter vault. Her eyes glittered with avarice, not for their monetary worth, but something else. She walked over, and gently scooped out a few. "These are of excellent quality. They are perfect for Jewelcraft. Do you know how to use that?"
"Only what Zelretch managed to teach me, based on our ancestor's notes," Harry said. "I've managed some of the basics, but I've only been doing this for a few weeks." He pulled out a bag in the same compartment, sitting on top of the jewels, and tipped out about half a dozen jewels, and handed them to Rin.
She examined them critically, and remarked, "Sloppy. Not bad, but sloppy work. Then again, for someone who has been doing it for only a few weeks, I'm actually impressed. If you really were raised on another world using another form of magic, then this is surprisingly good."
"Thank you," Harry remarked, a little acidly at her blunt assessment. "So…this ritual?"
"Oh, yes. Right. Come with me, please."
As they walked through the house, Harry said, "Your English is very good."
"Thank you. Between our high school English teacher and tuition from my guardian, I'd like to think I'm rather good at it. I speak German as well: I use it for my incantations."
"Yeah, your guardian. Where are they, anyway?" Harry asked.
Rin scowled. "He's at the church he runs. Kirei Kotomine. A priest and a Magus. I don't think you'll like him, though."
"And Sakura?"
"…That's complicated," Rin said after a brief pause. "My father told me to treat her like she is a Matou now, before he died. And I think Zouken told her to treat me the same way. We're on good enough terms, but we haven't called each other sister for years now. It's for the best."
"Bollocks," Harry said succinctly. "I came here to meet my family, and that's what I'm going to do. Anyway, let's get on with this ritual first. Just leave me enough blood to write my will with, okay?"
"Ha ha," Rin said flatly.
CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:
So, Harry has met his twin sister. Now, events will skip around a little until the events of Fate/Stay Night. You have been warned.
1. Thinking of a Japanese name for Harry was actually a little tough to decide. But given the respect Tokiomi shows Risei Kotomine, even treating him like a surrogate father or grandfather in some regards, it would not be out of the question, I think, for Tokiomi to name his first son after him.
