Chapter 3 - A meeting bound by FATE
Emiya Residence, Fuyuki City - Main Fate World - Half an hour after the end of the previous chapter, Six Days before Rin Tohsaka summons her servant, Current Date: 25th of January 2004
(Jeanne d'Arc Alter/SI's P.O.V)
"Jeez, what the hell is taking Shirou so long to get home?!" I ask myself as Serenity and I have been waiting for the redhead to return for a while now, not to mention that Taiga hasn't shown up yet either which is strange as I was under the impression she'd be here for dinner along with breakfast like she had done so this morning.
Speaking of my new servant though she had calmed down from her intense emotional state from having found a master whom she can touch without being killed by her poison in me, although that hasn't stopped her from trying to stay close to me for the time being as the masked young woman with short violet hair seems to have absolutely no intent to leave my side right now.
I am admittedly tempted to ask her to go into spirit form for the time being, if only to not potentially kill Taiga by accident if she ends up showing up at the house before Shirou does although that still brings me back to my previous point of where the fuck is Shirou anyway, it shouldn't take THAT long to get back from school…
While I do consider deciding to just go and see Shirou at her school, I know that I wouldn't exactly be able to explain why the fuck a foreign young woman wants to see a student at their school, it'd be weird at best and borderline creepy at worst.
This ultimately means that I'm stuck here, bored and waiting for the one sole member of my Retinue to return from her time at school which, if I am reading the clock in the living room wall correctly, was supposed to have ended a while ago which is extremely strange for her to not have returned by now.
"Hmm perhaps I should get that teleporting perk for the shroud with the credits I got from bringing Shirou into the fold," I say to myself before I retrieve my company smartphone and just before I am about to properly open up the phone I stop and freeze when I see both the date of the world I'm in and the exact day as well.
Sunday, January 25th, 2004
It admittedly takes me several moments to properly register this fact in my brain due to shock but when I do….
"WHO THE FUCK GOES TO SCHOOL ON A FUCKING SUNDAY IN JAPAN?!" I yell out in a furious roar as confusion, worry, and anger war within the core of my being, although I am admittedly glad to have a definitive date on my hands as well.
The fact that I should have known about these two important details before this point due to having ready access to this company smartphone for hours and have been using it for hours as well makes me feel like an idiot for being so focused on a summoning incantation that I missed on vital information like this.
Before I can even consider going out to hunt for Shirou though, I sense a familiar presence make its way past the Emiya residence gateway and walk toward the door with what looks to be a plastic bag with something in it, the door opens to reveal none other than the missing redhead herself with a smile on her face.
"Hey Jeanne, I'm back from school!" Shirou says with a smile as she walks into the living room, pausing as she sees Serenity sitting next to me before looking at me with an expression of visible confusion written plainly on her face.
"Uuuh Jeanne, who's that sitting next to you?" Shirou asks as Serenity looks at the redhead who has just entered her house with an almost piercing stare, likely waiting for me to give an order regarding the situation that has just presented itself.
"This is my new servant [Assassin], [Assassin] this is Emiya Shirou, one of my most trusted allies in the Fifth Fuyuki Holy Grail war and a future master that we will be working closely with," I say as both Serenity and Shirou give each other hesitant waves before I give the redhead across from me an incredibly annoyed look, still wanting answers from what I just learned but a few moments ago.
"Anyway, Shirou I need to ask you bluntly and I want an honest answer here, why did you, Matou-san, and Fujimura-san go to school ON A SUNDAY?!" I ask with an incredibly angry look on my face before out of nowhere, Shirou sheepishly puts down the plastic bag on the table and reveals several plastic containers of freshly cooked chicken curry, placing three of the boxes down on the table which draws the attention of both myself and Serenity both.
"So normally you would be right in saying that I wouldn't have school on a Sunday, but the thing is today was an exception because the school was hosting an array of club-related contests that required us to head to school dressed in uniform," Shirou says as she began to remove the lids from all the food she brought home, the scent of it is downright tantalizing as it reaches my nose.
"Fuji-nee wanted me to take over for someone who had been unable to come for the cooking club's contest, although I think it's mostly because she wanted free samples of my food because of her role as the judge for the cooking contest," Shirou says as she heads to the kitchen in order to grab some plates, chopsticks, and napkins before turning to the table to start putting food on plates for all three of us, with me looking at the food with a conflicted look as while I am still extremely angry that I wasn't told of that whole contest thing, the food just smells too good to pass up.
"I…..suppose that's fine then, but you better not fucking leave me out of the loop like this again Shirou, or else I'll–" I go to say but just before I finish my angry response, my stomach began to rumble loudly, prompting me to blush deeply in both rage and embarrassment, grumbling under my breath before I raise my hands in the air.
"Ah fuck it, I'm too damn hungry to stay angry at you when you come home with a spread this delicious, but don't make it a habit to keep me uninformed, am I clear Shirou?" I say firmly to Shirou who just gives a small smile and nods her head in affirmation, prompting me to sigh and graciously take the plate of food from Shirou before I reach for the chopsticks and with one practiced motion, take a bite out of the plate of Shirou's cooking.
It is here that I freeze for the second time this night as the sensation of taste that hits me in my mouth momentarily stuns me, with both Serenity and Shirou giving me looks at my reaction to the redhead's cooking but I flat out don't care about how I look right now, and as to why that is…
Oh my fucking god, the trope of Emiya Shirou's cooking being almost divine is FUCKING REAL!
I don't know if it's just the fact that I am really hungry right now, if there is some placebo effect in play right now, or if she somehow snuck in some magecraft every time she ends up cooking in the kitchen but whatever it is even the basic curry chicken and rice that I'm eating right now tastes so damn good it's mind-boggling to say the least.
Seeing me enjoy her food immensely seems to please Shirou greatly as she turns to Serenity and offers her a plate of food as well, something that the violet-haired servant hesitantly accepts as she takes up the provided chopsticks and takes one bite of food before freezing as the heavenly taste of Shirou's cooking registers in her mind.
Not long after though she began to smile warmly as she began to eat the chicken curry and rice without much fanfare, taking her time to enjoy a nice warm meal for the first time since she had been summoned here in Fuyuki…
Shirou smiles seeing the two of us enjoy her cooking as she gets out an empty plate of her own and begins to fill it with her cooked food from the cooking contest she was forced to take part in at school, soon joining us in enjoying the food since it is admittedly roughly around dinner time anyway.
It is then that I notice that there is a fourth container of food left and at first, I am curious as to who the final box is for before remembering that I had technically promised to wait until Shirou got home before we were to summon our servants, my cheeks growing slightly pink in embarrassment at that realization.
However, my embarrassment fades when I remember who exactly Shirou is going to end up summoning tonight if my memories of my past life serve me correctly, which they would since Emiya Shirou is canonically bound to summon one servant and one servant alone, someone who Giles erroneously thought was me, or well the real me.
Truth be told I'm not sure if the positive past life memories regarding Shirou's future servant will be enough to balance out the raw hatred I have for the English in general, thankfully I have [Stress Defense] to ensure that my nature as a [Avenger] class servant won't force me to get vengeance on what is supposed to be an ally.
Speaking of allies though…
"Hey Shirou, while Matou-san and Fujimura-san are here I'll have [Assassin] here stay in spirit form to stay unseen in order to prevent….complications to say the least," I say while glancing at Serenity who gives a small nod of agreement to the plan, while Shirou for her part looks confused as to why that is even necessary.
"Why does [Assassin] need to go into spirit form though, from what little contextual memories I have regarding my future servant [Saber] was unable to enter spirit for,m and yet she was able to blend in just fine while staying here," Shirou says in confusion, making me glance at the redhead with a dumbfounded look before sighing and realizing she's still a little dense even now which prompts me to gently grab Serenity's wrist with my own bare right hand before looking firmly at Shirou.
"There are three reasons for this, the first is the fact that [Assassin]'s skin tone isn't exactly something that screams healthy when it is as grey as death itself, no offense [Assassin]" I say as my first reason for keeping her unseen, although from what I know of Serenity's personal skills, she has [Shapeshift (Infiltration Specialization)] at Rank C, so she could probably alter her skin tone so she doesn't appear to have deathly grey skin, either way, that's only one of three reasons I intend to provide Shirou here.
"The second is the fact that [Assassin]'s entire body is one big source of poison, with a single bit of skin-to-skin contact meaning certain death to those without some way to be immune or resistant to the poison within her," I say as Shirou's eyes widen as while she is dense, she is quick to connect the dots and grimaces as she doesn't want to risk either Sakura or Taiga dying by accident should they touch her.
"As for the third and final reason, she is a [Assassin] Class Servant Shirou, staying out of sight of her targets is kind of her bread and butter," I say as the final and honestly the most simple reason of the three I give the redhead, who to her credit, does acknowledge that she was making an assumption based on what little contextual memories she got from getting all her skills from the various routes of her canonical self.
With that sorted the three of us simply spend the next half hour or so just enjoying dinner, with Shirou asking Serenity questions that the violet-haired servant answers in a short and to-the-point manner with giving said answers.
All the while I am left to my own thoughts regarding the upcoming summoning that Shirou will perform tonight, especially since it is clear that the magical circle in her workshop is very much still functional after the summoning, meaning we can use it to summon [Saber] like normal.
I think it would be best if I attended the summoning in my full servant armor rather than my Shinjuku casual attire as I want to be ready should the presence of what appears to be multiple servants surrounding [Saber]'s new master give the wrong impression and turn the situation hostile.
At least Shirou isn't summoning that dog-loving bint from the Shinjuku Psuedo-Singularity, because if that bitch ends up being summoned somehow instead of her pure self, I will roast her with my flames of hatred completely for taking the place of Shirou's canonical servant, even if she is only the dark reflection of her.
"Master, are you ok?" I hear Serenity ask from her place at my side, breaking out of my dark thoughts and making me realize that my expression of pure hatred was visible to both of them, something that which was not intentional on my part…
"I-i'm fine [Assassin], ended up recalling a particular person that I hate a bunch and frankly I hope I never see the bitch again," I say as I refuse to elaborate further on that front, both Serenity and Shirou looking at each other before they decide to not press me on the details.
My thoughts soon turn to the possibility of bringing Serenity into the fold of my retinue as her presence would help with sorting out my loan problems with my company credits, the main reason that I am not going to is mostly because I want to build up a report with the violet-haired servant before trying to offer her a chance to exist beyond the Fifth Holy Grail war.
Although truth my told I know there is an extremely high chance that she'd agree to such an offer since it means being with those who cannot die to her poisonous body, allowing her to experience the love of a close family but I suppose I want to take my time with this.
Either way, I pull out my company smartphone, something that draws the attention of both Serenity and Shirou both of whom have either never seen a phone before, or in Shirou's case, never seen such an advanced phone in either of their lives.
"Don't mind me you two, I just need to look up some information for the war ahead, especially the rough dates of when certain servants would have been summoned" I say as decide to get more information regarding the upcoming war, mostly because I know that timing our entrance into the war is essential here.
Not to mention the bastard priest has likely noticed that [Assassin] has been summoned, and while I have assumed prior that [Rider], [Assassin], and [Lancer] have already been summoned, I wanna double check those assumptions so that they don't make an ass out of me in more ways than one.
And it turns out I was right to double-check my assumptions…
So according to a company contractor's version of Reddit, [Assassin] was supposed to be summoned on January 26, 2004, which is tomorrow and as such that means [Caster] won't be able to summon Sasaki Kojiro at all, and with the [Assassin] class being the one class she could reasonably summon in her current situation, this probably means she won't try to summon one lest she strains the leyline too much.
But the revelation regarding [Assassin] and [Caster] is not the big one right now, no it's the fact that I was completely WRONG about the timing of [Rider]'s summoning if this Contractor forum post is anything to be believed, as her summoning is slated to be January 29, 2004, which is approximately 3 to 4 days from now.
Wanting to strangle my contractor past self for not more thoroughly researching the event aside, this means I have to adjust the plans I had been working with regarding the events to come aside as this information will help me properly strategize for the war ahead.
At least these contractors aren't the stingy worm fuckers that I was trying to wrestle information from regarding the summoning ritual, so at least I know that there aren't total assholes on this damn forum, probably won't ever bother to muster the credits for a [Green Orb] though as I never want to try and meet with any of these people.
Either way though if I am right about [Caster] not bothering to summon a servant due to the lack of an available [Assassin] Vessel, this makes her even MORE dangerous rather than less as it means I won't be able to predict what she might do instead which is going to be a hassle to figure out and prepare for.
Although….
I briefly glance at Shirou who has gone back to her food and conversation with Serenity, distinctly remembering a certain dagger that [Caster] has possession of that stole the contract between Shirou and [Saber] in the Unlimited Bladeworks Route of this damn war.
Perhaps she doesn't need to summon a servant but rather she could just steal one from any of the masters if she gets the chance, and [Caster] is nothing if not smart and very cunning so I'll have to make sure she doesn't try to yoink Shirou's servant away from her with [Rule Breaker], maybe by binding [Saber] at some point.
"Hey Jeanne, are you going to finish your food?" Shirou suddenly asks me, breaking me out of my thoughts as I realize that the food that the redhead cooked is gonna go cold if I don't continue eating, my eyes widening as I begin to shovel down the delicious curry chicken and rice with gusto, much to the amusement of Shirou as she watches me wolf it all down.
With dinner now finished and Shirou taking the empty plates to wash up, I have to take a moment to check the time and see that it's about 8:34 pm right now, while optimal conditions for summoning tend to be Midnight if what Tohsaka Rin does to try and summon her own servant is anything to go by, I have a hunch that with Shirou now having full access to her proper magical circuits, it won't be necessary to be so strict with the timing.
Not to mention any flaws in the summoning can be ironed out later by binding [Saber] at some point in the future, although that's something to consider if such issues end up coming up as I slowly stood up and allowed my shroud of power to swap out the Shinjuku Casual attire I'm currently wearing for my full servant armor, after which I end up retrieving my sword from my pocket space and strapping it to my waist.
"Alright then, Shirou I think it's time we summoned your servant now that we've all had our fill of your food," I say succinctly, already walking towards Shirou's workshop/shed with Serenity following after me, with Shirou considering to do so as well before turning her attention on washing the dishes as fast as she can, not wanting to leave them sitting in the sink and unfinished with their cleaning…
Shirou's Shed workshop, Emiya Residence - Almost half an hour later
(General P.O.V)
"Does the incantation have to be that long Jeanne…?" Shirou asks Jeanne as she holds the incarnated servant's company phone in her grasp, reading and trying to memorize the displayed incantation for summoning a servant through the Fuyuki Holy Grail system.
"Unfortunately yes, not sure about the specifics but from what I can understand when you slap away all the pomp and aristocratic nonsense from any of the explanations I could find, the longer the incantation, the more power that the incarnation has," Jeanne says while rolling her yellow eyes at how long-winded and in-depth the whole system of ritual incantations when it involves magecraft in general, although internally Jeanne does know that there is more to it than that, she just frankly does not care for the more intricate details.
Shirou gives the white-blonde-haired woman an uncertain look, wondering if stuff like this is why her father seemed to have tried to avoid talking about magecraft in general when he was alive, although the redhead does at least trust Jeanne that she knows what she's doing considering she has a servant of her own while also being a servant herself which is supposedly not technically supposed to be possible if Jeanne's extremely brief explanation regarding the summoning of servants is to be believed.
Although Shirou did catch Jeanne grumbling about [Caster] being a cheater to get out an assassin anyway which is something that the redhead can't help but internally remark that it's not like the reborn version of the corrupted Saint of Orleans didn't do something similar, even if she lacks the context for the scenario that Jeanne is grumbling about.
"Alright then, do you think you can recite the incantation without issue Shirou?" Jeanne asks as she reaches for the company smartphone in Shirou's hands, with said redhead looking down at the smartphone in her hands hesitantly before nodding and handing it over to Jeanne who promptly puts it in her pocket space.
Jeanne smirked at Shirou's answer before she moved aside thus allowing Shirou to walk toward the Summoning Circle that she hadn't even known was there for years, either way, she felt both calm and eagerness war within her as she began to step toward it as some part of her deep down yearns to meet the woman that one of her possible selves would grow rather close to.
Soon Emiya Shirou stands before the summoning circle and begins to focus, readying herself for the activation of her magical circuits in order to start the process of summoning her servant, of summoning the legendary King of Knights, all by starting by uttering just two words.
"Trace On"
Within the depths of Emiya Shirou's mind, the image of the hammer of a gun being cocked back comes to the forefront as momentary images of green circuitry glowing brightly in response to her Aria, along with the very brief image of what appears to be a golden sheath but before she can properly register what that sheath is, it fades from her mind.
There is a feeling of euphoria that comes with activating her natural circuits like this, in all other timelines perhaps there would be irreparable atrophy that would hinder her growth as a magus and as a hero of justice, but with Jeanne's shroud having bound her into her retinue that atrophy is gone.
Her gaze briefly turns to Jeanne herself, her eyes instinctively being drawn toward the white-blonde-haired woman's blade as without even realizing it, she adds what may be the first new weapon to an arsenal within the depths of her soul.
But it matters not right now as she turns her gaze back to the task at hand with the focus brought about by the activation of her natural magical circuits, she knows the words she has to recite and what she must do in this very moment as if guided by an invisible hand of fate.
For elements silver and iron,
Foundation stone and archduke of pacts,
And for my Great Master Schweinorg.
Close the four gates.
Come forth from the Crown and follow the Forked Road leading to the Kingdom.
Fill,
Fill,
Fill,
Fill,
Fill.
Repeat Five times but when each is filled destroy it.
Set.
Heed my words, my will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny.
If you heed the Grail Call and obey my will and reason then answer me.
I hereby swear that I shall be all the good in the world.
That I shall defeat all Evil in the world.
Seventh Heaven clad in the Great Words of Power.
From the Binding Circle vow Guardian of the Scales.
The moment that Shirou finishes the incantation for summoning her servant, the summoning circle below glows a brilliant blue as upon her left hand appears an intricate red sigil, denoting the appearance of command seals before the entire room is bathed in a brilliant blue light.
From that same light, Shirou stares at what appears in amazement as a young woman with blonde hair tied up in a bun, adorned in shining armor that fits around an old-styled dress, said dress being made from old-fashioned blue cloth appears in the middle of the summoning circle.
The golden eyes of Emiya Shirou and the green eyes of the armored woman meet, the former of the two mesmerized as she stares deeply into those emerald green orbs that the blonde woman has, some part of her feeling a connection to the woman before her form.
The woman notices the two servants behind Emiya Shirou but says nothing for the time being as her focus is laid squarely on the redhead in front of her, before at long last the woman speaks and Shirou finally hears her voice.
"Servant [Saber] has come in response to your summons, so I ask of you….Are you my Master?"
Author's notes
Hello everyone, I bet you all thought that the chapter earlier this month was all I had for all you fate fans, but fortunately, that was not the case as I managed to get a spark that lasted over the past 24 hours to blast through writing this one.
Either way, I hope you all enjoyed reading this surprise extra chapter this month, now then shall we get to the plot discussions once again as we got two major ones today!
The Date and time of the plot taking place
Doubtless, you all noticed the addition of the date and time now plastered on the start of the chapter, this is going to be both a method of me being able to track what events are supposed to take place as well as give a proper timeline of events that will happen in the story.
Of course, this did lead me to realize one thing regarding the date and time though, that being that I accidentally sent Shirou to school on a fucking Sunday in Japan, hence why I had to come up with a way to explain why they went to school in the first place and have it be something that makes sense as to why no one brought it up later on.
So I settled on club contests with Shirou being forced to take part in the Cooking Club contest by none other than Taiga herself in order to ensure that there is a valid reason for why this happened in the first place.
But this also has the added benefit of allowing Jalter to take full advantage of the date and time of events while also adding an additional reason as to why the summoning of [Assassin] worked in the first place, as well as allowing me to fix some assumptions that our french MC had been saddled with by accident by yours truly.
The rearrangement of the planned events that were indicated in the last chapter's Author's notes.
With how this chapter ended up working out, I decided that it would be better to focus on the preparations for the Holy Grail War first rather than doing Saber's summoning first and THEN doing them.
Not to mention it allows me to cap off the chapter in the way that it did, as admittedly I had the video of Shirou's UBW first tracing of Archer's weapons blaring the background for thematic effect.
Now then, Next time on Fate Saint Alter: War Council in the Emiya household, Tohsaka Rin gets some bad news and an arrival in Fuyuki
See you all next month hopefully (For real this time)