24 years ago…

May 2009

Ah…he hated jobs like this one.

Not that he had much to complain about, really. After all, a job was a job, and this one especially suited his…personal skills quite nicely.

But he still hated jobs like these.

Sisigou Kairi did not like when he was hired by the Mage's Association, it was a damn well known fact. If he had the choice, he'd never work with the fuckers at all.

But sometimes he didn't get a choice. Especially now, considering just how well this damn job paid. And if he did a little…personal payment, well, that was nobody's business except his.

Still, Paris was a bitch this time of year and even if the catacombs shielded him from the rain, they sure as shit did nothing about the wind. If Kairi was lucky, his target would be working in their illegal workshop and make it extremely obvious where they were.

Kairi was so rarely lucky, though.

His thoughts on that became even more certain when he found himself with a little spy at his back. This shit just became a hell of a lot more complicated.

Fuck, but Kairi hated this job.

Her favorite pistol sat loosely in her hand as Beretta watched the two Master-Servant pairs below her. Yamada left easily enough, Saber no doubt convincing her to retreat for now instead of exposing her Noble Phantasm. Smart…yet she was also quite obviously loyal enough to her Master to risk revealing who she was so early while fighting Berserker.

Speaking of Berserker…he remained where he stood, his eyes focused on his Master and waiting for her orders. Tohsaka's eyes were fixed on Beretta and Caster, refusing to look away. Beretta could see the calculative look in her eyes even as far away as she was.

It had been a risky move, interrupting the battle when she had. But of all the possible outcomes Beretta could see happening, the most viable one was the one where she stepped between the two.

Besides…this presented her with just the opportunity she'd been waiting for.

Without a glance back at her Servant, Beretta jumped off the ledge of the building and allowed just a bit of her magic free, softening her fall so she landed on the ground with nary a sound. Caster, of course, was right behind her, as unintrusive as he ever was.

"Tohsaka Anya and Servant Berserker. I must say, you two were quite the sight during that battle," Beretta commented. She adjusted the tone of her voice the slightest bit, just enough that she could come across as both sincere and insincere.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, considering I don't know your full name," Tohsaka stated, crossing her arms. She had the almost regal bearing every magus from a noble house had, though Beretta could see no haughtiness in her. Perhaps it was something inherent to her that gave her that ability to face someone like Beretta with no fear.

It was almost impressive.

"You can simply call me Beretta," Beretta declared, not giving the younger woman a millimeter. "And, of course, you know Caster."

"A pleasure," Caster greeted, as polite as always. Beretta didn't react, uncaring of what Tohsaka or Caster thought of her.

A job was a job, after all.

"I'm sure." Tohsaka practically stared down her nose at the two of them, suspicion glimmering in her eyes. "Why are you talking to me, then? Unless you plan to fight me as well?"

"Please, it'd be too dull if it all ended so quickly," Beretta scoffed, tilting her head to the side. "If I'm gonna be paid for this, might as well make it interesting, you know?"

"This is a job to you?" Tohsaka demanded, anger sparkling around her as brightly as one of Beretta's cigarettes. Ah, but it was a beautiful sight, cracking that ice cold façade. "You're in a war, where you or other people could die and call this a job?!"

"Well, not all of us get by on cushy above board jobs," Beretta smirked. She was just too easy to rile up, it was fun.

"You—"

"Beretta."

Tohsaka moved forward, as if to attack Beretta herself, but Berserker's hand gently grasped her wrist just as Caster called Beretta's name, his tone one of a scolding parent. Beretta didn't pay him any mind though, her eyes focused on the way Tohsaka turned to meet Berserker's eyes and the seemingly silent communication between the two of them.

It was fascinating to watch as Tohsaka deflated, stepping back to stand beside her Servant. She met Beretta's gaze, glaring at her with a bright fire in her eyes.

"I will withdraw for the evening. Have a good night, Beretta, Caster," she stated with zero inflection in her voice. Once she said her piece, Tohsaka turned and walked away into the night, Berserker fading as he shifted to spirit form.

Beretta watched them disappear, saying nothing as they vanished from sight.

Caster, of course, was the one to break the silence.

"You did not have to bait her into attacking you," he scolded, as if he were her guardian. "You said that you would only intervene should the outcome of the battle prove unwise. And yet, as soon as it ends, you attempt to provoke the woman who is Master of Berserker! Have you a death wish?!"

"It's called understanding your target," Beretta sighed, not rising to the bait Caster so easily laid out for her. "If I'm going to get this job done, then I need to understand how all the players work. Yamada was easy. Tohsaka, not so much."

"You already know where I stand on such matters," Caster scowled at her and Beretta finally turned to face him. Her scale shaped Command Spell glimmered as it caught the moonlight as her eyes met Caster's.

"Then why the fuck did you follow me."

It wasn't a question nor was it spoken in a demanding tone. Though they had only known each other for a short time, Beretta knew that Caster wouldn't answer her. After all, he was too set in his ways, just as she was.

It was simply unfortunate that their ways did not currently align.

Beretta raised a cigarette and lit it with magic, mimicking Caster's own smoking pipe, neither of them breaking eye contact for several moments.

In the end, it was Beretta who spoke first, not because Caster had won but because she knew the stalemate would not end any time soon.

"Come on then, back to base with us," she said. Without turning to see if he was following her, Beretta began to head back towards Shinjuku, intent on getting some sleep tonight.

Caster would follow her, she knew he would. After all, an old man like him could never leave well enough alone.

Caster let out a sigh under his breath as he stared at Beretta over his glasses. The café the two of them sat in was bright and airy, right near Central Street, as Beretta looked out the window. He assumed she was scouting while he sat across from her, his book open in front of him.

It was the third day of the Holy Grail War and Caster still did not know what to make of his Master. She was quiet most of the time, rarely letting her emotions slip even around him. But he'd also seen her with her fellow comrades, how she made sure they all were on track before reminding them to stay out of her own job. She was a confusing mess of contradictions and Caster both did and didn't want to find out the core of her.

"Well?" Beretta questioned, still looking out the window, her chin resting in her hand. "Can you sense anything?"

"It isn't so easy as that," Caster stated, purposefully returning his eyes to his book so he could focus once more. "I need more than a couple minutes, Beretta."

"It's not like I'm asking you to tell me who it is." Beretta rolled her eyes, staring at Caster with a deadpan look in her eyes. "I just want to know if there's anyone keeping this shitshow in line. The records mention a 'Ruler', so you should be able to sense if there's magic relating to that."

Caster didn't dignify that with a response. Instead, he bowed his head and closed his eyes. To an outsider, it probably looked like he was reading or taking a nap.

In actuality, Caster was imagining the map of Tokyo in his mind. He could see it in his mind's eye, as if it were laid out on the table before him. Once he had that, he took a deep breath in and out before he stretched out his magic to cover the map. It wasn't a lot, just enough for him to sense the sources of magic in the city.

It wasn't a difficult bit of magic for a Caster to utilize with just a pinch of magic. It was similar to how Servants could sense when another was nearby, but on a larger scale. Caster could feel his magic bled through the map and he watched as the outline of his fellow Servants lit up, one by one. As each one did, he began to count.

One, two, three…four, five, six…seven…

"Eight," Caster whispered to himself. Beretta, however, heard him and turned to meet his gaze as he opened his eyes. "I count eight sources of magic that read as Servants to me. Most likely, there is a Ruler amongst us."

"How interesting…" Beretta mused, leaning onto the table with a calculating look in her eyes. "And Rulers can't interfere, they simply act as observers similar to how the Church used to. Meaning they won't expose themselves unless they have to."

"Depending on the Heroic Spirit," Caster conceded with a nod. "We are, after all, a varied group with many personalities."

"Right, and if we just so happened to pass them on the street, you'd know right away," Beretta hummed, tapping her fingers together.

"Correct." Caster nodded. "Given the point of a Ruler, I imagine they would be the strongest Servant at a glance. And, of course, a Ruler doesn't have a Master beside them."

"So a Masterless Servant could either be a Ruler or another Servant whose original Master revoked their wish to participate in the War," Beretta summarized. She grabbed a toothpick from the small bowl on the table and placed it between her lips, chewing on it as a replacement for a cigarette. "Good to know, so we don't have to fight the most powerful Servant on the board."

"Most likely, though I wouldn't doubt Berserker so casually," Caster warned. He glanced down at his book, refusing to meet Beretta's eyes as casually as possible. No matter his own thoughts on the matter of the Holy Grail War, Caster was still himself and he wouldn't be himself if he didn't notice details when he had observed Berserker and Saber's battle the night before.

He couldn't be certain, he probably wouldn't be without seeing a Noble Phantasm, but he was already filing away his own suspicions.

Beretta hummed under her breath as she led Caster through Ginza, glancing around whenever she could. To most people, the two probably looked like a pair of tourists, perhaps a pair of family members taking in the sights, but in actuality, Beretta was personally mapping out the ley lines.

Sure, she knew how Caster's magic worked and trusted him to be accurate, but there was a difference between seeing a map and walking the path in the real world. Besides, staying holed up in one location may be a sound strategy, but Beretta highly doubted any magus worth their salt would be hiding out during a Holy Grail War, especially this one.

"Beretta," Caster whispered just a second before Beretta heard a loud groan from across the street.

"Dude, why are you so slow? We've been here since dawn!"

"Now, now, darling, there's no need to exaggerate. Besides, there's so many beautiful things here, I'm certain there's something for you as well. Or perhaps…something I can buy for you?"

Beretta turned towards the voices, finding a man and a woman. The man had wild blonde hair and seemed like a normal enough tourist at a glance.

The woman, however, was eye catching, with waist length white hair that was shaved on the left side and she was so pale that she almost looked dead, had she not been eagerly talking with the man beside her.

The man perked up at the woman's offer, almost like a puppy.

"You mean like a new game? Or some beer?" he asked excitedly.

"Oh, my dear darling, I have something much more fun in mind," the woman giggled, coyly raising a hand to cover her lips. Before the man could say anything else, however, she looked over her shoulder and smiled wide as her sclera-less black eyes met Beretta's. "Of course, we may be having a different kind of fun today."

Beretta raised her chin calmly as she crossed the street, trusting Caster to be at her back. It was only when the two of them stood directly in front of the man and woman that the man seemed to notice them.

"Whoa! Are you a Master too? Gnarly! Name's Matthias Estridsen and this is my Servant, Assassin. You lookin' to team up?" the man, Estridsen, grinned. His body language was loose and open, the complete opposite of Beretta in every way.

"You would offer an alliance so easily?" Caster questioned, seemingly shocked enough that he had to speak.

"He might," Assassin giggled, raising a single black painted nail to her equally black lips, giving a fanged smile wide enough to show off her startlingly white teeth. "But me? I wonder…"

Beretta narrowed her eyes as she met Assassin's eyes straight on. After all, underestimating an opponent was the quickest way to end a job prematurely.

And she did not fail in her jobs.

Centuries ago…

Date unknown

No…

No, no, no!

This was not what he had wanted, not in the least!

Him? A hero? Fighting for the rest of eternity for magi who summoned him to a war? Using the very thing that made him famous to perpetuate an endless cycle of violence and strife?

He could not allow that…would not allow that!

He glared in defiance at the being before him, spitting his defiance as earnestly as his pen struck paper. He would not be a pawn in some god's game such as this!

But Alaya did not care for the wishes of men such as him and there was no way he could fight such a being alone.

He was trapped, alongside so many others, in this cycle of war and death and wishes.

The only way out, the only way to end it, was to win. Fine.

If that was what it took, then so be it.

Hi y'all, it's been a while. Sorry about that, a combination of life and no ideas led to that. And I do mean no ideas with regard to this chapter specifically because I STRUGGLED with this chapter. It's still incredibly short, but I genuinely could not think of a way to improve it while still being true to the characters. So here it is. I hope you all enjoyed it regardless! Thanks again to NSPunny for beta reading this! The next chapter, we head over to Matthias and Assassin's POVs, hopefully they'll be a bit easier for me to write. In any case, I hope to see you all soon!