Emiya IV

The thing that had once been Grazdan the Great let out a horrific scream, causing the ground to rumble beneath it. Emiya, quite able to see just how strong this thing probably was after even a casual glance at the amount of mana shoved into it by the ritual, wasn't going to take any chances with trying to fight it one on one. It was why he and his team, now up to six in total, were sprinting towards the nearest tunnel, one that would hopefully provide some cover from this rotten chimera.

"God Damnit," Cu growled, looking back, Gae Bold resting on his right shoulder, Colan being carried underneath his left arm, "How is it that we're fighting another giant monster in a freaking arena?" his groan was one that Emiya couldn't help but share, "It really is just Rome again, isn't it."

"Well," Emiya snarked, trying to offer a bit of levity as the creature behind them was still trying to get its bearings after its horrific birth and the damage that had been done to its eye. He called back Kanshou and Bakuya, the blades appearing in his hands, "At least this one isn't quite as big…and it isn't howling at the moon."

"Yeah," Cu snarled back, looking at the thing rubbing the blood away from it's now raptor like eye, "But we also don't have Martha and her turtle here to smash it like we had for Caligula," he then adjusted Colan once more, trying to get a better grip on his boy, "Hell, I can't even call Whicker Man to fight this guy now," he looked at Emiya, "I still only have access to what I can do as a lancer," he seemed to get a bit melancholic, "And even then…"

Emiya cursed to himself. Despite Nitocris's impressive display, he could tell that she had likely pushed herself to her limit. That mixed with her lack of personal affinity for the Avenger Class, she had to rely on a link with Anubis to enter it after all, it meant that right now, he was pretty sure that this thing could beat all of them at once. Which, after the past two months of more or less being able to trapeze around this plane with little to no trouble in combat, was distressing.

'Just have to get all of us out of here,' he thought, his eyes focusing on the small tunnel the force of legionnaires had marched through to confront them not fifteen minutes earlier. It was still open, and from what he could see, there were no guards coming through there. With how much of their energy and power they'd all already used, they would probably need to get-

Emiya suddenly realized he was in the shade, and a sudden stiff breeze came down on his head. He gave a quick look up to see the Harpy beast had jumped into the sky, floating slightly as the great wings flapped to keep it afloat. Its raptor eyes were focusing on them, and part of Emiya could still feel the hot hate dripping from whatever was left of Grazdan's mind inside the beast.

It dove downward upon them, its four clawed limbs bared to slice and cut. Emiya dove, and felt a gust of wind from the swipes. The beast landed once more, and Emiya looked. He saw a small spray of blood out of the corner of his eye, and his heart jumped.

"Lady Xuan!" he heard Colan scream.

"I'm fine!" the monk barked, and Emiya could see that the cut was along her left arm. The claw coming out of the elbow of the left arm, had followed behind its mighty swipe, and had just managed to catch Xuanzang around the bicep. The wound had cut into the side of her arm, but mostly just seemed to do a bit of damage. She didn't even seem to wince, before she twisted herself around, and aimed a kick directly into the claw nearest her that was laying on the ground. The claw was forced to move a foot, and Emiya thought he saw a grimace of pain, but the creature didn't make a sound, and raised the limb up to attack once again, "Duck!" she shouted, and again the party dove out of the way of the oncoming strike. Emiya saw Xuanzang roll out of the next attempt to hit her, and saw her teeth grit together, "My strike are barely managing to slow it down!"

"Neither did my blades," Emiya shouted back. They had momentarily scattered, but they were still all on the same side of the beast, which was moving its head rapidly between them. Emiya let out a short breath, before beginning to make his call.

"I Am the Bone of My Swo-AAAAHHHHH!"

Once again, he tried to call Unlimited Blade Works. And once again, the attempt to materialize the reality marble sent a pained shockwave through his body. He felt his limbs twitch, and he also felt the distinct burning of his circuits, or their closest approximation, cutting into his flesh. He looked up, and suddenly he saw the beast's head focus on him, his scream having focused its attention on where he was.

"Shit."

The beast threw its massive mixed left arm forward once more, the human hand first followed by the claw. Just as he was about to be snatched into its grip, he felt himself fly over, the wind momentarily knocked out of his chest. As he regained his active sight, he saw Xuanzang had lunged into him, and knocked them both out of the way of the strike. Then, before he could even contemplate what had just happened, he felt himself lifted upward, and then his stomach landing on her shoulder, like a sack of potatoes. He was then swirled around, as Xuanzang charged towards the tunnel once more, not even bothering to look back.

Emiya did look back, and his eyes widened when he saw a woman in long ribbons of cloth charging back towards the beast.

"Nitocris!" he let out a shout, as the Avenger dove under another one of the Harpy's strikes. Shen the returned to her feet, and twisted herself as she neared one of the beast's bottom pair of claws. She then slashed her twin khopesh into the right leg of the creature.

CRAAAEWWWWWGGGGHHHH!

For the first time, Emiya realized, they'd managed to do some damage to the thing. He then looked at Nitocris, who planted both her feet, and finished her great twist, the two curved blades cutting through the scales of the claw, and once again removing a limb from Grazdan the great. She then kicked her feet, sending herself flying backwards as quickly as she could, so fast that she sailed past Emiya on Xuan's shoulder.

She'd been right to do so, as the beast, now missing a limb, suddenly began to fall forward. Emiya could see it flap its wings to try and keep from falling, but the movement was awkward, likely from the recency of its birth and the simple fact that the wings just weren't large enough to allow it to fly on such short notice. The beast fell forward, and slammed into the bottom of the arena, flailing as it made impact.

"Good work," Cu said. Emiya, still over Xuanzang's shoulder, was suddenly turned around again, and was now facing the tunnel. But from this angle, he could see Cu nodding at Nitocris, a genuine smile where his smirk usually was, "Managed to take the beasty down," he made to let Colan down, "Maybe we can finish this thin-"

"Don't do that," Nitocris growled, her face covered in a scowl, staring back from which she had jumped, "Grazdan is managing to regenerate. My cuts have barely slowed him down."

Emiya wanted to look over and see if it was true, but from his position on the monk's shoulder, he couldn't actually change his position. From what he could see of Cu and Colan's faces though, a sudden building horror creeping up on them, he guessed that Nitocris was quite accurate.

"Shit," Cu turned around, Colan bouncing slightly off Cu's side with the swiftness of that turn, "Okay, let's get out of here!"

Emiya was again looking back at the beast, and with the new angle, saw that Nitocris was correct. The Chimera was holding itself off the ground with it's other limbs, and he could see a massive scaly bulge around where the claw had been removed. Finally, the new claw burst forward.

CRAAACCCKKK

Right through the floor of the arena. The beast, looking down, struggled for a moment as it tried to pull the claw out of the floor. Finally, with one great pull, the newly formed claw was back into the open air. Covered in blood.

"Wait," Emiya heard Arash shout, "The other pit fighters," Emiya, now listening, could hear the screams from beneath the floor where Arash and Colan had emerged not an hour ago, "We have to get them out of here before that thing devours them."

"We need to get off this island now!" Emiya shouted back. At this moment, they'd completed their mission here. All the servants had been brought together, and they probably had a pretty clear shot to the harbor where they would either find their old ship, or be able to steal another unguarded one. With all the chaos happening, it wouldn't be long before some of the legions that had been being packed up for the invasion of the mainland would disembark to deal with the chaos.

"I can't just leave them!" Arash shouted back, and Emiya scowled as his fellow archer shouted back, "I've lived with some of those men for decades. We can't just leave them to die!" Emiya suddenly felt another shadow come over him. This time, instead of the monster currently looking down into the hole it created in the arena, it was because they'd passed into the tunnel. Emiya sighed as they were finally in the tunnel. It would hopefully buy them some protection from above, and if they moved quickly, they cou-

Then Xuan stopped. Emiya, shocked, screamed out, "Why did we stop!?"

Emiya pushed himself off of Xuanzang's shoulder, and felt his feet hit the ground. He nearly fell over, his body still recovering from the strain of trying to summon his reality marble, but he kept himself upright. He glared over, and saw Arash and Cu opening up a door on the side of the wall.

"Everyone, come up the main way, there are no guards!" the Persian archer shouted down the tunnel. There was a cacophony of responses, as it was clear that the Pit Fighters beneath the arena had heard him. Emiya pushed himself forward, and grabbed Arash by the shoulder, pulling him around, and glaring into his face.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he screamed. He caught himself, looked over at Grazdan, and let out a sigh when he saw the beast was still inspecting the hole beneath it. He then pointed into Arash's chest, "Listen here. After everything we've been through to get all the servants on this island off of it, I don't give a shit how long you lived with these gladiators. We need to get out of here now."

"They are my friends," Arash didn't budge, his mouth thin as he glared right back at Emiya with direct eye contact, "Hell, they might as well be my family. I can't just let them die to that thing," he pointed at the Chimera, which still hadn't looked back towards them, "So if it takes us a few more minutes to get them out, then we are going to help them escape."

The first of the pit fighters lunged through the door. He was panting, obviously having run fast as he possibly could to get to his freedom. The man then placed a hand on Arash's shoulder, and smiled. Arash looked back at him, and then pointed out towards the city. The man bowed, not just to Arash, but also to the rest of them, before sprinting out of the tunnel and into the main street. Arash smiled as he watched the man flee, and then looked back at Emiya, his scowl gone.

"Emiya," he said, "I understand how important the mission is," he shook his head, "But would we be the heroes Master needs us to be if we didn't try and help these people?"

Emiya glared at him, only momentarily disrupted by a couple of other fighters charing out the door just as he spoke up again, "Do you think you are really saving them," he pointed out at the chimera, "That thing is eventually going to break out of here, and I hate to tell you this, but we don't have a boat big enough to get all your friends off this island," more and more fighters were clambering out of the dungeon now, "already into the dozens of individuals, "And I don't know what to tell you, but none of us are able to hurt that thing."

"So…we're just going to let that destroy this island then?" Emiya turned back, and stared at Colan. He was back on his feet, though his eyes were on the beast. Emiya sighed, kneeling down so he was on the boy's level.

"Colan, there isn't anything we can do to stop it," he squeezed his hand, "Not with how are bodies are functioning at the moment," he looked over at Nitocris, "Especially when I'm guessing you and Anubis are just about out of time?"

"Unfortunately, you are correct Emiya," Emiya could already see the white returning to its original black-purple mix, and the slight radiation of mana off her skin beginning to dim, "It appears that like you, I am unable to fight at full power, and I only have a minute or more of energy before I revert to being a Caster for…," she scowled as she considered it, likely conversing with Anubis in her head, "months at least."

"And she's the only one that can actually pierce Grazdan's hide," Emiya shook his head, before placing his hand on Colan's shoulder, "We'll get on our boat, and get out of here. Hopefully, Grazdan will be stuck on this island, I doubt with the way his body is constructed, he can actually swim," he looked at the beast's back, "And those wings only help in jumping, it's not like he can actually fly."

"So we shall condemn the whole island to destruction then," Nitocris wasn't asking a question, and Emiya responded with a nod.

"Everything we've seen shows that this is a constructed world, it's not like leaving him will interfere with true history," he looked at Colan, trying his best to assure the boy, "you'll be coming with us, so the chances of you ever seeing that thing again are essentially none."

Colan stared into Emiya's eyes, and for a second, he saw doubt, before the boy nodded at him. Emiya nodded back. He got up, and looked at Cu. The Hound of Ulster spat on the ground, clearly not comfortable leaving a monster like this running around, but he wasn't willing to deny the logic of Emiya's argument. He then looked at Nitocris and Xuanzang. Nitocris, still influenced by Anubis, simply nodded. Xuanzang looked at the ground, a deep frown on her face.

"It is wrong," she stated.

"I never said it was right," Emiya saw what looked like a wounded man being carried out of the cellar, likely having been hit by the claw of the beast, "I just said it was wise."

Xuanzang squeezed her hands together, before nodding. She then looked over at Arash, who placed a hand on the wounded man, and they nodded at one another. The three men were then hobbling there way towards the freedom of the streets, and Arash closed the door to the dungeon.

"That's the last of them," Arash said, not even bothering to look Emiya in the face. He then turned around, and stared, at the creature, "So, we should likely try and get out of here. You have a boat, correct?"

"Yes," Emiya felt some of the tension in his body. Arash had seen Emiya's point, even if he wasn't happy about it.

'I'm not necessarily happy about it either,' Emiya considered as their team finally marched towards the outside of the arena, 'But this is the only option we have. We have to get out of here.'

It took only a moment to arrive at the steel gate that had been hanging loose from the tunnel. The key was sitting in the gate, likely left there by the guards who had been tasked with protecting it when Grazdan had transformed. Emiya actually couldn't see any of the fleeing pit fighters, most of them likely having managed to push their way into the fleeing crowd during their escape attempt. Already he saw Colan and his father through, and that Nitocris and Xuanzang had managed to push out into the streets as well. He gripped the gate open, and held it for Arash, who looked back at the beast.

"Such a monstrous creature," the Persian remarked watching at it flailed, it's head moving around to try and find more prey, "Soon, it will climb out of the GreatPit, and begin a massacre that this world likely has never seen before."

"Which is why we need to get out now," Emiya waved his hand, "Come on, we're almo-"

Emiya's words were cut off as the wind was knocked from his stomach. He fell backward, and landed on his ass. A second later, he saw Xuanzang and Colan looking down at him. He blinked, jumped to his feet, and stared as Arash shut the gate to the tunnel with himself still inside. His veins close to bursting, Emiya rushed towards the gate, only to see Arash twist the key that had been left in the lock.

"The fuck do you think you are doing?" he nearly screamed, gripping at the iron bars along the gate. Arash looked at him, and gave him a sad smile, before turning around and looking down towards the center of the arena, "We need to get out of here!"

"Emiya, you're logic is correct," Arash pulled his bow free, and picked out one of the few arrows he had remaining, "If we are to all escape from here, it would be best to sacrifice this island," he shook his head, though refusing to look back, "But that's not a logic I can follow. Not if I am to remain who I am."

"Arash!" Emiya saw Arash march a short way down the tunnel, twisting the arrow between his fingers, "There's nothing we can do, we don't have access to any power that ca-" Emiya felt his eyes drawn to the arrow, and something clicked, "No."

"So you figured it out," Arash waved backward one last time, before readying his bow. Arash looked into the arena, and though Emiya couldn't see his face, he could tell his eyes were planted firmly on the beast. The creature had seemingly given up investigating the hole it had created, and was instead flailing around, likely looking for the nearest human it could devour. Arash planted his feet, and then drew back his bow.

"GRAZDAN THE BEAST!" Arash's voice echoed both ways down the hall. Emiya felt his stomach drop when he saw the monster's head turn towards the tunnel.

"What's he doing!?" Emiya heard Colan cry, and he looked over to see the rest of his team in much the same position as he was. Cu looked down at his son, and snorted a puff of anger, before looking back towards Arash.

"Doing what he thinks is right," he shook his head, before adding, "Even though it's going to kill him," he then looked at Colan, before grabbing the boy, and moving him to the edge of the gate, "I want you to see this," Colan looked up at Cu, "But once he let's go, you dive behind the wall. I'm not letting you join him."

"Da?"

CRRAAAAWWWWWWWWKKKKK

The beast was now lunging forward, all four limbs pounding into the ground as it charged towards the tunnel. It used its wings to push itself forward, and was almost at the entrance of the tunnel. Emiya saw a mix of green and blue energy swirl around Arash's feet, the Earth beginning to shake and crumble beneath the Archer's feet.

"Grazdan, a monster that has brought nothing but pain and misery," Emiya could still hear the sound of Arash's voice as the Persian's noble phantasm formed, "You have given me thirty years of misery, and tens millenia of suffering to others beside me," the beast finally went into the tunnel, "So as I promised, this next arrow will end your miserable existence!"

Grazdan was completely incapable of caring about the declaration. It had been forced to pull its wings in so it could fit inside the tunnel. It thus was crawling forward instead of charging, but its beast-like brain was too focused on its prey to notice the lack of maneuverability it had. It could only move forward, towards Arash, and the glowing energy gathering underneath his feet.

"O Sacred Lord in Heaven," the mana gathering around Arash's feet finally began to change direction, the green and yellow flame diving up along Arash's legs, "Radiant Lord, Merciful, who bestowed upon me wisdom and strength."

"Arash," Emiya couldn't help but stare at his fellow Archer. It was too late now, there was nothing he could do for the Persian now that he had begun to call his noble phantasm. That was certainly so with the beast charging with such might that if he did stop, it would likely break free and kill them all. This was now the actual only way out of this, "You fucking idiot."

"I call upon thee to witness my heart," he the flames climbed higher all the way to Arash's chest, "My thoughts," around his head, "and everything I have achieved," and down to his arms wielding the arrow. Arash's body did not flinch as the beast continued to claw nearer to him, "Now Creator of the moon and stars…"

Grazdan had made within a hundred feet of Arash, it made a swipe, but it was not only too far away, but it was also to constricted to make any kind of accurate arc, and it fell over. It didn't stay down for long, as it forced itself back up to it's limbs, and started crawling once again.

"Behold my deeds, my death, and my Spenta Armaiti, which I must carry out," the beast wasn't even going to attempt to hit Arash with a strike. It's massive beak opened, preparing to bite up the man in one gulp, "After I unleash this last arrow with all my strength, my iron body shall shatter, and annihilate me where I stand!"

"It wi-" Colan was about to ask, but Cu had grabbed, him, and placed him where only a single eye could look down the tunnel. The Beast's mouth was directly in front of Arash, when Emiya heard the name he had known was coming since Arash had shut the gate between them.

"STELLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Emiya just saw Arash loose the arrow, and it enter into the mouth of Grazdan. After that, the blast of air from the release of the arrow threw him backward, and he felt himself collide with the ground and slide backward at least a dozen meters onto the stone road. The dust around him obscured his vision, as he laid on the ground, attempting to cover his eyes from the debris.

It took almost a full minute for the air from the shot to dissipate. Emiya, feeling it was safe to get up, forced himself to his feet, shaking his head as he looked around. He saw that he had actually been lucky to have been forced down, as he saw the gate had flown past him and smashed into the buildings on the other side of the street. He felt a sigh of relief when he saw Colan had managed to be pushed behind the stone wall, and hadn't even been knocked down by the blast.

"Is everyone-"

"No," Nitocris, her hair fully black, and her hand now grabbing up several of the strips of cloth to cover herself as much as she could, coughed. She seemed quite dizzy, though whether it was from the blast or from turning back to her Caster form, Emiya couldn't say, "Though I will live."

"We shall live as well," Xuanzang picked herself up from the ground, with Cu on resting on her shoulder. Cu gave a quick thumbs up from his resting position, and Xuanzang then turned her attention to the boy along the wall, "Are you unharmed Colan?"

"I am!" the boy shouted back, and Xuanzang nodded, before forcing her way to her feet, Cu following her up as they stood. Emiya forced himself to his feet as well, and they both tried to move forward, when Emiya felt his jaw drop.

Looking through the tunnel, he could see the other end of the arena. Or what was left of it, a massive chunk having been torn out of it. The boxes and seats had been reduced to rubble. And among the smashed stone, Emiya could see mounds of flesh. Grazdan had been blown apart, so much so that he was unable to tell which piece of flesh had been which previous body part. Though he could see that there was now a rain of burnt feathers falling over what remained of the GreatPit.

"He did it," Colan mostly just gasped. Despite everything the boy had seen, he had yet to encounter anything so deadly as Stella. Even Gae Bolg was, for all of its dealy ability, merely a weapon to kill one target.

Stella could destroy an army.

"I didn't doubt it would," Emiya said absentmindedly, before it finally hit him, "ARASH! ARASH YOU BASTARD ARE YOU ALIVE!"

For a moment, the air hung quiet.

"I…I'm still here."

Emiya didn't allow even a second of hesitation. He sprinted in the direction of the sound, and his burst of mana caused the cloud of dust to disperse from where he had heard the sound. The wind burst had pushed away all of the dust, and revealed Arash.

Or what was left of him.

All that was left was Arash's torso and head, all of his limbs had likely been blown off from releasing Stella. And even the still attached head and body had been almost smashed up. All of the clothes had been torn from Arash's chest, as well as several layers of skin. It looked like his ribs had been smashed, and though nothing was sticking through, it was clear that his innards had been badly damaged. His left eye was gone, and most of his hair was blown off.

"Oh God," Emiya could help but fall to his knees.

"I believe I won our competition," Arash coughed, though Emiya guessed he was trying to laugh, "I was the same as you, couldn't get Stella to full power. Should have completely incinera-"

"Shut up!" Emiya screamed, before turning his head to Colan, "Colan, give me the bag!"

"Wha-" Colan, having run up behind Emiya, eyes wide at the carnage of Stella on Arash, blinked for a second, before he nodded, and then pulled out the bag of Chaldean tech that Emiya had entrusted to him. He tossed it to Emiya, who loosened the string.

"Don't worry," Emiya wasn't going to fail this mission, not this early. He reached into the bag, as he explained his plan, "I'll get one of the-ah," he pulled out one of the transportation rings, "We'll put this on you, and get you to the medical team," he reached down to grab for a finger to place it on Arash, "And they should be able to stabali…"

Emiya realized that Arash didn't have any fingers to put the ring on.

"There…," Emiya just stared at what remained of Arash's body. There wasn't even a toe to use. There was no way for him to transport Arash back to Storm Glider, where he could hope for enough medical support to keep Arash stable. Arash would lie here, in the dust, as he bled out, "No."

"Do no-Clch-fear for me," Arash coughed again, blood beginning to splatter from his mouth as he tried to form words.

"Don't you dare die on me," Emiya could think of only one other hope. He stood up, and put his arm out.

"I am the bone of my sword," he'd never managed it before, but this was his last chance. Even if he had very little access to his marble, and even if he couldn't create it when Unlimited Bladeworks was operating normally, he could at least try and call the phantasm that had set him on his path to be a hero. He had to pull up the one noble phantasm that could possibly heal Arash.

He had to project Avalon.

"Steel is my body, and fire is my blood," he continued, his circuits already screaming in pain as the form of a scabbard appeared in front of him. Even the mere outline, however, exuded some warmth, and the tip of the finger closest to it stopped being covered in pain as he held it out, "I have created over a thousand blades," though he never could this scabbard, "Unknown to death, Nor known to Life."

Avalon was slowly forming, the mixture of blue and gold beginning to take the shape of the scabbard.

"Have withstood pain to craft many weapons," it was almost there, "Yet," almost, "These hands shall never hold them," almost, "As I pray," One last push, and he'd have it here, and he could save his comrade.

"UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!"

The scabbard burst into dust.

For a moment, there was no more sound. Emiya just stared where Avalon had been forming, his finger's now rigid in ache, reaching out for where the scabbard had been forming, and grasped at only the air.

"Emiya," Arash's next cough pulled Emiya back to the present, "Do not fret over me," the wounded man tried to smile, but his face was so damaged that one really couldn't tell, "I made my decision, and I must pay the consequences of it," he spat out another mouthful of blood, "Please, you all need to get away from here. If you stay too long, you might be caught up by whoever else shows up to clean this mess."

"We can't jus-" Emiya felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back, and Xuanzang was holding it, her eyes already overflowing with tears. He looked over the rest of the group, and saw that they were all in different states of crying as well. Even Cu, jackass he was, had tears running down his face, though he managed to keep the rest of his face appropriately stoic. It was only then that Emiya recognized that his cheeks were wet as well, and that he reached up, and felt the tears flowing from his eyes.

"Please," Arash was barely able to wheeze out anything else, "I knew the chance of something like this when I agreed to become Ritsuka's servant…and I shall not be the first to be lost to the throne," Arash just looked up into the sky, "I shall be joining them…David and…"

And then there was silence. Emiya placed a hand on Arash's chest, and then pulled back as he saw the body ignite in a mana fueled fire. He stared as the corpse of his comrade was burnt away. Finally, when the last ember was gone, Emiya tried to stand, but he felt his legs buckle, and his magic circuits screamed as he tried to move again. Calmly, Xuanzang picked him up once more, and began the process of carrying him.

As they retreated towards the port, Emiya stared back as everyone else moved forward. He couldn't help but look at the burn mark that had once been his friend.

"Lord Emiya," he had heard Colan call his name, and desperately wanted to shout for the boy to shut his mouth, "Are you feeling better?"

Emiya really wanted to say that of course he wasn't better. He had been laid up in the small cot they'd gotten for him on this caravel for almost a full day. His body still ached with every movement he tried to take, the overuse of his circuits leaving him quite sore. He had drifted in and out of consciousness for the period, yet the sleep itself hadn't seemed to even really refuel his energy.

And of course, he had also failed the mission his Master had given him those two months ago.

"Listen Emiya, when I heard about what happened with our friends, I wanted to get in that coffin myself. But they won't let me out of this bed for a while, so I had to choose someone to go and save them. And I chose you of our best available options. Every single one of those servants is precious to me, and I know you know that. So I am trusting you with the first mission of Novum Chaldea."

'That's always been your problem,' he twisted in his bed, and moved so he was facing Colan, 'Ritsuka, you see us for who we portray ourselves as…not as we really are. It means we always end up disappointing you.'

"A bit," he finally answered Cu's son, who nodded, and then held up a small jug in his hands. He went over to the small table at the side of the bed, and poured water into a small cup. He set the jug down, and placed it against Emiya's lips, who drank as much of the water as possible, "Thank you."

"It is nothing," the boy then looked at the ground. For a moment, they both just stayed where they were, Emiya rolling over in his sweat covered sheets, and Colan standing on the wooden planks of the captain's quarters. Finally, Colan picked up the jug, and was about to pour it again, when Emiya raise his hand. Colan stopped, and made to leave, "I'll let you get back to your rest," he said quietly.

"No need," Emiya pushed himself up off the frame of the bed. He felt pain as he moved, but it was no longer an acute slicing, just a dull ache. He twisted himself so his feet were over the side of the bed, and forced himself up. He wobbled for a moment, and then looked down, and was glad to see they'd left his pants on. He tried his best to form a smile for the boy, "I need to get up and help everyone else. They suffered injuries as well."

"You do no-" Colan was about to say, before shaking his head, and then sighing, before turning around, and shouting out the door, "Da! Emiya's up!"

"Please don't shou-"

"Good to hear!"

"Ah," Emiya held his hands to his ears. Somehow Cu's voice, even at the same volume as his son's, managed to be far more painful to hear, "Could we please keep the volume down," he pushed himself into the light of the sun, and felt the sea breeze brush over him, "I'm trying to get out here and help."

"Oh come on," Cu was smirking as he rested against the mast, the handy work of having arranged the ropes for their departure resting behind him, "Would I be me if I kept my voice down?"

Emiya sighed, before nodding at Cu. Colan walked over to his father, and handed him the jug. Cu lifted the jug up to his mouth, and began to pour all of it into his mouth. The stream of liquid flowed into his outstretched jaw, and it took only a moment for the whole thing to be emptied. He smiled for a moment, before letting out a great belch. Colan let out a snort, before trying to regain his stoic look. Cu then handed the jug back to the boy.

"Go get us some more water," he said, and the boy nodded at his father. It took only a few seconds for Colan to twirl around the mast, and opened the door on the other side of the caravel, down into the cellar where they had likely stored any provisions they'd need for the trip, "Good thing this thing was stocked up for months of travel. Would have been harder to get out of there trying to actually stock up on supplies."

"..."

"Okay," Cu clapped his hands together, before turning back to Emiya, and bending down to offer his jaw, "Let's get this over with."

"What?"

"Go ahead and hit me," the hound of Ulster offered. Emiya just blinked for a second, and Cu waved his hands in an aggressive fashion, "Come on, you need to get some of this out of you, or this is only going to get worse."

"Get wh-"

"Don't fuck with me you brat," Cu was standing up straight again, red eyes glaring directly into Emiya, "You're in one of your stupid depressed moods. If we don't get you out of it, you're just going to be a burden for the rest of us."

"A burden?" Emiya snapped, stepping closer to Cu, suddenly tightening his hands into fists.

"Yeah, a burden," Cu stepped forward as well, "If we don't get you thinking straight, you're just going to mope around, acting like some stone cold hardass. You're going to stop thinking about each situation to the best of your ability and just keep focusing "on the mission"," Cu spat out his elongated canines flashing in the sun, "And that attitude will only make the rest of this mission go even worse than it has."

"Even worse than it has?" Emiya nearly felt like laughing, but he could tell that his voice had actually broken, "I've failed. I was sent to retrieve all twelve missing servants, and there are only eleven of them still alive. Arash is dead, and I have no one to blame but myself."

"Or you could blame Arash!" Cu shouted back, and this time Emiya did throw a punch, though Cu, now agitated from the argument, dodged out of the way. He then stood straight up again, his body tense for any kind of fight Emiya might give him.

"He died a hero!" a better hero than Emiya could ever be, was the thought that sat in Emiya's head that he would never openly state. Emiya's teeth ground together as he stared at his Irish rival.

"Arash was a hero," Cu nodded, but he kept his eyes on Emiya the whole time, refusing to look away for even a moment, "but he made a decision to kill himself to save his friends and that city. It's not you're fucking fault, so stop wallowing in self pity and get ready for the rest of our travels. We have nine more servants to find, and we need to get to them as quickly as possible so nothing like this happens."

"There is no we," Emiya growled, and he began to look around, "I'm giving the four of you rings, and sending you right back to Storm Glider right now," the bag with the devices was nowhere in sight, and he cursed under his breath, "With Arash dead, we can use the ring meant for him to transport Colan alongside you, Xuan and Nitocris," Cu just continued to glare at him as he tried to find that set of devices, "I can't risk losing any of you now that I found you. You'll be more use there with Master than here with me."

"Oh bullshit," Cu snapped back, "You'd be just as dead as Arash if we weren't here. Colan and Xuan are some of the only reasons you are still alive."

"I can handle myself," he'd probably have to be more careful, but he could surel-

"Again, bullshit," Cu pointed his finger directly into Emiya's face, "Remember that magusthat Grazdan was working with, the one who wanted to put us under command seals?"

The image of the Robbed mage entered into Emiya's head. Slinking alongside Grazdan on his thrones, both in the pyramid and at the GreatPit. The words demanding the creation of a set of command seals in the dungeon. The massive amount of mana being collected from the siphoning of souls from the slave masters of Ghis. Emiya rubbed his chin for a second, before it dawned on him what Cu was getting at.

"You think he survived."

"I'd bet Gae Bolg on it," Cu nodded, before looking out over the water, "That little creep's probably still out there, and if Grazdan was a Ruler class servant like Nitocris thinks he was," Emiya hadn't heard that description, but he supposed the female pharaoh had experienced enough time with the Tyrant to know if that was true, "Then I'm willing to bet that he can probably create at least seven more," he snorted, and then looked back at Emiya, "And in your current state, without your Reality Marble, I wouldn't bet on you being able to take on him alone."

"...," Emiya looked down at the planks, before shaking his head, "Fine, you may have a point," he then looked up, "But at least let me send back Colan."

"Alone, nah," Cu laughed, "Unless it's necessary, he'll probably feel safer with his Da around than in some sterile place he can't understand," Cu then shrugged his shoulders, "Besides, we'd both probably be dead if Colan hadn't managed to get us the key. I'd say he's earned his place on our team."

"Of course you would be so willing to endanger your son," Emiya caught the wince on Cu's face, and then the rage in his eyes as the hound focused on Emiya.

"You wanna say what you really mean?" Cu was only a few inches away from Emiya's face. Emiya, glad that he was at least going to get some of this out of himself, smirked back.

"Sure," he began, "I'm tal-"

SLAM

It took a moment for Emiya to know what had happened. His face was in a great deal of pain, and he could feel some blood drip down from his nose. He stared into the sky, and wondered how Cu had so quickly been able to throw his fists. It was only then, as he recognized the person standing over him wasn't Cu, did he remember that it hadn't been a fist that had knocked him down, but a grabbing of the hair and slamming of skulls from Xuanzang.

"You two need to find a more enlightened way to get out your aggression," she offered, looking down at both Emiya and Cu, after grabbing them both by the back of their heads and slamming their heads together, "We only have one ship, and to damage it would only delay our travels to the mainland."

"Yes mam," he heard Cu mutter under his breath.

"For what it is worth," Emiya looked over at her, as she reached down, her hands outstretched to both Cu and Emiya. They both took her hands, and soon they were lifted to their feet, "I agree with Cu. At this moment, we must stick together on this journey. To abandon one another would be an error that might lead to more death than we have already experienced."

Emiya looked as Xuanzang Sanzang then placed her hands together, and offered a prayer underneath her breath. He blinked as she then looked at him with a sad smile.

"You musn't allow despair to devour you Emiya," she said, smiling as she saw Colan returning with he water jug, "It is one thing to fall off the path of enlightenment for the pleasure of the world. But to fall for the world's misery is an equal sin," she then smiled, before grabbing the jug from the boy, "Thank you so much Colan."

The boy nodded, and Xuanzang handed the jar to Emiya. He sighed, before lifting it to his lips, and drinking deeply of the water. It felt good along his dry throat as he stood there. After his long gulp, he looked at his compatriots.

"Where's Nitocris?"

The dark-skinned woman was standing at the bow of the pleasure ship. She was allowing the wind to pick up her hair, and seemed to be in deep concentration on what was going on, with her eyes fully closed. Emiya, for all that he was down from the death of Arash, felt some joy in seeing the Pharaoh standing there, healthy and as normal as possible. If for no other reason than it gave him someone new to talk to.

"Nitocris," he said as he approached, and the Caster turned back towards him, and gave him a short nod.

"Emiya," she turned her attention back to the sea. They stood there for a moment, just allowing the sea to be around them, before she spoke again, "Thank you for working to awaken me. Had you and the others not come, I would have been…" she seemed to squirm at the thought. Despite being tortured, he could understand how frightening the whole ordeal must have been from her perspective, so he just gave a simple nod.

"I'm just glad you're back," he stated, and Nitocris smiled at him. They stayed quiet for a moment, and Emiya said, "At least one of you will be able to come back now."

"...," she looked to the planks beneath her feet. She didn't say anything, and after his confrontation with Cu, he appreciated it. It was almost five minutes before she spoke again, this time asking, "So, do we have a plan for what we should do in case of an emergency?" Emiya blinked for a moment, staring at her. Nitocris fidgeted, before stopping, taking in a deep breath, and adding, "You have rings that can transport us back to Chaldea. Should we perhaps hand them out in case we see no other option for saving our lives?"

"That…is actually a pretty good idea."

"Oh thank the gods," Nitocris nearly fell to her knees, barely keeping herself off the ground by holding onto the railing of the ship, "I thought I was just being a coward," she admitted under her breath. Emiya, for the first time that day, felt a real smile come over his lips.

"I appreciate your sense of self preservation," he couldn't help but chuckle. He reached around his belt, and pulled up the bag containing the precious tech that had been created for the mission, "Plus, it might be good to have it so if you are about to die, that we can get you back home," he reached in, and tossed her one of the rings. She took it, and held up to the sky for a moment.

"I suppose it's nice to see some of Da Vinci's technology once more," she said, about to put the ring on, "Wait, how does this work," she pointed at the metal band, "I just need to place it on, and they'll transport me?"

"Oh, no," Emiya answered, shaking his head, "You see, you have to twist the ring," he pointed at a small metal band inside the ring itself, "Twist that little bit, and then you'll be taken back. So you can put it on, and as long as you don't twist it, you can just where it for an emergency," his normal grin turned into a smirk, "Might be best for you, since you don't have any pockets to hold it in."

Nitocris blushed for a second, before letting out a short grumble. She then placed her left ring finger through the tech, and held it out. For a second, nothing happened, but then a small blue light clicked on. And then, after that light came on, the both clapped their hands over their ears at a sudden static noise.

BZZZZRRRRTTTSSSXXXZZZZZTTTTTTTBBBBTTTTTTTT-

"What the hell!" Emiya and Nitocris turned to see Cu coming up to the bow, ears covered just like theirs.

"Take it off!" Emiya shouted at Nitocris, who seemed to be woozy from the sudden burst of sound. In fear, she grabbed at the ring, and pulled it off quickly. Only for her eyes to widen when the sound didn't stop. Emiya felt his teeth grind, as he reached into the bag, feeling around from where he now knew the terrible static was coming from. Finally, he pulled out the steel cylinder that he'd been given as a communication device, and stared at it. The damn thing hadn't made any kind of sound before now, yet it was currently screaming a whole storm up. He looked around it, and saw a small button on its top. He pressed down with his thumb, and the sound cut off.

"Oh, oh the thank the gods," this time, Nitocris was on the ground, "You don't know what it's like to hear a sound like that while having two sets of ears," she began to massage the long appendages sticking off the top of her head, "Especially when one pair come from a jackal."

"Is it over?" Colan and Xuanzang arrived, both massaging their own ears as they walked over to see what the commotion was about. Emiya looked down at the communication device, and glared at it.

"Okay you stupid thing," he pointed at the inanimate object, "Let's take a second to talk about how stupid you are," he continued to point at it, and in fact pointed at it violently several times, his teeth bared as he began to walk around the ship's front, "You are the most useless waste of space I've dealt with. I can't think of a worse operating piece of machinery in my entire life, and I lived with Tohsaka Rin," he continued to violently jab at it. He, out of the corner of his eye, saw Colan lean over to his "Da".

"Has he lost his mind?" the boy asked. Cu snorted, before placing his hand on his son's head.

"He lost that a long time ago."
"Shove it," Emiya stuck his free hand out and gave him a middle finger, before returning to pointing at the cylinder, "And back to you you useless little thimble of circuits and wire. Not only are you useless, but your annoying. If I ever talk to Da Vinci again, I can't wait to-"

"Wait to what?"

The entire boat was silent. Even the sound of the waves seemed to stop making a sound. Emiya stared at the little metal cylinder, and slowly, he felt a wave of sweat begin to appear on his brow. He raised it up to his mouth.

"Da Vinci, is that you?"

"Please Emiya," the Italian Artist continued, "I'm waiting to hear what you wanted to talk to me about," the memory of slowly being stitched into this body using the coffin returned to Emiya's head as began to shake for a moment. Grazdan had nothing on their woman in the chair.

"Tell her about how amazing her inventions are," he said as carefully as he could. He looked over, and saw Cu barely covering his mouth, laying up against the side of the railing as much as his shoulders shook from the laughter he was containing. Colan was only slightly better, mostly because he was still on his feet. Xuanzang was just smiling in general, and Nitocris was staring at the cylinder like a marvel, "Especially considering they are crossing multiple dimensions and working at all. It's a real work of genius to even get the operating at all, much less to the degree that they do."

"Uh huh," he heard what sounded like writing on a small clip board, "For his next physical, Emiya will need to have a prosta-"

"What?"

"Nothing," Da Vinci sang. Emiya groaned, as he saw the entire group now chuckle at him. He sighed, before listening as Da Vinci continued, "So, I'm guessing there is good news and bad news," the inventor's voice went low, "While I'm sorry to rain on your parade, good work on finding Nitocris by the way," Emiya looked over at the pharoah, who blinked at that, "But I have bad news. Arash has died."

"...yes," Emiya said, "I know that."
"Really?"

"Yes," Emiya continued, "He used Stella to save us from a rogues servant native to this plane of existen-"

"Rogue Servant," suddenly, whatever jovialness had been in Da Vinci's voice had disappeared. It was subtle, but it was a transformation from a woman who would prank you to a woman who would kill you, "Damn it. Then there are probably more," she was scribbling something down on the clipboard, and Emiya almost hoped that she was writing over her revenge against him, "Okay, so first, if there are other servants, we might need Nitocris to stay there with you," Emiya nodded, not at all surprised that Da Vinci had reached the same conclusion that the team had, "And we're going to have to talk about speeding you up. There are still eleven other servants to fi-"

"Nine," Emiya said, looking over at the other two servants, "I have Xuanzang and Cu with me as well."

"What?" Da Vinci was clicking on some buttons, "I don't have their signals read…were they in a grou-you do realize that we can't recognize they've been found if they haven't put the rings on, right?"

"...," Emiya felt the wave of sweat again cover his brow, "I may have forgo-"

"IF YOU ALREADY FOUND THEM!" he had to rear back to avoid the worst damage to his ears, "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU SEND THEM BACK ALREADY!" she stopped for a moment, "of course now, it's probably a good thing they're with you, because you will need support for more rogue servants you will run into- BUT STILL! YOU FOUND TWO MORE SERVANTS, AND LEFT US IN THE DARK ABOUT THAT!"

"My memory got messed up by the transfer process," Emiya explained, "I don't know about you, but getting stitched into a new body didn't leave me in the healthiest mental state to start remembering every small detail you told me," he then growled, "And why haven't you called me if you wanted to know. With how long I've been here, you should have called me sooner."

"The Communication cylinder takes up more energy than anything else. I was only going to call you when you made some progress so I don't wipe out the battery in that thing! And besides, why didn't you have either Cu or Xuanzang put on the ring. We could have talked sooner."

"That's my fault," Cu spoke up, and for one of the only times in his life, Emiya was glad that he was standing next to the Hound of Ulster, "You see…some things have been happening here. I decided not to put the ring on after I first met Emiya, and we didn't bring it up to Xuanzang because we just didn't do it for me," he rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't want to leave without settling a few things."

"Nothing there could be more important tha-"

"Not even making sure I can bring my son along?"

Again, the cylinder was quiet. For about ten seconds, there was only the vaguely familiar buzz of lights from the other end.

"You have a what?"

"A son," he then nudged Colan from the shoulder again, "Go ahead Colan, introduce yourself."

"Good Day," the boy, not quite understanding what was going on, but having learned to more or less listen to what he was told, bowed, and then added, "Lady Da Vinci," the cylinder remained quiet for a second, as Da Vinci seemed to process the new information.

"...He sounds adorable," Colan blushed, and Cu smirked, "And I'm guessing from your tone, this is a biological son, isn't it?"

"You know it."

"Damn it, I almost wish I could stick around and study this place," she said under her breath, "Okay, we need to get moving. This thing is using more energy than even I though possible, and I don't want to short it out," she spoke up, "I'd say, if you are intending to keep the party together, don't have anyone wear the rings. That way, if you put them on we'll recognize you need to talk to us. We'll keep someone on the call as long as we need to, so that way when an emergency happens, we can remain in contact."

"Okay," Emiya nodded, "Though since this has already taken two months, I guess it might be a big burden on you," his mind went to Ritsuka Fujimaru, and the haggard sound of his voice from when he had been sent off to this crazy plane, "How is Ritsuka doing…"

"Emiya," Da Vinci seemed to have been shocked again, "How long have you been there?"

"Two months."

"Emiya, it's been two days."