Chapter Two: Rejoice, Stargazer
"What?" she repeats. We stare at each other awkwardly for a few moments while Saver collects herself. These extra seconds only highlight how beautiful she is, further adding to the awkwardness I felt in this situation. She internally debates with herself as more emotions than I can count flicker across her face. It eventually settles on frustrated as her gaze lands on me.
"Sorry." She says, her expression softening into regret. "I just... never mind." Her eyes fall to stare at my feet for a moment before rising back up to meet my own eyes. "So I'm a servant now." Her words are much more upbeat and cheerful as she smiles.
I'm not really sure on how I'm supposed to react to this. The old man left nothing in his notes on how to deal with servants who were acting oddly! "Y-yes...?"
With one tap of her staff on the ground, she straightens her back and seems to regain confidence visibly in front of my eyes. "My name is servant Saver, called forth by your summons. Are you my master?"
Tension I didn't even know I had leaves my body all at once. Relieved, I nod and school my features. "Yes." I say. "My name is Emiya Shirou. I hope we can get along."
"Me too. But I have just a few questions." Saver takes the time to glance around the shed in curiosity. "Can you explain more to me about this grail war? And where we are. There is so much information I got and it all seems unbelievable..."
Although I'm not entirely sure what she is confused about, I nod anyway. "That's no trouble at all." I make a motion for her to come with me. "Come, follow me. I'll get us something to drink and eat while we talk."
"Sure!" Her voice comes out more excited than I expected, and she follows behind me way too close for comfort. As we move through the house, I become more aware than I want to about how close she is. Thankfully, she backs off quickly and follows at a more normal distance. A girl like that being so close to me isn't good for my health.
Savers' curiosity and fascination with the house or the backyard we pass by is endless, but she stays silent as we move through them. Once into the lounge room, Saver raptly glances over at the shoji as I make my way into the kitchen. As I place something simple to cook and prepare some tea, Saver takes the time to sit cross-legged in front of the kotatsu.
Worked on silently, it takes a few minutes for Saver to muster up a question. "Can I watch you cook?" Glancing over my shoulder shows her fidgeting. "I just want to see how you do it. I've cooked a bit myself before."
There was no reason to deny her if it was just watching. "Sure."
As I cooked, she joined me and we spent the time pleasantly. Mostly, she kept her questions about the food until we both sat down. She appeared as if she wanted to ask something, but lost all thought so after her first bite. Her face lighting up in delight and eating heartily brought a sense of satisfaction and warmth to my chest.
"Ah, that was quite good." She says. Completely satisfied, even if she had struggled with chopsticks, she had barely seemed to register as she shovelled the food down her throat.
I'm going to need to go shopping tomorrow I think…
"So master, we are in Japan, right?"
"That's right."
Saver lights up for a moment before deflating. "Do you..." she trails off before shaking her head. "Can you tell me a bit more about these extra class containers?"
Ignoring my curiosity at her unfinished question, I am more confused by her question. "Extra class containers?"
"Yeah, the classes in this war." She waves her hands to add to her point. "Aren't they a little weird?"
The more that Saver talked, the more concerned I grew. There was a slight worry at the back of my mind that I had messed up the summoning somehow. Shaking my head for no, I give her a wry smile. "Sorry, I'm not sure I know what you are talking about, unless you mean what Watcher does. This is how it's always been."
At my words, she only seemed more lost. "Right, of course..." She nods to herself as she decides. "They are the same as the information the grail gave me on all seven, right?"
"They should be. We can go over them actually and talk about our plans." With Kiritsugus journal with me, it's simple to flip to the relevant page and place it so both of us can read it, if awkwardly. "Honestly, I'm quite glad you ended up as Saver. From what my father told me, they have ended up as one of the last servants consistently."
Saver stiffens at my comment before relaxing. "I'll try my best to live up to my predecessors!" She has a confident smile that she puts up.
Her own enthusiasm brings a nod from me. "That's great." I take a second to remember what I was talking about initially in the face of Savers' words. "Ah, before I forget, back to the classes." Saver nods seriously and joins me in staring at the paper.
"Pretender and Watcher will be the hardest to predict for us. Pretender typically acts as one of the other classes, so if we are lucky and see someone saying they are Saver, then we know who they are." I say.
At the mention of those two classes, she has a look of understanding on her face. Putting her hand up as if to ask a question, I stop talking. "Watcher turns someone into a servant, but how does that work?" Saver asks.
"I- uh." Quickly glancing at the notes to get a better idea, I sigh. "That's a good question." Realizing the position of both of us was going to be awkward, I get up to move next to Saver, sharing the notes between us. "Apparently it's not a guaranteed thing?" My memory was thankfully good on this. I'd spent many a night going over this information. "Watchers typically either follow one of two paths. They teach their master directly or they place obstacles in the path of their master. Both are for turning their master into the servant of the war. Usually they are the weakest to begin with, but can pick up in power the longer they go without being addressed."
With a hum to herself, Saver considers the information. "Most servants would probably try to get rid of Watcher first if given the chance, then."
"That's right. We should do the same if it's possible to target the servant." Something unpleasant coils in my stomach. "If not, we can try targeting the master and taking away their command seals."
"Alright, I can do that." Saver nods to herself in satisfaction.
"Gunner typically aims for the masters. It's not unheard of for them to have an ability related to hiding if they are a famous sniper." A small part of me wondered if Kiritsugu would be famous enough to be summoned as a heroic spirit. But that would not happen soon, since he was still alive. He had to be. "It is also difficult to predict them, considering how new they are. When they get created, a lot of other aspects get thrown in to stabilize them."
My words seem to bring a sense of worry to Saver across from me. "Is-is there something that has been added to me?" Her voice raises in slight panic. "I don't feel all that different?" She pats herself down.
A frown comes to my face as I consider her words. It had never occurred to me how distressing it would be to be created as a whole new person solely for a war. Pursing my lips in the sudden feeling of guilt I have, I try to ignore it as best I can. "I don't think so. You'd have been able to tell if there was something different about you if you had memories that aren't related."
That was only a guess on my part. I wasn't entirely sure if the grail in creating servants like this accounted for that factor.
Her panic stops as she takes a deep breath, recollecting herself. Turning her head to give me a smile, she shakes her head. "You're right. It's not that much of a problem."
With her being alright, I give a silent sigh of relief. Internally, I reprimand myself for needlessly worrying Saver. "Ruler typically has a divine spirit combined with them. And Shielder is very good at keeping their master safe and hard to put down. Usually they last until the end of most wars because of sheer resilience."
"And that just leaves... me?" Saver questions. "There is the whole counter hero thing. I wish I had this before being here." She says wistfully, staring down at the table. "And my noble phantasm, which is, w-well, it's something." She sounds conflicted about it. "Anyway. Let's do our best together, master. Now that I'm here, I don't have any plans to lose!"
"Lets do our best together." I agree.
Taking this moment now to clean, I take our empty cutlery and make my way to the kitchen. Saver initially moves to get up and help, but I give her a frown. "There's no need for that. You're a guest here. Let me clean up and then we can go to the church."
Not putting up much of a fuss at my words, Saver sits back down. "Church, is that the place where people worship gods?" Saver asked, giving me a curious stare.
My brows furrow in confusion for a moment as I clean. "Yes. Did you not have any from where you were from?"
"No, not really." Her voice sounds wistful as she thinks to herself. "But it sounds interesting. What god is in this church?"
"It's Christian, I believe. Most people just call them God. But I'm not sure if they have any other name." I'd never been all that interested in religion growing up, and Kiritsugu had never payed it much attention.
"Oh, that one." Saver says. Finally finished with the dishes, I make it back in time to see her staring to the side as she thinks to herself. "I think I know what you are talking about." She gets up from the kotatsu as I walk near.
"I can show you in person. Just follow me and we will register for the war." Grabbing a coat to help against the cold of the night, I lead Saver to outside.
"Register?" Saver asks.
"The church and Atlas acts as mediators for the war, which all participants have to register at the church. A member of Atlas searches you out instead. But I should warn you- the man who runs the church is not one to be trusted."
Confused, Saver blinks owlishly. "But aren't they the mediator?"
"Thankfully, the Atlas member's presence should help maintain some balance. But the current leader of the church was once a master of the previous war." My first memory of meeting him, to let me even live here with the old man, had been tense. Kiritsugu hadn't been happy about it, but he had declared that he wouldn't be able to defeat Kotomine even if he tried when I had asked him about it later.
"Apparently, he summoned Watcher and completed his training. So consider him just as dangerous as any servant." With nothing else to add, we made our way outside.
The night was just as cool as it had been when I left the shed. Saver watched the entire area with wide eyes as we started our journey. I couldn't bring up the heart to suggest to her to go into her spiritual form to save my mana. She walked up to almost anything new she hadn't seen yet as we walk, falling behind and having to jog to keep up with me.
"Enjoying yourself?" I ask, dryly.
Startled by my words, she goes ramrod straight and blushes. "A-ah yes. It's just so different..." She avoids meeting my eyes in her embarrassment. "This light is strange. It's not magic or fire, but electricity. And this," she rushes over to stare up at a house in the dark light of the night. "The houses are all detailed." She turns her attention to the ground where the road is. "And your roads are all smooth. And there are even more things that I'm losing track. There's just so much."
Saver seemed unreal under the lights during a night like this. I take a few seconds to find the right words to even say. "You get used to it." Internally, I cringe at my words. "Very smooth." I whisper to myself, toneless.
Sidling up closer to me, Saver clasps her hands behind her back. "I hope not. Seeing things like this is nice. It'd be such a waste not to appreciate it. Country girls like me don't get to see things this fancy too often, you know?"
"There are even more fancy things out there." I say. "There's a temple my classmate lives at, shopping malls, parks, mansions. There's honestly quite a lot of stuff for you, depending on what you are used to."
"Really?! Can we go visit?" Excited, her eyes shine as she stares at me.
Without even thinking it through, I nod my head. "Sure." It wouldn't hurt to help her between school and work. Internally I did some mental rearranging as I had to work out when to travel tomorrow between everything I needed to do.
The enthusiasm had tapered down from Saver at my mental calculation. Her smile dimming but still present. "Thanks for agreeing."
"It's no problem. I'm glad to help." I say, waving my hands to dismiss her worries. She stares at me for longer before her smile returns.
The journey to the church was a bit long to take by foot, being an hour, but Saver made the time a lot easier to bear. She asked a seemingly endless amount of questions about the different things we passed by, with her taken by the sight of some cars or even simple things like how tall some buildings got in the distance.
Even with the knowledge imparted by the holy grail, I guess she just enjoyed seeing it herself? Or maybe she just didn't believe the information.
I never figured it out by the time we arrived just outside of the church itself. It was lit up by the lights inside, even this late. Saver took in the church's appearance with curiosity. "So is this it?" She asks. "It's so pretty."
"Yeah, it's really awesome." I begrudgingly agree. Even if the priest here got under my skin sometimes, the place itself was nice.
I continue my path forward. "Saver, while I'm in here, do you want to stay in spiritual form? Just in case." She doesn't disagree, and it's not long before she fades from my view. Stepping into the church proper revealed lines of pews to the left and right of me. But I focused my attention to the front, where a familiar face stood behind the pulpit.
"Emiya Shirou." Kotomine Kirei says, his face quirking up into a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "What brings you to the house of god?"
"I'm here to register." I say. Presenting my hand with the command seals for him to better see, I come closer so that I can talk more normally. "I've summoned servant Saver."
"Oh?" His interest now peaked, Kotomine stares at me with a flicker of something in his eyes. "It seems the apple does not fall far from the tree." His words strike a feeling of pride in me at being compared to Kiritsugu. "To follow in the footsteps of one's own father, how touching."
Every time I met with him, it always felt as if he was privately laughing at me in some sort of inside joke only he knew. "That's all I need, right?" It's better for me if I try to keep this meeting as short as possible.
"Indeed." Kotomine crosses his arms behind his back, turning to the side with only his head still facing me. "With this, there is but one master left to join."
There is nothing much to be said about his declaration. It at least meant that I still had some time to prepare before all masters would go on the offensive. Turning on my heels, I make my way back to the front entrance. But before I can make it outside, I sense a presence behind me.
The priest had somehow ended up behind me that quickly without making a sound-!
"W-what?" I stutter. I'd faced genuine killers before when traveling with Kiritsugu, who didn't unnerve me as much as Kotomine did. But all he did was look down on me silently after I moved to face him.
By the time I turn on my heel and recover from the scare, he speaks up once more from behind me.
"Rejoice, boy. Your father's wish can finally come true."
His words should bring me joy, to finally have the chance to complete what my father entrusted me with. But his words give me a tangled mess of emotions I'd rather just not process.
"Yeah.. that's right." I mutter. But the strength I wanted to add to my voice isn't there.
"Once there is no more evil in the world, you shall have saved everyone." He stares at me. "And there shall be no need for heroes anymore, don't you think?"
Something like that. I didn't want it at all. I wanted to be a hero like Kiritsugu. But-
"It is only right for the last acts of a superhero to have a suitable villain, so go out and kill your fellow masters."
Exiting the church, I hear his last words as it carries across the distance,
"Farewell, Emiya Shirou."
Exiting the church has the pressure that was weighing on me to leave with it. Taking in the fresh air brings back some calmness to me before spotting the form of a little girl making her way to the church.
She seemed like the child of some rich English aristocrat. Wearing brown heeled shoes with black stockings. She wore some sort of dress that was black and had orange slits interposed diagonally around it. The outfit had shoulder capes on both sides, with a symbol that looked like a number eight with a kunai through the top. She even had a red jewel with a red cloth behind it near her neck. With long white hair tied up on her left side with an orange bow and golden-amber eyes, it only helped emphasize with everything else that she seemed out of place.
The sound of her heels is the only thing that is heard as she quietly makes the trek up the hill and towards the church. She had already spotted me and had a stubborn set to her jaw.
Silently, I kept watch as she made her way up, even as my mind raced. Meeting two white-haired little girls in one night was getting very weird and unsettling. What stuck out most to me is I could feel how the girl coming this way was a magus. Her sheer amount of magical energy clearly dwarfed mine, with us being this close.
Inside my head, I hear the voice of Saver suddenly, making me flinch. 'Master, that girl has a servant with her.'
A grimace finds its way to my face. A girl this young shouldn't be in a war like this at all-
"Are you just going to stand there?" The little girl asked, her tone clipped. Her accented words, at least, confirm that she's not from here. "Or are you going to let me see the supervisor for this war?"
Shocked, there is a delay before I take a few steps to the side. "So, you are a master, then?" I ask, just to confirm.
"The same as you." She says confidently. Any hope I might have had in not needing to fight a child is dashed. "You must be a local here, considering you didn't recognize me." Her eyes a shrewd as she seems to deconstruct me with sight alone. "Regardless, when we see each other next, it will be on the battlefield." As quickly as she came, she brushes past me to slip her way inside of the church, leaving me alone once more.
Now that she mentioned it, the symbol is vaguely familiar. But I just can't quite put my finger on it.
'We should probably leave, right? I'm not sure the priest would like us starting a fight outside of his door.' Saver says in my head. This time I wasn't as startled by the voice, thankfully.
'You are right.' I send back. Me and my intangible companion make our way out into the night. I walk with a quick step away from the church, wanting to be done with today already, making the first ten minutes of travel in silence.
"That priest seemed to know you." Appearing out of thin air, Saver showed up by my side. My heart stutters for a moment in shock at her sudden appearance and words.
"We've met before." I gather my thoughts in the best way to describe it. "When me and my old man first came here to stay, we had to register with the second owner. But during the last war, the original second owner had died." I turn my head to look at Saver. "Kotomine is a friend of their family and helps them, so when we met with the Tohsaka's, he was there."
There is a slight pause as I take a breath. "I'm... not sure on how Kiritsugu had convinced them for me to stay. Neither me nor Tohsaka Rin could listen into the conversation."
Savers confusion helps to highlight the fact that I've left a fair bit out, considering she was a stranger until recently. Spending time with people who knew all this information had left me with some bad habits of assuming they knew it too...
"Tohsaka is the family that is the second owner and is likely to end up as one of the masters. The Matous and the Einzberns will also be guaranteed a spot as a master." My eyes face forward once more. "Speaking of, some of the Matous will probably show up tomorrow morning. They are both my friends, so please treat them kindly. I'll have to talk to them about the war, anyway."
"Won't it be dangerous considering they have a servant?" Saver asks.
I shake my head for no. "They won't do anything. Both of them are good people. Even if they have a servant, we'll talk about it before anything happens."
Taken aback by my confidence, Saver is relieved. "Sorry, I was just making sure. I'm glad you have such a strong friendship."
"I appreciate you looking out for me. So don't worry too much about it." Giving her a smile to show that everything was fine, she didn't seem that reassured by it. "It'll be a guy with long wavy blue hair, and a girl younger than me with black hair and blue eyes that will show up together. They'll be easy to spot who they are once you see them. Shinji kind of stands out."
A serious nod from Saver shows her understanding. It doesn't take long for Savers' natural curiosity of her surroundings to return, and for her to take in her surroundings with a fascination that was both endearing and a little concerning. She didn't ask as many questions now that she was more familiar with the area.
It was as my house was in sight that Saver stopped, causing me to stop as well and turn towards her. "What's wrong?"
Her hesitation leaves a palpable silence between us both, as she cannot meet my eyes. "Do you- do you know about a group called Chaldea?" She had her hands clasped together, with her thumbs chasing each other in circles. There was a small amount of hope in her voice. But the name just wasn't all that familiar to me.
"Sorry, I don't think I do. Is there something about them I should know?" Deciding to keep it more neutral despite my confusion.
Visibly deflating at my words, Saver's hands drop to her side. "I see. The girl just reminded me about them is all. I don't think it'll matter at all." She recovers miraculously as she gives me a cheerful smile. "That means we can just focus on here, then. Let's make it back to base!" She marched ahead of me to get into the house, needing me to pick up speed to catch up with her.
For now, I let the matter drop. But I make a mental note to be wary of that girl and see if I could find anything about her later. "I still need to unlock the door for you to get in." I say after her in exasperation. So close to home, I was finding it hard to keep my eyes open.
She waits at the door with a hint of embarrassment, pointedly staring at the door and not at me. A huff of amusement leaves me as I unlock the door and both of us make our way inside. It was the same as when we left it, and I take off my coat to place it away in the proper location. As I took my time, Saver searched through the hallway for anything that might catch her interest.
A look of realisation comes to her face as she is searching and stops. She shakes her head for no at my questioning stare. Shrugging, I lead her back into the kitchen.
"It's getting fairly late. I'll need to sleep soon to get ready for school. Before then, I'll show you the spare guest rooms you can stay in. But feel free to search through the house and get familiar with it." Acknowledging the time brings a yawn from me. "Actually, is there anything you'll need from me before I leave?"
Having comfortably made her seat across from me, it doesn't take her long to think about an answer. "If there's anything spare lying around, I could use it to make some mystic codes? And I can make the area safer too!"
Her words remind me of all the things me and Kiritsugu had collected before coming here. Honestly, if she had any more talent than me in making things, she was welcome to them.
"Sure, let me just take you back to the shed. There're some things there that might be useful to you…"
Leading her back to the shed, it's a simple matter to organise and unlock the gate. "A lot of the important stuff we put under a false trap door we had to make ourselves. But it was worth the effort!"
I'd only ever been down here rarely to go over some of the old research we had taken from mages that we had killed. Some of it was useless to me or I couldn't make use of it. It was a work in progress.
But if nothing else, I was stubborn.
Shifting some boxes full of some of Kiritsugus old things, I eventually reach the trapdoor and lift it. A set of stairs lead further downwards into the darkness. We both descend further down to the next floor.
To my side, I flick a light switch to illuminate the area. Inside, shelves lined the walls with labeling for all the different materials, tools and tomes we had collected. "Feel free to do what you want with everything. We tried our best to label what we could and take care of it, but neither me nor Kiritsugu were all that good at being a magus." With this much time to come to terms with it, it only left me with a short tinge of disappointment nowadays.
"There's... quite a lot in here." Saver says, some slight awe in her voice. "Is the storage suppressing them?"
"A little?" I say. "The whole place was made so it wouldn't be obvious how much was down here."
"I think I can do something with this. It's a bit weaker than I'm used to, but there's a lot of stuff I haven't seen before. It'll be fun to try to figure it out." Saver mutters to herself as much as to me.
"If you need any direction, there's a list on the table that should say what everything is." In hindsight, this was a lot to dump on someone. "Don't worry about figuring it out straight away. There's quite a lot here." I try to reassure her.
"Thanks, master, but I think I'll be just fine." She gives me a warm smile that takes the edge off of my exhaustion. "Go get some sleep, and I'll be there for you in the morning."
"Yeah, I think I will. Goodnight Saver."
"Goodnight master."
Making my way back up top, out of habit, I go to close the trapdoor and cover it again, before remembering Saver was down there. I lay flat on the floor and stick my head inside the hole. "I'm just going to cover the entrance, so you'll have to use your spirit form to get out if you want to."
My vision is upside down, with her giving me a thumbs up before I rise back up. From there, it's a simple matter of covering it once more, if tiring. The journey back to my room is quiet, leaving me to my thoughts.
Having my home filled with people nowadays was becoming natural. Growing up had been just me and Kiritsugu as we had traveled. So many countries and sights, both terrible and great. Just the two of us. And when we had stayed here, it had felt like much the same.
Until he left and never came back.
The house had always felt too large when it was just the two of us, but after he was gone... it had been too much. It was always so quiet, with me being the only one in the house. Rarely, someone would show up at the house to make sure I was doing fine. He'd even paid for a local mafia boss to be my guardian, for whenever he couldn't be there.
Eventually I had gotten used to it being so quiet here, and I tried my best to follow my mission. I just wasn't expecting to become friends with the Matous like this. They had filled my empty house with cherished moments I wouldn't trade for anything.
And now there was someone new here.
As I lied down in my bed, the image of Saver's bright smile comes to mind. "If you saw me now, what would you think Kiritsugu?" I ask out loud. Internally I ask the rest of my question, too afraid to voice it out loud.
Will saving everyone make you proud? Will I be able to smile like you did?
Will I be a hero?
End of Chapter Two:
Heyo~ Hope time has treated you all well. Managed to wrangle the time to write this (while sick). But hey, if it works, it works. Let me know what you think? And thanks for anyone taking the time to read this.
Reviews:
Thanks for everyone who reviewed and your kind words, and the cheering for a Shinji route. I agree, truly based. But for the purposes of the name of the fic, I kind of wanted to theme it around the title. So hopefully it becomes a bit more clearer the longer this goes on.