From Fake Dreams

by Third Fang

Emiya Kiritsugu was happy living the rest of his short days. He had put his past behind him... until he began to dream of futures that had yet to be. Let it be known that the Magus Killer was not dangerous simply because he was dying and had no plans to fight. Slowly being put on Royal Road over time.

30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: The best laid plans.

I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs:

o. o. o.

"Mmm." Rin let out an amused sound as she walked down the road alongside Saber in the late afternoon. It wasn't dark yet, but that would soon be corrected within the hour, so for the moment the two were still enjoying their mutually agreed cease fire status. "Honestly I wonder if this has ever been done before, a Master being escorted by another's Servant?"

"I have heard of stranger events occurring in the previous wars." Saber calmly admitted, her night out drinking with Rider and Archer primarily came to mind. "Regardless, I have sworn to escort you back to your home, and as a knight I will see that through. So long as you do not betray that trust of course."

"I am honored for having such a veteran as a guard then. Don't worry, considering the fact that you can kill me faster than I can use my command seals, I doubt you have anything to worry about." The Tohsaka smiled pleasantly. "Besides, I'd rather deal with you later in the war, after the more uncertain parties are dealt with."

"Better the enemies you know." Saber agreed, not at all disturbed by the topic of conversation. She had had many of the like during her time as King. "You are surprisingly accepting of the current situation."

"I would be dead if I wasn't." Rin brushed her hair to the side casually. "I'm already involved in a secret magical war for the Holy Grail involving legends of old. Most humans today would think that alone as bizarre enough. That I now know more about my enemies merely dictates how I should try to progress in order to ensure my survival, if not victory. It is quite frustrating, obviously, but letting it get the better of me would be counterproductive, wouldn't it?"

"Adaptability is one of the key essentials for victory in war." Saber nodded sagely. She didn't miss that the girl said that she was planning to deal with her in particular, meaning that she did not consider killing her Master as part of her plan. It made her slightly relieved that Shirou would have additional reliable comrades should she fail in her task.

"It's also essential whenever you work with Shirou." Rin added with bitter amusement. Ever since the Louvre incident, he hadn't the time for a vacation. Instead, he was often away hunting Dead Apostles for Barthomelloi. The stories he'd come back with… well, they weren't comforting. "Whenever he gets involved with anything big, you can kiss subtlety and well laid plans goodbye."

Saber didn't reply to the comment. She couldn't in good conscience argue against it considering the fact that Shirou was most likely the most active Master in the war so far. Nor, the fact that her own plans for the Grail had subtly been shattered by both Shirou and his father in mere minutes after her summoning.

"Wow. You've been summoned for less than a week and you already agree with me on that." The Master of Archer grimaced, correctly guessing part of the reasons why the Servant was silent. "Do I even want to know what he's gotten himself into this time?"

"… I will not divulge the activities of my Master to an enemy Master." Arturia evenly stated to the human, however her impassive expression did not do anything to hide slightly frustrated aura around her.

"I figured as much." Rin's exasperation revealed itself momentarily. "Well, at the very least he has you and Sakura around to keep him from getting in over his head. After all you're probably the strongest Servant in this war. It's almost unfair to pair you up with Shirou of all people."

"You sound as if the war is already decided." Saber knew that it would be best if the war was not decided at all, however that did not mean in the slightest that there would be no fighting to reach that endpoint. Quite the opposite really. Still she had to put up the guise that she was still a willing participant in this farce.

"It's kind of hard not to see how badly the odds are stacked against everyone when the Magus Killer himself has such a strong card to play." Rin rolled her eyes sarcastically at Shirou's nickname, completely unaware of how ironic her statement was given what happened the previous war.

"Shirou may be humble to a horrific fault when it comes to his abilities, but practically everyone in the magic community these days is wary of him to some degree. Sure, his thaumaturgy is overspecialized to the point that I doubt that he'd be able to do even a quarter of the basic things most normal magi are able to do, but in terms of combat he's one of the best."

"Is that so?" The Servant arced an eyebrow. "He has asked me to spar with him on occasion and while he shows some promise I did not see anything particularly outstanding save for his somewhat impressive reaction time."

Rin shook her head. "I mean in a fight of mysteries. He's far from the most powerful out there, but… well, you should know what he can do with his swords by now. Some of the ones he has in stock and what they can do…" She shivered. Even if she knew Shirou would never use it against her, the mere thought of seeing Kiritsugu in action and knowing what it did terrified her.

She still considered Bazett stronger than Shirou by a healthy margin, but the male was still the one to be most wary of. "It's just unfair. The strongest Servant paired with the most dangerous Magus."

"I'll take your word for it." Saber nodded, quietly feeling slightly better that her Master's abilities were recognized to the point that he was respected. She had seen some of his mysteries already, but so far none of them were particularly outstanding as far as she was concerned. "I take it this means that he is well respected in the magical community."

Rin's reaction however proved the contrary. "Not really. He's more feared and avoided than anything."

"Odd. I thought you stated that he was recognized for his combat prowess."

"I did, however… how do I put this?" The Tohsaka crossed her arms in thought. "You said you're a knight. You're familiar with politics? To make it to the Throne of Heroes you must have been exposed to it at least a bit. I don't think I've ever heard of a legendary knight that's never dabbled in the work of nobles before."

Saber's training in self control enabled her to hold back the small twitch of the lips that threatened to reveal her amusement. "I've been exposed to the court of nobility on occasion and the world they live in. Yes."

The human continued. "Well, you know how on occasion sometimes someone gets elevated to lordship or a high social status, and the ones that already have that status don't tend to take it too well?"

"Ah. I see." The Servant held back a grimace. She was more than familiar with the phenomena as well as the events that resulted from them. She had lost a good two to three dozen worthy knights, all of whom had earned their titles in battle, to plots of jealous lords and politics during her long reign.

Try as she could to curb this cancer in her land, she found it difficult to find balance between protecting her loyal knights and maintaining the ill deserved trust of the lords and ladies that managed and maintained her land outside of war and battle. "Then it seems as if my Master's battles will not end simply with this war…"

"Maybe." Rin admitted with some uncertainty. "To be honest though, other than from some whispers and gossiping, no one has bothered to make a move against him yet which is a bit odd in hindsight. After I learned that Shirou had been elevated to working just under the Queen of the Clocktower, I had prepared for the fallout here. People know that he lives in Fuyuki even if they don't know what he looks like. It wouldn't take a magus much to find him here if they really wanted to, but so far there's been nothing till now…"

Actually it was even easier to find Shirou than Rin had thought. All anyone had to do was look in the town directory for all the places under the name Emiya, which in itself was not a common name, and then visit them one by one till they found the place.

Of course most magi wouldn't allow them to use such a convenient resource such as public directories. Their usually enlarged prides wouldn't let them, let alone any piece of modern technology. Even Rin, who considered herself a moderate in the subject, preferred to write out all of her book reports and essays whenever she was given the chance.

Saber's eyes narrowed as she too agreed with the girl's suspicions. If the nobility of the magi in this era were anything like those in her time, then Shirou would have at least had a few events regarding dissatisfied individuals by now. "You make a fair point. However for better or for worse, now is not the time or the place to worry about such minor threats."

The human blinked before chuckling to herself ashamed. "Of course. You are right Saber. I should be more concerned with how to kill you, or more realistically not get killed by you."

"Do not sell your Servant short. Underestimating an ally is just as lethal to you as underestimating an opponent." Saber admonished in an almost light tone. "Each one summoned has still made it to the Throne of Heroes and is renowned for their abilities. I for one will not underestimate any opponent that comes my way. If you do not trust your partner, you have already lost the war."

"Easy for you to say." Rin grunted under her breath evasively, all but confirming her Servant's identity to Saber. "Have you ever been teamed up with someone who claimed who they said they were, but you felt as if they were different in some important way and they wouldn't tell you?"

"A few." Lancelot, Guinevere, and Mordred were the three names that instantly popped up in Arturia's mind, however in hind sight the King knew that it was more a result of her lack of actually knowing the ones closest to her. However they at the moment were not the topics of conversation. "Is your Servant loyal to you?"

"Of course he is." She spoke instantly. It was not a reflex. Even if Servants were supposed to be loyal to their Masters, her Servant was someone that knew and cared for her in life and they both acknowledged it. Their relationship went far beyond that of simple Master and Servant.

He was a bit of an asshole at times, but that was beside the point.

The elder woman nodded, seeing the conviction in the girl's eyes. "I see, then would that not be enough for now? So long as you do not betray his trust, there should be no reason for him to betray you… that is unless you believe otherwise."

"He won't hurt me." Rin had trouble at even comprehending such a thought. Shirou had said it himself that she was one of the few people he could entrust himself to. It was impossible for him to agree to any plan that could possibly lead to her harm. "I thought better of you Saber, however it seems I was mistaken. Trying to put doubts of him into my mind." She snorted. "Well, at least someone has to do it. I doubt that Shirou would ever rely on such dirty tactics."

It was Saber's turn to frown. "I was merely bringing up a possibility from what little I know Rin. Please do not question my honor. I have relied on many unsavory tactics before and have worked with those who have used the most underhanded tricks ever conceived in order to kill their targets, however such low and petty approaches that you are accusing me of are beneath one of my status."

Memories of her time as a squire fighting to survive, using her dagger of invisibility to assassinate corrupt lords, and using her political savvy to destroy opponents came to mind initially. However, they were all soon overwhelmed by the cruel and heartless methods that her previous Master used to employ.

Saber must have been slightly more offended by the girl's comment than she had thought as the human stumbled momentarily in surprise and being exposed to the King's ire. She had quickly recovered though, crossing her arms and looking away in the process. "What do you expect me to think? You're the one that's questioning my relationship with him."

"And you are the one that brought his eccentricities to light and question." Saber corrected without missing a beat. "You would not have been the first Master that would have had trouble with their Servant."

"Well thanks for the head's up." Rin's sarcasm was not missed. "I'll be sure to remind him of that, though I doubt anything short of a command seal would get him to behave."

"I see." Saber mused. "So you summoned Archer then."

"Wh-what?!" The Tohsaka stammered. "How the hell did you get to that conclusion?!"

"You stated that your Servant was difficult to control, so either he possessed some sort of skill that interfered with his mental state, or he has a high level of Independent Action." The King casually deduced. "Since I am already aware of Berserker and his master, and you clearly are not Assassin's Master, Archer was the next logical choice."

Rin's groan was all Saber needed to confirm that what Kiritsugu had seen come to pass when combined with what she had learned from Shirou and Rider. "Really? It was that easy?"

Saber shrugged nonchalantly. "Well there was that and Shirou has already encountered most of the Servants. There were only a couple of Servants you could have summoned that we had no information on."

"And to think I complain about him not being proactive when we're studying." The magus clenched her fists in frustration, knowing full well that Shirou was pretty much in her ideal position at the moment. He has Saber. He's in a solid alliance. He has information on pretty much everyone. Good god why the hell hasn't he managed to take out anyone yet? It was almost like he was deliberately holding back or something.

…If he's holding back on her, he'll just have to die...or at least suffer for this later. "Let's… let's just get back home now."

"Indeed. It is getting dark soon. It would not end well if we arrived late." Saber pretended not to notice the girl's very amusing frustration.

Actually Rin wanted to get back home quickly so she wouldn't be tempted to have Archer shoot the blonde Servant down while she was walking back home. "Of course. We don't want to give people the wrong impression…"

o. o. o.

Emiya Residence:

The desire to just crawl up into a ball and go back to sleep had been coming more frequently to Shirou's mind in the past few weeks every time he woke up. This time was no exception. It just went to say how tired he was given the fact that he had always thought a person should at least try to be productive once they stop sleeping. So long as they weren't sick or woke at some ungodly time of course.

Waking up from his forced nap yielded no different results as the prematurely graying teen sluggishly pushed himself into the upright position and glanced at the electronic clock next to his futon.

"Four hours huh?"

He had dreamed of what he could only guess was Rider's past during his nap seeing that it had been swamped with more Greek names, history, details, and Mythology than he could ever imagine without aid.

All in all… the Gods he saw met up to what magi summed them up to be: overpowered, underwhelming, and completely heartless. All of it supported the current general agreement that the planet was better off without them.

Rider's sisters were not ideal siblings as far as he was concerned, but he could tell that she loved them dearly and they did her. The way they interacted reminded him of how he and Taiga talked to one another, only there was something more to it. He wondered if that was what growing up with a genuine brother or sister was like… what growing up with Illya would have been like. Not perfect, but still contributing to the experience known as living. It was… nice. Perhaps he should ask Rider about it the next time he was alone with her.

On a side note though, he had to admit… Rider looked pretty good when she smiled and was happy…

He shook his foggy head and ran a hand through his hair. Now was not the time to think about pointless things like that. There was a war to focus on.

Briefly reaching out with his senses, he felt that Saber was a good distance away while Rider was still inside his home. The difference between their ranges to him might have been the reason why he dreamed of Rider's past instead of Saber's. Tapping into one of the bounded fields around the house, he felt that only Sakura and Rider were within its boundaries, so using logic he deduced that Saber was escorting Rin back home. It was nothing that he didn't expect already.

A knocking at the door snapped him out of his thoughts. "Shirou? Are you up? Rider felt that you might be."

Sakura's voice pulled his mind further towards the land of the conscious. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just waking actually. Did anything happen while I was sleeping?"

The door opened revealing his underclassman. "No. Rin stayed for a bit and we talked before leaving with Saber for home. Saber should be back soon." She walked inside the room. "Are you feeling better?"

"A bit." Shirou slowly stood up. "You know how much naps mess with my sleeping patterns. They didn't help much on my Apostle hunts either."

He paused as his words reached his ears and he remembered that Sakura was now aware of his peculiar condition.

"I take it you being more of a night person is due to your change?" She asked as casually as she could.

"Yeah." He relented, knowing that hiding it was pointless. "It's manageable to adjust my sleeping habits at home, but when I have to change time zones for my hunts it nearly destroys my sense of time. From being nocturnal but being active for the day to shifting over eleven hours and living a straight up night life for a week, then going back to the former. It's not a pleasant thing to experience."

That was a bit of an understatement. More than half the time he came back from the hunts, the overwhelming exhaustion that everyone at home saw was not a result of fighting with his life on the line for days on end, but from the constant shifting of his sleep cycles. It took him nearly a month to get used to his daily life again after spending a week or two sleeping in a, while hectic, more comfortable sleeping pattern.

Sakura mock pouted and put her hands on her hips. "Honestly. If you knew your body was behaving like this, the least you could have done was tell Rin and I that you were more of a night person. It took us forever to figure it out and adjust our schedules so that we could be with you when you were awake. Don't think we didn't notice you nodding off whenever we went home with you right after school. You should have seen how frustrated Rin was changing her plans around so that you wouldn't be asleep when she was around."

Shirou flinched at Sakura's revelation and made a mental note to find some way to apologize to his very close friend…

… Right after he figured out a way to break it to her that he's been a "Living Apostle" for several years, and live to tell the tale. No doubt the latter task would be the more dire and dangerous to undertake, especially since Rin would more than likely experiment on him in some way or another just like when he told her about his Reality Marble. He had no doubt that she only wanted to help him out and would use the results to do so, but her experiments themselves tended to… okay, they hurt like hell.

"I'll keep that in mind the next time my body is warped in some way." He reluctantly grumbled to the side, avoiding eye contact with the girl.

"Oh don't worry. I'm sure that you'll realize when you finally hit puberty." Sakura humored him with an innocent smile.

"O-oi!" Shirou blushed while chiding the underclassman. "That was uncalled for. I'm taller than most of the guys at school!"

Sakura's innocent demeanor didn't change as she walked up to him and poked him lightly on the chest. "Yeah, but sometimes everyone wonders if you even know what the difference is between guys and girls." She sighed pityingly. "I mean, you're surrounded by so many beautiful ladies and you act like you don't even notice what we are at times. There are rumors that you might be gay going around the student body. And combined with those rumors about Issei…"

"I'm not gay, and Issei's definitely not gay." Shirou instantly corrected the girl, knowing exactly what she was talking about. "Trust me. He's not. That was just a rumor spread around by some of Rin's admirers when they found out that he's absolutely not interested in her in the slightest and thought it was suspicious."

He didn't mention that Rin may or may not have offhandedly said a thing or two to spur on those rumors a bit just because she thought they were amusing, but she took care to ensure that they didn't go out of control. She enjoyed the monk in training's suffering to a degree, but she wasn't cruel to those that didn't deserve it.

...Most of the time at least.

He also didn't mention that Issei's taste in women was a bit… different than what most normal growing Japanese males preferred, which was why he didn't seem to show interest in any of the females at school. Shirou had sworn a man's oath to never divulge that info and it was going to stay unknown.

Sakura's grin grew a bit. "Well then it's a good thing I know better then, otherwise I'd be concerned that a few girls and I would have been terribly disappointed over time due to your seeming lack of interest."

Shirou grunted in frustration with a small blush on his face. "You know it's not like that Sakura. I've just been too busy with my work and my studies to be selfish like that…"

The Matou paused for a moment before backing up just a few steps. Had Shirou bothered to pay attention he would have noticed that her expression was a bit more forced than it had been. "Of course you have." She shook her head pityingly as if talking to herself more than him. Odds are that she would have been more distraught with what he said if she didn't know him better. Instead she was simply highly disappointed. "Do… are you hungry? You've been asleep for a while."

Shirou paid the change in conversation no mind. If Sakura didn't feel comfortable with the topic, then he would respect her wishes. With things as tense as they were, pushing a subject would only make things worse. Simple as that. "Mmm. I'm thirstier than anything, but I'm in no rush at the moment. I did eat before napping after all."

"I'll get something for you then." She turned to walk out the room. "By the way Shirou. Rider, Saber and I all agreed that you're not going outside tonight."

That caused a reaction out of the teen. "What? Why? The war-"

"Can wait. You've exhausted yourself repeatedly over the past few days and if you keep on doing so you'll lose by self destruction, or force yourself to have another episode with your Apostle blood." Sakura rounded upon her host with a gaze that would not take no for an answer. Her interruption was thought out, well founded, and expressed in a tone that left no arguments.

"I've been restoring Rider's prana supplies using some of the bounded fields I set up around town today. Like you, all she needs now is some time to recover before fighting again. Saber, on the other hand, could fight who knows how many major battles before the risk of running out of prana becomes valid. From what I can tell even I would have no problem taking you down in your current state, so please, do not make me test that out…"

Shirou shivered momentarily as he noted that the shadow underneath Sakura took on an unnaturally black hue. The girl wasn't kidding about making him rest if she was forced to. All things considered, he would prefer to avoid going against her brand of thaumaturgy given the chance, even if he was in perfect health. He knew what it was inside and out, but that didn't stop it from giving him bad vibes whenever it was used. Quite the opposite really.

Raising his hands up in the air, he smiled sheepishly admitting his defeat. "N-noted."

The air around the girl returned to normal as did her silhouette. "Good. Now then, I was thinking about something light and simple for tonight. Rice. Eggs. Steamed vegetables. Some fried pork…"

As the girl continued her loud musings, Rider silently listened into the conversation from the hallway. She had recovered enough power that she should be ready to fight at full power in the next day or so, and as such deemed she was fit enough to do as she pleased around the property. In this case, it was to eavesdrop on her two Masters.

She knew full well what the relationship between the two was. What Sakura's condition was and how Shirou was involved. Of how Sakura felt about Shirou and their seemingly lopsided closeness…

It only served to confuse her more however. Her current Master clearly cared about Sakura more than just as a friend, maybe even as a potential love, though Rider had no real experience on the subject to tell that much for certain. However, he did not seem to recognize Sakura's own rather obvious feelings for him… no, that wasn't entirely accurate. It would be more accurate to say that he seemed to try to overlook them on purpose.

It was almost cute if it weren't so frustrating to everyone, herself included.

The Servant shook her head. Both at the situation and at her pointless interest in it. So long as the awkward situation between her two Masters did not hinder their ability to win the grail, then it mattered little to her. All that mattered was winning the Grail and ensuring that Sakura would not become like her…

In the back of her mind however, Rider also hoped for Shirou's situation to be rectified by the end of the incident as well. It was the least she could do for what he was doing for them after all…

o. o. o.

"I find this hard to believe." Caster frowned at Assassin's report. "You actually believe that this golden haired man, who is not a Servant, is a credible threat?"

"I could not determine exactly from that encounter." Kiritsugu admitted honestly, using word play to allow half truths. "However he was skilled enough to detect me and point me out to Rider's Master."

"Who you did not kill." The Witch pointed out with more than a little irritation.

"The timing was not right. Another Master was in the area, and the man is an unknown but clearly unafraid to get involved in this war alone." Assassin elaborated evenly, though it would be hard to miss the fact that he was all but saying how incredibly stupid it would have been to act in that situation. Granted if he didn't care about the outcome of the war or know what was really going on, then he probably would have dropped the girl when he first saw her.

The clicking of his Master's teeth was all he needed to tell that he had made his point known. "And the other Master and Servant you mentioned?"

He didn't budge or hesitate. "A small girl with red eyes and white hair. Berserker's Master."

It took all of the woman's self control to not do anything to her Servant at that point. "And you did not kill her WHY?"

It was a credible question. After all, given how horrifically dangerous Berserker was, Caster would not have minded sacrificing Assassin if it meant getting rid of the world's most infamous demigod, although she would have preferred it if more of the Servants had been defeated by that point.

A brief glance of annoyance flickered on the man's face. "Berserker was right on top of her. Too small a chance of success."

Had it not been for the fact that Heracles really was just THAT horrifically dangerous and skilled, even when insane, and that Assassin had been right in judging the odds of success, she would have ended the killer right then and there on the belief that he was simply too scared to carry out the job.

The Master took in several deep breaths and pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to calm herself down. Not even one day of sending out Assassin out on recon duty and he had already lost the element of surprise to half of her potential enemies. She tempted to believe that he was doing it on purpose if she didn't know for a fact that he was telling the truth about this mysterious blonde man.

"If he's a problem, kill this so called dangerous person. Otherwise don't bother. We have more important things to deal with." She concluded. "Did you at least learn of anything else interesting other than how much of a coward you are during the day?"

"Nothing that I had not suspected or was informed of already." He droned, letting the insult pass right over his head. The Witch may consider herself intelligent, but she was far from professional. Interesting was such a subjective term, one that he would not use to describe the multitudes of data that the inhuman priest had given him earlier.

"Rider and her Master are supposedly staying at Saber's Master's residence, though I did not follow due to their higher alerts due to the man. Berserker's Master did nothing of notice save for examining the local market. Saber and her Master went to an unknown destination for a short amount of time. They were too far for me to track accurately. Bounded fields were likely interfering as well."

Caster grunted irritably. While she was a master of her craft, even she would have trouble finding the workshops of this era if she did not know where they were in the first place. She was well aware of where Emiya, Einzbern, and Tohsaka were staying, and her former residence needed no explanation. Knowing where the Matou residence was pointless now. The information was well documented by her Master and her sister beforehand, however any other unknown location would be difficult and tedious to locate from scratch.

There was a chance that the boy had been looking for more partners for the war, but with Rider, who apparently WASN'T killed in Assassin's counterattack, in poor condition, the odds of anyone attacking that night were slim. Archer was either in just as poor condition as Rider or dead, Lancer would be foolish to leave his Master in her current state if she did survive what happened to her, and Caster's other self was not likely to make allies with the boy after their assault on the Matou property.

Berserker… no. She saw hatred in that girl's eyes for the Emiya that rivaled her own for the gods. An alliance between Saber and Berserker was impossible.

Thinking on it now, Caster realized that she was in a very good position to do some damage. If she wished it, she could easily take Assassin with her to kill Archer or her other self that very night with little issue. Lancer was also possible if she planned properly and went after his Master. They did after all have numbers and power on their side….

She shook her head. No. Those three were of no threat to her. Not compared to who else she was dealing with. Saber. Berserker. Rider. Those three were her main concerns at the moment. The more potential targets and distractions they had, the better. She was still uncovering the secrets of the Grail's system under the temple. Once she managed to uncover those, the War would be as good as hers.

Then she could finally have her own body and take revenge at the world that abandoned her to the God's whims. That Emiya boy would be a fine start…

With thoughts of how to torture the teen that impaled her filling her mind pleasantly, Caster addressed her Servant with a more controlled demeanor. "Humph. Well at least you aren't completely useless at what you do. Continue this and you might live to be my last target."

As the woman turned to leave, Assassin surprisingly spoke up. "If an enemy attacks before I can restock and prepare, I will be at a disadvantage."

The way he said it sounded as if was not out of concern, but out of practicality. Assassin was a horrifically dangerous Servant in an area he had set up, much like a Caster would be in its workshop, so much so that the Witch could claim that the two were near identical.

However Assassin's territory advantage was far more finite than hers. Given from what she had seen, her Servant's frequently used Noble Phantasm, Tools of the Trade, was more of a counterbalance to his poor fighting capabilities. She had her mysteries that transcended anything that could be done in this era. The other Servants had their legendary skills, strength, speed, and single powerful weapons.

Compared to his opponents Assassin was a sitting duck, a free target that anyone could destroy with sickening ease in a straight up fight. In fact at first glance Tools of the Trade was at best a mediocre, if not flexible Noble Phantasm.

It was clearly easy to see that despite how skilled her Servant was when he had the proper resources, his Noble Phantasm was obviously his major lifeline in this war when it came to basic combat.

… Which made it apparent why he had brought up the possibility of being attacked before he could restock. If they were attacked before Assassin could, or heaven forbid Berserker came, the defending Servant would no doubt be unable to do his job correctly. She wouldn't have minded it so much if it weren't for the fact that her existence unfortunately depended on his at the moment.

Snorting in dissatisfaction, Caster humored her Servant and threw some bones onto the ground around the stairs they were speaking on. Within moments, a small army of skeleton warriors manifested, standing menacingly with their crude swords in hand but not making move. "There. You have your help. They will follow your orders so long as they are basic ones. Perhaps that will give you practice speaking to others again, not that it will do you much good."

As expected, Assassin didn't bother to respond to the jab as he took her words as permission to leave. Within moments he had disappeared into the forestry without any issue in the slightest. "Hide yourselves in the woods. Twenty meters from the stairway. Eighty from the street. Once in location, remain silent and await further orders."

Caster didn't bother to watch her slaves in motion as she walked back into the temple. She had more important things to do, such as inspect the peculiar irregularity she had discovered in the Grail's system and enhance the amount of prana she could pass through Marjatta.

A few more days and she would have learned enough and gathered enough energy to finally go on the offensive without that much worry. She would let up on absorbing prana for now to reduce the attention drawn to her, but not by much.

She had to hand it to the girl though. Her Master was quite the catalyst when it came to energy conversion processes... and some of the tools that came out of the experiments with her were far more interesting than she had originally expected…

o. o. o.

Tohsaka Residence:

"So?" Rin asked as she watched Saber walk away from her home from the second story.

Archer listlessly watched the blonde woman disappear around the corner and closed his eyes. He could tell that Rin's mood had not improved that much since she left earlier, and given the fact that Assassin was now working the day shift to everyone's surprise, he couldn't blame her. "Yeah… that's Saber all right."

Granted he was slightly surprised that she was wearing jeans this time around. It was another change that differed this reality from his, but he didn't see a problem with it. Everything else about her from what little he saw seemed to be the same. The hair, the eyes, the bearing. All of it was as he remembered.

"Good." Rin smiled happily at finally getting some progress. "So? Who is she?"

The red Servant pondered for a moment on what he should say before finalizing on one. "Someone I can't beat in a direct fight."

He was completely honest with that statement. Given that this version of Shirou Emiya was an accomplished magus, Saber would, without a doubt, not be held back by a lack of prana. Right now the King of Knight's ability and power in close range combat was far too high for him to weave around with his style. He'd have to attack from a far distance, and even then he'd have to do so without the risk of her using Excalibur on him.

Rin's smile fell instantly for good reason. "I mean a name smart one."

Archer's shrug merely added to her stress. "I can't remember everything, but I do recall that she's very famous and her skill far surpasses mine. As for her Noble Phantasm..." He unwisely paused as he mentally brought up the image of Excalibur from his inner world. Even if he could never replicate a work of art on that level, just looking at the weapon gave him feelings that he admittedly had forgotten during his hellish existence across time.

Unfortunately for him though, Rin had correctly assumed that his silence meant he had seen Saber's sword in its full glory.

The girl's demeanor went as cold as her name. "You're avoiding answering me Servant. You've seen her sword before, so it's in Unlimited Blade Works. You know what its name is, thus what her name is. So. Tell. Me. Now."

The counter guardian was truly despising this world now. He was used to changes yes, but the fact that Rin knew so much about his powers already was making things harder for him than it needed to be. So long as she believed he had memory issues, she wouldn't find out that he was from an alternate timeline, and thus she would still trust him greatly and give him more breathing room to work behind the scenes and do what he wanted.

Then again, it seems as if that trust was wearing thin at the moment if the glowing on her hand was any indication.

"What a troubling Master I have." He shook his head wearily, appearing to be not at all bothered by the girl's supposed threat before his eyes hardened. "Just be careful not to let others know that you know her identity, or you might as well scream out who I am in the end."

"Don't needlessly lecture me on subtlety Archer. I was raised to be a proper magus unlike you, remember?" The glowing on her hand dimmed only a small amount, but was still very visible.

Flashes of the girl at school echoed in the man's mind. Oh he remembered that much at least. Even when he died, only the closest of her friends knew that she was a textbook tsundere.

"… Arturia Pendragon." He sighed in defeat, knowing it was pointless to stall anymore. "Known to the world more commonly as Sir Arthur Pendragon. Leader of the Knights of the Round Table. The Once and Future King. The King of Knights. Wielder of the holy sword Excalibur, which on a side note I am unable to copy completely, and a handful of other titles. In short, she's possibly the strongest potential Saber that could be summoned in this war."

The room was silent for a good ten seconds before Rin voiced her thoughts.

"… Shit."

"Indeed. Now if you don't mind, can you please put away your hand?"

o. o. o.

With Saber:

The nighttime air and chirping of insects nearby provided a soothing environment for the former King as she walked back to her Master's home. Her time with Rin had been interesting to say the least. The girl was certainly a sharp one, far more so than most of the nobles in her era had…

She wasn't exactly sure if that was a good or bad thing. Probably both if events progressed as they normally did.

Unfortunately Archer had not been seen when she had left Rin, but Saber could easily tell that he was looking down at her from the residence.

She was somewhat curious as to what the Counter Guardian was thinking now. Obviously he must have suspected or concluded that this world was not the one that he originated from. The differences were too great by this point. The Shirou of this era was not some helpless boy with a haphazard magical education, but an experienced young warrior with apparently a few notches under his belt. And that wasn't even going into the whole "living apostle" thing.

More interestingly though was on how well informed Rin was on the situation. If she was even half as close as she was to Shirou as Saber suspected, then the girl must already know that Archer is a potential future version of Shirou Emiya. However… however she also probably thought that the Servant in front of her was a standard Heroic Spirit, and not a damned Counter Guardian…

Yes. Saber was now having concerns about her deal with the world to save her home. They weren't doubts, not yet at least, but ever since reading the truth about what being a Counter Guardian entailed and what the Grail of this war really was from Kiritsugu, she had spent a good portion of what time she had to herself reevaluating everything. It was only the logical thing to do given what she had just learned after all.

Her end goal had not changed. She was determined to save her country from its horrific fate and was more than willing to damn herself in order to do so, however this was the first time that she had been exposed to what the path to her desires truly entailed. The Grail was to her horror a twisted object that granted its wishes through destruction. The fate she was on the brink of accepting was in many ways a hell that would force her to commit atrocities without end. Had she truly become the victor in the previous war, had Kiritsugu not forced her to destroy the Grail when he did…

And now here she was. In a war that, at face value, was all that she wanted but in reality yielded nothing that she could use in the end. Her dreams. Her goals. Her position. Her home. Her people.

She was completely isolated from her purpose in fighting now. All of it was seemingly irrelevant here. Nothing she did in this war would contribute to her ultimate goal, and yet… her honor screamed at her to fight for nothing more than her Master's noble cause and to protect what he truly valued. It was a new sensation and she didn't know exactly how she felt about it.

A brief and bitter twinge of amusement echoed in Saber's mind. She was so close and yet impossibly far away from her goal at the same time. Was this what the Counter Guardian known as EMIYA experienced now? If it was not this, then it certainly was something similar... now she regretted not coming into contact with the future echo of her Master even more when she had the chance…

A small pressure in the back of her skull instantly erased the rambling thoughts. "Now?" She whispered and turned to her right and prepared herself for battle, donning her armor and weapon in an instant. "A Servant?"

Five seconds later, a man in deep blue armor and hair with blood red eyes and a matching spear landed on a house nearby. From the description Shirou had given her, he was obviously not only Lancer, but Cu Chulainn as well.

"Ahh." Lancer sighed casually, squatting on top of the building with his legendary spear propped on one of his shoulders. His hungry gaze and lithe body reminded Saber of a panther in many ways. Oddly enough, the rather wild looking man had a look of disappointment on his face. "… For a moment there I was really hoping that bastard's info was wrong for once. Takes the fun out of things when the surprise of meeting and fighting complete strangers is gone. Ya know?"

Saber remained on guard. From what she was informed Lancer should at least have a good idea of what was going on in the War so technically he would be considered an ally…

However she had never had an ally look at her with such wild intensity before.

"Lancer I assume." The Servant of the Sword frowned, not letting her guard down in the slightest. "I hazard a guess that you did not come here for pleasantries."

"Do I look like the kinda guy that goes out of the way to do stuff like that?" The blue Knight cocked an eyebrow and donned a shit eating grin. Despite his appearance however, the killing aura he emitted was certainly telling another tale.

Clicking her teeth in frustration, Saber's stance deepened. "It seems that you are set on doing this now then." Why are you doing this?

Lancer chuckled and stood up, lazily twirling his weapon in his hands for a few moments before getting into his own stance. "I find fighting strong people to be quite relaxing, and to be honest I'm in need a bit of a stress relieving at the moment. Also might be a bit of blood loss messing with my thoughts, but it wouldn't be the first time that's happened. Seeing what the big deal is about the so called strongest class is just a bonus. Ya know, to see for myself what all the hype is all about." He smiled like a child. "Just you and me under the stars Saber. No Masters. No interruptions. Kinda corny huh?" I've been jumping through hoops for weeks and I've lost my patience. I need a damn good reason why I should keep it up. You're going to give me one now.

"… Yes. Very much so." Saber answered darkly as neither Servant broke eye contact. She knew exactly what the man wanted. He wanted to know how strong she was, that she was serious about stopping the Grail War. Otherwise… well there was no telling what he'd do.

She had possessed several knights in her employment like this before, ones that doubted her in one way or another. It wasn't that unusual. Any leader that wasn't in charge of a mindless population had to deal with this at one point or another. Most of the time a few well chosen words was all it took to quell the discontent in the ranks… but sometimes what was truly needed was a hard hand and a heavy stick.

Conveniently though, she had in her metal encased hands one of the biggest "sticks" in recorded history.

The two Servants stared at one another for a few moments before they blurred towards one another at once, clashing in the middle of their previous locations with their weapons grinding against one another and emitting otherworldly sparks before they disengaged and flew in opposite directions.

As Lancer had jumped from a building, he had managed to land on the elevated property wall that bordered the street a half a second before Saber did on the ground. This seemingly miniscule amount of time was more than enough for the most agile Servant in the war to exploit, as it enabled him to recover first and cover the distance to his opponent before she could land. Unlike their initial clash where he had swung his crimson spear in mid air to deal with the invisible weapon, this time he had thrusted it at her chest knowing that his target could not dodge it in mid air.

Saber had been on guard however and managed to parry the blindingly fast blow with her invisible weapon, barely pushing it out of the way enough to not scratch her or her armor. Once more mana fueled sparks illuminated the street as the two legendary weapons clashed, revealing to the world Lancer's hungry Saber's stern faces.

While Saber had managed to parry Lancer's initial attack while in mid air, it had unfortunately knocked her off balance just as she landed and destabilized her footing. Lancer, despite his personality, was no novice and pressed on his savage and fast attacks to ensure that his opponent would at least stay that way for as long as possible.

The King of Knights was slowly pushed back due to this as she frantically parried the dozens of near invisible jabs that Lancer executed specifically to keep Saber from getting proper footing and possibly maim her if they got through rather than kill her. In fact, the first dozen or so strikes he had indeed managed to score a few light scratches before Saber could defend herself in time…

However it was apparent that there was a small problem with the man's strategy as Saber parried more and more thrusts. Every time the blades came into contact with one another, Saber's Prana Burst ability came into play and knocked the spear more off course than its owner expected, causing the following thrust to take a fraction of a second longer to perform than it would have normally. Little by little the Hound of Ireland's temporary advantage disappeared as his opponent regained more and more stability in her stances, and thus deflected his attacks by greater margins to enable her to recover more until…

"Ugh!" Lancer grimaced as he felt the shock of Saber's counter attack against the shaft of his spear. The amount of prana in it had been enough to actually cause Gae Bolg to glow momentarily in his hands and cause a solid jolt up his arms. It was bad enough for his opponent to be wielding an invisible weapon that he couldn't get an accurate range on, but for her swings to pack this much of a punch was just not right. It had been manageable when she couldn't get into a proper stance, but now it was a whole new fight.

His assumptions were correct as the brief moment of surprise had given Saber enough time to completely regain her footing and instigate a counterattack. Now on the defensive, Lancer put his all into blocking and avoiding the weapon that he could not see in the slightest, going only by his opponent's posture and stance to judge where the next attack would come from next.

At the very least, he could tell that the tool being used against him was some sort of straight weapon with no protruding gimmicks like a scythe or a hook at the end of the blade. Otherwise he would have been killed or at least cut up or injured in some way by now.

Each blocked blow sent massive jolts up the blue Servant's arms, the power received revealing the true danger of the seemingly harmless girl's attacks. He had been wondering what Saber was going to do with the horrific amounts of Mana that he had felt from her, and now he unfortunately knew. Raw prana bursts were a bit crude compared to what he was taught by the old bat but damn it if it didn't work in her favor right now.

But then again it wasn't as if he had some tricks of his own.

Putting as much strength as he could into one of his blocks, Lancer managed to barely halt Saber's nearly endless assault of crushing blows long enough to jump away fast enough to appear as if he had teleported a short distance. Saber may be more powerful than him and better suited for this fight, but he was still far faster than she was.

"Tch." He grumbled, slightly annoyed by the sight in front of him and ignoring the numbness in his arms. All of the superficial wounds that he had given Saber at the start of the battle were already gone. "And a healing factor to boot. Now that's just not fair."

Saber stood on guard looking exactly the same as she did when the fight started, her face focused yet impassive at the same time. "Do you yield?"

"Oi oi. Don't give me that. Who do you think you're talking to Saber?" The Irishman shook his head shamefully. "Do you honestly think that that brief spar would be enough?"

"I have the advantage." Arturia frowned. Shirou had long since become aware of the situation, however she had somehow managed to prevent him from doing anything reckless this time around. She had been fighting on nothing but her admittedly massive Mana reserves, and Lancer, despite picking the fight with her in the first place, seemed to be aware of the situation regarding the war. That being the case, she was sure that he would at least not use his Noble Phantasm given its borderline absolute nature. It was not something to risk the future on. "Neither of us are willing to go all out at the moment given our circumstances. There is no point in this battle."

"No point she says, as if the fight is already decided. I never did like fighting women, but I think I'll make an exception this time." Lancer snorted before muttering a few foreign words…

And instantly lights began to glow on specific points on his body. His forehead, chest, forearms and thighs were all marked each by one to three runes that thrummed softly with ancient power.

"Runes?!" Saber gasped in surprise, recognizing the symbols on her opponent from the lessons Merlin gave to her as a child.

"You aren't the only one that knows a thing or two about magic Saber!"

The fight renewed with savage vigor, but the display now was completely different than the previous two clashes. Lancer's already insane speed had transcended itself, and each of his attempted strikes held far more power than they had at any point before. If Lancer still had issues with judging the size and shape of Saber's weapon and the explosive impacts it possessed with each blow, it was now matched with Saber's near inability to keep up with the blue man's borderline invisible speed.

She was by no means a slow Servant, however that only exemplified the sickening velocity that her opponent was functioning at now.

Gouges and craters appeared almost spontaneously around the pair as they exchanged blows with such frequency that the noise generated by the pair was near constant. By the time the debris knocked into the air had returned to the earth, at least half a dozen more clusters of material had been sent airborne.

The point of Lancer's spear was nothing more than flashes of crimson light now, extending, retracting, and arcing at such insane speeds that to the normal human's eyes it appeared as if fast red rain and visible crimson wind were cutting sideways towards the smaller blonde servant. Combined with the magical sparks that erupted from their constant clashes like ever erupting fireworks and the debris that was sent flying whenever a weapon somehow contacted the earth, the fight manufactured an image that was no doubt a beautiful albeit terrifying spectacle for anyone that happened across it.

Left. Right. Right. Parry. Counter. Left. Parry. Right. Counter. Down. Counter. There was no time to think in such an onslaught. Indeed before she had even finished one maneuver, she had to utilize her Prana Burst skill to force her body and limbs into another to deal with the closest of Lancer's next moves. The rapid and jarring change in inertia in her body and limbs was inconsequential compared to what would happen should her opponent land a solid strike.

Already she had resorted to utilizing her Instinct ability to its max in order to manage the otherwise impossible to follow strikes and respond properly. The advantage and control that Saber had enjoyed earlier had been reduced to nothing now. Her Prana Burst augmented blows no longer jarred Lancer's arms with each blow and seemed to only prevent him from truly utilizing his horrifying speed to its greatest potential.

Her attacks were still far stronger than Lancer's, but they no longer enabled her to control the flow of battle. It had also been all but required for enhancing her strikes and movements, literally forcing her body and blade to change directions and move in time to defend or avoid the lethal spear.

It was almost a mystery in itself that she was capable of executing counterblows and go on the offensive in the crimson rain that she was now experiencing. By her rough guessing, for every genuine attack she gave now, Lancer delivered three to five. It probably would have been far more if he was able to see her weapon.

The ever growing number of glancing blows they landed on one another was ignored by both parties. Saber's rapid healing thanks to Avalon and Lancer's high level of Battle Continuation made such minor scores near pointless. Only a severed tendon, limb, or blow to the head or heart would make a significant difference in a fight as savage and fast paced as this one.

For minutes that seemed like hours, the two heroes danced around death at an insane pace. The sound of their weapons meeting one another occurred with such frequency that it was akin to that of a machine gun.

Retreating or advancing was impossible for Saber to even consider in her current position. It was taking all of her focus to match Lancer's assault. Lancer on the other hand, seemed to take it as a personal challenge to try and get in a solid strike on Saber in his current upgraded state. Indeed it seemed almost ludicrous that this small girl was able to keep up if not match with his current god like speed.

… And yet without warning, Lancer had backed up a small distance so fast that the images of his lance striking at Saber and the sparks from her sword had yet to leave. The air between them fluxuated madly for a brief moment as if it still thought that the source of its chaos was still there before abating in every direction, leaving the surprised and slightly winded Saber standing in place breathing harder than before.

Already the dozens of scratches on her body and armor were disappearing visibly. In a minute or so she would appear as good as new.

"Well then. Color me impressed." The wielder of Gae Bolg smirked, the runes on his body still glowing strongly, indicating that it was not likely that they would go away anytime soon. "Didn't think I'd ever come across someone that could keep up with these on in a straight up fight."

Saber breathed out slowly to regain her composure, but did not lower her guard in the slightest. "Never have I encountered a warrior that possess' the terrifying speed and ferocity that you do Lancer. I can see why you have earned your place on the throne."

"Yeah well, it's not like I get to abuse it that much anymore, can I?" Lancer's cocky grin was infectious as Saber slowly felt a small one grow on her face. "Gotta use it when I can or I might get rusty, and that would just be embarrassing if that happened."

"Overindulgence and overconfidence is the enemy." The King of Knights nodded. "I must admit though, I have certainly gained a new respect for runecraft over the past few days."

"Oh? No kidding." Lancer's change of tone clearly expressed his curiosity, although the savagery was still the dominant factor. "Someone else in this war I should know about? Maybe swap some notes when we have the time over a few drinks?"

"Perhaps. Depends on how things end up." Saber couldn't help but smile a bit more due to Shirou making more than a few comments about why introducing him to Lancer at the moment was a bad idea… and that he was still a minor and couldn't drink legally.

Honestly it was such a silly notion. Putting such a high age limit on spirits and liquor was preposterous. In her time, it was rare to see a child past the age of seven that had yet to be familiar with the taste of alcohol in one form or another.

"Yeah. You got a point th-" Lancer's good natured retort was cut short as something caught his attention. "Well it's about damn time you wok-, oi don't yell at me after I saved your ass woman." He muttered to himself. "Of course I know what he did. I'm the one that set it up and paid for the damn things. You're welcome by the way. …You think I was just going to leave you there to recover without… yes that's Saber- Why not?"

As the conversation between Lancer and apparently his Master progressed, the tenseness in the situation progressively depleted. It wasn't long until Saber could not help but feel embarrassed for her opponent. The mood for the fight had just been ruined, albeit it was probably for the best.

"What are you, my mother? Tch. Fine. I get it. Stop freaking out already." Lancer sighed reluctantly as the runes on his body vanished. "Looks like you got your wish Saber. Dear old Master wants to have a face to face talk with me and won't wait. Such a buzz kill." Saber had no way of knowing the sheer number and variety of curses Lancer was suddenly bombarded with at that comment.

Saber nodded while still holding her stance. "I understand. We will continue this later. It was a rather interesting experience."

"Same here. Well it was fun while it lasted. Until next time then, later Saber." Lancer's reluctant farewell was accompanied by a respectful nod before he leaped up into the air and disappeared into spiritual form.

There was no question that Lancer was still on her side. Despite the abrupt end to their fight, it was clear that he was satisfied enough with what he saw to stick to the very vague position he had been given by Sirius…

She was however rather unnerved by the level at which Lancer had fought. Nothing that Kiritsugu had written down had indicated that the Irishman could enhance his abilities to the level that she had encountered. She knew of his runecraft yes, but it had been rarely used in the Magus Killer's visions, and never to that level of devastating effectiveness.

Saber and Shirou had long been aware of the possibility that there had been things that Kiritsugu had missed or that there were facts that he had not been aware of, but this had been the first time that things had gone against them not due to a change in the timeline or the war, but simply because they lacked information.

In hindsight, it was almost a comforting thing that Lancer, who was sort of on their side, was the one that exposed them to this branch of risks instead of heaven forbid…

Clap. Clap. Clap.

A slow yet elegant clap echoed through the air, causing a shiver to run through Saber's spine. "A well played scene. Somewhat short, however the content more than made up for a satisfactory interlude."

Gilgamesh.

Walking casually with all the natural authority and poise that she remembered, the King of Heroes approached her with a light smile on his face and an all knowing gaze in his red eyes. His blonde hair was spiked up and he was dressed in expensive modern clothing consisting of a white coat over a black shirt and long dark pants.

"Long time no see, King of Knights. It's been ten years… no. It must have been only yesterday for you. How cruel it is for a woman to make their man wait. No matter. My decision about you has not changed since the last we met. You no doubt remember it."

"You." Saber growled as she retook her stance. Fighting Gilgamesh here and now was certainly not in her best interest. True she still had a copy of Avalon inside of her, however it was nearing the end of its life and she was uncertain if she could utilize its defensive ability properly.

"It appears that the retainer was not misled after all. How wonderful." The former Servant smiled pleasantly. "Today certainly has been rather interesting. Even if the majority involved consisted of nothing but mongrels and rabble, it was rather entertaining. So many meetings and unexpected reunions..."

"Don't fight him now!" Shirou frantically yelled in her head. Despite the fact that he wasn't even there, the Servant could practically feel her Master shiver in fear from looking at Gilgamesh through her eyes. She couldn't blame him. The King of Heroes had always had that aura that seemed to dwarf that of any other Servant. "You're in a populated area and you're too far away for me to give you enough prana. If all else fails I can use the-"

"It is rude to speak when the King is talking." Gilgamesh's comment seemed to go straight through Saber and right into her Master's ears despite him not being there in person. His piercing red eyes seemed to do the same through Saber's and into Shirou's. "You forget yourself. This is a conversation between me and the one I have chosen to be my wife. Worms like you have no place in this."

"There is no conversation between just us Archer." Saber grimaced. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah Saber. Even after all this time your appeal has not diminished in my eyes. Is it not obvious? I have come for you." Archer smug smile and arrogant tone were only matched by the calm in his voice, as if he was in no danger in the slightest. "Or at least just to see you for now. I am generous enough to allow you to deal with more of the squabble first before I truly make you mine."

"I am not and will never be yours. The fact that you are still even in this world is a mistake that needs to be rectified."

He took Saber's declaration in stride. "Ah such a strong, beautiful, and noble, but misguided will. It has only exemplified your value. Be honored that I put you at such a high quality." He shook his head as if pitying a child. "As for this world, I must admit even I am in agreement with you. I am not meant for it, this dull, boring and weak land and the matching people. It is unworthy of my grandeur… though in many other ways I can see some appeal. The basic idea is the same as before, yet the decorations and commodities that have been created as of late are of some interest. To rule or to destroy and start anew. Both are reasonable options at this point. The grail will simply make things run a bit smoother. It has been rather skewed, however it still has its uses."

He gave her a knowing look. "Of course you are already aware of this."

"You…" Saber growled as her grip on her invisible weapon tightened. She had always felt uncomfortable whenever he looked at her with those red eyes of his, even before he had unfortunately gained his attention. They seemed to have the ability to pierce right through her and see everything with ease. "Even knowing what the Grail is, you would still willingly use such a cursed thing?"

"Why shouldn't I? It and the world are both mine to do as I please, as you will soon be as well." The oldest king stated as if it were obvious. "How I use my possessions is only the concern of me. Everyone else should merely accept it as their King's decision. Is it not similar to how your kingdom progressed? Regardless of what your people felt, they still abided by your commands regardless of what they were."

"I was nothing like you." Saber's anger was spiking dangerously. "The King strives to protect its people and land. It exists for them. We have had this conversation before Archer."

"Ah yes. Indeed we have. Such an interesting little meeting it was." Gilgamesh admitted, for a fraction of a second his features softened slightly and his eyes glanced around for something that obviously was not there. It only lasted for a moment though before he returned to normal. "Back when the war consisted of more than just the petty squabbles of women and children. However you are overlooking something rather obvious with regards to the topic."

"And what would that be?" She didn't really care for much of what he had to say, however to cut him off would possibly instigate an unnecessary and potentially devastating battle that she did not want at the moment.

Gilgamesh's chuckle did nothing to soothe her nerves. "It is quite simple. Regardless of whom works for whom, or what the results may be, is it not the King that ultimately issues the commands? That condemns the guilty? That makes the laws? That declares the war that its armies, lands and people must fight? Die? Bleed for not only for those things, but the King as well? Surely you must be aware of the answer to such a simple question."

Shirou could practically feel Saber grinding her teeth through the link they shared. "The King. As such, it is his duty to ensure that all under his domain prospers from his decisions. I did it all for my country's safety and prosperity."

"But they still bled. They still starved. They still fought and died on the King's orders without question while they ensure that he remains fed, clothed, and protected. As it should and always be. It is not a matter of whether or not your commands were correct or not, or who would benefit from them. They will always be followed regardless as they should. Therefore should it not be simple for the people to realize and accept that they are mere worms beneath the King?" The oldest King lectured as if talking about how the weather worked.

"I was not a tyrant!" The King of Knights snapped. "I did not rule over my people! I ruled FOR my people! For their peace and prosperity! For the kingdom!"

"And yet it fared no better than mine or the King of Conquers in the end. Time is a foe that surpasses even my control. While the world is still my garden, I am not foolish to believe that my kingdom still exists." Gilgamesh's response maintained the same obnoxiously calm tone as it always did. "What plagues you is simply that your domain fell apart while you were still alive, that you witnessed with your own eyes everything that you claimed and valued burning in ash stemming from your superfluous goals."

He smiled genuinely. "Ah. But that is what I truly admire about you Saber. Even when you have witnessed such things first hand, your blind belief in the restoration of your land and your kingdom has no equal. To persist across time and futility yet persistently resist and change fate itself. And here you are. So far away from home and so close to your selfish goal. For a land and kingdom that now only regards you in the tales its people tells its children. What you are doing is something glorious to behold. Truly you are a woman fit to be my queen."

Saber could not come up with a reply to that. She could not tell whether the anger that caused her body to tremble stemmed from her inability to response, the mocking manner in which Gilgamesh has said such things…

… Or the deep sickening feeling in her core that silently agreed with his analysis of her self-imposed goal. She could not deny that every time she was asked for a reason why she continued with her goal, the image of the Battle of Camlann came to mind. On that red hill fertilized with the blood and fresh bodies of her knights by their own hands. She was driven by her grief and the knowledge of her inability to turn her homeland into the Avalon she dreamed of.

Be they traitors or those that had remained loyal to her, she had fought by the side of all of them though multiple battles. They had laughed, drank, eaten, and shed blood with one another. Her land, which had been assaulted and defended time and again, fared no better. To see both in such a state at the end tormented her to no end. They did not deserve such an ending. It had been her fault that they received it… therefore it was her duty to fix it and place it into the hands of one more deserving than her.

"Saber. Calm down." Shirou's voice echoed in her head with a soft but firm tone. "You can't afford to attack him or lose focus now. I'm sorry but regardless of what he just said, as much as it must have bothered you, it has nothing to do with what we are doing now. We can talk about it later if you want, but please focus."

"Shirou…" Saber shook her head briefly before regaining her composure, meeting Gilgamesh's almost lazy stare with her a defiant one of her own. Her Master was correct. Her troubles had no place in this war that she had dedicated herself to. It would be a shame to her honor if she decided to be selfish at such a critical time. "If that is all you have to say King of Heroes, then I bid you farewell. I have already given you my answer, and regardless of what you promise or claim it will remain the same."

"Oh?" Gilgamesh looked at her curiously. He was amused if anything rather than disappointed. "So you are willing to put aside your pride and your goal for that Faker? Is he that pitiful that you must aid his task as though he were a pet, or does his meager efforts amuse you to the point of humoring him out of generosity?" He shook his head and turned to walk away. "No. Regardless, I would not allow you to keep him in the end. I will not tolerate such a pointless thing in my presence for any given amount of time."

The Oldest King continued with his back to Saber, not at all concerned about the possibility that she might attempt to strike at him from behind. "This shall be my gift to you Saber. Enjoy your remaining time with the Faker that you seem to be fond of. When I come for you again, his mistaken existence will be corrected."

His body slowly faded away as he went into his spiritual form, breaking away into tiny glowing sparks of pure gold that seemed to match his being. "In the mean time, I shall try to enjoy observing this mockery of a war. The cast may at first glance be lacking, however there are a surprising number of reoccurring actors that I believe have the potential to be of some entertainment."

o. o. o.

Emiya Household:

"What do you suggest we do?" Saber worriedly asked Shirou in his workshop, away from Rider and Sakura as they discussed what happened.

Because Sakura had been with Shirou at the time she had been well aware that something had happened while Saber was away. Shirou always did have trouble masking his emotions after all. However he had managed to convince her somewhat that the source of all his emotions and troubles had been Lancer's fault in one way or another.

She did not have the slightest clue that there was a ninth Servant in the war, and he intended to keep it that way for a while longer. If she did know about Gilgamesh's existence it would only lead to questions being asked that could possibly disrupt his plans more than they already were. Anonymity was a tool that was only useful so long as no one else knew about it after all, and one he needed maintained with regards to his goals and plans for as long as possible, as much as he disliked hiding anything from his closest people.

Shirou had his arms crossed and was tapping one of his arms thoughtfully. "Things would be so much more manageable if we could get into contact with Zouken, or at least knew where he was hiding." The worm user was their biggest roadblock with regards to what they could and couldn't do. With his ability to turn Sakura into an unstable prana draining monster, or kill her, at the drop of a hat, the bastard pretty much had them dancing to his tune at the moment. "It's still hard to believe that Gilgamesh would reveal himself so early though. It's unlike him to do so."

His appearance was actually a minor blessing in disguise. If the worm user ever did appear, Shirou could use the golden Servant's existence to force him to make a move into the open and be more active.

"I agree. I cannot help but think he had some other motive for doing so." Saber grimaced. "But for the life of me I cannot figure out what."

"He knows that we're up to something. He all but said it when he pointed out that you knew what the Grail was." Shirou noted. "It might be his way of trying to get us to hurry up and take out one of the other Servants."

"No." Saber shook her head. "As disturbing as he is, that man is patient. If anything he simply wishes for us to make a mistake to make things interesting. He is curious."

"Regardless of what he wants, the only move available to us now is to go after Caster and Assassin." Shirou relented. "And we still have to wait for Rider to recover before we can do that. That's another day or two of waiting on our hands right there."

Assassin's existence alone troubled Shirou and Saber more than anything. The Servant's mere way of fighting changed the entire way the game was played because he was that different compared to all of the other competitors. He had something that made him far more dangerous than virtually any other Assassin summoned: a very wide versatility of armaments and the knowledge of how to use them to terrifying efficiency. Even Gilgamesh couldn't make that claim with regards to his Gate of Babylon.

"That is good though." Saber noted. "It allows you to go through with your plans with Luvia and Caster without any distractions."

A frown made its way onto Shirou's face. He detested the idea of using Luvia more than he already did, but it was unavoidable at this point. True they were working to a similar goal, but in the end he was still benefiting from her actions and fixing a problem that he was a good deal responsible for. As it stood he doubted that his blonde friend would ever trust him again once the war was over, not that he could blame her. He could only hope that by the end of it that Marjatta would be alive, out of this farce of a War and in Luvia's protection again.

"No one can know of that though. If Zouken finds out that I've been working with another Master he might have doubts about what my loyalties are." It was obvious that Shirou didn't trust Zouken and was only abiding to the deal because Sakura's life was on the line. That being the case, it would not be a stretch of the truth for anyone to consider Shirou to act out against the worm user and not consider it a "betrayal" in the first place. After all it wasn't as if anyone expected Zouken to renege on his part of the deal as well.

Granted Shirou's current scheme did have the potential to end two servants in a single go and position himself perfectly to end a third, but many would merely consider that a good cover for his real goals… which was correct.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer it seems." Saber sighed in reluctance. She was not fond of the tactic in the slightest but she could not argue against its results.

Shirou snorted and shook his head mockingly. "Now if only we could get Zouken would appear." There was no point in going on with that particular subject. The best he could do is keep his cool and appear that he didn't need the worm until something truly notable happened and then make a big stink about it in public so that it would eventually reach the old bastard's ears. All in all Shirou hoped he'd never have to say something along those lines ever again. Regardless, it was the best they could do at this point.

Speaking of sensitive topics though…

"Saber. About what Gilgamesh said."

Saber looked away in disappointment. "My apologies. I should not have let that monster's words get to me. It was foolish of me to do so. Given what the previous war was like, I should have resolved my insecurities about my decision. Even worse was that it distracted me from my surroundings, making it easy for a potential attacker to catch me unawares. It must have been disappointing for you to see me to falter over such a trivial subject. Please rest assured, I will not lose composure over the subject again."

The Emiya closed his eyes and let out a slow breath, knowing that what he was going to say would not settle well with his partner, but regardless it had to be said. "Saber, you know that I am aware of what you wish to use the Grail for. I've learned enough from dad's notes and dreaming of your past to piece everything together." His eyes opened to stare at his Servant with a small glint to them. "And I have to agree with them. You should not be doing this."

The King of Knights' eyes widened disbelief as her Master said those words before she reigned in her emotions to once again appear impassive if not a bit irritated. "… Why would you say that? After everything you've done, for the people you care about, you of all people should know how I feel about this better than most. Just as you are dedicated to safely concluding this war, I am committed to ensuring my homeland's survival."

Shirou shook his head. "Saber, my friends are still alive. Their future is uncertain and undetermined. I am still capable of helping them. All that I have done was to ensure that they could live through this. That the mistake that is the Grail war would end so that what happened to me would not repeat with anyone else. So that dad's sacrifice was not ultimately in vain. You… I'm sorry, but when you died it was already over. Your story, your adventures… no, all of the knights of the round table's adventures had already ended then. It's been over for over a thousand years now."

"Which is why I must correct it." Saber argued with an edge to her voice, finally allowing some of her temper to show before regaining composure. "Camelot. Britain. My knights. They all deserved better than what became of them, and I was supposed to ensure them that future. I made a vow to them all to sacrifice everything I was to do that and I failed. It is only right that as King that I rectify this."

"And who said that you were the only one that regretted this failure? That lamented what had become of your proud home to their very souls?" Shirou's eyes narrowed but otherwise his temperament had not change. He had long since known of Saber's goals, her reasons behind them, and her logic, so he couldn't say that he was surprised about what she said. Still, seeing her believe in something so self destructive made him sick on the inside.

"I do not see why that makes a difference." Arturia frowned. "In the end, I was the one responsible for everyone. Hence I should be held ultimately accountable for what happened and be the only one that should correct what occurred. I gave up my humanity and who I was in order to fulfill my role."

In a brief moment of frustration the magus' prana flared causing his eyes to slit and turn silver. At that moment, every physical aspect of the King of Knights became as clear as day to the Magus Killer. Her strengths, weaknesses, and makeup were all there for him to see. Save for the fact that she was a spirit, the only non-human aspect about her was her dragonic blood. "If you are not human because of the path you took then I sure as hell am not either, but you won't see me trying to change that if things go bad!"

The display of his curse caught the Servant off guard and made her unconsciously step back. She had completely forgotten that her Master was also in ways tainted as a result of his vows and decisions, though in his case he did not have the luxury of knowing exactly what he was in for when he accepted his role. "Shirou… I…"

The Emiya regained his temper with a deep and tired sigh while his eyes turned back to normal. "Your knights were dedicated to both you and your country. Do you think that they did not also suffer as you did in the end or believe that it was also in some way their fault? That shame that they could not uphold their duties to their home, Lord, and Kinsmen? The despair in their hearts that they had when they spilled one another's blood for one reason or another? You are not the only Knight of the Round Table that made it to the Throne Saber. Far from it, and yet despite the fact that many of them were famous, dedicated, powerful, and committed to your kingdom just as much if not more than you, not ONE of them has done what you are currently doing. Should they be summoned in this war, I doubt that not a single one would attempt to change the past despite how much they were committed to their land and you. Do you not care for them at all?"

The question had been answered by Saber slapping his face. "Forgive me for my actions, however I must request that you never question my loyalties again Shirou. Not of my land. Not of my kingdom. Not of my men. I will not tolerate such a slight." The King of Knights stated coldly in a dead tone. Her entire body was shaking in rage. "All I do, I do for them and my home. I thought you of all people would realize that."

Shirou remained impassive despite his face slowly reacted to being hit. "Then you do realize that what you would have done would have not only negated your achievements, but theirs as well?"

Given the way Saber's eyes had dilated and her body stiffened, it was quite apparent that Shirou's words had had an effect.

The Magus Killer continued darkly. "If you go through with this, you would not have only killed "King Arthur" through your actions, but "Lancelot of the Lake", "Sir Gawain", "Ser Percival", "Sir Kay", "Sir Bedivere"… every knight linked to your legend would have their entire history remade and their names likely drowned with the countless numbers made in history. In order for them to regain their legends under another king said king would have to do what YOU did, which is exactly what you don't want your supposed replacement to do. All of their hard earned achievements, all of their efforts would have not only been for nothing, but they would not even have been remembered or done in the first place. You will effectively be spitting on everything they have done and achieved in life."

A single stagger back away from Shirou was all it took for him to know that she not considered this fact and was not taking it well.

"Saber. I'm not telling you what to do when this is over." The Servant's Master continued softly. His eyes looked at her in genuine concern. "In the end it is ultimately your choice whether you continue your quest after you help me out here. Had you desired to repeat your time as King Arthur, or change a decision during your reign, I would have understood and kept silent… however to deny everything that you have worked on simply because it failed in the end… I can't understand that. And worse still is that even if you wanted to do that now you would still be damning yourself. Should you ever get the grail and attempt to redo your rule, you would still be condemning your very soul to being a Counter Guardian once you died again. You don't deserve that."

The Servant couldn't muster up a response. She had convinced herself for so long that what she was doing was the right thing to do. That it was her duty to put England into the hands of someone more capable than her. To ensure that it became the Avalon that she knew that it could become… that she had completely forgotten the efforts and feelings of the men that she had fought alongside for so long.

She had thought that they would have agreed with her decision in order to avoid such a calamity, that it was all for the good of the realm… but in retrospect she knew that they would not go with it. They were too loyal to her to comply with such a plan.

Every time she failed to get the grail, she had returned to that red hill surrounded by the corpses of her countrymen and herself on the verge of becoming like them. Over and over again she had believed that if she had not drawn the sword from the stone, they could have avoided this fate, but not once did she consider the fact that their entire existences would be changed.

"Lancelot" would not have been "Lancelot", "Gawain" no longer "Gawain". How many of her men were born not from noble houses, but from the streets? How many would ever gain such another opportunity like what they had with her, with another King, even if the replacement was better suited for the task? Could she ever knowingly condemn them to such a fate when it had been hard enough to see them die in front of her in such a chaotic world?

She had made the round table with the premise that all who sat there were equal, that no one voice had more weight than the others. True she was the King and in the end had a final say in everything, but at her core she had tried to abide by the rules she had made at that table and believed it was a bridge to a better kingdom. Her goal and very actions right now went against everything the round table stood for.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Shirou gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Your men all accepted their deaths even if they did not wish for what has happened with all their heart. They have all passed on. You though…you who have not even lived or enjoyed a single day for yourself would be condemned to an eternal existence of murder and destruction, just to perform an act that will make the world forget you existed. We've only known one another for a few days Saber, but I can already tell that you of all people don't deserve that, no matter what you believe. You are too kind. Too just. Too selfless to suffer such a fate."

"Shirou… I…" She was at a loss for words.

Shirou let his arm drop before he made for the exit of his workshop. "I will not fail what dad tasked me. However, even if on the off chance don't succeed, I will not dedicate my life to change history so that he rescues someone else from that fire in the hopes that they accomplish what I didn't."

"Just like your people put their faith in Arturia Pendragon, Kiritsugu Emiya put his hopes into Shirou Emiya. We both accepted their wishes, so we both should see to our paths to the end. I will not disrespect that or throw my father's efforts away, and neither should you. They did not care that there might have been something better. They cared because we were what they got and they saw reason to put their complete trust into us."

By this point Shirou had finally made it to the door of the shed and looked up to the sky. The moon was closer to being full tonight, and so it wasn't a surprise that his gaze rested upon it with a distracted sense of comfort. "I don't know why my future will entail, and I highly doubt that dad intended for me to become what I am now, but I have still accepted it. As for you…despite what you think, you should remember that King Arthur is one of the most famous legends in human history. You must have done something right for that to happen."

Shirou had made it to his house door when he heard the Hayabusa's engine roar to life before taking its rider out of the property and into Fuyuki.

o. o. o.

With Lancer:

"Oi. Don't give me that look. It makes me feel like I did something wrong." Lancer frowned as he stood in front of his master, who was glaring at him from her bed and under her covers. The room was empty save for the two, as Merem and the King of Rats, who had been asked to take care of her while the Servant was away, were asked to leave.

Bazett managed to bite her tongue long enough to reign in her temper, but otherwise appeared to be completely impassive. Dangerously so. "Lancer. Please do not make this hard on both of us or force me to use a command seal on you without reason. You should be able to tell that I am not exactly in the most patient or forgiving of moods at the moment. The last thing I remember is us going up the stairs to the temple. I do not recall anything else after that or why I… am in my current condition. Tell me what happened."

The blue man shrugged before grabbing a chair and sitting on it. "Not much to say. Assassin got the drop on us. He had set up a couple of hidden bombs so that the first one blasted us into another. I managed to get out of that in workable shape. You on the other hand…"

"Did you even see our opponent?" Bazett grimaced as she sat herself up slowly and put a hand over her face. To be defeated so quickly was not something she felt good about, even if the one who did the deed specialized in that particular field.

"Not in the fucking slightest." Lancer admitted without shame. "Pissed me off too, but then again I was a bit busy keeping you alive to work on it. By the time you stabilized it was already mid morning."

"Wonderful." The Master sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration. "So long story short I nearly got killed and got nothing out of it in the process."

"Pretty much." Lancer nodded with the wry grin. "Well other than getting maimed and learning that Assassin is a sneaky bastard."

"Be serious Servant!" The Fraga snarled as she grabbed her sheets and flipped them off…

… Revealing that one of her legs had been severed above the knee and the other below it. Both limbs were wrapped heavily in bandages, though there was no blood staining them by this point.

"I am NOT in the mood for your half assed jokes right now!"

Cu Chulainn looked down at his Master's wounds with a disinterested gaze as if they were nothing new to him. Technically they weren't. "I know you're a pretty big stick in the mud, but I'm fairly certain that I set up something that would take care of that."

"Oh don't even get me started on what you and Merem did to me while I was still unconscious without my permission." Bazett was clearly not appeased by what he had apparently did. "Do you have ANY idea of how much red tape I'm going to have to go through when I come back to the Clocktower with… with…"

"They don't have names, but I'm pretty sure you can still call them your legs." Lancer interjected casually. "Granted the blood sucker said that you're not supposed to give them names or else they can't help you out, but they seem like nice kids none the less. From what I've seen there's no need to worry about them turning against you. Quite the opposite really. They seemed pretty eager to help you out. I've never really brushed up on their species before, but if I remember correctly they're supposed to be precognitive… actually if the rumors about where their powers came from are true they might actually be distant cousins of mine through old man Odin…"

"It doesn't matter what they think of me or what they can do!" The human snapped. "That's not the problem here! Even if by some miracle the Clocktower allows me to keep them, how am I supposed to get used to this!? I'm not like other Magi! I'm not instantly comfortable with sharing my body with other existences to enhance my magic or abilities, let alone with creatures that I would have been prepared for!"

Lancer lost some of the good humor in his demeanor as patience began to wear thin. "Oh? So you would have preferred if you were just stuck this way for the rest of the war, or had gotten some half assed magus from this era to reattach or make you limbs that you have not been able to get used to in time to fight to your previous level? If I remember correctly we're in the middle of a war Master. Something tells me that the enemy won't wait for you to recover and get used to your situation if you ask politely. But just in case, how about we go to Assassin or Caster first to see what they think."

Bazett flinched at Lancer's rather crude jab at the flaws in her argument. He had a good point. Save for Shirou, Bazett rather doubted that any of the other Masters would be kind enough to let her recover from her wounds via normal magus means before she was battle ready again. Ones that she had suffered could take weeks to get back from given the damage she received and the fact that her legs had not been recovered during their escape… if they still remained that was.

A brief creaking of wood from outside the door caught both adult's attention, followed by a pair of light gasps and some light footsteps indicating that the owners were trying to back away.

"Don't tell me…" Bazett groaned, only for Lancer to snort in amusement.

"They're not human, but they're still kids Master. It's in their nature to listen in on things they shouldn't out of curiosity. Who knows how many times I did it as a brat." The Spirit grinned in amusement. "Gotta say though, I'm kinda worried how they'd end up with a stick in the mud like you raising them."

"I'm twenty three years old!" The Master shouted with an embarrassed blush on her face as opposed to the red of anger she had moments before. "How am I supposed to spontaneously develop the skills needed to raise two children that I've just met when my occupation involves me hunting down magi and dead apostles?!"

"No clue. You know I'm not exactly phenomenal parental material myself, but I'm pretty sure that the first step involves actually learning about the kids in the first place. Better you than me though, after all you're supposed to be the mature one." Lancer sarcastically mocked his Master as he got up before he walked to the door to the bathroom, and opened it to reveal two small girls.

At first glance they seemed very much human, albeit most people would note that they fell into the category of exceptionally cute and adorably innocent looking.

The elder one, appearing no older than the age of twelve, had long red hair with the color of dried leaves but with a hint of dark purple that was the hair color of someone else in the room, olive skin, and deep blue eyes.

The younger, roughly eight years old, had straw yellow hair that went to her shoulders, pale skin, and grass green eyes, with a small birthmark under her eye that also much like a certain Fraga.

Both were dressed in light white dresses despite the cold weather outside, and pointed ears much like a stereotypical elf.

What made them stand out from normal humans the most though were the feelings they gave off when they were close. Anyone even remotely in tune with the supernatural world could tell on instinct that the two children were not human with the earthly sensation they gave off. It was not an oppressive one, on the contrary it was almost soothing to the point of affecting the senses, however it was clearly distinct and notable to anyone that could identify its existence.

It was also a feeling that Lancer personally knew all too well.

However what the Servant was concerned about most though was the fact that each one had tears in their eyes.

"Mommy doesn't want us, does she Uncle?" The elder sniffed in acceptance as she gently stroked her sister's head.

"She wasn't prepared for you two, that much was certain." The Servant snorted. "I'm not sure if she doesn't want you though. Grownups can be pretty stupid like that sometimes." He smirked as if remembering a bad joke. "I thought you two were supposed to be playing with the bloo… I mean Merem."

As disturbed as Bazett was with the situation, she couldn't help but snort at the way Lancer had to force himself to refer to the vampire without insulting him to the girls who were obviously fond of their creator. Even if they were working together at the moment, Lancer still clearly was not that fond of the vampire.

"We wanted to see what mommy wanted to talk to you about. Lord Merem said it was okay if we did." The younger one answered in a high pitched but soft tone. It was understandable that she referred to the vampire as Lord, he did create them from almost nothing after all. "Are you mad?"

Lancer's eyebrow twitched. He didn't mesh well with cute things, especially kids even if they weren't human. "A bit annoyed yeah, but not mad. I'm not gonna lie, you didn't do yourself any favors by doin' this."

"We thought that if we knew why she was mad we could do something about it." The elder one elaborated. "That way she wouldn't get rid of us…"

"Hear that Master?" Lancer turned back to Bazett with a smug look. "They've only known you for less than an hour and they already think that you're the type to throw kids out on the street without a second thought. Really. What the heck did you do before I got back?"

She screamed and had a minor panic attack, in that order when she woke up. At least if what Merem said was believed.

"Don't even go there Lancer." The Fraga coldly glared at her temporary partner. "I doubt even you thought that because Merem used my blood to create them they'd think of me as their mother."

"Least they didn't think of him as "daddy"." Lancer snickered. "Yeah, now that's a messed up match. Still, I wouldn't write these two off. The short one did say that despite how young they looked, the girls had ended up surprisingly stronger than he expected due to your Fraga lineage. Something about how your blood worked. They could be more useful than you think."

"We won't get in the way. We promise mommy." The younger one pleaded with innocent eyes.

"Just give the kids a shot." The blue man groaned as he walked out of the bathroom and to his bed. "It's not like you have to put them through school or feed them anything. You just have to make sure that they do anything stupid. Primarily while they're acting as your legs since any mistake they make then would be blamed on you." He paused. "Actually, it would kinda suck if they messed something up while away from you too, cuz then you'd have to chase them, and you can't do that without them being your legs in the first place… huh."

"That's it. You just lost your sleeping privileges." The Master growled dangerously from her own resting area. "You're stuck on guard duty for the night. No one goes in or out without my permission unless it's an emergency. No exceptions."

The blue man clicked his tongue in irritation. "Seriously? After all I just did for you? I had to give that gnome over half a gallon of blood for him to make those two. Do you know what it feels like to give that much blood even if you're a heroic spirit and can regenerate it? I mean yeah there are heroes that spill their own by the gallons for damsels in distress and the like, but I doubt it was ever like that."

"You also left me alone afterwards, leaving me to deal and mentally cope with my current situation with a thousand year old Vampire that talks to rats more than he does with humanoid beings, two children who were literally made from my blood calling me "mommy", my legs missing, and you fighting almost all out against Saber, who I might add you said we were supposed to be helping out in secret in the first place." The Master stated as calmly as she could. "So yeah. I'm just a little bit pissed off at you at the moment."

Lancer narrowed his eyes for a moment at the woman before letting out a long sigh in defeat. "Yeah… I guess you might have a point there." He looked to his side. "And the kids?"

The Enforcer reluctantly looked at the girls that matched her gaze with hope and fear. For a moment the image of a younger Shirou echoed through her mind. Small. Stubborn. And completely helpless. She shook her head and lay back down on her bed. "They take your bed for the night. I'll figure out what to do with them in the morning when I'm not freaking out anymore. I'm too tired to do anything else right now."

"But you just woke up after being out of it for two days." Lancer rose an eyebrow skeptically, ignoring the girls that quickly scampered past him and crawled into the bed before resting so that they faced their mother figure.

"And now I'm going to sleep off basically the biggest shock I've ever had in my life while figuring out what the hell I'm supposed to do next." The Master pulled her covers back over herself and turned away from everyone. "Then I'm going to wake up. Take a hot bath to clean the grime off of me, stew in it for about an hour, and THEN figure out what is going to happen. So help me if any of you even try to talk about it before then…"

"We'll be good." The girls said softly in tandem while huddled next to one another.

"I got it I got it." The Servant sighed as he began to dematerialize into spiritual form.

Lancer's head was just about to disappear before it donned a sarcastic grin. "So… you gonna take the girls with ya to the bathroom, because I think it'd be a bit rough otherwise…"

"OUT!"

Pulling the covers over her head, the Enforcer couldn't help but lament over her current situation and what she was going to have to decide on tomorrow, and as such knew she wasn't going to get any sleep easily that night. She didn't have anything against the girls in particular, but that wasn't the point.

Honestly. How the hell was she going to explain to the guys back home that she now had a pair of preadolescent Banshees acting as her legs?

o. o. o.

Emiya Residence:

"Shirou, is everything all right?" Sakura asked with concern as the owner of the home finished cleaning the late dinner. "You tend to take longer cleaning up when your troubled with something. Did you get into a fight with Saber?"

The only male there flinched slightly just as he finished drying the last of his dishes. Once more he cursed the supposed fact that he was horrendously easy to read to those that even remotely knew him well. "Something like that. I may have said some things that she didn't really like but needed to hear anyway. As a result… well she needs some time to think. Saber's still nearby so if we are attacked it wouldn't take her long to get back. Worst comes to worst I can just use a command seal if we're strapped for time."

"It's not like you to actively say something that someone wouldn't like." The Matou frowned in concern. "Was it really necessary for you to do that now?"

"Probably not, but given what had happened it was better to get it over with." Shirou admitted with a deep sigh. "It wasn't something I was looking forward to, but it had to be done."

"I see… does she still trust you?"

He let out a brief chuckle. "I hope so. She has my bike."

Sakura responded by lightly smacking him upside the head. "Shirou Emiya. Since when did you become so cold that you care more about your possessions than others?"

"Since I met people that were about a million times more durable and likely to come back in one piece than said magically enhanced possessions." The accused male smiled lightly. "Saber's smart enough to choose her battles and basically the strongest Servant in the war. Of course I'm worried about her safety, but she is the most capable out of all of us in a fight and right now being alone is what she needs the most. Believe me when I say that I can trust her to take care of herself for the time being."

There was a brief pause before he flinched and apologetically turned to Rider, who was still sitting politely and quietly at his dinner table. Without her leaking out any intent like she did whenever she was ready for battle, it was really easy to forget her presence at times seeing that she was normally extremely quiet and tended to avoid conversation. Despite her seemingly impassive demeanor, the Emiya could not but help but think that he had just irritated her in some way. "Er. That's not to say that you're not capable Rider, but given your current condition…"

"There is no need for alarm Master. Saber is indeed a superior Servant. Even if I had been at my best, it would be extremely difficult for me to best her." Rider's crisp but short response only seemed to cement the sinking feeling in her Master's stomach. There was no doubt about it. She was definitely irritated at him for forgetting about her. "Regardless of what activity Saber is doing to preoccupy her time or my condition, I shall serve my purpose and guard your home as I should."

"Rider. Please be nice." Sakura scolded her. "You know that Shirou means well. He would never think of you as just a tool."

"Sakura's right Rider. You're not just a Servant. Even if we've only known each other for a few days, you've more than proven to be as much of a person as the rest of us." Shirou crossed his arms. "The reason why I'm not concerned about being attacked is because the odds of it happening tonight are unlikely, so I was thinking we could rest for the night. Yourself included. You deserve it as much as anyone else."

"What reason do you have that tonight will be uneventful after Saber just encountered Lancer?" Rider asked skeptically, albeit with a tad bit less ice in her tone than before. "It seems illogical that you would assume that no one else would possibly attack simply because you have already engaged in a battle."

Shirou went through a brief check on the data he gathered that day. Assassin and Caster would not move away from the Temple until they were good and ready. The other Caster and Archer were playing the defensive game for different reasons, and Lancer had been called back by Bazett during his encounter with Saber earlier. Gilgamesh had pretty much declared that he wouldn't do anything until more Servants were killed so…

That meant that the only possible enemy that could attack him that night was Illya and Berserker, who to Shirou's knowledge still did not know exactly where he lived just yet. In addition to that, he had long since set up a good number of bounded fields around local area that were triggered by a combination of malicious intent and high levels of prana similar to the one Kiritsugu set up at his home when he first got it.

Considering the fact that Berserker was metaphorically a massive walking nuclear reactor for both, Shirou was all but certain that he would be aware of a potential if unwanted assault by his sister long before she arrived.

"Well our encounter with Lancer was part of the reason, but I have other resources as well. Call it a hunch if you want." The Emiya admitted without shame.

"A hunch huh?" Sakura skeptically played along, knowing that her secret lover never left something as important as her security up to chance. "Well far be it for me to question a hunch by the infamous Magus Killer."

"Oi. You know how much I don't like being called that." The Emiya frowned as he dried his hands.

"Sakura, are you sure that it is wise?" Rider skeptically asked.

"Don't worry Rider. Shirou is more resourceful than you think." The Matou sighed as she closed even more distance between herself and Shirou much to the latter's surprise. "I wouldn't put it past him to have a few tricks and sources in town that even I don't know of yet."

"I will neither confirm nor deny it." The Emiya looked at the girl in concern. "Sakura, are you all right? You've been a bit… forward since I got back up. Did you give Rider too much of your Mana?"

It was an understandable question. Whenever Sakura was low on Mana, the worms implanted into her would go hungry, causing them to become more active, and as a result cause their host to become "active". Initially when Shirou had begun to supply her with extra Mana, the girl had been rather embarrassed and discrete about the whole situation, especially whenever she got the "itch"… however as both of them became more comfortable with their situation her embarrassment turned into what could be best described as an "eager hunger".

She also tended to act far more outgoing in this state and say things that she would never exit her mouth under normal circumstances.

Actually, unknown to Shirou, if anything she was a bit full since she had gone out of her way to store more energy for herself while helping out Rider that day. She originally meant to just keep herself nice and set for the rest of the war, but now…

"Mmm. Well I guess you could say its Mana related." She smiled in a coy way that hinted that all but screamed that they were going to have sex within the next few minutes so long as nothing interrupted them. "Of course, if you're too tired I'm sure that we could have Rider join in and we could figure something out. She is rather good looking after all…"

Rider remained silent throughout the conversation and pretended to remain impassive about it, but even while blindfolded she could easily feel the heat radiating from his face. On the other hand, she could tell that her original Master was not as calm as she appeared to be at the moment, which slightly concerned her.

"N-No. Th-that's all right. There's no need to force Rider into this. She probably wouldn't want to deal with something of this nature anyways." Shirou stammered as Sakura began to drag him away by the hand. He was normally more composed and used to being dragged off by Sakura whenever she got like this, but normally she didn't try to drag in a third person into their escapades, much less when said third person was right there in front of them.

Shirou could have sworn he saw a small twitch in Rider's lips. "I am your Servant Master. I will do whatever you wish so long as it is within our best interests and no harm will come to Sakura."

"See? Rider doesn't mind." Sakura playfully tugged at his arm some more. "Come now. I'm sure you've done this enough times to figure out a good way for all of us to benefit from an experimental three way ritual. Besides it's not as if she's inexperienced. I'm actually curious what they used to do back in the age of gods."

"I am not sure if that is wise Sakura." Rider continued in her usual impassive tone. "Humans in this era are not as sturdy as they once were. I am unsure of which techniques are within your limits."

At this point it should be noted that Shirou's face was as red as his hair used to be out of sheer embarrassment. It had taken him long enough to get used to speaking about the topic with just Sakura. Having a three way conversation on it would take lord knows how long. "Whatever it was that I did to offend either of you, I'm sorry. I'll do whatever you want, just stop please."

Another almost twitch was seen on Rider's face. "I will keep that in mind. Regardless it would be best to conclude your business with Master soon Sakura. I believe if we go any further he may be unable to perform for the night."

"You two are making yourselves to be my biggest threat in the war. I hope you're proud of yourselves." The outnumbered male grumbled.

"Oh stop being such a child." Sakura admonished mockingly as she finally managed to drag him to the bedroom. "Most men would kill to be with two beautiful females like us at the same time. Saber isn't that bad looking either…"

"Most men could also easily be killed by any of you as well, and Saber would probably end me if I even suggested at such a thing." Shirou muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for both women to hear.

Going back into spiritual form, Rider allowed herself to smile a bit from the recent interaction. The casual environment was growing increasingly pleasant to her, even if it was misplaced for wartime. It was almost as if she was back with her sist-

The warm feelings instantly vanished as did the smile on her spiritual face. The memories of what she had become, done, and discarded washed away any pleasant sensation she had had just moments before. She did not deserve what she was receiving now. She would accept it reluctantly, as her Masters would likely not leave her alone until she did, but she knew better than to take it for granted. It would not change the original who was still renown as the Gorgon Queen, the monster that could petrify with but a gaze. The best she could do to redeem herself in her cursed eyes was to prevent more unfortunates from ending up like her.

Both of her Masters were at the top of that current list.

She would only willingly accept generosity offered directly to her. Shirou's cooking was admittedly top of that list, although the clothes that Sakura had gotten her earlier that day were not unwanted either, but ultimately it was pointless. She would serve her purpose to save the girl and then disappear like she had intended when she had first materialized into the world. No matter how much any other possibility seemed to entice her, this was what would happen.

o. o. o.

As hard as it was to maintain rational thought while having sex with Sakura, Shirou couldn't help but feel something was off from the get go.

As they let their carnal pleasures take control over their movements, the Emiya almost instantly noticed that his partner was a bit more energetic than normal. The kissing was heavier. The overall movement was more radical. They had broken out into a sweat faster than any of their previous sessions. There just seemed to be more… energy this time.

Not that he minded of course. Despite his rather blank personality at times he was still a hot blooded male, but it did catch his notice.

Then again, he didn't really see what was really going on until when they both climaxed at the same time. It was something they had practiced so often that even with the changes they could read one another's signs like a book and with a little bit of focus match their releases with surprising precision, which of course was needed for a successful tantric ritual and universally acknowledged as the hardest part…

… Well hardest next to the fact that the ones doing the ritual also had to focus on and transfer their prana into their partner WHILE climaxing at the same time.

And younger Magi wonder why the rituals weren't employed more frequently by their seniors.

However the reason why this ritual was different was made clear during this instant. Instead of what normally happened where Shirou would pour his energy into the girl into his arms, the reverse happened.

Shirou's lungs went up his throat at the unfamiliar feeling of a small flood of Mana somehow flowing up his privates and spread out through his body and restoring his reserves, which had been near perpetually low since the war started, to well over halfway full. It was completely unexpected on his end and despite the fact that he was still in a very pleasant situation, it was not something he wanted to experience by surprise again anytime soon. "Urg… S-Sakura…?"

"Honestly. You really are too kind for your own good sometimes Shirou." The Matou smiled gently, not letting go or making any movements that indicated that she was trying to harm him. "Even when you were in your condition you still didn't hesitate to try and give me your prana at the slightest request… or were you actually doing it because it feels that good?"

Regaining control over his body from the sudden shock, Shirou realized what exactly had just happened. "Sakura! It's too dangerous for you to do that! If you run too low-"

He was silenced by a fast kiss that occupied his mouth.

"Have a little more faith in me Shirou. I know my body better than you do." Sakura's gentle retort escaped her lips while in between breaths. "Rider wasn't the only one that got some extra energy today. I just shared some of it with you. My body can hold more than yours, remember? I still have more than enough for you to end some of the competition before we need to really do this. Besides, if you fall because you don't have enough energy then it doesn't really matter how much I have does it? You're the one fighting everyone, not me."

Shirou tried to be at least a bit irritated at the girl, but it was kinda hard while he was still inside of her and they were still latched onto one another like they were.

"Even so, you should have thought of something else. I don't want to put you in a worse position than you already are." He grunted softly. "It was only a couple of days ago that you had your home burn down right on top of you and you were nearly captured by Caster."

"But that's why I have you here. My foolish sword in black armor… capable of wielding all the blades in the world in an instant…" As soon as she said those words, she stopped moving and her grip on him tightened slightly.

"Sakura?" Shirou blinked, unable to see her face as her head was right next to his. "What's wrong? Are the worms acting up?"

"… No. I… you shouldn't be doing this." She muttered as if talking to herself. "You've done so much already. You've put yourself at risk for me so often just so Rider can't use up my Mana. You're giving me the grail so that Grandfather will undo what he did to me and free me from the Matou name. You who already have a future and a name at the Clocktower… It's not fair. I'm not worth it. I'm little more than a human after what Grandfather did to me. The vampires. The War. Grandfather. I love you but… but… why? Why me? Why am I so special that you trust yourself to me without a second though even though I'm the reason why you are always getting hurt? It doesn't make sense."

It was then that Shirou noticed that she was shivering in his arms. Fear. Depression. Guilt. Anxiety. Any and all of these were coursing through the girl's naked body, even when he wrapped it into his arms tightly.

"… Because I think you are." He whispered softly, making her body still once more. "Because I know that you're a good person. I don't care that your body is tainted, because mine is just as bad. I have no right to complain about your past since I can't remember half of mine. I trust you with all my heart because I know you'll keep me from doing something stupid just like you'll know I will protect you with everything I am. If anything I'm not good enough for you given how much danger I attract."

The girl in his arms sniffed heavily. "I'll manage. And Rin? Do you trust her too like you do me?"

The teen paused for a moment as he had to take a moment to process her words. He was a bit surprised that Sakura would bring up her sister, but then again he shouldn't be surprised given the rivalry they had. "… Yes. I don't know if you'd appreciate that, but even though Rin's a bit of a sadist at times, I know she's just as trustworthy as you are, and I care about her just as much. I'm sorry if you don't like that but it's how I truly feel."

Much to his surprise though, the girl let out a sigh. "Is that so? I guess that's a bit of a relief…"

"Eh?" Shirou blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? Most women would get mad by that answer."

"You're right. Most would." The crying girl laughed tiredly as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Most women wouldn't be taking care of a completely selfless idiot like you though."

o. o. o.

Deep underground, a small hive of worms slowly began to turn and come to life once more. The sound of wet rocks rubbing together and resembling a distorted human's laughter could be heard if anyone had been unfortunate to be within the disgusting chamber.

The source of the noise had felt its prized project suddenly lose a good deal of Mana. Not a defining amount, but more than enough to weaken its defenses and allow the creature to establish its influence in the oncoming days.

"Well then. This was slightly unexpected, but not unwelcome. I suppose I can work with this for the time being…"

o. o. o.

Servant Stats :

Lancer

ID: Cu Chulainn

Alias: The Hound of Ireland

Master: Bazett Fraga McRemitz

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Strength: B

Agility: A

Mana: B

Luck: E

Endurance: B

Noble Phantasm: B+

Class Skills:

Magic Resistance: C

Personal Skills:

Battle Continuation: A

Disengage: C

Divinity: B

Rune Magic: B+: At this level, the servant is capable of utilizing all 18 original runes and more recent ones in perfect tandem. Is capable of high level thaumaturgy with enough preparation.

Protection From Arrows: B

Noble Phantasms:

Gae Bolg: B

Gae Bolg: B+

o. o. o.

Archer

ID: Gilgamesh

Alias: The King of Heroes

Master: Kirei Kotomine

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Strength: B

Agility: C

Mana: B

Luck: A

Endurance: C

Noble Phantasm: Ex

Class Skills:

Independent Action: A+

Magic Resistance: E

Personal Skills:

Charisma: A+

Divinity: B (A+)

Golden Rule: A

Noble Phantasms:

Gate of Babylon: E-A++

Ea: Ex

o. o. o.

A/N

It's ALIIIIIIIVVVVVEEEE!

Sorry about the wait people, but given what I want to do in the near future of this fic and how the last chapter ended off, writing this one was a pain in the ASS. Which is why I focused on TTRT for the past few months.

Oh. And then there's the whole… intensive job training, summer grad school, getting three certificates in three months, and moving soon to Jersey for a job that's sending me to Jacksonville Florida in January thing.

First things first. This right here? The "sex scene" with Shirou and Sakura? Yeah, that's the closest you'll see me to ever writing a lemon in fanfiction. It's not my thing. I'm not good at it. But it had to be done for the plot so I just got it over with.

A quick reminder for anyone who forgot, in the last chapter Rin hinted at Sakura at just how messed up Shirou was in the head as a result of her dreams of EMIYA's past. Sakura on the other hand, slightly misinterpreted it and now she believes (albeit not without reason) she's been selfishly driving Shirou to the brink with regards to the war and that unless she does something he will pretty much kill himself in the process… which is technically true and very possible knowing Shirou.

Same thing goes for Shirou's and Saber's talk. I just had to get it out of the way seeing as there are going to be a lot of other massive snafus to be dealt with in the story. Saber's not instantly cured of her mindset and goal, god forbid I do something that corny, but you'll see in the next few chapters that she's less… motivated would be the best word to describe it.

All in all, FFD Shirou is a hybrid personality that is predominantly like HF Shirou but with a little UBW mixed in. Because of Kiritsugu's machinations, FFD Shirou is focused on his loved ones above everyone else where as UBW and FATE Shirou were focused on saving everyone and HF Shirou was primarily focused on Sakura only. Like post UBW Shirou though, he is more aware of his faults and limitations, but still dedicated to his goals and protecting his close ones to the point of doing very irrational things.

The main difference though is that FFD Shirou is trained in both thaumaturgy and tactics, AND has his father's information about the war, which affects his decision making greatly compared to in the story. His irrational decisions have more logic in them, but still push to ensure that he's the last one protected if he has to weigh his safety against others. His instant decision to supply Sakura with Prana even though he himself is rather low without a second thought exemplifies that.

For the Lancer Saber fight… Gonna admit it right now, I pulled that one out of my butt for the hell of it. It just seemed to fit to me and honestly I think it fits more given for what I have planned for later. Plus… I just wanted to use Lancer with his runes boosting his abilities. There is no way that could not have been cannon at some point considering that Bazett does nearly the same thing. Damn Kotomine and nerfing a solid character like that.

Yes. I know. Nobody has died yet (Shinji doesn't count, he's not a person). It takes me forever to do kill off characters, but it's hard for me to do that when I actually have good setups for them later in the damn story. The standard war is roughly two weeks long in cannon. If FFD's plot goes as I envision it, this one will be nearly twice as long and for damn good reason. There are at least TWO scenes that I wanted to add to this chapter and each would have been a major cliffhanger, but I didn't because it was already long enough, so I'll put them off for later chapters.

And as for Bazett having banshee kids as legs… yeah. Some very interesting things are going to come out of that. Heheheh.

On other news, YAWALEH's tv tropes has a character page now, but it needs some lovin people. Give it so much love that would have Flonne pass out in sheer ecstasy! NAAAOOOO!

And a bit out of place, but I have a Fic challenge. I have been looking for a Fate story that fits this very simple criteria, yet it does not exist! Not on Space Battles! ! Or Beast's Lair! This Must Be Corrected!

The Challenge is simple! KIRITSUGU SUMMONS SABER ALTER IN THE FOURTH WAR!

That's it. I don't care how you do it, why it's done, or how it ends. Someone just make the damn thing and make it good. This means realistic character interactions, reactions, and how the change influences their behavior as the war progresses. I can already tell that Lancer and Caster's actions would completely change due to this compared to cannon.

So… that's it people. I'm tired. Sleepy. And already planning out the next chapter in my head, which was FAR easier than doing this one.

REVIEW! WORSHIP THE LOG! SOMEONE DO MY DAMN CHALLENGE ALREADY! AND REVIEW AGAIN!