Chapter 45: Compatibility
I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs.
o. o. o.
This was the story of a boy.
"Thank god. You're alive. Thank you. Thank you."
A boy that was saved in life by a man. A boy that was saved in spirit by a smile.
"So what do you want? Do you want to go to the orphanage, or do you want to come with me, a complete stranger?"
A boy that had been broken down by a fire. Rendered into a husk that could barely be called human, inside or out. A boy whose remains had been roughly gathered up in the aftermath.
"Swing harder Shirou. Yes, like that. Your enemy won't be giving you mercy so you have to respond in kind. That doesn't mean you have to kill them, but accidentally crippling them now so they won't be a problem is better than leaving your back open when the next threat comes a few seconds later."
He was broken when he came to this new home. Broken, but still functional. That did not mean that all the parts he had left never healed, or properly. Only that they fell into their own places over time, guided and eased with words, conversations, and interactions with the outside world.
"When I was a kid, I wanted to be a hero."
But even if he was twisted, the boy without a doubt loved the man. The man that was broken as well, just in a different way. Shattered by his own hands, and his dreams.
"I learned too late that it was a silly thing to amount to. Heroes always get the short end of the stick. Always throwing themselves into messes without looking at the details. Always giving up something irreplaceable for the masses and getting little in return for it. That... that isn't a life. That's barely existing. Spend too long doing that and you end up losing sight of what you were trying to accomplish in the first place, doing more damage in a day than you fix in a decade. All the legends end up like that. You could consider it one of the biggest jokes of humanity."
Yes, he loved the man that was so much like him it was unnerving. The man he called Dad.
"But, like it or not, people still like heroes, even now. There are so many things wrong with them and their stories, but in the end it always comes back to the idea that they all seemed to exemplify. The person that goes out of their way to fight the bad guys. The person that was special and more than the normal human in some way. To bring peace. To just… to just stop bad things from happening. That's really what most people want in the end. It's hard to argue against something as simple and innocent as that. There's nothing actually wrong for wanting someone like that to exist. I guess that's why I tried to be one too."
Even as young as he was, the boy knew the man's dream was silly. If a villain was stopped and the day was saved, there would still be at least one person suffering by the end of everything: the perpetrator himself. The idea for everyone in the world to be happy and at peace was an impossibility that even his young mind could understand.
But, that only made his idolization for the man that tried to be a Hero, a person who supported such an impossible goal, even grander. The man wasn't great because his dream was to be a hero. No, rather, the dream must have been at least this magnificent to enthrall the man in the first place.
He was not blind. The boy could tell that his father had suffered because of this dream. There was no way to save everyone. The man was hurt in a way that the young boy doubted he would ever be able to comprehend. However, the fact that the man still claimed that his dream was still something so grandiose only elevated both the goal and its pursuer to grander heights in the boy's eyes.
The man was an ideal, a person that everyone should look up to and learn from. He was no saint, but that in itself only made him more relatable to people from all corners of the world.
The dream was an impossible-to-achieve gem, but it was also something that the man had gotten closer to obtaining than most would ever imagine possible.
The boy had at first tried to go down the same path as his father. To inherit that beautiful dream that had spurred his savior so… but it did not last for long.
The man didn't want the boy to follow his path. The man knew the boy's faults, and knew just how badly the boy would suffer should he go down the same road as he. The results were not worth the costs. No father in good conscience would ever wish for such a fate on their own, even if they didn't share blood.
The man's story had too many loose ends. He had a dream, but that very thing had wounded him in more ways than even the boy knew.
His daughter, held by the mother's family. Experimented and lied to, perpetually without remorse. Alone without protection.
A threat to the world, gone unnoticed by everyone, masked as a blessing to be fought over. All the curses in the world, waiting to be born.
A misplaced king of unmatched standing. His pride rivaled only by his wealth and power.
A young girl. Exchanged by her family, with a fate eerily similar to his daughter's, but unnaturally in tune with the darker aspects of the moonlit world despite her demure nature.
The boy himself, broken and aimless, self-destructive if left unguided. An unfinished blade of limitless potential for salvation and destruction.
He lauded all of these things on the boy's shoulders in the hopes that others would help give the boy the stability and life he would not be able to provide in the future.
In place of an impossible dream, he bestowed the boy his regrets. Tasks that would crush most adults, let alone a single child, but far more possible than his dreams.
Really, what did it say about the man? For him to push his lamentations instead of goals onto his successor, and claim honestly for it to be the more humane option of the two?
Ultimately, he had succeeded before his passing in the end. The boy was no longer driven by an impossible task.
That did not mean that the boy had forgotten it though.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
o. o. o.
It was shortly before sunrise when the immortal with the child's image appeared at the base of the mountain.
There were no cars or pedestrians walking by despite the area being a fairly popular tourist location. The bounded fields had ensured that there wouldn't be any inconvenient minor annoyances for around a kilo in any direction.
He waited patiently at the foot of the stairway, occasionally allowing his gaze to drift to the savaged path that had been the location of far too many fights, and the barren and charred forestry that would take years to recover to its former glory.
"You know, you're really starting to drive the bitch upstairs nuts right now. Honestly, I don't know how she's not gotten wrinkles or grey hairs yet. Must be that witchcraft of hers." Lancer appeared at the top of the first set of steps, sitting casually with Gae Bolg resting on his shoulder. "And while I do applaud you for that, she's starting to get real annoying with her paranoia, meaning she's starting to bug me about it."
"Really? My apologies. I didn't think that she'd be so callous as to ignore the proctor of the Grail War and push something so important onto someone that can easily bend my words to mislead her." Merem smiled and swayed back and forth on his heels as if he was a prepubescent child.
Lancer rolled his eyes. "Feh. Yeah right. If she really was that stupid, that mute bastard Assassin would be here with you instead of me."
"You mean, instead of him taking aim at me from that building over there, correct?" The Vampire pointed to a seven story building a block and a half down the road.
Lancer glanced at the suspected location and shrugged. If he was surprised by Merem's claim, he didn't show it. "Hell if I know. My sensory range is shit and it's not like I set up any bounded fields with my runes to pick up on that boring prude."
Before Merem could respond, a new voice joined the conversation, one without a body.
"Why are you here, Vampire?" Caster clearly was not pleased or amused by this turn of events if her tone was any indication.
"My job. I am the overseer of the War now after all." The accused didn't seem to be bothered by the turn of events.
"Does that mean to say that you intend to kill me now?" The Witch probed. Though she hid it well, there was a hint of trepidation and confusion in her tone. "You are powerful and capable, far more than your predecessor, but even you should be able to see the folly in such a decision. You and your products would lose."
"Mmm. Yes, you're right about that. I definitely wouldn't be able to take you four on by myself." Merem fully admitted it. He was a very powerful individual that had survived over a thousand years, but by no means did that mean he was unstoppable. It merely meant that he had picked his fights wisely and had grown in the meantime.
"But, at what cost would that victory be?"
Lancer's eyes narrowed momentarily in thought before a brief bark of a laugh escaped his lungs. "Hah! You cocky little shit. And I thought the kid was the only one here with balls bigger than his head."
Caster was far less amused. "Your Divine Beast from earlier was most impressive Vampire, but I doubt it would be able to hold its own against four of us."
"Alone, yes." Merem's four limbs began to glow faintly, as if itching to become something else entirely. "However what if I were to match your four with mine? You certainly have the home field advantage, but I highly doubt that all of your forces would remain in this world in the end."
All her forces. That was the crux of the matter. Assassin. Rider. Lancer. And herself, Caster. She needed the abilities and power of all four in order to hold bay the remaining four Servants effectively. With Saber and Berserker's raw power, she needed as much help and time as she could get in order to fulfil her plans.
If she fought the Vampire now, even if he won, if he killed two… no, even just one of the Servants under her influence, she'd be doomed once the boy made a move.
Worse yet, fighting the vampire was ultimately a pointless endeavor that was best to be avoided. At least with the boy, every Servant that died would be used as fuel for her own makeshift grail thanks to the bounded fields she had set up in the area. The same could not be said for the familiars this wretched little freak possessed.
"Seeing as you still have your unwilling help here alive and well, it should be clear that you require far more than three Servant's worth of prana to activate the Greater Grail." Merem pressed. "More than low enough that you wouldn't be able to drain the inhabitants of the city fast enough to cover the difference in time before the other Masters notice."
There it was. The real threat to her situation. Everything was aimed and depended on her being able to obtain enough power to make her wish. If she wasn't able to obtain that power in time before she was killed or run out of the temple, then all that she had done and worked for would be for nothing.
She wanted that wish. She needed that wish. Killing her enemies was a nice bonus, but still secondary to that one thing.
"… What do you want, demon?" She all but hissed, her anger potent enough that her disembodied words rattled the windows on the buildings near the subject of her ire.
He didn't answer immediately, instead rocking on his feet and looking around him as if there were more important things to dwell upon. "Several things really, although if you are talking about the purpose for my visit, I suppose it is to set up your final confrontation for this mess called a War."
"… Final Confrontation?" Caster echoed, somewhat taken aback. Lancer seemed to share her thoughts if his scowl was any indication.
Merem nodded and held up three fingers. "Three days. Starting tonight. Both sides will restrain their actions for that long. To rest. To prepare. To organize. To do whatever it is you wish so long as it does not escalate the situation. However there will be no fighting or overt actions from either of you. If you do that, I'll stay my hand and remain as a neutral party for the remainder of the war."
Deadly silence filled the mountain air for what felt like several eternities before a light chuckle chilled the world. "Fufufu. Really now? Is the boy in such poor condition that you must buy time for him in such a roundabout way?"
"Well, seeing as he's been responsible for more heroic acts than all of the so called Heroic Spirits in this city combined over the past two weeks, I don't see how that's surprising." He shrugged, ignoring the annoyed glare from Lancer. "However, it is for your benefit as well Caster. You get more time to prepare and plan, and despite your poor choices recently, I doubt you are foolish to see how valuable it really is."
"Oi. Not to burst your exposition bubble, but why the hell are you setting things up like this?" Lancer interrupted. "I thought that as the 'neutral party', or at least as the overseer, you'd be all over this bitch's shriveled ass by now."
"Lancer, you and I are going to have an interesting talk once our guest leaves." Caster's tone dropped a few dozen degrees.
"Bite me. I'm the only one here that can last longer than five seconds against Berserker or Saber if they do rush the temple," he shot back.
Merem coughed loud enough to get their attention again. "Ultimately, I don't want either side of you rushing and doing something stupid which would result in, say, the mountain exploding from the discharging of untold amounts of prana. The way I see it, the only way Shirou can pull that off is if he's properly prepared when he does go after you. Likewise, the only hope you have of getting your wish, is if you kill enough servants or gather enough prana while not dying in the process. If I fight you before Shirou does, you have no hope of getting what you want, and would probably just destroy everything to spite the victors."
"Meaning no one wins," Lancer summed up the consequences of fighting Merem in a sentence.
"That does not console me Vampire. Once the boy moves, you will aid him. Him and the other Servants I can handle. You aiding them I cannot."
"Then I won't help him." It was his tone that bewildered everyone the most. It was the sort of tone one had if he was talking about something obvious that wasn't his problem in the first place.
"Elaborate" Caster probed, her command held a bite to it that betrayed her ebbing temper.
"If you abide by my rules and wait three days, I won't aid Shirou in the final fight and stay out of everything." Merem shrugged as if explaining something simple. "If you don't, I will team up with him. Simple as that."
Assured failure, or a slim hope for victory against a fully healed and prepared foe. It wasn't an ideal choice to make, not in the slightest, but given the circumstances…
"Assassin."
Before Merem had any time to react, the accelerated bullet fired from Kiritsugu's sniper rifle speared through the distance between the two parties and punched a fist sized hole through the Vampire's chest.
Crimson fluid sprayed in every direction as the small body was thrown across the street and hit a nearby street. His frame had been punched completely through by the bullet, but the impact was so great that it was only to be expected that it would be tossed by the force of impact.
"Well that was boring." Lancer yawned, not at all surprised by the turn of events. "Got good distance at least."
"Be quiet, Lancer." Caster hissed.
"What? It's not like you killed him." The Irishman pointed out as if it was only obvious.
Indeed. Where there had been several bloodstains on the ground and a mangled corpse on the road, Merem stood right as rain, brushing off some dust off of his clothes.
"I do not know what the purpose of that was, but please do not do it again. Getting shot is uncomfortable."
It was not regeneration. Dead Apostles didn't regenerate. Not from the bigger wounds they obtained. Instead their infamous recovery abilities stemmed from time reversal. Whatever damage they had was erased from existence and their bodies returned to a state of normalcy so long as they had the prana to do so and no interruptions.
This ability was obviously most vexing to manage with the oldest of the Ancestors, of which Merem was one.
It was also insufferably potent when the moon was full, or near full in this case.
It would take at least a week for the moon's phase to ebb away enough for the monster to be taken out by something short of Lancer's Spear or one of Caster's more elaborate spells. Means that would take time and preparation to execute properly and reliably with minimal risk.
In short, too long.
"If I am to be threatened, I at least make sure that the offending party is capable of doing so and not bluffing." Caster excused her actions as if they were meaningless.
"You sound like Van Fem." Merem muttered and shook his head, the last hints of his wound vanishing from reality. "So do you comply, Caster?"
The silence that followed was tense, almost as if the mountain itself was about to reply to his question.
"… I will not restrain myself from setting up traps or setting up means to observe my enemies." The Witch stated firmly.
"And neither would they." Merem complied.
"I will still be pulling prana from the populace of this city."
"So long as you do not go overboard and draw attention to yourself or the city of anything particular happening, you may continue to do so." He didn't care about the mundanes of Fuyuki, much like any other Magus or member of the Church. He only worried about being exposed and the hassle it would be covering up the aftermath.
That didn't mean he wouldn't put his own spin on things though. He secretly liked that tanker story that Kirei did to cover up the fire that took out the Matou house. He couldn't believe that the public actually bought that rubbish.
"… Fine. Leave, before I change my mind and decide to do the world a favor." It was obvious that Caster wasn't satisfied with the idea of going with his deal, but she had few options if she wanted to actually be successful in her plots.
"That would be a first," Lancer muttered under his breath.
"Assassin."
Had Lancer had not had his Protection from Arrows skill guiding his movements before he knew what had happened, his right shoulder would have been the home of a shiny new hole instead of the stone walkway right next to him.
"Oi! What the hell? You didn't even hesitate you ass!" the blue man shouted at the general direction that Assassin was in.
"Indeed. How peculiar." Caster's tone had as much water in it as the Sahara.
"If that is all, then I bid you farewell, and good luck." Merem bowed deeply before almost making it to the buildings across the road.
"Vampire… what is it you are after?" Caster couldn't help herself. Merem's presence was something no one had expected or planned for. His movements didn't seem to be aimed towards the curse or obtaining the Grail at all, but he was focused on something all the same.
Merem didn't slow down in the slightest and vanished into the city.
"It's nothing you should be concerned with, Servant. All you need to know is that if you weren't such an annoyance, I would have had it already."
o. o. o.
"Are you ok, Rin?" Sakura nervously addressed her sister. "You're making a scary face right now."
"I, I'm trying to decide if I should be horrified, amused, bewildered, or relieved at the moment." The owner of the household didn't look away from Kiritsugu's notes, provided by Saber and Illya. "What's written in here, it goes far beyond what I had assumed. The Shirou of these realities is a complete incompetent idiot. How in the world did anything get done with him like this?"
"Don't ask me. The best I came up with is that you carried most of the weight." Archer shrugged, leaning against a nearby wall and ignoring the fact that everyone in the room appeared to be keeping their distance from him. "I've gone through those timelines and more and I'm still scratching my head at it. The fact that I managed to come out of that mess in one piece and still have such an abysmal Luck ranking now is quite frankly insulting."
Caster looked over Rin's shoulder in curiosity and rose an eyebrow. "Did you seriously run at Rider headfirst without thinking when she had her eyes uncovered?"
"Don't load my counterparts' stupidity on me. I have enough trouble dealing with my own poor decisions."
"So we can still blame you for that stunt where you betrayed Rin and joined Caster then," Luvia accused.
"Which one?" He had the nerve to chuckle in amusement, as if purposefully trying to rub salt in an open wound.
"Archer, stop being a jerk for once. Luvia, don't talk to him if you know he's just going to piss you off," Rin chided offhandedly.
Archer allowed himself to smirk briefly in petty self-satisfaction, allowing the insult to wash right over him. Luvia on the other hand, pouted and crossed her arms.
"This tome certainly is elaborate," Caster noted as she read over Rin's shoulder. "If the boy was using this as a guide, it certainly would explain how he was able to plan things out so well."
"It's reference material at best." Rin added. "From what Illya and Saber said, Kiritsugu didn't reveal anything about Archer to Shirou other than a few details. Luvia and her sister weren't participants, resulting only in the other Caster being summoned by someone she killed before things even started. Assassin was different, and Kirei never killed Bazett to take control over Lancer. Then there was the fiasco that was Rider and Shinji's predicament, and Zouken's deal with Shirou. Too many things were different from the beginning to make this as dependable as it initially appears. If anyone did rely too heavily on this instead of the war in front of them, they would most certainly have died by now. I'm guessing that Shirou spent the first few days of the War just trying to determine how much of his information was still valid in the first place."
"Moving as if you're expecting everyone to move by a script is a foolish thing to do, especially in a war where your enemies are in such close proximity to you. People would notice almost instantly." Archer shook his head, condoning the very idea.
"I take it you're speaking from personal experience." Caster accused.
"More or less, but it took longer for it to get into my head." The Servant didn't deny it at all. "Rin has a habit of messing up my summoning in general, so the times that I actually do come with my memories intact so I can fall into that vice in the first place are few and far in between… though it was still more often than Caster's original Master staying alive long enough to see him, or witnessing a proper Assassin being called forth."
"After everything we've learned, I'm debating if that's a good or bad thing." The guilty party didn't look ashamed in the slightest at his Master's chiding. "Considering how stupid you apparently are without proper training, it probably took longer than you are claiming."
"Such a cruel Master I have." No one missed that he didn't deny her statement in the slightest.
"Rin, be nice. Archer may be difficult, but he does protect you." Sakura chided her sister. "Besides, you spend enough time lambasting Shirou. Doing the same to Archer is just being redundant."
"I honestly don't know what to say in response to that." Archer shook his head.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure." Rin grumbled and focused on the notes again sourly.
As she turned the page, something written down caused both her and Caster to blink.
"Mm. That explains why he didn't bring up my counterpart in conversation when we met with that teacher of yours." Medea nodded in comprehension.
"What happened?" Luvia blinked.
"Apparently if Shirou asked Issei about her, Issei would murder suicide Shirou then and there." Rin didn't bother to act surprised. She had half expected to see something like this the moment Illya had told her what was in the book in the first place.
Overall, it was still a better outcome than the time Illya turned him into a doll. Even if he was a complete moron for taking her up on her offer.
"Oh." The blonde turned a shade paler, but didn't press further on the subject. "I take it that's another supposed bad end."
"He has handled himself well so far. I'll give the Shirou Emiya of this world that much." Archer mused out loud, catching the ears of everyone there. "I've witnessed and engaged in reckless plans to take out Gilgamesh countless times, and honestly this approach was among the least suicidal and had the highest chances of working so far. It was still suicidal and reckless, don't get me wrong, but it did show that he actually thought things through. It's more than what I can say about some of the others."
"Not like every version dealt with Gilgamesh. Some only had to work with Sakura going nuts in the end game." Rin tried not to let the fact get to her and not notice her sister flinching. "Speaking of which, how did you know that Kirei could graft your arm onto Shirou and that he had a shroud to help keep your arm isolated? Even if you knew that your arm could be grafted onto him, you aren't dumb enough to miss that it would overwhelm him, that doesn't explain how you'd predict Kotomine's actions."
The Servant began to speak before pausing and frowned in confusion. He started to speak his thoughts before he even knew he was doing so, compelled by Rin's earlier command seal. "That… I'm not sure. I've done this for so long that I no doubt have forgotten more than I remember. The fact that I don't remember at all, or why for that matter, is peculiar. I know of the event you're talking about, but my reasons for doing so aren't so clear."
"Maybe, perhaps you're still impulsive at times, like you used to be?" Sakura hesitantly suggested. She was somewhat uncertain being around EMIYA. He was Shirou, but not if Rin's and Luvia's behavior to him was to go by.
"That's not right. I don't do things that I know won't work. I knew my arm would overwhelm him without some sort of buffer, but I don't and shouldn't have known that Kirei had the means to provide it in the first place, even if Rin summoned me properly. He never mentioned he would use or had it to begin with. Perhaps it was just a Hail Mary given the circumstances at the time, but that doesn't sound right either. The more I think about it, the more I'm certain that I knew it would happen, even though I didn't. I died shortly after the grafting, so it's not like I would know that it would work long enough to be of use. However, that still doesn't sound like me. I've long grown out of doing reckless impulsive things like this, unless it was to either kill my younger self, or…?!"
"Archer? What have you deduced?" Caster warily watched as EMIYA momentarily donned an infuriated image, clenching his teeth and fists tightly before forcing himself to relax.
"… It's nothing you or anyone else needs to worry about. I just realized something I wish I had figured out sooner." He didn't make eye contact with anyone there, and his aimless gaze gained a haunted overhang.
"Archer." Rin looked up from the notes with worry. While she had limited her connection with her Servant for multiple reasons, she could still feel the anger and anguish that was plaguing his mind at the moment. Whatever he had concluded was not doing him any favors.
Wonderful. As if dealing with one mentally unsettled Shirou wasn't hard enough.
It had taken half an hour to calm the unstable teen down enough to put him under with a spell. Saber had taken him up to a guest room, followed closely by Illya since she was able to calm him down a bit if he woke up again. Sakura had stayed in order to keep the rest updated on what Shirou had known and any actions that the others weren't aware of. Rin had been healed by Caster and was trying to distract herself with the notes Illya had handed her before going to check up on Shirou.
On a side note, no one had bothered to waste much time on the fact that Rin was wearing glasses while inspecting the booklet even though she had perfect eyesight.
She didn't know what infuriated her more, the fact that Shirou had been sitting on this goldmine of information for two years without her knowing any better, or the actions of this idiot savant version of Shirou that she was reading about now.
Her counterpart in these memories wasn't much better in some cases.
She turned the page, read about halfway down the paper, and nearly choked on nothing before slamming the thing shut.
"Hmm? I take it that particular artifact is something personal to you, girl?" Caster probed, from over her shoulder. Rin's efforts to hide its existence had clearly been in vain.
"N-No! I-It was… sex! Yes! Tantric rituals! With Shirou! It was terrible! Terrible sex!" She desperately grasped at straws to try and prevent Luvia from learning any more than she should.
"No. I recall you blushing over that bit about eight pages prior. It must have been difficult and embarrassing to guide an inexperienced boy like that. Or were you referring to the bit where Saber was involved? That was even further back," the Princess noted.
"Oh? Is that so? I'm impressed Tohsaka. Who knew you were that skilled?" Luvia smirked.
"You go any farther than that and I will have Archer dredge up rumors and events about you from the future," the brunette growled.
"Please. As if I would do anything crass enough to warrant rumors about me." The accused flipped her hair petulantly.
"Fem's Casa. Forklift Lady. The Mary Poppins event at Big Ben. Your disturbing obsession with getting me to be your personal butler. The time you and Rin destroyed the office of…" EMIYA absently counted off the various events about Luvia that stood out in his head. From the way he looked, it was clear he was just running on autopilot rather than doing it on purpose.
"Ok! Ok! You made your point! Stop!" Luvia retracted her claim frantically before calming down and getting back on topic. "Tohsaka, I'm a bit disappointed that you're trying to hide something this late into the game. Are you trying to get us killed?"
Rin looked away as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar before standing her ground again. "I'm not trying to keep it a secret per say. I just don't want too much of it to get out. Some of what's in here covers some closely kept details and research of my family. I don't mind you learning of the end products, which we'll more than likely be using in the end, but anything deeper than that I'm taking to the grave."
"Oh? So the Tohsaka weren't simply mere copycats and thieves? Color me impressed." Luvia arced an eyebrow. "So what end products are we talking about then?"
She glared at the blonde with a cold, unreadable expression. "A mystic code of Zelretch's. The Jeweled Sword itself."
The girl's confident expression shattered into one of disbelief. "Th-The Jeweled Sword? The one he used to battle Crimson Moon himself? THAT mystic code?! What in the name of the Types did you do to get your hands on that thing?!"
"It's been a family project since my Ancestor worked with Kaleidoscope to make the Grail Ritual in the first place. A prank task done on a whim knowing the Vampire." Rin shook her head. "And that's all I'm going to tell you about it. How we are going to make one and by what means are going to remain quiet. And so help me, if I even hear a rumor that you stole my research or used Caster to take my family's achievements for yourself, Archer or not, Shirou or not, war or not, I WILL find a way to wipe out your family if it's the last thing I do. Do I make myself clear, Edelfelt?"
Luvia didn't say anything for several moments before letting out a rude chuckle and crossing her arms. "What do you take me for, Tohsaka? I am a magus, like you, but the Second Magic isn't something to be played with. Caster and I will make due with what we will see, or not in your case, once the code is finished."
"Wait." Sakura interrupted. "Jeweled Sword… doesn't that mean that sem-I mean Archer can just make a copy now?"
"Mmm?" He clearly wasn't paying attention to them anymore, and only responded to his name out of habit.
"Jeweled Sword of Zelretch. Can you make one now?" Rin pressed, keeping her temper in check.
"That thing?" His eyes narrowed at the thought of the weapon. "Yes and no. I'd need Illya's help to make any copy."
"You need help to make a sword?" Caster tilted her head in confusion.
"The Second Magic is a complete mess of thaumaturgy that I can and should never make sense of." Archer spoke of the subject as if it was of little importance, almost akin to an afterthought. "Each one made can be considered a representative of the world it's in, meaning that each one made is unique and can't technically be copied. No two worlds are truly identical, so the same theory applies to the blades themselves. The version used in one world or time can't be used in another because of that logic. Illya's memories are part of the equation for the sword that I can't process myself, but that's not all. She's also… to put it into layman's terms, an identification code for the world we are in for the sword. She's a homunculus, a copy of the one that became the Greater Grail in the first place, and the sword was used in its making. Her history is for lack of a better term tied to it."
"I think I understand what you're saying." Sakura looked away in thought. "The "Illyasviel Von Einzbern" of "here and now" is different than the one five seconds in the future or the past. Thus, it's that Illya that has the information you need in order to make a copy of the sword that exists "here and now". Any other version of the sword in your Reality Marble stems from a time a place that is neither "Here" nor "Now", so it wouldn't work if you tried to replicate it normally. Is that right?"
"More or less." Archer nodded, giving Sakura a peculiar look that no one could identify. The closest anyone could guess would be a mix between curiosity, impressment, and something else.
"So, I'm guessing that means that you couldn't use just anyone's memories to copy it then." Luvia pressed.
"No. With most other weapons that would be so, but Zelretch is a special case. Even with Illyasviel filling in the gaps, making it is difficult, even for me. It is magic that probes and exists in all worlds simultaneously, so a single world, or a single Reality Marble, cannot accurately replicate it completely."
"I suppose that it should be expected from one of the few remaining true magics in this era," Caster conceded. While her magic on the whole may be more intricate with the world and thus more effective in several categories, the Kaleidoscope was one branch of study that by its nature was beyond the normal scope of comprehension and potential.
"Yes. It's amazing. That's why the only people that are going to touch the shiny new sword until otherwise stated, let alone look at it in detail, are me, Illya, and either Shirou or Archer depending on who makes it in the end," Rin muttered as she opened the book again. Her tone was final, as if expecting no one to argue against her to be stupid enough to say otherwise.
Had the situation been dire enough, Luvia might have attempted to argue that it would boost their combat potential if she had a copy as well, but she thought better of it. Their group's stability was rocky enough as it was, and to be honest, she didn't want to have to be put in a position to fight against a Servant in the first place.
"Girl. Can you by chance tell us of what the boy has planned for my other?" Caster turned to Sakura. "As frustrating as he is, he must have told you of something by this point. He does not seem the type to completely focus all of his activities on one thing at a time."
Sakura pretended to ignore the fact that everyone was now paying attention to her, though some appeared to be otherwise distracted. "He hasn't said a lot. By the time I realized just how much he knew and had prepared, we had already attacked the mountain and lost Rider. Shirou was particularly concerned about the wrong people finding out what he was doing and how much he knew in the first place. Considering Caster has Rider now, it was probably best that he did."
"… I have to agree with what she said." Rin turned a page in the book. "Even if only a fraction of what is in here was true, it had still enabled Shirou to more or less guide everyone's movements for a good portion of the War. He's capable, but he's nowhere near as versatile and powerful as the Witch. Had she known about all of this early on, I doubt we would all be here now."
They were complete polar opposites on that spectrum. With this information, Shirou had managed to, although not perfectly, kept everyone he cared about alive. Caster, on the other hand, would have used it to ensure total victory, slaughtering and enslaving Master and Servant alike.
There had been only one force that would have given both of them pause in this War, regardless of how well they performed and prepared… and he had been killed last night.
"Then what do you know?" Luvia pressed the topic. "I understand that Gilgamesh was your main issue to deal with once Shirou finally began to talk, but you must have learned something else."
Sakura shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Assassin."
"What about him?" Caster pressed, ignoring the fact that Archer had momentarily stilled at the mention of his father.
"He's on our side." She went on, clearly trying to find the right way to word what she was trying to say.
Luvia rolled her eyes. "Intentions aside, that isn't saying much. Everyone under Caster's control is on 'our side', or, at the very least they are against Caster. That doesn't change the fact that they can't act against her wishes."
Sakura shook her head. "No, they just can't act against the instructions and commands she's given. So long as it falls under a grey zone and she doesn't notice, they can still work in our favor."
"That makes sense. He managed to stall for time and give us information when he and Rider attacked yesterday," Rin muttered in thought, recalling the tense standoff.
Archer managed to figure out what Sakura was alluding to first. "You can get in contact with him without Caster knowing."
"Is that true?" The Princess stiffened in alarm, giving the girl her full attention.
o. o. o.
She winced as Assassin roughly grabbed her arm and held it up against her back. The angle was painful. Not as much as being bloated with all the prana she had just absorbed from Caster's attack, but it was enough of a shock to bring her out from the daze caused from said bloating.
It was hard to pay attention to anything around her. Her agony was still fresh, and her mind was still reeling from the shock of it all, drunk off of the unwanted stimulation that pervaded her mind, body, and soul.
She had barely noticed when Shirou had appeared, shortly followed by Bazett, and gained Caster's attention. Had she not been so out of it, she would have wondered when and how Caster had gotten so close in the first place.
A hand covered her mouth, the sensation of the sudden action brought her closer to reality.
However, unlike how most people would cover another's mouth with their hands, this time was different. The base of the palm and the fingers were indeed touching her skin on either cheek, but there was space between the palms and the rest of her mouth, as if the assailant was cupping her mouth instead of smothering it.
Her body stilling must have been enough for her captor to get a hint of confidence.
"Don't talk. Blow means yes." The voice behind her was so quiet it was almost as if she was listening to a voice in her head, but the tone firm enough that it had her full attention. "Do you understand?"
Her addled mind forced itself to recover, seeing the disheveled state that Shirou was in as he and Caster spoke. She blew out her mouth, just enough for the hand in front of it to detect the difference.
"You came through the back entrance."
That much was obvious.
She blew.
"You were in contact with the others during this time."
Given the timing of her infiltration, also fairly easy to determine.
Another gust of air brushed against his hand.
"You have a phone or a walkie talkie on you."
Her body stiffened. She didn't know how Assassin had managed to come to that conclusion so quickly, but her body language betrayed her as the hand holding her arm behind her back darted to her waist and felt her thighs before pilfering the device before she had realized that he had let her hand go.
"She doesn't trust me. Be careful." His words caught her by surprise. It was only her awareness of the dire situation that kept her from saying anything in response.
Not that she had much time to do that. A few moments later, she had realized that Shirou was more enraged than she had ever seen, primarily at the woman next to her.
A few more after that, dozens of red spears and cursed swords flew in her direction…
o. o. o.
Sakura looked around nervously. "Shirou saw the whole thing from where he was standing, but Caster didn't. From his warning, Shirou thinks that we have at best one message to send to Assassin before Caster notices. He was thinking about what to do with it, but he couldn't plan that extensively with Gilgamesh coming soon after that. We didn't know what resources… and who, would be left after the fight, and in what condition."
"One message… that's not much." Luvia grimaced.
"The Witch has probably set up a load of restraints on him and Rider to prevent them from acting out. Lancer too if she decided to take him from Bazett now that she has more Command Seals. We'd have to be extra careful about what the message would be in the first place and not ask him something impossible," Rin noted.
"It could also be a trap," Archer added.
He ignored the looks he got. They knew he was right, they just didn't want to admit it.
The Princess shook her head and got back on topic. "So in the end we can't ask Assassin for information about what my other is doing or how things are set up. Did the boy have any idea of what he wanted to do with it?"
"He looked like he had something in mind, but I think Shirou was still trying to figure out what plans could work in the end and which one had the highest possibility for success," Sakura relented. "Saber might know more about it. I've seen them bounce ideas off of one another faster than I could keep up more than once. It almost looked like they were enjoying themselves doing so. They get along really well."
"So essentially we're stuck waiting for him to wake up again before we get a concrete plan in the works." Rin sighed.
"You're giving up that easily?" Luvia looked at Rin incredulously.
"I'm all for brainstorming, but you tell me the odds of Shirou's plan being more likely to succeed in the end than anything we can come up with," she shot back, although it was clear that she herself didn't like what she was saying. "He's been doing this for the entirety of the war. Even if we somehow memorize everything in this book it wouldn't make up for the fact that he's been analyzing and tracing anything and everything that's happened with a comb since we started. We're better off being proactive and verifying as much as we can while stifling any plan and mystery that Caster might set up in the meantime. Spying on her setup and healing ourselves."
"… I agree with Luvia," Archer spoke up, getting surprised looks from everyone in the room. "If he's still Shirou Emiya, then he's bound to forget or overlook something obvious at some point, regardless of how adept and capable he is. Our luck is like that. If anything, it will help us make sure our bases are covered."
"You certainly have confidence in yourself," the Princess noted dryly.
"It comes with experience." He brushed her off and closed his eyes again, ignoring his surroundings.
"Why not do both?" Sakura interrupted before an argument broke out. "It doesn't look like we are going to fight soon. Caster attacked you before, but she won't with Berserker and Saber here. She knows that she's on the defensive this time. There's enough of us to multitask."
"The idea of splitting our forces so soon doesn't appeal to me, but she does have a point. Together we are a large enough force to multitask with some efficiency," Caster admitted.
"We'd have to be careful about it though. The Witch has a surplus of Command Seals," Luvia warned. "She can easily relocate her forces wherever she wants with little worry and catch us off guard."
"Two Servants," Rin interjected. "She can't afford to allocate and weaken more than two Servants at once. Anymore and she wouldn't be able to hold off a full force counterattack."
"So when we go out, we'd have to pair up," Caster concluded before sending a wary glance at Archer.
He didn't miss the distrusting look, but merely shrugged and shook his head. "Really. To think I'm lower ranked on the popularity contests than Berserker. That's just depressing."
"At least we know what Berserker will do in the end," Medea shot back.
"And what do you suspect I'll do? Ruin a plan that will keep my Master alive? I'm selfish Caster, not an irresponsible runaway."
Eyes narrowed. "I can picture a few scenarios. You've already admitted and shown to have a history of poor decision making." Altered history or not, it appeared that Medea of Colchis had always possessed a viciously sharp tongue.
"Caster!" Luvia paled. She may not have been of Archer, but her Servant's insinuation went way past the line.
"Caster. Archer. That's enough," Rin snapped. "I know Archer has been a pain and nearly killed all of us at one point or another, but this isn't the time for pointless and petty bickering."
"… No. I think it would be best to clear the air now while we still have the chance before it possibly becomes a problem. Quite frankly I want to get it over with since this pattern is getting annoying." To everyone's surprise, Archer didn't give up the fight and stepped away from the wall, his cold steel eyes focused on Caster.
"What on earth are you insinuating? You make it sound like I'm the liability of all things," the accused snapped back.
"You are." He got to the point, causing many people to fumble over their words. "Most of the people on our side are, to quote Gilgamesh, women and children. Lacking in either power or experience. Despite being a Servant though, it can be argued that you have the least experience and fortitude of all of us being neither a warrior nor a hardened Magus."
"I what?!" She took a step back as if she was slapped in the face, bewildered by his crass comments.
"Archer. You better make sense before Caster decides to do something that I'll condone." Rin wasn't absorbed in her book now.
"Androphobia." Archer didn't move from his spot, but the unexpected blow was real enough to shock everyone in the room. "Not a crippling or severe case, but it's clear that Caster suffers from it. It's not surprising considering what you went through, but after what my counterpart and I have done in the war, it wouldn't be surprising to assume that you've subconsciously relapsed or drawn parallels between us and Jason."
Luvia spoke up first. "A fear of men? That can't be right. Caster's had no problem dealing with Sebastian…" She flinched momentarily as she recalled her now dead butler, "Or your other self before we realized what he did."
"And how much did she talk to either one of them? Or the way she spoke? How much distance did she maintain from them when in their presence whenever they were around?" Archer countered. "Mild cases can easily be hidden so long as contact and conversation are kept to a minimum. So long as she was distracted or distanced herself in some way, it could easily be manageable."
"You…" The Princess tried to raise her voice and argue against him, but instead took a step back and raised her arms in front of her chest, a defensive reflex that she unconsciously made.
"Caster?" Luvia looked at her Servant in genuine surprise. She had been experiencing her Servant's past for a few days now during the dream cycles, but she didn't recall any hint of this in them.
"It's not severe, but it's obvious if you put everything together. Your Noble Phantasms clearly indicate you never left your Aunt's island when you cleansed yourself. There were likely other men, sailors, that had the misfortune of visiting afterwards, but they were all turned into animals, more than a few I assume were by your hand after a time. Isolated for decades knowing only magic and the cursed former men you tend to. I must commend Circe for being able to keep you sane, refined, and well-spoken despite the isolation for so long."
Rin glared annoyed at her Servant. "Archer. Unless you have a point I suggest you apologize now. Nothing productive is going to happen from needlessly worming into the trauma of our allies. We aren't like you."
"My point is that the last time I went to battle with someone constantly looking at me like that behind my back, I wound up with a noose around my neck. I'd prefer it if everyone here didn't potentially have that risk as well for this debacle."
"Y-You, YOU of all people, think that Caster is likely to betray us?" Luvia broke the deadly silence in sheer astonishment.
"No. It's not in her to betray us. She's too honest for that. Not intentionally at least." Archer shook his head. "However, from what I've seen, she's likely to hesitate, turn a blind eye, or disregard certain individuals in this building if in a pressed situation and jeopardize everything."
"You mean, yourself and Shirou?" Sakura frowned.
"How dare you question my honor? And to think I had developed the slightest grain of respect and pity for you." Medea of Colchis was clearly not amused by his accusation or his insinuations if the growing levels of prana in the house are any indication.
"I have no use for either of those. It's no great loss." He brushed off her rage filled words before giving her his full attention. "You're reaching your limit, Caster. Unlike your counterpart, you aren't suited for this sort of environment. Lies and backstabbing is a constant in the Grail Wars, the same sorts that destroyed your self-confidence enough to live in exile for the rest of your life. Yet here you are, betrayed and led on yet again and a dozen times more in the span of two weeks, and just a few days from the biggest fight yet.
"You and I are the ranged and support fighters of our group. Odds are high that we are going to be working together not only fighting, but in protecting our Masters as well. If it was just my life at risk, I'd simply brush it off since I have nothing of particular value at stake, win or lose. But this is the final fight for everyone. My master as well as yours would easily die if one of us acts out now. Neither of us can afford to be egotistical. I need confirmation that I can trust my back to you."
"You should reflect on your past actions before you speak about these things, Archer." Luvia huffed. "Even if you have a valid point."
Sakura looked around quietly. Clearly there was something that she had not been informed of just yet that was causing conflict between them.
Rin looked at Luvia's Servant warily. True, they had a very good reason for distrusting Archer, but now that she thought about it, Caster was the only one that held a certain level of animosity for him. She was civil, yes, but she never let her guard down once near him, even when it was obvious that they needed to rely on one another. "Well?"
"Well what?" The Princess glared at her before returning her attention to Archer. "What do you expect me to say? That I'll simply trust you with no arguments? Even if it was true you wouldn't be satisfied by mere words. You may not be as foolish as Jason but you're just as insufferable and self-justified. My life was ruined by fools like you, and even in the afterlife I am dealing with your ilk."
"Then why are you fighting at all?" he cut her off. "If you wished to be left alone so much, then why did you answer the grail in the first place?"
"Because I wanted to apologize!" she snapped. "I killed my brother who only wanted to bring me back home! I betrayed my father! Allowed the dragon under my care to fail his duty! Abandoned my people! All because I fell in a false love! That was my wish! To go back and apologize for everything that I've done!"
Archer remained quiet for several moments before turning around. "How disappointing. It's like I thought. People like us just aren't the type to get along."
"What's that supposed to mean, Shi-Archer?" Sakura spoke up, slightly unnerved. This cold attitude wasn't like Shirou at all.
"She's spoiled," he answered in a cold tone before anyone else could reply. "Using an unlimited and unrestricted wish to apologize for something that was not her fault and out of her control? After she had spent her life in self-exile and had already cleansed herself of the sins she had committed? She could have returned and apologized anytime she wished when she was alive, but chose to do so now after everyone else was dead. She's a Heroic Spirit in name, but did nothing herself to deserve it. This event is probably the first real hardship she's had to endure since she left Jason. Her reason for being summoned into this War is more pointless than mine."
"Archer! That was uncalled for!" Luvia snapped. "We are trying to get along! Not make things worse!"
Caster's hands clenched tightly, enough that blood started weeping from them. She bit her lip fierce enough to also draw crimson fluid. The pain just barely managed to stay her tongue from speaking words that would damn them all as her bounded field reacted to her anger, flooding the building with raw power. "I have not been spoken to in such a way in my life. Your words are as vicious as you are, Archer. Before I make my final judgement, do you have anything else to say?"
EMIYA looked at her coldly. "Do you really think that I am the only one that noticed all this?"
"… You think that the Witch would bring this up." Rin managed to connect the dots first, gaining her a wide variety of looks.
"As vicious and distasteful as she is, that woman clearly has more spine and nerve than this one here." He didn't look away from Caster, who was starting to lose ground against his cold glare. "Who is this foolish girl? How dare she claim my name? This coward is nothing like me. She's probably thought this and more while mentally taking you apart and figuring out how you tick. Even if you didn't say anything, the mental connection you share due to you both being Medea of Colchis means that she probably deduced more than I have. It's a miracle she didn't stab you in the back first in self-satisfaction before leaving you for the temple, although it might simply be because she didn't see you as a threat in the first place. She'd tear you apart without even having to use a single spell."
"You are no better, Archer!" she snapped, albeit with a notable hint of fear in her voice. "You use your knowledge for your own gains. Betraying your master and former friends alike. You speak of trust and sacrifice, yet your hands are bloodier than everyone's!"
"You're right. My hands are red. But at least they aren't shaking."