The Servant closed her eyes for several moments before shaking her head. "I managed to glean a few hints from his mind from our connection, but if what I'm guessing is right, then I believe it may be best to keep quiet about it, lest we ruin the odds of it working."
"Ugh. So it's one of those plans." Luvia grimaced, knowing exactly what the Servant was getting at. It was much like the fact that Shirou was trying to stop the War from the beginning. The more people knew of it, the more likely the people against him would find out about it.
"This is getting more and more complex by the second. Isn't there some sort of rule that the more steps a plan has, the more likely it is to fail?" Illya glared at no one in particular. Military and ambush strategizing wasn't her strong point.
"We do not have much choice if we wish everything to end in our favor," Medea relented, admitting that the situation was looking bleaker for them by the second.
"Well, we could always have Saber nuke the mountain with Excalibur before Caster sets off the prana she's stored there, but I doubt that would be much better." Rin shook her head while pretending to ignore the dirty looks that Luvia, Saber, and Sakura shot at her.
"Caster, couldn't you do something about her bounded fields? Like take them over or something along those lines?" Sakura knew that it wasn't impossible to usurp control over other mysteries if you knew how they worked, but those from the Age of the Gods could work in a completely different way for all she knew.
"Not without a great deal of time and preparation. Things we have in little supply, even if I wasn't apparently going to be preoccupied with fighting Assassin and keeping you all alive." Her skills in bounded fields vastly outstripped the Witch's, but it didn't change the fact that her opponent had had almost a week to prepare and set herself up.
Rin was about to say something else when Shirou rushed up the stairs again. "I need to get to my house. Tonight."
"You didn't find what you were looking for?" Illya asked.
"Not everything. And there's something else I wanted to do while I was there anyways." He admitted. "Luvia, I'm going to need to borrow Caster for the trip. Saber's coming too."
"Why me?" The Princess frowned, not liking spending any more time with Shirou Emiya, either Shirou Emiya, than she had to.
"I haven't been home for days. Your other has likely put familiars and traps all over it since then. I need you to flush out the entire place and secure it so she won't see what I'm doing." He admitted. He liked his home and was confident in its defenses, but not against a Caster class Servant. He'd be insane to assume otherwise.
"I'm coming too." Rin's tone left no room for argument. "You cause trouble wherever you go. I'm not letting you out of my sight until this mess is settled. I'm tired of playing catch up."
"I should as well. Caster is my Servant after all. There's no telling what he will do with her without supervision." Luvia stepped in with just as much authority.
Illya and Sakura were clearly about to claim the same as well when Shirou rose his hands up in alarm. "Wait! Wait! Don't overdo it! We still need enough people here to protect the house while I'm gone. I'm fine with one or two more people coming but that's it!"
"Someone's popular." Merem chuckled, clearly amused.
"You. Not helping," the younger vampire snapped, causing his elder's grin to widen more.
"I'm still going." Rin wasn't budging. "Sakura can manage the house while we're gone. Archer can watch the house, but he can't protect it alone."
Illya pouted at the unspoken ultimatum. With Saber and Caster gone, the only Servant they had left was Berserker, and there was no way that he would leave her side for long. "I guess I'll have to stay too."
Sakura too was rather put out by Rin's order, but the sharp look her sister gave her prevented any argument. There may have been some sort of resolution between Rin and Shirou recently, but that certainly didn't mean that everything was water under the bridge. There was no doubt more things that her older sister wanted to talk to him about.
That only left Luvia, who wasn't backing down either. The two girls glared at one another for what seemed like a good minute before Shirou decided to risk his life and stepped in. "If it's just you two as well, you can come."
"Good." Both girls leaned forward with eyes that dared him to go against the decision in any way.
"I'm starting to see why you're such a pushover," Merem mused out loud.
"Shut up, Merem!" More than just Shirou shouted at him.
"Just saying." The vampire was not intimidated in the slightest.
"Is he normally this annoying?" Illya looked at her brother.
"Only when he's enjoying something way too much." Shirou shook his head, turning to the front door. "Come on. We don't have much time to work with as it is."
Saber was the first to follow him outside. Luvia was next after glaring at Merem, with Caster in tow. Rin was last.
Before she exited the building she turned around and seemed to inspect every person there. "Sakura. You're in charge. Don't let anyone anywhere or touch anything they shouldn't. As for you…" She glared pointedly at Merem. "Just don't touch my stuff in general."
The accused blinked several times in confusion before looking down at the chair he was sitting on and inhaled to make some sort of statement.
"You know what I mean." Her eyes narrowed dangerously, as if daring him to proceed with his train of thought. "And no rats!"
He exhaled slowly with a disappointed expression on his face, giving up on what he was going to say.
Illya looked at everyone in the room expectantly as she left. "… So how long do you think it's going to take for her to realize that she just treated a Dead Apostle Ancestor like a five year old?"
o. o. o.
"I just treated a Dead Apostle Ancestor like a five year old. I'm so dead."
"Don't worry. Somehow I doubt it's been the first time that's happened." Shirou sighed as he rested back on the passenger seat of the Einzbern Limo. Saber was at the wheel with Rin and Luvia in the back seat. Caster had opted to be spiritual for the trip.
As of that moment though, Rin was berating her own stupidity and having a small panic attack.
"I don't want to hear that from you. This is your fault. Idiot. Jinx. Liar. Moron. Fool. Demon."
"Hey, hey. I've done a bunch of stupid things so far for work or other reasons, but I haven't done anything demon related… so long as you're not counting Merem's limbs. Tone it back a bit." Shirou grumbled.
"Shut up. It's your fault I'm going to have to plan my funeral as soon as we get back. I'm too young and full of life to be a vampire." Rin seemingly ignored him and curled up into a ball.
Shirou and Saber shared a brief glance at one another before deciding not to go down the obvious route. "Rin, Merem drinks blood, but most of the time he just uses the local wildlife to keep himself sustained. I don't think he's fed on humans directly since he started working for the Church. I wouldn't be surprised if it was part of the agreement he has to work with them. Any human blood he does get these days are from donations."
"Really?" Rin's head popped up hopefully.
"Obviously." Luvia flipped her hair. Personally she had hoped that no one would remember that bit of information for a few more minutes, if only to enjoy Rin's spectacular performance for a while longer. "You're affiliated with the Church. How could you not take that into consideration?"
"I'm sorry. I was a bit too busy dwelling on the fact that I potentially pissed off an Ancestor!" And like that, Rin was back to anger.
"You didn't piss him off." Shirou sighed. "We'd probably be fighting for our lives if you somehow did piss him off."
"He's that powerful?" Saber inquired.
"Outside of the real monsters like Primate Murder, Crimson Moon, and ORT, he's easily one of the top Ancestors in terms of raw firepower. There are plenty of others that are tougher to kill, but there's a reason why he's still alive despite working for the Church. Each limb of his is as strong as an Ancestor itself."
"Minus the rat. That thing wasn't scary at all." Rin grumbled.
"Rin?" Shirou evenly spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"The black plague."
The car was silent for several ominous seconds.
"You're joking." All warmth and life had left Luvia's body.
"Nope." He didn't bother to humor her.
"I stand corrected." Rin's azure eyes had dilated into tiny dots, much like Luvia's.
"Why is he only ranked Twentieth again?" The blonde shivered unconsciously. The Ancestors were numbered by their threat level to humanity. Seeing as Solomon had apparently wiped out roughly half of Europe's population, one would think that he'd be a bit higher on the list.
"Because he actually likes Humans as a whole and doesn't want to kill us all, and because he only transported the disease with rats. He can't make them from scratch or make new strains." He shook his head. "He'd be a pain in terms of biological warfare, but with the technology and regulations humanity has these days he wouldn't get the same results as he did seven hundred years ago."
"Lucky us." Luvia muttered under her breath, leaning back into her seat. "Shirou… speaking of Vampires, what are you going to do about your condition. You can't hide it forever."
She had a point. Even though Barthomelloi had yet to notice it before, there was little doubt that his body had changed since the beginning of the war. Even if he wasn't immediately pegged as an Apostle, it was only a matter of time until someone noticed something was off with his body.
"Mmm. Probably fake my death. Then hide for a while until everything blows over and my skin and hair finish changing colors. Five years tops. Maybe go to Hokkaido. Not much happens up there." Shirou answered her without hesitating.
"Wh-what? Fake your death?" Rin nearly choked at his admission.
"I wouldn't be the first person to do it. Actually it's pretty easy if you know the right people and steps to take." He shrugged. "The Association has little influence in Asia. I've probed the system myself a few times to see where the flaws in their searching methods are, and they're pretty glaring. I can think of a dozen or so places that I can hide for the rest of my life with Illya without getting caught. It's not like I'm obsessed with researching thaumaturgy, and I don't have to feed for blood."
"You're serious." Saber gave him an unreadable look.
"I have a Reality Marble and I work directly under Barthomelloi. I was going to have to vanish sooner or later whether I wanted to or not. She already knew I was an incarnation to begin with, and finding about Avalon didn't help. Personally I'd rather do it in a way that doesn't end up with me being vivisected," h reasoned as if he was talking about the weather. "I have more than enough money and resources in locations that can't be traced, and a few of the designates I've "killed" over the past few years owe me a few more favors on top of that."
"You actually got one past the Association? How did you do that?" Luvia probed.
"I turned in the designates' research, and a body that may or may not have been the product of a certain Vampire's miracle related abilities. Normally that's enough for the Association bookies to close the case. The guys in England care more about the research than the bodies. So long as what they're wanted for isn't ingrained into their flesh, it's pretty easy to get people to overlook certain minor facts." He yawned. "Most designates don't really deserve to be out and about without supervision, but there are a few that don't deserve the shit they go through."
"You've been planning this from the start. You've been playing everyone." Rin glared at the back of his head.
"I've been playing the Association the moment they decided to play me. You honestly think I expected the Queen to rope me into this shit, or for Louvre to go after me? Or that I'd actually become some Not-Really-Apostle?" Shirou shook his head. "Rin, I just wanted to deal with this mess of a War and keep everyone safe. All this shit that's constantly being thrown around at us from halfway across the planet is everyone else playing politics and being greedy bastards. I'm just trying to ride the wave whenever I can."
"And Solomon?" Luvia had a point. For all intents and purposes, Merem was considered a friend, but was an outside force.
He didn't immediately reply at first, which was a tell that Shirou was clearly trying to word his answer carefully. Which meant that whatever it was wasn't going to make people happy. "He wants my help with something. I won't lie, if it ends poorly, it will put me in a terrible position that will force me away from everyone, but it can also end up being nothing in the end with no one being the wiser."
"So we're all going to have to fight for our lives, after fighting for our lives, because a Vampire is making you do something," Rin summarized dryly.
"There's not going to be any fighting. And you're not having any part of it." His voice grew hard.
"And how long were you going to wait before springing this on us? Was this also part of your long term plans?" Luvia accused.
"Luvia, I learned of this shit as I was passing out from blood loss after fighting Gilgamesh last night. As far as excuses go, I'm pretty sure this one gives me some leeway." Shirou didn't falter. "As far as I'm concerned. There's no fighting. Saber and I go in. We make sure everything goes smoothly as a neutral party. We ignore any and all insults that get thrown our way as if I was in the Clocktower. And then we leave… Please park the car here, Saber. We're walking the rest of the way."
The girls blinked as they looked outside. They were a block or two away from his house at the most.
"Why here?" Saber frowned as she parked the vehicle on the side of the road.
"Traps. Spells. Bounded fields. Familiars. You don't need to get inside a person's home to use it against them." Shirou opened the door and looked around. "Medea, do you sense anything?"
Caster hesitated before materializing on the other side of the vehicle. "No. Nothing here at least."
"Keep an eye out as we get closer. Cloak the car so no one notices it until we get back." He closed the door and began to walk, not at all waiting for the others.
"O-Oi! Shirou! Get back here!" Rin scrambled out of the car and rushed to catch up, as did everyone else.
"Shirou. It's not wise to go out on your own without protection," Saber chided as she almost instantly was at his side and keeping pace.
"We don't have much time." His attention was on his surroundings, his eyes never staying still for more than a few moments. "You know as well as I do that what we do now is just as important as the fighting itself."
"That doesn't mean that you have to rush." The King's eyes narrowed as she glanced at his hands in his pockets, almost hiding their minute trembling. "You are in no shape to do so anyways."
He really should not have fought Archer. His body and circuits weren't in any condition for combat, for how brief it may have been. Not only that, but while his trick to rapid fire his bow was useful, it also was too much for his fingers when he accelerated himself. Had it not been for Avalon and self-reinforcement, he would have shredded off the flesh of his fingers at a bare minimum. Even now he was having some trouble with his nerves. It would take some time to get proper feeling in them again.
Though he had been resting far more than normal and it was night. His body felt like lead. His limbs were dead weight, his joints were stiff as if rust was in them, and his Circuits felt like throbbing first degree burns. His mind was doing somewhat better, but the stress of the situation wasn't doing it any favors. Had it been any other situation, he really would have just stayed in bed for the night.
"What shape I'm in doesn't matter when it comes to figuring out how to deal with Lancer so long as I'm still able to work properly." He sighed. His words may have argued against her, but his body language said the opposite as he slowed down slightly for the others to catch up. "Keep an eye out for any attacks. You've seen more broken ceasefires than any of us."
"Mmm." Saber didn't want to admit that it was true, but followed through with his advice regardless. Her body stiffened just slightly to show that she was ready to intercept any attack that could come.
"If I didn't know you better I'd think that you were doing this on purpose." Rin muttered as she, Luvia and Caster caught up.
"I agree. That was quite rude," Luvia agreed. "Just because we lack time does not mean that proper decorum needs to be abandoned. I expected this sort of behavior from Tohsaka."
They had approached the corner to his property, and Shirou stopped, holding his arm out for everyone to halt as well. "I'll apologize later. Medea. Please go ahead of us and look for anything out of place. Deal with them if you can. We'll follow as backup in case you are attacked."
"How comforting, but I have a better idea." The Princess' tone was anything but grateful as she stepped forward and began to look around herself, muttering in her native tongue. After a few seconds, a small flock of birds no larger than swallows materialized from just as many ritual circles and scattered into the air.
"That's useful." Rin nodded in approval as the flock circled around Shirou's home and began darting to specific locations. "I doubt they're as powerful as your bulls, but how strong are they?"
"Each one easily has enough potential to kill a gathering of humans in a single charge if I wished, though I would prefer otherwise. They do not deserve to be stained with the taint of senseless murder," the Servant admitted, shooting Shirou a look that clearly told him to not go down that route. She cared for her oxen and dragon greatly, but the birds were among the few summons she had that were by nature innocent and peaceful. She'd rather keep them that way.
"We don't have any human targets. At best they can be used as recon or as a distraction." Shirou shrugged without turning away from the sight. He had witnessed something similar before once when Merem talked to a flock of pigeons in New York, but it still was something to behold.
The Greek shot him an unreadable look before getting back to her task. It took less than a minute for her summons to apparently complete their job. "All the familiars around your property have been dealt with. I also detected a few bounded fields near the entrance, but I can manage those soon enough."
"Mmm." Shirou nodded before walking across the street, his eyes darting everywhere again.
"Shirou, I thought Caster told you that she found everything." Luvia chided.
"She found everything that her counterpart set up. Thaumaturgic traps. I doubt she's as experienced with what Assassin could set up." He corrected her before stopping and looked at a tree that was across the street, eyes narrowed.
Before anyone could ask what he saw, a small dagger materialized in his hand, which he almost reflexively threw with expert accuracy at a tree branch. The sound of metal on something not organic was heard.
"What was that?" Rin blinked.
"Camera." He shrugged, as if the one word explained everything.
"How did you even see it in this darkness?" Caster blinked in mixed annoyance, confusion, and some impressment.
He looked back at them, silver orbs reflecting what little light there was, and then blinked. "Secret. Remember?"
He didn't want them to talk about his Pure Eyes. Caster didn't know of them just yet, or at least what they were capable of doing, and there was no telling who or what might still be spying on them and with what means.
"You're enjoying this," Rin accused darkly.
"Yes. I'm enjoying the fact that I am essentially debugging and untrapping my home," he dryly retorted.
"Shirou your home was rigged before the War even started. I helped you set up some of your bounded fields," Rin accused.
"Yeah, but those were my traps. Not Caster's," Shirou pointed out as if it was obvious. He wisely didn't mention the bombs he had set up in the building in case he was ever attacked and needed a last ditch trick to fall back on.
"At the very least, do try to not use any more of your magic for tonight. We need you in as good condition as possible when we do fight." Luvia sighed and shook her head, before pointing a finger at another tree a bit further away and shooting off a Fin curse.
"Oh?" Shirou rose a curious eyebrow. He was going to take that camera out next.
"You aren't the only one with experience with these things you know." The blonde shrugged as if her actions weren't a big deal. "I know what to look for."
"And you're not supposed to be using any spells Mr. 'I spend more time unconscious than awake'," Rin accused.
Shirou wanted to point out that he could manifest a dagger for less prana than Rin needed for her Fin shots, but he thought better of it and held his tongue. There was no point arguing with her. Instead he simply continued to walk forward and scanned his surroundings before pointing at another tree near his front door. "Luvia."
"Got it." A black orb that was near invisible in the night shattered another piece of technology.
"Don't think our earlier conversation is forgotten Shirou. Not in the slightest." Rin crossed her arms and glanced at the destroyed plastic and wires.
"Work takes priority. Don't relax." Shirou chided her as he ignored his front door and continued around the perimeter of his property. "This is going to take a while."
It took over an hour.
Shirou not only meticulously went over the area around his home, but the complex itself and the bounded fields that protected it. He had Caster go over any and every defensive mechanism he had already set up to check and see that his home's defenses wouldn't be used to kill them all.
He had been right.
Three of his detection fields had been linked to several nasty curses.
The walkway from the main entrance hid four claymore mines.
The doorways to half the bedrooms led to alternate dimensions.
The showerhead in his bathroom was hiding a vicious water familiar that melted flesh.
More mines were hidden in the back yard, and one under the cushion of the couch in the living room.
They had to all but get rid of the entirety of the defenses to his workshop.
But by far the worst of the traps was…
"They will die. Slowly. Painfully. I will show no mercy."
"They just had to rig the kitchen. As if they didn't give him enough reasons to be pissed." Rin sighed, ignoring the aura of pure murder hovering around Shirou as he held the brick of C4 in his hand, diffused thanks to a few cut wires.
"Well given who Assassin is, it does make some sense." Luvia laughed nervously, slowly edging away from the teen.
"Molesting a chef's kitchen. Such sacrilege was not tolerated even in my time." Saber seemed to be on the same wavelength as her Master, though that may be simply because if Shirou lost his kitchen he wouldn't be able to cook anywhere as adequately for her for a while.
"Emiya." Caster coughed nervously. "Weren't you the one that claimed that we were short on time?"
The dark aura around him seemed to flare as if it had detected the scent of flesh blood. "You're right. I must prepare."
He then proceeded to make a beeline straight to his workshop and tossed the bomb over his shoulder, where Rin happened to be.
"Wha? Whoa!?" She juggled the clay for a few moments before finally getting a solid hold on it. "Watch where you're throwing these things you idiot! You gave me a heart attack!"
"It's a dud. The thing's useless unless you shoot the thing with a high pressure high temp charge. Even a Fin shot wouldn't do anything since it doesn't have heat." He absently brushed aside her argument as he went outside.
"That's not the point you insensitive dumbass! Normal people don't react well to being tossed explosives without warning, primed or not!" Rin bellowed, stomping after him, followed shortly by Caster, Saber and Luvia.
Shirou just ignored her and went straight to the modified shed that held all of his research. He had hid the bulk of his materials and data away in safes and on the computer, but he still had some books out in the open for quick access.
"So this is your workshop." Luvia looked around curiously. This was the first time she had been allowed even near the building, let alone inside of it. "It appears just as I thought it would."
"Mhm." Shirou turned the page, seemingly ignoring her before looking up and at his bench for something as if just remembering a minor chore. He put the book to the side and went through a few shelves and cabinets before finding what he was looking for… which was an iron rod.
"What's that?" Rin asked curiously. "Looks like a piece of scrap to me."
"Same here." Luvia nodded.
"Medea, a quick experiment. Can you detect anything from this?" He tossed the cylinder to her, which she caught with both hands.
It was a bit heavier than she anticipated, but otherwise it didn't appear to be anything special. She looked at it warily, as if it was another one of Assassin's explosives before uttering a single word of power.
… Nothing.
She frowned. More unpronounceable words were spoken, but the result was the same every time. No reaction. No information. Nothing. "Boy. What is this material?"
"Scrap metal." He looked pleased by her reaction. "Specifically, scrap metal that had the concept of ether removed from it. Meaning it's completely unresponsive to direct applications thaumaturgy, and apparently that includes your spells."
"Unres… wait, wait. You mean to tell me that that new branch of alteration that you and McGinty came up with a few years ago actually allows you to make anything essentially magic proof?" Luvia blinked in disbelief.
"Yeah. Directly at least. Anyone that's gone pretty deep into the course at the Clocktower knows that too. The stuff still gets hot and melts if you try to burn it. It freezes, breaks, cuts, and all that, you just can't do it directly with thaumaturgy." Shirou shrugged as he reached for one of several different sized piles of unfolded cardboard boxes. "It's actually pretty useful for smuggling things past magical defenses. Make a sealed up box of anything that has the concept of ether removed and you could get away with almost anything. Messages. Technology. People. Explosive charges. Dad would have gone nuts over this stuff."
"So that's how you managed to sneak that bomb into the Borgia compound!" The Finnish girl shouted and pointed at him accusingly. "My cousin was tearing out his hair for weeks trying to figure out how the hell you pulled that off! We were trying to find a flaw in that place's defenses for years!"
"The more established a Magi is, the more money they have to waste on their habits. All I did was slip in the box in their latest shipment of weed, cigars, and taxidermy, wait for everything to smell like a Bob Marley concert before setting off some more charges at one of the main entrances." He shook his head as if what he did was obvious. He then made way to his small collection of books and took out a couple to hand out to the girls. "Rin, you look up Curse Theory. Luvia, you and Caster experiment with the boxes to see if they can be used to reliably get objects past the Witch's defenses without detection."
"Bob Marley?" Caster tilted her head in confusion, completely missing the reference. Ultimately, she decided better than to press her curiosity and focused more on trying to fold the cardboard into the shape of a damn… box… blast the infernal overcomplicated trinkets of this era!
"You know, I probably have more curse related material back home. You should have mentioned it then." Rin did little to show her displeasure on his oversight but opened the book regardless. "Anything I should focus on in particular? Nullification. Alteration. Relocation. Curses are pretty flexible things."
"Anything that can prevent or stop Lancer from using the spell to affect all of us at once. Stick to the basic foundations for curses though. Between Lancer and Caster, we won't have any hope of pulling off anything elaborate once it's all set and done." Shirou looked through more pages of text. "The problem is in Ath n'Gabla's simplicity. It's done with just three runes, but its effects are instant and ironclad. It's hard to get around them."
"If that's the case, then adding any additional rules or parts to the curse may weaken it." Medea pointed out as she took a piece of cardboard and looked at it curiously. "They don't have the time to cover every weakness in such a setup."
"But they have the power at hand to make it less simple to deal with even if there is an easy weakness. We don't have the time to try and unravel such a setup either. Our best hope is to somehow counter the core of the trap and let everything else fall around it." Shirou shook his head.
"Wouldn't my Magic Resistance be enough?" Saber asked curiously.
"It would save for two things. The first is that Caster has more than enough power available to possibly overwhelm it." Rin shook her head. "The second is that, if Lancer does have a version that can affect us all at once, it could still affect you in various ways. It can either by using everyone within the vicinity of the curse as an anchor for the established rules, or it could be a simpler bounded field that forces the two individuals to fight according to its rules and prevents anyone else from entering until there is only one. Or it could be something completely different that we don't know about."
"How vexing. Magecraft is a peculiar and annoying art indeed." Saber sighed. "I am glad that I turned down Merlin's offers to teach. I would not have the time to hone it with my duties and my training."
"Pity. With your reserves, you have the potential to be a nearly unstoppable mage." Luvia curiously looked at the cardboard box in her hands as if it was a puzzle, trying to figure out how to fold it properly.
"So I've been told. I am capable of accessing my Magic Core, but I doubt that I am able of any craft of this era. The only active applications I have for it are enhancing my body, Prana Burst, my armor, and my Noble Phantasms." The King of Knights lazily inspected a ten speed bike in the corner of the workshop. "Though that matters little now. I doubt there is any spell that I could have learned in the time we have that could be useful."
"Right. You have a dragon's lineage." Rin looked at Saber curiously for a moment. "Dragons are all but extinct these days, so we don't know much about them unfortunately. Caster? What about you? You have one as your Noble Phantasm."
The Princess shook her head as she finally managed to put her box together, apparently frustrating her Master as she managed to get hers done first. "Saber and the Sleeping Dragon are of different breeds and purposes. At best, I am more capable of healing and tending to Saber better than most of this world, but I cannot teach her much."
Rin couldn't help but allow herself to laugh as her mind wandered. "Medea's Dragon Daycare and training center. Drop them off for a day and we guarantee a new trick when you come to pick them up. You could make a killing off of it if they weren't all but extinct."
"Not surprising that you would instantly go to money of all things." Luvia shook her head as she placed a gem inside the box she had made, closed it, and began to see if she could detect the contents in any way. "Although, considering how you exploited Emiya, that shouldn't be outside the norm."
"Oi. I gave him his fair share and taught him some of my family's craft as a bonus. Isn't that right, Shirou?" Rin's eyes narrowed for a few moments before the lack of Shirou either running away from the conflict or trying to downplay it caught her attention. "Shirou?"
He didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation anymore. Instead he was focusing on a slew of pages in the book he was reading.
"Shirou. Did you find something useful?" Saber reached out and touched his shoulder, snapping him out of his focus.
"Hm? Oh. Saber. Right. You could… this could work. It might… Rin." He didn't seem to pay attention to everyone looking at him, instead rushing to the girl and pointing to a certain point in the texts.
"What is it?" She leaned forward and began to read. "This just looks like a detailed passage that describes Ath n'Gabla and the runes that make it up with their definitions."
"Yeah, but look here. It's a curse, right? But look at the requirements and how it's set up." He pressed.
"Mhm. Yeah. Ok. That's a pretty basic and standard set of prerequisites, but I don't see where you're going…"
"But what if there was something there first?" He pressed. "Something that they couldn't build off of?"
"Something there first? What you mean like a… wait. Wait, yeah I think I see where you're going with this. But in order to pull it off someone would have to…" Rin's eyes slowly shone with comprehension and excitement before suddenly stopping in place and began to glare at him with violence that surpassed what she managed earlier that day. "Shirou… if you think you're going to be the one that…"
"I'd be lucky if I lasted a minute against Lancer. He's practically the anti-Archer with his skills." Shirou didn't falter under her accusation. Instead he merely grinned predatorily. Pieces were moving in his head. A feasible battle plan was coming together, one that even the Witch would have trouble countering. "Don't worry. I have a better person in mind for this."
Luvia coughed loudly. "Care to share with us what insane idea you had in mind?"
"Hold on." Shirou looked at Rin and held eye contact. "Rin. Tell me. Do you think this will actually work? You know modern thaumaturgical theory better than anyone else here. Caster's more skilled, but she doesn't have experience with this branch."
She took a step back in surprise. It wasn't like him to be this forward. She had forgotten how highly he recognized her abilities and knowledge when it came to Thaumaturgy. Despite being a genius like everyone claimed, it seemed more and more apparent that Shirou's practical knowledge and abilities held greater weight in the grand scheme of things these days. Research and theoretical knowledge were her specialties, not war. "I-I'm pretty sure. Back up a bit will you? You know more about runecraft than I do, but if this book is accurate, then I'm sure it could work. But, how would you get it around Lancer's Magic Resistance? His is B ranked. Not as high as Saber's but still high enough to be a problem."
Shirou lifted the book up again and pointed it to a certain passage. "Here's one example, but I have a couple more ideas if that won't work."
Rin's eyes narrowed as she took in the information like a sponge. "Okay… Okay, yes, I see that happening, but that still doesn't explain who is going to do it."
Shirou sighed in relief and pulled the book back. An "okay" from Rin was as good as gold in his opinion when it came to thaumaturgic theory and application.
It was the execution bit that always made him constantly look over his shoulder in morbid terror.
He turned his eyes to a specific person in the room. "Who else?"
Saber looked around in confusion as everyone stared at her. "… Shirou, you know I don't like it when people make plans for me to do something without my knowing or permission."
o. o. o.
"This is really good. You have excellent taste." Merem smiled as he sampled the tea that Sakura served him.
"Thank you. It makes me glad to hear that. Rin has her usual blends, but every now and then I manage to convince her to get something a bit different." Sakura matched his expression with one of her own.
"I can taste a mix of eastern and western styles in this. It's always nice to see such unusual components working together so well." He meant it too. It kept things new and refreshing.
"I agree completely." Sakura nodded as she sat down with her own cup, but didn't drink it as she was distracted by the third person in the room. "Is something wrong, Illya?"
The girl in question had not touched her tea and was busy glaring at the vampire. "… I don't trust you."
"And you shouldn't." Merem didn't take offense to her statement and took another sip of his drink.
"But Shirou does," she pressed.
"Indeed he does. He's quite childish like that. Then again, I find it's one of his more endearing qualities. He's quite dedicated to those he's attached to."
"Onii-chan's an idiot." Illya pouted. "Even if someone likes him, it doesn't mean they won't use him. He's too nice."
"I agree. Sooner or later he's going to find himself in a tough spot due to his generosity." Merem nodded. "He's rather guarded to most people at first, but it's easy to get around it if you know his personality well enough.
"Like you for example?"
"Illya!" Sakura flinched.
"Yes. Like me for example." Merem didn't so much as bat an eyelash to the accusation.
Much like he didn't seem to notice when Berserker materialized behind his Master.
"What do you want with him?" The albino asked, her tone as cold as the mountains she was raised in.
"What? Friends do favors for one another every now and then. Is it really so difficult to imagine that I would occasionally wish for his assistance with a task or two? If memory serves, Shirou asked for my aid just recently. This is merely something of a similar nature." He didn't seem to see the girl, or Berserker as a threat in the slightest.
"He's not like you. Onii-chan's weak and stupid. He can't walk one step without getting into trouble. He's barely managed to survive this War, and it is only supposed to last a few weeks. A lifelong friendship with you would put him into an early grave." Illya didn't back down. "You didn't answer my question. What do you want with him?"
"Funny how you speak of Shirou as if you've known him longer than I, seeing that you only decided to trust him a few scant days ago. It appears that the Einzberns were remiss when it came to your education. How disheartening." Merem rose a skeptical eyebrow and observed the girl's fraying temper, and the increasing bloodlust of the demigod behind her. "I did not tell you, child, because it is none of your business and does not concern you. If Shirou wishes to let you know, that is his choice to make. However I asked for his aid based on the respect and trust we have for one another, as bizarre as that may sound to you."
"And what will come of it?" Her fists tightened.
"He helps me for a night. Oversees a small event. We say our parts. And then we go our separate ways until whim or fate brings us together again." He shrugged, as if it was as simple as that. "Were you expecting something else? Some nefarious ritual? The assassination of another Apostle Ancestor? Delivering secret information about Barthomelloi and betrayal of the Clocktower? As humbling as your active imagination is, I'm afraid I must disappoint you."
"Illya," Sakura spoke up before the other could. "That's enough. There's no point in antagonizing him. He's helping us."
"Papa trusted me to protect Shirou from himself. That means stopping him from doing things that are stupid and reckless." Illya didn't turn away from Merem. "Tell us the truth. Is what you are asking from Onii-chan stupid and reckless?"
"When you put it like that, you make me feel like I'm some irresponsible monster that goes out of his way to hurt people for the sake of hurting others." Merem couldn't help but laugh at her question. "Yes. In some ways I am asking Shirou to do something unreasonable, but the same could be said for what he is asking me to do now. Rest assured though, I have no intention for your brother to fight or antagonize anyone. I wish, desire, and intend for as much harm on him as he does me."
Illya glared at him for several moments. Crimson orbs peered into deep ocean blue.
And the moment was over. The girl stood up and walked out of the room, taking her tea with her.
"Well, that could have been less stressful." The vampire chuckled, as calm and cool as can be.
"Please forgive her." Sakura bowed, silently wondering why she was playing the adult when the two arguing parties were older than her even though they both appeared to be fourteen at the oldest if she was being generous. "These past few days have no doubt been stressful for her. For everyone really. The War itself is a good distraction, but we will have to deal with many of these lingering issues and emotions sooner or later."
"Think nothing of it. Honestly I find it more refreshing than anything. I've spent nearly all my time around sycophants, religious fanatics, general fanatics, shut in's, wild animals, and monsters akin to myself for the majority of my existence. I find it nice to converse with more grounded individuals of the world every now and then."
"Shirou's grounded?" Sakura rose a skeptical eyebrow. It was a mean and awkward thing to say and admit on her part, but it did need to be said.
"More than most of the people I deal with on a daily basis. Take that as you will." Merem muttered under his breath in some self-depreciation before drinking some more tea.
"When you put it like that, I wonder how the world is still intact and human society is remotely functional," Sakura admitted before partaking in her own drink.
"Best not to dwell too much on that bit. I learned that the hard way." He wasn't a normal individual by a long shot, but he was still more capable of being relatable than the average immortal powerhouse on the planet… somehow. Maybe it was simply because he didn't care that much about his position in the grand scheme of things.
"I'll take your word for it." She had undergone enough traumatizing experiences for a dozen lifetimes. She didn't feel like experiencing a few more just to sate a mild curiosity. "… You will ensure that he's safe, won't you?"
"Of course. I intended to undertake that responsibility before you even said anything." He was telling the truth. The moment he decided that Shirou would be the next Tenth, he had known that he'd be the one that ensured that the boy would either grow enough to meet that name, or accumulate enough power in some other way to match it.
It would have been a nice way to pass the next couple of decades in quiet. Shame Altrouge had to dig where she wasn't wanted. If everyone was lucky, she'd leave Shirou alone, but he wasn't holding his breath.
Odds were likely that she'd try to get the boy to agree to one of her blasted contracts.
Just like Tatari.
"Good. Because, and I do mean this with the most respect…"
Half the room was engulfed in pitch black. The crimson outline of dozens of two dimensional ribbons slowly hovered from the abyss that had once been part of the building, and was now a portal into a realm that didn't exist.
And yet, the girl that sat on its fringes didn't seem to notice the change behind her in the slightest as she drank from her cup.
"Shirou is my only reason for living. I love my sister, and my friends dearly, I really do. Sadly, I really don't see myself continuing on without him. And the one thing I find more intolerable than a world without him is a world that has the nerve to permit the existence of any and everything that allowed him to be taken from me."
Merem curiously looked at the eldritch corruption in front of him and silently praised the girl's control over it. By all means, she should be falling apart by now. Her mind faltering under the strain of so many curses and vile corruption. More so seeing as she was still unstable from absorbing Gilgamesh's spirit.
The look in her eyes though told him the truth. The girl really would burn the world should Shirou die. She would take the role of Angra Mainyu in its entirety.
A small smile played on his lips. "Rest assured child. I will make sure that you two, and maybe more, live a long and happy life."
Shirou really did attract the most interesting of individuals.
Who knows? With the Servants, this girl, and his Reality Marble, he might even manage to be worthy of the Tenth by the end of the decade.
Not just in terms of power, but also as a genuine threat to mankind.
Wouldn't that be interesting to see?
o. o. o.
"This is reckless. Even for you."
"Yep."
"Seriously. I can't even begin to point out all the parts where this can go wrong."
"Partially because I found them before you did."
"Don't patronize me."
"Hey, I caved into your demands for the plan."
"Only after I force fed you how stupid it was to do all of that alone."
"And pointed another Fin curse between my eyes."
"What was that?"
"Do you have a better idea or not?"
Rin grimaced as Shirou gave her a flat look before looking down at the crude drawings and small stones that represented the battleground.
She was being honest. It was a stupid plan that banked heavily on predicting the enemy's movements. It was risky, reckless, and insane.
It also, despite her arguing otherwise, had a very good shot of working. Much better than she thought it would at first.
She had always thought that she'd be able to at least keep up if not match Shirou's ability to plan once she started from the same spot he did but… really, he was on a completely different level when it came to this sort of thing.
She almost felt sorry for Caster. The Witch wouldn't know what hit her until it was far too late to do anything about it.
Hit them hard and hit them fast. She had always thought that she knew what such strategies entailed, but she had been woefully mistaken.
The idiot masses assumed that it meant a general blitzkrieg assault right from the gates.
The smarter ones did things differently. They waited until everything was set up in their favor before unleashing all hell.
And then there were the bastards like Shirou, who always had a hidden card up their sleeves that blindsided anyone that would come with expectations. He would fight with one approach, and then switch to another one completely with a factor that no one had anticipated to completely crush his targets without mercy and no hope to adapt.
If the Witch thought she was the only one that could twist and warp the rules to her favor, she was horrifically wrong.
Rin huffed in annoyance and looked around. Luvia and Medea were finishing up on their experiments with the thaumaturgically inert cardboard, but the end it looked like the stuff was just as effective at sneaking things in bounded fields from the Age of the Gods as they were from modern methods.
Granted, there were some ways of detecting the containers, but unless the Witch knew exactly what to look for and set up her fields to exploit those minor traits, the odds of her discerning anything were slim to none.
Saber on the other hand, was working in the corner of the room, practicing on her own small project. With any luck, she should have it down perfectly by the time everything went down.
And Shirou… Shirou had finished sending out a few texts ten minutes ago. Since then he had been writing down something on a piece of paper, with an envelope right next to it while carrying on with his conversation with her.
Everything was coming together. There was no backing out of things now.
"They're not going to like it." She relented, diverting the subject slightly. "What you're asking some of us to do isn't going to spread warm feelings around."
"They'll deal with it. It's not like we're in a position to negotiate or make demands. It's not like what's planned is permanent." He sighed, looking over the paper a few times before folding it and stuffing it into the envelope.
"It's a matter of trust, not reversibility. Unless you haven't noticed, there's a distinct lack of it between all of us recently."
That was an understatement. With Archer's recent reaming of Caster, Shirou's instinctual murderous compulsion to kill Archer, her rivalry with Luvia, and Luvia's frayed relationship with Shirou for roping her into all of this, they were all barely tolerating one another.
The only person that didn't seem to be in conflict with anyone else in their group was Saber, and even then she wasn't all that approachable with several sensitive topics seeing as she was clearly one of Shirou's biggest supporters in this endeavor.
Shirou looked up at her with a frown and began to say something, but her annoyed and worried face caused him to back down and think on her words. He didn't know of everything that had transpired when he was unconscious, but it was clear that tensions were high. The only reason why they weren't worse was probably because he had kept everyone busy with his plans and small projects.
He looked at his watch. He still had some time left before his next task came along.
Getting up, he stretched a bit. "You're right. I'll try to smooth things out. In the meantime, can you set up the next bit for me? Just get some folders and fill them with random schoolwork. It can be anything, but make it look believable."
Rin gave him a dry look. "Out of all the absurd parts in this plan, I really think this is the most bizarre and stupid."
"I'll take that as a yes. Thanks for the help." He brushed aside her insult and walked outside to his workshop where Luvia and Caster were, pretending to ignore the none too polite words that were being muttered behind his back.
If any normal magus had known that he had given a rival magus and a Caster Servant full access to his Workshop without supervision, they probably would have killed him out of pity for being so stupid.
"How's it look?" He knocked on the door as he entered the shed, getting only brief looks from the two women before they got back to work.
"You terrify me sometimes. You really do." Luvia shook her head in exasperation as she held one of the smaller boxes in her hand. "This… something this simple, cheap, and utterly worthless shouldn't be as devastating as you make it out to be. It shouldn't. But somehow you actually turned this useless material into something that will screw over a magus from the Age of the Gods."
"Technically, old man Sirius made it. I just order the stuff." Shirou shrugged casually. "Not a lot of people out there with high level of skills in structural grasping and an Ether element, and most magi that do exploit it focus so much on custom equipment that they don't think about more practical applications."
"You were probably the one that came up with the idea regardless." Caster shot him an unreadable look before handing him a completed box. "It will work. I needed to make a few adjustments so that the container made from this material doesn't leak or betray the contents, but it's a minor task. Even I can do it though I do not have an Item Creation skill."
"Good. That's really good. I was right to trust you guys with this. Thanks." He smiled and took the container.
It was that last word that seemed to pull at something in the girls. They each gave him a skeptical look, as if trying to see something that should be there.
He tilted his head, confused. "Something wrong?"
"You're different," the Princess spoke first. "You're not like Archer."
The reaction was instant. Innocent curiosity gave way to cold rage, and for a brief moment the girls actually thought that he would actually attack them for some unknown insult.
As quickly as it came though, it was pushed back, though not without clearly a great deal of effort and hidden behind a mask of apathy. "He's not me, and he will never be me. Don't ever compare me to that mistake."
There was no mistaking it. No matter how much of a pain the Witch was, Shirou's hatred for Archer vastly outstripped what the boy had for her.
"Sorry. We didn't mean it like that," Luvia apologized. "The situation is just… well, you're taking it as well as the rest of us."
His expression softened and he cooled down, looking away in some frustration. "No. No, you're right to be confused. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I… just don't bring him up in front of me unless it's important, okay?"
"I am fine with that, but will he be a problem? He'll be fighting with us in the end," Caster warily probed.
Shirou's body tensed for a few moments before he forced it to relax again. "So long as he sticks to the plan and stays away from me, I'll be able to deal with it."
"The plan? You came up with one?" Luvia asked with some excitement and hope.
"I had to drag a seal of approval from a kicking and screaming Rin, but yeah. We have a plan and it looks like our best shot." He shifted uncomfortably.
"Seeing as you are reluctant to share it, I am already beginning to express my doubts," Caster dryly noted.
He decided to bite the bullet. "Look, I'm not going to sugar coat it. I'm not fond of it. Rin sure as hell doesn't like it. Saber isn't thrilled about what she's going to have to do, and I am fairly confident that Illya and Sakura are going to try and throttle me as soon as they hear it too. But out of everyone, I'm certain that you two are going to like it the least, and you don't deserve it after everything you've been through because of me. I owe you two. I owe you more than most people could owe a person in their lives."
"Owe us? Shirou you used us. Me. My sister. Caster. Sakura. Rin. You used everyone." Luvia stepped forward, her voice full of so many mixed emotions that even she didn't know what she was right now. "I am not an optimistic and blind child. This ritual was intended and expected to be a bloodbath. We all went in expecting that. But the reality was completely different. We didn't have to fight one another. We shouldn't have. You not only hid that from us, but used it against us. There was a certain level of unspoken trust that most of us had for one another Shirou, and you betrayed that in spades. I could have accepted some of us, even myself, dying in the War in order to achieve victory, for an unlimited wish, to reach Akasha or a True Magic. What we did was risk our lives for nothing. For a lie."
Her hands clenched tightly as a tear threatened to fall from her cheek. "You almost let me and my sister die for nothing Shirou. How are we supposed to go back before after this?"
The workshop was deadly silent for a good while as the two teens maintained eye contact for what seemed like an eternity.
Shirou broke it first with a deep sigh.
He didn't say anything. Instead he walked past the two women and kept going until he reached the corner of the room where a slew of random containers sat stacked on one another.
It took him a few minutes to move them all out of the way, revealing a hidden safe embedded into the ground, which he opened with a few words.
He then uttered another spell, which from their perspective, revealed a secret compartment in the safe, containing a slew of documents and files.
Shirou didn't bother to clean up after himself after withdrawing the papers. Instead he simply made for one of his work benches and examined the files one by one. There weren't many, but it still took him a short while to filter out whatever it was he needed to.
And then what was left was in her hands.
"And these are?" She asked skeptically.
A tires smile made its way onto his face. "Everything you need to destroy me."
The two blinked in confusion. "Come again?"
"My Reality Marble. My magic. My Noble Phantasms. Avalon. Me being an incarnation. My Apostle condition. Even my dad's swords. Anything I took out was only to protect you and the others from any potential backlash." He elaborated, nodding at the stack. "It's all there. Show that to the Association and even Barthomelloi wouldn't be able to protect me if she wanted to… though with the Apostle bit there she'd probably be first in line to tear me apart."
"A-Are you mad, boy?" Medea couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was a reckless fool, everyone knew that. But this… this was simply suicidal. Even with the limited information of the modern era she gained from the Grail, she knew that what the boy had just done was nothing short of giving Luvia the authority to execute him.
Luvia didn't say anything. She had simply stood there with an ash white complexion, staring at the power she now held.
"It's not everything, technically," he went on as if apologizing for not giving her more. "It would take me years if not decades to put down every Noble Phantasm I got from fighting Gilgamesh. And to be honest, even I don't have the slightest idea with what's up with my body after these past two weeks of healing itself from multiple grievous injuries, but it's still more than enough to get the point across."
"Why?" Luvia whispered, her eyes shadowed as her head was bowed and obscured by the nighttime darkness.
"Hm? Why what?" He honestly didn't know what she was talking about.
"Why are you giving this to me?" Her hands clenched, crumpling some of the documents. "Why are you mocking me like this, Shirou?! Is this another one of your cruel plans?!"
He stepped back in surprise and raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not making fun of you at all, Luvia. It's just… I really don't know what else I can do to show that I am sorry about all of this. Offering money is pointless. We're practically rivals as mercenaries. I'm limited in what favors I can give you since Barthomelloi has me on a leash. And even then, I don't know how much longer I can hide my condition from everyone. I was serious when I said that I brought up faking my death in the near future. I just never said how near it was going to be."
"And you thought that me selling you out would somehow make things better for everyone?! That doing so would make me feel better in the black and twisted heart I have?!" she all but snarled.
"I thought that you selling me out could save you!" he shouted back before calming down.
"Save her?" Caster echoed incredulously.
He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He lifted his right hand and allowed his "normal" flesh give way to the scale like patterns that took dominance. The left side of his face soon took a similar pattern, ending around his cheekbone.
"I thought I could give you the option to take advantage of when, and I do mean when, I do have to go. This… I really don't know if I'm able to hide this from the Association in the first place with the security they have. I might not even be able to make it to the front doors for all I know. Even Merem doesn't know what I am, and that was before I looked like this. You could claim you raided my place in my absence and deliver it. You can decide however much you want is in there to reveal to everyone to make things look good for yourself. I don't care." He smiled bitterly, as if admitting a truth he didn't want to speak of.
A few seconds later, he looked perfectly normal again save for his sad silver eyes.
"But… but how would that help me? I'm exposing you. Throwing you to the wolves. Turning you into nothing more than a target!" Luvia's arms began to tremble. It didn't make sense. Just when she finally was starting to understand Shirou, he threw this curveball from nowhere. She didn't know whether to be horrified, terrified, or enraged in her confused state.
"You know better than I do that not a lot of people exactly approve of me being where I am. Anyone that's close to me will be under scrutiny and be targeted the instant I'm no longer a factor. Sakura would rather disappear with me. Illya coming along is a given. And Rin… at first I thought of suggesting this to her, but knowing her she wouldn't do it no matter how much she would claim otherwise. I'm planning on holding out just long enough for the Queen to make good on her deal with me to support Rin's enrollment in the Tower. No one would dare make any serious moves against her once the ink dries on her paperwork, and Barthomelloi would keep her end regardless if only because of her pride. But you… you have your family, but even that probably wouldn't be enough if people started to dig deep into my history. Not unless you're the first one to strike gold. You're the only person I know and trust that can and would benefit from me vanishing like this."
"And how long were you planning this? Planning to use my Master?" Caster stepped between the two teens with fire in her eyes.
He laughed in self-depreciation, his face momentarily turning back to its unnatural state. "Planning? It's been more of a vague idea for months. Something to play with in my spare time. I doubted I'd even have to go through with it until this War began screwing with my body and everything's gone to hell. I thought I had at least a few more years to decide on it all, if I could fix things so that I didn't have to go to such extremes, but that isn't the case anymore. Honestly, I'm flying by the seat of my pants more often than not now."
"So you just decided to give this all to me in the hopes that I'd go along with another one of your stupid plans?!" Luvia all but snarled, shaking the papers in one hand.
He didn't look away. He didn't flinch, retreat, or look guilty. Instead, he just shook his head. "No. I gave them to you because I trust you. I trust you and I've been a horrible friend this whole time. This entire War has been one clusterfuck after another for all of us and I thought… I don't know, maybe if I gave you all of that, then we could at least start to mend some of the bridges that I burned down in my stupidity. If I gave you everything I had, maybe you'd start to stop looking at me with suspicion every time we're together again. That you'd see that I really am sorry."
Even the Princess, in all her suspicion of the boy, could tell he was being genuine. There was no fallacy in his words. He meant everything he said.
Luvia could tell too. Tears fell from her eyes, however no words escaped her lips. It was all she could do to not break down right then and there.
He really meant it. He was going to throw everything away soon, and the worst part was that she could tell that he wasn't even doing it for himself and didn't care in the slightest.
He was doing it for them.
He was doing it in a way so that they wouldn't be caught in the storm that would be made as a result.
Sighing, Shirou turned around and started to leave. "I'll leave you for now, but we really don't have much time unfortunately. You can use whatever part of my home until then to rest or do whatever you wish. I'll explain the plan when we're ready to go, but I have to warn you guys again that you aren't going to be warm to what we have set up. It's our best shot though, and I hope that you can work with us on it. We will beat Caster, and we will save your sister."
"… We will take it into consideration, Shirou. Thank you for your generosity." Medea allowed herself to use his name, if only for that time.
"Mmm." He was halfway across the yard before stopping. "Luvia. I just want to let you know… I never cursed Kiritsugu's name more in my life than when I first heard that you were a Master for the War. And I never thanked him more after that for not passing his dream down to me."
Luvia really didn't know what to say to that. She really didn't.