Beta read and Coo written by Gamercrusher55 and Shigiya
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-Fuyuki-
Life was a strange thing.
One moment, Rin found herself on top of the world after summoning her Servant at long last.
An endeavour she had been preparing for and working towards for a decade of her life, if not the majority of it. Training constantly, researching jewelcraft, studying other branches of spells, preparing everything that she would need to properly supply her Servant, and being ready for every single factor that could occur during the war.
While it was unfortunate that she did not get Saber as planned, a Lancer class was not a bad choice either; they had their own advantages with high agility, high endurance, and hers had Protection against Arrows. Her Lancer in particular was amazing, with several of his parameters being at A and B. Now that she was a Master, she was granted a Master's Clairvoyance ability and could see the details.
Protection against Arrows meant he would be practically invincible against ranged combat like the Archer class. It meant that she would not need to worry about long-range enemy attacks, including sniping. His B-ranked Magic Resistance granted him protection from most spells and greatly increased his defensive capabilities, especially against the Caster class. With a high A rank, Battle Continuation made it possible for him to survive even fatal attacks. And Disengage granted him an escape from any nasty traps the other teams had in store. In pure survival mode, she and Lancer would be set. Maybe the Assassin class could get past his guard, but that was an issue for another time.
At this rate… she did not even need to fear a Saber-class Servant!
It was her greatest moment and a dream come true! Of course, just as quickly as it came, the pride and joy she felt was soon replaced with pure disbelief and horror. All of it started with the sound of her rotary phone ringing loudly nearby — awaking the girl from her much treasured sleep.
"Yes?" Rin answered with a groggy voice, half certain it was perhaps the fake priest who had a habit of using this number. But the voice that sounded from the other side turned out to be from someone much worse.
"Ah, you answered, so if that wasn't your doing… hm, you may want to look outside, Tohsaka." Luvia's voice sounded through her ears, not even bothering with any greetings or wordplay, which alerted Rin at first.
Still half asleep, she tried to make sense of things. "W-What are you…"
▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!!!
"A-Aaah!" Whatever had happened forcefully woke Rin up, breaking her peaceful slumber as she dropped the phone, gripping onto her wobbling bed as she looked around to see her entire room shaking, her entire mansion rattling with clinking glass and porcelain. 'Okay, I must be seeing things, my entire room's not experiencing an earthquake, it's just that I must still be half asleep.'
Blaming everything she saw and felt on her own half-sleep mind, as time went on, her room could still feel the vibrations, as her chandelier, cabinets, and her own bed still shook as if an impact kept rushing through it. Focusing her mind and catching her senses up to her, she realized that a bright orange-red light was coming out of her curtains. Lancer stood calmly near it, watching upwards without making a sound as he stared at something. Finally speaking after a few seconds.
"Tch, not much for subtlety, aren't they? Though it seems like we are not the target."
Biting her lip, she threw off her bed sheets and rushed to her window. Throwing the curtains away, she finally saw the cause of what woke her.
The sky erupted with a streak of fire that slammed into the south-western district of the city, the foreigner's district. She instantly froze where she stood, looking at the red sky as projectiles from below impacted projectiles from above. She could still see shards of debris from the ensuing competition blasting in all directions, some of which even came close to the Tohsaka Estate. Her Servant opened the window and leapt into action, blowing away any that came in range of the mansion. Some were batted away by his crimson spear, and some were blown away by his mere presence. She deduced that it was the 'Protection of Arrows' at work. He dashed like lightning, making sure nothing even came close to touching her home; the mere wind generated by spinning his spear blew away any fires that came on her property.
The strength and speed of her Servant, on full display, amazed her beyond belief. Finally, the destruction that attempted to touch her home was clear. Without it, she could clearly see where it originated.
It wasn't just near her; it practically hit her next-door neighbor. Her mind connected the location with a certain household she knew all too well. It was where a certain someone lived, or at least where she wished they currently lived, given the present circumstances.
"Lancer! Let's go! Check if anyone is still there!" she ordered hastily, her voice clipped with urgency as she grabbed her emergency bedside gemstones. Lancer didn't wait for her to get dressed, as she was still in her cat pajamas when he leapt to the window, pulling her close before they headed out, the young brunette glued at the hip.
She could feel the hot wind blowing on her face, as they leapt across the streets and buildings, till finally they saw sparks at the front gate.
"There's fighting going on there." Rin's chest went into itself, hearing Lancer's words as they picked up the pace, but just as soon as they noticed the fighting, the sparks vanished, as if it ended like a firework. Finally touching down at the gate, all she saw were pieces of the Matou mansion destroyed, and the building was burning in flames.
She was preparing to sprint toward the flames herself when the Irishman in blue moved in front of her, blocking the path. His usual casual demeanor was gone, replaced by a steady, almost grim look as he shook his head slowly.
"I wouldn't go anywhere near there, Master," he said, his words no longer sounding nearly as laid-back as before. "That fire isn't normal. There's something very nasty woven into it… poison? Can't say for sure if it's a curse, but best not to tempt fate. So let me handle it."
His tone left little room for argument. Rin stood still for a moment, her lips biting into each other, watching as he darted toward the burning complex with a speed that only someone beyond humanity could possess. Minutes passed, and the crackle of fire far in the distance mixed with the echoing voices of approaching figures. Soon enough, members of the Church from the police and fire department arrived, moving efficiently to cordon off the area and keep wandering eyes away.
Rin barely paid them any attention. Her chest felt tight, her thoughts circling on one person alone. Using her new connection with her familiar to cast a variation of the Transference of Consciousness Spell called "Shared Perception", her own senses received what Lancer saw, heard, and felt. Following him as he scoured the destruction for any sign of people.
Then he returned, brushing stray embers from his shoulder like they were nothing more than dust. "Good news," he said plainly. "Didn't find any bodies aside from the remains of some worm-like familiars and an assortment of other creepy crawlies. No signs of anyone being trapped, either, or any signs of Servants being involved."
The words hit her harder than she expected. Her knees weakened, relief flooding through her all at once as though someone had cut the strings holding her upright. She staggered before catching herself, muttering under her breath, "Thank goodness… thank goodness…"
For all their current distance, despite belonging to different households now, Sakura was still her sister. Nothing had changed that, no matter how badly the years had twisted things. Rin wanted to win the Holy Grail War, yes, but not at the cost of her last remaining family.
"She should be there then," Rin whispered to herself, voice barely audible. "She must be with him. I need to check up on her."
The girl turned to leave but was immediately halted by another presence who, at some point, had appeared behind her, accompanied by several members of the church who not only put out the flames but also went around to deal with any witnesses by helping them escape the damage, or erasing memories of those who had seen too much.
"I wouldn't recommend that, Rin."
The familiar voice belonged to none other than Kirei, the ever-smiling priest with hands clasped behind his back… even this time, he had the audacity to smile. That calm expression of his had always unsettled her, and tonight was no exception.
"And why not?" Rin snapped, temper flaring now that her nerves were wound so tight. "If you're stopping me for something meaningless, I swear I'll blast you on the spot." Her hands trembled as she aimed a Gandr curse shot straight at him, a red-black orb emerging from her index finger as she aimed it like a handgun. Though she tried to hide it with her confrontational attitude, her voice was dropping low. Seeing Sakura mattered more than anything else right now.
"You misunderstand me, as always," Kirei said smoothly, still wearing that infuriating smile. "I'm not here to block your path. Quite the opposite. I'm here to save your life."
Rin wanted to roll her eyes, to scoff at the man's usual cryptic nonsense, but she forced herself to stay composed.
"Then speak," she said curtly. "I don't have time for your useless riddles! If you're warning me about danger, I can handle it, even if the other side has a Servant!"
Kirei shook his head slowly. "Fiery as ever, and here I thought I taught you better than that. Just listen to me for a bit; it's important, I'm not warning you because of a Servant. I'm warning you because of two things: First, the one you're searching for, Sakura Matou, isn't at the place you're thinking of. Our information confirms it. Several witnesses saw the violet-haired girl heading this way earlier. The boy you thought she was with, followed soon after."
"H-Hold on, s-she was here?" Rin's voice caught sharply. Whatever relief she had felt earlier vanished at once.
"Calm down, and let me finish," Kirei continued, unbothered by her reaction. "The second reason is the boy himself. Even if he lives, you may want to stay away from him, considering his last name. I was curious when he showed up to register at the church, so I did some digging into his guardian, and I was surprised to find my suspicion confirmed. I won't keep you waiting for an answer — he's the son of Kiritsugu Emiya."
"Eh?"
The name meant little to the twintailed girl at first, her mind too rattled to piece things together. Kirei, perhaps expecting this, went on without pause.
"You likely wouldn't know of him, since that man vanished from public life after the last war. But before then, he had quite the legacy. The mage all mages feared as their hunter, the 'Magus Killer' as it were. He would travel the world ending the lives of the most prominent mages, with a mix of methods, both mystical and mundane, always emerging the victor, no matter how skilled his opponent was. A man who hunted magi with methods so unorthodox they were seen as… primitive and insulting. Yet despite his methods and how they were perceived by many, no matter the target, he never failed. Not once."
Rin just stared there as she absorbed the information about such a dangerous man, trying to wrap her head around how Emiya was his son. Unconcerned with how she was taking it, the man's smile remained unchanged as he added, "Yes, your reaction is warranted, but for all his legacy, however, his greatest point to fame was the fabled Fourth Holy Grail War. He was also a Master in the previous war who was recruited to serve as a Master by the Einzbern."
"..."
The Fourth Holy Grail War.
'Wha…?'
Rin's consciousness tumbled.
Even now, so many years later, there were still gaps in the records that drove Rin to the edge of tearing out her own hair. Every time she searched for answers as to what happened, she would hit a wall of missing reports, vague testimonies, or outright contradictions. And yet, in spite of it all, she had managed to learn a few things about those who had taken part in that war. A war that had claimed her father, a mage so skilled that the idea of him falling to just anyone was laughable.
There were only a handful of people who could have done it, and among them was the one name, or rather the one title, that made her pause in disbelief.
"The Magus Killer?" Rin muttered the words under her breath. "Shirou… the school janitor is the Magus Killer's son? That can't be true." Someone like that couldn't have been so close to her all this time. "It almost sounds like a joke, a bad one."
The man standing across from her did not waver. "I have no reason to lie to you. I am simply telling you what I have uncovered: the Magus Killer was indeed Kiritsugu Emiya, and after the war, it seems he chose to live in this very city years ago. He erased nearly every trace of his existence once the war ended, so that not even I could find him, even using your authority as the Second Owner, and my connections with the Church. I assumed he was long gone, so you can imagine my surprise when, during the Fifth War, a certain boy came to the church to register as a Master, carrying the same surname: Emiya. One who was seen in this very place before the attack."
Rin's mind worked like lightning, her mind rushing to make sense of the information. Several images pushed into her mind all at once. Shirou Emiya, a schoolmate whom she had known for years and had only just recently found out was a mage. She didn't see him as a friend, not really, but as a classmate who seemed to live in a world far too ordinary for anything involving magecraft. He was helpful to the point of being taken advantage of, the type who would carry someone's books or fix a broken desk just because no one else would bother. But he was also disciplined, someone who actually put in the effort to meet his goals even if no one else recognized it.
Her impression of him had never been bad; quite the opposite. And now she was being told that he was not only a mage, hiding it right under her nose, but also the adopted son of the Magus Killer himself?
"Get out of my way, Kirei," she snapped suddenly, her anger finally slipping through. The orb on her finger was glowing even brighter, the threat veiled with drive.
The priest only sighed faintly. "Rin, you have always been impulsive. But surely I also taught you better than to rush headfirst into a den of beasts. Servant or no Servant, you would not leave alive if you barged in without thinking."
"You make it sound like you wouldn't enjoy watching me suffer for my choices," Rin shot back sharply.
"I do not deny that," Kirei replied without even blinking, the smirk on his face growing wider. "But I remain your guardian. Your father entrusted you to me, and keeping you alive is a duty I intend to uphold. You are clever enough to know when patience serves you better than rage. Think before you act."
"That doesn't apply to the Holy Grail War. You forget your place, Overseer. Your duty is to monitor this fight and make sure it doesn't go too far. When I need your protection, I'll go to the church myself."
A silent pause coursed through the two of them, stretching on between them as something deep transpired. Eventually, Kirei relented, sighing as he turned away, his coat swaying lightly as he walked off toward the destruction to aid his fellow clergy. His voice, still carried by the breath, reached her from the back over his shoulder. "This tragedy will draw attention soon. I must see to it before the wrong people start asking questions."
Lancer leaned on his spear against one shoulder and watched him go, eyes narrowing. "There's something terribly off-putting with that guy," he muttered, not even bothering to hide his distaste. "Feels like talking to a corpse that hasn't realized it's dead. And that guy is a priest on top of that? Ha! What a joke."
Rin clenched her fists but said nothing. As much as she wanted to storm in and demand answers about Sakura, even she had to admit Kirei was right. Charging in now would solve nothing. "Lancer, go help the clergy with anything major. Afterwards, return so we can move on to our next step." So she swallowed her anger, as bitter as it was, and waited.
Waiting for her chance…
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(Present)
And just like she feared, something had indeed happened to Sakura. The girl had not shown up at school, not even once throughout the day, and the silence surrounding her absence weighed heavily. Yet the most insulting part was that the boy had the nerve to come over and talk about Sakura as though he bore no responsibility for what had happened. He spoke as if her disappearance was nothing more than a passing concern rather than a matter that might have been set in motion by his own actions.
For her, the secrecy was what cut the deepest. She had grown tired of being left in the dark, of whispers passed between others while she remained with nothing but fragments of the truth. Even that dumb blonde felt like she was more informed of what was going on than herself!
She would force them out now with blood if she had to. Their Servants stared at each other while the Masters followed them.
"Please, Rin, calm down. You're obviously not in the right frame of mind. I think you're misunderstanding a lot of things." Shirou said hastily. Her eyes twitched at those words. Not in the right frame of mind? Calm down? That suggestion alone carried the opposite effect. The smile on her face tightened, and her eyes grew colder.
"All these years," she said slowly, her voice tightening with each word, "you were right under my nose as if you were just a normal student. You approached Sakura. You made her live with you. And then you dragged her into this war. First, she was nearly killed by Berserker. And now? I don't even know what's become of her!"
Her voice broke through the air, all the frustration she had buried since yesterday poured out, no longer held back.
"So tell me where she is now!"
"I really don't know!" he shot back quickly, the words coming fast as though he feared what might come next. "I tried to save her yesterday, but another Servant appeared. I think he was Sakura's Servant; I bet he knows the answers to both our questions, and that's why I came to find you, so that you can help me track him down!"
So he claimed. Yet Kirei had mentioned that the Matou family never even came to the church to announce their entry into the Holy Grail War. Not that they needed formal acknowledgment; both the Tohsaka and Matou families had automatic rights to participate… The Einzbern as well, given that Berserker was already summoned. So it was not unthinkable that the new Servant belonged to her sister, since she was certain that Shinji possessed not even an iota of requirements to even be a borderline third-rate Magus. Considering he was the original heir to the clan, it was obvious why Zouken accepted Sakura, for his own descendants were now just regular people.
"If that Servant truly belonged to Sakura," she asked coldly, "then why did he fight you? If it were her Servant, why did it treat you as an enemy? Something doesn't make sense here, Emiya."
"I kinda… didn't realize who he was at first, and launched an attack… but in my defense, I just saw a massive attack on the Matou household and I got too worried to think straight." He answered shamelessly as if he hadn't given more reason to distrust him.
"Are you trying to deceive everyone? To play us all so you can win this war? Are you planning to use the same tactics as the Magus Killer, taking out your enemies one by one while pretending to play the hero?"
"The old man wasn't like that, at least how I knew him," the redheaded boy snapped, his voice cutting through her accusation. "He wouldn't have pretended anything; in his own way, I bet he really tried to save people."
"Yet that didn't stop him from KILLING MY FATHER!" she shot back sharply, "Or from ruining my life!"
The words, laced with such emotion, struck him silent, leaving him taken abackl. His gaze shifted away, sliding toward the floor as though he found it difficult to look at her now. She could not tell whether that was guilt or calculation working behind his eyes. Was the Shirou she thought she knew just a mask for something else, some other person hidden beneath the surface? Or was he truly what he claimed to be?
If he really wanted to save everyone in this war, then why did he walk around with secrets buried behind his words? Why carry a Servant into battle while hiding the truth about Sakura's disappearance? Nothing about him added up anymore, and the uncertainty twisted in her chest.
"…"
Eventually, he forced himself to look at her. He knew there was a chance his father was guilty of the crime she claimed he did, but if that was true, why didn't he tell him that? It would have made sense to warn him about a potential revenge from the Second Owner? "Are-Are you sure it was my father who killed him… You know without a shadow of a doubt it wasn't anyone else?"
"...Fine. It doesn't matter if you tell me the truth or not," she said firmly, raising her left hand toward him, using her right to roll up her sleeve. Her index finger leveled at him like the barrel of a gun. "I'll get my answers one way or another. I don't trust a word coming out of your mouth, so I'll have my own way to verify them."
"Please. You don't want to do this, Ri—"
"—Anfang!"
The word left her lips as her Magic Circuits came alive in a surge of heat beneath her skin. A flash of the dagger piercing her heart flickered through her mind as her trigger snapped into place. Mana swirled outward in thin streams, responding to the formation of her magic crest glowing on her left arm, as blue intricately connected circuits appeared on it, humming with powerful magical energy.
"Lancer."
"You got it, boss."
Her Servant moved the instant his voice ended, vanishing from sight with speed no human eye could follow. Even trained enforcers would have struggled to track him. He reappeared beside Rider, spear already drawn back, and thrust forward with precise force.
"Clang!"
Sparks snapped through the air as Rider deflected the strike with her chained nail, the chains connected to them whipping outward to wrap around the spear. Lancer realized the trap instantly. Rather than pull back, he surged forward instead, knees driving toward Rider's midsection. She swung the other chain to block, but his strike carried so much force that it sent both combatants hurtling through the nearby window in a shower of glass.
"Rider!"
"You should worry about yourself first, Emiya."
She fired off several Gandr curses in rapid succession, the magical crest around her arm allowing her to skip the incantations entirely. The energy gathered fast, a dim red glow humming at her fingertips before each curse shot forward like a bullet of raw energy. She had heard more than enough about the so-called Mage Killer to know better than to hold back, even if this one was his son.
"Damn it!" he hissed, twisting sharply on his heel as he leapt aside. The curses hissed past him, punching through the plaster walls with small, precise holes that let faint streaks of daylight through from the outside. He deserved credit for that much; he was quick but still manageable. Another volley slammed into the wall behind him, splinters of concrete flying as shards skittered across the floor, yet he still slipped through the gaps with only seconds to spare.
"It was never my intention to keep this from you!" he snapped, boots scraping against the tiles as he darted to the side. "I didn't think there was any reason to bring it up!"
"What kind of answer is that? You didn't think it was worth mentioning to the Second Owner?" she shot back, voice echoing sharply through the hallway. Another trio of curses crackled through the air like gunfire. Glass burst from a row of windows in glittering showers, jagged fragments scattering across the corridor. The walls were pitted with blackened marks and chipped masonry, enough damage that even Rin knew repairs would be needed soon, though the thought barely registered.
"Stop running and surrender already!" she called, her fingers already glowing again.
"Then stop shooting curses at me first!"
She ignored that sound request entirely. Her next words were flat, final. "Then we'll have to do this the hard way."
He skidded to a halt at the end of the school corridor, shoulders rising and falling with his breathing. "Rin, come on… I don't want to fight you."
"You know my answer," she replied coldly. "Stop wasting your breath, Emiya and stand still."
Another blast ripped past his shoulder as he ducked low. Her right hand stayed buried in her coat pocket, gripping three cut gems tightly between her fingers. Half were for offensive use, the others for emergency barriers. Her inventory had been gutted after the fight with Berserker, and she had no intention of wasting what little remained unless she had to.
"In that case… I'm sorry," he said finally, his back hitting the wall. He was cornered now. One side blocked by a wall, the other by the shattered window overlooking the school courtyard. If he tried jumping, it would be a hard fall.
She stood at the mouth of the corridor, the faint noise of weapons clashing outside reaching them from the direction of the schoolyard where Rider and her Servant were still locked in combat. She did not task him to kill the woman, knowing full well the high likelihood of Lancer himself emerging injured, so he was just buying time.
"So you're finally going to fight back?" she asked, eyes narrowing. "Then show me. I want to see what you can really do."
Her answer came when he raised a hand, and blue sparks of Magical Energy flickered into the shape of a weapon. Projection magic, of all things. A crude firearm solidified in his grip, followed by bullets formed the same way.
Bang!
The first shot cracked the air, the round whizzing just past her face and tearing through her hair. Shocked, she reacted instantly, flinging a green gem forward. "Sieben!" It burst midair, unfurling into a translucent barrier the color of green jade.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sounds of several more shots being fired spread across the school. Each bullet slammed into the shield, the cracks spiderwebbing fast under the repeated impact. They weren't ordinary bullets, but projected constructs, dissolving into shards of broken magical energy as they hit.
"Projection magecraft?" Rin muttered under her breath. " Of all things, that's what he's using? What is he planning now? Tch."
Refusing to retreat even as the barrier spell began to fray at its edges, she poured more energy into her Magic Crest. The faint hum rose into a steady vibration that rippled across the cracked ground. The crimson spell gathering at her fingertip swelled before she unleashed it the instant the barrier broke apart. "Fixierung, Eile Salve." The air snapped with the release, followed by several shots that tore through the night like a machine gun. Each curse projectile shattered mid-flight, fragments of cursed mist breaking apart under the barrage of his bullets with frightening precision.
"What?" The word left her before she could stop it. In less than three seconds, dozens of her attacks had been destroyed with near-perfect accuracy, as Emiya dashed towards her after all the shots were fired. Her opponent closed the gap in silence, the speed of his advance leaving little room to counter. His eyes locked on her right hand, the source of the curses, and she understood his aim immediately. He wanted to deny her any range advantage, to pin her down before she could recover.
He caught her wrist with an iron grip, but she had no intention of staying idle. Guided by muscle memory drilled into her through Kirei's harsh training, she shifted her weight. Her free hand snapped open and drove forward, palm striking dead center into his sternum. "Oof!"
The results were immediate, as his body buckled under the strike. Reinforcement surged through her frame as she twisted her torso and planted her legs, the impact forcing the air from his lungs in a single harsh exhale. This made him stagger a few steps away, giving her enough room to toss her other gem. "Stark Groß zwei!" This one released a bright light, followed by a powerful wave of energy that pushed them away from each other. Shirou followed by throwing down his own tool, a black orb — a smoke bomb which produced a wall of smoke, further cutting each other off.
Now, both were completely blinded by their own efforts.
'Never thought I'd be grateful to Kirei for his training.' Learning Bajiquan had been a challenge, especially with that man's way of inflicting as much pain as possible with the excuse of further improving her skills. 'I'll rush him with a series of strengthened, powerful blows and finish this—Eh?'
Yet her moment of certain victory only lasted so long until she heard the sound of chains behind her. "Lancer!" Fearing that something had happened to her Servant, she looked behind, only to find nothing there — just the same chained needles Rider used, pierced on the ceiling. The chain not leading to the outside, where she still felt the two Servants fighting, but rather from within the smoke itself.
"—!"
She was too slow, as Shirou's figure came flying through faster than earlier. A loud gunshot rang in her ears, and a surge of pain shot across her palm — yet no trace of blood showed. 'R-Rubber bullets?'
If that was not enough, the chains that somehow found their way into the redhead's hand wrapped around her entire arm, with his foot coming down and sticking the fetters downwards. "Ah!" She tried to break them with her last remaining gem, a Topaz. "Anfang!" Yet that proved futile as the jewel detonated with a white light and still left no marks on its surface. Her body was forced downwards by that forceful pull; she found herself falling to her knees and then lost sight of him.
Only to realize that a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist and stomach. Linking together and applying a growing amount of strength, with her weight getting pulled upwards. A surge of panic soon followed when she recognized the technique he was using! Her eyes closed, bracing herself for the impact on her head, yet that never came.
"Please, Tohsaka, I can go all the way if I wanted to right now… but I really did not come here to be your enemy." He ended up whispering right next to her ears, sending a jolting shock across her spine with how his warm breath caressed her ear and how weird that felt! "I… I can't answer for what my father has done, or defend him properly either… because of that, I cannot fault you for hating me. Truth be told, I don't even know if my father killed yours or not. But I'll accept any punishment, anything you think I deserve for any slight you think I did, just, please, please, only after Sakura is found safe and sound. I am not the Magus Killer… and I refuse to be someone who would hurt Sakura."
"..."
He sounded sincere, at least even after the aftermath of the short confrontation between them. She felt her mind feel less crowded with the several negative thoughts and intense feelings of anger that had swirled within her since the morning. He had her bound and in a vulnerable position, capable of killing her if he wanted to. Yet he continued to plead.
Continuing the fight would not make sense anymore, and the odds weren't in her favor…regardless of what happened next.
"You… just… fine, let go of me first." She whispered, thankful that her face was not visible, or else he would have seen the blush. The position they were in was not exactly ideal, to say the least. She felt completely entangled by him, and his hot breath against her neck did not help! He nodded his head.
"Please, Tohsaka. I just want to save Sakura as soon as possible, and I think you do too. We won't be able to do that if we're fighting one another."
"..."
Again, his words echoed in her mind, and she found herself reluctantly agreeing with him.
"Fine…"
He had started to untangle himself from her when…
Crash!
The wall next to them shattered into pieces as a figure was sent flying through several layers of cement, crashing into the nearby classroom. "Now that was a mean kick! I nearly felt my spine crack, hahaha!" The recently formed hole from where Lancer had been launched was covered in a thick layer of cement-like dust in the air. Lancer walked out of it with barely any bruises and a large grin on his face as he cracked his neck. Rider showed up opposite him, with some cuts on her clothes and the blindfold hanging around her neck. "Eh? Are you two seriously flirting while we were fighting? You got quite the ballsy Master, Rider."
Shame and anger built up in her heart, but she controlled them. Instead of focusing on something rather odd, the fact that Rider was still holding onto her weapon.
Despite her body being entangled by that very same chain.
Rider seemed to have noticed it as well, with how she raised an eyebrow. Her enchanting face even made Rin feel her heart skip a beat. She definitely was quite the beauty.
"Uh… " Shirou hesitated, "I just believed it was the best choice of weapons."
Putting aside that he used Projection Magecraft to copy his Servant's weapon, and how they were durable enough to resist her spells. Rin was reaching her limit with other things.
"Can you stop whispering near my ear for once!?" Before she realized it, her elbow had already connected with his stomach.
"Gah!"
{Break}
(Around the same time)
She could not explain the sensation clearly.
The longer Sakura recalled his face, the more her thoughts seemed to tangle together. 'He reminds me of someone,' she thought.
But who? The idea itself came out of nowhere. She liked to think, vaguely and uncertainly, that it was like a shadow flickering across her mind. Perhaps it was nothing more than surface resemblance, her mind playing tricks on her after everything that had happened. Maybe it was because her head still felt heavy and strange after the attack on the manor. She had only just woken up, still stiff and disoriented, staring at the cracked and stained ceiling of a house that clearly did not belong to the Matou estate. It was one of those half-abandoned hideouts Zouken kept scattered across the city, places where he could disappear when things went wrong.
"Finally awake, I see. Hope you had a wonderful sleep, master."
The voice came from the doorway, low and rough, dragging her attention away from the peeling paint on the ceiling. She turned her head and saw him standing there. A tall man leaned against the wall, arms folded, his expression unreadable as always.
"Archer?" she said softly. Her voice cracked from the dryness in her throat. "Where…?"
"On the outskirts of the city," he answered. "Less than a few hundred meters from the ocean. Far enough from what happened to the manor. The old house won't be seeing anyone for now."
She pushed herself upright, feeling the cold floor beneath her feet as her pulse thudded harder than she liked. Memories from earlier clawed their way back into her thoughts: her grandfather stepping forward, about to demand answers from Archer, the sudden shift in the air when Archer stopped mid-sentence, his attention snapping to the sky. The missiles had come without warning, hissing arcs of metal cutting down through the clouds. That was the first time she saw him fight properly, her own servant unleashing his weapon without hesitation.
Calling it powerful did not do it justice. Even from the ground, those arrows had met the incoming weapons with impossible force and accuracy. They crossed the distance in moments, streaks of light tearing into the projectiles one after another until the sky erupted in fragments and flame. No matter how many came, he never slowed, loosening arrow after arrow until the air itself seemed to split with each impact.
Something else attacked afterward, she remembered dimly. Something that tore apart the barrier around the manor as if it were paper. Her grandfather had turned around in a panic then, fury flashing across his face as he looked toward the direction the assault came from. But the second wave had already landed, another explosion swallowing the grounds before he could react. The last thing Sakura remembered was pushing a panicking Shinji out of the way of a falling piece of their own house that would have crushed him. She hit her head back then, and before losing consciousness, she remembered seeing Archer already moving, pulling her out of the blast's reach with unshakable calm.
"Did you see who it was?" she asked.
"Whoever it was had enough sense not to show themselves," Archer replied, still leaning against the wall. "They used familiars. Several kinds, from different sources, by the look of it. I destroyed most of them and the worm colonies along with them as collateral. Not that the old man can complain." He spoke without a trace of concern, his tone flat with parts of her even suspicious that he did so intentionally.
"My grandfather," Sakura said quietly. "And Onii-sama… what happened to them?"
Archer gave her a glance from the corner of his eye. "You're worried about them?" His mouth tugged slightly at one side. "Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Master, but from what I've seen since being summoned, I can't help wondering why."
"It's true we all have problems… but… they're still my family," she replied, though the words felt thin even to her. She wanted to say more, to explain, but nothing else came.
Thankfully, the Heroic Spirit let it drop. "Your business, then. That old man's harder to kill than he looks. He won't die from something like this, though I did see his physical body cut down by something. As for the boy, I brought him with us. You wanted to save him for whatever reason, so as your Servant, I merely responded in kind. He's locked himself in his room trying to cope. Won't stop asking if I sense another attack coming or if the area is secure. He talks too much when he's scared."
"I see," she murmured.
The white-haired man approached the bed without a word, his footsteps even and measured across the wooden floor. He reached the small table near the wall, lifted a tray, and carried it to her bedside. Steam rose gently from the dishes, carrying the smell of broth and fresh vegetables. A faint fragrance spread through the air, catching her off guard the moment he set it down beside her.
"What is this?" she asked, her voice uncertain as her eyes darted between the tray and her servant. The food looked freshly cooked, the miso soup still sending up light wisps of steam, the rice in its bowl releasing the scent of warmth and starch. She had not expected this, not from him.
Archer stood by the window, his posture stiff but not hostile, one hand resting casually on the frame as though the night outside held more interest than her reaction.
"You are not in your best condition," he said evenly. "The attack you endured wasn't limited to explosives. There was a curse woven into it, contaminants that seeped into your body. Ironically, the worms inside you kept the worst of it at bay, though they left you exhausted."
Her grip on the blanket tightened at the mention of the worms. Her eyes dropped, not out of embarrassment alone but out of the quiet unease that came whenever she thought of what her body carried. Facing him now felt heavier, her servant bound to a master like her, neither of them able to ignore what had happened.
He continued without turning toward her. "Since those two weren't going to take care of you, the old man told me to handle it. I agreed. A Master who can't even stand isn't useful to anyone."
No comment followed about the worms themselves. He didn't so much as twitch, his attention still on the window as though the conversation was secondary to whatever thoughts filled his head. She couldn't read him. Was he quietly disappointed in her? Resentful about the contract between them? Or simply indifferent, treating this as routine?
She forced herself to set those thoughts aside. It wouldn't help to dwell on what Archer did or didn't feel. Instead, she reached for the chopsticks resting on the edge of the tray. Her fingers trembled faintly as she picked them up, the heat of the miso soup carrying a simple comfort she hadn't expected.
The first taste stopped her hand in midair. Warm broth spread over her tongue, rich but balanced, carrying the faint sweetness of tofu and the salt of miso paste. Her eyes flicked to the side, a creeping sense of familiarity prickling at her thoughts.
"Did you make this, or was it someone…?" She cut herself off. No one else would have cooked this. No one even knew this place. Her grandfather wouldn't have exposed their location, and no outsider would have walked in so casually.
"You're thinking about the redheaded boy, aren't you?" Archer said suddenly, as though the thought had been spoken aloud. His tone held the faintest trace of amusement. "I'll admit, he surprised me after our talk."
"Senpai? He was there!?" she asked, her voice tightening.
"That reckless fool drove into the burning manor looking for you. Saw me, jumped to the wrong conclusion, and opened fire with a gun. Humph, using a weapon like that on a Servant? No different than throwing an egg against a rock, hoping to crack the latter."
"He did what!?" Her hands slammed the tray harder than she meant to, the bowls rattling faintly. "Is he hurt? Archer, please tell me you didn't hurt him!"
He gave a small shrug, one shoulder lifting lazily. "Depends on what you call hurt."
"Archer!" She shouted louder than usual, sounding very much characteristically different from her usual self.
The man waved his hand in mock defeat, "Fine, fine. No need to yell. I didn't harm him much. I just defended myself, nothing more. His attacks wouldn't have done anything anyway. I gave him a warning and left. Fighting him or Saber would have drained your energy further. I wasn't going to risk that."
Some relief eased into her chest before confusion took its place. Also… Saber?
"My sister," Sakura said flatly. "She's the only one talented enough to summon a Saber-class servant."
"A bit hurtful. You're making it sound like you got the short end of the stick by summoning an Archer," the man replied with a quiet hum, his tone faintly amused. "I admit they have plenty of advantages as a class, especially with their strong resistance to magic. But even with that, they remain at a disadvantage against someone like me. Range wins most fights against close combat experts. It's not as if their Servants are fast or durable enough to survive against them, or worse, have protection against arrows. They try to rush in close, and that's where they die."
"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!" she said quickly, hands lifting in panic. "You're incredible as a Servant! If it weren't for you, then—" Her words tripped over themselves before she fell silent. The man had raised an eyebrow, the faintest smirk on his lips. That tiny expression was enough to tell her he had been teasing from the start.
"I already told him you're alive and unharmed," the Archer continued, as if the exchange amused him, but still taking care of her most pressing concern. "So he isn't running through the streets looking for you. At least, one can hope he isn't. Not the best impression he gave me yesterday, with how reckless he is. Still, he lived through several of my attacks. That says something about his endurance."
"You said you didn't hurt him!" she blurted out in disbelief.
"Come on now, just a few bruises, maybe a fractured rib or two. One on his upper torso, but no ruptured organs. Hardly worth calling it an injury for someone like him," the man said lightly. "Either he's already healed or he will within hours."
Her jaw tightened, the urge to scold him rising again, but exhaustion pulled at her shoulders. Before she could form words, another presence slipped into the room.
"You seem lively enough if you can talk this much, Sakura," a rough voice said.
She froze.
Her eyes shifted toward the newcomer, and her breath caught in her throat. Recognition landed first, followed by something colder. The voice belonged to her grandfather, but the thing standing in the doorway barely qualified as human anymore.
He had looked unpleasant before the attack, pale skin stretched thin over sharp bones and those sunken, dark eyes. Now even that miserable trace of humanity had been stripped away. His body was nothing more than a shifting mass of worms, crawling beneath his skin in uneven layers. Patches of his face were gone entirely, showing clusters of pale, slick bodies weaving together, struggling to hold a man's shape but failing. Some slid out from hollowed sockets in his arms and shoulders, wriggling down before climbing back toward the main mass of his torso.
"Grandfather?" she whispered, uncertain if the word even fit anymore.
"Don't be shocked by this form," he rasped, voice wet and uneven. "That cursed woman destroyed years of my work. I had to recall every familiar I sent out to scout, just so I could stand here. It's temporary. I will recover. We first need to deal with more important matters."
"Grandfather, about the person that attacked u—"
Tap!
His grotesque hand which still held a cane for support struck on the ground, cutting her off and pushing the room in a wave of silence. "—That person is someone I will handle myself, you have no business with her nor should you even so much as attempt at trying to find her, even with the Servant by your side it's dangerous. I will tell you what you need to know and when it is acceptable for you to move against her; there is no reason for you to learn matters beyond what you need to. I will not allow the last vestige of my life's work to be destroyed so easily." The way he worded his phrase was no surprise to Sakura; the man cared more about the worms inside, what she could do for him, and the destiny she was chosen to follow rather than herself.
"Understood." She never even had any plans like that, not even a thought about it, even if she wanted to.
"Good, let me worry about such things, and you worry about your current well-being. For now, I have more important things to address, especially when it comes to you, Servant." Zouken turned his attention to Archer, the latter briefly acknowledging him with a side glance. "I'm afraid that your master has already become a target for someone very dangerous. It is not just the other contestants you need to worry about anymore, so it would be wise for someone else to temporarily take her place while I finish up my preparations for her."
Her eyes widened as soon as she heard that, especially when he retrieved the book from his robes and presented it to her.
"This will change your master to someone else, though you will no longer receive as much supply of energy as before. I am sure you can find other ways to sustain yourself, and as an Archer, your independent action will come in handy."
At that, Archer chuckled. "You are seriously planning on making that boy my master? Perhaps that explosion has affected you in more ways than physically or just plain senile, old man. You must be a fool if you think I will accept going through with that plan, especially against someone so powerful. I'm going to need all the strength I can get." The only other person who could take on the title of master was none other than her brother, but he did not possess working magic circuits to sustain a servant. So she was confused as to why her grandfather was going through with this plan.
"This was not a suggestion," Zouken stated with a firm tone, until a sickening grimace etched onto his face. "And I never mentioned that my useless grandson would be the one to take her place. Rather, I shall be the one to become your master; you will be of more use to me in this way than anything else."
Her grandfather being the Master? Sakura was stunned, and so was her Servant from the looks of it. Was that even allowed? Was he doing so because of the person who attacked them? She had so many questions. "Wait, you promised that you would let me keep Archer!" She exclaimed, finding enough strength to confront her grandfather.
"Plans change, Sakura."
"I believe there has been some misunderstanding here," Archer said after a moment of silence, "You are not the one to make the decisions here. I do not care what control you may have over my Master, but I do not want to be passed around like some toy. Especially to a walking corpse who can barely keep himself whole at the moment."
"Are you defying me?"
"Depends, I can see you have some plan in store, and I'm well aware that you have many means to use against me, should I disobey." Silver grey eyes sharpened, deeply staring back at black eyes with little to no fear within them. Almost challenging the old man to do something. "But are you foolish enough to earn the ire of a Servant when you already have so many enemies running around your territory?"
The air flashed with notes of blue light, soon taking the shape of… swords? A pair of black and white blades was held firmly in his hand while being pointed at Zouken.
"Because right now, to me, it clearly seems like you are the next biggest danger to my Master. Even if you try to use her against me, as you said, I can act independently long enough to make sure that body of yours no longer can regenerate and be left at the mercy of whatever enemy attacked us."
"Ah!" A wave of pain soon forced its way into her heart, the girl falling from the bed and clutching her chest with both hands, the Servant and the old man looking at her.
"This is your last warning," Zouken said, walking away from the room. "You have a few minutes left until I am done making the preparations. Do not disappoint me, Sakura."
He left her those words before leaving, the silence in the room suffocating her as the pain gradually subsided. Now left with no strength, she clenched her fist with frustration and equal parts sadness for how she found herself in such a helpless situation despite promising to stay strong. "I am sorry, Archer."
"Sorry that you are going to agree with his decision, or because you think you'll fail keeping me bound to you?"
Both, even if she wanted to, even if she could stand against that man and defied his orders, it would only be temporary. If he so desired, taking away her Servant could be done easily without even needing her consent. She let her silence be the answer he was waiting to hear.
"I see." He said, walking closer, and soon, she felt his presence nearby as he went down on one knee with their eyes on the same level. "Do you want me to change that?" He asked, and as much as she wanted to say her true thoughts—she knew how useless it was.
"You can't kill him."
"Maybe. But I remember you wanted to keep me around in order to keep that precious senpai of yours safe from danger. Do you still want that?"
Sakura nodded her head.
"So make sure to do that at least. Make sure he doesn't die from his reckless actions. Still, I don't think that's enough. Instead of just making sure he's okay, why not become strong enough to stand by his side as an equal? Return to his side yourself without needing his constant protection, because I can say with certainty, the moment you let that old man do as he wishes, I might not be able to return to you and will be stuck playing the waiting game. This may be our last meeting, so I wanted to at least say that."
"I… I wish I could do everything you said… but I, a person like me, I'm…?"
"It's not about whether you think you deserve it or not. You'll be surprised by how many people you think really value that. Instead, think of whether you want to do it or not. Even if you think there are way better people who can do it besides you, I think there's meaning in wanting to be that person yourself and working hard for it. At least then you can say you did all you could."
She was a bit taken aback by how much he brought up things she was not even sure had been mentioned before. But perhaps she did and had no recollections of them anymore after that chaos. Still, though, what he said touched her in a way not many people would.
"How much do you cherish that brat?"
"..."
More than her life.
"Do you fear going against the old man or losing him?"
Both.
'There's no opposing grandpa. Uncle Kariya tried to do that with every fiber of his being, and he ended up dead. His mind broken, and body devoured by worms by his own father.'
The girl's soul had truly been engulfed by the feeling that opposing this entity was all but impossible. At least, that's how it was before.
'Senpai…'
Just the thought of the man who came into her life and gave her back hope and her heart made her soul soar. If she were to lose him, then she would… The latter, in this moment, outweighed the former. In this moment, she feared losing her Senpai far more than what her grandfather would do.
Somehow, he was able to know her answer without her even needing to say anything.
"Then, Master, as I am still your Servant. It is my duty to obey your commands and bring you victory through whatever means necessary. So I ask you, what do you desire now?"
She already knew the answer to that, but just was not sure if it could be achieved. But then, she recalled how, despite facing impossible odds against a towering monster of a Servant, Shirou also never showed much fear. He was willing to go ahead and risk his own life just to save her, and yet here she was, despairing, and bundled in a corner.
It angered her.
Her hands clenched into a fist, slowly raising her head until she looked back at Archer, who waited patiently.
"I want to be by his side, to also protect him… and I need your help for that."
For some reason, his eyes twitched. "Heh, what a strange summoning, where I have to protect a Master I should usually be killing. But," he got up, walking calmly towards the door and slowly closing it while leaving her with a few more words. "I suppose keeping you safe, fulfilled, and human isn't so bad either… for now, that has become my priority. Rest easy, Master… it will all be over soon."
—-
Rin's German Spell's Translations:
Anfang = Beginning (Her mental trigger, her version of Shirou's Trace On)
"Sieben!" = Seven
"Fixierung, Eile Salve" = Aim Volley Fire (Another translation is Fixation, Haste, Salvo)
"Stark Groß zwei!" = Strong Big Two
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.