CHAPTER 22:

THE RESCUE

The birth of deities is a fascinating subject. For the three Gorgons, their birth came about from the desires of humanity for perfect, beautiful deities to worship. First, reserved Stheno. Then, playful Euryale. And finally, protective Medusa.

Medusa was the youngest, but she was the only one of the Gorgons to actually age, albeit up to an age somewhere in her twenties to early thirties, if she was a human. She was often teased for her height, not to mention her bust, by her sisters. She gained something of a complex about it, not helped when Euryale and Stheno teased her by calling her 'Meduseless'. They still loved her, true, but she was teased on many an occasion.

But there was one who truly loved her the way she was. The only being that her sisters would tone down the teasing around. Thanatos, the god of death. Hades may rule over the dead, but it was Thanatos who brought them to the River Styx.

While rather grim and dutiful, rather like Hades, Thanatos had a gentle side few saw. The Gorgons were amongst the privileged few, and when Athena cursed Medusa, Thanatos was one of the few deities affiliated with the Olympians to stay by the Gorgons' side. But the worsening of Medusa's curse, the consumption of her sisters like Cronus consuming his own children, and Perseus' advent, tore them apart.

And yet, Medusa reflected as the Portkey deposited her outside the church, and she charged inside, they'd been given a second chance. Thanatos had been reincarnated as Harry Potter. Euryale and Stheno had survived…but the millennia alone had blunted their usual teasing. It was the last regrets, that they hadn't truly told Medusa how much they loved her, before she became the infamous Gorgon feared in myth, the eldritch monster Perseus would eventually slay, that had them take down the teasing, at least for now. She'd welcome a return to the status quo later, when they weren't fighting for their lives.

She had failed them before. She wouldn't again. And by seeing if she could rescue those present in the church, she could also live up to her name. Medusa meant 'guardian', after all. It was about time she lived up to it.

Once in the church, she swiftly took stock, looking at the bodies. Kayneth Archibald was dead, lying in a puddle of his own blood, a look of agony writ large on his face. No great loss. Lord El-Melloi was typical of the more arrogant Magi, with an arrogance matching that of the Olympians. His death meant little to her.

Pinned against the altar like a butterfly in a cassock was Risei Kotomine, and while he was still alive, it was painfully clear that he wouldn't remain that way for long unless he got help soon. As for Kirei, the psychopathic priest was currently attending to Sola-Ui, a bloodstained blade in hand, only for him to see Medusa arrive, his eyes widening briefly to betray his surprise. Without a word, Medusa hurled one of her nail-like daggers at him, but the priest dodged, and fled out of sight.

Her priorities were clear. Deciding to forgo pursuit of the guilty in favour of saving the living, Medusa rushed over to Sola-Ui. While her injuries were nasty, they weren't as immediately threatening as Risei's, so she went over to attend to him, only to use one of her daggers to block a bayonet-like blade, similar to the ones pinning Risei to the altar, hurled from the doorway Kirei had disappeared through. "Black Keys," Sola-Ui hissed, as she scrambled behind the altar.

"Black Keys?" Medusa asked.

"Mystic Codes used by the Burial Agency. Particularly effective against Dead Apostles and spirits," Sola-Ui explained, grimacing in pain. "I don't think they'd be any more effective against a Heroic Spirit than any other Mystic Code, but I might be wrong."

Medusa managed to remove the Black Keys pinning Risei to the altar, and grabbed Sola-Ui and the priest, before saying, "Thanatos…"

Harry couldn't get a hold of Kiritsugu (and he didn't know whether sending a Patronus was a good idea for covert communication)…but Hermione was another matter. He explained as best as he could, but apparently Gilgamesh had demanded their presence for a final showdown at the main bridge, and if they didn't accept, the arrogant Archer was going to take the fight to them. Just as he was hanging up, Medusa, along with Sola-Ui and a badly-injured Risei appeared. Instantly, Harry began trying to heal the elderly priest, Medusa laying him down on the table. Kariya, without being bidden, hurried over to the cupboard where Harry kept his medicinal potions, and brought some out.

As he worked on Risei, Harry asked, "What happened?"

"Kirei happened. He got away. I concentrated more on getting these two away," Medusa said.

"The man's a lunatic," Sola-Ui sneered. "After incapacitating his father, he managed to use a Bible verse to take all those Command Seals from him. He killed Kayneth, though not before telling him that the Command Seals were meant to force the final Servant to kill themselves to open up a route to Akasha, and then began to torture Father Kotomine. He was saying something about how his father never understood him, how he wasn't a monster born. The weird thing is, he wasn't boasting or bragging or even gloating about it. It was almost like he was in the confessional. Oh, he was doing it to hurt his father, I'm sure, but still…"

"You don't seem that broken up about your fiancée," Kariya observed.

Sola-Ui snorted. "It was an arranged marriage, and he wasn't nice. Besides, the Grail War has death as a hazard of the job, so to speak. Anyway, who the hell are you?"

"Kariya Matou, only, I got the hell out of that shithole of a family," Kariya said. "And I sympathise. Lord El-Melloi wasn't a nice guy, from what I heard. Magi politics…" He spat out the last two words as if they were vile expletives.

Harry, however, was frowning. "Why would Kirei Kotomine steal Risei's Command Seals?" he thought out loud. "The ones left over from previous Grail Wars…wait, Sola-Ui…you said that Kirei boasted of killing Tokiomi, right?"

Sola-Ui nodded. "Well, not boasted per se, though he smiled when he said it. Creepy bastard."

"Which means Archer, Gilgamesh, is without a Master…or maybe he isn't. Maybe he's managed to persuade Kirei to betray Tokiomi and become his Master," Harry said.

"…I did see Command Seals on his hand briefly," Sola-Ui admitted.

"Even without that, Command Seals can be useful as a temporary mana supply if used the right way," Kariya pointed out. "Black Keys rely on mana for the blades to be formed or enhanced. How many Command Seals did Risei have?"

"A dozen at least, I'd guess," Harry said, as he finished tending to Risei, and then began tending to Sola-Ui. "Remember, they were collected from fallen Masters after the first three Grail Wars. Seven Masters, three Command Seals apiece across three Grail Wars, that's 63 Command Seals all up, so we'd have to expect at least some of that. He could have also taken the Command Seals from Ryuunosuke after I delivered him to the church. Anyway, the point is that Kirei has rejoined the Grail War and betrayed Tokiomi. He's also in charge of Gilgamesh, one of the more powerful, if not the most powerful, Servant in this Grail War. In short, this Grail War is now FUBAR."

A pained chuckle emitted from Risei as he got up slowly off the table. "A crude but apt way to put it," the elderly priest said quietly, gritting his teeth from the pain he felt, physically and emotionally. He looked over to Harry. "My son…where was he?"

"He fled. I don't know whether the church had a secret exit or not, but I thought it best to have Medusa get you out of there. And don't move, Risei, I may have healed the worst of your injuries, but you frankly need to be put into a hospital to get checked over."

"The church had a few exits, and Kirei could have left through one of them." The elderly priest looked solemn. "Kirei…where did I go wrong?" He checked his arm, and scowled. "And he took the Command Seals. If he truly has betrayed and slain Tokiomi, then he must have taken possession of Archer."

"Archer, Gilgamesh, has been grooming him," Medusa said. "I believe that his purpose was to have Kirei take over from Tokiomi for a while. But Kirei confessed that he was struggling against psychopathic tendencies for some time. He got into this Grail War to find answers he sought to his existence. Unfortunately for us, he may very well have found them."

"So, in summary, we have, ranged against us, one of the most powerful Heroic Spirits of history and a psychotic priest trained to take down Dead Apostles and the like, and that's without going into their alliance with a Magus assassin and the King of Knights," Stheno summed up, before snarking, "Well, that sounds like fun."

"And that's without going into the possibility that the Grail may be tainted," Harry said. "Gilgamesh said he might not be willing to suffer a tarnished cup, but remember how he acted during that little drinking party, Medusa. It's his automatically due to right of being the first hero. So he'll want to claim it, taint or not. We need to stop him."

Risei looked at him with a frown. "And risk defaulting on the geas contract?"

"If it saves the Root from being contaminated, yes," Harry said. "You colluded with Tokiomi, as did your son, because you wanted to witness a miracle."

"Wait, what?" Sola-Ui demanded, but Harry waved at her, hushing her.

"Now, don't get me wrong, while I wasn't wholly trusting of Tokiomi, given that he had too much of the cold-blooded Magus mindset, he gave me Sakura to adopt. I was willing to look the other way as long as Tokiomi was going to use access to Akasha to research it, not exploit it for power, and as long as my friends weren't targeted by him. But if the Greater Grail is contaminated, and it somehow accesses Akasha, what might happen?"

"A disaster," Kariya muttered.

"Exactly. I don't intend to claim the Grail to have a wish or to try and access Akasha. I'm trying to prevent it from being used to inflict disaster on the world, inadvertently or not," Harry said. "Anyway, I'm heading there to stop Kirei and Gilgamesh from turning this into even more of a bloodbath than most other Grail Wars. Fuck the geas contract."

Risei looked at Harry, before eventually nodding. "I understand. As one of the co-signatories on the contract, and with Tokiomi dead, I can release you from it." He waved a hand, and Harry and Medusa felt something unlock within their souls. "This is not permission to claim the Grail, but rather, to do what you can to prevent disaster. I trust you enough with this."

"…Thanks, Risei."

"And Harry? While I won't ask you to hold back from killing my son if need be to save your life and those of others…I want him kept alive if you can manage it. Because I want to know where I went wrong, why he has done this to myself and Tokiomi."

"He's a raving lunatic," Kariya muttered.

"…Kariya, you have not been a father, save for helping look after Sakura," Risei rebuked the Matou quietly. "This pains me deeply. Tokiomi and I gave him everything we could…and this is what he does to us. Some parts, I understand…but I have to wonder, why did he not trust me enough to approach me, to let me help him? I would like to think that I could have done something for my son, to try and rid him of the evil festering within him, or else mitigate it somehow."

"I don't think there is any hope for him now," Harry said solemnly. "I'm sorry, Risei. If it's a choice between your son and disaster…"

Risei nodded solemnly and silently. Harry, then, took that as his cue to head out of the Black Library, Medusa following him. "…What do we do?" Medusa asked.

"We're up against impossible odds, against one of the oldest heroes of humanity and a psychopath who has just freed himself from his shackles. The world may be at stake," Harry said quietly, before he met Medusa's gaze evenly. "The only thing we can do…is win."

Medusa nodded, her casual outfit changing to her battle outfit. And holding onto him, they Apparated, to what could be their last battle…

CHAPTER 22 ANNOTATIONS:

So, here you go. I honestly don't know when the next chapter will be out, but hey, any chapter's better than nothing. I hope you enjoyed it.

It's worth pointing out that, since the last chapter, I learned something disturbing, courtesy of a reviewer on Separated at Birth. Apparently, Kinoku Nasu stated that Tokiomi knew about the Crest Worms before he gave Sakura to Zouken. Which sort of makes this fic outdated, but hey.

It's also worth pointing out that, since the last chapter, I started playing Fate/Grand Order. There's a pretty strong disparity between how I portrayed Euryale and Stheno, and what they were like in the game. So I hastily wrote in a little bit at the beginning to address this.

Review-answering time! Leon Midnight: Fate/Apocrypha's first half was released back on Blu-Ray here in Australia back in February, and the second half is being released next month, as of writing. I've got one crossover with that so far: Love and War, a WBWL fic. I'm probably going to write more once I watch the rest of the series. I am also aware of Today's Menu for the Emiya Family, and while I am not getting it online, I can get the manga through Book Depository, and may just do that someday.

Dragon Man 180: Kirei's face-heel turn, this time around, was wholly due to Gilgamesh's influence. He's actually killed his own father in other Fate fanfics, and Gilgamesh states in canon that Kirei actually wanted to do so himself.

No numbered annotations this time.