Nasuverse belongs to Nasu and type moon, not me. This is a project for fun and I receive no profit from it.

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"Ah! My elusive master returns at last." The giant sat up straight from where he was hunched up on the floor, surrounded by a pile of books, snacks, and video games.

"I didn't want to speak at length before you were up to speed." The lecturer of the clocktower replied, loosening his dark red scarf. ""I trust that my spell was successful?"

The giant relaxed into a slump at the base of the couch and smile. "Yes, yes. A curious and useful spell, that was. It is strange to see things one did, but cannot remember doing, especially when viewed from the perspective of another." He rubbed his chin pensively. "No, the only way to make sense of it is to think of this Rider, your Rider, as another person, distinct from myself." He chuckled. "That certainly makes the pain of failure less keen."

A wry smile touched the lips of the Clocktower lecturer as he put away his things. "I know better than to think that you are expressing regret, Rider."

The giant closed his eyes and frowned thoughtfully. "I see that you were listening to the other me at least somewhat. Ha! Even if that other me failed, he at least succeeded in gaining a loyal retainer, yes?"

"Correct. However, I am not the boy who thought to win the grail war, and you are not the king to which that boy swore an oath of fealty." The lecturer's voice had grown tight, but he let out a sigh and released it, smiling. "The oath of fealty that I have sworn to you now is a separate matter entirely. I suppose you will say that your inability to remember the last war is a cause for rejoicing, since we get to experience the joy of meeting again."

"Of course!" The giant's laugh rolled like water. "I only bring up that old oath because I question why you should involve yourself in this war again. You were commanded by your king to live! It seems that you survived the last war only by the mercy of the King of Heroes, and now you are needlessly endangering yourself. To be clear, I am hardly complaining, but in addition to everything else, you're not even sure that this grail will work."

Silence prevailed for a moment as the lecturer simply stood there, staring. "Well, I did want to see you again." The statement was delivered almost in a resigned, embarrassed manner. "But truly? I despise this ritual. I intend to obtain the grail for my king, extract every scrap of knowledge I can from it, and then destroy the grail permanently."

A/N: Some quick notes: Waver's character has grown and changed a lot since Fate/Zero. His representation here is largely based off of his portrayal in the first El Melloi Case Files light novel. There's another character from that series named Gray who will be appearing in this fic. I will do work to introduce her as though she were an OC... but she isn't.

So you shouldn't need any knowledge of EM case files to appreciate this work. If you do want more info, I'd highly recommend you read the first (and only) EM case files book that has been translated, but if you're impatient and want some free spoilers, I have written up a little summary of Waver and Gray's characters. You can find it if you copy and paste the following, replacing (dotcom) with the obvious: ' spacebattles(dotcom)/posts/40255013/'.