I do not own any of the original Fate Series characters. Alright, so just to clear things up to anyone reading this, this story is more or less along with Unlimited Blade Works storyline but with some Apocrypha characters in it. However, it didn't follow UBW all the way to the end, only until just after Illyasviel's death.

Planning

Daniel groaned quietly, eyes creaking open and staring at the ceiling. His entire body burned and ached, and a line down his torso was screaming in agony, yet the wounds his body was claiming weren't there. He slowly pushed himself up, body trembling in an effort to not respond. He reached a sitting position, noticing that he wasn't wearing a shirt, and looked around, finding Arturia asleep beside him. He sighed, turning and setting his feet on the floor, then leaning forward and trying to push himself up. His legs gave out and he dropped to his hands and knees, sighing. He glanced at Arturia but she was still asleep. He slowly began to push himself up again, managing to get upright and slowly staggering to the desk where his shirt was neatly folded. He pulled it on and left the room, stumbling down the hall to the kitchen. He pulled the freezer open, grabbing a bag of frozen vegetables and pressed it to his chest, sighing as the pain of the wound he was supposed to have began to fade.

He turned, stumbling back down the hallway to his and Arturia's room, then to the door to the bathroom. He knocked weakly, and after a moment he knocked again, a little more forcefully. When there was no answer, he slid the door open a little, carefully peeking in, thankful that it was empty. He stepped inside, closing the door only for his legs to give out and for him to crumple unceremoniously to the floor, groaning quietly as he pulled a muscle in his right leg. He rolled, getting his leg out straight again and lay there, waiting for the room to stop spinning. Finally, it did and Daniel rolled onto his side, slowly pushing himself up and stumbling over to the toilet, dropping onto his knees and bending forward, vomiting into it. Once the flood had ended and he could breathe again, he coughed, inhaled, and began again. After several more repetitions, he sighed, flushing and stumbled to the sink, washing the vomit out of his mouth and brushing his teeth. Then, he turned and one foot caught the other, dropping him to the floor a second time. This time, the door slid open after a moment.

"Daniel!" Arturia gasped, dropping to her knees beside him worriedly.

Daniel smiled, his mouth moving but remaining silent. His eyes widened and he tried again, face contorting in effort and concentration. Arturia's eyes widened and began to water.

"Um...I can't talk," Daniel said telepathically. "At least this still works."

Arturia nodded, helping him up and back to the bedroom, setting him on the bed and sitting beside him. "What happened? You spoke before."

"I'm not really sure," Daniel said. "But, I threw up a minute ago so, maybe it's just a side effect?"

Arturia looked unsure but lay down beside him, pulling him against her, trembling. He wrapped his arms around her, gently stroking her back as she curled into him. He lay awake after that, even as Arturia drifted back to sleep. By morning, he still couldn't speak, and his missing wound still hurt. But he remained silent about it. Finally, as the sun was rising, Arturia stirred and smiled up at him. He smiled back, kissing her lightly before slipping out from under her and standing, pulling a shirt on. She got up as well, noticing he was moving only slightly better than the night before. She helped him out to the living room where the others were all awake and chatting. Everyone smiled and greeted Daniel as he stepped into the room.

"You're finally awake," Rin smiled. "Good. How do you feel?"

Daniel shrugged.

"You have to be honest with us Daniel," Rin said. "Parts of your soul were lost before we could save you. We need to determine which, and then we need to monitor them to see if they return."

"I can't speak," Daniel said. "And my entire body is weak and hurts. Also, I threw up last night."

"I see," Rin nodded. "The vomiting and weakness are both from your soul trying to adjust to the body. It should pass in a day or two. The speaking is probably the same thing, since Archer said you were able to speak immediately after getting your body. I'm not sure how long until you get that back."

Daniel nodded and sat down on the floor, Arturia sitting beside him. The others were all seated in their usual arrangement, along with the extras who had taken up positions around the room on the floor. Scathach was leaning against the wall beside Lancer and talking to him quietly, Caules was sitting on the floor in the corner with Berserker sitting in his lap making a wreath of flowers, the newest archer was sitting on the floor off to the side, using a rubber band to shoot folded pieces of paper at Achilles, who was deflecting them with a toothpick.

"What do we do now?" Archer asked. "It's pretty clear that our plans have gone to shit."

"We need to find a way to destroy the grail," Rin said. "And we need to do it as soon as we can."

"We should start taking out the more troublesome Servants, too," Lancer said. "Like those two Berserkers that nearly killed Daniel."

"I've got a question about that," the newest archer said. "How'd Saber survive so long after that? I thought only archers possess that kind of longevity outside of a contract."

"It's because Daniel fused his soul with hers," Archer said. "Mana comes from the soul originally. So when Daniel's soul was joined with Saber, it allowed her to remain by feeding off of it, like a battery. It's part of the reason that parts of his soul are currently missing."

"I thought that was because he was dying," Shiro said.

"Most of it was," Archer said. "And Saber did an amazing job holding him back from that fate. But even while she was holding him back, a part of his soul was consumed by her, unknowingly, as a mana battery."

"Could we please focus on ending the war?" Arturia spoke up.

Daniel wrapped his arms a bit more securely around her, resting his head on top of hers. Rin sighed, nodding.

"She's right," Rin said. "We have more important things to deal with. We need to figure out who's been summoned. And we need to establish an order in which we eliminate them."

"And how do we judge that order?" Achilles asked.

"Threat," Caules said. "Those that we think are most dangerous should be eliminated first."

"The Berserkers," Lancer said.

"Morgana and Mordred," Arturia said.

"Gilgamesh," Archer said.

"That's just to start with," Rin said. "We have to assume we'll meet an army's worth."

"Can we skip to addressing the biggest issue?" Daniel asked the room telepathically. "How exactly do we destroy the Grail?"

Everyone looked around silently for several moments before Archer spoke up.

"In my time, there was a theory," Archer said. "A sufficiently powerful strike from both Servant and Master, at the same time, could, in theory, destroy the Grail. However, due to the nature of the Holy Grail Wars, that has never been possible. But I was never a part of a war like this. Whatever's happening here, it's not normal. It shouldn't be happening. Someone's...changing things."

"Well, this time around, we can hit the Holy Grail with everything we've got," Achilles said. "So we just need to make sure that we all get to the Grail and blast the hell out of it."

"Easier said than done," Arturia said. "The Grail won't form until at least six Servants have died, and the seventh is weakened. It will be a long while before that happens. And even when that does happen, we'll be hard-pressed to find it before someone else. This war doesn't have to end for a wish to be made."

"On that note, we have to assume that whoever is controlling this war will be waiting to claim the grail the moment it appears," Daniel said. "We cannot allow them to make a wish. Otherwise, everything we do will have been wasted."

"He's right," Rin said. "We need to make sure that the Grail appears where we choose."

"We can't," Waver said. "Now that Servants are appearing globally, we have to assume the same can be said for the Grail."

"There have been ways to control it before, right?" Sakura asked.

"There are ways to increase the likelihood," Archer said. "But if the Grail can appear globally, they would all become essentially pointless. The likelihood, increased or not, would be too low to rely on it or to waste time and energy trying. On the other hand, for the person controlling the war to be waiting for the grail, they'd need to be able to predict its location. They may have a way to control it. If we could figure out who they are, we could use that to reach the grail first."

"That presents its own problems," Waver said.

"Everything does," Daniel said. "Everything we do is going to have problems, risks, and essentially be nothing but guesswork and assumptions. We assume we'll be able to reach the grail at all, we assume we'll survive long enough for the Grail to form, we assume it will form before everyone's dead, and we assume that someone actually is controlling this."

"Well what do you suggest we do then, gimpy?" Achilles asked, Arturia glaring at him.

"Instead of focussing on the grail, we should start with the Servants we listed off," Daniel said. "That's a list of, what, five? So long as we're careful, we should still have time to worry about locating the grail before it forms. However, once we do defeat the Servants we listed, we have to start assuming that the person who may or may not be controlling this war is going to be powerful, and also have a Servant of their own."

"If it comes to that, we'll deal with them," Shiro said.

"Yeah, sure," Achilles said. "Just like we all dealt with Zelretch. Has anyone considered the possibility that it's him? Maybe he wants to wish that all non-magic -users will be dead so he doesn't have to do his job anymore and he can retire."

"Enough," Lancer finally groaned. "We're getting nowhere. He have a general plan, so let's just get started. Everyone capable of moving fast and stealthily, while also defending yourself if it comes to a fight, mostly meaning myself, Scathach, and the archers, should go out and find our targets, then report back. If anyone other than Future Emiya finds Gilgamesh, they need to hightail it away, and prepare to be killed anyway."

"He's right," Archer sighed. "We'll head out and start searching. The rest of you stay here and defend this place. We're bound to draw attention. Even with Rin's wards."

The others all nodded in agreement and those who were able to do reconnaissance well left, the rest staying at the house. Daniel and Arturia returned to their room, Arturia helping Daniel through rehab so that he could adjust to his body faster.

Leave a review. Sorry this took so long. I forgot what I wanted to do for a while and lost motivation.