Fate/Stay Night: Umbra Bello

POLL IS UP~! If you're interested in affecting the outcome of this story, cast your vote, and let me know.

Orion399- One would wonder when, where, and how he got any magic crest. Or, come to think of it, access to magecraft in general, no?

max305/-runelt99- Yes, I guess you could say it would be suicidal for him to confront her in a direct attack on her own territory.

That begs the question, is he being desperate, clever, or both? Even if it was all or nothing (which, when you see things from his perspective, it kinda is), would a 500 year old Magus attack an entrenched Caster Servant without a plan?

Blaze2121- The plot, up to this point closely resembles Heaven's Feel. In fact, that's the way this particular timeline was headed before Orso got thrown into the equation like a stone into a river. Everything here was supposed to be a Heaven's Feel Abridged timeline. As Matou Zouken's actions shall soon dictate however, that is to no longer be the case.

This is where the original canon begins to end.

As for the BZZZT thing, I suppose I could've explained it earlier, I was just waiting for an organic moment in the story to do so, but it's not all that important a detail. Short version? It's supposed to be static.

You know how Shirou detects magic by "smelling" it? Well, Orso detects it by way of a feeling. Like how some places are staticy, and make your hairs stand on end? Or, you know when you've found a piece of metal that's charged to the point where it might give you a slight shock? That's how Orso detects magic. By feeling the direction, and intensity of that static, he can detect the direction, and strength of mana.

If you're starting to get lost, I can give a brief summary of the story so far on my Bio page if you want. However, it should be stated that there won't be explanations for everything because the plot is still ongoing. You're probably gonna need it because if you think the story's been confusing so far, you should know we're just getting started. Everything until chapter 10 was just the prologue. We're just getting Arc 1 of 4 going. If I explained everything now, it'd be like Archer outright saying he was Shirou in episode 4 of UBW. At this rate, we'll get to the big reveals in say, ten, twenty chapters?

SunOfSunGod- (does best River Song impression) ~Spoilers~.

Chapter XIV- Tone Shift

Date: 02/04/2004

Time: 3:34 pm (several hours before the end of the last chapter)

Location: Emiya Household.

CLANG!

Clang!

"Watch your legs!" I was warned-

Whoooosh!

I jumped to avoid a leg sweep, and used the momentum to attack their shoulder-

tap

"Aaaaaand, y'er dead." Okita smirked. Her wooden sword poking at my chest.

I sigh as it registers that I lost.

"Damn… pretty sure it was ten seconds faster this time…"

Dropping my own practice blade to the ground to take a break, I moved over to a bottle of water I had ready. Sweat, and the cool air not being enough to cool me down.

"Surprised you went for the strike. You're starting to act, rather than react." she remarked as I finished drinking.

I raised a finger to indicate I was occupied.

Nothing more delicious than ice cold water after a long workout.

"'sigh', I guess frustration at always being on the backfoot won out." I lamented my over-eager strike.

"Don't be too down on yourself! Your victory will come someday~!" my Servant encouraged me cheerfully. "Just keep trying! Your fighting spirit is half the battle."

"And the other half?"

"Skill." she stated simply.

"Right… well, since I doubt I'll find the skill in time for the end of the war, I'll just have to borrow some of yours. Lord knows you got plenty of that to spare."

"It's not like you don't have any of your own." Assassin scolded, "At the very least, you've got an innate talent for swordsmanship. And your footwork is almost on point. If it weren't for the dream cycle, I'd think you'd just received poor training. Makes me wonder where you learned to move like that."

…

Four months ago, Orso's time...

~I'm putting on my shades To cover up my eyes I'm jumpin' in my ride I'm heading out tonight~

~I'm Solo, I'm Han Solo, I'm Han Solo. I'm Han Solo. Solo.~

~I'm picking up my blaster, Put it on my side. I'm jumpin' in my Falcon Wookie at my side.~

~I'm solo, I'm Han Solo, I'm Han Solo. I'm Han Solo. Solo!~

"Woo! 100%!" I shouted to no one in particular. "Jontron was right! This did make this entire fustercluck of a game worth the effort! 10/10 IGN!"

I ready another song-

Now...

"Y'know. Around. Also, dream cycle?" What could she have possibly seen that would make her think that?

"Yeah. A couple nights ago I saw you when you were little. You were having the time of your life fighting off a bunch of bigger kids with… some kind of green stick?" she looks off into the distance, trying to recall details.

Green stick..?

When did I-

Ah.

"That was… a loooong time ago." I start to recall.

"I figured as much. You weren't even half as tall, and actually seemed to be enjoying yourself." Okita seemed to giggle at the memory.

I grow red in embarrassment.

"'sigh', yeah, these things aren't a major breach in privacy at all…" could be worse I suppose…

"Oh come on Master! Being adorable at some point in your life is ~nothing~ to be embarrassed about~!" she tries to encourage me.

"Not helping Assassin." I sigh with my head in my hands. "And for the record, I was having fun at the time because me, and my cousins were all messing around with toy lightsabers. We all liked to roughhouse up until someone started to bruise. At some point in that time you saw, they all thought it would be funny to gang up on me. I thought it was fun to cut loose a bit. It stopped being fun riiiiight~ around the point where I accidentally- accidentally!- broke the eldests leg. Inadvertently stopping him from joining the track team for about a year. Naturally, I felt like a piece of shit for about that long. Still do really. After that point, as fun as fighting like martial arts, or HEMA, might've seemed, I was kinda… hesitant because I was worried about accidentally hurting someone… which seems kinda stupid saying it out loud, since it would probably be under a lot more control than a bunch of dumb kids hitting each other with toy sticks for shits, and giggles in a basement. Still, that worry was… and still is there. I guess the difference now is that my life actually depends on it."

"Oh… wait, I thought you were outside?" Okita seemed to notice some discrepancy.

"... no, I'm pretty sure it was inside. Not... that that's the important part." strange thing to focus on…

Assassin shrugged.

"If you say so. By the way, I've been meaning to ask something." she changes the subject.

"Shoot."

"Remember two nights ago, when we were explaining the Grail War to Shirou?" I nod, "You were talking about which Servant you would've wanted to summon? I was just curious who you would've hoped to get."

I pause to think.

I had primarily meant what I said in terms of Servant Class rather than which individual hero I wanted to summon.

"I… really don't know? If I knew what I was getting myself into when I made the summoning. I… think I would have just gone for just about any Archer, or Caster Servant. Saber, Berserker, and Lancer would've cost me Mana I didn't have to power. And I'd rather not murder people, so if I did summon Assassin, their skills would've been useless for what I would've planned. And Archer, while potentially costly in terms of Mana, is intended for anti-Servant combat while we could've struck from an area out of immediate danger, and gone to retreat to recover. Caster would've negated mana costs with their skills as Magi, while allowing us to properly support our allies, and strike from afar. As for Rider… in the war I saw, and this one I suppose, they didn't particularly get to do much, so I couldn't really get an idea what their strengths were. Besides, we both saw the result of not being able to fuel them effectively."

Is it weird that I'm disappointed we didn't get to really fight her? Cause I felt like we were getting blue-balled.

"As for who I would've liked to see answer the summoning… I personally would've just gone with whatever the Grail gave me, rather than hope I could get along with the few people in history books I actually like." assuming it chose Servants based on personality rather than artifact, I would've been more curious to find who it would've matched me up with.

Hell, even beyond the history books, with all the mythological heroes running around, I also gotta consider who among them I would've wanted… or who would even count as being summonable.

Food for thought, could I have summoned Batman? Or are there rules surrounding fictional characters that are a bit too strict for that?

"But if I had to choose, I would say... Theodore Roosevelt, Boudica, Florence Nightingale, Atalanta, Ned Kelly, Robin Hood, Cyrus the Great, Machiavelli, Tomoe Gozen, Jeanne D'Arc, Flavius Belisarius, or Oda Nobunaga right off the top of my hea- you okay?."

It was then that I noticed Okita twitch at the mention of that last name.

"... Dunno. Just felt my blood pressure rise to unprecedented levels at the mention of that last name…" she looks off into the distance with a look of concerned deja-vu.

"Do Servants have blood pressure to raise..? Better question, why? Nobunaga was long before your time."

"... I just… it was just an odd feeling that an old rival was about to arise from the grave to pull a childish prank on me." she seemed to grow an odd combination of embarrassed, and nostalgic.

"That's… oddly specific Okita." not to mention unusual.

"To be honest, I might have an idea where that was coming from, but back to the previous topic, why them? There… doesn't seem much connecting those people." she moves us back.

I shrug.

"They're just people I find fascinating. Each for their own reasons. There are other figures I'd like to meet, buuuut I'm not sure their legends would lend themselves well to beating the Grail War. People like MLK, Gandhi, or Hiawatha would be fun to meet, but probably only make for mediocrecombat Servants at best." can't see how any of them would win against even Rider in a fight… then again, Hiawatha was a warrior before he united the Haudenosaunee… "Why? Worried I might try re-rolling the Servant roulette table?"

"I was wondering what your idea of a hero was. Or at least what you valued in one." she explained, "Your list… did not help. Though, to be fair, it does comprise of better choices than your choice in allies…"

Meanwhile…

Shopping District...

"So, wanna hang out again sometime… little… sis?" Emiya asked the Tiny Murder Machine™, unsure of what to call her.

"hm… sounds fine future victim!" Illya responded gleefully.

Theme Song- Fate/Stay Night - "Brave Shine" (FULL Opening) | ENGLISH ver | AmaLee

Thirty minutes later...

Back in the dojo…

"Christ, why did I agree to this?" I questioned my decision making process as I duck an overhead attack.

Fwoosh!

"TAIGA SWIPE!" I swear, I just saw her animal spirit guiding her shinai.

If you survive this encounter with a wild tiger, consider it as a lesson about pride.

Not helping, voice in my head!

Fine, be that way.

By the way, dodge.

Dodge wha-?

WHACK!

FFFFfffffffuuuuuuuccccckkk!

"NO MERCY! NO PRISONERS!" Taiga announced her r.o.e (rules of engagement), and continued her assault until, and I quote, 'one of us cries uncle'.

"Left" my coach, Okita, guides me.

I react in time to block another bi-lalteral slice.

Taiga's fast. But not Servant fast.

Compared to sparring with Okita, Fujimara is swinging about in slow-motion.

Unlike my Servant however, she doesn't hold back the force at the last second. So when it does hit...well…

WHACK!

YUP, THAT'LL BRUISE~!

WHAM

BAM

She follows up after that dazing strike to the forehead with another to the ribs, and another to the knee.

This opened the tiger up however, for a summary-

STRIKE!

To her left shoulder.

This was how this contest had been going for the last ten minutes.

For all her skill, and ability, Fujimura Taiga was far slower than my usual opponent. Letting me react to her attacks easy enough. However, her instinct, experience, and her raw strength dwarfed mine.

But that's the thing ain't it?

That's everyone I'm supposed to be up against.

"GAME OVER!" The woman loudly announced as she put all her strength into one overhead strike.

It's also everyone I'll find a way to defeat.

Okita would later say there was a glint in my eye at this moment.

After a long match of mostly blocking, and attacking only as a counter. I never came off as an aggressive combatant.

That changed in the last second.

Her attack was powerful.

But it was way too obvious.

She expected me to meet her blade with mine.

She did not expect me to tuck, and roll under her attack.

Surprised by the sudden maneuverability, she was too slow to turn and-

WHACK

Deflect the hit to her back. One that knocked her off balance, and right out of bounds, hopping on one foot.

Returning to a defensive stance, I panted like an overworked cheetah awaiting her next move.

Re-finding her balance and turning around, I saw a dangerous look in her eye as she smiled, and-

"YAAAAAAAAH-!" charges back in!

I ready to meet her when-

"Times up!" Okita steps into the center to break it up.

Both me, and Taiga, jerk to a stop.

"Eh!? C'mon! I was having fun Souji!" Taiga complained.

Yeah, since the name Sakura was already taken, we decided it was best to go with her real first name. Better to avoid confusion.

It's a fairly common name, so there's no risk of anyone deriving her true identity. In fact, I'd imagine most would assume it was a false identity, or red herring.

"Look at your opponent…" Assassin sighed…

Huh? When did I collapse face first to the ground?

"((come at me bro…))" I mumbled into the floorboards.

pain

Oh, good, that's back.

"Saber, if you would?" Assassin gestured to her currently motionless Master.

Saber, who had been silently judging the entire time, walked over to me from her corner.

I turned over to see her continuing her silent judgement.

No. It isn't judgment.

We waited like this for a moment before she extended a hand, and helped me up.

I didn't hesitate to take that offer for long.

"Thanks…" I say as she pulls me up.

"NEXT FIGHT!" Taiga demands, still full of energy.

All present sweatdrop.

Saber, and Assassin give each other a look, and come to some silent conclusion.

"Very well Taiga! I will now be your opponent!" Okita declared with a raised blade.

This won't take long then.

I move to the side to observe, and raise an eyebrow when Saber elects to join me.

Sitting down Indian style, I watch the spectacle with Saber sitting Japanese style to my left.

"Well fought."

I blink at Artoria's comment.

"Was that a compliment?" I say rhetorically.

"Indeed. Though you may be my enemy, tis only respectful to say so." she nods stoically.

"Oh? So there is no contradiction between enemies, and allies for you?" Sounding more antagonistic than I did in my head, I began regretting my comment almost immediately.

Saber blinks at the tone, before looking off so I can't see her expression.

"I…" she was about to say something when-

"DAISHOURI!"

Okita cheers while Taiga lies on the ground defeated. Her shinai falling, and sliding across the room.

"That actually took longer than I expected." I state, deadpan.

"Sooo~, Master? Did your Servant impress you again?" Okita walked up to me.

"Oh yeah, that was a really good… sword… thing?" I say, not wanting to admit I wasn't paying attention.

"Wha-? You weren't watching?" she pouts.

"er... um… I'm sure you were great? You beat her pretty fast." I offer meekly.

"H-Hey?! D-Did I say I surrendered?!" Taiga tries to rise to wobbly feet, clearly dazed by whatever the hell it was that Okita did. "No-way I'm losing in my own Dojo!"

"Eh? But doesn't this belong to Shirou-" Okita tries to ask before Taiga grabbed… another Shinai, seemingly out of nowhere, and charges again.

"THE STUDENT SHALL NOT SURPASS THE MASTER'!" she swung with such vitality that it likely would've rendered me unconscious, or worse.

Assassin, very much a Master of swordsmanship, skillfully swayed out of the attack's way, and countered with a sweep that sent Taiga crashing to the ground.

THUD

"owwwwwww…." the grown woman moaned in pain as she came to a stop.

"...So? Does this make me the Master of the Dojo now?" Okita tilted her head to ask with all the innocence of a child.

Thirty minutes later…

creeeee

"I'm home!" Shirou announced from the entrance.

"Welcome home Shirou." Saber nods.

"Welcome back." Okita adds.

"... welcome back… baka…." Taiga… pouts with her head on the table.

Yeah, she's taking the loss on her record pretty hard.

"I take it you had no issues today, Emiya?" I lay a double layered question.

Shirou takes a moment to think about Taiga's attitude before answering.

"Na, nothin important," he says, dismissively. "What's up with Taiga?"

"She's just a little buthurt she lost to Souji." I joke at the teacher's expense.

"((Incoherent dangerous mumbling))." no one made out what exactly she said. Something about 'loosened up'.

"She's also probably hungry." a true sportsman like she purports to be should be able to take a loss in stride, so I could only assume that's part of why she was acting a brat.

It had even started to get to the point where I was almost tempted to make something just to get her to pipe down. My cooking sure as hell ain't Emiya's, but it isn't something to scoff at.

Shirou nodded. Noticing the seriousness of the issue.

"Oh, so Taiga and Souji had a match?"

"She fought everybody…" I winced as I subconsciously moved my bruised arm to a more comfortable position.

Shirou raised an eyebrow as Saber continued for me.

"She seemed to be bouncing around the house when she got home. I challenged her to a match to pass the time, and happened to catch them in the dojo just as they were finishing up. Taiga felt inspired to have a 'mini-tournament'. One which had no winner."

"Because the two of you broke the last shinai!" Taiga shuddered from behind Emiya, whom she was using as some kind of human shield, while referring to Assassin and Saber.

Yeah… that was… interesting to watch. The two were barely holding back their Servant abilities. I can only assume some Grail related instinct was influencing them. In fact, I was getting worried that I might have to practice some memory alteration on Taiga.

Luckily the last two shinai had broken in the same strike, so things didn't get any more out of hand.

Suffice to say, 4th place might've saved my life, so I'm not all that choked up about it.

"Maybe we went… a little overboard?" Okita admits.

"I must admit however, Souji. Your technique was on fleek." Saber told her.

"... thank you? I think?" Assassin turned to me for confirmation, to which I could only give a 'how the hell should I know' shrug.

"Pretty sure that slang hasn't even been invented yet…"

Just go with the flow, yo~!

… no.

"Seriously Shirou! You better watch yourself around her! Don't go sneaking into her room at night unless you wanna die!" Taiga added. Overdramatically.

"... yeah. Because me sneaking into her room is a foreseeable problem." Shirou adds, dryly.

Well, I can at least confirm that this isn't just confined to him, and Saber. Evidently, most Servants engage in light stalking of their Masters as a hobby.

I can't tell if it's endearing, or concerning.

Oh well. Could be worse.

Meanwhile…

In an alternate universe…

The last Master of Chaldea… was tired.

Clearing out micro-singularities on the regular wasn't exactly labor-deficient work. Though the Servants did most of the heavy lifting, the drain on Mana in the field was exhausting.

So, when they finally came back to their room after the end of a long adventure involving the gender-bent, superhuman, historical, and mythological narcotic powered lunatics they called Servants, Ritsuka believed they were due at least 6 hours of shut-eye.

"... bed, sweet bed…"

Plop

"EEP!"

Whatever progress they had made towards sleep on their way back here was halted by the shriek of something under their bed.

Though perhaps a very caring individual, Ritsuka was very tired. And hesitated a moment before concluding they were somehow obligated to know who had ninja'd their way into their room as they looked under their be-

Yeah, it was Serenity.

… oh, and Kiyohime! So they were finally getting along~!

Blinking for a moment, the last Master took in the nonchalant expressions on the stalkers faces before asking-

"You guys okay?"

"Yes, we're fine Anchin. You just surprised us is all."

"Yeah, you barely made a sound. You might make for a good Hassan."

Nodding in acceptance of the situation, Ritsuka re-orientated before taking in two details about the room they hadn't noticed when they entered the room.

One, the closet was open. And in the clothes there was clearly a pair of legs belonging to a certain motherly Servant they had recently grown to accept as… well…

"Goodnight mama Raikou."

"Goodnight Ritsuka."

Fujimaru sighed in acceptance one last time before turning to turn out the lights an-

"... Majin-san?"

"... yes?"

"... why the lamp?"

The alter Servant hiding (and standing out) behind the lamp looked down in disappointment with herself.

"... all the good spots were taken."

"... there's a cubby hole under a tile on the northwest side of the room no one has claimed yet."

She turned, then beamed upon noticing the spot.

"Thank you, Master."

Overall, Ritsuka Fujimaru couldn't tell if their life was blessed, or cursed.

… maybe both?

Back with the story….

"So uh… Taiga? There's something I've been meaning to ask so… can Sakura stay over for a whi-" Shirou was suddenly interrupted.

"-YES!" the woman looked very happy to hear of this.

"... not even gonna ask why?" Okita muttered aloud.

"I've shipped them for the last year, and a half. Personally, I'm just happy one of them has decided to finally take the initiative. And really, as long as there are guests over, I don't think Shirou would go about doing anything inappropriate with these paper-thin walls." the English teacher admitted.

"Wha- it-it's not like that!" Shirou denied red faced, "I-It's just, Shinji's not home a lot, and their house is going to get work done soo-"

"Hush-hush-hush-hush~! There's no need to explain Shirou. Big-Sister Taiga's gotcha covered. Oh, but if anything does happen, remember to wrap it bef-"

"DON'T SAY ANY MORE THAN THAT! Choose any other topic- ANY other topic, and I'll get dinner started I swear!" Shirou, now a shade of red I didn't know humans can reach, offered the teasing tiger.

"... notice how he didn't deny that he'd-" I spoke in a loud whisper to my Servant before Emiya stomped out of the room.

"NNNNNNOPE! La~la-la~la~la~LA!" He actively tried to tune us out as he was about to move into the kitchen when-

Creeee

Ah, speak of the devil.

Shirou redirects himself to the door to go greet her.

"Wonder how this'll go…" I find myself saying out loud.

"Well, he got this far. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt." Okita added.

"There's just one obstacle. Will Sakura jump at the chance, or will she try to deflect?" I continued.

"Oh she'll pounce." Taiga seemed certain in this.

"... what makes you so certain?" Saber was initially hesitant to get involved in the gossip session, but seemed to jump in upon realizing there wasn't much else to do right now.

"I've been watching these two play house for over a year now. I think I've got the dynamic down." the teacher stated with confidence.

"So Sakura, wanna sleep with me?"

Que four facepalms in the living room.

"Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wha!?"

"I-I-I-I mean- here! Wanna sleep here for a few days!?"

"(If this works, I swear to god…)" I say with my head in my hands.

"Oh, uh… yeah, that's… totally what I hoped you meant…"

"Y-yeah, I just though-"

"Yes."

"... okay… kinda thought it would take a while longer to convince you…"

"... is it just me, or does he seem to consistently fail upwards?" I ask around the table, to which I never got an answer.

One hour later…

After some damn good food, and a… casual conversation about bra size (apparently they do the measurements differently here. The more you know? Also, apparently Okita's about the same size as Matou-)

Is that so… ;)

… shut up.

Did you check?

Ignoring you now.

You can silence me but you can't silence the truth!

~Anyways, Taiga had gone home while Sakura was taking a bath. Leaving me and Emiya free to discuss Intel he'd recently received about the war...

"It's a trap." I told him.

"Er… are you su-"

"Yeah, she's baiting you." Okita backed me up.

Shirou looked somewhat hurt as he looked to Saber for her opinion.

"... it does seem slightly suspicious…" she hesitated to outright put him down.

So, apparently Rin knows about Caster.

Buuut, apparently she doesn't know enough to go about attacking her herself, so she told Shirou innocent people were in danger, and hoped to send him on his merry way to his death so she could watch, and learn.

A cold, but clever tactic. I should expect as much in a world where she doesn't come to work with him

It probably helps her that she's batshit crazy, but that's neither here, nor there.

Buuut, unlucky for us, her plan will coincide with our own.

I was already planning to scout out Caster. But… now that a potential enemy would be watching? I'm even more encouraged not to make a hasty move that will show our cards.

"... But, she's not necessarily wrong." I pretend to hesitate.

"You... already knew?" Shirou questioned.

"I did. In fact, I was going to suggest we scout Ryuudou out when you got home. My preliminary investigation showed that the coma's were a cause of a Caster Servant. We already beat Rider, Lancer is too direct for that method, Berserker and Archer aren't exactly lacking for Mana with their Masters, I doubted you'd know how to do this if you wanted to, which only left-"

"Caster." Saber finished for me.

"Right." I nodded, "And since charging a normal Mages workshop without a plan is tantamount to suicide, I wanted to scout the place out first."

"If you knew about this, why'd we go on patrol yesterday? There are people lives in danger!" Shirou objected.

"Because they're not." the redhead raised an eyebrow, "If Caster really didn't care about innocent lives, those people would be drained to death. Which is why I took the time to let you get your feet wet before throwing you into the deep end of the battlefield. With a Master like Shinji, Rider made for good practice. Admittedly, she had been made even weaker than I'd thought… but regardless, it was experience you needed before the next battle. Since there weren't any lives in immediate danger if we left her be, we could afford to wait, and prepare before attacking Caster, so we did."

Emiya considered my reasoning for a moment before begrudgingly accepting it.

"So, what's the plan Bat-"

A glare stops the nickname in its tracks.

"I- mean, Robert?" Emiya caught his slip up.

"Tonight, we're not to attack if we can help it. We'll skirt around Ryuudou to investigate it's defenses, and fall back. The Servant will probably be aware of our presence long before we arrive, so they'll be ready for an attack, which is why we won't be doing that. So, no heroics, no charging right in. We observe, and at most test the outer defenses, and go home. Got it?" I try to make myself clear.

Shirou hesitated before nodding.

"... Look Shirou, if you're just going to charge that temple like a dumbass, you can leave the recon to me and Assassin."

"No, I get it. It's a delicate situation, and people can get hurt if we're not careful. I choose to believe you know what you're talking about." Ladies, and gentlemen, behold! It learns!

"Good. Be ready to leave by the time Sakura's settled in. Now if you'll excuse me…" I get up to ready my battle kit, just in case.

There's a lot of ways this can go south. Caster's dug in there like a cockroach, and is as clever as a fox. And that's not even taking her Master into account.

So, with that in mind, even though I'll put off an all out attack until I know what defenses she has in store, it won't hurt to come prepared.

Some offensive rune grenades, each with different effects.

Unlikely to compete with Medea's magecraft, they can be of support against Kazuki, and possibly whatever defenses she's got. So long as it isn't-

Thud

I stop in my tracks.

Halfway to the room I sleep in, I heard something heavy fall nearby.

Looking around, I saw that it came from the bathroom.

… wasn't Sakura supposed to be taking a bath?

I instantly got worried.

I walked over to the door and knocked,

"Everything okay in there?"

…

No response.

"... Okita, could you get over here? I might need you in a second."

"Huh..? uh, sure."

I knock harder.

"Hello? Sakura?"

Again, no response.

"What's up?" Okita asks while she approaches.

"I heard something fall in there, and I'm getting worried Sakura might've slipped getting out." I explain, to which Okita nods in understanding.

"Sakura? If you're okay in there let me know, or we're coming in." I announce to a familiar effect.

I give Okita a look which transmits my intent. She acknowledges, and opens the door.

"Ah, geez." she sighs.

Uh-oh. I don't like the idea of anything that can make the perpetually bubbly Okita Souji react that way.

"What happened?"

"See for yourself." I take that to mean she's at least mostly clothed?

Moving in, I almost immediately see the problem.

Sakura's unconscious.

I take a breath, and try to think this through.

"Carry her to her bed. I'll let Emiya know the issue." I don't know if this is an emergency room situation, or a painkiller, and bedrest situation. She's knocked out, so I'm leaning the former. It's probably best to get a second opinion first.

Either way, I should check in with Shirou. There doesn't seem to be a first aid kit or anything in here, so he should know where I can find one.

Ten minutes later…

"-just saying. Just this time around, you should stay here. If it's bad enough that she collapsed, I'd rather someone be around to monitor her condition." I argued to the owner of the household.

When Emiya heard what happened, he almost had a heart attack.

Thankfully, he had a first aid kit in the dojo, so hopefully the worst of this disaster has been avoided.

"I can't just stay here…" he objected.

"Kyu? Fou! Fou!"

Fou spoke up from the bed Sakura was resting on, alerting us to her beginning to move.

"Hide." I told the familiar as Shirou moved to support his… let's call her his 'friend'. 'Pseudo-housewife' ain't quite right...

"Sakura!"

"'uuuggghhh'... I'll be down in a minute gran- Shirou?" the girl woke up sounding a lot like how she looked at the moment, "Why are you- owwww!"

"Take it easy. You had a pretty bad fall." Shirou stopped her from getting up.

"I… I fell? I don't…" she strained herself trying to remember. "Wait… I was in the shower and then- ... um…" her already fever red faced managed to turn a deeper shade.

"Yeah, Orso heard what happened and checked in on you. " Shirou informed.

"For the record, I had Souji check first. If that sort of thing is important to you. How're ya feeling?" I cleared up any potential misunderstanding.

"... life is pain…" yeah, I feel ya there…

"Sounds about right. With a fever of 102°, I'm surprised you felt well enough to… make… dinner…"

Well… let's hope Emiya's as good at teaching food safety as he is at teaching how to cook.

"102!?" Sakura sounded incredulous.

"Actually, it was 38.9! He just refuses to use metric for some reason!" Okita announced from somewhere else in the house.

"You use your measurement system, and I'll use mine!" I declared, stubbornly.

"So, yeah. It was bad." Emiya states, "Now, drink your medicine, and get better."

"Y-Yeah… um… c-could you…. um… nevermind…" she was about to ask something of Emiya. Something…

Y'know… I think I'm starting to get how this girl ticks.

"... By the way Emiya, Considering how she's a little off balance because of the fever, you should probably help her out. At least for now." I grow a mischievous smirk.

"Off balance? She's not going anywhere like this." he looks confused as to what I'm getting at.

"Exactly. Which is why she could use some special attention. It wouldn't be very heroic of you if ya left a sick girl on her own. I mean, what if it gets worse?" mock worry grows in my voice as I play to his hero complex.

If Shirou gets stuck here for one night, I think i can handle it. Besides, we're just scouting for now. We're more likely to run into trouble with him around anyway.

"I… well, you're not wrong… can we talk outside for a bit?" Shirou must want to talk about the war.

I shrug, and gesture outside.

"I'll be back in a minute Sakura." he assures his kohai.

"Please don't let me hold you up…"

We walk for a minute until we're out of earshot.

"Is there any way we can just… wait… at least a day or two?" Emiya starts.

"One day is a long time in this thing Emiya. We can't both afford to stand around waiting. As I said before, this sort of thing is a specialty of Assassin. With any luck, we shouldn't run into any problems. Besides, Sakura needs you right now. So stick around, at least for tonight." I encourage him.

"... How about just until she goes to sleep? If nothing goes wrong, she should be fine until we get back." he insisted.

"... fine. But if she isn't out by eleven, we're leaving without you." I state my condition.

I'd really rather we didn't leave a sick person un-supervised, but given the… unique circumstance…

Besides, if shit does go wrong (and given Murphy's law, it probably will…), it'll be good to have some extra firepower on our side.

"Don't worry. I'll give her enough benadryl to put out Berserker." he… er…

"Please do not intentionally overdose the patient." I order, deadpan.

"Orso, would I ever do anything to hurt an innocent person?" he asks like it's an obvious answer.

Given what Archer almost let Shinji do to Rin in UBW, I'm not exactly inclined to give him the answer he thinks he's gonna get…

"..." I hesitate to answer.

"Exactly. Because a real hero would never allow themselves to do just that." he nods, confidently.

"... just go see to your friend." I try to end this conversation.

With that, Shirou went to watch over Sakura for a while longer.

"Hmph. You got your work cut out for you Matou… It's ironic, in a way. The one you seem to have emotions for is too blunt to notice the aggressive part of your passive-aggression. Best of luck to yo-"

…

Weird… I just got the chilling feeling I was being watched.

A quick observation of the environment revealed that this was likely to be untrue… but given my current occupation as a Master, I'll forgive my own paranoia.

Moving back inside, I see Shirou already attending to his 'friend'. As well as-

"... worried for your "kid" Tiger-mom?" I ask, mirth in my voice.

Saber almost jumped upon hearing me. However, she did not cease spying on the two.

"For your information, as his Servant, it's of great concern to me that he is safe when dealing with strange characters." she defended herself.

"... Strange character? She's a sick civilian he's known for years." I'm one thing. I'm a guy he met like two days ago with a lot of suspicious inconsistencies in his backstory.

It was then we both saw Shirou feed Sakura some medicine, and Saber's expression turned into one of… oh my...

"... Jealous?"

"... You have ten seconds to run before I forget the precise terms of our alliance." she threatens with a reddened face.

"Thank you. Servants are very hard to run from."

"Eight… seven…" and like that, I was out of the room.

Two hours later…

Outside the Emiya residence…

"... We'll give him ten more minutes…" I say with all the patience under my command.

"... Do you really not want him along?" Okita asked.

"It's more that I'm worried about leaving a sick person unattended. Although some part of me is worried he'll do something… Shirou."

"Did you just use my Master's name as an adjective?" Saber asked.

Slam!

"Okay! Okay! I'm going!" Shirou nearly tumbled out the door, closely followed by a very determined familiar.

"Fou! Fou!" The squirrel thing exclaimed while herding Emiya out the building, and proceeding to pounce on him.

"Okay, so maybe he's part shepard?" I casually theorize.

"Your familiar is… oddly... independent?" Saber commented.

"It's just how he is." I shrug. Not really wanting to explain Fou's circumstances.

"Yeah, he's terrific, could ya call him off now!?" Emiya demanded as Fou stood triumphant on his chest.

"Fine. C'mon Fou, let's not antagonize the help." I ask of the familiar.

The squirrel considers this for a moment, then trots off of his opponent, and climbs up until he's on my shoulder.

I help Emiya up.

"Word to the wise, don't underestimate something because it appears unassuming." I give the redhead a light warning.

"Right… so, Ryuudou then?" Emiya grabs… another pipe off the ground.

"Lead the way." I gesture to the general area.

Ryuudou Temple steps…

"Oh! Hold on! Watch this!" Okita stops us as we reach the temple.

"What's wrong!?" I ready for an attack.

Okita walks up to the stairs and then… dramatically poses, pointing at the temple.

"Kemosabe! Temple straight ahead!" She declared…

"... anyone else got any dated references they wanna get out of their system before we get serious?" I ask after I realized what she was saying.

...

"... ~G.I Jooooooeee~~~!" Emiya added.

"~hmm~hmm~hmm~ NA ~na-nana~ na-nana~" Saber began humming to the Mission impossible theme.

"Fou~Kyu-Ku~!" Meanwhile, Fou began reciting the Indiana Jones theme.

"... I shouldn't have asked…"

About five minutes later, everyone had their shit together.

Okita reappeared after scanning the area in her concealed state.

"Nothing." she states simply.

"Nothing?" I ask without taking my eyes off the entrance.

"Nothing active at least. There was a bounded field around the temple but… it seemed… patchy?" She tries to explain what she saw.

"Patchy?"

"Damaged. Much like the area around the gate. I don't think we were the first ones here tonight." she theorized.

"Could it have been another Servant?" Emiya asks.

"Most likely. I don't think much else could have gotten very far." depending on what defenses the outside had, a Master might've been able to breach the gate. But no one would get too far in without Caster breathing down their neck. "Real question is, who?"

Rider's dead. Lancer's on Kirei's leash. Archer's probably watching us right now. Berserker's Master is mostly content to hold up in her mansion. Saber and Assassin are obviously not suspects. So unless Caster did this to herself…

"(something's not right…)" I mutter.

There's a missing piece to this puzzle.

"Orso?" Saber asked.

"... We're going in." I state.

"What happened to scouting the place out?" Shirou raised an eyebrow.

"Let's call this… "aggressive reconnaissance" yeah?" I smirk, then turn serious again, "Besides, something's happened, and we're not learning what out here. Assassin, watch our six."

Okita nods, and vanishes again. Ready to ambush anyone else's ambush.

I walk the temple steps for about two minutes. Ready to react to any attack but…

Nothing.

Not even the sound of insects in the night.

The only sound being the occasional gust of biting cold wind carrying wisps of snow.

"Master." Saber called out from behind us.

She bent over into the snow covering the ground, and pulled something…

"Is it… normal for the Japanese to poorly bury their dead on the steps of a temple?" I ask, seeing the femur in Saber's gauntlet.

"No, it's not…" Shirou said as he got a closer look, then handed the thing to me.

No, this wasn't a human bone. Of that I was certain. It was too dark. It's texture wasn't that of bone either. It was almost like…

"(dragon's teeth…)" it looks like it was one of those golems Caster used.

The other two looked at me, looking for an explanation.

"C'mon." I don't have one to give.

I stick the bone in my bag. It's magical material, so it should be of some use.

As we approached the gate, I took account of the damage.

"Looks like Assassin was right. Someone got here before us." Saber states.

I stand less than ten feet from the entrance. If Sasaki was here, he'd be cutting me in half by now.

And yet, there wasn't a response by any other defensive measure.

"Look at the battle damage in the area. Do either of you see what I see?" I ask the others as I noticed a detail.

"... It's mostly in front of the gate?" Emiya noticed.

"Good. What else?"

"... It's all beam damage. Even the damage on the gate itself." Saber realized.

True to her words, the temple had been scorched. Not simply broken like one would expect of any of the brute force Servants. That, and most of the scorched lines seemed almost even. Showing a high degree of control, and mastery of their ability.

"And do any of the Servants we've fought use beams?" I phrase this as rhetorical.

We've fought, or seen everyone except Caster. The damage here just doesn't match anyone.

"Must've been pretty one sided then. Other guy woulda been wiped." Shirou theorizes.

"Then why hasn't Caster challenged our approach?" Saber asks the pointed question.

If she won, like the beam damage would indicate, why wasn't she out fighting us off too?

With no further observation, I walk my way through the gate-

bzzzt

The familiar sensation of static electricity tingles over me as I enter. It's… weaker than expected.

I give the environment a cursory glance.

Still, nothing.

"... Alright, come on in. Watch yourselves though. The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend." I invite the others in.

"True dat." The blonde knight comments.

"Fou!" The white furred creature jumped off my shoulder, and pointed something out.

The snow appeared disturbed in a one way track. New layers only barely covering the track, as well as some black feathers.

Reminding myself she could basically fly, I realized Caster must've rushed from point A to point B.

That and-

"With this weather, whatever happened here happened at most half an hour ago." I say with unfounded confidence in my detective skills.

The snow trail leads around a corner. One that could be flanked.

"You lot follow that trail directly. I'll flank from the other end." I plan before marching off on my own, Fou climbing up on me once again. The others did not object.

I clear a path alone. Okita nearby, but not close close.

..

..

..

".."

I turn around.

… nothing.

Strange… something was…

No. I was hearing things.

…

…

".."

No! Something is definitely breathing!

It was strained, like they were having problems with the action. But… why would-

"..."

"Show yourself!" I demand.

"Fou!" The squirrel creature seems to have noticed it too.

Again silence.

"Define Real."

I ready to defend myself.

…

"(yer startin' ta lose it rob…)" I let my guard down for a moment, and sig-

Gandr ready in hand, I point at the place I swear the shadows move.

I shake myself into alertness. Realizing something has to cast the shadow, I adjust to point at where the source must've been… still… that's not where the breathing came from...

It was from behind the walls of one of the buildings.

I want to think that it must've been one of the monks here but…

"Master, what's wrong?" Okita asks.

"... Cover me!" I follow the shadow.

"Wha- h-hai!?" Assassin was surprised by the change of plans.

I sprint across the snow to round the corner.

"********..."

The shadow retreats once more out of sight, and into a building.

I'm on it's tail though. And find myself in front of the door to the building.

"grrrr…" Fou growls at the entrance.

Not wasting time I kick down the door-

CRASH

Scanning the room, it seemed the perfect environment for the thing to hide in.

Completely submerged in darkness, it was only illuminated by the poor moonlight I'd let in. The heat escaping quickly as gusts of snow replaced it.

"fou..?" The familiar on my shoulder saw what I didn't. And didn't like what it saw.

I snap my fingers, activating a fire rune, Ahwaz, stitched into my gloves. Turning it on low so it could serve as a makeshift torch.

… it was only about as big as a match, but it was good enough for this.

The fire sparks, and I see-

Blood. Lots of blood.

Gandr in one hand, and Ahwaz in another, I track the trail to… to…

god…

"... Master?" Okita's voice snaps me out of it.

"Y-yeah?"

"If you need to step out-"

"No. I… I'll deal with it." I got myself together, and looked again.

Bodies. Tens of them.

Not one breathing.

I walk into the center of the room, and look over them.

They'd been drained of blood. All of them. Some looked like they'd been fed to wolves in how… how torn up they were.

Forgetting the shadow for a moment, I tried to find any live ones.

"Master. They're gone. All of them." Okita told me even in an even tone.

I stopped myself from testing ones pulse at the news.

I… I met this one, didn't I?

"Orso, where'd you go?"

Someone called me from outside the building but… I wasn't focused on that.

"His name… what was his name?" It was… weird. I… it felt wrong that I forgot this kid's name. Improper I guess.

"You guys might want to stay back." Okita talked to the voice.

"It's… it's a shame, ya know? Seemed like… like a good guy…" I stand up, and look around at the dead again.

Why is this bothering me? It's… not the first time I've seen people die, right?

"Alrighty Bats, what's..! … oh." Someo- Shirou bursts in, and notices the problem.

"..." I don't speak. I only watch.

No one says anything for a minute. But then Shirou looks around, soon coming around to the guy I met.

"... Issei…" he mutters the students name.

"It looks like they got hit by a vampire." Okita notes.

"Wouldn't they be rising up as ghouls then?" Saber rejected the theory.

"... We'll… I'll call Kirei when this is over. He'll... take care of… all this…" I try to think this through. "Meantime, let's find the bastard responsible."

"Don't worry Issei. I'll avenge you all." Shirou swore to his deceased classmate.

"Did… you guys find anything at the end of the trail?" I asked of Saber.

"It's best you see for yourself." She guided us out.

Walking back out into the night, the knightly Servant lead us to our previous destination.

"… Well… we can write Caster off the list of suspects."

Kazuki's dead.

Back against the wall, blood spilling from his chest. Left hand missing. Likely to have been visited by scavengers already if the black feathers surrounding him are to be believed.

Approaching the corpse, I can't help but wonder one thing.

"What the hell happened here?"

No one can give me an answer.

Standing before the Drama teacher, I lean in and check his remaining hand.

No command seals.

"Whoever killed him did it for the seals." I say matter of factually.

Someone tried stealing a Servant.

Some small part of me was amused.

If that was their goal, they certainly chose a poor target.

Caster would never obey anyone that wasn't Kazuki. Hell, if anything they weren't so much Master and Servant, as much as they were husband and wife.

Assuming anyone could get far enough to steal the seals, her Rule Breaker meant there was no real use for them.

So, the question remains-

"Who could've-?"

WHOOSH!

"Fuck! Get off me!" The damn 'corpse' grabbed, and is now crushing my arm!

The pseudo corpse twists it's head to glare at me with bloodshot eyes.

"Damndable vultures! Damndable crows! Is th're one depravity this temple shall beest spared? Can none of thee seeth yond this is how it shalt endeth? Thy struggles pointless, thy desires did crush? We... We couldst has't ceased this damn'd war. My lady couldst has't done it..." The man cursed us. Before loosening his grip, and lamenting his fate.

"Of loveth and life, I am not afraid of death. Only sorrowed by the departure of the one that gaveth this life it's meaning. I walketh into the night, knowing I marched to oblivion in a manner unlike mine own life. I hath lived a tool, and a fool. But I shalt die spitting in the eye of fate. At the moment of its discovery, the accursed worms plan was executed, and all was lost. Mine own love, mine own light, died for an unworthy man. All for a nothing." he coughed up blood, and his eyes showed he neared the end.

"And thus, I abandon the mortal coil… to love… and to lose… nevermore…" the drama teacher stopped breathing, he let go of my arm, and the light in his eyes left him.

…

…

"Fou…" the familiar sounded sad to see him go.

"He died as he lived." Okita states.

"... incomprehensible?" Emiya guessed.

"Scaring the shit out of me?" I make my own.

"I was gonna say "enigmatically", but those work too." she realizes.

"... I guess we can assume Caster's been eliminated?" Saber moved us along.

"Her Master's dead… but their command seals are gone."

"Wait… how do you know he was their Master? … or that Caster was a woman?" Emiya asks a… fair question.

One which I only answer with a raised eyebrow.

"... right… and you're totally not Batman…" he sighs.

"I think we're done here. Whatever happened, happened a while ago." Saber notes.

"... Fine. Let's go." I'll look more into it later.

Right now… I guess we just gotta let Kirei do his job?

Everybody takes one last look around before moving back to the gate.

Unlike everyone else however, I stop when I notice something.

"(nevermore…)" I take one of the black feathers off the ground and examine it.

No doubt, this was a crows feather… or possibly…

Another gust of snow wisps around my frame, and buried the other pieces of evidence.

"Master?" Okita looks back after realizing I'd fallen behind.

"... nothing." I store it away as I follow the group again.

I make it to the gate before I take one more look back.

…

"..."

I know.

I know, we were being watched.

With that, we left the temple behind.

With far more questions than answers.

…..

…..

…..

….

….

….

…

…

..

.

"seNpAi?"

End Theme- This Illusion (LiSA)