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Chapter Text

Location: ?

The sound of metal against metal filled the otherwise silent and still air. The area around them was completely turned to rubble and smoke rose from small fires that had been created through the battle. The ground had craters in it due the pressure of two fighting figures and was crumbling with many cracks running through the once solid concrete.

The two figures continued to clash, the clang of their swords sending shockwaves through the air that would ruin even more buildings and shatter windows but neither individual gave in from their dual.

One was clad in an aura of white and silver, her Armour and dress mimicking the colour of her energy. Her white-blonde hair seemed to flow in he energy as her silver eyes stayed on the opponent in front of her.

Her opponent in turn was the exact opposite of her. He had pale skin and his short pale golden hair barely brushed against his brow. Now, none of that would be too strange if not for the fact that his skin seemed too pale and there were red veins or cracks going up his neck and over his jaw, partially creeping their way up his cheeks and his eyes were a dull pale yellow with no almost no emotion in them at all. He was also clad in black Armour with red accents.

"This is pointless." He said to the female, his fingers adjusting on his sword. A sword that used to be golden and gleam with light, but now was as black and corrupted as the male had become. "You know that whatever you do, you cannot change what has happened. You cannot make up for the mistake you caused. There is no saving anyone."

The female rose her own sword. A sword that seemed to be made out of clear glass, light and the stars themselves. The sword would have appeared transparent if not for the light outline of the blade and the white light that skimmed over its surface. "It's true that what has happened to you is my fault. That's why I cannot just leave things as they are." She smiled lightly, "Besides, unless, I try, I won't know if I can save you are not."

"You'd save someone as pathetic as my previous self?" The Male asked, raising a brow, his voice even and unemotional. "Why?"

"Because I've let him down already once. I can't allow it to happen a second time." The female said, she powered up as much as possible and charged at the male again, gritting her teeth as he easily blocked each of her strikes. "If I can't save him... then I've lost everything." She added mana to her next strike, surprising him enough that she was able to leave a shallow cut across his left cheek.

The female looked at the Male again and her chest tightened; she never had such a cold look directed at her. Not even by her Sister and most certainly, not him. She felt as if she might break at any moment.

She rose her sword again, but didn't charge, instead, she gathered all of the pure energy, and light into her sword, concentrating hard on the very essence of what brought happiness, hope, love, loyalty, joy, everything that made humans what they were into the world and her sword truly began to take form as it begame a single mass of pure energy.

The Male scoffed as he began to collect dark, corrupted energy into his own sword to counter her. "There's no hope left for this world. There never was any to begin with. Hope is a foolish notion that humanity cannot give up and that's why it'll be humanity's downfall."

The Female glared at him, her sword powered to the max with all the pure energy of the world. "You're wrong and deep down, you realize how corrupted you've become." She tightened her grip on her divine sword, energy swirling around it as she rose it up, level to her face. She only had one shot at this; if she missed her target, then everything she was trying to save would be lost.

"Or I've finally found the light." He smiled as he rose his own sword. He lunged at her, adding extra mana into his leap in what would be their last exchange.

The Female scoffed before leaping herself with a burst of mana to meet him head on, the pure mana roaring to life. "Caelestrís Aürea, Elysíon!" The words had barley left her lips when a burning pain ripped through her body and white light exploded all around her and the Male she was fighting. If it's by his hand... she thought as whiteness filled her vision, then I don't mind dying...

Location: ?

Time: 10 Years Ago

Sajyou Ayaka tried to calm herself down as she tried to wiggle free of unseen restrains and open her eyes which seemed glued shut. Where was she? Where was her Father and Sister? Why did the air hold so much corruption? It was as if evil was manifesting itself all around her.

Finally, Ayaka was able to blearily blink open her blue eyes and found herself taking in a scene of utmost horror. Bright crimson red blood covered the floor around her and she could see bodies torn apart, the stench of their quickly rotting corpses made her want to puke or cry. It didn't help that screams of agony were echoing all around her. Where was her Father? Her Sister?

Quickly looking around, Ayaka saw a brilliant, glowing cup on a dais and knew exactly what it was... The Holy Grail... the object her Father and Sister had struggled so hard to gain... but something was wrong, the Grail was leaking a dark, foreboding mud that reached out with shadow-like tentacles and was getting closer to her by the minute. Ayaka might not know what it was, but she knew if it touched, her then it would snuff out the life she had.

"Father!" Ayaka cried out, tears starting to drip down her cheeks as she looked around wildly, only to stop short when she saw something lying a few feet away from her. It was a pile of blood and gore spread out, fresh blood still pulling around it... but there was no mistaking the shredded clothes or the ripped remains of his face. "FATHER!" Ayaka screamed, her blue eyes wide as the tears fell faster and faster. Her body went numb the longer she screamed. It couldn't be... it couldn't be. Her Father couldn't be dead! He was supposed to save her! Was she next?

"Hush, now." A gentle, angelic voice said, Ayaka would know that voice anywhere. As much as possible, Ayaka craned her neck up to see a beautiful petite girl with pale gold hair and blue eyes. It was an Angel come to save her. "Hush, now. Everything will be okay. Everything will be over soon." She said again.

Ayaka just stared up at her older Sister Manaka. Of course everything would be okay. Manaka was a genius, and untouched by the blood and gore happening around them. If anyone could save them, it would be Manaka.

Ayaka leaned up eagerly as Manaka reached down for her, there was nothing Ayaka wanted more than to be in her Sister's embrace. Soon, she would be sa-

Ayaka screamed as blood suddenly splattered on her face. She stared up in absolute horror. A glowing sword was protruding straight through Manaka's chest, quickly drenching her once pristine blue dress in her own blood.

The last thing Ayaka saw was the surprised look on her Sister's face before she turned and spoke to the person who had impaled her. Her voice fading out as Ayaka's vision became bleary before completely fading to black.

Location: ?

Time: 10 Years Ago

A boy blinked up at the black sky with near unseeing eyes as the world around him went up in flames. There were dead bodies all around him and the buildings were burning bright, translucent orange, filling the sky with black smoke and there was nothing he could do but just lay there and wait for death to come for him. No one was left to save him. He knew that.

It was becoming harder to breath and he knew he was coming to his end. His life was already leaving his body and that's when he heard it, a desperate shout and sudden footsteps hurrying towards him.

Turning his head with the strength he had left, the boy saw a man with black hair and eyes fall to his knees before him, tears rolling down the rough features of his face. The boy wondered why the man was crying, but the most particular thing was that he had a small unconscious girl in his arms.

The Boy blinked as the man gently reached out, grabbing his smaller hand in his own as he started to speak. The Boy didn't know what the man was saying, but all of a sudden, there was a golden, glowing light that emitted from the Man's chest. A golden ball of light, it lowered itself until it was hovering over the Boy's chest. The Man said one more thing and before the Boy knew it, the golden light went into him, filling him completely with warmth and making him feel safe.

The Boy closed his eyes, cherishing the warmth as much as he could and before he knew it, he was drifting off into a restful slumber. He stayed asleep as he was being carried away by the Man with the Girl to a safe place.

Location: Chaldea

Time: Present Day

"See?" A young woman pointed at the monitor as a large red dot blinked in and out of existence. "This is a sign that worlds have merged together. It's a singularity Roman."

A man in his late twenties or early thirties sighed as he looked at the blip. The very existence of humanity was at stake; they did not need the extra trouble that this would bring. "How did they merge and why now? Was it recent Ariene?"

"I don't know how they merged." The woman, Ariene sighed, "But from what the readings show, it's been like that for ten years."

"Ten years?!" Roman demanding, green eyes wide as he ran his hand through his orange hair. "How did Chaldea not notice that?!"

Ariene rose her eyes back up to the new Singularity that popped up before looking at the other Singularities that had been there from the beginning. They had just finished the Okeanos Singularity and the one at Londinium was supposed to be next.

They had been resting though, Okeanos had taken a lot out of their Servants and if a new Master hadn't been chosen, the two current ones would have gotten out of Okeanos more beaten and scratched up.

"Could someone have hidden it from us?" A woman with a wavy brown hair and big blue eyes leaned forward. Appearing more curious than worried as she continued to tap her staff into the ground. She was Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest inventor of her time. Well, according to her.

Ariene shook her head, "I have a theory. Look at where the Singularity is and the date. Fuyuki City, 2004. That's when Singularity F happened right?"

"Yes." Ariene turned to look at the Master's at the Male voice, now there were three of them instead of two. "Fuyuki was the beginning but we beat it already."

The First Master was her own Partner, Cleo Everett. She had light olive toned skin, dark coffee brown hair that fell in loose curls down her back and large sea green eyes. She was technically the longest Master, having had Command Seals and her own Servant for four years; though since there was no need for such a thing in Chaldea at the time, she just helped the staff. She wore her own variation of the Master's uniform, instead of being black and white, hers was charcoal gray and black. Her leading style dealt more with her instinct and emotions, though she would plan things out every once in a while. Though, she did have a slight temper and acted a bit brashly.

The next Master was Fujimaru Kakeru, the last remaining Master of the Chaldean Master candidates and formally known as the forty-eighth Master. He had spiky midnight black hair, lightly tanned skin and expressive bright blue eyes and as usual, he wore the standard white jacket and black slacks of a Master. He was the most strategic of all the Masters, always using his head and never acting without thinking. A tactician through and through.

The third and newest Master was Kakeru's best friend, Tanaka Isolde. She had creamy fair skin with spiky burnt orange hair that went down a bit pass her shoulders and one ponytail at the side and large, amber eyes. This new Master was definitely the most expressive and energetic of the group. She barely followed the plans and acted more with her heart and emotions than her head. It was a trait that worried the other Masters since they worried about how she'd act while being in a Singularity from the very beginning instead of the end.

"Yes." Ariene agreed, "We beat Singularity F, but that doesn't mean that a Man or Woman with the power and ability can't cause trouble there again. My guess is that whoever did this, merged the two worlds together outside of this world, meaning Chaldea would never have seen it since while the two worlds were merging, it was out of Chaldea's scope.

"And what?" da Vinci asked, "When the Singularity was ready, just plopped it into this world?"

Ariene smiled, "Actually yes. You may not know this, but while manipulating the space between worlds and even using a form of time magic may be extremely difficult and near impossible, if you do know exactly what you're doing, then a situation like this is extremely easy to pull off." She paused, looking at the rest of the group. "Whoever did this is extremely powerful and skilled in magecraft. Even more, he or she probably has status near a Gods or Goddesses. He also probably didn't have to wait ten years, he just set his plan into motion ten years in the past before transporting himself to the present of 2004."

"Well that's just great!" Roman smacked his face into the counsel in front of him. "What are we supposed to do now?! We still have Londinium!"

"If I may say, Roman." Kakeru spoke up seriously, his blue eyes on the new Singularity before going to the Londinium one. "I think the best course of action is splitting up. We have three Masters after all. Send Cleo and Issie to Londinium, I'll take this new one."

Roman blinked and looked at Kakeru in disbelief. This seemed like a high risk plan for someone who hated risk in fear of his friends getting hurt. But if he thought about it, it did make sense; Kakeru would never let the girls go into a previously unknown and new Singularity, especially one like this.

"It's a good plan." Ariene agreed, "But I think Cleo and I should go to the Singularity in Fuyuki instead. She held up her hand when Kakeru looked like he was about to protest. "Going to different worlds, is my job after all. That's never changed even if Chaldea had become my rest zone if I had nowhere to go."

"True." da Vinci tapped her finger against her lips. "Ariene has the most experience with differing worlds. I think Ariene and Cleo should go."

"Besides," Cleo spoke up, moving to stand next to Ariene so she could face Kakeru. The hesitation was clear on his face. "It's Issie's first full Singularity, I think she'd have an easier time learning from you."

"I think I'd learn a lot from you too." Issie reassured her, "But I would love to go with Kakeru!"

Kakeru looked at everyone in the room, eyes lingering on Roman for help, but the Doctor just shook his head and sighed. Figures, there was no way he would go against his niece; Kakeru had actually seen Cleo full on smack during one of his melt-downs. Even if it wasn't clear to see, between Cleo and da Vinci, Roman was truly a whipped man.

"Fine." Kakeru finally sighed, he could see Ariene's point as well and it was clear he was outnumbered. "Ariene and Cleo will go to Fuyuki and I'll go to Londinium with Issie."

Roman nodded, "I think that's the best way. We'll leyshift you in a few hours. In the mean time rest up and inform the Servants you want to bring."

All the Masters nodded, and Kakeru and Issie left the room, talking animatedly. "What is it Ariene?" Roman asked, the female Servant hadn't looked away from the Singularity.

"Nothing. I'm just trying to figure out how Fuyuki will look this time around." She shook her head, a light smile forming on her face, "The one time I want Eirelyn and Olliviere to just say something, and their silent."

Cleo laughed back as she began to leave the room with her Servant. "The last time Olliviere did that, you punched him."

"I just might again. For something like this, they should have been able to tell me." There was a light note of concern in her voice. "I just hope this isn't a bad omen of some kind." Even as she said that, she knew it was. Something horrible was going to happen in Fuyuki.

Chapter Text

Ayaka POV

"Father!" Ayaka snapped out of her nightmare, drenched in sweat and completely trembling. he fumbled for her glasses with shaking hands before putting them over her deep blue eyes. It was that nightmare again. About the night of the Fourth Holy Grail War and how in the very end, both her Sister and her Father ended up dead.

She admitted that her memories of that day were fuzzy, but certain parts stood out. She remembered opening her eyes to her Father's body, turned into nothing but gore. She remembered the golden tip of a sword protruding through her Sister's chest. The Holy Grail War had taken her family away from her. Was it any shock that she wanted nothing to do with it?

But here she was, ten years later and completely expected to participate in the Fifth Holy War; just as her older Sister, Manaka had ten years earlier. The very thought made her want to scream and puke. To be surrounded by such blood shed again... she couldn't stand the thought.

The Fifth Holy Grail War should be taking place fifty years from now, but if her Guardian, Kotomine Kirei was correct, it had come back early. The worse part was that Kirei seemed to expect Ayaka to take part in the War since Manaka had been the Sajyou Master ten years ago and she even had their Father, Hiroki's help and they still both died in the end.

Why was she expected to participate in such a war? She was nowhere near as talented as Manaka had been, her Sister had been a prodigy in magecraft since she was a child. Ayaka was average. Horribly average, there was nothing amazing about her. She had average magical capabilities and she was average in looks and grades.

There was no way Ayaka would win, so instead of taking part of it, she would ignore it. With that thought Ayaka sighed as she finally rolled out of bed, if she didn't get up, she would be late for school.

Ayaka went through her usual morning routine mechanically, dressing into her school uniform before eating her small, breakfast of eggs, vegetables and coffee. After that was that she went to the botanical garden her Mother had left her, a garden that mad many useful but over-grown shrubs and the counter space littered with pots and piles of old dusty books. She could never find the energy to clean up the one thing that had been left to her.

Crows and pigeons watched her as she made her way to the back of the garden where she was supposed to do her morning sacrifice, of killing a pigeon, but she was never able to; that's why the garden was filled with nest of pigeons and crows. Numbly, Ayaka took out the pigeon she was supposed to sacrifice that morning, a large knife shaking in her hands as she rose it over her head. She watched the pigeon struggle before closing her eyes and swinging the knife down.

Father... I wasn't able to follow your instructions again. Ayaka thought glumly as she looked down at her bandaged finger. Once again, she couldn't kill the pigeon and ended up using her own blood as the sacrifice. Her thoughts were still down as she reached Homurahara Academy. She watched as a number of students laughed and talked together and silently wondered which of them would no longer be going to school with her once the War was done.

She could tell by the 'suspicious gas leaks' and Kirei's increasing amount of phone calls that the Fifth Holy Grail War was about to start, it was only a matter of time really.

She already knew who two of the Masters were going to be; one was clearly Tohsaka Rin, another orphan from the previous Holy Grail War, and Kirei was also her Guardian. Technically, Rin could have been her sister if Kirei had decided to adopt them but it was something he was fundamentally against; to both the girls relief. Ayaka didn't trust Kirei one bit and she had a feeling that Rin didn't either.

Either way, Ayaka and Rin could never truly be close, Rin completely planned to follow the path of a Mage and follow in her Father's footsteps. She was participating in the Holy Grail War and if Ayaka didn't want to be involved, the best choice of action was to completely avoid Rin altogether.

Another Master that Ayaka suspected was Reirouken Misaya, a new transfer student from Tokyo. There was no plausible way that Misaya wouldn't be in the Holy Grail War, she had transferred into Homurahara Academy too close to the start date of the Holy Grail War. There was also the fact that Misaya was another orphan from the previous War, her Father coming to Fuyuki specifically to participate and he had lost his life doing so. During the years between the Grail Wars, Misaya had gone back to Tokyo, but now she was back, the timing couldn't be a coincidence.

Ayaka also suspected knew that the Einzberns would be participating in the War, they were one of the Three founding families after all. That could also be said for the Matou, even though the magic in their blood had run dry, she wouldn't be surprised if they somehow found a way to participate; they had in the previous War after all.

That was four Masters all in all at the top of her head, so that meant three Masters that were unknown to her. That was troubling, but as long as Ayaka kept her head down, then there should be no reason for any Masters or Servant to target her.

"Hey, Sajyou." Ayaka froze at the sudden voice, feeling a cold anger form in her.

Emiya Shirou. If there was one thing that she was absolutely certain about. It was the fact that she hated Emiya Shirou, he was the son of the famous Magus-Killer, Emiya Kiritsugu. The Man that had killed her Father and Sister. She was sure of it. The Magus-Killer ended up being the last winner of the Holy Grail War. He was the only viable person that she could blame; it was even in his name! When she learned that he passed away, all she had felt was relief. Relief that she no longer had to look over her shoulder on the belief that he would one day come out of retirement and kill her just like he did with her Father and Sister. She wanted nothing to to do with the Emiya Family.

It was too bad his Son never got the hint. Emiya Shirou wouldn't leave her alone. For some reason he would always try to talk to her or help her. And no matter what she said or did, he just kept coming back for more.

"What do you want, Emiya?" Ayaka demanded, tightening her grip on her bag.

"You cut yourself again Sajyou." Shirou said, disapproval on his face as he took her hand in his so that he could inspect the cut. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Ayaka felt irritation at his show of concern. It had to be fake, there is no way that Shirou could be this caring. He was the son of the Magus-Killer, the Man who had tried to use her as leverage in the previous Grail War against Manaka and her Father, but it didn't work. Shirou was the son of a horrible Murderer and the world was better off with him dead. But even if one Monster had left the world, the Magus-Killer had no doubt left his replacement behind with all the knowledge he needed to continue the legacy.

"I accidentally cut myself while making breakfast." Ayaka said, hoping to get him off her back.

"Really?" Shirou's golden-brown eyes narrowed as he looked at her, it was clear that he didn't believe her and that just irked her more. "You sure have a lot of accidents."

Ayaka growled, "I'm just clumsy." Why did the son of the Magus-Killer have to always go out of his way to help or protect people? It wasn't natural and clearly a cover to help hide the fact he killed Mages. He had a cover as a helper, but for some reason, he seemed interested in her more than anyone; why was that? Could it be that she was on a hit-list of his that Kiritsugu had left him?

"Sure?" Shirou pressed.

"Perfect." Ayaka snapped, finally pushing pass him and walking into school. Now that he was out of her way, Ayaka let out a breath. Why did he have to bother her?

She kept her head down the rest of the morning, trying to keep attention off of herself was always her defense mechanism. She wasn't like Rin who was the school idol, even if she was pretty short-tempered and a grouch while not at school; Rin was perfectly two-faced.

Ayaka blinked. She looked around and saw that Rin's desk was empty, which was odd. Even if Rin was not a morning person, Ayaka didn't think she had ever missed a day of school before. She shook her head, she shouldn't think of the reasons why; it probably had to do with the Holy Grail War and Ayaka refused to be part of it.

The rest of the day passed by without issue, and by the time the bell rang, it was pouring in sheets. Ayaka took out her umbrella and quickly made her way out of school. Now that school was over, Ayaka could finally focus on the important thing for today: it was the anniversary of the deaths of her Father and Sister, she was going to the cemetery to pay her respects.

The Graveyard brought her closer to Kotomine's church than she would like. She only visited him a number of times through the years, but that was still more than Rin. Ayaka stood under the pouring rain over her Father's grave. They never found Manaka's body and that had been the worse news Ayaka had heard; she never got to bury her Sister.

Ayaka looked at her Father's grave for a moment later before deciding it was time to leave, she didn't think she could spend anymore time staring at the outcome of those who participated in the War any longer. She turned to leave, but that's when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned a young looking man, dressed in Priest robes. He had short silver hair and kind blue eyes and carrying a large boquet of roses. But even though he looked kind, Ayaka couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Hello, Sajyou-san." The Man said in perfect Japanese, a smile on his face.

"Who are you?" Ayaka demanded, taking a step back.

The Man looked somber, "I'm sorry, Sajyou-san, Mister Kotomine told me your name. My name is Sancraid Phahn and I belong to the Eighth Sacrament in the Holy Church. What happened to your family... I am sorry for what happened."

"They were so close to the truth too... and had won almost every battle." He continued.

"Please leave." Ayaka said, not liking where this was going at all.

"You can finally continue the battle," Sancraid continued, completely ignoring her. "Yet you have not made any preparations. Every other Master in this war has already summoned or are preparing to summon their Servant."

"Kotomine has already told me that. Rin as well." Ayaka said softly. "I'm not like Rin, I don't want to participate in the Holy Grail War."

"So why not take Kotomine's advice? He is the Overseer of the War and your legal Guardian. Rin is a fellow Mage as well. They both understand, even if you do not. Kotomine was even a Master in the last War and was also the student of Rin's Father."

"Well, I don't want anything to do with the War!" Ayaka snapped again, not knowing how much more she could take. "Besides, I won't listen to someone who couldn't protect his Teacher."

Sancraid looked at her for a moment stunned, before sighing, "All things are subject to cause and effect." He then leaned in closely to Ayaka, far closer than was comfortable. "You have nowhere to run." He added softly, causing her eyes to widen.

Ayaka stared up at Sancraid in disbelief, of course she knew deep, deep down in her little pessimistic soul that what she said didn't matter. That the other Masters would still try to kill her because Manaka participated ten years ago... but to have someone actually hint at it made her go cold.

She didn't even glance at Sancraid as she suddenly took off running. She didn't want the Grail! She didn't! The only way to stay safe, as much as she hated to admit it, was to seek sanctuary with Kotomine. They couldn't touch her if she asked the Church for sanctuary. That was the rule.

Ayaka could see the church's door. She was so close, she pushed herself harder than ever... she was almost at the door when a figure suddenly appeared in front of her, causing Ayaka to skid to a halt and fall onto her back.

She blinked up and saw a figure clad in a cloak-like dress and dark silver Armour that let out a dim glow, even in the pouring rain. The figure had a scarf around her shoulders and neck and a hood that covered her head, partially hiding her features. However, the thing that wasn't hidden was the clear, silvery-white sword in her hands or the dull glow it gave off.

Ayaka let out a small scream, drawing the Servant's attention to her. Dark violet colored eyes met her blue ones before the Servant took a step toward her. Ayaka immediately scrambled to her feet and took of running, even after hearing a voice call after her. That was a Servant. No mistaking it, so her Master must have been close and saw what she looked like. Why was it so close to the church? Didn't they know the church was neutral ground?!

Ayaka ran through the rain until she reached her house in Miyama Town, slamming the door after her. She quickly looked around for something to protect her, even if there was a bounded field over her house, it wasn't impossible for a strong Servant or Master to burst in.

In a panic, Ayaka grabbed the mystic code her Mother left her, a plain simple, silver ring with feather etched into it and a black jewel in the middle. It contained a spell that shot out blackened feathers at the opponent and was one of the spells that Ayaka could actually cast efficiently.

Breathing ragged, Ayaka slipped the ring onto her finger, turned off all the lights and pulled a light concealment shroud over herself. The shroud wouldn't stop the Servant from detecting her forever, but it would at least by her some time. She through herself on her couch and did the only thing she could do. Wait.

"Like I'd become like one of them!" She cried out, "To begin with! I can't do it!" It was true, her magic circuits were so average that she would never be able to summon a Servant. "There's no way I can do it! I can't do what my Sister did! It has nothing to do with me!" She screamed against the couch.

She didn't know how much time passed with her just lying there, but as the night grew longer, she started to hear rabid barking outside her house before the barking turned to howls of pain as they ran into the bounded field protecting it. The shield held for sometime before something broke it. Something with an immense magical aura...

Ayaka through the shroud off her when two hounds burst through her window and she summoned plumes of dark feathers out of the ring on her hand, impaling the first rush of hounds.

Their howls of pain filled the air as Ayaka bolted off the couch and started to run down the hallway leading to the garden. More hounds pursued her and once again, Ayaka ejected the black feathers to impale them; because of the design of the hallway, it was impossible for them to dodge. Was the Servant not coming for her after all? Even if she was an average mage, even she could battle these hounds.

Of course, the moment she felt relief was when the hounds stopped their attack and the Servant appeared. For a moment, she was surprised, it was not the Servant from the church grounds. This Servant was Male and had neat, dark hair that was buzzed at the sides and slightly narrow burnt orange colored eyes and a strong, broad build. He didn't wear a tunic, leaving the golden-bronzed skin of his chest and torso exposed, but he did have golden shoulder pauldrons and vambraces on his forearms and gold Armour on his legs... and in his hands, strangely enough was a lance made of wood. From what she knew about the Grail War, he had to be Lancer.

"May I ask if you're the Fair Lady of the House?" Ayaka was stunned by how polite his deep voice was. "Fair Lady, it's nothing personal, but my Master has ordered me to bring her your head tonight." There was a gentle smile on his face as he spoke and Ayaka was finding it hard to believe that he just said he was going to kill her.

Ayaka knew there was nothing she could do to defeat a Servant but she still yelled, "Stay away!" and sent a barrage of feathers his way.

Lancer swept the feathers out of his way and faster than she could believe was on her. His lance cut through the air and she would have been speared through if she hadn't rolled out of the way in time, putting distance between the two. She scrambled to her feet and fired more cursed feathers at Lancer and with the distance between them, he actually had to use his lance to block. It wasn't much, but it bought her a precious second at least to run.

Ayaka gasped as her magic circuits started to act up. It always gave her an uncomfortable feeling to use her magic but now, she was using it more than she usually would in a day. It felt like pin-pricks were going through her system, she wouldn't be able to hold Lancer off for much longer.

"You have talent." Lancer called out to her, sounding rather approving. "That's an older form of magic isn't it? Black magic? It honestly makes me wish I could spare you from your fate."

Ayaka didn't respond as she ran. No matter how he sounded, she knew he would still accomplish his task. That's what Servants were meant to do after all. But didn't anyone realize she didn't have a Servant?! There was no point in killing her!"

Ayaka finally reached the Garden, sealing the door after her and using her magic to make some of the branches grow longer and rampant to block the door. It should hold Lancer back for a bit. She started to run towards the back of Garden when the door flew off its hinges and she was thrown back against the floor do to Lancer's thrust as a gale of wind entered Garden.

Ayaka looked up, tears pulling in her eyes as Lancer entered Garden, his hounds trailing after him, drool dripping off their sharp teeth as their red eyes took her in.

"S-save me." Ayaka said, trembling as Lancer neared, raising his lance high to impale her. I don't want to die. I don't want to die..."Save me... Father!" She screamed as Lancer brought the tip of the lance down in a single powerful thrust.

The tip of the lance pierced her blouse and drew blood, but before it could go any deeper there was a sudden flash of a brilliant, burning light and a gale of wind that threw Lancer back. The wind continued to swirl around her body, almost in a caress and the ground lit up with magical energy.

Lancer stared stunned as the light built up. "She summoned a Servant... interesting!" A large grin spread across his face as he readied his lance. He lunged forward, planning to impale her once more, but before he could strike a Servant materialized between him and her. The Servant in question immediately turned and deflected Lancer's attack with a glorious silver sword that had blue accents. The attack itself breaking Lancer's make-shift lance.

Lancer stared at the broken piece of the wood before meeting the enemy Servant's stern blue eyes. "Time to retreat huh?" He asked softly, knowing he wouldn't win without his real lance. He gave a low whistle and the hounds retreated with him following. He stopped at the doors of Garden and looked back, "Good work, Fair Lady. Next time, entertain me again." He de-materialized, turning into spirit form and retreating, leaving the new Master and Servant pair alone.

The Servant then turned back towards Ayaka and she blinked up at him stunned. He was clad in gleaming silver Armour that covered his chest, shoulders, hands and legs. There was also the design of white flowers going down the length of his Armour on the right side. The Servant smiled gently down at her, he had a strong, proud jaw, fair skin, wavy sandy blonde hair and blue eyes the color of the sky.

"Ah..." Ayaka stared at him stunned. "I..."

"I am the Servant Saber." He said, giving her a gentle smile. "It is my pleasure to meet you, Master."

Chapter Text

Shirou POV

Shirou groaned as he pushed himself up from the cold floor of the schools hallway. What had happened? He remembered doing errand for Issei and was just leaving when he saw two figures fighting in the courtyard. One looked to be clad in red while the other in blue. He watched as they fought at speeds that could not be human, taking a step back when the fighting got even more intense.

"Who's there?" The fighter clad in blue demanded, looking around.

Shirou held in a gasp as he took off running, trying to get away from the figures that had been fighting. He reached the school halls and ran, knowing that the figure was chasing him. He got knocked off his feet by an unknown force, the force throwing him harshly against the floor and knocking the air out of his lungs.

"Hey there." A rough said from behind him.

Shirou spun around and suddenly felt a piercing pain go through his chest. Slowly, he looked down and saw the tip of a red spear embedded into his chest, causing his blood to soak through his shirt and uniform.

The air rippled in front of him and soon a Man clad in a tight-fitting blue and silver Armour was standing in front of him. He had long dark blue hair and passive red eyes. Shirou grunted as the Man pulled the spear out of his chest, causing him to collapse, his blood pooling around his body.

That's how Shirou found himself on the ground. But... he should have been dead, there was too much blood around him for him to be alive and he knew he had been stabbed through the chest. Shirou looked around and saw a red pendant lying on the ground in front of him. Where had that come from? Without thinking Shirou grabbed the Necklace and pushed himself up to his feet. He needed to get home.

Grabbing at his bloody chest, Shirou moved as fast as possible, he burst out of the school and ran towards his home. He reached home and fell against the dining room floor, gasping for breath. "That man in blue and that man in white... who were those two?" He wondered, rubbing at the place where he was stabbed. "They were no ordinary human, I almost died."

"No, I didn't almost die. I did die." He corrected himself as he stared up at the ceiling. He pushed himself up to a sitting position. "But I am alive, someone came and saved me." He mused. "Who was it? I wish I could at least thank them."

Shirou heard bells ring and looked up in time to see the Blue-clad Man again, hovering over him before diving down, the tip of his red spear out to impale him once again.

He quickly rolled out of the way and grabbing a paper tube, holding it out towards the Man with the Lance.

"I was trying to be considerate, figuring it would heart more if you saw it coming." The Man smirked as he shouldered his spear. "Stuck with killing the same person twice in the same day." He twirled the red spear quickly around his body, his smirk growing as he tensed his body to strike. "I guess the human world is a bloody place, no matter the era."

"Trace on." Shirou said, reinforcing the roll of paper in his hands, lines of magic tracing all over the white object.

Lancer looked surprise before he grinned, "Find your own way to the other side this time, Boy."

Shirou focused on strengthening the paper tube when Lancer lunged, the blade of his spear scratching against Shirou's arm and drawing blood.

Lancer started to talk and Shirou barely heard a word he was saying, he was just backing away slowly. "Looks like this will be fun after all."

Shirou was pushed back, his back crashing against the wall due to Lancer's attack. He quickly pulled himself back up, he ran through the hall before forcing his way through the window that led to the mini court yard area of his home. He took longer to recover than he should have because before it, the Man's leg came flying at him and he was kicked clear across the yard, pain erupting through his body.

Shirou groaned as he looked at the Man with the Lance. He felt pain shoot through him as he stumbled towards his shed, the paper pole still in his hands. He turned just in time to see the red spear thrusting through the air at him again. He unrolled the tube of paper and made it into a makeshift shield. The paper was destroyed, but it did save him from being stabbed.

"Checkmate." His would-be Killer stated, looking down at Shirou who was on the ground. "The last move was pretty surprising, Boy. I don't get it though," The Man mused, "You think fast on your feet, but you're hopeless at magecraft. You seem to have a knack for it... Maybe you were meant to be the Seventh."

The Man rose his spear again, the red tip glowing slightly. "Well, even if you were, this is the end for you."

"Screw that!" Shirou forced himself to meet the the red eyes of his Killer. He gently put his hand on his stab wound, "My life was spared. My life was saved so I'm not going to die so easily!" As he spoke, he didn't notice the glowing summoning circle. "I have to live and fulfill my obligations! And I can't do that if I'm dead!"

"I'm not gonna be killed in a place like this!" Shirou snapped, unaware of the marks appearing on the back of his hand. "For no good reason, by a guy like you!"

Lancer didn't seem to hear him as he thrust his spear at him again, intent on ending his life for good.

"Who kill people like it's nothing!" Shirou screamed. He was intent on living and this guy wouldn't kill him.

The summoning circle burst with light, catching the Man's attention and causing him to stop his attack. "The Seventh Servant?!" He was forced to block against an attack from an unseen weapon that forced him back out of the shed.

Shirou stared stunned at the person who appeared in front of him. He couldn't see their face, but whoever saved him wore gleaming silver Armour over a royal blue tunic. What surprised him the most though was the fact that his arms were poised as if he had just swung something, but nothing was in their hands.

"I ask you," A rich male voice started, causing Shirou to jump in surprise. The Person turned and Shirou was ended up face to face with a young man with fair skin, short bright golden blonde hair and intense rich green eyes. "Are you my Master?"

Shirou blinked stunned, "Master?" He asked, completely confused.

The Blonde Male just looked at him, his green eyes clear. "Your Saber Servant has come in response to your summons." He said.

Shirou suddenly grabbed at his hand, seeing strange marks on the back and 'Saber' turned away, looking out of the shed.

"My sword will henceforth be at your side. Your fate is henceforth my fate. The pact is now sealed." Saber said before running out of the shed, with Shirou following after him.

"What do you mean pact?" Shirou cried out, but Saber wasn't listening to him. Instead, the blonde Male had started to fight the Man who tried to kill him. From the looks of it, Saber was winning.

Saber was quick and agile, being able to fight the man with the spear, on even ground. It was strange to see, since Saber looked like he was fighting without any type of weapon. It was clear that he was holding something, Shirou just didn't know what.

The Man dodged Saber's weapon again, agitation starting to form. "Coward! What's the meaning of this?! Concealing your weapon?!"

Saber smirked, his green eyes narrowing. "What's the matter Lancer? I you simply stand there, you will give spearmen a bad name."

The two started to speak in terms that Shirou didn't completely understand. But he did understand the stance Lancer suddenly took, with the tip of his spear facing the ground.

"You will fall here, Lancer." Saber said, his grip on his sword tightening.

"Is that right?" Lancer asked, a red aura starting to surround the tip of his spear. The mana and energy intensified to the point of almost surrounding Lancer himself. "I'll have your heart!"

Lancer lunged towards Saber, throwing his spear at him. "Gae Bolg!" The energy of the spear clashed with Saber's sword as he tried to block, Gae Bolg threw him through the air and even managing to pierce through his shoulder before the spear threw him back to the ground.

"You were able to dodge my undodgeable blow, Saber." Lancer growled.

Saber winced as he grabbed at his shoulder, part of his armor shattered. "A curse?" He wondered. "No. A blow that reverses cause and effect? Gae Bolg... you are Ireland's Child of Light!" Saber realized.

Lancer scoffed before laughing. He went on to say he messed up since the blow wasn't fatal.

Saber gasped as Lancer started to walk away, saying his Lord was a coward and was telling him to retreat. "You're running away?!" Saber demanded.

Lancer challenged Saber to follow him if he dared before disappearing.

"Wait! Lancer!" Saber called after him, pushing himself to his feet.

Shirou chose that moment to run out towards the blonde, "Hey, are you alright?" Shirou asked in concern. He watched as the stab wound on Saber's shoulder suddenly healed and his armour fix itself. "What the hell are you?" Shirou asked, backing away.

Saber turned toward him, his green eyes lightening up as they took in his battered form. "As you can see, I am your Saber class Servant." Saber then smiled, "As such, please call me Saber."

"I'm Shirou." He said, after a moment of hesitation. "Emiya Shirou."

Saber's eyes widened at that. That was a name he was not expecting to hear. "Emiya?"

"This house... no that's not what I wanted to ask you." Shirou said, frustrated.

Saber smiled, nodding his head in an understanding way. "I know. You're not a proper Master are you? And yet, you are my Master, all the same."

Shirou became flustered and he immediately argued on being called Master since it was weird.

Saber stared at him, "Alright then." His grin grew, "If it's okay with you, I'll call you Shirou then. Yup, that definitely sounds better to me." He started to walk away from Shirou as he said this.

Shirou looked at the mark on his hands, "Damn, what are these?" He asked bewildered.

"Those are command seals. Please try to avoid using them carelessly." Saber said. "Shirou, think you can heal my wounds?" Saber suddenly asked, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"You're asking?" Shirou asked stunned, "Sorry, but complicated magic like that is beyond me."

Saber sighed, "I guess I'll just face them in this condition then. There are two enemies outside." He then jumped over the roof, no doubt to face the enemies he said were there. "Another battle won't be a problem."

Shirou tried to get him to stop, but it was already too late. He could hear the clash of blades outside of his house. Shirou ran out pass his gate and saw Saber fighting against the red-clad figure from the school yard. Though, unlike last time, he saw a girl, clad in a red jacket sitting behind the man, looking stunned.

"Stop Saber!" Shirou cried out. One of the marks on his hand started to glow and expand out and Saber suddenly stopped his attack.

Saber looked back at him, his green eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Are you crazy Shirou?! I could have defeated them. Why did you stop me?"

"Just wait Saber! I have no idea what's happening!" Shirou said. "If I'm your Master, at least fill me in!"

"You're asking for that now?" Saber asked stunned. Neither of them realizing that the black haired girl behind the red-clad Man was standing up.

"Ah, so that's how it is, my good novice Master?" A slightly familiar female voice floated through the air, drawing both males attention back forward.

"For starters," The black haired girl smiled at him, her aqua eyes never leaving his face. "Good evening, Emiya."

Chapter Text

Ayaka POV

Ayaka stared at the male, Saber in front of her. Had that really just happened? Had she really just been saved by a last minute summoning? No, no, no. Oh No. The one thing she had wanted not to happen to her just did. She had summoned a Servant. Now she had no choice to participate in the War that had ended up killing her Father and Sister.

"Master." Saber leaned down, "Are you alright Master? You're hurt, do you require aid?" He said, looking down at the slight blood on her chest.

Ayaka quickly shook her head, "It's just a-a cut..." She stammered out, panic slowly rising in her. She was more bruised than anything. The only real blood came from that tint cut from Lancer's spear.

Saber nodded, "Well, Master. If you are fine enough to stand, I would like to affirm our pact." His blue eyes were extremely kind and gentlemanly as he held out a hand towards her.

"Don't call me Master..." Ayaka said, her breathing starting to become ragged as she stared at him. "I'm not you're Master... I'm not like Rin or Reirouken! I don't want to be a Master! I can't fight! I can't kill anyone!" Ayaka said, closing her eyes tightly and covering her face with her hands.

Saber blinked down at her and looked down at her chest as chastely as possible, catching seraphic looking marks on her chest under her ripped blouse. "If you do not mind me saying, Master. You have the command seals of a Master. Therefore you must be my Master. Please Master, allow me to help you." He gently wiggled his fingers prompting her to take his hand.

Ayaka peeked through her fingers and saw that he was right, there were command seals on her chest. Was there any point in resisting? With a sigh, Ayaka let Saber help her up to her feet. "Thank you for saving me, Saber." She said softly.

"There is no need to thank me." Saber said, watching as Ayaka brushed herself off. He was truly grateful that she was not horribly harmed. "My sword shall be your shield and your fate shall be my fate." He pledged, finishing their pact. "Master... may I ask your name?"

Ayaka blushed, "I-it's Ayaka. Sajyou Ayaka." She said softly, meeting his blue eyes shyly. "So, just call me Ayaka. Master makes me uncomfortable." She said.

"Ayaka..." Saber tried out the name on his tongue before smiling, stunning her. His smile was like the Sun. "Yes, I think I shall call you such." He stiffened a moment later. "Lady Ayaka, I wish I could reveal my name to you... however, two more Servants are approaching."

"Now?!" Ayaka demanded horrified, blue eyes widening. Why two of them?! Was her luck so bad that three different Servants wanted to kill her in one night?! Was it the Servant she saw in front of the church?

Saber must have seen how nervous she was because he smiled, "Trust in my sword, My Lady. I will protect you."

Ayaka nodded nervously, she had no choice did she? At this point, it was either fight or die... and she wanted to live.

"Stay by my side, Master." Saber said, leading the way out of Garden. Ayaka trailed behind him after a moment of hesitation.

As soon as she left her house, Ayaka heard quick footsteps heading towards her and she saw Saber stiffen up. She looked around the street and saw a familiar figure dressed in red round the corner of her street.

"Saber wa-" It was too late, Saber lunged at the familiar figure and before his gleaming sword could touch her, a Servant clad in red appeared in front of her, blocking Saber's sword with his own and causing the red-dressed girl to fall back.

"What the hell?!" An angry female voice rang through the still night and Ayaka hurried over to Saber and the unknown Servant. "What's the meaning of this Sajyou?!"

Ayaka came to a stop beside Saber who pulled back once he realized that the black haired girl knew his Master. "Rin..." She felt herself shrink into herself at Rin's aqua eyed glare. "Are you alright?"

"Am I alright?!" Rin demanded, pushing herself up and dusting herself off. "I was on my way toward the Kirei's church when I sensed a Servant in your home. I knew you didn't plan on participating in the Holy Grail War and some other Master's Servant was attacking you with no cause! Despite my better judgement, I came to try and help you! But instead..." Rin's fist shook with her rising frustration and Ayaka took a step back. "Your Servant attacked me! This is the last time I come to help someone!"

Well... Ayaka honestly didn't know what to say. Rin probably thought that she had lied to her all along and even though she didn't show it, beneath her frustration, Ayaka knew Rin must have felt betrayed. "I promise Rin, this all just happened." Ayaka tried to explain raising her hands in a sign of surrender. "I was attacked by Lancer and right before he could kill me, command seals formed and Saber appeared!"

"Stop right there." Rin said, pointing an accusatory finger at Ayaka's face, aqua eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me, that you were the one that was attacked by Lancer and you were the one who summoned Saber?"

"Yes." Ayaka said, she was never good when Rin acted like this. As fake as it was, Ayaka would have rather taken Rin's fake Idol persona then her real, short-tempered one. At times, it seemed like anything could set her off. "I'm sorry, I know you were aiming for Saber-" Ayaka cut off when she saw Rin's eyes narrow into a dangerous look.

Rin held that look for a moment more before sighing, her head dropping in defeat. "That's not it. What you've told me sounds impossible."

Saber spoke up at that, not liking the idea that Rin was accusing his Master of lying. "I assure, Lady Rin, that what Lady Ayaka is saying is the truth."

Rin eyed the Saber Servant and Ayaka wondered what she would say next. "I'm not accusing her of lying. Ayaka would never lie straight to my face." Rin said sounding confident. "I'm saying it's impossible, because that's the second time I've heard that story. This is also my second time suddenly getting attacked on the street while trying to help." She glared at Saber, "What is it with Saber-class Servants? Do they have an impulse for attacking for no reason?"

Ayaka looked at Rin in confusion, her earlier words finally registering with her. "Why are you going to see Kotomine? You never see him if you can and you could have just called to tell him you summoned your Servant. Why are you even out this late at night to see him of all people?"

Rin opened her mouth to answer when her Servant spoke up, "Master, looked like he has caught up."

Ayaka looked at the Servant that Rin had. He was tall, with extremely tanned skin, white hair and dark gray eyes. He also had on black Armour with silver lining and accents and over the black armour was a red coat over his arms that matched the red skirt attached around his waist. It was probably by coincidence, but Ayaka couldn't help but notice that both Rin and her Servant wore red as their main colors.

"Finally." Rin sighed, "You'd think he'd run faster. Sajyou, you're answer is that." She pointed at the street behind her and Ayaka's blue eyes widened at what she saw.

Emiya Shirou. He was dressed in a light jacket with a white body and black sleeves and simple jeans. His orange hair ruffled slightly, but his golden-brown eyes were alert as they looked at her. What was he doing here? And what who was that person in front of him? All she could tell was that the person was blonde and that the large poncho he was wearing barely concealed his silver and blue Armour.

"Sajyou-san?!" Shirou demanded, a stunned look on his face. "What are you doing?! First I learn that Tohsaka is a mage and now you're one too?!"

For some reason that angered her, "Don't pretend that you didn't know! You're the son of Emiya Kiritsugu! The Magus-Killer! Yo had to know I was a Mage!" Ayaka snapped. "That's why you entered this Holy Grail War isn't it?! To kill Mages?!"

"Magus-Killer?!" Shirou demanded his own anger entering his voice at the accusation she was making about his Father. "What are you talking about? I don't even know what the Holy Grail War is! All I know is what Tohsaka just told me tonight!"

"Right." Ayaka snapped, she aimed her ring at Shirou's heart, if he made any sudden moves... she didn't care if his Servant got revenge, this had been a long time coming after all.

"Hold on Sajyou!" Rin rose her hand and pointed a finger at Ayaka, ready to fire a gandr shot if she had to. "Can't you tell? Emiya is a novice. He can barely do any magecraft, not fix a window or even a healing spell." Rin then gave Shirou a quick glare. "He's such a novice that he can't even properly supply his Servant with mana, why do you think he's here in the open?"

Ayaka looked from her Saber, to the Servant near Shirou, to Shirou and then finally at Rin. "And you've decided to help him out of the goodness of your heart? That's not like you Rin."

"And you don't usually lash out like this." Rin lowered her arm as she sighed. "Besides, don't get the wrong idea. I'm only taking Emiya-kun to see that Fake Priest so he has a full understanding of the Holy Grail War. And as long as he stays out of my way after that, I won't kill him and you can do as you please."

Shirou looked slightly unnerved at that, "Hey, Tohsaka! I don't want to fight you."

Rin pointed her finger at Shirou then. "Quiet, you hack!" Rin then pouted as she looked at the cloaked Servant before her eyes went to Ayaka's Saber. "Ah! Both of you are hacks! How could this have happen?!" Rin threw her arms over her head as she fell to her knees, shaking her head as she grumbled to herself.

They all watched for aa moment as Rin continued to throw her tantrum, Ayaka's anger disappearing for moment before Shirou stepped forward, noticing her ripped blouse.

"Sajyou-san, are you okay?" Shirou asked, he took another step and Ayaka fired a barrage of black plumes from her ring. They would have impaled him if his Servant hadn't stepped in the way, blowing back the feathers with a gale of wind as he threw off the poncho revealing bright blonde hair and green eyes.

Ayaka's eyes widened as she took Shirou's Servant in. Why did he look familiar. The Servant took a defensive position in front of his Master with his hands gripping... an invisible sword? There was only a slight glint in the air to tell that it was even there at all.

Saber gasped at the sight of the other Servant but he took up a protective stance in front of Ayaka anyways, his shoulders tense as his grip on his own sword tightened.

"Wait! I don't want to fight Sajyou-san!" Shirou protested.

Rin rose to her feet thanks to the commotion, "What Saber? Not going to attack her? She did attack your Master after all."

"Why haven't you Rin? His Father was the Magus-Killer after all, I never understood why you allowed him to stay in your territory as a Magus! That man... he killed so many Mages! My Father and Sister... he kidnapped me..." Ayaka snapped shaking with anger. "You never took action against the family who killed your Father either! A Master in the previous War killed your Father and severely damaged your Mother! And don't forget Sak-"

"Enough!" Rin snapped anger in her eyes. "They aren't a threat to me. And you know the other topic is taboo. Never speak of it, Sajyou."

"Master," The Servant that was protecting Shirou spoke up, his voice rich and formal. "May I?" He nodded his head towards Ayaka and when Shirou nodded, he spoke to her directly, his green eyes meeting her blue ones. "You must calm down Ayaka. None of us want to fight you, and I do not wish to battle your Servant."

"Huh?" Ayaka exchanged a confused look with Rin, in all this chaos, she was the only one she felt completely comfortable with. "How do you know my name?"

"I was summoned as the Servant, Saber in the previous War as well. I was summoned as your Sister, Manaka's Servant." The blonde said, causing Ayaka to gasp. "I can't remember much of the War, but I am sorry I was unable to protect your family." He paused, his eyes going to her Saber. "And honestly, I expected to be summoned by you, if I were to be summoned again. Though I am grateful that a fellow Knight of renown and virtue has been summoned in my stead."

"Wait!" Rin said, "That's not right! Servants aren't suppose to retain any memories of previous Wars they've been summoned to before! They're memories should be blank!"

"Mine are... special circumstances." Shirou's Saber said, he then glanced back at Shirou. "Master, you should know that I still find it as my duty as a Knight to protect this girl from harm. Especially since I was unable to before in the last War. If you wish me to cause harm to her, you'll have to use a command spell."

"I don't want to fight her!" Shirou said again, sounding frustrated.

"Master, may I speak?" Rin's Servant finally spoke and Ayaka looked at him in surprise. He had been watching so silently that she had forgotten he was there.

"What is it, Archer?" Rin asked, annoyance dancing in her voice.

Archer's eyes went to her before staying on Shirou. "You have two, potentially weak Masters in front of you, no matter how strong the Servant. Why don't you just kill them here?"

Rin was silent for a long time and Ayaka was afraid that she was actually considering Archer's words. "No. It doesn't sit well with me, the idea of fighting someone who doesn't really know what's happening." She looked at Shirou, before her eyes went to Ayaka, "And as for Sajyou... well, she has the same Guardian as me, so it wouldn't be right either."

Ayaka sighed in relief. That was not a good excuse at all, but Ayaka got the point. Rin was hesitant to kill her because of their similar backgrounds and the time they were forced spend together as children. Even if the two girls didn't have a close bond, there was at least something between them.

"Whatever you wish, Master. Call me if you need me." Archer sighed, turning into spirit form.

Rin looked at the spot where Archer disappeared and sighed. "Geez... now. Lets go."

"Go where?" Shirou asked confused, rubbing his head. "Shouldn't we just go home? It's late."

Rin growled, stalking over to him before grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him down until they were on eye-level. "We're going to the church. I want to know why there are two Sabers and why it sounds as if there are two Lancers. I won't hear any arguments from either of you. Got that?"

Ayaka felt a chill go through her at Rin's tone. Now that was a argue-and-die tone if she had ever heard one. Ayaka yelped as Rin stormed pass her, latching onto her wrist as she did so and dragging her along with Shirou, since she still had a tight grip on his shirt

"H-hey! Tohsaka! Let go! I won't run away!" Shirou said, tripping over his feet as he tried to walk in a bent position.

Ayaka just sighed and said nothing. She knew from experience that when Rin was like this, there was no stopping her. Anyways, she couldn't deny that she was curious too, it was strange that there seemed to be two of every class and the only man who had answers was Kotomine.

Ayaka sighed as Rin let go of her, rubbing her wrist where Rin had latched onto. It seemed like all three of them had a truce now, at least until they talked to Kotomine. All of them had different reasons of course; Rin wanted answers to the doubling of Servants, Shirou wanted to know more about the Grail War and Ayaka herself... well she didn't know what she was doing. Maybe she would relinquish her command seals after all.

It also seemed like Saber and Shirou's Saber knew each other but neither would admit to it. They walked closely together and there was no tension between them. Her Saber seemed content to walk, speaking pleasantly with them if they listened but Shirou's Saber had a look of deep contemplation and sorrow on his face. It was no wonder, for him, it could have been hours since he failed to save her Father and Sister instead of ten years.

They walked silently and Ayaka was still a little wary of Shirou but Rin vouched for him and his basic skills as a mage. Even Shirou admitted that Kiritsugu had only taught him the basic magics and how to reinforce objects.

Ayaka frowned, she didn't like it, but maybe Shirou wasn't as bad as she originally thought. She listened as he explained how he got caught up in the War, how he saw Archer and Lancer battling and once he had been caught watching, how Lancer chased him down and gave him a wound that should have been fatal. She listened as Shirou explained he woke up in the school's hallway with a red jewel pendant lying next to him, clearly left behind by his Savior.

When he said red pendant Ayaka immediately looked towards Rin, watching as she blushed. The Tohsaka's specialized in jewel magic and it was clear that Rin was the one who saved him. The only question was why? Ayaka couldn't figure it out. Maybe the Holy Grail War was affecting Rin like the rest of them, just in a different way.

It took them a while longer, but eventually, the group made it to Kotomine's church and a chill went up Ayaka's spine as she looked around the area. Was that Servant from earlier still there? Had it waited on the off-chance of Ayaka coming back?

"Lets go." Rin said after a moment, leading the way into the church. Shirou trailing behind and Ayaka after.

Ayaka stared up at the building, a sense of foreboding swelling in her stomach. She just knew what was coming next was not going to be good.

"Well, what do I have here? Both of my precious wards come to visit? That's an oddity in itself." A man with dull brown eyes and hair turned towards them, he was fully clothed in a black Priest uniform

"And the son of Emiya Kiritsugu is with you too." Kotomine noted, "Is this what it took for you two to visit me? It's not proper for young ladies such as yourselves to ignore my calls. I am your legal guardian after all."

Rin scowled, "We don't have time for that. Emiya-kun has no clue what he's gotten himself into and Sajyou has summoned a Saber. Apparently, at the same time as Emiya-kun had. And there are two Lancers."

"Two Sabers?" Kotomine mused, his voice disinterested as usual. "How strange indeed. Is what I would have said if you came earlier. It seems that this is an irregular Holy Grail War, two of every Servant-class has been summoned. Sajyou Ayaka and Emiya Shirou are in fact, the thirteenth and fourteenth Masters of this Holy Grail War."

All three gaped at him. "That's not possible!" Rin exclaimed. "Only seven Masters can be chosen! I thought the Grail could only summon seven."

"Who told you that? Every system has exceptions and the Grail is no different." Kotomine said calmly. "Under ordinary circumstances, the Grail only allows for seven Servants, that is true. However, the Founders of the Holy Grail War installed a reserve system as part of the Greater Fuyuki Grail. The leyline in Fuyuki will be drained, but it permits for another seven Servants to be summoned. Thus fourteen Masters and fourteen Servants."

"Why would the Founders do that?" Ayaka asked, horrified at the thought of double the Servants.

"The Founders were afraid that alliances would form between the Masters. That would defeat the purpose of the Holy Grail War, so to ensure it would continue the reserve system was created." Kotomine explained.

"Smaller alliances could still form." Rin shot back.

"Yes, but sooner or later, the numbers would dwindle and former allies would have to fight each other." Kotomine countered before sighing, "I may be the Overseer of this War and cannot directly get involved, but I do feel obliged to warn you, Rin and you, Ayaka that there are target painted on both your backs. Ayaka, because your Sister almost won and Rin, of course, because you are the descendant of one of the founding families."

"But, I don't have my Sister's potential!" Ayaka protested.

"And yet, you summoned a Saber class Servant. That means something. Either way, the other Masters won't take that into account. You both know that this War shows know mercy." Kotomine said.

"Actually..." Shirou cut in, feeling embarrassed and confused. "I still have no idea what's happening."

Rin and Ayaka listened as Kotomine explained the Holy Grail War to Shirou whose expression went from disbelief to horror as he learned that the fire that happened in Fuyuki ten years ago was because of a corrupted Holy Grail.

He then went on to say that he couldn't let such a catastrophe happen again and that he would fight in the Holy Grail War to save as many people as possible.

That shocked Ayaka, she had never expected something like that to come out of his mouth; especially since he was Emiya Kiritsugu's son.

"What about you Ayaka?" Kotomine asked, giving her a smile that chilled her to the bone. "I happen to know that you never planned to join the Holy Grail War, despite my urging. Do you plan to relinquish your command seals or do you plan to fight?"

Instinctively, Ayaka's hand went to her chest where her commands seals were. What would she do? She didn't want to end up like Manaka and her Father. She couldn't fight. She wasn't strong enough... but Shirou's conviction echoed in her head. He had just learned of the Holy Grail War and decided to fight to save people not kill them. Even if he was barely a Mage, he had chosen the path Ayaka was too afraid to take.

She then remembered Saber and how he had saved her from Lancer and his sunny smile and kind eyes. His formal, comforting way of speaking. Saber had answered her summons. At best, he would find a new Master to make a contract with and at worst, he'd just fade away. Knowing that he was a Knight, Ayaka had a feeling that the latter option was more likely to happen; he would feel obligated to keep their contract even if it meant losing the chance to win the Grail. Was she really that selfish to take the Grail away from someone who had saved her without even allowing a chance to gain it?

"I'll fight." Ayaka said, surprising Rin and Shirou, but of course, Kotomine didn't seem shocked at all.

"Very well." Kotomine nodded as if he knew the outcome. "Then I wish all of you the best of luck."

None of them said anything as they headed out of the church, but Ayaka could just feel it. This Holy Grail War would be the bloodiest one yet and there would be no small amount of sacrifices.

Chapter Text

"This is just great!" Rin snapped, as they left the church and headed towards the gates where the Servants were waiting. "I have to beat thirteen other Servants!"

"Thirteen?" Shirou asked, looking at the black haired girl. "Tohsaka, why don't we just team up? I may be new to this, but fighting that many opponents will get you hurt."

Rin scoffed, narrowing her aqua eyes at Shirou. "Emiya-kun, we'd eventually have to fight each other. You yourself may not have any reason for the Grail, but the Servant you summoned must want it or else they wouldn't have answered your summoning."

Shirou groaned, they had reached the gates and the two Sabers who had been waiting for them stopped speaking and looked over at their Masters.

"Master, you've concluded your business?" Shirou's Saber asked, looking at him with curious green eyes.

"Yeah." Shirou sighed before facing his Saber and meeting his eyes. "I've decided to fight as a Master. Saber, I know you feel obliged to protect Sajyou, but will you consent to me being your Master?"

Shirous's Saber smirked slightly, "My consent is irrelevant Master. I will protect Ayaka, but," There was sincerity in his green eyes as he spoke, "You have always been my Master from the beginning. Didn't I swear that my body would be your blade?"

"Right, then lets fight together Saber." Shirou then did something that shocked everyone around; he held out his hand to his Saber, causing Saber to stare at the offered hand shocked. "Are... we not suppose to shake hands?" Shirou asked, embarrassed.

"No, it's not that. You just surprised me is all." Saber reached out and clasped Shirou's offered hand with his own Armoured one. "Let me renew my vow Master, as long as you have command seals on your body, mine shall be your blade." Saber smiled. Somehow, he had gotten himself quite the exceptional Master; he may not be the strongest Mage, but... he was sincere.

"Are you done?" Rin asked, drawing both Shirou's Saber and Shirou's attention to her. "Then lets go." She led the way out of the church. Quickly followed by Ayaka and Ayaka's Saber.

The three of them started on their way home with their Servants when Rin started making a big fuss about going home alone and that now that Shirou and Ayaka were both proper Masters they were enemies. Though, she did tell Archer when he appeared that she had a debt to repay to the both of them before she'd actually attacking them.

"That's rather noble of you." A new voice spoke up, causing all of them to halt and and both Sabers to step in front of their Masters, though Archer stayed de-materialized.

They all watched as a Servant materialized from the air in front of them. She wore a She wore a long-sleeved midnight blue hood-less cloak-like dress that had accents of silver, black and dark violet; that was shorter in the front, the hem of her skirt just going pass her thighs before the hem sweeped to the back, where the hem of her skirt stopped just a bit above her ankles; she also wore soft black leather that wrapped around her legs and black Armour covered boots that had steel accents. On top of her dress, the Armour she wore was designed like a demi-corset and was made of gleaming dark silver metal that had brilliant dark sapphires on either side of a beautiful emerald gem at the very top of the Armour. On the sides and bottom of the dark silver Armour were two aquamarines and diamonds.

While she didn't have any pauldrons to cover her shoulders, the Servant instead had a dark gray scarf with a hood attached to it loosely wrapped around her neck and shoulders, the ends of the scarf falling down her back. The Servant also had dark silver vambraces on her forearms and dark silver finger-less gauntlets, over black material that acted like gloves. She had short, detached faulds attached to either side of the skirt of her dress, but no middle fauld and the charcoal gray, almost black cuisses attached to the outside of her thighs to protect them.

The hood was pulled over her face so it was impossible to tell what her face looked like, but what was clear to them all was that this Servant was immensely powerful. They all gaped at her, especially Ayaka who recognized the Servant as the one who had stood in front of the church earlier that day.

"You again? What are you doing back here?" The female Servant asked, tilting her head in Ayaka's direction and causing Ayaka's Saber to tighten his grip on his steel sword. From what she said, she had met his Master before he had been summoned. "I'm glad you got home safe, though I didn't know you were a Master."

Ayaka couldn't help but snap at that. "I ran all the way home and was attacked by a Lancer! Is he with you?!" She demanded, fearfully looking around in case the Golden-Armoured Servant would show up again.

"No." The Female Servant said, "I had just destroyed a couple of Chimeras before I saw you. I didn't mean to frighten you." She promised, reaching up and pulling back her hood to reveal a gentle heart-shaped face, light peach-toned skin, black hair that was pulled into a loose side-braid by a large, dark blue satin ribbon and intense dark purple-blue eyes.

The first thought that went through Ayaka's mind was that The Servant was extremely beautiful and the moonlight seemed to faintly reflect off her skin, giving her an ethereal glow. The second thought was that the Female Servant couldn't look more than a few years older than her. And the last, thought that filled her mind was a question that Ayaka really shouldn't have thought about; when did that Servant die? Did she die as young as she looked or was that when she was in her prime?

"What do you want?" Rin asked, narrowing her aqua eyes at the Servant. "Are you Saber too? Has this Grail War actually tripled?"

"That would indeed be horrible." Another blonde Servant materialized beside the black haired Servant. Though this one had blonde hair, the front short and going a bit pass her chin while the rest of her golden hair was tied back in a thick braid. The Servant also had clear amethyst eyes and a silver head-piece that rested across her hair. She also wore a dark purple dress covered in silver Armour. She wore silver gauntlets and had thigh-high socks the same color of her dress and Armoured boots. "For the bloodshed would be unimaginable and as the Servant Ruler, I cannot allow such things to happen."

Rin and the two Sabers gaped at her announcement, but Shirou and Ayaka both looked completely confused.

"Why is there a Ruler-Class Servant here?!" Rin demanded, her hands going to her hips.

"This is a... strange, Holy Grail War. Normally, only seven Servants should be summoned." Ruler said. "Due to these odd circumstances, I have been summoned to make sure the War goes smoothly."

Shirou's Saber nodded, it made sense, in a War of fourteen Servants, innocent lives would be drawn in sooner... but, why did he feel as if this had happened before? He was certain he never participated in a Holy Grail War that had more than seven Servants; so why the nostalgia at hearing such a concept?

"And her?" Shirou demanded, nodding to the female Servant standing silently beside Ruler. "Who is she?"

"I am Ari." She said, crossing one arm over her silver Armour and bowing slightly. "I am also a Saber-Class Servant and have been summoned to aid Ruler in this War."

Ayaka's Saber gulped at the Servants boldness. "Have you just revealed you true name to us? That doesn't seem smart. You're making yourself an easy target."

Ari smirked, a dangerous look coming into her eyes. "What makes you think that is my true name? Having two Sabers is already hard to differentiate, Blondie. Besides, who would dare attack Ruler? You're not supposed to kill the Ruler, attacking me would show that you intend to attack Ruler herself."

Ayaka's Saber looked like he was about to retaliate when Ruler held up her hand. "Enough. I must speak with you all, it is regards to this War. Not only is this War strange, but-" She was cut off when she felt the approach of another Servant and Master pair; however, unlike the three before her, the killing-intent was clear.

"Who would attack Ruler?" A clear, child-like voice asked through the mist that surrounded the group. Slowly the mist revealed a small, albino child with straight, white hair and crimson red eyes. She wore a long-sleeved purple shirt with a collar and matching light purple scarf along with a long white skirt and purple boots. "What a question," She smiled as the mist started to reveal a hulking mass of muscle behind her; he towered over the Girl's frame, his body bulging with muscles under deeply tan skin and wild black hair.

"But first, allow me to introduce myself. I am Illyasviel von Einzbern. Nice to meet you." The Girl smiled angelically. "And the asnwer to your question, Miss Saber, is that I would kill a Ruler-Class Servant."

Illyasviel looked at Rin, her crimson eyes narrowing. "You even have Rin and a few other Masters." She paused, her smile falling as her eyes landed on Shirou, but then it came back full force, "Get them, Berserker."

Chapter Text

Ruler gasped as Berserker lunged right for her at an inhuman speed; she readying her own weapon, to counter Berserker's ragged club when Ari leaped in front of her, parrying Berserker's strike with a sword that was white-gold, with rubies and topazes embedded into the metal; a fiery light dancing across the blade.

The ground beneath their feet became a crater as Ari struggled to hold Berserker back, she quickly took a step back and swung her sword out at him, extra mana and air pushing him back a couple feet. She growled lightly when he just stood and looked at her, not injured in the least.

"What?" Shirou demanded as Ari lunged at Berserker, her sword rapidly clashing with his, but it was clear that she was not gaining any ground, no matter how much extra mana she put into the swing.

"Archer! Use your actual Class-skill." Rin said to her Servant, watching the fight, no matter how many times Ari's sword seemed to be able to strike Berserker's skin, it left no mark at all.

"Yes Master." Archer said, hurrying to find a good vantage point away from the battle ground.

Shirou and Ayaka's relative Sabers watched the battle, Berserker had just sent Ari skidding back through the street, her Armoured boots sending sparks through the air as the rubbed against the asphalt. Berserker then lunged at Ari, swinging his ragged sword down an her again; Ari winced as she struggled to push back against Berserker's strength, he had used his momentum to literally keep pushing her as he ran and the force of their blades against each other was sending sparks through the air.

Berserker roared as he forced more power into his sword as he lowered it slightly before bringing it to clash with the underside of Ari's sword, sending her flying into the air as he swung up. He then appeared next to her her before he could even blink and sent her crashing back down as he swung his blade down to the street, a crater forming on her impact.

Ari gasped as she struggled to get back on her feet, blood dripping from her side at where Berserker had struck her. That monstrous Servant had somehow gotten pass her defenses.

"Ari!" Ruler called out, concern lacing her voice as she saw the state that her friend was in.

"Stay back, Ruler." Ari said, freezing when Berserker suddenly appeared in front of her, his sword raised and swinging towards her. Time seemed to slow down as she watched the sword swing towards her. She was certain that she was about to be cleaved in two when she suddenly saw blue and silver in front of her.

Shirou's Saber had stepped in and blocked Berserker's strike with his invisible sword, using a burst of mana to push him back a couple feet. He then glanced back at Ari, green eyes unreadable. He then charged at Berserker, the only hint of him having some sort of weapon was the glint in the air.

"Ari!" Ruler hurried over to the black-haired Servant, helping her sit up as she watched Shirou's Saber clash with Berserker, the sound of metal against metal was the only sound that could be heard in the still night.

Shirou's Saber narrowed his eyes as Berserker complete parried or block every one of his attacks, even as he delivered his own. Berserker's rugged sword swung out toward him and he flipped over the metal before continuing to clash with Berserker.

"Is that thing able to see your invisible sword?" Rin asked in disbelief as she watched Shirou's Saber fight.

Shirou's Saber didn't respond as he ducked under Berserker's attack before countering with one of his own; he even used his mana burst ability time and time again, but the increase in strength barely even seemed to faze Berserker. He grunted as Berserker striked him with an extra powerful attack, one that he barely managed to block as it sent him skidding away from the massive Servant.

Shirou's Saber narrowed his eyes as he once again lunged for Berserker, using mana burst to increase his speed and strength.

"Master, I'm going." Ayaka's Saber said, looking at his Master who was watching the battle with wide eyes, a mix of fear and awe in them. He didn't wait for an answer, he rushed forward and started to fight alongside Shirou's Saber.

The three Masters watched in silence as the two Sabers fought completely in sync; the swing of their swords were perfectly in sync, which was amazing since none of them could see Shirou Saber's sword. They also protected each other when Berserker was able to get pass one of their guards.

Shirou's Saber ducked as Berserker swung his large blade at him and at the same time, Ayaka's Saber swung his sword over the other Saber's back, his sword lighting up with flames that shot out towards Berserker's large mass. To both the Saber's frustrations, the fire didn't do any damage to the hulking Servant; it just seemed to make him angrier.

"Archer!" Rin said, knowing that her Servant could hear her, "Give them cover fire!"

In response to her demand streaks of red shot through the night sky before crashing into Berserker's form, causing an explosion that tour through the street. Both Sabers watched as the fire and smoke cleared to see Berserker standing in a crater, flames dying out around. He didn't even look the least beast injured.

"What is that thing?" Ayaka asked, covering her mouth. Four Servants against it and none of them had been able to injure Berserker. How could they win?! The War had only just begun and already it looked like they would lose.

"Of course," Illyasviel said, looking at them from where she was standing, a smile on her face. "My Berserker is the most powerful Servant. No one can beat him."

At that, Ruler looked up, it was true, from what she could tell, Berserker had unimaginable strength and the fact that they weren't able to injure him... a noble phantasm? But more importantly, "Ari, are you alright?" She looked at the damage that the dark haired Servant had taken, there was some blood on her hand, but she was healing.

"What a monster," Ari smirked slightly, pulling her hand away, "His strength was able to surpass my shield." She looked at the vambrace around her left forearm, the diamond gems glowing slightly."That thing will kill us out in the open."

Ari stood up, her sword glowing slightly before completely changing into a different sword. This one looked like a halberd, dark silver with black accents; however, it was a halberd that looked like a sword. "Ruler, get out of here, things have deteriorated pretty fast. I doubt any of them will listen now. I'll catch up, also tell Cleo we have to change our plans." She didn't even wait to see if Ruler would follow her orders, she just charged at Berserker, shooting pass the two Sabers and slashing her halberd-sword at him.

The Berserker blocked her attack before swinging down at her; Ari jumped out of the way, causing the ragged sword to be stuck in the ground. Immediately, Ari stepped onto his blade, keeping it down as she once again swung her sword at him.

In response, Berserker calmly let go of his sword and leaned back, allowing her blade to calmly pass over his body. He then surprised her by going in for close combat, he flipped over and started kicking out at her in rapid succession, his legs going out like a hurricane.

Ari grunted as the last two kicks were actually able to make contact with her, sending her flying back; she would have gone farther, but she was stopped suddenly when he back impacted into a chest. She looked back and saw that Shirou's Saber had caught her. "Thanks." She gasped.

"He's too agile!" Rin said stunned at Berserker's actions. When could a Berserker move in such a way? Especially one his size?! "How does that thing qualify as a Berserker?!"

"It must be a Heroic Spirit of some renown." Shirou's Saber stated, releasing Ari as his grip tightened on his invisible sword.

Ayaka's Saber nodded, "It's hard not to be impressed. Even in madness, his sword skills have not diminished.

Rin growled in frustration. "Archer!" She said again and once again, streaks of red crashed into Berserker's body and again nothing happened, causing Rin to stamp her foot in frustration.

Berserker charged at the three Servants in front of him, gaining speed as he swung his sword down on Ayaka's Saber, pushing him back from the other two.

Ayaka's Saber grunted against the force of Berserker's attack, his arms straining to hold against him. He broke their parry and leaped back, putting a good distance between himself and the Berserker.

"It's over." Ilyasviel stated in her childish voice, "Enough games Berserker, crush them all."

Ayaka let out a small squeak of terror and Shirou's fist tightened. He had been standing there silent, unable to do anything but watch as the Servants fought and it frustrated him! Could he really do nothing?!

Rin glared over at Ilyasviel, "Never." Rin said, anger burning in her, she ran forward, catching all the Servants attention. She pulled dark purple jewels out of her pocket and threw them over Berserker. "Archer!" The jewels completely disintegrated and formed a type of restrictive barrier around Berserker, forcing him down to the ground.

Immediately, dozens of arrows shot through the sky, piercing into Berserker and engulfing him in an explosion of fire. All present watched, waiting to see if Archer's arrows had caused any damage.

Rin let out a gasp when the smoke cleared to show Berserker completely uninjured.

"It's unkillable?" Shirou asked stunned.

"Nothing is unkillable." Ari said, ready her blade, she charged at Berserker with the Sabers, all three of them working together to keep him in place while volleys of arrows would occasionally rain down. The clash of metal against metal filled the air and yet, none of them could drop the Berserker.

Their fight was a stalement, at least until Berserker was able to break through the defense of Ayaka's Saber and slashed him through the shoulder, sending him flying back.

"Saber!" Shirou's Saber cried, noticing the blood seeping through Ayaka's Saber Armour. He tried to check on his friend but Berserker slashed at him, causing him to leap back as the ground exploded below him and sending him farther away from the other Saber.

"Saber!" Ayaka cried out as she saw her Servant get sent flying. She needed to do something. Anything. Her Saber was trying to force his way back to his feet but it was clear that the shoulder wound was causing him problems; his blood was dripping on the street.

Now that Ayaka's Saber was down, Berserker was starting to overwhelm the other two Servants; putting them both on the defensive with his rapid strikes and monstrous strength. It was as if he could see victory and was going for the final push in defeating his enemies.

Ayaka felt torn. She was frightened. She didn't want to fight. But in the short time that she had known Saber, he had been kind and courteous to her... and now he was bleeding. She admitted to herself again that she was just an average mage with no real skill; being unable to do the black magic her family had left her but... but the least that she could do was heal him. Even someone like her could do that.

Without thinking Ayaka let her legs lead her to her wounded Servant into on healing him; this of course drew the attention of the other Masters.

"What are you doing?!" Rin demanded, looking at the blue-eyed girl as if she was crazy. She wasn't good with magecraft and could barely defend herself; why was she getting so near the battle?!

"Sajyou!" Shirou cried out, starting to run after her.

"Berserker." Illyasviel said, watching as the second weakest Master made her way to her downed Servant. "Kill her."

In response to his Master's new orders Berserker roared and continued his attack on the two remaining Sabers with more aggression. He Hit Shirou's Saber away with an extremely strong attack, a crater forming on the ground where Shirou's Saber landed. Ari looked stunned as she tried to block Berserker's rapid attacked. Their blades were locked when Berserker suddenly turned, using the force of their clashing blades and Ari's shock against her; he twisted so rapidly that he was able to lift Ari off her feet and launch her violently through the air. Ari grunted as she crashed directly against Shirou Saber's chest as he tried to push himself back to his feet, sending both of them crashing back towards the ground.

Ayaka gasped as she saw what happened, trying to pick up her speed, she was so close to her Saber... she would- Ayaka recoiled when Berserker suddenly landed a few feet away from her his ragged blade raised above his head ready to strike. There was nothing she could do but flinch back and close her eyes as his blade swung down.

"SAJYOU!" Ayaka was suddenly pushed out of the way by an unknown force, causing her to crash to the ground.

"Huh?" Ayaka blinked open her eyes in confusion before they widened in terror. It was like a horror movie. Time seemed to freeze as she watched Shirou slowly fall to the ground, blood spilling through the air from the gash on his back... it looked like Berserker's blade almost cut him in two. It was clear to her that he was the one that shoved her out of the way, but why? Why save a girl who had said such horrible things about him and the man who had raised him?

Ayaka watched in absolute horror as Shirou's limp body fell to the ground, his bright red blood pooling around him and staining his clothes. Why had he done that? Didn't he realize that Berserker was still going to try and kill her?! She had been as good as dead anyways!

Her thoughts were suddenly cut off as Berserker howled in pain, Shirou's Saber sword piercing through his chest and completely cutting the upper part of the monstrous Servant's body in half, sending even more blood through the air.

Ayaka looked into Shirou's Saber's hard eyes feeling sorry for him. He had managed to kill Berserker but his victory was for nothing. His Master was dead, so he would soon disappear from the world. At the very least, he had been able to keep his promise to her.

"Why'd he do that?" Illyasviel asked, stunned by what she had just seen. She didn't seem bothered at all by the fact that her Servant had been defeated. The reason for her calmness was revealed when Berserker suddenly groaned as his body began to knit back together, a crazed light once again appearing in his eyes.

"Whatever." Illyasviel said, suddenly looking bored. "That's all for today, I don't feel like fighting any more. Berserker." At his Master's command, Berserker de-materialized, going into spirit form. "His Saber will be disappearing soon, so for today I'll retreat. However if we meet again I promise to kill you." Illyasviel said as she completely disappeared into the mist.

Ayaka looked at where Illyasviel had disappeared to before looking at her knees. How had this happened?! She listened mutely as Rin began to yell at Shirou's limp body. Shirou's Saber was standing gravely to the side, head down and self-anger in his eyes; while he had been able to protect Ayaka, he hadn't been able to protect his current Master. Ayaka thought that the burden of the knowledge must be weighing down on him. To him, it was probably only hours or minutes since he couldn't protect his previous Master and now this had happened. He hadn't started to fade yet, but he would soon without his Master to anchor him.

Her Saber slowly made his way towards them, equally stunned, his shoulder still dripping with blood, but otherwise he seemed unharmed. That was the only relief that Ayaka was able to feel among the horror and regret that was bubbling inside of her. "That idiot..." She said.

Ari joined them at that moment, kneeling down close to Shirou's body, her head tilted and her eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Interesting..." She muttered, staring at Shirou with furrowed brows. "He's still alive."

"What?!" Rin demanded stunned, staring at her as if she were crazy.

"He's still alive." Ari said again, raising to her feet as her dark violet eyes went to his Saber. "Can't you feel that your link is not gone?"

Shirou's Saber's green eyes widened at that. Honestly, he hadn't been able to feel anything; part of him was even thinking she was lying when Ayaka gasped.

"He's healing!" Ayaka said, gaping as she watched skin, bone and organs reform, even his blood was starting to regenerate. She watched stunned as his skin started to knit back together. Slowly, but it was clear he was healing, his breathing was becoming more noticeable and his skin was regaining some of its color. "What should we do?"

"Bring him somewhere safe of course!" Rin snapped, kneeling down beside Shirou so she could see his condition better. "Sajyou, help me carry him!"

Ari watched the exchange, a small smirk on his lips. Tonight had gone completely off the rails... but it had been interesting and the information that she had learned through this battle would definitely help Chaldea with their mission. "I wish you, luck. Hopefully, no more Servants will appear tonight." She turned to leave, but stopped when she felt a hand wrap around her wrist. She looked back, eyes narrowing when she saw that it was Shirou's Saber that held her. "What?"

"How'd you know that Shirou was alive? And what did Ruler want to talk to us about?" He asked.

Ari sighed, shaking her wrist free. "It's just one of my abilities. As for Ruler... well, you'll just have to wait to find out. That Berserker's attack completely destroyed our first strategy." She continued to walk away, her edges blurring before she completely started to de-materialize, "I'm sure we'll meet again soon, King of Chivalry." The last words came out just above a whisper, but both Sabers were able to hear it, leaving them stunned. This 'Ari' knew the true identity of Shirou's Saber?

The only thing the two Sabers were able to do was stare at each other in shock before following after the two female Masters as they carried Shirou between them. They walked in silence, with Shirou's Saber trailing slightly behind with Ayaka's Saber, supporting him since Ayaka still hadn't had a chance to properly heal him.

Finally, they somehow reached Shirou's home and even more incredible, most of Shirou's wound had healed, leaving only a minor gash along his back.

Once they put Shirou on his bed Rin immediately tore his ruined shirt off of him to patch up the rest of the wound. Ayaka and the Sabers watched as she efficiently cleaned up the blood from Shirou's back and wrapped the wound.

"You look like you've done this before, Rin." Ayaka said, she never knew that Rin knew how to treat wounds, but if she thought about it, should she be surprised? She had been trying to heal her Saber, but to her disappointment, she tired out quickly and the healing spells didn't activate for long. Her Saber had immediately reassured her that he was fine and that she had done a perfect job; he also said that her mana supply was more than adequate so he would be in perfect fighting condition in a day or two.

"Even with healing magic, a Mage should know basic medical knowledge." Rin replied smartly, her eyes narrowing suddenly as they went from the unconscious Shirou, to Ayaka and then finally, the two Sabers.

"We were totally beaten up by that little Girl! Even with four Servants!" Rin snapped. "If you hadn't injured my Archer we would have beat that little Brat! You too!" She said, her glare intensifying as she looked at the two Sabers.

Shirou's Saber sighed, "I thought he was a threat to my Master so I acted accordingly."

"It was instinct. I apologize." Ayaka's Saber said, bowing his head slightly.

"Shirou is a threat to himself!" Rin snapped back, looking at the unconscious idiot once again. "He's lucky enough that he survived one attack tonight! And then he goes and almost gets himself killed a second time! For another Master! And he's survived?! How is that possible? And if that wasn't enough, only Emiya-kun's Servant got off mostly unscratched from tonight!" She sighed, rubbing at her face. It had been a very long day after all. "Saber, do you know why Shirou can heal like that?"

Shirou's Saber shrugged. "I can only speculate. Perhaps it has something to do with my summoning? Or perhaps it's an innate ability of his? I can't be sure." He looked at his Master, completely puzzled.

"Some Saber you are." Ayaka put in, "You were unable to protect my Sister and Father. You practically failed to protect Shirou, he would have been dead if not for the fact he was healing. Aren't you supposed to be the strongest Servant?"

"Of course you're correct," Saber began, self-anger in his green eyes. "My failure with your Sister was my greatest failure as a Knight. I will not allow it to happen again. From now on, I shall protect my Master without fail." He meant those words, he had only known Shirou for one night, but already, he had shown he was a much better Master than his previous one had been; the only problem that he foresaw was Shirou's tendency to throw himself into danger. "From now on, the only reason I shall fight is to protect my Master and you, Ayaka." Shirou's Saber vowed.

Ayaka rose her brow, skeptical, "The only reason? That can't be true. You must have a wish for the Grail."

Shirou's Saber nodded, "I did. But I no longer have that wish. Someone long ago has helped me realize that the wish I had was wrong and that I should place my hope in the future and protect the people of the future instead of hoping for a miracle."

Ayaka couldn't say anything to that. If that was true, why did he allow himself to be summoned for another Grail War? Did he just hope to stop the innocents from being involved? If that was the case, then he truly was summoned by the perfect, if not idiotic Master. "That can't be what you're only fighting for." She finally muttered.

"Then what are you fighting for Ayaka?" Shirou's Saber asked. He held up a hand when Ayaka opened her mouth. "You don't have to tell me now. You got drawn into this war without wanting to, you should consider your answer before telling me."

"Master," Ayaka's Saber suddenly spoke up when it looked like she wouldn't heed the other Saber's words, "It's late, you should rest."

Ayaka closed her mouth, nodding reluctantly, her Saber was right, it had to be close to four in the morning now and they were lucky that tomorrow was Sunday. They didn't have to worry about school. Besides, she knew now that she would get answers eventually. At the very least, she wouldn't let Shirou's Saber fade from this world before he told her everything about her family.

"We should just sleep here for the night." Rin said, pushing herself up to her feet.

"W-what?!" Ayaka asked stunned. "We can't just stay the night without his permission! It's improper!" Besides, what if their classmates saw them leave his house in the morning somehow?! What would they think?! Two girls both coming from Emiya Shirou's house... all their reputations would be ruined.

Rin huffed, "We brought him all the way home." Rin stated. "He owes us. Besides, do you really want to go home this late? It should be safer in the morning. No Master in their right mind would attack in the daylight where there are witnesses."

Ayaka stayed silent, despite her reservations, she couldn't help but admit that Rin was right. Staying here was the best option. "I guess you're right." She conceded.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

POV ?

A type of crazed laughter filled the air as a blonde girl in a blue dress covered in blood danced and twirled around, happiness dancing in her pale blue eyes. The dress itself was unbuttoned, revealing her chest and on her chest, there were command seals; meaning that she was a Master. "Ahhh, Saber. Saber. Saber. Saber!" She chanted manically.

Unknown to all Masters and Servants that had been at the battle with Berserker during the night, they had been observed by a well hidden familiar that was relaying what it saw to its creator. The Creator being the girl who was dancing around with a crazed glee in her eyes at what she had seen.

"I had fate that you would come back one day!" The girl cried in unimaginable joy. Though the Grail War was having unexpected interference she just knew that she would be reunited with her Knight, her Prince, her Love! She'd never let anything get in the way of their reunion. Everything was already prepared for the reunion that she had been dreaming of every day. She just had to take action.

"I love you." She said happily, staring up into the sky. "My... my Prince, you belong only to me." She said again. Nothing would keep her away, she was ready to kill anything or anyone to keep him with her. After all, hadn't she done it once already?

Chapter Text

Cleo sighed as she sat around a table with 'Ruler' otherwise known as Jeanne d'Arc. It had been a long time since the blonde haired Servant had come back to the hotel room that they made their base alone. They were still waiting for 'Ari' or Ariene to appear.

When they first arrived in Fuyuki City, 2004, they were all shocked to see that the city was still completely standing and bustling with life. They were even more stunned when Jeanne realized that there were more than the standard seven Servants around. Ariene had later come up with a theory along with Roman that maybe since the two separate worlds had merged, none of the Servants disappeared, instead, the regular Holy Grail War becoming a Irregular Holy Grail War.

"What a mess." Ariene suddenly materialized in front of them, her hood off and looking worse for wear. She honestly looked slightly beaten and worn down, not a look that either girl was used to. "That Berserker was more of a monster than I anticipated."

"Is Shirou okay?" A new voice spoke as a girl with flawless fair skin, intense green eyes and straight green hair entered the room. She was dressed in a simple white long sleeve button down and a navy blue skirt that went to her ankles.

"You're former Master is fine." Ariene said, "Though, it didn't go exactly as you explained. He didn't get hurt pulling you away from Archer's arrow attack."

The dark haired girl blinked in confusion. "Are you sure?"

Ariene frowned at that, "Why would I make that up, Artoria? I was right there. Instead of being injured by Archer's attack, he pushed another Master out of the way and got struck by Berserker's sword."

Cleo watched the exchange silently with Jeanne, the biggest shock of coming to this singularity was not that the city was intact; maybe they should have considered the possibility, after all, the other singularities were war-torn, not already burned to the ground like Singularity F. It wasn't really the fact that there were more Servants either. No. The biggest shock was that King Artoria Pendragon, one of the Servants Cleo had chosen to come with her to this irregular singularity immediately realized that it was the Fifth Holy Grail War that she had participated in.

With that fact, the four of them had decided to find some place to stay so that Artoria could explain. Surprisingly enough, since Fuyuki was a modern day city, the Chaldean staff along with a far too excited da Vinci were able to hack into a modern day hotel and get them a room and make it look like that they had reservations all along. da Vinci later told them that they'd rayshift a Servant over with the proper commodities for such a modern day setting.

They wondered what da Vinci would do for a bit before Artoria explained the Fifth Holy Grail War she had participated in, about the Servants she fought and how Archer turned out to be a future version of Shirou, but more importantly, she had explained about the corrupt Grail who ended up being Angra Mainyu and how she had destroyed it at the end.

Artoria had wanted to freely walk around the city that she had known for two Wars, but everyone else saw that as a bad idea; since she would likely be summoned in this strange war by her previous Master, she'd be recognizable and it would only cause suspicion if there were two of her. Funnily enough, the King of Knights looked like she would have pouted when Cleo suddenly smiled; the female Master saying that Artoria could stay materialized if they could find her a good disguise. Those, Cleo had bought her a straight dark brown wig to cover her usual bright golden hair.

With the dark hair and green eyes, Artoria looked incredibly like she could be Cleo's younger sister; something Jeanne had noted with amusement when she first returned without Ariene.

"Berserker's sword?!" Artoria's eyes widened with shock and fear. "Is Shirou okay? What about Rin? Berserker's sword didn't get Rin too did it?" She asked again, worrying knowing at her.

"Yes, he didn't heal right away, but when he did, the healing started at the worse areas of his injury. His color was already coming back when I left." Ariene nodded. "And he didn't get Rin. The Master that Shirou pushed out of the way was named Ayaka. She was walking with Rin and Shirou when Berserker started to attack us. Ironically, she's also the Master of a Saber."

Artoria took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and make herself believe that everything was going to be okay. Even if events weren't happening the same. "Shirou and Rin will partner up with this... Ayaka?"

"Who knows. Rin was throwing a fit about how they were all supposed to be enemies before we revealed ourselves. And Jeanne had barely introduced herself when Berserker arrived." Ariene shrugged, "Things are different then what we know. We just have to listen by ear and hope for the best."

Artoria nodded, trying to adjust the brown wig on her head. It was an odd weight and itchy. "Did Shirou still summon me?" Artoria asked curious.

Ariene blinked before looking at Jeanne, her eyes narrowing slightly as Jeanne refused to meet her eyes. "Jeanne didn't tell you about the summoning of Shirou's Servant?"

"Did he not summon King Arthur?" Cleo asked from her place, speaking up now since this was vital information.

"He did..." Ariene smirked, watching as Jeanne's eyes widened, her cheeks blushing slightly. If anything, it was amusing since Jeanne had such an issue with it. For her... well, now there could be an unforeseen complication in the mission for her personally. Maybe Cleo too. "He saved Shirou just as Lancer tried to kill him again."

Cleo nodded, "So that at least went with what Artoria remembered." She looked between the two Servants who had been scouting the city while she had admittedly had too much fun helping Artoria find a disguise. "Anything else?"

"Apparently that Ayaka girl met Ariene in front of the church in the afternoon and thought she would kill her." Jeanne stammered out, blush still on her face as she looked at Artoria... she couldn't believe that one of her best friends in Chaldea had been summoned as a...

"I see...?" Cleo's brow furrowed in confusion. Was there something that Jeanne wasn't telling her?

"More importantly, our plan to pretend that Jeanne was a Ruler-Class Servant summoned by this Grail might not work. We came up with the plan in hopes that Servants wouldn't attack her or us and maybe help us. Illyasviel von Enizbern didn't order Berserker to attack the Masters, she ordered him to attack Jeanne." Ariene spoke up, looking calm despite that. It was a long shot after all, and Jeanne had said she'd been attacked before when she had been legitimately summoned as a Ruler-Class in Trifas.

Artoria looked at Jeanne, seeing her frown. "It's fine. However, Berserker must be as strong as I remember. Was I able to at least kill him once?"

"Yes. King Arthur was able to kill him." Ariene felt her smirk grow as Jeanne's eye twitched. Did King Arthur being male really trouble her that much? She guessed it was weird if you were more used to a female version.

Cleo looked between Jeanne and Ariene and sighed. "Will you two please tell me what's going on? Why is Jeanne so bothered by this King Arthur? Jeanne? Ariene?"

"I would like to know as well." Artoria said seriously, looking between the two of them like they were crazy.

"King Arthur is male." Ariene finally said, trying to sound as serious as possible.

"WHAT?!" Cleo demanded, her voice rising in a yell, unable to help herself at the sudden news that was brought to her.

"The Servant that Emiya Shirou summoned is a male version of King Arthur." Ariene said again, this time looking directly at Artoria so that she knew that the black-haired Servant wasn't kidding.

"That's..." Artoria looked like her legs would give out at any second. "Who knew that such a version would be in the Throne of Heroes." She looked stunned that there was an actual male version of her. "And this... Arthur is Shirou's Servant?"

Ariene nodded. "Yes, he seems like he's a lot like you, Artoria. Even more reason for your disguise now."

"But if he's male, there is no reason for me to wear this wig." Artoria protested.

"Artie," Jeanne began softly, "He really does look like a male version of you. Same fair skin, blonde hair and green eyes. Though the threat of you being recognized as Saber is now gone in this war, I believe you should keep the wig if you materialize outside."

Cleo nodded, "I think so too, at least until we know who we can trust in this war. From what I'm hearing, the Einzbern Master and her Servant are not to be trusted. But what about the other three? Shirou, Rin and... Ayaka?" Cleo asked, looking to Ariene for confirmation.

"I believe that they would all be excellent allies." Ariene nodded. "They all have strong Servants, two Sabers and one Archer. What are you going to do about that Artoria? That Rin's Archer is Shirou's future self? Will you allow him to actively try and kill Shirou now that you're here?"

Artoria frowned, her brows furrowing as she thought, she wanted to protect Shirou; after all, he had been her Master and in his own way, saved her, but... "I won't intervene. Unless ordered otherwise, I shall stay focused on our task ahead. I trust my counter-part to protect Shirou with his life. I also believe that due to his challenges with Archer, Shirou was able to become his best possible self. If I were to intervene and reveal Archer's true identity to Shirou before it was time, I fear the knowledge will stop him from reaching his full potential."

"I see." Jeanne nodded, she really did. It was something that Artoria would do. "But, what's our plan now?" She asked, keeping them on track. There were seventeen known Servants in this city. More if the Grail summoned them because of the singularity. "How are we supposed to find the cause of the singularity?"

"We need more allies first." Cleo reminded them, "The three that you ran into tonight seem to be the best bet to me. Shirou, Rin and Ayaka. Now, I just need a chance to talk to them. Master to Master." She looked at three of the strongest Servants Chaldea had. They were her best protection, but for something this big, they needed much more.

Since this was a singularity that seemed to have some version of a true Holy Grail War, she didn't want to bring more Servants from Chaldea than necessary, in fear that it would make her a target and throw even more chaos into the situation, so she only brought the three. "We must speak to them soon, before this Holy Grail War really goes off."

Ariene looked at her Master, the two of them would need to plan as well. On what to do about those two Sabers. "We will Master. Unfortunately, we just need a new plan of contact."

"If I may," Artoria began, green eyes serious. "I have an idea."

Ayaka groaned as she blinked open her eyes. As usual, everything around her was bleary without her glasses on her face. She stretched out her body before reaching for her glasses. What a horrible dream that she had just had; she had dreamt that she had been chosen as a Master and was participating in the Holy Grail War. Of course she would never-

"Good Morning Master." A smooth, deep voice greeted, causing her entire body to freeze.

Ayaka fumbled for her glasses and put them on, blue eyes widening when she saw her Saber sitting cross-legged near the wall opposite her. His sky blue eyes were warm and welcoming as he smiled at her.

"W-what are you doing in here?!" Ayaka demanded as she stumbled to a sitting position and pressing her back to the wall, her cheeks burning red. "Shouldn't you be de-materialized?"

"I saw that you were waking up and wanted to make sure you were fine. Did I make a mistake Master?" Saber asked.

"N-no. It's fine." Ayaka grumbled, her heart pounding in her chest. So last night had really happened after all... "Where are the other?" Ayaka asked, her back was stiff. Why didn't Shirou have any actual beds in his house? Just because it was a Japanese-style house didn't mean there couldn't be any beds or other western appliances! How could he sleep like this anyways? She honestly preferred her western-style home.

"Rin and my King are in the dining room. I believe Archer is on the roof and Shirou is still asleep, but I believe that he will awaken shorrtly." Saber then nodded, "Shall we join them?"

"Yeah..." Ayaka nodded and pushed herself up to her feet when she froze, "Saber... did you just call Shirou's Saber your King?"

Saber frowned, "It was a slip of the tongue Master. Once you know my true name, it will become clear on who he is."

Ayaka nodded, "I won't push." She said, sliding the door to her room open and making her way to the dining room.

She found Rin and Saber sitting at the table, a tea pot between them. "This is good tea, Saber. I'm honestly shocked, it's almost as good as the one my Archer makes." Rin said, a smile on her face as she took a sip.

"Thank you, Rin." Saber smiled back, his green eyes pleased. "It's the least I could do after causing you trouble last night. And as a thanks for not attacking my Master while you could. Good Morning Ayaka." Shirou's Saber said, looking as she sat down beside Rin. "Tea?"

Ayaka nodded mutely, watching as her own Saber sat next to the other blonde who was his supposed 'King'. She also noted that Shirou's Saber was dressed in a red v-neck, black coat and dark jeans. Where had he gotten the clothes?

"When you were sleeping, we came to a decision." Rin began as Shirou's Saber poured Ayaka tea. "We're going to start calling your Saber Platinum Saber to differentiate him from Shirou's Saber."

"Then what are you calling Shirou's Saber?" Ayaka asked, somewhat surprised that Rin had just decided it.

"Saber of course. With how that Idiot acts, can we really trust him to remember his Saber if we made the name longer?" Rin asked. She had just finished saying that when Shirou himself appeared in the dining room, still looking half-asleep.

"Huh? Tohsaka?! Sajyou?!" Shirou stumbled back in surprise. "What are you doing in my house?" He paused, eyes flickering with the memories of last night. "Ah, I remember... But why's my room a mess?"

Ayaka blinked in confusion at that. Shirou's room was a mess? She swore that it was clean when she left it the other night.

"You were an idiot last night. Throwing yourself in front of Berserker's attack... " Rin scoffed as she took a drink of her tea. "About your room, I woke up early to find the two Sabers talking. Your Saber was still in his Armour and since he can't de-materialize because you're a novice, I had to rummage through your closet to find him clothes."

"You... rummaged through my closet?" Shirou looked absolutely horrified at the idea of Rin looking through his things. "More importantly, you never said why you were at my house."

"Think about it Emiya-kun. How do you think you got here?" Rin asked, looking slightly annoyed.

Shirou looked thoughtful for a moment, "You carried me home?" He sounded amazed at the notion.

"They did Master." Saber said, smiling at him, "Why don't you come and join us for tea?"

Shirou hesitated for a moment before settling in the space between Rin and Saber, a frown on his face. "This is good." Shirou said.

Ayaka watched Saber's smile grow before turning to look at her, or rather, Platinum Saber beside him. Sensing his Master's look, he met her eyes and smiled as well. The two of them looked so much alike. Were they really King and subject? From the small interactions she'd seen, it didn't really seem like it.

"So, I guess I should say thank you." Shirou said, looking at Rin and Ayaka. "Thanks for carrying me home."

"There's no need to thank us." Rin said, "We're your enemies now, Emiya-kun. You should do well to remember that." She stood up to glare at him. "The Holy Grail War is a fight to the death. Good bye." Rin said, making to leave and cut ties when Shirou stopped her.

"Why didn't you kill me then?" Shirou asked. "Or Sajyou?"

Rin blushed and crossed her arms. "I-I didn't feel like it is all." Rin stammered, "Attacking someone in their sleep isn't fair."

Ayaka couldn't help but smile at their interaction, Rin had many face, but what Ayaka had always liked most about Rin, maybe because many other mages lacked it, was her sense of honor and fair-play. Rin had a kindness that she just couldn't let go of. "Thank you, Rin." Ayaka said this time.

"Don't thank an enemy!" Rin snapped, but the blush on her face just deepened, "Anyway, maybe I let my guard down. You could say that I have some emotional flab."

"Emotional flab?" Shirou asked, looking extremely confused at Rin's choice of words. "Are you saying your fat Tohsaka?"

Immediately the temperature in the room seemed to drop as Rin smiled at Shirou, her brow twitching. Ayaka almost spit out her tea at Shirou's words, her blue eyes going to Rin with fear. Did Shirou not know how to speak to females?! Both Sabers just stared at Shirou in utter disbelief, neither of them believing he had such gall to say such a thing to a girl. None of the other inhabitants of the room said anything, they just watched the exchange with wide eyes as Shirou began to sweat, his mouth dropping open at Rin's look, eyes wide.

"You're such a funny boy." Rin finally said, her voice nothing but frost. "Remember, from now on-" She was cut off when there was a sudden knock at the door. "Expecting company Emiya-kun?"

Shirou shook his head, but stood up nonetheless. "It could be a neighbor." He said, "They probably need something fixed." He headed to his front door without a care in the world, leaving the others to look after him.

They heard him talk to someone, Shirou's voice raising in puzzlement before footsteps started heading towards them. Saber and Platinum Saber immediately rose to their feet, materializing their Armour while Rin and Ayaka just blinked in confusion.

A girl with light olive skin, walked in, she wore dark, close fitting jeans, a simple green blouse and a dark brown leather jacket that hugged her body nicely. Her rich coffee brown hair was pulled into a ponytail over her left shoulder and her bright, sea green eyes looked at all of them with a mix of curiosity and caution. Behind her, Shirou looked like he was about to pull his hair out. It was obvious he hadn't invited her in.

"Who are you?" Saber demanded, green eyes narrowing as his grip on his invisible sword tightened. It was like Ari again, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that he knew her somehow.

"I'm Cleo Everett." The girl said, she smiled at them. "Mind if we all talk?"

Chapter Text

Cleo sat calmly at the table with the rest of the Masters, her green eyes looking at all of them before going over to the Sabers. "I won't bite." She reassured them, an amused look on her face. "Rin, why don't you have Archer reveal himself? That way everything is on the table."

Rin looked dumbstruck that Cleo knew her Servant was Archer. She was even more stunned that Cleo seemed to know he was there as well. "Archer. Come on out." At her command, Archer materialized behind her, leaning on the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and his dark eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Thanks. Hey, Ariene, why don't you show yourself to?" Cleo asked to the air beside her.

There was a pause before the air next to Cleo rippled and Ariene materialized next to her old friend and Master, a slight smirk on her lips. Instead of the Armour she wore last night, she had on dark-washed jeans, a dark purple blouse and black leather jacket that fit snugly against her form. "Hey. Glad that you guys got home safe." She said.

"Y-you!" Ayaka snapped looking shaken. "I thought you were with Ruler and didn't have any intention to participate in this Holy Grail War!"

"I knew you were lying!" Rin agreed, a glare on her face as she looked at the black-haired Servant.

"I wasn't." Ariene said, looking slightly taken back at the two girls reactions. "I have no desire for the Grail. And quite frankly, you're wasting your time in trying to get it."

Shirou frowned, he was the only one who hadn't been put on guard by Ariene's sudden appearance. "What do you mean?"

Cleo looked thoughtful before answering. "Let me explain from the beginning. Ariene and I, and the Ruler you met last night are all from a different world than you are. We are part of Chaldea, an organization that is humanity's last stand. Watching over the light of the past as well as seeing into the future."

"That's impossible." Ayaka immediately said, unable to believe what she was hearing. A different world? Humanity's last stand? What Cleo had just said wasn't possible. "Where's your proof?"

"Here." Ariene gestured towards herself. "I didn't introduce myself in full last night. My name is Ariene Direcrest, have any of you heard it? The mythology that goes with my name?"

None of the Servants answered and all the Masters looked completely confused. "You could have made the name up." Rin finally accused.

Ariene shook her head, "I promise that I did not. My myth does not exist in your world. But when I died, I did become a heroic spirit, going from world to world and helping the natives while taking care of the source of evil for that world. I eventually ended up in Chaldea."

"Lets say that we believe you," Archer spoke up, looking at them. "Why are you here?"

"To explain that, we have to explain what Chaldea does." Cleo said, she touched an intercom around her wrist and the holographic form of a man in either his late twenties or early thirties appeared. He wore a lab coat, had fair skin, light orange colored hair and green eyes. "This is Chaldea's acting Director, Romani Arachaman. He'll explain Chaldea in detail, Uncle Roman, you're up."

"What is that?" Platinum Saber asked, his blue eyes wide as he stared at the hologram. "A type of magecraft?"

"Not at all. It's just technology." Roman said, smiling before he began his explanation, "At first Chaldea was just a astronomical facility before becoming a research observatory around 2004 and was headed up by the Animusphere family until recently. They created SHEBA which could look into the future and eventually the light of the past."

"Really?" Shirou asked, he wouldn't think that would be possible. Even with magecraft. Wasn't it bad to know the future?

"Sounds too good to be true." Rin sniffed, crossing her arms, but she wanted to hear what Roman had to say. She couldn't judge without listening to the full story.

"That's amazing." Ayaka said, to be able to see into the past, that seemed like a dream come true. If she could see into the past, she would try and see what really happened to her Father and sister.

Roman nodded in agreement. Sometimes, even he was amaze with the breakthroughs that Chaldea had been able to accomplish. "Some of Chaldea's most important components are CHALDEAS and SHEBA I would say." He then explained the function of CHALDEAS as the perfect representation of the worlds status in both the past and future and how SHEBA helps CHALDEAS make a time specific observation. "If SHEBA hadn't been invented, we'd still be having trouble."

The non-Chaldean people in the room were stunned at the explanation, none of them had thought that such a project was possible. It was also becoming extremely difficult for them to not believe Cleo and Ariene about different worlds; the explanation Roman was giving was complex and full of detail that seemed too troublesome to just make up. "Is there anything else Chaldea can do?" Rin finally asked.

Roman nodded, glad that they seemed to be winning the Masters and Servants over, "Well we also were able to prove the Rayshift theory, the Pseudo-Spiritrons conversion projection. This theory is used in LAPLACE and the TRISMEGISTUS, which help with rayshifting, it's what Cleo and Ariene did to get to where you are." He then explained how rayshifting was a way of projecting a physical self into the past or future.

"Finally, there is the FATE system." Roman said, a smile forming on his face. "FATE, relatively is our grail. The system can summon servants or memorial essences or power ups for the servants."

"Incredible." Rin said, "I had no idea that there was any other way to summon servants." She wondered if she could use it now.

"Shouldn't it be impossible to summon servants without the Grail?" Ayaka asked nervously. Summoning fourteen was horrible enough for her, but these people could apparantly try and summon as many Servants as they wanted.

"Isn't something that can summon like the Grail extremely dangerous?" Saber asked concerned, speaking up for the first time.

"It should and it was extremely hard to create FATE. Until recently, FATE rarely worked." Roman explained. "And I wouldn't say dangerous. Our system summons memorial essences or power ups more than anything, even if the chance for summoning a Servant has gone up by ninety percent."

"So you watch over humanity, past and present." Shirou finally spoke up after being silent. "Is that why you're here? Did your systems catch something off with this time?"

At that Roman grew quiet, and Cleo and Ariene looked at him. They had been talking quietly while Roman was explaining Chaldea to the people in Fuyuki.

Cleo looked at Roman, "Are you going to tell them?"

Roman sighed, "Yes, I think it's vital knowledge." He looked at the Fuyuki group with much sterner eyes than before. "Listen closely..." Roman began to tell them that in the year 2018, SHEBA had seen the extinction of humanity in 2019, so that started the mission to fix history.

He went over how forty-eight masters were chosen for Singularity F, the first Singularity, and how forty-seven masters were lost in the program as well as more than 60 of Chaldea's staff due to the betrayal of Lev Lainur's betrayal and how the Director of Chaldea, Olga-Marie Animusphere had also died. He then went on over the seven singularities and how they had already completed three of them and were now on their fourth.

"This singularity just popped up and Ariene said that it was the merging of different worlds." Roman finished, "So we had to split our forces."

"To be exact, two of many similiar worlds were forced to become one, rewriting the history from the past ten years up to now. We believe that's why there are fourteen Servants for this Holy Grail War and whoever caused this is the cause of the singularity." Ariene added.

There was silence after that and it honestly looked like none of them were going to speak at all. When the silence continued for a few more minutes, Roman turned his gaze to Cleo and Ariene.

"I'm going to check up with Kakeru and Issie in the London singularity. Keep safe and keep me informed. It's best to immediately plan ahead." Roman said to them, the hologram then blinked out and Cleo sighed.

"I feel like this is more complicated than we originally thought." She looked at Ariene and sighed again. "I should have brought more Servants."

"Humanity is extinct?!" Ayaka finally asked, horror clear in her voice and on her face, her blue eyes looked stricken.

"And you still don't know who is causing all this? That this Lev man is helping whoever it is?!" Platinum Saber asked, he knew he wasn't from the time or apparent world that they were from, but he still felt like he needed to retaliate for the people who were wronged.

"Impossible..." Rin stared at them, her eyes went to Shirou and he looked away, as if he was feeling shame, even though it couldn't be his fault. Maybe he was wishing he could save them; he probably couldn't even do anything.

Ariene looked at them all, suddenly feeling horrible for the news that they had dropped on them. "We at least beat three singularities and Kakeru and Issie are the middle of the fourth. We're doing good." She said, trying to cheer them up.

Archer sighed, it was just his luck for this to happen when he had his goal in his sights. He truly had the worst luck. Could he still do his mission and eliminate his target? "You said worlds had merged forming this new singularity? Is that why you say fighting the Holy Grail War now is useless?"

"More or less." Ariene shrugged. "We have to fix this singularity, so even if you did win, the outcome would just get erased once we fix this singularity."

Rin gaped at her shocked, "What would happen to us?!"

Ariene gave her what could only be an approving smirk, "Hopefully, the two worlds will separate without prompting and history should happen as it was supposed to. Unfortunately, we know the outcome of one of the worlds Holy Grail Wars, but don't know the other. So who knows what aspects have mixed up? So far, things have gone as we expected them to."

"What did you mean things are going as expected?" Ayaka asked.

"I thought you said that when the worlds merged a new history was created?" Saber asked.

"More like, chunks of history from those two separate worlds were meshed together. It's not a completely new history, think of it as this; the most important parts of history from both worlds sewed together." Ariene explained.

"Is that how you knew we were here?" Shirou asked, a mix of awe and frustration in his eyes. Now he had one more thing to worry about. He couldn't let humanity get incinerated.

Cleo and Ariene exchanged another glance, both their faces starting to show signs of amusement. "Yes, in part. When we first rayshifted to this singularity, I brought three Servants with me. Ruler, Ariene and one more. As luck would have it, the last Servant was actually summoned to this exact War in a different world." Cleo explained.

"Who's the Servant?" Rin asked, she was extremely curious, because whoever it was must knew the exact steps that led them to all being at Shirou's house at the same time.

"First tell us, what do you plan to do now?" Cleo asked in turn, meeting all the Masters eyes with her own green ones. "Will you still battle it out for the Holy Grail or will you help us?"

Shirou was the first to respond, his hand slamming into the table with force. "Of course we'll help! This is humanity you're talking about! Saber?" He looked to his Servant who had an approving smile on his face.

"I agree Master. The Grail cannot come before this conflict. Ayaka?" He looked at the little girl he once knew, eager to hear her opinion.

"I didn't even want to participate in the Holy Grail War... now you're asking me to help with something bigger." Ayaka mumbled. "Even more, I'm horrible at magecraft. There's no way I could help you. I can't do anything."

Ariene gave the girl a sympathetic look, "That's not exactly true is it? You may think you don't have the ability to do anything, but even you can choose to fight."

Ayaka looked at her in surprise, she looked at Saber before Platinum Saber. She met her Saber's sky blue eyes and he smiled at her. "Saber... what do you think?"

"Master, I shall protect you no matter what. That is my wish. If you choose to fight, then know that my sword is your's." Platinum Saber said.

Ayaka nodded before looking at Cleo. "I'll help you to the best of my abilities, Cleo."

Cleo smiled back before her eyes went to Rin. "Well?"

"The answer is yes, of course." Rin said, taking a sip of her tea. "It's my duty to help you as a Mage. Besides, winning the Holy Grail War this way won't sit well with me."

Cleo nodded pleased, "All right then, with that confirmation, I guess we all have an alliance." She pushed herself to her feet, looking energized. "Lets go Ariene."

"Huh?" Ariene blinked up at her. "You're not gonna tell them anything else? What about the plan?"

"What plan? Our plan was to have our Ruler say that this Grail had summoned her in the hope that enemy Servants wouldn't attack. Well, Berserker and his Master ruined it. We can't count on Servants not attacking her or us." Cleo sighed annoyed. "We don't have a plan to share, so we should make one first."

"Excuse me," Platinum Saber spoke up, looking at Cleo, confusion in his eyes. "Wouldn't it better to make your plan here? With the rest of us?"

Cleo looked at him and blushed, her eyes shooting downwards. "No. Besides, I need to make sure I can trust you." She left the dining room with no further comment. The sound of a door slamming soon following.

"She ask us to be in an alliance then says she doesn't trust us? What a strange girl." Archer said, sounding somewhere between amused and annoyed.

"This singularity is strange." Ariene said, pushing herself up to a standing position. "This is the first one we've been in where a true Holy Grail War is taking place and there are other Masters besides the ones from Chaldea. She's just trying to watch her back... but she does trust you."

Rin crossed her arms, trying not to pout, "She never told us the name of that Servant."

"King Arthur." Ariene said, looking at the Sabers as she started to de-materialize, "The Servant summoned we brought was King Arthur." She completely vanished as both Sabers cried out at the same time.

"What?!"