------------------------------------------------------Complete the ritual---------------------I can't let Arturia down.
I throw the scabbard into the circle.
“..........................!”
There's a massive flash of light!
It's as blinding as the sun...........
…...............No, even more blinding!
A solid stream of a millenium of moonlight.
The Knight in Silver....
…...........She looks at Arturia, and her mouth opens.
“I ask of you. Are you my Master?”
Arturia's mouth gapes like a fish. She's as surprised as I am.
This Knight in Silver.......
….It has to be Saber!
But.....................
“Yes.”
Arturia's voice shakes.
“Then the contract is complete. I am your blade, my Mast-”
Something makes the servants voice catch in her throat.
She steps back, foot scuffing the edge of the circle.
“What is it? Are you servant Saber or not?”
Arturia!
Such rudeness......
That is my sister. She demands to know the identity of the Knight.
“...........................!!!!!!”
The Knight cannot speak.
It as if she is being confronted by a ghost.
Arturia's eyes flash. “Answer me!”
“You......................................................”
The Knight balks. At what?
Surely she is Servant Saber? Surely she knows the rules of the Holy Grail War?
Why is she so shocked?
“..........................Shirou?!”
She mentions my Father.
Now it is Arturia's turn to balk. She stumbles back into a pile of old boxes.
“...............How do you know my Father?!”
The Knight whirls to face me.
Whatever she sees makes her eyes wide as saucers.
The Knight falls to her knees.
“Saber?.....................”
Arturia sounds scared. I am too. Is Saber broken?
“.................................I...................”
Saber speaks from her knees.
“..............................................I must...................”
…....................................Must what?
“........................................I must see your Father..................”
“.......................................”
I cannot comprehend what she means.
There is a block in my brain.
She wishes to meet our Father..........
….....................Does even our servant think us too young to participate?
“.........Why?”
Arturia speaks first.
“..................”
Saber stands up.
And with the liquid speed of moonlight, races through the door.
“..!”
“..!”
Me and Arturia race out after her, but we're too late.
Saber has made contact.
We are doomed.
Aunt Ilya stands, cup of warm tea half raised to her lips, halfway free of the kitchen and into the living room of the house. One eyebrow is cocked at an extreme angle, her red eyes darting between Saber and the two naughty children behind her. Her chest heaves, the plastic tubes in her nostrils feeding her dying body extra oxygen.
“....................Well.” Says Aunt Ilya.
Ilyasviel Von Einzbern isn't technically our aunt, for lots of reasons.
For one, she's a homunculus. A artificial creation of magic that is essentially like a living magical circuit, a living conduit for magical energy. Aunt Ilya specializes in the most powerful kind of magic, Wish-craft, on top of this.
The downside is that Homunculi must have a flaw. In Aunt Ilya's case, she had a short lifespan, and as such, she began to deteriorate after the Fifth Holy Grail War, shortly before our parents got married. Almost twenty years later, a combination of reinforcement and medical technology keeps her alive, but at a price.
Forever trapped in the body of an eight-year old girl.
Forever feeling the pains of a person twice her age.
Aunt Ilya is cheating death, even as she stares at this new surprise.
“...................................Ilyasviel?”
Saber once again drops to her knees, and reaches out towards Aunt Ilya.
“........SABER-CHAN~!”
You would think her frail form would crumple in Saber's embrace, and yet Aunt Ilya leaps into it, and oddly, Saber hugs her back gently.
“I missed you! Don't go away like that ever again. Bad Saber-Chan!”
“I won't Ilya, I promise.”
Is she............
….................................................crying?
“Unnnnnnnnggghhh.....................................Ilyaaaaa..........”
Father emerges from his room, blinking the sleep from his eyes.
It doesn't take long for him to wake up.
“...............................................................S-saber?”
How does our Father know her?
He didn't..........................
“.....Shirou.”
Saber gently disengages with Ilya.
Arturia and I can only watch.
Saber's gloved hands clasp at her chest, as though holding her heart.
“It's been a while.”
It's a muted sort of reunion.
But I've never seen Father speechless before.
And this Knight, who at her summoning looked so firm........
….....................Is weeping openly, seemingly afraid to step forward, and break the illusion.
And so is our Father.
One step.
Saber seems to almost float.
One step forward.
Before Mother emerges from the same room our Father came from a mere minute ago.
Saber deflates, almost like a balloon.
It seems even the moon gets a little dimmer.
The Servant and the Tohsaka Heiress eye each other.
Each observes the other, as if meeting an old friend, only to find betrayal.
“..Rin?”
Callously, our Mother looks away from the tears streaming down Saber's face.
Emotion is not something that Tohsaka Rin ever allowed to get in her way.
Her gaze moves to the empty hooks on the wall that once held our Catalyst.
Her gaze moves to Saber, who's own eyes are flicking between Father and Mother, desperate for any alternate picture where none can be found.
And finally her gaze moves to us.
We naughty children, dabbling in weapons adults fear to use.
Dabbling in magics master magi fear.
We poor fools.
Her eyes narrow, her jaw clenches, and she fishes her glasses from the breast pocket of her pajamas.
“We need to talk.”
-----------------------------------------------------------Morning of the First DayWe sit around the table, last nights leftovers from dinner taking the place of the usual Japanese breakfast our Father cooks.
He didn't have the will today, it seems.
The table is as silent as death, save for Aunt Ilya's sickly wheezing across from us, and the devilish smile she's wearing while awaiting our punishment.
Punishment that never comes, for all the extra torture that puts us through. Mother lightly sips a glass of tea. Father prods at his food but never raises it to his mouth. Saber remains as inanimate as a statue, her tears long since dried.
And Arturia is determined to get us in further trouble by taking her punishment with her head held high.
“I can't believe this. My own children, summoning a Servant? Did you even listen to the stories you heard, or did you just think it would be cool?”
Mother is giving us a lashing.
For some reason Saber seems to be on the receiving end as well, though I don't understand why.
“Rin...”
Father tries to calm her down, but once Mother gets on one of her streaks there's no stopping her.
“And to think that you would steal from your own parents to do such a thing! Have we taught you no manners? Your Father and I have told you again and again not to touch it, but you just had to be part of this.”
“Rin...................”
“Did you even think about what it meant? You've restarted the Holy Grail War! People, innocent people, Arturia, Are going to die. That's what a war is! People dying! And you started it back up because you wanted a Servant!”
“Rin!”
“What?!”
Mother's fury is turned on Father in an instant. He recoils from her roar, shouted at him with a fury few could hope to match.
Even me and Arturia flinch, and we're seated across the table.
“We destroyed the grail, remember? There can't be another Holy Grail War, because there's no Holy Grail.”
“This is correct.”
Saber finally speaks up from beside Arturia. She looks far less oppressed as she says it, finally at home in a war council.
“We destroyed the Holy Grail almost twenty years ago. And yet here I am. This should not be possible. Without a Holy Grail, there can be no Servants summoned.”
Mother seems calmer, though her teeth are still grinding against each other. Suddenly she smiles chillingly.
“Good point, Saber. Why are you here? I thought you gave up your quest for the Holy Grail.”
Saber shakes her head.
“I did. But it seems I cannot renege on my contract. I must obtain the Holy Grail to become a proper Heroic Spirit, so I still must fight.”
“Hold on a second. Saber isn't a Heroic Spirit? I thought only Heroic Spirits were allowed to be summoned as Servants.”
Arturia asks before I can.
“Saber is a Heroic Spirit, but her situation is a little different.”
Mother explains.
“She's still technically alive, because of a contract she made with the world. In other words, She's an unusual and unique form of Heroic Spirit who is summoned to every opportunity for the Holy Grail since her death.”
Father speaks then.
“Saber, are you getting enough mana this time?”
Saber nods her head.
“..........Arturia............Is a capable magus. I should be able to fight full strength in this war.”
Arturia beams at the compliment, but Father and Mother look only slightly relieved.
“That's good. At least we won't have to worry about anyone as overpowered as Berserker this time, and if we do Saber can fight back without sacrificing her strength.”
My Father makes a reference to a battle I don't know about.
Aunt Ilya looks miffed, however.
“Berserker wasn't overpowered! He was big and strong and gentle. Archer was overpowered. It's not fair having a Servant that uses all the Noble Phantasms!”
Aunt Ilya coughs harshly, drawing concerned looks from everyone else at the table, which she waves off.
“Regardless............”
Aunt Ilya continues after the coughing fit subsides.
“..........Maybe we should take Arturia-chan and Kiri-kun to see the new supervisor.”
She clears her throat.
Saber nods and stands.
“If you have some casual clothes I can borrow, I can escort my Master to the church.”
The church? The old thing on the hill in Shinto?
And what about me?
“I'm going to.”
I declare my intent.
“Kiritsugu. You are not a Master, you have no reason to involve yourself. Please, remain her and allow me to escort my Master.”
“I go where she goes.”
I'm not backing down on this.
I promised to be Arturia's shield, and I will be her shield, even if her sword is a powerful Heroic Spirit.
“Kiritsugu should go too.”
My Father takes my side.
“It's not right to let two girls go somewhere dangerous alone.”
And immediately says something stupid.
That's Emiya Shirou.
His heart is three times bigger than his brain.
“Shirou, are you still trying to keep me out of the fight?”
Saber seems to have experience with my Father, and is on first-name terms with him as well.
It would explain why the scabbard was on the wall, at least.
Father shakes his head.
“Saber, I just want my daughter to be safe.”
“She is with me.”
“I want her to be more safe. Kiritsugu can help. He's good in a fight.”
Father turns to me.
I nod and agree with him. I'm not on par with anything that leaks magic energy like Saber does, but I might be able to hold it away from Arturia for long enough.
Saber huffs, an oddly childish gesture that makes it clear how young she is.
It strikes me that I don't know her real identity. We had guess it would be King Arthur, based on what we could see, but Saber is a girl.
I put the question to the back of my mind and work on the problem at hand.
“I will be able to protect my Master better if there are no distractions.”
Mother shakes her head.
“She's right, Shirou. If there's too large of a group, it might attract attention.
“But there's something to be said for an army.”
Aunt Ilya grins deviously, her index finger childishly resting on her jaw.
She's suggesting we all go together, I realize. It's a crazy plan – there's no possible way for a Master worth their salt to miss such a large group headed to the supervisor for the Holy Grail War.
And yet, it might just be crazy enough to work.
Mother, Aunt Ilya, and Arturia are all powerful magi for their ages. Beyond which, Father, Saber and I are all decent fighters in our own right.
Any Master would be mad to attack a group like that. With the magecraft Mother possesses one could almost see her as Servant Caster herself. Not to mention Aunt Ilyasviel being a walking Magic Circuit and Arturia's Origin in Order Magic.
There's only one reasonable answer to this.
I put my support -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) It should be me and Arturia.
2) It should be everyone.
Author
Topic: Fate / Lunar Sun (Read 26478 times)