Story: Fate/Stay Night Zero (chapter 3)

Authors: Demon Eyes

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Chapter 3

[Author's notes: Lancer]

::::::::::::::Fate/Stay Night Zero:::::::::::::::::


By: Demon Eyes


Disclaimer: Characters belong to Type-Moon.


Part III


Yes. Yes! I did it. I was able to summon a Saber class servant. A sword in her hand, the one that was referred to as Excalibur in the dream. Could it be the real Excalibur of history? Servants are supposedly heroes from the past and the present. And if my dream was as I think it was, then this here before me is King Arthur herself. I can't believe it was a girl like her the legends talked about. There is no doubt about it. She is very powerful. I can feel her mana inside me and it's over whelming. In fact, I already feel back to my usual self. That is one of the pluses of having a Saber class as a servant. Some of their attributes are transferred to the master and the one in particular, is restoration. Or regeneration whichever you may prefer. "Master?" I see her looking at our joined hands, it seems that I am still holding it even after being on my feet already. I color out of embarrassment and yank my hand back. Damn it. Why did it have to be a woman? But I guess this is better. Somehow I have a feeling were I to summon a guy, we wouldn't be on the same page.


"Saber, is it? I know that it is not wise to call you your real name, but can I call you Arturia when we are alone at least? It seems a little disturbing to call you Saber." I see that she is really shocked by my knowledge of her name. Her real name. An expression changes to that of...anger? Gulp. I almost know everything there is to know about her and her reason to fight. Yes. Servants too who are summoned have a something they wish to be granted by the Holy Grail were they to win the war. You really didn't think that these great beings would obey their master and fight for you for nothing now did you? I better explain to her how I know of this before we go down the wrong start. "I am sorry, I won't use that if you don't want me to. My name is Tohsaka Rin and you may call me whatever you want. Come, let us go and freshen up first. You need to change into something a little more casual than that armor you are wearing, then I will tell you whatever you may want to know, and I will have a few questions of my own." I start for the ladder leading from the attic but she seems to expect us to go into battle right now. "Relax, there is still one master not accounted for. Kirei, the manager of the war, will call me tomorrow to let me know that status. But before that, we have to make everything clear between us before the war starts. Now come on, I will tell you more after we settle down."


We are sitting in the living room now. Saber, I decided to call her Saber for now, has shed her armor and blue dress. I showed her one of my fashion magazines and she picked something out. Apparently she doesn't like showing skin a lot. So she is wearing girls' white shirt with long sleeves, tucked in a dark purple almost violet skirt that comes right under her knees. Underneath is a pair of dark body stockings. We didn't go shopping or anything. It is 4:00 in the morning after all. She uses magi craft to change. As long as she has an image of what clothing she wants, she can just will them on herself. Now that would be handy, was I a spirit that is, *sigh*. Ma, since I am an early riser, I need to spend the time dressing and all that so I guess all is good. After getting Saber into more appealing clothes, her stomach growled and I was in luck that I still had ingredients for a full meal. I cooked up a quick bowl of boiled rice, and mince beef which she is downing like there's no tomorrow right now. "You were quite hungry there Saber. You really are a being from the past. Everything I read or see about people who lived long ago shows their love for food. It seems they take it in high regards." I smile at her and she looks a little embarrassed. Posing in her actions, she gives me an apologetic smile.


"I wouldn't know about that, but I was an orphan back then and food was very scarce. I would like to think that hunger is my worse enemy." She looks at me and then to my cup of tea I am drinking from. "But are you okay with just drinking Rin? Aren't you hungry? You must be after the summoning you did. It must be energy draining." She decided on calling me Rin it seems, and I like it. No one calls me Rin and I find that I had missed it since my father was the last to call me Rin. "Don't worry Saber, I ate two servings before I did the summoning. I was prepared not to fail. If I was to get the most powerful servant, I needed to be a lot powerful too." I get a little serious here. "I must admit that you seem to be powerful enough but I will have to see you in action first to be sure." It seems that she is a little insulted that I would even imagine her unworthy. "Anyway, you asked me earlier how I know of you. Well, this might sound weird but I dreamt of you these past two nights. Well, I dreamt of King Arthur from how she came to be King and how she met her dem...er..death. I am really sorry that that had to happen to you. And I promise you that I will make a wonderful master for you." Yes. At least I have stuck an impression. "I will show you around town tomorrow so that you may get familiar with the battle ground." I say all this but I was about to get the shock of my life.


" I know this place well, Rin. In fact, I was in this same house too in the last war." I almost chock on my tea. Whoa...what is she saying...? "Yes, Tohsaka-san, was my master in the last war. In fact now I remember seeing you but I almost did not recognize you. You have really grown, Rin." A smile, and I find myself flustered again. Maybe it's because she sounded like a long lost parent but I felt something then. I asked her if she could tell me about the last war since she remembers it. After finishing up her food, she sits across from me and starts on the secrets of the last war. I make a note to grab any useful information I might use to my advantage. "I don't think everything is necessary so I will say what will help us. At least now we know who one of the other masters is." I ask her who it is and the second blow comes. "You mentioned a Kirei? Is this the Kotomine Kirei you refer to?" I nod. It can't be. I tell her that he is also my guardian. "It is understandable. He and Tohsaka-san were friends. I think they were both members of the magic association. That's what I was told I think. Anyway, he and Tohsaka-san were the last two masters to fight. He had a very powerful servant back then. An Archer class servant called Gilgamesh, the King of heroes."


"Do...Do you remember anything about him? His skills, weapons, N.P, anything?" If this servant was enough to go up against Saber in the hands of my father, who was ways ahead of me in magi craft, then we need a strategy, pronto. To do that, I need everything we can about him. Why didn't I see this before? Kirei is of the Association and the fact that he has been living in Fuyuki for so long, he should have been involved in the war of the Holy Grail somehow. Damn. I was so careless. "Tell me everything about this Gilgamesh. He is our number one enemy for now. We shall worry about the others later." Not that I m going to go to the church first thing tomorrow and take him on. We will have to wait as long as possible before we confront that one. Best I get to make a winning strategy when that time comes.


" If I remember correctly, he has two Nobel Phantasms. The weaker one, and make no mistake that it is weak, is called the 'Gate of Babylon'. All I saw is that he used to summon different kinds of weapons from it. He told me that it is the gate to his treasure. But it wasn't as powerful as the last and his strongest Phantasm. If it wasn't for the fact that Tohsaka-san was more powerful in magi craft than Kotomine-san, then I wouldn't have had enough power in my Excalibur to cancel it out. And it just so happens that I have a little more luck than him and was able to complete my Excalibur before he full released his Phantasm, 'Enuma Elish'. He uses his great sword Ea and cut a hole in space which completely destroys those in the way. It wasn't at full power and Gilgamesh's master wasn't in his right mind then and thus, I was able to survive but something happened that I went back into my spirit form." She pauses, seemingly not too sure as to what had happened. I too can't imagine my father running out of mana that Saber would lose her form. I asked her how my father died in that war since it seemed to me that he was alive in the last battle.


"The Holy Grail appeared then since it seemed I was not able to continue battle. Kotomine-san went to reach for it but something happened. It turned from its gold color to a dark black and red color. It seemed to be draining something from Kotomine-san since he seemed to be shrinking and in pain then his father, who was the manager of that war, came to his rescue but he was completely destroyed since he wasn't meant to touch the Grail. Then I turned when I heard a chant. Tohsaka-san was casting some king of spell as he approached the Grail. I immediately knew what he was trying to do. Destroy the Holy Grail. I tried to stop him by screaming to him but it seemed that he had already made up his mind. He turned to me and made me promise him something but I have forgotten what it was." She frowns as if she is still trying to remember. Seemingly coming up empty handed, she continued, "After saying what he wanted to say, he turned to the Grail that looked like a hot pot ready to blow its top and placed his palms on it." Saber closes her eyes with these painful memories. And despite myself I am curious to know what happened to my father. It has been on my mind all this time. Not knowing how he had died was getting to me. "He tried to displace the negative energies in the Grail by using his own mana. Since the Grail's over whelming mana was already being corrupted by the bad ones, it would take a lot of good mana to fix this. Tohsaka seemed to know that he didn't have the amount needed and so he reversed his spell and broke the Grail instead. But the Grail took him with it and it seemed he had been expecting just that. He smiled to me as I was disappearing too, my master having been no more. And that is how that war came to a close."


"SO, that is what happened." I start taking this all in. So my father wasn't killed by another servant as I feared but he sacrificed himself to save us. Who knows what might have happened had all that mana in the Grail gone unstable. Now I know about Kotomine and his servant but he must have made improvements from the last war. Damn it, this isn't fare. But all is not fare in the world. Saber goes on to tell me about the other servants she fought but they aren't of any serious danger the way I see it as Gilgamesh. He may just even be more powerful than Saber now. I need a plan. We talk a little more as I make my battle plans from what little info Saber gives me until its morning. I go freshen up, put on my uniform and leave for school. Saber is in her spiritual form now and I aim to show her my daily life today while we still have free time. If there is a master at school, she will be able to sense their servants while I might not be able to sense other master as they can hide their mana flow. Though it is true that the symbol which labels us as master can react to others', they might be at the other side of the school. The symbol I'm talking about is mainly found on the back of our palms. It has three parts to it. Each part is a command mantra. You can use these commands to give 'absolute orders' to your servants like calling them from long distances to come to your side, or making them obey you in case you summoned a stubborn one, or you might even command them to make an attack their finishing attack to absolute attack that they will put everything they have in it. Commands that are useful in the war like that. Once you use up all three, you are no longer a master. So you have to take them very seriously. I really hope that there are no other masters at school. Even if I swore to do anything to win this war, I do have a heart and if another master happens to be someone I know, even if a stranger, someone as young as me would be a little hard to fight against. Now if it were a person like Shinji *Grin*. We talk some more on our way until we reach school.


**********************************************


Looks like today I wasn't as early as always. The grounds are already filled with students. 'It's so crowded here. This is the first time I have been to a place of learning. I never went to one. Not that when I was alive there were any, but in the last war all I did was fight.' Saber says to me in my mind. I can understand that she would be over whelmed with these numbers of young people in one place. 'Isn't though, now we don't have to fear if there is a master here since we can't fight around commoners. I want to kiss whoever made that rule. Just thinking about all these students in the middle of a war, is unpleasant. I have never been in a war so I have no idea but I can imagine. If a battle between only two servants did all that damage in the last war, I don't want to think of what it would do to the school. Almost half of the rural part of Fuyuki is barren land now as a result. Many people died that time. I don't plan on making the number greater so I will be careful. But I must win this war. I wish that we find no master here since I couldn't sense anyone all this time, there mustnft be one but once I place a foot over the gate entrance my hopes are crushed. 'Master, do you feel that? There is a barrier here.' Saber states what I have felt once I set foot on school ground.


'Eh. This must mean that your summary is correct. But this doesn't feel like it was just put here. It feels older than two days at least'. How could this happen> Why didn't I feel it before. Saber must have been reading my thoughts because she says, 'This is a very complicated spell. I encountered it before. If I'm right, this is Rider's doing. It was used to drain people completely of their mana and spirit to make Rider more powerful.' Servants can get mana if they want or their masters want them to be a lot more powerful, by drawing mana from other sources. Even if we are mages, we are still only one person. And some masters aren't very tuned in magi craft so they can order their servants to get mana from other sources. And since servants are spirits, feeding them other spirits or souls, is even more effective. 'Rider huh? Well, that means we have one other master here. But we can't do anything about that now. We will have to come back at night to investigate when no one is here.' I send to Saber. 'I will see if I can do something about it. Maybe slow down its progress and maybe the owner will come running.' Then we will strike. I have a feeling all seven masters will be counted for by 1800 hrs today and the war will have already started. I decide to drop in the archery range to greet Ayaka.


??!. It looks closed. It should be open right now. I check my watch to make sure and the time seems right. A little puzzled, I try the door to see if it's indeed closed and just before I reach it, the door opens from the inside and Sakura steps out. I am startles as she is to see me and me her. We greet each other awkwardly and I ask her if "Is Mitsuzuri-san inside?" She shakes her head and tells me that Ayaka didn't show up to practice so they decided to cancel today. Ayaka didn't show up? This is serious. I have known her for more than two years and she has never missed practice. In fact, she is always the first person here all the time. I say my goodbyes to Sakura and decide to call her on her mobey. No answer. I call her home land line, a little panicked now. "Tohsaka-san, is that you?" She seems to be crying. What is going on? I ask her if Ayaka is at home. "No dear. She hasn't been at home since she left for school yesterday. You mean you don't know where she is too? Oh my poor baby, whatever happened to her?" This is getting me un-nerved. I hear Ayaka's dad trying to calm down his wife. He takes the phone, "Tohsaka, it is as Miyaka says. Ayaka hasn't come back since yesterday. We have already informed the police and they are working on it. So don't worry about it, okay? Be careful now, we are in the middle of questioning with the police right now so I have to hung up I'm afraid. Ja, ne." *Beep*. 'Don't worry'? But I am worried.


'Oh no. Saber, you don't think this incident has anything to do with her do you?' I ask my servant. 'It is possible. Does your friend stay late here alone?' She asks. My eyes widen as I think about it. Ayaka always stays last to close up after evening practice. If she was still here and the servant came to attend to their spell, then she might have been kidnapped or worse. I shake a little. At least they haven't found her body or anything. I will have to ask that servant tonight. If they show up that is. 'Saber, we are going to investigate here tonight. This spell needs attending to, so the possibilities of Rider coming here tonight are high. I will have to ask her about it.' 'Yes master' she answers. It seems that when we are talking about war matters, Saber calls me Master. I won't try and ask her, maybe she needs to concentrate as do I. I go to the main building to go and sit in class until classes begin. On my way, I meet Fujimura Taiga-sensei. If you value your life, never ever call her Taiga. Not that I would sink that low to refer to a teacher by their first name. "Good morning Fujimura-sensei. How are you this lovely morning?" She looks touched. "Oh Tohsaka-san, if only my students were as respectful as you. Even my first years make fun of me. At least the second years waited until second year but if my first years are acting towards me this way, how will they treat me in second year?" She looks on the verge of tears. I try to cheer her up, "Oh sensei, you never know. They might grow up instead and show you respect in the future." I smile at her. This seems to have worked. We talk some more and I leave for class.


Our homeroom teacher, Kuzuki-sensei, has just left. His is the last class of the day. My classmates come over towards my desk. "Se...Sempai, are you still coming with us later to the movies?" Asks the most shy of the two. It's Saegusa-san. She is the manager of the track team here at school. For some reason, she really admires me. Despite this fact, she keeps on wanting me to eat lunch with them, or go out with them and I mostly turn her down. I really wanted to go this time but since I had promised Ayaka to come and she is missing, I have to investigate that. "I am so sorry Saegusa-san. I really wanted to come and I had even invited Mitsuzuri-san but you heard what happened right?" The headmaster had gone to every class that morning announcing what had happened. "And besides, it would be dangerous to go out on our own at night now." She seems to understand and a little ashamed that she didn't think of that. "Bah! These things always happen. If we went hiding under our beds every time something happened, the cinema guys would runs out of business." Says the leader of this trio's group. She is Makidera Kaede and the top sprinter of the tracker team. "I think Tohsaka-san is right. At least let's stay put until this Mitsuzuri sempai is found. What do you think Saegusa-san?" Himuro Kane. Calmest of the three and looks out for Saegusa. Saegusa says that they should cancel for today and I am relieved. I give her Sakura's number and ask her to call her. I say my byes and leave to go home and prepare for battle.


"Oh these? These are jewels filled with my mana over ten years. I have been keeping them to help me in battle. You never know when another master might try to take me out since I don't think you will go down that easily." I am confident in saying this though I haven't seen other servants yet. But somehow I know that with Saber at my side, I shall succeed. She seems flattered though she hasn't shown any weaknesses in facial expressions yet. I will have to work on that. It seems kind of unsettling for a girl like her to be that serious. Even for a King. "And this that I have around my neck, was filled by my father's mana. He left it to me before he went to war." Never to return, I add to my self. "It's sot of like a family heirloom. It holds enough mana to help me perform any kind of task. Probably many years' worth." I return it under my top.
I take my leave and go around Fuyuki city showing all the important places to Saber. Since she last saw it ten years ago, I decided to show her around again since many things have obviously changed since then. After I have shown her all around, I remember now that we haven't anything since breakfast. I usually don't eat meals during the day but since Saber seems to like food, I will surprise her a little. 'Now that that is done, let's go to school and investigate. But before that, what do you say we eat something Saber?" I let mana flow and give her form. Once she is solid, her stomach answers for her with a growl. I laugh at that and I take her to the best restaurant in Fuyuki.


"I don't know Rin. This looks expensive." I had cast a spell on the menu to let her understand what's on it. It is pricey indeed. After all, this is the best place to eat in Fuyuki. I assure her that she has nothing to worry about. That I can afford whatever she wants. If I was some lame guy on a date with her and I had lied to look cool, I would've have been in trouble because we left the restaurant almost out of food. If it were an ordinary place, they would've closed but this was a high class, they can't afford to run out of supplies. I wonder where she put it all. I glance at her and she still looks like she did before we went inside, aside from the satisfied expression on her face. I guess I will have to feed her if I want to get emotion from her. I decide to leave her in solid form but try to mask our presence to make it harder for our enemies to sense us. We head for school to try and hinder that spell cast on it and hope that the owner shows up so I can have answers to Ayaka's where about. I cast a simple weight spell and jump over the school gate. Since it's closed, no one should be here but as I rich the top to start to descend, I come into contact with the barrier and it seems a lot stronger. I lose control and start falling hard. But as I brace myself to fall on my back, instead of tarmac, I fall into gentle, strong arms. It's Saber already in her armor and looking down at me with a worried expression. I see it and I'm happy to see that she has shown emotion of worry, for me. I blush a little and scramble from her hold to hide it. Heart a little raced. I tell her I'm okay and we walk to the main building.


"I can't jump all the way to the roof so you will have to take us up Saber." I have to go to the highest point so that I can scan the whole school grounds for the location of the source of this thing that is all over the school. Saber carries me once again and I don't know if she flies or she jumps really high, but we are on the school rooftop in an instant. She sets me down, I give her a thank you smile and close my eyes. I get out the spell book I brought with me and look for this particular spell cast on the school. Saber called it 'Blood Fort. Andromeda' and one of Rider's Nobel Phantasms. It melts the people trapped inside and changes them into blood, which Rider takes in as mana. I shudder to think of how powerful she would be the blood from all the people in this school. At least this gives me hope that Ayaka wasn't a victim of this. It takes time to make it work and on many people not one. I cast the spell and it shows me all the connecting parts to make 'Blood Fort' work. Were I to destroy a few of them, then the spell would be set back a few hours from its activation. There are almost five on the roof alone. Sigh, this is going to be a long night. I set to work and cut off the mana flow to Saber but not after setting my senses to max for any intruders. I am almost at the last point when I hear a visitor. Erg, I forgot that I can't sense other servants, only masters. Servants are the ones who can sense other servants and a master can just order their servant to go scouting alone. But it seems that even Saber didn't sense this one until now. He must have been masking his presence and that he has been here a while.


"Yo. Don't waste your time. This spell is way more complicated for you to stop." It's a guy, so this can't be Rider that Saber told me about. He is wearing a one piece battle suite that most male servants wear. Blue in color with white interlacing stripes. He has blue hair tied back in a pony tail. His eyes are blood red and glitter in the moon light. His is standing so proudly on the roof's railing. He must be really agile. "Isn't it a little dangerous for two babes like you to be out this late?" He smirks, all the while looking cool. I hate to admit it but he is very good looking. Wait, 'babes'? So he is a servant if he can see Saber. *Groan* I materialize Saber. I am getting sloppy, need to be more careful. I ask him what he is doing here since he is obviously not the one who did this. "My master sent me out to scout on other servants you see. He is very cowardly, but since I came across one, he never told me not to fight." He grins and out of no where, in his hands that were empty all this time, materializes a red spear-like weapon. He is Lancer. This is the first servant we have come across. But when he pulls his spear out, his expression changes and I feel something like fear. He moves so fast that I can't do anything. What is wrong with me? I am ready for this. I should always expect a surprise attack. I see a red flash in my face and I think that I'm done for, then another flash of silver and blue moves in front of me to block the attack. Saber.


To Be Continued...........








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