Chapter 290 - 1-4

Chapter 1

I am the bone of my sword

And with that, the gears of his world began to turn.

Steel is my body and fire is my blood

Words that strengthen every nook and cranny of his imperfect reality.

I have created over a thousand blades

They spoke the power of his conviction.

Unknown to death

The weight of his victories.

Nor known to life

The weight of his failures.

Have withstood great pain to create many weapons

They told the legend of an ally of justice.

Yet those hands will never hold anything

And his descent into despair.

so as I pray

But don't give up yet, hero-

UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS

You still have people to save.

xxx

There he stands, alone again atop the hill of swords, in the middle of his world. Even the man himself doesn't know for how long he has been alone, but he still stands there looking as another sword is added to his collection and the memories have been added to his mind, and a single thought enters his head.

'Another mission complete.'

Now he waits, waits for his master to pull on his leash again.

Next to him is a single sword, just like any other sword added to his collection yet so different. This one was embedded in stone, the first sword to enter his collection through not actually seeing it, but by dreaming it. This was a sword that he cherished deeply and was more a memento than a weapon given to him by his savior and partner.

Just like the jeweled amulet which was given to him by his best friend.

Just like the ribbon which was given to him by his poor childhood friend.

Just like the small bow which had been given to him by his family, his first regret. The day she gave him the bow was also the day she told him who she really was. She told him it was a gift to her mother from her father, which she found at home after she died and now was giving it to him. When he asked who her father was her answer shocked him. He didn't understand why he wasn't told this; why did she have to tell him and not his old man? Why didn't he say anything, why didn't he ever even try to? She told him all about her life with them, how her mother was always so gentle with her, how her father never broke a promise to her.

He understood now why she had been so angry with him, he had stolen something very precious from her. He attempted to apologize to her, but she said there was no need because she was no longer angry, she understood now and she was so happy to have a little brother, she said that the old man had given her the best present he ever gave her: him, her hero. He was so happy he hugged her, hugged her like if he let go she would disappear forever.

...

She died in his arms that night, in 'his' arms. He remembers just holding onto her tightly, never making a sound. He stayed like that until his sobbing guardian pulled him away so that someone could collect the body. He remembers not going to the funeral, and how everyone else did. A week after that marked the end of his civilian life as he then began his travels, honing his skills on the world before him and eventually unlocking his greatest power.

Then the end of his journey came to mind as thoughts of deals, betrayal, and then death flashed across it.

As if a siren had blared, he was snapped out of his thoughts quickly. He knew this sound, the sound of royal trumpets in the air as if announcing to his world that legends had arrived.

This was the sound of The Holy Grail War summoning him.

Suddenly seven big round buttons appeared in front of him, each having a title stamped on it. The buttons were all yellow with the titles being blue.

Saber

Archer

Lancer

Rider

Caster

Assassin

Berserker

He waited for six of the buttons to gray out for him to select the class he was most suited for.

All seven of the buttons were grayed out.

He was confused. What did this mean, why summon him to this war if he wasn't suited for any of the classes? Wait, that didn't make sense since there were only seven participants and he was one of them. There were only seven participants...right?

Suddenly as if answering his thoughts an eighth button appeared, popping into existence right next to the Archer class.

He took one look at the word and felt even more confused.

Archer

Why were there two of the same class? It didn't make sense- the grail was only supposed to summon seven servants, and yet it seems he was the eighth; nor was it supposed to summon 2 servants of the same class, and yet it did.

It truly did seem that this grail no longer follows the rules that were made for it.

He looked at the button and sighed. He pressed it and immediately felt the grail begin to copy his story to send to the summoning master.

He looked up at gears of his world and sighed.

'When will this finally end?' He thought bitterly.

As the grail finished its work he felt it drag a small piece of him with it. Then all traces of the grail left his world, taking the copy of him with it and leaving the original alone once more on the hill of the world of swords.

The man once known as Shirou Emiya sighed once again as he hoped that this time that things would end just a bit more in his favor.

xxx

(Unknown Location)

In a church, there were a man and his wife. They stood near the altar of the church while the man, who had dark hair, a long black trench coat over what seemed to be a black suit with a matching color tie, a small patch of facial hair on his chin, and eyes like that of a corpse, stands before a summoning circle with what seemed to be a blue and golden colored scabbard placed on the altar. Behind him was his wife who had snow white hair and red eyes, and wore a white dress with yellow strips going from going from shoulder to shoulder going along the collar.

She looked to her husband and asked: "Are you ready?"

The dark haired man looked at her and nodded, and then begins to chant.

"Shut(fill), Shut(fill), Shut(fill), Shut(fill), Shut(fill)."

"Repeat five times."

"But destroy each when filled."

"I hereby swear."

"I will be all that is good in the eternal world."

"I will be the disposer of all the evil in the eternal world ."

"Thou shall come under my command."

"So let thy sword be my fate."

"Abiding by the summons of the Holy Grail."

"If thou dost accede to this will and reason, answer me."

And with that the summoning circle glowed bright blue, followed by a blinding light. When the light disappeared standing in the middle of the circle was a blond haired and green eyed woman wearing a blue formal dress with silver armor over top of it.

"Servant Saber has answered your summons. I have only one question: are you my master?" She said.

The man confusedly looked at the woman but nodded after they cleared up a misunderstanding about who she was. They then turned to leave... that is until the circle began to glow once more.

Saber raises her sword to strike, the man and his partner both ready themselves to flee with the man's wife. Suddenly the wife holds her left hand as if she is in a lot of pain as everyone in the room notices the glowing stigma forming on her left hand.

"K-Kiritsugu, what's..." The wife mutters.

"I don't know Iri, this wasn't supposed to happen." Kiritsugu said.

A figure appeared in the light, a tanned man with snow white hair similar to the woman known as Iri, his eyes shut. He wore red shroud over black and white body armor, his lower half was also covered by the red shroud, and he was wearing dark pants and black steel toed boots.

"Master, orders!" Saber yelled to her master as she raises her sword to strike down the mysterious servant. Kiritsugu thought for a second, from the fact that his wife had what seems to be a pair of command seals and the reactivation of the summoning circle that grail had chosen his wife to be a master. However, this servant was an unknown and was possibly hostile. That was a chance he was not willing to take.

Kiritsugu looks to Saber and commanded:

"Attack."

Saber took off in mere second at the mysterious servant, the invisible sword raised high in the air prepared to strike the intruder down. Her sword falls towards him, intent on cleaving him in two.

A pair of dark eyes snapped open.

CLANG!

Steel met steel in an instant as her sword had met the blade of two others that had not existed a moment before. They were married swords by the looks of them- one was black and the other was white, and they were the same shape and had the same details, just different colors.

With a strong thrust, the servant threw off Saber and kicked her in the gut sending her spiraling to the floor.

The Servant whistled, "Whew, that was close huh, a few more seconds and I would've been cut in two."

Kiritsugu points his gun towards him, an origin bullet cocked into place. He knew what it did to magi, but not to servants, but hopefully this could buy them enough time should things go sour. Saber began to slowly pick herself off the floor. The servant slowly raised his hands, the married swords disappearing into thin air.

"Now, now I didn't come for a fight." He said as he began to look around the large room to find his connection.

Looking around the room the mysterious red servant was a bit stunned, though his face didn't show it, to see the current occupants of the church.

'Well, well. Isn't this interesting, to think I'd be summoned back this far. That would be just my luck, ' He thought. His eyes roaming over everyone in the room until he felt the person who was giving him a serious amount of prana. He looked towards the source and was...so surprised to see that it was coming from someone who looked very familiar.

The servant walked up, albeit hastily, to the white haired woman and was slightly let down by the noticeable difference between this woman and...her. He didn't back away when he heard Kiritsugu cock his gun and Saber tighten her grip on her sword. Instead, he addressed the woman.

"I guess by the connection I feel between us, that you are my master?" He said smirking at her before. "I was hoping for a less violent welcome, but at least this time I have a master who summoned me properly."

Irisviel made a small protest.

"But I didn't summon you."

"Huh?" The look on the servant's face was of utter confusion. Why was nothing working properly today? Was something wrong with the Grail system? Well, besides being from filled to the brim with all the world's evils.

"Well, be that as it may, by our contract, I will be your servant for the duration of this war." He said looking down at her.

"W-what's your class?" His master stammered.

"I am Servant Archer." He answered.

At this point in time, Kiritsugu had put down his gun and had looked the servant up and down. Various possibilities ran through his mind on what to do with him, but for now, he needed answers.

"Archer." He said drawing the red servant's attention.

"What is your true name?" He more demanded than asked. If Kiritsugu was going use him to his full advantage, he was going to need to know how the heroic spirit ticked.

Archer looked at the man for a good minute...

Then turned his head back to Irisviel completely ignoring Kiritsugu, much to the man's surprise and irritation.

"Archer, what is your true name." Kiritsugu repeated, more forcefully this time.

This time Archer looked at the magus killer with a raised eyebrow.

"Why should I tell you, as far as I know you're an enemy master," Archer said turning his entire body towards Kiritsugu. This caused Saber to jump in front of the man and get into a battle ready stance. As Archer was about to step forward a small hand stopped him. He looked at the person whose hand it was and raised both his eyebrows when he saw that it was his master's.

"Stop Archer, please tell us your true name?" she asked.

All the red servant could do was sigh.

"It's not really that important." He told, but her eyes told him that answer wasn't acceptable.

"Fine it's..." He hesitated for a brief second at the of risking them finding out who he really was and of speaking a name he had long since abandon. They didn't need to know the whole truth, just enough to trust him.

"It's Shirou." He said.

"Shirou, hmm yes that's a fine name." Irisviel said with a gentle smile. Archer turned away from her abit outta embarrassment.

Kiritsugu looked at him before asking: "Which mythology are you from? Greek, Norse?"

Archer scratched the back of his head.

"Ahh, well, you won't really find me in textbooks," He told Kiritsugu.

"What do you mean?" Irisviel asked, confused.

Archer looked at them for a short while before answering.

"Well you see, I come from the future."

Needless to say, the shock on everyone's face was priceless.

A/N: Yep that's right 2 ANs count it 2! This one is a bit different though as I was gone and now all the sudden Uftoable's Fate/Stay nights UBW came and left, not to mention Fate/Grand Order a mobile game that came out like almost a year ago and has it's own Movie-like OVA with a sequel coming out soon. A 'mobile' game has it's own OVA...wow. Not mention Heaven's feel , the only route I have yet to see, one of it's three movie are coming out this year. Not to mention Fate/Apocrypha (MORDRED!) and Fate/Extella.

Huh?...Oh and yeah Kaleid liner prisma Illya getting another season I think...woopie.

Man, it's a good year to be a Fate fan, now if only they could remake the Fate route or at least an OVA of the last episode. My life would be complete.

Anywho this AN is for me to ask you all stuff like who's your character, what's your favorite route, and/or what's your favorite Fate story.

Wether you have questions about the story or just wanna chat about PM me or leave in a review along with your criticism.

Since this AN is getting too long I will just say that so far Shirou is my favorite Fate character.

Chapter 2

Walking through the doors of the Einzbern castle made Archer really uncomfortable. Despite what his master and the old man believed, it was not his first time walking through those doors. However, that was a story for another time. Archer looked around taking in the setting of the giant entrance. Straight across from them was a staircase that had a red carpet that from the front door, across the marble floor, and up the stairs. Beside them were white marble columns that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Beside each column was a maid dressed in that attire that Archer had always found ridiculous.

'Too white, and that head dress,' He thought.

A small memory came to him of two similarly dressed maids, both standing to the right and left of someone. People whose names and faces he could no longer remember.

Hearing whispers near him caused Archer to glance around him as he, Saber, Kiritsugu, and his master walked towards the stairs. Men and women, who were probably actual members of the Einzbern family due to their lacking white hair and red eyes, were all around them staring.

"I thought they were only allowed to summon one Servant, how did they manage to summon two?"

"Look at the puppet's hand, she's a master?!"

"What kind of joke is this?!"

"First, Grandfather allows that disgrace of a magus to join our family, and now the doll has her own Servant. How shameful."

Some of the whispers were about Saber.

"Is that the legendary King Arthur?"

"So they actually managed to summon him?"

"He's so pretty."

"Yeah, he seems almost...feminine."

Others... were about him.

"Who do you think he is?"

"I've never heard of someone from any legend with white hair and tan skin."

"His outfit is ridiculous, and just look at that hair."

"He was probably a barbarian in life."

"Look at him, he looks... mangy."

At the mention of "mangy", a certain blue-haired spear-wielding dog popped into his head, causing Archer to scowl.

They finally stopped at one of the rooms in a hallway. Irisviel then turned to look at Saber and him.

"Saber, Archer stay in this room while Kiritsugu and I report what happen at the summoning to Grandfather," She told both the Servants.

They nodded and watched as both of their masters walked back down the hallway.

They entered the room. It was small, with only a small round table and chairs in the middle of it. Archer went to one of the walls and leaned his back against it, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes, while Saber decided to look out one of the windows.

Archer tried not to, but he couldn't help but stare at Saber. He... knew her at least somewhat. He knew from the moment he had recognized her that she was King Arthur, the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya and ten years from now the Servant of Shirou Emiya.

His former Servant.

'No... no, that's not right.' Archer thought.

She wasn't his Servant. No, she was...

His partner.

His friend.

Archer let out a heavy sigh, frustrated at the hand he had been dealt. The sigh, however, was not unnoticed by the blonde swordswoman, who turned to look at him.

"Is something the matter, Archer?" She asked him.

"No, just wondering," He told her, cracking one eye open to look at her.

"About?" She inquired.

"...Which one of us our Masters would kill off."

Saber's breath caught in her throat. She narrowed her eyes at the white-haired Servant.

"Come now, Saber, this is a match that can end with only one result. Even if our Masters are spouses, there can still only be one winner," Archer said, with a patronizing smirk on his face.

"Archer! You don't truly think our masters would be...!" She said, outraged that Archer would even consider such a thing.

"Ah, but I do Saber," Archer interrupted her. "I told you didn't I? I'm from a possible future, I know how modern magi think."

Saber kept quiet as Archer continued.

"Now, had it been any other magus, I actually do think that they would have us duke it out in a final battle if we were the last two left. However, your master is quite the oddball."

Saber started at him confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've said too much now already. I don't want to give too much about myself away just yet," Archer said amusedly.

"Archer!" Saber snapped at him.

"However..," He interrupted her again. "A word of warning, do not trust your Master to do things your way."

With that little tidbit of information, Archer closed his eye and continued resting against the wall, leaving Saber upset and confused. She turned around and walked back towards the window.

After a while, Kiritsugu and Irisviel came back. Irisviel then began to explain what happen in their meeting with the head of the Einzberns. There wasn't much to tell, as Kiritsugu and Irisviel had simply reported what had taken place in the church. The head, called Grandfather by Irisviel, was surprised at first but was later very pleased as their chance of winning was now doubled, and sent them away after they were finished.

Kiritsugu then took Irisviel's place as the speaker and informed the Servants of his plan for the Grail war and...

Well...

"This is unacceptable!" Saber shouted at her master. "You can not honestly expect me to leave you unguarded and pretend to be lady Irisviel's Servant so we can deceive the other Servants while Archer strikes them from behind! It is cowardly and distasteful," She said with disgust.

Her Master just ignored her and looked at Irisviel.

"This will be the plan for as we long as we can keep Archer hidden," He explained to her.

All Saber could do was stare in shock as he flat-out ignored her presence.

Irisviel then turned to look at Archer.

"Archer, are you ok with this?" She asked him to which Archer just sighed.

"If my Master is willing, then use me to your heart's content, Kiritsugu Emiya," The red Bowman said a tad dramatically, surprising his would-be foster father.

This, however, did not sit well with Saber.

"Archer, as a fellow heroic spirit, how can you condone this!?" She snapped at him.

Archer looked at her for a moment before speaking.

"How about this, Saber? Since I see you have no intention of backing down, I will not interfere in your battles unless the situation is absolutely dire. And in return, you shall protect my master?"

Despite having said this, Archer had no intention of keeping his promise. He saw the benefits of Kiritsugu's plan, and as much as he admired Saber's sense of chivalry, all it would do is cost them their chance at winning.

After that Saber conceded and accepted Archer's proposal.

"Great!" Irisviel said excitedly. "Now with two of the seven Servants on our side, there's no way we can lose!" She and Kiritsugu began to walk towards the door before Archer called out to them.

"Wait, Master. I'd rethink that if I were you," He told her.

Irisviel and Kiritsugu looked at him, confused, as did Saber.

"What do you mean, Archer?" The Servant of the sword looked at him confusingly.

"I was indeed the last Servant to be summoned, but I was in no way the seventh. During my...'summoning' I felt 'connected' with someone, as though we were apart of something similar. I believe there is a second archer-class Servant in this war," He explained and also praying that it wasn't who he thought it was.

He doubted his E-ranked luck would let him be right, however.

Kiritsugu stared at him for a second, no doubt scouring his face for lies. After finding none he responded with a curt "I see" and left along with Irisviel. Leaving Saber and Archer alone once more.

Archer turned towards Saber and said, " Might as well go explore."

Then he left, leaving Saber alone.

xxxx

At this point all Archer could do was sigh at how stupid he was. He had told them about what had happened before his summoning and how it seemed there were eight Servants this round rather than seven, and how there were two Archers instead of one.

It was important they know that as not knowing it would've left them at a huge disadvantage. However, he didn't tell them about the Grail and how it was corrupted, at least not yet. It would be better to work behind the scenes for now on that project or he might accidently change something he didn't mean to and could not fix later- at least. that's what he was telling himself. For now, though, he would focus on his job as a Servant and protect his master.

The reception they got from the other members of the castle had been less than stellar, but it didn't matter too much to him what other people thought of him. With the life he led, he had gotten used to people badmouthing or underestimating him.

The main problem at the moment was that the Grail had to be dealt with- not just because it could hurt innocent people, but it could hurt humanity as a whole. He knew he had until the end of the Grail war to figure out a solution to that problem. Maybe bringing the old man in on that little bit of info would be helpful, but...

Well, it could lead to a conversation that he'd rather not have...ever. Not to mention how different he was to what Archer could remember. Of course, he wasn't completely in the dark about his old man's time as the Magus Killer. He knew that Kiritsugu had done some very bad things before they had met.

Then again, so had he in his servitude as a hound of Alaya.

Maybe if he spoon-fed the info and made it seem like it was from clues he had picked up during the duration of the war. Yeah, perhaps that would work.

Next problem: Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes should have been summoned this time as an Archer-class Servant. That fact that it seemed as if he and that arrogant king had so many similarities somewhat irked him. Sure, in the fifth war Saber had managed to kill him, but that was only because he was made human by that evil mud during the fourth war. Now, he was summoned as an Archer-class Servant and with all the perks that go with it. Not to mention Ea; just the thought of that blade made him shudder.

Yeah, the plan was another work in progress.

Alright, on to the next prob...

"Hey, mister!" A small child-like voice called out to him.

A sudden tugging on his cloak caught his attention and pulled the bowman out of his thoughts.

He looked at the cause of the noise and when his eyes landed on the figure, his breath caught in his throat. Staring up at him was a tiny child, one that would one day grow up to be someone he would care about very much. A little girl whose name had long since faded from his memory along with her voice, with only her image remaining.

Slowly, he bent down to look face to face with the young girl.

"Yes?" He asked.

The little girl looked him up and down as if sizing him up. Eventually, she stopped and smiled to herself as if satisfied with her inspection.

"You can play with me!" She said to him as if he should be honored.

"...Um, what?" He said wondering if he heard right.

The white haired little girl looked at him, a little annoyed.

"I said that you, Mr. Brown man, you are allowed to play with me," She said again.

Mr. Brown man? What kind of nickname was that?

Wait... did she just want someone to play with?

Well, why didn't she just say that?

However...

"And why would I want to play with someone who is rude?" He said as he poked the small girl's forehead, causing her to move back in surprise and rub the spot he poked.

"But...you're...I said you were allowed!" She told him stubbornly.

To that, he nodded.

"True, but why would I want to play when you haven't even asked me to?" He pointed out.

This caused the kid to look at the ground for a moment before she began to mumble something under her breath.

Archer raised his eyebrow. "Hmm..what is it?"

"Please...play with me," She said causing Archer to smile.

"See now, was that so hard?" He shot a small smile towards her, causing her to smile back.

"Come on!" She as she grabbed his hand and started to pull him down the hall.

"My name is Illyasviel, but you can call me Illya, what's yours?" She said.

At hearing her name, a small memory popped into his mind of a white-haired girl of another time introducing herself to him.

"Ahh...Illya...that was the name," He mumbled under his breath. This caused Illya to look up at him in question, but he told her it was nothing.

"So, what's your name?" Illya asked again. This caused the red bowman to think for a second. While he could tell her the same thing he told his master and Kiritsugu...

...What was the harm?

"You can call me...Emiya," He told her, causing her to look up at him insurprise.

"That's the same as Kiritsugu's last name!" She said in excitement.

"Yeah, but it's a secret between you and me ok?" He said putting his index fingers in front of his mouth in a shushing motion. Which Illya repeated and nodded her head.

"Good, now...what game are we going to play?" Archer asked.

"We're gonna look for walnuts!" Illya said as she and Archer stepped out the front door.

"What?"

xxxx

Kiritsugu was frustrated, to say the least. Even though Archer had revealed to them that he was from the future, the Magus Killer knew the red-clad Servant was holding info from then. Every time he had tried to pry anymore out of him Archer always deflected the question either with another question or by saying something completely ridiculous.

He had already figured out how to use to both the Servants in an effective way, with Saber pretending to be Irisviel and Archer staying hidden as no other master knew they had two Servants. That would give them the element of surprise and hopefully allow them to kill both enemy masters and Servants quickly.

Saber was against the plan, but Kiritsugu had ignored anything she had to say. To Kiritsugu's surprise,Archer had had no complaints and even had ended up convincing Saber to go along with the plan more willingly. While he had agreed not to interfere in her fights, the Magus Killer had a feeling that Archer wasn't actually planning on honoring that agreement.

Nonetheless, he had booked tickets to Fuyuki for him and Maiya a day before Irisviel, Archer, and Saber would arrive, as a means to check out any spots that would give them an advantage. In war, anything was fair as far as Kiritsugu was concerned.

This was his last chance. Everything rode on the fact the Grail could end this endless cycle of conflict and violence. This was his chance to finally come through on his dream: to create a safer, more peaceful world where no one would die. This was for all those he had sacrificed.

...And all those he would end up sacrificing.

To create a more peaceful world for his child and all those who were innocent. No amount of bloodshed, guilty or innocent, was too much.

A sudden noise interrupted his line of thought. The noise was familiar, it was used to alert Kiritsugu if one of his familiars had spotted something. The familiar that had set off the alert was the one that Kiritsugu had sent to keep an eye on the Tohsaka estate in Fuyuki, home to one of the other masters of the Grail war: Tokiomi Tohsaka. As far as his info went, Tokiomi was your typical magus. Nothing mattered more to him than his research and keeping his legacy alive.

However, Kiritsugu recently found out that Tokiomi had given his youngest daughter, Sakura Tohsaka, to the Matou family. That particular piece of info had the potential to be important in the future, as the black sheep of the Matou family, Kariya Matou, was also a master in this war.

Anyway, Kiritsugu began to look through the eyes and saw what was the Tohsaka's back garden. At first, Kiritsugu didn't see what had caused, but after awhile saw what it was. Appearing from the shadow was what appeared to be a man whose entire body was completely black from head to toe with the exception of the bone white mask on his face. Kiritsugu deduced that this likely was one of the Servants and that his class was Assassin if the stealth approach was any indicator.

It seemed the black Servant's sights were set on a red gem in the middle of the garden. As he walked towards the gem the barriers protecting it seemed to prematurely explode.

Once Assassin got to the red jewel, a golden light appeared from atop the Tohsaka mansion. Kiritsugu was fairly certain it was Tokiomi's Servant, however, the light was too bright and the familiar was only able to make out the outline of the Servant. From the outline, Kiritsugu could tell that the golden Servant was a man. Appearing from a golden light came a rain of weapons that cut down Assassin from where he stood without mercy.

Soon the golden light along with the Servant disappeared from the top of the mansion, and Kiritsugu cut the connection to his familiar to think about what he had seen. Assassin, it seems, was out of the war, but what about his master? Kiritsugu only knew of four other masters, other than him and Irisviel, not to mention an eighth unknown master according to Archer.

Archer...

What was he going to do about him? The Servant of the bow seemed to be alright with some of his methods, but how long until the heroic spirit becomes a liability? When it came down to it, only one Servant and master were allowed to obtain the Grail, and his wife was already doomed to die. How long would it be until Archer realizes that and he snaps after realizing he can't obtain the Grail? Preferably, that problem would wait until most of the other Servants and masters have been dealt with, but it would be best to have a plan in place just in case.

Suddenly, someone bursting through his door drove him out of his thoughts. The figure immediately jumped on his lap as he saw a small head of snow white hair that he knew belonged to only one person of that size.

"Hey! Hey, Kiritsugu, play with me!" Illya said with her beaming red eyes staring up into his.

Kiritsugu chuckled a bit at his daughter's antics. He knew that she knew that he would never deny her request. Even if he couldn't play with her right then, he would always promise her he would play later, and he never broke his promises.

"Of course, anything for you, my princess," Kiritsugu said rubbing the top of her head.

The man lifted up from his chair along with his daughter and carried her out of his office and shutting the door, ready to spend the next couple of hours with one of the people most precious to him before he headed off to war.

He, however, did not catch the evil look his daughter had plastered across her face.

xxxx

Archer was staring out the window of a small room. He had played with Illyasviel, in looking for walnut buds for about 2 hours. It was a contest to see who could find the most, and he had won, of course. Having perfect vision had also helped as the final score ended up as Archer: 15 and Illya: 4. After she admitted defeat, which took a while, she decided to use this knowledge to her advantage of how many walnut buds there were and went to get Kiritsugu to play. Archer was slowly reminded of the things the Illya of his time did just to win, whether it was in the Holy Grail war or just a small bet that she and...

Wait...who was it that kept antagonizing Illya again?

Ugh, he hated when his memory got like this. Archer could remember various things about him and his Grail war. The night of the fire, summoning Saber, destroying the Grail...

...Illya's death.

However, some things still alluded him, like remembering the names of his close friends or what they looked like. He could remember Kiritsugu, but not the person who took care of him after his death. He could remember scenes of happier days, but the faces of those involved were blank.

As he was thinking of this, his mind floated towards a certain blonde Servant who was currently residing somewhere else in the castle. She was a special case, even more so than himself. He remembered the conversation he had with...his friend. How Saber shouldn't remember past wars- while he could remember past wars as well, he couldn't in the way Saber could. He remembered repeating the fifth Grail warmany times.

When Archer had first arrived at this time he was shocked, but then that shock turned to hatred. He hadn't wanted to be there; he didn't want to relive his past. He had remembered enough of his copies going into the fifth war and seeing his past self become what they were trying to stop all over again that he found the entire thing pointless and irritating. He couldn't say that he remembered his copies going into the fourth war, but who knows? Maybe he had simply forgotten that he did that a lot. After living for so long, his mind could no longer remember much of his past life.

He knows he knew Saber when he was human, and he knows that he mostly called her Saber when they knew each other, but he knows that she was called something else as well. He knows she was King Arthur, as that's what the sword in the stone he has inside his world says, but she was called something else as well, from so very, very long ago.

A hand tugs his sleeve and he's dragged out of his thoughts as his eyes stare into red ones, the events that happened earlier today replay in his mind. His mind immediately thinks 'Illya', but after a second he realized that it was his Master, Irisviel- Illya's mother. Thoughts of what-ifs and what could have been flashed through his mind, but he shrugged them off.

"Archer?" Her words bring him out of his thoughts once more.

"Yes Master, is there something you require my assistance with?" He asked.

"Are you okay?" She asks "You seemed like you were spacing out."

Archer shakes his head "Ah, it is nothing Master, I was just thinking."

"You mean, like your past? Have you remembered something other than your name and time?" She asks with curious eyes.

"Just bits and pieces that I just can't seem to put together," He said.

"Ah, well that's a shame, I bet you were a truly interesting person when you were alive," She says sitting down at a table and began to pour herself some tea.

When Archer had met Irisviel, he thought she was going to be a little more...mature? Yes mature- caring, but mature. Well, she was, when she wanted to be, but she had a serious childish streak going on. Now he definitely knew where Illya got it from. She was always curious about everything and thus was seriously excited about going to Japan. She just wouldn't stop...bouncing. She was more hyperactive than her own kid sometimes. It was seriously weird how at one second she would be seriously childish then act with the elegance of a typical magus next.

"Archer," Irisviel said looking up at him and holding the tea kettle. "Would you like some tea?"

Archer just stared at her. "Master, you do know I don't need to consume food, right? I'm fueled by the prana you provide."

Irisviel just smiled at him. "Yes, but you will have some with me won't you?"

Shrugging Archer sat down across the table for Irisviel and watched as she poured tea into a cup and passed it to him. He picked up the teacup and took a sip.

As calmly as he could Archer put the tea cup down on the small plate and pushed it gently away from him, earning a curious look from his Master as she tilted her head to the side and looked at him. Looking straight at his Master all Archer could say was:

"I'm truly glad that I do not need food or liquid to keep my strength up or else we would be in serious trouble."

Archer then got up and headed towards the window, leaving Irisviel in shock. Outside, he saw Kiritsugu and Illya playing the game he and Illya had been playing a few hours ago. It seemed that Illya was beating her father if the look on Kiritsugu's face and Illya's haughty expression were anything to go by.

However, Kiritsugu surprised him by putting Illya on his shoulders. They seemed... happy.

Archer smiled for a second before it turned into a frown. Looking at this happy moment despite the fact he knew the fate that awaited them, filled him with...sadness? Anger? Dispair? He didn't know anymore, he had been filled with those emotions to the point he could no longer tell them apart. Archer then left the window and headed back to where his master was sitting. She had left while he had been in thought.

"She probably went to go check on Saber," He thought.

Ever since he finally recognized her after their little tussle in the church, he has pretty much tried to avoid her as much as possible. It wasn't the most mature thing he had ever done, but whenever she was on his mind his heart seemed to hurt a bit. It was the same kind of pain he felt whenever he glanced at Illya. The feeling of failure that hit him like a truck whenever he spent time with her- he knew what it was. Thoughthe reason was lost to him, at some point in his life, he had tried to save Saber and failed. He failed...

Had that been the starting point?

Had the regrets of his life started the moment she and he had parted ways?

Possibly, it just took until after his death to realize they were there.

"Archer?" Irisviel shook him by the shoulder and snap him out of his daydreaming once more.

"Yes, Master?" He said.

"Kiritsugu said that the maids are done with thepacking and that we're getting ready to leave," She told him. Archer nodded and dematerialized.

"Ah wait," Irisviel said.

Archer materialized again with a curious look on his face. "Yes, Master?"

"Here!" She said excitedly and handed him clothes...fancy clothes. "I made it myself!"

"Uh...Master?" He said holding up the clothes "What is this?"

"A suit!" She said with a smile on her face.

"Um Master, why are you giving me clothes?" he asked

"Since Kiritsugu's Servant gets normal clothes it's only fair that mine gets some too," Irisviel said in a matter of fact tone.

Archer mentally face palmed.

"But Master, I can just..," Archer froze.

'Uh-oh,' He thought

Irisviel had a look of kicked puppy on her face and looked as if she was about to cry.

The red-clad Servant justsighed a little.

"Truly, Master, do you think a few crocodile tears will get me to wear that?" Archer said pointing at the outfit in Irisviel's hand

Irisviel dropped her sad expression in a second, before looking at her hand that held her command seals then back to her Servant. A sinister grin appeared on her face. This caused Archer to take a step back.

"Master what...?" He said before he was interrupted by Irisviel, who was slowly walking towards him the outfit in one hand and the other raised in a fist pointing at him. Her smile was filled with an evil purpose.

"Archer..," Irisviel started.

'She wouldn't.' Archer thought as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"By these command seals..," She continued.

'She's bluffing, there's no way...'

"I order you..."

'I will not cave!'

The back of her hand faintly glowed red.

xxx

'I-I caved.'

Archer thought as he and Saber were watching Irisviel say goodbye to Illya, all three command seals still intact. He and Saber were wearing matching suits, but the ties were...different, while Sabers was a normal black one, Archer was wearing a...bowtie with the letter A stitched on it.

Kiritsugu and Maiya had left ahead of time to prepare. Irisviel and the two heroic spirits would take a later flight, Saber wanted to go with her master, but he ordered her to stay here. Archer was beginning to see why his old man and his former partner weren't on the best of terms.

After Irisviel was done with her, they began to head out when a small tug was felt on Archer's pants leg. He turned and looked down at the perpetrator and saw Illya looking up at him.

"Kiritsugu said that Mama wouldn't be coming home anymore."

She began shaking.

Archer listened as she continued.

"And Mama said that she'd always be with me even if she was gone," She began to sniff. "But...but..."

"Illya?"

"But I don't want Mama to leave, I want her to stay with me and Kiritsugu, so we can still be a family," She said as tears fell down the white haired girl's face.

At this, the Counter-Guardian's eyes softened and he kneeled down before Illya and patted her on the head.

"Illya," He said, his voice gentle as he spoke. "Your mom will always be your family gone or not, but I have no intention of letting her...disappear."

Illya looked him in the eyes.

"You promise?" She said as she held up her pinky.

Archer gave her a small smile and wrapped his pinky around her's.

"Of course."

He then wiped the tears from Illya's face and went after his master and Saber.

When he caught up to them all he could do was stare at the back of Irisviel's head.

He had made a promise, one he intended to keep.

He wouldn't fail her.

No, not again.

He was, after all, Illyasviel von Einzbern's hero.

Chapter 3

The plane ride to Fuyuki went smoothly, if not a little awkwardly if Saber had to say so herself. The plane had touched down in a couple of hours after they boarded. Irisviel was the first out of all of them to get off the plane- well, more like "jumped out" than "got off".

"Ah, so this is where Kiritsugu was born. It's so pretty," She said as she twirled around, taking in the view of the airport.

Saber smiled at the woman's attitude. She just had this air of innocence to her that not even her master could say no to, and Saber had become very fond of her.

"W-whoa!" Irisviel said as she tripped over herself. A hand from the person behind her grabs the back of her coat to keep her from falling on her rump.

"Seriously, Master, you need to be more careful."

Her fellow Servant, not so much.

Saber wasn't overly fond of the bowman, and the fact that he was on board with her Master's ludicrous plan didn't help her opinion of him. Not to mention anytime she or her Master would inquire about his abilities, he would smirk and say something ridiculous.

"Think of it like pulling a rabbit out of a hat." The servant once told her.

Not to mention his mannerism was unbefitting of a heroic spirit. He would always sit with his feet propped against something, whether it be a table or otherwise. The way he treated Irisviel was something as well, anytime she asked him something that seemed obvious, Archer's response would be something bordering on an insult. Saber dearly hoped that not all men of the future behaved as he did.

However, that was not what truly bothered her.

No, what angered her the most were the looks the servant gave her. The stares that he gave her when he thought she wasn't looking. His eyes held emotions she had not seen since she last looked in a mirror. The eyes that held sadness, regret, and if she wasn't mistaken, longing. Every time she looked at him it was like looking at herself and it infuriated her to no end.

"Come on, we have to get to the castle and check in with Kiritsugu." Archer's voice broke Saber out of her thoughts.

After getting past airport security, hearing Irisviel's 'oohs and ahs', picking up their luggage- well, Irisviel's luggage, and being the source of public display due to Archer's choice of attire, not to mention that his skin hair didn't help matters, they were picked up by a fancy black car one of the maids brought around.

Irisviel stared out the window at the city while they drove by in great awe.

"So Kiritsugu left before us huh?" Said Archer, who despite being the tallest was stuck between both Saber and Irisviel.

"Um-hm, about twelve hours before us," Irisviel said. "It gives us enough time to explore Fuyuki while they prepare the castle."

"That's dangerous. What if we're attacked by an enemy servant?" Saber objected.

"That's true." Irisviel sat back down and turned her head towards her lap.

Archer stared at his master for a second, it would be smart to immediately head to the castle immediately, but

"It's just...you see." She said trying to find the right words.

"Master?" Archer gave a small questioning look.

Irisviel just sighed. "It's just, this is my first time here." She said, still looking at her lap.

"Here as in Japan?" Saber asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I guess I worded that wrong, when I say here as in outside, this...this is the first time I've been truly outside, away from the castle," Irisviel said, earning shocked looks from both servants.

"You mean you've been stuck inside that castle since you were alive?" Saber asked, waiting for Irisviel to elaborate.

"Yes, you see, I'm just a puppet made by the Einzberns for the Holy Grail. I wasn't supposed to really be...'human' so to speak." She was met by an awkward silence.

"Oh, but that doesn't mean I'm ignorant of the outside world, Kiritsugu brought me movies and pictures and told me all kinds of stuff." She says shaking her hand trying to make the awkwardness disappear.

As Saber was sitting there thinking about whether they should stop and tour the place for Irisviel, Archer's mind was going somewhere...else.

'Of course, she would be, she's one of that old devil's prized homunculus after all,' Archer thought bitterly.

Jubstacheit von Einzbern, otherwise known as Old Man Acht, was a humanoid golem and the eighth head of the Einzbern. He was a typical magus and a real stuck-up one at that. All the man truly cared about was winning the Holy Grail War. Failure to him was not tolerated- it was considered basically failing the Einzbern family as a whole.

Of course, Illya and Irisviel would be tied down to the castle grounds. They were that man's tickets to achieving something he desperately sought.

Suddenly, Archer told the driver to stop and turns to Saber

"Oh, come on, what's a little touring going to hurt," A small smile made its way onto his face. "Besides. you've never been here either. It'll give you a chance to get used to the environment as well."

Saber gave a defeated sigh. "Very well."

"Yay!'" Irisviel yelled in excitement.

They all got out of the car and began to tour the town. They found a large shopping plaza in Mount Miyama. The first place they went to was a clothing store, where Irisviel had both Archer and Saber try on clothes to see what she liked on them for many more clothing projects to come.

("Ohh you both look so cute.")

("E-even though I'm a king, I will take this swat at my pride for the lady's sake.")

("Why me.")

Then they found a restaurant where they all had a meal, and due to some insistence from Archer, Saber had a meal as well.

("Oh my! This is the first time I've had these 'Miso soup', it's so good!")

("I must say this is a fair meal.")

("To much salt in the paste, the clams are overcooked, and the broth isn't as warm as it should be. 4 out of 10.")

("Huh?"/"What?")

("Oh, n-nothing")

After doing some more shopping at various stores (and having some more horrors), they were heading to go view some of Fuyuki's sights, when Archer spotted a small stuff animal store and on one of the shelves in the store he saw a small stuffed lion. A small memory comes back to him and he lets a small smile creep onto his face.

"I was wondering when I would see you actually smile." The smile on Archer's face quickly vanished as he looked to the side of him and saw that it was his master, who spoke.

"Huh?" Archer said confusion evident on his face.

"Ever since you were summoned, anytime you smiled it was either fake or sarcastic. It's good to know that my servant knows how to truly smile," She said with a smile of her own. She then grabbed Saber's hand and took off a bit ahead.

"I guess after all this time, even I forgot how to smile, huh?" He asked to no one in particular, before looking ahead- and this time, instead of staring at the back of his master's head, he stared at the person next to her.

Archer simply sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and said: "I guess I'm getting too soft."

xxx

After taking in the view of some of Fuyuki's sights until it began to get dark, they found themselves on a beach and the servants watched as Irisviel ran towards the water without her boots on and her pants legs rolled up.

Archer looked at Saber who was watching Irisviel with soft eyes and a smile. Trying to establish some communication between them, Archer did the only thing he could.

He poked fun at her.

"Oh no!" Archer said a fake gasp escaped his lips as he covered his mouth as Saber looked at him. "Saber don't tell me...you're in love with my Master!"

It took the blue knight a moment to process what he said.

"W-what!" She yelled, face as red as a tomato. "What foolishness, I am in no such thing!"

Archer could only snicker at her flustered face.

"You should learn to keep those feelings in check, Saber, or else you might start a love affair," He said, chuckling a bit.

Saber turned away from him. Face still a bit red, Archer might have thought she was actually in love with her had Saber not said:

"I guess it was because we could make her have a fun time, I was just getting a bit relaxed," She said.

"Ah. Yeah, well, I guess I can understand," He told her. "I am kinda glad I could do this."

Saber looked over at him and saw Archer looking down at Irisviel with a sad knowing look on his face. However, before could she could say anything his eyes quickly changed back into ones that gave nothing away.

Irisviel began to speak, "Today was perfect, I got to shop, eat and go sight-seeing, just like in those movies Kiritsugu brought me and as a plus, I got escorted around by two perfect gentlemen."

"It was my pleasure, your highness." Saber said bowing.

Archer just gave a shrug. "You're my Master, what else was I supposed to do."

Irisviel just laughed. "You two were perfect today. Thank you."

"Wouldn't you have preferred it if Kiritsugu had escorted you today?" Saber asked.

All Irisviel gave was a sad smile. "I think that would have made Kiritsugu sad."

Saber gave a confused look. What did she mean by that?

"Surely you don't mean he does not like being with you?" She asked.

Irisviel slowly shook her head. "No, Kiritsugu would be sad if he was happy with me, being happy causes him pain."

Saber was silent for a bit, she wanted to confront her fake master. Before she could do anything, however, Archer spoke up.

"And?" Irisviel's white-haired servant said in disdain. "You just allow that to happen, I thought you two cared about each other."

Both Saber and Irisviel stared in shock at what Archer just said. After the shock wore off Saber glared at Archer and was about to reprimand him, but before she could get a word in Archer spoke again.

"You shouldn't let your life be dictated by the something that might be inevitable. If you do, then the love you felt must not have been all that strong, to begin with." He spoke with the sound of experience in his voice.

How many times had he fought against the inevitable, there were few times he succeeded and many times he failed. However, if there was one thing that Archer never forgot through his long 'life' it was to never stop fighting even when all the odds are stacked against you. After all, if he couldn't even believe in that, then he would just resign himself to be a servant of Alaya and accept his miserable fate.

Before he could continue his sentence he felt the sensation of being called as though someone was saying "I'm right here, come get me."

'A Servant, here, now!?' He thought.

"Master." He said.

"A Servant." She said as if reading his mind.

"Should we go?" He asked.

Irisviel nodded her head. "Yes. Don't worry, if anything Kiritsugu is already there." She looked at the Servants before Archer grabbed her and all three disappeared to meet this mysterious servant.

xxx

When they got to their destination, only Saber and Irisviel were there to meet the Servant as Archer had, as instructed to by Irisviel, hid himself to watch the fight and to give them support from the shadows.

When Saber and Irisviel had arrived they saw the mysterious servant. It was a man with black curly hair that had a bang reaching to the mole on his face. He wore green-colored light armor, and wielded two spears, a long spear with a red spearhead and a shorter spear with a yellow tip, both covered in purple bindings.

"I'm guessing he's of the Lancer class," Archer whispered. "Never liked those guys."

"Welcome," Lancer said. "Out of all the servants you are the only one to accept my challenge and guessing by your pure aura, you are Saber no?"

"Yes," Saber said. "And you must be Lancer."

"Tch," Lancer grumbled. "It is dishonorable for a knight to not be able to give his true name before battling, I dislike these rules."

Saber stayed quiet and changed into her battle gear.

"Irisviel, stay back." she said.

"Saber, be careful. I can use healing magic and support you from behind," Irisviel informed her.

Saber positioned herself for battle, gripping her sword. She then noticed something odd.

"There seems to be a charm on you Lancer." She said.

Lancer gave her an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Saber, but this was a curse placed on me while I was alive. I hope it won't affect our fight."

"Hmph, it'll take more than a pretty face to save you from my blade. Come, Lancer!" And with that Saber charged at the spearman.

Atop one of the containers, Archer was thinking.

'Cursed face, pretty face...wait a sec!' He thought.

"Trace On!" He chanted and looked at the two spears Lancer wielded.

"Gae Dearg, the Crimson Rose of Exorcism, and Gae Buidhe, the Yellow Rose of Mortality. It looks like we're up against Diarmuid of Love Spot." Archer began sending the information to his master. 'Irisviel, Saber is up against Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. Tell her to watch out for the red spear's magic negation and the yellow spear's curse against healing.'

Irisviel nodded her assent. "Saber!" she called out. "Your opponent is Diarmuid Ua Duibhne! The red spear has anti-magic properties while the yellow spear can cripple you!"

Surprise flashed across the faces of Saber, Lancer, and Lancer's master Kayneth. Saber quickly processed the given information and began to watch both spears with increased care while Lancer recovered as quickly as Saber and prepared himself for battle once more. On the rooftop, Kayneth was reeling from what he had just heard. The wrappings around Lancer's spears should have prevented anyone from being able to tell Lancer's true identity. So how had that homunculus found out so easily the nature of the spears?

Lancer cursed as he released the bindings from both his spears, the element of surprise long gone. He dashed at Saber with speed befitting his class, striking his yellow spear to force a block and his red spear to strike past her magical armor. Saber stayed on the defensive, diverting the spears thrusts and blowing them back, away from her whenever they got too close. Lancer kept this tempo of striking to maim permanently and then going to move past Saber's armor until he stepped forward and changed things up by moving into a furious flurry of attacks with Gae Dearg, keeping Saber occupied with the task of guarding against the onslaught that could easily pierce through her magical armor. Clashing with Saber's sword, Gae Dearg began to use its passive effect to chip away at the Invisible Air that surrounded Saber's sword, revealing the golden light bit by bit. Shocked, Saber quickly disengaged and retreated to make some space between the two of them.

Lancer smirked as he brought himself back into a ready position. "That golden light…no hero could possibly mistake that blade. It is an honor to face against the King of Knights."

Saber wrapped her blade in wind once more and held it in both hands, ready to strike. "Just as it is my honor to fight the first knight of Fianna. Now that we both know each other's names, let us begin this duel properly as knights."

Archer tensed, prepared to intervene and take down Lancer when the opening provided itself, but before he could do anything, someone else beat him to it. Falling from the sky in a chariot pulled by two bulls that sparked lightning, a giant of a man with red hair and a small little teenager in comparison rushed to the docks, coming at a stop between Lancer and Saber.

"He must be of the Rider class, if that chariot means anything," Archer said. He sighed.

'Now, we just need his real name and we can come up with a plan. If only every servant told us their true name; it would make this a lot easier,' Archer thought.

The large red haired man raised his arms.

"Heroes, sheath your weapons for you are in the presence of a king, for I am Iskandar, King of Conquerors!" Rider bellowed.

Archer sat there with a neutral look.

...

'Eh? Wait...Iskandar, does he mean Alexander the Great... Wait, that Alexander the Great... wasn't he supposed to be a lot shorter than that?' Archer thought. All he could do was sigh.

"Guess now all we have to do is watch to see what he wants."

It seemed that Saber wanted to know as well, because she was angrily demanding Rider for answers on why he interrupted her duel with Lancer.

Rider, with his hands still in the air, continued his speech.

"I have a proposition for you all! Join under me and together we shall take the Holy Grail!" He announced.

Once again Archer had a neutral look on his face.

"Huh?"

Chapter 4

Archer was honestly suprised at the sudden turn of events, first Saber and Lancer were fighting with Archer planning to take out the green armored servant as soon as the opportunity presented itself, next a huge broad servant, rider-class if the giant chariot was any indication, with red hair pushed back exposing his forehead, and he was wearing Greek styled bronze armor appeared. Revealing to everyone that he was Iskander, a king from ancient Greece commonly known as Alexander the Great.

'I thought he would be alot smaller than that, then again it's not the first time the history books got something wrong.' Archer looked at Saber and than quickly back to Rider.

The red bowman then notice that someone else was in the chariot with Rider. A boy who looked like a dwarf compared to the Servant, he had long black hair that was parted and reached down to his chin. He was wearing a sweater vest along with what appeared to be a dress shit under the vest along with a tie. Archer guessed that this was Rider's Master.

Archer was a bit shocked when Rider announced that Lancer and Saber join under him so he may obtain the grail. Archer thought that plan was crazy and so dod Lancer and Saber as they voiced their opinions.

"I'm afraid I must decline, I have promised the grail to my newly appointed lord." Lancer told Rider. "I would not break my vow, even for a king such as yourself Rider!"

Saber seem to agree with him. "I too will decline your offer Rider as I desire the grail for my own purposes." She told him. "And as the King of Britain, it would be a grave insult if I bowed before another ruler, even one as famous as you."

This time Archer literally faced palmed.

'Is everyone just telling each other who they are?'

Rider stared at Saber with a smile.

"Ho ho! It's surprising to know that the King of Knights was a little girl." He said with a giant sized smile plastered on his face.

Saber didn't seem to like that comment as she grabbed her blade and pointed it at Rider.

"Would you like a taste of this 'little girl's' blade, King of Conquerors?" She said, her voice dripping with venom.

All he did at the threat was sigh and say: "Negotiations have failed." His master on the other hand…

"Rider! What are you doing you idiot?" The boy yelled at his servant only to get flicked in the forehead by him.

Suddenly a booming voice entered everyone's ears.

"So you are the one who stole my artifact, Waver Velvet." The voice said as everyone in the vicinity froze, but only one shook in terror.

Archer stared at Rider's master when his name was revealed, another small memory appeared in his mind, it involved a mage with a permanent scowl and...video games?

"Oh no." The boy who was identified as Waver Velvet shook in terror.

"To think that you had the audacity to steal what's rightfully mine and enter the war yourself." The voice boomed with its words seething as it continued. "I admire your courage, so...should I show you 'boy', how magi truly kill each other."

xxx

As the voice continued its rant, Kiritsugu Emiya and his partner Maiya Hisau were looking for its owner, who they believed was the master of Lancer: Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald.

Just like Irisviel predicted, her husband had arrived the same time they did, if not a couple minutes earlier. They had been watching the entire fight between Lancer and Saber, waiting for a master to poke his head out and one did, the master of Rider: the boy called Waver Velvet.

Kiritsugu couldn't help but grimace mentally to himself as he pointed his rifle at the master of Rider. He detested having to kill children, no matter how necessary certain situations made it. He made the necessary adjustments to the rifle and his position as he prepared toto take his shot.

That was until something caught the corner of his eye. This time what he saw shocked him for a good minute.

The servant Assassin, standing atop one of the cranes near the crate that Kiritsugu was on.

So how was he here? It was impossible, Kiritsugu had witness the Shadowy servants death at the hands of the golden servant. Different possibilities crossed through his mind.

Only one possible answer crossed Kiritsugu's mind: Assassin was never killed in the first placed. Which also meant that Assassin's master tricked them all. This revelation sent a cold wave of terror through Kiritsugu.

Assassin's Master Kirei Kotomine was a wild card in the Magus Killer's mind. The ex-executioners very involvement in the grail war baffled him. Kiritsugu could not figure what the man could gain by parparticipating.

The man's past was shrouded in mystery. He had become an executioner of the church at a young age, accomplishing many within their without so much as a sign he quit. He than was married and fathered a child with his wife. Than She dies and he drops, leaving the child with his wife's parents.

This man than suddenly pops up and becomes Tokomi Tohsaka's apprentice.

"Maiya, its Assassin." Kiritsugu said, his voice betraying the nervousness he felt by the servants presence.

"What, but I thought you said Assassin was dead?" Maiya said with confusion.

"I know, but-" He started, but that's when Kayneth began to speak.

After listening to most of his rant, Kiritsugu spoke to Maiya again through his headset.

"Maiya, I don't have a shot at Kayneth, what about you?" He asked her.

"No, no clear sh-?!" Suddenly an explosion from two sides happened at once. One from Kayneth's side another atop a random container.

xxx

While Kiritsugu didn't have a clear shot at Kayneth, Archer did.

Archer admitted to himself that he shouldn't have fired off that shot. He should have let the master of lancer kill the kid and it would have made his job easier. He told himself that he had to take the shot, that another opening like this wouldn't come again. At least that's what he told himself.

Not only that, the parallels he was drawing to the kid next to Rider and himself in his own Grail War were reminding him that he had been so similar once, young, foolish, and dragged into something so far beyond him it wasn't even funny. So while he may have given up on saving without killing under Alaya's orders, he can still work differently as he is now out of Alaya's full grasp, if only for the duration of the war.

Archer wondered if that was the moment before he realized that his ideal was a sham that it was truly just a curse. Shaking his head out of such thoughts, he arched his bow and nocked a reinforced arrow aimed straight at Kayneth's head.

Unfortunately that was when a huge wall of black smashed straight into him as he fired the arrow , causing the arrow to hit a couple meters from the master of Lancer's position.

Picking himself from the crater he was smashed into Archer couldn't help but sigh at the circumstances once more.

"Ow! What the hell just hit me?" He said rubbing his neck.

'Archer! Are you ok, we heard a loud crash come from where you were scouting at.' Irisviel said through their mental link panic etched in her tone.

Archer frowned a little.

'No worries master I'm okay, just a little-'He began before a roar was heard and as he looked he saw man covered head to toe in black armor. Archer could feel the madness radiating off him.

'Archer!?'

'Master I think I found Berserker, permission to engage.' He said more as a statement than a question.

'Yes, stay alive Archer, pull out if you need to.' Irisviel commanded.

'Understood Master.' Archer said before he projected Kanshou and Bakuya and charged the black knight.

Facing off against Berserker, Archer tossed both of his swords at the mad knight, hoping for him to deflect them so he could catch him in surprise with another immediate attack. That didn't work as Berserker caught the swords and then turned into some sort of enchanted weapon. Archer looked over them with his magic and quickly looked away, his head spinning from the confusion of looking at the now blackened blades. Returning his attention to the other member of this fight, he brought forth his twin dao once more and prepared to fight.

Jumping back as far as he could, Archer summoned his bow and traced 3 arrows and fired them individually. One strucked the ground right next to Berserker and caused him to take a look at the object. Archer than launched the second arrow with the third one right behind. Berserker having seen this caught both arrows.

This caused Archer to smirk as the arrow that struck the ground exploded right next the Black knight. Then, as if causing a Domino effect, the other two arrows Berserker was holding exploded in his hand causing him to stagger a bit backwards. Archer took this opportunity to launch himself right behind Berserker and traced Kanchou and Bakuya and aim right at the servant's neck.

Unfortunately the attack missed as the mad servant ducked as if he knew what Archer was going to do before he did. This led Archer to pthe conclusion that the servant's master was watching them.

Archer didn't have time to ponder this further as the black knight tore one of the container doors off it's hinges and held it for a second, causing the black mist to swirl around the rectangular door before flinging it at Archer like a frisbee with the speed of a fighter jet.

Archer ducked and silently thanked his amplified abilities that the throne has given him. He ducked once more as this time Berserker took the other door and was swinging it at him.

Archer realised he had to get some distance between him and the enemy or else he wouldn't be seeing the end to his plan.

Jumping back as far as he could he he threw kanshou and bakuya and prepared to summon a couple of explosive swords to strike the mad servant with.

However before he could do anything he felt something, as though another piece of him had shown up in the same place. It was somewhere away from him, but he knew exactly where this anomaly was. The sensation was similar to the way servants sensed each other when in close proximity, but this felt stronger like as long he was in the right range he could tell where this thing was and what it was doing at the same time.

Before he could process this information he felt something else, like a small whisper in the back of his mind.

"Save me!"

He than felt a pull as the grail bent time and space to send him where he was most needed.

xxx

As Irisviel was done speaking to Archer, the master of Lancer had had enough.

"Lancer! What are you doing don't just stand there! Kill the boy!" His voice boomed, but was a bit shaken, the blast had rattled him up a bit.

"But Master, he is but a child, let me fight his servant instead, it would be the honorable course of action." Lancer pleaded with his master to reconsider.

Waver cowered in the chariot, before Rider patted him back and gave him a thumbs ups, before looking towards the smoke topped container that Kayneth was currently standing on.

"Master of Lancer! Do not take me so lightly to think that I will allow you to hurt this boy in my care so easily!" Rider shouted.

Before Kayneth could retort back, a shower of gold appeared atop one of the light posts, revealing the golden servant that supposedly killed Assassin.

"Hoh? So these fools who call themselves kings in my presence have the gall to continue this farce? Pathetic, mongrels such as yourselves should be erased from the King's sight." The golden servant declared.

"Whoa, whoa calm down! No need to get all angry now. If you are a king then why not name yourself?" Rider asked. Unfortunately that only seemed to piss him off more.

"It figures that mongrels like you cannot discern the true nature of the King who exists above you all. My interest in you all has long since expired, stains in the King's garden." The servant replied as numerous golden portals opened up at once each holding a certain weapon inside.

"I've had enough! Lancer by this command seal I command you to kill Waver Velvet!" Kayneth said as a piece of his sigil disappeared.

Lancer with no choice quickly lunged at Rider's chariot and towards the shrieking teenager, taking Rider by surprise. Fortunately Saber saw him and rushed just in time for her blade to meet his spears.

Good news: Lancer didn't kill Waver. Bad news: Lancer tried to kill Waver.

"A cowardly strike, snake!" Rider yelled as he prepared to charge at Kayneth for his command. However, Archer's weapons were still waiting, and they had run out of patience. Blasting out of the golden portals like rays of light, the weapons swiftly moved to cut down the enemy Servants in the way.

Luckily Rider managed to move the chariot out of the way and Saber and Lancer's battle took them away from the range of the weapons as well.

Irisviel couldn't move fast enough.

At that moment the world seemed to stopped for Kiritsugu, Maiya, and Saber.

With only her last moments Irisviel shut her eyes tightly and began to visit the most important memories of her life: The day she met Kiritsugu, The days he spent teaching her what it meant to be human, The day she realized she loved him and the moment he returned those, the day Illya was born, and the moments they shared as a family.

Archer harsh words from the beach repeated themselves in her head. Their was so much she wanted to say to her husband, things she never got to thank him for.

"Save me!"

One of the sigils on her hand glowed and then faded as a rush of wind was felt and suddenly a familiar voice began to chant in her mind.

'Judging the concept of creation.'

'Hypothesizing the basic structure.'

'Duplicating the composition material.'

'Imitating the skill of its making.'

'Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.'

'Reproducing the accumulated years.'

'Excelling every manufacturing process.'

"Trace on!"

Irisviel opened her eyes, ready for death, only to see Archer deflecting each and every weapon flying at them with incredible speed. Everytime their weapons clashed they would both shatter. Archer would than replace the weapon as fast as it was destroyed.

The battle between swords continued for a good minute before the rain of weapons stopped, and there stood her servant, Archer with two large, broken and cracked, swords. They then disappeared in a mist of mana. Archer turned around, his face having a trail of blood that was from a cut on his forehead where one of the weapons struck him, and patted her on the head.

"Jeez what a reckless master I have." Archer smiled.

Irisviel suddenly had tears streaming from her eyes as she latched onto Archer and sobbed for a second.

All Archer could do was give a small smile and sigh as he pulled her arms off him and turned around and stared at the golden servant.

"Tch, damn first a Berserker that can enchant whatever it touches and now Gilgamesh, with all the perks of the Archer class." He muttered.

"Oh? So there is one of you worthy of being called a hero. Tell me, Faker, why do you rely on those pathetic copies of yours?" Gilgamesh asked with genuine curiosity to this newcomer who had managed to stop some of his great treasures.

"Just because it's a copy doesn't mean that there's a rule saying it has to be weaker, King of Heroes." Archer replied, revealing the true identity of Gilgamesh to all of the present Servants.

Both Saber and Lancer's eyes grew wide, Rider made a big grin with a: "Ho Ho!", and well even though he wasn't in plain sight, Archer was sure Kiritsugu was getting over his shock right about now.

"Oh so you know of me mongrel, interesting. That at least puts you up above the dogs that could not recognize their true king." Gilgamesh said putting on an arrogant smile, as the portals began to grow. However the smile vanished as Gilgamesh felt something as through there was a barely felt string connecting him and this fake. That did not please the king one bit, in fact it offended him.

"It seems Faker, that there is something connecting you and I. That is unacceptable, I will have to rectify this mistake."

Archer knew exactly what Gilgamesh was talking about, the feeling he felt during his fight with Berserker. The feeling was stronger than ever now and Archer could tell what Gilgamesh was doing to the smallest detail, like the fact he is currently clenching his jaw and is feeling very irritated at the moment.

Archer wondered if this was due to the fact that they were summoned through the same class and if Gilgamesh could feel what he was feeling.

However he knew he couldn't dwell on this at the moment and knew he had to get his Master outta the line of fire quick or this would get very messy and he couldn't rely on Saber at the moment. As he was thinking of a plan, he felt a sensation heading towards them quickly. Smirking a bit, Archer turned to his Master.

"Archer w-what are yo-Eeeeh!" Irisviel squealed as he picked her up by the shoulders and moved her outta one of the containers way.

Archer then proceeded to look at his invisible watch.

"3...2...1"

"Mongrel, what do you think you're playing at-!?" Gilgamesh was again interrupted, but this time by a crazed monster bursting out of a container, landing in the spot Archer moved Iri, and lunged straight for Gilgamesh.

"Stay on the ground where you belong, mad dog." Gilgamesh scorned Berserker by blasting him with his treasury, knocking Berserker back and stopping his attack.

"Right on schedule."

As Berserker was trying to kill Gilgamesh, Lancer suddenly stopped trying to kill Waver. He tilted his head to the side like he was listening to something.

"Very well." Lancer said. He then turned towards Saber and said: "Forgive me Saber, but it seems I must go now my master wishes for us to leave, but I hope that you and I get a chance to finish our duel before the war is over."

Lancer disappeared in a mist of blue light.

Archer walked up to Saber.

"That was close huh?" He said as he managed to get in a breath of relief that no true injuries had come from Lancer's Gae Buidhe or Gae Dearg. Saber didn't get a chance to answer as they were interrupted by Berserker swinging a giant metal pole between them.

Archer noticed that Berserker wasn't taking any more swings at him, only at Saber.

"Saber! Watch out, whatever he touches is turned into a noble phantasm." he yelled. He then noticed something else. "Wait if Berserker's there, then where's-!"

Archer pjumped out of the way as six different kind of weapons embedded themselves right where he used to be standing. Once he landed, standing on the bent streetlight was Gilgamesh, who was forced to jump off as the pole bent and snapped from the weight being exerted after taking heavy damage.

Gilgamesh grit his teeth as he glared at the mass of Servants in front of him. "You dare..." he began in a deathly calm voice, "You fools dare to force me, who belongs in the Heavens, to share this Earth with you!" The King of Heroes was incensed, as a near complete wall of golden light appeared behind him.

Gritting his teeth Archer projected Kanshou and Bakuya once more, except this time they were upgraded as tinges of black began to act like a mist around the blades.

"Alright 'King of Mongrels', let's dance." Archer charged right at Gilgamesh.

"You dare insult me, the King! There will be nothing left of you once I'm done!" More weapons flew at him at ridiculous speeds for any ordinary human.

The enchanted Kanshou and Bakuya lasted for about sixty seconds against the barrage before breaking. He began tracing swords and other weapons that the Gate of Babylon kept shooting at him.

"You dare create forgeries of my treasures? No death is too good for you, I will make you suffer over a thousand times you pathetic faker!" Gilgamesh opened a small portal to grab one of his swords to charge at Archer, but before he could the red servant charged directly at his gold counterpart and using his own projections to deflect the weapons flying at him slashed at Gilgamesh's face causing a good size cut to appear on his cheek. This sent The King of heroes off the edge.

"You dare! You dare harm your king's face! When I'm through with you, you'll beg for death like the dirty mongrel you are!" He said as the portal behind him nearly engulfed the entire area. Before he could unleash hell upon Archer, he stopped and appeared to be thinking, before a scary look appeared on his face. Eventually he relaxed and his face turned into a scowl instead.

"Damn you Tokiomi, we will have words once I get back." He growled He then turned to Archer. "Don't die yet Faker, only I have the right to punish you for harming the king and stealing his treasure." And with that the King of Heroes disappeared in a golden mist, just as he appeared.

Archer breathed a sigh of relief and fell to his knees, weary but still focused.

"That was a close one, anymore and I would have been a red paint stain on the ground." Archer looked up to the sky and said. "Wonder how Saber's doing?"

xxx

Saber wasn't having any fun with her new playmate as he keep swinging an enchanted pair of swords at her. This stunned Saber as she expected Excalibur to slice through the swords like butter, but no matter how hard she swung she couldn't break it.

That wasn't the only thing that bothered her about Berserker. Despite her sword being covered by invisible air, the mad servant somehow knew the length of her blade.

Saber couldn't dwell on it for too long as Berserker swung the swords at her head again.

"!" Berserker missed as a huge crater opened up near where Saber's head once was. He looked around to see that Saber had went missing as a big gush of wind hit him from behind as he looked and saw Saber's sword halfway to his neck. Berserker raised his swords to block, only for them to fly away and shatter, leaving him stumbling, with Saber's foot sending him flying.

Panting Saber dropped on one knee, this was starting to wear her down, and this servant could keep with everything she did. He knew her fighting style inside and out.

Could...could this servant be one of her…

"Saber! Look out!" Irisviel shouted at her as she came from behind one of the containers.

Saber couldn't even turn around before Berserker was already on her, swinging an enchanted light post. She dodged at the last second before bringing up Excalibur and blocking the second swing. Their weapons clashed with Saber chopping off a piece of the light post every swing, before she had completely destroyed the makeshift weapon. Berserker, now weaponless, charged righttowards her, grabbing her breast plate and began repeatedly punching saber and only stopped when Rider's chariot smashed right into him and sent him flying into one of containers.

However the black knight got right back up and jumped out of the container, and began to roar in rage.

"Come Berserker if you think you can take both me and Saber together." Rider said taking out his sword and Saber getting off her knee and readying herself for another fight.

Berserker charged at the duo, only to be stopped as 3 arrows slammed into him, stopping his charge with an explosive burst.

Everyone's head snapped to where the arrows came from and saw Archer holding his black bow.

"Make that three." He said coolly.

Berserker roared at them, prepared to kill all of them.

xxx

A mysterious figure in the shadows gritted his teeth in frustration. A command spell glowed on his back hand and disappeared.

"Berserker return." He said, before coughing up blood and dragging himself away.

xxx

Berserker disappeared in another roar of rage.

Rider turned to Archer.

"And who is our new friend here." The King of Conquerors asked with a grin on his face.

Archer only smirked.

"Sorry, I don't give my name on a first date." He said before walking up to Irisviel.

"Hmm than allow me to be more blunt join me as my subordinate and help me achieve the grail." Rider said with a large grin on his face.

Archer turned his own back to him and made a mental note to think on it before he did anything and walked up to Irisviel.

"Master, you should leave with Saber, I'm going on a little...errand." And with that Archer dematerialized and left.

Irisviel and Saber blinked and looked at each other. Rider just sighed and muttered another "negotiations failed." before smiling and turned to his master.

"Haha! Oh this will be an interesting war indeed, what do you think boy?" Rider asked Waver.

"Hmm?" Rider picked his master up by the collar of his shirt only to find the boy out cold. All he could do was sigh.

"I wish he would toughen up a bit. Well then till we meet again King of Knights." Lightning flashed as Rider and Waver flew off.

Irisviel sighed and walked with Saber to the car that pulled up outside the docks. It had been a long day.

xxx

Kiritsugu had been watching the entire time, but he still couldn't believe it.

Archer was a magus.

His wife's servant was a magus.

Something else he couldn't believe, was the magecraft he used was the most basic of the basics, reinforcement and projection and he turned them into deadly weapons.

Magi really didn't use reinforcement, because of its risk of blowing up in your face if done wrong. Projection or Gradation air, wasn't used due to its limit of only creating something for as long as the caster put mana into it.

"Alright Archer I'll get the truth out of you soon." And with that Kiritsugu headed back to the Einzbern's hideout in Fuyuki.

xxx

Kirei Kotomine walked into his room after watching the battle in the docks, he as well as the other masters were shocked to find there was an eighth servant in this war. After seeing the Einzbern woman's hand glow and the mysterious servant appear, he concluded that he was her servant and not Saber.

Which meant that the Magus Killer had tricked all of the other masters. This made Kirei even more curious about the man, maybe he does have the answers he seeks.

Before Kirei could think anymore blue mist entered his room and before him appeared the mysterious servant.

His steel eyes gazed into Kirei's and a harsh smirk made its way with onto his face.

"Kirei Kotomine." He said.

"What is it you want." Kirei demanded, thinking of using a command seal, preparing to flee.

His smile only grew more disturbing.

"Let's make a deal."

A/N: How'd you guys like this chapter I actually enjoyed it. I hope Irisviel didn't come across too OOC but I want to give her some character development. Also it seems Archer has some new abilities tying into the fact he and Gil are sharing a class together, but is this shared class thing a two-way street? Kiritsugu seems to now be drooling for answers about our Wrought iron hero. Also will Archer become Kirei's new 'the devil you know' rather than Gil?

Find out on the next The Einzbern's hero Z! (the only time I'll do something like this.)

So another reason I didn't post on TEH specifically. I kinda got burned out on Fate, buy the last update I was listening to so many Fate OST, Watching Deen/stay night and unlimited budget works, not to mention playing Extella, Extra, and Grand Order. So burned out in fact I haven't watch the Heavens feel movie, Apocryphal, Oath by snow, or Cooking with the Emiya family. I don't even know if I wanna preorder Extella Link when it's released dates announced.

Also...well I kinda upset myself as well. So when I first got Grand Order On my first summons I got EMIYA I was so happy you have no Idea! Not to mention I got Lancer Cu, Medusa, Meda, Hassan of the cursed arm, and Sasaki Kojirou, I was only missing Artoria Saber, and Artoria Alter and Hercules outta the original fate servants. Not mention I finished three singularities and Ascended EMIYA, Cu, and Meda and a couple other servants. Plus I was level 40, not to mention I had Saber Lily!

Now for those of you who knows what's coming...WHY DID NO ONE WARN ME THAT THIS HAPPENS! For those you who don't look at my tale as a warning.

No one told me you had to write your ID number down if you wanted to uninstall the darn game so you could save your progress.!

I lost everything, not to mention everything was half AP for the first week, so to get back to lvl 40 would take a hell of a lot longer!

I got Lancer Cu, Meda, and Medusa back and Sasaki Kojirou, plus I got Hercules and Saber alter. However I'm still Missing Hassan of the cursed arm, Saber Artoria, and EMIYA dammit! however I'm still on the first singularity. So I threw fit and only began playing again recently.

So heed my tale of woe newcomers and lock your damn account.