[Chapter 7] — A good morning, or is it?

My consciousness returned to me as I felt a light hit my eyelids. Then sound reached my ears, it was the sound of two people talking, after a bit I realized that one of the voices belonged to Artoria while the other belonged to Tohsaka.

*huh? Weird, she stayed? I don’t see a reason why though.*

I laid up slowly and opened my eyes to now realized that we were inside of my house, the living room to be exact. Artoria and Tohsaka were in the table while I was laid down next to it.

“Master, you’re finally awake!”

“ugh, I feel like I have a hangover”

“Oh, you seen to be ok from what we see Emiya-kun”

“It’s that what it looks like? and why did the beautiful idol Tohsaka Rin decided to stay here instead of attacking me while I was out?”

It looks like she also realized it was time for serious talk time since the playful smile she had just a second ago disappeared.

“Telling me things I hear from every other guy in the school won’t win you points with me Emiya-kun, so maybe you can try harder with your flattery next time. Now, there are many things I want to talk about so let’s start by giving you some advice first, don’t ever try to do something as stupid as fighting against a servant again if you have any intention of winning the grail war. The servants are there to be used, if not, then there would be no point with summoning them.”

“Oh, are you worried about me?”

“I am trying to give you some serious advice here Emiya-kun. Next is your servant, I don’t recall anyone from history named Artoria but with some research I am sure I can find her identity no problem. Point being that calling your servant by her name in front of other masters is not less stupid than attacking a servant, by knowing their name is possible to figure out the identity and weakness of a servant, do you get my point?”

“Yeah, I got it, however, believe me when I say that there won’t be anyone finding out about her real identity unless we tell them who she is, unless it’s your Archer and any other servants with abilities like his.”

“hoh, if you say so, then don’t blame me when it comes to bite you back in the future. Now third and most important thing, what is your relationship with MY servant? You talk about him as if you know more about him than me, HIS master”

I kept quiet for a bit and then opened my mouth.

“Don’t you think asking your servant will get you a more trust worthy answer?”

“I already tried! If not for him not wanting to answer then I wouldn’t be here right now. Now, I’ll ask you once again E-MI-YA-KUN, what is your relationship with my servant”

*SHIVER*

Holy, what the hell is that, she is just smiling but I got shivers running up my spine.

“We-well, we kind of met in the street the other day and he stepped on my shoe, he didn’t apologize back then so I was trying to get an apology earlier?”

*Pfft*

I hear saber keeping her laugher inside in order not to brake the serious mood that Tohsaka was trying to make.

“haha, you’re so funny Emiya-kun”

*SHIVER*

“Ok, can you stop that, that’s seriously freaking me out”

“Stop what Emiya-kun?”

That smiled didn’t leave her face until she calmed down and took a couple of breaths.

“Ok, you win, don’t tell me. I’ll find out what it is even if I have to waste a command spell for it”

I thought that was a joke but it sure as hell didn’t sound like one.

*cough*

“ok, so we finished with everything I suppose. Then I think I should treat my injuries from fighting your Archer”

I looked down towards my bloody clothes and found more rips and holes than I could count, all of this couldn’t have come only from archer, so some also came from lancer and I didn’t even notice. But at a closer look, there were no injuries, there was dry blood, there was the clothes ripped and full of dirt, some of that dirt also found its way to my skin but there was not a single trace of an injury.

“huh? So, one of you healed me? Was it you again Tohsaka?”

I asked while looking at Tohsaka and then Artoria but their looks didn’t match what I was expecting .

“what are you talking about? You healed yourself, right?”

“hah? What are you talking about, I can accelerate my healing yes, but it takes way more time than that in order to heal so many wounds even if they are light. So …. if it wasn’t you then it must have been Artoria right.”

I looked at Artoria with a grateful smile but she received it by shaking her head lightly.

“Sorry Master but I was not the one who healed you either, from what we saw you healed yourself.”

She sounded a little sad about it which was the cutes thing I’ve ever seem by the way but the problem still stands. Wait, she is calling her Rin?

“So, I just magically healed?”

Both of them nodded their heads in response which left me drowning in thought.

“I guess we have to test that”

“Test it? How do you supposed we do that Emiya-kun?”

“Like this”

I didn’t feel like looking for what I needed in the kitchen so I just projected them. On top of the table that separated all three of us now was a bowl, it’s one of the many I have in the kitchen, and in my hand appeared a knife. They both realized what I meant by testing it and their eyes grew wide, Artoria Jumped and grabbed my arm to stop me but by the time she managed to grab it the knife was already going out of the other side of my hand.

*Gush*

“MASTER”

“Wh-WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOT!”

“eh? I’m testing the healing thing am I not?”

“There are literally dozens of other ways we could have tested that!”

“But this is the fastest one is it not?”

They both stood quiet looking at my face, their expressions told me everything I needed to know about what they were thinking. Artoria was looking at me with a worried and flustered face, she was honestly worried, as for Tohsaka, she was looking at me as fi trying to guess when was it that my mother dropped me as a baby.

I closed my eyes before I heard anything else and traced my body for any changes, and I found something that made me open my eyes in surprise, I pulled the knife out of my hand and place my eyes as close as I could to the wound, after strengthening my eyes to their limit I was able to see how I was healing. My muscles were changing into something else, if I had to describe it then it would be …. Swords? not complete sure yet but they were not muscle fibber anymore, and the thing that now resembled blue glowing metal was literally stitching itself as the wound closed. I closed my eyes and traced myself again in every nook and cranny, I even tried checking if everything was good within my soul and after a minute or two of checking I found the source of what’s happening.

“There is some kind of ‘thing’ spread out throughout my body. I am not sure what it is but it’s showing a reaction with the wound? If I take some more time, I might be able to figure out what this thing is but for now I only know that “it” is the cause of the healing.”

*sigh*

“and how exactly did you figure all of this out Emiya-kun?”

“eh? Well, I just used structural analysis on my body, is there something wrong?”

She stayed in silence for a second as if hesitating on whatever she was trying to say but decided to say it anyways.

“It’s just that I find it weird, the way you acted just now was like a mage but only a novice would have thought of attacking a servant before, plus you’re too reckless, and I saw you use magecraft earlier and even now, which makes it more …” she said while looking at me as if trying to analyze me and figure her questions about me on her own.

“Well, you are not entirely wrong with what you said, from a certain point of view I can be said to be a novice. I don’t really know much about the magecraft used here so it’s not wrong to call me a novice magus”

“Hah? What do you mean? But you summoned a Saber class servant, the strongest class in the grail war, and you’re telling me a novice who ‘doesn’t really know about magecraft’ summoned her” She was getting louder by the second as she once again listed everything, I just said about myself.

“well, yeah”

“th-then you should be someone with some hidden talent or something, surely, you must have a lot of magic circuits, or maybe it’s the family crest, or the elements you’re compatible with”

I felt that she was going to keep listing things as possible reasons for why I summoned a saber class servant so I just cut her off before the list got any longer.

“that’s not right either, I don’t have a family crest, nor do I have that many magic circuits, or even the element things, from what I know, I am sure that I can be said to have no talent. I’ve been at it for a while but I only know 3 different types of magecraft”

Well, I have no reason to lie but I also don’t have nay reason to say the truth. The part about me not having that many magic circuits is true but compare to other normal magic circuits these can be considered to be abnormal, since their capacity is much more than what can be said to be normal. This is thanks to the divinity I gained from killing gods, my body is human, but there is divinity within my soul, if I had to put it into numbers than I would say that right now I am a 1/3 divine being or something like that. Because of that my magic circuits are enhance greatly.

“WHAT? So, you who has not talent managed to summon a Saber but I who is a genius mage is stuck with an Archer?”

Weird, I am annoyed at that comment not because of what she said about me, but what she said about the other me. It feels like she is saying I am worse than any saber class servant.

“Sure, looks like that’s what happen here, well if you excuse me, I have to attend to something”

I stood up and acted like I was pouring the blood in the sink but placed it in my inventory and let the bowl disappear, then left Tohsaka who was still sulking in the floor and Artoria who was still looking at me curiously in the room. I was headed towards the yard, I felt Archer return a couple of minutes ago and I still got things I want to speak about and so should he. After watching his memories, the anger and hatred I had for him decreased ever so slightly, I understood him, I don’t accept it but I understand it. If it was me in his position I would have more likely than not done the same. I would have killed that bastard Kiritsugu for saving me, I would have killed all of the servants and masters in the war to become stronger, and after seeing what he went through with the curse, then I would have undone the curse too in order to keep at least that one part of me alive.

The only thing keeping me together every morning after watching those dreams is the meeting with ‘them’ after the fire. With Taiga and Sakura here I can at least pretend to be human, If I can’t feel any happiness then maybe I’ll get somewhere by pretending to be, unlike him who gave it up because he had nobody to rely on, nothing to keep him from breaking down every morning. In the end, after years and years of enduring it, he couldn’t hold that weight anymore, so he decided the best option was to keep at least a part of himself alive, he threw the weight aside and kept the small flame of his will to live by helping it with the winds of battles and wars.

I found him in the yard with a black bow in hand. It was a bow I recognized from the memories of him I saw, but what kept me from making any sound was that he was doing exactly what I do when I grab a bow. He was letting his mind wonder to any place it found itself on.

*PLUCK*

“Are you going to tell Tohsaka about you? I mean …. about us?” I asked him

“I don’t have a reason to do it. Since doing it could become an annoyance. What about you, are you going to tell your Saber?”

“I have no reason to do it, but I also have no reason not to, so if she wants to know I’ll tell her.”

There was a long silence after that but unexpectedly he was the one who broke it.

“Did you see?” he asked me

“…. Yes”

“I see”

“What about you? Did you see?” I them asked back

“Yes, I saw”

“So? Do you resent me now? Do you feel hatred towards me because of it?”

“…. No…. it all comes down to you having more luck than I do, you had enough luck to keep those soul fragments attached to that bracelet, but what about you?”

“Yes, I do, I reject your decision with every bit of my soul, but I understand it. I would have done the same, if not, I would only end up crazed with madness as time passed by. But I still want to ask you this, Do… Do you regret it?”

“……”

No answer came back, I fell nothing from him, it looks like he is interfering so that I can’t get a read on his soul. I was about to ask again but I hear something from behind me.

*Rustle Rustle*

“you know, that’s a bad hobby both of you have there Tohsaka, Artoria”

“ah, they noticed!”

I looked back and saw both girls the one in red and the one in blue walking towards us. Artoria had a light blush on her face from embarrassment and Tohsaka seem annoyed by the fact that she couldn’t listen to more of the conversation.

“So? What were you two doing?”

“well, you were taking your time so we were going to see if we got anything out of archer but found both of you talking and decided to let you finish instead of interrupting you, mind you we were only trying to be considerate, right Artoria?”

“Ye… yes Rin”

“you see, Emiya-kun”

“Yeah right” 2x

Came from both me and Archer. We looked at each other in surprise with some annoyance mixed into it and glanced away just as fast.

“Well, I see that you sure have a good relationship with my servant, don’t you ‘Rin’. Oh, and since she can call you that then I can do the same right?”

“but of course, Shirou-kun. Well, it looks like you are ok now and I won’t be getting any answers from you so we’ll be taking our leave”

“oh, so the reason you stayed behind was so that you could make sure I was ok? that’s so cure coming from you Rin” I said with a grin on my face.

“Wh- What are you grinning about? It- Its just that those wounds were caused by my Archer so it’s only normal I take responsibly, I can’t let you die before you tell me what your relationship with archer is.”

“oh, I see, I see” I said while still grinning.

“Shup up, before I leave let me remind you one last time. Stop calling your servant by her name before you regret it. Also, next time don’t try to fight a servant, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seem someone doing, as if a master could fight against a servant, and a novice master that can only some reinforcement and some useless projection at that.”

*FLINCH*

Archer tensed up for a second in the place he was, it looks like he feels the same awkward way I felt earlier.

“With all in all, I recommend you go to the church and give up the war before you die. It’s the best option that can keep you alive considering that you’re not even a proper master, if not then the next time we see each other you better run. Now let’s go Archer”

Archer nodded and gave Artoria a light bow before grabbing Rin and jumping away without stopping and glancing at me even for a second. Just like that the girl in red and the guy in black left under the light of the moon.

“Wait, so she thinks I’m weak because she saw her Archer breaking a couple of my swords, hump, wait till I show you oh miss Talented mage. I bet all her magic circuits are in her tights!”

I stumped my way into the house while Artoria giggle and followed behind me. I made Artoria wait in the same place we were before with Rin and went ahead to clean myself and change into something with less holes than what I was currently wearing.

“Now, I guess it’s about time we talk properly don’t you think so too Artoria”

“Yes master”

“huh? That doesn’t sound right, how about Shirou instead” I asked

“that does indeed sound better, Shirou” She answered with a smile

“Man, that smile is really cuter in person than from what I’ve seen previously”

“That is something I have been wondering about from before Shirou, I’ve no recollection of us meeting before so may I ask how is it that you know of my name?”

“eh? Well, you sure don’t remember but your master in the war before this one was Kiritsugu Emiya, and he is my adoptive father. I used a little trick I know and managed to see you in his memories in the last war”

“What? So, you really are his son? And you read his … memories?

“yeah, it’s a little trick I learned a while back. But, more importantly why do you sound as if you know who I’m talking about?” I said while narrowing my eyes. From the knowledge I have, the servants summoned in this war are like a copy of the soul of an individual with a big impact on history, or at least a with a lot of fame. The fact remains that when a servant disappears, they don’t head back to the “Throne of heroes” but just get absorbed into the grail, if they are to be summoned again then what would be summoned is a copy of the copy back up in the Throne of heroes.

“There is something you need to know Shirou, we are in more of a disadvantage that you think. You mentioned earlier that you were a novice mage, that is bad on itself, however I am also an incomplete servant.”

From there she explained what she was, how she was a servant but she never really died, and because of that she remembers the time she was summon by Kiritsugu. She also spoke about how unlike other servants she can’t turn into a spirit and travel like them, she can only remain in her material form all of the time. There is also the fact that she is not receiving mana from her contract with me, But the biggest problem we had was that not only was she an incomplete servant to start with, but now because of the setup of this war she is now even more ‘incomplete’. She told me that her fighting style revolves around her using her mana burst skill which she currently doesn’t have, she will have to become stronger to “unlocked” it and be able to fight normally.

*Sigh*

“We are in more of a disadvantage than I initially thought.”

“Sorry, it’s my fault Shirou”

“Don’t worry about it” I said. “Let’s go to sleep, it late and we might be able to think of something tomorrow”

“I agree”

I stood up and started heading towards my room.

“alright, let’s see …. which room do you want Artoria?”

“What do you mean Shirou? I’ll be sleeping with you, that’s the best way for me to protect you.”

I froze.

“oh, it’s that so” I turned around to face her and walked towards her and lowered my self until my eyes were right in front of hers, I think our nose were touching but then again, I wasn’t paying attention to that.

“But I might do something to you, is that ok with you Artoria?”

It took some time before she finally realized what I was talking about, but she didn’t react the way I expected her or wanted her to, I wanted to see her at least a bit flushed but what I got instead was her eyebrows closely knit together.

“I don’t see myself as a woman and neither should you Shirou”

I wasn’t expecting that, I saw many things within Kiritsugu’s memories, but I didn’t see everything. I was limited with time so I could mostly only see images, and If I pushed too much, he might have realized I was doing something, I Saw her image, her name, and some other things like her chivalry but I couldn’t see much of her personality as a whole.

“It’s that so, well sorry to say this but, no, as a matter of fact I won’t say it”

I turned back around and kept walking towards my room without saying another word, I didn’t say it but the only thing I could see her as is a woman, a strong woman, a knight, a king, but a woman. Since, like the other women I know, she is the living proof of the saying “who says a woman can’t be strong”. In fact, the thing that I like the most about her is her strength after all, not only physical, but how she is able to carry herself as both a knight and a king. We arrived at my room and I started getting ready for bed. I gave Artoria one of my old pajamas and waited for her to get changed.

“It looks good on you”

I went to bed while Artoria was still standing in the middle of the room.

“Where should I sleep Shirou?”

“Eh? Here of course, you said not to think of you as a woman so there should be no problem, right?”

I was pointing at the space next to me in the bed, which made her tensed up.

“Oh, I see, then please don’t mind me Shirou”

“Tsk” no reaction again huh.

Like that went to sleep but not before I noticed the red shade that creeped into saber’s ears which was laying on her side with her back towards me.

*oh, I see. She is a king after all so she has to carry herself as one, however it looks like deep down she is still as cute as she looks*

I moved closer to her ear and whispered softly,

“Goodnight, Artoria”

“… Goodnight… Shirou”

Finally, a reaction.

#Interlude#

(Jeanne D’arc)

“This cannot be called anything other than a tragedy, with so many servants participating in the war its already a good thing that the number of victims caught in the crossfire has just numbered the thirties. But… that’s only me being optimistic, it’s only being 3 days since the start of the grail war and there are already about 30 victims. Not only that but this ‘shadow’ is not a servant but it’s still causing as much damage, I have to hurry up and find it before things get worse. I have no idea where I am going but I can feel it, lucky for me even when I don’t have the skill true name discernment, I still have the skill revelation. I hope whatever my goal is helps me do something about this war filled with madness.”

I kept leaping from roof to roof until I finally meet my destination, it was a house, a relatively big one at that, after reaching a close distance I unexpectedly managed to sense a servant inside of the house.

“Oh, my lord, is this you telling me to ask for the help of whatever servant found itself upon this household? I will trust the path you’ve set for me and do everything in my power to get this servant’s help, even if I unfortunately have to use my command seals for it.”

It’s late at night so I will wait until tomorrow to ask for the servant’s help, I hope the master is reasonable enough to understand the current problem. Like this, the light that shone onto me from the moon resided and the sun started to take its place in the sky. It was still very early in the morning but I saw two women going into the house, they had a key so I am sure they knew the master in the house. I thought about stepping closer towards the house when I froze because of the sound that came from it.

“KYAAAAAAAAA”

“Sakura! Sakura what happened. AH, SHIROUUUU WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN BED WITH A BLOND BEAUTY”

“WAIT WAIT TAIGA, SAKURA ITS NOT WHAT YOU GUYS THIN-“

*SLAP*

“….. What kind of morning practice does this household uphold, I wonder”

-Interlude end-

I woke up early because of usual nightmares, the morning seems to be a bit colder than usual but I felt none of it. I hadn’t completely woken up yet, but I still managed to notice a warmth that’s usually not there whenever I wake up, and what I saw when I looked down blew the sleep off of me. Besides me was a sleeping Artoria, this, this is, I don’t even know what to call this level of cuteness, she has her arms wrapped around my back and her legs wrapped around my legs, by the way she was pressing herself against me I knew she was feeling the cold of the morning so she ended up like this when she was looking for warmth. I tried to shift a bit but not too much in order not to wake her up but her eyelids still shivered a bit and her eyes started opening slowly.

“Shhhhhh, don’t worry, you can go back to sleep” I said while patting her head, it looks like her guard is down right now because she didn’t hide the fact that she was liking it when I patted her head, her eyes once again closed and she kept sleeping as if nothing happened. I also closed mine to keep sleeping, I don’t mind having to see those nightmares again if I am greeted by such a thing every morning. Ah! I forgot about school but whatever, I can be absent for a day. But I feel that I am forgetting something else.

Like this My mind started drifting off to the land of nightmares again but right before completely falling in, my eyes shot open like they’ve never done before.

“Oh, Fuck, so that’s what I forgot”