Chapter Two

Vergil did his best to straighten his shirt and make himself look presentable. The house was probably large enough that the neighbors hadn't heard anything, but the feeling running down his spine gave him the distinct impression that the person outside was far from normal. He liked to think that his instincts were reliable, but it never hurt to take a few precautions. That said, he conjured a few of his summoned swords into being and let them hover in the air above him, willing them up toward the ceiling where they shouldn't be visible by anyone standing outside. After the night he had already had, it couldn't hurt to be ready to take the initiative in another brawl.

The half-demon wondered if he should just open the door and see who was coming or if he should wait for them to knock. The chance that they weren't looking for him would have been slim to none on a day when he wasn't being randomly attacked by some kind of demon… spirit… person. He still had no idea who that Lancer person was. Vergil sighed and rubbed his eyes. Maybe he was getting too old for this kind of nonsense. He was already exhausted and it wasn't even that late yet. Though he was currently in a teenager's body, so what even was his age at the moment.

He sighed again as the doorbell rang. Perhaps now wasn't the time for deep introspection. He slide the front door open to see a girl standing at the front gates with a man who seemed to have his brother's fashion sense. There was a nagging familiarity to her, so he assumed that she was an acquaintance of the boy whose body he was currently inhabiting. "Good evening." He tried to keep his voice casual. No reason to make a scene when someone might have already decided to call the police. Not that the police could actually do anything helpful, but dealing with them would take all night if he was trying to do it the 'civil' way.

"Good evening, Emiya," the girl said with a thoroughly insincere smile.

Vergil wracked his borrowed brain for any memories of the girl. "You're… Tohsaka, correct? I don't think we've ever actually been introduced." Shirou had some vague memories of meeting her at school before, but he hadn't thought much of her, beyond a bit of the expected teenage reaction to meeting a pretty girl. "I suppose I should invite you and your… companion inside." Perhaps she could explain where she had gotten a bodyguard who was almost definitely not human. Or where he had gotten one for that matter. There was a great deal about the impromptu summoning spell he had performed that he didn't know.

"I would appreciate that," Tohsaka said in the same meaninglessly saccharine tone. Oh, this was going to be one of the fun conversations then. Vergil put on a pleasant smile and stepped aside to allow her and her… familiar to come inside, quickly dismissing his summoned swords before they could catch sight of them. No reason to start the fight, even if he was perfectly able to finish it. The silver-haired man locked eyes with him as he strode silently past and Vergil caught a momentary narrowing of his eyes and a quickly repressed look of distaste. Could he sense what he really was? Or did he just not like him for some indiscernible reason? He supposed that he was likely to find out soon enough.

Vergil gestured for Tohsaka to follow him as they made their way to the dining room. "Please, take a seat," he said with a gesture toward the table. "And excuse the mess. My last guest was much less courteous. Saber, you can come out now." The air next to him shimmered and his armored familiar appeared from nothing with a soft grunt. Vergil fought the urge to smile. She had an attitude, but it was one that he could work with at least. Tohsaka seemed vaguely annoyed, but covered it well, but her own familiar didn't manage to hide his shock. Was he not expecting him to have a guardian of his own? Foolishness.

"So you are a Master after all," Tohsaka said, eyeing up his servant with a hint of jealousy in her eyes.

Vergil presumed that was this world's term for those who could summon a being like this. "So it would seem, from what little I've seen tonight at least."

Tohsaka's eyebrow twitched. "So you have no idea what's actually going on at all," she muttered.

"Then why don't you enlighten me?" Vergil deadpanned. "I've never heard of this particular kind of familiar before. Having one in human shape is uncommon." The closest he'd ever gotten was a towering vaguely humanoid colossus made of darkness and demonic power. Granted, Nightmare had been an exceptionally powerful familiar but no one in their right mind would mistake it for a human.

The girl pursed her lips and drummed one finger against her bicep pensively. "It's not wrong to call a Servant a kind of familiar, but still…" She huffed and rubbed her temple. Vergil could sympathize, but he still needed answers. "Servants are much more than an ordinary familiar. They're powerful beings known as Heroic Spirits placed into a physical vessel to act as their Master's weapon."

"So Servant with a capital 's' then," Vergil muttered, mostly to himself. "And a Heroic Spirit is much what it sounds like I assume?"

"They're the spirits of legendary heroes from ages long past," Tohsaka said with a small nod of agreement. "The world records them in something that we mages call the Throne of Heroes."

As far as Vergil knew, Shirou had never heard a word of anything even remotely similar to this. Then again, the boy's magical abilities seemed very very unrefined so perhaps relying on his borrowed memories for any kind of supernatural knowledge was pointless. "Yet they can apparently be summoned by accident…"

"It's a lot more complicated than that," Tohsaka grumbled. "Normally, a human magus couldn't possibly maintain the existence of a spirit as powerful as a Heroic Spirit. They can only be summoned as part of a ritual known as the Holy Grail War."

Of course there was a catch. There was always a catch. "A war? Involving a holy grail. Are we talking about the Holy Grail?" He wasn't certain if such an item could actual exist in this world, but the existence of the Devil Arms did at least leave the possibility open.

"Not that Holy Grail… exactly." The girl sighed again. "It's a magical construct that was designed to grant the wish of whoever holds it."

"A wish? Any wish?" That was vague in a way that was deeply concerning.

"In theory." Tohsaka crossed her arms again. "But that kind of power doesn't just come from anywhere." Of course it didn't. That kind of miracle didn't exist. Even the mass sacrifice of entire cities could only provide so much power. "That's why a group of three families created the Holy Grail War."

"To make people fight over the Grail." Ritualized combat was hardly the most refined of rituals, but Vergil really had no right to complain about it. His darker half had done at least as bad.

Tohsaka nodded. "Seven Servants are summoned to seven chosen Masters. Then they fight until there's only one left. The last Master standing is the only one who can claim the Holy Grail."

That made a great deal more sense. "And how exactly do you choose Masters? I don't recall a wizard coming to my door with promises of riches and glory."

Tohsaka's nose wrinkled a bit. "The three founding families always take part, but the other members are chosen by the Command Seals gifted by the Grail."

"The what?"

Tohsaka just raised an eyebrow. "On your hand."

Vergil cocked an eyebrow and looked down at the odd marks on his skin. "Ah, that makes more sense." He absently rubbed his thumb over the bright red marks emblazoned on the back of his hand. He didn't like being marked by some kind of obscure supernatural ritual that he knew nothing about. He had made enough mistakes with rituals he had actually intended to be part of. "But it does seem unnecessarily risky to just allow anyone to potentially receive this sort of power. Surely it could be abused."

A look somewhere between discomfort and disgust flickered across Tohsaka's face. "This isn't the first Holy Grail War. Last time, a serial killer with some latent magical power was chosen by the Grail. It… didn't end well."

Vergil felt his face twist into a grimace. "Bastard," Saber growled behind him. Come to think of it, it was the first thing she'd said since she'd reappeared.

"Indeed," the Son of Sparda agreed with a hint of a growl in his voice. "My apologies for bringing up something unpleasant."

"He was put down before it got too bad," Tohsaka continued flatly. "It's in the past."

Vergil got the distinct impression that it was not entirely in the past, but he knew when not to poke. Unlike his oaf of a brother, he had some manners. "Then I'll leave it at that." Unless it became important to his survival later, but if the man was dead, he doubted it would. "But that does beg a different question. If this has happened before, what did the past winners wish for? Surely someone with an uncontested, unlimited wish would become one of the most powerful people in the world overnight."

"No one has actually won before," Tohsaka said after a moment. "My family is one of the founding families, so we've kept meticulous records of the past Wars. Every time, something goes wrong before the battle is resolved and there's no one left to claim the prize at the end."

"That sounds about right," Vergil replied dryly. He pretended not to notice the girl's Servant narrowing his eyes at him. The man in red could dislike him all he wanted. It almost felt like being back home again. "But I suppose a prize that grand means that there's always more willing to try. I'm amazed it's not a constant war zone."

"Normally, the ritual can only happen every fifty years," Tohsaka interjected. "But this year is… abnormal."

Oh joy. That was always a good sign with precarious magical rituals. "Why are you telling me all this?" he finally asked after mulling over the thought a few times in his head. "Unless I've misunderstood, we're to be competitors. Surely it would benefit you more to leave me in the dark. Or maybe to actively lie to me." The girl didn't give the impression that she was lying. Vergil liked to think that he was fairly good at reading people and Tohsaka had come across as rather genuine. She wasn't very good at hiding her emotions honestly. Or perhaps she was exceedingly good at faking them and was playing him for a fool. That seemed… unlikely, but arrogance and misplaced trust had been his downfall before.

Tohsaka managed to look both startled and offended at the same time. "I owe it to my family to win, but I can't call myself a magus if I only win through cheap tricks. I have my pride."

Ah, that made a lot of sense. Vergil found himself chuckling, which earned him a sharp look from both the girl and her Servant. "My apologies, I just hadn't realized that we had quite so much in common," he said after he composed himself. "I understand the burden of family legacy well enough. Even if mine isn't as illustrious as yours." Well, Shirou's wasn't, by his distant memories of the reluctant mage that had raised him were any indication. And he very much doubted that mentioning being the son of the greatest demon warrior of all time was wise at the moment. Though he was almost morbidly curious if she would think he was crazy or not. He wasn't entirely sure which possibility would end worse.

"Any mage worth their salt should," she said with a hint of artificial airs about her. He got the impression that she would have turned her nose up a bit if it wasn't rude. It was such a stereotypical reaction that he almost chuckled again. Then her shoulders slumped and the practiced attitude faded. "I should really take you to the supervisor and let him explain the rest…" She groaned and let her head fall back. "And get you registered as a Master."

"There's a registration process?" Vergil didn't manage to keep all of the surprise out of his voice this time. "I wasn't aware this was a sporting event."

"The Church offers sanctuary to any Masters that lose their Servant and are eliminated from the contest as a result," Tohsaka explained with only a tiny eye roll. "So they also have a representative who keeps track of everything and is sort of a… not exactly referee but sort of. They call him the overseer."

Oh joy, a church was involved. Presumably the Catholic one, but maybe it was one of those fringe groups like those Sword Order lunatics he'd crossed paths with years back. Dante probably would have found it amusing to have to deal with a cult on top of all of this other nonsense. Vergil had more important things to worry about. "Perhaps we could do that tomorrow. Considering the number of times I almost died tonight, I believe I would like to sleep at some point."

Tohsaka almost smiled at that. Well, apparently he at least had some sense of humor. Take that, Dante. "I can't blame you for that. We have school in the morning, so how about I pick you up at dusk and take you over?"

Vergil had absolutely no intention of going anywhere near a school where Shirou had friends that would likely notice something was very different about their friend, but he supposed Tohsaka didn't have that problem. "That's fine. I appreciate all of the help, Tohsaka." Vergil tried to smile pleasantly. He wasn't used to actually thanking people yet, so, according to Dante at least, his smiles came off as 'predatory' rather than grateful. Which seemed like a fair, but not entirely pleasant assessment that he would like to fix before he saw his son again. If he saw his son again. Shit. Maybe he had something to wish for then. He had yet to see any other way that he might go home.

The two mortals, or the mortal and the half-demon, said a brief farewell as he walked Tohsaka to the door. The dark-haired girl nodded once before she and her Servant disappeared into the night. "Well that was fucking boring," Saber said once they were out of sight. "I thought the Holy Grail War was supposed to be a lot more fun that whatever that shit was."

"And you were so civil until a moment ago," Vergil deadpanned.

Saber laughed. "Yeah, I got how to behave properly at fancy pants meetings beat into my head real early, but that doesn't mean I like 'em."

"Would that be by 'Agravain', or by someone else? If I recall my classic literature…" And he very much did. Unlike his philistine of a brother, he actually read decent books. "Agravain was one of the Knights of the Round Table. And a child of Morgan for that matter."

Saber chuckled again and rubbed the back of her head. "Oh, yeah, I never introduced myself I guess." There was a hiss as her helmet clicked and started to separate at the seams in a way that resembled modern technology rather than medieval armor. "My true name is Mordred, the Knight of Treachery and the one true heir of King Arthur Pendragon."

Vergil blinked as he looked over the woman in front of him. He wasn't quite sure he should call her a woman at all. She was young without a doubt, maybe the age of the body he was inhabiting, and still had a sort of childish exuberance to her grin. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail that was cute, in a sort of tomboy-ish way and she had a sharp look to her eyes that he could tell was evaluating him. Even if she was young, she wasn't naive. The Son of Sparda knew he should say something, but all that came out of his mouth with a rueful chuckle.

"Oi, you got a problem with that?" Saber snapped, giving him a hard look.

"Not in the slightest," Vergil said shaking his head with a soft smile. "Merely laughing at the little jokes fate likes to play on you sometimes…" He fought the urge to chuckle again. "I am quite happy to have you as my Servant. If you will have an inexperienced Master such as myself." He shot her a half smile that he hoped was Dante-esque enough to be reassuring and offered her a hand.

Mordred cocked her head at him and then laughed again. "You've got some balls." She took his hand and squeezed down hard. Vergil met her eye and squeezed back, putting what strength he could muster in his current body into his grip. "I can work with that. Let's kick some ass and get our wishes."

"Our?" Vergil said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, smartypants didn't actually explain that part." The Servant huffed. "How the fuck do you talk that long without saying the most important part?" She released her grip on his hand and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms behind her head as a sort of cushion. "I get a wish out of this too. The Grail kinda tells me the important details when I get called up."

Vergil momentarily wondered if giving Mordred a wish that could do anything was wise. Then again, he was fairly certain Mordred was not supposed to be a woman and was probably not proud of a title like 'Knight of Treachery', so maybe the stories of King Arthur and his knights were wildly different in this world. He would have to find some decent reading material to fill in the blanks. And to fill the time really. It wasn't like he had anything better to do at the moment. "Then we have a common goal. Until such a time that we accomplish it, I am happy to be your partner."

"Don't be formal with me," Mordred said with a roll of her eyes. "It was weird enough when you were doing it with the chick your age."

Vergil cocked his head. "Was I talking strangely?" he wondered, half to himself.

Mordred snickered. "Man, mages are funny when they're not being dicks." She only laughed harder with Vergil shot her a sharp look.