What Are You?

Bazett Fraga McRemitz... A truly wonderful asset to the Clock Tower and the whole Mage's Association. She is from Ireland and a descendant of the Fraga family, a family that it's history extends way back to the Age of Gods. As a kid Bazett was rather quiet and isolated, perhaps this was one of the reasons which led her to be so fond of this Irish warrior's story... Cú Chulainn. She had a goal, a big dream of one day being able to summon her hero and idol, Cú Chulainn since she was a little kid... She was deeply immersed with his legend, and she even grieved for this hero's fate and how it ended. So that's why she wanted to become a strong magus and summon Cú Chulainn one day, to win the Holy Grail War in order to change his destined fate. And maybe just now she might have the chance to make her dream come true...

[Alarm Sound]

It is a chilly morning on April 14th, 2001 around 5 AM, which is when Bazett usually wakes up around . As the alarm sound keeps on echoing around the room she slowly opens her eyes and yawns, then reaches out to her Alarm clock on the counter and turns it off. She stares at the ceiling for a bit then after a short while she decides to get up, and start her daily routine. She does some quick exercises, like push-ups and a little training to keep herself in shape and in top condition... After that is done, she goes to take a quick cold shower, getting ready for the day. She stays in a small apartment in England near The Clock Tower, for job purposes of course. After she gets out of the bathroom, she gets dressed and makes herself a quick snack for breakfast. It is already near 6:30 and she is fully ready for the day ahead of her... The only thing is there is nothing to be ready for...

It has been like this since the past few weeks. Bazett kept on waiting for a new assignment from the Clock Tower for her to complete, but nothing came... Which usually makes her feel bothered and uncomfortable since she is sort of an "workaholic-type" of person. She just doesn't know what to do with all this free time she has to keep herself busy with. Other than hopelessly waiting for the Clock Tower to give her something, anything actually. She speaks to herself as she just sits on a chair in the kitchen,

"Seems like this will be just another one of those days..."

She sighs and just stares at the ceiling. Still hoping that maybe this time, this day will be different. Then decides to get up from her chair and goes to her bedroom again, she opens one of her closets and takes out an box which has "Battle of Ulsterians and Connachtians" written on it. It seems to be a board-game. Then she walks back to the kitchen again with the board-game, and places it on the table to start taking the pieces out of the box to setup the game.

She takes out a several pieces and places them onto the table one by one, then after a short while she finishes setting up the game and sits on the chair again. Since Bazett has no one to play this game with, she will of course play it by herself which is what she has been doing anyways for the past few weeks. And just as she was about to start her phone starts to ring, she becomes quite surprised and wonders who this might be while hoping that the call is from the Clock Tower. She gets up from her chair again and walks near the phone, then picks it up;

"Hello? Bazett Fraga speaking."

"Hello, good morning Miss Bazett, I hope you are doing fine today. My name Gilbert from the Clock Tower. I am calling to notify you that Sir Lord El-Melloi II wants to talk to you about an important matter. He said that this is urgent. And wants you to be here as soon as possible"

A smile suddenly creeps into Bazett's face due to these events and she speaks while trying to maintain her composure.

"Is that so? Alright. Understood, I will be there as soon as I can. Thank you Gilbert."

"Of course. Thank you for your cooperation Miss Bazett. Have a good rest of your day."

Then Bazett ends the call as she is still smiling from ear to ear. She feels like just shouting something like, "Hell Yeah!" but keeps a hold of herself and fixes her tie a bit, as she slowly calms down. As she has practically nothing to do, Bazett decides to go to the Clock Tower as Lord El-Melloi II also have requested. Then she gets out of her apartment and heads off to the Clock Tower... Bazett makes her way to the Clock Tower quickly via her car, and then gets inside after some security regulations she takes the elevator and makes her way to Lord El-Melloi II's room. After she takes a deep breath and sighs, she knocks the door.

"Yes. Come in."

After hearing the lord's voice, Bazett slowly opens the door and looks at El-Melloi II while slightly bowing, then speaks;

"I have been told, that you wish to speak with me sir."

Lord El-Melloi II, slowly nods and speaks back;

"Yes that is true Miss Bazett. Please come sit down." He says while pointing at the chair in front of him with his hand. 

Bazett nods and closes the door behind her then walks near the chair Lord El-Melloi II pointed at, and sits down.

"First off, thank you for coming here this quickly Miss Bazett. I hope I didn't make you nervous or anything with the call. Anyways, the reason I wanted talk with you today is an unusual one for sure..." He takes a puff of his cigar.

"How so, sir?" Which Bazett replies with.

"...There is an Holy Grail War going on right now in Fuyuki City, Japan. The 5th Grail War. And yes the 4th War happened only 7 years back."

Bazett's eyes slowly widened due to hearing this;

"But... how? How can a Great Grail even form in... less than a decade?"

"Well I have been thinking about the same thing, and I think I have an answer..." Takes a puff from his cigar once more and speaks; "So Miss Bazett, you know how the 4th War concluded right?"

Bazett nods and answers;

"Yes, of course I know sir. And what happened to all those residents in Fuyuki City too, and what they have witnessed... You took part in that war too, right?"

El-Melloi II, nods and responds;

"Yes I did... It was an catastrophic event for sure... And which was really hard to cover-up also. In that war The Grail wasn't used to make a wish, but rather it was destroyed. Which means there was a really high amount of mana left-over from that war for the Greater Grail to form this quickly in 7 years. But this isn't the reason why I wanted to speak to you Miss Bazett... It's not the Great Grail or how it formed under such a short time compared to 60 years that concerns me...."

El-Melloi II, takes a brief pause then continues talking;

"We have sent some of our magus to investigate and observe the war in Fuyuki City just about a week ago... And currently there seems to be 6 current masters participating in this war, which 2 of them are reported missing or dead depends on how you see it... However, we have heard nothing from our magus after the second night they were in Fuyuki City. No reports, nothing... None of them came back either, we checked hospital and police records but no help. Plus, recently we have been hearing lots of "gas leak" incidents in Fuyuki City on the news also... So in short Miss Bazett... I am asking of you to go there, to Fuyuki City and find out what is really going on there. Since your specialty is in self-defense and combat I thought you would be the best candidate for this mission."

Bazett, while she is excited also thinks to herself a bit, about what has caused the disappearance of those magus Lord El-Melloi II has mentioned but then decides that she will learn eventually when she gets there so she nods and speaks with a serious tone;

"Yes sir. I thank you for trusting my skills to assign me into such a mission like this. I will gladly take on this mission... When do I go there?"

Lord El-Melloi II takes a quick puff from his cigar and speaks;

"Today... If possible. You will get there by a private jet. 5th war has been going on for a while now... I am afraid that there isn't a lot time left before it concludes. And before it does, we have to find out what happened to the magus we've sent. Or otherwise we might be just risking another tragedy like the 4th Grail War's end, you never know..."

Bazett nods, gets up from her chair and speaks;

"I fully understand the seriousness of the situation. When my flight is due?"

"In about 2 hours from now on at 10:15(AM). You will land there around 4 AM in Japan's time. We have already arranged a place for you to stay at while you are in Fuyuki. Here this is the address..." He hands a piece of paper to Bazett with the address of where she will stay. "I am sorry for the suddenness of this Miss Bazett, however we can't afford to waste time. Just make sure that you are ready before 9:30. Our driver will pick you up from your home to take you to the hangar."

Bazett nods, and she puts the piece of paper in her inner pocket of her jacket;

"Alright. Thank you sir. I won't disappoint."

Lord El-Melloi II nods and Bazett leaves his room and the Clock Tower to head to her apartment. When she gets to her home, she goes to her bedroom and picks up a small luggage then starts to fill it up with some reserve clothing, medkit and anything else that might be of use... Then she goes near her closet and slightly bends, she takes out an metal looking box. Which appears to be a safety box, she enters the code and then takes out some sort of jewelry which is wrapped in a piece of cloth, places it into a small box and puts it into her luggage also. After she is done with her luggage, she kneels down near her bed and picks up a large metal container which has a strap on it while thinking to herself;

"Five... This should be enough..."

About an hour passes and the driver who is supposed to pick Bazett up parks in front of her apartment and honks once. Bazett notices that the driver has come, so she leaves her apartment and carries her luggage and the container to the car. After a short ride driver drops her off by the hangar. Two agents of the Clock Tower welcome Bazett there, and they escort her to the private jet, she places her luggage and the container in a overhead bin inside the jet. After Bazett takes her seat, one of the agents also gets onto the jet with Bazett probably for extra safety. The agent is only equipped with a regular 9-caliber pistol, which Bazett finds amusing, and thinks to herself;

"Trust me pal, a gun is probably not going to help us with whatever we are going to face there..." 

And finally after the final adjustments are made, the jet takes off, flying to a small hangar in the outskirts of Fuyuki City. Bazett sets her watch's alarm and decides to sleep through the flight to reduce the effects of the jet lag, in order to be able to start her investigation right after she lands without any setbacks. Many hours pass... The flight lasted for a little more than 9 hours... It is currently 4:17 AM in Fuyuki City, Japan. And the jet is about to land on the hangar, Bazett's watch's alarm wakes her up, she slowly opens her eyes just as the jet lands on the hangar.

Bazett looks around through the window and there is nothing around other than trees on where they have landed. This place seems to be some sort of military hangar, looking at the way it is hidden and surrounded by the trees. The pilot parks the jet and turns off the engines. The lights inside the jet turn on, and then the agent speaks at Bazett;

"We have arrived Miss Bazett, we may leave now."

To which Bazett simply nods and opens the overhead bin which she put her luggage and container in. She takes her container off and straps it around her shoulder, and just as she was about to take her luggage off of the overhead bin as well, a loud sound could be heard. The Agent, immediately looked outside the windows to see what made that sound but nothing was there to be seen... Then another loud sound could be heard from the same direction, then again, then again. And each time the same sound was heard, it got louder and whatever was making that sound got closer. The Agent unholstered his weapon and spoke to Bazett;

"Please stay inside the jet madam."

Then he went outside to see what was going on with a flash light and his pistol, meanwhile Bazett stayed inside as the agent requested. Bazett's hand was slightly touching the metal container she just took out of the bin, as if to take out whatever was inside that bin if anything were to happen. The sound didn't stop, it got louder as it got closer and as it got closer it felt like the ground was shaking underneath them. Bazett wanted to get out of the plane and find out what was the source of this sound. But then she heard;

"What in the world-?!"

The terrified voice of the agent who was outside and the sound of two gunshots. The pilot of the jet also saw the source of what was causing this from his cockpit, he let out a scream then immediately left his cockpit and the jet to make a run for it, Bazett just stared at the pilot as he left the jet in a terrified state. Bazett tightened her fists, and went outside the jet as well ready to see what was causing all this chaos as she still heard the gunshots coming from the agent's gun. As she left the jet... she saw the creature right in front of her, Bazett tried to grasp what she was seeing. It was like a huge golem, a giant, a beast. The Agent was still shooting at this being but it seemed unaffected, Bazett spoke at the agent;

Bazett: "It's coming closer look out!"

Bazett started to back away a little bit, unsure about what to do, then as the golem-like creature came closer it crushed the entire jet causing a massive explosion, which shook the agent off of the ground, and just as he was going to get up and run away from this giant, the creature picked up the agent from the ground with it's giant hands as the agent was screaming for his life. The shape of a mouth formed on the giant's face, ready to eat it's prey.

Bazett acted quickly, cracked her knuckles, and got into an fighting stance. Bazett frowned then rushed at the huge beast and threw a right and a left jab infused with magical energy on one of its legs. To stop the beast and save the agent. Her attack seemed to have affected the beast, it was as if it got stunned. It just stood still... While Bazett was thinking that maybe this might have been effective, in a flash the beast raised one of its legs and tried to crush Bazett with it. The Beast's movement was much faster this time compared to how it was just a few moments ago. Bazett immediately backed away and dodged the impact.

The Beast threw the agent away, launching him onto the jet's debris, practically killing him. Bazett's attack seems to have angered the huge golem, causing it to target her. Then the beast used its huge arms to crush Bazett again, swinging them at her. She dodges it once more, making the creature crush the ground instead. The creature, kept on trying to crush her, which in return Bazett kept on dodging and throwing quick jabs at the beast, which only made it angrier.

"*Puff* *Puff* My punches have no affect against this monster... Other than making it angrier and more fierce... Is this what those magus faced?.. Just what even is this thing?! A servant?!"

The more Bazett attacked at the giant, the more tired she felt... As if her energy was being sucked out of her... Each time she attacked the beast her mana got lower, additionally to the mana which she was already using with her attacks... It was clear that at this rate she was going to run out of mana if she kept on fighting this beast. So Bazett sighed and shouted;

"Damn it!"

Bazett decides that she has to flee... and so started running away from the beast. She got into the forest which surrounded the hangar, and ran away as fast as she could. She could still hear the loud steps the beast made behind her... She ran until she was sure that she was safe. She ran for miles... Until when she saw some of the buildings from the city, she finally stopped running. She was panting a lot, all of this took a big toll on both her mana and her stamina. She sat down on the ground trying to rest a little bit.

All of what's inside of her luggage was gone... She started to punch the ground repeatedly out of frustration and anger... Because in that luggage there was something much more important and valuable other than her clothes and a basic medkit. It was the Cú Chulainn's earrings itself, the box which Bazett put inside the luggage contained the earrings. The jewelry which was wrapped around with a piece of cloth... She brought them with herself in case if she needed to summon a servant, and she wanted that servant to be her hero Cú Chulainn. But sadly that chance was gone forever now...

Bazett took a deep sigh, and decided that she needs to find a place to rest at, then she remembered the paper Lord El-Melloi II gave to her. She takes it out of the inner-pocket of her jacket and reads the address. She walks around a little more towards the tall buildings she sees... Then finally she encounters a small neighborhood which has some signs on the road indicating where each road leads to... Bazett reads the address again... From what she read and the description which was provided with the paper, the place she was going to stay at shouldn't be too far away from where she is currently at, Fuyuki is a small city after all... And so Bazett started to walk again wherever the signs led her to, to find where the house was...

After about an hour of walking and pathfinding she finally found the place which the Clock Tower arranged for her to stay at. The house was locked with a magic seal, with the given information on the paper Bazett reads the chant written on the paper, thus removing the seal and goes inside the house. It was really big for sure it had 2 floors, but inside was pretty much empty, which was something Bazett wouldn't really mind anyways so she went on with it... She saw a sofa on the first floor, she took off the strapped container and placed it on the ground then just laid down on the sofa. Bazett recalled the fight she had in the hangar and realized her own attacks just wasn't strong enough, forget about taking down but to even harm that beast.

After some thinking she finally made her decision. That without the help of a servant she wasn't really going to stand a chance against a beast like that if she ever sees one again. She knows that with the intel that El-Melloi II gave to her, there were only 6 masters from the start which were taking part in the war, so the grail must be able to allow one more servant to be materialized. 

Even though she was still sad that this servant probably wasn't going to be Cú Chulainn, she decided to go on with it. Otherwise without the help of a servant, this mission was deemed to fail from the start. And so, Bazett got up from the sofa and searched around the house to find something sharp... In the kitchen part she found a knife then went back at the living room where the sofa was...

"Lets get this over with..."

Bazett takes her jacket off and throws it on the sofa, then rolls one of her sleeves and cuts herself with the knife she was holding. She grunts a bit as she does so. After that, she drops the knife on the floor and starts drawing a summoning chamber on the ground with her own blood that she got via cutting herself. When everything is done and ready, she extends her arm, channeling her mana to her hand;

"Today, right here, right now... I am calling to any spirit who is willing to help me on my journey. The town which I am in, is in danger... Innocent people's lives are at stake, that is if there are any left... And I am not going to allow that... I am not going to let anyone make anyone suffer just for their own cause. And I need someone powerful enough to do that..."

Bazett changes her stance to a more confident and powerful one as the summoning pool she drew with her blood starts to shine;

"I hereby propose that my will and cause shall create thy body... And thy power shall create my fate... Abiding by the summons of the Holy Grail... If thou dost accede to my will and reason, answer my call!"

[A white light and the sound of wind fills the entire room]

(A/N: Hello to all my readers from my previous works. I've been considering discontinuing the fanfic due to my busy schedule, leaving me with little time to work on the project. However, I've changed my mind and am determined to continue writing and completing this project. And also just a heads up, this project is more of a hobby for me which I do for fun, so updates might not always be consistent plus the writing may not be the best. However I still would gladly appreciate criticism towards my work, in fact I would encourage it. Thanks in advance for your understanding!