4

Chapter 4: Chapter 3 Night 1 (cont)

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

I lean out the window of the car and flick one of the pebbles I'm holding, watching with dull satisfaction as it ricochets into a flock of birds, hitting the one specific one my instincts told me was being used to spy on me. The dove collapses and the flock surrounding it bursts into flight away from the dead familiar. From my lap, I grab a second piece of gravel and launch it into yet another dove flying overhead. We had headed back to the car, and were now driving slowly down the highway towards Trifas, to where Jeanne should be having her encounter with Karna. I'd taken it on myself to rid us of any observers, just in order to have something to do- the whole trip so far had been done in a heavy silence, and by now I'm feeling the need to break it.

'Not going to say "I told you so"?'

I can feel Artoria's…amusement? at my sulking. Our roles seem to have reversed after visiting the Church. 'Given we escaped without violence, my worst fears did not come to pass. As such, the failure was not utterly catastrophic. Attempting to prevent as much conflict as possible through diplomacy is noble, and while revealing your knowledge was disadvantageous I can at least appreciate the attempt.'

'You say that, but I still feel like an idiot. And now I'm going to do it again.'

Artoria shakes her head, never taking her eyes off the road. 'This and that are different. It's one thing to walk into an enemy stronghold in the hopes that you may persuade them to cease their resistance, and quite another to introduce yourself to a neutral third party and gift them the knowledge they are already seeking in order to deepen relations.'

I flick another rock at something my instincts tell me is one of the last spies nearby, and- What's this pressure?

'Saber.'

'I can feel them, Master.'

Them? But-ah. Now I feel both presences. Both are wild, but in different ways- unbound martial skill, against the wild of nature.

Oh. Of course. I guess he wasn't just going to let me walk away. And those two would be his hit squad of choice, with Karna busy tonight. I quickly run through my blessings and, a little more confident, get ready. After a short, wordless burst of confirmation towards Artoria, the car pulls over and as I leave I hurl out my fistful of gravel, killing the last onlookers as Saber exits her side. We both move away from the road and into the clearing near where Saber parked.

"You can both come out now."

Red Archer and Rider appear from out of the thicket Saber and I are facing.

'Atalanta and Achilles. You take Achilles, I'll go for Atalanta.'

Saber grimaces. She clearly doesn't want me going up against a proper Servant without support but Atalanta is one of the Servant I likely most hard-counter in the war, and while with Excalibur can cut through Achilles' protection she wouldn't to be able to fight both Achilles and Atalanta at once. My plan is probably the only one possible, it's just not one she enjoys.

'As you command, Master.'

Achilles misreads Saber's expression.

"Hey there, Master and …Saber? of White. Kinda hard to tell with that invisibility going on there" Achilles starts talking with easy charm, spear behind his back. "I'm the Rider of the Red. No need for any concern- I didn't lose my mount or anything, it's just that I don't really want to waste it against one opponent. Fighting you two-on-one is gonna be boring, but that's what our Masters ordered."

Achilles' easy smile feels less charming and more malicious at this point.

"At least try and put up a good fight for however long you last!"

As Achilles raises his spear the sudden pressure and bloodlust multiply, almost causing me to take a step back. I guess this is what a warrior who lives for battle feels like.

Artoria raises her invisible sword to answer Achilles' challenge, and the battle begins. Setting my sights on the so-far silent Red's Archer, I raise Reid and charge.

-

Atalanta's first thought to the enemy Master charging her is one of bemusement. Masters could not fight Servants, no matter what melee-focused mystic code they used or the class of the Servant. It was strange for her Master to be so insistent as to the threat this Master and Servant posed if this was the level of planning the team operated on. Oh well. She drew, nocked and fired four arrows as fast as lighting.

Only for them to all miss- the two aimed at the Master's head split, veering around his red hair, while the center-mass shots dipped down into the ground, leaving craters where they landed. What. She drew again, and only then realized her target was moving much faster than should be possible for a Master! A split second of attention goes towards Achilles, in case the Master and Servant had somehow been switched, but he's entirely occupied with someone who certainly seems to be a Saber. Her attention flicks back to the charging Master and she fires again as he draws closer.

Even at near point-blank range, her shots curve around the Master. If archery won't work, then- she lashes out with her left hand, an arrow grasped towards the head as a makeshift dagger, but the Master easily slips under her strike and slashes upwards, forcing her to jump back away from the sheathed sword. Only, somehow, she isn't fast enough. The Master's attack twists mid-swing and follows her, connecting with her torso and sending her flying backwards-

"Ul Huma!" "Arch- ah shit!"

-into a wall of ice that definitely had not been there before! As she crashes into it, she can feel the ice wrapping around her body. A flex of muscle is all that is required to shatter the ice, but the act still has slowed her down. She throws herself into a roll away from where she's sure the blow is coming, bow coming up- at the speeds shown this could be all tha-

The...Master? of White is standing where he launched her, seemingly having failed to follow up. There's a noticeable silence, and Atalanta takes in the situation. Achilles is sporting a deep cut on his arm and has pulled back from Saber to reach her, while both Master and Servant of White seem content to let Achilles and Atalanta regain their footing after the abysmal start.

Before Achilles can start, Atalanta takes the initiative. "What happened to you?"

Achilles, despite his wound, is grinning excitedly. "I can't see her sword but it's definitely divine. The wind around it can't hurt me, but she landed a blow with the blade inside and, well..." He gestures at his gash. "How about you?"

Atalanta draws herself up fully. "He isn't your everyday Master. Maybe he's a Servant who is a Master? He can automatically defend against arrows, and he's fast."

"Looks like this isn't going to be boring at all! A Servant and Master pair like this, as our first opponents? It's great!"

Their discussion is interrupted when the Master speaks up.

"Hi. I know this isn't how I expected to meet you. I'm Reinhard and this is Saber. You're Achilles and Atalanta, right? Servants of the Red Faction and your Master Shirou?"

There's a moment of obvious shock at how easily the Master uncovered their identities, before the final part of the Master's sentence catches up to them. Achilles gives a low laugh. "And what exactly do you mean by that last bit?"

"Have either of you actually met your Masters ever? Did they meet you to send you on this hit job? Or have you been communicating either entirely through telepathy or through that priest's mouth?"

This time Atalanta makes sure her arrow intentionally misses, planting itself near the Master's feet. Saber of White stirs, but the Master doesn't even react. "Stop beating around the bush."

The Master sighs. "Fine. Ok. I'll try again. Shirou is secretly the Ruler of the previous Grail War. He's managed to hijack the entire Red Faction except for Red Saber through his own Servant and his own skills as a Ruler. I met him just a while ago, trying to get him to stand down from his Wish. He ignored me, I left for another appointment I planned tonight, and I'm guessing that's when you got orders 'from' your Masters to kill me ASAP."

What.

Atalanta feels her hair bristling. "Do you have any proof of this?"

'Reinhard' shrugs. "Try and insist on talking with your Master and see how far that gets you. Just don't blame me if you get Command Sealed or something."

Achilles leans on his spear in a way that would be relaxed if Atalanta could not see his muscles tensing. Still, the next words out of his mouth shock her.

"Ok, so what's the point in telling us?"

'Reinhard' looks confused for a moment. "Because I felt you should know? And maybe if you know you might-"

Saber of White speaks up for the first time, interrupting her Master. "I do not believe that is what Rider meant. Rather, Rider is saying that telling them has no effect on the current situation. Rider, at least, believes that any investigation and rescue of his Master can wait until we have been defeated." Saber's eyes harden slightly. "He is being arrogant."

Achilles raises her spear to point at Saber. "You mostly get it, but only mostly. There's that, but I also want a good fight against someone, and you and your Master seem to be able to give me that. We didn't sign up for this war for it to be boring, you know?"

'Damnit, Achilles. Don't drag me into this!' But it isn't like she can just abandon Achilles to face the White Faction alone. She nods at Achilles and raises her bow, sighting towards Saber.

And just like that, the battle begins again.

-

'I'm getting a little sick of utterly failing my diplo rolls over and over again.' I launch myself at Atalanta, only for a spear to intercept my charge. Looks like they've changed up their plans and aren't just going to let me roll over a Servant I hardcounter.

The white trajectories the spear launches at me almost seem like a solid wall of spear-thrusts but thankfully my blessings work, instinctively telling me how to avoid or block the incoming stabs. Were I alone, it'd be a question of whether Rein's hax could carry me despite my inexperience and Achilles' skill and his own blessings. Thankfully, I'm not alone, and I feel Artoria's presence besides me as she launches her own strikes at Achilles, using my deflections as openings for attacks that Achilles can't just tank with his invulnerability.

With the two of us working together, even Achilles is immediately forced onto the defensive. The words out of my mouth probably don't help, diplomatically, but I'm frustrated as hell at this point. "You seriously think you can win against both of us at once and then save your Master?"

"That's what being a hero is all about, little Master!"

A series of arrows is launched towards Artoria, but with only a thought we both switch, Artoria taking Achilles' focus while I rotate into the path of the arrows. They find no more success against me than before, but the slight break in our attention does give Achilles a chance to better space himself for dealing with the two of us.

All of a sudden, I feel a burst of heat and magic in the distance. Crap. I have a feeling I know who that is, and if there's any Servant in this War I want to avoid as long as possible it's Red Lancer.

'Saber, we need to wrap this up quickly just in case Karna decides to take initiative and intervene on his way back to base!'

That's then I hear it. "With my bow and arrows-"

Shit! Saber!'

'Go!'

I move to launch myself at Atalanta but suddenly, out of nowhere, Achilles is in front of me with his shield and spear raised. I guess the plan is for him to just go full-tank and hope Saber and I can't deflect a concentrated Phoebus Catastrophe. This isn't the time to experiment with just what my blessings can defend against, not with Karna potentially seconds away. I need Achilles out of my hair right this second.

"Saber, use your Noble Phantasm on Achilles!" A seal on my hand flashes and disappears.

"Wha-?!"

Achilles barely has time to react by raising his shield before the wind around Excalibur vanishes and Saber brings it down in an overhead swing.

"EX-calibur!"

"Akhilleus Kosmos!"

And the beam is engulfed by the shield. With no time to watch I resume my charge towards Atalanta. She's already drawing her bow upwards, and I don't think I'm going to reach her in time before she launches the two shots skywards. Which is why I don't bother, kicking off the ground with my strength and then flying through the air towards where the arrows will be. Below me, I can make out her expression of surprise at my sudden appearance in the corner of her vision just as she releases her shots. Reid cuts one of the arrows out of the sky and the second curves to avoid me, deflecting away from the heavens. As her eyes widen in shock, I kick off the clouds and dive downwards, catching her with Reid and cratering her into the ground.

It's only as my feet touch the ground that I realise we now have an audience. Shit, how long have they been here!? Weren't Gordes and Jeanne supposed to spend time talking after Karna left? Why are they all here now?

-

Gordes had not had a good evening. First, he had failed to secure the support of Ruler despite the Red Faction outright attacking her, then he had been made to feel useless as Saber fought Lancer of Red without any mind to his presence and then, when he had finally been positioned to make one last effort to secure her aid, Ruler had outright ignored him and charged over here the instant Lancer of Red had disengaged. Having Saber carry him after her at the speed required had been just one more humiliation.

And now he was witnessing someone who he had been informed was a Master fight and win against a Servant, while that 'Master's' Servant revealed a Noble Phantasm that would have rivaled Balmung in power. Gordes flashed back to his demand that Lancer's Master face him in single combat and gnashed his teeth at his own foolishness, as well as the scene before him.

Ruler was standing with a confused expression on her face, useless as ever. Still, this was a chance for Gordes to redeem himself, and show Yggdmillennia his worth by achieving the first Servant kill of the war.

"Saber, finish off that wounded Archer and then kill that Master!"

-

"Saber, finish off that wounded Archer and then kill that Master!"

Nope nope nope!

I dive between the still-cratered Atalanta and the incoming black and silver blur and see the white arcs of attacks approaching. With Reinhard's instincts unusually quiet, I raise my blade with both hands to parry Balmung and-

The blow smashes into my blade with massive force, sending me stumbling back and onto one knee while Reid is knocked towards the ground on my left; I only barely manage to keep a grip on the sword. Fucking dragonslayer bullshit! Siegfried immediately launches into a second blow, but as the blow descends I can feel myself speeding up as the Blessing of Revisitation kicks in. All my instincts are telling me to dodge, providing me with all the most efficient methods of avoidance- but Atalanta is right behind me.

I swing Reid up one-handed while double-casting spells in desperation. My right hand strikes out towards Siegfried and a beam of light blasts from my palm, while behind Siegfried there's the slightest rumble of earth beneath his feet.

The light-speed ray lands first, punching into Siegfried's sword-arm but only causing the strike to slightly falter. Fuck, didn't Siegfried lose most his Magic Resistance with his Armor? The instant after the beam impacts, Balmung again smashes into Reid and this time, with only one hand holding Reid I can't stop it properly. It breaks through my guard, cutting a deep line through my shoulder and chest. Siegfried clearly intends to follow through immediately, but instinct has him pull to the side as a lance of earth erupts out of the ground towards where his back had been. The sudden, awkward moment gives me, boosted by my bleeding, an opening. Rising from my kneeling position, Reid swings up and out towards Siegfried's torso, and I bat him back towards his Master. With his armor he isn't going to be hurt by that, but at least he isn't up in my face this instant.

Atalanta is up now, so let's get the hell out of dodge and regroup with Saber before I get jumped.

"What-" I hear from Atalanta behind me.

"Look, I don't actually want to fight most of you guys. There's even more going on in this war, and the whole Grail Wish thing than you know. We'll be in Trifas, so look for me there if you want to talk!"

As I say this, the clash between Excalibur and Akhilleus Kosmos comes to an end- Excalibur's blast having been eaten by the shield on Achilles' arm. Witnessing that now he's up against two apparent Servants on either team, and with his master right there on the field, Siegfried stops his advance towards myself or Archer and moves to guard his Master, though Gordes' expression to Siegfried's actions makes me worry for an instant. The three factions form a triangle of sorts with White, Black, and Red on each corner. With whomever attacks first leaving themselves open to the third faction, there's an uneasy, quiet truce.

I can feel Artoria behind me, moving to my side while keeping her guard up, clearly radiating worry. Still, I don't turn and glance between Black and Red.

Gordes is the one to break the quiet. "Ruler! What is this! How is a Servant a Master? In the first place, he shouldn't even be a part of this War and now it turns out he's a Servant too?"

Jeanne shakes her head, confusion obvious on her face. "I guarantee upon my role as neutral administrator that this man and his Servant are not officially part of this war."

"What do you mean, 'not officially part of this war'? He's right there, with a Servant! He used a Command Seal, and I can see his remaining Command Seals on his hand! He's clearly part of the war!"

'Master, your wound!'

Saber's telepathic shout breaks my attention from Gordes' rant, as she reaches my side and gets a good look at my front. Oh, right. I can only barely feel the cut Siegfried left on me, but that's probably my Blessings covering the pain. From Saber's panicked reaction it's probably pretty serious; I look down and- oh. Oh dear. I suddenly wish I hadn't looked down.

That's going to need some healing, but that's actually a problem- unfortunately, for all of Roswaal's skill at magic, his casual disregard for life meant that Healing Magic was not something he had any talent in. Reinhard had had no talent for magic at all, meaning my options for supernatural healing are to die and revive myself with my Phoenix Blessing or… With a thought, I trigger one of my two Body Defence full heals, and breathe a sigh of relief as the wound vanishes, as if it were never there. I'll have to work out Healing Magic later, I guess.

As I look up, I catch Artoria' grimace of relief, and a slight flicker of...something from Siegfried out of the corner of my eye, but by the time I focus on him whatever his expression was has faded under his blank mask. With Siegfried going full poker-face, I turn to Gordes and it doesn't seem like I've missed much on that front- he's still ranting at Jeanne, who is studying me and Artoria rather than responding to him. Finally, she speaks, having apparently had her fill of Black's Master.

"May I speak with the two of you?" Her words fill me with relief- thank the lord someone finally wants to talk.

"I'd be happy to answer any questions you have, but we should probably finish up here first." And then I turn to Atalanta and Achilles. "Remember what I said, alright? I was being serious."

Achilles is grinning like a madman. I guess working out Saber's identity has pumped him up for a good fight or whatever it is he wants. "We'll keep it in mind. Make sure the both of you stay alive until we meet again, ok? I don't have the best luck with fighting female monarchs, but Saber there seems real fun."

Artoria's face contorts, as if she's never heard that before (which, thinking about it, she mightn't have) and isn't sure how she's supposed to react. In the end, she falls back on the classic 'good fight' compliment- "I... also look forward to our next bout."

I give Atalanta a significant look. She, slowly, nods.

"Wait wait wait, what's going on. Are you all working together?" Oh Gordes. You're really not that great at the start of this. I gesture to the field, covered in arrows and destroyed terrain and give him a look. Really. Are we working together?

"The day's about to begin and we're all out in the open and none of us can just disengage without worrying the others might take advantage, so I'm trying to organize a withdrawal for everyone, not plot with Red."

As I finish, Saber speaks in support. "On my honor, any who wish to leave the field may do so. The White Faction will not take hostile action against anyone withdrawing and will defend their withdrawal from attack. We also will not take any hostile against either Red nor Black for the next 12 hours except to defend ourselves."

I catch her wording, and send a burst of thanks towards Artoria. That last bit covers a potential Achilles or Atalanta meeting without having to let Gordes know about it, which I can't imagine going well.

Siegfried inclines his head. "I thank the King of Knights for her vow."

Gordes' head snaps up at that. Ah, he hadn't realized before who she was. He must have missed the Noble Phantasm activation. A pity Siegfried didn't seem to, but oh well. I turn to Gordes. "My name's Reinhard van Astrea. Can I ask if it would be possible for White and Black to talk? I've already talked to Red, but-"

"Absolutely not. Come, Saber. We're withdrawing."

Just like that, huh? I wonder if it was because of the danger we posed, or our weird "part of the war but not really" status, or just the fact we visited Red first. Or all of them, or none of them. I wouldn't say Gordes is the worst of Black, but that's mostly because Black has Darnic and Celenike. Oh well. I'll be meeting Black when I recruit Sieg, so no big deal.

With everyone here having, effectively, 'agreed' to a half-day truce, the Red Servants leave back the way they had arrived (I almost consider going after them, just to have a 'frank discussion' about Shirou's assassination attempt, but I realize that a certain Red Lancer is likely to be present and he's...something for future me to deal with, once I've gotten a little more powerful and used to everything), while Gordes and Siegfried return to, I assume, wherever Gordes' car had been parked. Jeanne stays behind, and finally I'm in a situation I'm 99% confident can be resolved entirely through talking and with no violence. Let's handle this civilly.

"I know you probably have questions, and I can probably answer some of them. First, though, would you like us to take you anywhere? We have a car nearby, and could take you to Trifas if you want. You could eat with us in Trifas while asking your questions."

Saber, apparently seeing an opportunity for Blessed Faerie Food, bursts into the conversation. "I would recommend you take my Master up on this offer: he is an unparalleled cook. I will also swear that we harbor no ill intentions towards you, and my Master plans to honestly answer any question he is capable of answering."

Jeanne pauses, deep in thought. "...as far as I can tell, you are not a faction of this War, despite first appearances. I will travel with you to Trifas, and gratefully accept your offer of food."

"That's fine. How about we just find a bench in a public park or something and I'll make us a picnic? First, though, we should see about retrieving Laeticia's stuff from where you left it."

Artoria seems incredibly enthused by the prospect of a picnic meal, while bringing up Laeticia got a reaction from Jeanne. Let's use the smaller truths to build up credibility for the larger truths. I mean, since it worked so well on the last Ruler I tried this technique on…

With that cheery thought, we head back towards the road where Jeanne had come from, stopping only for a moment to collect more gravel so I can keep away any unwanted observers.

Notes:

AN: Basically, one big long fight scene.

Shirou's plan was actually a pretty solid one that honestly should have worked- basically all Servants would at least get held up by Rider-Achilles (and Saber was) while Atalanta would have instantly murked any non-Servant-level Master (and with his True Name Discernment not picking up anything from Rein, Shirou had no reason to believe Rein was). It's just his plans didn't account for, you know, Reinhard's bullshit. And regarding that, I know Atalanta's a really cool I promise! It's just...well, Blessing of Arrow Avoidance is real rude against unprepared Archers, and Reinhard is really freaking fast when he wants/needs to be (even discounting his FTL stuff). It was a bad scissor-paper-rock matchup for her.

Speaking of bad matchups, Siegfried's anti-Dragon hax proves that actually buying the Standard Dragon Package might have...warranted a little more thought (but Siegfried takes himself out real early in Apocrypha and Sieg is a planned ally so maybe the longterm utility is worth the current Super Weakness?), but Atalanta is one of Rein's main Apocrypha recruit goals so the situation was just a bad one all around. Thanks Gordes, I appreciate the memo of "acquire working healing magic in the future, idiot".