Melancholy of One (A Grail Works. LTD. Story)

[pureauthor]

Right.

This is pretty much the basis for a story idea I had tossing around in my head for a while – actually ever since I learnt a bit more about Fate/Extra. Since it’s still a relatively new game (to the English world, anyway), ‘ware some SPOILERS if you choose to advance.

After reading Kieran’s creation of the Grail Works LTD. (Premise here), I decided to try marrying my idea with her overarching idea of a continuity of the Fate and Tsukihime casts as a multidimensional troubleshooting agency. I honestly don’t know how well it’ll work, but I’m more than willing to give it the ol’ college try. I probably won’t be a patch on Kieran, seeing as he’s got several novel-sized works under his belt already, but oh well.

As it stands, this should serve as a prologue for a larger continuity, and (if things work out) an extended way to get another character into the cast.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s begin the story, shall we?

*~*

Continuities Used:
Grail Works LTD.
Tsukihime
Fate/Extra
Persona 4

*~*

Primary Characters:
Shiki Tohno
Arcueid Brunestud

Spoiler:

Kara

*~*

Contents
Prologue: Truth and Lies
Chapter One: /Extra/Ordinary
Chapter Two: /Un/Worthy
Chapter Three: Prepa/Re/Solved
Chapter Four: Sudd/En/Counter
Chapter Five: Erro/R/estricted
Chapter Six: Se/Al/One
Chapter Seven: /Con/Front
Chapter Eight: Re/Con/ceal
Chapter Nine: Ac/Hes/itation
Chapter Ten: Futu/Re/Solve
Chapter Eleven: Pha/Se/cond
Chapter Twelve: Rumo/Ur/ge
Chapter Thirteen: /Un/Truths
Chapter Fourteen: Enig/Ma/dden
Chapter Fifteen: Hi/De/tours
Chapter Sixteen: Lyin/G/aze
Chapter Seventeen: Clue/Less
Chapter Eighteen: Silen/Ce/ase
Chapter Nineteen: Fir/St/rike
Chapter Twenty: H/Ide/ntify
Chapter Twenty One: Consu/Me/aning
...
Chapter Twenty Two: Anot/Her/o
Chapter Twenty Three: Exhausti/On/ward
Chapter Twenty Four: Sacrifici/Al/truism
Chapter Twenty Five: Har/Ass/ist
Chapter Twenty Six: Repa/Ir/regular
Chapter Twenty Seven: /Un/Known
Chapter Twenty Eight: Cur/Se/lfless
Chapter Twenty Nine: Wel/Fare/well
Chapter Thirty: /End/Less
Chapter Thirty One: Awa/Re/ason
Chapter Thirty Two: Sta/Re/Union
Chapter Thirty Three: Pa/In/Sanity
Chapter Thirty Four: Dri/Ve/stige
Chapter Thirty Five: Fal/Se/rvant
Chapter Thirty Six: Fragm/Ent/ropy
Chapter Thirty Seven: Na/Me/aning
Chapter Thirty Eight: Stagn/Ant/imony
Chapter Thirty Nine: Tri/Al/tered
Chapter Forty: Strugg/Le/sser
Chapter Forty One: Im/Mortal
Chapter Forty Two: Selfi/Sh/ock
Chapter Forty Three: Enti/Re/Main
Chapter Forty Four: Pa/St/rategy
Chapter Forty Five: Inter/Act/ion
Chapter Forty Six: Decei/Ve/Nom
Chapter Forty Seven: Tru/St/rong
Chapter Forty Eight: Tru/Th/under
Chapter Forty Nine: Hone/St/ifle
Chapter Fifty: Los/S/orrow
Chapter Fifty One: Pri/De/voted
Chapter Fifty Two: Immort/Al/ive
Chapter Fifty Three: Gri/Ef/fervescence
Chapter Fifty Four: Conquer/Or/der
Chapter Fifty Five: Bon/D/ark
Chapter Fifty Six: Invi/Te/rror
Chapter Fifty Seven: Rule/D
Chapter Fifty Eight: Purpo/Se/cretive
Chapter Fifty Nine: Hidd/En/counter
Chapter Sixty: Ca/Re/ckless
Chapter Sixty One: Forgott/En/emies
Chapter Sixty Two: Ambu/Sh/adows
Chapter Sixty Three: Contr/Act/ors
Chapter Sixty Four: Ri/Sk/ill
Chapter Sixty Five: Loy/Al/one
Chapter Sixty Six: Vani/Sh/atter
Chapter Sixty Seven: Aband/On/ly
Chapter Sixty Seven.Five: Gach/A/dvertisment
Chapter Sixty Eight: Exi/St/ruggles
Chapter Sixty Nine: Reve/Al/l
Chapter Seventy: Wi/Sh/ine
Chapter Seventy One: La/St/and
Chapter Seventy Two: Fa/De/nied
Chapter Seventy Three: Champi/On/ward
Chapter Seventy Four: Vig/Il/lusion
Chapter Seventy Five: Dea/Th/rone
Final Chapter: Vict/Or/igin

All Servant Profiles will have massive spoilers for their identity and role in the story. Be careful when clicking.

Profile: Assassin
Profile: _____
Profile: Lancer
Profile: Caster

Omake One: So a dude and the same dude walk into a bar...

*~*

[pureauthor]

Prologue: Truth and Lies

*~*

Moon Cell, Digital Tsukumihara Academy, Room 3-A

“All right, Saber, enough is enough,” there was a harshness to her Master’s tone that made her blink in surprise as she looked up.

“Pardon, Praetor?” she replied. “What could you mean?”

“I mean…” he shook his head wearily. “Everything. About you. Who you really are.”

She felt her gut clench. Despite her existence here being merely as a digital avatar, it felt all too real. The Moon Cell’s mimicry of a human’s body was at times as much a curse as a blessing.

He knows.

“I – I’ve told you, Praetor! I can’t afford to reveal my true name so easily. W – while I admit that you’ve shown a modicum of skill in commanding me thus far, it’s still too early to-“ desperately she tried to buy herself some time, tried to convince him otherwise-

“Stop. Stop.” Shiki raised his hand, and with a wave of his hand he cut her off. “Saber, everything about you is inconsistent. You refer to me with a Roman title, but you make references to behaving like a knight of sixth century England. You dress yourself in…” he shrugged. “Um, a rather unorthodox red dress that reveals a bit more than is necessary, but your fighting style doesn’t work unless you’re wearing trousers. Do you know how many times your legs clipped through that dress in just the last fight? Not to mention you look a lot like someone else I know. Your face anyway, and it’s not like that’s her real face right now…”

No. No. Please don’t pry. Not here. Not now.

“I… ahem, I merely needed some time to acclimatize myself to being recreated as data!” she said hastily. “You cannot deny that my performance has improved massively since our first week.”

“Yes, ever since you’ve starting sneaking out to the library every night to read up all you can on Roman emperors,” Shiki said sourly, and with that, her heart turned to ice.

He knows even that? Then… everything is…

“Master, I…” she began desperately.

I have nothing. I am nothing.

“I don’t know why you’re lying to me about what you really are, about who you really are,” Shiki stood from his seat. “And in any other case, I’d probably let it slide, at least until our job here is over and done with. But not here. Not now. Arcueid’s under the control of that nutcase somewhere in this school, and I can’t let anything jeopardize my efforts to rescue her.”

No glorious history, no Noble Phantasm, no deeds to speak of.

She swallowed hard.

And so… I was just… so happy.

“Do you understand, Saber?”

To have someone in front of me again.

“She’s too important to me.”

Someone who smiled, held out a hand, and asked if we could work together.

“And so I need to know.”

Those… really were… dreamlike days.

But all this time, I was enjoying myself, thinking about how much fun it was to be able to live as a person again… and… and I…

“Saber… if you really even are a Saber…”

I never noticed the pain behind my Master’s eyes.

“Who are you, really?”

*~*

Four Weeks Ago…

Home Base, Avalon

“Another Grail War?” Shirou mumbled as he flipped through the pages of the latest readout. “For something that’s supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime ritual, it appears to happen really often.”

“That’s the thing about multiple universes, Emiya-kun,” Rin sighed as she looked over her shoulder. “These things keep reoccurring across time and space. I bet if we wanted to, we could participate in Grail Wars every day for the rest of our lives and never run out.”

“I’ll pass, thanks.”

“Still, this version looks a little different from normal,” Rin said as she plucked the paper from Shirou’s hand. “Oh my, a world without any more mana? How horrible!”

“We’ve been to other worlds without mana before, Rin.”

“Well, yes, but they had their own rules for magic, or they didn’t even have magic in the first place. This world is a lot like ours, only the magic just disappeared one day. I don’t get it.”

“If it’s a world without mana, how are they holding a Grail War?” from his position on the couch, Shiki glanced up at Rin. “I thought the whole point was the summoning of Servants and whatnot…”

“Yes, that’s the thing. Apparently this world has something called a Moon Cell that’s been recording the data of all of earth’s life since time immemorial. And it has a virtual database called SERAPH or something, so people can hack into the system, recreate the data of legendary heroes as Servants, and then participate in the War. Hm. Information other than that is sketchy though,” Rin flipped the page and whistled in surprise. “Wow! 128 Masters total? They’re not fooling around with this one!”

“The problem remains as to why a Door to this world would open,” Saber, in a relatively human form, said from the other side of the table. “Thus far we haven’t had any clients come through requesting our aid. Ilya?”

Ilya nodded, her expression unusually somber. “Yes, it’s not about anyone coming through, it’s about someone who entered it. Shiki… that’s why I wanted you here for this.”

The young assassin blinked and pushed the glasses up his face. “I’m listening.”

Taking a deep breath, Ilya continued. “It appears that Arcueid has vanished through the Doorway into this virtual world several days ago.”

“What?!” Shiki was on his feet in an instant.

“Also reports are pretty sketchy, but it seems that she’s… somehow been forcibly made a Servant,” Ilya glanced down at the notes on her desk. “A Berserker, to be specific.”

An aghast silence descended upon everyone present in this room.

“Now, the Grail War proper hasn’t started yet in this dimension, so whoever summoned Arcueid must have been doing his or her homework with regards to the Servant he or she wanted.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Shirou demanded hotly. “We’ll go through, and once we’re there we’ll find that bastard that did this to Arcueid-san and-“

“Onii-chan, please,” Ilya smiled at him. “The briefing isn’t done yet. There’s a further complication. In order to enter the Moon Cell’s virtual world, you have to play by its rules. The Grail War here is just as bloody as the one from our Fuyuki City, if not more so. From the hundreds of preliminary participants, only 128 will make it into the War proper. The rest are killed. From then on, a series of elimination battles will take place over seven weeks, with half the number of current participants being culled every time. Those who lose are killed. Finally, only one will remain to claim the Grail and the wish.

“The big problem,” Ilya continued, “Is that unlike our Grail War, the Moon Cell’s war is very strictly monitored, both by SE.RA.PH and the programs it has set to oversee the war. For example, attempts to attack your opponent in the ‘safe’ zones slaps your Servant with a stat penalty, and any attempts to bypass the rules such as forming alliances for elimination matches are met with immediate disqualification, which in this case means death. Which means, in this case, that if we send more than one person through here, we’re setting them up for a deathmatch with each other sooner or later.”

Another silence fell upon the assembled people there until Rin broke it with a cough.

“Can’t we, you know, go through and hack the database from the outside or whatever it is that hackers do? Pull Arcueid out without ever getting engaged in the Grail War proper?”

“Theoretically,” Ilya shook her head. “But we don’t have anyone in our group that could be considered a real expert in computers, do we?”

“Ah, yes, there is that…” RIn mumbled.

Another silence, longer this time.

“So, the only real question…” Rin spoke up first.

“Is who gets sent to rescue her.” Shiki finished for her, his eyes gleaming coldly.

“I’ll go,” Shirou said immediately.

“No, I’ll go,” Shiki said, almost as quickly. “If it’s Arcueid, I’ll have to-“

“But I’m more experienced. I mean, I’ve won a Grail War before. You haven’t.”

“This isn’t about winning a Grail War, Emiya. This is about getting Arcueid out.”

“Weren’t you listening to what Ilya said? The only way out is to win, and-“ Shirou paused. “Wait, wait, wait. Ilya, if whoever loses the fight gets eliminated, and if we end up running into Arcueid and being forced to fight… what happens if we beat her?”

“Well, firstly I’d lay long odds on any one of us beating her in a flat fight,” Ilya said, and the image of a berserk Arcueid flashed through the minds present and most had to repress a shudder. “More to the point, any information we have right now is really, really sketchy. There may be a way to save her once we’re inside. Maybe we can contact SE.RA.PH and tell them she’s not a real Servant. I don’t know. But once we send someone in, bar any surprises, we have to assume they’ll be there for a long haul.”

Shirou nodded. “I guess this really is my job, then.”

Rin folded her arms and sighed. “I’d like to help, but I’m just not sure how much use I’d be in a world without any mana…”

“I wonder if the Moon Cell would even recognize a genuine Servant…” Saber mumbled as she stared at the desk. “Do I even count as a Servant the way I am right now?”

“Shiki,” Ilya looked at him, her red eyes alight with worry. “Will you be okay, leaving it to Shirou?”

Shiki stared at the ground. “I don’t appear to have much of a choice, do I?” he said tightly.

“All right then, I’ll grab whatever stuff I need and-“

“Not quite yet. We’ll need some more time to properly prepare your entrance as a participant in the Digital War,” Ilya shook her head. “First thing tomorrow morning, Onii-chan.”

Shirou sighed and nodded. “First thing tomorrow,” he said.

*~*

“Of course that idiot would leave in the middle of the night!” Rin raged as she stared at the Doorway that Shiki had vanished through.

Clutching the back of her head where a noticeable bump was forming, Ilya glared bloody murder at the Doorway. Shiki had ambushed her as soon as she’d finished making the needed preparations, and had vanished along with a backpack full of supplies through the Door.

“So what now?” Shirou questioned.

“Going through now would be suicidal,” Ilya mumbled. “At least, until we can find some way to game the system from the outside.”

“’Suicidal’ has never stopped me before!” Shirou pointed out.

“I know. You’re a big idiot, Onii-chan. Almost as big as Shiki,” Ilya said offhandedly. “And I’m making this Door one way for the time being. Information and people can be drawn from there to here, but no one else goes through until I can figure out a way to do so that won’t involve us having to kill each other at the end.”

Shirou clenched his fists as he stared at the doorway.

“I won’t be able to stop you with words,” Ilya began as she turned to look at Shirou. “But just for once in your life, let’s think this through properly before you rush through the Doorway to save the Two Stooges, okay? We’ll rescue them after we know what we’re getting into, not before.”

He took a deep breath, and let it out in a long rush.

“Okay,” he said, hating himself for admitting helplessness at this point. “Okay.”

*~*

End Prologue

*~*

I honestly have no idea about what sort of update schedule I'll be able to hold, but I'll try my best to keep things moving along at a smooth clip.

And before anything else, I hope you enjoy what's been written so far, and everything else that is to come.

[Spinach]

Well, this sounds fun~

So Shiki gets Nero, huh?

[Kieran]

That was fast - and intriguing. Since I'm not up on Fate/Extra, this promises to be educational. And it's not like I don't have faith in the quality of your work.

[RadiantBeam]

Color me intrigued!

[burningclaw2]

...I would love for you to continue this, and if you do not continue it I say have you evicerated(sp?) and tortured in ways that will make even Arcuied(sp?) shudder in pure terror -.-

Also if more people make a Grail Works LTD. story we may want a directory thread for the stories so we might not end up mixing titles.

[Flere821]

*tilts head after reading prologue*

*bookmarks thread*

*returns to lurking*

[Ergast]

Consider me interested with this story. Now I wonder what would be Shiki's reaction to Extra!Rin, and her being Rin's nephew in Extra world.

[Mike1984]

Yes, I know this is entirely predictable but, still, I have to ask anyway.

Where is Sakura? She was in the original "Grail Works" team, but she wasn't even mentioned here, despite it being a situation which you'd have thought she'd be involved in (in terms of planning, at least)....

[burningclaw2]

There is a Sakura in Fate/Extra but she is more a nurse/healer npc program. Also GW!Sakura was probably away getting groceries or on another world with Rider for either some short term fun or collecting stuff, or ingrediants to try new dishes.

[Mike1984]

There is a Sakura in Fate/Extra but she is more a nurse/healer npc program. Also GW!Sakura was probably away getting groceries or on another world with Rider for either some short term fun or collecting stuff, or ingrediants to try new dishes.

Why would Sakura be away "collecting groceries" when they're discussing how to deal with a serious problem? She's not just a glorified chef....

[burningclaw2]

They could take turns doing grocery runs for all I know, also I think only those from the Tohno mansion(at least Shiki), Shirou, Saber, Rin, and Ilya were at the meeting. Thus giving some credence that Sakura and Rider were probably out at the time doing something else. Also I am not sure when this is going on for the meeting or timeline wise so chances are Shirou and Rin graduated high school and Sakura's finishing up her High School education and in class during the meeting. There are a multitude of reasons why Sakura was not there. Though if you want you can great a short for why Sakura was not there since the Grail Works LTD is kinda like After the Fall in others can make their own GW LTD fics.

[Spinach]

Maybe she drew the short straw and it was her turn to shop?

/Kidding

[Mike1984]

They could take turns doing grocery runs for all I know, also I think only those from the Tohno mansion(at least Shiki), Shirou, Saber, Rin, and Ilya were at the meeting. Thus giving some credence that Sakura and Rider were probably out at the time doing something else. Also I am not sure when this is going on for the meeting or timeline wise so chances are Shirou and Rin graduated high school and Sakura's finishing up her High School education and in class during the meeting. There are a multitude of reasons why Sakura was not there. Though if you want you can great a short for why Sakura was not there since the Grail Works LTD is kinda like After the Fall in others can make their own GW LTD fics.

I very much doubt they'd send Sakura out grocery shopping during a meeting to decide how to deal with a serious problem, and I also very much doubt they'd schedule such a meeting during school time (assuming Sakura is even at school here, which seems unlikely....

And, yeah, it's pretty obvious that Sakura wasn't there, what I'm questioning is why she isn't there, given that it makes absolutely zero sense for her not to be. I mean, I can take a damn good guess at why she's not there, but I thought I'd try to avoid jumping to conclusions without even bothering to ask this time....

[burningclaw2]

Like I pointed out the only members we know were there were Shirou, Shiki, Rin, Ilya, and possibly Saber. Shiki because of Arcuied, Ilya because she was the one to give out the news, while the others were those who would have the greatest chance at competing in the Moon Grail War. Sakura might not have been able to compete as she already has servant Rider, Medusa, also I do not think she would be up for violence, thus she would not be a candidate for this mission. I think Sakura would be more suited for peaceful missions with Rider as a bodyguard. I know Sakura has some combat abilities but she seems to gentle to be a true fighter for a majority of the time. Plus I doubt she would like killing the Moon Grail inforces. Especially Alice and Nursery Ryme(sp?).

Overall it could be a factor of Sakura already on a mssion(probably somewhere like in a Kirby verse or a racing world watching Rider in races, or simply on some time off an enjoying herself with Rider and would be back the next dayin time to see Shirou off), or Sakura not being a good candidate for this type of mission. I doubt Sakura likes Grail Wars and thus is not on list to call to deal with one. Only reason Shiki was there was Arcuied. If Shirou had gone missing Ilya would call Red Alert and get everyone pronto. Plus I do not think Sakura could fight a friend under her on power.

The missions are probably handed out based on how willing the person may be, their skillset, the world inquestion, and the problem. I doupt you would want to send a Berserker into a political mission. This is more like not wanting to send a pacifist who will fight if needed but doesn't like it into a war zone where everyone but numero uno dies.

[B.B. Rain]

...Maybe, and this is totally a wild guess here, maybe she is deliberately and willingly uninvolved?

I mean, she doesn't exactly seem like a combat junkie, or someone who enjoys pitting their wits against difficult conundrums to prove their own skill and/or intellect, and maybe she's cool with staying at base, living with them when they're not on missions, and just...not being a mission planner or frontline problem solver?

EDIT: Also, almost forgto, onto more important matters: Pureauthor, are you implying Shiki's Saber isn't Nero, but pretended to be? If so, care to share the identity?

[pureauthor]

Yes, I know this is entirely predictable but, still, I have to ask anyway.

Where is Sakura? She was in the original "Grail Works" team, but she wasn't even mentioned here, despite it being a situation which you'd have thought she'd be involved in (in terms of planning, at least)....

Well, there are two ways to answer this question.

The first is from the outside viewpoint of me as a writer crafting the story. The people attending the briefing are, with one exception, all people who would directly contribute to the crafting of the basis of the story. Ilya is there to serve as the primary knowledge source to help readers (who may have not played Fate/Extra) form an understanding of how the world in the story would operate. Rin exists there to underline the problems of entering a world without mana, and one directly based on technology, which she still does not understand, in essence highlighting how this is a different Grail War. Shiki is there because he is the protagonist of the story, and Saber is there as the straight-laced one who would serve as a method for getting the others back from track whenever the conversation drifts too much (although time constraints rendered most of this aspect moot, she still does have one line near the beginning to serve that purpose.) The only one who had no meta-reason to be there (at least on the basis of the prologue) is Shirou, but he needs to be there on the basis of the logic in-universe. To be honest, I see no way for Sakura (or, say, Akiha or Kurai or Garm or Len) to contribute meaningfully to this.

And in-universe, this is not a 'planning' stage. Ilya has already gathered as much information as possible (which isn't much), and as she says, this is a briefing. The reason the people are gathered there is to discuss amongst themselves who would be the single person who could go through the Door to get Arcueid out, and Ilya only gathered people who would be potential candidates for that job in the first place. As Kieran stated in the premise in the other thread, Sakura is largely uninvolved with any of the actual adventuring, which means that she would thus not be involved with a meeting like this. Of course, other people like Kurai or Rider might have attended, but in the interests of expediency I wanted the conversation to be kept simple with relatively fewer people.

Does that satisfy your question?

EDIT: Also, almost forgto, onto more important matters: Pureauthor, are you implying Shiki's Saber isn't Nero, but pretended to be? If so, care to share the identity?

Um, it's sort of... a plot point? As to who she really is, and all that.

It'll be revealed in time, don't worry.

[Mike1984]

But Sakura also has an in-universe reason for being there, because she's part of the "team". Excluding her from a meeting on the basis that she's not directly involved in the mission when (for instance) Rin isn't either just seems extremely odd. Just because Sakura doesn't do much adventuring herself, that doesn't mean she should just be left out and treated as unimportant by the rest of the team. She can still have an opinion....

[pureauthor]

But Sakura also has an in-universe reason for being there, because she's part of the "team". Excluding her from a meeting on the basis that she's not directly involved in the mission when (for instance) Rin isn't either just seems extremely odd.

The whole point was that Rin was a candidate. As was Saber. As was Shirou. And as was Shiki. Shirou was ultimately the one chosen, and Shiki was the one who actually went, but the potential for Rin to go was there.

Sakura, in the Grail Works continuity, does not go adventuring normally. So she is not a candidate, and thus not part of the mission briefing. Her primary role in Grail Works continuity (which, thus far, isn't much) is to help take care of those who come back from their trips (possibly wounded) and house upkeeping.

Just because Sakura doesn't do much adventuring herself, that doesn't mean she should just be left out and treated as unimportant by the rest of the team. She can still have an opinion....

If you are claiming that by not involving Sakura in one specific mission briefing over an issue she does not have a large personal stake in is 'the team treating her as unimportant', you are likewise implying that over half of the Grail Works team is being treated as unimportant at the same time (which includes others who would have more practical reasons to be attending because, you know, they might actually be the one going).

I'm sorry, but I do not see that as a valid criticism at all.

[Mike1984]

Ah, so the usual excuses to ignore Sakura on the grounds that she "doesn't fight", then, even though that assertion is in itself dubious...?

Yeah, I dunno why I bothered asking, because I could have pretty much predicted that answer from the very start.