Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Zero.
Chapter I – A Child
She stumbled through the darkened streets looking for all the world like a drunkard, the exotic robes she wore only served to make her appearance more attention-grabbing. Fortunately for her at this time of night the streets were abandoned.
She felt tired, it was an enormous effort to keep her legs moving and her attire was beginning to feel as though it was made of lead. She was almost overcome by a strong desire to lay down where she was and fall to sleep.
She never thought she would have run out of prana so quickly but even if she had known, she would still have done the same again. She remembered the moment she had been summoned, she had seen the blood-smeared corpses of the children and the detestable, smug smirk on her “master's” face and rage had taken hold of her. She'd lashed out and killed that monster like the insignificant insect he truly was.
Eventually her willpower was spent and she could walk no more, her knees gave out no longer able to carry her weight and she collapsed, falling on to her back. She lay there looking up at the sky, so this was as far as she went; disappearing so soon after her summoning, more than a little pathetic. She wouldn't get her wish, but that was okay, she was sure she'd done the right thing ridding the world of that creature.
Suddenly she could hear footsteps, hesitant, creeping slowly towards her. They were far too soft and light to belong to an adult, they certainly belong to a child. The footsteps stopped when they reached her and she turned her head to look.
The boy couldn't be any older than seven or eight and he had messy, orange hair. In his hand he clutched a small, plastic carrier bag.
“Are you all right, miss?”
She almost chuckled, and the child reached out a hand towards her:
“Do you need some help?”
Something inside her urged her to take the child's hand and she had no will left to resist, so against rational thought Medea took the boy's hand in her own. In that moment another thought occurred to her and she acted upon it without thinking. As she finally gave in to unconsciousness she heard a sharp yell pierce the night.
The sorceress had no idea how much time had passed when she awoke again, only that it was still dark; so unless she had slept an entire day away it could not have been long. Although it was unlikely that she could have slept in the middle of a street (even one that mostly went unused) without someone noticing her; not that she could have lasted that long anyway without a master. Some from her time may have said the gods had favoured her, she mentally snorted in derision. She knew from her own experience that when the gods meddled in the lives of mortals, they did it for their own sport.
Despite her still being here however, she still felt incredibly weak.
She felt a weight on her chest and glanced down to find a small, red-headed boy unconscious on top of her. Suddenly she remembered what had happened just before she had fallen into the darkness and a feeling of horror overtook her and she felt very hollow.
What had she done?
She struggled into a sitting position and pulled the boy towards her. She frantically grasped for his right hand and sure enough there it was, the proof of her latest sin; the command seals. Her first instinct was to flee but it was overridden by another more logical and more compassionate part of her. It was her fault the boy was now involved in war he didn't even know about, a conflict that wouldn't have touched him if not for her; and he was her master now, her lifeline to the world.
The mana she was gathering from him wasn't much; although she did notice it was more than a normal person of this era should have been capable of providing but still, not enough to mark the boy as a magus, even an apprentice one. She pushed those thoughts away as unimportant, for now. Her most immediate concern was that it meant she was too weak to stand under her own strength, much less carry another, even a child.
She gathered the boy up in her arms and dragged herself across the ground to a nearby wall, so that she could lean against it. There she rested with her master pulled close to her and waited for him to awaken, alert for even the first hint of danger. As she waited she could feel a small amount of strength return to her, agonisingly slowly and she began to plan.
It wasn't long before her new master began to awaken and she released him, placing him against the wall next to her, then she pushed herself to her feet, using the wall for support. At first his eyes were dull and unfocused but he son regained his awareness. For a long moment silence hung over them, until she broke it:
“Hello child and what is your name?” she asked, in as gentle a voice as she could manage. A faint, red tinge appeared on his cheeks as he responded:
“A-Amagi Shirou...”
“Well then Amagi Shirou, you can call me Caster. Now there are some important things you need to know,” she said, in the dame gentle voice as before, “but how about I tell you after I take you back to your home, hmm?”
Shirou's eyes flew wide open and darted to glance at a device wrapped around his left wrist; a wristwatch, her subconscious informed her.
“Oh crap!” he exclaimed, “I'm almost thirty minutes late!” Medea needed to forcefully suppress her surprise, thirty minutes? Had that really been all the time that had passed?
“Well then, I suppose I should take you home quickly.” She offered him her hand and he reached out to take it but then stopped and let his own hand fall back to his side. She felt her heart drop but couldn't blame him, the last time he had taken her hand had caused him enough pain to be knocked out, after all. That said, he did allow her to walk by his side after he had picked up the plastic bag and started his way home. For the whole journey he had an intense look on his face, as though he was deep in thought.
She contemplated astrilisation but decided against it. People would be less likely to harass a child if he was in the company of an adult, and if any were still foolish enough to try, well...
After about five minutes they evidently within site of Shirou's home, as the boy turned around and said:
“Um, I don't know how I'm going to explain you to my mother.”
“Oh, is that what you were worried about?” she said, with a smile and before his eyes she vanished.
“C-Caster?!”
“I am still here Shirou, I am merely invisible.” She chuckled when she saw Shirou put a hand to his head. “When I am like this it will feel like I am talking directly into your mind. Now when we get inside keep your right hand in your pocket and do not talk to me until we are alone.”
“I-what?” he stuttered, obviously confused by her request.
“Promise me Shirou.”
“I...I promise but-”
“Later Shirou, I promise I will explain everything later. Right now, we don't want to make your mother worry any more than she already has, do we?”
- - -
It was almost two hours later when the two of them found themselves alone in Shirou's bedroom. Their home itself was a decent-sized flat on the fourteenth floor of its building.
His mother as it turned out, had been a seemingly pleasant woman with red hair and in her late twenties at the oldest. She had scolded her son on being so late but Medea had seen the concern hidden behind her eyes; fortunately she'd hadn't pressed her son too hard on what he'd been doing. Afterwards mother and son had shared a peaceful meal as she had watched, invisible.
The servant took a look allowed her gaze to travel around her Master's bedroom as she re-materialised, it was unsurprisingly quite plain. There was the bed obviously, a couple of shelves mounted on the walls and a small desk, all packed into a very small space. It was also very clean, far too clean to be the work of a nine-year-old, clearly his mother made frequent trips in here.
Right now her master was sitting on his bed, clad in his sleepwear and staring straight at her.
“That was cool,” he whispered and Medea smiled.
“I'm glad you think so,” she replied.
“So Caster? Is that English?” he asked.
“I believe it is, yes?”
“So you're English?”
“Not quite, no.”
“Oh, so why do you have an English name?”
“In a moment, first I wish to know; where is your father? Does he work at night?”
“I don't know my father,” he responded, seeming unconcerned, “It's been just me and mum for as long as I can remember.”
“I see..” she replied, she could feel dark emotions and memories clawing at the edges of her mind, she forcefully pushed them away. The smile slowly slid from her lips and she reached up to take down her hood, so that she could establish eye-contact.
“Now Shirou, I need you to pay attention. What I am about to tell you is very important.” she put as much gravity into her words as she could manage, and waited for him to nod before continuing. “I am what is called a Heroic Spirit and you have become a master in the fourth Holy Grail War.”
And so she explained everything she could think of to him. She explained about the seven Masters and Servants and that she was the Caster, about the purpose of the marks on his right hand (to which he had vehemently protested that he would never force her to do anything), finally she had explained to him about the grail and how whoever claimed it was granted a wish. As she talked his eyes became wider and wider.
“Awesome...” he breathed and Medea almost sighed but held it in. He probably thought that this was going to be some kind of adventure. She should have expected this, he was a young boy and probably still had dreams about defeating evil villains. However she found she did not want to shatter the child's innocence, not yet; it although it would eventually be unavoidable.
“Yes Shirou, awesome. Now go to sleep and we'll talk more tomorrow.” He started to protest but she raised a hand to silence him. “Tomorrow Shirou, you will need to be well rested for the battles ahead.” He didn't look like he a agreed with her but he got under his covers and placed his head on his pillow obediently.
After that Medea waited, it took a while but after an hour her new Master fell into a peaceful slumber. Slowly, silently she crept forward and placed her hand on Shirou's forehead, closed her eyes and concentrated, what she discovered surprised her. According to the information she received from the grail, her young friend possessed an enormous amount of potential for a first generation mage of this age.
She removed her hand, pulled back and began to consider the new information she had uncovered. Were she to attempt to teach the boy magic she would first need to know what level a magic-user of this generation could handle and the training would still be incredibly strenuous on both his body and his mind. Even then, the boy would not likely stand a chance against another Master in a one-on-one conflict and certainly not against a servant. However he may be able to buy himself a few crucial seconds, possibly more if their enemies underestimated him and it was always better to have a skill and no need it, than to need it and not have it. Yes, tomorrow she would ask him if he wanted to learn magic.
With that decision made she rose back to her feet and drew her hood over her head, as she once again began to fade from sight. While Shirou was giving her enough mana to exist, it wasn't anywhere near enough to fight the war and wouldn't be unless he started to unlocked his potential, so she would have to acquire some more herself for now; fortunately she already had an idea on how to do so.
This on her mind, she went to leave the apartment.
- - -Yeah, I stole Shirou's last name from Persona 4 because I couldn't think of a better one...and it had "magi" in it, it's not pronounced the same way but still...
And now, for your reading pleasure:
Omake – The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Warning: Crack
“Caster! What are you doing!?” yelled the young-looking blonde, who was currently only wearing the bottom half of her tuxedo and had her arms crossed over her chest.
“Come Saber, we're allies now. Consider a token of trust,” replied Medea, moving like a Lion approaching a helpless gazelle.
“And what part of that could be considered a “token of trust””?!” Saber yelled, using one hand to point at the offending item, whilst keeping the other arm across her chest.
“But I think you'd look really pretty in it,” Medea responded, caressing the white, silk dress she was carrying.
“I-but...Irisviel!” the blonde yelped, turning to the third woman in the room.
“Now Caster,” the silver-haired woman said, “You shouldn't try to make Saber wear something like that.” The blonde sighed in relief, and the hooded woman let out a huff of disappointment.
“This will bring out her eyes much better!” the Einzbern woman continued, a huge smile splitting her face as she produce a light green dress from behind her back, a dress that could only be described as scandalous.
“Irisviel!”
“Oh ho ho. You are right Irisviel-sama, I bow to your superior fashion-sense,” Medea replied playfully.
Saber shivered in fear as the two taller women advanced on her.
- - -
Upon hearing a commotion in the hotel suite's bedroom, Kiritsugu had moved to investigate. He had almost reached the door when it suddenly burst open and Saber had come barrelling out, wearing a green dress that showed far more skin than was decent, and promptly fell flat on her face.
“Kiritsugu, help me!” she cried, reaching towards him with one hand. He was about to ask her what was happening, when another voice came from inside the room.
“Oh ho ho, no you don't Saber ~. Playtime isn't over yet ~.”
What looked suspiciously like a long, black tentacle slithered from the doorway and wrapped itself tightly, almost lovingly around Saber's body and pulled her back towards the bedroom. The blonde clawed at the carpet in a desperate attempt to stop herself.
“Noooooooooooo!” she cried, as she was pulled through the portal and the door swung shut with an ominous slam behind her.
Kiritsugu stared at the closed door in stunned silence for a moment or two, before turning around and walking away. Maybe that Amagi kid would like to go for an ice cream or something?
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Originally Posted by Incarnite Azurnum
