Sainted Chevalier tales, la Embattled Pucelle.
Chapter one: Altering the facts.
Deep in a dank cavern sits a man-made holy vessel. A route to the Origin, if one were to believe its creators. Now little more than a perpetual motion machine for the world's evil. The wish granting powers its lesser form possessed and the path to the root of all things were neither sought or needed by the man standing at the foot of the ruined engine known as the Greater Grail.
He smiled and stretched his arm skyward.
"Emiya is the only one capable of being host to you”, he declared. “This truth shall remain evident through all worlds”.
Suddenly, the grinding sound of footsteps on rocky ground echoed across the cavern, interrupting the blond's speech. Turning his head, he found two men rushing towards him at an inhuman pace. The first was a priest with swords known as Black Keys in hand and a disturbing aura, the second a youthful man dressed in golden armour.
Both men were dangerous, the word menace could easily fit either individual. Their power and control surpassed even that of the users of True Magic in one way or another. Except, that is, for the one watching them.
Rather than wait, the man dropped to the base floor of cavern from the cliff-like edge where he stood. The two skidded to a stop seeing him land, creating a crater in the floor.
"Kirei Kotomine and Gilgamesh, reprobate priest and supposed King of Heroes respectively", the blond greeted the two in a manner most would consider suicidal.
Kirei immediately started speaking, if only to stop the Heroic Spirit from slaughtering the twenty-something green-eyed blonde.
"Since it is obvious that you know us, might you spare us your name?" the priest asked in his usual matter-of-fact way.
"I am the Third Magician, Satoshi Alexander Emiya Pendragon," the man replied. "Unfortunately, you and Giggles got here late; I already forfeited the power Angra had by drawing it away from the Grail, meaning you and he", he shrugged. "Oh, well – you are already dead."
Kirei felt a faintness in his chest and turned to see the King of Heroes fading into nothingness. He tried to speak, but simply seized in place before falling limp.
"Sacrificed selfishly for man's desires and sins, left alone in rage and sorrow, I beckon across time and space as a kindred soul. Join me, share your hatred and madness and I share my love and truth. For we two are, now and forever, Avengers", he proclaimed with a grin.
The mass of mud comprising the world's evil congealed into a human form. At first it was paper-like and floppy, it lurched in a zombie-like fashion towards Satoshi who merely reached out a hand. The moment it touched the sorcerer, it gained detail and physical weight, causing it to fall backward.
A youth, about twenty with black hair, dark skin and tattoos but otherwise naked stood up. "You're my master, cool... I guess", he said in a flippant way as he looked over the oddly-dressed man who'd summoned him.
Satoshi frowned, firstly because he could sense Angra's disapproval of his clothes and secondly because the Avenger spirit lacked any clothing period.
'Seriously, what's wrong with my fashion sense?' Satoshi thought. 'A long-sleeved shirt and jeans is pretty ordinary, I mean, OK, the return of Superman silver and black isn't as popular as the original but, still.... Maybe Avenger doesn't like the long coat, Dad and Archer wear it, I mean, mine is more coat than half cape but come on, it's freaking cool. And I totally pull this off, right?'
Avenger sighed. "Um, master, if I apologize for the curt hello can I have some clothes?" he asked.
Satoshi snapped from his thoughts. "Uh, yeah, sure, just pick a style or whatever", he replied.
"Well, I usually have this red sash-like cloth with me, so something basic and easy to wear I guess", the golden-eyed servant said thoughtfully.
Satoshi paused for a moment and created a set of clothes. Combat boots and an urban camouflage uniform with a red, black and gray pattern.
"I can add a vest or whatever if you like", he mentioned, reaching out a hand towards the remaining mud.
"No, that's fine", Avenger replied, watching Satoshi destroy the curse by emitting magical energy from his hands like a flamethrower.
"Now for the other two. I need you to steal a certain pendant from Rin Tohsaka, it's kinda heart shaped, here, use this, we have a week before the grail war participants start summoning heroes, I'll revive the others and meet you in the basement of Kotomine Church", Satoshi instructed.
Avenger caught the object, a white device with a red glass-like eyepiece at the front.
"You're just taking the piss, admit it", he declared.
"Shutup and put on the scouter!" Satoshi snapped.
Avenger frowned. "But, seriously, why?"
"Because you can't sense Servants at range, and you can't tell a magic gem from a normal one and because you'll look like bloody obsessive nerd who she won't look twice at, now go!" Satoshi shouted, clearly annoyed.
Avenger quickly exited the cave knowing he pushed his luck perhaps an inch too far.
"Seriously, he's like a six year old", Satoshi remarked.
With his Servant gone, he ascended the cliff face with a single leap and began chanting a spell.
****************
Rin was returning from school, her plan had been calculated to the minute. Summoning a Saber as her Servant was essential to her winning the Grail War. So she thought at least, others would disagree with that, many descended from Shirou Emiya.
Her fate would normally be as many know: summon heroic spirit EMIYA, fall in love, be parted. Often in tragic fashion fitting with the Emiya name. Today however, as with any day which starts with “and then the True Magician did X”, she would no longer be bound to fate. Avenger had found her and, with relative ease, entered her apartment.
The pendant was easily stolen, but sadly this Avenger was not a master of subtlety. Having acquired his quarry, he jumped out the large front windows of the Tohsaka manor. Needless to say, Rin quite obviously heard the commotion and came to find her valuables gone and no-one around. Were it just the pendant, Rin would perhaps not be so enraged and disturbed by the theft. However they stole the pendant, her gems and her clothes, of all things.
Rin, of course, was good at the bluffing part of her image, so during the next four hours of police reports, as well as an embarrassing conversation with Taiga Fujimura, had just happened by the area, she managed to conceal her burning rage.
Unfortunately, this wound up with three side effects. The first was being stuck with Fujimura as her primary caretaker for the evening, the second was being forced to eat dinner at the Emiya household with her estranged sister. The third and probably the most important effect was that Rin Tohsaka discovered that Shirou Emiya was a magus.
This certainly would affect the coming war in many ways, but for now the only thing this impromptu visit caused was Issei Ryudou having a minor panic attack during the next day at school.
**********************
Kiritsugu Emiya, formerly the Magus Killer, currently confused. Turning to his supposed grandson, his face contorted to find the words to express exactly what had been bothering him.
"I've understood basically everything, except, well... How exactly do you have the third magic?" he asked the youthful blond.
"A wizard did it", Satoshi replied with a grin.
"Don't be smart, you may be older than I am but your immortality won't stop me from spanking you back to the Stone Age", Kiritsugu rebutted.
"I wasn't being smart," Satoshi stated as the two approached the now vacant church. "Merlin used me as a fuse, my Origin became a breaker at the last minute and allowed me to survive and transcend the confines of normalcy, thus I obtained or became the Third Magic. The difference is honestly nonexistent - immortality is what it is."
Kiritsugu paused and decided that asking why Merlin was involved was a stupid question. After all, it was obvious who the young man's mother was.
Entering the church, the two found Avenger hiding between the pews, pilfered goods in hand. Satoshi reached out his hand, and the tattooed servant relinquished the pendant.
"I'm going to need a few minutes, Grandpa," Satoshi stated as he was leaving, heading for the courtyard. "Be prepared, our new guest might want to fist fight – oh, and get some priest robes. Gross, I know, but we have to look the part. Rin and company will be here any minute - Kirei was her caretaker and with this pendant stolen she'll be scrambling to get an alternate catalyst for the summoning."
Kiritsugu sighed. Deception was a part of war, but having to dress as Kirei Kotomine was revolting. Still, he knew it was the best strategy and so, dragging Avenger with him, the assassin left to change clothes.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Kieran
