Fuyuki High School Reunion (IC Thread)

[Milbunk]

?N?
Fuyuki City - The Great Red Bridge

The tall figure continued his journey walking to the determined location. If the old man was correct then he would be arriving in a short time. He had traveled from a very far location and had done it in secrecy. Very few knew that he was even there and if all things went according to plan then he would meet the other one shortly. Umbrella unfolded and in hand he continued his journey to meet the others.

---

?S?
Fuyuki City - The Shopping District

This second man was also tall in stature and had been roaming the shopping district looking for only the best of rings. Rings were his favorite thing in the world and his fingers were adorn with over twenty beautiful gems. Of course these gems were not just for show no, they had a much darker purpose for they contained the codes and arrangements to powers long lost in this world. As he passed by another jewelry shop he glanced by and saw a particularly gleaming gem. One that undoubtedly would be expensive probably more then a normal man would earn in 3 years. The magus walked into the shop and simple stuck his hand through the case and took the ring that had been laying there. However the shopkeeper came over to stop him yet, he simply glared at the man and he returned to his duties not even caring about the large mans recent theft. "Oh dear it looks like I'm late, hehehehe." After a quick glance at the time he left the store and headed for the destined location.

---

?R?
Fuyuki City - The Desolate Park

The third figure was equally as large as the first two yet had little to think or say. He simply waited for the signal and when it came he took off for the location assigned for him neither thinking nor wondering. But there was a reason for this, he was not thinking for a reason in fact. When the time was right he would act and break the curse that had held him for what seemed an eternity but for now he was as thoughtless as an ant. Only obeying the orders of the old man.

[Katie]

Shirou
February 1, shortly after midnight
Emiya Residence - Shed

"I am Servant Saber. My identity is that of Shirou Emiya - that is, you - and I am what some would call a Hero of Justice. I am in possession of a vast number of legendary artifacts used by the heroes of old, which I used to form my own legends."

Shirou's jaw dropped. This man - him - had found weapons of old, weapons he had used to forge his own path as a hero of justice. The sheer idea of him doing such things rendered him speechless.

"If you want, I could show you some of them. There are also a few other things I need to talk to you about... such as the nature of this war. I'm guessing you'd like a bit of help with your Magecraft, as well?"

Shirou could only nod. He picked himself up, and dusted himself off.

"We should go inside my - our house, shouldn't we?"

[Elyrin]

Saber
February 1, shortly after midnight
Emiya Residence - Shed


"Yes, Master, we probably should. I'll make some tea, as well - you might need it." Leaving his younger self behind him, Saber turned around and marched out of the shed, already pondering how to best explain the Holy Grail War.

---

Saber
February 1, 1:40 AM
Emiya Residence


Saber leaned back where he sat, and sighed. The explanation had of course taken a while, and he had stopped several times to get up for more tea for the both of them. "...well, Master, there you go. I believe I've covered most aspects of the Grail War, or at least the ones worth the time to explain. Just remember that the Mediator is not to be trusted and you'll be fine. Also, our Magecraft can wait until tomorrow. First, there is one more important thing I need to mention." The knight abruptly stood up to glare down at Shirou. His eyes again turned to tempered steel as he prepared to give out another dangerous piece of information.

"Kiritsugu Emiya had a biological daughter, and she is a Master in this Grail War. If something is not done, she is going to die."

[Mike1984]

Caster
January 31, 2001
Matou Mansion - Sakura's room


As she looked at her master, at her past self, Caster could see that she was almost gasping in astonishment. Briefly, this shocked her. She was just a normal girl, albeit a very powerful one. Nothing to be amazed by, But, then, she remembered how low her self-confidence and self-esteem had been back then. She knew how worthless the poor girl thought herself to be. Caster was still a modest person, but unlike her younger self she had a healthy sense of self-worth and was confident in herself and her abilities. It was only natural that Sakura would look at her and be amazed by someone who, relative to her, exuded confidence.

Then, as she spoke, she saw a brief look of guilt appear on her master's face. It was well hidden, and indeed she wouldn't have even noticed it but for the fact that she had once given her Rider the exact same look. A look that said "I'm going to betray you", that her "wish" would not be granted, if she had actually possessed one. And, indeed, Caster knew that she would be betrayed, handed over to an abusive, weak and moronic fake master because her past self did not wish to fight her beloved Shirou. But, yet, she didn't feel any kind of animosity towards her true master for the suffering that would likely be inflicted upon her as a result. Indeed, it would be hypocritical of her if she did, since she had one made the same decision, and condemned her own devoted servant to being raped and tortured because of her unwillingness to fight. And, even so, Rider had remained loyal to the end, never one even mentioning how Sakura had abandoned her to such horrendous treatment.

So, she too would endure it, if it came to that, and she too would protect her master and strive to achieve her wishes. After all, it was not her fault that she had been put in this horrible situation. She didn't want to summon a servant, and she certainly did not want to be forced to fight and kill those closest to her for the benefit of a monster who had brought her nothing but pain and suffering.

But, unlike Rider, her defence of her master would not be purely passive, nor would it be limited to protecting Sakura, even at the expense of everyone she cared for. Just as her Rider had, over time, learnt to protect those closest to her with the same zealously as she had fought to protect Sakura herself, she knew that there was more to life than just surviving. She wanted her master to not only survive the war, but to be happy and to not have to live with the same guilt that she had felt for the people she had unconsciously killed.

However, this in itself posed a problem. Whilst she was willing to endure Shinji's abuse once more in order to help save her master and her loved ones, she was not willing to harm innocents, and she was especially unwilling to harm those who she loved, or who she owed her happiness to. Therefore, becoming Shinji's servant was simply not an option. However, unless she could somehow destroy Zouken, remaining with her true master would mean forcing her to fight Shirou, eventually. And, Matou magic was not designed for healing, even if her Tohsaka heritage had allowed her to learn some limited healing spells. She could probably remove the worms if she had sufficient time to prepare a suitable spell, but she would far rather find someone more suited to do the job.

“Yes. I am your master.” She responded, having heard of similar phrases being in the summoning of servants. To prove she was her master, Sakura also took her arm, placing it across her chest, revealing the command seals to her servant, Berserker.

Her master responded to her question with confirmation of her status, even going so far as to display her command spells. She considered her situation for a moment, and prepared to respond. But, before she could speak, her thoughts were interrupted by a cackling laugh and a cruel, mocking voice.

"Kekekeke, excellent work it appears you aren't completely useless after all. Oh? What's this?"

As soon as she heard that cackling laugh, she instinctively recoiled with fear. Her sense of ill-ease only increased as he spoke, clearly recognising that something odd was happening. Had he recognised her? If so, what would he think? What would he do?

As she thought about this, he turned to her and grinned sadistically, making her gulp, and then spoke

"So even in death you return. Did you come back so that you might get another day in the basement? If you ask I'm sure we could arrange something, after all, the more the merrier."

Momentarily, all her years of happiness seemed to just melt away. She wished that her Shirou could be here, to hold and comfort her, as he always had when she had had regressions and flashbacks to her past abuse. Without him, she felt every bit as unconfident as her past self in her ability to deal with her former torturer.

She stood there in a daze, recalling her past torture at the hands of the monster in front of her, until her master responded, uneasy but with a clear sense of hope in her voice.

“C-caster-san… Are you really..?”

With that, Caster snapped out of her momentary depression.

No, I have to be strong. She believes in me, I have to show her that she can overcome him.

Composing herself, Caster considered her response carefully. She knew that she could not afford to show any sign of weakness or fear to Zouken, to prevent him thinking he could dominate her, and to show her master that she could break free of his grasp if only she were given the opportunity. However, at the same time, she also knew that he could kill her master with a mere thought if he felt it necessary, and that he would not hesitate to order her death if he saw her as more of a threat to his ambitions than a help. So, she could not make him aware of her true intentions either.

In the end, she decided that the best way she could show her utter contempt for him was to ignore him entirely. After all, he was not her master, he had no right to expect a response from her. So, she just turned to her master and, smiling sweetly, responded to her question, being careful to avoid giving Zouken more information than was absolutely necessary.

"Yes, Sakura, I'm a future version of you, and, yes, I'm a true Heroic Spirit. Me, my husband, our children, the rest of my family and our allies all helped stop a ritual that could have destroyed the entire world. The effects were too wide-ranging to keep it secret, so we were revered as heroes, and consequentially I was elevated to the Throne of Heroes."

Then, she stopped to consider her next move. She knew that, if Sakura found out that Shirou was a master, she would be likely to hand her over to Shinji, and she knew from her own timeline that that was not an acceptable outcome, for several reasons. Firstly, it put Shirou and Rin in danger, secondly it put Shinji in danger and, finally, it could lead to her past self following the same path as she had followed.

Oh, wait, what about Lancer? she thought.

In her timeline, Shirou had been stabbed, and only her sister's pendant could save him. If she could prevent that and teach him about the situation he was in, not only would she be able to ensure his safety, but she could also ask her sister to use the pendant to help cure her past self, if it became necessary.

She realised that she only had one option. She would have to go to Shirou and make an alliance with him, before he could summon his servant, and educate him about the situation he was going to find himself in. Further, she would tell him about Sakura's past as soon as she possibly could, and tell Rin too. She knew from the battle they had fought together that Saber was fundamentally nice, even if her determination to obtain the Grail could cause a potential issue.

She knew that Sakura would not want this, of course, because back then she had felt the same way, but she knew that it was for the best. She simply couldn't imagine how she could possibly have gotten over the issues caused by her abuse without the love and compassion of the man she loved and, despite her fears, neither Shirou nor Rin had ever rejected her or looked down on her for it. She knew that her Nee-san and Shirou loved her and, further, had always loved her. She knew that, even though Rin had rarely shown it, she had never been far from her sister's thoughts even during the eleven dark years of seperation and torture.

Having decided on her goal, she began to make it work.

"Sakura, if it's OK with you, I would like to go look around the town, remind myself of the layout and see if anything has changed from my war. That is, if Zouken doesn't mind", she said, her sweet and soothing words punctuated by a tone of pure contempt for the man she had once called "Grandfather".

Then she awaited their response.

[Milbunk]

?N?, ?S?, and ?R?
January 31, 2001
Small Park Near the Bridge

The 3 figures converged at the meeting place a small park near the entrance of the bridge, the first to arrive was the man holding the large umbrella. Moments after he arrived the man with the fingers full of rings arrived. Coming into view he spoke his voice rasp and old. "So, where is the other one? The one that the old man said to wait for."

The first man stood there not even bothering to speak up.

Finally after a few minutes of waiting the third man arrived and spoke to the other two with a forced and rough voice. "H-he w-wishes u-us to g-go t-to the l-location. M-make s-sure to u-use the n-names."

"Very well then shall we be off?" The second man spoke and all 3 of them headed for the direction of the old man's house.

[SeiKeo]

Assassin
January 31 2001
Fuyuki Mall

Assassin had mostly kept up a facade of not being interested in the shopping. It was a lie. She was ecstatic! She hadn't done this in... hell, decades! Being just able to wander in and go shopping... perfect.

In contrast to the outfit that Ayako had bought, Assassin was dressed in a simple black shirt and jeans with her sunglasses. Nothing fancy, but despite the secret fun that she had, she hadn't wanted to spend her money.

"Anything specific you want to eat?"

"Ayako," eh, awkward, but she'd run with it, "I don't really need to eat, and I don't want to make you spend any more money. If you're hungry, we can certainly pick up a snack, but the best thing to do is probably to scout and see if we can find other Masters."

[Kotonoha]

Matou Shinji
January 31, 2001
Matou mansion - basement

Shinji tried to make some sense of the situation. The man in front of him was a Servant, the command spells on Shinji's hand proved that much. But why did the Servant have his face? Maybe something had gone wrong with the summoning.

"Okay Master, go outside for a bit. I have to do something in order to not die, and you'll get in the way of that. Go apologize to the old man for crushing his worms or something. I'll be around in time to save you from your horrible death. Hopefully."

"It sounds like you don't quite get how this works. I'm your Master, so I tell you what to do." Besides, the more pressing matter was getting the Servant to explain himself. "First off, why--"

Before he could finish, Zouken's voice echoed through the basement.

"Boy, get up here now. You know what you've done and you shall be punished accordingly, Kekeke."

They stood in silence for a second.

"…Fine. Just… hurry up, got it?"

*

Leaving the Servant behind, Shinji exited the basement. Judging by the voices coming from the direction of Sakura's room, Zouken must have been in there.

He hesitated outside of the door. He couldn't remember the old man ever paying much attention to him at all, let alone punishing him for anything, so he wasn't sure what to expect. Still, if anything went wrong, he did have a Servant… albeit one that he knew nothing about.

He forced a smile and pushed the door open. "You wanted to see me, Grandfather?"

[Milbunk]

Matou Zouken
January 31, 2001
Matou mansion - Sakura's room

"Sakura, if it's OK with you, I would like to go look around the town, remind myself of the layout and see if anything has changed frommy war. That is, if Zouken doesn't mind"

Just when he was about to respond the boy entered the room with an obviously fake smile. "Well where is it, you didn't think I wouldn't feel the summoning did you? Show me this Servant that you somehow managed to summon and I might feel merciful, Kekeke."

Of course Zouken recognized a Servant summoning, this would also explain the odd gathering of prana inside the thing's room, and if Zouken was correct in his suspicions then he already knew who this Servant was.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, letting a small smile appear on his face he turned to to the thing that managed to summon a Servant of her own. "Girl, go and answer the door we are expecting some guests and we wouldn't wish to rude now would we. As for you boy if I don't see your Servant in the next few minutes you will feel the consequences."

[lantzblades]

A rush of feelings assaulted Sakura, a tremendous wave washing to her very core. Anger, sadness, despair all common to her life. However there was also a new feeling, one that she only felt once before, a private feeling, secret known only to her. Hope. Hope had found her, wonderful, terrible hope.

eleven years had taught her burn her hope to ash and so she did till almost none of it was left to be seen in her eyes. and she summoned all the pain she could remember, all the fear and once she layered it over-top of her heart then turned to Zouken "Yes grandfather I'll get the door. Grandfather you want me to Win the war, correct?" she asked in a dull tone almost dead.

[Milbunk]

Matou Zouken
January 31, 2001
Matou mansion - Sakura's room

"Of course, you must win for the good of the Matou family." He responded his voice almost energetic. With these two Servants taking the grail for himself would be much easier, he might even take it sooner then expected.

[lantzblades]

"Then Grandfather, since Caster does not know the area properly I should take her to learn, so that we can win, should I not?" she asked simply

[Milbunk]

Matou Zouken
January 31, 2001
Matou mansion - Sakura's room

"We will talk about that after you get the door, now go and answer it we've already kept them waiting for too long."

[Nanao-kun]

Mitsuzuri Ayako
January 31 2001
Fuyuki Mall

Ayako nodded at Assassin's suggestion. It would be a good idea to figure out who they were up against.

"Sounds like a good idea."

Standing up, Ayako went to purchase a croquette before returning to Assassin.

"So where should we start? I don't know much about this after all."

[xelloss]

Caster
January 31, 2001
Matou mansion - basement

Well. That didn't sound good. If the old man really did intend on punishing his "Master", then he had better hurry up.

A bit sad though. If he had been summoned by someone who could actually support him, maybe he could have avoided doing this until later.

Sighing one last time, Caster closed his eyes-

And allowed his Noble Phantasm to activate.

*

...

Ugh.

Slowly, having finally pulled himself together after the shock of his Noble Phantasm having its effect activate, Caster stood up, and started checking over himself.

"Right. Everything seems to be in order."

Caster picked up his revolver and holstered it, as it had fallen to the floor after he had activated his Noble Phantasm, as he himself had.

It had taken about a minute to sort everything out this time, rather than years. Practice had helped, this was true.

"...This should be enough prana for now, so long as I don't overexert myself."

Independent Action, along with the power behind his (now active) Circuits, he was gaining prana, rather than losing it. As long as he didn't take take large amounts of damage, or burn it on too much magecraft, he would be able to get a decent stockpile by the end of the day.

To conserve a little bit more, and thus gain faster, Caster turned to spirit form.

Time to go save the Master.

*

Huh. An odd room for Zouken to have gone to punish his Master considering that nobody had really ever used it from what he could remember but-

Caster's thoughts died as he went through the wall of the room Zouken and his Master was in.

Her.

Caster materialized.

"One question. What's Tohsaka doing here?"

[lantzblades]

sakura nodded. "yes grandfather" she replied moving though the house to the door and opening it. "Welcome to the Matou house sirs, grandfather has been expecting you, please come in"

sakura's mind was racing at everything that had just happened. she could be free perhaps but it wouldn't pay to let her hope get the better of her.

[Milbunk]

Matou Zouken
January 31, 2001
Matou mansion - Sakura's room

Just as the thing had left, the other Servant came in. Zouken's suspicions were confirmed when he saw the boy's older self come in. When Zouken sensed the boy's source of power he almost let out another insane laugh. 'So he really did it eh? Well I guess there is a chance for everything.'

"Welcome back boy, how is your condition treating you? Kihihihi" Of course Zouken had never met this older Shinji but he saw what happened in the basement so he knew most of what the boy did. Turning to the younger of the two he spoke.

"Well it looks like you don't have to be punished after all, come let us go meet our esteemed guests." He then gestured for all of them to follow.

---

Matou Zouken
January 31, 2001
Matou mansion - Living room

The three men walked into the house and they each took a seat in the darkened living room. There they sat leaving an absolute silence until the old man and the three other people came into the room.

Zouken spoke his voice rasp and his smile almost as cruel. "Welcome to our home I'm glad to see that you have all made it safely."

Turning to the obviously confused group of four he spoke as if to explain the 3 men's sudden arrival. "These 3 men are you uncles and they shall be staying here for the next few weeks for business."

The first of the 3 stood to introduce himself he was a tall man wearing a deep black trenchcoat and gloves to protect him from the cold weather. The trenchcoat went nearly all the way down to his feet and what could be seen of them were covered by equally deep black boots. His hair was a dark grey and while not very neat was short enough to not obscure his vision. He also held a pitch black umbrella by his side, that he had only folded when he went into the darker part of the living room. His voice was as deep as his clothes were black and he spoke with the accent of a foreigner. "My name is Seed, Seed Makiri." He then sat back down and let the next man speek.

The second man then stood up next. His hands were adorned with 25 rings each of a different color and gem but there were 4 on his left hand that shone brighter then all the rest. One shined a deep blue, if you were to look straight into it you could almost say it was bluer then the deepest part of the ocean, the second ring shined a pure silver ever purer then that of molten mercury, the third ring shined a bright yellow almost bright enough to equal the sun, and finally the fourth ring this ring shined a dark red some would say it was the color of blood. He wore a dark black cloak around himself that almost completely covered his enture person and of what you could see he only had simple dark brown robes that went all the way down to the floor. His hair had grown gray with age and had started to get quite long, at this moment it went down to his shoulders. Finally he had a rough mustache that had also grayed with age. His voice sounded wise and old to show that wisdom indeed gathers with age. "It's a pleasure to meet you all my name is Ring Makiri. I hope we will all get along during our extended stay." He also sat back down to let the third man speak."

The third man stood up, he wore a cloak that was a dark mix or black and red. If you were to try and look inside his cloak you could see what almost looked like a set or armor but who would wear armor these days? He wore a pair of dark black sandals to show as if the cold weather did not even affect him. Finally his hair was completely white except for a very faint tint of red as if he had lost the color with age. His hair was also wild and untamed to show it had not been cared for in a long time. His voice was rather quiet and he had a lot of trouble speaking. "B-bull M-makiri." He then sat down as well.

After they had all given their introductions Zouken spoke up. "Ring and Bull you can go to the guest rooms my grandson here will show you the way. As for you Seed, my granddaughter was about to give her friend a tour of the city you can go with them so as to familiarize yourself with it as well. I know this is your first time visiting."

He then left the separate groups to do whatever they wished.

[lantzblades]

Sakura got an idea. A brilliant idea, a wonderful, fantastical idea. She would lie. Not a big lie, but one that would let her speak uninterrupted and away from Zouken. She turned to Shinji "That reminds me, Nii-san. When I am finished with showing Seed-san around, I need you to come with me. We need to go to Emiya's. Mitsuzuri-senpai and Fujimura-sensei were very adamant that we both talk to him. It's something to do with the Archery Club."

[SeiKeo]

Ayako nodded at Assassin's suggestion. It would be a good idea to figure out who they were up against.

"Sounds like a good idea."

Standing up, Ayako went to purchase a croquette before returning to Assassin.

"So where should we start? I don't know much abut this after all."

Assassin
January 31 2001
Fuyuki Mall

Assassin thought. This was a problem, now. She didn't know anything about magic, and neither did she. Maybe... monks were always supposed to know something about the supernatural, and the temple somehow managed to pass through the war unscathed...

"It's just a hunch, but I think that the temple might have something helpful. Shall we head there?"

[Nanao-kun]

Mitsuzuri Ayako
January 31 2001
Fuyuki Mall

Temple? There was only one temple in Fuyuki City. Which happened to be named...

"Ryuudouji Temple? I guess asking monks about it would be a good idea. The church might work too."

The Church is always involved when there's magic. According to her games that is.

[SeiKeo]

Assassin
January 31 2001
Ryuudouji Temple

The temple loomed large on the mountain. No, not just the temple. Assassin could feel a field bearing down on the area, suppressing her abilities. "Ayako... seems this is an interesting situation. The temple seems to have a field that limits my abilites."