Illya's Point of View
I always thought magic was something that looked exciting.
But, no matter how much I had desired or liked the idea of magic, no matter how my expectations about how it felt to have magic were...
...There is no way a normal girl like me would ever be prepared to what it really was like.
After suddenly being thrown into a world of magic, heroes, mirror worlds, and cards, any similar girls, who liked the kind of magic you’d see in some kind of Magical Girl anime, would probably have the reaction I did.
I wanted to deny it, and just go back to my normal life…
…But, thankfully, I didn’t.
Back then, I fought alongside Miyu against what seemed like an impossible foe.
Not too long after that, I met Kuro. We fought at first, but eventually managed to understand each other.
After that, a lot happened. Sad moments, happy moments. Bad situations, good situations…
...And to think, I’d never have met any of them, would never have helped Miyu, would never have understood Kuro, if it wasn’t for the very same magic I wanted to deny at first...
That I didn’t have long to live as a result of most of my reckless battles was kind of expected…
...But looking back, I definitely don’t regret anything that happened since meeting Ruby.
If anything, I just wanted to be able to stay with them a little while longer…
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After dying, I was somehow sent to the Throne of Heroes - probably because of my battles against the Class Cards, or even some of the other battles from the past.
When I arrived, as soon as my eyes cleared, starting to looked around...I got a headache, and after that, simply...knew...where this was. As if the information was there all along.
Anyways, now, having too much time, and not a lot to do, the only things I could do were to just think about my past, and sleep...Or get as close to sleeping as a spirit could.
But more importantly, it is a really lonely experience. I want, no, need, to do something, need to meet someone, anyone, need to do more than just sit here doing nothing.
As I was thinking that, starting to feel a slight headache...It felt more like someone was pulling my consciousness somewhere. I’m not exactly great at recognizing that kind of feeling, but that’s how it would feel like, probably.
Not long afterwards, I was somewhere else. Of all places...in a forest?
It sure looked like a forest...But before being able to think anything else, I felt a headache, this time similar to the kind of headache that happened when arriving at the Throne of Heroes.
The information came, and then I suddenly knew my situation, like last time.
In one way, I’m really scared now, with all that knowledge. This is the Holy Grail War, the same thing my parents tried to stop, after all.
But if a wish can really be granted by the Grail, and it’s not a Grail that feels...wrong, like the one my parents disabled was…
...Then I want to live just a little longer than before, just spend a little more time with my friends... And if it’s the same Grail they tried to disable, the least that could be done is disabling it in their place.I looked around, trying to see who my Master was. It didn’t take long for me to see a young man, still older than I was when I died, looking at me in shock…
That must be him. He’s the only person I see nearby. But still, maybe I should confirm it first…Thinking that, I started speaking up, feeling a bit awkward at the silence.
“Umm, are you my Master?”
He kept looking at me in shock for a few more moments, and he seemed to frown for a short moment before replying.
“Yes, I am...But, what is your Class?”
After a moment of trying to look for the answer to that question, in the knowledge about the Grail War that had been added to my brain...I replied, somewhat awkwardly, as he was still a stranger.
“Uhm, I’ve been summoned as Caster...Nice to meet you…?”
He sighed. Did I do something wrong?
While wondering about that, I started looking a little more around me...and noticed a circle of blood around me...Probably chicken blood, if the...two chicken bodies I saw nearby were any indication...
That was more than enough for me to start wondering if I was safe or not, until he frowned and replied.
“Haah...I’m Waver, Waver Velvet. I’m not sure if it’s is a good idea to ask this, but what hero were you in life?”
Oh. So I didn’t do anything wrong, but he was expecting something else.
After realizing that I looked like a normal girl right now, I thought that was to be expected. He probably expected some kind of strong-looking warrior…Not someone like me.
I decided to try to explain my situation. He did seem a little friendly, and was probably just surprised. So, after a moment of trying to convince myself that he was not a bad person, and trying to sound as confident as possible, I replied.
“I’m Illya. I’m not sure you’d know my full name even if it was mentioned...but I do want to introduce myself properly. You don’t need to worry about me being weak, probably...I may not look very strong right now, but a lot of things happened in my life, and I did things that some people thought impossible, so…”
I tried to sound confident, but ended up sounding pleading, didn’t I…
Then again, it’s not like I’m really all that confident, am I? Rin-san and Luvia-san usually seemed confident, even Miyu and Kuro did, but, thinking back, my own attempts at being confident like that didn’t work out...After all, I just do my best, and hope that it’s enough.
While I was thinking that, he sighed, frowned some more, then replied.
“Well, since you’re my Servant now, it would be better to know at least a little more about you than just your name...But we don’t have that much time. It’s late, and my ‘Grandparents’ are probably going to notice something is wrong if I stay out any further. Can you astralize, and follow me? Once we’re there we can probably discuss things in more detail.”
I nodded, seeing no reason not to do that, and astralized. It felt weird...and in a way that I can’t explain too well… Still feeling alive, but not feeling things like the wind blowing around me anymore, I guess? I still feel my feet touching the ground, though.
I figured that this would feel natural later... So, brushing off the awkward feeling, I started moving, following Waver back to his Grandparents’ house. While I’m still a little wary of him, he seems like a nice person. He didn’t shout at me or demand anything, like surely some other Masters might, if even a few of the stories from the Grail War I heard about were true...
So, after following him in silence for what seemed like at least 15 minutes, which was enough time to get used to the feeling of astralizing, we arrived at a wooden house. Not long after we arrived, an old man, probably his Grandpa, appeared.
After a short exchange, which was just Waver giving an excuse for being out and his Grandpa accepting it, we entered the house. Waver told his Grandpa he was tired, probably to be able to talk with me as soon as he could, and went upstairs, while I followed him.
Once we were on his room, he closed and locked the door, and started speaking with me again, this time, almost as quietly as a whisper.
“Well, since you’re going to be my Servant for this Grail War, I need to have a basic idea of what you can do before anything. Since you’re a Caster, we’ll need to plan accordingly. So, what can you do?”
Understanding that he probably didn’t want to talk loudly enough to be heard by anyone else, I explained how my magic works, and, for some reason, he was looking at me, shocked. Then he fainted.
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Okay, so, to clarify - when writing this, I was attempting to introduce Illya to the reader, with a few references that people may or may not get from canon.
The interactions are stiff on purpose, as Waver and Illya don't know each other well at this point. But if the characterization is just plain wrong, pleasedon'tkillme ... I mean, I'll consider rewriting this at some point.
For now I'll be trying to dish out new content somewhat quickly and then if it's too horrible quality once I'm done, I'll try making a new version, fixing whatever people said is wrong. So, yeah - constructive criticism is a big yes for me, but I won't apply it to older chapters at first. I'll keep it in mind for new chapters for now.