You Only Live Twice

TYPE-MOON Universe, Earth, Japan, Fuyuki City. 

While the battle on the school's courtyard raged on, Emiya Shirou crept into the school through one of its side entrances, to not get caught up in whatever was going on in the courtyard. He then made his way through the halls until he had a clear view of the action. 

Along the way, however, he was surprised to notice that part of the roof was on fire. 

"Seriously, just what's going on here?" Shirou asked himself as he moved through the halls cautiously. "First, I hear an explosion and metal colliding. Then, the school is on fire. I just don't get it." 

Eventually, Shirou reached a point where he had an unobstructed view of the courtyard. However, what he saw completely dumbfounded him. 

First, there were two men, one in red and one in blue, fighting with cold weapons, at speeds he could barely see. And as it turned out, they were the source of the clanging sounds he heard that first drew his attention. 

And although that fight was surreal, that was not the thing that surprised him the most. 

Instead, not far away from the two men, the sight of two women fighting… No, it would be more accurate to say that there was one woman one-sidedly suppressing another woman. And the one who was being suppressed was someone he knew. 

"That's Tohsaka." Shirou muttered to himself. "And that's definitely Magecraft she's using. But how? Does that mean she's been a Magus this whole time?" 

Unfortunately, there was no one around to answer Shirou's questions. ON top of that, he did not even have much time to dwell on them, either. Because before he could, he saw something that made him take a step back and cry out, knocking over a wet floor sign in the process, drawing attention to himself. 

Rin had been knocked off her feet, and the fuchsia-haired woman she was trying to fight against was about to land a finishing blow. 

"Tohsaka!" Shirou exclaimed in surprise. 

*Clatter!*

Although Shirou cried out, he did not shout as one would expect. Instead, it was more at the volume of someone speaking at a normal conversational level. Unfortunately, because of the relative silence and the fact that everyone in the courtyard was a bonified superhuman, the sound of his voice and the clatter of the wet floor sign carried all the way to their ears. 

And when Shirou saw all four combatants freeze in place while their eyes widened after his exclamation, he knew what was coming next. His adopted father, Emiya Kiritsugu, had told him stories from the past. And he knew that Magecraft and all its mysteries needed to be concealed from normal people. Meaning, in most cases, witnesses were eliminated. 

Not waiting to see who would be chasing him down, Shirou turned away from the window and bolted down the hall, hoping to reach the back of the school where there was a secondary gate leading out into Miyama Town. 

Unfortunately, the one sent to chase him down was quite possibly the fastest Servant to be summoned in this iteration of the Holy Grail War. So, before Shirou could even make it outside the school building, he found himself face to face with Lancer after turning a corner. 

"Sorry, Kid." Lancer said in a solemn tone. "I wouldn't wanna do this if I could help it. But you saw something you weren't supposed to." 

*Squelch!* 

Shirou opened his mouth to protest… speak in his defense… beg for mercy. However, before any words could leave his mouth, he felt a sharp pain on the left side of his chest, as well as a wet sensation dripping down. 

Looking down to see what caused the pain, Shirou saw the head of a crimson-red spear had been stabbed into his chest. Then, he tried to raise his head with great difficulty. However, before he could meet eyes with Lancer again, the spear was pulled out of his chest violently. 

As a result, Shirou stumbled backwards several steps. 

*Thud!* 

Eventually, Shirou backed into a wall. Then, with is body going weak from having his heart pierced, his legs gave out and he slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. 

"*Sigh* Never liked killing kids." Lancer said, his voice faint in Shirou's ears. "But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do." 

After that, Shirou, whose vision was darkening quickly, heard the sound of footsteps getting further away before he lost consciousness completely. 

Meanwhile, the standoff in the school's courtyard continued with Elicia smiling at Bazett, who stood over the immobilized Rin. All the while, Archer stood ready to attack Bazett should the opportunity to get Rin away from her present itself. 

"I've heard of you, the genius Magus from the Taylor Family in America." Bazett said while narrowing her eyes slightly. "But it's rather bold of you to claim yourself the strongest Magus in this iteration of the Holy Grail War." 

"Well, I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true." Elicia replied with a shrug. "Anyway, why don't we both take a step back. You see, Rin there is important to someone I became friends with since I got to Fuyuki. And I can't let her die." 

"And what if I refuse?" Bazett asked, her words full of confidence. Though, she was currently urging Lancer to return, as fighting a Magus and a Servant would be a bit much for her to deal with. 

"Well, you'd have to fight me and two Servants. Elicia replied. "Because I doubt that Archer over there would be okay with you killing his Master." 

'Damn it, I forgot about her Assassin.' Bazett thought to herself as she cautiously looked around with her eyes. 'I have no idea where he is. And I don't think I'd be able to dodge in time if he were to attack me from the shadows." 

"Theer's no point in looking." Tatsuo whispered into Bazett's ear while remaining in [Stealth]. 'If I really wanted to hurt you, you'd never see it coming.' 

Hearing that voice coming from so close by, Bazett channeled even more Od into the [Runes] drawn all over her body. At the same time, she lashed out with her right arm, intending to backhand Tatsuo. 

*Swish!* 

Yet, despite showing no sign of her attack, her strike hit nothing, only causing the sound of the wind to split. 

A moment later, in a burst of speed, accompanied by a streak of blue light, Lancer appeared next to Bazett with his spear resting against his right shoulder. 

"Looks like we got a new guest." Lancer said as he glanced at Elicia. "And if she's here, then that annoying Assassin must be here, too." 

Lancer then turned his head to look at Bazett, who looked rather tense. 

"So, what's going on here?" Lancer asked. 

"We're leaving." Bazett said, giving no further information. 

Then, without letting Lancer protest, she turned and started walking towards the academy's entrance. And when Lancer saw that, he shrugged his shoulders before following behind her. 

"Good choice." Elicia said as she waved at Bazett and Lancer. "See you next time." 

Meanwhile, Archer made his way over to Rin's side while keeping an eye on both the pair of Master and Servant walking away and the oddly cheerful woman that even he, as a Servant, felt a threat from. 

"Rin, are you alright?" Archer asked as he knelt next to Rin. 

"I… I'm fine." Rin stammered out while shaking her head. She then allowed Archer to help her to her feet before a look of realization appeared on her face. "Oh, no! We need to check on the one who was watching us!" 

Then, before anyone could reply, Rin ran off in the direction of the noise that stopped the fight. 

Meanwhile, Archer shook his head in exasperation before turning to face Elicia once again. He then slowly backed away while shifting into his astral form before following after Rin. 

"Well, things pretty much turned out the way they did in the source." Tatsuo said as he dropped his [Stealth] and appeared to Elicia's right. "So, what do you wanna do next, Lici?" 

"Hmm… I guess we should follow Bazett and Lancer." Elicia replied after a moment of consideration. "I'm sure you've noticed, they were both leaving some kind of surveillance spell along the way, probably to see if they were being followed." 

"Yeah, I did." Tatsuo replied with a nod. "And although they won't notice either of us, they'll definitely know when Tohsaka and Archer leave. They'll see when Emiya leaves, too. And when they do…" 

"They'll try to silence him again." Elicia said, finishing Tatsuo's sentence. Elicia then continued, her toen turning much more excited as she did so. "And that will lead to Saber's summoning. And I definitely don't wanna miss that." 

"Neither do I." Tatsuo replied, an excited smile stretching across his face. He then stopped to think for a moment. "Actually, why don't we follow Emiya? I could watch him use [Projection] a little more. We'd still get to see Saber's summoning, too." 

"Sure, I don't mind." Elicia replied with a shrug. "Well then, let's go." 

And just like that, Tatsuo activated [Stealth] while Elicia cast her [Camouflage magic] spell, [Hiding in Plain Sight]. Then, they waited for Emiya to leave the school. 

Meanwhile, Rin, with Archer following her in his astral form, finally reached Shirou, who was for all intents and purposes dead. Though, there was still a flicker of life inside of him. 

"Why did it have to be you?" Rin asked, looking horrified at the sight of Shirou's nearly dead body. 

However, before her thoughts could spiral out of control, Rin forcefully shook her head. Then, she reached into a small bag she carried on her waste and pulled out the same heart-shaped gem she used as a summoning catalyst. 

"Master, what are you doing?" Archer asked as he took his human form. "You know the rules of the Holy Grail War. This is blatantly going against them." 

"I don't' care, Archer." Rin said in a determined tone. "I don't want to see anyone innocent die if I can help it. And I can help it in this situation. So, I'm going to do something about it." 

Ignoring any further objections from Archer, Rin held the heart-shaped gem over Shirou's injury as she activated her magic circuits, flooding the gem with her Od I the process. 

"[Blut der Erde, Lebenskraft]." Rin incanted once she charged enough Od into the pendant. 

Then, with the pendant glowing brightly, Rin let go of it, letting it fall onto Shirou's injury. Then, as soon as the pendant charged with [Healing Magic] came in contact with Shirou's wound, the wound started to close at a speed visible to the naked eye. And after only a few seconds, the only evidence of the former wound was a hole in Shirou's shirt and the blood stains that surrounded it. 

"Alright, let's go." Rin said as she turned away. "We've got plans to make. We need a way to deal with those two if we run into them again." 

"Yes, Master.' Archer replied as he fell in step with Rin. 

Though, because he was behind Rin, she did not notice the flash of killing intent that flickered in Archer's eyes when he looked back to glance at Shirou. 

Archer then once again returned to his astral form as he and Rin left the school grounds. 

{[Notifications] 

-Learned [Skill], [Jewel Magecraft – B]} 

"Well, I can use [Jewel Magecraft] now." Tatsuo said quietly as he watched Rin and Archer leave. 

"[The End] is a cheat." Elicia complained. "Do you know how long it took me to learn a second magic? Like a whole year before I could use it just to hide my threads. Don't even talk about how long it took before I could hide myself." 

Instead of engaging Elicia, Tatsuo only shrugged his shoulders. Then, he turned to look at Shirou, who was starting to stir. 

After that, it did not take Shirou very long to wake up. And when he did, the first thing he did was look down at the hole in his shirt, which let him know that he really was just stabbed in the heart. After that, his survival instinct kicked in and he tried to get up so that he could run away. But when he put his hands on the floor to push himself up, he felt the gem that Rin left behind. 

"What is this?" Shirou asked as he picked up the pendant and took a look at it 

Realizing now was not the time to think about that, Shirou stuffed the pendant into his pocket before he quickly got to his feet and ran out of the school, completely unaware of the two following him in secret. 

At around the same time, Bazett and Lancer, who had gone quite the distance from the school, were nearing the bridge that led from Miyama Town into the rest of Fuyuki City. 

"Bazett, hold on." Lancer said as he materialized next to Bazett. 

"What's wrong, Lancer?" Bazett asked as she turned back to look at her Servant. 

Yet, Lancer did not answer Bazett immediately. Instead, he stared at his spear for a moment. Then, after confirming the feeling he just had, he finally looked up to meet Bazett's eyes. 

"My spear's curse has been nullified." Lancer said, finally replying to Bazett's question. "And that means…" 

"That means that someone must have saved that kid you silenced." Bazett replied. "But how is it possible?" 

"Like I said, the curse that prevents wounds from being healed was nullified." Lancer said. "But that doesn't mean they were able to save him in time. I think we should check the surveillance we set up on the way out just to make sure." 

Nodding in response, Bazett closed her eyes to connect with the [Runes] she left near the school's front gate, Lancer doing the same. They then watched as Rin stepped out of the academy, no doubt in either of their minds that Archer was following her in his astral form. 

Then, after a few more minutes, just as they were about to end their surveillance, they saw a young man leave, as well. 

"Is that him, Lancer?' Bazett asked. 

"Yeah." Lancer replied. "The hole in his clothes is still there. Besides, look at how cautiously he's looking around, afraid of being attacked again." 

"Well then." Bazett said as she opened her eyes and cut off the connection with the [Surveillance Runes]. "We can't leave any loose ends. I don't know how they managed to save him, but we'll just have to make it so that saving him isn't possible next time." 

With that, Bazett turned around and started running back into Miyama Town. At the same time, she activated the [Runes] on her arms and legs again, increasing her speed greatly. 

"You're so ruthless, Little Lady." Lancer said with a smile. "If you keep acting this way, I might just fall in love." 

Lancer then took off running, as well, quickly surpassing Bazett. Then, he ran at a speed she could follow while heading towards the trace of his spear's energy he could feel in the distance.