8. Chapter 8

*5 days later*

5 days have passed since Shirou discovered that he could project Noble Phantasm.

Caster was rethinking about the last days while she was watching Shirou preparing himself in front of the summoning circle.

That night Shirou would summon his Servant.

Everything had gone according to her plans.

Shirou's training had gone well and now he had full control of his high-level circuits.

During a training session she even reinforced Shirou with her high-level reinforcement, and she was more than happy with the results, she was sure that with her help Shirou would be able to defeat a Servant.

Caster also estimated that if Shirou should ever be forced to fight on his own against a servant he would be able to last around 1-5 minutes, depending on the Servant.

She was sure that if Shirou had the time to analyze the Servant weapon he would be able to take the servant by surprise if he projected its weapon, it would not give Shirou a big advantage but it would give him a weapon capable of killing a servant, and it could be a good distraction while Shirou tried to get more familiar with the servant fighting style.

Other than that nothing else happened, no Servant has been summoned and she didn't find any Master.

These last days had been peaceful, and even now Caster was calm as ever.

She then snapped out of her thoughts when she saw that Shirou had finished his preparative for the ritual.

"Now that you are done here I will go into my workshop. Remember, if something should happen..."

"Yes, I will stick to the plan, you don't have to worry". Shirou said trying to reassure Caster. They had made some plans in case the Servant Shirou summoned turned out hostile toward Caster and tried to kill her.

"Perfect." Caster turned around and started to walk toward the exit, but before she exited she stopped and said: "Shirou, be careful... and good luck."

"Thank you, Caster." Shirou said as he watched the summoning circle with a serious expression, before he with a blade cut his hand and started to pour his blood in it.

And with that Caster dematerialized and left Shirou in the toolshed.

A moment later Caster was observing Shirou with her crystal ball from her workshop, ready to react if something should ever happen.

She was not sure if the Servant that Shirou will summon would immediately attack her, she knew that the servant that Shirou was about to summon would be in some aspect similar to him, but she wanted to play it safe, so she opted to stay into her workshop and then send a copy of herself to talk and negotiate with the Servant.

She now was also checking the surroundings of the home and she was reinforcing the bounded field that hid magic traces to strengthen its effects, she wanted to make sure that no one would discover or sense the summoning that was about to happen.

After doing all of her checks she permitted Shirou to start the summoning.

As soon Caster gave him the permission to start, Shirou took a deep breath.

It was time to summon his Servant.

After this, he will officially be a participant in the Holy Grail War, and very soon he will fight to protect and avenge the innocent!

"Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone.

The ancestor is the goddess Hecate.

The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate."

The magic circle in the tool shed started to illuminate.

"Shut, Shut, Shut, Shut, Shut.

Repeat every five times.

Simply, shatter once filled.

I announce.

Your self is under me, my fate is in your sword."

A strong wind started to blow from the circle as the light became stronger.

"In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.

Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead.

You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance!"

Smoke rose from the circle and after a blinding light engulfed the tool shed, blinding Shirou for an instant.

After some long moments, Shirou started to see again, and he started to watch toward the smoking summoning circle.

The smoke started to slowly fade, and at one point a figure could be seen on its inside.

"I ask you, are you my Master?" A female voice asked him.

The smoke cleared out and now in front of Shirou there was a beautiful female knight. As he watched her he could sense the great power and the authority the woman emanated, her presence was outright terrifying... but he had done it! He had summoned a powerful Servant!

Without any kind of hesitation Shirou answered: "Yes, I am."

After a moment the Servant spoke again.

"I'm Servant Saber, in response to your call, I have come. My sword will be at your side from here on out. From now on, whatever fate awaits you, awaits me. The accord with us has now been struck."

"Welcome Saber, I'm Shirou Emiya. I'm honored to have summoned the strongest class of the Holy Grail War." He said as he bowed his head a little.

'Now I have to be polite and respectful, I can only hope that she will be reasonable and will collaborate with Caster...' He thought.

"..." The Servant remained silent as she watched him.

For Saber mere moments, or maybe years, have passed from when she has been betrayed and forced to destroy the Grail against her will... And now the young man that was standing in front of her bore the same last name as her last Master!

'...Impossible,' She thought. 'he cannot be his son or grandson. He shares no traits with that man or even with Irisviel... They are too diverse...' Saber thought as she watched Shirou. It was clear that the young man standing in front of her was not entirely japanese, or even german... just how common was that cursed last-name?

Other than just the physical aspect Saber could tell and sense that not only the boy in front of her was not that man's son, he was also the total opposite of that man. She could tell that he was a strong and righteous person, someone able to fight, someone who would protect the innocents, someone who would never betray his allies...

Her instinct told her that she could easily trust him, but for now, she would still be careful.

She could also sense her new Master's mana flowing through her, and she had to admit that she had never felt so powerful. She was sure that with her new steady and powerful source of mana she could fight without restraining herself, she would even dare to say that she could use her Noble Phantasm multiple times without any problems...

"I too am honored to have been summoned by a powerful and young mage such as yourself, I will look forward to seeing you fighting." Saber said as she watched him carefully.

"You do not have to worry about that Saber, I'll fight by your side." Shirou said before tracing a sword in his right hand.

"I see..." Saber said while observing the masterpiece of a sword that the boy had just created.

Saber then started to observe Shirou more carefully, she noted that her Master was in great physical conditions, his eyes were sharp, his hands were strong, and in his attitude, there was no trace of hesitation...

"It seems that I have to correct myself, you are no mage, but a warrior! This is excellent!" She said as a little smile appeared on her face. Finally, she had been summoned by someone who faced his enemies face to face.

Saber already started to like her new Master, she was more than happy at the thought of fighting with him, she could already imagine herself fighting an enemy Servant as he fought the Master.

"I'm more than happy to hear these words, but now Saber I have to ask you to follow me, we cannot discuss in a place like this." Shirou then said.

Saber started to look around and only now she noted that she was in some kind of shed, where dirt and dust were everywhere. She then simply nodded and started to follow her new Master.

Saber followed her Master and after a bit she was sitting in a living-room, after she sat down to a table her Master went into the kitchen and after a moment he returned with a tray with 3 cups of tea.

"Saber, before we start to talk about the war I have to inform you that before your summoning I've already formed an alliance." Shirou said while sitting down next to Saber, who was at the head of the table.

"I have no problem with an alliance at the start of the war, but now I have to ask you, are you sure that these allies can be trusted? Or we will have to be careful around them?"

"I trust her with my life," Shirou said without any hesitation. "I was capable of participating in the war thanks to her, I have no doubt that her help will be priceless."

"Hmm, it's good to know that you have already made an alliance with someone that you trust this much... anyway, did she already summoned her Servant?" Saber asked. She sensed that the words that her Master spoke were true, he truly trusted that person with all himself.

"Well, you see..." Shirou started to say as he assumed a serious expression.

"I have no Master." A female voice that echoed into the room continued.

After hearing the voice Saber saw a black and purple cloud appearing on the other side of the table, that cloud started to take form and after a moment a floating cloaked woman appeared.

"Hello Saber, I'm the servant Caster, your new ally..." Caster said with a smile as she looked down at Saber. After saying that Caster sat down on the other head of the table, and calmly started to take some sip from her cup of tea.

Saber frowned at the sight, her hand had already reached her sword ready to attack the instant she heard the female voice. She watched the woman very carefully, and her instinct told her that the woman was... a damn witch.

Without taking her eyes off of Caster she asked Shirou: "Master, is she really your ally? I don't want to doubt your judgment skills, but how do you trust this... woman?" Saber said with difficulty.

'Could it be that this witch already used some magic to control him?!' Saber then thought.

"I know what you are thinking Saber, you're wrong." Caster told her. "The only kind of magic that I used on him was to improve his magic circuits. Other than that your Master is doing everything of his own free will... including trusting me." Caster said calmly.

Shirou then continued and said: "Everything that she has just said is the truth, she intends no harm to any of us Saber."

"I'm sorry Master... but I cannot bring myself trust her words." Saber said. She was used to be betrayed, but she could not let it happen again, not this time that she had a second chance.

Shirou sighed and said: "I know that she may appear as evil, but once you get to know her you will see that she is a good person that you can trust."

After hearing Shirou's words Caster watched Shirou for a bit, but after a moment she returned her attentions to Saber and said: "I do not care if you trust me or not, the only thing that I care about is that you will help us survive the war." She then turned to Shirou and said: "Shirou, even if she does not trust me it's clear that she will not attack me if you don't order her to. Now that I'm sure that she is reasonable enough the two of us have to speak about some details about the war, I have to ask you to leave the room for a while."

"Sure." Said Shirou before getting up. "Saber, we will be able to know each other better soon, but before that I have to ask you to negotiate with Caster a pact of non-aggression, or even an alliance, if possible."

"...If it's your will." Saber said after a moment as she kept glaring Caster.

"Thank you." Said Shirou before turning around and getting out of the room.

Now only Caster and Saber were in the living room, and the only thing that divided these 2 Servants was a mere wooden table.

Even if Saber was hostile Caster was relaxed, at one point she looked down at her cup of tea, and then she started to softly laugh, Saber frowned again.

"I see through your words witch, enough with your half-truths, what did you do to him?!" Saber said.

Caster turned her attention back to Saber and frowned a bit.

"Well, you can say that it was just a half-truth, I did not use any kind of magic to hypnotize him, but if I have to I can use my mental connection with him to take control of him... not that now I have a reason to do it. Anyway, I think that you are curious as to why I made your Master leave, or maybe you want to questions my loyalty..."

'Just like I feared, this witch has some kind of control over my Master.' Saber thought. The war for her had not even started and she was already in a bad spot.

Saber also could not help but note that the woman in front of her was too much relaxed, no hint of worry was to be found in her, it was clear that the witch felt as if she was in no danger at all.

"Why should I trust someone like you?! How do I know that you will not betray us at the first possible occasion?!" Saber then asked.

Caster thought for a moment and then answered.

"...Let me put it in this way, if I should ever betray someone, that person would be just you Saber. I have no intention to betray or harm your Master in any possible way."

"..." Saber remained silent and carefully watched her.

"You do not believe me?"

"No, I can sense that you are speaking the truth... but I cannot understand why you would do such a thing." Saber admitted.

"Let's just say that the survival of your Master is one of my main goals, after all... he is my trusted ally." Caster said with a sly smile.

"Tch, if you trust him so much then why you have to exploit your connection to take control of him?!"

"That's because of you Saber." Caster told her bluntly. "I have decided that if the Servant he would have summoned would not collaborate with me on his own free will I would have used Shirou's command seals to force the Servant to do so, or to get rid of him entirely... but luckily Shirou summoned a very powerful Servant that doesn't think with his sword, one who is willing to listen."

"..." Saber remained silent as she didn't know what to say or do. She could not understand what the woman in front of her wanted, she was not hostile and she was not trying to deceive her... what was her objective?

"Why the survival of my Master is one of your main goals?" She then asked.

"Hmmm... let's just say that he helped me, and I want to repay the favor."

'He helped her? What could he have done?' Saber thought. What kind of favor her Master did for a witch? She was not a person that would easily trusted others, so the only thing that came to her mind was...

"Did he help you to assassinate your Master?"

"What? No, no, no, nothing of the sort. You have seen him and you are his Servant, you should be the first to understand that he is not the type of person to do such things. But these should not be the things you should be concerned..."

"What do you mean?"

"You too are taking part in the war to take one thing, right?"

"The Holy Grail... right. Tell me, how do you intend to-"

"You can take that thing if you want, I don't want it." Said Caster interrupting Saber.

"...What?!" Saber exclaimed after a moment while getting up and pointing her invisible sword to Caster. "Did you take me for a fool?! Do you really think that you too can deceive me?! Do you-"

"Calm down Saber, I have to tell you something about the Grail, you should have noticed that it is far too convenient." Caster said as she raised her hands to make a gesture of surrender before she put them down.

Without taking her sword off of Caster Saber told her: "If you want to say something do it now! And be clear!"

"...A device that can realize any wish that you desire, no matter how good or evil they can be, it's way too good to be true. Tell me, Saber, if your 'Holy Grail' it's so sacred then how can spirits like myself be summoned? You can sense that I'm not a heroic spirit, but an anti-hero... and yet here I am. For some reason, despite all the things I did in life, I've been summoned by this so 'sacred' device to take part in this 'holy' war of yours. You now must have realized that there is something wrong with the Grail."

After Caster spoke Saber remained speechless... and she started to sweat cold.

She knew that Caster was speaking the truth, she personally saw the horrors that the other Caster was capable of during the fourth war, but until that point she had never asked herself why a monster like that could have been summoned in this sacred war.

Only now she realized that if the Grail summoned monsters like him there was definitely something wrong with it.

"Go on." She then said.

"...Oh my, how strange, until some moment ago you were hostile and doubted even your Master words, but now you are willing to listen to me? Did something just happened, or perhaps you know things that I don't?" Caster asked as she inclined a bit her head to her left side.

For a long moment, there was only silence.

"Oh well, I can ask you some questions later..." Caster shrugged before she took another sip from her cup. "Anyway, I know that it can be difficult to believe, but the Holy Grail has been corrupted, corrupted by something extremely evil, something so rotten that even I don't know how to describe it."

"...I hope that you have some valid proof to insinuate something like this." Saber said as she glared the woman.

"Yes, we have enough proof about it."

"...We? What do you mean by 'we'?"

"Do you know why I made your Master get out of the room? He doesn't know, but he has been a victim of the Grail in the last war. I don't want to tell him that because... sometimes he can be a bit difficult." Caster said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"..." Saber remained in silence as she was confused, she sensed that all the words that Caster just spoke to her were true.

'The last war? Impossible, my Master is too young and over 60 years have passed since the last war. And he was a victim of the grail? What does she-'

"Yes, the war should happen once every 60 years, but for some strange reason only 10 years have passed since the last war, I have yet to discover why." Caster told her.

After Caster spoke Saber remembered the moment where she had destroyed the Grail before any wish could have been granted, she reached the conclusion that the extra magic that had remained into the Grail may have caused the war to start sooner than normal.

"...What do you meant by victim of the Grail?" Saber then asked.

Caster started to slowly raise her left hand.

"Saber, you know that to strengthen the bond between a Servant and a Master the two of you will see each other memories?"

"Yes, but what has to do with it?" Saber asked as she carefully watched the hand of the witch.

"Well, why don't you try to see it yourself what the Grail is truly capable of?"

Then Caster snapped her fingers.

Saber blinked, but in that single instant she saw the first memory of Shirou, she saw that Hell that happened 10 years ago. She saw all the deaths, the destruction, the gore, and all the pain her Master went through that night.

"...What did you do? And what was... that?" Saber asked a bit shocked after her eyes widened and she lowered her sword. She was used to seeing hundreds of people dead and entire cities being destroyed, but that was not a battlefield, that was... just something horrible, something wrong.

"I used the connection between you and your Master to show you Shirou's first memory. In fact, the that thing that you just saw, the black mud, that was the manifestation of the contents of the Grail... or at least this is what I think. At first I had no idea of what it was, but after having analyzed both the zone where that disaster happened and the Greater Grail I noted that both of them presented the same traces of corruption and curses."

Saber sensed that Caster was speaking the truth, she clenched her fists and took a deep breath.

"You are telling me that the Grail has been a lie all along?"

"Well, in the first place the Grail was never meant to grant wishes, then during one of the previous wars something happened and now this all-powerful 'wishing device' has been tainted by something extremely evil... Yes, it's been a lie all along." Caster said with nonchalance.

Saber froze after Caster told her what she believed to be the truth... Maybe the witch was lying? ...No, she could tell that she was telling the truth. Maybe she was trying ot decive her? ...But why should she lie about the nature Grail when she seeked an alliance? ...Maybe she was simply wrong, right? There was no way that the Grail was corrupted... right?

'It's not possible... All this time... all my efforts... What has it all been for? What will be the fate of my kingdom?' Saber thought.

While thinking about the idea of the Grail being corrupted Saber suddenly had a sudden and great revelation. She now finally understood why Kiritsugu forced her to destroy the Grail... the man had somehow discovered that the Grail had been tainted, and he destroyed it before someone could use it.

"...Is there some way to purify or exorcise the Grail in some way?" Saber then asked, hoping for a good answer.

"Hmmm... I don't think. The corruption is way too deep, the only safe option for us is to destroy it, that way nothing like that event will ever happen again."

"...Why you are so calm about this situation? If you are here it means that you too have a wish, something that you are willing to fight to the death." Saber then asked.

"To fulfill my desire I do not need the Grail." Caster answered calmly.

"...And what about my Master? Other than that motive why don't you tell him that his desire cannot be fulfilled because of the corruption?"

"He never had any wish to begin with, he doesn't care about the Grail. His only desire is to save and protect the innocents from the horrors of the war, if he obtained the Grail he would probably desire to destroy the Grail to make sure that no other war will happen ever again."

'A somehow similar goal of that man...' Saber thought.

"Despite his age, he is pretty sharp." Caster said before she smiled a little, after all Shirou was the reincarnation of Sword, so she involuntary had just made a pun. "If I should tell him that the Grail is somehow corrupted he would immediately start to connect the dots and he would start to suspect the Grail of the event that happened 10 years ago. I don't want to know how he would react if he should ever discover that the incident was caused by the Grail."

After Caster mentioned again that incident Saber had a flashback, seeing that disaster once again.

'I cannot believe that the hellscape that I just saw has been created by the Grail...' Saber thought.

"I have another question, do you know how did my Master survived that cataclysm? He should be dead right now." Saber asked. She had mentally saw the conditions of the young child, it was a miracle itself that he was still alive at that point.

"...He may have not survived that night." Caster said with a grim tone. Saber could see and hear genuine sadness in her voice.

"...Explain yourself." Saber said.

"Even if it was just a memory you should have felt that the contents were extremely corrupted and cursed, just being near it would not be enough to destroy your body, but it would enough to destroy or ruin your soul... and that's how I think he may have died..."

"...You are telling me that my Master may have died by losing his soul or by having it destroyed? Then how is he alive?"

"He has been 'saved' by his adoptive father. That man had a powerful Sheat, a Fae artifact, and he used it to save him. The Fae artifact cured all his wounds but it could not save the entire soul since it was damaged or completely destroyed, so it repaired it or created a new one to keep the body alive... I'm not too sure on what has happened that night, but he has no memories or clues of who he was before, so we can say that on that night a part of himself, or his entire 'self', died."

'A Sheat? A powerful Fae artifact? Could it be him? Did he have it all this time? That would explain why they share no traits, why they have similar goals, and why I was summoned once again...' Saber thought.

"Caster, where is his father?" Saber asked. "I want to-"

"I have to inform you that his father died 5 years ago. Shirou told me that he died of a strange illness, but I'm pretty sure that he had been cursed, after all, he too has been in the center of that hell."

Saber stood still, and after a moment she sat down and started to drink her tea to calm down.

Saber started to feel some kind of guilt.

For the first time in her entire life she hated someone with all herself, she had hated that man more than everyone, more than all of those who betrayed her, more than those who stabbed her in the back in the past.

If 10 years ago she had a chance and the time she would have killed him without any hesitation, and without asking why he forced her to destroy the Grail.

She knew what kind of person he was, how he acted, how ruthless he was, she knew that nothing would stop him from reaching his goal.

If to reach his dream of world peace he had to sacrifice something, he would have done it immediately. She should have realized that something was wrong with the Grail as soon he ordered to destroy it, since she knew that he was desperate just like her to obtain it.

But in the end, he stopped her before she could make the fatal error of obtaining and asking her wish to the corrupted Grail... she didn't want to know what would have happened to her kingdom if he did not stop her from obtaining the Grail.

And right now she could not even ask him forgiveness... for all this time she had been blinded by hatred.

"Saber? Is there something wrong?" Caster asked after having noted Saber's expression.

"No... I was just thinking..."

"So, what are your intentions now that you know that the Grail is just a lie?"

Saber at that moment frowned and returned to her normal behavior.

"What kind of question are you asking? I have to tell you that before being a Servant I am a knight! I cannot permit the existence of a corrupted Grail that not only deceived me, but will also bring death and destruction! I have already sworn to my Master that I would have fought by his side during this war, and I will keep this promise at the cost of my life!"

"...I think that you will go along with Shirou pretty well." Caster said with a smile of satisfaction.

"It's obvious, after all he is my Master, the person who summoned me."

"So, are you willing to collaborate with me?"

"Yes. I don't yet know what your goals are, but just like my Master said I can tell that deep down you do not have evil intentions... not yet at least."

"You still don't trust me?" Caster asked with a sad tone.

"Obviously not, even if you are our 'ally' I can tell what kind of person you are..." Saber said as she glared Caster.

"...Anyway, do you have some other questions to ask me?"

"No, I do not." Saber said, she now just wanted to speak with her Master.

Caster took a final sip from her cup and then her eyes sharpened. "Now Saber, I want you to answer some of my questions. I could not help but notice that you are-"

"The answer to both of your questions is yes. I'm not a normal Heroic Spirit, and this is not the first time I have been summoned to take part in the war." Saber interrupted Caster before she could finish

"..." Caster remained in complete silence. When Shirou summoned Saber she immediately sensed that Saber was not a complete heroic spirit, and she has seen how she reacted to the news of Shirou's father's death. She at first wanted to slowly ask some questions to understand her true nature, but she saw right through her.

"You have to know that in the past I interacted a lot with your 'kind', in fact, I can already tell what you are thinking and what you are going to say next. I know that I have made some mistake by showing some of my emotions during our conversation, but for me mere... moments? have passed since the end of the last war... and I have yet to calm down."

"The end of the last war? Did you...?"

"Almost... I had to defeat my last enemy but then Kiristugu ordered me to destroy the Grail... only now I have realized why he gave me those orders. Still, I can see that despite getting destroyed by my anti-fortress Noble Phantasm the Grail was still capable of causing such damages and horrors... That thing is way more dangerous than you think, Caster."

"What?! The physical manifestation of Grail has been destroyed by an Anti-fortress Noble Phantasm and yet that Hell happened?! ...But that would explain why the disaster was so limited and the Counter Force had not been summoned." Caster said shocked. If the Grail had not been destroyed, what would have happened?

"Caster, we can think about the Grail later, it will not go anywhere, for now there are other heroic spirits to be taken care of. What will be our course of action? Do we have to inform them of the Grail corruption or we will have to just kill them?"

"I have to first tell you that for now only 3 servants have been summoned: you, me, and berserker, who is not yet here. According to my calculations Servants will start to be summoned once every 1-2 weeks."

"I see, that has to be another kind of anomaly caused by the destruction of the Grail... What about your plans?"

"We are trying to find the other Masters before they summon their Servants to kill them or just take their command seals from them, that way the Grail War will never start at all. If we find them too late we will just observe them, discover the identity of their Servant, find their weakness, and exploit it."

'I knew that I would not like her methods... but the world may be in danger because of the Grail, I cannot let my morality stop me.' Saber thought.

"You sound pretty sure about this plan, how do you intend to discover the enemy Servant identity?" She then asked.

Caster smiled a little and said: "There are some things that you don't yet know about your Master, he has a very special set of skills..."

"Go to the point."

"He..."

*5 minutes later*

"..."

"So, do you have something to say?" Caster asked.

"I can only say that it's impressive. To think that a young man like him has such power... I can say that our chances to lose a fight are extremely low." Saber said. Being able to copy Noble Phantasm was an absurd ability, she had never heard of something similar... that, and the fact her Master was an incarnation of Sword and had a Reality Marble... she had basically been summoned by a monster never seen or heard before.

"Yes, and now with 2 front liners I can start to focus all my energies on increasing our defenses and creating powerful magic objects that will surely help us in the future, with this we should have no problem in surviving the war no matter what should happen."

At that moment Saber sharpened her eyes and said: "Once again you just said that you want to survive this war... what is your objective?" Saber asked.

"That's some rather private question Saber, why do you want to know?"

"As I told you before I don't know what is your objective, and if you want me to trust you even a bit you have to tell me what is it. Also, since you know that the Grail is corrupted I guess that you already started to find a way to make your wish come true, isn't it right?"

Caster got a serious expression and said: "Even if I should tell you why it would make you trust me?"

"It would help me to understand you better as a person. Until now you always said the truth, you never lied and you never tried to deceive me. Then it's clear that for now you mean us no harm, you could have already controlled my Master to bend my will to yours with his command seals, but you did not. Other than that I can say that you really want to collaborate with me to get rid of the corrupted Grail... my instinct tells me that you are not someone who can be trusted, and yet your action speak differently Caster."

"..." Caster remained silent.

"Then? What are you waiting? Will you tell me what is your objective or no? Don't you want an alliance with me?" Saber asked insisting.

"...I just want a peaceful life, that's it, that's what I ever wanted." Caster then relented as her eyes under the hood looked down.

'Another tormented soul.' Saber thought as she sensed Caster saying the truth.

"...Let me guess, your desire was to go back, right?"

"Indeed. At first I wanted a second chance, I wanted to go back and change the past, but then I simply changed my mind..." Caster said while watching her now empty cup of tea.

"You changed your mind? Why? Didn't you take part in the war to realize that wish?"

'Huh, it seems that we had similar desires.' Caster thought as she noted Saber's sudden reaction to her words.

"Let's just say that someone helped me to realize the futility of this desire."

"...Futility?" Saber asked a bit confused.

"Yes, everything has already happened, many people have suffered and died. If I go back and change everything, then why we had to suffer all of that in the first place? Even if I should make that change, it would not bring back the dead, it would not erase all the suffering I've caused... it would not erase all the sins and horrible actions that I have committed."

The two of them then remained in complete silence for over a minute.

Saber, strangely, wanted to keep speaking about that subject. Until that moment she had never thought about her wish in that way since she knew that her's was a selfish desire, but in that situation what she should do as a king? Should she go back and change everything, making the suffering and the deaths of her people pointless, or just...

Well, she could think of that later, not that it would make any difference in the end since she could not fulfill her desire.

"May I ask you another question?" Saber asked.

"Sure."

"What made you change your mind about your desire?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I was just curious of what could change the mind of an Anti-hero like yourself."

"...Your master did. The two of us have a somewhat similar past, but seeing him made me realize where I did things wrong... After everything that happened to him, he still is a reliable and honest person... that's something I can't say about myself."

"Is this the reason why you trust him?"

"Yes, it's one of the many reasons, he has helped me in many ways." Caster admitted.

"...He was right after all, at first you may appear as an evil person, but deep down you... you really care about your allies." Saber noted as she observed Caster.

Caster remained silent at Saber's words, she had to remind herself to later thank Shirou for having said that.

"So, can we say that we have formed an alliance?" Caster then asked.

"Sure, but I will keep an eye on you." Saber said calmly with no hostility.

Caster simply nodded and then telepathically told Shirou to come back, after some moment Shirou entered the living room.

"So, is everything alright? Have you two clarified everything?" Shirou asked hoping for the best.

"Yes." Both Caster and Saber said at the same time.

"We have formed an alliance just like you wished." Saber said.

"Perfect! I'm happy to see the two of you going along. Now, Saber, I have to ask you to follow me, I will show you around the house and then the traps around it."

"Yes, Master." Said Saber before getting up and walking toward Shirou.

"Just call me Shirou, there is no need to be formal with me." He said after Saber reached his side.

After that Shirou watched Cater, nodded, and closed the door of the living room leaving her alone.

...

...

...

"...Fu... fu, fu, fu... Fuhahahahahahahahahahhahah!" The real Caster started to laugh from her workshop. "We have won! Excellent work Shirou! Hahahahhahaahaha! Excellent work!" Caster laughed as for the first time in a very long time she felt more joyful.

Now victory was assured, there was no way that she could lose, with now a Reality Marble user that could copy Noble Phantasm and a frighteningly powerful Saber that had almost won the last war at her side she could finally reach her objective, she could finally have a peaceful life... and it was all thanks to the young boy that helped her!

Caster then started to giggle before she turned to watch the clock.

'And it's even almost time for dinner!' She thought happily, could things get better than this for her?

"-yes, I know that you heroics spirits do not need to sleep, but you still need a room." Shirou said after showing the house to Saber and asking her where she wanted to sleep.

"Then I want the room closer to yours if possible." Saber then said. She would have preferred to sleep in the same room, but for now there were no other Servants that could suddenly attack them.

"There is another room near mine... you have just to give me some time to clean it and prepare it. In the meantime, if you want you could go to Caster and-"

"It would bother if I remain with you?" Saber asked before Shirou could finish.

"Of course not." He said.

After some minutes Saber was watching Shirou cleaning her new room, she could not help but note how strangely empty those rooms were.

"Ma- Shirou, I have to ask you some questions."

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"How much time has passed since you and Caster met? And how did you met?"

"...Well, it's been around 2-3 weeks, and we met after I saved her. I found her near the temple, she was wounded and her mana level was low, luckily I made it in time and I managed to save her." He said with the hint of a smile.

"Why was she in such conditions?" Saber asked curious. Could it be that Caster had already fought the other Servant?

"That's because she had just escaped after she had killed her Master." Shirou said calmly as he cleaned some dust.

"...She had killed her Master... and yet you helped her?" Saber asked a bit confused.

"...Saber, you have to know that the person that she killed was an evil man," Shirou said as he turned around towards Saber, she could see and hear anger rising in him. "he was someone willing to kill innocent children to reach his goal, he was a monster. I cannot blame Caster for what she did, instead, I should only thank her." After that Shirou calmed down and returned to clean.

"Oh, I see. After you saved her what happened?" Saber asked. She was satisfied to see that she was right about him, truly a righteous person.

"She told me about the war and I could not ignore the fact that these 'mages' wanted to have a secret war in the middle of a city full of civilians, so I asked her if I could join and help her. She accepted my help and then she started to train me..." Shirou stopped talking, then a moment later he turned around to watch Saber.

"About the training, Saber, since we do not know when the war will start would you train me at being a better swordsman?" Shirou asked wishing for her to say yes.

"Do you want me to train you? Very well, since there is plenty of time I should be able to improve your skills with the sword, but I have to inform you that I will be very harsh. I hope that it will not be a problem for you to have some livid or two after the training." Saber said. She liked the idea of sparring with him, that way she could see how good her Master was with the sword.

"Not at all!" Shirou said excitedly, but after a moment he spoke again "...Just, don't be too harsh..."

"Hmm? You seemed excited at first, did you just change your mind?" Saber asked curiously.

"No, it's that I don't want to break a promise I did to Caster..."

Saber watched Shirou asking for what he meant.

"Well, one time during training I pushed myself too much, in fact, I pushed myself so much that I somehow fainted the next day... Caster was so concerned about me that I had to make her a promise to control myself..." He said regretfully.

Saber was a bit surprised at her Master's words, she now slowly started to understand what kind of relationship there was between her Master and the other Servant, but she still needed to know more.

"You do not have to worry about that Shirou, I will make sure that I will train you as much as possible without pushing you too much." She then said.

"Thank you, Saber."

"Ah, another question, what kind of relationship do you have with Caster?"

"Relationship? What do you mean?" Asked Shirou turning around, as he was caught a bit off guard.

"I could not help but note that the both of you respect and speak about the other with high regard, I could even say that both of you can trust the other almost blindly. I wanted to know how the two of you got that close without being a master and a servant."

"Ah, that... well, I trust her that much because for me she is... a teacher, a friend, maybe even a bigger sister. She made me discover the Grail war, she trained me and she taught me everything that I know about magic. Maybe she has already told you that my primary objective is to save as many people as possible from this pointless war... and now I will be able to do it thanks to her."

'Huh, I can guess that the feeling of gratitude is mutual.' Saber thought.

"I see, but what about her? She doesn't seem someone who trusts others easily, what did you do to make her trust you?"

"That's... you know, I think that is a question you should ask her."

"Hmm, you are right." Saber said, in fact that was something she had to ask Caster for major details.

In the meantime Shirou had finished cleaning the room, now he had just to take a futon fo her. He turned around and watched the clock, at that moment he noted that it was almost time for dinner, he had to cook.

"It's almost time for dinner, Saber, do you have any preferences on what you want to eat?" Shirou then asked her.

"No, I do not. As long as it is good I will gladly accept everything you make."

After saying those words Saber could see a little glint in Shirou's eyes, she wondered at what he was thinking.

'I will not disappoint her, I'll make the best meal of her life!' Shirou thought determined.

'This is the best meal of my life!' Saber thought after devouring everything on the table.

Before dinner Saber still felt a bit uncomfortable being near Caster, but all her thoughts had been washed away as soon she smelled the feast that Shirou was preparing, and after she started to eat she did not stop until every plate on the table was clean. They were the best plates she ever has eaten, and that was great praise since they were coming from a king!

"Fantastic, wonderful, delicious! I have no other words to describe the plates that you have just prepared. Shirou, I have expected you to be a great warrior, but I would never have expected you to be a fantastic cook!" Said Saber satisfied as she patted her full stomach.

"I'm more than happy that my cooking has satisfied you!" Said Shirou smiling.

"Tell me Shirou, where did you learn to cook?" Saber asked.

"Heh, I learned by myself." Shirou said with a satisfied tone and a smile.

"What? That is incredible!" Saber said more than surprised.

...

Caster in the meantime was cleaning the table while listening to Shirou and Saber talking, she could already see the two of them going along. During dinner Caster could not take her eyes off the little knight since she started to note how cute Saber was, even while she was consuming everything in front of her. She also noted how satisfied Shirou was while he was watching Saber devour everything, it seemed that not only being a hero brought him happiness.

Anyway, Caster started to think a bit about Shirou and Saber, they alone could be terrifying foes. A strong boy capable of copying Noble Phantasm and a terrifyingly strong Saber would be extremely difficult to beat in a direct fight without a very, very, good plan, if not they would be altogether impossible to beat.

The only way to beat them would be to somehow take down Shirou first, and then wait for Saber to get weaker, but luckily Shirou was also being protected and assisted by her, the Caster servant, there was no way that he would die.

Caster snapped out of her thought when Shirou and Saber got up.

"Hmm? Where are you going?" Caster asked.

"Right, I asked Saber to train me and she accepted my request, we will spar a little." Shirou answered.

"Ah... nice thought Shirou, who could make you a better fighter than the Servant Saber herself? While she teaches you the way of the sword I'll keep teaching you magic, this way we'll make sure that you will be more than ready for when the war starts... if it starts."

"Shirou, where shall I train you?" Saber then asked him.

"Right, I forgot to show you the dojo, follow me, Saber."

And with that Saber and Shirou left Caster alone once again...

'Yea, the training with the Dragon warriors was getting too easy for you anyway... but you could have at least informed me before that you wanted to train with her and not with m-' Then Caster stopped thinking. 'What? What the hell am I thinking?'

Caster stood still in the living room for a minute while being a little bit confused by her own thoughts.

Half an hour has passed and Saber had just finished her little spar with Shirou.

"You have my compliments Shirou, it was a good spar! I have to say that you are better than I have first thought, you have very good reflexes and strength, but you do not have a proper fighting style." Saber said with a genuine smile since she enjoyed the spar, she had fun.

Shirou was now on the ground, broken and beaten, he realized that fighting just after dinner had been a very bad idea, but he still had the forces to ask her breathlessly: "Is that... a really bad thing?"

"Hmmm, it depends, but in your case it can only be good. In the future, you will fight many different foes and you will have to adapt to their fighting style, and thanks to your nature you will be easily capable of doing so."

"T-Thanks."

"You are more than welcome!" Saber said while handing her hand to Shirou.

He took her hand and got up, as he did he already started to feel better. After he got up Shirou then noted Saber carefully observing and studying him.

"Saber, is there something wrong?"

"No, I was thinking about how my instinct was right about you, you are a reliable and a strong person... I now think that is finally the time to present myself." Saber said. She now had no reason to hide her name, there was nothing to fight for anymore, and the possibility of Shirou being captured by the enemy was extremely low.

"...Right," Shirou then held out his hand. "I am Shirou Emiya, it will be an honor to fight at your side, Saber."

Saber smiled a little, then she shook his hand.

"I'm Artoria Pendragon, heir of Uther Pendragon and King of Britain. I too will be honored to fight at your side."

"...Artoria Pendragon? Huh, who would have never thought that the King of Camelot was a woman... how did the historians managed to make such a big mistake?" Shirou asked curiously.

Saber started to scratch her cheek and said: "Well, you see, in reality, I just hid the fact that I was a woman for various circumstances..."

At that same moment Caster entered the dojo, she wanted to see how Saber and Shirou were fighting, but she had been caught a bit off guard when she saw a beaten and confused Shirou standing in front of Saber while shaking her hand.

"Saber, were you sparing with Shirou or you just started to beat him until he stopped thinking?" Caster asked clearly mocking.

"What do you mean?" Saber turned to watch Caster and then returned her attentions to Shirou... yea, she did get a bit carried away, but right while she was watching some of the livid she made she started to note that some of them were already disappearing.

In the meantime Caster too sensed something, she could sense some kind of magic from within Shirou.

"Shirou, can you take off your shirt? I have to analyze you." Caster said while getting closer to him.

Shirou snapped out of his thoughts, and then he did as Caster asked and took off his shirt.

After having placed her hand on Shirou's back she noted that the Fae artifact had finally started to work properly.

'It seems that the Fae artifact has finally been activated... it's... it's way more impressive than I first thought.' Caster thought as she noted that the Sheat healing capabilities were incredibly high. She could easily say that with the Sheat Shirou would be able to survive even if both his brain or heart had been destroyed... And she could feel that the artifact was connected to Saber... huh, so the key to making the artifact work was Saber.

"Caster... is it my Sheat that is healing Shirou right now?" Saber asked Caster.

"Yes it is, you can feel it working?"

"No, I do not. In fact after you mentioned earlier I was wondering where it was..." Saber said as she watched Shirou who now had no livid.

"Wait, the Sheat inside of me is yours? How do I give it back to you?" Shirou asked Saber.

Saber stood silent for a moment before she answered Shirou's question.

"No, it's better that you keep it, after all it still is a powerful healing device. This way even if something should ever happen to you you would not be able to easily die." She said.

"If this is what you want... but if you will ever need it do not hesitate to ask, I'm sure in the future it will be more useful to you than me." Shirou said.

Saber simply nodded at Shirou's words.

It was almost midnight and Shirou was now sleeping.

Caster was now outside the house sending familiars to place new traps in a certain place, and at the moment she was also reinforcing the defenses of the home.

In the meantime Saber was there watching her, there was no need to guard the sleeping Shirou since there were only 3 servants, which was not yet in Japan, so she was now with Caster.

"So, what do you think about Shirou?" Caster asked.

"...He is a good person that can be easily trusted. He may be young, but he is strong and I can tell that he is a good observer, he will know who to pick a fight with, so I doubt that he will get himself easily killed..."

"He also seems a selfless person-"

"He also seems a selfless person."

Both Caster and Saber said at the same time, which made Saber stop talking.

Caster turned around and started to watch Saber. Saber noted that Caster had a very serious and grim expression, she knew that whatever Caster was going to say next, would not be pleasant.

"Saber, I'll be straight, your master has many problems, but the most important is that after that incident he suffers from a severe case of survivor guilt, so severe that he does not care about his life anymore. You may say that he will not get himself easily killed, but after that hell that he went through he lost all his self conservation. If he should ever see a person in need of help he would do everything in his power to help it, even if it should cost his own life..."

Saber kept hearing Caster's words without interrupting her.

"Because of that hell his thought process has been distorted and now he values the life of others more than his, no matter who they are, friend or stranger... he would gladly die with no regret to save them. Saber, I am not ordering you anything, but you have to protect Shirou no matter what." Caster said with a very, very, serious tone.

"..." Saber somehow knew that there was something strange with Shirou, but she did not imagine something like this. Even if just for an instant she saw what happened 10 years ago, she saw the child leaving everything and everyone behind to save himself, and even if it was just a memory she could feel his huge sense of guilt and shame... she could feel how he felt unworthy to live at such young age.

"Another one of my goals is to make sure that Shirou will live a normal life. I am more than sure that someone like him will just condemn himself, if no one does nothing he will end up just like..." She stopped speaking for a moment. "Luckily I've already started to change his mind a bit, he has realized that his dream to save everyone is impossible, but he will still try to save as many people as possible."

"...It seems that you are more grateful to him than I have first thought, it's because he saved you, right?" Saber asked.

"Yes, and I will not let that fool die just because he doesn't care about his life... I will make sure to repay my debt." Caster said as she looked toward the moon.

Saber then sighed and muttered: "Sure that the Emiya's have many problems..."

"...What do you mean by tha- Oh. You were summoned in the last war by his father, right?" Caster asked as she turned to watch her. "Could you tell me what kind of person he was and what happened in the last war?" Caster the continued. She had to know everything about the last war, Saber's experience could be priceless right now, and she had the advantage to act before the other Servants could be even summoned.

After hearing Caster's request Saber sighed again, even if for her less than some hours, or years, have passed since the end of the war she still did not want to remember it.

"Well..."

*6 hours later*

"-and then Kiritsugu used his 2 command seal to force me to destroy the Grail..." Saber said a bit embittered.

For all the past 6 hours Caster remained silent and did not ask a single question, the only thing that she could think after hearing all of Saber's story, even if it was a bit out of character for her, was: 'What a shit show.'

More than a war between mages the fourth war has been a massacre and a complete disaster on all fronts, Caster didn't even want to know what happened during the other wars where the Grail had been somehow corrupted.

Also, she would have never thought that the man that Shirou described as a hero, in reality, was a cold-blooded killer that almost single-handedly won the fourth Holy Grail war... someone capable of rejecting the Grail after he discovered its true nature.

Well, now that she thought about it Shirou's father really was a 'hero', he sacrificed everyone and everything to reach the his 'noble dream' of world peace, but then when he discovered that the Grail was just a corrupted lie he did not hesitate and he destroyed it.

As she thought about it she was sure that she would have gone along with him pretty well, he was a ruthless and merciless man that would have done anything to reach his goal no matter the cost... or maybe she would have never trusted him for that same reason.

"Hah, at least Shirou is not like his father, could you imagine what Kiritsugu could have done if he was capable of copying Noble Phantasm?" Caster then asked.

Saber shivered a bit at the thought.

"Please, do not make me remind him..." Saber said. Even if Kiritsugu had stopped her from making a fatal error she still resented the man.

After she told Caster the events of the fourth war Saber started to feel better, she finally had managed to vent out some of her emotions... but now there were more important things she had to care about.

"Anyway Caster, I have to ask you one thing. Since Shirou and I are connected he will see 'all' my most relevant memories, right?"

"Yes, why do you ask...?" Caster then suddenly froze.

Saber didn't tell her what she really was but Caster could say that she was not a proper spirit, she even had all her memories from the past war, and that meant that soon Shirou too would be able to see all her memories... included those of the fourth war.

It was now morning and he started to awake from his deep slumber.

From the darkest and filthiest pit of the Matou manor worms started to emerge and the figure of Zouken Makiri started to take form.

Since he had been involved with the creation of the Grail he knew when a Servant was summoned.

He knew that for the past weeks there has been a servant in Fuyuki, his familiars had spotted the servant in various places like the Temple, the bridge, and even near the Einzenbern Castle.

There were few things that Zouken hated, and one of them was not knowing, he didn't know what the Servant's objective and the location was.

He sent his familiars everywhere but they could not discover nor the base nor the general location of said Servant base.

And now he could even feel that another Servant had been summoned, in the city, and for some reason, he didn't sense it at first.

Something strange was going on, it seemed that the war was going to start sooner than he first thought.

He had to be careful from now on.

He had to prepare her for the incoming fights...