10. Chapter 10

-2 days later-

It was morning and Shirou woke up, he got up from his bed and started to rub his eyes.

"Good morning Shirou." Saber told him.

"Good morning Saber." Shirou said as he raised his head to look at her.

"Now that my duty here is done I will go into the living room, I'll wait for you there." Saber said while she dematerialized her armor and her sword, then after a moment, she got out of the room.

Shirou sighed and then started to remember why Saber was in his room guarding him while he was sleeping.

2 days ago, after they assaulted the enemy Master base the Servant Rider had been summoned, for this reason Caster started to increase the traps and the defenses around the home.

When she finished she started to talk with Saber about watch duty, but then for some reason, Saber proposed to stay in Shirou's room while he slept so that she could protect him all the time. Caster remained a bit surprised at Saber's request, but after that she said: "Sure, why not?"

At first Shirou was very embarrassed at the idea and he didn't want Saber to stay in his room, but after 15 minutes of Saber scolding him and telling him that she was first a Servant and then a woman he gave up. As Saber scolded him Shirou could swear that he saw in the corner of the eye Caster that tried not to smile, as if she was enjoying that little moment.

Anyway, the first night with Saber guarding him he had some trouble sleeping. Not because he was nervous about staying in the same room with his beautiful female Servant, but because she scared him. At first he thought that Saber would doing something like sitting on a chair read some book to pass time... or even doing something like take another futon rest near him... but no, she stood still in front of him all night long, wearing her full armor and with her invisible sword in her hands ready to fight!

'How can anyone sleep with someone observing them?' Shirou asked himself at first.

Even if Saber was his Servant her powerful presence scared him, still, after 10 minutes he fell asleep. After he woke up he noted that for some reason he was familiar with the sensation of someone watching him while he slept... a chill went down his spine, and he didn't know why.

After recovering his senses Shirou got up and went into the bathroom to clean himself, then he got dressed and went into the living room.

As he entered in the living room there he saw Saber that was watching the TV, and then he saw that Caster was in the kitchen and that she had already started the preparations for breakfast.

"Oh good morning Shirou, as you can see I took the liberty to start breakfast, now could you gently do the rest?" Caster asked him.

"Sure, no problem." Shirou said as he put on an apron. Right now Caster had become good enough at cooking that he could leave her in the kitchen alone without something catching fire or blow up.

"Thank you." Caster said with a smile as she dematerialized.

Shirou then started to cook breakfast, but from the corner of his eye, he could see Saber watching him carefully.

After a moment Caster was in her workshop.

She turned around and looked at the man under hypnosis in the center of the room sit on a chair.

After they captured him she took some liberties and she studied the mage body, she wanted to see if the man had some kind of special trait that could have helped him at becoming a Master so that she could find other Masters more easily, but unfortunately, she found nothing.

She lowered her head and looked at the back of her left hand where there were the 3 command seals that she stole from that man, she started to think about the events of 2 days ago.

After the sudden summoning of Rider, she was a bit confused. She had a very high number of familiars and they were observing every individual that could become a future Master or a threat, if one of those people became a Master she would have discovered it very soon, maybe even before then the Master itself.

Now, less than an hour before the attack she had called to her the majority of her familiars so that they could control every inch of the place that they were about to attack. For her, it was completely impossible that in that little period of time one of the people that she was observing got chosen to become a Master, and that for pure coincidence they managed to immediately summon their Servant that same night while she and Shirou were distracted.

When Shirou asked her if someone of the 2 mage families had become a Master she said that it was unlikely, but in truth, she was not sure. In fact, the very next morning she studied both Sakura and the Thosaka girl, but to her great surprise she could not find or sense the command seals, nor sense any kind of connection with a Servant... it was too strange.

Well, this meant only one thing: There had been a person who somehow knew about their presence and their plans, and that same person was able to hide from her all this time long.

In a situation like this she had to think for the worst, which meant that now they could get attacked anytime... not that it made her worry.

She knew that her territory creation ability was equal to none, she doubted the enemy had even the slightest idea of where they were, but she still increased the defenses just to be sure.

Just as Saber said: Overconfidence is the enemy.

Now she had almost finished to built her 'Invisible fortress', another week or so and her defenses could only be destroyed by Noble Phantasms, other things could not even hope to scratch the barrier that she created. And if the enemy Servant tried to use a Noble Phantasm within 300 meters of the base she would immediatly sense it and she would be ready to react.

Then even if the enemy somehow managed to enter into their base there were Saber and Shirou waiting fot him, they alone could utterly annihilate anything that entered here... she literally had no reason to worry about a surprise attack of only one Servant.

Other than that nothing else happened in the last 2 days...

Caster at that moment raised her head and she watched again the man, who was now missing his left arm. The hit that Shirou gave to the man that night had been too strong, and she had to amputee the man's arm to save the man life and make sure that the command seals would not dissapear from his arm.

'Shirou...' She thought sadly.

Even after everything that happened or he discovered unil now Shirou has never been discouraged, he just kept going forward, Caster was happy to see that Shirou was 'calm' as ever... but she felt guilty.

She knew that Shirou did not like violence, but in the end, when he needed to act he was completely merciless.

She then started to wonder if she had been a very bad influence for him, she knew that he thought highly of her and that he respected her, she thought the same for him... and she did not want to admit it, but after the weeks that they have passed together they had influenced each other.

Shirou was a gentle and trustworthy boy, someone who was ready to help anyone no matter who they were, and he would do it without expecting anything in return. He was so gentle that Caster could not help but relax while she was around him, fully knowing that if something ever happened there was someone who would help her no matter what. She even realized that staying near him made her feel better.

Then there was her, the Witch of Betrayal... and until now she only affected Shirou negatively.

As she thought of it she turned toward the man.

Caster sighed and got closer to the magus, now she had to get rid of him.

When she interrogated him with magic and asked who knew that he was a Master he told her that he had kept it as a secret from every person that he knew, except a certain 'queen'. He had told his friend and family that he was going on a long business journey and that no one should search for him. Caster was happy that she had not cut some loose ends.

Then during the interrogation, she had even discovered that he and his family were very influential people in the Clock Tower. After the interrogation she told Shirou about what she discovered and asked him if he wanted her to change him into a person who firmly believed in human rights, hoping that after they freed him he would change the mind of some mages in the Clock Tower about the value of human's life.

But at that point Shirou did something that she did not expect, he thanked her for the thought and then he told her that he didn't care what would be the fate of the man. Shirou then said that the man had come here to Fujuki ready to fight and to kill, and he even had the courage to make his base in a place where he put many innocents in danger, if he lived or he died didn't matter for him at all, he had given her carte blanche. At the time near him, there was Saber, and even if she told nothing it was clear that she agreed with him.

Since Shirou had refused her offer, something that until now had never happened and only now she had noted it, she had no reason to had any kind of pity toward the man that even Shirou despited. So she used her magic to teleport him in the forest near Fuyuki, blast a hole through his head and make his corpse disappear with magic fire.

After that she sent a copy of herself, disguised as the man she just killed, to the church and proclaimed herself to be Saber master as she showed the priest her commands seals, she lied to the strange man about the identity of Saber, gave an excuse for not coming earlier and then went away as quickly as she could without leaving any trace... her copy had a very bad feeling while being there.

Now that she was sure that the supervisor didn't suspect that something strange was going on she could now think on other things.

She then turned around to watch the materials that they took from the man workshop, luckily they found some objects and materials that were of a high value even by her standards, she was now sure that she could create some interesting objects with Shirou's help.

While Shirou was cooking Saber was observing him, the more she watched her Master and Caster interact, the more she asked herself what Shirou did to the witch. Her instinct told her that Caster was not someone who she could trust at all, but when she saw the 2 of them together she felt as if she did not have to intervene, as if Shirou was safe and nothing could threaten him.

In the past week, she had been more concerned about her desire and her conflicting morals, but recently she started to gave more attention to Shirou and Caster when they were together and she didn't know how to describe them, it seemed that Shirou had formed a contract even with her, they were going along just like she and Shirou... it was pretty strange but she was not going to complain, on the contrary, she was happy to see that Shirou had another 'trusted' ally.

Still, now that she was thinking about their relationship it made remind her of the events of 2 days ago and about the thing that she proposed, guarding Shirou while he slept.

She didn't propose it because she feared that Shirou could get attacked by the enemy Servant while he slept, she did it because of Caster. When she first arrived here she still had her guard up around her, and she was careful about every action that Caster made. She did nothing strange during the day, but when it was night Caster from time to time went into Shirou's room for some time.

When Saber confronted her Caster said that she was simply observing him and made sure that he was alright... strangely Saber didn't know if she could believe her, her instinct told her that she said the absolute truth, but for some reason, she felt that there was another motive.

After Saber started to guard Shirou Caster still came from time to time into his room, and she really just observed him. Saber, thanks to her affinity with magic, could feel that Caster used some spell to observe Shirou's health and the state of his magic circuits, other than that she did nothing... literally, she just watched Shirou sleeping for an hour or more and Saber did not know what to do... it was a really strange and awkward situation.

...Anyway, her training with Shirou was proceeding well, his reflexes were getting faster and his techniques better, she really had fun when sparing with him since he often changed weapon and fighting style mid-fight. She had always to keep her guard up to not get caught unprepared because every time they fought he always had a new technique that he wanted to try... but generally it did not go well for him.

"Shirou, do you want to train after breakfast?" She then suddenly asked.

"Ehm, sure, but first I have to hang out the laundry, right now there is a good weather." He said as he watched out of the window.

"Very well, I will await you in the dojo then."

Shirou simply nodded and returned to cook breakfast. He was now mentally preparing himself for another beating... not that he minded, on the contrary, but he still had that little promise with Caster and he did not want to make her concern for him.

An hour has passed and now Caster was watching Shirou being "trained" by Saber from her workshop, if she didn't know Shirou she would say that he was a masochist who enjoyed being beaten... but slowly she was thinking that it was true.

Anyway, she saw them fighting and she could clearly see the result of Saber's training, she could say without any problem that Shirou had started to become a good swordsman, but he still had no chances against a Servant like Saber... without her help.

It was now time to do some research and experiment.

Now that Shirou could train with a Servant she could now see the full effect of her reinforcement magic, it was now time to test how well Shirou could manage against a Servant. She knew that if the Servant was weakened or caught by surprise Shirou had very good chances of beating it, but what about a direct fight? How well could someone like Shirou manage against the strongest Class of the Holy Grail War?

While Saber and Shirou were training they suddenly saw Caster materialize in the dojo.

"Shirou, Saber, I want to try a little thing and I need your collaboration..." She said.

Shirou and Saber looked at each other wondering what Caster now had in mind.

*5 minutes later*

'Now this is fun!' Saber thought as she parried and deflected Shirou's numerous blows in few instants.

After Caster arrived she told them that she wanted to see how good was Shirou, empowered by her, against Saber. When Saber asked her what she meant Caster said that with her magic she would reinforce Shirou to the maximum possible level, which meant that Shirou would have the strength and the speed of a Servant.

And right now Saber was adoring the momen! Even if it was just a spar she was fighting seriously against Shirou, her battle desire was only raising!

Thanks to the fact that Shirou didn't have a favorite weapon or fighting style he always adapted to the moment, when there was some distance between them he would use a longsword, when they were close he used one/two short swords or daggers, if they were too far away from each other he would throw his weapons, and so on...

Saber had a constant smile, right now she could not underestimate Shirou or he would be able to land a hit on her.

Thanks to Caster boosting his abilities at max he could create any weapon in less than an instant, Saber could not even disarm him or destroy his weapon that another one already took its place, and said weapon was perfect for the situation that he was in.

In truth she had some difficulties at the start of the spar, Caster did tell her that Shirou would receive the strength and the speed of a Servant, but she still got caught by surprise as she underestimated him.

Even now Saber had some difficulties at constantly hitting Shirou, but this was just because of his versatility and of his unexpected moves. In fact, once he faked throwing away a weapon so that he could project another, but in reality, he just launched it toward the wall and made it ricochet towards her while she was busy fighting him... she still parried it without any problem and beat him on the head with her sword, but still, it was a good try!

After 10 minutes they stopped since Caster was satisfied and didn't want to waste too many energies. As she already expected Shirou could kill a servant without any problems, this was just the confirmation. To be even able to go against the Saber Class without getting immediately beaten to the ground was an incredible feat, the only thing that Shirou now still needed was a larger assortment of weapons so that he could be prepared for anything, and right now she already had some ideas that she knew that Shirou would love.

"Shirou, after lunch would you help me with creating some objects?" Caster then asked.

"Sure, what do you intend to do?" Shirou asked as he was on the ground.

"Well, since you can copy everything related to blades I wanted you to give me some of your blades and enchant them, that way you will be able to copy and recreate them with said enchantment."

At that moment Shirou got up and his eye's shined. "Do you mean that I could make something like... flaming swords?" He asked excited like a little child.

"Why do you limit yourself to that?" Saber asked as she stepped into the conversation. "Shirou, creativity is a very powerful weapon that cannot be underestimated! You must think of something greater, and since Caster has a very high skill in object creation she could make you almost everything..." Saber remained silent for a moment, then she spoke again. "Why you do not create blades that can explode on contact or when you want? The strategy you used earlier would be perfect for that. The enemy may expect something like a normal throwing knife being trowed sneakily, but they would not expect them to explode them into their faces."

Both Caster and Shirou remained a bit speechless at Saber's words.

"Saber, that is a very good idea... but I thought that you hated explosives or strategies like that." Said Shirou. He still remebered what kind of opinion Saber had about certain things.

Before answering Saber watched Shirou, she already knew what he meant.

"Indeed, but Shirou, this is not a normal war, countless lives are on the line, right now we cannot limit ourselves. Then I have to remind you that you and your father are incomparable. You are a strong and righteous person that will fight for the innocents and for what you believe to be right, and you will use this kind of strategy only in the time of need to protect the innocent, while your father... was a weak man. He may have been able to almost win the war, but he was not able of putting the people that he loved over his personal quest, and in the end, his hands never held anything... but the remainder of his impossible dream." Saber said bitterly. "But luckily he changed, or in better words, you changed him. You made him realize the errors that he made, but it was far too late to do anything since he had lost everything... and yet in the end he died with a smile on his lips, fully knowing that you would have kept your promise... and become a real hero of justice."

'Well, the mood changed fast.' Caster though. A moment before they were enjoying a fight, and a moment later they were kinda philosophizing about the dream of Shirou's deceased father.

Caster while hearing Saber's words noted something, Saber spoke about Kiritsugu's impossible dream with difficulty, as if she too had realized a harsh truth... Still, it was clear what Saber was expecting from Shirou, to become a real hero so that he could keep the promise to his father, and to show him how a real hero acted.

Then Caster turned her attention to Shirou, thanks to her connection to him she could feel that even now his resolve was getting stronger.

Right now Saber and Shirou were watching each other in the eyes, no other words were spoken since they didn't need to. Right now they were communicating without talking, they could understand each other perfectly, their very soul was bonded and no mere word could describe their bond, who went above and beyond everything.

For a moment Caster wondered how it felt to be bonded to someone at that level, 'unfortunately' her ex-master was a feeble man and he died before they could form a bond like that...

Caster then turned her attention back to Shirou, and after a moment she smiled a bit. Even if they didn't form a contract they were still connected in some way, she didn't need anything else since she was happy the way she was.

Just a month ago she could not even think of trusting someone, and now she was happy of being with some people that she could say that she trusted. Lately, she even started to see the people of this home as her 'little family', in fact, she had started to see Shirou like a little brother... Heh, not that she would say that aloud, Shirou would not find that creepy since he too saw her as a big sister, but that would make Taiga very angry.

"Anyway, I have to thank you for your collaboration Saber. But before you return to your activities I must ask you some question." Caster said

Saber turned around, watched Caster, and asked: "It's about how good Shirou is, right? I can say without any problem that he will be capable of killing a Servant, even without your help."

Caster was surprised at Saber's statement.

"I can say that if we were enemies and I would have fought Shirou, without knowing of what he was capable of with your help, he would have been able to defeat me. If we had fought without your help I would have probably just got wounded at best, still, a human being capable of doing it in a direct fight against me is no little achieve." Said Saber as she watched Shirou. "Really, I could not have asked for a better Master! I can't wait to go to the battlefield and fight with you at my side Shirou!" She said hoping for the best. The only things that she was now looking forward to were to have a good fight and to keep eating Shirou's cooking.

Shirou could not help but smile a little and get a bit embarrassed.

"We can just hope that there will be an enemy strong enough that will require our united strength!" He said.

"Indeed, otherwise the battle would be just too short!" Said Saber smiling.

'And the mood immediately got lighter, these two are really something else...' Caster thought. Not that she disliked the sudden mood change, on the contrary, she liked it, it was still a hundred times better than her old life... which was a bit stagnant at best.

"Oh well, since Saber already gave us a good idea could you make me some trowing knife so that I can already work on it?" Caster asked Shirou.

"Sure." Said Shirou as he projected in fronto of himself different knives, that were now floating in mid-air.

Caster with a movement of her hand made the knifves disappear.

"Thanks for tha-"

She got interrupted when she heard a rumbling sound coming from Saber, who in the meantime became just a bit red on the face.

"Really? We just had breakfast..." Said Shirou a bit exasperated as he turned to watch her.

"I'm sorry Shirou, but after a good battle, there is always a feast! I have been on the battlefield for years and I'm used to it." Saber said now with a serious expression, for her food was a matter that could not be joked upon. "Remember Shirou: Hunger is the enemy!" Saber then roared.

"...Well, we can have some snacks now... Caster do you want something too?" He asked as he turned to watch Caster.

"No, thank you. Now I will just go into my workshop, see you later." Caster said before she dematerialized.

"Huh, so, what do you want Saber?" Shirou asked as he turned around toward her.

*4 hours later*

After lunch Caster was into her room, and instead of doing the things that she wanted to do she was now sitting on a chair and was watching the ceiling, she was thinking.

She was thinking about her and Shirou, and how Shirou helped her in more ways than he intended.

Well, at first she was thinking about how close Shirou was to Saber, it was normal since they were a Master and a Servant, but after she thought about it she started to note that they too were close.

It was probably because they both trusted each other and because... of something else that Caster herself was not too sure about.

Caster knew that Shirou saw her as a teacher and amybe even like a bigger sister, for him she a very important person, someone he could rely on. But for her Shirou was really something else...

He was like the hero that she had always dreamed of when she was younger.

Yes, she fully knew that it sounded very creepy coming from an old woman like her, but it was the truth, really!

But he was way different from the kind of hero that she dreamed of when she was young and naive. He was not there to free her from her 'prison' and from the constant surveillance of her family, he was there to help her to free her from her burdens.

Only recently she really started to understand how much Shirou did really helped her, his actions and his words did more than she had imagined at first.

'You should let go your rancor and guilt, they don't belong to you.' Caster recalled some of the words that Shirou told her the first day they met.

That was something that she didn't know she needed to hear. It had started to lift some of the burdens that she had, it lifted some of the burdens of betraying her family and her country, it lifted some of the burdens of the murder of her brother. He helped her at lifting some of the burdens that she never asked and that she was never ready to take on...

In the end, even after spending many years to Jason side she ended being betrayed even by him, then after many years of escape, after many years of no one coming to aid her, after so many years of solitude and completely helplessness... someone had finally come to help her.

Right now Caster felt relaxed and secure. Since she had come here when she was tired and had nothing to do she would even sleep and she would have no problems in doing so, something that in the past would have been impossible since she was always on the run or plotting something. She could finally rest... she could finally start a new life and live again.

Shirou showed her that there was more sense to her life other than to plotting to gain more power and to fear of being betrayed again, and she really did not know how to thank him.

She wanted to give him more than just a normal life, she wanted to do more than just to help him from his problems and traumas, she wanted to...

'Huh, what am I thinking right now?' Caster asked to herself as she snapped out of her thoughts.

She turned around and watched the clock, soon Shirou would come and they would start to create some useful item for him. Huh, she really should start the preparations.

She got up from the chair and stretched a bit, but immediately after she did she heard someone knocking at her door.

'Oh, he is already here' Caster thought.

"You may enter." Caster then said, and after a moment Shirou entered the room carrying some swords.

"Hi Caster, as you can see I have already had all the things that you have requested, I'm ready."

"Oh, I'm sorry Shirou, I've yet to prepare myself. I was a bit... distracted."

"No problem, may I help you with setting things up?"

After hearing his word Caster smiled and said: "Sure, your help is always welcomed."

It was now night, after having helped Caster in creating some objects, starting a very special project on a weapon, and having a small lesson about magic with her Shirou was tired.

In fact, he was now sleeping peacefully, but right now no one was watching him sleep. The only 2 other people in that house were now in the living-room.

"So, may I know you why you suddenly called me here, Saber?" Caster asked. She really did not expect Saber to call her in the middle of the night to discuss.

Now both of them were in the living-room on the opposite side of the table, just like the first time they met, but now there was no tension between them.

"It's been over a week since I have been summoned and we have formed our alliance, but now it's time that I ask you, who are you?" Saber asked calmly.

At that moment Caster frowned a bit.

"Why do you want to know that, Saber? You don't trust me enough?"

"No, It's because I cannot simply understand why I do not feel that Shirou is in danger while he is being near you. I know that you see him as an ally and that you care about him... but I also know a witch when I see one. I can say without any form of doubt that you are one of the worst and most wicked people that I have ever met in life, and yet I have never had a reason to doubt your loyalty... no offense."

"You do not have to worry about offending me Saber, you just told the absolute truth." Caster said calmly not offended since Saber was right, then she continued. "Now, I would have no problem in telling you my identity since it would not change much in the end. We both already know some of our respective abilities and the chance that we will be enemies in the future are 0... In the end, knowing each other identity would only improve our alliance." Caster said while thinking if she should reveal her identity, she reached the conclusion that in the end, it would not make any difference.

"I'm not forcing you or anything, we can still be allies without knowing each other identities... if you do not know mine already." Saber said.

"I have to tell you that I do not know who you are." Caster corrected Saber's insinuation.

Saber sensed that Caster was telling the truth.

"Huh... strange, I would have guessed that you would have forced Shirou to say to you who I was." Saber said a bit surprised, maybe she was wrong about Caster...

"No, I did ask him who you are," Caster said caught red-handed. "but then Shirou watched me in the eyes and said: Caster, you do not have to worry about Saber, she is someone you can trust... no, you can even trust her more than me!" Caster said while imitating Shirou's serious voice.

'I... I didn't have the strength to ask him again, I found him too cute.' Caster thought.

"...I see, not that I expected less from him." Saber said with an approving tone while nodding, she knew very well that Shirou would have never told her identity without being forced with magic.

"Oh well, it's time for our presentation. I'm Medea, the Witch Of Betrayal and ex-princess of Colchis, it's a pleasure to meet you, Saber." Caster immediately said, without any kind of hesitation, with a little smile.

At that moment only surprise could be seen on Saber's face, but after a moment she returned to her normal behavior.

"Oh, that would explain everything..." Saber said to herself in a very serious tone. "Anyway, It's a pleasure to meet you Medea, I am Artoria Pendragon, King of Britain." Saber said.

Saber knew that Caster was a powerful Mage, but she did not expect her to be Medea! She was now standing in front of a descendant of the sun god Helios, and if she remembered well Medea even studied under the Goddess of Magic Hecate and her aunt Circe, who also was a Demi-God of magic and witchcraft! She knew that Caster was a good mage, but she didn't know that she was someone who was at the same level as Merlin! She should have expected it since she is someone capable of stealing command seals and summon other Servants, she doubted that Merlin himself would be able to do such things if he ever got summoned as a Caster.

"...Wait, what? You are King Arthur?" Caster said, it was clear that she was way more surprised than Saber.

"Indeed, you do not believe me?"

"No it's not that, I can clearly feel your power and authority... but I thought that you were Jean D'arc since you are a young, cute, and charismatic girl... I would have never thought you to be King Arthur..."

'Do I look like a french?!' Saber thought a bit irritated. She asked herself why other people always thought of her for being Jean D'arc, after a moment she started to ask wonder if somehow Jean had a similar face to her... Nah, it was impossible.

"Anyway, what did you meant with 'that would explain everything?" Caster asked a bit intrigued, she wanted to know what kind of conclusion Saber reached.

"...That would explain both why you are so close to Shirou, and your actions. Now that I recall your legend you were forced to... do the things that you did and escape your country." Saber said trying not to touch some sore points from Caster's past, but only a moment later she realized that it would impossible... she especially didn't want to talk about the things Medea did after Jason left her.

"And why it would explain why I am so close to him?" Caster asked.

"He has been the first and only person that ever helped you, or am I wrong? And since I now know how gentle he is I guess that he offered his help to you fully knowing who you were... and what you did..."

Caster said noting and just nodded.

"Then after some time, or maybe from the start, you realized that he was just a simple boy of good heart that wanted to help every person that he met, and slowly you started to trust him. Then I must think that at one point you realized that he has been the only person to ever have treated you in this way and you started to grow attached to him."

Caster nodded and smiled.

"Indeed, you were right in every guess, good work Saber." Caster said complimenting her.

Saber sensed that Caster told the truth, so she had been right all along. Caster in the end was simply a woman who was forced to become evil, and when the right occasion presented itself she would try to return to a normal life. Yes, Saber now could say that now she could start to trust her... but just a little bit.

Caster in the end was still a witch who had committed horrible acts, and no matter how hard she would try, some parts of her could never be changed since being a witch has become part of her very nature.

'How did that modern saying go? A leopard never changes his spots... yes, it's truly an apt saying for someone like her.' Saber thought as she watched Caster.

"Anyway," Saber said. "have you found some traces of Rider or its master?"

"No, and I do not think that they will make a move until the war starts. The Master knows about our presence, so when he will act he will make sure that there will be no ways to trace him back... that if we discover him doing something."

"...You're right, we can now just hope that he will get too confident and that he will make some kind of mistake." Saber said.

-In the meantime in the Matou manor-

"Shinji, I have already told you that before you do anything that there are already 2 servants in the city... you will have to be careful if you do not want to die..." Zouken Makiri said with the hint of a smile while speaking to the failure that he called grand-son.

"I-It will not be a problem. Thanks to the book they will not be able to understand that I am a Master, but you already knew that." Shinji said while being a bit nervous, staying near his grandfather made him feel uncomfortable.

"Indeed... hehehehe. Now, I think that is time that you formulate some plan for the war with 'your' servant, and make sure that you do not fail this time too." Zouken said as his body started to split itself apart. A moment later there was no trace left of Zouken.

After his grandfather disappeared Shinji Matou was clenching his fist and he was starting to get furious again. It was not his fault that he was born without magic circuits, and yet the old man kept making fun of him!

No, he had to calm himself down, right now he really had a chance to prove himself to everyone. He will make them understand that they were all wrong about him, then in the end he would even be able to become a great magus when he would put his hand on the Grail!

There was literally no way that he could lose now, the other Master and Servant pair would not be able to understand that he was a Master until it was too late, and in the right moment he would strike them down with Rider!

He knew very well that it was a not perfect plan, in fact, there were already some problems. He had to supply Rider with magic energy so that she could stay strong and be ready to fight, but he did not have any magic, and he would not give Rider back to the little slut.

"Rider, follow me, we will have to make some plans. And as you heard there are already 2 Servants in the city, you will have to be careful." He then said, he had to try to find a way to supply Rider with mana without Sakura.

"Yes, Master." Rider, who had been behind him, simply said and started to follow him.

Perfect, Rider was now following his orders just like a puppet, and Shinji started to feel a bit better. He will have to make a move very soon...

-6 days later-

It was morning and Shirou woke up.

After he greeted Saber he went into the bathroom to clean himself, then he dressed up and went into the kitchen, where he found and greeted Caster.

After a minute he started to prepare breakfast, and in the meantime, both Caster and Saber were in the living-room sitting in front of the table.

Caster took the tv controller and turned on the Tv.

[Attention please, this morning over 6 people have been found almost dead inside of their houses. The peculiarity of this case is that the victims had been assaulted and drained of their blood. The police have yet to find the suspect, so we invite all the citizens to remain in their home and make sure that your doors are locked...]

This is what Shirou, Saber, and Caster heard immediately after turning on the Tv for the morning news.

After a moment Caster and Saber watched each other with a look of disbelief and confusion.

"...That's strange. Until now he had kept his profile low and we had no clue about him, it was going perfectly for him, and now he had decided to make his Servant feast on some citizens... what could it be his objective?" Saber asked bot confused and indignant because of the enemy Master's actions.

"I don't know what is going in his head, maybe this is some kind of provocation or the enemy Master has just gone mad, but now its reason doesn't matter anymore..." Caster said as she turned her head toward Shirou.

Saber did the same and she turned her head around, already knowing what she was about to watch.

Shirou was now in the kitchen and he was preparing breakfast, there was nothing wrong with him if not for some little things, like the steel handle of his knife crushed under his fist, and he clenching his teeth very hard as he stared angrily at the wall in front of him.

"Oh well, it seems that now we will have to start to hunt him down." Saber said before turning to watch the Tv.

Thanks to her connection to him she already knew how raging Shirou was, and she knew that no matter what she said she would not be able to calm him down, but she also knew that in less of a minute he would return to his normal self.

Caster in the meantime kept looking at him, and she had a sad expression.

She knew that in all the anger that Shirou was feeling there was some guilt, he still felt a bit responsible for what happened to other people...

"Do not worry Shirou, I have just sent some familiars to investigate the crime scene. Now if we are lucky we should be able to find the servant general location or even it's base." Caster said in a gentle tone, hoping that it would make Shirou feel better.

Shirou remained silent for another pair of seconds, he then took a deep breath and said: "Thank you, Caster." He then returned to cook.

Both the servant in the room were connected to him, who more and who less, but both Caster and Saber could feel his repressed anger and guilt, who was now only growing more and more... that soon would be let out.

'Mages... they do not care about the lives of others... they never do.' Shirou thought angered.

No, he had to calm down, there was no need or reason to get angry now, nothing would change, it was too late.

At first Shirou was hoping that the other enemy Master would not involve innocents civilians in their fight, but as always he was wrong, the enemy Master outright attacked them.

Shirou did not care if the enemy Master had been gentle enough to not kill the poor victims, or if he had let them live just to let them suffer more...

He will make him pay, he will make him regret. Every. Single. Action.

'Another failure...' He then thought embittered.

How could he be a hero when he did not even manage to save someone who needed his help? How could he keep the promise to his father if he could not even save someone?

He knew that he would not be able to save everyone, but until now he never managed to save someone from this stupid war!

A failure, that's what he was. No more, no less, he was just a failure. He was just an excuse of a human being.

He had promised to himself that he would have not let other people be harmed, kidnapped, or killed, and yet there he was. Other people were now to the point where they could lose their life and he could do nothing for them.

Other than dreaming about being a hero, what did he ever do?

He has been training so that he could fight to protect the innocents, but if they were already dead who should he protect?

It was all his fault! It was always his fault! Those people may die because of him! They may die because of his weakness! They may die because he had not been fast enough! They-

"Shirou? Are you ok?" Caster gently asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

At that moment Shirou snapped out of his thoughts as an unexplained warmth gripped his heart, he turned around and saw a concerned Caster looking at him.

'...Right, in the end I did one good thing.' He thought. How could he have forgotten her?

"Yes, I was just thinking... do you mind helping me making breakfast?" He then asked.

"Sure, just give me a moment." Caster said before she turned around to put on an apron.

After that, they proceeded to make breakfast together in complete silence.

Shirou decided that now he should concentrate on making breakfast first, then he could start to make some plans with Saber and Caster on how to eliminate Rider and its Master. After a moment he started to use some magic to improve his senses.

Now, with his already good sense of smell, Shirou could literally smell everything in and out of his home. He could smell all of the ingredients present in the kitchen, he could smell the herbs that were in Saber tea, he could smell the perfume of Saber and Caster, he could smell the perfume of the flowers in his back yard, he could even smell Sakura and Shinji just outside of his home... Sakura and Shinji?

Shirou took off his apron and started to walk towards the ingress, he started to wonder why both Sakura and Shinji were there, it has been years since Shinji had come to his home after they had argued after he discovered that Shinji beat Sakura.

After he opened the door he remained a bit surprised, there was just Sakura in front of him, that gently greeted him a bit surprised, she didn't even knock and her senpai was already there to greet her.

"Good morning Sakura..." He said a bit perplexed.

'Where is Shinji?' Shirou then asked himself before he started to smell the air just like a hound.

...

...

...

Shirou's heart stopped.

It suddenly stopped when he had realized from where Shinji's smell was coming from...

It was coming from Sakura...

And now that he was very close to her he even smelled a very strong and unfamiliar smell that was coming from between her legs...

"Senpai? Is there something wrong?" Sakura asked with a little smile and a little blush, unaware of what was soon to happen.