Chapter 8 – Magus reality
After the trio left the ruins of Arturia's supposed burial site, the rest of day went uneventful. Shirou had made them a nice picnic with all sorts of delicious food. Turned out thouth that Arturia had eaten more than her fair share of food and when she realized that, she became embarassed and apologized to her friends. Shirou and Rin laughed at the display, which made her even more embarassed, but Arturia was happy at the company. Shirou and Rin wanted her to be at ease after such an emotional turmoil. Truth be told, this place opened up a ton of repressed memories and she was having trouble adapting it once more.
The problem with bad memories is that it clings into your brain.
Eventually, time came for them to take the bus back home. Ten minutes after the bus left, Arturia was already on Shirou's lap sleeping.
"Today must have been rough for her, huh?"
Rin was seating at the seat behind them, earning a nod from Shirou as he gently caressed her head, earning a soft moan from her.
"Yeah, you could imagine two millennia worth of history just bottled up…it's only a testament of her strength." For the entire time, Shirou had hugged Arturia, knowing that the woman needed all of his support. Ever since taking Caliburn from the stone, Arturia's life were full of challenges and obstacles. And right now, all he ever wanted was to show her that she could count of him to at least be there for her. It was the least he could do.
===London===
Arturia had slept the entire trip back and Shirou ended up carrying her the rest of the way until they reached Rin's apartment.
He laid her on their bed and took special care not to wake her up.
"Emiya, do you want to talk about it over some tea?" Rin appeared by their door as she watched Shirou tend to Arturia's care, covering her with a blanket.
"Sorry Tohsaka, but I want to be here in case she wakes up. I don't think she should be alone right now." The Tohsaka heir nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, then I will go to bed then, goodnight Emiya. Tomorrow, we leave at 10' for your meeting with Bazett at the Association." Shirou nodded with a smile as Rin closed their door. He then went for a quick shower and got himself ready to sleep by her side. As soon as he got inside the bed, however, Arturia stirred from her sleep and groggily opened her eyes. She was at first surprised to see that they were already back at the apartment they were staying.
"S…shirou…"
"Sorry to wake you Turia, how are you feeling?" The woman rubbed her eyes, feeling relieved to be in his embrace.
"Better, sorry for falling asleep, this has never happened before." Shirou embraced her and kissed her head.
"There is no need to apologize, Arturia, you've been through a lot today. I could somewhat feel your anguish through our link. Do you want something from the kitchen, perhaps some tea before going to sleep?"
"No, there is no need thank you."
Shirou then laid down some more so that Arturia could be more comfortable with her head on his chest.
"Shirou, I know that I said that I overcame the events of my past, but seeing the grave made me relieve it all." Shirou sighed, feeling guilty for taking her there while caressing her hair, relaxing her as she once more remembered her traumas. "I don't know…I don't know if I will ever truly surpass it all, Shirou. I have been repressing it for so long, taking it all like a king should. However, little by little, I became overwhelmed, and I could not cry for help. I was the one everyone depended on." Shirou could feel tears dropping on his chest as he hugged her. There was nothing more he could do but be there for her as she processed it all. He cursed himself for being powerless, but Arturia blessed the heavens for his presence right now. Before, she had no shoulder to cry on, but now she had her sheath to depend upon.
"I may not be of much help Arturia, but I'm here with you and I will always be." Arturia smiled as she looked at his eyes and kissed him on the lips.
"You're mistaken Shirou, without you with me I doubted if I could maintain my sanity. I wished that you were with me back when I became king…"
Shirou could see her smiling at him. "You would be my most trusted knight…"
"If I were one of your knights, it would be hard for me to keep my hands off you. We would be the talk of the kingdom for sure…and not in a good way." The woman blushed crimson at that but laughed at the scene of someone opening the door to her room and catching them in the act. Her troubles now slowly melting away as she fantasized with her lover, what would be like having their relationship in her era. Her with the king attire thrown on the floor and Shirou stripped off his armor. Back then, it would be a sacrilege as Arturia was for all intents the king and would be fraternizing with another male. She could already imagine the outraged looks of her other knights and even her family. Well, Merlin for certain would laugh at the scene, but the others would look outraged. Still, it would be quite something as the images started appearing in her mind. Images of Shirou being on top of her like he was yesterday and then one of her faithful servants opening the door and then screaming to the halls of her castle about the king's actions.
Then, the scandalized looks from Gawain, Lancelot, Bedivere, Agravain, Mordred…the more of her knights she remembered the more humorous it became until she could not take it any longer.
Suddenly, Shirou could hear Arturia's melodious laughter. He just wanted to hear that forever.
"Yeah, we would be the talk of Camelot for sure." Shirou could see the smile on her face and he was relieved upon providing these moments for her.
He saw her eyes began to close peacefully, until she hugged him and went back to sleep.
"Good night my king…" Arturia giggled at that.
"Good night my knight…"
===Next day===
Arturia was the first one to awaken the next day as she stirred from her favorite pillow.
She smiled upon seeing her lover fast asleep and hugged him tighter. Looking at the clock, she realized that they had ample time before their meeting at the clock tower.
Her movements, however, ended up waking Shirou as she felt his hand lost in her golden hair.
"Up already?" It was something they shared as both would Always wake up the brink of dawn.
"Yeah, I had enough sleep yesterday…did I wake you, Shirou?"
"No, I had awakened a couple minutes ago actually, just kept pondering about the meeting today…" The couple got out of bed and went to the shower together. After getting ready, they left the room and went to the kitchen as they saw Sakura had already awakened and was turning on the coffee machine. Uttering a quick good morning, the three settled for their separate morning assignments. Shirou and Sakura each made a different plate while Arturia fixed the table for them. After that, she took a seat as she watched Shirou and Sakura in the kitchen functioning a good-oiled machine, each with their respective assignments.
That alone brought a smile on Arturia's face as she saw the two having fun like that.
Arturia knew that they had been doing this even before she came into the picture as Shirou's servant.
In no time, breakfast was served as Rin appeared.
Breakfast went by uneventful and an hour later, the group of four left the apartment and took the subway towards the Clock Tower. Upon arrival, Sakura had separated from them as she had to attend an early class. Rin then took the role as their guide as she showed them inside. She showed them the gigantic underground library where she confessed into spending quite some time there, doing research for her teacher. Rin explained to them that she was chosen by Zelretch himself to become his apprentice and he was teaching her about the usage of true magic. Shirou and Arturia smiled at the proud visage she was showing while explaining that in no time she will be able to learn everything from the man.
Neither Shirou nor Arturia knew who this person was, but when Rin explained to them who he was, both tensed immediately. Being freelancer for the Church Executors, they obviously knew about the Dead Apostile Ancestors and this man Zelretch was not only a magus at the Clock Tower but also one of the Ancestors. To believe that Rin was learning from this man sent all the wrong signals to them. The feeling only intensified when she explained that the man's achievements allowed him to travel through different dimensions. The concept brought chills up their spines at such tremendous ability.
After the library, the trio walked outside the campus for a while, before entering the building where the enforcers division was located.
Their meeting would not happen for another hour.
As soon as they entered, Shirou and Arturia heard Rin grump as they looked at a woman that was crossing her arms with a smug look on her face. Wearing a big blue and white dress and with her long golden hair styled in large coils, Luviagelita Edelfet approached the group. Rin muttered profanity words that only Shirou and Arturia could hear. Arturia was the only one who caught the world 'Luvia' from Rin's mouth and she frowned. So, this was the one that Sakura and Rin warned her about. From the corner of her eyes, though, Shirou was looking at the approaching woman and at Rin at the same time, showing a more curiosity look than something that could set Arturia off.
It was not in Shirou's nature to look at other women like this as she learned from their encounter with Ciel.
That female priest kept flaring her body to her lover and still Shirou did not bat an eye.
One thing that both Arturia and Shirou caught on was that Rin had pretty much forgotten about them as she kept glaring at Luvia.
"Oh Miss Tohsaka, mumbling like that is undignified…though is to be expected of one's manners…and who are you"
Arturia and Rin narrowed as the woman went straight to Shirou.
"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Shirou Emiya and this is Saber, my girlfriend." Arturia blushed slightly at the introduction.
Rin, though, immediately grabbed Luvia's shoulder and pushed her away from Shirou.
"That's right Luvia, so hands off from him…"
Luvia, though, yanked Rin's hands away from her and once more sneered at the Tohsaka heiress.
"No manners indeed Miss Tohsaka and such strong hands you got there…huh miss Gorilla." That was the last straw as Rin let go of any form of restrain and used her hands to wrestle against Luvia until both were on the floor. Shirou and Arturia looked at each other, wondering if they should do something to separate them. Arturia, in special, could not help but judge her friend for such childish behavior, though she had refrained from saying anything. When the wrestling women got up, they snarled at each other with Rin demanding to teach her a lesson. Luvia accepted the challenge as they marched towards what appeared to be a fighting gymnasium, with many pillars around them. In no time, they changed clothes and stood in a distance.
Shirou and Arturia stood close, wondering when Rin would take them to their meeting with the Enforcers.
When the fight began, they could see dust and debris lifting from the ground as Rin used her kenpo skills to good use, though Luvia's style was more inclined to grabbing.
Shirou had a big sweat drop on his head and Arturia sighed thinking less and less about Rin as they heard the trash talk.
Ten minutes later, Shirou tended to Rin's injuries as they were on a bench outside.
"Ah, I'm sorry for what happened…that woman just gets on my nerves, it's all."
Shirou and Arturia decided not to comment, as they watched the students roaming around the campus.
"Rin, not to sound callous, but we must go or else we will be late to the meeting." Rin sighed, looking mortified at Saber watching her display earlier. From her tone now, it was clear that the King of Knights did not approve.
Shirou was busy performing healing mage craft on the more bruised areas and in no time, Rin felt the pain rescind somewhat.
"Sorry there, Saber…just give me a minute and I will take you two to meet with Bazett. You have improved there Emiya…the hurting is gone and even the swelling is reduced, somewhat."
===At the Enforcers Division===
As soon as the trio got to Bazett's office, Rin had ushered them inside and promised to meet them later for lunch.
Shirou and Arturia watched Rin move away, limping somewhat because of Luvia's attack. Compared to the usual fighting the two were accustomed to, Rin and Luvia's brawl was like a fight between teenagers. Shirou found it humorous and Rin had already stated to Arturia that she very much preferred the insides of the library than doing actual battle. Though, the king of knights was hoping to at least see something from Rin. Her keen battle tactics told the swordswoman that Rin's punches lacked resolve. If Rin's fighting ability was limited to that, then she in fact did not belong in the battlefield. Shirou looked at Arturia and giggled upon seeing the consternated look on his beloved's face, earning a look of irritation from Arturia.
"Why are you laughing at me Shirou?"
"Sorry Arturia, it's just that I figured that you must have some comments about what we just witnessed." The snort in derision was enough to valid his point.
"Yeah, well, now I know why Archer did all the fighting in the Fifth Grail War…"
"You forgot that Rin did land a couple of those moves on Medea." Arturia looked at Shirou wondering if her beloved thought that that counted on Rin's favor.
However, this time Arturia was not playing fair as, back then, Caster was a servant, a rather weak one in terms of close combat, but a servant, nonetheless.
"Still, it was embarrassing to watch…I was hoping that even if it was a spar…" Shirou smiled at the tone of voice she used at the word 'spar'. "then, they would have showed a bit more…"
"Well, it's not like they are in line to face dead apostles and vampires… " Shirou said as he knocked on the door and heard an authoritarian woman's voice ushering them inside. Once they entered inside the office, Shirou and Arturia saw a woman with short magenta hair wearing a black two-piece business suit with a red-violet necktie. In her black gloved hands, was a cigarette as she blew off some smoke while watching her charge of freelancers entering her office. Bazett Fraga McRemitz was the definition of professionalism as Arturia already found herself liking her. Plus, those earrings on her ears were quite familiar for some reason. Bazett's eyes appeared to be sizing them up from head to toe in less than a second, before smoking and releasing the smoke with a sigh in relaxation.
"Welcome Emiya Shirou, Saber to the Enforcers, my name is Bazett Fraga McRemitz…and I will be your contact with the Enforcers, please take a seat."
The two fighters nodded and took a seat. Bazett took a seat in front of them, crossing her legs like a business woman.
"So, tell me what kind of name Saber is anyway…it seems more like a class from the grail war than a name." Shirou and Saber nodded, wondering for the first time that someone called up on that. Plus, they remembered that this woman was supposed to be a master at the Fifth Grail War. Arturia remembered that instant that if Kirei attacked her for her command seals and then it was revealed that Lancer was Kirei's servant. So, Bazett was the one who summoned the dog of Ireland. Arturia hated that priest even more now, glad that the man no longer roamed amongst the living. She envisioned having an honorable battle…her and Shirou against Lancer and Bazett. Just a look at the enforcer told Arturia that she was skilled.
"A codename, though it's one that I shall use as a freelancer." Bazett snorted…since neither of them were affiliated to the Association, they do not have any obligation.
"Fair enough…now let us continue. Basically, us Enforcers were composed of magi specialized in hunting down those with a sealing designation mark." Arturia and Shirou remembered Rin's explanation and also remembered that Shirou could never show his own realty marble in front of this woman. "However, due to the rarity of actually having someone marked with sealing designation, The Association did not want to waste resources keeping the division active for only one single purpose, hence why we the Enforcers Division are also responsible for hunting down corrupted magi and even some who selfishly decides that our private way of life should not be private anymore."
"Similar to Internal Affairs then…" Bazett smiled at Shirou's comparison.
"You can say that…now, as of late, it seems that we have had a great number of occurrences to deal with. Now our department is short-staffed to handle it all, hence our current need to hire freelancers like you two to aid us."
Not exactly what I was expecting here...
The King of Knights nodded briefly looking at Shirou from the corner of her eye. The way the woman described they would not necessarily help others by providing for the Clock Tower, but rather doing their dirty work instead. At least with the Executors, they would be hunting vampires and dead apostles who by nature already harmed others. Still, they decided to give Bazett the benefit of the doubt.
"It just so happens that I was tasked alone with the mission of apprehending a real scumbag…a French magus by the name of Jean Baptiste…" Bazett showed them his photograph. "For a couple of months now, we have received reports of missing women in Paris, so we decided to investigate, since one of the kidnapped women happened to be a civilian who served as a housekeeper to the Archibald Family." Arturia looked at Shirou and found that his previous concerns were ill-advised. This mission was right up their alley. "We sent a couple of enforcers to investigate and it turned out that Jean Baptiste used some sort of hypnotism spell on the women to kidnap them and well…I don't need to tell what the man does afterwards."
Shirou could see the outraged look on his beloved's face.
"Ok, so we are to go to Paris and capture this Jean Baptiste, then…" Bazett nodded.
"I will come along as well…he had attracted a group of mercenaries with him to let us say join the party. You two will need to take care of his crew while I move in for the capture. Jean is no fool and he will notice we are coming for him. He will try to escape. However, neither of you are to be concerned with him. You are free to do with the mercenaries like you see fit. Also, your other assignment will be to remove the hypnotism spell on the kidnapped women and set them free." Shirou and Arturia nodded at their assignment. "We will catch the express train to Paris in a couple of hours…tonight Jean Baptiste is having a party at his apartment. We expect that the kidnapped women and the mercenaries will be there. Any questions?"
"If he is a magus, then probably his place will have defenses in play…probably a bounded field to keep outside interference."
Taking another cigarette and lighting it, Bazett turned pensive at that.
"Indeed, there is a possibility, but you can leave that to me." Shirou and Arturia nodded, before excusing themselves from the office. "Meet me at Saint Pancras International Train Terminal in two hours."
Once the couple left the office, they met with Rin for a quick bite to eat before they had to reach the station for their assignment with Bazett. Rin had told them many things about the city of Paris, including that it is known for being a romantic destination for couples, earning a blush from Arturia. France was never part of her life as King of Knights, though she later learned that England and France had gone to war with each other in the 13th century called Hundred Years' War. Unfortunately for them, it did not appear that they would be able to enjoy the city before or after the mission, as they had to capture this Jean Baptiste and bring him back to the Clock Tower into custody.
Still, Arturia wished to go there with Shirou someday.
Perhaps, after this mission was over, they could spend a couple days there as a regular couple.
Finishing their lunch, they went straight to the station as everything they needed for battle were already engraved in their respective mystic codes, including the weapons.
Taking a cab, they soon reached the station.
Bazetti was already waiting for them outside and guided them towards the train that would lead them to Paris.
Throughout the ride, Bazett took her time getting to know more about the couple of freelancers. Their mission was pretty straightforward, so there was no need to keep talking about strategies. Bazett was open about what happened at the Fifth Grail War. It was Shirou who asked her as he explained to the Irish magus that he was the master of Saber in the war. Bazett told about her relationship with Kotomine Kirei as they participated in many assignments together in the past. As such, when she received his invitation for a conversation, her guard was down. The man tried to kill her, but only managed to yank her command seals arm off.
The arm that they saw now was a puppet arm, courtesy of Touko Aozaki.
While officially she had a sealing designation on her, Bazett has utilized her own family's connections to secure her a new arm.
Shirou wondered why the woman was telling them such a secret, though Arturia with her experience as king, knew better. The Enforcer was showing an olive branch, using one of her secrets to trade with another. Arturia, then, told her that they were not only freelancers for the Association but for the Church as well. Bazett heard the name Ciel and frowned at the bad memory of the perverted nun. Historically, Enforcers and Executors rarely got along with one another. She smirked when Arturia revealed that Ciel wanted to offer herself to Shirou, just to spite her. Bazett then told them some gossiping secrets from Ciel. Shirou and Arturia were surprised to hear that the nun was actually much older than she looked. Despite looking like a girl barely out of high school, Ciel was actually born in 1976.
Bazetti even told that Ciel was influenced by a Dead Apositle Ancestor by the name of Micheal Roa Valdamjong.
Later they learned that Bazetti did not care for Ciel very much and that was a plus in Arturia's book.
Shirou simply laughed at their interaction.
===Paris===
Four hours later, the Eurostar train arrived at Gare du Nord, Paris.
Contrary to London, with its more modern architecture, Paris's buildings were more uniform with one another.
Their target was quite a few miles from Gare du Nord, but since the so-called party would not start for another hour, the trio decided to walk there. Along the way, their eyes landed on many of the city's historic monuments. Arturia's eyes widened at the majestic sight of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The city itself was beautiful and well taken care of, but the view of the Eiffel Tower was splendorous. Shirou also saw it and briefly embraced her, whispering in her ears about them going there once this was over.
Arturia enthusiastically nodded as she melted in his embrace.
Bazett saw it and could not help but smile at the interaction.
It's not exactly frowned upon to have relationships in the line of duty, though she wondered how they would act once objectivity became the key.
In a fight like the one they were about to have, a relationship like that can be used by the enemy.
As soon as the trio stepped foot close to their destination, however, they briefly flinched at being in the presence of a very powerful bounded field. Both Shirou and Arturia remembered the one made by the servant Medusa at Shirou's school. Its effects were even similar as the trio could feel their mana being sucked slowly. Looking around, though, there was no one nearby. Bazett was surprised at a sudden noise before she saw as Shirou and Arturia's clothes were completely different. From their casual clothing, now both wore battle suits. Arturia was the most surprising as the woman was wearing what appeared to be pieces of old-looking armor around her body. Strapped on her belt, it was a long blue scabbard. Shirou wore all black armor and had two mid-sized scabbards strapped on his back as well as a black longbow.
Just a look at their faces, Bazetti knew these two meant business.
Shirou's eyes caught movement on top of one of the buildings and immediately threw a couple of rocks on the ground.
When the machine guns roared to life, Shirou's runes manifested, lifting a shield around them.
Bazett was surprised to see another magus using runes like her family.
"Bazett, leave them to us…you can keep moving." Shirou took off his bow and fired consecutive arrows at the shooters from the rooftops, carefully aiming for the guns and the shoulders. Bazett nodded and used her agility to pass through. She stopped however when four individuals appeared in front of her, all males. Arturia took the distraction and charged with her sword drawn, forcing the four mercenaries to scatter. The enforcer kept on the offensive and marched towards the building where Baptiste held the captives, until a golden wall appeared in front of her. By this point, Shirou had already joined with Arturia in their fight against the mercenaries. Bazett placed her hand on the bounded field and was surprised to feel extreme pain at the mere touch.
The fight behind her going on, Bazett held her fist upward as she focused her mana.
In no time, electricity emanated as a metal ball could be seen hovering above her closed fist. When the sphere turned forward, a spear shaped of energy manifested, before Bazett produced the motion of a punch forward. The spear produced a straight narrow beam that can very much pierce anything. Fragarach was Bazett's supreme weapon, a mystic code and even considered a noble phantasm that belonged to her family for generations. The laser beam pierced through the bounded field producing a small hole in it, until it shattered like a mirror. The Enforcer looked backward and saw that they were battling two mercenaries each.
She had a mission to finish though and ran inside to catch the corrupted magi.
Shirou was using Kanshou and Bakuya against one of the mercenaries who was using a pair of twin knives to fight him. Their dance appeared equal at first glance, though Shirou was surprised when his eyes showed the man's knives multiplying, from the usual two to four...and then eight… The number of knives now equalled the number of arms and Shirou found himself at a disadvantage. However, when one of the new knives was about to carve a dent on his wrist, Shirou realized that it passed right through. He now understood what was going on…this man had used hypnotism in him in mid fight and disoriented his reality perception. The freelancer then broke the enemy's guard and focused enough mana on his swords for them to glow in bright energy. Shirou slashed the enemy's torso, forcing him to place the knives in front of the attack for protection. Though Shirou's weapon was reinforced, his enemies' not so much.
Shirou not only broke the knives, but also carved a deep wound on his chest.
Looking over his shoulder, Shirou saw the other guy throw a flamethrower spell. Shirou used the same as both energies met in the middle, negating each other. Shirou used a quick mana burst so as to shorten the distance. The mercenary kept trying his fire spells to keep Shirou at a distance, though the freelancer was much too fast for that. Then, focusing heat on his hands, he tried to snare Shirou on the stomach, but the red-head evaded and thrusted Kanshou straight through the enemy's shoulder, pinning him in place. Bakuya was then lodged at the enemy's other shoulder, before Shirou sent the guy to unconscious land with a straight punch on the jaw.
Arturia's fight was much more straight forward then Shirou as her opponents fought with weapons like her.
Though the mercenary foolishly believed that a giant axe would make a dent on her beloved's projected Caliburn filled with her own mana.
Her elegant swordplay quickly caused deep slashes on the first opponent's body, until he collapsed due to the blood loss. The last adversary was at a distance to Arturia as she released a ton of yellow energy through her sword. She positioned the sword backwards and it propelled her to meet the last opponent who was holding his hands together closer to a sealing array. Arturia figured that this man was the one responsible for the bounded field around the block. She was about to finish the job when a huge gravity like pressure slammed on her shoulders, forcing her on the ground. The man was using the stolen mana and converted to a wind spell to increase the air pressure around him. The man was already laughing like a hyena, looking lecherously at Arturia.
However, his voiced was lost in his throat when Arturia lifted from the ground. Her body was raging with raw blue energy as her eyes looked at the enemy.
The wind spell did not have enough power to sustain itself and the enemy ended up overheating his circuits and passed out.
Just as he passed out, the bounded field around the block had lost its power.
Shirou approached behind her carrying his own set of defeated mercenaries. The couple lined the enemies on the ground, before Shirou spread some runes around them. Focusing mana through the runes, they were enveloped in a small bounded field. Though it was not meant to not only entrap them, but also to erase their memories of tonight's events. Arturia watched Shirou working while she stood by his side just in case someone decided to attack them. When Shirou finished, he turned to Arturia and they ran towards the entrance where Bazett went a couple minutes ago. Taking the stairs, it did not take long for them to reach the apartment where Jean Baptiste was having his harem party. By the time they entered the door, Bazett came out holding her prisoner. Jean Baptiste had long black curly hair, but neither could see his face because of the hair in front. His body was twice the size of Bazett, but the woman appeared to be unscathed.
Shirou could see the runes inscribed in a handcuff that held his wrists.
"I have tipped the police about the location of the missing women. You have precisely five minutes to release them of the hypnotism and leave before the police arrives. Meet me downstairs."
Shirou and Arturia watched as the Irish enforcer carried the man twice her size down the stairs, before entering the apartment. The image sickened them. There were perhaps ten naked women on the ground like a pile of corpses. Shirou could see scratch marks probably from the mercenary with the knives. It appeared that all of them were alive, but very weakened due probably to the mercenary's bounded field that sucked their Od. Realizing that they were on the clock, Shirou worked quickly in ridding them of Baptiste's mind control and even projected a blanket for each. Contrary to his most costly projections, a blanket would remain for days. When the police car noises reached his sensitive ears, the couple was already outside the building as they saw Bazett holding Baptiste near another building. She was focusing on the other mercenaries trapped by a rather peculiar bounded field of rune-making.
As Shirou and Arturia appeared next to her, Bazett smiled at the man.
"It's been some time since I last seen someone else using runes like I do…where did you learn it?"
The bounded field subsided as soon as the first police car arrived at the scene, followed by ten others as the cops barged inside the building and arrested the unconscious mercenaries.
"The Tohsaka family's library is quite extensive and we happen to be good friends with Rin for a long time."
The group then looked as a black sedan vehicle stopped next to them and Bazett opened the door shoving Baptiste inside.
The car then hummed to life once more, taking the prisoner to be escorted back to the Clock Tower via a more secluded method. Now with their mission resolved, Bazett took out a cigarette and lighted while Shirou and Arturia released their mystic code clothes, reverting back to their casual attire. Looking at the clock, the Irish Enforcer realized that they still had time to burn until their train back to London. She then turned to the couple, who was happily conversing with each other as if nothing happened just a couple of minutes ago. Bazett briefly studied the two as she could see how enamored they were with each other.
"Well, I can see that miss Tohsaka's faith in you two has merit. A good and clean mission if I ever saw one…now, we have time to kill until we have to catch the train back to London. Anyone fancy a nice dinner…my treat?"
Chapter 9 – A needed break and inner struggles
After Shirou and Arturia's first assignment to the Association, an entire year has passed of nothing but constant travelling, training, saving lives and risking theirs to combat corrupted magus as well as vampires and dead apostles.
Like Arturia looked forward to, when they started, the couple had travelled to many different locations throughout the Globe. So far, they had missions in pretty much all the continents, with most missions in Europe. However, they had some tough assignments in South America and even in Africa, where both Shirou and Arturia got pushed pretty hard. Specially in Africa, Shirou managed to rescue a group of women and children that were kidnapped and were due for much harsher treatment. Though, they could not do much, considering that part of the enemies were actually members of the local government. The redhead had to be convinced by Arturia that killing them was not an option, though she too considered it after what they had witnessed.
Needless to say, Emiya Shirou began to understand that some actions just could not be forgiven, though he was thankful for Arturia being the voice of reason, stating that he could not lower himself to their level. As he travelled, he began to understand human nature more.
Arturia feared that she would see Archer in Shirou's eyes and she certainly would have, had Shirou crossed that specific line.
Being a king, Arturia Pendragon had witnessed many times how vile humans can be. And she loved Shirou too much to see him lose faith in humanity like a certain counter guardian did in the future. Just the mere thought of it was too much for her to bear. In the end, Shirou and Arturia settled for giving the enemies quite the scare and Shirou even managed to wipe the memories of some, without anyone being the wiser.
Also, one specific mission for the Church involved them travelling to India, when a bunch of vampires were seen terrorizing a small village.
Though no dead apostles were spotted nearby, so Shirou and Ciel just bombarded the vampires with black keys and left, allowing the local government to fix the damage.
It soon became a pattern.
Their three clients would send them a text or e-mail with a location and then they would be there. Either Ciel would demand their presence or Bazett with their mission parameters. The good thing was that throughout the missions, either Ciel or Bazett would be there waiting for them. They got accustomed to working with either women to the point that Arturia would get suspicious of others demanding their services. The reason being that one time a member of the Association sent Shirou a message for a mission in Germany. Seeing that Bazett was their one and only contact with the Enforcers, Shirou contacted her for confirmation. Turned out that Shirou's foresight paid off as it was an ambush for them.
Shirou and Saber's reputation in the Association skyrocketed as so far there was not a mission they could not complete.
Even if a high-level and influential magus like Bazett accompanied them, there were times when they faced almost impossible odds together and still overcame them.
And since they were not affiliated to the Association, some of the more influential families began to feel restless, considering that Shirou was also the magus killer's son. Bazett reported the issue to the Vice-Director at once and the culprit got apprehended. Much to Shirou's objection, the man was tortured until he revealed the name of this contractor. Shirou needed to realize that the Enforcers were under the Vice-Director's wing, so anyone who moved against them was interpreted as undermining her authority. Turned out, that some in Waver Velvet's family, the Archibald, moved to eliminate Shirou and Saber through the use of mercenaries.
The third client being one Tohsaka Rin as Arturia did offer their services for anything that Rin ever needed.
As such, every time Rin needed to conduct a field study in mineralogy, Shirou and Arturia would be there with her both to protect her from harm and to help her speed things up. Of course, Rin never expected to be attacked in any of these trips. It just served for her to give the couple a needed break from the action as well as the opportunity for the three friends to catch up. Shirou and Arturia even followed Rin to other dimensions as per Zelretch's request to recover some artifacts for him. The concept became too foreign for Shirou and Arturia to understand, but Rin was already accustomed to it. Of course, the practitioner of true magic avoided sending the trio to tough spots, even if Rin would not be surprised if he did.
The old man had a weird sense of humor like that.
Rin remembered the time Zelretch sent her to a dimension where she met an older version of herself being married to Matou Shinji of all people. Though, she then came to learn that Shinji of that dimension had the same mentality as the one from her own and got caught in some dirty deed, trying in vain to implant magic circuits to become a magus.
However, the mere thought of herself being with that creep made her tremble to the bone.
===xxx===
Right now, Shirou and Arturia were back in Fuyuki and back in the Emiya Household. The couple enjoyed the travels and the fighting immensely, but they were both homesick. It was a nice change of pace to simply enjoy the company of friends and family as even Rin and Sakura had followed them back home. They even visited the reconstructed Ryuudou Temple together with the bundle of energy known as Taiga and then Shirou cooked them dinner. Neither Ciel nor Bazett bothered them throughout their much-needed and much-deserved holiday as Emiya Shirou would look at the filled table in his house with a smile on his face.
However, only Arturia could understand the subtle saddened look that her lover showed when he thought no one was looking.
It turned out that neither Arturia nor Shirou liked to talk about two specific missions that weighted on their consciousness. Both found out that no matter how hard they tried, both of them had weaknesses to take care of.
===Iran - Flashback===
The first one was a mission they had for the Association as Bazett had received a request from the Spiritual Evocation division.
Bazett has requested Shirou and Arturia to join her and an elite squad from the Spiritual Evocation Division in Tehran. At the time, Bazett opted not to provide any information beforehand, saying that they would receive the necessary intel at the airport in Tehran. Once they arrived, Shirou and Arturia were surprised to see Bazett together with a group of five magus from the Association. Next to her was Bram Nuada-Re Sopbia-Ri, the head of the Department of Spiritual Evocation. Neither Shirou nor Arturia had meet the man, but they knew each of the elite members of the Clock Tower by now. Bram was responsible for acquiring many of the relics the Clock Tower possessed to summon servants for the Grail Wars.
A magus by the name of Barzan had been conducting illegal practices in order to replicate the system of the Grail.
Barzan was actually a member of the Clock Tower but left once he received no recognition for his skills and genius.
Also, Bram had reported that, before leaving the Clock Tower, Barzan had stolen the relic for summoning Darius III, the King of Persia.
They had heard rumors that Barzan's experiments were pretty advanced as the leylines in the area were strong enough for that. Problem was that Bram's idea of a plan was to throw away the cannon fodder while his elites dealt with Barzan. Apparently, one cannot become an elite of the Clock Tower without first becoming a prick. His plan was to send Shirou and Arturia, in Bram's mind, the cannon fodder, to deal with the servant should Barzan be successful while his elites dealt with the magus and the destruction of his experiments. Bazett did protest somewhat, but at the end of the day, Shirou and Arturia were freelancers, in other words, expendable. If something were to happen to them, the Clock Tower would simply discard them. However, neither Shirou nor Arturia minded all that much, considering that with them being alone, there would be no need for restraints, with the obvious exception of Shirou's reality marble.
Even the methods of transportation varied as Bram's team and Bazett all boarded in an elegant SUV while Shirou and Arturia had to use a worn-out jeep. It took two hours before they arrived at a small village and the sight before them was quite destructive. There in the middle of the village, stood a black-skinned bald giant of a man towering easily three meters high and blindly destroying everything in its path. The SUV simply marched forward as they had the location of Barzan, leaving Shirou and Arturia to deal with the huge berserker servant on their own. The couple had previous experience with facing berserker giants as they faced Heracles at the fifth war. The servant carried two golden axes in each hand and unleashed fire both from his mouth and from the axes.
When the King of Knights presented herself as the opponent, Darius III stopped his path of destruction and charged straight at her with surprising speeds.
Shirou immediately threw runes on the ground in the giant's path as the force field lifted.
However, the berserker simply smashed through it. Berserker had Mad Enhancement, so their parameters were up than normal.
That being said, it was time for a game of agility as Shirou and Arturia attacked in tandem, Arturia with her projected Caliburn and Shirou with Kanshou and Bakuya. They were successful in penetrating the giant's defenses and still delivered some intimating attacks, but Darius III felt no pain nor appeared to be debilitated. Darius, though, focused on smashing his axe on the ground, causing tremors and ground attacks at them. Shirou and Arturia had to halt their attacks at the giant and evade them. Shirou then took some more distance and summoned Cadalbolg while Arturia ran interference if needed be. The missile projectile travelled like a comet in the desert and Darius III faced it head on, releasing a powerful beam of fire from his mouth.
Shirou's arrow passed through the flames and even pierced the servant's shoulder but did not serve its purpose.
Arturia focused a wind typhoon on her sword and sent it towards Darius III while Shirou summoned a bunch of swords in the air to be sent as projectiles. None of them worked…well, they carved blood from Darius, but nothing they sent appeared to be debilitating. Arturia opted to move the battle to close range as she used her mana burst to parry Darius's axes while she engaged with her sword, now filled with her mana. She even managed to slice one of Darius's axes in half, but the woman was surprised when the other hit her on the chest, carving blood from the king of knights. Shirou immediately used healing mage craft from Avalon as he occupied Darius with a rain of reinforced arrows. None of it even carved a dent on Darius's rigid physique, but it was enough for Arturia to be fully healed. The king of knights was ready to concede that anything short of her noble phantasm won't be enough to deal with this servant.
But using that would not drain Shirou's mana and they did not know if it would be enough.
It was required of them to keep the servant occupied, since he was bound to the magus and Bram's squad needed to either kill the man or cut off his usage of mana.
Once more, the couple joined forces in facing him directly. Arturia with her Caliburn and Shirou with a weapon he rarely used, at least as an actual sword.
Hrunting
The sword alone is not much different than Caliburn in terms of power, but the more Shirou drew blood from the opponent, more the sword will absorb it, until it turned completely red. When that happens, the magical sword becomes even stronger, but at a cost. The more blood it absorbs the more mana it is required to sustain. As such, Shirou was able to land consecutive hits on Darius and they carried even more damage over time. However, Shirou both underestimated the amount of pain tolerance as the servant became full of cuts on his body. Also, his own mana capacity was suffering its strain at keeping the fight going for long. The second of indecision proved almost fatal as Darius's remaining axe slashed through Shirou's side stomach, earning a concerned scream from Arturia.
The redhead cursed himself as he had to back off from the fight while Arturia handled the giant servant all on her own.
While focusing on Avalon to heal him, Shirou unleashed a rain of arrows hoping to keep the giant at bay, while Arturia prepared Excalibur.
To this day, they had never had to use her noble phantasm in combat and Shirou feared that he would not be able to keep up. However, if Bram's team failed to defeat the magus, Darius would be free to destroy everything in its path, killing many innocents. He nodded at Arturia who released the projected Caliburn and focused enough of her energy to summon Excalibur. Shirou could feel the excessive drain on his mana when Arturia's hand gathered the energy. However, both were relieved when Darius III stopped moving. The excessive mana began to pour from his skin as the spirit was released from this world. It was at this moment that Bazett arrived to see her partners all battered and bloodied on the floor, panting in exertion and no servant.
Behind her, Bram's team carried an unconscious Barzan to be escorted back to the Clock Tower for trial.
Though everyone could see the dissatisfied look on Bram's face as he saw the freelancers alive, much to Bazett's delight.
She was rooting for her favorite couple after all.
===End Iran Flashback===
Even if Shirou was not a servant, he still believed he needed to get stronger.
He desperately wanted to fight by Arturia's side as a partner. That fight in Iran showed him that he still lacked something. Darius III, despite not being a full servant because of the false grail, was still easily above Shirou's level. The redhead had to push back and allow Arturia to do the fighting, while the rest of the Enforcers dealt with the magus. Of course, they were not supposed to defeat Darius III, because that would mean that a magus defeated a servant. But at the end of the day, Shirou had to back down and let Arturia do the fighting all by herself while he had to heal his wounds. When the mission was finished, Arturia consoled Shirou, though she never once looked down on him for it or even thought any less of him.
Although Shirou had to back down, he had still acted as her support with his bow and arrow and had allowed Arturia to deliver a crippling blow to Darius III before the servant vanished due to the magus being killed.
Another mission that weighted on them, this time on Arturia's shoulders, was one that Ciel requested their assistance in Romania.
===Romania – Flashback===
This mission was one that Ciel expressed great concern in her message as the rest of the Executors were focused on another mission in the United States.
As such, there was no one else to spare for this assignment. Ciel understood the ugly truth, immediately. It was a suicide mission, plain and simple. Normally, she would expect a least two or three more Executors to accompany her, but the Church did not have anymore to spare, which Ciel doubted very seriously, but chose not to comment. Her past with her bosses was a truculent one and she did not wish that on anyone, not even on her worst enemies. Getting killed over and over again just for a bloody test. Bloody bastards the lots of them, really. Still, she had her freelancers to call upon for help. And it is not like she had misled them withholding information. Shirou and Saber were fully briefed about the situation and were even given the choice to go along or not.
Ciel has been in this dead apostle hunt for longer than these two had been alive…of course, she was still unaware of who Saber actually was.
Both Ciel and Arturia knew that Shirou would not back down from it, considering the atrocities that a group of three dead apostles was causing in Sighisoara, Romania.
Also, Arturia was not someone who would back down from a fight.
As soon as they landed in Romania, both Shirou and Arturia were surprised at the feel of mana in this city. The feel was similar to Fuyuki, land of the Holy Grail War as both considered that this place could very well handle a war of that magnitude, probably even higher. When they arrived in Sighisoara, the city was complete dark, no light and no sound…completely devoid of life. In terms of mission for the Executors, there was a pattern involved. Get rid of the vampires first before facing the dead apostles. And since Arturia was ill equipped to effectively do anything else but cause them injury, the group split up. Ciel would handle her end with as much enthusiasm possible while Shirou and Arturia went together on the other side of town, cleansing them now turned vampires.
However, unlike other times, this was the first time that they had to cleanse an entire city.
If one were to look from above, they would see one blue fire dot and then another…and then another, until the entire city had bright blue fire dots from the black keys burning the vampires up until only dust remained.
The tough part came when they had to face the dead apostles in combat.
Three for three…If something bad happened to each of them, then no one would be able to come to the rescue. After dealing with the vampires, the three dead apostles approached their enemies in the town's center square. It did not take long for each to find a suitable adversary as Ciel broke formation and faced one of them. Shirou and Arturia, though, remained together which forced the remaining two dead apostles to fight together, something that they never believed in doing. Still, the fight carried on with Shirou unleashing his trusty Chinese couple swords while Arturia faced them with Excalibur hidden by her wind spell. Shirou's enemy was obviously stronger physically than him, even with Shirou using reinforcement on himself. However, in terms of agility and with Kanshou and Bakuya being as unpredictable, Shirou had the advantage.
Arturia was also good in her fight, keeping her opponent at bay, however, unconsciously, her eyes drifted to Shirou's fight.
Fighting against a dead apostle was not like fighting a servant, but they were still stronger than humans.
She was full of pride when she saw Kanshou slicing his opponent's arm off, before Shirou summoned a rain of black keys to rid the world of his foe. However, because she took her eyes away from her own enemy, her enemy evaded from her position and charged straight at Shirou in revenge for his partner. Arturia cursed herself for taking her eyes away from her enemy and shouted for Shirou to watch out, while using mana burst to shorten the distance. However, she did not reach the fast enemy in time. Shirou heard Arturia screaming and turned to see what was happening, only to see the enemy's claws inches from his back.
He could feel the strain in his circuits from continuously reinforcing his body. And such overuse did not allow him to use something to protect him or even use runecraft. Shirou tried dodging, but the clawed hand pierced his back and went all the way to the front of his chest, barely missing his heart.
Arturia's breath hitched in her throat as the terrible scene was recorded in her mind. She screamed in anger at the enemy for killing her Shirou.
The dead apostle smirked at the woman and even licked Shirou's blood from his claws.
Shirou was unmoving on the ground and he had lost a lot of blood. The woman had seen red at that point and focused every strength she still had in this world to slice the dead apostle to pieces. The man, however, merely laughed at that, seeing as Arturia had no means of actually killing him. However, that mood changed once a rain of black keys reached his body, burning him up. Arturia was by Shirou's side crying her eyes out, cursing herself for allowing the enemy to evade her and kill her beloved. Ciel was by her side as well in sadness, looking over Shirou's dire wound from his chest.
When she saw, though, the wound closing, she had relaxed. The yellow energy of Avalon worked fast in saving Shirou's life with Arturia close by.
Arturia was still sobbing uncontrollably when she saw the energy healing her lover.
Shirou's eyes opened suddenly and he coughed in pain while his hands went for his chest. Arturia quickly hugged him, saying sorry over and over again.
===End Romania Flashback===
The image of Shirou's chest being pierced like that still plagued Arturia's mind.
How close he was of dying and all because she failed to protect him. Shirou had battled valiantly against one of the dead apostles, but the battle went for too long and Shirou had to both fight and maintain her at the same time. As such, it took a couple of seconds more for him to adjust after defeating his foe. She may have loathed her, but Arturia was now thankful for Ciel's timely approach as they together dealt with the rest of the dead apostle while Arturia stood close to Shirou so that Avalon could heal him. The wound barely missed his heart, but that was due to Shirou moving his body the soon his eyes saw the attack coming.
The king of knights became mortified at the prospect of losing him, losing the man to whom her heavy heart belonged. And it would be her fault.
Another item to add to the list of her failures.
After the final dead apostle was dealt with, Ciel and Arturia had taken care of Shirou for an entire week until the redhead became fully healthy once more. However, the scar close to his heart would be forever there and every time they made love or simply slept together, Arturia would caress the scar and be reminded of the terrible scene. The memory simply topped every single bad memory she had in her life. No matter how much she suffered seeing the end of her kingdom due to Mordred's betrayal, no matter how much she suffered after knowing of Lancelot and Guinevere's betrayal…she eventually being the cause of the love of her life getting killed easily became number one.
Her chest ached every time her mind went back to that moment.
Also, because Shirou did not have the stamina to keep up the fight while having to support Arturia. If he did not have to supply her, then he would at least be able to do something. This was actually the first time that the thought passed in Arturia's mind. For all intents and purposes, their relationship was between master and servant or familiar now that the war was over.
And the King of Knights could not help but wonder how wonderful it would be to become human once more and be together with Shirou. In London, when she talked about Shirou being a knight in her era, she began to envision the possibility of a real relationship with him not bound by the master familiar type bond. Not only she would enjoy everything she has enjoyed thus far, which were inarguably the best moments of her life, but she would not need Shirou's help anymore in keeping her in this world. She could be completely free to live with him and, most importantly, not become a burden. However, that was a thought for another day as right now all Arturia wanted was for them to enjoy their sweet time resting and recovering, not to mention easing Shirou's magic circuits from sustaining her in between missions.
===xxx===
Turned out that that night, after dinner, the girls ended up throwing a pajama party with sake and everyone slept in Shirou's house afterward.
The redhead took the opportunity to visit old man Raiga and diligently gave every car and motorcycle a fine tune-up. That allowed him to somewhat take his mind away from his troubles. In some of their trips, Shirou had used his skill to fix their method of transportation. In some countries, finding a suitable vehicle was sometimes hard. One time, when they were in Polony hunting a female magus by the name of Haruri Borzak who was harvesting dead apostle bees, Shirou had to first fix an old jeep from the second world war before they could begin the hunt. Later they found out that the woman was actually the granddaughter of Odd Borzak, who was surprisingly killed by Emiya Kiritsugu and Natalia Kaminiski, though no one knew the exact details of what happened.
When he later returned to his house and saw Arturia having fun with the other girls, he smiled and quickly went to his warehouse to work on some runes to aid him in future battles, specifically to add runes in his arrows that would allow the projectile to travel without air resistance. Though that would imply learning a bit about wind elemental spells and Shirou only had knowledge of the fire element. Wind was more Arturia's area of expertise. However, if his plan worked, then his arrows would not only be stronger, but also faster, allowing him to better aid Arturia.
Shirou had been working on his side project for the better part of the night when he felt a pair of hands hugging him from behind.
The golden locks fell from his ears as he could feel Arturia's chest on his back and her head on top of his shoulder.
"What are you working on?"
Every possible answer he could think of pretty much escaped from his mind as he felt her lips kissing his neck softly while whispering moans in his ear.
When they first started having sex, Arturia was still shy in voicing her desires to him. In her mind, the simple fact of having desires was a foreign concept until she began her relationship with Shirou and they began to explore new things together. Arturia had been teased too long by Rin about this, that her mind began to think more lecherously towards her lover. Now as Shirou listened to the woman voicing what she wanted, or rather how she wanted, Shirou could not help but shiver in anticipation. The noise in the house was still going on and that way no one would hear them. Arturia offered her hands to him and Shirou gladly accepted as the couple went back to their room, taking their clothes off along the way to the bed while kissing heavily.
===Next day===
The next day, after a nice night of rest and other activities, Shirou and Arturia were having a light spar inside their dojo.
While the others slept until late in hangover, Shirou and Arturia had woken up early to practice like always.
Shirou has used Kanshou and Bakuya for so long in their missions that Arturia figured that they could spend some time brushing up on her style of fighting.
They were sparring with the wooden sword that was stashed in the dojo. Today was a fight of pure skill and no strength for two reasons. First, the sword would break in mere minutes and second, it would help Shirou improve on his technique. They had been practicing for a couple hours now as per their routine, and the fight remained controlled but Arturia saw that Shirou's moves became erratic and she could see multitude of openings for her to exploit. It did not take too long for her to capitalize and send him to the ground. Arturia sighed in dismay as she heard a grunt from Shirou on the ground as he complained to himself.
She kneeled next to him, waiting for him to acknowledge her presence.
"Are you okay, Shirou?" He took a long breathing and negated, increasing her worry.
"It's the fight with Darius III all over again…I don't know what to do, Arturia…how can I improve so that that never happens."
Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, she smiled at him.
"You can't keep blaming yourself like this Shirou…fighting a servant head on is already a daunting task. But you have other abilities to compensate."
"But how can I truly be by your side, then, Arturia…what if something happens to you and I'm not close to prevent it." Arturia nodded, already hearing this concern. "I know that from long range I can aid you, but still there is the risk of me not being fast enough to have your back."
"In battle, there is only so much we can control, Shirou…" Arturia was turning into teacher mode, hiding her own doubts and insecurities. "We just have to practice long enough to take advantage of the enemy's openings without showing our own. Though, no matter how much we practice, we cannot fight against the inevitability of chance. At one point, one of us will eventually be open to an attack. And when that happens, I trust you to cover me just like you trust me to…" Arturia stopped talking as she remembered what happened in Romania. This time, she was the one looking down in sadness and concern and he now turned to comfort her. She wanted to say that he could trust her to watch his back, but the last time it did not happen like that and Shirou was almost killed.
"Arturia…"
"No, Shirou…I was the one at fault. I failed to cover you back then and you almost died!"
Shirou sighed but smiled at her. He had no right or even the strength to correct her when he was feeling down for similar reasons just a couple minutes ago.
"Turns out we both have things to work on, huh?" Arturia nodded concurring, with a pained smile, wipping the tears from her eyes at the memory.
"I guess so…now, I believe we stayed for too long. No doubt, Taiga must be in the kitchen now demanding breakfast…"
"Yeah, let's go...you say Taiga, but I bet that you are also hungry, aren't you?" No sooner had he voiced his suspicion, Arturia's stomach betrayed her, earning a blush, which was even more pronounced when Shirou giggled.
"H…how many times I have to say that I am uncomfortable when you laugh at me Shirou…" His laughter held warmth though as he surprisingly pulled her up close for a bone-crushing hug, placing her head on his chest. The heavy blush turned to a content smile as she looked up to see his heart-warming smile and bright brown eyes directed at her and only her.
She wished for the stars above that she could have these moments forever with him.
As they entered the kitchen, they couple sweat dropped at the scene. Both Taiga and Rin complaining to Shirou, demanding breakfast at once and Sakura sitting on the table when usually Sakura would be more than competent to replace Shirou in the kitchen. Both Taiga and Rin were in shambles with disgruntled hair and messy clothes from yesterday. Sakura was the only one who bothered to change and take a shower, but she was busy at the table rubbing her forehead, trying in vain to ease the hangover from yesterday. Hence why Shirou was the only one present in the room with the skills and mind to make breakfast for all of them. With a smile, he wore his cooking apron and began while Arturia ran damage control, quieting Taiga and Rin down as well as tending to the lightweight Sakura.