Fate/Clusterfuck (Fate/Stay Night)

[Use a Command Seal] (Two Remain)

Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!

—

"STOP!" You scream the word so loud your throat stings, your hand shoots forward, the seal on your wrist glowing. The room is bathed in a crimson light, and Mordred goes rigid, her muscles shaking and blood erupting from her lip as she bits into it.

But not before planting the blade a full inch into Ayako's side. Ayako's scream drowns out your own, a howl of pain as the wide and sharp blade lodges itself into her. Blood pours out of the wound, drenching the blade and the bed. Ayako thrashes, widening the wound, her hands moving to grip the blade on instinct.

Then things get truly chaotic.

The door opens, but nobody enters. Instead, appearing just behind Mordred are Circe and Caster. Caster's staff was raised, pressed against the small of Mordred's back, while Circe's was pressed against her neck. You see the veins along Mordred's neck bulge for a moment, then, like a ragdoll she goes limp. Falling backwards into the arms of… Archer? The man stands there, appearing much like the two witches did, his arms hooked underneath Mordred's arms as he lifts her up and away from Ayako.

With a squelch the blade pulls free, and Ayako tumbles to the floor, bleeding sliced up hands clutched against her side as she wails in pain. You fall to the floor after her, grabbing Ayako and pulling her hands away from the wound, her nails digging into your skin as she fights you on instinct. You reach down and rip the school shirt away, revealing a puncture wound a good half foot wide and gushing blood.

Then you are shoved, Circe, despite her dainty frame, pushes you away from Ayako easily and plants her hands onto the wound. Caster, following just after her, places her hand against Ayako's forehead. The twin applications of magic seal the wound and put her to sleep, though Ayako and the floor was still covered in a good amount of blood.

You want to be upset about Caster knocking people unconscious repeatedly, you really do. But you are also very distracted at the moment. Men and women fill the room, guns drawn. Some point their weapons at the servants, others point them at the floor. Confusion the order of the day as the room goes from two people to twenty in a matter of half a minute.

You study the closed wound on Ayako a moment longer, then turn your attention towards Berser… Mordred. She is still held in Archer's arms, her sword held limp in her hand as tears stream down her face. Her eyes are bloodshot, and her face is covered in blood from where she bit clean through her own lip. With a clatter of metal against wood, the sword falls from her hands, blood flying off of it to paint the floor and the walls in yet more of the ichor. Her head turns, looking down at Ayako, and her left hand stretches forward, fingers splayed out, reaching for the girl. "Father… why? Father…"

"Master, please explain what happened." Caster says slowly, carefully, her eyes never leaving the Berserker.

You frown. "I dreamt I was on a battlefield, Mordred was there, and upon finding her she… killed me, then when I woke up she was standing over the bed about to stab Ayako."

"I would say she succeeded in that endeavor." Circe says, standing from where she had been crouched over Ayako. She stares down at her hands for a moment, both drenched in blood. Then, they are covered… in what is almost like a haze, before they return to focus completely clean.

"It is a small miracle she didn't target you again outside of the dream, Shirou, you cannot control this servant. You must either allow me to put her on a magical leash, or you command her to kill herself." Caster says, turning her head to look at you, her tone allowing little argument.

"I can't do that, Caster." You reply firmly, staring back.

"You can, easily. You could command me to kill myself and I would do it without having any ability to fight it, you could do the same to her and remove her as a danger." Caster says, gesturing to the sobbing Berserker.

You turn your attention back to Mordred. She was sobbing, saying the word 'father' over and over like it was a mantra. She was no threat, not at the moment. But you knew she could be, you saw her when she fought that monster, you… could barely even communicate with her. No, you couldn't even do that. She barely acknowledged your existence and half the time you had no idea where she even was.

She was a risk, she killed you, she attempted to kill Ayako.

…

But she was also clearly not in control of herself. "No, but keep an eye on her for me. How long will Ayako be out."

Caster's eyes close for a moment, and from the way her lips move you can tell she rather desperately wants to say something but is fighting the urge. Letting out a slow, controlled breath. She opens them again to focus on you, the anger gone. "She will be awake in the morning."

You nod, then, bending down your gingerly pick up Ayako and deposit her back onto the bed. Her sleep seemed unbothered, which was a relief, though she would need a change of clothes before school.

… But more than that you were likely going to have an awkward conversation when she awok-

"Shirou." A voice, firm, male, familiar, but with a tone you didn't recognize speaks up and draws your attention like a sudden lightning strike. You turn your head back to see Raiga standing in the doorway, lightly leaning on his cane.

"Come with me, boy." Raiga says, then turns and begins making his way out of the room.

"Raiga, I-"

Raiga pauses, turning his milky eyes back towards you. "That was not a request."
You stare after him a moment, then, shooting an apologetic glance towards Caster you follow after the man.

—

Raiga's room was in itself a reflection of the man. That was not always true of people as one might expect, it was something you had experienced more than once. Especially after spending a good deal of time hanging out with Shinji over the years. Raiga wielded a lot of power, Raiga was wealthy, Raiga was old. All of these things about Raiga were true. Yet of all of those things, the room that Raiga lived within only matched that last description of the man. Every room in the mansion was European in style, rich carpets, tall beds, like a callback to the Japan of your great grandfather's time where everyone was trying to emulate another, distant nation.

Raiga's room wasn't like that.

Tatami floors sunk beneath your feet as you entered the space, and you found yourself in a small room, roughly the size of your bedroom back at the house Kiritsugu left you. It was undecorated beside a sword stand sitting upon a dresser, but any threat those swords resting upon it would hold was somewhat diminished by the small army of pill bottles surrounding them. His bedroll was a mess on the far end of the room, hurriedly left just a few minutes ago, and, heedless of you, Raiga moves to sit down at the opposite end of a small table. He doesn't sit formally, his legs instead cross underneath him, and, using his cane, he points to the opposite end of the table for you to sit.

You move to sit across from the man, and Raiga leans back for a moment before producing a pipe. Lighting it idly using a lighter set on the table, he draws in deeply before focusing on you again. "What is your plan here boy?"

Does he mean regarding Mordred? "I'm having Caster keep an eye on he-"

The narrowing of Raiga's gaze causes your jaw to click shut without a single word from the man. He stares at you for a few moments, then shakes his head from side to side. "If you don't know what I'm asking, why answer?" Raiga sighs, gazing down at the table for a moment, before his milky eyes find my own again. "These servants are dangerous things boy, everything magic is."

"Taiga mentioned you knew about magic, how?" you ask.

Raiga smiles. "I worked with your father and his associates. Along with the church. I have no connection to that world, if you are curious, at least, I am not under their thumb. But they respect my boundaries and I tolerate theirs." Raiga takes another drag from his pipe, and the smile drops from his face. "But my granddaughter is involved now, and my men are dying, and blood is being shed within my house. This has made things… difficult, as you might understand."

He sets the pipe down onto the table with a click, then, he leans forward. "What is your plan to resolve this 'war' so that things return to peace in Fuyuki?"

You… aren't sure, you were still making sense of it, all of it. You understood its purpose, but you had no desire for the prize. It was a race you didn't sign up for and had no desire to win. The only thing you wanted out of this was for no-one to get hurt, and that was something you had already failed at utterly.

The scream of Raiga's men haunted you, and the ring of Ayako's was still lodged in your ears.

Raiga lets out another sigh. "I did not expect you to have the answer. You never had the drive your adoptive father did."

You bristle.

Raiga smiles, slightly. "That is not a bad thing. In the morning Ayako will likely be scared and confused, you'll need to look after her. Kiritsugu… never had that ability. I also expect you to apologize to Taiga for dragging her into all of this."

Then the smile drops again, his face goes neutral, and Raiga sits up very straight. The change is… slight, but the effect is clear. The old man was gone, your honorary grandfather was gone, this was the Patriarch of the Fujimura clan facing you now. "What happened tonight will not be happening again. You have a loose animal in this house, and I am trusting in you to keep an eye on her."

"I-" You begin.

Raiga ignores you. "I've lost good men already. Damn good men. I'm just about ready to declare war on the magical half of Fuyuki over it."

You must have looked concerned, as Raiga was smiling again.

"Tell me boy, how does a mage setup a workshop in a city or location where another mage resides?"

You pause for a moment, processing the sudden change in subject, then answer. "A mage has to ask permission of the local authority to do so."

Raiga smiles a touch wider. "And have you ever pondered who the local authority in Fuyuki was? It isn't the church, and it isn't the Tohsaka family. Not that the latter didn't try more than once to… usurp that position. Nor does it belong to the Zouken. Do you understand what it is I'm telling you?"

You nod.

"Good. A bullet kills a mage just as easily as it does anyone else. That was a lesson I am grateful your father never taught you however." Raiga moves his hands to his knees, the 'grandfather' returning. "Shirou, keep your servants under control and keep my granddaughter out of danger. Can you do that for me?"

You nod once more, not finding your tongue much working at the moment.

"Very good." Raiga replies. "I do not wish to get involved if I don't have to. But I will, if it becomes necessary. I could end this war tomorrow, but I do not wish to deal with Clocktower politics. You will leave now."

You don't argue, you don't question or speak. You simply stand up, bow slightly, then exit the room.

—

You awoke before Ayako did, not by much mind. But the point remained the same. You had had the bedsheets replaced so that neither of you were laying in blood, one of the few problems with the situation you could actually fix, and, with the morning sunlight just barely coming in through the window behind you, you watched as Ayako's eyes slowly opened.

She wasn't exactly a graceful riser, her eyes scrunched focusing on you, trying to process exactly what her eyes were seeing. Her hair was a mess, and… she had left a fair bit of drool on the pillow. But, as she slowly came to terms with where she was-

Her hands shot to her side as she sat up. Fingers tearing at the brim of the shirt and lifting it up to reveal clean flesh with no sign of a wound. The bloodstain remained on the floor, and the specks of blood still decorated the wall. But as for Ayako herself, she had nothing in the way of injuries. She stares at the wound, poking at and stretching the skin, then she looks at you in abject confusion.

"You're fine." You say quietly.

"I got stabbed!"

"Yes, and you were healed."

Ayako's face adopts a look of sheer confusion. "Wasn't that one of the magic people!?"

"Yes, tha-"

"Then why would she stab me?!"

You let out a breath. "I'm still trying to figure that out myself."

"There's no way that can be safe."

You bite your tongue. "It isn't, but I'm having Caster keep an eye on her for the moment. I'm sorry Ayako."

Ayako opens her mouth to respond, then apparently thinks better of it and says nothing. She drops her shirt, her gaze instead moving to the pool of dried blood on the floor. "What… what put me to sleep?"

"Caster's magic."

Ayako looked back towards you, there were a thousand questions she wanted to ask, you could tell by her expression. But instead. "Shirou I'm… I'm going to get back to the house, I need a fresh change of clothes before school."

"Raiga could provide you a ride." You offer.

Ayako slips off of the bed, her hand moving to her side again. Then she looked back towards you, her face was scared. But not towards the idea, she seemed scared to be here. "No Shirou… I'll… I'll just see you at school." Then, without another word she walks out of the room, leaving you in a painful silence.

—

The morning passed swiftly, something you were deeply, deeply grateful for after the events of the night. You found Mordred in Caster's room in the morning, staring at a wall like it held all the secrets of the universe, she didn't speak, she didn't react to your presence, she didn't do… anything at all. She simply stood there like a statue. Caster helpfully informed you that once she had stopped crying, shortly after they had moved her out of your room to begin with, it had been all she was doing.

It was something you had seen before with the woman, and now it only confused you more.

After that it was a simple breakfast, with Archer being his usual friendly self, Mata Hari assisting, and both Circe and Caster sitting to either side of you, rather close you note. After that it was off to school, and, hopefully, normalcy.

Taiga broke off at the entrance, having to get to and prepare Homeroom before you had Sakura put your things away. The fact that she was bandaged rather heavily didnt seem to remove her desire to teach. But then, your hands were still mostly useless as well. Sakura had offered to feed you this morning before Circe stepped in. Speaking of which, the girl had spent the morning nearly glued to your shoulder as you enter the school. She said little, but then, Sakura was never much for heavy conversation. You simply enjoyed the silence, your thoughts bouncing between what Raiga said, what Mordred did… and that expression on Ayako's face as she left.

You hoped you'd see her today, to check up on her once more.

But, as you walked through the halls with Sakura in tow, you rounded a corner, and… much to your surprise, you found yourself staring at-

—

[] [Rin]

View: https://i.imgur.com/s4RvYjR.jpg

[] [Illya]

View: https://i.imgur.com/Vq5rAj6.jpg

[] [A Familiar Face]

View: https://i.imgur.com/06RvFgr.png

—

For those who don't recall why Shirou recognizes that face. I direct you to the later half of this chapter.