Fate/Kaleid Emiya: Oath Under The Snow (Miyuverse Shirou in F/SN Quest)

Fate/Kaleid Emiya: The Departed Swordman

Running and jumping up on buildings with a spell that shielded us from the eyes of others was easy enough.

Deciding it would be a waste of prana for Medea to follow by using flight, you were carrying Medea along for the ride.

For some reason, doing such a thing brought forth a memory of EMIYA's where he was carrying a figure in red over a city.

A figure in red… must be Satan or something.

Medea took out her crystal ball and began setting things up in the Fuyuki Harbor that was currently inactive during this time.

We were quite far away from the hotel, but we were still across the Mion River.

"She didn't stop to meet anyone on the way in. I think I… her room number is 2423." Medea got lucky as Bazett took out her room key card before she even got to the elevator area.

"Try the 24th floor." You suggest, based on the room number.

"2423…" The images on Medea's ball shifted rapidly, as she went up a couple of floors and around hallways to rest on a specific room number. "Found it! Ah, there seems to be some runic protections but they don't really protect against scrying. Oh, there's someone in there."

Medea pointed to the image, and you grimace.

You recognize that mullet anywhere.

"Kirei Kotomine? What the hell? How can she even be friends with that fake priest?"

"Um...Master. You shouldn't doubt someone's character in a different world."

"He suggested that super spicy Mapo Tofu. That's pretty evil to me."

"Perhaps…"

We paid attention to the crystal ball again when the room door was opened by Bazett.

Kirei was standing at the corner in the small pathway to the main living room, as if he was waiting to spook her.

"Kotomine-san, you there? I got your favourite Mapo Tofu!" She called out.

You see Kirei holding back from snickering.

Honestly it looked like this was some sort of innocent prank that involved spooking Bazett.

But such thoughts were immediately gone from your mind in the briefest of moments.

Just as Bazett walked into the living room her right side was immediately punctured by three Black Keys!

"Wh-!!?" That was...

"No! Bazett-san!" Medea was surely just as shocked as you were, only much more worried for the other Master.

Kirei didn't waste any time in bringing down his other hand, slicing and crushing right through Bazett's right hand.

"Pah...ha…. Ki-Kirei… why…?" Bazett muttered weakly before Kirei thrusted his blades into her chest from the front, taking them out and stomped on her wounds.

She was probably dead.

Kirei then muttered something as he held out Bazett's severed hand to his own right hand, revealing Command Seals on both his arm and the severed arm.

We watched as the Command Seals from Bazett transferred over to Kirei.

Just as he did that, before we could think of something to do we saw a streak of blue lightning zipping through the night sky above us at a distance before crashing into the glass window of Bazett's room when viewed through the crystal ball.

Focusing our attention to the crystal ball, we saw a blue haired man in a blue jumpsuit carrying a red spear.

"Gae Bolg. Cu Chulainn is Lancer." You muttered.

Again.

Shit, if he's the real thing then it wouldn't be like before. That time he used a couple of runes but his speed was still faster than your own. You would need Medea to reinforce you if you wanted to match him in speed and strength.

Lancer held the woman in his hands, shouting, "Bazett! Hey, Bazett! What the heck happened!?"

Kirei stood above him ominously, grinning happily.

Even the Kirei you knew had never outwardly shown such glee at the suffering of others.

"So, Lancer, I see that you have raced back to protect your precious Master. Too bad, you just missed her." Kirei taunted as Lancer's form began dissipating, ah, he was running out of mana already? Perhaps he was using it to place runes around the town earlier.

"You… Kirei Kotomine! What the hell are you playing at?! You're the mediator, aren't you supposed to be neutral! She was your friend! Oi, Bazett, stay with me here…"

"Oh dear… you seem to be running out of prana. That must be so difficult for someone who… what was it again? "Is looking for a good fight" out of this Holy Grail War. Instead of fading away, I propose you re-contract with me. If you do as I say, you can have all the fights you so crave."

God damn Kirei loves blabbering on.

You would have loved to act but… Medea seems to be panicking for some reason, she looks terrified of the Kirei in the crystal ball.

Damn… there goes the fly in or teleport option. The harbor was way too far to do anything on your end.

You don't have Lancer's insane speed and strength to do such a thing from your position.

An arrow? No, reaching the right elevation and a distance where you can snipe from will take too long.

But should you even interfere?

You didn't know Bazett that well, you don't have any desire to kill her in particular, but her being taken out is preferable than facing her in combat.

Fraga… you've heard of them back in your world.

Fragarach was a threat that would mean instant defeat should you rely on your higher ranked Noble Phantasms.

But that was the ruthless Hero of Justice methodology talking.

That wasn't you.

But even so… you didn't need to help her.

Right now, you needed to help Medea who was muttering all sorts of things in Ancient Greek to herself looking like a traumatized child.

… You forgot. Such a betrayal reminded her of her past and compounded with her general yet well hidden fear of the outside world, she seems to be panicking.

That never happened when you killed Atrum, but perhaps it was because of Bazett and Atrum's different nature or how the act of betrayal itself distresses her to this point...

You tell her that it's alright, that Kirei couldn't hurt her (even if he could use those Command Seals to power himself up) and all such things as you comforted her.

If she didn't observe such a thing then perhaps she wouldn't be acting this way.

A part of you tells yourself that you should have stalked Bazett yourself while leaving Medea behind the door. Maybe if you had brazenly declared a challenge to Bazett, Kirei would have aborted his plans for her.

"... You want me to just bow down to you? To the man that killed Bazett?!!"

"Come now, there is no need to bear a grudge. A careless Master like her had no hope in surviving in the Holy Grail War. She would have met the same fate sooner or later, anyway.

"Fine… I'll never forgive myself if I just gave up. But mark my words Kirei Kotomine. You'll need to use one of those Command Seals if you plan on ordering me around… Always watching your back and never sleeping will be tiresome."

The contract was made then.

"It's really too bad Lancer. I have plenty of Command Seals to spare."

"What?!"

"Surely you didn't forget that the mediator collects the Command Seals of the fallen Masters outside of the three families."

After two glows emanated from Kirei's hand, the two of them left Bazett's room.

---

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry for being useless. Master, I was just so afraid when I watched him betray her and I just…"

"It's alright… there, there, we're doing something now at least. It's not your fault."

Also, you had no reason to help Bazett.

Even if you wanted to.

… Bazett was more dangerous than Kirei to you, you had your priorities and that was getting back to Miyu and protecting her. Right now, your other priorities is Medea and quite frankly, if Lancer managed to fade away you would have been happy at that.

You had Medea teleport to the roof of the hotel where you sneaked your way towards Bazett's room.

Whatever runic protections that was done to Bazett's room made it so that no one noticed what had happened even if the glass window was broken through.

At the very least, you can make sure the body is returned properly and not left to rot until the boundary field fades away.

"Trace, On."

Gae Dearg is brought forth from your Reality Marble.

You scratch the tip of the cursed red spear across the edge of the door where the tiny runic etchings were made.

Severing the connection of prana.

As you step into the room, you examine Bazett's body and-

-!!? What? She's still alive? But the flow of prana was cut off to Lancer back then… so why…

You can figure it out later. It was likely some rune that was sapping the last of her prana to help her heal, but apparently it wasn't enough.

Of course, Medea being the kind hearted girl she was went right ahead and stabbed Bazett.

Using Pain Breaker, Bazett's condition improved in a blink of the eye, even right now you could only watch with amazement as her arm was regrowing itself.

The former Master of Lancer was still unconscious, and you decided to help her "relocate" by looting all her belongings. Medea helped with looting her hotel room of anything of value.

You took special care in making sure her case where she kept her Fragarach was very far away from the sleeping Bazett when Medea teleported all three of us back to the Ryuudou Temple.

Even if she wasn't an active participant in the Holy Grail War… you wouldn't want anything that could harm you or Medea near Bazett.

On your suggestion, you got Medea to change Bazett out of her blood soaked clothes for hygiene purposes.

Although that had the benefit of making sure she wasn't wearing her runic inscribed clothes.

Just because you could help out doesn't mean you couldn't be practical where possible.

It was late at night, Bazett doesn't seem like she'll wake up anytime soon.

Was it the trauma of having her arm cut off or something more?

That said, she'll be under observation for now.

If anything, tonight reminded you of an important fact.

That Medea was just a young girl that wasn't used to bloodshed.

Granted, she can be surprisingly scary and ruthless if whoever blood was shed had wronged her earlier on.

But even so, she was a sheltered normal girl who has legitimate fears of the outside world considering what happened with Jason and… well, Kirei doesn't exactly make the world a nicer place to live in either.

She shouldn't need to fight if she doesn't want to...

---

… You still went to check out the sight of where the Fuyuki fire had happened along with Medea.

If there's one word to describe what it was like, it would be "Cursed".

"What kind of place is this… it's scary… the hate, despair, fear…" Medea clung to you, shivering even as we were standing in the park.

"It's like a whole Reality Marble made of negative feelings. I'm exaggerating but… I feel sick just being here. What kind of wish did someone make back then?" You didn't want to stay here any longer, but you wanted to investigate a bit.

… There wasn't much you could find, and all Medea found out was that the source location and where the grudges felt the strongest was where many ley lines converge.

The site of where the grail descended.

We didn't know what this meant, although Medea said that she needed to examine the greater grail more to confirm some of her theories.

Her reason for not telling you her theories out right? Well, apparently advanced magic theory flies right through your head.

To be fair, you're more of a Spellcaster than Magus.

Heading back to the Ryuudou Temple, you briefly ran across a student called Issei that lived there as his father was the Head Monk.

Thanks to Caster's magic, you managed to ask him some questions about some students in the school. Specifically about yourself and if he knew the names of the three families.

When he talked about this world's Shirou Emiya, it doesn't sound like he was much different from how you behaved back at school. Only this time he had a part time job and recently quit the Archery Club because a certain Shinji Matou was being an ass.

Shinji Matou… a womanizer and all around asshole that this Shirou was apparently friends with until they had a falling out.

Apparently he slapped Sakura in broad daylight and Shirou punched him, sending him right unto the ground like a weakling.

If he was a prideful Magus then he'll never let Shirou off the hook, unless he used their previous friendship as an excuse to call things off.

Sakura Matou was someone Issei didn't know well, but all around he had only good things to say about her.

He didn't know about any Einzberns but he did know about a Rin Tohsaka.

"Tohsaka-san is… an orphan, no that's not exactly important but well, she's a she-devil."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know. She acts as a model student, is popular, pretty… but that's all a lie. She's clearly faking it. I know she's hiding some deep dark secret. She was the vice-president in our junior high school while I was the president but he couldn't get along at all."

"Do you have… I dunno, trust issues with women?"

He nods. "I admit I do. But it's all that Tohsaka's fault. She's evil I tell you. That said, your sister Medea is a girl I don't dislike. I can tell she's a good person. But that Rin Tohsaka… I have a sense for the supernatural even if it's quite week, and I think I know her secret."

If it's the likely fact that she's a Magus then you'll have to hypnotize him again.

"Go on…" You urge him, and he eagerly rants to you about Rin.

"She wears red and black… habitually lies and is manipulative… I think she's Actually Satan."

Your mind just went blank.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" You weren't sure if you heard that right.

"She's Actually Satan. She might be biding her time until she returns to hell to rule over the souls of-"

You're not even sure if Issei Ryuudou is joking or not.

At any rate, Medea came over and made him forget about your questioning session.

---

Stepping out to the back of the Ryuudou Temple, you take a walk besides the lake there.

There are a couple of things you could do right now, and later on tomorrow too.

That said, you'll need an overall strategy for this Holy Grail War. Do you even want to fight in another one again?

His face comes to mind when you think of such a dilemma.
"I'll be killing lots of people huh… what am I doing wavering at this time…"

As you looked up into the sky from the Ryuudou Temple, you spent a brief moment looking at the stars in the sky.

Ah… that's right. Back then, there were no stars that night.

No hope.

All you could do was move forward.

But now… isn't Miyu in a better place? You were knocked off course, but Miyu should be in a much brighter world than this.

"Shirou?" Medea called out next to you, wearing one of the frilly sleepwear she bought earlier on today.

"How can I help?" She waved her hands as if to refuse.

"Ah, it's nothing. I just wanted to call out to you, aha ♪" She smiles and giggles, you weren't quite sure what was so fun about calling out your name, but it's alright I guess.

You found yourself smiling as her happiness was contagious.

"I'm glad to see that you're feeling better, Medea."

"Ah, well, I'm okay now. I'm...I'm sorry for not being-"

"If you apologize for not doing anything for Bazett then know that you did plenty already. She's alive and that's what counts. Besides," You grin and give a thumbs up, "look at the brightside. Now we won't have to fight Bazett or hurt her."

She looked slightly shocked, before she laughed softly.

"Shirou has a good point. Yes, I think it all worked out for the best. If it's that traitorous priest that's an enemy master then yes, he's someone I wouldn't mind fighting all out."

"Haha, that's the spirit. We'll teach that fake priest a lesson the hard way."

"... Yes."

"Hey, Medea?"

"Yes?"

"What's your wish for the Grail? I'm well… I want to believe my sister's safe enough, but I still want to reunite with her. How about you?"

"I don't need the Holy Grail, so I will give it to you, Master. I don't think it'll be useful to me anyway…" Even as she smiled, she seemed a little sad as if thinking about some regrets.

"...I see. Then why don't you come with me?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, we'll win this thing and if one wish isn't enough to bring us both then you can use yours so that we can go to Miyu together. Wherever she is, I bet there isn't something as deadly as a Holy Grail War. Even then, I'm sure there shouldn't be any prana problems if you can draw it from the leylines so if you want, you can live a normal life there."

"Shirou… yes! That sounds really nice. I'd like that very much! Hmm, I'd like to meet your sister as too. Eh, does that mean I get to be an older sister?"

"Well, I guess."

"Then we'll work hard together! Though I don't think I'll be of much use… sigh…"

"You don't need to worry about that. You've been really helpful all this time. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. So don't say that about yourself anymore, okay?"

In response, she stepped forward and twirled around at the spot a full circle, finally resting her gaze at you with a brilliant smile.

Now that you think about it, the way the moonlight reflects off her lavender purple hair is a pretty sight to behold.

"Shirou, ehehe, meeting you in this time… I think it's…"

"It's what?" You find yourself curious.

Her response was to stick her tongue out childishly.

"It's a secret."

"Honestly… I walked right into that one, didn't I? Aha…"

Tonight was a long night, a long cold night.

When you think back a bit, what she left behind that night was even colder.

Shaking your head, you decided that you'll try your best in putting behind such thoughts.

There's nothing you can do about the past, so right now, this big brother has to do his best again.

You're sort of worried for Miyu but…

'But you'll be fine, Miyu. Knowing you, you'll have no trouble making friends. Through there was so much more that I wanted to teach you.

Oh right, I wonder if you'll be mad at me. You probably are, huh?

Damn… I totally forgot about our promise to see the ocean.

Well, I gave it my all, you know. And I'll keep giving my all for you.

So you'll let me off easy, right?

Please… just be happy…'

Even if you had lost all hope in such wishes and miracles, once again you wished upon the stars.

Now all that's left to do, is to grant your wish by your own power.

---

The next day, you were up to a lot of things… you had resources and plenty of things to do, now it was time to come up with a plan for the grail war.

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