Part III.2
> continue: iteration 29, day 4, late night
"... and t-that was it," I say. Fuck. Can't stop my hands from shaking. I'm wrapped in blankets with a cup of hot tea in my hand, but I still feel like I'm freezing to death. Guess I'm getting off light, though, considering I just had part of my frigging soul sucked out or some shit. "So yeah. Gonna be honest here. I'm not exactly getting a super-trustworthy vibe from her."
"You think?" Shirou raises an eyebrow. I'm sitting with him and the other usual suspects in Rin's living room.
"Yeah, okay, I know. What I'm trying to say is, I think she's gonna try to play us." I clear my throat. "She came pretty close to straight-out admitting it. If we did ally with her, she'd probably wind up using us to her own ends. And it'd only be a matter of time before she knifed us in the back anyway. That's not even mentioning, y'know. All the evil."
"Lie down with vipers, expect to get bit," Saber mutters.
"Doy." Rin tosses her head. "That's because alliances between Masters are dumb."
Shirou rolls his eyes. "Thanks. That really fills me with confidence."
"It's true, though! It's just the way Grail wars are set up. Everyone's going to have to duel each other to the death eventually, so any alliance is doomed from the start. The whole thing inevitably devolves into a mind game to see who can stab who in the back first."
"I'd ask where honor factors into your worldview, but I suspect I already know the answer," Saber observes dryly.
"Can it, Brunhilda," Rin snaps. "I've always been up front about this thing being temporary. We'd be enemies right now if it wasn't for... certain circumstances." She shoots me a look.
I just sip my tea. It's cute that Rin still feels the need to pretend that. Mind you, I've learned not to call her on it this early in the week. She gets all huffy.
> how're the chills by the way
Getting there. Tea's helping. According to Rin, I should be back to feeling normal after a good night's sleep...
... just in time to get mana-drained again tomorrow morning at school. Dickweasels.
> you seem to like that word
Just trying it out on a provisional basis. See, I heard someone use the word 'nutbunnies' the other day on TV? And that got me wondering what obscenity it was intended to cover up, so...
> i get it
Yeah. Kinda reverse-engineered the obscene form. Obscengineered, one might say.
> shouldn't that be 'dickrabbits' then
Weasels sound funnier.
> true
Also more painful, come to think of it. Probably not a coincidence.
"Anyway. Getting back to Caster." Shirou shakes his head. "It almost doesn't matter if we can't trust her, though, does it? We don't have a choice. If she's the only one who can shut down this Gilgamesh guy..."
> oh yeah how'd they take that bit of news
See for yourself. And rewind --
***
> skip back to: iteration 29, day 1, early night
I walk into Shirou's kitchen-slash-dining-room on the first night. "Rin," I say professionally. "Saber."
Both of them stare at me. "Who the fuck are you?" Rin asks.
"Hold that thought," I say, glancing at the clock. "Three -- two -- one..."
A couple of seconds later, the tea kettle whistles. Feh. Still don't have the timing quite right. I go into the kitchenette area and turn off Emiya's stove. Shirou himself wanders into the room, looking profoundly lost. I grab the kettle and a spare cup from the drying rack, then pad over to the table.
All eyes in the room on me, I sit down and pour myself tea. Pause for deep breath. Here we go. "Okay," I say. "So.
"My name is Tomasu Tomonaga. Just call me Tom, it saves time. Also, yes, Rin, as in Shin Tomonaga. I know you knew him." Tohsaka blinks. "I'm his nephew. Was his nephew. You know what I mean.
"Anyway. so Saber -- remember, like, an hour ago when you were fighting Lancer? He launched that big casualty-altering attack of his at you, which you somehow survived despite it literally rewriting time itself?"
Saber's mouth works up and down silently for a second. "... yes?"
"At that exact moment, down the street from here, I was playing around with this equipment I inherited from my deceased uncle Shin. Who -- it turns out -- was a scientist with a side interest in magic. Knew Rin's dad somehow." I stir the tea. "Anyway, something weird happened. And ever since then, I've been stuck repeating the next thirteen days over and over again. Whenever I die or whatever, I get sent straight back to the moment of the accident."
"As in a time loop." Rin raises an eyebrow incredulously.
"Bingo. Bill Murray style," I say. "That's how I know about the Grail War. That's how I know all of you slash stuff about you. And that's why I'm calling you by first name. You both gave me permission a bunch of loops ago, and I'm tired of asking."
Saber narrows her eyes. "What sort of... stuff, exactly?"
I sip the tea. Okay, good, it's cool enough. Last time, I forgot what I was doing and scalded my tongue. Hate when that happens. "Well... Shirou was in the Great Fuyuki Fire. Rin is Sakura Matou's biological sister." Rin's eyes go wide. Shirou's jaw drops as he glances at her. "And Saber, you fought in the Fourth Grail War ten years ago. Speaking of which -- remember Gilgamesh? He survived your last fight. Been hanging around town ever since."
"What?" Saber bolts upright.
"More on that situation in a second." There was one other thing, wasn't there? Something else I wanted to add this time. What was it?... oh, right. Duh. "And Archer has something called a Reality Marble he doesn't want Rin to know about," I finish.
"I knew it!" Rin leaps to her feet and points an accusatory finger up at the ceiling. "You son of a bitch!"
"That's a lie!" her Servant shouts loudly from the roof. He always insists on staying out there. Kind of like that one friend who thinks he's too cool to be seen with you at lunch.
I raise my voice. "That really how you want to play this, Mr. 'bone of my sword'?"
There's a brief pause. "Fuck!"
I can't help but smirk a bit. I've recently discovered Archer's a lot of fun to rile up. Yeah, sure, he could easily kill me at any moment. It's kinda like bullfighting, I guess, except the bull has a red trenchcoat and a Final Fantasy-esque haircut.
"Okay. Not saying that I'm buying all of this..." Shirou rubs his eyes. "But even if it's true... why are you here, telling us all this? Why us? What's in it for you?"
"Glad you asked." I take another sip. "You know how I said I've been repeating the same thirteen days? And I reset when I die?"
"Yeah?"
"Not a coincidence. I keep dying every thirteen days because everyone does." If I even make it that far, anyway. "Every loop I've been through, every single time -- it closes with the end of the world two weeks from now."
"What?" Rin smirks. "You're kidding, right? You can't possibly expect us to believe --"
"Yes, I can. Because I'm not joking." I look Shirou straight in the eye. He's usually the key. If I convince him, Rin and Saber eventually come around. "I've seen it, okay? Over and over. Like the great fire, but everywhere. Even the ocean doesn't stop it. The government can't do anything. Earthquakes all over the place. Satellites and planes just falling out of the sky for no reason..." Emiya swallows.
I look towards the other two. "And it all starts here, okay? In Fuyuki. So everything you're doing right now -- the whole Grail-War-Murder-Death-Kill thing? That needs to go on pause. Because if we don't figure this out somehow, we're all dead. Again."
The room goes silent. That part of the conversation never seems to get any easier. I look down into my teacup and take another deep breath. "Okay. So... specifics. Let me tell you about how I got my hand chopped off last time..."
***
> skip forward
> (past a whole lot of recapping)
Saber folds her arms skeptically. "And you say Caster managed to block the Gate of Babylon?"
I shrug. "That's what I saw."
"Hm." Saber sits back.
"Wait." Rin rubs her head. "Go back to that part before. This Gilgamesh guy -- you said he has a body made of Grail mud?"
"Yep. Same stuff that's all over the place on Night Thirteen."
"And you learned this how again?"
I sigh. That's okay, though. Questions are good. "Okay, from the top... at one point, we figured out that I'm what you call a rando. Meaning I've got a few Magic Circuits, which I guess isn't super uncommon around this area? That's what you told me, anyway."
Rin takes a closer look at me. "Huh. Oh, yeah."
"They're too weak for me to do any real magic, but I've got this touch-telepath mind-meld thing going on," I say. "If I make skin contact with someone, I sometimes grab a few of their memories. Can't really control it yet, though. Which is why I wear these." I hold up my gloved hands and wave.
Rin snickers. I eye her. "What?"
"Your Magic Circuits." Rin pretends to hide a sly grin behind her hand. "They're so tiny. It's like looking at an infant's --"
"ANYWAY," I say loudly. "So, like I said, I managed to pull a memory from Blondie McTracksuit. At which point he chopped off my hand. Which sucked, by the way. One star review, can't recommend it."
"A memory of what?" Shirou asks.
"Him shopping, basically," I say. "I can give you more details if you want. Main thing is, he used this magic knife doohickey at one point to transfer himself in and out of a human body. His own shifted back into the mud while he was --"
"He what?" Saber sits up straight.
Rin looks at her. "Is that even possible?"
"Barely." Saber shifts her eyes. "It would utterly destroy the host. Permanent damage within a matter of hours. Death within a week at the most."
"Yeah, that fits." I scratch the side of my head. "There was something in there about the body burning out quickly. He didn't seem to mind that much, though."
"That part, at least, I have no trouble accepting." Saber hesitates. "But to inhabit a container not of divine blood... the King of Heroes has far too much pride to lower himself to such a level. I can't believe he would --"
"What I can't believe is that you're all buying this garbage."
Oh, hey. Archer showed up. I thought for sure he'd be too busy sulking to bother this time. As I look up, he materializes over by the kitchen door, arms crossed.
Rin starts, "Archer --"
"Forgive me, Master," Archer growls. "But entertaining this fantasy any further strikes me not only as a waste of time, but actively dangerous. How can we know for sure that --"
"-- that this isn't some kind of elaborate con, perpetuated by one of the other Masters to distract or otherwise lure you into a position of weakness," I finish.
Archer twitches. "Well... yes. Especially since --"
"-- there's magecraft that makes it possible to program someone with false memories, Total Recall-style, so that I'd honestly believe the deception myself. Presuming that I wasn't in on the plot to begin with." I sip my tea.
There's a short but pregnant pause. Archer sighs. "Fine. How did you --"
"We've had this conversation like twenty times now, dude," I say. "Trust me. It's come up before."
> more like twelve actually
Hush. I'm not lying, I'm just rounding up. Creatively. "You usually don't say the Total Recall thing, of course," I add. "That's all me."
"Uh-huh." Archer narrows his eyes. "So how, pray tell, do you usually respond?"
I sigh. "Look, man. This thing's all mental time travel. I can't bring back any physical evidence with me. All I have is what's in my head." I pause. "Though this time, I guess I could rattle off the rest of your Goth poem if you want. Constructive criticism only, I promise."
"I dunno." Shirou scratches his head. "I thought that one line you mentioned sounded kinda cool..."
Archer winces. "That aside?"
"That aside," I say, "all you can do is watch and see if my predictions pan out. Starting with Illya and Berserker showing up outside of the church later tonight." I pour myself a new cup. "Otherwise, let me skip ahead to where this talk usually ends. Let's say you're right, okay? And there's someone both powerful and prescient enough to set all of this up. Who somehow knows a bunch of your deepest, darkest secrets that you've never told anyone.
"If someone like that tells you the world's gonna end in thirteen days... does it seem like a good idea to ignore them?"
The room goes quiet.
Archer coughs. "... I'll be on the roof."
"Yeah, okay." I usually try and let him leave with as much dignity as possible. Especially since all I'm doing is summarizing, like, hours of past arguments here. I didn't even come up with the big finisher I just used. That was all Shirou at one point.
This time, though, I just can't help but throw in one last jab. "Open offer on that poetry critique, though."
"Bite me." Archer flips me off as he vanishes. Fair.
There's a moment of awkward silence. I look at Rin. "So what's a Reality Marble, anyway?"
"Huh? Oh. Um." She shakes her head. "Internal mental construction the caster manifests through magecraft. They can pull stuff in and out of it. Costs a ton of mana. Also, it's super illegal."
I scratch my head. "So... a pocket universe?"
"Something like that."
"Huh." Wonder why it's illegal. Sounds massively useful to me. Definitely saving that bit of info for later. But anyway. "Next item -- Saber, you looked kind of worried earlier. What was that about?"
"Hm?" Saber looks up. "Oh. Yes. What you told us about Caster -- I find it... concerning."
Good. I figured that was the case. And I was hoping to bring the conversation back around to Caster anyway.
Before we go any further here, though -- are we sure this is the direction we want to steer them in this time? We don't want to look into the Matou connection first?
> think so
> it's the logical next step
> we need a way to deal with gilgamesh, caster seems to have the answer
> (besides, that's what everyone voted for)
Huh? Say what? I didn't catch that last bit.
> nothing
> don't worry about it
"The Gate of Babylon is one of the oldest -- if not the oldest -- Noble Phantasms on record, driven by long-forgotten magics from the age of gods," Saber says. "To interfere with its operation... she would have to be extraordinarily powerful. Powerful and old, perhaps even on the same level as the ancient divinities..." She thinks for a moment. "What else can you tell us about her?"
"Not a whole lot, I'm afraid." I fold my arms. "Last loop's the first time I've seen her in the flesh. I know that she turns up and meddles when Rider attacks the school on Tuesday. You guys start in on tracking down her Master after that point, but we usually get distracted before you find them. You seemed pretty convinced it was someone at the school, though."
Rin makes a face. "That's not exactly a whole lot to go on. Are you sure there's nothing else?"
I think for a second. "Well... there's definitely something weird going on up at Ryuudo Temple. You told me once all the mana getting drained from the city seems to be flowing that way. Shirou heads in that direction Monday night when he gets hypnotized or whatever. And von Einzbern dropped a hint that there was something going on up there at one point."
> you sure she didn't mean the thing in the lake
Couldn't be. Illya looked way too shocked when Zouken sicced it on us. I don't think she's able to detect it, same as Rin. So it has to be something else.
"Hmm..." Rin puts her tea cup down. I'm not sure I like the look in her eyes. "So... tell me again about what happens Monday night..."
***
> skip forward to: iteration 29, day 4, late night
And you can fill in the blanks yourself from there. That answer your question?
> basically
> one more thing though
What's that?
> back when you were talking to caster
> you said something about me being a sign that you're crazy
Oh, yeah. I didn't mean...
> it's fine it's fine
> i just wanted to make sure we're not going through all that over again
> cuz you spent all that time worrying about it
> back when i first showed up
No, no, you convinced me back then. I buy it. Different brains work in different ways, bicameral theory of consciousness, all of that. Some people see colors instead of hearing sounds. I just happen to have a voice inside my head that gives me advice sometimes. As long as you don't start telling me to... I dunno... randomly stab a bunch of people because Illuminati, I think we're good.
> really wish i could promise that
Besides, it's not like I don't have enough to deal with right now with this whole situation. Let's be honest, being a little crazy might even be a plus here.
> so where were we
I have no idea. Um... so first Shirou was snarking at Tohsaka about the whole alliance thing in a kinda passive-aggressive way. Then Saber weighed in with some point about the ethics of warfare that just added fuel to the fire. So they've all been arguing about game theory in surprisingly complex terms for like ten minutes now, while Archer just rolls his eyes in the background.
> so basically the usual
Yep.
> you gonna do something about it
Hell no. Do I look like the type who can sort out this mess? Nope. We are down the rabbit hole here, my friend. This train is officially off the rails, next stop Crazytown. Just sit back and enjoy the ride before the abrupt stop.
Then salvation comes from an unexpected source. "Weren't you listening?! That's not how a Nash equilibrium works at all -- what, Archer?" Rin shoots a glare at her own Servant.
The man in red examines his fingernails. "I was just wondering if any of you beautiful-mind types have realized that Caster already has an alliance."
"Oh. Right." Saber makes a face. "Assassin."
I blink. "Ass-in-the-what-now?"
"The final Servant," Rin says. "He was guarding the gate to Caster's fortress."
"Which suggests their Masters are already working together," Archer intones.
"Holy crap. Seriously?" This is new information to me.
"Yes." Saber rubs her shoulder. On closer inspection, she actually looks pretty banged up. Kinda feel bad I didn't notice before. "A nameless swordsman. He's... formidable."
"Not much of a guard, though," Shirou adds. "Once Saber agreed to duel him, he just let the rest of us walk right past him."
"Well, dang." That changes the equation some. I scratch the back of my head. "So I guess we're looking for two Masters now. Both probably tied to the temple."
"If they both go to the school, the way you said, that narrows things down a lot." Rin furrows her brow. "I still can't think of anyone else other than Mr. Student Council President..."
"It's not Issei," Shirou says firmly.
We all look at him. "Really." Rin arches an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?"
"I checked today at school. He doesn't have any Command Seals."
Rin tilts her head. "You do realize they can appear on other places than the hands, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"So how can you be so sure?"
"I asked him to take his clothes off," Shirou says, as if that was the most natural request in the world.
Saber raises her eyebrows. Rin gapes at him wordlessly, her cheeks flushed. Archer just shakes his head and looks away.
"... okay, moving on," I say hastily. Gonna file that one under not-my-business. "Issei's clear. Who else could it be?"
"No idea." Shirou shrugs. "He's the only one listed under the temple's address in the student directory. I looked."
"... great." Another dead end. I stifle a yawn. "Okay. Kinda think I'm done for the night. Can we table things here, or... ?"
"Um... hold on." Rin pulls a book out from behind her. She turns to a marked page and passes it to me. "One more thing. That memory you pulled from Gilgamesh -- is this the knife you saw?"
I look at the sketch on the page. The writing around the picture's in German, but there's no mistaking that weird curved shape. "Yeah, that's it."
"I was afraid of that." Rin frowns. "It's an artifact of the Waite family. They were bad news, even among mages."
"That sounds like it's saying something."
"It really is." Rin brushes her hair back. "Things got so bad, the Association hit them with a Sealing Designation. One of their strike teams wiped out the whole family just before the Second World War. What does Gilgamesh want with their old stuff?..."
I don't say this, but I've got an even better question. Because I've seen this thing in one other place. If Gilgamesh bought the knife in that memory I saw... then what the hell was Zouken Matou doing with it tucked inside his bathrobe? And do I really want to know the answer?
