[X] You took everyone to visit...
-[X] To Ryuudo Temple. Medea would never forgive you if you failed to inform her about a new Saber lookalike.
It was the crack of dawn, and the one time of day that Shirou could consistently get a break from dealing with the young Heroic Spirits that had overrun his house. The calm before the storm, in a way.
Mordred and Gawain's reunion had gone better then expected. Saber was able to step in before the preformed a cross-counter on each other, and the disappointed looks she gave them when they started insulting each other made them feel guilty enough that they backed off.
Apart from that, there wasn't any problems. Of course, Mordred didn't like Nero at all, due to the latter being Roman, but that was dealt with when Shirou talked to the two, while Heracles distracted Boudica so that she couldn't egg Mordred on.
All in all, a surprisingly calm, controlled meeting.
Shirou mused on that as he prepared dinner for the growing horde that lived in his house. And as he did so, a bird began tapping at his window.
Shirou looked over at the bird, and immediately sensed the magic within it.
A familiar?
Checking to make sure, the boy opened the window. The bird tweeted for a second, before speaking in a human voice.
"Dear Einzbern, Emiya, Tohsaka, Matou or Other Listener." Said the bird. "Servant Caster, and her amazing husband, have returned from their honeymoon. If anything important has happened since they left, please visit the Ryuudo Temple and tell them. This message has been recorded by Medea of Colchis."
There for silence for a moment, before it continued. "Emiya better bring over Nero and Saber... I found so many cute outfits for them in Hawaii..." Caster's voice squeed, and babbled some nonsense for a few more moments, before she stopped. "...Is this thing still on?"
With that, the bird stops speaking, and begins flying away.
Shirou watched it fly for a moment, before returning to making breakfast.
It took a lot of work to cook for everyone. Not only did he have to feed himself and the nine children, but he also had to feed Saber. And if Mordred's eating habits were anything like her 'Father's,' then she'd probably count as three people herself.
Then there was Taiga, when she came to visit, as well as Sakura and Rider. Fortunately, Rin had decided that having Archer be her personal chef was more convenient then coming over every morning, and Illya had her maids to cook for her.
Still, it was enjoyable, and gave Shirou some time to think.
If Medea was back in Fuyuki, she would mostly want to know about Mordred. While the girl didn't seem like she would enjoy Caster's hobby, it was the better alternative, compared to the possibility of Caster finding out that no-one told her and getting pissed off.
Which meant that Shirou would have to take the lot of them up to Ryuudo Temple, to visit Medea.
Hopefully, that would go better then last time. Issei still goes pale when he sees Darius.
As he finished cooking everything, moving the last pancake onto Nero's plate, it occurred to Shirou that Saber hadn't gotten out of bed yet.
Which was... Odd. Usually, she woke up as soon as she smelt food being cooked.
Somewhat concerned, Shirou left the kitchen, and went towards Saber's room.
Surprisingly, the door was open. Saber usually kept it closed.
Shirou peeked his head in, looking around.
Saber was still in bed, but very clearly awake. The reason why she hadn't gotten up yet was obvious.
Mordred was lying next to her, with her arms wrapped around Saber's stomach.
Saber's eyes flickered from the girl to Shirou, as the King of Knights tried to figure out how to get out of bed without disturbing Mordred.
"Help me." Saber whispered, keeping quiet.
Shirou looked out the window. The sun was rising, and looked like it was a bit past dawn already. The kids should be waking up soon anyway, so...
"Just wait a moment, Saber." Shirou whispered back. "She shouldn't be asleep for too lo-"
He was interrupted by the growl that came from Saber's stomach.
Mordred awoke at the sound, jerking back from the volume of the growl. Saber looked somewhat sheepish, while Mordred looked around for the source of the sound.
Shirou smiled, and went back to serving breakfast.
~~~~~
As Shirou, Saber and the children walked up Ryuudo Temple, Assassin stood up from his seat.
"Greetings." He said. "Are you here to see Caster?"
Shirou nodded. "Yeah. I thought I should introduce her to Mordred."
The girl in question looked at Assassin's sword, measuring it's length. Assassin nodded when he saw her.
"I can see why." The swordsman noted, before turning to Saber. "Ah, Saber. Would it bother you at all if we could cross blades again tonight? It's been some time since I tested my skill against a worthy opponent."
Arturia nodded at Sasaki. "I'll come by tonight, assuming nothing interrupts."
Assassin smiled, and almost said something, before Nero got bored and ran past him. Which opened the floodgates, as everyone except Gawain and Mordred immediately followed.
Shirou took a step after them, before turning to Assassin. "Sorry about that..."
"It's no trouble." The wraith replied. "Children can be so impatient."
Shirou, Saber and Mordred went up the stairs after that. Gawain trailed behind for a moment to give a polite bow to Assassin, before he ran back up to Saber, glaring at Mordred the entire time.
Eventually, they ran into the courtyard where Medea and Kuzuki where standing, both wearing lei's around their necks.
Kuzuki was as stoic as ever, even with Aoife sitting on his head and Boudica climbing up his back, and Medea was passing Nero a bag full of candy.
Hearing their footsteps, Medea turned to Saber, and saw Mordred.
For a moment in time, everything was still.
"Cute..." Medea mutters, before squealing. "So cute!"
She suddenly dashed forward, holding Nero, and grabbed Mordred's wrist. Shirou tried to move to intercept her, but his body was frozen.
She had frozen the time in the temple, to ensure only she could move?
Mordred objected to Medea grabbing her, but didn't pull back, confirming that Medea was doing
something.
As soon as she was touching both Nero and Mordred, light flashed out of Caster, and all three of them vanished.
Shirou suddenly began moving again, as Caster's spell over the temple faded.
"...Why did you bring her here?" Asked Kuzuki, he didn't look annoyed, or sound annoyed, and probably wasn't annoyed, but Shirou had the feeling that, if Kuzuki could show emotions other then quiet stoicism, he would be looing annoyed right now.
"Well, I thought it was better that she find out sooner rather then later, in case she felt like we were keeping secrets."
Kuzuki looked at Shirou for a moment, before turning towards the door to the room he shared with Caster.
He opened the door, and looked through it.
The door lead to another door in the courtyard, making it so that stepping through it would leave you in the courtyard still. Kuzuki could even see the back of his head through the doorway.
After a moment, he shut the door. As he did so, Shirou could swear that he heard Medea chuckling.
"...Damn it, Caster." Shirou swore. "Is that really needed?"
"Now what do we do?" Asked Saber. "We can't leave Nero and Mordred at Caster's cruel, unforgiving hands. Speaking as one who has been forced to comply with her habit before, we must rescue them."
...Her cosplay outfits aren't that embarrassing, are they?
"Why not?" Asked Boudica. "I mean, it's sad that Mordred is gone forever, but at least Nero is gone."
Shirou opened his mouth to explain that they weren't gone forever, and that Saber was exaggerating, when Tamamo interrupted.
"I fixed your door!"
Everyone turned towards the fox-girl, who was standing at the door Kuzuki had opened. Shirou could only see it looping around into the courtyard again, but Tamamo's arm go through it, and looking at where the doors looped around, he couldn't see it come out.
"It's an impressive spell." She muttered. "Warping space, but allowing a loophole that would allow people who aren't old like Shirou and Saber to go through. Though it would mean that old people could go through if they were carrying young people..."
Shirou blinked.
Did... Did Tamamo just work out how Caster's spell worked, that fast?
"Good work, Tamamo." Shirou praised her. The fox-girl beamed.
"So, in order to rescue Nero and Mordred, we must risk further young ones falling into Caster's hands..." Saber muttered.
So it would seem.
Hopefully, Caster didn't set up any other defences. Which would mean Shirou could walk in and grab them without having to put them at risk.
But what if she did have other tricks and traps between her room and here?
Thinking about it for a moment, Shirou...
[X] Decided to just wait until Caster came back. It wasn't like anyone was in danger.
[X] Decided to go in by himself. It wasn't as if there was any danger, right? -[X] Which of the kids should he take with him? [Write-in]
[X] Decided to go in with back-up.
-[X] Kuzuki
-[X] Saber
-[X] Assassin
-[X] Issei
--[X] Which of the kids should each person take? [Write-in, 1 young one per helper]
[X] "Saber, remember the thing we agreed to never talk about again?"
