Fate/seventeen line

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@Lil' Lithium @InKouah @Birbthebirbest @Zyxis Ouroboros ReArchtype @Haruhi Takanashi @Vivi De La Moon

Footsteps echoed in the silent hall.
While the Riverside Church had been a site of much commentary on history as it unfolded before, this was possibly the first time it had been involved in the exact and absolute opposite.
"Master," a woman's voice spoke. "The sixth and final participant has arrived."
A second woman dropped down from atop a chandelier to the ground as if stepping off a curb.
"That doesn't sound right, Ruler," she said.
The first woman, barely reacting at all to her movement, simply continued.
"Actually, there seems to have been a fault in the summoning. Only seven Masters usually exist, you see," she explained. "Perhaps the Holy Grail took you into account when discerning the number."
The second woman in the habit raised a hand and inspected the back of it.
The Command Seals were there on principle, but the shape was conjoined. What should have been in three blood-red parts was a single stone-grey emblem.
In a way, that was a relief. She was sick of the sight of blood, but a conflict still existed in her mind.

It didn't matter now.

That said.

"It's still a pain to think that that good-for-nothing magic cup would choose me of all people," she muttered.
She, who was only a member of the Church because of what she was, never mind who.
So she was completely incompatible with this Servant named Ruler in the first place. To pair a fake nun and a devout saintess was nothing less than a grand example of a bad joke.
"I don't know the reasoning of the Grail," admitted Ruler, "but I'm sure you're a suitable moderator."
Ciel said nothing.

"Well then," Ruler said simply, sitting down on one of the pews, "it looks like it's starting... The Sixth Holy
Grail War. Who would have thought?"

A faint light called "sunrise" seeped through the window.
 
The heavy air of New York City was a stark contrast to the acrid mountains in Egypt where Atlas Academy was based. It was there in Midtown Manhattan, nearly a thousand feet above the ground, that a dark skinned woman turned her apathetic gaze down onto the masses from her apartment window.

Aruna watched the shadow of her binds crawled across her hand as the sun rose. She didn't have a strong desire for the Grail. However, the Church wished to maintain their teachings and her wish didn't conflict with their ideals. No harm was done with having the Holy Church as a patron, especially if they aided her in reaching the Root.

"Master," An androgynous voice made itself known with the slight creak of her doorknob.
"I know, Lancer. Archer will be back from… their scouting… soon. More importantly, I'm sorry for not being able to maximize your potential as a weapon."
Lancer said nothing.
"Have you tried taking notes from Archer on developing some conversation skills?"
"I'm sorry Master, but I don't develop."
"You're getting better already."

The ball of gas called the "Sun" moving through the sky was simply a sign of the war to come. No, it already had come. And when the first blood was drawn she would be sure it wasn't be hers.
 
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Livia wasn't alone in the streets. Perhaps it should have surprised her as the sun had yet to fully rise, but New York City was similar to London in this way. She knew this well, having spent many early mornings wandering the streets before attending anything at the Clock Tower. She knew equally well, however, that now the sun had begun to paint the sky amber, the other Masters had begun to prepare for the coming bloodshed.
"Saber?" she turned to her Servant, the red-clothed woman whom she would be relying on so heavily in the days to come.
"Yes, Master?"
"From this moment forward we fight for Grail and glory. Understood?" she met the Saber's eyes and in return was gifted a polite nod.
"It will be my honour."
Honour was such a powerful word. It was one that Livia herself had never much cared for, yet meant a great deal nonetheless. There was little response that could be given when something held so highly was addressed.
The Master simply smiled. "As will it be mine."
 
Aileen just wanted to pass her classes, get a job, and stop sighing. She wasn't doing too well on any of those, which was noted with a sigh. She hadn't heard back from any possible employers, she was failing two subjects, and her family was getting rather ill-mannered with her. Aileen also often thought in an ongoing sentence of negativity, which she supposed isn't a good way of thinking. Ironically, that was fueling the negativity in a strange, roundabout way.
She sat on a bench, sighing and looking up from the ground to the falling sunlight. It had been another long day.
 
Gawain finally unwrinkled his nose as he retreated to a public greenhouse to sleep in, the cleaner air filling his lungs as a smile broke out on his face. "Reminds me of home. Did you enjoy horticulture and nature in general when you were alive, Caster? This filthy, crowded, loud city makes me yearn for home."
Caster exhaled the smoke from his cigar and gestured in the air with it. "What do you think?"
He tapped the base of it thoughtfully, and then shrugged. "To be frank, I don't hate greenery, but I did spend my life in the city, so I haven't the authority to truly comment one way or another."
"I suppose you would have, being who you are. Any recommended courses of action you could give me, Caster? I'm sure you have far more experience than I." Gawain sat back and relaxed against a wall, wondering how he should go about this war of sorts.
 
Aileen stayed like that until it had gotten completely dark, although the streets were light. Once she did push herself up and started walking, she felt more unnerved than before. Something was definitely up. She ran home.
By the time she had gotten in the door of her family's apartment, she was out of breath. Her parents were talking at her, but she didn't really hear them. Everything was just sound. Sooner or later, they stopped and left her alone, leaving her to walk to her room, sighing.
Aileen would normally sleep with the window open, but when she lied down she just couldn't seem to stop jittering. This was fixed as soon as the window was closed and locked.
"God, I'm going crazy," she sighed to herself, her paranoia abating slightly, enough for her to try to sleep.
 
"Yo, Ma—st-er." The shorter of the two spoke with an irritating lazy drawl, letting its body fall limp against its companion.
"Hey, hey Master! Give us some magic energy~ going out without you is sooo tiring.~" The Archer, or rather, Archers, appeared and ran up to their reluctant Master like an excited puppy.
"And who's fault is it for staying out so late? I ordered you to come back at dawn. Care to give me a reason you are a full fifteen hours late?" Irritation dyed Aruna's voice and it was accompanied by the steady crinkling of paper.
"Listen," the taller of the pair began, "so we found this hu—ge wedding ring and—"

"I don't care." before being brusquely cut off by Aruna. "Give me your status report."

"Sorry about that! This one is always like that. Ahem! We found someone with the aptitude to be a Master, 'course they don't look like they have a Servant yet and they barely can count as a Magus but-"
"We can never be too careful." She finished, standing up and smoothing out her long skirt.
War never lasts forever, but the memories created do. Leaving a good impression will be a boon regardless of the war's outcome, even if it was just to her public image or to her comfortably large bank account.
"If that's the case we'd better build good relations before they get something useful. Killing them beforehand is a complete waste."

Was likely the right thing to say.

"Shall we go for a hunt then? I've been incredibly bored waiting for you two."
Who would miss a neophyte of a Magus to begin with?
 
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Livia, having spent the day wandering the streets of New York with Saber in the hopes that it would help them prepare, finally gave up as the sun set.
"Saber?" she turned to look at the woman behind her. "Do you think we should be concerned about the lack of activity today? I would have thought that the fighting would have begun by now."
"Perhaps they are waiting for night," the Servant looked unconcerned. It was no wonder, really. Saber had remained completely calm throughout the day. She was right too, perhaps that was the reason. Livia hoped so. Night would help them, she was certain of that.
"Then let us spend tonight prepared to fight at any time. You never know when someone will find us."
"When they do, there is no doubt of battle," Saber confirmed. She was correct once again, prompting the Master to nod grimly in agreement. Despite this, the pair headed towards Central Park, which Livia had paid good money to stay near. It seemed as good a place as any for both a battle between Servants and a late stroll.
 
Aileen could not sleep at all. Her paranoia was rising in intensity, causing her to jump at every creak and stare at shadowed corners of the room. She almost punched her cat when it jumped on her bed.
"Sorry, Hapu," she apologized, scratching him behind the ears.
After the fifth scare when a stray cat jumped on the fire escape, Hapu hissing, Aileen grabbed her own kitty and her blanket and ran to her closet. She had grabbed her pocket knife and pepperspray around the 2nd scare.
Her parents "worried" about her walking around on her own, so they had given these to her as soon as she started job searching. Job searching was their idea.

It was getting worse, and her cat wouldn't sleep.
 
Aruna turned the corner of her street, passing a cheap theatre without a second glance. The very familiar Central Park came into view when Lancer suddenly spoke.

"There's another Servant nearby. Be on your guard Master." Their face remained unchanged as if they were simply talking about the weather.
"Whaaat? We didn't find anyone else though..."
Why couldn't I have gotten Assassin instead of you morons...?
The dark skinned woman sighed and gave a resigned wave of her hand, "You must have overlooked them. I doubt Caster, Assassin, or Berserker would be in such an open place and I'm not willing to face one of the Three Knight classes in this state. Stick to the plan and find the other Magus."
"We can take em, I'll cover you!" The smaller Archer gave what looked like was meant to be a thumbs up had the hand not been attached to their larger counterpart.
"So aggressive.~" Archer swooned rather sickeningly at its partner's words, "I might fall for you again~! Ah, but I can't be beat! I'll bring everything I can!"
"No, you will not. We are sticking to the plan and finding this Magus. Light the way Lancer. Quickly. I don't want to be near someone like that any longer than I need to."
 
"Is that the place?" Aruna gestured towards a window three stories from the ground, exchanging glances with her Servants pointedly.
"You got it Master~! What do you want us to do? We can fill them up with holes if you want.~"
"Should I use my magecraft to kill a spider while you're at it? You all can stand back. I can take care of them."

Aileen had to get up now, even if that just meant in her closet. Her cat was hissing and trying to hide, and she was experiencing something she didn't know how to describe. There was someone here. It was a weird knowing that she could feel and see at the same time. Her hand with the mace shook.

"Bend." Aruna effortlessly shattered the closed window, manipulating the fragmented glass to slice through whatever was inside.
"Lancer, what is their status?"
They shook their head, showing they found nothing of note inside.
Aileen was barely even breathing. She heard her window shatter and she could've swore she somehow saw the glass fly around her room. That makes no sense.
There were three of them, and they were definitely not just here to rob her.
Her cat's claws dug into her leg, and she held in a squeal, letting air hiss through her teeth instead.
The raven stared through the open window, waiting for her target to come into view.
"Did I go overboard?" I have to check though. I can't have witnesses like this.

If she could've, Aileen would've answered "Of course!" She couldn't even think of a reason why someone would want to kill her, nevermind fling glass shards all around her room! How did they even do that? Was it a weird weather phenomenon that just happened to occur right as these people got into her room?

"Archer, go in there and check for a body. Waiting here all night isn't worth it."
"Hey, wait just a momen- where are you touching?! Oi this body isn't built for- th-that tickles! Stop! Wait wait wait don't throw me!" Heedless to his protest, the smaller Archer was chucked through the window and landed with a soft thump.
One of them was entering her room. They were going to find her, she knew it. Well, actually, Aileen wasn't sure like she had been before, but logically they had to check the closet, right?
Wow, they were tiny! Was it an extremely agile 2 year old? Wouldn't be the weirdest thing at the moment.

"That woman… what does she think I can do?!" Archer scanned the room, letting his eyes land on the closed closet. "Hey kid, I know you're in there." Open the door, I can't reach the knob...

A very well versed 2 year old.
Shit.
"I-I have a gun!" Aileen stammered out. She did, in fact, not have a gun.
"Now you're just pulling my leg. What self-respecting Magus has a gun?"
"Magus? Like in video games? Are you a LARPer or something? Dude I think, uh, I think you took it too far. N-no need to get shot over this, okay?"
"Are you even speaking english? Well, I warned you." Archer heaved his small mace over his head, bringing it down on the flimsy door.
Aileen screamed and her cat jumped out of the door, yowling and running away. She sprayed the strong 2 year old with pepper spray and ran out of the closet.
Archer stalled for half a second, before catching up to the girl. "Why do you people always have to make it difficult…"
"Mom! Dad! Help! There's a crazy toddler on 'roids trying to kill me!"
"For gods' sake." Archer's body went limp, falling flat on the floor like a doll. This is so humiliating. Master better be grateful…
Her parents walk out, somewhere between tired and pissed off beyond belief.
"What is this about, Aileen?" her father questioned.
"And what is… this ugly doll?" Her mother picked up the small archer and held it to her face, sniffing it, then gagging, "It smells horrible."
Are you bad-mouthing me?! Old hag you're not easy on the eyes yourself!
"No, that thing was just chasing me! It broke my closet door!" Aileen exclaimed, "No, Mom! Put it down, it'll-"
Her mother cut her off, "We'll talk about this tomorrow."
And with that they went back to bed. Taking the weird toddler doll with them.
Oh my God.

Archer's limp body was thrown against a dresser without a second thought as the pair returned to sleep. I'll kill you all, I swear!
Aileen grabbed a kitchen knife off of the counter and walked quietly to her parent's room. She had a really bad feeling about this.
The small figure climbed onto the bed, looming over Aileen's mother's face. Archer brandished his club, preparing to smash it against the woman's face.
Aileen ran into the room, and screamed "Stop!"
Her parents woke up at her yell and her mom shoved the archer off of her. Now everyone was screaming.

They were so getting evicted.

"Yeah, yeah, scream, scream. Gods you people are so loud!" Archer's frustration reached a breaking point and the poorly constructed act broke. "Shut up and die quietly!"
"Mom, Dad, c'mon!"
Now they were running towards the front door, but of course once they got there the door wouldn't open, stupid buggy handle.
"Master would get angry if I went all out here, but man, civilians are a whole other beast." Archer was beside the trio in an instant, casually saying his thoughts out loud. "She wouldn't want to deal with this being messy would she? If that was the problem she should've sent Lancer, the prick, I'll be nice so do you have any last words?"
"H-how? And why do I know exactly what you're about to do?"
"I might know, but I don't care to explain. If that's all then," Archer leapt up, bringing the wooden mace down on their heads, or at least where their heads had been.
The three ran for the fire escape outside of Aileen's shattered window.
"Hey, when we get out there, run as fast as you can, jump down the last two steps…" she paused, thinking for a brief moment as they reached her room, "And fall to your bellies."
She couldn't explain how she knew this, but God she hoped it worked.

"Well, will you look at that. Archer is good for something." Aruna spoke to herself, watching the three figures scramble around the exposed room before hiding from her sight. I want to go back home, I'll end this quickly.
"Bend." the fire escape contorted, twisting the metal beyond repair, taking out large chunks of the wall with it.
"Bend." The newly exposed floor closed in on itself like a fist, producing a loud series of crunches as bones snapped and organs were reduced to mangled lumps of useless meat.

For a moment, nothing happened. The concrete sphere simply fell to the ground across from the Master of two Servants. Blood dripped from crevices in the concrete, and silence fell.
Just as it was natural to let down her guard, however, Aruna found herself bearing witness to a pattern of light forming over the surface of her closed concrete fist.
A pattern that looked suspiciously like Magic Circuits.
All the metal around her simultaneously began to creak, then groan, then rumble.
Then spark.
The concrete shell crumbled.
A blast of lightning roared down from the sky, striking the ground exactly between Aruna and the intact girl named Aileen.
A near-invisible, enormous humanoid figure began to emerge from the light.
"Mmph. So then! You see fit to summon me, King of the Rider Class, girl?" a low voice bellowed. "Is what I would say. It seems like you already have two Servants of your own, young madam. Isn't that against the rules on its own or something like that?"
Aileen wasn't… fucking dead? Her brain was kind of doing flips, but then she realised her parents didn't experience the same. She screamed.
"Who can say, Rider." Aruna gave the Heroic Spirit a tight smile before turning back to its Master. "You have quite a set of lungs on you don't you? Keep it down or your neighbors might complain."
"What the fuck is going on?" the poor girl cried out.
The figure, materialising into the shape of a huge man in red, stroked a rather manly red beard as he looked at Aileen up and down. "I see. So you would be my Master, then?"
Aileen couldn't do anything but stare up at the man in fear and confusion.
"I just forced your hand. This is a war. And you, are on the losing end of it."
"Now, hold on here. This short one is clearly rather traumatised. Do we have to fight right away?" he asked, rubbing Aileen's head just slightly harder than was comfortable with a hand so huge the palm alone covered her scalp.
"What would I get out of a ceasefire, Rider?"
The huge man took a moment to consider this. "Well, I wouldn't have to use a full stock of mana to wipe all three of you out right away. It's a win-win, I think."
"What do you mean three of us dammit?!" The forgotten presence made itself known, none the worse for wear and still thirsty for blood.
The shout attracted some attention from Rider, who looked around inquisitively before spotting the small Servant.
He looked at him, then at the woman in white, and then back at the small one again.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Ended up a little submissive after all, did we, Archer? If Aristotle himself… No, if Homer had written this, I'd have dismissed him as a lunatic! Yet here is lunacy incarnate! Wahahahaha! What a sight!"
"SHADDUP! Archer! Get him!" The fuming Servant took one leap and landed on his female counterpart's shoulder.
"You got it Darling!~" The woman nocked her arrow taking aim before Aruna smacked both of them, causing the readied arrow to be let loose at the building rather than the large Servant. The arrow lost considerable momentum but plowed into the structure all the same, Causing a sizable crater to appear on its sturdy foundation.
"Who do you think the Mage Association would blame for the chaos you idiots would cause! We're retreating." The raven met Rider's eyes and gave a small nod when she turned to leave with Lancer at her back, keeping a silent watch on Rider as they left.
"In case you wanted to know," she added as an afterthought, "Saber is in Central Park."
"Hmph. Thank you, indeed. I'll be sure to give them my regards should we run into one another. It's rare to see such a level-headed Master in a ritual such as this. Why, it almost makes me want to fight you last," he chuckled, before turning to Aileen. "Girl. Are you alright?"
"My parents..." she mumbled, too shocked to cry. The arrival of her survived cat seemed to help her regain her speech, and she had a million questions, starting with "Who are you?"
The man stood up straight, beating his chest with a fist hard enough that Aileen could physically feel the air move in response. "I am Rider, King of Conquerors, Lord of Asia, and Servant to you, Master. And who would you be?"
In a better moment, Aileen would've chose to be a smartass and say something like "I am Aileen, Queen of the NEET, Lord of running from terrifying toddler dolls on steroids," but that was impossible for her at the moment, so she instead just said her name.
"Very well, Aileen. Let's first get you somewhere safe."
 
The day after, Archer gnashed his teeth in frustration, ignoring his fellow Heroic Spirits as he angrily paced across a coffee table.
"That damned Rider, we coulda taken him! What is Master doing? We should be out there winning the Grail!"
Lancer answered disinterestedly without looking up from their book, "Master is in her workshop. She requested we didn't begin acting without her."
"What the hell? I don't like it."
"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better Darling?" The woman picked Archer up, holding him close as Aruna swung her workshop door open.

"You will not do anything of the sort in my house, Archer. Frankly, I don't want to be in the same era as you if you're doing what I think you're doing." she came with a small pouch of powder in her hand and disappeared into the kitchen without a second glance.
The Servants exchanged looks for a brief moment until Lancer returned to their book.

"Master~ what is that? What are you making?" The female Archer followed Aruna, blinking owlishly as the Master measured ingredients.
"Food. A family recipe of sorts. I'd like to not keep so many enemies in this war so I'll get more strength from another Master. A Caster seems like they would work well for me." The raven finished prepping and began mixing the ingredients.
"If I recall," she began slowly, "a great king once said, 'What belongs to my friend is mine.'" the crash from the room over was willfully ignored, "So if I play nice with its Master I will have Caster."
"I don't really get it, but it sounds stupid!" The woman replied in her usual ditzy manner twiddling her fingers together and bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Can we try some of those when they're done?"
Aruna shrugged, looking between the Archer and the adjacent doorway.
"I don't see why not. It doesn't do anything to you, though-"
The Archer cheered happily as she ran back out to the other Servants.
"we have to meet Caster first..." she finished lamely.
I'll just tell them all at once.

When she got around to telling them her plans Archer's devastated face was forever ingrained as one of the most hilarious things Aruna had seen.
 
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