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“I ask of you, are you worthy to be my master?”
There was no answer. For a moment, Khun wondered if the people in front of him were even real, or if he was hallucinating them. Wouldn’t be the first time the fire fish gave him a fever hot enough to fry his brain.
Though last time, he’d been trying to heal Bam…
Khun cleared his throat. “I’m Servant Assassin, if that clears anything up.”
The first to snap out of it was the man in black, with a terrible haircut and dead eyes. Something about him made Khun incredibly uncomfortable.
“Assassin,” he said, “my name is Kotomine Kirei. You may call me Master or Father. Let us partake of this holy grail war.”
So Kotomine was his master. The wheels in Khun’s head spun. There’s no way he was going to work with this person throughout the grail war.
“So it’s you then. Who’s this?” He gestured to the other man- red jacket, blue eyes. The Fire Fish liked him. Maybe a Yeon then?
“I am your ally in this war, Tohsaka Tokiomi. Kirei is my student,” he said.
Not a Yeon then. Definitely has something to do with fire.
Before Khun could process any more, a shiver ran up his spine. Out of the air beside Tohsaka, a man dressed entirely in gold materialized. Khun materialized the White Heavenly Mirror, holding it backhand. He hadn’t even made it out of the summoning circle, and there was already another servant? And one who looked so much like Jahad.
“Master, are you finally accepting that you are not worthy of your partnership with my glorious self?” Not-Jahad said, leering at Khun.
“Archer. I asked you to scout the city,” Tohsaka admonished.
“I will in good time. This modern city bores me, as it stands. Now this-“ he gestured to Khun “-is much more interesting. Tell your king, what is your name?”
Khun raised an eyebrow, not moving from his stance. “I would not need to, were he in the room.”
Tohsaka looked like he had swallowed a lemon, but Not-Jahad just threw his head back and laughed.
“You dare defy the King of Heroes?” He asked, once he’d gotten ahold of himself.
“I defy the line of Jahad. I’ve never heard of this king of heroes.”
There was an odd gleam in Not-Jahad’s eye at that. “You have not heard of the first hero of legend?”
Khun found himself in need of research. However, that also likely meant that he was also an unknown.
He frowned, standing up. That shouldn’t have been possible. The grail was supposed to summon people with at least a certain amount of notoriety. If the person who summoned him didn’t know who he was, something was very wrong.
“I can give you my name, though I doubt it’ll do much good,” Khun said, after much deliberation.
Not-Jahad gestured for him to continue as Tohsaka listened with a keen interest. Even Kotomine perked up a bit.
“My name is Khun Aguero Agnis. Most people simply know me as Khun.”
The blank looks told him he’d been right. They had no idea who he was.
This could work to his advantage.
***
Not-Jahad (Archer, he corrected mentally) was laughing silently in the corner as Kotomine and Tohsaka explained their plan for how to start the war. They’d been planning on a different servant- a Hassan, but it seemed they, and in particular Kotomine, were unwilling to change their plans with the unexpected development. Khun could feel his eyelids start to twitch. This was an incredibly stupid plan, if he did say so himself.
“No,” he said. “Not only would that be a needless sacrifice, but anyone with half a brain is going to see right through it.”
But his protests and suggestions went unheard by any save Archer.
The night came for the start of the war. Caster had been summoned, though their Master never contacted the church. And Khun, dressed in a skin tight black body suit and a bone white mask, snuck onto the Tohsaka property.
Snuck was probably a strong word. Khun had never been very traditionally stealthy, and even presence concealment didn’t help the pale blue hair most of the time. Even if he had actually been traditionally sneaky, Archer knew he was coming.
Archer didn’t look particularly happy about having to kill him, and Khun wasn’t particularly keen on dying, but the Gate of Babylon was opened anyway. Khun didn’t scream, even as he felt himself pierced with multiple noble phantasms. Archer disappeared as he lay bleeding out in the middle of Tohsaka’s yard.
But then, rather than becoming cold in the face of his own death, Khun started to feel warm. At first it was a comfortable warmth, but very quickly it turned to burning. This time, if he could have screamed, he would have.
A gout of flame taking the shape of a fish erupted from his chest and surrounded him. It only made sense, didn’t it. The Fire Fish was bringing him back.
Mentally, Khun cursed the Yeons for their flame, and Shibisu for putting it inside him. Then, he prepared for the side effects.
***
Maiya watched on as Assassin’s body, instead of dissolving into gold dust as it was supposed to, was surrounded by a giant flaming fish before standing up and walking away. She hadn’t heard of a Hassan with a resurrection skill. It was strange enough when he didn’t move with the grace typical of the Hashashin, but with that skill… something strange was going on.
Then, Assassin pulled off his mask and hood, revealing pale skin and blue hair carefully braided. He looked flushed, and disgruntled- not bothering to hide his emotions.
Something very strange indeed. She was going to have to report this to Kiritsugu.
***
Kotomine had gone to seek refuge at the church. Assassin was supposedly dead, and if that were the case, he would have needed the protection. Not that Khun was particularly keen on protecting him. Still, it stung a bit that he’d been left behind at Tohsaka Manor. Sure, he wasn’t in the best shape, what with the side effects of the Fire Fish in full swing, but he was still functional, and every bit of knowledge was going to help him in this war.
Archer was laughing at him again, Khun just knew it. Even as he was laid up in bed, feverish. At least someone was having fun…
The door to the room where Khun was staying opened. Speak of the Devil.
“Are you resting well, little mongrel?” Archer asked with levity.
Khun twitched. “I am still a functional human being, you know. This… recovery space… is unnecessary. We should be planning our next-“ He was cut off by a hand on his shoulder as he tried to stand up.
“Your king commands you, rest. There will be plenty of time for plans later,” Archer said.
Khun shrugged him off. “And I’ve told you, you’re not my king. I don’t answer to you.” He stayed in the bed anyway. Better to acquiesce than to be pinned with a noble phantasm, or whatever Archer had in mind. “Though I suppose I can plan just as easily from here.”
Archer raised an eyebrow, before taking a seat himself. His golden armor disappeared in a flurry of gold dust, leaving him in modern street clothes. Khun rolled his eyes.
“Must you always be so dramatic?” He asked.
Archer smirked. “I wish to observe you. Is it wrong to desire comfort while I do so?”
Khun shook his head as he materialized his Lighthouse and pocket. He would need to do some research before he could properly plan.
“Did Tohsaka give you any information on the other Masters and Servants?” Khun asked, not looking at Archer.
“Nothing is known of the other Servants as of yet, but we do know some about the other Masters and their associates,” Archer said.
Khun hummed. “That really doesn’t give us much. If I had a scout- someone who could send out an observer…”
“Why do you not observe yourself? Surely you will have overcome this bout of fever by the next confrontation,” Archer said.
Khun sighed. “My class may be Assassin, but I can’t really hide- especially if I’m going to get as much information out of my observations as possible.”
There was a rustling - a hand on Khun’s shoulder. “I am certain you can figure something out,” Archer said.
As he turned to leave, he added, “See to it that I am entertained, mongrel. It would not do for your king to become bored.”
Khun was ready to tell him, once again, that he wasn’t Khun’s king, but before he got the chance, Archer had disappeared.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, he says. What is there to figure out? There’s no clues-“ Khun paused his grumbling.
“No clues, but no one knows about that. Maybe a Lighthouse could be a very strange familiar.”
And so, Khun began planning to pass himself off as Caster- or at least one of Caster’s familiars.
There’s no way he was going to tell Archer he was right, though.
***
From her hiding spot on the crane, Maiya had a clear shot at both Lancer’s master and the mysterious blue box in the sky. Or she would, if the light from the box wouldn’t have revealed her location.
“Do you still have eyes on Lancer’s master?” Kiritsugu asked, over the headset.
“I do. It’s going to be difficult to get a good shot in without revealing myself though. That glowing box is nearly on top of me.”
“With any luck you won’t need to.”
Maiya wasn’t sure she wanted to rely on luck.
In the end, it didn’t matter- Rider and his master came crashing in on a flying chariot, and attempted to recruit the other Servants. At least, Rider did. His master was white as a sheet, holding onto the chariot for dear life.
Maiya suppressed a chuckle at that.
***
Khun was openly laughing at the display before him. An honorable duel overseen by three assassins, only one of whom was Assassin, interrupted first by a conqueror who wanted to make friends, then by an Archer bedecked in gold. It was just too much.
The laughter abruptly stopped when one of Archer’s projectiles came flying back and nearly knocked Khun out of the sky. Berserker had made their entrance, and Archer was not taking it well, but any noble phantasms launched at Berserker simply resulted in Berserker corrupting them for his own use. Khun directed the Lighthouse higher, but that did little to protect him from the battle below.
Things fell apart after that, as Archer got called away, and Berserker hyper fixated on Saber- the King of Knights, she had been called.
Still, Khun would consider the night a success. He had names and some skill to analyze. The next day, he’d have to find a library.
***
Waver was having a decidedly not good time. From nearly being blown off the bridge to getting called out by his professor, and being attacked by Berserker, he was starting to wonder why he’d ever thought that this was a good idea.
Once the golden Archer was called away, though, he poked his head up out of the chariot just enough to get nearly blinded by blue light.
Did Caster send out a familiar? But why do I recognize it… he thought through the haze of panicked reactions.
The blue box floated up and away not long after that. Whoever was controlling it must have seen enough.
***
Khun wandered into the library, bypassing the front desk and heading straight for the mythology section. Diarmuid, Arthur, Iskandar, Gilgamesh… he had names, and some capabilities, but he needed to know more. When searching on his own turned up nothing, he sighed. Perhaps he needed to ask the front desk for help after all.
As he approached, he turned on the charms regrettably inherited from Eduan. It was amazing how much a soft smile and easy posture could affect another.
“Excuse me,” he said, “I was wondering if you could help me with some research. I tried browsing on my own, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for.”
The clerk flushed as she looked up. “Of- of course! What are you looking for?”
Minutes later, Khun left the library with a not insignificant stack of books, and a slimy feeling. Not that he minded manipulating people, but in that way in particular…
Best to put it out of his mind.
As soon as he returned to the Tohsaka house, he sequestered himself in his Lighthouse and got started reading. Le Mort d’Arthur seemed like as good a place as any to start.
***
She has been tailing Irisviel and Saber when she spotted him. The blue haired boy who was Assassin, out in broad daylight, carrying a stack of books half his height. Her eyes widened at some of the titles: Bulfinch’s Mythology, Myths and Legends of Ireland, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and most pertinently to her team, Le Mort d’Arthur. He couldn’t know- she would have seen him at the dock.
A flash of lapis colored earring through his hair, so reminiscent of Caster’s-
But what if it hadn’t been Caster. Floating blue boxes had no part in the Magecraft of Gilles de Rais. He hadn’t been at the docks at all, but that blue box, the same color as Assassin’s earrings, had been.
How clever. Maiya decided she’d just have to be more clever herself, if she wanted to protect Kiritsugu.
She returned to tailing Irisviel and Saber, turning over possible plans of attack in her mind. She would need to run anything by Kiritsugu, but she could only hope this development could bring him some semblance of comfort.
She knew happiness was too much to wish for with him.
***
Khun was putting together his notes on the various heroes of this war when he heard him.
“My, this is different than I was expecting,” Archer- Gilgamesh- commented, unprompted, upon entering Khun’s Lighthouse without permission.
Khun didn’t turn around from the console. “What were you expecting?”
“Something a bit less… modern.” Khun could feel him gesturing. He probably thought he looked regal, but Khun found that most of the time he just looked silly. “What era did you say you were from?”
Khun paused typing. “I didn’t.”
“Right,” Gilgamesh said, likely expecting him to elaborate.
Khun finally turned around in his chair. “Look. I’m trying to get some work done. You can stay and observe silently, and I might not stab you. Or you can leave and I definitely
Gilgamesh was smirking at him. It was strange to see that face doing anything other than sneering.
“But you are such fantastic entertainment. Tokiomi bores me, and while Kirei’s ongoing existential crisis was amusing at first, it is beginning to get old.”
Khun was coming to the realization that he would need to manipulate Gilgamesh away from him. He sighed.
“If I come up with a way to take our Masters out of the picture without endangering our existences, will you leave me alone?”
Something sparked in Gilgamesh’s eyes. “Perhaps I might be so inclined. That seems a difficult proposition though. Even with my might I would not be capable of such a feat.”
“I’m sure I can think of something,” Khun said, before turning back to the display. There was now another layer he needed to add to the plans. “Sometimes simple tricks work better than overwhelming power.”
Much to his annoyance, Gilgamesh was not so inclined as to leave him alone.
***
Gilgamesh found himself without entertainment for the day. Assassin had gone off to scout something or other, Kirei was hiding out in the church- to keep up appearances, and his own Master was asleep, so as to be active at night. While the last was probably the most reasonable, Tokiomi Tohsaka had to be about the most boring person Gilgamesh had ever met. He wouldn’t have stuck around to pester him anyway.
As such, Gilgamesh decided to wander around town for a bit, see how the world had changed in the modern era. How far had humanity progressed?
So far, he wasn’t impressed. Food was generally far too sweet, buildings were dull and featureless, the artificialness of modern perfumes offended his nose. The last was so bad he found himself ducking into the nearest shop to avoid a woman who seemed to have bathed in patchouli oil. He turned around to survey the shop’s wares only to come face to face with one Khun Aguero Agnis.
Perhaps face to portrait would have been more accurate.
Gilgamesh felt his lips quirk up at the sight. It was a remarkable likeness- perhaps a little younger than the Assassin he knew, his eyebrows a little fuller, definitely with wider eyes. All the same, it was clearly him.
He picked up the book, ready to make off with it (he was the King- everything belonged to him anyway) when he realized it was marked with a number two. A quick look at the rest of the table had him raising an eyebrow. It appeared that Assassin’s legend was quite long, and if the banners attached to the table were to be believed, still unfinished.
He clandestinely sequestered one copy of each volume within the Gate of Babylon for his perusal, leaving a gold bar in front of the stack of volume one on the table. It was the one the gold best complimented. Gilgamesh wondered at the significance of that briefly before turning and walking out.
He needed to find a quiet place. There was much reading to be done after all.
***
Waver froze, just about to enter the bookstore. Coming through the doors from the other direction was Archer. He was in street clothes, but there was no mistaking those eyes, or that aura. He looked like the cat that caught the canary, and to Waver, that was all the more terrifying than his usual superior look.
Archer, for his part, barely seemed to notice him, too engrossed in his own head. Once he’d passed, Waver felt the tension leave him. He was safe. He could go pick up his books now.
Maybe it was a bit frivolous, considering they were in the middle of a grail war, but the new volume of Tower of God had just released, and Waver felt like he could use some light in his life. Who knew, maybe Rider would enjoy it too.
He found himself frozen once again in confusion when he got to the display table for the series. There in front of volume one was what by all accounts appeared to be a gold bar. A quick glance around showed the staff to be just as confused as he was.
There was only one person he could think of that would leave a gold bar in a random place, but why would Archer do something like that? Had he also become a fan of Tower of God? Waver couldn’t see him actually liking any of the characters though.
One more mystery then, to add to the heaps of them surrounding this grail war.
***
There was a fight going on in the forest just outside of Fuyuki. Khun had half a mind to go observe, but that risked outing himself as Assassin, who was supposed to be dead. If Caster was at all involved, it was likely he would be outed anyway, or at least people would become more suspicious of his Lighthouses.
What he wouldn’t give for Shibisu’s help.
Instead, he was saddled with Gilgamesh. How annoying.
Khun went looking for him anyway. It was unlikely that Tohsaka would tell him what happened, so commandeering his servant was Khun’s best option. He found Gilgamesh lounging in the basement of Tohsaka Manor, holding a book over his head with one hand. The other was occupied by a glass of wine.
“I didn’t take you for much of a reader,” Khun said, dropping his presence concealment for a moment.
Gilgamesh put the book down, marking his spot with what appeared to be a hat pin. “Well well, my forgotten prince. You deign to grace me with your presence of your own accord?”
Khun felt himself go rigid at the new nickname. “I never was, and never will be a prince of any sort,” he ground out, trying to relax himself.
Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow imperiously . “Regardless, I must say your legend is quite interesting.” His eyes flicked to the book, then back to Khun. “Though reading your history does make me wonder, what exactly is your wish for the grail? There is nothing so far that would require a miracle to accomplish.”
Khun picked up the book himself, flipping through to where Gilgamesh had marked. “You haven’t gotten very far.”
He’d meant to dissuade Gilgamesh from his questions. If anything, though, that made his eyes burn with challenge. “For a moment, I did think it might be the return of this Yoru, but it would appear that he is returning all on his own.”
Yoru- Japanese meaning night.
“Bam,” Khun corrected softly. “His name was Bam.”
Gilgamesh was right back to analyzing him. “Noted. You may want to let the author know. It would seem that he does not agree.”
Khun made a face at that. He knew it was probably undignified, but he decided he really didn’t care.
“What are you still doing here anyway?” Khun asked.
Gilgamesh sighed. “The evening’s entertainment has been postponed due to an attack from Caster. Lancer, I believe, is working with Saber to hold him off. Master has called me back, the coward.”
So he had been outed as well. “Well there goes my cover. By morning I doubt there will be a single Master-Servant pair who still thinks my Lighthouse was a familiar.”
“Then you will just have to come up with a new plan,” Gilgamesh said, swirling his wine. He peered at Khun over the edge of the glass. “Speaking of plans, have you found a way to deal with our most troublesome Masters?”
Khun produced the White Heavenly Mirror from inside his bag.
“You nearly used that once before,” Gilgamesh said, eyeing the knife. “I must admit, it is a noble phantasm I do not recognize. Very special indeed.”
“This knife is known as the White Heavenly Mirror. When used to stab someone, the person, rather than sustaining a wound, becomes trapped within,” Khun explained.
Gilgamesh’s eyes widened slightly. “That is quite the useful knife, my prince,” he said.
Khun twitched. “I told you, I’m no prince.”
The smile Gilgamesh gave him then was absolutely feral.
***
“Maiya, I want you on guard for that mystery assassin this evening. He may make an attempt on one of the masters,” Kiritsugu said. It irked (and perhaps scared) him that he had yet to see Assassin for himself. Maiya seemed to have taken him on as her personal project for the war. He pushed her to hone her skills, not only in terms of stalking and targeting, but her deduction skills as well.
It was thanks to her that they knew as much about Assassin as they did- she had clearly seen him twice now, and one of those times, he had seemingly resurrected. He was also likely to be the owner of the blue box that had nearly exposed her at the docks.
Most curiously though, Assassin seemed to be acting independently of his master- Kirei Kotomine. And what he was doing for Kotomine seemed contrary to everything he did without him.
“Of course.”
Kiritsugu nearly smiled. She never was one for many words.
They weren’t about to lose Saber to this farce.
***
“I’ve got something,” Maiya relayed over the coms. “It’s him.”
Hidden in the trees was that remarkable blue box. She watched as Assassin stepped out of it, stretched, and began almost aimlessly wandering around.
What could he be doing?
Then, though, Maiya watched with growing horror as Assassin went completely rigid, red energy edying around him. His master had ordered him with a command seal.
“Emiya, we have a problem.”
***
Khun did his best to fight the command seals, but by their nature, the orders were absolute, and Kotomine had used all three of them.
Attack the King of Conquerors, he’d said, using your full might.
Khun could feel the currents of shinsoo swirling around him, manifesting his other four lighthouses and chilling the forest. Ice began to form a spear in his throwing hand, even as the calculations to end its flight in the heart of Iskandar spun through his mind.
Well, at least now he had the freedom to move as he was wont.
***
One minute Gilgamesh had been quite enjoying himself, teasing the ever-so-stiff King of Knights and sipping his wine. In the next, that self same King of Knights had thrown herself in front of the King of Conquerors, a deflected spear of ice landing perilously close to his decanter.
Lancer… but his spears were of metal, not ice and mana.
“Assassin,” Saber muttered under her breath.
And then both she and Rider were on the move, even as more spears of ice flew from the woods.
Gilgamesh felt himself go cold at the thought. There was no way his forgotten prince would make such a bold, disrespectful move on his own. The only explanation was a command seal.
Assassin walked out of the forest, straining against the power of the seal. Not one, but five of those boxes- lighthouses- floated and spun behind him. The ground froze at each of his steps, and his hair, falling from it’s careful braids, floated about as though he were submerged in water. A new spear formed in his hand.
As much as fear for his- entertainment- had his blood running cold, that fear was soon replaced with firey anger at the priest and his own master. This was a suicide mission. They had to know that. They had to know he would be displeased.
He could only hope for the survival of one Khun Aguero Agnis, so that then, they may enact their independent action plan.
That hope died with the blast of heat against his skin. It was accompanied by the prickle of sand and the battle cries of multitudes. Rider had released his true noble phantasm, unleashing an army upon Assassin, even as he pressed down on his master’s head to keep him in the chariot.
Resigned to a grail war entirely without proper entertainment, Gilgamesh left.
***
Waver knew there had been something strange about the blue box floating over the docks. There was no way a caster, or any other mage for that matter, would be so open with their familiars. Rider hadn’t believed him.
As such, he felt a certain amount of vindication at seeing five such remarkably familiar blue boxes floating and spinning wildly behind the figure coming out of the trees- even if said figure was lobbing spears of ice at Rider.
… there was no way the thought that crossed his mind then could be right. They were in a world entirely devoid of water of the gods. The blue boxes wouldn’t be- but the ice spears- and the glimpse of powder blue hair he caught before Rider pushed him down into the chariot again-
The true Assassin couldn’t be Khun Aguero Agnis.
Could he?
Waver contemplated this as Rider whisked them away. He hadn’t let Waver get a good look at the scene of what was supposedly a massacre.
***
Khun groaned as he stood up. He could already feel the fever coming on, on top of all the aches and pains of nearly dying by being trampled.
“He’s definitely going in the Mirror,” he muttered to himself. For someone so impassive, Kotomine had definitely had no small amount of glee as he ordered Khun to his death.
Even if things were moving on the independent action front, he was going to need a plan to deal with Gilgamesh and Saber. Something to keep them distracted while Khun moved in the background.
They clearly had a rapport with Rider. Maybe…
He took a deep breath as he limped off. Rider was the answer. If he could point the other servants at each other, distracting them, he might just be able to pull this off.
***
Waver started at the click of something against his window pane, nearly spilling his latest alchemical failsafe. He furrowed his brow at the second. He could only think of one person he knew who would resort to such childish means of getting his attention, but it was unlikely that Melvin Weins had followed him all the way to Japan.
As Rider materialized at his side, Waver realized it must have been an enemy servant, though why they’d resort to throwing stones at his window, Waver had no idea.
“Servant?” Waver asked, just to confirm.
“Aye. Though I know not how, it would seem Assassin survived.”
The Fire Fish. That was the only explanation. It would have manifested as either a regeneration skill, or battle continuation. Whichever, Assassin was outside his base of operation, knocking on windows with stones like some hero in a rom-com. Waver could have laughed from the ridiculousness if his life wasn’t on the line.
“Well, shall we let him in?”
***
Kotomine Kirei had never before found himself quite so incapable of sleep.
What did he want?
Recently, his dreams had been haunted by the specter of a boy with brilliant golden eyes.
What did he want?
Being near the boy made him equal parts joyful and bitter.
What did he want?
If the boy was the sun, then he was Icarus, flying too close, crashing and burning.
What did he want?
Well, after this most recent dream, that was obvious. Clearly Assassin wanted to be with that boy, regardless of whether it killed him or not. If the boy was all the good in the world, Assassin would become all the evil in the world simply to preserve the boy’s goodness.
Kotomine Kirei might not know what he wanted, but for sure he knew what he didn’t want.
He prayed that he never came to understand the absolute selfish dedication of Khun Aguero Agnis to his golden eyed sun.
***
Khun sighed as Waver Velvet stood before him, Rider mimicking his posture behind him, both blocking the doorway. Khun slipped his hands into his pockets, slouching. He knew he was a mess, and also a potential enemy, but quite frankly this was ridiculous.
“I promise I’m not here to hurt you. I’d actually like to discuss a potential alliance with you,” he offered.
Waver raised one eyebrow, and Khun felt his own twitching in irritation. Was this how other people felt dealing with him?
“I’d also kill for a glass of water right now,” he murmured. Rider visibly bristled. “Sorry, that was poor wording. I don’t think I’m actually capable of killing anyone right now anyway.”
Why was he running his mouth so much? Was it the fever? Or Rider’s charisma skill?
Before he could reach any conclusions, Waver was stepping aside to let him in. “I still don’t know if I can trust you, Assassin, but I’m willing to hear you out.”
Khun nodded and stepped inside. He fell into the first chair he found- the dining room table. Rider sat opposite him, to the side of Waver.
They each blinked at each other for a moment before Khun asked, “You wouldn’t happen to have any ice, would you?”
Waver stood up with a jolt. “Right. Ice water,” he said and disappeared into the kitchen.
The silence between Rider and Khun was probably uncomfortable, but the fever was really starting to set in, and Khun couldn’t bring himself to care.
Eventually, Waver came back with a glass full of water. “No ice,” he said.
It’d have to do.
“So, let’s get to it then,” Khun said, then sniffed his glass. He trusted Waver about as much as he trusted anyone.
“You want… to form an alliance with us,” Waver said. “After you blatantly attacked us?”
Rider raised an eyebrow at him. He must have made a face.
“That was not my idea,” Khun said. He sipped the water, just enough to get a taste of any potential foreign substances. “I don’t think I was meant to survive.”
Waver waved him off. “So this alliance is your idea?”
“It is.”
“Why should we trust you?” Rider demanded. “You have done nothing to prove yourself worthy of our trust and respect.”
Khun nodded. “You’re right, I haven’t. And you shouldn’t- not completely.”
Rider looked taken aback.
Khun continued, smirking, “I was summoned in the Assassin class, after all.”
“Enough mind games. Also, I didn’t poison your water,” Waver cut in.
Khun looked at his water dubiously, before taking a long draught. He almost sighed with its soothing coolness.
“Why do you want to work with us?” Waver asked. “Why not Archer or Saber?”
This time, Rider openly laughed. He must have really been losing control.
Khun coughed. “I will be working with Archer in an unrelated capacity,” much to my chagrin.
“… what would you have us do then, Assassin?” Rider asked.
How was he going to put this… “I’ll need you to- distract- Archer.”
Rider smacked his fist on the table. “We will not act as your pawns in this Grail War, Assass-“
“I have two questions before we decide,” Waver cut in.
Khun took another sip off his drink and nodded. “That’s reasonable. Though in the interest of reasonability, I’ll not tip my entire hand, even if you ask.”
Waver nodded. “First, I want to know your name.”
Khun’s eyes narrowed, just the slightest bit. Had he figured him out? “Is Assassin not enough?”
Waver squinted back at him in turn. “It’s better than Mr. Mask at any rate.”
Ah. So he knew then. “Sounds like you already have an idea.”
Waver hummed. “Blue hair and eyes- marks of the Khun family. Not particularly skilled with spears, so that narrows it down to two. Based on the lighthouses, I’d guess Khun Aguero Agnis.”
Khun shrugged. “Not Blueberry?”
He nearly laughed himself at the pinched look Waver made. “Definitely not Hatzling.”
“What’s your second question?”
Iskandar looked at Waver in askance. It was clear Waver hadn’t communicated his intentions, though by Khun’s estimation, that was probably a smart decision.
“What would be the benefit of an alliance to us?”
Ah, yes that was probably an obvious question. He should have anticipated that.
“I really don’t have much to offer beyond my research and meager scouting skills. I can share my knowledge with you though, and observations as an outsider,” Khun offered.
“I also have a question, Assassin,” Rider boomed.
Khun nodded his assent.
“What is your wish for this grail war?”
Waver leaned back. He really was losing control of his expressions, wasn’t he.
“There was once a boy who was very lonely. He entered a wish granting Tower with high hopes, only to be betrayed again and again. That boy deserves to smile.”
Rider sighed. “You too fail to wish for yourself?”
Khun stared into his empty water glass. “Is it wrong to selfishly want someone else’s happiness?”
“Assassin-“
“Well,” Khun looked up as he cut Rider off. “Shall we get to planning?”
***
Tohsaka Tokiomi was aware of his servant’s… distaste for him. With independent action and his charisma skill, it was decidedly difficult to not just let Archer do whatever he wanted. That wasn’t how grail wars were supposed to go, though, and if anyone was going to stand on ceremony, it was Tohsaka.
When his student came to him about the dream cycle, Tohsaka had been expecting it. The dreams of a servant’s past were often gruesome or tragic or just traumatic in nature. He expected Kirei to be upset. He did not expect Kirei to be upset about how passionate- how obsessive- his servant was.
“That boy- that boy with the golden eyes- Assassin is dedicated to him beyond anything I could ever hope to understand. And yet he expects to be left behind. Almost wishes for it. Assassin… I am not sure I’ve ever felt such fear in my life.”
Tohsaka found himself bristling at the thought.
“When did you have this dream, my student?” He asked.
Kirei looked for a moment as though he’d been electrocuted. “After the command seals were spent.”
Tohsaka was one to stand on ceremony. Elegance was an important aesthetic for a mage after all. However, this grail war was turning rather atypical far too quickly. He would need a plan to permanently remove Assassin from the picture, regardless of the mystery of his continuing returns.
He never got the chance to plan, for as he turned to begin pacing, something stabbed him in the heart, and everything turned white.
***
Maiya nearly gasped as Archer’s master disappeared. He was quickly followed by Assassin’s own master. Given that Assassin did not immediately dissolve, it was likely that his master was still alive, but that was cold comfort in the face of the possibilities.
“Emiya, I’ve got eyes on him. He just… stabbed his master and Archer’s. No, they’re not dying so far as I can tell.”
“They disappeared. A white knife. No, too many unknowns. I’ll keep him under surveillance.”
Just as Kiritsugu left the coms, Assassin turned and looked directly at her. She felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. She needed to get out of there.
Assassin made no moves to eliminate her though. Instead, he just waved and sauntered further into the house.
Maiya resolved to find a new hiding place. One he wouldn’t find.
***
While the scout might have been watching him, Khun was keeping eyes on the true master of Saber. He had a feeling he was going to try something with Lancer’s master soon. They’d begrudgingly worked together during the battle against Caster (the first true death of the war. Khun wasn’t sorry about that at all.) but there had been whispers of problems between them before that. Archer had mentioned something about destroyed magic circuits.
He was glad he’d found them. The perfect opportunity to intervene had presented itself. Saber’s master- Emiya Kiritsugu- already knew of his survival. And it was likely Lancer’s master was not long for this world regardless of his intervention. Still, as soon as he overheard Emiya’s plans for Lancer, he knew he had to stop it.
A knife came down into Lancer’s master’s hand. It wasn’t anything special- just one of many standard knives in the Manbarondenna. Disappointingly, Emiya didn’t jump.
“Let them finish their duel,” Khun growled. “That’s literally all he wants.”
Emiya blinked at him, even as Lancer’s master- El Melloi?- started to curse him out. Really, Khun could care less. He’d been the black sheep of his own family. And who was this El Melloi to Khun Eduan, Khun Maschenny Jahad, or even Khun Agnis?
He had, however, been careful not to pierce the command seals. However little he cared about El Melloi, he had far too much sympathy for Diarmuid Ua Dubne. He didn’t deserve to lose to jealousy in two lifetimes.
Predictably, Lancer lost to Saber. He removed his knife as the command seals evaporated.
“See? Everything’s fine. Now you two can have at it as much as you want.”
Khun took a moment to grieve Lancer before he left. It wouldn’t do for him to fight Saber. Not yet at least.
***
Gilgamesh couldn’t help the smirk gracing his lips. He was certain the little prince knew he’d been observed. That mattered not, though. He could still lord this behavior over him.
Has Bam’s goodness transferred, despite your best efforts? He would ask, knowing full well that his precious… entertainment- believed himself to be evil. Khun would deny it. Of course he would, but Gilgamesh knew otherwise. He’d gotten far enough in the story. Under that icy, Khun exterior was the soft heart of Aguero.
Gilgamesh was going to greatly enjoy watching him thaw.
***
Of all the people Khun had expected to run into in a random alley, the last was probably the yet-unknown Matou master.
Kariya, he discovered after a short discussion, was far too much like Khun himself. The knowledge of a young girl being groomed for power that would one day exceed her control brought Khun a whole new level of disgust for this place. At least the Tower had been upfront about its overwhelming darkness, rather than hiding it in shadows and basements and little girls.
“Ah, I can understand. Perhaps we can be of use to each other then,” Khun suggested.
Kariya eyed him warily, as much as he could. “You want to help me save Sakura?”
“Sure, why not?” Khun gestured flippantly, even as Agnis and Kiseia and Maria rampaged through his memories. “I’ll need something in return, but it shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish, given your servant.”
“What do you need me to do?” Kariya asked, still leery, but with an edge of desperation.
“I need you to keep Saber busy when the time is right,” Khun said. “Shouldn’t be too hard. She is the one he’s fixated on, after all, isn’t she?”
There had been no doubt. Berserker had been shouting Arthur. Khun had his identity narrowed down to two.
Kariya blinked at him. “No deal.”
Khun sighed. “And if I promise to rescue Sakura, even in the event of your untimely demise?”
Kariya was silent for a long moment, one good eye staring off into nothing. Something squirmed under his skin. Khun tried not to flinch.
“Alright, I’ll do it. Just tell me when,” he said finally.
“Oh,” Khun added, as though he’d just remembered. “One more thing. Tohsaka Tokiomi has been taken care of, so if you could please lay off Archer, that would be super helpful.”
Kariya narrowed his good eye. “Why do you need Archer alive?”
“I have other plans for him.”
***
As with most other 4th grail wars in most other versions of Fuyuki, Iskandar faces down Gilgamesh on the bridge and loses graciously. Artoria is suitably shaken by her confrontation with Lancelot. However, this all happens several days later. Khun Aguero Agnis is kinder than Kotomine Kirei and so does not kidnap a failing Irisviel, triggering the end of the war. At least, not until he receives a letter via wire dove familiar asking for “the boy with the strange blue box” to put the poor woman out of her misery.
Reading that letter, Khun realized he’d become the true wish granter of this war. Diarmuid, Kariya, and Irisviel as well.
If only he had a way to grant his own wish.
He found himself sitting with Irisviel as the grail was born, waiting for the inevitable appearance of her husband.
“Assassin,” Emiya Kiritsugu greeted, more dead sounding than the Bam of Khun’s worst memories.
“Mr. Emiya. Your wife wanted me to tell you she loved you. She wished you good luck in the conclusion of this war,” Khun said. He had to keep his tone even. Irisviel turned out to be a lovely person- one he wished he’d met sooner. “I trust your friend is unlikely to show up?”
“Saber is engaged with another opponent. She should be done fairly soon.”
“Oh no, I meant the one who was tailing me. She has too much potential to waste it here,” Khun replied.
Emiya blinked at him almost owlishly. “She is well on her way to Europe.”
Khun nodded. “Good.”
The woman was most certainly somewhere in the building, observing, but Khun wasn’t about to point out such an obvious lie.
“Archer should be on his way soon. Unless he had a serious bout of bad luck and lost to Rider. We should finish this before he gets here,” Khun continued.
With that, Emiya activated his particular brand of Magecraft, drew a fancier revolver than any firearm Khun had seen in the Tower or his research on Outside weapons, and the fight began. Khun felt the swell of shinsoo around him as he moved, the air chilling rapidly, calculations flying through his thoughts.
A shot connected in the crook of Khun’s throwing elbow. He grimaced and held the Fire Fish back. He drew a knife out of the Manbarondenna with his off hand and coated it in ice shinsoo.
It wasn’t long before Archer arrived, but with Saber not far behind he didn’t have much opportunity to interfere with the fight between Khun and Emiya. Then, with them distracted, Khun strategically leapt out of the way of a rushing strike from Emiya, sending him careening into the grail. It was as complete as it was going to get without a mass servant suicide, and there was no way Khun could make good on his promise to Kariya if he executed that.
The longer Emiya spent within the grail, the more worried Khun became. Something was wrong. It shouldn’t have taken this long.
His fears were confirmed when Emiya reappeared, Archer by that point breathing down Khun’s neck for his impertinence, and immediately ordered Saber, with three command seals, to destroy it.
Saber fought the command seals valiantly, but Khun knew full well that it was wasted effort.
“We should get clear, Archer,” he said loud enough that the woman watching from the shadows should have heard. He hoped she got the hint. “We have no idea what’ll happen in the aftermath.”
“Nay, Khun Aguero Agnis. We shall not leave.” A gold gauntleted hand clamped down on Khun’s shoulder. “We shall witness first hand your folly.”
“My folly?” Khun said, failing to wrench himself out of Archer’s grip. “Whatever’s happening here predates me by quite a bit. It might even predate you.”
Archer made the most ugly-most Jahad face Khun had seen yet. He couldn’t help the shudder. For a moment, he almost considered drawing the White Heavenly Mirror on Archer, but quashed the thought immediately. It was too late anyway.
“Excalibur!” Saber screamed in anguish. The golden light of the sword of promised victory seared into his vision, through the grail, and the wall behind it.
And then came the mud.
***
Khun came to in the midst of a burning hellscape, feverish as ever with the use of the Fire Fish. It took him a moment to realize the fire wasn’t a hallucination. Nor was it the Fire Fish obscuring his vision. The destruction of the holy grail had set the world around them aflame.
This wasn’t what he had wanted- not in the slightest. Surely this hadn’t been Irisviel’s or Emiya’s wish either. And yet this was how it all had been interpreted by the grail. He tried to summon his ice to help douse the flames.
The Fire Fish burned in his chest. Everything hurt.
Then, his stomach growled.
He was going to rip Archer a new one when he woke up.