Fate/False Order

Walking up to a large bookcase, Rider easily shoved it aside, revealing a wooden door behind it.

"It seems we have finally found Caster's old lair," Rider said while idly glancing at the door.

Seeing the door, Waver moved up next to Rider, and started studying the door.

The door was scribbled with illegible letters and runes, none of which Waver could identify, causing him to frown and trace a finger over the door's runes.

"I don't recognise the symbols, but I assume that they are of Grecian origin," he said absentmindedly, while looking at the symbols. "Luckily I don't feel any residual mana, or anything else powering the runes."

Hearing his Master's words, Rider lowered his gaze, and looked at the runes. Stroking his beard, he gave a nod. "It would seem that the Bounded Fields were linked too closely together. With Saber's strike, the rest of the fields collapsed due to a lack of support…"

Waver gave an absentminded nod, as he continued to scrutinize the door, only for Rider to grab the doorknob. "Well, time waits for no man, let us see what treasures Caster has left behind!"

Before Waver could stop his Servant, Rider flung the door open, revealing a stone wall behind it.

Blinking his eyes, Rider turned to look at his Master. "Is it common practice to place doors in places for no reason, in this era?" He probed in a serious tone, causing Waver to groan.

"Just punch the wall Rider," he said in a resigned tone, causing the Servant to smile.

Cocking back an arm, Rider positioned himself to strike. "With pleasure!" At the tail end of his words, his arm turned into a blur.

Waver barely had time to cover his face with his arms, when the wall in front of him practically exploded, sending dust and stones hurtling through the air.

Rider retracted his arm just as fast as it had struck the wall, which instantly caved in on itself, causing it to crumble.

Shaking his arm to rid it of the dust it had gained from destroying the wall, Rider gazed down the newly revealed hallway.

"Boy, do you sense anything?" He probed, ignoring the indignant gaze Waver was giving him, after showering him with dust and pebbles.

Waving a hand to disperse the dust in the air, Waver peered down the hallway. Frowning slightly, he could only sigh. "I can't feel a thing, though knowing who Caster is, it wouldn't surprise me if she set up something discreet enough to fool my senses."

Nodding to Waver's words, Rider palmed his fist. "Very well, then I shall be the vanguard!" He proclaimed, while theatrically throwing his cape aside. "Follow my lead, boy, with me in the charge, we'll plunder Caster's Workshop with ease!"

Waver couldn't even muster any annoyance at the reckless actions of his Servant, instead only the slightest of upturns appeared on his lip.

Not waiting for Waver to interject, Rider strode forwards, easily stepping over the small pile of debris from the collapsing of the wall, and entering the hallway.

Waver, not wishing to be left behind, quickly followed Rider, keeping a reasonable three feet between one another, so as to give him some room to work with, if worse came to worst.

The two's journey was surprisingly smooth, as Rider didn't encounter a single trap, nor trigger a single Bounded Field. It took only a scant few minutes for the two to finally enter the heart of Caster's lair, her Workshop.

As Rider stepped a foot into the room, he couldn't help but give the room a once over.

By his estimate, the room was no larger than one of his commander's tents used for meetings during his campaigns.

And unfortunately, equally sparsely equipped as one of those tents.

There was a desk with a few scattered pieces of parchment strewn on it, along with a few jars with organs floating inside them. One of the walls had a map of Fuyuki, with circles and highlighted areas, each spot with scribbled notes.

Walking up to the map, Iskandar gave it a cursory glance, before loudly sighing.

Entering the room, Waver focused on Rider, who lightly shook his head while looking at the map.

"It would seem Caster knew of our whereabouts as well…" he grumbled, before quickly perking up. "But it would seem she knew of everyone else's whereabouts as well!" He proclaimed while pointing his finger at one of the circled spots.

"Saber," he explained, before quickly moving towards another circle. "Archer," he said confidently, before moving towards another circle, but this one had an 'X' mark on it. "Worm," he said confidently, before suddenly frowning

"Worm?" He questioned, before turning to look at Waver. "Boy, what greater purpose do worms play in your magic? Is it some sort of catalyst or ingredient, and if so, what do the Matou have to do with them? The Grail only told me that they were a founding family, not some worm farmer."

Waver looked just as confused, merely blinking rapidly, before shaking his head. "I don't think they are worm farmers, as they made the Command Seals," he said while raising an arm, while showing the back of his hands with the aforementioned Command Seals.

"Maybe Caster didn't like them… you know, like how Archer calls everyone mongrels?" He suggested in an unconfident tone of voice.

Rider merely scratched his beard in contemplation, before giving an unconvinced grumble. "Perhaps," he said, clearly unconvinced, before turning back to look at the map, this time pointing at two circles that practically overlapped with how close they were.

"Pendragon's!" He said boisterously, before frowning. "As in more than one…"

Turning to look at Waver, Rider didn't need to ask him a question, as he could clearly see Waver raking his mind for answers.

It took a scant minute before his eyes widened. "Alistair has a mother!" He exclaimed, before suddenly turning a lot paler. "Alistair has a mother…" he repeated, albeit with a lot more nervousness lacing his voice.

Rider merely raised a brow. "You seem rather distressed at the thought, care to enlighten me?"

Waver merely nodded. "From my understanding, she is the actual Queen of England, as the ones 'in charge' are basically puppets, and she literally owns the Clock Tower… If she learns that I stole Kayneth's catalyst, she could ruin me, my mom, my dad, and anyone tangentially connected to my family," he explained meekly.

Rider slowly blinked at the news, before a large smile split his face. "We have another King in this city! I must meet her now!"

Waver's face only further paled, and he quickly grabbed his Servant's mantle. "For one, please, please don't do this to me. And for two, she's a Queen, so when you inevitably drag me over to meet her, I beg that you show her at the very least a smidge of respect!" He begged, causing Rider to look down at him with a hint of exasperation on his face.

"Do not look down on me, boy! I have conversed with many kings and queens during my time, so you have nothing to worry about," he said in a confident tone while patting his chest, before yanking back the mantle out from Waver's grip.

"But that is for later, for now we need to rifle through whatever bits and pieces Caster has left," he explained, before moving towards the table, and picking up a few of the strewn documents.

As he picked it up, a slight smile spread over his face as he read the document. Only for it to suddenly darken as he continued reading on,

"Boy, what do you know of the Grail's summoning system?" Rider questioned neutrality, causing his Master to give him a questioning look. Seeing his Servant's seriousness, he started drawing onto a few of his memories of his time researching the Holy Grail ritual before he left the Clock Tower for Fuyuki.

"The Grail pulls a Heroic Spirit from the Throne of Heroes based on either compatibility or randomly based on the catalyst they use," he explained clinically, only for Rider's brows to furrow even more. "And what qualifications do the Heroic Spirits need to fulfill to be summoned?"

Waver felt more confused than anything at the question. "Uh, to be one of the remaining seven classes that has yet to be summoned?" He said questioningly.

Rider lowered the document he was reading, fixing Waver with a piercing look. "I need an even more basic requirement," he demanded.

Waver raised a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "To be a hero?" He said unsurely, causing Rider to nod. "If so," Rider said in a serious tone. "How is Caster here? Medea does not even meet this basic requirement, so how was she summoned?" He said while tapping the document he was reading.

Waver blinked in confusion, before bolting over to Rider. "It should be impossible," he murmured, before suddenly scowling at the unfamiliar language on the documents Rider was holding.

Not waiting for his Master to ask, Rider started explaining what he was holding. "These seem to be Caster's very own research on how her summoning was possible," he explained, causing Waver to frown. "It is all written in Ancient Greek, luckily my teacher found it prudent to teach me what we called 'Old Greek' back then, or else this would be indecipherable to myself."

Peering up at Rider, Waver looked incredibly interested. "What does it say?" He probed, causing Rider to sigh. "It is mostly filled with conjecture, none of which bodes well for us, as her summoning was 'ordinary', which points to there being a problem with the summoning system as a whole, or rather the Grail System."

There was an audible gulp from Waver, as he started to think a mile a minute. "Can you give me a rundown of some of the reasonable theories she made?" He questioned, causing Rider to shuffle the papers.

"Caster has less of a theory, and more something closer to a most unpleasant conclusion," Rider explained, turning to look at Waver. "What do you know of the Third War?"

Waver quickly thought through the information he had gathered of the previous War. "Information on the war is scant, but I do know that the Edelfelt's managed to have two masters, each having a Saber-class Servant for themselves, yet only counting for a single slot in the war," he explained, causing Rider to raise an impressed eyebrow.

"Intriguing, but not what I was looking for," he explained, before tapping the document. "According to Caster, she gathered information from the Worm, whom I surmise is someone inside the Matou estate, and learnt of a Servant of the Avenger-class…"

Waver looked surprised at the new Class, and Rider could only nod at his surprise. "Angra Mainyu, the weakest Servant to have ever been summoned," he explained calmly. "Yet someone so weak was supposedly the Zoroastrian god of darkness."

Placing the papers on the desk, he looked at Waver with a serious look. "Her paper concludes with her believing that since Avenger was technically the carrier of 'All the World's Evil', that when his soul entered the Grail, so did all the curses he carried, tainting the Grail, causing it to malfunction," he said with utmost seriousness.

"Caster wrote that experimentation with the Grail Vessel would be needed before she dared to do anything with it, either to confirm or deny her conclusion."

Waver seemed to be thunderstruck at the news, causing him to look a bit frantic. "What are we going to do? I can't fix the Grail, but we can't let Caster fiddle around with it, and potentially activate it early, ending the war prematurely!"

Before he could spiral any more than he already had, Rider used two fingers and plucked his Master up by the back of his shirt, much like how one would carry a kitten. "Boy," he said sternly, causing his Master to clamp up.

"For all we know, Caster is mistaken, and her Summoning was out of the ordinary, and all this is a red herring, something to sow chaos among us," he explained, causing Waver to calm down.

Seeing that he had calmed down, Rider let go of Waver, causing him to fall back to the floor. Crossing his arms, Rider looked down at his Master. "But for now, we must take Caster's theories to heart, and start to make friends with others, to gain strength," he said pointedly.

Waver merely nodded, and glanced over to the map with the locations of all the Masters. "But who should we speak to?"

Rider moved up next to him, and threaded a few fingers through his beard. "We hold no goodwill between us and Berserker, so he is out," he mused aloud. "Archer is one who seeks entertainment, so he would find far more enjoyment from watching us struggle from the sidelines, so he is out as well."

Waver pursed his lips. "I don't think Saber would be inclined to listen to us… but she has the moral character to at the very least listen to us," Waver chimed in, causing Rider to sigh.

"Indeed, with Lancer and Assassin dead our options are severely limited, and while I'd rather have little to do with the girl, I understand the necessity of compromise in trying times."

At that, Waver looked up at his Servant with a dry look. "Small problem," he said dryly, causing Rider to peer down at him. "Saber probably hates you, and certainly wants nothing to do with you," he said in a deadpan tone, causing Rider to point at himself.

"Do you think me such a fool to walk up to Saber without a plan?" He questioned with a hint of reproach.

The deadpan look he got in response was more than enough to convey his Master's thoughts to Rider, and they were none too flattering.

Turning his head away, so as to not look at his traitorous Master, Rider gave a disappointed sigh. "Very well then, I shall meet with your Queen alone," he said matter of factly, causing Waver to groan.

"...Fine, I'm coming with you…"

~~Fate/False Order~~

Sakura was an easy girl to take care of. If you asked her to sit still, she'd sit still until someone told her to do something else. 

From what she had observed, Sakura displayed no fears or aversions to things a common child would show. She had no issues with being or sleeping in a dark room, she didn't throw a hissy fit when things didn't go her way, nor did she seem to care about dolls or anything else Rosalind had bought for her.

To call her a golem in the shape of a child would be a cruel, but accurate assessment in Rosalind's eyes.

The only thing she had shown an attachment to was Rosalind herself, and the set of pyjamas Vivian had made for her.

The fact that she was so attached to herself was simply painful for Rosalind. While she had no issues with it, nor would she reject such a thing, the mere fact that Sakura had latched onto her so fast was simply sad.

No girl her age should have been that desperate to cling onto an adult they had just met, especially when knowing that their own parents were in the same city.

Though, Rosalind supposed that if she herself was sold off to an Apostle by her own parents, that she wouldn't be too thrilled to return 'home'.

The sound of the doorbell ringing caused Rosalind to sigh.

Looking down, she met with Sakura's dull purple eyes looking back up at her, causing Rosalind to give a reassuring smile.

"We meet guests now," Rosalind said in broken Japanese, causing the woman to internally curse at her own inadequacies, feeling that it was embarrassing for a woman her age to speak a language so crudely.

Luckily for Rosalind's mental health, Sakura only gave a meek nod, and hesitantly scooted off Rosalind's lap. As she jumped off, Sakura hesitantly reached up, and grabbed one of Rosalind's hands.

Smiling at the action, Rosalind stood up, while slightly leaning to the side, so as to not make it too uncomfortable for Sakura to keep their hands connected.

As the doorbell rang once more, Rosalind gave a roll of her eyes, and slowly started moving towards the entrance, allowing Sakura to easily keep up.

As they reached the entrance, Rosalind unlocked the door, and opened the door.

"You're rather late Ali–" Rosalind cut herself off as her eyes widened at the sight of a hulking mass of muscles blocking her entrance.

Before she could react, a burst of powerful laughter came from the tall man. "I am sorry to disappoint, but I am Iskandar!" The figure said as he slammed a fist on his chest, before leaning forwards, in something that almost resembled a bow. "But you may call me Rider!"

Rosalind slowly blinked, before seriously considering slamming the door shut on him, not wishing to deal with another Servant, after the terrible impressions Lancer and Caster had left on her.

Though she could appreciate the honesty, and him being so upfront was, if anything, remarkably refreshing.

Though she did feel a bit on edge with there being another Servant popping up, she could at the very least find some solace in the fact that both Alistair and Artoria described Rider as easy going.

Placing her freehand on her hip, she gave Rider a once-over. "Well met, Rider, I am Rosalind Pendragon," she said with a slight bow, not bothering to curtsy. "You may call me Rosalind," she added with a shrug.

Rider observed her idly, before suddenly nodding to himself. "It is good to meet another of Saber's descendants, but I am here on important business, may my Master and I enter?"

Rosalind gave him a once over, before slightly leaning to the side to spot his so-called Master.

She quickly spotted a boy, surely no older than 16 standing behind Rider, seemingly using his Servant's mantle as some sort of barrier to hide behind.

"I believe that introductions are first in order, before I allow guests into my house, no?" She questioned lightly while looking at the teenager.

Rider must not have been too impressed either, as he yanked his cape side, leaving the boy without a method to hide. "Uh?" He yelped in a startled surprise, before entering a deep bow while looking towards Rosalind. "My name is Waver Velvet! I'm sorry for not greeting you sooner," he said in a surprisingly proper tone, despite the clear display of nervousness before.

Raising a brow, Rosalind nodded towards him. "Well met, Waver Velvet, I, as you surely heard, am Rosalind Pendragon," she said with a light bow, before turning to look at Rider. "Should I call over my son, as I assume he should be informed of this 'important business' as well?" she questioned, causing Rider to nod.

But he quickly raised a hand. "But before that…"

Crouching down, Rider came close to eyesight with Sakura, and gave her a dazzling smile. "And who might you be, little lady?" He asked kindly.

Sakura only tilted her head in confusion, causing Rosalind to chime in. "She doesn't speak English yet, so if you are addressing her, I'd recommend you speak Japanese," Rosalind explained.

Rider peered up at Rosalind momentarily, flashing her a raised brow, before turning back to look at the girl. "I am Iskandar, little lady, may I have the privilege of learning your name?" He asked just as kindly as before.

Slowly blinking, the little girl looked up to Rosalind, who smiled and nodded, lightly squeezing her hand in reassurance. Getting all the confirmation she needed, she looked Rider dead in the eyes, and she gave a slight nod. "My name is Sakura, it's nice to meet you," she said softly.

Rider's smile only grew at her words. "A fine name," he complimented, before straightening himself back up.

Looking at Rosalind, Rider gave a thumbs up. "So may we enter?"

Rosalind could only give a slight sigh, before moving away from the doorway. "Come along, I'll start up a pot of tea in the living room," she said calmly, before guiding Sakura back to the living room.

As soon as she entered, she pulled out her phone, and instantly dialed Alistair. The phone only rang twice, before Alistair's voice burst through. "Mom? Anything I could do for you?" Alistair said in a distracted tone.

"Rider is here," Rosalind explained quickly, causing Alistair to quickly reply. "Are you safe? Is he trying to pull a Lancer?" He probed with a hint of hostility at the last question.

Moving to the kitchen, Rosalind filled a kettle with water while talking to her son.

"I think I'm safe, as Rider wishes to talk, hence why I've called you," she explained smoothly, causing Alistair to sigh. "I'll be there in a few minutes, just don't provoke him too much. He has thick skin, or at least I think so, meaning that most comments will brush off him, but I'd rather not you become my fact checker on this," Alistair said seriously.

Rosalind merely hummed in agreement. "Sure, and just so you know, Rider called it important business, so keep that in mind," she explained, causing Alistair to give a hum of understanding.

"I'll see you soon," Rosalind said, before clicking the hangup button.

Quickly placing the now full kettle onto the stove, she turned it on, allowing it to heat up the water.

Turning to look down at the child still holding a hand, Rosalind gave it a squeeze, before moving over to the couch.

Stealing a spot, she sat herself down at one of the single seater seats, while smoothly pulling Sakura back onto her legs in a seated position.

As soon as she was done, Rider barged into the room with a smile, and seated himself at the coffee table, one one of the nicer couches. Waver quickly followed in tow, quickly seating himself next to his Servant.

As they looked at one another, Rosalind spoke up. "So how can I help you two today?" She asked dryly.

At this, Rider leaned forwards. "Well, about that."

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44 Hours, 34 Minutes And 9 Seconds Until Zero 

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A/N

Welcome back, my reader Overlords, please add this to your library and give me some comments, stones and reviews, as it would be much appreciated.

Alright, you guys were mostly in luck, as Rider and Rosalind time was already in the works, so that shouldn't be an issue for the next chapter as well.

And about the lateness of the chapter... well you see... I mistook a 'do task one and two' for a 'do either task one or two', on an assignment, so I've been scrambling to write it in time, so this had to be on the backburner. Luckily I have sent it in, so no worries.

Now, same question as last time, anything you'd all like to see? I've heard requests about Gil's eventual fight, and do not worried, I have that covered...

Btw, I have made a Discord server for the fic, come on and chat with me!

https://discord.gg/xrHvkpjG

Now I'm tired as it is 11PM! So have a nice day, and send me some stones or some shit, as I need motivation, since I am losing too much sleep!