fate/first order derivative

Part III.6

> continue: iteration 29, day 8, morning

I take a deep breath. "Okay, seriously, Emiya. What the fuck."

Shirou shrugs and rubs the back of his head. Then he winces and stops, because I guess that still hurts. "I dunno."

"Dude, c'mon. I was there, okay? I saw it. I don't care how many Cure Lights she threw at you --" I gesture at Saber. "No one just sleeps off frigging brain damage, all right?!"

"I'm with the rando on this," Rin agrees, her mouth half full of English muffin. Seems she finally got out of the hospital late last night, thanks to a friendly visit from the family lawyer. Right now, we're all at Shirou's place. "Generally speaking, people die when they're killed."

I blink and glance at her. "Um... sorry, what?"

"I said, people usually die when they're mortally wounded." She shoots me a glare, as if daring me to push the matter further.

I'm good, though. "Well, okay, then." That makes a bit more sense.

> whole lot less memeable tho

Shirou spreads his hands. "I don't know what you want me to say here. This shit just keeps happening to me, ever since Lancer stabbed me last week."

"So, what... the same spear that made me time loop, gave you a Wolverine healing factor?" I raise an eyebrow. "Not sure I'm seeing a common thread there."

I pause. "Mind you, if that is the case... kinda have to wonder which one of us got ripped off more."

"Yeah, I don't think you can call something that does that a 'weapon,' exactly," Rin says dryly. "Anyway, fascinating as this line of questioning is -- what the hell are we gonna do about Caster?"

"Oh. Yeah." I scratch my head. "Guess this does look pretty bad for her..."

> okay wait i'm missing something
> how does this connect to caster

Oh, you didn't catch that last night?

***

> skip back to: iteration 29, day 7, early night

Shit. Is he even breathing? I try to ignore the viscera scattered everywhere around me -- not an easy task, FYI -- and search for a pulse. At least Shirou looks intact. No organs or limbs missing. Just... you know... a fucking nodachi stabbed through his brainpan, like the sword in the fucking stone. (Which is kind of weird, come to think of it. I thought those weapons were supposed to be all about slashing, not piercing damage.)

"... Assassin?" Saber reaches out and puts her hand on the hilt. As soon as she touches it, the nodachi dissolves into blue dust.

Hole it made in Shirou's head is still there, though. Kinda glad it's too dark for me to see details.

***

> skip forward

"So, yeah..." I hesitate. "... can we maybe call her? I mean, they've gotta have a phone up in the monastery somewhere, right?" In retrospect, probably should have been way more proactive about this situation. But it's been all ambiguous since Tuesday, you know?

"And give her a chance to -- how'd you put it? 'Play us'?" Rin air-quotes. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"We should be cautious about jumping to conclusions here, Master," Archer says from the hallway. He leans just outside the door to Shirou's room. "For all we know, Assassin and his Master could have been acting on their own. For that matter, this whole scenario might be some sort of trick by an enemy mage, intended to put us in conflict with Caster's group."