> continue: iteration 29, day 4, late night
"... and t-that was it," I say. Fuck. Can't stop my hands from shaking. I'm wrapped in blankets with a cup of hot tea in my hand, but I still feel like I'm freezing to death. Guess I'm getting off light, though, considering I just had part of my frigging soul sucked out or some shit. "So yeah. Gonna be honest here. I'm not exactly getting a super-trustworthy vibe from her."
"You think?" Shirou raises an eyebrow. I'm sitting with him and the other usual suspects in Rin's living room.
"Yeah, okay, I know. What I'm trying to say is, I think she's gonna try to play us." I clear my throat. "She came pretty close to straight-out admitting it. If we did ally with her, she'd probably wind up using us to her own ends. And it'd only be a matter of time before she knifed us in the back anyway. That's not even mentioning, y'know. All the evil."
"Lie down with vipers, expect to get bit," Saber mutters.
"Doy." Rin tosses her head. "That's because alliances between Masters are dumb."
Shirou rolls his eyes. "Thanks. That really fills me with confidence."
"It's true, though! It's just the way Grail wars are set up. Everyone's going to have to duel each other to the death eventually, so any alliance is doomed from the start. The whole thing inevitably devolves into a mind game to see who can stab who in the back first."
"I'd ask where honor factors into your worldview, but I suspect I already know the answer," Saber observes dryly.
"Can it, Brunhilda," Rin snaps. "I've always been up front about this thing being temporary. We'd be enemies right now if it wasn't for... certain circumstances." She shoots me a look.
I just sip my tea. It's cute that Rin still feels the need to pretend that. Mind you, I've learned not to call her on it this early in the week. She gets all huffy.
> how're the chills by the way
Getting there. Tea's helping. According to Rin, I should be back to feeling normal after a good night's sleep...
... just in time to get mana-drained again tomorrow morning at school. Dickweasels.
> you seem to like that word
Just trying it out on a provisional basis. See, I heard someone use the word 'nutbunnies' the other day on TV? And that got me wondering what obscenity it was intended to cover up, so...
> i get it
Yeah. Kinda reverse-engineered the obscene form. Obscengineered, one might say.
> shouldn't that be 'dickrabbits' then
Weasels sound funnier.
> true
Also more painful, come to think of it. Probably not a coincidence.
"Anyway. Getting back to Caster." Shirou shakes his head. "It almost doesn't matter if we can't trust her, though, does it? We don't have a choice. If she's the only one who can shut down this Gilgamesh guy..."
> oh yeah how'd they take that bit of news
See for yourself. And rewind --
***
> skip back to: iteration 29, day 1, early night
I walk into Shirou's kitchen-slash-dining-room on the first night. "Rin," I say professionally. "Saber."
YOU ARE READING
fate/first order derivative
FanfictionAn eccentric nerd finds himself stuck in a time loop after something weird happens down the street at Shirou Emiya's place. Tom Tomonaga doesn't know why he's repeating the same two weeks over and over again. He doesn't know anything about magic, th...
