Shirou gave out a long yawn as he trudged along. It was still early morning but he liked to get up a bit early to do a few things. Usually it was to practice when no one was around. Well that wasn’t always the case. Sakura sometimes came over rather early but he did his best to keep her out of the know how. His old man had made it abundantly clear that normal people shouldn’t know about magic. He would do his best to protect her from it as best as he could.
Speaking of protecting, Twilight Sparkle came to mind. She was good and sweet. There was not a single bone in her body that gave any killing vibes. Yet she was now in a war where killing was required. There was a cruel and sick irony about that. Shirou’s fists tightened. He hated the thought of her having to go through with it or someone actually taking her from him… well more like someone killing her in general. She wasn’t his of course. She was cute but still…
He would protect her regardless. Her and Assassin. Saber too. Even if she denied said aid and thought herself above such help, he would do so regardless. No one was dying on his watch. He was going to stop that from happening even if he had to destroy the grail himself. He’d do it.
He idly opened up the door to the room where the washer and dryer were. His groggy mind didn’t immediately register there was another person in there until he was half way inside. He blinked a few times before blushing deeply and covering his eyes.
There before him was a bare naked Twilight writing down something in a notepad. She was sitting down so he didn’t see her nether region, thankfully enough, but still. She turned to smile at him and waved, “Oh hey, Shirou. I was just cleaning my clothes and I found these machines fascinating. I believe we have similar ones in Equestria but I think yours is a bit more advanced. I’m not so sure. I don’t know a lot about these machines so maybe I could cross reference them. I just ask since I usually use my magic and some water to do most of the cleaning.”
“Why are you naked?” Shirou gulped, doing his best not to look. He was still a hot blooded youth after all and Twilight had a full figure. She wasn’t Sakura levels of full but she was up there.
“Oh because my clothes were dirty,” Twilight paused for a moment before sighing. “Really? You have a taboo about being naked in the house too?”
“You aren’t supposed to do that with other people around,” Shirou stated.
Twilight sighed again, “Alright, fine. I will respect your traditions even if they are bizarre.” A second later, she spoke. “Fine, I’m clothed.”
Shirou opened his eyes and uncovered his face. His face blushed again and hid his face, ‘You’re just wearing a towel.”
“And yet, you can’t see my naughty bits.”
“You’re not covering your chest!”
Indeed, Twilight had used the towel to cover her nether region and a good portion of her legs. She frowned, “And what’s wrong with my chest?”
“Girls aren’t supposed to show it out like that.”
“But I saw a lot of guys have no shirts on when they were running and no one said anything.”
“Well they are guys.”
“So guys can go about with no shirt on but girls can’t?”
“Yes… kind of?” Shirou gulped, hoping he wasn’t stepping into one of those ‘no go’ zones with girls.
Twilight groaned, “I can’t tell if this is sexist or some really bizarre biological thing but this is another world. I’ll abide by that.” Something sparkled in the air, telling him she was using magic. “Here.”
He opened and gave a sigh of relief. She was wearing a towel over her chest too, but looked rather agitated. “I’ll ask Taiga if she has some spare clothes and to take you clothe’s shopping.”
“Well a nice dress would be nice,” Twilight nodded. She held out a finger to point at him, “Next time, tell me these things before hand. For all I know, I could have just offered you to have sex with me.”
“... Oh look at the time!” Shirou blushed and turned around. “I better go cook something.”
“...” Twilight blushed profusely. “It’s not like that! I wouldn’t… I mean you are cute… I just wanted to…”
And with that, the two dorks clumsily rushed out of the room while knocking each other about. Sorry’s were exchanged.
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Saber really did not want to think about being allied with the servant of shadows. She both disliked assassins in general and the previous war’s Assassin was… Huh. She never really did meet them outside of Rider killing them off. It was honestly a waste. Perhaps servant Assassins weren’t all that cracked up or the previous war’s master of them was sloppy. Probably the former. Still though, she would have to begrudgingly go along with this alliance. It didn’t mean she had to like it though.
So she kept to herself after her master had retired. She just hoped he’d make more of his food. She would never say it out loud, but just thinking of that cooking made her stomach rumble. She wanted more. She was of course a king. She would never beg. That was beneath her. Still though, maybe he had some leftovers. Yes, she could go and sneak some more.
As she entered the kitchen, she saw none other then Assassin and a strange little purple dog. The little Assassin looked to be trying to reach a jar of some kind while the dog was… talking.
“Assassin,” the dog spoke. “Come on. A bit closer.”
Assassin gave another bit of effort and grabbed the jar. She squealed in joy and brought it down. She opened it to reveal some cookies. She gave one to the dog, “Here you go, big brother.”
“Well thank you,” the dog grinned and started to eat his cookie.
Saber chose that moment to walk in, “What are you doing? Sweets are for desert. You’ll ruin your appetite for a proper meal.” She didn’t know why she said that. It was just an instinct that came over her when those children did something like that.
Assassin pouted and put the jar back, “Awww, but I just wanted a cookie.”
Saber walked over and put the jar higher up in the cupboard, “You can have cookies later and that’s only if Shirou lets you. Now,” she turned to the dog. “You can talk, yes?”
Spike gulped and stared up at her, “Yeah… I didn’t expect to see another dragon here.”
“Dragon?” Saber quirked an eye at that. “How would… what are you?”
“I’m a dragon,” the little dog preenly said with a paw on his little chest. “Spike to be exact. Twilight’s number one assistant.”
“And you are her brother?” She pointed to Assassin.
“Well… kinda?” Spike shrugged. “More like an uncle really since Twilight’s more of a sister to me. I know some people say she’s like a mom, but she’s not that much older. Besides, she doesn’t really act her age a lot of the times anyways.”
“I see,” Saber said before looking at Assassin. “Assassin. I thought you were better then this. Going behind your mother’s back to steal?”
Assassin’s eyes widened and she started to shake in fear, “We… We… please don’t tell mommy. We don’t want mommy to hate us.”
A part of her understood that feeling. She hated to disappoint her father. However, such thoughts always brought forth another image. One of a blonde knight who looked so eager and happy to be her son. Perhaps she should have handled that meeting with more tact. Just another reason for her to gain the grail. Which meant she had to kill this child soon enough.
She had done terrible things before. More bloodshed, even if disgusting, would be necessary in order to win. Ending this one happy family was… was something she would have to do eventually. “Just make sure you don’t do it again, alright?”
Assassin nodded eagerly, “Yes, yes. We promise.”
“And you,” Saber turned to glare at Spike who flinched at it. “Make sure she acts right. You are a guardian. Act like it.”
“Yes, my lord.” Spike gulped and bowed. It was instinctual. While dragons were solo creatures, they still had a lord. A lord who ruled absolutely amongst their kind. What they said went. Saber had the heart of a lord even if she did not have the scepter.
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Adagio couldn’t help but smirk as she left the office. Just another human. So easily manipulated. With this act, they had acquired the usage of a stage for their show. A big one she might add. That meant they could have enough to feed them for a while. Perhaps they’d even get a smidgen of their original powers back. It had been a while since they last were able to cut loose. The last time was during WW2 and the only truly competent foe had been this one Russian magus they fought. He was talented but a human nonetheless. She idly missed that regime. So much terror and fear. Stalin was good but Adagio found herself and her sisters on the run more then they liked with that man in charge.
“That was too easy,” Aria smirked as she flipped a golden coin up into the air and caught it.
“For realzies,” Sonata cackled. She had picked up some jargon in America and it annoyed her sisters. “I thought they were so going to put up a better fight. Can you believe how much these humans will drool over these?” Sonata cupped her breasts.
“Animals, the lot of them.” Adagio chuckled darkly. “And soon we will feast off of them like the animals they are. Who knows, we might even cause a city wide riot. Gods know how long it has been since the last one we started.”
“Oh I would love to see that,” a smooth voice spoke out.
The three sisters turned around to stare at an incredibly attractive blonde man walking up to them. Adagio scowled and took a few steps forward, “What do you want?”
“Oh I just want to get to know you,” the man smirked and tilted his head to the side slightly. “You’re a curiosity I haven’t seen in ages.”
“Curiosity?” Adagio quirked an eyebrow. What was he on about, she thought.
“Oh you aren’t as interesting as the fair maiden but you three have something…” His eyes widened as did his grin. His head was held up high. “Sirens~ Ah, I’ve missed listening to your calls.”
“Look here, bud.” Aria stomped on closer. “If you think you can blackmail us, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“For realzies,” Sonata nodded and crossed her arms.
The man held up his hands and chuckled, “Nothing of the sort. I just wanted to meet you and possibly work out a few things.”
“Like what?” Adagio sized him up. He didn’t seem all that threatening but she was a big girl. Over a thousand years old in fact. That much time gave her the much needed wisdom to know that one should never judge someone on initial appearances. They could be hiding something and this man was definitely hiding something.
“Why, your biggest gig of course.”