"Arthur you're back," Alya said she waved. She, Marinette, and the rest of their friends were at the park on benches.
"I hate the Einzbern family already. Stupid Assassin wouldn't stop jumping on me." Saber sighed. He had spent the entire morning with the Einzbern family to get back Avalon, which they had in their storage room and was going to use to summon him until a servant lost it and they used Jack's daggers instead. Jack found it in a pile of weapons and brought it with her to Paris.
"I think it's so cool you're Arthur Pendragon," Rose said.
"You told them, didn't you?" Saber looked to Alya with disappointment written all over on his face.
"That's Alya for you." Marinette smiled.
"At least we can drop the whole fiancé thing, finally. Master, I get you to want your friends in on this, but this is dangerous. They're not part of this war and if they get hurt, it's going to be bad."
"I know, that's why I told them to keep a secret."
"Master, no offense, but Alya just told what? Six people? In a day."
"I won't tell anyone else. Smile for the camera." Alya took out her phone and snapped a photo of him.
"Mari hey." Tsubasa waved as he approached. "No need to get worked up, I'm not here to cause trouble. My sister is coming in soon from London and I wanted to spend some time with the one not-crazy master."
"What happened to Minami?" Marinette asked.
"You don't want to know. The Tohsaka family has been a bit...over edge ever since they lost badly in the last war and Minami has some issues with the thought of losing. Oh right, I have something I want to show you as well. Rider, bring it over! It's a gift I got for my sister."
Rider stood next to Tsubasa then showed the group the butterfly. Tsubasa was overjoyed about finding it while Rider didn't care. Their expressions changed when the group freaked out. They told the two it was an Akuma, a butterfly that turned people into supervillains. Alya showed the two her phone and a recording of a supervillain with Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Whenever someone in Paris felt negative emotions, an Akuma would find them and turn them into a supervillain. Their goal was to get the Miraculous from Ladybug and Chat Noir and give it to Hawkmoth. They didn't know why Hawkmoth wanted the Miraculous and it was a never-ending battle between superheroes and supervillains.
Tsubasa thought for a while then shrugged. It was in a magic container so there was no reason to fear the butterfly. No living creature was getting out that easily, he made sure of that. Marinette asked how he got it and he explained that he was walking down the street at night and saw it wandering around. It flew over to him and he caught it. If he wasn't a mage, he would have been in trouble, and if he wasn't so calm about catching a dangerous butterfly.
He didn't say much about how he was feeling, just that he was a bit nervous about his sister visiting, and if she would be okay. And a few other things he lightly mentioned while he played with the hair that covered his left eye. He changed the subject to tell them that he used to catch butterflies and caterpillars when he was young for his sister. She didn't like touching them, but she did like the thought of him doing something nice for her.
He sat down with the group and ordered a small smoothie to listen to what they had to say. They asked him how life was in Fuyuki, how nice it must have been without Akuma attacks every day. Tsubasa explained that it wasn't so simple, Fuyuki had plenty of mage families and most mages were taught how to use their power when they were young. For Tsubasa, as the eldest, he was given the family's crest, which was the culmination of every spell they learned.
His family was difficult, his mother didn't inherit a crest and neither did his uncle, who was the eldest, but his mother was the heir. So, instead of getting the Matou crest, he got it from his father's side of the family. He first started around the age of five and didn't fully receive it until he was fourteen, Marinette's age. That was because the family crests were transplanted slowly to avoid rejection.
Tsubasa lifted his sleeve on his right hand and showed them the magic crest on his wrist. He was proud of the accomplishments his family had, even if his mother's side had a less than favorable way of doing things. He then asked Marinette what her family crest was and if she received it. Seeing as he was sixteen and she was fourteen, he thought she already got it.
Marinette didn't have one to show him, she didn't know she was a mage until the war started. Tsubasa leaned back in his seat and used the straw to mix the smoothie, he stared at her for a bit then looked to the others who were wondering what he was doing. Tsubasa said that he looked at her status as a mage using his abilities to scan mages and servants; it was no surprise as to why Saber was so weak, Marinette had little in terms of magical ability and most of her mana circuits were dormant.
Before she asked any more, Tsubasa's phone rang, it was his sister calling to say she landed. He told her that he would explain later and had to go. He bid his farewell and headed off with Rider to go to the airport to wait for his sister. She was Rider's original master, so Rider was somewhat happy to see her again.
"That guy is weird," Alya said.
"Who's Rider?" Jukela asked.
"I don't know," Marinette responded. "I only know Saber and Caster's identities."
"Yeah, are we going to talk about that?" Mylène asked.
"The Grail can summon heroes from the past and future. Master must have done something heroic for the Grail to recognize her as a hero. And those standards are pretty high." Saber explained.
"I'm excited to see what she does in the future," Alya said with her phone on hand, recording Marinette.
"What's going on guys?" Adrien asked as he met the group.
"Dude! What are you doing here?" Nino asked excitedly.
"My father finally let me out since there haven't been any attacks lately. Hi Arthur."
"Anyways," Saber started. "I'm going to rest a bit. Yesterday was way too much for me and I think you need time to yourselves."
"Bye Arthur." The group waved.
"What did I miss?" Adrien asked as he sat down.
"I-uh-um..." Marinette tried to form words.
"Let me give you the scoop," Alya told Adrien everything, just like she did with the others.
He was surprised to hear about the Holy Grail War and how Arthur was a servant, not a student from London who was visiting. Marinette was embarrassed to be around Adrien, which was typical of her, and didn't say a word to him.
Rider brought Tsubasa to the airport with a car they rented, Rider tended to drive too fast and nearly got tickets for it. He was told to avoid any confrontation with the police. There was no way an officer would believe he was a dead hero brought back to fight a war, nor did he have any form of identification besides the history books. None of the servants were given fake cards since it was a war, it wasn't intended for servants to be live a normal human life.
Tsubasa got out of the car with Rider by his side and the butterfly cage in his hands. He gave the cage to Rider and looked through his messages on his phone to see if his sister sent another text. As he did that, the people were speechless to see an Akuma butterfly in a cage and the one holding it not showing any signs of being afraid of it. A police officer even stopped Rider from going further with the cage until Tsubasa talked him into letting it go.
The Akuma wasn't going to do anything, it was a regular butterfly in a cage and wasn't going to cause any trouble. Not that Tsubasa cared, he wasn't interested in the superhero fights and if it did get out and turn someone into a supervillain, it wasn't his problem.
"There you are big brother," Ari said hello as a flight attendant aided her onto the ground. She shifted in her wheelchair to hug Tsubasa then greeted Rider. "I'm sorry to leave you two with this mess. I'm such a coward."
"It's fine, besides, dad didn't seem upset about it." Tsubasa stood up and took over pushing Ari through the airport.
"By the way Rider, what are you holding?"
Ari looked over to Rider who stood next to Tsubasa. They all stopped, and Rider showed Ari the butterfly. She carefully took the cage from Rider and admired it; that was just like Tsubasa, to get a present for her when he felt bad about something. She held onto the cage and watched the butterfly flap its wings while Tsubasa caught her up on the recent events.
The whole war in Paris thing was complicated, especially since Rider refused to wear casual attire to blend in with the people of Paris. Tsubasa laughed about that one, he bought Rider a set of casual clothes, but the servant didn't try on anything. He has a suit laid out that had a white long-sleeved shirt, a black vest, an orange scarf, black pants, and matching shoes. But Rider wanted nothing to do with it.
He was like Archer; he didn't care about how he looked or if he was blending in with the crowd. He was too focused on keeping his master safe to care about himself. That wasn't a bad thing by itself, but in public, he had to learn that his attire wasn't going to fend well with the media. There were pictures of him all over the internet and it was stressing out Shirou, who told him many times to blend in.
Tsubasa helped Ari into his apartment. Unlike Minami Tohsaka's apartment, it was cleaned with plants and bug cages scattered around. Rider immediately sat on the couch while Ari stayed in her wheelchair with the butterfly. Tsubasa left the two alone as he went out to buy groceries for Shirou, who was rejected harshly by Lancer and Archer.
Ari rolled herself over to the butterfly cage and opened the top slightly then tried to dump the new butterfly into it. It didn't want to go in and rather banged on the cage when it saw the window. Ari closed both cages and rolled over to the window; she reached to get the latch although had a hard time. Rider opened the window for her, and she let the black butterfly go. It didn't want to be in a cage. While she knew Tsubasa would be mad, she also knew he couldn't stay mad at her for long.
Rider closed the window for her and helped her to her room to rest. She had a long trip and needed some time to sleep. He made tea for himself and looked out the window to watch Paris turn dark, it was getting to be night, the perfect time for servant battles. Not many people in Paris stayed up, and those who did were avoided by the servants. Lancer and Archer fought in an area where no one was present and they only used their weapons to avoid any attention.
If they were in Fuyuki, half the servants would be dead and the others would have the ability to fight at their strongest. Just like it was in the previous Grail Wars.
Marinette, tired from spending the day with her friends, went home and was immediately hit with a shock. Both Minami and Archer were at the dining table with their heads on the table. Saber explained that they followed him home and wouldn't take no for answer when he didn't let them in. So, he did.
"Isn't this great? It's like a slumber party!" Minami said.
"What happened to them?" Marinette asked.
"I am..." Saber started, "not good at cooking. I might have accidentally given them too much sugar."
"Isn't this great Arjuna?" Minami pet Archer on the head.
"Reminds me of mom's cooking," Archer said.
"Are you sure you just gave them sugar?" Marinette stared down Saber.
"I maybe gave them alcohol too," Saber admitted.
"Saber!"
Marinette and Saber put Minami and Archer on the couches to sleep off whatever they had in their systems. Meanwhile, Marinette's parents returned home, and Saber explained to them why there was an unexpected company. Her parents let them stay for the night then they had to go; there was an event the next day and unless everyone was there to help, they needed to leave.
Since Archer was out cold, there wasn't going to be a fight between him and Lancer. Which was a nightly routine at that point. They had it out for each other and refused to fight anyone else until one of them was dead. Only their masters knew why and those two weren't going to say anything. Ruler wanted to keep the playing ground even and Minami didn't want anyone to go after her Archer if they knew they had a sure-fire way to kill him.
Saber stopped by Marinette's room before he went to his, he looked out the window to see that Lancer was jumping onto buildings looking for Archer before he gave up and headed home. Saber and Marinette talked about the war, he wanted to know if she took it seriously. The last master he had wanted to kill the opposition immediately for a wish, but it seemed Marinette didn't have a wish or a will to fight in the war.
Marinette admitted that she didn't know what she was doing. She barely did anything during the fight with Caster, and she hated the idea of fighting with the other masters. She was also told that wishes came with a cost, so she didn't think about it. Saber said goodnight to Marinette before he went to bed; he also stopped by the living room to make sure Minami and Archer were in the same place he left them. He didn't want them to be up and possibly stab him in the back.
Lancer returned to Ruler and said that Archer wasn't around. Ruler stretched on her bed and rolled into her covers. She was tired and needed to get some sleep, her routine consisted of watching the servants in the day and giving Lancer orders at night. It was rare she got more than four hours of sleep. She was lucky that she was a servant and needed less sleep than humans, but that didn't stop her from getting tired if she overextended herself.
Lancer went into his room and changed into his clothing for bedtime. A loose black shirt with matching pants. He looked at a picture that showed him and Archer together, Ruler bought a camera and snuck photos of the two whenever she had the chance. She gave one to Archer who hid it in behind his back when people were looking at him and most likely tore it up when he got home.
Minami and Archer were up early in the morning and Minami specifically felt better than ever, Archer, on the other hand, was going through a hangover. Minami had Archer over her shoulders and helped him out of the bakery. "Thanks for your help," were Minami's words to Marinette and her family as she dragged Archer back home with him mumbling the entire way.
Alya was also at the door with her camera in hand. She showed Marinette a video, it was of Lancer and someone else: a supervillain. Lancer chased the supervillain around until he used his skill Mana Burst to send the supervillain flying to the ground. The recording stopped there and Alya went on and on about how the news was talking about a new superhero. He didn't give a name when the news asked, he just ran off.
At first, the people thought he was a supervillain, then when they saw him fighting a supervillain, they thought of him as a superhero. The people of Paris weren't used to mages or servants, so they connected the dots with whatever they thought was right. They had some sights on Archer, since he and Lancer fought at night, but didn't do much since no one knew where to look or who to look for. It was a chance meeting if they saw a servant, and when they did, they went crazy.
"What are you doing?" Marinette asked as Alya ran off.
"I'm going to see if I can find this new superhero," Alya said.
"Does she know it's Lancer?" Arthur asked.
"I didn't tell her what the servants looked like. So, no."
Shirou made his way through the crowds of Paris. He didn't try to blend in, so he got strange looks from the people. Accompanying him was Lancer, in casual attire at that time, who also got strange looks. The people checked their phones at Lancer and noticed he was the person who fought the supervillain the night before.
Once they realized it, they bombarded him with questions about who he was and what he was doing in Paris. He didn't answer them due to Shirou telling him it was time to go, and he walked past them. They were to meet the Einzbern representative and his servant to talk about the Caster problem. Shirou, of course, made a few stops along the way and bought a few groceries. He was getting low and none of the servants were going to get them for him.
He was stopped at every opportunity by anyone who recognized Lancer and had to buy ice cream to get an excuse as to why he needed to leave so quickly. Lancer took the groceries and told Shirou he would take them back to the church while Shirou dealt with the Einzbern family. He wanted nothing to do with them and Ruler told him to not get involved. She didn't want to clean up after any messes that early in the war.