Fate/False Order

Walking out of the bathroom, I was met with a seemingly annoyed 'Vivian', who looked surprisingly out of it.

Glancing around, I made sure that no one was here, before fixing her with an inquisitive look. "Morgan, are you ok?" I asked in a relatively low tone of voice, just to make sure that no one else would hear me.

Her mildly annoyed look vanished like the wind at my question, and she looked like her normal self once more. Albeit with a clear undertone of regret, or something similar.

"Not really, Alistair. I overslept, causing Rosalind to nearly discover my identity by accident," she explained ruefully, before slightly shaking her head.

"It was my fault for indulging myself too much. I was too distracted, and forgot to set up any alarm clocks to wake us up after setting up the privacy barrier," she further explained, causing me to give an amused smile.

Sighing slightly, I slowly shook my head. "Truly, a near unforgivable mistake," I said in a falsely stern voice, while closing the distance between us. "But," I added while raising a finger, while flashing her a shrewd smile. "I'll forgive you if you lend me Avalon for an hour or two."

At my 'subtle' request, I saw an indulgent smile find its way onto her lips, before she gave an amused sigh.

"A heavy price, but if it is what is needed for me to earn your forgiveness, then who am I to disagree?" She said in a wistful tone, before placing a hand on her chest.

Golden particles started to spill out from her chest, and the more she pulled her hand away, the more particles started to flow out from her. But once her arm was fully stretched out, the golden particles started to form into a beautiful sheath.

As Vivian's fingers gripped around Avalon, she smoothly, and almost uncaringly, tossed it over to me.

Grimacing, I almost lunged forwards to snatch the sheath before it clattered to the ground, and the second I gripped it, I slammed it into my chest, causing it to sink into me.

The feeling of instant relief, and my muscles and bruised skin healing themselves was amazing.

Smiling contentedly, I flashed Vivian a radiant smile. "Thank you," I said while giving a thumbs up. "Don't know what I'd do without you," I added, causing her to roll her eyes.

"You'd probably have a lot less bruises and sore muscles without my suggestions," she playfully added, causing me to roll my own eyes. "Yes, and I'd be a lot less competent without them," I countered, causing Vivian to give a satisfied hum, before she started walking straight past me.

Just as she was about to completely pass me, one of her hands snatched my tie, and tugged it along like some leash, causing me to stumble forwards. "Now, come along," she said playfully, while slightly turning her head to look at me.

She looked extremely smug, as she idly tugged my tie, causing me to snatch it back.

Vivian offered little resistance, only giving a slight smirk, before turning her head to look forwards once more.

Raising an arm, I used it to straighten my tie, before following Vivian. "Yes Ma'am," I said with mild amusement.

In a matter of seconds we reached the entrance, where we quickly slipped our shoes on before leaving the house.

Just as I opened the door, Vivian grabbed my wrist, causing me to stop and look at her.

Using her other free arm, she raised it up. "Give me a moment," she said before waving it over her face, causing her cheeks to sink in, and her face to look a tad gaunt.

Smiling slightly, she flashed me a raised brow. "How do I look?"

Raising my own brow, I gave her a mildly confused look. "Will you take it poorly if I say you look like shit?" I remarked hesitantly.

Shrugging, she let go of my sleeve. "Just what I was going for," she said playfully, causing me to roll my eyes and fully open the door.

"A fine choice," I mumbled under my breath with clear sarcasm, as I left my house.

Moving towards 'Mom's' house, I could hear Vivian closing the door behind me, and her hurriedly making her way over to me.

Quickly falling into step with me, she happily trotted along next to me, arms behind her back while seemingly looking pleased with herself.

It was a bit odd, but right now, I simply did not care, as I was still rather mentally exhausted, thanks to Artoria's… I think it falls under the term 'morning training', as it lasted until six in the morning.

Either way, I was rather tired, though ten hours of sleep had done wonders for my psyche.

Learning how to wield Rhongomyniad certainly made up for it, but the exhaustion was bone deep, thanks to the severe beating I kept receiving from Artoria.

Girl had no mercy, whatever honor code she followed did not find any issue with aiming for hits to the crotch. Had I been less of a man, I'd now be… well, less of a man, I suppose.

Case in point, Artoria was seemingly alright with the idea of ending our family line, all for me to gain more experience fighting. Though I'd like to think that she'd stop the strike right before she'd make contact, but I'd rather not find out, as some things are better left as speculation.

Reaching the front door, I easily opened it, correctly guessing that Mom hadn't bothered locking it.

The two of us entered the room and took off our shoes before heading towards the living room.

As I opened the door, I was greeted by quite the peculiar sight. Rider had a slightly smiling Sakura on her shoulder, and the hulk of a man had a small ribbon tied on his beard…

Actually, now that I am looking for it, everyone is wearing a ribbon.

Mom, Waver, Rider, Artoria and Sakura each had a ribbon, Saber even had a second one for some reason.

All of them, other than a mildly sulking Waver, were focused on Sakura, who for once looked somewhat happy. And to be fair, it was a rather nice look for her, as her normal expressionless look was far too depressing.

The mere sight of her smiling made me smile a bit more genuinely as well, after all, she was too precious when looking like that.

Stepping foot into the room caused all of them to turn their focus onto us.

Rider was the first to welcome me, as he raised a hand in greeting, while flashing his giant smile. "Greetings! It is good to see the two of you once more," he said with gusto.

"I have heard roomers that the young lady found Caster's base of operations," he said conversationally. "Would you be amenable to tell us more about how you did that? I can see a lot of value for such methods for my future campaign."

Vivian only nodded, before grabbing my hand with her own. "Sure, I'd love to," she said with some amusement. "But I'd like to lie down before we continue this, I'm still rather tired," she said before pulling me towards a sofa.

As we reached it, she gently nudged me, causing me to sit down at the end of the couch. As soon as I touched the cushion, Vivian quickly laid down on the couch, and placed her head square on my lap.

Before I could comment, Mom spoke up. "Vivian, are you feeling alright?" She asked with some slight nervousness.

Vivian didn't turn her head to look at Mom, but she still spoke up. "The ritual last night took a lot out of me," she lied smoothly. "I'll be fine in a bit, don't let my condition worry you too much."

Looking down at Vivian, I gave her a raised brow, causing her to pout. {Your 'girlfriend' is hurt and lethargic, at least act like you care.} Morgan said through our link.

Lowering my brow, I used a hand and threaded her hair through my fingers. That must have been the right thing to do, as she closed her eyes and gave a contented sigh.

Vivian, or rather, Morgan was acting surprisingly spoiled today. I'd need to retrace my steps to see if I had done anything to garner this reaction, as it feels a bit out of left field.

Not that I am complaining, not at all. But I'd like to know what I did, since whatever I did was clearly working, and I'd need to continue doing it.

Looking away from the somewhat haggard, but content looking Vivian, I turned to look at the others who were staring at us… totally not awkward, not at all.

Raising a brow, I gave them all an unimpressed look. "What's on the agenda then? I'd like to think that the four of you should have had enough time to at least come up with a single plan of action," I said dryly.

At my comment, Artoria slightly shrugged her shoulders. "I can not speak for your Mother, or Rider and his Master, but my own Master and I have spent most of our time scouting the terrain," she explained, before pulling out a folded piece of paper from her pocket, then placing it on the table.

As she unfolded it, the others leaned in to look at the contents, which left me practically blind, as I sat at a further distance, and I was stuck, since I'm fairly sure Morgan wouldn't like it if I moved.

Fuck it, I could flex my brand of 'totally-not-stolen-from-Morgan' Magecraft. Not that I have been able to use most of her spells, as they simply won't work in the modern day without the Throne of Heroes supporting my Magecraft to work as if it was still in the Age of Gods.

Snapping my finger, mist formed over the table where the document was, causing four large holograms, or rather illusions, of the document to spring into existence.

"You can draw on these, just apply some Od on your finger, and it will act like a marker on a white board," I casually explained.

There were some slight exclamations of surprise when they formed, and a few gazes were thrown my way, but I ignored them.

It wasn't the most exciting of mysteries, but it worked somewhat like a whiteboard, meaning you could 'draw' on it, making it distinctly useful for situations like this.

Curling a finger, one of the 'documents' flew over to me, and hovered in front of me. The document was clearly a blueprint of sorts, and it was really detailed, making me conclude that it was a blueprint meant for those constructing the building, rather than a normal 'floor-plan'.

The building itself was really large, something closer to a seventeen story tall building, and that was not including the basement and underground garage.

Grabbing the 'hologram', I pulled it closer and gave it a good once over. "Do we have any idea where Caster's ideal location could be for her workshop?" I probed, before looking over at the others.

Rider was a bit distracted, and just idly tapped a finger against my 'holograms', clearly finding the fact that it felt real rather amusing, but he still spoke up first. "I can only imagine that Caster would find it wise to either be at the bottom of the building, as it would be the most easily defensible position, or she'd find a random floor being the best option for her, as we'd probably check the basement first for that reason," he explained straightforwardly.

"Rider is right, though I believe that his second option to be the correct option," Artoria added, causing both me and Mom to raise a brow.

"Why would you think so?" Mom asked the same question I was thinking of asking.

Saber turned to look at Mom after hearing the question. "This situation is similar to something me and my knights went through with Morgan," she explained, and I could feel Vivian minutely twitch at her comment.

I could only glance down at her, while flashing an amused smile. {Recycling ideas, are we?} I said through our mental link, with a hint of amusement.

"We did the logical thing, and entered the dungeons, which were filled with traps, one which almost killed Sir. Palamedes, only for us to be met with a giant trap at the bottom, forcing us to stay down there for an hour," she said bitterly.

"Once we managed to break free from the trap, we ran up, only to find out that her workshop was on the second floor," she said tiredly, while shaking her head. "She knew that we would do the logical thing, so she trapped it, and set up shop right above us to taunt us once when it was already too late," she explained bitterly.

There were a few moments of silence, before Waver spoke up. "So, assuming all witches like to be cunning like that, we'll assume she's on one of the floors," he explained, while crossing his arms, and tapping a finger on his forearm.

"That only leaves the question of where," he muttered to himself.

"She'd not be close to any stairs, it would be too easy to spot her workshop from there," he said offhandedly, while studying the document, and writing an 'X' over the stairways.

"Staying close to any windows would be unwise, as they are fragile, and constantly applying illusions and other things to make it look natural is a large mana waster, especially when there are better places to set up a workshop," he continued, while placing 'X's' over all the window areas.

"Caster would probably like to have more space to work with, so picking one of the unfinished floors would allow her more leeway in terms of space, and comes with the added benefit of fewer people," he said while crossing out the first twelve floors.

"Being on the top floor would not allow her anywhere to escape to, other than down, so she's likely not on the top two floors," he said while crossing out the two top floors.

Moving a hand to cover his chin, he gave the last three floors a critical look, before pointing at a room on the fourteenth floor. "This room is mirrored on the floor below and above, making it an ideal room to choose, as you could 'renovate' it by destroying the floor, creating a three story tall base," he concluded.

After his little mini tangent, there was silence, as all of us stared at him incredulously. The silence caused him to finally notice all the stares, making him flounder. "Uh— why are you all looking at me like that?" He sputtered nervously while pointing at us.

"Do not worry, boy!" Rider said while giving his back a hard pat, causing the boy to keel over. "A marvelous deduction," he said with a smile. "I think we'll mark your suggestion down, it's certainly worth looking over," he complimented, before looking over at the others in the room, which gave slight nods in return.

Glancing down at Vivian, I noticed that one of her eyes was open, and was pointedly looking at Waver.

{Morgan?} I asked calmly.

At my question, she closed her eye, and nuzzled back into my lap. {The boy is either incredibly lucky, or smarter than I gave him credit for.} She replied while sounding a bit impressed.

Her comment made me raise my eyebrows. {Don't tell me…}

Vivian's face formed a slight grin at my surprise. {It's just as you have concluded, he guessed it on his first attempt.}

Well shit, maybe Waver was worth associating with after the war… I had like no male friends, the closest one being Lord Barthamoloi, which in itself could barely be called a friendship. More of a 'I beat up people you find annoying' type of friendship, not much more.

Sighing slightly, I marked the room that Waver had deduced was 'Caster's' base, before looking at the others. "I'm all for going with Waver's conclusion, but I'm rather tired, so don't expect to get any useful commentary from me," I said, drawing a few looks from the others.

Most noteworthy was a somewhat sheepish look from Artoria, a surprised one from Waver and a happy one from Rider. Mom just looked exasperated at my nonchalance at the situation.

If they had already found the base, then there was no point in me joining in.

Having basically excused myself from the conversation, I leaned my head backwards, and closed my own eyes.

{Don't stop.} Morgan grumbled, causing me to crack open an eye, and look down at Vivian, who was pouting.

{I thought you didn't really feel much through your link with the homunculus body.} I commented, while restarting to thread a few fingers through her hair.

 Vivian gave a contented hum at the action. {You're right, but this is my body, I'm merely using an illusion.} She explained matter-of-factly, causing me to stiffen.

Opening my other eye, I looked straight down at Vivian. {Are you stupid?! You might be able to fool them if you aren't the center of attention, like at the restaurant, but right now one of them is bound to notice.} I hissed through our mental link.

Vivian only gave a slight smirk at my comment.

Before I could continue to admonish her, her form flashed green, and she reverted to her usual self.

Snapping my neck towards the others, I noticed how none of them reacted to the sudden light show, as they continued to talk among one another.

Turning to look down at her, I couldn't see her expression thanks to the veil, but I was sure she was smirking.

{I used two Command Seals to create this illusion, it'll last through the day, and with this, I won't need to hide when I'm with you.} She explained, causing my face to morph from surprised to incredulous.

{You spent two Command Seals on this?!}

Morgan only shrugged. {It will be useful for my plans today, so I thought it prudent to splurge a bit. And don't worry, I still have six, the same amount as you.} She stated in a placating tone, causing me to groan.

{Still…} I grumbled, causing her to sigh. {Come now, this will all be over within the span of twenty-four hours. And I have calculated that I'll only need three of them to beat Archer, while the rest can be used at my leisure to deal with Saber and Avenger.}

…

{I thought you only needed two to deal with Archer, what happened to that plan?} I probed earning a contemplative hum from the witch.

{I have something planned for later, I'll tell you about it once the Grail is manifested, as I'll only know if I can pull it off once that happens.} She explained, causing me to sigh.

{Why are you being so cryptic?} I said with mild disapproval. {Can I at least know why you are changing the plan?}

There was a light beat of silence, before Morgan gave a tired sigh. {I didn't mean to be cryptic, it's just that I don't want to give you any false hope.} She explained before continuing. {And my reasoning for changing the plan, is that if I can pull this off, our odds of victory, even in the off chance that Avenger somehow fully incarnates, skyrocket.}

{Interesting, but why do you need three Command Seals?} I pressed.

Morgan raised a hand, and gave a dismissive wave. {I'm fairly sure that you might die if I employ my Noble Phantasm without the use of three Command Seals. And even with them, I think you'll still feel a slight drain when I use it.}

{I don't seem to recall either of your two Noble Phantasms needing so much energy to force me to use a Command Seal to help you. Or have you been hiding one?} I said the last part with a hint of reproach.

Morgan quickly grabbed my free hand with her own, and gave it a quick squeeze. {Nothing of the sort.} She said hurriedly. {I haven't been hiding another Noble Phantasm, just know that I can… acquire another one, if the situation permits it.}

Morgan sounded almost desperate to clear her name, after I accused her of hiding something from me. From that alone, I gave her a reassuring look, trying to convey that I believed her.

I wasn't sure where she'd 'get' another Noble Phantasm, though I had a few guesses.

Mainly it had something to do with the Accolon bullshit we have been spouting the entire time.

In legends, Morgan had stolen Excalibur, so I can only assume that she can somehow steal it once more, which is probably why she isn't in her homunculus body, as that would probably hamper her ability to steal the sword.

Actually, it made a lot of sense.

If she could steal the sword, she might even be able to keep it once Artoria dies, meaning that we'll have another Divine Construct.

The only thing that confuses me, is why she needs to check with the Grail once it forms.

{Alright, keep your secrets.} I said with a hint of humor, trying to convey that I was alright with it. {But, I'd like to know if there will be any side effects that I should know about, as I'd rather not be blindsided.}

After all, what the hell should I do if Artoria catches on to the fact that her Excalibur is gone, or that it has been replaced by a copy, like it did in legends.

Morgan used a surprisingly long period of time before she responded in a low voice. {The only issue is that I'll be on a timer once I go through with my plan.}

…

What?!

Before I could explode, Morgan squeezed my hand reassuringly once more. {What I'll do will likely screw up my Saint Graph, so I'll likely start to deteriorate quickly. If my estimates are correct, I'll die within four hours.}

Before she could continue, I cut her off. {We're going with the original plan.} I stated firmly, not caring for her input for the moment.

I got a tired sigh in response along with her gently rubbing the back of my hand with her thumb. {Alistair.} She said with a hint of seriousness. {Don't be stubborn, I know what I am doing, and even if I die, I've set things up so that you'll still be able to cleanse the Grail in my absence.}

{But what about your wish?} I bit back, causing her to chuckle. {Would you abandon me, and not bother to reincarnate me through the use of the Third Magic once you get it?} She probed, causing me to physically shake my head.

{Good, then I don't have anything to worry about.} She stated matter-of-factly.

I did not know exactly what to feel after her clear proclamation of trust, but it did make me feel a bit better, or rather it made me feel warmer.

Sighing slightly, I stopped threading a hand through her hair, and poked at her tiara. {You're making this rather difficult for me.} I grumbled with clearly fake annoyance, causing her to give a light giggle.

{It's not fun being on the other end of this, is it?} She sassed back, causing me to sigh.

{Are you sure that there won't be any issues with reincarnating you when you have the messed up Saint Graph, that is if you survive long enough to make it.} I asked with a hint of nervousness.

Morgan squeezed my hand, causing me to feel a bit more relaxed. {When fully reincarnating me through the use of Heaven's Feel, you will directly pull me out from the Throne of Heroes. Meaning that for it to work, I'll need to return back no matter what.}

{Think of it like a library, when summoning a Servant, you try to take a book with all of the 'information' on your Servant, but since the library doesn't allow you to take the full book, you are only allowed to take a few pages out from it.}

{So, for me to be fully incarnated, I'll need you to return my 'missing pages' for me to be whole once more, and only then can you take me out of the Throne. Albeit somewhat temporarily, as if I die, I'll return.} She explained patiently.

{... All I got from that was that you need to die no matter what.} I said with a hint of bitterness, causing her to give a happy hum.

{I'll be fine, though I implore you to take a safe distance between us when I am fully incarnated, as I suspect that it will take a moment or two for me to access the second hand archives of my summoning, or rather my memories of our time together. So I might do something rash if I see you, as I'll be in the same state of mind as I was right after my summoning.} She expressed rather sheepishly, causing me to smile.

{Yeah… I'd rather not test the immortality that I get from being the Third Magician so soon after getting it.} I replied with amusement.

{Maybe we sho–} "Alistair, Vivian!" Mom said rather loudly, causing me to snap my face to look over at her.

She looked rather exasperated, as she fixed me with an unimpressed gaze. "It's nice to see the two of you lost in one another's eyes, but we'd like some of your input regarding the signal you got from the church," she said while looking at Morgan.

I'm fairly sure that I had a slight blush due to Mom's words, something that was further proven as she smirked at the two of us.

Seeing that all eyes were on her, Morgan could only sigh, and push herself up from my lap while looking over at everyone.

Crossing her legs, she cocked her head to the side, while looking at everyone. "Now, where to start…"

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12 Hours, 48 Minutes And 2 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.

Ok, a bit wordy, and lacking in action, but this is the last calm chapter, as you all can probably guess what's happening in the next few chapters.

Sorry for not posting, have been busy, and have taken a spontaneous trip to the US for some relaxation, so my internal clock is a bit everywhere and the upload time is a bit off as it is 12AM right now, rather than 6Pm that I am used too.

Anyways, hope you are all enjoying the holidays, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and theories about what is about to go down in the next few chapters. Not that I think any of you are capable of guessing it, and yes that was a challenge.

Have a great day, and enjoy the holidays!

https://discord.gg/HAPhryp5M2

Now I'm tired as it is 6PM! So have a nice day, or at least one better than mine, and send me some stones or some shit (Not literal shit), as I need motivation!