One With Nature 2

Third POV:

"What are they doing down there?" Rin questioned, anxiously tapping her finger on her elbow.

"Calm down, sis, I'm sure dad is reasoning with Archer," Sakura patted her sister's shoulder.

They were all waiting outside the door to the arena Zack created. It had been some time since then and they heard nor felt anything, though most dubbed that a product on how many percussions that Zack placed.

"Man, Tohsaka, figures you would get the most troublesome Servant in this War," Shinji commented, looking away.

"What was that, Makiri?" Rin gave Shinji the stink eye. "For your information, your Servant hasn't been a delight either."

"Woah, woah, woah, leave me out of your lovers' quarrel," Assassin raised his hands in mock surrender with a smirk.

"We're not lovers!" Both yelled back at him.

"You two sure are... competitive," Shirou commented, seeing his friends argue.

"Most Magus families are," Sakura began explaining, putting a hand on her chin. "In fact, it's rare to see Magus families being friendly to each other. Worst case, there's an actual blood feud between the families, and in the best case, they're work acquaintances."

"That sounds really dangerous as a system," Shirou commented before thinking on how to get the two Magus' attention away from . "So... Rin, why do you want the Grail?"

Rin blinked at Shirou's question before huffing. "Listen, Shirou, you're new to this, so you don't know what I'm about to tell you. Never ask a Magus for their motives or intentions. Magus value their secrets heavily, and will either refuse to reveal anything or lie."

"Don't mind her, she's just trying to sound sophisticated," Shinji waved off Rin's words, making her glare at him. "She probably wants the Grail for funding. Her family's Mage-craft relies on jewellery, the more expensive and pure, the better, so they always have to watch their spendings."

Rin's glare intensified. "Another thing you should know, Shirou, is that we despise anyone that reveals our secrets without permission, which is why we hate Shinji and his family," Seeing Shirou's confusion, Rin decides to elaborate. "The Makiri family are like information brokers. They use bugs to gather Intel and dirt on other families. They're hated by a lot of Magus families. Blackmail is probably the only reason other families haven't hunted them down yet," Rin smirked at Shinji. "Is that why you want the Grail? Protection in case someone decides to take the risk at attacking your family?"

Shinji glared at Rin, but his lack of response was confirmation enough. Shirou turned to his underclassmen. "What about you, Sakura?"

"Oh, I don't really care about the Grail," Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, having it would be nice, but stuff like this... they're usually more trouble than they're worth. What about you, Senpai?"

"Honestly, I just wanted to make sure the Grail doesn't fall into the wrong hands after I found out that's possible," Shirou replied. "But, now that I know everyone who's competing, I guess my reason is to help Saber. She must have a wish for the Grail, and I ended up being her master despite not knowing anything. The least I can do is help her."

"You shouldn't feel any obligation to help me, Master," Saber stated, walking close by. "If you want, I'm sure Zack can-"

"Saber, I'm not turning away from this," Shirou stated firmly. "I... I like helping people. You need my help, and I'm giving it because I WANT to help you, not because I feel like I need to."

Saber sighed in defeat while Sakura giggled. "That's just like you, Senpai."

"Urgh," Rin suddenly groaned and held her hand. "What the-?!" Her eyes widened in shock as she saw her Command Spell slowly vanish. "W-What's going on!?"

The door to the stairs that led to the arena opened and Zack walked out. "Alright, let's get things going."

"You! What did you do?! Where's Archer?!" Rin questioned, stomping towards Zack.

Zack merely raised an eyebrow at her. "He went back to the Throne."

"You took out my Servant?!" Rin cried out, raising her hands and looking ready to strangle someone.

"He went back on his own violation. All we did was catch up," Zack deadpanned at her and crossed his arms.

"What did you say!?" Rin asked.

Zack sighed and shook his head. "Look, you really think I, or anyone for that matter, can tell Gilgamesh what to do? He does whatever the hell he wants. If he wanted to stay, he would have. He left because he wanted to. Frankly, you should be honored, the King of Heroes approved of you enough to humour one fight. Most Magus in the world, including the Clock Tower lords, wouldn't even get him to get off his throne."

"But... He... You...," Rin struggled to find what to say before slowly walking back until she reached one of the chairs and sat down.

A part of Rin wanted to be angry, be it at Zack, Archer, or herself. Anyone, really. But, on the other hand, a part of her felt relieved, as if a weight was off her shoulders now.

"Okay, now, the next arena is ready. Let's get going," Zack stated before looking at Rin. "You can stay or leave if you want. Same goes for you, Illya, even though you lost."

"That fight was rigged! Berserker could have won this war for me!" Illya complained, causing her mother to giggle while her father sighed with a smile.

"Who is fighting next?" Bazett asked as they all, minus Rin, walked down the stairs.

"Next up is Caster and Saber," Zack stated as the gates in the end opened again. "This is the field they'll be fighting in."

The field was very different from the previous one. Instead of a large arena, it looked like the entire area had been reshaped as a battlefield.

It was a flat stone field with large pillars rising high in the air. The area this time was rather dark, not enough to hinder the vision, but enough to give it an ominous feeling.

Zack turned and looked at the two fighters. "Well, let's get the second fight started!".

(A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. Last month (all of March, honestly) has actually been very stressful to me, to the point that I was feeling stress induced headaches.

Not giving you an excuse, just explaining my situation. I'll aspire to get back to my old updating habits.)