Third || Video

[hyphenated]

I suppose it is time I introduced myself. It has been long enough.

[The woman in front of the camera looks prim and proper; a true lady with a massive ribbon on her chest. She's doing her best to look neat for the video. To hell with camping. Apt people might notice a leaf in her hair.]

After all, it seems we're going to have to put up with each other for a long while. My name is-

[The camera turns.]

No, Derry! Don't you dare-

[SMOOCH. That's bright pink lips right on the screen there.]

Derry! I told you to hold it up to me! How useless...

[She tugs it out of the Smoochum's hands (paws?) with a sigh.]

Ahem. As I was saying. My name is Sola-Ui. Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, to be precise. I suppose we will see whether it is a pleasure or not in times to come.

...if a man named 'Lancer' appears here, please inform me.

[Nope, no idea about other Lancers. Too busy not dying of OH MY GOD SO MUCH WALKING AND WHY DOES THE WEATHER HATE ME, etc, etc.]

Comments

[wontdieifkilled]

You don't need to hide it from me. I was a Master myself.

Sorry for the delay! My computer is borked

[hyphenated]

...

Good grief. Is everyone I meet here going to turn out to be involved in that damned war?

Totally fine!

[wontdieifkilled]

No, just a lot. Probably different wars, too. I know we are -- I'm from the fifth.

[hyphenated]

Ah- then the Lancer you know must be the one that responded? The one with the blue hair and ridiculous taste in clothing.

[wontdieifkilled]

Yep. That's him. You've just met the Hound of Ireland.

[hyphenated]

'Hound' seems quite appropriate. [She shook her head ruefully.] I can hardly understand how Servants can manifest here at all.

And you would be, sir Master of the Fifth War?

[wontdieifkilled]

My name's Shirou.

[Still withholding his last name. He remembers that Kiritsugu was a Master in Heaven's Feel IV, so he figures giving his last name would cause trouble.]

I was Saber's Master.

[hyphenated]

A strong Servant, if used appropriately. Hopefully the follies of this War would not pass to the next.

[All she knew was what Kayneth had informed her, that the War had failed. The reason was unknown, but surely it could be of no more cause than the sheer disasters of their own war. Einzbern, or that little Velvet fool who had stolen from them.]

Has your war been won, or is it ongoing?

[wontdieifkilled]

It's been over for two months. The Holy Grail was destroyed in the battle.

[He's trying to make it sound like an accident. Explaining would take longer than he'd like.]

1/2

[hyphenated]

. . .

WHAT?!

[hyphenated]

Mages have been seeking the Grail and that which it hides for countless years! How can it simply be allowed to be destroyed?! What sort of reckless, foolish, utterly imbecilic force would invite that sort of madness by fighting around it?!

[wontdieifkilled]

Whoa, hey! Let's calm down here. There's a good reason why it got destroyed!

[hyphenated]

I am calm!

[Sort of. She was rather enraged, but she was far from slipping entirely out of control.]

Then why was it destroyed, Shirou?

[wontdieifkilled]

[Sigh. Oh, well.]

It was evil. It was filled with corruption. It filled a lake with sludge that would burn away human flesh with curses.

[hyphenated]

How in the world could something like that even happen? Something as powerful as that could not be corrupted, surely.

...not that I doubt your statement. But perhaps that was not the true grail?

[wontdieifkilled]

It wasn't. No one knows where the true Grail is. That was just an imitation. And someone got it filled with all the evils of the world.

[hyphenated]

Then how can you consider the War to be over? If that was just a mimicry, then must it wait for the next Holy Grail War to be claimed?

[wontdieifkilled]

I have to wonder if the real thing was ever involved. Anyway, I saw the Holy Grail collapse in on itself. It tried to use a Servant as a host, and...that didn't turn out pretty.

[hyphenated]

Even the Einzberns wouldn't do anything so foolish as to create a false Grail.

...a Servant? Truly? [That earned a tittering laugh.]

[wontdieifkilled]

And if someone killed the Einzbern representative, ripped her heart out, and stuck it in the body of another Master?

[He's got a look on his face as if he swallowed something unbelievably sour. It's clear he's mentioning a detested memory.]

Yep. A hole appeared on his body and sucked him in.

[hyphenated]

...if truth must be told, I have absolutely no idea why in the world they would do that or what the consequences would be.

That must have been a sight to see.

[Her tact seemed to have gone out of the window.]

[wontdieifkilled]

...

It was the most vile thing I've ever seen.

[hyphenated]

I almost feel sorry for the Einzbern family now. Really, there is something odd about the Grail's choices lately, to cause them to summon not only that foolish monster but now one who would be so... pointlessly and brashly brutal.