Fate Stay Night - Medea Caster route

*A month later*

It was early in the morning, Medea was now in the dojo, and she was carefully watching Kiritsugu as he was about to finish his daily training.

"C'mon Emiya, you can do it. One last time." She encouraged the man.

Kiritsugu grunted as he tried to do one last push-up, but despite his great effort by that point he had strained his muscles far too much, and he just ended up falling to the ground, exhausted.

"...And with this I think that it will be more than enough for today. Good work." Medea then commented with a satisfied tone.

Kiritsugu said nothing and just breathed heavily as he lay on the floor covered in sweat, but after some moments, he sighed before slowly getting up.

"...You don't have to feel down just because you couldn't do a final push-up. You've come a long way since the operation, Emiya." Medea said, "A while ago you needed a walking stick to get around, while now you can train like this with no problems. I mean, you've been training for 5 hours and you've just done over 500 push-ups without stopping once. You should be more than happy with your accomplishments."

After hearing her, Kiritsugu had to admit that Medea had told the truth. He was now in good, if not excellent, physical condition… but still, it was not yet enough for him.

Yes, a month before he had problems even from getting up from the bed after waking up, while now he had no problems with doing extreme physical training whatsoever, but now that he had the chance he had to become even stronger for when he would have to save Illya.

The secret behind his incredible and sudden recovery had been Medea herself. She was the one who had aided his natural regeneration by using magic on him, and on his request, administered him potions, drugs, and even some 'magical' steroids, which according to her if taken in great quantities may have some severe effect on his health… of which he did not care.

Kiristugu knew that he didn't have much left to live, so he had already prepared himself to exchange his death with the necessary power to save his daughter.

Since Medea had started to stuff him with those medicines Kiristugu had felt their effect on his body almost immediately, and as each week passed he couldn't help but be surprised at how quickly he was becoming increasingly stronger and faster, while he also noted a clear and noticeable increase in his muscle mass.

That new change of his was also kind of strange. He had never been an extremely muscular person, and he still remembered just how frail and weak he was after he got cursed at the end of the war and after the transplant of magic circuits...

But after he started to take the drugs as he trained? Not only did he regain his strength and started to become even stronger than before, but his body changed drastically, in fact, he looked like a different person with how the muscles of his body had become thick and dense, as if they were holding compressed rubber.

Kiritsugu at that point lowered his eyes and watched his right hand, as at that moment he concentrated on his magic circuits. Now, unlike the first weeks, they didn't feel so foreign anymore. He could tell that those powerful circuits had truly started to become his...

"...When do you think I'll be able to start to use my circuits?" He then asked as he turned to face Medea.

"At least another week or two of rest and integration are necessary. But remember Emiya, only after you will master them, we will see what you will be able to do with that Magic Crest of yours." Medea said.

'...Right, I have to be patient…' Kiritsugu then thought.

The reason why he had started to train was not only because when the time to save Illya would come he would need to be capable of fighting, there was a good chance that he would have to directly attack the castle of the Einzbern, and for this, he would be the frontline, the vanguard, while Medea would support him from the back and made sure that everything went flawlessly.

But to be more precise on her role, what Medea would do would be more than simple support, since she would also enchant his physical abilities.

They had started to officially prepare themself around 4 weeks before. At the time Medea had administered him her first mix of medicines and drugs for the first time, and he had started to do some light training to start getting fit.

After the end of his training, Medea approached him not only to observe his physical conditions, but also to ask him different questions about his Magic Crest.

She said that the Magic Crest had caught her attention for quite a while, but she never had the chance nor the time to analyze it carefully since she had better things to do. So this was the perfect time for her to know its capabilities.

After Kiritsugu had explained its properties in all of their details and every other kind of information that could reveal to be useful, Medea classified his Magic Crest as a High-Thaumaturgy in the form of a Bounded Field, that, in a certain way, could be regarded as a type of Reality Marble. But she said that it was not something extraordinarily difficult to utilize like other time-related magecraft or something on the level of the True Magic, since it allowed him to 'simply' stagnate and accelerate time just for himself.

After saying all of that and thinking about it for a bit, Medea then started to wonder just how well he would be able to perform with her reinforcement.

At the time Kiristugu asked her what she meant, and Medea told him how she, with her High-Level magecraft, could magically reinforce human beings to the point they could almost become strong, fast, and durable as Servants.

As Kiritsugu started to realize how useful such an ability could be for him, Medea then wondered if her reinforcement could 'remove' his Magic Crest drawback. Before Kiristugu could once again ask her for what she meant, the answer immediately struck him.

He had told her how normally skills like Double Accel were enough to push his body past its limits with brief use. Prolonged use of it would tear his muscles, destroy his ligaments, break his bones, burst his capillaries, cause internal bleeding... But during the war, with Avalon providing almost imminent regeneration, Kiristugu had been capable of using the triple and the quadruple-accelerated time of Time alter for an extended period of time.

And now, if Medea could magically reinforce his body to the point it could become durable to that of a Servant, would he still suffer from the extreme pressure of the time acceleration or stagnation?

...Or he could now go beyond his limits without any kind of repercussion?

Kiritsugu at the moment just knew that he would have his answer soon.

For now, he had to improve even more his physical conditions and train to be once again in conditions of fighting, so that he could also increase even more the efficiency of Medea's magic reinforcement on himself.

The day where he would save Illya had finally started to get closer.

"Stop daydreaming Emiya, it's almost time for lunch. But before that go get a shower, you're drenched in sweat." Medea suddenly said as she got out of the dojo, making Kiristugu snap out of his thoughts.

"...Yes..." Kiritsugu calmly replied as he watched the woman leave.

Since he had started to cohabit with the woman she had always bossed him around, but he didn't mind at all. In the end, Medea was preparing him so that he could save Illya, and for this reason, he always did everything the woman asked...

...But about Medea, Kiristugu still had some kind of doubts on the reasons why she wanted to help him save his daughter, and maybe, he may have discovered her real intentions.

By observing her actions he had come to the quite possible conclusion that her real objective was to eliminate, or to have under her control, the founding families. And helping him to save his daughter was just a way to indirectly achieve what she wanted.

He was not exactly sure why she would want to do that, since the possible motives for her to do so were plenty, but still, it was the only reasonable theory he came up with.

…And yet, he didn't think too much about it since he didn't care about the fate of the founding families, and because he knew that for some reason Medea would really help him save Illya.

If the woman had wanted to just use him for her objectives she could have easily overpowered him, brainwashed him, and made him into her puppet in a similar way she had done with Zouken... but for a reason he was still not able to understand, she hadn't.

He didn't know why she wanted to help him, but there were no reasons for her to do things like trusting him and revealing to him her identity if she intended to betray and kill him at one point in the future.

After snapping out of his thoughts Kiritsugu got out of the dojo and went to the main building.

There, after going to the bathroom, having a shower, and dressing up, Kirstugu walked to the living room, and after he opened the door he saw once again something he had started to get used to…

"Just look how cute you are!" Medea said with an enthusiastic tone, while she was continuously taking photos with the camera in her hands.

Kiristugu watched her for a moment before he turned his head to his left, just to see Shirou who was now beside Sakura, and how with a napkin he was cleaning her left cheek.

From what he was now seeing he immediately deduced that while eating her meal Sakura had got dirty, and Shirou noticed and decided to use a napkin to clean her. After that Kiritsugu returned to watch Medea, and he could see the genuine smile she had on her face as she photographed the two of them.

He could not say that he knew much about the woman, but by seeing her interaction with the two children in this last month he had come to the quite obvious conclusion that she… really loved whatever was cute?

"Sakura, could you turn this way a little? Yes. Perfect. Just like this." Medea said as she kept taking photos.

At that point, Kristugu turned to watch the young girl, and once again he couldn't help but feel bothered at seeing her being so much… diverse, compared to the many memories he had inherited.

The reason why the daughter of Tokiomi was still with them was that according to Medea she could reveal to be quite useful for her, and also because she didn't want her to be under Zouken's 'custody' anymore.

Medea had told him what the girl had gone through, and she also told him that she had the intention to reunite Sakura with her family. But she also said that until Aoi would recover from her grave conditions, the child would remain with them.

Anyway, to justify Sakura's presence to Shirou they had told him that until the police would find Sakura's family she had to stay with them, and since Shirou was little he neither knew how things worked nor he knew what was going on, and so he simply believed them.

"...oh, you have arrived." Medea said after noticing him. "Your plate is there, but you have to warm it up since it has probably cooled down." She continued, as she pointed to his plate that was on the kitchen counter.

Kiritsugu nodded and went to take his plate, while Medea returned her attention to Shirou and Sakura, who now had both returned eating.

'...Tch, what a shame. I would have liked to take some other photos.' Medea thought before she posed the camera in her skirt pocket and sat back at the table.

She always had the camera with herself to make sure to capture moments like those. As she had promised to Shirou she would have helped him make many new memories, and she would make sure to capture and conserve all of them for him.

Since she had already finished eating her plate and at the moment she had nothing to do, Medea put her left elbow on the table, rested her face on her hand, and started to think while she watched Shirou.

In this month, Medea had started to get familiar with him, and she had started to understand his conditions.

Like she had expected, Shirou at the moment didn't have a purpose, a drive as simple as just 'live', that gave him a reason to keep living. But that didn't mean that Shirou was now living a hollow existence, since he, even if it was yet unconscious to him, had a desire.

The way he always took care of Sakura was proof of it.

Medea, by observing Shirou's daily interaction with her in this past month, had come to the quite obvious conclusion that after being saved by her he had obtained the desire to help others. But this time it was different from his 'old' desire since what Shirou now wanted was not to 'simply' save others, but to not let them suffer.

She had come to that conclusion by observing a particular episode not too long ago.

After Sakura had started to live with them it became clear even to Kiristugu, who barely interacted with her, that there was something very wrong with the young girl. And in those first weeks, Medea had seen many times how bothered Shirou was whenever he tried to cheer up the girl but it amounted to nothing.

After everything that happened to her, Medea knew that it would be difficult to return to a 'normal' behavior without altering her mind...

But the episode that she was thinking about happened around two weeks after Sakura had arrived. One day while she was walking around the house Medea had caught Shirou closely observing Sakura, who at the time was sitting in the backyard looking up to the sky with a blank look.

She saw how Shirou was thinking intently as he watched her.

It was clear that he was thinking about what to do to cheer her up, and it seemed that after his very long reflection that had lasted for some minutes, somehow he had decided that it would be a good idea to hug the other child.

Sure, at the time Medea cursed herself for not having the camera with herself, but as she observed that little scene she suddenly remembered how Shirou had done the same thing with her when she had first met him at the hospital.

He didn't know what to do to deal with Sakura, therefore he hugged her, hoping that it would comfort her.

Medea then observed Sakura as she was being hugged by Shirou, and she noted how the girl was a bit shocked and scared by his sudden action. It was clear why she acted like that, since never before Shirou had been so direct with his approaches to cheer her up.

"You don't have to worry Sakura, very soon you will return to your family." Shirou then said at the time to reassure the girl, before he started to pat her on her head, which Medea noted was in a similar way she did to him when she had to calm him down.

Sakura remained frozen still as Shirou did all of that, but after a while, she shifted both her posture and expression. The change was almost unnoticeable, but it was clear that she had calmed down and relaxed. She knew that the worst had passed and that she wouldn't suffer anymore.

Upon seeing Sakura calming down and finding some kind of comfort in his hug, Shirou's expression changed as well, and from his emotionless state he… smiled.

As she saw him smiling for the first time from when she had reclaimed him, right then and there Medea realized that her theory was right. Shirou didn't want to see other people being sad. He didn't want to see other people being in difficulty. He didn't want to see other people suffer.

He wanted them to be happy

Like he did 'before', he drew joy from others' happiness.

And now that she knew what his innate desire was, she could start to work on his sense of self-preservation and make sure that he would never develop a suicidal fanaticism. And with that Medea really wanted to say that everything was going well regarding Shirou… but unfortunately, in this period she had also made a terrible discovery.

In the past weeks Medea had started to note how, from time to time, Shirou would observe her and try to replicate her expressions. At first, she found him trying to imitate her being incredibly cute, but the more she saw him doing it, the more she had taken the impression that he had many difficulties with doing such a simple thing, since he did it over and over again, as if it was an exercise.

After a while, she did start to get a bit concerned about this strange behavior, and for this reason, she decided to study him and do some innocent tests to discover why he was acting that way...

After a long analysis of his psyche, it turned out that Shirou was capable of perceiving a smaller range of emotions because of what he went through. What he had been trying to do when he imitated her was to replicate her emotions, something that he wasn't able to do.

The fire had destroyed him physically, spiritually, and mentally, even more than she had first thought.

At first, that discovery broke her heart… but then, it made her reflect quite a bit.

Only now that she had discovered that Shirou had a limited range of emotions, she had realized that Shirou, back then, before she ruined everything to save him, faked them to appear normal to others.

She hadn't fully realized just how broken Shirou was until now.

At the time of the discovery, almost panicked, she started to wonder just how sincere many of their interactions had been… how many of them were real.

But as she started to think about it, Medea did remember how in certain moments, thanks to the little connection she had with him, she had felt some of his genuine emotions for how intense they were…

When he discovered the truth about the incident; When he attacked the magus from the Clock Tower; When he discovered what had happened to Sakura; When he killed Shinji; When he killed Zouken; When he fought Bazett and Lancer; When he discovered that Illya was involved in the war; When he killed Archer; When he fought Berserker; When he fatally wounded Gilgamesh before dying

…

…

...

Right. She had only ever felt his anger. Waves of anger that had developed into a deep hatred.

…

…

...

'...Are these my only memories of him?' Medea wondered.

She knew that before her influence and the war he was a sweet boy who never wanted to hurt anyone… but in the end, she had never come to truly know that part of him since she had influenced him from the very beginning.

...After a while, Medea decided that it would be better that she didn't think about it anymore.

It didn't mean that she would just forget the 'past', her sins, and her debts, but that for now, she had better things to do, like focusing on her new future.

Focusing on her new chance to make things right.

"...Shirou, Sakura, would you like to go to the park later?" She then asked.

*Late evening of that same day*

"Mother, are you feeling well?" Rin asked, a little preoccupied as she watched her mother.

Aoi was quiet for a few moments before turning and answering.

"I… I think I'm doing ok now. I'm sorry Rin, it's just that when I start to get sleepy I really can't do anything at all." Aoi said with an apologetic tone.

"You don't have to worry, mother. Today you've helped me a lot, so it's normal for you to feel so tired." Rin said to reassure her.

Aoi watched her daughter with a sad look for a long moment before she sighed.

"...Rin… I'm… I'm so sorry that you have to do almost everything by yourself now, but I swear that as soon as I get better... everything will be back to normal." Aoi said before she forced a little smile to appear on her face.

"Yes, I know. Soon everything will be alright." Rin said before she smiled as well.

"Yes, you're right… but now, could you kindly help me to get into bed?" Aoi then asked.

"Sure." Rin said with a nod.

After that Rin helped her mother get up from the wheelchair and then move to the bed.

It was still a bit exhausting for a child like her to help an adult to move around, but now that her mother had started to improve her motor skills everything had started to become easier.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Rin then asked as she put the bed blanket on her mother.

"No Rin, you've already helped me enough for today, and it's getting quite late anyway. It is time for you to go to sleep."

"Ok then, good night mother." Rin said before she turned and started to leave.

"Good night Rin… oh, and remember to brush your teeth before going to bed." Aoi said.

"Understood. Good night." Rin said again, before closing the door.

After she closed the door, Rin sighed in relief before she smiled a little.

It had been almost a month since her mother had started to recover from her brain-damaged state.

Rin, around a month before, had started to note how her mother's behavior had somehow started to change a little. In fact, she had noted that Aoi had stopped speaking to people who weren't there, and Rin had also noted how she had started to ramble less and less as the days passed.

During the second week from when she had started to note the first changes, Rin noticed how Aoi had started to become more aware of her surroundings, of what was going on, and becoming more responsive. It had started to become clear to her that something had started to change in her mother's mind.

And then, at the end of the third week, Aoi had become fully conscious once again.

That particular morning, when Rin entered her mother's bedroom and Aoi greeted her with a smile and teary eyes, at the sight Rin immediately realized that her mother had regained her sanity.

...Her mother had finally come back to her!

She immediately went to hug her mother, and as she cried in her arms of how much she had missed her, deep down in herself Rin praised the Root and any kind of God that existed in the world to thank them for that miracle.

And now that she had her mother back, things weren't that difficult anymore.

Aoi had recovered from her previous state, and while for now she was still bound to her wheelchair, she could help her with the housework chores and did some of the cooking for them.

At first, Rin thought that Aoi, after having miraculously recovered from her state, would have needed a great deal of therapy and medical care for her to return to act like she did before she was involved in the strange incident that Kirei told her about, but surprisingly she had no need for any of it.

After Aoi had regained her sanity they went to the hospital so that they could see what her conditions were and how much she had improved in that last period, and it turned out that somehow Aoi had a complete mental recovery. And not only that, despite the lack of any kind of therapy in the period where she had been blocked on the wheelchair, the doctors had observed how both her spinal column and her nervous system in the lower part of her body had no problems whatsoever. They even said that with a bit of exercise and physiotherapy she could start to walk again very soon.

As she thought about all of this, Rin realized that even though they had gone through some hard times, their future looked very promising.

Sure, it was just the two of them now, but they still had each other. None of them would be alone.

After snapping out of her thoughts Rin turned and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, and then she went into her bedroom. There, after she went under her blanket, she smiled a little before she closed her eyes and started to sleep.

Aoi was now on her side of the double bed, and with a sad look, she was looking at the other side, where Tokiomi used to sleep.

Hundreds of thoughts and memories were now invading her head, and as they did at the moment Aoi just wanted to lament how everything had been unjust and difficult… but she didn't have nor the strengths, nor the will to do it.

There was no need to say that this last year had been so terrible for her…

Sakura had been given away, Tokiomi died, Rin remained alone, and somehow she ended up in those terrible conditions.

And the thought that for over a month Rin had remained alone, to suffer in complete solitude as she looked after her demented mother, broke Aoi's heart in a way that could not be described.

But just like Rin, Aoi didn't know how it had happened, but she had to say that she was more than joyous for that miracle that made her recover from her brain-damaged state. She could hardly recall those periods when everything was so… confusing, but she still shivered whenever she thought about it.

She could recall how she felt trapped in her body, as her mind continued to slowly deteriorate over time. Everything felt like a daydream, and she could no longer distinguish reality from her fantasies. But even if she was hardly aware of what was going on, she somehow felt that things were not right, that there was something wrong... but there was nothing that she could do in those conditions.

She could only recall how many times she tried to remember some things, but her memories could no longer form properly. And after a while, she would even forget what she was trying to remember before she started to think about some 'coherent' memories, which respectively, started to slowly become less clear and foggy…

As she snapped out of her thoughts Aoi sighed, before she turned around to face the drawer that was near her side of the bed, and took the glass of water that was on it, and drank it.

After that, she placed the glass near the bottle and returned to watch the other side of the bed.

Even though Tokiomi on his own had decided to give Sakura away, and their relationship had started to worsen, Aoi at the moment wished with all of herself that he was still there.

She did so not because she loved him that much since her feelings for him had started to change from that particular episode, but because she wanted Rin, who now had remained alone as a single child, to at least grow up with a father.

...Aoi just wished for things to become normal once again.

She wished for Sakura to return to them.

She wished for Tokiomi to be alive.

And she wished to see Rin smiling as she played with her sister or while learning magecraft with her father, and not watching her almost infirm mother with a concerned look whenever she needed help...

...But as she thought about it, an absurd idea started to take form in her head. Aoi started to think that now that Tokiomi was gone, maybe she could go and ask Zouken if he could give them Sakura back…

Sure, she knew that the old man would have just laughed at her demand… but she could at least try…

Slowly, Aoi closed her eyes, and she started to sleep, unaware of the fact that now someone was standing near her side of the bed, watching her.

Now it was night, and for some reason, Aoi suddenly woke up with a terrible headache.

She started to slowly look around as she started to recover her senses, but at one point, she suddenly realized that her throat was incredibly dry. At the moment she had an incredible thirst. A thirst she had never felt before for how intense it was.

At that point, she turned around to face the drawer, so that she could take the bottle of water and drink, but after she did she noted how instead of being near the bed, the drawer was now standing on the other side of the room.

...How strange.

She got off the bed and walked to the drawer. There, she took the bottle of water, and instead of filling the glass, she drank directly from the bottle.

Only then, after she emptied the bottle and the water started to quench her thirst, did Aoi finally realize that she could stand.

"...What?" Aoi said with a faint and confused tone of voice, as she looked down at her feet.

Until now she had been able to barely move her legs around and push herself off the wheelchair, so how was it possible for her to stand?

After a bit, Aoi came up to the conclusion that this could not be real. She was still sleeping, and this was all a dream.

"What is it Aoi, are you confused?" A voice asked from behind her.

After hearing that question Aoi jumped a bit and immediately turned around… Just to see no one.

'What was that?! ...Did I just imagine it?' Aoi then thought as she looked around.

"No Aoi, I am very real." The same voice whispered, now right into her left ear.

At that moment Aoi screamed as she suddenly turned, stumbled, and fell with her butt on the ground. And only after she fell, she finally saw the person… no, the being that was standing in front of her.

"Have I scared you that much Aoi?" A hooded woman asked with a little smile.

"W-W-Who a-are you?! W-Why are you he-here?!" Aoi said aloud as she stuttered, scared of the strange woman.

"...Aoi, you have to calm down." The woman almost whispered with a calm tone of voice as she leaned toward her. "You don't want to wake up Rin, don't you?" She then asked with a smile.

Aoi watched her for a long moment in complete silence, before she took a deep breath.

"...Calmed down?" Medea asked.

"RIN! WAKE UP AND RUN AWAY! PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO RUN AWAY RIN!" Aoi started to scream, as she turned and started to run toward the door of the room.

"...well, that was kind of expected…" Medea commented.

Aoi reached the door and grabbed the doorknob, but no matter what she tried to do and how much force she tried to use, the door wouldn't open.

"RIN! WAKE UP AND RUN! I BEG YOU RIN! WAKE UP!" Aoi then started to scream as she started to hit the door to make as much noise as possible.

But she stopped all of that when at one point the woman placed a hand on her shoulder.

"No matter what you do Aoi, Rin can't hear you anymore." The woman said with a sinister tone.

After she heard those words Aoi's breath stopped, and she then slowly started to turn her head toward the woman.

"...W-What have you done to her?" She asked with a terrified tone.

"...Nothing? I've just put a spell on this room that isolated it from the rest of the house. As a mage, you should know what bounded fields are, right?" The woman asked.

Aoi for a moment watched her with a confused expression before asking: "...Who… Who are you?"

"You can consider me as a friend. One that wants to... help you."

Some minutes had passed since she had first awakened, and Aoi, who had finally calmed down, was now sitting on her bed, while the strange woman was sitting on a chair in a corner of the room.

At the moment silence was filling the room, and time seemed to never pass.

As she carefully observed the woman, Aoi had finally noted that she didn't seem what she appeared to be. She was not just a mage that for some reason had infiltrated in her home, but something much worse: a Servant.

At the moment Aoi had no idea of what was happening, let alone why such a being was there, but now it was clear why she had been scared that much, and that there was nothing that she could do now.

…

…

…

The time kept passing on, and Aoi couldn't help but feel a great uneasiness.

For some reason, the hooded woman from when she told her to sit and calm down, hadn't pronounced a single word. She was now just looking at her with an expression that was hard to describe and to understand. Not to count that half of her face was being hidden by the hood she had, so Aoi didn't even know what kind of look she was giving her.

"...So Aoi, before I start, do you have any questions for me?" The woman then suddenly asked.

Aoi snapped out of her thoughts and turned to face the woman.

"...May I ask why are you here?" She asked with a careful tone.

"Haven't you heard what I said before? I've told you that I'm a friend and that I'm here to help you. In fact, I have already helped you."

"You have helped me?" Aoi asked.

"Indeed. How do you think that you've been able to suddenly recover from that brain-damaged state of yours?" The woman asked.

"...Wait… it was you?" Aoi asked, incredulous.

"Yes. It was thanks to me that you have regained your sanity."

"...I…" Aoi just said since she didn't know what to say.

Now things have started to make sense to her. Her sudden recovery from that state was now explained...

...But now she had even more questions than before. Who was this woman? Why did she save her from that horrible fate? What was the reason behind this action? ...And what did she want from her now?

"Confused, are you?" The woman asked before she got up from the chair and walked to the dresser that was present in the room.

"...Yes, I am," Aoi admitted as she watched her move. "But… Why have you helped me? And what do you want from me now? ...Do you want some kind of payment?" She then asked.

But the woman just ignored her questions as she now had found something that had caught her attention: A family photo.

"...Hmmm. Just look how many people are here in this photo." The woman said aloud before she turned around and then got close to Aoi.

Aoi said nothing, but a bitter taste came to her mouth as she saw the photo that was in the woman's hand. But as she watched it, she remembered hiding the photo.

"This is you." The woman said as she pointed at her in the photo. "The man near you is Tokiomi. This little girl is Rin. And this… who is this other child?" She then asked as she looked at her, while she tapped with her index finger on the image of Sakura.

"...Well… she is…" Aoi then started to say.

At the moment she was not sure if to answer or not. She had no idea what the woman's intentions were, but she had to admit that if the woman wanted to know something from her she could just force her to give the answer she wanted in one way or the other.

"There is no need to tell me. I know Sakura." The woman immediately said, stopping Aoi from continuing. "But I have to say that she has changed a lot since this photo has been taken. She looks so cute in this photo… it's such a shame that she doesn't smile like this anymore..." The woman sighed before she started to carefully watch the photo.

"...Wait, what?" Aoi said as he looked up to watch the woman.

"Well, it's not that she doesn't want to, she just can't." The woman continued.

"Just what are you talking about? And… Do you know Sakura? How?" Aoi asked, both surprised and confused.

"Of course, I know her." The woman said. "But to be more precise, you could say that 'once' I knew her since I met her a long time ago." The woman said.

"What do you mean with 'once you knew her'?" Aoi asked as she started to get preoccupied.

The woman remained silent for a long moment before the air in the room suddenly started to become cold and Aoi felt the pressure upon her become heavy. At one point, the woman slowly turned to watch Aoi in the eyes and said:

"You see Aoi, I took her out."

…

…

...

"...eh?" Aoi just muttered after some long moments as she paled white.

"Yes Aoi, I did, and believe me, no matter where she went: the slide, the swing, the roundabout… it didn't seem that she was having any fun at all. You should have seen how sad Shirou was because of it…" The woman said before she sighed again.

…

…

…

"Eh?!"

"...What is it, Aoi? I just took her to the park." The woman said with a smile.

"...J-J-Just what are you talking about?!" Aoi snapped as she suddenly got up from the bed.

"...What a sudden reaction. Aoi, could you tell me why you are acting this way?" The woman asked as she backed up a little.

"How do you know about Sakura?! What do you mean you took her to the park?! J-Just what are you talking about?! I'm not understanding anything at all!" She exclaimed.

"Well, you have to know that at least for the moment, Sakura is under my custody since I've taken her away from Zouken."

"Y-You have Sakura?!" Aoi exclaimed.

"I do, but just for now since I want her to reunite with her family."

After Medea said those words, a long silence passed.

"...you want her to reunite with her family." Aoi slowly repeated as she frowned, confused.

"Yes I do, but I think that it is yet too soon to do it. Some other weeks may be necessary."

"...Wait. If what you're saying is true, why have you taken her? Why do you want to keep her for some other weeks? ...And before you said something… yes, just what did you mean with 'she doesn't smile anymore'?" Aoi asked.

"Oooh, you don't have to worry Aoi, that is something that you will see very soon by yourself." She said with a smile.

"...Why are you doing this? ...Why are you doing any of this?" Aoi then asked.

"Well… let's just say it is my duty." The woman said vaguely.

"That's not a clear answer." Aoi replied.

"Maybe, perhaps, it is not, but if you must know Aoi, it is because I have some debts to repay." The woman with a strange emphasis.

"...Debts?"

"Well, paying someone back isn't something you would call a duty... but I guess it is something you should consider it to be."

"...You are saying that you have done everything you did because of some debts toward… us?"

"...Kind of, but there is still a price to pay. A very high one, actually. One that I think I will never be able to properly repay." The woman said before she suddenly fell silent.

Aoi didn't say anything. She just stared at the hooded woman in silence and confusion, since she had not even a single idea of what she was babbling about.

"...Oh well, I do think that it is enough for our first meeting. We'll see each other next week from now, and I'll update you on my intentions." She then suddenly said, before she started to slowly fade.

"W-W-Wait! What about Sakura? Where is she?! Why do you-?!" Aoi started to ask as she walked toward her.

"Bye~." The woman said before disappearing.

After the woman had left, Aoi kept standing in the middle of the room, confused by what had just happened, but after a moment she started to quickly think.

A Servant, that was clearly a mage, therefore of the Caster class, was still present even though the Holy Grail War had ended over a month before. And not only that, for some reason the Servant had saved her from her brain-damaged state, and if she believed her words then she had taken Sakura away from Zouken and had the intention of giving her back to her for some unknown reasons...

...Just what the hell was going on?!

It was clear that she was in desperate need of someone's help, but just who could help her at the moment?

But after thinking about it for a bit, the person who could help her came to her mind: Kirei Kotomine.

He had been both Tokiomi's disciple and an executor of the church that had some experiences regarding Servants. And yes, Rin had told her that the priest had left Japan, but maybe she could find a way to contact him and ask him for help or for some advice on how to act.

At that point, Aoi turned around to look at the telephone on one of the drawers, and for an instant, she considered trying to call him…

But then for some reason she just stopped and, as if she felt a force drawing her, she turned to look out the window of her room, just to note a crow outside. One that was clearly watching her.

After seeing that bird... no, the familiar, it became clear to Aoi that the Servant was keeping an eye on her, and she doubted that there was anything she could do now. Even if she somehow managed to contact someone and inform them about her current situation, the Servant would immediately do something...

Once again, Aoi couldn't do anything but feel powerless as she was unable to do anything at all.

Not even knowing that the whole situation would soon lead to her discovering something much worse than anything she could ever imagine.

*Two weeks later*

"Ok Kiritsugu, start slowly and make sure to take your time. You know how it works, focus on one of the targets, and whenever you're ready, shoot." Medea said with a calm tone from the corner of the dojo.

Kiritsugu simply nodded, and after putting on his anti-noise headphones he got in front of the skeletons that Medea had summoned for his training.

It was now morning, and once again Kiritsugu was the dojo to train. But that day, instead of doing his usual physical training, Kiritsugu was about to see if his aim and speed with his guns were still as they used to be.

Medea had said that since he had fully recovered physically to train furthermore would have been just useless for him, and while Kiritsugu was a bit reluctant to drop his training at first since the results were very clear and noticeable, he knew that the woman was saying the truth.

But there was also another reason why Medea had made Kiritsugu drop his training. All the circuits present in his body had almost fully integrated and stabilized in the last weeks, and this meant that soon he would have to use all the time at his disposal to master them as soon as possible.

But until then, he would exercise with his guns for a bit.

After putting himself in position and estimating the distance between him and his targets that were on the other side of the dojo, Kiritsuigu posed his right hand on his gun belt, near his trusted Thompson Contender.

Out of the seven skeletons that were present in front of him, he got his target, the one in the middle of the row, and he stared at it. He squinted his eyes, locking his sight on it, trying to take out any peripheral vision in his shooting.

Almost a long minute of silence passed before Kiristugu made the first move.

His draw was quick, almost instantaneous, and just like his stance, it was clean.

His body didn't do much movement, but his arm was now extended and both his wrist and aim were firm.

After a pair of seconds, he lowered his arm and posed the gun back in the holder.

He then proceeded to repeat that same movement for over 5 minutes.

He was not yet shooting because now he had to get familiar with his new strength and speed, since he had noted a big difference in his drawing speed compared to the past.

As she observed him Medea said nothing, but she had noted how as Kiritsugu kept practicing to draw his gun his movements had started to become even faster and more precise.

At one point Kiristugu, after holstering the gun for the umpteenth time, took a single bullet from one of his ammunition pouches.

Once again he stared at his target, and after a moment, he drew his gun.

After he drew the gun he immediately removed the hollow bullet case that was present in it, insert the new bullet, cocked it, pointed it to the skeleton, and shot it right in the 'head'.

The bullet struck the skeleton, but since it was a normal bullet that was not enchanted and didn't have any mystery, it just made the skeleton stumble back a bit.

After seeing the result of his shot Kiristugu holstered the gun and started to move around his right shoulder and arm so that he could see if he had some problems or suffered some kind of pain after shooting, but he had none. The limb moved with no problem whatsoever and none of his joints seemed to hurt. And just like he had expected, despite shooting the Thompson, which was using a 405 grain .45-75 govt. bullet, with only one hand after 2 months since the last time he had used it, Kiristugu did not feel the recoil of the shot at all.

He was now strong, and especially fast.

Loading it and shooting the gun took approximately half a second.

Not even in his prime had he ever been so fast, and the fact that at the moment he was still warming up and not even using any kind of magic, it almost caused him to be restless for the things he would be able to do in the future.

After that moment Kiritsugu got himself in position once again, but this time he felt ready, and instead of just drawing his gun or just shooting once, he would try to take out all the skeletons as fast as he could.

He got into his stance and brought his right hand to his gun grip, while he brought the left hand to the pouch which contained some magic bullets, which Medea had enchanted especially for this training session.

After another long moment, he started to move.

He drew the gun, reloaded it, shot it, and repeated this action another six times. He stopped only when all the seven skeletons had been destroyed.

It took approximately less than 4 seconds to shoot all of them down.

"...Incredible." Kiritsugu whispered as he watched the last of the skeleton falling to the ground and turning into dust before he turned to watch Medea.

"There is nothing to be surprised about, Emiya. These were the expected results." Medea, who had her arms folded and with the back leaning against the wall, commented.

Kiristugu said nothing, but at that moment he lowered his eyes and watched the Thompson Contender in his right hand. He was not sure of how fast he could become with Medea's reinforcement, and even if said enchanting on his body could work in congruence with his Magic Crest, but he now knew that soon he would be more than ready to fight, no matter what.

'Illya, soon I'll be coming.' He then thought as he clenched his fists.

"...Emiya, before you continue, listen to me for a moment." Medea then suddenly said.

"What is it?" Kiristugu asked as he took off his earmuffs.

"I have some things that I need to take care of, and for this reason, I can't remain here to observe your progress. But, you can remain here to practice as long as you want." Medea said before she snapped her fingers and another row of Dragon warriors appeared in front of the man.

"Ok then. See you later." Kiritsugu just said.

Medea turned around and left the building without saying anything else.

As he put the earmuff back on and focused on his new targets, Kiritsugu started to think.

Earlier in the morning before he had started with the practice, after seeing his weapon Medea had told him that in the future, regardless of how well he would perform now, with her reinforcement, and with his Magic Crest, he would need some better weapons that permitted him to shoot at a faster rate. Obviously, he couldn't go save Illya with only his Thompson contender.

At first, Kiristugu thought that his Calico or his Steyr AUG A1, or weapons similar to them, could be sufficient for the task, but now, as he really thought about it he was not sure how effective or useful they could be.

As he thought about his fight with Kirei, he remembered how the Calico had not been very useful against the priest since Kirei's kevlar reinforced vest had been enough to block the bullets. And despite the high rate of fire of the weapon the priest on his own was fast enough to deflect them.

Those weapons had been useful on countless occasions against mages that were not used and prepared to fight, even as a simple distraction, but Kiristugu doubted that they would work in any way against the powerful homunculus of the Einzbern that had been specially created, armed, and armored for battle. For them, he would have needed something stronger, and if Medea could make it possible, enchanted.

But what kind of weapon could he use when the time to attack the castle would come?

Since he had to enter the castle, regardless of whether he had to infiltrate or raid it, he would surely need some weapons for close-quarter combat.

Sure, the Einzbern would not be prepared for an attack, and for this reason, their defenses would not be on their highest, but still, he did remember that the building possessed excellent defenses and guards. But luckily he would have the advantage thanks to the element of surprise. And he needed a perfect weapon for the occasion and his circumstances.

The element of surprise ford him the upper hand against his opponent that was unaware, and therefore unprepared for the future attack.

But, in this future attack, he also had to move and act quickly since speed complimented surprise nicely. If he would achieve the effective surprise, speed would have ensured that the enemy would have never recovered from the element of surprise. He had to seize the initiative and keep the pressure on.

But the weapons he would use also needed to be powerful and… violent.

Complimenting the other two, violence of action would further continue to destabilize the enemy's posture, robbing them of the chance to ever effectively overcome the juggernaut of surprise and speed.

In that case, an AA12 or a USAS-12 would have been perfect for the job, they fulfilled the majority of the requirements since they were powerful shotguns that had a good rate of fire, but they could reveal themself to be quite cumbersome since their size could limit his movement. But the bigger problem with the weapons would be their ammo drums, which were quite voluminous and possibly heavy.

He would have preferred an Smg, but they lacked the firepower that he needed…

He needed something small and light that permitted him to be agile and immediately react at very close quarter combat, but it also had to be powerful enough to kill individuals who were well-armored.

But after a moment, as he watched his Thompson Contender, the kind of weapon that fitted the bill appeared in his mind: handguns.

Certain types of handguns used high-caliber bullets, but most of the really powerful handgun cartridges were usually housed in revolvers.

As he thought about it, Kiritsugu even remembered how the single-action design was useful for bigger and more powerful calibers since the simpler design was more durable, plus they did not risk the double shots that happen under intense recoil like with a double action. Not to mention the ability to have every shot as precisely placed as possible, because of the finely tuned trigger.

A single-action revolver has a light and smooth trigger pull, as it only needs to drop the hammer.

A single precise shot. More than enough to kill anything that moved.

At that moment some experimental weapons that he had heard about came up in his mind, and Kiritsugu knew that to put his hands on them he would have needed Raiga's help and to get some favors repaid...

Medea quietly left the dojo, and as she did she started to think about some of the things she had to do that day.

It was still early in the morning, Shirou and Sakura still had to wake up, but she thought that it would have been better if she would have started preparing breakfast now so that later she could better focus on some other things. She hadn't done it before because she had been busy setting up a Bounded field around the dojo so that no kind of noise could be heard from it since she didn't want to make Shirou hear guns noises every day for the next few weeks or months.

After she entered the main building and was about to enter the living room, Medea, in the corner of her eye, suddenly saw a still sleepy-looking Shirou coming out on the other side of the corridor. And as she turned and watched him while he walked toward her and rubbed his little eyes, she couldn't help but smile a little.

At one point, after he finished rubbing his eyes Shirou looked up, and when he saw Medea his eyes lit up a bit.

"Good morning Shirou. Have you slept well tonight?" Medea greeted with a kind tone as she walked right in front of him.

Shirou nodded in response. He hadn't had nightmares that night either, and he had been able to sleep in peace without disturbing Sakura.

"Isn't that splendid?" Medea then asked with a smile, before she kneeled and started to fix his messy hair. "It's been just some months since that incident happened, and yet those ugly nightmares have been starting to be less and less frequent. Another couple of months and I'm sure you'll stop having them at all."

Shirou remained silent and nodded again, but Medea could see that deep down he was looking forward to sleeping tranquil nights.

"Anyway, is Sakura still sleeping?" She then asked as she got up.

"Yes." Shirou simply said. He had managed to get out of the room without making any noise and waking her.

"I see. But before she awakes, why don't you help me set up the table as I prepare breakfast, so that she can find everything ready?"

Once again Shirou just nodded in response.

"Good boy." Medea said before she turned and started to walk toward the living room, with Shirou behind, following her.

As they walked, Medea started to think about Sakura and Shirou.

To make sure that the two of them would get even closer in this period after Sakura arrived she had made them sleep in the same room with the excuse that Sakuta did not like to sleep alone, since she too suffered from nightmares. And Shirou, of course, made sure to be as welcoming and supportive as possible since he didn't want Sakura to feel any kind of discomfort.

But to Medea's surprise, it turned out that her excuse was in reality true. Sakura too suffered from terrible nightmares. After everything she had gone through she too seemed to have some difficulty sleeping at night… she should have expected that too.

And, at some points during the past month, Medea ended up comforting both Sakura and Shirou after they had their respective nightmares.

After discovering that Sakura too really suffered from nightmares, Medea knew that at one point she would have to comfort both of them in their sleep, but at first, she thought that doing something like that would have been just very cute, if not adorable. And the thought that she would have been able to take some photos of the two of them snuggling together just melted her heart at the time…

But instead, whenever those two terrorized children clung to her as they slept, Medea couldn't help but curse herself, while she was overwhelmed by terrible memories and an intense malaise.

Sure, treating Shirou like a son had revealed itself to be a bit difficult since unpleasant memories would often come up when she would get too close and familiar with him... but it was nothing impossible. She had to simply put her feelings aside and act like there was nothing wrong...

But taking care of two children in those conditions? That was too much even for someone like her.

In those nights where she had to calm and comfort both of them after they had their nightmares after they fell asleep, she would just stare at the ceiling as she greeted her teeth since she was unable to do anything else.

The worst thing about this whole deal was that she couldn't even say 'no' to them, since they desperately needed her and some kind of comfort… and she just could not leave them alone.

And how could she ever refuse such a simple request coming by some scared children? All they wanted was just for someone to simply calm and reassure them… and she could not refuse them just because she had some problems with it.

"Is Kiritsugu training this morning too?" Shirou then suddenly asked, making Medea snap out of her thoughts.

"What? Oh, yes. But from now on I forbid you from going to the dojo to observe him." She then said as she entered the living room.

"May I ask why?" He asked curiously

"...You see Shirou, Kiritsugu is now training with his weapons, and it can be dangerous for you to be around him."

Shirou at that moment immediately stopped walking and with a strange tone said: "...Weapons?"

"...Yes, weapons." Medea said, as she too stopped walking and turned to face him.

"...Why weapons? ...Aren't weapons made to… hurt people?"

"Yes Shirou, weapons are dangerous tools, but Kiritsugu needs them." Medea said with a calm and careful tone.

This was not something she wanted to talk about with him… yet. She knew how delicate the subject could be, and she knew how careful she had to be when speaking about it with Shirou.

"...Why?" He asked with a confused and perplexed tone.

"Do you know why he is training?" Medea then asked.

"...So that he can become stronger?" Shirou guessed since he had never asked Kiritsugu the reason he had been training.

"You're right Shirou, but to be more precise Kiritsugu wants to become stronger so that he will be able to save his daughter."

"...Save his daughter? Is she in danger?" Shirou asked with a surprised and preoccupied tone.

Kiritsugu was a man who spoke little, and the same was with Shirou. Even though the two of them have been living together for almost 2 months Shirou knew next to nothing about the man, in fact, he didn't even know he had a daughter.

"Yes, she is. Some bad people who have a grudge against Kiritsugu have… kidnapped her, and Kiritsugu has to save her from them, no matter how." Medea said.

"She has been kidnapped? Why? ...And… can't he… talk things out with them?" He asked after a long moment, with an uncertain and somehow timid tone.

Medea watched him for a long moment before she sighed.

"...No Shirou, he can't. Those people would not listen to him. They would not reason with him. They… they are just bad people. People who do what they want, uncaring of what would happen to others. People who only care about their selfish desires, no matter if innocent lives are put in danger." Medea said.

After that, another long silence passed.

"...Does this mean that he will have to fight them?" Shirou asked as he lowered his head.

"Yes. It's the only thing he can do to save his daughter."

"...I see." Shirou then simply said.

But even though Shirou was saying nothing, it was clear that he did not like it. He did not like it even a single bit.

He was still a child, but he knew what would happen when Kiritsugu would go to save his daughter. People would get... hurt… and there was nothing he could do about it.

He did not know why those people had kidnaped Kiritsugu's daughter, but there had to be a way to resolve things peacefully... right?

…

But how could things be resolved peacefully, when those people had taken Kiritsugu's daughter away from him? And why should Kiristugu try to reason with them when they had taken away from him a person that he loved?

"C'mon Shirou, do not be so sad. Everything will be fine." Medea said as she got close and caressed his head.

"...I… I just wish that things like this would not happen..." Shirou murmured as he kept looking at the ground.

Medea watched him for a moment before she smiled a little.

"It's still too early for you to do anything, but maybe in the future, when you will be older, there will be something you'll be able to do about things like this."

"...Really?" He asked, a bit surprised, as he raised his head to watch her.

"Really." Medea said with a reassuring tone.

It was way too early for Shirou to obtain his desire to become a hero, but at the moment Medea thought that starting to slowly direct toward the right path was a good thing. Maybe, on his own, Shirou would have made that decision by himself.

After reassuring him for another bit, Medea went into the kitchen and started to cook, while Shirou started to set up the table.

For about ten minutes everything was quiet and peaceful as the two of them did their respective task, but unfortunately, that peace did not last for long.

"GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!" A young Taiga shouted with an energetic tone as she burst into the room.

"Hi Taiga." Shirou, who was now sitting at the table, said as he turned to face her.

"Energetic as always…" Medea just commented as she kept cooking.

"Mmmmm, what are we eating today?" Taiga asked as she got close to the kitchen counter, while she tried to take some peeks on the food Medea was making.

"Oh? Don't you first want to know where Kiritsugu is?" Medea asked with a surprised tone.

"...You're right. Where is he? He is in the dojo, isn't that right?" Taiga asked after a moment as she started to look around.

Medea laughed a little. The way Taiga was not even trying to hide her interest in the man anymore was incredibly amusing.

The first few days after Taiga had started to come here she was always around Kiritsugu since it seemed that the girl found him quite interesting. And after he had undergone the transplant whenever she would come Taiga would always help him with anything he needed, since at the time he had some problems in moving around.

But after Kiritsugu had started to train… oh boy, where could she begin?

Taiga never seemed to care about Kiritsugu's sudden and miraculous recovery, but surely, she had started to become very fond of the way he had started to look.

From time to time, when Kiritsugu would train, Taiga would be there as well to observe his progress with her, but while she was there to make sure that Kiritsugu was effectively becoming stronger and faster, Taiga was there to just look at him as he got all sweaty.

And after he would finish his training Taiga would immediately go to him and start to 'test' his muscles to 'see if he had made any progress'. And for her, the funniest thing of this whole thing was that Kiritsugu, instead of realizing that the girl had taken an interest in him, was too focused on looking for any kind of progress he had made, although in a different sense.

"Yes he is at the dojo, but it is better if you don't go there from now on." Medea then said.

"Why?"

"Just listen to me Taiga. It is safer this way."

"...Safer? What do you..." Taiga then started to ask, before she suddenly fell silent

At that moment Taiga had suddenly remembered that Kiritsugu and her grandfather had made some 'business' together. Even though she did not know what kind of trade they had made, few were the kind of business someone could make with the head of a yakuza clan. And after seeing the kind of strict, if not extreme, training Kiritsugu had undergone in the past month and its result, Taiga knew that Kiristugu had been preparing himself for something.

Since she had first seen him Taiga could tell that there was something strange in Kiritsugu. The man had always intrigued her, and for this reason, she always wandered around him.

She was not sure why he had caught her attention that much. Maybe it was because she knew almost nothing about him, and her curiosity was getting the better of her since she wanted to know more about her new neighbor.

Maybe it was because she wanted to know why Kiritsugu always had a sad and thoughtful expression whenever he had nothing to do. Maybe she just wanted to know why in the last month he had been training so intensely... so desperately.

And lately, she had also started to wonder why his behavior had been changing.

Ever since she was a child she had always been surrounded by… not the nicest of people. She didn't want to say that the members of the clan were bad people, they had always been gentle and nice with her, and under the administration of Raiga their crime rate had lessened and they had started to be less violent, but they were still criminals who could prove themselves to be very dangerous when needed…

And she had noted that as time kept passing on, Kiritsugu had started to assume a look similar to them… if not... worse.

Taiga at that moment returned her attention to Medea, and she started to think about her. In simple words, the woman, for her, was a complete mystery.

Taiga could not understand her. She did not know the kind of person she was. And she knew next to nothing about her.

Along Kiritsugu she had suddenly appeared in Fuyuki out of nowhere, and for some unknown reason her grandfather not only had made her and Shirou honorary members of the family, but he also financed the construction of their mansion. Strangely, no one of the upper members of the clan seemed to have any objection against it.

At first, Taiga asked around for some information about Medea since she wanted to know more about her, but no one seemed to know anything at all.

Obviously, she had also asked Medea to tell her about herself, and Medea had told her she had come from Greece, but other than that she didn't want to speak about her past or herself at all.

Not only were her origins unknown, but the way Kiritsugu behaved around the woman was also strange. He should know her, and yet she had noted that he always seemed wary and careful whenever he interacted with her, even though he only talked or asked about some simple and mundane stuff… as if she was dangerous.

Taiga had concluded that Kiritsugu too was part of the underworld… But Medea? She had no idea if she too was involved with things like this. And at the moment the woman seemed to be too focused on taking care of Shirou and Sakura, the other lost child she had found, so she could not be a bad person… right?

"Tell me Taiga, do you think that the meat has been cooked enough?" Medea then asked before she turned around and handed her a thin piece of meat on a chopstick.

Taiga snapped out of her thoughts and in a single moment and with a single bite she immediately ate the piece of meat. But only after she chewed and carefully savored the meat, she gave Medea a thumbs up.

"Yes. It's quite good." She then said with an approving nod.

"Excellent." Medea said with a satisfied tone before she returned to cook.

Medea in this past month had discovered that the young Taiga had a very developed sense of taste, and therefore whenever the girl said something about her food or gave her some advice, Medea always made sure to keep it in mind.

And also, she was quite happy whenever the girl came to visit them. Taiga's cheerful behavior was more than perfect for both Shirou and Sakura. Since she interacted often with them she was 'forcing' the two children to get out of their shells and socialize. It was not that big of a problem for Shirou to do so, but for Sakura, who was very gloomy, silent, and tended to isolate herself, it was. But luckily the little girl had started to get a little bit more open and responsive thanks to Shirou's and Taiga's efforts.

As always, Taiga was kind and truthful with everyone… It was such a shame that at the time the woman probably got killed by Archer when he tried to kill her with his first attack but ended up destroying the city.

Anyway...

"Shirou, could you go to see if Sakura has woken up?" Medea then asked.

Shirou simply nodded and started to turn around to get out of the room, but just at that moment the door of the living room slowly opened up, and after a moment everyone saw Sakura on the other side of the door.

"Good morning." Sakura said with her somewhat quiet tone of voice.

"Good Morning." Everyone answered.

"Hey Sakura, how are you feeling today?" Taiga then asked as she got right in front of her.

"...Fine." Sakura answered simply.

Taiga smiled a little bit. As long as the girl was okay that's all that mattered. From when she had first met her Taiga had noted that Sakura was… quite strange, but in the past month's she had started to slowly change a little. In fact, she had begun to talk more regularly and with less fear and shyness. It was very cute to see her change.

"Good. But if you want to feel even better, you'll have to eat! You can't be completely fine until you have breakfast!" Taiga said as she suddenly grabbed Sakura's shoulders and started to drag her to the table.

"...Alright…" Sakura quietly commented as she posed no resistance.

Some minutes passed and Medea served breakfast to all three of them, and after she did she remained behind the kitchen counter, and from there, she could see Taiga, Sakura, and Shirou eating together.

She watched the first two for a moment before she moved her attention to Shirou, and looked at him for a while, as she started to lose herself in her inner thoughts.

It had been almost 2 months since she had saved him, and everything had been going great.

Even though she had discovered that Shirou had more problems than she first thought, he had been behaving quite normally and was not showing any clear signs of other possible issues.

He was now sitting at the table, and he was calmly eating the breakfast she had made as he watched Taiga talking2 with Sakura.

Whenever Medea saw him eating everything she made she always found herself smiling. Seeing that cute and innocent face enjoying her meals just made her want to take care of him.

...Well, she knew that he needed her.

The way his face would light up when he saw her was something she treasured. The way his eyes lit up whenever she appeared in front of him had to mean something. He just didn't seem like he felt this way about anyone else. She could feel it in every inch of her body; in the way he always seemed to relax a little more around her, and how his expression would change a little when he saw her.

He loved her. He loved that she always helped him when he had his nightmares; He loved the fact that she supported him at all times. He really liked her, more than anything.

And Medea loved this since by doing that Shirou made her feel needed, much more than she had ever imagined. The feeling of belonging that this gave to her was something she never thought she'd be able to have again.

It had started off as little things, like doing the house chores with him, helping him with the homework she gave him, or letting him rest in her arms after he had a nightmare.

But as time passed, it quickly grew into everything else. Like small, innocent gestures that meant more to her than she had ever expected to receive. They were simple, but somehow they spoke volumes. The way he looked at her, in awe and admiration whenever she explained something to him; the way he beamed softly whenever she caressed his head; the way she could note some genuine happiness whenever she complimented or praised him...

She knew she wasn't the type to do these kinds of things, since she had definitely proved that she didn't need anybody or anything else but herself… But this, it was the side of her that she had been suppressing until now. One she wanted so desperately to prove to herself - to prove that yes, she did belong somewhere…

But at that moment, after considering all of that, Medea couldn't help but wonder…

…Just how much time had passed since she had ever felt that way?