Phantasmal Mimicry

Rin Tohsaka sighed as she trudged through the streets of Fuyuki City, the sparse night life of the area showing itself only as the occasional car driving down the street next to her. To say today had been going poorly for her would be putting it lightly; the Clocktower mage had never felt so low in her entire life. And what a life it was supposed to be! She had it all set, having scored a nice job at the Clocktower that would've perfectly funded her research into the secrets of magic, would've allowed her to carry on her family's legacy! And now... Her eyes wandered down to her hand, currently clenched into a fist.

It had all started this morning. When she woke up, she saw a set of horribly familiar markings on the back of her hand, crimson red and glowing subtly with what she knew to be an immense amount of mana. Command seals, the same kind that mark one as being chosen by the Holy Grail as a Master, one of those ‘lucky’ mages that get to participate in the blood bath known as the Holy Grail War. But this should've been impossible! The last Grail War happened fifteen years ago, and not only had she participated in it, she had personally helped one of her fellow Masters in destroying the corrupt cup! So what were command seals doing on her again?!

Her first instinct was that this was some sort of sick prank someone was playing on her, and to that end she set about trying to wash off the markings. Soap, warm water, oil, bubble gum, she even tried bleach, but none of it so much as even smudged the crimson design. Eventually, she was forced to concede that they were real, which meant somehow, another Holy Grail War had been started.

Just the thought of it made her stomach churn. She'd barely managed to survive her first War, why would she ever want to join another?! But as much as she hated it, she hated the idea of passing off this burden to someone else even more. There was no way she was going to risk one of her friends’ lives by sending them in her place, and she definitely wasn't about to pawn this responsibility off to some stranger! No, it had to be her; she was a powerful, talented mage, she could more than handle herself. And with any luck, the boy she had helped in her first War would also get dragged into this, and together they would be able to figure out what was going on and put a stop to it.

With her mind made up, she had prepared herself, gathering any materials she might need and dressing in her favorite outfit: a long sleeved maroon blouse with a cross over the chest, a black skirt that trailed to her mid thigh, and matching black stockings, with an extra black glove to cover the hand with her command seals. Once she had gotten everything she thought she might need, she had flown out to Fuyuki, surmising it would be the location of this War given the city had been the hiding place for the Holy Grail originally. She landed in the city late at night and had quickly “appropriated” a warehouse, using it to summon her Servant.

Which leads us to now, Rin walking along the street, cursing her luck, while her Servant trailed behind her. Every so often, she would turn around to steal a glance at him, wanting to at least get to know his appearance if not his personality. He was a tall, thin man, with chocolate brown skin and obsidian black hair. His outfit was a long, immaculately white overcoat accented by heavy blue lines, and slung across his back was a large, ornate bow, betraying his identity as an Archer class Servant.

An Archer... Just like the one she had summoned in her first Grail War. A small smile danced on Rin's lips as she turned around to face her Servant in full. “So... I guess the Archer class is really made up of archers, huh?” She giggled lightly at her own stupid joke, but it quickly died down as she saw him stare at her blankly. Blood began creeping into her cheeks as Rin quickly turned back around and refocused on their journey. He might've been an Archer, but he was clearly very different from her first Servant. Hopefully they would still be able to work well enough together to get through this...

Eventually, the duo managed to find what they were looking for: a fire escape in one of the alleys between the buildings. Working together, they managed to scramble up the metal steps, quickly finding themselves on the roof of the building and looking out across the city. Rin smiled lightly as she took in the view. It had fifteen years since she had last been in Fuyuki: fifteen years for the city to grow and change. But while the lights might have been brighter and the buildings might have been taller, there was no mistaking that this was still the city she had grown up in.

“Master.” The sudden voice snapped Rin from her reminiscing, and she stumbled lightly as she turned around to face her Servant. Archer, for his part, didn't comment on his Master's embarrassment as he continued. “What is the plan now?”

Rin sighed at the question. So serious... but she couldn't really blame him, either. She was anxious to finish this as well. “Scout the city. Travel across the rooftops, and try to stay hidden. If you find any enemy Servants, take them out. And...” She stalled, chewing on her lip as she decided whether or not to add the additional command that had suddenly popped into her mind. “...If you see a man with red hair around... He might be an enemy Master, but don't attack him. Follow him to his home and then immediately come and tell me. Got it?”

Archer nodded as he reached around and unsheathed his bow. With supernatural strength, he jumped, starting to dash across the rooftops while his eyes trained on the streets below. Now left alone, Rin sighed as she took a seat on an industrial air conditioning unit. This was... actually happening. She was actually throwing herself full-force into these slaughter games, after she had barely managed to make it out of them as a teenager. What kind of cruel, sick irony was this? But it’s not like she really had any other options. All she could do was try to end this as fast as possible, before anyone could get hu-

Rin suddenly sprang up from her seat, dropping into a combat stance as she whirled around. She had heard something just now, behind her, and while it would be simple to write it off as just some wild animal, she was well aware of how that kind of thinking could kill you in a Holy Grail War. With a thought, she activated her magic circuits, forcing them into action as she focused her magical energy to the tip of her finger. Slowly, a small, black orb, about the size of a marble, began to appear, swirling with pure mana as Rin held it out in front of her. “Alright, who’s there?! Come out and show yourself!”

There was silence for a moment. Then, right when Rin was starting to think she would have to go and hunt this person down herself, she heard footsteps as her apparent would-be assailant turned the corner. He was a tall man with a medium build, with scraggly brown her and a bunch of scruff covering his chin. His style was very... punk-ish: a black leather vest studded with silver spikes over a black tank top with a stylized skull on it, coupled with ripped up blue jeans and black combat boots. But the thing about him that most caught Rin’s eye was the single fingerless leather glove he wore on one of his hands, remarkably similar to the glove she wore to hide her command seals. The man smirked as he held his hands up. “Whoa, easy there, girly. We don’t wanna do something we might regret, do we?”

Rin’s expression hardened as she took a step towards the man, still keeping her spell trained on him. “Whether I regret it or not depends on you. Who are you?! Were you following me?!”

The man chuckled lightly as he waved his hands in a ‘settle down’ motion. “Easy, easy. I’ll tell ya whatever you want,but you gotta calm down first. Kinda hard to have a casual conversation when someone’s practically pointing a gun at you, ya dig?” Rin grimaced before reluctantly lowering her arm, keeping the spell going but not pointing it straight at the man. “There we go. Now that we’re friends, let’s introduce ourselves. My name is Ryuichi, and you are...?” He trailed off as he gestured to her, signalling for Rin to speak.

“Rin.”

“Rin, huh? Got it.” ‘Ryuichi’ nodded enthusiastically as he moved to lean against a nearby wall. “Well, to answer your question, Rin, yeah. I was following you. Ca ya blame me? A cute Japanese girl like you, stalking through the streets with some foreigner, in a city like this? I got the heebie jeebies, I had to make sure you were okay! Hey...” His eyes wandered around the area for a moment. “Where is that guy, anyway? Don’t tell me you pushed him over the edge? You’re more hardcore than I thought, Rin...”

The Tohsaka mage shuddered as the man locked eyes with her. He hadn’t really said anything specific that would confirm it, but he had to be another Master. Even if he wasn’t, she wasn’t buying that ‘Good Samaritan’ routine of his for a second. Clenching her free hand into a fist, she raised her other hand up and once more pointed her spell at ‘Ryuichi’. “Why don’t you tell me what you're really up to, ‘Ryuichi’? Otherwise things might get very messy, very fast!”

The man smirked wickedly, not so much as flinching from having what he must’ve known was a dangerous spell pointed at him. “Alright, fine. If you really just gotta know...” He pushed off of the wall, taking a few steps closer to Rin. “Ya see, I got this friend, right? Love him to bits. But this friend, he’s got a real nasty condition about him, a real disorder. I was walking around, looking for someone who could help him out, saw you, and thought ‘she looks like a nice girl’.” The man’s grin grew even wider, and Rin felt a shiver run down her spine as her eyes widened slightly. She was in trouble. But she’d realized it just a moment too late. “That condition is called... murderous intent.”

As if on cue, Rin felt something slam into her, causing her spell to finally dissipate as she was knocked to the ground. Before she could even think about getting back on her feet, she felt something wrap around her neck and lift her up before slamming her into a nearby wall, causing a shock of pain to rock through her body as her head impacted against the hard concrete. A few tears ran down her cheeks as she forced her eyes to open and look around; the world was spinning from the sudden assault, but she could make out Ryuichi getting closer to her, and some sort of pitch black Shadow right in front of her. Slowly, she forced her eyes to concentrate, letting her get a better view of her assailant. They were, surprisingly, shorter than she was, though that might’ve been from how they hunched over. Their skin was an ashy, charcoal black, like their entire body had been bathed in soot,and the only piece of clothing she could recognize was some sort of makeshift, black skirt around their waist. She could see their bones, their skin stretched taut across them like a skeleton wrapped in bandages. But the thing about them that shocked her the most, the thing that caused her to reach up and pull on the hand around her throat and to start kicking out wildly, was their face, because where their face should've been was instead a pure white porcelain mask, carved into the shape of a skull. It was embedded into their otherwise featureless skull, giving the impression that it wasn’t just covering their face; it was their face.

This settled it beyond doubt. Ryuichi was an enemy Master, she had been attacked by his Servant, and now her life was in danger. Rin screwed up her face as she concentrated, trying to access the mental link between her and Archer. He had to get back here, quick! Otherwise... But before Rin could even begin formulating a thought, Ryuichi suddenly lunged forward and placed a hand on her head. “Not so fast, girly! We can’t have you ruining our fun so soon!” A pulse of magic shot from his hand and passed over Rin’s head. All of a sudden, the Tohsaka mage found it very difficult to focus on anything as her vision swam and her breathing grew labored. Even her struggles, just a moment ago as fierce as a jungle cat, instantly grew slow and sluggish before stopping altogether. Ryuichi grinned as he stepped away, admiring his handiwork as his eyes passed over Rin’s body lecherously. “There we go! Yo, Assassin, what do you think? We got ourselves a catch or what?”

The masked figure examined Rin itself, a series of insectoid clicks emitting from it as it gazed at every inch of her body while still keeping her pinned against the wall. Eventually, it turned around to look at its Master and nodded. “Yes, she is quite the specimen. A strong mage who has summoned an even stronger Servant.” Its voice was hoarse and quiet, almost like it was trying to whisper while still being heard normally.

“Awesome!” Ryuichi grinned wildly as he waved his hand. “Then what are you waiting for? Work your magic already, you mad dog!”

Assassin nodded its consent as it moved its free hand to Rin’s midriff, lifting her shirt up and placing the gnarled appendage directly onto her stomach. The masked killer looked Rin directly in her eyes, and despite its mask never once changing, it seemed to take on a much more malevolent appearance as it uttered a single word.

“Zabaniya.”

Immediately, the masked figure’s hand sunk into Rin’s stomach, though it wasn’t as though it had pierced her stomach. Instead, it was almost like it was reaching its hand into a lake or puddle of water, passing through the surface with nary a ripple. Even in her dulled state, Rin could feel that whatever was going on right now was wrong, and so she tried her best to resist, but it hardly even impeded Assassin as its hand moved around inside her, almost like it was looking for something. Eventually, a shiver ran down Rin’s spine as the masked monster withdrew its hand, her body starting to jerk wildly before suddenly slumping over altogether, lifeless, as her eyes seemed to lose whatever light they had. In Assassin’s hand was... Rin? Or more accurately, Rin’s head, and even more accurately, it was a small, spectral copy of Rin’s head, hanging between Assassin’s fingers and bouncing lightly through the air.

The Rin copy looked around, its head (or would body be more accurate, since it only was a head?) swiveling around before catching sight of its body. As it slowly started to realize what had happened, Assassin reached out toward Ryuichi, who responded by digging through his pockets and pulling out a small, ornate ceramic jar. Assassin grabbed the jar and opened it up, startling to lower the spectral head into it. Rin tried to struggle, but there just wasn’t anything she could do in her current state. All she could manage was a high pitched scream as the jar was closed, and even that was finally muffled.

Assassin handed the sealed jar back to Ryuichi, who placed it in his pocket once more, before turning back to Rin’s lifeless body. Grabbing the girl by the shoulders, it forced her body to sit up on its own before tilting its face up to look at it. Rin was completely blank, expressionless; as should be expected when your soul is removed. Assassin reached out and began prying the girl’s mouth open, receiving no resistance as it forced its hand into her mouth and down her throat. It mirrored its actions with its other hand, causing the Tohsaka’s mouth to stretch unnaturally wide as Assassin sunk in up to its elbows. Now with a good grip on Rin’s insides, Assassin began pulling itself in in earnest, forcing its skeletal body down her wet, tight throat.

Ryuichi watched in awe as his Servant invaded the girl’s body, watching as her throat bulged out wildly from its mass moving into her. Assassin’s movements were cold, precise; there was no kicking, no flailing. It didn’t seem to get stuck even as it sunk in up to its waist, its legs hardly moving as they were pulled inside. Soon enough, Assassin had ‘vanished’, leaving only Rin’s unconscious body with a supernaturally large bulge in its stomach. Now that the skeletal figure was fully inside, it began to get situated. The bulge in Rin’s stomach moved and shrank as Assassin aligned itself within her, sliding its own legs into hers much like she had slid her legs into the stockings she wore. It moved its arms into her like a pair of long opera gloves, and as the limbs came under its control, it flexed her fingers lightly. Finally, there was only one thing left, and Assassin began pushing upward as it tried to align its head with Rin’s...

Finally, ‘Rin’ gasped, her body shaking as her eyes fluttered open. But they were different; instead of her usual cool, emerald green, her eyes had become a bloody, ruby red. But apart from that, she seemed otherwise perfectly fine as she stood up and dusted herself off before approaching Ryuichi with a smirk. “We were right, Master. She is quite the fit.” She moaned lightly as she passed her hands over her body, stretching a bit as she got a feel for it. “So young, so smart, so tight...” A wicked smirk danced on her lips as she suddenly leaned against her Master. “So, what shall we do with her now~?”

Ryuichi grinned as he reached up and cupped Rin’s chin. “Well, I wasn’t lying when I called her cute. Would be a damn shame if we just... got rid of her so quickly, wouldn’t it?” He chuckled as he rubbed her cheek, the possessed woman pressing into his touch with a purr. “We’ll use her as long as we can, her and her Servant. Once we’ve won, we’ll see how things go.” He locked eyes with her. “I wouldn’t mind giving up my wish if it meant you got to stick around a bit longer, though~.”

‘Rin’ giggled lightly at the thought. “Oh, Master, you certainly do know how to talk to a girl, don’t you~?” Pulling away from the embrace, she patted Ryuichi’s should lightly. “Go. I’ll call Archer back and see what he’s managed to find. We can’t risk him seeing you, though.” Ryuichi nodded and turned around, quickly making his way back down the fire escape he had used to get up to the roof in the first place. As he did, Rin sauntered over and sat back down on the air conditioning unit, crossing her legs as her tongue ran over her lips. Yes, if nothing else, this was certainly going to be an... interesting Holy Grail War...