"I have good news, and I have some bad news..." Medea said to Shirou as Arturia was sitting down nearby with Rin. The girls watched as Caster gave Shirou a briefing as to how to proceed with Arturia's new body.
"Let's start with the bad news first," Shirou replied, curious as to what solution Medea came up with, and saw the Caster's face fall slightly.
"The bad news is... I can't reverse what the Grail did to Saber," Medea said shamefully. "It seems that even my centuries-old magecraft is inconsequential to the magic that the Grail taps into. Like it or not, Saber's wish is stuck on her good..."
"Well, that's plain to see..." Shirou remarks as he took a glance towards Arturia, sitting nervously and still in her mature form. Rin appeared to be bored, implying that they had already known what Caster had just told him.
"Hold on a sec, Caster... you said there was good news?" Shirou then asked the Witch of Colchis, who perked up from her self-admonishing.
"Oh... I did, didn't I?" Medea starts as if she had just remembered. She then tells Shirou proudly, "I can hide her new form, so that your mundane friends and guardian won't suspect a thing."
"How?"
Medea then started to boast, unable to resist showing off her "superiority."
"You see, it's quite brilliant on my part-"
"Enough posturing, witch," Rin impatiently cuts Caster off. "Just show him already..."
Medea merely huffed in response, and Shirou watched with curiosity as she swept back her bangs of hair covering her ears. To the boy's surprise, he saw Medea had regular human ears as opposed to-
"Wait, don't you have pointy, elf-like ears?" Shirou asked her. "Where are they-?"
"EXCUSE me?" Medea suddenly asked in a threatening tone, glaring angrily. "Did you just call me an elf?!"
"Nope!" Shirou said quickly, shrinking with fear as Medea loomed over him. Arturia looks on with worry while Rin tried not to laugh at what Shirou carelessly said to the Caster. Still, his response was enough to get Medea to relent.
"Good boy..." Caster said contently before continuing, "As for your question... They never left. See?"
Relieved, Shirou looked down at Caster's wrist and saw a simple, jeweled bracelet. The moment Medea took it off, Shirou looked back up and saw that her human ears were gone and in their place were the pointed, elven ears that he knew Medea always had. Shirou understood what Caster's plan was.
"It's an illusion!"
"Of course," Medea replies in a condescending tone. "You honestly think I could just walk around in public with these ears without someone awkwardly staring at me?"
Shirou fell silent. He imagined it would indeed be hard for Medea to go about day-to-day business without someone random person questioning why she looked like an elf with such pointed ears. Hard for him to argue about that as Medea then explained her plan for Arturia.
"I charmed a piece of jewelry so that it alters my appearance enough for me to appear ordinary to the ignorant eye. I believe that I can make one similar for Saber, which will make her appear to others as small and cute as she was before..."
Medea swooned a little bit when said that last part. Shirou was intrigued at the idea of using illusion magic to hide Arturia's body from Taiga. Before he got his hopes up, Rin suddenly spoke.
"Hold on. I have an issue with this..."
"What?" Medea asked in annoyance as Rin stood up and scrutinized Caster.
"I imagine this illusion that you put on whatever Saber will wear... is one that needs a basis for it to work on?"
Shirou looked between Rin and Medea. Caster appeared to seriously consider Rin's words and thought about it carefully.
"Ah, yes..." she said after a tense silence. "That's not a problem, as I've taken of all of Saber's measurements from when she was smaller. Facial features, hair length, birthmarks, skin tone, and Saber's exact dimensions are all I have recorded and memorized. I know her EVERY nook and cranny."
"That sounds so wrong..." Shirou said under his breath, and briefly looking back at Arturia, he could tell that she was not pleased to hear that from Caster either.
"However, the little girl DOES bring up a point," Medea stated to Shirou, while Rin glared at Caster for calling her a "little girl".
"It indeed takes a powerful spell to hide someone's appearance on this scale," Medea said while gesturing to Arturia. "And I'm not talking about hiding a pimple; what we're going to be doing is a full body illusion, so it won't be easy..."
"How so?" Shirou asks nervously
"I'll explain more after I actually make it for her. The extent of the illusion spell needed to make Saber here appear like she's fifteen again puts the integrity of the charm into question. I don't even know this will work until I try it."
Shirou looks back at Arturia with uncertainty. What Medea implied was that her plan is not a sure-fire guarantee of working considering that Arturia's body change was a result of the Grail's magic. There was a chance that no amount of illusion magic will hide it completely.
But what other alternative was there? Certainly not any that they could come up within hours, Shirou thought, or before Taiga comes back to the Emiya residence after her "date." He, Arturia, and Rin knew that stalling appearances any further would make Shirou's guardian suspicious. Shirou did not want to think about how Taiga will react to seeing Arturia after sprouting overnight, OR of what the Mage's Association will do if Taiga found out anything about magecraft from this ordeal.
Medea's plan was the best they can do.
"Well," Shirou starts. "If it means Taiga won't suspect any change, I guess it's the only thing we can go for if there's nothing else to be done. That okay with you, Saber?"
He looks back at Arturia, who in response stands up out of her seat and expresses her opinion.
"Yes, Shirou. It's worth a try..."
"Alright then. It is settled," Medea affirms for everybody present. She then stops as if she just thought of something. "Oh, and one other thing..."
"What is it, Caster?" Arturia asks, noticing Medea fidgeting nervously.
"I just realized... the outfits I gave you for your birthday don't fit you anymore."
Arturia's face then morphed into mild surprise, and then apology.
"I'm sorry..."
"It's fine..." Medea replies, unsure of herself. "Just so long as..."
Arturia and Shirou become visibly confused as Medea trailed off, twiddling her thumbs, and having been watching, Rin goads the Caster.
"Out with it already, hag..."
Annoyed by Rin's insult, Medea reveals:
"I can resize the clothes for you, but that will mean..."
Medea then took out a measuring tape out of her pocket and dangles it before Arturia.
"-That I'll have to take your measurements again."
Rin looks back in surprise at Arturia, who appeared to briefly be stunned. It does not last as Saber remembers that they came here to the Temple to ask for Medea's help, and honor dictates that Arturia should pay her back somehow if this plan of her's failed.
"You are doing us a great favor, Caster," she tells the Witch of Colchis. "I suppose accepting would be the least I could do to repay you."
Arturia would come to regret saying that because as soon as she finished, Medea instantly became ecstatic.
"Yes! Thank you... now let's get to work!"
Medea then quickly grabbed Arturia's arm and started dragging the King of Knights to her room a second time.
"Oh, not again-!" Arturia grimaced as she was forced to walk with Medea. Shirou looks on with great worry and turns to Rin, who was on the same page as him; Caster should never be left alone with Saber.
"Tohsaka-"
"On it," Rin replied as she quickly went after the two servants, with Shirou left out again and forced to wait for the result of Medea's plan to hide Arturia's body.
___________________
Shirou sat waiting with Kuzuki for what felt like at least half-an-hour as Medea kept Arturia secluded while the Caster worked to put an illusion on her. With the teenage boy waiting anxiously, Shirou had several things to worry about; the foremost being was what if Medea's plan to hide Arturia's body with illusion magic does not work. With them unable to rationally explain to Taiga and his friends of Arturia's sudden growth spurt, Shirou would be risking the wrath of the Mage's Association for exposing magecraft. He did not like to think what they would do to his guardian, Issei and Ayako.
Maybe they won't stop there either, Shirou thought. Rin is responsible for keeping magecraft under wraps here in Fuyuki... what if they punish her for failing her duty? What if they go after Illya? Sakura? The other Servants? Arturia?!
It seemed absurd that even enforcers from the Association would dare take on a Servant like Arturia. Shirou learned very well during the Holy Grail War that a mage, even a skilled one, would be foolish to try and fight one head on. Heroic Spirits are by their nature much stronger than the average human, depending on the magical strength of the Master they are bonded to. From what Rin had warned him about the Mage's Association, there is no length they will not go to keep magecraft a mystery to the World at large. Shirou thought worriedly that they might send an army to raze Fuyuki to the ground, wipe it off the face of the Earth if they thought the reveal of magecraft went too far, as extreme as that would seem.
Needless to say, there was a lot riding on Medea's aid.
"Nervous?" asked Kuzuki out of the blue. Shirou's eyes snapped towards him and saw the former ethics teacher glancing at him stoically, away from the newspaper he was reading.
"Very..." Shirou admitted, seeing no point in lying to him. "Just when it seemed the troubles from the Grail War were behind us, me and Saber were hit with this. Now our livelihoods depend on Caster."
Kuzuki took a moment to respond, seemingly thinking about his next words carefully.
"I understand. Caster and I have given you young ones no end of trouble back then. You have no real reason to expect any good to come from Medea helping you."
Shirou's gaze narrowed at him. Kuzuki's way of speaking seemed cold and methodical, a trait fitting of that of a hitman, as he revealed to Shirou during the Holy Grail War. Kuzuki was trained as an assassin for years before being employed at Homurahara academy as a history and ethics teacher.
Shirou thought of Kuzuki having that in common with his own late-adoptive father, Kiritsugu Emiya. This was arguably the closest to how Shirou would interact with him had he known of his father's past before he died. He only found out that Kiritsugu was not the man Shirou thought he was thanks to Saber, but that did not mean he was an awful person. Shirou lived with him long enough to know that Kiritsugu had long buried his days of being a cold-hearted killer for the sake of justice to be the father Shirou needed him to be when he was pulled out of the fire.
"We were all enemies once," Shirou said absently to Kuzuki. "Now we are forced to rely on each other. Weird, isn't it Sensei?"
Kuzuki then lowered the newspaper he was reading to direct his full attention on the boy.
"There is no need for you to call me that, Shirou Emiya," he tells him. "I'm not your teacher anymore. Not since..."
Kuzuki trails off, and Shirou understood immediately.
"I know. It still feels wrong otherwise..."
Indeed, Shirou could not bring himself to treat Kuzuki as anything other than his teacher. No one at his school even knew of Kuzuki's previous life as a hitman, although students joked about it given how strict, stoic, and cold the man was to others. Kuzuki never allowed himself any levity from what Shirou ever could discern. His past would have remained buried if not for the Holy Grail War.
Thinking on when he and Saber finally confronted him, and how that encounter ended, Shirou believed that he had to inquire to his former teacher.
"So, Kuzuki-sama," he starts after taking a deep breath. "How's the afterlife been treating you?"
Although Kuzuki's facial expression stayed stoic, Shirou noticed his gaze fall.
"Honestly, not very well," the former teacher replied. "Not as well as someone else would when given a second chance at life."
Shirou felt a stab in his gut hearing that from Kuzuki, and started to feel guilty.
"Sensei, I'm sorry if-"
"Don't be," Kuzuki cuts him off, looking at him again. "I do not blame you for wishing me back. You tried to save me even when I was hell-bent on killing you. I've all but given up on life when you defeated Caster..."
Shirou casts his head down solemnly as he recalled the chilling memory.
"You tried killing me, knowing Saber would kill you if meant protecting my life. I didn't want her to do it... she didn't want to either..."
"I know you both didn't," Kuzuki's tone was surprisingly solemn. "When I left the group that trained me to be an assassin, I was but an empty shell. I buried that history when I became a teacher at Homurahara. I thought I could find new purpose in something that did not involve bloodshed, but the feeling of emptiness persisted when I found myself in this Holy Grail War."
"Actually, that's not entirely true. I found Caster struggling, barely clinging to life without a master, and I chose to participate. When I did, I just followed whatever she told me to do."
Kuzuki then sighs.
"Shirou Emiya," he said in a slightly regretful tone. "I should be the one apologizing for putting you and your Servant in that position. I forced you into a decision you didn't want to make."
Shirou stared at his former teacher, lost for words as he recalled the fateful moment involving Medea's Master...
[Flashback] They had defeated Caster, and when his shot at winning the Grail was lost, Kuzuki decided that he was going to go down fighting. So, he proceeded to attack Shirou, provoking Saber in the process. Shirou remembers pleading with Kuzuki, trying to convince him that there were things in life that he could still live for. Kuzuki was dead set on the opposite, and he would not be swayed as he tried landing deathblow after deathblow on Shirou.
Despite insisting Saber to stay back, Shirou eventually found himself at a loss, losing the will to defend himself when it became clear that he could not save Kuzuki, as a Hero of Justice would have done. Kuzuki came closing in with a punch that would have separated Shirou's head from his shoulders.
And that was when Saber dashed in and stabbed Kuzuki through with Excalibur...
Kuzuki's death was quick and painless... but Shirou was furious at Saber. Shirou had been willing to give his own life so that Kuzuki did not have to throw away his, but that would have only been because Shirou did not value himself. Saber did nothing but allow Shirou to vent his anger and despair as the truth ultimately sank in.
Kuzuki did not want to be saved...
That was right before Gilgamesh made his presence known. While Shirou and Archer fought vainly against him, Saber and Rin were ambushed by Zouken's Servant, True Assassin, along with Dark Sakura...
Archer would not survive it... and Arturia was-
[End]
Shirou forced himself back to reality before the horrifying image of Saber Alter overtook his thoughts. His focus returned to Kuzuki, having been brought back by the magic of the Grail Shard along with his Servant, Caster. He could not think of what to say about how Kuzuki should be the one to apologize due to his "circumstances," as he seemed to not be enjoying having a second chance at life as Shirou hoped.
Instead, Shirou decided to shift the conversation.
"Sensei," he starts cautiously. "You told me back then that you cared not for obtaining the Grail. I wonder, what would you have wished for if you'd won?"
Shirou saw Kuzuki subtly taken back by the boy's unexpected question, but he was quick to answer with:
"Does it matter?" Kuzuki said with a curious expression. "You told me after my return that the Grail had been cursed. It would not have granted anyone's wish."
Shirou felt the need to clarify what he meant after hearing Kuzuki's initial answer.
"Assuming it wasn't of course... Sensei?"
He noticed Kuzuki pondering, rather intently. Seconds went by as Shirou waited for the former teacher's answer.
"I do not really know," he sounded unsure of himself, the first time Shirou saw as such from Kuzuki. "I only felt motivation for the first time in ages when Caster asked for my help. Perhaps that was all I wanted."
Kuzuki sighed again before his expression turned serious.
"But death has a way of getting someone to reflect on themselves," he continues. "I suppose the truth is, I've regretted my entire life up to that point, and when Caster fell, I did not care to continue. Now that I'm back, and so is Caster, perhaps I can try and find meaning again. As you can see, I've exhausted all other options besides faith..."
Shirou could not argue with that. Kuzuki had been living here at Ryuudou Temple since his return. As far as the boy knew, Kuzuki left the grounds of the Buddhist temple rarely, even though with Caster's help, the public perception of his "death" was cleared up.
"Issei talks about you and his father being good acquaintances," Shirou said. "I suppose with the compensation you got from the school; you can live pretty comfortably here at the temple. Although... forgive me for saying, we miss you there, Sensei."
Kuzuki gave Shirou a skeptical sideways glance.
"I wasn't aware that I was so popular at school. As I recall, I was considered the most boring teacher by most of your class. I find your claim hard to believe..."
"My apologies," Shirou quickly clarified. "But I'm sure that as great as this place is live, the last thing me and Rin want for you is stay cooped up here like Assassin."
Kuzuki considers Shirou's words, understanding what he was getting at. He responds with:
"Funny... Caster keeps telling me the same thing."
Shirou was surprised to hear that.
"She does?"
"She does not mention Assassin of course," Kuzuki remarked. "I find the samurai to be surprisingly good company. In fact, it is my insistence that Caster allows him to exist with all the other Servants. She does not think fondly of him."
Shirou was amazed. He supposed with Kuzuki being trained as a hitman before becoming a schoolteacher, he and Sasaki Kojiro must have plenty to talk about. Still, for Shirou, a lingering question remained.
"Speaking of fondness, you and Caster seem to be living... happily?"
The uneasiness in Shirou's tone did not go unnoticed by Kuzuki as he replies:
"She sure is, however..."
The former teacher hesitated for a moment before deciding how he should explain his predicament.
"What you need to understand Shirou; I'm the last person on Earth who deserves anything like this. Caster is pursuing an empty shell of a man. She's wasting her time with me when she could be sparing herself disappointment."
Shirou felt sorry to hear that. Kuzuki must still be feeling that with his past as a trained assassin, as well as what he and Caster did to Shirou and Saber during the Holy Grail War, that he must not feel as though the happiness Medea was trying to give him as something he could accept. Shirou was aware that as whimsical Caster was towards her master, he knew from her attempt to replicate Shirou's pastries that Medea genuinely wanted Kuzuki to feel happy and loved.
Shirou himself did not fully understand Caster's own motivations for appealing to her master like this, but he supposed that he could eventually dig deeper into Medea's history to find out...
"She doesn't seem to believe that..." he tells Kuzuki. "Caster tries her little heart out to please you. You even tried the pastries even though she botched them. You were obviously lying when you said you liked them."
Shirou read Kuzuki's face carefully, and although it was tough to tell, it seemed that Kuzuki looked mildly surprised at himself for this fact.
"True... I guess I don't have it in me to drive her away," he eventually admitted. "I'm honestly surprised Caster still seeks love after it has failed her time and time again in her legend. She is quite desperate... unlike what you and Saber have."
He should not have been surprised, but Shirou rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment after Kuzuki's remark.
"Was it that obvious, Sensei?" Shirou asked amusingly, but thought he was hallucinating when he saw the usually stoic teacher crack the subtlest of smiles.
"You two were the perfect team when you fought us. Your movement and body-language conveyed a perfect understanding between the two of you. I ultimately didn't have that with Caster, that's why you defeated us."
Then Kuzuki's face fell again as he continued.
"Even as she laid there dying, I was the one thing on her mind. But by that point... I had given up on everything."
Kuzuki then fell silent. Having heard him, Shirou felt the need to tell the former teacher:
"Looks like Caster is not ready to give up on you just yet, Sensei. I can only imagine why she reached out to you in the first place, someone not even a mage by any stretch."
Kuzuki looked back up at Shirou, surprised again by his words. The boy looks up at the ceiling before sharing with him:
"I thought Saber was out of my league from the moment she materialized in my dad's old shed. I still think that sometimes. Then I'm reminded that she makes me a better person, and she's as great as she is partly because of me. With her with the way she is now-"
Shirou suddenly cut himself off. He had been speaking fondly of Arturia so far, but for some reason when it came to her current state and mature body, words failed him. In truth, he found Arturia to be beautiful; Shirou always had. But her beauty was not just skin-deep; Shirou found what made Arturia truly shine was her compassion and... "quirkiness" behind the guise of a righteous and honorable knight who refused to put herself above others. Shirou was always focused on those aspects of her rather than... well, the fact that she happened to BE a "she."
Even when Arturia was adamantly defending him, Shirou cared for her wellbeing, wanting to preserve her indominable yet innocent image as well as protecting her from harm of any kind; being physical or otherwise...
Shirou still felt the need to preserve that side of Arturia, even after their intimate moment before their final battle with Kotomine and Gilgamesh. That only happened because win or lose, it was going to be their last moment together.
Shirou had no idea he would find an uncorrupted piece of the Holy Grail well after it was destroyed...
When Arturia came back, even though she remembered everything that had happened, Shirou could not bring himself to do anything that would seem like taking advantage of her, or worse, tarnish her.
It was why Shirou kept things relatively chaste between them despite formally dating, and Arturia frequently reminding him of that moment. There was no need to "rush" things now that Arturia could exist for as long as Shirou was alive.
But now with Arturia having a very tempting body, Shirou was finding it difficult to keep that boundary between them. It just did not feel right of him to see Arturia even remotely as an object of desire. She was simply way too good for that...
"The point I'm trying to make, Sensei..." Shirou corrected himself. "If you give Caster a chance, you might find out something about yourself; something you never knew you had."
"Hmmm..." Kuzuki audibly pondered, and Shirou wondered if his point did indeed reach the former teacher.
"Sensei-?"
"I can't believe her!"
Shirou turned and saw an irate Rin stomping into the dining room.
"Tohsaka! What happened?"
"That hag kicked me out," Rin said to him, eventually calming down a bit. "Said she needed me out of her way so she could make some finishing touches on Saber."
"Should I be relieved or worried?" Shirou asked nervously, and Rin just crossed her arms.
"Your guess is as good as mine," she remarks bluntly. "Who knows now what Caster's doing to Saber..."
"Do not trouble yourselves too much over this you two," Kuzuki assures the two teenagers, who looked at him, unconvinced.
"Why not?" Shirou asks him, and Kuzuki goes on to nonchalantly explain:
"Medea knows you are both my former students, and if she does anything to your Servant that would upset you, Shirou Emiya, she will get stern words from me."
Kuzuki then pulls up his newspaper and resumes reading it while adding:
"Besides, I think Caster would be careful given how "influential" Saber is to her hobbies."
"Her... hobbies?" Shirou asks Kuzuki in confusion, only for Rin to then say to the master of Saber:
"You're better off not knowing what he means, Emiya-kun..."
Shirou looks at Rin, perplexed, and based on the look on the girl's face that he should not bother to inquire further. Immediately after, Rin joined and waited with Shirou and Kuzuki as Medea continued her "work" with Arturia. Looking at his watch, Shirou's anxiety grew. They have spent a lot of time here at Ryuudou Temple, and evening was approaching. He and Arturia had to be back at the Emiya Residence before Taiga returned...
If not for appearances, then it was so Shirou could start making dinner, lest dealing with a hungry "tiger" ...
Maybe I can make Taiga too hungry to notice Saber's brea-
Just then, Medea emerged from the hallway into view, announcing proudly:
"Okay, all done... are you children ready? I dare say this is my finest work!"
Medea appeared excited to show Shirou and Rin the fruits of her labour. While Shirou looked on in anticipation, it quickly waned when Rin expressed her impatience... and boredom.
"Enough with the theatrics. We don't have all day."
Checking his watch again, Shirou could not help but agree.
"I gotta prepare dinner soon or Taiga will freak out..."
Medea huffed at the lack of reaction she got from the two teenagers. She would not get to savor whatever praise she would have gotten out of them.
"Ungrateful brats..." she said under her breath before clearing her throat and regaining her composure. "Anyways, voilà..."
Stepping aside, Medea presented Shirou and Rin with-
"Saber!" Shirou said in surprise, quickly standing up. "You're back to normal!"
Sure enough, Arturia stood before everybody, now appearing shorter and younger, just as she was previously. She even retained the details she had before her growth spurt, notably her hair returned to being in a single braided bun, the bangs of hair framing her face now shorter, and her chest... well, much less obvious. Arturia even smiled and slowly spun on the spot, even lifting her skirt slightly. Rin then got up and remarked:
"Color me impressed... It's just how you were before!"
"Caster had to create the illusion from scratch," Arturia told her and Shirou before taking a look at herself. "And I dare say she's outdone herself. There are no peculiarities as far as I can tell..."
Medea then came up from behind her and told everybody:
"Believe me, I tried getting as close as I could to her young self. I made sure there was no trace of her new, lumbering body to be seen. It wasn't easy making a charm that holds this intricate of an illusion."
Arturia glared unamusingly at Medea calling her grown body "lumbering," while Shirou then asked curiously:
"Where is it, by the way?"
"Here, Shirou," Arturia replies, holding up her arm and showing him and Rin that she was wearing a gold-chained bracelet. They stare at the piece of jewelry, intrigued and optimistic that thanks to the enchantment, Taiga would not suspect anything happened to the Saber. That optimism was however curbed by Medea, whose face then turned serious.
"Before you all run off on your merry way..." Caster warns. "There are several things that you need to know about how the spell and charm work."
Arturia, Shirou, and Rin look at Medea confused. The Tohsaka-mage then asks:
"Namely?"
"First off," Medea starts. "Saber still has her mature body beneath the facade, and if the bracelet gets taken off, it will immediately lift the illusion. Mind you, I've also made it so that the illusion will progressively decay over a long period of time, giving the false sense that Saber is naturally aging up to her current self. You will all have to keep up that preconceived notion. Only after several years, up until Saber appears to age in line with her current state is when the charm would no longer be needed."
The trio look at each other before acknowledging Medea's warning.
"Okay..." Shirou replies. "What else?"
"Secondly, I wasn't joking when I said that the illusion spell would need to be powerful to hide this much of Saber. As a result, the charm that the spell is tied to is quite fragile. If someone gets careless with it, the object could break, and with it, the spell itself."
"How fragile are we talking about here?" Arturia asks Medea, sounding almost anxious to know.
"Just someone attempting to pull it off your wrist could snap it. And I wouldn't trust it enough to wear in bed either..."
"Seriously?" Arturia lets out.
"Afraid so," Medea said with a curt nod. "And another thing... stay away from mirrors."
"Pardon?!" Arturia then exclaims. "Why?"
Medea sighed and crossed her arms, her tone turning apologetic.
"The illusion does not work through reflective surfaces. They'd see your mature self in a reflection in glass or a wet surface. Unfortunately, it's one of the compromises I had to make to fit the spell on the bracelet."
Stunned by this, Arturia's face eventually fell, seeing that there was no way around this limitation.
"Okay..."
"Lastly," Medea continued. "And this is especially important... Saber, if for any reason you need to go into your Servant form, be sure to take the bracelet off FIRST, as the surge of mana could cause it to shatter."
Arturia nods, indicating that she has understood Medea's instructions. Rin however, expressed her skepticism.
"This all sounds very convoluted, you know..."
"Still better than what your "baby magic" can do, little girl," Medea jabbed at the Tohsaka-mage, gesturing, "How about YOU try concealing a Heroic Spirit's body with THAT big of a chest?!"
Rin and Caster glare at each other angrily, but Arturia cuts in diffuse the tension.
"Anything else we need to know, Caster?" Saber said, annoyed with the witch's antics. Medea relents from scolding Rin further and tells Arturia:
"Just some "quality-of-life" things..." She said before turning to Shirou. "Boy, you will have to get clothes for Saber that fit her mature form, as they will appear smaller as if they fit her younger self."
"Good to know," Shirou said. Rin chuckled under her breath at the thought of him going through the same ordeal she did today getting Arturia some clothes.
"And finally," Medea adds, turning back to Arturia. "If you DO happen to break the charm, bring it to me immediately so I can make another one."
"And how long will that take?" Shirou asked her.
"About as long as this did at worst. I trust you fools will not do anything that could potentially damage my masterpiece, will you?"
"Of course, not..." Rin said sarcastically. "It's not like trouble follows us everywhere..."
Shirou and Arturia thought about humoring the Tohsaka-mage, but seeing Medea's concerned face made them refrain from doing so. Medea eventually bought Rin's response.
"Good, I suppose," Caster said before the trio notice her putting her fingers together. "Well then..."
When Medea trailed off purposely, Arturia, Shirou and Rin become annoyed that Caster was not done with them yet, and they say in unison:
"WHAT NOW?!"
"Oh, don't be like that," Medea huffed at their combined response, putting her hands on her hips. "After all, I did all of YOU a favor. Now it's your turn to do one for me..."
"What do you want, hag?" Rin asked impatiently. Arturia and Shirou too were fed up with Medea's antics, and it seemed obvious that she was going to ask of them something as payment for her aid.
Deep down, the two dreaded what Caster wanted of them, and their fears were confirmed as Medea brought her fingers together and smiled wickedly...
"Well, for starters-"
"Medea," Kuzuki interrupts, and Caster stiffens. "Be reasonable with my former students, please? If Saber's new form risks the discovery of magecraft, that can only mean helping to prevent it benefits us two in the long run."
Medea looks back at him in surprise, so unlike the scheming witch she was a moment ago. She blushes as she considers Kuzuki's words. The trio watched, stunned as Medea started swooning.
"Oh, Kuzuki-sama, I suppose you are right," she said, swaying with her hands together against her cheek. "Then the Mage's Association will separate us, and we can't ever see each other again. I'd hate for my beloved Kuzuki-sama to be so lonely without me..."
Arturia and Shirou went speechless at the sight of the Witch of Colchis, switched from devious sorceress to hopeless romantic in just seconds and Kuzuki getting her to back off a little bit on her demands. Rin cringed at the scene and gave her friends a tap on the shoulder before whispering to them:
"Excuse me, but I'm going to go puke..."
Rin then proceeded to quietly wait outside, leaving Arturia and Shirou before a lovestruck Witch of Colchis. Medea did soon remember the two were still present and addressed them directly, after she had stopped swooning.
"In which case, boy, Saber... I propose as a payment that once you return the outfits for me to resize them, I ask that you, Saber, wear them frequently and if anyone asks where you got them, you both give them these..."
With a snap of her fingers, a small, white box appeared in Medea's hands. Arturia and Shirou stare at it in confusion as Caster handed it to them.
"What is this?" Shirou asked as he grabbed the box, with Arturia watching curiously. Medea then answered reluctantly, indicating a modicum of embarrassment:
"Something to help get my new, independent enterprise off the ground..."
Shirou opened the box, and he and Arturia saw its contents being rows and rows of printed cards. Arturia pulls one out for her and Shirou to read. It had a flowing violet logo, along with a contact number and what appeared to be a company name: "The Stitch Witch: Handmade Dresses." Both of them yell in disbelief upon realizing that these were-
"BUSINESS CARDS?!"
TBC