Whenever is convienient. Within two weeks preferably.Originally Posted by RadiantBeam
Whenever is convienient. Within two weeks preferably.
Ah, OK.
*stares at my blood-soaked chainsaw* damnit.
End of an Empire
Quote
So noted. Thanks!
No problem.
Sweet story, man.
[*ruby=text on top]text on bottom[/*ruby]
Why thank you.
FOR DA GORK AN' MORK!!
And the first page of another beautiful story in the library burns.
Expect Chapter Two in one week.
I am on FIRE!
Burn baby, burn!
Spoiler:
Authors Note: AHEAD OF SCHEDULE BITCHES! Pulled an all nighter. Enjoy.
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“No.”
He saw his father this time, first in a line. A long line. Then he saw his hands, young and unworn, and the pistol they held.
“No.”
He couldn’t stop himself from lifting the weapon, leveling it to his father’s chest as he smiled at Kiritsugu. He couldn’t stop himself from pulling the trigger three times.
“No.”
Slightly older hands, the first man he’d killed with Natalia. A different pistol. And again, he pulled the trigger.
“No.”
No matter how hard he tried not to, each time he pulled the trigger. His hands slowly aged, weapons changed; sometimes a detonator, sometimes a rifle, sometimes a knife, sometimes a grenade, or poison, or mines. But each time, the smiling people died, blood flowing from their mortal wounds or mouths from poison.
“No.”
He recognized this one. He saw Natalia, and each man, woman, and child on that plane. The Stinger was in his hands.
“No…”
He saw Natalia smile, and then… she was gone. On fire, burned to a husk before his eyes.
The line continued. Each person died like the last. And then the line reached him. His first kill of the Fourth Grail War. The Master of Caster’s head exploded like an over-ripe melon, an angelic smile on his lips as he mouthed a word Kiritsugu couldn’t identify.
The next man was Kirei Kotomine. Kiritsugu watched as his Contender blew his heart apart. Then, Kirei got back up laughing, a black sludge taking the place his heart had been. The next was… “No, no no!”
Iri.
“Look upon what your dream created and despair.”
Kiritsugu turned at the sound of the voice, spotting a young man, brown skinned and yellow eyed, chest laid bare, and his entire body covered in writhing black tattoos, before his eyes were drawn back to his wife.
Black mud flowed from her mouth like a river, setting all it touched ablaze, before she turned into a cup, the ebony ooze overflowing. Kiritsugu’s hand, emblazoned with the command spells pointed towards her. The crimson etchings glowed blood red, and a brilliant light erased the cup from existence.
“And this is your ultimate creation, your greatest folly. Your dream and ideal embodied.” The young man said a glee in his voice. “Gaze deeply Kiritsugu, and know that in the end, you have brought only suffering to all you met.”
It was a man, hanging from a gallows, black armor and red coat covering a tanned and white haired body. The man’s eyes opened, showing a flinty grey, and he screamed, blades appearing in his hands as thousands died and blood stained his body, crying as he killed the innocents he tried to save.
The line ended and only Kiritsugu and the young man remained. Kiritsugu stared at his hands, stained in the blood of the many he killed as well. It wasn’t visible, but it was there, and no perfume of Arabia would ever make that iron scent go away.
“Why?” was all he could say to the young man with the yellow eyes. Kiritsugu's voice was flat, holding no tone or inflection what so ever. Every atrocity he’d inflicted, every man woman and child he’d killed had been replayed within his mind, along with the horrible fate of the unknown white haired man. The only question was… why?
“Because you wished to take my burden," the young man said, turning his back on Kiritsugu. "And I found you lacking in conviction. So now you suffer my punishment. The penalty starts at five…"
Kiritsugu woke up in a cold sweat, Taiga frowning above him.
“I was about to wake you up for breakfast, but you don’t look too good. Stay there, I’m grabbing the thermometer.”
Kiritsugu mumbled something incoherent along the lines of “I’m fine” and attempted to get up. He took only four steps before his knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor. Shivering, he laid there for several seconds, not daring to stand back on his feet, before crawling back onto his bed.
Taiga scurried back into the room, a curious Sakura in tow. “Open your mouth.” The teacher ordered, and Kiritsugu obeyed. Taiga shoved the old mercury thermometer into his mouth gently, and then turned to her pupil.
“Stay here with him, and make sure he doesn’t get out of bed or take the thermometer out to try to trick me until I get back,” she ordered Sakura. “He’s done it before, so watch him like a hawk. I’m grabbing some cough syrup for him.”
She hasn’t even proven I’ve got a fever, and she’s grabbing the cough syrup already, Kiritsugu thought, panicking and adjusting the thermometer so he could speak.
“I’m fine Fuji. Honestly, it’s nothing. Probably just caught a one day flu.”
A rumbling from the Tiger began as she came back into the room. Sakura left with a bow, shooting a sympathetic look at Kiritsugu.
“Was it nothing the last time you got sick? You nearly ended up in the hospital! The only reason that didn’t happen was because we got Sakura-chan to help! ”
The thermometer was yanked from Kiritsugu’s mouth. Taiga glared at it.
“40 degrees. That settles it. Shirou, could you get me two bowls of rice? Oh, and the phone.”
“What do you need the MUGMPH!” Kiritsugu began before Tiaga shoved a spoonful of the cough syrup down his throat. It tasted nothing like the raspberry promised on the label.
“That should do it,” Taiga said, screwing the cap back on the noxious mixture that Kiritsugu was cursing to the ninth circle of hell as he gagged on it.
“I wasn’t even coughing Fuji!”
“That means it’s already working,” Taiga said, an angelic smile on her face.
Shirou walked in carrying a tray of food, set it down, and handed the phone to Taiga. “Here you go.”
“I feel fine.” Kiritsugu protested again, as Taiga took some chopsticks, and picked up some of the rice.
“Oh, just quit being stubborn Kiritsugu. Now open wide…” Taiga was taking way to much enjoyment out of this.
In the end, it took about thirty minutes for everything in the Emiya household to be returned to normal, after Taiga was convinced that Kiritsugu wouldn’t die if left alone for the day, so she didn't need to fake leprosy to get out of teaching for the day. Despite Taiga’s vehement protests to the contrary. And as such, Kiritsugu was again left alone to do… nothing. Well, not nothing. Exercise seemed to keep the curse at bay somewhat. Or maybe it didn’t. In any case, it passed the time, which was really all that mattered. Taiga would kill him for not staying in bed, but really, that didn’t matter to Kiritsugu. He’d dealt with her outbursts for a good ten years. Another couple of weeks would be child’s play.
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Dinnertime came around soon, yet at the same time slowly. Kiritsugu watched Sakura prepare the dish and head home before Shirou got home from work, as cooking was a skill he'd never really developed himself. He devoured his share of the meal as well as a lecture from Fuji when she got back from the school.
“You’re still burning up!” Taiga exclaimed, taking another reading with the thermometer.
“I’m fine Fuji. You’re fussing too much. It’s gone down two degrees. I told you it was a one day bug.”
Taiga gave him a playful shove. “Because it could only take one day around you.” she teased, taking a bite of the chicken.
“So how was your day?” Kiritsugu asked Shirou.
“Not bad,” the teenager replied, “I met Sakura’s grandfather Zouken actually.”
Kiritsugu felt himself stiffen involuntarily at the mention of that old mage. Had he finally decided to in some way deal with the magus who was squatting on the Tohsaka lands without permission? Or did he have some other more direct wish, namely an arranged marriage of some kind? In any case it couldn’t be good news.
“Really?” Kiritsugu said, forcing a smile and sending a glance stating ‘We’ll talk about this later’ to Shirou.
He got the message, and nodded as Taiga asked “Sakura lives with her grandfather?”
Shirou shrugged. “Her and Shinji do I guess.”
The conversation switched over to the topic of the archery club after that, and Kiritsugu lost track of where it was going, his mind racing with the possible threats Shirou had inadvertently become aware of.
-----------------------------
“Tell me exactly what he said. Now.” Kiritsugu said, attempting to keep his voice level. It failed. The fear showed through, though Shirou seemed not to notice.
“Something about the daughter of the Eis…”
Shirou struggled with the unfamiliar word.
“Einzberns. “ Kiritsugu finished.
“How did you-?”
“Shirou. I’ll tell you after we’re done. Anything else?”
Zouken shouldn’t know, not about Ilya. How does he know? Does he have her? Did the Einzberns tell him? And if so, why?
“He said something about it being natural for her to visit the Emiya. And then asked how well it is this time around.”
The last sentence chilled Kiritsugu’s bones, though he couldn’t begin to imagine why. The curse snatched a chunk of his left kidney then, and he winced in pain.
“Dad?”
“I’m fine Shirou. It’s nothing.” Kiritsugu smiled, though from the look on Shirou’s face he obviously didn’t believe him.
“If you say so. How did you know about the…”
“Einzberns.”
“Yeah. Them.”
“They’re an old and powerful magus family. German in origin, and members of the Mages Association for over a thousand years. I was working for them for a while, but when I failed a task for them, they shut me out. I haven’t had any contact with them since.” Well, no contact with the only Einzbern that matters to me.
But the daughter of the Einzberns only fit one person: Ilya. So was she in Fuyuki? No, that made no sense. The Einzberns only came to Japan during Grail Wars. Ilya wouldn’t ever get permission to come here in any case. Kiritsugu had ensured that there would be no fifth, and it would be fifty years before the fifth would have occurred anyway. But then why would the old Magus mention them to Shirou? Did the Einzberns have someone in the city searching for him? Was Zouken attempting to warn Shirou, and through him Kiritsugu?
“Then why did he say that the Einzberns would want to visit us?”
Kiritsugu sighed. “Shirou, I cut my ties with them long ago. The chance of the Einzberns coming to our door is little to none. I can think of one reason that they would: they want me to work for them again. But considering how badly the last time I worked for them went, I highly doubt that.”
“What went wrong?”
Kiritsugu paused before saying, “Everything.”
Shirou started to open his mouth to ask another question, but Kiritsugu cut him off.
“That’s enough for tonight. If you want to get any training done, you’d better do it now.”
------------------
Kiritsugu meditated on the porch, staring at the full moon above. It was a pure white in the slightly chilly air, and seemed to gaze back down upon the former assassin. It was quiet. It was calm.
It was everything Kiritsugu’s mind was not at the moments he spent in the moonlight.
Zouken was a slippery and slimy old bastard, but he wouldn’t lie if it didn’t gain him anything. As such, his comments on the Einzberns being in town shouldn’t be discarded offhand, and could be trusted. That much was obvious. Ilya was likely not in town, but some Einzbern homunculus possibly was. Possibly more than one. Possibly more than one, and all wishing to inflict a much greater punishment upon him than denying him his daughter. And possibly on all who had ever met him as well.
Experience and tragedy had taught Kiritsugu to plan for the worst. And right now, he had realized something that he didn’t wish to acknowledge: that a storm was coming soon, and he was directly in its path. Kiritsugu got up from his sitting position, and walked into his bedroom. Tomorrow, he was paying a visit to a certain Yakuza boss.
Last edited by Arch-Magos Winter; September 2nd, 2012 at 10:59 PM.
Yes, update! :>
Things are turning out pretty interesting, as I've said before.
Oh! It doesn't turn me off, but there some people who mind find it easier on the eyes if you use spacing everytime you change paragraphs. Most of it is spaced, but some sections aren't, and it'd be better to fix it.
Unless it was done on purpose, of course.
Cool - we start with paranoia and building towards violent confrontations right off. You don't waste time, do you?
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
Hmm, interesting.
I thought you wanted a beta, though....
You're a little too slow, I'm sorry. I have to let you go when it comes to proofreading...
I'll still be asking you for advice and stuff though. Don't worry
*Heee~ey*
Shinryu: *ignoring, still poking a catatonic kuni* You would think by now he would wake up. I'm tired of doing his homework.
Raftel: Welll~ll, there is one way to wake him up.
Shinryu: *suspicious look* ...
Raftel: Worth it. Oh kuni~ Your waifu's brainwashed and kidnapped again~
*AMP abruptly manifests*
Shinryu: ... You stupid-!
Summary: in which Kiritsugu has a bad dream, is prematurely cured of coughing, gives a brief lesson to Shirou, and has a foreboding premonition.
Miscellany~
A living portrait, a forgotten portrait... and Yoshi.
...The fuck did I just read?
One of KuniKaiRoe's patented summaries. They're a tradition around here.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
Ah, thank you.One of KuniKaiRoe's patented summaries. They're a tradition around here.
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