Who, hold up there. This was also posted on AnimeSuki? May I have a link, please? I'd like to see.
@Al: INOERITE?!
@Moczo: Seconded. Shirou's powers as a VN-Lead make nearly all women equally likely to fall for him. Exceptions are few.
Who, hold up there. This was also posted on AnimeSuki? May I have a link, please? I'd like to see.
@Al: INOERITE?!
@Moczo: Seconded. Shirou's powers as a VN-Lead make nearly all women equally likely to fall for him. Exceptions are few.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
For me, it was the personality all the way. Lolis are not usually my thing, but she was just so much fun.And then the more you got to know her, the more likable she was.
@ItsaRandomUsername: Well, the AS version isn't well-archived, but the first chapter is here.
Yeah, it was her personality for me as well.
And regarding the pairing, I'm glad that you're sticking to your guns. Keep at it Moczo, and I will followe with vested interest.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
The very same personality that pissed me off so much. She gets a bit better later, but the aftertaste still remains.
Redemption is as redemption does. The fact that she can change her ways in spite of her inital goals of DIE,ONII-CHAN,BWAHAHAHAA is an underlying major reason why she is such a good character in my eyes. Some folks never get out of that phase, and it completely ruins them.
Although I do like her Yandere moments. It's kind of a kink of mine.
But, to each their own, then.
@Moczo: Thanks for the linkage, boss man.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
RadiantBeam needs to be thanked. Also if you can convince DezoPenguin to start writing Fate/Stay Night fanfiction.....
Thanks.Originally Posted by ItsaRandomUsername
It's my story; I don't demand anyone like the pairing or the plot, but I do ask they accept that I'm the one writing it and therefore the pairing and plot are mine to decide.
And speaking of...
Chapter Seven: Nightmare
Shirou sprinted towards the house. "I'm not late!" He said.
There was nobody to hear him, but perhaps if he said it often and loud enough, it would come true. Magic happened, right?
"I'm not late!"
This was pointless. There was no reason to run; it didn't matter how quickly he arrived now. Saber would be furious. He had promised her he would be back shortly, and then gone on to spend the entire day out of the house. Not only out of the house, but walking around with a girl he didn't even know. And what excuse did he have? 'I'm sorry, I just couldn't say 'no' to her when she looked at me with those sad eyes'? 'I had a lot of things on my mind and she was comforting to be with'? Yes, because that would certainly fly with his overprotective new bodyguard. Saber definitely seemed the type to accept excuses that boiled down to 'I had to comfort a stranger' and 'I flaked out'. She, a girl who could eat enough for three people, would be totally accepting of the fact that he'd ditched her at mealtime.
God, he was so dead. He didn't regret spending time with Ilya; the fact that he'd gotten along with her so naturally he'd spent five more hours doing so than he'd planned to was proof of that. But he had a feeling that his next training session with Saber was going to hurt much more than the first one had.
"I'm not late!"
-------------------------------------------------
Ilya danced through the forest, humming an aimless little tune and smiling more widely than she thought she ever had in her whole life. Appropriate, given that she could not remember having ever had as much fun as she had this day.
Oh, Grandpapa had been wrong about the Emiya boy, completely and utterly. Shirou hadn't turned her away at all. He had talked to her, smiled at her, spent time just being with her and doing all he could to make her happy in their brief hours together. More than Grandpapa had ever done, more than anyone had done for her since mama and papa had left. He'd even asked to see her again! He wanted to spend time with her, he'd asked for it himself!
He was wonderful.
Well... most likely. She was naive, but not so childish as she looked or acted, and she admitted to herself the possibility that he might still be pretending, trying to deceive her. She didn't think so; she wasn't the best at picking up on lies, but she doubted Shirou could fool her. He was so adorably guileless that even as sheltered as she was, she found him a bit of an open book. That was okay, though, it was incredibly cute.
Another thought, far more worrisome, was the possibility that he would turn on her once he found out who she really was, what their connection was and why she'd really come to 'visit' Japan. But honestly, she didn't think that was true either. She'd looked into his eyes, talked to him, held him. He was warm, in every sense of the word. Just to be safe, she would wait before telling him. She would keep her real self a secret until she was absolutely sure he loved her, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and then she would tell him the whole truth, and he would accept her, and they would always be together.
It wasn't like lying, as long she told him eventually. Right?
And she would, because she had to tell him when he became hers. Kiritsugu had left her, for whatever reason. She'd had enough doubt thrown into her worldview lately to admit that she didn't know for certain why he had abandoned her, but she knew he had. But Shirou...
Shirou was hers. He was warm, and gentle, and soft-hearted, and a little bit of a dummy but in a cute way, and he was hers. He wanted to be with her, he cared about her. And she, in turn, wanted him to stay by her side for the rest of her life. It was just that simple.
Ilya was not a girl who did things in half-measures; once she chose a path, she ran down it full-throttle wearing her heart on her sleeve. When she hated, she was merciless.
And when she loved, she loved without reservations.
Shirou was in for a very significant complication in his personal life.
The white princess twirled a bit, her coat flaring around her legs, giggling softly as she continued her dance through the forest toward her castle. She would have some explaining to do to her attendants, but she didn't care in the slightest. She just continued to smile brilliantly as she half-walked half-danced her way home, humming a gentle tune and happier than she'd been in years.
--------------------------------------------
"T-Tohsaka-senpai, this really isn't necessary..." Sakura said. It was amazing how she could manage to look pale and yet blush at the same time.
"I don't mind. It's not too far, and I could use the fresh air." Rin said, walking beside her.
"Well, I mean... um..." Sakura said.
'Um' was as far she got. Further words simply didn't want to come, and really she'd already said all the ones she could think of before now anyway.
To be frank, Sakura wasn't sure what to make of this. Rin had basically hunted her down to walk her home after school, even waiting the extra hours for both Archery Club practice and Sakura staying another hour-and-a-half after the rest of the club had left to clean up. She had tried to refuse, of course, but Rin would have none of that, claiming that if she was sick, she shouldn't be walking home alone. So she'd tried reason; she had claimed to not be really sick, more of a little bug, she felt fine, really.
Rin had smiled widely and proclaimed that with the weather so cold, sudden illness was always a danger and even a tiny ailment could grow out of control if one wasn't careful.
She'd then attempted a more extreme avenue of attack; Sakura was not going to her own house, she was going to the Emiya household, which was much further out of Rin's way.
Rin had claimed a sudden interest in exercise and welcomed the chance for a nice long walk.
Sakura didn't, of course, say the real reason they should not be walking together. Rin knew that just as well or better than she did. The occasional chat in the halls to keep up appearances was no problem, but both of them knew they weren't supposed to actually interact. It was against any number of family rules, it was probably stupid during a Grail War, and more than anything else...
It's just wrong. It's wrong for someone amazing like her to associate with something like me. Sakura thought.
Yet she couldn't bring herself to offer more than half-hearted protests that Rin shot down easily, precisely because Rin was associating with her even though she shouldn't. Because Rin was with her.
Because nee-san was by her side.
Sakura didn't know, precisely, why nee-san had suddenly taken an interest in her. She knew that there was a significant part of herself that truly did not care, though. The part that hoped, despite having no reason to. She wanted Rin to want to spend time with her, craved that sense of concern, as much as she didn't like to admit it.
Nee-san is worried about me! And I'll be living with senpai, at his own invitation!
It was, frankly, so much like a dream that she half-believed she would soon wake up. Such simple little things, but combined they added up to so much happiness that she felt it couldn't possibly be real, not for her. Sakura Matou didn't get to be happy, her life had made this abundantly clear. Yet here she was, walking home with Rin almost like they were real sisters, to go see the man she loved. Even her body was being cooperative; the ever-present burning in her blood, the bone-deep fatigue she'd been trying so hard to disguise, she could barely even feel them anymore. It almost had to be a dream.
Had her mind been in a better place, she might have recognized that she could no longer feel either pain nor tiredness because the world was blurring around her so much she could barely feel or perceive anything at all. But to her muddled thought processes that she was unable to realize were muddled, the fact that suddenly this feeling of generally fuzziness crystallized into a total loss of control of her body made perfect sense and seemed nothing to worry about; just proof that she, as she'd suspected, had been dreaming. And look! The ground was moving closer to her, it must be one of those 'falling' dreams where you wake up when you hit the-
She was just barely able to perceive impacting on something soft that wrapped around her, halting her fall forward. "Wh-what the-? Sakura, are you..." Said a voice she just barely recognized as Rin. Something cool and soft touched her forehead. "Dammit, you're burning up! Sakura, can you hear me? Sakura!"
Oh, nee-san thinks something is wrong. Sakura thought happily as blackness began to creep in around the edges of her mind. She must not know this is a dream. Silly. Still, it's nice that she's worried...
"Damn, damn, damn!" Rin said. "Okay, we're closer to Emiya's than to a hospital, and if I have to carry you, I will! Up we go, a-one and a-two and a-thrulf! Okay, wow, heavier than you look. No problem, I can deal with that. Come on, one step at a time Rin, one step at a time..."
Hee... nee-san. Sakura thought deliriously, enjoying the concern and not even minding the comment on her weight. Her last thought before passing out completely was that if this was a dream, she hoped she didn't wake up for a long time.
-------------------------------------
Shirou stood before the Judges of Hell, and knew that he was amongst the damned.
"Six hours. You informed me that you would be home shortly, yet you left for six hours." Saber said.
"You weren't here when I got home!" Fuji-nee said.
"I did not know where you were, where to look for you, why you had not checked back in. You left me completely in the dark."
"You call in sick and then just go out and have fun, eh? You think I'm just going to forgive that? You think betraying my trust like that is funny? Huh? Huh?"
"You could have been killed. You could have been kidnapped. Threats are everywhere, Shirou, and can appear at any time. Daylight does not necessarily equal safety."
"You could have gotten me fired, making me look like I'm giving you special treatment because I'm your big si... because I was your father's friend!"
"You did not bring home lunch."
"You were late making me dinner!"
"Explain." The two irritated women finished in perfect unison.
"... ... there... there was this girl..." Shirou said. Even to his own ears, he already sounded pretty pathetic.
"WHAT?!" Taiga roared.
"Shirou, really, this is no time for you to allow your base, lustful perversions to control your reasoning." Saber said, her expression suggesting she was looking at a slug, or a cockroach. Something she would hesitate to step on only because it would be disgusting to wipe off her shoe.
"N-no! Not like that, really, she was just a kid, and..."
"Pervert!" Taiga shrieked.
"Honestly, Shirou." Saber said. Shirou felt it would take hours of work just for the honor of being regarded as on the level of a slug again.
"Both of you, don't jump to weird conclusions!" Shirou begged. "I swear, I was just... she looked sad, and she was all alone. So I decided to walk her around town, and I guess she took my mind off my troubles so I ended up spending more time with her than I planned, and..."
"... Ugh." Taiga said. Instantly, and to Saber's great surprise, the hostility drained out of her to be replaced by irritated resignation. "I have to admit, that does sound stupid like you. You're the sort who would jump at the chance to help someone like that."
"Excuse me?" Saber asked, seemingly displeased at the loss of her wingman in this bombardment.
"Oh, Saber-chan, you really need to understand exactly what kind of guy we're dealing with here." Taiga said. "Shirou has always been like this. The 'defender of justice', 'protector of the innocent'. You know, when they asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said a 'superhero'? Now, lots of little kids say things like that, but he was serious."
Shirou felt his face redden. "Look, I know how it sounds. But what's wrong with helping people?"
Taiga sighed. "Nothing, really... in moderation. But you know, if you really want to help people, you could start by helping me, huh? I was so worried about you that I challenged Saber-chan to a sparring duel and she beat me up!"
"Oh, well, I'm sorry b- wait, what?" Shirou asked.
"Ah. Well. We were both worried about you, and I was waiting in the dojo when she arrived home, so... she was very insistent. And I was tense and frustrated, so I thought it might be a good way to pass the time..." Saber said, having at least the good graces to realize that she had done something stupid. She was smiling, but in a nervous, mildly humiliated sort of way, embarrassed and very obviously trying to pretend she wasn't. Saber, Shirou was discovering, was not very skilled in the art of bluffing.
"You... didn't fight seriously, did you?" Shirou asked. Why am I even asking? Of course you did.
"She is quite strong, so I'm afraid going easy was not a possibility." Saber said, still with that ludicrously goofy expression. It didn't really suit her aura of dignity, and yet it was so unexpectedly cute that Shirou really couldn't complain. Much.
"Shirou. Don't sneak into Saber-chan's room at night, seriously. She'll kill you." Taiga said. Her eyes were the eyes of a shell-shocked war veteran.
Ha! I'm the one who has to worry about people sneaking into my room around here! Shirou thought. Out loud, because he was not suicidal, he said, "Well, I'd hope that by this point, you'd know that you don't have to worry about that sort of behavior from m-"
A crunching noise from the front door cut him off, sounding for all the world as if someone had 'knocked' on it by attempting to kick it down. The boundary field didn't react, so there weren't hostile intentions... but who exactly would be trying to break down the door without wanting to hurt anyone inside?
Shirou turned to move to the source of the intrusion, only to find that Saber had quite efficiently beat him to it. Passing him at speeds that she kept just barely in human limits, for Taiga's benefit, she made for the door, fully intending to greet any guests politely and kill any intruders horribly.
"See?" Taiga asked, watching the nigh-impossible display of speed and fluid movement. "Scary girl."
Without a word, Shirou bolted after her.
"Huh. What's up with them? It's just a knock on the door." Taiga said. "... I wonder what's for dinner?"
Saber reached the door first, of course; even if she hadn't had a head start, she probably would have. Shirou had expected that. What he didn't expect was to see the girl frozen in shock, unsure of what action she should be taking. Nor did he expect to join her in this state, but he instantly did so upon seeing exactly who was framed in the door.
Rin Tohsaka, the cool, perfect school idol turned perhaps the biggest threat to his life in the city, stood in his doorway. She looked more frightened than he'd ever seen her, even the previous night when Berserker had been attacking her.
And hanging limply from her arms, shivering, pale and dripping with sweat was the all too familiar form of Sakura.
"Help?" Rin asked softly.
-----------------------------------------
Taiga put Sakura to bed; Rin was a guest, Saber barely knew her, and Shirou could clearly not be trusted to undress an unconscious girl after proving himself so unreliable this afternoon! So Taiga, as the responsible adult, took charge.
She was concerned, of course, but not really worried; she'd seen her share of sick kids in her time as a teacher, and it wasn't hard to hit on the real problem. Sakura wasn't really sick... oh, she might indeed have a bug of some sort, but the main problem was that she was simply exhausted, physically and mentally. Not exactly a shocker when you considered she somehow balanced school, club activities, and keeping both the Emiya and Matou houses running smoothly, right? So Taiga took the girl to the nicest guest room in the house, got her into some more comfortable clothes, and put her to bed. A good night's sleep and taking a day off tomorrow would be just what the doctor ordered; Shirou would just have to miss some more school in order to be Sakura's personal slave for a little bit. Relaxing and ordering Shirou around always made Taiga feel healthier when she was under the weather or even just kind of felt like ordering Shirou around, so it would probably make Sakura feel better too.
Taiga tousled the sleeping girl's hair affectionately, smiling softly as she arranged the blankets to best keep her warm. "Dummy. You're just as bad as he is, you know? You two need to learn how to take it easy from time to time. Get better, okay?"
"Nee... san...?" The girl muttered softly in her sleep.
"Aaaaaaaaawwwww!" Taiga squealed. "Yeah, Fuji-nee is here! What a nice girl."
Sakura briefly frowned in her sleep, as though annoyed by something. Taiga did not notice.
In the kitchen, Shirou and Rin sat on opposite ends of the table, making a concerted effort to look at anything except each other. Shirou probably felt somewhat neglected as a result, but Rin was still getting all of the attention she could handle because Saber refused to take her eyes off the girl for a second.
"So. Archer is here, isn't he?" Shirou asked, deciding that something needed to be done to break the silence.
"Yes." Rin said calmly, without looking at him. "I'm not bringing him out, don't worry."
"You would be dead before the first arrow left the bow." Saber said.
"Yes, that's the big reason why I'm not bringing him out." Rin said.
Silence fell once again.
"... why did you bring Sakura back here?" Shirou asked after another few painful minutes.
"She wanted to go here, and it was close by." Rin said. "Besides, you heard sensei. It's probably just exhaustion, maybe a bit of a flu, right? She'll be fine in a day or two."
I hope, She did not say.
"Well... thank you." Shirou said softly.
"I didn't do it for you." Rin replied. "I was just helping out a classmate."
"Then thank you for her." Shirou said.
Rin did not reply, merely blushed slightly and looked away. Silence fell again.
Argh, this is awkward! Shirou thought. Just... say something.
"Ryudou Temple." He blurted out.
"... what about it?" Rin asked, blinking a few times in confusion at the sheer randomness.
"I think one of the Masters is up there." Shirou said. "Shinji said something about the 'witch on the mountain' stealing souls. Ryudou is the only mountain I can think of that makes sense."
"I... no, that doesn't make sense at all." Rin said, frowning. "How could someone be stealing souls from the temple? To take life-energy from the people at that distance would take a great magic, even for a Servant. Whoever was doing it would have to spend so much energy they'd be lucky to break even."
Shirou shrugged. "I don't know about that, I just know what Shinji said. I thought you might want to know."
"Well, it makes no sense... unless... ugh, I don't know. Maybe I should check it out, or..." Rin said. Halfway through the sentence, her expression hardened; not overtly hostile, but she certainly didn't look as open as she had mere seconds ago. "But that brings up my other problem: Why do you think I can trust anything you say? For all I know you're trying to lead me into a trap."
"... yeah. I guess looking at it that way, you can't really believe me." Shirou admitted. Stupid... I should have known she'd react like that. "I just... I don't really have anything else I can give you in thanks for what you did for Sakura."
Rin looked away from him once again. He wasn't sure why that bothered him so much. "Well... I told you not to thank me for that." She stood, smoothing her skirt. "I did what I came here to do, and I don't want anything in return, so there's no reason to impose on your hospitality. Good-bye, Emiya."
"Tohsaka, wait..." Shirou said, holding one hand out as she strode purposefully back towards the front door.
"I hope you're not trying to ask me to stay. Someone with your connections hardly needs me around," She said, without turning around, "And isn't it only natural for me to leave a place where my life is so obviously in danger?"
Shirou fell silent. The hostility radiating off Saber in waves made it hard to disagree with that. Saber wanted to protect him. Tohsaka, or at least her Servant, had tried to kill him. He didn't think they'd be reconciling any time soon.
"Tell Sakura I hope she feels better." Rin said, exiting the room. The renewed silence was deafening.
A few days ago she was just the cute girl from school. Now we could end up killing each other.
"Saber..." Shirou said when he heard the front door close.
"Yes, Shirou?" The blonde asked, the tense air draining from her posture with Rin's exit.
"The Holy Grail War?" Shirou asked. "I don't care what the prize is. It's not worth this. The blood, and the death, and... and Tohsaka and I don't even know each other and we're at each other's throats. There's a sick girl in the other room, and I might end up having to kill her brother, one of my oldest friends. There's four other people I've never even met, and I might have to kill some of them too. No wish is worth all of this. None."
"Shirou, I-"
"I'm going to go check on Sakura." He said, standing to leave the room himself.
Saber, unsure of what else to do, sat in silence.
---------------------------------------------
Rin walked down the street towards her home, Archer invisibly by her side. "You placed it, right?" He asked.
"Of course. Before we ever walked in the door." Rin replied. "The gem is slipped into the lining of her coat. Unless she routinely stops to feel up every inch of her jacket she'll never notice it, and it should let me keep at least a bit of an eye on her even if she's inside another Magus's area of influence. I can't use it to check in too often or it will be noticed, but at least I'll know if anything major happens."
"How sweet."
"H-hey! It's just because she's close to Shinji and Emiya, that's all! I need every advantage I can get!" Rin said, blushing furiously. "If I'm going to have a shot at beating Emiya, I need to know as much as I can about him and his partner both! Sakura is just my... my spy, that's all! My pawn is what she is."
"Of course." Archer said, glad that she couldn't see his smirk while he was in astral form. "You're obviously not worried about her at all."
"... It's good that you recognize that." Rin said. Yes, she had heard the blatant sarcasm in his tone. She was choosing to ignore it, because...
Well, maybe she was a little bit worried. Not much!
At least Archer realized that teasing her had its limits, because he switched back to business talk. "And Ryudou Temple?"
"... Emiya isn't much of a liar, so as much as I hate to admit it he was probably telling the truth, or at least the truth as he knows it. Maybe there really is a Master up there."
"So we're planning to investigate? Tonight? My wounds are healed for the most part. I'm certainly up to fighting strength, and we can assume that if the Master on the mountain were Berserker's, he wouldn't have said anything and endangered his partner. We could attack."
"... Not tonight. Whoever it is, this Servant is using some kind of trick to steal souls all the way from the Temple, and I haven't figured out how. I don't like going into a situation with this many unknowns." Rin said. "Besides, whoever it is... oh, that's right, you suspected Caster, didn't you? Well, Caster hasn't killed anyone yet at all. It's not like one night to plan will make a huge difference, right?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night had fallen. The Material was dormant.
It was time to begin.
Zouken Matou examined the ritual chamber in satisfaction. The summoning circle was perfect; human blood, as was typical and appropriate. The worms that bred in the recesses of the dank crypt were already hard at work devouring the sacrifice that had provided this blood; Zouken briefly inclined his head toward the rapidly vanishing corpse. In truth, he couldn't even remember if the meat had been male or female, much less what it had looked like before he'd slit its throat, drained what he'd needed, and thrown the remainders to his pets. Still, he felt that offering it a tiny show of acknowledgment was only fair; in its own small way, it had contributed to his designs, after all. With some effort (whatever the body, those old bones ached unbelievably), Zouken sat in the center of the circle and began the incantation.
"Ye first, O silver, O iron
O stone of the foundation, O Archduke of the Contract.
Let the descending winds be as a wall
Let the gates in all directions be shut, rising above the crown, and let the three-forked roads to the Kingdom revolve.
Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut. Shut.
Five perfections for each repetition.
And now, let the filled sigils be annihilated in my stead."
The half-dried circle surrounding the old Magus changed with his words; first becoming the brilliant crimson it had been when still freshly painted, then going further, igniting in brilliant scarlet light as his ancient Magic Circuits channeled the dark powers he invoked. An ordinary summoning on the Holy Grail was typically not terribly difficult; the Great Grail did most of the work. But Zouken was cheating, and the power required for what he attempted was beyond human means. Luckily, Zouken was willing to engage in any number of inhuman acts. Drawing the circle in blood was simply standard, but there had been a reason that Zouken had gone the extra length for a full human sacrifice, captured a soul to burn for power...
"Let thy body rest under my dominion, let my fate rest in thy black hand.
If thou submittest to the call of the Holy Grail and if thou wilt obey this mind, this reason, then thou shalt respond.
I make my oath here.
I am that person who is to become the virtue of all Heavens.
I am that person who is covered with the evil of all Hades.
Thou seven heavens, clad in a trinity of words,
come past thy restraining rings, and be thou the hands that grant eternity."
The circle of blood around the ancient creature, already glowing, exploded in a burst of scarlet light that filled the hideous chamber and sent the worms scrambling for their holes, gibbering in terror. The corpse of the sacrifice was now little more than discarded clothing and hair they'd not found appetizing.
Judging by what was left of the outfit, it had apparently been a male, Zouken noted.
The first spell was complete; the invitation had been given. But the rules had been broken by more than just Zouken. His Assassin had been invited, yes, but the path it had to walk down was obstructed by Caster's work. The next step was to deal with this.
Reaching out with his mind, he touched the center of his essence, his greatest familiar, implanted deep in the heart of his ultimate weapon. He thought a single word.
Awaken.
And the shadows began to move.
----------------------------------------------
The tiniest little change can rock the world.
For instance, had Shirou Emiya spent less time with the charming white-haired girl who clung to him like Velcro anytime he tried to leave, he might have gotten dinner finished on time.
And he and Saber might have been able to make sure Sakura was resting comfortably early enough to get some actual planning done, and gone on patrol that night.
And since they were not as cautious as Rin Tohsaka, they might have arrived at Ryudou Temple in time to see at least the ending of the events that took place there. And if that had happened, well... things might have been very different.
But those little changes had happened. Shirou and Saber spent the night in. Rin and Archer did not investigate the Temple that day. And the nightmare on the sacred mountain went unseen and unknown, for the moment.
It began with Assassin.
The gatekeeper stood silent, exercising his only duty, when the attack struck. It was over almost before it began; Assassin never truly understood what happened. Something... he could think of no other description beyond 'thing'... had approached the temple gates, and before he could even defend himself he was being torn apart from the inside out. His sword clattered uselessly down the steps as shadows from outside his body tore their way in, and shadows within his body ripped their way out…
All that the man who was not truly Sasaki Koujiro could do was smile his contempt to his killer as he died, and with his death the gate was finally opened for Zouken's summoning. Assassin died, and the true Assassin was born, the flesh and blood of his unwilling 'father' becoming the abomination's first meal.
The pale moonlight that shone down beautifully on the temple did not suit the grisly scene. A new moon would have been better, or a cloudy night with not even a star in the sky. But nature is rarely so accommodating.
Caster was next. The Assassin slid unseen through the halls of the temple, death following quite literally on his heels as something twisted and horrible and hungry slithered in his wake. He made no sound, he left no trace; not even the dust was disturbed. The trade of the Assassin was stealth, and in that trade no man was his equal... though to his discomfort, he was matched or perhaps even exceeded by the creature that followed his path; even knowing exactly where it was, he could barely feel its presence. When it went on the attack, the aura of sheer wrongness it exuded was almost tangible, but when it sought to hide, even he would be hard pressed to find it... more proof, as if such was neeed that this thing he had been paired with was a monster even by the standards of a being as inhuman as he? He knew better than anyone what sort of creature he was; twisted, cannibalistic, one who had abandoned Allah and been abandoned in turn. And yet the mindless, devouring thing made even him slightly uneasy, although he knew instinctively that it would not harm him so long as he showed no hostility and did not touch it. They were alike, both sins against the world. It would not see him as food unless he gave it reason to.
Still, he found it off-putting, and that was saying something.
Ah, well, there were more important matters to attend to. He could sense the witch, smell her on the air. She crouched in the center of her Temple, like a spider in its web. By now, she would have sensed that something was wrong, her guard dog's command seals having faded. Would she go to the gate to determine why, or retreat deeper into her sanctum? It mattered little, beyond determining the best position to strike from. The spider's web had caught something far too lethal for it to consume, this time...
-------------------------------------------
Caster opened her eyes. "We are under attack."
Souichiro Kuzuki nodded once, rising to his feet. He had not noticed anything amiss, but Caster had senses that even someone with his training could not match.
"Assassin is gone, so we can assume the Temple has been breached." She continued. "I can't detect them for some reason, but they have to... ah. Of course. Someone's closed the loophole I exploited." That was not good, not good at all. Someone must have used the false Assassin she'd called as a Summoning catalyst, and that meant a Servant Assassin was in her Temple, acting with unknown powers and serving under an unknown Master. She wasn't sure how this was possible; she couldn't picture a modern Magus having a better understanding of the Servant system than she, but such would be required to weave a spell of that nature. It was a cause for concern, certainly.
Still, she was in the heart of her territory, the height of her power. So long as she did not panic, Assassin was no real threat to her. Waving her hand in her Master's direction, she invoked the body enhancements that would allow him to battle beside her. "Master, stay close to me. I'll prepare a defe-"
Like lightning, Kuzuki's hand snapped past her head, missing her cheek by scant millimeters. She heard the impact, a bizarre soft thud unlike anything in nature as sharpened metal struck flesh and bounced off harmlessly, Kuzuki's fist deflecting the throwing knife before it could strike the back of Caster's neck.
She was impressed, honestly. Assassin's stealth skills were greater than she had expected; he'd managed to approach so closely, and she'd not sensed a thing until the instant he'd launched his attack.
Still that had been his one and only chance. She turned her eyes upward to the rafters over the great hall, seeing now the white skull outlined against the ceiling. She raised her hand, violet flame bursting into existence in her palm as magic gathered.
The black figure fell from the ceiling like a spider descending on a thread, smooth and inhuman. Caster's magical bolt missed, crushing the rafter the creature had been perched on but missing the Servant itself. A ragged cloak obscured the true features of the body, but the thing was thoroughly deformed; joints that bent in the wrong way. Limbs that were too long. Jet-black skin, and a face obscured by a grinning skull mask.
Assassin landed on all fours, catlike, but the movement as it attacked was far from feline grace; more the twisted skitterings of a scorpion. It leapt backwards, more of those night-black throwing daggers leaping from its fingers aimed for her heart, neck, femoral artery, liver. Lethal targets all... if even one knife had been allowed to hit. With a wave of her arm, an invisible wall materialized between Caster and the incoming projectiles, deflecting them more effectively than steel plate armor. A second gesture brought forth another killing blast of magic, which the shockingly quick Assassin managed once more to dodge, leaping over the burning light...
... and landing in the clutches of one of the most deadly hand-to-hand combatants in the War, Servants included. While Assassin was in the air, unable to alter its course, Kuzuki dashed forward to intercept its landing point, acting in his usual capacity as the Master/Servant team's frontline defense. His fists strengthened by her magic, the 'teacher' stepped into Assassin, bringing his right hand in held flat to impale the thing through the throat.
The blow struck, but the Servant seemed largely unaffected and swung its clublike arm at an impossible angle. Kuzuki snapped his head back, letting the limb breeze past mere millimeters from his nose, and brought both his hands in at curving, hooked blows that slipped past the black Servant's guard and struck its chest. He felt bone break beneath his fingertips, but once again Assassin seemed to not notice the pain; was he drugged? It would not be the first time Kuzuki had fought someone using that trick.
A throwing dagger clenched between its fingers, Assassin swung its more humanlike arm upward in an arc. Kuzuki saw the blow coming, but midjudged it nontheless; unused to the opponent's strange movements and oddly-proportioned body, he mistimed his dodge and felt the edge of the blade trace a hot line along the side of his face, knocking off his glasses.
This was a problem... his fighting style depended on surprising his opponent with unorthodox movements, yet he himself was having trouble predicting how this creature would do anything. Further, it ignored his blows, seeming to feel no pain at all.
Well. He wasn't used to fighting with a partner, yet, but he was pragmatic enough to know this was a situation when it would be useful.
Kuzuki feinted right, making as if to knock his opponent's limb out of the way and bring his elbow in at the thing's face, but instead pivoted on his heel and propelled himself backwards low to the ground, sliding back. Caught flat-footed, Assassin guarded for a physical blow that never came... and was thus unable to dodge the blast of magical force that Caster sent flying through the space Kuzuki had been less than a second previous.
Drugs or no, it was safe to say that Assassin felt that one as the violet energy ripped through his body, throwing him across the entry hall to slam into a support pillar with bone-crushing force. The inhuman thing spasmed like a hooked fish as Caster approached, drawing Rule Breaker, her Noble Phantasm. Able to nullify any and all magical contracts, it was an ideal weapon for dealing with Servants... rather than destroy them, she could force her own contract on them, make them her own. Best not to waste valuable combat resources, after all.
She smirked at the broken Assassin, still smoking on the ground and barely even appearing to breathe. "Not as good as my last dog, but you'll do. Did you think it would be that easy to end my life, ragged thing?"
From beneath the skull mask, a strange, sibilant hissing emerged. It took Caster a moment to realize what it was, it sounded so inhuman.
Laughter.
"You were NEver the REal targET. And I was neVER the kILLer." The black creature said, it's voice as bizarre and inhuman as its appearance, lending strange emphasis to the words, syllables they should not have had.
Caster's eyes widened. "Souichiro-sa-" she began, turning to her Master...
... just in time to see the end.
It came from nowhere; even Kuzuki didn't sense it. The bubbling pool of inky blackness simply materialized around his feet, leaving him no time nor ability to dodge. Rather than consume, the vile tar appeared to flow into him, seeping through his clothes and skin.
Corroding his soul...! Whatever that black, shapeless thing was, it was eating her lover from the inside out!
Caster leapt forward, Rule Breaker in hand. It was a slim chance, but possibly she could dispel whatever connection that... gods, what is it? Just looking at it makes my mind hurt... that thing had made to her Master's soul. She didn't know if it would work or not, but it was the only meager chance she had left.
And it was exactly what Zouken had been hoping for. The old Magus prodded his weapon with a simple, psychic command. And Kuzuki's body was hurled forward.
Caster was not a warrior, not terribly skilled in the use of knives. She did not compensate in time. The magical dagger, intended only to prick the surface of his skin just enough to invoke the anti-magic effect, struck his chest and plunged into his heart up to the hilt.
Caster saw the light leave his eyes, personally. He had already been closer to dead than alive when she'd struck, but there was still something left of him. And as he looked into his shocked face, his own blood flowing freely over her knife hand, she saw no anger or sadness in his eyes. Rather, he did something he had never done: he smiled at her. With his last breath, he smiled, showing her that her efforts had been successful. He had died as himself.
It was the worst possible thing he could have done, Caster thought, her mind overwhelmed at the realization of what she had just done. Saved him and lost him, all in the space of a second.
Caster held him close, bearing him down to the floor. The weight of the... the body... was nothing to her, it was just that her knees were too weak to stand. Souichiro...sama...
He was... I... no.
No, no, no. Please, every god there ever was, please no... She thought, holding the still-warm body close, unconcerned with the blood drenching her robes. Please, please no. I'm sorry, Souichiro, I'm sorry, please, no, don't leave me...
How had this happened? How had she been outmaneuvered so thoroughly when everything had been going so perfectly? In a single moment of black terror, the entire situation had been turned around on her.
Her Master was gone. Assassin had vanished as well, faded from view to hide in some dark corner; at the moment, Caster couldn't have cared less about him anyway. All that remained was...
The thing. The horrid thing that had been truly responsible for this, it was still there. She couldn't see it, but it was no longer hiding from her, not anymore. It was all around her, freely and openly projecting its twisted, black aura.
She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. All she could do was helplessly clutch her Noble Phantasm like a lifeline and pray for survival. She could feel the encroaching darkness. From within as the loss of her contract already began to fatigue her, from without as something hungry and horrible circled her like a shark that had scented blood.
Something. Anything. Anything at all to distract that painful and utterly wrong aura of chilling malevolence that shocked even her. Please, let anything at all come now, she would welcome even death at this point... just to get away from that sense of formless doom that filled the air of the desecrated temple.
Nothing came.
Painful, impossibly tense minutes passed as Caster shuddered in grief and terror, unable to do anything but pray. And finally, that pervading hunger simply could no longer be controlled.
The darkness came from all around her, when the attack finally occurred. Flowing in through the windows, bubbling up through the floor, a twisted miasma that came from everywhere at once and clung to her robes like tar, melting into the skin beneath them like acid, burning through her magical defenses as though they did not exist. But more than the assault on her body, the moment the Shadow touched her skin... her mind...
hungry
so hungry
it's not enough, it's not enough
cold
lonely
please don't let me be alone
please
it hurt it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts
it's not enough
please
stay with me
feed me
please make it stop
It was incomprehensible, the worst possible assault for a Magus, normally so in-control of her own mind. A flood of madness and horror and pain and raw, shrieking loneliness so intense it chilled her to her soul, all running rampant through her brain without her consent or any response to her attempts to fight it off. This thing was not merely assaulting her physical form, it was laying waste to the territory of her soul, the most hideous indignity imaginable.
And as Caster was invaded and defiled by this obscene, twisted insanity... she had something of an epiphany.
Such pain. Such fear. Such hunger.
And so much power, power like nothing she had ever felt.
Dark powers were nothing new to Medea. And even this chill in her soul was not the most vile emotion she had felt in her bitter life. Even as the tide of darkness battered against her mind, she studied it, analyzed the composition, learned and adapted, saw the creature seeping into her and began to understand it.
Yes, this was a creature of darkness, but so was Caster, moreso now than ever before. Souichiro-sama was dead. Her chance at happiness was gone. Not a hint of anything remotely positive remained in her heart; all she had left was pain, and bitterness, and, of course revenge.
Yes. Medea was very familiar with revenge. It was comforting, like an old friend's hand on her shoulder. She couldn't be happy, but vengeance would bring satisfaction, at the very least.
Shhhhhhh... Caster replied to the chaos, projecting soothing emotions as best she could while trying to fight back her aching need to go mad at the feeling of the foreign material seeping into her body and soul. It's all right. You don't want to harm me...
it hurts
I will comfort you.
hunger
I will feed you as much as you need.
it's not enough
We'll find more.
so
so
so
so lonely.
It's all right... I will never leave your side. We will be together, and you won't have to be lonely anymore. Caster thought as the Shadow enveloped her. It was a force of corruption that would drive the greatest of heroes to despair, a thing of hunger and pain and sorrow.
Caster was not a hero. And Medea understood something of sorrow.
Such a tormented creature. Don't worry, I'm with you now. I will stay by your side for as long as you want... and once we know each other a bit better, perhaps you can do me a favor.
... ... ... stay with me...
Of course. Isn't that what friends are for?
The thick black substance covered the last inch of her body, leaving her a blackened silhouette. When the Shadow finally dispersed, Caster was simply gone.
And anyone who had seen the small, triumphant smile on her face as she was consumed would never have slept soundly again.
---------------------------------------
In the Ryudou Temple, Zouken Matou looked at the space where Caster and his weapon had been only moments before.
Not in person, of course. Misdirection was key; should the Masters realize the danger he represented, or the Overseer realize his involvement, they might unite against him. That would be inconvenient, until his plans had progressed a bit further. No, he observed through one of his familiars, a literal fly on the wall that had slipped through Caster's guard to observe the situation as it progressed.
That was not supposed to happen. Caster's Master was to die, leaving her without a contract. One of the other Masters would take advantage of her weakness before the night's end and cut her down, as was their wont. In the end, he would be left with his own Servant, one new addition to his Holy Grail, Caster's corpse to use how he wished, and whatever fool who did the final deed leaving under the impression that she had killed her own Master.
And yet, things had not gone at all according to plan. Caster was hardly trying to hide her presence at Ryudou, and he'd of course overheard the discussion between the Emiya boy and the Tohsaka girl through his connection to Sakura. They both knew of the Servant on the mountain, and he'd been certain that at least one of them would make the attempt. Saber, ideally, but either would do. He had even chosen to launch his attack to coincide with the patrol schedule that both had shown the previous night. Yet no Master had assaulted the mountain stronghold, and in their absence something very, very troublesome had happened.
His weapon, overcome by hunger and with nothing to distract it from Caster, had attacked without his orders.
Why? How? It shouldn't be capable of thought or independent action, at least not yet. Why had it reacted so strongly to Caster? Was its hunger greater than he'd anticipated, or was there some other reason for this strange behavior? Perhaps something about the Servant had resonated with it, or perhaps it was simply hungered more than he had suspected. But either way, this situation was not good. Not good at all.
"What HAS happENed? Why dID it take HER aLIve?" Assassin inquired, observing the scene with detached interest.
"...hide yourself. Remain in the Temple for now, I will begin construction of a boundary field to replace Caster's Temple. Stay within and await further orders." Zouken ordered before pulling his mind away from the familiar he'd been inhabiting.
He needed to think.
Back in the Temple, Assassin prepared to go into hiding. His contract was not formally recognized by a personal conversation, but Zouken was his Master and he would obey, for the mom-
Hmmm.
The Shadow had left the corpse of Souichiro Kuzuki behind when it had been dismissed. The man had, at the very least, moved like someone deadly from what little Assassin had seen. A Servant would be better, of course, but every little bit of nourishment helped.
Assassin leaned over the cooling body, saliva beginning to drip from beneath his mask.
You love me for it.
... you're lucky I find your personality endearing, that's all I have to say.You love me for it.
I love you too, honey.... you're lucky I find your personality endearing, that's all I have to say.
I am a big fan of your story, Moczo. I'm glad to see it being posted here! Seeing as Infinity updated recently is this next on your schedule?
Indeed; I'm working on the next chapter now, although progress is on the slow side. ^^;;;;
Not in public, dear. What will the neighbors think?I love you too, honey.
Same goes for me.... ;__;
STUPID WORK!
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
That's wonderful to hear! I'm looking forward to the next chapter of it! I don't much mind waiting. Let it be ready, when it's ready!
That being said, if you wouldn't mind my asking, what about Ready, Sette, Go? I must admit that I find that story hilarious.
On hiatus, until:
A) Something else is finished and cleared off my plate.
or
B) I'm struck by a sudden wave of inspiration.
Well, you are Rain's daddy, after all.Not in public, dear. What will the neighbors think?
Damn! Oh well. Such things happen. If you ever find the time or inspiration to continue it, I'll be looking forward to it as well. I n the meantime, the currently published chapters are still able to get a grin out of me and Chaos Theory and Infinity are fantabulous so I'm quite content.
Yeah, Infinity updated, didn't it?
*Goes to read*
Aww yeah.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
And you're Chaos Theory's mama, so I guess some displays of affection are appropriate here around the kids.Well, you are Rain's daddy, after all.
So there.And you're Chaos Theory's mama, so I guess some displays of affection are appropriate here around the kids.
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