Riven's Drabble Vault

[Aiden]

...

Oh my god.

Yes.

[Flere821]

Hilarious work, Riven Though remind me again, why is Tohno sleeping with Arc a bad thing (in Tohno's view)? I might have missed his reasoning (beyond the stalker thing).

[Aiden]

I think the mania and stalking was considered enough.

Also the lack of oxygen.

[Olive]

*Nods* You raise good points there. Tohno should definitely stop seeing her, and go hook up with the nun or his sister again.

[Aiden]

The lack of oxygen just highlights the purity of her affections.

[Riven]

Ryougi was having too much fun, as usual.
Very nice to see some of your work again, Riven.

Who says it's too much? :P

Hah. Their crazy college years continue.

So Arc is Shiki's crazy stalker here huh? What of the maids, Ciel, and his sister considering he's done it with them?

Also is it just me or can most of Shirou's comments here be read snarkily?

And will we get to see Mikiya and who was Shirou's old girlfriend?

Arc is...Arc. That's about as specific as I can get. Also, Shiki Tohno has had a lot of trysts. However, none of the girls from Tsukihime (excluding Arc) are among them yet. Remember that Shiki is an adopted child, so his sister doesn't necessarily mean Akiha.

Mikiya I'll get to...eventually. As for Shirou's old girlfriend, you'll probably see her next time. :P

Hilarious work, Riven Though remind me again, why is Tohno sleeping with Arc a bad thing (in Tohno's view)? I might have missed his reasoning (beyond the stalker thing).

Well...

I think the mania and stalking was considered enough.

Also the lack of oxygen.

Mostly this. It's mainly the fact that Arc is very, very possessive, so when she slept with him it was in a "Till death do us part, and everyone who tries to touch my man before then is dead" kind of way.

It's the unconditional commitment (that borders on obsession) she's intent on having that he's terrified of.

*Nods* You raise good points there. Tohno should definitely stop seeing her, and go hook up with the nun or his sister again.

He was honestly sorry about hooking up with his blood related sister, so he won't do that again. As for anyone else who wants a piece of Tohno...Arc may not be an all powerful true ancestor in this continuity, but she is still one strong willed young woman and the granddaughter of the university president. Good luck trying to get him now (and for him trying to get out for that matter)!

[Lycodrake]

Who says it's too much? :P

Mainly just Shirou.
And Aoko, probably, but Ryougi doesn't care about her opinion at all.
Shirou's opinion at least allows Ryougi to calmly ridicule him with a superior smirk and bask in the annoyance and snark she gets in reply.
She also likes his cooking.

But such is their friendship.

[SeiKeo]

Your Shiki R voice is slipping, yo.

“Oh, Manwhore Tohno, good timing. Why don’t you join Shirou’s team and make my wiping the floor with you losers a little more challenging. Maybe combined, the two of you can actually muster up enough skill to get some hits in. That, or you can see if two idiots together can fail harder than either idiot on his own.”

Taking the whole 'talking like a guy' thing a biiiiiiiiit too straight.

[Riven]

Your Shiki R voice is slipping, yo.

Taking the whole 'talking like a guy' thing a biiiiiiiiit too straight.

*Sigh* I was afraid of that. I was trying to go for a voice more reminiscent of SHIKI so as to give her relationship with her friends less of a male-female undertone and kind of cement that Shirou and Tohno really can't see her as a girl that much. I guess I might've taken a bit too far?

[SeiKeo]

*Sigh* I was afraid of that. I was trying to go for a voice more reminiscent of SHIKI so as to give her relationship with her friends less of a male-female undertone and kind of cement that Shirou and Tohno really can't see her as a girl that much. I guess I might've taken a bit too far?

I can see what you're going for, yeah - but IMO at least the pendulum swung towards her then becoming the sterotypical male voice of the group, it sort of sounds fratbro to me. Especially with the crazy atmosphere, she plays pretty well into operating as the straight man, since that's how most of her dialogue is written anyways, the parts that you typically see as being influenced as SHIKI the most are dismissive if anything.

Which of course isn't to say it should be serious, just not upfront humor. Deadpan, I think, is your friend.

[Sage of Eyes]

Damn tease...

[NewAgeOfPower]

My god, how did I miss this?

[Ergast]

^This. Also:

As for anyone else who wants a piece of Tohno...Arc may not be an all powerful true ancestor in this continuity, but she is still one strong willed young woman and the granddaughter of the university president. Good luck trying to get him now (and for him trying to get out for that matter)!

Since when Arc being on the top of the food chain has stopped the other girls from trying to get their Shiki quality time? To be more specific, since when it has stopped Ciel?

[Riven]

So once again I have returned in spite of many mitigating factors in my life. Now for a quick update on my state of affairs:

My beta's job is still trying to kill him, and although it has not yet succeeded to my knowledge, it has impeded his ability to do much else outside whatever it is that he does at work. This includes activities of a beta-y function. I have no idea when his job is going to let up, so until it does, that new chapter of my actual fic probably won't see the light of day. *Sadpanda*

I am however in the process of doing some minor revisions to the chapters that are already out and posting them on FF.net.

In other news, I recently have gotten myself Dynasty Warriors 8. It's fantastic and it ate up my free time like a locust plague. I then got some time off work to go take a small vacation to visit family. In hindsight, this was a bad idea for reasons I won't share. I should have just gone to Ireland again by myself.

But enough about me. This is a little idea that popped into my head some time ago but never really took shape until I was sitting at the airport in Narita. The crossover is kind of obscure, mainly because Dai Sato has got to be one of the most inaccessible writers in anime. However, despite that, I did like this series, and I felt that a small crossover with the Nasuverse might actually be kind of interesting. Hope you guys enjoy.

Note: I own neither Fate/Stay Night nor Ergo Proxy. The only thing I own is my cat, although PETA disagrees with me on that.

Life After Gaea

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The incessant beeping of his alarm clock woke him as it did every morning.
Half asleep, somewhere between annoyance and resignation, the man whom most people in this city knew as ‘Shirou Emiya’ reached over and smacked the button on top of the infernal machine to shut it up. He probably hit it a bit harder than recommendable if he didn’t want to be buying a new alarm clock every week, but he could afford it.

“After all, if I run low, I can always increase production,” he thought to himself.

The instant he realized what had just crossed his mind however, he groaned in disgust.

“I must have been here for far too long if I can think things like that so casually,” he sighed, sitting up in bed. He covered his face with his hand and tried to clear the fog out of his mind. “Well, at least I’m awake now” he sighed.

With a snap of his fingers, the opacity-controlled glass of his window suddenly cleared up and let the morning light into his face. That is to say that the entire room suddenly lit up like a sports stadium at the start of a game. It paid to have walls that were basically all window, especially when they faced the sunrise every day.

The sunrises in this city were beautiful if he didn’t say so himself.

“At least they would be if they were real.”

‘Shirou’ turned to face his clock once his eyes adjusted to the light. “Seven thirty-five? Looks like I slept in again,” he mused. With a grunt, he turned around completely and faced the entrance to the room. “Or rather, someone let me sleep in.”

The figure waiting patiently at the door didn’t even so much as flinch at the accusation. “You’ve recently indicated that your lack of sleep has made your mood less tolerable. I would have asked to change your alarm more formally, but due to the mood I mentioned, you did not seem keen on listening,” said a cold, emotionless female voice.

“I keep my alarm set for six AM for a reason. In the future, don’t make any changes to my schedule without my permission,” he replied.

The flat tone the other voice was using didn’t change at this rebuke. “I made sure that your itinerary would remain unchanged. As I recall, you don’t have any important appointments for today…or for the rest of this week for that matter.”

“It’s the principle of the thing,” he said in annoyance. “I don’t want to waste my day lying around in bed.”

“Once again, I don’t see the point of your concern. It hardly makes a difference when you rise and when you sleep. After all, this city bends to your plans, not the other way around.”

‘Shirou’ grit his teeth in frustration. Honestly, what was the point of keeping her around if she caused him more anxiety? For the millionth time in what seemed like forever, he wondered if he should send her back. It wasn’t like it was a death sentence. In fact, it might actually make her happier if she was with someone who she found less aggravatingly illogical.

Furthermore, he didn’t exactly depend on her as much as other people would have. More specifically, he barely depended on her at all for anything of major importance. Mostly she was there to deal with people he didn’t want to talk to, provide decent excuses for him to get out of situations that he didn’t want to be in, and keep him updated on everything in the city that he couldn’t see himself. If he actually tried, he bet he could probably cover all of that on his own, so why didn’t he…

He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and turned around.

“Listen, Altria, I was thinking that maybe it’s time…”

Suddenly, he stopped short, as he always did whenever he got around to trying to make this particular suggestion. That’s because he had opened his eyes and looked at the figure standing at the door as the sun finally graced her face.
She was a head shorter than him, quite a bit slimmer, and several shades paler. Her grey suit and slacks hugged her form just enough to draw attention to her figure, but were loose enough to not look uncomfortable. Statuesque in her stance, she barely so much as twitched in response to his unfinished statement, even though she could probably discern what it was he was going to say. All of this combined made her look like a bodyguard, even though he hardly required one.

But what really killed him was her face.

For a split second, he saw the same emerald eyes, the same bun of golden hair, the same strong, yet angelically warm face.

“Every single time…” he thought to himself.

Just as quickly as it had come though, it vanished, replaced by icy blue eyes, bob cut blonde hair, and an expressionless mask staring him down.

“Time for what?” she asked as if she didn’t already know.

“…Looks like I’m just as weak today as I always am,” he sighed to himself. “Nothing, forget I said anything.”

“Very well” Altria said calmly.

“She even has her voice, but none of her spirit.” Again, ‘Shirou’ could not help but meditate on how similar the two were. It was like fate was trying to crush him under the weight of his own past. Not that it hadn’t already succeeded in dealing a huge amount of damage to him already. At this point his entire reason for being alive anymore was looking like a twisted game where someone was trying to see how long he would write in the pit of Hell until he succumbed to some kind of despair-induced abyss.

So far, he had no plans of satisfying whoever that person was.

He walked over to the closet and reached for his clothes, trying to shake off his daily dose of existential confusion and self-doubt, when he remembered something important.

“Altria, is there any part of my body that seems…abnormal?” he asked her.

She turned her head and examined him without a single change in expression. “Your right hand is darker than the rest of your body, and several streaks of white are running through your hair.”

Sighing, he looked down at the offending limb. Sure enough, it looked as if someone had dunked it in a can full of paint that was a few shades off his otherwise normal skin color. Closer inspection revealed that it was also coarser and stronger than his other hand as well.

“It looks abnormal,” he said to himself. “Ironic that it’s the real me.”

With a single second of concentration, his hand shifted form until it was the same color as the rest of his arm and was virtually indistinguishable from its opposite.

“Hmpf. I wish that I didn’t have to keep checking this every time I wake up,” ‘Shirou’ said as he picked up his clothes. He was going plain today. White shirt, brown jacket, and brown trousers. Just another Fellow Citizen on the streets of the city.

That’s all people would see. That’s all they needed to see. That’s all they ever wanted to see.

“Altria, change into something a bit more inconspicuous. We’re just going around to the usual place today.”

If Altria found this plan undesirable, she made no outward indication of it. “As you wish, ‘Shirou,’” she acknowledged.

In a flash, she had packed her suit away and was flipping through the contents her closet, all six outfits of it.

“Is this acceptable?” she asked, holding up a dark blue ensemble of denim.

“Yes,” ‘Shirou’ replied without so much as a second glance. She asked that question of everything she ever wore.

As she began changing at lightning pace however, he stole a quick glance at her body.

It was a glance not for any romantic or sexual purposes, but one made in a desperate, longing hope that somehow there would be nothing there. Just once, he wanted it just to be able to see a real woman, to believe that the nightmare was finally ending. Every single time, he was denied, but he held out hope. Someday, by some miracle, he wanted the impossible to become truth.

His eyes locked onto the back of her neck, where the vertebrae on a human would normally poke out.

A metal socket, as large as a golf ball, glinted back at him in the morning light.

“I guess that some things are really pointless after all…” he sighed to himself. “No matter how much I asked, it was impossible to remove all traces of the internal machinery from her exterior. The engineers looked so proud as they listed off her functions when I first got her, but the one thing I wanted for her more than anything else was evidently ‘impossible.’ Hmpf, so much for the miracles of science. They couldn’t give one girl a proper human appearance.”

‘Shirou’ looked at the hand which appearance he had just changed without so much as a hint of effort. “It’s not like I have room to talk though. Even I, whose power in this city is near absolute, cannot make her whole. Just another promise of power that ends up being pointless and empty in my time, Alaya.”

He spared himself a cynical smirk at his own impotency.

“Such a useless thing…”

“‘Shirou!’”

“Hunh!?” he said, Altria’s voice snapping him out of his stupor.

“Is this look appropriate?” she asked, her emerald eyes glinting in the morn—

There it was again. That one second where she switched places with Altria. Truly his time on this planet had grown long indeed if he could mistake the radiance of a woman who reigned as a king without equal for the presence of a machine in the form of a woman. Yet every day, without fail, there would be a time when he honestly couldn’t tell the difference. Maybe some part of him wanted to believe that the King of Knights could be reborn as an AutoReiv.

It was far more likely that he was just going insane from this never ending pageant of miseries.

“It’s fine, Altria. Just make sure that you don’t forget anything in your other outfit,” he replied, shaking his head.

Altria didn’t budge. “’Shirou,’ you are well aware that the odds of such a mishap occurring are—“

“Oh for heaven’s sake it’s just a check I perform out of habit!” he snapped. “I don’t need to know any numbers, so will you just shut up about probability for once!”

“Very well, ‘Shirou,’” she said in her cold, mechanical tone. “Do you require any other adjustments?”

There. There it was again. She just took it. He had just verbally assaulted her for something so trivial that he felt bad about it the moment the words left his lips. Any normal person would have at least sounded hurt or angry at such treatment. She responded to it with the same voice she always spoke with. It sounded just human enough to make him expect some emotion, but there was none to be found. All he got were words without any soul.

“No, we’re fine,” he sighed, closing his closet and straightening his jacket. “Come on then. I want to check on the AutoReiv maintenance facility after we spend some time at the usual place, and since you’ve seen fit to let me waste a good deal of the morning, we need to make up for lost time.”

He strode to the front door briskly. However, as soon has his hand touched the knob, he realized that the presence of his companion wasn’t where it should be. Sighing, he let his arm fall to his side.

“Altria, did you hear me?” he asked impatiently, looking over his shoulder. “I said we’re going—“

What he saw however, caused him to forget his rebuke.

Altria was staring at him. No, this wasn’t something completely out of the ordinary. Quite the opposite, really. If she wasn’t staring at him, she was usually staring at something in the background that was completely inconsequential. Blank stares were kind of a specialty of hers, something programmed into her behavior as a kind of default position whenever there wasn’t anything else of importance happening. In another life, he’d have felt a little creeped out by someone constantly eyeing him, but several lifespans worth of her company had made him grow a little used to her gaze

However, for some reason, this stare was different. She wasn’t her normal, statuesque self. Instead, the look on her face suggested she had just discovered something that she couldn’t comprehend and was trying to decipher it. Her head was tilted to the right, her mouth was slightly open, and her eyes seemed to be peering deeply into something. Strangest of all, one of her hands was placed right over her neck as if checking for a pulse. For someone who was supposed to be completely under the thrall of the city’s main computer, this response seemed extremely … unnatural. ‘Shirou’ had seen every single one of her responses to new situations. They were all in the VR manual that came with her. Needless to say, this wasn’t one of them. This was baffling. This was irrational. This was flawed.

This was human.

“Altria? Are you ok?” he asked, moving towards her. “Is something the matter?”

Altria made no response, merely continuing to gaze at the air above his left shoulder.

“Altria!” he called. “Do you see something? Did Elyon tell you anything? Is there a problem in the city?”

That was the one problem with linking all the city’s automatons to a central hub. If Elyon encountered a problem that it couldn’t fix with what it knew, there was always the chance that it might take down the functions of everything networked to it while trying to formulate a new solution. Of course, if Elyon was having difficulties with something, then their problems were about to get a lot worse than just Altria acting strange.

‘Shirou’ grabbed her by the shoulders and shook desperately. When that didn’t even make her move her gaze, he resorted to brute force. “Command override! Passcode: 16E-95Y! Reset to prior—“

“Your hair,” she said.

“Hunh? What did you say?” ‘Shirou’ asked, forgetting what he was doing.

Her face was once again as blank as her body stiff. There was no trace of concern or surprise in her voice. It was as if the past minute hadn’t happened.

“You still have white streaks in your hair,” she elaborated flatly.

At her words, ‘Shirou’ turned towards the mirror on the wall. Indeed, he had apparently forgotten to fix the discoloration in his hair after he had finished with his hand. Right now he looked like some kind of tropical bird with flares of white shooting out of his otherwise red head in odd patterns.

With a sigh of both relief and exasperation, he let go of Altria’s shoulders and concentrated briefly. Within seconds, his head looked as naturally red as it had been in an age long past.

“Is that what you were looking at so intently?” he chuckled as he turned back towards the door.

“I do not understand the question,” Altria responded. “I gave you a cursory glance as you often forget to maintain your appearance on these excursions. Aside from your hair, I found no causes for concern and as such, reported my findings.”

‘Shirou’ rolled his neck to relieve what was left of the tension in his body. “If you say so. Now hurry up! We’ve got a busy day ahead of us, and we’re already behind schedule.”

“I disagree with your assessment,” Altria stated as she moved towards the door as well. “Your inability to form an itinerary ahead of schedule leaves us with vast quantities of time during the day where we must decide on a course of action. Therefore there is little need to—“

“Just give it a rest already and get over here!” said ‘Shirou,’ grinning. “I think it would be far easier on you if you just go along with what I say instead of pointing out the unimportant stuff.”

If Altria was human, this is probably where she would have sighed and rubbed her temples in exasperation before berating him for being so insufferable.

Instead, she wordlessly followed him out the door and into the city.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Fellow citizens! The time is now to consume. Why skimp, when you deserve more? Fellow citizens! Do your part, and make waste. Life is easier when you lighten the load. Fellow citizens! The time is…”

“My god is that thing annoying,” grumbled ‘Shirou.’ “How these people are supposed to be productive in their daily lives with Elyon blasting this crap at them twenty four – seven is beyond me.”

“The most likely explanation is that the population has learned to merely accept the instructions in the broadcast, freeing them from the cognitive burden of constantly disagreeing with it. Then, it merely reinforces what has already been agreed upon, which allows them to ignore it,” Altria hypothesized.

“…Thanks. If I have any other questions that I don’t want answered, I’ll be sure you’re the first one to know,” ‘Shirou’ sighed.

“Very well,” Altria replied. ‘Shirou’ could almost swear he detected a hint of smugness in her voice.

Other people might have taken some offense to the comment that basically derided them as sheep. However, despite the central square being immensely crowded in the morning rush, nobody was in earshot. This was probably because while the majority of the populace was on the ground, ‘Shirou’ and Altria were quite a few stories above it, sitting on the normally inaccessible ledge of the central square’s clocktower.

‘Shirou’ leaned back onto the red brick wall and put his hands behind his head. “This is one of the few administrative privileges I enjoy,” he said, “unlimited access to all areas of the city.”

“That privilege is meant for you to oversee the condition of all major facilities and systems, not for you to sightsee,” Altria pointed out.

“Heh,” ‘Shirou’ laughed, “and what’s to stop me? The words they spoke to me when I awoke were, ‘You are to be a god to them.’ If that’s the case, what’s to stop this god from taking in the sights of his domain?”

“Your duties as said god,” Altria responded.

“And what might those be?” ‘Shirou’ asked, spreading his arms and showing a cynical smile. “Am I to lord over every aspect of civilization? Shall I decide the composition of their water? Is my hand to be the basis of their system of measurement? Maybe they’d have to come to me to ask for the rights to receive a child? Or do they want to know what they should have for lunch?”

Altria didn’t respond. She didn’t need to.

“Hah! Of course there’s nothing for me to do. If there was, then what was the point of them creating Elyon or even the AutoReivs for that matter?” he asked, laughing a bit. “They were so helpful as to give me a computer and a legion of automatons to carry out most major functions. Questions that require my input come up in what, every six months? A year? No, even then conclave would have carried out some plan, even if it was ‘flawed.’ Even the creators, in all their arrogance and stupidity, can’t have actually believed they created a divine being worthy of worship. They knew what I was. They knew where I came from. In the end, they needed us to be gods for two reasons and two reasons only.”

‘Shirou’ sat up straight again and reached his hand out towards the dawning light. From his point of view, it looked as if he was holding the sun in his palm.

“To breathe life into this city…”

Then, he clenched his hand into a fist as if crushing the sun in his grasp.

“…and to snuff it out when the time came.”

His grip became tighter and tighter until blood started flowing from his palm.

“Just a creator and destroyer. That’s all they wanted. That’s all they needed,” he growled. “Tch!”

He flicked his arm away in disgust, already feeling his Amrita Cells regenerating. Damn things. As if this charade wasn’t pretentious enough, they had to make him virtually immortal as well. He turned towards Altria with the intention of asking her what she thought, only to find that he had accidentally spattered her face with his blood.

“Sorry about that,” he sighed.

Altria made no response except to wipe away a few drops that had fallen around her eyes. However, ‘Shirou’ could almost swear that her pupils had somehow grown more distant, losing some of their cold luster in the process. It might just be his mind trying to interpose fantasy and reality again, but for some reason, the flecks of red on her skin made her seem more human than ever.

He stood up, balancing delicately on the edge of the ledge. The artificial glow of the rising sun felt cold to him for some reason.

“They let me choose the name, you know,” he said, staring at the orb of projected light in the distance.

Altria looked at him blankly. “What name?” she asked.

“The name for the dome, for the city,” he clarified. “They said that I could name it anything I wanted. ‘Choose wisely,’ they said, ‘for this shall be your world from now until we return.’ Overly pretentious perhaps, but then again, it was sound advice.”

“So you chose…”

“Yes, do you know what this city’s name means?”

There was a brief pause where Altria’s eyes lit up with the result of her search program. She was connected to the city’s central database, which housed virtually all knowledge that anyone among humanity retained, so finding it wouldn’t be a problem. Still, it would have been nice if she knew it offhand. The chances were nonexistent, but somewhere deep down, he had been hoping for a different answer than the standard definition that Elyon would provide her.

“Avalon,” she started.

The tension in his body dissipated. “Yes, Avalon,” he confirmed.

“A fictional island in the western seas where King Arthur and other heroes of Celtic myth were said to have been carried at the end of their lives,” she stated.

He couldn’t help but smirk at that. “Fictional, eh? A myth they say?” he scoffed. “Ah well, I guess that that’s all it really has to be to them after all.”

Altria closed the search program and looked at him. “Was there some other significance I should be aware of?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Not expressly. I was just wondering what you thought of it.”

“It could be deemed fitting by your human standards. This is, after all, one of the last refuges of human civilization among a desolate and dead Earth. It is possible to view this place as a golden paradise where—“

“It’s ironic.”

“My definition of irony does not lend itself to this particular occasion,” Altria responded.

‘Shirou’ leaned back on the wall. “It wouldn’t. Not unless you could see things from where I stand.”

“I do not understand.”

Looking up at the apex of the dome, ‘Shirou’ explained, “Avalon. The people. You. Me. It’s all the same.”

“There is no way one could view the world and say that I am the same as you,” Altria stated bluntly.

“No, there is,” ‘Shirou sighed, looking down at the city. “I initially thought that I named this city Avalon because I wanted to fool myself into thinking that I was there, that my long service was over and that I was finally free from my curse. I wanted to think that I would be with her again.”

Below them, the city bustled with its usual traffic. People went to work. AutoReivs and other machines performed their assigned tasks. Around them, Elyon constantly monitored and transcribed every little detail, making adjustments where necessary. Not one of them had any idea what their real role in all of this was.

“Now I think that it might have been a reminder to myself, a reminder about who I am,” he said. “This whole city is a replacement. It’s a replacement for human civilization, which has long left this planet. The people are replacements for humanity, who went with it.”

He looked at the hand which he had cut with his nails. Right after he did so, there were four deep incisions across his palm. Now, it was as smooth as a newborn’s.

“And then there’s me. I’m a replacement for the planet that once gave them life. They killed it, so they needed to bring forth something to take its place. Through some profanity of science and magic, they succeeded in doing so. Now, I’m stuck here, waiting for them to come back and see the results of their labors,” he mused, turning his gaze to the sky once more.

For a moment, Altria was silent, merely staring out across the city as she did every time he brought her up here to talk about whatever was on his mind. Then, she stood and looked up as well.

“So, do you curse your status as a god?” she asked.

“Hmpf,” ‘Shirou’ scoffed, “still with the godhood?”

Without warning, his entire body changed.

His skin turned to the color of dull iron, his hair turned white, and his eyes turned from gold to grey. More striking was the fact that he got a few inches taller and suddenly put on significant amounts of muscle. Where he once had fingernails, there were now bony protrusions that looked akin to talons. Everything on his body got coarser and more savage. The most startling thing though, was a white, patterned mask that covered half his face.

Gone was a good natured, if mysterious young man that some in the city knew to be ‘Shirou Emiya.’ What remained was the terrifying image of something that was far past human.

“Is this the image of a god!?” he demanded. “If those people down there saw me, would I be an object of worship!? Do you think that when the creators succeeded in dragging me into this form, they said ‘We have created a god!’ or do you think that from the moment they started on their endeavors, they knew that that wasn’t supposed to be the goal at all!?”

Altria stayed silent.

“No. They knew exactly what they were making. They needed a replacement, and they got one. A spare. A stand in. A substitute. An alternate.”

“You are to be a god to them, Proxy Nine.”

“… A Proxy.”

The word seemed to reverberate through the air despite how quietly he had spoken it. A chill rippled down his spine the moment he realized his admission. It was as if every part of his mind despised the thought so much that the very mention of it was anathema. That seemed to be a trend for him, lives—or maybe unlives—that he hated living.

“And in the end, I, like this city, am supposed to quietly vanish once the true sun rises again,” he said, letting his form slowly meld back to its acceptable, unimpressive form. “That at least is fitting. As soon as the true inhabitants of this world return to claim it, those of us who are merely their temporary tenants are engulfed in the very flame that they love so much. The light sweeping away the darkness so to speak. Once the truth dawns, all the lies just burn up before it.”

He spat.

“How disgustingly poetic.”

For a moment, ‘Shirou’ could almost see the coming end.

The clouds would part, after ages of hanging in the sky above the dome. They were a prison now, to be sure, but also a shield. Those who now lived on the Earth could not survive the sun’s rays. Mankind, its AutoReivs, and even the Proxies would be engulfed by the same light that that sustained their forbearers. What did not die to the sun would be destroyed by the return of the creators, the true gods of this world. They would wipe out their progeny, shamelessly killing off those whose lives were never meant to have any real truth. In the end, everything he had cared for, everything he knew, would be wiped out as part of his mission.

“My purpose in life, my Raison D’etre, is to watch the things I have worked for be destroyed by those who created me.”

As he stood there, trying to make sense of the future, Altria quietly looked at her right hand. Feeling her wrist with two fingers on her opposite hand, she closed her eyes and listened.

… She listened for quite some time.

A few minutes later, she removed her fingers and looked down at the city.

“So what will you do?” she asked ‘Shirou,’ who had not moved an inch.

Her voice seemed to break him out of his trance, and he looked at her, surprised.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You said that this city, the people, all of us, are all lies destined to be destroyed,” she replied softly. “I can’t imagine that you would let that be the end of it.”

She moved her gaze to him.

“So what will you do?” she repeated, this time with a kind of pointed force.

Her cold, blue eyes shone with a piercing luster that ‘Shirou’ had never seen in them before. He had been with her since the moment she came off the production line, back when the city was first beginning. However, he had never before heard her sound so … accusatory. Occasionally, she would voice her displeasure at his unwillingness to deal with city matters that she or Elyon found important. Other times, she would comment on the irrationality of his actions in a dull, tired sort of way. All those times though, he could just pass it off as part of her programming to keep him on task and acting like a proxy should. It was all logical, after all. If he deviated from the task at hand, she would nag him back to it.

This … this wasn’t like that. She wasn’t stating some obscure fact, or posing rhetorical questions about his mental health. She was demanding an answer to a question that he was quite sure she was programmed to never talk about. It basically went against the entirety of the creators’ will. Some could even call it near rebellion.

… And yet, he found himself smiling at it.

“What indeed …?” he asked himself.

Once more, he looked out towards the sun, feeling Altria’s gaze still on him. Something told him that she wouldn’t stop until she had an answer. Again, far out of her programming, and again, it almost made him happy.

“I suppose I will do what I always do,” he said at last, almost chuckling a bit towards the end.

“Ignore the problem at hand?” she supplied, somewhat venomously. It would have been more funny if it didn’t have so much truth to it. He was usually all for letting Elyon or the conclave get desperate enough to try their own solutions rather than providing one himself.

Not this time though.

“No,” he said plainly. “I’m going to save them. Even if it means fighting those who created us all.”

The feeling on his neck wavered a bit, as he was sure that Altria, despite her knowledge of his complex about helping people he had never met, found this particularly insane.

“Why?” she asked. “The creators are more gods to them than you are. You would fight against the power they wield?”

A smirk made its way across his face. “I guess I’ve always had a rebellious streak in me,” he answered.

“So you would risk everything, fighting for those who were born to die?” she asked. For the first time ever, he could swear he heard disbelief in her voice.

He spared himself one last look at the city below them.

“Yes.”

“For what end? What do you possibly hope to achieve?” she demanded.

He shrugged. “I never really think that far out. It’s one of my fatal flaws, or one of my charm points depending on who you ask. All I know is that I am going to save them from this fate.”

Turning around, he jumped far higher than one would expect given his current appearance, landing on a catwalk beneath the giant clock that defined the tower. Before him lay the door back inside, still cracked open from when they used it to get here.

“It’s just who I am,” he finished.

He put his hand on the latch and opened the door wide. Before he could take a single step forward however, Altria’s voice sounded behind him one last time.

“And who might that be?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

At that question, a cacophony of voices exploded in his head.

“Shirou!”

“Son.”

“Emiya…”

“Boy.”

“MONGREL!”

“Shirou Emiya!”

“Master…”

“Archer!”

“Fool.”

“Counter Guardian EMIYA…”

“My love.”

Each from different people, different moments in his life, each trying to define a person who as time went by, seemed to defy description even more.

He ignored all of them though.

Turning back towards Altria, he said simply, “I am Nakham Proxy, and I am the agent of salvation.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


A/N: So yea, FSN and Ergo Proxy. I had this weird idea about the proxies being forcibly resurrected Counter Guardians charged with regenerating Earth for humankind. I just thought that EMIYA fit the bill pretty well. He certainly looks the part, and he has the right deposition. It's a bit of a stretch, but it was an idea I wanted to explore.

[YeOfLittleFaith]

....

That is chillingly fitting.

[mangafreak7793]

i like it, dont know much about ergo proxy but it had a notes feel to it.

[Sage of Eyes]

Brave new world indeed... even a new god...

[Olive]

Haven't seen Ergo Proxy, but this had a nice dystopian feel to it.

[Riven]

Obscure crossovers that nobody probably understands aside, now for something completely different.

Ryougi Counseling Service

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

*Begin Playback*

RYOUGI: *Sigh* Time is 10:24 AM, and the day is—Oh who cares. It’s going to be on the recording’s case anyways. Anyone got any objections to me skipping over the background bits?

SHINJI: Why are we here?

RIN: Did anyone else get kidnapped from their home? Because I’m pretty sure what happened to me was kidnapping.

RYOUGI: I’ll take those as a “No” from all parties. Good. Now we can start this damned thing. This is Shiki Ryougi PsyD, officially beginning your group counseling session.

LANCER: Woman, are you even a doctor?

RYOUGI: That’s what it says on the card, manwhore.

LANCER: What did you just call me!?

RYOUGI: Who has the degree in psychology, you or me? If you’re all done making inane comments, I’d like to get on with fixing your brains or whatever it is I’m paid for. I have an unemployed husband and a whiny brat to feed.

KIREI: Yes, lets. I am looking forward to this immensely.

BAZETT: You invited HIM here?

RYOUGI: He was in the group roster. I thought we were done with the inane comments.

SHIROU: I don’t see any problem with this.

RIN: But he’s evil!

SHIROU: Well … kinda, but I kinda like him anyways.

RIN: … Something is seriously wrong here.

ARCHER: I know what you mean. That gargantuan desire to murder Shirou that I’ve nurtured for ages just inexplicably died down a bit.

SABER: What was that!?

ARCHER: I have no idea what you’re talking about.

SABER: No! I definitely heard you say—

RYOUGI: Ok, how about this? The next person to talk out of turn gets a knife somewhere where they don’t want one. Is that alright with everyone? Because it’s alright with me, and I really couldn’t care less about your opinions.

*Dead Silence*

RYOUGI: Good. Now, when I speak to you, please give your full name for the billing statement before replying to any questions.

RIN: Don’t you mean—

RYOUGI: What did I just say about the knife?

RIN: … …

RYOUGI: Better. We’ll start with the idiot redhead.

SHIROU: Um, Shirou Emiya?

RYOUGI: Good boy. It looks like one of you imbeciles has basic self-preservation instincts.

*Suppressed laughter*

RYOUGI: At the end of this, I’m going to kill one of you. It’ll be totally random, but one of you is not leaving here with your life.

*Paper flipping*

RYOUGI: Ok, Emiya is it? Let’s start with this: How do you feel about the fact that your adoptive father brutally murdered everyone you ever knew and loved prior to the age of five?

SHIROU: … Is that really the first question?

RYOUGI: Would you like me to start off with your sex life?

*Brief pause. Several chairs shift uncomfortably.*

SHIROU: No?

RYOUGI: Then talk to me about being the son of a mass murderer.

SHIROU: I don’t know. I guess it’s kind of sad, but then again, he didn’t have much of a choice. It was either that or watch the world get destroyed by the grail. With that in mind … conflicted I suppose?

RYOUGI: … Wow, you’re boring. That was probably the dullest answer I’ve heard in my career, and I’ve had a session with my husband. I think I just felt an angel commit suicide in boredom. Tell you what. I’ll get back to you when I feel like melting my head a bit.

SHIROU: You’re … welcome?

RYOUGI: Ok, next up is the child molest—I mean priest. Entertain me.

KIREI: I don’t molest children. I’ve stolen servants, committed multiple acts of murder, and tried to destroy the world, but I don’t molest children.

RYOUGI: Yea, sure. Stay away from my daughter, creep.

KIREI: *Sigh* Is there no respect for the men of the cloth?

RYOUGI: The last priest I met tried to put his brain in my body. Are you going to state your name or not?

KIREI: Kirei Kotomine.

RYOUGI: Hmm, what’s your story? *Paper flipping* Ah. So how do you feel about being brutally murdered by the person before you?

KIREI: Not that bad really. Shirou and I had an honest clash of wills and fists and he won. Nothing much to say about that.

RYOUGI: No, not the person I talked to before you! I mean the persona sitting directly across from you!

LANCER: Me?

RYOUGI: Yes. How do you feel about a guy in a blue bodysuit stabbing you in the back after you failed to make him kill himself?

KIREI: … I honestly think I would have remembered that happening.

LANCER: Me too! I would have thrown a party or something!

BAZETT: Was that before or after he cut off my arm, because I’d really like it if it was before…

RYOUGI: It was after.

BAZETT: Damn…

SHIROU: I could have sworn I killed him, even though I kinda felt bad about it…

ARCHER: How is playing a came of “Who Killed Kotomine” going to help us? In fact, how is any of this supposed to help us? I can honestly say that this is the single most useless counseling session that I have ever had.

RYOUGI: According to this, this is also the single most useful counseling session you’ve ever had seeing how it’s the only counseling session you ever had. Maybe instead of trying to murder your past self, you should have tried to get him some professional help sooner.

SABER: You tried to do WHAT!?

ARCHER: Nothing. I was here to um … sightsee. I heard Fuyuki was just lovely when there was a grail war going on, so I decided to check it out.

RIN: … Really Archer?

LANCER: I think that excuse just gave me cancer.

SHIROU: Sounds like a good excuse to me.

ARCHER: The kidnapping has left me a little on the nauseous side. I’ll be back with a better excuse later.

RYOUGI: He’s a future version of Shirou who went back in time specifically to kill off his younger self.

ARCHER: Gee, thanks.

RYOUGI: I try. This is all part of the healing process. *Scribbling* Also it says here that he betrayed Saber to Caster so the Greek witch could put her in a frilly dress and molest her.

SABER: I knew we couldn’t trust you!

SHIROU: Murder me? He gave me his arm!

RYOUGI: And what exactly did that arm do to your body?

SHIROU: … It was probably an unforeseen side effect.

RYOUGI: He’s a smart guy. I think he would have known if a limb transplant would have skewered you from the inside.

SABER: Duplicitous cretin…

ARCHER: Why would I give him my arm?

SABER: So some piece of you would be left when I killed you, you foul traitor!

*Sounds of a chair being overturned. Several crashes follow in the background.*

ARCHER: *Shouting over a din* I take it this Saber is still very protective of Shirou!? *Sound of snapping wood* GAH!

RYOUGI: I guess I can tack the furniture expenses to your tab. I wasn’t particularly attached to that solid oak table you just got put through.

RIN: Ok, what the Hell is going on!? Why do all of us remember entirely different things!?

RYOUGI: Is that really what you should be asking? Because if I were in your shoes I’d be asking why my sister was duct taped to a chair right next to me.

RIN: What the Hell are you talking about!? Answer the question!

*Brief pause*

RIN: Why is my sister duct taped to a chair!?

SAKURA: MMMMMMFFFFFFFFFPPPPHHHHHH!

RYOUGI: Oh that? She wouldn’t sit still when she first got here, so I had to improvise.

RIN: SAKURA! Don’t worry! I’ll get you out of there!

RYOUGI: I swear, you people are the supernatural equivalents of goldfish…

SHINJI: Shouldn’t you be a bit more bothered by the fact that nobody is paying attention to the counseling anymore?

RYOUGI: My time started from the moment I asked the boring redhead how much his childhood sucked. You idiots can drag this out as long as you want for all I care. I get paid by the hour.

SHINJI: Oh. If that’s the case, then why don’t we pass the time by taking a niiiiiiiiice trip over to that closet over there and—

RYOUGI: I’m married dumbass.

SHINJI: You see this? This is my “not giving a fuck” face. Seriously, let’s ditch this party and go rut like—

RYOUGI: Ok new plan!

*Sound of something sharp cutting into something soft and squishy.*

SHINJI: HOLY FUCKING SHIT SHE JUST STABBED ME IN THE GROIN! AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH! I’M BLEEDING! I’M GONNA FUCKING DIE A EUNUCH!

RYOUGI: Shut up. I barely nicked you. I think I missed all the important arteries too. Must be because the coffee machine was broken this morning. I hope they fixed it already.

SHINJI: RIDER! RIDEEEEEEEEEER! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU! KILL THIS BITCH FOR ME BEFORE I BLEED OUT!

*No response*

SHINJI: … Dammit…

*Thud*

SHIROU: Shinji!

RYOUGI: Meh, he’ll wake up eventually.

SHIROU: How do you know!? He might actually die.

RYOUGI: Because the universe isn’t that nice, champ.

SHIROU: …

KIREI: Hmm, we seem to be missing some key players. A shame too, I would have enjoyed seeing them … … umm, eh … be rehabilitated.

BAZETT: Smooth.

KIREI: I think that ordeal has left us all a little nauseous.

RYOUGI: That’s probably the aftereffects of the horse tranquilizers.

LANCER: Like Hell you got me with horse tranquilizers!

RYOUGI: You? We got you with big hammer and a net. We even got it on tape. Want to watch?

KIREI: I’m beginning to wonder how on Earth you got my servant here.

LANCER: Yeah! Where’s Golden Boy!? I was going to—

KIREI: She went to the bathroom about an hour ago. I think she might be pregnant.

BAZETT: … What?

SHIROU: She? Since when was Gilgamesh a she?

KIREI: She. Makes you wonder what it was that went down in that basement, doesn’t it?

LANCER: You’re a sick fucker, you know that?

*Sound of glass shattering, followed by a crash and a car alarm.*

ARCHER: *Panting* Ok, I managed to get rid of Saber for a little bit. Unfortunately, whoever owns that red sports car outside on the curb might need to take a trip to the shop later today.

RYOUGI: Hey, something right happens for a change.

SHIROU: Is she alright?

ARCHER: We’re talking about the woman who tanked Berserker for a few rounds. I think she’ll be fine. I’m just worried about what’ll happen when she finds her way back upstairs.

SHIROU: As long as she’s ok…

ARCHER: Back on topic, why do we all seem like we’re from different timelines?

RYOUGI: I thought we already discussed this.

ARCHER: No, we didn’t. You deflected the question to an innocent girl tied up in a chair.

RYOUGI: Which was hilarious I think you’ll agree.

ARCHER: No. Answer before I start making out with Rin.

RIN: WHAT!?

LANCER: DON’T ANSWER! DON’T ANSWER!

BAZETT: I don’t even…

RYOUGI: So much as try and I swear I’ll surgically remove your lips.

ARCHER: I’ve braved far worse.

RYOUGI: Fine. If you don’t want to shut up about it then I’ll give you the condensed version: Budgeting issues. Apparently it’s cheaper to ship you deadbeats in from random continuities than it is to find everyone from the same one.

BAZETT: That … doesn’t make any sense. Shouldn’t it cost more to access a whole bunch of different timelines?

RYOUGI: I don’t know! Do I look like a wizard? I have an actual degree in an actual field of actual importance. I didn’t go to Hogwarts like the rest of you!

RIN: What messed up university would give YOU a doctorate in psychology!?

RYOUGI: The same place that gave me a doctorate in medicine.

LANCER: You’re a physician?

RYOUGI: Yes, Gregory House can eat his damn heart out.

ARHCER: Never visiting a hospital in this city ever again…

RYOUGI: Like I care. I’ll let health services know for when you’re run over by a dump truck.

SHIROU: I’m still wondering where everyone else is. I wanted to see Illya again.

ARCHER: Now I know I’m in the wrong timeline…

RYOUGI: There were some technical difficulties with the transfer thanks to Miss “Push All The Buttons” over there who is still working on getting her sister out of the chair. We’re waiting on tech support to get done with whatever they do, which, in case you were wondering, comes after they fix the coffeemaker.

RIN: I pushed one button! ONE!

RYOUGI: Yes and I tied one sister to a chair. ONE. Good job on fixing that by the way. Your progress on the three rings of duct tape I used is astounding.

RIN: S–Sh–Shut up! *Sound of ripping duct tape* OWW—OMPF! *Sound of a chair falling over* Dammit now it’s in my hair! Archer! A little help here!?

ARCHER: After I take pictures. *Sound of smartphone camera snapping*

RIN: Why you little … … Shirou!

SHIROU: Right, I’ll get you out of there…

*Sound of something cutting duct tape.*

RIN: There, much better. Alright Sakura, let me get that tape off your mouth. This might sting a little…

*Sound of ripping duct tape again*

RIN: There!

SAKURA: YOU MURDERER!

RIN: GRAAAAAH!?

*Sound of bodies hitting floor.*

RIN: What did I do to deserve this!?

SAKURA: I don’t know!? Besides KILLING ME!?

RIN: I did WHAT!?

SHIROU: Sakura! What’s gotten into you!? Stop that!

SAKURA: Oh don’t you even bother talking! You let her kill me!

KIREI: Ah, sibling love…

RYOUGI: Oh joy, another angle to work. We’re going to have such a productive session.

KIREI: Despite your earlier baseless insults, I am really starting to like you.

RYOUGI: Hands away from my kid, pervert.

BAZETT: Now this is just getting stupid. We haven’t solved a single problem since we got here.

LANCER: You mean this wasn’t stupid to begin with? How the Hell did we even get to this place?

*Sound of door slamming open.*

SABER: ARCHER! PREPARE TO DIE! Your self-killing crusade ends right here!

ARCHER: Fuck!

*Also Spract Zarathustra begins playing over the intercom.*

EVERYONE: …

RYOUGI: Oh? It’s time for our first coffee break. Feel free to relax in the lobby for a bit. We’ll resume our session in ten minutes. If you need me in the meantime, go die in a ditch.

*Door Slams*

*End Playback*

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[Kyte]

I feel like you're overplaying your Ryougi here. Like, she's being irritating.