I'm back, following "Shenanigans"/therapy.
And I felt like continuing some old stuff, so reposting chapter one (Previously in drabble thread), posting chapter two immediately afterwards.
Please note that I haven't written anything in months. So grill me as hard as you can, because constructive criticism.
Redemption By Steel
The 12th meeting, part 1
Written by: NAHTCUW
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It was really cold outside. She really hated the cold, too.
But, at least she was someplace nice and warm.
“Barkeep, could you bring me another beer?” Rin lazily said, leaning on the counter.
“You look like you’ve had enough, actually,” The gruff man replied, from his side of the counter. He was a tall, Russian fellow with shoulders as wide as a bull’s, a mighty beard that tickled his chest but surprisingly short hair, which was gradually turning grey.
“Hey, I know when I’ll have had enough. Just get over here and pour me another one.”
The big hairy man replied by grunting loudly, but made his way over to her, grabbed her mug and refilled it anyway.
“Thank you,” she said, more as a formality than anything.
He just grunted in return, and went back to his stack of dirty mugs, which he wiped clean one by one with an even dirtier rag.
Rin, on her part, took a sip out of her newly filled mug.
Life on the run was not an easy task. Maybe, she reflected, she shouldn’t have tried to build the Zelretch sword so quickly.
And if she knew a failed attempt would have earned her a sealing designation, she wouldn’t have even got close until she was certain.
Which was why now, she was in Russia, in some deserted, dinky old inn, drinking beer from a mug that was cleaner than the rag used to clean it.
At least fate was being consistent, she scornfully thought as she took another swig.
It was the same everywhere, after all. Fate pisses on everything she had done, everything she tried to do.
Her sister died, at her own hands no less. Her first crush was forever broken, turned into some ‘justice machine’. The one man she had trusted with her life was gone. The first apprentice she had taken, to try to make up for things, left her after she knew the full truth. And now the clock tower, the one place she thought would accept a cold-blooded magus like her, had thrown her out because of some tradition.
Some cold blooded magus like her. She almost burst out laughing at the bad joke.
At least from here, things could only get better. With that in mind, she took another swig.
Behind her, she heard the door open, accompanied with the tinkling of bells. She mumbled something intelligible, insulting the bells and their annoyance.
“What can I do you for, miss?” The barkeep energetically said, giving the newest visitor a warm smile Rin hadn’t seen before.
Such blatant favoritism, she thought while taking another swig. She didn’t turn back, though, because she didn’t feel like being especially social.
“I’d like a room for the night, and something to drink,” The new person said, with a hesitant accent accompanying her English, which sounded vaguely Japanese.
Someone from japan just happened to be passing through town. Rin started thinking this might be a hook into her most recent meeting with fate.
She really didn’t want that.
She took another swig of her half-empty mug, and resolved herself to stay silent.
“Sure thing! Now, what would you like to drink?” The barman enthusiastically said, putting down the mug he had been holding.
“Got anything warm, which isn’t coffee?” The newest person said, taking a seat on the customer side of the counter. Rin silently thanked this new person for sitting away from her, though she did steal some sideway glances.
The newcomer was wearing a large, brown, and recently re-opened trench-coat. Her hands were covered in dark gloves, and she was wearing light blue jeans and a plain grey shirt. Her face wasn’t exactly visible, as she had a heightened collar. However, a small tuque could be seen sticking out, which was red.
She didn’t look too special.
Rin let her eyes wander a bit, until they settled on the luggage this new person was carrying. It was a simple duffle bag, but strapped to it was a large object wrapped in cloth. It looked vaguely familiar in size, but Rin couldn’t place it anywhere in her memory.
She forgot about it for a second, and concentrated on her drink again.
“Hot, but isn’t coffee? Well, I do have some tea, or some hot chocolate. Anything there interest you?” The barkeep said, not noticing Rin’s quick scan of the newcomer.
“Some hot chocolate would be nice.” The traveler said, getting comfortable on her new chair. For a moment, Rin thought their eyes locked, but she quickly discarded the thought.
It wasn’t like she was recognizable, anyway.
She tried to take another swig of her mug, but found it empty. She found it high time to retreat to her room, in that case.
“Alright, I’m out. Good night,” she casually told the barkeep, dropping a few bills on the counter.
“About damn time. Here’s your key.” He threw her a small keyset, and she walked to the nearby stairs to find her room upstairs.
However, the newcomer spoke up.
“Hey, why don’t you stay down here and keep me company?” She said, turning to face Rin. She had a devilish smile, one that spoke only of fun. It seemed very familiar to Rin.
“No thanks, I’m really tired.” Rin simply answered, before walking off to her room.
She wasn’t interested in any new adventures. She’d had her fill for a lifetime.
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“Was it something I said?” She asked the bartender, as the other person climbed the stairs up to her room.
“I don’t know. She did seem awful brooding the entire time, though.” He simply replied, handing her a big cup of hot chocolate, as ordered.
“Ah, thanks.” She said, before taking it and blowing on it a bit. After taking a few sips though, she felt like starting a discussion. “So, do you get many visitors during times like these?”
“During snow storms in Russia? Any inn makes a killing at times like these. I have to admit though, you’re the first I’ve seen come so late. Most of my clients are already in bed at this time,” He calmly answered, used to conversing with lonely patrons. “What took you so long, that you came in after midnight?”
“That’s a secret, I’m afraid.” She replied with a devious smile. After a moment of her drinking some hot chocolate though, her smile left her and she became more serious. She rummaged through her pants, and took out a blurry picture of a man, taken from behind. “Have you seen this guy? Fairly young, already has hair getting white, is kind of a machine?”
“Hm…” The bartender took the picture in his massive hands and brought it closer to his face. “Was he some Asian like you two?”
“Yeah, he is. Wait, two?” It was her turn to sound a little surprised, that time.
“Yeah, that girl you just tried to hook up with? She was Asian too. Don’t blame you for not noticing, her English is damn near perfect.”
“Damn near perfect, huh? That reminds me of someone,” she said nostalgically, until she remembered the present. “Wait, you aren’t getting out of this. This guy, you seen him?”
“Yeah, I have. Last time I saw him was four days ago. He paid cash, made very little trouble, and disappeared after he left. Only reason I recognize him is the hair and the Asian thing. We don’t get many of your people here,” he casually said, and she didn’t take any insult.
“So, you have no idea where he went?” She tried, already expecting a failure.
“None, sorry. I try not to make trouble, yeah?”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” She said, releasing a sigh. It looks like she wasn’t going to find him any time soon, then. She took another sip from her hot chocolate, and her entire face seemed to relax as she hummed with delight.
“So, you’re out hunting some guy down? That’s pretty romantic,” The bartender casually mentioned with a smile, once he was sure there were no liquids in her mouth.
She blushed furiously, followed by a small yelp of surprise.
“What? No, no, it’s not that at all! I don’t like him that way, it’s just…” She regained her breath, and calmed down. “I just owe him a bit. He saved me when I was in a little rut.”
“Hm, well, I didn’t really think he was the hero type. I guess you can’t really judge a book by its cover.”
“If only you had any idea…” She simply said, while she shook her head. Almost as a late reaction, she noticed she was still wearing her tuque. She removed it, revealing a head of healthy brown hair, and placed it down on the counter next to her drink.
A drink she hastily drank more of.
“So… about that other Asian visitor, got any dirt on her?” She asked mischievously, putting her drink back on the counter.
“Nothing much. She’s just passing through, has a healthy appetite for alcohol and snaps back pretty hard,” he said with a shrug.
“Does she have a name?” She said, in between taking small sips of her hot beverage.
“Probably. She didn’t tell me, though. Why?” He casually answered, taking up a mug and finding himself another rag.
“Hm, she looks familiar somehow.” Her eyebrows furrowed and she brought a hand under her chin, leaning ever so slightly on it. The expression looked very pensive to the barkeep, like someone desperately trying to solve a puzzle.
“Well, maybe she just has one of those faces,” he shrugged, before his face became a mix of surprise and disappointment. “Speaking of, she took the last room. Unless you’re willing to bunk with her, you’re out of luck.”
“Yeah, I’d be fine bunking with her. Would she be, though?” She said, hastily finishing her hot chocolate.
“Ask. If you don’t come down in twenty minutes, I’ll assume everything’s alright. If you do, I’ll drive you down to another place nearby,” He offered kindly, giving her an apologetic smile. “It’s the first room on the right when you get up, by the way.”
“Hm, thanks. I’ll go check.” She said, picking up her hat and shoving it into a coat pocket. She reached down and picked up her bag and the covered object that was with it, and made her way up the stairs.
Once faced with the hallway, she followed his trusty directions, and made directly for the room to her right. A quick look at the floor, or rather the small gap between the floor and the door, was enough to tell her the lights were still on.
Good. Reasoning with a disgruntled, sleeping girl was harder than it seemed.
She knocked on the door, and in records time she heard shuffling, and heavy steps. The door opened fully, revealing an Asian woman with short, shoulder length black hair, wearing simple pants and a turtleneck shirt.
“Yes, what do you want? I already told you I wouldn’t keep you company,” she said angrily, her tiredness apparent in her voice.
“Geez, don’t be like that. The barkeep just told me he made a mistake with counting the rooms, and that I’d have to share. Care to help a soul tonight?” She said with a playful smile, which obviously grated on her host’s nerves. Oops. “I don’t take much space, and you can have the bed.”
The woman just looked at her a moment, as if weighing her options or sizing her up, then sighed heavily.
“Fine. You get the couch,” She said, and retreated back into the room, leaving the door open.
“Thanks!” The brown haired one clearly said, before walking into the small room. It had a bed, a couch, and a television that she could tell didn’t work. Along with that, there was one small door which probably led to a bathroom.
It was cozy, at least.
She walked over to the couch, dropped her bag at its feet, and sat down. She took off her heavy winter boots, and lay down.
In her experience, her coat made for a very good blanket anyway.
“Good night,” she simply called out, and she closed her eyes. She had slept in worse places before anyway.
The last thing she heard from her temporary roommate was a loud sigh.
And so, Mitsuzuri Ayako fell asleep quickly, her travels weighing down on her.
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“Wait, if this magus stuff is so secret, then why did you just up and tell me?” Ayako clearly asked, one day while Rin was in the middle of giving her a lecture.
“Well… you asked. And you were very adamant,” she said, but Ayako knew there was something else behind it.
“Oi, speak up. That’s not the reason, and you know it. What happened?” Ayako asked, too curiously.
“Look, I started teaching you because I felt like it, okay?” Rin loudly exclaimed, catching Ayako off-guard. “Just don’t question it.”
“Does this have to do with Emiya? You said yourself he did something pretty bad.” Ayako kept going, resolved to make it at the bottom of it all.
Rin had been acting oddly. Coupled with Sakura’s disappearance, Emiya dropping out and falling off the face of the planet, and the disappearances of many people in town, she made the connection.
Ayako had just up and asked her exactly what was going on, and didn’t stop until she knew everything. Or at least, once she knew some of it. Rin had told her about magic, about the grail war, and explained that Shirou and Sakura were masters in it. She did not, however, mention their specific fates.
And then, when Ayako had not-seriously asked her if she could learn magic, the answer was an odd ‘sure’.
It didn’t add up.
“No, Emiya did nothing wrong,” she said, a tortured look on her face. “It’s complicated.”
“Well, maybe if you tried explaining it, it’d seem less complicated.” Ayako tried again, crossing her arms over her chest.
“No, it’ll still be complicated.” Rin stated, before turning around and making her way to her basement door. “Just keep practicing that basic spell until I come back down.”
“Wait, Rin!” Ayako called out, but before her words caught her teacher, she had already left the basement.
Rin had been acting too oddly. She wasn’t talking about it, either. And then there was the priest who came by every now and then, who never really helped.
Last time he visited, as soon as he left Rin practically burst into tears.
Still, she couldn’t be forced to talk.
So, Ayako sat down on the basement floor, and activated her paltry, weak circuits. A metaphorical bowstring was pulled back and released, and she started.
The basic spell warmed her hands, until finally a small flame popped out. She controlled her breathing, her flow of prana, and the flame did not try to lick her fingers this time.
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The dream was interrupted when the sun decided to wake Ayako, by shining brightly in her face.
“Well, at least the snow storm is done…” she lazily said, pushing herself in a sitting position on the couch. She rubbed her eyes, cracked her neck, and stretched a bit, before finally putting her boots on and standing.
She looked at the bed, and a huge lump revealed the fact her roommate was still sleeping.
Not a morning person, it seemed.
As quietly as she could, she went into the bathroom. She stole a look at herself in the mirror, and grunted unhappily.
The tuque had turned her hair into a complete mess.
Now that she thought about it, it had been getting a bit long.
She shrugged the thought off, and took out an elastic. Few moments later, she was sporting a ponytail, and ready to go eat some breakfast.
Once again, as silently as she could, she exited the room. The loud sound of gathering people greeted her, and she decided to swiftly get down and get breakfast before there was no more left.
Meanwhile, Tohsaka Rin just snoozed along.
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“And you just let him leave?” Ayako asked angrily, her anger catching up on all the events she had just heard of.
“What was I supposed to do?! I…” Rin’s voice trailed off, an angry expression on her features. Rather, it wasn’t angry but irritated, or frustrated. Like a child’s, when forced with a math problem they don’t understand. “I didn’t know what I was supposed to do… I just wanted my sister back…”
She fell to the ground, on her knees, and tears began falling without her control.
“I didn’t mean for things to end up like this…” Her voice choked under the weight of her sobs, and nothing she said next was intelligible.
Ayako, on her hand, had no idea what to think.
The truth behind what happened to Sakura, behind Shirou’s descent into a cold, calculating persona, everything had been revealed to her.
Including Rin’s ugly wish. Including the fact she was willing to use the tainted grail, to kill so many people, just to get her sister back.
It was pitiable.
But it was also undeniably wrong.
In the end, the cold, calculating monster saved them all from a sad, heartbroken girl. It was almost poetic, in a pathetic, unfunny way.
It also explained things.
Maybe by taking Ayako in and teaching her magic, she felt like she was trying to repent. But in the end, she wasn’t seeing Ayako doing the magic.
In the end, she was just projecting Sakura on Ayako. She was just teaching the sister she should have had, through a person who was mostly unrelated.
“Come on, it wasn’t really your fault.” Ayako said, her anger suppressed by Rin’s bawling. The sight felt wrong to her. “I mean, you were distressed, you had just been through some serious stuff. You can’t be blamed for that.”
“But I should be!” Rin cried out, not against Ayako. No, she cried out against fate. Fate, that decided she would kill her sister, but then not die afterwards. Fate, that decided she wouldn’t pay for that crime in blood. “I damn well should be…”
Ayako had no real answer to that. She didn’t know how to deal with someone in that state.
She just stayed there, until Rin eventually cried herself dry. Not a word was spoken of it, ever again.
Ayako kept going to Rin’s to learn, with a new goal in mind. Once the school year ended, though, she disappeared just like Shirou.
No one really questioned it this time however. She had a good reason for disappearing, and with the money she had received from the insurance, everyone knew she’d be fine. They just figured she needed some time off, somewhere to recover.
Her family was a casualty of the war, after all.
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Rin woke up groggily, her usual morning habits coming back to bite her. Her head was clouded by her recent sleep, and her thoughts were clouded by the unhappy dream she just had.
She should have never taken Ayako as an apprentice, even temporarily, if she had known that she would run off in search of Emiya.
But she really had nothing left, and obviously wouldn’t want to stay with her. Rin should have seen it coming, in retrospect.
She pushed herself off the bed, and clutched her head. A hangover was not the best way to start the day.
She got to the side of the bed and got on the floor, her bare feet feeling the floor’s chill. A few more steps and she was in the bathroom, groggily looking at herself in the mirror.
There were huge bags under her eyes, her entire body was sagging because of her tiredness, and her newly cut hair didn’t even reach her shoulders.
Just like every morning since she ran from the association, she unhappily though, as she turned on the tap and splashed her face. It did little to wake her up or make the headache go away, but it was an old habit.
She got out of the bathroom, quickly changed her clothes and put on her shoes, and made her way downstairs.
She needed some coffee, desperately.
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“So, how was your night?” The bartender, now innkeeper, asked, as he brought her a tray with a plate of omelets and bacon, along with a cup of coffee.
“It was great. I’ve slept in worst places, so the couch was easy enough,” Ayako said, before she started digging in.
“I’m still sorry about that,” he said, observing the busy room from his side of the counter. “The rooming will be on me.”
“Huh?” She stared at him a moment, a ghastly look on her face. “No, no it’s fine. I probably would have slept on the couch anyway. I like getting up when the sun does, and it was in front of the window.”
“No, this is me being professional. I promised you a room, but couldn’t deliver,” he said, pushing his chin up in a stubborn fashion. “You won’t pay.”
“Alright, alright,” she said with a small smile. “Geez, what’s with me and running into nice guys.”
“Well, maybe you’re just lucky,” he said, and Ayako donned a disbelieving expression. “Ah! There’s your roommate coming down.”
Ayako turned her head, and surely enough the person she had shared a room came down the stairs. For the first time, Ayako could look straight at her without being tired, or in a rush for bed. Raven black hair, blue eyes… Ayako remembered now, why she seemed so familiar.
She looked like Rin.
Then again, Rin had no reason to be out in Russia, wouldn’t ever cut her hair, probably wouldn’t ever wear pants, and wouldn’t have gotten herself wasted the night before.
She also hadn’t met Rin in ten years.
So, she shrugged off the resemblance and went back to her breakfast. The eggs and bacon felt like a feast to her.
However, the one seat which was still open was the one right next to her, and her roommate just fell on it.
“Bring me coffee. Lots and lots of coffee,” she demanded, obviously not a force to be trifled with in the morning.
“Would it kill you to say please?” The bartender said, pouring her a big cup of coffee.
“Fine. Give me the coffee, please,” she said, a massive frown forming. He passed her the coffee, and she started drinking as soon as she got it.
“Not a morning person?” Ayako said amicably, before taking a bite out of her bacon. That attracted her roommate’s attention, who looked ready to snap back. Instead, she paused for a moment, recognition in her eyes. “Hello?”
“What are you doing here, Ayako?” Rin said in Japanese, her voice slightly hurt. Ayako, on her part, dropped her fork.
So it was Rin after all. Ten years can really make a person change.
Ayako regained herself quickly, and took another bite of her bacon before answering.
“I’m doing what I always do. Hunting down Emiya, that is,” she said between mouthfuls. “What are you doing here though? I thought that after school, you’d be going to the clock tower?”
Rin uncomfortably shifted, and took another sip of her coffee before answering.
“I got sealing designated. I’ll go home to japan, pick up what I need, and make myself scarce until the association forgets about me.” She said, before sighing.
“You do know they’ll be waiting for you there, right?” Ayako asked with an eyebrow arched. “It’s what I’d do, anyway.”
“What you’d do…? What have you been doing anyway?” Rin asked, suddenly curious. “You left before you knew everything I could teach. I half-expected to see you dead on the news one day.”
Just as usual, Rin was ruthless.
“Well, when I lose Emiya’s trail, I do mercenary jobs,” she said, and a look of disbelief from Rin forced her to continue. “Well, after I left, I got lucky and met the right people. They taught me about being a mercenary and stuff, though probably for the wrong reasons.”
Ayako shivered at the memory, but forced them out of her head to concentrate on the conversation at hand. Rin was there, right in front of her, for the first time in ten years.
“So, you left and became a freelancer, huh?” Rin said, with bitterness in her voice. “I’m a sealing designee, you know. You’d get quite the reward if you took me in.”
“Hey, I’d never do that,” Ayako said with an unhappy frown. “You’re my friend, and a damn good one too. I wouldn’t sell you out.”
“You didn’t seem to have much trouble leaving me.” Rin said bitterly, chugging down her coffee. She waved the mug at the innkeeper, who hadn’t been paying attention ever since they started talking their home language, and he refilled it.
“Really? You’re going to pull that card?” Ayako said, pushing away her empty plate. “Fine. You didn’t need me back then. You were probably worse off with me around. So, I left. I was going to eventually anyway, so I did a bit early.”
“I didn’t need you? Without you around, it was just me and that damn fake priest. How the hell was I worse off with you around?” Rin asked angrily, after a healthy load of coffee entered her throat.
“You were projecting Sakura on me.” Ayako stated, and Rin paled for a moment. “You were refusing to let go, to let the past be the past. I don’t really care what you think, that wasn’t good.”
Rin had nothing to say, but hummed indecisively before turning back towards the counter. She kept drinking her coffee silently, and at a much slower pace. Ayako followed her example, and started drinking her own cup.
After a long moment of awkward silence, Ayako decided it was high time to speak up.
“They’ll be waiting for you at your home, you know.” She casually mentioned between sips.
“You already told me. So what?” Rin snapped back, before waving her empty cup at the innkeeper again.
“So, throw them off.” Ayako simply explained, and Rin stayed silent. She took the opportunity and kept going. “Stay away from your home until they give up. They don’t have the manpower to stay there too long.”
“Nice plan. What am I supposed to do while I wait? Maybe make a snowman?” Rin sarcastically said while pointing a window to her right. Ayako just sighed at her behavior.
“No, idiot. Come with me. I’d wager you need to meet Emiya more than I do,” she said, and Rin looked afraid for a moment.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Rin hesitantly said, looking away.
“Just shut up and come with me. You need to face him, just not as an enemy this time,” Ayako said, before finishing her cup of coffee. “I think it’s something you both need, actually.”
“It’s not that easy!” Rin answered rather loudly, getting her a look from the innkeeper. She said it again, in a lower tone. “It’s not that easy.”
She was shivering. Not because of the cold, but because she was afraid. She was afraid of facing the remnants of her biggest, most monumental failure.
She needed to get it over with, though. She needed to put it behind her.
“Well, here are your two options. One, you go home and get ambushed by a combat specialist who’ll kick your ass and drag you to the clock tower. Two, you come with me for a while and face your past, or we lose Emiya’s trail and you get to go home a bit late anyway. There’s no real assurance behind us finding the guy, you know,” Ayako explained, and Rin’s defense seemed to weaken.
“Really…?” She asked, her voice barely audible. “We might not find him?”
“Yeah, really. Heck, last time I saw and met him, it was three months ago. He stayed around for maybe a week, but disappeared again.” Ayako said with a heavy sigh. “I couldn’t convince him to stop, not by myself.”
“And you think I can stop him?” Rin said with an exasperated look. “I already tried, when I had a heroic spirit at my side. Look at how that turned out.”
“Different circumstances. Just, come on,” Ayako said, getting up. “Get breakfast and pack your stuff. I’m leaving in half an hour.”
Before Rin had any time to answer, Ayako had already gone off and climbed the stairs.
“Innkeeper, get me another cup of coffee,” Rin demanded again, her expression sour.
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Well, she thought, that had been rather nerve-wracking.
Still, Ayako moved on. She took a quick shower, changed into clean clothes, packed her dirty clothes into one of the side-pockets of her duffle bag, and checked on her bow, which was wrapped in cloth.
She unwrapped it carefully, and after carefully checking to see if the cold had affected either the string-less bow’s wood or the runes carved on it, wrapped it again.
She was wasting time, basically. Half an hour had almost passed, yet Rin had not come up yet. That either meant she wasn’t coming, or she was going to pop up at the last minute.
Both were equally possible, so Ayako just sat on the bed and waited.
She waited until finally, her watch told her thirty minutes had passed. Rin was not coming.
She pushed herself off the bed with a sigh, pick up her bag and started moving. Right as she was going to open the door however, heavy steps could be heard on the other side.
And the door exploded inwards.
“Fine! You know what? Fine! I’ll go with you, I’ll meet Emiya-kun, I’ll settle whatever needs to be settled, and then I’ll go home,” Rin half-shouted to a surprised Ayako. Between heavy breaths, she finished with, “are you happy now?”
Ayako settled down, the door bashing giving her pause, and looked Rin in the eyes.
“Yeah, I’m happy now,” she said with a smile. “Now, get your stuff packed. You’re late.”
She said that, then moved past a surprised Rin into the hallway.
“That’s it? After all that convincing, you’re just going to accept it that easily?” Rin said, looking rather disheveled.
“What, you want me to make a big deal out of it?” Ayako said, on the verge of going down the stairs. “Well, sorry. Just get your stuff. I’ll be talking to the Innkeeper downstairs.”
She walked down, and Rin’s mind fumed.
She had forgotten how aggravating her old friend could be.
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“So, you’re heading out?” The innkeeper asked, all while taking a stack of dishes to the back.
“Yeah, we are. I have a question though.” Ayako said, pretty much prepared for the trip already. All she was lacking from her original attire was the tuque.
“Yeah, ask away.”
“Any news of danger? Like any rumors or anything, about some people being attacked, or something like that,” Ayako asked, leaning on the counter.
“Danger, hm…? Well, we did get some news about some town to the north that recently got taken over by some dangerous folk. Police can’t touch them, because they have friends in the right places.” The innkeeper said, bringing one big hand to his chin. “They turned the town into a real rat-hole, now.”
“Thanks, that helps a lot,” Ayako said, before pushing herself off the counter and back into a standing position. “Thanks for the room, innkeeper.”
“Any time,” he said back, and Ayako walked off.
Waiting at the door was Rin, carrying a single suitcase and looking vaguely disgruntled.
“So, where is this field trip of ours going to start?” She asked, just as Ayako got to her.
“North,” Ayako happily said, pushing the door open.
“Okay… and why are we going north, in Russia, during wintertime?” Rin asked, following Ayako into the cold outside.
“Because apparently, it’s extremely dangerous. Emiya’s bound to be there,” Ayako said, and Rin just froze. After a few moments of walking, Ayako stopped and looked back at her. “What?”
“That’s seriously all you’re going on?” Rin asked, befuddled.
“Yeah, it’s worked for me before. Emiya was here four-five days ago, and where he’d head is where he can do his justice thing,” Ayako stated, before starting to walk again.
Rin just stayed put for a moment, mouth agape, until she followed her crazy friend.
For a moment, she actually considered fighting an enforcer ambush instead of the haphazard task ahead.
She was really, really hating fate at this point.
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Originally Posted by Lycodrake
