A wild Beta appears!
Anyway....nice chapter. Mhmmmm~
A wild Beta appears!
Anyway....nice chapter. Mhmmmm~
"......"
Originally Posted by Thedoctor
Miscellaneous Info
Ah, I apologize if that was wrong of me, I just thought it'd be impolite to note the only thing I could see wrong was a typo and then not point out what it was. orz
Last edited by Ayr; January 17th, 2015 at 03:03 PM.
no need to apologize, I'm glad you pointed them out and that you enjoyed the story enough that those where the only things issues that caught your attention.
You're correct that age was a determining factor, but there was also Rin's Average One affinity and Sakura's Hollow affinity. Rin's Average One affinity is more inline with the Matou Water affinity than Sakura's Hollow affinity, so the difference in this world is that Tokiomi decides that since Rin is better suited for Matou magecraft than Sakura he will send her.
Oh, I didn't notice this had a thread. I should pay more attention.
1/31 Part 2
…
Despite its two lunch time occupants, the student council room was largely silent. The occasional flipping of a page and shuffling of a chair providing the only background noise for the room’s two occupants as they ate their meals. Neither Issei nor Sakura actively sought conversation with one another when there wasn’t something important or school related to talk about. Perhaps it was this kind of passiveness and quietness on Sakura’s part that contributed to why Issei was able to get along well with her so well. She was a beautiful girl, who, despite being popular enough to win an election, was quiet and reserved and didn’t spend much time with her classmates. Instead she always appeared to be dedicated to some other task; whether it was school related or involved something else of a more personal nature.
While Issei cycled between reading and eating his lunch, Sakura thought about the boy from earlier; worried about her conversation with him in the hall. Had she been too forward when she’d asked him to come to the student council room for lunch? Was her prying about Matou-senpai too invasive and off putting? The boy had been so polite to her and had apologized just in case he’d given her the wrong impression, but she still couldn’t help but worry. The boy hardly knew her, “Why should he inconvenience his girlfriend at the request of someone who is practically a strange to him?” She silently thought to herself. After all, her involvement with him was largely tangential, with Ryuudou-senpai interacting with him far more than she ever did. Still, she wanted to know him and to know Matou-senpai by extension.
She wanted to feel happy that Matou-senpai had someone like Shirou taking care of her. Yet, when she thought about the two of them, she couldn’t help but feel a little jealousy well up inside her. It wasn’t right of her and she often chastised herself for thinking such things, but that didn’t stop the daydreams. Even as she picked at her lunch she thought about the kind hearted boy. Shirou was a caring, dedicated, and strong willed person; he was the kind of person someone could always call on for support, no matter what. The kind of support Sakura desperately yearned for.
For someone who had been as alone as Sakura, the presence of somebody who would aid her at every turn was something she’d wanted since she was a small girl. Her childhood had been stolen from her a decade earlier and she’d been forced to grow up without anyone she could turn to for emotional support or guidance. She had Kotomine-sensei, but there was no father figure to be found in the priest. No, Kotomine wasn't the kind of man to offer emotional support to a young girl in need. Rather than being an understanding surrogate father, the priest had often chastised her for trying to desperately hold onto any semblance of her childhood. He often called her selfish for wanting nothing more than to be allowed to be a child and do what children do.
She was selfish,or at least that was what she had come to believe over the years. To try and counteract her selfishness she’d thrown herself headlong into her studies, both the mundane and the magical, and into the church. She didn’t particularly care about any of these things, not really, but that was because she was a bad person and no number of good works would make up for that. Not when they were all done selfishly rather than as a sign of true faith or repentance. That was another fact that Kotomine never grew tired of reminding her.
As she sat silently eating her food and secretly coveting the boy that she felt could save her, she thought of the upcoming war and what it meant. There was no doubt in her mind that she would face Matou-senpai on the battlefield. She was far less certain about whether or not she would defeat Matou-senpai and whomever else she would have to face.
What if she did?
“Senpai will be sad if Matou-senpai dies.” She silently reflected. She would be sad as well, given that she didn’t really want to fight the older girl. If anything, she wanted nothing more than to be close to her. She wanted to be her friend… no, that wasn’t exactly right. She wanted to be more than her friend. She wanted to be her sister, but that was the stuff of childish hopes and dreams that had long since been dashed.
No, she wouldn’t be Matou Rin’s sister; instead she would be her rival. She would clash with the older girl and when all was said and done she would comfort the boy and maybe, with the passage of time, he would learn to love her. That was an awful thing to hope for and realizing that such a thought had come to her, even if only for a moment, made Sakura feel ill.
How could she wish for something so cruel, when she knew firsthand what it was like to have someone near to your heart ripped away from you?
She found no answer within herself or within the lunch that she had been staring blankly at since first pushing it away in revulsion at her own thoughts a minute earlier.
“Are you alright, Tohsaka?” Issei asked, glancing up from his studies after noticing Sakura’s sickened expression.
“I’m fine, Ryuudou-senpai, I’m just not particularly hungry.” She replied, using another of her patented false smiles to hide the self-loathing and personal doubt that had welled up inside her.
…
The dark, fetid, Matou dungeon was alive with the buzzing sounds of hundreds, possibly even thousands, of unseen flying and squirming insectile horrors as they moved about in the shadows. The restlessness of the revolting monsters came from the return of the one they knew as their mother, their lover, and their host. They had fed upon her for years; growing fat and strong in the darkness, now they would be of use to her in the upcoming confrontation they sensed drawing ever nearer. They would act as her eyes and ears in the shadows and they would be her weapons of war as well.
In a dimly lit portion of the dungeon, their mother and the Old One stood around an ornate circular symbol etched upon the stone floor. In the center of the strange circle sat a mangled iron horseshoe which originated from a far distant land in an era that had long since passed. Unfamiliar words in an unfamiliar tongue were spoken by their mother as she recited an incantation that meant nothing to them. The horde of monstrous insects felt their mother touch them with her mind and draw upon them to bolster her own strength for the summoning. Once upon a time, they had been like gluttonous vampires, feeding upon their mother and giving her nothing in return, but now they gave to her as they had always given to the Old One.
Connected in consciousness, as though they were of a single mind, they all felt as some of the weaker members of their swarm perished under the strain of being called upon by their mother. Those that survived felt no more malice towards her than an amputated limb felt towards its former owner; they would die for her a thousand times over, if need be. They had been nourished by her prana, her body, her hatred, and in recent years her love. Yes, their mother loved something. What that thing was they didn’t know and weren’t intelligent enough to care even if they did. Still their connection to their mother made them feel connected to this thing, whatever it was. They felt that love for the thing was why their mother had chosen the horseshoe. There was some connection between the two, some kind of a similarity. What this connection was, was impossible for them to articulate, but it was there all the same.
The nightmarish blade wing worms and their vile larva temporarily withdrew to the darker reaches of the dungeon in an attempt to shelter themselves from the brilliant flash of light that was emitted from the circle at the end of their mother’s incantation.
When the brilliance faded, the swarm of hellish gnats and writhing maggots returned from their hiding places and observed a new companion. A man that was very unlike a man now stood in the midst of the circle, towering over their mother and the Old One. He was taking from her, stealing what she would give to them, but there was no hostility from their mother towards the figure. In the darkness they could see the stranger clearly, but still some buzzed ever more closely to the man. A thick mane of long silver-grey hair draped down onto the silver pauldrons that guarded the man’s shoulders. Similar armor adorned much of the silver knight’s body, though his chest lay bare to the world.
One of the horrifying insects drew too near to the towering figure and in an instant found itself crushed beneath the great silver knight's heel.
“Are you my Master?” The silver knight asked of the swarm’s mother.
“I am Matou Rin and I am your Master.” She replied coldly.
The burly silver knight took a knee and spoke, “I am your Servant, your sword and your shield.”
With that, a thin wicked smile graced their mother’s face.
…
“Huh…?”
Sakura was confused by the lack of the appearance of a Servant in the face of the ritual she had just finished. No mythical hero had appeared in the center of the circle. How could she have expended so much of her strength and so many gems and still not summoned a Servant? As she racked her brain thinking over what could possibly have gone wrong, her thoughts were disrupted by the sudden sound of an explosion from the living room.
“What’s going on?!” She cried out in a panic as she ran to find the cause of the explosion.
After kicking in the broken living room door, she found a man in strange red garments sitting cockily amidst the rubble of the destroyed room. There was no doubt in Sakura’s mind that this man was the Servant that she had attempted to summon while in the basement.
“But what went wrong with the summoning?” She silently asked herself.
She heard the cause before she saw it. In the corner of the living room an unbroken clock ticked away and reminded her that she had been early to school. She had summoned her Servant an hour earlier than she had wanted to and the ritual had suffered for it.
Looking to the Servant as he cockily sat before her, she called out in a weak and timid voice, “My Servant?”
The man in red smirked before replying, “How unfortunate that my Master is so unsure of their abilities that they would question my very nature as a Servant and a hero.”
Sakura panicked and began to apologize.
“N-no, I didn’t mean it like that. I was worried because I made a mistake in the summoning ceremony.”
“So, instead of not being a Servant at all, I’m actually a mistake of a Servant. I guess that is something of an improvement. How very unfortunate of me to be summoned by a magus so addled. Are you sure that you are my Master?” He replied.
Sakura fretted at the accusations put forward by the Servant in red, and with a shaky voiced replied, “Y-yes! I am you Master. N-now w-we need to go.” Trying, and failing, to sound firm, hoping that he would stop insulting her and listen. Another Servant was feeding on unsuspecting civilians and Sakura needed to do something about it. She couldn’t think of her own exhaustion, not when she knew that Kotomine would berate her for acting so selfishly as to sleep while someone risked involving outsiders in the Grail War.
The Servant raised an eyebrow questioningly.
“You’re so unsure of your abilities that you would rush out into battle in such a weakened state. Truly, I am a most unfortunate soul to have such a Master.”
“W-What?!”
Rising from his position and stepping forward, he lifted the girl up and began to carry her bridal style. Panicking, Sakura pounded against his chest with each step he took.
“Set…set me down! It’s my responsibility to stop the Servant that’s hurting all those people!” she cried out while squirming to get out of his arms.
“Quit acting like a petulant child, it’s very unbecoming of one as strong as yourself.” He said glancing down at her.
“B-b-but we need to find the Servant that is feeding upon the people in the city.” She faintly replied.
“We’ll go tomorrow. I have no desire to disappear only hours after being summoned. Rest and then we’ll go.”
Before Sakura could realize what was happening, the man in red set her down on her bed and began to place the sheets over her. She hadn’t noticed that he had walked through the various halls and brought her to her room. A small part of her wondered how he knew what room belonged to her.
“Why are you doing this?” She asked, meekly looking up at him.
“Because, I understand what kind of Master you are.” He replied, looking down at her with an almost paternal expression.
After turning out the lights he began to fade into ethereal light as he became his spirit form.
“Thank you, Archer.” Sakura called out to the darkness. She wasn't entirely sure why she had called him Archer; she just felt that that was right. He wasn’t the Saber class that she had hoped for, but maybe he was exactly what she needed him to be.
…
Atop a skyscraper, a girl and her silver paladin gazed upon the city. The girl’s nearly waist length violet hair gently waved in the wind along with the edges of her long black pencil skirt.
“Will you save me?” The question played over and over again in the silver knight’s head. It had been one of the first things the girl had whispered to him after he had been summoned.
The hero didn’t normally save the monster at the end of the story, he slayed it. Yet, he had been summoned to this time and place by two monsters and one had asked him to save her. It was his duty as a knight to follow his liege lady, but he had vowed long ago to be an ally of justice. If the elder monster that dwelt in that dark mansion wanted the Grail to unleash some great horror upon the land, did that trump his honor bound vow to serve the girl?
Was the girl truly even a monster? Yes, a she commanded a horde of nightmare beasts, but she had placed priority on hunting a Servant that was making a meal of innocent people. That had to mean something, but even if she wasn’t a monster what of her grandfather? That thing was less a man than some of the fouler beasts he had seen in his day. What could it want with the Grail?
As if reading his mind his Master spoke.
“Don’t worry about Grandfather. He only wants the Grail because he’s afraid.”
“What, my Master?”
“You’re worried aren’t you? You want to know what the monster in the shadows wants with the Grail.” She said, pausing for a moment. “You don’t have to fear that he’ll stop the sun from rising so that he doesn’t have to be cooped up all day or that he wants to rule the world. He wants the Grail because he’s afraid. He’s rotting away and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. It doesn’t matter that he can replace his body, not when his soul and his mind are decaying. All he wants is to be young and immortal.”
“And what do you wish of the Grail, if I may ask?”
“I don’t want anything from the Grail.” She coolly replied.
“Then why are you competing?” He asked puzzled by his Master’s answer.
“Because I want to be free.” She quietly replied, turning to gaze out at the sprawling cityscape once again. Observing the girl, the silver knight wondered if all monsters so reviled their fate. Were they merely victim’s that by happenstance had been chosen to play the villain?
It wasn’t very long before the silence was broken once again, this time by the sound of cruel laughter that started as a snicker and grew steadily louder.
Turning towards him, a wide and off-putting smile worn across her face, his Master giddily called to him in a singsong voice, “Servant…Oh Servant! I think someone’s watching.” The silver knight was caught off guard for a moment. Both from his Master's radical shift in behavior and from having not sensed the presence of an observer. He quickly realized the insects that his Master commanded must have observed the would-be spy.
“Shall we put on a show, Servant?” She asked, twirling in the twilight as if enraptured by the very thought of him slaughtering the interloping observer. Gone was the sullen and self-hating girl and in her place stood a sadistic predator joyfully desiring to play with its prey. Was this what she meant when she said she entered the war to be free?
“If that is what you wish.” He answered.
“Yes, I think it would be a fun way to end the evening.” She responded, pointing her index finger towards the roof of a skyscraper diagonally behind him.
With superhuman speed, the silver knight cleared the distance from his position to the edge of the building and leapt. The distance between the two skyscrapers was far too great for any human to have cleared in a single bound, but the heroic spirit faced no such problem. As he descended upon his enemy, he gripped the hilt of his massive zweihander and pulling it over his shoulder prepared to bring it down like a hammer. In the moments before his attack was about to land, he saw his enemy and knew immediately that, despite the figures modern clothing, he was a Servant.
The Servant was clad in a black suit, white undershirt, and black tie, his blue hair held back in a ponytail, and a cigarette held not far from his mouth. Looking up, the Servant’s red eyes widened as he saw the great silver knight closing in on him. If he were struck by the silver knight’s giant blade he would be cleaved in two. Pushing off from the ground diagonally, he leapt with incredible speed, narrowly avoiding the killing blow.
The silver knight’s blade slammed into the rooftop, burying itself nearly to the hilt. Quickly excising the blade from the roof, the silver knight turned to face his opponent. The cocky enemy Servant calmly took another drag off of his cigarette before tossing the burnt out stub to the ground.
“I take it from the great sword that you’re Saber?” The blue haired Servant called out to him with a wolfish grin.
“Maybe in another war.” The silver knight thought to himself. If the enemy wanted to think that he was the Saber class servant then so be it.
Taking a stance, the blue haired Servant called out, “You’re fast. I’ll give you that, Saber. But you’re just a hair to slow.”
A red spear began to materialize in the Servant’s hands and his modern suit was replaced with a blue skin tight outfit that covered his body. With breathtaking speed, the spearman, who was without a doubt the Lancer class Servant, cleared the distance between the two of warriors and thrust his spear with such power that no mere man could hope to block it.
Yet, in spite of Lancer’s strength, the silver knight easily parried the attack and responded in kind, sending the attacker flying back several meters.
Swiftly, Lancer closed the gap again and struck out at the silver knight’s unarmored chest, only to be blocked again. Recoiling from the power of the strike, Lancer was hard pressed to defend against the silver knight’s next attack. The absurd length of the silver knight’s great sword would have normally given him an advantage over an opponent, but the reach of Lancer’s spear allowed him to keep himself from immediate danger and parry the powerful strike. Though the first few exchanges were visible to the naked eye, the pitched exchange of blows soon escalated to speeds almost beyond human perception.
Trading blows back and forth, the two warriors tried to find an opening in the others defense only to be rebuffed again and again; the silver knight maintaining a clear advantage in strength, but being out matched by Lancer’s agility. The silver knight was growing wary of Lancer’s prodding attacks. Lancer was no threat to him in face to face combat, but should the swift spearman manage to get behind him there was the possibility that he could uncover the silver knight’s weakness. He needed end the fight before it could get to that and to do that he needed to take a risk that his master had advised against.
As Lancer’s spear closed the gap between the two fearsome warriors, the silver knight made no move to stop it, instead allowing the blow to land directly in his chest. Pushing forward with his unparried blow, Lancer’s expression turned to one of dread as he realized his spear tip was unable to pierce the chest of his opponent. Before Lancer could retract his weapon, the great silver knight gripped the spear and held it to his chest. The spear gripped firmly in his left hand, the silver knight brought down his great sword with his right.
Thinking quickly, Lancer pressed his spear forward with greater force and pushed the base of the spear upwards. Pushing off from the ground he used the silver knight’s grip on the spear as leverage to vault over him, narrowly missing the blade as it struck his previous location.
Losing his grip on the spear as a result of Lancer’s actions, the silver knight swiftly turned to face his opponent, the tip of his great sword dragging across the rooftop and then slashing diagonally upwards. Before Lancer could clear the silver knight’s range entirely, the tip of the great sword grazed his trapezius muscle sending him tumbling forward.
After quickly gathering himself and leaping further out of range of the colossal blade, Lancer took a defensive position. The wounded spearman was trying to conceal the pain that erupted from his back.
Smiling, Lancer called out to the silver knight, “Still just a hair too slow, Saber.”
The silver knight braced himself for another foolhardy rush from the cocky spearman, but instead was greeted with another taunt from Lancer.
“It was fun, Saber, but my Master won’t have me risk parishing tonight. So I’ll be taking my leave.”
With great speed, Lancer leapt away from the battle. With Lancer’s injury, the silver knight could probably catch him before he got too far, and he could certainly catch him with the aid of his stead.
Sheathing his great sword, he began to reach for his horn.
“Don’t.” His Master’s voice echoed in his mind.
His Master stared at him intensely from the skyscraper where he had left her. In moments he had returned to the young girl.
“You already revealed one noble phantasm, if you use another there’s no way they won’t know who you are.” She said, responding to his question before he could ask it.
“Chasing him down now…”
“Would only succeed in revealing your identity. We had control of the situation with the surprise attack; we no longer have control of the situation. Attacking now would be inviting disaster, and disaster is exactly what would happen if the enemy knew your name while we were in the dark about their identity.” His Master said, cutting him off.
The quiet and cold girl from earlier had returned, leaving no trace of the smiling sadist that had danced at the thought of him killing his enemy.
“It’s almost 2:30 in the morning, Servant. I think it’s time we go home.”
…
Last edited by Barbarossa; January 23rd, 2015 at 03:40 AM.
Rider Siegfried? Interesting; I'm glad to see him speak.
Sakura pulling EMIYA could be fascinating. It's quite nice to see a different conversation than in canon for Archer's summoning.
I'm quite liking this fic so far, I'm glad to be the beta, it's a fun experience.
...Sometimes I look at things like this and realize I need to get back into writing.
Yep, Rin summoned someone like her own hero of justice and has yet to silence him.
While Sakura is a Tohsaka, she a lot less confrontational than Rin so I felt that their meeting would be different enough to warrant writing it down rather than simply referencing it later.
Glad you'r enjoying it. It would be fairly disheartening to have a beta who detested the fic.
This is now something like my fifth most anticipated fic out of the hundreds I follow.
The war now has two of my favorite heroes in it and I look forward to seeing Siegfried in action. I also particularly liked the summoning scene and the bugs, it did a great job of making them... less horrible.
FINALLY! Sakura and Archer, master and servant pairing! How I waited for something like this to happen.
Though I would have preferred for Sakura to be a Matou, but this one is nice too!
Good Job!
Last edited by Renko; January 23rd, 2015 at 04:19 PM.
"......"
Miscellaneous Info
Very interesting.
Funny Gif
Favorite Nasuverse Quote
I found these two from TumblrUfotable vs Visual Novel
Another interesting chapter. I liked the insights into Tohsaka Sakura's character, as well as the jealousy eating away at her.
Not Magus! Magic Emperor Magus!
Wow, no matter what happens to either sister, they still get screwed over. And Sakura still gets the worst of it.
In either timeline, Rin is stubborn and proud. In canon she's able to see through Kotomine's facade enough to call him out on being a priest, while being very self-sufficient and accepting the fact she has to grow up. And in here, while drowning in worms and nearly ostracized by everyone, it doesn't bother her as much as she was aloof from canon. The difference is that she's a bit more honest and people know beforehand she's mean. Of course, it also means that Shirou figures her out ahead of time and that they're dating.
But Sakura? In here I feel just as bad for her because she just wants to be normal and have her family back and Kotomine makes her feel guilty for his own amusement. And she's still jealous of Rin getting herself a hero. It was funny to read Archer snarking at her but pretty much acts like the supportive high school boy he once was in another timeline; kind and considerate. But it looks like Sakura will be the one to save Shirou here once Archer and Lancer get their fight tomorrow night.
...it seems likely that Sakura will team up with Shirou if only because she doesn't have anyone to truly depend on. But that will make things go in a down spiral once you add Saber to the equation (coughHaremComedycough). At least Sakura isn't as forceful enough to move into the Emiya household if needed.
...is she?
(Signature credit to TheSpy in his giveaway store thread. He does avatars too)
Fate/Reach Out (Persona 4 crossover)
Precursors of Purity (Ni no Kuni crossover; two-shot)
I'm a bit frustrated by the fact that I just realized that I entirely forgot to do a Shinji POV.
...
That's kind of interesting as I wasn't intending on humanizing them.
Glad you're liking it. I've always liked the idea of a Sakura and EMIYA Master Servant pairing, so I'm excited to try writing it.
Sakura is definitely not the kind of person to force herself over. She'd probably be horrified at the very thought of it.
...Update...
The battle at the school occurred as a result Shinji being Rider's Master. Without Shinji and Medusa in the war, Archer's confrontation with Lancer isn't a given.
Last edited by Barbarossa; January 24th, 2015 at 03:16 AM.
That is kind of where I feel it falls off a little bit. Rin was lonely in canon precisely because she isolated herself more than anything, she had gaggles of friends up to middle school, but decided to isolate herself more in high school, and even then, goes on regular shopping excursions with Ayako and Kaede.But Sakura? In here I feel just as bad for her because she just wants to be normal and have her family back and Kotomine makes her feel guilty for his own amusement. And she's still jealous of Rin getting herself a hero. It was funny to read Archer snarking at her but pretty much acts like the supportive high school boy he once was in another timeline; kind and considerate. But it looks like Sakura will be the one to save Shirou here once Archer and Lancer get their fight tomorrow night.
It is kind of odd that Sakura isn't more open, since I don't see her actually isolating herself. She did so in canon because to be honest, she didn't have a lot to be self-assured about, and Taiga and Shirou were special circumstances. But here, with complete freedom? I mean really, in canon, the hesitant Sakura was the one who actually got closer to Shirou first, while Rin pretty much buried that crush in her heart until later. If Sakura liked him, why exactly is she that hesitant on both Rin and Shirou? She didn't feel worthy of Shirou in canon, but interacted with him all the same. But here, the angle of her liking him due to having no one seems like almost a forced role to me. Same with the jealousy.
Basically, the two sisters approached their masks in different ways. I dunno, the characterization does seem like it's trying to uphold elements that wouldn't particularly exist. Like trying to fit a round block in a square peg. Sakura's too hesistant, envious, and guilt driven, she didn't care about magic because she wasn't being taught in canon, but jumped right in once she was free. So what stops her from really enjoying learning when she has the chance? Rin is too able to adapt to her circumstances, and still come off just as strong while trying to fit in the frailty angle, which doesn't seem to fit imo.
That was how she came to regularly helping at Shirou's house in canon. She basically forced him to accept her help by repeatedly coming over until he gave up. Would it not make sense that someone more self-assured would work her way in if she thought it was necessary?Sakura is definitely not the kind of person to force herself over. She'd probably be horrified at the very thought of it.
Beyond that though, hmm Siegfried eh? Not bad for this Rin. Although EMIYA with this Sakura comes off as him ruling the partnership by being the more self-assured of the two, so I hope that it doesn't end up like the knight in sour armor pulling along the waif.
"Fate/stay night: not really an eroge, and not really a cooking sim, but actually an RPG wherein everyone’s primary stat is “self-loathing” and the goal is to level it up beyond all the other characters."
Well, Sakura may have complete freedom but getting stuck with Kotomine is just as worse as Shinji and Zouken. Mostly due to the fact that he makes her feel just as inadequate and appear selfish for wanting things her way. He plays on her low self-esteem and guilt just to mess with her. Constantly having a guardian judge you makes sense as to why you wouldn't be more assertive of yourself. Though to be fair, she did try asking to see Rin, but Shirou politely refused because he (correctly) guessed Rin didn't want to spend time with other people (especially Sakura).
(Signature credit to TheSpy in his giveaway store thread. He does avatars too)
Fate/Reach Out (Persona 4 crossover)
Precursors of Purity (Ni no Kuni crossover; two-shot)
She has complete freedom to be called a selfish piece of crap by Kotomine for attempting to have some semblance of a normal life. Sakura doesn't challenge Kotomine in the same way that Rin did and as a result she has developed a warped sense of responsibility that puts her magecraft and her other responsibilities above all else to an isolating degree. Also it's not as though she is completely friendless in her isolation either, she's got Issei and the student council.
I was going to argue with this trying to say that Sakura's coming over to Shirou's house is very different from Rin's staying at Shirou's house during the war, but the more I think about it the less sure I am about the differences.
I'm definitely going to try and avoid that.
Here's the Shinji POV that probably should have been in 1/31 part 2. It's short, but I didn't want to lump it in with the day 2 stuff I've got for the next update.
...
1/31
As Shinji took his seat, he glanced over to his sister and his friend. Not that Emiya had been a particularly close friend since his sister had attached herself to him. Emiya and Shinji had become fast friends in middle school, but that was before she had decided to take yet another thing from Shinji. He shouldn’t have been surprised, given that she had taken everything else from the boy. Shinji doubted that his violet haired sister truly cared for Emiya, he was likely just another toy for the sadistic bitch and when he stopped being a fun plaything she would break him and then toss him aside, like everything else. That had been one of her favorite pastimes when the two were children. Whenever he’d dared to confront her about stealing his toys, she’d just stare and inform him that it was junk anyways and she’d simply thrown it out with the rest of the garbage. She never smiled when she delivered the news to Shinji, but the boy always imagined that as soon as he turned away from her a twisted grin would spread across her face, revealing rows of shark-like teeth. He wouldn’t have put it past her given the time she’d giggled at their father’s funeral.
His father had by no means been a perfect man, far from it, but that out of place quiet, little giggle had made Shinji absolutely livid. How could she mock him so openly, and at the poor man’s funeral no less? He’d confronted her about it afterward. He couldn’t contain his rage in the slightest, ripping into her over her behavior, her appearance, and her very existence within the Matou household. He’d demanded that she leave and never return because all she did was selfishly disrupt his life. When his tirade had ended she’d looked at him questioningly, as if she didn’t understand a single word he had said to her. She’d elegantly approached him in her black funeral dress, almost looking as if she was gliding across the floor, and raised an open hand to the side of his face and caressed his cheek. He remembered exactly how soft her hand had been. It felt so tender and caring, as though she was trying to comfort him, making what came next all the more brutal.
Her fingers had run up his face and into his hair, dancing across his scalp and suddenly grabbed a large tuft of his hair in her fist. His pain was immediate; it felt as if his ‘sister’ was going to rip his hair right out from the roots. Instead she’d used it as leverage to drag him over to the wall and continually smash his face against it. His nose had broken on the first impact and blood erupted like a fountain, leaving a disgusting red smudge where it had slammed against the wall. She smashed his face against the wall three or four more times before letting go of his hair and allowing him to fall to the ground. Writhing in pain he’d tried to cradle his face with his hands, but found his sister firmly crushing his right hand underneath her heel. She then proceeded to stomp upon his forearm, fracturing his ulna and radius, causing him to howl even louder than before. He remembered feeling nothing but helplessness and self pity when she’d begun to kick him repeatedly. While she’d beaten him senseless and broken his bones, she’d never spoke a single word to him. She’d simply glared at him in silence, her blank gaze had felt as if it was boring holes into his very soul. By the time the beating had ended, his nose, arm, collarbone, and several ribs were broken. Afterwards she’d gripped him by his long hair once again and dragged him to the steps that led to the horrific dungeon that she and his grandfather spent much of their time in.
In his memory, she looked less like a young girl and more like a demon, her long violet hair dancing like serpents, a mouth full of dagger-like teeth, and soulless piercing eyes. He remembered her leaning down to him and whispering into his ear, “I could throw you away and not one person on this planet would care.”
Shinji was already in tears from the death of his father and the excruciating pain he had been in, he’d broken down completely when faced with the prospect of not only being murdered by Rin, but also being forgotten entirely. He’d begged for what felt like hours, pleading for his life. She’d merely glared at him while he prostrated himself before her.
He remembered her cocking her head to the left and simply replying, “Disgusting.”
It was more than just a word when she’d used it. The way she said it, from the tone of her voice to her body language, clearly broadcasted her sense of utter revulsion at Shinji’s broken form. After hearing her say that, he went silent and resigned himself to his fate. He’d expected her to throw him down the stairs to the writhing things that dwelt in the shadows, but instead she had just turned and left. He’d ended up laying there for several hours before his grandfather had happened upon him. The old man didn’t try and comfort Shinji, instead he’d simply laughed at the boy’s broken and battered form.
When she left Emiya broken like one of his old toys, would she come to Shinji and casually inform him that she’d thrown Emiya out with the trash? Thinking about his friend’s inevitable fate and everything else that she’d put him through, he wanted to walk up to her desk and violently bash her head against it until her face was nothing but a bloody pulp. He imagined then dragging her by her disgusting hair out into the hall, ripping her clothes off, brutally raping her, then returning to the room to tell Emiya that he’d saved him. While his delusions played out in his mind, he stared intently at his sister. His gaze did not go unnoticed by the girl.
“It’s rude to stare, little brother.”
Maybe others couldn’t tell, but for Shinji the venom of her words was palpable. They were filled with disdain and hatred for him; they had to be. Nothing she ever did or said to him was motivated by anything less than pure sadism or revulsion. Then there was the addition of the title little brother. It was there to remind him that he was her inferior. It didn’t matter that she was in fact a couple months his senior; he knew that there was something more nefarious behind the choice of words. It had to be that way. She was a manipulative monster and her every turn of phrase was chosen for the express purpose of inflicting the most mental trauma upon him, or anyone else she targeted to be her next victim.
Why couldn’t Emiya see what he saw? Emiya had been his protector in middle school, offering him sanctuary from his sister, but now he was protecting her. By what cruel turn of fate had the hero saved the monster? How could he be in a relationship with a thing like her? He wanted to tell Emiya about the pit, about their grandfather, about Rin’s tainted body, and so much more, but he was too much a coward to do so. She’d told him before that if he dared say anything about her to Emiya, she would flay him alive and then toss him into the pit. So he was forced to sit and watch as she toyed with his friend until she grew tired of him.
...
Ah, the Shinji abuse was glorious! Excellent. Uhuhuhuhuhu ~ ♡
But I also pity the guy. Rin is scary....
Last edited by Renko; January 24th, 2015 at 06:16 PM.
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