Effecting Fate

A Reunion Long Awaited

Shirou's POV

Shirou slowly walked along the riverside, relaxing as he listened to the sound of flowing water and rustling trees. Scattered around the area were patches of flowers of several varieties. That, along with the light breeze, creating an illusion of tranquility that settled around the area.

If not for the lack of animals, he would have thought that he was on Earth, or a similar planet, instead of Arcturus Station.

While he had been on the station before, he was still left in a state of awe that humanity had managed to create a structure capable of not only sustaining life in space, but for an entire city to be able to thrive in it.

In a way, this is probably as close to a Reality Marble that one could get without mage craft he thought in amusement as he walked along the grassy shore of the waterway, looking up at the light shining down from mirrors far above. Humanity imposing its own reality on the reality of space.

While not as large as the Citadel, it was still an impressive 5 kilometers in diameter, containing an entire city within. Neighborhoods, stores, farms, parks... Far more than just a space station, Arcturus Station could be considered the heart of the Alliance, with both the government and the military calling the place headquarters.

He had arrived at the station earlier that day, with his stuff being directly transported to the Normandy, and he had decided to take a walk through the residential district.

He had thought about going to check out the Normandy but had been feeling antsy for some reason, many of the swords within his inner world feeling as if they were shivering in anticipation. Unfortunately he couldn't figure out the reason for that, and had hoped that taking a walk would help him to relax.

It hadn't worked as well as he had hoped, but it was better than nothing.

He spent most of the morning like that, simply walking through the artificially created nature, not really paying attention to time, before finally moving away from the shore and towards the shuttle.

It was while he was waiting near the back of a crowd to get on the rail when he smelled something that caused his eyes to widen as his heart clenched.

The scent of lilies and daisies, freshly bloomed across an open field of grass, and undertones of honeysuckle.

Thaumaturgy wasn't something that could be sensed through normal means, but most mages could detect it through one way or another. For some, it was a feeling they got, like someone drawing a finger up their spine. Others might see it in tints of colors across their sight.

He had found that he had the capability of detecting magic through scent. It wasn't until Rin had likened him to a bloodhound that he realized how sensitive he was to magic in comparison to others.

When he had first met Rider, despite her beauty he could smell the thick stench of blood around her. Her Bloodfort Andromeda, oddly enough, smelled of sweets.

Each source of magic had its own scent.

In all of the years since he had regained his memories on Mindoir he had not smelled any magic, to the point that he wondered if mages still existed in this future. And, in all honesty, they might not - the Magus population was definitely lower years before when he was first alive than it had been during Arturia's time, perhaps the decline continued?

But now, for the first time in his new life, his nose twitched at the faint scent that was not truly a scent, and his head darted back and forth frantically, looking through the crowds to find the source.