The King of the Grail's Fate (Fate/Nasuverse)

Chapter XXX: Regret

As Harrison walked away Salter tried to run after him, however, when she got close Harrison yelled at her for the first time. "Don't follow me stay put for once I don't want to see you," he said without so much as sparing Salter a passing glance as he kept on walking taking Scott with him. Harrison didn't care to notice the small tears that fell down Salter's face despite its stone-like appearance. He felt betrayed by his friends, he refused to become the villain of any story, he shouldn't have listened to them. After walking through the forest behind his apartment building he carried the body to his car, not caring about the questioning looks and mumbling of those around him who watched.

Once he had situated Scott's body in the passenger seat of Harrison's car, Harrison himself moved to the driver's seat and shimmied into the seat. Taking a deep inhale and simultaneously starting the car Harrison screamed, for a long moment keeping the revs of the engine up to mask his shouts. Once he finally felt like he would pass out due to lack of oxygen Harrison let off the throttle and shifted the car into reverse and began on his way. He couldn't think straight everything seemed wrong. "Why did I agree to this, was I that desperate for something," Harrison talked to himself. "I should have known, no I did know I just didn't want to believe, GAH!" Harrison continues slamming his hand against the steering wheel. "Yeah teaming up with the Dark Tainted Tyrant was a smart move Harrison, you should really be proud of that one, what you thought it was going to be like it is in those stories like FGO or Fate Stay Night, no you dumbass it doesn't work like that, you aren't the hero, the main character, the chosen one, or whatever, why was I chosen for this bullshit," the venom in his voice fading to sorrow as he dropped his chin over his steering wheel staring into the red light of the street lamp.

Finally, after some time and a lot more ranting from Harrison, he pulls off to the library they were at the other day. Sighing once again Harrison unbuckled his seat belt and gets out of his car. Walking to the other side his head hung low he opens the passenger side door and pulls Scott's still limp body out setting it to the floor leaning against another car nicely. Another exasperated sigh leaves Harrison's lips as he places some sunglasses on Scott's face, "Eh hopefully he doesn't get arrested or something," Harrison mumbles to himself. If only Harrison wasn't so lost in his own world he would have noticed the lack of command seals on his hands of Scott as he began to drive off.

Silence weighed heavy on Harrison as he drove, he wasn't sure exactly where yet just anywhere that wasn't his house, he was still torn on how to feel about everything that had happened. It was after an hour of silence nothing but the sounds of his engine in his ear that he started to consider what he had said. "Maybe I was a little too harsh on them, how would they know, gosh I am one big child," Harrison said to no one in particular. Sorrow bloomed within his chest like a rosebud in a rainstorm, slow at first but regret trickled down his spine, like water down the stem of the rose. He wasn't too dissimilar to a rose bush, he brought people in close with illusions, but its red coloration became more evident when its thorns seemed to stab out indiscriminately drawing blood from friend or foe.

Tears began to flow more freely from Harrison's eyes now as he tried to reconcile with himself over everything. "You're a liar, and a terrible one at that," he told himself. "You say you care, you say you want to help those around you, you even tell yourself you want to win this war for the heroic spirits who have teamed up with you, but that wasn't it was it. It never was, you just wanted to feel needed, you wanted to feel special like you could help someone. You even practiced magecraft and hand-to-hand combat, what a fool you are for thinking you could be anything more than pathetic," Harrison continued talking to himself as if he was standing next to himself.

Subconsciously Harrison had driven to one of his father's favorite places. About two hours away from where he lived there was a small cafe where no one knew his name, no one dared to look at him a second time, and it somehow always seemed to be empty, yet his father swore up and down that it had the best coffee in the world and would make any rainy day brighten up, "A cup of Joe's" as generic of a name as possible for a place like this. When he stepped out of the car his tear-stained face was obscured by the rain that was befalling him. Harrison took one breath not bothering to move any quicker as the rain continued to fall on him, he just looked up to the grey and cloudy sky. It lacked the rumble of thunderous aggression, the storm was one of necessity letting the harbored moisture fall to the earth below.

"Sir are you alright, you are getting soaked," a feminine voice called out to Harrison. Harrison lowered his vision once more to see a woman he had never seen at this establishment poking her head out at him. "Come on in I'll get you something to drink it's on me just get out of the rain, you'll get sick," Harrison is confused at the kindness offered to him at this moment but he does what is asked of him and enters the cafe he sometimes visits. The girl sets down a nice warm cup of coffee in front of Harrison, it seems they are the only two people in the establishment that Harrison can see at the moment. The girl that is sitting in front of him is more similar to a statue than a person, every feature of hers seems to be carved from stone perfectly proportioned and purposeful. She has blonde hair that seems to be closer to an orange color that is braided and runs down to her lower back, and she wears sunglasses that are as dark as night itself, though he can feel her eyes behind the frames that seem to be judging Harrison almost.

She doesn't say anything to Harrison for a long moment the two of them just looking at each other that is until she finally breaks the eye contact as she gets up smoothing out her apron and uniform. "Don't beat yourself up about it too much Harrison, no one is perfect, and people can change I think you still believe that too," she says as if she just read his mind and the past hours of his life. As he turns to call out to her however she is gone, however, as if replacing her in the room the owner of the establishment appears behind the counter a familiar sight to Harrison. "Wait how..." Harrison's voice dies off as the scene registers in his mind. "You alright Harrison, you know you are really starting to turn out like your old man if you keep talking to yourself and bugging out like this," the pudgy man says slapping a hand across Harrison's dry back? Suddenly it occurred to Harrison he was dry, no longer wet from being out in the rain and speaking of which when he looked out of the window in front of him there seemed to be a growing pillar of light that separated the rain clouds.

Putting the coffee cup to his lips once again Harrison tried to get his mind to move on from the blatantly unexplainable events, yet he knew it had to deal with the holy grail war, he just didn't want to believe it. When the liquid hit his tongue he experienced quite possibly the worst tasting coffee of his life as it tasted more similar to dirt water than the richness of a cup of well-brewed coffee. Strangely enough, the bad-tasting drink brought his mind back to the words he had glanced over, "people can change," seemingly in time with the replay of those words the bell at the top of the entrance rang as the door swung open.