He felt as if his body was at war with itself. It was an odd sensation… as if two parts of his being, which were normally perfectly compatible with one another, were now fighting to overcome the other simply because the other existed.
Death. Life. Taking. Giving. Darkness. Scorn. Acceptance. Cold. Warm.
And strangely above all else a distracting thirst that would not go away.
These sensations as well as many others that he had no words to describe swarmed his mind, body, soul, and entire being as if it was the battleground…
He watched from his hill of blades as the moon and the sun fought for supremacy over the sky. It was nothing really to marvel at under most circumstances as there was very little to watch or see happen, however it still happened slowly as it may.
The change was there, however, he couldn't tell what had happened or how long it had been happening. Nor could he tell how long it would continue to happen. Weeks? Months? Years? It could be centuries before this silent war would reach a conclusion or even made a visible change for all he knew. Yet, it was still important for him to remember and see the conclusion of it.
He woke up in his room with a raging headache and a body that throbbed with every breath. His mind ached every second, his muscles were stiff and groaning in pain from overuse, his arms and legs felt as if they were covered in lead. He looked at himself and saw that his chest and a couple of his limbs were wrapped with bandages, however from what he could tell nothing was broken or damaged enough for him to not move, even if it did hurt to do so.
"Ugh…" Shirou grunted as he slowly picked himself up and held his head with a hand. "What ha…" Before he even finished his sentence his memories returned to him. Louvre. The Mace. Sirius' help. Using Kiritsugu. Killing the vampire after projecting every… weapon… in his reality marble…
Well that would at least explain why he apparently passed out after killing Louvre and why his circuits were throbbing like crazy. He felt as if he had just projected Avalon for the first time all over again.
Getting up, he reasoned that Rin and the others must have taken him back home after he passed out. Since he was still alive and treated, he assumed that they must have taken out the other vampire as well. He just hoped they weren't hurt in the process.
Shirou frowned as he put on a fresh pair of pants. Despite the fact that the old man had carried himself as if nothing was wrong when he last saw him, Sirius had taken more damage than he did in the fight. If something wasn't done soon he could be in a fair amount of trouble. Rin was a good medic if needed, but if someone truly capable was necessary to aid the blacksmith then there was a chance that they would require the aid of the priest again… something he was not looking forward to if that was the case. Even if his father hadn't warned him of the executor's threat level, he still would never have trusted the guy.
Shirou paused as he reached for an undershirt and noticed that he still had the crimson shroud around his mouth and neck. He honestly didn't know what to do with it at this point. He had developed a sort of attachment to the cloth, however he knew that he would never be able to wear it in such a fashion in public without gaining unwanted attention which was something that all magi try to avoid. Still, he remembered Louvre doing something to his body that had to do with the vampire blood in his body, so he didn't know if the time needed to keep it on was extended.
Deciding to keep it safe, the teen channeled a small amount of prana into the fabric around his neck and altered its shape around his body until it was a fairly tight short sleeved undershirt. It caused his circuits to throb a small amount, however it was still very much manageable.
Shirou nodded in satisfaction as he briefly inspected his work before grabbing one of his casual shirts to put on. Fully dressed and confident that he was ready for the day, he made way to the kitchen. If he was lucky and didn't encounter anyone on the way there, Shirou planned to start making himself some food. Not only was he more than a bit hungry at the moment, but after what he had just been through he needed something to help calm his thoughts. The clock in his room had said it was six in the afternoon so he decided to make a light simple dinner to help his body regain energy without much stress. Now, the only real problem, as far as he knew, was deciding on what to make…
He walked outside to his porch and made way for the main living area, thinking absentmindedly about what to make himself and how to make said dishes. The sun was just about set and the partially sky, giving the masses of water vapor a rather rare pinkish and soothing hue.
He never noticed that the direction he was walking to was the location of several very strong magical signatures.
"Maybe a quick stirfry…" Shirou mumbled to himself as he listed off rather simple dishes out loud. "Then again I haven't tried to make any western dishes in a while. I could try to make some pasta and marinara sauce…" He distractedly walked through his home and opened the door to the living room to reveal that it was full of both people he knew and had never seen before in his life. "… I'm gonna need more spaghetti…" He said absently as his mind tried to catch up with the image in front of him.
Sitting at the living room table on one side were Rin and Bazett. On the other side of the table were Waver and a woman with brown hair in a ponytail, a white coat and brown pants made of extremely fine material, a crimson bow around her neck, and a gauntlet on her right hand which he immediately identified as mythril and possessed a very nasty and bloody history behind it. She looked like she was born to be all business and screamed of nobility.
Off to the side on his living room couch was some young boy with medium length black hair wearing a simple white and gold robe and black pants. The child seemed fairly harmless as he donned a pleasant and amused look on his face…
Rin and Bazett were both sitting nervous and rigid. The woman in front of them put them on edge for some reason as their eyes constantly flickered between him and the female guest… and it obviously had to do with the fact that her body was just thrumming with potent magical energy. Waver seemed less stressed than the two females that he was sitting across, however he was carrying himself significantly more stiffly than he normally did. The kid…
Shirou swallowed heavily as the boy smiled calmly and sincerely at him. "Um… this may be a bit rude, but why are there two strangers, one of which is a vampire, in my home?" The "boy" was old. Even if his body was that of a child, Shirou could tell that there was a VASTLY larger history in him than everyone else in the room combined. He was older than Louvre. He was stronger than Louvre…
But unlike Louvre the boy he was looking at now had an odd sort of body. All four of his limbs seemed to have a life of their own. What more, he could actually see a great deal about the "child's" right arm. It was a sort of massive mechanical creature that was composed of many weapons including swords and cannons of varying designs and sizes…
And he had no doubt in his mind that he did not stand a chance in hell against it, let alone any of the other limbs which seemed to possess just as much power.
The boy's smile didn't change. "Oh? So you can identify my kind on sight? That really is interesting Shirou Emiya." He glanced at the Faker curiously. "I see my right arm in particular has your interest. Is it because it she is partially made of swords that you can tell what she is?"
"Crown." The brown haired woman spoke up in an otherwise calm and polite tone, causing Rin and Bazett to flinch. "I would be most appreciative if you would hold your petty mind games with the boy until after I am done conversing with him."
The boy identified as Crown shrugged and bowed to the noble bearing woman. "As you wish m'lady Barthomelloi."
Shirou's mind literally froze. "… Can you repeat that please? I could have sworn you just said Barthomelloi."
"Shirou, it would be best if you be more careful with your words right now." Waver warned calmly but with a sharp and telling look in his eyes. "You are in the presence of the Vice-Director of the Clocktower, Lady Lorelei Barthomelloi…" He glanced at the boy on the couch. "… As well as the twentieth Dead Apostle Ancestor and member of the Church's Burial Agency, Merem Solomon, also known as Crown."
Merem laughed as he and everyone there watched Shirou blink in confusion and disbelief. "Hahah. I think you broke him. I knew I made the right decision to stay here instead of with Kotominei."
"Still your tongue vampire." Lorelei shot a threatening glare at the Ancestor. "The only reason why I am allowing your presence and existence is because you are a notable member of the Church."
"It is an honor to be given such a privilege by one such as yourself." The eldest one there bowed sincerely, not at all threatened by the woman's thinly veiled threat.
"Um… since my home isn't the center of a massive crater in the earth, I'm guessing that both of you want to talk to me for some reason?" Shirou hesitantly as he slowly sat himself down at the head of his table.
"Yes." The noblewoman stated calmly. "However if what you say does not please me, do not be surprised if your first assumption does eventually come to pass in one form or another."
"Duly noted." The redhead smiled weakly as he looked around and noticed something. "Um… this may be a bit sudden, but has anyone gotten you any refreshments? I noticed that you don't have anything in front of you."
Lorelei narrowed her gaze at the boy skeptically. "No I have not, however to be frank I do not think or expect that anything inside this building would be up to sufficient standards."
The boy's demeanor relaxed somewhat and looked at her curiously. "I think I still have some Earl Gray in the cupboards." He offered innocently.
Waver, Bazett and Rin all froze at the boy's stupidity. Once again he in his effort to be helpful he had inadvertently proven the Queen of the Clocktower was wrong and as such insulted her. Granted he was not exactly accustomed to dealing with nobles and as such didn't know that he had made such a mistake, but most of the upper ranks of the Clocktower would have been glad to use Shirou's statement as an excuse to do who knows what.
The woman looked at Shirou with an unreadable gaze before closing her eyes and donning a patient pose. Next to her Waver made some small gestures to the boy to urge him to go make the tea if he valued his life.
Wasting no time Shirou walked quickly to the kitchen and began to prepare the drinks. "I'll be just a moment. Does anyone else want something to drink as well?"
"I would like a cup as well.." Waver nodded. Lord knows he needed one to calm his nerves right now. Technically he would prefer something with at least a hundred more proof and one of his cigars to do that job, but he didn't want to risk it at the moment.
"I-I'm good." Bazett smiled nervously, obviously not in the mood to eat or drink anything right now.
"I'd like some tea too please." Merem asked politely from the couch before blinking and laughing apologetically. "Ah sorry. Make that two."
"I'll help him out." Rin smiled hesitantly as she picked herself up and quickly followed Shirou to the kitchen. The moment she was out of sight of the Queen and everyone else in the living room, she let the smile drop off her face and grabbed Shirou roughly. "What the hell were you thinking?" She hissed, shaking her friend semi violently. "That's the Queen! THE QUEEN!"
"What are you talking about?" Shirou whispered just as frantically. "She didn't have anything to drink and I know that nobles like this kind of stuff."
"If she didn't expect much from you then don't suddenly just prove her wrong so suddenly!" Rin countered almost frantically. "There are nobles who kill commoners for things like that!"
Shirou shook Rin off of his shirt and momentarily frowned at her before shaking his head and went back to his cupboards where he managed to find the tea container he was looking for. "Fine. I get it. I'll be more careful about how I offer help."
"No! No helping!" The Tohsaka argued as she took out the teapot from the area where Shirou kept his cooking ware. "You'll make things worse if you open your mouth and offer your services. Just shut up and answer any questions she asks you. If you do any more than that you'll probably get killed or worse." She frowned as she began to get out some cups. "If you need a reason to keep that mouth of yours in check, then do it for the old man."
"Huh?" Shirou blinked in confusion as he started setting up the tea and heating up the water. "What's wrong with Sirius-jiji? He's injured, but from what I can tell he's not in any danger…"
"Lady Barthomelloi put a sealing designation on him." Rin frowned, causing Shirou to completely freeze in his tracks.
"Wh-what?" The male barely managed to ask in disbelief, the color on his face vanishing almost completely. "Why?"
The Tohsaka crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Thinking about how to deliver the somber news managed to distract her from the Barthomelloi's presence and calm her down a bit. "Remember that rune based code that he fused with his skin? Well it's big enough to warrant that sort of attention. The perfect fusion between an inanimate magical appliance and a biological magical command base such that the biological base is capable of reproducing the code's properties as if it was a genetic trait certainly would warrant that kind of attention. If done right it could possibly lead to the development of artificial sorcery traits, unique abilities that are passed down through blood." She looked at Shirou dead in the eyes. "From what I've heard from Bazett-san the old man has enough standing in the Clocktower to prevent himself from being constantly experimented on, but if you happen to agitate the Queen that future could be uncertain. Regardless he's been in the lady's care since the fight ended getting treated for his wounds. I don't know where he is and demanding for his location is akin to committing suicide." She narrowed her gaze. "Once again. Please don't say anything stupid or try to be helpful. It will only make things worse right now." Plus it would hurt my chances of getting her to sponsor my entry into the association… She mentally added. Rin was on Shirou's side in this matter and she did want to help him, but that didn't mean that she couldn't see a golden opportunity to benefit her own future when it presented itself.
"Got it. Hey… uh… do you think I can convince her to not Sirius-jiji…" Shirou began to ask Rin hopefully before the girl shot him a deadly look that left no arguments. "Er… never mind." He relented, knowing if the girl gave him that look then there was no point in trying to convince her otherwise. "I'll try, but I'm not going to be rude to a guest and give them the silent treatment. That might make things worse."
"Fine, but if she kills you don't say I didn't warn you." Rin held her hand to her face in frustration and glared at the boy before noticing something. "Where did you put the shroud? I thought that you still had it on when we put you in your room."
"I turned it into an undershirt since I didn't know if I should still keep it on or not when I woke up." He replied as he lifted up his outer shirt to reveal his makeshift crimson one underneath. "Louvre did something with his daughter's blood in me when we fought. I don't know if it lengthened the time I need to wear this thing or not, but to be honest I kinda like the thing now. I just couldn't wear it around my head all the time or else people would start looking at me funny."
The Tohsaka nodded. "Good idea. Just make sure that you don't tell her about it. We don't know how she'd respond to it along with all the other crap you're involved in."
He looked back at the living room with a depressed expression before turning back to Rin. "What about that Solomon guy? Why the heck is he here?"
Rin's demeanor relaxed a bit more as she shrugged. "I don't really know. He says that he came here because he was interested in that mace that Louvre was using against you and he guessed that Lady Barthomelloi would be here soon, which was apparently right. He claims he's a collector of holy artifacts for some reason. He's so into those things that he's even working with the Church just so he can get more as payment. He watched the fight in the park with Kirei who I'm guessing told him of everyone… but thankfully the priest didn't follow him here." She shook her head. "There's a ton of reasons why he could be here right now. He could simply be here for the mace. He could be here to get revenge on you for killing a fellow Ancestor, but I doubt that since everyone knows that the Ancestors actually go to war against one another for fun…"
"He seems pretty nice." Shirou commented as he noticed the water beginning to bubble. "… But there's no way that we would stand a chance against him if he did decide to fight us. He's in a completely different league than Louvre."
"You could tell right off the bat too huh." Rin let her head sag depressed. "To be honest all that means right now is that you have to be careful of what you say to him as well. We are hosting the equivalents of the Dragon and the Tiger in your living room right now."
"I figured. Waver-nii and Sirius-jiji told me how the Barthomelloi despise vampires and how the Queen puts even them to shame. To have one of the Ancestors in my home is just asking for it to be destroyed." Shirou relented before turning to his friend. "I haven't asked yet, but what happened after I…" He flinched as the fact that he killed someone finally registered in his mind. "Well, you know. Beat Louvre."
Rin sighed and looked up to the ceiling. "Well to start things off it's been almost a full day since the fight. The first thing that happened after that was you passed out from exhaustion right next to the corpse. It wasn't that surprising since I've never seen you project that many weapons at once before." She scratched her head. "After that Bazett and I had to take a few seconds to convince ourselves that you did just pull off killing the vampire before we got our butts into gear and ran to make sure you were all right and that the bastard was already dead. It took a tiny bit later to get to you than we would have liked cause there were just so many shattered codes lying around both of you that we had to be careful or else we might have set something off."
"Oh yeah he did have a lot of codes with him at the end." Shirou mused. "What happened to them?"
"Lady Barthomelloi had been watching the entire event and had a fair number of her private group of enforcers with her." Rin answered. "When I was busy healing you she and Lord El-Melloi the second arrived to inspect everything up close. They had come across the old man while getting to us and had some of her men treating him and took the mace into custody. During that time the geezer fell asleep and he's been out ever since. The rest of her group are either working in the park to repair the damage done to it, recover all the codes that Louvre summoned, or they're stationed around the house right now since she's been here since this morning."
"This morning?" Shirou blinked as the pot began to boil at the right amount to serve tea and he quickly attended to it. "She's been in my home all day? Why?"
Rin rolled her eyes. "Why else? She wants to talk to you. It's not every day that you see a kid beat an Apostle Ancestor at their own game you know. Plus it doesn't help that at some point Lord El-Melloi let it slip that you're the Magus Killer's son. Hell he even went a step further than that and referred to you as the second Magus Killer. Of course you would warrant some interest to her, or to any other noble for that matter." She frowned at the boy. "Like I said Emiya-kun, be very careful of what you say around her, because if she thinks you could be a potential threat make no mistake that she would incur the wrath of the Clocktower on you."
Shirou smiled nervously as he began to pour the tea before taking out cream and sugar for those who may have wanted some. "I'll keep that in mind… but what about Solomon-san? When did he get here?"
Rin's eyebrow twitched. "He actually got here before we did. He gave us a damn big scare with that casual smile when we saw him on the couch like that. He introduced who he was right off the bat and said he was a member of the Church. Since my family has some connections with them I was able to confirm that he wasn't lying with a few specific questions, but that really didn't make Bazett-san or I any more comfortable with his presence. Still there wasn't anything we could do to make him leave, not that he was being an unreasonable guest. Quite the opposite really. He just asked for a room that was isolated from sunlight for the day. He was really adamant to stay here for some reason." She rubbed her temples tiredly. "I nearly had a heart attack when Lady Barthomelloi came here this morning and noticed his presence. Had he not actually step out and briefly talked to her when she first detected his presence, I'm guessing that your home really would have been destroyed by the time you woke up."
"Well at least that means that things really haven't been as truly bad as they could have been." The owner of the house smiled weakly as he set up a tray with the tea and related items on it. "Can you help me out with this?"
Rin nodded. "Sure."
"I hope you haven't wasted your time attempting to come up with some meager idea to poison me." The Queen stated calmly as Shirou began serving the drinks. "I have several universal elixirs on hand at all times for such an event, and many of my guard are highly skilled in countering such concoctions."
Shirou laughed nervously as he served her the tea. "I'm afraid to disappoint you, but I would never do such a thing even if it did work. I am rather prideful when it comes to cooking and the condition of my kitchen. For me, contaminating anything that I make in there would be the same as stabbing myself."
"I see." The woman coolly looked at the boy. "Do not be surprised if I do not believe you. You are after all someone that has been raised by a rather notorious individual."
The chef's face fell as he continued to serve the drink to Waver, his eyes dimmed as he remembered his father. "Dad may have been a notorious assassin, however he was a terrible chef. The few times he did try to make anything he nearly burned down the house. If I didn't learn how to cook early I would have spent much of my life going out to eat or having cheap canned food for every meal of the day."
"A sufficient reason to take up the skill." Lorelei stated as she quickly chanted a few spells under her breath to ensure that neither the tea nor the cup she was holding were laced with any form of poison, curse, parasite, spirit, spell or anything intended to harm her upon skin contact or digestion. "Though I am somewhat surprised that your sire never hired any servants. From what I assumed he accumulated during his career, he could have easily hired one or two post mortem."
The woman's words struck a chord of curiosity with the rest of the guests there. If Kiritsugu was as wealthy as the woman suggested, then there was no need for Shirou to do some of the things he puts himself up with, like working a job after school or being careful about acquiring several specific texts and materials over the years.
"Dad like things simple." Shirou shrugged as he finished serving the tea. "I myself work a side job even though he left me a fair amount of money because I don't want to rely on it to get through with day to day life."
"Independent and self reliant to not even rely on your family's funds even when you have full access to it." Merem blinked in surprise before smiling as if he heard something very appealing. "You are becoming even more interesting than I originally suspected Emiya-san. I find most magi these day to be far too reliant on their connections and their history for my liking. It is very comforting to see someone like you in this day and age." He looked down at the two cups of tea he was served. "And so well accommodating too." He didn't blink as his left arm glowed momentarily causing the rest to momentarily be on guard before the glow subsided and separated from his body to shape…
"A r-r-r-rat?" Rin fumbled with her words as a pure white rat with a large red gem the size of its plump body around his neck and a rather cute crown upon its head. Judging from how Bazett was staring at it, it was safe to assume that she was experiencing a similar reaction only she had the control to not say anything.
"I would prefer to be called by my moniker, the King of Rats, if you don't mind young lady." The rat replied in an elderly but polite and sincere tone before looking at Shriou. "And to the owner of the house, I thank you for your generous hospitality."
"Um… Thanks… I think." Shirou blinked, clearly not expecting one of Merem's limbs, each of which possessed an inhuman amount of power, to turn into such a small creature. "Are you sure you can finish that cup? It's a bit bigger than you are."
The rat blinked before shaking his head in embarrassment. "Ah! Of course. Where are my manners? This is not a form to take when conversing with others and partaking of food. My apologies." Moments later the small rodent had transformed via some magic to take the form of a somewhat elderly man in a black priest's garb and a grandfatherly like smile on his face. "I hope this form of mine is more appealing to the guests here." He stated before taking the cup in front of him and taking a sip. "Wonderfully done. My compliments."
"I knew that the Ancestors were capable of miraculous feats… but I never imagined something like this…" Waver blinked in awe. "An imperfect fusion between divine leveled sprits that can drastically undergo rapid metamorphosis? But then how would that compensate for the natural control when they are attached… spiritual… perhaps a potent biological based magic or some form of artificial nerve mutation… but how would he naturally establish dominance over him with such a strong personality?"
"If we could please get back to the subject at hand." Lorelei took control over the table once again with a calm but overwhelmingly powerful tone before looking at the nervous Emiya. "You obviously have had a large amount of combat training boy. What was it supposed to be for? Are you to take up a similar career as your father or do you have something else in mind?"
Shirou stared at the Queen for a moment before sighing. "Other than one particular task that dad wanted me to perform in the future, the purpose of my training was to ensure that I could protect myself and any family I may make later on from those that dad has angered during his exploits."
"Obviously you do not intend to tell me what this task is." The woman stated as she drank her tea.
"It is a private and sensitive matter and so I would prefer to keep it known only to myself until the time is appropriate." Shirou responded as he finally poured himself a cup. "I assure you however that my task will not threaten the association nor expose the existence of thaumaturgy."
"I find it hard to believe that your task would require you to be strong enough to handle an apostle Ancestor, if only a weak one." Lorelei continued as she momentarily placed down the cup.
"I was not even sure I was capable of performing such feats myself." Shirou smiled nervously. "My magic is fairly different and I have not made much progress until recently."
"I was watching." Merem nodded. "At first I was somewhat disinterested by your projection magic. Granted it was of a much higher level than I expected that field to be taken, however when you began producing tools that possessed their own abilities I began to pay closer attention. I was very surprised when you made all of those weapons at the end, especially since many of them were exact copies of ones that Louvre had just used on yourself." His eyes flashed curiously. "I even saw the Mace of Odo among the tools you had produced."
The Faker laughed nervously. "Y-yeah, well, my element is "sword" and I have a very strong attachment to melee weapons. Plus my method of doing projection magic is different than the normal ways so between the both of them I can do things like that. To be honest though it's pretty much the only special thing I can do."
"A "sword" element?" Lorelei raised an eyebrow, showing that she actually was caught off guard for once. "That is rather… peculiar."
"I got similar reactions from dad when he first found out." Shirou admitted, somewhat telling the truth. Kiritsugu did SAY he had that reaction when he first found out, but he told Shirou about his element years after he found that out. "Still it didn't help much when it came to my studies in the standard lines of magic. Other than material transmutation spells, bounded fields and maybe runes, I'm at best average in most fields of study."
"I already know that much." The Queen stated as she drank some more tea. "Your teacher Lord El-Melloi has been very cooperative when it came to describing your strengths and weaknesses. He was fairly confident in saying that you were the foremost expert on projection magic, making advances in the field that were vastly ahead of anything that anyone at the Clocktower has made in the last few centuries. Considering what I witnessed last night, I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."
Shirou let out a breath of relief.
"So long as you provide me with an adequate example of your work." The woman continued as she took out the Mace of Odo from a small pouch that was next to her, causing many there to blink in surprise. "This is indeed the weapon that Louvre wielded in your fight. I wish to see how well your imitations compare to an artifact of significant making. Witnessing your work from a distance was not enough for me to come to an adequate conclusion of your capabilities. Should you perform above expectations, I may even consider sponsoring your entrance into the Clocktower."
"Urk!" Rin's stomach nearly jumped out of her throat at the statement. Getting sponsored was one thing. Getting sponsored by THE QUEEN HERSELF was on a completely different level. How? The Tohsaka raged to herself in confusion and disbelief. How in the world is Shirou getting her attention? Is it because he killed that vampire? What is going on here?
"Sponsor m-me?" Shirou squeaked in equal disbelief and fear. Glancing at Rin, who was glaring hat him murderously, he felt as if the Tiger and the Dragon had been joined with the enraged Ox… and he was the Rooster that they all wanted to take down. He would have considered himself the Rat, but obviously that position was already taken up. "Wouldn't Tohsaka be a better person to chose? She's a genius and an average one on top of that. I'm just some kid that dad adopted with a tiny butchered magic crest and an above average circuit."
The Queen's eyes narrowed. "Don't question my generosity boy. You are a useful tool and as things stand now it will only be a matter of time before you land yourself into the hands of someone significant… or you will be destroyed to prevent such an event from happening. Now produce a copy of this noble phantasm and let me make my verdict."
Shirou swallowed heavily as the woman's words weighed heavily in his chest and on his shoulders. She didn't want him because of who he was. She wanted him because of what he could do now and in the future. Given the look the woman, Waver, Bazett, and Rin were giving him, it would be best if he didn't say anything else lest he get murdered. Merem and his familiar however seemed to be enjoying the show quite much as they continued to drink and watched with amused eyes. As such, he decided to just go with the woman's instructions and look at the mace in front of him again. To be honest he didn't need to do so in order to trace it, however the person threatening his life didn't need to do that.
"Trace… on." The Faker muttered as he let prana flow through his circuits gently as they were still fairly sore from his fight against Louvre. Reaching into his reality marble and pulling out the mace to the outside world, he never noticed Merem and his familiar blink several times in surprise. "Well, here it is." Shirou smiled weakly as he handed his replica of the noble phantasm to Lorelei.
"If anything else it at least looks exactly like the original." The woman commented dryly as she took the copy into her other hand and inspected it critically. He facial expressions did not change in the slightest as she fairly frequently switched her gaze from one object to the other and muttered several spells under her breath.
"Master, I am curious." The priest turned rat asked the boy next to him. "Had you seen the original and the copy in different points of time, would you have been able to distinguish them apart? I must admit even I am having a bit of trouble telling them apart."
Merem's eyes flashed eagerly. "Yes I would have… but it would have taken me some effort to do so. The copy lacks several traits that make it a perfect replica of the original, however even if it is a temporary construct, it is marvelously well made. Even the magic and the feeling it exerts is exactly the same." He turned to Shirou. "You give your abilities far less credit than you deserve Emiya-san. What you are capable of is certainly a noteworthy feat."
After what seemed like hours to most of the individuals in the room, Lorelei finally placed the copy down on the table and looked at Shirou sharply. "You will have until the end of this country's summer education vacation to go to the Clocktower to receive my instructions. Unless you truly have a valid excuse, I suggest you do not make me wait."
Shirou gulped and looked at Waver pleadingly.
"I'll explain later." The young man stated with the barest hint of relief as he drank some more tea. "For now it would be best if you do as she says."
"This has to be a dream… it just has to be." Rin whispered to herself in a daze. "How am I being overlooked for Emiya? By the Queen of all people? How?"
"Quiet!" Bazett hissed as she tried to snap the girl out of her funk. "She might hear you!"
"Now before I allow Solomon to speak to you, I will ask you a few final questions." Lorelei stated with finality, though nearly spitting out the vamprie's name. "Is it possible for another person to replicate the mysteries you performed that prevented Louvre from regenerating and the one that somehow damaged his circuits?"
Shioru shook his head in denial. "My apologies but no. The first mystery is something that I created on the spot that requires a specific mystic code that was once mine and the remains of the Emiya family crest that I bear. The second requires a second mystic code that I once possessed, however both of these codes and a sister code that made them a set were destroyed soon after I obtained them so that they would not eventually fall into irresponsible hands. I felt they were too dangerous to think otherwise."
"I see." The noble stated not expressing understanding nor disappointment from the boy's revelation before closing her eyes. "That makes you all the more valuable for hunts then I suppose." She reached for her tea again and brought the cup to her lips. "You have my permission to speak to him now Solomon."
"My thanks Lady Barthomelloi." Merem nodded appreciatively before turning to Shirou. "I have to ask that we speak in private Emiya-san. What I wish to speak of is not something I want others to know of."
"Forgive me if I express discomfort with that request Lord Solomon." Waver frowned. "Your kind has not been known to be rather trustworthy, especially as of late."
"You have my word as a member of the Church's Burial Agency." The boyish immortal assured Waver. "Besides, if I were to do something to Emiya-san now I would not be able to barter for the mace with Lady Barthomelloi afterwards would I?"
"My lady…" Bazett looked nervously at the mace. "I highly recommend against allowing that mace to go to anyone's hands. We had enough trouble removing it from Louvre's to begin with…"
"If you're worried about me using the mace, I could always sign a geis to prevent me from using it on anyone if we manage to get a deal formed." Merem smiled non threatening. "I really enjoy collecting rare ancient artifacts and I make it a personal rule to not use them for fighting. It's really just a hobby of mine to be honest." The one armed vampire picked himself up and walked to the porch. "Now if we could go to somewhere more private?"
Shirou looked at his guest skeptically before relenting and getting up. "Fine. We'll go to one of the guest rooms to have this talk."
"Shirou. I shouldn't have to remind you to be very careful." Waver narrowed his eyes at the boy. "You tend to be a bit too trusting at times. Don't do anything reckless."
"I'll try… though I don't really think I'm in the mood to be very trusting to any new people right now after what's happened recently." The teen replied tiredly as he led Merem to another part of the house.
"It's a very smart thing that you do that Emiya-san." Merem nodded. "I wouldn't trust myself either if I just went what you did."
"You're not making this any easier for me you know." Shirou glanced at the vampire warily.
"Just trying to help." The vampire smiled again cheerfully as they exited the room.
Rin and Bazett looked around somewhat nervously as Shirou left the room with the Ancestor between the familiar and Lorelei, both of whom were drinking tea with the utmost posture and discipline. Waver on the other hand had a calm and controlled expression on his face, though nowhere near as much as the demon and the Queen.
"This really is quite good tea." The King of Rats commented pleasantly as he poured himself another cup. "My lady Barthomelloi, if it is not too much trouble to do so, may I possibly inspect Emiya-san's replica of the mace up close? You do not have to worry about me using it against anyone or anything here. Master created me with the purpose of being a stand in for modern human society since his form is as you saw it. I am not exactly a combat capable individual."
The room was silent for several moments before the Queen placed down her cup of tea and passed the demon the artifact replica. "Be warned demon. Should you make one unsavory gesture with it I will strike you down."
The demon priest smiled pleasantly as he took the projection from the woman. "I wouldn't dream of it. I wouldn't last even a second against someone of your caliber."
"F-forgive me for asking, but I have never heard of a demon being so well mannered and pleasant to other humans before." Rin spoke up. "Considering what you are and who your master is, I would have expected something a bit more… reserved at the very least."
The King of Rats smiled. "You are not the first to say that young girl. My master himself was also quite intrigued when he first realized that I am rather fond of the human race even though he did not create me as such." He raised the mace to the light in the room to get a better look at it. "When he asked me about it, I merely replied that I constantly work for the betterment of all rats, my master… and humans so long as the latter continue to make pizza of course."
Everyone in the room save for the Queen blinked owlishly at the demon's polite yet clearly unexpected statement.
o. o. o.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Shirou asked curiously and nervously as he and Waver sat each in a chair in one of the guest rooms of the house.
"Hmm." Merem mused, for all intents and purposes acting and looking as if he really was a fourteen year old boy. "I have several questions, but in a way the big one would be where to begin. Normally I am not the one that would be doing this but from what I've seen you do there really would be no one else that could adequately do the job without causing an uproar…" He sighed defeated. "Oh well. There is a first for everything I suppose." He looked at Shirou dead in the eye.
"Shirou Emiya. I am here to offer you the position as number ten of the Dead Apostle Ancestors as you are the most fitting successor to the previous tenth, Louvre."
Shirou's world froze. His breathing had stopped. His heart was still and his eyes could not tear themselves away from the vampire in front of him.
"Fortunately lady Barthomelloi is under the impression that Louvre's daughter put you under some sort of blood curse which can explain what Louvre himself said during your bout, otherwise I doubt you would be even alive right now…" Merem continued as he put on a ponderous expression, clearly talking more to himself more than Shirou at this point. "It would be more accurate to say that your potential is potentially even greater than Louvre's. I was uncertain before, but when you produced that mace earlier I could tell that you do in fact have a reality marble. Even if it isn't completely manifested inside of you, it is a mystery in itself that you managed to develop it this much at such a young age. Normally it would take centuries for even a powerful apostle to be able to get it to your point, yet you are not even in your later teen years in age. Plus there's the fact that you are so familiar with how it works that you have been developing it long before you even obtained any apostle blood. No wonder Louvre was so immensely enraged by your mere existence when he fought you. You are young even by human standards… but you already have what he will take several more centuries to obtain… not that you are fully qualified for the position either at the moment but still…"
"W-w-wait." Shirou finally managed to find his voice again. "You… want ME… to be an apostle ANCESTOR?"
Merem shrugged. "It's less of a matter of desire and more of simple qualification. When one of our kind is predicted to die in the near future by Altrouge Brunstead, another Ancestor, they are informed so that they can prepare their successor with the proper information and equipment so that the damages done to their work and territory are kept to a minimum. While it may have been by accident, you have not only inherited the man's blood through his daughter, but also a good portion of his legacy as well in the form of the codes he collected which you can replicate. It may sound like a sick joke to you, and no doubt to many others of my kind who would desire the position, but for better or for worse you are in fact the most suited to succeed him as of this moment."
"But… how?" Shirou tried to wrap his head around the new twist to the situation. He had to be asleep. That was the only explanation to rationalize how bizarre things had been since he woke up. There was simply just no other reasonable explanation for the Queen of the Clocktower's presence in his living room and the Dead Apostle Ancestor offering a position of equal power right in front of him. "I'm human! I haven't been turned and I don't drink blood! Isn't the requirement for being a Dead Apostle to at least drink blood as a habit? I'm not even dead!"
"Normally yes." Merem nodded as he inspected the boy with a careful eye. It was only then that Shirou noticed that unlike most vampires that he had encountered or heard about, Merem's eyes were a dark blue color unlike the standard blood red. "However if what I have gathered is correct, you managed to intake a sub standard amount of blood into your system when the one that infected you died and then you were treated for it quickly afterwards. Whatever you are using has done a rather good job of preventing the conversion of your body into one of my kind… however I am guessing that when Louvre agitated the remaining blood inside your system he inadvertently permanently converted some of your body's nature to match qualities with my kind's." The elder shrugged. "I believe that it would be best to describe you as a hybrid of sorts. You are without a doubt human, however it would be a lie to say that you aren't at least in part one of my kind as well. To be frank, if you were only partially transformed and killed Louvre through some other mundane method we wouldn't be having this conversation. However since you have a reality marble I am convinced that you are already far enough from being a human both in body and in mind to bend the rules."
Shirou slumped in his seat and stared at the ground. Everything seemed to be falling apart around him as he let the facts sink in. The war. His sister. His promise to his father. His ability to manage them all in the future were falling out of his hands between his fingers like sand. "Will… will I have to drink blood? Will I get the impulses to attack my friends?"
"I don't know." Merem replied in an apologetic tone. "Once again, I am unaware of how complete your transformation is, and I have little to no experience with this sort of situation despite having lived over a thousand years as I myself have very rarely ever feasted on a live human and even rarer have I actually turned one. It could be that you will only have a constant thirst that will linger in your mouth for the rest of your life. It could be that it slowly grows over time until you placate it with a minor amount of fresh blood from virtually any source. I myself only drink a cup of blood every week or so and that in itself is above the minimum to maintain my body. Still, accessing blood in a city without harming anyone is fairly simple for a magus with moderately standard hypnotizing spells."
"Or I could just go on the internet." Shirou absently stated, knowing that it was pretty easy to buy virtually anything online these days.
"The internet? You mean that device that normal humans are using these days to rapidly send information to one another?" Merem tilted his head to the side. "I have heard that technology was progressing rather rapidly lately but to be able to simply obtain blood through it is beyond what I had anticipated."
Shirou blinked at the vampire in front of him for a moment before snorting and chuckling lightly. "I forgot that most people involved in thaumaturgy don't like to familiarize themselves with modern technology." He smiled.
"It's not very polite to laugh at your guests, especially ones that are trying to help you." Merem pouted.
"I'm sorry." Shirou grinned weakly. "I guess I'm just very tired right now and am having trouble controlling my emotions."
Merem shook his head. "On the contrary, you are doing far better than most. A majority of vampires would attempt to gloat, make plans to obtain land, power, and prestige all while attempting to look humble. It is refreshing to meet someone as upfront as you for a change, even if many others of my kind would simply see it as a weakness."
"Tohsaka says the same thing." Shirou shook his head before dropping it. "I appreciate your offer Solomon-san, however even if I did take it, I am still just an average magus in every field outside of combat. I have nothing to enforce my territory in case someone decides to come and attack my friends save for said friends themselves, and I don't want to put them into any danger because of me. Right now accepting the position is more of a curse than a boon."
Merem nodded slowly as he looked at Shirou curiously. "You are indeed correct. As you are now even if your territory is only this city you would not be able to defend it well… but… can you answer something for me? So far all of your comments and questions about your current situation revolve around protecting your friends and ensuring their safety. Not once have you asked about anything you would use as your own initial benefit. It is rather odd."
Shirou paused before chuckling to himself and putting one of his hands over his face. "Sorry. You could say that it's part of the reason why I have my reality marble. I don't really have a sense of self when I'm comparing it's weight to another person's well being. I'm the kind of guy that would instinctively go out and risk his life for the sake of a complete stranger for no other reason than the fact that it's the right thing to do… even if it could get me killed in the process."
Merem raised an eyebrow. "That is certainly an interesting thing to know Emiya-san… however I don't think it was wise to tell someone like me that. I could easily use it against you you know."
Shirou shook his head. "No… I trust you. You went out of your way to not only tell me of my condition, but you're helping me out in your own way by patiently explaining things to me. It's the least I could do in return for your aid. Plus you don't seem like a bad person to me."
The vampire blinked several times in disbelief before he began to laugh. "Kirei was right about you Emiya-san. You really are an interesting person to talk to."
Shirou's eyes narrowed. "The priest talked to you about me?"
Merem nodded. "Yes. He was quite interested in you from the beginning and I can see why now. I take it you are not fond of him."
"My father was the Magus Killer. He was scared of that man. Let's leave it at that." The second Magus Killer stated bluntly.
"Very well. I will respect your request." Merem relented without putting up any sort of resistance. "If I may make one of my own though, how did you came about developing a reality marble? From what I've seen, you have some sort of idea of how it happened. The only reason why I ask is simply that it is rare for a human to be able to have one as you very well know."
Shirou looked at the vampire for a moment before leaning back and closing his eyes. While many would scold him for divulging potentially important information to the vampire, Shirou would simply wave off such concerns as Merem had already in his mind proven himself trustworthy to a degree. Plus despite the fact that the event was one that defined who and what he was today, it did not really fall under confidential information as far as he was concerned. Merem already knew he was adopted by Kiritsugu and that he was fundamentally broken, which was really the only things that the story could prove.
Without hesitating he told the elder about his first memories in the Fuyuki fire. About seeing all the dead and dying people around him and not being able to do anything. About slowly falling apart piece by piece inside in order to survive for even a moment longer. About seeing Kiritsugu hovering over him with a smile and tears on his face and wishing that he could ever be that happy… and then recalling the irony that it was Kiritsugu that started the fire in the first place, yet not blaming him in the slightest.
When Shirou opened his eyes and looked at Merem again, he noticed that the vampire was staring at him in what could only be disbelief. "Solomon-san, is something the matter?"
"Fascinating…" The elder whispered as he looked at Shirou as if he was seeing him for the first time. "To think that our beginnings would share so many similarities… remarkable…"
"Similarities?" The Faker blinked in confusion.
"Let us just say… that the event that made you are today have an unnaturally large number of parallels with the event that led to me becoming a vampire." Merem replied hesitantly. "It would not be that far off to state that your idolization for your father is equivalent to mine for Crimson Moon Brunstud."
Shirou's eyes widened. "T-Type Moon? You were turned by the ultimate one of the moon himself?" There wasn't a single magus who could call himself one that didn't know of the dangers that were Types, the strongest beings belonging to the celestial bodies of the solar system. So far only two were identified, Type-Moon and Type-Mercury, both of whom held spots in the twenty seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, but none the less the rule of thumb regarding them was if you see them, run away as fast as you damned well can and pray they didn't notice you. Type Moon himself warranted special interest here simply because it was a known fact that he was the FIRST vampire.
Granted he was supposedly killed off by Kaleidoscope centuries ago, however it was also known that there was a chance that he could be resurrected in the future by some secret method was also mentioned in every other textbook.
Merem nodded happily at the memories of the being who killed and saved him in the same day. "The very same. Given the similarities, I will have to read into your father's past when I get back to the Church. No doubt the man who inspired you to such lengths must have been a magnificently wonderful and interesting human behind the stories that people know him for." He turned and glanced at the clock mounted on the wall of the room and winced. "Ah, it seems we have been here for quite a while Emiya-san. I fear that if we linger any longer then I may not be able to negotiate properly with Lady Barthomelloi." He turned to Shirou apologetically. "I am certain I know the answer to this question, however I will ask again. Will you take the mantle of the tenth?"
Shirou smiled sadly and shook his head. "No. As it stands I have nothing to gain and everything to lose for donning such a hat. I am sorry."
Merem smiled. "That is quite all right. Just do not be surprised if a rat comes by every few months with a similar offering. There are multiple openings in the twenty seven that have been there for centuries, and I think that in time you would make a wonderful addition to our little club. We are in no rush. The odds are likely that should you accept it when you are fifty we would allow you to have it with little issue. Regardless of that, you interest me very much. I will have to talk to you again sometime soon. If anything else, consider me your ally in the dark."
Shirou returned the smile. "I'll try to be more accommodating when you arrive then."
Merem led the younger man outside of the room. "No by all means don't go out of your way for me. I have enough of that at the Church and when I visit other vampries. Your honesty is a breath of fresh air, especially from a person as truly pleasant as yourself…"
o. o. o.
Several hours later things finally seemed to have come to a close at the Emiya household. Merem had managed to haggle Lorelei for the Mace in return for signing a geis to not use it in addition to giving her bits of information that Shirou, Rin, Bazett, and Waver wisely pretended they knew nothing about. Shirou offered to make everyone dinner, but they all claimed that they were not hungry as they had all either ate already or did not need to feed as frequently as normal people.
So right before he finished making a simple meal for himself, his guests began to leave one by one. Merem left first stating that if he didn't he would make everyone feel nervous being what he was without a human powerhouse to possibly keep him in check, which Rin and Bazett both agreed to. Soon afterwards Lorelei and Waver left as well in order to manage the reports on what had happened and send word to the Clocktower of Louvre's death. Rin had attempted to subtly convince the powerful female to consider sponsoring her entrance, but her attempts apparently fell on deaf ears until Waver whispered to her that he'd spread her name around to several of the higher lords in the association as a consolation prize. Shirou could easily tell that it wasn't what she was aiming for, but all things considered it was not that bad of a deal either.
"Finally." Bazett breathed out tiredly as she sat down on the couch and leaned back. "I thought they'd never leave." She laughed bitterly at the events she had just been witness to. "I still can't believe it. Lady Barthomelloi here drinking tea across the table from the only Apostle Ancestor that works for the Church. Even if I was certain that I wouldn't get crucified for telling the guys back home about this, they wouldn't believe me in the first place."
"I didn't really mind them being here." Shirou shrugged as he finished cleaning up his dishes. The chore had really calmed his nerves and mind down from the night's events.
"Of course you weren't stressed out." Rin grumbled, still extremely irritated that Shirou was sponsored by one of her idols for the association and not her. "You don't really care about getting a higher education in the Association or have to worry about funding for your studies or have to buy your own jewels for your research…"
Shirou raised an eyebrow. "You know, if all you need are standard diamonds and basic crystals, all you have to do is get me the base materials needed for them and I can make them with my reinforcement. It's not exactly that hard of a thing for me to do you know. I learned how to turn graphite into diamonds years ago as part of a molecular restructuring experiment. After learning the basics of that, doing slightly more complicated crystals shouldn't be that much of an issue."
Rin paused for a moment before looking at Shirou warily. "… Can you do sapphires, topaz', rubies and other ones like that?"
The Faker shrugged. "Sure. Their basic structuring is pretty simple to set up since crystals are basically an eternal pattern up until you run out of materials. Plus if you need spirits bound to them all we would need to do is get a few and then cut them with the jewel with Maiya. Then all you would have to do is make the binding more natural and erk!" The boy's explanation was cut off as Rin grabbed him by the front of his shirt and glared at him in the eyes.
"Emiya-kun." The genius girl growled as she held him at his mercy. "I am very conflicted right now. Part of me wants to murder you where you stand, and the other part wants nothing more than to bow down before you and thank the root that you are mine to do with as I wish. I do not like being conflicted like this, so I will not do either." She evened her glare at the boy. "If you have any other possible methods to aid my magic or my financial situation, now would be the best time to let me know. If you decide to hold back and tell me later, I cannot ensure your health."
"Not my life?" Shirou squeaked weakly.
"I need that intact to make me more gems for my research of course." The Tohsaka smiled sweetly, belaying the evil intent coming off of her.
"I don't think I know of anything else that can help out with your jewel magic right now, but that may be because you are threatening my life again." The Emiya whimpered fearfully as she stared at him with a look that he was far too familiar with than he would ever like. It was the look that preceded many experiments that made him truly glad that he had Avalon inside his body and even gladder that he had managed to learn how to accelerate the healing ability it gave him by even a small margin.
Rin didn't drop her smile as she let her friend go and gently patted him on the head. "I'll forgive you this time so long as you provide me with some samples of your work, just please do not hesitate to inform me of such possible boons to my future research Emiya-kun."
"Yes ma'am." Shirou shivered.
"And I do expect you to make me some samples by the end of the week. I should be able to prepare some spirits to bind to them for testing in the process. If they are in a good quality and the binding experiments fail I am at least certain I can find a vendor that I can trade them with in order to get some more suitable gems for my research…" Her face momentarily became dark, conniving, and malicious. "… and make a small fortune on the side…" She muttered the last bit under her breath but not soft enough that the other two people in the room didn't hear it.
"What was that last part?" Shirou asked warily. "I don't want to get arrested Tohsaka."
"Oh nothing you have to worry about." Rin smiled happily, not fooling anyone for a second.
"Hey can I have some of the profits too? The pay for being an Enforcer isn't really all that it's cracked up to be. Suits are expensive you know." Bazett asked curiously and hopefully from the couch.
Before Rin had the chance to snap back at the enforcer, the phone rang to interrupt their activities. "Huh?" The Tohsaka blinked as she looked at the clock. It was a bit past ten. "Who would be calling at this hour?"
"Hello? This is the Emiya residence." Shriou answered the call as if nothing was odd about the timing of it.
"Sempai?" A familiar voice asked from the other side. "Is that you? Are you ok?"
"Sakura?" Shirou blinked in surprise. With everything that had been literally thrown in his face the past few days, let alone hours, he had completely forgotten about his shy friend. "Y-yeah it's me. I'm fine and everything." He winced as he remembered that he had been completely knocked out for a day and so the news of how the park had been completely destroyed must have spread around. "I bet you have a lot of questions about what happened recently…"
"Yes. It's all over the news that several massive sinkholes that were missed in the park collapsed a few nights ago… but grandfather said that there was really a large fight there instead. What happened?"
"Ah… well, let's just say that we won't have any more major apostle problems anymore." Shriou laughed nervously. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell her about what truly happened, it was just that he didn't see the need to tell her the entire story and worry her sick. "We might need your help on cleaning out the city's remaining undead though. Without their masters alive they might go on a frenzy and kill more people to feed."
"I'm relieved." The girl breathed out happily. "I'll talk to Tohsaka-sempai about taking care of the undead in a few days. What about you though? There were no problems? You aren't hurt are you?"
"I'm a bit roughed up, but otherwise I'm fine. Tohsaka and Bazett-nee are good as well. As for Sirius-jiji…" He hesitated. "Well… he'll get better, but I'd rather not talk about his situation right now. It's a bit complicated."
"I see." Sakura mused, though she didn't seem to sound worried for some odd reason. The tone of her voice though quickly turned nervous as if she was suddenly paying attention to something terrifying nearby. "Um, Sempai, I'm sorry, but the real reason why I called is because Grandfather wanted to talk to you about something he says is important. Could you come to my place at night within the next day or so?"
Shirou's face hardened at the mention of Zouken and he instinctively gripped the phone hard catching the notice of Rin and Bazett who were paying attention to him. His father had spared no expense in informing his son of what the cruel worm user had done to his adopted granddaughter and what he was capable of, though he seemed to have left out who the girl's family originally was. The despicable monster had to be killed in order for any sort of closure in Fuyuki and his life to be possible… yet now was unfortunately not the time to do so as much as it hurt him to admit it.
However what was most concerning was that the man wanted to talk to him so soon. The war was not for another two years… so why would he reach out to the boy already? Had the old bastard watched his fight against Louvre and determined that he was a valuable piece to use, or was there something else that had happened to cause the man to call out to him?
Wait… there was. Shinji had been killed. That annoying guy who he considered a friend, even if he was a bad one, had been just another tool for Zouken to manipulate… and had done so by constantly raping his adopted sister in order to keep her in line. If the bastard wasn't killed off by Louvre's son, Shirou might have had to take extreme measures himself if he couldn't convince him to not do that anymore… or so that he wouldn't have been capable of having sex at the very least.
If he wanted to, Shirou could easily just meet up with the monster under innocent circumstances and shove Maiya into his chest, binding his soul into the fake body and then killing it to end the man… but that could easily lead to more issues down the line. According to his father's letter, Zouken's soul was rotten, so even a binding it to a dying body could possibly not prevent him from tearing himself away without absolute damage, moving to the worm in Sakura's body… and after that it would only get worse. Kiritsugu was useless against that many minor familiars, and neither was anything else in his current arsenal should Zouken try to kill him with the thousands of insects under his influence…
Which left him with only a small handful of ways to rely on… and all of them required him to wait until the war started much to his utter distaste.
But unfortunately at the moment killing the worm user was not the main topic at hand and Shirou had no clue what the ancient man wanted with him…
"Sempai?" Sakura's voice asked worriedly over the phone. "Are you still there?"
"Ah…" Shirou faltered, realizing that he had spent too long thinking. "Er, yeah. Sorry about that Sakura. I accidentally let my mind wander a bit." He breathed out slowly. It wouldn't do to let his emotions distract him right now. "I may be busy in the next few days… would it be ok if I came over now?" He threw a curve ball, even if it was a small one. Zouken wouldn't do anything big now if Shirou didn't either. It's too early in the game for that. Still by coming early Shirou can at least cause the old man to not be as prepared for their conversation.
"T-tonight?" Sakura stammered in surprise as she no doubt watched Zouken's reaction from nearby. Shirou was certain he heard the old man laugh which was akin to rough gravel shifting around. "Um… Grandfather says that's fine as well. We'll be expecting you soon."
"Thank you very much for making time for me." The Emiya thanked the girl politely.
"Sempai… I…" Sakura began to speak up again as Shirou was about to turn off the phone.
"Yes? What is it Sakura?" The teen asked curiously and worriedly. His question was met with silence for several seconds before he got an answer.
"Never mind. I'll see you soon." The Emiya sighed as he turned off the phone and turned to see Rin and Bazett looking at him warily.
"I don't know what you're planning, but you have that look on your face again Emiya-kun." Rin frowned.
"Look?" Shirou blinked in confusion.
"It's the look you get when you've resolved yourself to get in the middle of something nasty and violent." Bazett explained. "You are a bit of an open book when it comes to reading your emotions through your facial expressions."
"What business do you have with the Matou and why are you wary of them?" Rin ordered.
Shirou looked at both women nervously before raising his hands in defeat. "I really can't talk about it, but it has something to do with the letters that dad left to me. That's really all I can tell you right now. Please don't make me say anymore."
The Tohsaka frowned. "I'm inclined to do so if Zouken's involved. If you make an enemy out of him for whatever stupid reason you give him, I am obligated to join him since our families are allied. You didn't simply react to Zouken's mentioning, you nearly blew up. The only time I saw you go that far was when we found out that Shinji was killed. I don't want to have to risk choosing between family pride and you."
Shirou smiled nervously. "Don't worry Tohsaka. I'm not in any condition to start any fights right now. Zouken just wants to talk to me about something that's all."
"That's what I'm worried about." Rin countered. "That old bastard is almost on par with the fake priest when it comes to feeling either infuriated or threatened."
The Faker laughed lightly as he walked to the door. "Considering I just hosted the head of the Barthomelloi family and a Dead Apostle Ancestor in my home at the same time for the past four hours, I'm fairly certain that I can keep my cool for a while longer. Thanks for the concern though…"
"Shirou! Wai…" Rin tried to stop her friend, but she was already too late as the door closed behind him. "He's up to something…" She growled.
"Hey Rin… is this Zouken guy really that big of a concern that Shirou might be in danger?" Bazett lifted her head from the couch concerned.
The dark haired teen bit her lip in frustration. "Yes and no. He's strong enough to kill Shirou if the idiot doesn't pay attention, but he isn't the type to throw the first punch either. I don't know what he's up to, but whenever he makes the effort to reach out to someone, bad things happen to them…"
"I take it you're speaking from experience." Bazett frowned as she looked at the girl skeptically.
Rin's silence spoke volumes.
o. o. o.
"Ah Emiya-kun. So nice of you to arrive so soon." Zouken smiled as he opened the door for Shirou. "You have to excuse my granddaughter. She is a bit tired from running errands lately and I am afraid the shock of Shinji's death is still lingering."
Shirou extremely doubted that what Zouken said was the truth in the slightest but he made no indication as he walked in the front door. "I know what you mean. I'm also a bit numb with it still. When he showed up like that…" He shook his head. "At least he was avenged in the end…"
"Yes I heard. No doubt that the event in the park was really your final confrontation with the abominations." The worm wielder nodded approvingly. "You have my thanks for that… though I am somewhat surprised by the damage done there when I inspected the aftermath. What sort of spells was that remaining demon using to cause such an effect?"
The Faker's eyebrow twitched, knowing that the old man was beating around the bush. "It was the father of the vampire that turned Shinji that did that. He had some kind of mystic code mace that did most of that damage in the fight, though I don't know where its origins were located."
"A code? How odd… though I suppose it no longer matters. The creature is dead and you are in one piece."
"It doesn't feel like it." Shirou grumbled, causing Zouken to laugh dryly.
"No I suppose you wouldn't after fighting such an opponent, but then again it also speaks wonders about your ability to defeat him in the first place."
"I had some help from Rin and a few friends that had a bone to pick with him." Shirou brushed off the compliment. It felt wrong to him to accept compliments from this guy on a fundamental level. "I just managed to carry my weight around and deal the final blow…"
"Dealing a final blow to a powerful Apostle though is in itself a feat, what with their unique regeneration abilities and all they are capable of." Zouken smirked as he glanced at Shriou. "I am quite curious as to how you managed to get around that."
"Is this what you invited me over to talk about?" The Faker asked with a slightly irritated tone, no longer in the mood for the old man. "I'd rather not recollect that fight for a while or tell people I am wary of about how my mysteries work."
The old man merely laughed again with that grating voice of his that caused the hairs on the back of the teen's neck to stand on end. "My apologies. You are quite in your right to make that request and it is very rude of me to inquire of such things." They entered the living room and both sat down in their own seats facing one another. "No, the reason why I called you here is for more… sensitive and personal matters."
Shirou raised an eyebrow. "Sensitive and personal? If it's that important, why are you calling me here? You only met me a couple of weeks ago at the most."
"Your presence here is not due to your relationship with me, but due to your relationship with my grandson and granddaughter." The old man sighed in apparent exhaustion, something Shirou didn't buy for a second. "As you probably determined by now, Shinji was not born with any magical ability or circuits, so when Sakura entered the family and it was determined that she had the potential, she became the successor of the Matou thaumaturgy. Unfortunately due to certain issues regarding the nature of her birth and the way our family teaches the subject, I needed to take some certain… liberties when it came to her training." He saw the teen glare at him angrily. "Your assumptions of what I did to her are most likely not far off… you are well within your right to despise me for what I have done to my family, however what's done is done and we cannot change that…"
Shirou was indeed enraged at Zouken, however a good part of his pent up anger had to do with the way the old man told him the tale of Sakura's past. It sickened him to admit it, but the man had indeed told him the truth. If he hadn't been informed of what the old man was doing to his dear friend, he probably would have bought Zouken's sob story too. "Get to the point. What's wrong with Sakura and why do you need me?" The younger of the two stated bluntly, not wanting to stomach any more twisted truths at this point.
The weary appearing old man sighed reluctantly. "Due to the method used to adjust Sakura, we inadvertently altered her nerves such that on occasion she would suffer from… well, the best way to put it is extreme arousal, but of a dangerous variety. Leaving Sakura unsated for long periods of time would cause her extreme mental strain and damage her circuits and her nerves."
Slowly, very slowly, Shirou's face went pale as he pieced together what Zouken was telling him with what he already knew. "Y-you're joking right? You're telling me that due to a mistake you made Sakura's body occasionally… yearn for sex… to a degree that it would actually damage her body if she wasn't…"
"Satisfied? Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying." Zouken stated coolly, in his own way preventing Shirou from telling if he was doing so to hide his own distaste or to show how much he really didn't care. The old man really was a good actor. "Having Sakura's best interests in mind, after a certain point I had Shinji take up the task of curbing this risk."
"Meaning you forced Shinji to rape her." Shirou stated the obvious with a bit of a murderous tone in it.
"At first yes, however as time went on he seemed to enjoy the act to the point that I no longer needed to tell him to do the act. Regardless, at that point was either that or have her self destruct. I chose the lesser of two evils given the circumstances." The magus answered without any remorse. "However now even you should see our current issue. Shinji is dead and as such we need someone to fill his place or else my granddaughter will slowly loose her mind and her circuits will destroy her from the inside out."
Shirou blinked in confusion before Zouken's words sunk into his thick skull. "You want me… to…" He began to sum up the old man's request before his brain shut down for the third time since he woke up that evening. Oh no. No no no no no no no no no no…
"Have fairly frequent intercourse in order to save her life. Yes." The worm manipulator stated as if he was talking about another mundane theory. "If you are having trouble admitting that this is happening, I suggest that you rephrase it so that she needs frequent tantric rituals in order to maintain her od's stability." He raised an eyebrow. "Though I am not sure why you would be hesitant. From what I understand my granddaughter is rather attractive by today's youth's standards… or are you simply one of those types that have other preferences…"
"Could you please stop talking for a moment?" Shirou asked with as much politeness as he could muster. "I'm trying to make sense out of this. I've had a very stressful day and you are not making things much better."
"I apologize, however you now see the problem at hand." The old man stated.
"Why can't…" Shirou began before taking a second to get used to the topic of conversation. He had no doubt that he was going to have a horrendous taste in his mouth when this farce of a deal was done. "Why can't Sakura just… please herself?"
"Her circuits become unstable and her od gets low when she suffers from long periods of inactivity. Masturbation takes care of one issue, however I have found that when her od reach minute levels her nerves have a tendency to act up again fairly rapidly." Zouken replied. "She needs the release AND the extra supply of energy in order to stabilize. The reason why I called you is because not only are you the only person that Sakura seems to trust comfortably with this, but you are also the only male magus of reasonable age in this city, and as such can do the best job out of anyone I can think of. If you decline I am afraid I will need to take more radical actions in order to preserve Sakura's life."
Shirou bit his lip in frustration as he tried to think of more questions to ask and get more information out of the situation. He was so stressed at this point that he managed to draw blood without even noticing. "How often will I need to… stabilize her? I often go out of the country during the main breaks for weeks at a time. I might have to be gone even longer due to recent events and I assure you they aren't negotiable. If I try my luck you'd probably never hear from me again."
The old man's face scowled. "Hmm. That indeed is an issue. Assuming your internal od is large enough, I can estimate that Sakura should be able to last at most about four weeks without causing any severe issues from what I have seen with Shinji. Perhaps five if she can prolong it with her own activities…"
"I can't believe I'm having this conversation…" The redhead grunted with his even redder face in his hands.
"Grow up." Zouken said bluntly, having no time for childish qualms. "This too is a path that many magi must walk eventually. As we walk alongside death, we must go hand in hand with many other obscure and otherwise distasteful subjects as if it were a constant companion. Sex is no different. In fact I am surprised that you are not somewhat elated to be offered to have my granddaughter as your partner. Does she not appeal to you?"
Shirou shook his head. "It is not a matter of her appealing to me. Sakura is a very beautiful and kind person, but right now I am more concerned over her wellbeing than I am of my own libido."
"And that is another reason why I chose to go to you first." Zouken nodded. "You seem to truly care greatly for both my legacies… though why for Shinji I probably will never understand. I can trust you with taking care of Sakura from herself and from any other possible threats."
Other possible threats? Could he be talking about the war? The teen's eyes narrowed. "Why can't you simply reverse, undo, or stop what you did to Sakura, or at least try to find someone who can?"
Zouken narrowed his eyes at Shirou. "Even if I could do such a thing I will not. Sakura is the only person capable of passing down the Matou's magic and as such she needs to be able to perform it. So long as she is able to live and continue my legacy I have no issue with our current situation. Regardless her change was done so long ago that nothing can be done now. Her nerves do and will continue to act up on occasion. Her internal energy does occasionally get low, and as such she needs someone to be her partner in order to survive. There is nothing to get around it." The shriveled man paused. "Well… there is one way…"
And here it comes. The real reason why he wants me here. I should have seen this coming. Shirou mentally growled. "Go on."
"What do you know about the Grail War?"
o. o. o.
Shirou grit his teeth so hard he was fairly certain that one of them cracked as he walked back home. Of all the bombs that had been dropped upon him since he woke up, this one was the by far the one that got to him the most. He didn't mind getting forced to join the association since he knew that there was a chance that he was going to go there anyways to further some of his studies. Getting offered a position as a Dead Apostle Ancestor was a big shock, but thankfully Merem was an understandable person and accepted his denial without much issue.
But being forced into being a part of Sakura's life and make those plans for the war? He could stomach a lot of things, but this was where he truly got pissed. Had he not already been aware of how truly cruel and malevolent Zouken could be, he might have completely walked into the old bastard's hands unknowingly and wound up destroying the world. Thankfully he had managed to adjust the initial deal so that he would have a better advantage of things in the long run… if he had enough energy to keep things going that long at least…
Everything was changing so suddenly. Even if he had the time to memorize all of the possible plans and approaches to the next war his father had made in his notebook, the fact was that more than half of them had been rendered completely impossible in less than half a day more than two years before the war was supposed to happen.
"Damn it…" He grunted as his hands made fists so tight that he began to draw blood without even knowing it. Without even paying attention he flooded his body with prana and punched a streetlamp that was right next to him as hard as he could. His enforced limb sunk into the metal without much issue and caused a massive dent in the shape of his fist. Thankfully he did not touch or break any of the wires inside of it and get electrocuted, and the hole he made wouldn't be enough to knock the pole over, however he did still manage to break a few bones in the process. "DAMN IT!" He yelled in frustration, still not noticing the pain in his arm.
"If you keep on going like that I might have to take you down Shirou." A voice calmly stated from the shadows nearby, distracting the teen from his anger as he turned to the source to see Bazett staring at him. "I don't know what's gotten your panties in a bunch, but I'm fairly certain I've trained you to control yourself better than this."
Shirou clicked his teeth in irritation and looked away both embarrassed and frustrated. He really wasn't in the mood to be lectured right now and getting asked questions on what happened would only make his mood worse. "What are you doing here?" He asked with as much stability as he could muster at the moment.
"Rin was worried about you going alone to the Matou's, and I can see now that she was right to be so." Bazett crossed her arms and looked at her student with a concerned gaze. "I won't ask what happened or what you talked about in there if you don't want to, but I will ask that you calm down. Nothing will get done if you start raging around wildly like this."
The teen looked at his elder warily before sighing deeply and letting his arms relax by his sides. His face turned from one of anger to one that was extremely tired and depressed. "You're right Nee-san. Sorry…"
The elder shook her head and walked over to the boy as a sister would to her younger sibling. "Come on. Let's get back to your place. You must be exhausted since you still haven't fully recovered and all these things have happened. I'll ask Rin to put you under a sleeping spell for a while so that you can recover more. When you wake up you can decide on what you can do next and if you want to tell us what happened." She patted him gently on the back. "Like it or not you are going to have a very rough time ahead of you in the next few months."
"Yeah…" The redhead muttered tiredly as Bazett led him back to his house. "Months…"
Regardless of what Bazett said, the facts would not change. A deal with the devil had been made that night. From Zouken's perspective everything was stacked in his favor without any sort of risk. In Shirou's, which was more realistic, it was more of a wild gamble with a very large number of variables that had yet to be determined. However what was at risk and the prize were the same.
And so two years before the war officially started, over a year before the first command seals would appear on the participants and even longer still before said participants were even chosen… the 5th holy grail war had unofficially begun.
o. o. o.
A/N:
Thanks again Maximorph1 for betaing.
Yep. Things are beginning to change in the timeline big time and it will definitely lead to some very interesting changes in the war. For the plot, I am not going to jump immediately to the war, but you guys will see soon enough why. I'm not going to add any more major arcs before the war, but there will be a couple of mini arcs which will further show major changes in the main event.
I felt like I rushed the bit at the end with Zouken and all, but by the time I got to it I really just wanted to get it over with so things could move on. I also took some liberties with Sakura's worm condition to make things work better. Technically so long as she doesn't have something draining her reserves other than constantly fully active worms, she can last a while without a tantric ritual, which is why I was a bit generous with the time she can last without a recharge. If you have any complaints… meh. Go bug someone else.
I have decided, Shirou is getting a harem… mostly because I truly do believe that he needs that many women to keep him out of trouble and take shifts so that they don't get overworked and end up killing him out of frustration. Normally I try to avoid this kind of route, however the further I get into planning this story the harder it is to avoid it without a reasonable excuse. How many women is he going to get and who is in it… well I'm not gonna say, but rest assured I am NOT going to make this one of those obvious love at first sight and now they are on his side kind of bull crap stories. I hate those. It's part of the reason why I try to keep Rin in the Tsun mindset. It's easier for me to write.
All in all though, rest assured, I am planning to do some extreme mind fucking with the characters here at one point or another. This arc really just set some foundation for a few of the mental screws that will come later.
So… Still waiting for FZ season 2 to come. Still planning how to completely twist the Grail War around even more than I have already imagined. I got the pieces and events all set up, just not in the right order, plus it gets a bit annoying when I come up with more good events to use.
There hasn't been any FFD fanart yet, but I'm still fairly confident and hopeful that some good stuff will show up eventually. Also don't forget that there is indeed a TV tropes page on FFD so check it out and make any additions you feel like.
Also, I have just rekindled my love for massively oversized jawbreakers. I don't care if I look mentally retarded walking around my house with a giant ball in my mouth, because I just love the things.
Close to the 1k mark guys. Go break that sucker with gusto.
So I think that's about it. Gotta study for a midterm now.
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From Fake Dreams
FanfictionEmiya Kiritsugu was happy living the rest of his short days. He had put his past behind him... until he began to dream of futures that had yet to be. Let it be known that the Magus Killer was not dangerous simply because he was dying and had no plan...
