Fate/Enigma is going to be a series, so there will be multiple stories for different characters and/or events. Since this is my first story in the series and in Fanfiction in general, this may be flawed, but still, I hope you like it!
Chapter One
She looked around at her surroundings. It was beautiful. The trees, the grass, the animals, the sky, all of it was so beautiful.
The grass felt so soft and she wanted to keep laying on the ground, but she wanted to see more. As she explored the beautiful forest, the grass tickled her feet with each step and the wind gently blew towards her direction. She wandered through a thick grove of trees, which hid a lake with pristine water and a gentle, elevated stream flowing downwards, providing a steady source of water.
As she got closer, she realized she wasn't the first to reach the lake. A deer and her fawn drank along the shore while a family of raccoons sat beside the stream, basking in the sunlight escaping through the canopy. A butterfly swooped through the air and flitted gently through the leaves.
She cupped a handful of water and drank it, pleased with the refreshing feeling afterward.
Suddenly, she heard and felt stomping behind her. The animals didn't appear disturbed, so she thought it was all in her head. Immediately, she took that back once she felt the sudden breathing down her entire body.
She stood face to face (knee) to a behemoth with a flowing white mane, horns, and an iron mask covering its face. Taken aback by the sudden appearance, she fell back, but instead of feeling the grass, she felt the cold and hard stone beneath. Walls covered every side, with turns that seemingly led nowhere.
However, she didn't feel scared. Oddly enough, she felt sympathetic to the giant. She held out her hand and it gave its finger. She grasped it, but then he let out a roar that sent shivers down her spine, which led to her releasing its finger and falling into nothingness, her last glimpse just a bright light the giant was roaring at. She tried to call out to it, but she kept falling and falling and falling and-
"Tea! Tea! Wake up!" A voice harshly whispered.
Woken up from her dream, she realized what day it is. Her birthday. Before she can get out of bed, her brother hugged her, tightly enough for her to become fully awake.
"Happy birthday Tea!" Lonny exclaimed, still quiet.
She got out of bed, realizing Lonny jumped from his wheelchair to her. As she tried to get him back on, she asked: "Why are you being so quiet?"
His face became solemn and pointed to the wall opposite to her meager bed. She placed her ear on it, and sure enough, she can hear the creaking of the bed and the moaning of the two people. She looked back at Lonny, now thinking the same thought. Another day, another woman.
She walked and pushed Lonny to the kitchen, where she grabbed a chair from the dinner table and used it to get a Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal box, one of the few luxuries their father lets them have. Once gotten, she looked inside and hastily threw it in the trash can, frustrated there's nothing.
She went to Lonny to give the bad news, only to be surprised when he was smiling.
"Why are you smiling? We have nothing for breakfast," she said sadly.
"Who said we were gonna have cereal for breakfast?"
"Huh?"
"Didn't you forget that it's your birthday already?" He teased. Still smiling, he pulled out a box from the bag on his wheelchair and opened it. There, just sitting in the box, was a container of brownies.
"How'd you get this?" She asked, surprised.
"While dad was at his 'work', I looked through his room for money to buy you something for your birthday, and in one of the cabinets, here this is!" He answered, proud because of the work he's done for Tea.
She wanted to ask how he was going to go out to buy her something if he found money instead, but she kept her mouth shut and instead was grateful for the brownies. He opened the container and grabbed two brownies, giving one to Tea. From his pocket, he grabbed a box of matches he also found and lit one by rubbing the combustible tip on the box's abrasive side. He stuck it onto Tea's brownie and while still smiling, told her "Now make a wish!"
These brownies are already enough, she mused. She pondered about what her wish will be. She thought about Lonny, how he's been such a good brother, and about her father, how he was, at one point, never abusive at all. Then she thought about her mother, who is now gone.
Her mind suddenly drifted to the dream, where she met a behemoth. Despite it being visually terrifying, it had a calming aura and when it roared, it roared not at Tea, but at something else, as if it wants to protect Tea. The giant was caring, and then she realized it. She wants an actual family.
She wants a family where they can afford all the medicine Lonny needs to be able to walk, having never been able to walk from birth. She wants a family where her father is satisfied with everything so that he doesn't have to use prostitutes and one night stands to fulfill his desires. Most of all, she wants her mother back. She wants a complete, functional family with no fractures in between.
I wish for a perfect family, she wished. She blew onto the matchstick and then took it out, marking her eleventh birthday. Simultaneously, Lonny and Tea took bites from their brownies, savoring the favor. It tastes weird, she thought. Then she looked at her brownie and immediately knew what was wrong. Lonny, too, stopped chewing and widened his eyes after noticing the green bits within the brownie.
Tea spat out the bite, horrified that she almost ate a weed brownie.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry Tea, I didn't know-"
His sentence was cut abruptly as their father and the woman walked out of his room. The woman had very distinct glasses and dark brunette hair. She was also rather voluptuous and had a strange tattoo on her right hand, a red and intricate pattern that drew Tea's attention. When the woman stepped out of the apartment, she noticed Tea and was about to point at her, before the door was slammed in front of her. Her father noticed them first.
He marched right up to Tea and pinned her against the wall, completely ignoring Lonny, who is now in utter shock.
"What the hell were you doing with this?! I was looking for these damned things!" He yelled in front of her face.
She was used to these sudden outbursts from her father, but she would never accept them, so she was already on the verge of tears.
"I- it was my fault! It was my birthday, and so Lonny got it for me, and-" She only stammered out incoherent syllables, knowing her father doesn't care about her birthday and that she just screwed up Lonny.
"Who the hell is Lonny? Look around! LOOK AROUND! It's just us and will always and forever be just us!" He screamed, spraying spit everywhere. He mockingly waved his hands, as if trying to reveal Lonny. Now she has truly woken up.
At the spot by the bar at the kitchen where they- or she- ate the brownies, Lonny wasn't there. No Lonny. No wheelchair. Lonny has never even existed, to begin with. He was created by Tea to cope with isolation and physical and mental trauma. Simply an imaginary friend to make things slightly better for the past eight years. She always forgets that he never existed, and it's always been on her father's nerves.
"You... You're the reason Melinda died!" He yelled. He slapped Tea across the face, nearly forcing the tears to spill out.
"It's because of you that Melinda died! It's because of YOU! It's always your fault, and she's never coming back because of YOU!" He ranted repetitively. He continuously slapped Tea across the face, her arms forced onto her sides. Finally, she gives in and curls up into a ball, wailing and trying to cover her face.
Her father, looking at the pitiful act, simply grunted and made his way back to his room, slamming the door as usual, even though the door is on the verge of unhinging.
Cautiously, she plodded to her room and closed the door, sitting on her bed not knowing what to do. She can't do anything here. Her wish, one she pleaded even more than ever, won't be granted. It won't cultivate. But at least not here. The thought scared her since she'll be putting everything at risk. She wants her wish to be granted, however, so nothing will stop her now.
She's going to run away.
The woman decided to stay behind the door, intrigued by the girl and shocked by Kenny's sudden rudeness by slamming the door. Suddenly, she heard what sounded like a slap, followed by even more continuous slaps. She shook her head, wanting to stop the abuse.
But she couldn't.
She knew that the child will become an enemy, but she didn't want to fight her. On the other hand, forming an alliance, with a child of all people, would simply be foolish.
A man appeared beside her, with his left side adorned with rose tattoos and his right a Chinese dragon, and both sides bearing dark blue gauntlets with wild-looking and ripped red cloth tied onto them.
"She didn't have any command spells," The man remarked. "Are you sure she's going to be a master? She's a child, after all."
"I too, am not sure, but Ruler did say so, and if he did, then that means she will be involved in the War," the woman replied. Both of them left the old and beat-up apartment complex, and once outside, the woman took a big breath of air and exhaled loudly.
"Jesus, I felt like I couldn't breathe in that building! I've been forced to go to shady drug cartel meetings that had places fancier than that!"
"And you're going to use the Holy Grail so that you can stop going to these meetings, and completely abolish all crime that you, yourself, have been in for too long."
"Right."
She pondered about her wish and then thought about the girl.
"What do you think the girl's wish would be?" The woman asked.
The man, now also pondering, replied "I don't know. But it's probably going to be to have a different father."
"True! Kenny is a loathsome, terrible, piece of crap if he's going to be abusing his daughter!" She agreed. "I thought he was a good man. He was even better in bed, too."
"What did you say?" The man asked, despite completely hearing that last part.
"Nothing," She retorted, biting her lips, embarrassed by that last comment.
"We don't know when she'll summon a servant, and how dangerous that servant will be. We can't underestimate anyone, Assassin."
"Right."
They walked farther from the building, now starting their next phase of the plan.
When her father left without letting her know, as usual, Tea started her plan. She grabbed her backpack already filled with clothes and started scavenging for items.
From the bar, she grabbed the box of matches her father had left behind. Then from the pantry, she discovered a can of Pringles which was already opened, to her dismay. She closed the pantry and scoured the living room, which had nothing of importance.
She moved on into her father's room, where she found a swiss knife on his desk. She also found a box of band-aids she can use, but it had a membrane of dust. She didn't want to use dirty band-aids, but she also didn't want to have any infected injuries. She blew away the dust, all of which flew into Lonny's face.
"Hey! Watch where you're blowing!" He complained.
Knowing full well that Lonny is imaginary, she still wanted some company, even if said company is nonexistent.
They continued searching the room, finding nothing of use whatsoever. As Tea opened different drawers, she found the drug-laced brownies from earlier. Disgusted, she pushed it deeper into the drawer, revealing what was hidden underneath.
A revolver.
Her heart skipped a beat and became filled with dread, realizing what can or will happen if she had decided to stay here. Lonny rolled beside her and simply looked at the gun, his face solemn. For a few seconds, Tea pondered what to do with the gun, ultimately deciding to take it.
"Wait," interrupted Lonny, "Check the cylinder."
Tea looked at the cylinder and found only one bullet in the chamber.
Puzzled by the absence of bullets, she tried to find more, only for it to be in vain. Despite having a gun that's basically useless, she was slightly relieved that she can only use it once.
"Ready?" Lonny asked.
"Not yet," she replied. She looked in the mirror and only saw a meager and weak girl going on a journey that will get herself killed. She started shivering and tried to take deep breaths. Lonny put his hand on her shoulder, comforting her and telling her how strong she is and how doing this will only make her stronger.
She calmed down and looked at the mirror again. Instead of seeing the same pitiful image, she saw her long, white messy hair, her green eyes, her pink coat, her shoes that were multiple shades darker than her brown khakis, and her small hands, which were curled up into fists. She emanated a feeling that she had never felt before, and it made her proud.
Confidence.
Before she left the room, she noticed the corner of a small picture that was left in her father's coat pocket, which was draped loosely on the foot of the bed. It's the coat her father always brings when he leaves. She took it out and looked at it, which changed her entire perspective of her father.
It was a picture of her as a newborn baby, who is in the arms of a young man- her father - next to a woman, who was lying in a hospital bed- her mother.
She quickly wrote a note and left it on her father's bed, which she had neatly organized.
"Now are you ready?" Lonny asked.
"Ready."
They left the apartment and went out to the outside world, not knowing what to expect yet prepared for anything.
