Last Piece

Chapter I

I was cold and sore and it hurt a little. Grunting, I opened my eyes and beheld the night sky. I almost stopped breathing. I was outside, in a simple white shirt and black jeans instead of my pyjamas, in some stinky, dark alley. I wasn't supposed to be in this place, I wasn't supposed to be anywhere but on my own home, in my own bed.

I searched my memory, but there was nothing. Nothing that would have led me to this situation. I distinctly remembered going to sleep last night. I didn't like alcohol, and, besides, I was a minor-not like that stopped a lot of people, but well- so I couldn't really see myself getting drunk of my ass and ending up passing up in some alley. This… this just didn't make any sense. Which meant, this had to be a dream.

But, aside for the question of why the fuck could I dream about something like this, I knew this couldn't be a dream. Is just… I didn't feel like a dream. Everything felt too real. The cold night wind, my vision, the hard concrete I had my back against and my body itself. The soreness, the coldness and the slight pain. All those sensations and feelings and such didn't belong in a dream. And also, I was thinking straight. I had gone 'wow this is a dream' and I hadn't woke up immediately. It was crazy, unthinkable, but… I didn't think this was a dream.

Of course. Of course it was. This couldn't be real.

Smiling, probably like an idiot, I let out a breath. Right. What I had be thinking? I closed my eyes. In the distance, I could heard the sound of cars crossing the street. I could hear the whipping of the wind, the buzzing of insects, and I could still feel myself and the world around me. No biggie. That didn't meant anything. I opened my eyes again.

The night sky was still there.

With my erratic breathing pounding in my ears, nearly as loudly as my heartbeat, I tried to calm myself down. It was fine, it was fine, it was fine. This didn't look like a dream, didn't feel like a dream and I had be unable to wake up, but that didn't meant shit, in the end. A lucid dream. This had to be a lucid dream. I repeated that to myself, over and over, and the doubts returned just as many times. I took a deep breath.

I tried to stand up. I felt weak. Uh, well, weaker that usual. Like somebody had beat the shit out of me, like somebody had beat me so hard that I wasn't even feeling it anymore. I had to grab on to the wall of the alley to steady myself. I walked out of the alley, lightly trembling and took a look around.

This, definitively, wasn't my city. I was unsure of where the fuck I was, exactly, but this wasn't my city. That much was clear. I started walking on a random direction, not really sure of what to think, what do to do. Perhaps… perhaps, I was feeling cold because I left the window opened before going to sleep. Wouldn't be the first time. As for the soreness, well, I probably ended up in a bad sleeping position by tossing and turning. Wouldn't be the first time, either. That would explain the noises of the cars, too.

I kept walking. From nowhere to nowhere. When turning the corner, I bumped into somebody a few heads taller that me. I shook my head, looked up at him. The boy was a redhead with clear, golden eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, don't worry." his voice was strangely familiar. Yes. Strangely. It wasn't like I ever heard him before. He looked at me, up and down. "What are you doing at this hour? Hurry back home. Is not safe."

"Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm doing."

I watched him walk away, until he turned the corner and disappeared from my vision. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. Everything had happened so suddenly I didn't even had time to think about it, but now that I could think back on it, I realized I had be speaking in Japanese. Perfect Japanese. And I didn't even know a bit of Japanese. Moreover, I knew that boy. I had spoke in Japanese with Emiya Shirou.

I laughed. I laughed softly, to myself, as if afraid somebody could overhead. Like I could laugh these feelings away. But there was no use in fooling myself. This was no a dream. I had know that since I woke up, but I merely refused to believe it. And that boy had been Emiya Shirou. There was no mistake about it. He had the distinct voice of his voice actor, Sugimiya Noriaki. Then, that meant this was Fuyuki City. That meant this was the Nasuverse.

A sudden dizziness assaulted me. I grab into what I had closest to me, a wall, bend down and puked. It hurt, it burned. My nausea continued even beyond the point where I had nothing more to throw up. I didn't know for how long I was there, feeling absolutely miserable, but it sure felt like an eternity. With tears streaming down my face, I got back up.

This was reality, and I had no way to escape it. But I knew things, a lot of things. And with that, maybe I could survive. So I started thinking of what to do now. I propably wouldn't last long in this town by myself. There were too many people who didn't give a shit about causalities and, besides, knowing what I know, I was sure this would end badly, sooner or later, if I didn't have somebody to depend on.

Tohsaka Rin was clearly my best choice. That girl tried to conduct herself with a cold heartedness befitting of a magus, but she wasn't like that. She wouldn't get rid of me at first glance, and she would kept me around as a way of repaying me for giving me the information she needed. Of course, there was Archer around. He would surely try to kill me eventually. While I don't like danger, she still was my best bet.

But, still… is going to sound silly, but my thoughts very soon strayed away from those people. All I could think about was her. Ilya. That white haired girl with red eyes, shackled with an unavoidable fate. I was here. This was real. I couldn't ignore her, and pretend like I couldn't have done nothing.

You're strong, Berserker.

Yeah. There were a lot of characters who had be dealt bad hands in life, but Ilya had one of the worst.

I remembered it. That scene. Ilya's sacrifice, as Shirou desperately called her name. Her calm voice. Her resolve. And, most of all, her final smile. That single scene had touched me in a way no other work of fiction had. I had cried. For real. I had practically bawled. I had be made into such a mess that I could only barely read the words on the screen by the end of it. Her death in Unlimited Blade Works had also made me felt horrible, but that scene. It just had something else.

I knew it was dangerous. While Tohsaka couldn't protect me from everything, at least she wouldn't hurt me. With Ilya things weren't as certain. But even so, I wanted to help her. And while that wasn't rational at all, while it was very dangerous to try with her, I had to admit that if I secured myself her protection then I would definitively survive the Holy Grail War.

My life was already over. The person I hadbeen didn't exist anymore, metaphorically and literally. I didn't like pain. I didn't like danger. But the safest choice isn't always the best choice. Maybe I would regret it, later on. Maybe I will fail miserably and end up as another corpse, one more number amongst the causalities. Maybe. But if that didn't happen...

I took a deep breath, and headed for the Einzbern Forest.

I didn't have any money. I couldn't ride on a taxi or anything, so I walked the whole way through. When I finally got to the forest, my body was already burning. I have never be in shape, and so suddenly walking so much hurt like a bitch. I was panting and wheezing, for real. I took a moment to allow myself to catch my breath.

Once I felt like I was alive again, I nervously eyed the darkness of the forest, illuminated only by the clear moonlight. Encountering an animal or something wasn't what worried me, of course. The chance that the maids- I couldn't remember their names, now, even though I really should- would catch me off guard and kill me for trespassing without even leaving me a chance to make my case was all to real. I wondered if it wasn't too late already to run away and go to Tohsaka, regardless of my stupid bleeding heart. I could still help her even if I allied with Tohsaka, so it wasn't like I was abandoning her.

Gathering what little courage I had, I entered the forest. Slowly, carefully. As if the floor was made of lava.

"Ilya… I meant, Ilyasviel." I squeaked out as I advanced. My heartbeat was unbearably loud. "Please don't kill me. I know things you need to know. Things like the identity of the Servant at the top of the hill, and, well, the rest of the Servant's including the one who as not be summoned yet. Also, about… about other things that you really need to know. So don't kill me. Please."

I was babbling. I knew I was babbling, but I couldn't not stop. The crouch of the ground underfoot, the creaking branches. Every sound in this forest seemed as loud as a gunshot. The still darkness all around me was suffocating.

"P-proof of what I'm saying, that I'm just not blowing hot air…you want that, of course. Well, I know... I know things about you that very few people should know, and other things that nobody but you could have know. You were made to summon Berserker earlier… two months earlier that you should have. And you were abandoned in the winter forest, full of angry beasts and other things, as a form of vengeance, in a sense, because Emiya Kiritsugu betrayed the Einzbern's. But well, they wanted you to learn and learn quickly. By putting you in a training that was more like torture. You resented Berserker, Heracles, for being ugly and cursed his very existence.

But you came to like him, depend on him. At that time, surrounded by hungry beasts, Berserker was attacked and since he was unable to move without an order from you, he just stood there as the beasts bit off pieces of his neck, head and limbs and you screamed. Not for you sake, but his. You endured the pain until he finished off those beasts. With a ragged white dress, barefooted, covered in your own blood, you reached for him, touched the hand of the giant and you said 'You're strong, Berserker'."

Silence. There was no change. No change at all. A voice inside my head was screaming at me to run, but I kept walking. I just mindlessly kept walking, fearing I would die but incapable of turning away. It felt almost like a nightmare. Like one of those nightmares where you head to some dark place, and you know there's a monster in there, that your life would be over, and your body trembles with terror but you kept walking and walking towards it as if your mind was detached from your body.

I walked. I walked from a long time. I walked as fast as I could. It was four hours before I found myself in front of the castle. When I approached, the wooden door opened, creaking all the way. Ilya stood there, unmoving, watching me. I really can't go back now. That was what passed through my mind when I first saw her. I stopped in front of her, my legs shaking like they were made of jelly.

"Come inside," she said, right before I had be about to drop to my knees and beg her to not kill me. "Before I change my mind."

I shallowed. Then, I followed her inside.