I hate to admit it, but I reread my fanfic, and I saw glaring errors. Instead of just fixing those errors, I decided to chunk it and start anew. So, here we are.

Fate/escape dawn

Chapter I

I like the cold. However, it is only because it is not hot. For some odd reason, cold never felt unpleasant to me. When the wind blew on my face, it never stung nor tore my skin. Of course, I feel the sensation known as "cold." I would never get that pain that people complain about after they pour warm water on their hands after they've been out on a winter night. I've never even gotten a cold. I've been sick with other things that children and teenagers commonly get every now and then, but never colds or the flu. In fact the only reason why I wear a light jacket during the winter is because people used to constantly ask me if I was freezing to death or on some kind of religious fasting.

Perhaps this is because of my specialty, or maybe my specialty exists because of it. I am a Mage, specifically an Eismeister, a Master of Ice. Notice that I did not say "magician" or "warlock." First of all, none of us call ourselves "warlocks," and "magicians" are completely different. I'd rather not go into detail here, as this is getting rather too long even for my exposition, so I'll just say this: Magecraft (abilities used by Mages) is like fire, and True Magic (abilities discovered and/or used by Magicians) is like a space shuttle.

I run into the empty locker room as I take off my shoes in mid-step while cursing under my breath. I get to my locker as fast as I can. I open it, take out my school shoes and put my outside shoes in the locker. Then, I hurriedly put the others shoes on as if I was on fire. I rushed to the main building, nearly flew up the stairs, and tiptoed into my class just as the bell for home room chimed.

Slipping into my chair, taking off my stuffy jacket, and panting very, very lightly, so as to not alert anyone of my sudden and late appearance, I took out a pencil and piece of paper to write anything of importance during home room; I probably did that merely as a gesture of respect towards the teacher, Mr. Ryuudo, a bald man in his early thirties. Well, I think he's cut his hair due to the Buddhist teachings. He's a priest, even if his somewhat odd antics don't betray this fact.

As he entered the room, he told the class representative to say the bows. He did and we complied.

"Stand!" We stood.

"Bow!" We bowed.

"Greeting!" We greeted with "Good morning, teacher!"

"Be seated!" We were seated.

In other words, my day was progressing like it did everyday. No worries.

When the first break period started, I looked to the left of my desk to find Roger Clements, a good friend of mine. His dark skin and dreadlocks showed that he was not born here in Japan; he was born in America, somewhere in New York, I think. He was holding a large book his right hand as he scanned the pages at an amazing speed. I couldn't get a good look of the title on spine or cover. The binding, however, told me it was bounded in the Western style, and, sure enough, the pages were in English.

"Morning, Roger. What are you reading?" I asked him. He didn't answer. This was typical, as when he has his nose in a book, you can detonate an atomic bomb near him and he wouldn't bat an eyelash. I asked again, this time a bit louder. This time, there was a reaction from him. He opened his eyes a milimeter or so more, and turned to me, pushing up his glasses.

"Ah. Good morning, Mr. Samori. I am reading Foundation, by Isaac Asimov. I believe an accurate word for title would be Eidan." Ah, I've heard of that book. More importantly, you may notice an odditity about his speech. Except to his sister (who he speaks to in English anyway), he always uses polite speech forms, never even using first names and adding -san to surnames. It's not because he's that bad at Japanese; it's just his personality, I guess.

"I'm the third best in the class when it comes to English, besides you and your sister, so you don't have to tell me what it means. Anyway, isn't that a sci-fi novel? I don't think I've seen you with anything other than a fantasy one. What's with the change?" I said. This was true. It's quite ironic, as he himself is a mage, but a much better one than I. At this, he gave a sigh.

"My sister tells me that I should something other than fantasy. 'You have very narrow interests,' or something of other." he replied.

It was almost the end of the break and the start of English class, when Mr. Ryuudo came in the room with a student. It was a girl. She looked almost like a doll, somehow. Not because of her stature; she was of avarage height, maybe a little taller. However, her blue eyes did not shed one clue to what she was thinking or feeling. Her long, white hair flowed to her lower back and looked as if it could be a treasure all on it own. She obviously was a foreign exchange student of some sort. However, the most tantalizing thing about her were her beautiful eyes. I couldn't stop looking at them. It was as if they put me at peace.

"Now, class I'd like you to meet a new student. She is from Germany, so I'd like you all to show her the ropes."

I started to get an odd headache. It was an oddly familiar kind of headache, but I could not put my finger on what it was.

"Now, young miss, can you introduce yourself?" the bald priest-teacher said.

The headache grew, along with fatigue. All the while, I couldn't let my eyes stray from the girl's.

"Yes, I can surely introduce myself." she said, in fluent Japanese. Her speech was a bit rude to a teacher that I respect.

My fatigue and pain increased. I put my hand on my head, trying to keep myself awake. I shouldn't fall asleep. I don't want to have that dream. I was at my limit. Something was wrong with me. This familiar pain took away all my strength and I could not even alert anyone about it. The girl took a step closer to the class. Her eyes were even closer and that merely increased my tiredness.

"I am from Germany and my name is Emelie -"

I could not hear her last name. My mind slipped into sleep. The second it did, I knew I would see it. That dream. I blacked out.

Red. There's nothing but red. It looked like a mixture of fire and blood. Every nerve cell in my body is screaming out in pain, yet it does not come. It never does. This was "pain" in the purest sense of the word.

However, this was merely a tiny cut compared to what happened next. I saw faces. Hundreds of them. Each one screamed out in pain, as if they were experiencing the same thing as I. I looked at nearly all of them. I could tell. They were "branded" with a sin. I did not see "murder," "thievery," or "adultery" scarred to their faces. Rather, I felt "murder," "thievery," or "adultery" merely by looking at them. It was all I could feel besides the pain. Sin. Sin. Sin. Sin. SIN.

I opened my eyes to see a white ceiling. I looked around. "The nurse's office," I said groggily. I saw Roger and Shirley, his sister, with her brown braided hair nearly touching the floor, right by me, sitting in chairs. I started to get up.

"Ah, Toshiro-kun! You're up! Gave us quite a scare, you did! Glad to see you awake. However..." Shirley grabbed my blue gakuren shirt collar after she said this, but I did not gasp as I kind of half expected her to do that. "If you faint again like that, I'll have to forcibly wake you up! I have my ways!" Shirley has... a way with words. She is the opposite of her brother. In other words a genki girl, and it really shows up in her speech. Oddly, she uses "boku (I, me, my)," even though she's a girl.

"Mr. Samori, I am happy to see that you are all right. However, I must ask: what happened exactly?" Roger said, looking at his sister as she nearly strangled me.

I thought for a second. No, the only thing I could think was that dream. The dream I've had every night since I was a child. As I did, all I wanted to do was go home. Home.

Without answering Roger, I got up from the uncomfortable bed. Roger and Shirley tried to stop me, but I can't remember what they said. As I exited the room, I saw that girl again, the new transfer student. She followed me with her head as I passed. I did not stop to look at her eyes.

I don't remember much as I walked home to the Samori mansion. It's called a mansion, but it's mostly just a very large Western-style house.

I remember opening the door. As always no one was home. My butler, Ryogi must be out shopping. I preferred it that way. I plopped onto the nearest chair in the living room.

I looked at the clock. 1:57. I must have been unconscious for a while. Today was not very good. For the first time, I had that dream during the day, the dream I have almost every night. I might have hit my right shoulder as well, when I fell onto the desk. It's starting to hurt and tingle quite a bit. In fact, it may have been bleeding.

"Great," I said. Another that I have to deal with.

I spent the next few hours staring at the ceiling. Staring. And thinking about the dream.