Ch. 5 - Memories of the Fugue

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Magi Association

Rin woke up, she folded the soft, euphoric covers as she sat up in fatigue. Her hands picked up a towel and wrapped it around her eloquent, soft body. She sat there looking at the clock, the overwhelming aura coming from the digital numbers hurt her eyes, but she shook it off. They had to leave in an hour. Rin stood up from bed and smiled as she saw Shirou struggling to get up.

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School

Kamatari leaned against the hard grain of the school building, the sand stone ripped against his back. The sunlight sparkled amongst the remnants of raindrops that fell just an hour ago. The beautiful haze, displaying every brilliant shade of orange, red, and yellow cloaked the city, embracing it with its light. The fair skinned, handsome Jacob Hawthrone calmly stood at Kamatari's side, looking over the entire front yard of school. Children from freshmen to seniors busily went about their days, running, playing, laughing as if there was no end to the world. Jacob's eyes twitched, he knew the truth about the days of this invincible world, as if he knew when it would end. As far as the adventure in learning about the world, he could care less, he would have rather chosen to be a king, rather than a jack-of-all-trades. His renaissance man style plagued him even though his evidentially growing fan base glorified him to the point of almost religiousness. Kamatari's fist began to sparkle, his eyes glowed silver as they began to shift around uncomfortably. He was hesitant as he slowly slid down the wall, his own resolve melting with his voice.

"Hey. Jacob, do you know what magic is?"

Jacob looked down at Kamatari, drinking from a can labeled with some strange Japanese letters that did not form any coherent sentence.

"Magic? That's an odd question to ask."

Jacob slowly pulled out a packet of cigarettes, Kamatari figured he probably stole that from somewhere just because he could. To Jacob, wealth meant nothing to him unless he found a good place to spend it, but anything in this world should be taken if possible. On another note, his troubled ways also brought him in the habit of taking a smoke now and then, again, just on the account that he could. Kamatari pulled out a silver lighter and lit Jacob's cigarette. He actually did not know why he carried a lighter when he didn't smoke, perhaps it was because of his connection towards Jacob, or the need to be needed.

"I'm just asking Jacob."

A ring of hazy gray smoke came out in a ring, floating as if it were a cloud.

"Well, I can't say I don't know what that is, but it's just something those fraudulent magicians claim to use on TV right?"

Kamatari was hesitant, he didn't want to reveal anything to Jacob, but he had a feeling Jacob could already sense it.

"Don't worry Kamatari, I won't tell anyone."

The sudden comment threw Kamatari back, his small foundation crumbled as if someone took a sledgehammer and swung with all the might of a God. Jacob continued to speak, smoking out small gray rings every so often.

"But I didn't know... you were into that. You won't get any girls that way Kamatari."

Suddenly, Kamatari felt sick, though he felt immediate relief thanks to the misunderstanding, but his emotions were flowing up and down, like a roller coaster. Jacob got off of the wall, his face was flushed, but he hid it from Kamatari's view and walked off.

"I'll see you tomorrow Kamatari."

Kamatari nodded and lightly waved goodbye to the disappearing shadow of Jacob.

"See ya."

Kamatari slowly rose, he took Jacob off his list inside his head and felt a wave of relief. He looked at his digital watch and noticed it was time for archery practice. In the back of the school building lied a large gymnasium that boasted a large field purely devoted to the art of archery. Kamatari slowly brought himself to go to the large building at the side. The ancient Japanese architecture brought a sort of aura to the entire place. With the addition of a dead wood forest at the side, the place was more foreboding than it was enticing. Kamatari though about it, he didn't want to waste time now that according to his mother, the time for the next War was soon to begin. He completely turned around carrying his rather large bag and headed for the entrance. Light filtered through from the light canopy of wood in the forest, he looked up into the light as if it were the only thing he could hold onto. He heard the soft crackling of twigs along the dirt path. Right behind him stood a young girl, obviously Japanese in blood. Her eyes were a shade of deep brown and her raven hair flowed with the wind, surrounding her like a pair of black wings. Her soft skin reflected the soft light from the trees. She was a bit shorter than Kamatari, but what got his attention the most was the rather large pendant located conveniently between her breasts.

"Hi Kamatari."

"Hey. Are you going to practice Moyoko?"

Moyoko nodded happily and spun around, an angelic light consumed her. She had been a special person to Kamatari, a past that should be kept in secret. His memories reoccurred in his head, playing as if they were all part of a broken record stuck in time.

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Two Years Ago

Kamatari's hard boots crunched into the dirt, the flickering lights from the street lamps hadn't bothered him. He acted as if they were a regular occurrence, but what seemed to bother him were the trees swaying, filled with light from the full moon, but completely dark otherwise. He had looked around, holding a preserved black glove that displayed a silver circle with five stars around it. He held onto that as if it were a dear gift to him, but more importantly, he held it as if life depended on it. Walking through the park, he noticed a glimpse of white light glistening off of something in the darkness. He walked quicker, knowing what that was exactly, he was not too blind to see that he was in danger. His heart beat quickened, the lights began to either shut off or shine extremely bright before blowing up. Kamatari couldn't control his own feelings, he had lost everything due to fear. Slowly, Kamatari heard footsteps behind him, the person holding a silver knife was walking towards him. Kamatari turned his head slightly, looking into the eyes of his pursuer. Those cold, hard eyes showed nothing, but the screams and pains his previous victims went through. Kamatari started to walk even faster, but he ran into a wall. Kamatari looked up and realized, it wasn't a wall, it was a monstrosity of a person. This giant had the body of a god, his height made it seem like Kamatari was not even as significant as a mere ant. A third pursuer came out of the dark, rustling bushes. He was scrawny, but it did not change the fact that he was probably the most dangerous out of all of them. The man carried a small pistol, armed and ready to kill. Everyone surrounded him, smiling as the giant created a fist and pounded it into his own hand. Kamatari grew frantic, the air around him swelled as he tried to find a solution, but there wasn't any.

"Who... who are you guys?"

Kamatari hand began to spark. As Kamatari prepared to put on his glove, the man with the pistol shot it, causing it to fly out of Kamatari's hand.

"Why are you here?"

The man that had first followed him held his knife in the sky, as if trying to rip open a hole through the moonlight. His eyes reflected the glimmer of the full moon, almost projecting every person he had killed into the park.

"We are the Hunters. Magi like you are to die."

"Magi? What on earth are you talking about?"

Kamatari tried to hide his right hand, it began to spark even more, so he placed it in his pocket, accepting the painful bolts of electricity.

"Don't play stupid. We know your bloodline. We are a faction of the church based in Europe. If I don't kill you, sooner or later, my brethren will."

Kamatari saw the scrawny man hold up the pistol while the first pursuer rushed at him with the knife. The giant stood there laughing as Kamatari looked as if he were going to cry.

"Now die Magus!"

Kamatari pulled out his hand, the mixture of fear, hatred, and wish for self-preservation flooded his emotional complex completely. Electricity coursed his arm, the hand that had been sparking now shot out jets of bright blue onto the floor. Man with the silver knife could slice open the air around Kamatari's body, Kamatari screamed. His left arm had been completely ripped apart by the knife, his blood splattered onto the sandstone path. His ability to control himself completely collapsed, his eyes grew a brilliant bright aqua. His clothes began to flow around as if a sudden gust of wind constantly moved them around.

"I have to... I need the glove..."

Before Kamatari could get the glove, the man with the pistol shot it away again. Kamatari's vision began to blur.

"No... not again... Stay back... Damn you, don't come out."

His entire body acted as a lightning rod, his soul unleashed itself from the confining bounds Kamatari had placed on it with magic. The binds snapped in half, his inner self steamed out, clouding his own ability to think rationally. Now, the tables had turned, the pursuers began to back away, never seeing this part of Kamatari. A fading red began to join the blue electricity coursing through his body, the red consumed him completely, his eyes were now blood crimson. The arrogance from the man with the knife quickly turned into fear.

"Who in the hell are you? What the hell are you?"

Kamatari's normal voice seemed to almost fight this new presence. His voice lowered to the sound of growling.

"Hell has no place for the likes of me."

The giant spit on the grass in disgust and ran straight to Kamatari. The demonic presence of Kamatari didn't seem to phase the giant, but it didn't help the giant any bit. Kamatari saw him coming and turned around. Kamatari's cold eyes saw his arm raise up limply, as if someone were controlling his body. Immediately, a large red ball formed in his hand, the air wrapped around him, clinging onto the demonic presence as if the Earth was hoping to purify it.

"Foolish mortal."

A beam of red light shot out through the darkness, cursing everything as it went. Entire trees were disintegrated by the lightning bolt. The man who stood before him saw the giant hole inside his body, he was in too much shock to speak. Then he was suddenly consumed in a burning red fire. His screams pierced the calm of the night, the gurgle of blood in his throat ended it with an even more sickening sound.

"The pits of hell will accept you now."

Before the other men could escape, all of them met the same fate. Their bodies turned into ash and flew away into the wind. Kamatari struggled to fight off the other part of him, finally winning, his red hued lightning subsided back into his body. Before the demonic version of himself became sealed it spoke a couple chilling words to him.

"You'll need me again someday. I saved your life."

With that, Kamatari fainted, gasping for air as he fell down. As his vision faded, he saw someone running to him, he couldn't recognize the face or the voice, but the only thing he knew was that it was a girl.

"Kamatari!"

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Moyoko's House – Two Years Ago

Kamatari's eyes fluttered, he looked around to see that he was safe, everything was back to normal, but then he realized that he had never seen the room before. There were a couple stuffed animals on the side of the walls, ranging from a pink unicorn to a small black puppy. He immediately sat up in a hurry, but felt sudden pangs of pain running up and down his arm. The nerves felt like they were on fire. The door opened in front of him, the plain white wooden door next to a plain gray desk. In the front of the door was his classmate, Moyoko Ayo. Her soft black hair rolled down her shoulders, the white blouse seemed to accentuate her already nice physique. She smiled in front of Kamatari, that golden, pure smile.

"Hi Kamatari."

"Moyoko? What am I doing here?"

"Oh, I found you laying on the ground in the park. So I brought you here. You have a giant knife cut on your arm."

Kamatari was cautious, he didn't know whether Moyoko had completely seen everything, if she had, then there would be a lot of explaining to do, but if she didn't, then everything would be fine. His heart thumped once more, he looked for his glove.

"Hey, Moyoko, when did you come?"

Moyoko smiled as she set down a set of tea with two cups, one for Kamatari and one for herself.

"I was coming from the grocery store and I saw you fall..."

"Was there anyone around me?"

Moyoko's deep brown eyes stared into Kamatari's, she looked as though she had been lost, but Kamatari quickly looked away. He started to blush after staring at Moyoko's face.

"No... I thought you cut yourself."

Everything Kamatari had thought of was crushed. He was sure Moyoko wouldn't understand, but he didn't want to be seen as some idiotic suicidal person, even more so, a hopeless one who doesn't know how to kill himself.

"Someone attacked me, that's all."

"Oh! We should call the police, I found a clue though."

Moyoko's innocence was a rush of relief for Kamatari, the energy spikes in his hand subsided, allowing him to relax. Moyoko pulled out a black glove with two bullet holes in it, but the image on the top hadn't been altered in any way.

"Ah, no that's mine. Thanks Moyoko."

"No problem!"