Solemn Dust
Chapter I: From the ashes, the Magus Killer was reborn
Time stands still as battle worn
Beneath your feet the blood runs cold
No one moves
Death, a wasteland, razed to the ground and gone, perished what life there was
And ghostly in the darkness, there cast a shadow, mirroring madness
Echoes the work of the devil
The death and destruction
The symbol of Hades
The heat and the hatred
The breakdown of life
Leaves us sorrow and strife
And we all will return to ash
2007
Shirou sees tiny molecular machinery clasping together creating complex structures and repairing human cells. All he could see was efficiency and union. Synergy and simplicity. It was a stunning revelation to the child whose existence was nothing but a farce.
In all of his 7 years of existence he never could connect to any person or enact sympathy for the simplest of action or reaction thereof. It was if the fire left nothing but an empty husk behind, not capable of thinking for himself nor others.
There was only base instinct left and logical motivation driving him forward from his inevitable stagnation. No amount of psychological help was of any use. He couldn't find any enjoyment in doing futile things so what was the point?
But now he sees. The harmony of these theoretical machines projected in 3d to 2d screens. He was one of them, he was meant to be a hivemind. What he lacked could be created. Although there was no motivation behind his actions, his logical side concluded that if there is no logic then he could create a new logic beginning with these machines.
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"Kiritsugu, I want to learn about more about nano-science and mechanical engineering…"
Looking at Shirou at the table. He was surprised to hear anything from the little boy. Most of the time Shirou was a quiet and unassuming presence even he couldn't detect. Shirou never asked for anything nor did ever complain or give any facial cues. So seeing a hint of spark in his eyes and exciting undertone in his voice that most people wouldn't be able to detect was an extremely surprising turn of events.
"Shirou… What has managed to spark your interest so much that you finally spoke to me?"
He merely looked at Kiritsugu and quirked his head to the side, as if he didn't understand his question. Although he shouldn't be surprised, the psychologist informed that Shirou didn't comprehend most of human concepts. Not of any refusal but mostly because Shirou was incapable doing so. He never looked much into his amnesia nor the effects of the fire. But it wasn't a Thaumaturgy related problem so he was at a loss on how to help him with his affliction.
"If you think you can handle it, I can hire a tutor who is versed in advance sciences and theoretical topics. He is an acquaintance that owes me a few favors"
He didn't bother with getting in great detail over the specifics. It would mostly be ignored by Shirou beside keywords. He can at least can help him this much. He saved a soul, but is that soul really saved? Time can only tell, but he hopes this sudden interest would be a turning point for Shirou.
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Time Skip: 2010
As the tutor left the house Shirou waved at him, no energy was wasted. All of his motion efficient and Spartan. Once the door closed, he simply turned around with no reflection and turned around to walk to the shed in the garden where Kiritsugu was doing something he couldn't find the effort to even contemplate about.
He stood still as he watched as Kiritsugu removed weapons from a hidden wall to a bag on the ground. He stood there so still that it was a few couple of seconds before Kiritsugu looked up and saw Shirou gazing at him expressionless. He made no indication as if he were to speak and simply continued his ritual.
A normal person would ask why ones father would load lethal weapons into a bag and still look as if it was a normal day. But Shirou was not a normal nor an abnormal person. He was simply there. Kiritsugu couldn't find anything to say that Shirou would comprehend so he finished up his work and stood to face him.
"Shirou… I am going to a trip for a while. I'm not going to be home for a few months. Taiga will be here incase anything happens. I know she's not a very good caretaker cough, so take care of her too"
No words were said and the world keeps on spinning as Kiritsugu left for parts unknown. He received his daily tutoring and cooked for himself and Taiga. He may not have creativity nor feelings for making food. But he makes up for that with his impeccable precision and efficiency in the kitchen where no mistakes were allowed.
One day his tutor left to be never seen again, unnerved by Shirou's demeanor and gaze, he said that was all he could teach Shirou. And he wasn't wrong in that regard because no memory was ever forgotten in the strange brain of Shirou. Tests were nothing to him nor was calculus.
Shirou didn't reflect or cared that his tutor was gone, he merely used his computer gifted to him from Taiga to further his own studies. No memory was forgotten, and certainly not that memory that changed his perspective on things.
This went on for a few uneventful weeks until Kiritsugu returned back from his trip with a somber and dark demeanor. Shirou went on with his day and informed Kiritsugu that his tutor left. Kiritsugu body language didn't change, but he did grab Shirou and held him to his chest as he coughed harshly and unshed tears formed over his eyes but never showed.
"Shirou, I already told you that I'm a Magus. I think it's time for you to know you have a sister barricaded away where I can't reach. I'm fading fast and you are her only hope to be united with her brother. I'm going to teach you everything I have learned. I have already failed one child, please forgive me for failing another"
Shirou of course didn't understand, but he always does what Kiritsugu has said. This was no exception. It was merely an offering of information to him and more people he can take care of.
"Tommorow I will teach you structural analysis, and from there I will show you how to use weapons, your magic circuits aren't nothing to be proud of but it is enough"
Shirou merely went to a motion he saw on television and hugged his caretaker. It was not a notion of sentiment but Kiritsugu couldn't help but be happy and sad at the same time that he was tainting a child to do his job.
So it went forth with Shirou learning and digesting information like clockwork without stop nor break. His studies in technology and nano engineering wasn't forgotten, but merely assigned to a lower priority.
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Bang!
A shot rang out in the garden and a moving bottle crumbles into pieces. Dozens of shards lined the field from previous endeavors and Shirou lowered the smoking barrel and clicked on the safety of the gun. No neighbor or bystander will be able to hear the shot through a boundary field set up by Kiritsugu.
Walking to a briefcase on a barrel, he left the gun in the specialized compartment and wiped his finger prints from the metal surface of the gun. Closing the briefcase he stepped over the glass shards and looked at the sharp implement he intends to restore to its former shape.
A normal magus needed a special spoken word or sentence to self-hypnotize themselves to do a certain spell, Spellcasting. This wasn't for Shirou's case. His mind was too logical for such parlor tricks. Instead he simply twists the information to fit his perception. He already knows magecraft can happen and has happened, so he doesn't need to disillusion himself what he already knows what will happen.
Blood red dust seeps from his body and gently falls onto the broken glass. Shards were dragged by invisible forces and stuck the bottle together to its original state. The cracks glowed an iridescent red and faded to reveal an unbroken Ramune bottle. The dust flowed around him and disappeared back into his body.
Shirou first devised the Crimson Dust a few years back after he tried to create micro-machines to fix his warped mind and become more connected to things. He never had proper equipment but that didn't stop his logical side of remembering Kiritsugu last lessons before he died. Projection and Alchemy learned from the Einzberns.
By projecting highly complex factory filters into his body which took little Prana to maintain, he kept them on permanently and gradually replaced most of his cells and consumed high level of radioactive compounds and metals found in smoke detectors and paint. He didn't know what would happen if he replicated his nerve circuits which draws Mana in his body and convert them into Prana so he assimilated radioactive materials to power most of the Crimson Dust so he wouldn't fall apart once he lost his only way to maintain his nano Dust.
He learned of nuclear batteries when he studied space crafts and how they function to see if they can progress his nano research. By consuming a lot of non-lethal radioactive compounds he could enrich them with his Dust and create micro batteries throughout his body. His body recuperates faster than the radiation does damage so he deemed it an appropriate action. Unknowing of the object inside of him that helped him live through the conversion process and lethal radiation.
Normally Kiritsugu would disapprove of his actions, but he died before he began the conversion process. Shirou didn't mourn nor attended his funeral. He didn't differentiate between an inanimate object and a living being. To him all humans were just autonomous objects that had evolved to store energy and potential to do things that didn't matter.
His only reason for existence was instinct and external stimuli. Until he also fixed that. By harvesting nerve circuits and brain matter from Kiritsugu he assimilated parts of his memories and skills so he can finish Kiritsugu last request. The nerves were put to good use even though he can replicate them by artificially creating mindless life using the dna of himself and Kiritsugu, and then harvested the nerves circuits that way. He also felt emotions for the first time in his entire existence once he looked deeper into Kiritsugu brain but he mostly kept them suppressed so it wouldn't interfere with his way of life.
He picked the bottle up and threw it into the box where all his repaired stuff lies in case they somehow were defect. Picking up the briefcase of the barrel he tightened up his tie and dusted down his business suit and entered his house and called a cab to bring him to the airport where he will take a flight to Germany. Leaving a letter onto the hallway table for Taiga he changed his face to Kiritsugu's and closed the door with a resounding thump.
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Exiting the entrance of Munich airport he saw a light coating of snow covering everything in the colder climate compared to Japan due to global warming. But he ignored that and entered a nearby taxi to go to the city where he will be buying some souvenirs and gifts for Illya, as he saw such gestures on television and wishes to know the feeling Taiga felt when she gifted him with presents.
Watching the unfamiliar setting wasn't a very unique experience to him, but he can at least appreciate some of the sights within his deeper suppressed self.
Stopping at some unknown crowded juncture, he payed the driver and stepped into the frozen streets marred with salt and grime. Bringing up his Idroid he found a delegated his afforded time to 2 hours and left a twenty minute time window to leave to Einzbern Castle on the appropriate transit channel.
Walking in to a nearby appliance store he bought some extra smoke detectors and stored them in his suitcase to be processed later. Leaving the store he entered a fast-food restaurant ordered some high sugar content sodas and a double size burger to replenish organic matter he could assimilate without being obvious about it if he tried to disintegrate a bush. Insects weren't that present in the winter either.
He stood still before a jewelry store and saw a two articles that Taiga always seem to look at when he went shopping. He went through the front door and ringed the absent cashier and waited as a well clothed blond haired gentle man exited the backdoor.
He put on a rather ostentatious smile but Shirou saw his smile vanish as he opened his eyes and saw Shirou's face. His eyes widened a fraction and he took a step back. But he forced a smile back on once he sees Kiritsugu's expressionless face.
"So, what can I do for ze Magus Killer? I don't have any enemies so I can't imagine you're here to kill me"
Shirou's eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch but he stayed and expressionless, he simply pointed to a diamond ring and necklace with a ruby heart.
"The ring and the necklace please…"
"Ah, what a surprise. Even the famous Magus Killer has someone he fancies. Let me take that from the shelve and package it"
Although he went on with his actions with a smile on his, you could barely make out a hint of sweat on his forehead. He put the items in fancy black boxes and put them into a small bag he procured from at the counter on his back with shaky hands.
"Yes uhm, that will be one thousand and forty three euros"
Shirou put down his suit case and brought his wallet from inside his inner breast pocket and counted down the money he converted. Putting down the money on the counter he grabbed the bag and waited for his change as normal people usually did.
"Here's the change, I would say your welcome to come back but that would be a lie. Farewell infamous one"
He exited the jewelry store and walked through the crowded city to the Train station. He took a train and waited a few minutes until he arrived at Oberau and then he took a bus to Linderhof and stealth hiked to Einzbern Castle using camo winter gear.
Halfway through the mountainous region he stopped under a tree and opened his suitcase and removed the Americium 241 to be enriched and power his artificial heating even though his Crimson Dust did its best to keep his heat inside of him. His body wasn't affected that much by heating or freezing, but moisture in his body could clog up his circulatory system with ice crystals and limit his mobility and efficiency.
He removed a specially made panel in the suitcase that hid his weaponry from x-ray scans and put his gun inside his body and moved parts all around the suitcase and assembled a custom made blocky sniper rifle that shoots pellets of random metal using advanced formalcraft to channel electricity through niobium stannide supercooled using aforementioned formalcraft and create magnetic fields that propel the pellets forwards enhanced by an initial explosion within the chamber. The sniper rifle was based on the TST Chemrail Dual Stage Linear Motor Rifle that fires 8.75x52mm Fin Stabilized Sabot rounds with a muzzle energy of 18 kilo joules. It was a dual-stage weapon using chemical propellant first and then electro-magnetic rails as the second stage.
Putting the rifle on his back he left the suitcase hanging on a branch to be collected when he finished and stored the jewelry in his body separated from the nuclear batteries throughout his bodies with lead dust.
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Seeing the castle from afar through the scope of his rifle, shirou searched for infiltration points and patrol schedules. Although studies of the Einzberns weren't forthcoming whether they employed anything beyond advanced boundary fields and homunculus. But it didn't matter to Shirou. He'll treat it like a regular assassination run as trained by Kiritsugu and the Yakuza.
Putting the rifle on his back he jumped from the tree on the mountain and glided lightly of the mountain using almost invisible threads of Crimson Dust spread around his body all a dozen feet in length creating air drag and lightly pushing the ground to keep him in the air.
Stopping near the base of the mountain and landing on the snow once he sensed the boundary field a few yards in front of him, he adjusted his eyes and analyzed it for weaknesses. Coming to a conclusion he picked up a rotten piece of wood with insects crawling within and threw it through the boundary unharmed and unobstructed.
"I never tried this before, but Illya needs me… Normal people don't break their promises… Do they?"
A hint of expression could be seen on his face but disappeared once he came to a resolution. Slowly you could see Crimson Dust flying around his body, vaporizing his clothing and weaponry. Base materials were being converted to more Dust and you could see a skeletal form vanishing into motes of glinting metallic dust.
There was only a simple primal intelligence behind this form. Each nano-machine forming a whole collective exchanging information like a computer superior to magecraft such as Memory partition and Thought Acceleration. The concept of Human was left behind for a superior force but the soul was still anchored to each one of these parts and it knew enough that It wanted to go through this boundary. It flowed through fields and trees and simply changed its path if a barrier was found like a living breathing river. Going through the air and underground till it stopped and coalesce back into a living human being who is experiencing excruciating amounts of pain but for an empty being like him, pain was nothing but electrical impulses that can ignored.
Once his clothing reassembled he realized that he could had hidden his weapon that way when he went through the airport. Letting the weapon be part of his arm, he deduced he could quickly create a facsimile of the gun and use his blood as a catalyst for his formalcraft as a surprise attack.
Of course those thoughts were delegated by some other mind partition and he already was walking to the Einzbern castle he could see with his enhanced vision in the night. He managed to pigment his clothing and skin to snow white and neared to a window. Looking the window revealed nothing so he tried to subtly disassemble the window, but felt a barrier preventing him from doing so.
Feeling the nature of this barrier he enhanced his vision to be able to see faults anywhere that he could exploit. Seeing a small crack in the barrier the size of a marble he disassembled his body again and the Dust flowed through the crack and stayed in dust form slowly spreading throughout the castle till it found a room with somebody resembling the pictures Kiritsugu had given him.
Recalling all of the dust to that room, he reassembled his body once again and god rid of the winter camo gear. He balanced himself from the disorientation of having spread his consciousness that far apart and lightly walked to the figure sleeping on the bed. He brushed a hair strand away from her face and watched as she churned in her sleep.
"I'm here Illya, your father is here… Wait, no? Why did I say that..."
He stood still as all his procceses and Dust tried to figure the strange thoughts. Finally finding the culprit he found pieces of his fathers' soul clinging on to his holy sheath? He never questioned the presence of the sheath considering there was no human to compare it to, and he never asked irrelevant questions. But he accepted for what it is, and deduced it was from his Flash Air experiments.
Leaving the information behind his mind, he shook Illya gently and watched as she slowly roused from her slumber. She opened her eyes and they widened once she saw his form.
"Daddy?"
He remembered his form was that of her father/Shirou? But he didn't change his form in case she called the homunculus servants. He picked her up bridal style and looked around the room to see if there is anything he forgotten about.
"Daddy! You came back to me! I knew you would but old man Acht says you left me behind!
She cried on his shoulder and he simply patted her head as he saw on most anime. He figuring that anything could make a little girl happy would also comfort her from her ordeal.
"We are leaving Illya. Is there anything you want to take with you?"
She simply looked up with a confusing expression and voiced it out.
"Why are we leaving Daddy? "
"Jubstacheit doesn't want you to leave and he doesn't yet know I'm here. The boundary fields prevented me from retrieving you because Acht was angered at me for losing the grail war. We need to leave before someone figures out something is amiss"
She looked down and away so he wasn't able to see her expression. But then she turned her head around and looked as if she realized something.
"I believe you daddy, Acht lied to me and I don't like him. So don't worry Daddy"
Once he convinced Illya, he realized something important he didn't take in to account. He Dusted himself on a dime that it would work. But obviously he couldn't do that to someone like his daughter/sister? Even if it worked, it took a few days for him to be fully Dust all because of safety reasons.
He still remembered the layout of the castle from when he was Dust and using Kiritsugu's memories and discussions he figured he could overpower the barrier and cause a ruckus. Which he then proceeds to run as fast as he could. Or take the stealth approach and use the front entrance to leave. Looking the Illya's eyes he asked her something that would be pivotal in his choice.
"Illya, can you walk and stay quiet?"
She simply nodded so he put her down and watched as she went to a closet and removed her sleeping garment and put on a purple coat with a white scarf and an ushanka on her head. She came back beside him and waited for his instructions.
He put his hand in his inner pocket and reassembled the two pieces of jewelry. Although diamond was a bit harder, but a bit of Alchemy fixed that. Showing her the two items, her eyes twinkled.
"Is that for me?"
"Yes Illya. Please wear them for me"
She put on the necklace and the ring. Her twinkling and a smile on her face. She faced Shirou/Kiritsugu? And glomped him as he held her close to him.
"Thank you daddy! They are beautiful"
"We must be quiet now… Follow me, we are going to the front entrance"
Traversing the hallway they descend down the crescent staircase but Shirou/Kiritsugu? Stood still and Illya bumped into him. Down into his line of sight was no other than Jubstacheit Von Einzbern.
"I knew somebody triggered the boundary fields around the castle, but I am surprised to see you Kiritsugu. It seems the news of your death was greatly exaggerated"
The two stared into each other for an unknown amount of time. Shirou finally slightly turned his head to Illya and said one thing.
"Stay here… I'll take care of him"
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Note: He sabotaged the metal scanner for his body in the airport incase somebody came bitchin at me. I'm too lazy to beta proof.
I based the castle around a desolate Neuschwanstein Castle protected by magecraft. Which you all know is Bavarian (I assume). And do you know what else is associated with Bavaria? Figure it out yourself. HAHAHAHAHA! kms