The Night of Deja Vu

Lights dimmed in the room as the young man sat alone amongst the dusk. To the left of his bright orange hair, a few rows down, he could make out two folks. One, judging by merely the lighting alone, seemed incredibly ecstatic. She held an arm in the air and screeched incomprehensible words of excitement while another arm covered in a tidy blue cuff was pulled out; presumably by the boy in an effort to calm her down. The young man envied this interaction, albeit a rather eccentric one. For he was alone as he waited. He turned his head toward the front of the room. A giant screen like a gaping void looked back towards him.

He relaxed one arm on the armrest and closed his eyes a moment, to focus. Before he could visualise an image in his mind, he was disrupted by a large booming sound of orchestrated music. Immediately opening his eyes, he saw the screen directly in front of him light up with all sorts of amazing colours. This forced him to get up. "Oh crap! She's going to miss the movie!"
It was then a rather vile expulsion of voice erupted behind his ear. "Sit back down! I can't see a darned movie!" The old harpy continued to ramble on about how useless youths are and how impolite everyone in this world apparently are these days.

The boy decided to sit back down to avoid any more confrontation. Besides, if he had to step past that other romantic couple a few seats aside him, it looked like the ash-blonde girl there would do some pretty nasty things to him despite her happy-go-lucky face. Before long the rambling thankfully stopped and the boy watched on at the introduction of the movie. It was all musical so far, he presumed the film was simply 'setting the scene'. He could see a vast landscape of green being presented in the screen as well as a knight with brilliant silver armour and green clothing enter from the right of the screen, riding his steed. However, the boy was quickly interrupted as he was nudged by another arm besides him. As he looked to his right, his view was obscured by a Jenga tower of popcorn boxes. "J-just what the hell Saber!?"
Behind the blocked view he heard a voice whisper back. "I'm sorry I'm late Shirou. I got a little carried away at the lobby,"

Uh-oh. It was then that savage harpy in the background began to start up her ramblings again, completely blotching out the sounds of the film playing in front of them. It was only after a well deserved 'SHUT UP' from the left hand side of the room made the room completely fall silent. A little red-faced from embarrassment, Shirou picked up and placed each popcorn box from his side onto the floor to prevent them obscuring the view any longer. As he brought his eyes up to place down the last box, he saw the girl behind looking intently towards the screen like glue with glimmering green eyes. She wore a white shirt, and a mid-length blue dress.

"I and my soldiers shall go forth and purge the menace that plagues our homeland,"

The voice came from the screen. Shirou decided to settle down now and watch what was happening. "This must remind her of home."

Of course. It would be lies at this point to say that a girl called 'Saber' was entirely normal at this point. His and her first meeting... was indeed a strange one. She had transcended through time from the past and became a heroic spirit in an event named the 'Holy Grail Wars'. Since all the summoned participants in the wars had to conceal their identities, she was simply known as 'Saber'.

As the film continued, the somewhat cliché affair of a knight slaying monsters was no longer apparent to Shirou's surprise. Many of the protagonists soldiers were slain by someone within his party. Eventually the entire movie turned pretty bloody. The knight protagonist eventually found himself in a dungeon alone. Body parts and decapitated heads of his former soldiers littered the ground.

Shirou was distracted as he heard the old harpy start moaning again. But he hadn't done anything this time. He turned his head, to see a rather disturbed look in Saber's face. She was clearly attempting to leave the theater. "Don't like the movie?" He asked.
"No... it's not that. I just... I just need to be somewhere. Go enjoy the movie Shirou,"
It was clear she wasn't trying to be rude but without even looking back, Saber hastily left the room.

The boy felt a little hollowed out, like a gutted fish, but it couldn't be helped. "I guess it hurts..."

The movie eventually ended. The knight in the film was reunited with his princess despite losing his arm and eventually married. While the content of the movie was good, the end was pretty much a disappointment. The credits began to roll and Shirou decides to leave the room.

The refreshing lights of the lobby rejuvenate his eyes; they take some time to adjust after being locked away in the dark room beforehand. However, it wasn't long until he hit the large double doors of the main building, and sunk back again into the darkness of the night. It was late in the day. The moon was full in the sky watching him as he walked on the grey paving slabs. "I guess she left the building," The boy thought to himself as he glanced forth towards the dark night. Suddenly he felt alone. Only the whisper of a quaint breeze was there to comfort him. As the wisps of air tickled his nose and his senses, they traced over something stagnant. The smell of a freshly slaughtered pig perhaps. As Shirou turned the corner, his eyes graced upon some kind of dog ravaging at a bin.

No. It wasn't a mere trash bag. The animals claw dug into the front of the object, and sweeped some ragged cloth aside. Those were... clothes. As the animal rose it's head towards Shirou, he could see flesh dripping within it's jaws. It was completely hairless and had a strange glow to it's eyes. It was no dog. It was some kind of lumbering beast and it was eating the corpse of a dead man. Repulsive. Shirou could have vomited there on the spot, but this was no time to be ill. He had seen far worse in his past. But still... what was this creature doing here? By the looks of the ground and the stains of blood all over the demon that it had savaged this now indistinguishable victim.

"I'm daydreaming right? No. I can't be," Shirou asked himself. He didn't have time to think further. The lupine had grown quickly bored of it's meal and was keen on taking this boy down as it's next victim.

"Trace... On!" After some moments of visualising, the boy called forth two weapons to his hands as if by thin air. They were short swords of dual design, one being white, the other black. He held the black one in the defensive position and it received the punishment of the creature as it bit with it's jaws and dug in. Up close, it looked grotesque. You couldn't call it an animal; it's flesh smelt of rot and was open and raw. It's bones on it's arms and legs barely had muscle on them and it's body was similar to that of a starved dog. It was much larger than Shirou had fully anticipated too, the size of a human if it were able to stand on its hind legs. He could have mulled over the details of this diabolical fiend all day but he knew he needed to act. He swooped downwards with his free blade; striking the lupine precisely on the head; causing a sickly purple ooze to drain from it's body and stain the brilliant white of the sword. For an attack that should have killed a man, the creature merely jumped backwards momentarily. It was hard to notice it taking any sort of pained reaction towards the weapon striking it. Not even a whimper. Well, considering the state the creature was in already it was difficult to consider it a living being.

And so it leapt again. Shirou had little time to react; he placed himself in the defensive position once again. The hairless lupine jumped higher, this time soaring above the swords until it clashed with the wall high above the boy. It landed there somehow, and stuck there, like a spider to the wall and looked down to him like a lowly pawn, snapping it's jaws. From this angle, it could easily land on Shirou. Surprised by the manoeuvre, Shirou spun around, only to be pinned like paper to the ground. He felt a warm body slump onto him and within moments a face of a demon greeted him point-blank. With one of it's front claws it dug with it's long nails, drawing blood. It's skin meeting his fresh cut was like salt on the wounds.

"Is it possible I could die here? To a mere dog?" Shirou sighed and laughed under his breath. "How... amusing."

A purple sphere of light landed on the demon's head and promptly exploded, blowing it's head clean off. It still continued to move however, but it's body was now light enough to allow the boy to push the body of the creature off of him. He looked towards his side, to see what potential threat awaited him. His eyes landed on two glimmering purple jewels ahead in the darkness, but like a bird fearing it's predator, they were gone. As he turned around to inspect the beast, it still wondered around aimlessly, but it was slowly growing weaker. Eventually it would die without it's head, so Shirou decided to chase after the jewels of purple. After all, his curiosity was now piqued. He wanted to know who they belonged to, and if it was related to that light ball just now that completely decapitated that beast.

Or perhaps maybe... it was aiming for his own head instead?

It was a scary thought. But curiosity killed the cat, as they say. To be honest, Shirou didn't really know where he was going. He ran past several estates, a ball park and through multiple busy streets. Eventually, his foot hit familiar turf. As he looked upwards, he realized he had reached a particularly large estate, with a moderately sized garden. This building; this was his home. As he stopped to mull over it, he understood now that the thing he was searching for was long gone. Since he was in front of his home, he decided to call it quits and retire there.

He wondered if what he saw tonight was all a dream. All imaginary. "I could perhaps have been hallucinating after that pretty scary movie that night. That movie... that Saber didn't seem to like very much,"
He wondered where the girl could have gotten to. She didn't wait for him in the lobby, or outside the cinema. Just thinking about it made him fill with anxiety more. Usually she would at least wait for him at his home... but no, not even that. "Perhaps I really upset her?"

He slung off his shoes and wondered into the hallway. At the end of it, he turned into an equally empty living room. The clock on the mantle piece pointed to 11 o' clock at night. It was late. Fortunately, the night was emerging into the weekend and he didn't have to attend his academy the next day. He was however, tired. He slowly retired to his room and got dressed in preparation for sleep. As he got down to sit on his futon, he remembered the wound that creature had made earlier on as it stung like a dagger lodged in the chest. However, he merely shrugged it off. It was a small cut, but it was a jarring reminder that the experience earlier in the day was no mere dream.

The winter cold made it easy to rest.

The boys eyes shut, concealing the view and flood a painting of imagination into his mind. He allowed himself to reflect the moments of what had occurred today once more into his brain before drifting off into slumber.

The lights his mind melded into something familiar. An open space of white and snow. He saw himself stood there, in this familiar place. Not too far off stood a tower, leering beyond a cape. The cliff face fed the ocean as waves crashed endlessly against it. This place was... definitely nostalgic. He realised that this was a place he was at no more than a month ago. When he stood against a man with some jarring, twisted ordeals. It was the same day he learnt what Origin was and that there was another world cycling next to this one. Just like that rotting creature that had attacking him today.

The falling snow on the white world began to fall with tainted blood, staining the ground a stale crimson. It began to fall on his white shirt, his hair, his fingertips. The horizon sunk into a deep aubergine blackness. Within moments; the world was filled with horrid fiends, some like the one he had seen earlier, some completely different. Suddenly, this wasn't a heaven, it was a hell. Like the moment Lucifer himself fell, Shirou could not take the new world that surrounded him. He wanted it all to stop.

It was then a band of people; humans clad in silver emblems bearing an emblem of a red sword with fourteen strikes rushed from aside him and charged at the creatures like soldiers at war. Suddenly it was some kind of medieval fantasy where good faced evil. The clatter of knives and metal.

The clatter. The constant sound of metal clinging against each other. Then there was a giant thump, like a mallet hitting a wooden table.

That didn't sound right. The sound forced Shirou to wake up. He could hear the sound of clattering metal and ceramics in a room nearby, followed by some rather unusual thumps; as if someone was violently hitting a table. He got up immediately, while still in pajamas and rushed out his bedroom. As he ran down the hall, the sounds grew louder. Whatever was occurring was inside his house. He could hear the sound of a girl screaming as the last thump was made. It was almost as if this person was being murdered. "I'm coming to...!"
Shirou screeched to a halt at the open door of the kitchen. In the room he could see two girls gathered. One girl had long purple hair and a white dress. Her hair was tied with a ribbon and her hand was on her mouth in shock. The other girl, was the same one he had attended the cinema with last night. She was leant over the table looking at an indistinguishable mess on the wooden chopping board. There was also a smashed plate on the floor. "You're not supposed to cut the carrots that way!" The girl with purple hair gave more of a warm warning, than a cold scolding.
"Oh, I'm sorry," The girl apologized, looking confused. She then looked up and saw Shirou and her face suddenly turned red.
The girl with the purple hair looked towards the door and saw Shirou standing there "Oh, good morning Shirou," She gave a cute smile.

"Hey there Sakura," Shirou smiled back. Her presence was completely non-threatening and she didn't even laugh once at his lazy attire; she just continued to beam her smile back.

"Shirou!" Saber suddenly cried out to him. Her face was still as red as roses, trying to avoid direct eye contact with him.

"Oh don't worry," Sakura explained "Saber was just trying to make some breakfast for you this morning, that's all. I guess she got a little carried away," She walked over to a dustpan and brush and began to scoop up the shards of ceramic.

"Don't you want a hand?" Shirou reached out.

"-You should go get changed first," A voice from aside him spoke. As he turned he was towered over by a tall woman. Her hair was long and purple like Sakura's, but in a much brighter tone and it descended down to her knees. She wore glasses over her snake looking eyes. She had a snarky grin on her face as she scanned over his costume. "Still waking up? It's nearly 10am already,"
"Rider, what are you doing here!?"
"I'm here to protect Sakura, what else?" She smiled.

Shirou knew this woman for a while. She wasn't exactly... a normal human, if at all. Her viper-like eyes pretty much gave that away in itself.

Shirou allowed the girls to to tidy up in the kitchen whilst he retired to his room and changed into his normal clothing. Just before he placed on his shirt, he looked at his bare torso. His wound was healing already, but it was a grisly reminder that what happened last night was no mere hallucination. He then realized that he had totally forgot to apologies to Saber for last night. Well... it didn't exactly seem like an appropriate thing to bring up at the time, considering Sakura being there. And considering his extremely good relationship terms with her... he didn't want her to take it the wrong way or anything.

Now fully dressed, he left the room and returned back down to the hall. He could no longer hear the sounds of the girls in the kitchen. Moving further onwards, he could hear them now gathered in the in the dining room. As he peeked in he saw a group of familiar figures sat around a table. Sakura looked up and noticed his presence and gave a whimpering face "I didn't mean to barge in like this,"

"It's no problem," Shirou replied. He looked around and saw an empty space with an unattended plate laid out. Aside it was Saber, kneeling quietly. "Saber was the one who came up with the idea of making you something. I just helped her out a little. But overall... I think it turned out pretty well," Sakura smiled.
Saber was still somewhat reddened in the face. Despite the mess earlier, the plates were filled with gorgeous foodstuffs. "This looks really great," He brimmed with joy as he sat down beside the blonde-haired girl. Saber looked towards his smiling face. Deep down she was relieved that it wasn't all in vain.

After all that time, Shirou still didn't pluck up the courage to speak to Saber. I guess he didn't say anything for the same reasons as earlier; Sakura was there and he didn't want to upset her. Since she had now departed back to her own home along with Rider, the boy felt now was the optimal time to speak with her. Besides, she didn't mouth a word more ever since then. It was all a matter of searching for her first of all. Similar to the night before, he found himself needing to search around again just to look for her; this time in the vast expanse of the house. Fortunately, this time though, his efforts seemed to pay off. He caught Saber practising in the dojo at the opposite end of the manor swiping forward a wooden sword into a fighting position, before relaxing the sword upwards.

"Saber, where did you go last night?" His voice interrupted her practise and she didn't seem all too amused by it. But when she turned around to face him her face was neither angry or sad. "Was it because of the movie?" Shirou asked once again.

The girl closed her eyes. "I didn't mean to insult you in any way. In fact, I rather enjoyed the movie. However, I had to leave when I sensed an irregularity in the air outside the building, and so I left to deal with it," Saber worded her explanation back sternly.

Shirou could understand that much, especially considering that strange monster that attacked him was evidence enough of that. There was still however, some things he wished to clear up. "But why didn't you say anything?"

Saber's eyes suddenly widened, but after a brief moments thought she came back to him "I didn't want you to be in danger," Her eyes drifted with a little dishonesty. Perhaps she was trying to take the burden off of him, or something more. He decided not to pursue the questioning further.

"...I was attacked last night."

"-You were!?"

It was then Shirou decided to lift his shirt. The girl didn't gasp, but she definitely seemed surprised.. "That wound..."
"Yeah," Shirou confirmed "I got it last night from some strange creature. Plus, there was something else there... a pair of eyes like lavender jewels. If it wasn't for whatever that thing was there last night, I might not have made it. But I lost track of where they went,"

"The aura I detected was most definitely something familiar to me, but I can't pinpoint exactly what that might be. Regardless, we must take extra precautions now in case there are more of them," Saber stepped towards Shirou and inspected his torso. Her fingers escaped her sword and her fingers closed in on the open wound. As she inspected it, her face turned pale.

"What's wrong Saber?" Shirou asked.

"That... that can't be what I think it is. Just looking at it makes me..." She was stopped as she turned away and ran.

"Wait up Saber!?" The boy was surprised. Shocked even. He had never seen her behave in this way; it was almost out of character for her. As Shirou chased after her, he saw the girl turn back once. She saw that he was following him entered another room, slamming the door behind her. Now Shirou was somewhat angry. "Just what the hell is wrong with you!?"

It wasn't long before he heard a voice behind the door. "It's... I mean...I'm fine. No, really. I just felt a little sick, that's all,"
Now Shirou was really worried. He placed his hands on his hips and sighed. "It's fine. I can leave you alone for the moment. Would you like some water?"

"No thanks... I'm fine,"

It was almost funny how she was contradicting herself. But why react so badly over a cut that wasn't nearly as deep as it as it would have been in the past. He concluded he should leave her alone for a the time being. He wasn't ready to bother her some more after he disturbed her from training. He was a little shunned, if not torn.

It was then a booming voice shot down the corridor. "SHIROU, ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER THE DOOR OR NOT!?" Before he could do or say anything, he could hear a wonderful sound of an explosion as his front door was ripped apart by impact magic. "Rin, you didn't have to destroy the porch!"
"I didn't have to come all the way over here you know!" The girl cried back, following his voice.

Her red and black clothing merged into a blur as she rushed into view. She eventually stopped and turned around. There, Shirou saw something emerge. A small tentacled creature squiggled into view. It had about five or six legs, shifting back and forth like some kind of squirmy creature. It's legs were like veins; they connected to a main stalk and at the top of it was a giant looming eye. It seemed keen to chase down Rin despite being somewhat slow.

Shirou had seen something like this before. It left a trail of purple blood... similar to the blood the other creature poured from last night. And not only that... the eye on this demon struck down a cold feeling of nostalgia down him. "It's an Eyerus..." Shirou spoke "But what's it doing here!?"
"It has a name!?" Rin stood and turned her head toward him, causing her long black hair and dual pigtails to flail.

"Yeah but, this isn't time to be chatting. Don't let that thing even touch you," Shirou spoke.

"If you do... well... I might have to end up killing you as well,"