Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any recognizable or licensed material appearing in this work of fiction in any way, shape, and/or form with it all belonging to their respective owners. I am not attempting to or making a profit from this work of fiction in any way, shape, and/or form. All recognizable and/or licensed material appearing in this work of fiction belongs to their owner/s in every way, shape, and/or form under the rules and laws they fall under.
AN: So this is a Fate/stay night story I felt like making. Enjoy.
"So, who are you?" the man in front of her, standing out in London with his tanned skin, grey eyes, and, more importantly, shocking white spiky hair, was interesting. He was undoubtedly a Magus but she had no idea what family he could possibly be from. She had met no one that looked even remotely like him and no Magus showed the same traits he had, undoubtedly caused by his Magecraft and, most likely, by a reckless use of it.
"I'm best known as Shirou, I take it you're the Enforcer she sent this time?" the now named Shirou kept drinking, a minor use of Reinforcement on the mug of beer he had ordered by the woman in front of him done in an attempt in making him a bit more open than what she observed to be his normal, she had used it before and it had worked most of the time she had done so, something she hoped would repeat this time as well. "So, what's your name?"
"Bazett, I won't be telling you much more." the red head was never that talkative, a trait she had almost her entire life, and wouldn't be changing that for her target, the man most likely trying his hardest to drink away a pain from what she had observed so far in the time she had been watching him, waiting for the order to make her move.
"I wouldn't expect any less Ms. McRemitz." Shirou's next drink drained his much needed alcohol to just a few drops left, something he saw and lazily rose his hand, the somewhat old bartender already handing him another glass, Shirou draining it before setting the glass down.
"How do you know my name?" Bazett had thought it a good idea to let Shirou drink, it usually helped her get what she wanted and what she needed now was something very important.
"You carry a five inch long carbon steel knife reinforced by three runes carved on a leather grip up your left sleeve and an identical weapon, through not used as much, up your right sleeve. That knife," Shirou held one of the knives he had just described in his hands before flinging it into the bar and pointing at Bazett, "was all I needed to learn all about you." Shirou waved over the bartender yet again and this time the old man was holding a bottle when he came over, handing it over to the Magus. He took one look at it before taking a moment to open it and then take a long drink of.
Once he had drained a third of the bottle, Shirou almost lazily seemed to turn his clear steel grey eyes to meet Bazett's own.
"So, Bazett Fraga McRemitz," Shirou took another drink from his bottle, setting it down with a thud on the bar in front of him, a clear look of annoyance on his face as he locked eyes with the Enforcer. ", what the hell does she want?"
"You." Bazett wasted no more time, clearly letting him get drunk was failing so she took the second best approach.
Her attack on him instantly failed, the needle she had planned to use the contents of to knock him out failing as he grabbed it out of her hand and crushed it before the table was suddenly thrown at her. She didn't bother dodging, instead she threw her herself forward onto it onto her hands and swung her legs up and around the table, attempting to knock him out with a swift rune enhanced kick to the either the side or top of his head before she found it blocked by a black cane, her leg rebounding off of it before the silver handle resting at the end of it was at her throat, a heatless flame engulfing the cane entirely before it had transformed. Now, instead of the black cane, Shirou kept a single hand on the dark silver blade now in his hands, a pitch black hilt gripped loosely by tanned fingers.
"It's not happening anytime soon, tell her that." Shirou stepped back, leaving the bar somewhat hurried and almost ran right into the person he hated the most in the world.
"Hello Shirou." Rin Tohsaka smiled at him, standing outside the bar she knew he frequented when in London and dressed as always in her white blouse, black skirt, black stockings, and brown high heeled boots, a red overcoat over on top of it all along with a pair of black gloves. Her hair, unusually, was pulled back into a basic ponytail, not the usual elaborate style or the pigtails she usually tried to keep them in, a style she was especially fond of from her youth. "I've been looking for you for quite some time."
"And what would that be for?" Shirou leaned forward on his black and silver cane, it back to normal after briefly being a blade. "A better question through," Shirou's eyes narrowed, his grip on his cane tightening. ", is why shouldn't I kill you now?"
"Because," Rin's smile widened as two of the Tohsaka's guards stepped up to either side of Shirou, grabbing his arms and one slipping a crystal bracelet onto his wrist. The Magus paid little attention to it, hardly glancing at the new accessory on his wrist while the two guards quickly found themselves collapsed on the ground, the cane he held very durable, not showing any signs of just beating two rather large men into the ground in several vicious blows.
"You havARGH!" Shirou dropped to his knees, a wave of white hot agony ripping through him as the bracelet tightened around his wrist.
", as I was saying, I," Rin laid one hand across her chest as she walked forward. "own you, Shirou Emiya." Rin stopped in front of Shirou, moving a hand through his almost snow white hair, a smirk growing on her face as she knelt down to Shirou's level. "Just like it should have been."
"Of course you think you should." Shirou panted for breath, his body still shaking as he made liberal use of his cane, struggling to his feet as Rin stepped away.
"It's my right really." Rin continued to smirk at the Magus, clearly pleased with herself and what she had just accomplished. "Just like what you stole from me."
"It was never your right." Shirou's struggles proved pointless, he collapsed as a gem on the bracelet flashed with a red light. "It was never anyone's right."
"Like someone like you would know! Someone like you who doesn't even understand what it means to be a Magus! Someone like you who has no drive! No desire! NO PASSION!" Rin snatched Shirou's cane out of his hands during her almost rant towards him.
"To be a Magus is to walk with death and to be a blade is to be the dealer of death, of suffering. I understand what I am very well Tohsaka." Shirou somehow kept his shaking body upright even without his cane, something Rin clearly didn't like as she waved a hand at him, a blood red gem on a bracelet she wore flashing briefly before he crumbled to the ground.
"To be a Magus is to seek Akasha, something you stole my chance of finding that day." Rin chose to ignore Shirou after her words, choosing to instead begin examining the end of the cane as she seemed to notice something.
"I recognize this craftsmanship, something only she could make, especially if you can use it so well." Rin spared a moment to sneer at Shirou with her last words before she began twisting the end of the cane, pulling the silver grip free and revealing a single gem embedded in the wood, running down the entire length of the cane and the Tohsaka frowned before tossing the cane to one of her guards. "So, you've been talking with my useless sister Emiya? How pathetic of you."
"I think I see the useless one right here." Shirou had managed to bring himself off the ground, one hand keeping him up as he made the effort to look at his former friend, his gray eyes locking with black.
"Of course, always fighting until the end." Rin rolled her eyes as she took off one of her gloves, revealing the thorn like black markings spreading across her left hand, a parting gift from something a long time ago, something both wished they could forget.
"Rin, get out of there! This whole place is coming down!"
"Just leave. I'll catch up with you."
"I'm no lea...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THERE!"
"Just stay back Emiya! I know what I'm doing!"
"What the hell do you think you're doing then!"
"Getting the truth!"
"At the cost of your life? WHY DOES THAT MAKE SENSE TO YOU!"
"You wouldn't understand! I NEED to do this!"
"Then let me help you."
"Hmph, as if a third rate Magus like you could help me."
"RIN!"
"Goodbye...Shirou. I'll admit, it was fun while it lasted."
"RIN!"
"I see you still haven't fixed your...issue than?" Shirou knew her reaction when he allowed his lips to form a small smirk at the Tohsaka revealing her hand. "Are you really that desperate?"
"Honestly?" Rin knelt in front of him, the four pitch black rings on her hand almost glowing before she plunged her hand into Shirou's chest. Ignoring his gasp, Rin met his suddenly wide eyes. "Yes, I am very desperate."
Ripping her hand out, Rin glanced at her hand, noting the seemingly disappearing black rings on each of her finger mere moments ago but the markings were missing as well, gone as the Tohsaka smirked.
"But now, I can at least be assured it will be fixed." Rin stood up, Shirou staring forward with wide eyes, seemingly looking at nothing as his body began shaking yet again, familiar black markings appearing around his neck.
"You..you..." Shirou pitched forward, hitting the ground unconscious as two men stepped forward, dragging him into the awaiting car as Rin stepped in on the other side.
"Our deal, Tohsaka?" Bazett sat opposite Rin, not at all shocked when Shirou was thrown onto the floor, an identical bracelet she was wearing at the moment on both of his wrists and keeping them bound in front of him.
"Our deal was that you bring me Emiya, not let him escape and make me take matters into my own hands." Rin slipped her glove back on, not bothering to look at Bazett, the Enforcer very good at hiding her anger but not in this situation, her hands were balled into fists at her side while she held back the urge to simply beat Rin to death, knowing the consequences of such an action and finding them a fate she would wish to avoid.
"You did not inform me that he would be so formidable, he is very well trained." Bazett's voice was surprisingly calm, not the growl Rin had expected with Bazett's growing anger. "Our deal never included prolonged conflict."
"You just won't admit you failed against a cripple, will you?" Rin gave a dismissing wave of her hand, amusement clear on her face as Bazett grew more and more angry, that was until the bracelet on her wrist flashed with a pale blue light, something that made Bazett flinch, something that in turn made the Tohsaka Magus smirk as she leaned back in her seat. "Now, what were you saying Bazett?"
"Nothing, nothing at all." Bazett looked away from Rin, instead choosing to focus on the stirring Shirou, impressed at how quickly he was able to come to. "He is waking up."
"Of course he is, I would expect nothing less from him." Rin picked Shirou's discarded cane up off the floor, glancing at it before a somewhat sadistic smirk came over her face as she swung down.
The cane was caught by the heel of Shirou's black shoe, the Magus almost lazily opening his eyes to stare at the Tohsaka, someone he had grown to despise over the years, a feeling mainly caused by her numerous plots.
"Quite the rude awakening, don't you think, Tohsaka?" Shirou sighed before he moved surprisingly fast, his cane kicked into the air and landing in his bound hands before Rin could move it away and the Emiya Magus slowly worked his way to his feet, a surprise helping hand from Bazett but one he silently understood once he saw the bracelet on her wrist.
"So, I see how desperate you are now." Shirou glanced down at his hands, the bracelets at the moment dull and allowing him to move them freely. "Almost pathetically if you've resorted to these old things. I could swear I destroyed them when we separated."
"You destroyed fakes obviously and can you really not just say I dumped someone as pathetic as you?" Rin's words were met with a brief chuckle from Shirou, the white haired Magus not bothering to hide his amusement.
"Really now?" Shirou managed to stop his laughter, amusement leaking into his voice. "You really won't admit it was mutual, how shameful Tohsaka."
"I believe the greater shame is that you continue to delude yourself Emiya." Rin looked out the window, smirking at what she saw and Shirou couldn't stop his groan, the Magus seemingly knowing it would be bad.
"I guess I should have dressed for work today." Shirou sighed as he closed his eyes, a familiar image appearing in his mind before his rather abysmal amounts of Prana began to flow throughout his boy, strengthening it as he tensed slightly before quickly relaxing, applying his Reinforcement to the absolute limit as something struck the car.
"What happened?" Tohsaka held an admirable calm as she simply leaned back in her seat, the driver quickly gaining control of the car yet again and the skid of tires were heard as they shot down the streets of London, no doubt fleeing from their attacker even if it seemed useless, Shirou recognized a blowout after a second attack struck the car, nearly sending it careening off the road.
"You have quite the driver Tohsaka, who is he by chance?" Shirou stopped his Reinforcement, finding it worthless at the moment as the car hadn't done anything but slide.
"He's quite unimportant, I picked him up only a few days ago from an associate." Rin waved her hand off to the side, helping to express her indifference and mostly lack of care for the man currently doing his best to avoid a third shot, successfully doing so as he picked up speed.
"An "associate", really now Tohsaka?" Shirou had a small smirk as he leaned forward, locking eyes with Rin as he kept both hands on the head of his cane. "We both know they are little better than a slave to you."
"I suppose you're correct." the Tohsaka Head shrugged her shoulders, instead her eyes were focused on Shirou's slightly exposed right arm, the end of beginning of a rather intricate tattoo covering it, something that caused her to chuckle when she spotted it. "Really now Emiya? You were so desperate to ask that little psycho for that much? You allowed her to do "that" to you?"
Shirou seemed unconcerned by Rin's statement or the sneer she spoke her question with, instead he rolled up his sleeve, fully displaying the large tattoo taking up the lower half of right arm.
"You caused this." Shirou kept his eyes locked on the markings, his eyes roving over them despite having fully memorized it a long time ago. "You and your worthless pride made me do it."
"DO IT!"
"What? You'll never survive as you are now!"
"I don't care!"
"Well I do! I won't kill you Shirou!"
"Death is better than this! Now do it!"
"...Alright but this is it. This is the last time I'll do something like this for you after that last..."
"I..I know."
"Then...then...Emiya-kun, can I ask you something?"
"..."
"I understand, I'll go pre..."
"What?"
"Are you sure?"
"This may be the last time we talk, let's end it all with a clean air."
"Alright then...did you ever think you could love me? If it wasn't for Rin, could we have had a future?"
"No...there was truly never a future for someone like you with someone like me. I would have pushed you to do better...just like you did after we ended up together."
"But I never loved him like I loved you."
"Loving me is loving a fool."
"Then I love a fool."
"...please, let's just get this over with."
"What happened to "a clean air"?"
"Filth like me will dirty the air around me, I guess I lied to you."
"Emiya-kun..."
"Just-just get it over with already, I need to stop her."
"Alright, we'll see just how strong you are Emiya."
"Thank you...thank you Tohsaka."
"Let's just finish this."
"You and your damn pride drove me to this Tohsaka." Shirou pulled his eyes away from the tattoo and the memories he wished he never had, he would take the pain he endured for the mark on his arm a thousand times than be forced to remember the memories he could never find himself able to let go of. Perhaps, if he could do so, if he could finally release them, he could let her go.
AN: So, how was it? Good? Bad? Terribly unclear at some points? Outright confusing in others?
Peace.
