'thoughts'

"speech"

START

Kaname Chidori dragged her way to high school 'I thought you were supposed to come back from vacation feeling relaxed. Why am I so tired?'

"Hey, how was Germany?" called out Kyoko Tokiwa, Kaname's classmate and best friend, "You look pretty jet-lagged". He twin pig tails bounced as she jogged to catch up with Kaname.

"Germany was... odd" Chidori paused, "Something happened, but for the life of me, I can't remember what. It was after we came back from the hike. I can't even remember the flight back at all!" The two girls made their way up the city street.

"Are you feeling all right? Did you get sick?"

"No... I feel fine, just tired." The two girls made it to their homeroom with minutes to spare. It was the same brightly lit, modern classroom that Chidori had always been in, but now it felt ominous, like there was something dark hiding in the corners, just out of sight. And her head hurt.

"Stand"

"Bow"

Ms. Kagurazaka, the home room teacher, entered the classroom, "Students, we have a transfer student joining us today. Please say hello to Sousuke Sagara.

A young man walked stiffly into the class and gave a formal bow "My name is Sousuke Sagara. Reporting for class." before assuming a 'parade rest' stance - feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, hands clasped behind his back.

All the students were watching him (especially the girls), so nobody noticed Chidori's eyes bug out 'I know him from somewhere. He was there when...' her mind went blank. 'Why can't I remember?'

Kyoko noticed her friends fixed stare, "Hmmm."

"What" asked Chidori.

"Nothing, nothing" Kyoko covered her smile with her hand.

As class started, Chidori noticed that there was more whispering than usual. Her class, while not the top in the school, was usually well disciplined. She turned to see a couple of girls in the row behind her whispering and glancing at the new boy. She sighed, 'I guess that's to be expected'.

"Open it". hissed a sibilant voice in her ear. Chidori glanced up - that didn't sound like a student. "Release us" Chidori glanced behind her, the girls were still at it, but the strange voice wasn't coming from them.

Chidori resolved to ignore it and concentrate on the teacher.

By the time school was over, Chidori was substantially freaked out - she had heard the odd voice twice more. One of the times was when she was in the locker room, getting into her gym clothes. And it was definitely a male voice.

And she still couldn't remember where she knew Sousuke from. And he was definitely a memorable sort. He so awkward, but at the same time, so confident - it didn't seem to bother him at all. That impressed her. And he was kind of cute, too, but she wasn't going to mention that part.

"Don't look, but that boy you like is walking our way" Kyoko whispered as the two girls walked home.

"What?! Which boy?" Chidori squawked indignantly.

"Sousuke. the transfer student you have been staring at all day."

"No, I haven't" Chidori shook her head, "I just think I know him from somewhere." She glanced over her shoulder. There he was, walking about 50 feet back. "I think he's following us. The way he's watching us is creepy" Chidori grabbed her friend and darted into an alley.

They crisscrossed through a couple small side streets before reaching Chidori's apartment building. It was a modern high-rise, and her family lived on the fourth floor. The neighboring buildings were all older four story brownstones.

"Hah! We lost him!" Chidori crowed.

Kyoko just shook her head in bemusement as she parted with her exuberant friend.

*KoM*KoM*

After Kaname entered her building, Sousuke lowered himself from the roof of the building across the street down to the fourth floor fire escape and entered his apartment through the window.

*KoM*KoM*

"So what have we got?" asked Shirou, walking into his office. The air conditioning was working hard to maintain a comfortable environment. Tessa was already there, a pile of papers spread out in front of her. Her silver hair was pulled back in a braid, and she was wearing a on officer's uniform.

Tessa (aka Teletha Testarossa), was a magical prodigy who had recently finished her apprenticeship under Waver Velvet. At 22, she had a better grasp of magical theory than many magi twice her age. And she was full of ideas on how to apply that theory to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, she was a first generation magus, so almost nobody in the Clocktower would listen to her. Except a few magi who were trying to pick her up.

So she had been very surprised when an unknown young magus had not only listened to her, but had volunteered to fund her work, in return for her joining his new organization.

"Hi, Shirou-san" she smiled, smoothing back her hair "The first layer of enchantment on the Tuatha de Danaan is active. We can install the Zelretch drive as soon as I finish testing it!" The usually quiet woman was positively beaming with excitement.

"Wow, you work fast!" Shirou settled into his desk. 'I can't believe I lucked out on getting somebody like her' Without Tessa, Mithril wouldn't have been possible. She was the one who realized that Shirou was actually creating a separate reality, one in which he had control over some of the laws of physics, when used his Reality Marble. And it was her work that made it possible for him to enter and exit it in different parts of the world. Shirou still had no clue how it worked – he just followed her direction. But Rin had trained him well in that respect (following orders from genius girls that is, not in magic per se).

"Well, most of the enchantment was done with Runes, so I was able to train my staff to do a lot of the work." she replied modestly, blushing slightly at the compliment. She had become a lot more self confident since her teenaged years, but it was still nice to get a compliment, especially from Shirou, who was the the driving force (and ideal made flesh) behind all of Mithril.

The Tuatha de Danaan was a submarine that Tessa was turning into a vehicle that could travel anywhere in the world by diving below reality. It was a project that grew out of her experimentation with Shirou's reality marble. Currently, Tessa was the director of Mithril's 'magic division', and second in command to Shirou over all.

"So you need something from me?"

"Uhm," Tessa paused awkwardly, "I need to compare the Zelretch drive to your reality marble, so if I could trouble you for a few minutes..." her voice trailed off as she tugged absently on her uniform to straighten it, and she didn't quite meet Shirou's gaze..

"Sure, no problem!" Shirou was always willing to help. "What about that incident in Germany? you said there was something funny about it?"

Tessa nodded quickly, "The sensitives have detected an upswing in similar summoning magics."

"Are they certain it isn't just Magi doing legitimate research? I haven't been reading the technical journals, but if somebody published on this topic, they could have spurred a fad in dimensional research."

"I _have_ been following the journals, and there isn't anything like that in there." Tessa pointed to the stack of journals that Shirou kept on his shelf. though honestly, he never actually read them, as he couldn't make heads or tails of pretty much anything in there (but they looked really impressive, all standing in a neat row on his shelf). Tessa, on the other hand, went through them like they were light reading.

"Also, the prana bloom from these events is way too high - it shows that the spell are being performed by amateurs."

"Do you have any idea where?"

Tessa shook her head. "You know that it doesn't work like that."

Shirou scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "well, I was hoping that our resident genius had found a way around that."

Tessa smiled at the compliment, and started to play with the end of her braid, "Thank you, but I can't change the laws of magic" 'Unlike some' But Shirou was too modest (others, less polite, would have said 'too dense') to realize that his Reality Marble verged on True Magic.

"In that case, I guess we will just have to do this the old fashion way. I'll get Operations to start snooping around. Hopefully it's all just a coincidence." Shirou stood up, "I'll go get Andrei, so you can brief him" Andrei Kalinin was Shirou's Chief of operations, and took care of all the non-magical aspect of Mithril.

"Um, can we do the Zelretch tuning first?" Tessa asked.

"Oh, right" Shirou stopped, looking embarrassed at getting side tracked. He led the way to the laboratory. It was a separate building, sitting all by itself under a stand of palm trees. The two walked in companionable silence through the tropical morning to the well warded building. One of the advantages of having your base on a tropical island was that every day was a beautiful day. Of course, the disadvantage was that you were in the middle of nowhere. There weren't too many people needing rescuing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it took forever to get anywhere else. But that was going to change soon.

The lab itself was a mess of half finished projects and journals, though a large space had been cleared around a wooden stand holding the what looked like a cats-eye marble the size of a bowling ball. "Ok" said Tessa, placing one hand on the Zelretch drive, and the other on Shirou's chest. She adjusted her fingers a couple of time, running them over his (well muscled) chest. They stood like that for a long moment.

"Ready? asked Shirou quizzically.

"Ah, one moment, sorry." Tessa readjusted her fingers on Shirou's chest and started an aria. from his angle, Shirou couldn't see the furious blush that colored her cheeks. "Ok, go"

"I am the bone of my sword..."

Shirou triggered his Realty Marble. At the same time, the cats-eye marble pulsed bright orange. Tessa concentrated as she balanced the energy from the cats-eye with that coming off of Shirou. After ten minutes, the two were perfectly in sync.

"Ok, that's enough," said Tessa, her voice coming out quickly, but Shirou was zoning out, so it was ok.

*KoM*KoM*

flashback

Rin looked up from making an entry in her log book as somebody entered her lab. it was Shirou, with another man - a teenager - in tow. They carefully wove their way around the assorted lab benches strewn with equipment.

"Rin, I don't know if you remember Sousuke Sagara?" Shirou turned to introduce the intense looking teenager. "I have taken him on as my apprentice" Shirou beamed.

Rin's left eyebrow crept up towards her hairline, "Are you certain that you're qualified to teach magic?" she asked sweetly. though her tone implied that Shirou clearly wasn't.

"No, but that's ok. Sousuke doesn't have any Magic Circuits. I meant he's going to be an apprentice Hero of Justice"

Rin's right eyebrow joined it's pair in seeking higher ground. "Shirou, sweetheart, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Her tone was the level of saccharine that Shirou had learned meant extreme displeasure.

She grabbed Shirou and dragged him bodily to the back of the lab, behind a cabinet "Are you insane?" She tried to keep her voice down, with limited success, "You're a magus, so that gives you some ability to survive your adventures. but if you drag a regular person in, you will get him killed!"

"Area 51 has been training him as a soldier since he was a kid. He's very, VERY good at it. but fighting are the only skills he has. What do you want me to do - let him make a life as a soldier of fortune, until that lifestyle destroys him? Like what happened to my father? He's a good person, but he needs something to fight for. and I am going to give him that."

Rin sighed and smiled at her boyfriend, 'He's too good for me' "So this is another case of you saving people. But no matter how talented he is, there's no way he will be able to keep up with you."

Shirou was used to her rapid mood swings, so the change didn't faze him. "That's what we are here for - I was hoping you could help me work up some Mystic Codes that would give Sousuke an edge."

"I don't know... I will have to look into it. Have you talked to Bazett? She uses a number of Mystic Codes in her work. In the meantime" Rin turned back to the teenager, "Hey Sousuke, can you please come here? I want to see if this will work for you.

END flashback

*KoM*KoM*

Chidori woke as from a trance. She had been walking home from school when she had zoned out. The buildings didn't look familiar.

"Are you ok, miss?" a voice asked her. she realized somebody was gently holding her elbow.

"What happened?" she turned to find Sousuke standing next to her, staring intently, as was his norm. She pulled her arm out of his grip, "and where do I know you from?"

"Half way home, you left your usual itinerary and started to shuffle towards the industrial district. I intercepted you before you got lost." replied Sousuke in a voice that sounded like he was making a report to a superior officer.

"Who are?"

"I am sorry, I can't tell you that - it's classified." Sousuke replied with a frown,."Have you been hearing voices again?" He asked, trying to puzzle out what had happened to Chidori.

"What do you mean 'again'?" demanded Chidori, "And why should I tell you anything if you won't even tell me who you are?" Her voice rose until she was almost yelling

"Sergeant Sousuke Sagara, SIR!" Replied the young man as he drew himself up to parade rest. The reply was automatic, triggered when Chidori's voice hit just the right 'commanding officer' pitch.

WHACK

Chidori brandished the fan she had just hit the sergeant with, "That doesn't actually tell me anything, you idiot!"

"Uhm, It's classified?" he tried again.

WHACK

"I'm going home, and you better not follow me!" Chidori turned to walk away before spinning back, "How did you know what my route home is? Have you been following me?"

"It's classified.."

WHACK

"I'm following orders"

WHACK

"I live across the street from you?" Sousuke tried in desperation.

"Oh, Why didn't you say so." Chidori paused, "So, are you coming? if we're neighbors, we might as well walk together." Apparently Kaname figured anybody who didn't fight back when being whacked with a fan was harmless. and he _was_ kind of cute.

*KoM*KoM*

"Come in, make yourself comfortable" Waver motioned for Rin to take a seat in his study. It was a small comfortable room with bookshelves jutting out of the walls, giving it a maze like feel. At one end, there were a couple of chairs and a small end table supporting a tea service. "So how's your research coming?"

Rin walked in, to all appearances a stereotypical elegant dragon lady. She lowered herself gracefully into a chair, "poorly. The Clocktower keeps sending me on make-work assignments."

Waver grimaced, "I know how it is. Give them time - in a few more years, they will have a new favorite chew toy, and you can do your own thing."

"I still find it frustrating." Rin allowed herself a small scowl.

"Just think of it as paying your dues. It does get better." He gave a small smile as he raised his tea cup to his lips

Rin took a sip of her tea, "While I do appreciate your advice, I suspect there was some other reason you asked me to stop by."

Waver nodded, "Have you heard from Shirou? How is Mithril doing?"

Rin grimaced "You mean Shirou and his Nuts of the Round Table?"

"Careful." the other Magus warned, "My apprentice believes in him,"

"Oh, I know that he's doing good work, helping people and all that, but he's always getting in over his head. You wouldn't believe how often I have to bail him out." Rin replied airily

"Hmm" Waver nodded, "I was wondering if you could have Shirou look into something for me."

"Oh?"

"I have heard some... disturbing things about a Sealing Designate in China. Rumors are that he is working with the local government. So not only is he going to be hard to arrest, but he may be revealing the existence of magic to outsiders."

"And so? I understand why the magus association wants him stopped, but Shirou isn't going to get involved unless the guy is hurting people. You know how he is" A small affectionate smile escaped Rin's facade."

"As far as we know, he hasn't committed any atrocities, but he's trying to replicate Zelretch's work on inter-dimensional travel, and that is extremely dangerous stuff. It drove Zelretch mad. We are just lucky that he is a harmless crank."

"Hmm." Rin picked up her cup and took a sip of tea, "Not to be rude, but why don't you contact him? Like you said earlier, your apprentice works with Shirou"

"I don't want to officially involve the Clocktower in this. They have been known to over react, and it's not clear how many mundanes are involved, and if the Chinese Government, even on a local level, has ties to this, the Mage's Association will make a complete disaster of it."

Rin nodded, 'And you don't want your name associated with Mithril, in case the Mage's Association does get involved' "I will talk to him about, when I next see him"

*KoM*KoM*

"You said that you have something for me, Lieutenant Commander?" Tessa asked as she walked in Andrei Kalinin's office. His office was sparsely furnished. There was a desk and a bookcase. A very small stack of papers was on one end of the table, and a scattering of books on the bookshelf. there was one photo - it was of the Lieutenant Commander with a woman his age and a small child. From some discreet inquiries, Tessa had learned that both his wife and son had died in suspicious circumstances several years ago. The Russian government had insisted it was a terrorist attack, but it reeked of a Mages Association cover up.

The older man cleared his throat, "First of all, make your subordinates come to you, not the other way around"

"Oh, uhm, I just didn't want to inconvenience you."

"Doesn't matter. It helps establish the command hierarchy." He replied firmly.

"Shirou doesn't do it"

"Shirou is... different" allowed the military man, "He has a personal relationship with all of his top officers, and many of the enlisted men. They are all dedicated to him."

"It's almost like an old fashioned king and his knights."

"Hmm. But that is not what I wanted to talk to you about. I just got a message from the American NSA that they have had a rash of Sasquatch sightings."

"And this is worth our time?"

"Well, the sightings were in central Massachusetts, not in the American Northwest, where they typically take their vacations. And the creature has scared a bunch of locals - the situation borders on revealing magic to mundanes."

Tessa nodded, "get in touch with the Area 51 case officer. We'll look into it when we have some time"

*KoM*KoM*

A crease appeared in empty space. It rippled, and then tore open, spilling forth an abomination from beyond space and time. It had the body of a squat human, and a squid for a head. It sheer presence caused those around it to lose their humanity and become reduced to mere animals.

It was incomprensible.

It was awe inspiring.

It was mind shattering.

It was 2 inches tall

And the house cat thought it tasted like chicken.

But the ripples spread and grew. It was only a matter of time before a larger hole tore open.