[ ] floated, moving along endlessly with the rest, for how long, [ ] did not know, nor could [ ] care, for it just was. [ ] possessed yet no feeling or identity, swirling along Akasha until it was time to go . . . somewhere.
Suddenly, a light tore open, in a place where there should have been nothing but the [ ] and It was torn away, becoming an individual, separate from [ ], and gaining an identity apart from [ ].
It felt itself spiraling downwards, through the world, through a world, and felt Its birth. Memories that were not there ingrained itself in It, and It remembered memories from a time that had passed, yet had not yet come to pass.
-Memories of a blonde woman, a dark giant and a red-headed teen played across Its mind-
Though It was not sure why, It was sure these memories were hers. Yes, her. She remembered. She was a girl.
-She saw something dark and ominous overshadow the world, and the red haired boy trying to stop it, at the cost of his life, yet still he desperately wanted to live-
She had white hair. She had a wonderful Mother, and a loving Father.
She experienced pain, both physical and emotional. The pain of loss and betrayal. Of the countless modifications on her body, done to achieve the wish of another. She had a guardian, an immovable and unstoppable force that protected her with all he had.
She had friends, and experienced for the first time in many years the warmth and joy of having a family, even if it was for a short while, but most of all . . .
She had a brother.
A selfish, yet selfless younger brother. He was stubborn beyond all reason, and would do anything for those he loved. For the one he loved.
Ilyasveil von Einsbern remembered it all.
Ilya opened her eyes slowly. Her body felt stiff, as if she had been asleep for days without moving.
She found herself in a plain, unfamiliar room, the walls of which were filled with various Alchemy arrays, and some symbol's she vaguley recognized as coming from the Kabbalah branch of magecraft.
Wait . . .
The white-haired homonculus shot up from her bed. The beige sheet she only now noticed was on her fell down, exposing her bare chest.
She would have been embarrassed at being naked had she not been thinking about something much more concerning.
I'm supposed to be dead!
Ilya had sacrificed herself to save Shirou Emiya, her younger - though he did not look it - stepbrother, after his body was destroyed at the climax of the fiasco known as the Holy Grail War or the Fifth Heavens Feel. She had located the Third True Magic, and despite the fact that she was nowhere near ready to activate even a small, incomplete version of what it a encompasses without risk to her life, she used it to save Shirou's soul from being lost to Akasha, and preserved him in a new container.
Of course, this came at the cost of her own life, which is why it made no sense as to why she was currently alive now.
Before she contemplate any further, the door to the room clicked open and she found herself staring wide-eyed at the one who entered.
"R-Rin . . . ?"
Rin Tohsaka, her enemy turned ally and somewhat friend. Ilya had last encountered her when on her way to Shirou. Rin was injured and, along with her sister, being carried off by Rider, away from where the boy was going to destroy the Holy Grail.
Except . . . she looked older. The Rin staring back at her was not the one she had known. She no longer wore her hair in a two-side up, but instead let it fall gracefully down her back. Her face and expression was more mature as well, though they still held the same fierce cunning that made Rin into a splendid magus.
This older Rin, who looked somewhat tired as she entered, suddenly snapped her head towards Ilya, her eyes going wide.
"It . . . worked?" she whispered almost inaudibly.
"Rin, what's going on here?"
The girl - no, woman now, Ilya supposed - ignored her question, and continued staring at her in disbelief. Suddenly, her eyes turned sharp and she stomped towards Ilya, her eyes hard.
"What's your name? Who am I? Who was your servant in the Fifth Heavens Feel? What is your brothers name? Answer me!" Rin demanded sharply.
At first, Ilya was too stunned to speak. The whole situation was too confusing for her, and Rin's sudden aggressiveness compounded with her questions did not make it any easier for her. Still, she was Ilyasviel von Einzbern, and she had been faced with more confusing situations before.
The white haired girl recovered quickly and glared at Rin. "Don't play games with me Rin, you know perfectly well who I am! What happened after I closed the Greater Grail? Is Shirou alright?"
It was Rins' turn to be taken aback by Ilya's hostility, and said nothing for a moment, before sighing in relief. The older girl sat down on the bed Ilya lay on, and smiled.
"So it is you . . . sorry, I've messed up big rituals so many times, I've gotten used to double checking." Rin said ruefully, playing with her hair for awhile, thinking on Ilya's questions. She had answered her own questions, in a way, so she may as well do the same. "The Heavens Feel Ritual is gone for good, thanks to you and Shirou. After you salvaged his soul, we managed to find him a proper container a few months afterwards, though finding the maker wasn't easy. He's living quite happily with Sakura back at Fuyuki - they'd gotten married some five years ago, with Rider as the bridesmaid."
Rin smiled as she looked back on that day. It seemed Taiga would never stop crying out of joy, though when she did, she never stopped hounding on how cute Shirou and Sakura were together, and that she had known all along that they would end up married.
Ilya slowly took in the information, before leaning back on the bed and staring at the ceiling. "Are you the reason I'm alive again? How did you manage it?"
"You're surprisingly calm for someone who just came back from the dead."
"And you're surprisingly calm for someone who succeeded in doing so."
"Well, I admit that I am resisting the urge to jump up and down in excitement as of now, but I can't take all the credit. I had help."
At that, Ilya tilted her head curiously. "Who? Honestly Rin, I wanna know who exactly you could have paired up with that would let you be able to accomplish . . . this."
"The Blue," said Rin simply, as if Ilya had asked what the weather was.
Ilya nodded. "Ah, I see, the Blu-uegh!?" she tripped over her own words in surprise. "H-how?"
"Circumstance," Rin replied with a grin.
Magic Blue, the name designated to the last of the Five True Magics, was also used to refer to to its user. Ilya had forgotten what her name was, but she recalled that she was a wanderer, and therefore difficult to find. More than that, she had a famous reputation of being utterly destructive in all she did. Nobody new what exactly The Blues' domain was, but Ilya certainly hadn't heard of any instance were it was used to do anything but destroy.
"What kind of circumstance?" asked Ilya, wondering exactly what would push a Magician of all people to help someone like Rin.
Not that there was anything wrong with her, in fact, snippy attitude aside, Rin was a kind girl and a very talented magus, but Magicians rarely care about things like that, and usually do only what they feel like doing.
Though perhaps her viewpoint Magic users was a bit biased, as she only had the memories of Justeaze, her ancestor and one of the creators of the Heavens Feel, on Zelretch, arguably one of the most difficult people/vampires on the planet, and nothing but rumors on the Blue.
Rin's face froze.
"Oh, yeah, we were going to explain that bit to you . . ."
"Rin?"
Rin opened her mouth to talk again, but was interrupted by a voice from outside the room.
"Hey, Rin! The runes stopped working, I think the Ritual's finished."
Following the voice, footsteps were heard, and into the room walked a woman who looked like she was in her mid-thirties. She had long crimson hair, and was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and blue jeans.
"Hey, Rin," she began, right before she spotted Ilya. "O-kay, so, please tell me it worked, as in really worked."
"Of course it worked!"
"Did you make sure?" said the other woman, one brow raised in skeptically. "This wouldn't be the first time time we thought one of your rituals were fine, only for it to backfire horribly later."
This silenced Rin, who stared off to the side.". . . Okay, so maybe there aren't any apparent side-effects, but so far it's going well."
The woman gave Rin a withering stare.
"Um," Ilya cut in. As much as she enjoyed the byplay between the too, she was still lost as to what was going on here. "I don't believe we've been introduced yet?"
The woman blinked, then smiled. "Ah, right. Sorry, that was rude of me." The woman stretched out her hand in greeting. "I'm Aoko Aozaki, though you can just call me Aoko. Rin does."
Ilya nodded, and with her own grin, shook her outstretched hand.
"Ilyasveil von Einzbern, it's a pleasure, Aoko."
Aoko grinned back and withdrew her hand. Turning to Rin, she asked: "So, can she use it Rin? If not, then we've still got a problem on our hands."
"I was getting to that before you showed up," Rin replied irritably. "But since she's alive, that means our hypothesis has proved correct, or at least on the right track."
She turned towards Ilya, her expression serious. "Ilya, tell me, can you access the Third, or at least remember how to use it?"
Ilya pursed her lips in thought. She went through her memories of the Third and-!
A sudden rush of power overwhelmed her. Her memories of the Third were clear as day, but there were things that she couldn't even comprehend back then that she now understood. The road to the Root was more open to her than before, and she was unsure how!
Souls, Akasha, endlessly spinning, generating life from life as life was formed from death from life and memories of endlesslyinfinitelivesconglomeratetogether aroundtheHeavensFeelHeavensFeelHeavensFeelHEAVENSFEEL-!
A red shadow reared itself, looking at her, piercing through the veil of her soul, and flared in warning.
Intense pressure the likes of which Ilya had never felt directed it's way towards her, very clearly telling her that to come closer was to face death.
Ilya grit her teeth, and trudged on, the pressure getting more powerful with every step, until finally, she touched the doors of Heavens Feel.
The pressure bore down on her until she could no longer take it.
Ilya fainted, and the last thing she remembered before blacking out was the incredible feeling of life that poured through her.
"-lya!"
Rins' voice pulled her back to reality, and Ilya realized she had burst into cold sweat. Aoko was looking at her, concern on her face.
"Oi, Ilya! Are you okay?" repeated Rin frantically.
Ilya nodded and Rin sighed in relief.
"Don't just black-out us like that idiot! Jeez, you almost gave me panic attack."
"Yeah, you made me panic a bit too. I'd thought Rin had screwed up again."
Through her slowly subsiding panic, Rin reminded herself to curse Aoko's food with a mildly potent Gandr later.
"What . . . happened?" said Ilya, more to herself than the two with her. "I . . . tried looking at the Third again and . . ."
Rin looked at Ilya, the concern on her face joined with interest. The truth was, the moment before Ilya blacked out, the magical energy around her spiked up immensely, in a way reminiscent of what Sakura had done during her and Rins' battle in that cavern. Rin had a sneaking suspicion on why. "And?"
"My door to Akasha is wider than I remember. Back then, I could only see enough of it to use a little of the Third, but now, it's more open. I could see more of it. I could use more of it." Ilya bit her lip pensively. "I also knew I couldn't stay there. There was a red shadow, it was warning me to keep away from the door . . ."
Rin and Aoko shared a look of understanding. Aoko nodded at Ilya. "Yeah, we know about that. We're not too sure on what exactly it is, but it pretty much kills anyone that's achieved Magic and uses it for the first time. I avoided it, and Rin cheated. I assume you got away from it somehow as well?"
Ilya nodded. "I see. It was there the first time I used it, though back then it was a lot more hostile . . ."
"It tends to leave you alone once you get passed it the first time," said Rin with a shrug. "Afterwards, it'll only be seriously after you if you try to do some major alterations in the laws of the world. I assume that since the door is wider now, it wants to prevent you from accessing it."
"Don't worry though," cut in Aoko. "It's mostly posturing. Like Rin said, unless you're seriously trying to alter the world, then it won't actually try to kill you."
Ilya wasn't entirely sure she could believe the smiling Aoko, not when she remembered the malice of the shadow.
"Wait," said Ilya. "Why are you two talking as if you've seen it before?"
Again, Rin and Aoko shared a look, this time one of bemusement.
Rin smiled. It was the same smile she usually wore when she was about to pull a particularly nasty line on Shirou. "Ilya, have I introduced you yet? This is Aoko Aozaki, otherwise known as Miss Blue."
Much to Ilya's surprise - and terror - Aoko was matching Rin's expression. "Oh, you flatter me, Rin Tohsaka, or should I say, Miss Kaleidoscope?"
A moment of silence was granted, as the two's words slowly sunk into Ilya's head.
"Y-you, ah, Blue, wuh," said Ilya, doing a very good impression of a halibut, while pointing at Aoko. Then she pointed at Rin. Her voice came out as a squeak. "Kaleidescope?"
"Trust me Ilya, a lot happened while you were gone."
After a long moment of Ilya trying to get her mind back on track, the three finally got Ilya off the bed and clothed. Ilya spent a few moments admiring her new wardrobe, which was actually a simple purple dress - more modern than her previous one and infinitely cheaper. The three of them were gathered around a small table filled with small snacks for the younger girl.
"So . . . uh, you're saying that after the War, you were taken to the Clock Tower to be tried because you apparently 'opened then closed a way to the root'?"
"Uh-huh."
"But before anything could be decided, you're saying that the Second, Zelretch, intervened and made you his apprentice, due to the fact that you did exactly that, and because you managed to recreate his gemsword?"
"Yep."
"And you met Aoko here while looking for her sister, who made Shirou's new body?"
"I didn't know they had a bad relation with each other, but in any case, Aoko's pretty easy to get along with, and we contacted frequently after that."
Aoko nodded, seconding Rins' recounting of how they met. Rin placed an elbow on the table and rested her head on hands.
"I've been Zelretch's pupil for about ten years now. About three years into his tutoring, I managed to gain access to the Root myself, after a particularly stubborn streak, all the resources I've amassed over the years, and a particularly epic confrontation with the several families within the Clock Tower."
The expression on Rins' face made clear to Ilya that there was a very big and very long story behind this.
"I honestly expected that crusty old man to stop teaching me after that, but apparently, he couldn't leave me well enough alone. He said that I was still inexperienced with using the Second, and that it would be interesting to see how fast I could progress if he helped me." Rin sighed and took a bite out of a cookie, pausing to chew on it while deep in thought. "Honestly, he probably helped me advanced faster than I ever could alone, in fact, he told me that I progressed faster than he did when he first had access to the Second, but I'll probably never get over how utterly insane his methods were."
"They worked though didn't they?" Aoko stated, also nibbling on a cookie absentmindedly.
Ilya, who was munching on a piece of toast, spoke up. "So, you're, what, the second Second?"
"Yeah, I guess, but I'm nowhere near the level of Zelretch though, not even close," said Rin amused at the thought. "I'm a few thousand years behind him in that aspect."
"Don't demean yourself Rin, your control over the Second plus your own Jewel magecraft had the people practically bowing wherever you stepped. They were even calling you 'the Mistress of the Kaleidoscope' and compared your own powers to Lorelei."
Rin grimaced at the mention of that fearful name. "Ugh, please don't remind me about that. Even if our powers are equal, facing that woman in combat is something I have nightmares about. Honestly, I got jumpy whenever she called for me to meet her, thinking that she would be asking for a duel to settle which on of us was finally stronger."
Thankfully, that event had yet to pass.
"Wait . . . are we talking about Lorelei Barthomeloi?" asked Ilya. The blue-blooded Barthomeloi head was the only Lorelei she could think of that could possibly compare to someone who used the Second Magic.
"Yep. The 'Queen of the Clocktower', the 'Head of the Barthomeloi' and my personal favorite 'Supreme Mage of the Present Era' Lorelei Barthomeloi," said Aoko, listing of her titles with a smirk on her face.
Rin made a face. "Waver prefers 'Miss Riding Crop Fetish'."
"Well, Waver never was right in the head . . ."
With a sigh, Rin turned towards Ilya, her face serious. The atmosphere immediately hardened, and the snow-haired girl could tell the time for idle talk was over.
"Anyway, Ilya, we need your help."
Aoko turned serious as well, nodding alongside Rin. Ilya for her part, wondered what they needed with her.
"To begin with our request, we'll get straight to the point: Ilya, we are in another world."