Shirou I
The sound of clashing steel grew louder and louder. The sheer force of violence so powerful the vibrations in the air sent chills across my skin. It was a fight. And someone needed help, whoever it was.
I ran out of the empty dojo and into the open campus. I had volunteered to stay after hours as a favor to Shinji, and was now grateful for it. My movements towards the danger was unconscious, without any intention to resist it.
The noise grew louder and the ground shook harder and harder as I neared the fence. Two men stood face to face, one a knight in black and red, and the other in a gray suit. Something inside me recognized them, from where I didn't know. I edged closer and closer to the wires, my fingers grasping on links in the chains.
The two men clashed at supersonic speeds, moving at the blur of an eye. But something told me this wasn't a fight. And for once, I didn't want it to stop. I watched; in awe.
They moved with ferocity and grace, exchanging blow for blow. Each movement controlled and fluid, like it was choreographed. A nagging sense of deja vu washed over me. I don't know where, I don't know why, but I felt a connection. Each movement felt natural, so easy, as if it were the only actions possible.
The two paused, eying each other, waiting for the other to make a move. My grip tightened against the fence, leaving markings onto my skin. What's going to happen next?
But the man in grey faced me with his piercing gold eyes. My heart stopped. Sweat trickled down my face. Had he heard the fense move? Whatever the case, it didn't matter. I couldn't fight him. He would kill me in a second.
I sprinted back into the school and slammed open the doors. I burst into the dark hallways, navigating by the small rays of moonlight shining through the windows. The man's presence followed me, and an intense sense of foreboding lingered in the air. I didn't need to look back to know he would be on top of me. Sweat poured like a broken faucet, it blinded my vision as the thumping of my heart deafened me to the world.
I rounded a corner, two routes. Up the stairs or outside.
"Doesn't matter which direction you choose, Kid." The voice was in my head.
I turned around. The man in the grey suit cracked his knuckles. His expression was neutral, bored even.
"Nothing personal, Kid," he said, "but the boss said 'No witnesses.'"
Adrenaline flooded my bloodstream. It can't end like this. Not yet. Everything slowed around me as my reflexes took over. I swung at his face.
But despite time slowing around me, his movements were rapid, a barely registered blur in my mind. He grabbed my wrist with one hand, and in one smooth motion, he twisted. The two bones in my arm snapped.
"GaH!" I gasped, trying to pull back. But the man didn't let go.
"You got spunk, Kid," he said, "shame I gotta put you down."
Not like this. I couldn't die like this. I cocked my other arm and tried again, swinging in desperation.
He pulled me in and drew a knife.
I fell towards it. Everything moved at glacial speed. My attacked missed completely. And my eyes were fixated on the blade in his hands. It inched towards my chest, taking its time. A Tanto, a small dagger perfect for stabbing, manufactured in 1941. I read its previous owner, and wondered why I knew such a thing as the tip of the blade pierced my heart.
The taste of iron rushed out of my mouth. I touched the trickle of it to see the crimson red blood. Is this it?
He let me fall to my knees. The entire ordeal was painless. "Sleep tight, Kid."
No. I refused.
I reached upwards, trying to grasp at the night sky. Blood poured out of my chest and my vision blurred. It couldn't end now, not here. But as my energy faltered, my will remained unfettered. I used the last of my strength to stand up.
But it wasn't enough. Without anything to hold me up, I fell face first onto the ground. My blood was warm. And I felt no pain.
I felt nothing.
###
A fire burnt around me..
Yes. It was the day I died. Father stood over me, his face in joyful tears. I could never forget it. How I envied it. How I wanted to feel the same way he did.
I opened my eyes, expecting to see him again, but saw the ceiling instead. The school was dark and empty, and swimming in a pool of my own blood. I pushed myself up, sending a red stained jewel rolling down my chest. Whoever saved me had left this behind.
It shined against the moonlight, it's pinkish glint gave off a faint trace of prana. As I held it up a shot of pain struck me in the chest. I stumbled, and leaned against the stairs for support, and to my surprised discovered my arm was no longer broken. Questions ran through my mind. Who did this? Who saved me?
But with the sense of creeping nausea falling on me, I decided to sort out these feelings later. I ran home. Despite the pain the pace was quick. The wounds healed at an astonishing rate, as if something had awoken. Still, my muscles were weak from blood loss.
Home was a twenty minute run, and I arrived as fast as possible despite the wounds. The darkness of the living room gave off an eerie feeling. I sat down to catch my breath, assured in the safety of my home.
Or not.
The oak floors creaked behind me, followed by the sound of wood sliding on wood. I turned my head. It was him.
"Impressive, Kid." He smiled, appearing genuinely surprised. "You gotta teach me that little trick of yours sometime."
I jumped up, grabbing the nearing thing to defend myself with. A poster case. It would have to do. "Trace on," I muttered, reinforcing it as best I could.
"This is the thanks I get?" he sighed. "Quick stab in the heart, nice and painless."
I didn't move. It was just like at school. Running was not an option.
"That's what I get for being such a nice guy," he said. "Guess I'm gonna have to cave your head in til you stop moving instead."
Broken glass shredded my back as I slammed against the window. My house grew smaller and smaller in the distance as the hurried wind blew all around me. It was then my mind registered that I had been punched through the window.
I slammed through the roof of the shed and scattered my waylaid tools as I crashed into the concrete. The feelings in my limbs disappeared. I willed every being of my soul to move, but felt nothing.
"End of the line, Kid." he slid open the door to the shed. "I'll make sure your family's all taken care of."
"No." I stared at the stars through the hole in the ceiling. Dying twice in one day, how humiliating. I won't allow it, I won't die so meaninglessly. So many things left to do. I still needed to become a Hero of Justice. "I won't be killed," I screamed, "by someone like you!"
A rush of wind lifted the remaining tools off the ground and smashed them against the wall. It wailed a gristly wail and tore out the door. Then came the sound of footsteps behind me.
"Oh that's just not fair." The man's shoulder's slumped.
I leaned my head back to look behind me.
A man, much like the one in red, stood there. But he was different. Wearing a black longsleeve shirt and some kind of brown vest. In a flash he flew over me, slashing at his opponent with a pair of black and white swords.
The man in grey retreated through the hole in the roof without saying a word. It was quick and brutal, with a splash of blood staining the walls.
And then the man in the black shirt turned around, looking back at me with his golden brown eyes. The moonlight from above silhouetted him perfectly. I was speechless, not because I was in pain, but because I can make out the most obnoxious grin on his face.
"I ask of you," he laughed, as if this were some kind of joke to him, "are you my...Master?"
"Master?" I sat up. I don't know how, but I can tell that this man is the same as the one I met before.
"I am Servant Saber," he said, "what are your orders, Master?" He stood in the center of the shed, the grin on his face never wavering. He was enjoying it, somehow, I could tell.
A sharp pain shot through my hand, and I instinctively grabbed it. A set of markings burned into the skin. "What the?"
Saber nodded. "Our contract is complete."
I pulled myself up, confused. A rush of questions ran through my mind. I wanted to ask all of them, but somehow I didn't want to know the answer. "Who are you?" I asked.
Saber frowned, biting his lip, as if he didn't know what to say. A few seconds passed before he opened his mouth to speak. "I am-" he stopped before he could finish. Saber's head jerked back, and he ran out of the shed.
My heart skipped a beat, as if it were waiting on the answer. The sound of fighting echoed from outside. The clash of steel. Another battle. It called to me.
Lacking other options, I followed after him.