This chapter went through several bouts of being redefined and reimagined, but I finally structured it how I wanted. If I have one regret for this chapter, it's that I was only able to write a single direction for Ryuunosuke. Once his flow started, it simply continued without breaks, forcing its way onto written form. I almost wish I had more time for him, but such is the way of things.
Do not own Fate series, etc.
Uryuu Ryuunosuke fancied himself a man who strove to uncover the greatest of human sensations. In a world of disappointing fakeness and only teasing shades of really exciting things, he had rejected that boring reality and lived his life honestly and in search of every way he could enjoy himself to the fullest. Bored to disgust at the fakeness of even the most gruesome horror movies as a child, he'd turned to dissecting live animals, strays and wilds from around his family's home, in order to discover what their insides truly looked like.
The vivid redness and warmth of a real body's insides overwhelmingly trumped anything one of those pathetic, boring movies could come up with. The intensity of digging through a living being's still-warm, still-pumping innards with his own hands, first with wild animals and then, later by a stroke of pure luck, with his own Mitoko-nee-san that fated day she slipped and broke her neck out by the storage warehouse on their parents' land...
Ryuunosuke had cut and broken and stretched out plenty of bodies before tonight. His sister's warm, familiar body had taken his first time gently, encouraging him to reach out on his own and broaden his tastes to more than just animals. From then, he'd targeted and stalked and murdered over thirty women, and half as many children along with them, and discovered the beautiful, hidden truth he'd desperately searched for within their bodies. The sense of freedom and the visceral connection to the real value and weight of the lives of his victims was everything he'd hoped for, filling him with inspiration and creativity with each new life he took, regardless of the lethargy and quickly fading rush that came with them once he finished, yet...they left him yearning for more.
To his great joy and shock, however, it was his own gushing warm blood that enlightened him the most.
Splayed across the Kishinami family room floor, Ryuunosuke quickly lost himself in the sensations of his own blood and innards. The demon he so energetically tried to summon was forgotten, as was Hisei-kun, for how could they compare to the amazing warmth-that-scalded-but-cooled that pooled and slid between his fingers like coins? Glistening across his fingertips, a vivid, captivating vision that brought tears to his eyes as years of hidden desperation and quiet hope were finally rewarded with the understanding he'd searched for in so many bodies.
Everywhere I looked, but the obvious. Ryuunosuke chuckled, lifting a hand up and watching the red miracle drip from his fingers. It was so beautiful. Even the pain in his side grew more and more numb in the face of the pure redness and warmth of his discovered mystery. This fleeting wonder...it's so cool!
The sound of a door slamming shut distracted Ryuunosuke from his euphoria enough for him to look away from his own blood. Across the room, Hisei slowly shuffled back towards the fallen killer's body, his face still blank and compliant as before. The blood coating the boy seemed duller now in comparison to the intensity of Ryuunosuke's own, but he still felt pride when he looked at Hisei. Whereas his own blood was the dream, the bright hope that he had carved through humanity to find, Hisei-kun still represented the culmination of his journey.
"Ah...Hisei-kun?" Ryuunosuke tried to sit up, but his body didn't seem to want to work with what he told it to do. He almost made it to a sitting position before his strength left, dropping him back on the floor with a grunt. Ow...Oh well. "What happened to Demon-san?"
Hisei-kun continued over to Ryuunosuke's location quietly, sitting down near the young man's body once he was close enough. "Caster-san said he would go scouting, Ryu-nii."
"Scouting?" What did a demon need to go scouting for? Sure, Fuyuki City was home to a church, but was that such a big deal? "Ca-ugh!" Ooh, his side really did hurt, even though his happiness at the sight of his own blood mostly countered it. Twisting the wrong way, though... "Caster-san?"
Hisei-kun nodded. "Demon-san said to call him Caster. He said I was his master for the war."
Casters and masters and wars? Ryuunosuke paused and hummed a bit in thought. Really, he hadn't expected much out of the ritual, even if it had sparked a new creativity in his methods. That a real demon had actually been summoned was way too cool, but the bit about a war didn't make much sense. Wouldn't the human be the caster in this, anyway?
After a moment, though, Ryuunosuke simply mentally shrugged. He couldn't actually shrug, as he had a suspicion it would just lead to another burst of pain, and he didn't really want to explore that sort of thing at the moment. Not when Hisei-kun had just mentioned something super interesting!
"Hisei-kun!" Ryuunosuke raised his voice a bit, seeing that Hisei-kun had just been sitting beside him, staring blankly at the circle he'd drawn earlier for the summoning. When he had the boy's attention, Ryuunosuke continued animatedly. "Yoohoohoo, Hisei-kun. You're-arhg-pretty lucky, you know? Here I thought you'd be a demon snack, but look at you now!"
Hisei-kun tilted his head and looked down at his own shirt, which was stained with as much of his family and Ryuunosuke's own blood as the rest of him. A brief moment passed in silence, before Hisei-kun looked back down at Ryuunosuke with a confused look on his face.
Aaaah, too cute, Hisei-kun. Way too cool! Ryuunosuke laughed and patted Hisei on the head, smearing more blood over the boy's hair. "I mean...here you were about to die, just another sad, boring life snuffed out with nothing to it, you know? But now..." Ryuunosuke's grin grew as the excitement in him as a discoverer of truth rekindled itself. He lifted his hand and pointed it to the ceiling, despite the cough and pain it brought him. "But now you've snatched my life just like I did your folks and nee-chan, and you even got the demon I was trying to summon!"
"That's so cool, Hisei-kun!" Ryuunosuke's grin was as pure as his delight, as though he didn't even care that his almost-victim had pretty much killed him to do what he'd done. In truth, Ryuunosuke couldn't find it in himself to blame Hisei-kun, not when he'd discovered the greatest red truth of all thanks to the kid.
No longer burdened with the despair of living his life and never finding the truth he'd desperately, joyously and despairingly searched for; Hisei-kun had freed him from that possible agony and had delivered him towards the defining epiphany that filled him with pure bliss, and with a knife, no less! To think his greatest work of art would actually be his successor, the one who fulfilled his dreams in a single act of kindness!
Ryuunosuke smiled up at the blank-faced boy again, reaching down to pat his cheek with his hand. "Hisei-kun. Thank you so much!"
Hisei-kun tilted his head in that cute way again, causing Ryuunosuke to laugh.
"I'm thanking you for saving me, you know?" Poor Hisei-kun still looked confused, so he tried to explain a little simpler. It wasn't easy, though; the longer his blood continued to pool beneath his hips, the more tired he felt. Still, he wanted to try. "I was so bored, Hisei-kun. Nobody was being honest, nobody would listen to the truth, it was just so sad. I kept searching for the truth, though!"
Passion rising to the point that he felt dizzy, Ryuunosuke reached out and pushed his hand up Hisei-kun's face to rest on his head again. "I cut and cut and spread them all around, Hisei-kun! Each time, I got closer and closer to the truth, but it was never enough!" Tears started falling down his face, blurring his vision even further. Still, he kept staring at Hisei-kun with a focus he'd never felt before. One more thing he could thank Hisei-kun for! "And then I met you, Hisei-kun. I knew you'd change things for me! I felt it when we met in the park, and then we came home and I cut up your Tou-san and your Kaa-san and your Nee-chan, but not you, Hisei-kun!"
It hurt. It hurt, but he had to laugh because the hurt was so good! He hurt because his precious red was spilling, but that was what he'd wanted for so long!
"You're drenched in their red, Hisei-kun. I killed them, but not you, and spread all their live all over you and now you've spread all my life over yourself, too!" Ryuunosuke gasped as his vision danced, blurring Hisei-kun's face into three. No...Not yet! Just a little longer, me! I have to make sure he knows before... He reached into his shirt and yanked hard, pulling his fang-necklace off his neck, then held it out to Hisei-kun. "Take this, Hisei-kun. You gotta have this now, since you killed me."
Ryuunosuke pushed the necklace into Hisei's hands. He let out a shuddering breath and started to giggle. "Ha...Hisei-kun, can you do me a favor?" He didn't wait for the boy to respond; everything was getting darker and dizzier and he just didn't have the time. Salvation was coming in the form of bliss and release, the salvation he'd searched for ever since that movie his mother had watched with him. "I killed plenty of people to find my red, and you've killed me, Hisei-kun. Hehehe...you've become the leopard now! So, Hisei-kun? Don't die, little buddy. You're the leopard now, and you have all my blood and all the red before mine on you now. That's why you're alive, Hisei-kun, so you can't die while still being boring!"
Ryuunosuke's hand dropped from Hisei's face. "Maaaaah...Live an exciting life, Hisei-kun. You gotta, understand? You killed me and made me so happy, so you can't stop here! You and Caster-san, both of you go out there and be super cool, got it?! You're my cool little protoge, so you have to be cool!" Laughing hurt, but it was a dull hurt in the back of his head. He could barely feel the pain anymore, just the beautiful warmth of the redness. It was so beautiful...
"Hehehehe." Haha, goodbye, Hisei-kun! Goodbye, boring world! One last gasp escaped Ryuunosuke's lips. "So cool, hehe..."
A moment passed in silence, then another several minutes followed it. In the quiet of the blood-drenched, disgusting room, Hisei sat by Ryuunosuke's quiet corpse, watching the orange-haired young man with a studious, blank look. He reached over and touched Ryuunosuke's chest, but the young man didn't move.
"...oh." Hisei blinked, but pulled himself to his feet and stood over Ryuunosuke's body. He stared down at the corpse for a moment, then turned around and walked out of the room to the door Caster had left by.
Opening the door, Hisei stared out into the rain that seemed to cover Fuyuki City outside his home. The necklace in his hand shifted slightly as he brought it up and slipped it over his head, then paused. He gave Ryuunosuke and the other bodies in the room a hesitant look, then walked outside into the rain.
I'm missing something.
Caster frowned from beneath the umbrella keeping him dry from the rain. A small part of him continued to complain about leaving his little Master behind with that self-satisfied psychopath, but it was ignored the same as the wetness of the ground beneath his feet and the noise in his ears.
There was no point in needlessly worrying about his Master; that dying idiot wouldn't take any action against him. The idiot had been too entranced in his own blood, playing with it between fingers like an urchin would gold coins. Such an entirely fulfilled and remorseless human being wouldn't ruin his own final chapter with something as meaningless and against his rapture as engaging in another murder.
Though, from the way that hapless man-child treated the other bodies...
Hmph. So perhaps it hadn't been completely safe leaving his little Master behind with a murderous psychopath like he had. Still, Caster didn't let it bother him. He knew full well that even if the idiot wanted to harm his Master, the strain and weakness of his body from the wound he suffered would barely let him move. More so, Caster had made sure to kick aside both knives out of reach from both the inhabitants of the room he'd been summoned in, just to ensure matters didn't get out of hand.
"Well, no use fretting over it all night." Caster dismissed Uryuu Ryuunosuke from his thoughts and resumed walking down the wet streets. Perhaps because of the rain itself, few people were around, giving him a chance of quiet and peace to consider his situation.
Pointedly, my little monster of a Master. Caster frowned to himself, sighing into the night air. Numb to the world, just passively accepting everything that comes at him, even the Holy Grail War. What a disgustingly pathetic existence. What's the point of your suffering if it's indistinguishable from your happiness!?
It was even worse than the self-satisfied hedonism of Uryuu Ryuunosuke, a disgusting human being whose desperation and weakness turned him into a murderer who only found satisfaction in the killing, and found only disappointent in the killed. To compare them, whereas Uryuu Ryuunosuke had at least given his everything towards a disgusting and pointless life, Caster's own Kishinami Hisei's life regarded itself as having nothing to give in any direction of life. A foul, twisted life led by someone who committed everything and regretted nothing at least was more respectable, if only the slightest, than any life fueled by apathetic nothingness.
And yet...Umbrella rested between his shoulder and neck to keep it steady, Caster's pen carefully began to fill in the first page of the book in his hand. The scowl that had covered his face since realizing the reality of his summoning slowly faded, being replaced with a wry smile. That base assumption of the value of life...How foolish can a third-rate like myself be to still be charmed by it?
Kishinami Hisei, my little nothingness Master. Caster scoffed and closed his book, both it and his pen fading away in a dim glimmer of prana. Ahead of him, approaching the grand structure of a hotel that stood tallest in the neighborhood, a depressingly obvious trio of figures made their way through the rain. I will make the world itself acknowledge you, if it will take away your pathetic emptiness.
Decision made, Caster adjusted his umbrella and sped up a bit to catch up to the trio before they entered the hotel.
The first attack of the Fourth Holy Grail War was about to take place.
"I understand. Thank you for your preparedness, Hiroko-kun. Please, be at the ready and continue your observations."
Click.
Kotomine Risei, resident priest and preacher for the Fuyuki City Church, flipped his phone shut and quietly slid it into his pocket. While his young friend, Tokiomi, continued the magus tradition of an aversion to using technology, the agents of the Church, Risei included, had simply adapted to the times. The magus community could keep their familiars and constructs, such as the grammaphone residing in the basement of the church, and the Church agents would still make good use of them as needed, but Risei was one of many who fully understood the importance of not being left behind by the times.
The fact that the non-magical community could construct a 'cell phone,' a telephone just as capable of long-range community as any stationary phone, but conveniently sized to fit in his pocket, was proof enough in his eyes.
Humming to himself, Risei opened his umbrella and stepped out into the rain. The lights from the offices of the police station lit the night sky behind him. While not proficient in the magecraft art of hypnosis, agents of the Church were provided with alternative means of ensuring compliance and silence. Hidetaka-san, Fuyuki City's chief of police, had very politely agreed to foster an understanding mentality for the next several weeks, which was all the hesitation the Church's agents needed to ensure the success of their clean-up teams.
With Hidetaka-san's agreement, the police and emergency response are settled. Risei huffed and brought his arms closer. Even in his fit shape, the cold, wet air wasn't the most agreeable with his body. He continued down the street, keeping his umbrella tilted to prevent the rain from blowing into his face. Along with Takakura-san and Fujimura-san, everything now relies on our people to handle themselves professionally and promptly.
A calming thought, given the relative peace of Fuyuki City this time around. Risei had witnessed a far more chaotic and disruptive state of things when he'd moderated over the Third Holy Grail War. Compared to the madness that had threatened to reveal the truth of the world of Magecraft to the mundane world, Risei was far more comfortable with the quiet state of the city now.
Especially with Kirei involved in this War. Risei sighed, his breath coming out as a prolonged puff of visible air in the night air. Even now, nearly three years since Kirei's discovery of the Command Seals enabling him to participate in the magical ritual, he remained torn towards his son's involvement. On one hand, proud of his son and eager for the opportunity to ensure the end of the War resulted in Tokiomi's tolerable wish, but on the other...
Risei loved his son, but that love had often been joined hand in hand with a constant worry, one that had only grown more concerned with the death of Claudia. Kirei's wife had been one of few hopes he'd fostered towards his son's happiness. A sincere wish that his poor son, often so closed off and clearly conflicted inside, no matter how well he attempted to hide it on the outside, would have at least some shelter from the hardships of his own heart. Though he remained uncertain to the source of Kirei's frustrations, he knew of their existence and wished to at least ease his pain.
And with this War, Kirei could die.
Risei forced himself to admit it as he crossed a street. There would be times, even with the collusion he and his son shared with Tokiomi, that Risei would be required to act as the moderator of the war, instead of the father and friend he preferred. The reminder of his responsibilities was cold comfort for the fears in his heart. That Kirei would die before finding his happiness in the world, leaving poor Caren alone for good...
"Father Kotomine?"
A child? Risei paused, storing thoughts of his family behind the mask of the priest of the Fuyuki City church. His worries would have to wait until he was in the sanctity of the church, it seemed. He turned around with a warm smile to see a vaguely familiar young boy, peeking at him from behind the corner of the building he'd just passed. What is he doing out in this weather?
"Hello, little one." Risei knelt down, keeping his knees from getting too close to the wet pavement. "It's awfully late to be out, wouldn't you agree? Especially in rain like this."
The boy nodded, but didn't move. Neither his body, Risei noted, nor his face seemed to change at all, despite his being soaking wet from the rain. Worrying...
"...Are you out here all alone?" Another nod and nothing else. Risei's smile faded slightly as his concern for the child increased. "Why would you be out without your parents?"
"Tou-san told me to find you if there was trouble, Father Kotomine."
Trouble. Risei frowned and rose to his feet, but kept his distance from the boy. There was no reason to frighten him. "You must be getting cold from the rain, son. Come around and we can share my umbrella."
Another nod, accompanied by a strange look, but the boy shuffled around the building corner and slowly walked closer.
Without the building blocking the boy, Risei finally put name to face. Kishinami Hisei. The son of one of the few families that chose to attend his sermons and followed the faith of the Church. A normally bright-faced and cheerful boy with a sense of mischief and teasing that often had him at ends one day and best friends others with other parishioners' children.
In the dim light of the street lamp, however, that bright face stared blankly at him through layers of dried blood.
"Hisei-kun!" Risei darted forward and dropped to his knees, heedless of the wet pavement in his haste to take hold of Hisei's shoulders. Beneath his hands, the boy's thin arms shook from the cold, wet air. His face remained impassive. "Are you hurt? All this blood-" He checked the boy's front for any signs of injury, to no result as Hisei shook his head. "What in God's name happened, Hisei-kun?"
Mind controlled, but racing with thoughts, Risei slid an arm behind Hisei's knees and lifted the child up. No matter what had happened, Hisei needed to get out of the cold rain before he risked his health any further than already suffered. He didn't appear injured, but injuries did not need to be purely physical to damage one, especially to a child. And with all that blood, even after being partially washed off from the rain...
"Ryu-nii said he was going to summon a demon." Hisei shifted in his grip, turning slightly to hug Risei's shoulder.
Hand on Hisei's back for comfort, Risei's frown grew. As far as he recalled, the Kishinami children consisted only of Hisei and Haruka, the boy's older sister. Through the years the Kishinami family had attended service, there had been no mentions of a boyfriend or a family friend with a name fitting 'Ryu'. "Hisei-kun, who is Ryu-nii?"
"Ryu-nii found me in the park after Haruka-nee left." Unsettling, but it started to paint a clearer picture in his mind. A child abductor? "He wanted to show me something cool."
"I see..." Risei closed his eyes for a moment. The cold, furious anger threatened to break out of his chest, forcing him to school his temper and reign it in. The hand at Hisei's back tensed, but relaxed as the moment passed. "You did very well to escape him, Hisei-kun. Do you know where he took you?"
"Mhm." The quiet confirmation at his ear stoked the anger in his chest, feeding into his thoughts. Once Hisei was safely back with his family, this Ryu-nii would find himself the host to a most concerned, well-intentioned group of well-wishers. It was the least Risei could do to ease the poor boy's suffering.
"Let's get you back home." Risei shifted Hisei in his arms and turned his tight-lipped frown back into a smile for the boy. "I'm sure your family is worried for you, Hisei-kun. They'll be very happy to know you're safe."
"...No they won't."
Risei's eyes widened in shock at the blank response from the boy hanging onto his shoulder. A foreboding thought crept to mind as to why Hisei would say such a thing. Lord in Heaven, I ask your kindness in this. "Why would you say that, Hisei-kun?"
The boy shrugged, looking away from him. His voice remained even and empty. Numb, Risei recognized. "Ryu-nii killed them so he could summon his demon. Ryu-nii said I was gonna be a snack for his demon, so he didn't kill me." A stunned silence was shared between the two of them, before Hisei frowned and looked down at Risei's shoulder. "...I didn't wanna die. Ryu-nii said I did a good thing. He thanked me. He wanted me and Caster-san to do something cool, too."
...It couldn't be. Thank the Lord for so many years to control his emotions. Risei schooled his face back into a somber expression fitting for a local priest, to hide the exasperation and disbelief inside. Caster-san? There was talk of summoning a demon, but I hoped it to be just the mad ramblings of a murderer. Could the Grail have really approved such a thing?
News reports from several weeks flashed through his head, each of them detailing an unknown, but horrific serial killer who had murdered entire families and left disturbing images painted in the blood of his victims. With no real traces of magecraft or even suggestions of the art, Risei and the Church had left the matter to the police to handle, but if what he'd learned from Hisei's brief explanation was correct...
"...Hisei-kun?" The boy looked up. He seemed a little shocked through the numbness at the smile back on Risei's face. "In that case, would you like to come back to the Church with me? We'll get you dried off and into some warm clothes, with some warm food, while we figure out what to do. Is that alright with you?"
"Alright, Father Kotomine." Hisei nodded.
Risei nodded back and adjusted his umbrella so it covered both of them adequately. "Then let's be on our way. The sooner we get out of this rain, the better."
Walking down the street again, Risei pulled out his phone and redialed the number he had just been on barely ten minutes ago.
Hiroko-kun, I hope your team is as prepared as you claimed. It seems our first task for the War has come.
So there's chapter 2. Already working on writing chapter 3, seeing as it has the last 1/3 of my original chapter 2 in it.
Thanks for reading.