Hello, Raziel365 here, this chapter was actually going to be much longer than I thought, but then I guessed the pacing would be off and I don't want this to seem rushed.
As I said before, criticism is most welcome, now on with the show.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, If I did, Unlimited Blade Works would continue airing instead of being in hiatus till April of next year.
Chapter 2: Severing and Binding
Tokiomi prepared himself to leave his house, a short while had passed after he had sent Kirei in a task to the manor of the Matou.
He had a place that he had to go with haste, if anything, it would be the top priority, afterwards he would meet his... "colleague" to discuss their preparations for the next days, if Kirei succeded in his mission, they would be able to make some progress with respect of the Grail.
"Huh...you are going to actually do something this time, Tokiomi?" such were the words of the golden Servant that resided inside the manor of the Tohsaka, the blonde red eyed man had, and was, watching the head of the Tohsaka with minor curiosity.
"It is a neccesity I need to do my lord, its something not worth of your attention" Tokiomi himself had at one point thought that the Servant could be controled, however, since the battle against Bluebeard, that illusion began to fade.
His own demeanor and arrogance had made it impossible for him to involve him in direct combat against Caster, prefering to watch the actions of the other Servants and Masters.
The attitude and words of the King of Heroes towards him were, to say the least, filled most often with annoyance or boredom, as much as he tried to play along with him, he found himself with the knowledge that he didn't had the respect of the Servant.
Therefore, he himself didn't have, quite possibly, the loyalty of Archer in this War.
"Not much that you do was worth of it anyway... still, for what had you sent your student to the territory of another magus, I thought you knew how to take care of your own Tokiomi"
Tokiomi mostly trusted Kirei, the Executor had proven himself as a powerful ally and liason in the fights that he had fought or the missions he had tasked him with; by the actions and behaviour of Gilgamesh, especially his interest in Kotomine, the faith he had had eroded to an extent, his last words confirmed that the king took a liking to his student.
"He's acting as a delegator of confidence to ensure the alliance that the Tohsaka have with the Matou, I cannot imagine anyone else to trust something of such importance." that itself wasn't a lie, the Executor was the only one that he could possibly get inside of the manor by peaceful means, and the only one who could find what he wanted to find.
Or see what he needed to see inside of that mansion.
"Can't you see what Sakura is suffering!?"
"I cannot forgive you!"
"I hate you Tokiomi!...Zouken!"
He had trusted, at some point, the patriach of the Matou, the former Makiri, with the education and teaching of his daughter, in hopes of cementing his alliance with them and, mostly, to ensure that Sakura would be able to succeed as an independent magus, outside of the shadow, or rivalry, of her older sister.
He had also known Kariya to an extent before, and mostly, tried to comprehend his actions: running away from his family despite being the only one who could inherit their craft, rejecting all of the works of his forefathers was something Tokiomi had repudiated before, in turn, he began to harbor a negative opinion of the man; truly, only an ungrateful person would turn against everything his family, his own blood stood for.
He wasn't blind by hatred however.
To say that he hadn't noticed Kariya's state would be a lie, he was infected with insects, a strange kind of familiars that seemed to supply him with the ability to properly fight magic beings by acting as quickwork circuits, in exchange, he guessed, he was being eaten from the inside by those insects in order to supply them power.
The fact that he was a master only implied that his condition was critical and painful, if not outright terminal, given that the only Servant he could be master of was Berserker would probably make his condition even more grim, that class was known for requiring a high supply of prana from their masters.
If such a thing were to happen to Sakura...
"Very well, I hope that whatever thing you have in mind can at least bring me some entertainment." with those words, the King of Heroes faded in a golden dust, his master looking behind of his shoulder for a moment before resuming his current moves.
The binding of one to another, such was the basic principle of the water aligned arts of the Makiri household, however, the arts of binding could be interpretated in many ways, some benevolent, and others, more malicious or destructive.
In a way, Kariya's affliction was a reflection of the worst kinds of magic one could do with such principle.
"I'm leaving Aoi"
His wife, a beautiful woman with dark green hair, went to meet him and kissed him with a smile on her face.
"Be safe, my dear"
Tokiomi returned the gesture, also with a loving smile on his face before leaving, with all the love and joy his wife and family had brought to him, he considered himself a person with luck, not just as a magus, but as a father and husband.
His face turned dark as his mind replayed Kariya's accusations.
He finally looked at his house before leaving; he had told Aoi to take Rin away for a walk around the city once she went out of school, he couldn't allow his family to be involved on the events that would happen tonight.
With that last thought, the master of Archer left the Tohsaka estate.
Kiritsugu was driving to a special location, the chosen place for the rendezvous with his ally; if their plans were to succeed, they would need to have a higher arsenal of choices for the events that were to happen tonight and tomorrow.
"Maiya, what is the status of the master of Lancer?"
"He and his wife are still on the run, I'm still tracking them; its most probable that the woman is now the master of Lancer" The words of his partner were said with neutral emotion through the headphone.
"What about the masters of Rider and Berserker?"
"The kid hasn't made any move from the house he's staying in nor done anything suspicious, the other master is somewhere in the streets, most likely of the Shinto district."
By phone, the Magus Killer was already making preparations for the events of the night, which weren't that different from the plans he had already made before for this situation; Kiritsugu was aproaching the church of Fuyuki, house of the supervisor of the Grail ritual and the representative of the Church, there, he would make his first move of the other plan he had.
"Should I give priority to the master of Lancer?"
"...no, keep looking for the master of Berserker, afterwards, find the Archibalds, I already told you how to deal with the woman Maiya, contact me once that she's in your custody."
"...understood"
Kiritsugu parked the car and got off, walking inside the holy recint that was the church, there he saw the person he needed to meet first.
Risei Kotomine, the supervisor of the Fourth Grail War.
"Church representative! I'm here to reclaim the command seals for my Servant's deeds!"
With this declaration, the old man looked up from his bible, with a moderate amount of surprise on his face.
"The master of Saber I guess, it's the first time I have the chance to meet you" he spoke with a cordial tone to the Magus Killer.
His expression was all the answer the priest needed to understand the man wasn't here for small talk, with a clearing of his throat he aproached the man.
"Very well, extend your hand, master of Saber"
He did as he was asked, looking as the old man pushed inside his sleeves and revealed his arm, covered by various red marks, a glow of light was all he saw before he saw his third seal back in his place, completing the set he originally had.
With no other word, Kiritsugu left the church, choosing to look around the graveyard of the church, he was honestly surprised to find various tombs with foreign names, something he hadn't expect to find in a city like Fuyuki, even though the situation in which he was gave more the reason for this kind of tombs.
"Around here is the grave of my mother".
The master of Saber turned around to find the master of Archer in front of another tomb, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, he saw how he carefully laid the flowers in front of the tomb while he walked towards his direction.
"My assistant is already looking for the master of Berserker, what about yours?"
"I sent him to the mansion of the Matou, he should be able to find what we are looking for."
He knew who he was talking about, Kirei Kotomine; involving the Executor in their plans, no matter how small role he had, was something Kiritsugu despised, the man was impredictable, dangerous and , if his guess was right, he would try to fight him alone even if it meant betraying Tokiomi; all said, he couldn't deny that the priest was the only one who could properly enter the residence without arising much suspiction of its inhabitants.
"Anyone that lives inside there?"
"Only four that I know: Byakuya, Shinji, Sakura...and Zouken."
Kiritsugu flinched at the name: Zouken Matou or, as he used to call himself, Zouken Makiri was someone who he had hoped to never have to come across; one of the creators of the Heaven's Feel, his age had done nothing against his magical power, not to mention his cunningness, if anything, his pitiful soul was the one thing that betrayed his true age, rotten and mangled after evading death for so long.
What put him in edge however was his magic craft: in all of his works or hunts against various monsters or vampires, he had always fought against ghouls and familiars, his worst of such work was the one in which his foster mother, comrade and friend, Natalia, had died.
The vampire she had fought against had managed to use bees as familiars, and with them, he had infected everyone inside of the plane she was, forcing him to destroy it lest that it landed and caused an outbreak.
Zouken was an insect user, worse than that, he used the principles of binding of the Makiri to bind himself to his own familiars, making him one of the most difficult persons to kill in his life: so long his familiars existed, his soul would still be anchored to the world.
"Out of the four, only him should be a problem for us, Sakura is still young and Byakuya has no circuits of his own." Tokiomi continued with a solemn tone, the fact that he was the only magus that could fight against them was little comfort for the Magus Killer.
Any response that Kiritsugu had was stopped by the ringing of his cellphone, he briefly excused in front of the red magus, whose expression was a mixture of impatience, disbelief and, he didn't knew if he was right, curiosity at the device he had in his hands.
"I found the master of Berserker, he's staying inside an abandoned lot inside the Shinto district, the building is two streets south of the Civic Center and one street westwards."
"Understood Maiya, continue with the search of the Archibalds...and thank you."
For a moment, Kiristugu thought that the line had went dead, but before he could end the call an answer came to him.
"...don't mind it Kiritsugu."
After finishing his call, a small smile on his face, he turned back to Tokiomi, his look turned serious, speaking all the weight he needed it to have, the Tohsaka elder understood the gesture.
"I will encharge of Kariya, the master of Lancer is your prey."
With a nod of acknowledgement, Kiritsugu left towards his car, just before he reached beyond his range of hearing, he heard some words.
"Good luck, Emiya"
"...Likewise."
Kirei was not a man that could be easily understood: he had always lived a life without feeling the emotions that were natural to other people and could only find pleasure in the pain of other; and yet, he still strove to do the right thing, following the teachings of his father, hoping he would find the answer to his dillema, he had once a wife and a child, however her wife killed herself in her last days of her disease to prove him he still had compassion, that he was still human, only for him to regret not killing her himself, not her death.
After she died, he found himself unable to take care of his own daughter, choosing to follow the path of the priesthood in order the find the answers he had; finally, ending in the midst of the struggle that was the Grail War, in which his true self, as the king of Uruk said, would be revealed. While he didn't believed the words of his wife before, after meeting the abomination that was Zouken Matou, some of her words resonated as he found a small answer in the oceans of his questions.
He was ''not'' that monster, his pleasure might the the affliction of others yet the actions of the old magi were repulsive: he saw what he had done to the girl, understood how he did it without even asking and found himself with nothing more but disgust at the actions of the old beast, just staring at the blasphemous things he had done to himself to escape from death nearly made him throw up in the spot.
Why he was still alive was something that eluded him, but if his intuition told him something it was that that thing wouldn't have much more time in this world.
"You seem more emotional than before Kirei"
The words of Gilgamesh were spoken with mild amusement, the priest had, somehow, grown accustomed to play the fool for the court of two; he looked at the king before continuing his preparations.
"I have found an answer to a question that I had of myself."
"Ohh, but I wonder if that answer is enough for someone like you."
The tone of the Servant carried curiosity in his words with a hint of satisfaction and expectation. The Executor exchange briefly a look before continuing.
"I admit I have not reached the answers I had seeked for long, however this is a step towards finding them."
"Regardless of the fate of your master? as much as I have noticed, he seems to have lost trust on you."
Indeed, Kirei had read through the acts of Tokiomi and understood that, while he had a high amount of trust, it was lesser than before.
"My master has always been generous..." Tokiomi had been a kind master in his learnings, granting him more trust than what he had imagined a normal magus would give, still...
"But if his wishes drive me away from the Grail...I will kill him and continue my search."
Silence pervaded the room, broken slightly by a chuckle, then laughter.
"A good answer indeed, as long as your search continues I guess I will still able to entertain myself Kirei, I have high expectations of you".
With those last words, the first Heroic Spirit faded in a golden dust; Kirei went towards the speaker of the house, his master waiting on the other side of the line.
"Did you find it Kirei?"
"Indeed my mentor, it is inside the eldest sector of the room, to the furthest left of the mansion."
That was not a lie, but he did left out that the artifacts he had looked for had prana of their own, most likely due to a curse meant to injure anyone who used them. Nothing unexpected of the possesions of magi in general.
"Well done Kirei...how is the condition of the girl?"
That was the one question Kirei had expected the least from his master, even if he knew him to hold his family in his utmost priorities, he never expected to listen to such a question, after all, the adoption of his younger daughter had been an affair between magus families.
He could simply lie he realized, he had his masters trust, he would believe him, even if he eventually found out, he probably would have betrayed him long before he could act, he could just lie to him.
"I don't have words for her state, my mentor: she's not infected by any being but her body has been defiled, by magical means if I'm right, her psyche is at the edge for the conditions she is subjected".
He swore he could feel the rage of his mentor through the speaker, it was the first time he had ever felt such a killing intent from his master.
"...Kirei, return to the church, I will take care of this matter, I'll contact you after this is settled." As much as Tokiomi tried to compose his tone, the layers of anger beneath his voice could be heard.
"Understood, my mentor." As the connection faded, Kirei analized the possible scenario that would play out: he knew that whatever thing that his master had planned to deal with Zouken would be extremely painful given the modifications the elder did to himself and the nature of his own type of binding.
Kirei almost laughed at the situation: for the first time, his own twisted nature would be satisfied in accordance to his moral code, never before had such a thing happened during his training and job as Executor. He would enjoy this moment for all of his life.
And just like his distortion, all for a reason he didn't understood fully.
"To think that such a thing would be brought by something like a book, truly laughable."
Somewhere in the Shinto district, a pair was walking through the park near the Civic Center. The sky was now red, losing light as the night neared.
"WOAH! I didn't knew that walking around could be so tiring mother!" said the brunette of the pair, Rin Tohsaka, with a happy expression in her face.
Her mother Aoi Tohsaka, only looked at her with a tender smile as she walked besides her.
"Don't worry Rin, we are returning soon."
Her words made the young Tohsaka to frown, losing some of her previous cheer.
"Ummm, can't I return home now?"
As it was now, Rin was staying in the house of the Zenjo, her maternal grandparents, she didn't knew what her father was doing, but she knew it was really dangerous.
"No my dear, you have to stay in the house of your grandparents until your father's work is over."
She remembered that time when she went to find her friend Kotone, she had eventually found a creepy man with a magical bracelet that was luring all of the kids of her age, she had never been that scared before.
She still carried her compass with her in case of anything that happened, but she understood that whatever her father was doing was far beyond her scope.
"Weeelll, but walking all the way from here to there is a long...way." The girl allowed her words to die out as she looked around the park and a realization hit her.
"Where are we?"
While they were chatting, they had lost track of their trail and now they were well inside of the park; Rin began to run around, trying without success to find something to guide her and her mother, she was so focused on the task that she didn't noticed when she ran into someone.
"Ooof, careful!" Rin said as she tried to get up from the grass, the other person was already up to its feet.
That person was, coincidentially, a boy of her age.
"I'm sorry, let me help you!" The girl finally took a look at the boy, he had golden eyes and short red hair, his face seemed honest when he apologised and gave her his hand to lift herself.
"Hold on Rin, focus here" She said to herself as she fought a blush and recovered her focus, she looked at the boy, who seemed puzzled by her behaviour and asked him.
"Hey, do you know how to get to this avenue?"
His face went from confused to understanding before he smiled. Aoi had already caught up to the two childs but choose to stay quiet, a small smirk in her face.
"Oh, you just have to walk from here a bit more and turn left a little later and..." The boy began to make some gestures with his arms and hands until he realized that the wierd look that the girl was giving him meant that she wasn't understanding him.
"I know! Let me guide you!" His enthusiasm was something that was shared by Rin, it was definitely better to have someone as a guide than simply being given directions.
The mother tried to reason with the boy, still with a smile, knowing how would his mother feel if the roles were inversed. "Thank you boy, but we wouldn't want to bother you."
The boy however seemed intent on helping them out. "Don't worry, I live close from here!"
Before Aoi could reply, another voice in the distance could be heard, it seemed to be approaching. "Shirou! What are you doing?!" A woman with long, brown hair and chestnut eyes came close to the boy.
"Mom! I'm helping someone here!" The boy began to speak with a cheerful face as the woman finally arrived to the trio in the park, she inmediatly spoke to Aoi with an apologetic expression.
"I'm sorry, my son can be a bit enthusiastic." The mother spoke with a tone that implied this wasn't the first time her son had done something like this.
Aoi quickly sympathized with the other woman since she herself had a strong willed daugther. "No, no, your son is a really good boy." The Tohsaka mother replied with a truthful tone.
"They need to get to the station and I wanted to guide them!" the red head interviened in their conversation with the same energetic attitude.
"If its the station, I can give you directions" The mother of the boy spoke with a gentle tone to the woman and her daughter, Aoi bowed her head in gratitute.
"Thank you, I apologise for the problems we are causing you."
"Why don't we go together?" Shirou asked with an innocent smile to the two mothers, they couldn't find an answer while facing such an expression.
This time, Rin, who had stayed quiet so far, spoke in agreement with the boy. "Yeah, father says that its a gentleman's duty to escort a lady." She finished with a determinated tone. At this, the elder women looked at each other and agreed to go together to the station, the children were happy with their approval.
Soon enough, the two mothers were platicating between themselves as if they were old friends while the two kids were speaking and playing with each other.
"I forgot to ask, what is your name?" The boy with red hair asked with some shame after leaving out such an important detail.
The girl merely grinned and gained an air of confidence and pride as she spoke her name "Rin, Rin Tohsaka, and you?"
The boy blushed slightly before he gave a shy smile to the girl as he replied.
"Shirou, Shirou Takeya."
I gave Shirou a last name.
I gave him a last name, I think this is somewhat heresy, right?Most of the fanfics I have read never try or bother to do so. A shame actually, there are many possibilities to be explored by doing that.
Well, aside from that, his last name actually has a meaning in this story, I consider it a minor reference to Fate/Apocrypha; since I'm portraying him before the fire, there's a high chance I will include someone that many people might know.
I'm not telling who because it's a spoiler to that other story.
I have yet to decide on which name to give to Shirou's mother and father, any suggestion is welcome.
Moving on, I hope I'm not making Kiritsugu or Tokiomi stray from their original character in Fate/Zero, mainly Kiritsugu; make no mistake, he's still the Magus Killer and is as manipulative as before, but I'm guessing that he would tone down his ruthlessness now that he knows the grail won't grant his wish.
With respect of Tokiomi, I read somewhere that he's not as cold as the common magi because Rin inherited her kindness from him, if anything I assume that he just has the prideful mindset that other magus have.
Then there is Kirei, he's not yet a villian who makes people suffer for his own amusement but he's almost there, he still needs the trigger for that change thought.
That's it for now, I hope you can guess to who I refer to with the surname I gave to Shirou, well, see you next time.