Ch 2: The Meeting

With the aid of soul bound in a gem, the albino girl was able to utilize public transportation and airports without much hassle. It didn't hurt that a servant summoned for the heaven's feel ritual is imparted all the knowledge to integrate with modern society, such as all the world's languages and the rudimentary knowledge to utilize modern technology, though the particular servant in question probably didn't need the last part.

Though the soul which inhabited the gem did not need to be imparted with such knowledge, the master certainly did. Then again, it is a situation faced by many magi who have forsaken mainstream technology.

The definition of True Magic, is a mystery that surpasses all modern thaumaturgy and current technology. For all their pride, the modern thaumaturgy of magi is on the same level as modern technology and in many ways inferior due to the lack of infrastructure support modern society provides.

Even the most prideful of modern magi must begrudgingly use public transportation or mundane vehicles such as cars to avoid the watchful eye of the public that had to be kept in the dark of their craft.

There are some magi who do not hold such an old fashioned view. One such person, was the albino's girl's father who was considered a heretic. Another person was her mother who was overjoyed with the "toys" of the modern era, though it could be argued that the roads would be a lot safer if Kiritsugu never bought her such "toys".

The young white haired girl who had seen little of the outside world was awestruck by wonder as she ran around the airport. She bounced around with a skip and exclaimed at everything she saw including things as mundane as television screens and vending machines. Wide eyed and energetic, she took in everything around her, completely forgetting their purpose being there to the dismay of the soul which rested upon her finger.

"What's this?"

"Amazing!"

"I wished we had this back at the castle!"

"Are you sure mage craft isn't mainstream?"

"Owie," was the word that left her mouth as she fell upon the floor after tripping over the luggage of a stranger when running around. Though she was instructed to be a proper lady, she had little experience interacting with people as her own family avoided her, so she ran away with a quick bow and "sorry".

Being the grail vessel, Illya had innumerable command spells affixed to her very magic circuits she could use to control her servant. Considering a homunculus was a magic circuit given human form rather than a human with magic circuits, it was clear she had a substantial amount. Though that substantial amount proved useless if the soul of her "father" could simply possess her before she got to finish saying the magic words one needed to say in order to activate them.

Though the servant she had summoned was completely dependent on the master's very body having no limbs of its own, the servant that was supposed to be Berserker seemed to exhibit more independence than even Archer.

One quick possession later and Illya found herself boarding the correct plane with a pout on her face, disappointed she couldn't explore the airport anymore. She thought she could alleviate her boredom by looking through the window, but to her dismay, all she could see were clouds.

The secluded nature of the Einzbern family made covering up the massacre unnecessary. Despite the hermit nature of the family, they possessed great wealth and the "sole" survivor had access to this wealth, which was how they were able to acquire plane tickets.

The 2 souls sharing the 1 body were recalling the significant events of the last few days while on the airliner and there thoughts shifted to more serious matters.

Illya had pondered long and hard, questions filling her mind.

Wasn't the escape simply too easy?

What did the victims think in there last moments as they were mercilessly taken out by an unseen enemy? What had the victims thought when they saw the enemy in front of them?

Were they confused? Did they hesitate in front of a fellow homunculi?

How did mundane weapons do so much damage on homunculi almost on par with servants? Did Berserker possess a special skill that that turned anything wielded as a weapon into a temporary D rank noble phantasm?

Was the "grandfather" that was killed in that castle really "grandfather"?

The soul within the ring was also lost in thought about its own identity.

"With kindness comes naïveté. Courage becomes foolhardiness. And dedication has no reward. If you can't accept any of that, you are not fit to be a magi...cal girl?"

A magical girl?

The albino girl being an artificial entity known as a "homunculus", it was possible that the "father" she referred to could have been female, thus the albino girl being the "daughter" of the entity contained within the ring wasn't entirely out of the question. So the entity within the ring asked a perfectly serious question.

[Was your father female?]

"What kind of question is that Kiritsugu? Of course not! "

Illya could only shudder at the implications imagining such a person to have been a woman all along. From then on, Illya's earliest and most treasured memories of her father were tarnished with the thought of him in female lingerie. Fortunately, she stopped thinking about it before she imagined what sort of ritual was performed between her parents to create her. With both palms on her forehead, with a cringed smile, she tried to empty her thoughts.

When she was done clearing her mind, she started staring at the creature which slept on top of her hat. The small albino familiar which resembled a cat seemed to go unnoticed by everyone around her. She wondered how this ability compared to Assassin's presence concealment skill. The creature was also implied to possess the 3rd magic to some extent from what she could remember from the conversation in the castle. This meant that the creature was easily over a thousand years old, back before the Einzbern lost the 3rd magic.

The soul within the ring took no chances upon reaching their destination. Ignoring Illya's pleas to explore the air port or Fuyuki city, Illya was forcibly possessed by her "father" and they had arrived in front of the Emiya estate according to the military grade hand-held GPS which had been dispensed from the odd buckler. Normal onlookers would say the estate was quite large, but compared to an Einzbern castle, it was rather quaint.

Though Illya was rather nervous with the idea of meeting her step-brother, it did no show on her face, as "father" was in complete control. The sky was dark, so it would be around the time that most people were having dinner, which was convenient for Illya, since her "father" refused to take a lunch stop toward their destination once they landed.

Now she could only wonder what sort of person this "Emiya Shirou" was. She had once assumed the worst and imagined him as a younger Magus Killer, but after meeting her amnesiac "father" she wasn't so sure. Even though her "father" could kill dozens of people without remorse as he demonstrated back at the castle, she learned that he was...

Why wasn't Illya afraid of her father again? At this point Illya could only scream, but no sound was produced as her "father" was in complete control. Her "father" was a scary person, capable of creating complex convoluted plots to continue his twisted agenda. The fact he was possessing her right now was proof of that. Her own white hair tainted with her "father's" natural black.

"Kiritsugu?"

That was the first thing that Shirou blurted out as his eyes were drawn to the bangs of hair of the shorter person in front of him. The shape of the bangs that covered the forehead were unmistakably a characteristic of Kiritusgu's. The way the majority of the bangs resided on one side. If the hair wasn't black, he may have found it hard to make the connection.

When Shirou looked down, he realized the person in front of him wasn't Kiritsugu, though the girl possessed the same empty looking eyes that indicated some heavy past.

The red empty looking eyes were quite intimidating, but Shirou was not a person who judged people by appearances. He was friends the Shinji after all.

"Well, that's convenient. I'm looking for someone named Emiya Kiritsugu," the girl had stated in a blunt and professional manner.

"Are you a relative of his?"

The girl soon pulled out a photo of Kiritsugu and of a beautiful albino woman holding a child with a snow covered background. Shirou didn't learn much of the world of magi from his step-father. For all he knew, the albino woman who was probably Kiritsugu's wife could have been a snow fairy or Yuki-onna. Seeing the resemblance of the girl in front of him and the couple in the picture, Shirou quickly deduced that the on in front of him was his long lost step-sister.

The thought of having a sister was natural to Shirou for some reason. Maybe it had to do with his life before the Fuyuki fire and his amnesia?

Either way, Shirou was a little mad at Kiritsugu for saying nothing about having a wife or daughter, though it was unsurprising to him. Lots of people had lost their families in the Fuyuki fire.

"I'm guessing I'm your step-brother," he replied with no discernible shock on his face.

The little girl gave a quick nod.

Illya was both angry, relieved and confused. Her "father" had revealed her identity to Shirou when she would have preferred it to remain a secret for a bit longer. She didn't know what to think about his quick acceptance of the situation. Should she be happy or should she be scared?

What ulterior motive did this Shirou have? Was Shirou one of those dreaded "lolicons" her "grandfather" had spoke of? Her "grandfather" had taught her many things about the Japanese, some things so disturbing even she considered them to be exaggerations.

Illya walked into the living room to see 2 other people there by the dining table. A woman Illya considered middle aged and a plum haired girl. For some reason, she was reminded of her mother, the grail vessel of the 4th War when she gazed upon the plum haired girl, yet such thoughts were superseded by another one.

It was one of those "harems" her "grandfather" had talked about when he lectured her on the debauchery of the Japanese.

As Illya regained control of her own body and her hair returned to its natural white someone screamed.

"Her hair turned white! She's going into shock," exclaimed the older woman.

"Sempai?"

The plum haired girl who normally looked upon Shirou with a warm smile was giving a scary glare. It was clear to her that her sempai had strayed away from the path of justice. Sakura momentarily remembered the magus "training" she had undertaken in her youth when she recalled the time when she herself was a little girl, before she purged such thoughts from her mind.

She could only imagine how her sempai had convinced a little girl to come to his home, yet what shocked Matou Sakura the most was the fact that she was somewhat relieved?

If her sempai was as tainted as her and her family then...