Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.
Adventures in Canon
Part VII
Ayame left the shower refreshed, wearing fresh clothes and running a comb through her damp hair. "Shirou…!" she called. "I'm done with the shower. It's your turn to bathe…Shirou? Shirou…? Brother…where are you…?"
Grumbling to herself, Ayame wandered around the house, looking for any sign of her brother…
…and with a sigh, wandered out towards the back of the property. "Well, for all that we're not quite parallel selves, the way Arthur and Altria are," she thought to herself while making for the shed that was likely her brother's workshop (much like it was her own workshop in her home timeline). "We do still think alike in many ways."
Ayame knocked on the door, and again after a few moments and there was no response. "Shirou…?" she called. "Are you there? I'm coming in."
There was still no response, and Ayame carefully eased the door open and peered through. The interior was dark, the lights unlit. But she could see, thanks to a faint glow in the distance, illuminating her brother as he sat on the ground with his back to her. "Meditation?" Ayame thought as she quietly slipped in, just as quietly closing the door behind her. "Looks like it…"
Stepping closer while making sure not to surprise her brother, Ayame carefully looked around, reinforcing her eyes to see better in the dark. The shed was…well, the shed. The structure was pretty much the same as her shed was, but…
…there didn't seem to be as much…material, and other stuff, as she expected. "Strange…does he keep them somewhere else?" Ayame thought. And then blinking, she came to a halt while moving her head back and forth. "The bounded fields…there's no bounded field here. Just the one around the house, and it's a basic one at that. What the…"
Ayame scratched her head in confusion. From the look of things, her brother hadn't taken the trouble to maintain his magical defenses, which didn't make much sense given his apparent work ethic. He wouldn't have deliberately let them just go to seed without doing anything about it.
Something's not right here.
Stepping closer to her brother, Ayame carefully peered around her seated brother and regarded what he was doing. The light was coming from a shinai he was holding on his hands, Shirou's eyes closed as he sat in a meditative pose. "Structural…analysis…?" Ayame silently asked. "Or is it something else? That said…there's something not quite right here."
Crossing her arms and tapping her lips for a moment, Ayame then reached out, and after a moment's hesitation placed a hand on Shirou's shoulder. She blinked at the sudden feeling of wrongness, even as Shirou opened his eyes in surprise, and glanced at her.
"Ayame?" he asked, his meditation disturbed. "What are you doing here?"
"Eh…" Ayame fumbled, scratching at her head as Shirou stood up. "I was looking for you to tell you I'm done with the shower, so it's your turn. Anyway…so this shed's your workshop too, huh?"
"Huh…oh yeah. It is…you as well?"
"Yup."
Shirou laughed, though he then looked at Ayame with a slightly reproving expression. "You should have knocked before coming in, though." He pointed out. Ayame just raised an eyebrow.
"I did." She said. "You didn't hear me, though."
Shirou blinked and then laughed. "Fair enough," he admitted. "I got too focused on practice."
"What are you doing anyway?"
"Are you really asking that kind of question to a magus?"
Ayame just crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow again, and then the siblings shared a laugh. "Practicing," Shirou said, lifting the shinai and making a few chopping motions. "I've got a real talent for understanding what makes things up, and how they fit together."
"Ah…structural analysis then."
"Yeah, I think that's what it's called."
Ayame nodded, and then tilted her head. "Okay," she began. "This may just be…well, the difference in doing things between us, but…it looked or rather felt like…something was wrong, or strange, with you earlier."
Shirou blinked and tilted his head in his turn. "In what way?" he asked.
"I don't know." Ayame admitted. "It could just be me though, but my gut says I should look into it. Do you mind helping me out?"
Shirou regarded Ayame for a few moments, and then smiling, nodded. "Okay." He said. "What do you need me to do?"
Ayame placed a hand on Shirou's chest. "Just…do what it was you were doing earlier." She said.
Shirou nodded, and closing his eyes held up the shinai in one hand. "Trace, on." He said. The shinai began to glow, but before he could really start…
"Stop."
Shirou opened his eyes, and looked at his appalled-looking sister curiously. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
"Oh nothing's wrong." Ayame began with a surprisingly-sweet voice. "Unless you don't see destroying your own nervous system as wrong. Seriously, brother, what was that?"
"Um…that's…how I use magic?" Shirou replied, taken aback. "I mean, that's how I've always done it, and dad never said anything about it."
"…what?"
"What?"
Ayame palmed her face. "Seriously?" she asked. "I mean…what did…why would dad not do anything about that? I mean…how long have you been doing that, to perform magic?"
"Since I started using magic?"
Ayame palmed her face again. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't suffered a stroke or something in that long." She said, looking and sounding aghast.
"Well…how else am I supposed to use magic?" Shirou asked. Ayame crossed her arms and leaned closer, her frown looking disturbingly like something Rin Tohsaka would give.
"Your actual magic circuits?"
"Wait…I'm not doing that already?"
Ayame sighed, and rubbed her temples. "I don't know why dad didn't seem to have taught you how to properly activate your circuits," she began. "But this can't go on. At this rate, you're going to end up killing yourself, sooner or later."
"Uh…I'll take your word for it. So…next question: how do we fix this? I mean, how do I properly open my magic circuits?"
Ayame regarded Shirou for a moment, and then smiling, reached out and took his hands. Shirou blinked at her smile, and a thought came to mind. "She really is their sister." He thought. "She frowns just like Rin, and her smile is the same as Sakura's."
According to Kirei Kotomine, I'm the daughter of Tokiomi Tohsaka and his mistress. Yes, you could say I'm a secret love child, especially considering the name he originally gave me. 'Kuchinashi', and what it means in hanakotoba. I'm actually the eldest of his kids, older than Rin by a couple of months.
Very dramatic and all…not that I really care. As far as I'm concerned, Kiritsugu Emiya was my dad, and you're my brother.
Shirou smiled as he remembered the next part of the conversation from earlier.
"Then why do you care so much for Sakura if your blood relationship doesn't matter?" Shirou asked, not entirely unreasonably.
"I care because it's the right thing to do." Ayame answered. "I care not because she's my sister, but because she didn't deserve what happened to her. Not in my timeline, and I'll bet in this timeline too. She didn't ask to be thrown away, she just was. Can you tell me it's wrong not to stand against that?"
"No…I won't and I can't." Shirou said at once, his face grim. "Magi might say it's right and necessary, but it isn't. Not really…they only say it is. It's not right at all."
"Then there you go."
"…Shirou…Shirou…Shirou…!"
Shirou blinked and focused back on Ayame in front of him. The white-haired girl sighed. "Focus, Shirou." She said. "For now at least."
"Yeah," Shirou said with an apologetic nod. "Sorry about that."
Ayame smiled softly. "Focus on me." She said. "Tune out the world, everything around us, close your eyes if you have to, just remember, there is only me, and you, here and now."
Shirou nodded while closing his eyes, focusing only on the warmth of Ayame's hands holding his own, tuning out the sounds and smells of their surroundings, even the workings of his own body. His breathing…his heartbeat…even that itch when you stand still and silent for too long…
…he turned it all out.
There was only him and his sister, here and now.
"Reach out to me, as I reach out to you." Ayame's voice said. "No…do not think. Just do…feel. Reach out to me, as I reach out to you, the two of us touching…becoming one…"
Shirou didn't nod or give any sign of hearing or understanding, just…doing, as she asked him to. He felt the warmth of her hands over his, felt it merge with his own warmth, her life and his together in this moment, and felt the potential within him and her at the same time. And then…
"Ignite!"
Instinctively, Shirou saw and felt the hammer fall and strike the firing pin, as well as a door breaking open. And with a gasp, Shirou sprang back, his eyes wide as he felt the familiar yet different burn of magic at work, as though a red-hot rod was being driven into his back, and felt the numbness all around.
"T-this is…" he stammered out, and then swaying, nearly fell as his vision swam. Ayame caught him, and helping him down to sit against a wooden post, sat down beside him.
"Congratulations," she said. "Your magic circuits are now open. You should be able to use magic without maiming yourself…you already know how, don't you?"
"Yeah…you saw it…I think."
"I did." Ayame said with a nod, before glancing at Shirou with a smile. "You saw mine too, didn't you?"
"Sorry."
Ayame laughed. "What for?" she asked. "I saw yours, so we're even."
"I…guess…" Shirou said before sighing and leaning back, just relaxed for several moments. "You know…I really shouldn't be thinking this, but the words of that spell you used…it was really weird."
"Yeah, I know." Ayame agreed. "In hindsight…as a kid, it wasn't that weird. But when you get to our age…"
"Yeah, it could pass for innuendo." Shirou said before shuddering. "And you're my sister."
"Yeah, let's not think too much of it." Ayame agreed. Shirou nodded, and once again, silence fell over them, for several long moments before Ayame spoke up again. "So…while catching your breath…care to tell me what you can do?"
Shirou laughed and nodded. "Well," he said. "I guess it's fair. I do know what you can do, after all."
Ayame smiled and nodded, turning her head to look at her brother, who also looked at her. "Right," he began, and looking away and up. "Anyway, for starters, dad always said…"
Sunlight shone down from a clear blue sky, lightly-dotted with puffy white clouds. Despite winter having yet to end, the morning was pleasantly cool and relaxing, a taste of what spring would bring.
Ayame hoped it was a good omen for this evening, as she leaned against a wall and listened to her brother preparing for the coming day in his room through the door to her left. A few minutes later and the sounds inside stopped, replaced by footsteps headed for the door. They slid open, Shirou coming out only to be taken aback at finding his sister apparently waiting for him.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Today's the day." Ayame replied, and Shirou nodded, his expression determined.
"I know." He said. "And you can count on me to do my part in saving Sakura."
"Good," Ayame said with a sigh. "Just keep in mind…judging by her hair, a lot has been done to that girl. The fairies can undo some but not all, and even what can't be undone can only be…changed, to something that won't be hurtful for Sakura. What will be left…think of them as scars."
"I know." Shirou said with a sigh of his own. "I remember the discussion we had. But…it's not something either of us isn't familiar with, right? More so you than me, though."
Ayame closed her eyes, leaning her head back and thinking back to the Great Fire, at the raging flames and the incredible pain that burned everything away. Who she was…what she had been…everything…
…they all just disappeared, turned into ash by those flames.
And like a phoenix, she'd risen from them a changed person, thanks to her father. The same went for Shirou. And now…
…now they'd do the same as their father did for them, for Sakura.
"…there's no going back once we start." Ayame finally said. "We'll be painting a huge bull's eye on ourselves. Tohsaka and Matou will go against us."
"That's still two on two." Arthur said, appearing out of nowhere next to Ayame. "And between myself and Altria, seems like a fair fight."
"Indeed," Altria said, opening the doors of the room next to Shirou. "Fear not, Shirou, and Ayame. Leave their Servants to us, and focus solely on their Masters. We have the utmost confidence in your ability to overcome them, and emerge victorious over evil."
Ayame and Arthur shared a smile at that, as they'd already defeated the Tohsaka and the Matou before. And if they did it before, they could do it again.
Shirou though, just stared at Altria. Altria stared back, until finally, Shirou pointed at the room she'd come out of. "What were you doing in there?" he asked.
"Unfortunately," Altria began. "I am unable for some inexplicable reason to enter astral form. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of selecting a room to lodge in at night, and to conceal myself from those uninvolved in the war."
"No, that's alright just tell me first…no wait!" Shirou burst out. "Why next to my room?"
Altria tilted her head. "I am your Servant." She said. "It is only meet that I be by your side to ensure your safety. As I was unwilling to infringe upon your privacy by lodging in your room, I chose the one next to it."
"…that…makes sense…but…"
Shirou trailed off with a sigh, and then walked off with pink cheeks. "Did I somehow cause offense?" Altria asked, and Arthur looked at Ayame. Ayame just shrugged, spreading her hands and walking off to follow her brother.
A/N
More Shirou and Ayame moments, with the latter helping the former open/use his circuits properly.
Mostly filler, to be honest, but you have to bridge the plot properly for it to make sense. Don't worry, we'll get some magus vs magus action eventually…who knows? You just might see Rin get hit in the face with a shovel again.
