Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.
Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution
Chapter 7
Sakura Matou slept deeply on her bed, the pale moonlight filtering through her window curtains in narrow shafts. As she slept, something began to tug at her consciousness, her memories and her ancient magic subconsciously working a miracle that tugged her mind if not her body awake.
Slowly, as though she were being pulled up from a sea of darkness, the magus found herself waking to find herself floating in space, and gazing on the glowing, blue orb of the Earth. "Earth…?" she whispered, and then her eyes widened as slowly but steadily, blue turned to red, until the planet looked as though it had been dripped in blood.
Abruptly, she found herself down onto the ground. Coughing at the acrid touch of the air on her throat, and rose to her knees. Again her eyes widened as she looked around, and she stood. "What is this…?" she asked again.
The land was dead. The sky was tinted red with blood, and Sakura just knew that it really was blood, the blood of an impossibly powerful and alien being slain at great cost by the last, valiant survivors of Humanity.
Only Humans could possibly hope to survive on a dead world. And only Humans could have brought this eventuality to pass.
Sakura turned to the side and drawn by something she walked up a nearby hill and blinked at the sight of a frontier city built atop and around a towering tree-like construct in the distance. Angelic figures floated around the tree and over the town, and Sakura shivered. Humans lived in the city, she knew it, but somehow she knew that those Humans were far stronger than any Human of the modern age could possibly be.
She looked up at the bloody sky, and knew that the air was poison. How could it not be? Gaea was dead. Humanity's creator, the same one who had betrayed it by chaining it to the ground and jealously holding it back from its true destiny was slain, but even now the betrayal continued. The air was filled with…something. Something meant to spitefully kill the creation that had surpassed the creator.
This may be a dream, but there's something about this…dust in the air that draws me. Is it related to my ether affinity? I'll have to remember this when I awake…it may prove useful to my research.
"Regent of Babylonia…" Gilgamesh's voice echoed in her ears, and a startled Sakura looked around for the King in vain. "…the stars sing to us, inviting us to join our voices with theirs to sing of victory everlasting, but the planets will not relinquish the chain of slavery over their 'creations' so easily. By my will the fate of the Human race is yours to arbitrate, but do not underestimate the enemy's cunning, their deceit, and their destructive power."
A shadow fell across Sakura, and slowly crept across the ground towards the city. Terror gripped her heart, terror of such a degree that she had never felt before, not even before the vile pit to which she would have been condemned had fate not been kinder. But she fought it back, retaking control of her body with an iron will.
This may be a dream, but I will die not as cowering prey, but as a proud and free being.
Glaring in defiance, Sakura and looked up at the sky…and gaped at the multi-kilometer cross of gleaming metal slowly approaching the city behind her. "Impossible…" she whispered. "…that's what we face? You've got to be kidding me."
Something flashed along its underbelly, and Sakura's eyes went wide as a cross-shaped projectile hurtled down towards her. She grimaced as death closed, even if only in a dream.
"Spirits damn you monster."
Sakura woke gasping, abruptly sitting up and wearily rubbing at her forehead. She sat on her bed for a few minutes before taking a deep breath and moving to open her curtains. She stared out of the windows and up at the clear blue skies.
The sky was the color of blood.
Sighing once more, Sakura turned to get ready for school. "The end of the Human race, huh?" she whispered as she rummaged through her closet. "I won't let that happen."
Rin Tohsaka strode purposefully down the hallway to where the Baking Club was assigned. She hated this. She needed to talk to her. She had a question that needed to be answered. She had to be resolute, and stern. She had to appear as though she hated her.
But she could never hate Sakura. Not even after everything she'd done. Not even after she'd murdered their mother.
As she approached the Baking Club, Rin unhappily found her mouth beginning to water at the smells wafting from inside the room. Chocolate…strawberry…mint…she had once considered joining the club herself, but the warm and welcoming atmosphere they encouraged among their members had clashed with the persona – or rather façade – she had built up as the Tohsaka heiress.
Not to mention I'll get fat.
The jumbled sounds of the club – mixed voices of girls and a few boys along with the clatter of tools and utensils – jumped at her as she opened the door and walked over to Shizune Miyamura, the faculty advisor for the club. "Excuse me sensei…" Rin began and injecting prana into her voice so as to convince the teacher much more easily. "…may I speak with Matou for a moment?"
The teacher nodded and motioned over to Sakura, who was currently putting a baking sheet into an oven. Sakura looked over after closing the oven and setting the timer, and grimaced slightly at the sight of Rin. Rin wilted slightly on the inside at the sight. Sakura meanwhile took off her apron and oven mitts before striding over. "May I be of assistance?" she asked politely as she arrived, and the teacher gestured to Rin.
"Tohsaka-san here needs to speak with you for a moment." She said, and Rin gestured outside before leading the way and after giving a sigh, Sakura followed.
"Do you need something?" Sakura asked as she closed the door behind her, and merely raised an eyebrow as a bounded field fell into place around them.
"Where's Shinji?" Rin asked.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Just answer the question."
"Quid pro quo…" Sakura replied, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall beside the door.
Rin rolled her eyes and took a moment to calm down. "I'm the de facto Supervisor of this territory." She said. "I have a responsibility to…oversee the activities of all magi operating within the territory, and considering that your cousin is a magus the fact that he's skipping school barely a month into the school year is something I can't just ignore."
Sakura stayed silent, her piercing blue eyes gazing into Rin equally blue and piercing ones. After a moment she blinked and smiled, and with a degree of warmth that Rin hadn't seen in a long time. "…you'll be a better Supervisor than father was in his day, that much is for sure." Sakura said, and Rin fought down her anger, unwilling to exacerbate the existing schism with her sister.
Even if it was you who left father in ruins as he is today.
"Shinji's currently 'touring' Central Honshu and the Kyoto region right now. He's gathering materials for his research." Sakura continued while heading back to the Baking Club. "I can't say much more than that, assuming that I know more. Magi secrecy, you know?"
"I see…" Rin said with a nod. "…thank you for your cooperation."
"Sister…" Sakura said abruptly as Rin dispelled the bounded field and began to walk away. "…you should stop pretending. There's no need for you to pretend, seeing as you don't truly understand father and myself."
Rin whirled, anger and resentment ablaze in her eyes and on her face only to be stopped cold by Sakura's own facial expression. There was no anger or hatred there, indeed, no negative emotions at all. There was only…a faint melancholia. "And I pray and hope that you never do." She said as she opened the door and walked in. "After all, Human beings can only truly understand what they experience in person."
The door closed softly behind her, and Rin grimaced alone in the corridor, grinding her teeth as tears pooled in the corners of her eyes. "Damn it…" she said as she wiped them away, and walked off back to her own club activities.
Sparks showered across a sweating, goggled and heavily-dressed Shiro Emiya, the deafening sound of metal against stone filling the air as he sharpened a pair of grass shears against a prana-powered rotary grindstone. Other garden tools – already sharpened – lay on a nearby table. "And that's done." He said wearily as he raised the sharpened tool to examine it and stopped the grindstone. "I still don't know how this is supposed to help my magic…"
"Oh good…" Rin said as she pushed her father just outside the garden shed. "…we were wondering if you were slacking off, but it turns out you're finished. Well done."
Rin walked over, and picked up the tools to examine them one by one in the faded, golden light of the evening twilight. She then looked at Shiro, and noted his tired and sweating visage. "Hmm…" she mused aloud. "…it looks like you need to build up your prana reserves and physical endurance some more. Well in the case of the latter you're already a member of the Archery Club, so it should take care of itself given time. As for the former…"
Rin paused and gave a crafty smile at her father who smiled back at her, and giving Shiro a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "…what did you learn?" she asked.
"What?"
"What I just said: what did you learn from this exercise?"
"Um…I need to build up my prana reserves and endurance?"
Rin's smile turned wooden and sighing, activated her crest and tapped each of the sharpened tools with her finger once. Shiro spluttered in outrage as their edges dulled and darkened.
"Hey what are you…?"
"You'll sharpen them again tomorrow…" Rin said sternly. "…until you figure out what the point of the exercise is beyond the obvious."
"Beyond the obvious…?" Shiro echoed before lowering his head in thought. "Wait a minute…"
"Oh good; have you finally realized it?"
"…this exercise…was meant for me to…I was supposed to study the shifts in conceptual and fundamental structures of the tools…while they were being sharpened?"
"Excellent Emiya-kun…" Tokiomi congratulated him. "…you understand the point of this exercise, albeit somewhat belatedly. You will repeat tomorrow as my daughter said, although afterwards additional training will be put on hold. In the meantime you will compile what you learn from the exercise into written form, complete with multi-dimensional diagrams and conceptual calculations."
Shiro blanched at the magical 'homework' being given to him: he wasn't particularly good at the theoretical side of things. Rin noticed and smiled at him, once again giving him a sinking feeling.
"I know you don't like theory Shiro…" she began. "…but you have to get used to knowing and writing it up. Whether it's science or magic, theory and practical are both equally important."
"I know I know…" he said exasperatedly. "…I'll do it somehow. I still remember what you said back when we started: to be a successful magus requires not just talent, but also effort, determination, and hard work."
Rin nodded approvingly, and moved to leave. "Training is over for today Shiro…" she said while pushing her father's wheelchair before her. "…come on, I've prepared an early dinner for us."
Shiro nodded back, and followed after cleaning up the garden shed. He took a short detour to the toilet to change clothes and then proceeded to the dining room. "Japanese…?" he said questioningly as he entered, and Tokiomi smiled at Rin as though saying 'I told you so' and causing the girl to glare at her apprentice.
"Is there a problem?" she asked crossly.
"Well no…" he blurted out, trying to calm her down. "…it's just that I didn't think that you were capable of cooking Japanese cuisine…"
Rin's eyebrows began to twitch, and Shiro began to sweat. Fortunately Tokiomi didn't care much for a magical duel in his dining room, and caught both of their attentions with a cough. "As amusing as your master-student interactions are…" he began delicately. "…the food is getting cold."
Shiro nodded in agreement and proceeded to his seat once a flushed Rin had given a huff of anger and stomped off to serve dinner. "So Emiya-kun…" Tokiomi began once dinner was underway and things had calmed down. "…how is your sister's training progressing?"
"It's going well." Shiro said while Rin choked on her meal.
"Training…?" she echoed. "I didn't know Akira-chan was a magus."
She gave a flat look at Shiro who fidgeted under her gaze. "She's not a magus, she's a psychic." He desperately said, unwilling to provoke her again.
"A psychic…?" she echoed. "That sounds interesting…what's her special ability? Telepathy…? Precognition…?"
"Life manipulation…" Tokiomi said while taking a drink of his tea, and Rin turned to him.
"What?"
"…young Akira's ability is life manipulation." He said. "She has the ability to drain the life energy of other living beings, and manipulate it to enhance her physical attributes. There's also an as-of-yet untapped healing factor, and potentially the ability to perform all those on other individuals. There could be other abilities under the broad term of 'life manipulation'. Of course there are limitations, but she's still young. There's ample time to explore the possibilities, and no need to rush things."
"I see…" Rin said thoughtfully and with a nod. "…wait, who figured out her abilities? I know Aunt Maiya's a spell-caster, but the Emiya magecraft is supposed to be almost completely lost what with the Association seal on all pre-Kiritsugu research and the destruction of Uncle Kiritsugu's crest. As for you father…well never mind…was it Kirei?"
Tokiomi pondered his answer for a moment. He could of course lie and say that it was Kirei, but Rin might ask the priest. And for all his faults the treacherous bastard was NOT a liar. It was probably best that Rin learn it from him as opposed to Kirei.
"No…" he finally said. "…Hisau came to me, but I directed her to Medea Matou instead. She uncovered the extent of young Akira's abilities, and Hisau returned to me to organize her training. She may not have to utilize it extensively in the future, but she should learn how to control it at the least. Life manipulation is as dangerous as it is useful."
Rin nodded in agreement, and much to Tokiomi's surprise showed no anger or resentment at the mention of the other victor – by default – of the Fourth Holy Grail War (the other victor being Sakura of course). Shiro however looked thoughtful. "Is something the matter, Emiya-kun?" he asked.
"I'm just surprised that's all." Shiro replied.
"Oh?"
"It's just that my parents always warned me to stay away from either Medea or her daughter Sakura, and to be wary about the other members of their family." He explained. "And yet she went to her for Akira…"
Shiro's voice trailed off, but Tokiomi was already nodding in understanding. "Medea is dangerous…" he said, careful to avoid revealing her true nature as a reincarnated Heroic Spirit. Rin already knew, but Shiro…he probably didn't need to know it. "…probably as dangerous as her namesake, but I know of her. Hisau and her daughter approached as guests, and Medea treated them as such. She will not harm those who call upon her hospitality. That much is certain."
"She's not so bad then…" Shiro said, although internally he resolved to remain wary. Even if Medea wasn't a complete monster, then it just made her all the more dangerous since she would probably just as unpredictable as any other Human. Her daughter on the other hand…
"Shiro…?" Rin asked. "Is something wrong?"
"…Sakura…" he said, and both Rin and Tokiomi looked at each other uneasily. "…Sakura Matou is popular in her level, and is rather beautiful I have to admit. But…it's an alien, almost forbidden beauty. I don't know why, but she feels wrong. It's almost as if someone like her…it's almost like she shouldn't exist."
Tokiomi briefly closed his eyes. The boy had a point. Through Medea Sakura was a demi-goddess, even if only an eighth of her blood belonged to that of the Solar Titan Helios. But that kind of being should not exist in the Age of Man, at least not in such a stable form.
Part-Humans of our age are unstable and dangerously flawed, as demonstrated by the Tohno and other human-demon hybrids of Japan.
"Emiya-kun…" he began. "…what do you know of the Phantasmal Species?"
"The Phantasmal Species…?" Shiro echoed. "They're the beings commonly seen as existing only in fairy tales, such as dragons, giants, elves, etc. Back during the Age of the Gods they existed in the world alongside Humanity, but when the Age of Man began, they slowly but steadily migrated into the Inner World, where no Human could possibly go. Today the only Phantasmal Species left in the world are the chimeras, and even then they isolate themselves in wildernesses far from the reach of Humanity."
"Fundamentally correct…" Rin agreed. "…although technically speaking True Ancestors and Dead Apostles are also considered as Phantasmal Species in their own right, the vampires."
"And as I recall from my own studies…" Shiro countered a bit smugly much to her irritation. "…whether or not they belong to the Phantasmal Species is hotly-debated among magi, considering that Dead Apostles are originally Humans to begin with. The True Ancestors are supposed to be extinct, apart from the White Princess though no one knows where she is, so it's a moot point in their case."
'Yes well…" Rin said with a cough. "…the gist of this is that Phantasmal Species are beings that cannot exist within the 'normal' rules of the world, and can be considered as embodiments of mysteries comparable to High Thaumaturgy. Furthermore, their circumstances also mean that actually being granted the privilege to view one can be considered as a miracle on par with True Magic."
"Full points to the two of you…" Tokiomi said approvingly. "…now, Emiya-kun: look beneath the obvious once more…"
Shiro blinked, and then an expression dawning comprehension and rising horror began to appear on his face. "No…" he said. "…that's impossible!"
"That's why it's called magic." Rin said mockingly.
"Sakura and Medea are phantasmal beasts…?"
"…they are and they are not…" Tokiomi said cryptically. Once again it was a truth in its own way, given that Servants are technically imperfect manifestations of the Third Magic. How much more for a reincarnated Heroic Spirit? "…what they are is something that you have to learn on your own. I would advise against asking though; neither might be willing to indulge your curiosity. Let this be a lesson to you Emiya-kun: direct your gaze accordingly, and that there are mysteries which should not be touched or even approached."
"Are they dangerous?"
"Of course they're dangerous." Tokiomi said. "Rin is dangerous too. I too am dangerous in my own way, and the same goes for you. With that said, I don't think you need to worry too much about those two. I know that there's no need to worry about them. Now let us continue our meal, it is getting cold."
There's no need to worry about those two…yet.
A/N
With regards to Shiro and Rin's relationship: what relationship? They are master and student, although they clearly are attracted to each other. They aren't going out, but since they spend a lot of time with each other, everyone just assumes they're good friends. Until recently that is...
Rin's still worried about gaining weight (lol – she's like a typical teenager though she'd be pissed at anyone who told her that).
And finally Akira; she basically has something similar to Force Drain. She probably won't become a Nasu-version of Lord Nihilus though…
