A/N: I'm one of those people who stalks page views via Story Stats. It feels really good to know you're reading! Thanks for your ongoing support. I did a bit of an overhaul on past chapters, correcting grammar and errors and whatnot. There will be more surprises in store for the future~
Never had we been at ease. No one quite understood how it happened. Under loaded gun and a chambered first round, every continent on our planet was a particle in the volatile powder keg. Hearts were spliced at a molecular level. It went unnamed, unknown, coming undone seam by seam. According to speculation, some greater power or some God brought this upon us. Black rain fell from the sky without cause. They said nothing more than "disaster cometh."
I listened to the click of my boots on a polished floor. Lance walked noiselessly beside me. For a moment I admired his silver-gilded profile and how his hair turned midnight blue in the shadows. Wracked with worry over Gil's disappearance, I turned to all my doubts, seeking refuge in a contrived answer. Even with this ongoing disaster I could repine over petty matters of the heart.
That feeling I got, like Lance and I were doomed to be apart, gnawed at me endlessly. I feared getting any closer, knowing my heart would eventually break with the pain of losing him forever. If I kept my distance perhaps I'd not suffer as much. He could get a new Master in another Holy Grail War, forgetting I even existed. Any Servant used a Master as a steppingstone regardless.
Why did Lance care for me when I didn't deserve it? Having a stupid little Master, was that reason enough for him to fall in love? Quite possibly he only protected her because she was his Master and nothing more.
What a deadly force uncertainty was.
Reactively I slapped both hands against my cheeks, the cognitive stimuli too overwhelming, sending a shock throughout the entire empty shopping complex. Lance's head snapped over to my direction.
"S-sorry. Did I frighten you?" I didn't dare elaborate upon my mind's inner workings.
He shook his head and reached for me, kind of asking, "Are you frightened?"
I backed up just enough to evade his grasp, arms hugged around myself defensively. "I'm okay."
Truth be told, I was frightened beyond relief, frightened of letting him in. I was frightened of being in love, whether fleeting or true, though I believed it to be the latter. Even if everything worked out and the world was repaired, we would never be together.
Lance grimaced like he'd made some grave transgression, moving along slower now. I got the impression I hurt his feelings.
"That's not it," I tried to explain.
He turned, looking a touch… troubled? If only I was capable of reassuring him. I stopped at the bottom of an inactive escalator, ready to pour my heart out.
"…Rin was right. The Grail War is drawing to a close, and I know what'll happen when—"
"Big sister!"
I spotted Gil's small figure waving at us from the corner of my eye, up on the mall's second floor.
"Why am I always getting interrupted?" I wondered.
"Hey, hey, check this out!" he exclaimed while speeding down the motionless, once moving stairs.
The first question I asked upon seeing him holding a shopping bag was, "You bought something?"
He ran a hand sheepishly through his lemon-yellow hair. "I paid! I… sorta borrowed Rin's jewels and left them at the cash register."
Lance then decided it was a good idea to lift Gil in the air (by the armpits no less) and growl at him like some feral animal.
"Sis, please help me." The kid sounded like he was going to soil his pants.
I rubbed my throbbing temples. "Lance, you can put him down."
At least he obeyed. I tapped a foot on the floor, trying to think of what I'd say, tempted to let Rin deal with him.
"Gil, you shouldn't have run away like that. I worried like there was no tomorrow, you know. Rin might be bossy, but she only acts in your best interest. It's not safe out here, especially for young boys like you."
"Sorry, big sister, I really am," Gil said, head hung. "I just wanted to get you a present."
I relaxed my stance a bit. "I appreciate that a lot. I'd also appreciate it if you could listen to the grown-ups from now on, okay?"
"Okay," he replied.
"Promise?"
"Promise." Shyly Gil offered up a box taken from his bag.
With a sigh I removed the lid, finding inside a European-style dress set that came in a few pieces: a white, puffy-sleeved top, a brown corset, and a lacy red two-layered skirt with one matching ribbon neckpiece.
"Do you like it?"
I was stupefied. "I-I love it. It's absolutely gorgeous."
"If you want to try it on, there's a ladies' washroom over there."
I glanced at Lance. "I really shouldn't. I mean…"
"But what if it doesn't fit you?" he asked apprehensively.
"Oh, alright. I'll be quick."
It was dark inside the restroom, there being only a single small window to light its interior. Surprisingly the outfit fit near perfectly. Even the looseness of the blouse was remedied by that unusual old-fashioned corset. I admired myself on the way out.
"Wow, big sis!" exclaimed Gil when he saw me. "You look even more beautiful than you already are."
I played self-consciously with the ribbon neck-collar. "Thank you, for getting this for me. You're very considerate."
"Now hold this!" He handed me a wicker picnic basket filled with jams and candy.
I obliged, my mouth watering just looking at its contents.
"You look like Little Red Riding Hood!" Gil giggled. "Without the hood. Hey, isn't she pretty, Mr. Lance?"
He approached me from behind, nodding. I saw him with this flowery-patterned Hawaiian T-shirt in hand.
"What have you got there, hm?"
Lance looked like he wanted to wear it. I couldn't help but smile.
"I like your fashion sense. Don't tell me you paid with Rin's jewels too." I paused, scuffing the floor with my shoe. "I apologize for how I acted before. I didn't mean to be so insensitive. Things are… confusing for me right now…"
I stood on tiptoe to put my arms around his neck.
"All I know is that I want to be with you."
Gil oohed to nobody but himself and started pushing us closer together.
"Cut it out!" I kicked at him playfully.
He danced around my leg, making a duckbill imitation with his lips.
"Big sis is in l-o-v-e!"
"So what if I a—"
A sudden shattering of glass filled the entire atrium. Ton upon ton of thrashing corpses poured down from the skylight, crystalline shards scintillating all around them as they piled up on top of each other. Instinctively Lance grabbed Gil and crouched down, shielding us as the splinters crashed loudly on the ground. One large sliver plunged point first into his shoulder. He cried out, too preoccupied with me and Gil to remove it. I did it for him, provoking another yelp.
"We have to move!" I told him as I rapidly healed the cut.
Lance carried us off just in time to avoid being buried in live cadavers.
Gil tugged on my sleeve. "Sis, w-what's going on?"
"…This is why Rin didn't want us going out."
"Because of them?!"
We were set down by Lance, who then drew out Gáe Bolg. The wasted zombies moved sluggishly, but their sheer volume threated to completely inundate us. It was three against hundreds. I grit my teeth, unable to think up a good plan. Raido might have gotten us to the front, but outside more zombies pressed against the closed glass doors, arranged so that they'd pour out at a moment's notice. If only I had more runes in my repertoire.
"They're not contagious," I said, speaking from experience, "but if we get swamped, it's basically over."
The ones inside were making their way toward us. Lance began lopping heads off, though the bodies kept dragging across the floor. Gil screamed and hugged me tight. I shivered, feeling two clammy hands going up my leg. I booted the sallow-faced horror square in the jaw, sending a rotting eyeball flying out. After landing a dropkick on another that tried to stand, Lance backed against me.
"We can do this." My façade of confidence sounded appealing enough.
He nodded, tracing a straight line in the air: a rune. In an instant the ground beneath the zombies went slick with glistening and immeasurably slippery ice. They skidded around haphazardly, which would have been funny if they didn't keep falling from the ceiling. Soon there were enough of their wriggling bodies to cover a vast majority of the frostbitten floor; the uppermost zombies crawled over the ones on the bottom.
"It's not working!"
Hearing my words, Lance resumed the hack-and-slash method. I was helpless. Gil was paralyzed with fear. There wouldn't be any of our bodies left for Rin to find. Making it anywhere remotely close to the doorway required an attack like that of Saber's Excalibur, which obliterated everything in its path.
We were cornered between two marble pillars, standing abreast against the wall. Navigating the throng was high on nigh impossible without falling in. The teeth of one zombie sank into my knee and became stuck fast when the penetrated skin repaired itself. I thought I was going to throw up. Lance repaid me for earlier by yanking it out, pearly whites and all.
I tried not to let bad language fly out in front of Gil. "This is bad."
Gil sobbed hard, burying his head in my skirt. "I'm sorry! This never would have happened if it weren't for me."
"No, I let my guard down. It's my fault too."
The sad memories struck me afresh. I failed to protect Julius, now Gil, Lance, and even myself. Even if it wasn't entirely my burden, I shouldered the blame because there was no one else who deserved it.
"Hey, big sis…"
"Gil?"
"I wish I could have had more time with you and Lance and Rin."
Lance crouched down away from the zombies and pulled the two of us into his arms. Gil's tears fell freely as he broke down.
"It's not fair! It's not fair!" he wailed.
"I know it's not," I cooed. "It's not fair at all."
Subconsciously my fingers reached for Lance, touching his soft cheek. He looked closely at my face.
"It's not fair at all," I repeated.
The undead were upon us, eating into our space and hungering for a single bite of juicy flesh. I hugged Gil close, eyes squeezed shut; Lance did the same with me.
"It's not fair." Gil's voice started out low, slowly rising. "It's not fair. It's not fair! It's… not… fair!"
What happened next was absolutely beyond human comprehension. The zombies probably didn't know what hit them. It sounded like a machine gun pelting the mall floor a salvo of ammunition rounds. I heard death rattling in high soprano bursts accompanied by stone tiling being rent asunder, split into a million pieces. Then silence.
Before me lay a kingdom of rubble littered with countless swords anchored in the ground. Every zombie had gone still, torn limb from limb, a great deal looking like gory pancakes put through a grinder. A blade or two loomed over each one like a grand, unfitting grave marker.
"Impossible. What…?"
Lance helped me stand on my trembling legs. When I reached for Gil's hand, I got no response. He sat slumped over, stolid at best, a thousand-yard stare plastered on those youthful features. This was the nail in the coffin that rendered nugatory my attempts at protecting him from the truth. Even then, I hadn't an inkling of how this happened.
An inarticulate noise came out of my throat. I pointed at what remained of the exit instead.
Lance swept up our shell-shocked Gil and made his way through the metal labyrinth. I followed him, nearly slipping on some brains in the process. Tired of being evasive, I drew the weapons in my path from the ground with great ardor of task and collected them, careful not to cut myself. Maybe they'd serve us well in the future.
The entire front of the mall looked like a battered rampart, having collapsed in most places and permanently changed our enemy from undead to undoubtedly dead. Still holding Gil, Lance offered me a hand as we stepped gingerly over the wreckage.
Gil said nothing at all on our way home. This experience wrought even less desirably on him than I expected. My voice cut over his benumbed senses.
"Are you okay?"
I received a mechanical nod. Unconvinced, I cozied up to Gil with my head against Lance's armor. I offered my free hand to him.
He took it grudgingly, and that was when the over-pressurized floodgates burst open.
Poor kid.