Chapter 27 – That Which Bleeds (I)
(Published 12.22.14 – Beta Ravingscholar)


Plates fell on the floor and crashed, sending shards flying all over the room. Chopsticks fell and clattered as two women froze simultaneously, eyes locked in the same direction. The television was transmitting the morning news.

"…"

The voice of the announcer was barely recognized background noise in Medea's ears. After the name of Shirou's hotel in Misaki had been mentioned as the place of a mass disappearance, worry drowned out everything else.

Names of missing people – presumed to be dead – ran across the screen, in alphabetical order.

Emiya Shirou.

His name flashed across the screen with countless other.

No, there had to be a mistake, she told herself. It just wasn't possible that her Master was dead. Certainly she would have noticed if the contract had been severed.

Or would she?

Because of her connection to the leyline nexus, her manifestation did not rely on a Master like normal Servants. Without a steady flow of Prana they only had a mind link. As such, it wasn't impossible that, with enough distance between them, she wouldn't be able to feel the death of her Master.

No.

That was unthinkable. Not only because she refused to acknowledge the possibility of losing him even in a thousand years, but because it was utterly ridiculous that the Caster class would not notice a such a shift in her bonds and bindings.

That's what she told herself, but the feeling of dread did not subside.

"M-Megissa," Taiga stuttered with panic in her eyes.

She did not answer, but closed her eyes, hands gripping the shirt over her chest. Her consciousness shot out through the part of her mind where the connection with her Master should have been.

Prana, much like all forms of energy, was subject to distance. The further away two points were, the more energy was lost in the process of traveling from one to the other.

Sweat formed on her forehead as she pushed herself further and further through empty darkness.

'Where are you?'

There was no answer, and she pushed herself even further.

'Where are you, Shirou?'

The darkness did not subside in the slightest, and hopelessness began crawling within her. Then, far in the distance, a small light shined, kind and warm.

'Shirou!'

Too far. She couldn't reach, but the faint sound of a steady heartbeat echoed in her ears.

'Shirou!'

Her energy began to dwindle and her consciousness was flung back toward her body.

'Shirou!'

"Shirou!" she shouted, eyes snapping open.

"Megissa-chan," Taiga shook her frantically, trying to get a response of any kind from her entranced self. "Megissa-chan, what's going on?"

"He's alive," she breathed out. "I could not make contact, but I'm sure he's alive and well. I perceived no distress in his spirit, therefore he should be somewhere safe."

"Oh," Taiga slumped on the floor, knees betraying her in her elation, "thank goodness. W-what could have happened? Why hasn't he called yet?"

"I don't know. Have you tried calling him?"

"Just now," she nodded, holding her cell phone. "But I can't reach his phone either."

"That… IDIOT," the witch shouted angrily, "that stupid selfless idiot. I knew he should have stayed out of it. He shouldn't have," - gone where I can't reach him- " stuck his nose in other people's problems. That stupid, stupid, stupid Shirou!"

As if on cue, the phone rang. Both women looked at each other and then simultaneously ran toward the hallway.

"Shirou!" Medea shouted in the receiver as soon as she wrestled it away from Taiga.

"No, it's Dojima," the voice on the other end of the line answered with a cringe. "I just heard the news. Is the kid really…?"

"Oh, it's you," Medea answered, disappointment and annoyance dripping in her voice. "No, I couldn't get in touch, but he's certainly alive."

"Then how do you know he's… forget it, it's probably more weird shit. Are you positive he's fine?"

"Right now, I could only confirm that he's alive. "

"Hm, I have a few friends in the police department in Misaki. If you're sure the kid's fine, then I'll come up with a story to keep his name out of their investigation. It wouldn't be the first time a hotel gets the guest list wrong after all."

"Why would you do that?" the witch asked, surprised with the detective's initiative.

"This mess is probably that vampire's doing, isn't it? If that's the case then it's better for the police to stay out of Shirou's way for everyone's sake. Anyway, if you can get in contact with him anytime soon tell him to give me a call so that we corroborate our stories, especially if he's going to do anything that might attract my colleagues' attention even more."

"I will do that," Medea confirmed. "I guess you aren't as useless as I thought you'd be."

"Hey, you bit-"

Medea hung up the receiver and turned to Taiga who was looking at her expectantly.

"It was one of Shirou's collaborators; a policeman," she explained. "He said that he'll clear Shirou's position with the authorities. All we have to do now is find where that idiot has gone."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Never underestimate the resources of a witch, Taiga," she replied confidently. 'And heavens help you, Shirou, if you don't have an excellent reason for making me worry like this,' she added inwardly as she strode toward the workshop with clear purpose.


Later

"Is this… really going to work?" she asked incredulously, staring and poking at the item laid upon the table before her. When Shirou told her that magic was real she expected something of the sort, of course, but to see in real life a honest-to-god crystal ball still felt a bit surreal.

"Yes." Medea replied dutifully. "Even if the distance is enormous, with a proper scrying crystal I can exploit our connection and find Shirou."

"Ha, ha, ha," Taiga chuckled awkwardly at the witch nonplussed explanation. "That 's not what I meant but nevermind."

"Well now," Medea stretched her hands to hover above the crystal. "This should take but a mom-"

She froze.

"W-what? What is it?"

"A Servant is approaching," she narrowed her eyes. Like clockwork, the doorbell rang.

"Eeeh? You mean another person like you? But I thought the war wasn't supposed to start yet."

"It isn't," Medea replied standing on her feet. "This is probably that Tohsaka girl with Saber."

"Oh, that's right, Shirou said she's a Magus too. Wait, does it mean she's coming here to fight?"

"No, they are our allies for the time being. But why would they… Of course, they must have seen the news as well."

"So… they are worried for Shirou?"

"Well, I wouldn't say worried about him: more like concerned with how it will affect our plans for the war. Anyway, it's bad timing. Taiga, you should probably hide somewhere for the… Taiga?"

Heedless of her warning, mostly because she hadn't heard them, Taiga left the living room to greet Shirou's friends. Magus or not, if they were Shirou's friends she would welcome them with open arms. The tactical concerns of being openly associated with a Master did not even register in her brain.

"Taiga, wait," Medea called after her, but too late to prevent anything. Taiga opened the main gate as cheerfully as she would have done in any other circumstance.

"Ohayo, Tohsaka-san and… Dulac-san? Wait, does that mean that you are Saber?"

For everyone except Taiga, who was oblivious to the weight of her own words, the world seemed to freeze in a mixture of shock and incredulity. A few feet behind her, a moment later, Medea gave a long, weary sigh.

Like brother, like sister. Fools the both of them.


Tohsaka Rin was never a woman to be taken aback easily. Her motto was to not let unexpected events slow her down. Nonetheless, her schoolteacher's casual admittance of her knowledge about Servants and all that it entailed actually caused her to gape slightly.

Being a stranger to Rin's normal dynamics, Saber was completely unfazed by this turn of events. She merely took Taiga's presence at another Master's house as a perfectly acceptable reason for her to know. She regarded her with an examining gaze for a moment and dismissed her as a threat as quickly, focusing instead on the Servant a few steps away.

Of course, Rin knew it wasn't that simple. The thought alone was mind-boggling, but then again she had made the same mistake with Emiya himself.

"Sensei are you… one of us?" she asked, deadly serious. If she had missed not one, but two Magi in her own territory she couldn't forgive her own incompetence.

"Eh? What do you mean, Tohsaka? Ooh, you mean a wizard? Nope! I'm just your average everyday teacher. Well, maybe more awesome than average, but…"

While Fujimura-sensei ranted, Rin regained her bearings, though she was now fuming inside. What was Emiya thinking, letting a normal person know of Magecraft? Being his guardian didn't justify the blatant breach of secrecy, in her opinion. Families of Magi even kept the children not chosen to inherit the craft in the dark for their entire lives, or gave them up to adoption.

Yes, it pissed her off a great deal that Emiya was being so open and straightforward with the people around him while she couldn't even talk with…

Nevermind. She would not entertain such thoughts. She was the only daughter of Tohsaka Tokiomi and that was it. Her reason for being upset was solely Emiya's blatant disrespect of the basic rules of Magi society. That, and nothing more.

She would rectify that mistake herself immediately, if it wouldn't compromise any future cooperation with Caster's Master. Speaking of which…

"Caster, I heard the news," she said flatly, ignoring Fujimura's presence altogether. "Since I see that you are both fairly calm, I take it that he's in good condition."

"Master is alive, yes, but I couldn't get in touch with him. As a matter of fact, we were about to scry for him."

"Over that distance? Well, I suppose that with a working contract it shouldn't be too difficult for a Mage of your caliber. Very well," she said stepping past the entrance with Saber in civil attire following dutifully, "let's see what Emiya has been up to."

"I don't recall asking you to participate."

"Do you have any objection? For the sake of future cooperation it's better if I know what kind of situation Emiya is capable of dealing with. Or is there something about this affair that I should not know about?"

For a moment, tension built up rapidly in the enclosed space. Even Saber shifted in preparation of possible hostilities. Fortunately, Fujimura intervened with her usual oblivious behavior.

"Now, now, Megissa. There's no reason to be so defensive. Tohsaka is simply worried about her friend."

"Right," both female Magi said in a deadpan. Well, it's not like it wasn't true. Rin was actually worried; worried that her idiot ally got himself killed before the war even started for real, that is.

"Fine," the purple haired witch huffed, "come on in."

Rin followed, flanked by Saber and preceded by Fujimura. The teenage Magus was a bit taken aback by the interaction between the two women of the Emiya household. What sort of relationship did a mundane woman have with a Heroic Spirit of the Age of Gods? How did they even hold a conversation?

She was too used to keeping the mundane and the spiritual parts of her life separated, where the former was a nuisance she had to deal with and the latter the real focus of her life. As such, she had a hard time seeing them standing together, interacting with such ease. It gave her an odd sense of alienation she didn't like one bit. Still, at another Magus' place it wasn't like she would complain aloud.

Saber was likely to be at the receiving end of a very long rant once they returned home. Thankfully the measure of her patience far outstripped her Master's.

For the time being though, Rin put aside her complaints and followed the residents to the living room, where a scrying crystal was set on a purple cushion in the middle of the table. Wordlessly, they took a seat in chairs at opposite sides of the table: Caster and Fujimura on one side, Rin and Saber on the other.

"Well, then," Caster announced. "Let's begin."

She placed both hands over the sphere and closed her eyes momentarily. Slowly, the scrying crystal began glowing from within. A fog-like gas swirled inside, unrecognizable glimpses flashed briefly, too fast to be identified. Then, the fog began to clear and slowly the face of Emiya, pale-faced and eyes closed filled the transparent globe.

"Shirou!" Fujimura shouted both excitedly and worriedly. "Shirou! Can you hear me?"

"He can't," both Rin and Caster answered, sending a brief glare at each other. The latter continued, "Scrying is not a means of communication, but a form of divination. He can't know we are watching him nor can he hear anything we say."

"Oh. But where is he now? I can't see anything but his face. Can't you zoom out?"

She could, so to speak, zoom out: although that way of putting it irked Rin. Hearing the Workings of a Mystery being addressed like the functions of a modern-day camera was insulting, to say the least. Caster slightly increased the amount of Prana she was putting into the crystal, and using the target of her initial divination as a relay point she could scry its surroundings. The fog covered the image again momentarily and then cleared out to show a broader scene.

Silence fell upon the room.

Not one, not two, but three eyebrows twitched simultaneously in annoyance.

Emiya was clearly sleeping on a double bed in some old-fashioned western style mansion, judging from the furniture and the bed's headboard. He was resting over the covers with his arms spread to the sides and his feet sticking out of the bed. This would have been a fairly normal picture if not for the fact that beside him, almost snuggled into his side, was a brown haired girl sleeping just as soundly.

"Well, well, well, Emiya-kun," Rin said with a strained smile that wouldn't have fooled anyone on their worst day, "it looks like we were worrying over nothing, after all."

"Master," Saber whispered in her ear, grabbing a hold of Rin's hand. "We must retreat immediately."

"Uh? Saber, what's the problem?" Rin asked. The seriousness in Saber's tone managed to actually turn her attention away from Emiya's current situation. Saber glanced toward Caster and Rin followed her gaze. Immediately she inched back.

Caster was still seated, much like before, but her eyes were now hidden behind her bangs. What was more, the ominous aura that was flowing out of her body in visible, dark tendrils was anything but a good omen. Even Fujimura was backing away from the legendary witch.

"Of all things…" they heard the purple headed Magus whisper. "I was worried for him while he was with some other woman…."

The scrying crystal began to crack under the strain of excessive Prana being poured into it. "Shirou you… you…"

Rin pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed loudly. She couldn't believe the absurdity of what she was about to do.

"Caster," she said calmly. "It seems that there is a bit of a misunderstanding here."

Caster's eyes flickered up to hers, anger swirling inside them. "What do you mean?" she hissed.

"Take a closer look," Rin pointed at the crystal nonchalantly. "There is more to this scene than a compromising position. Look at Emiya's neck. You can clearly see a bandage sticking out from his collar. I assume that he didn't have it before he left, so it's likely because of a recent wound. Did he mention something the last time you heard from him?"

"No, but what does…"

"That means it's something he got recently, likely last night. His pale complexion is also consistent with prolonged blood-loss. Now look at their clothing. They are both wearing the same type of nightwear, but in Emiya's case it's a bit too short for him, while for this other person it's big enough that she had to roll both the sleeves and the legs of her pants, so it's definitely not hers either. Assuming that Emiya doesn't always carry around two sets of matching pajamas that don't even fit him, we can conclude fairly easily that they are yet at a third party's place. Considering that something like a mass disappearance is not something anyone could have anticipated, barring extenuating circumstance, then the current situation is most probably an arrangement of fortune. The fact that they are both resting on top of the covers and that the bed seems mostly untouched is proof that it hasn't been used for anything but sleeping, and quite sound sleep at that."

"Oh!" Caster said, anger deflating rapidly and relief dawning over her face.

"Is this girl someone you know, Fujimura-sensei?"

"Eh? No, I haven't seen her before."

"Has Emiya-kun been in Misaki frequently in the past?" Rin pressed on.

"Ah, well, as far as I know he went there only once before and very briefly."

"In conclusion, this unknown girl is probably a recent acquaintance, likely someone involved with yesterday's incident to some degree. Their closeness is a bit odd, perhaps, but in a situation where Dead Apostles and the Church's Executors are involved, it's not really something worthy of notice, all things considered."

A moment went by where everyone was silent while they stared at Rin. Saber seemed appreciative of her Master's deductive skills and intellect as she nodded periodically during her explanation. Fujimura was clapping her hands slowly, like a kid watching a detective drama, while Caster was sizing her up in a way different from ever before. Was it respect that Rin saw for a moment in her eyes?

"Yes, of course," Caster nodded finally, downplaying her own relief. "It's certainly something like that."

"Naturally, it doesn't take a genius like me to figure this all out," Rin said with absolutely zero modesty. "And anyone who knows Emiya well enough would understand that he's not the kind of person to make people worry over his life while he has an affair with a woman."

Caster looked away.

"But of course, one has to trust him implicitly to realize that. Obviously, not everyone is capable of doing something like that."

Caster winced visibly, but turned to glare at Rin.

"You've made your point, ojou-san," she said flatly. "Was there anything else?"

"No, that's about it," Rin declared in satisfaction, smiling as she stood up to leave. "Saber, we're done here. Don't bother showing us the way out, Fujimura-sensei. Say hi to Emiya on my behalf when you hear him, alright? I'll see you on Monday at school."

She left hastily with Saber in tow.

"Thank you for the hospitality," the blonde Servant said, inclining her head on the way to catch up with her Master.

"Master, was it really necessary to provoke Caster to such an extent?" she asked once they were out of Emiya's place and out of earshot. "I don't think it's wise to incur her hostility over matters that do not concern us."

"You are still considering them the opposition, Saber," Rin explained without slowing. "However, with the current state of the Grail they are the best asset at our disposal. We can't afford to lose them over some ridiculous misunderstanding. More importantly, Emiya is currently the only reason I'm willing to trust a Servant who betrayed her Master once already," – not that I wouldn't have done the same in Caster's place- , she silently added. "It's far better that she's angry at me rather than with the only person who seems to hold a sliver of her loyalty."

Saber nodded in acquiescence. Rin's reasoning was sound and she was satisfied with it. Allies didn't necessarily have to play nice with each other. Ensuring the full functionality of their cooperation was a much more important goal than gaining some fleeting appreciation. She could see the wisdom in that.

For that reason, her appreciation for her Master went up another notch. Rin had a wicked, Merlin-like personality that at times annoyed even Saber, but the King of Knights was more than willing to accept her abrasiveness because she could see that her Master was as strict with herself as she was with others. There was no doubt that they were extremely different individuals, and that at some point or another they would be at odds over something, but it would hardly ever be about the tactical validity of her choices.

More importantly, the Dream Cycle she was having gave her more than a little insight to her Master's depths, just as she knew Rin was having the same opportunity.

Slowly, Master and Servant made their way back home, silently carrying their own and each other's burdens.


Shirou woke up to the pressure of his own throbbing headache, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, with a feeling of dread swelling up in his chest.

He might have jumped to a seated position if his body didn't feel so hopelessly heavy. The sense of alarm subsided as he recognized and recollected where he was and why. The foreign sense of fear that caused it in the first place did not, yet there was no reason to be scared in his immediate surroundings.

Was it maybe the remnant of a nightmare he couldn't recall? Perhaps that was it. He had the impression that someone was calling his name with a voice filled with anguish, but he wasn't sure who it was: a figment of his imagination, most likely.

Slowly he pulled himself up and looked around. Because the Tohno household was mostly devoid of people, his room was silent. Yumizuka was nowhere to be found, so she had probably gone back to her room, at some point. His eyes glanced at a nearby clock and noticed that it was not even five hours past the time he had gone to sleep.

That was odd since he felt well rested, if a little groggy, and even his wound had healed more than he thought possible in such a short frame of time even with Avalon's minor healing factor. Well, it wasn't something that bothered him anyway.

However, he was hungry, famished even. His stomach felt as if someone had stabbed him repeatedly. Now that wasn't surprising at all. Prana expenditure and fighting were known to build up an appetite, after all. Perhaps, he thought, he could impose a little and ask for something to eat. Surely he could pay them back for their hospitality later.

He stood and stretched as much as his stiff and wounded body allowed him to. His muscles felt like lead and his mouth was dry like sand, but it wasn't all that bad for a man who had been skewered and beaten.

So why didn't the eerie feeling fade? What was this echo at the back of his mind? It made him feel extremely restless, so he stuck his head out into the hallway in spite of the order not to leave his room.

Seeing no one coming from either side, he tip-toed to Yumizuka's room and knocked on the door, but he received no answer. He knocked again, and still there was no response. Out of instinct he moved to try the handle and the door creaked open almost on its own, as if to invite him in. That was more than a bit creepy.

His mind switched into high gear as he surreptitiously threaded past the door frame, the hammer of a gun slowly rising somewhere into his soul, ready to fall at a moment's notice.

Inside the room, scarcely illuminated as expected from a vampire's resting place, Shirou could see that the bed was unmade; Yumizuka's pajama was lying rumpled on the ground, on the other side of the bed. He approached and picked up the shirt as if it could hold a hint of its owner whereabouts.

Then, precisely at that moment, Yumizuka walked out of the bathroom, holding a towel to dry her still damp hair.

She froze in place like a deer in the headlights when she noticed him standing there. Similarly, Shirou was rooted on the spot, speechless and dumbfounded. Such a reaction was most certainly caused by the aforementioned towel being the only piece of clothing in the immediate vicinity of Yumizuka's young and freshly showered body.

A moment of silence went by, perhaps the longest in their combined existences. Then a feminine scream shook the Tohno's household very foundations.

Her voice made Shirou snap out of his stupor with a jolt. He promptly closed his eyes, putting both hands in front of his face for good measure.

"I'm sorry!" he blurted. "I didn't mean to… I got no answer… I wanted to…"

"Get out, get out, get out!" Yumizuka shrieked, using the small towel and her arms to hide as much as she could. Shirou immediately complied and started to move, but doing so without looking turned out to be far from a good idea.

His foot got stuck into her pajama on the floor and he stumbled forward. Of course, possessing agility, reflexes and situational awareness superior to most people he immediately understood that he was about to fall right into Yumizuka and twisted his body as to avoid that.

What he failed to consider was Yumizuka's own reaction: upon seeing him fall toward her, with the help of her vampiric reflexes, she moved out of the way… in the same direction and with the same timing as him.

Thud!

"Kya!"

"Ouch!"

Their heads collided loudly and neither of them could regain their balance in time. Their legs hit the edge of the bed, and they both fell.


Satsuki's heart was beating so fast that her hearing registered it as a single whistling noise. That is, of course, if she had been paying it any attention.

A brief moment of pain and the sudden vertigo of falling quickly faded as she took stock of the situation. She was lying naked, on the bed graciously offered by Tohno-san for her use. That wasn't too troubling, though she wasn't in the habit of lying naked usually. No, the problem was the redheaded boy whose weight was currently pinning her down on the mattress. His head was resting beside hers, buried in her shoulder from the fall, while his hands had, somehow, ended up holding her wrists, keeping her arms spread apart.

He pulled himself up; their eyes locked, and time seemed to freeze to a standstill. Then she averted her eyes, face aflame in embarrassment, but said nothing. Her body eased, though she couldn't tell whether it was in resignation or acceptance. Some men would have taken it as an open invitation.

Instead, Shirou jumped.

He didn't flex his limbs or made any preparatory motion for it, but Shirou jumped off her like she was a piece of scalding-hot metal and was out of the room before she could blink twice, running out of the room and closing the door behind him with a loud slam.

She remained laying there in shocked silence for a long while. Then, as the embarrassment faded she curled into a ball and pulled the covers up to hide her body

"Hee… hee hee hee," she giggled. Despite still feeling quite embarrassed for what just happened she couldn't help but laugh. For a few moments, Satsuki just kept laughing heartily.

She was mortified, she truly was, but the entire situation was pure comedy. Shirou's reaction on top of it was extremely funny. After being suddenly cast in a dark world full of ominous things, this silly, albeit extremely embarrassing event was something so wonderfully human that she couldn't help but find it relaxing and amusing.

She didn't know how she'd face him after this, but for the time being she was just grateful about everything.


"Oh god," Shirou palmed his face once he was safely inside his room. "I'm the worst. Shit! Shit! Shit! How am I going to show my face around her after this?"

He berated himself for a few minutes, banging his head against the walls while he paced around the room, until a knocking on the door snapped him out of his self-deprecation.

Fearfully, as if death was waiting behind it, he went to open the door. Yumizuka stood just outside his room, dressed in her school uniform now free of holes and blemishes. She was staring at the floor with her bangs hiding her eyes from Shirou's view.

"Yumizuka-san, I'm sorry," he bowed deeply. "I'm really, really, really sorry about what happened. I didn't mean to do any of that."

"I won't forgive you," she muttered darkly. "I definitely won't forgive you."

"I underst- ouch," he yelped as she bopped him over his still bowed head.

"I definitely won't forgive you if you don't call me by my first name," she clarified.

Shirou straightened up and saw that she was smiling with a cute pink hue on her cheeks, although she was not looking at him in the eyes.

"P-pardon?" he asked, rubbing the spot where she had hit him.

"It's like I said. I won't forgive you if you don't call me Satsuki from now on."

"But… what does it have to do with…"

"What? Do you think you can save my life, feed me your blood, sleep in the same bed as me, see me naked, grope me and still pretend you are not familiar with me? I won't let you get away with it."

"Uuuh?" he moaned not understating the situation anymore. He backed up, trying to put some distance between them and make sense of things again.

"Say it, now," Yumizuka pressed, closing the distance. Soon enough Shirou found himself with his back to the wall.

"Wait a moment, Yumizu-"

"Sa! Tsu! Ki!" she insisted, cutting him off and pointing her index finger at him accusingly, holding it an inch from his nose.

"Satsuki!" he nearly shouted. "Alright, I get it. I'll call you Satsuki from now on," he finally conceded, left with no further escape routes. He held both his hands up in surrender. He could tell when he was defeated, although he still didn't understand what kind of battle he had been fighting and why.

"See? That wasn't so hard," she said, relenting her offense. "Now, about that apology…"

"Right," he bowed again. "I'm really sorry for before, Satsuki-san."

"Satsuki-san? Hmm… very well, I suppose that will suffice for the moment," she said with fake haughtiness. Then, more sincerely, "I forgive you."

"Thank you," Shirou breathed out in sincere relief. "I wouldn't know what to do if you didn't."

Satsuki laughed merrily. "Honestly, you worry too much Shirou. It was an honest accident. I couldn't hold it against you even if I tried. Besides, I really needed something to laugh about."

"Well," he said laughing awkwardly himself. "Glad to be of assistance."

"Good. Now that everything's settled, it's better if I go back to my room. I left a mess back there."

"Sure. And thanks," he added as she was about to leave.

"Honestly, I'm the one who should be thanking you," she replied, halfway to the door. "Oh, by the way…"

"Yes?"

"Next time, be more gentle," she told him as she closed the door behind her.

"…. Next time? What next time?" he asked to the empty room. He remained there for a long while, pondering on the recent developments. In the end, the only conclusion he was able to reach was that he couldn't understand women at all.


An ear-piercing scream, clearly of female origins echoed through the area of the Tohno mansion reserved to the staff. In the kitchen, Kohaku looked up from what she was currently doing.

"It looks like Emiya-san is finally awake," Hisui said as she passed through with some cleaning supplies.

"He slept well over a day," Kohaku nodded. "I suppose he'll be quite hungry. I'll make him an extra portion. Hisui, would you please inform Akiha-sama? She wanted to speak with him, as I recall.

Hisui nodded and left, while Kohaku returned to her task, smiling to herself. It looked like making the key to Yumizuka-san's room disappear worked well enough. And just like Akiha-sama said, Emiya-san really had a talent for being at the right place at the right time. That young man was probably the greatest source of both amusement and worry for someone, somewhere.

For now he could very well be Hisui's plaything as well.


"Emiya-san, are you awake? I've brought you breakfast," the cheerful voice of the maid, Kohaku if he recalled correctly, came with a knocking to his door as soon as he changed from his pajama to his now clean and patched up clothes.

"Yes, please come on in."

The maid walked in carrying a tray with a western-style breakfast. It wasn't precisely his favorite, but he wouldn't have complained even in normal circumstances; no way he would when he was starving. After a quick thank you he dug into his food with barely acceptable manners, while Kohaku watched with satisfaction.

"I'm glad to see you have built an appetite," she said kindly. "We were worried since we couldn't wake you up."

"Hm?" he swallowed. "You tried to wake me? I don't remember."

"Well, yes. We didn't try too hard, mind you, but I was beginning to think we'd have hook you up to an IV if you slept much longer."

"An-" he took a mouthful, chewing on it as he pondered her words with a frown. "An IV? Don't you mean a transfusion? But I didn't lose all that blood and my wound had already stopped bleeding."

"Oh no, I meant for nourishment. If you remained unconscious for much longer you could have had serious long term consequences."

"Wait a moment," he put down his fork, "exactly how long have I been sleeping?"

"Eh? I would say around thirty hours."

"…"

"Emiya-san?"

"I'm in trouble, Kohaku-san," he stated slowly, a bead of sweat making its way down the side of his face. "I'm in soooo much trouble."

"More than you can probably imagine, Emiya-san," said Akiha, entering the room like she owned it, which she did. She had a folded newspaper in her hands and placed it on the desk, right in front of him. Shirou looked at her quizzically, then he took the paper and read the first page.

He jumped to a standing position, staring at the newspaper like he wanted to dive into it from how close he put it to his face. The initial curiosity morphed to an expression of stunned disbelief. H is skin paled even further, and his fingers dug into the paper, crumpling it at the edges.

Bearing the date of what he now knew to be the previous day, the newspaper reported the disappearance of hundreds of people from the hotel where he had been staying. Where he would have been if he hadn't been fighting against the Church Executor.

A maelstrom of emotions swirled inside his stomach while countless different scenarios played inside his head.

If only he hadn't rescued Satsuki. If only he hadn't fought against Ciel. If only he hadn't kept the only two people with a measure of power to prevent such a thing busy fighting over the life of a single person, could either one of them have taken notice of what was happening elsewhere and put a stop to it?

For a single life saved, a hundred were lost.

One life in exchange for many.

Was this paradigm truly inescapable?

Should he have let Ciel kill Satsuki so that they could both focus on the actual threat?

No.

No.

No.

No.

He could not accept something like that. Regardless of how things played out, saving Satsuki had not been a mistake. To begin with, there was no guarantee that things would have been any different had he made a different choice.

No, even if he had known he could have made a difference, he would have still tried to save everyone. He knew that the path of sacrificing one life to save many was not a solution. Kiritsugu had seen the end of that path and the only thing that lay there was endless bloodshed.

Any Victory achieved on those terms was a Crime in and of itself.

"Emiya-san!" Akiha shouted, ripping the newspaper from his hands and Shirou himself from his thought. "Are you listening to me?"

"I… I'm sorry… what?" he asked, brain struggling to keep up with his own inner turmoil and the demands of reality.

"I asked you if you knew anything about this. You made no mention of this other accident."

"I-No," he shook his head, putting his personal inner dilemma on the back of his mind for the time being. "Sorry, I didn't know anything about it. I think… I think it must have happened while I was busy with the Executor. Damn it… this is all my fault."

Whack!

Akiha smacked him over the head with the rolled newspaper. An uncharacteristic action that even her maid found startling, judging from how she looked at her employer.

"You're a fool, Emiya," she reproached. "There's no reason to blame yourself over something that wasn't your doing. More importantly, had you not done what you did, the number of victims would include one more person. Do you regret saving Yumizuka-san, Emiya?"

"… Not at all," he said after a moment of hesitation, but firmly enough to convey his convictions. Yeah, no matter how it played out, in the end he would not regret his choice. No, if there was one thing he could blame himself for was not being strong enough when it counted the most.

If he hadn't allowed the Dead Apostle to escape, if his skill set had been good enough to evade Ciel instead of having to engage her, then the outcome would have been different. Either way, the loss of so many lives couldn't be held as result of Satsuki's salvation. Believing otherwise was taking the easy road to nowhere.

"Thank you, Akiha-san," I said, smiling faintly, "I think I needed to hear that."

Akiha nodded firmly like a teacher who had made her point across and was satisfied with her own work. It was hard to believe she was a year younger than Shirou. He supposed that the position of Head of a wealthy family wasn't just handed out at random, after all.

"That said, Emiya, what do you plan to do from now on? Your name figures among the missing therefore I avoided contacting anyone without your consent."

"Yeah, about that I should really call home," he said glancing at the hand where the invisible Command Seal was etched. "I think I'm going to get an earful this time. I there a phone I could use? My phone battery is dead and I left the charger in my room at the hotel."

"Of course. Kohaku will show you to it."


When the phone rang inside the Emiya household, Medea walked to it slowly with a neutral expression. Picking up the receiver, she placed it to her ear.

"Medea?" he asked tentatively from the other end on the line, dread evident in his voice.

The witch inhaled deeply, supercharging her vocal cords as she did, lips curling to form the words she had been wanting to speak for well over a day.

Outside of the Emiya household, despite the sound-dampening field that surrounded it, birds scattered from the nearby trees in fright.

"SHIROU, YOU IDIOT!"


The only thing that Shirou's brain registered from his auditory canal was blinding pain. Medea's words didn't properly register though somehow the recipient received the meaning of her message quite clearly.

Groaning, with his eyes clenched shut he switched the receiver to his other ear while he plugged the offended one with his pinky finger in an attempt to soothe the pain. Then he moved the receiver aside as he heard that his Servant was still shouting at him

What he didn't know was that very few people were able to make her reach the point where she cursed them verbally, instead of magically. It was a blessing in disguise, really.

"Medea," he tried to interrupt, but to no avail. "Medea, please, calm down"

"Don't you tell me to calm down!" the Princess of Colchis raged. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? Even if knew you were alive through our contract, it wasn't until I scryed for you that I was sure you were even relatively fine. And even then you have been unconscious for a whole day. What in the name of Hades happened, and more importantly who is that girl who was sleeping with you yesterday?"

"Urk!" he groaned. "You saw that?"

"You can be damn sure I saw it," she growled into the phone. "Who is she?"

"Ah. Eh. She's… a person I saved two nights ago?" he said uncertainly, trying to stay away from the important.

"I figured that out on my own, Shirou. What I wanted to know is what compelled you to keep her around after you saved her. Even if your hypnotic abilities are laughable at best, certainly the Executor could have taken care of that."

"Ah… well. You see… that solution wasn't exactly, ah, feasible, you know?"

"I don't," she replied flatly, obviously not wanting to give him any chance to wiggle out of a necessary explanation. "Why couldn't she just have her memories altered and sent on her way?"

"She was… well… she was sort of, ah, bitten by a Dead Apostle and, you know… became one as well."

"Excuse me?" she asked after a moment of stunned silence, her voice positively frosty. "Shirou, please tell me I misheard and that you didn't just tell me that not only did you not kill on sight a creature that has YOU on its regular diet, but you also decided it was a good idea to keep it in your bed too."

"You know, ah-hah," he laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, "it does sound bad when you put it that way."

"Shiroooou…, " she growled into the phone. "I swear, any more of this nonsense and I-"

"She's like you," he told bluntly, cutting off yet another understandable tirade.

"Wha-"

"I couldn't let her be punished for something that had been done to her against her will, Medea," he clarified. "I couldn't look away and let a crime like that be repeated because it was convenient. Please, understand."

"…"

"Medea? Are you still there?"

"You are a cruel man, Shirou," she muttered in a subdued voice. "If you tell me something like that, then I can't possibly stay mad at you, even if I want to throttle you so very much right now."

"I'm sorry. I'm supposed to be your ally but all I do is make you worry."

"It can't be helped, I suppose," she sighed. " I knew you were a fool from the moment I met you and I have been an even bigger fool to expect anything different from you. Never mind. What are you going to do from now on? You made no mention of the situation being solved, so I'm not expecting you to come back at this point."

"You're right. There are many things that don't add up. The incident at the hotel is… off, somehow. I can't be completely sure of it but I feel there is more going on than I know."

"So, what's your next step?"

"I'm going to contact the Church's Executor and see if she knows anything more, even if we didn't exactly part on good terms last time."

"Why not? You haven't said anything about her being… Wait. Shirou, don't tell me you got your wounds from fighting against the Executor over that girl's life, did you?"

"I really wish it wasn't like that… but it is."

"Damn it, Shirou. She's probably hunting for you, how do you expect to approach her?"

"No, actually she let us go when she had me pretty much at her mercy. She didn't like it, but I think she understood where I was coming from. We're not quite friends but we should still be able to work together."

"I have the feeling you are not telling me everything," she observed.

"That's because I'm not. Look, I don't want to keep things from you and I promise I'll give a more thorough explanation once I get back. Suffice it to say that I gleaned some of her history and personality from the numerous blades she threw at me, so I can tell with what and at what lengths I can trust her."

"That makes sense. Fine, be sure to keep me updated with every new development, are we clear? You won't like what I'll do to you when you get back if you don't."

"I have no intention to find out what you might have in store for me, believe me," he laughed at her playful threats, though he didn't doubt she'd act on them if it came down to it.

"Good. By the way, give that detective friend of yours a call. He said something about fixing your situation with the authorities."

"Oh, yes, I'll do that. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Oh, just so you know, your reasons might have convinced me not to skin you alive when you get back, but Taiga won't buy your excuses as easily as I did," she reported with evident amusement. "I saw her swing around one of those training swords she's so fond of yesterday, and though I don't know how she came by it I'm certain it was cursed."

"Yeah," Shirou flinched at the information, "that's Torashinai, all right. I can't say I'm surprised either. Well, I'll take whatever punishment she thinks I deserve without complaining. It's the least I owe her for making the both of you worry."

"Serves you right," she agreed, "but Shirou, please stop making me worry. You of all people should know how it feels when you want to help someone but you're powerless to do anything."

"Who's being cruel now?" he said sarcastically, but visibly grimacing nonetheless.

"It's nothing more than you deserve," Medea replied guiltlessly, "but still, please, come back safely."

Her voice was heavy and laced with an emotion that Shirou couldn't quite identify. It wasn't just simple worry, that much he could tell, but it made him feel strange, like a weight had been placed upon his shoulders.

"I promise," he replied, even if he knew better than to make such promises easily. This strange feeling… just what was it?

They bade each other goodbye and Shirou put down the receiver. He was relieved that he had managed to sort out things with Medea, and yet this conversation had let him feeling like he had missed something important regarding her.

He shook his head to get rid of the thought. Women were mysterious creatures, and he would never figure them out. That was all there was to it.


On her end, Medea put down the receiver as well and sighed, emotions swirling inside her. The past few days had been extremely taxing on her. Walking on the precipice of uncertainty wasn't something she enjoyed, and recently she had been forced to do so countless times.

Stupid Shirou-this was all his fault.

Truthfully, she had decided to keep her feelings for him to herself in order to avoid complications and the risk of being rejected. Quite frankly, she thought herself to be more capable of controlling her emotions, just like any good betrayer and mastermind is supposed to be. In truth, her poker face crumbled as soon as she felt personally involved.

Inwardly, she cringed. Was this the reason the Gods had been able to so easily twist her mind and feelings to suit their goals? Was she nothing more than a puppet to her own emotions? She probably was.

Even when she was still the Princess of Colchis, loved by everyone, she was a very passionate person. Coldness didn't come naturally to her. It was a self-defense mechanism, one that had started crumbling the very moment she found a person she could actually trust.

And of course, this frightened her to no end. She felt vulnerable, exposed, and the natural consequence was that she closed up tighter than an oyster at the first glimpse of a possibility of being hurt, lashing out in anger.

Saber's master was mistaken. It wasn't like she didn't trust Shirou. She didn't trust herself: that strange, unknown person behind that crumbling wall that shared her face, who scared her to no end.

And so she got angry with Shirou, for no other reason than being himself, because he was the catalyst of this change. His existence was a blessing because it gave her a chance to reevaluate herself, and a curse because it forced her to.

For someone who could not control her feelings like her, there was no choice of speed at which she could change. Her only choice was to accept this change with all the risks that it entailed or not, and lose her chance at redemption in the process.

Regardless of the era, life was a harsh mistress unconcerned with the needs and desires of anyone.


That afternoon, after a few calls with a very concerned police detective, Shirou went to the local police department to answer a few questions. While Dojima could have easily spared him the trouble, Shirou preferred not to rely on the influence of his contacts if it wasn't strictly needed. Unlike the Clock Tower, he didn't have any power to make information about him disappear from the police archives, and asking Dojima to do it for him was tantamount to asking him to commit a crime. The detective's boundaries were already stretched as they were, and therefore there was no need to push him further, especially when there were simpler methods. The only thing he needed was for Dojima to vouch for him when the officers from Misaki would inevitably make a background check on him.

After answering a few questions, making it clear that he hadn't been at the hotel in the relevant timeframe, mentioning his residence at the Tohno household for a couple of nights, Shirou was sent on his way clear of all suspicion.

Of course, the matter was all but solved in his eyes. And now that he no longer had the authorities' attention, he could look into it with more ease after sunset.

For the time being, he had a whole afternoon to go spend in some way. Although he wasn't much in the mood for anything, he guessed that anything was better than sitting on his ass. Recalling that he originally had other business to attend to in Misaki, he headed for the local museum.

Being a working day, after rush hour there weren't too many people around. Still, Misaki's Museum of Japanese History was fairly crowded. Then again, it was one of Japan's biggest museums in term of size, with its four floors of constant exhibits. Unlike the other establishments of its kind such as the Nara National Museum, it wasn't very well known outside of the academic circles. As such, it didn't attract many foreign tourists and sharing a building with the local public library ensured that most of its visitors were either university students or professors.

Not belonging to either category, Shirou had the privilege of paying the entrance ticket in full. He didn't regret a single yen of it.

Although most objects exposed were not blades, many of them were still works of metal, from agricultural to carpentry tools. Being non-perishable and having rather minor value, most of them weren't even under glass cases. Paying attention to the security, Shirou Traced a number of items, such as hammers, nails, a hoe and even a plough. A few of them, although not strictly weapons, he was able to acquire with just a look as if they were swords. Apparently his element encompassed more that what is usually considered a sword.

From the second floor upward, security tightened. Now, protected under alarmed glass cases, there were objects of higher cultural and monetary value, such as samurai armors and weapons.

That was definitely hitting the jackpot for Shirou. Although none of these items were remotely close to Mystic Codes, they were a veritable wellspring of forging information. With every moment of his visit he was increasing his knowledge on the processes required to craft metal in every shape and form. It came as easy as breathing to him. As unfair as it was for all those who had spent their lives honing their crafts, Shirou was just soaking them in.

The act of putting them into practice was an entirely different matter, but this crash-course was better than anything he could have accomplished otherwise, especially in such a short amount of time. There were so many possibilities for creating future arrows now. The number of possible applications of Magecraft in the forging processes was blatantly obvious even for an amateur like him. He could finally make spiritually infused projectiles without using Reinforcement or Alteration in the middle of a fight, consuming Prana that could be employed otherwise.

He chuckled darkly under his breath, refraining from cackling madly altogether. Still, the few people in the vicinity subtly inched from the creepy guy, leaving him alone in the hall. Medea was definitely rubbing off on him in the worst possible way.

He was so engrossed by all the possibilities that he almost missed the reflection of movement behind him on the glass case and the soft hiss of a projectile racing toward him.

He span and moved to the side, hand in motion before he actually saw his assailant. His fingers curled around the offending object in mid-air where his head used to be just as his eyes found the figure of a masked person with a quiver on his back and a bow in his hands.

That peculiar get-up gave him pause enough to process what he was actually seeing instead of reacting out of instinct. Otherwise, he might have done something that would have attracted more undue attention.

His assailant was short, much too short to be an adult. He was wearing a pair of shorts, sneakers and a bright red t-shirt. The boy, as he was now correctly identified, stared in awe at the arrow in Shirou's hand while still holding his toy bow in front of him.

An awkward silence stretched and was subsequently broken by the boy's loud outburst.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" he shouted, pulling up his mask and revealing his young brown eyes. With a band-aid across his nose and one on his left knee he was the picture of the stereotypical Japanese kid. "How did you do that?"

"What? Now wait a second, kid. What do you think you're doing shooting arrows at people inside a museum? You could have hurt someone or broken something."

The boy's enthusiasm shrank at being scolded, but defiantly returned as he scowled behind his mask.

"Shut up! I'm not a kid," he protested. "Beware, you evil-doer. I am," he shifted in a Sentai pose with his arms stretched obliquely to one side, "Archer, the Ally of Justice!"

"…Where are your parents, kid?" Shirou asked completely disregarding the boy's previous statement.

"I said I'm not a kid!"

"Right," Shirou sighed wearily. "Anyway let's find your parents."

"Kenta!" a woman called in a white coat as she approached swiftly from the other side of the room. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you."

"Ack!" Kenta yelped. "The Youma found me. I must retreat for now. You, evil-doer" he glared at Shirou, "we will meet again. Keep my arrow until that time as a reminder of the fate that awaits you."

He then span around dramatically, tossing his non-existent cloak behind his shoulder and running toward the other exit, disappearing between a group of coming visitors.

"Kenta, wait!" the woman pleaded to no avail, stopping near Shirou. "That child, what will I ever do with him?"

Toy arrow still in hand, Shirou stared at the woman. She couldn't have been older than thirty, with short raven hair and a professional suit under a grey coat. The badge on her chest identified her as Professor Aihara Haruka, clearly a member of the staff.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir," she apologized, bowing to Shirou. "Did Kenta bother you?

"Not at all," Shirou replied politely. "Your son is a bit hyperactive, but it's not a problem."

"My son?" she blinked. "Oh no. Kenta isn't my child. I just look after him sometimes."

"Ah," Shirou bowed his head apologetically "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume."

"No, it's not the first time it's happened. It's quite understandable really." Only then did she notice the toy arrow still clutched in Shirou's hand. Her eyes widened, as she turned frantically to look at him more closely. "Oh, no. Did Kenta shoot you with his bow? Are you hurt somewhere?"

"What?" Shirou blinked, not understanding for a moment. "No. No, I'm fine really."

"I apologize on his behalf," she bowed deeply. "Kenta is not a bad child. This may sound like an excuse, but he lost his mother when he was only a few months old. I've watched over him ever since while his father is busy with work, but I can't seem to make him listen to anything I say."

Shirou wondered briefly why she was telling all this to a perfect stranger, but then thought that she probably needed to vent some frustration. Being his usual self, he listened silently.

Apparently realizing that she had run her mouth needlessly, she bowed. "I'm sorry. Here I am worrying about Kenta bothering you, and now I'm doing much the same."

"It's no trouble," Shirou smiled. "Sometimes we only need someone to listen for things to feel better. If I have been of help, then I'm glad."

"Such a polite man," she smiled. "I wish Kenta would learn a thing or two from you, uh…. I didn't even introduce myself. I'm sorry, I'm Aihara Haruka."

"Emiya Shirou," the redhead inclined his head with a smile. "Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise, Emiya-san" she replied still embarrassed. "Now, I think I've made myself enough of a fool for today. I still have to find Kenta and then I have to get back to work."

"Do you want me to help you look?" Shirou proposed, being his usual helpful self.

"Oh no, we've both bothered you enough as it is. Besides, it's my duty to watch over that child. Don't worry, Emiya-san."

"If you say so, Aihara-san, good luck."

"Thank you Emiya-san," the woman smiled "I think I'll need it."

Aihara-san left to chase after Kenta, disappearing through the crowd. Shirou shrugged and went about his business. He only had a couple of hours to waste before it was time to go back to prepare, and he still had two floors of antiques to explore.


Somewhere else in Misaki, a taxi moved through the quiet streets of mid-afternoon. The driver, a middle-aged man, peered at his passenger from the rearview mirror.

She was a pretty little thing with light grey hair, which was strange since she was obviously fairly young, and wore a blue dress of priestly design complete with a beret of the same color and a metal cross dangling from her neck. Even though he wasn't a Christian, he could tell fairly easily that she was a nun.

She was hardly the first nun he'd had as a fare, but she was by far the most angelic creature he had ever seen, with bright golden eyes and a serene expression. From that day onward, if he ever imagined an angel, it would definitely have her face.

For that reason, it disquieted him greatly to see bandages sticking out from the collar and the sleeves of her dress. Had she been involved in some kind of accident, perhaps? The poor little thing.

His musing were brought short when he arrived at her destination, a small establishment that exclusively served curry-based dishes known only to a few, and pulled over to let her out.

He made sure to give her a large discount on the fees and warned her to be cautious. There was a serial killer on the loose, after all. Yet in spite of his very serious warning, the nun simply smiled and thanked him for his concern. She dismissed it, though, claiming that the Lord would watch over her.

He left her on the sidewalk, but kept following her figure in the rearview mirror until she entered the restaurant. He felt a bit sad for her. While her innocence was a precious thing, she would do better to learn that people could be really ugly inside, god or no god. If she didn't, she would only get hurt.

The poor little thing.


The door swung open accompanied by the chime of bells.

Sitting in a corner, Ciel watched the newcomer approach her table and sit across from her.

"Good day, Elesia," the grey haired woman greeted, removing her hat.

"Don't call me that," Ciel growled. "Gods, why did they have to send you of all people?"

"My, my… Ciel, is it this time? It almost sounds like you don't like me."

"I don't like you," she nodded emphatically. "You're the second most unnerving person I have the displeasure to know."

"Heavens, what did I ever do to deserve such treatment from you?" she laughed softly in genuine amusement.

'You exist,' Ciel thought, but held her tongue. Getting upset over anything she did was exactly what she wanted.

"Where is your escort anyway?" she changed subject. "I thought they would arrive with you."

"Hm? What in the world are you talking about? I thought that you, the curry siphoning monster, were tasked to be my escort."

"Who's a curry siphon- what did you just say?" she hissed. "No way. I told Narbarek that I can't afford be split between guard duty and hunting Roa, especially not with Arcueid as close to him as I am. What's she thinking? It's like she's telling me to either be cursed forever or to let you die and live with it."

"Knowing her, that's probably as you say," the gray haired woman said unperturbed.

"Aren't you concerned at all? This is your life we're talking about."

"Which rests in the hands of the Almighty, as it always does. He will provide as He sees fit according to His designs, no doubt."

"Right," Ciel sighed. "Sometimes I forget you're actually properly ordained, unlike me. In any case, unless God is going to drop a guardian angel on your lap right now we should really look for a less divine solution. I'm going to call the headquarters and demand at least a couple of Executors."

"Wouldn't that be counter-productive, Ciel? I mean, if Roa sees too many of our forces on his territory, wouldn't he just leave the city and start anew elsewhere? There is no particular reason for him to stay in one place if not for his own stubbornness. He has literally all the time in the world."

"Urgh," Ciel cringed. Of course she was correct. As there was no particular way to track a Dead Apostle with the exception of numerous disappearances in a limited area, it was standard protocol not to give them a reason to discard their pride and relocate when found. For that reason only one, maybe two Executors were deployed in the same area at the same time, so as to give the Dead Apostles a chance at winning instead of depriving them of all options with the exception of retreating and relocating.

The situation in Misaki was already stretched as it was. Another Apostle would have left the moment Arcueid came into the fray, and it was only Roa's personal obsession with the White Princess that kept him around in spite of the odds, and even then he tried to even the odds by calling in Nrvnqsr Chaos.

This latest wretched creature had already been dealt with in a most unorthodox manner, but not before he could prey upon several dozen innocent guests of a nearby hotel, and now the odds were again stacked against Roa to the point where running wasn't really that unthinkable for him. In truth, if his sanity hadn't already been compromised by the successive reincarnation he would have already fled.

It didn't help that there was also that Magus roaming the streets in search of… 'Huh.'

"Ciel? Is everything alright?"

Ciel's lips curved in an all too predatory smile.

"I think I might have the solution to our dilemma. There is a person nearby that's qualified to help you out."

"Oh? Who could it possibly be?"

"The biggest idiot I've ever met," she replied wickedly. "Come on, Caren, let's go find him."


-XXX-


AN:

One year! I can't believe it's been this long since I last updated. In my defense it's been a pretty though year, with my father getting sick and passing away in a matter of months. We weren't really close (a bit more than strangers actually), but there is something eye-opening in watching a man wither and holding his hand while he exhales his last breath.

Long story short it took me a while to get back in the mindset to write anything but I'm finally back.

Now, you might as well know that I have already two more chapters written and a third one on the way, so we should be fine for the foreseeable future. I plan to release them on a monthly basis since I can't obviously handle two chapters a month.

Well, this is it for now. As usual by thanks go to RavingScholar for the excellent beta-reading but also to all of the readers who have supported me during the past moths. You guys are awesome.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (whether you celebrate them or not).

See ya all in 2015!