(a/n) – i suppose i got a bit flak for the whole MEoDP thing. i'm not gonna drop the idea, i like it far too much, but i guess this chapter would be my saving throw to pull it back into ... somewhat ... plausible territory. half of it was stuff i'd planned to try to explain in this chapter anyhow, though i ended up going into more detail than i'd planned.

the other half is just a simple retcon for the color. i took the example from arcueid, only to have it pointed out to me that using the color for the archetype of gaia was probably not the most subtle of choices. some of us on the forums thought red... then we figured it was too close to 'crimson'. we thought about blue (shiki's eyecolors)... but then realized ranma had blue eyes and that'd prolly get us deeper into trouble. so, it is now... AMBER... um.. yeah. and we've taken to calling it the mystic eyes of rock destruction (yes we're bad at names; you should see our discussion trying to think of a name for the Shirou x Miya shipping we're trying to put together for the sole purpose of slapping the label onto tvtropes. we're bad at that too.)

aaanyhow... enjoy this early chapter

Emiya Clan – Nerima 11

"No," she said around a stick of pocky.

She looked to be a young girl around fourteen years of age. She was wearing the same black sweater and slacks combination that had been all anybody had ever seen her wear since she came to the house – implying she had never changed, or that she had multiple sets of the exact same wardrobe. Nobody but Shirou had ever bothered to check.

She was currently seated in her room, a futon shoved against the wall and the comforter wrapped around her body as she slouched against the floor, staring at the television. A game controller was in her hands and several boxes of pocky were lying on the floor beside her. She looked the part of stereotypical NEET, right down to the RPG she was currently playing on her game console.

And she was Haru's mother. He supposed he should feel lucky, he was one of the few people to ever see her this way.

"I'm serious!" the boy protested. "I saw it with my own eyes! His turned gold and he said he could see lines and dots on the rocks!"

"There's no way a mere Human could learn Mystic Eyes of Death Perception," Altrouge Brunestud-Emiya snapped back. "That idiot boy of my sister's is a special case, and he didn't 'learn' it either." She grabbed another stick of pocky and crunched into it fiercely. "Besides, even if by some miraculous coincidence he did, Humans can only perceive the death of something they understand, like themselves. Other forms of life. Inanimate objects are just too impossible for their minds to comprehend."

Haru thought about that. "Well... he did train by throwing himself at boulders. Maybe he became one with the rocks?"

Mere human words could not describe the expression Altrouge gave her son.

A quick change into an identical set of clothes later, which answered his earlier question, and the two were were heading out into the backyard where Haru had left their guest under Reiko's watchful eye. As they approached, they could see the Lost Boy attempting to make small talk with the younger girl, only to rebuffed with complete silence on her part. Eiko was nowhere to be seen.

Ryouga looked up in relief at their approach. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me," he chuckled.

"Show me what you can do, boya," Altrouge ordered without preamble.

Ryouga blinked. "Hah?"

"Haru here tells me you can kill rocks, I wish to see it."

Ryouga stared at the girl in front of him. Though he towered over her, her bearing and demeanor made it seem as if she were the one looking down at him. He paled under the cold glare she was giving him and nervously backed off. "O... kay..."

He made his way further into the field, close to where he had made a crater previously. Altrouge followed him out, dropping into a crouch as he did the same. He paused as he searched for the Breaking Point in the soil beneath him to glance curiously at her. "Are you sure you want to be this close?"

"Don't worry about me," she replied impatiently. "Just do your stuff." She continued staring at him as he concentrated.

Finally he found what he was looking for, and stabbed at the ground with his finger. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

Altrouge continued staring at his face throughout the subsequent explosion. Unlike Haru, however, she was completely untouched by the flying debris. She rose to her feet in one smooth motion and walked back to the others. "Good eyes, Haru, but still off."

"What?" Haru asked.

She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "Given what he just did, it probably would be a noble-color, but it's not nearly powerful enough to be Gold. As if he'd even rate up to my stupid sister..."

Ryouga walked up, a confused expression on his face. "Um, what are you talking about?"

"Your eyes change color when you're seeking out your Breaking Point," Altrouge brought a hand up to her chin as she thought about it. "Still somewhat of yellowish... maybe Amber?" She looked back at him. "Tell me, boya, what else can you see these points on?"

"Ah, um... mostly just rocks, dirt... if I try hard enough I can do it to wood. Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Me? I'm this kid's mother." Altrouge waved lazily in Haru's direction, then resumed her pacing. "You can't affect living things at all? That's sort of backwards from the usual..."

"Well, no it's an ancient Chinese Mining techni– did you just say his mother?"

Altrouge gave a short curtsey, "Altrouge Brunestud-Emiya, Princess of the Dead Apostle Ancestors – not that it means anything to you. And you are at my service." She grinned.

Ryouga was still frozen in shock as Altrouge slowly circled him, staring at him intently.

"Hm, I barely detected any prana flow when you did that technique. You're one of those ki types aren't you?"

Haru stepped in, "Yeah, he and his group are purely non-magical fighters."

"You look way too young to be this guy's mother!"

Altrouge glanced over her shoulder, "Why thank you." She turned back towards her son. "Then why do I sense a strong magic around him?"

"Oh, that's probably his Jusenkyo curse."

"You know about that?"

"Hm? I'm not familiar with that one. Remind me?"

Haru suddenly looked apologetic. "Er, he... changes physical form when splashed with water of various temperatures."

"Hmm? Is that so~?" Altrouge looked over at the Lost Boy with renewed interest. "What does he turn into?"

Ryouga glared daggers at Haru, all but daring him to answer.

"A piggy," said a quiet voice from behind him.

They all turned to see Reiko standing there, hiding her face in her doll as she blushed slightly. "Cute..." she continued.

Ryoga's face went scarlet as Haru struggled in vain to hold in his laughter.

Koyuki opened the door to the infirmary carefully as she stepped out. "Thank you for your care, Chiho-kaasan," she called back into the room.

"Just make sure you take it easy," Chiho warned her. "I don't want to hear that you've been doing anything more strenuous than lifting up a school bag until that heals."

Koyuki looked down at her arm, which had been set in a new cast. "I will keep that in mind," she promised as she slid out into the hallway. She'd barely closed the door when a small creature shot out from the far corner and barreled down the hallway. She flattened herself against the side just as it passed, then leaned out curiously as it made it to the next cross corridor and angled around the bend.

"Heads up!"

She pressed back just as Haru bolted down the corridor, apparently chasing whatever it was. "Hey, Koyuki! Feeling better?"

"Ah... yes, thank.. you..." Her reply was lost as he turned the corner in the same direction as the creature.

She looked back the other way to see Reiko and Altrouge following at a walking pace. She inclined her head politely. "Altrouge-kaasan, Keiko. Um, what is Haru chasing?"

Altrouge waved her hand dismissively, "Not important. Which way did he go?"

Koyuki pointed down the hallway in the direction the two chasers had disappeared.

Altrouge marched onward without a second glance. Reiko wordlessly waved at her elder sister as she passed.

Koyuki blinked in confusion for several moments, then shrugged and headed in the opposite direction in search of Karin.

Ryouga was mad. Beyond mad, he was furious. Not only was his best-kept secret being flaunted around by people he barely knew, but that evil pint-sized mother – and he was still wondering how that worked – had produced a glass of water out of nowhere and doused him to satisfy her own curiosity. What was it about this curse that made random acts of water find him?

And of course he was lost. In retrospect, running away like that probably had not been the smartest of moves, but he had no desire to be closer to Altrouge than he had to be. Something about her reminded him of that old Amazon lady, and it wasn't in a good way.

Curse all these corridors, they all looked alike. He turned another one at random, hoping it led back outside. He peeked back over his shoulder to make sure if Haru was still following him or not when he suddenly ran into an obstacle and bounced back.

"Bwee!"

"What the?" His vision cleared to find him at the feet of two black-stockinged legs. He looked up to find Eiko staring down at him with a slight smirk. "Why if it isn't Ryouga-chan!"

"Bukii?"

"What are you doing down there?" she asked him in a teasing tone. She tilted her head, "Enjoying the view?"

"Bwee?" He looked confused, then remembered he was lying next to her feet. She was wearing a frilly black dress. In spite of himself, his eyes trailed back down to her legs, then followed them back up to see her–

–he passed out, a large stream of blood leaking from his porcine snout.

Eiko chuckled and reached down to scoop up the tiny black piglet. She cradled him in her arms, his black hide blending in with the sleeves of her dress just as Haru whipped around the corner.

"Eiko, have you seen a, um, little black pig-thing about this big?" He held his hands apart to indicate the tiny size. "It, um, might be wild so we need to catch it fast."

"Hmm, can't say I have. Nothing has run through this room," she said, perfectly honest. She'd stopped him before he got into the room, so nothing did pass through.

Haru didn't look entirely convinced as he stared at her smiling face, but he was pressed for time and simply continued down the previous hallway with a quick "Thanks."

Eiko stood there patiently as Altrouge and Chibi!Reiko passed by at a walk, following Haru. Altrouge ignored her, but Reiko looked up at her older incarnation and frowned slightly. Eiko simply broadened her smile.

A few minutes after they'd passed, she finally unfolded her arms to find the little black piglet awake and glaring at her suspiciously. She set him back down and took a few steps away. "What? No 'thank you'?"

"Bweh."

"That's not very nice," she frowned. She spun on her heel and walked for the door on the other side of the room. "Do whatever you want. I'm sure you can find your way out... eventually."

"Bukii..." Ryouga glared at her a few moments longer and turned around to head back the way he'd come... then paused. He looked back her retreating figure, then back at the corridor. "Bwee..."

He turned around again and trotted after Eiko, who was holding the door open for him with a grin.