The Reflected Sun
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Iris flinched as another chunk of stone flew past her. She winced as the Heracles statue tore another chunk out of the poor Scotsman statue's neck and threw it behind him, adding to the piles of rubble that had built up around their little group.
The Berserker showed no visible restraint in its actions, though somehow managed to avoid hitting the Einzbern contingent with the discarded pieces of its woefully inadequate foe.
Iris had positioned herself behind Sella, officially ignoring any discomfort or personal feelings after she had to dodge a piece of McGonagall's statue's shin almost walloping her in the head.
Shirou, unfortunately, had to stick to the shadows in the room, and was therefore simply keeping well back from the one-sided statue-on-statue slaughter.
After about a minute of combat, Berserker was done with its fight, completely unharmed, while it's opponent was spread liberally around the room.
In the stark silence that followed, Iris watched as Berserker seemed to survey the battlefield before turning back towards the group and walking silently towards them.
The silence was another disconcerting thing about the golem. McGonagall's colossus had moved with the sound of grinding stone. It's muscles were for show, and didn't flex or rotate with the movements of the body. It moved like a well made puppet, and its every action, hit or miss, had come down like a crash of thunder.
Heracles moved like a human. During its every step: stone muscles flexed; its torso twisted ever so slightly to counterbalance its heavy legs; its heel struck first with a small scrape of noise and it seamlessly transitioned its weight onto the ball of its foot. It's joints moved freely, without the rumbling scratch of stone-on-stone that the colossal Scotsman statue had presented.
Incongruous to its lifelike movements, its shoulders never rose with breath, and its face never moved from the expression of rage that it sported.
Iris was silent as the monster stalked towards them before stopping in front of Illya.
Illya stared back up at it for a moment, before the statue knelt down and impossibly inserted itself back into the tiny box from whence it came.
When it was done, Illya calmly stepped forward, closed the lid of the small box, tucked it into her robes, and promptly fell to her knees.
Sella was at her side in an instant, catching the pale girl's shoulder to keep her from collapsing completely.
Iris found herself stepping forward as well, with her hand outstretched to help.
She stopped herself and glared down at the offending appendage, before slowly curling her hand into a fist and drawing it back against her chest.
When she looked up again, it was too see Leys watching her.
She scowled, but the implacable Alchemy teacher didn't respond at all.
After a moment, she glanced away. "That thing didn't exactly come across as a Guardian Golem," she said into the silence.
"Justeaze drew inspiration for the Golems from a friend of hers," Sella answered from where she was still supporting Illya, who was panting heavily and looked a little sick. "And she wished to conform to his thoughts on the matter of portraying heroic individuals in seven different ways."
"The best defense is a good offense," Leys contributed from where she was still watching Iris.
"... Why is she so tired?" Iris asked.
The two older Einzberns gave her considering looks, but it was actually Illya that responded.
"The Golems were never meant to leave the Castle," she said breathlessly. "Only a few of Justeaze's descendants have the ability to take them away from the castle, let alone move them once they are away from there... I'm a bit special in the family."
After that, they stood in silence while Illya recovered enough to stand and walk on her own.
"How should we approach Snape's room?" Sella asked as they made their way through the rubble to the next door. "Should we expect something that tests our cunning and ambition?"
Iris snorted as she stepped around a colossal chunk of what she suspected was stone eyeball. "Snape is an arrogant, petty asshole."
"We know," Leys interrupted.
Iris had to fight to keep a scowl on her lips. "He'll probably have come up with some stupid logic puzzle or mask a potion description into some dumb wordplay. It'll be stupid easy, but Snape will expect that no one is as smart as he is, so no one will be able to bypass it." She shook her head. "I doubt the reason Dumbledore put him in the second to last room was because he expected him to come up with something difficult."
Sella hummed thoughtfully while Leys and Illya chuckled softly.
When they stepped into the next room, Iris glanced around to take stock.
It looked very similar to how it had been last year, pre-explosion... Pre double explosion. There were shelves and shelves of potion ingredients; a number of work benches with cauldrons and cutting tools; the obelisk from last year had been replaced with a number of slates with writing on them placed above each bench; and across the room, a doorway was filled with black flames.
Sella broke off to examine the writing on the walls; Leys moved to examine the black flames; and Illya sat down next to the wall, still working to recover from whatever she had done to make her Berserker statue move.
Shirou entered after everyone else and began to slink around the outside of the room, being careful to avoid getting too close to anyone.
Before Sella had even fully examined the first station, everyone startled at the sound of breaking glass and turned to see Leys standing over the steaming patch of ground that had previously been producing a great deal of incredibly hot flames.
Leys waved her wand over the ground, causing a number of glass shards to vanish from the floor. She then turned and brought her left hand up into a peace sign and flourished a small glass vial containing a white-blue mixture with her right.
"Winter's Bite," she said with her usual lack of inflection. "I brought it to deal with dragon's fire."
"Ah." Sella looked back at the desk she had been examining, then shrugged. "That makes things simple."
Illya pushed herself away from the wall and Iris joined her in following the other two into the next room.
Shirou silently shadowed the group.
As Iris stepped into the final room, she took a chance to examine it, since she had been kind of out of it when she had last seen the room.
The room was a circle, and the Mirror of Erised was smack-dab in the middle it. The platform that the Mirror was standing on was recessed into the ground, with a few bleacher-like steps leading down to it. With how the mirror was set, it was hard to get a good idea of what the Mirror was showing unless you took a few steps down towards it, or were lying on the ground like she had been last year.
The Einzbern contingent moved ahead of her, taking the steps down towards the mirror. A few steps down, Illya exclaimed in excitement, then confusion as the Mirror probably showed her holding the stone she sought, only to find that it wasn't actually there.
The older Einzberns rushed forwards and began to examine the mirror in detail while Illya walked forward like she was in a trance, constantly looked back and forth between the mirror and her empty hand.
Iris ignored them as she moved towards the center of the room and sat down on one of the steps down so she could see the mirror. She was curious about what it would show her now... and she didn't want to deal with the Einzberns while they came to the conclusion that it was impossible for them to get the stone.
The scene held within the mirror was new to her, and much more complicated than it had been last year. Though there were some consistent elements.
Her parents were still there, though they were now sitting down among her friends... and Illya.
"Fuck this mirror," she whispered.
The scene in front of the crowd of familiar faces is what confused her though. It was her and Shirou in a rather familiar situation. She was on the ground, looking thoroughly trounced, and he was standing, looking like the act of completely crushing her had taken less effort than cooking one of his meals.
Mirror-Shirou offered his hand and pulled mirror-Iris to her feet. Then he smiled and patted her on the shoulder while gesturing towards a small blemish on his cheek.
It took Iris a second to understand, but when she did, elation surged through her. She had hit him! She had scored a blow!
Another realization froze the elation in her veins.
That was her desire? One blow? Still defeat, but she had managed a single hit?
"Seriously, fuck this mirror." She crossed her arms and leaned back against the stair she was using as a seat.
As she watched, the scene in the mirror continued, showing her all of her friends and family... and Illya descending from where they had been sitting to hug and congratulate her.
Iris scowled as her mirror-self smiled and hugged Illya extra hard.
"Do you know anything about this mirror?" Sella asked, pulling her attention away from the Mirror's little world.
"It's called the Mirror of Erised," Iris said as she glared at Sella. "It shows you what you most desire in the world. If that thing is contained within the Mirror, then you have no chance of retrieving it. More than one person has wasted away in front of this mirror, staring into the enviable world the Mirror shows them."
Sella glanced away from her and towards Illya, who was kneeling in front of the Mirror, trying in vain to push her hand through the glass surface.
The petite teacher scurried over and drew Illya away from the Mirror, eliciting weak complaints from the girl as she feebly tried to claw her way back.
Iris turned away from the whispered conversation the two held and, in the Mirror, watched the scene from before play again.
Iris squinted at the Mirror and began focusing on winning, trying to get it to show her standing victoriously over Shirou instead of the constant visions of herself losing.
Over the next hour, she managed to get her mirror-self to score two blows before losing, but never managed a win. The Mirror wouldn't even show her how she managed to get the hits, it would only ever start from where she was on the ground. Illya was also, inexplicably, in all of the repeated scenarios.
During that time, Sella and Leysritt went over the Mirror with excruciating detail while a recovering Illya snuck glances into it and was repeatedly dragged away by one of her family.
Shirou sat in the doorway, since the room was too bright to provide adequate shadows for Carnwennan to hide him in.
At length, a chime sounded through the room, and Sella pulled out her pocket watch and cursed.
"Forty-five minutes before we have to meet McGonagall and start our patrol for the night," Sella reported. "We'll have to pull back, do some research, and try again."
Leys nodded silently and began to pack up the magical do-dads they have been using to examine the Mirror.
"No!" Illya's shout was punctuated with a thud as she slammed her hand against the Mirror. "It's right there! I can see it! I'm holding it in my hand!"
Leys finished packing up her items into a too small pouch then went over and lifted Illya in her arms.
"No!" Illya struggled against her relative. "It's right there! I can get it! I—" She cut off as Leys turned, cutting off her view of the Mirror with her own body.
"No," she whimpered. "Mommy, please don't die."
Iris froze in place at those words and she saw Shirou straighten up where he sat.
"What does she mean by that?" Iris asked.
For the first time that night, Leys met her eyes and looked away.
Sella as well refused to look at her and simply walked out of the room.
The return trip was a lot less interesting than the trip in. Sella paused to relight the black flame; the colossal Scotsman had reconstructed itself; Professor Flitwick's door locked itself behind them; and the plants in Professor Sprout's room were a known entity at this point; Illya was carried by Leys the whole way, and no one spoke.
Otr was still in a mood when they went through her room, but only blew a few sulky streams of flame their way instead of making an actual attempt at them. Fluffy was upset, but obeyed Iris's commands to stay back.
Finally, they stood in awkward silence in the third floor corridor.
"Do you need an escort back to your room?" Sella asked.
Iris shook her head. "I'm gonna stay and calm Fluffy down. He doesn't like you... For reasons I suspect have to do with that golem in your pocket."
Illya flinched in Leys' arms and Sella looked away.
It was confirmation enough for her.
She turned away from them and re-entered Fluffy's room, closing the door behind her.
Fluffy whined piteously as she crossed over to him.
She pressed herself into his fur and tried to calm the storm of emotions that was raging inside of her.
"Mommy," she whispered. "Please don't die."
Fluffy whimpered and pressed his considerable bulk against her in an attempt to comfort her, managing mostly to knock her back away from him.
A steady hand caught her shoulder as she stumbled back and she turned to see Shirou there, his own conflicting emotions plain on his face.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"No." She shook her head and backed up so that she could sit down against Fluffy's haunch. "I... It hurts." For the first time that night, tears began to make their way down her face. "I—..."
Shirou sat down next to her and put an arm over her shoulder.
She turned to press her face into his shirt and proceeded to cry in earnest.
He held her and awkwardly patted her on the back a few times while she cried.
Eventually, she pulled back and grimaced at the teary, snotty mess she had left on his shirt.
"Sorry," she muttered, her voice cracking slightly.
"It's fine." Shirou shook his head.
They sat there quietly, Iris trying to pull herself together while Shirou seemed to be contemplating something.
She felt blindsided. So much had happened in just the past few days. She felt like the whole world had been turned upside down and she didn't even know left from right anymore.
She wanted to hate Illya, to hate Sella and Leys... but
Please don't die
She didn't know what was going on.
She didn't understand the situation.
Sniffling to clear the extra snot from her nose, she stood and rubbed her sleeve across her face.
Shirou remained seated, watching her and waiting for her to speak.
"We need to know more," she said with certainty she didn't feel.
Shirou smiled slightly and nodded.
"The first thing to investigate is probably this." She drew forth the blood red stone that had appeared in her pocket and tossed it over to him.
He caught it easily and glanced down at it with a confused expression. Then his features tightened as he focused on it.
A moment later, a series of emotions passed over his face, far too fast for Iris to track or interpret.
After a moment of studying the stone, he turned and stared off into space.
"The Philosopher's Stone," he said.
Two swords appeared in his lap, one obviously made of steel, and the other composed of a darker metal.
"Turns lead into gold." He pressed the stone to the darker blade, and the stone started to glow. Slowly, the entire blade transformed into gold. He pressed the stone against the steel blade, and nothing happened. "Over a thousand years old."
Iris blinked at that little fact, since it should have been wrong.
The two swords in his lap vanished into motes of light as Shirou raised the Philosopher's Stone up to his eye for examination.
"A very interesting fake."
