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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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Chapter 24: Dagger (3)
Shirou should have suspected that frequenting so regularly the park would have ended up becoming a problem for him.
He had been so unsuspecting, so easily convinced by Illya's and Caren's shared request to visit the park once again for that day that he had forgotten about the very issue that made wandering without a large group quite a dangerous feat.
It had been mostly Illya with a very curious and adorable manner to approach him early that morning with this request.
The girl had shown quite the surprising grasp of the basic Japanese language and it was Kiritsugu that ultimately admitted the reason behind such a quick learning process.
He mentioned that his late wife had studied some Japanese before they had to leave for Fuyuki and it might have happened that either his silver-haired child picked it up during those sessions or the woman merely gave some lectures to her in private.
So while both girls were quick to around the park and be children, Shirou's little hope of trying to do the same was dashed away when he found his amber eyes locking onto Kotomine's distant stare.
He was there, unarmed and without neither Rin nor Aoi.
The priest had a dull expression, his eyes lacking any emotions that could generally help and hint to the intentions behind his current presence.
It was as undecipherable as usual… yet there was something that offered him a major glimpse over the man that before had been so limited.
Name: Kirei Kotomine (?)
Title: Priest of Despair (?)
Age: 29 (?)
Level: 70 (?)
HP : 1321/1400 (?)
MP : 1700 (?)
The boy could finally see his limits now, at least the regular side of it all. There was still the 'anomalous' section that felt to him was hiding much more than these basic stats.
But why couldn't he still see it? Could it be that it is something… the Game just couldn't understand?
And why did his HP suffered a damage when he looked fairly unscathed?
There was no wound, no injury or even a little bruise visible in his body, but the little chance to contemplate over the matter was forcefully shattered when he made a little gesture at him.
Come closer.
He felt a shiver down his spine, his stare darting briefly to the distracted Illya and-
No, Caren had noticed too.
The girl's attention had been silently moved to the man staying by the shade of the trees, away from others' sight and then her golden eyes slowly caught up to his orbs.
What should she do about this?
A voiceless question that weighted a lot in his mind as he was put in the worst of circumstances.
While Kirei seemed to be the kind of monster that would prefer to conclude his opposition at once and without risking to make just a victim within the Emiya Household, he could as well plan to make some intimidation as to deter Kiritsugu from continuing with his aggressive effort against him.
It was a worrying case for sure, but one that Shirou had to carefully solve with a tactful approach.
He gave a subtle nod towards Caren, the girl's eyes showing a little disappointment that this encounter couldn't be avoided and then she moved to distract Illya while the Gamer made his way towards the patiently standing man.
The silence broke just as he finally was close enough to the priest, Kirei blinking with barely-veiled fascination over the lone presence.
"Shirou Emiya," He greeted curtly, his eyes threatening to drill holes into the redhead's face.
"Kotomine."
There was no respect towards the man, his name valid only barely compared to the maliciousness held inside his soul.
He smiled at the lack of manners.
"I think we've never truly enjoyed a conversation between just the two of us," He pointed out with a certain restrain. "There was always someone else bringing up a certain sense of… disruption to this intriguing chance."
"What do you want?" The boy softly asked, careful enough to not press his luck any further than just his informal approach.
"People wants many things from life, Shirou-kun," The man replied with some mirthfulness dripping from his voice. "Some wants happiness, some wants to be selfishly have everything to themselves and… I want to experience the glorious instances of joy at… causing pain to people."
There was some silence, he hummed quietly as his hands reached for his hair, stroking briefly his hair before retracting.
"Has anyone ever told you that your hair just look like blood?" He asked with a giddy tone. "It's almost poetic how your very essence is tempered by death, that your ideals clash so well with your rebirth."
The Gamer backed away, irritation and nervousness mixing in his expression while he looked up to see Kotomine's small smile on his face.
"I'm not like you!" The boy snarled with conviction, tensing as the priest merely shrugged off his outburst with a chuckle.
"Oh, but that statement couldn't be… so much right and wrong at the same time," He calmly pointed out. "I always thought that Kiritsugu would have been the one to open my eyes to the truth of my existence, to grant me a glimpse of what could have been my life if I had tried a little more..."
He sighed, straightening his posture as he moved away, his sight directed at… Illya and Caren, both girls playing around the nearby playground.
"He failed. There was no true connection between us but the fallacious notion of similar pain," The priest admitted with a grimace. "He was so narrow-minded, so eager to blind himself with ideals to even realize that even now he is more broken than I am."
"H-He doesn't relish with violence-"
"But he does try to justify it. Always," Kirei interjected with some disappointment. "A mere human would be so horrified to take an innocent life for any reason, yet your father was quick to teach himself how to blame his ideals to uselessly hide the stains corroding his consciousness, his humanity."
"And you… don't."
His smile widened.
"Of course!" The man exclaimed with glee. "Why would I deny myself the pleasure of having my nature freed? To hold myself from actually trying to find my own happiness instead of building one for the sake of others' joy and ambitions?"
The redhead blinked, sporting a saddened look and… bringing confusion into Kotomine's mask.
"Because it would be the right thing-"
"But how much should I give up before I can actually feast in the boon of my hard-work?" Kirei interrupted again. "Should I perhaps perish? Or maybe there is a breaking point about it all?"
Shirou tensed up a little, an answer starting to fail there but-
"You know, I find myself envious of your origins," The priest continued with a mirthful tone. "To be granted the chance of listening to the delightful chanting of dying screams, the flames consuming slowly and gruesomely the corpses of the victims of such a disaster and-"
"S-Shut up!" The Gamer exclaimed with a certain fury. "You think you can act as if you have never experienced joy without causing pain, yet it wouldn't be humane for it to be true!"
"But what if it was?"
…
"What if I, Kirei Kotomine, represent what humans are deeply inside, some mindless monsters that just wait the right moment to 'flip the switch' and show our true natures to the world?" He pressed on with a chuckle. "What- What if I was never granted this switch because… I'm meant to show the travesty of morality."
"You are insane-"
"Or maybe I'm the one that prefers to see the truest face of reality without getting squeamish about it," He crouched down and still smiled. "Maybe, just maybe, you know this too… or else you wouldn't be having doubts about your rhetoric point."
There was just so much belief behind these words, the trust displayed towards this rotten idea.
Shirou was feeling sick at merely looking at the disgusting low that Kotomine had reached.
In his own depravity, the priest had failed to notice that he himself was trying to paint a reason behind his twisted mind and… maybe he also knew that too.
"You are wrong," The boy sighed with a tired note. "About everything. The world isn't just a pile of pain and sorrow, I-I refused to even believe that it would even exist like that."
Kirei didn't spoke, blankly allowing the redhead to continue with his speech.
"Every time I think back at the fire… every time I feel their screams filling my ears," Shirou continued to say. "I can hear only a strong instinct to make sure that this would never happen again. It was so… so unfair and unforgivable, but I couldn't have done nothing about it back then."
His eyes looked down at his hands. "But the more I think about it, the more I feel urged to grow and improve because I don't want to see it happen ever again."
"Yet you still didn't explain why-"
"I wasn't done," The boy interjected fiercely. "But I can already tell you that you have said and done more than enough to highlight how wrong you truly are."
Kirei lifted a curious eyebrow. "And that is?"
"You might be correct about the unfairness of the world, but that doesn't mean that you are right in saying that this is the only truth of mankind," The Gamer commented with determination dripping from his tone. "Men can live with love and admiration..."
His mind brought back the last smile present on that bleeding blonde as she was beaten by her wounds in that hill of swords.
"But also with bitterness and hate-"
The haunted stare from Kiritsugu after he had long denounced the hopes of a peaceful world.
"There is no heaven on Earth when they are first born or in their beginning years," The boy concluded with a sigh. "But everyone is entitled to create one for themselves the best way to satisfy their own wishes… until that process see the birth of sorrow and despair for others."
"But what if there is no alternative to the violence?" Kirei seemed to vibrate with his half-still posture, but Shirou was no longer afraid of the man.
Something just… told him that there was just curiosity driving him for this unexpected visit.
"Then you have not searched well enough," The young Emiya replied without hesitation. "But I think your chance to find real happiness has long been denied by yourself because… you were afraid."
…
"You were looking at Caren with hesitation back when you first saw her," The Gamer continued. "And just a few moments ago, you were staring at her as if you were somewhat threatened by her."
"Ah!" The priest almost snorted at the comment he felt as mocking of him. "As if I would be afraid of a child."
"That's why I don't believe it was fear of her that gets you this unnerved," Shirou interjected with his eyes narrowed at the man. "You are afraid… of what you could do to her."
Kotomine went still just in that very moment, his eyes going wide open at the words from the boy and… he took a step back.
"I'm just waiting a proper moment to strike," He hummed in annoyance. "To think I would have seen some enlightenment from this discussion-"
"What would be the 'breaking point' then?" The redhead pressed on, stopping the priest on his tracks. "You might try to delve in that monstrous side of yourself, but to embrace it as your only face would be lying to yourself-"
"Enough!"
The outburst silenced Shirou and the boy's eyes widened as he stared at the livid expression on Kirei's face.
"I think that this is… Enough."
The man turned around and started to walk away. "Truly a disappointing effort."
His words were denying the suggestion advanced by the boy, but Shirou could see his right hand reaching for his chest… as if he was having some pain from within.
HP : 1244/1400 (?)
~Waver's POV~
To think that he would have been forced to deal with this kind of predicaments this soon in the recent agreement and… with such a confusing assistant to that, a certain young Magus would have thought it better rather than approach the Magus Killer.
Kiritsugu had been quite sudden to ask to have a private chat with after Shirou had left with the young girls that were living in this house, but the reason behind such an immediate request was quickly unveiled as his first important mission was there for him to successfully complete.
Or to horribly fail if he messed up the particularly difficult steps ahead of the plan.
Having set numerous minor boundary fields, these spells so weak to be noticed by a novice Magus, Kiritsugu had prepared himself to act right as Kotomine decided to leave the current whereabouts of what was left of the Tohsaka Clan.
Once the priest was away from the woman and her daughter, most of the obstacles were removed for them to try and capture the remaining members of the family away from Kirei's clutches.
A risky operation that would see him take the leading spot, followed by the unexpected support made by the currently nervous-looking girl slowly following him around.
Gray was… an oddity.
Her face was the same as Saber's and yet her personality dominated by a shy thought compared to the brave and serious-sounding woman that fought as a Servant during the last Holy Grail War.
The only quality that he could right now appreciate was that she was very fluent in English as she had been living for most of her life in the United Kingdom.
It offered him the means to let go of the stress that he would get by speaking strictly Japanese and make use of his main language after so long.
There was some understanding with the young woman, her helpfulness being fairly limited but still something noticeable as she agreed to carry one of the two bags with the tools required in this 'totally-legal' kidnapping.
They were doing something good after all. Trying to get two individuals away from the devious plans set by the insane priest that was Kirei Kotomine and… maybe get them to avoid dealing with a bored… golden bastard.
It was a possibility, a slim chance that the Archer Servant would be wandering around and doing the job of guarding dog- but of course the golden prick wouldn't be trying to lower himself to that degree.
He was the one leading and Kotomine was his puppet, just like it had been back during the War.
The former Master of Assassin had completely submitted to the King of Heroes, accepting his authority out of fear rather than true loyalty.
Something that Iskandar had mentioned and-
No, no more thinking about that insufferable, always-smiling… fool of a king.
Waver took a sigh to restrain his breathing from accelerating, yet the action caused the girl following him close behind to frown.
"I-Is everything alright, sir?" Gray asked politely, holding with one of her hands the bag containing some emergency 'explosive spells' that Kiritsugu had left for them to use in case stuff went downhill, while the other was busy holding the strange staff which ended with a strange cage with a… small box inside.
Said box could speak and… it was best to not address the comments coming from it.
"Only thinking about… nothing," He smoothly replied, glancing back at the embarrassed look on her face. "You should focus on the mission."
She gave a quick nod while the box let out a chuckle at this scene. "Ah, to think you are trying to bottle up your issues here, boy. I wonder what kind of- UhahahaAHAH, S-S-STOP!"
The silver-haired girl gave a few more shakes of the cage before calming down.
"Y-you shouldn't disrespect Mr. Velvet, Add."
The dark-haired Magus sighed, his attention still directed at the close building which the Tohsaka's family, or what was left of it, was currently staying by.
The place was moderately guarded by the few servants still working for the family and that were kept around by Kirei to 'assist' the widowed wife of the late Tokiomi Tohsaka.
Entering through the gates proved to be the easiest of tasks with the use of careful magecraft to simulate a lockpick and the next one, which was entering inside the house, proved to be possibly one of the more difficult ones.
There were barely any windows to reach through and the main door was the only way to enter inside… while also getting the attention of all those working within the building.
The umpteenth sigh was a must, but Waver was not going to dismiss the chances of opening the door softly by… resorting to normal lockpicks.
The Magus Killer had packed some of the regular ones in one of the bags in case there was a need to force some lock in a more silent approach than the louder magecraft way.
It was just like the spy movies Otoko had spoken about, those were some British spy would manage to tactfully and smoothly infiltrate the evil lair of the main villain.
But while depiction of such a practice wasn't something brought up by her retelling, it wasn't surely going to be a feat more difficult that the spell he had just used.
And as he proceeded to try his hand out with his first attempt at lockpicking, the young Magus failed to notice Gray's shy efforts to try and help over the matter.
"Uh… Sir?"
Okay, I push this inside and I slowly rotate it until- Crack -damn.
Retreating the small bar, the broken piece fell on the ground in a silent thud.
Waver stared with narrow eyes at the broken thing, pondering over what could have gone wrong before picking one of the multiple remaining lockpicks and continuing with this task.
"I- I think that I-"
Crack.
He huffed briefly as he fetched the third lockpick and-
"S-Sir!"
He tensed up and paused, the young man glancing back at the red-faced girl behind him.
"What?"
"I-I think I can do it."
He frowned skeptically at her response but… considering the number of lockpicks available to them, it was possibly better to leave the silly girl try and fail on her own instead of halting the process for too much and-
Knock.
Uh?
The young man snapped his attention at Gray as she happily retrieved the unscathed lockpick from the lock of the now-open.
Her attempt had been quick, silent and, mostly-important, a damaging effort to his pride as a 'good spy'.
"Done and-" Her giddiness evapored as she remembered where she was and squirmed a little. "I-I mean-"
"Good job," Waver replied curtly, unwilling to let the younger countrywoman bask in too much praise as the time was indeed limited for them to act.
He carefully pushed the door open, taking once more the lead as he started to look around the narrow corridor that led right to… the living room?
Taking the first step inside, the young Magus slowly made his way towards the end of the hallways, meticulously glancing around every spot and corner for any ambushes.
His ears were fully attentive, trying to catch any dangerous noises that could entail some issues for their subtle approach.
But there was not a single noise.
Utter silence was domineering over the oddly cold corridor and just a glimpse of warm seemed to come from the room at the end of it.
The door was half-shut, and Waver didn't wait too long in carefully opening it and glance inside the new place.
His eyes widened when he noticed the various bodies littering the floor, every single one of those being the ones of the various servants still working for the household.
He froze up, panic rising in his chest at the thought he had just walked in the scene of a mass-murder… but then blinked and relaxed as he realized that they were all breathing as their chests and backs were moving.
Yet he wasn't completely calm, not at all.
The scene itself was still worth of some major concerns, especially since he could now see the wheelchair used by the old Tohsaka was also boarded by a sleeping dark-haired child resting her head on her mother's chest.
Finally, he noticed the glass of wine that was being held by someone occupying one of the two couches in front of the still-going fireplace.
The glass reflected just the eyes of the hand's owner and Waver felt his hatred emerging in a furious snarl on his face.
"Y-you!"
A smirk flashed from the reflection, the King of Heroes didn't even bother to turn and face the two intruders as he gloated over the circumstance.
"Waver Velvet," He muttered quietly, taking a moment to sip at his glass. "I see that you have decided to remain here for the time being."
"Y-You- Why would you-"
"Kirei is starting to lose himself to the oddly-shaped paradox within his chest," Gilgamesh commented with a degree of disdain, ignoring the words of the young Magus. "He is a ticking bomb that will best explode far away from my chances of drawing further entertainment from this curious situation."
The golden-haired Servant's smile froze a little as his red eyes turned to look at the young girl trying to hide behind the angry-looking young man.
"And I'm incredibly fascinated by the presence of one of her descendants so close to where she fought her last war," The Archer mused with some intriguing words. "Makes me wonder what would have happened if I had a descendant."
"The worlds lives best with just a simple prick of your caliber."
Gray gasped in surprise at the heated response of the Magus, quite surprised by this outburst after seeing him so much… restrained with his manners in all situations.
"But they wouldn't have been close to my greatness," He hummed quietly, once again ignoring the insult. "It would have been… interesting, but not as endearing as to see the scene of her meeting with the young shy girl behind you, mongrel."
There was a pause that lasted several seconds before ultimately the King of Heroes sighed.
"You may take the woman and the child away from this place," Gilgamesh said with a bored tone. "Kirei is on his way back to the house and his irritated self might have him make some rash actions that I don't find… acceptable."
"Why don't you just kill him if he is of no use for you?" Waver asked with a stern voice. "If Kotomine is going to become a liability, then why not-"
"Would you have stopped your Servant from rushing to his rightful demise against me?"
…
"While you consider yourself to stand in that pitiful moral high ground, you are still the little mongrel that was afraid of even going after one of the Masters during the War," The golden-haired young man pointed out. "Rider perished doing whatever foolish ideal he had about life, and I decided for Kirei to follow a close but more acceptable death compared to your former Servant."
Was he planning of getting rid of Kotomine?- no, there has to be something else going on.
"What do you mean with-"
"Kirei will be back in ten minutes from now," Gilgamesh said while sighing again. "If you continue with this petulant questioning, I will be more than happy to bring both you, the girl and the fools in this rooms to a quick demise instead of accepting this annoyance."
The priest… was coming? That was incredibly bad, but at least they could move both Tohsaka members without dealing with restraining them.
"Gray, stand by the main entrance," Waver ordered with a certain dread in his words. "I will take the wheelchair and… we are leaving."
Blue eyes widened at the order and the girl initially stood still to let the statement sink in before actually complying and moving to stand by the main door at the other end of the corridor.
The young Magus was still cautious as he carefully moved around the various unconscious servants to pick the wheelchair, turning around and making his way back to the door while minding once more the presence of the people sleeping on the floor.
Gilgamesh was silent, completely immersed in glancing the flames coming from the fireplace while sipping from his half-empty glass but still thinking about what was going to happen from now on.
To think that the little subtle attempt to see Kotomine's true self would end up creating this odd circumstance…
What an odd thing to see a man fight the duality of his rare nature, to see him clash against the approaching end and to… see him fail before the unfairness of his painful life.
He took another sip, a small smile appearing on his face.
How fascinating that Shirou Emiya will have to lose something of himself in that very battle.
AN
Kirei is starting to break apart and Gilgamesh's prophecy is… ominous.
What I can say about it all? Prepare for a shocker that not even Gil is prepared for!
Lastly, two quick updates: I've started recently… three stories!
The first one is another rewrite of one of my old FSN stories, Tale of Two Kings Redux is now available for everyone to read.
Same for Absolute Divinity, the first DIO SI ever! (Yes, JoJo Si with Phantom Blood Dio starting from Ep1!);
Final story is for those that knows and read my 'The Golden Month' story as it's set in the same universe… but in a completely different circumstance. Learning: Affection is set in a university-like situation and boi, oh boi, prepare for some crazy situations in this story, from drama, to mystery and… romance?
P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin
k o-fi . com (slash) justbukharin
REVIEW Q&A!
Battlesny: Arcueid is actually canon in the Fateverse, it's just that she never woke up to deal with Michael Roa Valdamjong as he was killed by Edmond Dantes (thus why Arc is a chibi); Caren is canon but she appears in FHA which isn't considered canon… but she also appears in other stories like Prillya, Capsule Servant (as Little Caren) and Fate/Koha-Ace (As Caren Kotomine).
Rider126: Something something a gift that wasn't a gift.
Felyja Yuki: I've written that I wouldn't be having ID creation skill many chapters ago. The reason why is mostly because I don't want to create odd and disruptive Time-Skips that would ruin the plot's pacing altogether.
Kamen rider: Probably… just not until after Arc 2.
