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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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Interlude 3 – Kirei
It would soon start to rain.
Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue for Kirei Kotomine.
The man didn't care about the weather, he didn't care for the inconsequential.
Yet now he was pondering over something so insignificant but calming.
Rain was simple to understand, it was a logical phenomenon that his mind could easily decipher from the mere happening.
It was distracting, it was soothing.
And he needed to take some proper rest now that he was back at his hideout.
The little mansion that was primarily used to keep around the two last members of the Tohsaka Clan.
A crippled woman and an infuriatingly-annoying but amusingly-naive little girl.
In a common instance, interacting with them would have been enough to keep at bay the urge of studying what was happening inside his chest.
The pain was confusing, unique to the vast range of harm the priest had come in contact with during his activity as an Executor.
It was inner, it was beyond the physical, and the abstract nature of this predicament did nothing to cease the growing migraine that latched onto his aching heart.
He would be lying in saying even to himself that this was acceptable as a predicament, just as it has been in the last few years.
Kirei had been 'blessed' when the corrupted mud had reached for his dying body, providing him with a second chance to wander in the realm of the living once again.
It wasn't a resurrection, no. It was worse than that.
His twisted creativity was given free rein over the world around him, his hand given the chances of meddling in every open chance he had in this city as an agent of Chaos.
The first time he met with the mysterious being that lingered within the Grail, he had thought of him as a cursed creature.
A crooked figure, a fiend that many could easily connect to the Devil or any other Hell-spawns with the same evil inside their hearts.
Angra Mainyu, one of the forgotten 'Gods' of antiquity.
It would be wrong to define the being as a deity, as his realm far stretched beyond the limitations imposed to those who were once leading the past religions.
In fact, the dream in which the demon decided to manifest in proved the incredible power hidden behind the fragility of humanity.
That's how he had ultimately 'won' the Third Holy Grail War.
He didn't care for the Grail itself, for he knew that it wouldn't have granted him the truest wish he craved for.
But that didn't deter Avenger to still play around, acting like an easy-to-kill fool to the eyes of the other Servants.
A trick within the useless puppet. A trap that had been so quickly sprung without hesitation by those that got the 'best of him'.
The key was the limitation he had been suffering as a Servant, the restriction that kept him from making use of his fullest capacity to act and meddle in mortals' lives.
The fiend was known as the eternal enemy to Spenta Maninyu, the Holy Spirit of the Zoroastrian religion.
…
It was ironic.
The priest had almost chuckled as he had delved quietly over this topic, discovering how amusing the unbalanced state of things was.
For a man of faith, to be forsaken by his God… only to be mercifully restored to life by what was once his prime enemy.
And in that dream, the creature had spoke to him the prettiest of words.
It was a mess of animal-parts, a monstrous combination of human and inhuman that morphed continuously in the priest's mind because of how complex the spirit truly was.
Four words were pronounced, a curt sentence that opened a strange world to his worldly perception.
Go forth, my puppet.
It was so exhaustive of the real nature of the gift given to Kirei, the drawback of being returned to life.
Despite it was his wish to maim people, the maliciousness within his new heart heightened his craving to a degree that he himself considered self-destructive.
His careful planning, his patient waiting. Those were all meant to give him the chance of enjoying some delightful torture without having to face consequences as big as he was now dealing with.
Shirou Emiya was a fascinating individual, there was no doubt about it, but to go as far as expose himself so suddenly and without restrain?
It was indecorous for an experienced Executor to act this recklessly before a new element in the zone they worked by.
To be this much inattentive and brash over the importance of studying their enemies…
This trail of thoughts was slowly turning into something that Kirei knew full well.
The condescending voice of his father when he first experienced some issues back in Rome, trying to study the complicated structure of the strict school he had been sent to deal with.
A young Japanese-born student facing the dreadful problem that was the language barrier.
Bullies were a rarity in catechisms, but there were some interesting fellows that were keen to mock his accent, to diminish his prodigious intelligence over things that they were limited to accomplish.
Envy was a terrible sin for someone as young and impressionable as the young children targeting him, but one that wasn't easy to recognize for the teachers or the other members of the church.
Sadly enough, this very experience happened years before he started to understand the importance of displaying some proper 'persuasions' to avoid dealing with annoyances.
And Risei Kotomine hadn't cared much for his plight.
Promises had been made, but nothing had been truly done about that specific subject.
Instead, Kirei was forced to endure the brunt of those attacks, only a handful of those turning physical.
But maybe now he was digressing, as his focus was meant to be about the plight afflicting him even now that made the last steps to reach his closest safe-zone.
Or perhaps he wasn't.
It was a hunch, a small one, but still enough to get him to pause away from his pain and right at the cause of this sudden panic that had crippled his means to properly think.
He had long thought that Kiritsugu Emiya would have softened up after finding out that his ideals didn't fit with the way the world truly worked.
Shattering his dreams had been the least that Kirei's Pyrrhic Victory had achieved, as the death of Irisviel von Einzbern and the failure of Saber's Master to properly secure the Einzbern's wish both had left the Magus Killer in a sorry state.
He had been so sloppy in his recent activities, especially when he damaged the leylines connected to the Greater Grail all in the high hope of disrupting any opportunity for the competition to return once more.
A fool's play, one that Kotomine had noticed with a gleeful but curious eyes.
The setback proved to be a boon for Kiritsugu's plans had backfired in quite the horrible manner.
The Grail was operative, and the attempted destruction of the leylines had activated some emergency reserved that had swiftly fasten up the process of recharge for the artifact.
If his estimations were correct, the Fifth Holy Grail War was going to happen in around a decade from now.
Not that the detail truly helped him, considering how everything was starting to shake around with the setting he had tried to maintain after the Fourth War now starting to crumble before him.
The Magus Killer had gone as far as return the favor for what Kirei had done in the last hours of the War.
The words shared with Irisviel von Einzbern, the Fourth Einzbern Lesser Grail proving to give him some interesting ideas over the mysterious mind owned by her husband.
Maybe she had known much more about him, maybe it would have been worth enough to wait through her venomous comments instead of rushing to snap her neck.
Patience had eluded him in that state of depravity, the bravado leading him right to a formal defeat against his 'enemy'.
And now he was forced to think how to truly deal with Caren Hortensia.
He just refused to address her as his daughter, thinking her more as the pitiful result of a tragic relationship he had shared with Claudia Hortensia.
The woman that had gone as far as kill herself to try and bring out his inner self, succeeding only partially with her extreme action.
But Claudia wasn't Caren… and Caren wasn't Kirei.
This last bit had been repeating in his head so vehemently ever since he had spot her around, his thoughts clashing over to deal with such a fascinating little girl.
Should he try to raise her hopes with the chance of a proper family before killing her with a sickening decapitation?
Or maybe a more direct but slower death by torture would have been the best choice.
So confused, yet also so reluctant to go through with it.
Shirou Emiya's words resonated a bitter taste in his tongue, his brain lamenting the disgusting interaction he had been subjected to.
What a stupid joke, to even think that he was actually minding for his da-Caren's well-being.
At first sight he thought it had been her resemblance to his late wife that caused his murderous resolve to falter to stillness.
The child was a younger version of the woman, but instead of the sweet stares she would earnestly bestow to him even before their official commitment to marriage, the young girl was prone to display him scowls and dissatisfaction.
There was fear, but nothing was about self-preservation.
It had been when the young Emiya had been in his general proximity, close enough for the priest to act and slaughter the impertinent redhead as he foolishly sprouted about the false about the reasoning behind his reluctance.
Because while there was no true emotional connection between the two, the Kotomine's issue stemmed from the eyes that had for so long kept him unnerved about the girl.
While the eye-color was the same as her mother, Caren's haunting stare was… Kirei's.
It was the same he used to show around when he was but a young child, left alone to face the troublesome life of having his ambitious father.
There was that malicious glint, there was no doubt about it in his mind.
But it was diluted, more than halved by the lack of unfair experiences that the girl had to experience since she was too young.
...And Kirei was almost relieved by that.
To have a copy of himself, albeit a younger and naiver one would have been problematic to him in the long-run.
The priest continued to muse about these topics even as he entered the mansion, his mind slowly pulling away from his thoughts as he noticed that something was… wrong about the entrance.
The door was almost closed shut, but it wasn't locked as a mere push of his left hand got it to make way to the inside of the home.
His eyes narrowed and his posture tensed in minor dread about the matter.
The pain he was still feeling even now gave him the strong push he needed to be careful as he delved through the lone corridor that led to the main living room.
The fireplace was still working as licks of fire consumed the wood recently placed there, giving a sense of warmth that was almost enchanted by the present of numerous sleeping servants littering the floor.
He blinked, his mind buzzing with activity as he thought about the curious instance he had just stumbled in.
A kidnapping from Kiritsugu Emiya? Highly improbable since the servants weren't dead.
The Magus Killer had a rigorous and pragmatic approach to this specific kind of action, knowing perfectly that leaving witnesses was tantamount to a complete failure for any mission.
Which meant that the responsible ones had to be someone he had missed, people that had knowledge of magecraft and about the Tohsaka Clan.
It was difficult to see mercenaries being sent to retrieve what remained of the family, especially with how confused the entire Association was about what happened with the Holy Grail War.
And uncertainty meant inaction from them, at least in such a direct manner.
While the priest continued to study the scene of the crime, his attention was taken by a certain blond-haired young man humming as he walked to one of the couches staring right at the fireside with a glass of wine in his hand.
Gilgamesh barely stopped to notice the new presence, his red eyes glinting something… amusing about the scene he was walking into.
The Servant didn't deign him any word, but the calm silence was enough to provide Kirei with the answer he was seeking.
His lips twitched in a brief scowl as he paced away from the sight, reaching for the closest bathroom as the pain within his chest was rising together with his own anger.
He couldn't afford it, he just couldn't.
His breath turned raspy, his lungs itching infuriatingly as he reached for the medical box set to the door's side.
His hands were trembling, yet the priest quickly found the small bottle with painkillers and was swift to down four small pills before finally being granted some lucidity from that outburst.
Gasping for air, his mouth opened to let in all of that oxygen that waited to fill his lungs, and his hands pressed on his chest as he tried to normalize his aching heartbeat.
Things were rushing out of control and he should have expected Gilgamesh to move now that things were well set for the Kotomine's defeat.
It wasn't truly proclaimed, but did the King of Heroes even need to proclaim the cessation of their contract?
Not truly, no. In fact, it was odd as to why he had waited for so long since he had discovered Shirou Emiya.
Despite the body granted by Angra Mainyu, the Archer was far more resilient to the influence of the corruption, his soul donning a state of pseudo-divinity that long transcended any mortals walking in this world.
The blond could afford to oppose the Malignant Spirit, but to accomplish true freedom he required the energy from someone to sustain himself in the realm of reality.
It was no secret that Gaia was actively on the pursuit of erasing Servants from Earth, labeling them as errors and glitches that needed to be fixed.
And thus why Servants needed Masters to live, even though there was no Holy Grail War happening.
Kirei blinked, his attention turning away from the little detail and back on the pressing issue.
He had lost his last two pieces, and as far as he was concerned there was no way for him to avoid the harm that was planned to come his way.
…
But what if he could just… delay the inevitable?
Right now the situation was bad, but maybe by giving it time and context, a solution was reachable.
A solution that didn't saw him killed, of course.
And he needed a distraction to accomplish this feat.
Fuyuki wasn't certainly a place devoid of horrible fiends that could be thrown at the Magus Killer, and Kirei didn't waste time to consider Zouken as the prime individual to use as a me-worms-shield.
The old man had already caught the Emiya's interest in the past as Kiritsugu had studied the files about Kariya Matou when he revealed himself during the Holy Grail War.
But the files were of course limited since the man had long avoided making contacts with his ancestral home and preferring the mundane nature of the world to the magical knowledge bestowed by the former Makiri.
It wouldn't be that difficult to create the Casus Belli, to push Zouken to make a 'tiny mistake' and show himself to the one that would push the Magus Killer to turn his attention away from the priest.
Yes, Shirou Emiya will be the key for his survival!
AN
So, this is an interlude. Albeit not a full chapter, it pushes the story right into a good problem.
Zouken is still around and that ain't good for anyone.
Kirei knows this, Kiritsugu knows this… and Shirou is going to learn about this very soon.
The Gamer himself will not ignore the plight from someone younger than him stuck in the worst situation possible… while also dealing with quite the bratty boy living in the same house.
Why Kirei thinks this will work? There is something that makes him important enough to be kept alive, enough to make him essential for what is supposed to happen fairly soon.
Lastly, I decided to start reworking on another old Fate story. Fate/Last Heaven (Redux for FFN) is now out and boy, oh boy, the sass is tripled, the explosive factor has been augmented exponentially and there is a high chance of having some cracking fun with some of the most beloved (and not) characters from this franchise. And… Illya Route?
P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin
k o-fi . com (slash) justbukharin
REVIEW Q&A!
Kamen rider: For now no harem since he is a kid. But it will be an interest mean to bring up the emotional duress everyone is facing when the 'time to grow up' comes. (and by that I mean getting more mature, nothing truly NSFW).
Guest (Chapter 15): Yep, I hope you are doing well with what is going on right now here in our nation.
Ragna: Mistakes were made, I will pull an 'Isaac' to repent for my sins. xD
