Fate/Infinity Shuffle

Chapter 265 – Ace of Hearts:

"You name is… Angra Mainyu?"

"I don't have anything others can call me by, so, pretty much, yeah."

That was their first meeting.

When Kiara was just ten years old, she witnessed an amazing event: a Card fell from the sky. Alone by the hospital bed, with no one to ever visit her, during a rather sleepless night, Kiara though it was a shooting star. But it was rather slow-moving. After the third wish, she knew something was different about it. And then, the Card gently stuck to the window. The child looked around. No one else in the room… She got off the bed, opened the window, and snatched this odd relic. Back on the bed, wide, curious, yellow eyes inspected it.

This wasn't anything like she had seen before. The material itself was odd. It looked like a card from any other Trading Card Game, but it felt unbreakable, unbendable. The image on it was interesting: a human bound down to their knees and unable to move due to the chains. And despite it, Kiara was rather happy. It was one of those happiness children felt when they had a fun secret of their own.

'I have a Card that fell from the sky!'

It was something like that. So, it was natural for her to want to fall asleep with it underneath her pillow. She didn't want the nurses to take it away in the morning, so the bedside table was out of the question.

She shut her eyes. And three minutes later… they opened up again.

"Eh?" This was odd, to say the least. She went from a hospital room to… a movie theatre? "W-Where am I?"

"Oh? I wasn't expecting visitors this soon." Kiara looked over to where the semi-devious voice came from. A humanoid shadow sat at the very last row of the movie-screening room. His pose suggested how relaxed he was, placing his hands behind his had. "Yo. Don't worry, I don't bite."

"You don't even have a mouth…" Despite his facelessness and the lack of a proper form, Kiara didn't feel afraid. And so, approached the man, even sitting on the seat beside him and gawking at the shadow with fascination.

"You're a brave kid or something?"

"I don't think so. I'm just not afraid of you."

"Hmm? Even if I were to tell you I'm the very best at killing humans?"

Kiara shook her head from side to side. "You don't look… mean."

"Heh, well that's a first." The shadow shook its head in disbelief.

"Mister, what's your name?"

And that's when the girl met the one who claimed to be 'All the world's Evils'. Or at least…

"A scapegoat? You mean you were blamed for something else?"

"Oh? Does the little miss know her vocabulary?"

"I read the dictionary."

"…Wait, you do? Why?"

"It's actually fun to learn new words." The girl admitted, a slight blush appearing on her face. She knew it was an odd hobby.

"I guess to each their own. But yeah, I was used as a scapegoat for the village. Angra Mainyu is the name of a Zoroastrian Evil God. And of course, people need to blame their downfall on something. So they erased my name and started calling me 'Angra Mainyu'. I don't even remember my original name though, so I don't really feel bad about that."

"…" Kiara jumped off her seat, much to Avenger's confusion, and she moved over to him. With open arms, she hugged the sitting shadow as best she could.

He would raise an eyebrow if he could. "You know that won't change anything, right? Heck, I'm not really mad about it at this point."

"…But it's still wrong."

"…" He would roll eyes if he had any. "You're doing this for yourself, aren't you?"

"…I know it's not the same as you, but…"

"Oh no, story time… What did I rope myself into?"

Kiara puffed out a cheek. After all, she was being so nice to him, why was he saying this?! "…My mom blames me for everything."

"Hm?"

"She used to be part of a group, and I'm the daughter of the leader of the group…"

"What's wrong about that?"

"The group was against relationships."

"Ah." Angra Mainyu quickly deduced it was some sort of cult. "So your mom whored out to the holy man and she got blamed and expelled. And then you came in. So everything wrong that happens in her life has you as a source. That's to be expected."

"So…" Kiara let go of Angra Mainyu and looked at where his face was supposed to be. "I know how it feels… at least a little bit."

"Well, I'd say I'm glad I met someone that knows it, but" he approached a hand to her forehead, leaving her confused. "that's life, kiddo!" And he flicked her forehead without warning.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Cuz I felt like it! Heheheh!" The shadow chuckled, mocking the little kid.

"Meanie!"

"What were you expecting from All the World's Evils?"

Kiara moved back to her original seat, crossing her arms, visibly upset.

"Awww, is the little girl gonna pout?"

"I-I'm not little I'm 10!"

"Same difference." And another chuckle. But something was different here… Because Kiara let out a giggle. "Hm? Did I hear a squeak?"

"I can't help it." Kiara admitted, composing herself. "I'm… having fun."

"Ehh? Insults are fun to you? I bet you'll grow up to be one hell of a masochist then."

"It's not that. It's just…" Kiara had a soft smile on her face. "You feel… human."

"I just told you I was, what are you on about?"

"Everybody else doesn't."

The Avenger remained silent for a moment. "…Ah, gotcha. Bad luck attracts a bad life."

"By the way, Mister? Why are we in a movie theatre?"

"Ah, you're new to this, right. So long story short, my spirit is within the Card you probably fell asleep on. Cuz of that, you can visit My Room. The Room changes according to each spirit. To be honest, I have no special connection with cinema, but I guess this is the cruellest joke the world could play on me now."

"How?"

"A dude with no chance of winning dies right away in theHoly Grail War and they mock him by giving him a room to see how things play out. 'Oi, are you seeing this? Are you watching the success of others?'. I've already embraced how weak I am, but this is like rubbing salt on the wound with very little need. 'Oh, let's cheat in the Holy Grail War by summoning a God!' You created the system and you made such a stupid mistake? Seriously, humans can be fascinating and infuriating. But oh well, there's no need dwell on the past. What happened, happened. The present is what matters. But the service here is terrible! No popcorn or drinks?"

The rant went on for a while, but Kiara listened to every word attentively. And something stood out.

"Holy Grail War?"

"Hm?" Angra turned to the small girl. He would grin if he could. "Curious?"

So, the Heroic Spirit of Vengeance spent the night explaining the details of the Holy Grail War to the young girl. In a way, it was almost like a fairy tale.

Magi would summoned spirits from the past in the shape of 'Servants', the pinnacle of familiars in a way. Seven Servants were necessary to reach their objective: the Holy Grail. Though this War, Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker would battle until only one remained. However, those were the standard Classes. Through Catalysts, one would possibly be able to summon a Servant of a different Class, usually in place of Berserker due to their nature. And in the Grail War Angra participated in, he was summoned in an attempt for his Master to be ahead of the competition. The catalyst 'Avesta' was obtained, with the intent of summoning the evil God Angra Mainyu. But instead, they summoned the human 'Angra Mainyu'. A useless Servant who didn't even possess a Noble Phantasm. The only reason why he had one to begin with were because of events that happened another time, where the 3rd and 5th Holy Grail Wars overlapped in strange dream. He shouldn't even have a personality to begin with, but the possession of a human engraved one on his soul, at least in this version of him.

"And what does the Holy Grail do?"

"It can grant you a wish."

"Any wish?"

"Well, I guess there should be a limit or two, but nothing you'd be able to understand." The Avenger waved. "So, yeah, the Holy Grail can give you any wish you want."

"Hmm…" Kiara began to think for a moment. "Do you think I could ask for the world to become a better place?"

"Heck if I know. That thing is a pain to obtain. My old partner was stubborn about it. I had to fight against Heracles because of it."

Kiara's head perked up like the most curious of animals. "You fought against Heracles?!"

"Well… Not fought. Target practice is the better way to put it. Honestly, I said I'd distract him, but why is a mountain of muscle so fast? I barely had the edge in speed, but then he swings around that huge sword of his and I get sliced in half."

"T-That's still amazing!"

"You're an easily impressed kid, aren't you?"

"You must be super brave!"

"Me? Well, I knew I'd come back. So it's not really bravery."

"But you went ahead and fought the strongest hero of Greek Mythology! I bet no one would ever dare doing that!"

Angra Mainyu raised a non-existent eyebrow. "You seem to know a lot."

"I spend a lot of time at the hospital. So I pass the time reading fairy tales and myths from all around the world! It's always so interesting. My favourite is 'The Little Mermaid' by Hans Christian Andersen."

"Oh, that man? He's probably a Heroic Spirit as well."

"Really?! I want to meet him!"

"Pretty sure you can't right now."

"Aww…"

"Not to mention, I have this weird hunch the dude won't like you all that much. At least as you are right now."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Never mind, that's an even more complicated story. And I wasn't even there in proper." The Shadow shook his head. "I'll admit I'm curious: you spend that much time in the hospital to the point you've read that much? And you're ten?"

"W-Well… My mom isn't kinda… and sometimes I get sick easily."

"Hmmm… Alright. Well, it's boring here, so whenever you want to speak with someone, come visit me."

"You mean it?!" Avenger was taken aback by her happiness. She suddenly rushed over to him and hugged his black body tightly again. "Thank you, mister!"

"W-What the…?"

The girl let go and flashed a smile before heading out the theatre, waving goodbye.

"What a weird girl. To like someone like me right that right away. I guess kids really are mysteries."

Not a day went by without Kiara carrying her Card everywhere, visiting Angra every day.

"Mister Angra Mainyu! I got my first period today!"

"The hell am I supposed to do with that information?!"

Simply put, Kiara grew up with the Avenger as her most trusted company.

"Oi, Kiara?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you like me so much?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"There's a bunch of reasons why I'm asking. Maybe a bit too long to list."

"Well… I don't really mind about your murderous intent."

"Because I can't hurt you in here?"

"Not really. It's because you're… human."

"Huh? You're surrounded by humans every day."

"I don't think so. I really like humans, but after a while… I keep seeing people hiding who they are. And… I don't like it. But you wear who you are on your sleeves. And I think that's what makes you human the most, unlike… everybody else."

"Hmph. You say a shadow that shouldn't even have a personality to begin with is the closest thing to a human being you've ever met. I don't know who's the twisted one: you, or the rest of the world."

"Don't you hate humans? Because of what happened to you."

"I did at first. And my hatred for the world did define me as an Avenger. But it's too much of a hassle to be hung up about it. I accepted humanity for what they did, both the good and the evil."

"Really? But you're so cynical all the time."

"I forgive and accept, but I'm not delusional. It's hard to forget what people did to me and why. Instead of accepting their evils, they dumped all of their problems on a twisted martyr. 'It's because of you I cheated on my wife!' and 'It's because of you I killed that innocent man!'. Accept and forgive. But never forget."

"So, what would be your ideal world?"

"My ideal world? Well… I don't really care for it now, but when my name was first erased, I really longed for the old days. Simple days at the village. And then, the blue skies and the open fields were all I really wanted. Devoid of everyone else."

"Hmmm…"

"But honestly, that's a thing of the past. The world could end for all I care. Though if it does, at least it should go out with a bang. It would be boring otherwise."

The years continued on. As usual, Kiara would go in and out of the hospital due to ugly arguments with her mother, on top of a slightly weaker than usual immune system. And once in the final year of high school, the future career papers were distributed. It took a while for Kiara to figure out something for the future. But once she glanced over at all the mythology books she read for entertainment, an idea hit her…

"A church for everybody?"

"Indeed! Maybe that way, people can be a bit more human. They'll show what they believe in. And it will be a place that accepts anyone, regardless of what they believe in."

"Never pictured you with a knack for that sort of thing."

"Your life story gave me a lot to think about."

"Huh? You're basing that off people dumping their problems on me? How does that even work?"

"It's to avoid it from happening again."

"I may be out of touch, but I didn't know sacrificial lambs were still a thing."

"Silly Angra!"

"Also…"

"Hm?"

"The hell is up with that nun costume?!"

"Do you like it? I did it myself. It'll be my working uniform."

"It looks like something out of a Halloween for adults store! Why is it showing your leg? And why are your cow tits accentuated?"

"Don't you like it?"

"…Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to rape you."

"So you do like it!"

Even though the paper was rejected, Kiara stuck to her objectives and ideologies with tooth and nail. And close to the end of the year…

Kiara had never had proper friends. She wasn't social, but she didn't shy away either. She was like the acquaintance everybody knew. So she could easily overhear a conversation between a few of her classmates, mostly by accident, but without much regret. It wasn't a secret conversation anyway. The girls spoke about crushes and relationships, information they read on a magazine. And the more they described things, a certain thought came over Kiara's mind.

With it in mind, she rushed home with the dumbest of smiles. Immediately went to bed, placed the Card underneath, and…

"Angra Mainyu, I love-" And… he wasn't present. "you?" She looked around through the rows of seats. "Angra? Where are you? It's not the time to play around!" She looked and looked. What was supposed to be a short confession turned into an endeavour of many hours. As hope dwindled, she sat down on the very seat she took the first night they met about seven years prior.

And probably for the first time in her life, Kiara cried out of emotion.

She didn't mind the lack of friends. She didn't mind the rough family condition. She didn't mind the hospital trips. She didn't mind any of the things that could stress people out the most. But perhaps the end of the four nights was something she never wanted to happen. The end of his stay, as mysterious as his first appearance.

Every successive night, she would visit the room again. Empty, projecting blank movie reel onto the wide screen.

She was probably the only one who didn't sing the school's anthem during graduation.

But despite this breaking of the heart, she had a hard objective in front of her. And she wasn't going to give up. About a week later, once her bags were all packed, she said goodbye to her mother.

"Took you long enough. I never want to see you again."

Kiara didn't even respond. No hatred, no love. Just acceptance.

She had gotten herself an abandoned building, a rather small one, far behind the Ryuudou Temple. She had found it once a couple years back, and since it seemed to be untouched since, it looked like no one would mind if she took it for herself and renovated it.

With the advent of the internet, news flew faster and faster. So the news of her mother's suicide a week after her leave. The feelings towards it were best described as 'neutral'.

Kiara burned her birth certificate away, alongside any way of identifying her. Similar to the Avenger, she wanted to discard away her name. At least, to an extent. She would still go by as 'Sessyoin Kiara', but her origins and her connections to the world did not matter.

It was during renovation that she came across another Class Card. She was taken aback by its sudden appearance. And while her hopes weren't up, she saw no evil in seeing what kind of spirit was inside it.

"Alter Ego, Kiara Sessyoin. To think I would come across another self of mine. Uhuhuhu… I shall savour all you have to offer."

A strange kind of magnetism surged through the two. Within the ceremonial room and atop a heart-shaped bed, the two spirits copulated. The Demonic Bodhisattva tasted everything there was to the Alternate Self.

Just like with the Avenger years before, the Alter Ego offered information.

"You want the Holy Grail?"

"Yes. I have a wish."

"You heard that from another Heroic Spirit? That item is far from being a merit."

"But there's something I need to reach. And I can only do it through the Holy Grail."

"Hmmm… It would be rude of me to not help myself. But this world is devoid of the means to reproduce that death idol. There is another way though."

"Another way besides a Holy Grail War?"

"Yes. There is a certain Heroic Spirit that bears the Holy Grail itself inside her heart. If you corner her, I can take that Holy Grail and grant it to you. I've absorbed her once before. It's an easy task to perform it again."

That's how Kiara came to learn about BB. But was she even destined to appear?

"If I have come to this world, she is bound to follow." Those were the devilish words that gave hope.

Around three years ran by. Still no sign of Angra Mainyu. And the two Kiaras grew more and more similar.

"You've seen no real humans besides that shadow? No wonder. You're surrounded simply by insects pretending to be human. You are the only true human present within this world."

Visitors came to the somewhat hidden church, but little came of it.

And one day, throughout a stroll through the city, she found… her. Matou Sakura. Even if a few years younger and with much shorter hair, she was the splitting image of BB, if the Alter Ego's images were correct.

"Sakura Matou… Hm. If anyone can be given the access to the Holy Grail, it is her. Whether or not she obtains the Card of BB, only her will be able to truly use that which you seek."

A simple plan was set into motion: drive an insect to give the golden goblet to Kiara. Installing the Card with the help of Avenger, Kiara gained a simple yet very useful: to drive people to act upon their emotion and submerse themselves into them. Anger would prompt violence, sorrow would cause despair, happiness would create ecstasy and bliss. With the ability to see into the heart of men, Clairvoyance (Beast), she would know how to act.

The circumstances couldn't be more perfect. The ills of the brother allowed for her to push him over the edge to torment Sakura in her place. Whenever an opportunity came, the trigger would be pulled. A haunting of a few years. Something that worked to her favour was the relationship of Emiya Shirou and Tohsaka Rin. Once a certain event triggered all the frustrations of the young girl to blossom, Kiara approached with words of kindness. In a way, all she said was true. Sakura's desire to see everything disappear was beautiful in her eyes. A sense of nostalgia, even.

And in the time since, she took in those that were down on their luck and became devoted to her cause. Seven lost souls, each saved by the one that sought pawns. And then the twisted fox that was nearly empty. Before all those, she managed to find another copy of the Avenger Card, alongside the unique at the time Foreigner Card. She attempted to see Angra Mainyu again through it, but it did not work. However, its functions still worked. Through Sakura, Shinji was 'recruited' to wreck havoc, first through forcefully Installing the Foreigner Card on a comatose girl and then Altering Players. That side plan didn't work, but it was just a detail.

It was just a matter of time to make her move. The attempt to use the Golden Archers had a few missteps, but no matter. That event prompted others more and more, and she even got two more recruits through the manipulation of extreme sorrow and self-hatred.

And all this so…

"I don't know why you left. But that does not matter. One and only other human of my life, let us reunite! I'll offer you this present… a world devoid of all others, just like you wished a long time ago. Through the Holy Grail, I'll use its power to invert the rules of the world, and in one quick motion, erase all of humanity. The insects disguised as humans will disappear in one go. And you'll come back to me. I have something to tell you, after all. I can't let you leave without telling you first. That, Angra Mainyu… I love you."

A delusional solution to a desperate wish. A present for him to come back. Sessyoin Kiara wanted to retrieve All of the World's Evils and enjoy with him All of the World's Pleasures.


Insert Author Note here.

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