Emiya Shirou was no stranger to strange dreams.
Ever since the day the first Kiritsugu had first pulled him out of the first fire, he had undergone the dream cycle, as a result of Avalon being implanted inside of him. In the beginning, they were the memories of Arturia Pendragon, the legendary King Arthur, her battles and struggles. He had watched them every night for ten straight years, before the Holy Grail War ever started.
Though after the Holy Grail War, the number of influences increased, as Archer's Arm implanted the memories of nearly every single battlefield in all of history. There were so many to choose from, that Shirou rarely saw the same exact scene twice. Even if the same blade in the same battlefield was picked, slightly different timelines could mean different results. The possibilities were truly unlimited.
Some would probably call this a curse, seeing the horrors of war every time they closed their eyes to rest, but it wasn't so bad. It was still preferable to dreaming of his own past.
Though it did mean that Shirou was understandably confused when he found himself standing in a nearly endless field of bright orange flowers, stretching out into the infinity under a crystal blue sky, with only a few thin clouds. Down from the sky came what appeared to be the roots of a tree, withered in places, but still breathtaking in their size and numbers.
The scene was so peaceful that it was almost jarring for Shirou, who was long since used to his dreams of blood and war. It was even somewhat of a relief to him, when he felt the old familiar pressure of a killing intent within the dream. ...Though it was a surprise to have it directed at him.
Well, he wasn't sure what would happen if he died in a weird dream, but he wasn't in a hurry to find out.
Shirou spun around, tracing his swords just in time to catch a boomerang, covered in bright orange flames.
Despite its apparent mass and speed, the force behind the attack was considerable. Considerable enough that Shirou was nearly pushed off balance as he just managed to deflect the projectile, which spun through the air before returning to the figure that threw it.
There were four of them, dark silhouettes with the flames of the sky burning like masquerade masks over the top halves of their faces, each one holding a different weapon.
"What are they doing here?" Even if it was a dream, Shirou naturally knew the weapons on sight, and by extension, their holders, the past Bosses of the Vongola Famiglia. The Third boss and Fourth boss had a knife and a fork respectively, the Sixth boss had been the one to throw the boomerang, while the Seventh boss was holding a pair of old six-shooters.
It seemed as if the figures were not in the chatting mood, as the Third and Fourth bosses both charged forward with weapons in hand.
The attacks were brutally strong, nearly as strong as Reborn's, and with two attackers at once, Shirou was batted back and forth as he struggled to continue to defend himself. He managed to give himself room for counter attacks but with their speed, the old bosses could manage to avoid it.
Attempting to fall back on old strategies, Shirou left one of his fake openings, attempting to draw out an attack. For a moment, he thought it would work, as the Fourth Boss pushed forward with his oversized flaming fork, but rather than go for the opening, he swerved up to slam straight into Shirou's guard again, knocking him up into the air with pure force.
The Magus recovered, tossing his swords at the pair of attackers to give them something to deal with while he regained his footing, but was left confused as to why they had ignored his trap, until it hit him.
Vongola Hyper Intuition.
Fuck.
His normal style would do him no good here, which meant he was in serious trouble. The suicidal style of fighting was the only way he had to deal with opponents who were on the Servant level while working within the limitations of his body. ...Unless.
The boomerang came again, aiming for his back, so Shirou called forth Rho Aias, the Anti Thrown Weapon Noble Phantasm, which deflected the attack as if it was nothing at all, and created a barrier between Shirou's back and the Fourth Boss's fork as the Third charged at him from the front.
Rather than summoning another copy of the married swords, Shirou took a leap of faith and tried a different approach, hoping that he was right.
A five foot long blade, the Monohoshi Zao, or the Laundry-Drying Pole. It was a blade that was too damn long for normal use, and required an entirely different style of fighting in order to work, and while Shirou's ability to read the sword's history and copy its uses style allowed him to do so, it had never been the best option.
This would be the first time he used it in actual combat.
Getting into the stance, with feet planted and sword held high, Shirou faced his attacker and let it rip.
Tsubame Gaeshi, an irrational attack that pushed the wielder to beyond the limits of what should be possible through skill and strength alone, going so far as to bend time. Even with the Vongola Hyper Intuition allowing the old boss to read the flow of the attack, there was simply nothing to be done.
The three slashes occurred, so rapidly as to appear instantaneous. The first slash cut off his movements and stopped his advance. The second slash blocked his escape, forcing him to guard. The third slash… the third slash took the figure's head from his shoulders, and as the body fell, it burst into bright orange flames.
Shirou breathed a sigh of relief as he realized his hypothesis was true.
Just like any of the other signature attacks of the Servants he had once seen in the Holy Grail War, he should NOT have been able to perform Tsubame Gaeshi. Beyond simply the skill required in order to pull them off was the strength required to.
Assassin's Tsubame Gaeshi, Lancer's Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death, Berserker's Nine Lives Shooting the Hundred Heads, even if Shirou understood the techniques perfectly, there was no way his human body could perform them. Even when he had the physical strength of Archer's Arm to take the brunt of it, the 'Nine Lives Blade Works', his bastardized form of Berserker's attack, had nearly ripped that arm off to perform, and was nowhere near the level of the original.
Even if he had the knowledge and the weapons, Shirou could only dream of ever using such techniques. Of course, this WAS a dream. So why should the limitations of his physical body matter here? His only real limitation should be what he could imagine, and he could imagine a lot.
He was going to have fun with this.
He turned to face the Seventh Vongola Boss, who had been charging up an attack since the fight began, and who pulled the trigger on his gun as soon as he noticed Shirou turning to face him.
*Boom!*
The burst of fire that came from the gun's small muzzle was like the blast from an A-rank Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm. Something that could punch through the Great Wall of China, more than 50 times over.
Shirou planted his feet and called out Svalinn, the shield that holds back the flames of the sun in Norse Mythology, a Divine Construct. To trace such a thing in the real world would have cost Shirou more magical energy than he could generate in three months, but why should such a limitation matter here?
Intense as the flames were, they were nothing but a warm breeze in the face of Svalinn's divine purpose. Only the wind from the attack made it through, though even that pushed Shirou back several feet.
Using the room given to him by the others evacuating the area before the attack, Shirou began to counterattack. "Trace Bullet: Continuous fire!" Wave after wave of irresponsibly expensive A-rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms appeared in the air, shooting off at speeds that approached the sound barrier, forcing the Vongola Bosses to dodge for their lives.
The logistics of how much magical energy it would take to actually do this outside of his Reality Marble only highlighted for Shirou just how absurd being like Gilgamesh had been. If it wasn't for their Hyper Intuition showing them the routes to survival, all three of the Bosses would have died in an instant.
But while they were all held at bay, he got to work on picking them off.
Archer's massive black bow appeared in his hands and Shirou traced a copy of Caladbolg. "I am twisted at my core." Shirou said calmly as the spiral sword transformed into an arrow. He pulled it back, pumping it full of the imaginary magic energy until it broke, before encasing it in Storm Flames for good measure, and then let it rip.
As the boomerang and gun had both been hard countered by his shields, Shirou aimed to remove the only target that was an actual threat, the fork.
As the arrow fired and the air twisted in around it, sucking everything in, the dark silhouette holding the fork just stood there, understanding that there was absolutely nothing it could do.
*BOOM!*
The explosion scattered orange petals everywhere as the wind from the attack shook the world around them, leaving nothing but a crater where the Fourth Boss had once been standing.
With two more targets on the range, Shirou prepared to repeat the process, until a massive wave of fire, as powerful as the charged shot fired by the Seventh Boss before, came out of nowhere, blowing away the storm of swords he had been throwing in the direction of the bosses and forcing him to return to using Svalinn to guard against it.
After guarding against the surprise attack, Shirou turned to face yet another dark silhouette. This one was unarmed, dark red and burnt orange flames encompassing his hands, a mixture of Storm and Sky Flames, in such quantities as to rival Reborn's, perhaps even surpass him.
Forgetting the other two, Shirou turned all his focus onto the new threat, tracing as many swords as he could and launching them at the figure. With the man being unarmed, Shirou had zero way of reading him and his style of fighting, making him by far the greatest threat that sword magus could go up against.
As the swords came shooting towards him, the man leaned forward, his hands held out by his sides. The flames in either hand grow larger and larger before exploding out behind him causing him to be launched forward like a rocket, instantly breaking the sound barrier and pushing up to at least four times the speed of sound in the amount of time it took him to cover the distance between himself and Shirou. All the while he made extremely precise course adjustments in order to avoid the volley of swords that Shirou had thrown at him.
Shirou pulled Svalinn in front of him as the figure through a inferno infused punch while flying towards him at high speeds. Svalinn still managed to dispel the flames, but the force behind the blow was still insane.
Shirou went flying backwards so fast as to break the sound barrier himself. His head was spinning from the pain of both his arms shattering as he spiraled through the air, but he was still aware enough of what was going to happen to the rest of his body should he hit the ground unprepared.
Shirou reinforced his body as much as he could, turning his skin and bones into steel in hopes of surviving the impact. Then he went a step further, doing something he had seen Reborn do. He started to leak out his Dying Will Flames, wrapping them around his body as best he could to further protect it.
In his own attempts to recreate the technique, Shirou had found generating and controlling enough flames to protect his entire body to be difficult, so he concentrated most of protecting his heart, brain and lungs, accepting that everything else would get damaged, but willing to make the sacrifice if he could stay alive.
It was not a pleasant landing, though Shirou somehow managed to protect his head enough to stop it from brain damage… if such a thing was possible in this world. That said, he had broken several bones and punctured many important organs.
"I am the Bone of my Sword." Shirou said, using the phrase in its most literal sense. His body, his entire being was a sword, and even if the sword was broken, it could be reforged. His insides felt like they were on fire as his body started the process of knitting itself back together with bits of projected metal.
Only, he wasn't going to be given the time for such a thing.
The man with the flaming hands landed nearby, with a horrible thud that shook the ground.
Shirou did his best to play dead, hoping that the guy would buy it… but since he appeared to also be a Vongola Boss, with his own Hyper Intuition. Shirou gave up the bluff when he sensed the man building up his flames for another attack.
Pushing his broken body over, Shirou tried to position his shield between himself and the man who was about to try to roast him alive, only for one of the figure's hands to reach out and grab onto the edge of the shield and pull it down so that he could reach his glowing red-orange hand towards Shirou's face.
Shirou was struggling to try to imagine and way out of this one, when a second hand, one covered by a black glove with a metal roman numeral 'I' on its back, grabbed onto the first man's wrist.
The oranges flames on the back of the glove flickered with a sort of white light as the ice of what appeared to be something like a Snow Flame grew over the fiery hand, snuffing out the flame before it could blast Shirou in the face.
"You have gone more than far enough." Echoed a calm and even voice as the new arrival shoved the first man away before standing in front of Shirou, leaving the Magus to look up at the silhouette of the gloved man in his long coat.
Shirou analyzed the coat and gloves' histories and confirmed what he had already expected. The First Vongola Boss.
"Out of the way, Primo." Came a much angrier voice. "We cannot allow a cursed individual like him to be here." The ice on the man's hand shattered as the flames came back alive.
"That is for her to decide, not us." The calm voice replied.
The boomerang user and gunner from before reappeared, flanking the man with bare fists, as if to support him, making things look bad again for Shirou until another pair stepped up from behind him to stand alongside the Primo. The figure of a man carrying a ceremonial dagger, and a woman with a crossbow. Both of them being silhouettes like the others, with mask-like flames over their eyes.
The Fifth and Eighth Bosses.
A silent debate seemed to go on in front of Shirou before the fist fighter, who must have been the Second Boss, vanished in a puff of flames, quickly followed by his two companions.
"Even after all these years, you still haven't changed." The calm voice said with a hint of something that might have been compassion before the First Boss also vanished.
"Thank you for removing my seal. To have it be used in such a way brings me great shame." Came a deep male voice before the Fifth Boss went up in flames.
"Keep an eye on Natsumi for us." Came a woman's voice as the Eighth Boss started to burn up as well. "Oh, and tell 'Reborn' to give my son a good smack across the head for me."
Shirou's eyes popped open and he gave a grown as he sat up in his seat in front of his workshop bench.
He must have fallen asleep while working on Natsumi's pendant, and now he had the imprint of the flower pendant on his face as he had used it as the world's most uncomfortable pillow.
It was the last weekend before summer break started, and Shirou only had ten days left before Illya's birthday. He wanted to get Illya, Natsumi and Taiga's pseudo-rings done in time so he could give them to all of them together, since he figured it would make Illya happier that way.
Taiga had surprised Shirou by asking that he make her pseudo-ring another little cartoon tiger head, like the tassel she had on her Tora-Shinai, before her grandfather decided to seal the weapon away for the sake of everyone's safety after what happened at the Kendo Tournament. Raiga had admitted that the shrine he had sealed the weapon inside was starting to leak a strange blood thirst and had asked Kiritsugu and Reborn if they had any ideas on how to deal with that.
He had already mostly finished them, with the only thing left to do being to enchant whatever outfits Illya, their mother, Sella and Leysritt, and Bianchi were working together to make, using Leon's threads. Once they were done, storing them in an astral form would be a snap. So in the meantime, he had been working on some extra things to put on them.
With the power generated by the Rainbow Fragments being so high, Shirou was trying to find things to do with the surplus energy. Though one thing was obvious. A storage for a fail safe healing array, the same kind of thing that Rin had once used to restore Shirou's heart after it was carved out by Lancer.
It would take the girls a few months to passively charge the array, but once they did, it would be a one time recovery in case anything went horribly wrong.
Part of Shirou wanted to blame the strange dream on his having been working on Natsumi's necklace when he went to sleep, but as he looked within his Unlimited Blade Works, he could see the weapons of seven of the eight bosses, exactly as they had been in the dream.
He was around 15% sure those hadn't been there before… Oh come on, cut him some slack, do you have any idea how many weapons there were in the Unlimited Blade Works? It might not literally be 'unlimited' but it was a LOT.
"...*Sigh* Coffee. I need coffee."
"I see you have finally decided to join me on the darkside." Reborn said cheerfully as he drank a cup of the extra strength black coffee that Shirou had brewed that morning.
"My old Master used to say that if there was a key to finding the Root, then it was probably coffee." Shirou said as he drank some himself.
"The Root?" Reborn asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Plato's model of metaphysics. Go read it yourself, I'm too tired to explain." Shirou said.
Reborn gave a hum as he made a mental note to look into Greek Philosophy later. He already knew the basics of the Astral Forms described within it, but he wasn't too clear on the details.
"That's fine. I probably wouldn't have understood it anyways. All that magical theory and spiritualism stuff is really complicated." Taiga said as she took a mouthful of extremely fluffy and delicious pancakes, with homemade strawberry syrup.
Since Bianchi's arrival nearly two week back, she, Reborn and even Natsumi had been spending most nights with Taiga at her condo, before they all gathered at the Emiya residents for breakfast in the mornings and sticking around on the weekends. This was partly out of convenience, and partly because Bianchi was really insistent on learning how to cook better. Something that Reborn wouldn't complain about.
Bianchi had learned cooking from books and magazines, but without a sense of taste to guide her, she had been working with only theory, measurements and heart… And her heart often led her astray. Now that she could actually cook meals that had taste and realized that Shirou's food tasted a lot better than hers, she was insistent on learning from him.
Shirou had been reluctant at first, but Bianchi was nothing if not persistent, and had managed to recruit the other girls into her asking for cooking lessons. As a result, Shirou was giving them all a bonus home-ec class every more, because he simply couldn't say no to Illya.
It also came with lessons on cleaning up messes, as Natsumi and Taiga kept fumbling things.
Honestly, those girls.
"Are you alright, Onii-chan?" Illya asked.
Shirou smiled in response and just rolled his shoulders a bit. "You don't need to worry. After I get some food in me and take a short power nap, I'll be good as new."
"If you are planning on taking a nap, shouldn't you hold off on the coffee?" Natsumi said as Shirou once again reached for a refill.
"An unfortunate consequence of being an Active Sun Flame is that our bodies metabolize unwelcome substances hundreds of times faster than a normal person. Things like caffeine and alcohol, which are technically poisons, are burned through in a matter of minutes, instead of hours. It makes medicating us almost impossible, so we have to rely on people like Doctor Shamal, who provide alternative care methods." Reborn explained in Shirou's place. "Which is why you should probably take better care of your health. I'm sure Illya-chan would understand if her birthday present is a little late."
"Who was the one who suggested I make all this stuff in the first place?" Shirou deadpanned before sighing. "It's fine. I put the finishing touches on them last night."
"They are!?" Illya shouted, unable to control herself.
"Yes. I'm just waiting for the outfits you've made now." Shirou said with a slight smile at his sister's youthful behavior.
"Mama, can I show off the dress we made? Pretty please!?" Illya said, looking to Irisviel with sparkling red eyes.
"I don't see why not. Go ahead and change into it. I'm sure your papa would love to see it too." Irisviel said with a smile, getting a nod of agreement from Kiritsugu as well. Barely able to contain her excitement, Illya ran from the room to go and try on her new clothes.
"I still can't believe you convinced her that all of this stuff is about magical girls." Natsumi said with a sigh, after Illya was upstairs.
"It might as well be. While the magical girl shows tend to ignore the subject, that doesn't change the fact that they are violent vigilantes and are committing crimes." Reborn said as he sipped his coffee. "The only difference between them and the mafia is…"
"All the money laundering and illegal trade?" Taiga supplied, rolling her eyes.
"I was going to say the public image, but I suppose there is that too." Reborn said with a sigh. "Though I'd like to point out that a lot of 'legitimate' businesses do the exact same thing. Business ethics is an oxymoron."
Taiga was a good candidate for becoming the Rain Guardian, with her upbeat attitude and how she simply wanted to enjoy the world, but just like Natsumi, she had surprisingly strong opinions against joining the Mafia, despite having so many loved ones involved with it. Raiga wrote it off as a rebellious phase, but having her and Natsumi together was proving problematic for Reborn.
Then again, Reborn had already basically given up on Natsumi ever becoming the Vongola Famiglia's boss. After everything that had happened between her and it, Reborn doubted that he would be able to bring the girl around easily, even though he truly wished to see her turn the Famiglia around.
Still, even if Natsumi could avoid becoming the Vongola Boss, she couldn't avoid her inheritance. The Vongola Rings WOULD be hers. Even Reborn couldn't change that any more than he could change the fact that the sun will rise in the morning. Not unless another more viable heir presented themselves.
All talk of the mafia stopped as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "Ready!? Here I come!" Illya shouted from just outside the room before slipping around the corner with her arms spread wide to show off her new clothes. "Tada!"
It was a two piece white outfit with an added mantle. The outfit had a ice blue trim and golden crosses decorating it, as well as long red ribbons falling from her shoulders. Her legs were covered by white stockings that stopped just before the tops were covered by her skirt and her arms had similar white gloves that went up to just above the elbow.
On top of Illya's head was a golden crown that's bright color made her pale hair and skin shine all the more and contrast with her ruby eyes.
"You're SO cute!" Taiga squealed uncontrollably.
"It really is amazing… though you look more like an idol at some type of temple than a magical girl." Natsumi said, feeling as though the outfit was a little over the top.
"It really does have a holy feel to it, doesn't it?" Irisviel said, her eyes shining as she looked at her daughter from over a camera, Kiritsugu nodding his agreement with a solemn smile of his own.
"What do you think, Onii-chan?" Illya said with a big smile as she held the rim of her skirt… Only Shirou did not respond. "Onii-chan?"
They all looked to Shirou, his eyes wide in shock as he stared at Illya. The arm holding his cup of coffee had gone limp, causing him to pour its contents out onto the floor.
It was not exactly like the Dress of Heaven. The gold trim had been replaced with blue, the long flowing sleeves replaced with gloves, and the ring-like holes around the buttons that would expose the chest and stomach were missing as well, but Shirou's unprepared mind was sent hurling back at the sight of it.
She reminded him so much of his other sister in that dress, and it only became worse as her smile faded, replaced with a more solemn look of concern. "Are you alright, Onii-chan?"
"I..Illya?" Shirou stammered, dropping his now empty cup before taking a shaky step towards the little girl.
Illya was surprised and her brother grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. "Onii-chan, what's wrong?" She asked, his grib getting tighter all the will, until Illya couldn't take it anymore. "Onii-chan, you're hurting me!"
"Please Illya, please don't die." Shirou half sobbed as he maintained his death grip.
In a blur of movement, Kiritsugu and Reborn pulled Shirou's arms off of his sister before dragging him down to the ground. "Get a grip, Shirou." Reborn said, slapping the boy across the face with one hand as the other held the struggling boy to the ground.
"Let me go! I have to help her! I will save her this time! Illya! Nee-chan!" Shirou shouted, his body riving as he tried to pull himself free from the two stronger individuals.
"Sweetie, it's fine. Illya, is fine. Everything is fine." Irisviel said as she came over, placing her hands on his face and starting to blanket him in her soothing flames, only even his mother's calming aura wasn't enough this time.
"Let. Me. Go!" Shirou roared.
Reborn saw it first, the flickering of red and black flames from the pendant hidden underneath Shirou's shirt, and he immediately reacted, jumping up and pushing Kiritsugu and Irisviel away before the flames erupted outwards.
Shirou made to stand up, but Reborn used Leon to form a giant hand, crushing Shirou back down to the ground. The area where Leon's body touched Shirou started to turn from green to black. Then, to everyone's horror, blades started to grow straight out of the panicking boy's body, cutting into Leon. As this was happening, dark tattoo like marks once against started to spread across Shirou's body, as if the black flames hidden within him were raising to the surface.
"Nee-chan. Please don't die. Please hold on." Shirou continued to say, completely obvious to his surroundings as the entire room was in a panic. Kiritsugu and Irisviel had moved in front of the other children and were using their flames to protect them, while Leysritt and Sella tried to contain the damage from other angles.
They kept shouting to Shirou, trying to get through to him, but it wasn't working.
Finally, Reborn settled for a different solution. "Bianchi, poison cooking!"
Bianchi had already taken off her chains and charged a piece of pancake with a shocking amount of poisonous energy.
She tossed it towards Shirou, and it was caught by a green tendril growing out of the giant hand before being shoved into Shirou's open mouth as he tried to call out to his sister again.
The effects were strong, as the boy's struggling stopped almost instantly, his flames died down and his eyes rolled back into his head.
As his body went limp, Reborn allowed Leon to shrink back down, the shapeshifter looking very ill from the prolonged exposure to Shirou's flames. "You did well. Take a rest." Reborn said, as he fetched a treat for his partner, while Irisviel rushed to her son. The blades had disappeared, but left large bleeding wounds in the holes left behind. Taiga and Natsumi were trying to comfort a crying Illya, the tiny girl shaken and apologizing, Natsumi's flames slowly helping Illya to regain her self-control.
The peaceful morning had become utter chaos, and not the kind of chaos that Reborn liked. Even so, he had to find a way to make the best of it.
To everyone this concerns, 'Go fuck yourself'. You know if it concerns you and you know why. If it doesn't concern you, ignore the message.