"Are you Ready Ms. Tohsaka?" Integra asked. "Once you go into your inner world, there is no turning back until you release him."
Rin grabbed Blake's deck and held it to her chest. "I'm ready.
"There's something else I should mention." The elder informed. "Blake has never used The Lovers card until this point, so chances are that his soul won't be in one piece when you arrive, and you may have to visit multiple parts of your inner world to release him completely. Therefore, there is a strong possibility that those pieces won't realize that they are parts of him. You may have to convince each part of him to leave and I'm fairly certain that not every piece of him will be willing to go easily."
Rin sighed. "It wouldn't be him if he made this easy, huh? Don't worry Madam Integra. I'll bring him back."
"Good girl." Integra smiled warmly. "I can see why he is so smitten with you."
Rin felt her face get warm. "That idiot talks too much."
Integra gave a laugh and just continued to smile warmly. "Go get our boy."
Rin nodded and pressed the deck to her chest again. The magus then proceeded to close her eyes and pulse mana into the deck. Slowly but surely, she began to feel it respond, and soon, she could tell that there was enough mana within it and stopped her flow of magic.
When the magus opened her eyes again, the deck had taken on a luminescent turquoise appearance and had begun to float.
Integra, noticing the process was complete, nodded. "Now repeat after me."
Rin nodded back her understanding.
"Oh deck of arcana," Integra spoke.
"Oh deck of arcana," Rin repeated.
"Hear me and obey."
"Hear me and obey."
The deck began to glow with turquoise light.
"Slow hours into millennia."
"Slow hours into millennia."
"To allow me to draw out my full potential."
"To allow me to draw out my full potential."
The glowing grew brighter and brighter, and Rin felt herself being pulled to somewhere both far away and extremely close.
"And reach my goals of infinium."
"And reach my goals of infinium."
"In your sacred name."
"I'm your sacred name."
Power surged through the young magus now. She was almost there. She could feel it.
"Take me to my innermost world."
"Take me to my innermost world."
"To achieve my destiny."
"To achieve my destiny."
Rin felt the world around her twist and warp, and felt herself being both pulled apart and condensed all at once. It was a nauseating feeling that made her feel as if she were going to empty the contents of her stomach.
Everything went dark around her, and, for what seemed like an eternity, she couldn't tell up from down nor left from right. She couldn't feel anything, hear anything, or see anything. It was as if she had been pulled into the void of infinium; a realm of true nothingness where only emptiness resided. It seemed to pull her every which way. It disoriented her and seemed to spin her like a top. Though she knew she had only been gone for mere moments, it felt as if she had left several lifetimes ago. Then, without warning, the twisting feeling left as quickly as it appeared.
Light bombarded her vision like knives of light and she gasped for air, not realizing that she had been holding her breath. A familiar scent caressed her nose and a nostalgic creaking of wood entered her ears.
As she took in the familiar looking foyer with the stairs leading up to the second floor, along with the bookshelves filled with books she had yet to read and the coffee table she had often sipped her tea at, her eyes began to water up.
She was standing in her family mansion back in Fuyuki. Every detail was as she remembered. It was extremely western in comparison to the other homes in the city. Portraits of her Mother and Father decorated the walls, and other items of value rested on shelves and tables.
If she hadn't been any wiser, she would have thought that she was actually back in Fuyuki. But she was wiser. Though she yearned to walk the halls of her childhood home, she knew that she had business to attend to.
Rin held out her hand, and Blake's deck appeared in her hand, now humming with her turquoise mana.
The magus focused on her intentions and drew the top card to reveal The Emperor card. As soon as she drew it, the card began to glow.
"Find him," she whispered to it as she released it.
Six portals of various colors opened up around the mansion and the card floated steadily through the closest one. That portal being the yellow one.
Rin drew from the top of the deck again to reveal The Empress card. It glowed as well and felt as if it were tugging her through the same portal. She followed it willingly and allowed it to guide her through the blinding bright, yellow opening.
When she opened her eyes, Rin found herself on a familiar rooftop. The cool night air brushed gently along her face and the sound of the city below practically radiated sound up to where she was standing.
She knew exactly where she was.
It was the roof of the apartment complex that had served as Ben, Blake, and her base of operations during the Holy Grail War. This rooftop was the very one her and Blake had trained on countless times...
Fast footfalls approached Rin from the front and a battle-cry called out as it got closer. The magus dodged as a fist swung towards her, then charged up a gandr shot and fired it at her assailant.
Who would be attacking her inside her own consciousness?
The shot slammed into what she identified as a man and sent him flying. The man landed in the most unceremonious position she had ever seen and gave Rin the chance to identify who it was.
"Holy shit, Rin!" Blake's voice groaned as he shakily rose to his feet. "You've been holding back on me. That was a lot stronger of a blast than you've been using."
Rin's eyes widened at the realization, and tears began to well up in her eyes. It was Blake! Blake was right in front of her! Yet something was odd. He seemed different. Lighter and less lines on his face. Instead of the huge white and black aura that usually surrounded him lately, he now had a slight yellow glow to him.
Blake frowned as he looked at her face. "What's wrong, Rin? It's ok! I can handle this much! Let's keep going! I feel like I've gotten a lot stronger!"
Rin turned away and wiped her tears from her eyes. This wasn't her Blake. This was a Blake from before he had fallen for her. She had to remember that. This was only a fraction of his being.
"I think we should call it a day," Rin sighed. "Besides, there's something I need to talk to you about."
"Ok?" He responded in confusion.
"So this is just a memory from your psyche?" Blake asked in clarification. "I'm not real?"
"Yes to the first part," Rin answered. "But no to the second."
"I don't really get it," Blake laughed as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Yes this is just a memory," Rin explained further. "But you are very real. You're a piece of Blake Ryan's soul. A piece that he desperately needs to rejoin with the rest."
"A piece of Blake Ryan?" Blake asked. Understanding washed over his face and suddenly, it seemed like the world had fallen on the diviner's shoulders. The strained lines on his face returned and he began to frown. It was a look that resembled her Blake. "What happened?"
"Well your body died," Rin explained shakily. "And as a last ditch effort, you used the lovers to put your soul inside of mine, but in the process, your soul split into pieces."
Blake laughed. The weight seemed to lift a bit from him and he smiled. "How clumsy of me. Man, I must seem like such a loser to you."
"Not at all," Rin laughed. She missed the carefree nature Blake used to have. After he had gotten captured by Einsbern, Blake never seemed to recover his outward joy. He became very serious and morose after that incident. "In fact, you become quite powerful. Even more powerful than me, to tell you the truth."
"No way!" Blake laughed. "There's no way I could ever become as awesome as you! I'm just your apprentice after all."
Rin smiled wryly. "You're much more than that." She whispered to herself.
"What was that?" Blake asked.
"Nothing," Rin sighed. "Anyways, I need to release the piece of your soul that resides within this memory. Will you let me do that?"
"Of course," Blake smiled. "It sounds like the me out there needs it."
Rin smiled sadly. "He does." She really missed the joy Blake used to have. She hoped one day, when this was all over, he could get it back.
Rin drew another card to reveal The Tower card and touched the diviner with the drawn card. A ball of yellow light emerged from his chest and shot back through a portal.
"Good luck, Blake," Rin smiled sadly.
With that, light enveloped the world around her and she found herself back in the mansion.
The magus looked around to see the glowing yellow ball floating in the middle of her living room.
She sighed as she looked at the other gates.
"Five more to go." She whispered to herself.
The Emperor card floated into the next gate and she followed with The Empress.
A/N: A piece of Blake recovered! Only five more to go! Can Rin do it? Keep reading and find out!Thank you so much for reading and like always, please drop a review and let me know what you think! I do read them, and they mean a lot to me as a writer. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you all have a great day tomorrow!-B