Of Demons and Librarians chapter 2

"I need to apologize.

I really need to say sorry.

Why did I leave him alone yesterday, what if he doesn't like me anymore, stupid dunderhead Emilia."

That was the only thing on Emilia's mind after she woke up, her own insecurities left her afraid of the consequences of her interaction with Shirou yesterday. It had been a long time since she had someone who she could call a friend she wanted to look her best in front of him, but she couldn't even keep a small conversation going what good was she if all she did was run away.

Therefore today she was going to wake him up say sorry and they would have a fun day together and leave whatever happened yesterday behind them.

Working up her courage to open the door "Good morning Shirou time to… wake up?" the bed was neatly done, more importantly, the owner of the room wasn't there.

"Lady Emilia."

Ram appeared behind her out of nowhere causing her to jump in fright, the maid simply looked at her unamused.

"If you're looking for the stray, he's outside." Ram turned around and returning to her duties.

Emilia merely pouted, she had woken up early for nothing. Looking outside the window she could see him and the other twin maid, seems he had been training for a long time his shirt filled with sweat.

"Aaaah, good morning Emilia seems you woke up before I did huh." Puck gave a small yawn and rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning Puck, yeh I did, I wanted to wake up before Shirou but it seems he beat me at that." not really taking her eyes away from her friend.

Pucks eyes narrowed as he looked through the window "I see." sensing his contractor's emotions he sighed "You know you should go down and talk to him, I'm sure he wants to see you too."

Emilia seemed to think about it "You know what, that's exactly what I'll do." before marching away.

Puck stayed at the window looking at the kid before going after his contractor.

(Outside)

The man was insane. She had decided to shadow him for a few days before making her decision, once she had woken up she went to his room to start the day much to her surprise he was already up doing some kind of exercise. While her suspicion arose over the fact that he was awake while everyone was asleep he simply stated that's when he started training.

He had been at it for the next few hours before most of the household even woke up with no sign of stopping. She should honestly feel bored right about now just watching him wave two sticks around if it weren't for the fact that his clothes were slightly see-through. Even if all she considered him to be was slightly above filth she could still see that he was an… interesting-looking male specimen.

"Rem you alright." said a slightly panting Shirou. He had to work extra hard today he missed yesterday after all.

"Rem's fine, sir." Rem tried to be serious and deadpan like her sister would be in this situation, but she couldn't keep herself from thinking about the person in front of her.

She had seen a couple of knights, warriors, and the like, training this hard wasn't strictly out of her possibility but he didn't even seem to be enjoying himself at all, Shirou just looked like he had an objective and that destroying his body and call it training was the fastest way to it.

Sighing "You don't have to call me sir you know, and if you have a question just ask alright." he said smiling at her.

"Well, Rem's wondering why you are training so hard." her eyes looked at him with suspicion.

His smile faded slightly "I guess you could say I'm doing it for a dream."

Rem narrowed her eyes and was about to question further before Emilia decided to make her presence known.

"Shirou, good morning." she said fully smiling, before crossing her arms and pouting "I was going to wake you up and everything mister, you didn't even wait for me." waving her finger around on his face.

Shirou simply laughed, before patting her head a move that surprised her.

"Sorry Emilia, I promise to wait up from now on, alright." removing his hand and moving towards a glass of water he had placed near the steps.

Emilia reached up to the top of her head with her ears red from embarrassment before shaking her head "So you're not mad about yesterday."

He just looked back at her "Yesterday..?" before thinking making Emilia nervous "Should I be."

"Aaah, well I thought you were I kinda left you hanging I mean I was tired but I didn't mean to leave…" Emilia started rambling.

Shirou sighed "Emilia breath, I'm not mad." scratching his cheek he decided to put on a smile to ease the girl's worries, she really wasn't social not that he could talk but still "Be a little more confident in yourself alright or at least trust that I won't be mad at every little thing okay."

"Well said Shirou, thanks for giving my Emilia a little confidence boost." the cat-like being said.

"And good morning to you too puck." Shirou said chuckling slightly.

"Well, I should probably get myself cleaned and start working."

The maid who had gotten ignored after the appearance of Emilia decided to finally talk "It was about time."

Emilia glared at her slightly, while Shirou just shook his head. He didn't really understand what made her dislike him so much.

"Well, I'll walk you there then Shirou, since we didn't get to talk much this morning." Emilia looked at him with a smile.

"Fair enough."

With that, they left with the maid shadowing them the whole time.

(kitchen)

Emilia watched transfixed by the way her friend worked while preparing the food. He seemed to almost glide around the kitchen. Her friend was so talented everything smelled so good.

"Wow, Shirou you seem to command the kitchen really well." Puck said flying around and looking at every little thing Shirou did.

"Thanks."

"Where did you learn to cook Shirou," Emilia asked as her curiosity peaked, someone who was good at fighting usually didn't have time to learn to cook this well.

Shirou stopped for a second and looked at the people in the room, before shaking his head "My Father couldn't cook to save his life… so I had to learn after a while I just enjoyed it."

Emilia looked at him in surprise, this was the first time he mentioned family of any kind. Was she about to learn about his history, if he didn't mind answering that question then…

"Well, where's your family now." Maybe she would get more people who wouldn't see her as a half-elf monster if his family was like Shirou, she couldn't wait to meet them.

"I don't have any, they are all dead." Shirou said while peeling some potatoes rather nonchalantly.

Everything stayed quiet for the next few moments until Shirou looked up to see the horror-filled eyes of Emilia and the frown that was in the face of Rem, even puck had stopped smiling "Is there a problem?"

Emilia started looking at him with pity. Should she say sorry, but he seemed to say that so easily as if he was over it, she couldn't imagine ever getting over something so tragic.

"I'm sorry I brought that up…" she said while bowing her head down.

Shirou chuckled slightly deepening the frown the maid was giving him "It's fine you didn't know besides saying that my family is dead isn't the full truth, I have people I could call family it wasn't as if I was alone."

Emilia tried to smile after that but it couldn't quite reach "I see." the mood started feeling awkward after that.

Shirou sighed, he was going to ask about her own family but since she seemed so lonely and was under the watch of a spirit of all things he could already tell something happened, he didn't want to make the girl feel worse. Looking at the maid he could already tell he said something she didn't like, she was looking even more suspicious of him.

"Emilia why don't you and puck go to the dinner table, I'm just about done."

Emilia smiled grateful she could leave the conversation behind, puck leaving with her. Shirou turned to the blue-haired maid.

"I guess you aren't going with them."

Rem merely glared at him "Rem has to make sure you don't poison anything."

Shirou simply shook his head, whatever trust she had in him had vanished it seemed, he would have to work on that later.

(Dinner room)

"Hmmmm~ Fantastic it truly was a wooonderfull~ decision to make you a chef." Roswaal said as he cleaned his mouth with a napkin.

"Yeh Itsh weally good." puck said his mouth full before looking at the little girl "Betty aren't you even going to touch your food, trust me the kid can cook you shouldn't worry about the taste."

Beatrice just looked at her plate in sadness "even the smell is similar." she said in a low voice.

The cat just looked at her in worry "Huh, what was that, are you sure you're okay Beatrice."

"If you don't like it, Beatrice, I can try out something else." Shirou looked at her with a smile.

Beatrice's eyes widened before frowning "It's fine, Betty's not hungry." before standing up and leaving the room not before giving a message "Don't be late this afternoon, I suppose." Shirou gave a look at puck who just shrugged his shoulders before continuing to eat.

Scratching his cheek he merely sighed "Ah the only person who is easy to comprehend is the one who is supposed to become a leader for a country, I don't know if that's a good thing." looking to his left watching Emilia stuff her face with food who noticing his stare gave him a thumbs up.

(Afternoon)

"I'm guessing you're going back to studying Emilia."

"Yeh, good luck with Beatrice Shirou, I never interacted much with her so I can't give you any pointers, just take it easy with her alright." she gave him a slight smile with a hopeful look "I'll see you later right?"

"Yeh for sure."

With that, she started moving to her room with puck staying behind "Huh? Puck you coming."

"I just need to talk with Shirou here for a sec, I'll follow you in a bit don't worry." She gave him a confused look before shrugging and continuing.

Shirou looked at the small cat and for the first time saw a rather serious expression.

"Oi little maid mind allowing us a bit of space." Rem had continued to follow him all over, just staying silent.

Rem looked at Shirou then puck before giving a nod and moving towards the corridor where she would no doubt be waiting for him.

"Alright, we're all alone puck what's this about." It would be the first time he had talked to the small being alone considering the amount of power he could sense from it he needed to be careful.

"You know there's not a lot of things I care about in this world, the two of them being Emilia and Beatrice." giving a moment of silence to allow him to think "and ever since you came here both of their lives have been surrounded by you, don't get me wrong this isn't me telling you to leave them alone or anything, I can see you're an earnest kid and if anyone should be friends with my daughter I would want them to be you." Puck gave him a slight smile.

"Ummm thanks, but I don't think you needed to tell me this Puck…" Shirou was scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment before being interrupted by the cat.

"I don't want her getting hurt, and most people just see her as the witch that's why I'm allowing you two to talk so much, just don't get too comfortable I'm not giving away Emilia for anything in this world." giving Shirou a cheeky smile though he became surprised at the confused look he gave him.

"The witch? Is that why everyone was glaring at her."

Puck narrowed his eyes "You didn't know? You don't know about the witch of envy or any of the other ones, really?" He started glaring at him "Oi you aren't going to think differently of Lia are you they have no connection alright."

Shirou immediately put his hands up in an attempt to calm him down "I'm not going to change my mind that easily, I already told Emilia this but trust me a bit more than that."

Puck continued to glare for a bit before sighing "If you want to know more ask Beatrice, which leads me to the other person I wanted to talk about."

"I noticed that she seems weird about me."

"That's a nice way to put it, I honestly don't know what's wrong with her right now and she can take care of herself if you start hurting her so I'll just tell you this." giving Shirou a serious look "Be careful. I can see that anything you'll do with her she'll take notice off, if you honestly want her to like you or if you want to help her I would be very careful with how you interact."

With his piece being said the cat started to leave the room before stopping "Don't get this wrong kid I don't really care about you, but you're making Lia happy so consider yourself protected."

Shirou got up himself deciding it would be better to not let the higher spirit get mad at him for being late. Once he got through the door he was immediately followed by the blue-haired maid.

"You know one day you're going to smile at me." Shirou said while passing through a door that felt different than the rest.

Rem narrowed her visible eye "Nonsense."

Shirou chuckled giving her one last look before opening the door "It's a promise."

Getting into the library he noticed the little girl had a bunch of books on her small table and was looking at the door in expectation, her eyes widening when it opened revealing Shirou.

"I hope I'm not too late, Teacher." giving her a slight smile.

"No, sit on the floor or go find a chair we're doing this right away, I suppose."

They spent the next few hours in silence with the occasional question being thrown. The spoken language was the same so it should make learning the written one simple if not fast. With this many books on the shelf there should be something about returning to another world, he was grasping at straws he knew but Tohsaka was always the intellectual of the two, he had no idea where to even start.

Noticing the stares Beatrice decided to talk "What is it that you are looking, in fact." before putting her book down "Do you have a question, I suppose."

Remembering what Puck said he decided the get the full context of Emilia's situation "Actually yeh can you tell me anything about the witches the envy one in particular."

Her eyes narrowed "And why do you wish to know about that, in fact."

He was a bit confused but understood guessing it was common knowledge but a taboo topic "Just give me the rundown."

Beatrice sighed "Four hundred years ago a being named the witch of envy decided to go on a rampage destroying half of the world, she's been stopped and sealed long ago." she said before giving him a look over "for someone with her scent you know very little. I suppose."

Shirou gave her an incredulous look "Her scent?"

"Yes, you've had it ever since I've known you, in fact."

"This had to mean something, if I had it in my world someone would've said it by now so that means I have my first hint as to how I came here." Shirou thought before rubbing his temple in annoyance "this is also a dead-end for now at least, If I can't get more information on her."

Tired of letting him think Beatrice started talking "Is that enough information, I suppose."

"Well actually, why do people hate Emilia for it."

"She was described to have similar features as that girl even being a half-elf, in fact."

No wonder her social abilities were repressed with the majority of the world hating you over something you didn't do "Poor girl."

"Would you kill her?"

Shirou gave her an incredulous look "What?"

Giving Shirou a serious look "I asked if you would kill her, if she ended up being a threat after knowing her, would you take out a threat to humanity, I suppose."

The room was silent for a while just Shirou's wide eyes looking at the little girl who asked him an impossible question "Why would you ask me…"

"JUST ANSWER IT."

Shirou looked down at his trembling hands, it was a simple question to anyone else but he didn't think he could answer it fully.

"I don't know…"

Beatrice sighed "I see." giving him a sad look "What is your dream, in fact."

Shirou had no idea what was happening but he felt he should answer truthfully "To become a hero."

Beatrice merely got up and looked at the ground in sadness before murmuring "Too much like him…" she gave a little sigh "The lesson for today is done, come back tomorrow I suppose."

Shirou simply gave her a nod before walking to the door, giving one last look at the slightly trembling form of the little girl, he opened the door and left.

He ran a hand through his hair, that conversation was far heavier to him than it should've been. Would he really kill her, someone that innocent? The whole problem wasn't that he didn't know the answer is that he hated it.

(Outside)

He had been sitting beneath a tree for quite some time now, not really thinking about anything waiting to meet up with Emilia. It had been three days since he had gotten himself into this mess and already he could see a routine forming, he didn't want to get too comfortable in this world his objective was still to leave as soon as possible which didn't seem like anytime soon. He wondered if Tohsaka was okay or was getting increasingly frustrated over him not getting back home.

"Oh, Shirou you're already here." Emilia's smiled brightened upon seeing him.

"Yeah was waiting for a bit, this place sure is relaxing." Emilia simply laughed and sat next to him looking at the stars together with him.

They fell into a relaxed silence for a bit, just watching the world around them. Emilia started humming something he didn't quite recognize, and he felt himself letting go of the stress of this whole situation.

"You seem better now I'm glad."

"Yeah." chuckling for a bit "Thanks for that, I guess I needed to relax for a bit."

She gave him a thumbs up "Friends are supposed to help each other right, leave it to me."

He smiled at her and patted her head bringing a small blush to her face "It's getting late we should go." getting up and patting his clothes off any dust.

She seemed to be in a bit of a trance before patting her own head with her hand in the same place Shirou did before shaking her head. "oh… right umm sure." as she started walking back into the mansion.

Shirou gave her a confused look at her shy behavior but shrugged mentally, going after her and walking side by side.

Another week another chapter. Based on the most common criticism besides grammar I decided to slow down the story, the arc was supposed to end in 1 or 3 chapters but now I think I'll take my time with it. Do you think I did the characters justice, when I started this story I didn't think it would be quite this hard but I guess my inexperience is showing.

Don't know if the next chapter is going to be next week, I think I need to read the novels.