A Sunlit Night: Fate/Stay Night
Saber Route Fanfic Project
Chapter 1-Fireworks-Fully Beta edited
It was a warm night in Fuyuki, the summer was at its height and even with the sky clear, the pleasant heat could be felt all the way up here in the garden of the Toku Household. It was a big garden; a few trees at the edges of the fence flanked its edges with a clear view over the city from the bottom as it stretched down green plains to the urban landscape.
Fizz, burst, crackle!
Something that looked like a firework soared from the garden and left a brilliant golden flash in the air for a moment, hanging there like a candle against the starry sky. With the babysitter in a death march-induced coma from his day job back inside, who could have set off a firework?
"Hey, Ito think I can do a bigger one next?" said a blonde girl of around 8 dressed in a simple white dress.
"Oooh, Haru do you think maybe they'll be able to see it in the next town over?" said Ito smiling up at her big sister.
"Well just give me a moment. "It takes a lot of effort to keep it all in one shape," said Haruki having a bit of difficulty controlling her new powers. She didn't want to burn anything down. But looking into her sister's face so expectant and cheerful she didn't have the heart to disappoint her, so she renewed her resolve. I'll do it. I'll show her the biggest firework she's ever seen; it's my duty as a big sister after all not to disappoint her. That's what mum said, she thought.
Within her hands, the ball of fire grew brighter and the air around her grew colder and colder until at last, it was getting hard to look at, glowing with a clear warm light.
"Alright, Ito you ready for this one? "They'll be able to see it on the mainland!" she said loudly and with the confidence of youth. The ball of light flew from her hands straight into the sky and exploded in a corona of flame, looking for all the world like a second sun had risen in this twilit night.
Fizz, burst, crackle!
Ito's face beamed with delight as she jumped up and just stared into the light as it hung there, unnaturally, for a good minute bright enough to be clear but so gentle that it couldn't hurt to look at it. She ran to her sister and wrapped her in a playful hug which was warmly returned and in that moment both of them were happy. Essentially in a world of their own, just for them, in the peaceful garden.
No matter how saccharine the hug however, it was a warm night and Haruki was starting to get quite uncomfortable from the close contact.
"Ito, I get it, it was great and I'm glad I could show it to you but even I can get stuffy on a night like this," she said, trying to worm her way as delicately as possible away from her sister's grasp.
"I'll only let you go if you promise to do this with me again longer and with even bigger fireworks," said Ito, still holding on to her increasingly wriggly big sister.
"Only if I get to have your serving of ice cream next time, in payment for being such a generous big sister," negotiated Haru. She did have to keep her dignity as the senior after all.
Ito let go. "Only if you do one more, it doesn't have to be as big but if I'm going without ice cream next time, I want just one more today, please big sis?" She hadn't moved away yet and gave her sister the puppy dog eye treatment, her brown eyes make a very convincing case.
"Alright, one more but you need to give me some space. "I won't do it if you're close enough to get burned," Haru said seriously. Seeing that she'd got what she wanted Ito sat back down on the grass about 2 feet away as she watched her sister gather more heat and light in her hands. She couldn't do that, they'd said it was big sis' talent alone, a blessing they'd called it, but she didn't mind. Jealousy wasn't something Ito really felt at this point, simply enjoying the light show as her big sis spoiled her.
Alright, we can tone it down for this one Haruki thought just a little sparkle for her before we end it today. She was, in truth, quite tired from the big one from before but even though she was sweating she could manage a small one. The light once again shone in her hands and she got ready to launch it on its way, her sister watching keenly.
"One, two, three and off and away," she threw the ball of light up into the air with both her and her sister watching it, utterly blind to the world around them.
The world was not alike in this. A man stood alone on the opposite hill watching the fireworks with a grim expression. He'd seen every little burst including the big one; each blast was as concerning as the last. If something like that ever detonated in a city it could hurt a lot of people, but the kid hadn't done anything wrong. He could see her now standing proud in white; her little sister sitting next to her watching that little light sail towards the sky not seeing him – not that they could with this distance.
The lonely man on the hill sighed and knelt, reaching for a long black cylinder. He saw the little girl in white, marked her location in his mind and stood back up. Standing straight, he pulled his arm back, breathed out, and let go.
Ito was watching the light fly up, getting more and more excited as she watched the light's ascent. Her sister was craning her back to get a better view, shielding her eyes from looking so far up and then she heard it.
Fizz, burst, crackle, thunk!
A dull wooden sound punctuated the roar of the magical firework and Ito looked down wondering what had happened, a bemused expression on her face to see if big sis had heard it too. Her gaze stopped. Then she started screaming.
The Toku parents came home 3 hours later. They had thus far been unreachable by phone due to the nature of their engagement and arrived only to find the door locked and not opening to knocks. Concern was writ large upon the mother's face when they got in, while dad had assumed the babysitter had dropped off again and was ready to give him a mild dressing down. Then they heard the crying and ran to the back garden, only to see a desperate babysitter holding a catatonic Ito, pressing her head down into his chest. They were about to ask what was wrong when they saw it. The mother broke down then and there, cradling what remained in her arms. The Toku family father watched in stunned silence unable to react, frozen in a dark sea.
The sun had refused to shine for the whole month as Ito stood at her window on her bottom bunk, staring into the dark cloudy morning day after day. Her tears had stopped falling 3 days ago and she felt thirsty. It could wait. There was a whispered discussion and a knock on the door before the hinge squeaked.
"Ito, can we come in?" It was mum and dad looking utterly spent. They had spent the first week listless and hollow, like someone had scooped them out and left nothing inside, but now they had recovered a semblance of their own will. "With everything that's happened, there's something we need to tell you," they looked serious despite it all.
What could possibly be worth talking about now? Ito wondered. She was gone, her brave boastful sparkling big Sis had gone, what could be more important now? There was nothing else.
"Come in," she said flatly.
They sat down on the bunk bed, craning their necks forward and grimacing, making it clear they had to get whatever they needed to say off their chests now.
Ito wondered if they were going to try and get her to leave her room again. She didn't see the point.
"Ito, you are now the sole child of the Toku family and with that role comes something we have to tell you," said the Toku patriarch.
Ito just stared at them in disbelief; they talked about it so easily. Didn't they feel like her too? Why are they trying to move on? It wasn't fair. She could never do that.
They took her silence and continued on, "our family is a family of mages and with you being our sole heir now your training to fulfil that role must begin." Their faces grew more pained with every word they spoke, but they soldiered on through the withering cold their daughter's stare. "We're sorry to have to do this now but we can delay it no longer," said Ito's father.
"Now, you're coming out of this room, getting you some breakfast and starting moving again," said her mother putting on a brave face.
Ito stood there as her dad reached out for her hand, she was unresponsive but couldn't bring herself to resist them taking her downstairs. While they were trying their best, her parents couldn't really do more than address what they could see on the outside, their daughter grieving. On the inside however there was only one train of thought. I can't do what they want me too, I can't move on. But if I'm magic too, if there's things I can do like sis can, then maybe there's something I can do to get her back.
It had been 10 years since that day in the summer of 1994 and Toku Ito – age 17 – was just wrapping up her day at school. She was keeping to herself at the back of the classroom, putting her bits and pieces away so she could get going as soon as possible; avoid as much conversation as possible.
"Hey, Toku, you sure you don't want to come with us to karaoke later? It'll be fun," said an energetic girl with brown hair, her two friends standing next to her expectantly.
That was the archery club president asking. She had been pretty consistent in trying to get her to open up a little – it was both annoying and a tiny bit endearing, but she wasn't going to fold yet.
"Sorry, Mitsuzuri, I've got something I need to do back at the park so I can't come today, another time maybe?" Ito said as she made a smooth but noticeable hurry towards the classroom door.
"Sure, next time, Toku-san," and she was talking to empty air as the door slid closed behind Toku.
"One day she'll come along no one can be that much of a social pariah without cracking eventually," said one of the archery club members on her left.
"I'm not sure about that, she seems almost scared of us don't you think?" said the friend on the right. Mitsuzuri stood between them silently, thinking for a moment but dismissed it after one of her friends tapped her shoulder and they walked off together.
Ito walked on, her mind deep in thought. She'd finally found a left-over piece but how had it been missed all these years? Best not to second guess a blessing I suppose but damn this is some luck I don't have to do anything too messy now and blow my cover.
Distracted as she was, Ito was paying exactly zero attention to her surroundings and promptly walked straight into a boy wearing glasses who was hanging out outside one of the classrooms.
"Gah watch where you're walking, you ditz," said issei Ryuudou as he was rudely knocked to the floor.
Waking up from her muddled wondering, Ito blushed a little red at how distracted she'd been it was unlike her to be so careless.
"I'm sorry Issei-san I've just had a lot on my mind lately, apologies for crashing into you," she made a slight bow by way of accentuating the apology.
"Accepted for now, Toku-san, but watch out next time," Issei said with a hint of reluctance bitterly rubbing his leg where he'd been knocked down.
Before she could get around him to walk away, another boy with ginger hair and amber eyes emerged from the closed classroom.
"Issei, that air conditioner's about done but it won't last for much longer – you need to have a proper electrician look at it," he said, seemingly oblivious to the short altercation. He turned to Toku, gave her a quick nod, and walked off, brushing away an offer of payment from Issei.
Seeing her opportunity, Toku made her exit too, leaving the school a good 30 minutes later than she'd planned. Damn it. Couldn't they have just got out of my way I'm in a hurry she thought, almost jogging across the bridge in the centre of Fuyuki as she hurried toward her destination.
"Finally, I'm here. This is where the locator spell picked up a faint trace of high mana density," she spoke out loud to herself as she approached the desolate heath before her. The remains of a fire that had happened around the same time she'd started learning magecraft.
Ito was using a locating magecraft to help her hunt down her target which manifested like a ball of string that felt its way along the ground tracing a path to the objective with a faint blue line. The benefits were that it was a fairly effective spell at detecting hidden or faint traces of her objective. The downside was it required you to wonder all over the place, some near misses with crashing into the scattered trees only exaggerated the issue. This process took hours and the sun had crept beyond the horizon for a good while before the thread of the spell had been unwound and all that was left was a straight line.
"I'm so close now," Ito whispered into her cold hands, pulling the blue line till she saw its end.
A piece of blackened rubble like old concrete you'd use for a parking complex was laying heavily on top of the immaterial thread. Ito knelt in front of it. After looking furtively around, she braced her legs against the ground and gave it a heave, lifting it free from the soil. There, in the depression the rock had created was the end of the line, the locating spell fizzled out as its purpose was fulfilled. A tiny fragment of gold no bigger than a fingernail lay at the bottom. Ito reached down gingerly to pick it up, trepidation evident in her expression as she grasped it. Cold, it was so cold. She'd thought it would have been warm with power but instead, it just felt as cold as ice. Despite her discomfort she held it tight; tight enough to leave marks in her hand.
With this, she thought, with this I can finally get you back, sis. All I need to do is win and it can grant me any desire. I'm not registered, nor do I fully have my command seals yet but with this, I can piggyback my way into the grails system and summon a servant.
She'd heard of the grail war a year ago from her parents when she'd turned 16 – they'd made clear their plans to leave the city to escape bitter memories. They had made every effort short of force to have her come with them; they knew she hadn't moved on at all and thought if they could get her away from the house, she'd finally start living for herself.
It was a moot point however, as Ito would not leave the home and she would pursue her attempts to revive her sister, no matter the cost. Her mother and father had been upset but she'd persevered. After all, once she'd won, they'd have their daughter back – they'd forgive her then she justified to herself. It was in that final meeting they'd told her of the Fuyuki grail war, their family had stayed well out of the magical battle royale, but they were duty-bound to warn their daughter about the risks being a mage in Fuyuki could incur during the war. Her parents knew the risks and now so did she, but they couldn't have anticipated just how much she'd be consumed by the idea of a 'Holy Grail'.
Ito had spent the last year in conference with every magical contact she had been able to scrape from her parents' address book to learn about the nature of the grail. It was surprisingly easy to find out what it did, near impossible to get any information on how it did it, but one fact came up no matter what; the Holy Grail could grant any single wish of both master and servant. This quest had become hers on that day and, with a base in her old family home and the training her parents had given her in their brand of magecraft, she would win it.
She ran home looking a little strange in the streets of Fuyuki at 11 pm at night. Long days training her body couldn't quite match up to her excitement though as she tried to race up the hill back home. Gasping her way up the last stretch she collapsed on the floor of the Toku household, still tightly holding the grail fragment as she got some air back into her lungs. About 30 minutes later, she got up and set about the next phase of her plan; first she had to secure the household.
Ito walked around the small outer grounds of the stately Japanese home, checking the outer fence for the bounded field and 1st-floor windows to make sure their reinforcing and alarm enchantments were still running fine. She had to recharge one of the perimeter alarms though – damn thing always triggered every time a squirrel or something passed it; even ones without a trace of magical energy, it was exasperating. Having finished her exterior checks, she then strode around the house locking and sealing all the entrances against intrusion avoiding the basement and her bedroom.
She stood in the front room with her hands on her hips, the grail fragment secured in a small, sealed bag in her pocket and breathed in deeply. She linked herself to the house's magical nexus, her magic circuits giving her their usual slight burning sensation. The houses' enchantments, layered to an almost paranoid degree for a decade, were all ticking over nicely now, and she could feel safe in her own home. Although there was a slight feeling of unease as that same coldness from the grail fragment seemed to follow her into the nexus, chilling her fingers like she'd just pulled her hand back from a cold stone wall.
"Damn thing is just trying to spook me that's all," she muttered as she triggered her magical energy back off, there were only one more set of enchantments to check on before she could move on and get herself ready.
Walking down the back of the house she bore a well-worn expression, her mouth set, her eyes hard but slightly moist, and standing with an uncomfortably straight posture. She emerged into the garden in the summer night. It was less well maintained these days; Ito always meant to tidy it up but kept distracting herself her mind skittering off it like a frightened insect whenever she tried to summon up the will. But she did enough to keep the path clear and it was that white paved path she walked down until she reached the end of the garden, until she reached a white granite gravestone. The gravestone bore the name:
'Toku Haruki'
'1994 July 31'
Ito stopped and reached for the grave, holding it with a sombre expression, a scattering of tears working their way down her face.
"I'm ok, sister, I've been working hard like you would have wanted me to, your little sister all grown up and ready to do what she needs to." She stopped rubbing the monument and her expression hardened a little, sharper, less mournful and more determined.
"I'll bring you back soon. Just another couple of weeks and we can be a family again, you and me, mum, and dad… it can all be alright again. "All it will take is a few people I've never met to get out of our way, right?" she questioned the impassive stone. "You wouldn't think less of me, would you? You wouldn't be ashamed? No, of course you wouldn't. "I'm just doing my job as your sister right?" The stone stubbornly remained silent as the night air whistled over the uncared-for trees and shadows played on the ground.
Ito stopped talking and seemed to have reached some sort of equilibrium, her thoughts finally focused on the one certainty she had in her mind. For that one wish on the holy grail, she'd kill anyone, do anything and her sister could never hate her for it; not her, not ever – she may never even need to tell her. The grail fragment felt colder in her pocket. Her emotions drawn back in like the tide over a wind-swept shore, debris scattered in its wake, Ito breathed in and prepared to do the other matter she had come for.
"Whisper, oh Lightning," she spoke her trigger phrase as her circuits hummed into life as once again, she examined the labyrinthine enchantments her father and mother had jointly placed into the stone after the funeral. The stone was the most potent magical artifact outside of her own workshop. It was immune to erosion, highly resistant to physical destruction, three layers of alarms in concentric domes around it extending 100 metres in every direction, and a potent magical trap for anyone who succeeded in surpassing its resistances. All of it was functioning normally as far as Ito could tell and she could feel the sheer anger and despair in the trap her mother and father had set. It functioned like a curse that laid two constants upon that person:
1. They were a living lightning rod and if ever caught in a storm, would be struck within moments.
were always the subject of the foulest rumours. Everywhere they walked they would be accused of every crime, every injustice under the earth.
Such potent curses required considerable energy. She certainly couldn't pull something like that off. Such was the quiet wrath of her mother and father. It was all functioning and so Ito turned and walked away. The wind whistled in the trees behind her as all the traces of mourning had gone, determination to see her task through was the only thing that remained.
Ito walked back into her home, taking one last look at the grave, and climbed up to her room. The bunk bed was still there but it was pushed against one wall with a futon laid out on the floor and a mirror on the wall. She sighed but it wouldn't do to look dishevelled in front of whomever she was to summon, so she got her day clothes from where they were folded up and got changed in front of the mirror. She replaced the somewhat plain Homurahara uniform with her preferred outfit; her black jumper slipped over her shirt and down her arms, a navy skirt secured around her waist down to her knees, and her boots fitting comfortably over her tights up to the calf. She checked herself; she looked decent. She'd never been particularly vain, but it wouldn't do to let herself go. If her appearance were allowed to slip into decay what else would follow it?
Ready for the nights' exertions, she went downstairs into the basement and immediately the comforting smell of ozone hit her nose. Her magical nature of lightning made this electrical atmosphere both comforting and necessary for her magecraft to perform properly. The room was an interesting space crafted over the course of a decade. The ceiling had several copper coils circling around it with a central node in the middle sending low-level electrical pulses to the exterior, where it was fed along copper pillars in the corners of the room under the floor. The walls were made of a polished stone with several small copper bearings to draw in stray bolts. There were also various chalkboards and standing whiteboards with magical formula and brainstorming sessions on them. The centre of the room, usually a mess of tables with various high voltage bits of equipment on them that would get the house a destruction order from any sane health inspector, had been cleared. The copper wires that collected the energy from the ceiling were feeding into one circle made of copper wire tied in intricate patterns around another smaller circle in the middle. It was here she would summon her servant.
Ito gathered her wits and prepared for the process she knew she lacked a proper catalyst for. She was ready to receive command seals and had drawn a magical ink sign on her right hand, but it had yet to take. She was not supposed to intrude upon this battle of mages, but she would, she had to. There were still a few light bits of prep to do. First, she set up a raised bowl in the centre of the circle where she placed the grail fragment, which by now was icing up its bag. Then she cleared the room's charge, set the ceiling pulses to a timer synced to the ritual, and pulled her sleeves back with a ritual knife in her right hand.
It was time to begin.
Ito grasped the ritual dagger and held it over the bowl in the circle and cut her finger, letting the blood drop onto the grail fragment with a dull hiss as it cooled and then vaporised. Her heart pounding, her very being straining its utmost to do this perfectly, she began her chant.
"Whisper, oh Lightning, "By my blood, I inscribe my name on this holy grail, by my blood I join this war.
"My soul is a hive of whispers, the only sound a quiet murmur, "My will is bright and sharp; it crackles in both night and day across the sky."
The walls began to hum, and the timer went off, great arcing bolts of electricity feeding into the circle making it glow with a dull red heat.
"I entreaty the grail to hear my plea, "I make my will known through this portion of the whole."
The grail fragment absorbed a bolt and began to shine.
"I will succeed no matter who may fall before me or how many there are."
"My desire is mine alone and it will be brought into reality, "My servant will reach the same conclusion."
"I call on the throne, "I call on the grail grant me a champion that we might brave this conflict."
The copper was now glowing so red it was nearly white, and the air was thick with both the smell of ozone and the feel of magic.
"Serve my will and realise your desire, "Realise my goal through your strength of arms."
"I summon you now before me in this hallowed circle."
Ito then threw a bolt of her own lightning into the circle's centre. The circles of light began to spin, three bands of lightning rising from the floor to the ceiling forming a column of spinning, arcing power. A light formed between them, it spun and flashed.
Ito's hand burned as the ink on her hand turned blood red. The column of light solidified the lightning pouring into a figure in the centre, the air screamed and suddenly fell silent. With a solid step forward the figure in the centre of the circle stood up, her hair glowing softly in the light of the room and looked straight at Ito. Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second, which Ito missed but then settled. She adopted a serious posture with her hand out in a regal manner and, in a voice that brought to mind a noble knight, she stated:
"I have heard your summons, I am servant Alter Ego, are you the one who will be my master?"