A True Titan
By SamWRyder
A/N: Hey there, everyone! This is one chapter I've been looking forward to writing though it did come out a bit longer than I intended. But hey, what can you do?
Thanks to all of my wonderful Patrons: J. Zinkan, A. Marteddu, Ummy, Auntee Monica, PocketRat, F. Ebering, Biktur, R. Baer ChauDavis, LordMarksman, Adam, Manic, B. Bowler.
They get the chapters early, access to my own original work, and once the editing is completed, (which has been slightly delayed due to my editor contracting covid, she's on the mend now), they will have their name placed. In the acknowledgments section of the novel! I also do a bit of art when I'm at a crossroads in my writing. You know you want to join them! P.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m./swryder. Get rid of the excess periods, and you're good to go!
Chapter Start.
They stood atop the tower, the air heavy with salt drawn by the gusting winds. Shirou waited in silence, his gaze locked on the cresting waves in the distance. He had a plan, had asked himself every question Raven might, and accused himself with everything he could think of. He was prepared, he was sure.
"So you're Fable." The way she said it left no room for doubt. That was precisely what she believed.
Though she'd just come out and say it, he stared at her open-mouthed for a moment. He shook his head. A raised hand forestalled any further comment.
He had thought about the idea of just up and telling her the truth. In the best-case scenario, she accepted it and didn't tell the other Titans. Worst case, he'd have to fight his way through the Titan's grab Miyu and run. So as far as he was concerned, the answer was obvious.
"Congratulations, you caught me. I'm secretly Fable and am currently plotting nefarious schemes to wreak havoc on the villains and heroes of the city." He answered in monotone. "I also have a plethora of legendary weapons on my person at all times and a multitude of different martial styles I can use at any given moment. I'm also pretty good at cleaning, cooking, and a fair hand at repair work."
She arched an eyebrow at that. "You know, you could have just said you're not him." Between the look on her face and the way she said that, he had the feeling she wanted to call him something unflattering on top of that.
Though it was plain to him, Raven wasn't totally buying the sarcasm either. That was fine; he wasn't expecting her to. "Our abilities are similar, though."
To emphasize his point, he pulled out a pen and began reinforcing it. He strengthened the plastic, increased the sharpness of the point, and with a flick of his wrist sent it hurtling toward the roof where it stuck.
The pen was pulled from the metal by Raven's dark energy and lowered into her hand. "Yet the feel of your magic is identical."
Shirou had to keep himself from jerking around to look at her in surprise. Miyu hadn't mentioned the ability. But all that meant was that the power wasn't well known.
The question became, what was the right response? The most straightforward answer would be just to shrug and say he didn't know, but that wouldn't convince anyone. He could flat out tell her it wasn't her business. Though that had its own problems mainly, it would only increase her suspicions. Of course, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to convince her no matter what he did fully. So he hesitantly chose a more middle-of-the-road option.
From his pocket, he pulled out the false Archer card and held it up for her to examine.
"What's that?"
"This is an archer card containing the spirit of a legendary hero. When I use it, I have access to all of that hero's powers and abilities. Of course, there are powers available after using it that are passively accessible."
She took a step forward and focused her attention on the card. "I see. That would likely mean that Fable has one of these cards?"
Stowing the card back in his pocket Shirou turned his attention to Jump City. Its lights gave it a warm glow. "Probably, I've come across at least one other archer card already, but it was a woman who held it. Not to mention the other classes."
"Other classes?" Despite the blandness of her tone, Shirou could hear the trepidation in her voice.
"Caster, Berserker, Lancer, Saber, Rider, and Assassin. Though I'm sure, that's not all of them. Just the ones I've encountered," he said.
Headlights illuminated the surface of the water, and the massive wake was kicked up by the vehicle in question. Cyborg was returning with the pizza.
"How'd you get your card?"
Shirou started. He had thought about the possibility of the question coming up but hadn't given too much thought to it. Such things were often personal.
Finally, he turned to her with a pained look on his face. "Someone important gave it to me. She died in the process."
He watched her wince. It didn't, however, stop her. "So that staff you were using at the hospital, was that part of the Hero's power?"
Meeting her eyes, Shirou asked a question of his own. "How'd you get your powers?"
Considering that her powers felt of brimstone, smoke, and death, he was confident that she wasn't going to want to answer the question. He was right; she looked away without saying a word.
He grimaced, sure he was looking to stop the line of questioning, but it was obvious he had struck a nerve. "Look, answering questions about the Heroic Spirit we have isn't done. If we give out the hero's name well, it gives out our strengths and weaknesses."
After a moment, she nodded, "I can see how that would be an issue. I don't suppose you know who made the cards?"
Before Shirou could answer the question, a section of the roof separated, and Cyborg slowly came into view.
"Hey, Raven! Are you and Shirou done up here? Pizza's here!" Cyborg called.
Shirou watched as Raven looked at him for a moment before nodding, "we're done."
As she headed toward the elevator, Shirou couldn't help but feel there was a silent 'for now' attached to her statement. Still, he followed after her, and together the three of them descended toward the living quarters. As they descended, he found himself listening to Cyborg recounting how he beat out Beast Boy at some video game or another. Shirou didn't quite catch the name and had managed to win the bet about the pizza having or not having pineapple on it.
So it seemed at least half the pizza would have the fruit on them, along with a large amount of meat.
As the doors opened, Shirou was greeted with the sight of Beast Boy jumping around on the couch almost as if he were on some kind of sugar high. Robin was talking on the phone between bites of pizza and as for Starfire. Starfire was flying around the room with Miyu in her arms.
"Onii-chan!" She yelled excitedly and pointed at him, "dive, dive, dive!"
"Of course, friend Miyu." The alien heroine called as she did just that. They descended rapidly, and if it weren't for the fact that he'd seen just how well the orange-skinned girl maneuvered, he might have prepared to catch her and his sister before they careened into them. Instead, he held stock still as two came to a sudden stop just in front of him.
The smile on Miyu's face disappeared as she stepped from the girl's arms, "you didn't jump at all." She pouted as she spoke.
He shrugged, "you're flying with a hero." His words brought the smile back into her face.
"It was so much fun! Thank you so much, Starfire!" Miyu said, and for a moment, he was half sure she was going to hug the girl. SHe didn't, however, get the chance as his sister was swept into Starfire's arms.
"Friend Miyu, it was my great pleasure!" The alien girl all but squealed in joy.
"Okay, y'all, I hope you're ready to watch me beat down B.B. all over again!" Cyborg yelled as the T.V. switched to a different channel. It was clearly an arcade-style fighting game.
"Dude, it was a fluke! My eyes were closed because I was sneezing!"
As he looked back towards his sister, he found that she'd been set down. "Come on, Shirou, the pizza looks so good!"
She grabbed his hand and pulled at him until he followed after her, a small smile on his face.
"So, did you ask Raven out yet?" She asked just as they walked into the kitchen.
Shaking his head, he sighed, "Miyu," he said in a warning tone.
"That's fine. I already asked her if she wanted to go to the bookstore with us the next time she has free time!" His little sister chirped and began pulling him along again.
Shirou sighed but didn't protest. The rest of the night went well. There weren't any emergencies nor any heavy conversation. All in all, it was still a nice night for all that he wasn't comfortable with.
Not to mention the clean-up was a blast! Suffice it to say, when he left the kitchen at the very least, it was immaculate.
She hovered well above them as they left, having refused, politely, of course, a ride from both Cyborg and Robin, the two were on foot. So as she watched, she allowed her thoughts to wander. Either one on their own would have made her curious.
Miyu, while much less attention-grabbing than her brother what with her always cheerful demeanor, the fact that Miyu chose her over Starfire as her favorite Titan. Raven couldn't deny there was something off about her.
Then there was Shirou. Despite how forthcoming he'd been earlier, even going so far as to demonstrate his ability, even in such a small way, and showed her where his power came from—a dangerous factor to reveal to anyone. A decent portion of her believed him Fable. The thought that there might have been multiple people with cards like the one he carried made her nervous.
The heroes of the past. Many of them weren't as virtuous as the stories portrayed them to be. They were, of course, from a different, more violent time, and it wasn't uncommon for them to visit violence on others only for it to be written off. Murder, thievery, rape, it was all excused if the hero was able to overcome the evil of the day.
Worse, she'd never heard of such artifacts before, and the monks of Azeroth held a massive library containing scrolls and tomes from even before the dark ages. She even remembered one featuring many of the weapons that she had seen Fable use. She hadn't spent too much time reading it, however. Meditation took up much of her day and weapons long since lost to antiquity. Well, it hadn't seemed like it was likely to be relevant in comparison to, say, demonology, magics, knowledge of her mother's homeworld, not to mention her father.
As they moved off the road and into the woods, she altered her course, adjusting herself so that she'd be all but invisible if they decided to look skyward.
Of course, there was the fact that, in all likelihood, he'd been lying during their conversation. He might still have been Fable. The card he held might have been from some augmented form of the Tarot and done nothing at all.
She just didn't have enough information. No matter how long she spent in his presence, the only thing she felt from him was the feeling of something not quite right. Like steel.
It was the same feeling she had around Fable. It was the reason she thought the two were the same person. It wasn't something she talked about with anyone, in part because no matter how she tried, she couldn't completely shut down her empathy.
Hence she bluffed that the two had the same magical presence.
Raven turned her attention back to the siblings who were entering an older-looking house near one of the cliffs overlooking the sea.
No, she decided, Shirou Emiya couldn't be ruled out as Fable. She'd need more information before it became a possibility.
"The principal will see you now."
Shirou stood as the secretary opened the door and couldn't help but frown. The principal Ms. Sandberg, according to the nameplate on the door, must have been very busy not to open the door herself. Or, Shirou realized as he stepped into the room and saw that the woman was sitting in her seat watching him as he entered, trying to project a certain image. The number of trophies and accolades spread across the wall behind her suggested it was more likely the latter rather than the former.
Ms. Sandberg, a slim woman, was wearing a plum-colored pantsuit, adjusted the thick red glasses higher on her nose.
She didn't stand and offer her hand, instead merely gesturing at the seat opposite her as she pulled a file from her desk drawer.
"Mr. Emiya, how may I help you today?" She asked in a clipped tone.
His attention was elsewhere. On a fancy-looking letter opener, to be specific. Its name? "Little Friend." The pseudo weapon lay in a small rack on the side of the desk, and it hadn't opened a letter in over four years. It had, however, been used on multiple men over the course of that time. In fact, it had been impaling hands since the woman in front of him went on her third date in high school. Its only redeeming quality was that she had not once used it on a child.
"Mr. Emiya," the woman said, drawing his attention back to her. "If we could get to business?"
"My sister is coming home from school in a bad mood. I'm hoping you can give me some insight."
Ms. Sandberg, in response, opened the file. "It's not anything to do with her schoolwork. If anything, she's not struggling enough. And according to her teacher Mrs. Kahn, she's not having any trouble getting along with her schoolmates,"
So many questions filled his head, but one roared far and away louder than the others.
"I'm sorry, would you repeat that?"
"Of course, Miyu is doing well in all of her subjects though she seems to struggle when the class does art. She gets along well with her classmates and seems to be a very happy girl."
Miyu doing well in her classes? That he expected, she'd read plenty of books and had a terrific memory. That she seemed to get along with her class? Well, that was a bit more surprising. It wasn't that he thought Miyu too shy or that she'd be hostile.
But the gloomy attitude she wore when they went home suggested something about her school life wasn't going as it should.
Maybe it was a bully?
The very thought that anyone would bully Miyu had him flexing his hands in irradiation. He cut the train of thought off before it could gain traction. There was no proof that his sister had a tormenter after all.
When he brought up the possibility to the principal, her entire demeanor changed. Gone was the woman who seemed mild-mannered in every way, and replacing her was a woman with a frosty smile. "There have been no signs of such actions. However, if that changes, that student will come to learn that our no-tolerance policy is just that."
Outwardly, Shirou nodded. Inwardly it was an entirely different story. He wanted to snap at the woman that was as nice as it was that there would be consequences. It didn't do anything to help his sister if she was being bullied.
It did let him know that he couldn't count on the school staff to notice anything. Well, that was fine. Standing, Shirou bid the principal a good day before making his way out of the room.
He had things to gather. If the school couldn't do anything, that just meant he'd have to take care of it himself.
As he walked off school grounds, his phone began to ring. He pulled it from his pocket and, without looking at the screen, pressed it to his ear. "Hello, this is Shirou Emiya. How can I help you today?"
"Uh, yeah, see, I've got a busted water pipe and quite a bit of flood damage to one of my rooms. Muggsy told me you could help."
Shirou quickly pulled a paper from his pocket and a pen. Silently he thanked Muggsy; the man had been good about spreading his name via word of mouth. Sure, a lot of the work was fixing damage from fights spread throughout the city, but at least the work was steady. "Can I get your address? And I'll be there later today."
He quickly wrote down the address noting to himself it was in the motel area near the hardware store he typically got his supplies.
"She comes?" A rumbling voice echoed from the darkness.
A tall, lithe figure visible only because of the flames dancings in his hands, moved to stare directly to where the voice emanated from. "She does. Just as expected of her, she will be entering Jump City in a number of days." He said, his voice a smooth rumble.
An orb of fire flourished in his palm, burning bright before the fires were replaced with an image of a blonde teenage girl. She held a bag over her shoulder and walked down an otherwise empty highway with purpose.
"Excellent. My enemies gather into one place." The voice came again. "Should you perform your task, then you will be rewarded."
The figure inclined his head, the orange half of his mask catching the light as his singular eye narrowed. "As you say." Slade intoned the jagged S-like symbol in the middle of his forehead glowing brightly.
He walked away from the area. The ball of fire he'd created to host the image of the girl remained. Its image swirling until it revealed another girl. One with grey skin and purple hair. She flew through the air, seeming to be watching something intently.
"Soon, my daughter," he said, "soon."
"Thank you so much for coming out today. The owner's coming next week, and I was starting to get desperate when I remembered Muggsy mentioning you." The manager, an exceptionally sweaty balding man with a bad comb-over, said. His overly large blue dress shirt suggested a significant weight reduction.
Shirou shook his head, "it's not a problem in the slightest. Now you said a pipe burst upstairs and soaked the carpet?"
The man nodded, "Yes, room twenty-four. A brutish man recently vacated it, and since he paid in cash, the incidental fee was returned to him as he left."
In other words, the cost was entirely on the motel. Which meant he was looking for the repairs to be as cheap as possible. "I'll see what I can do."
"Of course, of course. If you need anything, anything at all, you can use the phone in the room to call me at the desk. Just press zero."
Again Shirou nodded and made his way up the stairs. The first door was marked with a stylized number twenty.
He wasn't quite sure what warned him of the incoming danger, but as soon as the ominous feeling crept through him, he leaped back over the railing. The door burst outward. Flying off the hinges in multiple pieces, outward. As the first reached him, Shirou snagged the moderate-sized piece and turned it to receive the impact of the other incoming shards.
A chain wound through the air around his makeshift shield and coiled about him like a snake. Just like that, he was sailing through the air on a return trip. Reinforcement spread through his body like lightning, but instead of pushing the coiling chain outward, Shirou crushed the door into toothpick-like pieces and grabbed the chain before it could tighten.
The girl on the other end of the chain and the skintight bodysuit left no doubt that his assailant was female and didn't seem the least surprised by his actions. He couldn't help but note her frame. She was far stronger than she looked. He blinked. There was also no denying she looked familiar.
A woman in a black outfit, tall, yellow thread reaching across her mouth and scattered about in other places that when she moved would draw attention to her figure. His eyes widened as the memory of striking her with the Ruyi Jingu Bang and sending her tumbling through the air into a wall just after putting on the mantle of Fable for the first time.
He narrowed his eyes as his feet found purchase on the railing surrounding the second-floor walkway. Granted, it had been some time, but she looked no worse for wear. Bracing himself, he prepared to pull on the chain only to find she dropped it and had pulled out two metal rods that extended into short staves.
Their history was short but filled with a fair amount of use. In less than two weeks of use, they had broken nearly a dozen legs and a jaw.
A glance at the chain, and he found no weight on either of its ends. Forcing structural analysis, he took in the history of the weapon, and save for being custom made; he silently cursed as it had never been swung. There was no technique to emulate.
He flicked the chain he sent his magic coursing into the metal links. As he launched himself forward, he brought the chain up as it began to solidify into a straight bar of chain link and struck the woman in her side. Or would have.
As the metal was about to strike her, she leaped into the air and flipped over the adjusted implement, landing on the edge of the bed. "What do you want?" He asked as he lowered himself into a more defensive position.
Instead of answering him, she cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes, looking at the chain rod in his hands. Almost faster than he could blink, she snapped a short staff around and crashed it against his staff and seemed a little surprised the metal didn't even budge.
He realized she had thought it a clever trick to stiffen the chain and make it more friendly for close-quarters combat. Or something to that extent. Then she attacked, leaping off the bed and running toward him on the length of chain.
Instead of dropping the chain or returning to its less than solid form, he returned his attention to reinforcing the weapon, and after striking the chain below his right hand, shattering the links there, Shirou lunged forward.
Their weapons crashed together, and he could feel the floor beneath him creak as it began to give. Shirou reached up and latched onto the incoming free staff. "Look, can't we stop this? I think you've got the wrong person!"
She still didn't respond; instead, dropping the staff, Shirou held and leaped back onto the bed and loosed a volley of shuriken.
He threw himself to the side, allowing the projectiles to pass him by, and surged to his feet, preparing to defend himself. What he was not expecting was the girl to be standing there staring at him.
"No." She said; stepping forward, she reached under her chin and pulled the mask up and over her face revealing a girl who couldn't be any older than him. She had short black hair and pale skin. She stepped off the bed without breaking her stride.
As she approached him, Shirou kept his guard up, but there wasn't the slightest hint that she was about to attack him. Not one.
"I know what I'm doing." She said quietly. Then without any warning, she launched herself forward.
Shirou found her lips pressed to his. Of all the things he was expecting, her kissing him was not one of them. It took him a moment to respond. Dropping his weapon, he grabbed her by the arms and pushed her to arm's length. She seemed almost surprised, her eyes searching his face before nodding.
"Love is many things, none of them logical," She stated, though the tone she used was completely different from the one she'd previously.
He pushed aside his confusion as she spoke and took two swift steps back. He realized there was definitely something off about the girl in front of him. Love? He'd seen her all of once! And even then, it was just long enough to take her out of the fight. Plus, the way she was talking, he'd expected it to match the way she moved—no wasted effort. But, there were far easier ways to say I'm attracted to you than that. Barring even that, she went from trying to kill him to kiss him?
"Enough, just tell me what's going on!" He snapped. He raised his hands, readying himself to continue the confrontation if the girl in front of him had the switch on her personality flipped again.
Sirens sprang to life in the distance, and a scowl crossed the girl's face before she announced, "I'll be back."
Shirou could only blink as she threw a pellet at the ground, and with a bright flash, smoke billowed through the room. Backing out the door, Shirou gazed into the writhing black gas and waited.
A minute passed, and he knew she'd used a separate exit.
The sirens grew louder. Shirou quashed the urge to run that bubbled up. If he ran, that would only cause more problems for himself, what with the building's manager, he was supposed to be working on the room. No, he decided it was better to wait for the police and get it all out of the way.
Besides, he had to wait and find out if the room would end up as a crime scene. If it weren't, then he'd still have work to do.
As six police cars pulled into the parking lot and all but bailed from their vehicles, weapons drawn and pointing at him, Shirou put his hands up.
It was time!
The old man hadn't even noticed him entering the basement. Shinji bit his tongue in a bid to hold in his laughter. At ninety-one, most would assume Zouken was his great-great-grandfather, but his age did nothing to lessen the man's ability. At the very thought of the numerous worm-like creatures, the man had forced him to imagine worming their way across and into his body day after day in hopes that he would awaken psionic abilities of his own, bile rose in his throat, and he shivered. His grandfather had left him suffering like that for days at a time.
Despite being told that he definitely had some of the mental ability that ran in his family, Shinji had never seen it. Not when he tried to convince a teacher to adjust his grade or his mother, who had none of the gift herself to put down the bottle. Not once.
Reaching into the darkness of his cloak, he pulled a handful of dirks free from the shadowy realm that housed them. No, the older man hadn't missed a step in the use of his abilities; however, his senses had gone downhill years ago. The man even refused to wear his hearing aids! Still, Shinji couldn't help but feel like he had forgotten something. In fact, he was certain of it. Not that the fact was a surprise, considering he hadn't been around the man in three years.
He watched as the head of the Matou family turned slightly to pour an oddly white mixture over a large grey rat. The results were instantaneous. A shiver rolled across the rodent's body. It reared up to stand on its hind legs and began almost robotically to gnaw on its paw.
"Another failure." The old man groused and shuffled away from his test subject.
Shinji grinned widely. His moment had come! He launched the dirks even as bodies began spilling from his stomach.
"My and I thought you had come alone, Shinji. Insane to be certain but alone." The man announced as he turned, his eyes lit with a bluish-white light. The dirks froze in midair, and Shinji's eyes widened.
He now remembered why the man never wore his hearing aids unless he was out of the house. He didn't need them. Not with the ability to understand the surface thoughts of anyone within range. He cursed himself. How could he have forgotten!
Still, knowing there was no way for him to escape, Shinji began his attack in earnest, launching himself into the air, a dagger in each of his hands ready to gouge his grandfather's eyes out. "Die, you ancient bastard!" He roared as he began his descent.
He took a half step back and allowed the thrown weapons to bury themselves in the table he stood beside and turned to grin at Shinji, showing off his rotted teeth. "I think not."
The next thing Shinji knew, he was on the ground, his head aching and staring down at him was the ancient head of his house. "This is an interesting power you seem to have gained. How did you manage to merge with The Hassan?"
Shinji cast his attention around the room, looking for anything to distract him, and was met with the sight of a number of his alter's vanishing in black mist. Dead.
"Ah, I see. I did not believe a failure such as yourself was capable of resonating with anything. And there's more of these servant cards. Hope might not yet be lost."
Ignoring the man, Shinji pulled another of the blades out and swung. His dagger cut cloth and nothing else. Joy bloomed in his chest. He had a chance.
"Do cease your foolish resistance, boy. You have finally been of use to this family. I'd hate to have to convince another woman to sire an heir." Zouken snapped.
Shinji did not stop. He saw a weakness. His grandfather had to see whatever he was using his power on! Slinging his dirk, he forced another being from himself, and suddenly the room was filled with a cloud of acrid black smoke.
There was a snort of laughter. "A mere annoyance, boy."
In response, Shinji began launching a slew of weapons at the man who had tormented him and so many others in his family for so long. "DIE, DIE, DIE!" He howled.
The smoke cleared, and Shinji's heart dropped into his stomach. All around his grandfather, the blades floated, frozen. Behind him, a wall of assailants was similarly still. "Why won't you just DIE!" He roared at the older man.
But they both knew it was the desperate yell of a child.
"You knew very well why I'm still here, boy!" Zouken snarled, the kindly demeanor vanishing from the old man. "Now, are you going to hand me the card of your own volition, or am I going to need to turn you into a vegetable like that girl?"
Shinji's face morphed from anguish to rage in a matter of moments. "You'll have to take it. Course if you had enough focus, you'd have done it already, wouldn't ya, old man?"
Instead of responding angrily as Shinji expected, he instead moved over to a counter. "You are not wholly incorrect, boy, but only a fool enters a fight without a trump card or two up their sleeve."
Lines of light raced across the wall as if it were made of liquid coalescing on the spot in a corner that previously had been bathed in shadow. It wasn't empty, however. From the light, a wolf-like creature emerged, its fur the color of the night sky freckled with dots of light, not unlike starlight, and the dots even seemed to move. On its head was a stone engraved with ancient lines and bouts its neck, and its body wound countless chains.
"This is the last vestiges of our Family's power." With a snap of his fingers, the chains fell away, and the wolf stretched and growled. "This is the final chance you have, boy,"
In response, Shinji began to bring forth more of the personalities. However, before he could even get the first one out, he found himself eye to eye with his grandfather and a massive pressure building in his head.
"You know nothing." He said, spittle scattering across Shinji's face. "What our family has lost over the last two hundred years? What ou-"
With a mad burst of laughter, Shinji pushed the man away. His aged body falling to the ground like a forgotten marionette. Blood spilled freely from around the hole in his chest. "What's the point of bringing out the beasty if you weren't going to use it, old man?"
Ignoring the hand and blade extending from his torso, Shinji reared back and began kicking the man in the stomach. Each kick drew forth another round of laughter, and soon he was laughing as a man possessed.
"Devour them all." Zouken gasped out.
With a howl so primal, Shinji felt himself stiffen when the beast attacked.
The police had kept him far longer than he thought they would, asking question after question. So many of them were the same question, just worded differently. It was like they thought it was part of some elaborate plan he had to go there and start demolishing the place!
By the time the questioning had drawn to a close, not only had the police had closed the room off as a crime scene, but school had been out for nearly an hour.
He then spent another thirty minutes assuring the manager he wasn't planning on suing and to call him when the investigation was over. The man had broken down into tears. It took another twenty minutes to get the man to stop thanking him.
Thunder rolled in the distance as he got home. The collective clouds had taken a dark appearance, and electricity surged down toward the sea in the distance.
"Shirou!" Miyu called as soon as he walked through the door. "I was starting to wonder if you were going to need a rescue party."
Shirou laughed, "no need for that. Just a complication at work." He said as he moved into the dining area. He snorted at the spread on the table. She had taken his absence as a chance to make dinner. He should have known she would. At least the grilled salmon smelled terrific.
As she came into the room with a plate of asparagus, she gestured to his seat. "Sit."
The food tasted better than it smelled. She'd been practicing.
"So, how was your day?" He asked.
A smile so insignificantly different from the one she'd been wearing just before spread across her face. "Class was fine, and Dana and Jaime were so funny at lunch today. They were telling so many jokes!"
As she moved through her day, he couldn't help but smile. There were at least a half dozen times her smile started looking more genuine before shifting back to the fake one she tended to wear. At the very least, it was progress. Still, it seemed her day got progressively worse after lunch.
He consoled himself with the fact that at least he had a place to start.
After dinner, Miyu went to finish her homework while Shirou moved on to a project of his own.
Shirou sat in the room that had once been his office. He'd gotten rid of everything but the desk. He held the last part needed for his costume in his hand. His helm. The front was a flat plate-like surface that no one would think had any chance of sight to exist at first glance. Himself included. That was right up to the point where he'd picked it up for the first time. Although at first look, anyone would think it metal, it wasn't. Instead, it was an acrylic polymer that functioned a lot like a two-way mirror.
On the other side, Miyu had etched an almost visor-like marking onto the face. All in all, he couldn't help but notice how much it seemed to look like one of the power rangers visor's he'd seen on a number of backpacks in grade school.
Still, it didn't impede his vision, and still did the job he needed it to do, so he wasn't about to complain. Plus, it showed she had been practicing with reinforcement. Settling it onto the shelf atop the rest of the costume, he looked down at the watch on his wrist.
Nine o' clock.
"Miyu," he called, "it's time for your lesson."
A/N: Thanks to my Beta's, Twister and PocketRat. And as always thanks to my buddy B.
So I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to review if you'd like or message me. If I missed a page break let me know. You can chat with me directly if you join my Discord Server:
h.t.t.p.s.:/.d.i.s.c.o.r. ./.h.N.3.e.E.H.q.
Just remove unnecessary periods and your good to go. Hope to chat with you soon!