Note: This story was a little thing I cooked up for a Typemoon fanfic contest held by some forumgoers. Unfortunately the story I had in mind was kinda big and the amount of time given for the contest was only a few days. In retrospect, I would've been a lot better off if I had done a shorter, but maybe a bit more "artistic" piece of work, but what's done is done. I ended up trying to finish this thing in one go. It took me over 50 hours of almost non-stop work to finish this (the quality noticeably drops off near the end ), but I managed to finish it in my sleep-deprived, zombie-like state (I slept 17 hours after that). It tied for second place, and there was no second place prize ( XO ), and personally I'm not proud of this work. But the experience did teach me thing or two. Maybe later, when I'm not so busy with real-life and all that, I'll take the time and effort to post something the Typemoon fandom better deserves.
So why am I posting this on my account, which I haven't used in literally years? Well, I saw today that someone had posted a Tsukihime fic on the first Typemoon-based fanfic ever on this site, probably. To celebrate that, and to contribute as a fellow Typemoon fan, I decided to post this in support of a hopeful rise of a Typemoon niche and community on And so, for our fandom and for fans in general, here be:
Alpha/Omega
A Tsukihime fanfiction by Shinova
Tsukihime and Kara no Kyoukai are creations of Kinoko Nasu and Typemoon
All other works belong to their respective owners
Chapter 1: Dreams
Tohno Shiki dreamt like no other boy in the world. Under the sway of a wide variety of influences, such as Ren, Kohaku, the original Tohno Shiki, and many more, Shiki had dreamt of stranger, yet truer things in the past couple of years than most people have in their entire lifetimes.
Tonight's was stranger than usual though, even for someone like Shiki. The world was coming apart. That was the only way he could describe it. His mind felt as if it were being pulled in every conceivable direction at once and he could see images and visions flashing through his consciousness like a train speeding through his brain. He saw himself, walking home from school with Satsuki; his sister, Akiha, when she and him were both young; Hisui; Kohaku looking down from a window; other memories like such from his past. Then there were those visions which he could not associate with: a courtyard of people, their blood running like a river; a young girl standing in a field of white flowers; a world on fire; a pair of laughing golden eyes looking down at him; and more. The rest were too fleeting to catch.
Voices and whispers assaulted him. Strange languages, voices that were inhuman...it was as if the entire world were speaking to him...the trees, the grass, the animals, the wind, the sun, the sky...
Stop!, Shiki wanted to scream, but couldn't. He could do nothing but feel---powerlessly accept this thundering hurricane of thoughts and echoes. Then suddenly, the thundering roar of the world slowed to a hazy trickle. He could see light, and beyond it a world of ash and dust, where nothing but the wind stirred. Before he could ask himself, what's that, he was pulled through and beyond that unfamiliar landscape. The thundering roar resumed and escalated to a scream. Shiki felt as if he could die now. Everything there had been, was, and will be were coming together into a light of infinite brightness in front of him. And this light spoke.
"Shiki-sama, it's time to wake up."
"Waaaaahh!" Shiki screamed as he bolted upright in his bed, startling Hisui, who jumped a step backwards in response.
"Shiki-sama!" Hisui exclaimed in surprise.
Shiki grabbed his face, gasping for air, the sweat trickling down his forehead and over the back of his hands.
"Shiki-sama, are you alright?" Hisui asked after regaining her composure.
Shiki glanced sideways at Hisui, then closed eyes, regaining his breath.
"Yes, I'm fine now," he said, slowly returning to a normal sense of self, like a balloon deflating after being overfilled with air.
Hisui nodded in acknowledgement. "Breakfast will be ready soon. Akiha-sama is waiting for you downstairs."
"I'll be right down. Oh, and good morning, Hisui."
"Good morning, Shiki-sama," Hisui said. She then bowed and left the room to let Shiki get ready, closing the door softly behind herself.
Shiki fell back onto his bed with a sigh, trying to come to terms with what he had experienced.
"What the hell was that..."
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Breakfast had passed surprisingly without incident. Kohaku's cooking was excellent as usual. Akiha had been more or less her usual quiet and stern self, and Hisui had seen Shiki out of the mansion like always. He now walked his way to school, under the gentle blue sky, accompanied by a soft breeze.
Such good weather, Shiki thought. In fact, it reminded him of the time he had first met Sensei on that grassy field. The wind caressing his face put his mind at ease, and he strolled casually toward school.
He met Arihiko near the school gate, the two greeting each other and walking towards the school entrance together amidst the busy bodies of fellow students.
"How have you been? Hard time sleeping?" Arihiko said, watching his friend yawn.
"Something like that," Shiki replied, rubbing his eyes.
"Your, ehem...'girlfriend' hasn't been keeping you awake again, has she?" Arihiko insinuated, gazing at Shiki with a suspecting eye.
"Wha? Where'd you..."
"I knew it! Tohno Shiki, once again proving himself the enemy of single men everywhere!" Arihiko exclaimed toward the sky, holding his head, as if asking for salvation (or for a thunderbolt to strike his friend down).
"Don't get any weird ideas! I just had some trouble sleeping, that's all." Shiki stated firmly. The idea of Arcueid crawling into his bedroom through the window at night and err...doing that was still too strange for him, though he had thought about it a few times.
"Hmph! You can make up all the excuses you like, but we all know the truth," Arihiko jabbed Shiki lightly with his elbow for emphasis. "Anyway, did you finish that math homework?"
"What homework?" Shiki replied, starting to worry in a more normal, ordinary schoolboy fashion.
Before Arihiko could answer, there was a thunderous crash. Students scattered in panic as concrete started raining down from the sky. Shiki looked up to see cracks form across an entire section of the front of the school. The section then tore off from the building and fell down towards Arihiko, himself, and other students.
"Look out!"
The section smashed into the earth with a thunderous roar that could be heard from all across the city. Smoke billowed in huge clouds and suffocated the entire front yard, blanketing it in grey. The roar died out gradually, and everything became dead silent except for the high-pitched ring of a lone fire alarm somewhere nearby, piercing the shroud of dust and silence like a scream.
Those who could move slowly gathered themselves and stood up, some crying, some shouting for help, and all of them dazed and coughing in the thick dust that was just beginning to slowly clear. Students in the untouched sections of the school rushed to the windows to gaze at what had transpired, while teachers frantically contacted each other and various authorities.
Shiki coughed as he pushed himself up off of the ground. He had dove as the wall came crashing down, pushing Arihiko and himself to the ground. Thankfully, no large pieces of concrete had fallen on himself or his friend, who was also just coming around.
"What ha---ouch! Ow, that hurts..." Arihiko said, wincing.
"You okay?" Shiki said, coughing between words. He looked down at his friend, who lay on his side and looked perfectly fine on the outside, but Shiki knew well that such outward appearances of apparent lack of harm could be deceiving.
"I'm fine...I think..."
"Don't move, okay? I'll get help."
Hoping his friend had suffered no serious internal injury, Shiki stood up and looked around him as the dust began to clear sufficiently for him to see around him. The school front yard resembled a destroyed city. Fallen chunks of concrete lay strewn all over the place. There were many very large pieces, amongst smaller pieces. Shiki dreaded to think that there could be people trapped underneath. As fellow students around him called for help and their friends, he crawled up a few nearby pieces to get a better look around. He scanned the front yard and stopped.
There was a person walking away from the school through the gate. He was clothed in what looked like a black school uniform. His back was to Shiki so the latter couldn't see the person very well, and the dust clouding the air didn't help either. Shiki felt strange, looking at that person. It was as if...
"Tohno-kun!"
Shiki turned around to see Ciel making her way over the concrete pieces towards his general area. "Sempai! Over here!" Shiki yelled back, waving his arms. Ciel spotted him, waving back and quickening her pace, heading directly towards him.
Shiki turned back towards the school gate but the person was no longer there. Ciel finally made it to where Shiki was. "Tohno-kun, are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine, Sempai, but I think Arihiko needs help," Shiki replied, jumping down to where his friend lay.
"Hey, I'm fine!" Arihiko said in response. "I just might need some time in the nurse's office...maybe take a few days off from school..."
"I think we might all get the day off," Shiki said, surveying the disaster once again.
Sirens could be heard as emergency vehicles rushed their way to the school and the announcement speakers announced the cancellation of school for the day. Meanwhile Ciel joined Shiki in clearing some of the debris around Arihiko to give him some room. All around them, fellow students did the same, helping each other up and moving debris aside, searching for anyone trapped underneath.
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Ambulances made their way back and forth from school to hospital, ferrying injured students in groups, until Arihiko too was finally taken away by an ambulance. The remaining students were either standing around or sitting down, talking about the incident, or walking home.
Shiki and Ciel stood together, solemnly watching the emergency workers sift through the remaining debris, searching for more people. Police were keeping order while firefighters made their way around the area, making sure there were no fire hazards or gas leaks. Shiki of course couldn't help but notice those students who were grieving for the lost ones. Indeed, everyone was going to be feeling this day for a long time, and perhaps for the rest of their lives.
"Quite a day," Ciel remarked, gazing out at the aftermath of the accident.
"Yes it is," Shiki replied, his eyes fixed on the gaping hole in the front of the school. His thoughts wandered back to the moment the section had crumbled and his expression darkened somewhat.
Ciel noticed this. "Is something wrong?"
Shiki glanced at her, then down at the ground as if considering his response. He looked up back at the hole, recalling the event in his mind. "It's the way that wall over there crumbled," he said, pointing to the hole now occupying the front section of the school.
"The way it crumbled?..."
"Yeah... It reminded me of how that hallway crumbled, way back when I fought Roa."
"That hallway..." Ciel thought for a moment. "You mean that hallway you killed during that fight? Are you saying there could another with eyes like yours?"
Shiki nodded. "And I saw someone walking out of the school. He didn't look like he was from here, so it could be... I'm not sure. Maybe it was just some gas explosion or something that made the wall fall. Maybe I was just imagining things."
"Well at least you're safe. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but I'll give it some thought. In the meantime, you be careful, alright, Tohno-kun?"
"I will, Sempai."
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Shiki bid Ciel goodbye and left for home as well. This made it the earliest Shiki had gone home early from school, as far as he could remember. The sky was still as gentle a blue as it had been in the early morning, and the breeze still soft against his face. A bit ironic, it seemed, considering the scope of the catastrophe that had just occurred.
"Shiki!" a very familiar voice called out from ahead. It was Arcueid, waving at him, a happy expression on her face. Shiki waved back, albeit half-heartedly. Arcueid reached Shiki and walked besides him. She gazed curiously at his face.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"No, it's...well...a lot's happened today," he replied, scratching the back of his head.
"It's your school, right? I heard about it on my way here."
Shiki inwardly sighed upon hearing that Arcueid had planned on visiting him at school this early. "I bet you could hear the explosion from where you were too," he said.
"Oh yeah. But I'm happy that you're safe," Arcueid said, smiling that smile she made so often---one so light and free of doubt, as if she didn't have a care in the world.
"Sometimes I wish I could be that easy-going," Shiki remarked, sighing.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it."
As the two walked on under the cool air in silence, Shiki decided to regain a bit of his usual optimistic self. As terrible the tragedy was, he should be glad he had lived through it, and go back to enjoying his life instead of moping over something that had already happened. At least that was what all the counseling people would say, Shiki imagined, but that didn't matter in the least. And school was cancelled, thus it would be a waste to go straight home when the weather was as nice as it was today.
"Want to go somewhere, since school's been cancelled for today?" Shiki asked Arcueid. The latter brightened at the prospect.
"I'd love to!" Arcueid replied happily.
The two spent rest of the day touring the city, eating lunch, visiting the aquarium, as if they were on a date but without the extra baggage. A relieving sense of normality gradually returned to Shiki's mind as he spent the day with Arcueid. The morning before seemed almost like merely bad dream. As for the wall, Shiki became more convinced that it had truly been an accident, nothing more, and the mysterious person a figment of his imagination. The day had been truly calming for him. Perhaps it was Arcueid's presence, and her smile and uplifting spirit especially, which Shiki observed to be strangely somewhat infectious to one's mood in a way.
When evening came, the two said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Shiki then took a quick visit to the hospital to see how Arihiko was doing. The latter was more or less fine, though he had a broken leg and a few cracked ribs. The doctor had figured that Arihiko would have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks before being allowed to go outside again in crutches or a wheelchair. Arihiko had suggested that Shiki receive the reputable honor of ferrying him via wheelchair back and forth and during school, but Shiki declined the offer---with some furor, one might add---refusing to be Arihiko's personal cab service, despite Arihiko's insistence that such a humanitarian show of kindness would grant Shiki the adoration of all the girls at school. The latter countered by noting that he had enough girl problems already, regretting saying so immediately afterwards as Arihiko demanded that Shiki regain some good karma by being his personal cab service. Somehow, Shiki managed to leave the hospital, wishing his friend good luck in getting well.
Shiki now walked alone through the almost empty streets near where his home was, whistling some random tune he had heard inside a store one time. Everything was quiet save for the crickets chirping peacefully around him. Like the day, the night was equally as gentle.
As he walked, Shiki suddenly caught sight of someone standing underneath a street lamp. The person's face was turned away from Shiki, hands resting leisurely in the pockets of the person's pants. The stranger was wearing something akin to a black school uniform-like jacket and pants, and overall he or she looked like just some random citygoer enjoying the night air as Shiki himself was doing.
Shiki cast the thoughts from the morning aside and simply walked on, intending to pass the stranger and continue on towards the mansion. Akiha would be expecting him home for dinner, and he had better not be late.
The stranger suddenly turned around to face Shiki directly. Shiki's mouth fell open in shock. The stranger simply smiled.
The person in question was an exact duplicate of Shiki. The only differences were that the stranger wore no glasses, and that the irises of his eyes were light grey---so light as to be almost white. The person's expression was peaceful, yet at the same time reminded Shiki of himself, as the murderous fiend in some of his worst nightmares.
While Shiki remained rooted to where he was standing, the stranger simply walked towards, then past Shiki. As he passed by, he nodded at Shiki as if acknowledging Shiki's state of shock knowingly and moved on into the darkness behind Shiki, then disappeared from sight.
Shiki whirled around to look at the darkness where the person had disappeared.
This morning, at school...could he...