[No A/N]
Disclaimer: Me no own me just fan.
Cold...
So...
Cold...
The frozen land crunches beneath my bare feet as small, glowing, snowflakes beat themselves against my equally bare body.
My eyes are heavy as I gaze at the landscape around me.
The first thing I notice, besides the snow, are small glowing pillars in the ground, no... not pillars... ethereal swords, a near infinite amount of them, stretched out far into the distance on either side, each blade made of pure ether the kind that a soul is formed from.
They're waiting... I could feel it... each blade awaited the day I could... no... would draw them from their Icy sheathe, this Et*er*a* B*ad* Arc*i*v*
(*ROAR!*)
I jump at the sound and whirl around to find the source, and there it stood.
It's scales and Body were made of swords it's body large and bipedal, it's claws made of the the same ethereal energy as the swords around us, the sole denizens of this world. It's fangs were larger than any human made weapon. And it's face bore a reptilian snout with two bull like horns that split at the curve and the part that branched out became a pair of recurve horns. It's eyes were twin pools of Crimson with Jagged reptilian slit that spiked outwards yet still remain as a single slit straight down.I recognize those eyes... those are my eyes... why... why does this beast have my eyes?
It gazes at me with equal curiosity, I tilt my head and it does the same, I move my left arm and it copies me.
I was about to move more when I glanced at my own hand.
My hand is covered in ethereal scales. Scales made of Swords.
Oh... so that's it... The beast... doesn't have my eyes...
I have my eyes... the dragon... is me...For the first time since I woke in this frozen landscape, I opened my mouth and spoke.
"This Dragon is built of Blades."
The words resonated throughout the land, each individual blade surrounding me vibrated before they floated from the frozen earth and aimed their blades at me.
I gaze at each blade... and close my eyes.
(*Shlink!*)
"Urgh!"
I grunt as each blade pierces my flesh and becomes part of my flesh, my soul, my memories.
I open my eyes again to gaze at the world around me one more time... the blades had returned to their original position... but the change had already happened, I could feel each blade that resided in this world. I knew each one by heart... how could I not... after all...
I'm the one who put them here.
Siegfried groaned as he opened his eyes.
"Ugh... what a headache." He groaned out as he tried to sit up, tried being the keyword as he soon realized he had something heavy holding him down.
He looked down to see a familiar white haired girl, along side another familiar girl, this one with black and crimson calico print hair.
The former was asleep but the later on the other hand... not so much.
How could he tell? Well what about the two blinking crimson eyes that stared into his own?
"Um... Cheri? Why are you in my room... and what happened? I thought we dropped you off?" Siegfried said.
Cheri stayed silent for a bit before she, begrudgingly, got up revealing what she wore to Siegfried.
Who choked on his own spit when he saw the black and white maid outfit the girl wore. Not even the kind the staff normally wore, but the... cosplay kind.
To be completely honest Siegfried thought she looked pretty cute in it.
"Wait! Now is not the time for that! Why is she here?!" Siegfried scolded himself.
Suddenly the memories hit him like a plasma dust powered freight train with a hyper drive, yeah those exist, Atlas with the help of the SDC tried to create a working hyperdrive, it worked... but unfortunately the prototype had the only blueprints still on it upon launch, and the fact that the railway for the train couldn't contain the sudden increase in speed and the train ended up teleporting to another Dimension, and it, and its operator, hadn't been seen since.
("poor uncle Lenny." Siegfried subconsciously thought through the excruciating pain in his head)
"Gah!" Siegfried cried out as he held his head which felt like it would burst out of his skull at any second.
Cheri instantly was at his side, and the sound of his pain had woken Weiss, who freaked out and ran out of the room.
"Master Siegfried please lie back down. Young mistress will be back shortly with Mistress Willow and Mistress Winter." Cheri said, obviously rehearsed as she struggled over the larger words.
"Gah!... w-wait... Master? Mistress? Why are you calling us that?" Siegfried groaned through the pain.
"Because of what happened two weeks ago, because Mistress Willow awoke my Aura she was allowed to take me in as her student, and has made me your personal maid, Master Siegfried." Cheri said, seeming a little more happy about the fact.
"Huh! Two Weeks!" Siegfried bolted from his bed and checked his alarm, and indeed it had been two weeks.
"Holy crap... Never passed out for two weeks before... even back then..." Siegfried whispered that last part.
Cheri then grabbed him by his shoulder and tugged him back to his bed.
He sat down on the edge, and was quiet.
A few minute of awkward silence passed before Cheri started to figit.
"U-um... Master Siegfried... h-how do I look?" Cheri stuttered, showing a bit of her usual shy self.
"Huh? O-oh... um... y-you look cute, I guess." Siegfried said unsure.
That was uncharted territory for him. In his last life Saber was never really cared about the clothes she wore, and Rin was more of a... friend-with-benefits-and-occasional-romance, type of girl. I.e. he was her stress reliever for when Luvia pissed her off.
Root knows how many times he got a call from Rin while in the middle of a job, for the church, to quote on quote "get the hell here NOW Luvia is being a little stuck up rich bitch!"
It was a bit awkward when your about the kill a dead apostle and you get a bootycall, but hey... the enforcers got a good laugh out of it each time.
Anyways back on track.
Oh and Sakura... well she was just happy to be around him.
BACK ON TRACK!
Cheri turned a bit pink at the compliment, and mumbled thank under her breath.
It was to this that Willow burst into the room, a bundle in one hand and Weiss wrapped around her waist, flapping like a flag.
"Oh my poor baby boy! You've finally woken up! I was beginning to think that you wouldn't wake up! I'm so glad that it was only aura exhaustion! And- blah blah blah blah blah."
Siegfried wasn't ignoring his mother, no the reason for the sudden tuning out was due the fact he was more focused on the bundle in her arm.
"Is that... fuck... I missed it... sorry Whitley..." Siegfried thought sadly.
"Siegfried Schnee! Are you ignoring your mother!?" Said woman yelled out, which startled the boy.
"huh? sorry mom I wasn't paying attention... but is what your holding what I think it is?" Siegfried asked.
Willow paused before she smacked her forehead as if she just remembered, before she sat down on the bed beside him, and slowly unwrapped the bundle.
"Siegfried this is Whitley... your baby brother..." Willow said with a smile.
Siegfried gazed at the baby in wonder, while he remembered what Weiss and he looked like as babies he had never seen a baby in person when he was older, his sister in his first life had one but he wasn't on good terms with her so he never cared... oh how he wished that hadn't been the case... if he were better he might have been able to prevent her fate. He also had never met any of the kids he had in any of his old lives..., he had died before he got the chance...
The first thing he thought was, "so small..."
Whitley gazed with his gray baby eyes at his older brother, enraptured by his red eyes.
Siegfried stared at the newborn with wide eyes full of uncharacteristic childish wonder.
Willow watched the two for a few seconds before she spoke up.
"Would you like to hold him Sieg?" She asked.
Siegfried tore his eyes away from the babe to look at his mother.
"R-really?" he stuttered
"Go on... take him." Willow said to Siegfried gently, this was a side she had never seen of him... she honestly liked it... seeing him show an emotion other than disgust, or apathy.
Siegfried gently took the newborn into his arms.
Siegfried resumed looking at the baby.
The two seemed to have a staring match for a few seconds before Whitley giggled.
Siegfried's eyes widen a fraction before they close completely a smile overtook his features.
The three others in the room pause in wonder at the smile. One so full of contentment and serenity is was like looking a painting. Unknown to them there was an audience of the servants and Jacque outside the door, they also were in awe of the rare smile on the boy's face
"G-gah~!" The babe cooed at his older brother as he waved his tiny arms at the older boy holding him.
"Sorry Whitley but I think I should give you back to mom." Siegfried said still smiling.
As he passed to baby back to their still stunned mother, Whitley made a fuss and tried to go back to his brother's warm arms.
"Wah!!" Whitley began to cry, and Willow went into overdrive to try and calm him down, when he didn't Siegfried did the only thing he could think of, he took his middle and index finger and softly poked the baby on the forehead.
The sudden contact caused the baby to quiet down as Whitley looked at the one who poked him.
"Sorry Whitley, I'll hold you later... so be a good boy for mama please?" Siegfried asked with a smile.
The baby then hid his face with his arms, tiny palms on his forehead, as if embarrassed.
"How cute!"
Everyone thought at the same time.
Willow relaxed with Whitley in her arms.
"Now Siegfried now that you've met your little brother, I have some things we need to talk about." Willow said calmly.
"Yeah no kidding... like why is Cheri my personal maid... and what's that about you training her?" Siegfried asked.
"Well... there's a set of rule in Remnant, if one wished to invoke them all of tue conditions must be met. Because I unlocked her aura I am allowed to take her in, not as a parent persay, but as an apprentice, and I must be the one to provide living conditions for them, but after the law is invoked she is my responsibility to do with as I wish." Willow said.
"But why though?" Siegfried asked, confused.
"I didn't want her to end up in the system, moving from one Orphanage to another, that's no life for a child... so I decided to take her in. Besides she's your friend I wouldn't want you to go back to being your loner self, when you finally started to open up." Willow said.
Siegfried agreed with her about the system, he had been in a similar situation in his first life. Moving from one house to the next, that was until his biological father was finally allowed to take him in. It's no life for a child... it makes them feel unwanted... someone not worthy to be loved... and it scars them for life... even if they find a true family... the doubt would always be there. The doubt that if they deserved to be happy.
Siegfried however didn't believe he had changed much from how he acted normally.
But he could see her point, and he was grateful nonetheless.
"Thank you mom... it means a lot." Siegfried muttered.
Willow just grinned and used one arm to support Whitley and used the other to ruffle Siegfried's hair.
"No prob. I'm your mom remember. It's my job to make sure my kids stay happy." Willow grinned.
Siegfried gave a small smile at that.
Willow really was a great mother... it's gonna be hard when she loses herself... on everyone.
"But ... to bring down Jacque... and Watts it's neccessary..." Siegfried thought to himself bitterly.
He had learned the hard way that the best strategy isn't always the one where everyone will be happy during the process... sometimes... you have to kill one ... to save ten more.
Didn't mean he had to like it though...
Siegfried tore himself from his bitter thought when Willow stood up suddenly.
"Oh! that's right you haven't met you other sibling yet have you!?" Willow sid before she sprinted out of the room leaving a stunned Siegfried.
"Other sibling? But... Whitley doesn't have a twin in cannon right? Has my being in this world effected the timeline? No... that can't be... I haven't changed any known canon events, aside from my birth... fuck... if I really have changed the timeline this much by just existing... what else have I changed..." Siegfried thought.
Willow returned to the room without Whitley and instead had a pink bundle in her arms.
Willow returned to her seat on his bed and slowly unwrapped the bundle to better reveal the second baby.
Siegfried's eyes widen, and his breathe caught in his lungs as he saw a shock of pure white hair, and a pair of red eyes not unlike his own, these however were merely red, the pupils weren't jagged slits, and they held a innocent yet highly intelligent stare in them.
He knew these eyes...
Willow, unaware of her son's thought, started to speak.
"Jacque and I still haven't decided on a name for her... We were both surprised when we had another set of twins!" Willow laughed.
"Illya..." Siegfried muttered, in shock, which pulled Willow out of her laughter, and the baby widened her own eyes.
"Huh?" Willow asked.
"Illyasviel Von Schnee..." Siegfried said with stubborn look on his face.
"What?"
"Her name... is Illyasviel Von Schnee." Siegfried said again this time with a very possessive stare that unnerved Willow, and set her on edge.
The baby laughed in response to her new name, and having finally recognized the soul within the boy staring at her.
Willow stared at her son unnerved at his sudden change.
"S-Sieg... are you alright?" Willow said hesitantly.
Siegfried turned to her and her eyes widened at the tears in the corners of his eyes.
"Yes mom... never been better!" Siegfried said with his content smile.
During his time as Shirou Emiya there were only two things he wanted for himself... to truely reunite with Artoria, not just any version of her created by the grail... or summoned by another magus Organization like Chaldea but his one and only, true king of knights. The second thing he yearned for... was to have a second chance... to save Illya... to be the brother she wanted so desperately.
And here... in this dying world, forsaken by it's own creators, he got that chance... and he wasn't about to let this world kill itself without a fight.
Because now he truely had something to lose.
It was on this day..., that Illya had been born into this world, it was also the day that the spirits of a fallen hero, an incarnation of swords and their newest reincarnation, found their resolve.
How long has it been... since I was betrayed and imprisoned... a day? A week? A Month? A year?
Time is meaningless to me here... in this dark dungeon, from which I have neither the means nor the will to escape.
All I can do now I wallow in my self pity as I regret every choice I ever made in this world.
I regret everything... I regret saving this kingdom of betrayers, I regret falling for the supposedly kind princess who held the adoration of the entire realm.
I regret ignoring the woman who truely did love me... even while I chased after the princess. The same woman who was now being violated right in front of me, by the very 'heroic' men I had allowed to join our group, as she cries and begs my chained self to save her.
I regret forgetting one thing... that even in a world full of demons... gods... and beasts... humanity... are the true monsters.
And nothing I can do will change that... so I only have one thing left to do...
Shadows begin to coalesce around my bindings until the chain link connected to the wall snaps.The men who violated my closed comrade pause in their task to see me lift the remaining chain and darkness coats the object, making it stand upright, and a long curved blade sprouted from the chain.
I turn my gaze to the men, all of who began to beg for their lives, for mercy.
But... they would get none.
The scythe struck each of their necks in a flash, and all but one of the men was decapitated.
I stood back to back with the remaining man, my blade forcing the man's jaw open. In a flash I place my right boot on the man's back and force the blade to slice through the man's jaw, cutting only the top half of his head.
I turn to the bodies on the dungeon floor.
"I will devour this kingdom and it's darkness..."
Shadows twisted and formed into a giant Raven with eight eyes and razor sharp teeth.The raven then lungs at the corpses and eats them, their lifeforce then infused itself with my body.
I turn my gaze to my violated friend, only to see her cowering.
I pause.
"I see... be safe... we will not meet again I promise you that." I say before a cloak of shadows forms around my body and I briskly turn into the direction of the dungeon exit.
I have monsters to hunt.
~Memories of a Fallen Hero.
[A/N: Fyew... sorry this chapter took so long got caught up in playing a game I got for PS4. A certain reader, who frequently PMs me noticed some traits similar to Haseo from .Hack/GU Last recode, a game I had never even heard of, and Siegfried, I decided to try out the game, and fuck... I'm in love. I just beat volume 3 going on v4.
Anyways that's the reason it took so long to update this story.
Also... that last part is a little scene that will take place in my own book, very later in the story, that was the first life before Shirou and Siegfried.
Now if you'll excuse me... it's almost 6:00 am... and I need some sleep.