Interlude - Death

I float weightless in an infinite void. A sprawling nothing. Is this the afterlife? I guess Shinji and that woman killed me. I knew he was a prick, but I didn't realize he was this bad.

I reach out, for anything. There must be something here. I float infinitely, moving but not. There's no light, but I can see everything. There's no ground, but I can walk. There's nothing here, but at the same time, everything is here. I'm here forever, but in an instant it's time to go. One more weird dream, I guess.

Day 2- Ayako

"Oh jeez the hot Emiya dream again.. the white hair is new though.. ahhh"

I get up and stretch, looking at hot older Emiya. This is another weird dream, and I'm not usually this lucid. And everything looks.. off. "What's up with the weird lines everywhere? Poke." My finger hits the line on the wall and my nail sinks in like it's pudding. Interesting thing to have in a dream. The line gently curves across the paper wall, and it's weirdly precise for a dream. Without thinking I find myself tracing along the line, my nail effortlessly following it, still sunken in, and as I follow the paper and wood seem to split like my finger was a razor blade. Yeah that's weird. I wonder if it'll work on that nightstand too? As it splits I hear Hot Emiya behind me.

"Oh, fuck. RIN, GET IN HERE!"

Ok so, not a dream. I sit with Emiya, Emiya, Tohsaka, and some family friend of the Emiyas, eating breakfast. Tohsaka is explaining something. "I can 'see death', Tohsaka what the hell does that even mean?" I poke at my food, eating some, splitting some with my fork.

"Basically, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception let you see the inevitable death of that thing. Everything has an end, and what you're seeing is a visualization of it. Essentially, it's—" Blah blah blah. Tohsaka drones a lecture for way too long.

"Ok that's cool, I think I get it. Now please explain why Hot Dad Emiya is here in Devil May Cry cosplay." I eye the Dante-wannabe to make my point. He sighs in response, then stands.

"There are bigger things to worry about then my own personal issues right now, so I'll be straight with you all. My True Name is Shirou Emiya, survivor of the Fifth Holy Grail War, or rather, a Fifth Holy Grail War. In my lifetime, I summoned the Heroic Spirit of King Arthur and just managed to make it through this Grail War. On the first night, my life was saved by Rin, using the same pendant she used to save Mitsuzuri last night. Kiritsugu never had a journal in my timeline, and Ayako Mitsuzuri never manifested the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception."

Everyone in the room stares at him in shock.

Tohsaka speaks first. "Archer, what the hell? What are you talking about? You're Emiya and you've already experienced this Grail War? How does that make any sense? How the hell would I summon a servant from the future?"

He pulls a pendant out of his jacket. "After you saved my life, I carried this on my person until the day I died. You had it on you when you summoned me. That didn't change, at least. You were also short on command seals when we met in my Grail War, so clearly you being pushy and impulsive also hasn't changed. I'm sure Shirou is also risking his life every time he uses magecraft, like normal, and hasn't noticed Sakura is in love with him."

I speak up at the same time as the other woman in the room, both of us scoffing and calling Emiya oblivious almost in unison. This finally gets him to talk.

"She's not, and even if she was, she's my friend's sister! It doesn't matter if I have feelings for her, there's nothing I can do about it!" He shouts, clearly having heard this several times. I bristle at that.

"Emiya, hi, Mitsuzuri here. Still in the room. Could you please maybe don't call the asshole who tried to murder me a 'friend'? 'K thanks. Furthermore, what the hell is going on?"

Tohsaka looks like she'll be the first to speak, but we're interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Senpai, I came to check on you! Are you sick?" Sakura's voice carries from the front door. I almost laugh, there's no way she didn't hear Emiya. I'm interrupted by everyone else in the room panicking for a couple reasons.

Shirou scrambles to his feet, and the girl fixes on him, waiting for something. Devil May Cook gives a sheepish smile, and Tohsaka hisses under her breath. "Archer, stay where I can see you. That's an order. We'll continue this conversation later."

Shirou runs to the door while the rest of them try to figure out what to do, but I certainly know what I'm doing. I leave the room in a flurry.

I knew Emiya was interested in martial arts too. His family must be pretty well off, he literally has a dojo attached to his house. I'm sure he won't mind me borrowing it, and I need to blow off some steam after that conversation.

These stupid lines are everywhere, distracting me. It almost burns to focus on them, like I'm staring into a pitch black sun. I close my eyes, try to shut them out, but even the insides of my eyelids are spiderwebbed with cracks. Everything is. The walls, the floor, lines even float through the air. Everywhere I look, all I can see is… death. The novelty is wearing off, reality is sinking in, and it's terrifying. This is so fucked. This is wrong. This is awful. I don't want this, I never asked for this. I—

"Mitsuzuri!" Tohsaka's voice snaps me out of it. I'm on my knees, face soaked in tears. The floor is split in multiple places. Tohsaka stands above me, holding a pair of glasses. She puts them on my face without asking, and the lines slowly fade.

"This should help." Tohsaka stands there awkwardly. "I'll be honest, you weren't supposed to hear all that. Technically, I'm supposed to kill you since you've found out about all this. I won't, don't worry. Let me explain."