Fate: Reach Out
Chapter 5: The Velvet Room
April 11th, 2011, Fuyuki Train Station
After months of planning, paperwork, and negotiations with public and private groups, the big day had finally arrived, and Shirou had a small gathering of friends to see him off along with Taiga and her grandfather Raiga. Standing by the train, bags in hand, Shirou still had enough time to say his goodbyes before departure.
Naturally, being who he was, the first thing he had to say was an apology. "Sorry I couldn't finish all the repairs, Issei."
Issei Ryuudou shook his offered hand. The monk-in-training was already slated to take the mantle of President of the Student Council in the coming year, and he had taken to the preparations like a fish to water. He had hoped to count on Shirou to assist him from time to time, but he was glad his friend was getting the chance to meet his biological family. He was insightful enough to see that the experience would do Emiya some good. "Think nothing of it, Emiya. I'm rather thankful for all you were able to get done as it is. Homurahara has managed before we had you as our 'janitor' for years, so one year of your absence shouldn't be too painful."
"I'll be sure to make up for it when I return for third year," Shirou promised.
Issei smiled. "While that isn't necessary, it is good to know you can be counted on."
The captain of the archery club he used to frequent, Ayako Mitsuzuri, was also there, almost unwilling to see him leave. "You sure there's nothing I can't say to convince you to stay?" Ayako asked, giving Shirou half-hearted puppy-dog eyes. "Your spot in the archery club is still open," she tempted, the playful smirk on her face slightly melancholy. She would miss him.
"And I've declined that spot each time you offered," Shirou countered without missing a beat. "I don't plan on joining the archery team in Yasogami, though, if that's what you're worried about."
"Yasogami doesn't have an archery team. I checked. I won't hold it against you if you join a sports team though; can't waste your potential after all."
"I'll consider it." Shirou wasn't sure if he was going to try out for any sport, though. As much as they helped him keep in shape, the more he devoted himself to a club the less time he'd have developing his skills as a magus and ally of justice.
Sakura had come along with Shinji, and held herself back to let her brother to make his farewells first. The dark haired young man smirked and slouched as he patted him on the back. "Oh, changing schools already? I'm almost disappointed Emiya. Couldn't find your calling here?" Shinji's tongue was as cutting as always, but Shirou shrugged it off as more of the harmless snarking that he indulged in.
"It's not that, Shinji. I'm just making an extended visit with my uncle and cousin."
"But a whole year in another school?" Shinji's grin grew wider and more mischievous. "Don't play coy with me, Emiya; you just want to find yourself a girlfriend!"
Shirou nearly stumbled when Shinji slapped his back the second time. "Wha-?!"
"I don't blame you, honestly. All the girls in Homurahara flock to me instead of you. Sakura is the exception because I can trust her in your capable hands."
Something about his tone sounded condescending, but Shinji always made blunt remarks about people. Shirou had long developed a tolerance to such things, and he responded in kind. "Well, I'm more concerned about how the archery club would handle without me to always fix the broken equipment. You can fix them though, right Shinji?"
The subtle stab to his pride wasn't missed by the Matou, nor was it to Ayako. The latter covered her mouth with her hand to stifle chuckles. "I-it's not your concern, really. You're an outsider that quit after all. The archery club will do fine without you as it has been this last year with their best candidate."
"Ah, true. Though Mitsuzuri might have her work cut out for her this year."
Shinji barely suppressed a twitch that time, and Ayako didn't even bother holding back her mirth. "Always the kidder, Emiya… but seriously, maybe you'll get lucky over there without me around. Though I wouldn't get your hopes up; it would be a rainy day in Inaba before you could snag someone like Risette, let alone any other babe!"
Shirou shook his head good-naturedly. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," he replied to placate the volatile teen.
Sakura chose that moment to speak up, albeit shyly. "U-um… I hope you have fun, senpai."
"I will," Shirou smiled. "Thanks Saku-"
"SHIROUUUUUU!"
A sudden tiger-striped blur latched to his side with the force of a battering ram, and latched on it like a house cat. The distressed school teacher sobbed comically onto his shoulder, making her alleged brother feel very awkward.
"Shirouuuuuu! Don't goooooo!" she whined with beady eyes. "If you do I'll staaaaaaaarve!"
"Bu-but you were the one that gave the okay, weren't you?" Shirou pointed out as he struggled to pry the older woman loose.
"I changed my mind! Don't leave me without your delicious cooking, Shirou!" she wailed childishly.
"Now, now, Taiga," her grandfather sighed. "No need to be selfish. Let the boy do what he wants. I'm sure his father would want him to start fending for himself."
Taiga's grip eased slightly. "Which one?"
Raiga smiled. "Both of them."
Taiga nodded at that and fought back her emotions with a comically loud sniffle. She suddenly gripped Shirou's shoulders firmly and looked him square in the eyes seriously. "Pr-promise me you'll have fun in Inaba! Don't slip on your education, and make a lot of friends!" She frowned further, ready to burst into tears again. "And learn lots and lots of recipes while you're there, so we can have a big welcome home feast!"
Shirou was slightly confused as to why Taiga was crying over this. Not only had she been the one to push him down this road, but it was only for a year. It wasn't like he was moving away forever. Really, he would be back before she knew it. Regardless, he wanted to help ease her worries, so he smiled and said, "I promise."
Farewells and small talk only lasted another minute before the intercom called passengers to board. He quickly grabbed his things and headed inside, watching as the others (minus Shinji) started to wave goodbye.
"Have fun, Emiya!" Issei waved.
"Come back soon, senpai!" Sakura added.
"Bring souvenirs!" Taiga yelled.
Shirou smiled and waved back, hurrying on to his semi-crowded train. Within minutes, Fuyuki City seemed to fall away, signaling the change in his life. Given the number of stations he had to pass through and the times he'd need to change trains, Shirou guessed he would arrive sometime in the evening.
Thus began his cross-country ride to Inaba.
?
Huh?
Shirou started to stir from his seat. Nothing much had happened as he changed a few stations, other than a few commercials and some celebrity news scandal playing loudly at the last station. He ignored them both, more focused on reaching his destination. The last leg of the trip ahead was far and away the longest, giving him time to doze off from fatigue… and he somehow ended up somewhere completely new.
He was rolling smoothly down what felt like a newly paved road inside a stretch limousine lined with high-quality blue velvet. The seats, the carpet, the ceiling, all of it was a soulful dark blue color and was as soft as clouds beneath him. Directly to his left, a rack of crystal wine glasses and tumblers interspersed with bottles of liquor added to the air of class the vehicle's interior exuded. In the middle of the rack of glassware a TV screen faced the opposite wall, currently off. Light came from a tiered fixture overhead, filling the space with a soothing blue-white glow. A soft, haunting song came from concealed speakers, a woman's voice singing to the accompaniment of a piano and violins: an operatic aria. The clarity of sensations ruled out a dream in the amateur magus's mind.
He immediately realized he was not alone in the car, either. Across from him two… others sat peaceably in their own plush seats. The first was obviously not human or at least a mixed breed; he was thin, almost skeletal and clad in perfectly pressed black and white suit with white silk gloves. Hunched over, he was bald save for fringes of wispy white hair on the sides and back of his head. His ears were pointed and almost fifteen centimeters long, and his nose was even longer than his ears, looking more like a flesh-colored beak than anything else.
The other was a young blonde woman sitting to the man's left, clad in a blue jacket and matching skirt with black stockings. She was pale and her hair was white as new snow. On her lap, her hands rested gently upon a thick hardback book.
They both looked up and acknowledged Shirou within moments as he came to; the man's eyes were bulbous and bloodshot, while the woman's were an eerie yellow-gold.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the imp-like man said with a smooth, gentlemanly voice.
To his credit, Shirou recovered quickly enough to accept the man's welcome. If the two were magi or worse his own haphazard skills would be no match against them, so trying to antagonize them wouldn't get anything done. He sensed something odd from them… not hostility, but curiosity. "Thank you, sir."
"My, my!" the man chuckled. "What fine manners. And it would seem you have a most unusual destiny as well. My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise," he nodded back. "I'm Shirou Emiya."
Igor's seemingly perpetual grin widened slightly. "Hmm… I see."
Shirou gazed around the room of the car, wondering if this was one of those Bounded Fields his father had told him about. Outside the windows, he noticed that it was obviously night and so dark that the car seemed completely isolated in its own little world, his location completely hidden by an impossibly thick fog. "What is this place?"
"This is the realm found between dream and reality, mind and matter…" Igor answered. "It is a room that only those that are bound by a 'contract' may enter… under normal circumstances."
Shirou blinked. "What do you mean 'normal circumstances'?"
"It is nothing of concern. More relevant to your presence here, it seems that you have a peculiar fate awaiting you in the near future..."
With a wave of a gloved hand, a small stack of blue cards appeared on the table before him. "Do you believe in fortune telling?" he asked rhetorically, before flicking his hand again. For a moment, the cards blurred with motion where they sat, shuffling themselves at astonishing speed. The top cards then rearranged themselves into seven spaces on the table face down. The backsides of the cards all shared the image of a drama-like mask half white and half black, decorated with vines and what seems to be harps at each corner.
"Tarot?" Shirou was never one to use such an old method of fortune telling, but it made sense that a powerful magus would find some use for the old techniques.
"Indeed. Each reading is done with the same cards, but the results are always different." Igor chuckled. "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it? Let's take a look at what your future says, shall we?"
Igor motioned his hand in the air as if flipping a card. As he did so, the card on Shirou's lower right revealed a picture of a black tower being sundered by lightning. Shaded figures of humans fell from its heights. Roman numerals were written at the bottom: "XVI". Igor repeated the process again and revealed the identity of the lower left card; a crescent moon with a face outlined in a partially shaded circle, with a lobster silhouette situated between a pair of L-shaped blocks above the moon circle. This card was numbered "XVIII".
"Hmm… The Tower in the upright position foretells a catastrophe in the near future, and The Moon in the upright position tells of a mystery… very interesting…"
"What does that mean?"
"It seems you will encounter a grave misfortune at your destination," Igor explained with a subdued theatrical flair. "And a great mystery will be imposed upon you."
Shirou paled. "What…?"
Something terrible was going to happen in Inaba? What did that mean? Considering the supernatural nature of Igor's "Velvet Room", Shirou had a sinking feeling that the catastrophe would be of a magical nature if the reading was accurate. At this point, the redhead was willing to admit that Igor likely had a good reason to involve himself with an amateur like Shirou. Perhaps if he was there while it happened, he could prevent something happening to Dojima and Nanako. "What sort of danger?"
"You certainly ask a lot of questions, Shirou Emiya," Igor playfully smiled. "But I suppose one more card wouldn't hurt…"
This time, he flipped the center bottom card, between the Tower and the Moon cards. This one had a rainbow of colors, and five figures within; four at each corner, and one in the center. Silhouettes of a bull, angel, bird, and lion were at the corners, surrounding a figure of a majestic woman mage in center. However, the card number, "XXI", was listed on top instead of the bottom, read as "IXX" since it was upside down.
"The World, in the Reverse position," the long-nose man noted. "Very interesting indeed…"
Shirou patiently waited for Igor to explain, but felt very nervous to hear the word "reverse" for some reason.
"The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future, perhaps far more, may be forever lost. That is what the World foretells." With another flick of the wrist, all of the displayed cards vanished from the table. "You will return here after entering a contract. My duty is to help our guests in their journey. Perhaps our aid will allow you to avert the coming disaster."
Shirou narrowed his eyes and turned the thin man's words over in his mind. He sounded so sure of his predictions. Moreover, he implied that this wasn't the first time he had helped another. While still healthily wary of Igor, Shirou was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and decided to put his trust in the cryptic man's warnings. "Thank you… Uh… But what about her? Is she your apprentice?"
"In a way, you could make that generalization. But I have been remiss with my manners!" Igor's smile widened as he waved his hand to the young woman. "This is my assistant, also a resident to this room."
"My name is Margaret," she said in a voice that was clear but cold. No emotion played across her features as she introduced herself. "I am here to accompany you through your journey."
Still reeling from the numerous questions running through his mind over what was happening, Shirou nodded mutely. What was this disaster? What did they mean by 'contract'? How could they help him? Igor seemed to read his mind, and held up a finger to stop any words from his guest.
"I understand that you must have more questions," said Igor. "But we shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell…"
Before Shirou could get even one word in, his vision started swimming tiredly and faded to black.
As suddenly as he had arrived, he was back in the train as it glided towards its next stop. "-aba city and Yasoinaba Station, please go to the other side of the platform. I repeat; we will arrive at the Yasogami terminal in a few minutes. Passengers heading for Inaba city and Yasoinaba Station, please go to the other side of the platform."
Yasoinaba Station… Dojima sent him a text earlier saying to meet him there at 6, didn't he?
'A dream?' Shirou wondered for the brief moment before discarding the thought. The sights, sounds and textures of that Velvet Room felt far too vivid for a mere dream. Unfortunately, he had no way of working out what it all meant. All he could do was hurry to catch the next train and try to work out possible scenarios during the last leg of the trip.
A/N: Things are going to be slowing down now concerning updates. The first five were all made at the same time but I decided to be a tease and updated them one at a time just to make you beg for it, haha.
In all seriousness, my semester break is ending soon and I have other things in mind to finish before going back to college. The story's going to be long like the other big adaptions, like Face Every Shadow or Welcome to Tokyo. As you can see, creative liberties have already been made, like in the Velvet Room. More obvious ones will be made evident in the following chapters, and you may or may not notice them all. Still, elements from the game, the anime, and the updated release will be taken to consideration to this fanfic, again with creative liberties. Maybe even the manga too if I get around to reading that.
