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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

F/SN, F/Z, F/KPI and other products related to the Fate Series are all owned by TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi.

All Parts of the JJBA are all owned by Hirohiko Araki.

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Chapter 17: Bloody Tears, Part 1

Something worried Sakura. Something intense, something foreboding and… wrong.

Caren could sense her current turmoil, but the fellow girl's concern was settled by mentioning a foul wake up process. Nothing bad, nothing that was extending even now as they finished checking in Florence. Pesci had gotten permission for a call with Risotto, his boss, and hoped to get his chief to give him a plan of attack before the entire group left for Venice.

The rest of La Squadra was being notified of this current situation, but it was difficult to imagine if this was going to gain their overall acceptance. Some of them, as both Pesci and Prosciutto were quick to say, weren't going to digest the news well. They just didn't like 'cooperation', especially with 'fellow traitors'. The mere mention of 'traitor' was enough to leave Fugo in a bad mood, something that Narancia was barely keeping under check. Mista admitted it wasn't unexpected for the intellectual young man to snap into such a foul mood.

The notion of betraying the boss of the very group that took him in after leaving his family felt bitter, wrong, and dishonest. Things that Fugo wasn't and wouldn't normally condone. But the more he looked into it, the more Narancia brought up the fact that the Boss wasn't a good person despite his openness when it came to recruitment. That beyond the veil of kindness, there was a ruthless man that saw little importance in what his actions caused beyond the organization he created and was actively hiding away from.

It was an intense exchange, and one of the reasons why Abbacchio told her, Caren and Trish to go and eat outdoors while things got more stable. Arlecchino was supposedly joining them, but he admitted he was going to keep himself in the shadows until a troublesome threat would require his active presence and intervention. The three girls didn't need to stray too far as there was a rotisserie just in front of the building they were staying at.

Trish wasn't exactly a fan of the 'fried snacks' offered by the activity, but she found the mini-calzone of her liking from the way she devoured two of those. Caren settled for a crepe, and Sakura stuck with a Rollò. The piece of bread covering the cooked wurstel felt delicious and fairly savory considering she felt hungry and in need of a big charge-up.

"Are you sure this is fine?" Trish hummed as she glanced at Sakura, the girl talking about why she was okay in spending time with her. "I mean, last time you weren't happy to spend time with me."

Sakura sighed and shook her head. "I'm fine with this. We're not shopping."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with shopping," The pinkette huffed, which prompted a hum from Caren.

"Not when it's too intensive."

"I-I'm not that bad."

"You kind of are," The hat-wearing girl remarked, which caused Trish to huff angrily.

"Well, it's not my fault you two aren't that girly."

"And what does it have to do with that?" Sakura pressed back, stunning the fellow girl in the process. "I mean, I tend to not complain when I go shopping with mom and my little sister, but it is never this intense."

Trish's annoyance morphed into something different. At first it felt angry, then it felt mutedly furious and ultimately she adopted a resigned look. "It's complicated."

The odd mood-swing didn't pass unnoticed to Sakura. Her blue eyes flickered a few times in Caren's direction as her friend seemed to have spotted just as much as she did. A mental trauma? That was the first thing that came to Sakura's mind as she saw the pinkette struggle to answer that question. It reminded her of so many people she met, and herself too. It stung a little, but she wondered the full extent of that trauma.

"Is it tied to your mother?"

The brief flinch was the confirmation they needed to know it was it. "No-"

"Trish, you should tell someone if you feel you have something to say. Bottling that kind of pain in you will just make it more unpleasant to look back at it," Sakura pointed out, this time being a bit more direct about the situation. "And I… I understand it's rough

"Do you?"

The words felt way harsher than they were meant to. She couldn't blame Trish for being this rough on the matter, especially since it was irritating speaking in her stead. So, Sakura decided that true bluntness was the best way to get things solved about this matter.

"I was adopted in the Kujo family when I was four. Before that… I had two families. The one I was born into, the Tohsaka Clan, and then the one which 'took me in', the Matou," Sakura explained with a calm voice, grabbing both girls' attention. Caren knew already, and her surprise was more aimed at her decision to bring up that topic. Trish? She looked fascinated, but allowed the hat-wearing girl to speak about it on her own rather than prompt her into it. "The Matou were horrible people. They were Magi like the ones that are hunting me down, and they had, like many other families, traditions which weren't… pleasant."

"Sakura-"

"I can do it, Caren," The girl said, yet she couldn't bear to look at her as she said that. Her gaze was aimed at the table, her physical focus lessened to endure that memory the best. "They used worms."

"… Worms?"

A nod. "They used worms to implant new circuits, to create a connection to the leader of the Matou's house and… training was tied to that."

Sakura expected more questions for details, but Trish listened quietly. Her gaze had widened, her face had grown paler, and it was clear she had connected dots on why this was horrible.

"Sakura-"

"I was saved when I was four, close to turn five. My father, the one I think is the closest thing to what a father should be, was the one that saved me. He looked so stern and yet carried me around with care and attention. He checked on me, made sure I was safe and, when asked, would provide me with answers I wanted," The girl continued numbly, reaching out for her hat and slowly pulling it off from the top of her head. "This was the first he gave me after freeing me. I wanted to be like him, so brave and tough. So caring and yet so rigid against evil-doers."

...

"For almost a year after what happened that day I met him, I had so many nightmares of the past. I believed I would one day wake up back in that basement, once more swarmed by these worms and tortured as I was back then. I… I told my dad about it. I told him what terrified me, what kind of nightmares I got, the fears, the reason why I was so upset," Sakura pressed relentlessly. "I was horrified of what would come next, of the fact I couldn't keep up with him, that I couldn't be like him but… he just hugged me. He hugged me and held me tight. He told me I was there now, that the past was now long buried and couldn't haunt me again. Kind of a lie now with this group trying to capture me, but it was warming. And then he told me to be the person I wanted to be, and to always believe in that if I wanted to become it."

There was a lengthy pause after that explanation and Sakura used it to calm down a bit.

"I… I understand our pains are different. I understand I can't fully understand what happened to you. But Caren and I- we both had our own bad situations in our childhood. We have experienced loss and pain. We can't fully understand you, but we can at least listen to your pain and give you something to endure it for once rather than suffer it alone."

The pinkette looked shaken by this, but rather than just keeping silent, the girl was soon breaking down with her own tale. Of her missing her mother, of her missing their lives together, of being with her, of having family back then that supported her. The ensuing hug was tighter than Sakura would normally want, but it was fitting within the circumstance they were in. Caren took this chance to propose a way to spend the day if things were better now back at the current hideout: cuddle and rest together. It felt a bit awkward to the plum-haired girl, but Trish wholeheartedly approved of the plan. Soon they were done with the food and ready to go through with it.

Sadly, said plan was ruined on the spot just as they stepped outside. Someone was waiting for them. And that someone, Sakura could tell from a glance, was not planning to be their friend. The plum-haired girl could tell it was not a simple blonde with red eyes that was walking towards them. It wasn't a human girl- and despite her princess-like dress, she doubted she owned the same amount of kindness her pure white dress seemed to exude.

"You… are finally here," The stranger muttered, sending a chill down the other girls' spines.

There was something in her voice that stirred in Sakura an unnatural need to switch to her fight-or-flight mechanism. A threat, but one that didn't seem to appear as troublesome as her senses were making her to be. A deceptive sight for sure, but not one Sakura was willing to let go her gaze on.

"Sakura-"

Caren stopped Trish. Surprise poured out from the pinkette together with indignation, but the silver-haired girl didn't budge. Her golden-eyed gaze was aimed at the duo and she could tell that Sakura, with her body's language, wasn't planning to let this troublemaker go and create any issue. This stranger was out to hurt her, and it didn't seem tied to the reason Arlecchino was here to help the girl.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, her tone lacking any warmth as the previous conversation had set her up for a rather upset mood.

"My name is Arcueid Brunestud, Crimson Princess. And you are..."

"Kujo. Sakura Kujo."

A blink. "That's an unusual name."

"Yours is too," Sakura rebuked, managing to steal a brief smirk from the blonde. "What do you want from me, vampire?"

Red eyes widened in surprise. "How-"

"Your fangs. And the general sense of pompousness behind your approach," The girl replied curtly, thinking back what her grandfather told her were defining traits for vampires: unnatural paleness, blood red eyes that seemed to glow, and elongated fangs. The girl fit the requirements to a T. The other detail she brought up? Also a requirement, but one that was as common as it was uncommon at times.

The girl huffed. "I am not pompous, jerk."

"And yet you are trying to sound like that. Pompous blood-sucker."

A very frustrated Arcueid launched forward towards her foe, trying to outpace Sakura early on and show off her speed. A terrible move considering ｢One Vision｣ had already materialized and proceeded to punch the surprised vampire on the side of her skull. The blonde was for a moment really close to her, then she ricocheted on the Stand's fist and was sent slamming twice on the ground. After rolling some more, the vampiric threat stood up and dusted her clothes off the dirt and other filth and grime landing on her pretty outfit.

"So, I had seen right. Your shadow! that's the true source of your power."

Shadow? Sakura gritted her teeth at that exclamation as it was clear that one thing had just been revealed to her, and it wasn't pleasant. Did this Vampire have the means to see Stands? Didn't that mean she could also develop one by that logic? She remembered Jotaro pointing that element up to her, but she never expected it to happen to her like that. For her to meet a potential Stand User that was… dangerous on her own and without a Stand. It could develop poorly on her and clearly could end up like what happened with DIO and-

Why wasn't Arlecchino there to help Sakura?

"Who the hell are you?!"

Arlecchino didn't answer, he didn't have any reason to. But the woman that just asked him that? She should be more worried about her near future. Atrum sure had a questionable amount of disposable women to throw in the grinder he and others protecting Sakura represented. Then again, all of those had basic knowledge in magecraft. Low-tier magi? Would this count as a benevolent twist to the current stage of things? After all, less Magi meant less people exploiting mysteries and thus less straining of said mystery. Maybe he was seeing it too much into his own brawling, or perhaps the logic behind the Root was just plain BS at times.

The masked agent wanted to believe in the good behind his action. After all, there wasn't exactly anything bad tied to what he was up to. The women under the foolish magus he was hunting down were hardly provided with good morality. Not with that viciousness and knowledge of unpleasant spells. None was prepared to engage him in close quarters and the way Arlecchino handled it was nothing short of quick and bland. Maybe it was the lack of competition in recent years, or the fact that Magi in general were too weak of a threat for him to face. Not like he could really complain considering that the faster he dealt with this threat, the quicker he would have an excuse to get back home.

But just as he finished dealing with the considerable troop recruited by Atrum trying to intervene in the nearby clash, Arlecchino frowned as he perceived two bigger issues coming by. One was clearly a Magus, another was… stronger. Its energy was indeed way more troublesome than anything he had dealt with. Soon it was just him, a large pile of corpses littering the ground, and two figures approaching.

The first one was easy to recognize since he came in without any disguise, the other one was hiding her features through their cloak and hood. They stood beside Atrum, the mastermind taking a risk by being this close for him to deal with for good but… his arrogance was missing.

"I'm surprised to find out that someone of your caliber truly exists. Then again, I learned so many things about reality through my newest friend that I wouldn't be surprised you are a 'reaction' to our plans," The blond hummed mirthfully. "Yet, may I ask what's your real purpose, stranger?"

"I will kill you and free those you kidnapped, you pathetic fool," Arlecchino remarked dryly. "And I'm quite sure you know already that this will end up poorly by being this close to me."

"Maybe, or maybe you will find your demise here, mongrel," The Magus shot back angrily. "Your presence here is indeed cause me no little issue, but it doesn't matter if-"

"Your plans to revive the holy grail will not happen, Galliasta. Your destiny is to perish under me, like the true worm you are."

The proclamation irritated the blond some more, but it set him up for a vicious retaliation rather than a foolish one as Arlecchino had hoped for.

"You're becoming quite the meddlesome issue, masked fool. But you hold your own usefulness in being the perfect testing subject for my most recent acquisition," Atrum announced happily before turning to the cloaked individual. "Caster, take care of this fool."

At the signal, the hood fell down and Arlecchino's eyes widened briefly before staring grimly at the smiling face of a certain blue-eyed and blue-haired Servant he recognized on the spot. This Caster was not the Witch of Colchis, but her name was the same and she bore the might of an upcoming monster. A working puppet, the masked protector detailed in his mind, one that was willing to handle being submissive to such an arrogant prick.

Medea Lily wasn't as troublesome as her older self, but her magical potential was nothing short of problematic if not handled with haste. His stare was aimed back at the fool. He actually did it, he actually went through to create an anomalous summoning situation without a properly-activated grail. This was… bad. Bad, but still feasible. It was just going to make Arlecchino up his game to a whole new level for once and… it sure has been a while since he took care of such a troublesome threat like this one.

But for him? This was just a warm-up.

AN

Sakura and Arcueid, and Arlecchino vs. Medea Lily. How will it develop? How bad things will be for reality itself? Stay tuned for more!

REVIEW Q&A!

Barrytrey0430: He had the potential to become that, but when Gaia and Alaya reached out for him to take that mantle, he refused on the basis of 'why would I want to protect weaklings when I am the supreme ruler of them?'. That's pretty much why G&A ended up relying on Brunestud in this verse nonetheless.

Guest 1 (Chapter 16): Nope.

Guest 2 (Chapter 16): Some do.

Manda's Priest: I'm not planning to write a LoZ story anytime soon. I just don't have the brain power to handle LoZ's lore since I didn't grow up with it.