Hi guys!
Finally, it's here!
Sorry for the delay. I'm studying Architecture now, and I really had no time to write properly. I guess from now on my stories would only update during the holidays, which is around December and May-July. My life's so sad right now :')
The poll's result is shown in this chapter! Some people had suggested to me that I should publish a proper poll in my profile. I'll do that the next time I need your votes again. Thanks for that!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Nasuverse, except for Foam-Excalibur. Glad you guys like it!
Warning: a short chapter of a violent, otherworldly baby fight.
Shirou and Archer, 1 year old (March, 1980)
They had kind of expected this to happen.
It was during one night when the reincarnated twins overheard their parents discussing about their newest twins being different than other normal toddlers. Daniel and Joseph, while occasionally childish, often times acted more maturely than their older siblings (especially Fred and George). They behaved nicely, never making their parents' lives a nightmare by messing around the house and finishing their meals despite their initial reluctance.
This was perfectly understandable, of course, since Shirou and Archer were both adults (or in Archer's case, as Shirou liked to put it, ancient) when they were turned into babies. They very much preferred to be treated as adults than as toddlers.
However, the two former-Emiyas were constantly reminded that they were now in a whole different world than their own. A baby who possesses the intelligence level of an adult was a mystery, for sure, even in the Magical world. There was a chance that they might get shipped off to a lab (or a magical equivalent of that) and dissected to see what makes them unique.
Maybe it was their experience with the Mage Association, or maybe it was those cheesy dramas Taiga had forced Shirou to watch together that led them to this train of thoughts and made them paranoid, but they might as well not tempt the Fates. They had suffered enough.
Thus, Shirou and Archer agreed to observe their older siblings, mainly Fred and George since they were also twins, and maybe try to imitate their toddler-manners.
.
.
.
Fred grabbed a piece of cut carrot and stuck it into his nostril that wasn't already filled with a long bean. George chortled in apparent amusement and imitated his twin by putting green beans into his nostrils and making funny faces.
Throughout the show, Bill, Charlie and Percy laughed uncontrollably, while Arthur kept snapping moving pictures with his magical camera to immortalise the stup- adorable moment. Shirou and Archer observed their family's antics with their eyes twitching.
Thank god Molly wasn't here. Arthur had insisted that she had to rest - because she was pregnant (again?!) - trusting the Weasly patriach to take care of the kids. Which ended up in a spectacular mess and most likely Molly's pregnancy-fueled wrath later.
Shirou and Archer shuddered at the memory. Oh, so much explosions, broken bones and pained screams, Skelegrow or no.
Fred turned towards his younger siblings and offered them a boogered-carrot. Shirou and Archer shook their heads in a deadpan.
Nevermind imitating them. Might as well be a genius baby than be like that.
.
.
.
Shirou wanted Archer's toy sword.
Very, very badly.
Shirou didn't like his wand. It was completely unbalanced due to its disproportionately big starry head. It wasn't sharp or pointy (the star's edges were too dull to his liking). And it wasn't even a Merlin's stereotypical wand but a pink princess wand.
Shirou hated his pink wand, because Archer got the sword instead.
He wanted the Foam-Excalibur, dammit!
Rolling on the floor to dodge a vicious slash, Shirou quickly raised his wand to counterattack. But the wand's cumbersome head screwed up his overall performance, and so his opponent easily dodged it and managed to land a kick on his face, again.
"Pooh you," Archer snickered, tapping his sword on his own shoulder as he gleefully watched Shirou rubbing his face in annoyance. "A mageekal gil wih a p-pfft! Pink wan!" ("A magical girl with a p-pfft! Pink wand!")
Even after the 'Shame On You' revelation incident, Archer still gloated about his foam sword and Shirou's suffering with his pink wand. That shameless bastard.
Yelling a battle cry, Shirou made another attempt to hit Archer with his goddamn wand. He tried to use it like a mace this time, swinging it diagonally from below and letting the wand's heavy head do the job. But, Shirou had rarely - if never - used a mace before despite his vast repertoire of weapons, and the new wand possessed no useful battle skill or whatsoever, so he ended up stumbling instead.
Archer laughed at his struggle, calling him "Pink Mageekal Gil" ("Pink Magical Girl") all the time.
Shirou patience had finally snapped.
"'Ace, ON!"
Blue lightning bolts appeared out of nowhere, bathing their bedroom in eerie light. Archer gasped in alarm as Shirou screamed in determination.
Then, the light died down, and there was silence.
Archer gaped at his twin, because there, on Shirou's tiny hands…
...was another Foam-Excalibur.
A legit, traced Foam-Excalibur made of not metal or any hardy material, but foam.
Archer didn't have time to laugh or to facepalm (because, of all weapons, his idiot twin chose to trace a foam sword instead. That was, like, the most stupid case of chivalry ever), as Shirou immediately jumped on him to deliver a vicious slash with his traced sword.
Foam swords clashed, bending immediately upon contact with each other since they're bloody foams. Despite that, the twins fought like their lives depended on it. They had never dueled this intensely ever since they clashed swords during the Fifth Holy Grail War.
However, minutes into the battle, Shirou appeared to be losing. Traced items, no matter how identical they were to the originals, were still inferior relative to the real items. Shirou's Foam-Excalibur was less sturdy and bent more easily than Archer's, guaranteeing a certain victory for the reincarnated Counter Guardian.
With a determined shout, Archer delivered a final, devastating blow. Shirou's traced Foam-Excalibur was snapped flying from his hands, bouncing twice on the baby mat before disappearing in a burst of blue particles.
Archer whooped in triumph, but it quickly died down as a newly traced Foam-Excalibur appeared on Shirou's hands once more.
"Godjammit!" Archer cursed. So this must be what his past enemies had felt like when they faced him. Spamming swords without a care in the world was actually pretty annoying.
Shirou smirked (or if you want, gave his twin a vicious gummy smile), making Archer fumed even more.
The battle went on. This time, the Counter Guardian was being pushed back. It dawned to him that Foam-Excalibur, no matter how glorified its history was, was no Noble Phantasm or even a real weapon to begin with. It wasn't meant to last long, especially if it was constantly abused. The only reason why the foam hadn't broken down was due to the weekly Reparo and Scourgify.
Archer tsked, not liking the way his twin could win against him with but a traced foam toy. True, a faker like him had no pride in his swords as they were merely imitations of the originals. But Foam-Excalibur was his first real sword ever, dammit, no matter how pathetic it sounded.
And he was not planning to lose to a mere fake!
"'Ace, ON!"
Prana flowed into Foam-Excalibur, causing lightning bolt patterns to appear on the toy's surface. The foam was now as hard as rocks and as sturdy as bones.
Shirou's eyes widened upon realising what Archer had done out of desperation. As Archer swung his reinforced Foam-Excalibur, Shirou quickly activated his magic circuit to reinforce his own sword.
The swords clashed with a resounding 'clack', this time not bending flimsily like they had minutes ago. A baby fight had now turned, well, violent.
"Muuuu…!" Shirou grunted in exertion, trying very hard to parry Archer's relentless attack. This was bad, he thought, and so he decided to catch his opponent off guard and bring their duel to the whole new level.
They parted, and Shirou used this opportunity to trace a dozen of Foam-Excaliburs in the air. Archer spluttered in indignation (it was his weapon, for fuck's sake, and this prick dared to trace his Foam-Excalibur like it was going out of trend!), but he had no time to express his ire as he had to dive out of the way of the projectiles.
Archer tumbled on the mat, yet even before he managed to regain his footings, a dozen Foam-Excalibur had already appeared in the air, ready to be launched at Shirou -
"Interesting."
Both reincarnated babies stumbled in surprise at the new voice, their traced projectiles dissipating. They whirled around to see an elderly man with a really long white beard and the worst taste of fashion they'd ever seen.
They gaped at the man like a fish, breaking out in a cold sweat when they realised that the adult had seen their magecraft. Surely Gradation Air and Reinforcement done by babies could be counted as accidental magics...right?
The old man continued staring at them, before he smiled in a grandfatherly manner.
"Oh, don't mind this old man," he said cheerfully. "Please, continue playing! It heartens me to watch siblings getting along with each other."
...Is he blind? Which part of their duel showed him that they were getting along?
The man continued to smile amicably, but when he made eye contact with Archer, the Counter Guardian jerked violently and turned to slap Shirou on his face.
The slap, weak and awkward, was still so unexpected that Shirou fell on all fours. He turned to glare at his twin, but the pointed look Archer gave him made him pause. Fortunately, at this angle, the old man couldn't see Archer's secret message to his twin.
Cry, his look seemed to convey (or maybe it was telepathy, they didn't know), Just pretend to cry!
The urgency in his face must be convincing enough, for a second later Shirou began to bawl.
His loud cry alerted the rest of the house's inhabitants, and before long Molly barrelled into the room. By then, Archer had joined his twin, crying very loudly like there was no tomorrow. Their mother connected the dots and turned to glare at the old man, who raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"I didn't do anything, I swear," said the old man, unconsciously blurting out the customary response whenever an angry, pregnant Weasley matriarch addressed someone. Molly ignored it in favour of fussing her youngest sons.
Arthur came next, followed by their older brothers. Then, a few more other people who they had never seen before. It seemed their duel was so intense that they failed to notice these strangers' arrival to their home…
...except for one.
The twins blinked, their cries trailing off as a well known magical scent reached their noses. As one Shirou and Archer turned to face the crowd, and there they spotted her.
She looked different, in a way that was unfamiliar to them both. She was a baby girl, probably a year old, with short, black baby hair and emerald eyes, instead of the long wavy dark hair and aqua eyes she was known of. She was currently being carried by a dark-haired bespectacled man, looking at them both with a bored expression.
Shirou's eyes lit up in delight, while Archer internally cursed himself.
Tohsaka Rin was here.
Dun dun dun duunn!
Stuffs happening here will be explained in the next few chapters, like why Archer suddenly slapped Shirou, or why Rin was bored - though I guess you guys would already know why.