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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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Chapter 12: Pity, Punishment and Worm
If there was something that I found legitimately worth of utter hate and silent anger, it was pity thrown at me.
The way Irisviel kept me around like a toddler, a murderous-looking toddler that was ready to spit fire and raise hell all around just for the fact I was being manhandled like that.
While many could easily confuse this as a childish tantrum, being actually an adult stuck in that very limiting body the issue was the fact I was being babied too much.
There was no cooing, nor any of that stuff, but I was still being 'comforted' by the lovely mother while the last preparations were made.
Of course the gravity of the situation was way beyond the simple irritation at being hold like that, the scars visible in my body easily sparking the morbid curiosity of the many people around for today's 'event'.
And as much as I wanted to push away the Einzbern from coddling me like that, I soon realized that… my scars were glowing slightly. The bluish prana coming from the scarred circuits couldn't be easily hidden without… a shirt.
Thus the second best thing was… a tall human being. That could have been one of the many reasons why I was suddenly pulled in that annoying embrace, didn't mean that I was going to let this go without some proper 'acting'.
Yet the scars had been partly revealed to the others, their reaction being mostly of shock and gloom, the only worthwhile reactions being Chibi-Luvia's, her older self, Rin, Miyu, Illya and… Sakura.
The two blondes shared the same horrified expression, yet the younger version sported a set of emotions different, more… apt to the current state of our friendship.
Being her pillar, an example to follow to become 'a proper apprentice under Lord Zelretch', Luvia was mortified at the knowledge that I didn't have the best of childhoods. Sure, I might have said that I didn't have a kind home back in Fuyuki, but words fell deaf when tangible evidence was bestowed in such a fashion.
I was unsure by her mere look if she understood the implications regarding the glow of said scars and I strongly hoped she didn't as… then the dread would be twofold than the one showed right now.
The Prillya's apprentices of the Wizard Marshal did recognize the extension of the damage inflicted upon my body, sharing a glance and for once appearing serious regarding a serious situation. There was hardly something that could match this predicament in the series, or at least this early on.
The two girls would surely continue to think about this, hesitate about 'solving' my plight at the price of getting some respect. Hopefully I will end up getting Touko Aozaki to do a professional work rather than trust my life on their hands.
Miyu… How could I describe this...
Miyu's face was blank, none of the struggle that would come at seeing this level of abuse after so much time spent at ease. I could see a glint flickering once or twice during the stare, a sense of kinship, of understanding and… of respectful silence.
It was never expanded in the lore what kind of 'experiments' the girl went before being found by Shirou. It was mentioned that the children of the Sakatsuki clan were subjected to special rituals, but nothing was given for certain.
Same for what Kiritsugu did to her. While I was certain that none of the Magus Killers in the whole Nasuverse was keen to torture children, I bet the Miyuverse's Kiritsugu had to have let go of some morals… for the Greater Good.
A fully functioning Holy Grail? Who would be so stupid to waste that easy opportunity to get their dreams to happen?
And then when she was captured by the Ainsworth family, but knowing Darius, she had to endure some rituals there… to speed up the Grail process.
Maybe what happened during her second 'stay' was because of the limited time Darius was working with and… I could see that being a thing since she hardly seemed too much traumatized.
Turning my attention to the young Einzbern's reaction, I was quick to notice how nervous she looked.
As much as the girl was trying to enjoy a peaceful life, the sudden presence of the dangerous threats coming from Miyu's home-dimension were giving her a new perspective of the Magical Girl's experience and with that she was also growing mentally.
Growing smart and wise enough to understand that the world could be terribly horrible, the world could be unjust and… unfair.
Yet the possibility of having someone having experienced abuse this early on? She would have started to realize this harsh truth with Miyu after reaching her dimension, but now that she was still developing and far from being capable of properly decide how to deal with this kind of situation? I wasn't surprised to see her this much… clueless how to react to this revelation.
Finally… there was Sakura.
The plum-haired girl was paler than before, her face holding strongly at a blank mask trying to slip away at the sudden development.
With the scars, my words regarding my genuine intentions were given some legitimacy. Not enough to make her fully accepting of my presence and… plans, but good enough to possibly avoid some stabby encounters anytime soon.
The terrible thing about the Miyuverse's Matou that I was left confused and terribly unaware of was…
How far did Zouken trained Sakura before croaking a last snarl at the Ainsworths?
Did he follow the same pace as his Fate Stay Night's version did or… did he try to speed up the process in a desperate attempt to get a functional heir before his demise?
The girl tried to avoid my gaze, but my eyes would match with hers more than once, her mask slipping the more I pressured her to give a genuine reaction.
Knowing that poking too hard while everyone was around could… end up in a difficult mess.
Since my status didn't… allow me to enjoy any swimming, Irisviel was 'kind' enough to put me in one of the present chairs and give me a towel to cover up before joining the others and… cause some of the classic antics this perverted universe was known for.
I sighed, deciding to bide my time and maybe get a nap or two done before the end of the swimming session.
Just as I slouched on the chair and prepared to close my eyes, I felt a shadow looming over me for a moment before she settled down on the chair beside mine.
Sakura looked nervous, terribly so that she tried to pull up a fake smile while waving at her 'senpai' while he joined up with the group already inside the swimming pool. Freezing a little, she then glanced at me and I returned the look, a placid and silent expression.
"C-Can you spare some… answers? I… I have some questions."
I blinked, I didn't expect her to… be intrigued this much. Sure, I did expect this situation to happen but… not now of all the times possible.
She was supposed to act normally rather than trying to 'screw her cover'.
But I didn't mind, I wasn't going to lose anything by satisfying her curiosity just for once.
"Sure."
Chloe sighed tiredly as she tried and failed once more to hear what Shinji and the Doll were talking about.
She cursed EMIYA for having some of the best set of eyes but not good ears to match the quality, her gloomy mood hardly hidden while she took one of the furthest corner from anyone to brood safely about the matter.
While the mixed group seemed to have mostly ignored her strange behavior, she knew that it was a matter of time before someone decided to poke around to see why she wasn't happy.
Irisviel was busying herself with Leysritt and Sella, both maids surprisingly having a matching expression. An annoyed pout, something that could easily be found in the more serious of the two, while the blunter was a strange surprise to see this… expressive.
Returning back to the tanned girl, Kuro was certainly curious but also worried about the topics exchanged between the two. She knew that she could easily jump in action and cleave the dangerous threat just in time if she noticed any attempt against the boy's life.
The churning of her stomach didn't help with her nerves, she was way too tense and nervous to truly enjoy the pleasant water and… seeing Shirou shirtless.
As much as she knew that she was related to him even more than her other version, it didn't certainly mean she couldn't glance at his built and-
B-Back to Shinji! Eyes fixed on the 'toweled' boy, the young Einzbern was hopeful that he wouldn't go as far as getting the Berserker to snap on and him.
She hummed calmly, trying to soothe her worries but hardly getting any relief in that situation. She was itching to attack that Doll, to finally get some well-deserved peace with the looming threats that had yet to present themselves.
The fact that Shinji was visibly delaying what the tanned girl knew was unavoidable left her perplexed, confused and terribly concerned. It was an odd sensation, to be this much tense about… someone's else life.
Odd as positive, odd as fresh. Odd as warming…
Her little moment alone was concluded when her 'mother' finally approached and started to talk just as expected.
"Is something wrong with Shinji-kun?" Was the question of the blissfully-unaware woman.
Chloe wondered darkly if she should tell her that her son ended up bringing a monster rather than the soft-spoken girl that was Sakura Matou. Possibly badly, the Archer-wielding girl mused back, and that would put the boy in danger…
She was in a swimming pool, a place she was quite enjoying but her interest over the situation was screwed by the dangerous place the young Matou has placed himself into.
Thus the girl sighed. "He is a dummy." The curt response caused the woman to giggle.
"He is quite funny about that." Irisviel admitted with a mirthful smile. "He reminds me much of how Kiritsugu behaves nowadays."
A dreadful comparison. Sure, Shinji was planning how to solve 'everything', but he never seemed to endear the idea of 'Hero' as much as the Emiya patriarch was known for-
Wait, she meant 'this' Magus Killer, not the mindless drone prior the marriage.
Kuro sighed, this was certainly a difficult development to digest but… it was like that. The Card had knowledge over the Kiritsugu from another dimension, the one where… the young Matou supposedly came from.
It wasn't a nice light, her 'papa' had killed innocents to assure that the 'most' lived through conflicts, through disasters. She could see the logic in some decisions but… some other instances left her sick, disgusted by how far the Emiya would go for… Justice.
"He is my dummy." The little Einzbern corrected herself much to her 'mother' surprise.
"Is that so? Is someone in love for little Shinji?" There was amusement in the tease but…
Sadly the reality was far more different than the woman hoped it to be.
"I do." The girl admitted placidly, ignoring Irisviel's eyes widening in shock at the news.
"...Sweetie, isn't he a little to young-"
"Aren't you literally just a year or two older than Illya-"
"Human-wise, age is still an important factor in love." The woman interjected the sassy remark from Kuro. "Do you even know what love is-"
"I prefer to keep my love life private." The girl interrupted coldly. "But yes, I do take into account everything about… this situation. It's not a crush and… I am not rushing anything."
"That's good but… why?" The question felt… strange to hear. "Why do you 'love' him?"
There would be hundreds of thousands of words that could fill up the answer but the little Einzbern was aware that she didn't have that much time and… went with the shorter summary.
"He is kind, honest, caring and… he is genuine." Her lips twitched, warmth slowly increasing in her chest, her heartbeat increasing just a little. "I can go for hours but I don't want to. I can say for sure that he is interesting and… we both care to each other."
The woman chuckled. "Yet I've seen you staring at your Oniichan~." Irisviel pointed out much to the girl's discomfort.
"He is good-looking." Kuro admitted quietly. "But beyond your teasing, will you let Shirou tie up with so many… suitors?"
She hit the spot, the mother tensing a little and looking nervous for a moment. "I- I think you know that I can't let that happen-" The woman tried to explain.
"Yet you are putting fuel on the fire some have for him." Chloe pressed on. "While I can understand that he is dense and needs someone to help him around with girls, don't you think that you should tune down the effort… just a little."
Iri blinked. "You think I'm pushing too hard?" She questioned a little curious now.
"Just a little." The tanned girl continued. "I understand that you are trying to help him up, but if you press too much… the situation might escalate to a point where he might have too much to chew."
The woman nodded slowly. "I understand. Then I shouldn't probably try to sell photos of-"
Irisviel stopped mid-speech, her red eyes trailing back to the chairs and… the two females stared at a curious scene.
Shinji was passing to a beet-red Sakura some pictures. From her reaction and the allusions the woman was trying to make before stopping to see this scene, these have to be photos of Shirou in… questionable situations.
Just as Chloe was ready to ask if this theory was true, Irisviel stood up and clapped her hands together.
"Sella and Leysritt, could you take the children inside to play that 'fun game' you wanted to try with Shinji." The matriarch ordered the maids, her smile sickly-sweet. "Meanwhile I wish to speak with the girls and Shirou-kun in private."
It didn't take long for the tanned girl to recognize the strategy the woman was pushing for.
Developed by the mother from the 'Divide et Impera' basis, the 'Divide et Puni', better known as Divide and Punish ruse, was used normally to punish Shirou and Illya when they committed some mess together, not generally of the Ecchi kind.
And while Kuro realized this much, her eyes widened at the impressive speed exercised by the two young women in rushing towards the confused boy and proceeding to pull him inside the house.
Panic surged at the scene and the girl literally jumped off the pool's thin walls and rushed inside, followed by Chibi-Luvia and Gilgamesh.
Artoria wanted to join too but… Irisviel decided to put a stop at her attempt. "Let the children play a little." Her voice was just… like back then.
The Tyrant held back a shiver, the unpleasant memories trying to reach back but she was strong enough to keep a calm posture externally.
She nodded slowly and soon the pool was occupied only by the older girls, Irisviel and Shirou.
Most of them interested in the dense redhead while the poor Salter faced the embarrassing situation that ensued alone. With pride and… blush.
I'm back, comrades!
This time we got a permanent schedule for both FPO and Crawl like a Worm… and the other stories.
I've been investing much of my time with the daily-updated Magical Trickster DxD (Which I shamelessly plugged in, hehe.) and dealing with some RL issues… but now we are really back.
HUZZAH!
Next Chapter we will get some fun scenes. Sella and Liz were given the powah over the poor Shinji, yet nothing 'that bad' will happen (pinkie-promise!).
BTW a funny detail about the Kuro-Shinji dynamics: Both are the jailbait for each other and can't do anything about that… yet. (No lewding people in this holy fanfic, of course.)
P.S. I know someone will ask anyway, the new schedule is in the FF Bios, I've yet to update the forum ones.
P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin
REVIEW Q&A!
Maybe: NTR doesn't work that way. Also no, don't mention me how I know about that.
Byayan: Shinji SIs are quite difficult to lift up as many thinks of the FSN version of Shinji. There are good ways to insert in Shinji, the CCC Foxtail being one of the good ones and… the Extra one being 'meh' compared to his crappier original self. But yes, chaotic Romance for the Perverted God!