1.4 - Collisions
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Shiro woke up to an empty wooden house. He wasn't even awake and his hand had touched the side of the bed-
-32 years of useage, 2432 people have been on this bed. Pillow bought at-
-where it was bare and very, very cold.
The door slammed open moments later sending him into battle mode when, "You're finally awake!" Miso exclaimed.
Grabbed Shiro before he could react and dragged him from the bed. Shiro managed to stop her before she dragged him by foot and slamming his head onto the floor, "Hey wait, I, uh, need to change!"
She made an impatient face and told him to hurry up.
He took a second to get reacquainted with his surroundings. Checking himself most of his wounds had been bandaged and taken care off. The window outside showed heavy rain and thunder clouds rattle the windows.
He opened the door to find her balancing on the balls of her feet before eyes widened in exasperation. She grabs and drags him down the hallway to a kitchen counter with two tall stools which she threw him onto and then joined him.
Two steaming hot bowls of... Something that looked like molten magma. It even bubbled the same.
Miso didn't even think twice and started chugging it down before she spit steam and drained her glass hanging her tongue outside her mouth as she put her head down on the table and moaned in agony.
Shiro recognized the immense danger in his food and on reflex touched it. He was surprised to find it wasn't poisoned or anything. It…just was naturally a danger to one's health.
"What…is it and who are you?"
"Kirei Kotomine. It's my special Mapo Tofu…give it a go."
He picked up a spoonful and stopped to see the man behind the counter giving him a wide-eyed smile. Something about it…
He decided to go for it and take a sip, and his face immediately crumpled from regret. It... Was horrible, but amazing. But horrible.
Kirei did seem to find some horrible enjoyment out of his and Miso's misery. It looked like the priest was a cook that enjoyed Schadenfreude.
"Did you enjoy your meal?" He asked curiously.
Shiro opened his mouth to respond-
"It sucks! But it's amazing!" Miso overrode him, bringing genuine laughter from the priest.
"Miso that's…" he wanted to say rude, "accurate."
Kirei seemed to enjoy their blunt honesty, but his smile seemed to be missing several things that made a smile a smile. Setting Shirou on edge, "It's not everyday I see Mage, and halfbreed Kitsune fighting together. Especially considering how rare it is to find one this young."
There it was, "What do you mean 'Kitsune'?" Miso took Kirei's bait.
"Oh?" He seemed surprised, but then accepted, "Ah yes, msot of the pantheons you have ever heard of, all the mythologies are true. At least to an extent."
Shiro looked at him, "How did you know Miso was Kitsune? And what Magus?" Something within him started to churn.
Kirei stared him down blankly, before raising his eyebrows, "You're a Magus young man rather adept at your craft, don't think you can fool me. You have an unusual way of conducting mana but you are using them nonetheless. As for her, she's has a very different system of energy, the largest chakra coils of anyone I've seen to date."
Miso said, "Ha, of course I do, I'm the best!"
Shiro replied, "I don't think this is a good thing."
"Ha, you're just jealous."
"I'm not-nevermind." Shiro shook his head, Miso was acting unusually childish, "I lost my mem-Master a while back before he could teach me anything." He managed to force out, there was something in him it was a bad idea to say anything at all to the priest, "So they're all real? Everyone single one?" It was strangely mind boggling to him, something that didn't seem quite correct.
Kirei looked amused, "Most of them, I haven't traveled all over the world for nothing. They generally stay within their respective countries or nations of origin, some die out, some just disappear altogether. Others evolve, change or merge with nearby ones. The strangest would be the Greek, Romans and the Egyptians. While the Greek and Romans have tied themselves to the concept of the 'Western Civilization'. Egypt has partially spread to this continent, with its history more ancient the former it has its branches a variety of places."
Shiro asked, "But then what is a Magus?"
"Ah yes those. They're are a few that tend to be outliers or something different entirely. You fall into them. Magus, mages or wizards come in some shape or form throughout many of them and you have a special exception of falling into that category. Unlike Miso here who has her ties in the Asian myths which is quite unusual to see in North America, if any which are located along the west coast."
"What are you then?"
"I'm much like you an exception, part of a group of people that hold back the tide of monsters that threaten to overwhelm everything you hold dear. To put it into perspective, a dam holding back the ocean."
Shiro's eyes narrowed, "Like a...Hero?"
Kirei smile turned unreadable, "I assume you mean the layman's term and not the Greek Tragedies. I can say for certain we are something similar."
He didn't know why, but he needed this, "Can...anyone join you?"
Kirei looked at the two, "Not anyone, as long as they meet the requirements." At Shiro's downcast expression, he smiled and continued, "Fortunately, for the both of you, that isn't an issue."
Something within him stopped churning, and he could feel a ray of hope and Shiro's smile lit up the room.
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+MML+
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"So what do we have to do?" Kirei had cleaned up and locked the doors to the store. Then he knocked on the door of the fridge before opening it to a completely white void with countless rows of doors.
The two were shocked, Kirei's smile couldn't be wider, "We don't have time to waste," and walked in.
The two scrambled for the door before it closed.
Just rows of doors on either side in the perfectly white nothingness, the two of them stood on nothing and Miso was on Shiro's back trying to keep from falling, because there was no floor. Yet they could stand.
"Miso you have to get off I can't walk like this!" Miso had scrambled onto his shoulders trying not to fall onto the white.
"No! I don't wanna fall!"
Kirei continued walking, then they walked up to a teller at a desk. The main was strange, he had concentric circles for eyes that made him appear to have not slept in centuries, as if he had seen everything there was to offer and still preferred his sleep. Books stacked haphazardly, papers and a coffee mug sat on his desk a newspaper in his hands that shifted from 'The Kardashians are back at it again!' to 'The Black Plague is back, and even deadlier than before!'
"Kirei."
"Oswald, passage to the Millennium."
He continued to read his newspaper before waving his hand. A hotel elevator from the 80s seemed to appear and they walked in.
Kirei pressed eight different buttons in a seemingly random sequence and they appeared in a fabulously furnished velvet hotel with crimson shadows. The carpets were like a river of blood and the windows from floor to ceiling.
Kirei walked forward until they went into a room at the furthest end of the hall.
It was large, almost like a library crossbred with a greenhouse and an observatory.
The man at the end of the hallway was someone that stood at seven feet, had red hair and a butler's uniform. His face was incredibly menacing as he stood from his chair.
Miso looked ready to fight, bouncing on her feet getting into a boxer's stance. Shiro had no such reservations.
"Hello, how do you do?" The incredibly polite voice put them off.
"Uh, hello."
"You're not going to eat us?"
The man laughed, "No, heavens! You don't have meat for that." Then grinned and suddenly Shiro wondered if he should've thought twice following Kirei anywhere.
Kirei smiled as well not helping their case.
"Stop scaring them, they look like they're about to pick a fight," A blonde woman in stylish black clothing and a massive gun larger than anyone in the room strapped to her back walked in. She smiled an eyepatch covering a third of her face, but not managing to hide her smile wrinkles, "They're frankly adorable, their cheeks begging to be pinched!" Shiro had never cared before about being tiny, but now was starting to worry, "Let me adopt them Klaus!"
Kirei lifted an eye, "Don't you have kids of your own?"
"I can always have more!"
"Hmm."
"Are you doubting my motherhood!" Going for the massive artillery building on her back
Kirei raised a hand in surrender, "No of course not, I'm sure you're kids are one hundred percent content with you as a mother."
"With you I can never tell if you're being serious or not."
"I'm one hundred percent serious."
"This is why we have trust issues."
Klaus coughed, "Why are the both of you here today, and pardon my manners you two, My name is Klaus Von Reinsherz, your names are?"
"Shiro Emiya."
"Miso Nankano!"