Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.
Aozaki and Tohsaka – The Serpent's Feathers
Chapter 12
Sakura looked on from a safe distance as the other magi battled it out. While she'd initially kept an eye out for any opportunities to join in on the fighting, it quickly became clear that there was no need and thus no reason for her to. Both her master and Benedek had things fully covered on both their ends.
More than that, even: her master was clearly not taking her fight seriously, though she wasn't quite toying with Lord Carter either. Benedek was toying with Lady Iceheart, though.
It certainly put into perspective just how much she still had to learn, and how she still had a long way to go before she could stand on her own as a magus. Especially when from the look of things, the best she could do against Lord Carter was stalemate him. And even then she'd struggle to keep from getting killed.
Against Lady Iceheart it'd be a fairer fight, but only if she stayed out of melee range. Lady Iceheart might struggle against Benedek – no surprise that he was a master swordsman, after the revelation he was a fallen noble – but from the look of things she knew more and had greater experience fighting up close and personal than Sakura did.
Well…with a sword or any proper weapon, more like. With surprise on her side, and a chair or a broken bottle on hand, Sakura just might be able to take Lady Iceheart on in hand-to-hand combat.
That said, it would still be prudent and for the better to keep her distance, and to just bombard Lady Iceheart with crossbow bolts. Assuming they ever fought, of course…and that Lady Iceheart would survive this battle with Benedek.
Sakura blinked as her reinforced ears heard boots striking the pavement hard and fast behind. With her spirits telling her that the Devil Dogs were all still tied down fighting the battle in the lowlands, that could only mean one thing.
Pulling out a pocket crossbow from out of Imaginary Numbers Space, Sakura turned and held her weapon at the ready. She didn't have to wait long. Six men in dark fatigues rushed in through the archway from both sides, MP5 submachine guns held low. As they spotted her, they raised their guns…
…but with reinforcement, Sakura was faster.
Stepping sideways at a light trot to avoid presenting the gunmen with a stationary target, Sakura loosed bolt after bolt from her crossbow, and aiming for the gunmen's center of mass. The ballistic plates nestled inside the outer layers of the gunmen's fatigues could easily block handgun rounds and even rifle rounds except at close range, but unfortunately for them, the bolts from Sakura's pocket crossbows were comparable to heavy machine gun rounds.
Men cried out as bolts ripped through cloth and metal and perforated their chests, lacerating their organs and inflicting shock and internal injuries. Three men went down dead in a second, and a fourth fell screaming while clutching at his gut. The remaining two split up while firing wildly, forcing Sakura to fall back, leapfrogging back and up, taking cover behind Quetzalcoatl's wings.
Focusing on the gunman further away, Sakura leaned out of cover for a split-second, took another split-second to aim, and loosed. Then she was falling back into cover, bullets striking the ancient stonework behind her. The gunfire slackened by half, the man she'd shot at having fallen dead, then another gun joined in.
"Probably that man who got shot in the gut earlier." Sakura thought, and then blinked as the gunfire slackened. "Is he…?"
Sakura's instincts were proven right when one of the two remaining gunmen tried to flank her…
…only to get a bolt through a knee for his trouble. The man fell screaming, while Sakura ran out from behind Quetzalcoatl's sculpture.
The gunman with the belly wound had dragged himself away a short distance, leaving a smear of blood on the stone below and behind him. He'd only just finished reloading his sidearm, and aimed it at Sakura even as she aimed her crossbow at him. Then they fired at the same time.
The bullet narrowly missed, only punching a hole through Sakura's jacket as it flapped around her with her movements. Sakura also missed, though in her case, instead of finishing the man off, it buried itself into the stone floor.
Through the man's genitals, that is. Sakura winced in sympathy as the man howled and thrashed in agony, dropping his weapon and trying to pull the bolt free. She finished him off with a shot to the head, and then turned to the last gunman.
She was moving to take a shot when a blast of fire erupted across the court, and reduced the last gunman to a charred smear on the ground.
"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all."
Lady Iceheart's death had Lord Carter growling in anger, and forced him to split his fire between Touko and Benedek. This made dodging or intercepting his attacks easier, something Touko took advantage of as she noticed her apprentice make short work – for the most part – of Lord Carter's gunmen.
Those that managed to make it to the temple grounds, at least.
Time to finish this.
Stepping around a volley of crystals and letting them fly past her, Touko smoothly slipped her glasses off, and fed prana through the magic circuits inside her eyes. Not just the ones she was born with – arguable considering her puppet body – but also the ones she had implanted to mirror her mystic eyes with.
This caused her irises to glow a bright blue, and caused Lord Carter's body to freeze mid-motion as she bound his physical functions in place. Then she extended her reach further, bypassing his mental faculties while accessing his nervous system, and through it, his magic circuits.
"You think you can bind me that easily!" the man's thoughts echoed angrily through their newly-opened link. A thought later had his circuits flooding with prana, disrupting Touko's attempts to puppet them, but that wasn't enough to break it.
It took but another thought, and Touko had adapted, once again moving to take control of Lord Carter's magic circuits, but Lord Carter had clearly predicted this, as he now flooded his crest with prana. This proved more effective than just his own inborn circuits, and the man smiled as he broke Touko's bindings, his mind's eyes perceiving it as a shadowy spider's web wound around and over him.
In a single thought-second, they tore and blew away as though on a powerful wind…
…and then they were there.
WHAT?
Lord Carter once again flooded his circuits and crest alike, and broke the bindings once more. And yet the bindings remained, no matter how many times he broke/blew/tore/ripped/sheared them away.
WHAT IS THIS?
…
…
…
…
…
Did you think it'd be that easy to break my eyes' hold?
Lord Carter gave a mental gasp of shock and disbelief as Touko completely circumvented his crest and magic circuits' protection by shutting down his peripheral nervous system. In an instant he felt numb and cold, unable to feel his body in its entirety, his protective spells failing as his magic circuits closed as though by default without any direction from his brain.
How could there be? With his peripheral nervous system offline, there was no way for Lord Carter's mind to get its directives across his body and to his magic circuits.
It wasn't just his magic circuits though. Muscles relaxed in the absence of direction, causing Lord Carter to begin crumpling to the ground.
He never reached it though. Instead, as his eyes locked with Touko's in resigned acceptance of defeat and impending death, he saw her gesture in his direction, and snap her fingers once.
The fireball blew the flesh clean off Lord Carter's bones, his skeleton silhouetted amidst the flames, the firelight casting his skull's grin in ghastly colors. And then they too were gone, reduced to crumbling ash in the wind.
"…game over." Touko quipped, before turning away from the blackened ground, and to where her apprentice was mopping up.
One gunman was lying on the ground, dragging himself away and leaving a smear of blood behind him from his ruined knee. Touko snapped her fingers, and similarly finished him off like she did his employer.
Then she was smiling, as she spotted her apprentice, crossbow in hand. "Not bad, kid." Touko said. "Not bad at all."
Sakura hurried over while putting her crossbow away, back into Imaginary Numbers Space. "Master," she began. "Are you alright?"
"Naturally," Touko replied casually. "Not one scratch…you?"
Sakura sighed, and holding her jacket open wide, looked glumly at the bullet hole on one side. "…I really liked this jacket." She mournfully said.
Touko rolled her eyes. "You talk as though you don't have eight more like it." She said, and Sakura's cheeks turned pink. "And besides, better a bullet hole there than through your body. I mean…I can repair you easily, but it'd be tricky to do that without having to go back down."
"…fair enough, master."
Touko nodded, and looked at Benedek as he approached. "How you doing?" she asked.
"…the same as you two from the look of things." He cheerfully replied. Then he looked to where the pyramid's doors were still sealed. "So…now what?"
Touko also looked to the pyramid's doors, and pressed her lips together in thought. "…we might have to blast our way through…" she mused aloud. "…or we might not…"
"Oh?"
"…just a feeling…" Touko said with a slow nod. "…let's get the bodies of the dead out of here, first, then we go back to the doors."
"We're burying them?" Sakura asked.
"…actually, I was thinking of just tossing them down the steps or over the cliffs," Touko said with a small, amused smile. "But now that you've brought it up…find an out-of-the-way corner outside of this court, and start digging, Sakura."
Sakura's mouth fell open, but Touko was unmoved, and after a moment, Sakura sighed and nodded before turning and walking away.
"…I'm guessing that leaves me to gather the corpses." Benedek said after a moment. "Joy…gathering and dragging corpses away…wonderful…"
"Stop griping and just do it." Touko said with a sigh. "Oh, and be sure to clean up the blood afterwards."
"And what will you be doing?" Benedek asked crossly.
Touko raised an eyebrow. "Who else is going to repair battle damage to this place?" she challenged.
"…point."
"There you go."
"Yeah, yeah…"
Scratching at his head while turning away, Benedek sighed before drawing himself up. Then taking in all the dead bodies lying across the court, he sighed again before walking off to begin the grisly task of gathering the dead for burial.
"Any reason why you insist on going the extra mile for these guys?" Benedek asked as he and Sakura lifted a dead man by his limbs, and carrying him over to the grave Sakura had dug along the hillside, placed him inside. "I mean these guys were trying to kill us not even an hour ago. We might as well just pile them up before burying them."
"They were only doing their jobs." Sakura said with a shrug. Kneeling down, she removed the bolt that had killed the man, and neatly folded his hands over his chest. Then reaching out, she closed the man's half-lidded, but lifeless eyes. "There was nothing personal with them trying to kill us. Besides, dignity's only a luxury in life. Or it should be. Death's different from life, after all. It doesn't care whether you're rich or poor, good or bad, noble or common-born and whatever else. Everyone dies sooner or later, and one way or another turns back into the dirt we're all made from."
Benedek gave Sakura a curious look, but she said nothing while placing the man's weapons at his feet. Then getting up, she walked to where Benedek had placed the corpses after taking them out of the Court of the Feathered Serpent, and took a dead man by his arms. She glanced at Benedek.
"Help, please?" she asked.
Benedek walked over, and taking the dead man by the legs, helped carry him to the mass grave, and placed him next to his comrade. Then he looked on as Sakura once again removed the weapon which had killed him, and neatly arranging his limbs, placed his weapons at his feet.
"So what's your story?" Benedek asked, as he and Sakura walked back to the other corpses.
"My story?" she asked.
"Yeah, your story." Benedek said, as they lifted another dead man. "You don't have to give me the details, just the bare bones of it. Like how that Lord Carter gave the bare bones of mine."
"Hmm…fair enough…" Sakura conceded, though she stayed quiet until the dead man was also placed in the grave and with suitable dignity once more. "…I'm an orphan, from Osaka in Japan. Master ran into me, and after I captured her interest, might as well have pulled me from the gutter."
"Orphan, eh?" Benedek softly echoed. "The gutter, though?"
"…an oversimplification, to be honest." Sakura said with a sigh. "Like I said earlier, I didn't and still don't have a family. Grew up on the street, where I had to look out for myself, though I did have a few friends to hang around with and help each other out while growing up."
"I see." Benedek said with a nod, as they lifted another dead man. "So…those friends gave you your name?"
"…no, I've always been Sakura Tohsaka as far as I can remember." Sakura said with a sigh. "I…I don't remember them…no faces or names…but I…I did have parents once."
Sakura paused, and then snorted. "Of course I did, otherwise I wouldn't have been born at all." She retorted with dark humor. Benedek chuckled and shook his head, before placing the dead man in his grave. Again, Sakura silently arranged the man's body and weapons, and then both were heading back for another dead man.
"My guess is," Sakura continued with a sigh. "They or at least my mother was a beggar who died on the street, though thankfully only after I could begin fending for himself."
"…not really sure that's something to be thankful for…" Benedek muttered.
"The alternative is that they abandoned me to fend for myself on the streets." Sakura said. "So for their sakes, I hope they just died. It's better that way."
"…yeah, I suppose it is." Benedek admitted with a sigh. "Parents abandoning their own children…that happens…people like them…this world…they're all messed up."
"No arguments there." Sakura agreed, as they lifted the last of the dead men. "But, that's why I know better than most – and should know better than most – that life isn't fair. You don't, and most likely, never will get what you deserve. Not unless you make sure that you do, and then some even then."
"Hmm…wise words…"
Sakura shrugged, and then they placed the dead man at the end of the row, next to his comrades. Sakura again arranged his body and weapons, and climbing out of the grave, spent a few moments giving silent respect to the dead. Benedek stood next to her, softly praying in Latin, and then raising a hand, made the Sign of the Cross.
Sakura nodded, and walking over to the big pile of dirt nearby, took a shovel and began to throw dirt over the dead, to finally bury them. Benedek watched for a few moments, and then stepped closer.
"Hey," he began. "Do you have another shovel I could use?"
"What took you two so long?" Touko crossly asked, sitting languidly on Quetzalcoatl's coils while studying the crystal she'd looted off Lord Carter's remains. She'd taken the trouble to give him a quick and clean death, to say nothing of adjusting her fire elemental magecraft so it'd only burn him and not his mystic code, so she didn't want to hear any moralizing about how looting was bad or whatnot.
"Your apprentice insisted on giving them a proper burial." Benedek replied. "Or as proper as one can get in a place like this."
"I see." Touko said, tossing her prize into the air a few times before sliding it into a pocket. Then stretching out her long and flexible legs, she leaped off Quetzalcoatl's sculpture and onto her legs, before stretching her arms overhead. "Come on, let's get going. The doors are open."
Sakura and Benedek glanced sharply towards the doors…
…and just as Touko said, they were open.
There was nothing to see through them except darkness, and yet…
…the magi felt no apprehension, or anxiety, or anything of that sort as they stared into the darkness, and thought of what might be inside. There was only calm assurance…or was it reassurance?
From where it came, they did not know, only that the doors were genuinely open in invitation. Neither Benedek nor Sakura had long to ponder though, as Touko took the lead and strode towards the doors past them. Falling into step behind her, the three magi crossed the court and approached the doors, and noted empty, time-worn plinths standing beside them.
At one point it seemed, statues of guardians had stood there. Jaguars, maybe? Dragons? Humans?
They were gone now, though. Lost to time and the elements…
As they passed through the doors, Sakura warily looked around, and once over a shoulder, as though in concern that the doors would close behind them, and trapping them inside the pyramid. They did not, and indeed, a touch of amusement echoed through the ether, so…imperceptible, that Sakura or the other magi present each thought they had imagined it, and so did not bring it up.
With the doors open behind them, sunlight shone wanly into the long corridor, illuminating the murals along the walls. They depicted a festival in full swing, Humans and animals rejoicing and cavorting along the banks of a river amidst a paradisiacal landscape. Dragons danced in the skies above, attended to by great flocks of birds, even as schools of fish swam in the waters below.
More murals marked the ceiling, showing the Sun unobstructed by clouds at periodic intervals, together with the wall murals no doubt symbolizing day after day of peace and prosperity. At length, they reached the end of the corridor, a T-junction leading to the left and right.
Facing the corridor from the T-junction's wall was the mural of a woman, with surprisingly fair skin and golden hair spilling down over her shoulders. Her thighs and midriff were bared, while her skirt and top were of red cloth edged in gold. A sash of blue was tied around her waist, while her wrists sported golden bands decorated with crimson feathers, more of the same sprouting from the golden headdress she wore, and around her silvered boots.
The woman's arms were spread wide as though in welcome, a gentle smile marking her face. To either side, dragons knelt with heads bowed in submission to the woman, and that more than anything else told them who the woman was.
"That's Quetzalcoatl." Sakura said with equal parts conviction and confusion. "Why is she blonde?"
"…well, the legends did claim she was fair-skinned, and I can see that here." Benedek said. "I…guess…being blonde goes with…being fair-skinned…?"
"…let's not…jump to conclusions…" Touko said with a cough. "…she wouldn't be the only 'white' deity the Mesoamericans had. Xipe Totec was also fair-skinned, after all."
Again, there were that all but imperceptible sense, this time of mild offense, as though Quetzalcoatl – who else could it be – was unhappy at being lumped in with Xipe Totec. Understandable, really: at least Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca only demanded hearts be carved out and burned as their sacrifices. Xipe Totec demanded a young man or woman's flayed skin as his sacrifice.
Not for naught was he known as the Flayed Lord.
"So…which way?" Sakura asked.
"Either, I think." Touko said, before turning to the right, Quetzalcoatl's amusement faintly echoing in the dark. "This way."
"Why not left?" Sakura asked.
"Huitzilopochtli was associated with the left." Touko replied before shrugging. "Might as well go with the flow."
"…Left-Handed Hummingbird, remember?" Benedek asked.
"Oh right…" Sakura muttered.
Again, silence fell as the magi proceeded down the right-hand corridor, Touko lighting a small ball of fire in one hand to light their way. At length, the corridor turned sharply to the left, to an archway cut into the rock and leading to a landing with a stairway leading down into darkness.
"Careful now." Touko said, looking around with reinforced eyes, and narrowing them at glinting in the distance from her firelight. "Let's not have any accidents."
Benedek and Sakura sounded their acknowledgement, and after several more moments, Touko walked over to the landing's corner, and moved an obsidian mirror with a golden frame into position. Dirt crumbled out of the hinges, and the metal whined in protest, but it held, catching the light coming down from cunningly carved passageways in the pyramid's roof and projected it to another mirror on the far side of the landing.
It was out of position, and Touko made to move to fix that, but Sakura was ahead of her. Moving the second mirror into position, it caught the light from the first mirror, and reflected it to other mirrors across the vast underground chamber, and illuminating the entire space with reflected sunlight.
Then the mouths of the magi fell open. Even cynical and jaded Touko Aozaki, one-time heiress to the Aozaki lineage of magi and the Fifth True Magic, who had earned the rank of Grand Magus and the esteemed title and color of 'Dirty' Red at the age of twenty, who had done the impossible and revived the long-decayed art of magical puppetry, who had and still defied the best and brightest of her fellow magi's attempt to take her into custody, could only gape at the sight that met them.
Everywhere they could see, as far as their eyes could reach even with reinforcement, there was only gold. Pure gold, grimy and dusty after thousands of years without the touch of Human hands, but gold still for all that.
Most were in great pyramidal stacks of gold ingot, but there were also litters, chariots even, of gilded wood, and chests as well, filled to brimming with gems both cut and uncut, much of the former worked into jewelry of stunning – if not inhuman or even divine – craftsmanship. There were ceremonial weapons worked from gilded wood with polished obsidian blades, sculptures, statues, and figurines made from gilded wood or pure gold through and through.
"…I can see gold." Benedek breathed.
"So can I." Sakura agreed.
"Gold…so much gold…" Touko whispered.
Mouths working wordlessly, they descended down the steps, and stepped onto a path flanked by stack after stack of gold ingots. It led to the distance, to another pyramid, on top of which was a throne.
The magi proceeded down the path, and saw more and more of the Feathered Serpent's treasures. Golden drinking vessels, cups, plates, dining and cooking implements, tools and furniture even. There were paintings and pottery, and shelves filled to brimming with scrolls on which was recorded the divine wisdom of the Feathered Serpent.
There was just so much here, and it boggled to think that this might only be what Quetzalcoatl did not deem important enough to take with her into exile. What greater treasures could she have had, now lost in the years of the Age of Gods, save for herself, beyond Humanity's reach, in the Reverse Side of the World?
Finally, they reached the pyramid's base, Touko motioning for Benedek and Sakura to stop, before ascending by herself. At the summit though, she found not a throne, but a rack of golden metal, on which was hung the ceremonial panoply of the Feathered Serpent in Human form.
It was as her murals depicted her with, a feathered headdress and wristbands of gold, and a gold-edged top and skirt of red cloth. What the murals had depicted as boots were anything but, silvered knee guards with elaborate engravings and trimmed with more feathers, and a pair of a sandals. There was a shield as well, with elaborate engraving and inlaying of gold and enamel, depicting Quetzalcoatl in a stylized, geometric form, and a macuahuitl from gilded wood, inlaid with jade, enamel, and semi-precious stones, the edges bristling with polished and razor-sharp obsidian.
Power emanated from the whole ensemble, and Touko did not doubt this was what the Feathered Serpent had worn in her great war against the other gods, fighting to free from Mankind from the chains of slavery and bloody sacrifices.
Fire blazed across the heavens, the dead remains of a broken planet piercing the skies of the world to punch deep into its watery surface.
Quetzalcoatl stood atop a pyramid, a procession of priests ascending its steps to kneel before her. Holding out their hands, they receive from her a scroll, bearing knowledge with which to clear the jungles, to till the land, and to grind maize and distill wine.
Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl roared their war cries as they crossed macuahuitl amidst a raging storm, the force of their strikes shattering the very earth beneath their feet.
Touko closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. It was…so very tempting…to take it. There was just so much she could learn from it, so much power to gain.
And in the end, that was what being a magus really meant. It wasn't pursuing the Root. It wasn't even honoring your family and its legacy. Those were just words, with which to pretty up the truth or to blind the eyes of those who didn't have the stomach to accept it.
To be a magus was to know more.
It was to hold as much of the power behind the World in one's hands, and to reach for more.
To go as far and as high as you coud, without fear of falling or caring for those you step on along the way.
But…
…despite all that…
…maybe…
…some things…
…were just meant to be forgotten.
Touko reached out with a hand, and silently fingered the tassels of Quetzalcoatl's top. And then sighing, made to turn away.
As she did so, a gentle breeze blew around her, and she felt something drop gently on her head. Reaching up, Touko blinked as she felt incredible power in her hands, and looking at what she held, gasped as she saw a single crimson feather.
"For your trouble," A voice said behind her, and Touko turned, eyes going wide at the ghostly figure of Quetzalcoatl leaning with arms crossed against the rack bearing her panoply. "And as a reward for passing the test."
Touko didn't know what to say, and rising to her full height, Quetzalcoatl swept out her arms with a smile. "Take as much as you want." She said. "It's not like it'll have much use here aside from gathering dust anyway. You and yours will need it more than I would."
Then Quetzalcoatl smiled wider, and turning away with a nod, vanished. Touko let out a breath, wondering if it was just her imagination…
…then dismissed the thought, what with the feather still in her hands.
She was able to reach out from the Age of Gods for just a moment.
Is it because we're in her temple?
Possibly…probably…but this feather…
…how is it able to stay on this side of the World?
…so many questions…so many answers…so much to learn…
Those thoughts and others more like it filled Touko's mind, Quetzalcoatl's gift hidden in her pocket as she descended to the ground and rejoined her fellow magi. "What was up there?" Benedek asked curiously.
"Hmm…? Oh…nothing we should bother ourselves with." Touko replied with a shrug. "There's no need to be too greedy, after all."
"Oh really?" Benedek asked with an eyebrow raised, only to wince as Touko slapped him on an arm.
"Yeah…" she said, before gesturing around them. "We've got more than enough treasure to go around down here. Sakura…?"
"Yes, master?"
"Get to work."
Sakura grinned, looking around at all the gold with the expression of a child in a toy store. "Right away!" she yelled.
A/N
Yes, Sakura was lying to Benedek, at least in part. For like all good lies, there is a grain of truth at the heart of the lie. She really was found by Touko in Osaka, and all but literally pulled from the gutter. Everything else though…
…the really ironic part is that the lie paints Tokiomi and Aoi in a much better light compared to the truth. Better they died leaving Sakura to fend for herself, or simply abandoned her on the street, unlike what really happened: they sold her to a vampire as a sex slave and guinea pig, all so her children would get slaughtered like pigs by Rin's children, thus ensuring Tohsaka's place in history.
Only one more chapter left: the epilogue. For a preview…tell me, who is famous in Type-Moon for going 'ohohoho'?