Fate/first order derivative
Part I.2
⇒ continue: iteration 9, day 1, early night
⇒ run out the back door
On it! Grab my coat, jump the back railing - don't quite make it, graze my leg, ouch - then run up the back alley. I stop short when I see Emiya running around the corner of his house in the same direction.
⇒ take cover
I jump behind a nearby lamp post and peer past him. At the very end of the alleyway, there's that blonde woman. She's dressed in some kind of... armored blue dress? She's fighting this guy wearing a red longcoat. And beyond them - shit, is that Rin?!
⇒ keep your distance
Anyway, Shirou shouts something. The woman in blue stops attacking and shouts something back. (Another weird thing - the way she was fighting, it seemed like she had some kind of weapon, but I can't actually see anything in her hands? Like she's a... mime or something, I guess?)
⇒ or a force wielder
You can use the Force like that? Well, guess there's no reason you couldn't... anyway, looks like everyone's heading into Emiya's house. Except for the red dude, who just straight-up fucking vanishes into thin air! How the shit does that work?! Some kind of active camouflage? Military-grade tech?
⇒ keep an eye on things
I run back to the house long enough to grab my dad's binoculars. (Dammit, why couldn't he have gotten the night vision model like I suggested?) About an hour passes before the lights in Emiya's house turn off. He, Rin, and the blonde woman - wearing this big yellow poncho over her armor - go out into the street.
⇒ stay on them
They walk across the whole dang city to the church on the hill. Never been there before myself, just seen it at a distance. Shirou and Rin go inside. The blonde woman stays out by the front gate. I sneak around the side and hide in some trees across the road from the cemetery.
⇒ is that a good idea
I don't know! I'm just playing it by ear here. Anyway, they're in there for about a half hour. Shirou and Rin come out. They talk to the blonde for a moment, then they start walking down the street towards me.
⇒ keep very still
No doy! I try my best not to breathe as they pass by me. They stop again a little further down the hill. Still can't quite hear what they're saying... that red jacket guy appears out of nowhere behind Rin. I guess he's just been hanging around this whole time?
The fog suddenly picks up. Red guy starts shouting and vanishes again.
⇒ look up the street
Okay, item one: there's this tiny little white girl in a purple dress standing in the fog. And I mean white - we're talking, like, Rei-Ayanami-style albino. And next to her is this guy who - well. He's the Incredible fucking Hulk. That's what it comes down to. Gunmetal gray skin. Has to be around three meters tall. Just packed with muscle, like some kind of steroid nightmare. Long hair. Wears nothing except this sort of iron miniskirt.
⇒ ... miniskirt?
Kilt. Kilt's a better word for it. I should've said kilt. Armored kilt, in fact. Covered with iron plates.
And now the little girl's talking... Rin is saying something... okay, what the hell is up with this. I'm sitting in between them / closer to both of them than they are to each other, and yet I still can't hear what they're saying. But they just seem to be talking to each other normally. Something's going on here.
⇒ poor audio editing strikes again
Ha, ha. Seriously, though... maybe some kind of directed white noise generator? Is that even possible? How would that even... oh hooooollly shit.
⇒ what
They're fighting now. Blondie and the Hulk. They are - shit! There's fucking explosions, and - oh god oh shit oh god!
⇒ keep cool man keep cool
They're behind me now, in the park down the slope. I just stay and cringe where I am crouched down within this little mini-copse formed by three trees. They're moving so fast I almost can't keep track. Every blow feels like a damn bomb going off. Macho Man is wielding this gigantic fuckoff stone club thing. Blondie seems to be keeping up with him somehow. Blocking him with... okay, that has to be a sword of some kind, right? The way she's holding it, I can't see it being an axe or whatever. It's probably a Western-style sword, too. Her grip seems wrong for a katana or an odachi.
⇒ look at you pretending like you know stuff
Right? Okay - she's leading him back up the slope, across the street into the cemetery. I raise the binoculars again. All I can see is motion blurs, though, as she dodges and weaves through the tombstones. Captain Caveman chases after her, knocking graves out of the way like they're nothing -
That's when I hear this kind of whistling sound. I look up to see something big and heavy hurling through the air straight towards me - before I can react, I hear the trees splinter like twigs and -
⇒ restart: iteration 10, day 1, early night
... fuck. Did I... did I just die?
In my room flat on my back again. I think I did. I just... holy shit. I guess that proves it. A game over just resets the loop again. Death is no escape. That's... both kind of comforting and completely horrifying at the same time.
⇒ at least you're not dead dead tho
I guess. Just... wow. Fuck.
⇒ are you gonna go back
Yeah, yeah, just give me a second to process, okay? Fucking hell...
⇒ skip forward
So this time, I go to the church ahead of them and pick out a vantage point further up the hill from the cemetery. Unfortunately, my choice sucks. I can't see shit over the tree line, even with the binoculars. I can hear the battle when it starts, though. Maybe it's not a bad thing keeping my distance from that shitstorm, all things considered...
Okay, they're in the graveyard now... some other noise coming from the woods behind me somewhere... okay, now what's that? Some kind of blue light overhead. Like a comet or a -
SHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT!
⇒ what
SOMEONE JUST NUKED THE GRAVEYARD. A FUCKING NUKE. IN JAPAN. HOLY SHITTING FUCK FUCK FUCK SHIT!
Oh god... I'm not inside the blast radius. Must be a tactical or pocket nuke or something. I was looking right at it - fuck, I'm amazed my eyes weren't burned right out of their sockets. And the radiation... I don't even want to think about it right now...
Blast is clearing up... all that's left of the graveyard is a familiar-looking crater. That's what happened to the cemetery?! What the fuck are these people?!
⇒ skip to: iteration 10, day 3, afternoon
So I'm not dead of radiation poisoning. That's the good news. No sign of above-background levels on me or my clothes at all - I checked myself over with my Geiger counter when I got back. So maybe that was some kind of thermobaric bomb or fuel-air explosive, I guess? I didn't smell any gasoline...
⇒ you have a geiger counter
Came across a cheap one on eBay and got curious. Anyway, skipped clubs yesterday and staked out Emiya's place from my room. Saw him and the blonde woman leave at one point, so they obviously survived the explosion too.
So what does this add up to? Emiya and Rin, running around with these... mutant genetic supersoldiers? Why? How? Where did they even come from?
⇒ you could just try asking them you know
Ha! You're funny.
⇒ so what now
It's after school. I'm waiting for Rin to go stomping by the classroom door. This time, I'm gonna follow her.
⇒ taking up your stalking game to a whole new level huh
Shut up. It's not like that. This is my one lead, okay?
Right. Here she comes. I wait behind the door until she stomps by, count to three, and follow.
I manage to stay out of sight as she sweeps the third floor and checks the roof. Seems like she's looking for someone. The school empties out in the meantime.
She finally stops short on the landing on the staircase down to the second floor. I can hear her talking to someone. Well, more like yelling.
⇒ what's she saying
Yeah, see, there is definitely something going on with the sound here. I am right down the dang hall from them, but it's like my ears are full of gauze or something. I can't make out any of the words. I can pick up on tone - I can tell that Rin is pissed, for instance. I can even recognize Emiya's voice nervously talking back to her from further down the stairwell. But none of the actual content registers.
Then I hear this distinct pew noise.
⇒ pew noise
I don't know how else to describe it. It's also kind of a zap, kind of a blam... a sorta sci-fi lasery sound, you know?
Anyway, I hear Shirou yell something. Rin takes off running down the stairs.
⇒ weren't they working together before
I guess? Maybe something changed? I rush down the hall and peek down the stairwell. And there's Rin standing below, her finger pointed down the hall, these glowing teal lines running down her arm. Three more pew sounds. Three black bolts rocket out of her hand down the hall.
What.
Naturally, that's right about when she looks up and sees me, her eyes narrowed.
⇒ think fast
I... can't. I totally freeze up. Like a rabbit stuck in the headlights.
She makes an annoyed grunt and raises her free hand in my direction. "Etwas," she says, making this odd wavey gesture in the air. "Rückwärts -"
⇒ restart: iteration 11, day 1, early night
Wait. I'm - back in my room? What just...
... did Rin just kill me?
What the hell is going on?
⇒ skip forward
So I get out my bike - haven't used it in so long I have to pump up the tires first - and get over to the church while they're still talking at Emiya's place. That gives me time to find the perfect vantage point up the hill. Full view of the church, the road, and the graveyard. Just gotta wait for them to show up.
Unfortunately, that gives me plenty of time to stew over what I just saw. I mean - directed energy weapons? Does Rin have some kind of a cyberarm? Is she a robot? Or an alien? Are they all aliens?!
Bluh. Too many questions, not enough data. HURRY UP AND MAKE SENSE AGAIN, UNIVERSE.
⇒ kinda doubt it's that easy
I get that, yeah.
⇒ so listen
⇒ while we have a moment here
⇒ people have been asking about you
Huh? What people?
⇒ just people
⇒ they want to know what your deal is
... I'm... what?
⇒ why do you talk to another voice in your head
... this is me. This is the way I think. What are you looking for here?
⇒ so what am i supposed to be
You? You're... well, you're the prompt. Like in a text adventure game? The place where the player types in, like, "GO SOUTH" or "EXAMINE MAILBOX" or whatever?
⇒ but it's not like i control you
True. I guess it's more about the interactive component?
⇒ what does that mean though
I dunno. You're my subconscious? My internal observer? The imaginary friend I made up to talk to because I'm sad and lonely? - Fuck it, look. I'm really not in the mood for navel-gazing right now. This is just a thing I do, all right? Why are we even talking about this? You're literally me. You know all this already.
⇒ you get that this isn't normal though right
Says the one talking about nonexistent "people."
⇒ eh
⇒ touché i guess
What, do you and the other figments of my imagination have a book club or something? - Anyway, shush. Here they come.
The blonde stays outside the front gate. I watch through the binoculars as Rin leads Shirou into the church. (Should I feel jealous about that? I think I might feel jealous about that. No, shut up. Focus.)
"Hey, kid," someone behind me says.
⇒ welp
I slowly turn around. The guy in the red jacket is standing there, his arms folded. Brown skin. White hair that sticks straight up. Some kind of lightweight composite armor beneath his coat. Give him a giant sword or a gunblade and he'd be a Final Fantasy character made flesh. "You suck at hiding," he says gruffly.
"... sorry?" I squeak.
"So how much did you see?" He sounds bored.
"See?" I weakly try to hide the binoculars behind my back. "Why would I see? I mean, what would I. What's there to -"
He sighs. "Yeah, I'm just gonna assume that means everything. This is what I get for putting things off. Should've just taken care of you back at the house..."
"The... house?" He spotted me back at Emiya's place? But - how? I'd barely even glanced that way when I rode past on my bike...
"The house," he agrees. "You're out of your league, kid. Just forget about it. In fact - let's make sure you do."
He reaches out and flicks me on the forehead with a single finger. My ears pop. Everything goes black.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
In case anyone has trouble keeping up as the narrative jumps around in time, here's a brief outline of the time loop as it currently stands:
- Day 1 / Friday: loop begins at night.
- Day 2 / Saturday: school clubs meet.
- Day 3 / Sunday: school day.
- Day 4 / Monday: school day. Loop resets late at night.
For those familiar with the visual novel, this corresponds to Days 3 through 6 of the game's timeline.
