Fate/first order derivative
Part III.5
⇒ skip to: iteration 29, day 7, afternoon
But we don't see Rin the next day. Apparently, the hospital can't discharge her without her legal guardian present, and Kotomine claims he's booked solid.
She's not the only one missing. Emiya says there was no sign of Shinji in class today. For that matter, he hasn't seen Issei in the past day or two either. Not sure what either of those things mean yet. Hopefully nothing.
⇒ wouldn't count on it dude
Anyway, the day's pretty much a wash - up until Archer calls my cell phone right after school. Guess he was running back and forth between the hospital and Rin's house, keeping an eye on things, when he picked up on Rider's scent. He says he tracked her into the big park downtown. Came across another two victims in the process. Looks like Shinji decided to change up his usual hunting grounds.
⇒ victims?
Two middle-school girls. Archer says Rider just drained them and left them in a ditch somewhere. You can imagine how Shirou reacts to that. Saber, too, for that matter, albeit in a more low-key way.
⇒ so hero time?
Hero time. Figure I'll tag along. With Rin still out of the picture, the team could use another set of eyes... and anyway, seeing Matou get his shit kicked in is never not gonna sound like a good time in my book.
⇒ skip forward
It's pretty close to sunset by the time we arrive in front of Fuyuki Central Park's front gate. It's deserted, but that's no big shock. Nobody really comes here. The riverside's way more popular.
"Finally," Archer snaps as he materializes on top of the wall. "This way. Come on."
He leads us a little ways around the park's perimeter to a public phone booth. (Guess they haven't quite gotten rid of them all yet. Good thing, too.) Two girls lie slumped against each other on the sidewalk, unconscious. Christ. The smaller one looks like she isn't even out of elementary school yet. Every time I think Shinji's lowered the bar as far as it can go, he just keeps on surprising me.
Saber examines them. "No obvious wounds..."
"I already healed them," Archer says. "They're still weak, but they should be fine eventually. Now move it. I need to get back to Rin."
I blink. "You're not staying?"
"I've left her unguarded for too long as is." Archer notches an arrow into his bow. "Besides, I'll be able to cover you from the hospital roof once I'm there." He cuts me off before I can ask something else. "No more questions! Go!" He vanishes.
"Come on, this way." Shirou breaks into a run. He leads us to a side entrance into the park, where he stops and turns back. "I just thought of something. There's no telling how many more victims Rider might have left scattered throughout the park. We need to search for them, too, just in case. So we should split up to cover more ground."
"Heh." Keeping up with him and Saber has nigh-completely drained me of breath, but I still manage to wheeze out a chuckle. "Thassa good one, dude..."
Saber nods. "Good idea. I can move faster on my own."
"Bwah?" I look back and forth between the two of them. "You're - you're joking, right? Come on! That is, like, a textbook bad idea! You want us to get picked off one by one here?! Because that's how you -"
"Then you two stick together." Saber draws her sword. "If all else fails, find a break in the trees. You can use that -" She motions to the flashlight I'm carrying. Grabbed it out of a utility closet on our way out of school. "- to signal Archer. He should be able to get word to me somehow."
"But -" Before I can bring up any of the other multitude of concerns I have with this idea, she launches herself into the air. I stare after her as she vanishes beyond the treeline. "... the Scooby-Doo plan? Really?"
"Come on." Shirou motions in the opposite direction. "Let's go." Reluctantly, I follow him off into the trees.
⇒ skip forward
I find the first of what is no doubt many things wrong with Saber's plan as the sun sets. Specifically, I'm pretty sure the batteries in this flashlight are older than I am. I keep the thing turned off and tucked under my arm for now, trying to coax as much juice out of them before they head off into Planned Obsolescence Heaven.
The lack of light doesn't seem to bother Shirou in the slightest, or slow him down. "Watch it," he mutters as we go along. "Rabbit hole coming up on your right." Guy must be part cat or something, I swear.
I eye Shirou's back. Speaking of things that bother him - I wonder if he minds being back in this part of town. He doesn't show any signs of having issues with it, but you know what he's like. And considering that flashback yesterday...
⇒ what do you mean
Oh, I didn't say? This park is where the Great Fire happened ten years ago. Back when this was the center of the brand spanking new Shinto District. The city never managed to get anyone to redevelop this particular section afterwards, so eventually they just gave up and made the whole area green space. That's another reason the place isn't too popular. People think it's creepy.
⇒ so he has a personal connection here is what you're saying
Yeah. Though, come to think of it, I guess he isn't the only one. My dad actually grew up in this area.
⇒ really
Yeah. Way before the fire, of course, and even before the city expanded out in this direction. My grandma was one of the few holdouts left when they started construction on the new district, so they sort of wound up building next to and around her. (Not that she didn't make serious bank selling off the rest of her land to the developers, but that's besides the point.) I've even got vague memories of visiting her house back when I was really young. Before... y'know. All the burning.
⇒ so wait
⇒ you mean your grandma was still living there during the great fire
Oh, yeah. She made it out fine, though. Her house was on the edge of the district, so she got wind of what was happening before the flames hit. Even had time to save that monstrosity of a parakeet she owned.
All the same, you see why I haven't told Emiya about this. If he lost his mom in that whole thing... well. Mentioning that my own family got away comparatively unscathed would just feel like rubbing it in, you know?
⇒ withholding information to spare his feelings
⇒ where have i heard that one before
Har, har. You know this is completely different. For one thing -
I run into Shirou's outstretched arm. "Did you see that?" he whispers.
⇒ ulp here we go
I swallow. "See what?"
"I thought I saw something move. Up in the trees. Over -"
Someone screams out in the distance. Until the sound abruptly cuts short.
Shirou and I look at each other. "Go get Saber," he says, pulling out a large wrench. "I'm going ahead."
"Dude, wait. That's not -" But he's already off and running. Of course. Goddamn Emiya.
I turn and start running through the park, in the vague direction I last saw Saber going. I also take out the flashlight and turn it on. The beam's still pretty weak, but it's visible. Okay, next issue - how do you say SOS in Morse Code again? I can't remember - is it dot-dash-dot, or dash-dot-dash? Dammit, of all the shit to -
I trip over a root. The flashlight slips out of my hand and hits the ground. I hear something break and the beam cuts out. Of fucking course.
⇒ womp womp
Of fucking course! I grab the flashlight and stumble to my feet, tightening the cap and switching it off and on as I go. No dice. GRRRWARGH.
So now what? Can I maybe still signal Archer using the light from my cell phone? Just how well can he see, anyway? - shit, cell phones! Why the fuck can't we all just have cell phones like normal fucking people?! Is that really so much to ask?!
"Tom!" Saber grabs me by the back of the neck.
I scream even though I know it's her. More out of habit than anything, maybe. "Oh thank God Saber listen we heard a scream and Shirou sent me to find you even though that's dumb since it could be Rider - fuck of course it's fucking Rider -"
"It's not Rider."
"How do you..."
She bodily turns me to the side.
A short distance away, caught within a web of her own chains between two trees, hangs Rider - or at least what's left of her. Of her four limbs, she has exactly one arm left that hasn't been hacked off or diced into pieces. Blood leaks from her body and down off the chains like rainwater through a mangled sieve.
I groan. "I need so - much - therapy..."
⇒ i know
⇒ try to notice any details anyway
Just one - she's hanging upside down, right? Down below where her arm dangles limply, it looks like she wrote something on the ground, inside a puddle of her own blood. The light's really dim and it's all smudged and splotchy and stuff... but I think it's 景?
⇒ remind me what that means
Um... "scenery." "Scene." "Vista." Something viewed. Also "scene" in the sense of, like, a scene in a play. I think.
⇒ you think
⇒ isn't this like
⇒ elementary school stuff for you
I am under stress here what do you even want from me. Anyway, no sooner do I notice that that Rider starts doing the whole purple dissolve-y thing. The body, the chains, the blood, all of it. The whole grisly scene vanishes into thin air. That Servant self-cleaning feature, you know.
Saber grabs me by the shoulders. "Which way to Shirou?"
"Oh, um -" I wave vaguely in the direction that I came from.
She sweeps me off my feet and jumps. Then we're bounding off through the trees, all Naruto-style.
"What happened to the flashlight?" she asks.
"Yeah don't even start," I snap.
⇒ skip forward (slightly)
It isn't long before we land in a clearing. Saber drops me onto my feet. "Here," she says. "I smell blood."
I glance around. The light's gotten way too dim for my eyes now. I go fishing for my cell phone, but Saber's already on it. She draws her sword, which starts to glow with a dull gold light. Glamdring mode. Neat.
I take a step forward, directly on Shinji's face. Or, well. Really more in his face, to be honest.
⇒ fuck
I slip backwards onto my ass, uttering a loud string of profanities that I honestly don't even hear. Bits and pieces of Matou - including most of his skull, and his jaw, and so on - are strung out all around us. And yeah, on the one hand, it's Shinji. But on the other...
⇒ jesus fucking christ
Exactly! Did someone hit the Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Silence Of The Fucking Lambs button while I wasn't looking?!
Also, at the edge of the clearing, Shirou's lying face-first on the ground with this gigantic katana sticking out through the back of his head. So that's a thing.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Re: that one Guest comment from August 4th - for the record, my real name's not Tom. The character's named after Tom Baker... or maybe the Toonami droid. Can't remember which right now.
Rest of what you said's pretty accurate, though.
