Chapter 2
Spiral
(Beta: luckychaos)
Her name was Kyoko Sakura. She told me so when I asked her on the way. Of course, I also gave her my name. That was a better thing to focus on about the whole experience that the odd looks we were getting. I should have expected that, considering that a completely-drenched teenage girl and a dangerous-looking man in his early thirties was not exactly a normal pair, but I had quite honestly never considered that. Thankfully, nobody called the police or anything, though I suspect that had more to do with how happy Kyoko looked about the whole thing than anything else.
We reached the hotel I was staying in about an hour, without any stops. Didn't have a watch on me, never had, so I couldn't be sure. Maybe I should get one of those things. Anyway. Thankfully, the man behind the counter didn't give us more that a single glance. Didn't even ask me if she was my daughter, or something. We got in the elevator and up to the third floor, where my room was. It probably wasn't any better than the room she had before, which was honestly a bit embarrassing, but at least it was something. I shook my head, and locked the door. Then I turned toward Kyoko. She took off the coat, and threw it over the bed.
"There's a shower over there, if you want to use it." I said, pointing at it. "I don't have girl's clothes, so you will have to do with my own for now. They will be a bit loose for you, but it's not like you will have to go out of here with those clothes. First thing in the morning, when your clothes dry up, we'll go buy you some clothes."
"Fine. Thanks." she mumbled, as she made her way to the shower.
I sat down on the bed. She entered, closed the door behind her, and locked it. A moment later, I heard the sound of her clothes hitting the floor. Man. Sometimes, reinforced hearing was really inconvenient. I felt like asshole, like I'm not giving her privacy. I stared out of the window, thinking over our conversation under the bridge. About that Kyubei creature, and her role as a Puella Magi. And also, most of all, about what I should do about it now.
"Emiya-san?" she called out to me, sort of awkwardly, her voice mixing with the sound of running water.
"Shirou is fine."
"Ah, then. Shirou... I..."
"What is it?" I stood up, taking a few steps forward and stopping. "Do you need anything?"
"No, no, I'm fine. I just... I want to ask you something. Why would you do this? Why do you care about some stranger like me?" she said. I put my back against the wall, and cross my arms.
"I can't stand seeing anybody cry. That's it; there's no deeper motive."
"But... it's not just that. Any normal, if kind person would have passed the burden to somebody else, no matter what kind of words they spewed. But you are going to take me in without question, even though it's obvious you have some kind of purpose which would only be hindered by me being here. You don´t even know if I am telling the truth about anything, and yet..."
"Okay. Listen." I closed my eyes, and leaned back, letting my body relax. "Twenty two years ago, I was caught in a big fire. Everything I ever had burned down around me. The place I lived my early years in, the people I knew, the houses I saw everyday. I don't know how I survived. Maybe I was just lucky, or my house was built on a lucky spot. Either way, I kept on walking through the fire, ignoring the dying people that reached out to me with their desperate screams, their trembling hands or even those just looking at me who couldn't even speak anymore. I ignored even the mothers who begged me to take their babies with me, and kept on walking. I lost more of myself as I walked. Hope, anger, sadness. My mind died so my body could survive. But not even that lasted long... My legs gave out on me, and I fell down, looking at the hazy sky above me."
It was hard to get those words out. Not because of myself, but because of her. It's kind of stupid. She had already told me what she went through, so this wasn't going to affect her much, if at all. But I couldn't help but feel that way. Besides, she really needed to heard it. Because she told me her past, and so she could understand me better.
"And then?" she asked, her voice lightly trembling. I doubted I would have heard it if I didn´t have reinforced hearing.
"I reached out to the skies for no reason. It wasn't for help. I just thought that the sky was a long way away. In what were supposed to be my last moments, that's what I thought. But when my hand fell, Kiritsugu, who became my adoptive father, grasped it. I still remember his face. He clenching my hands, then embracing me, crying out of happiness for being able to save one single person. I admired that, and I still do. I think it's a beautiful way to live. So, I can't ignore anybody. Regardless of what happens to me, I can't do such a thing."
"...I see."
"By the way, Sakura..." Matou Sakura's face flashed in my mind, for an instant. I miss her. I miss everybody, but out of all my friends I miss her the most. Occasionally talking with her on the phone or exchanging texts was just not the same thing. Especially after what happened to Ayako... I shook off those thoughts. That trail led to nowhere. I was running after that distant dream, so I couldn't turn around and look back again.
"Kyoko." she cut me off. "You can just call me Kyoko. You allowed me to call you Shirou and, in any case, you're going to adopt me. It's more proper this way, right?"
"Right, Kyoko. Can you tell me about Witches?"
"Oh, yeah. Of course. Well... the Soul Gem, that thing I pulled off when we meet, serves to track their barriers down. Our power also serves to enter them. The barriers are... uh, have you read Alice in Wonderland?"
"Yes." Hadn't particularly liked it, but I did end up reading it when I was a child. I still vaguely remembered it.
"Well, it's kind of like that, but for real. Space and time is twisted into some horrible caricature, and the laws of physics stop mattering. All the Witch Barriers are completely different. The Witches themselves, too. And their abilities. Familiars are there to defend their barriers but, somehow, they can gain independence and, upon consuming a few humans, turn into a full Witch. Witches, upon being killed, drop something Kyubei calls Grief Seeds. They're used to purify the Soul Gem, so the magical powers don't disappear." she suddenly trailed off, for about a minute. "Honestly, I don't even know what to say about them. The... The first Witch I fought was... kind of like, uh, a bear but... Ah, it's useless. I can´t really describe something like that."
"Their description doesn't really matter, since you said they aren't similar at all. The powers of the Witches you fought would be more useful, so I can see if there's some kind of connection. A description of their barriers would be useful, too." It was just a half-baked hope, but I might get something useful out it. It didn't matter even if I didn't, though. Soon enough I would make sure I got first hand experience.
"Okay, Shirou." she said. The rushing water stopped.
"You don't mind what clothes I give for now, right?" I said, standing up.
"E-eeh! No, of course not." I didn´t think she would mind, but well. Teenage girls these days are kinda sensitive to those kinds of things. I couldn't just assume it. I went to the closet, and opened it, grabbing the shirt of one of my pajamas. It was obviously too big for her, but at least it would cover her well. I grabbed a pair of pants that barely fit me anymore. It wouldn´t fit her too well either, but at least the belt would make sure it didn't fall off. I tugged them under my left arm, went to the door of the bathroom and knocked once. Faint footsteps from inside. I closed my eyes. I heard the door open a crack, grabbed the clothes with my right hand and extended it towards her. A moment later, I felt the small weight of the pajamas disappear from my hand. Kyoko didn't say anything, though.
When I heard the door close, I turned around, opened my eyes again and went back to sitting on the bed. In about a minute, I heard the sliding door again. I turned my head towards it, a bit curious despite myself. The clothes really didn't fit her, in any sense of the word. It was a simple blue shirt, along with the somewhat matching pants. They really didn't suit her. I didn't know why I thought so. Maybe it was because of the clothes I last saw her wearing. Yeah, it sure was that. Besides. The shirt was too big for her, to the point that it went past her waist. And the pants... well, she definitively couldn't walk around in that, in spite of the belt. I though it would fit her decently, in that sense, but... I was obviously wrong.
"I'm sorry. If you don't mind having me buying at least some clothes, then I can go out and buy some now."
"No, it's fine." she quickly replied, still holding up the pants with her hand. "It's not like I need to walk around with this, anyway. I'll be fine. I don't really want to waste energy by transforming now, so this had to do."
"Well, okay." I patted the side of the bed. I noticed that she was blushing. Uh. I didn't really understand. Maybe she was really bothered by it, but was too polite to say so. That's what I would have thought at first, but that girl was not really that polite. Maybe she had a fever, or something. Wouldn´t surprise me. She had been standing down there, under a bridge in the middle of winter in those summer clothes. It would've a wonder if she hadn't caught anything. "Could you tell me about it now, then?"
"Yeah, okay." she replied, and sat down next to me.
Kyoko talked about all her fights with the Witches during her first and only year as a Puella Magi, and described their Barriers as well as she could. I couldn't really see anything that connected them, besides the Barriers and their overall behavior. Also, the Barriers themselves seemed to have some sort of theme, disturbingly human-like in spite of their twisted appearance. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but that was what I thought. Aside from that, I had not gotten any closer to knowing their true nature. Well. If I had learned anything, it was that battle taught much more that anything else. I had to unravel the mysteries behind those creatures, their apparent Reality Marbles and Kyubei, the one who was apparently trying to wipe them off. I had to do it. I knew I had to do it.
For now, though, I had to concentrate on her. I prepared the food, and ate with her at the dinner table, trying to make her relax. Maybe it was futile. It had be so long since the fire, and I hadn't forgotten a single thing. I have only resolved to carry everything on my back, so all those people I couldn't save didn't disappear meaninglessly. If I couldn't change myself, maybe it was too much to think I could change that girl. But I had to at least try. What kind of hero would I be if I didn't do so?
"Seconds, Shirou." her voice brought me out of my thoughts. I lifted my head and saw that, sure enough, she had finished all the food I gave her in less that two minutes. Whoa, this girl eats like Saber. I felt myself smile. "W-what's with that look? It's only natural to eat what's put in front of you, right?"
"Right." I repeated, putting a hand on her head and softly patting her. She stopped in her tracks, her mouth half open, and blushed. "That's right, Kyoko. Well, I'll go get seconds now."
I stood up and went to the kitchen, leaving the spluttering teenager behind me.
She ate her second portion, and then a third. It was not much, but it made me happy to see her eat. It was something else that she didn't lack anymore, and that was simply wonderful. I had put her clothes below the heater, so by the time it was night and even the distant sounds of the cars beyond the building had mostly faded out, the clothes were already dry. I gave them to her, and she went to get changed in the bathroom. She stepped out of the bathroom, her vibrant crimson hair billowing behind her.
"Kyoko."
"What is it?"
"Let's look for one of those things now."
"Do we... Do we have to, really?"
"I can't stand to see anybody cry, Kyoko. I told you as much. I'm not asking you to come fight with me, just to lead me to one of them..."
"Wait, wait, wait!" she screamed, and crossed her arms beneath her chest. "That's not the problem. I'm not afraid. It's just... I didn't have any other choice, before you came along. I had to fight on to survive, because I needed to keep my powers. But now... sorry. I guess I am being selfish. I know you would disagree with it, but... It's just not worth it."
"What do you mean?"
"This... This saving people thing. You won't gain a single thing if you keep up like this, Shirou. I know that. I imposed my selfish happiness on everybody the moment I got the chance, and look how I ended up. How everything went to hell."
"That's right; your life went to hell because of that wish, but that's no reason to abandon yourself. That's life, you know. It's not fair. Nothing eternal exists. Everything is heading towards its destruction, and no matter how hard you try to change that you can only delay it. Fading away is inevitable." My eyes narrowed. "But still... it's beautiful. This world is beautiful. Maybe there's nothing at the end of it all, but I see nothing wrong in putting my life on the line for the sake of other people."
"Shirou..."
"I am sorry, though. Really, I am. This will cause you pain, but I can't turn around and look back again. To save everybody... it's an ideal I will hold on to up to my death." I said, trying to put it as well and as clearly as I can. She bit her lip, and drew blood. The faint red drop slowly drips down her chin... Well, so much for that. I drew her into a hug. She didn't resist.
"I don´t understand." she protested, on the verge of crying. "I understand it less than when you explained that, before. How... How can you be like this, even after something like that?"
"It's just how I am, Kyoko. Don't cry."
"Stupid! Who is crying!" she sounded outraged, but still, she didn't pull away.
We stayed like that for a few minutes. After Kyoko calmed down, we got out of the hotel. I looked around to see if there was anybody, confirmed the space was clear, grabbed her by the waist like she weighted nothing and then, putting magical energy in my legs, jumped. I covered ten meters up in an instant, landing on the top of the building without any problem. Kyoko's scream of panic wasn't so good, though. I should have thought about that first. I debate about how it would be best to apologize to her with myself.
"Warn me next time, you asshole." she breathed out heavily, after I set her down.
"Sorry, sorry." I lifted my arms to the sides, as if submitting to her. "I honestly didn't even think about it. But let's leave that aside. It's not the time for that. Tell me, can you keep up with me?"
"I can." she dusted herself off, and took out that thing that she called a Soul Gem. A flash of red light blinded me. It was over in an instant. When the light dissipated, she was still standing there, but she was completely different. Dark red boots, red dress, with a red jewel shining just over her chest. But more importantly, she suddenly had a spear clenched in her right hand. I search, analyze and store it automatically in my Reality Marble. The spear was not a special weapon. It didn't have a great history, and it lacked magical capabilities. It seemed that all that made it dangerous came from Kyoko's abilities in both armed combat and magic. "Let's go, Shirou."
Then, she jumped. She reached the next building, slightly higher than the hotel, without problem. I knew without needing to be told that she had done so to prove she had no problem keeping up with me. I smiled. Despite of her awful situation, her precociousness and, well, everything, she was unexpectedly childish. I jumped after her.
We entered a warehouse. I turned on the lights, and closed the door behind us. I didn't have whatever powers that creature granted Sakura, but I could feel a distortion now. It made me remember Rider's Bounded Field, Blood Fort Andromeda. This time, I didn't smell sweet honey but, strangely, fresh water. I shook off those thoughts. There was no point in concentrating on the smell, since I already knew what was behind it. A Barrier in which countless innocent people had disappeared. Such a thing... I had to destroy it with my own hands. Kyoko led me to a wall. When she touched it with her hand, space distorted in a circle. A swirling vortex of red energy replaced the normal wall. So that was it.
"I'm going now, Kyoko. Stand back." I said, and take a step forward. She grabbed me by the sleeve of my cloak, made out of a Holy Shroud, and I stopped in my tracks. "What is it?"
"Are you stupid?! Do you think I could just leave you behind?"
"But..." I didn't know how to answer. Giving her reaction to my proposal, I didn't think she would want to fight, so I hadn't though of anything to convince her otherwise. Should have known, dammit.
"I couldn't stand that, Shirou. You should know that."
"But you are..."
"Don't you dare say that!" she screamed, seriously pissed off. "I stopped being a kid already, and nothing you do can change that. Besides, there's no logical reason to leave me behind. No matter how good you are, you need somebody to watch your back, right? At the very least, it would hurt. Also, as far as fighting Witches goes, I'm far more experienced than you."
"That's..." I sighed. I had always been dealing with difficult women, so I knew when to accept that I had been defeated. There was no point in arguing about this anymore. "Fine, you can come."
She took a step forward, and disappeared behind the vortex. I followed her. And that instant... the world crumbled apart around me. Space and time was twisted. The warehouse faded away, leaving a blank space swirling like a vortex in front of me, producing a strange, nauseating sense of dislocation that made me want to pass out. I forcefully suppressed. The colorless space settled down in about a minute, but that didn't make it any better. Darkness extended all around around me, but visible, broken only by a labyrinth of thorns that twisted inwardly like a serpent, and strange creatures from somewhere in front of us. I took a step forward. Instead of the distance decreasing, the creatures grew farther apart. There was no sense of distance in this strange world. There was no sense of life in my surroundings. The plants and the creatures in the distance were only strange, twisted parodies of life. There was no sense of reality, at all.
Putting those things aside, I quickly and perfectly put together the eight steps. The peerless, twin steel words made by a blacksmith couple formed in my clenched hands. Yang sword Kanshou, Yin sword Bakuya. The blades I saw before I even begun to realize my true abilities, back during the Fifth Holy Grail War. Archer's signature swords. They had no special abilities, but they were strong swords. No matter what awaited me here, they could and would surpass it. The creatures started to move. There were too many to attempt to follow, so I just tensed and prepared to deal with a sudden attack. I still couldn't quite believe I was seeing this for real, despite the many strange things that had happened to me, but it was at least clear that I could't let me guard down. The things started chanting something in a language I couldn't identify. There were three words, endlessly repeated. I realized that because of the sounds, but I had not a clue of what they meant. Or if it was even relevant.
"You are right. This is kind of like Alice In Wonderland." I said out of loud, to distract myself from all the incomprehensible things that had happened in the last minute. The Witch of this Barrier must have been in the center of the labyrinth, but I couldn't really assume logic would have anything to do with this place. It certainly hadn't yet. "Where do we go from here?"
"To the center." Kyoko quickly replied, and broke into a run. I took a moment observing her, instead of catching up to her. She was fast, really fast. No amount of physical training would make a human that fast, and it was apparently something natural to the transformed state. To being a Puella Magi. Still, I was far from a normal human as well. I took a deep breath, and ran. I soon caught up with her. I could have overtook her without much effort, but she was my guide here. Even if the path was straight, it could've changed in instant, and then I would've been completely lost. It vexed me, but until proven otherwise I need her to put herself in danger so I could deal with those creatures. I will do my best to make sure she didn't get hurt, and she had already survived a year against those things. She was not a child. But still, it was hard to deal with something like that. I couldn't help it. It was just how I was.
In the middle of the way, I noticed it because of that. What some have boiled down to killing intent, and the Servant System had called Eye Of The Mind. Simply instinct anybody can gain through training. The only way I was capable of making my way through the countless battles of the past twenty years, managing to surpass enemies of superior skill and strength. A change in the tune of the chanting, the sounds of the moving familiars and the crack it had made that indicated that something had took impulse and jumped. All of it served as the signal. I turned around, and threw Bakuya at the approaching enemy.
"What...!" The thing´s head popped out of the bushes, and Sakura's startled cry was drowned out by the sound of it's neck being decapitated by Bakuya, and the gushing of strange, blue-ish blood. Bakuya's edge was lightly coated by it as it spun back towards Kanshou. I grabbed it with my free hand without looking back. "How the fuck did you do that?"
"No time, I'll explain later." I said as I kept running.
We soon reached the center of the maze. In it, there was a creature. That... well. I honestly thought that Kyoko's inability to describe those things was because she was still a child, but yeah, they were really weird. The one before us was sort of like a bonfire, now that I thought about it. The details fit. Except it had been turned upside down, and between a small structure on the top of it there was a writhing, obviously living thing that reminds me of those dolls the Americans made for Bonfire Night of that person. Guy Fawkes, or something like that. It seems to be stuck in place, so this should be easy.
"So what else can you do, Shirou?" Kyoko dryly asked me, looking over her shoulder. Instead of answering, I threw them. I charged the swords to the brink with magical energy, and I threw them from both sides. Targeting the enemy's neck. The swords had no special abilities, but they were strong. They could even stand up against Saber's Excalibur. The moment they connected, the thing was dead...
One of those strange familiars jumped, riding some sort of twisted horse, and took the hit. Kanshou buried itself in the familiar's body, flinging it like a rag doll against the ground. As it hit the ground, it vanished, leaving Kanshou in the ground. Bakuya was unaffected by the sudden interference, but they were married blades. They would always seek each other. So, because Kanshou was on the ground, Bakuya changed direction and buried itself at it's side. I clicked my tongue, and projected them again.
More and more creatures jumped inside, riding horses, that chanting still continuing but now periodically broken up by child-like laughter. In an instant, the Witch was protected by a wall of familiars. No matter. Kanshou had not gone that deep inside that creature's flesh, and yet it had disappeared. Even thousands of those things would be nothing. I took a deep breath, and prepared myself to explode into action.
Kyoko took the lead, though. Despite the situation, I observed her without moving. She must have been capable of handling those things by herself to have survived for a whole year, so I didn't feel feel scared by letting her fight by herself. Even so, I had been far for comfortable with it. But there was no danger. If I noticed she was getting overwhelmed, I would intervene immediately. But she did indeed have that ability, as she quickly showed me. She expertly waved between the rushing familiars, twirling her spear at all angles, the sharp stinger-like point batting them away and destroying them. They far outnumbered her, and they were coming at her from all sides, but she didn't seem overwhelmed. Good. If she couldn't do that much, I wouldn't let her follow me into one of those things anymore, no matter what she said. After all, I already considering the possibility that she survived a year as a Puella Magi just because she didn't fight that much. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. The only thing that confused me was that her attacks were purely physical. She had talked about having the power of illusions, but she wasn't using it at all. Well, not like she needed it the way she was. Still, I decided to ask her later about it.
Now it was time to kill the Witch.
I broke into a run. Some of the familiars which were trying to dog-pile Sakura moved away from her and rushed at me. But even at a rush their speed was trifling. They couldn't possibly stop me ending it all in the next minute. The head of the Witch moved towards me, recognizing me as a threat yet again. It spat great, roaring fireballs out of the circular darkness it had for eyes. I stepped to the side, ducking my head. It hit the ground behind me and exploded. The force of the explosion didn't even reach me. I charged the swords to the brink with my magical energy.
"Divine skill, flawless and firm." I called out, and then threw them.
The Crane Wing Three Realm was unnecessary now, but I wasn't going to use it. Each verse of the chant served to reinforced the sword's already impressive qualities. Calling out the whole chant, Kanshou and Bakuya would probably be able to deal with even a Servant. The twin steel swords cut through the air in an instant, and sliced the Witch's head off. The head went flying, impacting the ground and exploded. The smoke soon dissipated, revealing some crawling things, vaguely like spiders. As they crawled on the ground, they left a trail of fire. I didn't care. In mid-run, I grabbed the Kanshou and Bakuya that had been left buried in the ground, amassing my strength and releasing it. I covered ten meters up in instant, ending up right in front of the empty space the head had left.
"Strength moves mountains." As I said the second verse, I overcharged the twin steel swords with magical energy, with far more than they could handle, turning them into Broken Phantasms. They buried themselves through it's chest, and then exploded. The explosion threw me back to the ground. I couldn't manage to keep my balance, so I hit the ground hard, losing my breath. My vision was lost in the great white light created by the explosion for an instant.
I looked up just in time to watch its death. The huge, headless doll of hay fell down as the structure that had been holding it together shattered, then hit the ground and broke upon impact. Those strange, crawling creatures spread all over it's corpse. Then the world around me twisted, swirled and then whited out. In the next instant, we were standing again in that warehouse, like nothing had happened. Something fell down on the ground in front of me, bounced, hit the ground again and rolled until the wall made it come to a stop. Kyoko was there by my side, breathing a bit unevenly but completely unharmed. I took a few steps forward, picked it up and closely examined it.
I could feel a considerable magical energy coming from it. It was somewhat similar to a Soul Gem, or at least to Kyoko's Soul Gem, except that it was smaller, has a tip lean and sharp as a scorpion's stinger and dark-looking energy was burning at the center. There was also an image in that center, nearly obscured by the energy. Some sort of archway. If it was a real place, I couldn't recognize it. I couldn't tell anything else, not that it had to do with anything beyond what I had already heard from Sakura.
"Hey, give me that, Shirou. I didn't use much energy today, but every Grief Seed is important." Kyoko said. I stopped turning it in my hand, and considered it. She had just said that it wasn't necessary, so it really wouldn't be a problem for me to hold onto it. I only had a half-sketched plan, but hopefully Tohsaka would extract something more than I could from this thing and give some direction. There was a danger to it, since it could've involved the Clock Tower, and if they learned about Puella Magi... Honestly, I didn't even want to think about it. But still, it was a good move, and one of the few possibilities I had at that point. Tohsaka was in London. It wouldn't take her much to get here, and as long as Kyoko didn't use any magic it would be all right.
"Do you mind if I hold on to this for a bit?"
"Eh? No, not really. But why?"
"I want to get to the bottom of this whole mess, so I need some time to examine this thing." I answered, only semi-honestly. "How does this work?"
"Well, I don't know how it works, exactly, but it absorbs the stain of the Soul Gem."
"I see." I said, and put it in a pocket. This was it, then. I saw the truth of it with my own eyes, killed a Witch and acquired what might be a key to revealing the mystery behind these strange creatures and the existence of Puella Magi. There was nowhere I could go on my own anymore. So, only one possibility remained. The only one who can lead me to the truth behind everything, the reason for such absurd thing.
I had to get it all out of that creature called Kyubei.