Shirou sighed as he stood in front of a decrepit wooden door, the iron hinges that supported the door looked as if they were going to shatter at any moment. Despite these qualms, Shirou felt strangely limpid, the once desiccated trees were nurtured by the love of mother nature and began their beautiful cycle of life once again. Shirou absorbed the serenity of the scenery and took a deep breath, tasting the essence of life at consistent intervals. To assure himself of the situation, he closed his eyes and began to talk to himself.
"There's no reason to be so hesitant... but, I'm getting a strange aura from the church..."
Shirou paused, as if something was going to explode, but all of that was an illusion he built within himself. Carefully, he opened up the door, it moaned as the air from outside swept in like an invisible flood. He listened, the air rushed around him, battering his ears with its dull thuds. There was a strange aura filling the church, as if someone, or something was going to pounce out from the creeping darkness. Shirou checked his watch, in an eerie viridian incandescence, the time flashed on.
"12:32..."
He looked around, the stone pillars that stood up against the world seemed to be slowly triturating. The wooden pews that would have held up hundreds to a congregation were rife with fissures, creating irregularities on the normally smooth surface. The limestone floor remained unchanged, as if the house of Christianity was devoid of anyone willing to taste its fruits. Years of disrepair affected this building, nothing was done for the house even though he was sure that someone was inside. The roof with the crisscrossing wooden architecture was best defined as troubled for if one were to antagonize the building anymore, he/she would say that this church, this holy ground, was abandoned years ago. The lie was not too distant from the truth. In fact, if a humble man such as God himself were to come inside this church, he would be offended.
"Hello?"
Silence seemed to be louder than anything for Shirou, he could hear the dull ring in his ear because of an combination of fear and wonder. His heart began to throb, he was expecting some man to appear with a jovial attitude and accept him wholeheartedly. There was no one, not a single living organism besides the pests that periodically occupied the structure.
Shirou took a couple steps inside, slowly inching towards the front where he finally could see around the stone stair case that led to some obscure location. Flames flickered as an object stood in front of them, silently standing. This figure was not the type of person he was expecting, no response from the object compelled Shirou to think that this person was lifeless. He took a couple more steps, he grew increasingly hesitant to approach the person.
"Father Gabriel Seraph?"
Shirou could somewhat see the person standing in front of him. The fires danced around 'Father Seraph,' who was fixated on a single stain-glass window. His long priest gowns flowed to the floor as they looked as if they were on fire. The hood that covered his head gave the image of a death reaper rather than a man of the church. Through the soft illumination from the candles, he could see a six-winged angel standing before a king.
"Father Seraph?"
Shirou tread lightly for he was worried there were some traps or something that would attack him at that very moment. The atmosphere was so thick that it slowly choked him, making him even more alert for any movement. Father Seraph moved, he pointed to a large padded pew that was situated in the back of the church, facing the opposite direction. It seemed that the location he pointed to was where the choir would spread their glorious music. Shirou was sure something was wrong, he hastily entombed his hand within his trench coat. Energy flowed through his body, he "saw" a green beam fly down across a dashboard. The small hiss erupted from his coat synchronized with a dull saffron light. Now equipped with a weapon, Shirou advanced forward, towards the priest.
"Shirou Emiya, in the house of God, such tools are forbidden."
Father Seraph's voice startled Shirou, Shirou could only question himself at these times. He wondered how old Father Seraph was because he was sure he heard a small child's voice. The pitch was too high for a grown man to have normally. He pulled his hand out of his jacket, the weapon he created through the power of 'tracing' appeared perfectly stable. There were irregularities in the crafting, no imperfections. Light traveled to and from it at perfect vectors, displaying the entire spectrum of colors from the light. Shirou closed his eyes and closed his hand completely. The stable dagger he was holding disappeared the same way it had appeared. Rather than situating himself in the accommodation that Father Seraph had prepared for him, he chose to sit in one of the long lines of broken pews.
"Magus, do you not trust me?"
Shirou bitterly remembered his own adventures around the European continent, he remembered the way he was treated in the past by the Vatican. Such animosity overflew his emotional cortex, he remembered that after that day, he swore something... Something better not mentioning.
"Father Seraph, I cannot say that I can trust you, but I assume the feeling is mutual. Am I wrong?"
"No, no you're not."
Father Seraph turned around, the back lighting from the tallow wax candles made it physically impossible for Shirou to discern his features. To Shirou, Father Seraph looked like the Cheshire cat, but without even his eyes.
"If that's the case..."
Shirou quickly traced a triplet of small throwing dagger in his hand, light blossomed out like a fountain. Shirou caught a glimpse of Father Seraph's face and instantly knew what to do. He raised his hand to his shoulder, holding a dagger in each of the grooves in his sturdy hand. Just as fast as he had done so, he zeroed in and drove them as hard as he could humanly do at Father Seraph. Father Seraph didn't move, he didn't even attempt to dodge them because he knew exactly what Shirou's intentions truly were. The daggers flew past Father Seraph, blowing out the candles that created the back lighting behind him. Two of the daggers stabbed into the stone pillars located in the back while the third one clattered onto the floor. Father Seraph's face was not any more visible, but the entire church was now wrapped around the fate of a single candle. Shirou bitterly faced Father Seraph, his eyes were filled with murderous intent, his hands shook at the thoughts that came into his head.
"What have you done with Father Seraph?"
Father Seraph approached the single candle and held in his hands as if he were protecting this small light from the pervasive eyes of the world.
"What do you mean what have I done with Father Seraph?"
Shirou was getting impatient, he traced two more daggers and kept one in each of his hands before getting into a ready stance. He inched his left foot back, scraping the stone floor as his boot rolled over.
"Since when did a Father have the eyes of a killer?"
Father Seraph chuckled, his face was completely consumed by the darkness, the hood covering him did not improve the atmosphere. Shirou looked around, he assumed a man such as this was a little more intelligent than to fight against a Magus without proper preparations.
"Since when did an ally threaten his kin?"
Shirou didn't know how to respond, this person was being excessively arrogant, as if he knew exactly how to fight Shirou. The man walked down the stairs, settling in front of the podium where the moonlight coming from the stained glass window did not touch. A cloak of darkness was thrown over him as he suspiciously moved around. Shirou raised his daggers, cursing the fact that he couldn't use magic to see clearer. The man arrogantly spoke down to Shirou.
"I have to say... You're right about one thing."
The man slowly rose, the moonlight revealed to Shirou's eyes that he had taken off the hood, revealing himself slowly.
"A Father does not usually have these kind of eyes."
When the man completely stood up, Shirou was caught so off guard that he nearly dropped the daggers he was gripping onto for dear life. Shirou angrily spoke, looking up into the moonlit figure's crystal blue eyes.
"Who are you? And what in the hell happened to Father Seraph?"
The person looked maliciously at Shirou, the evidence proved that he, was actually a she. Her voice finally matched that of her figure, rather than being some little child that Shirou had thought Father Seraph was. She spoke caustically.
"Hell is a place you'll be in touch with eventually."
Shirou frowned, his mouth slowly twitched as the intense hatred he felt for this woman increased. Even so, Shirou did not exhibit any emotions, he remained an empty face.
"Then, by the power of the Magi Association and the Vatican, I will kill the person who murdered Father Seraph."
The woman with crystal blue eyes sat on the podium, her legs flew eloquently danced in the air as they battered the podium.
"If you wish to kill me, go ahead and try."
Shirou was done with reserving his emotions, he was finished with trying to remain in control of the situation. He apologized to Rin for failing to keep his emotions in check, but frankly, he was more than happy to feel like this. Shirou nearly jumped out before catching himself. Her cold eyes made it clear that she was not scared, she was rather amused by this strange man barging into the church.
"What did you do with Father Seraph?"
The woman smiled and spoke coldly to Shirou.
"Who says I did anything with him?"
"Then why isn't he here?"
"He isn't here... because he never existed."
Shirou frowned, he made the daggers disappear. At the same time, the woman seemed to be a little disappointed and reclined back over the podium. As the saffron fire bugs seemed to die out, Shirou was completely stumped.
"What do you mean he never existed?"
The woman spoke in a matter-of-factly attitude, as if the entire world's knowledge had been forfeited over to her. According to Shirou, only one person was allowed to act that way, and that person was Rin Tohsaka.
"Simply put, there was no Father Seraph. I chose the name."
"Then who are you?"
"My name is is Taremis Seraph. To you, I prefer being called Sister."
--- This chapter is made just for The Accursed Scribbler, though this style is nicer than the Japanese "light novel," it is a little slow... I have to say that because I checked recently, through the power of adding details and small bits and pieces, I'm only half-way through on what would have been the 4th chapter in the other one. That is a little scary since there are around 32 chapters in the other... Oh well, tell me if you like this style more or not.
A.S style - description driven, more in flow with the characters, slower flow of story
DTSX style - plot driven, characters could use a little work, story changes quickly