Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.
Different Fates
Chapter 13
"Hey Emiya…?"
"What?"
Two eleven year-old children were sitting on swings in a park, swinging back and forth. Both of them sported reddish hair rare among Japanese, but otherwise didn't look anything special. Just a pair of friends enjoying some time together…
"Have you ever thought about getting a girlfriend someday?" Ayako Mitsuzuri asked, and Shirou looked a bit exasperated.
"This again…?" he asked. "Mitsuzuri, you really need to give up on this. We're much too young for it."
Ayako just laughed at that. "Maybe…" she agreed. "…but you can't blame me for being curious. Anyway you didn't answer my question."
"Well…I don't think it'll be too bad…eventually…but I've never really thought about it to be honest."
"But you have thought about it…just a little?"
"Well…yeah I guess…"
"Then…" Ayako began with a small grin. "…what's your type of girl Emiya?"
"Huh?" Shirou said as glanced at her with his swing coming to a halt, Ayako's following suit soon after. "That's…private…"
"Eh? That's no fun." Ayako protested. "And besides: we're friends aren't we?"
"Hmm…" Shirou briefly mused before giving a sigh. "…you won't tell anyone else?"
"Of course not…" Ayako scoffed. "…it'll be our little secret. If you want to make it fair, I'll tell you all about 'prince charming' later on."
"Prince charming...really…?" Shirou echoed sceptically before giving another sigh. "…alright I'll talk."
"That's the spirit!" Ayako said with an even bigger grin. "Well…?"
"Wait I'm thinking…" Shirou stalled with a small blush, unable to look at Ayako in the eyes. "…let's see…um…well I was thinking…someone sweet and gentle with long hair…who cooks good…um…feminine I guess…? Yamato nadeshiko, I guess..."
"What?" Ayako suddenly interrupted. "That sounds like the complete opposite of me!"
"Huh…?" Shirou said, completely wrong-footed as he turned his eyes back to Ayako. "What does that have to do with anything?"
It was of course, the wrong thing to say. "Emiya you idiot…!" Ayako shouted as she punched him off his swing before storming off.
Shirou lay on his back for a while, rubbing at his chin, but when he caught sight of Ayako angrily storming off he quickly got to his feet. "Hey wait…!" he shouted as he ran after her. "Mitsuzuri wait! Mitsuzuri…!"
"Idiot…you idiot…" Ayako Mitsuzuri sleepily murmured, her eyes blinking open as she lay asleep on her arms on her desk in the kyuudo club president's office. They blinked once, twice, and then three times before she abruptly sat up with a blush on her face. Sighing, she ran a hand over her face.
"Well we work well together…" she thought to herself as she glanced at a wall-mounted clock. "…though I wonder if this is really healthy. I mean we just got together after that little argument and stuck together ever since but…that's not really…the 'normal' way to start a relationship…"
Sighing again, she shook her head as she collected her things. "Well normal or not when getting together…" she said softly to herself. "…I don't really see a reason to stop making it work so there's no need to think like this."
Making her way out of the kyuudo club, she paused and driven by some impulse hid herself as she briefly caught sight of Shirou leaving the school grounds with an unusually cold expression on his face. "Strange…" she thought. "…he doesn't look very happy. Did something happen? He certainly didn't look out of it earlier."
Briefly taking the time to think about it, she decided to quietly follow and see what had gotten into Shirou, and more importantly, what he was going to do about it.
I hope he doesn't do anything stupid.
The crowd milled with mixed curiosity, apprehension, and confusion outside the police line, policemen crouching behind cars and armoured vehicles while SWAT teams waited for the order to break in. Before them was a traditional-looking Japanese estate, albeit one that stuck out somewhat sorely in the heart of the downtown part of the city. It was also however, the home of one of the smaller and more disreputable yakuza families that called Fuyuki City home.
That same family had suffered some reverses lately, so much so that the police could actually do more than just token action against them. And unfortunately, one such police action – a search for suspected contraband on the premises – had pushed the latest head of the family a little too far, starting a siege that upon Ayako's arrival had lasted for four hours already.
Police helicopters flew by overhead, and they had in fact confirmed that the criminals were preparing for a last stand. And the police already knew that the fugitives had automatic weapons. The bodies of several dead policemen lying on the ground were proof of that.
Ayako looked around nervously as she stood in the crowd. She'd lost sight of Shirou as they'd come closer, and in her attempts to regain her bearing she'd somehow been pulled into the crowd.
The problem was…she just knew that this was what had drawn Shirou, like a flame draws a moth.
Unbidden, memories of a younger Shirou speaking about being a 'hero of justice' came to mind, and she swallowed dryly as more policemen began to push the crowd back. Apparently negotiations between the law and the fugitives had broken down, and the order had been given for the latter to be taken down at once.
Grenades were lofted over the low wall surrounding the estate, white clouds of smoke screening the SWAT teams as they used rams to collapse the wall and advance inwards. Gunfire erupted, ricocheting off of the SWAT troopers' assault shields as the fugitives opened fire from inside the main building. The policemen returned fire, the crowd breaking and fleeing in panic as police and fugitives exchanged fire with lethal intent.
Ayako found herself being bounced about as the people in the crowd tried to get away, curiosity turning to fear and terror. Initially she too was caught up in the crowd's fear, but control – the same control that allowed her to master the art of the bow – was quickly reasserted. Unwilling to risk falling and getting trampled, Ayako fought her way through the crowd and took shelter in the shadow of a police van. A nearby policeman spotted her and made to make her leave, but took one look at the panicking crowd and thought better of it.
He wasn't stupid. It only took one misstep, and anyone could get trampled, potentially fatally too.
"Keep down miss." He said instead. "Things are getting hot, and it won't do you good if you avoid getting trampled under only to get hit by a ricochet or a missed shot."
Ayako nodded, fully intending to follow the policeman's advice. "Of all the things to happen, why did I have to get caught in the middle of a riot?" she silently lamented while looking around her surroundings as best she could. "Shirou where are you? Why were you heading here? Don't tell me you're…?"
And then she saw it. Just the briefest flicker of light streaking through the early evening twilight, which most people would probably just dismiss as a trick of the air. But she'd seen the flicker before, albeit much closer.
It was an arrow streaking through the air.
Curious, she crept closer all the while staying under cover. She saw the flicker again, and then again. Following their direction she noticed that they were aimed at the building the fugitives were holed up in.
I want to be a hero of justice.
Ayako's eyes widened, and then she shrank back, shaking her head. Something…felt…off…it felt as though someone or something was…raking through her head.
You're merely seeing things.
There's no one there.
Just forget about it.
Ayako shook her head a few times, employing the mental exercises she used to attain perfect – or at least close to perfect – calm and control, usually when she needed to fire an arrow. And not just for an arrow, she also used them when she studied, supressing distractions and temptations alike, and other tasks that needed focus and concentration.
Ayako took a deep breath, withdrawing into a state of calm focus. She narrowed her eyes at the sensation of water sliding off of glass in her head, but after a moment it faded. She took a look around the van again, and saw the flickering once more. Periodic intervals between shots, and slight variations in trajectory: it was definitely an arrow.
She couldn't see the source, and again felt something cold in her head, but she just knew who it was. And to her mixed horror and amusement, she remembered certain…urban legends and gossip about random crooks and thugs getting shot by arrows in the act or even mysterious…incidents in the midst of police situations…and began to suspect that a certain someone was behind them.
Shirou Emiya balanced himself on the roof of a nearby apartment, using a black-painted compound bow to shoot arrows at the fugitives holed up in the building in the distance. The bow was an expensive Olympic model, given as a gift to him on his fifteenth birthday by 'grandfather' Raiga Fujimura. Shirou didn't know whether or not the old man knew of his activities, but regardless it was a welcome one.
And if he did know and intended to bribe Shirou to turn a blind eye to his own business…well he needn't really worry. Shirou had no reason to act against him, as while the Fujimura weren't saints by any stretch of the imagination – they were yakuza – they weren't quite villains either (especially when compared to some of their less reputable colleagues).
Shirou was grateful for the gift though. The bow was well-made, easier to use, easier to conceal, and offered superior penetration and firing rate over the longbow he used in kyuudo. The only downside of course, was the maintenance, which took longer and was more difficult.
As for arrows, Shirou had even used the bow to his advantage. Rin Matou had taught him the basics for mystic code crafting (and had told him that was all he was getting on the matter as more would require him to become a member of her family which was understandable no matter how he looked at it) and some bits and pieces about alteration. And he'd used all those to make his own arrows.
They weren't very special to be honest. Shirou just took a piece of coal and used alteration to create a carbon fibre arrow, adjusting stiffness, and length as needed. Ultimately they looked no different from normal arrows fired from any other compound bow. That is until Shirou actually needed to use them for his 'heroics'. When that time came, a bit of alteration gave their heads monomolecular edges, while reinforcement for his body and weapons alike meant he was confident he could shoot through tank armour if needed.
And right now, his arrows went through the stone walls of the building like hot knives through butter, and striking down the fugitives holed up inside. His only complaint in this situation was that while he could get the fugitives' general locations by simple inference based from where they fired their guns, he couldn't really guarantee perfect accuracy.
He wasn't a perfectionist by any stretch of the imagination, but he liked to do things right.
Still, no one was perfect.
Shirou reinforced an arrow, loaded it, pulled the bow back, aimed, and then fired. The arrow tore apart a fugitive's knee before burying into the ground. The man fell screaming, clutching at his ruined knee. The police had already taken the main building, and without line-of-sight Shirou didn't dare shoot into the building for fear of friendly fire. As such he was now simply keeping fugitives from escaping into the chaos.
Shirou retrieved an arrow from his case, reinforced and loaded it, and then aimed and fired. Another man fell screaming, and he nodded in satisfaction as the police finally showed up. He could kill if he had to, but if he could, he would show mercy and let the mundane authorities deal with the rest of the issue. As the police took charge, Shirou folded up his bow, loaded it into the case and closed it, and after making sure nothing was left behind, took his leave via the fire escape.
The main stairs would probably be covered by CCTVs, and while the amulets Rin had helped him craft would work on people directly, he doubted they would work indirectly i.e. people seeing him coming and going on a television screen. Still between his usage of real weapons now – in the past he'd used traced arrows – and the new mystic codes, his risking magic's exposure was at a 'normal' level.
Oh sure an entire urban legend had sprung up about him – the Archer of Winter for some strange reason people were calling him now – but it involved nothing about magic. Just a bow-wielding vigilante, nothing more and nothing less…
And as far as Rin and her grandfather were concerned, that was just fine. If anything the urban legend of a vigilante would actually help hide the fact that magic was involved, as people would focus on the vigilante aspect as a whole as opposed to its components. And that assumed that anything of magic could be seen. Shirou was already careful before his encounter with Rin, and with his mystic codes 'planting' suggestions in witnesses' minds (at least until they got up close and personal in which case they were capable of snuffing out entire memories) he and the other magi in the city were clear on the matter of secrecy.
Whistling to himself, Shirou walked out of the alley with his schoolbag slung over one shoulder and his weapons case in one hand, striding off to his part-time job.
"I'm home." Shirou said as he closed the front door of his house behind him. As he took off his shoes and put on his slippers he noticed another familiar pair of shoes besides Taiga's. He smiled at the sight, and made his way to the dining room. As expected he found Ayako helping Taiga preparing dinner.
"Welcome home." Taiga greeted him. "Dinner should be ready in a while, so why don't you go and get changed first."
"Okay…" Shirou agreed. "…will you two be alright?"
"Yeah, we can handle this."
"Okay then."
Shirou walked off, but Taiga noticed Ayako following him with her eyes. "Did something happen?" Taiga asked.
"Well no…not really…it's just that…" Ayako fumbled, and Taiga frowned.
"He's not cheating on you, is he?" she asked, and Ayako choked.
"No…!" she said. "He's not. And it wouldn't be like him to."
"Hmm…normally I'd say that you're too trusting but…this is Shirou we are talking about, so yeah. But if that's the case, what's the problem?"
"Um…well I'm not really sure it's a problem it's just that I think he's been keeping secrets from me or something like that…"
"Hmm…" Taiga mused, briefly taking her attention from the fish slices she was cooking. "…if he's been keeping secrets from you I'd say it's neither of our places to pry. Unless it's something illegal of course, but then again this is Shirou…"
Yeah, except he's been running around town as a vigilante…
"Well if it bothers you so much…" Taiga finally said, noticing Ayako's overly-thoughtful expression. "…why don't you go and talk to him about it? Just don't push too much alright? If you do, that'd probably end with a lover's quarrel."
Taiga winked at her, and with a nervous laugh Ayako went off to find Shirou.
Shirou stepped out of the toilet only to find his girlfriend leaning against the adjacent wall. "Oh hey…" he said. "…did I take too long?"
Ayako blinked and then shook her head. "No it's fine." She said. "I just wanted to talk for a bit."
"About what…?"
Ayako paused, instead spending the next few minutes simply staring at her boyfriend. Shirou tilted his head questioningly, and scratched a cheek uneasily. "Ayako…?" he asked, and she blinked again.
"Is…is there anything you'd like to tell me?" she finally asked, and Shirou blinked while looking taken aback.
"Not…really no…" he said, and Ayako slumped slightly. "Ayako…? What's wrong? What's all this all of a sudden?"
For a moment Ayako felt like lashing out, to accuse him of lying to her, of taking advantage of her…but she couldn't. She wasn't like that, and any of that was unfair to Shirou. He'd always been the perfect gentleman, and in hindsight their relationship was…well it still was him catering to her.
"Typical Emiya…" she suddenly thought. "…always placing others before himself. Now that I think about it…if he really is the Archer of Winter, then he probably knows how dangerous me knowing would be, or for that matter, even Fujimura-sensei. Is he trying to keep us safe by keeping us in the dark? It wouldn't be unlike him to think like that after all."
She shook her head and gave a smile for his benefit. "No, it's nothing." She finally said. "You know that I trust you, right? That's why I want to ask: do you trust me?"
"O-of course I do." Shirou said, looking taken aback again.
Ayako smiled wider. "Then just remember…" she said. "…if you ever need to talk, I'm here alright?"
"Alright…I guess…hey what's this all about?"
Ayako just grinned, now back to normal, and pointed to behind Shirou. He turned and was unpleasantly surprised by a glowering Taiga. "You…!" she growled angrily while grabbing by the collar and shaking him. For such a petite woman she had a lot of strength. "You've been cheating on Ayako-chan haven't you?"
"What? No…! Why would you even think that?"
"Liar…! Why else would Ayako-chan be this worked up, eh? I didn't bring you up to be a womanizer, no I certainly did not!"
"I have absolutely no idea what's going on! H-h-hey Ayako…!" Shirou cried out as his sister continued to shake him around like a rag doll. "Do or say something…!"
Ayako just laughed at his predicament. "Sorry Shirou…" she said while stepping into the toilet. "…but when you have to go, you have to go."
"Ayako…!"
"Let silver and steel be the essence." A girl with long silver hair said, her eyes closed as she stood on the edge of a glowing magic circle, one arm held out palm-downwards in front of her. Below the palm on the ground lay the medieval tome, bathed in the light of magic. "Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."
Zouken Matou watched silently as his granddaughter performed the summoning ritual for a Servant for the soon-to-begin Fifth Holy Grail War. It was still several months away, but considering the class they were aiming for, earlier was better to allow the Caster ample time to prepare materials and to set up shop. And he was fairly certain that the Einzbern would be summoning a Servant early as well.
If there was anyone currently alive – apart from Zelretch – who could take advantage of the system nearly as well as he could, it was Jubstacheit and his family in distant Germany.
As for Tohsaka…well Sakura Tohsaka was fairly well-connected, and she probably had a good catalyst at her disposal (or soon would), but she lacked the expertise to summon a Servant early.
It was all academic of course. Any magus worth the name would not hesitate to take any advantage they could get when the chance appeared. No one could really fault Zouken for throwing the dice early (or even twice not that anyone would know) just as he couldn't fault the Einzbern for planning to do so (probably).
"Let it be declared now: your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and truth. An oath shall be sworn here. I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven; I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell. From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance…!"
Three things immediately happened in quick succession. The first was the magic circle flaring blindingly-bright, which was supposed to happen. The second was for a humanoid figure to begin materializing in the middle of the circle. Again, this was supposed to happen.
What was not supposed to happen was a wrenching sensation tearing through his granddaughter – which he could feel to some extent through the worms inside of her – followed by an expression of pure horror to appear on her face. And not just on her face: even Zouken could feel himself quailing at the sheer emotion of his granddaughter at that moment.
This was not foreseen.
"ILLYA…!" Rin Matou screamed as she clutched at her head, crimson eyes wide and inexplicably filling with tears as she fell to her knees. "Illya…Illya…why…darling…why…our Illya…"
And just as abruptly Rin's eyes rolled back and she collapsed forward onto her Servant's feet. Zouken, in a rare moment of complete and utter stupefaction, could only gape at what had just happened. It was only broken when the Servant finally deigned to move.
He was – well Zouken assumed that the Servant was male – very flamboyantly dressed. His face for starters was concealed behind a featureless mask of gold – nothing too unusual about that magi were more than capable of using more than their normal senses to sense the world around them – along with a full bodysuit that wouldn't be out of place in a circus but less so on one of the greatest magi of the modern era, and finally a mantle of blue.
Again, this was not foreseen.
Zouken narrowed his eyes as Caster stroked his Master's hand, specifically the one with command spells, and then redirected his attention to the two dolls fussing over his unconscious Master. The Servant's head tilted to one side, regarding the two dolls. And then he just as quickly ran out of interest, instead picking up the tome used to summon him.
Rising to his feet, he spent the next few minutes perusing said tome, only raising a single finger to silence Zouken when he tried to address him. Zouken fumed at the slight, but decided against provoking the Servant. At length the Servant nodded, and closed the tome. For a moment he just placed a gloved hand over the tome, and then with a flicker of light restored it to its original condition.
The Servant nodded at Zouken, apparently in thanks for returning his (Caster's) material to him (or at least some of it), before said Servant picked his Master up and carried her away. Zouken stayed silent in the darkness, thinking and brooding.
"Well…" he finally thought. "…he's certainly as eccentric as his legend makes him out to be. Well so long as he's useful I don't really care."
The old man frowned he remembered the recent…incident. Apart from the fact that he had absolutely no inkling of that happening, the girl…her emotions were too…profound to be false. And while he'd no idea who 'Illya' or this 'darling' she'd mentioned were, he had his suspicions.
"Could she have inherited the previous vessel's memories along with her abilities?" he thought to himself. "Interesting…"
Zouken found himself smirking at the thought. If that was the case, then when this war ended he should look into gaining access to the Justeaze-series of homunculi's collective memories that his granddaughter had apparently inherited.
Nothing too intrusive at first of course…we wouldn't want to damage her ability to bear children after all…and we still have to see if it really is worth the effort…but once she's provided an heir and it turns out to be the case after all…
Zouken smirked. Yes, the Tohsaka material certainly was by no means defective.
A/N
Right, Ayako and shaking off mental interference, or at least a weak, long-range variation…it's called breathing and walking, a form of Thaumaturgy in canon that apparently doesn't need prana or magic circuits to work, instead relying on martial arts (among other Eastern disciplines) to produce similar effects to magic. I'm not saying she's a master – only about one of those appear in each generation according to the wiki – or even an adept, she only has a most basic application (through her kyuudo focusing exercises) that would shake off weak mental interference and spells (at least in my interpretation) and would be of no use against 'standard' spells and Servants (like Rider attacking her for prana in canon).
Care to guess who Caster is…? He's going to cause all sorts of shit to go down, considering he has a few months before the war begins to set up shop. And Rin has a…ahem, minor breakdown, no surprise considering that set of memories…
…Zouken being Zouken move along…
…last note: time-skip a few months from the previous chapter, we are now a few months before the fifth war. Just so you know the time setting.