AN: I will be out of town for a week, and have some other projects I want to work on, so once again there's gonna be a slightly longer delay between this and the start of Synchronized Body. Next chapter will probably be out before the end of the month, but no promises.

Fate/Far Side: Origami Blades

Epilogue

Vermillion Lotus

It was a forest that had appeared near the Russian-Estonian border where they had been, of all things, boating along Lake Peipus in relative obscurity.

It was a forest that had appeared.

Consuming the town they were due to dock at, Arc had inevitably been drawn to figure out what was going on—especially since it resembled something of her past. Of course, that had also meant visiting this mobile, man-eating forest with trees that wanted to eat mortal flesh.

"That's all just…impossible, agh," Shiki moaned, falling back on his butt. He wiped the sweat beading on his forehead away with his sleeve before replacing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "There's no end to them!"

Four days later, they were still cutting their way through the growth. Though they had traversed more distance than made up the entire town, they still had not found the center of the forest, and Shiki had the sneaking suspicion that it was moving along with them, right out of some fantasy novel he'd read years before.

"Feh," Arcueid puffed her cheeks, "you didn't have nearly as much trouble with Nero!"

"All of those things came at me at once!" Shiki said. "I can handle that! This thing is endless!"

Indeed, the Forest of Einnashe was more like a swarm than individual creatures, a mass of mortal-consuming monstrous plant-life. Arcueid assured him that it was a singular entity, and if so, Shiki thought it might be comparable to a squid with many, many limbs. And omnidirectional senses. And no discernible anatomy. And all-in-all a pain in the ass.

Arc's pout only increased. "Where's that sexy beast that didn't even flinch when facing Nero? When facing Roa? You're just holding back on purpose."

"Arrrrgg!"

Shiki's frustrated cry seemed to please the whispy trees before them, and one seemed to loom closer, its branches swaying toward him, like a hand reaching out—

Flames suddenly consumed the tree, like a lightning strike from a wayward storm. It tore into the thing with a scream, and the tree itself screamed as if capable of speech, the dying throes of a defeated predator.

Shiki rolled back up to his feet, following Arc's gaze back the way they had come. Trees all around them were now aflame—

Lighting two figures in their midst.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Rubbing his eyes, Shiki put his glasses back on, sure he was seeing things. But through the magical lenses, even after blinking back the light-spots caused by the sudden flames, what was before him was reality: his sister, and another. "Akiha!" he shouted, his mind overloading with too many questions.

She stepped out into the clearing Shiki and Arc had created a moment before, the dancing flames on the trees surrounding them showing the way. With her, another man, his own eyes peering deeper into the forest despite the bright flames and dark shadows beyond.

"Nii-san," she said. "Glad to see you're still alive."

Her companion continued to speak, his voice echoing through the woods. "Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

"How did you find us?" Shiki asked, still staring up at his sister dumbly.

Grinning, Akiha peered further into the forest, then back the way they had come. "You're an idiot. I'll always be able to find you if you're in danger."

"I have created over a thousand blades."

Arc was watching Shirou oddly, her head tilted to one side, frowning. "You know that this forest isn't going to let you do magic, right? If you're a magician, you'll find yourself blocked."

"Unaware of loss, nor aware of gain."

Akiha smiled as Shirou concentrated on his aria, on the world he was going to deploy. What the blond woman said was right, and it was wrong. Shirou certainly would be blocked, but…

And then, perhaps, you can face the beasts outside as well.

"Who exactly is that?" Shiki watched the other young man as he continued forward, his gait unchanged even as the trees loomed over him, ready to devour.

"Withstood pain to create many weapons."

Akiha said, "He's…my special someone." She paused, trying the words out on her lips. Indeed, they somehow felt holy upon her lips, as if somehow uttering them would evoke a spell of magic like his. They felt foreign to her, still, not something she was used to quite yet.

But…

He's someone who needs me.

They felt right, even if not yet settled in her head.

"Imouto-chan's boyfriend?" Arc said, tilting her head.

"Yet these hands may never hold anything."

Akiha smiled at Arcueid's words, smiled as Shirou's spell rang out. No, Shirou, they do. So long as you keep being you…

"I have no regrets, this is the only path."

She closed her eyes, reached for the warmth within her, outside of her, a part of her yet not. She opened that warmth, felt the prana within roar like a beast, felt it suffice every nerve in her body with heat inescapable. Before, she had contained it, had aimed it at her targets, but now, she let it completely consume her, ignite within her.

"My whole life has been—"

The black coloring she kept in her hair burnt away, burnt a fiery red, burnt away her former appearance. Akiha channeled that fire from her other, through the connection her soul now kept with Shirou's—

The Forest of Einnashe was an illusion, only capable of being destroyed by a greater mystery.

No haunted forest could compare to dreams of dragons, and demons, and swords.

"—Unlimited Blade Works."

Fire ran about them, around them, and from that fire came the blades it forged.

Origami Blades, Fin