Disclaimer: I do not own Zero no Tsukaima, Kekkaishi, Fate Stay Night, Flame of Recca or any of the ideas I base from them and other anime, books and other literature that seem familiar, and I am borrowing them purely for entertainment purpose only.
Chapter 1: Denial of Contract
"Aoi-chan, are you alright?!"
Ever the loving and caring big brother, the first thing that Saito did when regained consciousness was to check on his little sister who was lying on the grass beside him, her eyes closed, her body still and unmoving.
"Aoi-chan!"
For a moment, dread filled the heart of the elder of the Hiraga siblings. The next moment, he let out a sigh of relief.
Thank Kami... she's alive.
As it turned out, his younger sister was fine, and was merely sleeping, unconsciously curling into a position that made her more comfortable.
Where are we?
Now that he was sure that Aoi was alright, Saito turned his attention towards their surroundings.
When the green distortion sucked the two of them in, there was only one thing which Saito expected: that he would die, and that the face of his beautiful sister would be the last thing he ever saw, the warmth of her lips the last thing he would ever feel.
He did not expect to wake up lying on a grassy field, nor did he expect to be surrounded by smoke.
?!
Suddenly, Saito felt a chill run down his spine.
His instincts, which had been honed by years of fighting experience, many of which occurring when he was stalki- protecting his sister from a distance, suddenly started acting up, screaming at him a message that can be summed into one word: danger.
The smoke was starting to clear, and now Saito could see the silhouette of what appeared to be people surrounding them.
Saito had never been the most brilliant of minds, yet when it comes to matters regarding his sister's safety, his thinking abilities could probably surpass even that of Einstein's.
And right now, his mind was swiftly analyzing and putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
A distortion, which turned out to be a portal of some sort, the magical energy of which was focusing on him.
Someone who could use magic, and thus managed to produce such a distortion.
Crap. There is no way this can be a mere coincidence.
Saito had very little doubt in his mind. Someone must have targeted him, and the fact that they had gone through all these preparations means that it must be someone who had a grudge against him.
Someone... or 'someones.' thought Saito bitterly. With the number of enemies he had made when he was in 'overprotective big brother mode,' it was hard to determine who it was, or how many decided to act in vengeance.
Saito, despite trying to keep the fact that they could use magic, had not been able to restrain himself from using it against those who wish to do his sister harm. Still, he had been careful in using it, doing so as subtly as possible.
He thought that no one would notice.
It seems that he was wrong.
Someone must have realized that he was using magic, and now, as payback, they were using magic against him. Though he had never fought anyone in a magical battle before, aside from his spars with his sister, Saito could not help but theorize that there was someone aside from the two of them who could use it.
This is bad.
There were very few things that can rattle Hiraga Saito. In fact, his will was so strong that he was not even afraid of losing his own life.
However, that was before he realized that the feelings between him and his sister were mutual.
Now, he was terrified of the thought of dying.
However, it was for a reason different from most people.
Saito had become Aoi's happiness.
Therefore, if Saito dies, Aoi would lose her happiness.
And that is something which Saito did not want to happen.
Saito now feared for his own life, but it was for Aoi's sake.
But then, if it was a choice between his life or Aoi's... he did not even need to think about it.
As he pondered a bit more on their current predicament, Saito suddenly saw a silver lining.
It was very likely, but it has not yet been confirmed whether or not it was someone who had a grudge against him who was responsible for their predicament.
Also, while it is true that Saito could feel some malice coming from those around him, none of them seemed to be aimed at him or Aoi.
And if it was someone with a grudge against Saito...
Their quarrel is with me, not with Aoi. The nature of the spell cast proves that. I won't let her get involved.
Making his decision, Saito kissed Aoi on the lips, before he removed the coat he was wearing and wrapped it around his girlfriend. Then, concentrating on the area where his girlfriend was sleeping peacefully, Saito cast a spell on it so that it would look like there was nothing there.
I can never cast it as well as she can, but it'll have to do.
Being outnumbered would normally not have been an issue for Saito. After all, he was used to fighting multiple opponents at the same time, and he was actually responsible for giving local gangsters in their area the beating of their lives.
But the fact that there was someone among the ones he would be facing who could cast such powerful magic that could force them to a different location, makes thing much more complicated... and dangerous.
But Saito knew that it was the only way...
Even when it comes to magic, Saito, overall, was inferior to his sister.
However, if there was one aspect of magic in which he could match his sister.
It was using spells for offensive purposes.
In truth, his sister, as Saito found out, was just as good at fighting as he was, and in this case, they would probably put up a better fight if they did so together.
However, Saito chose not to wake up Aoi. The situation they were in was confounding and uncertain, but by hiding Aoi from view, if worse comes to worse, at least even if he died, his sister would have the chance to escape and survive.
He will be the one to take the front. He will be the one to act as the decoy. And in case the first part of his plan fails, which is staying alive himself, he will be the one to sacrifice.
This is for the best.
?!
Suddenly, Saito felt a surge of energy, and in the next moment, an unnatural gust of wind blew around him, and the smoke was swiftly being cleared away from the area.
For a split second, Saito thought that perhaps it would have been better if he had instead opted to escape with Aoi earlier, using the smoke as cover.
However, it was too late for that now.
Besides, cover is useless if one is surrounded from all sides in open space like this. And unlike the other times, this smoke is not my friend since I was not the one who threw the smoke bomb or whatever it was that caused it. It is too risky to move about in such a condition.
Here we go, thought Saito grimly, bracing himself, as the smoke was completely blown away and the world around him came fully into view.
And his worst fears were confirmed.
xxxXXXxxx
In front of Saito stood a girl wearing a black cloak, whose facial expression was one which seemed to be a mixture of shock and confusion. With her reddish-brown eyes, snow-like skin and strawberry colored hair, Saito would have thought she was kind of cute, even if she would never be as beautiful as Aoi in his eyes.
However, right now, what Saito was looking at was not at her face nor what she was wearing, but rather, at what she was holding in her hands.
A wand.
Had Saito been just a normal average person who had not been exposed to the supernatural, he would have probably thought that it was nothing but a stick.
However, that was not the case. Saito had years of experience practicing magic, and thus, while he was not an expert, he could tell that the stick held some magic.
?!
And then, to add to his horror, Saito realized that the pinkette was not the only one holding a wand. Most of the people around him and his hidden sister seemed to be holding one as well, and the few who did not have wands... were holding staves.
Crap.
The group did not have a magic user with them.
Every member of the group was a magic user.
Things were even worse than he originally thought.
On the inside, Saito was shaken, but he stamped down on his own fear, not allowing it to take root, his desire to protect his sister too great for a little bit of fright to deter him.
I can't give up! I can't fall yet! I have to protect Aoi!
With this thought in mind, Saito decided to initiate his plan.
Or at least, he would have...
"Louise failed the familiar summoning spell... again..."
"Summoning a plebeian as a familiar? Disgusting."
"No surprises there..."
"She really is a zero..."
"But to summon a commoner as a familiar, of all things..."
Saito froze like a statue.
He recognized the language that was used. It was the same as Aoi's first dialect.
This fact, however, was not what caused him to freeze, but rather, what the mages around him were talking about.
From the conversations he had heard from around him, it was now apparent to Saito that his 'enemies taking vengeance' theory was false.
Having studied a lot of books about magic, Saito knew that a mage would usually have an animal companion known as a familiar.
According to the books there were many ways to acquire a familiar, but there were three which were the most prominent.
The first one, is to find an animal and bind it.
The second was to construct or create a familiar.
The third, was the use of summoning.
And it seems like Saito fell under the third category.
When it comes to summoning, Saito knew that there were two main factors that could greatly affect it.
If one wants a specific familiar, say for example an eagle, then they must use a catalyst, which could range from feathers, skins, or the like. For more powerful mages who want more powerful familiars like say, a hero from the past, they would need to have something that once belonged to said hero.
However, if a mage wants a familiar that is truly compatible with themselves, then they need not try and find a catalyst: the catalyst for the summoning will be none other than the mage himself/herself.
Saito was not sure whether or not the one who summoned him, as he knew now, used a catalyst or not.
While it was likely that the summoning was accidental, the objective of the ones who summoned him and his sister was still malevolent... perhaps even more malevolent than any of the enemies Saito had.
His enemies either wanted him dead or suffering.
The girl who summoned him wanted him to become her slave, which was even worse.
However...
If I agree to become her familiar, then they might leave Aoi alone. They probably don't even know about her.
Analyzing things in his mind with speed that was normally impossible for him except when it concerned Aoi, Saito decided that this was the better option compared to acting as a decoy.
After all, protective brother though Saito was, he still tried to avoid fighting if possible.
Right. I guess I'll play along... for now.
The pink-haired female named Louise who had apparently summoned Saito started walking towards him until they were about a meter apart.
"Who are you?" The girl named Louise asked.
"Hiraga Saito," was Saito's curt reply.
"Where are you from commoner?"
Ah yes, commoner, thought Saito in disgust. In truth, he was not sure whether they were summoned to a different part of the world, to a parallel world, or was summoned backwards in time (by the look of scenery, it was unlikely that they were summoned to the future.).
However, from the way that people were talking, it was obvious to Saito that there was a hierarchy system in place, and the prejudice and discrimination that comes along with it.
He was just deciding on how he should respond but was spared from doing so when one of the girl's fellow mage started taunting her again.
"Louise, what were you thinking, calling a commoner with 'Summon Servant'?" the person said with a laugh.
"I... I just made a little mistake!" The pinkette shouted in retort.
Unfortunately, it only encouraged the others to taunt her even more.
"What mistake are you talking about? Nothing unusual happened."
"Of course! After all, she's Louise the Zero!"
Saito grimaced. He was now almost one hundred percent certain that this was no conspiracy or attempts by those who hate him to have their vengeance on him. It was all just an accident.
However, that did not bring him any comfort at all. Having absentmindedly looked up at the sky while the girl continued to argue with her peers, Saito was shocked when he saw the moon.
Or rather, two moons, up in the sky.
So that means that being summoned to another part of the world is no longer a possibility, Saito thought grimly, as realized that the best of the worst possible scenarios was no longer a possible scenario.
"Mr. Colbert!"
"What is it that you want from me, Miss Vallière?"
"Please! Let me try the summoning one more time!"
"I cannot allow that, Miss Vallière."
"Why not?"
"It is strictly forbidden. When you are promoted to a second year student, you must summon a familiar, which is what you just did."
"Your elemental specialty is decided by the familiar that you summon. It enables you to advance to the appropriate courses for that element. You cannot change the familiar once you have summoned it because the 'Springtime Familiar Summoning' is a sacred rite. Whether you like it or not, you have no choice but to take him."
"But... I've never heard of having a commoner as a familiar!"
"This is a tradition, Miss Vallière. I cannot allow any exceptions; he may be a commoner, but as long as he was summoned by you, he must be your familiar. Never in history has a human been summoned as a familiar, but the Springtime Familiar Summoning takes precedence over every rule. In other words, there is no other way around it; he must become your familiar."
"You have got to be joking..." The girl drooped her shoulders in disappointment
"Well then, continue with the ceremony."
"With him?"
"Yes, with him. Hurry. The next class will begin any minute. How much more time is this summoning going to take? After mistake upon mistake, you have finally managed to summon him. Hurry and form a contract."
Saito watched as the pinkette who summoned him continued to argue with her teacher, which in turn, helped in the continuous rise of his temper. While he would normally have felt pity for a girl being taunted and bullied, he found that he could not feel any for this one at all.
These creeps have no respect for fellow human beings. I guess they really are mages after all.
In many of the anime, books and stories of mages that Saito had read, there was one which he considered as his favourite because of its theme and philosophies. And in that favourite series of his, magi are depicted as people who see humans as something beneath them.
Normally, Saito would not have liked such a story. However, its main protagonist was somewhat similar to Saito and Aoi, who are not mages, but simply humans who have the ability to use magic.
Still, even though he was quite angry at the mages around him, Saito, for Aoi's sake, decided to control his temper, and remained silent, opting instead to continue observing intently, filing away the details in his mind for later use.''
"Hey," The pink-haired banshee said as he approached Saito.
"Yes?"
"You should count yourself lucky. Normally, you'd go your whole life without a noble doing this to you."
All throughout the ordeal, Saito's face had not changed from its usual clueless and carefree expression. Even though he was not as good at maintaining a poker face as Aoi was, he was still quite adept at hiding his true emotions.
At the girl's declaration, however, Saito could hardly restrain himself.
Consider myself lucky because a bitchy noble mage decided to summon me to who knows where and make me her slave?! You've got to be kidding!
Still, Saito, with enormous effort, managed to keep calm. Focusing on the fact that it was he, and not Aoi, in this position brought him some comfort.
"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being and make him my familiar."
As the girl chanted the words over and over while waving her wand, Saito was continue repeating one thought in his mind
Endure it for Aoi's sake. Endure it for Aoi's sake. Endure it for Aoi's sake!
The pink-haired banshee with a deceivingly cute face touched Saito's forehead. Then her lips drew slowly closer.
Saito already knew what was going to happen next. He was, after all, of a number of ways familiar contracts are sealed, and from the girl's actions, he realized exactly what method she was applying.
The one method that he had been hoping would not be used.
Had Saito been single and did not know what it is like to truly love someone, such an experience would probably have been somewhat pleasant.
However, that was not the case.
Saito knew what it truly means to love someone. And doing this, even if it was with good reason, even if Aoi did not know about it, even though Saito knew she would understand if he told her, to him, he still saw it as a form of betrayal.
Crap!
Saito tried to take a step backwards.
What is this?!
To his horror, he realized his body had gone numb.
That incantation! It wasn't just for show! Saito, realizing this fact, flared up his magic to counter the effects of the enchantment.
However, while he could feel the enchantment losing its hold on him, the process was too slow. He wanted to use a spell to throw the girl off him, yet the one used on her by the girl was some kind of subtle compulsion, and was preventing him from attacking her at the moment.
"H-hey, isn't there another way to complete the contract?" Saito asked in a panicked voice, but the pinkette ignored him, her face getting closer, their lips now less than an inch apart.
Suddenly, Saito felt a surge of magical energy come from behind him, and along with it, he felt the effect of the pinkette's chant lifted from him.
Just as his lips were about to connect with the pink-haired banshee's, Saito, now in full control of his actions, jumped away from the girl's grasp.
Damn her. The contract, it doesn't just control a person's actions, it also manipulates their feelings!
Saito was furious about the incident, both at the person who tried to enslave, and at himself for foolishly thinking that he knew everything about familiars.
He had expected that the familiar contract would force him to comply with the master's orders, yet he never expected that it could affect even his own personal judgement and emotions.
He was just about to cast one of his own spells on the girl, but someone beat him to it.
"Kazadama." A female voice intoned.
A ball of condensed air hit said banshee straight in the chest, lifting her up in the air before slamming her into a nearby tree.
It was Hiraga Aoi, his adopted younger sister, as well as his girlfriend.
To most people, the expression on the girl's face would seem calm and neutral.
"Aoi-chan?" The raven-haired male gulped.
To Saito, however, who knew her better than anyone... the look on her face...
Was absolutely feral.
xxxXXXxxx
Seven years. It had been seven years since then, since Hiraga Aoi came into the world. In truth, she was actually fifteen years old, yet to her, the time when they first met was the time when she was born, the time when she truly became alive.
...
"From this day forth, you are my imouto, my little sister. You are now my other half. Everything I own is now divided between us."
...
Aoi still remembered it, the words which her brother told her when she first arrived at their new home. A girl without any memories aside from the time she first woke up, who did not know how to speak or understand the local language at the time, she was glad when she realized there was someone who could understand her, and the very first words spoken to her which she understood truly touched her heart.
Glad to have finally found someone who could understand her, it was a little later, once she started learning Japanese, did she realize that it should not have been possible for them to talk, since they were both speaking a completely different language. Still, it did not matter to her that much.
To have loving parents and a loving brother, Aoi, at the time, was already content with her life.
Sadly, nothing ever stays the same.
Once she had hit eleven, their parents had them sleeping in separate rooms. Since that time, even though they were living under the same roof, the two of them rarely spoke to each other. And as the years went by, her brother seemed to grow more and more distant.
At first, Aoi was upset with the changes, thinking that her brother did not love her anymore. However, during one particular incident, she realized just how wrong she was.
On that night, while their parents were away on a business trip, her brother returned home drunk for the first time despite being underage due to a prank.
Alcohol can have different effects depending on people, yet it is said that someone who is drunk is likely to be more honest than someone who is not... and thus, her older brother ended up confessing everything to her, both in action and in words.
It was not that Aoi's brother did not love her anymore, it was just that her brother loved her as more than just his sister. He loved her as his imouto, yet at the same time, he loved her as a woman.
In his muddled state of mind, Saito told Aoi everything. About what he had done, about what he thought of Aoi, about what he thought of himself. It was then that Aoi discovered why she always felt as if there was someone watching over her, even though she could take care of herself, and why her brother had become so distant... and it made her realize her own feelings which she harboured for her brother, her big brother who she also loved as more than just a brother.
After a long and gruelling trial, the two of them are finally together as lovers, yet even now, Aoi still held one little secret. Due to the fact that he was drunk, her brother does not remember, but on that same night when she confirmed Saito's true feelings for her, her brother had forced himself upon Aoi, and while he did pull back in the end and did not take her innocence at the time, he had actually taken her first kiss, and had been dangerously close to taking her purity, which was only one thrust away.
Aoi, in all honesty, despite liking Saito, was actually frightened at the time. However, now that she looked back, she was kind of glad that it happened. Had it not been for that incident, she would never have discovered that her brother loved her and did not hate her. Had she not known the truth, there was a chance that she never would have found the courage to pursue the feeling she had for her brother no matter what.
If it wasn't for that incident, the two of them would have fallen apart before they could even begin.
And aside from that, now that she thought about it, it was because of that incident that all of her brother's first times belonged to her, including his first kiss.
However... that did not make her any less angry or upset when her brother kissed another woman, and there were two females in particular who tried to the exactly that, the former succeeding while the latter almost succeeded.
The first one, Haruka Misawa, the girl Saito dated, Aoi had been able to forgive. She was, after all, someone who did harbour the same feelings Aoi had for Saito. And aside from that, having a logical mind, Aoi knew that from the other girl's point of view, she was the one at fault. They did not know each other personally, but still, the fact that she was willing to let Saito go because she wanted him to be happy earned her Aoi's respect, and she was actually feeling a bit guilty because of it.
The second one though... was a different case altogether.
"Kazadama."
With a monotonous voice, Aoi chanted her spell and pointed her finger at her, summoning a compressed ball of air and sent it at her intended target, who was sent crashing into a nearby tree.
Unforgiveable...
Aoi could not forgive the girl in front of her. With senses better than that of her brother when it comes to energy signature, she recognized right away that the pink-haired female was the one who used that spell which took them away from their home.
Unforgiveable...
To make matters worse, whether the summoning or intentional or not, the girl was trying to bind her brother, the wench was trying to steal Saito from Aoi, to turn him into a familiar and make his life miserable.
Unforgiveable!
Even up to now, Aoi seemed to have been able to maintain her composure. There was no visible change in her expression, nor was there any noticeable change in her body language. If there were any, only one person in existence would be able to notice them.
And yet, even if there was no visible change in her demeanour, Aoi's actions gave her away.
Not satisfied with the initial result of her spell, she did not dispel the Kazadama, and continued to plow it into the pinkette without mercy, blood starting to flow from the already unconscious girl's mouth, as the force of the air broke her ribs and spinal column in the process, the tree where she had been pinned to by the ball of wind cracking from the pressure.
Screams of terror coming from the onlookers could be heard.
"Hey, Aoi-chan, isn't that a bit too much?"
Even her brother seemed to be slightly disturbed by the brutality she displayed.
Aoi ignored him. She cared about his safety and she loved him, true, but she will not listen to him on this matter, not until she was satisfied that the weight of the punishment dished out was equivalent to the pain the offender had caused and was planning to cause.
Aoi had always been a quiet person, who preferred to speak through actions rather than words. And right now, she was pissed beyond reason, and now that she was sure that her brother was safe and unharmed, every fibre of her being was focused on inflicting as much pain as she could to the one who tried to ruin their lives.
A big mistake...
When it comes right down to it, Aoi is a rather good fighter. With or without her magic, she would be a formidable opponent, and is quite capable of defending herself.
However, she has a critical weakness. Aoi was aware, yet she had not yet been able to completely get rid of it.
Her brother, as she knew full well, was capable of fighting multiple enemies all at the same time. Unfortunately, while the same is true for Aoi, she happens to have the tendency to focus her attention on one enemy at a time too much, which thus left her open to other foes in the vicinity.
And now she has made that exact same mistake. From the corner of her eye, she saw a large snake made purely out of flames flying in her direction with incredible speed.
"Kazamori." Aoi chanted as she spun around, creating a shield of wind to block the creature made out of flames.
Only for said serpent to break through her wind barrier with ease, as if there was never one in the first place.
?!
Aoi was shocked. Even though she had never fought someone else with magic before aside from her brother, she thought that the shield would hold against the serpent, having once used her wind shield to completely deflect the flames coming from a flamethrower. She made a terrible miscalculation.
For a moment which lasted a fraction of second, Aoi was terrified.
"AOI-CHAN, WATCH OUT!"
The moment she heard his voice, however, her fears were immediately washed away.
"KETSU!" Hiraga Saito shouted, as he moved in front of Aoi to protect her from the flame made out of snake, which was instantly halted from it advanced, trapped in a blue-colored, semi-transparent, cube shaped barrier of energy.
"METSU!"
Standing in front of Aoi was her brother, who stood firm and upright, unwavering and dignified, his magical energy emanating from his body as an aura of light, shouting the spell that instantly collapsed the barrier he created upon itself, disintegrating the flame serpent into nothingness.
Aoi, in reality, was not a strong person. True,the metaphorical wall of ice she has wrapped around herself is as strong as fortress, yet even then, it was still a castle made of ice, that could still be destroyed and melted.
But thanks to her Onii-chan, the fortress around Aoi is now impregnable. His warmth, his voice, his presence, was like the light of hope, and instead of melting the ice around Aoi, it instead served to strengthen it, yet the cold and loneliness that she felt is no longer there.
The ice wrapped around her heart now held the warmth of summer.
As long as her brother was with her, she knew she would be safe.
As long as her brother was with her, she would always feel warm and happy.
As long as her brother was with her, Aoi knew that everything would be alright.
xxxXXXxxx
To be continued...
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Alright, this is the first chapter of my new fic, Fate: Denial of Destiny.
Nah! Just kidding. This is not exactly a new fic, but rather a reboot of a trial fic, Fiamma del Cielo, but since I decided to change the plot except for the prologue I had to rename it. Prologue by the way has been returned to the original one.
The title of this fic, as you may notice is similar to Type Moon's Fate series, and yes, that is partly because I am a fan of Type-Moon, though I assure you, it isn't the main reason.
You see, Fate and Destiny really have a nice ring when used together in one sentence, so even if the Fate series did not exist, I might have come up with a similar title regardless, probably something Denial of Fate and Destiny, something like that. But really phrasing it as Fate: Denial of Destiny sounds cool, well to me at least (And this will also make it easier for me to give title to the chapters. Believe, it's not easy coming up with titles for every chapter, but with this trend it will be better since there is already a format of sorts.).
Now, on to other matters.
As you can see through canon ZnT, Saito's decisions were actually guided and manipulated, even his emotions, and even if his feelings for Louise became true in the end, no I do not like it. Familiar of Zero is one of my top ten favourites, but that part, without trying to insult the departed author of ZnT who we all miss, is something I wished was not the case.
Now, as I said before, this is actually a rewrite of Fiama Del Cielo: Flame of the Sky.
I decided to change the plot while not changing the prologue. I saw too many holes in what I was setting up, and to have Saito wield the power of fire, as I've noticed with the scenes I wrote, does not seem to be compatible at all.
So instead, I looked for an ability that would fit the overprotective personality he developed, and thankfully I found one.
Saito's magic, since his main purpose is 'to protect'' should be 'shield' or 'barrier,' so that is main ability, creating a 'kekkai.' For more information, I suggest you read/watch kekkaishi or to make things simpler, check out the Kekkaishi wiki.
As for Aoi's, her abilities are going to be based mostly from Flame of Recca (for more information, check out the Flame of Recca Wiki).
Of course, they will be the basis, but there will still be differences, not to mention that I might consider adding things from other anime as well.
Now, Hiraga Aoi's identity, is something I'm sure some of you have already guessed… or maybe not. In the next chapter though, you might just be able to confirm your suspicions if you are right or not with your guess.
But enough about that for now...
And like always, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter...
Later then, people...