Cursed Sword

by Kneenaw

Irisviel could not accept her own end, even corrupted she wishes to return to save her beloved. And so, as Shirou sits waiting to die, he is reborn as the host of a dark miracle, creating cascading effects that would alter the world. This fic spans from the end of the 4th HGW to the 5th. Currently it is starting the direct lead up to the 5th war.

32. Act Three: Permeation

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I don't own anything related to Fate/stay night; this is a work of parody.

Act Three: Permeation

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April 11 2002, Fuyuki City.

Calm Days (Music) /EG78j9QDjd4

A routine night in a normal city under a strange sky. A crimson moon reflects upon the still ocean in budding spring.

The air is still cold enough not to stand idly out at night, but the coldest days of Spring are also now a memory that pushes us out to sample the season of revival. Some of my scars have been aching recently, and the cool air helps me calm down.

I am waiting at the door for my usual guests. They are late tonight, and I am all finished before they get here, so I'm left waiting like a loyal dog.

Without people to eat a meal, looking at the scene can almost be a lonesome thing. A world without the people to fill my table? That is one that can't even be thought of.

The doorbell rings, and I am already there.

I slide the door open, and a familiar scene occurs. A woman striped like a tiger meets her young ward with what she truly cares about. "I'm here! What's for dinner tonight!?" She yells out and jumps into the place she treats as a home away from home.

Behind her, a girl used to her antics bows. "May I enter, Senpai?"

"You know this is a home for you, Sakura... You're welcome with or without my permission."

"I'm just paying respects to the master of the house." She says with a kind smile. Her love is a sickeningly sweet fragrance that falls over me like a soft blanket. My face feels red. It's an embarrassing thing to say. She definitely says it because it never fails to get a response out of me.

Sakura pulls in a lot of groceries, more than you would think her small frame could take but she is stronger than she looks. When it comes to dinner, we don't hold back.

I don't spend any of Kiritsugu's money, and it's all entrusted to the Fujimura trust. So all my money comes out from my part-time job over with Otoko-san.

That is something kept slightly secret from Fuji-nee due to her friendly rivalry against Otoko and fear that she will steal me away.

We gather in the kitchen, and as I put away the groceries for later, Sakura prepares the meal I already finished for today. When it comes to meals, I like to have a plan at least two days in advance in order to satiate the beast known as Taiga.

"It's a pretty spooky moon tonight. They say it only happens when the evil spirits are out, aren't you scared, Sakura-chan?" Fuji-nee wants to spook her.

"No. I feel safe." She smiles at me.

Sakura puts out the bowls, and I arrange the meal. A staple: curry, something we don't do so often but I know Sakura has a soft spot for it and seeing her smile as she eats is something I can't wrap my head around lately.

"Itadakimasu!" All pay respect and start eating. Some dig in more than others.

I test out my best table manners, but it feels out of place when you look at Taiga acting like a middle-aged government worker coming home tired after a long day at work. Gorging herself as if she hadn't eaten in years.

"Manners, Fujimura-sensei!" Sakura chides her.

"Finneee~"

"Tired, Fuji-nee?" She was usually more relaxed at dinner than breakfast, but today was a new low.

"Uhh... you have no idea... Work is... horrible! How do people do it!? I'm ready to retire! And Shirou, you didn't send me any lunch!" This was now one week into the job of English teacher for Fuji-nee. Her three-year learning program has led up to this, but it seems that working wasn't something she actually was looking forwards to.

"It's tough, I know. But I believe in you, Fuji-nee. To be independent of yourself is a great virtue."

"Yes. Fujimura-sensei, you are, uhh... a great person! We believe in you!" Sakura's smile fades at her attempt to cheer Taiga up. The fact that she had to search for something didn't help. Awkward silence resumes. "We just both think it is maybe time that you... can make your own food?" Sakura said something apocryphal to her.

Taiga's mind refuses the idea so purely that the suggestion is not translated into understandable speech. She has been refusing to talk about this for a while now, and in her own childish way, she is winning by pure obstinance in refusing to accept that adults have to find their own source of food.

"Enough about me! What about you, Sakura-chan?" The typical everyday conversation begins shortly. Taiga's teasing voice. "It must have been tough getting all those groceries back by yourself. If you had a strong man, then you could have him do all that sort of work, you know~?"

Sakura doesn't take the change of subject well. "...And how would you know about that, Fujimura-sensei?" Sakura answered with a sweet smile. It is a dagger into Fuji-nee's heart.

She nearly spat out the tea she had smugly drunk as if what she had said had been sage advice. "S-Sakura-chan, y-you...!" There wasn't any good response, so Fuji-nee resorted to more primal languages.

Now Fuji-nee was sweating and switched the subject once again. "W-well, what about you, Shirou!? Are you sure vacationing again like that is alright...? You're only just reaching high school you know! I think you should be sticking around in the summer more!" She turns her fingers at me, like a witch blaming someone else to save themselves.

"It's not a vacation, Fuji-nee. It's a scholarly arrangement that is fully paid for. And really, you're one to talk..." She is not exactly known for her frugality. "Remember last time you went on a trip?" I mumble.

She hears me with her enhanced cat hearing.

"You know what, punk? I'm done with attitude. Both of you..." She looked serious, and her Yakuza side came out. She was seething.

Attitude? ...It is more than Taiga and I have come to be in disagreement more as I grew up and become my own person. But this was different. An oppressive atmosphere appeared in the air so suddenly that you couldn't believe it. "Yes, Fuji-nee?"

"Where did my little brother go? He was so loyal and well-mannered! Where did my little sister go? She was so cute and obedient!" Then an evil smile came to her lips. "Hehehe, well that's not going to be an issue from now on. I have full control over you once more. You may think you have grown out of your need for an onee-chan, but now I will be something even greater than that." She laughed proud of herself. "You think that you can simply turn on me so easily?"

"What are you talking about, Fuji-nee? You don't mean..." She just graduated... She is in training... No...

My first year of High School just started, and she wasn't yet given an assignment. Wait... No, not that! I was suspicious when I had a temporary homeroom teacher for the first few days, but I just thought that maybe they were still placing us in groups. Now I see it was something much more insidious.

It wasn't me who was the problem, but someone else. My senses betrayed me. I did not see it coming, even when it should have been obvious. "It can't be..."

"Hahaha! Get it now!? I'm your homeroom teacher now, Shirou, so you better listen to me from now on, because I'll be grading you!" She terrorized me. I guess she deserves it just this once as she has come a long way quickly in getting this job. Now she got her reward of a big win over me. "I was surprised when you, Shinji-Kun, and Tohsaka-chan, showed up on my attendance sheet, but now I see that this is a blessing from the spirits!"

Tohsaka and Shinji too? In the same class as Taiga and me? This was a massive ticking time bomb. This is a massive conflict of interest. This is a massive fucking catastrophe.

My voice wavered as cold sweat now poured down my neck. "...Did you ask for this?" My heart started pumping, my senses went on alert.

"What? No. Teachers don't choose their students. It's just my luck though, what are the odds that all of my wards would fall into my hands like that?"

Luck. Luck...! Why did I forget? Fuji-nee's fortune always wins.

I was still sweating for some reason. My body felt uncomfortable. Am I really so shook by this Taiga news?

Well... in this case, it was clear why we were there. What really happened was that the administration most likely gave Taiga every student they knew was connected to her in some way in order to contain her. I don't blame them, but that doesn't stop the fact I am in that class that acts as her prison. "Now that you understand my authority, you and I need to talk about these vacations. Summer without Shirou is boring, and I don't like them anymore. From now on you will be staying here, isn't that right Sakura?" Such unashamed selfishness, she was once not the only one like that in this home.

"Y-yes! I think so too! Senpai should stay. I mean, do you need to go...?" her voice trailed off. She knew full well why and where I leave in the summer.

I sigh, "Hah... I wish I could stay. I wish that everything could be done by staying here, but... my goals require I take every chance given to me to become better. Kiritsugu found me a chance to study abroad without having to pay, how could I possibly say no?"

"..." Now it seems like I made them sad. As if they were trying to take away this chance to study due to their own selfishness. It wasn't that... I, too, wish it was not something that had to be done. And yet it is. "I'll bring back souvenirs, if I can recall, you were quite pleased the last time." She was energetic with everything I bought her, from a tiger idol to all sorts of clothes I knew she would like. "I'll call in every day at 10 a.m. I'll leave as much food as possible and give Sakura as many instructions as possible. Is that sufficient? It's only a month, you know."

Fuji-nee finally comes to her answer. "Agreed." She promptly accepts the bribe she was buying up to. She doesn't try to negotiate, happy that she won out at all. She likes to be given gifts from London fashion stores. She knew that I was visiting a school, so it's not like she could just make up reasons why that is bad.

As for Sakura... she was more steadfast and impossible to bribe through material goods. Sakura and Tohsaka unavoidably found out I was at the Clock Tower, but they didn't know exactly what I was doing. But they knew why... I know that they know I know. It's not as if I could keep it a secret after leaving that first summer. "I-I, all I ask is that you come back on time, Senpai."

"Of course. That is something I promise you."

The first time I came back was when I had hell to pay with Tohsaka, and surprisingly even reliable Sakura.

Coming back was like armageddon, and it was the first time Tohsaka truly attempted to kill me. She put two and two together as to where I must have gone. Apparently, it was a significant humiliation that I was there before her. I offered her much, yet that made it even worse. 'I'm not going to rely on my butler for something! It should be the other way around!' She yelled. It took some heavy negotiations that I am paying off even now, but in the end, it wasn't like she could stop me. I couldn't give up my dream for even her orders.

On the other hand, Sakura keeps the house for me while I am gone. She is more sullen about me leaving than about where I am going. She didn't yell or get mad; she was just... very adamant on asking when and if I was coming back. I was late by a few days last year, and she was a mess when I came back. Thus there is an informal expectation I will be back on time.

It's just that... there were so many problems that I needed to solve that even on my way home, I couldn't help but stop and help everyone I could.

"Well, How is Waver-kun?" She asks with rice in her mouth. Sakura lightly hits her. The duo never changes, Sakura trying to respect the laws of the kitchen and Fuji-nee trying to trample them.

My meal is half done, yet I stop. My mouth feels so dry. Why?

"Waver? He is well. Why do you ask?"

"Well, as your guardian, I have to trust you are in good hands. ...To think that Waver-kun was the person Kiritsugu knew. It's a small world."

"I agree." To think Fuji-nee has had connections to all these people... It seems like if you come to Fuyuki, you will inevitably come to meet Taiga.

"Not as big as his big brother was. He was the biggest buffest man I've ever seen: like a sumo wrestler but with muscles."

"Uh... I've never heard of this person, Fuji-nee." not in all the time with Lord El-Melloi II did I see such a person.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure, Fuji-nee..."

"You are young, Shirou. I'm sure that with age will come wisdom for you. Like the difference between an old grizzled Siberian tiger and a young little lion, one day you will be able to see this man, I'm sure."

"..." Fuji-nee sometimes said things that make you pause. It makes you think she isn't really thinking about what she is saying.

"You are still young, no matter what you think. I'm not mad. It's just that I think you are really going through puberty now... My little bro is growing up." This was a dangerous direction for her. She was definitely going to tease me now. "I mean, I have to come to terms with it. Oh, but you know what!? I just remembered, but there was a really stunning woman looking for you! She asked me for directions towards Emiya Shirou. Isn't that a crazy thing to say? Well, I said: 'You've come to the right person!', and gave her directions. Did you get her package or whatever? Or maybe..." She made a wink at me and then at Sakura. "Sakura might be having a new rival in town?"

She did her typical rant. Wait...? What? That's strange...

These were not her usual words.

A chill cooled down my back. The mood in the room, no... the mood inside myself started to change. A part of Emiya Shirou unlocked itself as if hearing a trigger word. "Huh?" I feel dizzy. What is this? It's not that my body is running on blood' it's that it is warming up. A woman?

My head hurts. My head hurts. My head hurts.

My heart... is bleeding. Blood is coursing down my shirt as the scar screams.

Fuji-nee is a blur of black and yellow stripes. Sakura is a mass of sweet purple.

Sakura answers nervously. "F-Fujimura-Sensei! W-what are you insinuating?"

"..."

"..."

I zone out. Hah, that's funny... my heart never calmed down from earlier, did it? This is not normal, is it? What? What is she talking about? I can't hear her. My hearing sounds like stretching metal. A static television on the wrong channel. My eyes turn dull, and complex colours are extinguished and reduced down to the most simple of information.

Permeating Stain (Music) /DK_nJTwVP_8

My hands and legs feel tense, like they really wanted to run. I want to go on a run. I stand up suddenly, letting my chopsticks fall hard to the plate.

"Senpai?"

"Shirou, what's the issue?" I was frozen. I was holding my heart, grasping at it. "What is it, Shirou, heartburn? Curry is-"

"No, not heartburn." I could barely muster the words at the absolute pain. I felt like I was being scratched. No, more like I was being stabbed. But it wasn't like a heart attack from within, it was coming from out. My skin there was on fire, and I recalled an ancient pain that I thought was long gone. "I need some fresh air..." I stood up and left in a hurry, desperate to breathe. My heart started to pump adrenaline, but there was no enemy. Sudden pain stinging across my nerves. I smell something. Metallic burning, melting blood.

"Wait, what are you...?" I left so quickly that neither of them had any idea as to what was happening.

The air outside is cold but better than the warm insides of my house. I want to freeze. I need to cool down.

Primal fear. Innate human instincts to be afraid of the dark, but more importantly, what lays waiting on the edge of it. What started as a breath of fresh air quickly became a walk, and a walk turned into a run. Where am I going? I ran as fast as I could, and that could be considered fast if not for the feeling that it wasn't enough.

Emiya Shirou isn't afraid of anything from humanity. The most horrifying thing, as long as it is that of humanity, is already something he knows well. And yet the fear is overwhelming.

Someone is talking to me, whispering what I am supposed to do. A soft whisper on the wind, like mind control, built into my mind.

Run. Run. Run. Run!

You can't defeat that which hunts in the dark. The moon can't be trusted anymore.

I am in the forest now, the place in between the mansion and Fuyuki. What should take hours only lasts minutes as I am running at a tremendous speed. I can't explain past desperation, and yet I don't feel it. I don't feel anything right now, come to think of it.

All I can hear is my rapidly pumping heart. My feet are bleeding, and I am scratched by the overgrown vines as I push through the long woods. Why?

Why does it feel like even the vines themselves are against me?

Why run? My body screams at me to stop, but my soul tells me that to stop is to die. The moon is following me. Nowhere is safe from it; you can't escape it wherever you go.

It is cold.

I am cut all over by running through the woods without stopping. I feel like keeling over and dying, yet it seems like I haven't even reached my goal. My trial hasn't even started.

It's been hours. When I finally arrive at my destination, my disappointment is palpable. I can still feel the creeping anxiety, despite my attempts at running away.

I'm excited. I'm afraid.

The distance and time that went by in an instant had been great to find myself in a place that I know. An old mansion. A place I go to rarely if only to check up on it. Safety, yet not. In the act of running, my position is left exposed.

I climb to the top, brick by brick, reaching the roof and locking out into the cold, apathetic woods.

I stop and wait. Calm down. Calm down, or you will die.

I sit and wait on the edge of the high canopy. Wouldn't a busy place, full of humans that could collectively come together be better? My spirit screams at me that that would be wrong. It may be that it is easiest to deal with the monsters of the night in the comfort of many fellow humans, but all that brings is collateral damage.

I will face whatever comes along and take my punishment entirely onto me. My eyes peer out, there is no sound, no steps, not even the animals dare move this night.

Just a feeling. This will not end in peace, so prepare for war.

Keep both eyes open. Closing one eye to focus simply makes you lose your sense of scale, and before you know it, you've let them move too close.

The gun fires and explodes my brain.

A stick changes into an uncomplicated wooden bow in my hand. I have to use everything available to me, even if I am only a student. If I can end this anxiety from a far distance, then that is the best scenario. Letting it come near me will not go well.

Impossible speed. A silent unstoppable force. That is what I need to create to counteract this thing coming.

Remember the steps... Recall what you know, and complete this creation. It is not the act of drawing the bow or firing an arrow. You are firing your spirit, and you are creating the attack within your mind so great that it is impossible to withstand.

"Trace on." At this point, the Emiya Shirou that had enjoyed his meal in the company of those he loved not so long ago is dead. In that place is an empty slate dedicated to a single purpose. Emiya Shirou, the weapon, every nerve and circuit comes alive and begins to burn, drawing in the world's mana like a vortex.

Deep, look deep... Burning rubble, built on sorrow... A sword of mercy that will not miss. Fragile, and short; it will break. Its purpose is to shatter inside the opponent's skull, so there is nothing lost in breaking it.

Judging the concept of creation. A sword of mercy, a weak blade when whole and dull, but when broken, it turns into a sword of absolute death. The true strength in a blade of peace is when it has been destroyed.

Footing. Keep the body erect and avoid bobbing or swaying as you move into position. As a rule, the feet have spread the distance of one's arrow length, with the big toes set in line with the target's centre. The angle of the footing is sixty degrees, with the weight evenly distributed so that the centre of gravity is maintained between both feet. Slight pressure, devoid of excessive tension, is applied to both legs, and the knees are stretched naturally into place. The bow and arrows are held at a hip level aimed toward the body's centerline, with the top of the bow held about ten centimetres above the floor.

Hypothesizing the basic structure. A short sword made to impale its target. 16 points of the industry, cracks form along all the points that it has been broken.

Correcting. The feet are set, the posture of the upper body must be aligned accordingly. Special attention must be given to the so-called three-cross relationship, where the shoulders, hips and feet are held in line with one another, parallel to the floor and straight to the target. The spine and back of the neck are gently stretched upwards, but the shoulders are kept flat. The bottom end of the bow is rested on the left knee and held so that the upper curve is in line with the centre of the body.

Duplicating the composition material. Gold and steel, bound in layers of the woven magic of Merlin.

Readying. Keep the hand straight with the fingers extended and held close together. Place the hand so that the outside edge of the grip rests along the line just under the fingers. Fold the last three fingers in to meet the thumb. Do not use the forefinger to grip the bow. Look at the target with calm, half-closed eyes. It is not an aiming technique, it is a method of sending one's spirit to the target before shooting. Once this is performed one must not blink or look away from the target.

Imitating the skill of its making. Forged within the greatest forge of Arthur, given to one of his greatest knights.

Raising. The bow is raised perfectly straight with the nocked arrow held parallel to the floor. Normally, the bow is raised to a point where the hands are just above the head, and the arms are at a forty-five-degree angle. The arms and chest are kept relaxed. The shoulders are kept flat as they are stretched forward toward the bow.

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth. Broken every time it is used, it has tempered in spirit to be a blade in which does not wish to be used. Forged and reforged over and over, its strength has blunted. Draw out the power of the beginning of it. Coax it back to its true nature, not as a blunted blade but one that will pierce the skull of its victim.

Draw. Form by pushing the bow to the left as the right arm folds at the elbow. The arrow is drawn to half its length and the right hand is a little above and just forward of the forehead. The bow is pulled into full draw using the muscles of the back and upper arms. Resist the temptation to pull the string into place with the right hand while you keep the left arm stiff. A draw is more an act of spreading it apart evenly to the left and right.

Reproducing the accumulated years. Reforged over twenty times, its true form has morphed with time and degraded; yet its history is still there. I will draw out its true origin.

Meeting. The release is a natural result of their meeting. The success or failure of the shooting is not determined after the release. It is said that kai holds the essence of kyudo. If drawing is the physical draw then the meeting is its spiritual complement. A physical expansion of the spine and skeletal structure that keeps the bow drawn at optimum length, a mental or spiritual expansion to keep the body from giving in to the tension of the bow. Wait seven seconds.

Excelling every manufacturing process.

With a shower of ephemeral light that seems like flakes of fairy dust, it appears in my hand. A short sword no longer than a long arrow, fitting the spot between my fingers.

Reinforce. My body and my weapon are one. Firing is no different than stabbing.

1.

2.

A rustling comes shortly after, soft, silent steps move with force through the moonlit night.

3.

Like a reflection of the moon on the water, there she arrives, that which is pure shining white in my eyes. The full moon that I loved with my father, come to life.

4.

Red eyes are shining in the dark, in the light of the moon, I am seeing a white angel. A glistening glow from the moon reflected into the long forest, and for a moment, it was calm. A pale woman in white prudent clothing but with ferocious, crimson eyes. An old habit of never looking someone in their eyes is all that saves me from being swallowed into their darkness.

5.

6.

To my eyes, it was like coming home. Like finding the place I always wanted to after so long looking and searching. But an insidious ticking prevented that; the bomb inside my head is about to burst to leave a dead Emiya Shirou. She smiles, looking up at me. The most captivating woman I have ever seen, something you will love with only the action of witnessing it.

7.

Release. Reveal the mystery. When snow falls under its own weight from a leaf. A strike like lightning explodes in the air as her feet kick off the ground spiralling at me. "Curtana!" My soul fires forwards and it will not miss.

Crash!

A lightning strike directed at her skull caused a hurricane of sparks. A conceptual battle, rather than one of the materials. Whoever's mystery proves greatest would bring victory. In order to stop the blade in which is its fate to explode inside your skull, your luck would have to outpace its speed.

Continuation. Following the release, continue to hold one's position and send the spirit forth, even after the arrow has reached the target. My spirit is blocked.

Lowering. Visual contact with the target is maintained as the hands are lowered to the sides so that the end of the bow is once again in line with the centre of the body.

The air was rife with smoke, my eyes could only see red. Kill her! They scream. Fire again! But that is not an option allowed to me.

The sword that impaled her, did not reach her skull. It stopped her in her track by crashing into her shoulder with the force of a tank shell. Standing there, coming out the dispersing smoke and grass and dirt, she stands looking up with a horrifying smile. Rebuilding herself, her shattered skin reforms like it is nothing.

"..." I see how it is. My mistake was in the choice of weapon. A small weapon of pinpoint murder has no effect on something that holds their power equally across their being. Even if her head had been hit with the full force of decapitation, it would have not been enough. My mind is so calm in its wish to kill her, it just wants to see her dead and defiled. Consumed and broken.

She talks right before charging. "...I don't mind it when we skip the talk. Let's get into it then!" There is no climb, not even walking up the walls which could at least be explained somehow. She is flying through the air like an arrow.

I had the high ground, and was holding my position and had all the time to prepare... and yet it was simply impossible.

Two claws clashed in the air, ripping through the air at the speed of sound causing a sonic boom to clear the skies. I'm blown away by the force of a hurricane.

Zarich is supposed to catch their weapon, then Tawrich will destroy it. That doesn't work when she neither has a weapon and she smashed the steel in my hands without any effort.

My mind froze. It could find no scenario in which I could survive. Not a single route in which I win, and not one in which I survive past the first volley of attacks. I choose the tactic that I envision as best, and will just have to execute it better than what I can even imagine. ...Here we go... No matter how fast I think, I can't forge victory. The faster I envision myself, the faster she becomes. As if even inside my mind she will simply become slightly better than your best. An impossible trial. The stronger Emiya Shirou is hated, the stronger he becomes. Yet there was no hate in this.

A tiger does not hate a termite. it may feel the pangs of regret that it is resorted to eating such a small thing, yet there is certainly no hate in it.

I couldn't read a single emotion off of her, as if she wasn't human in the slightest. There was only the shining moon making her a creature unique to my vision.

The weapons form as extensions of my hands.

CRACK!

My weapons shatter on contact. Her claws flow through my weapons like a knife through swiss cheese. So much for entangling her in those reverse blades, my defence instantly falls.

Again. Faster this time, leave the left open and-! No, it didn't work. She cut me apart every second I hold back.

I stop fighting her myself and run. I run and start to fling. Whirling shards of death. She may be faster and stronger and more durable than me, but she doesn't match my weaponry!

Spinning shrapnel covers the forest as I throw the spinning Zarich and Tawrich over and over and over and over and over and over. Each time, it is blocked and shattered. Brutish weapons that vary greatly in size and shape, are similar in form to throwing daggers originally crafted by the Azande or Ubangi tribes of Africa. These claws were never very good in close combat in the first place. Their power truly lay as nigh unavoidable spinning blades of death that cut everything in their path with brutal resolve, you just have to make enough of them and nothing can avoid it!

That was until now.

Even though it should be impossible to block both and then attack all before I project again, she does it. It's not a contest. Not a fight. That was just my wishful thinking, as to her I wasn't being looked at as an opponent at all. I was prey. There hadn't been a concept of me beating her, it was only how long I could escape for. It was probably a long time but felt even longer. Time stretching out into eternity. An hour spent in such wanton destruction that all that was left was the torn trees of the forest, as I was being pushed all the way back towards town.

If I move at a speed of 60, and she at a speed of 120, then these spinning knives are moving at 55, thus creating a gap of five in which she has the advantage.

Her fighting style is relentless attacks, giving no time to breathe, yet she is not reckless about it. She leaves no openings through the pure speed of her movements. Even her buildup leaves nothing as the wind energy powered by her claws push you back before it reaches you. It's simply impossible.

Yet I defend nonetheless; the onslaught is one I survive by a war of attrition. I let myself take small defeats in order to prevent a single big one, hoping beyond hope she will allow a moment to think. To project something new, and create a path to victory.

I'm projecting too much. Tears are falling from my eyes, but I can't say why anymore. I simply don't feel parts of my body.

Each time she cuts me, she smiles, as if enjoying seeing me lose ground. I may be in a state of absolute focus, but all I see in her is the temporary amusement of a predator playing with their food. She could finish it if she wished to, but it seemed like she was taking her time to see this out. In that way, she was an excellent fighter.

She would grind me down at little exertion of herself, and not push to end this thus giving me no opening to make any move but this single one.

Every time I project is like stabbing myself. I'm already down to my Od, drawing from my own soul to fight a useless battle.

Almost... playful. Like a cat having as much fun with their prey as they can before ripping their heads off.

A fighting style that will not allow me to win, but not cause him to lose even while surrounded by enemies. Emiya Shirou fights with only defence. He is not the attacker, rather the weapon he holds is; thus his only purpose is to survive as long as possible and hope that his weapons can win. Yet there is nothing that will give him what he wants.

Every time she breaks the knives faster, and every time I am left with a new part of my body slashed open. My only strategy... is still being considered. It is a stupid one, and under no circumstances will it save me. If anything, it will just finish me off faster.

I stop in my tracks. I'm not going to continue this useless battle in which I will run out of energy soon, may as well place everything on one last bad idea.

"What, are we done playing now? Ready to get serious?" A voice calm as the night calls out. Under the moonlight, she seems unperturbed by the last hour.

"Why are you here, is there no way to talk-" She isn't interested.

"Says the one who attacked me first. Do you have no respect for me, Dead Apostle? Do you not recognise your progenitor?" I only know that she is talking about a vampire. I think she may be one; damn... Did I give up my location somehow? Was I followed? It makes no sense.

"I am no-" She gives me no chance to answer.

It happens so fast that there is no counter. It is impossible to counter something you aren't aware of at all. Chains, vines, rocks, bark: it fires across all directions and pulls me apart. I am instantly disarmed. What was I supposed to do? Not be in nature? Even if this woman is somehow more powerful in nature, I wouldn't bring a fight to the middle of the people.

Held like a sacrifice webbed to the trees by her chains of the earth, I am left to her machinations. I'll bleed out at this rate.

She approaches, looks at me a bit confused or maybe bemused and speaks to herself, "That was it then..." Her claws extend and I flinch. I know torture and death in my bones well enough to fear that pain. To be drawn and quartered? One of the worst ways to go. "For all that build-up, that was a disappointment. Was I truly woken up for someone as weak as you? Hmm... Although you have the scent of transmigration, you are not Roa." She says that name with such detestment, even though she does not seem to have many emotions other than that. "Well, let's see if you have anything more to you." Her long finger in the shape of razor claws was ready and thrust out.

The sun is rising. We've been fighting for so long now that the night has withered and the moon's influence on the world is dwindling. Her brightness and purity too were waning.

6 attacks coincide.

Still, I am etched along 15 lines, my body is turned into long lines of flesh bisected by cuts all over. What a pathetic, and anticlimactic death. Such a quick thing, to be suddenly hunted then annihilated without remorse. An entire life of effort ends in less than a second. That is... It should be instant death.

I blocked 3 even disarmed and disabled, which is a testament to a swiftness that I couldn't fathom that I had. Yet I block the two swipes that were fatal.

Each claw ripped skin, and into veins but left the rest intact. Like bleeding someone to death slowly. It hurt! It really hurt, and she didn't even have the mercy to rip my nerves apart leaving my senses complete I felt my body creak. "...!" They were superficial cuts, leading to a final grasp leaving me held up by my throat looking down at the white woman who is holding me effortlessly. I cannot scream.

She throws me to the ground and I roll until hitting a tree. Looking back, I can see the devastation left behind.

I'm done. I can't move.

Now she was simply looking at me, while I was bleeding out from all of the wounds she had given me. Why? Why not finish me off? She says with her hands on her hips. "Are you going to use it?" She says with a smile.

My hands are broken. I am being held up no longer by the strength of my bones.

"Ugh, what?" Blood is seeping through my bones, and yet she is smiling. She is either a sadist or thinks this isn't serious.

"Your trump card. If you don't use it, then you will die." As if she is trying to instruct me in the ways of combat. "I mean really... You must be quite a fledgling of a Dead Apostle to be weak like this. Why I am awake for someone as helpless as you? But I may as well remove you while you are here, then go back to sleep." She readied herself for the end. In my mind, I see her attack. It is faster than any before as she finally gets serious. It will impale my heart and then that is it. A sudden oppressive air is worse than before. It physically hurt to be in her presence at that moment.

It was her will to kill; before now she wasn't even serious to that point, more interested like a shark tasting its prey.

A trump card...? My plan... was a bad one. It was dumb and wouldn't save me, only make her suffer with me.

Her speed freezes, and I create a reflection of her within my mind.

In my head, there is a book. Within that book is the story of my life written down. Now... replace two names, Emiya Shirou and the white woman. Make their experience and pain the same. Then strike my name out from the book, and she will be given all the pain that she herself has inflicted onto me. My body takes the form of an otherworldly beast. Emiya Shirou does not exist for a split second, as his name is cut from existence.

"Verg Avesta!" Falsely Transcribed Creation~

A primordial curse, not complicated and so basic that the Curses Department at the Clock Tower would look at it as useless. They are correct in that the concept is pointless because in order to use it you must be on the edge of death, and it does not heal your wounds, in fact, it makes them worse. It is not as useful as scripture that returns twice the damage, and this form of reversal curse generally has no effect on those with Magic Resistance. But... if one were to use it at the perfect time, and all the conditions are met, it is something greater than any retribution curse that any mage could conjure in a lifetime. It cuts through all magical resistance and causes any damage taken by the user to also be dealt with by the attacker by reflecting it directly on their soul. It causes no wounds to appear but simply mirrors the pain associated with the wound onto the opponent. The damage will not heal until my wounds are healed or I succumb.

When she slashes me in her attempt at a killing blow, she stops suddenly. She jumped back at the last second, in a feat of extraordinary premonition. That was her victory. Had my plan gone completely right, then I would have cut her apart at the moment she was stunned. ...There was much hope in that from the beginning.

Instead, she is far enough in distance that it is impossible. But at that moment, the reversal also comes down on her.

It is pain over and over. Just because I have felt tortures beyond imagination many times doesn't make the pain any less of an annoyance. Unfortunately, pain doesn't work like that.

"What is this? P-pain...?" She is now in front of me, in distress. She drops me. Like her own body turning on itself, her hands refuse to reach out and kill me. So close, yet there is a wall. A mental barrier inside her telling her no, that despite it all, it should not be done. "Aghhh! It's not... healing. Hah, so you did have one, after all, such a curse... It hurts!" Her body seemed as if it was decaying. Her power was surging to match that of the infection of pain inside of her, but no matter how much power that was pushed into healing and restructuring, it would never heal. Because it is a projection of my own wounds.

She was complaining like a child who had stubbed their toe for the first time. "..." Now was the prime to escape. That is if I had the ability to walk. The earliest sunlight was now covering the canopies and dropping down on us. Many trees were already collapsed.

She was coming. Wobbling, holding herself together as she was trying to understand the pain that I had just inscribed onto her soul. The whole world seemed to be aching, and the winds were now blowing like a tornado. Something started to change in her. A bubbling disease she couldn't shake. A golden hue took over her eyes and seeing it is akin to burning under the direct sunlight. A heartbeat started blasting across the entire world.

"This pain, this pain, this pain! What is this feeling!? Agghhh! W-what!? Ha... hahaha...hahahahahaha!" Her entire image colour started to change. What was pure white like a sacred mountain was turning crimson. The vicious look on her face sent death into my existence. Simply by looking at me, she was killing me. She seemed to be losing herself as she drew closer and closer. "I will rip you to shreds! I'll drink of your blood. Hehe, yes. The world of humans will burn under me." A demon, it was a demon's demon. Something that would turn the whole world red.

"I need to stop, I need to stop... I'll kill you, yes... then it will all be alright! I should, but why can't I!? You are not even...!" Her essence turned back to White as if her anger turned off. When she reached me and looked into my eyes, there was a moment of realization. "...Oh. You're not even a vampire. I can't... do that... Drink the blood of a... human..." Her face was coming closer and closer, and I knew that she would drink my blood and I would die or worse.

Yet that is not what occurred next. She fell over and onto me. Such a sudden turn, like turning off the lights because they were about to catch fire. All of the restraints holding me were gone, and I fell with her. I didn't understand, but to be fair, I no longer could think.

My brain had no more blood left to lose.

Huh? 'Did I win?' ...I don't think so. I was dead anyway, my body had been cut to such a level that it felt light. The blood in my brain was thinning, and the edge of darkness was encroaching on my eyes. Verg Avesta was a useless power, one I hadn't used in many years. ...It did nothing to stem the bleeding, and soon I could no longer envision of future in which I was alive.

I followed her into that darkness not long after.

---

Into the Sunlight (Music) /xb3UmzOqios

Flickering, my eyes open. The sun is out and a new day begins. Red.

My breath is slow in taking up the new environment. Red.

It should be breakfast time soon. Red.

I must have sweated out of my sleepwear last night, I feel wet. Red.

Ching!

Moving my hand feels like it is being cut open. Red.

My nerves must be stressed, I'll have to rest easy tonight. Red.

'When are you going to stop being stupid, Emiya Shirou? Stop denying reality, and get up!' My bones creak, pushing up. I force it.

I push my head up so fast that I fall off the bed and onto the ground into the coursing red river.

(Music stop)

Red.

Red.

Red. Blood. A river of blood from the door to the bed.

Red. The room is full of red. Like a horror movie, the wall is covered in red handprints, and the ground is pooled with blood.

"Where...?" When I speak, my stomach comes out with the words, and I throw up everything I've got. I feel sick. So sick...

But alive, alive somehow.

I'm dry heaving; there is no liquid left inside the body of Emiya Shirou. How he is alive is a mystery all on its own.

It wasn't the first time that such a thing had happened. Death came more often for me than it should, and every time I think my time has come, I wake up half-dead, yet alive.

How much can this body take...? Why did I go so far... Last night? What happened last night, or... this morning?

Last night... was a dream, right? I lost all control and started fighting an imaginary woman in the woods. Yes. A dream... My brain comes to that consensus. It was definitely a dream because such a beautiful woman couldn't ever truly exist in reality anyway. I must have simply gone crazy. I went crazy. That was better than the alternative truth.

I push up, using every muscle equally, killing myself with the pain of repairing nerves. Some of my hair turned white again, despite my promise to Tohsaka never to allow that to happen or else she would kill me herself. I know she wasn't joking in that instance. I push back up onto the bed. I feel as though walking threatens the risk of literally falling in two. I'm not sure my bones are keeping me together.

"Oh..." So much for the consensus on denial. Sleeping next to me is something that should not exist.

There is the blonde white woman. The definition of peaceful sleeping, her breasts rise and fall, leaving an impression of content and trust. There is not a scratch on her. Not as I can see, at the very least.

Looking at this woman of white was like looking at the sun on a warm spring morning. Calming, but look too long, and I am going to get burned. My eyes did not peer through her so quickly as they did others, and that was almost a relief. Those red eyes, that pale skin... my brain recognised her at a primal level. She is not human. I spoke to her not with words but with feeling. I felt a bit annoyed, yet also relieved she looked perfect. On one point, all of my attacks were seemingly useless. On the other, I didn't hurt her when I was out of control.

Yeah... Last night was out of control. My entire being wanted to kill her. It wanted to see her brought down and defiled. Yes, Rape her, kill her, chop her up, eat her! Abuse her, adore her and worship her, treat her as everything that you love while you trample all over her!

Breathe... Shirou. These feelings are supposed to be held so deep they would never manifest. These are the sentiments of humans towards other humans, so why would it become uncontrollable for an otherworldly woman? You lost control last night, Shirou. You promised that you could control these sins, yet at first sight of a beautiful woman, you lose complete sanity? There is no excuse.

I don't know. I don't know anything. I just wanted to go home... Forget about it all.

Yet I can't leave her here. Here is... yes. This is the Einzbern castle in the woods. I ran here in such a fit of horror, but that proved to be right. If we had fought in the middle of town, there would have been deaths... This was Mom's castle she sometimes brought us out to and showed us a demonstration of the full capacity of her magic. She never liked magic, but there were some good things she could do: her form of vacationing.

Now is not the time to be sentimental.

...My aching body screams, but I can do it. For a magus, this should be no problem...

I used up years of built-up magical energy last night. This is the preparation you pay as a magus in pushing the limits to what you can handle.

I take her on my back, and start to walk. She is unbelievably heavy despite her small size. However, I don't even know anything anymore, so walking through the entire forest is fine. I don't have memories, so it must be fine...

I walk.

Morning, day, afternoon. The red town is quiet and leaves that which it does not wish to see alone. The trees go on forever even in the changing light. All I remember is pushing myself on, even when I didn't quite feel alive anymore. No one came to help me, or at least I do not recall it... If they did, then there would be no response as if what they were seeing was a horrifying illusion.

Nightime. I push up to the door, long resorting to simply dragging the woman by my side if barely.

But before I have any chance, the commotion arrives. I was so focused on getting home, I forgot that I was walking back into the tiger's den. The door slides open, and I hear my name shouted into my face. "Shirou, is that you...!? You have no idea how worried I was! You just ran away!" Look down, and you can see a mess. The door slams open again after Fuji-nee registers what she saw. "You..." Her face was white. "What... the..." She is in shock. Her soul is frozen. I realize my doom once again. Fuji-nee is about to kill me. "S-Shirou...?" The despair I saw in her was one of the most potent I've ever perceived.

"..."

She is almost crying at my current state. I could be described as dirty and bloodied, somehow living and somehow not cut up as much I was earlier. The fact that all my body parts are together, and I am alive is a miracle that I can't properly explain, but to Fuji-nee's eyes, this is already a disaster. She hugs me tight, and I feel tense as if she is squeezing the life out of me. "Fuji... nee." Next comes the panic.

"You- you have blood all over you, Shirou! A-and who is this woman!" Fuji-nee had obviously begun to panic. "I-I need to call the hospital. She's got blood all over her!?"

No, that's my blood...

I look back at the white woman not knowing what to say or do and find myself abandoned. "Aw, she is still sleeping..." That wasn't so surprising. She hadn't woken up after all this walking. I had dragged her so far, a days trek, and she was a weight on my back.

In a feat of her power, Fuji-nee picks us up one after the other and lays us down in Leysritt's old room, the one that is least used.

"Explain, Shirou... If you can." The worry she had on her face was not the usual Fuji-nee. No... this was the Taiga who had grown up three years ago.

I'm sitting on the steps of my home, there is a long trail of blood from where I came. "You see... there was an accident, and I had to bring her here."

"A-an accident...?"

"Yeah... there was a... car accident, but it's all good now. She's not hurt, so don't worry."

"And what about you!?" She yelled.

...One may say yelling at the victim is wrong, but in this case, maybe it's justified. "I'm fine. A little water would help." I regrettably asked her for that.

"Fine!? You are not fine! Water!? I'm calling an ambulance!"

"No...! I'm fine..." It's just a little bit of blood... I look worse than I truly am. My pleas were so pathetic that it made her need to call for a doctor greater. But for a magus, such a thing... was forbidden.

I hear ruffling and someone running, then another takes her place next to Taiga, looking down at the mess that we are in. "Sakura..." She sees the blonde woman next to each other and me. Sakura double-takes then deeply frowns.

"Senpai... you..." She shakes her head. "Unforgivable..." I felt guilty. Her stare was just so condemning, even if it was justified.

"Sakura! Shirou saved that woman. It seems that she was in an accident. But he needs an ambulance!" Taiga spits out in hysteria. She thought my chances of dying are not zero, and well... that was true. The thought of my death in her mind was tearing her apart.

I use my last ounce of power to croak out a few words I think can prevent something bad. "Sakura. Can you put Taiga to bed?" Before Taiga knew it, Sakura was holding her and softly guided her to the ground. Sakura put her to sleep without hesitation.

Sakura did so knowing this was serious. Taiga needed to be taken out of this before letting it escalate.

"Senpai. Who is this?"

"Sakura, I promise to explain as soon as I know..." I want to know too, but that's not happening as she is sleeping. I fell into blackness. My senses were dead, and the dreams were poor. "But, uh... well..." Unconciousnes struck as soon as my eyes closed, leaving Sakura to clean up this mess. "I just... need... a... nap..." I was burning alive when I fell asleep, and I continued too once I reached that burning field of my past.

---

Whirlpool of Fate 2 (Music) /3wXmgL-CuY0

A hand on my head. There is a hand on Emiya Shirou's forehead. My brain recognises that fact as the first thing before waking.

In the case of catastrophic events, this is usually how they turn out. Falling in and out of unconscious with random events that are lost or put out of order.

"Eh!" I jump up. She startled me. "Eh...?"

It's still nighttime? Did I not sleep very much? The moon was covering her, leaving her a reflecting source of radiance. I had no shirt on, and I rectified that after being surprised by the general lack of wounds. Almost my entire body is covered in dressings, but there is no blood dripping. I can tell simply by my experience with injuries that they are now more scars than wounds.

The only scar that still hurt was the one over my heart, and when I looked into the eyes of the blonde woman in front of me, it made it worse. Like a call across dimensions.

"..." She didn't look happy with me, smiling as she was, it was an uncertain situation.

The silence hurts more than just going and saying something. She keeps looking at me like a cat expectingly waiting for something to happen.

"So..." What to say to not push us into any other battle? "What is your name?" That is always a good start.

"My name is Arcueid Brunestud, princess of the True Ancestors" Her voice was distant and breathless. "And you are Emiya Shirou." The way she said my name sent a chill down my back like I was being held by her hands waiting to be dropped to my death. She knew me. "I would have said so before, but I was too busy trying to survive your ruthless attacks on me."

"...I think we started this all... incorrectly." That is the polite way of saying it. "Because, in the first place, was it not you who was chasing me?"

"Chasing? No, I was walking towards you at a fitting pace. You took it all mistaken and started running, so I followed. Is that so wrong? The bad guys always run, and then they always try to turn on me. You were doing the same thing. It was easy going from there."

"You can't simply follow strangers around. Not when..."

"When what?"

When the person you are chasing is turning crazy the closer they get. I'm so drained of those emotions of hate and desire that I feel better now. Like how you feel after throwing up when your mind gives you lots of good chemicals so it won't go crazy with the fact it just lost a part of itself. "It doesn't matter..." Maybe in the future, she should think that perhaps it's her that is the problem here. "I admit that... I was... too quick to attack you."

"Are you sure you were wrong to act like that? I'm a vampire, you know? Maybe you were just scared out of your mind. Humans can be like that in the face of a bloodthirsty demon."

"A vampire? ...Yes, I think I realized that. That's fine by me." I shrug. "And you're not a bloodthirsty demon. Don't try to pretend you are one, I can see through you without any effort." I can't read her in terms of anything else, but I can still sense her lies and truths.

"Hmph ...For a human, you seem to be very nonchalant about all this. I think you should be scared. Hah... Yeah, what sort of vampire would decide to come to a far east, out of nowhere place like this? I guess I didn't put enough thought into this." Hah... she sounds like a westerner, but I think it's worse than that.

"I am scared. But what use does it serve in falling apart? If you turn into the kind of vampire that does that, then you are becoming exactly the thing you are saying you are not." I saw a woman who I may have wronged, and I made sure that she was alright. "I'm not the sort who just abandons someone, even an enemy."

"Hmph..." She huffed disappointed. As if she would have preferred if I was shivering and trying to run again. "If you say it like that, then it almost makes me want to prove you wrong. ...But you are right. I am not that sort of vampire."

"Why are you here...? And why me? If you are looking for something then-" Tohsaka would be better to talk to. I almost say that, but think better than telling this mysterious vampire anything about the people important to me. She has a way of making you lose your guard, despite being an admitted vampire. I had a premonition that such a thought was long since useless.

She just seems... too pure and exquisite to be like the bloodsucking demon that I have seen with my own eyes before. She's not ugly like me, she is in fact beyond what I could describe as human beauty. She answers me as I trail off. "Oh. I thought that was obvious. I came here to eliminate you, Emiya Shirou." Not a lick of shame on her face, she says it like a child. She doesn't elaborate further.

"K-kill me? What did I do?" I was right to shoot first then.

"First of all, I never said I was going to kill you, I said eliminate. As for why... That is unessential. You seem evil enough." The way she said it sounded like she didn't actually have a concrete reason behind it. When you are eliminated, that means you are killed. Such a cheerful assassin.

My heart turned to steel, and my eyes faded. It was a mistake to bring her here. Sakura or Taiga could be nearby, and I just brought a vampire right to them. How stupid am I!? "All I ask is... don't do it to anyone else. Please. I'll accept it if you can promise me that." I accept that I may die in the following moment, but nothing happens. A still air threatening to explode once more.

Now she was folding her arms, looking irritated. "There it is. That right there is the contradiction. One part of me is saying to kill you immediately, and another is saying no." She seems satisfied. "This discord is... new. I've never lacked a clear mission. So all I can think of is to eliminate the contradiction that you present. I have no issue with the other humans; I'm not the monster here. It's your fault for not being obvious as to what I should do... Still, you will need to be eliminated. Whether that means I will kill you later or forgive you and eliminate you as a threat remains to be seen."

"You will eliminate me by not killing me? You could have said so..."

"Let me remind you who shot first. Before you fired a blow that was powerful enough to destroy a portion of my body, I simply wanted to talk." She smiled in a way that was obvious that she would have definitely at least tried killing me at some point regardless. "Now that we have a mutual understanding, I will be eliminating the threat that you represent as fairly as I can. That could mean all sorts of things."

The way she says things leaves no room for lies. "...Good. That is... good." No... it wasn't that I was scared of being killed; it was that I thought I was putting the people I love in danger. If I had to start a fight again, then it was best done even further away than the forest.

She moved between topics with a grace that challenged Fuji-nee or Ilya. Ilya... Yes, this woman reminded me of Ilya. They were similar... Dark premonition rose inside of me and threatened to erupt. The volcano was festering; the yelling was loud. Painful and negative emotions bring discord inside me, and the peacefulness and serene landscape can change in a moment to a hellish place.

"Really!? The peaceful option is something I've never done before. This is new!" A shock ran through her, and she looked at me in amazement. "So I am your inquisitor now, just like that tiresome Church. ...This was not what I was designed for... But I guess that I can figure it out along the way. Alright, here is question number one: are you sure you are not a vampire?"

"I'm pretty sure... Can't you tell? You say you are a vampire, so... I don't know. Wouldn't you recognize one?"

"I did once I got close, but before that, all I felt was..." She trailed off. "Never mind that. You almost... feel like one in a way, but also not. You are definitely not a vampire. However, you have something there, Shirou. A really horrible curse." She winces at the same time my chest aches with the pain of her claw marks being healed. "One that can make even me feel this way. It's horrible... Do you know what it feels like? Oh, of course, you do. It's your wounds, after all."

"Sorry..."

"I'm the one that cut you up. Perhaps we can come to an even restart. I'm willing to forgive you for attacking me if you will forgive me for carving you into seven pieces." There is something off with her. She doesn't seem like the woman I met the night before. She wiped her eyes as if trying to keep awake. "I'm surprised you are alive, but a magus may be able to live through such wounds. Now that I know you are human, I can't just kill you without a good reason. I need to explain your mystery." She pouted. I didn't know if I should be glad or annoyed. I, too, was now feeling confused as to how to treat someone who was trying to kill me. "Still, why would I wake up...? What are you hiding." She whispers to herself. She pokes me on the arm. "Just checking; I didn't feel that. So this retribution curse is not the active reflection of touch, but rather... the inscription of your wounds onto another's soul? That's so simple that I should have blocked it ten times over, yet you cut through my defences like paper. ...I can't say what would happen a second time. Whatever it is, it's not of magic I have ever encountered, and must also be a high thaumaturgy at that. Hmm... You are definitely not like any vampire I have hunted before."

"Wait. If you are a vampire yourself, why would you be hunting other vampires?" I'm not comfortable with the idea of vampires killing vampires. I don't like it.

"Oh? You don't like the idea of beings from the same species killing each other?"

"Yes. Vampires drain the blood of humans, right? So they should be killing humans, not other vampires. If they do regardless, then vampires are evil."

Unless... she is... "Drinking blood and killing are different things. Well. Even so, I know what you're trying to say. You think beings from the same species should help each other out, right? But vampires can be of the same species and still be different life forms. That's why they don't really have what you humans call 'camaraderie'. There is no such norm that prevents us from killing each other." She narrows her eyes. "Are you saying that vampires wouldn't have been evil if they didn't hurt each other? Even if they kill humans in mass?"

"Yes. If vampires were a species that hunted only humans and worked together to do so, never turning on their own, and having no concept of weak and strong, then they would be good."

"...You have a strange outlook, Shirou. Though... I can't say I agree; this world is interconnected between many species. One species coming to destroy all the rest, even if it was internally peaceful, is evil. They are destroyers and hold no regard for anything but their own." She was speaking of us humans, despite our war and evils, we were the species that came together the most. "I am the last in my species, and I do not hurt anyone but the worst of the worst. I guess that includes you."

"But if you are a vampire, then you drink blood... right? If so... I will have to end this conversation. I can not tolerate that."

"You are wrong on that. I have never drank blood." She lied so easily that a normal person would never catch it in a thousand years. But it was a soft, gentle, sad lie. One that made me let it go. I didn't hate lies, but they had long since become tiresome parts of my life that I didn't even have the power to maintain. Knowing every time someone is lying is not a superpower, it is a horrible curse that cuts you off from the human world. "I am of the species that do not need to drink blood. As long I choose to resist that urge, I will never do it." More lies. If even she doesn't know how to properly lie to my face like that, then I will probably never meet someone who can. "I'm more like a natural spirit than the sort of vampire you are thinking of, the 'Dead Apostle', who must consume blood in order to keep their bodies from deteriorating. They will hunt humans as a matter of course, and only with age does their thirst wane. Yet few of them decide to simply stop altogether, by then they hold no regard for life at all; what is a few thousand ants to them?"

What was true was her value for life.

"Ah, yes. I think I remember that... 'True Ancestor', that's what you are?" I haven't been focused on Vampires when I study. That sort of research is banned even by the Clock Tower, which otherwise allows all sorts of abhorrent things. "What does that make you? Some sort of good vampire hero? You are on the side of the living?" It could be seen as an oxymoron, but so was a demonic hero, and I would never deny that that is possible. I've seen that firsthand.

"Hmm, that sounds about right to me!" She exclaims cheerfully. "I am the hero, and all the other vampires are villains, you are catching on quick. A Dead Apostle is undead, but I'm alive! That's a big distinction!" She wished to move on from that.

The speed at which this relationship turned from one of life and death, us trying to kill the other and failing, into cheerfully talking as if we were old friends was not lost on me. She had the same hopeless feeling you get when looking at a stray cat like you really need to keep an eye on her. "I, too... try to be a hero as much as I can. Heroes fight too, but they never kill each other. So I don't see why we can't forgive the other and start from the beginning."

"Well, yes, but just because I no longer feel like you need to die means that I will judge you innocent. Until I am satisfied you are not a true threat to the world; your life is in my hands. I can decide what to do with it at any moment."

"So... what? You can choose to kill me at any point if you deem that I am bad?"

"Yes. It may come to that. Scared?" She smiles sadistically, it seems she enjoys something in the act of seeing her prey squirm. Some sort of evolutionary enjoyment in that.

"No, I'm glad..." I say honestly. "You seem fair enough." It felt like a release of tension. Now that I knew where she stood, I didn't have anything to worry about. Arcueid was not evil, so no matter what, I trusted her. That is just the sort of person I am. "If I am evil, then killing me would be an act of good."

"Huh?" I subvert her expectation.

"I wouldn't fight you if I deserved it at that point. As you say, if you are not human, then I can trust you in this."

"..." Her entire face is locked in shock. "I see that my trial is just beginning with you... You are definitely too stupid to be a vampire. You are... weird. Not something I can understand, not yet..." Her look of confusion was genuine.

"Yes, yes. I'll take that as a compliment." I'd rather have less in common with vampires than be like them.

There was still so much left to be discussed, but before any of that, my payment came due.

The time came for the one I had not wanted to involve to join the stage. The door slipped open with a burst. A red flash of Anger. "Well, well... Look who is awake."

"T-Tohsaka...?"

"Suprised to see me? Sakura-chan called me over saying that you had finally fallen into true idiocy, and that is an apt description."

Sakura calling Tohsaka like that... was rare, very, very rare.

Arcueid whispers in my ear like an elementary school secret. "Hey, that's the girl who kept checking on you every ten minutes, she looked so worried."

Tohsaka seemed discontented by the closeness. Her twin tails twirled with her through the air with a huff of vexation. Tohsaka did care... but she wouldn't admit it at the pain of death.

"Uh, you see, this is Arcueid-" Tohsaka dismissed my attempts at trying to set the pace of the conversation.

"We've spoken. Now is not the time to talk about her. Now it is time for you to be judged. Come to dinner, Sakura has been working on a meal for you all day. You wouldn't want to disappoint her further, would you?" I've had no chance to explain anything at all. I'm the victim here, I swear...

"Hey! I'm the only one who can do that!" Arcueid contests but is ignored. Tohsaka strides away uncaring.

"..." Tohsaka and Arcueid have spoken...? Of course, it seems that she woke up before me, but that in itself felt like a stab to my heart. The walls are closing in, and running away once again almost felt like a logical plan. Yet I wouldn't get far, would I? Aw well, that is my role: to be blamed for everything.

"Alright, let us try this dinner! Come on, Shirou!" She is pulling me out to the dinner table. Someone must have changed my clothes while I was sleeping. Probably Sakura.

The scene when I get there is Tohsaka and Sakura sitting looking verifiably dour and severe compared to Arcueid, who seemed like she had become like a child. She didn't seem like this last night- Oh. That was two nights ago now; I've been sleeping for almost an entire day.

Awkwardly, I begin eating to regain my lost energy. They're all staring at me, and it's making me extremely uncomfortable.

"It's great, Sakura... I'm worried you'll outshine me soon enough..."

"Thank you, Senpai." Her response is curt. She is putting up a strong front against me now. She must have had a long conversation with Tohsaka about how they were going to solve this.

"...What about you, Arcueid? Sakura is a great chef, isn't she?" I don't know why I seek her opinion, but I ask that embarrassed that all the attention seems to be directed at me despite there being a new, unfamiliar white princess in the kitchen.

Not the old white princess, but a new one.

"Yes, it has a great taste." She was lying, but I wouldn't contest it. I didn't think she truly had the manners. "This food is strange, it has such a... strong desire in it. It is very well made, even greater than the combination of its ingredients." Sakura gushed a little at the unexpected praise.

Arcueid may have been praising it, but it was closer to a blacksmith judging the quality of a sword than a food critic on an excellent meal. To me, it tasted great. Sakura had become something of an expert on the western-style through my teaching. But to a different species... I Imagine their sense of taste may be different.

The small talk doesn't lead anywhere, and finally, Tohsaka gets to the point.

She finally turned towards Arcueid, and brazenly expressed her opinion. "I am the second owner of this territory. Emiya Shirou has allowed you into his home, and in the form of hospitality, I hope you will appreciate, I expect you to leave this land immediately. Otherwise, I will use every power available to me to remove you from this town. Ahem, that would be the most prudent and advantageous outcome to us both." Although she was bemoaning it on the outside, there was zeal and excitement. Tohsaka wanted to prove herself, and now a problem that needed to be solved arrived. She was performing her role well.

Arcueid was mostly confused. "Second owner? Humans are always thinking the world is yours to have. You can say that I am the first owner of this land. But I have nothing to do with the human world. So don't mind me, I have no interest in anything but Shirou. I go where he goes."

...To say that her status meant nothing to you was about the worst possible thing to say to Tohsaka. Now I was in the line of fire.

Her hand rested on her face. "I can't possibly believe this, Emiya-kun..." Her irritation was palpable. "Explain. Now." This was the scariest Tohsaka: when she was entirely calm yet holding back her onslaught if only to grant you a final chance. I know that if I don't explain myself now, I'm done, but for the life of me, I can't explain much of anything.

"..."

"Senpai... you have a good explanation, don't you?" Sakura was more fearful here than anyone. Explain...?

"She is... my visiting cousin? She is someone I saved from an accident?" Nice try, Emiya. You didn't even stick to one story. "...I don't know what to say here..." She is a vampire who has come to judge me?

"The truth. She is a vampire, Shirou. She admitted that much, and it wasn't hard to see in her... distinctive features." Tohsaka points at Arcueid. Arcueid is simply watching the conversation. "She says that she is a vampire that doesn't drink blood and can walk in the sun. I will admit, she hasn't gone crazy yet, and she has shown she can walk in the light without trouble. What I want is an explanation and a good one at that."

"I didn't want to spook you. You see, Arcueid is a good vampire."

"A good vampire!? Shirou, that's not something that exists! You will believe anything people tell you, won't you?" That was... untrue simply because lying to Emiya Shirou is impossible unless he himself is telling the same lie.

"..." Arcueid is not defending herself. She's looking exceedingly at me. ...Does she expect me to defend her?

"Uh... She is the exception. She is good. I can see it." Sakura's eyes went wide. Tohsaka didn't quite get what I was saying. "It's a fact. She won't turn on humans, and she just wants to know about... something. She will be harmless, I'll make sure of it."

"Tohsaka-senpai, maybe... he is right?" Sakura took my side even if she thought I could be wrong.

"Matou-san, you are an observer at this meeting. Your opinion is unneeded." My ally was cut down without mercy. This wasn't much a formal meeting between magi. Well, we were friends and nearly family first before we were magi, no matter how much Tohsaka would disagree with that. "Shirou, you say she is a True Ancestor? Yet I have read many books detailing that the True Ancestors went extinct 800 years ago; they disappeared from magical records, presumably hunted down by their own vampiric offspring. This is a consensus."

"Haha... hihi." Arcueid laughs. She was giggling.

"Does the vampire have something to say?"

Arcueid was amused. "You magi are always so arrogant of your knowledge. Even when a True Ancestors shows up in front of you, you will still cling to your assumptions. If I'm not a True Ancestor, then that makes me a Dead Apostle, correct? In that case, I would be killing all of you without a trace of self-control. A Dead Apostle wouldn't even think about it; they would attack humans as naturally as breathing is to you humans. It's not necessarily out of hate or anything, as they simply look down on you like you do on ants. It should be in your best interests to accept me at face value, yet you would argue for your own execution if that was what you thought was according to your 'magical rules'." She knew magi well.

"She is telling the truth, Tohsaka. She is a vampire who does not need to drink blood. I think... she can be trusted."

Tohsaka is about to blow her top off. "Why are you on her side, Shirou!? You are my servant, so I am telling you now that it is your duty to assist me in solving this problem immediately. ...Unless you must be enchanted!" Gems appear in her hands, and just before she is about to throw them, Sakura stops her.

"Nee-san. Listen to Senpai; he isn't enchanted, I would be able to tell!" I had a feeling that Sakura would have stopped her even if I had been enchanted. Her reaction of disgust as Tohsaka nearly tried to blow Arcueid up was grave. This was why Sakura and Tohsaka did not speak as much as I wish they would. There was always this tension underneath that could explode at any moment.

It was unsettling. From Tohsaka's perspective, I could be already under the spell of a vampire, and this whole situation would be a farce. She was only fulfilling her role as the protector of this land. "..." Tohsaka, despite her feeling that blowing up this entire party would be the right thing to do, let herself fall back to her spot. Not backing down but restarting the board. "I can't believe I am doing this..."

Arcueid didn't flinch at all during this. She either didn't understand the power held in those gems or didn't care. Or perhaps she was calling Tohsaka's bluff. She seemed to be having more fun looking around and admiring the room itself.

"I am not enchanted by anyone, Tohsaka. What do you sense? You are a much greater magus than I."

My praise made her annoyed, but also embarrassed. Tohsaka was not used to be pushed around like this by circumstances out of her control. Usually, it was me who was being pulled into her troubles and helping her fix them. "Hmph, I do not sense any of that magic on you. Though I can't say I am an expert on vampiric abilities and how to sense them. Not even the fake priest was a vampire killer."

"E-h? Is the Church in this town, Shirou?" Arcueid asked suddenly. She was listening at the very least. "That's strange... in such a far-east secular country."

"No. Not anymore, at least... It's been left empty for about four years now." That man was elsewhere, cursed to an exile. The Church presumably did not care he was not here, and so never sent a replacement. "But you can say that Tohsaka is filling that role."

Arcueid eyes Tohsaka up and down. "She has a cross on her sweater, but she is no true believer." Arcueid saw through her easily. This was not endearing Tohsaka to her.

"So... will you trust me on this, Tohsaka? We don't have to fight. I don't think that she is a threat to Fuyuki."

"I will let her eat you first if she turns. That was my plan from the start here, you know!" She thrusts her finger out. "I'll listen, but I warn you, waste my time with a lie, and you are dead."

"Thanks, Tohsaka... You are a good person." I am relieved. This is how it always is. I don't mind her yelling and fighting with me, because that's how we always resolve our differences.

"Hmph." She huffs at my praise, but she is seething at me from the inside. There is that anger in her, but it is more akin to passion than hate. She taps her chin and affirms her opinions on me. "You will lead yourself to ruin all on your own." The worst part was that I sensed no lie in that statement. "If you want trust, then tell me everything you know. Start from the beginning in explaining this to me. How have you got to this point of bringing a vampire into this home?" She calls this place home without even realizing it.

Arcueid was interested now. She wished to know as much about me as she could in order to figure out why she was even here in the first place. So beginning from the past was a good place to start.

"Alright, Tohsaka... I've had some dealings with vampires before."

"You'd think that dealings with vampires would be something you would tell me about, wouldn't it?" Tohsaka smiled. A smile of impending doom, my body would not survive anything at this stage. The bandages across my body would unravel along with my body.…

Damn... now the whole table was looking at me imposingly. I felt as if Arcueid was going along with the two girls simply because she was acclimating to the atmosphere, or perhaps she was enjoying seeing me under this scrutiny in some twisted manner. There was a deep animosity in the room, and even my precious ally Sakura was not on my side. "Hah... Fine. I'll tell, but even this isn't any explanation here..." They waited expectingly. "Well... I fought one while I was away last summer, you know how I go away then for a time, Well there was some commotion and I intervened. It wasn't a big deal, haha."

I'm not convincing anyone with such a pathetic laugh. The truth was that there was a Dead Apostle problem in Germany while I was at the Clock Tower and it happened to coincide with the time I was trying to send a message to Ilya. I was in a bad place at the time, Ilya was still in that Castle I could not reach so I took my anger out on some bad guys.

"You... fought a vampire, Shirou?" Rin's eyes came out with sudden concern. Well, yes, but it was nowhere near as bad as it was two nights ago. Let's gloss over the fact that Arcueid and I were trying to kill each other not so long ago.

"...Yeah? I mean, is that a big deal?" It was just a normal one. Not like one of those big strong ones or whatever. Compared to Arcueid, that wasn't any problem at all.

Finally, Rin exploded. "...Baka! Do you understand how dangerous that is, you are so clueless! One bite and that's it, you will be turned into the mindless dead! You'd become even stupider!"

"Well... sorry I didn't tell you. People were in trouble. I did what had to be done. It's not something notable. You said you didn't want to-" Her hand hushes me.

"Enough." Her head was held up by her hands. "I am aware you are not smart, Shirou. Of all people, trust me, I know your faults. You can't help yourself when it comes to that, can you? Even when it's none of your business. You are reckless and are somehow still alive, despite your best efforts." Tohsaka, as my main teacher in magic, certainly knew all about my mental block with most magic. But she wasn't oblivious that the things I can do are decent. "But a Dead Apostle? No, that is not possible even for an above-average normal magus. For one such as you? You wouldn't stand a chance. I told you not to lie."

"Is that how you see him, little miss? As a normal human magus? Interesting..." Arcueid says.

Being called 'Little miss', made Tohsaka's eyebrows twitch. She takes a deep breath. It was enough to divert her from the topic of my true potential. "Shirou, was this the vampire you say you fought?" She points at the white woman still eating.

"No. It was... a much different thing. It was a day-long battle; everyone within a 30-kilometre radius was enclosed for hours. Some sort of magic barrier that couldn't be pierced. It was up for the entire night... Only those inside could battle that night." Thinking back to the slaughter, it was outrageous. It was the end of rationality, where those demons came out to feast on the living. All were turned into mindless things made only to find more blood.

"I didn't see. I was too busy trying to keep people safe from those that were killing everyone."

"From the vampires?"

"The vampires, yes. But..."

"But what?"

"Not only them, but there were also a few humans there too. They were killing indiscriminately, burning everything they touched. They may not have gone out of their way to kill people, but they were so focused on killing the vampires that they did not care about what they were destroying."

"...The Church; or more specifically, the Burial Agency." Arcueid nods in clear dislike. "They are fanatics that have taken the act of vampire hunting to the extreme. They will burn villages to take out a single vampire, caring only for their dogma. They are on the human's side, yet it is them who kills the most. If they wished to kill the vampire at the centre of that battle, then they would sacrifice all the towns in the way."

"...Yes. They were burning everything, for a week, it turned into hell itself. I did all I could to help people. I was simply trying to save everyone I could from the fire..." My heart is broken. I couldn't save everyone; no matter how much I tried, the flames were simply too large to stop it all alone.

"Did you kill the Castle lord in the end?"

"What's that?" Castle lord?

"The main one, or the one who is using the dead and lesser Dead Apostles to secure blood. If you are an idiot, as your friend says, I can make it more simple-" She says that as if it is a helpful thing to say.

"No thanks. I get it." If I'm called an idiot anymore, I'm afraid that Arcueid will start treating me as one. "No, I didn't really get the situation until later, but apparently, the Church did finally kill that vampire who had created that wall. One day the wall simply fell apart."

"A wall like that? That sound like an Ancestor to me. In Germany? Chromclay Petastructure, perhaps?" She looked like she was reading a book in her head. "Hmm, then that's not an explanation of anything, is it? Even if you were the human who killed an Ancestor, then that wouldn't wake me up. Hmm, now I am smelling the scent of someone I do not like." I didn't know what she was talking about.

Tohsaka does not seem to be impressed. "Nothing you have said explains anything about this situation. Who is this woman at the table? Why were you almost dead coming back yesterday? Why is this woman here!? Now you are saying you've been killing vampires over the summer!?" Tohsaka was confused and that was unacceptable in her view.

"..." The pressure was not decreasing. I didn't know what to say, so I gave Arcueid the ability to say her name. "Err, do you want to introduce yourself?"

"I'm Arcueid Brunestud." Her introduction is that of a princess. Not as deliberate as Illya's but more like being a princess is ingrained into every action. But I made a mistake in giving Arcueid the ability to answer. "The reason that he was all bloody and I was asleep is that we were fighting all night beforehand, he made me very mad at him to the point I had to turn myself off unless I was going to do something bad. Err... What else did you ask? Oh, and I am here just to see and check out Shirou, didn't I already make that clear?" She kept talking, making it worse and worse.

"..."

"..."

"..." Why was all the disdain being directed at me here? I'm the victim! Though Sakura seemed to be now more hostile towards Arcueid than me. She had shifted the blame.

"I think this dinner is over. I don't know anything anymore... I will be reading up on vampires all night." Tohsaka declared calmly. It was so sudden that I didn't get it.

"Yes, Senpai needs to sleep!" Sakura conveyed a bit too loudly. "I think we need to... calm down." Sakura looked at me seemingly in expectation but my head was blank. She left the room, I don't know where. She didn't seem very happy all dinner, despite her excellent dish.

Tohsaka was a bit embarrassed for some reason. "Oh. Yes, it is that day of the week, isn't it? ...I will be in the guest room, researching... Never mind anything else for the time being. They will just have to accept that I'm looking after a hopeless boy who had been involved in an accident." That was the story she was going with.

I say whatever I can to not leave off on a bad note. "Of course, that's your room if you need it." Tohsaka did not sleep over very often, but she did have her own room if she does. Strangely, Tohsaka tends only to come over when both Sakura and Taiga can't come for whatever reason. Solo dinners between the two of us are strange evenings. "I can help prepare... a room for both of you for as long as you need to."

"I can't believe this. Shirou, did you seriously just invite the vampire to stay over for as long as she wants?"

"...Yes."

Arcueid was smiling at me while the other two were frowning. "You're great, Shirou! I'm starting to think you are only partially a monster! This should be the easiest mission yet."

"Oh... okay..." I don't know what is worse. The girl who is staring me down, or the one who is looking like she is winning simply because I would rather not let Arcueid go off on her own.

My arm is pulled. "Emiya-kun, come with me." When I don't move immediately, she says it again and this time activating a geas inside of me. "Now!"

I obey her simple command, as it is mandatory under the contract that was written between her and me years ago. She can command me without question on simple things like this, but overall I can somewhat try to resist her on important things. 'Try', is the keyword: I never get my way when it conflicts with what Rin-sama wishes. Arcueid is left behind.

She pulls me to her room. It's full of papers she uses when she teaches me or when she stays over to study. "Listen to me, Listen to me!" She was basically shaking me.

"You don't have to say it twice..."

"I do when you aren't listening! She. Is. A. Vampire. I don't care what dumb hero ideas you have about being nice to people and expecting them to be nice back, this is different. Listen to me, Shirou, nothing is gained by her being here, yet everything could be lost. At this very moment she could be eating Sakura, how would that make you feel? It is inevitable she will turn, I don't care if she is a Dead Apostle or whatever, no story or account of vampires have ever said there is a cure or any way of stopping the impulse for long. So whatever plan you have to save her, drop it. I command you. Or do you wish for this town to be turned into hell? For it to burn?" I cringe. The burning field will never happen again, and I will stop it. It will not happen.

She was blaming me for this, despite it not being me who insisted on being here...

"No. But it won't come to that." I have a feeling that if Arcueid turned on a human, then I would be first.

"...Why? Why are you of all people placing people in danger? You know that this brings the risk of absolute disaster."

"I have a feeling... That Arcueid is good. I believe in that feeling." I believe so much that everything seems obvious about it.

"Feelings don't cut it. They don't give you what you want or need; they don't bring you anything that you control. Magi who rely on feeling and guesses end up dead by their own devices."

"Arcueid is staying here. This is my house, and that is final."

"...?" It is surprising. I've never truly stood my ground, letting her have her way since we've met. There was room for compromise then, but in this case, in which only I know the truth of it, I can't bow to Tohsaka's rational arguments. "You... what is it, Shirou? Why are you doing this?" She said that earlier. Why is Emiya Shirou allowing a threat to exist in his town?

Because I must.

"Do you trust me, Tohsaka? I was thinking that you... could help me? I am nowhere as good with this magical knowledge sort of stuff. If you could give me the facts to support me, then..." I was asking something astronomical of her. "I do not tell you not because I want to lie to you; but because I know you'll worry every time I go missing. I don't seek out trouble... but I won't back down from it when it arrives.

"...You are playing a great expectation and burden on me. Expect to repay with interest 50x over." I didn't doubt it. "If, hypothetically, I did trust you, what is it you need from me?"

I come close to her, and her eyes widen and she is becoming strangely flushed for some reason. I don't know why, I just need to whisper very quietly, maybe because I'm pretending it is a prolonged hug? "This is not a battle of weaponry; if all fails and Arcueid turns on me, then leave me be. At that point it is already over for me, so cut your losses and go. What I need is information, as much as you can gather on Dead Apostle, True Ancestors and Arcueid Brunestud herself. I have a feeling that I need to know everything if I'm getting out of this alive." It's not that I want to mislead Arcueid, or anyone for that matter, but letting people know the full truth of things all at once without giving it some time will lead to them killing me. The exception is Sakura, who I know wouldn't turn on me for anything.

Tohsaka may yell that feelings and hunches are not good indicators of anything, but in truth, she is the worst in that regard, she goes by her feelings all the time. She trusts me, I know that because that is who I am. No human can experience an emotion that my brain understands, and keep it concealed from me. Since I trust her, and she trusts me, it is a form of magic unto itself that our trust is an absolute law in my mind. Arcueid must have truly alien thoughts to be unreadable, as even Dead Apostles can be somewhat read by my mystic eyes (Although they are clouded and disgusting to look at).

I let go of the long hug. "..." Her cheeks are very red after I let go. Arcueid shouldn't have been able to hear that, especially when I laced in magic that softens the voice to its most extreme degree to anyone but one close by. "Baka..." All the adults are gone, she is the only authority left. I could never take that position. All we have is one another, so it was unfair of me to put it in such terms. Because that was it if she forsook me, then all that was left was Sakura and me. If we were gone, who would be left in Tohsaka's life? No one.

"Goodnight, Tohsaka. The Emiya family has always been a burden on you... So... thanks for keeping up with me. I'll think of something big to give to you that will really pay off all this. I promise... it'll all turn out fine in the end." I hope.

"Huh? I never said I was going to agree! ...Hmph." She refuses to respond. Until... "You too. As long as you take responsibility for it." I hear a soft whisper in the wind.

Arcueid is waiting outside the room, she presumably heard all but what I did not want her to and looks pleased. I show her to the room we were in before. The old room that Sella resides in.

"Here is your room; you can sleep, can't you? Sorry, it's a bit simple for you..."

"Yes, it's simple but has a potent personality. Whoever was the creator of the magical consistency here was a magus beyond this age; more welcome in the age of the gods than the modern periods. And sleep, what for? I have a mission. I need to judge you." Arcueid didn't seem satisfied. "We just started. I have questions that need answering, you're not allowed to go to sleep yet!" She looked tired, which was strange, as it seemed like she was utterly unfamiliar with the concept of human tiredness.

"I'm still exhausted... Humans sleep at night and live in the day... I'll show you around tomorrow." I make such a promise without, I'm so damn tired. I have barely been awake, yet I'm looking forwards to sleep. There were a lot of questions I had as well, but there simply was no time left today.

"I'll take that as a promise, Emiya Shirou. I'll use my time wisely." The way she said my name sent a cool chill up my spine to my brain. I don't know what it is about her voice, but it feels like coming home. "By the time you wake up, I'll know all about you! I'll make sure to be quite close by." She had no end to this enthusiasm. It seemed that the wounds that I had opened inside her soul had become tolerable enough that she seemed content.

I couldn't read her like a book like everyone else. So I took her at face value. I didn't look further into the truth of what she was, because doing so meant confronting the truth about myself. What I wanted was... sleep. I feel like I've fallen down a rabbit hole, and I'm scrambling to escape before I suffocate in its collapse. The more he allows himself to draw closer to Arcueid, and the more she draws closer to him; the world will draw closer and closer to dreadful midnight.

I shuffled light-headed to bed. I know that there is something I have to do tonight, which puts little butterflies in my stomach.

---

Later, Sakura came to say goodnight. Or that was what Fuji-nee was usually told on Saturdays. Sakura and I...

We... had something that was unavoidable. It was a Saturday, and thus it is the day on which Sakura will always sleepover. Seeing her open my door brought my heart rate up, and I know she is the same. I awkwardly start a conversation.

In the midst of all this vampire and Arcueid chaos, this is something that I forgot about. Thus constructing a sudden sense of trepidation.

An unappreciated beauty. Her sleepwear is thin, and her skin absorbs the moonlight. Whereas Arcueid seemed like looking at the full moon in its full splendour, Sakura was the dark new moon.

"So... Is Shinji alright? Is he is treating you right?"

"Don't worry, I'm in full control. Nii-san said he didn't want to come over today. I make him dinner, but he seems to be a little resistant." Ever since he came back, I have tried to find some way of helping her and him come to terms; but Shinji is Shinji, no matter how he changes.

The scary feelings that I felt off her signalled that in some ways, it wasn't Sakura who I had to be worrying about in this case...

"Good... As long as everything is alright..." I can't force him to come out to dinner with us. I admit that certain selfishness in me, wishing that Sakura could be here every day like she used to. Since Shinji has come back, that means she has moved back into that house despite it all.

I gave her so many chances to stay here forever, but she was stubborn on the fact she no longer wanted to be acting as a burden by remaining here. If she has the strength and resolves to be able to live in the Matou residence, then I won't stand in her way. All I can do is be there when she comes here looking for warmth.

He may not hold the same arrogance as he once did, but that doesn't mean he is not hard to get along with. I trust Sakura, but I know that she has trouble with him. He can't hurt her... that is not possible, I know. But... it's more for his sake to not make her mad. I know first hand not to do that. If making Tohsaka mad at you incurs a large, yet short outburst, then having Sakura mad at you is to take on a long-standing poison that you will struggle with how to solve. In that way, despite it all, I'd rather make Tohsaka mad at me than Sakura.

Pursuing Minds (Music) /BjlNjiftFPo

"S-Senpai, I-its that time of the week... But... I can... go...?" Her courage, but also hesitancy in bringing up this topic, was profound. How could we not stutter? It was a strange and... intimate thing that we have to do. The fact she came tonight was enough to tell me that she really didn't want to go.

She came for a reason. Her want and desire are clear. "Sakura... I'm here. This is my responsibility to you." This should be good for my healing, and hopely make this new vampire less angry at me for turning my pain on her.

"Yes... it's something we need to do. Like Nee- Tohsaka-senpai said." But that was almost disappointing to her. "It's just an... obligation." In her words, she saw it with shame, like she was forcing me into this.

I make my feelings clear to her. "I do this not because of any rule, Sakura. I do this because I would do anything if it meant helping you. ...I love you, Sakura." Her heart skips a beat. If I say such words, the power is that of a truck. Her self control is losing. Mine isn't far behind.

"Y-yes, Senpai. I know you... are on my side. I'm on yours too." She can no longer hold herself back and approaches me expectingly. She looks at me with foggy eyes, like someone who hasn't had water for days looking at a rich oasis. "I'm yours... I love you too."

It starts at the finger, a place where blood can be lost without much danger. She laps my fingers holding them like a precious thing in her hands. I cut them, letting her exchange my od and take in my energy. But in that process, it is a way of cleansing myself of the worst urges and desires that will take me over without treating them.

I know it's not enough... not for her, and not for me. The first time was awkward, and we didn't push it far; but every time after is more intense. Her true self is coming out slowly in feeling welcome to show it.

I cut a thin line of my shoulder, something I know won't lead to infection or excessive bleeding. She falls down to it huskily. Her soft body, which has grown up from the thin girl that was into one who has filled out due to proper nutrition, pushes on me in all the wrong (or right) places.

Her lips lap softly at first, gentle and in control. That never lasts. The more she drank, the less she bothered in holding back. This was how it always went. Her heavy breathing and hands hold me as she pushes herself into it. It is a strange feeling. To have a part of yourself be taken in by another. Her teeth are hard on my skin, taking their time to not miss anything they can find and consume.

She becomes very assertive when she loses control, and to be honest... I don't mind it. A magus's blood is sweeter than a normal human's. It is a commodity sold seemingly openly at the clock tower. Hair is better storage, but no magus would ever sell their own hair willingly. Stealing hair is grounds for a blood feud.

Even though the taste of blood is not appetizing, its feeling is euphoric if you are low on magical energy. But... I can only know by sensing her emotions as she shamelessly takes my energy... like a vampire? Well, I imagine that this is not what those are like. No, I know that they are not so... sensual. I have been to such places before, and I have had to put down fallen humans. That hunger is physical, while this is spiritual. If this affliction could affect magi, then... what would it look like in a vampire? Why doesn't Arcueid lose control around every human she sees?

I don't understand her, and she very explicitly doesn't understand me. But both of us can't help but be interested in figuring the other out. I can't wrap my head around it. Arcueid seems like a normal girl to me, end of the story.

As if knowing what I am thinking about, Sakura steals my lips suddenly. Her lips travel to my own and take in everything they find, be it blood or saliva. She is overwriting these chaotic thoughts about Arcueid by pure passion.

I love Sakura, and she loves me. That is something unavoidable to me, I saw it the say I came to understand love and this is the result over years. I gave her every chance to leave that I could, by sue just simply kept coming back to me, and now I feel that I couldn't lose her without losing myself.

Her hand courses in my hair. Her body is silky, and her eyes are soft. It takes my breath away, and her lips are coated in my blood and saliva. I'm stealing her warmth, then making her take it back in such away. That is what it feels like to me.

There is still that lonesome gloom, but after years of it, there have been changes. This is a fairly recent development, something neither of us knew was going to happen in a few months. As to why this is happening... there are many reasons, and they all came together to a focal point aimed at both of our hearts. It comes down to magic and emotion itself. A prana drain connects the two of us, and the unequal mana building up causes a sort of melting of both of our brains.

In this case, she is losing energy, and I am gaining it. It is a runaway feedback loop. Just because... Ilya left doesn't automatically make it all better. The evil coursing from me to her and causing such pain to them is gone, but a connection once forged will never again truly be closed. It only changes into something new.

So there was a continuous need to transfer and gain mana for both of us. We didn't notice until one day when the two of us became pent up to the extreme.

I can't say what the catalyst which opened it was, but it happened gradually. Taiga was right when she said that puberty has come suddenly like a truck. It sort of just happened. The first time I looked at Sakura, and instead of seeing my best friend, someone who was my sister essentially, I saw something that I desired. And with cursed eyes, as I have, it wasn't hard to see that our emotions were completely in tune.

It was too late when that happened. There is a point to which we can't cross without melting into one another.

We can not embrace too closely, lest the feedback loop leads to a deadly meltdown, and we can not forsake one another lest our energy decays until we become unstable.

Apparently, there was a magical link between Sakura and me that still persisted and was sucking the magic out of her and into me. It was actually Tohsaka, who we embarrassingly approached for help, who ended up being to one who encouraged this. Despite extremely conflicting emotions, I didn't understand, Tohsaka concluded that this was something that had to happen. It made me so guilty to learn that. But Tohsaka was dismissive saying it was a fickle thing and not really anyone's fault.

Tohsaka said that cutting such a link was very dangerous and not very well understood. Why did it happen between Sakura and me? Well... there could have been plenty of moments it could have occurred. What matters is that it is there, and it means she is slowly transferring her mana to me. So... sex is what resulted from that. Without... letting out the pent up energy and urges, it could cause a drain on our magical reserves and lives themselves. So really... it couldn't be helped. We make it a weekly thing, and that has worked out.

Tohsaka yelled at us for hours that we needed to take this seriously. Leaking magical energy is apparently not good news. I'm storing too much, and Sakura is losing too much. The 'obvious scientific and logical solution', she told us, is to exchange mana like this at a steady rate. It took her some time to stammer it out, but that was her solution.

We can't go all the way, because Tohsaka said we shouldn't until we are in a more stable state. She was lying, but I didn't understand why. I want to respect Sakura, and I don't want to push her into sex like that in a way that would be more damaging than anything. So we never cross that line of letting ourselves go. But that is just her and my relationship. She is the closest person to me, but if we were to ever fully embrace we would both burst.

Too much of a good thing... can't outweigh the bad that lies within both of us.

Coming out of my thoughts, I feel Sakura finally calm down on top of me. I was exhausted, but her passion had kept me awake. Her husky breath on my neck is comfortable.

"I'm sorry... Sakura... I'm using you like... your nothing. I don't think that, but we keep having to do this... There are other ways of doing it." It didn't have to be so... intimate. I was guilty of thinking she was being forced.

"It's not about that... Senpai... I was glad to get you away from that woman..." She whispered to herself.

"What was that, Sakura?"

"Nothing..." She would usually leave if only to keep Fuji-nee from knowing. But Fuji-nee was not here tonight, for whatever reason. "I think... I need to stay here tonight... is that okay?"

"Of course."

She snuggled into my arms. She was so content that it made me feel the same; I was calm... Yet there is also an incredible feeling of emptiness. Both now, and when I am alone. There used to be someone else who would sleep in that spot every night. Someone who would freeze if she didn't have something really warm to hold her to. No. That was someone else, so I should be thinking of only the one in front of me.

Sakura falls asleep contently. I don't point out her lips on my neck, as I doubt she would move now for anything. A light sucking of salt and the residue of blood. Her hands can turn tight if I turn away. I've become satisfied with this feeling.

My dreams feel somewhat better with her there, and I hope that it is the same for her. "Love... Senpai... Hate... Nee-san..." Her emotions turn into a chaotic hurricane as she sleeps. I imagine it's the same for me, but I can't look at myself. We have no barrier defending ourselves from how we truly feel in our dreams.

I drift off in that comfort and don't notice the inquisitive red eyes watching us from the shadows. The dreams that night were beyond the pale of normal because someone else was trying to insert themselves into them.

---

Author's notes:

Go read my character sheets if you want deeper info about abilities and such. I'm redoing them from scratch and going down a very detailed route there. So what I am saying is, check out my profile page on ao3 or FFn. IF FFn links is broken, then go to Ao3 and look for kneenaw. FFN links are annoying like that.

Someone asked that I talk about the poll that is still going on about three servants who will be in the story. Keep in mind that asking me questions with a guest account means you will have to wait until I publish down here. So if you are newer to reading and don't know, I have 2 polls on my FFN profile page. The current ranking goes down as such: 1. Morgan 2. Jeanne 3. Artoria. Whoever is in the top 3 there will probably be in the story, but I can't make promises.

I don't see that ranking changing, but the poll is still there. My second poll is on ships: I want to know your favourite relationships. Whoever wins that one doesn't necessarily mean it will happen, but I'm interested in what popular opinion is. Do not expect me to listen to popular opinion.

After this Arcueid arc, we will move towards a more clock tower focused arc, and that is all I'll say for now.

Follow, and like and review. It is very encouraging, I write for you, and myself, but I can't get real feedback from myself can I?