Interlude - Making of a Tyrant (IV)
The night after Shirou met Caren came and went and everything was quiet. There was no movement from any of the factions involved with the Grail War. Or at least nothing overt.
Kotomine and Zouken were undoubtedly putting their own pieces where they wanted them.
Shirou doubted that those two would ally together, but there was no doubt that his coalition was the main target. He was certain that if one made a move, the other would capitalize on the opportunity to get a shot in.
Shirou and his allies, however, were unable to make a move. They couldn't shut down the Grail without removing Zouken, but he had made his stronghold where they couldn't bring their forces to bear.
They spent a good chunk of the following morning talking about possible courses of action but there were none. Any night the Grail could manifest another singularity, threatening the safety of the people of Fuyuki, and yet they couldn't find any way to change this.
They raided the Matou household, but they found it completely empty and even Sakura had disappeared and even Shinji had vanished from the face of the Earth. Zouken had clearly not left anything they could use against him.
Not that they would, but the old Magus had taken his precautions all the same.
Or maybe he wasn't protecting them and simply preventing any information about his plans to leak out. Sometimes the most irrelevant piece of knowledge could hint at the nature of much bigger things.
In any event, the situation was less than ideal and Shirou was stressing over it.
Then, completely out of the blue, Caster came up with an idea.
"Let's go to the water park."
"Haaa?" Shirou's eyebrows went so high they nearly joined his hairline. "What are you saying out of the blue?"
"The only thing worse than waiting for an enemy to make their move against us is to sit around stressing about it," she replied. "We have already gone over everything a dozen times, take every conceivable precaution. There's nothing else we can do but face the threat when it presents itself. We might as well kick back and relax until then."
"Yeah, okay, maybe, but I don't think it's a good idea splitting up right now," he objected.
"Who said anything about splitting up? I already asked Rider and Illya and they are coming too."
"Wait... Illya said she's coming?" he asked.
"What's so weird about it?" Illya asked as she came from around the corner. "Am I not allowed to have fun?"
"Nononono!" Shirou replied hurriedly, frantically waving both hands. "Not at all! I just never thought you would want to."
"And pray tell, why not?"
She had her hands on her hips and a gelid expression on her face."
"No, I just... It's... I thought it might be... too plebian for you?"
"Well, that's still my decision to make."
"Absolutely," he quickly agreed. "It never implied otherwise. I guess I'm going to get ready then."
He got up and rushed to his room to get his things.
"Hm, I can't believe that he's not scared by Berserker but he's afraid of me," said Illya to Caster.
The Witch laughed.
"Shirou is scared by Herakles. Who wouldn't? But he's not afraid of you. He's afraid of disappointing you."
"Hmpf!!" she scoffed, turning around. "The limo is going to be here soon. Don't make me wait for you lot."
"Don't worry, I've got all I need already packed," she said.
If she didn't know any better, she would have said that Illya was related to Rin, going about their behavior.
[br]
Despite the way things had taken a turn for the worse with the War Rider was in a very good mood.
She never forgot about Sakura's situation, but as her tormentor went into hiding, there was no point revealing her circumstances to Shirou when he had plenty of other things to worry about.
But now Matou Zouken had made himself an enemy of their coalition, and that meant they would have to kill him to destroy the Grail. Although it impeded their mission, it also meant she could save Sakura without revealing her situation. The young woman who reminded Rider so much of herself didn't want anyone to know how she had been violated.
She felt a bit guilty over keeping this knowledge from Shirou after everything he had done for her, and just when she thought she should tell him, the situation changed drastically and there was no longer a need to ask for help and reveal Sakura's secret.
She then decided to just let things play out for themselves in this regard. The goals of saving Sakura and destroying the Grail became one and the same. There was no reason for her to say anything anymore.
Instead, she thought to focus her attention on Shirou who was carrying the brunt of the situation on his shoulders. Sure, there was herself as well as Caster, Berserker and his Master but it was Shirou who had taken upon his shoulders the responsibility of seeing the Grail destroyed.
She quickly agreed to Caster's suggestion of going to the pool. She loved swimming after all.
[br]
About half an hour later they got to the luxury, in-door water park that had been built around five years prior called Exciting Splash. Shirou had been to the place a couple of times with Shinji in the past so he knew his way around the place.
As he got changed into his swimming trunks, his thoughts drifted to the War. What the hell was he doing here, when there was such a huge threat looming over their heads. He knew he couldn't do anything toward that right now, and Caster's reasoning was sound, but that didn't mean he could relax on command.
Still, it was good if at least the others could put their worries behind them for a little while.
After he changed he got out to the swimming area and waited for the others to join him. In the meantime, he watched around the pool at all the people that were having fun not knowing how in peril their lives were.
Shirou wanted to protect that simple happiness but he feared he wasn't good enough to succeed. He thought that they were going great, having gathered the majority of the Servants under one banner, but instead, they were at a dead end with no idea how to get out of it.
As he thought about this, he noticed something weird. The people who weren't actively swimming had stopped doing what they were doing, and they were all looking in the same direction.
Shirou turned to look as well and thus forgot everything he was worrying about up to that moment.
Caster, Rider, and Illya walked out of the changing room together. "What the hell?" someone said
"Is there a photoshoot?" asked someone else.
"Holy shit! I didn't know there was an event."
There was just so much beauty any man could take at the same time, and that limit had been passed at the speed of light.
Medea, Medusa, and Illya approached, each wearing a bikini the same color as their hair. Each of them alone would have been a head-turner, but together they were heart-stoppers.
Even the other women were openly staring, not even bothering to reprimand their boyfriends for ogling. Some level of beauty things transcended even sexual orientation.
"Pick up your jaw, dummy," said Illya as she came up to him.
Shirou's mouth snapped close with a loud clack.
"I... sorry... uh..."
The next thing he knew there was a set of breasts filling most of his vision. "Heok!"
"What's wrong, Shirou?" asked the owner of said breasts.
Medusa's tone was flat, but there was a tug at the corner of her lips.
"I... Uh... what?"
"I think we might have broken him," said Medea amusedly.
Shirou shook his head and broke the spell, coughing into his hand.
"I don't know what you are talking about," he said, but his red face gave away his real thoughts.
"Sure you don't dear," she said, stroking his cheek before walking past him and joining Illya on one of the lounge chairs.
"Wait... I've seen those two before. Aren't those two the women that came at school that time?"
"Holy... you are right! That's Emiya right there."
"That bastard again?"
"How the hell is this fair? Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"Are you telling me that the women know about each other? What the fuck!" "That's it! I'm going to murder him!"
"Wait! Don't do it. Help me stop him. Grab his legs! Pin him down!"
"Looks like some of your schoolmates are here as well, Shirou," said Rider, looking in the direction of the commotion. "Would you like me to set the record straight with them?"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Do you feel that's necessary?" he asked.
Rider's mouth opened briefly and then closed.
"I don't care what anyone thinks about us."
"Let's not bother, then. We came here to have fun, so let's do that. Wanna go for a swim?" "Of course, Shirou," she agreed.
"Wanna come with us, Illya, Caster?" he asked.
"Hm, since I got through the trouble of coming here...," Illya said. "I'll be there in a minute."
"I'll lounge here for a little while longer," Caster replied.
"Alright but this was your idea so don't think you can just laze there all afternoon," he said as he headed for the water with Rider in tow.
[br]
"So, what is the deal?" Illya asked.
"Hm? What are you talking about?" Caster asked.
"You are in a relationship with my brother, that's abundantly clear. Just as it's clear that Rider is crushing on him and he isn't making any effort to draw boundaries. Yet you are just lounging her, while another woman is getting smitten with your man. So what is the deal?"
"What is it to you? Around last week you wanted to murder him, now you are worried about his romantic life?"
"Don't make me laugh. I'm not worried. I'm curious. From what Berserker told me about you, you should be the jealous type. Someone like you wouldn't let their man fool around with other women. Unless..."
"Unless what?"
"You don't believe you are making it out of the War alive, do you? You are setting him up to be with someone else."
"So what if I am?" Caste asked, narrowing her eyes.
"It's none of my business, that is true, but I wonder why you would have such a gloomy outlook. Do you know something you aren't telling us?"
"It's nothing like that. The truth is that just like all the other Servants I'm already dead. Our fates have already reached their culmination and have been written down in history. I died a witch and that's how I was crystalized into legend. And if there is one thing that it's certain about witches, is that we don't get happy endings."
Illya crossed her arms.
"The deceased don't get to write the future, is what you are saying."
"Yes. That is the prerogative of the living. I'll do everything to survive and live on, but I've made preparations for the worst outcome."
In the first place, the Servants weren't supposed to survive the War. They were nothing but a sacrifice and a system to determine which Master was worthy of the prize. For one of them to live past the end, it was already an anomaly within an anomaly.
"You would go that far for him," she said, looking at the place where Shirou and Rider were swimming. "Why do you love him so much?"
"Because he did something no one ever did before. He believed in me. And that is worth everything."
"I see. Well, it's none of my business what the two of you get up to. I'm content with knowing this coalition won't fold on itself due to relationship drama. Now I'm going for a swim," she said and got up heading for the pool as well.
[br]
Shirou jumped into the water headfirst and the cool feeling washed over him immediately. He dove toward the bottom and he basically laid on the floor there, looking up. The waterpark was indoor but the ceiling was glass, so he could see the clear sky all the way down there.
There were other people in the pool too, of course, and their swimming above him cut that perfect picture in countless pieces. In those depths, the sounds were heavily muffled and even though there were at least a hundred people, their voices were removed.
It was almost as if he was completely alone.
But he wasn't. Even discarding all the strangers, there were people with him. Both without and within the water.
A figure swiftly swam around him, circling him, and then it hovered above him.
Rider stared at Shirou quizzically, her long hair floating around her. She tilted her head, almost as if to ask if something was wrong.
Shirou shook his head and brought his hands together, pushing Mana through his arms. A round figure took shape and it coalesced into a beach ball. Being full of air, it immediately started to pull him up toward the surface and he rose with Rider following right after.
They both broke the water at the same time. "Catch!" he said and he tossed the ball at her.
Naturally, she caught it with ease. She appeared surprised, looking at the ball like an alien object. Then she smiled and threw it right back at him.
They passed it back and forth. It was a silly, mindless activity. There was no competition of any sort.
"So this is the kind of things people do for entertainment these days," she said. "It's not bad."
"Yeah, surprisingly," Shirou agreed. He never saw himself doing stuff like this. 'Fun' didn't give him any satisfaction. In fact, it filled him with guilt. He didn't deserve to enjoy himself or be happy.
But right now, he didn't feel bad, maybe because this wasn't just about him. His friends needed and deserved the downtime.
"Why don't you let me be the judge of how much fun that is?" They both turned to see Illya swimming to the side.
Rider gently tossed the ball at her and instead, she smacked it at Shirou who made it bounce right back to the sender. Any time the ball got to Illya, she shot it at Shirou's as hard as she could without destroying it. More than once he had to deflect it high.
"This is actually pretty fun," said the white-haired girl.
"I don't think you understand the spirit of the game," said Shirou morosely, but he was smiling. The extent of Illya's grudge toward him had gone from wanting to murder him to smack him in the face with a beach ball. That was a marked improvement.
He turned to look out of the pool and Caster was there, still lounging. She waved at him dismissively, as if to tell him to go back to what he was doing, while she sunbathed.
He could do that for a little while longer, he guessed. [br]
Illya was having fun.
She was no stranger to entertainment, of course. Life at the Einzbern mansion was strict, but she could still do things for fun. They were measured and elegant activities. They were of high stock, of course, and they would not partake in plebian activities.
This was the first time that she did something like going to a public venue and have fun with her friends.
Sella and Leysritt were her maids, and although they care for one another like three sisters, there was the barrier of stations between them. Most homunculi couldn't break from the constraint of their purpose and her maids were no exception.
Perhaps calling this ragtag group of humans and Heroic Spirits friends was a bit premature, but it was the closest thing she had. Even if one of them was the brother she dreamed of killing for ten years.
Speaking of him, she didn't know how to deal with him. It wasn't precisely easy to put aside a decade of festering resentment, compounded by the pain of becoming the perfect vessel from the ambition of the Einzbern. At the same time, she couldn't pin that hatred on him.
She tried very hard, but after meeting him for the first time, and actually talking with him, she couldn't match him with the mental image of the person she trained herself to hate. After he threw himself in front of her to protect her from an attack that would have killed them both, it became completely impossible.
Emiya Shirou wasn't the brother she hated. That person never existed in the first place. She was looking at him with different eyes, as a completely different person; one she had only just met.
Now she didn't know where to direct that anger and it expressed itself in every direction it could find, going as far as smashing the ball harder than strictly necessary. And yet, he never called her out on the abuse.
She allowed herself to let go of her past for this once-in-a-lifetime event and simply enjoy herself.
After about half an hour of mindless fun, they got out of the pool and went back to their chairs.
"Alright, does anyone want something to drink?" Shirou asked. "Hm, I would like a glass of cold juice," Caster said.
"I'll have a beer," said Rider.
"I'll have the beer too," Illya echoed.
"No way, they'll throw me in jail," Shirou replied. "Yeah, I know you are old enough, but convincing everyone else would be a problem.
"Fine, then I'll have the juice too," she pouted.
"Good. Rider if you want that beer you'll have to come with me. They won't sell it to a minor even if it's for an adult."
"Of course," the Servant agreed and they took off together.
"So, how was the pool experience?" Caster asked.
"Not bad, I guess," Illya replied lying on the chair next to her.
She could have had this life all along. A loving father. A doting brother. Friends.
"You are still alive," said Caster without looking at her, as if reading her thoughts. "You can still write your own future."
Illya looked at the sky and wondered if it truly was possible.
'What do you think, Berserker?' she asked. Her invisible guardian hadn't said a word in a long while.
'Sooner or later, everything dies,' he replied. 'Today, tomorrow. It matters little. What matters is what you do with the time in between now and then. If this is the life you wish for, then fight for it.'
'Even if it's just for one day?''
'If a person can be granted only a day of happiness, wouldn't that be the most important day in their lives?'
She closed her eyes and exhaled.
All that rage, and that hatred she harbored in her chest loosened. It was still there, but it was not as tightly wound. Perhaps she had a chance to unravel it completely before her time ran out.
[br]
Shirou and Rider went to the bar and ordered their drinks. As expected, Rider's passage stopped al conversations and made heads turn. However, seeing that she was with someone, no one dared to approach her.
"Two bottles of juices and one beer, please," he said to the barman who was perhaps the only guy that didn't bother ogling Rider.
"Here you go," he replied, handing over his order.
He paid and grabbed the drinks, handing Rider's beer over.
"Thanks," she replied and they started to make their way back, but suddenly Rider grabbed his arm.
"Uh? What's wrong?" he asked but looking down at his arm he saw that it wasn't her hand that grabbed him, but a thick strand of her hair. "Oh, crap."
"Ah, sorry," Rider said trying to pull her hair back. However, they were tightly wound around him and they were cutting into his skin.
"Rider, stop. You are just making it worse."
He looked around frantically and spotted a stack of crates behind a group of fake trees, like many others that decorated the place. He grabbed her hand and dragged her there. Once they were safely behind the crates, he checked to see if anyone had noticed them and were following them.
"Alright, here should be safe. Come on, do what you need to," he said, pulling her into his arms.
"You are... very proactive today," she murmured before she bit into his shoulder.
Shirou felt the sharp pain of her teeth breaking the skin. His heartbeat sped up, and his head became slightly dizzy, but neither one was because of the blood loss. He pulled her a little bit closer, putting a hand on the small of her back. She made a light jolt, but she quickly relaxed and wrapped her own arms around him.
At some point, he felt her stop drinking his blood, but Rider didn't move her face from the nook of his neck. Neither one of them said anything to acknowledge this situation and they stayed that way for a time that felt both too short and far too long.
"We... should probably head back now," he said, releasing her.
She stepped back and said nothing. She simply followed after him but if he bothered to look he might have noticed her flustered expression and the look of longing she was giving him.
[br]
Medusa was confused. She was getting signals from Shirou that didn't make any sense. To be fair, he did nothing more than proactively deal with her impulses but the way he held her wasn't like that. However, she indulged in his touch more than she had to, which was precisely the point of her perplexity. Why didn't Shirou break it off right away?
He was with Caster, and he wasn't the type of person who would cheat. Although it didn't get that far, it was clearly more than just feeding her blood.
Was she leading him on?
Yes. No. Maybe. She wasn't trying to seduce him. Or at least she wasn't doing it on purpose.
She wasn't such a hypocrite that she would lie to herself. She liked Shirou in the way a woman likes a man. If... if Caster hadn't been there first, then she would have probably initiated something with him, at the very least on the physical level.
She wasn't precisely life-partner material. Or was she? She was bound to him for life, was she not? In a way, their connection was even deeper than the one she shared with Caster. Rider couldn't walk away from the relationship like Caster could.
But it wasn't like they were going to break up, and Rider certainly wouldn't make them either. But if they did break up, then maybe...
She shook her head. What was she thinking, hoping that her benefactor would go through such heartache for her own benefit? She was truly despicable.
"Here we are, sorry it took so long," he said, handing over the bottles of juice to Caster and Illya.
"I see something kept you," Caster said, glancing at Shirou's shoulder. The bite had healed but there was still a red mark that looked like a hickey. It was shrinking rapidly but it was still evident.
"Yeah, something like that," he replied.
"This is almost room temperature," said Illya as she drank her juice.
"Sorry about that," he replied awkwardly.
Illya glanced between him and Rider, who both weren't looking at her in the eye.
"Well, next time don't fool around and come straight back," she reprimanded. It appeared that everyone knew what had been going on, to some extent.
"I'll do my best," Shirou replied noncommittally. Then he sat on a chair himself and Rider did the same, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.
She was definitely missing something here. Caster was in the loop of Rider's circumstances, and Illya had probably figured it out. The white-haired woman was stealing glances between them and Caster. She had picked up on the weird dynamic and she was just as puzzled as Rider as to why Caster didn't seem bothered by it.
There was no way the Witch of Betrayal hadn't picked on the undertone. Why wasn't she saying anything? And why was Shirou's face turning red?
They were talking telepathically, but she wasn't privy to the conversation. She had no idea what was going on, and she decided against asking, but she kept her guard up. Medea could flip anytime if she thought she had been wronged.
[br]
'So... did something happen between you and Rider?' Medea asked through their connection.
'Not yet,' he replied, before realizing what he had just admitted.
'Oh? Would you mind extrapolating on that?'
'I don't know how much longer I'll be able to restrain myself,' he said. 'Rider's just so...' 'Smoking hot?' she suggested.
'Stop it. It feels wrong when you say it,' he lamented.
'But it's the truth.'
'It's the least of my problem, is what it is. I wouldn't be so troubled if she was just attractive. It's everything that's the problem. I would just push her away, but I can't do that. She needs me and the skinship isn't helping the situation. And again, I could just restrain myself but...'
'You love her.'
'I care for her,' he amended.
'You care for everyone, Shirou. That is no reason for the way you feel. You love Rider. I suppose it's inevitable. It's perfectly normal for feelings like this to form between people who share their lives as closely as you do. Both within and without the battlefield. Besides, people can love more than one person. The problem comes down to commitment. Everyone is finite. You have only so much of yourself to give others. But you shouldn't have that problem,
since you aren't committed to anything but your ideals. So everyone gets the short end of the stick with you anyway.'
He grimaced, but he knew it to be the truth. Even his relationship with Caster was based on that order of priorities.
'I'm the worst.' he concluded.
'Not really, if the people that decide to have a relationship with you know beforehand. It's all about choices. I've made mine and Rider can make her own if you give her the chance. She already knows what's the deal with you. It's your decision whether to let her in or push her out, but you shouldn't keep her on edge. Her feelings for you are already clear.'
He glanced at Rider, who was caught staring at him, and she immediately looked away. 'Yes, I guess they are,' he concluded. 'But it's not the right time.'
'Probably not. Feelings have a way of complicating things and we don't need more complications than we already have, do we?'
'No we don't,' he agreed. "Alright who is up for another round in the water before we call it a day?"
"I'll come this time," Caster said.
"I'm going to pass," Illya replied.
"And I as well," said Rider, still not looking at him.
"Okay, take it easy until we come back," he told them and headed for the pool with Medea.
He jumped in the water, while the witch lowered herself into it with more grace. Shirou offered his hand and she took it. They swam together and talked about inconsequential things, like two lovers with nothing to standing in the way of their future.
[br]
Darkness fell over the city, but a fresh breeze blew from the ocean, washing away the heavy atmosphere that had settled over the city as of late.
With it came a car. It rounded from above the hills and drove along the shore. It was a sleek vehicle, sporty and luxurious. Even the roar of its engine was elegant. It pulled into the city and pulled to the curb. The door opened smoothly and out stepped a man, clad in the finest clothes money could buy. His hair was the color of gold but his eyes were crimson as blood.
He lifted his regal chin and looked upon the people around him. Maggots the lot of them. Maggots that infested his world needlessly. Their existence was a bane, and for him to walk among them was more than they deserved.
The King of Heroes would purge them. He would have already done so, but the destruction of the Church had left him without Mana to call upon. He was formidable. The greatest of the greatest, but in this incomplete form he was still bound by rules. Therefore he sought a new source elsewhere.
He did not need a Master, nor he would have one, not even for the convenience of Mana. But he found a few ones that were passably attractive, by the standards of the man who owned all the treasures of the world. Enough that he wouldn't sully himself my laying with them. Of course, they had enough sense to submit to him, and the reward for their good sense was the service they performed. Now with the Mana of a dozen Magus of what passed for high stock in this day and age, he set out to finish what he had started.
The Grail would fall into his hands, and humanity would be purged by its own wishes [XXX]