Chapter 1: Awakening

"Alright, the stage is yours," Kafka said with a smile as she looked at the multitude of screens in the room. Despite the synergy that she had with Silver Wolf, she didn't know all too much about the hacker. All of their conversations were surface level and Silver Wolf was very reserved about her past. She turned to look at the small woman to see a deep frown on her face. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Silver Wolf shook her head. "I'm wondering if I'm going to have to call in a favor."

"For this?" Kafka tilted her head, her smile faded. "It's not like we haven't done something like this before."

"I'm trying to get it to screw off," Silver Wolf waved her off. "We're trying to eliminate variables. We can't risk something we can't expect coming out of that thing."

"Whatever you say," Kafka shrugged her shoulders as she started to explore the room. It didn't take long to find out that they couldn't find anything of worth. Kafka couldn't help but sigh as she made her way to Silver Wolf.

"Tch," Silver Wolf was typing away at a virtual keyboard. Kafka looked up at the screen to see the image of a cube with part of it made of smaller, transparent cubes as well as a chat log in a language Kafka had never seen before.

"What are you up to?" Kafka asked. Silver Wolf flinched and the screens in front of her disappeared.

"Bargaining," Silver Wolf replied coolly. "What do you want?"

"Come up with anything yet?" Kafka raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like we'll have to hack the security system directly. Since Herta's collection isn't a part of the system, any room unaffected should be our target," Silver Wolf explained.

"I see," Kafka nodded with approval. Silver Wolf nodded. She opened another screen and within a few seconds, all the screens were replaced with Silver Wolf's calling card.

"Simple and crude, yet effective," Silver Wolf muttered as she turned to one of the terminals in the center of the room. "Looks like we found it."

"Good job," Kafka raised her hand to put over Silver Wolf's head, but it was slapped away.

"Don't placate me," Silver Wolf growled.

"I couldn't help myself," Kafla let a small chuckle leave her mouth as they made their way to the terminal in question. Kafka rubbed her chin as she looked at the screen. "What is this?"

"Let's see…" Silver Wolf narrowed her eyes. "Item 211, otherwise known as "Blind Spot." It's a simple field that deflects light. It lets you conceal anything that passes through it."

"Huh, I thought Herta would use something a bit more… complex," Kafka muttered.

"Haven't you forgotten our motto?" Silver Wolf tore her eyes from the screen to give Kafka a scrutinizing glare.

"Yeah, yeah," Kafka waved her hand. A grid then spread from where the two women were standing and stretched outwards. A tear then appeared at the bottom left side of the room.

"There it is," Silver Wolf said. She stretched and led Kafka down the ramp and into the newly revealed space. "Huh, a hologram with multiple layers. Interesting."

"Yeah," Kafka said absentmindedly. Silver Wolf cared a lot more about this stuff than she did, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Silver Wolf looked into the next layer and nodded. With a smile, the two walked into the unknown.

"Guess she really is a member of the genius society," Silver Wolf heard Kafka mutter as they entered the new layer.

"Come on. The Stelletron is up ahead," The hacker brushed Kafka's comment off as she stepped to the terminal. "It has its own set security system. I guess even Herta needs to put in the extra effort…"

"Can you get in?" Kafka asked.

"Who do you think I am?" Silver Wolf scoffed as she took a thumb drive from her pocket and plugged it into the terminal. She then started to type out a complex set of code to direct the software in the thumb drive to attack the security system.

"Alright. I'll trust you with the receptacle then," Kafka said as she took a step forward and grabbed the Stellatron. She then turned to Silver Wolf just in time for the screen to turn red.

"Now? Really?" Silver Wolf groaned.

"What's up?" Kafka's frown deepened.

"The Moon Cell wants to configure the receptacle," Silver Wolf explained as she typed away, conversing with the supercomputer through the terminal.

"The Moon Cell?" Kafka raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"A supercomputer that resides on Earth's moon," Silver Wolf explained, her attention not shifting from the screen. "We have a… mutual friend, but the thing is really dangerous."

"Why does it want to hijack the configuration?" Kafka leaned over Silver Wolf's shoulder. Silver Wolf had known Kafka long enough to detect that she couldn't tell what the hell the hacker was doing.

"I think it wants to use the Stellatron to create a backdoor," Silver Wolf explained. "I don't know why it wants to summon things all the way out here, but it seems that it's unable to do so by itself. It needs to connect to the Stellatron."

"What does that mean for us?" Kafka asked.

"Instead of configuring the receptacle ourselves, the Moon Cell is going to upload its own," Silver Wolf replied. "It'll likely be much stronger than anything I can make with just the Stellatron, but there's a risk that they won't do what we tell them to."

"We can just take care of them if that's the case, right?" Kafla put a hand on one of her pistols.

"Easier said than done," Silver Wolf shook her head. "If it's going to summon who I think it's going to summon… she'll probably be agreeable, but if the Moon Cell decides to control her… no one short of maybe Welt would be able to take her on."

"That's…" Silver Wolf could see the gears turning in Kafka's head. "Is there a way to prevent this?"

"I'm trying," Silver Wolf muttered. A warning sign then appeared on the screen before shifting to show two people. One was a young man with a fairly built body and had two swords swirling around him slowly. The swords were unlike anything Silver Wolf had seen. They were twin Dao swords with opposite colors. She wasn't one for weapons, but she had seen a lot of them in her time. She then directed her attention to the other one. A girl with long, brown hair and simple clothing. Lines of code surrounded her, which looked to be something similar to Silver Wolf's own aether editing, albeit a bit rudimentary.

"Here, this is what the Moon Cell provided us," Silver Wolf breathed a sigh of relief as she flicked the screen over to Kafka. Although she truly wanted to see her friend again, she couldn't risk her getting out of control. She didn't know how much she had changed over the years.

"Hey Silver Wolf…" Kafka asked as she examined the screen, tapping it a couple times. "Are they supposed to be so different?"

"I don't know," Silver Wolf finally looked up at the screen to see Kafka's confused expression, something the hacker rarely saw. "What's up?"

"They both have different elements and paths," Kafka explained. "The male one is physical and preservation while the female one is quantum and harmony."

"I wouldn't question it," Silver Wolf shrugged her shoulders. "Looks like the Moon Cell sent you two different people. Let's hope they're agreeable enough."

"Hmm, I'll pick this one," Kafka tapped on the male figure. "Receptacle Emiya, codename: Shirou."

"Alright," Silver Wolf said. Kafka compressed the screen into a cube and tossed it to the hacker. Silver Wolf nodded and placed it in the screen, pushing it in with her finger. She turned to see the man on the screen starting to materialize.

"How much will he know?" Kafka asked as she walked up to the man and looked at him with a smile. She could see why. Even though he was unconscious, the young man reeked of battle experience. She couldn't place her finger on it. It was as if his very aura gave her the impression of a seasoned warrior.

"Beats me," Silver Wolf shrugged her shoulders as her partner in crime wrapped an arm around Shirou's back and used her free hand to shove the Stellatron in the man's chest.

"Alright, then," Kafka's smile widened. "Time to get up."

When Shirou came to, his memory was all jumbled. Sends felt like an eternity as his mind pieced itself together. He remembered a war… a woman with black hair… a tower… a sorcerer… a moon… a blade…

A blade… that's right…

I am the bone of my sword.

Shirou's eyes snapped awake, his memories flooding in. It took a second for him to get his bearings, but when he did, he noticed the two women staring down at him. One had a gentle smile while the other looked at him with a deadpan expression.

"Where am—" Shirou was cut off when he felt information flood his head.

The Moon Cell… that's what sent me here, Shirou processed the information. It never specified why, though…

"Who are you?" Shirou started with a simple question.

"In all its wisdom…" The smaller woman shook her head.

"Now, now, let's not be rude," The other woman smiled down at Shirou. "My name is Kafka."

"Silver Wolf," The rude one added. "You better not mess this up."

"Mess what up?" Shirou asked.

"I understand you must be confused," Kafka said with an empathetic tone. "What you need to understand right now is that we're going soon and you're going to be left alone in this space station. In the near future you'll encounter all kinds of hardships, but you will also experience many wonderful things. You will meet people who will treat you like family and go on amazing adventures with them. In the end, you will find your purpose."

"I… see," Shirou nodded his head slowly. He didn't necessarily trust the two people before him, but they didn't seem hostile. Kafka even seemed to be a kind woman. It was sad that the first people he met since waking up had to depart so quickly,

"That is the future Elio has foreseen," Kafka gazed into Shirou's eyes. As Shirou met her gaze, he found something that he couldn't quite place. Was she… dangerous? He couldn't tell in his current state. "What do you think?"

"I… I don't know," Shirou shook his head. Even though his life was cut short, he lived a full one. He was content. He didn't know if he wanted to live another one.

"Take your time. You will understand your feelings eventually," Kafka encouraged.

"How long do you need?" Silver Wolf asked. "Looks like the Astral Express is arriving soon. We should probably get out of here before they show up."

"Almost done," Kafka raised a hand, her eyes still on Shirou. "Listen to me. Although you may not be who we expected, I want you to live a full life. Someone will come to help you very soon. Whether you want to go with them is up to you, but when you make a choice, make one that you won't regret."

"Okay…" The way Kafka talked to Shirou felt like a parent talking to their kid when they moved out for the first time, but for some reason, he was okay with that. Was it the aura Kafka exuded? He couldn't tell.

"Now, rest well, Shirou. We will meet again," Kafka said. Shirou tried to speak, but he felt his eyes getting heavy. As Kafka turned and nodded to Silver Wolf, Shirou felt his vision blur.

"Now that I've done you this favor, are you finally going to help me out?" Silver Wolf put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll help you find this Mei person," Kafka replied.

"Good. Let's go," Silver Wolf said. The last thing Shirou saw was the two women walking away before fading into a blissful unconsciousness.

Thank you for reading this fic! I'm still going through the story of Honkai Impact 3rd so please forgive me for any inconsistencites from the main story. I'm super excited for this fic and I hope you are too. With that being said, please do consider leaving a review! I would love to read and reply to your thoughts. Also please join my Discord! I would love to talk to you all and answer all your questions! I talk a lot about my thought process while writing, so if you're interested in that, do consider joining. The url is discord . gg (forego the spaces) followed by a slash and CpVs7R8KXz. Unfortunately you'll have to type the rest of the url in manually because I'm not allowed to post links. If you want to read chapters as soon as they're finished along with a slew of other benefits, check out my Patron at pat reon dot com slash kfpisnotacult. They've already gotten the next chapter to this fic. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you on the flipside.