Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.
Purified by Fire, Dancing with Fairies
Chapter 8
The sky shifted from gold and orange to violet and dark blue as the Sun slowly dipped below the horizon. Fog began to creep up from the ground, winding around and between the trees, as shadows merged together to plunge the forest into twilight. Insects droned in the background, leaves rustling as a cold breeze blew through the forest, and causing the fog to billow and swell before they settled down, the breeze passing and leaving stillness in its wake.
Rin crept through the forest, her entire body reinforced and senses attuned not just to the mundane but to the supernatural, wary of a trap or an ambush, such as had been set against her two nights ago. Even her eyes had been spelled, with a spell that would allow her to see in the dark, as opposed to casting a light that would only give away her position.
But even as she cautiously crept through the forest, something…didn't seem right. She couldn't put a finger on it, in fact it felt…elsewhere…elusive. Something she shouldn't allow to distract her, something she should dismiss for later, so she could focus on the present, and yet…
…it persisted.
Rin gestured, summoning a strong and powerful wind that blew back the fog. And then, even as she swept the cleared forest around her with her augmented sight, the fog crept in again. Up above, the Sun had completely set, turning the twilight under the trees into near-complete darkness. There was no Moon, only the stars in the sky shining cold and distant, and yet strangely clear and bright.
More than that even…even with the sky as clear as it was on this night, even in a suburban area, the stars should not be this clear and bright. "What is this?" Rin muttered before closing her eyes and extending her senses. Something wasn't right, she could feel and knew that much, and yet…
…she couldn't sense anything. Anything…unnatural…supernatural…only a forest, cold and quiet in the night…nothing more and nothing less…
…and yet…it was still there. That…tingling, presence…sensation…that something wasn't right, if not in the here and now, then elsewhere, but important enough that she shouldn't and couldn't dismiss it out of hand.
Could she be caught in a bounded field of some sort?
No…she'd have sensed that…
…then what was going on here?
"Phantasmagoria…" Rin thought back to what Ayame had told her. "Literally a dream-like or even actually dream sequences of real or imaginary images…illusion magecraft, maybe? Is that what this is? This…feeling…of wrongness…is it the Phantasmagoria I'm sensing? Or maybe…am I already caught in the Phantasmagoria? And this feeling of wrongness is my own subconscious telling me that everything around me is just an illusion? But how? Magi cannot be caught by mental illusions! Active magic circuits prevent that, and the more the better!"
Growling to herself, Rin activated her crest and flooded all of her circuits with prana, the burning numbness of her entire body telling her this was real, and not an illusion…and yet…
…she turned and she turned and she turned…and still all she could see were fog-shrouded rank upon rank of trees stretching as far the eye could see, dark shadows of shrugs, rocks, and bushes looming here and there in the fog. And still, that feeling of wrongness persisted.
"I'm not caught by the Phantasmagoria." Rin thought. "There's no foreign prana in my system, I'd have felt it if there was, and it should have been expelled the moment I flooded all my circuits with prana. If the Phantasmagoria is illusion magecraft…then it isn't mental in nature. Optical maybe? Possible…but it could also be something else…"
Rin closed her eyes, and reached out through her link with her Servant. "Archer," she thought. "I need you. Tell me what's happened between you and Saber, and then get in here."
There was dead, utter silence through their link. Rin blinked, and then sent her thoughts through the link again and again. "Archer…Archer…Archer!" she pulsed with increasing agitation. "Answer me, damn you! WHERE ARE YOU? WHY CAN'T I…UNLESS…I can't…"
Rin shook her head in disbelief as she opened her eyes, backing away and looking around her with a suddenly worried expression on her face. "No…" she whispered. "This is completely, absolutely impossible…you can't just sever a connection between Master and Servant, this is…!"
Snarling in frustration, Rin held up her right arm, pulling down her sleeve…and then the blood drained from her face, a bottomless pit of terror opening up in her stomach.
Her command spells…they were gone.
"This is impossible." Rin muttered, shaking her head in disbelief and frantically looking and dashing around. "This is impossible…this is impossible…this is impossible…this is impossible…this is impossible…this is impossible…this is impossible…this is impossible…THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"
Rin came to a halt, and shouted up into the sky. "EMIYA!" she roared. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? WHAT IS THIS, DAMN YOU?"
And then Rin's eyes widened, as she heard slow, heavy, and measured footsteps behind her, crunching on dry leaves and twigs. Narrowing her eyes, Rin tensed her body, a blue jet of a pilot flame already forming in one hand, and then whirling around fired a blazing blast of fire behind her.
There was a figure there, walking perpendicular to her line of sight, of a tall man shrouded in mist and shadow. Fire blazed and exploded, sending smoke, steam, and dust into the air…and then there was nothing. Just a crater gouged into the ground, along with secondary fires as twigs and dry leaves burned, already being shrouded by the fog as she watched.
"Who…no, what…" Rin muttered, and then sensing movement turned and fired off another blast. This time it was a woman, of average height with long dark hair, walking quickly and purposefully past…
…again, fire blazed and exploded, but when Rin came to investigate, there was nothing. Nothing but a crater, and small fires.
Laughter…laughter echoed in the fog from nearby, that of a child. No…not just a child…a girl child…and it was strangely…hauntingly familiar…like something she'd known long ago and had forgotten but had once cherished…and still did…but why? How? Who?
Rin turned slowly, spotting a little girl prancing past nearby, shrouded in mist and shadow like the man and woman before. "Wait!" Rin shouted, moving to pursue. "Who…"
Abruptly, she tripped on a tree root and fell on her face. Spitting out dirt and curses, Rin forced herself up on all fours, and then shaking her head looked up. Her hand was on a child's skull.
Rin yelped in shock and surprise, springing back and then up on her feet against a tree. Its bark felt cold and clammy to the touch, and after a moment Rin stepped forward, approaching the skull. For several moments Rin just stared down at it, and then stooping, tried to pick it up.
It was gone.
Like it was never there.
Rin sprang to her full height, looking frantically around her. "What is this?" she whispered, fully and finally afraid. "What sorcery is this? Emiya…what have you done…who…who are you? What…what is your family…"
Nearly tripping on another root, Rin fell back against another tree. For several long moments, she just stood there, leaning against cold and clammy wood, her breathing slowly steadying, the magus practicing breathing exercises to bring her fear under control.
Finally, she swallowed dryly, and cautiously stepped forward. There was silence, not even the insects making any more noise here and now. All around here, all she could see were trees shrouded in the fog and the shadows of ground vegetation and terrain, and looking up there were only the stars, clear and bright as they shouldn't be in a city.
Rin briefly closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she braced herself against the ground, reaching into her pockets and pulling out handfuls of gems in each hand. A magic circle appeared around her feet, and the gems began to glow as Rin began to cast a spell. "Feuer und Wind," she spoke softly in German, an ethereal breeze blowing around her. "Meer und Himmel, alle Lebewesen, die auf dieser Erde wohnen…"
The magic circle went out.
The breeze went out.
The gems went out.
The prana flow went out.
Everything went out.
Only darkness was left…and absolute terror. "No…" Rin whispered, falling to her knees…where? It didn't feel like the ground anymore, it felt…it didn't feel like anything at all. "What is this? What is this? Emiya…what is she…what is her magic…gods…father…I don't…what is this…"
And then slowly, there was light. Pale and weak, casting a long shadow as it began to grow in strength from behind Rin, who found herself in a long tunnel leading to…somewhere. Slowly, cautiously, Rin turned towards the light, which slowly but steadily grew stronger as though coming closer.
Despite not knowing why…Rin ran.
She ran and she ran and she ran…and for all her efforts, the light just kept on growing stronger and closer, and Rin doubled and redoubled her efforts, barely noticing her reinforcement and spells were all gone, but that didn't matter now, all that mattered was getting away, ignoring the burning protests of her muscles and lungs, unwilling to risk slowing by the slowest fraction by trying to restore her mysteries…
…and then she tripped, falling forward and sprawling on the ground. Rolling on her back, she gasped and her eyes widened as the light loomed blinding, forcing Rin to cover her face with her arms. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed, her voice echoing as though over an infinite distance.
And then…Rin opened her eyes. "What…what the hell is this?" she whispered, getting up and finding herself in some kind of stone tunnel. Behind her was absolute darkness, but in the distance before her, there was a faint point of light. For a long moment Rin just stood there, in the dark, and then glancing once at the darkness behind her, slowly began making her way down the tunnel towards the light.
Unlike before…this light…it didn't seem threatening…not at all…it felt…natural. Nothing unusual about it at all.
And then she stopped, as she heard faint voices from up ahead. Two men, both deep and serious, both familiar, though she couldn't place them…yet. But one of them…it sounded…familiar…something she had missed for so long…but…who? And…how? Why?
Rin resumed walking towards the light, faster than before, and then impatiently, began to run. And yet, no matter how hard and fast she moved, no matter how much she pushed herself, despite all the pain and strain she put on her lungs and muscles…she didn't seem to be getting any closer.
Finally, she couldn't keep it up, and collapsing and then sliding down against the wall, screamed in frustration before pounding the ground angrily with her fists. She didn't know how long she sat there, her muscles slowly relaxing, her breath coming back to her, and her anger and frustration fading away.
Getting back up, Rin looked back to the darkness, and then to the light. And then looking down, she took a deep breath, and opened her circuits, nearly bursting into tears of joy as she felt the familiar fire of prana pouring into her circuits. But, even as she cast her reinforcement and other spells…
…she was standing in the doorway, looking from the back at two men. Both were tall and dark-haired, one dressed in plain, black clothes, but the other…those crimson clothes…it was impossible…and yet…after everything that had happened…
…she recognized those clothes. She knew that figure, even from behind, and at once recognized that familiar, missed voice she'd heard in the tunnel.
"Dad?" she whispered.
And then the other man stabbed Tokiomi Tohsaka from behind, the elder Tohsaka looking over his shoulder in shock and betrayal before falling forward. Time seemed to come to a stop, Rin looking on in horror and shock, as her father fell, bleeding and dying to the ground.
"YOU BASTARD!" Rin screamed, her crest flashing and lightning erupting blinding around one hand. The light obscured the features of her father's murderer, the crackling of thunder as though a thousand birds were screaming all at once drowned out all other sounds, the sight of her father's murder destroying all rationality…
…though, much of that was gone long since.
The murderer fell, much of his body flashing into steam and half-cooked offal, and then Rin was rushing to her father's side. "No…no…please dad…don't leave me…" Rin frantically pleaded, pulling at her father's body, to no avail. "No…damn it…no…not like this…NOT LIKE THIS!"
Screaming in defiance, lightning erupted around Rin's fists, the girl striking her father's chest, trying to use the lightning to shock her father's heart back into activity. But it was all for nothing, and in the end, all Rin could do was kneel there, in a cold, dimly-lit chamber, crying in a pool of blood while holding her father's body close.
She didn't know how long she was there, holding her father well after even the last of her tears had been shed…
…and then he was gone. Gasping, Rin fell back on her rump and hands, looking around in shock and surprise. The cold and dim chamber was gone. She was in a hallway, on the upper floor of a well-to-do residence, properly-furnished and well lit. It was very familiar.
She lived in this house after all. She always had, ever since she had been born.
And with that recognition, and the disappearance of her father's body, she remembered. The Phantasmagoria. The Emiya family's powerful illusion magecraft.
And remembrance of that fact brought utter rage.
Flame and lightning exploded violently, enough to reduce a living, breathing Human being to ash, and to turn houses into rubble. Gems flashed and exploded, words of five and ten-count spells echoed in the air, unleashing enough power to level skyscrapers built to withstand earthquakes and typhoons.
All for nothing.
The wall stood, unharmed and untouched before her. The wallpaper wasn't even singed, nor the carpet or the ceiling overhead.
Rin ran.
She ran down the hallway, to the stairs, and down to the lower floor.
Only to find herself back where she started.
Rin ran.
She ran down the hallway, to the stairs, and down to the lower floor.
Only to find herself back where she started.
Rin ran.
She ran down the hallway, to the stairs, and down to the lower floor.
Only to find herself back where she started.
Rin ran.
She ran down the hallway, to the stairs, and down to the lower floor.
Only to find herself back where she started.
Screaming, Rin unleashed all her power on the ceiling and roof above, lightning crackling and thunder booming as fingers and branches of pure power arced and danced against wood and finishing…and still no effect. Exhausted and broken, Rin fell to her knees. "Enough…" she whispered, tears forcing themselves out the corners of her eyes. "Enough…end it already…please…enough…"
There was the sound of a lock clicking open, followed by a door creaking slightly ajar. Glancing at it, Rin stared for a long moment, and then cautiously crept closer. Sliding up against one side of the door, she peered inside with an eye…
…an irresistible force grabbed Rin, and ignoring her screaming dragged her into the room, sending her sprawling against the floor. The door slammed shut behind her, the lock clicking before the doorknob vanished. Undeterred, Rin rushed back to the door, pounding at the wood with her fists and shouting frantically before drawing back with a spell on her lips.
"Rin…"
The voice was weak, barely audible at all, and yet it tugged irresistibly at Rin. She turned, slowly, her eyes and face filled with fear and terror. "No," she whispered. "Please…anything but this…anything but this…"
She knew this room. This room…yes, this bedroom.
It had been her parents'. And that voice…that voice…
…it was her mother's.
"Rin…" the woman lying pale and wasted on the bed, tucked under her sheets whispered. "Rin…Rin…is that you, Rin?"
Irresistibly, Rin found herself walking closer to the bed, and staring down at the image of her mother on her deathbed as she had years ago as a child. "I'm…I'm here…" she whispered.
"Rin…" Aoi Tohsaka whispered, weakly reaching up to caress Rin's cheek. "Rin…mommy…needs to sleep now…so…so please…take good care of your sister…alright…be good…for daddy…and mommy…"
"Mom?" Rin whispered, as Aoi's hand fell, and she closed her eyes, growing slack. Rin backed away, shaking her head, and then running back to the door screamed as a burning spiral of flame wrapped itself around her fist.
Wood and stone exploded, Rin stumbling forward…and found herself teetering on a stone platform over a dark pit below. The air stank, as though of rot, death, pain and despair.
The light vanished, great wooden doors sealing themselves shut behind her with an ominous boom, even as Rin regained her balance. Rushing back, she stopped in her steps as a stooped figure appeared before her. "Who are you?" she whispered, stepping back step by step as it came closer. Dimly, she registered what sounded as though of countless, wet and slick bodies sliding against each other in the background. "Stay away…I'm warning you…stay away…!"
Lightning crackled over her fingers…
…and to her horror it died, Rin gasping as she felt her prana be drained from her.
"What…" she barely managed to say before she felt herself being shoved back, off the platform, to fall into the pit below. Rin screamed as she fell, only to fall on something soft and wet…and alive. Plenty of them…
…and they were all over her, worm-like things biting and crawling all over her, tearing at her clothes and flesh, trying to get into her mouth and…no…not there…not there…not there…!
Frantic and desperate screaming echoed in the darkness, along with the sound of struggling and of small, fragile bodies getting crushed or sliding against each other, of unnatural squealing…
…and then Rin saw. It was a child…no, not quite a child, the girl nearly on the verge of adolescence. She was naked, and hung on chains bound to her wrists which then hung her, half-spread from opposite walls. A mound of worms covered most of her body, squirming as they struggled to get at her body, and what of her that wasn't covered in worms was coated in their fluids.
Sakura…?
And then the worms severed her tendons, and screaming, Rin fell on her back, the worms heaving themselves over her, her screaming turning to fading echoes as they forced themselves into her mouth and down her throat, others of their kind either finding other, easy ways of entry or just tearing their way into her flesh…
Ayame heard the terrified screaming in the distance, and shuddered. She didn't know what the Phantasmagoria was showing Rin, but she didn't want to know. Those screams…
…Ayame's vision swam, and she nearly fell, barely catching herself against a tree. She dry heaved, struggling to keep her stomach under her control. Those screams…they were no different from ones she now remembered…forgotten…buried under fire and death for so long…
…but hearing screaming so similar…
What have I done?
Those screams…Tohsaka's screaming…they screamed like that too back then, when they burned to death…I screamed like that…mom…I…I think she was my mom…I…she…she screamed like that too…
…good gods…what have I done?
Closing her eyes, Ayame struggled to breathe, holding her head and then, taking a deep breath, opened her eyes. Turning to where Rin was screaming herself hoarse, she took a single step…
…and then she felt someone tug at her sleeve, and causing her to stop and turn.
It was a little girl, dressed in a red, long-sleeved shirt with dark-colored shorts. She had short, dark brown hair cut into a bob, and she stared up at Ayame with eyes…
…those eyes…they were like her own…except they weren't…
"Who…who are you?" Ayame whispered.
Reality distorted…and then Ayame blinked, turning and looking around as she found herself in the forest at night, only fog-shrouded trees and the shadow of ground vegetation and terrain to be seen in the bright light of the stars. The little girl let go, and pointing in another direction, ran.
"Hey, wait!" Ayame shouted, moving to pursue. Remembering Rin Ayame briefly faltered, but the screaming had stopped, and seeing the little girl beckoning at her, Ayame briefly wavered before making an unhappy sound and ran to pursue. The little girl smiled and ran, Ayame chasing after her between the trees.
Ayame didn't know how long they were running, only she was running out of breath when they finally stopped in the middle of a clearing with a pool in the middle. The little girl turned to face Ayame, smiling sadly at her. That smile…it was so resigned and helpless…but why?
A child of her age should not smile like that.
Why would she smile like that?
Who was she?
What happened to her?
And then to Ayame's horror, the girl spread her arms wide, and let herself fall backward into the pool with a deep splash. "Shit!" Ayame shouted as she ran forward, to fish the girl out of the water. Falling to her knees, her eyes widened even as she reached forward with her hands.
The water wasn't reflecting her, or the forest and the sky. It showed that little girl, eyes wide and empty with despair, covered with filth or with wormlike…things. And then water splashed as Ayame plunged her hands into the pool, inertia keeping her moving, the spell-caster springing back with a cry at the sight and the cold.
"W-w-what the hell is this?" she stammered out as she fell on her back, scrambling away from the pool.
And then another little girl appeared.
A mirror image of Ayame from ten years ago, only with dark hair instead of the white that the fire had left her with. "You…you're me…" Ayame whispered, and the little girl nodded before tilting her head curiously. "W-what is this place? Where am I? What's happened?"
The girl pointed at Ayame, and then spreading her arms, spun around as though to indicate the whole forest. "Huh?" Ayame mumbled out, and then the little girl stepped closer, and sinking to her knees took Ayame's hands and held them in the same pose Ayame used to summon fairies with. And then spreading them, the little girl stood up again, and then gestured at the forest around them.
Ayame understood. "Phantasmagoria…" she whispered. "This is the Phantasmagoria, isn't it?"
The little girl nodded, and then pointed at the pool again. Ayame looked at her in confusion, only for the little girl to stamp and point at the pool insistently. Smiling a little at the childishness, Ayame decided to obey. Besides…
…she was starting to understand…a little.
Enough though, that she knew that the fairies she'd summoned were behind this, and that it would be better to humor them this time. After all, it was only fair. They'd humored her for a long time now, answering her summons and allowing themselves to be bent to her Human purposes…
…and now it was her turn to humor them, and allow herself to be bent to their fey purposes.
Ayame looked into the pool, which briefly reflected herself, the forest, and the sky, before the water rippled. Struggling to restrain herself, Ayame watched as she saw the little girl from before just lie there, covered and defiled in filth, only for the water to ripple again, and again, and again, each and every time showing a different man, woman, or child, lying naked and being defiled…
…she knew what this was. She didn't know how her father had found out, and indeed, maybe it was best not to know, but she had been taught what he'd known, and told to avoid dealing or even coming near this family no matter what.
The Matou Clan…
…their core concept is absorption…their elemental affinity is water…
…doesn't sound too malign…even taking into account their reputation for a unique training method called 'engraving', which is akin to torture even by magus standards…
…specializing in familiars…worms especially…
…that's what engraving is, Ayame. Becoming a host, a nest even, or just food, for the worms. And those worms? They're not your usual familiars either.
After all…each and every last one of them…is literally a part of single magus just a few steps away from becoming a true vampire…
…and when you become host to them, no matter who or what you are…
…you become his puppet.
Nothing more and nothing less…
As though triggered by the memory, the pool rippled one last time, showing the image of a stooped old man dressed in a kimono, supporting himself on a cane. It was a figure she recognized from PTA events, and who she'd always avoided, just like her father had told her to.
Zouken Matou.
And then the old man just seemed to explode, a ghastly flower of flesh from which sprang worms with bared fangs springing out at her…
With a yell, Ayame sprang back, falling on the ground again and scrambling away from the pool. And then the image of her younger self from before the fire was there again, tugging at her sleeve. Ayame glanced at the little girl, who pointed.
Ayame looked, and then gasped. There, standing by the pool, was the little girl, the latest to be turned into a puppet by her…family…
Ayame barely held back from spitting. To hell with how magi had different standards and ways of thinking…no family should treat their own like that…children, especially…they had no right to call themselves a 'family'.
The little Matou held out her hands, positioned as though Ayame would when she summoned her fairies. Ayame understood, and scrambling over mirrored the gesture. The little Matou placed her hands over Ayame's, and to her shock and surprise, a golden point of light appeared in the middle of the space between her hands, growing brighter and brighter until it was fully incandescent.
And then the little Matou forced Ayame to clap her hands together, over the light…
…and then there was light, filling the whole forest around her.
Ayame blinked…and then turning her head back and forth, found herself standing alone, in an ordinary forest in the twilight.
"What…" she said slowly. "What just happened?"
A/N
Who likes a quick update?
Normally I wouldn't do this so quick, but the surreal nature of the Phantasmagoria needs writing quickly, lest I lose the thread of thought that holds it together. Some of you might ask, how did Ayame know all that, i.e. what happened to Rin in the Phantasmagoria? And the answer is: she didn't.
The fairies do, though. How? No idea…that's why it's called a mystery. Or…it's because they're extensions of the World, and know everything that's already happened. Like say, how Tokiomi, Aoi, and Sakura died, and thus how they ceased to exist in the World.
But, how does the Phantasmagoria work? Well…good question…and one I'll let Ayame answer. See you around…