meeting 3
Shirou was used to traveling, to pursue his dream he had visited and visited numerous countries and nations throughout his life. The Middle East and Africa had been his main destinations, places where conflicts and bloodshed were unfortunately all too frequent realities. But that didn't mean he was alien to South America and the Caribbean, the reality Shirou had learned all too early in his career was that violence and conflict could be found all over the world just that some countries masked them better than others .
So Shirou was no stranger to Puerto Rico to its smells and colors he had already experienced them in the past during some works, but today his visit to the city of San Juan was not due to the resolution of some assignment but to the visit of an old friend.
After arriving in this new world years ago Shirou didn't immediately stop with his self-imposed mission, in one of the many battlefields he fought on he met Julian Ramírez-Arellano.
Julian at the time was a soldier on a humanitarian mission in Iraq, Shirou immediately agreed with the young man. Gentle and honorable Julian reminded Shirou a lot of the ideal hero he had aspired to in his youth, before the Grail and Counter Guardian destroyed his world view transforming his perspective from a romantic one to a much more cynical and realistic one.
After their first meeting it can be said that Shirou had taken the young soldier under his wing trying to show him the pitfalls and dangers that the lifestyle he was following involved.
Shirou had repeatedly stressed to his friend not to get lost in his crusade, not to forget the people who were by his side, his friend at the time claimed to have a partner and a daughter waiting for him at home. Shirou had hoped that the reminder of his family and that there was something good still in his life was enough to keep him from being lost in the horrors of war like so many soldiers before him.
Despite the short time spent together Shirou had remained very close to Julian reaching the point that before his departure to give the man a way to contact him in case of need.
The last he had heard from his friend had just been honorably discharged following injuries sustained from a mine explosion during a rescue operation. Although the explosion of the bomb had shaken Julian, the man was happy to be back home to his daughter and her partner who was expecting her second child, as a newly minted father Shirou understood well his friend's joy and had wished him the best.
After that conversation Shirou hadn't heard from Julian for years, convinced that his friend was enjoying his civilian life with his new family he had left the man alone not wanting to involve him in his various misadventures.
Things had changed two nights ago, after a long time Shirou had received a call from his friend, Julian's voice was broken and uncertain almost stammering, his speech was also confused and incoherent, the ex-soldier spoke of enemies and hidden threats .
Shirou wasted no time in understanding that the call was a clear call for help, wasting no time Shirou said goodbye to his family and left in the hope of reaching his friend in time.
That's why the wizard was navigating the streets of San Juan looking for any clue of the whereabouts of his friend who seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
Address, telephone number, all information that would be easily found electronically were nowhere to be found and Shirou hadn't based himself on a simple online search to affirm it, even using his numerous contacts in the underworld which included some skilled hackers the results did not change.
It almost seemed as if there was no trace of Julian, which was almost if not completely impossible in the twenty-first century. This strangeness had only increased the asia Shirou felt for his friend.
Situations like this usually indicated the presence of big players, individuals who had both the power of money and government behind them, or at worst some mystical force was at work.
None of the various options looked very rosy for Julian but where men who did not live in the moonlit world could be reasoned with no matter how corrupt or evil they were, Shirou knew from personal experience that whoever he crossed the line with and entered the realm of myths and magic it was impossible to bargain.
The beings who belonged to the realm of the gods did not understand logic and reason, in their eyes only power existed and even then they were blind in most cases to that of others seeing only their own.
History and myths were full of such men who were too caught up in their presumed greatness and had not considered the actual power of their adversary, thus bringing ruin upon them and all that surrounds them.
Shirou hoped for Julian's sake that he wouldn't be in the hands of such individuals.
With no clue where to begin, Shirou found himself wandering through the colorful streets of the city looking for any possible sign of his friend or whoever could hold him against his will.
If Julian was kidnapped or placed under surveillance in a guarded location Shirou was confident he could locate him, with his experience recognizing such places was easy enough even more so if some form of magic had been involved.
Thanks to his nose Shirou could easily detect any form of magic involved, and it was also his primary method of detection.
After yet another deep breath Shirou suddenly stopped, masked by the smells of spices and local cuisine the man had identified an all too familiar scent, the smell didn't indicate any form of magic but that didn't make it any less important.
It was a smell that anyone who has been in the war could easily recognize : pungent and intense. Anyone who had smelled it once could easily identify it as gunpowder.
Underneath this Shirou could also detect a set of smells that he could only associate with numerous weapons, it was the kind of scent that Shirou couldn't ignore.
As unobtrusively as possible Shirou pushed his way through the crowd, taking deep breaths every few seconds to better pinpoint his target's location, his search leading him towards a restaurant.
Seeing that the smell came from a restaurant, Shiruo became even more alert, after all, restaurants were perfect covers for illegal activities such as drug or arms dealing.
Without a moment's hesitation Shirou prepared to infiltrate what he believed to be a den of dangerous criminals only to stop at the last second. The trace that had led him here did not come from inside the restaurant but from two little girls who were at his doorstep.
The two were clearly sisters same features and complexion, apart from the clear age difference between the two there were so many similarities that they could have passed for twins if their age had been more similar.
Now that Shirou had the source of the smell in front of him he could feel all the intensity of the perfume that the two girls gave off and it was something out of the ordinary. The smell was so overpowering that it exceeded even that of a medium-sized gun depot, it was impossible that two young girls so young could have come into contact with so many guns.
As always when normal logic couldn't explain a situation the supernatural one came to the rescue, the smell of the girls was explicable if one took into consideration a mystical origin such as kinship with some divinity.
Shirou strongly suspected that, like his son Percy, the two girls were demigods and considering their smell the offspring of some war deity. The magus didn't believe in coincidences, too often these had been machinations of larger forces and now he couldn't help but believe that his meeting with the girls just as he was looking for his friend was yet another machination of destiny.
"I'm sorry girls we have important guests today so I can't let you in" said one of the waiters at the entrance blocking the passage of the girls
"Don't worry Luis." I reassured the older of the two girls as she took her little sister's hand
"Let's go home Reyna maybe dad has calmed down"
"What if there are still ghosts?" the younger of the two asked, frightened
"I'll defend you" replied the eldest hers weren't just empty words Shirou could hear the fear masked in her voice cleverly disguised to reassure her sister.
The two girls really believed that their house was haunted, a perfectly normal behavior for the younger of the two but it was quite unusual for the older one who was at that age where one was beginning to lose the fears of childhood and he was beginning to have a critical eye on everything.
Combined with the fact that Julian had also talked about ghosts in his rantings, it made Shirou even more interested in the girls. With effort the man could even see the resemblance of these to Julian disguised behind the divine features they had obtained from their mother.
Mother who if Shirou's suspicions were correct she was not only as beautiful as a goddess but literally so. A myth made real in flesh and blood by the devotion and belief of thousands of people.
As for the identity of the mother of the two, with the few clues that Shirou had it was almost to be deduced, by their smell the magus could tell that she was a deity of war not enough to give a real name to the woman as long as she was a woman.
After all, the gods were no strangers to sex changes, Loki could be the most famous of these but he was certainly not the only one, not to mention that the gods were not limited by biology to give birth to children the myths and legends did not they made a mystery of this and were full of examples such as Athena who was born from the head of Zeus.
For a moment Shirou considered following the two girls in the hope that they would lead him to Julian who he most likely believed to be their father.
But the magus immediately rejected the idea such a plan could have taken far too long not to mention that Shirou didn't want to stalk two little girls at all an action that he found morally unbecoming not only potentially harmful if in an unfortunate turn of events the two they had noticed.
In situations like these the best choice was the direct approach, putting on his friendly expression Shirou stepped forward
"Excuse me ladies, could you help me?" Shirou asked not unlike a normal tourist
"What?" asked the older of the two girls as she carefully scrutinized the magus, the girl was attentive but not particularly different as she mistook Shirou for any tourist like many along the way.
"I'm looking for a friend of mine I know who lives in the area, but I have no idea where. I was wondering if you had seen it?" Shirou asked as he showed the two girls a photo of him with Julian.
The magus had his suspicions confirmed when he caught a flash of recognition in the eyes of the two girls, the surprise was too much that the younger one couldn't help but speak
"Do you know dad?"
"Yes. You must be Reyna right?" Shirou asked as he remembered the name of Julian's youngest daughter
Hearing the name of the eldest sister, I seem to calm down, believing that the man in front of her was not lying and that he really knew their father.
Seeing the girl nod, Shirou turned to the older one
"You must be Hylla I don't think you remember but when you were younger when your father was still on duty we spoke on the phone a few times you used to call me Uncle Shero" said the magus with a fond smile on his face as he reminisced about times gone by.
At the sound of the old nickname Hylla's eyes lit up with a flash of recognition and with it the last vestiges of mistrust that enveloped her dissipated.
"Uncle Shero" Hylla began to cry as she embraced Shirou, having abandoned the mask of coldness that she had previously worn, the girl had returned to being a simple child of less than twelve years crushed by the events that had affected her and her family.
Seeing her sister collapse even the youngest one, I start to cry probably not even understanding why, the only thing she knew is that the column that had supported her until now seemed to have collapsed and seeing this she too had given way.
"It's okay Hylla, Reyna I'm here now everything will be fine" Shirou reassures the two girls, his father's heart could not bear the excruciating sight in front of him, even more in him the will to solve everything if not for the sake of his friend at least for the sake of the girls before him.
With grave eyes Shirou fixed his destination the huge white painted house. The huge estate looked ancient but well kept to the untrained eye it would have looked like a poor but warm house.
But for someone like Shirou who had trampled countless battlefields the house had a completely different aspect and purpose, hidden behind the facade of a domestic hearth was a fortress.
Shirou had hoped wholeheartedly that the girls had exaggerated and that the situation they painted for him was largely due to the overactive imagination due to their age.
Instead, upon seeing the house, the magus had to admit that the girls had perhaps even sweetened the story, from what Shirou had understood from the story of Hylla and his sister Julian was suffering from a severe case of post-traumatic stress that caused him severe cases of delirium aggravated from peaks of paranoia.
His friend's condition didn't surprise Shiruo too much as this is one of the most common pathologies among soldiers returning from the front, especially those wounded in action.
PTSD was worrying but that wasn't what scared Shirou, what really made the wizard fear were the ghosts that the girls claimed haunted their father.
Considering that the girls had divine blood flowing through their veins Shirou I have no doubt that the ghosts they were talking about were real and not the result of some fantasy of theirs.
What Shirou really feared was the reason for the presence of the ghosts, whether they were there by order of some deity or they had been attracted by the conditions of Julian and his daughters the magus could not know the truth at this moment but many factors also depended on them the success of the same mission.
But as Saber said hesitation is the enemy and Shirou couldn't afford it, with a deep breath Shirou took a step forward thus finding himself in front of the entrance door of the villa.
The magus had several ways to get inside, with his abilities a silent infiltration or a frontal assault with sword and fire were perfectly doable. But Shirou didn't choose either way instead I just rang the bell.
The doorbell stopped ringing on the fourth ring, just as every camera in the area was reset to focus on the entrance.
"Julian it's me Shirou" said the magus as he stared directly at one of the cameras so as to be perfectly visible and recognizable. After a few seconds of hesitation the door opened finally allowing Shirou to enter the lion's den.
Once he entered the property countless alarm bells began to ring in his head, the air was saturated with a smell that over time Shirou had come to associate a mixture of dust and sulfur with danger and chaos. The chances of the situation turning out in the best way diminished more and more, Shirou was just happy that he had left the girls in his hotel room so they wouldn't see the possible tragedy that was about to unfold.
Julian came to welcome him when he was halfway, over the years his friend had withered becoming the shadow of what he once was, the biggest change had been his eyes which from brilliant and full of life they had become hazy and sunken marked by a thousand and more torments-
"Shirou what are you doing here?" Julian asked nervously his gaze never remained fixed he kept darting from right to left without a moment of peace trying in every possible way to avoid looking Shirou in the eyes.
"You called me Julian you asked me for help," the magus said simply
"and you know very well that when someone asks for help I always answer" this was the reality one of the many truths that distinguished Shirou from anyone else no matter whether he is friend or foe the magus lent help to anyone who asked if he could.
It was a reality that Julian knew well being one of the many things that Shirou had shown him in his time with him and it was this trait that brought the two closer together many years ago. As an idealistic soldier Julian had been fascinated by this part of Shirou's personality arriving during their adventures together to idolize her and even admire her in some situations.
The wounds that had forced Julian to retire from the military and that still haunted him today had been inflicted in precisely one of these emulated actions.
"I didn't call him I swear" Julian whispered so softly that he was completely silent for a normal person but Shirou wasn't normal and what for others would have been just a mumbling to him was clear and clear.
"No, I'm not a traitor," I whine to empty Julian in what seemed utterly delusional.
"Who are you talking to Julian?" Shirou asked concerned since his friend had started ranting the smell of dust and sulfur had gotten stronger almost overpowering.
"Nobody, there is nobody" the ex-soldier giggles hysterically as his eyes seem to come back to life for a second
"Julian," Shirou said taking a step forward only to be blocked by a slight pressure
"Go away Shirou I don't know yet how long I will be able to keep them at bay" I shout Julian while holding his head in his hands in evident pain
"Dad," two young voices shouted, catching both Shirou and Julian by surprise.
The magus acted instinctively, cursing his luck, he threw himself in front of Hylla and Reyna, the two girls had clearly disobeyed his orders and instead of staying safe in the hotel they had decided to follow him secretly and too busy with Julian Shirou's problem he hadn't noticed them until it was too late.
Luckily Shirou managed to reach the girls just in time, before a wave of telekinetic force hit them, with his arms crossed in front of his face the man shielded the two girls while his eyes didn't leave their attacker.
"Traitors, Treachery, you can trust none but us" croaked the shadows behind Julian still indistinguishable but finally visible the perpetrators of the attack and Julian's madness had finally shown themselves.
"Ninth. they are my daughters they would never betray me" by now Julian was on his knees with his head cradled in his hands as he desperately tried to free himself from the voices that haunted him
"DAD" even the girls now cried anxious for their father and frightened by the shadows in front of their eyes
Shirou, on the other hand, wasn't scared, on the contrary, the anxiety that had accompanied him previously had disappeared, the enemy had shown up and there was someone who needed to be saved, the wizard was in his element.
Situations like this were the norm for a hero of justice and Shirou nonetheless qualified perfectly as a hero
"They are traitors they brought the enemy here. The goddess had warned you of the danger, you cannot trust anyone but us" the shadows continued to instigate Julian by administering him more and more poison
"Julian look at me" Shirou begged but his friend wasn't listening anymore his gaze was definitely lost in the void even the last remnants of sanity seemed to be lost devoured by the creatures that haunted him.
No longer seeing any reaction from the ex-soldier, Shirou knew he couldn't waste any more time, he had to act now before it was too late. With a mental command the magus conjured up six black keys, three to each hand.
Not knowing what kind of entities the shadows were, Shirou opted for the kind of weapons that had the widest exorcism capacity. They weren't the most powerful tool in his arsenal but they were certainly the most useful under the circumstances.
"I don't know who you are or what you are but you better run away while you can" for the first time since they had appeared Shirou addressed the shadows directly and not Julian.
"Fool mortal, nothing can hurt us no matter if you have the help of the two demigoddesses" scoffed the ghosts not taking the wizard's warning at all seriously.
Shirou wasn't disappointed at all by this answer from the beginning he hadn't expected great results from his request it was done more out of habit than anything else, even insults were expected they were the norm when facing supernatural creatures.
This kind of attitude was due to the arrogance that came with being high up the food chain unfortunately for them creatures like shadows never took into consideration that there was anyone higher up the chain than they were.
Like an arrow Shirou hurled himself at the ghosts his speed was such that he was just a blur for the girls and Julian the same ghosts could only stare in disbelief at the blur that was assaulting them.
"AAHHHAAA" with a shrill cry the ghosts hurled a wall of force in hopes of blocking the magus, for Shirou what was supposed to be an impenetrable defense turned out to be just a sheet of paper ripped apart in less than a second.
With a puff of smoke one of the shadows disappeared forever sliced by Shirou's blessed blades, with the disappearance of one of the ghosts that tormented him Julian seemed to regain some life.
"NO; NO that's impossible we are immortal you can't kill us" shouted the ghosts left panicked in disbelief that one of their brothers had been eliminated so easily
"Give us power, give us power. Julian we are your family's only hope your only shield for the safety of your kindred "Backed into a corner the ghosts turned to their only lifeline.
Julian was not only their victim, the poor person they had tormented for so long but he was also the source of their power
"I don't know what to do" the man croaked like a candle in the wind Julian's conscience always seemed to fluctuate one step away from definitively shutting down what little focus the ex-soldier seemed to have obtained by killing one of the unidentified spirits it was enough to rebel against the chains that bound him to his captors
"You don't have to do anything Julian the outcome wouldn't change anyway" Shirou reassured as he sliced through another ghost who seemed helpless against his onslaught.
No matter they used force walls or physical objects to stop him and try to hurt him, every obstacle was destroyed in a matter of seconds against the onslaught of the second Magus Killer.
With each death Julian acquired more and more clarity, his hands stopped shaking and his eyes regained life and lucidity for the happiness of Shirou and his daughters who were now beside him ready to support him not perceiving any more threat from their father.
"You belong to us Julian you can't betray us there is no salvation for you only torment and madness" growled the last remaining shadows, even though it was Shirou who decimated them their anger was directed solely at Julian whom they now considered a traitor .
"I don't belong to you" after the death of countless ghosts man had regained enough willpower to openly rebel against his torturers.
"AHHHH" With yet another yell the remaining ghosts gathered before launching their final assault, Shirou promptly moved to intercept them, his blades gleaming menacingly in the sunlight as they moved at inhuman speed slicing through shadows and dust.
But Shirou wasn't the ghosts' target this time, in a maneuver that had sacrificed most of them the ghosts managed to hold back the magus for a handful of seconds enough to assault their real target the girls.
Like a black wave the ghosts poured over the two young demigoddesses, Shirou was busy dealing with the remaining enemies he wouldn't arrive in time it was inhumanly possible. Knowing this Julian acted, mustering what little strength he had regained the man leapt to his daughters' defense in a desperate act of fatherly love.
Like slime the shadows poured over Julian devouring his figure in the blink of an eye, black tar poured into every pore of the man's body being absorbed by them.
Julian's eyes that had returned to shine were tinged with black shadows darkening definitively
"Now you can't touch us anymore" Julian's lips moved but it wasn't him speaking from inside the man the remaining shadows scoffed at Shirou now convinced they were safe from the fury of the magus.
Despite the situation Shirou remained calm the possession by his friend's spirits had surprised him but the magus was sure that inside his Unlimited Blake Works there was a weapon suitable for the situation.
Feeling safe within their fortress the ghosts wasted no time before acting , united in one body their strength seems to have increased as they lifted all the debris that surrounded them.
The target of the wraiths was once again not Shirou but the girls, both the wraiths and the magus knew that such an attack would have no effect on him but despite their mystical origins they could prove fatal to the girls .
"Tell us hero will you be able to block them all?" the wraiths asked mockingly as they aimed their bullets at the frightened little girls who tried to shrink as small as possible in the hope of avoiding the rain that was about to fall on them.
Seeing the danger the girls were about to run into, Shirou wasted no time, the air around him seemed to ignite as he summoned more and more mana to get ready to throw his strongest shield in defense.
"No, you won't hurt my daughters again" Julian's voice struggled out of his own mouth, the man's reappearance took the ghosts by surprise and they wavered their control over the debris a hesitation that a good soldier like Julian he did not miss the opportunity.
"Julian it's good to see you again" even the magus was surprised by the reappearance of his friend but despite this he didn't relax and kept his guard up.
"I'm sorry Shirou" Julian mumbles with a sad smile on his face
"don't do anything stupid" Shirou shouted the smile on the soldier's face was something the magus knew all too well it was the same smile he wore all too often before pulling off one of his usual stunts.
"This is the only way for it all to end," the man said simply as he continued to smile
"Reyna, Hylla please forgive me." The girls cried as their father said what sounded like good-bye words to them
"I love you my daughters never doubt it" with these last words Julian let his hand drop and with them all the debris floating above him. With a thunderous crash the man was buried under a mountain of rubble , his body no longer visible hidden by rubble and dust.
"Don't look," Shirou said as his body covered the sight of their father's corpse to the girls who had fallen to their knees in tears in grief over the loss of their only parent.
"Well this is certainly interesting" at the appearance of the unknown voice Shirou turned abruptly, sitting comfortably on a purple cloud there was a beautiful woman with hair as black as night and eyes red as blood her skin seemed to be iridescent as she passed from pale blue tending to purplish to a much more natural pink.
"No mortal had ever managed to kill one of my children" the woman said seductively looking directly at Shiruo who was carefully evaluating her.
"Just looking at you can I perceive an endless source of chaos within your soul, conflict and cooperation joining and dividing in a perpetual cycle producing a sweet melody. Tell me mortal what are you?"
Shiruo's E-rank luck once again strikes a chord that seems to have passed on to Percy as well. Between the Greeks and the Romans the two seemed to attract conflicts of all kinds, also attracting unwanted attention.
Releasing one chapter here means two more are available on my P. a treon, if you want to read ahead feel free to visit.
P a /RedArcher739
P a treon . com(slash)RedArcher739
