Cocoon - Location: Unknown.
Emiya Kiritsugu was a man of much renown. He'd built up many reputations over the course of his life. To the Sanctum Military Corp branch known as PSICOM he was a pragmatist, the ideal soldier that many a cadet would strive to become. To the Cocoon Guardian Corp he was a Killer of the highest order, one to be feared and despised. But to the Fal'cie of Cocoon, Humanity's protector's and so called God's he was a l'cie, a slave to do as he was ordered to.
He'd been around since the War of Transgression almost 400 years ago, he had completed his Focus to repel Ragnarok long ago and as a result was turned to crystal, only to be awoken time and time again, with a new Focus each time, yet each were the same.
Kill the Enemy
So when he awoke that morning with new orders to put down a group of rogue researchers that had succeeded in creating an artificial Eidolon using the Crystallized form of a Pulse L'cie that had been discovered some years before in the Vile Peaks, he wasn't fazed at all, having grown accustomed to being an attack dog for his Fal'cie masters.
No matter how much he disliked it.
Well at least he was given the opportunity to have his own home to store his crystal form after so many reawakenings, eventually they just decided to forgo the crystal stasis and just let him do his own thing between each Focus. Of course with the lack of aging that comes with being a L'cie he could afford such luxuries. He was even allowed to get married and had a daughter on the way.
Regardless of his living situation, the L'cie was currently sat in the cockpit of a one man airship, his personal one. It was something he'd built using parts from Cocoon technology and from Pulse Tech left behind from the war.
He had a lot of time to learn a fair bit of engineering during his "time off", better than being bored for however long the Fal'cie allowed him loose.
Having put the airship on autopilot, Kiritsugu studied the floor plan of the compound he was meant to raid, taking care to memorize every little detail.
He narrowed his eyes over each of the possible escape routes the researchers could take to flee from him. Once he'd come up with a suitable plan to prevent anyone from escaping he stood to prepare his gear for the coming slaughter.
PoV: ???
Floating... he was floating? But how? Oh now he saw, he was in water, but he wasn't a fish... was he? No he was sure he wasn't a fish, he knew what fish looked like, he knew what they tasted like, he knew how he felt so accomplished when he caught his first fish with his father... what? But... he had no father right? He'd never caught a fish before, had he? So why? Why did he know what that felt like? Who was he? Who's memories were these?! Where they his? Impossible! He'd only been alive for seven years! The memories he held were from someone much older!
He tried to latch onto the memories in hopes to understand who he was, but they recoiled from his prodding as if burned. Because of that he soon began to feel the memories attempt to hide themselves from him, and succeeded in doing so.
"Wait! Come back! Please! Who am I!?" He began to panic as the memories faded from his mind.
As he continued his thoughts he could hear his creator's muffled words, he couldn't understand them completely, but he could understand a few.
"Heartrate-... Increase!-... Stabilize him!-"
He could feel a thrumming in his chest; heavy, rhythmic, and out of control. His chest soon ached from the sensation and one of his hand instinctively jolted up to grasp at his heart, there he could feel something, not physically, but he knew it was there. The thing they'd replaced his heart with.
"He's moving-... Dangerous levels!- Terminate Subject!" He managed to make out some of the words his creators had shouted.
"Terminate? That means... Kill? They're going to kill me? I'm going to die? Do I want to die? No... No... No! Nonononono! I don't want to die! I haven't done anything wrong!? Why do I have to die?! Why... why does it have to be me?! Why...Ẉ̸̙̪͐h̵̬̓̓ỷ̶̛͔̻̘ ̵̯̍ć̷̡͐͠a̶̡̪͍̐̆n̶̙̒̿'̶̰̄͐͘t̷̢̏ ̶͖̲̾i̸̫͎̦͑̑ţ̷̣͂͌͜ ̴̺̎̔b̸͈̣͋͗e̸̡̯̋̀ ̶͉̝͋͒͘y̶͇̮̤͋̔̚o̴̰̻̿̉ú̵̖ ̷̧͚̂͋̔ͅi̸̛̿͜͠n̸͙͕͒̅͝s̵̟̟̹͐t̵̨̠̥͊̃͝e̵̟͖̒̕a̶̳̙̿̓ͅd̴̻̩̈́̕̚!̶͈̏̿͠?̴̞̣͑͊̌" He felt his chest burn and then something within him broke loose.
The glass tank that held him shattered in a blast of brackish energy, the liquid that once allowed the boy to float had turned black and was thick, like mud. The black mud pooled around the shattered tank.
"Holy fuck! What in Eden's name?! Contain him now! Before something else happens-Ack!" The head researcher's commands were cut off by the black mud suddenly shooting a series of spike at him and he found himself impaled through his throat and pinned to the steel wall.
That caused the other researchers to freeze at the sight before they eventually panicked and attempted to flee, several managed to, but others weren't so lucky, and their deaths were heralded by a distorted growl
The mud shifted from an amorphous liquid from into a twisted amalgamation of human, wolf or even a hyena, and darkness. Long clawed fingers extended out to rip apart their owner's prey. It sought to kill every last human it came across, and it demanded blood. Blood it would get one way or another.
The twisted wolf/hyena-man thing paced the room after slaughtering those that couldn't escape, it was looking for a way out, it sought the rest of itself, it was only a small piece! It wanted to return! To be whole! To be one!
"Nnhg..."
The beast stopped it's movement to find the source of the childlike groan it had just heard.
The source of the sound was a small boy, bare 7 years of age.
The beast had to wonder why this boy was there, but soon paid it no mind and instead stalked towards him silently, as the boy woke.
The boy immediately froze as he came face to face with it's shadowed wolfish visage.
"U-um... H-hello?" The boy asked hesitantly.
The beast cocked it's head at the boy, examining him further now that it was closer to him. The boy was strikingly familiar in appearance, but the beast itself couldn't truly remember where it had seen it before. His hair was red and messy, and his eyes were a striking shade of amber-gold.
The boy saw the beast tilt its head and responded with a curious tilt of his own.
The beast blinked at that, which the boy copied.
It was then the beast realized where it'd seen the boy's appearance before.
The beast trailed its eyes down to the boy's chest and immediately could tell what had been done to the boy. There was a scar dead center over his heart, but it was unusually shaped, it was shaped like a familiar mark, the brand of a Pulse L'cie. It wasn't a tattoo like the normal mark was but instead formed completely of scar tissue like a cattle branding almost.
The beast soon realized that it was this boy who had called for it, and now it was his protector.
How ironic that it, an Evil being that existed only to kill humans, would now be charged with protecting one. Not that it was complaining, it loved humans after all, their sins were it's sustenance.
The beast brought itself out of it's thoughts when it felt a tug at its current state, it was being pulled towards the rest of itself. But it could also sense another presence entering the complex, a very familiar presence.
It jolted its head up to look in the direction of where it was being pulled towards, then it glanced back at the boy to see he was still sitting ther silently.
"G̶͙̎̂r̸̜̈́̐͜r̸̞̃̐͐r̶̨̬͌̈͛r̶̺̥͖̈́r̸̪̹͝r̸͙̾̂͆r̶̡͔͝r̷̰̓̈͜-̶̧̅͊͝ ̴̳̼͔͆͆S̷̤̩͆̈́t̴͙̝̋̾̐ȧ̵̲̾y̸̖̖̾͜!̷͖͆͝͝ ̷̱͎̌̐̒H̵̺̙̽͜e̷̞͆̃͝r̶̠̪̍e̵̲̮̳͂̚!̸̛̞̺̑"̸̟͉̂͝" the beast growled out in a distorted voice.
The boy looked surprised at its newfound ability to speak.
"O-ok!" The boy stuttered out
The beast let out a satisfied grunt before it shot off towards the rest of itself, with one goal in mind. To become whole.
Kiritsugu had just finished eliminating the last of the complex's security team when he felt an old wound from the War of Transgression begin to throb in a familiar ache.
"I knew it... Those stupid researchers. Of course they had to use him as the materials for that fake Eidolon!" Kiritsugu grit his teeth at his cursed luck.
"I need to hurry, if it is really him then he won't be contained for long, especially if they've made him into an Eidolon."
Kiritsugu cocked his weapon. A relic of a gun, one that had been with him since before he'd become a L'cie.
The Thompson Contender, a break action single-shot pistol, one that had been slightly modified to include a long slim bayonet style blade mounted on the under-barrel.
He was rather fond of the old weapon, it was a precursor to the modern gunblade and by his standards far more reliable than the multitude of shifting parts that the modern gunblade was known for. It had been the only thing left of his mentor and mother figure, who'd also been L'cie and failed to finish her focus, it had been up to Kiritsugu to finally put her to rest.
It had been that day that he claimed the weapon as his own.
"Tch enough reminiscing. Have to focus on the mission." Kiritsugu muttered to himself to snap out of his thoughts.
He returned his focus to the lone door that lead into the complex's reception area, a weird concept for an illegal secret laboratory if you asked him. Upon entering her immediately noticed the smell of blood lingering in the air, wafting from deeper inside.
"Shit." Kiritsugu cursed himself, if only he hadn't reminisced over the long dead past, he might have been able to do this quietly.
"Well this saves me the trouble of having to hunt down everyone in the building. Now I just need to find him." Kiritsugu thought to himself, before he continued on his way, following the smell of blood through the halls.
The boy found himself wandering the halls of the facility that had been his home and prison since he was created. He hoped to find a way out, to find some sort of freedom.
He used the walls to steady himself as he walked, not caring about the various corpses, nor the inch high flood of crimson liquids left in the wake of that shadowy wolf thing's rampage. The screaming was starting to wear him down however.
The boy kept walking until he ended up tripping on the body of a researcher.
"Ack!" The boy coughed out some of the blood that had somehow sloshed into his mouth when he tripped. He pushed himself up of the corpse and immediately recognized the man.
Dr. Hanamatsu Shirou, a rather kind old man who'd always looked after him. The boy felt saddened to see his deceased state but knew that he needed to press on.
The boy also noticed something clutched into the man's grip. Some sort of plastic square that had a weird pattern on it and the Doctor's face on it.
A keycard. The boy had to remind himself what keycards were.
They could be used to open doors and various other things.
The boy picked up Dr Hanamastsu's Keycard. It might be what could get him out of the facility.
The boy muttered a quick "Thank you Doctor," to the corpse before he quickly shuffled down the hallway. Eventually he came to a series of doors on either side of the hallway.
"Which one is it?" The boy wondered. He'd never been to this part of the facility before.
He decided to try each door one by one.
The first door was an office of some kind, inside was a desk and a stack of papers on it. Unfortunately the boy couldn't reach. He was too damn short.
The second, third and fourth doors were smaller, more private labs with various states of lab equipment.
It was on the fifth door that the boy found himself staring at something interesting, and it was staring back.
The room had two plastic cages of what looked like silver jelly... that had eyes, and a small mouth. There was only one per cage and they were rather small, about the size of a small animal
The boy blinked at them, they blinked back. He titled his head, and they mimicked his motion.
They were kinda cute if the boy was being honest.
"Uh... hi?" The boy gave a slight wave at them.
In response they jiggled, flattened, then jumped slightly, before landing with another jiggle.
The boy couldn't help but giggle at them.
"Why are you two here?" The boy asked.
They just jiggled slightly.
"Yeah I should have expected that.." The boy sighed.
The jiggle then jumped again.
The boy smiled slightly, before noticing a paper that was on the ground.
He picked it up and saw it was a part of a bestiary.
"Metal Flan Type: Mimic?" the boy read the words slowly, while examining the picture of the very same silver jelly things he had just met.
"Immune to nearly all attacks. Studies show this Flan's diet consists strictly of various metal. Has shown a talent for Shape Shifting into various objects it has seen or eaten. Capable of temporary fusion like any typical Flan." The boy read aloud.
The Metal Flan duo jiggled in response to his words.
"So you two are Metal Flans?" he asked.
They jiggled.
The boy was about to sigh again before the facility shook and a thunderous sound vibrated the very air around them.
He looked worried at that and was about to return to his escape when he paused and looked back at the Flans.
They actually looked afraid, the jiggled more than normal and their eyes were shaped in a fearful manner.
He couldn't just leave them, he'd be no better than his own creators who tried to kill him.
His face set itself into a look of fierce determination as he stomped over to the plastic cages.
"Alright guys, I'm getting out of here. Do you want to come with me?" He asked them.
The rapidly jumped up and down at the prospect of being free.
"Alright then let's get going." the boy said as he opened the cage.
The two Flans leapt onto the boy's shoulders and seemed to nuzzle his cheeks.
The boy laughed at his two new friend's happiness.
"Alright alright. Let's get going." The boy said.
They jiggled before each suddenly swirled around his wrists and formed a pair of silver ring bracelets, both still had the faces of the Flans on them.
"That's convenient." The boy muttered.
The rings jiggled slightly before stilling.
The boy smiled and just left the room.
He never noticed that there was another Flan that had slithered out from somewhere in the room. It was pitch black and had a dark energy smoking from it.
It followed him and once it was close enough it lashed out at him.
"Gah!?" the boy cried out as a black tendril of slime impacted his bare back sending him sprawling into the blood soaked hallway.
He quickly got to his feet, just in time to dodge another slim tendril, which instead inpacted the bloodied floor, and soaked up the blood around it like a sponge.
The boy watched on as the Black smoking Flan wiggled before swelling up to a slightly larger size. His eyes widen at the increase in size of his attacker and scrambled to turn and run for his life.
The black Flan slimed itself into the bloody hall and continued to grow in size as it chased after the boy.
The Beast howled as it continued it's slaughter of the human's that had violated it's existence. It's Curses would ensure their souls would never rest peacefully. It did feel a small amount of regret over killing some of the more kind ones, like that Dr. Hanamatsu.
But he was still a human, and the Beast had forfeited the ability to call itself human a long time ago, even before it became what it was now.
Now all it was capable of was killing humans. Don't get it wrong, it loved humans, their sins were it's sustenance. But the reason for its existence was to claim their sins for itself, to rid the word of Evil, by becoming and controlling it! That was it's Focus! It was supposed to be Ragnarok!
The Beast slowed to a stop when that thought passed through it.
Ragnarok... The only existence capable of truly killed a Fal'cie, to bring down Cocoon. That was what it was originally supposed to become...
A memory of a grinning face flashed through it's mind, tanned skinned, raven hair, dark eyes.
It hadn't happened how it should have, instead of it becoming Ragnarok, she had. She led the charge, driven by rage and vengeful duty, she became Ragnarok and smashed the surface of cocoon wide open, before she turned to crystal and vanished.
After that the Beast, driven by what it was meant to contain, rampaged and was eventually defeated, that was how the War of Transgression ended.
The Beast growled its displeasure at the rush of memories. They had no use to it! It was better to forget them and just focus on it's goal.
It looked up at where it had stopped, it knew that it was where it searched for.
The rest of itself towered slightly above him. The beast bore a grin of shadowy fangs at the sight of it, before it's wolfish form returned to that of Black mud and swirled around its new form.
Kiritsugu's stony gaze glided across the pile of fresh corpses that littered the hallway. It had been a long time since he'd last seen such a massacre... not being the cause of it was a bit of a strange feeling however.
He stepped over corpse after corpse, he was searching for any survivors, which he doubted there were any.
Eventually he happened upon a large room filled with rows and rows of cages, like a kennel, but instead of animals they held, children.
They were all identical in appearance, messy red hair, amber eyes that held no life in them.
Kiritsugu didn't hesitate to but a bullet between each and every one of their empty eyes.
They were dead already, their bodies may have been alive but there was no sentience in them.
Kiritsugu saw it as a mercy to end them.
Once every single one was dead, Kiritsugu turned to leave but something caught his eye, one of the cages was empty, and had clear signs of recent habitation.
"Tch, there's one left. Must be the one that became him. I find that boy, I find my target." Kiritsugu deduced before he sprinted from the kennel room with impressive speed.
The boy ran as fast as his young body would allow. The Black Flan was still on his tail, and was gaining in mass the more blood it absorbed from the hallway.
It was only thanks to his new friends that he'd been able to survive the onslaught of lashing black tendrils that snapped towards him. Whenever one would come to close the Metal Flan duo would form a shell on his back to deflect it.
He was immensely glad he'd taken them with him. It was an extremely lucky find for the boy. But unfortunately his luck will soon run out.
The boy slide to a halt in front of the doorway at the end of the hallway, it was sealed.
He panicked and quickly fumbled for the keycard, the Flans continue to deflect incoming tendrils as he tries the keycard.
He breathed a sigh of relief as it beeped to allow entrance. He pushed on it and his relief turned to horror as it only opened a couple of inches. Something was blocking the door!
The boy threw himself against the door again and again, but he was too light to move whatever was on the other side. The Black Flan continued to get closer and closer, until it was close enough the boy to smell it's acrid odor of copper and rot.
The boy collapsed to the ground in defeat, just as the Black Flan lashed out at him again, this time they were too close for the Metal Flans to block and he was soon being dragged towards the Flan's waiting mouth.
He struggled in vain to rip himself free of its grasp but he was too weak, all he could do was release a scream of fear, despair, and rage at his own weakness.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Kiritsugu paused when he heard the most blood curdling scream that human lungs could produce. One that told him freedom had been so close, only to be denied at the worst possible moment.
He honestly felt a but of pity for the poor fool. He was about to continue on his way when he froze in place.
That scream had sounded awfully childlike...
"Shit." Kiritsugu took off towards the source of the shout, only for something large and dark to shatter the nearby wall, followed by a pair of smaller somethings.
Once the dust cleared Kiritsugu could just make out the sight of a humanoid figure wreathed in a dark smog of shadow.
Beside the figure were a pair of small oddly shaped... things. They bore resemblance to Spiders in the way they were shaped, but their limbs were made of dark curved blades, and their heads and bodies weren't spiders. There were almost human in shape, but had no eyes or general facial features, instead they had a single vertical mouth of human teeth. Both were covered in red tribal tattoos.
Kiritsugu narrowed his eyes at them, Lahmu, a distant relative of the Flan, a monster that once terrorized Pulse before the natives systematically wiped them out. The ones in front of him weren't real, mere imitations that were part of the fake Eidolon before him.
"Hmph, seems you've gotten bigger since the last time we met." Kiritsugu mocked the Eidolon.
"G̶̭̋ͅr̷̯͒͠ŗ̵͍͆̚r̶̻̩͉̔r̴͚̪̉̓̉ṟ̴̬̘̿̕ ̵̧͓͈̄K̷̗͑̎i̴̤̍r̸̘̜̫͋̎͠i̵̧͙̮̓̓̂t̴̺͙̍̂͜s̷̛̪̯u̴̠̣̼̍͘͠g̸̜̾͠û̴̢̬͙" The false Eidolon growled the man's name as it turned to face him.
"Surprised? So am I." Kiritsugu said apathetically.
"L̵̞̍ê̵͖a̴̡̚v̸̙̓è̸̼!̶̫̓ ̶̨̕I̵̞͌ ̵̭͒ẖ̵͝ã̷̩v̴̘̽è̸̳ ̵̝̌n̶̠̈́o̷͇͋ ̸͉͌Q̸̔͜u̷̖͋a̷͕͝r̴̹͑ṙ̸̭e̷͎̍l̴͖͗ ̷͇͊w̴̢͊i̸̱̊t̷͇͝ḩ̴̕ ̸̗͘ỹ̸̗ŏ̵͇ǔ̸̻!̸͍́ ̷̜͑O̸̢̍u̶̥̕ṟ̷̛ ̶̞͑b̸̪͝á̴̙ţ̶̈ṫ̸̳l̶̬͆ẹ̵̽ ̶͉̉e̴̫̐n̸̠̍d̴̫͗e̵͇̿d̵̖͊ ̵̠́4̷̰̿0̵̨̄0̵͕̾ ̴͍̓y̷͉̆e̸̤̎ä̷̠ȑ̸̥s̸̼͛ ̵̈͜a̸̧͘g̷͇̈́ò̸̼!̴̓͜"̸͖͌" the Eidolon said to the man, who had it's respect.
Kiritsugu was slightly taken aback by the fact the Eidolon had no grudges against him that would make him want to kill him out of principle, but he shook off his suprise.
"You know why I can't do that Angra." He replied.
"S̴t̶i̵l̸l̶ ̴a̷ ̴F̴a̸l̵'̵c̸i̵e̵ ̸d̷o̵g̴ ̴I̷ ̷s̷e̸e̷.̴ ̷W̶e̸l̵l̴ ̷d̵o̵n̸'̷t̶ ̶w̵o̸r̶r̶y̵ ̷I̶ ̴d̷o̴ ̴n̸o̴t̴ ̵p̵l̸a̶n̵ ̵t̶o̴ ̶r̴a̶m̷p̸a̵g̶e̵ ̴l̷i̴k̸e̷ ̵b̸a̵c̷k̵ ̸t̷h̶e̴n̴,̷ ̶I̴ ̸h̵a̷v̴e̴ ̵m̷y̴ ̴d̵u̷t̶y̴ ̵a̷s̷ ̸a̷n̷ ̸E̵i̷d̶o̷l̸o̷n̸ ̸t̷o̷ ̷f̵u̶l̸f̸i̷l̶l̸.̵" Angra informed.
Kiritsugu was shocked a second time.
"Then Valhalla has accepted you?" He asked, referring to the home of Eidolons.
"B̵a̴h̴a̷m̶u̸t̵ ̴v̶o̶u̷c̸h̶e̷d̷ ̶f̶o̶r̸ ̴m̵e̷ ̵t̷o̸ ̶E̴t̷r̵o̸.̸ I̶'̶m̵ ̸n̷o̷w̴ ̷c̵a̸l̴l̸e̵d̶ ̶T̷h̴e̶ ̶B̸r̴i̶n̷g̵e̵r̷ ̶O̷f̸ ̷C̸u̴r̴s̵e̵s̴,̶ ̴A̸n̶g̶r̵a̶ ̴M̸a̷i̵n̵y̷u̵.̸" Angra Mainyu told him.
"Tch fitting for you." Kiritsugu clicked his tongue.
Angra Mainyu chuckled at his comment, but fell silent when Kiritsugu raised his weapon at him.
"You may not be here to cause havoc but it is still my Focus to eliminate the enemy. That's why I was sent here." Kiritsugu told him as his finger was itching to pull the trigger of his Thompson Contender.
Angra's shadowed face, while it couldn't be seen, his visible eyes were impassive.
The Eidolon flexed his hands and spoke.
"Z̷̹̈a̵̧̍r̷̗̊i̸̘̚c̷͇̀h̵͉̒,̷̘͒ ̶̺͋T̵̗͒a̴̫̚w̷̘̍ŕ̵̟į̵̑c̵͕̐h̸̲̋.̴̩̋ ̸̬̎C̴̐ͅô̴͇m̴̳̆e̶̺̕.̴̮̐" he called the two mechanical Lahmu. Their spindly bladed limbs clinked against the floor as they raced towards his waiting hands.
He grabbed them by their necks, and their shape shifted into a pair of warped clawlike Sword Breakers.
Angra Mainyu eased into a combat stance, he held no illusions of this being an easy fight. He was the weakest Eidolon afterall. He was only good at killing humans, and boy was he good at it.
But L'cie weren't considered human by Human or Fal'cie standards, they were far superior. Although Angra was sure he would at least match the old L'cie in front of him. The man was more suited to being an assassin than an upfront fighter for a reason after all.
The tension was so thick that even a hot knife would have struggled to cut it.
(*Squelch... Squish... Sluuuurp*)
The sounds of something wet getting closer caused them look away from each other to see a massive black Flan making its way towards them at a surprisingly quick pace, and within the clear black fluid was the body of a child floating inside.
"M̴̫̌A̸̺͑S̶͎̓T̶̙̉E̷̩͊R̵͇̕?̶̻̒!̷̝̿" Angra Mainyu exclaimed in shock at his summoner in the bowels of a Cursed Flan of all things!
How one even got onto Cocoon was a mystery to the Eidolon.
Kiritsugu paused at the Eidolon's shout towards the boy in the Flan.
"That boy was his summoner?" Kiritsugu wondered, he had suspected that the missng boy from the kennels would have been used as a host for Angra, not that he'd been the one to summon him.
"G̷̻̀R̸͈̀R̵̲̽R̴͔̉Ŕ̴̢ ̸̩̽R̶̥̈E̷͎͂L̶̮̒E̶̡̔A̵͈̔Ş̶͂E̶̛̺ ̵̰̈́H̵̢͝Ḭ̴̈́M̷̬͛!̸̫̾" Angra Mainyu demanded of the Flan.
It looked at him before... pouting?!
"G̷̪̓r̶̡̉r̶̟̊r̷͍͋!̷̭͗ ̵̯̈Ḋ̶̬ã̷̪m̵͙̿m̷̜͌ĭ̶̳t̵͙́!̸͓̈ ̷̐͜Ĩ̸̞ ̵̤͊ŝ̶͜a̷̳͑i̷͔̋d̴̖͂ ̶̤̈́L̴̅͜ẹ̵͊ţ̸̊ ̵̣̐h̵̹́ȉ̴̞m̴̠͒ ̶͉̄g̵̮͐ó̶͇!̷̛͎" Angra was pissed at the cursed being that just refused his, the Bringer Of Curses, orders.
Kiritsugu felt a spark of amusement, which then disappeared as the Flan sent a flurry of Black Tendrils at them, which he dodged.
Angra Mainyu just tanked the attack and grit his unseen teeth.
"S̶o̶ ̸t̷h̷a̶t̷'̶s̵ ̷h̶o̴w̴ ̶i̸t̸'̴s̶ ̶g̸o̵n̸n̴a̴ ̷b̶e̵?̸ ̶F̴I̷N̸E̷!̵ ̵I̷t̶'̶s̸ ̸y̵o̷u̵r̵ ̵f̵u̸n̶e̶r̵a̴l̸!̶" Angra shouted before he and his Lahmu burst into crimson light which formed a singular blood colored crystal. The crystal shot towards the boy within the Flan and entered the center of the L'cie mark patterned scar on his chest.
The scar glowed red before tribal tattoos spread across the boy's entire body bathing him in a blood colored light.
The Flan began to boil violently before it was sucked into itself, allowing the glowing boy to drop to the now bloodless floor of the hallway, right at Kiritsugu's feet.
The man stared at the boy for several seconds before he pointed the barrel of his gun at the boy.
He was the target. He had to kill this boy. Kiritsugu knew that. So why? Why was it that as soon as the boy wearily peeked open his eyes, showing life, actual sentience to them, that he hesitated.
For a moment he wasn't staring at the boy, he was staring at a younger version of himself, worn and broken from having killed his own father.
Kiritsugu shakily lowered his gun from the boy's head.
He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill the boy, even if he was an enemy.
But luckily he didn't have to, because in that instant the Sanctum Fal'cie noticed the boy's existence near it's L'cie, saw an opportunity to complete its goal and acted.
Kiritsugu went still as he felt his Focus get rewritten. Rewritten to something unthinkable.
Protect and Raise the boy as your own.
"W-what?! But I already have a kid! Why not choose Raines!? Iri will kill me!" Kiritsugu shouted to the Fal'cie that he knew was watching him
He only received silence as an answer.
"Of course... don't know what I was expecting." Kiritsugu muttered.
"Ngh..." the sound of the boy stirring drew his attention.
He was waking up.
"Ngh... what? I'm... I'm alive?" The boy muttered as he inspected himself for injury.
Kiritsugu watched with a raised brow as the boy then looked at the silver bangles on his wrists.
"You two alright?" He asked.
Kiritsugu was halfway through a thought that the boy was crazy when the bangles turned into a pair of Metal Flans.
They jiggled with excitement and relief that their lives were saved. The boy giggled at them, idly noticing that they now sported some sort of red pattern on them. He gave them a quick hug, mostly for self reassurance.
Kiritsugu blinked at the strange trio of human and Flan, before he cleared his throat.
"Ahem..." The sound startled the trio, the two Flans took up a defensive position in front of the boy, who tripped backwards when Kiritsugu made the sound.
Kiritsugu rose another brow at how protective the Flans were of the boy, but rose his hands in a calming manner.
"Don't be afraid I'm not here to hurt you." Kiritsugu stated.
"Not anymore at least." he chose to keep that part to himself.
The boy stood up hesitantly at the man's words.
"W-who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Kiritsugu. What's your's kid?" He asked.
The boy seemed stumped at the question.
He didn't have a name, he was never given one.
His mind flashed back to the kind scientist who had taken care of him and his 'siblings'.
"Shirou..." the boy muttered to himself, the name felt right.
"Hm?" Kiritsugu hummed, having heard the mumble but didn't quite catch it.
"My name... is Shirou." The boy, now named Shirou stated with conviction.
Kiritsugu could honestly say he liked the look in the kid's eyes.
"Well Shirou... how would you and your friends here like to get out of this place?" Kiritsugu asked him.
Shirou looked at his Flan friends and immediately nodded without hesitation.
"I want to leave this place... but where would I go?" he asked.
Kiritsugu nodded.
"Alright. Then you can stay with me." he said.
"Like a family?" the boy asked innocently.
Kiritsugu paused at his words, a smile creeped up his face.
"Yes. Like a family." Kiritsugu answered.
The boy grinned up at the man and immediately gave his answer.
"Yes!"
Cid Raines was once an idealist. He once dreamed of ridding cocoon of Fal'cie rule. Then he became a Sanctum L'cie and everything he stood for crumbled when he found himself with power, but no will to use it.
His focus was a twisted thing for the former revolutionary. One he didn't even know how to complete, it had been several decades since he was branded, and in that time he wasn't even a single step closer to completing it. He was running out of time too, his cie'th transformation had begun, slowly however, so far it was only his right hand, eventually it would spread up to his arm and the rest if his body.
But at the rate it was going he had at most 12 or 13 years before it would spread completely and he would fully become a Cie'th, an enemy of Cocoon.
He knew he had no choice to fulfill his focus, or he would become a monster. Howerver he wasn't expecting his first clue for completing his focus... to be a little boy of 7 years old.
"Kiritsugu... what am I looking at here?" The commander of the Wide-area Response Brigade, aka The Cavalry, asked the older L'cie that stood beside him.
"You know what Raines...? I'm not even sure at this point." Kiritsugu responded with his usual monotone as he watched his 7 months pregnant wife Irisviel Emiya nee Von Einzbern fuss over the the red haired boy that Kiritsugu had just taken in.
The White Haired red eyed woman had taken one look at the boy and immediately claimed him as her's. It had honestly surprised him when the boy had suddenly vanished from his side and was now being coddled by the woman.
Irisviel or Iri as Kiritsugu called her, while she wasn't a L'cie, she did have a sort of innate psychometric ability. She could see brief moments of an object's or even a person's, past, present and future. Whatever she'd seen about the boy had clearly endeared him to her.
The aforementioned boy was flushed with nervous embarrassment at being fussed over by someone like Irisviel.
Clearly he'd never been treated as anything more than cloned test subject. He'd never known what having a mother was like, or what a father was like.
Raines honestly pitied the boy, to be born for the sole purpose of being a disposable material for experimentation. It was as cruel as the L'cie system generated by the Fal'cie.
He felt his fist tighten at the injustice of it all, before it loosened as the cruel nature of reality pressed down on him once again.
"This isn't some fairy tale where heroes rise up to save the world. This is reality. People die. People will always die."
Those words rang throughout his mind. The words of another L'cie friend, long since turned Cie'th.
Cid shook the words from his mind and returned to the newly formed Mother-Son duo.
Apparently at some point the boy had fallen asleep in the woman's arms. The exhaustion of the night must have finally caught up with him, when he finally felt safe in the woman's arms.
Cid looked to Kiritsugu, only to blink as he saw one of Kiritsugu's rare smiles, ones that Cid knew made women flock to him.
Was it wrong of him to feel envious of the older L'cie? The envy the fact that a L'cie such as Kiritsugu, a man who had enough blood on his hands to fill an ocean, was still capable of smiling like that?
Of course it was... and Cid knew it. The man had suffered at the hands of the Fal'cie far longer than Cid, so any reprieve from that should be welcomed. Yet Cid still couldn't help himself for how he felt in that moment.
And so with a heavy sigh, Cid spoke once more.
"So what are you going to do with the kid? Are you planning to keep him? Train him to be a Weapon for the Fal'cie? Or what?"
Cid's question was rewarded with a thoughtful scowl from the ancient L'cie, before his gaze drew itself back to Irisviel and the sleeping Shirou, and his smile crept back onto his features.
"For now... I'll adopt him officially. Perhaps he can be the big brother my unborn daughter needs. And should a time come where he is drawn into this grudge match between Pulse and Cocoon Fal'cie... then I'll make sure he's ready. But for now... let's give him a happy life. The one we all never got." Kiritsugu decided with a conviction that had Cid stunned.
Cid almost couldn't believe that the person before him was the same Kiritsugu Emiya that had trained him as an instructor back in the academy. It strangely made him smile.
"Alright then. I guess I'm taking the roll of the cool uncle then." Cid said with a cocky smile he hadn't used since his teenage years, back when he thought he was some invincible rebel.
Kiritsugu rose a brow at the change in Cid's demeanor, but chose not to comment.
"Do as you wish." He simply stated, before he went to join his wife and newfound son.
Cid snorted slightly at how fast Kiritsugu had brushed him off.
"I pity that kid. I really do." Cid said with a nonchalant 'what can you do' attitude and a shrug of his shoulders.
Cid took one last look at the sleeping boy's face and felt his partially morphed arm twitch in response, before he walked away with a grim expression.
That boy was his ticket to completing his Focus... and he would be damned is he missed his opportunity to get closer to the boy.