KingVessel: Inspired by Lord Mist's Chapter 29 of "Infinite Paths". Stupid Plot Bunny, hopping about...
Chapter 01: Kariya Matou
Kariya Matou hummed as he arrived and found a space to park his motorcycle. He was quite' pleased that he'd gotten a chance to return home after such a long time. Then again, it wasn't like he had much reason to actually return to Fuyuki for any reason beyond a special person and her daughters.
Entering the park which was already filled with people spending their day with their activities, Kariya's eyes instantly focused on a woman reading a book. "Aoi-san."
Perking up at the greeting, Aoi Tohsaka gave a smile that really highlighted her beautiful visage. With her long dark green hair, emerald eyes and slender figure, Aoi seemed to have blossomed even more after over a year of distance. "Kariya-kun, it's been a while. Are you back from your business trip? It was quite a long one."
"Yeah, I guess." Kariya shrugged. "I was light years away, after all."
Aoi chuckled. "Again with the space jokes, Kariya-kun. I wonder what started that fascination."
"One hell of a crazy day." Kariya absentmindedly fingered the ring on his right hand.
"Uncle Kariya!" A little girl shouted, gaining his attention. He turned to see a little and familiar face running up to him. "Uncle Kariya, welcome back!"
"Rin-chan!" Kariya greeted back as the girl reached him. Rin was adorable as he remembered, Aoi's daughter beaming up at him.
"Did you buy me a present again?" Rin asked bluntly.
'That's the first thing you're asking of me?' Kariya sweatdropped. 'Looks like your greed didn't lessen during my time away.'
"No, Rin! That was rude!" Aoi lectured her.
Approaching her and bending his knee so that he wouldn't force Rin to look up at him, Kariya dug into his pockets and fished out one of the presents he'd brought back, handing Rin a bracelet made with pink marbles connected with white beads and thread tied together. "Here you go."
"Thanks, Uncle." Rin happily said as she held the gift close to her.
"I'm glad you like it." Kariya patted Rin's head, glad at her pleased reaction. She was always the harder of the two to please. Speaking of which...
"Where's Sakura-chan?" Kariya asked after getting out another bracelet for Aoi's second daughter, noting her absence as he looked around for her. 'She'll want one, too, after all.'
Rin's happy face slowly faded away and became worryingly sad. "Sakura's gone now."
"Eh?" Kariya's mind came to a confused halt, watching Rin suddenly run away before swiftly turning to the mother for answers. "Aoi-san? What happened to Sakura?"
"You see, Sakura is no longer my daughter or Rin's little sister." Aoi whisperingly answered but loud enough for Kariya to hear, noting the sadness on her tone. "She's gone... to the Matou Family."
...WHAT.
"Why?!" Kariya stood up, outrage and fear and horror all crashing together in him. "Why would you-"
"You know exactly why the Matou Family would want children with fertile blood." Aoi cut Kariya off, giving a knowing look and reacting too calmly. "The Tohsaka Family Head decided to give our ancient allies, the Matou Family, what they requested. It wasn't my place to voice my opinion."
As a former member of that Family, Kariya would've loved to have been present during that event and stressed just how bad of an idea that was, giving anything Zouken Matou desired to him.
Especially since it was a person. "...and you're fine with that?"
"When I married Tokiomi Tohsaka... When I decided to be a Magus's wife... I was ready for something like this to happen."
"And you're fine with that?!" Kariya repeated his question, fervently hoping that Aoi would reply otherwise. That she would just speak honestly. That as a mother, she wasn't okay giving away her own child.
"A family borne from a magus and having children from their blood can never expect the happiness of normal families."
"That's not true!" Kariya shouted again. It couldn't be true. "You wanted happiness when you chose him-"
"This is between the Tohsaka and the Matou Families." Aoi cut him off coldly. "You turned your back on the Moonlit World years ago, Kariya-kun. It doesn't concern someone who now lives in the Sunlit Domain."
"...even so, you can't just ask me to not care!" Kariya firmly stated. "Even now, can you look me in the eye and say that you don't care for Sakura anymore?!"
Aoi's expression softened into a sad smile. "Of course, I do. But now, she is a stranger to me by our laws... If you ever see Sakura, be nice to her as you usually are. She was always fond of you, Kariya-kun..."
'What a cruel thing to ask of me, Aoi-san...' Kariya clenched his fist. "Of course, I will. I'm the only Matou who will have good intentions for her."
And then Kariya swiftly left, leaving for his bike before Aoi could properly register his words. Resisting the urge to fly straight there, Kariya pushed his motorcycle to the limit, until he was soon back home.
"I'm amazed that a failure like you would dare show his face here."
Kariya glared at the elderly wraith sitting in his chair with that walking stick he was almost sure he didn't need.
Zouken Matou was an old wrinkly thing with a completely bald head and was hunched over, making him short in his plain Japanese robes. He might have passed for a harmless old man to most, if not for the color of his eyes showing that his pupil and iris were stark white while the sclera was black. "I believe I told you to never let me see you again. Kariya."
"I heard that you adopted the second daughter of the Tohsaka Family." Kariya blandly shot back, using all of his will to hold back the simmering rage.
"You have good ears as would be expected of a runaway." The Worm had the gall to be amused, not even pretending to be surprised.
"Are you really that desperate to preserve magical affinity in the Matou lineage?"
"Is it you, of all people, that is declaring that wrong?" Zouken shot back. "You were a miraculous birth. After generations of declining quality, you, Kariya, were born with Magic Circuits comparable to the good types that were prevalent back in my youth. Had you agreed to carry on the family name and learn the Matou secrets, our decline wouldn't have happened-"
"Enough of this prattle, you ghoul." Kariya cut him off, uncaring of the curious eyebrow shown to him. "You just want the Grail to gain immortality. That's always what you've used our bloodline for, cultivating pawns to become Master material."
Zouken's eys widened before chuckling in amusement as he got up and slowly approached Kariya. "It's exactly as you say, Kariya. By the next year, sixty years will have elapsed since the Third Holy Grail War. But now, the Matou Family has no pawns to offer for the Fourth Holy Grail War. Unlike you, your brother Byakuya lacks the capability to summon and control a Servant. But even if we let this round pass, we could still win the next one sixty years from now. The Tohsaka girl's womb will produce a talented magus. She has quite the potential as a vessel, that one."
"So as long as you get the Grail, you won't require Sakura Tohsaka for anything?" Kariya stated, causing Zouken to stop and look at him after just passing him by.
"What are you scheming, runaway?"
"A trade, Zouken." Kariya turned to glare down at his ancestor, his ring burning in his pockets. "I will bring back the Grail in this coming war. In return, you will release Sakura Tohsaka."
As if.
The moment Kariya got Sakura safe in his arms, he'd ditch the planet instantly. He just needed to at least badger Zouken into letting him lay his eyes on her.
The Grail War could go fuck itself.
"Don't be stupid." Zouken laughed in amusement as he then started to return to his seat. "You're a failure who hasn't trained a single day of your life. You're saying you'll become a Master in the space of a single year?"
No, Kariya had trained for years into something powerful. Just not as a magus. "You have the ability to make that happen, with your control over insects."
Zouken halted and Kariya knew he'd seen the bait. "Implant the Crest Worms into me."
"Kariya... Do you want to die?"
There. Zouken hadn't laughed or left him in dismissal.
"The accomplishment of the Matou Family's goals will taste better when achieved by our own hands." Kariya pressed on. "There's no need to get outsiders involved."
There was a moment of silence in the room. Zouken hadn't moved, assuring Kariya that the Wraith was considering the idea. Now, Kariya teased on the Worm's sadistic impulses for one last pull. "What's wrong? You seem like you don't want to see me in agonizing pain, Father?"
Zouken laughed again, but it felt wrong this time as the Matou Head turned to look him in the eye. "If you're trying to put yourself down in exchange that little Sakura doesn't suffer... You're quite a few days too late."
No.
NO.
NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO-
"Father..." Kariya growled, letting his true emotions finally slip out. "What did you do?"
"...how long do you plan to pretend that you are as dull as Byakuya? Sakura was meant to be your replacement."
Sakura was in the pit.
Why was she in the pit?
WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY SHE WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY SHOULDN'T WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY BE WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY IN WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY THERE WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY BY OA-
"For the first three days, she screamed and cried rather loudly." Zouken coldly spoke over the writhing sounds the Worms made as they used Sakura's body. "But on the fourth, she finally stopped. This morning, I threw her in, to see how long she'd last. It's been twelve hours, and she's still breathing. Looks like the Tohsakas aren't bad at all."
...fuck this.
Kariya... wouldn't let this happen one second more. He thought that he'd just be satisfied with saving Sakura from the damage, but now that was impossible.
His ring burned... and this time, Kariya welcomed it.
"No matter how high the heaven or deep the pit,"
The ring pulsed with emerald cosmic energy before blazing to life brightly.
"No evil before me shall ever be acquit."
Taking Zouken by surprise, Kariya leapt off the ledge and cleared several feet before landing right beside Sakura, his blazing form terrifying the Worms away.
"To those who demand that the innocent submit,"
Zouken was making some horrible hissing noise as he shrieked. "Kariya! What is this?! What are you doing?!
The shimmering form that was Kariya laid a gentle hand over Sakura's face, the green energy trickling into her body.
"WHAT ARE YOU?!"
"Be engulfed in the Emerald Light that I emit!"
And then, there was light.
Cosmic, all-powerful light that saved Sakura, lit up the entire mansion and seared away Zouken Matou and his Worms from existence.
When the light faded away, Sakura blearily blinked as she finally noted the man next to her in the empty pit. "Uncle... Kariya...? What...?"
Kariya looked different now. With the glowing ring on his right middle finger, Kariya was now dressed in black mesh under-armor, with a green chest plate and gauntlets and shin guards, all under the hooded longcoat that had the emblem of his Corps on his back, a green circle forcing two lines apart from above and below, all within a circle.
"I'm Green Lantern Kariya Matou of Sector 2814." Kariya hoped that his smile was reassuring enough for the child he carried in his arms. "And I'm here to save you, Sakura-chan."
KingVessel: I think I started this well.