Beta read by Shigiya, FabledLife and Paragon of Awesomeness
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-???-
What first came to her attention was pure darkness. It was an absolute, all-encompassing void. A certain blonde-haired biological girl made to be a biological weapon floated within it, almost like a consciousness without form. There was no sensation of touch, no scent to smell, no light to see. It was a complete absence of everything... something that easily could turn any normal living being mad, but to her, she somehow adapted to it.
'Where am I?'
The thought echoed, but received no answer. There was only the pure, silent nothingness. Then, a flicker of recognition, like a distant memory. 'Ah, it's like the last time.' The details were hazy, lost in the fog, but she knew this was not the first time she had found herself in this space. It was a familiar emptiness, a recurring state of non-being where only she existed and no one else.
She tried to remember what had happened, what had led her to this suffocating blackness. Her mind searched, grasping at straws, but came up empty. She couldn't remember anything. Not her name, not who she was, not why she was here. A flicker of something, panic, perhaps, should have surfaced, but it didn't. It was as if something within her, or perhaps the void itself, was forcing her to remain in a state of constant, unfeeling numbness.
'I'm sleepy,' the thought drifted lazily. 'I want to sleep and close my eyes for once.' A deep and pervasive weariness settled over her consciousness. She let the feeling pull her down into the abyss itself, her eyelids feeling heavy as she prepared to sink back into oblivion.
Drip
Just as she was about to let go, a small ripple pulsed through the darkness, disturbing her descent. Her eyes snapped open, "Ah."
She was no longer floating and actually felt having limbs along with the rest of her body rather than a consciousness without form.
"Hn," The world came into focus with a groan of protest from her own throat. Looking around briefly, it did not take her long to realize that she was inside a dark cave, the air damp and smelling of earth and stone. Pushing herself up, her hand went to her face, then she looked down. Her clothes were tattered, shredded in places, and caked with dirt and dried blood that flaked off with her movements.
"I fell asleep?" The thought was followed by another one. "That was a mistake. I could have been attacked."
Instantly, her left hand morphed, the fingers elongating and fusing into a gleaming, metallic blade. The tip scraped against the rocky wall as she stood, producing a loud, grating clang that grew louder with every passing second. Walking out of the cave's mouth and into a landscape of devastation, she found herself standing in the center of what was once a large military base, now nothing but smoldering ruins and twisted metal.
"Ah!" It felt painful at first; the memories returned in a flood, but still with a lot of holes. Was she sent here to be destroyed? No... she... she ran away, kept running away from a group of people who wanted to capture her.
Suddenly, a loud shout broke the silence. "There she is!" a voice screamed. "Don't let Golden Darkness escape! Open fire!" Figures in combat armor rushed towards her from behind the wreckage, their laser guns blazing. Crimson beams of light shot through the air, aimed directly at her.
Golden Darkness, was that her name? The blonde didn't even flinch at that thought and watched the projectiles get closer. With a loud whoosh, her hair shot out, weaving into a dense, impenetrable shield that deflected every shot with ease.
"R-Retreat!"
Cowards, all of them. Not that it mattered, she rushed forward, a blur of black and pale skin. With a single, fluid swipe of her hair-formed blade, the lead soldier was cut into two neat halves, his armor offering no resistance. He fell into meaty thuds.
"...I remember." They were after her. To take her back. To recapture her. To turn her back into what they wanted, a weapon of pure destruction.
The view didn't stay still for long. One ruined settlement blurred into the next.
She walked through them without stopping. Each place brought more people. Soldiers in worn armor, mercenaries looking for no one else but themselves, the occasional assassin trying their luck. They all went for her, and each time it ended the same way. Her blades, her hair cut them down and kept moving.
It happened over and over. Different faces, same result. They came at her in groups or alone, some cautious, others reckless. It didn't change anything. She dealt with them and moved on.
Her expression never shifted. No anger, no relief, nothing to suggest she felt anything about it. She wasn't enjoying it, but she wasn't struggling with it either. By this point, it was routine. She fought, they fell, and she kept walking.
At some point, the sky above was filled with two distinct moons. One pale blue, one faintly yellow, became her only companion. She sat at the edge of a crumbling cliff, hugging her legs and pushing her face against her thighs. She just sat there, for what felt like hours, maybe even days. She did not move, did not react to the wind or the distant sounds of explosions. She felt a sense of extreme loneliness, a deep, hollow ache, but she couldn't remember why. It was as if something precious, something close to her, had been torn away, leaving a gaping wound. No matter how hard she tried, the memory would not surface.
She remained there for what felt like an age. Then, slowly, all the noise of the world began to fade. The wind, the distant fires, the hum of the planet itself - it all disappeared. She felt herself sinking back into the darkness, as if invisible hands were reaching out from the void to grab her, pulling her deeper, deeper in. Her strength waned, her weariness returning tenfold.
'It's fine,' the thought came, weak and distant. 'I'm too tired.'
Out of nowhere, a sound broke through the encroaching blackness.
A droplet of water falling into a pond.
Her eyes snapped open, no longer in a desolate wasteland. She was inside a familiar-looking house. Confusion clouded her dead eyes as she stared around. Was this a trap? An illusion created by her enemies? Even if that were the case, they would fail regardless. But then, she saw nothing dangerous, nothing out of place. Through a sliding glass door, she found someone sitting on the porch.
Seeing the back of his head, a shock of red hair, I felt a pull of familiarity. Without realizing it, her feet began to move, carrying her towards him. A part of her mind kept telling her she should be killing this person. He was likely just like the others, another assassin sent to claim her. But for some reason, she did not feel that he was dangerous.
Spotting more details as she drew closer. He was wearing a simple gray kimono, sitting quietly while observing the sky above, where a single, solitary moon could be seen. She sat down next to him in silence. For some reason, the suffocating loneliness she had felt for so long, the feeling of being alone in the middle of nowhere, simply vanished. She did not hate this feeling of being next to someone, of being around another living being.
'Is this even real?'
The question popped up, everything felt both new yet familiar in a way that should not work. As if the answer was at the tip of her tongue, yet kept evading her for some reason. Golden Darkness slowly turned her head towards him, seeing more of his face in the soft moonlight. The sense of familiarity grew stronger, but she still couldn't place him. The feeling was irritating, and she found herself asking, "Who are you?"
The man, who looked like he was in his late teenage years, turned towards her. A small smile played on his lips. "Funny. You should already know my name. It's E̶̴̷̸̵̷̸m̵̷̸̷̶̷̷i̷̷̶̶̷̴̸y̵̵̷̵̸̵̷a̴̶̵̵̴̴̴," he said, his voice laced with amusement, as if he were gently reminding her. But the name itself sounded wrong, even trying to read his lips failed, for everything seemed to have blurred up. Before she could ask him again, he spoke.
"You look lost."
Golden Darkness tilted her head ever so slightly, pondering his words. "I don't know," she admitted. From the very beginning until now, everything felt the same. A blurry darkness, a constant state where she didn't even feel lost, but instead in a state of numbness that seemed to stretch on for infinity. "I just found myself here."
"Really? I thought you would remember this place."
"I don't know where this is." She said, looking around at the place with a few decorations found on the wall and even frames upon the walls and drawers. Only for the faces to be nothing more than a black swirl.
"Don't you consider this place like home?" he asked.
After a moment of silence, she answered honestly. "I don't know." She thought of the dark caves, the tattered clothes, the dried blood, and the lack of any personal items. Caves were just places to rest, to regain energy before continuing the slaughter or trying to run away somewhere quieter.
"Do you know your name?"
"Golden Darkness," she said. "That is what the others call me."
"Golden Darkness?" he repeated softly. "Do you feel better over here?"
Golden Darkness looked around the peaceful yard. She nodded her head. "It's quiet."
"Isn't a cave also quiet? Or space?"
"It's a different sort of quiet," she clarified. "It's... warm."
"Aren't you afraid of me? Or at least suspicious?"
"I should be wary of you, yes," she conceded. "But for some reason, I don't feel like you are a bad person."
This made him chuckle, a warm, pleasant sound. She watched him as he spoke. "If that's what you believe, fine."
They sat in comfortable silence for a few more minutes. She found herself enjoying the atmosphere, the peace, the simple presence of another. Then, he spoke again, his voice quiet, like a faint buzz. "You plan on staying here for long?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't want to leave."
"You fit in nicely here," he replied, his gaze turning back to the moon. "And I don't see any reason for you to leave."
"It's scary out there," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Where I'm alone, and there is only darkness and nothing else around me."
"Are you afraid of it?"
She didn't say it aloud, just nodding her head, "It's a strange sensation."
"Care to elaborate?"
She nodded, "It's... It's as if the moment I close my eyes because of how tired I feel, something... or rather someone just reaches over to me and pulls me deeper. It sounds crazy, I know."
"Is that so?" The man said while leaning backwards and observing the night sky. "If I were to give you advice, then I'd say it would be best if you find other people to fight back against that sense of loneliness. Whether they be friends or even family, as long as you have someone by her side, it will work wonders to offset that dreadful feeling. You have to make connections basically."
Connections, what a strange answer to this problem that has no solution in her eyes. Yet she could not refute it so openly, and neither could she do so confidently, as all of it was new to her. But then, her eyes gazed downwards until she looked at her own old, tattered clothes covered in dried blood and her still transformed hand that gleamed against the moonlight with no trace of blood on it despite her having killed so many. "They will die."
"By your hands or because of your presence?"
"Both." The answer came immediately, for the blonde was not under any delusion that someone like her could live in peace for the rest of her life. Perhaps at first, but trouble would eventually follow her one way or another; she was like a magnet that attracted them. Whether it be those people who wanted to capture her, other assassins, or anyone else. "What's inside me is dangerous to anyone."
"That may be true, but you also can't keep running away from it. And I feel you are overestimating those who will care for you." The man said as she started to feel more and more tired.
"No... not now..." Trying her best to stay away as long as she could and enjoy this small moment of peace before returning to her usual self, something inside her practically whispered to her that the moment she closed her eyes, everything around her would disappear forever. Even stranger was how the voice itself sounded just like her, but more... energetic?
'Just a bit... longer...'
Bit by bit, the air around her shifted and for a moment, it felt like she sat somewhere else, the ground beneath her feeling rougher than usual, like a rough sound and the air becoming drier than the cool windshield breathed in a few seconds ago. Even in her current state, she felt the man move and in the next second, a hand pressed gently against her head.
"-?"
Opening her eyes back up, as little as she could see with everything growing increasingly blurry, the young girl opened her eyes to see that the quiet night and the beautiful moon had been replaced by a dreary, cloudy sky where barely any sunshine seeped through. Not even the clouds, but everything around submerged in an almost sickening level of smog, the same kind of environment she had grown to march through after each confrontation.
Though it was hard to perceive what it was exactly, several gigantic objects surrounded them. But the one thing she immediately noticed and could not look away from was the person before her gently stroking her hair. For a brief moment, she saw a warm smile belonging to an older man in his early middle ages, a head full of white hair and the black armor that covered his upper torso. A face that looked both very familiar yet different, yet she felt just as safe around him as she did with the other one.
A large white cloak covered his body, bellowing in the wind as the breeze picked up in strength, increasingly becoming as strong as a small dust storm.
"Just have more faith in us, Yami. Everything will work out, and you won't have to fear such things anymore. Now it's time for you to wake up."
Yami.
Yami...
Yami...?
Ah...
It slowly started to come back, a name belonging to a former assassin that came to Earth for a mission, only to end up failing it in a way she never thought possible. A mission that made her rethink her overall life and the path she had chosen. Guided by several people who called her that name, whether they be princesses or regular people.
At the forefront, a single figure had been present there, doing the same for many, and though he looked much younger than the one standing in front of him, both gave off the same warmth. Her hands reached above and held his own as she brought them to her cheek. Grasp on his wrist grew stronger, and she used it as an anchor to keep herself awake and pushed herself through and opened her eyes back up with consciousness returning. "Yuki... Emiya..."
Instantly, the world around her disappeared as Yami began to wake back up and opened her eyes ever so slowly.
"...Shirou?"
She blinked. Again and again, the moment of warmth and drowsiness instantly disappeared, for she discovered two things. First, the fact that she managed to regain control of her own body after her forceful transformation and the horrifying sight of her own hand transformed into a blade, now piercing the stomach of the person before her.
Emiya?
No... no, this had to be another hallucination.
This... this couldn't be real.
He let out a small, shallow breath and managed to speak out while coughing beforehand. "Finally... I was starting to think my plan didn't work. That would've been hard to explain to Mikan. Glad you're back to reality, Yami."
His voice came out uneven, and more blood slipped from the wound, dripping to the ground.
"No..."
Part of her wished, no, tried her best to believe this to be nothing more than a nightmare. But no matter how much she tried to believe so, no matter how hard she tried to ignore the warm blood coating her hand, it persisted along with the growing dread within. Her hand snapped back to normal. The moment she saw the blood, she froze, then moved in a rush, trying to fix it. "No, no... wait-" The words kept coming as she pressed her hair against the wound, trying to stop it. "No, don't-don't die..."
He reached up, slower than before, and pulled her in by the head, resting her against him.
"It's fine," he said quietly. "Don't worry. I'll be alright." He took another shallow breath. "I'm just glad you're back."
Her entire body trembled, terror taking hold along with desperation and hatred over her own action.
{Break}
"Tch, this is getting troublesome," he muttered, the word still feeling inadequate to describe the overall situation. He immediately realized he should stop saying it; every moment in his life had started to become a troublesome one and didn't need to be said out loud constantly. But this particular situation differed from the usual problematic one. It teetered on the edge of ridiculousness.
Regardless, the wound itself was not that bad, especially after Yami used her hair to block the bleeding. Painful as always, yes, but it sure did beat any other outcome. He had done his part as well, knitting parts of the inner flesh back together with a part of his magecraft he had not used for a while, with miniature swords forming deep within.
The process itself was quite painful as well; it had been a long time since he'd used that particular ability, for it served little purpose when there were better alternatives available to him. Anything more could cause it to go out of control, becoming a double-edged sword that would end up taking his life. The irony of that statement was not lost on him.
'Should take a few days to recover if something else doesn't pop off.'
Looking down at his stomach, he could see the small, tiny swords stitching the flesh at the edge together, but only enough to stop more bleeding, not to fill up the hole completely. "S-Shirou!" Yami noticed the change and looked down at him with surprise. "I-I'm sorry... I'm sorry! I-I didn't w-wan-"
She kept mumbling under her breath, but he didn't say anything for now, instead hugging her even tighter. He felt her tremble, then heard her start crying as tears streamed down her face and onto his clothes.
"I'm sorry," she choked out. "Don't die... I won't do it again..."
It was only at such moments that it occurred to him once again just how young this girl actually was. Though her past experiences had molded her into a stoic personality where little could faze her, now she sounded no different to a young, panicking child.
"I won't die," Emiya told her, his voice a bit strained. "It's hard to kill me. Nothing vital was struck in your attack." His vision started to turn blurry. He was losing blood too quickly.
'Where the hell is Ryouko?'
Bang!
"-!"
His question never left his mouth. A loud crash cut through the air as something tore through the trees nearby. Wood snapped and splintered, one trunk after another, until a car burst out of the line and slammed straight into a boulder.
Emiya stared. The front was wrecked, bark and leaves stuck all over it, but the rest of the car was somehow still in one piece.
"You've got to be kidding me..." he muttered. "How is that thing still running?"
Crack!
The door flew off its hinges with a hard kick. Ryouko stepped out without slowing down, still in what looked like dark sleepwear, her hair a mess and faint shadows under her eyes. She didn't even glance at the damage as she rushed straight toward him.
He tried to speak. "Oh, I thought you were at school when I called Tearju. Are you okay? I've never seen you drive that reckl-mmph!"
She shoved a breathing device over his face before he could finish, pressing it into place with one hand while already pulling him toward the car with the other.
"Save it," she said, not stopping or letting him speak. "You're getting in!"
A substance entered his lungs, making him realize she was trying to put him to sleep. Before he could argue, she dragged him along, pushed him into the seat, then moved just as fast back around. The engine coughed, then roared back to life. The car lurched forward, leaving the broken trees and shattered rock behind as she drove off.
All the while, as he gazed at the ground behind them disappear bit by bit, with Lala down there running towards Yami to help her. His final thought was that he could leave the rest up to her.
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Strangely enough, the moment of unconsciousness barely lasted an instant before he found himself waking back again. He was not inside the spaceship, but rather floating inside some sort of tube filled with a strange liquid. It was clear and transparent, allowing him to see outside the glass walls and find the familiar space of Ryouko's clinic. A bit of worry that he wouldn't be able to breathe was quickly followed by a sensation of drowning, which made him even more uncomfortable. His worries soon subsided when Ryouko walked down the stairs and arrived in front of his tube, observing him with her hands inside her lab coat pockets.
Even though he was inside the tube filled with liquid, he could still hear her clearly. "Don't panic," she said with a tired tone. "You can breathe inside the liquid. It's my own version of oxygenated perfluorocarbons. You should be able to breathe normally and not drown."
He calmed down and nodded, initially trying to communicate with her but realizing he wouldn't be able to do so while inside the pod. As if understanding what he wanted to say, the nurse continued, "You should be out in a few minutes. Your condition is stable and is already greatly on its way to a complete recovery."
Emiya then looked downwards at his own stomach and saw that a big scar tissue was left there, with the wound being mostly closed by now.
"It was a real pain trying to remove those little swords," Ryouko went on. "They were microscopic and interwoven with your own flesh, so I had to ask Tearju for some help trying to remove them one by one while minimizing damage. For a moment, I genuinely felt like Dr. Frankenstein working on my own little cute monster."
To that, he just shrugged. Easily able to imagine how off and dangerous his own body would have looked to them, but grateful for their help regardless.
"Funnily enough, you're not helping your case by trying to persuade the others that you're not a weapon, just like Yami and Nemesis," Ryouko pointed out. "Though I know you're telling the truth and it's not a lie, if other organizations like Solgam were to see this, people would start hunting you. Not because of the marriage or for the wedding candidate nonsense, but trying to catch another creation of Solgam."
Great, why wasn't he surprised? Going so far as to even roll his eyes at that statement, which made her chuckle. "Don't worry. I got you out of there as quickly as possible before anyone could see anything."
He genuinely appreciated her effort and wanted to thank her, which he did so by trying to gesture at her from the tank.
"If you want to thank me, you'll have to do more than that. But before that, you need to focus on dealing with someone else first." Her eyes went downwards, pointing towards the bottom of the tube. Looking down, the man came to see something he hadn't noticed before, a certain blonde-haired former assassin sleeping on the floor right next to him. Emiya sighed in relief upon noticing her form having reverted back to what she used to look like, along with her clothes as well.
No horns, no wings, and her standard black leather-like gear.
"She refused to leave your side and join the others upstairs," Ryouko explained. "So I let Yami sleep here for a bit." This made Emiya realize that the others must have been either Lala or his siblings, or both.
Then he heard the sound of a machine beeping. "Ara ara, good news," she said. "Looks like you'll be out earlier than I expected."
After taking a few notes while looking at the monitor on the machine, the woman pressed a button, and it started draining the fluid from the tube. A few minutes later, the glass opened. He stumbled out, feeling a bit weak, only to be supported by Ryouko, who managed to grab him right as he came out. "Cough! Cough! Argh... eurgh! Cough!" He started coughing and vomiting the oxygenated liquid that was inside his system until he could finally breathe air again.
"Hm, not the best recovery I had in mind. I still need to work on the aftermath. But there's not much one can do, given people usually breathe air, so the sensation of breathing through a liquid will always be super uncomfortable and give you a constant sense of drowning."
"Yeah, I can see why," he said in between coughs. He was given a napkin and a towel, which he used to dry himself off before putting on the clothes provided to him by Ryouko. For he felt she was perhaps staring at him a bit too much.
"How long had I been inside that? A few days? A week?"
"It wasn't that long, actually. Barely a day has passed," she answered calmly, the answer itself catching him off guard. A day? This woman sure worked wonders. "But it could have been much shorter if it hadn't been for us spending a few hours trying to remove those tiny swords one by one. Some of them kept growing back and even nicked my finger once or twice, but I managed to do it. I haven't dealt with such a strange body since my time in university, and also when working for Solgam."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Emiya said before turning his attention towards Yami, who was still sleeping. Getting down on one knee to carefully check on her state, and spotting nothing out of the ordinary. No permanent changes from that transformation lingered after what happened.
"She's fine," Ryouko assured him. "Her vitals are normal, and aside from being a bit traumatized, she is perfectly fine with no lingering effects of the transformation. Her memories of her time as Golden Darkness were a bit muddy, but I'd figure she'll remember everything regardless."
"Will this happen again?" Emiya asked.
"I'm not sure," Ryouko admitted. "It's best to talk to Tearju for that. She does have some idea, but she isn't the type to base her answers on guesses."
"Alright." He mumbled, moving around a bit to see if his limbs were good and touching his stomach where the scar tissue remained.
"The scar tissue will disappear eventually," Ryouko said. "You only need to apply a few more medical gels I will give you, and to also eat light for a few days, given that a portion of your organs had to be regenerated."
"Alien technology is really convenient, huh?"
"Of course it is," Ryouko hummed in agreement. "That's why you called me, right? Because you knew I had the work?"
"I visited you several times. I know you're one of the best, and yes, but before-oof." The word died in his throat as Ryouko's fist connected with his face. He could have blocked it, or at least braced for it, but not from her - not from Mikado. The force sent him off his feet and back across the room, where he landed hard against a stack of storage cartons.
"Wha-what was that for!?" he asked, massaging the side of his face that had a big fist mark.
"Since when were you even that strong? That was actually harder than Haruna's punches."
But the brunette did not laugh or smile. Instead, she walked towards him, grabbed him by the collar, and brought him close to her face as she glared at him coldly. "I thought you were a clever man, but your recent action was one of the most idiotic things I have ever had to deal with. All of it is just based on your hunch over me having the right equipment." She demanded, "What would you have done if I did not have the equipment and the means to heal you! What then!?"
Taken aback by her reaction, Emiya exhaled uncomfortably and averted his eyes ever so slightly. "As long as my heart, head, or other vital areas were not too damaged, then I would have survived regardless. It would have just taken longer for me to heal."
This answer did not visibly please her. "Those swords of yours were not even healing you! It was just blocking off the bleeding, like taking super glue or a bona fide stapler and forcing the veins closed! It was such a bad patchwork that I felt it would have done more harm to you had it kept growing."
Well, she was not wrong.
"I can somewhat control it. It was only an emergency thing." Unfortunately, it looked like his explanation did not help with the situation as she glared at him for several seconds. He finally relented. "Hah, I admit it was a hasty decision, but it was the only way I could induce a big enough shock in Yami to bring her back, or else the entire town would have been destroyed. I admit, it wasn't the greatest, but it was better than nothing."
"You had no guarantee it would work! What even made you think that?"
"It was because of the personality she had changed into," Emiya explained, his voice steady despite the glare he was receiving. "One that sought to kill and destroy everything that would technically endanger me, and by pushing that to the extreme with that... even though she was getting more violent against me as well, I figured that her mentality would still remain to protect me at all costs, even if it meant harming me. But what if she became the very reason why he was almost going to die? I figured that kind of disruption or shock would have been enough to jolt her back awake. And I made sure not to have the blade hit me somewhere vital."
This admission made Ryouko even angrier. She looked down at him, her eyes narrowed as he saw her visibly grit her teeth. Finally, she sighed and let him go, turning away to her table while massaging her head. "I'm not usually one to drink or smoke out of stress, but you sure are pushing me in that direction."
Emiya got up and dusted his clothes off. "I wouldn't recommend it."
She turned around and pointed a finger at him. "You owe me a date, dinner and a shoulder massage for what I've done. Now, go upstairs to see the others. I'll wake Yami up in a bit. First, I'm going to make myself some coffee." As she was about to head upstairs, she stopped midway and then looked behind her with suspicious eyes. "Is that really all the reason you had to take in that attack? I've known you for quite a while, and I know you're not that big of an idiot. What's really going on?"
Emiya stayed silent for a bit, looking down at Yami's sleeping form. Then he answered, "I had some suspicions about my body and how I came to be. In a way, I was also confirming it."
"Should I be worried about you being a biological weapon, after all?"
He shook his head. "No, it's not that. Don't worry."
That earned an audible scoff. "You have no right to tell me not to be worried, given I'm slowly starting to understand what kind of person you are."
Continuing upstairs, Emiya soon came to realize that practically everyone was there. From Lala, Haruna, Ren, Nana, Momo, and Rito. He looked at the clock before realizing that it was already very early in the morning the next day, time for them to go to school. He walked over to Rito and gently shook his shoulder.
"Rito, time to get up."
The brown-haired boy's eyes snapped open, "Nii-san!" Shouted the boy before scrambling off the floor and rushing over to hug him. The others, roused by the commotion, also woke up and shouted his name before jumping towards Emiya to hug him as well.
"O-Oi! Not everyone at the same time! I'm fine, just give me a second-" Emiya started, only to be cut off as they all piled onto him at once.
"Emiya!"
"You're alive!"
"Don't scare us like that!"
"Wait, hold on...!" His voice came out muffled under the weight of them.
By the time they finally pulled back enough for him to breathe, Lala threw her arms around him again, even tighter than before.
"Lala!" he choked out. "Too tight, seriously, calm down!"
"I'm just happy you're okay!" she said, squeezing him without letting go.
"I get that, but at this rate..." he struggled to get the words out, "I'm going to die from suffocation instead!"
"Ah, sorry!" she said, loosening her grip just a little, though she still refused to let go completely.
"That's not much better," he muttered, trying to catch his breath.
Rito then fired off a barrage of questions. "How are you? Are you good? Are you still hurt?"
"It's fine," he waved his hand dismissively. "It was mostly something that would have healed with time. Don't worry about it. Now, you should all get going to school, it's almost time."
"That's what you say after waking up from your injuries? How could I go to school after what happened?" Rito asked, his voice filled with concern.
"As I said, it's fine. I'll be joining you all in a few moments as well." He tapped his stomach to showcase that he was feeling fine and back to normal. Rito and the others let out a sigh of relief.
"We were so worried about you," Rito admitted. "Mikado-sensei was not letting us see you until she was done treating you. How bad were the injuries?"
Hoh, so she kept the extent of his wounds a secret after all, even to them. He appreciated the decision to see the injury could have potentially caused the group to hold some possible resentment towards Yami. Though unlikely, given they would understand that she was not in control, best not to take that risk. "There were just a few cuts and bruises here and there. And exhaustion and well from using my magic for a bit too much, which made me pass out. Nothing unusual."
Rito looked uncertain. "Are you truly okay?"
"Don't make me repeat myself. Now go on, you'll be late otherwise, and I don't want people to get any strange ideas if so many of you get absent on a single day, especially not the Anti Emiya alliance."
"If you say so..." With that, Rito finally left with the others. Haruna hesitated at first before walking over to him and bowing.
"I-I'm sorry, hitting yo-ouch!" Her words ended as soon as he flicked her forehead. "Why!?"
"Because I'm going to get tired of all of you coming to me and apologizing when we all know it has nothing to do with you. The one behind this is gone, so why be hung up on that? Besides, you really did showcase just how much of a superhuman you were back then; those punches were ridiculous. Are you sure you're human?"
"You... fine," Haruna backed off while massaging her forehead. "We'll talk more about this later. My parents keep calling me, and I forgot to tell them yesterday that I wasn't going to return home."
"Hopefully they don't start assuming something weird."
"You wouldn't know, but they are pretty weird." She said that before he could mention her, he already knew them and left. Nearly everyone had finally left, except for Ren and Lala, who remained behind. As the door closed, Emiya looked at Lala.
"Thanks for not giving my brother the details."
"It's fine," Lala said with a bright smile. "He would have told me to spare them such details as well. I also told Mikan that it wasn't anything dangerous and you were just very tired."
"Mikan was here?"
"For a bit," Lala confirmed. "Before Mikado-sensei managed to calm her down and then dropped her off at school."
"That's good," he said, turning his attention towards the white-haired boy who was now kneeling in front of him. "What are you doing?"
The scene shifted to Ren smacking his forehead on the ground. "Please forgive me!" he shouted loudly. "It was my fault that all of this even happened! I will never forgive myself for what just happened!"
Emiya raised an eyebrow. "Hah, not again. It's very much not your fault, nor Run's. The matter with Yami's transformation had nothing to do with Azenda. It was just extremely bad timing and bad luck in the end." He then asked, "How is Run doing?"
"Both of us were fine," Ren answered. "We had no injuries, aside from some bruises on me."
"I tried to hold back, but under Azenda's control, you were making it hard for me to hold back much with my punches."
Ren looked at him with uncertainty. "I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult." But then he smacked his head against the floor again. "Thank you, and sorry for everything I did!"
Ryouko's voice came from the kitchen. "Ren, please don't smack your head against the floor of my house again. I don't want to replace the wood again."
Emiya told him to join the rest back at school and to leave this matter behind.
"I absolutely cannot do that!" Ren insisted. "I need to atone for my mistake and seek forgiveness."
"I forgive you."
"That does not count!" Ren declared. "I am a man and will not take such an easy way out! I have to earn it!"
The former Servant of the Bow sighed as he massaged his forehead. "Fine, I'll think of something, but not now. I still need to deal with other matters."
Ren accepted this, but hesitated. "Run also wants to talk to you, um... privately. Ah, she says that it isn't her trying to do something weird; she genuinely feels bad."
Emiya scratched the back of his head. "Sure, but if she heard our conversation, then she should know that I will say the same thing as I told you. It's none of your fault, and you should just move on." He then told Ren, "Let's continue this conversation another time. I'll talk to Run then."
Ren accepted before leaving, as well, only leaving Lala, Emiya, and Ryouko inside the house, "Where is Azenda?"
"She was detained and arrested by Zastin," Ryouko answered.
Emiya looked at her in disbelief. "Zastin was able to capture her? Were we thinking about the same Zastin?"
Ryouko laughed. "Yes, the same one. And no, there was no fight. She actually did not even offer any resistance and just let herself be captured."
This surprised Emiya. He had not expected that woman to just give herself in so easily. He had even expected her to take the moment of their attention being on Yami to leave and escape the planet. "Hopefully, she is not going to continue to go after me."
"Are you afraid that she gave herself in just so she'll have more opportunity to kill you in the future?" She asked.
"It is a possibility that I could not ignore."
"Don't worry," Ryouko said. "Zastin said he was also worried about the same thing. It's only a matter of time before she is sent off-planet to be kept detained somewhere else. Alright, I'll be back in a few seconds. You two stay put or leave if you want. I've already done enough check-ups for the day."
Lala continued staying next to him as he sat on the sofa, and she did the same. She raised his shirt and traced the scar tissue on his stomach. "It looks quite painful."
"Despite its appearance, it doesn't hurt. She did a wonderful job."
Lala leaned her head against his shoulder. "Even though I trusted you back then, it would be a lie to say that I did not grow nervous about seeing what had happened."
"I know how it looked," he said with a small smile on his face. "Thanks for not whipping out some of your other inventions and trying to sell registration."
Lala giggled. "I was about to do so, but I had to hold myself back a lot."
Out of curiosity, he asked what she was about to do. She got excited and took out a watch, showing it to him. "It's an invention I was working on! I call it 'Perfect-Peace Body-Backup-Band-kun'!"
"The name sounds... better, I suppose. I might regret asking this, but I'll do so anyway. What's its purpose?"
"It's a device that will create a complete copy of its wearer at one point and save it," Lala explained enthusiastically. "When you are injured, you load that copy back to your original self and boom! You are no longer injured!"
He listened in pure disbelief at how ridiculous that sounded. He looked back and forth between the girl and the device. "There has to be a catch."
Lala looked contrite, looking visibly a bit shy to give him the details, which already raised several red flags in his mind. "It's not perfect. It might end up creating a second consciousness, or a third or fourth, with each reload."
There was a moment where Emiya looked down at her with a dry face while she sat there with a silly smile. He slowly took the device from her hand and put it in his pocket. "I will destroy this."
Lala pouted. "I only had a few hours to perfect it! Give me a few days, and I will be able to do it!"
"Why can't you just make a device that heals the user in a normal way?"
"Because it's too boring!" Lala declared, an answer he should have seen coming from a mile away at this point.
Detering her thoughts from going down that path, the door suddenly opened. Yami stood there with Ryouko behind her. The nurse tapped her shoulders and gestured for her to go towards them. Looking at him nervously, "Glad to have you back, Yami." He added, cutting her off from whatever was about to come out of her mouth.
"Y-Yes... thanks for having me," Yami hesitated a bit but managed to do so, rising in front of them before bowing deeply. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I have caused you."
Lala, on the other hand, just screamed
"Yami!" happily and hugged the girl. "As long as you're back, there's nothing to apologize for!"
"No, I should. Because of my actions, people would have died." She took a deep breath. "I will go to school and ask for everyone's forgiveness as well. And also give them apology gifts."
This made Lala excited. "Yay! Gifts!" She grabbed Yami's arm. "We should go shopping together and choose the gifts together!"
Yami hesitated but then agreed. She stopped before looking at Emiya and heading towards him, hugging him again, a gesture which he returned while lightly tapping her back. "Thank you for everything," she said. "I'll try my best from now on."
"Does this mean you weren't trying your best before?" Emiya joked.
This made her panic a bit. "I was also trying my best before! But now I'll do extra effort and give two hundred percent of my effort!"
Only moments like these would he reminded of how young she truly was. The way she said it looked cute, like a young child trying to prove herself. It also reminded him of Mikan in the past. He nodded and said, "Good," before sending them off.
Now inside the house, it was only he and Ryouko. The latter brought two cups of coffee, one for him and one for her. "I'm surprised how easily you handled the situation. For someone who got stabbed, I waited to see more drama and shouting. But everyone went about their day as if it were the most normal thing."
"Partially thanks to you, Lala, and Yami for hiding the extent of my wounds. Also, you already drank your previous one?" he asked.
"I didn't get a good night's sleep, given that I had to watch over you. So I need more energy not to fall asleep at work today."
Emiya accepted the coffee and took a sip. "You should just take a vacation."
"After the stunt you pulled, I'm afraid that you might end up losing one of his limbs or having his heart carved out the next time I arrive to rescue you," Ryouko said. "So, best I stay around you for longer than usual."
"Don't be dramatic. If that were to happen, then I can try to keep myself alive long enough for you to arrive and save my life," he said cheekily.
The woman sent him a stink eye while pouting. "You are the only one who would use my capabilities to treat others as a tool to go into more dangerous fights."
"I was just joking. I always try to avoid fighting altogether and opt for a more peaceful outcome."
Ryouko rolled her eyes. "Your track record is really bad for you to say such a thing."
"There were some cases where I had no choice," he said. "And I felt like it would set a good example. Azenda, for instance. I did not kill her and even stopped Yami from doing so. Surely that would count for something?"
"Fine, I'll give you that one. But don't you milk it for future arguments."
"I'll keep that in mind."
After a few moments, she asked him, "Do you feel any different physically? Or anything abnormal like hallucinations, stiffness, any sort of sharp pain, or even had any weird dreams?"
The question caught him off guard. "Weird dreams?" he repeated, giving it genuine thought before shaking his head. "Nothing I can remember. One moment I was losing consciousness in the car, and the next I was already in the tube with you pulling me out."
Ryouko sighed in relief. "Good, nothing bad happened then."
This made Emiya grow curious. "What really happened that you did not mention in front of the others?"
Ryouko took a sip of her coffee while pinching the bridge of her nose. "It turns out that Golden Darkness has several more abilities that even she was not aware of; even Tearju didn't know about them."
"Yes, the portal opening ability sure was quite fascinating and unexpected," he answered. "If I wasn't careful, she would have gotten me."
But Ryouko shook her head. "While yes, it is a dangerous power in the wrong hands, but it's not the one I'm talking about." She proceeded to point at his stomach. "More happened down there aside from you becoming Frankenstein's monster and a partial biological weapon by stitching yourself up. Golden Darkness was actually trying to merge with you."
This caught Emiya by pure surprise. He opened his eyes in disbelief. "What do you mean by that?"
"Merging, assimilation, fusing, whatever way you prefer to hear it," Ryouko answered while finishing her second cup and contemplating going for a third refill. "But there were signs of such a thing happening. I'm not sure if Golden Darkness did it intentionally or unintentionally, and I'm also certain that Yami herself is not aware of it."
"Why would she even try to do that?" Emiya asked.
Ryouko shrugged her shoulders. "The answer is pretty obvious. It was to become one with you so that she could protect you in her own twisted way forever. Kind of romantic, right?"
"You have a strange concept of romance," Emiya said, touching his stomach and concentrating deeply. He did a brief use of structural analysis on himself. "Nothing is out of the ordinary as far as I can see. My hair is still the same, and I don't seem to be able to turn my limbs into weapons?" As he said that, Ryouko gave him a dry stare.
He responded by saying, "Again, the sword stitching thing was there long before the battle against Yami."
"Good," Ryouko said, leaning back against the couch, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "Because you're still human. Or close enough to one that it doesn't make much difference."
"I am human..."
"I'll take that with a grain of salt." She glanced at him, then added, "Don't pull another stunt like that again, or even something more ridiculous like suddenly turning your hair into swords or sprouting wings for all I know. Do that for a decade, and I'll be convinced you're a human."
"Oi," he exclaimed, but she ignored him and continued.
"A human body having any traces of matter from a biological weapon like Yami, Mea, or even Nemesis would be catastrophic. And rather than causing health problems or other complications, it might even straight up just kill them on the spot."
"Then what's the point of assimilation or merge or whatever you're talking about then?" Emiya asked. "Was she trying to steal my abilities? But that doesn't make sense given what her goal was from the beginning."
"It's mostly a theory," Ryouko said. "And Tearju would know more about it. But in my opinion, it might be something about Golden Darkness trying to absorb your consciousness into hers."
"Like my soul?"
Ryouko shrugged. "I guess you can put it like that. If the soul is a tangible concept that can be altered with Golden Darkness's ability, then perhaps."
"Rather than you being worried about me, you should be even more worried about Yami then," he added. "You should have done a checkup on her."
This got her to be more confused. "Why?"
Emiya raised his hands and raised one finger.
"First of all, as you know, my body is not exactly normal like that of a human, but I am genuinely human. But that difference could have different effects than you are imagining on Yami. Second of all, my soul is where my magecraft resides. If even a tiny bit of that finds its way into Yami, then it might not go well and start harming her."
"Are you afraid that it might end up damaging her mind?" She asked.
Emiya scratched his head. "I'm not sure how exactly the damage would be, given that Yami is not human, but yes, that is also one problem that could arise. I saw something similar happen to Mea, and I do not want Yami to go through the same thing."
Ryouko's eyes widened. "What!? With Mea?" It was only then that Emiya realized he had not told her about what happened with the red-headed girl when she reached into his memories and the consequences. Thus, he quickly gave her a brief summary while omitting the finer details like his confrontation with Nemesis, just saying that the latter came over to pick up the unconscious girl. The more he said, the more shocked she became.
"That's why Mea is so scared of you. But no, thankfully, Yami did not display such a problem."
"Secondly," Emiya continued, "if somehow my magecraft were to activate while the merging is happening, that the sword stitching thing you saw happening within my guts to stop the bleeding would happen to her as well, but possibly in a much more uncontrolled fashion."
"What do you mean exactly by uncontrolled?"
"By uncontrolled, I mean by having literal full-sized swords pierce through her body from the inside out like a porcupine," Emiya explained, referring to certain memories that he had of Emiya Shirou experiencing the same thing on very rare occasions. Given that the last time he saw him was before giving the boy his arm, he figured something similar must have happened to him. If he managed not to get overwhelmed by his arm, then things would hopefully work out. "Rather than healing it, it just kills her from the inside. I'm not aware of what degree a being like Yami needs to be injured in order to die, but I'm pretty sure that having dozens, if not hundreds, swords sprouting out like a damn flower would be fatal to anyone who is not immortal or has a ridiculous regenerative factor."
Ryouko just looked at him with a strange gaze. "What the hell is wrong with your body?" She then looked down at her own stomach. "I won't have swords sprouting as well while I'm going about my day, will I?"
"Pft! Cough! Cough! W-What!?"
This made Emiya spit his coffee in the air and start coughing relentlessly to the point he could barely breathe. He looked at her in disbelief, only to see her holding back her giggles.
"Fufufu~! Just look at that face, so adorable~! I'm just joking. I'm just wondering if the swords can sprout out of things other than just your blood. And that I'm not pregnant. Even though I don't remember much, it would be best to be careful, right?"
"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Emiya shouted. "And no, it doesn't work like that!"
"Oh? And how would you know?" The woman countered, raising an eyebrow. "Have you seen it happen with another partner, maybe? You can just heal yourself by stabbing your heart with those swords, and then I can revive you."
That finally made him stop arguing. He sat back down with a tired expression. "You will be the death of me."
"I deserve a bit of revenge after the stunt you pulled."
She wasn't going to let him live that one down anytime soon, was she? Emiya let out a sigh before rubbing his forehead. "I said I'm sorry."
"Saying sorry isn't enough." The school nurse folded her arms, clearly not satisfied with his apology. "In the future, I want to have a proper date with you."
He stared at her for a moment before finally giving in. "Fine. I suppose it's the least I can do."
The playful exchange ended there as his expression became considerably more serious. "Where is Mea?"
Ryouko shook her head, her own expression becoming more thoughtful. "I didn't see her, nor was I able to get in contact with her."
...
After that, both of them headed to school in her car. On the way there, Ryouko gave him an exasperated look from behind the wheel. "You just got stabbed in the guts not even twenty-four hours ago, and yet you insist on going to school. Usually, people would take a week-long vacation after something like that."
"I'm feeling fine," He replied calmly, from the passenger seat. Appreciating her concern but really, there was no need for it. "Besides, staying at home all day would get boring. I can only clean the kitchen and do the chores so many times. Lala's invention has made things both easier for me and very convenient. I can now clean up the whole house in less than an hour."
"You almost sound disappointed that you can't spend more time cleaning."
"Who knows?"
Ryouko could only shake her head at that as they pulled into the school grounds. He stepped out of the car and immediately spotted Lala and Yami, who had already returned from their shopping trip. The two girls had apparently decided to distribute several small gift bags to the students, with Yami repeatedly bowing and apologizing to anyone who approached her for the commotion she had caused. Most of the students receiving the gifts did not even seem to know what she had done, but that hardly stopped them from accepting the presents with smiles. The boys in particular looked as though they had just received Valentine's Day chocolate from the girl they had been secretly hoping would confess to them. Emiya watched the scene for a moment before continuing toward his class, only to notice Haruna standing near the school entrance and talking nervously with two adults who looked strangely familiar.
Curiosity got the better of him, so he walked over while keeping his distance and caught pieces of the conversation. The two adults had apparently been questioning Haruna about where she had been, why she had not answered her phone, and how worried they had become after failing to contact her. Nothing about the conversation sounded particularly serious, but the girl's nervous expression suggested she would have preferred to deal with the situation without an audience. That became even more obvious when she finally noticed Emiya approaching and somehow looked even more uncomfortable. Unfortunately for her, the two adults noticed him at the same time.
The woman stared at him for a moment before recognition suddenly appeared in her eyes. "Is it really you, Shirou?"
A closer look finally connected the faces with the memories. "It's been a while. Neither of you has changed a bit."
Sairenji Fuyuhiko and Sairenji Natsumi. Haruna's parents.
"Hey there, kiddo! We may not have changed, but you sure did!" Fuyuhiko laughed, looking him up and down with open surprise. "It's been so many months! You've grown so much that we can barely recognize you anymore!"
His wife smiled in agreement. "You've gotten taller too. You look completely different from the little boy we remember."
"Speaking of that, you must have a girlfriend by now," Fuyuhiko added, giving him an amused look before glancing toward his daughter. "Is it Haruna? If so, you've got my approval!"
"P-PLEASE STOP, DAD!" Haruna nearly jumped out of her skin. "You're making a scene! And stop asking such embarrassing questions!"
"What's there to be embarrassed about? Little Shirou won't mind."
Little Shirou. Hah.
The nickname alone nearly made him wince.
Haruna looked between him and her parents, clearly struggling to understand how the three of them could possibly know each other. "E-Eh? Hold on, you... How in the world did you two even meet him?"
"Your big sister introduced us," Natsumi explained.
Haruna's eyes widened. "Wait, what? Akiho!? When!?"
"Your sister used to spend time with him pretty often," her father continued, treating the revelation like the most ordinary thing in the world. "She even brought him over for dinner once or twice. You usually had sleepovers at your friend's house whenever that happened, so you never saw him. Terrible timing on your part, really. That's how we got to know him. You were always busy going with your friends for sleepovers and that one time you got too sick to come over."
"I didn't know any of that..."
"You really had no idea?"
"Of course I didn't know!" Haruna threw her hands up in frustration. "How would I know if nobody ever told me?"
Both parents exchanged a glance before shrugging. "We thought Akiho or Emiya had already mentioned it."
"Well, they didn't."
Fuyuhiko apparently decided that enough time had passed since the reunion and immediately moved on to his next idea. "In that case, Emiya-kun should come over to the house tonight with his brother and sister. We can have dinner together, catch up properly, and share some stories. It'll be nice to see everyone again."
Haruna's expression changed so quickly that Emiya almost felt sorry for her. "W-Wait, Dad, you don't have to invite them today. Emiya isn't exactly in the best condition right now, so maybe another time would be better..."
That immediately caught both parents' attention. They turned toward him, their earlier amusement replaced by concern, and Natsumi stepped closer to check his forehead with the back of her hand. "Do you have a fever? Did you get hurt?"
Emiya gently moved her hand away. "No, it's nothing like that. Haruna is just worrying about a small fall I had recently. It's already healed, and I've recovered."
The explanation seemed to relieve them both. Fuyuhiko's shoulders relaxed while Natsumi gave him another concerned look before finally accepting the answer.
"Then sure, I'll accept the invitation."
A family dinner could at least give Rito an opportunity to spend more time with Haruna, and having him meet her parents could not hurt either. Things between those two had been moving at a frustratingly slow pace, so perhaps this could give them the little push they needed. Knowing Rito, Haruna's parents would probably get along with him without much trouble.
"Wait, E-Emiya..."
Haruna tried to protest again, clearly worried that he might be pushing himself too hard, but he stopped her before she could finish. "It's fine. Both you and everyone else need to stop treating me like a fragile vase. I've been through worse. Besides, Ryouko already told you I'm fine, right?"
That left her looking uncertain for a moment before she finally gave in. "Fine, if you say so."
Fuyuhiko immediately clapped his hands together, looking far too pleased with how easily the evening had come together. "Great! Then we'll have the best family dinner tonight! Emiya-kun, you're cooking!"
At least he had found something to pass the time.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Taimanin with 3, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.