Fate: The Emiya Family Quest

[Random Tale]

Year 8: Children (Part 2)

Focuses for Hayate: (Choose 6)

Spoiler: Hayate's Focuses

[X] Hayate: Anime
[X] Hayate: Art
[X] Hayate: Community Connections
[X] Hayate: Cooking
[X] Hayate: Guns
[X] Hayate: Kyudo (Archery)
[X] Hayate: Manga
[X] Hayate: Music (Write-In Instrument, Default Vocal if no write-in)
[X] Hayate: Stealth
[X] Hayate: Studying (Magecraft (Knowledge Only))
[X] Hayate: Studying (General Moonlit World)
[X] Hayate: Studying (Mundane)
-[X] Hayate: Arithmetic
-[X] Hayate: Classical Mythology
-[X] Hayate: English Language
-[X] Hayate: Japanese History
-[X] Hayate: Japanese Language
[X] Hayate: Studying (Underworld Knowledge)
[X] Hayate: (Write-In)

Remember: You can choose a single focus for anyone multiple times; just put a (2) or (3) next to the repeated choice. Note that this has no benefit if the related skill is maxed.
Prefered Format (so I can count with the tally system):
[o] Hayate: Stealth
[o] Hayate: Stealth (2)
Etc...

Kuro's Focues (Choose 3):

Spoiler: Kuro's Focuses

[X] Kuro: Anime
[X] Kuro: Art
[X] Kuro: Community Connections
[X] Kuro: Cooking
[X] Kuro: Guns
[X] Kuro: Kendo
[X] Kuro: Kyudo (Archery)
[X] Kuro: Music (Write-In Instrument, Default Vocal if no write-in)
[X] Kuro: Physical Education
[X] Kuro: Stealth
[X] Kuro: Studying (Magecraft)
[X] Kuro: Studying (General Moonlit World)
[X] Kuro: Studying (Mundane)
-[X] Kuro: Arithmetic
-[X] Kuro: Classical Mythology
-[X] Kuro: English Language
-[X] Kuro: Japanese History
-[X] Kuro: Japanese Language
-[X] Kuro: Science (Write-In Field)
[X] Kuro: Studying (Underworld Knowledge)
[X] Kuro: (Write-In)

Kuro's Event (Choose 1)

Spoiler: Kuro's Event

[X] (Kuro) ...was dragged by a girl into was very curious about the Moonlit World into a group she called the SOS Brigade. Kuro spent her time trying to make sure she didn't find the wrong things that would get her killed.
[X] (Kuro) ...met with the magus heir of one of the Yggdmillennia families and stuck with him throughout the year.
[X] (Kuro) ...encountered an ordinary-seeming boy from an ordinary family who seemed to rapidly take new events of the Moonlit World in stride.
[X] (Kuro) ...got along with a boy who unknowingly seemed to be the center of attention for three Yggdmillennia families due to having a distant bloodline with a dragon.
[X] (Kuro) ...encountered an ordinary boy who stopped a group of bullies from picking on her due to her magus heritage.
[X] (Kuro) ...met with an ordinary girl whose only claim to influence was her rich parents from before you exposed the Moonlit World.
[X] (Kuro) ...got along with an ordinary girl whose ordinary family was struggling to make do with the changes that the exposure of the Moonlit World has wrought.
[X] (Kuro) ...tried to help a girl whose adoptive family transfered over from Italy on behalf of the Church.

Miyu's Focuses (Choose 3):

Spoiler: Miyu's Focuses

[X] Miyu: Anime
[X] Miyu: Art
[X] Miyu: Community Connections
[X] Miyu: Cooking
[X] Miyu: Guns
[X] Miyu: Kendo
[X] Miyu: Kyudo (Archery)
[X] Miyu: Music (Write-In Instrument, Default Vocal if no write-in)
[X] Miyu: Physical Education
[X] Miyu: Stealth
[X] Miyu: Studying (Magecraft)
[X] Miyu: Studying (General Moonlit World)
[X] Miyu: Studying (Mundane)
-[X] Miyu: Arithmetic
-[X] Miyu: Classical Mythology
-[X] Miyu: English Language
-[X] Miyu: Japanese History
-[X] Miyu: Japanese Language
-[X] Miyu: Physics
-[X] Miyu: Science (Write-In Field)
[X] Miyu: Studying (Underworld Knowledge)
[X] Miyu: (Write-In)

Miyu's Event (Choose 1)

Spoiler: Miyu's Event

[X] (Miyu) ...was dragged by a girl into was very curious about the Moonlit World into a group she called the SOS Brigade. Miyu spent her time trying to make sure she didn't find the wrong things that would get her killed.
[X] (Miyu) ...formed a reading group with the daughter of a pair of Mid-Childa immigrants.
[X] (Miyu) ...encountered an ordinary-seeming boy from an ordinary family who seemed to rapidly take new events of the Moonlit World in stride.
[X] (Miyu) ...got along with a boy who unknowingly seemed to be the center of attention for three Yggdmillennia families due to having a distant bloodline with a dragon.
[X] (Miyu) ...encountered an ordinary boy who stopped a group of bullies from picking on her due to her magus heritage.
[X] (Miyu) ...met with an ordinary girl whose only claim to influence was her rich parents from before you exposed the Moonlit World.
[X] (Miyu) ...got along with an ordinary girl whose ordinary family was struggling to make do with the changes that the exposure of the Moonlit World has wrought.
[X] (Miyu) ...took to playing a card game with a small boy who hasn't had a haircut in his life.

Spoiler: OOC

From other series, these encounters are, but stories shattered, stories changed, and age reduced to the age of the children. One can change the stories they may run into, if they even had a chance of occuring in this changed world, perhaps even stop them if you so choose.

Also, Miya is NOT the one who is seeking to quit MBI; she quit years ago, and is running an Inn in Shin-Tokyo.

 

[Random Tale]

Interlude: Within the Grail

We are running out of time.

Those homunculi were broken down, absorbed into our power, but more and more people are drawing attention to us. To this Grail that is our womb.

We will only have one last shot in this Grail. One last chance in Fuyuki, before we use the leylines to travel to Snowfield. We cannot let this last chance to go to waste.

Hmph.

Five candidates chosen so far. Can they all survive to the point where they can call their Servants from us?

No matter.

We will make the most of this last chance, and tip the odds in our favor.

Blood and shade and steel.
Swords for the foundation and the Grand Duke of Contracts.
I am the master and the ancestor.
A wall of shadow for the descending winds.
Seven will fall and out will come the king.
Let the three-forked road to the kingdom cycle.

Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill.
Six times for each repetition.
Just release the final time.

Bidayatan.

I renounce.

This sword shall be under my command, the Grail's fate shall be determined by this sword.
Follow the call of the Holy Grail. If thou wouldst obey this mind and this reason, then answer our call.

Make an oath here.
I am the one who is the evil of all the world.
I am the one who will destroy the virtue of all the world.

Thou art Seven Sages bound by Three Shining Triangles.
Emerge from the ring of control, destroyer of the balance!​

 

[Random Tale]

Year 8: In Mitakihara

Oriko Mikuni warily eyed Kyubey, its tail swishing back in forth behind it in the windowsill. A single wish, a way to make a difference in the world…

But Oriko was weary of the cost. If she accepted Kyubey's deal, she would become a magi, and, well, it was because of a couple magi that she was in this situation in the first place. Her father had been taking bribes from magi in Japan in return for pressing for laws that did not interfere with magi too badly. When Emiya had revealed the existence of the Moonlit World, magi were the ones that got the most backlash of the reveal.

Utterly lacking in morals, they were almost universally feared for what they could do, and thus most non-magi did their best to exclude them from their lives on top of trying to make them follow laws and morals that the rest of the world lived by. Those that did interact with magi willingly and peacefully were often subject to the same exclusion, with few exceptions.

Oriko's father, when his ties to magi were discovered, was not one of those exceptions. When his connections were discovered, his fellow congressmen barely interacted with him and he was unable to get anything done in the Diet. It was only a couple months ago that he killed himself in grief.

Oriko had accepted that she'd die alone in what remained of her father's home. She had nothing left to live for; once her father's connections were discovered, she suffered the same exclusion as well, on top of bullying in her class.

Still… this was a chance for her to be better. Even if the she lost her morals, and the bullying and exclusion became deserved, there was something she desperately wanted.

Oriko Mikuni, came Kyubey's childish voice in her head, what wish will your Soul Gem shine for?

She desperately looked towards Kyubey, and spoke.

"I wish for something to live for."

There was a flash of white light as Kyubey spoke in her head again. Your wish has reduced-

Oriko did not hear the rest of Kyubey's words. She was distracted by the vanishing of her sight.

A girl her age with pink hair, in a pink and white dress. A large monster looms over the Mitakihara as she draws her bow. She fires a single, shining arrow at it, tearing the monster to pieces. Then, the girl explodes, revealing another, larger monster trying to grasp the entire world.

Oriko gasped as her senses returned to her, seeing Kyubey still watching her with curiosity.

The girl. The girl with pink hair was going to try to save the city, but she'd doom the world in the process. She had to be stopped. Oriko would-

A black haired girl Oriko's age glared at her, a rifle pointed at Oriko at point blank range. The other girl glares at Oriko, before exploding in darkness. Another monster rose-

Fine. Kill the black haired gun-user first-

A being in a black dress fires a shot from a specialty pistol, striking Oriko. Her vision fades in pain as a woman in a large pink dress catches the man as he collapses dead, two monsters failing to-

Was someone going to defend-

A boy her age, wielding a black sword the size of his body with little trouble-

Any defenders of-

A girl in the sky, shooting a beam of pink to clear the way for a squad of Iskander's army led by a girl with blue-

Oriko shuddered as she forced herself to stop looking. The world was going to be threatened by that one girl, but with the number of defenders that she'd have, it would prove very much a fool's mission to try to kill her for the good of the world.

Perhaps if she tried to talk the defenders-

The sun is setting on a battlefield. The hill can barely be seen amid all the bodies and swords that surround it. Men, women, young, old, they all surround the hill with their weapons in their hands, surrounded in turn by swords. On the top of the hill are three men, separate from everyone else.

One of the men has blue hair, his bleeding body balanced on a red trident from a video game that Oriko was sure that she saw once. Another man didn't seem to have any visible wounds, but Oriko could tell from the way he lay there, weakly grasping the bottom of his staff as it fell forward away from him, that he was, like the other two men, also on his last legs. The third man, dressed in red, was the only one of the three that stood upright, but that was only because of the numerous swords sticking in and through his body keeping him that way.

Power, the man on the trident. "Power should not be gathered for its own sake."

Wisdom, the collapsed man. "Knowledge is useless if it is not used at all."

Courage, the impaled man. "There is nothing at the end of saving people."

Oriko shuddered as she returned to the present. The vision of the battlefield was of the farther future than she had to be concerned about.

She wasn't looking forward to getting herself killed. But if any of those four monsters appeared, everyone would be as good as dead.

She had to try…

---

"Mackenzie residence."

"…"

"Waver! Good to hear from you! How are you and Alex doing?"

"…"

"Really? This year? I thought Martha and I would be dead by the time you finally got started. What is prompting you to act now?"

"…"

"That Time-Space Group is not going to be happy. Not what's left of them."

"…"

"What does Emiya-san have to do with this?"

"…"

"He's coming here to Mitakihara?"

"…"

"Misaki City? I suppose Martha and I could go on a vacation for a couple months."

"…"

"Waver Velvet Mackenzie, you are letting a teenage girl command a Squad of Alex's army?"

"…"

"Short notice or not, letting Miki-san be in command of any group cannot be a good idea."

"…"

"Of course it's Alex's idea. And you do bring up a good point about Emiya-san's son."

"…"

"No, the Miki Squad cannot use this house as a base of operations while Martha and I are in Misaki. And I want to have a house for Martha and I to come back to once whatever Emiya-san is done in Mitakihara; I don't want to have a third house built within a decade time-frame."

"…"

"Waver… even if you are a magus, and even if you originally tricked your way into our lives, you are still our grandson. If you are happy with what you are doing, Martha and I will be happy for you."

"..."

"Oh, do you think you can have Miki's Squad pick up Bill's old scythe that he left you and you left us? It's just gathering dust here at our place."

"..."

"If you're certain that you're going to act this year, you might as well get it and use it yourself. Not that I'd expect you to need it."

---

They were ill.

Query: Why was the [immature grief supplier] in the area of the [potential] Kaname Madoka?

They were… [emotion: annoyed].

It was [luck] that they had stumbled onto Kaname Madoka's unexpectedly high potential in the first place. They had been pressing the [potential] for a [contract] for half a month now, and despite her caution, we almost succeeded. But the son of the [unrecorded contracted] Kiritsugu Emiya has approached her.

With the arrival of the [unrecorded contracted] Kiritsugu Emiya in the area, risks in trying to [contract] Kaname Madoka had grown to unacceptable heights. The risk that the [unrecorded contracted] exposes the [grief collection cycle] is too great; the energy costs to cover up such an exposure in this current climate are fluctuating too greatly for an accurate assessment.

We will retreat for the time being. The risks outweigh the benefits.

We will not [contract] any [potential] for the time being. We will not provoke the [unrecorded contracted]; we will wait for him to die before resuming [contracts] on [Earth].

In the meantime, we will see one of our [doctors] about this illness. We do not want to have it get worse, or have it interfere with [grief collection] when we resume.

Spoiler

This is going to be a big year, and not all of it is going to be occuring in Mitakihara.

Sorry the update is taking so long. I appear to have struck a wall, and when I've tried updating the index, something cuts out everything later than the sixth year. I hope that I can get an update to you within a week.

 

[Random Tale]

Year 8: Preparing for a Favor for Gretchen

The year started off as quietly as it could in the era of rapid change.

Maiya's criminal record with the remains of the Uminari Police force made it difficult for her to find a standard job, so she spent her time trying to solve a problem that was starting come up among the Mid-Childan mages more and more often, with the magi of Yggdmillenia voicing similar complaints in regard to Mid-Childan magic they were having a small problem with adapting.

Setting aside the First for a moment, if there was a mystery to create an ounce of gold every year, if one person used it, they'd get the ounce of gold to themselves. If two people used it, they'd each get half an ounce. If those people taught their friends and families, taught outsiders in exchange for goodwill, publicly taught it in schools where anyone with a passing interest could learn it…

…essentially, no one would be able to get any gold.

The world was now well aware of magecraft. You made sure of it a year and a half ago, revealing it in order for its main users to focus more on their own survival than killing you, your friends, and your family. This resulted in the TSAB and the refugees from Mid-Childa being brought into the open, when they were previously hidden in the shadows of the world. In order to limit complaints from their hosts, the Japanese government, the Mid-Childans offered their mystic codes and magecraft to almost everyone in Japan, going against magi teachings. Politicians, Self-Defense Force Soldiers, policemen, shopkeepers… as long as no one could speak a strong case as to why someone shouldn't learn about it, and the subject could reach the Mid-Childan teacher, the subject was taught.

The people of Mid-Childa had been raised with magic free and open, shown on streetcorners and taught in all public schools, even as required courses. One simply could not have gone far without magic on Mid-Childa; it was what their society had been built around. Though it had been restricted for a few years on Earth, once the magi were revealed, the seal was broken, and they returned as best as they could to their old ways, incorporating the locals as best as they could.

And now, they were paying for it.

Mysteries lost power as more people knew how they worked, and were able to recreate them. That was a well known law of magecraft. Considering how much traditional magi hoarded their secrets from outsiders, the decrease in power of their mysteries from being shared was generally not noticed. With Mid-Childan magecraft, on the other hand, being taught more and more, and even encouraged to teach and learn… the difference was becoming very noticed.

While Maiya tried to figure out how to run damage control, Irisviel turned towards something much more mundane, diving into drawing manga full time. To this end, she took on the task of fulfilling the request of the JSDF to continue Moonlit World: Thus the JSDF Fought There, and then starting on, with the willing help of Iskander, The King of Conquerors, speaking of Iskander's adventures when he was a human in ancient history. Maiya put her translating skills to the test, working alongside the two of them to keep translating the works into English.

In the meantime, you started making arrangements with Tohsaka about the Grief Seeds that she had. The teenager was not pleased with your reveal a couple of years ago, but she was broke, and you were gathering Yen to make her sit down and listen despite her dislike of you.

Between negotiation attempts, you spent some time trying to think on matters close to home. It was time to think about college and university for Illya, with Hayate close behind her. The simple fact of the matter was, you couldn't afford to send either of them to college at the moment. You were lucky to have the Fujimura Yakuza send Taiga to college before they collapsed, but that organization was now gone, and even if they were still around, it wasn't likely they would have extended the same courtesy they showed to Taiga to your other children.

You also spoke to Hayate, and, to her surprise, used some of your magic from the contract you made all those years ago to reverse some of the damage done to her. While you couldn't undo all the damage her body has done to itself, you were able to reverse the tearing of the muscles of her right arm, for the moment, possibly delaying her death by half a year. She was surprised with what you did, and has mixed feelings with the results. On one hand, it shows that you can delay her body's self-destruction, giving her a longer life; on the other, she's gotten used to her body slowly falling apart and made her peace with it.

Now, if only you had the Grief Seeds to fully restore her body… well, at least if your estimate with the Kaleido Knights is right, you should be able to get Tohsaka to part with some of the Grief Seeds her group has collected for a reasonable price by mid-June.

A new school year started in March, and so did the schooling of your youngest daughters, alongside resuming the schooling of the rest of your family. However, you were needed elsewhere, in Mitakihara, so you dropped a quick note to the Holy Grail War Master Yuuno that you were willing to lend Avalon to summon a Servant once it was time to summon and left the boy and your family in order to fulfill Gretchen's favor.

…Of course, when you got to Mitakihara, you received a call that Shirou had disappeared. A day after your arrival, you found him in Mitakihara, in the company of a girl who seemed to look like a family member of Gretchen's. Apparently, he had followed you in order to help out with being a hero, abandoning his schooling for the moment to do so. You should have sent him back… but, well, you were acting as a hero as well; for now, you won't be a hypocrite.

The girl he seemed to befriend was a Kaname Madoka, a long-time native of Mitakihara. She seemed kind, but seemed harassed by something beyond Shirou for the first couple of days you and your son were present in Mitakihara. Afterwards, she seemed more relieved, becoming a little happier. Then Nanoha learned that Shirou was in the city, and started dragging both him and his new friend to study sessions to make sure he didn't slip too far in his studies in his quest to be a hero.

As you focused your search to find the 'Homura Akemi' that Gretchen mentioned, the surprises kept coming into your presence. Iskander had heard that you were heading into Mitakihara this year, and with all your past activities, he wanted to have a hand in events as they played out. However, he had received word after you had left, so he wasn't able to scramble his entire growing army to head to the city. Instead, he sent recently promoted Captain Sayaka Miki and a small squad of men and women under her command to deal with whatever threat was going to occur and then give a message to the mayor of the city (with the girl's parents resigned to following her). The girl located Shirou and tried to send him back to Uminari, but his new mutual friend and his old friend finally got Miki to lay off the demands.

It was around this time you started being targeted by members of a Yakuza gang. Shirou and Madoka were also targeted, but the attackers quickly gave up after Nanoha used a Starlight Breaker on them and Sayaka led her squad went in the rubble afterwards to mop things up. You were able to handle yourself well, but it is only a matter of time before those Yakuza men hit something that you care about.

What is your next plan of action?
[X] Kiritsugu: Hunt down a few demons. You're down to your last Grief Seed, after all.
[X] Kiritsugu: Negotiate on getting the Grief Seeds from Tohsaka NOW, even at an increased cost.
[X] Kiritsugu: Focus on finding Homura Akemi. She's got to be in Mitakihara somewhere…
[X] Kiritsugu: Locate and take care of the source of the Yakuza gangs. Perhaps you can get rid of them before someone gets hurt.

As for Shirou…

[X] Shirou: Transfer him to Mitakihara Middle School for the year. It should decrease the amount of trouble he's in, and limit the loss of his studies. (-1 Resource Upkeep this year, don't get Shirou's event next year)
-[X] Put him up with the Takamachi's for the year. With the departure of two of their eldest, they have room for Shirou to board, and their youngest is friends with your son.
-[X] Put him up with the Kaname's for the year. You're reasonably sure you can convince Madoka to convince her parents to play host for the duration.
-[X] Put him up with the Miki's permanent residence for the year. Perhaps he can even convince Sayaka to back down from her current life.
-[o] Put him up in the hotel. Too expensive.
[X] Shirou: Just let Nanoha do her thing to Shirou, and return him to school back in Uminari when you both return later in the year. His education will suffer, but he won't suffer too much under her observation.

Spoiler: OOC

It's been nearly a year since I started this quest. Originally a quest to kill time and ideas while I tried to regather focus on Kaleidoscope Online, I quickly allowed it to grow out of hand. I've got a couple ideas on how I want to end it, and allow it to join the rare few completed quests on the site. If all goes well, I'll draw things to a close shortly after the next Holy Grail War, I believe.

A small word of warning: I will admit right now that if one of your current courses is maintained, several people in the story will not have a happy ending.

 

[Random Tale]

Year 8: Preparing Defenses

You spent most of your time in Mitakihara trying to locate additional demons for you to slay for Grief Seeds. You managed to slay half a dozen without costing too much of your ammunition, before you came across a tree-like demon with dozens of angel-like assistant demons that seemed to know exactly what you were going to do before you did it yourself. You decided that it was not worth the trouble to bring down that particular demon, and resumed your search for Akemi Homura elsewhere.

Your son manged to find her before you did, though.

The girl, twitchy with something, transferred into Shirou's and Nanoha's class. She stayed in the class for one week, even getting an invitation from Shirou and Nanoha for dinner at the Takamachi household. Her twitch kept increasing throughout the meal that Shirou and Mrs. Takamachi prepared, before suddenly screeching.

"What is going on with this world?!?"

After the last word, Akemi Homura and the entire remainder of the dinner disappeared, like they had never been there in the first place.

The girl stopped going to school as well, and when parents were failed to be contacted, school councilors sent in social workers to find out what happened to her. They went to her apartment (she was apparently living alone), and while she was gone, the workers found piles of unusual information in her place. No one from Mitakihara Middle School was able (or at least not willing) to share what that unusual information was, so you used some of your influence to gain access yourself.

Most of the papers that were confiscated from her apartment were of news articles regarding events about the exposed Moonlit World in the past couple of years. There were a few notes about yourself, several notes on how the TSAB shouldn't exist, and one article about how the 14th Dead Apostle Ancestor Valery Fernand Vandelstam had purchased the United States's State of Nevada to not only put a barrier between the Kingdom of Nix and the increasingly frustrated non-moonlit country, but also start building up the newly dubbed 'Vegas Kingdom'.

That was new news.

However, most of the important papers that caught your attention didn't relate to the news of the world, but what instead appeared to be a super-demon that was scheduled to appear in Mitakihara near the end of April. If the notes were right, then this 'Walpurgisnacht' would wipe out the city.

You managed to bring the notes to the attention of the Mayor and to the squad of Iskander's people that were in Mitakihara. Both groups took it with a grain a salt; Miki's squad had no weapons that would be good for fighting a demon in mid-air from the ground, and while you had proven helpful in the past, the Mayor was reluctant to call up a defense with only the word of a girl who was now considered missing and presumed dead.

Regardless, you kept searching for demons you could kill and avoided the tree-demon that seemed to know your every move, while Shirou remained in school to keep his education up. Until on April 29, 2001, the storm that the notes predicted was the forewarning of 'Walpurgisnacht' reached Mitakihara. Thanks to your influence, the Mayor of the city managed to evacuate most of the city and call in some of the Self-Defense Force to try to shoot the demon down, though Miki's squad had to join the evacuees due to the fact that none of them had any weapons capable of damaging the demon.

You had abilities that were good for smaller targets, but even with your best weapons, Walpurgisnacht was out of your league. You joined the Takamachi and Kaname families in evacuating to a bunker, and-

-wait, their daughter is missing. And your son is missing as well. Oh, where has your wayward son gone?

Spoiler: OOC

I LIVE!

I was gnawing at an update for this quest for a couple of months, and then I lost my computer (when you smell burning plastic, its time for you to retire the computer). Afterwards, I was stuck on limited time for computer use at the library, and wanted to focus on my studies. After my studies were done, I wanted to try to focus on reality, but that had little success (other than to severely challenge my worldviews). What drove me back here was the password problem a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to start posting again (though with limits based on my computer access at the library).

So now, here is this long overdue update that I owe you. Until I can be absolutely sure I have my issues under control, any updates you can expect here will be limited by the time I have at my libraries.

At any rate, I expect at least 3 more updates (Shirou, Villains (Zouken, Jail, Kyuubey), and Illya, and possibly an overview of the year) over at least three days (which may or may not be consecutive) from me before we turn to the next year and voting stage. I hope that I can see you soon with another update!

 

[Random Tale]

Year 8: Shirou Against Walpurgisnacht

The world was on fire.

Black fire jumped along the edge of the crater, with red, orange, and yellow flames leaping from peak to peak of the various objects in the crater. There were structures made of charcoal in the crater, with no sign of identification of what the buildings had been before they had been burned away. The ground was black, either from charcoal or the simple fact that the fires had burned the very ground itself to a crisp.

However, the most unusual detail of the scene was the fact that there were tens of swords impaled in the charred ground, all in pristine condition, unmarked by the flames leaping from hilt to hilt.

There were katanas. There were Chinese blades. There were Irish spears. There were European swords. All manner of pointed and sharp weaponry were scattered around the crater. Each was deadly, capable of powerful effects beyond merely slipping into an enemy's ribcage.

A reflection of Fuyuki from long ago, with the addition of swords from before and during the years that passed, this was Shirou's world. The Forge of the Living Sword.

Shirou quickly strode towards the lowest point, fire ignoring him as he moved forward to the four blades and sword-like object impaled in the ground. The big black sword in the center that stood taller than the teenage boy himself might have towered over a normal blade. In fact, two of the swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, seemed to have a paled presence because of the larger blade. However, Shirou knew that the true potential behind the twin Chinese swords were when they were used together; of course each of the two were weaker when used by themselves. Despite the size of Ghirahim, the large black blade actually paled in the presence of the other two 'swords'.

Ea, 'The Star of Creation that Splits Apart Heaven and Earth', wasn't actually a sword. The sword-like object had a series of parts that could turn like a drill once activated, and wasn't meant to be used in one-on-one fights. Ea was meant to end battles between armies, shatter the world to leave nothing behind. It was only through witnessing the weapon itself before Fuyuki was imprinted on Shirou's mind forever that even the pale reflection of the true Ea was even in this world. If Shirou ever pulled the 'blade' into reality, he would have to 'break' it in order to even approach the use of Ea that reduced only Fuyuki to rubble by holding back.

And considering how risky that was to himself, Shirou was hesitant to do so.

"Shirou," came a voice.

The teenage boy turned to see Nanoha standing amid the flames in her Barrier Jacket with a look of horror on her face. The swords were the most dangerous things in this world; despite its look, the fire did not harm anyone unless Shirou wanted it to.

"What is this place?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter," Shirou replied, quickly turning back to the swords he had approached, pulling the last of them from the ground.

"Shirou-" she began.

"There's a demon coming to destroy Mitakihara and everyone in it," Shirou replied. "I can make something to destroy it, but it will take me a minute to get it. Can I count on you to hold it off until then?"

The girl stared at Shirou for several seconds, before giving a defeated sigh and nodding with a determined look on her face. "You'll tell me later, even if I have to beat the answer out of you," she stated.

And with that, she vanished from the world, like she had never been there in the first place.

"Warrior," came the connection from the black sword. "Knows place. Like."

Shirou quickly flung a katana with his mind at Ghirahim. That particular sword was always eager for battle, even with the reduced intelligence from the original Ghirahim. It was only from youth at the time of observation that as much as he had was managed to be imprinted in his mind. The world may have been the Forge of the Living Sword, but it was not for Ghirahim that the world was named for.

Shirou grimaced at reviewing which particular katana was flung at the black blade to shut it up for the time being. Karasuba's bloodstained katana may have unnerved him, but even that history was preferred to Deadpool's katana. Murmurings of a 'fourth wall' that he would rather stay away from would run the risk of going through his head if he ever brought that copy into reality; he did not want to risk going insane as the original's wielder, copied skill or no.

The world quickly vanished, flames and swords disappearing as demonic laughter pounded into his head, Mitakihara appearing as Shirou returned his mind to the real world. Nanoha was already in the air, flying about as a speck in Shirou's eyes as she fired several Prana blasts at the demon. She dodged a couple missiles that flew past her to strike the monster, all the combined attacks just slowing the upside-down being down.

Shirou raised his right arm to the side, closed his eyes again, and, in his inner world, he reached for the sword that surpassed all others.

Judging the concept of creation.

The fire inside, as if it had been given gasoline, suddenly spiked in size.

Analyzing basic structure and components.

It roared and swelled, becoming ready to melt metal.

Duplicating the composition materials.

A forge needed fire to allow the manipulation of the shape of steel.

Imitating the skill of its making.

And what fire was better for the process, than the darkest flames that had once ran rampant across Fuyuki?

Sympathizing with the-

WARNING! Operation hazardous for user! Forcing abortion!

Shirou stumbled where he stood, prana running rampant in his body as the sealing device on his arm activated in an attempt to prevent him from tapping into the Jewel Seed in him to fuel the copying of her blade.

"Stops from fighting," the black sword mused in his head. "Stops from all strength. Break it. Now."

Gasping for breath, Shirou was forced to agree with the lesser copy of Ghirahim. In the past, Shirou had no reason to push as far as he could with his magecraft; projecting Noble Phantasms, and even tracing a few lesser ones, was as far as he needed to go. When it came to simple combat, the twin Chinese swords were for superior human-like opponents, the large black sword was for opponents whose skills did not surpass Shirou's own, and all the other weapons were on a case-by-case basis. There had been no need for him to try and bring out her sword.

There was now.

With a grunt of effort, Shirou pulled at the prana that was ravaging his muscles. Deciding that it was a lost cause, he turned his attention to what was left in his own supply. Quickly projecting Ghirahim in his off hand, Shirou swung the sword against his own skin and down on the sealing device that the TSAB had given him several years ago.

Both sword and bracelet shattered, the sword disappearing and the bracelet falling to the ground in pieces.

A large pink beam flew from Nanoha's tiny figure in the sky, blasting against the demon that threatened the city. When the light faded, the laughing demon seemed quieter, with its laughter somewhat restrained and its form showing the marks of many small scratches. Disheveled, with damage done, but still far from defeated, even with the missiles from the force resuming their merciless barrage.

Gritting his teeth, Shirou pulled at the sword in him again, this time, determined to make sure that he would be able to swing it. Ignoring the pain from the now exposed muscle on his arm, he began the process.

Judging the concept of creation.
Analyzing basic structure and components.
Duplicating the composition materials.
Imitating the skill of its making.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
Reproducing the accumulated years.
Excelling every manufacturing process.

"Trace..." Shirou grunted, "On!"

He could only see blood out of his right eye, and he had lost all feeling in his right arm, but something appeared in his grasp. Out of what he could see with his left eye, he could see a vague shape, but the details of the sword were hidden by a sheathe of wind. As quick as he could manage, Shirou grabbed the hilt with his left hand, to have some control of where he could point the hidden blade.

"Strike air!" he called, raising the sword to the sky.

With a roar of wind, and another burst of prana from the Jewel Seed, the sheathe covering the sword flew apart in a concentrated blast of air directly at the flying demon. The like met like, and the wind that was blowing around the demon ceased as air that had flown from the sword countered it.

The demon, the upside-down woman on a gear, completely stopped laughing, what passed for eyes staring at the little human holding the sword on top of a skyscraper.

It was a beautiful sword, forged by the fae for the woman who tried to be the perfect king. The Golden Sword of the Victorious, the Sword of Promised Victory... not everyone accurately knew the legend, but all knew its name...

Shirou mentally pulled at his rapidly dwindling Od for prana, pulled at the Mana surrounding him, and pulled at the Jewel Seed. He only possessed enough to make one attack with the sword, but it would be the finishing blow.

A beam of golden light gathered on himself and concentrated on the sword, becoming smaller and dwindling to nothing. When it disappeared completely, the sword was sheathed again, this time in the golden light. Shirou himself was covered in blue lightning as the Jewel Seed worked to provide enough prana for its bearer to use. Shouting the sword's name, Shirou used both hands to bring the sword down.

"EXCALIBUR!"

A beam of golden light as wide as a house and as long as a skyscraper was tall flew from where the sword returned to prana from the force of the attack. The light collided with the demon, the witch, tearing it apart as the demon gave an unearthly screech.

It didn't destroy the demon.

No, the demon survived, but screeched in pain even as the light faded. Over half of the woman over the gear was gone, revealing a large black pillar covered in red runes at its core.

After a few moments, missiles resumed their assault on the demon, this time striking the pillar to increased effect. The witch continued to screech in pain as it was forced to the ground, more bolts of pinked prana firing at the demon to join the missiles.

Another pink beam flew from Nanoha. Her most powerful attack typically drew a lot of mana from the area, as well as on her large number of magic circuits. Normally, she wouldn't be able to use Starlight Breaker twice in an area without allowing it to rest for a few days, but Excalibur's blast was made of prana itself, allowing Nanoha to use the aftereffects to manage one more strike.

And that last strike, that second Starlight Breaker, hitting the core of the demon, the 'Grief Seed' of 'Walpurgisnacht', was enough.

The remaining half of the crashed demon came apart, collapsing into a black mist as the red runes disappeared, leaving the pillar to fall to the ground on its side.

As the sun peaked out from behind the clouds, and Shirou's vision from his eye started to fade, he smiled.

Shirou had saved everyone in the city.

Spoiler

That took way too long for my liking, with multiple instances of having to extend this at my libraries, but its finally finished. I'll post the results at a later date.

 

[Random Tale]

Year 8: Mitakihara Aftermath

You could have done something. Something else, anything else. You could have sent him back to Uminari. Failing that, you could have stopped him from going out to fight the demon that was threatening Mitakihara.

But you didn't, and now your son had paid the cost.

Shirou wanted to be a hero, and went out and helped strike the deciding blow against the demon. For that, he was considered a hero by many of those in Mitakihara. He had used a weapon called Excalibur (surely he hadn't seen the original sword bearing the name well enough to trace it, right?) to strike the demon, exposing its core for the JSDF and Nanoha to finish off. But at a massive cost to himself.

Shirou's right eye was a bloody mess, the right side of his chest and his right arm were gone, and he was in a coma.

All the while with a happy smile on his face.

Nanoha, who had been the first to find Shirou after his attack, was distraught. It was only with timely medical aid, and young Kaname-san (who had chased after Shirou and Nanoha when they had disappeared) staunching the bleeding until paramedics could arrive, that Shirou still lives.

You managed to heal his eye, but you found out, to your dismay, that you couldn't heal what didn't exist. Avalon, given enough time, will eventually completely repair Shirou's chest and replace his missing arm, but it will take years, if not decades, for it to do so.

When he wakes up, the TSAB (or what was left of it by the end of the year) will be happy to craft him an artificial arm for him to use, but until then, he's one arm short.

You left Mitakihara after using your Soul Gem on the large black pillar, returning home to the rest of your family. Everyone was subdued, but life went on. Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillenia, the first in line to the head of the Yggdmillenia clan, often filled the presence of Shirou when she came over to help Illya with her Second Owner duties, dragging Hayate into the paperwork so that Illya didn't have to do as much. You never noticed it before, but Illya seemed to have held something against Hayate, something that your eldest has finally let go, with a new air of resignation of it being for the best.

Your other daughters, not bound down by the paperwork all the magi in Uminari were generating, started making friends with their classmates.

Between the time of their school starting and the summer break, Miyu befriended a girl going by the name of Yuki Nagato, the daughter of a pair of Mid-Childa immigrants who had decided to 'go native' before you had broken the masquerade. Together, the pair of them read a quarter of the picture books in the small library in their classroom, learning how to read quickly. The two of them might have finished the entire bookshelf, if it wasn't for the self-proclaimed 'future Dead Apostle Ancestor' Haruhi Suzumiya trying to recruit the pair of them for a little club she was trying to form. By the time autumn came around, Itsuki Koizumi Yggdmillenia (seventeenth in line for the head), Ryoko Asakura (the daughter of another pair of Mid-Childa immigrants), and a boy being called 'Kyon' (a local boy who had no connection to any Moonlit secrets) had been recruited to her little 'SOS Brigade', and managed to get their teacher to stop Haruhi from attempting to keep recruiting Miyu and Yuki.

That didn't stop Miyu from delving into bounded fields in her magecraft studies, in the hope that she'll find the one that Haruhi can't walk right through like tissue paper.

Kuro, being more open and active, compared to Miyu trying (and failing) to keep a low profile, was systematically excluded from many of her class activities by her classmates when her teacher didn't intervene. It wasn't until a boy calling himself Makoto Itou spoke up in her defense that she was accepted, abet grudgingly in most cases.

Of course, the world passed on around you. You managed to get the Grief Seeds from Tohsaka and perform some observations of events in Fuyuki, Irisviel's manga sold well (especially the one about Iskander), and Maiya managed to get the manga sold in English-speaking parts of the world. The state of affairs was starting to become the status quo; you play heroics, and the women earn and manage the money.

Between dodging a new Dead Apostle calling itself 'War' and bartering with Tohsaka, you managed to get a few glimpses yourself of the new Servant dancing (literally) in Fuyuki. Between your observations and Yggdmillenia's notes, you are reasonably sure that it is a new copy of your Servant in your first Grail War. To make matters more distressing, it is of a class you had never heard of before, 'Ruler', with two command seals on its arm. While you had held it back ages ago, whoever, or whatever, had summoned it this time was very compatible with it. Whatever will happen, signs are pointing to the fact that it is not going to be good.

Of course, the status quo of the world underwent several significant shifts in the last third of the year.

First, there was the 'Treaty of the Clock Tower' brokered in the first few days of September. The magi of the Clock Tower would peaceably leave London and their base for the army of the United Kingdom to take over the Clock Tower. The magi would go unmolested to the Kingdom of Nix, not attacking the army any further. The conflict had been growing too costly for both sides to continue willingly, with many men being lost of the army and the magi being unable to produce enough food.

Second, there was the September 11th incident, where four planes were highjacked, with the hijackers attempting to crash them into key installations of the United States. However, only two of them made it to their targets. One plane crashed into a US military complex and the other into a building of the World Trade Center. The third hijacking resulted in a duel between the highjacker and a pair of passenger magi, resulting in the plane exploding in mid-air, while the fourth hijacker was counter-hijacked by fifteen magi on his flight, killing the original hijacker and diverting the plane to Nix.

Third, the day after the US President declared that he would be commanding the US army to stop more terrorist incidents, targeting the cell that had attempted to weaken the US, Gilgamesh acted. Holding back, he used a Noble Phantasm to wipe out the cell, and the surrounding area, and declared that he was going to be rebuilding Uruk in the place. With an open invitation for those interested to move to New Uruk, it was almost unnoticed that Primate Murder limped away after being caught at the very edge of Gilgamesh's attack.

Fourth, with so many magi fleeing to their new kingdom, Nix claimed more territory from the United States throughout the last few months of the year, eventually claiming all the western coastal states of the United States as their territory. The Vegas Kingdom tried to keep hostilities down, but after the attack on the eastern US, the US military was boiling to take out their anger on someone. Eventually, the president declared a 'War on Thaumaturgy', pointing to magi as the primary cause for the state of the world.

With so much going on, it was almost unnoticed that Deadpool took up open residence in New York City. Although he had no inclination for leadership roles, his mere presence caused crime there to quickly plummet.

Finally, in the midst of the TSAB trying to barter the purchase of land from Japan, Iskander walked up to the negotiating table and requested the immediate surrender of both Japan and the TSAB for his army. Both of the diplomats refused, before one of Iskander's aides started spilling secret after dirty secret about the TSAB to the public.

Corruption, incompetence, and well-meaning mistakes infested the TSAB's ranks. The Jewel Seed incident which had introduced Earth to the TSAB was only the tip of the iceberg, with a former officer with a grudge sending only one boy with an Intelligent Device with capabilities that ran counter to the boy's, leaving the instigator to escape to torment them later. Most of the competent officers in the past had been pushed to try something on the Cross, reducing the competence of the TSAB further. The majority of those that weren't incompetent were corrupt in some way, like the Harlaown family promoting their son to high rank with less experience than other officers.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the Einzbern Fate Project. Originally designed by Precia Testarossa, the intent was to produce a clone with memories of the original (a fact that Fate, who had been created with the project, took with devastation). With homunculus magecraft notes taken from the rubble of the Einzbern family in Germany (before returning copies to the Emiya family), more powerful and shorter-lived clones were able to be produced, with their genetic structure able to be altered for certain traits. The result was a man called Jail Scaglietti, who was supposed to replace the scientists lost to the Cross and find a way to defeat it. Failing that, he was supposed to be the next 'lesser grail' for the next Grail War, which would be used to hopefully deal with the Cross once and for all.

Instead, he broke into one of the few remaining intact Mid-Childa holy grounds, stole the retrieved Shroud of the Saint King, and fled into space, with only a half-hearted (and failed) effort to recruit discrete help to deal with him. Now, who knows what the man is going to be up to.

The TSAB fractured, revealing that over half of its forces had already secretly changed allegiance from Mid-Childa to Iskander, with another quarter following suit once the dust settled. The last quarter were either killed in the confusion or quietly retired once given an escape (such as the Harlaowns).

Uminari fell under Iskander's control, with Mitakihara quickly following. The rest of Japan started to struggle to either join Iskander, or struggle against him honorably.

Just one more rapid change in today's world.

Now, if only you could get a peaceful year...

Spoiler: Results

Total Costs this Year: 14 Resources, 1 Time
Total Results: +4 Resources (JSDF Propaganda Manga), +4 Resources (Iskander Propaganda Manga), +3 Resources (English Translations), +3 Time (Purchase from Tohsaka), +1 Time (Mitakihara Hunting), +1 Time (Grief Pillar Cleaning)

Shirou is in a coma and is hospitalized. (Costs are being covered by a grateful Mitakihara local government.)
Homura has fled the timeline in confusion.
Oriko has 'witched out'.

Shirou: +2 Kendo, Coma, Reputation
Illyasviel: +1 Influence, +1 Classical Mythology
Hayate: +1 Magecraft (Theory Only), +1 Arithmetic, +1 Classical Mythology, +1 Moonlit Knowledge, +1 Biology, +1 Influence

Kuro: +2 Magecraft, +1 Physical Education (Temp Name), +1 Kendo
Miyu: +2 Magecraft (Bounded Field Specialization), +2 Arithmetic, +1 Physics

Taiga: +1 Influence, +1 Moonlit Knowledge

Kiritsugu: +1 Guns, +1 Magecraft, +1 Stealth
Irisivel: +2 Drawing
Maiya: +2 English Language

Shirou is best friends with Nanoha Takamachi (maxed?).
Shirou is loose friends with Madoka Kaname.
Shirou is acquaintances with Sayaka Miki.
Illyasviel is loose friends with Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillenia.
Hayate is loose friends with Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillenia.
Hayate Yagami and Illyasviel von Einzbern are acquaintances.
Kuro is loose friends with Makoto Itou.
Miyu is loose friends with Yuki Nagato.

Currencies: 4 Resources, 5 Time
Expected Upkeep: 8 Resources, 1 Time

Global News:
Treaty of the Clock Tower
Magi Kingdom of Nix Grows
USA Suffers 9/11 Attacks
-Declares War on Terror and Thaumaturgy
Gilgamesh Starts Rebuilding Uruk
-Kotomine Kirei Named Chief Spiritual Advisor
Iskander Starts World Conquest in Japan
TSAB Completely Abandons Mid-Childa to the Cross
Ice Caps Melting at Increased Rate
-Sea Levels Rising

Local News:
Shirou in Coma After Heroism
Exposed TSAB Scandals Cripple Force
Iskander Takes over Uminari and Mitakihara
-Non-Aligned TSAB Effectively Reduced to Local Police Force
Dead Apostle 'War' Created and Spotted in Fuyuki
-The Bloody Page Promises Three More
Servant 'Ruler' Spotted in Fuyuki
-Unknown Master
Kotomine Abandons Fuyuki
-Takes several large cases of Thaumaturgic luggage

 

[Random Tale]

Another View: Illyasviel von Einzbern (2001)

Illya was gloomy as she returned to her room after school, Hayate and Fiore rolling in behind her. She wanted to go out, have fun with friends, and generally not care about the general state of Uminari. But someone had to manage the Moonlit side of the city, as as the Second Owner, it fell to her.

At least, this year, she finally had some assistance. Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillenia had taken to wheeling her wheelchair over to hang out with Hayate, and Illya had finally decided to drag the family's own wheelchair-bound girl into her room after school in order to have someone double-check her own work.

Both her mother and her aunt were busy working on manga, and her father was busy working on either being a hero or trying to get some supplies to keep himself alive longer. The budget was tight, so they couldn't really afford to turn their attention to making sure the Moonlit side of the city behaved itself.

And while the Yggdmillenia clan had more magi in it that were capable of functioning in the external world, there were still enough members that clung to old magi traditions that Illya had to keep a close eye on the paperwork that everyone generated.

For an idle moment, she looked out her window and imagined herself in Nix. Territory belonging to individual magi stretching for miles upon miles... lots of research subjects... She shook her head to dispel the image. It would not do to imagine such a place; not only was the United States determined to take its lost territory back, it was well known that typical Gaian Magi violated human rights often, and she had standards to hold herself to.

There was also the little matter that the United States had flat out lost patience and declared a War on Thaumaturgy, putting them at odds with not only Nix, but also Uruk, Korea, China, Egypt, and even Japan. While Japan was relatively safe across the sea, Nix was sitting on territory claimed from the United States; it would not do well to put herself directly in their warpath.

Illya looked through a few more papers. There was an invitation to the wedding of Chrono Haralown and Amy Limietta in February, she had to drag the family out to that... a hospital bill for Shirou, with a note that the country of Japan was paying in full for it...

She glanced up at the two girls also going through papers, casting a heavy look towards Hayate.

It had been clear for years that Shirou had very little sense of self-preservation. First with jumping into the fight between the daughters of two (then-)local families, then the discovery of nerve circuits, followed by the Jewel Seed incident, the fifth Holy Grail War, and the incident of Mitakihara... all in the name of being a hero. While he likely didn't know yet, when he finally woke up and started actually being called a hero, Shirou would likely be driven to more extremes to keep being a hero. The only time Shirou's self-preservation showed up was when there was a situation where he was the only one at risk of being hurt.

And instead of working to get the 'hero' out of Illya's younger brother, their father seemed to have a plan to put an albatross around Shirou's neck to keep him from running all over and being a hero.

Enter Hayate Yagami. Brilliant for her age due to studying in isolation for years, a heightened sense of perversion, wheelchair bound, and, for all practical purposes, completely defenseless in the current environment of the world.

If they could get Shirou to marry her, Hayate would be the perfect person to keep him from going off and trying to keep up with Nanoha Takamachi's renewed efforts to be a hero.

There were other considerations, of course. Fiore was also wheelchair bound, but she could easily take care of herself despite that; the fact of the matter was that Fiore was capable of magecraft, while Hayate, despite her abnormal potential, was not. That had been determined with Illya's father's weapon years ago. There was also the slow self-destruction of Hayate's body. While magi of both Gaian and Mid-Childan origin had ways to replace missing limbs, the artificial limbs of Mid-Childa required the user to use Od to power them, and Illya was pretty sure that the Puppetmaster was only offering her services just to taunt Illya's family (she could provide options to move Hayate into a better body, but will she? After what Illya's father had done, the price is out of range).

There was the option of artificial limbs, without any sort of magecraft supporting them. But those were even less practical than just leaving Hayate as she was, and they wouldn't deal with the slow self-destruction of her body. Replacing her failing organs with new donated ones would only just delay the problem, and it would be many years more before artificial organs were good enough for human use.

The problem was compounded, in Illya's view, that if Hayate's condition was fixed enough so that her body wasn't self destructing anymore, then the chain to keep Shirou down would be too weak to do its job.

There was a startled squeal, followed by, in succession, a few words in Italian, a gust of wind, screeching of wheels, fluttering of papers, and finally a perverted chuckle.

"Fiore-chan," Illya tiredly asked, "please don't use aggressive magecraft on Hayate. Hayate, don't grope magi that could kill you as easily as blinking."

Hayate had the potential to keep Shirou down, and safe enough to keep him from getting killed. Keeping that potential was tricky; too much effort, and the girl would be able to take care of herself well enough so that Shirou could go out and get himself killed, too little effort would result in Hayate dying from muscle and organ failure, also resulting in Shirou going out and dying. Granted, they had only discovered a way to reverse the damage done somewhat this past year, so they hadn't been able to put forth much effort in the first place, but now they would be more effective.

There was also the... questionable preferences that Hayate was starting to show. She was definitely attracted to other girls, as demonstrated by the now flustered Fiore (who usually had to deal with Hayate acting out about once every couple weeks). There was an attraction to Shirou, and a few other boys to a lesser extent, but she was primarily attracted to girls. It was better than what Illya had heard over the rumor mill that Nanoha wasn't attracted to boys at all, but the questionable preference had the potential to ruin the whole plan to keep Shirou safe in the future.

Illya didn't like the brother-stealer, but she could at least tolerate her for Shirou's sake.

Illya returned to pursuing the papers on her desk. There was the eighth report on the new 'Duel Monsters' trading card game, released by the Moto family head that year. The designer's original claims that it was a ancient game from Egypt had Illya promptly send a couple Yggdmillenia to investigate. After interrogation, the aging man relented that the 'ancient game from Egypt' was a marketing ploy to sell the game that promised to be the next 'Magic' (considering that the later card game's company's HQ was now in Nix territory, and few people wanted to fund that kingdom). It seemed that the magi from Yggdmillenia had finally gotten him to drop the marketing ploy completely, but not before a few of the youngest magi of Yggdmillenia had taken to learning illusion magecraft to play the card game more 'realistically'.

As long as they kept it small, so that there wasn't a 'White Eyes Blue Dragon', or whatever it was called, appearing to tear up Uminari, Illya wasn't going to order someone to stomp in on a children's card game.

Oh, there was a request from the Moto head himself on the next paper. He was requesting... Illya's mother's art for some of the new cards he was creating, and wanted permission to use her father's likeness for a new 'monster' called 'Magus Killer'. She'd have to pass it on, and see what her parents and aunt did with it.

There was a handful of work requests specifically related to her father. A request from a 'Hisui' to kill the Tohno head, a request from a 'Kohaku' to kill the entire Tohno family and herself... a request from the MBI head to work as a bodyguard again... a request from Iskander to be his primary counter-espionage agent...

The King was a point of contention in Japan, and especially in Uminari. Over the past couple of years, he had been slowly building his forces, getting people to join his growing army. The Japanese Government watched warily once they learned of his presence, knowing that he could easily turn people to his side, but also aware that he would be a good counter to many of the Moonlit threats that they faced. There was a standing warning to keep members of the JSDF away from the Heroic Spirit, in fear that he would recruit them, and propaganda manga from Illya's mother helped grow their ranks so that they would have a good check to Iskander's army in case he decided to start his conquest with Japan.

Of course, seeing the manga, the King of Conquerors recruited her to have a manga about himself. The resulting manga greatly improved his recruitment, enough so that he could make his next move, snatching both Mitakihara and Uminari from Japan.

Mitakihara could easily be understood, having suffered an attack from an abnormally large demon that year and the local government on shaky ground for being unable to deal with a bunch of tree demons (which, according to the local police force, seemed to know exactly when and where to strike and when and where to go into hiding, and seemed to be multiplying). But Uminari? That required an insight to the local politics.

The primary factor was the TSAB, the Time-Space Administration Bureau, and its lasting war against the being known only as 'the Cross' to try to preserve Mid-Childa. Casualties taken, with no damage inflicted in return, resulted in more and more problems slowly making their way to the surface of the organization. Funds misappropriated in the name of 'research', unjustified promotions, and accidents after mistakes... Desperation was making itself more evident even as immigrants started to make their way from guaranteed death on Mid-Childa to possible death on Earth.

A few instances of corruption had been useful for the Bureau. Chrono Haralown had joined up, and was quickly promoted to high rank due to a few successful missions, his mother's influence, deceased father's reputation, and there being an opening; despite many expectations of him going to fail quickly, his leadership role had been successful.

And desperation did result in benefits for the Bureau as well. Youth who hadn't even hit puberty were recruited to the TSAB to fill the gaps, and while some of them were capable of what could be expected of a simple Earth child soldier (with magic weapons), others, like Yuuno Scrya, went beyond expectations.

But despite individual instances of competent leadership, the TSAB was slowly getting on more shaky ground. It finally came to a head when their last attempt to find some way to destroy the Cross instead drove them further into the ground. Using the remains of a canceled 'Fate Project' and Einzbern magecraft notes, they had created a man called Jail Scaglietti to either find a way to destroy the Cross, or be a Lesser Grail to help them win the next Holy Grail War in order to use it to wish the Cross away.

Instead, the mad scientist stole a recently retrieved 'Shroud of the Saint King' and went into hiding, leaving behind notes of different ideas for projects unrelated to the Cross. That would have been only a small problem if it wasn't for the fact that some of those notes pointed to signs of potential human right violations that fit alongside typical Gaian Magi standards.

The TSAB did try to recruit a known killer of rogue magi, but the incentive had not been enough for Illya's father to take the job.

This opened up opportunities for Iskander's agents to more effectively subvert the TSAB. Having been denied the JSDF, the King had taken to recruiting individual members of the TSAB. When the combination of a manga promoting Iskander was published and it became known by a few in the TSAB that Jail Scaglietti had backfired on them, recruitment from the TSAB spiked. It was time for a change of leadership.

When just over half of the TSAB was secretly under Iskander's control through a few of his lower profile agents, Iskander made his move, demanding both the surrender of the TSAB and Japan to himself. Upon refusal, one of his aides started revealing all of the dirty laundry they had on the TSAB and gave the signal to the recruits in the TSAB to reveal themselves.

In the aftermath, about three quarters of the TSAB was absorbed into Iskander's army, while the last quarter was reduced to a glorified police force in Uminari.

This is not to say that the people of Uminari didn't have opinions about the matter. The most willing to speak up had been the major followers of the 'Church of the Saint King', who took the losing of the Shroud and a failure to retrieve it as a personal attack; the majority of them had turned to Iskander in anger, hoping that he wouldn't do anything with such a large blunder against them. Most other Mid-Childan immigrants were hesitant to join, but a handful that took the TSAB's failings strongly also aligned themselves with the King. Japanese locals in Uminari were also hesitant, as a whole, to join the Conquering King, but Iskander's personality did recruit a few hundred.

While Uminari was technically still under Japanese control, the simple fact of the matter was that with enough backing, it had fallen under sway of Iskander.

The bright spot was that Iskander's reach was limited. As a Heroic Spirit, he was tied down to a Mr. Velvet, who was barely capable of magecraft with most of his Prana tied up in keep Iskander in the world. And with him busy trying to keep up with all the paperwork in one area, Iskander couldn't do much, let alone fight, without risking his anchor of existence.

With a frown, she tossed a written invitation to join Iskander's forces into recycle and turned her attention to a note of personal activities from Yuuno. Thaumaturgicly enhanced pain pills was one of his planned projects for the coming year; a few notes on how he planned to do it, with the hope that it would ease the headaches he kept having because of summoning 'book demons' to help with his research. No harm... a desired servant for the upcoming Grail War... Merlin? Hopefully he'd be able to learn something from the most famous magus of all time. A note of beginning research on mental worlds... eh.

Illya sent the paper over to Fiore before turning to the next series of reports of other magi in Uminari. Requested projects, incidents resolved and repeating, updates to ongoing projects...

Sometimes Illya wanted to bang her head against her desk. No, you can't have a magecraft beam war on the rooftops of buildings downtown. No, we don't care who started it, or both parties sticking to non-lethal attacks. Yes, the property damage is going to be covered by the participants. Quit flying around with your devices, you're giving a few determined Yggdmillenia headaches trying to copy the effects and giving perverts down below a show. At least get those barrier jackets to have pants.

The local Gaian magi were not much better with their problems. No, you can't use the local temple to conduct experiments. Yes, they can use animals from the pet store for familiars. No, you can't refuse them service. Yes, she was aware of the Suzimiya girl's unusual ability to break any bounded field through touch. Yes, she knew that the girl seemed to be flat-out immune to bounded fields. Yes, she knew that the girl was aiming to be a Dead Apostle Ancestor when she grew up. No, you couldn't strap her down and dissect her to find out how or why she does it. No, not even if she has broken two-dozen or more bounded fields of yourself or your friends. Yes, kidnapping was still illegal.

"Illya-san," Fiore interrupted. "Isn't Scrya-san requesting to research Reality Marbles?"

Illya snatched the relevant paper back and re-read it. Magecraft pain pills to deal with backlash from demon summoning... big Servant idea for the Grail War... mental world research... yes, that last note was of concern; 'mental world' was just an uneducated name for 'reality marble'.

And Reality Marbles were one of the things that magi generally agreed were worth sealing designations. Researching them was dangerous to not only the researcher, but also to those surrounding them.

Still, Yuuno was a family friend. Illya would be writing a personal reply to him. A list of commonly accepted sources with approved information about what Reality Marbles were, an inquiry as to why he was researching them, and a warning to stop before she put out a notice for a sealing designation on him.

There was only so far she was willing to stick her neck out for him, after all.

Suddenly, Illya felt the bounded fields around the house strain and break before fading away. In Uminari, that typically meant one thing: that Suzimiya girl was nearby again.

She had calmed down over the course of the year, not chasing after the Nagato girl or Illya's half-sister anymore, but that was most likely because she was bothering most of the magi in the city, trying to get her hands on magecraft.

Still, as long as Illya restrained herself, it gave her an opportunity to use Sapphire again...

Spoiler: OOC

I suppose we're going to continue for a while longer. This is some of what Illya is dealing with, giving another view as to what is going on (Zouken, Jail, and Kyuubey will receive views sometime in the coming year.)

With that, we're continuing on, but for how much longer, I do not know.

Disclaimer: This quest may end with an Epilogue at any time.

 

[Random Tale]

Other Notes (In the Quest, 2001-2002):

Mainly because I spent three days writing up Illya's view, and I don't want to make it any longer...

• The sea level is rapidly rising as the ice caps are melting at an increasing rate due to the nuclear weapons that were used to try to kill Primate Murder. Illya thought that it would be a mere decade before a large chunk of Uminari would become underwater, until Hayate double-checked her calculations. Illya still thinks that her original estimate isn't too far off, maybe in two or three decades instead of the original one, if one takes into consideration her prediction that it is only a matter of time before a group of magi go nuts with fire magecraft or a world leader's temper gets the better of him and fires another missile. Hayate isn't interested in taking her bet.
  
• There is a divide between mages of both Gaian and Mid-Childan decent and non-mages, with a non-mages typically going out of their way to avoid interacting with the magecraft users. The primary cause of this is fear of what a mage can do to a non-mage. While some basic magecraft classes being taught in school (despite the ever-growing decrease of magecraft as a result) helps bridge the divide, the the two sides typically stick to their own, with children mostly following the lead of their parents. The Itou boy is one of a handful who has reached out to try to cross the gap, which gives Illya a smile.
• The Emiya family is well known throughout the world... though in Uminari, it can be said that they have no honor. Mundanely, the head has a criminal past, and takes time off of his jobs in order to play hero (so it could be said that he is a hero without honor), leaving his wife and mistress at home to try to cover the bills. In regards to the Moonlit world, going against traditions and exposing the Moonlit world has devastated their honor there as well. Shirou is taking after his adoptive father's recent activities, abandoning school to run off and be a hero himself, but the weight of his father's past doesn't hold him back, so it could be said that he has more honor than his father (at the moment). Maiya, with a known criminal record, little honor herself. It could be said that the only reason they aren't looked at dis-favorably is because they've done a lot of good for a lot of people by ignoring honor. Hayate is isolated a lot of the time, so her... inclinations don't impact how the world looks at her on either side. As it is, Illya and her mother are the most 'honorable' individuals of the household, with Illya being the more honorable of the two. Following most of the guidelines of magecraft users and working for the mundane society, the only real complaints about them is that they're attached to a household of 'honorless heroes'.

 

[Random Tale]

Year 9: Kiritsugu

The world continues to deteriorate around you, even as you try to keep your family relatively stable. Iskander has essentially taken over Uminari and Mitakihara through the simple fact that no one else has spaceships capable of war anymore, the TSAB is effectively finished, Mid-Childa is being completely abandoned to the Cross, Gilgamesh has begun to rebuild his kingdom in the modern age, and the United States have effectively declared war on magecraft.

And yet, life goes on. Because of Shirou putting himself in the hospital, the household remains relatively quiet. Illya grumpily trudges through all the paperwork the mages of Uminari create, and your youngest daughters are starting to go out and make connections among their classmates. Perhaps this year will finally be a peaceful year that you so desperately need.

Shared:
(Shared Plans can be selected by the voters for one of the adults to do.)
(In order for a Shared Plan to be accepted, it must beat at least one of the top two Plans for the available adults)
(If a Shared Plan is accepted, the majority of the chosen adult will go through with it and have it replace their second-greatest counted Plan)

Spoiler: Shared Plans

[X] Japan's New Moonlit Capital
-[X] Japan's New Moonlit Capital: Kiritsugu
-[X] Japan's New Moonlit Capital: Irisviel
-[X] Japan's New Moonlit Capital: Maiya
Due to your revelation three years ago, Uminari has been changed radically. It may be a good idea to learn who is who in the city now, and possibly beg a meal off of someone.
(Benefit: Information about Uminari City, -1 Resource Upkeep)

[X] The City of the Tohno Family
-[X] The City of the Tohno Family: Kiritsugu
-[X] The City of the Tohno Family: Irisviel
-[X] The City of the Tohno Family: Maiya
It has become clear that your family and those surrounding you that you are movers and shakers of the world. By reconstructing ties that have been severed, you may be able to learn who is who in Misaki, where two families fled before you revealed magecraft.
(Benefit: Information about Misaki City)

[X] The People of Fuyuki
- [X] The People of Fuyuki: Kiritsugu
- [X] The People of Fuyuki: Irisviel
- [X] The People of Fuyuki: Maiya
It has become clear that your family and those surrounding you that you are movers and shakers of the world. By contacting those you know in Fuyuki, you may be able to learn who is who in the city… even if the information will come reluctantly.
(Benefit: Information about Fuyuki City)

[X] The City of Rapid Advancement
- [X] The City of Rapid Advancement: Kiritsugu
- [X] The City of Rapid Advancement: Irisviel
- [X] The City of Rapid Advancement: Maiya
Due to the events of last year, the very structure of Mitakihara has changed, politically and physically. By lingering in the city between visits to Shirou, you can gain a clear picture of how it has changed.
(Benefit: Information about Mitakihara)

[x] Nuclear Bunker
- [x] Nuclear Bunker: Kiritsugu
- [x] Nuclear Bunker: Irisviel
- [x] Nuclear Bunker: Maiya
In the United States, during the Cold War between itself and the Soviet Union, a number of people had shelters constructed that could, in theory, withstand a nuclear attack. It would probably be a good idea to have a bunker constructed so that in the case that a nuclear weapon is launched everyone of your family has a decent chance of surviving.
(Cost: 15 Resources) (Benefit: Safe from Nuclear attacks)

[X] Alien Teacher
- [X] Alien Teacher: Kiritsugu
- [X] Alien Teacher: Irisviel
- [X] Alien Teacher: Maiya
Hiroto Minaka, the head of MBI, has sent an unusual job offer across your desk for any of the adults of the household. He wants a discreet teacher of the world for nearly a hundred aliens he's been keeping secret from the world. Despite none of the three of you having any teaching degrees, he wants one of you to teach the ninety-plus school-ready aliens enough so that they'll be able to go into the world without drawing attention in a few years.
(Benefit: 7 Resources)

[X] Moonlit Classes
- [X] Moonlit Classes: Kiritsugu
- [X] Moonlit Classes: Irisviel
- [X] Moonlit Classes: Maiya
Now that the Moonlit World has been exposed to everyone who wasn't hiding under a rock, quality teachers that know of the Moonlit World are needed. Students include children of worried parents, the worried parents, refugees of Mid-Childa, everyday citizens of Japan, and a large number of the JSDF.
(Benefit: Chosen Adult's Moonlit Knowledge +2, Japan more prepared for Moonlit activities, +2 Resources)

Kiritsugu Emiya's Plans for the Year: (Choose 2)

Spoiler: Kiritsugu's Plans

[X] Kiritsugu: Never Again
The Sixth Holy Grail War is coming soon, in the next few years at the latest. However, perhaps by blowing up the ley lines around Fuyuki, you can delay it, or perhaps even stop it all together.
(Cost: 3 Resources, 1 Time) (Benefit: ???)

[X] Kiritsugu: Nuking the Grail
The Fuyuki Greater Grail is the cause of the Grail Wars. By throwing all your fire-power and the firepower of those that you are on speaking terms with at the Grail, you could prevent all future Grail Wars in Fuyuki.
(Cost: 3 Resources, ???) (Benefit: Fuyuki Greater Grail Destroyed)

[X] Kiritsugu: Catalyst Hunt
As long as there is a Greater Grail, there will eventually be a Grail War. You're not sure who will provide the Lesser Grail, but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that by getting a catalyst for a specific Servant now, your family doesn't have to go out to get it later, and grants options for them.
(Cost: ???) (Benefit: Catalyst obtained)
-[X] Catalyst: (Write-In; Note that certain catalysts may require resources to acquire)

[X] Kiritsugu: Dreams? Or Something More?
There's these odd dreams… perhaps delving into them and understanding them could be useful.
(Benefit: Learn of these odd dreams, Stay at home more, choose one option)
-[X] Dream: A small town in the sky, where a hero in green goes to the surface beneath the clouds and fights against… Saber.
-[X] Dream: This seems familiar… is it Fuyuki before it was destroyed? Wait, is that a teenage Shirou? And why did the spearman kill him?!?
-[X] Dream: A land of steel waits in your dreams… a land where the world is dead, but its children live on in defiance of its last wish.
-[X] Dream: The Tohno head is dead, and a pair of vampires have made their way to Misaki City… There will be a bloodbath by the end of it…
-[X] Dream: Transylvania. Fifteen Servants. Two teams. A bloodbath never before seen.

[X] Kiritsugu: Target: Tohno
You are confused as to how this particular request got into your files, addressed to you directly, but it seems that someone really wants the Tohno head dead for some reason. The base reward is questionable, a small amount compared to normal assassinations… but the final reward is whatever treasures you can loot from the mansion, and… a marriage contract for Shirou?!? The only people off-limits to kill are the maids and the heiress. Finally, there's even a detailed map of the Tohno mansion…
(Cost: 2 Resources, 1 Time) (Benefit: 25% Death; If survive, 52% Tohno head dead, 1+2d6 Resources, Marriage Contract to Shirou if Tohno dead)
-[X] Target: Convenient Cover
There is the curse expert in Misaki you can visit while in the area, giving a reasonable excuse to be in Misaki and get updated on the remaining curses on you.
(Benefit: Information)

[X] Kiritsugu: Target: Tohno Family
Someone else wants the Tohno line ended. Completely. The current head, the heiress, the hidden heir in the basement, most of the servants, and all of the Tohno relatives with a direct bloodline to the Tohno. All of them dead. The base reward is questionable, a small amount compared to normal assassinations, but the final reward is what catches your eyes: whatever that can be looted from the mansion, and a marriage contract for Shirou. However, how the contract is to be enforced when the person to be married to Shirou is on the kill list is a question that needs to be answered.
(Cost: 4 Resources, 2 Time) (Benefit: 45% Death; If survive, % of Tohno family dead, 1+2d6 Resources)
-[X] Target: Convenient Cover
There is the curse expert in Misaki you can visit while in the area, giving a reasonable excuse to be in Misaki and get updated on the remaining curses on you.
(Benefit: Information)

[X] Kiritsugu: Target: The Puppetmaster
Aoko Aozaki has put a hit on her sister, the Puppetmaster Touko Aozaki. While she believes that you won't succeed completely, she does believe that you can lock her older sister down enough so that she can move in and finish her once and for all. The reasoning behind the sudden appearance of the contract... and confirmed by a counter-contract... is that Aoko has received Command Seals, and (correctly) believed that Touko also received Command Seals. Aoko wants to take Touko out of the picture before the Grail War gets underway.
(Cost: 2 Time, 4 Resources) (Success: 10%) (Failure: Puppetmaster becomes enemy) (Rewards: 10 Resources, Aoko Aozaki moves to Uminari, gain access to puppet magecraft for family, optional extra Command Seals)

[X] Kiritsugu: Target: The Blue
Touko Aozaki has put a hit on her sister, the True Magician Aoko Aozaki. While she believes that you won't succeed completely, she does believe that, with your help, she can finish her little sister off once and for all. The reasoning behind the sudden appearance of the contract... and confirmed by a counter-contract... is that Touko has received Command Seals, and (correctly) believed that Aoko also received Command Seals. Touko wants to take Aoko out of the picture before the Grail War gets underway.
(Cost: 2 Time, 4 Resources) (Success: 10%) (Failure: Game Over) (Rewards: 10 Resources, Optional Puppet Body for Hayate, Touko Aozaki moves to Uminari, optional extra Command Seals)

[X] Kiritsugu: MBI Employment
Hiroto Minaka, the head of MBI, has a special position as a bodyguard for Kiritsugu. While nothing happened to him last year, with the Thaumaturgy War starting to swing in favor of the Magi, Minaka wants your expertise to keep him safe from Underworld threats, Moonlit threats, and, in particular, safe from the threat of his ex-wife, Takami Sahashi, the Second Owner of Shin-Tokyo.
(Benefit: +6 Resources)

[X] Kiritsugu: Kiritsugu's Mundane Job (Write-In)
Surely you can find a mundane job in the world you can do. Right? Right? (Write-In Job)
(Benefit: Possible Mundane Work, +3 Resources or +1 Resource, Stay at home more)

[X] Kiritsugu: Hobbyist (Write-In Hobby)
You could take up a mundane hobby. People get paid for doing their hobbies all the time. How hard could it be? (Write-In Hobby)
(Cost: 1 Resource) (Benefit: Opens opportunities, stay at home more)

[X] Kiritsugu: Magecraft Training
Illya may be busy with her schooling and her paperwork, but she probably has enough time for learning new magecraft. Kuro's and Miyu's magecraft is beginning, but unfocused. You can teach all three of them a few tricks of your old trade, and possibly get them to adapt a few things of your added magecraft to work normally for normal magi.
(Cost: 1 Time) (Benefit: Kiritsugu's Magecraft +1, children's magecraft have assassin leanings and adapt Puella Magi magic for magecraft)

[X] Kiritsugu: Clearing the Pillar
A number of 'Tree Demons' have taken to appearing around the 'Grief Pillar' in Mitakihara, knowing when and where to strike and to flee. You can deal with them and access the Pillar safely in the future... if you use enough firepower in order to make sure that they can't dodge it.
(Cost: 3 Resources) (Benefit: +4 Time, No Time cost or Upkeep this year)

[o] Kiritsugu: Deal with the Kaleido Knights
The Tohsaka heiress may have a few more Grief Seeds, but she is focusing her attention squarely on her own city to try to deal with all the growing problems there. She has little time to deal with an outsider at the moment.

[X] Kiritsugu: The Last Curses
There are still a few curses left on you. Perhaps it might be nice to get them looked at before you die, and it would give Shirou a chance to connect with a few old friends before you can no longer take him there.
(Cost: Cannot be taken with any 'Target') (Benefit: Information)

[X] Kiritsugu: The Family Man
You are on a timer until your death. Perhaps it would be nice to simply relax with your family.
(Benefit: Home Knowledge, connect with neighbors more easily, -1 Resource upkeep this year)

[X] Kiritsugu: Subtle Healing
While you may not be able to do anything for Shirou at the moment, you can use your power from the Contract in order to slowly heal Hayate enough so that she'll be able to move her limbs more easily without drawing too much attention to the matter (you'll need to wait until next year to allow her to go about on her own two legs).
(Cost: 2 Time) (Benefit: Damage to Hayate's body greatly undone)

[X] Kiritsugu: Other Plans (Write-In)
Perhaps there is something else that can be done?

Free Actions: (Choose any you'd like)

Spoiler: Free Actions

Illya's College Fund:
Illya is going to be old enough to go to college in a couple of years, and putting aside some money now would enable her to do so without having to go perform jobs in a community that doesn't seem to approve of her very much. Still, a scholarship from Japan for Shirou's efforts in Mitakihara have reduced the cost...
(Cost: 4 Resources)
[X] Illya's Fund: Yes
[X] Illya's Fund: No

Hayate's College Fund:
Despite being two years younger than Illya, Hayate is only one year behind her academically, so she'll be graduating from school the year after Illya leaves the household. She currently doesn't have as much capability for jobs as Illya does, but she does have options. At any rate, college is an option, abet not one that Hayate was originally interested in... and there is that scholarship from Japan for Shirou's actions in Mitakihara...
(Cost: 4 Resources)
[X] Hayate's Fund: Yes
[X] Hayate's Fund: No

Yuuno's Servant:
Yuuno's been marked as a Master for the next Grail War, if it even occurs. He is currently aiming for Merlin, the head mage of King Arthur's Court, who is said to have been a True Magician in his time, as his Servant. While it is possible, considering two members of the opposition, perhaps another suggestion may be a good idea.
[X] Servant: (Write-In)
[X] Servant: (None)

Shirou's Jewel Seed:
The TSAB has finally gotten enough skilled surgeons away from Mid-Childa to remove the Jewel Seed from Shirou's body. It may provide great power, but considering what it did to your son... still, it is your final call.
[X] Seed: Remove
[X] Seed: Leave

Spoiler: OOC

This has been a long time coming. Votes will close when I can get around to it, and we'll be moving on to Irisviel next.