View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQC0DcXFxvE
[A woman in blue, bleeding on the ground]
Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!
—
There were many fates possible for Shirou Emiya, many of them resulted in his death. While a few, shining examples showed him becoming the Hero he always wanted to be and changing the world, however insignificantly, for the better. For those times he fought, bled, and died. And after his death he would only keep doing so, for that is what it meant to be Shirou Emiya.
There was a woman of gold, a proud knight and woman both. Less than human, but more human than most all the same.
There was a woman of red, a magus of talent… and kindness, hidden behind a porcelain shell built by her own beliefs.
There was a woman of purple, a hurt, cursed child. Whose existence was torment held together by a sliver of hope not yet torn away.
This is not any of those.
This fate is of a woman betrayed, cast away by those she loved, used and then thrown away like a plaything of the gods. This fate is that of a knight, great and powerful, yet who has suffered failure caused by belief and madness.
This is the story of how it all went wrong.
This is but one possibility amongst many.
This is Fate/Clusterfuck.
—
You're running, slipping, sliding a little, your breath coming in pants as you finally come to a skidding stop next to the woman. She's dressed in robes, heavy ones… but not the kind people normally wear to keep warm. These are almost… priestly? From the temple? No, not likely. Something else, something not important. What's important is that the woman is hardly breathing, her eyes are glassy, unfocused. Her purple robes are darker in places, surrounding spots where the cloth is torn.
She's been stabbed, more than once. A mugger? Maybe. No. Not important. Her eyes vaguely look in your direction, like Taiga after a long night of drinking. Before, once more like Taiga, they drift off to view a tree with particular fascination.
Bending down you hoist the woman up into your arms, she's light, very light. And she's as cold as the water around her.
"N-..." The woman says, faintly, weakly.
It was less than a word, but more than a sound, as you glance back down to see if she is becoming more cognizant her head lolls to the side.
"Miss?" you ask, shifting her slightly, only to get no response.
…
You are running again a second later, back out of the park, your hand stabbing out to grab the bad of food along the way. If you don't hurry, the woman may die. If you don't get the wagyu, you may die. It was lucky the streets of Fuyuki were abandoned this time of night, as the year cooled down people became less and less active on the streets, at least, in this part of town. The hills and ice made walking out at night a bigger pain that it was worth.
Which was good for you, as you sprinted back to home with a bleeding unconscious woman in your arms, you don't think you could explain that to the police quickly even if you wanted to. Your house was closer than the hospital, a
lot closer, and at the very least you could get her somewhere warm. Your feet crunch through the snow, and you do your best impression of a figure skater more than once as you go sliding along the pavement towards the far north-end of town once more.
—
"Shirou! Did you get me the wagyuuuuu have a dead woman!" Taiga screams as you slam open the door to the Emiya Residence.
There's a loud clatter as Taiga upends the table she was sitting under in her haste to stand, shock painted across your guardian's face as she points an accusatory finger at you.
"She was unconscious in the park," you say quickly, moving to set her down by the heater. "She'd been stabbed."
"Wh-what?" Taiga says, the finger dropping. She then crouches down next to you, her hands moving to the torn open sections of clothing. "We need to call the hospital, how long has she been like this?" Taiga asks, more serious than you've seen her in… a while.
"No idea," you reply. "I only found her ten minutes ag-"
"No… hospital." The woman croaks out.
You both snap your heads down to look at her, she's still pale, her eyes still unfocus as she gazes up at the ceiling. "No… hosp…" she says again, her head lolling to the side once more halfway through the word.
… "Blankets, I'll get blankets and bandages. Shirou, soup!" Taiga orders, then gets up in a scramble running back towards the hall.
"What!? Why aren't we calling the hospital?" you call out after her, only to get no response.
You grimace, then look back down at the woman. Her hood has fallen back, revealing her damp soaked hair. It was an off-color blue, almost purple, and sticking out the sides of it were two… elfin ears. Body modification? Not unheard of in Fuyuki, even if such a thing was usually seen as distasteful. But then between that and the clothes…
Not important, getting back up onto your own feet, you spare the woman another glance before you make your way over to the kitchen.
—
"She's warmed up," Taiga announces.
You look back from where you were setting the bowls of soup down on the countertop, small chunks of wagyu floating in it along with some spinach and carrot. Taiga had pulled most of the robes away, revealing pale, cold skin littered in wounds.
Most were scratches, but amongst them were a few notable deep cuts and… burns.
She had since been cleaning and bandaging all of them, slowly turning the blue-haired woman into some form of mummy. A small part of your brain wondered why Taiga knew how to bandage severe burns and stab wounds. A larger part of your brain guessed it had something to do with Raiga and it was best not to think on that further.
Especially when you had soup to feed to people.
Coming back around the corner you take a seat neat to Taiga, setting her own bowl beside her while you gently start to stir the bowl you would feed to the rapidly warming woman with a spoon. You glance over at your guardian, a look of consternation is on the woman's face, a not unusual look, though the situation definitely was. Your guardian was a silly sort of person, a prankster that tended to act far younger than she looked. Now though, she was panicked when you came in, and now she had hardly said a word for the past half hour it had taken you to get the food together.
"You can be serious when you want to be Taiga." You say, trying to lighten the mood.
Taiga purses her lips, a faint hint of a smile coming on. "I'm always serious, it's my students that don't show me the respect I deserve."
A groan from the woman causes you both to look towards her, almost banging your heads together in the process. She's still laying back on the floor, bandages on her stomach, arms, neck and legs. Not
everything was bleeding, but Taiga seemed more than a little eager to get every spot that was injured possible. The woman's eyes open slowly, no longer having their glassy haze. They were blue, almost the exact same shade as her hair in fact, and as you watch they go through a series of miriad phases.
Confused.
More confused.
Then panicked.
The woman lurches upwards, flailing, and Taiga dives to catch her before she falls forward. You heroically move as well, sliding the bowls of soup out of the way as the woman dangles in Taiga's arms.
"Woah there!" Taiga says, wrestling with the woman like a flailing cat as she struggles and fights in a blind panic. "Shirou, her hands!"
You dart forward, grabbing onto the woman's wrists. It takes a moment of struggle, but you manage to hold them in place, and come face to face with the woman in the process. Her panic starts to lessen, then cease entirely as she stares into your eyes, before she finally comes to a stop, panting ever so slightly. "
Boy. Kill me." The woman says, her voice hoarse.
"... No." You say after a moment. "What happened to you?"
The woman pulls back, slowly, a smile on her face forming that isn't really a smile at all. "Betrayed someone." She says simply, like that explains anything.
It doesn't, actually. At all. But instead you point down at the bowl. "Well, I made some soup. Would you like to be taken to the hospital?"
The woman looks down at the steaming bowl, eyeing it warily, before she reaches down for it. Taiga pulls back, as do you to get her some space. The woman lifts the bowl, staring at it for several seconds like she expected it to be poisoned. Then as you watch she simply lifts the thing and
downs it. A loud slurping sound fills the room as both you and Taiga stare in amazement as the woman drinks the entire thing over a period of several seconds, her throat moving rapidly as she apparently tries to make up for a week's worth of lost meals in an instant.
She eventually stops, placing the bowl back down onto the floor where you see it is now bereth of broth, vegetables,
and meat. Taiga you note, is slowly moving her own bowl away, she then grabs it and stabs up. "Shirou, I'll be borrowing some of the tupperware, I'm heading out."
You blink, then jerk your head towards the woman. "You are? What abou-"
Taiga turns her head to give you a
look, it's not one you like. It's like the one she gives to students who anger her, but this one actually looks like she might tear your head off if you question her. "I need to head back home, don't do anything untowards."
Then as you watch, your guardian pours the soup into some tupperware and… leaves the house, leaving you alone with the mystery woman. Slowly, you turn your head back, only to find yourself staring eye to eye at the woman, who is… not exactly glaring, or doing anything in fact. She's just staring at you, a blank expression on her face as she watches your every move.
"I'm Shirou," you say with a smile, trying to break the tension. "What's… your name?"
"... Caster." The woman says after several moments, her tone flat and even.
You blink, slowly. Staring at the woman, before you slowly reach for your own bowl of soup. "Alright Caster, how are you feeling?" a codename? Maybe. With those stab wounds she could be one of Raiga's…
friends. Those friends who you weren't supposed to pay attention to that you sometimes caught watching the house out of the corner of your eye.
The woman… Caster, doesn't respond regardless, instead she just stares at you.
Smiling at her as best you can, you quickly eat your own soup, trying to ignore the fact that she never stopped watching you the entire time.
You eat your meal in record time. Grabbing your own bowl, along with hers and Taiga's, you quickly deposit them in the sink and clean them. Then, making your way back into the dining room you offer her a hand. "Do you think you can walk? Otherwise I can carry you to a guest room you can use."
The woman stares at the hand for a moment, unblinking, then as you watch she calmly gets up and onto her feet, stumbling slightly for a moment as she ignores your offered hand, before standing strongly as if her wounds didn't bother her.
Your smile cracks a little, and the woman pulls her robes back around her body once more, leaving her head exposed, as she waits for you to… lead on you hope. Nodding, you walk past her down the hallway, glancing back as you pass the threshold to see the woman following along behind you like a wraith.
Your father's house was large, larger than most of the other's at school. This came with the benefit of having plenty of rooms to use at least, even if the vast majority sat unused and gathering dust that you had to clean every weekend. "Here's your guest room," you say after a few moments of walking. Opening the door to the unused room. It held little more than a made futon and an empty desk, but you kept it prepped on the odd occasion Taiga asked to stay over for the night.
The woman peers past you into the space, saying nothing. You take a step back, allowing her to look inside. You move a hand to your cheek, scratching it awkwardly. Then gesture down the hall towards another door. "That's the bathroom, if you want to take a bath I can give you some spare clothes. They're… mine, so sorry about that, but they should fit you. Taiga keeps her products here though so you can clean yourself up withou-"
"I'll be fine." The woman says simply.
She doesn't sound annoyed, nor does she raise her voice. Instead she turns her head to look at you, her expression blank. Which you are starting to suspect is her default expression. She says nothing however, just staring at you, studying you.
"... Well, tomorrow's a school day so I'll need to be heading to bed. I'm just outside that door and in that room." You say, pointing off in the opposite direction. "Feel free to knock if you need me."
The woman steps forward into the room, the door sliding shut behind her. Leaving you to stand in the silence and darkness of the hallway. You find yourself standing in front of the door for several long moments afterwards, wondering what you are supposed to be doing. Before your legs start doing what your brain doesn't, namely, carry you away from the door and towards your room by consequence.
The cold night has only grown colder with the passing of time, and you quickly make your way across and into your bedroom. The room was, thankfully, as you had last left it, and you didn't so much lay as fall onto the futon, one hand moving to your head as you stared up at the ceiling… you forgot to practice today, you'll need to make up for it tomorrow. Once in the morning, one in the evening, to make up for lost time.
Shifting your body, you tap your alarm to adjust it to be an hour earlier, then, with a surprising speed despite the excitement of the evening… you find yourself drifting off to sleep.
—
It was almost too early when you woke up in the morning, the sun had yet to rise beyond the faintest embers of orange light in the distance, not yet enough to illuminate the city, and certainly not to illuminate your room as you slowly got dressed. Yesterday was an… odd one, something that almost felt unreal. To the point where you were starting to wonder if it happened at all when you were opening the door leading to the outside.
Only to come face to face with a figure completely draped in a blue robe.
You screamed, quite loudly.
Caster for her part, as usual, just stared at you, standing a mere few inches away from your face as she observed you. She was different this morning, you realize as you slowly calm down. There was no slouch to her pose, something you noticed yesterday as she walked around, indeed, she was standing with no apparent difficulty at all. In addition she smelled of… oranges, which told you she actually did bathe this morning, using Taiga's shampoo in fact.
"Good… morning?" you offer, not quite sure how to respond to the fact that the stranger you rescued the previous night apparently took up camping just outside your bedroom.
She shifts slightly at your speech, her head tilting, though her eyes remain hidden underneath her robes. Her robes that are completely free of damage you note. "Why didn't you let me die?" she asks after a few pregnant seconds, a faint hint of curiosity in her tone, but no emotion otherwise.
"Why would you want to die?" you ask back, not deigning to answer such an idiotic question properly.
The woman tilts her head back, saying nothing as she continues to observe you.
Shaking your head, you put a smile back on. "I was going to go work on something in the shed, would you like breakfast afterwards? You're welcome to stay here as long as you feel the need to."
The woman reaches up, then slowly pulls her hood back. It reveals to you once more her light blue eyes and hair, and the two pointed ears on either side of her head. She has lost some of her paleness however, her skin gaining a far more healthy hue than the night before. She's still pale, and is rather… unnatural looking, but far less unhealthy. "Do you know what I am?" the woman asks.
"A… girl?" you say, confused.
The only sound that passes for the next few seconds is that of the morning birds, and the sound of snow sliding off the roof to pile on the ground. Then she stabs her hands forward, grabbing your hands and pulling them forward. You yelp as you are almost pulled off your feet, she isn't necessarily
strong, but took you by surprise regardless.
She's studying the back of your hands, her thumbs running over them as she looks them over. She's apparently satisfied a half minute later, as she pulls back once more. "Fine." She says simply, then turns around on the spot and makes her way back into the building.
… Fine?
You stare after her, then glance down at your hands. "... What?"
—
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCOTWQexTjs
—
You hiss in pain as you feel the iron rod in your spine slide into place. "Dammit…" You grunt, trying to control your breath. One fatal step, one wrong move, and the Magic Circuit will devour you like a hungry dog.
You sit there, sweating, concentrating in the dim confines of the shed. With a snap you feel it form in place, and you let out a long, shuddering breath as you feel the magic circuit, correction, artificial magic circuit form within your body. You were not a magus, you were hardly even a magic user. You had no crest, no natural magic circuits. So each you had to create manually, and with agony.
Your father was a magus, but he was not… your father, you were an adopted son. Or, more bluntly. You were a normal human. But if you trained enough, you may just become like Kiritsugu. So that you could use it for others, so that you cou-
"Why are you doing it like
that?" A voice says, a familiar voice at that.
You help, dropping the pipe you had just grabbed. It falls to the floor with a clang and a clatter, and you jerk around to see Caster standing on the threshold of the shed. Her eyes are hidden underneath her hood, yet you can tell she is staring at you, and, given the light amount of snow on her shoulders, had been staring there a while.
… How you weren't aware, as you swear you didn't leave that door open. But regardless. "Doing what?" you ask, lamely.
"An artificial magic circuit." Caster says, "a suicidal way of gaining power. Who taught you that?"
On the one hand, Kiritsugu stated to never reveal your magic around normal people. On the other hand, this woman has pointed ears, is apparently none the worse for wear despite repeated stab wounds… and has now snuck up on you twice.
You are willing to take a leap if need be. "My father…" you say slowly.
"Then your father taught you poorly, what are you even attempting to accomplish with that pitiful circuit?" there's actual emotion in her voice now, annoyance.
You look at her, then down at the pipe still rolling across the floor. "Structural reinforcement."
Caster lets out a hum, then steps into the room. Her hand moves behind herself to slide the door closed, hiding from view the now early morning sunlight. "Boy, do you have any training as a magus?"
… This was not how you expected this morning to be going, but at the same time it fits with how weird the last twelve hours have been regardless. You shake your head. "My father taught me the basics."
Caster stares at you, then at the pipe, then towards the door. "I shall be disappearing soon."
You blink. "Without breakfast?"
The woman turns her head back towards you, and she is smiling, slightly. "I am nearly out of mana, and as a servant I cannot be sustained without it."
"I'm sorry… a… what?"
"Do you not even know that much boy?" Caster asks, now sounding angry instead of annoyed.
You open your mouth to respond, before Caster shakes her head. "So much mana but… no. I am… like a familiar, a spirit of the past given form again. Heroes."
You blink. "Reincarnation?"
"Of a sort," Caster says. "Though normally such a thing would be impossible, there are circumstances where they become possible. I am a recreation of a soul, I am a spirit, but as alive as you are. And I need mana to exist, I require… a master, someone to draw mana from. In turn, they would be able to command me."
So she's not human, that doesn't actually surprise you at all given everything you had seen so far. Many myriad thoughts had come and gone as to what you thought she might be, but a reincarnated soul was… supposed to be impossible, at least from what little Kiritsugu told you. But then, with Magic, you had rather quickly learned that few things actually were impossible, even a third rate like yourself could attest to that.
But still, this had all come on rather quickly, from a woman being stabbed in the park to now stating she was a reincarnated spirit that required a master in order to
exist. What kind of magic could make such a thing like that possible… you had no idea, and you had nobody to ask either. A million and one questions ran through your mind, but as she stood there, still pale, you found that you didn't have any questions you wanted to ask except one.
"Can I help? My magic circuits aren't the best, but do I have enough?" you stand up as you speak, taking a step towards Caster.
The woman takes a halting step back, the action causing her hood to shift to reveal… surprised eyes. "Just like… that?" Caster asks, in seeming disbelief.
You shrug. "I can do it, and if it would help you like you say… I don't see any reason
not to do it."
Caster stares at you… at least, you can tell she is for a few moments longer before her hood shifts to hide her eyes once more. Caster straightens, recovering from her backstep, then offers a hand forward. "Then swear you shall guide me, servant Caster, to my wish."
You stare at the hand for a second, then grasp it. "I don't know anything about wishes… but I'll help however I can."
That's when the pain starts. A horribly hot stabbing pain through your left hand, like you had slapped it down onto a stove. You gasp, grabbing onto your left hand instinctively as red runes form on the back of your hand.
View: https://i.imgur.com/vGCH74f.png
It is lines, thin red lines like the scribbling of a child. But it is a rune, one of great power, that much you can guess, even if its function is unknown to you.
"Then from this morning forward, my knowledge shall be yours and your fate will be bound to mine." Caster says. "Our contract is complete."
You grimace, the pain still fresh. "Contract?"
Caster smiles, thinly. Reaching up to lower her hood once more. "Do not tell me you have forgotten already, I am your servant, you are my master."
You blink, forcing yourself to lower your hand. The pain was still fresh, and the scent of magic was heavy in the air. But otherwise… you felt fine. "I don't… really know about that, but do you have mana now?"
The woman cocks her head, her blue hair shifting on her head and catching the light coming in through the window in a rather dazzling way. "... Yes, thank you."
That was different from her last 'thanks' you note, in that this one sounded genuine, and that she sounded unused to saying such a thing.
"Now, show me what you were doing before." Caster says, gesturing towards the pipe on the ground.
… Done with the odd contracts already then and back to business? You have somehow more questions than you even did less than a minute prior, double, at least. But at the same time you…
Oh dear.
You sink down to your knees, a dizziness filling your head, a familiar exhaustion. The same kind you felt whenever you did too much with your magic.
"That would be your lack of Od. I had to take a great deal, would you care if I fixed your circuits? They are unused and out of line."
You blink, trying to keep from falling down face first onto the floor. "Fix… my circuits?"
"All of those magic circuits you discarded while creating new ones, they are atrophied, and can be repaired. Made better and grander."
"That's… possible?" you ask.
"To most in this era it would be an impossible task," Caster says, moving to kneel down beside you. "But not to myself. I would leave the decision up to you."
Functioning circuits? Without even needing a crest to rely on? "If it wouldn't be a burden to you." You reply, still not believing quite what she is saying. You should probably be thinking about this more, but as the seconds pass it becomes harder and harder to concentrate… and with proper magic, you could be more like Kiritsugu.
Caster nods, then moves a hand to your back.
The next thing you saw was the floor as you promptly passed out, the last thought going through your head as a searing pain filled your back was that you were probably going to be missing morning classes.
—
Shirou dreamt.
[] [Of Swords]
[] [Of an Island]
[] [Of Battle]
—
Shirou is having a confusing 24 hours. Thoughts?
