View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbVXTQrtzQs
[Reveal yourself as a Magus]
Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!
—
"Shirou, your house is in ruins, Sakura's house burned down. You're living with the Yakuza, and you are surrounded by strange people. Tell me the truth,
please."
It's… a request with more weight than she would ever realize. Not that you would expect her to know that. Ayako likely thinks you are getting involved in some form of organized crime, which was not an unfair judgment to make, honestly. After all, you were living with
Raiga, a man powerful enough that the police basically ignored his existence. Sadly, if it was only that you would be relieved.
But it was so much more than that. The question was, should you tell her? To tell anyone not related to magic about it was dangerous, there was no
benefit to it. A non-magus couldn't learn magic, at least not practically, and to involve them with it would do nothing more than mark them as something to be removed later by a cleaner. Or, god forbid, be just taken as a test subject that nobody would miss.
Magus tended to look at regular humans much like a regular man would an interesting cloud. Some brief interest, but they treated it as something ephemeral and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. In short, from what Kiritsugu had taught you, most Magus were less than pleasant people, and considering how this Grail War was going, that had gone from a mere lesson to something with far more evidence backing it up. You had
little patience for Magi at the moment, and you only knew Sakura and
maybe Rin.
So you'd be putting her in danger, for what? Making her feel better? That went against every single sensibility you had. But she already
was in danger. You knew that, as much as you hated to admit it. Her brother had been attacked, and this whole city was a target at this point. Between that…
monster, and that archer that thought
nothing of civilian casualties, you had no guarantee that she'd be safe whether she knew about magic or not. And then, if she did, she might even be more conscious of what was going on. It was a burden, an awful burden you'd be putting her under. But to do otherwise while she was involved with you was worse.
And you'd be damned before you even begin to allow her to be put into danger if you could do anything about it. Even if that meant breaking one of your promises to Kiritsugu. You turn your head, staring Ayako in the eyes. The girl flinches back from your gaze. "I'm a Magus."
Ayako blinks. "What? Ma…gus?"
You let out a breath. She didn't freak out like Sakura, which meant she had no idea what you were talking about. This was good. If Ayako was
also a Magus you aren't frankly sure how you'd process it. "I know magic."
Ayako tilts her head not unlike a puppy. Then she leans over the bed, grasping either side of your head as her eyes bore into your own. "You don't
look concussed."
You roll your eyes and push her hands away with your bandaged hands. You don't know how you made that bow the previous night, and you fear attempting to do so again would cause your hands to simply explode. But there were other things you could do. You look towards the nearby table, and the small bouquet sitting upon it. Then you point a oven-mitt of hand towards it. "Αερο."
Ayako's hair snaps in a sudden wind, her eyes widening from the sudden force rushing past her. She snaps her head to follow the sound, the force, and watches along with you as the top of the bouquet falls to the table, settling down as if they had simply wilted off. It was a clean cut.
… Circe had taught you a dangerous spell indeed.
"Shirou… what… was that?"
"Magic." You reply simply.
Ayako turns her head, haltingly back towards you. "That's… an interesting trick Shirou, but what's going on here?" Her voice has a touch of desperation towards it, as if she was hoping you were lying.
You stare at Ayako, and grabbing one of the many, many pillows on the bed. You make a show of squeezing it in your hand. Then… you hand it to her. Ayako takes it, staring down at it. She squeezes in the same way you did, and, unlike when you did it, her hands don't sink into the material at all. That doesn't surprise you, the pillow currently had the structural hardness of steel.
Her mouth opens, but no words come out, her eyes flit from the pillow, to you and back again, and she finally squeezes your eyes shut. "Shirou, I would very much appreciate it if this was all a prank."
You let out a long and slow breath. "It's not. My father taught me magic."
"Bullshit!" Ayako's eyes snap open, "Shirou? Do you think I'm stupid?"
"No," you reply. "I've never thought that. But you asked to know what was going on."
"I expected you to say you got taken in by Raiga, or you owed him a blood debt or… something. Not this. How do you expect me to believe this?"
You could just call Caster over, but you doubt she'd be happy putting on a show. "I'm not lying to you Ayako. I'm a Magus, taught by my father."
"How does that even make sense Shirou. Magic? You just want to drop…
magic into my life, and our relationship, and expect me to just accept that."
"I don't expect you to just
accept anything Ayako. But you asked for an explanation, I'm giving it." You let out another breath, pressing your head back against the pillow. "Magic is real and I'm… very bad at it actually, but I got dragged into all of this nonsense."
"And what
is this nonsense Shirou? Are you fighting dragons or something?" Ayako asks sarcastically. She does not seem to be taking this particularly well.
"No, just the thing that attacked your brother." You snap back, then grimace. You knew this was going to be a difficult conversation.
"He was attacked by a mugger!" Ayako replies.
"He was attacked by a seven foot monster that
stabbed me." You correct.
"And you saved him with your magic powers?"
"No, with Caster's," you reply. "I distracted it and let it chase me, I wanted to save your brother but I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it."
"I… Shirou." Ayako says slowly. "You are stating you are a
wizard, and my brother was attacked by a monster."
You tilt your head and look Ayako directly in the eyes. Reaching a hand down, you wiggle the bandages, ignoring the stabbing pain, and reveal, after some effort, part of the command seal on the back of your wrist. "I can't pull a rabbit out of a hat Ayako, but I'm not kidding either."
"Why… why don't you just tell me something more believable Shi-"
"
Caster."
You would say the woman was waiting for you to call her to sort out this mess, but, in general, Caster seemed to appear whenever you called her name regardless. And, like you expected. She appeared just between you and Ayako.
The highschooler, also as expected, screamed.
Caster paid her no mind, instead turning her full attention… from what you could see of it underneath the hood, to you. "Revealing yourself to
another one, Master?"
"She's involved regardless," you explain. "No reason not to tell her."
"There are numerous reasons not to tell one about magecraft in this pitiful day and age." Caster reminds.
"Did… did she just teleport in here?" Ayako asks, slowly, carefully.
Caster turns her head to look at the teenager, and Ayako flinches back. "No, I have merely moved far faster than you could ever comprehend. Girl my Master is so enthused with, he has given you a rare gift, I would suggest not proclaiming him a base liar."
Ayako stares up at the woman. "I… I wasn't."
"You were," Caster says bluntly. "And he has taken me from my work at warding this place just to prove that point to you. Now." Caster then disappears, like she had never been there to begin with. The only sign of her presence being the light scent of the perfume she favored.
Ayako stares at the spot Caster just vacated, then moves a hand to her head. "... I feel a headache coming on."
You sigh. "Can't fix that sadly, but no, I'm not kidding."
Ayako moves the hand so that she's staring at you between the fingers. "Not taking this well Shirou. Frankly still not sure this is real."
Sometimes you wish it wasn't, you really, really wish it wasn't. Then so many people wouldn't have been hurt. You wanted to be a Magus, as it let you help people. Even something as small as fixing heaters at the school was enough for you. But you were seemingly the only person on this entire planet who had such an ideal. The screams of Raiga's men still echoed in your mind whenever you had a moment's time to think.
If you found the master of that servant.
You were going to kill them. That was always the fascinating thing about Magus. Something your father had drilled into you. There are no rules about killing other Magus, they are simply too dangerous to be left alive if they have gone rogue.
"So is this how you became so good at archery?" Ayako asks.
You blink, broken from your thoughts. Ayako had her chin perched on a fist, a perplexed expression on her face. "No." You respond after a few seconds. "I never used my magic with archery, my magic is… very basic."
"...Basic?" Ayako repeats.
She seems to be coming around to the idea at the very least. "The only thing I'm particularly good at is analyzing objects to see what they are made of, and seeing what is wrong with them."
"So you being the 'repair wizard' is very literal actually."
You sigh. "Technically yes. Does this mean you believe me now Ayako?"
"Dunno." Ayako admits. "Still not sure if I didn't accidentally bash my head in outside and I'm hallucinating all of this. What do you expect me to think when I find out my boyfriend is a
wizard?" Ayako's eyes flit to the closed window for a moment, then a look of realization comes across her face. "So why did my brother get attacked then?"
You shrug your shoulders. "I'm honestly not sure, someone's servant is going rampant across the city."
"Servant?"
… You summoned Caster without explaining what a servant was, or what the Grail War was. Fantastic Shirou. "Long story short, and I'm not the best one to explain this: a group of Magi are currently battling in the city in order to win a wish. Said wish can… apparently be anything you could imagine. We do that via our servants, magical summons basically. Caster is mine." Berserker is as well, but you don't think Ayako is ready for that quite yet. "There's one I've had to deal with thrice now, twice directly, once indirectly. It's a beast, and doesn't seem to care
what damage it causes, it's what destroyed my house actually."
"So that… blue chick, she's a familiar. Like a witch's cat?"
"I don't think she would appreciate the comparison," you reply. "A cat is a far more basic form of familiar and…" You move a hand to your head. "Yes. She's like a witch's cat."
That also is a gross misunderstanding of what a 'witch' is, but you aren't going to get into that at the moment.
"So the city is on fire and everything is in chaos because a bunch of magic people want a wish, including you." Ayako says, staring at you with her eyes half lidded.
"I don't want a wish and I got dragged into this by accident," you reply. "I'm just trying to minimize the damage so that more people aren't hurt."
"I believe you." Ayako replies.
You look over at her, somewhat surprised.
Ayako shrugs her shoulders. "Why not? Shirou, I've known you for years, you don't have a greedy bone in your body. You saved my brother, and he doesn't know magic. I assume you kept this all a secret so you wouldn't be executed or something?"
You shake your head. "The more people know about magic, the less well it works generally. It's complicated and I couldn't go into the full details. But it's also just… dangerous to know about magic, most Magi who meet a non-Magi that knows about magic would see them as little more than a loose end. I kept it quiet from you for the same reason nobody else in school knows about it, safety."
Ayako draws in a slow breath, then lets it out, seemingly deflating a little. "Magic is real, my boyfriend is one of them, and Fuyuki is the center of a warzone between wizards."
"It would have been safer if you didn't know," you reply. "I'm sorry. I wanted to protect you."
Ayako quirks a brow. "Looks like you need the protection more than me," she gestures to your bandaged hands as she speaks.
You shake your head. "You don't deserve to be in the middle of all of this, no non-magi do. Frankly if you wanted to stay away for a bit I would understand."
Ayako frowns, then presses her hands down onto the gigantic bed. You watch in silence as she climbs up onto it, then sits down just beside your lap, her legs dangling over the side of the bed. "I did
not charge a Yakuza compound just for you to suggest we split before we've even had our first date."
"What did you even see in me anyway, besides saving your brother?" you ask, without thinking. You realize your error a moment later as Ayako's face takes a shade not far from a ripe tomato.
"... A boy shouldn't ask a girl something like that Shirou."
You open your mouth to apologize, but Ayako continues.
"I usually like older guys," Ayako says. "But you're nice, and you've always been kind to me. Archery club and otherwise, I thought… why not." Ayako then leans in closer, her face a foot away from your own. "I'm not even sure I still believe in all this magic business, but I'm not letting
you go anywhere, you'll likely manage to damage more than just your hands."
Then she closes the distance, her lips locking with your own. Unlike the rapid kiss from before back in this archery club, this was slower and… sweeter. Ayako's hand moves to slide around the back of your neck as her head tilts. Then she pulls back, a thin line connecting your two lips before she idly wipes it away with the back of her hand. Then, to your surprise she lowers herself to rest her head against your shoulder, the smaller girl wiggling up so that she's basically spooning you.
"Ayako?" you say slowly.
"You owe me a date, and if you can't take me anywhere due to your hands, then I'm just going to take a nap. Maybe when I wake up all this magic crap will be a dream."
You stare down at her. Ayako has a small smile on her face, her hands moving to rest on her stomach as she lays there. As you watch, her eyes drift close as she lets out a soft hum.
You talked for a good hour, about… nothing, not schoolwork, not magecraft, just light little things. Archery, food, the weather. Anything and everything except what was going on until she eventually drifted off to sleep. Seemingly forgetting all of her own problems.
…
If only it was that easy.
You look away from her towards the ceiling, then allow your own eyes to drift shut. That was another one you suppose, another person dragged into this mess. But then, Ayako was already.
You would protect her.
You had to.
—
Shirou dreamt.
[] [Of Circe's Teachings]
[] [Of Medea's Life]
[] [Of Betrayal]
[] [Of a Nameless Isle]
[] [Of a Dancer]
---
Thoughts on a chapter please? Haven't written something like this in a while.
