Interlude: The Princess and The Sword
Hypnotizing a whole lot of people is really time consuming.
Whilst she learnt how to do it well back at Hecate's temple together with Circe, she was never as good as her when it came down to it.
She rubbed her eyes using her gloves a bit, using the eyes to make a connection with prana can get really itchy after a while.
Right now she was in the room Shirou and her were given to stay in, she made it so that the people living in the temple would think they were siblings.
Hehe, well, Shirou seems like an older brother type!
That brought back memories of Absyrtus… on second thought, it was better not to remember her brother.
Part of her thought she would be disgusted with herself, but she couldn't help but feel extremely detached from her legend past.
Perhaps it was for the best. Looking at her… that dagger was bad enough, she wouldn't be caught off guard by it a second time but it wasn't very pleasant to look at.
At any rate, she started a ritual to slowly coat the crystal ball she made with her enchantment. It was delicate and will take some time, but it will allow them to scry around Fuyuki later.
"Hawaa~" She yawned habitually, she wasn't used to staying up late aside for performing some rituals.
It wasn't as if a Servant could get sleepy due to being spiritual beings, it wasn't as if she was tired either.
Just habits from her early life she supposed.
Not that she would have such a habit in the future considering how much she was on the run for.
She heard something being laid down in front of her.
It was a cup of tea and a plate with food.
Looking up, she saw the now fully auburn-haired older boy (whose hair was slightly bleached for some reason back then, and he was kind of tanned) giving her a kind smile (or at least she hoped it was a kind smile, she didn't have much of those in most of her life) as he sat down in front of her with food and drink of his own.
"Here, you must be hungry."
"Thank you very much! But um… what's this?"
"It's Onigiri. There's some grilled salmon in the middle of the rice, I mixed the rice with a couple of condiments I could find so I hope it's alright. Ah, you're supposed to eat the seaweed wrapping with it."
He guided her on how to eat the strange Japanese food.
"Mmm! It's really yummy!"
"I'm glad it turned out well. Hey, stay still for a second."
Hmm? She felt something brush her cheeks. A Napkin?
"There we go. You had some rice on your cheek."
"Ah, thank you! Japanese rice can be really sticky it seems."
She thought of how to make best use of the rice.
It was always good to know how to improve her domestic skills, especially when it came to cooking. Now that she was in the modern era, she could try out a lot of things to cook
A bright smile was on her face as she enjoyed being treated well.
Medea was very glad that she could smile so much.
A far cry from her first day with Atrum, who went on and on about how rich he was, as if to stroke his Magus pride like a body part that would bring him pleasure.
Compared to Atrum, Shirou seems to be a genuine and kind man.
So long as she kept smiling and agreed with him, surely he won't betray or throw her away, right?
As they finished their meals and drinks, she could see that Shirou was very much weary.
"Do you need to sleep Shirou? Don't worry, you can leave your safety to me. Servants don't need sleep, I'll be right beside you!"
"E-eh, um, you're a girl so I don't think that's appropriate."
"Don't be silly. I'll be working on some things while you sleep so it'll be fine."
"But… even if Servants don't need sleep, it doesn't mean you don't want to, right?"
"I...I rather not fall into my bad sleeping habits again."
"I don't really mind that sort of thing you know."
Ah, Shirou really does seem kind!
"Anyway… you must have some questions huh? Medea."
"Um, Shirou, you don't have to strain yourself."
"No, it's not right to keep you in the dark. Whatever is going on in Fuyuki is different from what I know, and it's best that you know the truth about me."
She hoped that he wouldn't tell her that he was a bad man.
If possible, she would rather not see the killer side of him again as he struck Atrum down.
It would be so much better if everyone could get along, a world without pain and hurts would be a world she would wish for if she actually believed the Grail could grant such a thing.
Medea wanted to believe, but in the end for all that she seemed to trust things and people, it was all a desire to believe in the best rather than actual trust.
"But first, Medea, do you want to know my story?"
"Eh?"
Wasn't he just going to tell her regardless?
He smiled gently that reminded her of her happier days with her family.
"It can be quite a burden if you were to hear it, so I'll leave the decision to you."
"... I want to know more about you, Master. Shirou." She corrected herself after confirming in a formal manner.
She wanted to see what this person was like. If anything, even if he lied she would still give him the benefit of the doubt until proven wrong. She wanted to believe he was trustworthy. So if anything, she needed to know more about him.
And to offer a part of his story was akin to baring his heart out so she would gratefully accept it.
"Okay. Here goes… I'd start by telling you about me… about us, me… and Miyu, my sister."
And so he begun.
"Divinity under the age six. Children that are aged six and below are closer to god or spirits than any other human. There was once a country with such a tradition.
In an age where the death rate of a child birth is insanely high, children are revered as the entity that exists between the boundary of gods and humans.
In this modern age of medicine… such tradition and culture is gone… except in this land.
Fuyuki.
The Sakatsuki Family, a remnant of the Child Religion. I will go into more detail if you want to know more, but at that time, I was but a child on a mission with my adoptive father to find the Child of God in hiding."
Medea agreed very much with his opening narration, it reminded her of the stories she was told that had to set the context first. She raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Um, why were you two looking for the Child of God? And you were adopted, Shirou?"
"Well, yes… let me explain. My adopted father, his name is Kiritsugu Emiya. Father, Mentor and a Hero of Justice."
Even now, she could sense lingering admiration for that term. Hero of Justice, was it important to Shirou?
"He is a weird person and believes in his ideals. He wanted more than anything to bring eternal peace to this world filled with pain and suffering, and to make such a foolish wish as his goal of living."
Shirou had a fond smile even as he recalled such a thing, but it eventually became a sad one.
Why? Medea asked herself.
She herself thought that Kiritsugu's ideal sounded beautiful.
That world without pain and war, would be a wonderful place to live in.
"I lost my parents due to an accident when I was small, and gave up hope beneath the scrap and debris, waiting for my cold eventual death. I'm sure the "Shirou" of that time died at an instant… that's why… when he saved me, I've wanted to be a Hero of Justice just like him. Ever since then, I've been helping him find a way to save humanity."
"That's wonderful!"
She regretted smiling and looking excited when Shirou found it hard to smile at her response.
"Is… something wrong?"
"...No, it's… our way of doing such a thing. Magecraft, Ceremonies, Rituals, Science, Myths, Tradition, Folklores, Stories… we did everything using any methods possible without any remorse. But to no avail… and we funded such activities by metting out "justice"..."
This time, Shirou's eyes grew cold at the word.
"My father's moniker was the "Magus Killer"."
Even if she was a Magus from the Age of Gods, that title chilled her to the bones.
"He specialized in killing Mages that needed to be put down. He took up contracts from various institutes, not excluding the Church and the Clock Tower. The Child of God was no different… or so we thought."
Shirou paused, gulping down on his drink hard as he had a pained expression on his face.
"The Ainsworth Grail War, that year, that day… once again they failed to achieve their goal. As a result… Darkness."
He described the darkness expanding in detail from his alternate Fuyuki city, how the shadow was expanding and consuming the city. She was horrified, she couldn't imagine such a great disaster outside of Hades opening up the earth to swallow cities whole!
"My father hurried us to run. He said it was still okay if it was just this city. Amidst the destruction of the city. Justice has turned a blind side. For the people running in despair when suddenly… something, something pure and divine chased away the darkness."
She felt her own awe building up to match Shirou's as she tried to imagine such a scene herself.
"The darkness stopped, and at one point of the it, it was at the edge of the Sakatsuki household. The darkness was stopped just a single feet away from her. The Child of God. Miyu Sakatsuki. My sister."
Shirou stopped himself, coughing a bit before covering his eyes with his right hand…
"That day, the first time Justice failed me… I met her, black hair and red eyes. I saved her from her collapsing house and… her first words were "This is the first hug… since mother died.""
…
There was a long pause, Medea had a strong pang of empathy for this girl.
She knew from the hints from Shirou on what kind of man Kiritsugu was and is.
They wanted to… to use her.
No...no, is this what Justice is to them? Then this... but to bring a praceful world through the sacrifice of one young girl is...
"Kiritsugu began obsessed. She was his hope of saving humanity. We set up our home there to keep her from everyone else. I told myself, again and again, that Kiritsugu was right. He had to be right. There was no need to consider the other end of the scale. That she was just a tool. Don't see her as human! Sacrifice the few to save many! And then… she tugged on my sleeve, and said. "Onii-chan, let's play.""
To be used as a tool… what a cruel fate… but, Shirou wouldn't be telling such a tale if that was where it ended.
"I could never stop seeing her as human. Kiritsugu was sick, in the end, in our last conversation he regretted all his mistakes, talked about how he always made everything worse. Chasing after what was right could never be a mistake, I will never let it be a mistake. Was what I promised that time… he was content. So I tried to be live up to him, but I could never do it."
Medea wss relieved, and thankful that Shirou did such a thing. If Justice is ruthless like that, as her older self knew to be true as she was on the receiving end on it most of the time, then Medea didn't think she liked Justice very much.
Thank the gods that Shirou chose his sister over his ideals.
He talked briefly about his years, training himself, going to school, every day finding a way to use Miyu but… we were definitely brother and sister. One day, we sat beneath the stars and I talked about directing our wishes to the stars. She said this… "I wish upon the stars, If I could have just one wish…"
"She wished that we could be true brothers and sisters…. That day, that wish was granted by herself."
Tears freely well from his eyes.
"Every day, every moment I tried to be like Kiritsugu… because I was empty. Shirou died back then, I was like an empty shell. A faker. But that day, I learnt what it was like to be human. From Miyu… I learned, the only thing humans can do is make choices. I guess that was the moment of my decision."
Medea watched, observed and analyzed.
In the end, she smiled.
How could she not?
He didn't even need to say it, she knew what decision he made back then.
Ah, she wished her older brother would have been like that too. He did try to chase and stop her back then when she was enchanted by Aphrodite. If he didn't oppose her back then, perhaps her crazed self wouldn't have…
No, this is a different matter. Seeing Shirou like this was her trying to not compare him to someone else.
To that… Jason.
She shook her head as she focused on Miyu instead, only for Shirou to talk about another girl this time.
Sakura Matou.
She could sense some sense of fear and regret… of loss, even as he smiled and talked about how sad she would look… and of his own suspicions if there was a counterpart of her in this world.
For a moment, Medea was jealous about how he talked about her.
It was only the sense of gloom and how hard he was holding back from resuming crying that told her what had happened.
"I may have been a failure of a hero of justice, but I came to believe that… there was a meaning within the choice I made. But when I took Miyu out for the first time… Julian Ichigi, or… Julian Ainsworth came to take everything away from me."
He told her everything, about failing to save Miyu, about being rescued by Kirei Kotomine… trying his best for a month but failing everything.
Worst of all… Julian was living his wish of being a Hero of Justice.
Everything he believed in, it was something that he struggled with… using Miyu Saka-Emiya, to save the world.
But he already made his choice on what was precious to him.
And one day… Sakura ate at his place… and they talked for the last time.
"She wanted to run away with me after admitting to her own role in the Holy Grail War. She would have given up everything to be together with me. If I just grasped that trembling shoulder of hers as she was on my chest I would have… it would have been so easy. And right then, I imagined all of it. A romance, running away from Miyu, of everything I loss, of my mistakes… marrying her, holding hands and living for the future. But I couldn't. Miyu needed me."
Then she heard all about her death, about how Sakura, even if she wasn't chosen by him… fought to protect him.
"W-wait, Shirou… please, give me a moment."
"Ahh…."
She needed to pause there.
Sakura… was a better person than she was. From what Shirou had told her, she determined that Sakura was at the very least also used as a tool from the start but… in the end, she truly fought 'for her love', not 'for love'.
… That was the key distinction between her cursed older self and Sakura. She gave everything to Shirou even if he rejected her, the older Medea would take everything from Jason when he tossed her aside. The circumstances were different, they were different people and yet… Medea couldn't help but feel pained and envious about such a person.
Shirou talked about fighting with the Archer card, and how he used a Heroic Spirit of HIMSELF to win the Holy Grail War in one single night.
"Without a moment of rest, enemies with cards came by one after another. I could feel it, that Julian was finally getting serious. Everyone of them was tough, but they were deranged dolls. Being in complete sync with my heroic spirit. I had the upper hand but still, I would barely make it out alive. But I won…"
"Is that… how you conjured Rule Breaker? That accursed dagger?"
"... yes. I fought with a doll with your older self installed as Caster. That was how I gained Rule Breaker."
"But… how can you make such a perfect copy? The prana cost would be tremendous!"
"That, it EMIYA's power, and my power as well. Is this place warded for prana outbursts?"
"I did fortify it so."
"Then it's best that I show you."
Shirou continued talking while standing up.
Just then a surge of prana filled the entire room, it was a cold wind blowing, spinning around the room and lifting the loose sheets of paper that Shirou brought in.
"Kyaa!" She held down her dress, afraid that what was underneath would be seen. Although Shirou didn't seem very concerned about it.
"I am the bone of my sword.
This is the power allows me to fight against heroes of legend.
Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.
The only thing that encapsulated the efforts of a Hero of Justice.
I have created over a thousand blades.
The power that was meant for humanity's sake.
Unaware of beginning,
I swore an oath under the starless night.
Nor aware of the end.
Under the snow, that I would use that power,
Withstood pain with inconsistent weapons,
For one person alone.
My hands will never hold anything.
Even though I lost everything, my ideals and those I cared about.
Yet, my flame never ends.
There was still something I could do. So long as my body was still here.
My whole body was
Still
Unlimited Blade Works"
Flames spread forth from his being as he invoked his aria.
Cold. That was the first feeling Medea felt as she was brought into this new world.
She stood still, gaping at what she was seeing.
Switching individual and collective, fantasy and reality, inside and outside, overwriting the world's with one's mind and soul.
The innermost Thaumaturgy that even with Territory Creation Rank A, she couldn't come close to replicating in its truest sense.
Reality Marble.
Shirou stood there, pulling up a sword wreathed in flames.
"This is the world EMIYA and I saw. This is my soul laid bare. This is me. I don't create swords, I create a world of infinite swords. But to me, they're more like graves. This is the only thing that allows a fake like me to keep up with humanity's oldest hero, Gilgamesh."
What did he want her to think by showing her this?
The Magus part of her wanted to explore this endless land filled with the crystallized legends of Heroic Spirits.
But the young girl Medea, right now, could only cry.
She could only cry for him, as she finally understood what kind of person he was.
Even now, even as he treasured his sister Miyu… he couldn't care less about his life.
A part of her wished that she was treasured to such an extent back in her life.
She was used as a tool like Miyu, in her own way, but she didn't' have someone like Shirou by her side back in her era.
The Reality Marble faded away, and she felt something warm embrace her.
"Shh, don't cry. Please… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. Shh, don't cry."
"I-I'll be alright." She said to him, even as she briefly enjoyed the warm and gentle gesture.
She's seen the memories of an older Medea, this sort of thing wouldn't keep her down for very long.
Now, she didn't need to hear more from him to know what kind of person he was, she didn't need to know whether she could trust him or not.
She already knew that she could at the very least, trust that he was a good man. A self-proclaimed "evil" man, but one with a good heart.
Now, she listened to him because she simply wanted to know more about him.
About the man that reminded her of the Jason she thought she knew from the beginning until power, wealth and fame corrupted him, or so she chose to believe.
This was fine.
She now knew why he was so injured.
Why he was so weary.
A friend that loved him had just died protecting him not even a day ago, he fought to the death and sent his sister to another world regardless of his own well being.
He never even thought of wishing to go with her, to be more selfish than that.
Even if he couldn't become a Hero to the masses, even if he could only be a hero to his little sister, at the very least, Medea would allow him to be a hero to herself.
"That's everything from my end. Sorry, it turned out to be a pretty long story."
"...It's fine." Tears began to fell from her eyes as she let it all settle in. More than the sad story, what she was crying for was both for the man himself and for the fact that someone treated her in such a way that he literally bared his soul to her. "Thank you… for telling me."
To be treated specially like this after all that her older self has done, she didn't think she did anything deserving of it.
Ever since the beginning, all she held was distrust for him despite her obedience and going along with whatever he wanted to do.
Even as she cried, she asked herself if it was okay to be happy like this? To be trusted to such a point by someone.
She wondered if she could change from her current self that was fearful and distrustful of everything outside her comfort zone.
Ah, but something like that should be reserved for when they can talk about the future.
