How will Sayaka Miki cope, when memories dredged up from deep within by her wish reveal exactly what end awaited the last time this soul accepted a contract to become a Hero of Justice?
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Her Body Too, Is Made of Swords (PMMM/Fate)
- Thread starter Zea_Dragon
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Pilot
Homura Akemi hung suspended in the air with a resigned expression, tied up in Mami's ribbons at the entry point of Charlotte's labyrinth. Her brows furrowed in frustration as she tried to coax out the enchanted combat knife out of her sleeve.
Sometimes, she wondered why she's still trying to save Mami Tomoe. Especially in moments like this, when the person she was trying to keep alive was actively working against her own survival.
At least Mami does it for reasons that were actually understandable and mostly correct when taking into account the standoffish and uncooperative first impression she made. Sayaka Miki, the other person of interest of the group, regarded her with mistrust and hostility even when she was trying to make a good impression ever since Homura stopped being a meek, stuttering awkward girl.
And keeping Mami alive, although having low chances, still falls into the "feasible" category so long she survives Charlotte and is kept from the information regarding where witches come from.
Unlike Sayaka, who picks the fast track to her self-destruction every single time and manages to cause Madoka pain no matter how hard Homura tries-
The ravenette shook her head, allowing herself a "Dammit Sayaka," as she focused her frustration into cutting herself out, before managing to get her knife arm free, after which she made short work of the rest of the bindings.
Freezing time the moment she hit the ground, Homura pulled out a rocket launcher out of her shield and sprinted towards Charlotte's nest, praying that she would still be in time.
And to the time-traveler's relief, she was. Mami was still at the stage where she was toying around with the witch's doll-like shell.
Homura positioned herself behind a giant donut where she could still have Madoka and Sayaka in her sight but clear of the shot, and let time resume, watching for the right moment to intervene.
If she managed to keep Mami alive, it would already be a significant step towards making this loop go well...and maybe, just maybe just making it the last one.
Of course, it was while she was thinking these sorts of thoughts when everything decided it would all start going to hell.
Homura barely got to turn her head towards the flash and shouting coming from Madoka's and Sayaka's cover before she had both her weapon and the wind knocked out of her.
She only managed to get a glimpse of a blue blur, but even so Homura instantly knew who was responsible.
Goddammit Sayaka!
The last few days were like a dream to Sayaka Miki.
Magic was real! Magical girls were real! The monsters that prey on humans that they hunt in secret were real, too! And on top of all that, she and her best friend were picked as ones having the potential to become magical girls! Sayaka would've paid to get in on all this even if she didn't get an honest to god wish in exchange!
Well, this all also came with that creepy transfer student that Madoka kept insisting was a good person, but it's easy to ignore when the ravenette barely interacts with them anyways.
And especially so when they now have a cool senpai like Mami to show them the ropes!
She made sure they would take the time to think over their wishes and everything! Mami brought them along on hunts too to show them what labyrinths and fighting witches was like.
And man, watching their senpai fight was a spectacle. Mami made fighting with guns seem like an elegant dance! Sayaka couldn't wait to get her powers and get to be the awesome hero she always dreamed of being.
<Sayaka Miki.>
"Huh?" she blinked, turning to look at Kyubey.
<You might want to look behind you. Homura Akemi looks like she's about to shoot.>
"What-"
Sayaka's words died on her tongue after she whipped her head around and saw Homura Akemi holding a freaking rocket launcher on her shoulder aimed towards where Mami was fighting the witch.
The first thing the bleunette felt was vindication - she just knew at first glance that there was something off about the transfer student no matter how much Madoka argued - but that was immediately washed out by panic when the facts of the situation left her with choice paralysis.
Mami was in danger. Sayaka could call out to warn her, but expecting her to fight both a witch and a magical girl who might be able to spam rocket launchers like Mami with her muskets seemed too much.
Sayaka and Madoka were probably in danger, too. If the transfer student was willing to stoop to attacking Mami for the Grief Seed, who's to say she won't hurt them, either?
'What do I do?'
Of course, bull rushing the girl with the enchanted baseball bat was among the first things she considered, but even Sayaka Miki could tell that having an RPG aimed at her was a bad idea.
'What do I do?'
Everything she could think of doing only seemed to result in putting them in more danger. Sayaka swallowed drily, her heart began pounding in her ears as she anxiously looked between Mami and Madoka and Kyuubey-
Of course!
"Kyubey! I wish for the power to save my fr- the ones I care about!" she shouted at the mascot-animal thing on her friend's shoulder, stumbling over the wording.
"Sayaka wait-"
<Very well!>
Promptly, Sayaka felt something being torn out of her, making her grit her teeth in pain for several long moments before she felt a wave of cool calmness wash over her.
-bodymadeoutofswordsbloodofironheartofglass-
<Congratulations. Your soul has prevailed over entropy!>
-countlessbattlefieldsnotretreatingnotunderstood-
Sayaka blinked her eyes open to see an azure egg-like gem much like Mamis, glowing with an inner light the color of the sunset- no, rust.
-alwaysaloneintoxicatedvictoryonhillofswords-
Her body moved on its own, reaching out and taking it into her hands.
-thuslifenomeaningbodycertainlymadeofswords-
The flash of light only lasted an instant. And right after that instant, she moved.
Beady red eyes watched her blurring figure unblinkingly.
<An anomalous soul. Fascinating.>
Homura groaned in pain as the tackle threw her against the pole of a gigantic lollipop, but forced herself to ignore it with practiced ease and opened her eyes to look at her assailant, only to be met with a sight that brought her up short.
Sayaka Miki's magical girl outfit looked...different.
Of course, variations of timing and situation where she made her wish sometimes resulted in a slightly different ensemble, such as the occasional golden cape, but this was something entirely new.
Sayaka wore some sort of black, skin-tight armor with black pants and steel-toed thigh-high boots. On top, she had what looked like a blue coat that had the top and bottom half split, with the lower half held up by a belt. Finally, the girl's soul gem appeared in the form of an arrowhead-shaped pendant around her neck.
New things rattled Homura.
And rather than the girl's different outfit, what rattled her more than anything else was the girl's expression.
It was unbelievably unsettling seeing the cold, stoic mask she herself wore on Sayaka.
Homura instantly reached for the shield to freeze time and get distance, but the bleunette stabbed a blade at her with frightening speed. She would not be able to turn her shield fast enough. Bracing herself for the pain, the time-traveler grit her teeth.
Thunk!
But the pain never came.
To her further befuddlement, Homura opened her eyes to see a thin blade with a small, red hilt stabbed into the ground by her side, then her eyes locked on to Sayaka's turned back. She made to move and get up, but found that her body would not listen to her.
'What?'
Homura tried to move again, pouring magical energy into her limbs to strengthen them to no avail.
'What did she do?' she thought in alarm as she looked between the blade and the girl. 'The sword didn't even hit me!' The ravenette's mind raced as she scanned the blade from top to bottom.
Wait.
'It's stabbed...into my shadow?'
"Tiro Finale!"
Homura was broken out of her thoughts by the bang of a cannon that filled her with dread, then resignation. Her body would've sagged, had it been able to move.
Mami was going to die and she wasn't able to stop it.
"Trace, on."
However, her attention was stolen once again, this time by the flare of magic in front of her. She watched with wide eyes as magical light appeared in each of Sayaka's hands, which then quickly began to expand. The one in her left hand materialized a big, black bow while the one in her right conjured an ominous, coiling black sword. Said sword then began to twist into itself and thin out into an arrow, crackling with an energy that tinged the air with bloodlust.
Sayaka nocked it, its crackle only becoming more prominent as the girl seemed to charge the shot, climaxing right as Charlotte shed her doll-like shell and made to bite a confused Mami's head off.
"Fly and hunt, Hrunting."
The subsequent release of the arrow caused enough of a buffet of the wind to make a person reflexively shut their eyes, but Homura didn't so much as blink as she saw the Sweets Witch's worm-like form fold over for a split second from the arrow stuck in its side before an explosion reverberated through the nest.
The ravenette gaped like fish.
'She...she saved her.'
Relief, hope, and disbelief were several things one would expect the girl to feel at that moment, but in fact she felt something completely different.
Homura Akemi felt cheated.
The fact that this may be a one-time anomalous occurrence be damned, why did Homura only encounter it now, after going through so many loops that she lost count? If she had known Sayaka had the potential for this kind of attitude and firepower, she might have already defeated Walpurgisnacht and saved Madoka.
What was it that triggered it? What did she do differently this time around? Was it that she managed to follow Mami into the labyrinth after being noticed? Was the Incubator somehow involved?
Again, Homura didn't get to finish her train of thoughts, interrupted by the shudder of the environment as it faded and coalesced into a grief seed, leaving the group sprawled besides the bicycle park of the hospital.
Sayaka's magical girl outfit flashed back into her mundane clothing as she teetered and turned, looking at everyone with a lopsided smile.
"I did it...nobody died!" she exclaimed woozily, before her eyes rolled up in her head and fell on her back with a thud.
Sometimes, she wondered why she's still trying to save Mami Tomoe. Especially in moments like this, when the person she was trying to keep alive was actively working against her own survival.
At least Mami does it for reasons that were actually understandable and mostly correct when taking into account the standoffish and uncooperative first impression she made. Sayaka Miki, the other person of interest of the group, regarded her with mistrust and hostility even when she was trying to make a good impression ever since Homura stopped being a meek, stuttering awkward girl.
And keeping Mami alive, although having low chances, still falls into the "feasible" category so long she survives Charlotte and is kept from the information regarding where witches come from.
Unlike Sayaka, who picks the fast track to her self-destruction every single time and manages to cause Madoka pain no matter how hard Homura tries-
The ravenette shook her head, allowing herself a "Dammit Sayaka," as she focused her frustration into cutting herself out, before managing to get her knife arm free, after which she made short work of the rest of the bindings.
Freezing time the moment she hit the ground, Homura pulled out a rocket launcher out of her shield and sprinted towards Charlotte's nest, praying that she would still be in time.
And to the time-traveler's relief, she was. Mami was still at the stage where she was toying around with the witch's doll-like shell.
Homura positioned herself behind a giant donut where she could still have Madoka and Sayaka in her sight but clear of the shot, and let time resume, watching for the right moment to intervene.
If she managed to keep Mami alive, it would already be a significant step towards making this loop go well...and maybe, just maybe just making it the last one.
Of course, it was while she was thinking these sorts of thoughts when everything decided it would all start going to hell.
Homura barely got to turn her head towards the flash and shouting coming from Madoka's and Sayaka's cover before she had both her weapon and the wind knocked out of her.
She only managed to get a glimpse of a blue blur, but even so Homura instantly knew who was responsible.
Goddammit Sayaka!
~~o0o~~
The last few days were like a dream to Sayaka Miki.
Magic was real! Magical girls were real! The monsters that prey on humans that they hunt in secret were real, too! And on top of all that, she and her best friend were picked as ones having the potential to become magical girls! Sayaka would've paid to get in on all this even if she didn't get an honest to god wish in exchange!
Well, this all also came with that creepy transfer student that Madoka kept insisting was a good person, but it's easy to ignore when the ravenette barely interacts with them anyways.
And especially so when they now have a cool senpai like Mami to show them the ropes!
She made sure they would take the time to think over their wishes and everything! Mami brought them along on hunts too to show them what labyrinths and fighting witches was like.
And man, watching their senpai fight was a spectacle. Mami made fighting with guns seem like an elegant dance! Sayaka couldn't wait to get her powers and get to be the awesome hero she always dreamed of being.
<Sayaka Miki.>
"Huh?" she blinked, turning to look at Kyubey.
<You might want to look behind you. Homura Akemi looks like she's about to shoot.>
"What-"
Sayaka's words died on her tongue after she whipped her head around and saw Homura Akemi holding a freaking rocket launcher on her shoulder aimed towards where Mami was fighting the witch.
The first thing the bleunette felt was vindication - she just knew at first glance that there was something off about the transfer student no matter how much Madoka argued - but that was immediately washed out by panic when the facts of the situation left her with choice paralysis.
Mami was in danger. Sayaka could call out to warn her, but expecting her to fight both a witch and a magical girl who might be able to spam rocket launchers like Mami with her muskets seemed too much.
Sayaka and Madoka were probably in danger, too. If the transfer student was willing to stoop to attacking Mami for the Grief Seed, who's to say she won't hurt them, either?
'What do I do?'
Of course, bull rushing the girl with the enchanted baseball bat was among the first things she considered, but even Sayaka Miki could tell that having an RPG aimed at her was a bad idea.
'What do I do?'
Everything she could think of doing only seemed to result in putting them in more danger. Sayaka swallowed drily, her heart began pounding in her ears as she anxiously looked between Mami and Madoka and Kyuubey-
Of course!
"Kyubey! I wish for the power to save my fr- the ones I care about!" she shouted at the mascot-animal thing on her friend's shoulder, stumbling over the wording.
"Sayaka wait-"
<Very well!>
Promptly, Sayaka felt something being torn out of her, making her grit her teeth in pain for several long moments before she felt a wave of cool calmness wash over her.
-bodymadeoutofswordsbloodofironheartofglass-
<Congratulations. Your soul has prevailed over entropy!>
-countlessbattlefieldsnotretreatingnotunderstood-
Sayaka blinked her eyes open to see an azure egg-like gem much like Mamis, glowing with an inner light the color of the sunset- no, rust.
-alwaysaloneintoxicatedvictoryonhillofswords-
Her body moved on its own, reaching out and taking it into her hands.
-thuslifenomeaningbodycertainlymadeofswords-
The flash of light only lasted an instant. And right after that instant, she moved.
Beady red eyes watched her blurring figure unblinkingly.
<An anomalous soul. Fascinating.>
~~o0o~~
Homura groaned in pain as the tackle threw her against the pole of a gigantic lollipop, but forced herself to ignore it with practiced ease and opened her eyes to look at her assailant, only to be met with a sight that brought her up short.
Sayaka Miki's magical girl outfit looked...different.
Of course, variations of timing and situation where she made her wish sometimes resulted in a slightly different ensemble, such as the occasional golden cape, but this was something entirely new.
Sayaka wore some sort of black, skin-tight armor with black pants and steel-toed thigh-high boots. On top, she had what looked like a blue coat that had the top and bottom half split, with the lower half held up by a belt. Finally, the girl's soul gem appeared in the form of an arrowhead-shaped pendant around her neck.
New things rattled Homura.
And rather than the girl's different outfit, what rattled her more than anything else was the girl's expression.
It was unbelievably unsettling seeing the cold, stoic mask she herself wore on Sayaka.
Homura instantly reached for the shield to freeze time and get distance, but the bleunette stabbed a blade at her with frightening speed. She would not be able to turn her shield fast enough. Bracing herself for the pain, the time-traveler grit her teeth.
Thunk!
But the pain never came.
To her further befuddlement, Homura opened her eyes to see a thin blade with a small, red hilt stabbed into the ground by her side, then her eyes locked on to Sayaka's turned back. She made to move and get up, but found that her body would not listen to her.
'What?'
Homura tried to move again, pouring magical energy into her limbs to strengthen them to no avail.
'What did she do?' she thought in alarm as she looked between the blade and the girl. 'The sword didn't even hit me!' The ravenette's mind raced as she scanned the blade from top to bottom.
Wait.
'It's stabbed...into my shadow?'
"Tiro Finale!"
Homura was broken out of her thoughts by the bang of a cannon that filled her with dread, then resignation. Her body would've sagged, had it been able to move.
Mami was going to die and she wasn't able to stop it.
"Trace, on."
However, her attention was stolen once again, this time by the flare of magic in front of her. She watched with wide eyes as magical light appeared in each of Sayaka's hands, which then quickly began to expand. The one in her left hand materialized a big, black bow while the one in her right conjured an ominous, coiling black sword. Said sword then began to twist into itself and thin out into an arrow, crackling with an energy that tinged the air with bloodlust.
Sayaka nocked it, its crackle only becoming more prominent as the girl seemed to charge the shot, climaxing right as Charlotte shed her doll-like shell and made to bite a confused Mami's head off.
"Fly and hunt, Hrunting."
The subsequent release of the arrow caused enough of a buffet of the wind to make a person reflexively shut their eyes, but Homura didn't so much as blink as she saw the Sweets Witch's worm-like form fold over for a split second from the arrow stuck in its side before an explosion reverberated through the nest.
The ravenette gaped like fish.
'She...she saved her.'
Relief, hope, and disbelief were several things one would expect the girl to feel at that moment, but in fact she felt something completely different.
Homura Akemi felt cheated.
The fact that this may be a one-time anomalous occurrence be damned, why did Homura only encounter it now, after going through so many loops that she lost count? If she had known Sayaka had the potential for this kind of attitude and firepower, she might have already defeated Walpurgisnacht and saved Madoka.
What was it that triggered it? What did she do differently this time around? Was it that she managed to follow Mami into the labyrinth after being noticed? Was the Incubator somehow involved?
Again, Homura didn't get to finish her train of thoughts, interrupted by the shudder of the environment as it faded and coalesced into a grief seed, leaving the group sprawled besides the bicycle park of the hospital.
Sayaka's magical girl outfit flashed back into her mundane clothing as she teetered and turned, looking at everyone with a lopsided smile.
"I did it...nobody died!" she exclaimed woozily, before her eyes rolled up in her head and fell on her back with a thud.
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Dromeosaur
Feathery Raptor of snowy planes and frozen sea
- Location
- The land of Trees and Squirrels
This is going to be a disaster.
... Watched.
... Watched.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
My first thought when I saw the crossover, before reading the description, was "It's most likely Madoka who's gonna be slapped with the Shirou stick since they're similar". Obviously, that's not the case, and now there's two self sacrificing to a considerably unhealthy and absolutely insane degree idiots running around town. As someone else said, this is going to be a disaster. One I am absolutely here for!
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EMIYA's Legacy
Sayaka woke up...no, found herself in a field of swords. Saying that she woke up would imply that there would be a state of disorientation, or a transition between a state of no awareness and clarity. There was no such thing.
In one moment, she wasn't, and in the next, she was, fully awake.
The bleunette blinked, glancing around. "Where am I?"
Everywhere around, was nothing but a wasteland of cracked, dried earth and sand barren of anything but the swords- spear- dagge- blades stabbed into the ground periodically, stretching endlessly into the horizon. All except a hill at the foot of which she was standing.
Strangely enough, it all seemed somehow familiar. Almost literally painfully so, down to the smell of iron and the smog through which rays of sunlight were peeking through. Sayaka also felt like the monolithic clockwork gears that hung from the smoky clouds belonged there for some reason, even though she rationally knew that they usually don't.
"...what is this place?"
Another oddity was that the bleunette knew with absolute certainty that she should, and normally would start panicking.
Yet Sayaka couldn't so much as bring herself to be nervous about her situation.
What to do?
...hm. Maybe she'll figure out something if she climbed that hill to look around.
"That's hell you're walking into."
Sayaka's head whipped back to the voice she heard from behind, but found no one.
At this, the girl only started walking on with even more determination. Like hell is going some weird voice stopping her from getting to the top of a hill. Wherever else would she be going anyways?
…
Perhaps the voice didn't, but that weird translucent sword that shimmered into her view certainly gave her pause. Even looking at it was weird. Unlike the rest of the blades she saw in the place, it had this turquoise glass look to it, and the only way Sayaka could describe it was that it looked less real than real, as the edges of its profile seemed to fray into nothingness.
Sayaka's fingers itched to touch the thing, but…
No. The energy sword thingy looks super cool and extremely interesting and Sayaka had to stop herself from touching it, but she's in more than enough trouble already in this weird place.
With deliberate steps, the bleunette walked past the sword.
Then she walked past it again.
And again.
And again.
And then sprinted past it another dozen times or so.
"Argh..." Sayaka groaned weakly as she panted in front of the there-but-not really sword stabbed into the earth.
The damn hill was messing with her! She's been walking the same stretch of hill for the past fifteen minutes!
"Fine! I'll grab the damn thing if that's what you want so badly!" she yelled to nothing in particular as her hand wrapped around-
A haggard man and a boy were sitting on a porch on a moonlit night.
"When I was little, I dreamt of being a Hero of Justice," the man began.
"What do you mean? You've dreamt of being one? So you gave up?" the boy questioned.
"Yes. It's unfortunate, but being a Hero is a time-limited thing. When you grow up, it gets hard to call yourself one. I wish I had realized it earlier."
The boy hummed. "That's too bad then."
"Indeed, it's a shame," the man sighed.
"I guess it can't be helped. I'll do it for you, then."
"Hm?"
"You're an adult now, so you can't do it. But I can. Leave fulfilling your dream to me. I will definitely make it come true!"
-thin air.
Sayaka blinked.
What was that? A...vision? Everything was fuzzy around the edges, like TV static. She could tell that she saw a haggard man and a boy, but couldn't make out so much as their hair or eye color. Who were they-
Shirou. The boy was called Shirou Emiya.
How did she even know that?
The girl shook her head in an attempt to clear it. This place really had all sorts of ways to mess with her. She should really get a move on if she wants to figure out what's going on.
The bleunette hiked on…
"Another one, huh."
...only to have another sword conspicuously sitting in her path. A very shiny, very pretty sword enameled with blue and gold in a way that screamed "royalty".
Sayaka didn't need much convincing to put her hands on this one.
From the ground, she looked up to the figure whose visage was only made more ethereal by the moonlight shining down upon her.
A girl- no, woman with wheat hair, green eyes and fair features stared down at her with a steely gaze. Moonlight glinted off the plate armor she wore on top of an old-fashioned dress of royal blue, which seemed to only accentuate the impression of rulership her bearing already gave off.
"Servant Saber. At your summons, I have come forth. I ask of you, are you my Master?"
Sayaka gasped. The difference of clarity compared to the previous vision was...staggering. The perspective was different, too. It was like Sayaka was the one who experienced what was happening.
...like a memory. That was what she's been seeing, wasn't it? Memories. Memories of Shirou, who met… met Arturia Pendragon, aka King Arthur, wielder of the holy sword Excalibur, someone who had been recognized as a Hero by the World and ascended to the Throne of Heroes and is one of the most powerful Servants one could possibly summon in the Grail War which is a battle royale ritual happening every sixty years where the winnergetsoneomnipotentwishthirdtruemagic-
The bleunette recoiled from the onslaught of information flooding her mind, clutching her head and swaying on her feet from dizziness. To her relief, it abated after several long moments, but it still left Sayaka reeling.
Okay, so the memories weren't only memories, they also seemed to grant knowledge about the memory shown. And god, did that memory have a lot of background context for how short it was.
Still, whoa. So Shirou went on to discover magic- magecraft was real and then got to participate in a contest between seven mages and honest to god Heroes to win a wish? Sayaka might not want to trade being a magical girl for it, but it was still up there on top of the list. Even if it was a shame that the Grail was corrupted-
Sayaka's eyes widened at information, after which she dashed up the hill looking for the next memory, latching on to the crystalline blade with urgency.
"Ne, Emiya-kun. What do you plan to do after graduation?" Rin asked, her features blurry. "Follow in your father's footsteps, I suppose?"
"Er, yes...why?"
"After I graduate, I'm going to London. In light of everything that happened, the Mage's Association wrote me a letter of recommendation."
"London? You mean their headquarters? That Clock Tower place?"
"I've been invited as the ▉▉▉▉ heir. They say I can bring a pupil with me if I like. Will you come with me?"
"You're from Fuyuki City in Japan, right? I find it puzzling. After surviving that troublesome war, to what end have you come to the Clock Tower? To what end do you study magecraft?"
"Good question. Since coming here, I've learned many things, and in many ways, I've been out of my depth. But I want to keep believing in what I believed before. I want to dedicate my life to that."
"Meaning what, exactly?"
"I don't care how dumb it sounds. I want to become something: a champion of justice."
"I see. That certainly sounds idiotic. But it is not humorous."
Whew! They managed to destroy the Grail and lived! There were many memories in that one and a lot of them were fuzzy, but Sayaka got the gist that Shirou only became more motivated to become a hero of justice after meeting so many Heroic Spirits and went on to go to that fancy mage school with the Rin chick, planning on becoming a freelance mage afterwards.
She hiked the hill with a hop in her step, looking forward to the next memory to see Shirou becoming the hero he always dreamt of being-
Death. There was so much death. Chimeras, Homunculi, Dead Apostle thralls, curse-controlled victims; all of which were a minority compared to the amount of human lives he's had to end in order to save those he had the power to save.
"You know how much holding on to that dream of yours is going to hurt you in the long run, don't you? You should be proud of how much you managed to accomplish with what little you have, you know."
Shirou came to hate that last sentence so much. He wasn't satisfied with only saving more than he reasonably should be able to. He wanted to save everyone that could be saved.
He sluggishly turned his head which was still laid on top of his forearms towards the girl in a sleeveless Executor uniform, her muscular arms and shoulders covered in tattoos of Christian motifs.
"I know."
"You're still not going to give it up no matter how much you suffer for the sake of it?"
"No."
"Hmph. Figures," she harrumphed, throwing a red cloth at his face. "At least do me a favour and wear this. Last thing I need is a guy who bled out on me because he didn't want to hurt the controlled when their curses were biting through his armor like it's tissue paper."
Sayaka fell on all fours, her legs feeling like jelly and breaking out in cold sweat as she dry heaved.
God...she could admit that she was overly idealistic because she just learned the supernatural and Heroic Spirits were real, but that? The death, blood and gore and all the ways magecraft could be used to warp and kill? The depravity of the people?
The fact that bleunette was not prepared for it was an understatement.
But it was not the sheer amount of sickening things that stood out to her the most.
It was that Shirou fought through all that, saved people who by all accounts should have died even with his intervention, and he still considered it a personal failure that someone died.
Sayaka exhaled shakily, pushing herself off the ground with stiff movements, looking up the hill with eyes void of the excitement that was there moments ago. The smoky clouds in the sky seemed to become more dense somehow, like an oncoming storm. She gulped drily before starting on the vague path of swords with shaky steps.
Shirou gritted his teeth in frustration. In anger. In despair.
The only reason he was still upright was because he refused to let the railing go, no matter how much his body protested. The blood dripping off his chin, the broken ribs stabbing in his abdomen, his ruined right arm, the bleeding gash on his leg, his broken left ankle, his aching body— none of it mattered in face of the fact that a hundred people were in danger of dying in the next fifteen minutes.
But he was the only one still alive out of the squad that was sent to deal with the situation, and he was spent. He was out of strength, out of prana, out of equipment and as much as it pains him to admit it, out of ideas. The worst part was that what was about to kill everyone didn't even have anything to do with the battle that took place in the facility. It was basically a natural disaster.
Perhaps someone else would have run if only to not to die together with everyone else, but to Shirou…
Escaping to save himself was an idea that did not even occur to Shirou.
So he was left stubbornly holding onto a rail in order to not fall over, cursing his own powerlessness.
<COUNTER GUARDIAN CANDIDATE EMIYA SHIROU.>
The young man's head snapped up at the presence materializing in front of him, the blue orb within two spinning rings uncannily reminding of how biblical angels actually looked like a wheel of fire with many eyes and wings.
"...Alayashiki."
The name of what the manifestation was representing easily fell from his lips. He extensively researched the higher power responsible for keeping Humanity alive, after all.
<CORRECT.>
"I want to make a contract. I shall give you my life after my death. I would like the compensation now."
After that, he changed as though possessed by something and saved people who could not normally be saved.
Although not as upsetting as the last memory, its contents made Sayaka very uneasy. She would say that the Counter Force was similar to Kyubey, but she found herself hesitating when it came to the latter's purpose. One was humanity's collective subconscious will to survive, while the other was...the assistant of magical girls? It's not like there was anyone else to fight them in a place without magi like Mitakihara. Since he recruits to have someone fight witches, it did sound like he was an extension of Alaya in some shape or form.
It somehow seemed too simple to be true. She would have to ask just to make sure.
Anyhow, Sayaka was close enough to the top of the hill to see someone standing on it.
...Ah.
Shirou supposed he was really not surprised that he ended up in this situation. He had been betrayed before, and he had no doubt that it would happen again. Sometimes out of suspicion and mistrust, sometimes malice and self-interest.
He stumbled for a moment when the guard shoved him from behind towards the gallows.
Well...no matter.
For once, he did actually consider escaping. He could get out with some effort, if he really wanted to, but not without causing any meaningless deaths. He didn't have the strength that would allow nonlethal force.
So he discarded the idea.
It was fine if he died. If it means the people could put war behind them because their newly revealed shared enemy died, then he was fine with it.
Shirou would go on to save even more people afterwards, anyways.
And he died with a smile on his face.
"W-what?! But that's not fair! How could he just a-accept it like that?!"
Shirou was betrayed and framed as the mastermind of the war he fought so hard to end by someone he saved...and he just let them kill him? Just because he knew he would be doing pretty much the same thing after he died?
Sayaka wept at the sheer unfairness of it. Shirou was a hero! He deserved far more than that kind of end!
'...but his story didn't end there, did it?' the bleunette thought, looking at the figure in red on top of the hill.
A soldier is running through the crossfire.
The Guardian takes out his targets, precisely, swiftly, and mercilessly.
He cannot abandon the mission he was tasked, nor can he save the many lives he wished to.
But the ambition consumes him like fire, as he keeps resisting the unavoidable fate.
The girl was dizzy again. Not from the volume of information coming with it, but because of the sheer...density of the memory. She only saw a single scene, but it was like the people or the environment changed every other second, as though the same event played out in the same way innumerable times no matter who the actors were or where it took place.
Still, a pit of dread formed in her gut. If that's what Shirou really did for a small eternity on repeat, then nothing changed. He was still killing a group of people to save the greater whole.
That...that was not what Shirou dedicated his life and afterlife for.
At long last on top of the hill, Sayaka looked at Shirou's form overlooking the field of blades, now only a few rays of light escaping through the overcast sky.
"Shirou...that can't be it. That can't be how it ends...right?" she pleaded.
Her only response was the fluttering of the red cloth draped around his shoulders.
"Right?" the bleunette begged, desperately hoping, needing to be right.
At his further lack of reaction, Sayaka grabbed his arm, calling out "Shirou, please!"
Her vision blurred as though she grabbed another memory, but the scenery didn't change. She was still on top of the hill of swords, but now, as Shirou finally turned his head to look her in the eye, Sayaka knew.
This hill was his world.
It was his reward for always helping people, at the end of the line.
He worked and worked, striving for greatness, even though he was ordinary, finally achieving his miracle as he bled.
So he should be happy, or all of that will be a lie. If he made lots of people happy, he should become at least as happy as all of those people combined.
However, that wasn't the reward he received.
Instead, all he got was being exploited as a Counter Guardian, even after his death. He voluntarily sacrificed his afterlife. If he could keep saving people, even after his death, then he could ask for no more. Because of his powerlessness, he failed to save people in life. So, believing he could avert any tragedy as a Heroic Spirit, he sold the peace he would have found after his death.
He believed in all his heart that he could save tens of thousands more lives.
But even that hope was betrayed.
Heroic spirits are summoned only into hell. They appear only when the world is about to be destroyed by people. Humans are beings that will perish from their own doings.
So the process of destruction must always be the same.
He was summoned only into these "hells". In the land of death where the ones he wanted to save were already dead, he killed even more humans. The boy who stated he just doesn't want to see anyone cry…
…Could only see crying people forever.
In the end, only one thing could be said about him: That he had been constantly betrayed by everything around him, until the very, very end he was betrayed even by the one ideal he believed in.
'Ah' Sayaka thought absently. It wasn't some magical side-effect. It was her tears that were blurring her vision.
"Well...this is all yours now. I really do hope it turns out better than it did for me," Shirou said as his form rapidly began to fade into motes of light. "I managed to save your friend, but it's on you from now on."
"Don't make the same mistakes that I did."
With those words, he disappeared.
All that Sayaka was left with was his legacy: a lonely, miserable hill of swords.
"My dream was not wrong!" a young, defiant voice echoed in the wind, as though trying to comfort.
But what did that matter to a fourteen year old girl who just saw one of the ideals she held the closest to her heart so completely, and utterly betray a man who sacrificed everything for it?
Sayaka woke with dried tear tracks on her face.
For several long minutes, she only lay there, trying to process everything before questions started popping up in her mind.
What did Shirou mean that the hill was all hers now? And he said that he saved her friend…
Sayaka rubbed her face only to feel the sensation of something metallic scratching her. When she lifted her hand in annoyance, her eyes fell on the new ring on her finger.
Oh.
The bleunette turned her ring into its gem form, looking at it in curiosity as the events of the previous day came back to her before her eyes widened in realization.
'So that's what he meant that it was all mine now,' she thought numbly as she gazed at the hill of swords peeking through smoky clouds in her Soul Gem.
In one moment, she wasn't, and in the next, she was, fully awake.
The bleunette blinked, glancing around. "Where am I?"
Everywhere around, was nothing but a wasteland of cracked, dried earth and sand barren of anything but the swords- spear- dagge- blades stabbed into the ground periodically, stretching endlessly into the horizon. All except a hill at the foot of which she was standing.
Strangely enough, it all seemed somehow familiar. Almost literally painfully so, down to the smell of iron and the smog through which rays of sunlight were peeking through. Sayaka also felt like the monolithic clockwork gears that hung from the smoky clouds belonged there for some reason, even though she rationally knew that they usually don't.
"...what is this place?"
Another oddity was that the bleunette knew with absolute certainty that she should, and normally would start panicking.
Yet Sayaka couldn't so much as bring herself to be nervous about her situation.
What to do?
...hm. Maybe she'll figure out something if she climbed that hill to look around.
"That's hell you're walking into."
Sayaka's head whipped back to the voice she heard from behind, but found no one.
At this, the girl only started walking on with even more determination. Like hell is going some weird voice stopping her from getting to the top of a hill. Wherever else would she be going anyways?
…
Perhaps the voice didn't, but that weird translucent sword that shimmered into her view certainly gave her pause. Even looking at it was weird. Unlike the rest of the blades she saw in the place, it had this turquoise glass look to it, and the only way Sayaka could describe it was that it looked less real than real, as the edges of its profile seemed to fray into nothingness.
Sayaka's fingers itched to touch the thing, but…
No. The energy sword thingy looks super cool and extremely interesting and Sayaka had to stop herself from touching it, but she's in more than enough trouble already in this weird place.
With deliberate steps, the bleunette walked past the sword.
Then she walked past it again.
And again.
And again.
And then sprinted past it another dozen times or so.
"Argh..." Sayaka groaned weakly as she panted in front of the there-but-not really sword stabbed into the earth.
The damn hill was messing with her! She's been walking the same stretch of hill for the past fifteen minutes!
"Fine! I'll grab the damn thing if that's what you want so badly!" she yelled to nothing in particular as her hand wrapped around-
….
A haggard man and a boy were sitting on a porch on a moonlit night.
"When I was little, I dreamt of being a Hero of Justice," the man began.
"What do you mean? You've dreamt of being one? So you gave up?" the boy questioned.
"Yes. It's unfortunate, but being a Hero is a time-limited thing. When you grow up, it gets hard to call yourself one. I wish I had realized it earlier."
The boy hummed. "That's too bad then."
"Indeed, it's a shame," the man sighed.
"I guess it can't be helped. I'll do it for you, then."
"Hm?"
"You're an adult now, so you can't do it. But I can. Leave fulfilling your dream to me. I will definitely make it come true!"
….
-thin air.
Sayaka blinked.
What was that? A...vision? Everything was fuzzy around the edges, like TV static. She could tell that she saw a haggard man and a boy, but couldn't make out so much as their hair or eye color. Who were they-
Shirou. The boy was called Shirou Emiya.
How did she even know that?
The girl shook her head in an attempt to clear it. This place really had all sorts of ways to mess with her. She should really get a move on if she wants to figure out what's going on.
The bleunette hiked on…
"Another one, huh."
...only to have another sword conspicuously sitting in her path. A very shiny, very pretty sword enameled with blue and gold in a way that screamed "royalty".
Sayaka didn't need much convincing to put her hands on this one.
….
There was a flash of light, then a single, sharp clang of steel. From the ground, she looked up to the figure whose visage was only made more ethereal by the moonlight shining down upon her.
A girl- no, woman with wheat hair, green eyes and fair features stared down at her with a steely gaze. Moonlight glinted off the plate armor she wore on top of an old-fashioned dress of royal blue, which seemed to only accentuate the impression of rulership her bearing already gave off.
"Servant Saber. At your summons, I have come forth. I ask of you, are you my Master?"
….
Sayaka gasped. The difference of clarity compared to the previous vision was...staggering. The perspective was different, too. It was like Sayaka was the one who experienced what was happening.
...like a memory. That was what she's been seeing, wasn't it? Memories. Memories of Shirou, who met… met Arturia Pendragon, aka King Arthur, wielder of the holy sword Excalibur, someone who had been recognized as a Hero by the World and ascended to the Throne of Heroes and is one of the most powerful Servants one could possibly summon in the Grail War which is a battle royale ritual happening every sixty years where the winnergetsoneomnipotentwishthirdtruemagic-
The bleunette recoiled from the onslaught of information flooding her mind, clutching her head and swaying on her feet from dizziness. To her relief, it abated after several long moments, but it still left Sayaka reeling.
Okay, so the memories weren't only memories, they also seemed to grant knowledge about the memory shown. And god, did that memory have a lot of background context for how short it was.
Still, whoa. So Shirou went on to discover magic- magecraft was real and then got to participate in a contest between seven mages and honest to god Heroes to win a wish? Sayaka might not want to trade being a magical girl for it, but it was still up there on top of the list. Even if it was a shame that the Grail was corrupted-
Sayaka's eyes widened at information, after which she dashed up the hill looking for the next memory, latching on to the crystalline blade with urgency.
….
"Ne, Emiya-kun. What do you plan to do after graduation?" Rin asked, her features blurry. "Follow in your father's footsteps, I suppose?"
"Er, yes...why?"
"After I graduate, I'm going to London. In light of everything that happened, the Mage's Association wrote me a letter of recommendation."
"London? You mean their headquarters? That Clock Tower place?"
"I've been invited as the ▉▉▉▉ heir. They say I can bring a pupil with me if I like. Will you come with me?"
….
"You're from Fuyuki City in Japan, right? I find it puzzling. After surviving that troublesome war, to what end have you come to the Clock Tower? To what end do you study magecraft?"
"Good question. Since coming here, I've learned many things, and in many ways, I've been out of my depth. But I want to keep believing in what I believed before. I want to dedicate my life to that."
"Meaning what, exactly?"
"I don't care how dumb it sounds. I want to become something: a champion of justice."
"I see. That certainly sounds idiotic. But it is not humorous."
….
Whew! They managed to destroy the Grail and lived! There were many memories in that one and a lot of them were fuzzy, but Sayaka got the gist that Shirou only became more motivated to become a hero of justice after meeting so many Heroic Spirits and went on to go to that fancy mage school with the Rin chick, planning on becoming a freelance mage afterwards.
She hiked the hill with a hop in her step, looking forward to the next memory to see Shirou becoming the hero he always dreamt of being-
….
Death. There was so much death. Chimeras, Homunculi, Dead Apostle thralls, curse-controlled victims; all of which were a minority compared to the amount of human lives he's had to end in order to save those he had the power to save.
"You know how much holding on to that dream of yours is going to hurt you in the long run, don't you? You should be proud of how much you managed to accomplish with what little you have, you know."
Shirou came to hate that last sentence so much. He wasn't satisfied with only saving more than he reasonably should be able to. He wanted to save everyone that could be saved.
He sluggishly turned his head which was still laid on top of his forearms towards the girl in a sleeveless Executor uniform, her muscular arms and shoulders covered in tattoos of Christian motifs.
"I know."
"You're still not going to give it up no matter how much you suffer for the sake of it?"
"No."
"Hmph. Figures," she harrumphed, throwing a red cloth at his face. "At least do me a favour and wear this. Last thing I need is a guy who bled out on me because he didn't want to hurt the controlled when their curses were biting through his armor like it's tissue paper."
….
Sayaka fell on all fours, her legs feeling like jelly and breaking out in cold sweat as she dry heaved.
God...she could admit that she was overly idealistic because she just learned the supernatural and Heroic Spirits were real, but that? The death, blood and gore and all the ways magecraft could be used to warp and kill? The depravity of the people?
The fact that bleunette was not prepared for it was an understatement.
But it was not the sheer amount of sickening things that stood out to her the most.
It was that Shirou fought through all that, saved people who by all accounts should have died even with his intervention, and he still considered it a personal failure that someone died.
Sayaka exhaled shakily, pushing herself off the ground with stiff movements, looking up the hill with eyes void of the excitement that was there moments ago. The smoky clouds in the sky seemed to become more dense somehow, like an oncoming storm. She gulped drily before starting on the vague path of swords with shaky steps.
….
Shirou gritted his teeth in frustration. In anger. In despair.
The only reason he was still upright was because he refused to let the railing go, no matter how much his body protested. The blood dripping off his chin, the broken ribs stabbing in his abdomen, his ruined right arm, the bleeding gash on his leg, his broken left ankle, his aching body— none of it mattered in face of the fact that a hundred people were in danger of dying in the next fifteen minutes.
But he was the only one still alive out of the squad that was sent to deal with the situation, and he was spent. He was out of strength, out of prana, out of equipment and as much as it pains him to admit it, out of ideas. The worst part was that what was about to kill everyone didn't even have anything to do with the battle that took place in the facility. It was basically a natural disaster.
Perhaps someone else would have run if only to not to die together with everyone else, but to Shirou…
Escaping to save himself was an idea that did not even occur to Shirou.
So he was left stubbornly holding onto a rail in order to not fall over, cursing his own powerlessness.
<COUNTER GUARDIAN CANDIDATE EMIYA SHIROU.>
The young man's head snapped up at the presence materializing in front of him, the blue orb within two spinning rings uncannily reminding of how biblical angels actually looked like a wheel of fire with many eyes and wings.
"...Alayashiki."
The name of what the manifestation was representing easily fell from his lips. He extensively researched the higher power responsible for keeping Humanity alive, after all.
<CORRECT.>
"I want to make a contract. I shall give you my life after my death. I would like the compensation now."
After that, he changed as though possessed by something and saved people who could not normally be saved.
….
Although not as upsetting as the last memory, its contents made Sayaka very uneasy. She would say that the Counter Force was similar to Kyubey, but she found herself hesitating when it came to the latter's purpose. One was humanity's collective subconscious will to survive, while the other was...the assistant of magical girls? It's not like there was anyone else to fight them in a place without magi like Mitakihara. Since he recruits to have someone fight witches, it did sound like he was an extension of Alaya in some shape or form.
It somehow seemed too simple to be true. She would have to ask just to make sure.
Anyhow, Sayaka was close enough to the top of the hill to see someone standing on it.
….
...Ah.
Shirou supposed he was really not surprised that he ended up in this situation. He had been betrayed before, and he had no doubt that it would happen again. Sometimes out of suspicion and mistrust, sometimes malice and self-interest.
He stumbled for a moment when the guard shoved him from behind towards the gallows.
Well...no matter.
For once, he did actually consider escaping. He could get out with some effort, if he really wanted to, but not without causing any meaningless deaths. He didn't have the strength that would allow nonlethal force.
So he discarded the idea.
It was fine if he died. If it means the people could put war behind them because their newly revealed shared enemy died, then he was fine with it.
Shirou would go on to save even more people afterwards, anyways.
And he died with a smile on his face.
….
"W-what?! But that's not fair! How could he just a-accept it like that?!"
Shirou was betrayed and framed as the mastermind of the war he fought so hard to end by someone he saved...and he just let them kill him? Just because he knew he would be doing pretty much the same thing after he died?
Sayaka wept at the sheer unfairness of it. Shirou was a hero! He deserved far more than that kind of end!
'...but his story didn't end there, did it?' the bleunette thought, looking at the figure in red on top of the hill.
….
A soldier is running through the crossfire.
The Guardian takes out his targets, precisely, swiftly, and mercilessly.
He cannot abandon the mission he was tasked, nor can he save the many lives he wished to.
But the ambition consumes him like fire, as he keeps resisting the unavoidable fate.
….
The girl was dizzy again. Not from the volume of information coming with it, but because of the sheer...density of the memory. She only saw a single scene, but it was like the people or the environment changed every other second, as though the same event played out in the same way innumerable times no matter who the actors were or where it took place.
Still, a pit of dread formed in her gut. If that's what Shirou really did for a small eternity on repeat, then nothing changed. He was still killing a group of people to save the greater whole.
That...that was not what Shirou dedicated his life and afterlife for.
At long last on top of the hill, Sayaka looked at Shirou's form overlooking the field of blades, now only a few rays of light escaping through the overcast sky.
"Shirou...that can't be it. That can't be how it ends...right?" she pleaded.
Her only response was the fluttering of the red cloth draped around his shoulders.
"Right?" the bleunette begged, desperately hoping, needing to be right.
At his further lack of reaction, Sayaka grabbed his arm, calling out "Shirou, please!"
Her vision blurred as though she grabbed another memory, but the scenery didn't change. She was still on top of the hill of swords, but now, as Shirou finally turned his head to look her in the eye, Sayaka knew.
This hill was his world.
It was his reward for always helping people, at the end of the line.
He worked and worked, striving for greatness, even though he was ordinary, finally achieving his miracle as he bled.
So he should be happy, or all of that will be a lie. If he made lots of people happy, he should become at least as happy as all of those people combined.
However, that wasn't the reward he received.
Instead, all he got was being exploited as a Counter Guardian, even after his death. He voluntarily sacrificed his afterlife. If he could keep saving people, even after his death, then he could ask for no more. Because of his powerlessness, he failed to save people in life. So, believing he could avert any tragedy as a Heroic Spirit, he sold the peace he would have found after his death.
He believed in all his heart that he could save tens of thousands more lives.
But even that hope was betrayed.
Heroic spirits are summoned only into hell. They appear only when the world is about to be destroyed by people. Humans are beings that will perish from their own doings.
So the process of destruction must always be the same.
He was summoned only into these "hells". In the land of death where the ones he wanted to save were already dead, he killed even more humans. The boy who stated he just doesn't want to see anyone cry…
…Could only see crying people forever.
In the end, only one thing could be said about him: That he had been constantly betrayed by everything around him, until the very, very end he was betrayed even by the one ideal he believed in.
'Ah' Sayaka thought absently. It wasn't some magical side-effect. It was her tears that were blurring her vision.
"Well...this is all yours now. I really do hope it turns out better than it did for me," Shirou said as his form rapidly began to fade into motes of light. "I managed to save your friend, but it's on you from now on."
"Don't make the same mistakes that I did."
With those words, he disappeared.
All that Sayaka was left with was his legacy: a lonely, miserable hill of swords.
"My dream was not wrong!" a young, defiant voice echoed in the wind, as though trying to comfort.
But what did that matter to a fourteen year old girl who just saw one of the ideals she held the closest to her heart so completely, and utterly betray a man who sacrificed everything for it?
~o0o~
Sayaka woke with dried tear tracks on her face.
For several long minutes, she only lay there, trying to process everything before questions started popping up in her mind.
What did Shirou mean that the hill was all hers now? And he said that he saved her friend…
Sayaka rubbed her face only to feel the sensation of something metallic scratching her. When she lifted her hand in annoyance, her eyes fell on the new ring on her finger.
Oh.
The bleunette turned her ring into its gem form, looking at it in curiosity as the events of the previous day came back to her before her eyes widened in realization.
'So that's what he meant that it was all mine now,' she thought numbly as she gazed at the hill of swords peeking through smoky clouds in her Soul Gem.
I hope Homura and Sayaka get a chance to talk soon. Hopefully Homura has a photo of Moemura (as the fans occasionally call her) to prove she was in the same boat at one time; and fell for the same idealistic trap. Mami might not handle the truth well but this version of Sayaka might.
Isiri Pudireach
Predictive text can go duck itself
Actually that raises a point:
This setting seems to be uniquely suited for breaking into and out of Reality Marbles. I mean Labyrinths have a fair amount of similarities to RMs in their own right.
Makes you wonder if the other girls could enter UBW without Sayaka deploying it.
I don't see why. Labyrinths are overlayed over the real world just like a Reality Marble, it's not like they are inside a Witch or anything. So as long as the RM is contained to Sayaka's body they don't have any skills particularly designed for somehow hacking into it.
It does imply that activating UBW could potentially overwrite a Witch's Labyrinth, which could be useful.
Isiri Pudireach
Predictive text can go duck itself
Ah, but its contained in the soul gem, not the body. So nothing will stop them from trying to use their portal ability on the gem to at least try. Especially since Sayaka can see UBW in there:
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
Remembering Homura's communication skills, she would probably still find a way to shoot herself in the foot while talking to Sayaka.
Considering that the soul of the Magical Girl is in the Gem, this will surely lead to her death if you do not have a soul magic specialist nearby.
Sylent-M
Be Trans, Take to Heresy
- Pronouns
- Was/Were
Sayaka also has a low enough opinion of Homura that she assumed Homura was going to shoot Mami with the rocket launcher, rather than the witch.
- Location
- Present Time
An opinion, mind you, formed pretty much out of the fact that Homura wasn't all bubbly and nice and happy about being magical girls, and was cold in her way of speaking.
- Location
- Wherever I go, there I am
Your beginning has sucked me in. Now, please, follow through.
Subrosian_Smithy
endless
- Location
- Washington
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Hers
No, Walpurgisnacht is the only Witch capable of overwriting the real world with her Labyrinth. We explicitly see early on that Labyrinths are normally deployed as pocket dimensions which can suck people in.
Dragonmaster150
Firstborn of Dragonkind
- Location
- Dragendolan: Land of the Dragon Kings
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Interesting story so far, I don't normally follow PMM stuff but I'm quite interested in the direction that this will go.
Sayaka's new MG outfit
The next chapter is a pain. Have this meanwhile.
Cookies for anyone who recognizes where this outfit is from.
Cookies for anyone who recognizes where this outfit is from.
Tiypo
Forever Phone Posting
Is that Blue Souls Sayaka?The next chapter is a pain. Have this meanwhile.
Cookies for anyone who recognizes where this outfit is from.
Maximum Power
The Unchosen One
- Location
- The Ormulum
Hey, isn't that the Archer card's outfit with blue instead of red? Nice!The next chapter is a pain. Have this meanwhile.
Cookies for anyone who recognizes where this outfit is from.
Now… Give me the cookies!
- Location
- Dallas
The beginning sucked me in. The next chapter where she got a front row seat to EMIYA's life killed any interest I had in this. Gonna be completely honest there.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
i wonder if she still has the healing magic?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtXKz21T_zI&t=73s
being able to reattach her arm nearly the second after its detached can probably come in handy since she has all those swords
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtXKz21T_zI&t=73s
being able to reattach her arm nearly the second after its detached can probably come in handy since she has all those swords
Stupid
My body is made of swords.
With blood of iron, and a heart of glass.
I have overcome countless battlefields.
Not even once retreating,
Not even once being understood.
Always alone, intoxicated with victory in the hill of swords.
Thus, this life has no meaning.
That body was certainly made of swords.
~o0o~
With blood of iron, and a heart of glass.
I have overcome countless battlefields.
Not even once retreating,
Not even once being understood.
Always alone, intoxicated with victory in the hill of swords.
Thus, this life has no meaning.
That body was certainly made of swords.
~o0o~
Sayaka lay there, holding the product of a man's life and afterlife of trying and failing to attain his dream of becoming a Hero of Justice.
At first, denial and defiance threatened to rouse within her, wanting to prove that those ideals were not wrong, that she was different, that she would succeed where Shirou failed— But only at first. The urge was immediately doused by the following thought: if Shirou failed after everything he sacrificed for it, then how could she possibly accomplish what he couldn't?
And for a moment, Sayka was relieved by the fact. She was relieved that the path that would lead to her sharing Shirou's fate wasn't one she could take.
'I won't make the same mistakes,' she swore to herself, remembering Shirou's parting message. 'I'm going to…to…'
Yet, her moment of fortitude didn't last either. At loss to how to complete the thought, her previously raised fist fell slack. If she couldn't be a superhero…then what good was she for? Her grades sucked, she wasn't really all that bright, rich, or gifted. Even the athleticism people frequently peg her for is something she avoided because it's what everyone expected of her. She was just…nobody, really.
On top of that…wasn't she too late already not to make the same mistakes Shirou did if Kyubey really was the extension of Alaya?
"Sayaka-chan? Are you okay?"
Sayaka turned to the voice to see concerned pink eyes peering at her above the side of the bed.
"Madoka?" The bleunette blinked, realizing she was on a futon in her friend's plushie-filled room, "I'm at your place? What…?"
"Un, we couldn't wake you up so Mami helped me bring you to my house after you passed out," Madoka explained.
"Oh. You texted my parents on my phone like we had a sleepover?"
"Yup. Sayaka-chan…are you alright?"
"Uh, yeah," Sayaka said, plastering on the best fake smile she could muster, "Just a…a nightmare." And wasn't that an understatement. "It's just…Mami almost died last night, didn't she?"
"Sayaka-chan…" Madoka trailed off, obviously able to see right through the front her years-old friend put up. "Yeah…it was really scary," she said, going along with the cue, "But we all got out. You killed that witch in one shot!"
No, she didn't. That was Shirou's echo. "I did, didn't I?" the bleunette replied anyways, trying yet unable to keep the hollowness out of her voice.
Madoka looked like she changed her mind on addressing Sayaka's front, but didn't get to act on it.
"Girls! Get washed up! Breakfast ready in fifteen!" a shout called through the door, breaking them out of their funk and spurring them on to quickly get through their morning rituals.
~o0o~
Sayaka went through the motions mechanically, silently thanking the Kanames collectively for their kindness.
Madoka's mother, Junko, for the suggestion that Sayaka keep a set of her uniform at their home since she slept over so often; Madoka's father, Tomohisa, for cooking their breakfast; Madoka herself, for picking up Sayaka and her school bag to keep watch over her while she was unconscious; and even her little brother, Tatsuya, for giving the bleunette a distraction to focus on with his cute babbling so she could hide her state more easily.
Even with the years of familiarity and Madoka's parents basically acting as her uncle and aunt at this point, Sayaka couldn't help but feel guilt creeping into her conscience as she walked to school. It wasn't like she could really reciprocate, with her parents always away from home, working long hours and sometimes even sleeping at work.
She really was useless, wasn't she? Not only she didn't have anything in particular going for her, she also couldn't but keep being a burden for her best friend and her family.
Though, it wasn't as if Junko Kaname would let her say no. She always had that scary smile when Sayaka tried to make an excuse.
So maybe it was okay..? They did say so a lot of times.
The fact that they gave so freely somehow made it feel worse, honestly.
…
Feh. She really was the worst, wasn't she? Making it out like it was the Kanames' fault.
Sayaka really didn't deserve them.
"Sayaka-chan."
She blinked, brought back to the real world by Madoka's voice.
They were almost halfway to school, now that she looked. She must've been going on autopilot for quite a while, huh?
"Yeah?"
"Do you uhm, want to talk about it?" the rosette asked worriedly.
"About what?" Sayaka replied blithely.
"About why you're so upset."
Idiotherowannabelonelymiserablehillofswords-
The bleunette's jaw tensed as she clamped down on the emotions threatening to burst. It was tempting, so tempting, to just let go and dump it all on Madoka about the memories, Shirou, the Counter Force, what an utterly massive idiot she was for wanting to be a hero-
But it was just- so much. And Sayaka knew her friend was that ultra-rare-must-protect sort that was kind and empathetic to a fault.
She couldn't bear to cause Madoka so much pain and worry. Not right now, when she already felt like she was abusing her family's kindness.
"I'm fine, really," she said, pulling another fake smile.
At this, the rosette crossed her arms and Pouted™️ at Sayaka. Yes, Pouted™️, in the same way and effectiveness that Junko Kaname did the Scary Smile™️, which made the average person feel as though they kicked a puppy for not acquiescing to her requests in contrast to the Hannya wraith that her mother projected.
Thankfully, Sayaka had built up a decent amount of tolerance to the former from years of exposure and the fact that it wasn't something she had learned to deliberately harness. It made Sayaka both rue and eagerly await the day Madoka would get the self-confidence to consciously use it.
"I-it's nothing, for reals!" Sayaka denied again, "I'll feel better once I see for myself that Mami's fine at lunch break, I swear!"
Madoka didn't seem convinced whatsoever still, but seemed mollified enough to leave the subject be and disengage the Pout™️. For now.
A sullen silence descended as they walked. The bleunette would've walked faster so they'd reach the spot where Hitomi usually joined them, but that would've been too obvious.
"Ano, Sayaka-chan, about Homura…" Madoka spoke up again, this time with significantly more hesitance in her voice.
"What about her?" Sayaka spat.
The creepy transfer student was just about the last thing she wanted to think about right now. She almost attacked Mami last night…
That's right! It was all the transfer student's fault that Sayaka was feeling like this! If it hadn't been for her trying to attack Mami, then she wouldn't have had to make a wish to protect Mami in the heat of the moment and see all those stupid memories!
The bleunette's hands clenched until her knuckles became white as an object to focus her grievances on began forming in her mind.
"I swear next time I see her I'm gonna…"
"Sayaka-chan!"
"What? That girl deserves it and more! She tried to kill Mami!" she snapped back.
"I- Mami and I actually met Homura when we went into the labyrinth yesterday! She wanted Mami to leave that witch to her because it was much trickier than usual, but Mami tied her up because she thought Homura would get in the way!"
"Damn right she would have!"
"But Sayaka, she was right! If you hadn't helped, Mami would have been eaten by it! I saw! Homura was there to do the same thing so Mami won't die, so please don't fight with her!" Madoka pleaded, then quickly scrambled to get something out of her school bag. "Look, after you passed out…"
….
"I did it...nobody died!" The bleunette exclaimed with a loopy smile right before her eyes rolled up in her skull and passed out with a thud.
"Sayaka-chan!" Madoka called after her friend, kneeling at her side at once. She frantically looked the unconscious girl over, trying to recall anything useful she was told when she became the nurse's aide, but came up empty.
"What do I do…?" she wondered out loud.
<You could have healing magic if you wished for it.>
Madoka blinked at Kyuubey's strange voice projection in her head before finding him sitting by her side and shaking her head.
"I…no, I'm scared for Sayaka but I…don't think I should do that," she managed out.
<A shame. In that case, waiting until approximately next morning will suffice, I believe.>
"Kyuubey, do you know what happened to Sayaka?"
<Indeed. Magical girls who expend a great amount of magic right after contracting tend to fall unconscious due to not being used to the strain of it.>
"So…she'll be alright next morning?"
<That is correct.>
Madoka's shoulders sagged as she let out a shuddering sigh. With her immediate concerns assuaged, a rustling sound behind her made her quickly remember that she wasn't alone.
"Mami…"
She turned to see Homura crouching over Mami, the state of the latter making her gasp.
Mami's left side, from her face and neck, to the back of her sleeveless arm was covered in blood, and her breathing was laboured. With a clink!, the ravenette held a Grief Seed against the Soul Gem-like decoration on Mami's beret in her other hand. As the darkness was siphoned out of it, the blonde's wounds seemed to glow before gold ribbons appeared around them, gradually knitting themselves together and leaving unblemished skin behind. Homura seemed to mutter something to herself as she looked over the blonde's healing body, then the Seed she used disappeared under her shield and she placed the hat on Mami's stomach.
Madoka then watched the girl walk over and pick up the Grief Seed dropped by the witch Sayaka took out. Homura seemed to look at it in consideration for a short while before looking up and blinking when she met Madoka's eyes. For a split second, the rosette saw an indiscernible emotion flit in the girl's eyes, but it quickly disappeared when Homura shook her head and walked over to her.
"Now you see, Madoka Kaname? This is what it means to be a magical girl. Today the witches were unlucky, but they only need to be lucky once. We magical girls need to be lucky every time. One misstep is all it takes for your life to be forfeit."
Madoka stood there, frozen to the spot by the girl's piercing amethyst eyes until they slid from her to Sayaka unconscious on the ground.
"Here," she said after a beat, holding out the Grief Seed to Madoka, "Give it to Sayaka Miki when she wakes up. She's going to need it."
In lieu of a verbal answer, the rosette nodded, holding out a hand of her own, nearly fumbling the catch before she got a grip on the black jewel.
Several beats passed between them, during which Madoka noticed something flit in the ravenette's eyes again, like light seeping through a narrow crack through the wall that was her cold mask. It felt like…concern? Worry?
"Do you…" the black haired girl began, looking at Sayaka again, but paused when a groan was voiced behind her, looking back to see Mami's slowly waking figure.
"Nevermind. Take care, Madoka Kaname."
And then she turned on her heel, and disappeared.
….
Sayaka looked at the Grief Seed in her friend's hand like it was her worst enemy.
Even in her anger, the bleunette didn't think that Madoka would ever lie. Especially not when it came to things like this.
Yet even with the proof in her friend's hand, Sayaka instead began thinking of how Akemi could have deceived Madoka, or consider brainwashing magic, because the alternative…
…The alternative was that her wish was completely unnecessary. That she made that contract, likely condemning herself, and going through all those hellish memories that broke her dreams of being a Hero of Justice for nothing. She couldn't even wish for something that someone benefitted from, like healing Kyouske's arm.
Sayaka even got Mami hurt!
That the creepy transfer student was right all along. She was trying to warn them off because she knew it would turn out like this.
But Sayaka wanted to be a hero too badly. She was stupid, so s̴̫̳̰̤͓̩̺̟͙̖̒͆̕ͅẗ̸͇̦̰̱͚͍̈̋͒͆͑͂̀͂û̴̪͎͙̜̣͔͎̪͍p̸̛̗͓̘̝̖͓̦̀͊i̵̠̔͑̎̀͋̕d̶̨̈́̈́̈́̒̈́͗̋̕͘.̶͖̳͕͓͚̍̎̔̚.̷̡̝̩̻̳̲̜̥̰͕̣̍͑͋͗͊͗̈́̑̅͐.̶͈̪̦͋̇͒̏̀̆̔̕͝
"Sayaka-san, Madoka-san! While it's good to see you, we're going to be late!"
The two girl's heads snapped up at the mop of desaturated green of their friend running by before her words registered.
"Oh would you look at the time! Let's talk about this later!" Sayaka exclaimed before breaking into a run, doing her best to pretend she didn't see her friend's concerned expression trailing behind her.
The bleunette did her best to clamp down on her emotions, but unlike previous times, her dark thoughts stuck in her mind like tar on white through her run.
As she walked through the halls and sat down in her seat in class, the way everyone around her flitted about like usual with no change whatsoever made her feel like she was in an entirely different world. Even if she were to just disappear, they would go on without her, blissfully ignorant of the harsh darkness in the night lit by the moon, Sayaka realized. Maybe it would be better off without her.
She could have been one of them still, if she w̵̡̜̣͙̳͒̈́͝ͅȧ̴͑͊͑̐͝ͅs̶̳̭͖͉̕n̵̤͕͗̇͌͐̈̕'̶̜͛̽t̶̡͈̟͍̪͊ ̷̪̜̝̲̻̓͆s̵̼̾ö̷̝̖̼́̓̎ d̸̘͉̖͓͍̰̙̀̓̉̈́̋̀̌̍͊̂͝͝ą̵̭͚̫̗̭̲̰̗̗̺͓̗̉̿͆͑̆̌m̴̠̲̺̘̘̘̬̜͍͙̖̎̄ǹ̶͉̜͖̭͂͌̈͗̽͜͝ͅ S̶̡͍͔͚̠̞̜̯̜̟͖̗̤̿̎̌̎̾̍͂t̴̘̫̙͋͆̎̽͊u̵̢͇̼̱̣̞̹̖̩̯̲̯̠̖̔͜͝͠ṕ̷͚̠̩̙̗͓̪̘̥̳̤̼͈̟̂ͅi̶̧̡̖͙̻̞͓̗̖͖͖̮̮̐̿̄̈́d̵̼̤͔̦͆͊̐̕.̴͚͍̮͖̠̣̠͉̱̩̳̗͕̌́̎̆̑̕.̸̢̛̙̗̜̬̭͖̦̠͎͚͛̀̆͊̾͗.̸̨̡̫̲̰̎͑́̔̿̉̌̏͘
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Sayaka heard something go click-click-whirr! and felt something grasp her left hand.
"Sayaka Miki, take out your Soul Gem, now."
Somewhere, in the recesses of Sayaka's mind where her subconscious was still sorting itself out, the part of Shirou's experiences - now Sayaka's - that were spent working long hours with military and military-adjacent organizations recognized the tone and words as command and obeyed reflexively.
Clink!
Sayaka gasped, feeling like a great weight was taken off her chest.
She blinked into awareness, looking up to see the transfer student with one hand on her wrist and the other holding a Grief Seed to her manifested Soul Gem, which was getting less cloudy by the moment.
"Sayaka you absolute idiot," she hissed with a grimace, "You almost died. Did Madoka not give you that Grief Seed?"
"She did," Sayaka replied dumbly.
"Where is it? Why didn't you use it?"
"In the outer pocket of my bag. I thought clouds were normal…"
Akemi bent down, quickly retrieving it and clinking it too against Sayaka's Soul Gem.
"Normal…?" she muttered in a rare show of emotion as the last bits of darkness were siphoned out, leaving a clear, light blue gem with a hill of swords within it.
"Whatever," the ravenette shook her head, "It's definitely not normal to have 'clouds' in your Soul Gem. Did Tomoe not explain this to you? The brightness of your Gem is the indicator for how much magic you have left. The darkness or grief accumulates the more you use magic, the more negative emotions you experience, and the more grief you have the harder it is to think clearly and to use magic, which leads to even more negative emotions. And if you let it fill up completely, you will die," she punctuated the end of her rant. "Madoka almost had to see you die. Keep your Soul Gem clean, or else. Understand?"
"Yes Ma'am," Sayaka acquiesced, swallowing.
"Good."
With that, Akemi finally let her wrist go and disappeared. The sounds and motions Sayaka didn't notice she couldn't hear before resumed, the class moving on as though her talk with the other magical girl didn't even happen.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner. Have your cookies 🍪🍪🍪
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Thanks for the updoot