RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Inverted Inheritance (F/SN AU)
- Thread starter Spectral Waltz
- Start date
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
...I was trying to be lowkey and not make it weird why did you have to make it weird...
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
*Applies headpats* Because I'm a weirdo.
Bête Noire
Abhorrent Anathema
- Location
- Dark Alley
So how broken is Shirou this time around? After rereading the first chapter it didn't look like Shirou was awake to see Arturia's expression, unlike with Kiritsugu.
EDIT: There was also no talk of being a "hero of justice"
EDIT: There was also no talk of being a "hero of justice"
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Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
He was awake but in the sort of 'lights on no one home' in shock sorta way. He started coming out of it after Avalon was implanted in him but he also passed out sooner after, and Arturia didn't say anything in the mean time.
He's still got some pretty bad trauma, nightmares and stuff. It'll come more to the fore when I do a chapter that's more from his perspective. Which I will be getting to eventually...
He hasn't shown... strange-y things, except maybe smarter than your avergae kids.
My headcanon basically Shirou seeing Artie-mama as both kind and sad and hurt, and maybe see her nobility since beginning. And then he adapts with Artie-mama basically trying to make meet ends, never complaining about anyone, and generally trued her best to be fair and wise. And it works in her favor.
....
I see he won't be Hero of Justice.
I see her became Good King, if that's possible. He will happily volunteer for annoying duty, being unscrupulously honest yet trying to be wise, learn to delegating things, arranging people but also doing menial jobs happily if no one can.
That's how I see it.
He still had 'Saving People Thing', but at least he will bring others into his goal.
EDIT: Aaand Old Man of Mountain had behead me. Kek.
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Interlude: Sorrow
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
"Illyasviel."
"Grandfather."
The young homunculus tried not to let the tension show in her voice. It had been months, seven months, three weeks, and two days since the fourth holy grail war had ended.
Seven months, three weeks, and two days since papa had vanished.
She knew. She'd counted each and every one.
Mama was gone, Illya understood that on. She'd dreamed that night when the fire had raged of becoming a cup and when she'd awoken she knew somehow that her mother had passed while she slept.
It hurt… And it didn't…
Grandfather Acht assured her that Mama had done what she meant to do, even if they didn't have the grail. Illya didn't quite understand that, but if Grandfather said so then she took that as a comfort, knowing that Mama had died. What more could a homunculus hope for than to achieve the purpose they had been crafted to fulfill?
But of Papa, Grandfather had remained silent…
There had been a fire in Fuyuki city, centered upon the grail's destruction. Hundreds died, but Papa was no mere mortal but a mage. He would have survived a fire, she was sure of it!
Still he had not appeared.
The flames died down, the search for survivors began, and still he had not appeared.
She asked and asked, but Grandfather remained silent and stern, he would shake his head. No, we have not found him yet, and she would carry on with her studies until the next day, when she would ask again, and receive the same answer.
Every day became every other day as summer faded away into fall and the cold mountains grew only colder.
Every other day became twice a week as fall became winter, and the snow began to fall once more, the wind howling outside during the long nights.
Then came today, a month away from the cusp of spring. The wind was still, and the snow fell lightly, muffling all sound until nothing remained but that soft white noise of its descent. Only manners kept Illya from eager questions. Grandfather had asked to see her outside of her schedule, for the first time in so very long! Surely he must have news of Papa right? Surely there must be some occasion for the interruption of her training!
"Illyasviel, you have been waiting long to hear this. I wish that it were better news."
A sudden sickening lurch in the pit of her stomach at the words, those damning words. It could not be so bad right? Papa was sick, or injured, or perhaps he had been pursued after the fire. He might be in trouble!
"Kiritsugu Emiya is dead."
For an instant Illya felt as though her heart would stop. "Papa?"
Grandfather did not tell jokes or lies.
"It took us some time to find him, his body was near the site of the destroyed grail but he was not caught by the fire."
She felt… Numb. Mama was gone but she'd done well so that was alright, but now Papa was gone too, and he hadn't brought the grail, so did that mean he'd failed?
"H-how…"
"His Servant." A tension filtered through Grandfather's face and Illya realized that for the first time since she could remember he looked angry. "We suspected Saber would oppose us, and it seemed at the very end our suspicions were correct. It was she who destroyed the grail and put her blade through Emiya's heart."
Memories of that woman, short and blonde and eyes of piercing green, cold and aloof.
The ice in Illya's veins turned to molten rock, anger as the words sank in, fingers tensing as she clenched her fists. "Illyasviel."
She let go, forcing her body to obey her, relaxing even as the fury pounded at the inside of her skull.
"We will not let this delay halt our plans."
Illya met Grandfather's eyes again as he spoke, saying nothing.
"Your training will be altered starting today. We will not fail again. You will serve as a Master in the fifth Holy Grail War."
"Yes Grandfather. Will that be all?" The words felt bitter in her mouth, but if he noticed, he gave no sign of it.
"Avalon is still at large."
She blinked, uncomprehending.
"That will be all Illyasviel. You may leave."
She did.
For a long minute she stood outside Grandfather's study, staring into the empty air between her and the opposite wall. Outside she could hear the wind beginning to stir up again, whistling through the trees as it wound across the mountainside. Leysritt and Sella moved from where they had been standing next to the door, positioning themselves by her shoulders yet just far enough back to be out of sight, ready to serve at her behest.
Of course Grandfather would not make it easy on her. No matter what happened.
Without a word, Illyasviel turned left and marched towards the library, her maids trailing in her wake.
Time to get started.
"Grandfather."
The young homunculus tried not to let the tension show in her voice. It had been months, seven months, three weeks, and two days since the fourth holy grail war had ended.
Seven months, three weeks, and two days since papa had vanished.
She knew. She'd counted each and every one.
Mama was gone, Illya understood that on. She'd dreamed that night when the fire had raged of becoming a cup and when she'd awoken she knew somehow that her mother had passed while she slept.
It hurt… And it didn't…
Grandfather Acht assured her that Mama had done what she meant to do, even if they didn't have the grail. Illya didn't quite understand that, but if Grandfather said so then she took that as a comfort, knowing that Mama had died. What more could a homunculus hope for than to achieve the purpose they had been crafted to fulfill?
But of Papa, Grandfather had remained silent…
There had been a fire in Fuyuki city, centered upon the grail's destruction. Hundreds died, but Papa was no mere mortal but a mage. He would have survived a fire, she was sure of it!
Still he had not appeared.
The flames died down, the search for survivors began, and still he had not appeared.
She asked and asked, but Grandfather remained silent and stern, he would shake his head. No, we have not found him yet, and she would carry on with her studies until the next day, when she would ask again, and receive the same answer.
Every day became every other day as summer faded away into fall and the cold mountains grew only colder.
Every other day became twice a week as fall became winter, and the snow began to fall once more, the wind howling outside during the long nights.
Then came today, a month away from the cusp of spring. The wind was still, and the snow fell lightly, muffling all sound until nothing remained but that soft white noise of its descent. Only manners kept Illya from eager questions. Grandfather had asked to see her outside of her schedule, for the first time in so very long! Surely he must have news of Papa right? Surely there must be some occasion for the interruption of her training!
"Illyasviel, you have been waiting long to hear this. I wish that it were better news."
A sudden sickening lurch in the pit of her stomach at the words, those damning words. It could not be so bad right? Papa was sick, or injured, or perhaps he had been pursued after the fire. He might be in trouble!
"Kiritsugu Emiya is dead."
For an instant Illya felt as though her heart would stop. "Papa?"
Grandfather did not tell jokes or lies.
"It took us some time to find him, his body was near the site of the destroyed grail but he was not caught by the fire."
She felt… Numb. Mama was gone but she'd done well so that was alright, but now Papa was gone too, and he hadn't brought the grail, so did that mean he'd failed?
"H-how…"
"His Servant." A tension filtered through Grandfather's face and Illya realized that for the first time since she could remember he looked angry. "We suspected Saber would oppose us, and it seemed at the very end our suspicions were correct. It was she who destroyed the grail and put her blade through Emiya's heart."
Memories of that woman, short and blonde and eyes of piercing green, cold and aloof.
The ice in Illya's veins turned to molten rock, anger as the words sank in, fingers tensing as she clenched her fists. "Illyasviel."
She let go, forcing her body to obey her, relaxing even as the fury pounded at the inside of her skull.
"We will not let this delay halt our plans."
Illya met Grandfather's eyes again as he spoke, saying nothing.
"Your training will be altered starting today. We will not fail again. You will serve as a Master in the fifth Holy Grail War."
"Yes Grandfather. Will that be all?" The words felt bitter in her mouth, but if he noticed, he gave no sign of it.
"Avalon is still at large."
She blinked, uncomprehending.
"That will be all Illyasviel. You may leave."
She did.
For a long minute she stood outside Grandfather's study, staring into the empty air between her and the opposite wall. Outside she could hear the wind beginning to stir up again, whistling through the trees as it wound across the mountainside. Leysritt and Sella moved from where they had been standing next to the door, positioning themselves by her shoulders yet just far enough back to be out of sight, ready to serve at her behest.
Of course Grandfather would not make it easy on her. No matter what happened.
Without a word, Illyasviel turned left and marched towards the library, her maids trailing in her wake.
Time to get started.
=End Interlude One=
Thanks to @TheBleachDoctor for proofreading this on short notice.
- Location
- The Land of Many Bregrets
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I mean, at least Illya's relationship with the Einzberns is less fraught.
That's...
...
...nice?
That's...
...
...nice?
It means she probably won't be turned into a Grail. After all there was no "betrayal" (that they know of) on Emiya's part and as such no reason to be super spiteful to Emiya's or Illya. Instead they will likely tutor her to be a very powerful master/magus and have another serve the trails purpose.
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Actually, ill-will or not, Illya's gonna be turning into that grail. A grail has to be made and Illya's the only one that can do it.
Incorrect. They are perfectly capable of "coining" new homonoculi based on Irisviel. It's not a bloodline thing due to birth. They chose Illya because they were super spiteful in canon, not because they had too.
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Actually you forgot about Sakura...
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
Yeah, but the Einzberns don't know about her and that's a worst case scenario anyway.
Vozen
Magic Adventure Cat
- Location
- Seattle
I hope the butterflies from this change get her a different Servant...
...*Fingers crossed for Mordred*
- Location
- Ireland
Mordred would have worse issues here than in life, since Saber is actively raising a child.
Daddy issues times 100.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Oh yeah. Arthuria and Shirou would push all of Mordred's buttons at once.
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
I don't think Illya would summon Mordred though. Unless the Einzbern specifically thought that Mordred was a good idea for some reason, they'd likely go with Hercules or some other completely overpowered Servant. And on the off chance Illya did a summon without a Catalyst, she's not really a rebel and she doesn't have daddy issues in this AU, so Mordred would be out on affinity. Maybe somebody taking revenge for a murdered family member?
Edmon Dantes (Assassin) wouldn't let Illya leaves his sight. And probably constantly showered her with candies, ponies, and pretty dresses.
Y'know, besides arranging The Best Dish Served Cold.
RexHeller
Title Incoming. Please Hold.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
While Dantes is probably the most well known revenge taker, he also was taking revenge for himself, not for a dead father or other relative.
His dad was left to die of hunger by the conspirators. The whole shenanigans also hurt, to some extent, his former employer (which he had very good relationship with). He also help Haydee took her revenge to Fernand (although it's mostly to help his own plot).
Xoroth
Over the Hills and through the Felfire...
Actually, Illya was the best grail. It would be stupid not to use her especially considering all of the modifications they made. Everything else would have been an explicitly inferior product and would have made reaching the Third more difficult.
Chapter 4: Remember and Forget
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
"And so, I ask that we take two minutes of silence for the victims of the fire two years ago. To remember those hundreds of lives lost to tragedy."
There were closer services they could have attended. Practically every shrine in the city was performing a memorial ceremony of some sort for the fire, but just like last year, Arturia-mama had insisted they walk downtown and attend the biggest ceremony, held on the still-scorched earth where once the downtown core of the city had resided. Crews had finished clearing away the rubble years ago but even as the land had reopened to development no one had seemed terribly interested in rebuilding.
Shirou toed the dusty earth softly in the silence. He didn't like this place and he knew Mama didn't either, but she had insisted that it was important they come here. Even though the real place no longer bore any hint of the landscape he could see in his dreams of that night, he could still feel the voices of the dead slithering into his ears, and see the flames whenever he closed his eyes. As though the fire had imprinted itself upon this place and his memory, never the three to be separated.
He was glad when the moment of silence ended and the priest began to talk again, drowning out the illusions of memory once more.
Feeling a nameless weight begin to lift as Arturia led him away from the epicenter of the disaster and back towards their home, Shirou held tightly to her hand, squeezing gently as he sought the comfort of contact and feeling her squeeze back.
Sympathy.
The walk home passed in companionable silence.
=======
Arturia had to admit to a certain amount of trepidation going into Shirou's birthday this year.
The first had been something of a minor disaster. Figuring out the date in the first place had been a mess. Like many other memories from before the fire, Shirou's day of birth was gone from his mind, and Fuyuki's city records had been almost exclusively paper, nearly all of which had been consumed by the fire. For a long time she'd hoped that he might simply recall on one day or another, but as the spring had turned to summer again and the passage of a full year drew ever closer she made a choice.
On paper, Arturia had written Shirou's date of birth as the day of the fire, that morning that marked the ending of the fourth war. Even if that was not when his body had come into the world, that event had marked a new beginning for him for all that it was built upon the bitter ashes of what had come before it. Whoever Shirou had been before the fire he had emerged from it changed, with a new name and a new life, however strange those may have been.
In practice it seemed cruel to celebrate on such a dark day both to her adopted son and to the city that still mourned the tragedy of a year ago, and in the end she was forced to simply acknowledge that the particular day was not as important as the celebration of time's passage itself.
If the issue of timing hadn't been enough, then came the issue of Shirou, something she hadn't even realized would be a problem until it was too late. In honor of the occasion, Arturia had finally applied herself (in addition to enlisting help from Taiga) to cook a proper Japanese meal in celebration. Furthermore, while she hadn't been able to go so far as to learn to bake one herself, she purchased a cake and a few candles.
In hindsight - Arturia reflected quietly - the candles were the real mistake.
To say Shirou had not reacted well to being presented with open flames against a darkened backdrop (the lights having been dimmed for the sake of presentation) would be an understatement. He did not scream or panic but instead ended up going very still and quiet, the candlelight reflecting tears as they began to flow freely down his face, his lips moving as though in silent prayer or wordless plea.
Arturia had been stabbed before, and could well describe a very similar sensation when she bent close to try and comfort him, only to hear his words. "I don't want to go on… I don't want to be alone. I want to die. I want to die."
"Sh-shirou!"
"I…" He stiffened suddenly, as though realizing her presence for the first time, then sniffled. "'Turia-mama?"
She couldn't have been more relieved when he returned her hug but those words remained lodged in her head. That mantra from the memory of a boy dying a slow death amidst the flames circling her mind over and over again in the weeks to come.
So similar to her, too similar to her for a boy of a mere half dozen years…
It was strangely both comforting and horrifying to contemplate that one so young could hold a pain so similar to her own hidden inside.
I won't leave you Shirou…
Now, a year beyond that, the time approached once more. This time, she would plan more carefully.
=======
Mama was up to something. Shirou was sure of it.
Ever since the service they'd attended together she'd been acting funny. She'd been late two nights ago, and was late again tonight, and Fuji-nee hadn't even yelled at her for it! Mind you, what Fujimura did and didn't yell about was still something of a mystery to Shirou's second (going on third come the fall) grade intellect, but he was fairly certain that arriving home late was a consistent yell trigger.
So really both of them had to be up to something! It was the only possibly explanation!
His eyes narrowed as he stared at Fuji-nee, half concealed from her by the sliding door as she lounged on the floor of the room watching the television quietly.
"Hm?"
Immediately his mind shifted gears as Taiga's head tilted back, her eyes meeting his. "Shirou-chan? Is-."
Abort! Abort! Shirou bolted. Caught spying! He had to escape!
"Something wrong..?" Taiga's question trailed off behind him as he fled the scene.
He hid in the closet, tucking himself under the lowest shelf as his mind raced. He knew that he probably wasn't supposed to be in here like this but he needed somewhere to hide! He needed to figure out what was going on!
"...-irou-chan!"
His eyes widened as he heard footsteps down the hall outside, stepping slowly as the Taiga stalked her prey. "C'mon Shirou-chan, where'd you go?" The footsteps passed trailing their way down towards the far end of the corridor as he let out a sigh of relief.
He realized his mistake the moment the footsteps halted in an instant, the voice returning with a teasing lilt to it. "Oh Shirou-chan~ You wouldn't be hiding from your big sis Taiga would you?" He covered his mouth with one hand, trying to stay as still as possible as the footsteps made their way closer, and closer…
And stopped…
The door shot open with a bang and Shirou jumped as the tension unwound itself in an instant, prompting an equally loud reverberation as he smacked his head into the bottom shelf. "Oh gods! Shirou!" Taiga cried out appalled as he curled back up, whimpering as he tried and failed to suppress the pain. "Owowowow… Huuurrtss… Taiga whyyy…"
"Don't 'Taiga' me what do you mean 'why' you're the one that decided to hide in a closet!"
"Oww… Not so loud Tai-uh-... Fuji-nee…"
"Come on, get out of there. You're going to have a headache soon if you don't do something about it."
"O… Okay…"
While it had taken time for Arturia to understand the world of modern medicine, she'd taken to keeping a well-stocked cabinet in short order. Not that much of it got used. Even after a year and a half Shirou had not yet reached the point of regularly risking anything resembling serious injury during training and Arturia wasn't sure whether she could fall ill in her current form, though given two years without so much as a sniffle or headache she had a fair suspicion that she could not.
"Honestly, first you're acting weird, now you've hurt yourself. Aspirin, Aspirin, where is the aspirin…"
Taiga was rummaging through container after container, hunting for the simple painkillers that Arturia simply didn't use often enough for them to be on display. She gave a heavy sigh…
"Some birthday this is turning out to be…"
Shirou blinked.
"Birthday?"
"Uhhh…" Now it was Taiga's turn to look frightened at what she'd let slip. "Whoops?"
=======
"I'm home!"
"Eheh… Welcome home Einzbern-Sensei!"
"Welcome home Arturia-Mama!"
The blonde woman gave a look at Taiga's sheepish expression. "Ah… Did I miss something?"
"I may have let slip that it was his birthday…"
Arturia raised an eyebrow at that and Taiga flinched at the expression she saw in those hard green eyes, only for them to soften a moment later. "Well I suppose it's alright. I had managed to find what I wanted anyways." She reached out, ruffling her surrogate son's hair with a smile. "Happy Birthday Shirou~"
"Now, the real question is. Since you know the secret. Do you want dinner first? Or…" Arturia reached behind her and held out a narrow box, over a meter in length. "...Your present?" While Arturia's Japanese cooking had improved, the error of last year's attempt had weighed heavily on her, and rather than try at home again this year, Arturia had elected to book a table at a nice restaurant a short ways from the house. While the salary she earned as a teacher since Fukushima-san had helped her get a position teaching english at Homurahara high school after their duel was by no means impressive, it was a step up from what she'd been making as a clerk beforehand and it had expanded her means nicely. Not to mention she would hopefully be able to start up her 'Western Swordsmanship Club' in the fall.
None of the members would be Shirou's age of course, being that it was a high school, but in terms of skill level she expected she would be able to find a few that might be able to match his year and a half of regular training.
In fact, she was becoming strangely proud of his development as a swordsman. Now that they had begun to move into basic strikes and blocks - crossing their Shinai properly for attack and defense - Arturia was beginning to realize that for all that he had no innate understanding of footwork, Shirou seemed to hold a natural talent for wielding blades themselves.
Which of course brought everything back to the current moment, where - with all the impulsive enthusiasm a just-turned-nine-year-old could muster - Shirou shot to his feet, reaching out for it-. "Careful!"
Arturia pulled back just a bit. "It's very heavy, use both hands okay?" She herself was holding the package one-handed but as Shirou took it from her he nearly stumbled at the unexpected weight as well as the unexpected revelation.
He knew what he held in his hands.
The sword was a simple one, a plain round pommel and undecorated crossguard. A simple leather sheath and a gleaming steel blade, albeit blunted for safety. "It is only a training weapon, like your shinai, but this will give you a true sense of the weight you would carry into battle." She hoped her son would never need the training she was giving him in truth, but having done so much already she saw no reason to leave it incomplete.
It would be the height of negligence, and more importantly, she knew that Shirou would be devastated to be so suddenly cut off.
"Starting september, one night a week, we will train with steel instead of wood. And I will teach you to properly care for your weapon."
He would need to learn many of his movements all over again as he adjusted to the new weight, but she had faith that he would do it soon.
Shirou was still staring at the sword, his sword. It wasn't quite right. It was not quite a sword yet, blunted and curbed as it was, and yet, it still spoke to him so much more than the wooden shinai did.
"Did you hear me Shirou?"
Finally he pulled his eyes away from the weapon (for if nothing else it was truly a weapon) and set it down on the table before lunging into his mother's stomach to give her a powerful hug.
"Thank you Arturia-mama! Thank you so much!"
Taiga and Arturia smiled. It hadn't been easy to find a swordsmith who could make western weapons, much less one who was willing to make training blades rather than the real thing, but this made it all worth it.
Never mind that they would need such blades for the club eventually anyways.
Taiga's stomach growled and her smile faded slightly. "Ah… I'm sorry Sensei but you mentioned dinner?"
Arturia just smiled. "Of course. Just as soon as we can convince him not to take the sword with him."
"O-of course…"
There were closer services they could have attended. Practically every shrine in the city was performing a memorial ceremony of some sort for the fire, but just like last year, Arturia-mama had insisted they walk downtown and attend the biggest ceremony, held on the still-scorched earth where once the downtown core of the city had resided. Crews had finished clearing away the rubble years ago but even as the land had reopened to development no one had seemed terribly interested in rebuilding.
Shirou toed the dusty earth softly in the silence. He didn't like this place and he knew Mama didn't either, but she had insisted that it was important they come here. Even though the real place no longer bore any hint of the landscape he could see in his dreams of that night, he could still feel the voices of the dead slithering into his ears, and see the flames whenever he closed his eyes. As though the fire had imprinted itself upon this place and his memory, never the three to be separated.
He was glad when the moment of silence ended and the priest began to talk again, drowning out the illusions of memory once more.
Feeling a nameless weight begin to lift as Arturia led him away from the epicenter of the disaster and back towards their home, Shirou held tightly to her hand, squeezing gently as he sought the comfort of contact and feeling her squeeze back.
Sympathy.
The walk home passed in companionable silence.
=======
Arturia had to admit to a certain amount of trepidation going into Shirou's birthday this year.
The first had been something of a minor disaster. Figuring out the date in the first place had been a mess. Like many other memories from before the fire, Shirou's day of birth was gone from his mind, and Fuyuki's city records had been almost exclusively paper, nearly all of which had been consumed by the fire. For a long time she'd hoped that he might simply recall on one day or another, but as the spring had turned to summer again and the passage of a full year drew ever closer she made a choice.
On paper, Arturia had written Shirou's date of birth as the day of the fire, that morning that marked the ending of the fourth war. Even if that was not when his body had come into the world, that event had marked a new beginning for him for all that it was built upon the bitter ashes of what had come before it. Whoever Shirou had been before the fire he had emerged from it changed, with a new name and a new life, however strange those may have been.
In practice it seemed cruel to celebrate on such a dark day both to her adopted son and to the city that still mourned the tragedy of a year ago, and in the end she was forced to simply acknowledge that the particular day was not as important as the celebration of time's passage itself.
If the issue of timing hadn't been enough, then came the issue of Shirou, something she hadn't even realized would be a problem until it was too late. In honor of the occasion, Arturia had finally applied herself (in addition to enlisting help from Taiga) to cook a proper Japanese meal in celebration. Furthermore, while she hadn't been able to go so far as to learn to bake one herself, she purchased a cake and a few candles.
In hindsight - Arturia reflected quietly - the candles were the real mistake.
To say Shirou had not reacted well to being presented with open flames against a darkened backdrop (the lights having been dimmed for the sake of presentation) would be an understatement. He did not scream or panic but instead ended up going very still and quiet, the candlelight reflecting tears as they began to flow freely down his face, his lips moving as though in silent prayer or wordless plea.
Arturia had been stabbed before, and could well describe a very similar sensation when she bent close to try and comfort him, only to hear his words. "I don't want to go on… I don't want to be alone. I want to die. I want to die."
"Sh-shirou!"
"I…" He stiffened suddenly, as though realizing her presence for the first time, then sniffled. "'Turia-mama?"
She couldn't have been more relieved when he returned her hug but those words remained lodged in her head. That mantra from the memory of a boy dying a slow death amidst the flames circling her mind over and over again in the weeks to come.
So similar to her, too similar to her for a boy of a mere half dozen years…
It was strangely both comforting and horrifying to contemplate that one so young could hold a pain so similar to her own hidden inside.
I won't leave you Shirou…
Now, a year beyond that, the time approached once more. This time, she would plan more carefully.
=======
Mama was up to something. Shirou was sure of it.
Ever since the service they'd attended together she'd been acting funny. She'd been late two nights ago, and was late again tonight, and Fuji-nee hadn't even yelled at her for it! Mind you, what Fujimura did and didn't yell about was still something of a mystery to Shirou's second (going on third come the fall) grade intellect, but he was fairly certain that arriving home late was a consistent yell trigger.
So really both of them had to be up to something! It was the only possibly explanation!
His eyes narrowed as he stared at Fuji-nee, half concealed from her by the sliding door as she lounged on the floor of the room watching the television quietly.
"Hm?"
Immediately his mind shifted gears as Taiga's head tilted back, her eyes meeting his. "Shirou-chan? Is-."
Abort! Abort! Shirou bolted. Caught spying! He had to escape!
"Something wrong..?" Taiga's question trailed off behind him as he fled the scene.
He hid in the closet, tucking himself under the lowest shelf as his mind raced. He knew that he probably wasn't supposed to be in here like this but he needed somewhere to hide! He needed to figure out what was going on!
"...-irou-chan!"
His eyes widened as he heard footsteps down the hall outside, stepping slowly as the Taiga stalked her prey. "C'mon Shirou-chan, where'd you go?" The footsteps passed trailing their way down towards the far end of the corridor as he let out a sigh of relief.
He realized his mistake the moment the footsteps halted in an instant, the voice returning with a teasing lilt to it. "Oh Shirou-chan~ You wouldn't be hiding from your big sis Taiga would you?" He covered his mouth with one hand, trying to stay as still as possible as the footsteps made their way closer, and closer…
And stopped…
The door shot open with a bang and Shirou jumped as the tension unwound itself in an instant, prompting an equally loud reverberation as he smacked his head into the bottom shelf. "Oh gods! Shirou!" Taiga cried out appalled as he curled back up, whimpering as he tried and failed to suppress the pain. "Owowowow… Huuurrtss… Taiga whyyy…"
"Don't 'Taiga' me what do you mean 'why' you're the one that decided to hide in a closet!"
"Oww… Not so loud Tai-uh-... Fuji-nee…"
"Come on, get out of there. You're going to have a headache soon if you don't do something about it."
"O… Okay…"
While it had taken time for Arturia to understand the world of modern medicine, she'd taken to keeping a well-stocked cabinet in short order. Not that much of it got used. Even after a year and a half Shirou had not yet reached the point of regularly risking anything resembling serious injury during training and Arturia wasn't sure whether she could fall ill in her current form, though given two years without so much as a sniffle or headache she had a fair suspicion that she could not.
"Honestly, first you're acting weird, now you've hurt yourself. Aspirin, Aspirin, where is the aspirin…"
Taiga was rummaging through container after container, hunting for the simple painkillers that Arturia simply didn't use often enough for them to be on display. She gave a heavy sigh…
"Some birthday this is turning out to be…"
Shirou blinked.
"Birthday?"
"Uhhh…" Now it was Taiga's turn to look frightened at what she'd let slip. "Whoops?"
=======
"I'm home!"
"Eheh… Welcome home Einzbern-Sensei!"
"Welcome home Arturia-Mama!"
The blonde woman gave a look at Taiga's sheepish expression. "Ah… Did I miss something?"
"I may have let slip that it was his birthday…"
Arturia raised an eyebrow at that and Taiga flinched at the expression she saw in those hard green eyes, only for them to soften a moment later. "Well I suppose it's alright. I had managed to find what I wanted anyways." She reached out, ruffling her surrogate son's hair with a smile. "Happy Birthday Shirou~"
"Now, the real question is. Since you know the secret. Do you want dinner first? Or…" Arturia reached behind her and held out a narrow box, over a meter in length. "...Your present?" While Arturia's Japanese cooking had improved, the error of last year's attempt had weighed heavily on her, and rather than try at home again this year, Arturia had elected to book a table at a nice restaurant a short ways from the house. While the salary she earned as a teacher since Fukushima-san had helped her get a position teaching english at Homurahara high school after their duel was by no means impressive, it was a step up from what she'd been making as a clerk beforehand and it had expanded her means nicely. Not to mention she would hopefully be able to start up her 'Western Swordsmanship Club' in the fall.
None of the members would be Shirou's age of course, being that it was a high school, but in terms of skill level she expected she would be able to find a few that might be able to match his year and a half of regular training.
In fact, she was becoming strangely proud of his development as a swordsman. Now that they had begun to move into basic strikes and blocks - crossing their Shinai properly for attack and defense - Arturia was beginning to realize that for all that he had no innate understanding of footwork, Shirou seemed to hold a natural talent for wielding blades themselves.
Which of course brought everything back to the current moment, where - with all the impulsive enthusiasm a just-turned-nine-year-old could muster - Shirou shot to his feet, reaching out for it-. "Careful!"
Arturia pulled back just a bit. "It's very heavy, use both hands okay?" She herself was holding the package one-handed but as Shirou took it from her he nearly stumbled at the unexpected weight as well as the unexpected revelation.
He knew what he held in his hands.
The sword was a simple one, a plain round pommel and undecorated crossguard. A simple leather sheath and a gleaming steel blade, albeit blunted for safety. "It is only a training weapon, like your shinai, but this will give you a true sense of the weight you would carry into battle." She hoped her son would never need the training she was giving him in truth, but having done so much already she saw no reason to leave it incomplete.
It would be the height of negligence, and more importantly, she knew that Shirou would be devastated to be so suddenly cut off.
"Starting september, one night a week, we will train with steel instead of wood. And I will teach you to properly care for your weapon."
He would need to learn many of his movements all over again as he adjusted to the new weight, but she had faith that he would do it soon.
Shirou was still staring at the sword, his sword. It wasn't quite right. It was not quite a sword yet, blunted and curbed as it was, and yet, it still spoke to him so much more than the wooden shinai did.
"Did you hear me Shirou?"
Finally he pulled his eyes away from the weapon (for if nothing else it was truly a weapon) and set it down on the table before lunging into his mother's stomach to give her a powerful hug.
"Thank you Arturia-mama! Thank you so much!"
Taiga and Arturia smiled. It hadn't been easy to find a swordsmith who could make western weapons, much less one who was willing to make training blades rather than the real thing, but this made it all worth it.
Never mind that they would need such blades for the club eventually anyways.
Taiga's stomach growled and her smile faded slightly. "Ah… I'm sorry Sensei but you mentioned dinner?"
Arturia just smiled. "Of course. Just as soon as we can convince him not to take the sword with him."
"O-of course…"
=End Chapter 4=
EDIT: Whoops! Almost forgot! Thanks you @reborn214 and @TheBleachDoctor for proofreading this for me!
So sorry for the really odd hour of update by the way. I promised it would be today and I made it so, but my god has it not been conducive to writing where I live.
So sorry for the really odd hour of update by the way. I promised it would be today and I made it so, but my god has it not been conducive to writing where I live.
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Update Schedule as of September 5th
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
Schedule Update for all those following this story, starting next week, I will be working night shifts on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
In light of that, I will aim to update this story Twice Weekly. Once on Wednesday, and once during the weekend on Saturday or Sunday.
Thank you all for your support, and I look forward to continuing this tale!
-Spectral Waltz
In light of that, I will aim to update this story Twice Weekly. Once on Wednesday, and once during the weekend on Saturday or Sunday.
Thank you all for your support, and I look forward to continuing this tale!
-Spectral Waltz
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I rather like this.