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FICTION

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ARC 2 – Chapter 3: School Days (3)

Silence was a notion that she had long learned to accept.

Taking a moment to sigh and stare at the progress of her hard work, she smiled maliciously at the runes she had just finished writing.

It took her a large amount of her already-limited time to get these to work, but she knew that the final results were all worth this excruciating waiting. The dampness of the cave she had been forced to stay into in the last months had sharpened her patience.

…

But the presence of that stupid moron to dictate directions left and right in such a chaotic and senseless manner was enough to deprive her of any hope of being left at peace.

Especially when this very moron was now whining in the background.

"I told you to give me the strongest Servants, and you gave me cheap Spirits," The dark-haired boy pointed out with a dull tone.

"And I did. But I also mentioned how these Servants were what I could muster right now in these conditions," She rebuked with some annoyance. "You could've won if you had placed some seriousness in your planning. And yet you had to waste that precious energy away to harass Gilgamesh."

The short figure groaned, his tattoos glowing a soft blue. "Well, I did pay plenty of attention on the blond bastard and I almost got him killed… but then that Foreigner bastard had to come out and spoil my fun-"

"Foreigner?"

Curious name. Another class? One beyond this dimension's standards of Servants?

"This guy I… I couldn't truly understand him," The boy explained. "At first I thought he was a Caster with his magical prowess but… then I felt something wrong about him. Something that… that actually brought me to retreat."

The woman paused, her red eyes finally addressing the nuisance as it continued to rant about this strange encounter.

Something that frightened the embodiment of evil? Now, that was going to make things a little bit more complicated than hoped for.

Sure, their plan was so big and threatening that she had expected for 'outsiders' to appear and raise hell over their current 'strongholds', but to think that a completely different Servant was here? That actually left her perplexed and unsure how to handle this new player.

She had expected the Counter-Force to snap back at the little trickery she was trying to accomplish thanks to the Grail and the still-active leylines in Fuyuki Town giving the artifact the necessary fuel to sustain itself.

By altering some of the old matrix, the woman wanted to shift the primary role of the grail to something completely different from simple wishcraft. Albeit the Einzbern might have been conscious of part of the true potential this artifact offered, it was only Justeaze that had been aware of the full might of the construct.

The Grail was something with far more potential to its original purpose, and Angra Mainyu just wanted only one thing out of it.

The Core of everything.

The perfect Hyperuranion.

The Akashic Record.

So many names, but just a single entity truly representing the final end of their ambitions.

But while many had already tried to reach the highest plane of existence, the reason behind their little crusade was to corrupt the world of idle ideas. The place where the unknown hid from the living, transcending the concept of existence for the sake of attaining true secrecy.

By corrupting the idea of mystery itself, they would've been able to turn everything that existed in all dimension in toys for them to use and destroy whenever they thought or felt like.

They just needed this Grail to create a bridge to all Roots to actually win. They didn't need to kill anyone or anything as a requirement to their success.

But the temptation of actually removing from the big picture the main issues within this dimension? That was just a precaution she knew was necessary.

Three individuals were close enough to their lair to provide some disturbance, and each were going to be particularly difficult to deal with on an individual level.

Shirou Emiya had been a curious element to keep her eyes on while they quietly prepared for this important event. The young boy was inexperienced, naive, and easy to lead around with proper attention given to any plans made about him.

The real issue was what he was holding within himself.

The Game was something that Angra Mainyu only knew since it had been there to witness its integration within Shirou's body.

It was pure coincidence that saw the Avenger taking notice of this occurrence, having approached the young redhead with the purpose of leaving within him part of his true essence.

A fail-safe in case things went awry with any of those that could've gone to destroy the Holy Grail.

The God of All Evil was unable to grasp at the complex nature of its functions when the scene first unfolded before him, with Justeaze's masterful work frustrating him over its true nature.

It didn't help that even when he went through with the process of splitting part of his pure self into the Einzbern husk had provided him with the insight he was seeking for.

Something about the young Emiya made him alluring to his need of a corporeal body beyond the rules of Gaia, but the chances of taking over the child's mind weeks earlier had resulted in a sound defeat.

Whatever Justeaze had left behind to protect the Game, it had been strong enough to shatter any efforts to probe at the young Emiya's thoughts and body.

Thus Shirou Emiya was considered a threat with the potential that this Game was unlocking within his body.

Iri didn't mind. She couldn't care much if the threat was to be absorbed in the greater entity or become a victim to their outstanding ambition.

The real issue about him, in her humble opinion, was why her mind would try to bring up silly plans about ambushing the child and give him a hug.

The very notion of embracing another being sounded so stupid and senseless. It didn't fit with her priorities and didn't offer Iri anything that could help with the big picture.

Ignoring the strange urges this body would push onto her mind, the woman turned her attention at the second obstacle to their plans.

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg was possibly the most dangerous of the small group. The Wizard Marshal, despite having lost most of his might when he was forced to become a vampire, was still powerful enough to interrupt the lengthy process that she had to focus most of her attention into.

The Kaleidoscope's capacities allowed its user to intercept and disrupt any inter-dimensional magecraft. Right now the secrecy of their true plans had hindered the old fool's chances of stop their plot early on, but the accumulation of this much magical energy within the Grail had caught Zelretch's attention.

The old geezer was surely en route to arrive in Japan as soon as possible, maybe even bringing up someone else to help him with the dismantling of the device.

The mere thought that the vampire was going to come personally to deal with this matter was more than enough to worry Angra Mainyu's collective mind.

Zelretch represented the perfect counter to any chances of succeeding with this kind of operations, and that warranted the need to deploy the strongest Servants they could conjure to find the fool and kill him before he had the chance of finding out what was going on in Fuyuki.

Finally, the last issue standing between them and their ultimate goal was the unknown forces that might rush at any issues reaching for their own dimensions.

There was no clear info over this cast of people, but Iri knew that if they took too much time trying to get the process done, the world itself would end up becoming a hub of numerous dimensions at once.

Foreigner just confirmed this little concern, especially if said individuals were meant to hunt down people like Angra Mainyu.

Without paying any attention to the still ongoing whine coming from the fellow Avatar, Iri carefully continued with her own work, knowing well enough that wasting more time on this first step was just going to penalize them more than they were now.

With the wishful thinking that things were going to keep calm until her counterpart decided to wander around again, the fragmented mind of Irisviel von Einzbern grew duller the closer the evil duo came to the fruition of their plans.

It was already nighttime, but she couldn't afford to stop at any time now that she was in this new Fuyuki.

Perching from the roof of a tall building, a silent individual peeked over the damage caused by the 'Great Fire' that had devastated the city a while ago.

A grimace appeared on her tanned face as her bright orange eyes scanned over the similarities this dimension had with the one both Miyu and her brother came from.

The damage was indeed close to the one caused by the Ainsworth Holy Grail War, but in this version there had been an actual fire consuming a good chunk of Fuyuki.

It was still the result of a Holy Grail War, but this one felt more like the ones she knew thanks to her ancestor's memories.

To think that their dimension had been spared by the damage caused by the Fourth War all because of the Wizard Marshal personally coming in town to dismantle the Grail.

The mere thought that they had been spared this much loss of human lives was more than enough to remind the girl how lucky she actually was despite her flawed body.

"Kuro!" A familiar voice called from the other side of the building, prompting the tanned Archer to glance back at the yelling individual.

Approaching her with a quick pace, a certain magical girl offered a nervous look at her counterpart. Closely behind her, a taller fellow offered a quizzical look at Chloe, prompting a sigh from the 'serious' Einzbern's lips.

"I think this is quite similar to Miyu-chan's world," She concluded with a nod while she addressed both Illya and… Shirou.

It was odd to call her Oniichan by his proper name. But the correction was a must since the young man wasn't her big brother despite their identical appearances.

Well, mostly identical if she had to take into account the white patches on this Shirou's hair and the tanned spots on his skin.

The result of burning some of his Magic Circuits by overusing his Tracing ability. It was still ironic how the young man had long ditched the ideals that made EMIYA a proper Counter-Guardian, yet he was the closest version to the Hero of Justice.

But the reality of the situation didn't offer space for any comedic relief much to her growing chagrin. There were so many chances to make some joke to ease up the tension, but Kuro herself couldn't help but feel worried about this new adventure.

Differently from the one they had just a couple of months ago against the Ainsworths, this one was far more complicated and difficult to understand without exploring some more.

Back then they knew who their enemies were. Now they were dealing with complete unknowns that had no correlation to their dimension up until Miyu was taken away from them.

"I think we should check the house where Miyu and I used to live in," Shirou muttered curtly. "It's 1994, and I think Kiritsugu is still alive."

Kuro frowned at this, remembering how Shirou's father had died because of some rare illness.

"You think he will help us?" Illya inquired with a note of nervousness, once again pointing out how she was ill-equipped to go through this kind of complex adventures on her own.

"He will," Chloe replied calmly. "Papa is still a good man at heart. Whatever version this one might be, he's someone that strive for justice."

"It all depends if his concept of justice is like your father's or if it is closer to mine," The redhead commented with a distracted voice.

The tales provided by the young man about the ruthlessness the Magus Killer used to be brought up the chances of this dimension's Kiritsugu actually refusing the need of help.

The very scenario was grim to conetmplate, but while both individuals connected to Emiya pondered over this case, Illya perfectly acted as positively innocent as possible about the matter.

"Still, we need to try. Maybe this Kiritsugu is as nice as Dad. And Dad would help us if he was here!"

It wasn't top-grade pep-talking, but considering how lucky the simple girl had been in the last few months, it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if she was correct even in this very case.

They finally moved away from their temporary setting, with Illya flying around while Kuro and Shirou followed her by jumping from roofs to roofs. The pattern soon changed when they reached the part of town where there weren't many tall buildings and so they were all forced back on the streets.

Running around these familiar dark roads increased the tanned Archer's uneasiness over what was going to happen once they arrived at their destination.

Is there going to be a Emiya family waiting in there? What if they never settled here in Fuyuki and actually moved out of town much earlier?

The more thoughts came to her mind, the more burdened she felt as they continued silently with their rush.

That was until they finally arrived at the familiar compound and they stopped at the mail box outside.

Emiya.

Yes, they have to be here.

With a smile slowly creeping on her face, Kuro carefully opened the main gates that led to the compound. Lockpicking the mechanism was easy, and soon they were walking inside the building in the hopes of finding refuge in there.

There was silence within the walls of the house, something that was pretty normal considering the late hour they had decided to 'visit'.

Her eyes looked left and right as she checked for anything worth of suspicions. Nothing jumped to her attention and soon the trio wandered off until they ended up entering the… kitchen.

Chloe blinked in surprise when she noticed that the light was on, but while her senses continued to search for anything worth of attention, she failed to notice that there was actually someone waiting in the room.

Three people to be precise.

Tensing up as she noticed the calm-looking Kiritsugu Emiya finishing lighting a cigarette, her eyes fully widened when she noticed that the other two occupants were a battle-ready Sella and Leysritt.

...How?!

Illya eeped a little bit at the standoff while Shirou looked slightly surprised at this scene himself.

"The boundary fields alerted me of your presence when you graced the gates," The Magus Killer explained dully. "I don't know what is going on, or why two of you decided to try and appear like my children, but I think I will just ask about your identities."

There was a pregnant pause at that, with the intruders sharing some looks as they tried to think up about something to resolve this unnerving predicament.

Ultimately, it was Illya that spoke up.

"Pap-Kiritsugu-san, I can assure you that we're not here to cause you any harm-"

"Yet you entered my home like criminals, breaking the lock," The dark-haired Emiya pointed out blankly. "I think your position isn't a pleasant one considering all elements and-"

"She is saying the truth, Kiritsugu-san," Chloe decided to intervene, knowing that things were favoring them at all. "While I understand your distress at our sudden intrusion, I can assure that we really are not here to hurt you or your family."

The tanned Einzbern paused to glance at Illya, or rather at her magical stick. "And I know the best way to show you that we're telling the truth."

Kiritsugu blinked as the girl's smile turned at the strange prop.

"Ruby, can you please… bring out a family photo?"

At first there was silence, but then the Kaleidostick wriggled a little bit, huffing left and right.

"A family photo, Kuro-chan? I guess I can offer it but… can I also give him some cute Illya-chan's photos? I've plenty of her Beast Mode form~!"

The other Einzbern looked terrified at the prospect of that embarrassing experience being shown to someone else, but Kuro merely sighed. "Just the family photo." For now.

There was no way in hell that the devious girl was going to miss the chance of teasing her naive counterpart before this version of the Emiya Family.

The picture was carefully placed by the table, leaving Kiritsugu to reach for it and give it a proper look at it.

He froze instantly at the sight, his eyes widening at the scene displayed in there.

It was an old photo that was taken a little after their Kiritsugu had returned back home from his oversea job. They had decided to visit the beach for the occasion, and they had taken a big family photo to remember that situation.

But while the older Emiya was surprised by the presence of so many individuals in there, some he could recognize and some he couldn't, his eyes couldn't peel off from the presence of a single individual that caused his heart to pang painfully.

Irisviel looked so lively and happy. Her smile was so bright and so at ease.

He would've trembled at that display, but he managed to hold back the tears at that absurd picture. If before he had been confused by the intruders' appearances, now he was stomped by the proof he was given.

"Who… Who are you three?"

Kuro nodded slowly at the uneasy question, deciding to be the one to make the introductions.

"I'm Chloe von Einzbern," She started with a careful voice, soon turning to look. "The one dressed like a silly magical girl is Illya von Einzbern-"

The white-haired girl looked flustered at that annoying comment, but the tanned Archer was now looking at the young man behind them.

"And this is Shirou Emiya-..."

The girl stopped for a moment as he noticed that the redhead had his attention diverted elsewhere.

She slowly followed his stare up at the doorstep they have entered from and, standing there, she blinked at a young boy with red hair and amber eyes.

The young Shirou Emiya stared in pure shock at his older counterpart and… Miyu's brother mirrored this very expression back to him.

While the scene had a degree of seriousness and revelation, the two young Einzberns found themselves staring at the 'tinier' Emiya, sharing a single thought.

This Shirou-chan is so cute~!

AN

Fuck, this was supposed to be a full-fledged chapter, but I ended up getting distracted and create something that resembles a big Interlude.

I know, what's the difference? Words-wise, it's shorter compared to other chapters. Today I got plenty of distractions in the form of me working out seriously.

Yes, I've starting some training to get myself back in shape (got a little bit of belly back because of the quarantine and I'm following a careful schedule to not burn anything else in my day.).

Still, back on the chapter: This is slowly turning in a Illya-face fest. Miyu does technically count as Miyuverse's Illya considering her role as Lesser Grail and Shirou's Imouto.

I think we just need another version and we should have all Illya-face here-

*A certain Alter Ego peeks over from the corner together with her polar bear*

Sorry sweetie, I don't think I have logical means to get you to play in the story this early. Maybe later on.

*Cue Illya-like whine and slow retreat of sad Alter Ego and Polar Bear*

...That's just so sad…

P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin

k o-fi . com (slash) justbukharin

REVIEW Q&A!

Zahiddreux: I don't think so. No.

StayDetermined704: God of the Bible! This is a Dante from another universe where God exists and he met him personally. Differently from the other Nasuverse Gods, The God of the Bible is actually an entity that represents mystery because of its obscure origins.

Sonicman66: That's post-Prillya Miyu, yes.

Xenahort x: Because Moon Cell doesn't exist in this side of the Nasuverse. There is plenty of chances to built up, but as of now there is only a single individual on the Moon.