Another short chapter, but I wanted this out in time for Christmas. And I'm not the kind of person to insert stuff into the text just for word count. It's been so long since I wrote a chapter that I actually had to go back and refresh myself. As an added note, I rewrote some stuff in the previous chapters. The only thing retconned is that Emi's spirit name has been changed from Heroine to Blacksmith, as I had to agree with Qrow that it was unlikely for Ratatoskr to call her that. I also added a hint to Emi's Angel in chapter 1.

I didn't realize it, but last chapter Date a Fate exceeded The Divine Spirit in word count! I'm proud to have reached the same level as one of the fics that inspired me to write this... yet a little sad that Ashen Messenger hasn't updated in a while. His writing's better than mine though, so he's still worth checking out!

Eiji's story will unfold parallel to the main story for some time, but they will eventually intersect. But that's later. Way later.

I repeat: Emi's Angel is not her Reality Marble.

Empire Player... your review was scary. Did you read my mind? You mentioned quite a few possibilities that were actually spot on. Not only that, but your reasoning, at points, was exactly the same as mine. I'm actually afraid to answer you questions because of how close you were and how much may be revealed. Such mind reading powers must be cultivated!

A lot of my previous chapters heavily relied on the DaL LN for ideas. This chapter was initially going to be the same... except the meeting-Woodman scene happens way later in canon, so this ended up being entirely different from the LN. Is it better? Or worse?

Mild spoiler: There's a reason Yoshino and Tohka don't get a pass for themselves. Elliot is afraid that Tohka would lose her pass. And if he gave both Emi and Yoshino a pass, Tohka would probably ask for one too. Yes, Elliot actually thought that through.

Ever since Emi had started training Shido in the mornings, she had breakfast with the Itsukas. It was simply more convenient for her to bring a change of clothes and help Shido make breakfast instead of returning to her apartment for breakfast and to change. Shido was grateful as well, as he was often sore and tired after their training sessions.

Of course, if Emi was going to eat at Shido's house, Tohka and Yoshino would come too. It was Tohka who first became jealous and insisted that she also dine with them. And then Yoshino, who didn't want to be left out, had begged with pout to come over as well.

And so, everyone had their breakfast in the Itsuka household.

"Everyone," Kotori said suddenly at breakfast as she jabbed a piece of scrambled egg on her plate with a fork, "There's someone important at Ratatoskr who wants to see us."

This was unexpected. Emi was under the impression that she had already finished all her tests and was cleared to stay among humans. Not to mention, something was nagging her. Unless...

She studied Kotori carefully and immediately picked up a few details. For one, she was serious - unusually serious for her regular attitude, so Emi assumed she was in commander mode, an assumption that was backed by the black ribbons in her hair. Another thing was that she was wearing her Ratatoskr uniform, which was strange - didn't she have school? But that alone shouldn't be the cause of her unease.

And then it hit her. Kotori had buttoned up her coat. Kotori never buttoned up her coat, always leaving it hanging on her shoulders. Therefore, it stood to reason that the person that wanted to met her was someone Kotori respected enough to dress properly.

So Emi put one and one together.

"It's Mr. Woodman, isn't it?"

"Eh?! How'd-" Kotori blushed when everyone turned to look at her. "Ahem. I meant, yes, it is Mr. Woodman."

"Isn't he your former boss, Kotori?" Shido asked.

"Mm! I wewember wow!" Tohka managed, mouth still full. She swallowed her food. "You said he was super sick. Is he okay now?" She asked worriedly.

Kotori sighed. "He's not sick. He's just getting old, and unfortunately, there's no cure for age. But," she continued, "He is still an excellent leader, and I won't tolerate anyone badmouthing him, you hear?" Her eyes roamed over their faces, as if to make the severity of her statement clear.

They hadn't said anything yet, though.

"We haven't said anything yet," Tohka pouted. It seemed that she and Emi were of one mind.

"I could say something," Yoshinon whispered loudly.

"I'm just laying down the ground rules," Kotori answered, "Am I understood?"

"Yes, yes," Emi sighed. No point in irritating the twin-tailed little tsundere with a loud mouth. From experience, that tended not to go well.

...From experience?

Strange. When had she ever met someone like Kotori?

"Are you ready?" Emi asked a fidgeting Kotori.

Kotori had lead all of them to a large skyscraper with the words "Asgard Electronics" spelled out in large letters on the roof. Even though it was situated in downtown Tengu City, the building towered over those around it. Halfway up the building was a large opening, similar to a dock or a hanger.

"I'm fine," Kotori snapped, "Come on, our appointment is in five minutes." She marched forward, with the rest of them letting her take the lead. None of the knew their way around the tower, after all. Though Emi was already committing as much as she could to memory.

They followed Kotori to an elevator. She pulled out a card and waved it before a scanner before the doors opened and they all crowded in. As soon as the doors closed, the elevator began to move upwards, despite no buttons having been pressed.

Fancy. She moved closer to the doors and noticed that there were only three buttons on the panel - open, close, and emergency. There was also a security camera placed in the corner above the buttons. It was as if it whoever placed it hadn't even bothered to hide it, but then again, people rarely looked up.

A cold hand wormed its way into her's, and she immediately knew it was Yoshino. She didn't need to see her face to know that the blue-haired Spirit was apprehensive about the situation.

"Are we in trouble?" Yoshino whimpered as she clung to Emi, "I don't think I did anything."

Emi patted her head and offered her the most encouraging smile she could. "Don't worry. Mr. Woodman probably just wants to meet us in person."

On the opposite side of the elevator, Shido was likewise comforting a distressed Kotori. "What if I disappointed him?" She muttered to herself, "What if he doesn't want me to be captain anymore? I'm really young for a captain; did he find someone better to replace me?"

"I-I doubt it's going to be anything like that," Shido tried to comfort, "Maybe he just wants to catch up with what you've been up to?"

"No, no," she continued to mutter, seemingly not realizing that she was talking out loud or that it was Shido who was speaking to her, "Mr Woodman's probably really busy. There's no way he'd arrange a meeting just to catch up with-"

A loud ding snapped Kotori out of her thoughts, just as Yoshino let out a "yeep!" They exited the elevator to find themselves in a long hallway. Wordlessly, Kotori lead them to a door at the end of the hall and knocked.

"Come in!" came a familiar voice. It seemed her suspicions were correct.

Kotori quickly straightened her coat and running a hand through her hair as if to make sure it was straight before opening the door. Emi chose not to mention that there was a tuft of hair still sticking up like an ahoge.

The door opened to a large room with a single desk and a few chairs around the room. The wall behind the desk was a window - possible escape route - that gave a view of the city. In front of the desk were two people, an middle-aged man in a wheelchair and a young woman with white hair.

"Hello, Baldwin!" Emi cheerily called out as soon as she saw the person sitting behind the desk. Beside her, Kotori made a choking sound.

"Hello to you too, Emi!" The man replied with a twinkle in his eyes and a grin on his face, "It's nice to see that you are doing well."

"Same to you, Baldwin. Or should I call you Elliot? Or Mr. Woodman?"

"Y-Y-You've... You've met Mr. Woodman?" Kotori squeaked, a trembling finger hovering between the two.

"Indeed," Baldwin informed her, "Just yesterday, miss Emi was so very kind to give Karen and I directions to the hospital. Ah," and here he redirected his attention to Emi, "You may call me any of the above. I was a little surprised that you managed to connect the dots. And here I was, thinking I was being so very clever for meeting you without revealing that I was the founder of Ratatoskr."

"I have a good memory and a knack for details," was her comment. He gave her a nod.

"But I haven't forgotten about you either, commander Kotori! How have you been? We haven't been able to speak like this in a while. Can you forgive this old man for wanting to spend some time catching up with my favorite commander? I've heard that you've had a busy past few weeks."

Shido subtly shot Kotori an 'I told you so' look.

Kotori not-so-subtly stomped on his foot.

"S-Sure," she answered, "But maybe after this meeting?"

"Ah, yes, of course. I wouldn't want to leave all of you waiting while I chatted with your commander, now, would I? That would be incredibly rude."

"Ahem," Karen, who had been standing behind Woodman the whole time, coughed into her hand. "Speaking of incredibly rude..."

"Sorry, sorry!" Woodman chuckled, "I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? After all, poor Shido, Tohka, and Yoshino haven't met me before. My name is Elliot Baldwin Woodman, and I am the founder of Ratatoskr and the head of Asgard Electronics."

"I am Karen Nora Mathers," Karen said as seriously as ever, "I serve as Elliot's aide and secretary. It is a pleasure to meet you all."

"I'm Shido Itsuka. Nice to meet you too."

"I'm Tohka!"

"...Yoshino."

"With introductions out of the way, shall I get down to business?" Woodman paused, his eyes roaming over all of them until they rested on Shido.

"First things first. Shido Itsuka."

"Yes?" Shido seemed apprehensive about being called out.

"I apologize for-" the man frowned, then leaned forward. "Actually, could you come a little closer to the desk? My eyesight is not what it was before."

"Eh? Okay." Shido advanced forward towards Woodman, who attentively examined his face.

"I see... you look familiar... almost like..." Woodman trailed off and his eyes gained a distant tint, as if he was searching through his memories.

"Like who?" Shido was understandably confused.

"Ah, no, my bad. That boy was from many years ago. There's no way you could be him."

...A long lost relative? If Shido was adopted, could this unknown boy be his father?

"Excuse me," Emi interjected, "But what was his name?"

"Shinji Takamiya." Woodman was still studying Shido. "The resemblance is uncanny... but Shinji died nearly thirty years ago. It's probably a coincidence."

For some reason, Emi disliked the name 'Shinji.' But the name Takamiya, that was Mana's last name as well. A relative? Or a coincidence?

Woodman shook his head as if to dislodge his thoughts. "Sorry, I went off track there. I invited you here to apologize for the pressure Ratatoskr places on you." Ignoring his "huh?" of surprise, Woodman continued, "I've been told that you've been frustrated by your failure to seal Nightmare."

"That- well, sort of," Shido admitted, shuffling his feet, "It's just that every moment she's out... there," he indicated to the window, "She could be killing someone. And yet, I don't want Mana - do you know about Mana?"

"I do." Of course he did. Kotori probably reported everything to him.

"I don't want Mana to be killing her." He was beginning to fidget with his hands. "I don't want anyone killing Kurumi at all, nor do I want Mana killing anyone."

"And so you're conflicted," Woodman said with patience, "You know what she's doing is wrong, yet you still want to save her."

"That's... well, I guess you're correct, in a way. But you're not entirely right. I've already made up my mind. I fully understand that what she's doing is wrong, but I still want to save her. There is no conflict, no doubt, because I'm sure that some part of Kurumi - some good part of Kurumi - wants to be saved."

Emi understood the want to heal someone who was hurting. She could understand wanting to save everyone they met. But ultimately, it was impossible to save everyone. It seemed Shido was already making the decision to save the people before him instead of the countless masses that were endangered by Kurumi's rampage. It certainly wasn't the path of a hero - someone who saved as many people as possible - but of a human.

And humans were selfish creatures that would sacrifice the world for a slice of happiness for themselves and the people around them.

For some reason, she kept these thoughts to herself.

There was a pause, and then, "I see." Woodman continued to smile. "I had been worried that you might have been struggling with your feelings. But you were more determined than I thought. I'm sorry for underestimating your resolve."

"No, I had help," Shido admitted, the corners of his mouth turning upward in a small smile, "If it weren't for Kotori and Yoshino, I would've still been struggling to come to a decision."

Emi noted that Kotori's cheeks became tinted with pink, though otherwise there was no reaction. On the other hand, Yoshino hid her face behind her hair.

"That doesn't devalue your determination, though you should thank them for having your back. I'm sure they'll appreciate it."

Kotori's blush remained. Yoshino began edging her way behind Emi.

"Actually, speaking of Yoshino, I also wanted to talk to the new Spirits." Woodman turned his attention to the three Spirits.

"Mm?" This time it was Tohka who responded as she turned away from the window - was that why she had been quiet until now?

"Watcha wanna talk about?" Yoshinon chirped.

"How have things been for all of you?" he asked.

"Great!" Tohka answered, "I have fun with Shido every day! Even going to school is fun an exciting!"

"I-I...like staying with Shido-san."

"Well, I got a room and a little disciple to tor - train, to train," Emi shrugged, "I'm not complaining."

"You were about to say torture, weren't you," Shido deadpanned.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Emi answered just as flatly.

"You're all quite lively. That's good," Woodman spoke up, "I'm glad you're all happy. I founded Ratatoskr to save Spirits and give them a better life, so its great to see that you're all having a wonderful time. I'm sorry for asking you all to come here at such an inopportune time for such a small question, but my schedule is rather booked, and I needed to know that what Ratatoskr is doing is right. If you have any questions for-"

Karen tapped his shoulder and indicated to a card sitting on the side of his desk. The moment his eyes lay on it, he gave a brief start. "Oh, I almost forgot. Emi, this is for you." Emi approached the desk to receive the card. Written on the top were the words "Limited Research Access."

"With that, you should be able to tap into Ratatoskr's information on Spirits. After all, I've been told that's what you asked for when you agreed to help us, wasn't it?"

It was indeed, but... "Why does it say 'limited?'" she asked. 'Is there something you're hiding?' was the unsaid question.

"I could not get you an actual research pass, unfortunately," Woodman said with a sigh, his smile dropping for an moment, "When it comes down to it, Ratatoskr is lead by the Round Table, and they are the ones who make the decision to reveal information. That card is the highest card I'm allowed to give away without going through them... and you do not want to gain their attention."

"Are they the kind of people who only want Spirits around to use as tools?"

Tohka gasped. "There are people like that?"

"Emi got it exactly right. We've managed to pull some strings, you see. On paper, the reports all say that you've been sealed." Woodman's grin became just the tad bit mischievous. "They don't say who did the sealing though, and that has been enough for them to pay you only just as much attention as Yoshino and Tohka. But if I wanted to get you a full access pass, I'd need to speak with the Round Table, and that would doubtlessly make them raise questions about why you need a pass. And with that, comes extra scrutiny."

"What do I have clearance to see with this?" Emi asked, as she studied the card. It had a watermark of a squirrel hugging a nut, and the color of the card was a rusty red.

"It should allow you to see everything except for current and active projects," Woodman replied, "It gives you access to our entire database, but cannot give you information about current Ratatoskr operations. The Round Table had to give me permission to access and grant access to at least that much, since much of that data is stored with Asgard Electronics anyways."

"If they had their way, the Round Table would keep Mr. Woodman out of Ratatoskr completely," Karen explained.

"Of course. Greedy corporate businessmen," Kotori agreed.

"Now, you two-"

"Warning." Came the loud voice over the sudden sound of sirens, "There have been signs of an impending spatial quake. Please evacuate to the nearest shelter."

"It's Nightmare," Karen said, now checking a phone, "It seems she want to blow up your school."

With a burst of light, the five of them were on board the Fraxinus again. Out of habit, Shido made to head to the control room, but Kotori stopped him.

"No time," she said, "We need to get you down there as fast as possible. Get in the teleporter again."

"No," Emi intervened, "Send me down first. I can at least make sure it's safe for Shido down there."

Kotori shook her head. "That won't do. We want Shido to talk to Kurumi, and to seal her. It wouldn't work if we send you first."

"Then I'll go with him," came her response, "We'll go at the same time. Come on, Shido. You'll be fine. You can still summon Ascalon, can't you?"

Shido brought up a hand. Wisps of gold light drifted in his palm before he dismissed it. "Yeah," he said, "Yeah, lets go."

"Wait!" It was Tohka. "Let me go too!" she protested, "I want to help Shido as well!"

"M-Me too..."

"All aboard!" Yoshinon agreed.

Kotori shot them down. "No."

"But Emi-"

"Emi still has full access to her Spirit powers. On the other hand, Spirits that have been sealed by Shido can only access their Spirit powers when stressed, and only part of them. Unfortunately, it's too dangerous for you two."

"That..."

"You two," Kotori turned her attention back to Shido and Emi. "Get in. I'll send you down in a moment."

The two stepped into the teleporter.

"We'll be back," Shido said.

"Don't worry," Emi told them.

They ignored how Yoshino bit her lip in worry and Tohka clenched her fist in frustration.

A blade flashed forward, eager for the neck it had bitten into many times before.

Kurumi stepped back.

"You won't get away with this!" Mana snarled as immediately adjusted and swung again, "I'll kill you, just as I've done all the previous times!"

Kurumi remembered those deaths. How Mana had previously bisected her with such a swing.

Kurumi easily knocked the energy blade away with a lazy swing of her musket. Mana was so fun to mess with whenever they fought - though this time Kurumi would have to play things a little more seriously. While she used her musket to parry, she brought up her flintlock pistol and fired a shot that Mana deflected with her Territory. "Oh dear. It seems you haven't caught on yet." She continued to back away, avoiding and parrying Mana's swings. "I'm sorry, but this time, I don't plan on dying at all."

She suddenly lashed out, the butt of the musket striking Mana in the stomach and sending her flying back across the roof.

"Time to end this. Zaphkiel! Aleph!"

A golden clock materialized behind her, and black smoke began to drift from the roman numeral "I" into her flintlock. With her Angel active, she pointed her pistol up through her chin and fired.

Immediately, time slowed down. Mana began to get up, but it was as if she was moving through honey. Calmly, Kurumi walked up to her and pointed her guns at her exposed thighs.

"Checkmate, little wizard."

Bang!

Three sounds. Two of them were her musket and pistol as they each fired a round into Mana's legs, ensuring that she would not be standing. The wizard's Territory flickered into existence, trying to fend off the attack, but Kurumi had fed her bullets enough Spirit energy to punch through. As it was, it was only thanks to the Territory that Mana did not outright lose both legs.

The third bang, however, was unexpected.

"Ah, Origami-san! How nice of you to drop in?" Kurumi gave the white haired girl the biggest smile she had as the effects of Aleph wore off. The AST member had slammed the door to the roof open. Other than to give her fallen comrade a glance, she kept an eye on Kurumi.

"Nightmare." Origami's eyes narrowed. "I won't let you get away."

"Oh my!" She put a finger to her cheek and tilted her head, as if genuinely worried. She wasn't able to play with Mana, so she supposed Origami would do quite nicely. "Well, that's too bad. I was going to say the same to you. Zaphkiel! Het!" With another bang, another bullet deposited itself into her head. Then, from the ground, hands began to emerge. In an instant, a small army of Kurumi clones had emerged.

"After all, you're such a delicious treat." Kurumi licked her lips. "I can't wait to eat you up."