Well, here we finally go...AFTER NEARLY HALF A YEAR. But first, two things. One: I was originally was going to edit the first part a little bit due to it being a product of my mind going on overdrive mixed with me being half-asleep when I wrote it...but I was advised to keep it intact. Two: I ended the chapter a bit earlier than I originally wanted to just to get it out. I also scrapped the planned Tiger Dojo for the same reason.

And again, I hope the formatting didn't get messed up in transition.

Chapter 5: A god's immortality
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I spy with my little eye something green.

Grass.

I spy with my little eye something…more green.

More grass.

I spy with my little eye'm bored. There is nothing to see here but rolling green fields (how can fields roll if they aren't round?), stretching to the horizon (or stretch for that matter, words are weird). Adding that to the fact I couldn't move (or feel) even my eyes left me staring at the same section of grass-covered field for what seemed like days. Oddly enough I could see everything around me in a 360-degree panoramic view, it was like I had eyes set in a complete sphere surrounding me. That anomaly allowed me to see even moreof the horizon despite me not being able to move, so why question good fortune?

You know, in fact I believe the grass has grown almost three centimeters since I started watching. I made up a song about that, grass growing, wanna hear it? Wait…I forgot that Shirou is alone in my head.

Darn.

The grass growing song makes me giggle. I'm sure if I had anyone else in my head they'd giggle too.

Cut it! Cut the grass, chip-chop. I feel like cutting, stabbing, cleaving…yet I must build, forge, create.Uncontrollable impulses sure make it difficult to think. I wonder if this is part of what Berserker felt so long ago, if so I feel for him.

Still, I feel funny; did the president get me drunk yet again? Last thing I remember is fighting a giant metal pickle barrel then bam, watching grass grow. I don't even remember what I did to get that metallic container of pickled produce so angry with me. Then again…maybe it was a dream inspired by that TV show I watched or something, everyone knows that pickle barrels don't fly.

Plus that thing had tentacles that tried to tentacle-rape me like a tentacle-monster in a bad tentacle-porn flick; pickle barrels most certainly don't have those either. I never really looked that closely at one though…so maybe they dohave tentacles and are merely hiding them for when they try to take over the world! And by take over the world I mean assault defenseless schoolgirls.

I mean that iswhat tentacle monsters do, right?

The sound of footsteps interrupted any further intospuk…instaspe…intru…thought…words are weird. How dare footsteps interrupt me! If I could move I would kill (cleave, stab, cut, eviscerate!)you where you stand…err, sound. Wait, that is not very superhero-like…let me try again. Nope, redo failed…please try again later.

Damn automated services.

The crunching grass signifying another person's presence was drawing (an artist!) closer. My attention was taken up by a shock of familiar blond hair, followed by an even more familiar red. It happened to be the very same red that I see in the mirror every morning, how nice. A petite girl in a white dress was walking ahead of a larger red-haired man, holding hands the whole way. Even though I couldn't see their faces I could tell that they were smiling, laughing as if at some private joke shared only between lovers. It was surprising that despite my head feeling all swirly I recognized them immediately.

Hi Saber, hi Shirou!

Holding hands and strolling through the sunlight together, how nice it must feel to be so carefree. I am envious of them…us…umm, the me-who-is-not-me. And for that matter, why is me-who-is-not-me not me? I am I, and he is I, thus we are me. Anyway, the peaceful scene makes me feel…complete somehow.

…wait. Waitwaitwaitwait!

Something was wrong, terribly wrong. The pleasant fog blanketing my mind dissipated instantly along with any serenity I had felt. With the restoration of my mental faculties my vision was restored to normal, I felt the familiar weight of my body as gravity took hold of me soon after. The grass crunching as my feet softly alighted upon the ground indicated that I wasn't standing before; it left me wondering what kind of state I was in prior to this.

Turning to the figures of Saber and the other myself I saw that they had stopped strolling and were standing with their backs turned to me, shoulders shaking in silent laughter. I made to step towards them but some unknown instinct from deep within my mind warned me not to. Without any other warning the gorgeous world around me seemed to stretch and fall as if sucked into the drain of a bathtub.

What it left behind was the stuff of nightmares.

The ground was a veritable sea of blood; the stench of iron assaulted my nostrils making me cover them with my hand. In the distance giant human-shaped shadows danced in macabre synchronization, constantly circling the bloody horizon. Their jerky movements reminded me of nothing more than twisted marionettes, pulled along by unseen strings. Towering obelisks, crumbling pyramids, screaming sphinxes, elaborately carved pillars, and statues of long dead Egyptian pharaohs…these things and countless others jutted from the bloody ocean at sporadic angles, their position and forms shifting constantly like television static.

The sky had turned a sickly purple, with blood pouring down from the heavens (if you could still call them that) like rain. And instead of the white nimbus clouds that were once floating far above my head I was able to make out a number of shackled things. The only thing these forms had in common were the rusted chains that bound each and every one of them. The size, shape, texture, and even color of each creature was unique, each twisted in its own way. These featureless horrors lazily floated in the far off distance slumbering, unaware of the crazed world around them.

I got the feeling that if even one of those things woke up it would signal the end of the world.

Spotting sudden movement out of the corner of my eye brought my attention back to the two figures of Saber and the other myself that still stood there, ankle deep in the pool of blood. Despite my instincts screaming at me not to I made my way over to them, red liquid splashing around my ankles with every step. They seemed to react to my approach by stiffening suddenly, their backs ramrod straight. Turning to me in synchronization I saw that their faces were nothing but pitch-black shadows, I couldn't help but step back in revulsion. Instead of eyes they had identical twin pools of blood, overflowing down their faces and dripping onto the ground. Beneath that lied a large crescent gash stretching from ear-to-ear in mockery of a human mouth, the unholy grin unsurprisingly had the liquid leaking from it too.

"Trace, on." Though my first instinct was to reinforce my body and call upon one of the swords I could trace at the sight of such creatures, the lack of energy flooding my veins quickly alerted me to the unfortunate fact that I couldn't. All I could do was return their stare.

After staring at me for what seemed like an eternity, the figures faced each other and each put a hand to their mouth and laughed silently as if mocking me. Rather than turn back to me and attack the Saber figure jumped onto the other me and proceeded to rip open his abdomen with her teeth, splattering entrails and body fluids everywhere. The foul stench of ruptured intestines wafted towards me, making my stomach turn.

The other me immediately countered by shoving the Saber down to the ground by the shoulders and repaid the wound he received in kind. The moment the flesh touched his lips the wound in his belly was restored…almost. Instead the smooth and supple skin of the very stomach he ripped open and devoured was attached to the rest of the chiseled torso like some patchwork doll, the difference in body size made the figure have to hunch over.

Turning to the Saber figure I saw that an identical thing happened to her…it, just reversed. Without sparing a moment to pause the figures both went at the other's right hand and tore them off with a sickening crunch, showing the tendons and bones within. The same thing as last time happened, the wounds regenerated…but with the ingested parts instead of the original.

These events continued over and over and over again. Left ear, right forearm, throat, right thigh, left shoulder, right leg, chin, right shoulder, I'm sure it would have gone on longer had I not taken the opportunity to retreat rather than stare in morbid fascination. Because the moment I started to back away the splashing noise of the blood at my feet caused them to abruptly stop their bloody orgy and return their attention back to me.

On second thought, maybe I should have stuck with the staring. If I were to run…where exactly would I go? There is nothing here but blood and rubble! In addition to which the giant shadows in the distance have stopped their dancing and are taking an awful lot of interest in me…that surely can't be good for my continued existence.

My hesitation turned out to be my downfall, the creatures that used to have the forms of Saber and myself lunged at me and pinned my arms down to the wet ground. With their shadowed faces mocking me with a deranged smile the things spoke for the first time, the raspy voices gurgling as blood dripped from their open maws.

"Why must the world end? Why must the act finish? Despair! Despair! Despair! Despair as the stage crumbles beneath your feet, hollow marionette!"

I would have pondered that cryptic phrase more if I was given the opportunity, however it was not to be. Immediately after they uttered that cryptic sentence the Saber figure grabbed my forehead and shoved my head into the hard ground that lay beneath the blood stunning me, probably giving me a concussion. Through all the stars and haze around my mind I could make out the two twisted figures prodding my sternum, with what they were just doing that couldn't be a good thing.

They plunged their fingers into my chest, the sudden spike of pain taking me out of my daze. I felt oddly detached from the rest of my body, despite the pain saying otherwise, as they were literally peeling the skin away from my ribcage with their claws. Such a sight where my bones were completely exposed to the air was hardly believable, despite all the wounds I had been inflicted with, left me feeling some distance from reality.

After that was done they grasped the bottom two ribs and bent them back with a snap, opening them like one would a clamshell. I was forced to watch as they pulled each individual rib apart from bottom to top in the same manner, cackling all the way. At that moment I felt that the pain was even worse than getting cut in half, if for nothing else than it was prolonged. Finishing with their morbid work they gestured for me to look inside my chest cavity, their shoulders shaking with silent laughter yet again. Unable to resist their summons I raised my head to look down into the hole that used to be my chest.

My head recoiled in shock, hitting the ground hard enough to make me see stars.

True, seeing your chest peeled open like an orange would cause anyone to be surprised…but what really shocked me though was what was within, or rather what wasn't. Instead of the pulsing organs I had expected there was…nothing. No, less than nothing…a void. I couldn't even see the outer walls where my flesh was supposed to be, all that lay within was a pitch black void.

It was too much for me to deal with. A twisted world filled with equally twisted things, doppelgangers of Saber and myself gorging on their own organs, a sea of blood, and my own emptiness. I could feel something tugging at the back of my mind; the world around me was growing fuzzier by the minute, the static quickly consuming my vision. Even without that feeling pulling me down I was sure I would have fainted soon anyway.

"This is the trut-zzzzt- of your existence." As my consciousness faded I could hear the twisted beings cackling, their demented laughter occasionally being interrupted by the increasingly frequent sound of static. "Despair! Despair! Despair -zzzzt-n your hollowness! You are noth-zzzzzt-ut an incomplete puppet!"

The nightmarish world disappeared in a flash of light…I felt nothing more.

-VARDANT-

…

Activating mental functions numbers 3 through 22.

Query: Positronic brain status?

Answer: All signals are at an acceptable level of functionality.

VARDANT Unit Number 47 all systems online.

Removal of FACTOR SUBSTITUTE from unidentified spatial anomaly from unidentified source…confirmed.

Recovery of FACTOR SUBSTITUTE from unidentified spatial anomaly from unidentified source…confirmed.

An unknown foreign substance from the unidentified spatial anomaly from unidentified source has tainted FACTOR SUBSTITUTE. Parameters reduced by 34% due to foreign taint. Life may be at risk if corruption spreads any further.

Initiating countermeasures.

Taint has contaminated 27% of FACTOR SUBSTITUTE's constitution. Purifying.

Taint Level at 23%

Taint Level at 11%

Taint Level at 6-t0f^#(-

ERROR

Process stopped with 6.376953% remaining, unable to completely purify.

Taint has infected and is proceeding to alter the memories of the FACTOR SUBSTITUTE. Taint has been integrated, unable to remove. The cancer is spreading at a rate of .2% a second.

Query: Purge infected areas? [Yes/No]

Answer: [Yes]

16% of memories tainted. Removing…

Tainted files purged. Memory left: 78% of original.

Statement: Enough to function as needed.

Clearing untainted short-term memory of the events within the anomaly, possible trauma may cause parameters to lower.

Cleared.

Situation returned to norm, crisis averted.

…Awakening FACTOR SUBSTITUTE, VARDANT Unit Number 47, all systems shutting down.

-VARDANT-

Hermes Audio Dairy Entry #32

Cut! Cut! Cut! Cu-

-No…calm down. Currently experiencing processing slowdown, unacceptable.

…

It got pulled out, how…unexpected. I seem to have underestimated the machina's capabilities and its zeal for self-preservation, to escape from my TATARI is no small feat. This is a minor inconvenience I must admit; it has slowed down my plans by approximately four months, thirteen days, five hours, twenty-six minutes, and fifty-four seconds. Rounded up by the nearest decimal of course.

The source of the problem it seems is that the 'raw materials' used to make that VARDANT unit were of higher quality than the norm. Completely unexpected as it was a mass-production model, and those weren't exactly renown for their…high standards.

Such an oversight will not happen again.

Though the likelihood of it being mere chance that such a high quality item got mixed in with the rest of the batch was sixty-three point eight percent. But if we take into account that the creators had no idea that magic even existed the likelihood of that being true increased by thirty-seven point two percent.

They lucked out on this one, truly.

A machina with active magic circuits is a rare thing. One that is able to interfere with a reality marble is even more so. In addition to which, that VARDANT unit found a factor that is capable of magecraft…the chances of that being mere coincidence are less than seven percent. Someone had to have guided fate to make this happen. That means that another great power has invested in the debacle, yet another possibility that I have to take into account during my planning. If I hadn't blocked Zelretch's access to this dimension I would have attributed it to that eccentric vampire's meddling, he is simply too nosy for his own good.

Saying that I had blocked his access is a bit misleading; one cannot simply overcome the Second so easily after all. In manipulating the rumors around the planet I was able to make this dimension seem uninteresting, stagnant, if you will. Zelretch is known to be attracted to interesting events like a moth to a flame, as long as nothing 'exciting' appears to be happening here he will find this dimension to be unappealing. I don't expect this deception to remain under his notice for too much longer, but you can expect no less when dealing with the Wizard Marshall.

The fact that there is a deception at all will inevitably attract him here, but that is a risk that I must take. I absolutely cannot have him interfering with my plans just yet; such an event would be…ruinous. I calculate that there is a ninety-seven percent chance of my plans failing should the Wizard Marshall make an early appearance, so this must be done.

And on this side of the metaphorical fence I have Ishigami. With the machina he controls (or is it the other way around?) his knowledge about all the possible outcomes is troubling. There is a thirty-three point three percent possibility that he already knows about my presence. Unsurprisingly, I have been able to find almost nothing about him. All I managed to get was a beaten photograph of the man in what looked like an old army uniform, one from World War Two no less.

The fact that he remained unchanged to this day despite the obvious age of the photograph was yet more proof that the nanomachines here function the same as they did there.

Dead Apostles created through the power of science instead of magecraft, without any of their traditional weaknesses humanity as a whole rushed to become what they once hated and feared. Even without the lust for blood or erosion from Gaia immortality always has its price, something most did not realize in their selfish rush for eternity. And when the whole of humanity gained it, they paid for it with their own extinction.

Shirou Emiya, have you yet realized what you have paid for yours?

-VARDANT-

April 25th, 2012

~Beep~beep~beep~beep~

I'm still alive.

The unfaltering beeping of a heart monitor had roused me from my slumber, but attempting to get up to stretch I realized that I couldn't move from my prone position. I was in a hospital room, and as per usual the color white was everywhere I looked.

Glancing at my arms I noticed that they were bound to the bed with solid steel straps, after trying to adjust my position I felt that my legs were in the same predicament. It seems that I severely underestimated the nanomachines regeneration ability if they managed to restore the lower half of my body.

I hope they managed to re-grow ittoo.

"Ah, Mister Emiya you're finally awake." I turned my head toward the source of the voice and saw what appeared to be a nurse for he was dressed in the classic blue outfit denoting his position. He was writing on a clipboard that he held in the crook of his arm, glancing up at my prone form he gave me a lopsided grin. "Sorry about that, we had to strap you down because your recovery process was…how to say…quite chaotic. You apparently lost consciousness the moment you pulled the Endou twins out of Deceive, and while we were able to retrieve both machinae with little trouble…the real problem started after your cockpit was opened. It turns out that the stress of trying to regenerate half your body created a surprising amount of nerve feedback."

The blank stare I was giving him made him pause and rub the bridge of his nose. "So in layman's terms your body was having strong spasms with very short intervals in between. If you add that to a factor's enhanced strength and the jagged metallic waste your nanomachines seem to generate during the restoration process…then you end up with what is probably the most dangerous unconscious guy on the planet."

I didn't know how to respond to that. "Umm, I'm sorry?"

The nurse sighed while still scribbling notes on the board. "You should be. It took three soldiers in full body armor to finally remove you from VARDANT after you injured the paramedics sent to assist you. We had to practically wrap you in chains to move you here." The nurse paused and used his pen to point at my legs that were still under the bed covers. "Thankfully we were able to reattach your lower half with little difficulty, nanomachines have certainly turned out to be useful for medical purposes. If you weren't a factor you certainly would be dead by now, you should really take better care of yourself."

All I could do is give a sheepish grin, if saving lives meant that my body took a beating then I would gladly do this all over again. Given that I probably will end up in a situation like this again at some point…but better not tell the nurse that. "I'll try, the experience was as unpleasant for me as it was for you."

The man merely nodded absentmindedly and turned towards the door. "Well since you're awake I'll fetch President Ishigami, he has been waiting for you to come out of your weeklong coma." With that said he exited the room and closed the door.

I was out for a whole week, what happened to the twins since then? And…he just left me here still strapped to this bed! "Aren't you at least going to untie me? Hey! Come back here!" He did that on purpose!

I need to go to the bathroom!

-VARDANT-

"Hiiiiiiiiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The next time the door opened a flying object suddenly assaulted me, nearly making me cry out in pain. The object in question, unsurprisingly, turned out to be the president. He was rubbing the side of his face against mine while babbling incoherently; it was disturbingly reminiscent of one of my cat's most regular habits.

"I came as soon as I was told about the incident. Oh, I was so worried! I heard you got cut in half! That could easily kill a person, evenwith the nanomachines."-was pretty much all I was able to get out of it.

"Yes, yes. I am glad to see you too." His assault on my already sore body was starting to really hurt. "Now can you get me out of these restraints already? They are starting to chafe." Jumping back Ishigami rubbed his neck with a flush of embarrassment upon his face, yet I somehow got the feeling that he wasn't embarrassed at all. Shameless man.

"Ahahaha…I completely forgot about that, I'll get you out immediately." Ishigami snapped his fingers, and responding to the command the manacles snapped open with a clack. Rubbing my wrists in an attempt to get circulation back I slid my legs off the bed, ready to test whether they were up to the job of supporting my weight. I was about to put my feet on the floor when the president placed a hand on my knee, stopping me in my tracks. "Before you go running off there are a few matters that we have to discuss. In his will Takuto Endou left-"

"Wait, will? That means…Takuto is dead?" I suppose I should've expected that, but it still came as a shock that he perished. With Wako obviously among the dead that left the twins orphans, not a fun position to be in. The conflagration that killed my parents left me with one of my worst memories, so I could understand what they were going through somewhat.

Hopefully they will remember theirs unlike me, as I cannot recall mine at all.

The president sighed morosely, shaking his head. "He died soon after the incident due to the injuries he sustained, unfortunately there was nothing that could save him…so we helped him pass on as painlessly as we could." I could see the regret in Ishigami's expression, understandable given that even with all the power he wielded he could not save the life of one person. I felt that myself was when Ilya was dying, all I could do was observe as she wasted away. Shaking myself out of my reverie I gave a large sigh, there currently are things that I need to take care of.

"How are the twins, and what about the funeral? I would like to pay my respects as Takuto had been a great friend to me since I came here." Even though it was a pale consolation for not being able to save him I would still like to attend. Plus it was simply the polite thing to do. The will could come after that was dealt with.

"Physically the twins are fine, and they are taking the loss of their parents as well as could be expected." The president then sat down beside me on the bed, resting his chin in his hands. "As for the funeral, I am afraid that you missed it. Due to the massive repairs that are underway the funeral ended up being a rush job. It was held yesterday at the Aoyama Municipal Cemetery, where he now lies buried along with his wife."

I missed it? By such a short margin too? T-that's…absurd! Ridiculous! Unfair! It may have been the dream influencing my actions, but I just didn't care. With my teeth clenching hard enough to crack a tooth I could feel my nanomachines responding to my anger by distorting facial features to resemble a machina's.

"Why couldn't you have waited a bit longer…?" I couldn't stop my arms from shaking in suppressed rage, knuckles white from the effort it took not to strangle the president right there.

Without warning both my wrists were grabbed and thrust down to the head of the bed, effectively immobilizing me. Ishigami was glaring at me with a hardened expression, the change in his eyes indicating that he was using enhanced strength to subdue me.

"Calm down!" I was surprised by the amount of force held within his voice. "The nanomachines within you are responding to your emotions and are amplifying them, if you don't pause you will just go out of control." Letting go of my arms once he saw that I was shocked into silence, Ishigami gave a great sigh. "You have to rule over your impulses, not the other way around. You may have been living with the nanomachines for over two years, but you still have much to learn about them." Turning to me he grinned. "Are you ready to hear me out or do I have to tie you up?"

I put my head in my hands with a sigh; a man at my age shouldn't have what amounted to a temper tantrum, enhanced or not. Rubbing my wrists in phantom-pain I answered his (probably) rhetorical question. "According to the nurse I was 'tied up' for a week, I don't need to be again anytime soon."

Ishigami sighed, the tension in his body fading away. "That is good, you have calmed down. I understand why you were angry but having the funeral so soon was unavoidable. There are politics involved, red tape and all that. Takuto was the one who was in charge of the experiment, thus the blame for the incident fell on his head. The exact reasons for all this would take too long to explain, just know that the ceremony simply had to be finished before the repair efforts started. I postponed it as long as I could…but you didn't wake up soon enough." Seeing my head fall in depression Ishigami quickly amended his statement.

"N-not that it was your fault! I heard that you did your best even when fighting with mortal wounds, so it was to be expected that your injuries would keep you down for quite some time." Standing up and stretching out his back, Ishigami made his way to the door. "It was callous of me to bring such morbid things up moments after you woke up from a coma. In addition to that your mind is still unstable from all the nanomachine activity. Come to my office after you've settled a bit, it is a much more suitable place to discuss things like this anyway." Grinning in an overly saccharine manner, he opened the door.

"...Besides, it seems like you have visitors."

Two small flying objects followed by a large one suddenly assaulted me, my bruised body can't take much more of this. The objects in question turned out to be the Endou twins and, surprisingly, a bawling Captain Igarashi. The sudden onslaught pinned me to the bed. It seemed that they were repeating the previous actions of the president, babbling and all.

Just snottier…and times three.

"W-we were all so worried!" Izuna sobbed into by hospital gown-clad chest, tears dampening the fabric. I patted him on his head in an attempt to placate the crying boy, while he did stop hiccupping the tears continued. Not that I could blame the kid, he just lost his parents after all. Turning my head towards his sister I noticed that she was doing the same to my shoulder, and judging by the weight on my back Shinobu was following suit.

That last part was more than a little disturbing.

I managed to pull my arm out of Shizuna's grip and place it on her head in the same manner as what I had done with her brother. After waiting for their sniffles to abate I wrapped my arms around their shoulders and pulled them into my chest. Thankfully Shinobu was savvy enough to get off me, out of the corner of my eye I saw that he took up position leaning on the wall near the door.

Turning my attention back to the twins I saw that they has their faces buried in my gown, the spreading feeling of dampness indicated what they were both doing at that moment. I was helpless and could do nothing but let them get this out of their systems. I sympathize with them, of that there is no doubt, but if they keep at this I will be sopping wet...and cold. This gown is not the best-insulated piece of clothing there is after all.

The fact that I am naked underneath it sure doesn't help

After letting the twins cry out their tears I grasped their shoulders and gently pushed their bodies away from my own. It was at that moment that I realized just how small and frail they actually were. They had just lost both their parents in a traumatic event, and at such a young age too. It was a miracle that Izuna and Shizuna were both still functioning.

But now it was their destiny to fight, they both had become factors. When it came to my own battles I choseto be involved, these two on the other hand lacked that luxury. The machina seem to be quite eager to get factors for some reason, willing or not.

But that could just be my imagination.

After seeing that their tears had dried I reached up and ruffled their hair. "It's okay, I'm not going anywhere." I spoke to those in front of me, yet those words seemed to be assuring myself more than the children.

"…Not anywhere, not anymore."

[Break]

Author's note: Please tell me what you think. I live off your reviews after all. I do not know when the next chapter will be out...but please be patient. I have two other stories that I am working on after all.