Chapter 27
Brew
In a dim, forgotten cave where the feet of two beings had once set their feet upon the Earth, stood a scantily-clad little gothic-lolita girl. All around her lay dead bats, their carcasses rotting rapidly.
She looked down, her eyes drawn to the circles drawn before her. Yet despite her stare, her eyes and expression laid unimpressed.
She crouched down and in her action, the cave rumbled.
The two circles lit up at the same time as the disturbance, illuminating the cave in red light with the circles at its epicenter.
The girl then sniffed the air, taking in some sort of scent.
Seemingly satisfied, she stood up and made her way out.
In the girl's chosen ignorance and uncaring attitude, the circles burned bright red with immense power. The cave almost melting away at the sheer heat now displayed.
Then it vanished, the circles dimming rapidly and then seemingly losing their form.
Realities of different truths, different laws, and different order conflicted with each other in a bid for supremacy. Yet due to circumstances before it, a compromise was met.
A gallant knight.
A hound.
A king of Earth.
A disgraced goddess.
A demi-god.
A vengeful princess.
A many-faced Assassin.
Seven heroes and eight cards were brought to the world based on a whim.
Reality shifted in its wake.
-
Mana levels over the limit.
Calculating controlled release.
Running calculations.
Emergency heat treatment successful.
Running diagnosis.
Running secondary- Error, conflict with reality.
Processing the truths.
Calculating loophole.
Processing complete.
Calculation complete.
Running calculation.
Location of Caster confirmed.
Delivering surge.
-
With their newfound freedom from the Hero Faction's stern gaze, Archer started to deliver his reports to Azazel. Rather fortunately, the fallen angel general was in the same town as they were.
"Wine?" the angel of death inquired in white bathrobes.
"No, but may I use your kitchen?"
"Sure, knock yourself out."
With given expressed permission, Archer made his way to the leader of the Grigori's humble modern kitchen. "The Hero Faction is currently in their recruiting phase but soon they will have enough inner circle members to begin their plans," he revealed.
"I am guessing you do not know those plans?" Azazel inquired as he took a sip of his wine.
"I only know two of their plans, the one is given to us and another one." As he spoke, Archer began to chop and slice his desired ingredients from Azazel's stock. "They desire to keep tabs the sisters of the Leviathan and the Satan."
"Troubling."
"Yeah, unluckily Illya and I were assigned to this." Archer fired up the stove as he got his desire pots, pans, and oil.
"It seems as though they are keeping you at arm's length," Azazel noted as turned on the television and skimming through all the channels. "Hoho! They are televising some good old classics."
"The other plan involves the youkai in Kyoto," Archer revealed as he started to fry his ingredients and prepared the meat. "From what the information that is given to me, it would seem they aim to spark a civil war. They aim to support a claimant to the throne but I am not sure who."
Azazel sighed at the information as he leaned back on his sofa. "This is rather troubling... Are there any dates set?"
"Not that I am aware of. As far as I know, their plan is currently being hammered out and worked on so I doubt it will begin within a month." Archer allowed the food to cook while he started to make the sauce. "Any word from Michael?"
"Only that he's angry at me," Azazel revealed with a shrug. "But with the arrangement you two made, it seems he has calmed down a bit."
"Was this before or after I began to procure the rest of the Excaliburs?"
"Before."
Archer scratched his head a bit. "Do you perhaps have a direct line to him?"
"I do but it requires wings," Azazel replied nonchalantly.
"Aren't fallen angels not allowed in Heaven?" Archer asked as he washed his hands and got out some containers.
"Since the big man fell... A lot of things have been twisted," Azazel said with an uncharacteristic sorrow laced within his words.
"I see... You have my condolences."
"It's not a big problem," Azazel waved off. "My heart isn't bleeding cause my old man is gone."
Archer finished up packing the food and turned to the fallen angel. "Is there anything else you want me to investigate?"
At the question, Azazel gave him a lazy look. "How close do you think the Hero Faction and the Old Satan Faction are?"
"Not very close, from what-" Archer was interrupted by the ringing of a phone. He looked to the caller to find that Kuoh Academy was calling him. "Hold on, give me a second."
He answered the call as he exited Azazel's apartment. "Hello, this is Einzbern speaking."
"Mr. Einzbern, I am here to inform you that your sister is currently being taken to the hospital."
Archer furrowed his eyebrows as he removed the phone from his ears and looked at the caller id once more. Confusion grew, even more, when he saw that the caller id was the Kuoh Academy's front office in both name and number.
Bringing the phone back to his ear, he felt his heart beat faster with each passing second. "Uh... Could you repeat that?"
"Illyasviel von Einzbern is currently hospitalized due to suffering from a supposed stroke or heart attack," the caller elaborated.
A pit of despair slowly formed in Archer's stomach as he processed the information. "Which hospital was she sent to?!" he asked angrily as he re-entered Azazel's apartment.
"Done with- Eh?"
Archer ignored the fallen angel as he opened the balcony door and leaped out.
He quickly descended to the streets below, long lost memories resurfacing with each passing second.
I will save you, Illya! His very soul screamed.
"You know it's already too late, Shirou..."
Chapter 28 End
I was stumped on what to do going forward but then a storm struck.
Forced to sit there and ponder as the storm passed, I recounted the story of Fate Stay Night's numerous timelines, Evangelion, Code Geass, Chainsaw Man, Attack on Titan, and realized something.
Masterpieces are made when no matter how much time passes, the Author can look back and smile at it.
Even now, I take pride in my story's, Snow, ending. I love the obvious point of divergence and direction I was taking it. I loved the Requiem Zero-like plan Shirou had committed himself to do that was not out of character from his ideals.
Of course, I see the flaws in my work. From the grammar to the lack of development to Shirou. Yet, I still amaze myself as to how I made it.
Now, I finally see it.
Now, I will commit in the direction of which I see. If you were there, you would remember the debacle with the "bombs inside of them" thing. Well, that was my first attempt to carry out my plan.
Now to go with my second attempt.
Oh yeah, if you didn't realize yet, it has been some time since they were summoned. 2 months I think...? I didn't write a timeline until now so...
SaveTheWeak, out.