I had been thinking about what I would say since I was informed of his disappearance, practicing several iterations of the conversation we could have when we finally met again. But now that I had him right in front of me, I didn't know what to say, my mind was completely white. The gold alloy between my cracks started to move on its own and pushed me a bit towards him. I got the hint, if I didn't found the proper words; I just needed to show it through actions, right? I got a bit closer and hugged him. After a couple of seconds, he returned the hug, with a bit more force than I expected, but his skin felt way softer than I remembered. He felt like Caster when we were on the moon, and even before when I had touched Ventricosus. I could also hear his "heart" beating. At that point, I finally realized what I wanted to say.
—I missed you so much —I was barely able to whisper.
—Ahem! —Antarc faked a cough to call our attention, not close enough to hear what I had said. Hopefully.
We let go of each other and saw that most of our brothers were getting off the ship to greet Shirou. I felt Kiyohime's piercing eyes watching me from the deck, but I didn't dare to look in that direction just yet.
—I'm glad we didn't had to find you passed out in the deep of an ocean trench —Antarc said.
—You managed to survive, but I'm not going to let you off the hook after leaving your post for so long —Bort added.
Goshe and Morga were very excited to see someone they have only heard about, and asked him lots of questions about his fights and exploits.
—Have you been eating and resting properly? —Cinnabar asked after greeting him in a very polite and formal way.
—Eh? Ah, sure, thanks for worrying —was the only thing Shirou could said.
I could imagine it was very weird for him, as the last time he had seen Cinnabar had probably been before he had his mercury sealed off, when he was even more of an introvert. Cairn was the last of us in approaching him, I had to go and drag him to the front.
—This kid is the one who used to be inside of Ghost, I had graced him with the name Cairngorn —I said, very proud of myself.
—I know... —Shirou said, a bit less enthusiastic than what I would have expected.
—He-hey —Cairn dared to say—, I'm glad to see you still in one piece...
Shirou didn't answer; he just crossed his arms and stood in silence.
—Come on! You can't be still be mad about that? —Cairn said, pointing towards me—, Phos is fine! You didn't had anything to worry about.
—W-wait, what is this about? —I tried to chime in, getting a weird feeling out of that part of the conversation.
—Ah, well, you see... —Cairn said, looking away.
—I didn't agree with them putting the head of Lapis on your body —Shirou finally said—. There was a chance Lapis could overwrite herself over your body, or so said Ghost. Rutile said you might not even be able to wake up at all. I told them I rather let myself get captured and get your head back from the moon.
—WHAT?!
—I dissuaded him of doing something so stupid —Antarc said—, and we agreed that the majority would decide. It ended up in a draw between the two groups with some refusing to cast a vote to either side, but it was Cairn's vote who decided it.
—If we had captured Emiya Shirou at that time, we would have willingly give up the head of Phosphophyllite in exchange for his help —the Prince said, as their vessel got to our level.
The Admirabilis immediately got ready for the battle, but Shirou stopped them again.
—I never expected you to come here personally, Prince Aechmea.
—You know him?? —I asked Shirou, then I turned towards the Lunarian—, your name is Aechmea?? —then I turned back to Shirou—, how do you know his name??
Shirou told us that the sword that had blown my head into pieces was made with one of his former arms, and he was able to regain some memories from the time he had been on the moon when he recovered it. In exchange, I told him about our alliance and the Lunarian's surrender. He didn't look too convinced about their true intentions, but agreed on cooperating.
—I have taken the Admirabilis under my protection for several generations, if I could create a pacific world for them and for you, I couldn't ask for more —Shirou said with a smile—, wait, what I'm even thinking about, I haven't introduced them yet!
He called the Admirabilis to where we were, and told the very tall one and the smallest of them to step ahead.
—These are Ondyne and Bizzmark , they are the granddaughters of Livy —he said.
He then introduced the rest of the group, Bulldog, Glowworm, and Sheffield. They were the "new generation" of the warrior caste, still in training under him. Their parents and relatives, all having been trained and practically raised by him, were protecting the rest of the Admirabilis' kingdom. Then he casually mentioned my name and they lost their minds.
—Wait, "Phos"? Phosphophyllite? THE Phosphophyllite??! —Bulldog, who was a bit chubby and with a face that indeed resembled that breed of dog a bit, said.
He and the others started to surround me and asking me if my legs were indeed made of the shell of their ruler's ancestors and if I had fought alongside with Livy. It kind of reminded me how the feral Admirabilis had jumped over me on the moon. I tried to answer their questions, but it seems like in the one hundred and two years I had been slept some legends had been formed around me. After the commotion had settled down a bit, I made the mistake to ask them about Livy. Their faces turned sour and some threw glances to the Lunarians.
—Grandma fought for years to protect us, until Teacher got here —Ondyne said—, she got a few years of peace, but died while still being young due to her injuries...
I felt as if my gold alloy was boiling. I knew expecting her to still be alive would be too much, but she was just a baby when she left us. If Shirou had reached this place 50 years ago, which I somewhat doubted, Livy would had fought mostly on her own for 53 years, and died shortly after that. I lost control for a moment, and just stretched my arm toward the Prince with my fingers sharpened as knives, cutting him into pieces in the blink of an eye.
—W-wait! —I told to myself, realizing what I had done.
The Lunarians had already seen me cut his leader before, it was part of our deal, but I feared they could react to the attack and break the alliance. Moreover, the Prince could materialize back at the island and order an attack on all our brothers. I had warned him of what would happen if he betrayed us, but honestly if he stayed on the moon, I wouldn't have any way to reach him. However, the Lunarians didn't seem to be upset, instead they were looking at the ground, shaking and hugging themselves, almost as if expecting to be the next victim of my anger. And to my surprise, the Prince materialized right there. He picked up his mask, which had remained behind, and approached us a bit.
—I'll accept whatever punishment you seem fitting for our past actions, but please spare my brethren —he said, lowering his head.
—H-how...? Didn't you needed more time to regenerate here?
—That's because I'm here, I'm the goddess of the dead after all —Assassin said, peeking from aboard the ship.
She was reading Anderson's book while keeping him at enough distance to prevent him from snatching it away. I saw Shirou step ahead, with an incredulous look on his face.
—It can't be... —he said— Miyu?!
—Miyu? —Assassin said, showing for a moment just a hint of confusion on her face— Ah, that must be the name of the owner of this body. I remember hearing that you had a connection with all of our containers, Emiya Shirou. But I'm sorry, I'm not her.
—I... I see. Sorry —Shirou said.
Despite him having his eyes covered, and his best attempt to hide it, I could perceive those words had hurt him badly. I too could feel something crushing the insides of my chest.
—Are you alright? —Cinnabar asked.
—Yeah, I just... I think I have become a bit weaker over the past 100 years —He said, forcing a smile.
After talking a bit more, he agreed with going back with us to the island and helping us in the attack against Franny.
—But I have to do a few things before I can leave, would you mind staying the night?
—If it is only one day, I suppose we still have time, but—I said, and then I signaled him to come closer so I could whisper something in his ear—... Caster gave us a radio and I want to tell her we found you and ask how things are going over there, but the radio doesn't work here.
—Oh, right, the electromagnetic distortion. I can actually lower it enough for you to transmit, though it would be a bit distorted.
—That would be great! —I said, not entirely understanding what he meant.
He asked us to follow him to that island I had seen before. While moving the ship closer to it, I discreetly took out the radio out of its hiding spot and put it inside of my body, alongside my gold alloy. It felt weird, but I could stand it, and the radio was concealed perfectly. After a couple of minutes traveling at low speed, we arrived at the island. It was really small, barely big enough to fit our school over it, and it only had what seemed to be a cave on it. He called all of our brothers to the entrance.
—Could you wait here for a moment, I don't trust the Lunarians quite enough. Ondyne, Bizz and the rest will support you if anything happens —he said—, but Phos, could you come down with me, I want to show you something. Bort too, I might have something to glue your arm.
The two of us followed him to the inside of the cave and through a metal door with locks more complicated than anything I had seen before. Before he even attempted to open it, he turned towards us and "scanned" us by placing his hand over our foreheads. Bort went first, and there was nothing wrong with him.
—Huh? —Shirou said when he had "seen" through my components, raising an eyebrow behind the cloth covering his eyes.
—I already know I'm weird, don't make me feel embarrassed about it! —I replied.
My body contained more separated components than anyone else, and there were other two beings inhabiting on it, if my dreams were reliable in any way.
—No, that's not it; I thought I could sense something like diamond, but... never mind, it might have been dust that got stuck on your alloy, that small quantity shouldn't affect you in any way.
—Diamond dust? Perhaps some of Bort's landed on me when they cut his arm?
—Keep it, I wouldn't want anything that has been touched by your inclusions —Bort said, drawing a slight smirk on his face.
Shirou opened the door and told us to follow him, making us forget about that small fight. The hallway at the other side had a constant drop, with stairs going on and on. The walls seemed to just dirt and stone, and there were some bioluminescent plants hanging here and there. The stairs were pretty much just carved stone at first, but we soon started to step on metal. The walls also became metal, and the large corridor was illuminated by "light bulbs" on the ceiling. We went through another door, and reached an "elevator". Bort wasn't sure what to make out of it, as he didn't had any idea how it was moving down on its own. When the doors opened, we were in a big room, with many doors in every wall. There was another floor below that we could see through a veranda, and it seemed to have the same distribution, with a small garden in the center.
—W-what is this place?
—It is a leftover of the human civilization —Shirou said—, some sort of bunker. It seems like people lived here even after the apocalypses wiped out everything on the surface, but I'm not sure for how long. It was on ruins when the Admirabilis found it, some parts of it are still flooded, but this section was mostly intact.
—Shirou —Bort said suddenly, cutting into Shirou's exposition—, you can merge your parts together without glue, so you wouldn't have need for something like that for yourself. That can only mean one thing. Are you hiding another lustrous here?
—You are very perceptive, but that's not quite it —he guided us towards a door, labeled as "Infirmary" and opened it. There were two persons in that room already, too immersed in their work to notice us, at least until Shirou spoke.
—I'm hiding two —He said with a sly smile.
—Oh!! I can't believe my eyes! —One of them said, approaching us with haste. He was wearing a uniform very similar to us, but of a very low quality compared to those made by Red Beryl, and he was also wearing a doctor's coat like Rutile. He had a pair of very weird glasses, which he proceeded to put over his head. His hair was opaque green with spots of different shades.
—I'm Malachite! It's a pleasure finally getting to know my long lost brothers! —he said, eagerly shaking both Bort and my hands in intervals —I can wait to get to know all about you two!!
The other one approached us slowly, almost dragging his feet. His movements were a bit... off. His clothes, however, were mostly identical to ours, at least to the old models from a hundred years ago. His hair was dark purple with some darker lines that make it look as if he was shattered.
—Sugilite is Sugilite's designation —he said in a deadpan tone.
—Shirou, explain?? —was the only thing I could say.
—The Admirabilis found Malachite walking through the bottom of the ocean a long time ago. She releases a toxin when she is in contact with water, so they had to put her somewhere dry or she would have poisoned the entire ocean.
—I already said I was sorry, I didn't know what I was doing —Malachite said, pouting and with his arms crossed.
—When the Admirabilis brought me to met her, she wasn't carved and acted impulsively. I carved, dressed, and tried to educate her, but I failed miserably on the last one.
—What is that supposed to mean, Teacher?? —Malachite said with a slightly disturbing smile.
Shirou ignored the threatening glare of the green haired lustrous, and moved next to the purple haired one.
—As for Sugilite, it is a bit more complicated —he said—, she appeared ten years ago, just walking through the frozen ocean as if she was a lost kid. She was already carved, painted and dressed like all of you. When I first heard about it, I thought you had came to look for me, and I went to meet with those who had find her. I had told the Admirabilis that the lustrous people were our friends, but they still feared the wrath of Phosphophyllite. That might have saved their lives.
—What do you mean?
—It was only because they approached her with cautious that they were able to defend themselves when she started attacking —he said.
I couldn't believe the lustrous in front of us, who seemed tired just by staying put, had the energy to attack anyone, much less the motives to do so. But to our surprise, he confirmed it.
—Sugilite was ordered to look out for the Admirabilis' homeland and for the individual known as Shirou Emiya, as previous recons had turned into failure due to the magnetic anomaly —he said—. Sugilite had been authorized to use lethal force, but it was preferable if Sugilite just subdue the Admirabilis to allow capture.
—Capture... then...
—Yes —Shirou said—Sugilite is an artificial lustrous made by the Lunarians.