Day after day, I was just waiting for you to wake up. I stood at your side, doing not much more than sleep and meditate. Sometimes I would get flashes of my life before meeting you, when I was human, and when I lived on the moon, but I couldn't remember them for long enough.
I heard a gentle knock on the door, barely audible. The number of visitors had increased recently, the most diligent ones would come to give you their daily report, and others would just come to see if there had been any change in your state. Bort usually just peaked from the door, nodded towards me, and moved on. But due to the gentleness of the knocking, I had a good idea of who was at the other side of the door already.
—Come in —I said—, Ghost.
She opened the door just enough to let herself in, and immediately closed it behind her. I thanked her consideration, as even the dim light of the sunset through the thick clouds was enough to hurt my eyes. Once the door was closed, the room was almost pitch black, illuminated only by a couple of jellyfishes who were so kind to lower their bio-luminescent for my sake.
—Good evening, Shirou —she gently said, as she changed the dried flowers of that room for fresh ones. She did that every day.
—How did things went today?
—It was pretty calm, I think. Bort and Zircon fought against that snake lady shadow servant again, and Goshe and Morga had an encounter with a new one that looked like a clown, but it threw bombs.
—I'm sure Alexi has been really busy trying to catalogue all the new ones that have appeared.
Ghost sat next to me and poured me a cup of tea from a thermos I had carved some time ago. She poured another cup for herself, though she only liked to smell it. Finally, she poured a third cup and left it on the table. The drink was nothing more than hot water with some leaves of a plant Caster had recently found, but it was tolerable replacement. Caster had been really excited about her finding, so much that she was already talking about making an entire greenhouse.
—How are your eyes? —she asked.
—I still can't stand direct light —I told her —but I managed to stand in the hallway early with my eyes closed. I think I could go outside if I cover them, but I would need to learn how to fight blindfolded. It would be easier if I had Livy on my shoulder telling me where to aim...
—Don't push yourself too much —she said, a bit sternly —we almost lost you because of that.
I couldn't avoid chuckling a bit. In retrospective, I had been a big idiot for trying to fight like that, moreover without telling anyone about it. Ghost had saved me, and was still the only one who knew what was really happening to me. The others had suspicious, but only Caster had been so intrusive to ask until she got some answer. Still, I told her not to worry about it, the least I wanted to do was to give her more chores.
I noticed Ghost's posture and expression changed, as her other personality took over her body.
—Has... has he...? —he attempted to say.
I shook my head. You were still sleeping on the bed next to me. It has been almost a month since they grafted Lapis Lazuli's head to your body.
—I... I shouldn't have voted —"Ghost", or Cairgorn as I would come to know him later, said—. Cinnabar and the others choose to not vote, but I had to go out of my way to give my opinion.
The most sensible thing would be to comfort him, to tell him that it hadn't been his fault, but I'll be lying if I said I didn't agree with him just a bit. He acted out of his best intentions, but it was still his vote the one that broke the draw.
—Shirou, please don't resent this child —Ghost spoke, once again in control of her body. My silence must have alerted her of my thoughts.
—We haven't recovered Phos' original head —she continued—, and neither we had gathered enough phosphophyllite to make him a new one, so he would be in the same condition regardless. If you still want to hate someone, please hate me instead, as it was my idea from the very start.
I closed my eyes.
—I don't hate you, neither of you. I just miss Phos...
—Then, we just have to wait for her together, the three of us.
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—W-what? What's wrong? —Cairn asked me, making me snap out of my daydreams.
I was still on the moon, still on the middle of the battle. The mirage that I had seen for a moment was gone.
—No, I just... I thought I saw Ghost behind you for a moment —I replied.
In just a moment, her expression turned from concern to panic, looking all around and pushing her back against Aechmea. She was terrified as if I had spoken of a literal ghost.
—That was a very peculiar reaction —someone behind me said.
As the voice sounded oddly familiar and I was still distracted by Cairn, it took me a moment to notice it wasn't the voice of anyone who had come with us. I quickly jumped away and turned in a swift move, placing myself between the stranger and Bort, Cairn, and Aechmea. The fact that they had reached us when we were surrounded by the shadow servants and lunarians allied to us was a clear sign of how dangerous that person could be. I traced several swords, ready to engage in battle, but after seeing her face, I lost all will to fight.
She was looking at me with her usual grin. Her hair was short and orange as always, now covered on a straw hat. It was weird to see her wearing that light purple kimono, even more than seeing the absurdly large blade hanging for her back.
—Taiga...
—Yo, Shirou —she said—, it has been a long time, are you doing fine?
—A-Assassin?! —the enemy Saber spoke— what are you doing here?
—Hmmm? I got bored of guarding that black box, so I came to see what was going on.
—Nonsense! —their Berserker spoke—, leaving your duties in this situation is unacceptable!
He easily broke through all of our defenses and went directly against Taiga, sword and rifle already drawn out. He looked like an incoming train or even an avalanche, but the woman in front of me had a confident position, like she had nothing to fear. And she promptly demonstrated how true that was, unsheathing her unusually large katana and cutting Berserker in half in just the blink of an eye.
—I-Impossible —the giant man managed to say as he started to vaporize.
—AHHH!! Hijikata-san!! —Saber yelled.
—So you are really betraying us?! —Archer growled.
Taiga directed a glance towards me, with a sad smile on her face, just before turning back towards our enemies.
—Unfortunately, I can't do that. Don't worry about your friend; I didn't damage his core, so he'll reappear... eventually. I'll get back to my post once I finish what I was doing, don't mind me.
—Don't mind me, she says... —Archer said, annoyed.
—So you are really... the second Assassin? —I said.
—Oh, you already meet the first one? Isn't she a cutie!
I didn't reply, and she refused to turn towards me.
—Listen, Shirou, your dear sister would really like to go back with you, I can't wait to taste your cooking, and I really want to hear what you have been doing all this time. But... this body lacks the authority to defy Franny's order to fulfill the grail war. I, and the nameless samurai I'm borrowing strength from, are fighting with all our might right now against that, so be grateful and promise to make us a full meal course once it is over. And of course, do your best to end this thing as quickly as possible too.
—I... I will.
—Ah! I almost forget —she said, sounding a bit more upbeat—. You have noticed it too, right? After a hundred year of waiting, we have changed; the servants who were summoned for the Holy Grail War, the shadow servants, and... you too.
—Yeah, I noticed... —I said, the ground was still splattered by the blood that gushed out of my arms— I... I am becoming weaker, and unstable...
—Hmm, is that how you see it? I think you are stopping yourself, as if you were afraid of breaking something around you. But you don't need to fight blinded anymore, so you can aim, right?
Without waiting for a reply, she leaped away from there, reaching the walls of the city and from there, disappearing among the buildings.
—Grrr, this is becoming annoying —Archer said —Okita, move the hell away from there, I'll clean all this mess.
—Wait, you are going to do THAT now?!
—Of course! How can I call myself the demon king of the sixth heaven if I just guard the door! My name is Oda Nobunaga, witness the power of my Noble Phantasm; Three Thousand Worlds: Three Line Formation!
Around her, a myriad of rifles appeared out of nowhere, all aiming their muzzle towards us. She didn't care if she were to hit her allies, with Saber as an exception, as long as she got us.
—T-the shield! Deploy the shield! —Cairn said, pulling my arm.
—I don't think even the seven layers can withstand that much firepower —I admitted.
—Then, why are you smiling?! —Bort asked—, do you have a plan or did you lost your mind?!
I wasn't aware I was smiling, and I most certainly didn't had a plan, so the latter option was very likely. However, Taiga's words had motivated me. Cogs where turning, forges were blazing.
—I am the bone of my sword! —I instinctively said— This body is made of infinite blades!
For each rifled aimed at us, I manifested a blade. They didn't had to be legendary weapons full of mystery and power, just a piece of sharpened metal, strong enough to destroy the also ordinary rifles. The Archer was taken by surprise by the amount of blades that appeared, and that delayed her reaction for a second. With my eyes uncovered, I could trace her and her weapons easily, although she had done most of the work of revealing who she was already by herself.
Oda Nobunaga, a warlord who had tried to unify Japan, only to be betrayed and killed when the Honouji temple was set ablaze by fire arrows. I'm sure this attack brought bad memories to her, but I couldn't held off if I wanted to win. I launched every single blade against her rifles before she had the chance to fire them. Iron clashing against iron and setting off the gunpowder, the sky became lit with explosions, and the shockwaves were enough to raise a cloud of dust and cover us all. Thankfully, we had set the anchors, so the shards would be fine.
When the dust settled, the Archer was still guarding the entrance to the city, badly wounded and holding onto her last remaining rifle. She was still grinning.
—Not bad, not bad... —she said, aiming her weapon at me.
In her state, I should be able to evade anything she could shoot at me and immobilize her, but as she had shown up, she wasn't one to accept defeat so easily. I needed to put her down. Taiga had said something about them having a core, and Aechmea had confirmed it was what kept them anchored to this world, allowing them to "respawn" as if they were Lunarians. To eliminate her completely, I needed to destroy it.
—WAIT! —Saber said, jumping between us.
I traced her too. She was Okita Soji, captain of the first division of the shinsengumi. She was also hurt, but she might stand a fight. To my surprise, however, she placed her sword on the floor and kneeled in front of it, with her head touching the ground.
—We surrender.
—Wha-? Okita, what are you doing?! —Nobunaga growled.
—I can tell, this man has killing instincts. If you keep fighting, you will cease to exist, and I rather humiliate myself than allow that to happen.
Archer tried to say something, but she couldn't. She slumped against one of the entrance's post and slumped down until she was sitting on the ground.
—Ugh, do whatever you want, I'm too tired...
I threw a glance towards Aechmea, who was just a few steps behind me.
—Both of you are under arrest, your trial and sentence would be determined once we have recovered control over the city —he said, manifesting a pair of shackles out of his cloud-like robes.
With their "bosses" defeated, the rest of the enemy Lunarians swapped sides and we quickly defeated the shadow servants that didn't surrender at first. With that, we had officially taken over the entrance and had free access to the city. I wanted to go inside immediately, but Aechmea insisted on resting five minutes. The Lunarians might be wandering ghost, but they also got tired apparently. My body was also feeling a bit numb.
—Here, you lost it early —Bort said, handing me the red cloth that I have been using all these years to cover my eyes.
—Thank you —I said, and on impulse I put it over my face.
It took me a moment to become aware that I didn't need it anymore. It might have been because we were on a moon with a very thin atmosphere, or it might be that my eyes just became accustomed to my body. Or it might had to do something with Phos...
—I need to met with her as soon as possible... —I thought and got up from where I was sitting, tying up the cloth on my forehead instead of over my eyes.
To my surprise, however, Cairn had placed herself right in front of me. She had a huge grin, and sparks on her eyes.
—I-is something the matter? —I asked, a bit weirded out.
—Not at all —she said, almost singing—I'm just seeing you in a new light.
She skipped away towards Aechmea, and Bort and I interchanged a suspicious glare. The Prince was definitively a bad influence on her, the both of us thought.
A few minutes after that, we finally entered the city, leaving behind some of the Lunarians and Shadow Servants to keep an eye on the prisoners. We kept breaking our group as Aechmea keep sending people to secure distinct buildings and other places. I was distracted by how familiar the place felt, although everything looked different, everything was still the same. The shops and parks I had gone with Franny, the streets we had walked together...
—There is it —Aechmea said, pointing to a huge building at the distance.
I knew it, of course, the place where we had lived together, though at that moment it was just an apartment building. Now, it looked like a Ziggurat. I was feeling anxious, but nonetheless, I took a step ahead. I needed to finish this quickly, so I could go back and fulfill my promise to Taiga, so I could spent time carelessly with Phos, and so I could finally met with Franny.