Fate/Stay Night Fan Fiction ❯ Escaping Fate ❯ Change ( Chapter 13 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Zekk_Skywalk 
Another change.
Anime/Manga: Fate/Stay Night Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Horror / Fantasy / Hentai / Drama / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.29.2011 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 267 | Status: Completed
Another change.
Anime/Manga: Fate/Stay Night Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Horror / Fantasy / Hentai / Drama / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.29.2011 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 267 | Status: Completed
AN: Oh god another plot bunny just came to my head. Maybe I’ll post the prologue, titled Fate/Far Side, when I’m done with it, but that’s as far as I’ll go until I’m done with this story. I’ll leave what I do post as motivation to continue once I’m done here. Gah. This chair this chair this chair this chair this chair *smashes with Hundred Shooting Heads*
Escaping Fate
Chapter 10
Change
We remained alert for weeks, wondering if anything would crop up after that, like more Dead Apostles coming to call. But it passed into the summer months with no further issues springing up—and by the end of June, it seemed like a fairly suicidal idea for a vampire to make any kind of move when they only had maybe six or seven hours of safe operational time before the sun rose.
Everything turned to heat and humidity for the season and I managed many a job repairing broken air conditioners and fans for the various people I knew. Sakura continued her secretarial work, Yumi switched to summer uniforms for school, and Tohsaka continued cracking the whip on my training when I wasn’t doing odd jobs.
It seemed as if life would continue as normal.
It didn’t, of course. Tohsaka constantly tried puzzling out the odd words the Dead Apostle had left behind, constantly referring to the materials she had drafted up in the wake of the Grail War for a clue. She examined me more than once for traces that Angra Mainyu might have left behind. Every once in a while, I would gather her for dinner to hear her cursing behind her bedroom door, a testament to how well she felt she was doing with the riddle.
Sakura seemed uneasy as well, though she certainly hid it better. She would speak of her work, of how annoying the latest computer software was or how Mitsuzuri would continue to tease her about her seriousness or any number of mundane things. It actually felt like she was deliberately leading the subject away, and now that I was aware of it, it was all I could do to keep from just smothering the girl with a hug. Before, when Sakura had come to the house and helped with chores, I had thought I understood why she avoided her abusive brother and lonely house. Now, all I wanted to do was kick myself in the teeth for thinking I understood. The way she would guide the conversation away was probably part and parcel to just how she thought and dealt with everything, smothering it away like I probably thought a hug would make her feel better.*
Not that things were ever that simple, of course, but it was a nice dream.
I was beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t have let Yumi continue exploring magecraft.
It wasn’t a large issue at first, and besides the continuation of what we had done before—little improvements to things I already had, or even silly effects that would never come up in battle but seemed funny at the time—she didn’t seem like she felt the necessity to try harder or delve much deeper.
Even so…
It started to affect her school life.
They were minor complaints at first. Fuji-nee said she was occasionally cited for not paying attention in class, which, well, I couldn’t exactly fault her for as I was not the most splendid student to grace high school either. Takumi Hoshino, the boy that Sakura had introduced to Yumi, had once mailed** Sakura with concerns that Yumi was being vocally critical to others in the Archery Club in a way that a first year was certainly not supposed to. That, once more, I couldn’t exactly fault her for, if she somehow had it in mind to compare what I was doing in battle to the ways kids goofed off in clubs sometimes, and to someone like Yumi who has stared at death, it might rub her the wrong way.
Then, on the second-to-last day of June, she returned home drenched head-to-toe on a completely sunny day.
As she had been due to bring home groceries for dinner that night, both Tohsaka and I went to greet her. She stood in the genkan, dripping wet, clutching her archery gear in one hand and a plastic bag in the other.
“What happened?” Tohsaka asked.
“Girls from school,” Yumi said, handing me the groceries, and then replacing her shoes to their spot next to the door.
Tohsaka looked aghast at the statement as the girl brushed past us for her room, dripping on the floor all the while. I’m not sure Tohsaka had any concept of school bullying, though, since she was well-liked and none of the girls there would have dared raise a finger in her direction. Even boys…well, if Shinji were any indication, would have just ended up with a face full of knuckles.
After taking the groceries to the kitchen and putting them in the refrigerator, I first went to the bath and started to fill the tub***. When I returned to the hall, it was to find Tohsaka talking in front of Yumi’s room. “While you had your hands full?”
“So I couldn’t do anything in retaliation,” Yumi’s voice drifted clearly through the door. “And on a Friday, so I could not return the favor tomorrow at school.”
I could hazard a guess as to how that went down, and something in me felt a little disturbed by what she said. Not in the words themselves—Yumi always sounded distant and analytical about things—but in the tone behind them. Yumi was usually quiet enough that her voice would be difficult to hear through the door, but she actually sounded angry enough that it rose.
Before Tohsaka could respond, I said, “I’m starting a bath early so you can clean up. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”
No response came.
I took motioned to Tohsaka and we retreated to the living room. “That both makes me a little happy and a little worried,” I said.
“What?” Tohsaka crossed her arms.
“Well, being emotional. Obviously bad that it’s a negative feeling, but, you could actually tell she was angry back there. Sometimes I have a hard time telling what she’s feeling at all.”
Tohsaka sighed. “Practically the opposite of Sakura, though similar in reasoning. She puts on a stoic mask while Sakura always tried to smile through everything.”
I nodded. I hoped Sakura would be home soon, because I had a feeling anything Yumi felt like commiserating would only be to Sakura. “It is worrisome, though, that she’d be emotional with classmates and not, you know, like that when we were attacked.”
“Yeah, I thought that odd too. Being frightened or angry after that fight would have been natural, but she just sat and calmly watched television the next day. Some girls at school pulling a mean prank seems…well, I’ve never seen her storm to her room like this, though, even if it was to change clothes.”
We resolved to keep a closer eye on her, especially if it looked like she might retaliate. Considering some of the bizarre things she could do, any retaliation might range from very little and hilarious to absolutely dangerous. With how warped her exposure to magecraft has been so far, that could cause a lot of problems, not just for Yumi, but for Tohsaka as well if the Magic Association caught wind of this.
Yumi wasn’t sure, herself.
As she soaked in the bath, she tried sorting it all out. But what made her good at sorting out the myriad of feelings she often felt seemed to make her terrible at explaining or understanding one overwhelming feeling.
She was angry.
Beyond angry.
Over something completely pointless.
Even more than the flashes of emotions she had all at once, it seemed, though…
As if this weren’t even her own.
Not hers, nor belonging to the additions within her.
More like…
Like…
She just couldn’t explain it.
That…made her feel a variety of things. Fear, sadness, wonder, amusement, anger—
She frowned.
She felt anger at her anger.
She wished she didn’t feel this way. Something in her told her, though…
Her wish would be granted, and would not be granted at the same time.
When Sakura made it home, Yumi had come out of the bath and changed clothes, though she still carried a storm cloud over her head****. Sakura tried once or twice to get her to open up, but all attempts were shot down with a very teenage “it’s nothing” or “I’m fine” sort of lines.
After dinner, she even declined to watch television.
That set off some alarm bells, I think, in everyone.
As had become my ritual, late at night, I made my way to Ryuudou Temple. Visits here had to be much shorter, though, considering the time of year, as dusk would not have set if I went too early and dawn would threaten to come if I visited too late.
Each time, I felt closer to it, to reaching what I needed, piece by piece, though still far from the finish line. It did not feel like I was standing in place any longer, though now was more like a crawl on my belly than a good clip on my feet.
Still, better than nothing.
Though…
My body is made of swords.
That made it kind of difficult to get up to a decent speed anyway.
I had this distant, unshakable thought, though…
If my body was made of swords, how else was I going to make my world a reality, except with violence?
Battle had certainly sped up my Tracing processes before. And I was grateful to them, for that much—
But I didn’t want to invite further battles to my doorstep.
She watched him that night, following him to the temple, doing her best to avoid being seen.
Shirou, though, always seemed preoccupied when he left.
And as she watched him release his prana, attempt to create his world…
Some part of her felt his wish—
And within her, she felt a paradox of division.
One that wanted to fulfill that wish.
Another that wanted to fulfill that wish.
One that wanted to find the salvation she felt in that wish.
Another that wanted to find the pain in that wish—
Like that cursed scalpel piercing her flesh, Yumi felt it fully cut into her.
Salvation, pain.
She clutched the Shroud of Martin beneath her shirt, though she did not remove the seal. In fact, it felt as if that may have been the one thing…
Keeping that Addition in.
**As in, keitai cell phone email. Rin: What is…this…fandangled…GAH! *German word followed by the sound of an explosion*
***Japanese furo are oversized bathtubs filled with steaming hot water. The actual cleaning is done separately; the bathtub is more like a process of purification like you would do in a sauna.
****This isn’t UBW, so no comparison can be made, but…well, think stoic storm cloud of danger. Like Kuzuki.
Converting /tmp/php533BbX to /dev/stdout
Escaping Fate
Chapter 10
Change
We remained alert for weeks, wondering if anything would crop up after that, like more Dead Apostles coming to call. But it passed into the summer months with no further issues springing up—and by the end of June, it seemed like a fairly suicidal idea for a vampire to make any kind of move when they only had maybe six or seven hours of safe operational time before the sun rose.
Everything turned to heat and humidity for the season and I managed many a job repairing broken air conditioners and fans for the various people I knew. Sakura continued her secretarial work, Yumi switched to summer uniforms for school, and Tohsaka continued cracking the whip on my training when I wasn’t doing odd jobs.
It seemed as if life would continue as normal.
It didn’t, of course. Tohsaka constantly tried puzzling out the odd words the Dead Apostle had left behind, constantly referring to the materials she had drafted up in the wake of the Grail War for a clue. She examined me more than once for traces that Angra Mainyu might have left behind. Every once in a while, I would gather her for dinner to hear her cursing behind her bedroom door, a testament to how well she felt she was doing with the riddle.
Sakura seemed uneasy as well, though she certainly hid it better. She would speak of her work, of how annoying the latest computer software was or how Mitsuzuri would continue to tease her about her seriousness or any number of mundane things. It actually felt like she was deliberately leading the subject away, and now that I was aware of it, it was all I could do to keep from just smothering the girl with a hug. Before, when Sakura had come to the house and helped with chores, I had thought I understood why she avoided her abusive brother and lonely house. Now, all I wanted to do was kick myself in the teeth for thinking I understood. The way she would guide the conversation away was probably part and parcel to just how she thought and dealt with everything, smothering it away like I probably thought a hug would make her feel better.*
Not that things were ever that simple, of course, but it was a nice dream.
I was beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t have let Yumi continue exploring magecraft.
It wasn’t a large issue at first, and besides the continuation of what we had done before—little improvements to things I already had, or even silly effects that would never come up in battle but seemed funny at the time—she didn’t seem like she felt the necessity to try harder or delve much deeper.
Even so…
It started to affect her school life.
They were minor complaints at first. Fuji-nee said she was occasionally cited for not paying attention in class, which, well, I couldn’t exactly fault her for as I was not the most splendid student to grace high school either. Takumi Hoshino, the boy that Sakura had introduced to Yumi, had once mailed** Sakura with concerns that Yumi was being vocally critical to others in the Archery Club in a way that a first year was certainly not supposed to. That, once more, I couldn’t exactly fault her for, if she somehow had it in mind to compare what I was doing in battle to the ways kids goofed off in clubs sometimes, and to someone like Yumi who has stared at death, it might rub her the wrong way.
Then, on the second-to-last day of June, she returned home drenched head-to-toe on a completely sunny day.
As she had been due to bring home groceries for dinner that night, both Tohsaka and I went to greet her. She stood in the genkan, dripping wet, clutching her archery gear in one hand and a plastic bag in the other.
“What happened?” Tohsaka asked.
“Girls from school,” Yumi said, handing me the groceries, and then replacing her shoes to their spot next to the door.
Tohsaka looked aghast at the statement as the girl brushed past us for her room, dripping on the floor all the while. I’m not sure Tohsaka had any concept of school bullying, though, since she was well-liked and none of the girls there would have dared raise a finger in her direction. Even boys…well, if Shinji were any indication, would have just ended up with a face full of knuckles.
After taking the groceries to the kitchen and putting them in the refrigerator, I first went to the bath and started to fill the tub***. When I returned to the hall, it was to find Tohsaka talking in front of Yumi’s room. “While you had your hands full?”
“So I couldn’t do anything in retaliation,” Yumi’s voice drifted clearly through the door. “And on a Friday, so I could not return the favor tomorrow at school.”
I could hazard a guess as to how that went down, and something in me felt a little disturbed by what she said. Not in the words themselves—Yumi always sounded distant and analytical about things—but in the tone behind them. Yumi was usually quiet enough that her voice would be difficult to hear through the door, but she actually sounded angry enough that it rose.
Before Tohsaka could respond, I said, “I’m starting a bath early so you can clean up. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”
No response came.
I took motioned to Tohsaka and we retreated to the living room. “That both makes me a little happy and a little worried,” I said.
“What?” Tohsaka crossed her arms.
“Well, being emotional. Obviously bad that it’s a negative feeling, but, you could actually tell she was angry back there. Sometimes I have a hard time telling what she’s feeling at all.”
Tohsaka sighed. “Practically the opposite of Sakura, though similar in reasoning. She puts on a stoic mask while Sakura always tried to smile through everything.”
I nodded. I hoped Sakura would be home soon, because I had a feeling anything Yumi felt like commiserating would only be to Sakura. “It is worrisome, though, that she’d be emotional with classmates and not, you know, like that when we were attacked.”
“Yeah, I thought that odd too. Being frightened or angry after that fight would have been natural, but she just sat and calmly watched television the next day. Some girls at school pulling a mean prank seems…well, I’ve never seen her storm to her room like this, though, even if it was to change clothes.”
We resolved to keep a closer eye on her, especially if it looked like she might retaliate. Considering some of the bizarre things she could do, any retaliation might range from very little and hilarious to absolutely dangerous. With how warped her exposure to magecraft has been so far, that could cause a lot of problems, not just for Yumi, but for Tohsaka as well if the Magic Association caught wind of this.
Yumi wasn’t sure, herself.
As she soaked in the bath, she tried sorting it all out. But what made her good at sorting out the myriad of feelings she often felt seemed to make her terrible at explaining or understanding one overwhelming feeling.
She was angry.
Beyond angry.
Over something completely pointless.
Even more than the flashes of emotions she had all at once, it seemed, though…
As if this weren’t even her own.
Not hers, nor belonging to the additions within her.
More like…
Like…
She just couldn’t explain it.
That…made her feel a variety of things. Fear, sadness, wonder, amusement, anger—
She frowned.
She felt anger at her anger.
She wished she didn’t feel this way. Something in her told her, though…
Her wish would be granted, and would not be granted at the same time.
When Sakura made it home, Yumi had come out of the bath and changed clothes, though she still carried a storm cloud over her head****. Sakura tried once or twice to get her to open up, but all attempts were shot down with a very teenage “it’s nothing” or “I’m fine” sort of lines.
After dinner, she even declined to watch television.
That set off some alarm bells, I think, in everyone.
As had become my ritual, late at night, I made my way to Ryuudou Temple. Visits here had to be much shorter, though, considering the time of year, as dusk would not have set if I went too early and dawn would threaten to come if I visited too late.
Each time, I felt closer to it, to reaching what I needed, piece by piece, though still far from the finish line. It did not feel like I was standing in place any longer, though now was more like a crawl on my belly than a good clip on my feet.
Still, better than nothing.
Though…
My body is made of swords.
That made it kind of difficult to get up to a decent speed anyway.
I had this distant, unshakable thought, though…
If my body was made of swords, how else was I going to make my world a reality, except with violence?
Battle had certainly sped up my Tracing processes before. And I was grateful to them, for that much—
But I didn’t want to invite further battles to my doorstep.
She watched him that night, following him to the temple, doing her best to avoid being seen.
Shirou, though, always seemed preoccupied when he left.
And as she watched him release his prana, attempt to create his world…
Some part of her felt his wish—
And within her, she felt a paradox of division.
One that wanted to fulfill that wish.
Another that wanted to fulfill that wish.
One that wanted to find the salvation she felt in that wish.
Another that wanted to find the pain in that wish—
Like that cursed scalpel piercing her flesh, Yumi felt it fully cut into her.
Salvation, pain.
She clutched the Shroud of Martin beneath her shirt, though she did not remove the seal. In fact, it felt as if that may have been the one thing…
Keeping that Addition in.
Escaping Fate, Change, End
*I’ll touch on it later, but I think it’s an important visual theme, of Shirou embracing Sakura.**As in, keitai cell phone email. Rin: What is…this…fandangled…GAH! *German word followed by the sound of an explosion*
***Japanese furo are oversized bathtubs filled with steaming hot water. The actual cleaning is done separately; the bathtub is more like a process of purification like you would do in a sauna.
****This isn’t UBW, so no comparison can be made, but…well, think stoic storm cloud of danger. Like Kuzuki.
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