Fate/Stay Night Fan Fiction ❯ Inevitable Decay ❯ Conditions ( Chapter 5 )

Inevitable Decay

Chapter 5: Conditions

 

Last time on Fate/Stay Night:

 

“How can we be surrounded, I don't see a thing!” A spear thrust itself through the wall, his short blades grinding in to it as he parried. Spears began to thrust themselves at them from all angles, sometimes walls of them. Anytime they tried to escape they were blocked. “Shiro, hold on tight!” Before he knew it she had looped an arm around him, skyrocketing upwards while kicking the wall to proper herself away from assaulting spears. The two landed softly on the roof, preparing to defend as over three dozen men rose from the ground. Their eyes were of lifeless yellow, mere puppets to some greater evil. Battle gowns of all colors draped their pale bodies, but strangely enough they at least looked human.

 

How were they supposed to fight under such fatigue?

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The sun beat down with more force then Shiro could remember, the sheer terror of the moment ripping into his very soul. His shoulder still pulsed of pain from assassins sickle cut, and saber was low on energy herself. How long could they hold out again an army? An army of puppets…but they were also puppets with weapons. The spears they held so strongly wore red shafts that shimmered in the sun, cold steel tips stained with blood.

 

“Saber…! What are we supposed to do now…?” His hand gripped his wounded shoulder, feeling the warmth of blood still slowly spilling from the wound. It wasn't fatal but much longer and blood loss would catch up. Turning to saber he could see the deep focus of her eyes, the intricate battle stance weighed upon by fatigue while smudges of dust littered the battle dress and her cheek.

 

The soldiers made no noise, utter silence except for the clink of metal as they dragged swords and spears against the roof. They strolled casually towards them, closing half the distance before raising their weapons for an attack. The first line rushed, the slashing of swords and thrusts of spears being quickly parried by the two. Shiro cut through one soldier, watching the body collapse and disappear into the ground. He quickly pushed aside the guilt by reminding himself they were puppets.

 

Saber took the brunt of the assault taking a small cut to the arm as she threw herself forward whirling her blade through several challengers, their weapons hitting the ground with several rattles. She had never seen such lifelike minions, only a top notch caster could summon something like this. It didn't take long for the constant pressure to push both of them backward step after step. Her blade hurled and cleaved through soldier after soldier through their march, blades swinging wildly back.

 

Shiros owns strength was leaking fast, the dizziness from his wound causing a puppet to overpower him after he cut through two more. His sword hit the ground as he just barely moved away from the next attack, saber once again ignoring her own problems in order to leap forward and save him. He fell backward as she stood in front like a shield, firm and strong despite the damage. She desperately forced back the approaching monsters, shoving her sword left and right in all haste. When she dropped to her left knee he could tell she was spent, despite dozens of those bodies sinking into the ground they still kept coming. He had no idea where they kept coming from.

 

The sound of explosions caught his ears, the sight of several black marble sized shots flying through the air. Tohsaka had stayed true to her word, blasting a line straight through the legions of soldiers. “Geez I can't leave you alone for one minute! Now hurry up!”

 

Despite the pairs overwhelming pain they somehow helped each other to their feet, attempting to use the new opening to break through to Tohsaka. “How slow do you plan to go!?” She groaned while placing her hands firmly on the ground, a seal forming itself in a bright yellow. “Digging dragons rank 2 upheavals.” The ground to the side of the pair cracked and groaned before throwing itself upward, chucking aside soldiers left and right while crushing others beneath the moving rock.

 

The roof seemed to shake under them as Shiro noticed several bodies thrown in every direction through the air. Lancer had joined the fray, no spear or weapon of any kind. His bare hands grappled weapons and bodies chucking them off the roof. The distraction proved successful, the majority of their pursuers breaking off to engage the giant.

 

When things were clear Tohsaka quickly ran forward, helping both of them to the latter side of the roof. “You guys gave me quite the scare; I want to hear every detail later.” Her voice was softer now, no longer the angry yell she used before. She climbed down first before saber followed, Shiro finally going after the two ladies.

 

The trio began rushing down the ally before Shiro realized lancer hadn't followed. “Hey wait a minute! What about lancer!” Tohsaka made no attempt to acknowledge that, continuing to lead them until the empty street was their home. Without any form of warning lancer leaped off of the building, landing feet first on the ground with the loudest noise he ever heard. The group came to a halting stop, staring over at the brute that simply walked over calmly.

 

“Good job lancer, now let's head back” the servant nodded slightly to his master, their running pace no longer necessary. No one followed them thankfully, whoever had sent the little puppets decided not to press the attack.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It was only moments after they got back to the house before saber practically collapsed, both Shiro and Tohsaka carrying her to her bed. Despite being able to go into spirit mode she seemed to prefer sleeping. The only thing that prevented Shiro from going off to sleep him self was the fact he still had a wound.

 

As the two masters left sabers room Tohsaka let out a slight sigh “well go sit in the kitchen and I will get the first aid kit.” Too tired to argue he simply sat himself obediently in a chair, waiting for her to return. The head of brown hair whipped around the corner in a flash, the white box held firmly in her hands.

 

She lowered herself into a chair next to him, popping open the lid to the box with a slight smile. “Figures you would throw yourself into the fight too. So why don't you tell me what happened” she had to fight back a blush as his shirt was pulled off, leaving the wound bare and able to be treated. It was quite the nasty cut too.

 

“Well…Saber started to feel something abnormal right before we spotted a trail of blood. I thought someone might be hurt so I ran down an ally to follow it…” A slight sting pulsed through his body as she applyed some sort of disinfectant.

 

Scowling slightly she pulled the bandages from the small case, dutifully beginning to wrap them around his wound. “Let me guess, it was a trap.” Nodding in response she could do little but shake her head, his worry for others always got him pulled into things.

 

“We ended up in assassins Reality Marble forest of illusion.” The winding motions of Tohsakas hands stopped instantly, her gaze intent. “Did you say Reality Marble?” He nodded his head which only caused her to frown more. “That means it must be a high class servant. A reality marble is extremely high-class sorcery.”

 

Thinking it over for a moment she finally shrugged it off “Well what kind of reality was it?” her hands slowly continued binding the wound before tying it off, checking it for any mistakes. Seeing she was done he quickly moved his arm a bit, although it restricted some movement it wasn't that bad. “It was this boundless forest where you could never tell what was real. He would appear and disappear at will, sometimes if you attacked it would only have been a log or a leaf…it was odd”

 

“That must have been hard to counter...but you guys seemed to have pulled through ok.” Leaning back slightly she pushed the first aid kit off to the side, folding her arms across her chest.

 

“It was, and it was only because of saber that we stood a chance. But the weird thing was we didn't really win…assassin left after we heard his masters scream. And then when the reality marble collapsed we were attacked by those things.”

 

“It was definitely a caster that created them, and considering the human like appearance we are not dealing with a low level servant.” She raised her hand, resting her chin on the backside of her hand thoughtfully. “So we have to watch out for caster and its master…while also fighting with this Clyde kid.”

 

“Seems like it…but I really don't think Clyde is all that bad. He just seems desperate for something.” Her shoulders raised in minor annoyance at his over trusting nature. “Well either way he's still an enemy for now. I'm heading off to bed, see you in the morning” She rose slowly, brushing down her skirt before heading towards the door.

 

“Hey wait Rin, thanks for coming to help back there.” She turned back with a slight smirk, waving her hand dismissively. “Don't mention- wait a minute…did you just call me Rin?” Her lips parted in mild surprise while he nodded slowly. “Is that alright?”

 

“W-well no…I mean yeah. Just forget it, it's nothing.” Flushed heavily she quickly retreated from the room. Her pace quickened to retreat to her own bedroom. She didn't know why it hit her so hard to have him call her anything but Tohsaka, all she knew was she liked it.

 

Getting over the confusion of the moment Shiro dizzily walked off to bed, collapsing against the surprisingly comfy futon.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Without the need to attend school the next day Shiro readily welcomed sleeping in. It was just before noon when he decided he had enough for now. Peeling his eyes open Shiro jumped back slightly, a cute giggle responding to his surprise. Ilya lay on her stomache, kicking her feet up and down in the air as she stared at him with head resting on her arms. “Good morning onii-chan! Did you miss me?”

 

“Ilya! You scared me…what are you doing in my room.” She simply giggled again, the snow white hair cascading down her shoulders as she leaned up on her elbows. “I was waiting for onii-chan to wake up of course. It's your turn to make breakfast.”

 

“Oh right…give me a minute then” pulling himself out of bed Shiro moved himself groggily into the kitchen with Ilya trailing right behind. “Rin said you were doing some research, anything you want to share?”

 

“Yup!” She nodded happily even if he didn't notice her small form dropping gracefully into a seat at the table. “I heard onii-chan wanted to destroy the grail, so I took it upon myself to find information” her voice was innocent and proud, like a small child who just did something to please a parent.

 

“R-really!? What did you find out? Anything useful we can use?” She stared at him without a word; easily transferring the message he was to start cooking. Sighing heavily Shiro pulled out ample ingredients, setting out everything he needed to make a simple yet large breakfast.

 

“I found my mothers old records from the last war, she mentioned the Holy Grail being contaminated in an earlier war by an evil servant.” Shiro found that a rather useful explanation of why it leaked and dripped of the horrible black ooze, the clean gold shine of the grail completely possessed by evil. “Did it mention anything about stopping it?” It took only moments to get rice cooking, stew preparing and noodles cooking. Recipes sat neatly organized in front of him, his only chance at making a decent meal.

 

“I'm sorry onii-chan…it didn't say anything like that. It only made a reference to some works by an Alexander shamble.” The soft patter of footsteps announced Rin's entrance, her eyes slightly wide at walking in on the conversation. “THE Alexander shamble?”

 

Those curious red eyes turned to her in a strange look, a slight tilt of the head expressing her confusion. “Is it someone important? My mother mentioned it was a colleague of hers…” Rin seemed even more shocked as she took her own seat at the table, Shiro listening intently from his cooking area.

 

“Alexander is one of the only true remaining sorcerers. He is known as the wizard of life because it is said he is able to bring back lost souls. He is a leading member of the mages association.”

 

Leaving the food to continue cooking Shiro moved slightly closer, more curious then ever. “So shouldn't we seek him out for help?” She gave a rapid shake of the head as an answer “Are you insane? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get in contact with him? He's a complete recluse!”

 

“There has to be a way to Rin! If Ilya is right then he may hold the key to deciding what to do!” She scowled at him, racking her brain for any possibilities. “Well…I do have a really old friend in the association that MAY be able to help. But I haven't talked to her forever…I'm not exactly in a position to ask for a favor.”

 

Ilya watched Shiro rush back to check on the food with a grumble, her own eyes switching between the two. “The mages association can't be happy about this war starting, I'm sure if you sent a letter explaining things she would be obligated to do something at least.”

 

“I suppose so…I'll make sure to send out a letter by tonight. If we are extremely lucky we might actually hear back” it was a long shot but the only shot they could take. The conversation turned to idle chat before Saber finally joined them, sitting down next to Ilya with her hands folded in her lap. “Good morning”

 

Shiro was quick to jump back towards the group “Are you alright saber?” She nodded her head slowly, staring around at the glancing faces of the three. “I have a maryoku connection with Shiro this time…whether he meant to or not he was supplying me with maryoku in his sleep. The majority of my injuries are gone.”

 

Ilya excused herself to assist Shiro with the food, the two of them bringing the several dishes to the table two at a time. Smiling slightly Rin glanced at Shiro “Guess he has improved more then I thought, if you have a maryoku connection that is.”

 

Agreeing wholeheartedly saber smiled “It is much stronger then I expected, I should have little trouble with exhausting myself this time around.” As soon as the last dish hit the table the group dug in quickly, recovering what lost strength sleep could not.

 

Looking around the table Shiro noticed the absence of the other servant amongst them “hey shouldn't lancer be here to enjoy this?” Rin looked up while sucking down a few nobles, lowering her chopsticks momentarily after swallowing. “He insisted on playing guard dog, so I let him. Don't worry about him, he's pretty tough.”

 

With the end of the meal Rin left to compose a proper letter to send, while Ilya stuck by him. “Onii-chan, we are low on food. Would you accompany me to the market?” Considering he had nothing to do there was little room to object. “Well I suppose it will give us some quality time” she smiled happily, clinging to his arm once they left with saber taking spirit form. Shiro spotted lancer perched on the roof on his way out, not the most inconspicuous way to guard a place.

 

The two walked slowly, Ilya still holding to his uninjured arm like a real sister might. They began to pass my Miryas little shop but her old eerie voice caused them to stop. “Out on a Sunday Emiya? Oh ho Come here…yes come here, let me see you and your friend.” The two looked across the street towards her, that odd smile still holding strong as she stared with half open blue eyes. She still remained perched in her chair, her fruit stand on the left. He never understood how it was always so fresh considering she never moved.

 

After sharing a look with Ilya they walked over slowly. “It's nice to see you Mirya, how have you been?” Mirya had seen Ilya before although not often. “Oh ho, very well…I have been…very well indeed. Not much for an old woman to complain about.” Her voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard, hoarse and difficult to listen to.

 

“Oh ho…but what is it that brings you two out today? A little family bonding is it…?” She seemed to get caught up immediately in the way Ilya called him onii-chan, and it was almost like some sort of a silent agreement between young and old to keep the tradition. “Well not exactly…just doing some shopping together.”

 

“Isn't that lovely...yes lovely indeed. Do be careful…things can get…dangerous. Oh ho but you know that, please don't trouble yourself talking with me then.” The two said quiet goodbyes before taking off, the spectral voice of the old woman still lingering in their ears.

 

The voice of saber counteracted the creepy feeling “Shiro, that woman is awfully strange. Are you sure she is ok to be around?” Nodding his head quickly he responded through their mental connection “Yeah don't worry, I met her right after the last war. She is just a creepy old woman with too much time on her hands.”

 

Saber was silent after that, him and Ilya traveling market to market. They added a new bag full of stuff each time they stopped, the amazingly cute voice causing him to keep backing down and giving in to her every wish. He was piled high with bags, just low enough to see over.

 

Ilya suddenly tugged on his arm slightly, both of them coming to a stop. “Onii-chan, isn't that the master of assassin.” Shiro jumped slightly, thinking she met he was planning an attack. Instead his barely visible eyes shifted to the joyful youth riding on an older woman's back. She seemed too young to be a mother so he assumed it was an older sister. “Shiro, he has not yet detected you. He is not a first rate master if he lets his guard down so easily.”

 

Shiro was glad she didn't suggest attacking him, but it was mostly due to the civilian presence around them that stopped her. He seemed so happy, so empty of worries. It was so different from that smirking youth that attacked not once but twice. “Let's not worry about it Ilya, we're safe this time” she nodded her head uneasily before continuing on to the next shop.

 

There shopping took up the majority of the day much to Ilya's joy. She seemed to cherish every moment they were together; she really was beginning to remind him of a little sister. Lancer was still calmly resting on the roof upon their return, nodding to them while they passed through the door.

 

The group assembled in the kitchen to discuss further plans and try to get a handle on things. Lancer joined them as well, sitting silently and firmly in his place. That man did not know how to relax. Smiling Rin nodded to their little council, Ilya joining them despite not having a servant. “Alright then…let's begin.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A/N: The end! Ha, let's begin next chapter I should say. Sorry the chapter would be longer then I want if I kept going. I hate to say it but I think I may be leaning towards a Rin/Shiro pairing…I just really like Rin. I'm still not too sure though. I know you all want saber, and although I am considering it I don't plan to decide purely on my fans…it is my story after all.