切嗣

She turned abruptly, staggering back as someone barged past her. She rubbed her shoulder, wincing a little as she began to follow the crowd. A groan made her stop, a sharp cracking sound alerted her to the ground beneath her. She gasped audibly as the concrete began to split.

She ran.

She ran as fast as she could, paying no attention to what was before her, only that she had to find safety. Her boot caught a lose cable and she tripped, scraping her knees and the palms of her hands on the gravel. Tears pricked her eyes, both from fright and shock. She gathered herself up, in time to hear yet another rumble as the buildings around her began to collapse.

She froze.

     He remembered what she said about being in the shopping district today. The crowds of people moving as the ground and buildings gave way frustrated him, this lack of visibility making her impossible to find.

     “ILLYA!” Traveling a small distance from the group, he shouted in hopes of gaining a response. Please, let her be in there.

     There was the sound of someone falling, the selfish hive-mind paying no heed to their surroundings and rushing past the victim without stopping to help them. His eyes immediately flocked to the child, and at the same time he realized just who she was, he heard the building warn them of its impending collapse.

     And there Illya was, frozen in its path.

His feet ran faster than the earthquake’s damage, continuously cursing his lack of Double Accel to assist him. It would be a close call, but he could make it. He had to make it.

     As soon as she was reached arms wrapped around her torso, lifting her into the safety of his embrace. He was thankful that her inhuman weight allowed him to continue forward without slowing.

     The building, now behind them, folded in on itself and left behind disastrous damage. He had saved her from certain death this time, but the danger didn’t end here. The rest of the city was still suffering from the earthquake’s affects.

     “Don’t worry, Illya. I’ll make sure to keep you safe.”

❝ What’s your favorite idea? Mine is being creative! ❞

❝ You’re gonna end up sad inside! ❞

❝ Are you hungry? You look to be a bit hungry! ❞

❝ Your heart beats hard like a big love drum, calling for your special one! ❞

❝ Everything’s cool, it’s the future! ❞

❝ You’re lonely! I can see it in your eyes. ❞

❝ Everywhere you look all you see is hatred, and darkness, death and fear. ❞

❝ You will never be alone! ❞

❝ Listen to the voices in your brain! ❞

❝ That’s the way that all love goes. ❞

❝ You know it doesn’t have to be. That I hate you, and you hate me. ❞

❝ Clever, I’m very clevery guy! ❞

❝ Wow, look, nothing! ❞

❝ Now let’s all agree to never be creative again. ❞

❝ All we’re asking you to do is change your name, and clean your brain, and forget anything about you ever knew! ❞

❝ No, you don’t know who I am… but maybe I could hold your hand. ❞

❝ This is your chance to start anew! ❞

❝ You’re not thinking creatively! ❞

❝ Inside my mind there is a digital mind! ❞

❝ You are not invited to the party. ❞

❝ There’s fish everywhere… fish everywhere. ❞

❝ Digital style! ❞

❝ There’s always time for a song! ❞

❝ You’re confused, but that’s okay! ❞

❝ It makes you sad, doesn’t it? That there’s so much hatred in the world. ❞

❝ I count to 50 in the blink of an eye! ❞

❝ Oh, wow, how amazing. And interesting, too. ❞

❝ I use my hair to express myself! ❞

❝ No no no, that’s not how it’s done! ❞

❝ Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine! But eventually, everyone runs out of time. ❞

❝ The past is far behind us, the future doesn’t exist! ❞

❝ Ugh, you’re gonna make me sick! ❞

❝ But your body, it must'a have to be healthy! ❞

❝ Don’t be stupid, friend! ❞

❝ It’s easy to be a clever smart boy like me! ❞

❝ And do you ever feel like life’s unfair - ‘cause everybody hates you, and no one cares! ❞

❝ When you stare at the clouds in the sky, don’t you find it exciting? ❞

❝ Maybe time’s just a construct of human perception. An illusion created by- ❞

❝ You could do it all digitallyyyyyyyyyyy! ❞

❝ Go and collect some leaves and sticks, and arrange them into your favorite color. ❞

❝ You must save your love for your special one! ❞

❝ Time is important and I am a clock! ❞

❝ Yeah but, something's… wrong. ❞

❝ You’ll end up with your teeth all grey! ❞

❝ Use your mind to have a good time! ❞

❝ What’s that? A tasty snack? You don’t wanna go and eat a snack like that! ❞

❝ Wow! I’d like to be as smart as a computer. ❞

❝ Let’s go on a journey, a journey through time! ❞

❝ I made this for you, cause I love you so much! ❞

❝ You need to know what’s right from wrong. ❞

❝ That sounds really boring. ❞

❝ You shouldn’t eat food from a stranger’s plate! ❞

❝ Oh, no. Look, it’s all broken and on the floor. ❞

❝ Green is not a creative color. ❞

❝ What is love, is it in the sky? ❞

❝ That doesn’t make sense! ❞

❝ Here’s another good tip on how to be a creative whiz kid… ❞

❝ I don’t wanna do this anymore! ❞

❝ If you follow me, maybe you’ll see that love is everywhere! ❞

❝ Everything’s made out of numbers and code! ❞

❝ Time is a ruler to measure the day, it doesn’t go backwards, only one way. ❞

❝ Let’s get healthy now! ❞

❝ Whoa there friend, you might need to slow down! ❞

❝ DON’T TOUCH MEEEEEEEEEE! ❞

❝ If we run out of time, then where does it go?  ❞

❝ If he’s not quite real, then I’m not real, too! ❞

❝ I just need to get some information from you! ❞

❝ Come on, just over the rainbow! ❞

     Following the call for help, Kiritsugu sprang forward, his arms above his head ready to shelter the victim from the debris as it fell. He made it just in time to shield her from any larger pieces breaking away from the building’s walls. His forearms took a bit of damage, but it was nothing to complain about.

     As the collapsing settled, he checked the surroundings for extra measure, then finally turned to face her.

At some point, Archer stopped in front of a park and merely gazed towards the green area before losing himself in thought. While he was doing so, he was approached by a person who seemed to ask for cigarettes. While Archer wasn’t someone to smoke even before ascending as a heroic spirit through his contract with the world, he was carrying with him a sealed pack of cigarettes he had bought a few days ago on a whim as he was reminiscing about a certain person.]

“I don’t smoke myself but I do have some so help yourself.”

[Archer handed the box of cigarettes to the man without even looking his face. It was only after he decided to look at the man’s face that his thoughts caught up and he realized that the voice he had heard was exactly the one from the man he was reminiscing about. It had been such a long time ago for him that he had already forgotten it and seeing the very man in front of him and talking to him made his mind to almost freeze and surprise was clear on his face.]

     It just so happened to be his favourite kind, too. How extraordinarily coincidental.

     By the time he took out a stick, lit it, and placed it to his lips, he noticed the man’s shock. It was so surprising it surprised him. He blinked, a little incredulously, and wasn’t quite sure what to say.

Surely this was a trick. This city, a place full of anomalies had to be making her hear things. It couldn’t be… could it? 

Surely not…

She stopped in her tracks, eyes wide, breath hitching as the emotions she had been bottling for years threatened to spill. She was afraid to turn, the voice was closer now… a voice she had longed to hear since she was a little girl. How long had she waited for this day? She didn’t want to turn around. 

But she forced herself to.

Kiritsugu…

Her father stood right there in front of her, a mere few feet away. The shock hadn’t left her face and neither did the anguished look in her eyes. After all this time, there he was just as she remembered him all those years ago. She wanted to reach out but something stopped her.

He left…

He abandoned her. All those nights she sat up wondering if she would ever see him again. Those times she spent wondering whether he was dead or alive. Those moments where she began to realise her hope was fading… she resigned to the fact he was gone forever.

Anger replaced sadness.

She stumbled back a few paces, increasing the distance between herself and Kiritsugu. The bitterness, the anger, the sadness… the hate… everything she had bottled up her entire life threatened to explode. Her hands clenched into fists, nails biting in the skin. Her crimson eyes narrowed to a glare; what was he doing here? Why now… after all this time did he have to wind up here with her? Reuniting with those she knew from her own world had been a little bit of a shock at first but this… this was on another level.

She wanted to scream, shout, cry, make him see how much she had hurt but in the end what was it worth? It wouldn’t change the years of sorrow she had endured…

     Lips parted to speak something comforting to ease her suffering, but immediately shut themselves as Illyasviel had backed away.

     As if words could ever take back the years she spent alone and wondering; he was damn foolish for believing they could. Left within him was another pang of regret, the dread of losing her if she decided to back away any further a very real, and very crushing threat. He worried about her palms, about the blood possibly drawn if she had clenched her tiny hands any tighter, but he would understand that this was his doing.

     She had every right to be furious with him. He wouldn’t be surprised if she never wanted to see him again.

     But he would fight for her, even if he felt he never deserved to have her back; he had been stewing over the answer to her exact question for all of these years, and to go silent now would be a waste of so much time.

     “Because...” He felt gravel beneath him as he knelt on one knee, his strength slowly leaving him. “Because, i wasn’t allowed to see you. I failed... I made a horrible mistake, Illyasviel.”

     The tragedy that followed after the Grail’s destruction had indeed been his doing, even if he had never expected such an outcome. The fire, the death, and the curse placed upon him-- it had all been the outcome of him chasing his own dream foolishly. His words had become breathy, like it took great effort to speak of such heavy events.

     “I had... I had won the Grail War, Illya, but I had found out something. I had found out that... that the Grail was not pure. It had been tainted, long ago, and the result of my wish would have ended in much more loss than it would gain. So I destroyed it. I commanded Saber to destroy it.”

     “What came after was... nothing but destruction. Black sludge poured from it like magma. It engulfed Fuyuki City and killed all but one person. In the process, I was cursed by the Grail itself. That curse attacked my limbs, muscles.. weakened me until it eventually killed me.” His breath seemed to hitch, the gritting of his teeth evident. “I returned to the Einzburg castle many times before my passing. Because I never returned with the Grail, Jubstacheit never allowed me to enter the Bounded Field around the forest. Due to the curse I couldn’t.. break the Field, either. I was left to wander without ever finding a way to see you.”

     It hurt, unbearably so. Acht’s punishment was the final weight to his shoulders, and possibly the most heaviest of them all.

“Kiritsugu, you are wrong. I did not kill your son. Even though I tried so many times.”