Interlude: FuyuKi ?
That night, with only the stars in the sky and the dim lights these stairs emitted to guide us, I followed him by his hand to his final destination, his temporary resting place.
I’m jealous, there was someone else there waiting for him. Someone else who was to accompany him in his last moments.
This person could not be me.
I had already spoke to him of my circumstances, of the circumstances of the people here. Nobody would remember anything - but whether he would or not, I couldn’t tell him.
All he did was turn and smile at me, making promises of a better next time when we are to meet again. I couldn’t really tell, was he making promises as himself, or as Emiya Shirou?
I still offered him my best smile.
He left, and I fell.
The steps had vanished from beneath me, but my focus was on the spot where he had stood before, smiling back at me. In the corner of my eye I noticed my arm, outstretched towards an empty spot.
I didn’t expect anyone to save me, least of all him.
So I fell. My hat flies off somewhere, carried away by the wind and my long hair comes into view as I descend with my back towards the ground.
----Ah, this is the last time I’ll die here.
I hold my hands together and close my eyes.
The many others around the town seemed to have acknowledged the end of this hollow world as well.
Lancer, watching it end. Gilgamesh, back to his original form. Archer, reunited with his Master. Assassin and Caster, protecting the temple. Berserker, rampaging. Rider, protecting her Master.
Saber, protecting ‘Emiya Shirou’.
I couldn’t see them from where I am, but without a doubt they were all playing their roles.
It was time I continued my journey.
Interlude Out
When she had came to, she had more questions than she had answers. For someone like her, it was something different, something abnormal.
This change should have shook her and made her uneasy, but instead, it brought a smile to her face.
Her eyes had landed on the company she had. A woman with short red hair, she was breathing faintly, but was still breathing. Her side task here with this person was complete, so she excused herself before the other woman was to wake from her peaceful slumber.
It had taken a few days for follow-up orders to arrive to her hand, but she poured over every word of it carefully, which had brought her back to Fuyuki.
Evil remained in this town, and she had been tasked to containing and ridding it if necessary. On the side of the main tasks were a list of other tasks that she had to accomplish in her time here, before making a report detailing what she had done to accomplish it, and the results.
A servant of God had more meaning than the normal flock would understand, and she understood her calling. There was nothing else she could do but to devote her life and her body to the Lord.
This was the tool of the Lord, in the form of a woman: Caren Ortensia.
‘Isn’t that a really stupid way of thinking?’
His voice reverberated in her head. It hadn’t been the first time, ever since she had awoken that day, every single detail of their many conversations and time spent together was still etched in her mind. There was nobody who could answer her why this was, as she had clearly explained how she was suppose to have forgotten all that had happened.
The way he speaks, the way he indicated his interest, his boredom through body language, Caren remembered it all. His face, faces and his last words to her was something she often found herself dreaming whenever she rested.
Which is why upon the church’s renovations finally starting, leaving her with nowhere to go and no money from the church for her lodgings, her legs started to carry her to a direction she had never visited before.
Before - he had always come to her, wander in, declare rudely that she was not playing the organ or boring him out of his mind.
Today, she had decided to return the favor.
On her way, she walked by the train stations, the bus stops and empty taxis waiting for customers. She passed by familiar surroundings, pausing and holding onto her hat as a particularly strong gust of wind blows past.
Caren remembered this place like any other that she had visited before, but she knew she was to spend a longer time here than any other, especially as she had been tasked to this important mission alone. “I wonder... It must be your fault that I am burdened with such memories.”
She spoke to the sun with her arms resting on the red railings. The sun was high up in the air, scaring away people other than children who would gladly bask and flourish under it. “This must mean you did the same for her, didn’t you? ...You’re so predictable.”
She would have been unable to say these words if she had lived through what she had, remembered the things she did and... cared despite the dull ache in her chest.
The distance between Caren and her destination started to grow shorter as she stepped off the bridge. The stares she received were of daily plain bread to her. The fact that she stood out in nun clothes were obvious, and she blamed no one for curiously looking her way.
But she couldn’t help but wonder if he would look at her the way these people were.
The one she was seeking was no longer him, but a promise between the two had been made. On the other hand, a letter from the church and association should have made it’s way to the magus of Fuyuki by now. Caren had been told that this was not an issue she needed to bother herself with.
So she had allowed her mind to linger on her other tasks at hand.
“Excuse me.” The doors were not closed properly, and a heated debate can be heard coming from inside. Her eyes landed on the name beside the doorbell.
Emiya.
She ducked her way in, stepping past the door frame and closing it properly for the people living here. Stepping out of her shoes, Caren takes a moment to stare at the familiar looking pair of male leather shoes.
A woman’s voice reaches her ears immediately afterwards.
Caren wasn’t certain if she was proud or unhappy that her accusations towards him had been correct. The only reason that she would have come here too to seek refugee would be because she remembered.
“Excuse me,” Caren repeated as she brought herself closer to the room of many.
“The door was open, so I let myself in. I have business with Emiya-san.”
Caren doesn’t meet the surprised pair of eyes of the woman she saved.
“However, as Bazett arrived first, I will wait my turn.”
