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WHO: Gilgamesh, Shiki Tohno, Sakura Matou
WHAT: Sakura meets Shiki, Gil decides to claim a prize.
WHEN: 6/11/2009
WHERE: Fuyuki City
WATCH FOR: Sakura reveals a hidden power, Shiki hates 7-Up, and What Could Have Been A Perfectly Romantic Evening...
Set along the coast in western Japan, Fuyuki City is a charming place that seems exceptionally ordinary, at first glance. The city is bisected by a waterway, dividing the city roughly into eastern and western sectors. To the west are the suburban areas, where most of the housing lies.
The suburban areas are further divided north and south. Most of the houses to the north are Japanese-style, and many properties are generations old. To the south are the Western-style houses, often on sprawling grounds with expert landscaping.
East of the waterway are the industrial areas, and the mercantile heart of Fuyuki. This is where the skyscrapers and the businesses are, as well as the old Kotomine Church.
It's been an enjoyable time to be honest. The truth is that she'd met a number of new people, slowly making new friends, and has...in a way, been working towards a closer relationship with her sister. It's true that the elder Tohsaka had, virtually literally, bent over backwards to accomodate the younger. Everything was to restore the Tohsaka name and reunite the family, and make up for the years that Rin had missed; and Sakura was happy to reciprocate.
Even when she found those dark quiet times, wondering...
As it is, though, she's stepped out and is perusing the local markets she'd spent so much time in before. Being home in Fuyuki, for summer, had been interesting - so many memories, not all of them good, but yet so familiar. She'd thought of going to Emiya's house, but he'd not been in; she'd quietly left his house and gone shopping alone. So she finds herself on a remarkably cold night, for summer, at the various grocers collecting things for dinner at her sister's - no, her own house.
It was slow getting to it. Still, because of the sudden cold snap (in June no less) and the winds that blew through, the young magus is dressed in longer-than-usual clothes, and a jacket over them. Simple clothes, for a simple errand, she feels; it also helps her blend into the background of humanity. She finishes with the meat seller, and collects her merchandise, with a polite smile and bow for the man.
The bag is added to a slowly growing collection, and she frowns looking at it. Walking back home with that much will be a little troublesome, in this breeze...she cringes as a particularly wicked gust blows through, tearing off an insufficiently secured paper sign. Maybe it's time for a taxicab...her sister can certainly afford such a thing, but to impose that much on ...the family would be difficult.
If Emiya were here, the evening would be a lot warmer...
All cities put up a good face during the daylight hours, especially ones that want to have any hope of a tourism industry. But, anyone that has any real interest in a location knows, if you want to know the true personality of a place - you check it out after dark, when the guard is let down. In his short time here, Shiki has tried to resist the temptation of stalking the night, and to remain just one of those summer visitors, but it's impossible. His head is already filled with one mystery, and it's that which causes him a troubled look this evening.
Somehow, it's also suddenly jacket weather again, and so as he strolls along the still unfamiliar streets, his hands tucked in his pockets, he's wearing his full uniform, including the button-up jacket. Every now and then, he takes time to pause at a street lamp or bus stop to just glance around and adjust his glasses, which never seemed to fit 'quite' right. To help occupy his mind and perhaps stave off the urge to creep around the alleys for a little while longer, he steps up to a magazine stand and flips through a few, but doesn't seem inclined to buy any.
'What am I doing out at this hour...I came here to relax, but even here the atmosphere feels a little strange.' His head turns towards the direction of the destroyed park he'd seen a few days earlier, before he shakes his head to clear it, and backs out to resume his pacing. Fortunately, this was advertised as a low crime area, so it's not like he's going to bump into a serial killer out here.
There aren't many others on the street, the majority of people having decided that discretion (and warmth) is the better part of valor, and retreated indoors - ostensibly leaving their dinner plans to leftovers or delivery. Not all of them, though; there's a rare few like Sakura who've braved the wind to stock up, and stock up she has.
Well, it's a good mix, at least. Enough of the basics to last a while, a trip to a corner-convenience for some ice cream, and a selection of meats for some Chinese recipes. She'd been trying to continue learning her sister's favorite style of food, but would admit she enjoys it as well - the various cooked dishes lending themselves so well to a later snack... Still, she carries the bags forward, knowing it'll be a long walk. And wondering if, perhaps, the third household occupant was going to be joining them at all.
Archer, she thinks. Servants, again, in Fuyuki and among the Gates. Would it be possible to summon Rider, again...? No, you idiot, such a thing is not for you anymore. It's with a distracting, angry thought like this combined with a gust of wind turning the long cotton skirt into a sail that sends her stumbling, sandaled feet dancing momentarily and bags akimbo - face first into someone.
Distantly, she notices the crackle of broken glass, and knows instantly it's the bottle of hoisin sauce.
"Ah-ah...er...I'm s-sorry," she manages to stutter out.
And yet, even in the most rarified of gases, two molecules have to collide eventually. Shiki is distracted enough that the girl approaching him fails to register, perhaps because up until a moment ago, she would have doubtlessly passed by without incident and the two would have never met. That's simply not how things work, though. The universe for whatever reason decides to send Sakura bowling over at just that moment, and while he has the reflex to swing an arm around to try and help catch her and her burden of groceries, it doesn't seem he has quite the arm reach to keep an item or two from escaping and becoming broken.
Well, that's one way to snap out of troubling thoughts.
"You aren't hurt, are you," he wonders? Rather than get caught up in her apology. No harm done, after all, and it's not like he's weak enough to have a bone break from the weight. Even though she might not be able to actually see his face at first, behind the bags, he gives a smile while further trying to help Sakura steady, and unless she's quick in her protesting, will try to help himself to one of the bags that looks heaviest, "Someone should get the city to fix these uneven sidewalks, huh?"
Don't worry, he's a naisugai like this to everyone, until it's proven that they deserve otherwise. Or unless he gets a little urge...
Were Sakura a member of a ninja clan, rather than a magus family, her skills would be a lot more respected. As it is, that plum-colored hair manages to get little attention, until she impacts into Shiki. Taking a moment to cling to him while the wind whips her clothes around him, before its claws finally relent, she can't help but remember another who did this. But the spell, and the wind, dies, and she straightens up - thankful, at least, that she hadn't twisted an ankle or anything.
Sakura, at least, is light; Shiki will find it easy to hold her in place - or to him - as she stands there. Though, were that not the case, the wind would not have moved her so. She settles back on her heels, the wind now just a simple breeze before the next blow.
Brushing violet hair out of her face, and tucking it back where it belongs, she's momentarily startled - but no, the ribbon is still there. At least there's that, though. "Ah, no, I...I'm so terribly sorry...er, I think perhaps that's true..." Sidewalks, a good explanation. She finally gets a good look at the boy, and for a moment can't help but wonder if she'd just stumbled - no, it isn't. Issei Ryuudo. But she might be forgiven that, just having been thinking of her old schoolmates, and stumbling into the glasses-wearing Tohno.
She drops almost to her knees, squatting down as she identifies the bag with the broken bottle - yes, it is the sauce. And it's spilled into the ramen, which was expensive...a sad sigh as she realizes the waste of the dinner. Then she glances up, seeing Shiki holding the largest bag. "A- er, that'...that's okay..." She straightens slowly, hair and skirt again aswirl in an errant gust, and bows deeply. Too bad she's wearing a high-necked top...
"I'm very sorry, sir, that I was so uncoordinated..." Her speech is rather formal, for a modern Japanese. Traditionalist, with that hair color? As she straightens and looks back up at him, hoping for a pardon, Shiki will notice that the strange tint of her hair is matched by...rather sad and distant eyes.
Tch, this city again.
Of the many paths now open to one King of Heroes, Gilgamesh only occasionally soughout out the one that led back to his original world. He avoided it if he could, truly. Even with a genuine body, Gaia was not kind to the continued presence of heroic souls, and he felt the world spirit's loathsome displeasure on him whenever he took a breath of Fuyuki's air. Still, if he did go, he chose a timeline far enough long from his own that he need not worry about some imitation of himself to slaughter (One of those was enough) or his preistly ally. It was just as well; The Golden King actually had business here tonight.
It had been a niggling doubt in the back of his mind for some time, the unfamiliar magus who had been supplying Saber with prana during their battle. At such volume...he was interested in anyone who could bring Saber to such a level of fighting capacity, but beyond that...there was something about the power himself. A hidden layer or subtext that was barely certain even existed anywhere but in his own intuition. Still, Gilgamesh was a warrior as much as he was a King, and he knew to trust his instrincts. Eventually, anyways.
He'd been tailing the lost Tohsaka sister for some time, always careful to stay out of sight, waiting for the appropriate time to make himself known. He thought he'd had it...at least, right up until she went a collided with a random stranger. A soft cluck of disapproval...the girl seemed to have no aspect of a magus at all, even the inferior modern ones, despite her capability. Very well then, he was tried of waiting. It was only one mongrel, anyways.
"Hmph." The Golden Servant's haughty snort cuts through the air like a knife, "How clumsy. Are you truly the girl who gave Saber such a power?" Merciless red eyes pierce the Matou girl with unflinching, ruthless appraisal. It is apparent from the start: She is not being looked at as a human being, but a thing. A vessel, a container, and object. He's barely even cognizant that someone else is with her. "Well?" The demand comes sharply, arms crossing in impatience, "I'm waiting, girl."
He might be an eroge main character, but Shiki is also a distant soul, mostly. It could almost be said that he was catching the groceries more than Sakura, though they naturally flow together. If there is a moment where she's held to him, it's short-lived, and he soon has taken a step back to give her space while she inspects the ruins of tonight's meal. "Don't worry about it," he dismisses, scratching his cheek with his free hand and exhuding an aura of unconcern about the matter. "You'd be surprised how often this happens." Almost like some outside force wills it..
However, he's not so distant from a stranger that he doesn't notice that look in her eyes. He's seen it before, but it's difficult to place - and it's really none of his business anyway. In some time, it likely won't matter at all, considering...what are the chances of meeting some random girl again? "Well, it looks like that's a total loss," he says, summing up the obvious, and moving himself past those lingering thoughts, face quirked into a smile, easygoing like his starkly contrasting informal manner of speaking. "Hey, why don't I help you with the rest of this, and.."
It's right around then that something pings him in the back of the head. You know, that sensation that you're being watched? Odd, though..he's used to himself being followed, but.. The words instantly focus Shiki's eyes, still bespectacled of course, toward the direction of the voice. He doesn't recognize the speaker, by hearing or sight, but the tone is definitely familiar enough. He doesn't voluntarily step between the two just yet, of course, though it'd be hard to argue that any tenseness in the atmosphere has suddenly grown. What's THIS guy's problem?
While it's true that Sakura had, for a brief moment, given Saber an amount of prana, whether it was any more effective to the Servant than what she'd been absorbing from the ley-lines at Karazahn was debatable. At least, from Sakura's point of view. Though such an act, as well as the tremendous amount of prana she carries, makes her visible to others. Christoph had warned her that it was dangerous to overuse prana; too much of it made her visible to enemies.
Sometimes, it seems, an enemy can arrive at anytime.
She hasn't noticed him yet, instead momentarily lamenting the loss of dinner. She laughs a little nervously, and nods, as Shiki makes the obvious clear. "Ah, that's true...er, though, I really am sorry, ah..." Violet eyes still cast down, she only glimpses his smile, but his lassez-faire attitude is simple enough. And is a little comforting. "Thank you, though...er, really, it's okay..."
She wouldn't actually mind the company, to be honest; her refusal is out of propriety and formality. And would have been easily overcome, but then...bizarrely, the wind just seems to simply die as the blonde foreigner walks towards them. Aside from the man at the newsstand, who's gotten a good enough look at Sakura's chest through her jacket that he's lost interest and returned to his magazines, there's hardly anyone else out on the streets.
And his mocking words, at first, earn a look of confusion - which, as he utters the nom de guerre of the Once and Future King, turns to horror. One hand covers her mouth in reflex, as she stares at Gil - the track suit is suitable camouflage for someone simply walking about the city, but the demeanor, and...the voice. She recognizes him.
The King of Heroes gets only one word in reply, his own name...whispered, as if it were the name of a god. Or of a curse, one that she realizes had just been wished upon her.
Gilgamesh himself couldn't be sure how much of an impact Sakura had on Saber's performance in the battle...perhaps most of it had indeed come from the tower itself. Or perhaps...well, he following up on a hunch anyways, such possibilities were to be expected.
Those burning eyes of his alight with some kind of satisfaction at the girl's recognition, "Oh? So you're not a dullard after all. Good." Just clumsy, how droll. The area was empty enough...there was no one here the Golden King found too troublesome to deal with. Fortunately, violence was not actually on his mind for this evening's activities (Though he could never dismiss it out of hand). No...this he merely fancied as investigation.
"I thought something had been strange.." He takes another step forward, "Your power was different from the rest of the maguses." A slight bluff. He couldn't be sure...but he very much suspected, "I couldn't be sure before, but I thought..." He tries to read her again, attempts to 'reach' out in the otherworldy nature his status as a heroic spirit allows. Something...felt familiar, and yet not...
Consternation begins to show on his face; He takes it out on the hapless youth at Sakura's side, as if truly noticing him for the first time, "You're still here? Quit this place, mongrel. It's not for likes of you." While he sees nothing out of the ordinary in the adopted member of the Tohno Clan, Shiki's own senses may tell a different story. This Golden Man....whatever he was, he was something that did not belong. An unnatural presence, the world screamed audibly around him, clawing to correct the error of his existence only to be foiled by the unassailable barrier of his flesh and blood.
Shiki didn't seem to mind being looked past, much. He is the stranger, here, after all, and quite normally, he'd have moved on long enough and keep his nose out of the townspeople's affairs. But there's words being passed back and forth.. A strange name to go with an obviously foreign appearance, accusations of 'magus', which actually isn't a word Shiki has heard in a long time, but still familiar. Even more than that, though, there's something annoying about this meathead. Something on a base level that the universe operates. And it tugs at Shiki sharply - it's only a coincidence that it happens to hit the cliff of his not being able to ignore it as soon as Gilgamesh calls him a 'mongrel,' but an amusing one, if destiny can ever truly be so.
His pulse raises in amplitude for a moment, audible in his ears as he struggles momentarily to concentrate..stepping back while he holds a hand to his head, both Gilgamesh and Sakura are momentarily blurred into multiple images each, and he nearly drops the groceries that were left. Wow, Gilgamesh's words carry this much power!? This feeling is almost like the time he blacked out and later awoke, covered in blood.. Obviously something to be avoided, especially in front of a bystander.
With his free hand, Shiki rises to clutch his forehead.. ..but at least the path between Gilgamesh and Sakura is free of obstruction, now, even if the 'random human' has become somewhat eerily silent. He's sure taking this mongrel thing hard! 'At a time like this.. Crap.. I don't even get to relax this long before something happens?'
At the very least, whether Sakura's contribution to Saber had made a difference or not, her training sergeant was right - she'd been very, very noticed. Or rather, the Crest Worms inside her had been. The black power of Angra Mainyu that taints her magic circuits and slowly seeks to consume her is a massive shadow of prana that loosely cloaks the girl, and one that...if you are attuned to such things, is noticeable.
Gil may yet sense that power, that sensation of black tar oozing along one's skin. Albeit, black tar with the combined prana capacity of more magi than there are on the planet; it would take forty million magecraft-users of "average" strength to equal the total prana of the remains of the black god that lurks inside the diminutive girl.
She still stares, stock still but with a long and slow intake of breath - a scream that won't ever come, at what's arguably her...new...worst nightmare come before her. The bags in her hands are forgotten, the plans and recipes and hopes for a good evening hiding from the now absent wind...the only thing in her mind is the same sense of stark terror she'd felt facing her grandfather in his thaumaturgical laboratory, for her early implantations. She soon got used to it.
A blink, as the King of Heroes turns his attentions to Shiki. Sakura manages to get control of herself enough to look as well, and sees him suddenly with one hand to his head. He's not well - "No!" She drops the bags, beloved dinner plans erased from her mind, and takes a position in front of him, arms spread to protect Shiki as best she can. "You can't hurt him!"
Well it's Gil's fault for throwing sharp steel everywhere. But despite the sheer terror in those eyes, seeing both the past and the present, she's managed to touch that Tohsaka core of determination and steel. Just as Emiya had shown her what it meant to not give up, to not give in, a tiny part of her wishes he were there to see her now.
Realization passed over The First Hero like the same shadow the girl's tainted circuits cast. "Of course!" He barks harshly, the memory of his titular battle with Saber all those years ago arising to forefront of his mind, "How disgustingly obvious!" He couldn't help but laugh senselessly at the reality that confronted him: Through this young girl's veins coursed the polluted contents of the fourth grail, the same curse that had poured on him and attempted to corrupt him...to no avail. He had reaped all the benefit of that encounter, as only a King of Heroes could, and committed a feat no other Heroic Spirit may be capable of. All the World's Evil...useless, and so he had claimed his rightful prize.
"I see now..." Having already discarded the (apparently) trembling Shiki, Gilgamesh pays him not even a second thought as he reaches for one of Sakura's outstretches arms, seizing her violently close to him if unresisted. "Kotomine mentioned it to me once...an old magus with curious habits." Was this the handwork of that wrinkled vampire? He suspected so...there was no other explanation at present. "I know who you are." Those words hiss with delight through the perfectly set teeth of a serpentine smile, "I know /what/ you are." This changed everything for him, for Saber. Even without a grail, with this girl it might be possible to...
Ah, an opportunity had already presented itself. "That fool on the ground?" Lidded eyes glance at Shiki dismissively, "I could spare him, I suppose...if you'll come with me without protest." Yes...he had to secure such a vital object right away. He'd need a means of storage...perhaps that Necromancer he'd been meaning to see. No doubt he would be interest in this as well, though the King might need to curb his enthusiasm.
Not only has he been brushed aside and treated like trash by this Gilgamesh guy - though that wouldn't bother him under normal conditions - his welfare is now being used as bait to insure his cooperation. It was quite brave of Sakura to rush to his aid like that, if completely unnecessary, but she couldn't have known. Instead, he remains doubled over for the next few moments, looking every part like he's about to collapse. This must have been part of the sinister Sumerian's evil plans all along! ..if not, it's worked out surprisingly well for him, it would appear.
Unfortunately for Gilgamesh, the illness-stricken youth's wave of sickness seems to pass, and he slowly raises up while removing his glasses, carefully tucking them into a pocket. For the moment, he remains bent over with his head lowered, so that the bangs of his hair shadow his upper face, including his eyes, making his intentions hard to read.
Damn it, he doesn't know what's going on, or why his vacation is suddenly being interrupted..but now that it's clear Gilgamesh has less than wholesome intentions and that neither participant is particularly innocent, he's not going to hold back, either. "It'd be a good idea to leave the girl alone," he says evenly, finally standing back up fully. Something's noticably different, though. Without his glasses, his eyes are a ghostly shade of pale blue normally reserved for the dead. "And go back to wherever you come from..thing." At least a mongrel has heritage. A thing just exists, and sometimes annoyingly so.
Triumphant is the only word that comes to Sakura's mind. She stands, not quite masking the young man behind her, feet set and arms still wide. And as Gilgamesh realizes what a fell prize he's discovered, what a source of power and prana for his various desires, she sees it dawn on his face. It's so reminiscent of the look on her brother's face, when Zouken had given her to him as a prize...
She stiffens, as he approaches, knowing she can't take a step back. Or to either side. Shiki, and the magazine stand seller, are in danger, and there's nothing she can do...but take it. Even if she flinches, hard, when he grabs her arm.
But she realizes that he's victorious - and even if they're not in the street, that storm of swords of his would flay the houses and shops around here like a bomb. And their occupants. She also realizes that he's serious, too...and in resignation, her arms drop to her side. One does, anyway; the other lies in Gil's grasp.
In Sakura's case, she doesn't know exactly why Gilgamesh wants her. But he knows the Priest, who'd disappeared after the War. The name of Kotomine was one well known to Sakura, through others. Though, it isn't for the churchman's reasons that he wants her. In a strange reversal of fate, she's actually completely ignorant of just what her grandfather has done to her. Unable to feel the shadow of Angra Mainyu, only knowing the Worms as her grandfather's work, and only knowing that she was desired by another Servant to light the world on fire. And Gil's words have no realistic explanation; he's not a Caster class, and there is no Grail to summon. So she fills one in.
"To...Tohsaka..." The name slips out, as it's what she has started to see herself as. The only thing that she knows Gil could be referring to.
What's ailing Shiki, she doesn't know. But it's clearly unpleasant, and so she relents, letting Gilgamesh pull her forward. But then there's...a voice, that doesn't sound like the young man who'd offered her assistance with the groceries. Not...at all. The strangeness of it causes her head to turn, and she sees his eyes, those dead, pale chips of ice set into Shiki's face. The strangeness of the voice, and the phrase of 'wherever you came from' strike a moment of clarity into her mind.
Her other hand reaches into her purse, still across her shoulder, seeking the dramatically improved cellphone within. A thumb against the recognition plate, and a squeeze, sends a single signal into the intergalactic ether.
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou's communicator pings into the network, but what little conversation there is is quite muffled.
[Fac-IPA] Oliver Eochaid says, "...I, uh. I think someone's...butt-dialing."
[Fac-IPA] Dr. Ravikiran Srivastava says, "... ... what?"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka, distractedly -- over what sounds like something being poured (and bubbling) -- "Hunh... someone there?"
[Fac-IPA] Oliver Eochaid says, "You know, when you activate your phone while sitting because it's in your back pocket..."
[Fac-IPA] Oliver Eochaid says, "...This happens to other people too, right?"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka says, "One of the many reasons I hate cell phones..."
[Fac-IPA] Tierine Mayhew says, "I don't, but I don't, uh, have back pockets."
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "Oliver might be correct, it sounds...about right."
It was so strange, how a situation could rapidly shift from moment to moment, the hunted suddenly the hunted. Gilgamesh is unsure of the thoughts going through the girl's head, nor does he care. The fact that seems to acquiesce to him without question is all the result he asked, "Hah! What a good, sensible head you have." He smirks, "My Saber could learn a thing or two from you." A curious tilt of the head then, at the mentioned name. "Tohsaka...you mean Tokiomi, my boring, dead master?" What did that have to do with any of this? "Oh, or did you mean his stupid little girl?" He barks a harsh laugh, "Stop talking nonsense, girl, and come along with if you don't wish..."
Wait.
Something was wrong here.
It wasn't Sakura...at least, not yet. No...he felt an utterly profane gaze upon him, someone /dared/ to fit him with a killing intend? Crimson Eyes meet blue for the span of a second, "Mongrel, who told you to get up-" His words end in an abrupt hiss, instinctively releasing the Matou' girls arms and taking a step back. Gilgamesh had seen something that put even him an edge, something that he never would've thought to find.
"Mystic Eyes of Death Perception?!" He names the threat definitively, narrowing his own gaze with incredulity, "Ridiculous...what joke is this?" Such a fool with those eyes? Unfortunateythat Shiki's new attitude is more than enough to countermand whatever edge his eyes had given him, "You...cretin! You would address a King in such a manner?!" Bile bit at the back of his throat; Such an insult could not be tolerated.
The air around the Golden Servant shimmers ominously. Nothing appears yet...but the Gate of Babylon is stirring. Put off-guard, Gilgamesh endures a rare bout of uncertainty, right up until Sakura dials for help. "Foolish girl!" At the worst, a red flash of light streaks for Sakura in an instant, an unknown blade hurled at speeds faster than most humans minds could even react to.
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou's radio link finally emits something clear. "...head you have. My Saber could learn a thing or two from you." Garbled, followed by laughter. "Stop talking nonsense, girl, and come along with if you don't wish..."
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "...this is becoming less ignorable."
[Fac-IPA] Saber says, "Is anyone in her general vicinity?"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka sounds like she just dropped something. Possibly something expensive. Warily, "Sakura...?" Then, more urgently, "/Sakura/!"
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou's phone broadcasts much, much clearer, in Gil's voice. "Foolish girl!"
[Fac-IPA] Saber sounds as close to panic as she ever will
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka doorslam, running footsteps. "/Sakura/! Where are you?!"
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "I can fly there quickly, if I get a location!"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka mutters something in German; her footsteps speed up a little more. Something along the lines of "I'm going to kill that bastard" is repeated under her breath like a mantra.
It would seem the time for smack talk is done, as Shiki casually feels of something in his pocket. It's a different one than where he placed his glasses, though. He can't be said to scowl or smirk, though it's clear that his personality has changed markedly - though Sakura has noted that a lot more easily, having seen more of how he *normally* is. It seems as if the stand off will go on like this for a time, but Gilgamesh decides to break the ice with a little test, perhaps, of the situation. A test that, yes, would be too quick for most humans' perception, but then, he's in the company of those that aren't entirely human. Except maybe the news stand guy, who perhaps has the psychic notion that it's time to start closing for the night.
The blue eyes almost seem to glow with a sudden glint of light, as he sees the death of the blade flying by, moreso than the blade itself. It's a bit stranger than the everyday objects he's used to seeing, but despite its speed, his reaction time is almost superhuman, springing forward into a slight blur. He instinctively knows that time is already short due to the extreme rate of motion, and that there's literally no margin of error. He'll have to try and kill it practically as it's right upon her, and the profile of a hurled blade is a difficult enough target as it is. All of this happens in an instant, but thanks to his current state, he sees it with the inhuman clarity of his ancestors.
But will he make it in time? And could this just be an opening to a further attack? He'll cross that bridge when he comes to it, for now he must SAVE THE GIRL.
From the phone in her bag, a small babble of voices - one, even distracted, is one she'd know virtually anywhere. And in her heart, the terror retreats some, just hearing her sister's voice. Still she can't help but hear Negi's words. 'It's a mage's duty to protect others.' And the two people behind her are who she has to protect, even if...one of them is performing a strange variation on transforming into Lou Ferrigno.
Christoph's words also echo in her mind, as well. Noone can stand up to him, to Gilgamesh...but together, with everyone, he can be defeated. And right now, that cellphone, that marvel of engineering that was bequeathed to her by the IPA, is her link to that group that stands behind her.
Tokiomi...boring, dead master? W..what is this, Gilgamesh...couldn't be...her father's Servant? It...
...it was indeed possible, she realized. Gilgamesh was one of seven, and not...one of the seven she'd been a part of. Which meant he was here from the previous war, but how? Stop.
But those thoughts were distant in her mind. Stop. Foremost is that this is the Servant that let her father die, that did not protect his Master...because otherwise this blonde atrocity would not have lived. Stop it... There's no other explanation that her father could have died, and she feels the rage of ten years of imprisonment, torture, pain, loss, and grief build. STOP IT. And erupt, just as Gil flashes a sword at her hand with the phone. "STOP IT!" She rips herself free of his grasp, tearing one sleeve. "STOOOOP IIIIIIT!!"
Her body's Crest, a copy of the binding spells and abilities of five hundred years of Matou magecraft specialization, explodes into life.
Below the long skirt, the flat slipons she wears don't cover her feet completely, and Gilgamesh and Shiki both will be aware of a sudden burst of color, a dull, sick scarlet the color of blood that takes shape in a nearly-tribal pattern of tattoos. The pattern stretches all the way up her ankles, and down her arms - and across the left side of her throat and temple. An explosion of prana in the area as the sword so carefully aimed at her communicator suddenly freezes in midair, wrapped in black ribbons as if they were as strong as Enkidu.
The Noble Phantasm quivers in inarticulate, inorganic rage, its flight fully arrested just as the tip of the gleaming blade is about to reach her hand. And just as rapidly as it freezes, Shiki's reaction to the knife is simultaneous, and the Noble Phantasm suffers the fate that the Nanaya assassin gives it.
Sakura's eyes never leave Gilgamesh, the plum color and distance in her eyes now resembling the specter death. As the sword vanishes from Shiki's destruction of its existence, that voice - the meek acceptance that he'd heard once is replaced but a much harsher, deeper, yet still quiet tone.
"You...you're the /worst/. Gilgamesh! Killing you is too good for you; when I am through...even the Akashic Record will not know your face."
And those same flat ribbons - the color of which is an evil black that confirms the Hero King's suspicions - streak out towards the Golden Servant, though he can tell that they're weakening. The amount of power she'd used to stop his blade was tremendous, and she's already becoming faint, the tattoo marks beginning to subside.
He's certainly confirmed his target; she is indeed possessed of the power of the tainted Fourth Grail - at least, in some part.
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou says, in a cruel tone of voice, "You...you're the /worst/. Gilgamesh! Killing you is too good for you; when I am through...even the Akashic Record will not know your face."
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka sucks in a breath, lets it go. Then, hastily, "Sakura, we're coming."
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield mutters: "Chamo, what's the--" "not really the point right now bro!!"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka, freaked enough not to even threaten Chamo!
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield, probably worried enough to snap if she did! "oh, right. Yes, we're on our way!"
[Fac-IPA] Saber says, "Do you have a location?"
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "No...I'm kind of flying around the Terminus, right now..."
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "But I'll be able to go as soon as we get one!"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka says, "Sakura! Where are you?"
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "...it's possible she can't hear us..."
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka curses, quietly. "Must be in her purse... I think she's in Fuyuki City! She went out for groceries, the last I knew." A Gate number is rattled off. "My home plane! She can't be too far!"
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "Right! Acceleret!!"
In an uncommon sense of tactics from the King of Heroes, the attack was indeed a feint. Truthfully, he didn't care if Sakura radioed the IPA or not, their like held no threat over him. But he want to seed just what that magan-used was capable of, and if the girl herself had any discernible talent that could become problematic in this environment. Gilgamesh could be cunning, when he so chose.
The results were rather surprising.
The boy moves in a way no modern human ought to be able to, perceiving the hurled blade with a near-inhuman sense of accuracy and clarity that could only be the result of a lifetime of grueling training, honed skills and more than likely the right bloodline. At the same time the flying ribbons from Sakura grasph the noble phantasm, the blade's point of destruction is pierced deftly, the weapon seeming to break apart in an instant in a minor burst of prana.
"To destroy a treasure of mine..." Gilgamesh's face is a contorted mask of rage, regardless of his intention, "Unforgivable!" The Gate of Babylone threatens to open even further around him, his rage such that he may not calm down even if he kills everything in his sight.
Those grasping tendrils push him back a step, then two steps, forcing him to calm for the moment. A true prize awaited him tomorrow, he realized. He would not let the opportunity slip away with the unexpected forces at play here. "Hah!" He laughs at the Matou girl's threats, "Bolds words, girl. Perhaps we shall put them to the test some time..." He waves off his murderous intent with a shrug, "Dealing with you fools here would be too bothersome, though. Rejoice...you escaped my wrath by a hair." Quite unexpectedly, he'll turn to leave. "Oh, but one more thing...."
Gilgamesh turns around to give Sakura one last smile, "I suspect Saber is listening, yes? Tell her this: I was right about you."
With no explanation, the King of Heroes strides back into the cover night from which he'd emerged. Best not follow him, one might think.
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka says, "There's no way I can get there in time. Please, hurry!"
[Fac-IPA] Saber says, "I am on my way"
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou says nothing, but Gil's voice rings clear. "I suspect Saber is listening, yes? Tell her this: I was right about you."
[Fac-IPA] Saber says, "What....?!"
WHAT: Sakura meets Shiki, Gil decides to claim a prize.
WHEN: 6/11/2009
WHERE: Fuyuki City
WATCH FOR: Sakura reveals a hidden power, Shiki hates 7-Up, and What Could Have Been A Perfectly Romantic Evening...
Set along the coast in western Japan, Fuyuki City is a charming place that seems exceptionally ordinary, at first glance. The city is bisected by a waterway, dividing the city roughly into eastern and western sectors. To the west are the suburban areas, where most of the housing lies.
The suburban areas are further divided north and south. Most of the houses to the north are Japanese-style, and many properties are generations old. To the south are the Western-style houses, often on sprawling grounds with expert landscaping.
East of the waterway are the industrial areas, and the mercantile heart of Fuyuki. This is where the skyscrapers and the businesses are, as well as the old Kotomine Church.
It's been an enjoyable time to be honest. The truth is that she'd met a number of new people, slowly making new friends, and has...in a way, been working towards a closer relationship with her sister. It's true that the elder Tohsaka had, virtually literally, bent over backwards to accomodate the younger. Everything was to restore the Tohsaka name and reunite the family, and make up for the years that Rin had missed; and Sakura was happy to reciprocate.
Even when she found those dark quiet times, wondering...
As it is, though, she's stepped out and is perusing the local markets she'd spent so much time in before. Being home in Fuyuki, for summer, had been interesting - so many memories, not all of them good, but yet so familiar. She'd thought of going to Emiya's house, but he'd not been in; she'd quietly left his house and gone shopping alone. So she finds herself on a remarkably cold night, for summer, at the various grocers collecting things for dinner at her sister's - no, her own house.
It was slow getting to it. Still, because of the sudden cold snap (in June no less) and the winds that blew through, the young magus is dressed in longer-than-usual clothes, and a jacket over them. Simple clothes, for a simple errand, she feels; it also helps her blend into the background of humanity. She finishes with the meat seller, and collects her merchandise, with a polite smile and bow for the man.
The bag is added to a slowly growing collection, and she frowns looking at it. Walking back home with that much will be a little troublesome, in this breeze...she cringes as a particularly wicked gust blows through, tearing off an insufficiently secured paper sign. Maybe it's time for a taxicab...her sister can certainly afford such a thing, but to impose that much on ...the family would be difficult.
If Emiya were here, the evening would be a lot warmer...
All cities put up a good face during the daylight hours, especially ones that want to have any hope of a tourism industry. But, anyone that has any real interest in a location knows, if you want to know the true personality of a place - you check it out after dark, when the guard is let down. In his short time here, Shiki has tried to resist the temptation of stalking the night, and to remain just one of those summer visitors, but it's impossible. His head is already filled with one mystery, and it's that which causes him a troubled look this evening.
Somehow, it's also suddenly jacket weather again, and so as he strolls along the still unfamiliar streets, his hands tucked in his pockets, he's wearing his full uniform, including the button-up jacket. Every now and then, he takes time to pause at a street lamp or bus stop to just glance around and adjust his glasses, which never seemed to fit 'quite' right. To help occupy his mind and perhaps stave off the urge to creep around the alleys for a little while longer, he steps up to a magazine stand and flips through a few, but doesn't seem inclined to buy any.
'What am I doing out at this hour...I came here to relax, but even here the atmosphere feels a little strange.' His head turns towards the direction of the destroyed park he'd seen a few days earlier, before he shakes his head to clear it, and backs out to resume his pacing. Fortunately, this was advertised as a low crime area, so it's not like he's going to bump into a serial killer out here.
There aren't many others on the street, the majority of people having decided that discretion (and warmth) is the better part of valor, and retreated indoors - ostensibly leaving their dinner plans to leftovers or delivery. Not all of them, though; there's a rare few like Sakura who've braved the wind to stock up, and stock up she has.
Well, it's a good mix, at least. Enough of the basics to last a while, a trip to a corner-convenience for some ice cream, and a selection of meats for some Chinese recipes. She'd been trying to continue learning her sister's favorite style of food, but would admit she enjoys it as well - the various cooked dishes lending themselves so well to a later snack... Still, she carries the bags forward, knowing it'll be a long walk. And wondering if, perhaps, the third household occupant was going to be joining them at all.
Archer, she thinks. Servants, again, in Fuyuki and among the Gates. Would it be possible to summon Rider, again...? No, you idiot, such a thing is not for you anymore. It's with a distracting, angry thought like this combined with a gust of wind turning the long cotton skirt into a sail that sends her stumbling, sandaled feet dancing momentarily and bags akimbo - face first into someone.
Distantly, she notices the crackle of broken glass, and knows instantly it's the bottle of hoisin sauce.
"Ah-ah...er...I'm s-sorry," she manages to stutter out.
And yet, even in the most rarified of gases, two molecules have to collide eventually. Shiki is distracted enough that the girl approaching him fails to register, perhaps because up until a moment ago, she would have doubtlessly passed by without incident and the two would have never met. That's simply not how things work, though. The universe for whatever reason decides to send Sakura bowling over at just that moment, and while he has the reflex to swing an arm around to try and help catch her and her burden of groceries, it doesn't seem he has quite the arm reach to keep an item or two from escaping and becoming broken.
Well, that's one way to snap out of troubling thoughts.
"You aren't hurt, are you," he wonders? Rather than get caught up in her apology. No harm done, after all, and it's not like he's weak enough to have a bone break from the weight. Even though she might not be able to actually see his face at first, behind the bags, he gives a smile while further trying to help Sakura steady, and unless she's quick in her protesting, will try to help himself to one of the bags that looks heaviest, "Someone should get the city to fix these uneven sidewalks, huh?"
Don't worry, he's a naisugai like this to everyone, until it's proven that they deserve otherwise. Or unless he gets a little urge...
Were Sakura a member of a ninja clan, rather than a magus family, her skills would be a lot more respected. As it is, that plum-colored hair manages to get little attention, until she impacts into Shiki. Taking a moment to cling to him while the wind whips her clothes around him, before its claws finally relent, she can't help but remember another who did this. But the spell, and the wind, dies, and she straightens up - thankful, at least, that she hadn't twisted an ankle or anything.
Sakura, at least, is light; Shiki will find it easy to hold her in place - or to him - as she stands there. Though, were that not the case, the wind would not have moved her so. She settles back on her heels, the wind now just a simple breeze before the next blow.
Brushing violet hair out of her face, and tucking it back where it belongs, she's momentarily startled - but no, the ribbon is still there. At least there's that, though. "Ah, no, I...I'm so terribly sorry...er, I think perhaps that's true..." Sidewalks, a good explanation. She finally gets a good look at the boy, and for a moment can't help but wonder if she'd just stumbled - no, it isn't. Issei Ryuudo. But she might be forgiven that, just having been thinking of her old schoolmates, and stumbling into the glasses-wearing Tohno.
She drops almost to her knees, squatting down as she identifies the bag with the broken bottle - yes, it is the sauce. And it's spilled into the ramen, which was expensive...a sad sigh as she realizes the waste of the dinner. Then she glances up, seeing Shiki holding the largest bag. "A- er, that'...that's okay..." She straightens slowly, hair and skirt again aswirl in an errant gust, and bows deeply. Too bad she's wearing a high-necked top...
"I'm very sorry, sir, that I was so uncoordinated..." Her speech is rather formal, for a modern Japanese. Traditionalist, with that hair color? As she straightens and looks back up at him, hoping for a pardon, Shiki will notice that the strange tint of her hair is matched by...rather sad and distant eyes.
Tch, this city again.
Of the many paths now open to one King of Heroes, Gilgamesh only occasionally soughout out the one that led back to his original world. He avoided it if he could, truly. Even with a genuine body, Gaia was not kind to the continued presence of heroic souls, and he felt the world spirit's loathsome displeasure on him whenever he took a breath of Fuyuki's air. Still, if he did go, he chose a timeline far enough long from his own that he need not worry about some imitation of himself to slaughter (One of those was enough) or his preistly ally. It was just as well; The Golden King actually had business here tonight.
It had been a niggling doubt in the back of his mind for some time, the unfamiliar magus who had been supplying Saber with prana during their battle. At such volume...he was interested in anyone who could bring Saber to such a level of fighting capacity, but beyond that...there was something about the power himself. A hidden layer or subtext that was barely certain even existed anywhere but in his own intuition. Still, Gilgamesh was a warrior as much as he was a King, and he knew to trust his instrincts. Eventually, anyways.
He'd been tailing the lost Tohsaka sister for some time, always careful to stay out of sight, waiting for the appropriate time to make himself known. He thought he'd had it...at least, right up until she went a collided with a random stranger. A soft cluck of disapproval...the girl seemed to have no aspect of a magus at all, even the inferior modern ones, despite her capability. Very well then, he was tried of waiting. It was only one mongrel, anyways.
"Hmph." The Golden Servant's haughty snort cuts through the air like a knife, "How clumsy. Are you truly the girl who gave Saber such a power?" Merciless red eyes pierce the Matou girl with unflinching, ruthless appraisal. It is apparent from the start: She is not being looked at as a human being, but a thing. A vessel, a container, and object. He's barely even cognizant that someone else is with her. "Well?" The demand comes sharply, arms crossing in impatience, "I'm waiting, girl."
He might be an eroge main character, but Shiki is also a distant soul, mostly. It could almost be said that he was catching the groceries more than Sakura, though they naturally flow together. If there is a moment where she's held to him, it's short-lived, and he soon has taken a step back to give her space while she inspects the ruins of tonight's meal. "Don't worry about it," he dismisses, scratching his cheek with his free hand and exhuding an aura of unconcern about the matter. "You'd be surprised how often this happens." Almost like some outside force wills it..
However, he's not so distant from a stranger that he doesn't notice that look in her eyes. He's seen it before, but it's difficult to place - and it's really none of his business anyway. In some time, it likely won't matter at all, considering...what are the chances of meeting some random girl again? "Well, it looks like that's a total loss," he says, summing up the obvious, and moving himself past those lingering thoughts, face quirked into a smile, easygoing like his starkly contrasting informal manner of speaking. "Hey, why don't I help you with the rest of this, and.."
It's right around then that something pings him in the back of the head. You know, that sensation that you're being watched? Odd, though..he's used to himself being followed, but.. The words instantly focus Shiki's eyes, still bespectacled of course, toward the direction of the voice. He doesn't recognize the speaker, by hearing or sight, but the tone is definitely familiar enough. He doesn't voluntarily step between the two just yet, of course, though it'd be hard to argue that any tenseness in the atmosphere has suddenly grown. What's THIS guy's problem?
While it's true that Sakura had, for a brief moment, given Saber an amount of prana, whether it was any more effective to the Servant than what she'd been absorbing from the ley-lines at Karazahn was debatable. At least, from Sakura's point of view. Though such an act, as well as the tremendous amount of prana she carries, makes her visible to others. Christoph had warned her that it was dangerous to overuse prana; too much of it made her visible to enemies.
Sometimes, it seems, an enemy can arrive at anytime.
She hasn't noticed him yet, instead momentarily lamenting the loss of dinner. She laughs a little nervously, and nods, as Shiki makes the obvious clear. "Ah, that's true...er, though, I really am sorry, ah..." Violet eyes still cast down, she only glimpses his smile, but his lassez-faire attitude is simple enough. And is a little comforting. "Thank you, though...er, really, it's okay..."
She wouldn't actually mind the company, to be honest; her refusal is out of propriety and formality. And would have been easily overcome, but then...bizarrely, the wind just seems to simply die as the blonde foreigner walks towards them. Aside from the man at the newsstand, who's gotten a good enough look at Sakura's chest through her jacket that he's lost interest and returned to his magazines, there's hardly anyone else out on the streets.
And his mocking words, at first, earn a look of confusion - which, as he utters the nom de guerre of the Once and Future King, turns to horror. One hand covers her mouth in reflex, as she stares at Gil - the track suit is suitable camouflage for someone simply walking about the city, but the demeanor, and...the voice. She recognizes him.
The King of Heroes gets only one word in reply, his own name...whispered, as if it were the name of a god. Or of a curse, one that she realizes had just been wished upon her.
Gilgamesh himself couldn't be sure how much of an impact Sakura had on Saber's performance in the battle...perhaps most of it had indeed come from the tower itself. Or perhaps...well, he following up on a hunch anyways, such possibilities were to be expected.
Those burning eyes of his alight with some kind of satisfaction at the girl's recognition, "Oh? So you're not a dullard after all. Good." Just clumsy, how droll. The area was empty enough...there was no one here the Golden King found too troublesome to deal with. Fortunately, violence was not actually on his mind for this evening's activities (Though he could never dismiss it out of hand). No...this he merely fancied as investigation.
"I thought something had been strange.." He takes another step forward, "Your power was different from the rest of the maguses." A slight bluff. He couldn't be sure...but he very much suspected, "I couldn't be sure before, but I thought..." He tries to read her again, attempts to 'reach' out in the otherworldy nature his status as a heroic spirit allows. Something...felt familiar, and yet not...
Consternation begins to show on his face; He takes it out on the hapless youth at Sakura's side, as if truly noticing him for the first time, "You're still here? Quit this place, mongrel. It's not for likes of you." While he sees nothing out of the ordinary in the adopted member of the Tohno Clan, Shiki's own senses may tell a different story. This Golden Man....whatever he was, he was something that did not belong. An unnatural presence, the world screamed audibly around him, clawing to correct the error of his existence only to be foiled by the unassailable barrier of his flesh and blood.
Shiki didn't seem to mind being looked past, much. He is the stranger, here, after all, and quite normally, he'd have moved on long enough and keep his nose out of the townspeople's affairs. But there's words being passed back and forth.. A strange name to go with an obviously foreign appearance, accusations of 'magus', which actually isn't a word Shiki has heard in a long time, but still familiar. Even more than that, though, there's something annoying about this meathead. Something on a base level that the universe operates. And it tugs at Shiki sharply - it's only a coincidence that it happens to hit the cliff of his not being able to ignore it as soon as Gilgamesh calls him a 'mongrel,' but an amusing one, if destiny can ever truly be so.
His pulse raises in amplitude for a moment, audible in his ears as he struggles momentarily to concentrate..stepping back while he holds a hand to his head, both Gilgamesh and Sakura are momentarily blurred into multiple images each, and he nearly drops the groceries that were left. Wow, Gilgamesh's words carry this much power!? This feeling is almost like the time he blacked out and later awoke, covered in blood.. Obviously something to be avoided, especially in front of a bystander.
With his free hand, Shiki rises to clutch his forehead.. ..but at least the path between Gilgamesh and Sakura is free of obstruction, now, even if the 'random human' has become somewhat eerily silent. He's sure taking this mongrel thing hard! 'At a time like this.. Crap.. I don't even get to relax this long before something happens?'
At the very least, whether Sakura's contribution to Saber had made a difference or not, her training sergeant was right - she'd been very, very noticed. Or rather, the Crest Worms inside her had been. The black power of Angra Mainyu that taints her magic circuits and slowly seeks to consume her is a massive shadow of prana that loosely cloaks the girl, and one that...if you are attuned to such things, is noticeable.
Gil may yet sense that power, that sensation of black tar oozing along one's skin. Albeit, black tar with the combined prana capacity of more magi than there are on the planet; it would take forty million magecraft-users of "average" strength to equal the total prana of the remains of the black god that lurks inside the diminutive girl.
She still stares, stock still but with a long and slow intake of breath - a scream that won't ever come, at what's arguably her...new...worst nightmare come before her. The bags in her hands are forgotten, the plans and recipes and hopes for a good evening hiding from the now absent wind...the only thing in her mind is the same sense of stark terror she'd felt facing her grandfather in his thaumaturgical laboratory, for her early implantations. She soon got used to it.
A blink, as the King of Heroes turns his attentions to Shiki. Sakura manages to get control of herself enough to look as well, and sees him suddenly with one hand to his head. He's not well - "No!" She drops the bags, beloved dinner plans erased from her mind, and takes a position in front of him, arms spread to protect Shiki as best she can. "You can't hurt him!"
Well it's Gil's fault for throwing sharp steel everywhere. But despite the sheer terror in those eyes, seeing both the past and the present, she's managed to touch that Tohsaka core of determination and steel. Just as Emiya had shown her what it meant to not give up, to not give in, a tiny part of her wishes he were there to see her now.
Realization passed over The First Hero like the same shadow the girl's tainted circuits cast. "Of course!" He barks harshly, the memory of his titular battle with Saber all those years ago arising to forefront of his mind, "How disgustingly obvious!" He couldn't help but laugh senselessly at the reality that confronted him: Through this young girl's veins coursed the polluted contents of the fourth grail, the same curse that had poured on him and attempted to corrupt him...to no avail. He had reaped all the benefit of that encounter, as only a King of Heroes could, and committed a feat no other Heroic Spirit may be capable of. All the World's Evil...useless, and so he had claimed his rightful prize.
"I see now..." Having already discarded the (apparently) trembling Shiki, Gilgamesh pays him not even a second thought as he reaches for one of Sakura's outstretches arms, seizing her violently close to him if unresisted. "Kotomine mentioned it to me once...an old magus with curious habits." Was this the handwork of that wrinkled vampire? He suspected so...there was no other explanation at present. "I know who you are." Those words hiss with delight through the perfectly set teeth of a serpentine smile, "I know /what/ you are." This changed everything for him, for Saber. Even without a grail, with this girl it might be possible to...
Ah, an opportunity had already presented itself. "That fool on the ground?" Lidded eyes glance at Shiki dismissively, "I could spare him, I suppose...if you'll come with me without protest." Yes...he had to secure such a vital object right away. He'd need a means of storage...perhaps that Necromancer he'd been meaning to see. No doubt he would be interest in this as well, though the King might need to curb his enthusiasm.
Not only has he been brushed aside and treated like trash by this Gilgamesh guy - though that wouldn't bother him under normal conditions - his welfare is now being used as bait to insure his cooperation. It was quite brave of Sakura to rush to his aid like that, if completely unnecessary, but she couldn't have known. Instead, he remains doubled over for the next few moments, looking every part like he's about to collapse. This must have been part of the sinister Sumerian's evil plans all along! ..if not, it's worked out surprisingly well for him, it would appear.
Unfortunately for Gilgamesh, the illness-stricken youth's wave of sickness seems to pass, and he slowly raises up while removing his glasses, carefully tucking them into a pocket. For the moment, he remains bent over with his head lowered, so that the bangs of his hair shadow his upper face, including his eyes, making his intentions hard to read.
Damn it, he doesn't know what's going on, or why his vacation is suddenly being interrupted..but now that it's clear Gilgamesh has less than wholesome intentions and that neither participant is particularly innocent, he's not going to hold back, either. "It'd be a good idea to leave the girl alone," he says evenly, finally standing back up fully. Something's noticably different, though. Without his glasses, his eyes are a ghostly shade of pale blue normally reserved for the dead. "And go back to wherever you come from..thing." At least a mongrel has heritage. A thing just exists, and sometimes annoyingly so.
Triumphant is the only word that comes to Sakura's mind. She stands, not quite masking the young man behind her, feet set and arms still wide. And as Gilgamesh realizes what a fell prize he's discovered, what a source of power and prana for his various desires, she sees it dawn on his face. It's so reminiscent of the look on her brother's face, when Zouken had given her to him as a prize...
She stiffens, as he approaches, knowing she can't take a step back. Or to either side. Shiki, and the magazine stand seller, are in danger, and there's nothing she can do...but take it. Even if she flinches, hard, when he grabs her arm.
But she realizes that he's victorious - and even if they're not in the street, that storm of swords of his would flay the houses and shops around here like a bomb. And their occupants. She also realizes that he's serious, too...and in resignation, her arms drop to her side. One does, anyway; the other lies in Gil's grasp.
In Sakura's case, she doesn't know exactly why Gilgamesh wants her. But he knows the Priest, who'd disappeared after the War. The name of Kotomine was one well known to Sakura, through others. Though, it isn't for the churchman's reasons that he wants her. In a strange reversal of fate, she's actually completely ignorant of just what her grandfather has done to her. Unable to feel the shadow of Angra Mainyu, only knowing the Worms as her grandfather's work, and only knowing that she was desired by another Servant to light the world on fire. And Gil's words have no realistic explanation; he's not a Caster class, and there is no Grail to summon. So she fills one in.
"To...Tohsaka..." The name slips out, as it's what she has started to see herself as. The only thing that she knows Gil could be referring to.
What's ailing Shiki, she doesn't know. But it's clearly unpleasant, and so she relents, letting Gilgamesh pull her forward. But then there's...a voice, that doesn't sound like the young man who'd offered her assistance with the groceries. Not...at all. The strangeness of it causes her head to turn, and she sees his eyes, those dead, pale chips of ice set into Shiki's face. The strangeness of the voice, and the phrase of 'wherever you came from' strike a moment of clarity into her mind.
Her other hand reaches into her purse, still across her shoulder, seeking the dramatically improved cellphone within. A thumb against the recognition plate, and a squeeze, sends a single signal into the intergalactic ether.
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou's communicator pings into the network, but what little conversation there is is quite muffled.
[Fac-IPA] Oliver Eochaid says, "...I, uh. I think someone's...butt-dialing."
[Fac-IPA] Dr. Ravikiran Srivastava says, "... ... what?"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka, distractedly -- over what sounds like something being poured (and bubbling) -- "Hunh... someone there?"
[Fac-IPA] Oliver Eochaid says, "You know, when you activate your phone while sitting because it's in your back pocket..."
[Fac-IPA] Oliver Eochaid says, "...This happens to other people too, right?"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka says, "One of the many reasons I hate cell phones..."
[Fac-IPA] Tierine Mayhew says, "I don't, but I don't, uh, have back pockets."
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "Oliver might be correct, it sounds...about right."
It was so strange, how a situation could rapidly shift from moment to moment, the hunted suddenly the hunted. Gilgamesh is unsure of the thoughts going through the girl's head, nor does he care. The fact that seems to acquiesce to him without question is all the result he asked, "Hah! What a good, sensible head you have." He smirks, "My Saber could learn a thing or two from you." A curious tilt of the head then, at the mentioned name. "Tohsaka...you mean Tokiomi, my boring, dead master?" What did that have to do with any of this? "Oh, or did you mean his stupid little girl?" He barks a harsh laugh, "Stop talking nonsense, girl, and come along with if you don't wish..."
Wait.
Something was wrong here.
It wasn't Sakura...at least, not yet. No...he felt an utterly profane gaze upon him, someone /dared/ to fit him with a killing intend? Crimson Eyes meet blue for the span of a second, "Mongrel, who told you to get up-" His words end in an abrupt hiss, instinctively releasing the Matou' girls arms and taking a step back. Gilgamesh had seen something that put even him an edge, something that he never would've thought to find.
"Mystic Eyes of Death Perception?!" He names the threat definitively, narrowing his own gaze with incredulity, "Ridiculous...what joke is this?" Such a fool with those eyes? Unfortunateythat Shiki's new attitude is more than enough to countermand whatever edge his eyes had given him, "You...cretin! You would address a King in such a manner?!" Bile bit at the back of his throat; Such an insult could not be tolerated.
The air around the Golden Servant shimmers ominously. Nothing appears yet...but the Gate of Babylon is stirring. Put off-guard, Gilgamesh endures a rare bout of uncertainty, right up until Sakura dials for help. "Foolish girl!" At the worst, a red flash of light streaks for Sakura in an instant, an unknown blade hurled at speeds faster than most humans minds could even react to.
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou's radio link finally emits something clear. "...head you have. My Saber could learn a thing or two from you." Garbled, followed by laughter. "Stop talking nonsense, girl, and come along with if you don't wish..."
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "...this is becoming less ignorable."
[Fac-IPA] Saber says, "Is anyone in her general vicinity?"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka sounds like she just dropped something. Possibly something expensive. Warily, "Sakura...?" Then, more urgently, "/Sakura/!"
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou's phone broadcasts much, much clearer, in Gil's voice. "Foolish girl!"
[Fac-IPA] Saber sounds as close to panic as she ever will
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka doorslam, running footsteps. "/Sakura/! Where are you?!"
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "I can fly there quickly, if I get a location!"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka mutters something in German; her footsteps speed up a little more. Something along the lines of "I'm going to kill that bastard" is repeated under her breath like a mantra.
It would seem the time for smack talk is done, as Shiki casually feels of something in his pocket. It's a different one than where he placed his glasses, though. He can't be said to scowl or smirk, though it's clear that his personality has changed markedly - though Sakura has noted that a lot more easily, having seen more of how he *normally* is. It seems as if the stand off will go on like this for a time, but Gilgamesh decides to break the ice with a little test, perhaps, of the situation. A test that, yes, would be too quick for most humans' perception, but then, he's in the company of those that aren't entirely human. Except maybe the news stand guy, who perhaps has the psychic notion that it's time to start closing for the night.
The blue eyes almost seem to glow with a sudden glint of light, as he sees the death of the blade flying by, moreso than the blade itself. It's a bit stranger than the everyday objects he's used to seeing, but despite its speed, his reaction time is almost superhuman, springing forward into a slight blur. He instinctively knows that time is already short due to the extreme rate of motion, and that there's literally no margin of error. He'll have to try and kill it practically as it's right upon her, and the profile of a hurled blade is a difficult enough target as it is. All of this happens in an instant, but thanks to his current state, he sees it with the inhuman clarity of his ancestors.
But will he make it in time? And could this just be an opening to a further attack? He'll cross that bridge when he comes to it, for now he must SAVE THE GIRL.
From the phone in her bag, a small babble of voices - one, even distracted, is one she'd know virtually anywhere. And in her heart, the terror retreats some, just hearing her sister's voice. Still she can't help but hear Negi's words. 'It's a mage's duty to protect others.' And the two people behind her are who she has to protect, even if...one of them is performing a strange variation on transforming into Lou Ferrigno.
Christoph's words also echo in her mind, as well. Noone can stand up to him, to Gilgamesh...but together, with everyone, he can be defeated. And right now, that cellphone, that marvel of engineering that was bequeathed to her by the IPA, is her link to that group that stands behind her.
Tokiomi...boring, dead master? W..what is this, Gilgamesh...couldn't be...her father's Servant? It...
...it was indeed possible, she realized. Gilgamesh was one of seven, and not...one of the seven she'd been a part of. Which meant he was here from the previous war, but how? Stop.
But those thoughts were distant in her mind. Stop. Foremost is that this is the Servant that let her father die, that did not protect his Master...because otherwise this blonde atrocity would not have lived. Stop it... There's no other explanation that her father could have died, and she feels the rage of ten years of imprisonment, torture, pain, loss, and grief build. STOP IT. And erupt, just as Gil flashes a sword at her hand with the phone. "STOP IT!" She rips herself free of his grasp, tearing one sleeve. "STOOOOP IIIIIIT!!"
Her body's Crest, a copy of the binding spells and abilities of five hundred years of Matou magecraft specialization, explodes into life.
Below the long skirt, the flat slipons she wears don't cover her feet completely, and Gilgamesh and Shiki both will be aware of a sudden burst of color, a dull, sick scarlet the color of blood that takes shape in a nearly-tribal pattern of tattoos. The pattern stretches all the way up her ankles, and down her arms - and across the left side of her throat and temple. An explosion of prana in the area as the sword so carefully aimed at her communicator suddenly freezes in midair, wrapped in black ribbons as if they were as strong as Enkidu.
The Noble Phantasm quivers in inarticulate, inorganic rage, its flight fully arrested just as the tip of the gleaming blade is about to reach her hand. And just as rapidly as it freezes, Shiki's reaction to the knife is simultaneous, and the Noble Phantasm suffers the fate that the Nanaya assassin gives it.
Sakura's eyes never leave Gilgamesh, the plum color and distance in her eyes now resembling the specter death. As the sword vanishes from Shiki's destruction of its existence, that voice - the meek acceptance that he'd heard once is replaced but a much harsher, deeper, yet still quiet tone.
"You...you're the /worst/. Gilgamesh! Killing you is too good for you; when I am through...even the Akashic Record will not know your face."
And those same flat ribbons - the color of which is an evil black that confirms the Hero King's suspicions - streak out towards the Golden Servant, though he can tell that they're weakening. The amount of power she'd used to stop his blade was tremendous, and she's already becoming faint, the tattoo marks beginning to subside.
He's certainly confirmed his target; she is indeed possessed of the power of the tainted Fourth Grail - at least, in some part.
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou says, in a cruel tone of voice, "You...you're the /worst/. Gilgamesh! Killing you is too good for you; when I am through...even the Akashic Record will not know your face."
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka sucks in a breath, lets it go. Then, hastily, "Sakura, we're coming."
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield mutters: "Chamo, what's the--" "not really the point right now bro!!"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka, freaked enough not to even threaten Chamo!
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield, probably worried enough to snap if she did! "oh, right. Yes, we're on our way!"
[Fac-IPA] Saber says, "Do you have a location?"
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "No...I'm kind of flying around the Terminus, right now..."
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "But I'll be able to go as soon as we get one!"
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka says, "Sakura! Where are you?"
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "...it's possible she can't hear us..."
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka curses, quietly. "Must be in her purse... I think she's in Fuyuki City! She went out for groceries, the last I knew." A Gate number is rattled off. "My home plane! She can't be too far!"
[Fac-IPA] 9 year old and British Negi Springfield says, "Right! Acceleret!!"
In an uncommon sense of tactics from the King of Heroes, the attack was indeed a feint. Truthfully, he didn't care if Sakura radioed the IPA or not, their like held no threat over him. But he want to seed just what that magan-used was capable of, and if the girl herself had any discernible talent that could become problematic in this environment. Gilgamesh could be cunning, when he so chose.
The results were rather surprising.
The boy moves in a way no modern human ought to be able to, perceiving the hurled blade with a near-inhuman sense of accuracy and clarity that could only be the result of a lifetime of grueling training, honed skills and more than likely the right bloodline. At the same time the flying ribbons from Sakura grasph the noble phantasm, the blade's point of destruction is pierced deftly, the weapon seeming to break apart in an instant in a minor burst of prana.
"To destroy a treasure of mine..." Gilgamesh's face is a contorted mask of rage, regardless of his intention, "Unforgivable!" The Gate of Babylone threatens to open even further around him, his rage such that he may not calm down even if he kills everything in his sight.
Those grasping tendrils push him back a step, then two steps, forcing him to calm for the moment. A true prize awaited him tomorrow, he realized. He would not let the opportunity slip away with the unexpected forces at play here. "Hah!" He laughs at the Matou girl's threats, "Bolds words, girl. Perhaps we shall put them to the test some time..." He waves off his murderous intent with a shrug, "Dealing with you fools here would be too bothersome, though. Rejoice...you escaped my wrath by a hair." Quite unexpectedly, he'll turn to leave. "Oh, but one more thing...."
Gilgamesh turns around to give Sakura one last smile, "I suspect Saber is listening, yes? Tell her this: I was right about you."
With no explanation, the King of Heroes strides back into the cover night from which he'd emerged. Best not follow him, one might think.
[Fac-IPA] Rin Tohsaka says, "There's no way I can get there in time. Please, hurry!"
[Fac-IPA] Saber says, "I am on my way"
[Fac-IPA] Sakura Matou says nothing, but Gil's voice rings clear. "I suspect Saber is listening, yes? Tell her this: I was right about you."
[Fac-IPA] Saber says, "What....?!"