I Fall (RWBY Cinder SI/Multicross)

3.2 Veneers of Normality (Cont.)

The orange sun is setting by the time Sakura leaves school. The skies look like they are on fire, and yet the air is cold. It should be spring now, but it is still winter, and Sakura feels like something is wrong with the city.

The air does not feel right to her, but she cannot put it into words why. All she knows is somehow, the streets she walks remind her too much of the basement. It frightens her to think that maybe the horrors of the Matou are somehow spilling into her calm, normal life.

She quickens her pace, knowing that Emiya-senpai's house is less than a ten minute walk away.

As Sakura turns a corner, she nearly runs into a woman standing by the side of the road. “Oh, sorry,” she mutters, before trudging ahead.

“Hm?” The woman looks up and something stops Sakura in her tracks. “Why are you sorry?”

Sakura turns around and takes the moment to study the woman in more detail. She looks no older than Sakura, but her more formal outfit, a kimono, makes her seem that way. In a way, she looks very like Sakura's friend, Mitsuzuri Ayako, except her hair still retains its natural, black color. What surprises Sakura is that the woman is standing on the side of the road and staring down at what appears to be a cardboard box of black kittens. She quickly forgoes her curiosity for politeness however. “I-I almost ran into you.”

“Oh.”

“... Yes, so, um...” Sakura backs away, knowing that she is already late to Emiya-senpai's house.

“Wait.” The woman stands straighter. Her piercing, blue eyes stare into what may well be Sakura's soul. Her voice is tight and her words strange. She is intimidation squeezed into a tiny package.

“Y-Yes?”

“Do you live around here?”

“N-No, I live south,” Sakura replies.

The strange woman's head tilts sideways. “That is in the other direction.”

Sakura bristles, “I'm not going home right now.”

“Oh.”

Sakura tries to stare the strange woman down, but she finds herself wanting to be just about anywhere else. She excuses herself with a final, polite, “Is... is there anything else?”

The stranger blinks. “Yes, can you take these cats in?”

“N-No!”

“Oh... okay,” The strange woman sighs and then turns back to the cats.

Sakura blinks, realizing that she is already forgotten and not a factor in the strange woman's life. She cannot think of one time that she has been dismissed with such... well, lack of emotion. Even Grandfather leaves with a vague sense of glee and amusement.

How ever strange it is, Sakura shakes her head. She has more important things to think about too.

She hurries towards senpai's house in record time, a smile ready for him and some kind of warm sensation in her tummy. Her heart, since this morning, has been beating erratically, and she coughs this up to her own jitters.

When she arrives, she is thankful that Emiya-senpai has not come home yet.

But Matou Shinji is leaning against the door to the Emiya compound.

“... B-Brother...?” Sakura's steps slow to a tittering, clumsy crawl. Why is he here?

“Sister,” He replies cockily. Shinji pushes himself off of the walls of the compound and struts towards her as if he is stalking a prey. There is a strange smile that twists the corners of his lips weirdly.

“W-Why are you here?” She asks numbly.

“Didn't I say Emiya is mine? Shouldn't I be asking you that question?” As he stands only a step away, Sakura shrinks into herself. Shinji towers over her in self-confidence, and he does not hold back when lashing out against her now. Now, he is staring down at her, upset with her as usual, “Now, besides, Grandfather has asked you to go home.”

“It isn't night yet,” She struggles weakly. It is a poor excuse, especially to a man who controls every aspect of her life. She knows better, she knows she should have just listened and bowed her head and excepted this is the way things are.

But this is her way of struggling against what is set in stone.

Shinji knows this too. He slings an arm around Sakura's shoulders, making an almost exaggerated effort to take in her scent. “Come on, don't be upset. Besides, you'll not find Emiya here anyway.”

“W-What?” Her eyes widen, fearing the worst.

As if not hearing her, and boasting like he has pulled off the heist of the century, Shinji continues to gloat. “Yeah, I dumped all of my cleaning duty work on him. He'll be there until evening, I bet. What a sap.”

'I can't believe people still say 'sap' like an insult,' one part of Sakura wants to say. That part is ruthlessly silenced. Instead, Sakura shivers and shrinks more, trying to appear obedient and beaten... and not relieved that Shinji had not found some way to kill her senpai without anyone knowing.

She knows he will, if he wants to, if he can... if Grandfather helps him.

“Look,” Shinji continues to say. “No one else is behind helping him. I can't believe the oaf likes that kind of work... I swear, he must be mentally handicapped.”

“S-Senpai just likes to help...” Sakura protests.

Shinji huffs a snort before turning to her, and slapping her hard enough to exert himself. “Shut up. I didn't ask you.”

Shakily, Sakura nods and tries to back away. The whole left side of her face hurts, but it is just surface pain. She wishes she can smile now and tell Shinji that he is not hurting her. She wishes she can tell him that things will be alright, and that she is sorry for whatever pain she is causing him.

She wishes she can say whatever it is that can please Shinji, but the words die in her throat.

“... I... you... don't look at me like that,” Shinji sighs and turns away. He brushes his hair back as if showing off to his fans, before realizing they are in a public place. He grabs her by the wrist, pulling hard enough to strain her... any other girl will be crying by now. “Come on, Grandfather asked for you.”

“W-Why?” She asks before realizing her outburst.

“I don't know... now hurry up,” Shinji tugs.

He pulls her back to the Matou residence, his hand never leaving her wrist. It is as if he thinks the moment he lets go, she will disappear. It is so strange to Sakura that Shinji even thinks she has anywhere else to go, let alone the ability to escape.

Shinji's hand is covered in sweat, and his pace is nothing like his normal, relaxed pace. While he is no match for senpai, he is one of the best athletes in school. That he is panting and sweating are easy enough cues to Sakura that he is not exerting too much effort... he is scared.

Of what?

As they come home, he lets go at last. Sakura idly prods the now purple skin of her wrists. It is not so bad, she thinks to herself.

“Hey, what are you waiting for?” Shinji calls from the door, obviously still upset. “I can't believe I had to put off karaoke for this! Are you trying to be a little kid?”

Click.

The door opens.

A woman glides down into sight. She seems to be wearing some kind of silky material that glimmers and shifts in the light, or perhaps this is the light of the sunset affecting her vision. “I'll take it from here, Matou Shinji.”

“... I... O-Of course.” He nods, and runs up to his bedroom.

“Um,” Sakura blinks.

The woman walks to her with a slow pace, as if studying something about Sakura that she cannot see. “Hello, Matou Sakura. I am Cinder. We will be living together for the... foreseeable future.”

“Oh... Welcome...” If this is the will of her Grandfather, she has no room to complain. She looks away; as if the shadows of the room coalesces to this woman, Cinder, she is blinding and deafening to stare into. Instead of looking at her, Sakura bows and stares a hole into the ground. “I hope I can help you with whatever you need...”

Cinder chuckles. “Now, now, don't be like that. After all, I am to... take your place, in a way. You'll not have to put up with old Zouken anymore, I'll be the one in charge now.”

“Is... Is Grandfather alright?” Her eyes widen. What if he dies? Where... what will happen?

“Oh, don't worry your cute, little head over such a thing.” Cinder is only inches away. She cups Sakura's cheeks and lifts her chin to stare into her eyes. Sakura so desperately wants to turn away... she feels like her heart is about to burst from her chest, from fright or nervousness or shock, she does not know what. Cinder smiles, “There... now, Sakura, I will be taking charge of the other matters of the house, including the Matou studies of the magecraft. You can call me... senpai.”

“... O-Of course.” No matter how much she is struggling, not a single part of her body is obeying.

“How adorable, you're flushed. Was Shinji rough with you?” Cinder leans even closer, paying far too close attention to all the small details for Sakura's comfort.

“A-ah...” Embarrassment drowns Sakura, and she cannot help it, with Cinder so close. This woman is...

“Come along now,” The floor sinks and Sakura cannot see anything but a pure blackness under where there should be floorboards or even just a torture chamber or the earth. It feels like she is stepping into a different... “Come on, we have work to do, people to meet and kill...”

As Sakura ponders why Cinder's voice sounds so similar to a voice so familiar to her—a thought that seems to slip her mind every time she thinks of it—she wonders... where is Grandfather?

 

3.3 The Melancholy of Tohsaka Rin

This was it.

This was the moment she had been waiting for.

Her whole life built up to this moment, and she had been preparing for it since as long as she could remember.

Tohsaka Rin knew she did everything right, she followed all the rules and reviewed her own actions a thousand times. Every scenario she could think of ran through her head, and in the moment's flash of light, she knew she had succeeded.

She had finally done it.

She had summoned the legendary hero of humanity to fight beside her, much like her father had.

As the rush of power faded, she blinked and then frowned.

Where was the Servant?

Where was her Saber?

Because obviously she would have summoned the best Servant, Saber. She knew from that fake priest that several had already been summoned. He even teased her on by telling her that only one of the knightly Servants had been summoned, and that it was not the one she wanted.

Where—?

A loud crash echoed through the house.

She looked up... oh, no, it's upstairs...

But before she could react and before her body carried her up, something crashed through the second and first floors of her house and landed before her, in the circle of summoning. He was a majestic being dressed in red and black, her colors. She knew that without having used a reagent as an anchor, the summoned hero would be one best suited for her, so this was no surprise.

What was surprise, however, was that the hero raised his hands and struck a pose. “Dynamic entry!”

She did not know what to say. In fact, she was speechless, but for a few words. “... My house...”

The repair costs flashed before her eyes and she shuddered. Maybe it was not so late to back out of the Holy Grail War? No... even if it was not too late, she wanted this. She slapped her own face mentally and steadied herself. This was the work of generations of her family; she had lost her mother, father, and sister to this ritual. It must be completed.

“Are you—”

“I ASK OF YOU!” The Servant spoke suddenly, with the lungs of ten men. If he were any louder, Rin thought he might have spoken in gold plated words. “ARE YOU MY MASTER, TOHSAKA RIN?”

She sighed and rubbed her head. This was what she wanted, she repeated to herself. “Yes. Since you know my name, which class are you? Which hero are you?”

“ME? I AM KALEIDO MASK!” A glass rose appeared in the man's lips. That is right; he had a flamboyant mask on, with rainbow, peacock feathers growing out of the top like some kind of... peacock butt. It was such a small mask, however, that it did not cover any distinguishing features at all. What was obvious about him was that he was in his prime and had white hair with a sort of dark skin. Wait, no, it was rather swarthy, but dark was not exactly the right word. Perhaps 'incredibly, permanently tanned' would be better.

“... Right.” Rin realized this was going to be a long ritual. She gave one last futile effort in being cordial with her Servant. “Take off your mask, please.”

“AH, YOU HAVE FOUND MY SECRET IDENTITY, TOHSAKA RIN!” He took it off, and suddenly, he was no longer in a suave suit of red and black colors with a white tie, but in some kind of weird outfit of red with some kind of skin-tight black armor underneath. With all the leathers, it looked like the dream of some sexual deviant. “You thought I was some hero of the distant past? But it was I, Emiya Shirou, of your future!”

Rin tried to work her mouth, but it felt dry, especially when this 'future Emiya Shirou' threw off the red cloak as if it were some random jacket a rock star would throw at his fans.

It landed on Rin's face and threw her on her butt.

The pain helped; she blinked. “What the hell.”

“Tohsaka Rin, I shall help you realize your dream! Do you think you have enough of me? Well, you don't! I am infinite! I am powered by all the bearer of all the dreams of those who place their dreams upon me! I! AM! EMIYA! SHIROU!” He turned and struck another pose.

“Tell me, Tohsaka Rin, do you wish to fight in the Holy Grail War?”

“Tell me, Tohsaka Rin, do you wish to win this Holy Grail War?”

“Let me tell you, Tohsaka Rin, I, Kaleido Mask, will help you win! With me by your side, our youthful vigor shall overcome any obstacle! We shall face all the foes that we will face! Our enemies many, but at least you don't have a snarky version of myself by your side, some counter guardian version of me who only wants to kill himself because he's a pansy-ass! NO!” He opened his shirt. “IT IS I, KALEIDO MASK, THE TRUE VERSION OF ME!”

Rin turned around and counted to ten, hoping the nightmare (?) would end. When she finished counting, she pinched herself and counted again. Then she took three deep breaths. She could work with this.

She would work with this.

She would work with this.

She asked for this—

“Also, you're my wife in my future.”

Rin fainted.