Chapter 15: Velvet

Beta read by Shigiya and Darklord331

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-England-

In an apartment complex, a man in his late twenties with long loose hair tied in a low ponytail rested against his bed frame. His face bore a tremendously sour expression as he was met with the twelfth game over on his TV screen. 

"Hah, this is not going to work." He said while pressing the start button on his grimy and worn out controller, exhaling another puff of smoke with some ashes falling on his pants. 

"Ouch! Damn it, I'll burn a hole through them by the end of the day at this rate." the man complained, dusting off the ashes of his silk pants.

Still quite early in the morning, Waver El-Melloi II or as known in the Clocktower; Lord El-Melloi II. The nonstop cold and damp weather of London made this a regular activity for the man who preferred some quiet and alone time after finishing teaching his classes. The accumulated stress over his duties and research deserved to be balanced out by relaxing times such as these. As for breakfast, he just sent his assistant to get some while he waited. Waver went to smoke another cigarette of his favorite brand… only to discover the packet was empty. 

"Tch, I should call her to buy me some." He said while rubbing his bloodshot eyes, drowsiness evident in his tone. Pouring himself another glass of bourbon, Waver took a quick shot before going back to playing his game in peace, confident that he would not lose for the thirteenth time. 

Ring~!

The doorbell to his apartment rang once, silence followed as the man sighed and forced himself to get out of his messy beg. Wearing sweatpants and a shirt with a short and shield logo belonging to one of his favorite games — these being the kinds of clothes he wore privately. For someone carrying the title of Lord in the Clocktower, having thousands of students who looked up to him and his achievements… this image of his would definitely shatter many of their images they had of him. Not that he cared in the first place, reputation in itself was not a resource he could deny to have never taken advantage of in the past, but Waver reckoned that any feeling of regret or sadness would emerge if he were to lose it. 

Did that make him pessimistic? Perhaps, he was called that numerous times by both his colleagues and his own students. Perhaps for his younger self, such an aspect would count as an essential trait of a powerful and competent mage. 

Though, Waver the failure, as a few of his classmates liked to call him back during the time he was Kayneth's disciple. That boy had many flaws, worried about things that held no importance to his situation and venturing into outlandish wars accompanying the King of Conquerors. All of that to have others acknowledge him? 

Yeah, the current him laughed mockingly at that, while feeling utter shame on how he acted in the past. 

"Then again, I would not be here if it were not for my foolish actions all those years ago. My King's teachings would have fallen in deaf ears if Kayneth were to become his Master… no, knowing that red hair meathead, things could have turned out much worse." 

Unbothered to freshen himself up or change his clothes into something more presentable, Waver walked to the door while yawning. Taking with him his glass of bourbon, this was some high quality produced he had purchased recently, and he wasn't going to let it go to waste. He had an idea about the person that decided to visit him this early in the morning. His apprentice would have just entered the place without knocking, most of his students did not know where he lived and even if they did not a single one of them would believe that someone of his stature lived inside an apartment like this instead of a villa or a mansion. Any official member of the staff, teacher or research needed to give an advance notice for any sort of visit. 

So, taking all that into a factor, only one person left. 

"What an unpleasant surprise to see you here." He said dryly, looking at the two pair of women standing in front of the entrance. With brilliant blonde hair, pale white skin reminiscent of a bisque doll, and both clothes and grace that were similarly picturesque. A girl many would get entranced by her blazing eyes was the reincarnation of a dangerous she-devil. 

"Oh my, what an interesting way to great your loving sister~" 

Resigned to his misery, Waver made sure not to show any change to his emotions aside his usual sour face in front of her. Reines El-Melloi Archisorte was many things and viciousness was one of her biggest traits. Accompanied by her silver maid out in the open just made him certain that she must have secured the entire block beforehand. 

"Nevermind, just come in." Without much ado, he let her walk inside his apartment and led her to the dining table inside the kitchen. This was not the first time nor would it be the last time she conducted such sudden visits, one could even say he had accepted this constant intrusion. 

"How could my big brother be so shameful? You won't even bring out a single scone when you get a visitor?" 

Right, her rather big sweet tooth stil remained as prominent as ever. He was not that big on sweets to begin with, the last one his apprentice ate yesterday. Thankfully, he had some backup snacks in case this little demon came back to torment him every few weeks. 

"I have some cheesecake in the fridge." The neighbor had a party and gave him a few slices yesterday. He passed her a plate with a cup of black coffee.

"What. About. The. Milk?" The maid, Trimmau, asked. Her tone was slow and methodical. 

"I'm not much of a fan of milk, but there might be some leftover milk powder somewhere in the back." He did ask Gray to buy some macarons a few days ago but ended up eating all of it. A mistake in his part, but they were getting too dry and stale for someone like Reines who preferred everything fresh. "It's not like I have much to do today given it's a Sunday and I prefer to lie down on my bed — but why did you come here Reines?"

"Because I'm your little sister and it's my duty to check up on my big brother~!" She said cheerfully while making a weird goofy face with her tongue sticking out. Waver felt like he saw this before, but couldn't remember where. 

"I'd be not surprised if you were related to the Devil more than anyone else."

Reines was born in one of the El-Melloi branch families, the Archisorte family and the adopted sister of Kayneth. Though it was a bit misleading, given, if taking into account their family's lineage and bloodline, she was more of his late master's niece. While he was adopted into the El-Melloi and became El-Melloi II. Sadly, this also meant that he had become an adoptive brother. 

A convoluted mess with too many unnecessary steps, he liked to call it, one that he scoffed at with how unnecessarily complex they made it to be. 

"Besides, even if you were here to check up on me, there would be no reason to do so. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself and my assistant is here usually to help me out." 

Reines smiled coyly, taking a bite of the chocolate she had brought with her. Certainly she knew Waver to be a perfectly capable person to live on his own, despite the heavy stench of cigars and alcohol riddling the place — having most likely infused into the walls that even cleaning it would not make a difference. "Anyway, the El-Melloi family owns this flat, so paying rent to live here is beyond pointless, right?" 

It was the truth. Despite the recent decline the family went through due to the disaster of losing the family crest with Kayneth's death, the El-Melloi family still remained one of the most powerful and wealthy Magus family within the association. Holding hundreds of estates which he could use at his disposal if needed, including this entire apartment complex. The monthly wage he got from his role as a teacher for modern magecraft was more than enough to cover the rent of such a place multiple times over. 

"The rent is my way of repaying my debts to the El-Melloi family. This is one way I plan to keep giving back what I owe bit by bit."

His response caused the young woman to burst out laughing for the following minute without showing any signs of stopping. Waver remained patient, though his eyebrow wouldn't stop twitching in annoyance. Oh how much he wished for his assistant to return with a cigarette packet. Wait, he still had that bottle of bourbon in his room, maybe downing it was the quicker option.

"Such a beautiful way of thinking, it reminds of the great tragic plays of self sacrifice and justice the hero has to deliver at the expense of his life! But unfortunately for you, this is the equivalent of pouring a glass of water inside the Great Canyon everyday for the rest of your life, brother. A contribution so small that it might as well not count at the end of the day."

"Spare me your lecture, Reines. Of course, I realize that paying rent is the last efficient way as even a century's worth of time would not be enough, but it's a matter of principle and discipline on my end. To reach my goals I'll need to take baby steps, consider this as a representation of that. I still have other way to give back to the family, it's only a matter of time and luck."

"Then I take it that not using the family fortune in your daily life is part of your discipline. You own not a single car and prefer to use the bus to commute to the Clocktower. If I were the previous head then I'd be seething with anger from the second hand embarrassment." Reines said, stirring the spoon inside her cup as she instantly stared back at his gaze. Their eye contact remained unbroken for the last few minutes. "By the way, I never realized you were an avid fan of such music."

"Unlike you, I grew bored of classical music, I heard enough of it in one lifetime and wish to diversify my taste. It's better to say that my taste in music just differs from the general Magus. Now, can we stop this pointless chit chat? Tell me the real reason why you came here." His kidnapping by her hand made the man understand that Reines was not one to waste time over simple things. There was always something 

"... Have you heard of the Galliasta family?" 

Galliasta? Now that was a familiar name he kept hearing from time to time around his class. An old bloodline from the Middle East, only recently aligned with the Clock Tower. Their Magecraft stepped right into the field of Curses, so by nature they were rather troublesome opponents to deal with. He visited Jigmarie a number of times in the past, even talked with the representative of the founder. It was there he heard for the first time about this particular Magus family. It was rumored that they used their Magecraft to force cooperation from nearby organizations, securing the rights to oil drilling operations. As far as influence in mundane affairs was concerned, they were in the lead even among members of the Clock Tower.

"I am aware of them, from middle eastern origin and have been quite active lately at the Clocktower. What about them?" As far as Waver knew, no one in his class was from that family… wait. 'There was one boy I remembered attending my class, though he only remained for less than a month before disappearing. Can it be him?' Blonde hair and tanned skin, features that could entice most woman, coupled with varies expensive accessories that originated from the middle east along with that accent of his further cemented the man's identity in his head 

"I take it you have an idea of whom I'm talking about, big brother."

"Somewhat, but again, aside from the general public knowledge I'm not informed about this family's inner workings or the finer details. You would get more information at questioning a random Magus on the streets than anything from me." 

"Pweh, try to be more cooperative, brother." She rolled her eyes while playfully sticking her tongue at him. "Besides, I just wanted to see if you knew about the recent events about this family. Given that you were one of the participants of the fourth Holy Grail War, I think you out of all people would find this information quite interesting." 

He flinched, the mere mention of the war in Fuyuki still carried a heavy toll on him. Not to the point of making him suffer from PTSD, but more uncomfortable with the thought of facing those monsters… but honestly, even he doubted his own claim. Especially that arrogant golden king whose Sword of Rupture instilled true fear inside his heart. Sometimes, Waver woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat for he had a nightmare about getting cut by the golden sword of Saber or the final with Rider and how he got utterly crushed by the Noble Phantasm's might. Nevertheless, Waver knew he would not stay hidden forever. Servants were all monsters but that didn't sway him in the slightest to one day return back and be reunited with his king. 

If only he had been a better master, if only he had prepared in advance… then maybe Rider wouldn't have died back then. 

But that was a lie.

He blamed Saber for Rider's demise, if only she had not destroyed his chariot then maybe he would have had a chance of winning!

That boy from the past was naive, a fool who only desired fame and glory without contemplating the consequences of his actions. Running blindly in a war meant for Servants, if Iskandar were not to be his Servant — then Waver would have died by the hands of the Magus Killer most likely, if his former teacher didn't get his hands on him first.

"What is this about…" his tone changed, no longer was he paying any attention to the poor hopes of seeing Gray return soon with the groceries. Rather his entire focus was locked onto the girl in front of him.

Reines smirked, "Now I got your attention." 

"..."

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you. Though there is not much to tell regardless as this is naught but a mere rumor that traveled from mouth to mouth. So take it with a grain of salt."

"I know what not to believe and when to stay suspicious. I'm not a gullible fool." He said, tapping the table with growing impatience, his face somehow turning even more sour. 

"If you say so big brother. Anyway, word got around that the Clocktower plans to consider Atrum Galliasta as a future master for the fifth Holy Grail War."

Those words sunk into his mind as he carefully pondered upon this news. But something didn't feel right, while surprising, this news was not nearly as important for someone like Reines to come all the way to his apartment to tell him about someone who is nothing more than a possible candidate. "This is but a speculation, he is one out of many candidates and his recent action most likely granted him that attention from the higher ups." 

"True, but that is not the interesting part. You see, Atrum has been suspiciously absent from public eyes since this news came out. Normally I wouldn't care, but recently I got word from an agent of mine that Atrum was recorded to have taken a few trips to Japan in the last week or two. What's even more interesting is the exact location of his visit." 

"... Fuyuki." Waver found it funny how fate worked at times, without even particularly planning for it, the Holy Grail War was trying to catch up to him. He wasn't ready by any means, quite the opposite in fact. "He can't have summoned a Servant yet, that shouldn't be possible." 

Worry flooded his heart, if this man were to have found a way to bypass the rules and summon a Servant so soon then the consequences would be disastrous. And to make matters worse, if that Servant were to be a Rider… then his chances of meeting Iskandar again would be zero. "The Church relayed information that the war is still quite far away, I don't believe anyone can perform a summoning so early on."

"Possibly, but I never mentioned anything about summoning Servants, brother." 

"...You don't mean he's planning to already set up his base of operation?"

Reines shrugged, "I mean what's stopping him from doing so? Nothing. He can do as he pleases as no rules were broken so far and he's staying within his boundaries. At least that's what I believed until an Enforcer was sent to Fuyuki." 

"A what!?" Why were so many things happening around Fuyuki while he knew nothing about it!? "Atrum—"

"—is back in London." Having guessed his next question, she answered without missing a beat. "It's not even a secret so it would make no sense if the Enforcer was sent after him."

"A second party is involved." 

"Hmm, not sure, again, we have little information on this matter as a whole. The Church branch stationed in Fuyuki has been adamant about keeping some things a secret for people unrelated to their group. Even the information about Atrum cost me a lot of resources. Now what you will do with this is up to you, this is where my involvement ends. There is also a possibility that he is indeed behind the reason why an Enforcer was sent to Fuyuki… but we may never know."

"Why help me this much?" He couldn't help but ask. "I know you don't care about my life that much, we have a deal so why risk it all?" Aside from kidnapping him many years ago and forcing his past self to submit to her, Reines also took away his family's crest. She didn't hate him but he had all the reason to do so, though he let go of those negative emotions a long time ago. He had little doubts that Reines would discard him if given the chance after she was mature enough to take the El-Melloi name, have him repay his debts and fully restore the crest. 

Did he forget to mention that she was a vicious woman.

"Eh~? It's the sister's duty to look after her big brother's life goals!" 

"Tch," Waver clicked his tongue, unamused by her answer but helpless to force anything out of her to begin with. "I guess I should thank you for the information regardless, I'll be sure to add it to the pile of debt I owe the family." 

"You're going to Japan?" 

"I'm… not sure, I'm severely underprepared for anything that going there headfirst would just cause me a lot of problems. I got lucky the first time and I doubt my luck will stand on my second attempt. So we'll see, now that I know something is going over there then I can indeed pay it a visit in the coming future." Not giving Reines any time to reply, Waver got up from his seat and downed the coffee cup in one go. "Trimmau, can you bring these back to the kitchen, please? Don't wash them, I'll take care of it on my own." 

"Understood. Lord El-Melloi." 

"What are your plans?" Reine asked, unperturbed by his reaction. 

"Research, a lot of researching and preparing for my upcoming voyage. You are welcomed to spend however you like in my humble abode, not like I have a workshop here. I'll be leaving." 

With that, the man quickly changed clothes with his more formal suit and coat. 

"Take care, big brother~!" 

{Break}

-Fuyuki-

It was silent, far too silent inside the main living room. Though Shirou had grown used to it by now, yet today it was accompanied with a tense atmosphere that made it hard to breathe. His heart beat a hundred miles an hour while a bead of sweat trailed down his forehead.  

What came about this situation was the whole situation concerning the girl in front of him. She hadn't said a word since the beginning, silent and fidgeting every so often when their eyes met. 

Shirou was willing to admit, he had no idea whatsoever on his next course of action. 

"U-Um… S-Senpai?" Sakura fidgeted quite a bit, she was nervous, that was clear as day. He was too, not because there was a girl staying over his house — rather because he was wary of Zouken's next move. Still, for now his goal was to give her a comfortable place to stay and deal with the consequences of his actions by himself. 

"I have a few spare rooms, one of them is already fully furnished as Fuji-nee tends to sleep over from time to time when she's too drunk. You can rest there, and if you have anything you want, you can ask me." Shirou said, going to his kitchen and bringing back two cups of tea to the table. Trying to think about how he could stir the conversation without bringing up anything too personal and uncomfortable. 

Sakura noticed how he was nervous, fiddling with a small item he placed near the table, resembling a small broken piece of a snake carved out of stone. She did not know that the redhead liked to collect such pieces, he never struck her as a collector. 

"Senpai, you know I can't stay here forever. I'll need to return to grandfather sooner or later." She said, more afraid of what might happen to Shirou rather than her. 

"You know the location of the bathroom, I'll make sure to buy you the shampoos and soap you would use regularly." He continued to speak as if not hearing her words while still fiddling with the object. 

"N-Nii-san might stop by the house if he doesn't see me back h-home."

"For groceries, don't worry about them, I'll take care of them."

"Senpai, I still have to go back to collect my school books and my notes for the upcoming exams." 

At that moment, he finally stopped averting her gaze. "Then I'll pick them up for you." He said without hesitation, showing his desire to not let her go back to the house at any cost. Sakura's mind was in turmoil as she had a dreadful thought, did he know about the pit? Did he know about how tainted she had become? 

But, she doubted he would help her if that was the case. Who would even go that far for someone like that? No one. That was why she couldn't let him go to her house, her grandfather would have shown him the truth… then she feared the relationship between them she cherished so much would burn into ashes. 

"N-No need! I-I don't think those notes are important in the end. Besides, I-I'm quite familiar with the subjects so—"

"I'll help you, we can study together as much as you want." Her heart hammered like a drum once again at those words. Despite having cooked breakfast with Shirou regularly at his house, staying for the night and studying by his side was an extremely foreign concept to her. Certain coarse thoughts began filling her mind which she quickly shook away. 

'No! N-n-none of that will happen! Senpai isn't that kind of person!' 

Yet despite trying her best, such a sinful line of thinking continued to persist. Like the silent voice of a demon whispering countless 'what if' scenarios which made her imagination run wild!

"You're okay, Sakura?" He asked, getting closer to check up on the girl. 

Too close!

"It's nothing! J-just a bit under the weather today, senpai." 

'Is she worried that much about her studies? I can understand that, I can't hinder her life at school for my own selfishness, I'm quite confident with my knowledge in every subject in general but if I can't help her then Fuji-nee can. Or maybe even Mitsuzuri?' Now that he thought about it, Ayako was acting pretty jumpy lately at school, perhaps getting nearly caught by Bazette again shook her a bit. 

Unfortunately, Shirou believed he would encounter her again. It was inevitable with what he was trying to accomplish with eradicating those monsters from Fuyuki. Unlike last time, Shirou knew he needed to have a plan of escape first. Taking on Bazett with or without a gun at his current level would lead to the same outcome, and he wasn't trying to kill her in the first place. If she agreed to cooperate with him and take out the monsters together, that was the idea situation. 

Ring!

"Hm?" Shirou's phone rang, the boy looked at the caller and frowned. Not wanting to worry Sakura, he excused himself and walked outside to his shed to pick up the call. "Shinji." 

"Oi, Emiya, who the fuck do you think you are!?" Immediately, a loud angry voice came from the other side, forcing him to distance himself from the phone. "Why the hell did you take Sakura away!? This is kidnapping! Just because you hit me once doesn't make you a fucking hero who can do whatever he wants for no reason! Bring her back, you bastard!" 

"I have my reasons, Shinji. I'm doing this for Sakura's sake." He replied, though a few seconds later he started hearing a fit of laughter coming from the blue haired boy. 

"For her sake? Ha! That's funny, Emiya. I bet you wouldn't have said that if you knew that bitch's true color. And she's MY sister, not yours, who are you to decide what's good for her?" 

Who was he? Her friend of course, someone who knew Sakura for years and cared about her. He thought Shinji, despite his somewhat brash nature, would treat his sister with care like an older brother. But the way he talked about her on the phone just made Shirou increasingly sorrowful more than anything else. Has the old Shinji truly gone? Neko-san mentioned many times how certain people change for the worse as they grew up, but he hoped Shinji would never become one of them. 

"From how you're talking about her, it seems that I'm the only one who cares about her." 

"Ha!? Are you mocking me, Emiya? Do you think I'm scared to face you tomorrow at school!? You don't know who you're messing with!" 

"Then why don't you remind me? You've been constantly hiding from me at school, despite what happened that day, I tried to find you to apologize as Sakura asked me to — you refused to meet me. And speaking of your sister, it's not like I'll have her return today or tomorrow. Sakura will sleep in my house till I can figure out how to solve this problem." 

There was a pause of silence from the other line.

"...what?" Shinji's voice turned sour. "She's sleeping with you?"

"Well it's my house after all, not like I can take a hotel. I already prepared a room fo—"

"YOU'RE MAKING FUN OF ME, EMIYA!!" 

Woah, the redhead did not expect such an outburst from the boy. He sounded so furious that it made him confused as to why he was acting as such. Of course, Sakura would get her own room, the manor was made to house multiple people in the first place. But the way Shinji was screaming one would misunderstand that he said something outrageous.

"JUST BECAUSE SHE'S NICE TO YOU, YOU THINK YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH HER!? SHE'S NOT YOUR OBJEC—Ah! G-Grandfa— no! It's Emiya, he took Sakura and doesn't want to bring her back! Eh? O-okay…" 

At first, he was confused at Shinji's change in tone, but realization soon dawned on him as to who had just arrived and made Shirou's body tense considerably. 

"Oho, nice to speak to you again, young Emiya." That gravelly voice spoke with a hint of amusement, he was not showing any anger or frustration as Shirou was waiting to hear. "I heard that you invited Sakura over to your house and refused to let her come back?"

"..." He didn't give him an answer, not knowing what to say. 

"Regardless, this is not an issue for me. You're still very young, Emiya Shirou. It's heartwarming to see someone care for my granddaughter as much as you do. But you are stepping out of line I must say, Sakura still has her Magus training to attend to and keeping her locked up will not solve anything."

"I'm not locking her up, just keeping her safe." 

"Safe you say? Hilarious how she's more in danger with you than with me. There is no sense of safety when an Emiya is involved, trouble just seeks you out like it did with your father and his father before him. You're merely acting out of selfishness rather than for Sakura's sake, she needs her family more than you realize."  

The boy gritted his teeth, seething in rage before trying to calm his nerves down. This man was trying to taunt him deliberately, to lose control and do something stupid. He refused to fall for such schemes, and preferred to keep his silence. 

"Still, I won't come over to take Sakura away from you or anything else, so you can rest easy. Rather, you will be the one who will escort her straight back to our doorstep, that I can guarantee you. For now, take great care of her, she'll need it." Shirou felt the vein on his temples throbbing, he breathed deeply a couple of times hoping to calm himself down before doing something regretful.

"Oh, almost forgot, I'll also give a stern warning to my grandson to not harass you or Sakura at school." Zouken ended the call soon after.

The phone cracked, his grip getting stronger on the device. Sitting by himself inside the shed, Shirou sighed, Zouken could potentially cause him more problem than the Chimeras and Bazett combined. He didn't have much time to think as his phone started to ring again, but this time, the caller was someone that made him smile more than anything. "Looks like Luvia-san managed to find something for me after all."

He asked her a few questions in the past about many different topics, one of them included information concerning Zouken and the weird worm he found inside Sakura's heart. Without knowing any details about its origin, he couldn't even start any procedure to try and remove it without harming the girl by accident. 

Hopefully the eccentric blonde had answers.

His hands continued to fiddle with the small snake statuette, Shirou grew in the habit of playing with it whenever he was stressed or lost in his thoughts. He seemed to find some form of comfort when he held onto it. 

"I'll need to check the shipyard tonight, at least make sure everything is okay there."

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.