A lord and his sword
A gasp escaped my lips, my hand on my chest as I could feel it rising and falling. My thoughts in disarray not unlike my surroundings. The ash and fire seemingly stayed its hand from my surroundings as I caught my breath. I sat up feeling a weight on my head. Then came the memories. They blended of two lives one very short but uneventful 7 years of a child, untill the end that is. But the other life was anything but untill the end. Many new things yet old stood in their place. A soldier to some, a hero for a few, a menace for others, and a broken man to himself. Then came the images of a future. Many of them differing in how they could be. The boy saw who he would grow up to be, he saw the many ways things could go for him, and he saw his endpoint as well. Then came other worlds; fantastical places, creatures, people, and magic. He felt how the person inside escaped to see these places many times to his own detriment towards his end. Then came the words in a graveled weathered voice, "we're in this together now. my life and your heart. People are the sums of their experiences and so we shall be." The boy still reeling from the experience as the memories stopped flooding. While they didn't touch his own at first he felt a change when the words were spoke. A sharp bolt shot through his mind. A connection was made. A new voice was heard from his side old and withered but vibrant in its own way.
"It's nice to see when fate doesn't get its way. A pruned timeline far removed due to many factors. An end to the boy who would grow up to be but an attack dog for her. So much fun to see such an anomaly rip apart this old timer's perseption." A smile on his face as he spoke. "There are many things we could speak of but above all else how do you feel little one?"
Looking at my hand opening and closing it, the feeling was slightly off. A sense of incongruity between what we were and are now. His hand reached up and a delicate finger slid across the brim of the hat. The words that came to me, "like I've been stuck in a washing machine then thrown out on a clothes rack to dry." I was slightly surprised by the sarcasm stated as well as the language I used. Before I only knew Japanese. Now a few others were in the mix as well. Including the English the man had spoken.
He chuckled in good nature at the jab though and continued. "So one problem down and many more to go it would seem." At the end of his words a flash of blue light shown in front of us. Twisting circles surrounding an orb brought itself to existence. A name on the tip of my tongue. The old man beat me to it, "Alaya." The representative of humanity's will to survive. The image collapsed and stood a man white hair falling down, a crimson cloak wrapped his arms and back. The chest plate a deep black. His hands were empty for now it seems. The old man spoke from my side, "so she seems to deem him a threat it would seem." The new arrival spoke, "So it seems Zelretch, though why would you let him in?" Many thoughts went through the boy's head at this moment. The journey had just begun and he was to be killed already? "Because it seemed fun and I do believe he has more to show." Zelretch replied. His nonchalant additude towards the other seemingly calming. Thoughts raced in their mind as they sought to find an answer then a scene from one of the fights stood out in his mind. The circuits of the past and future interwoven as they shared their history. An idea so bold popped into existence. A murmur escaped his lips, "two wishes." The stare down between the Counter Guardian and the old man broken for a moment.
He stood with difficulty struggling to get his feet under him. Reaching his hand forward he said to the Counter Guardian, "take it, please?" A pleading in his voice. One thought in his mind of the tragic fate of his own self in the future. Another of him in a different time. The heroic spirit with all his power could see the eyes of the boy. They spoke many things but above all they held a hope. So he moved closer the words of his paramour of another life ringing in his ears. When he grasped the hand a spark ignited thoughts of the other flooded into him. A resonance between similar yet different souls. The boy was no longer just who he was, he knew that. But this was different. The boy had one daring idea. One that would make him an enemy of Alaya for a time possibly out of sheer spite if she could compute it. For a long time he didn't have hope of escape. His contract with the will of humanity a forgone conclusion. But as the boy said two wishes.
As the boy with a top hat on his head looked to the heroic spirit with a subtle knowing smile. He spoke to his surroundings. The hat on his head, the worn soot covered clothes, and scarf billowing out from his words. "My second wish; is to change the owner of heroic spirit Emiya' s contract to myself!" We both felt it in that moment. For so long the hero felt the ever present feeling of not having control. The boy may hold his contract but could not enforce it. As the world stood still Zelretch burst out in laughter. The audacity of the wish settling in. He who had enjoyed many pranks in his life to the detriment of others reveled in this. A stranger to this land with no fate. Came as he saw a boy in need, proceeds to slight the very will of humanity in all but minutes of his waking but he wasn't done yet judging by the smirk on his face. A smile the Wrought Iron Hero mimicked.
Their voices ringing in unison just after the connection made its appearance. The plan solidified as their hand gripped the other's arm. "We wish to wander from this universe!" The hole from before where the hat and soul slipped into burst from its lip. Humanities will forming once more behind us the hat enveloped us in its energies as we're were lifted. By the power of a miracle envoker of the highest grade, an error that would have no way of succeeding before was done. And a door was opened once more. Thrown out into the vast multiverse with a laughing Zelretch echoing behind them.