Vaucouleurs (3)

When I opened my eyes I was standing on top of a rooftop surrounded by a massive town. The town was covered in a raging fire and the screams of the people below filled my ears, but the sound of clashing blades somehow overpowered the screams of thousands. I whipped my head around trying to locate the source of the sound, but the sound seemed to bounce around before I could pinpoint.

I kept twisting and turning my head and body around until I finally caught a glimpse of the source of the clashing blades. Two men had landed on a nearby rooftop and were glaring at each other. The man closer to me was tall and tan with short white hair. He was wearing some kind of tight looking black shirt and had a long red overcoat on. In each of his hands he held a medium sized dagger type sword that was slightly curved. One of his daggers was white while the other was black. Before I could look at the other person fighting, the man in red lunged forward and began clashing blades once more. Their movements were so fast that I had no hope of ever catching a glimpse while they engaged each other. My eyes hurt just trying to make sense of what the two were doing. 

A long whip slammed into the building I was standing on faster than I could ever hope to react to. The impact left a massive slash straight through not just the building but dozens more behind it. The whip also went straight through me however my body was perfectly intact. It seemed like the whip had passed right through me without actually touching me. Now that I thought about it, despite the heat that I should be feeling from the scorching city, I somehow didn't feel the slightest bit warm.

Before I could think more about it, the man in red slammed into the building I was standing on. The entire building collapsed under the immense force that sent the man in red into it. I was left floating above the now destroyed building. A figure approached the man in red and the long whip retracted into a sword. The figure was wearing a long white cape with a blue edge, small gold symbols all around that edge, and a bigger golden symbol in the middle. The person was now standing above the man in red and looking down at him with his sword pointed at his heart. The man in red clenched his teeth together and called out to the person standing above him.

"Why are you doing this!? You fucking idiot, this will change nothing! If you kill me, more and more will come after you!"

The person with the sword said nothing. Instead they raised their blade to strike the man in red's heart, but the man in red quickly drew his own blades from thin air and slammed into the figure's sword causing him to stagger back just long enough for the man in red to jump up and onto the roof.

The figure quickly regained its footing and jumped onto the opposite side of the roof which was right in front of me. I looked up at the figure as my eyes widened. It was me. Granted I looked older and better built, but the man standing in front of me slashing through buildings with ease was me. I had the same long black hair and the same red eyes I had now. I looked into my own eyes and saw an empty void. I looked like a walking shell. There was no light, no feeling, and no emotion in my eyes. I had bags most likely due to restless nights and my armor was cracked, but it didn't look like the man in red had caused any of the damage as I was standing perfectly still with no visible wounds.

I watched as my other self lunged at the man again. This time his daggers met my sword and shattered on impact as desperately dashed backwards. I could see my other self instantly gain impossible speed as I caught the man in red. My blade ran through his shoulder and cut his left arm off as his eyes went wide with shock.

The man in red let out a loud yell as his arm went flying one way and his body the other. My other self ran towards the man and attempted to slice the man in half. I didn't know why I could suddenly see their attacks, but I couldn't take my eyes off them. My other self's sword was intercepted by a bright pillar of light slamming down right between the two men.

"FINALLY!"

The man in red staggered to his feet and held his shoulder with his remaining hand as he called out to the beam of light.

Thirteen figures appeared where the beam of light had hit. Twelve of them lined up behind a man with mostly black hair, he had a few white lines though. The man was wearing white armor and had a white cape with a blue underside. He stood with his sword in the ground staring my other self dead in the eyes.

The man in red started huffing as he struggled to stand up. He looked confused at the thirteen figures standing between him and my other self.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man standing in front turned to face the man in red. 

"Hello EMIYA, we've been summoned here to assist you by the will of Alaya. I am Charlemagne, Holy Emperor of Rome and founder of Western Europe."

"I don't care who you are, just help me kill that bastard over there!"

Charlemagne turned back towards my other self and pointed his blade at him. The other twelve people behind them all drew their various blades and prepared to charge at my other self. EMIYA's arm slowly started to form again. I didn't know how but after a few moments his arm was fully regenerated, and he once again manifested his dual blades. 

My other self held onto his blade with both hands and aimed it at the sky and started muttering to himself. His blade erupted in black flames while he spoke. A massive wave of energy shot out and rippled over and over again in the surrounding area as Charlemagne and the other people took defensive stances. The moment my other self stopped talking the world turned dark, and I shot up out of the bed I was sleeping in with a cold sweat.

"What the hell was that…"

I was in a burning city fighting a man dual wielding daggers. Then a bunch of other people got summoned by someone called Alaya to kill me? Why was I even there though? What happened to me to make me look so dead…

"Are you okay Jack…?"

I looked down and saw Jeanne slowly rising up and rubbing her eyes. She was still half asleep as she tried to talk to me. Her arms were the only thing holding her limp body up.

"Yeah Jeanne, I'm fine, I just had a weird dream…"

"Was it a vision like the ones I have?"

"I don't know… I saw myself fighting someone inside of a huge burning city." 

"That doesn't sound like a vision, maybe you just had a nightmare?"

"Maybe…"

I looked out the window. It was still late at night, so I layed back down and stared up at the ceiling of the room. Jeanne fell back onto the bed facing me and quickly went back to sleep. I glanced over at her and put my hand on her head. She smiled slightly in her sleep when my hand touched her head. Every day that went by just made even less sense. A long sigh left my mouth as I closed my eyes and tried to drift off to sleep. 

After thirty minutes of keeping my eyes shut and constantly adjusting my sleeping position I was still awake. No matter what I did, that dream wouldn't leave my mind. I wanted to know what was going on and why I was fighting that EMIYA guy. Jeanne was still sleeping soundly while facing me. I turned on my side to face her. It made sense Jeanne wasn't involved in my dream. Even my other self probably made her stay behind. Hopefully neither of us was dumb enough to let Jeanne get that close to a fire of that scale. If anything I bet that EMIYA guy started the fire. He just looked like the kind of guy to burn down a city to kill someone. My other self was so fast. It amazed me how strong I was too, and that sword that could extend itself and be used as a whip seemed cool as hell. If I saw a weapon like that I'd definitely use it.

After rambling for another fifteen minutes to myself I finally drifted off to sleep, and this time I didn't wake up in some unknown place. I woke up right beside Jeanne with the sun peering in through the single window in our room. It was pointing straight at my face which pissed me off even more than waking up. I always hated waking up for school so being woken up this early with little sleep the night prior, and having the sun flashing me with all its might did not help.

I sat up and slowly made my way over Jeanne and off the bed. Not wanting to wake her up, I slowly opened the room door and tip-toed out. When I made my way to the main area where Gaston had been the night before, I found he wasn't anywhere in sight. I hung my head down and groaned as I turned around and headed back towards my room.

"Mornin Jack, didn't take you for a morning person!"

Gaston was walking towards me from the same hallway I was about to go back into. He was stretching his arms while yawning

"I'm really not, but I knew I wasn't getting anymore sleep so I figured I'd just get up anyways."

"You have any fun with that lady friend of yours? Is that why you couldn't sleep?"

Gaston smirked as he waited for my response. He had this stupid grin on his face like he was a gossiping teenager who was about to get told the new scoop of highschool drama.

"No, I did not do anything with Jeanne last night."

"Jeez kid, you're no fun. I'm just messing with ya. Do you want something to drink or eat?"

"Yeah uhm, do you have any fruit?"

Gaston handed me an apple and sat down on a stool opposite of me. 

"So kid, what brings you here to Vaucouleurs, you lookin to join the fight against the English?"

"Yeah, I guess I am?"

"That's good! We could always use more young men fighting on the frontlines!"

"Hey so Gaston, what's the captain here like?"

"Oh him? Well I'd say he's a strict guy, but he cares a lot about this country and really doesn't want it to fall into English hands."

"Is he a man of God?"

"Not sure, it isn't like I go drinking with the man. I only know what I know from conversations my customers have. If you want you could just go meet him yourself."

"I planned on it, but I just wanted to know what to expect beforehand."

"Don't worry about it kid. He'll gladly take any new soldiers willing to fight. He'll shape you into a fine young man in no time!"

I ate the apple in between sentences as Gaston continued our conversation. He asked where I was from, so I told him about what happened in Domremy a few days ago. 

"Ahh hell kid, I'm sorry that happened to ya. If you're going to join the military then you'd better get used to seeing shit like that."

"It's fine, I wasn't super close with anyone there besides Jeanne and her family. I felt bad though because I couldn't save any of them."

"Listen, you're just one guy. Don't beat yourself up about not being able to beat an army by yourself because that's just dumb. If I were you then I'd be training to avenge my village one day."

Gaston kept talking about how I should help the French fight back the English and avenge my fellow villagers. After In finished the apple I'd been eating I asked for another one. I left the money I owed him on the table and excused myself as I made my way back to my room.

I walked in and saw Jeanne still asleep. My hands gently rocked her back and forth until her eyes fluttered open.

"Huh…? What is it Jack?"

She groaned at me while I shook her. She eventually sat up and took the apple in my hand.

"Did you sleep well Jeanne?"

"Mhm, did you ever fall back asleep after that nightmare?"

"I did for a short time. The sun came through the window and woke me up, so I just went out and talked with the man from yesterday for a while before coming back in here."

Jeanne started biting into the apple while listening to me talk.

"He said the captain is a strict guy, but he also said he's caring. I'm sure if you explain your visions well then he'll gladly escort us."

"You think so?"

"I hope so, but Jeanne I think we should stay here for awhile and rest. I'd like to practice with some of the knights here, and I think it'd be better if you were to stay here for now until things cool down."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the English are probably still in the area looking for you, so if we get an escort early then they might find us. If they do find us then it'll be a lot harder to get away."

"I see… Well then I guess understand. We will stay in Vaucouleurs for a while before trying to acquire an escort."

"Exactly."

"Jack, could you uhm, teach me how to read?"

"You want to learn to read?"

"Yes, I want to be able to read the word of the lord on my own, so please teach me to read!"

"Hmm, alright then, I'm not really good at teaching, but I'll try my best to teach you."

"Thank you Jack!"

"You're welcome Jeanne."