8

Ever since his talk with Raven, Shirou had been taking more time to relax and enjoy his life. It was still an ongoing process, but he thought he was making some progress. Talking to his dad and hearing about Violet's progress had helped immensely. He planned on calling her, but he had been spending time with everyone and didn't really have time.

He heard his sisters talking about heading into the city today, so his team planned on making it a rest day, so he would probably have some free time to call later. Hopefully he wouldn't end up getting interrupted when he made that call.

For some reason, the smell of the fall maiden still lingered in the air. He didn't understand the reason for it. He had been weighing the option of searching for the source, however, he didn't wish to draw any more attention to himself. After his stunt with Cardin, he had felt uneasy when attempting to practice his magecraft.

He was thankful that there didn't appear to be any cameras on the roof where he spent time. Honestly, the amount of surveillance present within the school and in Vale was a bit much in his mind. It wasn't as if people were openly going around and committing as many crimes as in his old world. The only ones who seemed to do it were the White Fang and a few professional criminals.

He supposed if anyone was watching and keeping tabs on him, that all they would see was him spending time with everyone. Cooking, tinkering, and sparring were some of the most common things. A lot of that was done with friends. However, right now he was alone in the forest for his personal training.

Sadly, the roof didn't have the necessary space for his training. He began to stretch and warm up. Multiple different weapons were brought to the forefront of his mind. He took in a deep breath, summoning Kanshou and Bakuya for the first round. Shortly after, a dome of different weapons began to surround him. He stood ready in a stance, before the weapons began to fire at him at different intervals.

Unknown to Shirou, he had a follower that wanted to see his training. Seeing the weapons fire at him at varying speeds was a bit shocking, especially when knowing that his arsenal was so varied. However, the fact that he was reacting to each weapon and blocking or dodging the blades with apparent ease helped ease any worry.

Pyrrha had seen Shirou train before, however, she hadn't ever seen him train in this way. She noticed that this training seemed to be geared more for his reaction speed. He would wait until the last moment, to deflect or dodge. Pretty soon, the last of the weapons had been fired. Shirou stood in the middle of a field of blades, before each one was replaced by silver petals.

She noticed him take in a deep breath, before he let his blades join the others. The silver petals each flew away on the wind. He held out his hand when she heard him gently say, "I am the bone of my sword." The silver aura that accompanied the summoning of a weapon flashed, before a weapon appeared in his hands.

A beautiful sword appeared, a red handled silver kris sword to be specific. She watched as Shirou looked at the blade closely, before activating the mechashift mechanism, causing the blade to shorten into a type of revolver. A smile appeared on his face, before he turned around. "Peeking is a bad habit, you know." She was busted, though she was curious about the weapon in his hands.

Pyrrha walked out with a sheepish smile on her face. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you." She explained. Shirou only let out a small laugh.

"Don't worry about it. I was just training my ability to create a mechashift weapon that had a gun. It appears that I've managed to make more progress on that front. Though, now that I managed to create it, I won't have to concentrate as hard next time." He answered. Pyrrha grew closer and focused her gaze on the weapon in his hands.

"I don't think I've seen that weapon before." She said with a curious tone. "Is it new?" She noticed Shirou slightly stiffen and his eyes slightly widen, before he shook his head and relaxed.

"No, it's actually one of the first mechashift weapons I ever saw." He answered, before extending the blade to its original length. "It was my mom's weapon. It was lost long ago, but I've finally managed to recreate it." His voice was soft and Pyrrha could hear the happiness in his voice. Though, there seemed to be a hint of sadness in it as well.

Pyrrha waited for a moment, before she made up her mind. "Do you mind if I ask what she was like?" She asked hesitantly, though Shirou only smiled.

"Not at all." He said, before pointing towards a nearby tree, where his bag was laying. "Would you like some tea?" Pyrrha smiled and nodded at his question. She followed him over towards the tree, where the two sat down. Shirou quickly set up his portable tea set and began to fix everything.

As he did so, he began to think about what he would say. He had never really talked about Summer to anyone before. It made him feel slightly nervous. "Well, my dad said that she was a very talented huntress, not unlike Ruby I suppose. In fact, Ruby is a lot like her in both looks and beliefs. Good triumphs over evil and belief in the goodness in people. That sort of thing."

Pyrrha looked at him with a strange expression. "Do you not believe in those things too?" Shirou smiled at the question, before pouring the tea into the cups he projected.

"Well, yes and no." He replied, of course he couldn't just tell Pyrrha that he had seen evil triumph over good many times. Sakura Matou and Saber was one such example he could think of. Both being corrupted by the Shadow in the middle of the grail war. It took Hippolyta, him, and Archer to put Saber down permanently. To see a sweet girl like Sakura and a paragon of chivalry be corrupted like that had taken a toll on him mentally.

"I do believe that, but there are always exceptions that exist. Sometimes a hero will fall to the villain and sometimes people are too far gone and have no goodness remaining in them. However, I won't just abandon that belief, because without hope, evil will always win." Shirou replied, a small smile formed on his face. "My mom told me that and it's something I choose to believe in too."

He noticed Pyrrha smile at his words. He took a drink from his own tea before continuing. "If I'm being honest, my mom was my hero. She was always so hopeful and kind. A skilled huntress, a loving mother, and one of the most virtuous people I have ever known." He knew that Pyrrha had no idea how big of a deal that was, considering the many people he had encountered in his last life, Servants included.

She was truly a light in the darkness, especially for him. Not even Rin, Luvia, or Bazett were able to shine a light on the nightmares that plagued him. However, she did just that. She was a heroine that many could look up to. Shirou wasn't naive, but he couldn't help but admire her beliefs.

"She sounds like an incredible person." Pyrrha replied with a smile on her face. Describing her as incredible was apt. "Your eyes seem brighter and you seem a bit more lively when you talk about her." Shirou's eyes widened at the realization before he let out a small laugh.

"Well, I don't think I've actually talked about her like this before. Besides my promise to Ruby and Yang, my mom is one of the main reasons why I chose to become a huntsman in the first place. I wanted to experience the same happiness she had. Her smile, the one always on her face when she saw us and when she was telling us stories about what she was doing. I suppose, a part of me wanted to have that too."

He could never truly describe the smile of his mother. It was something he was unfamiliar with in his old world. The life of a magus was unlike that of a huntsman. That was apparent in the differences in his upbringing. In fact, he noticed that the memories of Summer seemed to fill in the blanks of his past life, the ones burnt away in the fire of Fuyuki.

He knew that it affected him, changed him. He was pretty sure that, if he managed to return to his old world, he would be completely different to those that knew him. He knew that it was because of his family. His sisters, Ruby and Yang, were the two most important people in his life. He didn't know if he would ever smile like his mother, but as long as he had his sisters, he didn't need to. They were enough.

"Well, I think you're mom would be proud of you. Especially considering you and Ruby were made leaders of your teams." Pyrrha said to him, her usual smile on her face. Hearing that made Shirou feel some comfort. He knew that his sisters missed her and often wondered about what she would say or feel about them.

"Thanks, I think so too." Shirou took a deep breath and took a drink of his tea. "You know, I don't think I ever asked you about your life. We've been partners this whole time, but I don't think we've actually sat down and talked like this before." He said with a smile. Pyrrha let out a nervous laugh at his words.

"That's true, though I don't think my life is all that interesting." She replied while scratching her cheek with a nervous smile on her face.

"Well, if I remember correctly, Snow White said something about you being a champion in a Mistral Tournament. I think that's pretty interesting."

"Yeah, I guess so, but it wasn't really a life I would recommend." She said with some sadness in her voice. Shirou easily picked up on it. She looked at him and gave him a sad smile. "Being a well known champion didn't really make it easy to make friends. At least, not the kind that really care about you."

"They only cared about your fame?" He asked, though he knew the answer. She only nodded at his question. "I see." He said solemnly, before offering her a smile, "Well, you don't have to worry about that kind of thing anymore, after all, I'm sure no one on our team cares about all that. To us, you're just Pyrrha, our friend, champion or not."

She returned his smile at his words, "Yeah, you're right." She looked up at the darkening sky, before looking back at Shirou. "Shirou, when you created your mom's weapon, what was that phrase you used? I don't think I've heard you use it before." She asked while tilting her head to the side slightly. Shirou's eyes slightly widened, not realizing she heard him.

Not many people had heard him use it, besides his sisters and maybe Weiss. He supposed he might as well give her an answer. "It's just a phrase that helps me concentrate when using my semblance. Some things I create use more aura, or require more concentration." He explained, though it wasn't the full truth, it would do for now. He hoped he would never have to resort to the full chant.

Pyrrha looked at him with interest, obviously wanting to ask more about it. However, that was cut short by the sound of a call on his scroll. "Sorry, it's Ruby." He said to her, answering the call. "Hello?" Pyrrha watched as she could hear the voice of Shirou's twin on the phone. "Ruby just calm down, I'm sure she just needs some time to figure things out."

Shirou wanted to face palm, it seemed that no matter what, he was always the go to person to fix problems. Then again, it was always his sisters who asked things of him and he was especially weak when it came to the two of them. They knew it too, so of course they would take full advantage of it. However, Blake running off because of an argument didn't seem like something he needed to be that involved with.

He let out a sigh, "If she just left, then she couldn't have gone far. I'll find her and talk to her, just try not to stress about it. It's not good for your health." He heard Pyrrha let out a small giggle at his words. "I'll find her Ruby, when has your brother ever let you down before? I'll let you know when I find her. I love you too." He then hung up the phone before bringing a hand to his forehead.

"That bad huh?" Pyrrha asked with a small smile on her face. Shirou peeked through his fingers before letting out a huff.

"The situation is, yeah, but nothing that can't be fixed." He took a deep breath, before standing up. "How about we do this again sometime? Maybe we I can help make your semblance a little stronger in the process?"

"That sounds good to me." She answered, giving Shirou a big smile. Shirou responded with a small smile before grabbing his things and beginning to head out.

As much Shirou wanted to say he was an expert tracker and was able to find Blake with his superb skills, the truth was that he was actually lucky for once in his life. He managed to find Blake heading into the courtyard just as he managed to return. While he was glad he ran into her, he saw how conflicted she was at the moment.

"I see you finally took off the bow." He said simply, noticing her flinch, obviously not expecting him to be there. That alone told him how much she was bothered by everything, as she would normally be able to notice him easily.

"Shirou?" She then realized what he said, before bringing her hands up to her ears. "You knew?" Shirou could only nod his head to her question. She brought her hands down, her ears slightly flattened as well. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I figured that there was a reason why you were hiding it. Besides, I figured that you would tell us all eventually." He said to her, slowly walking closer to her. "And everyone has secrets that we don't want anyone else to know." Blake looked at him closely for a moment, before taking a breath.

"Are you here to take me back?" She asked with some apprehensiveness. Shirou shook his head, before giving her a sad smile.

"As much as I hate disappointing Ruby, and I really hate it, it wouldn't help anything. Sometimes people need space. Ruby didn't go into detail on what happened, only that there was an argument. However, I've gotten to know both you and Weiss, and I know that for all this to happen, it must have been something bad. I'm just here to offer what little help I can."

Blake was a bit surprised, as she expected Shirou to try and talk her into going back. She was also a bit surprised by Shirou referring to Weiss by her name, rather than Snow. She didn't know what Shirou could do to help, but she didn't want to run away. She had been doing that enough as it was, so she decided to take a chance.

"What do you know about the White Fang?" She asked him with some apprehension. Though, she didn't expect him to really know that much. From what Ruby and Yang said, Patch wasn't exactly a place that involved with everywhere else. From what they said, she thought that it sounded more like a village than anything else.

She noticed Shirou tilt his head slightly, thinking about what to say. "I can't say I know a whole lot personally, but Violet told me a decent amount about them." He answered, though Blake was a bit worried at his words, though that quickly turned to surprise. "Apparently, her mother was a part of the White Fang before they changed their tactics."

"Your friend was a faunus?" She asked with some surprise evident on her face, something that Shirou quickly picked up on.

"Oh, yeah, I must have forgotten to mention that. She's a fox faunus. But, even then, she didn't really know much about them. Apparently, her mother left when she found out she was going to have her. She didn't want her to be involved in the new direction they were heading in. They didn't believe that using violence and terror would lead to a favorable outcome." Shirou let out a sigh, mentally agreeing with Violet and her mother, reminding himself to call her afterwards.

"I see. What are your thoughts about them?" Shirou noticed Blake's ears slightly flatten atop her head and her eyes seemed slightly shifty. He remembered from analyzing her weapon that she was a part of the White Fang.

'Oh, so that's what this is about.' He thought to himself. He looked up into the sky and saw the shattered moon hanging in the sky. He hadn't really put any real thought into the White Fang before, but if he was being honest, they brought up a lot of bad memories.

He understood what they fought for, what they wished for, but it was beginning to cause other innocent faunus to suffer the consequences of their actions. With the grimm, he doubted a large-scale war would take place anytime soon, but if it escalated then such a thing wasn't impossible.

He wondered how many times he had intervened in his old world on behalf of such battles. Seeing innocents being dragged into a conflict that they had no desire to be in. The orphans that were made because of such conflicts. Even his own death was because of a group similar to the White Fang causing a war.

How many days had he defended the women and children in the shelters with little to no sleep? How many people did he have to cut down with arrows and swords? After running out of ammo, his magecraft was all that he had. Even then, he fought on with little to no mana, waiting for Ciel and a few more church operatives to find them a way out. Leading to his last stand while the others escaped.

He wondered if that little girl he befriended managed to give Ciel Avalon as he instructed, and also if Ciel allowed the girl to keep his shroud. A little girl who was dragged into that war because of foolish revolutionaries. When he thought about the White Fang, he could already see the beginnings of such a scenario. It was a scenario that he wished to avoid.

However, telling Blake all of that wasn't possible, nor was it what she needed at the moment. "I think that they are a group of people who started out doing the right thing, only for the younger generation to grow impatient and mistakingly believed fear and respect were the same thing." He said, making sure to watch Blake's reaction.

He only saw a slight widening of her eyes, but could also see that a slight nervousness was present as well. "However, I do understand somewhat. I believe that their overuse of force is causing more harm than good. I suppose if I wanted to be optimistic like Ruby, then I'd say that they are simply misguided." He stopped, taking a deep breath and deciding to continue.

"Blake, I won't pressure you into anything, but I think you should talk with them and explain everything. The sooner the better. I'll just say this, Weiss is similar to you in a way." He said, before rubbing the back of his head. He gave Blake a smile before beginning to make his way back into the dorm.

"Do you have a secret that you don't want others to know about Shirou?" He heard Blake ask after he walked by her. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. He let out a sigh before turning to look at her. He took off the glove on his hand, revealing the identical bracelet he shared with Ruby, though Blake knew that wasn't what he was showing her. He extended his arm as if offering her his hand.

Blake looked at his hand tentatively. She slowly reached her hand out, her eyes watching her own hand grow closer. Just before she reached his hand, she shifted her eyes up and looked into Shirou's silver eyes. Her heart was beating, however, upon noticing his eyes seemed warm, unlike when he confronted Cardin, it slowed.

She would be lying if she said she wasn't wary of him after that. However, after everything she learned since then, she just figured that Shirou was someone who was a bit more damaged than he let on. It helped her realize why he was so protective and caring towards his sisters, and even towards his friends. She didn't know what he was doing now, but knew that he wouldn't do anything to her. She decided she would trust him, as he was trusting her. Her hand finally gripped his, when she felt Shirou's aura make contact with hers.

Just as suddenly, she vision swam and everything seemed to change. It was a very jarring experience for her, so much so that she ended up bending over and nearly throwing up. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice anything wrong with her surroundings, nor did she realize that Shirou was no longer in front of her.

When she finally stood up straight, she finally took notice of her surroundings. A blue sky with clouds and the sun high up for all to see had replaced the moon and dark sky. Her mind was naturally fried as she clearly knew it was still night time. She then felt something land on her face, before it seemingly disappeared or dissolved.

She realized that they were red and white rose petals that danced through the air. She knew that the red ones were Ruby's and figured that the white ones must have belonged to their mom, considering Shirou's were silver. She didn't know why her first thought was of the Rose twins, but she knew the answer was right.

She then looked around and was, again, dumbfounded. Swords, spears, axes, and any other kind of weapon she could think of filled the area. She noticed a hill that stood out among all others, with the weapons that Shirou used most often, as well as Ruby's scythe and Yang's gauntlets. She noticed some mechashift swords she didn't recognize, but figured that they were important.

She noticed that, at the base of Shirou's weapons, were flames. Almost as if they were bonfires of some kind. She didn't really understand where she was, but knew that it had to do with Shirou. She looked around more, taking notice of many of the familiar weapons that Shirou had showed her when telling her stories.

She then saw Weiss's, Pyrrha's, Nora's, Ren's, and her own weapons on a nearby hill. Strangely enough, as she made her way over to her weapon, she noticed what looked like dark thunderclouds far in the distance. She knew that they weren't coming closer, but it still put her on edge. She couldn't help but remember Shirou in the cafeteria. She hoped that whatever it was that she was seeing wasn't an omen of things to come.

Outside of the vision, Shirou was holding Blake in his arms. He let out a sigh, not intending for her to faint. He knew that aura was an extension of the soul and had done a few experiments with it, but didn't expect for his aura to knock out Blake. He meant to show her a small flash of his reality marble, however, it seemed her consciousness was pulled in or something.

She was fine, he could tell that much, but he knew that she must have gotten a pretty good tour of his world because of his screw up. Pretty soon, he reached his destination. A small area of the school that didn't contain any cameras. He heard the sound of Raven's portal, before turning and seeing her step through. She didn't have her mask on, so he was able to see the slightly twitching eye and the slight downward curve of her lips.

He let out a nervous laugh. "Hey, Raven, did you do something new with your hair? It looks nice." Her eyes then narrowed in on him. He let out another nervous and forced chuckle. "Yeah, I'll stop now." She nodded her head before walking up to him. After standing in silence for a moment, she let out a sigh.

"What is so important that you asked me to come here? If it's because of this girl, then I'm going hit you." Shirou slightly winced, which Raven quickly noticed. "Really? You suddenly embracing the bandit lifestyle? Sorta unfair considering what you told me." She watched with some amusement as Shirou's face slightly reddened.

"That isn't what's happening and you know it." He said turning his head to hide his reddening face. "She fainted when I tried to show her something with my aura, but I can't take her back to her room. I mean, I guess I could, but she sort of ran out after an argument. I don't think that would help the situation. So, I was wondering if you could put her in a hotel or something." He looked at Raven and noticed her raise an eyebrow. "Please?"

Raven let out a huff of amusement, before running a hand through her hair. "I'll be expecting some payment of my choosing after this. Hand over the kitty cat." She said as she extended her arms out. Shirou let out a sigh of relief, before handing her over. He was sure that whatever Raven wanted wouldn't be too bad. At least, he hoped it wasn't.

"I appreciate it, I'll send her a message before I go to sleep so she doesn't freak out when she wakes up." Shirou watched as Raven nodded and turned around and began to walk away. He knew that he would be hearing more about this later. He tended to pay for a lot of the stupid things he did lately. He hoped that she wouldn't drag him back to her camp to do whatever she wanted him to do.

He couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was going to happen soon. His life was going a bit too smoothly lately, so he was sure that something would happen to derail it sooner or later. Such was the curse of his luck, or Archer's luck. He still needed to find out what happened to cause Blake to run off. He hoped they could patch things up naturally, as he couldn't be relied upon all the time.

Still though, he supposed it was nice to still be of help to his sisters. Shirou quickly grabbed his things and began to head back to his dorm. As he did so, he opened up his scroll and looked though his contacts. Quickly seeing the name he was searching for. He took a deep breath before pressing down on Violet's name.