Chapter 8 - Regretful Reunion
Twilight wasn't exactly sure how, but at some point Archer had gotten them coffee. She certainly found it incredible what Servants could conjure up when they were needed, and after having letting out all of her pent up emotions for so long, she welcomed the invigorating dark liquid. Shining had taken a look at Sunny Flare himself and said she'd be out for some time, but that she wasn't injured at all. She'd just be dazed and confused for a while upon waking up and Twilight was relieved to hear that.
Twilight had wanted nothing more than to take Sunny home, and for Shining to come home with her. However, her older brother seemed strangely adamant against leaving just yet. Twilight was confused, but decided that it might be best for the time being to hear him out on his terms. So the two found themselves talking in that old abandoned factory.
“You've certainly gotten a lot taller since I last saw you.” Shining smirked at his little sister, the two of them sitting next to each other at the abandoned break room's table, “You were still just a munchkin back then.”
“A lot changes in seven years Shining...” Twilight shook her head as she stared down at her coffee cup. “So much has happened since you've been gone, I don't even know where to begin...”
“I guess I'll start by... Apologizing.” Shining shook his head as he leaned forward, linking his fingers together. “The entire reason I left was because Mom and Dad were ready to transfer the family crest to me. They had been raising me as a Magus since I was six and had kept you in the dark because if they were transferring the crest to me, then there was no point in teaching magic to you since... Well, you can only transfer it to one person, and that's usually the oldest.
“I had asked several times for them to teach you magic anyway, since it didn't feel right for you to be left out regardless. But, towards the end of my training they simply told me you were too old to start learning magic now, so it was too late to even bother trying.” Shining gave a sarcastic chuckle, “Seems they were lying about that one.”
Twilight remained silent, just staring at her brother as he told his story.
“I was just sick of it all. I had met other Magi, I had been told about our history, I read plenty of books, and all of it just brought me to one conclusion.” His gaze turned deadly serious, “I decided that I hated the world of magic. I hated that it separated us the way it did, I hated that it was so full of bloodshed, I hated how easily it corrupted people, and I hated how the Magi saw peoples lives as insignificant. They truly believe that killing people doesn't matter, so long as magic is kept pure in their eyes. Someone could commit genocide and they'd just overlook it.
“So, thinking Mom and Dad wouldn't bother trying to teach you magic, and hoping you wouldn't get dragged into this world because of that, I left.” Shining Armor closed his eyes as he squeezed his eyes shut. “I went to finish my training as a Magus on my own, with one goal in mind. To rid this world of the wretched Magi that think human life is irrelevant.” Her opened his eyes to look back at Twilight, this time a somber expression on his face. “And it was with that goal in mind that I find myself in this war. It's how I found you.”
Shining's eyes wandered down to Twilight's exposed shoulder, seeing the command seals branded on her skin. Twilight felt herself shrink a little under his gaze, unsure of what he was going to do, before he let out a sad sigh. “I wanted to keep you out of all this, but it seems you've been dragged into the middle of it anyway.”
“I... Was going to stay out of it originally.” Twilight spoke softly, raising her right hand up to her shoulder. “But, the seals came to me on their own. And then one after another, Servants and Masters alike began to attack me. If I hadn't summoned a Servant... I wouldn't be alive right now.” Twilight shook her head somberly. “I have no choice but to fight in the war Shining. To not do so would be to roll over and accept dying. And that's the last thing I want to do...”
Shining was quiet upon hearing that, contemplating what to do or say next. He grabbed his coffee cup and took a drink from it, letting the warm liquid invigorate him before putting it down.
“You said you were going to stay out of the war originally,” Shining put the cup down as he turned back to his sister, “so Mom and Dad weren't pressuring you into participating?”
Twilight froze at the mention of their parents. For some reason she had just assumed that Shining Armor knew what had happened, that he had kept up with any news from Canterlot. But it seems he had returned completely in the dark about what had transpired all those years ago. He had no idea about the fate of their parents.
“Twily?” Shining spoke up, noticing his little sister freeze for a moment. Twilight shook her head and tightened her hands around her own coffee cup, trying to not let her body tremble from the memories.
“I'm sorry... I just... I thought you knew for some reason.” Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, calming her nerves enough to not stutter while she talked. “Six years ago... Mom and Dad passed away...”
“...Oh...” Shining paused for a moment in quiet contemplation. “But... Weren't they the ones who were teaching you to be a Magus?”
“They were. When you left they panicked about losing their heir... So in their desperation to make sure their lineage would continue, they began to train me.” Twilight squeezed her mug tighter as she remembered her past, trying not to let her emotions consume her as she spoke about them. “They trained me for one year... But, they didn't like the amount of progress I was showing. I wasn't learning as fast I should have been, even for someone just starting out in magic. They figured it had to be due to my age, and that if I was going to become the heir they wanted, they needed to do something to... To speed up my growth...”
Twilight stood from her chair, turning away from Shining. Her older brother stared at his sister in confusion, not fully processing what she was saying just yet. Without a word, she began to undo the buttons of her blouse, gritting her teeth as she steeled herself for what she was about to do. Once her shirt was undone, she reached up to her shoulder and pulled it down, exposing her naked back to her brother. “This was the result...”
Shining's eyes went wide as he saw the cobweb-like pattern of scars that littered her back. He knew exactly what they were, having seen them before in his travels. When magic circuits were put under sudden and intense heavy loads, far more than they were capable of handling, the circuits themselves became unstable and dangerous. The result was the destruction of those circuits and of the part of the body attached to them, with the onset of necrosis in the body that could lead to one losing functions of their body, if not their life.
“Twilight...” Shining's voice was pitched with anger as he stood from his chair suddenly, “What did they do to you!?” He was shaking with anger, not directed at her, but at the parents who had done this to their daughter and his beloved sister.
Twilight pulled her shirt back up over her shoulders, suddenly feeling far more exposed than she ever wanted to be. She sat down and buttoned her shirt back up, before lowering her head and closing her eyes. She didn't want to remember that awful time, but her brother deserved to know what happened. So for his sake, she began to retell the events of what happened so long ago.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Now, we're going to numb the pain as best we can, but this will probably still hurt quite a bit. So just bear with it, and it'll be over before you know it, okay?” Her father spoke to her, trying to sound comforting. A young Twilight was laying on her stomach, dressed in nothing but a loose fitting white tank top and a pair of purple shorts.
“O-Okay...” Twilight weakly agreed, feeling incredibly nervous about all of this.
“You'll be fine Twilight, you can trust us.” Her mother said comfortingly, placing her hands on her daughter's shoulders. Twilight could feel her Mother's weight making sure she was being held down, followed by her Father putting his own pressure on her back. She felt trapped as the the two adults kept her from moving. She didn't know what was about to happen, but she didn't feel comfortable or reassured at all.
The back of her tank top shifted as her father pulled it down, exposing more of her back to him. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, not knowing what was about to happen, just waiting for it to be over. Then, she felt it. A sharp, burning pain erupting from her back where they had tried to numb her. Her eyes shot open as she let out a scream, wanting to escape and get away from what was cutting into her back, but the combined weight of her parents kept her in place.
She trembled and cried, hot tears streaming down her face as the blade pierced the flesh of her back deeply and cut into her muscles, forcing a deep gash to appear on her back. The process lasted only a few seconds at longest, but the searing pain made it feel like an eternity. Once the gash was big enough and deep enough the blade was removed, Twilight burying her head into the ground as she heavily sobbed, struggling to breathe or think.
That wasn't the end of the process though, as her father gently pushed the wound open and inserted something inside of her. Twilight thrashed against her Mother's hold again, giving a wailing sob as whatever it was burned against her flesh and felt like it was a fire inside of her body. The thing was pushed deep into her body, and she swore she could feel it press up against her spine.
It was only once the item was inserted into her, that her father began to conjure up the magic to heal Twilight's wounds. The magic had a light numbing effect, that eased the pain she was feeling, but didn't stop her shaking sobs. The muscles and skin fused back together around the object inside of her, the incision closing quickly before vanishing entirely, as if she hadn't been cut at all.
“There, all done.” Her Father said with a gentle smile, easing off of his daughter's back. Her mother released her hold as well, and Twilight flung herself into her Mother's embrace, sobbing into her chest as her entire body shook.
Even if the pain from being cut open was gone, whatever they had put inside of her was still burning. She could feel it's heat wanting to set her whole body on fire, and the burning heat was beginning to spread. It was like flames were crawling through her veins, surrounding her mind and rushing to the tips of her fingers and toes. Her body was being consumed by the fire.
“There, there.” Her Mother soothed, gently brushing the hair on her daughter's head, “It's alright. It'll just take a few minutes for your body to adjust, but you'll feel so much better before you know it.” Twilight couldn't respond, only continuing to sob into her Mother as the fires consumed her body.
Those few minutes were an eternity of hell as far as Twilight could remember. But, just as her Mother had said, her body began to adjust to the new invader and the fires consuming her began to calm down. Her crying slowed to a stop, leaving her hiccuping and taking deep breathes of air as she continued to tremble, but she wasn't in tremendous pain anymore.
“Better?” Her Mother asked with a tilt of her head. Twilight was calming down, and managed to quietly nod her head, though not breaking from the embrace. “That's good.” Her Mother smiled as she wrapped her arms around the young girl and held her close.
“What...” Twilight loudly sniffed as she wiped at her face, looking up at her Mother, “What did you do?”
“If we succeeded, we should have been able to get your skill in magic to the level you should be at for your age. Let's test that shall we?” Her father said proudly, walking closer and holding out Twilight's Rubik's cube for her. Twilight looked at it curiously, before taking it in her hands. “Just practice solving this puzzle with your magic like usual, you should notice a significant difference.”
Twilight had learned how to solve a Rubik's cube a long time ago, she had taught herself and found solving them fun. As such, her parents had decided that having her use her magic to manipulate the sides into turning would be a great way for her to practice her magic. While she had made progress, it was extremely slow and she had always struggled to make the sides turn the way she wanted them to.
She wasn't sure how this time would be different, but like usual she poured mana into her circuits and cast a field around the cube. The cube began to hover between her hands; that was the easy part. She concentrated on having the mana grab the sides of the cube and turn it.
The side glided into the position she wanted with ease. Twilight was shocked at the development, unable to believe how easy it had been to move the corners the way she wanted. She twisted another side just to be sure, and it too glided with ease. A bright smile appeared on her face and happiness swelled inside of her. In short order she quickly began solving the cube, her magic obeying her every command and the sides twisting in every direction she wanted them to.
In just a few minutes, the solved cube sat in her hands, pride swelling through Twilight. While it was by no means her fastest time solving the cube, the fact she had achieved it with magic, something she had began to think was impossible, made her overjoyed.
“It worked!” Her Mother also beamed with pride, “It really worked! Twilight sweetie, that was wonderful!” Her Mother lovingly praised her daughter, proud of what they had accomplished together.
“That's my girl.” Her Father grinned proudly, “You're looking like a true Magus now.”
Twilight couldn't remember feeling as happy as she did in that moment. For the past year she had been working so hard and struggling so much to be the Magus her parents wanted her to be, and she had felt so awful for always coming up so short. But now things were different, she could use her magic so easily and so freely now. It had hurt a lot, but if this was the result then the pain had been worth it.
The next few days consisted of them testing how much the operation had boosted Twilight's abilities. They went through all of the normal evaluations, practiced all the spells she had been learning, and making sure her mana and circuits seemed stable. She excelled at everything presented to her, surpassing all of her previous attempts. Her parents were elated, and as a result so was she.
So they had felt confident in moving forward with the next part of Twilight's training. And that was where everything went wrong.
Her parents had set up the workshop that day, making sure everything was prepared for the ritual. It wasn't a terribly complicated affair, but it was possible for something to go wrong during the transfer of the family crest, so they wanted to be prepared for that possibility. She was standing in the center of the room, her Mother watching with a smile as her Father prepared.
“Now, traditionally the Sparkle family places our family crest on the back,” Her father explained as he gently caressed his daughter's back through her shirt, preparing her for the transfer. “Not every Sparkle has had it there, but if we can put it there we're going to try. Are you ready Twilight?”
Twilight nodded and her father smiled. “That's my girl. Now, all you need to do is close your eyes and accept the transfer of the seal. Everything should go smoothly from there, and then you'll be training as a full fledged Magus.”
Twilight gave another nod and closed her eyes as her father pressed his hand firmly against her back. She took a deep breath as she prepared herself, already feeling the mana flowing through her father's hand. She accepted it, giving her consent for the mana to flow into her body. As a result, the process didn't hurt, more just tingled and made her body feel weird. The symbols of the family crest etched themselves into her skin one by one, and in just a few short minutes the process was finished.
“There, that wasn't so bad.” Her Father smiled as he pulled his hand back. Twilight blinked in surprise at the process already being over, having expected some amount of pain like when they had put something in her back. “You now have access to all of the Magic the Sparkle family has been accumulating for generations now.” Her Father walked in front of her, looking as proud as her Mother did. “You should be able to feel the spells etched into your very circuits. Go ahead and try any one of them, you probably won't be able to succeed with it at first, but we're going to train you on how to use all of them.”
Twilight smiled brightly as she nodded at her Father. As she charged up her mana, she could feel the new spells inscribed into her circuits. So many new spells and so much time to learn them all, she was excited to start her next step of becoming a Magus. Her Father had told her to pick any spell, so it didn't matter which one she chose. She felt a spell and it's purpose came to her mind, a simple spell that conjured a dagger before her. Projection magic. It wasn't a particularly remarkable spell, in fact it wasn't even one of the types of magic her family specialized in, but a simple spell was all she needed right now.
Her mana flared and it traced the incantation of the spell in her body. She extended her hands and held them out for the spell to complete. In a matter of seconds her mana was transformed, summoned forth as steel in the shape of a dagger. With a quick flash the dagger appeared in her hands, completed as intended. Just a simple dagger that would soon fade away once her mental image of it had broken.
Something was wrong though. The spell had completed but her mana hadn't stopped flowing through the circuits. In fact, the mana was growing more intense and had started spreading into other spells.
Her parents were congratulating her, but their words were being drowned out by her quickly rising panics about her mana not shutting off. She repeated the training she had for shutting her circuits off before, but even though she repeatedly closed the valve, the mana was still pouring out.
“S-Something's wrong!” Twilight managed to stammer as her mana was flowing out of control. It had spread through the entire family crest and was now spilling out into her normal circuits. Her body was starting to heat up again, her mana was spreading like wildfire through her body.
Her parents were at her side, trying to gauge what was wrong as soon her entire body was consumed by her mana. Her body erupted in a flash of light, her irises turning pure white, and a shield of raw mana surrounded her body. Whatever her parents were doing, she couldn't hear or see them anymore, she had been consumed by the raw light of her magic. Her mind was a scrambled mess as the energy consumed her, the fire burned her entire being.
The only things she could remember was the intense light, the burning pain, and everything being consumed.
She didn't know how long her body seethed with the burning light, but at some point it just stopped. Like a switch being flipped the raging mana inside her body had been completely consumed and there was nothing more for her body to summon. She was standing on her feet, only barely conscious of that fact, her mind still reeling from the rush of mana and the agony that was making it's way across her back.
What hit her next was the smell of thick copper, and suddenly her eyes adjusted back to the room. The entire workshop was now coated from wall to wall with blood. Her mind began to reel, her heavy breathing growing panicked, her mind trying to deal with the sensory overload of agonizing, crippling pain, and the realization that she had done something to coat the room in blood.
She lifted her hands, seeing blood splattered across her arms. Her body was coated the same way the walls and floor were. Her legs gave out, she collapsed into a sitting position, no longer able to breathe. Too much was happening at once, she couldn't keep up with it. The pain burned her mind, the blood filled her with fear, and the silence was deafening.
Something caught the corner of her eye. She didn't know what it was, she didn't know why it was there, but she turned her head to look at it.
She saw her father laying there, his face twisted and discolored, the eyes staring back at her. She was going to call out to him, reach for him, try to get some answer as to what was going on. But she immediately realized what was wrong.
He didn't have a body anymore. He was just a head.
Everything in her mind broke at that very instance. She screamed the loudest she had ever screamed in her life, and once the air had left her lungs, her body collapsed and everything faded into darkness.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“When I woke up, Sombra had already taken me back to the church to rest. Apparently he came to check on us and found me passed out in their blood...” To Twilight's credit, she had managed to keep her composure for most of her story. It wasn't until she had gotten to seeing her parents dead bodies that her breath had hitched. “My body was destroyed from the incident as well... Ever since, I've suffered from constant pain, seizures, mobility issues, lack of stamina, and just anything else you can probably think of. Even my Magic Circuits were nearly completely destroyed as a result.
“I've been in and out of Doctors' offices for years just trying to treat the symptoms. And all this time...” Twilight quietly shook her head, “All this time... I still hadn't given up on being a Magus.” Twilight folded her arms on the table, her emotions calming after having gotten through the hard part of the story. “My body fought me the entire time, but slowly I trained myself in Magic with the library Mom and Dad had left behind. Sombra had offered to let me live at the church... But I refused that offer, and I've been taking care of myself in the house alone.
“If it hadn't been for Spike and Cheerilee... I doubt I would still be here.” Twilight hated to admit it, but she couldn't deny how many times she had thought about ending it all. “Magic destroyed my entire life... But it was the only thing I had left after everything that happened. I don't have the strength, in magic or in mind, to be a Master in the war, but I have no choice in the matter.” Twilight squeezed her fist as she stared at the table, “And while I was dealing with everything going on in the war... You showed up again.”
Twilight took a deep breath and looked back over to her brother, the first time she had looked at him since she started her story. “So that's what you missed... I killed our parents and have been living in misery for the last six years...”
Twilight had difficulty reading Shining's face once the story had finished. If she had to guess, it was a look of shocked indifference, as if it wasn't the worst thing he'd had to listen to in his time away, but it wasn't a story he had ever expected or wanted to hear coming from his baby sister. He just continued to stare with that expression locked to his face for several moments, before a hand come up to his face and he ran his fingers through his hair. He clenched his eyes shut as he lowered his head, just letting everything he'd heard sink in.
“I never should have trusted Mom and Dad...” Shining growled under his breath, hanging his head in anger and shame. “I knew they were Magi... I knew that they wouldn't take me leaving home well but... I thought they'd find another child outside of the family, or just have another one, or something... Anything but...” Shining slammed a fist against the table. “God, DAMMIT!”
Twilight flinched at the slam, but didn't move away from her brother. Shining sucked in a harsh breath, before letting it out slowly. He looked back up at Twilight, his eyes feeling colder than they had just a moment ago.
“I want to say I should have been here for you Twilight... That I'm your older brother, that I should have protected you from them.” Shining put a hand to his face, closing his eyes, “But I made my decision to leave and I can't accept regretting that. To go back on everything I've done to get to this point would throw my entire life into chaos. And I can't do that.
“What I can promise though, is that nothing else will happen to you from now on. I'm going to put an end to this war, and once it's over everything will be better.” A smile finally returned to Shining's face. “You can leave everything to me now, Twilight. You can drop out of the war now, there's no reason for you to fight anymore.”
Twilight quietly shook her head before giving her brother a smile in return. “It's fine Shining. I've already come this far, I can handle the rest just fine. Caster caught me unaware today, but only because I didn't know the full extent of what he was capable of. I do now, so he can't pull the same trick twice.” Twilight looked down at her shoulder, lifting a hand up and touching the command seals that rested there. “Besides, Saber saved my life, and I promised her I would fight alongside her as her Master. So I have no plans of dropping out...” Twilight looked at her brother with a hopeful smile, “But Spike and I have already formed an alliance in the war. If the three of us fought together, we'd defeat all the other Servants and we could end things peacefully and without bloodshed between us.”
Shining's face fell into a serious glare and Twilight's smile hesitated at the look. Her offer had sounded good in her head, but the moment she had extended it, Shining seemed to have gotten angry.
“Twily. I'm telling you to drop out of the war. Now.” He spoke with a commanding voice this time, his words laced with a hint of anger. Twilight raised a hand to her chest defensively, not expecting her brother to be so forceful with her.
“Shining... I-I can't-” Twilight tried to defend herself, but her brother cut her off before she could defend herself.
“Twily, if you continue to be a Master, then that means I have to fight you.” Shining's glare grew more sinister, his teeth baring and his fist tightening, “And if I fight you, I don't care if you're my sister, I'm not going to hold back. Winning this war is too important to let even my family hold me back. If you continue to fight in this war... I will kill you.”
Twilight's eyes widened in shock. She could feel the killing intent in Shining's words. He was deadly serious. It really didn't matter to him that she was his sister, he'd kill her in cold blood to achieve his goals.
That wasn't the brother she remembered. The Shining Armor she remembered was always so kind and gentle, who made time for her no matter how busy his schedule was. She remembered so many times that when she was in trouble or distress, he'd be there to protect her or help her. When she was alone, he would be the one to keep her company. He loved to play games with her, teaching her the rules and how to strategize, and her most beloved memories were playing those games with him.
She saw none of that loving brother before her now. Before her was a man who would gun down Sugarcoat without a morsel of regret for his actions, a man who could say he was going to kill his sister without remorse, a man who had changed so much in the six years he'd been gone.
Twilight was too terrified to speak, to even react. The look in her brother's eyes drove fear into her soul. She clenched the hand at her chest, feeling her body shake from the intimidation. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she'd felt so afraid, not just of losing her life, but of losing the love of someone she cared about.
Archer's hand appeared, placing itself on Shining's shoulder. Shining's glare broke as he turned to look up at his Servant, who was looking down at him with an understanding smile. Shining looked up at her for a few moments, before letting out a sigh and standing up.
“Listen Twily, I don't want to fight you. I want you to give up being a Master and get out of this war as soon as you can.” Shining turned and walked towards the exit of the break room, Archer following suit behind him. He stopped at the door and turned to look back at her. “But you have been warned. If we meet again and you're still a Master, then we will end up fighting. And neither of us will be happy with the outcome.”
With those words, Shining Armor and Archer left, their footsteps echoing loudly down the empty hallway until Twilight couldn't hear them anymore. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding in and lowered her head, running her hands through her bangs.
She had dreamt about reuniting with her brother for so long, but never in her wildest imagination had she imagined it going like that. After being separated for so long, they had been reunited, only to turn into enemies in the same War. Fate had to be playing a cruel trick on her, it was the only explanation. Every Master in the war had some reason for wanting her dead, even Spike was a possible threat until she could determine that he didn't need her for a vessel.
She took in a sharp breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm her beating heart. She couldn't let herself cry. She'd already had a moment of weakness with her brother, there was no reason to let out anymore tears. She could handle this, just like everything else that went wrong in her life.
She turned and looked at Sunny Flare, still resting against the wall of the break room asleep. Before anything else, she needed to figure out what was going to happen to her friend next. She got up from her chair and quickly walked over to her friend, checking once more to make sure she was alright. Then, she picked Sunny up in her arms and closed her eyes, summoning her mana into her command seals.
She didn't need to use a command seal to order Saber to her location, but it did give her a direct link to her Servant. They had probably been looking for her by now, and she didn't want her time with her brother to be interrupted before. Now that he was gone, it was time for them to group back up.
By the time she had navigated her way out of the abandoned factory, Saber, Rider, and Spike were rushing down on her location. She gave them a comforting smile as they approached.
“Twilight! Are you okay!?” Saber spoke up first, rushing up and putting her hand on Twilight's shoulder, “What happened!? Where'd you go!? How'd you get Sunny Flare!?” Her Servant asked each question in rapid succession, trying to process everything she saw at once.
“A lot happened all at once Saber, and I promise I'll explain everything. But first we need to get somewhere safe,” Twilight explained. Saber nodded in agreement and they quickly made their way back to Twilight's house.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When they had arrived back at Twilight's place, they had put Sunny Flare in one of the spare rooms before convening in the living room. Twilight told her friends everything that had happened, about being hypnotized by Assassin's song, Caster's demand for her command seals, Sugarcoat's need for a vessel, her brother showing up with Archer, and him declaring his intentions to fight them.
Once Twilight had finished explaining, everyone was quiet for a moment as they thought about what had happened. Spike was the most pensive while Saber was the most angered over the story.
“Well, the story at least explains everything that happened, especially why Sugarcoat needed Sunny Flare.” Spike crossed his arms as he sat in thought, “And with Archer a more active threat against them now, they likely won't take the initiative in attacking us. It'd be wiser to fortify their defenses first and then make a move after that.”
“I don't like any of this.” Saber growled quietly as she glared at nothing in particular, “Caster has a Servant of his own and Twilight's brother is going to try and kill her? Nothing about this feels right.”
“Regardless of how it feels though, those are the facts of the matter.” Rider chimed in, “The only thing we can do is try and plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
“Rgh!” Saber slammed a fist against the couch, before turning and heading for the kitchen. “I need something to sink my teeth into.”
“Spike...” Twilight asked more timidly than she intended, the green haired boy looking up at her curiously. “I didn't know that we needed a vessel for the grail until Sugarcoat told me... W-What was our plan for a vessel?” She didn't know if Spike was going to be honest with her or not, but she had to know the answer.
“Well that's easy, Grandma said she was going to create a homunculus for me.” Spike smiled like he always did, “It's definitely way easier to have an artificial human as your grail vessel than a real one, though I doubt Caster has the necessary tools to create one with his current set up. I figured regardless of who won between us, that we'd just share that vessel.”
Twilight let out a relieved sigh at his explanation. It actually made sense and he had said it in his usual manner without hesitation or looking wary, so she had every reason to believe him. She was grateful that he wasn't planning on using her as his vessel, and she genuinely felt like she could trust him again. She didn't want Sugarcoat's words to taint her image of Spike.
“Our most immediate problem right now though is Sunny Flare.” Spike said seriously, “Caster kidnapped her from her home, and quite easily too. If we just put her in a hospital or let her go home, then she'll just go straight back into being in danger of being taken until Caster or Sugarcoat is taken out of this war.”
“...What should we do then?” Twilight asked hesitantly, unsure of what Spike had in mind.
“Honestly, the best plan right now would probably be just to keep her under a sleep spell and locked in a guest room.” Spike shrugged at the thought, “We can seal it off so even Caster couldn't detect her in there, and she'd likely be out of harms way even if another Servant did attack the house.”
Twilight bit her bottom lip thinking about the plan. Spike was right, it probably was for the best that Sunny Flare stayed asleep for now. She hated the thought of doing that to her friend though. She wanted Sunny to be in the company of her friends who missed her so much, to know that everything was going to be okay after everything that had happened.
“That's our only option then?” Twilight asked hesitantly, unsure of what else they could do.
“...Well, we could take her to the church and have Sombra watch after her,” Twilight could feel her skin prickle at Spike's suggestion. “Or we could let her be awake but under mind control so that she can wander the house and interact with us, but not be aware of the magic going on and staying out of trouble.” Twilight couldn't help but shake her head at that option as well. “Or we could just let her go home and kind of just hope for the best.”
“So keeping her asleep in a guest room really is the best option...” Twilight sighed running a hand through her bangs as she closed her eyes, “I hate keeping her here like she's a prisoner though...”
“I know Twi, but I promise, we'll take care of Caster as quickly as we can and then Sunny Flare can go home safe and sound.” Spike offered with a comforting smile. Twilight could only return it with a small smile herself.
“It's well past midnight at this point, and after what Twilight went through, I think it's time she got some rest.” Saber spoke up, returning from the kitchen. Twilight blinked in surprise at the suggestion.
“Yes, even I think that's for the best.” Rider nodded her head in agreement. “Spike and I can take care of the night watch to see if Starlight or Berserker intend to make any moves, and you two should continue to rest.”
“A-Are you sure?” Twilight asked hesitantly, fully aware that Spike and Rider must have been up for most of the day already, either with guarding the house, healing Saber, or looking for her.
“Rider doesn't exactly need sleep, and I've got the fortitude of a dragon.” Spike said proudly as he put a hand to his chest, “Don't worry about us. You need to be in top-shape to fight in the war, so you should take this time to rest. We've got you covered.”
“If... If you're really sure about that.” Twilight said not completely convinced. She had already done so much sleeping for the war, she felt bad doing more of it and leaving so much more work to Spike and Rider.
“Come on Twi, lets head up to bed.” Saber said placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Twilight looked up to see the smile on Saber's face and couldn't help but feel a blush form on her cheeks. Her resistance crumbled and she gave a slight nod, getting up from her seat on the couch and following Saber upstairs.
She checked up on Sunny first, seeing her friend still sound asleep and tucked under the covers of her guest bed. She looked peaceful now, resting comfortably rather than being tied up and hung against a wall somewhere. She knew better than to assume she was dreaming, magic induced sleep was more akin to anesthesia than normal rest, so when Sunny awoke she wouldn't have any clue how much time had passed.
Twilight ran a hand gently across Sunny's bangs, moving them out of her eyes. The girl didn't even register her touch, and Twilight let out a soft sigh. She hated to do this, but she knew this was the best for Sunny at the moment. She then placed her hand against Sunny's forehead, channeled her mana, and recast the sleeping spell on Sunny.
She could feel the remaining twinge of Caster's magic inside Sunny, but it didn't fight Twilight as she cast her spell. If she had to guess, there was enough magic in the spell for Sunny to sleep three days as it was now. It'd be easy enough to undo the sleeping spell once all of this had passed over, so for now Sunny was safe.
With her friend's comfort taken care of, she stepped out of the guest room, closed the door, and enhanced the sealing wards on the room. The whole house was protected from foreign magic, but now Sunny's room had an extra layer of thick protection.
That covered everything she needed to do to ensure Sunny's protection. Knowing her friend was safe, she stepped further down the hall and entered her room, finding Saber staring out the window to the backyard. Her leather jacket was gently placed against the end of the bed, but she hadn't changed for sleeping yet.
“Assassin's song wasn't traditional magic, was it?” Saber asked, not breaking her gaze from the window, “To break through the wards of the house without setting them off, that would mean there was more to it than we'd think.”
“If I had to guess, it had some hypnotic effect based on the singing alone.” Twilight shook her head as she undid her ponytail, letting her hip length hair fall to her waist. “Once I was out of range of the house I could tell magic was added, but before I even realized what was happening, I was completely enthralled.”
“A siren's song...” Saber muttered quietly as she put a hand to her chin, “That drastically narrows down the list of candidates of who Assassin could be. There aren't many heroes who can hypnotize with their voice alone, even fewer who can then add magic to their lyrics.”
“Saber...” Twilight spoke up quietly, approaching her Servant, “Are you okay?”
“Huh?” Saber broke from her thoughts, looking at Twilight confused, “What do you mean?”
“Did Spike finish healing you? You were injured so badly, and then I suddenly disappeared...” Twilight gripped her arm as she looked away ashamed, “I just... I didn't know if you'd had the chance to fully recover or not.”
“Oh, that.” Saber turned back to looking out the window. “I'll admit... I'm not back at a hundred percent yet. I can still feel several tendrils of Caster's mana squirming around in my body, but it's nothing I can't manage. Even if I stayed in Spike's healing cocoon, it wouldn't heal me all that much faster. What I really need is to just relax and rest up...” Saber paused at her words, mulling them over.
Twilight tilted her head curiously at Saber, still worried, but curious as to what she was thinking about.
“Twilight... How about tomorrow, we take the day off?” Saber gave Twilight a comforting a smile, “Just... Let's forget about the war for a day and just spend the day relaxing and resting. We could even go on that date Flash has been pestering you about.”
“Huh?” Twilight blinked in confusion, uncertain she had heard Saber right. “You... YOU, want to take the day off from the War?”
“A lot has happened in the last week Twi, both of us could use some rest.” Saber crossed her arms as she spoke with a smile, “I need to still recover from Caster's magic, you've been stressed out and hurt several times. We can go to the heart of Canterlot where it's the busiest and just spend the day there. No Master or Servant will bother us, and with everything we've learned about the other participants, I doubt they would do anything to stop us.”
“Saber?” Twilight hesitated, feeling a weird disconnect from Saber's words and her emotions, “Are you... Are you sure that's what you want to do?”
“I think that'd be in the best interest for all of us.” Saber nodded. “The war is taking so much out of us, that we could use just one day like that. For me to recover, for you to rest, and I'm sure Spike would enjoy the time off too. So let's do it.”
Twilight felt a little uncertain. Saber had been the one who had been pushing to continue the war so hard in the first place, and now here she was saying they should take a break from it. The war wouldn't just stop for them to take a day off either, but she did have a point that none of the other Masters or Servants would dare to try anything in broad daylight or in a huge public area.
She also couldn't deny that another day away from the war would be wonderful. They had gone to the party, but everything since then had just been one thing right after another. And now with her brother thrown into the mix, she didn't know what was going on inside her head.
“Alright...” Twilight finally agreed, though somewhat reluctantly, “We'll take tomorrow off from the war and spend it having fun.”
“Good.” Saber seemed to physically relax once Twilight had agreed, a smile on her face. “You can ask Flash tomorrow if he's available to hang out with us. If nothing else that'll at least satisfy his need for a date until the war is over.” She walked over and gently patted Twilight on the shoulder before walking past to get the pajamas Twilight had lent her.
Twilight had an uneasy feeling about Saber's words. It didn't feel like Saber actually wanted to take the time off from the war, but rather was forcing herself to. As if she wasn't making the decision for her own benefit, but for the benefit of those around her.
If that really was the case, then Twilight was going to do her best to make sure that Saber had fun tomorrow. Something was bothering Saber, though she didn't know what yet, and she was going to do her best to make things right.
She owed at least that much to Saber.
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verry good chapte
Hooo boy...that's...that's rough.
Saved by her brother and reunited after seven years, and he labels her as a foe and parts with a death warning.
Damnit, Shining, she's not the enemy! This doesn't sit easy with me.
"seconds"
"now"
Not sure if this was an accidental or purposeful slip of the "sunset".
7476241
Certainly can't go giving Twilight any easy breaks there, now can I? Hehe
Also fixed all those errors, thanks for catching them
hmmm is it bad i kind of want something bad to happen to shiny that put him out of combat and he transfer the seal to twilight and archer help her out as well......
So. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Sunset. Star Swirl, Aria, and Cadance. And White skin, purple eyed Berserker (...Celestia?... No that'd be too weird... Hmm...). Is that everyone?
Also, Twilight and Spike versus Sugarcoat (who seems to have just shattered at the introduction of magic) versus Glimmer (who's seems Joker level crazy) versus Shiny? (...questionable... I don't think he'll actually be able to go through with his threat...) versus Star Swirl? (seems like that's cheating. Or he's lying and he's just controlling Aria's master) versus whoever has Rainbow Dash (someone without an 'S' name hopefully). Again, do I have everyone?
Like I wrote, I don't think Shiny will end up hurting Twily. Maybe try at Sunset though... *sigh* I agree with the below comment about Shiny getting knocked out. Though I think RD is the more likely of candidate for Twilight to earn her loyalty. (I hope! Main characters shouldn't kill eachother! :D)
Anyway this sounds like a very interesting matchup! Keep up the goodness!
7511883
You've pretty much got everything hit on the head there! Glad you're enjoying the story~
I hope I can continue to delight and surprise you through the rest of it as well
So Shining is the Hero of Justice and Twilight is Ayaka. It fits very well... and there's no way it could end well for either of them.
It did seem a bit abrupt to people who aren't familiar with Shirou's Hero of Justice thing though...
Binge read chapters 3-8 in a single sitting, I can't wait for more
7720949
Hopefully you won't have to wait too long, I really do want to get back to updating this fic!
She could feel it's heat wanting to set
She felt a spell and it's purpose came to
the agony that was making it's way across her back
1. Its.
2. Its.
3. Its.