♟ 001 ♟ In the Tower With Kariya

[vermicompost]

Characters: Kariya and OPEN
Setting: various
Format: either
Summary: Kariya's arrival in the Tower
Warnings: blood, possible body horror


Dormitories:
It's confusing, arriving here. This place, the letters, they're alarming. How could the world be destroyed? Where's Sakura? Where's Aoi? Kariya's heartbeat is accelerated, his breathing harsh and quick. His own agitation agitates the worms within him. In this state, it's difficult for him to walk, let alone make his way through an entirely new, strange environment, but he does his best. At times, he staggers and coughs, or stumbles to one side, disoriented. He has to pause to rest, more than once. Blood flecks his lips, gathering at the corners of his mouth and sliding down over his chin.

"Berserker, Berserker..." He calls out now and then as he goes, but no one comes to his call.


Cafeteria:
He managed to make his way down to the cafeteria. Sitting at the table, he gazes down at his oatmeal he was given, mournfully. He's not very hungry. He tries to eat it, but even just the plain oatmeal is difficult for him to choke down. It takes him a few tries, but he takes his time. When he pauses to cough, he wipes up the scattered bits of oatmeal flecking the table, a little embarrassed.


Infirmary:
The medical facility looks promising, but Kariya isn't sure if they have anything there he can use. He doesn't know if there's any medicine in existence that can help him. He'd like to try, but he doesn't want to risk disturbing the worms further. It's hard to say how they'll react to any stimulus. Much of his life has become a matter of worm management. He walks in slowly, quietly. "Hello, is anyone here?"


Meadow:
After wandering restlessly, at last Kariya settles himself, all but spent, exhausted from his wandering. He sinks down among the flowers with a sigh. When he focuses his gaze on the blooms, he feels more content, calmer than he was before. The flowers are lovely and fragrant, the petals soft and colorful. He just wants to rest a little while...

Comments

[scorchedchivalry]

Saber's eyes do not move from him as he pleads for her to leave him alone. There was a burning rage in her chest that begged to be unleashed upon him. This man was the reason she had lost the chance to say goodbye to one dear to her. He in his desperation had prematurely snuffed out what Saber had come to see as the only light in the Fourth War.

She advanced on him with purpose.

"It would not be a fight. I need not even draw my blade to snap your neck."

[vermicompost]

He took another step back.

Fighting at this point would be worse than futile, but the worms were already stirring within him, making his lips curl into a grimace as they all but buzzed inside his body. He tasted the blood pouring from between his lips, more of it now. He could try to fight, even though there was no way he could win against a Servant. It would hurt, he knew.

"No, I don't--" He shook his head. "Please don't." He couldn't say what her anger was for, unless it was because he was an enemy Master. They'd had little to do with each other. The only Servant he truly cared about fighting was Tokiomi's Archer. Everything else would just be a way to win the Grail.

[scorchedchivalry]

The black knight did not stop. She ignored Kariya's words as she steadily closed in on him. Oh, how she wanted to snap his neck, to avenge Irisviel, and eliminate yet another potential opponent in this upcoming War.

It almost didn't matter that death wasn't permanent here.

When she got close enough, Saber moved quickly, trying to grab him about the neck so she could lift him off the ground and hold him against the wall.

[vermicompost]

Kariya couldn't help himself. His stomach felt as if a fist had closed on it, contracting suddenly, and he vomited up a spray of blood and worms, leaning down as he retched painfully. The worms fell to the ground, writhing in the dark liquid.

He didn't see himself as Saber's opponent. He was, he knew, but not directly. It was Berserker who was interested in facing off against Saber. Kariya's real opponents were Tokiomi and Zouken, the ones he held responsible for Sakura's predicament. It would be preferable if he only had to fight Tokiomi.

Kariya knew next to nothing about the tower, having just arrived. He had no knowledge of the fact that death wasn't permanent there. As far as he knew, this was like some bizarre state of the War in which he had lost his Servant, and he was actually going to die. Tears stung his eyes as the flow of blood from his mouth abated. It wasn't for his own sake that he felt sorry. "Sakura..."

[scorchedchivalry]

As those wretched creatures spread across the floor at Saber's feet, her blackened armor materialized about her, the dark prana swirling about her as she brought her foot down to stamp them out of existence. She grabbed Kariya and wrenched him upright, holding him, so he would meet her eyes.

"What of Sakura? Answer me if you wish to live."

As much as she wanted to crush him for Irisviel, her priorities were to her master.

[vermicompost]

Most of the worms died beneath Saber's foot, but several that had been scattered far still lived, a few of them unfurling wings.

Kariya met Saber's gaze, though her grip pained him, as did the worms still moving within him. His eyes registered surprise. He didn't understand why she was asking about Sakura. What did she know or care about the girl who was so important to him?

"Sakura, I just--" It was difficult for him to talk, like this, but he tried to force the words out. "--don't want to fail her. If I die..."

[scorchedchivalry]

Saber cared nothing for the ones taking wing. They would either seek out Rin, return to Kariya or be burned up by Saber's prana if they tried to attack her. Her focus was on him and what he was trying to say.

"Continue. If you die what?" For she knew Kariya was already dead.

[vermicompost]

The worms didn't try to fight right away. Like their master, they were too misdirected, too confused. They needed his will to guide them. They nonetheless moved through the air, their humming insistent, though they were ineffective.

"If I die, I'll let her down. I have to fight for her," he said. He kept talking, in spite of the pain. He didn't know why she was asking, but he didn't care. What he was saying was the truth, and it meant everything to him. "If I win, she'll be free. That's why--I can't die."

In spite of how foolish and futile it was, the Blade Wing Worms suddenly swept in in unison, dive-dombing Saber, as a sudden will to fight and wish to live moved them.

[scorchedchivalry]

Letting go, Saber released Kariya and let him drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Her hand came up to swat the worms down without much effort.

"Your fate has already been determined." He was already dead. He failed.

"Do you wish to live, Matou magus?" If it was truly for Sakura...

[vermicompost]

Kariya fell to his knees, and the worms died as Saber struck them.

"No, I don't believe that. Fate isn't determined." Or so he wanted to believe. He knew not even Zouken thought he could win, but he would. It didn't matter what anyone else said.

He nodded, still on his hands and knees, kneeling in his own blood. "I want to live, for her sake. But I'm not a Matou magus. Don't call me that." He was only doing any of this for her. He'd never wanted to be a Matou, or a magus.

[scorchedchivalry]

"Yours is." Saber's eyes darken as she looks down at Kariya, the tainted energy swirling about her. It was hard to control when she was so, so angry.

"You bear the worms. Whether you call yourself one or not, you are a magus of the Matou. I know them well." Were it not for her wish to not sully her blade with the worms, she would have Excalibur at Kariya's throat.

"If you want to live, you will seek Ruler out. She is the Overseer. Beg her for protection as you would the Church and I will let you live. Refuse and I swear I will see you dead the next time we meet. Know that you do not deserve the mercy I am showing you."

[vermicompost]

"No, it isn't," he continues to protest, although she doesn't even know what she means, what his fate is supposed to be, according to her. It doesn't sound good.

"I'm just--I'm nothing to them. I only used the worms for Sakura." He won't acknowledge himself as one of them, even if he is.

"Ruler--?" He's confused, as this wasn't something he'd heard about. "I will, I'll seek her out, but I don't know who she is or how I can find her. Why, why do you say I don't deserve it?" He didn't understand why she was so wrathful toward him.

[scorchedchivalry]

"Ruler is the Servant the Holy Grail chose to act as the Church did when it deemed the Church too corrupt to act as Overseer." Kotomine's fault. Clearly. "She is neutral and will protect you as she does any Servantless Master that begs it of her. I will stay my hand if she stands between you and I."

For a moment, the killing intent from Saber was intense as Kariya asked that question. She almost wasn't able to reign it back in, so intense was her rage. "Because of Irisviel von Einzbern. Do not deny your responsibility."

She turned and started to walk away. "Ruler is your only hope of living past this moment, Master of Berserker."

[vermicompost]

"The Church was corrupt?" asked Kariya, wondering, speaking as much to himself as her. "I didn't know the Grail could do that." But then, there were a lot of things he didn't know, about the Grail, about magecraft.

"Because of von Einzbern?" He couldn't understand it. "But I have nothing to do with her." As far as he's concerned, he'd rather avoid the other masters, Tokiomi aside. Yes, Tokiomi he wants to kill, but the others are just obstacles that can be gone around instead of through. Why would she be angry at him because of Irisviel von Einzbern?

He remembers what she said about his fate and feels cold.

[scorchedchivalry]

"You had everything to do with her."

Saber paused and partially turned her head back toward Kariya. "Find Ruler. Quickly."

She then left him there and set off to find some monster that might actually be a challenge. She needed to work the rage off until she could control it again. Knowing Kariya was in the tower made it so, so easy to give in and cleave his head from his body. The level of restraint she was using then, because of his dedication to Sakura, was becoming severely strained.

[vermicompost]

"No, I..." He still didn't know what she was talking about. Why would he have done something to her? What did Saber think he'd done? She couldn't be right. He only wanted to win. He didn't want to become a monster, to hurt anyone needlessly.

He felt sick, coughing up another small amount of blood, then wiping it away. His fear made the worms stir.

"I'll find her. I will!"

Not for his own sake but for Sakura's, he had to keep living.