towerofanimus | (no subject)

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Characters: Irisviel von Einzbern & YOU!
Setting: Room 01-01 -> Meadow -> Library
Format: Action, but I'll match!
Summary: Another awakening in the tower. Confusion and many tearful and angsty reunions and meetings are had.
Warnings: Spoilers for the end of Fate/Zero. Also angst. Lots of angst.

[Room 01-01]

[It was a strange thing, feeling your consciousness returning to you after you accepted your death. The last thing Irisviel remembered was the feeling of drowning, of suffocating, of being dragged by cold, clammy hands into an inky, muddy blackness that she knew she could not escape. This was her fate. There was something so wrong about this dark, evil feeling surrounding her, but she could do nothing to fight against it. She could only accept it.

But then the strangest thing happened: she opened her eyes. She took in the sight of surroundings she had most certainly never seen before. She couldn't move, but that didn't faze her one bit - she had been completely immobile since she had given Avalon to Kiritsugu.

... And then another strange thing happened. There was a slight tingling sensation, and then all of a sudden... she could feel the soft surface of the bed under her. She could feel the material of her clothes clinging to her. Slowly, with an expression that certainly appears to be disbelief, she raises a hand, and slowly curls it into a tight fist. There was strength in this movement. But how...?

Any roommates already in the room are free to call her out on her behavior. Any roommates that walk in at a later time will see her up and out of bed, slowly stretching and looking extremely surprised at being able to do so.]

[Floor 25]

[Irisviel isn't really doing anything on this floor. She's simply wandering about, sleeves of her shirt rolled up and thigh-high boots abandoned back near the stairs, humming softly to herself. There's still a bit of tension in the way she carries herself, but the more time she spends here, the more relaxed she seems.]

[Floor 4]

[There is a lady sitting at one of the computer terminals! A very pretty lady. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Nah, not really, except the look of absolute confusion on her face. It's likely that she knows what the device in front of her is, judging by the way she taps away at a few of the keys, but when nothing happens, she looks almost amusingly panicked.]

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Something like that.

[He shrugs with an exaggerated lack of care.]

The Second Magic has never been my area of expertise, so I wouldn't know. Maybe there really were a million worlds out there, and all of them except this one have been destroyed.

[His grin is more than a little vicious.]

That'd be something, wouldn't it? Well, for you, maybe it's for the best. I doubt you had much of a future waiting for you in your world. Call it a hunch.

Your hunch would be correct.

[She doesn't shy away from mentions of her own death, as harsh or mocking as they may be. It was something she had to learn to accept, something that had long since stopped bothering her.]

Perhaps I should be thankful towards the people who brought us here, then... not many people get a second chance like this.

What a thing to call this place.

[And his almost-sneer mutes into a neutral, cold expression.

--honestly, it's remarkably like her husband's expressions when he was busy killing his heart for the sake of his dream.]

A second chance. Does that mean you're just going to stay on this floor and delude yourself?

You haven't been given a second chance, Einzbern creature; you've been sent to Hell.

[Irisviel can only stare in silence for a moment, because she most certainly recognizes that expression on this Servant's face. It's... almost eerie how like her husband this man looks at this moment, and the surprise at that is quite clear on her face.]

... No, of course not. [The surprise fades into a frown. His words hurt, of course, but... she was used to people talking about her that way. The Einzberns weren't exactly subtle with how they treated their homunculi like the tools they thought they were.]

Acting that way would be foolish. I merely hope to make the best of a bad situation.

[He meets her stare without flinching. He's not in doubt; he's certain that it's wrong for her to be this at peace with herself. She is a tool created by the most ruthless of ancient families, slated for use and disposal. That's her destiny, even if this tower has distorted it.

A person who cannot be saved should not be content. He can't put up with one who is.]

I see. You must be used to that. Are you expecting anyone to defend you, though?

Certainly not. I may not seem it, but I'm perfectly capable of defending myself. [Her voice is firm, showing off just a hint of her inner strength.] I refuse to let anyone - especially the ones that brought us here - see me as weak.

Oh?

I wonder if you could defend yourself, if a Servant attacked you.

[Apparently, her inner strength only makes him mad.]

No normal magus's strength is enough to defeat a Servant, but I will still defend myself if I must.

How fortunate that I have no intention of attacking you.

--for me, at least.

[He doesn't know the half of it, judging by his continued smirk.]

It would be a pain to clean up the blood. For you it might be a mercy.

Edited 2012-11-13 03:11 (UTC)

[It's amazing how neutral the woman's expression remains even as he blatantly talks about killing her, but... there you go.]

A mercy? What makes you say that? If you know of the Einzbern homunculi, then you know our purpose. And if you know that, then you must know that my current status means I haven't fully reached the end of my purpose.

[He pauses at that. The truth is, he doesn't really know all that much about the Einzbern homunculi--only that they were created as disposable tools to help that family in its quest for the Grail, and that somehow their bodies had something to do with that Grail. Ilya was never forthcoming with details, so he had to pick them up elsewhere, and if greater hints were dropped, he's forgotten them, as he's forgotten so much. But naturally, he can't let on that he doesn't really have the knowledge to back up his cruel confidence.]

You wish to fulfill your purpose for those who would only use you? Wouldn't it be better to deny it to them...?

I see, you're even more pathetic than I thought.

Call me what you wish, but... many people see the same things in different ways, yes? What I must do is a necessary sacrifice for the greater good. If it means that I can ensure the safety of my family... there's nothing I wouldn't do.

[She said she fought for Kiritsugu's ideals, but that's really not true. She honestly couldn't understand the way her dear husband worked sometimes... but the methods weren't the most important thing. It was the outcome.]

[The way she words it makes him frown for a moment. To embrace without hesitation "a necessary sacrifice for the greater good"--he knows that attitude, certainly. It's the one he carried for most of his life. But more than that--]

"Your family."

A strange thing to call the people who use you.

[Because she means the Einzberns, obviously. Who else could it be?]

[She shakes her head.]

Not the Einzberns. They are my family, but not the ones I fight for. I mean my husband and daughter.

[A clear hesitation, now, on his part. She means a true family, and suddenly he's not sure he can dismiss her so cavalierly. Because isn't that--not such a bad thing to fight for?

(Isn't that what he would have liked to have been fighting for? No, he can't go there. He can't admit that. Not yet. Maybe not ever.)

Then he closes off his face again like her husband always used to. One thing's obvious already, though: he's not as good at it as Kiritsugu.]

Those seem like strange things for someone like you to have.

[And she... just laughs softly. It's not harsh, and has no hints of anything negative, really.]

It is strange, isn't it? Even I think so. But even if you call it that... it doesn't really change anything. Even if I call it strange, it still doesn't change the fact that I love those two with all my heart, and I will do anything to ensure that they're happy.

[Even if Kiritsugu's happiness hurts him... it won't stop her from thinking that he deserves it.]

Edited 2012-11-14 23:05 (UTC)

[For a moment, he looks surprised.

Then he just looks annoyed. Well, mostly annoyed--and something kind of darker.]

You said anything.

[There's something altogether too broken in his eyes as he continues to speak. As if he knows perfectly well that what he's asking is something beyond his own power--]

Then would you fight your purpose and live, for their sake? Here, or anywhere else. It shouldn't matter, if you love them that much, right?

[... It's a difficult thing to ask. For her, for Kiritsugu... everything depended on obtaining the Holy Grail. And for that to happen, she needed to die. So... she never really let herself think of any alternatives.

But this was all hypothetical, right? There's no harm in indulging in that.]

If it was possible... I would. There's nothing I'd love more than to spend time with my loved ones without knowing I'll one day be parted with them.

But I couldn't do that. I couldn't let my husband suffer knowing I - we - chose personal happiness over the happiness and safety of the entire world.

You and your husband thought the Grail would save the world, huh?

[Her serenity goads him on. He's still calm, still casually dismissive, but that something darker hovers underneath his words...]

Man. He must've been some idiot.

Edited 2012-11-15 20:16 (UTC)

[Having to explain her husband's motives like this, the way he worked... it almost seemed familiar, didn't it?]

He was a man who fought for most of his life trying protect others. But it was too much, even for one who would sacrifice anything to achieve that goal... the only way he could protect everyone would be to prevent fighting and bloodshed in the first place. Doing such a thing would normally be impossible... but that was where the Holy Grail came in.

Kiritsugu Emiya's wish was for peace. For a world where conflict will never break out again. Is that truly something to look down on?

What a stupid wish.

[She said a name.]

In the first place, it's not one that could ever be granted.

[She said a name. It's funny, but he didn't hear the name.]

To create a world without conflict, one would have to...

[She said a name, and he's just not as good at denial as he once was. He slowly trails off.]

Kiritsugu Emiya's wish...?

["To eliminate humanity", is what he was going to say, wasn't it? She heard that same like from Kotomine, when he questioned her on Kiritsugu's wish. She was about to ask him that, but... there was something off about this. About his reaction.]

You.... do you know him...?

[A look of confusion crosses her face at that. Maiya was her husband's only accomplice before the War, right? So who could he be...?]

...I didn't know he had a wife.

[Or a daughter, for that matter. In fact, he'd never heard Kiritsugu's ideals described this way before. "Saving everyone you can see," that's different than removing all conflict from the world, isn't it? Isn't it?

But he knows it isn't. Because he's come to the same conclusion himself, even if he's well aware that it's a foolish one.]

Well, it might sound strange. But I am...

[The look Archer is giving Irisviel is utterly unlike the disdainful gazes and strangely familiar expressions of cold calculation he's fixed on her so far. It's openly pained, almost grief-stricken.]

...a follower of Kiritsugu's ideals.

[If he ever intended to name himself as anything else, he swallows the words before they can emerge.]

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