towerofanimus | arrival

Entry tags:

arrival | open

Characters: Sakura Matou and YOU
Setting: Dorm Floors, Library, and Cafeteria though meeting her in between floors works as well.
Format: Action, while I can do prose it takes me longer
Summary: Sakura arrives, becomes confused, and then becomes even MORE confused after meeting the people she meets. And then she solves her problems with cooking. That's legit, right?
Warnings: None for the actual post but I know the thread between her and Rin is probably going to get violent. I'll add more if needed.

[Dormitory Floors]

[ After arriving and eating her god awful oatmeal, Sakura enters room 1-01 to find her things and take stock of everything that she's arrived with in her trunk. Not a lot, but it's still comforting to find that she has some things from home. After perhaps talking with a few roommates, she exits her room and wanders on the other dorm floors, mostly to try to find anyone she knows. Particularly Senpai, Nee-san, or Rider, but for some reason she has a feeling that they aren't here. ]

[Library]

[ While she's not a book worm by any means, she knows that being here without any knowledge is a bad idea. Sakura's a smart girl so she hits the books, trying to flip through and find any information about where she's stuck at.

Of course, she's not having much of any luck. ]

[Cafeteria]

[ After all of that, she decides to relax a bit by cooking a meal later in the day. Fried rice is on the menu, served over the best cuts of fish she could find in the Tower's stock with tons of veggies and other goodies stuffed into the rice. She's even cooked a sauce with a bit of spice to it to serve over it. She made enough for multiple people, and she doesn't particularly care who comes to eat, so feel free to serve yourself and join her for a meal. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No! No, that's not it at all!

[ She's about to say that she's happy to see her, but that doesn't quite fit either. Sakura's happy to see Rin, but not with that hair and those eyes. ]

Then don't make assumptions about what is easier on me.

[ Really, it isn't Sakura she's angry at. She thinks back on Jason, Ruana, and the other fools who run this tower of souls. Bringing in those from worlds that should never exist in the first place.

This is somehow their doing. Was it because they heard the words she whispered to Saber about destroying them that they've brought something along to distract her? ]

Ugh, this is a headache. Seeing you like that seriously pisses me off.

I'm sorry, that isn't what I meant. I just want to help.

[ Sakura isn't even aware of all of the details of the tower quite yet so she has no idea how to relate to what Rin's feeling. She feels like she's becoming a broken record, unable to say something that means anything. ]

Help.

[ The word calms her down. Snaps her from something that's within reach and brings back towards the same ground which Sakura stands. ]

If you wanted to help, you, you wouldn't look that way. You aren't supposed to, you know. [ Everything comes out wrong, but Rin was rarely tactful with her words when stirred. ]

I can't do anything about the way I look. And I don't blame you, either! We were children, Nee-san!

[ Honestly, it made Sakura a little upset to be thought of like that. She thought the Matou blood might bring the two together, but maybe it's only serving to force them apart.

Does a tragedy have to happen to force these two to see eye to eye? ]

Maybe they just gave you the wrong body.

[ So long as this tower gives her reason to doubt what she sees with her eyes, then she'll grab a hold of it. ]

Yeah, that makes sense. They just placed you in the wrong body and it just needs to be straightened out. [ It doesn't strike her that she's speaking "jibberish" to someone who fails to understand. ]

[ It's a good thing that Sakura's trained herself to keep her emotions on a tight leash. ]

Do... Do you hate me because I look like this? I wouldn't blame you. But even if you do hate me, I won't ever hate you in return.

No, I don't hate you. [ Her temper flares slightly at the thought. Isn't what she's saying meant to be that of a loving sister? ] We're family, just...

[ Just not in this way. She can't settle with confirmation that there's a world where her little sister went through that. Everyone spoke of this world, one where Rin had hair as dark as the sky and goals as admirable as the heroes they called to fight at their side. Such a place could never exist in her mind, but here Sakura is instead. ]

It's alright. [ Taking a deep breath, she holds it far longer than necessary. ] I'll do what's right to fix this. That's my responsibility.

I'm safe and healthy. There is nothing to fix.

[ To Sakura, her pain is her own, and while she should feel grateful, instead she feels something that's a mix of guilt and annoyance. Sakura wasn't proud of anything she had done. She wasn't proud of her hair or her eyes, but it was all part of her. She had done her best in learning how to accept it, why couldn't anyone else? ]

No, it can be fixed. It will be fixed.

[ The thought of harming Sakura is drowned out by the end result. If she destroys this body enough, then the administrators will have no choice but to return her to the right one.

Isn't this the job for a Servant?

It doesn't cross her mind for more than a second. Allowing her blood to spill on the hands of another? No, everything she's done she's done for Sakura Tohsaka.

All she needs to do is make it brief. No matter who witnesses it, let the other inhabitants here who happen upon the scene see with their own eyes why no one should bear arm up against her. ]

Sorry Sakura, I'll make it quick.

[ At first, Sakura has no idea what Rin could be talking about. But then, the word quick... she wanted to kill her?

Well, it couldn't be helped. Sakura couldn't count the number of times when she had wished for Rin Tohsaka's death. Wasn't this the same thing?

So instead of trying to run away, Sakura closes her eyes calmly, trusting in her Nee-san's words. ]

[ Rather the opposite. All Rin's suffering was for her sister and to see that it was for naught? That alone was enough to eliminate any concern in her mind. What was right. What was wrong. The ideals held no distinction and morals muddled with failures as she raises a hand.

An appropriate death, she thinks. From the ashes her sister will be reborn in her proper body, one free of the crest worms and of Zouken Matou. Flame dances around her fingers with an incantation spoken softly under her breath, the crackling enough to drown out the sound of anything else, as a wall of inferno speeds towards her. Hot enough to make the paint curl up on the walls and certainly hot enough to be felt under the soles of Rin's own shoes. ]

[Luck would have it that Saber was nearby when this occurred. Being as in tune to the certain feel of her master's prana and that of Rin, she knew they were together. And then she felt something else and reacted.

A black form, almost a shadow one could say, burst past Sakura and placed itself between her and the incoming flame. Black armor, visor down, and uncaring about the fire as it washed over her, Saber blocked her master from the fiery death Rin intended for her. The knight's armor didn't even sizzle with the Magic Resistance she possessed.

Her sword wasn't drawn nor was there any killing intent, but Saber was Not a Happy Camper.]

I thought I made it very clear to you that I would not allow you to kill Sakura.

[ Sakura had already braced herself for impact. Saber's voice jerked her back into reality. ]

Saber, wait, please don't...

[ She wants to say "please don't kill her" but she feels her tongue go limp and useless. She had failed. Again. ]

Tch, Saber.

[ Snuffing out the flame within the palm of her hand by clamping her fingers down into a fist, she glares through the smoke at the figure in black. ]

It doesn't count in this tower as a death, so killing her is natural. I'll do it over and over again until she's actually Sakura. You can thank me once my work here is complete.

It is Sakura. My Master. Did you forget the Second Magic, Rin?

I will make this very clear. If you harm her, it does not matter the moments you and I have - I will take your head. Do not make me do this.

[And still she did not summon her sword.]

[ This is all because of her. All of this fighting... she had ruined the relationship that Saber and Rin had by just existing. She couldn't talk Rin out of whatever she was feeling nor could she tell Saber that she was absolutely forbidden to kill Rin. ]

I don't... Please don't do this.

[ No, of course she hasn't forgotten. Being forced to see something that she knew exists, to see her sister as damaged as she, was too cruel even by this tower's standards.

Saber's Master.

At least now she knew the side which she stood by and that was enough to encourage her to pursue this. Ignoring Sakura (because if she starts to listen now, the frightened part of her will influence the decision already made), she shook her head as though to dismiss them both. ]

I'm not harming her. [ Vague enough to not clue in Sakura, but she knows that Saber knows. ] I'm only fixing it. A temporary bit of pain, but in the end it'll be better for us all.

So stand back Saber before I'm forced to involve you anymore than I have to.

You cannot fix her, no more than I can be fixed the same way. Do you think I would wake as the silver knight? No more than she will wake as the one you want.

This is the same way she will wake if you follow through. I say again, do not make me do this, Rin. We have talked about this before. This is the line I will not allow you to cross. And you know it.

[ As much as she wants to yell out that she isn't worth this, she stays quiet, unable to breathe or even blink, much less think about running away. Is destruction the only thing that Sakura will ever be able to create? ]

[ Would they awaken? Has Saber ever died? These are the thoughts that stand out in her mind as she stares the two down. Sakura no longer speaks--it's because she knows what her sister says is a truth that can't be disputed, right? ]

I'll fix you both.

[ That's what her role was before in the other world. She's been told by others of the things she's done, so she'll do them. ]

Once I do that I can prove to Archer that what I'm doing is right. [ Her sense long gone, replaced by something else, she takes a step towards them. ] Sakura, you should tell your Servant to stand down. Not that I'm scared of having to fight one, but delaying the inevitable is a chore.

You cannot 'fix' anything, Rin Matou. Matou magi cannot create; they only destroy.

[When Rin takes that step forward, Excalibur comes to Saber's hand, though the blade is obscured by the swirling dark prana that the Invisible Wind is while corrupt.]

Ask yourself this: Do we want to be 'fixed'?

[ There's a truth in Saber's words that allow Sakura to speak again. ]

I promise that I'm alright. I've even been freed of the crest worms.

I can't blame you if you want to hurt me, but all I want is for Saber and Nee-san to be safe. Don't you wish for a peaceful life as well, Nee-san? If I'm able to, I'd like to make your life as happy here as I can for as long as I'm able to, even if that is selfish of me.

[ It takes a tiny fraction of a second for Archer to start moving to her side when he feels Rin's prana expand for the attack, and an even tinier fraction of a second for him to start cursing himself for not arriving there immediately. For letting them be separated at all.

At least everyone's still alive when he gets there, but he doesn't consider that reason to forgive himself.

There's a blur right behind Rin; a dark hand flickers to her pale neck; and she abruptly collapses. But she doesn't land on the floor. She lands in Archer's arms. ]

That's my job, Sakura Matou. Yours is to stay away from your sister. You might not have noticed, but she's a little bit mad.

[ She knows that voice, alright. Sakura stares daggers into Saber's back, hoping that Archer can feel her from behind her servant. ]

How can you expect to help her when you can't understand her?

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