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

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?

[Saber automatically tenses when she feels a Servant arrive. Of course, it was Archer and she was half-expecting him to attack. After all, his master had been on the attack. For that reason, Saber doesn't lower her sword at all.]

Your job is to serve her, Archer. Sakura has lived through what was done to Rin. She has also overcome it. She knows the madness Rin feels. All of it.

[ He keeps his face a mask. After a brief glance at Saber with her sword out, he looks over her shoulder to the girl beyond. ]

I know she would have regretted harming you. She has too much to regret here and I don't intend to let anything be added to it.

[ He hesitates for a second. Can it be that Sakura, this forgettable-looking girl

(the warm domestic presence he remembers only as a harmless smiling blur)

could really ever have had the darkness within her that this Rin does? ]

I won't attack either of you now. I'd be an idiot to try Saber, and when she comes to her senses, Rin will be harsh with me if I hurt her sister.

I suppose I can at least thank you for helping us resolve this peacefully.

[ Sakura is still cross with him, but she's grateful in her own way. ]

Saber, please let the two of them go unharmed.

[At that, Saber lowered her sword and stepped back, turning sideways in the hall to allow him to pass without losing sight.]

I said it to her before, but I will say it to you now, Archer. I will not allow Rin to harm Sakura. Nor will I allow her to 'fix' her as she believes it is. I do not want to be in conflict with her. Understand that.

[ He starts to step away, Rin still cradled in his arms. But Saber's words give him pause, and as he passes her, he slows to a halt. ]

So this is the better Master you found, Saber.

[ He glances between her and Sakura, putting pieces together in his head. ]

I'll oppose you if it's the only way to protect my Master, Sakura Matou. I'll kill you if it comes down to that, but it's best if it doesn't. We should be allies from a distance instead. You know if Rin breaks this whole place will go down in shadows. She'll break faster if she lets herself hurt you, so I'll work to stop that.

[ His voice is flat and cold as he speaks, his face possessed of all the expression of steel. ]

I agree that we should be allies if at all possible. Our goal is the same, after all. But I know being close to Saber and myself will help her. She needs people who can understand how she feels.

[ Sakura manages one of her distant smiles. ]

I don't mean that as a bad thing. After all I think it's best if there's less people like me roaming about the tower.

Sakura is stronger than she looks.

[And that's all Saber is going to say on the matter.]

[ He looks hard at both of them for a long moment, keeping his eyes carefully empty of feeling. ]

I'll speak with her about it. But if it seems she can't handle it, I won't let you approach her.

arrival | open

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