Chapter 3: Chapter Two: New Home and Nightmare
William POV
After spending two long grueling weeks in the hospital I was finally able to leave, accompanied by Kiritsugu and the red-haired boy. "H-hi, I am William and I guess we'll be brothers from here on out," I awkwardly introduced myself to the other boy who nodded in response. "You're that boy who was with me... I am glad you survived. My name is Shirou by the way," Shirou said with a slight relieved smile.
With introductions out of the way we got into the car where Kiritsugu was waiting for us. The ride was silent I wasn't sure how to interact with Shirou and Kiritsugu all that much. So, I brought up the one thing I knew about "So, you're a magus, Kiritsugu. What exactly is that?" I questioned, capturing Shirou's attention.
Kiritsugu glanced at the two of us before sighing "A magus is someone who has studied the art of magecraft using modern studies such as chemistry, biology, astrology, runes, and other such systems. Magecraft is also the art of manipulating the magical energy within us to form spells like barriers or elemental manipulation. The term 'magic' is mainly used when utilizing true magic, like soul manipulation or parallel world travel," he explained leaving Shirou and I slightly confused.
"Can you teach us?" Shirou questioned but Kiritsugu immediately shot down the idea. "No, it's too dangerous," he said with a firm tone leaving no room for arguments. However I wasn't going to give up that easily "Can you at least teach us the basics so we can defend ourselves from evil magi?" I asked with a hopeful tone.
Kiritsugu had a thoughtful look on his face while keeping his eyes on the road. Finally, he exhaled "Alright I'll teach you... but only the basics. I truthfully don't want you boys to be involved in the magical world it's dangerous and not all magi are good just like how you mentioned William," he said in a reluctant distant tone.
Shirou and I exchanged victorious grins and with that we remained silent for the rest of the way.
When the car finally stopped, we slowly got out taking in the sight of the huge building and the people working on it "Welcome to your new home. I know it's probably not much but hopefully with time you can call it home," Kiritsugu said nervously afraid of our reaction.
"It's big," Shirou commented and I nodded in agreement "Yeah, that's why the workers are here to fix that," Kiritsugu replied. "Can we help them out?" I asked with Shirou agreeing. "I-I suppose, but just the little things. Nothing complicated leave that to the adults," Kiritsugu replied with a tone of worry.
We spent the whole day helping out the construction workers handing them different tools and offering them some lemonade. I was exhausted but happy that I managed to contribute Shirou seemed equally content. "Well, this is it come on let me show you both around," Kiritsugu said, throwing his cigarette on the ground.
It took only a few minutes for Kiritsugu to show us everything but strangely enough I had the whole place memorized. It was like a permanent picture in my mind "Alright why don't you two pick out your rooms while I try to make us some dinner," he suggested heading to the kitchen while Shirou and I went to choose our rooms.
After some thinking I decided to choose the room across from Shirou's so that I could stay nearby I didn't feel comfortable being left to my lonesome.
The scent of smoke hit our noses causing us to perk up with worry we rushed to the kitchen with speed we didn't know we had only to stop with wide eyes. Kiritsugu was using a fire extinguisher to put out the fire that had consumed... the boiling pot of water? I questioned with shock.
"Well I guess we'll just have to order out..." Kiritsugu said with a slightly embarrassed tone "Ne Kiritsugu... how did you set a boiling pot of water on fire?" I questioned making Kiritsugu shrug "You do realize what this means right?" Shirou asked, making Kiritsugu raise a brow "You're banned from ever using the kitchen," I deadpanned.
Kiritsugu wearily smiled "I suppose you two are right," he replied with a deadpan voice of his own. For the rest of the night we waited until the pizza that Kiritsugu ordered came. After that it was time for lights out tomorrow morning Kiritsugu would be teaching us magecraft or at least the basics but I didn't mind.
It took a but few minutes until I eventually fell asleep only to wake back up in that same hell. The screams were much more intense and the fire around me burned fiercely. I felt my mouth go dry and then the flames came forward consuming me I screamed in agony.
-Shirou POV Switch-
It was halfway through the middle of the night when I heard William screaming. I rushed out of my room with a face full of worry and burst into his room. There I immediately saw William twisting and screaming tears streaming down his tightly closed eyes "Ahhhhh!! Someone please it hurts it hurts so much," he begged out loud.
The feeling of helplessness washed over me just as it did when the great fire occurred. I ran out of the room calling out to old man Kiritsugu "Old man, wake up!! William needs help," I exclaimed making him jump up from his position on the couch. "What?! Take me to him," he shouted I quickly nodded leading him to William's room.
Kiritsugu stood on William's left side while I went to his right side "William, wake up! It's just a dream. Whatever you're seeing right now is not real," Kiritsugu shouted hoping to wake him up but it didn't do anything. If anything, his thrashing only increased "Shit! Shirou hold his wrists down otherwise, he'll hurt himself," Kiritsugu quickly instructed.
I grabbed William's wrists pinning them down still his screams continued and his body began glowing green making Kiritsugu's eyes widen "Not good, he's managed to unlock his circuits and if this continues he'll drain himself completely dead," he muttered but I still managed to hear him perfectly.
"There must be something we can do, old man!" I shouted hoping that he could do something. Kiritsugu took a deep breath "Listen William focus on my voice. If you don't focus you will die," he said in a serious tone sending shivers down my spine.
"Kir-Kiritsugu?" William muttered his body coming to a halt but the pain in his voice was still there. "What you're experiencing isn't real William it's just a dream created by your own head. You can control it," Kiritsugu explained "H-how... everything feels so real," William said with a slight whimper.
"I want you to imagine something that makes you feel calm William. I know it's difficult but if you focus you can change what you're seeing right now okay?" Kiritsugu instructed in a gentle tone. "I-I'll try," William replied.
Moments later the green veins around William's body faded away, making Kiritsugu sigh with relief. Finally, William's eyes opened with tears still streaming down his face. I did the only thing I could think of to help him a tight hug.
-Chapter Two Complete-
So, William nightmare is a bit more realistic to him because of his insane photographic memory and origin. Next chapter will be a small introduction to magecraft for both Shirou and William after that we'll move onto the timeskip chapter where Kiritsugu, Shirou, and William have a talk under the moon.
Also, William's magic circuits unlocked because in William's mind the fire acted as a self-hypnotizing trigger for him and for the trigger to turn off William needs to imagine something that makes him feel calm in this case it will be the light that he saw from Avalon when Kiritsugu implanted it into Shirou.
Thinking about doing some carnival phantasm omakes down below after chapter completion let me know your thoughts and ideas.
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