The Last Rising Sun

Is it a dream? A nightmare? Whatever this girl was seeing somehow looked all too familiar. As if she herself had been living in the moment her eyes see.

It was a place that reminded her of her home in Fuyuki, but at the same time, that place also looked extremely different to her. Large walls stretching upward connecting to the ceiling, where elegant chandeliers held the lights that illuminated the long corridors. Beneath her feet was a luxurious carpet with a strange color, as if it was a mixture of blue and green that stretched across the floor.

She walked down those corridors until she approached a door from among all the ones that stretched along the walls of the place. The door looked like it cost a lot of money just like everything else she was looking at right now. So she timidly moved her hand closer to the knob, which looked like a small sphere of some heavy metal that looked very nice. A well polished and elegant knob.

She opened the door and stood there, for upon seeing what was inside the room she was met with a scene that made her heart clench inside her chest. A stabbing pain touched her brain. But she endured this pain and entered the room.

Her boots touched some small pieces of glass lying on the carpet. It was a broken glass bottle. Something like a liquor bottle. Maybe a whiskey, a vodka, who knows? Although that wasn't really important. There were more things in the room. A desk with several drawers and a large mirror was one of the things that caught her attention the most. In addition, in that place there was also a beautiful bed with white sheets. The bed is made of varnished oak wood, which shines so shiny that it somehow competed with the mirror on the desk.

There were shelves of books. A door leading to the bathroom. A large window covered by curtains the same color as the carpet and ....

...

...

In the middle of it all...

Lying on the carpet...

With little drops of blood trickling down his head...

It was a child...

A child with tears on his face.

At the sight of him, Sakura opened her eyes, but when she did....

She woke up...

***

She opened her eyes with difficulty. Her body shook with a painful shiver that ran up and down her spine. A few beads of sweat ran down her forehead and fell on her chest. Her vision was blurry, but as if she were the focus of a digital camera, everything suddenly became sharp.

She heard a soft, dull voice among the noisy engines of a helicopter's propellers. In fact, a strong current of air passed close to her legs, which caused her to wake up completely. She blinked a couple of times and looked up. There she found a pair of silver eyes staring at her.

That voice she heard earlier belonged to Toru, who was asking her if she had woken up yet. This, however, was something she could not answer. Looking into his eyes, seeing that expressionless face, she felt a deep stabbing pain in the depths of her soul. There was something that saddened her at the sight of that expressionless face. It was as if she knew the reason for that expression this boy always wears on his face.

As she thought about it she realized that her head was resting on Toru's right thigh, who at no time took his eyes off her. He just looked at her waiting for her to be able to respond.

She moved her head slightly to the right and saw her father sleeping in one of the seats of the helicopter. Yes, right now they were all aboard a large black helicopter with two propellers set on the sides, right at the tips of the two large wings the helicopter displayed. Next to Waver was also Gray, who was looking at the sights amazed at how high they were flying.

There seemed to be more people there, but Sakura didn't really pay attention to it because there was something else her mind couldn't forget.

A dream...

A nightmare...

Finally, she said:

"A memory..."

"Memory?"

Toru asked at Sakura's confused words. She looked up at him and flashed him a soft, pursed-lipped smile. She shook her head as if to say that what she said a moment ago didn't matter.

"Where are we?"

In fact, there was no need to ask, but she wanted to hear Toru's side of the story. Besides, it seemed that the two of them were the only ones sitting on the ground.

"A helicopter, I suppose. I don't think it's a jet capable of breaking the sound barrier."

'That was a really bad joke,' Sakura thought. But she understood that Toru's words were just a bit of sarcasm to get the boredom out of his system. During these past two months she saw that Toru always got bored to be doing literally nothing all the time.

She thought that would be a problem.

"What happened to me?"

One more question for this boy. He looked at Waver and Gray, who were still distracted. They were both speaking in near whispers, so with the bustle of the helicopter's propellers, the two of them wouldn't be able to hear them.

"Your body... they're killing you..."

Anyone would think Sakura's reaction to that would be something like a little fright or a lot of worry, but she covered her eyes with her forearm and putting on her kind smile, answered him:

"I know..."

It's not like Sakura has known this forever. She was guessing things when she started bleeding in different parts of her body as if her insides were being bitten. It really hurt so much that it was hard for her to hide that suffering from everyone.

"But I guess it doesn't matter much."

...

"I don't think so."

"Hm?"

Sakura removed her forearm from her eyes and looked at Toru. He finished by saying:

"Your death would be a bummer for me. If you die, I'll either have to find another Master or return to the Throne of Heroes. Either of those two options is a bummer."

She understood. She sighed wearily, with a lot of pain deep in her body.

"So I'm the option that bothers you the least?"

"Yes."

Very cruel words coming from him. Sakura felt a pressure in her chest. It hurt her to hear that. Knowing that Toru is only with her because otherwise everything would be a bother to him. That wasn't fair. Not if she loves him so much and he can't see that. He was also acting so familiar with Gray that it's generating an indescribable emotion for her. To her that's a bummer too.

"I thought I could understand you, but I don't really know you."

"You don't need to know me. I'll do whatever you tell me as long as your orders aren't a nuisance to me. I will fight by your side in the war. You will fulfill your wish and I will remain silent, watching this dull world. I will die of boredom at some point, but dying that way is better than the death that turned me into a spirit."

Hearing that...a bit of what he had lived through. That didn't calm that feeling, but somehow it distracted her a little. That feeling is still there, but it was better to try to erase it and not think about it.

"Tell me more about you..."

She said. The expression on Toru's face softened a little, but he quickly went back to his usual expressionless face. She looked out the door of the helicopter and whispered:

"I don't want to..."

Sakura could barely hear him. He refused and she felt an emptiness in her heart.

She wants to know more about him, but he doesn't want anyone to know his story.

"Why?"

Toru paused before answering. He closed his eyes and opened them. His soft breathing paused for a second before he continued. He looked her straight in the eyes.

"Because it's not worth it. It's a boring story even for me."

After that he wouldn't say another word. He just stared at the sky in silence.

Sakura thought about that and how that affects her. Ever since she woke up she has that empty feeling in her chest along with that other feeling after remembering how Toru hugged Gray. But leaving Gray and Toru aside, there was that strange dream.

A dream...

A nightmare...

No...

What she said before could be true. It was a memory. A memory that generated that deep emptiness in her heart. But that memory was very blurry. She remembered very little of it. The desk with the mirror, the elegant and expensive bed, the door leading to the bathroom that, for some reason, she knew that door led to that place and, what generated more doubts in her mind was the blurred face of the boy on the floor.

There was glass lying on the floor as well. That got her thinking.

She thought about it so much that, suddenly, a couple of tears fell down her face. She didn't understand why she was crying, but that empty feeling in her chest was starting to get bigger. She... she wanted to know what this meant. She wanted to know why she had been having these kinds of dreams.

...

Before Toru could notice the tears on Sakura's face, Waver opened his eyes and looked to the right. He noticed that Sakura was awake but, before he could jump over to where his daughter was, he regained his composure after thinking a bit about his image as a father and cleared his throat.

"Sakura, how are you feeling?"

She looked at her father again. She wiped her tears and sat up making sure her skirt was still attached to her legs. After seeing Sakura stand up, Toru faded away entering his dematerialized form.

"I feel better. I don't quite remember what happened to me though."

She doesn't remember, but she knows what this was all about. Waver knew too, he always knew, but he felt that if he told Sakura, she would just tell him that it's not a problem. They were both trying to deceive each other to no avail, because in the end they both know about this. They both lie in order not to hurt each other.

"When we get home I'll arrange for some doctor or someone specialized in healing magecraft to give you a check up. You can't neglect your body like that. If you know, or can describe how you felt before or how you feel right now, you can tell me. I will do my best to help you."

"Yes... I understand. I will."

"Are you two done with your father-daughter moment? It feels awkward to see the two of you so close."

As if she had appeared from the shadows of the helicopter seats along with her bodyguard (Clown), Luvia spat out a few words. Waver only sighed. This day couldn't get any stranger and heavier.

'United...'

As for what Luvia said... Gray was watching and listening all this time. Even though she was trying to pretend she wasn't listening to what Assassin and Sakura said earlier, she heard almost everything in fine detail. Now she was also listening to what Luvia and Waver were saying. This was a bad habit of hers. She even usually listened behind the door when someone was having a conversation. That was not right and she knew it, but for her it was impossible to shake off this strange habit.

When she closed her eyes she clearly remembered the moment she woke up. She saw her mentor panicking as Assassin carried Sakura in his arms. His mentor calmed down after making sure nothing serious had happened to Sakura.

'Huh... I have dirt on my hood...'

Because no one carried her, so she was left lying with her face on the grass and wet dirt. Although this time no one was to blame, for she awoke only a few minutes after passing out. The consequences of using Rhongomyniad were not as bad as she thought. She woke up almost after passing out, so she couldn't blame anyone for not helping her up.

Although...

'No one...'

The image of that lonely graveyard lay in her mind. The image of true loneliness, where there was nothing but those ghosts that terrified her so much, was pricking her skull. Remembering that, as if suddenly a rock had hit her head with force, she saw that immense ocean of blood stretching to who knows where, which she related to the cemetery. It was a place full of strange entities covered by the blood of the ocean, which whispered a single word. That word was addressed to a single person.

'We both wear capes,' she thought.

But the difference was that Assassin wears a large red scarf over the cloak. It would be uncomfortable for anyone to wear a warm scarf around your neck when you already have a big thick cape over your body, so the reason for this was unknown to Gray. However, that image was very much etched in her mind. It was as if the shadows were part of him, who rules that place full of infinite souls, looking at everyone with his eyes full of 'death'. A strange boy, lonely among all those souls, souls that chanted with broken voices that horrible and incriminating word.

[Monster] they all said.

'I'm not that smart, so it doesn't do much good to think so much about it.'

She thought so of herself after realizing that remembering the scene only gave her more questions than answers. So she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, because then no one would ask her questions about it. Her little mind (said by herself) would only take so much. It was time to rest.

-The next morning, the house of Lord El-Melloi II-

Drops of water falling into the shower. A young woman's voice humming inside the bathroom. For a young virgin man that would be like being stabbed in the back. You should immediately run for help, and that help is inside that bathroom, but no this is not about a young male virgin, this is about Toru.

He, as usual, was tucked in the shower next to his Master, folded his arms and with his eyes closed, as if he was sleeping.

"You can see me if you want. It doesn't bother me."

Since yesterday Sakura had been trying to get Toru's attention, but he had been silent since yesterday. She guessed this was because she asked about his past to this boy yesterday, which somehow annoyed him. She let out a tired sigh as water ran down her curvaceous body with white skin and some pure pink areas.

Even if she was giving herself away on a silver platter, this boy wasn't reacting.

"You won't say anything to your father? I'm sure he knows too."

Toru said. This surprised Sakura. She turned off the shower faucet and looked into the void, right where Toru's presence was strongest.

"What do you mean?"

"About those 'lives' writhing inside your body. Those things are killing you. They are devouring you. Won't you do anything about it? If you don't, you'll cause a lot of trouble for all of us. Those problems will be a nuisance to me. I'm really not willing to take care of it. So, in any case, what will you do?"

Sakura didn't know what to say to that, so instead, she just told him what she knew as to what her body suffers from.

"I did as much research as I could. It's about the Matō family's magecraft. They control insects, worms... worms that they implanted in my body to give me that same magecraft..."

The Crest Worms...

To be continued...