Moving Forward: Premonitions

This is where the story may take a complete turn from the original concept. For a while in haven't been completely happy with how the story progressed from here out so anyone familiar with the original may notice changes.

Few knew what happened during the mission. Ria went on to gain the Philosophers stone. Telling the Order only that she had been sent a sign with the help of Merlin, who was rumored to be directly connected to the magic of the ancients courtesy of his noble phantasm and being more than happy to go along with the ruse as he always loved to be covertly engaged in stirring trouble, she had set off to the location known as the center of the world. Located on the top of a mountain in an area mapped as part of Feudal Japan but now was only a random island floating along a lonely sea, she traversed the harsh terrain until she came to the lair of the rumored beast. Having learned the actual composition of the stone, that it was the calcified heart of a dragon lineaged from those created at the birth of the world, her priority had been tracking one of the few possibly still roaming the planet. Using only spotty references and third-hand accounts, she was skeptical that the creature even existed, but from the moment she set out, she had started having strange dreams.

A cloaked mage held an egg of blue and red backdropped by an unstable world that crumbled in the background. In another, a lonely world was made anew by a warrior wielding a lance and carrying a bow who wielded arcane magic, which he spread just by walking amongst the destroyed buildings and lifeless husks of nature. Then there was the one where she had been surrounded in a soft pink colored void as a voice claiming to be that of the Father of Time spoke to her in a language she didn't understand but felt comforted by until tonight when she had that same dream again.

"Before I go, Child of Man, I will tell you one final thing. There will come a time when you are faced with both a beginning and an end. One will bring light out of despair; the other, life from death. One will envelop while the other enraptures. You must decide to divide or to conquer, love or leave. But know this. No matter what you choose, someone will lose everything. Such is the price of obtaining the stone you possess. The choice will be yours and yours alone."

Shooting up in bed in a cold sweat to find herself alone, Ria scanned the room looking for Em. Breathing rapidly, eyes wide, she did her best to stay calm. "What the hell was that?" Turning her head to her side, she saw the sheets undisturbed and no them in sight. "Where is he?" Her voice strained as she climbed out of bed and headed towards the living room. "Em?" When no answer followed, she called again, her voice wavering in fear. "Em!?" Panic set in when there was still no response from him.

Running to the door and stepping into the living room, everything should have been as it was since this was her house, but it wasn't. Passing the threshold of her room, she stepped out into a long hallway whose walls were made of stone and whose sconces looked like something out of medieval times. Trying to breathe slowly, she took a deep breath in and then out, noticing her breath exiting in crystalline puffs.

"What the fuck is going on?" The panic she felt getting stuck in her chest created an anxious throb. Heading back to the door of her room, she found it locked as her fingers wrapped around the metal knob. "There has to be a logical explanation for this."

Racking her brain as she looked once again at her surroundings, Ria started to hear tapping coming from off the end of the hall. It was rhythmic and consistent, like someone was tapping on glass over and over with a sharp object.

Seeing no option but to move towards the room where the sound was coming from, Ria tried to call her fist weapons, but they didn't appear. Fear continued to rise as she quickly tried to tap into her mana at her core to see if her spells still worked. Thankfully she could still sense the mana there, but when she wanted to call it forth, she found her connection blocked.

Feeling completely alone and helpless, all that was left to do was move as quietly as she could towards the tapping. Keeping close to the wall and setting each barefoot down lightly, she moved silently towards the end of the hallway. Moving foot by foot, she could have heard a pin drop which set her even more on edge.

Eventually, she was three feet from the corner. Taking a moment to breathe deeply, she lifted her foot to take the last few steps towards the turn when a deep, guttural male voice addressed her.

"I see you, Skellig. You have forsaken your eternal body for that of a filthy mortal." A male voice growls a laugh, a cruel and mocking sound. "I guess I am no better having been slain and embodied by the vessel I now decorate."

Freezing, Ria tried to assess if she had walked in on a secret conversation or if she was somehow being addressed.

"Come here, puppy. Let me see you as you are. I could feel you as soon as you entered this plane."

Sensing no other presence, Ria could only assume it was her being addressed.

Straightening her posture, she tried to present as commanding a presence as possible despite still wearing only Emiya's shirt. Stepping around the corner, she found herself in a strange medieval sitting room of sorts. With the only light that cascaded through a single window on the far wall, it was impossible to see the face of the massive creature that sat in shadow in the corner. At first glance, it seemed more reptilian than human with its long spiked tail and grotesquely taloned feet, which were the only things she could see. Keeping her eyes locked on the place where the creature's face should be atop its massively broad chest, she noticed out of her peripheral that its tail tip kept wagging up and down rhythmically in time with its clawed hand that rested above a small glass side table creating the tapping sound-stopping a few feet in front of the massive figure she watched and waited for his reaction.

Stopping the tapping, the clawed hand moved towards the creature's face, which seems to be shallowly set, similar to the structure of a human's skull, to run a finger across its lips. After a few seconds, its voice rolled out like thunder in the distance. "I can see now why you would choose this body. It has endless possibilities." The figure then rose in one fluid motion and began to walk towards Ria in slow ambling steps.

Standing quickly over six and a half feet and sporting a carapace on its lower half while gloved talons stretch from his elbow down the figure was daunting and primal. With face hooded by a cowl Ria could only see the glint of red eyes peering at her as the partially human creature stared down with a toothy fanged smirk. Standing her ground, it reached a clawed finger out to run it gently over her cheek and neck like a predator assessing its prey

"We are the same, you and I. Both possess dragon born, both with immense power. You would do well to let me dominate you once we meet in the real world. It would change the course of time itself." It is not a command, just a strongly dominant suggestion.

Sensing fear and passivity would do her no favors, Ria's reply was sharp. "I am no man or monsters plaything. I will not let you or anyone else dominate me."

"We shall see whelp. Once you realize who I am, you won't resist me."

The next thing Ria knows is the sound of Emiya screaming her name as she holds her and shakes her back in her room. With heart beating through the roof, she can feel herself shaking uncontrollably head to toe.

"Ria!? Ria, are you awake?!"

Still, incoherent Ria sits up and holds her head, her voice quiet. "Yes, yes, I'm awake."

"Ria, what the hell happened? One minute you were sleeping, the next, you were calling my name louder and louder as your heartbeat so fast I worried it might explode. I couldn't wake you up; it was like you were trapped in a nightmare."

"That's what it felt like, I promise you."

Pulling her against his chest Emiya clutched her to him. "Well, you are safe now; I'm right here. Even if it happens again, I'll be right here."

"Thanks, Em. Let's hope it was a one-time thing." Nuzzling into his chest Ria places one hand flat against his bare skin as the other tucks against her. Feeling the heat of his body and the rapidness of his breathing, his arms wrapping around her and holding her with contained desperation, she slowly begins to relax and drift back off to sleep.

When she woke the following day, she found she was suffering from mana sickness. Happening only when she uses too much mana too fast, causing her body to go into shock and her immune system to crash; she would be drained, nauseous, and weak until the symptoms pass. With the only thing that she could think might be capable of doing whatever happened last night, she was led to the conclusion that something or someone within that scenario drained incredible amounts of her mana to sustain that plane she had been in. There was no other explanation. That being said, she was sniffly, tired, sleep-deprived, and had a headache.

Groaning in protest as her body recognized her sickened state, Ria curled up into Emiya.

"Em..."

"You don't sound so good. Are you sick?" There was concern in his voice as he stroked her hair, and she snuggled further into his chest.

"No, I have mana sickness. I need to replenish a lot of mana quickly, or it will just progressively get worse before it gets better."

"Is there something I can do to help you get mana back?"

"Yes. Can you first fill the tub with tolerably hot water and then sprinkle some of the powder in the pink basket above the sink into it? I could also use a cup of tea made from the leaves in the orange container above the sink. Three packets should be fine, and it needs to go in the biggest mug I have."

"I'll take care of it; just stay right here." Leaving to take care of everything Ria asked, she was now in a room that seemed incredibly lonely and cold. Knowing she couldn't take a bath adequately clothed, she struggled to strip naked and somehow make it to the bathroom as the soft roar of water could be heard from within. Humming the minute softly, she entered the bath, and the warm fragrant air filled her lungs; she carefully immersed herself in it. Within minutes of being fully submerged, Ria could feel the minerals do their job as her headache began to subside and her body relaxed. Sighing contentedly, a knock soon came at the door.

"Ria? I have your tea. Shall I leave it on the nightstand?"

"Would you mind bringing it in? It isn't as effective cold." Realizing that request was unfair but knowing after last night she had few working options, Ria tried not to feel wrong about what this might do to Em.

Clearing his throat Em slowly opens the door. "I'm not trying to peak, I promise."

"I know you aren't, Em; it's okay; you can come in. Just know I'm self-conscious, is all." Shifting in the warmth of the water, she pressed herself up against the tub, resting her arms over the edge as she tried to hide her front from view.

Walking in, hesitantly focused on the cup not spilling until he hands it to her, Emiya's eyes locking only on the center of hers. "I hope it is exactly what you wanted."

Reaching out to take it carefully, she takes a sip and smiles. "Yes, thank you. I feel better already."

"I'm glad to hear it. I'll be out here if you need me." He then turned to leave, but she called after him.

"Emiya?"

He stops but doesn't turn around. "Yes?"

If asking to come in was unfair, then what she was about to ask was unkind. She knew it but right now, with all her defenses down, and her body was falling victim to the desire to be with him, she didn't have the will to resist.

"Sometimes when this happens, I get lightheaded suddenly or have a tendency to fall asleep in the tub and either get sicker or almost drown. Would you mind coming in with me to keep an eye on me?"

Watching his back as his muscles tensed, his hands clench and unclench. "Is that really what you want?"

"It is. I'd feel safer if you were here with me."

"Alright. As long as it helps you. Just turn around until I get in the tub.

Turning around, Ria drained the tub a little to compensate for another person getting in. She could sense his hesitancy, but it was too late to turn back now. Though it was confirmed, she did fall asleep and, at times, almost drowned, and she knew Emiya would sense her distress long before it killed her, making this request purely selfish. Trying to ease his reservations, she kept her voice soothing. "Thanks for doing this. I know it makes you uncomfortable."

"Not in a bad way. I don't want to do anything you don't want to. I never want you to think I only want you for personal reasons."

Once he was all the way in, Ria plugged the drain and attempted to lean on the edge of the tub, but he pulled her against his chest. "I won't look, I promise." He then leaned back, resting his head on the edge of the tub as he looked up at nothing.

For several moments they just stayed like that, Ria leaning against his chest between his legs and Emiya doing his best to keep his hands on the edges of the tub as his mind stayed blank, but as the man slowly began to enter her circuits deep. Her body felt that euphoric high associated with it. Ria became painfully aware of his nakedness.

Placing her hands on the insides of the tub, she shifted back incrementally, letting her tail bone press further into his groin. Taking in the quick suck of air as his balls and slightly thickened cock pushed into her back Ria pressed her lips together and closed her eyes, letting the thoughts of him fucking her in the tub wash over her. Feeling her face heat and her clit throb, she knew she was at a turning point. Could she let Emiya in, or would she continue to allow the shades of Cú to haunt her like this, making her miserable?

Deciding not to think and act, Ria turned partially around, placing a hand on Emiya's gorgeously chiseled chest before saying in a sultry voice, "You know, as embarrassing as it is, you do have a point. I need to be able to trust you with everything. That includes the things I don't like about myself. That doesn't mean I want you to stare and drool, but if you see me naked, it isn't the end of the world. I mean, there is always a chance part, if not all of my clothing, could get destroyed in battle anyway, so we mind as well get the shyness out of the way, so it doesn't get us killed."

Rising to a kneeling position, she watched his lips twitch, but his eyes remained locked on the ceiling. Aroused by his attempt to deny her and wanting to push his buttons more, Ria began moving her hand up and down his chest. Though she could only see a little bit of his nakedness due to the minerals turning the water murky, his breathing was slightly heavier with each rise and fall of her hand, and she could tell he was desperately trying to focus on anything but her.

Letting her stroke dip farther and farther down his torso, she let her fingers linger at his navel, which she idly circled with her fingers before letting them slide down his hip and up the inside of the leg that he propped up as if to provide a barrier between her and the rub wall. A sudden whine turning into him, trying to clear his throat escapes as her hand traced back down his inner thigh.

Would it be so wrong to love this man who continued to give her everything and ask for nothing in return? Ria had asked herself that time and time again but had not been able to find an answer. In reality, she was running from the idea, choosing to hold onto a love that she could no longer reach instead of dealing with the fear of loving someone else, deciding the devil she knew was better than the devil she didn't.

Shaking her head mentally, she decided she couldn't let that devil hold her back any longer. Even if she and Cú met again, things had to be different. Even if the love could be the same at its core, it wasn't the love she needed. Right now, what Emiya offered was that love, and she deserved it and now wanted to take it for herself.