Names and Burdens

Chapter 13: Names and Burdens

The boy stirred in Muramasa's arms as they made their way down the quiet, battered streets.

Half-lidded eyes fluttered open, dazed and unfocused, trying to piece together where he was — and who these two strangers were.

"...Astolfo...?" the boy rasped weakly. "...what... happened...?"

Before he could say anything else, Riya roughly pressed a finger to his lips.

"Shut it. I'll explain."

There wasn't any kindness in Riya's voice. Just tiredness. Annoyance. Maybe a bit of impatience.

Still, the boy fell silent, letting Riya speak.

"You're alive thanks to a Servant called Siegfried. He gave you his heart," Riya said flatly. "Astolfo is still with the Black Faction — he belongs to them. And me? I didn't save you because I care. I saved you because you were going to become a giant headache for me otherwise."

The boy blinked slowly, trying to absorb it all.

After a moment, he asked, "Where are we... going? And... that shining worm thing in the sky... it hurts to look at it..."

Riya sighed heavily.

"...That's called the sun," he muttered, dragging a hand through his hair.

"Welcome to the outside world, genius."

As they continued moving, Muramasa shifted the boy slightly in his arms, frowning.

"Hey, Master," he said, "it's kinda annoying calling him 'the homunculus' all the time, y'know?"

Riya grunted in agreement. "Yeah, your right.

pick a name."

The boy was silent for a long moment... then his lips moved.

"Sieg."

Muramasa raised an eyebrow. "Sieg?"

The boy nodded weakly. "After the one... who saved me..."

"Tch. Corny," Riya muttered. "But whatever. Sieg it is."

They were just a few streets away from their apartment when Muramasa suddenly stopped walking.

Riya narrowed his eyes.

"...What?"

Muramasa didn't answer. His hand slid to the hilt of his sword.

Footsteps approached — quiet, measured.

Out of the shadows stepped a tall figure in robes.

Avicebron.

Riya exhaled sharply through his nose. "Oh, for f—... What do you want?"

Avicebron made no move to attack.

"I seek only to understand," he said, voice hollow. "Why you declared my Noble Phantasm... a threat to humanity."

Muramasa growled under his breath. Sieg clutched weakly at Muramasa's coat.

Riya shoved his hands in his pockets and rolled his shoulders.

"You wanna know?" he said, voice heavy with boredom. "Fine."

"You said your golem would lead humanity back to Eden. But to do that, it would replace them. A world where only your creation exists. That's not saving humanity. That's wiping it out."

Avicebron's hands twitched slightly at his sides.

"I... I see..." he whispered. Ass he clenched his fists hard.

A moment of silence.

Then Riya smirked coldly.

"Go ahead," he said. "Try something stupid. I can see that look on your face. You want to do something aren't you"

Golem cores began to spark to life around Avicebron. A tremor passed through the ground — tiny golems rising from cracks in the street, a growing army.

Muramasa tensed.

But before anything could happen, Riya raised his right hand — and burned a Command Seal.

The red light flashed, searing the air.

"I command you," Riya said, voice cutting through the gathering magic, "return to your base. Forget Sieg. Forget this encounter. Obey."

Avicebron's body shuddered violently — then his eyes dulled.

Without a word, he turned and began walking away, the golems crumbling into dust behind him.

Muramasa whistled low. "Damn. Handy tool."

"Better believe it," Riya muttered. His back ached, but it was worth it.

Elsewhere...

In the heart of the Red Faction's stronghold, Shirou Kotomine — the man who had once called himself a priest — stood before his assembled forces.

He didn't have Semiramis by his side in this timeline. Fate had rewritten itself.

Instead, he had summoned a Grand Servant: Tezcatlipoca, the Black Mirror God of the Aztecs.

Deadly. Wild. Almost impossible to control — but Shirou didn't need control. He needed power.

Around him stood Karna, Achilles, Arash, and Shakespeare — powerful Servants stolen from their original Masters.

Yet even with such forces, Shirou scowled.

The Black Faction had seven Servants.

They held the Grail itself.

And worst of all... that strange boy Riya and his Saber servant — had gone rogue, chosen by the Grail as a Ruler.

"I need to tip the balance," Shirou murmured.

Plans began to unfold behind his crimson eyes.

Back to Riya...

The "apartment" was little more than a crumbling one-room shack, but it had a roof and walls. Barely.

Riya threw open the door and gestured lazily.

"Home sweet home. Get in."

Muramasa carried Sieg inside and set him carefully on a ratty mattress in the corner.

Riya flopped onto a second mattress and stretched, groaning.

He turned his head lazily toward Sieg.

"So, what now? Got any bright ideas for your life."

Sieg froze, eyes wide — as if no one had ever asked him that before.

Riya scowled. "You're thinking too hard. If you don't give me an answer in five seconds, I'm tossing you into the woods and letting the wolves sort it out."

Panicking, Sieg blurted out, "I—I want to help the other homunculi! I want to free them!"

...

A long, terrible silence.

Muramasa groaned, rubbing his temples. "Aw, crap. He's gonna be a pain in the ass, isn't he?"

Riya stared at Sieg for a long moment, then sighed heavily.

"Whatever. Not my problem. War's still raging. You might get your chance... or you might just get yourself killed. Don't come crying to me."

Sieg nodded fiercely anyway.

Riya rolled over onto his back, folding his arms behind his head.

"Great. Another idiot with a dream," he muttered.

But all that could wait.

Right now?

It was night.

And that meant sleep and maybe, just maybe...

If the world was kind for once...

Some damn intense fu—

And Riya was out cold before he even finished the thought.