C221: Taking in a new child
Alt Title teaser: Change of Fate
Date published: 5/21/2025.
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"Papa…Who is that girl?"
Axel turns around to find his son, Washio with his teddy bear walking the halls of the house. He looks very sleepy as when Axel finished the operation on Sakura, night had fallen. He didn't think the child had spotted him when he arrived with the girl in tow but it seems he did.
Axel kneels down before his son and pats his head before lowering his hand to his shoulders.
"Washio, that girls name is Sakura, she is the daughter of one of my workplace friends. He had an accident and we will be taking care of her for a bit until he gets better." he comes up with half truths and half lies. Tokiomi is his work friend but he hasn't had an accident…yet. He says yet because by all logic, Tokiomi should die during the holy grail war but who knows what his actions will make happen.
"She is sleeping right now so you can properly meet her tomorrow morning. Hop along to bed" He patiently shimmies along with Washio to his room while the child asks him a few questions.
"How long is she staying?" "Should be just about a week"
"What's her favorite color?" "Ask her yourself but it might be red"
"Does she like robots?" "if you show her your collection, there should be no reason not to like them"
Axel eventually gets the child to his bed and tucks him in, which is the prompt for immediately falling asleep. Sighing in relief, he exits the room and returns to speak about Sakura with Kaoruko.
Time passes and the holy war continues. The hunt for 'caster' continues after Saber had a chance encounter with him and he kept raving about their bond but after being looked at with only disgust by Artoria (saber), he comes to the realization that she might be an imposter of his 'glorious saintess'.
A large scale battle occurs where Caster summons a giant monster when there are no barriers up, so regular folks all witness the monster and send missiles to take it down to no avail.
Rider (Alexander) and Lancer (Diarmuid) arrive to assist Saber, they come up with a plan and take action. The plan takes a new turn when Berserker arrives but Lancer and Rider hold him back while Saber eventually unveils her sword of promised victory. Calling upon the noble phantasm, Excalibur. This unleashes a powerful blast of energy that takes down Caster and his monster.
Lancer eventually allows his morals to take over him and snaps one of his spears in half. This negates the curse of healing that was placed on Saber, allowing her to finally recover. His other spear also injuries Berserker to cancel his limited teleportation.
At the same time, Kiritsugu (sabers real master) takes down 'Ryuunosuke', the master of caster. Yet peace doesnt settle in just yet as Berserker takes this opening to charge at Saber.
"Lancelot, why are you doing this?" Saber demands an answer from Berserker but he simply roars and eventually, under the onslaught of the trio and Kariya running on fumes, Berserker is forced to retreat once more.
Kirei heals Kariya before returning him to Zouken. Kiritsugu on the other hand finds Sola. Keynaths fiance/wife, she had previously betrayed the half crippled Keynath in an attempt to steal Lancer for herself due to his innate charm. Kiritsugu demands his forfeiture in exchange for Sola's life. He even makes a magical pact to keep his word.
Just like that, right before Rider and Saber, Lancer stabs himself through the heart with his own spear. He curses his master and is upset he didn't get a proper rematch with Saber before he dissipates.
Rider and Saber both go their own ways. Kirei meets with Tokiomi and then later Gilgamesh who is convinced to betray Tokiomi as Kirei now desires the grail for himself. Kiritsugu finally meets up with Saber and Irisveil before Maiya arrives and gives her the report on the previous docks incident where the younger Axel Gram appeared.
Saber stays behind with her master to hear the report. She takes note of the picture in the report and how it looks like an older version of the one who she met. Confused, she reads the bits of information she can but Emiya closes the folder before she can finish.
"Haaa, this is troublesome." Kiritsugu sighs as he leans back in his chair where he notices Sabers inquisitive look, he decides to hand over the folder to her where she reads it properly now. She does notice a few key features in the paper: Ancient recluse family, newbie mage, revolutionary items and techniques. There are a few other pieces such as his collaboration with the Tohsaka family but nothing that shows anything too far beyond what a new generation of mages couldn't do as the basis of his unique techniques is a combination of magic and martial arts.
"What is your opinion of this person? Huh Saber" Emiya questions the servant who promptly replies once she finishes the paper.
"He does not appear to be a threat but the one in the picture looks older than the one I met at the docks. He did appear and disappear at random but this one has been coming and going to the city for years now." She soon spots one of the earliest photos of Axel which makes her pause as the resemblance is uncanny between the two.
The one she met had regular shiny blue hair while the one who lives in Fuyuki has permanent starry blue hair but every other feature is the same. "Identical twins?"
Kiritsugu pauses at the possibility but then states, "That doesnt explain the teleportation or his physical abilities to harm a servant like Berserker. Speaking of, you know who Berserker is, don't you?"
While this is all going on, Axel is at home. Sakura had woken up this morning, free from pain and in a completely new location. Kaoruko is the first person she sees as she helps the little girl come to terms with her kidnapping from the Cruel Matou residence. She cries in her arms before Axel arrives but does not introduce himself as they were already familiar with each in the past few months that Axel had been coming over to the Tohsaka manor to talk business. He had met Sakura and Rin there.
"Sakura…" Axel says and sits down as the little girl wipes her tears as she stares at Axel with a slightly red face.
"It's good to see you again, you've grown so much since I last saw you." he offers a standard greeting with a compassionate smile on his face. A sense of familiarity rushes at Sakura as tears run down her face once again and she rushes into his embrace. Axel embraces her as he rests his hand upon her head.
"Shhh, it's alright. You'll live here from now. The Matou no longer have any claim over you. I'll give you that as a promise. Even if you wish up Magic because of what happened then we won't fault you" He continues rubbing her head as she continues crying for quite some time.
Eventually the three of them find themselves in the houses living room, tea had been served by Kaoruko and the trio enjoy it before Sakura asked a question.
"Can I really stay here?" To which Axel nods and takes a sip of his tea.
"I have a son, Washio, he lives a nice ordinary life. I can ensure you have the same thing if you wish. Of course you can also act as his teacher. I'm sure you would appreciate his level of talent once it's unsealed." He offers her a choice as both he and Kaoruko have attempted various tests to see what type of personality he would have once he learns magic and they have frankly been disappointed which is why they have kept his talent sealed.
But perhaps a new situation and scenario could be the trigger Washio needs to embrace his own power without being corrupted by it. Axel had Raikou and the others who were by his side. Perhaps having Sakura, one so favored by fate, could change him for the better.
At the very least, he would be around to ensure that nothing bad happens but if it does then they would likely become an irreparable relationship.
"I'd like to live here, Please Uncle" Sakura states, her brief experience made her slightly smarter than those her age and she realizes that the fact that she was not given back to Tohsaka shows an unwillingness to associate with her father.
"Of course Sakura. You can stay as much as you would like." Axel responds as he sets down his tea cup.
"Then… I'd like to continue my magic studies with your help."Sakura states as she has never felt so good after being healed by the people before her. She wishes to study this type of magic so that she can change the fate of others in a similar way as well.
Seeing Sakura express her desire for magic and to stay here too, Axel shows her to her room and with Kaoruko's help, they list down all types of items that she absolutely needs to live comfortably.
Hairbrushes, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and other bathroom amenities. New bedsheets and pillows as the guest room which she is now going to be staying in was left quite unprepared due to a lack of actual guests to stay over at all.
As such, the whole day was dedicated to renovating the room and clothes shopping for Sakura. Having her current cute little self being dressed up was a pleasant experience for both Kaoruko and Axel as Washio has grown out of that phase. Proclaiming himself independent at the ripe old age of 6.
Speaking of Washio, he finally got to meet Sakura and this was at a time when they had just returned from clothes shopping and as such, Sakura allowed herself to be dressed up like a goth lolita. Sensing Washio's heartbeat, Axel smiled as he introduced the two children of similar age. Sakura is a few months younger than washio which makes her technically be 1 year behind in school.
Axel allows the three people here: Kaoruko, Sakura and Washio to go home ahead of time. Axel himself departs as something special has happened in the city.
Traveling a far distance, he arrives at the signature chapel that he had his clones terrorize and kill inside of whilst taking the form of the dead caster and his master. He had perfectly replicated how the original story went except for killing Risei. That is a unique twist that his clones had gone through but he is pleased to see the current scenario.
Taking out his video camera, he begins to record the current situation whilst invisible.
The situation at hand is that a few members of the hundred faced Hassans are currently carrying Tokiomi's dead body. A knife wound dripping from his back. Tokiomi's body is positioned appropriately so that if anyone stumbles upon the body, it would give the impression that person killed him.
All of this is under the corrective purview of Kirei who sets the stage while Axel records the whole thing. Gilgamesh, the king of Kings stands invisible not too far from Axel but he is simply in spirit form while Axel has true invisibility. Satisfied with his newest piece of blackmail, he departs from the current scene. He must ready his defenses for anything the grail might unless soon.
'A bit more than 1 day left of this cursed grail war' Axel thinks of the current situation. Kirei is likely to kill Irisveil next while Kariya will be blamed for Tokiomi's death and then nearly kills Sakura's and Rin's mother, Aoi Tohsaka.
Axel is not close enough to any of these people except passing conversation. His only real reason to get close to the Tohsaka family in the first place was in preparation for 'stay night' and whatever comes afterwards.
As he begins traveling back home, he stops in place as he thinks properly on his actions.
"I've changed alot since my time in Orario."
'A weirdo, an outcast, A deviant. The only times he did not bear these obstructive titles was when he had openly shared his magical gifts with others and gained the pseudo title of "god of Magic". Even in the worlds he visited, he was treated similarly. If he wants this one to be different, then he has to be different too.'
He turns around and drops his invisibility. Gilgamesh up top frowns upon spotting him as he just appeared out of nowhere. His gaze can still not pierce through Axel's defenses to scan him. But he firmly believes that the child he saw before who bears the same name is the same person before him.
This gives him an idea of what type of abilities Axel might have: A devouring ability whose origin he could not see through, an elf ghost ability which allows him to recreate the ghosts related to his other abilities; there is bodily manipulation and then his divine origin related powers of the Asura.
Though he can't excuse Axel's atypical usage of magic that can surpass the power of typical mystic codes, powerful magic tools that were much more commonplace during the age of gods but much rarer in current times.
"Hmm hmm" Axel rubs his throat for a bit before he says one word.
"Fall"
A mystical pressure spread out which doesnt affect just Archer high up in the sky, causing him to fall and crash into the ground but also the lingering assassins are pressed onto the ground.
Axel bypasses the helpless king but stops just a moment later.
"I have some history with you, and while you were annoying then, you did at least help me a bit. So ill be merciful" He raises a finger and at the tip, a single needle of compressed prana/mana is formed. The solid concentration causes sweat to form atop the archers head as he struggles against the law based speech Axel had used.
Though before he was killed, he had opened his [gate of Babylon] and sent a few swords, axes and hammers all firing at Axel. Axel keeps his finger steady but he dodges the strikes through a mixture of regular dodging and air movement. Gilgamesh grits his teeth as he feels Axel is making a mockery of him but Axel himself mentally praises the king for still being able to fight back but considers the whole situation futile.
["Mana Dismissal"] Axel recites and Gilgamesh finds the surrounding prana provided by the leylines was disrupted, his strength wanes so he can't even summon his gates anymore.
"What…i..is this" Gilgamesh struggles to speak as his body weakens greatly as he even struggles to materialize himself yet in the last moment before he would fade away into spirit form, the needle from Axel is finally released and stabs into the kings head, killing him and fracturing the series of events yet to come.
He then walks into the church where 2 bodies of assassin are near Kirei Kotomine. He is on his knees and struggling under the pressure being released with only confusion on his face but Assassin has informed him on what type of magic it is.
"There is another Caster?" Kirei grits his teeth but has a shocked expression as his link to Gilgamesh is shattered by the servants death. He soon hears footsteps but cant lift his head to see who it is yet he soon hears a voice.
"Kirei Kotomine. You have committed a crime against a prestigious magic family by killing your own teacher who is the head of said family. I have full evidence of you and Assassin setting this beautiful scene with Tokiomi's dead body."
"Axel Gram!!??" Kirei recognizes the voice and the pressure decreases slightly to allow him to look up at the person speaking. A sword materializes in Axel's hand as he directly severs kirei's head.
With the priest's death, Assassin begins to dissipate as well. Axel envelops the corpse of Tokiomi and departs from the church.
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Alt Title: Sakura's new home. Shopping, and Change Of Fate.
Word count: 2766
Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. I'll try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything.