Chapter 21 - 1

Author's Note (Mostly for FFN)

...

Answering some questions in the last chapter.

Shirou's tracing ability allowed him to see the history of Talulah's sword BUT it doesn't show the moment Talulah lost her way. It only shows Talulah using it to kill Kashchey then being carried around by Talulah until Chernobog. From the sword's pov, Talulah simply took it away. It only records who used it physically.

CRAP. I haven't read the Victoria arc and I didn't know W only chose Wis'adel as her name in chapter 14. Welp, time to just quietly gloss it over until forgotten.

=== CHERNOBOG ===

Two days after the assault on Lungmen...

Shirou sensed the change in the atmosphere before the Reunion's leader returned.

The revolutionary camps were abuzz with news when Shirou served breakfast. He listened in on a conversation nearby while serving soup in line.

"If Talulah's coming back for reinforcements, does that mean they failed to assault Lungmen?"

"We all knew Lungmen would be a tougher city to attack. Some of us were left behind to secure prisoners and Chernobog. We've been training some of the new guys but I don't know why we keep the civilians around." One of the rebels shrugged while looking at the prisoner camp across from them.

The Reunion didn't capture all the civilians escaping Chernobog. They only captured a number of them. Few enough to be controlled with minimal security, but large enough to warrant attention. By now, the Ursus Empire would've heard about losing one of their cities. Yan was also paying attention to the growing situation on its border with Ursus.

"Who knows? Only the commanders know what Talulah is planning."

"Have you even heard from the Shieldguards and the Yetis? A common sentiment is that the attack on Lungmen was unneeded. They also disagreed with our assault on Chernobog."

"Bah- ignore those guys. They're always talking about how it would be safer for us to avoid the cities. Those guys would be happy to disappear into the wilderness if they could."

Many other conversations repeated similar information with variety.

One, that Talulah was returning to muster the rest of the Reunion in Chernobog. And two, that the Shieldguards and Yetis were showing disapproval again. The rest of the Reunion who didn't belong to those groups showed mixed reactions to their disapproval, but nonetheless shared their own.

Most of them were on the fence, but it looked like Patriot and FrostNova's efforts were taking root as there was growing sentiment about avoiding unnecessary battles across the new recruits. It helped that the more radical Reunion members were mostly part of the invasion force Talulah sent to Lungmen, giving Patriot more freedom to spread his faction's influence.

.

.

.

Talulah's return was received with lots of praise despite the lingering echoes of frustration over the failed assault on Lungmen.

Shirou knew that many of the new recruits and the general Reunion members saw Talulah in a good light. She was like a bonfire in the dark- the head of the Reunion- the only person who had the gall to form a rebel movement that was fighting discrimination against nations.

The only one to have taken down a city. Not just any city- but a city of the Ursus Empire, one of two Terran superpowers. It was not as noteworthy as Lungmen, but the expectations of success carried over.

Within a day of her return, Shirou was called for a meeting. It was to be expected. During the time she was out leading the Lungmen assault, he was held as a prisoner. Upon her return, news of him being freed would've caught her attention.

...

"Shirou Emiya?"

The soldiers he eyed came up to him while he oversaw a group of chefs preparing lunch. Shirou had been going around the camps and mentoring chefs the past few days.

"Yes?" Shirou kept his tone cool when they approached. These rebels looked professional compared to many of the Reunion. These ones were likely as dangerous as Patriot's forces- comparable to military veterans. Their uniforms were also different, which confirmed Shirou's inkling that these were some of Talulah's personal forces when he secretly traced their clothes.

"You have been summoned by our leader." The same person stepped forward. "Drop all activities and return with us."

Shirou quietly hangs the apron. "I'll leave the kitchen to the rest of you." The chefs he was teaching grumbled but didn't make any trouble. Both soldiers stepped into rhythm on each side as they escorted him to Talulah's location.

=== TALULAH POV ===

Things were changing. No, things were always changing. It was just how the world worked.

Talulah danced around volatile elements on a daily basis. Keeping her forces under control, leading the Reunion, while watching out for Patriot and FrostNova's moves.

Everything was under her control.

So it annoyed her when an external factor suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The appearance of those Oripathy doctors in Chernobog started messing with her carefully laid out plans. While Patriot's influence over his forces didn't change, the same couldn't be said for her. Those who ran to the Reunion for purpose or a new life out of desperation were escaping her clutches. The news of the Fuyuki Clinic treating Oripathy cut down the numbers who would've been swayed by her radical forces. Instead, they were clutching at some hope of regaining their former lives.

It was aggravating.

Talulah didn't just dislike outside forces meddling with her plans. She absolutely loathed it.

The sound of thumping on wood coming from the door reached her ears.

"Enter."

The doors opened by the two soldiers standing outside the room. Two others appeared escorting the man she summoned.

"Leave us."

The red-haired archer she faced during the Chernobog invasion entered the room. The doors closed behind him and the two were left in the privacy of her temporary office.

Eyes the shade of dull but sharpened silver met refined bronze as the two enemies met once again. In such a close environment, Talulah was confident that if the older man in front of her were to attack, she would have the advantage. Her dragonic heritage protected her from heat and flame, which would prove fatal in an enclosed room against what she assumed was a regular human.

Her eyes flickered to the top of Shirou's head and to his back. She still had no clue what race the supposed doctor was. It was odd how he didn't have any recognizable extremities for her to see. Which narrowed down her suspicions to a handful of races on Terra who's extremities were minimal.

Even the few Aegir He had seen throughout his thousand-year lifetime had recognizable features. The ones who hid it the best were those with sharp teeth, and even then those could be spotted easily.

"So, you joined the Reunion." Talulah returned her gaze back to his face. Shirou opted to remain quiet and watch the woman he was supposed to fight against. "You have my gratitude. These people are in need of your medical expertise."

Shirou kept his face straight despite the skepticism on his mind. Talulah was perfectly fine endangering his life- or going as far as killing him- at the end of the Chernobog invasion. He wouldn't bulge easily. Not when he's faced just as many two-faced mages back at the Clocktower.

But- Shirou wasn't one for dancing around matters. He'd like to get to them straight away.

"What did you really call me for?"

The Draco in front of him turned away and looked out the window. The building they were in was one of the few relatively untouched medium-rise buildings that survived Chernobog's invasion. She was silent for a few moments while watching the Reunion camp a few streets down.

"...do you think you will win?" Talulah asked quietly. Shirou tensed. He knew how disadvantaged he was against the Draco in such close quarters. He would fare better against her from a distance. "You side with Patriot without seeing the bigger picture." She clarified. Shirou slowly released the tension in his muscles when he saw that the girl in front of him didn't react to his move.

"Healing them is the right thing to do." Shirou responded.

"You are too focused on the individual." Talulah looked back at him. "This world will not change if you don't open their eyes."

"Waging war against the world is not the answer." Shirou felt a little hypocritical. He didn't understand what waging a war against the world truly meant, but other versions of him undertook that path.

ARCHER was one such person- and he came out of it bent- if not broken.

"It may not be the answer, but history proved that bloodshed and revolution succeed. What other way would you have it?" Talulah closed her eyes. "Patriot's choice to protect the few would leave the rest fending for themselves. A respectable decision that I can understand. Saving what little you can is what many would choose to do..."

The Draco opened her eyes to stare at rigid bronze.

"...but that I will not accept."

He had other goals in mind.

Far grander goals.

...and He wasn't going to let this unknown variable ruin his plans.

Not when it was this close to completion.

"You have heard of Patriot's side. So you should at least hear mine." Talulah hadn't gotten to this point without having a silver tongue. Many of her forces were under her command simply because she could easily sway them to her side.

Shirou blinked. He didn't like Talulah's plan, but learning more about her side could help him figure out how to change her mind- if worse comes to worst- then he'd have to fight her. Patriot only wanted to change the Reunion. Talulah was the biggest hurdle to achieving that goal. They didn't understand how their old friend changed so much, but Patriot was determined to put her down if necessary to stop the Reunion from continuing its bloody ways.

"The world does not see Infected the same way you do." Talulah watched as more and more people started arriving outside her window. It would soon be time for the announcement. "None of the countries care much about developing a cure, much less create a plan to integrate them into society and it shows. The people under them saw how they treat Infected and have adapted the same. More often than not, discrimination is enforced."

The leader of the Reunion moved away from the window. Her focus was partially on the conversation as she reviewed her itinerary for the next few days. She didn't really prioritize pulling Shirou to her side. Talulah only wanted the archer to have second thoughts about his choice. It would slow him down, which would in turn delay Patriot from making any moves.

"A few nations are partial to Infected simply because they can be taken advantage of. Cheap labor, dangerous labor. What would it matter if they die later from Oripathy? Why not just use them now like the replaceable resource they are?" Talulah stared down the archer. "Those Infected who do find lives in nations like those are fools. They become thankful, surviving on bare minimum to retain a semblance or normality of what they once had before the infection. The money they earn returns into the system, moving into the hands of their replacements when they meet their ends."

"If you go along with Patriot and help the Reunion settle down in some remote corner of the world, then you are only delaying the inevitable. Nations will one day reach your doorstep and take the lands you have settled, destroying all you have achieved." Talulah stepped in front of Shirou.

"Then what?" Her cold gaze met Shirou's burning eyes. Talulah observed them, wondering if her words were affecting the man as she wanted. His expression showed anger simmering below the surface. Shirou was never good at hiding his emotions, but when those emotions disappeared- Rin and Sakura were there to save him after the line was crossed.

After all, what does a blade need emotions for? Not when there was a target that needed to be eliminated.

There had only been a few times in Shirou's life where his mind shut down- logic and emotion tossed out the window when up against targets he deemed necessary to kill, but was beyond his capability. There were many such monsters back on Earth. His humanity curls back, showing the true nature of a weapon underneath it.

Because once Shirou puts his mind to it, everything becomes a distraction. He didn't need emotions. He didn't need to protect himself.

He needed to kill. He needed to save.

It was his greatest strength, and his greatest weakness.

Rin and Sakura stopped him from falling into that darkness. The same darkness Archer warned him about. Without them around him, Shirou knew that the trigger to his own destruction was exposed. He didn't care if he died one day, but he sure cared if it would hurt those close to him. Rin and Sakura were akin to deterrents to a walking doomsday device.

"You are one person. You can heal Oripathy for the rest of your life, maybe even pass on the Arts and know-how to the nations...but that would not guarantee salvation for the Infected. This corrupted world would use it for other means to control them."

"Join me...and we shall fight to change the world."

Talulah watched as the troubled gaze in front of her changed. It slowly became clear, as if the man in front of her found his answer.

"You cannot change the world alone."

Talulah blinked as the archer in front of her shook his head.

"You're doing everything on your own. It takes more than one person to make a difference."

If there was one thing Shirou learned after the war, it was that help goes a long way. His work as an executor wouldn't have been possible if the Clocktower didn't enable him with equipment and preparation. Intel, supplies, support, all of it were vital components to completing the mission.

Shirou would've walked the path of a martyr if it weren't for the combined efforts of Rin and Sakura to stop him before he was too far gone. Together, they were able to reel him in and keep him grounded.

Together.

Not alone.

"You need help. Only then can you change the world." Talulah felt his determined gaze pierce her. "So why do you push everyone away?"

Memories flashed of years past. Talulah sitting on a log, talking amicably with a young rabbit girl and the hulking figure of a former general behind her. Talulah wrapping a coat around two young boys, lost souls who found their way to her and the Infected group she led. Talulah dreaming of the future as she settled down on a thin piece of cloth inside a rundown hut where the Infected made their camp in the Ursus wilderness.

Talulah remembered an old friend dying in her arms, wishing for Talulah not to stray down the path of vengeance.

Something tugged deep within.

"Talulah" frowned. She didn't answer his question. Instead looking away from the man who seemed to have affected another variable in her plans.

"Because people are weak. Because people are dumb." It was an answer born from a different perspective, one that tinged with blood and resolve.

But it was not her answer.

It was his.

A small tremor halted the conversation between the two enemies. It was a fortunate distraction which Talulah used to cut their conversation immediately.

"I see that I cannot change your mind." Talulah walked past Shirou and stopped by the door. "As a member of the Reunion, I invite you to join the assembly. I have an announcement."

Talulah walked outside with Shirou trailing behind her. There, a crowd of Reunion rebels gathered. Just like the man walking at her rear, they were also equally perplexed why the city started rumbling. The hulking figure of Patriot surged forward with FrostNova following close behind.

"Recruits are not ready. Not enough training." The retired Ursus general warned. Patriot brought up viable points, but they were weak in consideration. The Reunion always lacked training. The experienced veterans who could train soldiers were outnumbered in the hundreds. Instead, they learned from combat first-hand.

It was a pitiful attempt to slow her down, one that made Talulah satisfied. She caught them off guard and they didn't have a plan. Talulah discussed the idea of using Chernobog's core plate with the commanders before they left to assault the Yanese city.

"Lungmen is caught off guard. This is our only opportunity to strike before they flee." Talulah countered him. "We should push now while we have the advantage."

"Losing several commanders and failing the assault is not an advantage. Moreover, our invasion of Chernobog has already drawn the attention of the Ursus 4th Army. Attacking Lungmen would draw the ire of Yan. We cannot continue this Talulah!" Patriot's voice grew louder and hoarser the longer he spoke. The medicine FrostNova received from Shirou that was shared to the rest of the commanders helped alleviate the pain from his Oripathy-infected throat, though not enough to significantly improve his health.

The news he received about the failed assault on Lungmen was devastating. All those lives lost, Mephisto and Skullshatterer captured, and with nothing gained.

"Lungmen has their hands full with civilians and wounded. A significant number of their original force will be too busy enforcing order and recovery. We have fresh men." The Draco calmly answered.

Who was she fooling? Talulahh knew that Patriot would be against her plan. Throw the inexperienced recruits into the meat grinder that was Lungmen. Save the stronger forces for when the LGD were tired.

"You're going to get us all killed." A significant number, if not outright failure. The city had strong defenses akin to a fortress, top of the line technology, and trained personnel. "Even if we succeed, Yan wouldn't leave Lungmen captured for long."

"That's why I plan to capture Lungmen's chief. Yan will consider our demands if we have a member of the Royal Family in our hands."

Wei Yenwu, the chief executive and figurehead of Lungmen, and...her uncle. He was the brother of the current emperor of Yan.

They wouldn't let anything happen to him.

"He could flee. Leaders...most of them would rather save themselves." Patriot experienced it many times during his service in the Ursus Empire. He was one of their greatest, a general above generals, carved into the bloody tablets of Ursine history despite not being one of their kind.

"Not this one." He personally knew this one. He lost to Wei Yenwu once. The man wouldn't abandon Lungmen. It was everything he fought for.

Even abandoning Talulah for the sake of the city.

The daughter of his own best friend.

The same best friend who sacrificed himself to protect Talulah and left her in his care.

"It is too late to stop now. We do not stand a chance against the Ursus 4th Army. Our only choice is to capture Lungmen. Ursus cannot chase us if we are in Yan's territory. Any activity across Yan's border would be taken as an act of war."

Talulah watched Patriot glare at her. She knew it. He knew it.

Talulah had already won when she convinced the Reunion to invade Chernobog. It was just a matter of dominos

Talulah walked past the Wendigo commander and his second-in-command, leaving behind the trio of opposition that were against her.

Now that the core city of Chernobog was beginning to warm up, it would only take a few hours to power the connected plates and split the city core away.

Then...Talulah would charge straight for Lungmen.

But before that, she needed to give her people a speech. Unlike Patriot, these ones were easier to sway to her side.