1.1 - Pipe Dreams

Shirou opened his eyes and sat up.

It took him a second to recognize he was in the middle of a forest. Sitting on soft grass, and listening to the rustling leaves covering the canopy above him. He looked up to see the beams of moonlight and the twinkling of stars.

He didn't recognize any of it.

Where was he?

Shirou couldn't remember how he arrived, he had been-

-irou!

-doing something important. His heart felt light, and there was a strange sense of weightless accomplishment.

Even if he couldn't remember what it was he did, he knew he had done it. That gave him a mixture of relief, and unexplained sadness.

Grasping his head in pain, it throbbed with the fierceness of a tiger. He decided to ignore it for now, it was better to find out where he was.

He went to get up but fell on his face.

Huh?

Stumbling into a stand, his center of balance was all wrong.

His hands were small, like a child's and so were his legs.

He fell on his back again, face screwed up in concentration.

Had he always been a child?

It didn't take him long to relearn how to walk.

Eventually, he stopped face-planting.

-0-

Once he had gotten used to the movement it wasn't too bad. He found himself traveling over gnarled roots, and in the dead of night.

Yet he didn't stumble a single time. Somehow the ground was clear to him, still hard to see but he could easily see whatever he put his hands on.

-57 rings...23 carved markings...Oak-

It was a few hours before he broke through the tree line to find himself standing on the edge of a winding road atop a mountain leading towards the city. The lights and buildings seemed familiar but he felt a strange sense of unease about the layout of the city, and a strange smell of blood, horror and sand.

Ignoring it he wondered if his answers, if there were any, would start at the city.

-0-

On the final stretch of the road a kilometer away, he spotted a set of stairs downhill.

The phone booth next to it had an unusual texture. Almost pristine in its condition with the concrete and steel barriers so eroded.

Once he had walked near it running his hands over it, he found it to be-

-bleached blood stains...repel dust and grime...single call send in the...twenty thousand ar-

He made his way down even with how dimly lit the street lights were holding his head trying to keep from breaking down like the buildings around him.

Much of the masonry and foundations had crumbled. Some of the buildings were boarded up and had broken windows.

He put his hand on the wall trying to stop the strange memories from invading his head.

-years after the War...Has sheltered hundreds of people since its construction even from mons-

He shook his head from the strange influx of information. It was odd. It felt like he was missing something.

Shirou staggered away. It was probably best not to touch anything from this point on.

-0-

Walking through the city at night, with his sneakers on the dirt road he noted it wasn't like most cracked roads he had come across-

-Harsh breathing, swords, and a roar-

He scrunched up his eyes trying to shake off the image. Where was that coming from?

He hadn't even been touching anything. Shirou thought coming here would solve something maybe he would recognize something and know what to do next. Finding nothing hadn't been part of the plan.

He walked out from the slums or whatever that place was. The surroundings now had changed to familiar tall telephone poles, buildings stretched for the sky surrounding him in all directions.

Few people were walking around at night, ghosting through silent and uncaring.

Alleyways were a dump, with garbage piling up in the corner.

None of it helped Shirou recognize where he was and how he had got here.

Then, there was a strange smell...that he couldn't recognize but had gotten stronger the more he chased after it.

He roamed around for quite some time before he realized it would be best to find somewhere to sleep.

Without any identification, he technically didn't exist. Of course there were always people in every city, those he could pay off to falsify his records.

Maybe become a chef or something-

As he was pondering, he realized what he had been smelling. Ramen.

He hadn't been able to pin what it was until that moment.

Shirou turned the corner at an alleyway leading towards the main streets.

There near a dumpster, atop some cardboard, a blonde kid lying on their side, covered by a sheet of paper.

She was the source of the smell?

Shirou clutched his head in pain.

-other!

Someone calling out to him.

Gritting his teeth through the recollection he tried to remember who she was.

It didn't help his mounting frustration from not recognizing anything and he was pretty certain he had never met this particular blond in his life no matter his lack of memories.

He couldn't remember where he was right now but he knew what he needed to do.

Taking a step toward the kid, he froze.

Behind her, stood a large hound. Its silhouette shrouded from the street lights behind it.

Much too big to be a wolf, its fangs the size of knives, with large red eyes. The rest of it the size of a small van.

It was meters from the kid, he was twice that and more.

It lunged towards her.

Shirou moved before he could think, grabbing a rusty pipe to his right and jumped in front of the sleeping kid.

He swung his arm forward.

The sharp end of the glowing pipe sliced into its snout, continuing on without resistance towards its skull.

Then it burst into sand, covering the walls, ground and him.

Shirou blinked, ignoring it before turning around and stepping towards the blonde. He hadn't noticed the pipe had glowing lines cover it briefly before disappearing.

Right now, he had to get the kid out of here.

Something tightened around his ankle and looked down before his legs were pulled out from under him and he felt his head hit the ground before his world was flipped upside down.

He lost his weapon as it clanged on the ground and rolled behind him.

Facing the sandy mural all over the walls and ground, he heard paper tearing behind him and a female shout, "HA! I GOT YOU-wait, you're not a mons..."

He blacked out.