A New Child

Chapter 8: Healing

There were a lot of things Rin had expected when she ran off to find Sakura, but she didn't expect to be getting ice cream with a magical creature that managed to negate her crystal with absolutely no effort at all.

"What flavor would you like?" Rin physically flinched when she heard the woman, Tiamat, speak. The name was vaguely familiar to the child, but she couldn't quite put her finger on him.

"Can I please have rainbow sherbet?" Rin asked. If she was willing to buy some ice cream, there was no reason for her to refuse. How did a creature like her manage to get money in the first place? Sure, she looked like a human, but from the way she moved and acted, it seemed that she wasn't accustomed to human society.

"Alright, that will be ¥1024," The young lady behind the counter said. Tiamat closed her fist and when she opened it, a bill and a few coins were in her hand.

"Woah, that's a fancy magic trick," The young woman said. Rin wanted to scream, but even she could recognize that the only reason she was alive was because of Tiamat's benevolence. It would be better for her not to rock the boat.

"Why thank you, my child," Tiamat smiled as the woman took the money and placed it in the register.

"Er... no problem," The cashier said as she briskly made her way to prepare the ice cream the creature had ordered. Within a few seconds, all three children had ice cream cones in her hand. The boy, who Rin vaguely remembered as Shirou, a completely average kid in her class, holding a cone of chocolate ice cream while Sakura gingerly held a cone of vanilla ice cream.

For some reason, Sakura's choice made Rin sad. Back when Aoi took the two siblings to this place, Sakura would always order strawberry. It was as if something happened that sucked the life out of Sakura.

"Sakura..." Rin approached her younger sister with a concerned look. Sakura flinched as her eyes focused on Rin.

"I'm fine, Nee-san," Sakura assured, but there was nothing assuring about her tone.

"My child," Rin looked up as she heard Tiamat's voice. She saw Tiamat's motherly smile replaced with a sad look. It caused guilt to pang in Rin's heart, but she didn't know why.

"What did you do?" Rin's tone was accusatory. "Why isn't she with the Matou's?"

Rin's blood turned to ice when she saw Sakura flinch. The look in her eyes spoke of true fear. She remembered how she felt when she was trapped with the serial killer. For some reason, she got the feeling that the feeling Sakura had was worse.

"Child, I—"

"T— mom..." Sakura's voice cut off Tiamat's sharp tone. Rin felt tears prick her eyes. Sakura's voice was shaking. "Can we please speak about this somewhere else?"

"Very well, my child," Tiamat put a hand on Sakura's head.

"Hmph, you can come to my place," Rin huffed. "It's not like anyone's there anyways."

"What about you parents?" Tiamat asked. Concern flashed through her eyes.

"I..." Rin clenched her fists. Aoi's condition was only deteriorating since the end of the fourth war, and Rin has been taking care of her ever since. She remembered just a few hours ago when she had to feed her mother. The tears in her eyes almost started to fall down her cheek, but she wiped her eyes in time. "Let's just go."

Rin didn't wait for the other three as she walked out of the store.

-

Sella let out the breath she was holding as the creature walked down the street. She expected to spend a lot of the time looking for Avalon and maybe running into a magus or two, but to see something like that here was unexpected. The presence it had was absolutely unreal. She thought she heard the Tohsaka heiress call it Tiamat, but that couldn't be right.