Land of the Blades

33. Mind

The school looked even more damaged than after the meteorite's shockwave hit it, and it looked worse once we got inside of it. It was practically in ruins. Everyone's possessions were still in their rooms, but we didn't find anyone in there. Shirou's room was the odd one, it was literally full of swords. We arrived at the last room, the one where I had seen Sensei still unconscious earlier that day. When I opened the door, I found that the myriad of flowers were completely gone. Yet he was still there, lying unconscious over the table. Right next to him was another person, whose face I had recently become familiar. His gaze was deeply focused on Sensei, but the sound of the door creaking made him turn towards us.

—Oh, Phos! —he said, attempting to hide his surprise—, I was planning to meet you, but I couldn't afford not seeing Sensei.

The girl made of gold hid behind me and hugged my legs.

—You must be... Lapis Lazuli? —I said.

—Of course I am, but there is no need to be so formal, you can call me just Lapis—he said, approaching me and holding my hands—¸ we have been partners for quite some time, since you received my eyes to be exact. Though it is very unlucky you already lost one.

I touched my face, one eye was indeed missing.

—So even the mental image I have of myself has your eyes.

—So you figured this is a dream? You are pretty clever.

—Not really, it was pretty obvious.

The whole landscape was too symbolic, that place had to be some sort of mindscape.

—Well, at least you are perceptive —he giggled a bit— and about your original eyes, of course you wouldn't got those back even here, someone has been using them.

—...Shirou.

—Exactly —he said, pushing the hair behind his ears.

Suddenly we were on the library, and he started browsing the books that were on the shelves.

—How can we been speaking right now?

—My inclusions are incredible small, so there can be a lot more per cubic centimeter than in most of you. For that reason, there were enough to be able to replicate my personality and kept most of my memories in my head alone. Not enough to sustain themselves and keep me awake, though.

—So, you will be living inside of me from now on?

—Yes, it doesn't seem like your own inclusions reject mine, all the contrary, they seem to like the company —he said, throwing a glance at the girl behind me—, however, I think we have more important matters to discuss, and we are running out of time.

—What do you mean?

—We share the same objective, don't we? We both want to finish the war against the Lunarians and recover everyone who we lost. I too tried to communicate with them at some point, but it never occurred to me to use music, you really think outside of the box.

—It didn't work before, and I ended up losing my head for trying to do so.

—That might have been the case, but it has been one hundred and two years. Things might have changed. Time is running up, so we'll have to part ways soon. You are pretty accustomed to using my eyes, but I'll be helping you process the information you get from the one you still have.

—Speaking of that... could you stop messing with my emotions? —I bluntly said.

He looked surprised, but then smiled gently.

—If that's what you want...

After he said that, I was blinded by a bright light, and the next thing I knew is that I was awake. I sait on the corner of my bed and took a deep breath, before starting crying as the repressed emotions I had been holding back rushed to me. I felt as if someone held my hands and hugged me, but when I opened my eyes, it was only my arms surrounding me. I took a look at them, there was a lot more of the gold alloy between my shattered pieces than I remembered. Thanks to Lapis' intelligence, I was able to tap more efficiently into the tracing that Shirou had inherited me, and I was able to see the components of both the alloy and my original shards. That new skill allowed me to distract myself from my thoughts for a moment, but I still felt too exhausted to do anything. My hand moved again on its own and landed on my face.