A Den Full of Hay

[Professor Velox]

Shirou pushed open the large, front doors of the Mysterious Tower, or also known as the Mage's Tower apparently. Shirou was not as familiar with this place as he was with many other worlds in the Sea of Skies. He had been here a few times to recognize the location in his youth, but nothing ever more than that. Or, at least, that he can remember. However, he was visiting today to find somebody knowledgeable. He had heard rumors that somebody very wise, who knew all lived in this place a few years ago. It was apparently some old guy with a beard.

He found himself on the ground floor lobby. It wasn't very big, and there was a shop moogle wanting to sell stuff to him. The only notable thing in the room was the start of a winding set of stairs. Shirou exhaled in annoyance, crossing his arms.

"What do you think are the chances of him coming down to meet me?" Shirou asked out loud, seemingly to nobody.

"Considering his age, the height of the tower, and the lack of people around, I'd say quite unlikely," replied a voice that also seemed to come from Shirou, but not from him. There was a small flash of golden light and on Shirou's left shoulder stood a holographic, miniature version of him.

"I wonder if he's stuck up there," Shirou wondered. "I could always take a shortcut."

"Which would be pretty rude and might make him less likely to help you out, since this is his personal domain," Cael retorted.

"Fair point," Shirou said with a defeated sigh. He started to walk up the winding staircase.

---

Sometime later, Shirou finally arrived at the very top of the tower, reaching a door. He was panting and he wiped sweat off his brow. "I...hate...stairs," he managed to gasp out and he leaned against the door, trying to catch his breath. When he was younger, he had terrible stamina. He eventually grew out of that, but ever since he was reborn, it's like his body reset. He hadn't been this weak in years and years. And his stamina sucked again.

"Here goes nothing," SHirou said as he knocked on the door.

[Serenae]

A knock resounded from the other room. Serenae grumbled as she rolled out of her bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I'll be there in a minute!" she said loudly, her voice echoing throughout the top of the tower. She stood up and stretched, yawning loudly. Through the dabs of moisture in her eyes she turned dresser and rifled through it, pulling out a lacy low cut white blouse and a pair of snug black jeans. She quickly pulled her night shirt off and tossed it aside before removed her undergarments. She reached into her dresser again and grabbed a fresh pair to use. She quickly pulled them on and then squeezed into her jeans. "Alright, I'm on my way!" Serenae shouted, her voice again echoing throughout the top of the tower.

She grabbed her blouse and pulled it on as she walked out of her bedroom and across her study, towards the door. She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling out a few tangles as she reached the door. She unlatched the door and pulled it open. What awaited her on the other side was definitely an unpleasant surprise for her. "You!" Serenae exclaimed, completely baffled at how it was possible that Shirou could be in front of her.

[Professor Velox]

The door was answered and instead of an old man, a young woman answered. She seemed to be around his own age and she greeted Shirou with disdain after seemingly recognizing him. Shirou tilted his head in confusion. She did seem familiar to him, though he couldn't really quite place the face with a name. And last time he was greeted with sudden familiarity, it didn't really go well. He had been trapped in an invisible box at the mercy of a very angry MCP. Luckily, as far as Shirou knew, this lady didn't control reality completely here.

"Um, hello," Shirou asked carefully as he quickly stood up and straightened his suit. "Do we, uh, know each other? Because just so you know, I am new around here and it's very likely there is another guy that looks exactly like me."

[Serenae]

Shirou responded with a very confused reaction. "Oh, don't give me that, Shirou," Serenae said sharply. "If you really need a hint then you're more dense than that barrier you used to isolate yourself and Kotor from the rest of the fight." Serenae was downright pissed that he could pretend to forget her after what his actions caused. "Whatever, what's done is done. What did you come here for?" she said, turning away from him and circling her desk before glaring at him once more.

[Professor Velox]

Shirou's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered who she was, and what she was talking about. He chuckled and said, "Sorry, lots of things have happened to me since then, so it's quite difficult to keep track of everything." A much nicer reaction than what Axis had given him. Though, Shirou was surprised that Serenae was here. Was Kotor...?

"I was actually looking for the old guy who is usually here to talk about something," Shirou said. "Though, judging by the fact that you're here, you either own this tower or you're his french maid."

[Serenae]

Hah, Serenae thought to herself. Yeah, YOU have been through a lot... Serenae couldn't believe his audacity. She didn't know if he was that inconsiderate about the consequences his actions had on others or if he truly didn't realize. He made a comment about her being a maid. She scoffed. "Still a conceited ass, I see," Serenae replied.

"An old man, you say? The tower was empty when I got here. As far as I can tell it's been abandoned for quite a while and it was overrun by darkness. I purified it and I've been living here deciding what to do about being transported here. If this is some time in the past, I don't want to mess with the timeline. As for other possibilities, I've been too nervous to explore due to that first possibility," Serenae stated, raising a hand to her mouth. She plopped down into her chair and sighed. Why am I explaining myself to him? she thought to herself. "Alright, so what did you want to talk to the old guy for anyways?" Serenae asked, with a tone implying that nothing else she had said mattered.

[Professor Velox]

"Empty tower, huh?" Things must have been different here. or different things had happened. And from the sound of it, Kotor didn't come here either, or she and Kotor had split. "As for altering any timeline, I don't think you have to worry. We're in a completely different place than our original home, despite how similar it may seem."

"To clarify any vagueness that Shirou has a habit of indulging in," Cael said, appearing on Shirou's shoulder, "Which ever method you used to arrive in this reality was not time travel, but rather dimensional travel. Data retrieved from Space Paranoids indicates that this reality is slightly younger than our original one, by roughly twenty years."

Shirou sighed. "Because vagueness makes me sound all cool and mysterious, like I know everything," Shirou said quietly to Cael. "Explaining it all like that is just boring. No poetry about it."

Cael ignored Shirou and continued to talk to Serenae. "Shirou is looking for a mysterious man in a mask who swiftly beat and killed him. He believes this man to be dangerous and a very likely threat to all of the worlds. He wishes to know more about him to determine if his beliefs are correct."

Shirou just rolled his eyes. "He didn't...swiftly beat me. Well, I mean, he did. Sort of. I was new and naked, only one weapon and no magic or spells. If he fought me now, things would be different."

Cael shook his head and said, "In the current state, you are physically weaker than when you first arrived here. While your body is adjusted accordingly to this universe, it has essentially been reset and you are at the same point you were six years ago in your personal timeline. This is exemplified by the fact that you had issues climbing the flight of stairs here."

"Shh shh," Shirou hastily said, "Hey, you don't gotta tell her all of that, okay? I get it, I'm weak."

[Serenae]

Serenae was intrigued by a great many things all at once. The first being that somehow Shirou figured that doing things here wouldn't affect her own future. The second was a miniature Shirou that appeared on Shirou's shoulder. She gave the figure an inquisitive look as it began speaking, clarifying what Shirou was saying. Apparently what she was in was not actually the past per se, but an alternate universe that was set about 20 years previous to what she was familiar with. Shirou seemed discontented with the figure on his shoulder as it detailed notably more information than he seemed comfortable divulging.

"Wait, reset?" Serenae said, responding a bit after the two in front of her finished. She had been mulling over the bits about her being in an alternate universe. "So if you were killed, how are you here in front of me? And if you're much weaker than normal, why am I not? If anything I feel as strong as ever here, if not more so than before. None of this makes any sense!" Serenae said.

This is so bizarre... So many things were left for her to wonder. How did Shirou also come to be in this universe? Did Kotor manage to get here somehow too? If he did, where was he? All of these questions were things that were now nagging at Serenae, and if anything she had more questions now than she had answers.

And on top of all of this, apparently there was some masked man lurking around. "And this man who killed you... Who is he and why did he kill you?" Serenae added to her string of questions. She had many more but she had a feeling they would have to remain unanswered.

[Professor Velox]

"Hmm..." Shirou listened to all of her questions, somewhat surprised by how many she had. Then again, considering what he and Cael just said, he supposed it would be pretty confusing to anybody who wasn't him. But luckily, it wasn't really that hard to explain...unless Cael wanted to one up him again and explain for him.

"So, when I arrived in the universe, I ran into the masked man. He was trying to kill people, so I was like no. But while I was pretty much at the same power level as before, I had not yet adjusted to the new rules of this reality. So, he ended up killing me instead," Shirou explained, sighing at the memory of a blade ripping into his flesh and the darkness. "And then I went into some weird limbo place, figured some stuff out, and woke up in the Underworld with a new body that looks exactly like my old body, as you can clearly see, but it was like all progression I had from traveling the worlds and fighting was suddenly gone and I was normal again. It's a real pain, but then I got a new job and a free place to stay shortly afterwards, so it wasn't really a big loss."

He exhaled deeply, finally finished with the exposition. He looked at Cael, silently asking if he had any corrections to make. Cael simply rolled his eyes and stayed silent.

"I think that pretty much sums up everything."

[Serenae]

Shirou answered a fair number of her questions, though not all of them. Most of them would probably have to wait until later, unfortunately. "So you died and came back to life magically. And you have no idea why a masked man is going around murdering people. Or who he is..." Serenae said. It seemed that the good news that she wouldn't affect her own universe was pretty heavily counter weighted by the fact that this universe had a mass murdered running around killing people. And capable enough to kill Shirou, who from what she could remember was pretty capable. Or at least capable enough to fight Kotor in a solo scenario.

"Alright, well I suppose the goal here then is to dethrone the dark king, right?" Serenae asked, though it was more of a statement than a question. "And you're not strong enough to do it now... And as far as the old man you're looking for goes, I've got nothing. I wasn't aware of the murdering maniac either," Serenae said. "You fought him, what sort of attacks did he use? Maybe we can come up with some sort of plan."

[Professor Velox]

Shirou was silent for a moment after Serenae finished talking about forming a plan and then averted his eyes, looking downwards. "To be honest, all I planned to do was find out if he was a threat to the worlds and that's all. I'm not strong enough myself to take him down if he is, and I don't know enough people to form a team. I also wouldn't be able to ask you to go out and fight him, because I'm not entirely sure if you'd survive."

[Serenae]

"So if that's the case, and you don't know enough people and aren't strong enough to do anything yourself, then explain this to me. Why are you bothering to care at all? It doesn't really seem your style, from what I remember of you." Serenae rested her elbows on her desk and crossed her fingers then leaned into her hands.

Being honest with herself, she didn't know anyone in this Universe except for Shirou, who she wasn't exactly friends with. She would be okay with herself if she died saving people. After all, that was one of the things that Kotor did, and she was only alive today because he saved her.

[Professor Velox]

Shirou chuckled, though not in a way that was meant to condescend or patronize. "Like I said before, a lot of stuff has happened since we last met," he said, echoing his earlier statement. He didn't really know how to explain the change, either.

"I guess...I just don't want to stand around and do nothing. I may be severely out matched, out resourced, and out numbered, but...I don't know. I have to do something. He's killing people and it could be a lot of people and if I know about it and don't do anything to stop it, then that means I'm just as bad as him," Shirou said. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, collecting his thoughts.

[Serenae]

You could practically see how hard Serenae was thinking about the situation. Maybe Shirou wasn't as careless as Serenae made him out to be. Two things came to Serenae's mind. The first was that it seemed it was possible that Shirou actually DID care about these people. The second was that the first thing she thought was preposterous, and the only reason he cared was because although he wasn't exactly good, he wasn't as evil as the man who murdered him. And then suddenly something important occurred to her. She dropped her thoughtful composure and asked rather animatedly, "Wait outnumbered? What do you mean outnumbered? I thought you said it was a fight one versus one. How can you be outnumbered?"

[Professor Velox]

"Well," Shirou started, scratching the back of his head. "I was technically just fighting him. There was just multiples of him. He also summoned a giant heartless that could have made me shit my pants if I had been wearing any at the time."

He found that he was suddenly didn't feel like standing. A wooden chair appeared behind him and he took a seat in it. It wasn't an elaborately designed chair, just simple really. "Which is one of the reasons why I'm quite worried. I..." He hesitated. He didn't know Serenae that well, but he knew she had to be somewhat noble. He didn't want her storming off to go find Hayden just to get herself killed. But at the same time, what would the good of keeping secrets from her do?

"I recently discovered that Disney Town fell into Darkness and this masked guy was most likely involved in it," Shirou said, finally. "If he can cause that, and if that's his intention, then that means the all the worlds are in danger. So that's why I'm looking for answers, to see if he really is capable of doing that and if he intends to do so if he can."

[Serenae]

"Wait he can split himself into multiple copies?" she asked rhetorically. Storm could do that too, but she had no idea where he ended up after his portal excursion. "That complicates things..." Serenae said. She fell back into thought for a moment while Shirou summoned himself a chair. He seemed hesitant to reveal something, but then appeared to decide it was important.

The information that followed was extremely shocking. Serenae stood, her chair dramatically sliding backwards as she rose. She planted her hands firmly on the desk in front of her. "Wait, you mean to tell me that this man managed to get passed the CORNERSTONE? I thought if anywhere, Disney Town and Castle would be safe. This is really bad. He has to be stopped, and if you can't, then I'm going to. Or at least try to. Do you know where he is? She asked.

[Professor Velox]

"No idea. All I know is that he was chasing somebody, trying to get them," Shirou said, shaking his head. "And it's only an assumption of mine that he was involved with it. He might not have been anywhere near Disney Town when it happened. Hell, he could have even been trying to prevent the fall. I don't know. From our brief encounter, it didn't seem like he was just some psychopath hellbent on killing everybody. He seemed like he was killing specific people for a specific reason. And if this is true and his eventually reasons that the worlds need to be eliminated or worse, then it becomes a major problem."

"The world of Disney Town and it's castle was perhaps the safest place in the universe. It falling to darkness is not a good omen for the future of these worlds, even if this guy wasn't involved with it. I worry that perhaps there are more threats the worlds than just this masked man."

[Serenae]

As much as Serenae hated to admit it, Shirou was right. Disney Castle and Disney Tower were probably the single safest places in the entire continuity of explored worlds. The Cornerstone of Light had stood for decades against the powers of darkness. Or at least it had in their universe.

"Then... We do need a team. Alright, I think I have someone that can help." Serenae turned from her desk and motioned Shirou to follow. She approached the large tome that contained the portal to the Symphony of Sorcery. Hopefully Tsumiko was alright with putting her explorations on hold. She had already been in there for a good week.

[Professor Velox]

Shirou raised an eyebrow in curiosity but did as she said. He stood up, his chair remaining there, and followed Serenae to a book. "You know somebody? I though you've been cooped up in this tower the whole time," Shirou said. He wondered what the book was. Perhaps a way to summon this person? Shirou remembered hearing about a magical book that was like another world, where there were talking animals. Perhaps this was something similar, though Shirou was unsure of how he felt about being aided by literal fairy tale characters.

[Serenae]

As Serenae reached the tome containing the Symphony of Sorcery, she motioned towards it, opening it. Music filled the room. "While you're correct that I've been cooped up here, I did have a visitor recently," Serenae replied. She motioned through several pages until she found Tsumiko. "Tsumiko, something came up. I think you need to come out here," Serenae said into the book. Hopefully Tsumiko wouldn't be too upset about having to leave.

[Tsumiko]

Hearing a voice that wasn't of the melodious nature around her, the songstress' attention came full swing upon who was speaking. For a good long couple of days, she'd been exploring the wonders of the word within the book. It had so much to offer, and there was so much to explore. Though it seemed as though that would have to wait. From outside, Serenae called to her. While she was somewhat disappointed, the manner in which the mage called to her was a bit concerning. And she knew that she could always come back.

Coming out of the book, it worked quite in reverse to going in, with the force of being pushed rather than pulled. It left her feeling a little light-headed, but it was something she quickly recovered from. Turning to face Serenae, the songstress was about to ask what was going on when her eyes landed on yet another body in the room. He was a man about her age, with dark hair and green eyes.

“H-Hello... What's... going on?” Tsumiko's eyes flicked from the man to Serenae, reflecting in them the question she just asked. Based on the tension in the air, it didn't seem like a happy visit.

[Professor Velox]

A girl with silvery blue hair appeared out of the musical book. Shirou raised his eyebrows in faint surprise and amusement. He crossed his arms, observing her. Sizing her up. She looked to be either in her late teens or early twenties, like Shirou himself. She seemed confused but also wary. She didn't exactly look like a fighter, but then again, some could say the same about himself. Or even Serenae. Always so interesting how such unassuming kids can turn out to so much more. A scrawny guy with a teenager haircut can cover worlds in lava. One of the things Shirou has learned in his travels that that while he may never experience everything, nothing will really be a surprise anymore. Anything is possible in such a vast and magical universe.

Shirou stayed silent, waiting for Serenae to explain first.

[Serenae]

Tsumiko had a rather confused look as she saw Shirou. Shirou stayed silent, presumably just curious about what Serenae's intentions were. "Tsumiko, this is Shirou. We're old... Uh, we know each other," Serenae said, introducing Shirou. "We've been talking for a bit now and decided that we're both, for once, on the same page about something. And we need help. Neither of us can deal with this problem alone," Serenae added. She let out a sigh, as it would be quite difficult to explain. "To put it simply, lots of people could die but we can possibly do something about it. I don't really know what you're capable of but I can tell that you're fairly strong. Can you help us?" Serenae asked, a lot of weight hanging on the question.

With Tsumiko's help the three of them likely stood at least a slight chance, and definitely a much better chance than Shirou and Serenae without her help would.

[Tsumiko]

Tsumiko nodded in greeting to the name introduced as Shirou, her silver-blue eyes shifting from him to Serenae. She blinked at the mage when she said they needed help. She seemed a bit stressed about whatever it was as she let out a sigh. The songstress' brow furrowed in concern and mild horror as Serenae began to brief her on the situation. Immediately upon hearing her request, Tsumiko nodded her head, without any hesitation.

“I'll do whatever I can to help. Just tell me what the game plan is, if there is one...” she said, looking from one set of eyes to the other. The songstress still wasn't able to fully comprehend the scale of what was going on. Never before had she heard of something like this beyond stories of long ago and fairy tales. It was hard to swallow. But if she could help save lives, then there would be no second guesses.

[Serenae]

Tsumiko agreed without hesitation. It appeared that she had a strong moral standing like Serenae did. "We don't really have a plan... Nor do we even know where this man even is," Serenae said. "I do however have an idea as to how to locate him though," Serenae added, looking at Shirou. She approached him, saying, "Give me your hand," holding her own hand out to indicate to him to place his hand palm up in her own.

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