dead apostle 1

for a new vampire au, i can totally see it kind of being an offshoot of the last one.

zouken wants to see if he can create another weapon the matou family can use to protect angra mainyu — in this case, sakura. having seen shinji be violent and foreceful with her, he knows it will only get worse until he eventually gets himself killed. while he normally would not care in any regard for either of their sakes, he does wonder if he can make things more interesting.

he sends shinji away with the promise that it will make him stronger, so of course shinji eagerly accepts and takes a one-way train to misaki. it is there that shinji comes to realize that this was, in fact, a horrible trick.

several weeks later after no contact, a large box is delivered to the matou house. with some effort, sakura opens it and screams when she finds the seemingly dead body of her brother inside. zouken laughs as he enters the room, kicking the box over and watching shinji lifelessly roll onto the floor.

he mercilessly hits shinji with his cane until he comes to, gasping for air.

as a ghoul, shinji is a being who has been both bitten by a vampire and injected with some of their black blood. this keeps the body from dying completely, though typically their brain is set to rot as well as their body. because shinji has magical circuits, though damaged, they are enough to keep him from completely physically decaying during his journey to become a vampire. however, he is still a creature with a stunted mental capacity that craves the flesh of other corpses.

zouken cheerfully instructs sakura to take care of her brother.

shirou notices the absence of both shinji and sakura right away, though isn’t sure of where they live to contact them. (something shinji had always been insistent to hide from shirou.) several days after shinji is delivered back to the matou house, sakura appears on shirou’s door step. it’s there that she returns a watch that shirou had given him the christmas before — the first one they had spent together. she explains that there’s been an accident; that shinji is gone. sakura tells him that she knows they had been together and that her brother had cared for him deeply. she tearfully apologizes that she won’t be able to visit him anymore either, and before shirou can ask any questions or offer her any comfort, she runs away. overwhelmed by the processing of this devastating news, shirou can’t move. he’s just lost the people he loves most.

sakura does as she’s told and cares for shinji, though it’s likely something she would have done on her own. she’s smart enough to know that shinji would never willingly sign up to get himself killed like this. while shinji is slow and unable to speak, she looks after him. feeding him the “meals” sent to him from a mystery address in misaki and wiping the traces of flesh and blood from his face. she holds him close and feels his anguished screaming from so far underneath the layers of haze and complacency. she lets him fall asleep in her lap as she strokes through his hair, beginning to think that even if it’s like this, it’s nice that they can have such gentle interactions.

shinji remains slow-witted and lizard-brain focused on consuming flesh and blood for several years. he comes to acknowledge sakura as his caretaker, eventually able to call her “onee-sama” and form small sentences that are almost always limited to begging for food or her affection. sakura comes to love caring for shinji like this, finally feeling in control of him and his emotions and reveling in the way that all of their interactions can feel so positive to her in spite of their underlying grotesque origins. she happily gathers him into her arms and calls him “onii-chan” so sweetly as she kisses his forehead and runs her hands through his hair. she gets a rush of endorphins once shinji learns to tell her that he loves her. even once his constant state of internal panicked crying and screaming break through his thick layers of mental blockage, sakura shushes him and wipes the wetness from his eyes. shinji doesn’t know why he always wants to sob and cry out in pain, but the affection he receives from sakura in return helps him return to lazy complacency. he cannot truly mourn what he doesn’t outwardly comprehend, so he obeys sakura when she giggles softly and tells him to stop his childish crocodile tears.

“i love you, onii-chan. i’m here to protect you.”

when shinji’s body and mind finally graduate into that of a true vampire, his loyalty to his sister is unquestioned and unbudging. sakura is happy to feed shinji packets of fresh blood delivered from the same mystery address until he’s strong enough to do it on his own. even then she pets his face affectionately, calling him cute as he eats container after container, desperately and noisily. she happily cleans his face and tells him to rest; that his body is working so hard to make him strong. while sakura wistfully misses the days when he was dumb and complacent, she is excited to see him grow. every so often she’ll cut one of her fingers and watch affectionately as he sucks on it, moaning at the taste of blood fresh from the source. sakura’s blood. beloved onee-sama’s blood.

shinji is in his early twenties now, skin pale and ashen in stark contrast to his red, sunken eyes. his hair is longer, tied back and muted from the once vibrant blue it was. while he’s only a few centimeters taller, he stands with more power and confidence than before. black claws at the tips of his fingers and slightly pointed ends of his ears help to suggest that he’s no longer human. the glint from his fangs are simply the icing on the cake. sakura calls him handsome, so he’s both happy and eager to believe it.

with a secret order from zouken, shinji’s vampire master releases him, effectively turning him into a dead apostle. from here shinji’s desire for power only grows, not only so that he may protect sakura from any harm, but also so that he may become one of the known 27. while the gift that resides within that goal is to gain an immortality that does not rely on the ingestion of blood, the pleasure shinji currently derives from it is som he feels hesitant to let go. for now, at least. shinji doesn’t recall much from his life before being lovingly hand fed by sakura, so it’s understandable that he doesn’t want to give that up.

zouken gives notice of shinji to the church before sending him away. it’s a necessary event should he eventually become strong enough to be a formidable bodyguard to sakura once he unleashes angra mainyu. zouken chuckles to himself as shinji and sakura share a kiss before he leaves, vowing that when he returns he’ll be able to protect her properly.

shinji becomes cocky over the years, regaining the bravado and ego his sharp mind cultivated in his younger years. while he has mostly returned to his previous witty self, the constant gnawing hunger and desire for blood is a hindrance. he rejects the notion that he ought to use an entirely different name than that of when he was alive, calling himself general mato and wearing a highly decorated military uniform. he is known for commanding an army of wolves as familiars, who assist him in accumulating victims that he can use for food. he also possesses the mystic eyes of enchantment, allowing him to glamour victims, and can project a small reality marble that depletes mana within its projection to replenish what little reserves he has.

despite the abilities and strength he’s gained, it’s still extremely difficult for general mato to lead this life on his own as he is growing as a dead apostle. often struggling to feed himself, he travels from place to place in hopes of finding a large collection of unsuspecting victims. he discovers this in a small desert village, attacking with his army in the dead of night and feasting on the blood of the corpses. he feeds from anyone without discretion, be it man, woman or child. as his power expands, his hunger becomes his dictator.

when archer stumbles upon him as he feasts, he raises his bow and takes aim. it isn’t until general mato hears him and looks up from feeding on his victim, blood soaking the front of his uniform; splattered on his face and covering his mouth and chin. archer can see the moment general mato’s pupils shrink in fear and something deep inside his chest makes him lower his weapon.

“shirou?” general mato gasps, his voice small and terrified in direct contrast to his currently twisted, horrifying appearance.

oh, no.
no no no.

archer can feel his heart crumble. this can’t be happening, and yet it is. his arms are shaking.

“shinji...”