The brown haired faunus sulked as she meandered down the mostly empty street. It was in the less respectable side of Vale, a place where the faunus were welcome, though they lived there only because of the cheap pricing of property and rundown buildings that made for shelter for the ones that had no home.

But that was not important at the moment

The little eleven year old sulked, long since learning that crying usually made the bullying far worse, for she was not going to become a huntress like she oh so dearly wanted to. Her parents claimed that they refused to let her get hurt, that they loved her too much. That thought warmed her heart, for she know it was true but also that they would have let her if not for the larger problem.

She was a faunus, a person with animal traits. An animal, a monster, a freak. Most humans didn't like faunus, and the same went for how faunus felt about humans. It was just unlucky that faunus were highly outnumbered, and the White Fang's peaceful protests helped little. More often than not the protests would be met with abuse from the police force and citizens, both made up of humans.

Despite this, the young bunny refused to hate humans, she put all her effort into being civil and promoting peace. Her parents had stopped supporting the Fang altogether, and banning her from helping them in fear she would be hurt. They didn't realize that she didn't care about being hurt so long as she made a difference.

"Hey look, a little freak!" She heard, large rabbit ears twitching upwards as she saw in her sights a boy likely no older than her and behind him a small group. All were leering at her threateningly as they slowly approached, clearly looking for a fight. Though the four of them, each clearly strong for their age against the waif of the singular faunus, it was more likely to be a curb stomp.

So the bullied girl did the best thing she could think of. She ran.

"Hey! After her!" She heard the leader call to his followers as heavy footfall sounded from behind her. She may not have been very strong, but she was fast for her age - something that could be attributed to her rabbit nature. Still the boys chasing her were athletic, and by the time she had lost them, she had no idea where she was. As someone who grew up in the slums of Vale she knew that such an event was anything but good.

So, she wandered, hoping to find some recognizable landmark.

It quickly turned dark.

Hungry and tired, the small rabbit faunus went down an alleyway, reaching a tall wall, and curled up under it's shadow and protective blocking of the wind. Before she could sleep however, she heard a voice call out to her.

"Hello. Are you alright?" Red hair, streaked white like a candy cane and grey, silver, eyes. His skin was tanned heavily like a farmer's in some places and paler as her in others, and he looked muscular under his concealing clothing. He had a concerned look in his eyes, though his face was devoid of any emotion. He made no move to touch her as she sat up.

"Who are you?" Velvet questioned as she looked down the dark alley in hopes of finding some opening she could use to escape. She mentally cursed choosing an alley with only one entrance and exit as her sleeping place. The man simply continued to stare at her, his piercing gaze unnerving the young girl who had experienced little in comparison to him.

"...Archer," the now named man replied in a soft voice, "would you like to sleep in my shop?" The tone had no underlying threat, nor promises of regret should she agree. Still, Velvet wondered what Archer (if that was his real name) got out of inviting her into his shop. Not only was he a complete stranger, no he was more than that.

He was a human. One who, out of seemingly nothing but the kindness of his heart, offered her a place to sleep tonight. He could be tricking her, attempt to sell her into slavery or worse. But, she knew that after exhausting herself running from the boys that she would be captured if he did want to do that anyways.

So Velvet followed Archer. She noted the most interesting thing about him was not his hair, or his blotched skin, not even his silver eyes that Velvet knew were important for some reason. No it was undoubtedly his name. After all, who used a bow nowadays?

Velvet wondered who the man was truly. He didn't act like how old he looked, just out of his teenage years, he acted like some of the older faunus she met that had been born in the time of the Great War. Perhaps he had a semblance that made it so he looked young forever? That would explain it, if he was a hundred year old man, who had fought in the war.

His shop was an ordinary weapon shop, which was not uncommon. Only hunters and huntresses had custom made weapons, and if anyone else had one it was nowhere nearly as flashy as the ones the defenders of humanity carried. Yet the weapon shop was not simply a normal weapon shop for civilians or thugs. It housed bows with no strings and jagged edges, war hammers nearly twice her height and probably twice as heavy. Even a few scythes and staves that wouldn't normally be used as weapons littered the store.

What was most prevalent however, were the swords. Curved, short, long, straight, bent, single-edged, dual-edged, gem encrusted, gold, stone, blade-less, and more than a single blade on the hilt. Any sword she could imagine was there, each different than all the others in someway. Most were simple and made for efficiency, but a few looked odder than that and were clearly for boasting.

Not a single weapon among them that she could see transformed, shifted, or had any use with dust. They were all just average. It made her wonder why his name was not instead Saber, if he was so inclined towards the sword, rather than Archer when the bows - while numerous - were not nearly as prevalent in the shop. But that didn't matter.

If he used any of these weapons, he would have had to have a fair deal of weapon training. If he was as old as she thought he was in her childish mind, then he could be an old mentor that she'd love like a grandfather.

Velvet nodded to herself, convinced that she had found the answer. She also smiled as a light bulb clicked in her head.

"Can you train me?" She asked cutely, large brown eyes looking up at the significantly taller male as one ear tilted slightly to put on an aura of innocence. Velvet made sure to incline her knees together and clasp her hands softly as she did it in order to be as convincing as possible. It was most definitely not above her to cry to make him agree to shaping her into an amazing huntress.

To Archer's credit his steely gaze didn't crack immediately. In fact, his silver eyes seemed to dull to gray as he pondered the question. He'd never been able to resist helping someone even for the most menial of tasks. Helping someone become a hero? Was there any chance that he could deny them that?

"No, I won't train you," perhaps when he was more of an idealist and less like the man whom he would become. Now though, he knew that the path of a hero was a never ending trek of sorrow and failure. Despite this, he would forever walk it to become a hero of justice. Not only because that was who he was, but because the better he was at it the less chance someone else had at being someone like him.

"You're nothing but a child. No use in throwing your life away" he added harshly, and as expected the little bunny flinched. Then returned with a glare that was so similar to someone he loved.

Still a small part of him, the part that still wished to be a superhero, rejoiced in being able to train someone to take up the mantle of Hero of Justice once he eventually died. He was bound to soon, it was a miracle he hadn't already. Adopting Archer's suicidal dual sword stance, saving as many people as he could. He didn't fool himself into thinking that he was a superhero.

It was impossible to be a superhero. Everyone learned it eventually. For him it was meeting your future self who hated his ideal, trying to be a superhero and save everyone, so much he attempted to kill his past self to never become a hero, so similar to the King of Knight's wish. For others it was the sight of a dear ally dying at the hands of an enemy you never went for the killing blow on. He was being cynical, Archer thought humorlessly, another part of him that was similar to the original future him.

Although he was an old soul, one that had seen much hardship and had sacrificed the few to save the many, the young dim light that housed the desire to save everyone blinked brightly. Though he was much the same as he had been as Shirou Emiya, many things were different. He no longer tried to save everyone. He never tried to protect those who did horrible acts. They were things that died when his innocence did. But the corpses of the ideals he once held true did not fade, simply buried under many layers of cold harsh truth.

"I want to help people! Humans, Faunus, I...," the girl brought him out of his inner struggle, and it was clear to see that she didn't want to take no for an answer, "I WANT TO BE A HERO!" With a scream so loud that anyone with normal ears would have been deaf she clenched her eyes and sent tears that had been welling up forward. Her knuckles were white, and arms stiff as she bowed her head lightly.

He tried to resist. He really, truthfully. did. But with such desperation packed into those six words he was brought back to the women he loved. The feeling of waking up after getting stabbed through the heart by a cursed spear, and shouting later as Lancer's blow was deflected by an invisible sword. It was so reminiscent of the event that set him on the course that changed his life so much.

With a small and painful smile Archer set his hand on the little girl's head. "What's your name, little one?" The light brown haired girl looked up with eyes full of tears, and a frown that tugged at his heart the same as his ideals tugged at it. She blinked away the tears, yet she kept the frown which was turning into a scowl, and answered him with a cold tone.

"Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina."

"Well, Velvet, I hope you're ready to learn." He didn't so much as stumble as the young child let out a yelp of surprise and joy as she flung herself into his leg. Smiling hurt because he hadn't shown emotion in so long. Yet it felt so incredibly good. A feeling that Archer remembered as happiness.

"No!" Archer's brand new apprentice shouted at him. His eye twitched slightly at how stubborn the little girl was - were all women he was destined to meet going to be stubborn? "I want to stay here, with you!" Back to the topic at hand, thought Archer, and how Velvet didn't want to leave his weapons shoppe.

Archer had learned from the girl that her parents didn't know where she was, and more importantly she didn't know where she was. It was ironic considering she had likely been on Remnant for as long as he had. He had only been there for about eight years, and she looked about that age, perhaps a bit older. She was mature for her age either way, and he knew that she had been forced to grow up fast due to her heritage.

Archer honestly wouldn't have minded being a faunus. He already had reinforcement which allowed him to increase his hearing and eyesight far beyond what any of them could naturally achieve, and he was already more flexible than most. The only things he could have reasonably proposed as to why he wouldn't want to be a faunus were that the extra appendages would get in the way. That and less of a grip on his already fading humanity, not that he cared if he were a human or not.

Still, the fact he told Velvet that he too wanted peace in the world didn't make her want to leave any less. The fact he had told her that he wouldn't train her in his trademark sword style, a suicidal dance that was fatal if not perfectly executed, also didn't help because it had allowed her to infer that he would sacrifice himself to save others.

"Hey! Are you listening?" the faunus yelled up at him with a pout, quite similar to Illya. Though her hands resting on her hips as she leaned forward was more of Rin's tactic.

"I apologize, I was lost in thought." the man replied semi-sheepishly, but not scratching the back of his neck in a cliche way. Velvet simply puffed up her cheeks, before releasing it as a sigh.

"I was saying that my mom and dad don't understand doing something for the greater good. They don't want me to get hurt, I know, but they're afraid for me especially since I'll be discriminated against." The girl looked visibly downtrodden by her own words. But he knew his words would be of no comfort when they both knew she was right. He was going to say something, he had never been very good with words but maybe a rousing speech could make her return to her peppy self.

"I don't care though! I'm going to be a hero! You're going to help me and no one can stop me!" It was unneeded, her fire returning to her eyes and her presence blazing with hope and enthusiasm. She was much like Shirou Emiya, like he was, Archer thought. Perhaps he could guide her on his treacherous path he now shared, making sure to help her avoid the pitfalls and crags that appeared to frequently.

"We're going to need to buy a bed," Archer pointed out to her.

"I'll just sleep with you, master!"

"No. I absolutely refuse. None of that." This was considerably more creepy than his sister suggesting it, not only because she had called him master, but because she was a girl of young age he knew absolutely nothing about. While Archer may have been fairly dense when it came to people, he knew how well that would go over with anyone who heard it.

With that thought in mind, Archer strolled out the door looking for the nearest furniture shop as his apprentice hopped after him.

Well, that's a thing. Chapter 11 of Volume 3. Velvet's weapon is basically tracing, but with pictures.

Rooster Teeth is usually subtle in the references to other animes, games, ect. That said, Velvet - the best animal-girl among the squad - using what basically is the main cast's weapons via tracing to beat the hell out of giant robots was radical. Though I suppose it could be a reference to Equipment Magic from Fairy Tail as Michael (Sun) voices Sting.

Regardless it looks a whole lot more like tracing, and I like Fate more than Fairy Tail so it wins regardless. As for what route Shirou took this time along... ehhh, use your imagination. He's powerful, he's starting to look like GARcher, he still retains a small bit of the ideal for a Utopia and becoming a hero...

This is obviously set WAAAAY before the main show. Summer is dead, and Raven's only been gone for a short while. Blake and Adam are in the White Fang, but it's still mostly peaceful, only fighting back when riots start. Weiss is obviously still in Atlas, and Winter is still at the Academy.

Pyrrha hasn't won any tournaments yet, but is semi-known around her area as a prodigy, Jaune is pretty much the same just a bit less angsty, Ren and Nora are both together, but not together-together, in someplace somewhere (over the rainbow).

Now to end this with some puns...

Penny was really cut up about what happened.

I guess Neo won't be typing in New Times Roman anytime soon.

Yang could really use a hand. I'm sure Penny has one lying around.

Pyrrha was SHOT THROUGH THE HEART, AND CINDERS TO BLAME, SHE GIVES MAIDENS...A BAD NAME.