Author's Notes: The Idea
This Post-Unlimited-Blade-Works Holy Grail War (AU Original Arc with Heavy Spoilers) with a mix of original Fate politics (M-Rating Reason) and (admittedly) something that might turn you off that make this story fast-paced and serious on a chaotic level comparable to Heaven's Feel Route.
And my original interpretation of Kiritsugu and Shiro.
Please tell me if you like this premise. And give me your impressions so I can continue this story along at a pace fitting everybody. Or at least, tell me questions I can answer with Taiga Dojo extra chapters.
The Taiga Dojo will be summaries and explanations of previous chapters. With Taiga and Illya.
(I'll be using the Taiga Dojo as a break excuse very often from writing, as there's lots to think about.)
And Kiritsugu is still alive. And his developing relationship with Taiga.
And enemies start out at their strongest already. So even with Shiro at his strongest...
This'll be the toughest fight Shiro+Archer have ever faced.
With references from (what I remember) of Fate/Zero (didn't watch all of it), Unlimited Blade Works, Heaven's Feel, the Visual Novel (not including side material.)
Including everybody's suitable ideas:
If you have anything helpful, suggestions, etc. I'd be more than happy to take it.
What I'm looking for:
Examples: Servant Choice, Character Voice, Nasu-verse Material, Original Skills, Ideas I can borrow, making better OCs, etc.
Plenty of the other stories you guys have read have plenty of ideas I don't have (even better most likely), so do that too.
Prologue
There was an auburn-red boy. He was about 0.4x the height of his dad.
He was laughing very happily.
His name was Emiya Shiro.
He is living with his dad, a former war veteran, in the hopes that he'll become strong just like him.
One night, they were sitting, silently on a porch, waiting for the moon to show up…
The moon was glowing unusually bright today despite being covered by the clouds...
It was as if it was trying to tell them something.
His dad, an extremely energetic Emiya Kiritsugu, looked like he was thinking of something.
Something was different today. Because every day, Kiritsugu would be cooking meals with him, teaching how to prepare Japanese food, including sushi. He was around him 24/7.
He spent all his time fostering him into the son he truly cared about… because he didn't want him to be the same as him.
"Shiro…"
Staring into space, he was lost in a world of thinking...
Shiro is staring hard at him. Kiritsugu never seems to notice.
"...Dad?"
A few seconds pass by—
"A-Ah…!"
He seemed used to it.
" Shiro, what's wrong?"
"Hehehe, you seem really nice today~."
"Mm? Is that so?"
Kiritsugu, smiling because he wanted his son to smile too, made him truly happy.
He had witnessed so many horrors done by his hand, all the while not being able to decide what's right or wrong.
And now, he made a terrible mistake.
Something that could come to haunt him. And hurt his son's innocence.
Fuyuki in flames:
The fires of a Holy Grail War…
He still remembers the fire that burned Fuyuki, the Fire of all Creation…
The destruction of the Holy Grail, which filled the whole town with its fire that was a bane of life…
Shiro, having lost his real parents, was about to give up on life as he knew it…
And Kiritsugu was the one who saved him.
Lying in the rubble of a great explosion, Shiro was picked up and brought to the hospital.
Shiro normally wouldn't be able to sleep in such a bright room, but since he was saved and was already trying to keep himself awake…
He fell asleep within seconds.
…..
The next day came. It was complete silence reminding him of what just happened yesterday.
A hospital nurse would check him early morning, giving him care.
"Shiro-san? Does your body hurt?"
The nurse was sincerely concerned over what happened.
Shiro stares at the nurse while wincing in pain…
His throat was stuck. But his pain was numbed by her beauty. He had no words to speak.
He literally couldn't—
"C-Cough! U-Um-who-are-you? Y-You're so…!"
Shiro quickly spoke his words, forgetting his manners. His face was completely red, and his face was twisted in a funny way.
She nodded, and her black twin tails bounced.
She was painstakingly beautiful, to the point where she charmed a young boy like Shiro.
She was unusually paying attention to Shiro's needs.
She most likely lost some family as well in the fire…
"…..!"
Suddenly, Shiro recalled Kiritsugu's face.
Plat plat plat plat—
Rain was hitting everywhere, from corner to corner. Black clouds were covering the sky endlessly.
Buildings have collapsed. Everything young has died, from trees to animals to birds—
Silence became insufferable.
The silence of death, when you have lost your world, and nobody knows what you have just witnessed…
Making you recall all the values you were taught, everything you knew…
Shiro that day… he had already died once, inside.
Because his whole life, Shiro as a child only knew life in his hometown.
He was around 2-4 years old at the time when the fire happened.
He had lost everything. His home, his life, his reason for existence…
He wanted to please his family because they believed in him, they raised him really well.
So well, that he had developed independence in the form of his parents.
When he lost them… he lost his meaning for existence.
A young Shiro, lying in the rubbles of black smoldering Earth.
He couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't save them.
Why he wasn't old enough to be just like his parents? To be an adult who saves everybody.
Because he knew all his friends and family from Fuyuki, when he lost them…
He felt like he couldn't understand why…
He lost his reason for existence.
The one who brought him back… was his adopted father, Kiritsugu.
Nobody knew it... But his father gave him the courage to become a hero.
Because Kiritsugu had been through political turmoil, and every killing he had done had national implications. And apparently, there was one young boy who he thought of—
Apparently, during the that moonlit night—
Kiritsugu was thinking back to one young man who resembled Shiro quite a lot now except…
"That young boy… He has the same innocence as Shiro does now. But I can't remember what he looks like…"
What Kiritsugu saw in Shiro… was one of the assassination victims whose parents he shot back in 1985-1989.
Late 1975-1990:
Somewhere in a privately-owned estate in America
Staring from late 1900s building, from atop of a factory-like roof where no people were wandering around, he peered into the room, seeing a young boy playing with his parents:
"Hehehe, Dad, look at me!"
"Ah hey, Bowie-Junior!"
A proud tall voice, the dad, a natural blonde with a rough, handsome yet gentle face, he spoke to his son in the proudest tone.
He had just come back from the toughest battle he had ever endured.
It was not a battle with weapons. It was a negotiation with the Japanese.
After spending what felt like a week in constant lockdown…
He finally wanted to see his wife and son. After having been away for more than 2 years…
Since Kiritsugu knew this would be the only time he is vulnerable, he chose it despite the fact that he would risk missing his shot—
All because he was waiting for a child to leave…
"Mmmm~! Dad, don't call me that! My name is Takadana!"
"Hahaha, you sure sound like a famous young pop star that I protected in Japan!"
"Mmph! You used my mom's name with Kodana's!"
"Ah, hush hush! You really are a great kid, you know? Besides, your mom's name is Takuya! Be proud of that!"
The tall proud man laughed like a certain Servant from a future Grail War—
He knew that he only had to shoot just one. Just the American General.
"…..!"
Kiritsugu, looking below, knew he didn't have any more time.
"Sniff sniff…! Mm? Do you smell cigarettes?"
"Nobody actually smokes around here, you know? Which can only mean…"
"It doesn't smell like trash burning, so it could only be—"
The patrol officers stare at the source of the smell. They were coming close from below.
They were unusually keen like hound dogs.
He would soon be spotted by the American military police that were patrolling around the private estate.
Kiritsugu was smoking so much that he was smoking a cigarette literally every 3-5 minutes.
His adrenaline was at an all time high today. The highest he's been in the 20-30 years he's been an assassin.
And he has been smoking excessively.
The child reminded him of his own innocence—
Before he became an assassin.
Ba-dum, ba-dum—
His heart beat accelerating to 150 beats per minute.
Ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum—
Climbing to 180—
Ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum—
…
He was already an assassin, growing up from an adopted mother, yet…
He couldn't get over his past, where he had to shoot down his very teacher who took him in to become who he is today.
His adopted mother, Natalia.
She was a professional. Her body was well toned, suited in jet black clothing to disguise herself in the darkness—
Little did he know that, the techniques she taught him would also reaffirm Kiritsugu's decision to change Shiro's fate.
Because he remembered that day when his friend, Shirley, died for something so worthless—
Magic. And worst of all, everybody in his hometown became Dead Apostles because of his father, a Magus practicing Forbidden Magic.
In a way, it seemed like Shiro was the luckier one, when actually—
They both felt the same pain. Shiro was one who couldn't understand why he lost his parents and lost his aim in life.
Kiritsugu was one who had a deep aim in life, and he discovered it was all a lie.
He didn't know Shirley would die because of him… that bastard of a father.
Kiritsugu had been exposed to so many realistic world fears, that he didn't want Shiro to know about it—
Hence why he wanted to die at first.
Staring hard at the happiest-man-in-the-world he was going to shoot, he thought he was doing the right thing.
If he blew his chances now, there was a 99% likely chance that he would never be able to do it again.
Hand movement—
Slide in—
Bullet loaded.
Pulled back the trigger—
A striking sound—
Gun cocked.
He takes his position…
"Su~… Ha~…"
Calms down, his breath filled with smoke…
The last cigarette drops to the floor.
And he aims—
"Hehehe! Yeah, that's—"
BAM!
It all happened in an instant…
A loud sound accompanied with the raucous smell of blood. The sound is so loud, it shakes the whole estate, and the guards are suddenly on high alert, and they would soon spot Kiritsugu within a few seconds.
Knowing living with the pain of a dear loving husband dead, he cocked the gun quickly.
1—
The auburn haired woman is standing there, unable to believe what just happened.
Before she knew—
BAM!
The child stares at his dad, and smells something strange.
"Something smells like… dad's medicine. And there's something red—"
The child was staring at his dad's face in pure shock and disbelief.
One side of the head had a hole in the temple gushing out with crimson blood, an eye having exploded, and the other—
A white eye rolled up, a state of fleeting life.
"Boo… wie… Jun… i… or…"
With one final breath, with his pride on the line, instead of falling on top of his son—
He summoned the will to fall against the wall, staining it with a drench of blood, so his child—
Will not be stained with the forsaken stench of death.
"…"
The son looked like he was about to throw up—
A little acid erupted from his mouth, but—
Unlike other children, the son did not throw up.
He stomached it in like a soldier, slowly turning towards the man…
Kiritsugu had shot both heads with his rifle. Only the mother fell down like a ragdoll.
And they remained lifeless—
"…."
He looked past the window one more time. Before he left…
There was a hot steel vengeance within the boy's eyes.
Something that would be burned in his memory forever...
…..
During the time he was thinking—
Apparently, he was already under heavy stress thinking how eerily similar they were…
The appearance of a boy who questioned his own existence like Shiro…
Except he knew who did it.
"That boy would have grown into an even better man…"
Kiritsugu was, in fact—
Responsible for the deaths of both their parents.
And he did not want Shiro to know that. To betray the trust they formed now.
One of the young boy's parents was an American. The other was Japanese.
No matter whether they be Japanese or American, he shot down both like they were nothing.
In fact, they may have been the only Japanese-American pairing that got along so well that it made somebody jealous.
And so Kiritsugu was hired by somebody to shoot them down.
Kiritsugu worked as an assassin for a living, which is why he was able to afford the Emiya mansion he had now.
Even at the cost of his own innocence as a human being.
….
And going forward, he became older than he was supposed to be.
Because he lived with the guilt that, if Shiro was raised alone—
He would have become just like him.
Shiro would become a merciless hero of justice.
He had already predicted the future.
…..
Back to the Present:
Dong~ dong~ dong~
The school bell is ringing...
Shiro, sitting next to Issei, was shaking uncontrollably.
It is now his 2nd year in Homurahara Academy.
He has known his friend for a long time, but somehow, the divinity of the stars—
"Bahahaha!"
Shiro, talking to Issei, was laughing like a wild dog.
"E-Emiya-kun…! I have to eat the Ryuudo Temple's food everyday! You know I don't want to!"
"Hahaha… Sorry…"
Shiro took a deep breath.
"Ha… sorry, Issei. It's just…"
"Huh?"
Apparently, looking around Issei's mouth—
"You look like a cat with all that tofu on your face!"
Issei's food was somehow magically stuck to make him look like he had whiskers.
And when Issei looked at himself in the mirror—
"Gahaa!? What did you do, Emiya-kun!? Why does this happen all the time!?"
Apparently, the food stuck forever on Issei's face, and Issei sometimes couldn't get it off the whole day because there was some kind of divine magic—
And so he had to go to the monks to see what it was, and they felt the magic of—
Apparently, the one who did this was the one who's laughing now—
"Hahaha…! Ha…"
He took a deep breath. In fact, this was his way of trying to get Issei to come over—
"You're so funny. It's alright, you can always come to my—"
"No."
Immediate rejection.
Issei, tipping his glasses—
"Sorry, Emiya-kun, but I have to spend more time with Kuzuki-sensei. It appears something is going on at the temple."
"Hm? What is it?"
Issei, however, was not looking too happy—
His face was darkened, like he was feeling something.
"Whenever I sleep, I hear something behind the walls…"
Shiro, looking at him, saw Issei unable to say anything.
This was not normal.
"Huh? What is it?"
"It sounded like… one of the monks at Ryuudo Temple was frightened because he sensed something…"
Hm? Some unnatural power? Even enough to wake them up at night?
Emiya Shiro, no matter how much he thought about it, sounds like they stayed in way to long—
"Haha—"
Just as he was about to laugh—
"Ngh…!"
He felt the pain along the circuits in his arms.
"W-What's wrong, Emiya-kun!?"
Strange. I felt it again… Maybe it's just intuition?
"I-It's nothing, Issei. I just had a really weird feeling, that's all."
"What about your stomach? Does it feel okay?"
Issei was serious.
The circuits being disturbed happened more than five times already.
And all within seven days.
It was as if there was a supernatural power bathing this school…
Worse than just heavy sugar. Its toxic mercury density slowly increased, along with a mix of sugar for just a second—
Shiro, recovering from his shock, stood up.
"It's almost time Issei. Let's get to class before the bell ends."
"Huh, but what are you—"
Shiro hurriedly left the room and rushed to the bathroom.
Standing next to a toilet with the door locked behind, he took a deep breath.
"Ha… I can't believe I have to come to the bathroom everyday… Anyway, let's just take a break while thinking."
While there was a dripping sound below him—
What was that just now? Every day, my circuits have been sensing something dangerous…!
When he's done, he grabs his right arm.
What's going on? Why does it hurt more than before?
Emiya Shiro, clutching his right arm, turned on his circuits
His arm glowed green… with a mix of the Emiya Magic Crest.
It was blue mixed with green, lines interlacing amongst each other.
Shiro saw, however, that the Magic Crest was shining the brightest—
Like the moon that day behind the clouds.
Shiro, unable to do anything about it, just settled down his worries and lied to himself—
"It's nothing. Anyway…"
Shiro, unlocking the toilet door, walked back out.
Just when he did—
Dong~ dong~ dong~
The lunch bell rang. It was time for class.
The door slid open. He went in and took his seat…
Everybody was already gathered.
In class, apparently—
"Hey, Shiro, want to see who I brought here today!?"
Fujimura Taiga, energetic like always, was very unusual today.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Ahhh, yes! Here he comes!
The height of the shadow—
"Kiritsugu-chan, please come in!"
Shiro's brow twitched.
Everytime he heard her say "Kiritsugu-chan," he felt like he was missing out on something.
There was a man dressed in a black suit and tie…
And he was casually smiling.
He's totally faking it.
Apparently, he did show up at the door.
"Hey, Shiro."
"A-Ahh… Dad—"
PFFFFT!
The whole class spat out everything in their mouths, until they had nothing.
Except for a certain student with black twin tails and eyes that paid unusual attention to Kiritsugu.
Like he was some kind of enemy.
"Oh my gosh! Taiga-sensei, was that the man you were talking about!?"
"Mmhmm~, yep, he's the one. Kiritsugu-chan is my—"
Brow twitched again.
I can't believe he'd actually…
Shiro was gripping his fist really hard, making finger nail marks in his palm.
Kiritsugu, staring at him hard, was delivering a message to him real time.
All time froze.
Shiro's arm, that was raised, was lowered back down.
"Shiro, somebody here at your school is following you."
"Eh?"
Shiro and Kiritsugu, both standing up, they showed their arms—
A perfectly well disguised prosthetic arm, and a large arm the size of Kiritsugu's other—
"Shiro, do you understand?"
"Mm, yeah…"
Kiritsugu and Shiro look towards the door.
And they start running, down the hall.
Echoes of footsteps that last 15 seconds long…
It felt like time was passing by extremely slowly…
When it was actually true. Shiro had used the Magic Crest's Time Manipulation, coupled with his Reality Marble to extend its effect.
With Shiro's strong will power, it was as if he was summoning himself onto the room—
Coming from there was an energy that has been through countless developments.
The one who has developed madness…
The one Kiritsugu caused emotional pain to.
"Shiro, stay back while I—"
"No, I can't do that!"
Shiro swiped the air.
"I can't just let you die! I have to save everybody!"
"Shiro…"
Kiritsugu, looking at Shiro intently, he starts—
"Shiro I—"
A roar shakes the whole school.
A demon unlike no other—
"Tch, so it's finally here…"
Kiritsugu had every right to be afraid.
"Dad…?"
"Shiro, run away. I will defend you."
"No, I'll—"
"That is an order!"
Shiro, shocked to the extreme… he didn't know what he heard just now.
The panic of a long time war veteran, Kiritsugu, who had killed countless victims at the request of many people with a vengeance—
That very man was now panicking.
He couldn't help but wonder what was—
"Shiro, I will go. You run away, okay?"
Kiritsugu starts running towards the source without hesitation.
"Dad..?"
Shiro was in disbelief.
"Dad…! Daaad…!"
He follows Kiritsugu's prana trace down the corridor—
When he saw something evil.
"W-What the—"
A young man as Shiro, no, just a few years older than him.
An overwhelming power reaching all corners of his Reality Marble—
Once he sensed him, he would always memorize the feeling—
Because that feeling would contaminate his world, his Reality Marble—
He had searched for power more than Shiro lived for, after his parents were killed.
Now he's back for revenge.
And he was currently being lured by Kiritsugu towards the outside.
Immediately, upon reflex, he sped up time more—
"Trace on!"
Knowing that he could not sense Kiritsugu and the mad beast anywhere nearby, he eased part of his Reality Marble to make way for Projection—
His Projection, coupled with the Magic Crest responsible for Time Manipulation, allowed him to summon swords with his Reality Marble in hand.
They came in an instant. His arms filled with glowing of light and dark—
Yin & Yang, the Kanshou and Bakuya.
Willingly, he could speed up the speed of his attacks without spreading out the Time Manipulation by condensing it to his swords.
Kiritsugu had trained him deeply in Projection, he even went as far as to prepare his arm for him—
In fact, the Kanshou and Bakuya came from his Reality Marble, so he willingly enhanced their thrust and slash motions, while also easing himself into it after slowly filtering out his Time Manipulation.
Everything is normalized.
Time resumes.
"Eh? Kiritsugu-chan~, where did you go~?"
Taiga, back in class, was worrying over where he went.
"Um, Taiga-sensei, he left you…"
Then, she notices Shiro's seat is empty.
"Huh? Where's Shiro? I was going to tell him that Kiritsugu and I were going to get married soon..."
She sighs.
"Ha~… I don't know what's going on anymore…"
Little did anybody know that Emiya Kiritsugu became the curse of the family…
And the one who led the world to its eventual end.
And now Shiro bears more burden. Both his burden and—
"Ha… ha…!"
Kiritsugu has been out of shape for a while.
In fact, even though his Prana count had stayed consistent for a while—
He gave his Magic Crest to Shiro, something that allowed him the use of Time Manipulation.
He remembers Kirei's face, right to the bitter end—
No, it's impossible, no wonder why the Holy Grail Vessel is still—
He is currently running away from the purple flame that looked like he was the origin of all evil.
A creature the Maguses would later associate with the Fake Holy Grail, the Angra Mainyu—
It was because Kiritsusu killed the young man's parents a long time ago—
That drove him mad.
"Ha… ha…!"
Finally making it outside to the courtyard, this was a safer place.
"So you've finally come back… Takadana… Jones."
"Yes, I have finally come back~~~"
And so the battle would begin that would chain Shiro's life forever to—
His fate as a Master.
And also, a certain red knight—