Disclaimer: I do not own any content from the Fate/ project productions!
[[[[IMPORTANT NOTE]]]]- THIS FANFICTION FOLLOWS THE STORYLINE OF THE FATE/ZERO AND FATE/STAY NIGHT ANIMES.
Extra Note: Look people, I am all for constructive criticism, but if all you are going to do is beat me down for using the animes, don't bother reviewing at all!
Fate/Redo
Chapter 1: Tides of War
At 9:00 In Fuyuki City, Japan, a young man of 17 walked through the streets for a very specific and dangerous reason. The man had brown hair and his eyes were an almost illuminated green. He wore blue pants that were too long for him and brushed against the ground with a black hoodie that had white stripes along its edges.
The man stopped walking and looked around before putting his hood up and sticking his hands in his front pockets, then continued walking with his head downcast. He was also muttering something inaudible under his breath as he ever so carefully walked in a precise manner in which he didn't even move aside if he bumped into someone. He paid no one any mind and just continued walking in his strange manner.
It was only when he came to the corner of a building he could have easily walked around by taking one step to the left that he stopped and looked up. He gave a look of annoyance like the building should move because it was in his way, but he still just gave a sigh and broke from his precise path to go to the front door and enter the building. He took an elevator to the roof and walked to the corner he had stopped in front of.
Here, he took one of his hands out from his pockets and sprinkled something invisible onto the corner while muttering again. Once he was done, he took the elevator back down and went back to the corner of the building, stepping on the other side of the corner and resuming his earlier walk as if nothing was different.
Finally, the young man stopped in the middle of an intersection where few cars were at the time. He smiled to himself as if pleased with his work, and then took his hood off and looked up at the moon. "It's taken 5 years, but everything is finally in place." He said to himself as he began to walk away.
The next morning, Emiya Shirou woke with a start. He had just had a dream about the Holy Grail War he was a part of. That had all happened almost 10 years ago, while he had still been in high school. Although he tried to tell himself it was nothing but a dream, Shirou couldn't shake the bad feeling he had about it.
After shaking it from his head, Shirou got out of bed and got dressed. As he stepped into the hall however, he stopped and sniffed the air; in which he smelt the fresh scent of food cooking, and opened the door and his good friend, Sakura Matou, was standing over the stove cooking breakfast. "Oh, good morning Shirou," She greeted him when she turned around.
"Oh, Sakura, I forgot you were here for a minute." Shirou replied with a laugh. "I'm sorry to hear your house burned down." Shirou said as he sat at the table.
"Don't worry about it; I should thank you for letting me stay with you until the rebuilding is done." Sakura replied and undid the tie of her apron, bringing the food to the table after.
"Don't mention it, I was glad to. What are friends for?" Shirou told her as they began to eat breakfast.
Once finished, Shirou stood up and went to the door. "I'm off to work now; I'll be back by one." He called back to Sakura before leaving.
"I'll have lunch ready when you get back." Sakura called back.
Shirou took his car and drove down to an Auto-shop, where he worked. He loved working here because he had always been best at this because of his 'Trace' magic. It allowed him to use magic all the time and remind him of Saber and how he felt about her.
"Hey Shirou, how's it going?" One of Shirou's co-workers called over when they noticed him working on a car.
"I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking Taro." Shirou called back.
Shirou loved his work. All his co-workers were so kind to him and found his prodigy-like skills something to admire. Of course none of them actually knew that the secret behind his success was magic. Even though, the feeling of appreciation was something Shirou always looked forward to.
Shirou put his ear up to the side of the hood of the car he was working on. "Alright, start it up." He told another of his co-workers, Souta, who was sitting in the driver's seat of the car, who did as instructed and started the car.
Tried to start might have been more accurate, as the engine just revved until Shirou signaled his co-worker to stop. "What you think?" Souta asked.
"I think I found the problem, just need a second and I'll have it all fixed up." Shirou answered and picked up a wretch and opened the hood of the car.
In truth the problem was more serious than Shirou made it out to be. There was a leak in the oil tank that would probably need to be replaced if it weren't Shirou working on it. He looked around to make sure no one could see him from where he was and focused. Trace on. He activated his magic and found the leak in the oil tank, brought in metal from nowhere to patch the hole up like it never existed, then backed away and closed the hood of the car.
"Alright, try her now." Shirou told Souta.
Souta turned the key and the car started up, good as new. Souta laughed with amazement. "You really are something else, you know that Shirou."
"You just got to know what to look for." Shirou said, wiping his hands on a cloth.
At ten to 1:00, Shirou clocked out of work and headed home. When he got back, Sakura had already prepared lunch like she said she would. "You know I kind of feel bad with you cooking all my meals like when we were kids." He said as he sat down.
"Oh please don't, I like cooking. Besides, it's the least I can do as your guest." Sakura corrected him.
Sakura and Shirou continued eating and talking with each other until about fifteen minutes later, when all of a sudden the front door was pulled open by someone. "Shirou-" The person at the door was Tohsaka Rin, and old friend of Shirou and Sakura as well as one of the seven masters in the last Holy Grail War. Whatever she had come for, she looked pretty serious about it; she was currently panting, like she had run here from across town. "Eh, what's Sakura doing here?" She cut herself off of what she was about to say when she saw her.
"Well, my house burned down, so Shirou let me stay with him until my house is rebuilt." Sakura explained.
"Never mind, Shirou, come here for a minute!" Tohsaka practically screamed at Shirou, pulling up by the arm and into the back hall and into a distant room so Sakura couldn't hear them.
"Geez, Tohsaka, what's gotten into you?" Shirou asked when he was finally released.
"Look at this!" Tohsaka told Shirou and held her right hand up in his face.
What she showed him made Shirou understand why she did what she did. On the back of her right hand was something Shirou didn't want to ever see again: Command Spells. Command Spells were what marked a Magus as one of the seven masters to participate in the Holy Grail War.
"When did…" Shirou began, but unable to get the words out due to shock.
Tohsaka put her hand close to her chest and held it with the other one. "It appeared a week ago. When it did, I knew I had to tell you."
"You don't think I'll become a master again too, do you?" Shirou asked with his head down. Shirou had more memories he didn't like than he did from the war. He never regretted meeting Saber, but the war itself seemed unethical and just plain cruel.
"That is what I was afraid of." Tohsaka replied.
"But Saber and I destroyed the grail." Shirou stated, although immediately remembered Saber telling him that Kiritsugu, Shirou's adoptive father, had done the same thing in the previous war. If it didn't work then, why should it have worked when he tried it? Then Shirou realized something, "What about Illya?"
"I talked to her about it yesterday." Tohsaka assured Shirou. "She didn't have any Command Spells yet either, but that's not to say either of you won't be chosen. I contacted the Church about this before I came here; they confirmed that, including me, four of the masters have been chosen, although they refused to tell me who they were."
A moment of silence past when Sakura opened the door to where they were, wondering what was keeping them. "Is everything alright?" She asked Tohsaka.
"Oh, yeah, everything's alright now. I need to be leaving now." Tohsaka said and started to leave, but then Sakura grabbed her hand and stopped her.
Tohsaka turned back to her, and it seemed Sakura could tell something was wrong. But then she asked in her usual tone, "Wait, you came all this way, why not stay for lunch?"
"No, sorry, I really need to be somewhere." Tohsaka answered and walked out of the house.
Shirou tried his best to get everything about what Tohsaka said out of his head, but found himself stuck on the idea of going through another war. Just the thought was enough to make him cringe. Even though he failed to stop thinking about he, he got into his bed and fell asleep when night came.
It was that night everything started for him. While asleep Shirou had a dream of the last Holy Grail War, just like the night before. Now he knew this was no coincidence. His dreams were a signal the war was coming. It also probably meant he would end up as a master again.
Specifically though, Shirou's dream consisted mostly of the events in the war while Gilgamesh was present. What meaning this had was a mystery to Shirou, although it certainly had been the most frightening part of his experience.
Shirou woke with a jolt of pain while it was still late at night. The pain he felt was going through his right hand. He looked at the back of his palm once the pain subsided, and immediately went wide-eyed at seeing what was there. Though the design was slightly different than the ones he had last time, it was unmistakably the Command Spells. Shirou clutched his hand close to his chest. Because he had these Command Spells now, it meant he would have no choice but to participate in what was to come. He would have to go through the Sixth Holy Grail War.