SAPPHIRE / STAY NIGHT
(Disclaimer: This is AU. When I say AU, I meant that this story's world is nothing like you would be familiar with. Also, I'm bad with timeline and memories, so... sorry?)
(Warning: Not your typical Fate fanfic, so keep your comments about "that's not how magecraft work" away. Also, masked hero.)
It was night, yet it was bright.
It was night, yet it was hot.
It was night, yet nobody's sleeping.
Out of nowhere, a flame erupted; and with that, all lives scattered all over the town.
Among the burning structures, a child; a young boy with red hair slowly walks through the flame and the mud beneath him.
His mind is blank, unable to think of anything other than trying to walk forward; emphasized on "trying".
He could not remember anything else after that, except a face of someone's crying.
He seems happy, however.
Unknown to the boy, this face is ingrained into his mind forever.
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Kiritsugu Emiya is in a huge state of despair.
The grail he fought for; the grail he sacrificed his loved one for; the grail he sacrificed his dream for, turns out to be nothing but a fraud.
A wish that was twisted could never a true wish by itself.
Perhaps he should have known something like this is possible. An omnipotent wish-granting item is too good to be true, after all.
Though, it could have been his desire to see this grail to be a real deal; to actually able to realize his dream for the world of peace without any consequences.
Perhaps he wishes he becomes a true hero who fights for something right, instead of fighting against everything wrong.
No matter. His action tonight killed people.
The peaceful town of Fuyuki is in fire because of him, and it is now punishing him from being able to save anybody.
As Kiritsugu walks through the flame, looking for any survivors, he slowly loses any hope to even finding a dying soul.
In his person is Avalon, a sheath used by a famous king in the ancient era to cure herself of any injury, but it is useless against dead people.
What use this item is for him if he could not use it to save someone?
Slowly, his despair increases. Maybe it is utterly useless to even try to save a life?
As Kiritsugu pulls his eyes straight, he sees something akin to a hole midair; a hole with blue lights in the middle of it.
Right then, a red-headed boy passed through the hole, and falls onto the ground.
"No!" he screams out, struggling as he run through the mud, grabbing onto the child.
This child... he is still alive! But he is dying...
As quickly as he could, Kiritsugu pulls out a golden and blue sheath out of his chest, and puts it onto the child's chest.
The sheath moves into him, steadily entering his body.
But then the sheath stops.
"Wha- what's happening?"
In front of his eyes, Kiritsugu sees a blue light on the boy's chest. There seems to be a blue stone embedded on him and the sheath is right on top of it, enveloped by the same blue light coming from the stone.
"Is it... absorbing Avalon?" Kiritsugu can't help but wonders what the stone is.
The earth shakes a bit, startling him as he nearly falls onto the ground.
Before him is the same hole he saw before, but this thing now grows bigger and bigger, with scenes and scenes play like videos stuck together.
Kiritsugu sees a fight between a blonde-haired female in red clothing and a bigger man in sunglasses fighting against a huge snake, seemingly controlled by a queen-like elf woman on a throne.
The scene changes into a fight between a blonde female in red regal dress and a blond knight in armor.
He then sees a blond man in golden armor exchanging shots with a figure with green hair.
The hole then changes its view, letting him seeing a fight between a different blond knight with the similar but different man in golden armor.
Now he sees a white-haired magical girl-like child and a giant golem-like creature having a fight to the death.
"Illya?" he mutters to himself, staring into the hole.
The scenes he sees quickly changes, faster and faster he could only see pieces by pieces, like a man with several sword flying around him, a boy turning into a giant fox, a masked hero riding a bike and several others.
The scene finally stops, showing something he is shocked to see.
"My body is made out of swords!"
He sees a red-haired man, fighting against the blond in golden armor, someone he already recognized as Archer.
He sees the red-haired man eventually wins against Archer, even though it is impossible to fight in equal footing against the Mankind's Oldest Hero, let alone gaining a victory.
Kiritsugu turns to look at the boy, and notices the sheath is no longer on his chest.
The sheath is set aside, and the boy's chest is filled with blue, warm light.
"Is this... the sign of the future?"
Grabbing the sheath, he can still feels to prana flowing through it, and inserts the sheath back into himself.
"If it is... then I wish he could be a hero, something I failed to become."
As he walks out of there, carrying the boy with a renewed hope, he does not notice how the hole grows bigger and bigger and soon enveloping the whole Fuyuki.
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"This is why I like you, Tohsaka."
"Go and take care of myself, Rin."
"EMIYA!"
Rin Tohsaka quickly jerks up from her bed, waking up inside her own mansion with her eyes wide open.
Quickly, she looks all over the place, climbing off from the bed and explores every corner of her home as quickly as she could.
It took quite a while till she finally reaches her room, landing face first onto her bed.
"Could it really be... just a dream?" the twin-tailed lady of the house mutters underneath her breath, "But... that felt so real..."
She rolls herself on the bed before scoffs at her own thought, "Silly me, there is no way someone like Emiya can be a Counter Guardian! He's not even a mag-"
Her words stopped as she gives her words a thought, "He's really not a magus, right? He's just Homurahara's brownie who happens to be a hardworker, right?"
Rin prepares herself, getting ready for school before staring at the clock in her room.
She grabs the clock, slowly taking a look at it as she mutters, "I'm early... again...right?"
Again? Why would that word becomes the first word she has in mind when looking at the clock.
Rin qucikly sets the clock's time, mumbling to herself, "I will never allow myself to summon a wrong Servant's class this time!"
This time? This is the first time she has ever participated the Holy Grail War. Why would she thinks herself as a veteran of such rare event?
Her mind suddenly goes blank, when the thought of summoning a Servant comes to her mind.
Her fingers are nibbling with the clock's arm. Her mind wonders if it is a right thing to change the time.
If she summons a Servant right on time, she can get the class she wishes for, but if she is too early, then... then he can...
After quite a time took to ponder, she decides to test her luck once more and actually summon Sa-...
Once more?
Once more... yeah, sure...
"It's not a dream... is it?"
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"Senpai?"
Shirou Emiya opens his eyes, pulling his head upward and notices of a purple-haired female right above him.
"Sakura?" he quickly pulls his head up, looking around and realizes the location he is inside; a garage.
Shirou takes a look at Sakura as he wonders, "Sakura, your hair... it's purple..."
Sakura somehow looks surprised as she mutters, "S-senpai, are you okay?"
"Your hair... it's not white?"
Another word pops up out of his lips, "Worms?"
"S-senpai, did you just said... worms?"
Sakura's face looks pale, as if he just said something he shouldn't have.
The red-headed male ignores her question, instead asking her himself, "Sakura, those worms… are they still hurting you? Is your grandfather still hurting you?"
"Grandfather?" Sakura doesn't seems responsive with that word, "Senpai… I don't have a grandfather…"
His eyes widen, "Yo- wha- what do you mean? Aren't you living with your grandfather and your brother right now?"
"Senpai, I'm living with my sister. I never have a grandfather."
"Wha-sister? You mean, Tohsaka?"
The massive shock that happens to be in his head makes him unable to think straight.
"Let's go, Senpai. Sensei is going to get angry."
"Ah… yeah…"
With his head still feels groggy, Shirou stands up and moves his feet out of the garage.
He takes notes of his hand, looking at it as if there is something different, but decides not to linger around any longer.
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A meal later, and it appears Shirou still have some time before going to school.
In the kitchen he appears to be cleaning the dishes along with Sakura, at least that's what he is supposed to be doing.
He can't help but staring at the purple-haired girl, who actually does the dishes even though she isn't even the one who lives in that home.
He notices her hands being wrapped in bandage, and his mind quickly brings him to blame a certain blue-haired guy he knew.
But his mind quickly reminds him that this is maybe due to her Command Seals.
Yes, this should be the day…
"Sakura… are you… a Master?"
"Ma-" she seems startled at first, turning to look at her, "Senpai, what are you talking about?"
"You are a Master, right? A Master for the Holy Grail War?"
"Holy- How did you-" she is unable to form a complete sentence, stumbling words as if in a state of disbelief, "Are you-"
"Yes, I am a magus. So do you, right? You and Tohsaka?"
Sakura looks around and all over the place, before muttering, "I-I don't know what are you talking about…"
She quickly runs off from there, speaking out loud to him before disappearing, "I have to go now! I promised sensei to help her with the club!"
Shirou stares at her, looking concerned toward her.
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Everything feels strongly like a deja vu for Rin throughout the day, except for some instance where Sakura Matou is a lot friendlier to her than she remembers.
She does recall there is an unknown room in her home filled with things like a bed, a closet and clothing not worn by her.
But every single topics her friends are talking about are all stuff she has heard of before in her dream, thus eliminating whatever her sister is to her from her mind.
Right now she is inside the restroom, sitting inside the stall all by herself.
"Was I... Am I... in the past? No... that's impossible..."
She mutters to herself times and times again, "Was Second Magic invovled in this? No, the answer is obvious."
Perhaps? Even she could not sure that something like Second Magic is involved with this. Why would there be a doubt like that? Second Magic is one of the more famous of all five known miracles made by magi. The answer should be that obvious.
But... something inside her tells her that this is far different than Second Magic, but what is it?
Rin changes the question in her mind, "When did I get transported here?"
She remembers trying to save a certain seaweed dude from an abomination, and then... and then she remembers seeing Archer disappearing before her...
"Then the corrupted grail is out of the picture..."
Rin tries to remember what she can from her "dreams".
She remembers spending the rest of her life, devoting her attention toward one man as she makes sure he do not go to the path of a certain guardian, as she promised him.
Then when did she ever got herself transported into the past? Not only that, she also retains her physical appearance back in the day.
Without any clues to go with, she might as well go through her life. Perhaps she could change something here and there?
Perhaps she could stop him from summoning Saber? Maybe that could at least stop him from attempting to be a hero?
For now, let's wait till the class is over, and immediately summon a Servant."
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"S-Saber?"
In an apparently wrecked living room, before her is a blonde female in blue and silver armored dress.
Rin simply stands there, staring at her.
It worked? She actually managed to summon a Saber? Of course she know she could summon a Servant with the best class, but to actually summon someone familiar, and without using any catalyst nonetheless?
To consider that this person before her, Arturia Pendragon or King Arthur of Camelot, is not someone she would consider as someone similar to her in term of anything, this summoning is very impossible in the first place.
Or perhaps... no, that's... there is no way...
Did she inadvertly used her memory as a catalyst? Could that even work? Would that even make any sense?
Saber looks all around as she turns toward her, "Rin, it is nice to see you again."
"You remember me?" she stares at her, confused.
"Of course I do," Saber mutters in confusion, "How could I not remember you? We lived together along with Shirou at the end of the grail war, right?"
Wha-?
Rin can feels heat on her skin, "Lived... together?"
"Yes," the female king nods, "I believed you wished on the grail for me to stay even after the war, and continues to provide sustenance for me alongside Shirou."
Whaaaat?
For a young, unsocialable Rin Tohsaka, this remarks may have been nothing but "providing prana for her to keep on living", but for an older Rin that has reached adulthood, there is a very dangerous implication for that kind of statement.
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Somewhere in an alternate universe, a different Rin Tohsaka is standing outside of a shelter, guarding the place away from any attack, especially from a certain bulky Berserker.
She suddenly feeling a shiver and sneezes, mumbling to herself, "What is this feeling? It feels like someone was thinking about something dirty."
She shakes her head off from that thought, looking into the shelter, wondering whether a blonde knight and her Master have woken up or not.
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"Rin, what's wrong?"
"N-nothing!" the twin-tailed girl shakes the thought off from her head, now muttering, "Let's just stay at home for now..."
"Understood," she nods, but suddenly her expression changes.
"Rin, there is something confuses me," Saber questions her Master, "Why do you look like you haven't aged a day?"
Rin flinches a bit from that. She has no idea how to answer that question, "Saber... I..."
"I knew it!"
Both attention now turns toward the door, where Sakura and an older purple-haired female in black leather dress stand.
Sakura seems really happy for some reason, "I knew it! We both came from the future, right?"
She then points toward the female beside her, "Rider also remembers everything from the war!"
Saber looks confused, now turning toward Rin, "What is the meaning of this?"
"Th-there are things you have to understand..."
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"Time traveller..."
Sakura ponders on words spoken by her sister, as the older Tohsaka stares at her, waiting for either bafflement or ignorance coming from her.
Her current situation is absurd; so absurd that even the fame words "a wizard did it" or in this case, "a magus did it" is not enough of an explanation.
Yet what she received from her is something else she did not expect entirely.
"Then, you are the same as me?"
The same? Is she... is she saying that she is also a time traveller?
Sakura mutters, "But I know that I lived through a dead world, and I remembered having my heart ripped off by my own brother with the Assassin Class Card."
Class Card?
Those words make no sense to Rin. Is it like those collectibles children to buy from the stores? What was it called again, trading cards?
Since when the biggest event in magi community becomes something akin to toys?
Or is the term used for something only Sakura can understand?
The purple-haired little sister continues, "When I woke up, I no longer lived with the Matou family, and the family itself has been eliminated by something unknown."
Eliminated? Could it be...!?
Rin screams out in revelation, "That's it! I get it now! We are not time travellers; we are world travellers!"
"World travellers?" she stares at her with a confused look.
Rin nods, "We are basically transported to a different world, whereas everything is different from what we know of. My world is basically similar, but my sister never grows up with me. And I summoned an Archer instead of Saber."
Sakura stands up in shock, "That explains everything! My world is a dying world with the chance of mana running out. Our Holy Grail system also uses cards contained Servants magi can draw powers from, not directly summoning figures from histories and myths!"
Rin points toward Saber, who is sitting beside the purple-haired woman, the Rider of this war near them as she speaks up, "Saber here came from the same world as I do, but with the difference of her still alive at the end of the war."
Rider suddenly speaks up, "When summoned, a Servant should only remember about themselves and not the war we have been through, yet I can remember correctly being part of a war where Sakura was succumbed by the Angra Mainyu."
"The questions is, how and why did we get here?" the older Tohsaka mutters, "How did we even travelled here in the first place, and why are the likes of us, who came from different worlds, gather here in one place?"
Rider wonders, "Do you think there is a significance on that last part?"
"I can't say for sure, but there is a possibility that someone put us here for a reason, or we happens to be gravitate toward this one particular alternate universe."
Sakura voices her opinion, "We should be on the lookout for now? Maybe we could find a clue on why we are here?"
Rin nods in agreement, "You're right, Sakura. We have less information as of now."
The former Matou turns her attention toward her Servant, "Rider, for now you can inspect this world even further, right? We should know what else is different about this world."
"I could only compare with my world, is it fine with you?"
"It's fine!" Sakura speaks up, "My world is a lot different than any of yours; it's useless to try and compare mine with any of yours."
"True," Rin agrees with her once again, "From what you said about where you were from, you are from a similar Holy Grail War, but with Sakura as the winner, right? That doesn't sound different from mine and Saber's, so we can compare notes. For now, just inform us of any differences between this and yours."
The Master in red glares toward Saber, "We will join the war as normally to avoid any attention. Now that Sakura is part of my family, it is simple to think that one of us is going to be the Master and not both of us at once. She should be fine for a while."
Rider seems a bit uneasy about this plan, but then Sakura pats on her shoulder, "Don't worry, in the worst case scenario, I can always rely on this."
She slowly pulls out what appears to be a card, which grabs all three's attention.
Rin is the first to comment on that object, "Is that... the Class Card?"
Sakura nods, "Yes, this is Berserker Class Card, with the soul of Lancelot of the Lake imbued in it."
"L-Lancelot!?" Saber stands up in shock.
Sakura ignores her shock, "I used to have Archer Class Card, but I don't know where did I missed this. When I wake up in this world, I have this instead. I don't know how, but I can feel that I won't be getting any problem using this card."
"Sure..." Rin sighs, "But are you sure there won't be any side effect using that card?"
"Well, there is a chance of Servant taking over my body, but I believe in him."
Saber nods, "Lancelot is a loyal knight, no matter in waht state he is in. My experience can vouch that."
"It's Berserker, you know? You might get Mad Enhancement with that."
Rin quickly shakes her head, "Let's hope nothing unexpected appears."
She suddenly pulls Sakura out of the living room, "Over here."
As the sisters are now separated from the Servants, the older Tohsaka speaks up, "Sakura, I want you to do a favor for me."
The purple-haired girl wonders, "What is it, nee-san?"
"No matter what, I want you to make sure Shirou do not clean up the archer club tomorrow, or staying till night at school, or even dilly-dallying in the school at night."
Sakura ponders for a moment before finally nods, "I don't know what's going on, but I'll make sure Senpai won't be doing that. You have a perfectly good reason for that, right?"
"I just... I want to see this situation as a good opportunity for a second chance on my previous life's failure..."
She suddenly heard of a telephone ringing and quickly run toward the noise, "I forgot! That stupid priest is still around!"
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Unfortunately for the two sisters, Shirou is still very clueless about the whole 'world travelling' thing. He easily shrugs those "dreams" off as nothing but a "dream".
Everything else happens the exact way he saw on the dream, though without a certain blue-haired student, it feels weird that someone he once called as his best friend in his dream is not around him, whoever he is supposed to be.
Probably a good thing, though. No idea why he would dream of having Sakura being violated by her non-existent older brother. He is so sure that he has no such interest, let alone an ability to condone such evil act.
Also for some unknown reason, the world has decided that he will be the one to clean the archery club, even though it is supposed to be his other friend, Ayako's turn.
His favorite junior, Sakura seems really intended to do the cleaning instead, but he knows that she already cleaned up the place yesterday, so as a good-natured man he kindly ignores her seemingly desperate plea and clean the club anyway.
This and next event lead to him sneaking on a fight between two strangers (while Sakura is inside the toilet; he promised to return home with her, thus why he is still there).
His dream do recalled who they are, especially the blonde swordswoman, and that alone able to make him snapped a twig by surprise.
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Well, he just got stabbed by a pole weapon…
That thing doesn't seems to change…
He has a sudden urge to curse his luck and puts some sort of grade system in it to make it sounds bad, but he couldn't be bothered to do so.
He couldn't even bother to remember how did he wakes up, walking through the school and back to his home.
He do remembers seeing a girl in red sweater, gasping and screaming in fear over something upon standing up straight, though his memories are a bit hazy for that particular moment.
He do knows how his mind turns sober when he feels the murderous intent coming from the same blue-clothing guy who fought in the school earlier, now appearing here possibly to eliminate a witness; him.
Shirou tries to fight back, even if he already knew that a reinforced rolled up poster could never defeat or even be as equal as a weapon from the legend, nor is his third-rate abilities against the hero from the myth.
His last option is to run, but his dream told him that this man is way faster than him, so he can only run as far as the outside of his own home.
"Sorry," the man speaks up to him, "But this is my Master's order. No hard feeling, okay?"
Leaning for a single strike, his body reacts in a way he never sees in his dream before; his whole person starts glowing in blue light.
In his mind, somehow he imagines a black sword with red lining; a sword tainted by hatred and jealousy of a certain someone, and this person's name is in the name of the sword itself.
The whole place lights up, and between him and the warrior appears to be a long, pale blonde-haired female in a seductive black and blue garment, with a crown on her head and a veil covering her face.
The blue warriors quickly jumps off from there, looking scared as he mutters, "A Servant? But, this feeling… it feels… dangerous…"
Around her is a black aura, as the Servant looks around before turning to see Shirou, sitting on the ground in shock as she bows a bit before him, "I am Servant Avenger. You must have been my Master, are you not?"
Shirou is confused, not from her words, but the fact that he knows what the words 'Servant' and 'Master' refer to.
He simply nods, and somehow that gives her the satisfaction she needs as she turns around, turning toward the blue spearman.
"I see that you are trying to kill off my Master. In normal circumstances, I wouldn't even bother to save an incompetent Master, but, it seems this boy interests me. You can simply walk away from here, or be my own slave."
The man-in-blue snickers at her, "I'm sorry, but order is an order. This is Holy Grail War, and my Master wishes for him to be eliminated. I simply obey his words."
The spear charges up within a red aura, and he charges forward, screaming out loud, "Gae… BOLG!"
But when he goes for a strike, he found himself facing away from the two, with his back facing them.
"Wh-what just…? Impossible!"
The female Servant chuckles at his reaction, "That spear of yours is capable of killing me no matter how much I dodge, as long as you have me as your target, right? Even if your target is an illusion?"
The blue man turns toward her as she holds onto a black sword with red lining, "This sword… it is not even in my legend, but somehow it is connected to me, and I shall use it as I please."
With a swing, black wave moves straight toward the spearman, completely obliterates him… is what should have happen, if the wielder of the blade is someone else.
Though, he is still injured by the attack, and has fallen onto the ground.
Avenger moves slowly toward him, chuckling as she steps forward, "You have shown me your Noble Phantasm. It should be a polite thing for me, the true King of the Isle, to show mine instead."
Slowly, black aura appears enveloping him, and the blue man's scream is all that is left.
Avenger turns back toward her Master, moving toward him with a wide grin toward him, "Master… that power of yours… will you share it with me?"
"Wh-what power?"
"That power inside of you," Avenger reaches him, offering him her hand, "That power that summoned me by your side... that power that breaks even the limit of magecraft of the Age of Gods..."
She continues with her smile, "With that power, you can easily win this grail war. Tell me, what do you wish for in your life?"
"Wish?"
Without any hesitation, he honestly answers her, "I wish to be an ally of justice! I wish to save all lives!"
Chuckles are heard coming from the veiled Servant, "You reminded me of someone. Yes, of course, a noble wish from my Master. Let me serve you, and I shall help you reach that wish of yours."
"But..." Shirou hesitates to accept her, "That power you used... that feels evil..."
Avenger quickly shrugs it off, "Owh, do not judge me by my legend alone. I am a magus with no such aura in my entire life. It is simply due to my legend of being seen as a crime I do not do that I am affected the way it is."
"Although," she glares at him, "If you do wish for power to be a hero, why would you pick and choose the kind of power you can get. An ally of justice with... an "evil" power is still an ally of justice. Or is your view of a hero is someone with noble, good power? Where would you acquire such power, do tell me that?"
Shirou is startled by this, and looks away, "You're right..."
His dreams of seeing someone he cared for turning evil, and his inability to save her flashes in his mind.
"I will be an ally of justice no matter what; that's how I can save someone's life."
"Good," Avenger, "Though right now we need to greet our guest first."
Right at that moment, Rin, Saber and Sakura run into the residence, and quickly takes note of the Servant standing beside Shirou.
The reaction is a lot more visible from Saber herself, "Y-you... Morgan!"
"M-Morgan?" Rin stares toward her in shock, "You mean, Morgan le Fay!? How corrupted the grail is that let someone like her to be summoned!?"
"Owh, don't look at me like that, dear sister," Avenger gives off a smile at the other Servant, "It is not my choice to be summoned into this world. This boy is the one that summoned me."
"S-senpai..." Sakura seems startled, "Y-you... you summoned someone like her as your Servant?"
Shirou is looking really confused now, "I have no idea what's going on right now..."
Avenger glares at her Master for a moment, and turns back toward Saber, grinning at her, "I can tell from your eyes that you know of him."
Saber steps back a bit, holding onto something invisible toward her, gritting her teeth, "Step away from him, Morgan!"
"Ooh, a bargain?" Morgan snickers, "Then, how about you hear mine. I'll let you have the grail, but in exchange you and your Master should join us."
"J-join you?" Rin is shocked to hear her proposition, "How is this benefit you?"
"Me? I got no wish for the grail, honest! I simply wish to turn my Master's wish into fruition. His power is more than enough that he does not need any wishing cup."
"What are you talking about!?" Rin screams out at her, "With what he has right now, he isn't even as strong as the weakest magus!"
"Ah!" Morgan scoffs, "You speak as if you know him well, or is that pride I am hearing?"
Her hand moves across Shirou, touching his chest as she sees the furious reaction coming from the three females.
Grinning wide, she mutters, "This boy; my Master has a potential of something great; a miracle that all magi wish to achieve. Well, without Gaia to restrain us, I guess just anybody can create miracles."
"Wait," Rin stops her there, "What do you mean 'without Gaia'?"
Avenger shows an obvious false surprise on her face, "Oh my~, do you not know of this?"
Saber shouts, "Enough with the lies, Morgan!"
"But I said the truth. From the moment I was summoned, I can already tell of this. There is no Gaia or Alaya within this world, nor are we in a world we think we are in."
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That morning, Rider jumps across the town, moving as far as she could, eventually stops on the tallest building in this town.
Even while wearing a blindfold, she is still capable to see ahead of hers, and continues to observe her surrounding.
So far she could not tell if there is anything different within this world. It all looks and feels similar to what she is used to.
Though, she can feel something strange coming from the edge of the town.
Using all her strength, he jumps across the buildings once again, finally reaches the road where the location outside of the town can be reached, though she did not see any roads.
"This is..."
She could only express her surprise, seeing nothing but what she perceive as a real-looking drawing on a wall.
The wall encircles all around the town, as Rider runs through the edge of the land, seeing nothing but the fake painting.
She eventually stops, staring at what appears to be a white hole in the middle of the air.
Curious, her hand goes to try and touch it, but quickly pulls it back, "It's too risky."
"Why not? You might something good beyond here?"
Rider quickly turns to see this female voice, but stops as she sees a girl in black, alive clothing and shadows all around her, and is met with a sword shot onto her face by a dark-skinned bowman.
The sword did not hurt her as she manages to wrap the blade with her chain, but she was pulled away and into the hole.
"Now... to get senpai's head..."
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"What... what are you talking about?" Rin screams at Avenger, "None of what you are saying makes any sense!"
But, without getting any answer, something huge crashes into the residence, stopping the conversation altogether.
The smoke that filled the place now disappears, with a huge, hulking dark brown figure stands between the two parties, while a white-haired little girl in purple clothing climbs down beside the giant.
She bows a bit before the females, introducing herself as, "Good evening, Master of Tohsaka and her Servant. My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern."
"I completely forgot about her..." Tohsaka gritts her teeth in anger.
Illyasviel turns to see Shirou, now bowing toward him, "Good evening, onii-chan. I see you have summoned a Servant of your own. Now I can finally kill you and get my revenge for stealing my father away from me."
"Father... Kiritsugu?"
"Get him, Berserker!"
The hulking man roars out a monstrous roar and with a huge stone sword in his hand, running forward right toward both Shirou and Avenger, smashing both of them at once.
But right at that moment, something struck right onto Berserker's chest, and explodes right onto their faces.
"That attack... it can't be!"
Rin turns around, seeing that on top of the house beside this one is a dark-skinned bowman, wearing black vest and black pants, and hair almost similar like Shirou's.
He is grinning at the sight of the explosion, "Are you really this weak, kid?"
"Emiya!" Rin calls out to him.
"Se-senpai?" Sakura stares at him.
Saber instead glares at him.
The bowman stares at her, snickers, "I see you know of me, Tohsaka. Well, you may have met a different me before. We Servants tend to be all over the place at once."
"Emiya!" Rin screams at him, "Do you still wish to kill him!? Do you intend to kill him to stop him from becoming you?"
"That is true, but I do not care about that kid. I only care for who I am serving. My Master wishes for him to be her plaything, while her master wish for the gem inside him."
"Gem? What gem?"
"See for yourself," he signals her.
The three females now turn to their side, staring at where the explosion goes.
Berserker loses some part of him, but those parts are slowly growing back.
While that happens, Shirou's chest lights up in blue, shining brighter and brighter that it blinds all.
The light dissipates, and now he is wearing what seems to be a medieval knight costume with a pair of blades crossing each other as an emblem on his chest. His knight-like helmet has a slit as his visor and a horn on his forehead.
There is also a blue gem in the middle of his chest.
"Wha-what is that!?" Rin screams in disbelief.
"The reason for this world's existence," the bowman snickers, "Now, if you excuse me..."
He is about to pull another arrow, but Saber jumps high and reaches him, quickly strike him off from the ground.
"Saber!"
Rin and Sakura chase after them, leaving Illyasviel and Berserker with Shirou and Avenger.
Illyasviel first seems confused, byt her smile returns, "Neat cosplay, onii-chan, but you could not possibly defeat my Berserker with his eleven remaining lives!"
Shirou instinctively puts his hand forward, with blue light conjurs a pair of black and white swords right in his hands.
Berserker screams once more, smacking him as he deflects the attack, but ended up being thrown off from his home.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
"Can't believe our reunion ended up like this," the bowman parries the attacks coming from Saber's invisible sword with his own pair of black and white blades.
"You seems different, Archer!" Saber continues pummeling on the blades, breaking them strikes by strikes as the enemy continues reproducing the blades, "You don't act like yourself."
"Did I?" Archer parries her some more before jumping off to a different roof, now holding onto a black bow with a different sword in his other hand, "I wouldn't remember how I was during my time with Alaya."
"Was!?" the sisters finally reach them, as Rin springs out the question, "Are you saying that you are no longer a Counter Guardian?"
"No," the bowman shakes his head, "I serve a new leader now. He is a far better person and a lot more tolerable than the will of humanity itself. And, as a bonus point, I am allowed to kill any Shirou Emiya I came across."
"You..." Saber is really pissed with his tone, "You said as if you enjoy this. You never enjoy this, didn't you?"
Rin is about to step forward, but Sakura quickly pushes her away, "Nee-san, watch out!"
Right at that moment, a feminine figure in bright red armor jumps out of the alleyway, and is about to smash the sisters but fortunately her right knee is simply stuck on the wall.
This figure seems to have a floral pattern all over her red and black armor, also looking like a mixture of both a female samurai and a Greek soldier. Her helmet has a huge white flower on the face. There are also black strings floating all around her, originated from her back.
"Master, you are late," Archer grins at her, "At least now I can focus on this particular Servant."
This new figure chuckles, glaring at the sisters, first toward Rin as she shifts her attention toward Sakura.
The strings behind her elongated, striking like bullets straight toward her.
Sakura immediately kneels down, putting the card onto the ground, "Install!"
A gust of wind flies out from beneath her, with herself changing appearance, into a skimpy dark violet armor with a helmet with red visor.
"Is that..." Rin simply stares at her sister from the other world, "Is that the power of... the Class Card? That is no ordinary magecraft..."
"Of course it's not!" Archer, who reverts back to deflecting with his own blades, "Only certain people; a certain clan knows how to insert the soul of heroes into pieces of laminated papers. It doesn't matter, however. My Master has a far greater powers imbued within her, far more than what human with the limit provided by Gaia has!"
Sakura stands up, grabs the strings with her hands before ripping it off from her as the strings light up with red lights.
More tentacles jump out of her, this time overwhelming Sakura with numbers.
She pulls out a sword, charging forward and starts slashing onto the strings.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shirou is struggling with Berserker in the park, the place that they somehow ended up at.
The big muscled giant, while mindless from his own class, is actually very fit and fast for his own right. Perhaps this is the instinct of a hero?
He definitely wishes for that.
"There is no time to compliment the enemy, Master," Avenger, who is shooting beams toward the giant, mutters as she jumps away from him, who is about to attack her now, "That power of yours; have you ever thought what it can really do?"
"What it can do?"
"Surely an armor is not all it can give, right?"
Armor... no...
This armor he is wearing feels strange. For some reason when he ponders on what Avenger just said, he feels that he can do absolutely anything.
"Trace On!"
Within both of his hands, he pulls out the same black sword Morgan used against the spearman, and the red spear owned by the spearman himself.
Morgan sees this while flying and evading the enemy, grinning at him, "Those two weapons... to be able to project them without burning all of his prana, truly a remarkable feat."
Shirou now jumps and joins his Servant, stabbing the spear onto the giant's leg as he jumps inhumanely high, before striking downward with his sword.
The attack did not flinch the giant, as he is able to punches him off with a single punch.
Illyasviel laughs at the sight of him, "Foolish brother! You cannot possibly defeat the hero Herakles with those weak attacks! Even without his Noble Phantasm you never have any chance."
But then her words are drowned by Avengers own noble laugh, "If he cannot be defeated by weak attacks, surely we can use a stronger attack against him."
"Master!" she screams out toward Shirou, "Don't hold back. An immortal like him could never be dead, right?"
She pushes her hand forward, with black aura starts flooding the field like what happened at the residence before.
"The Sea of Corruption: Pool of Alter!"
The liquid-like black aura first reaches Berserker, with a man in a black outfit with a fur on his side jumps out of it, quickly stabs the beast with his red spear, "Gae Bolg!"
The red spear is coated with red aura before striking through the hero's chest, startling him.
The hero wannabe now also coated with the same liquid, but instead of drowning, his armor simply darken, as the emblem changes into guns with blades attached on the lower end of the front.
Shirou jumps forward throwing his spear forward calling out the name, "Gae Bolg!"
The spear struck straight toward him, with Berserker turns immobile before waking up and throws the man in dog fur off from him, along with the two spears.
Shirou now charges up the black sword, with its red and black aura jumps out shaping like a huge beam.
"Master!" Avenger screams out to him, "You know the name of the sword! Evoke the name!"
"EXCALIBUR MORGAN!"
The swing cuts the beast open, leaving nothing but regenerating self of his.
"Still not enough?" Avenger moves closer, "Doesn't matter. We can still use him. Master?"
"Y-yes?" Shirou stares toward her.
"What you did to me, can you do the same to him?"
Shirou takes a look at the beast before nodding, "I think..."
He puts his right palm onto the hero's leg, with blue light slowly enveloping him.
"Wh-what are you doing!?" Illyasviel screams at him, "What are you thinking you're doing!?"
Avenger turns toward her, somehow having a blue gem appears on her chest as she smiles at her, "He simply did what he did to me."
"What is that supposed to mean!?" the little girl demands an answer.
"Let's just say, he is putting your beloved Servant's loyalty under him."
"Impossible!" Illyasviel screams, putting her hand up, "Berserker, I command you to wake up and fight! Complete your regeneration and kill him!"
But, her body lights with red lines up as the lights shatters.
"No..." she whispers in a complete disbelief, "The Command Spells... they are... gone?"
Morgan chuckles at her sight as she moves closer to her, "Go home, kid. Go back to your family. We promise we will take good care of him."
The child kneels down, looking defeated, "I... I have no one else... My parents are dead... My... grandfather has gone... I just woke up here, with nobody but my Servant..."
She looks upward, as she sees Herakles has regained his body back, with the same blue gem, albeit bigger, can be seen on his chest. The giant do not move when seeing his supposed target, instead simply stands there and do nothing.
Shirou moves close toward her, patting her head, "If you... don't have a home, you can stay with us."
The last she sees is a blue light before waking up the next day.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The other fight is getting more and more intense.
The strange pair of Master-Servant continuously pushing their enemies off with various patterns of attacks.
The strange bowman constantly shooting arrows made up of blades, with the shots progressively getting stronger and stronger.
While that happens, the fight between two Masters are an entirely story.
Sakura, even when borrowing the power of a Knight of Round, still unable to defend herself against the onslaught of this figure in red.
As of now she finds herself distracted by the tentacles, and sometimes the girl in armor charge forward to deliver a beatdown against her, throwing her away, like right now.
Rin seems to have joined the fight as well, as she uses her magecraft to reinforce her limbs and runs toward the enemy, smacking her palm against the opponent's chest.
But nothing happened in favor of her, as the elder Tohsaka was grabbed by her hand and thrown off to her back.
"This is... I have to do this..." Sakura holds onto her sword, as the weapon seemingly charged.
But the figure grabs her arm with her tentacle, yanks the sword off from her and her toward the armored enemy, quickly receiving a punch to the face.
Somehow, the card jumps out of her, with Sakura reverts back to normal.
Rin stands up, calling out, "Sakura!"
The figure now turns toward her, with the armored appearance changes. She loses her armor, showing herself as a white-haired lady with a depraved, dangerous smile on her face. There is also a red gem embedded on her chest.
"S-Sakura?" the older Tohsaka steps away in shock, "No... wh-who are you?"
"Me?" the girl wonders, "Please don't tell me you've forgotten who I am, nee-san?"
"M-me?" Sakura tries to pull herself up, "B-but..."
The evil Sakura glares at her good counterpart, with a shadow moves out behind her.
"Sakura, run!"
The shadow grabs onto the purple-haired girl, swallowing her and the card beside her into the darkness as she struggles to escape.
The evil Sakura grins, "Be nice. My master simply wishes to be with someone like you."
She then glares toward Rin, "He wouldn't mind having you and your Servant around as well. He has a huge appetite."
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
Saber turns toward Rin, jumping toward her and lands in front of evil Sakura, "Stay away from her!"
"Is that a no? Well, killing you would be fine then."
Before even getting close to them, something sounding like bullets are heard, with Sakura being shielded by shadows from whatever attacking her.
A black-haired man in suit arrives into the scene, with sub machine gun in hand, aiming toward her as she slowly moves backward.
"You!" Archer screams at him, readying his arrow-blade.
The man then turns around, spraying bullets toward Archer as he mutters, "Time Alter: Quad Accel."
The place suddenly covered with smokes, and when it dissipates, the girls and the man are no longer there.
Archer looks around, groaning in anger, "Of all time and places..."
The evil Sakura looks around as she sighs, moving away, "Let's go home, senpai."
"Home?" the bowman questions her, "What about your real senpai?"
"We got what we need."
Archer snickers, joining her as the two disappear into the shadow.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The man in suit are holding onto the girls' hand, moving through strange white tunnel before reaching into a residential area.
He then turns toward the two, speaking up to them, "Don't worry. This place should be fine for now."
"K-Kiritsugu!" Saber is pissed when looking at him as she now points her invisible sword toward him, "You are still alive!?"
"You know him?" Rin stares at her.
The blonde knight nods, "He was my Master in the fourth Holy Grail War."
Rin looks dumbfounded, "Wait... did you said, Kiritsugu? As in, the Magus Killer? He is Emiya-kun's dad too?"
Kiritsugu sighs, "Unfortunately, I am not the one who worked with you. Follow me and I'll tell you everything."
The man brings him into a home, whereas a silver-haired female greets him, "Kiritsugu, you've finally returned?"
She quickly take notice of the two ladies, "Ah, you bought guests?"
Saber seems really shocked this time, "I-Irisviel?"
The female before her, instead, looking confused, "Have we met?"
Their conversation is then interrupted by a little girl who walks out, rubbing her eyes as she yawns, "Mom, do we have a guest right now?"
"I-Illyasviel..." Rin is the one that looks shocked.
The girl looks up and wondering, "Rin, do you need anything right now?"
Irisviel quickly dismisses her, "No, she's here for me. Just go back to sleep, okay? You have to go to school tomorrow. You don't want Chloe to wake you up again, right?"
For some unknown reason the girl freezes upon hearing the name as she quickly runs toward the stairs and possibly her room.
Kiritsugu sighs, turning toward his guests, "Let's go to the living room first."
The two females are now being led toward where he said, and now Irisviel serves them cups of tea.
The man takes a deep breath as he speaks up, "I just bought you back into my own world; a world where the Holy Grail War is nothing but a legend among the magi."
"D-different world!?" Rin stands up in shock, "Impossible! We were fighting Archer and his m-Master just now..."
"The world is a lot different than what you think," Kiritsugu explains, "If you travel to the edge of this place, you will find a wall and a tunnel that divides this Fuyuki, your Fuyuki and every other places."
"This happened long, long ago, as something strange happened that breaks various parts of the world and put them together into a single, giant world, all thanks to the gems."
"Gems?" Rin questions him.
Kiritsugu stares toward her, "The gems you saw on the enemies you've fought; that and six other gems."
"I don't understand!"
"Long ago, in this very world, there is a huge war related to the gems, dubbed as the Soul Gems. At the aftermath of that war is the destruction of the world. The world was reconstructed back using stolen parts of other worlds."
He continues, "While that happens, some of our memories are being brought into this world at this moment. We do not know why, but a lot of people suffered this state."
"Meanwhile, the gems that caused this problem in the first place are scattered, and eventually embedded themselves into some poeple, turning them into their bearers, or the Gem Kings. Apparently this trend has been going on for years now."
"The gem..." Saber mutters under her breath, "Shirou has the blue one... and that Archer has the red one."
"Shirou..." Irisviel mutters, concerns as she stares toward her husband.
Kiritsugu seems disturbed but continues anyway, "Those with the gems are capable of unlimited powers, something on par with what the Greater Grail is capable of. However, the most used powers used by the bearers are brainwashing others to be part of their armies. Those under them will also possess the same gems as a proof of loyalty."
"Once brainwashed, they can no longer fight against the order of their leaders."
The man stares at both of them, "I am working with an organization that oppose these Kings. We are currently looking for any manpower while researching the extent of these Kings abilities. These Kings are dangers to humanity and the war between them must be prevented immediately."
"Shirou... if he is not be careful... he may also become the same. It is said that those with such powers may compels to do the same as their predecessors."
"What about Sakura!?" Rin demands answers, "Is she going to be brainwashed too?"
He shakes his head, "It is a big possibility that she can still be saved. Only the Gem Kings can recruit others to join them. The one that captured her just now will have to go and look for her King to be able to do so."
"Then we shall save her!" Rin then turns toward Saber, "Right?"
Saber nods.
Kiritsugu mutters, "Then join us. We shall provide you with the intel of her whereabouts."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The next morning, Shirou wakes up and walks out of his room, only to be greeted by Illya, who bows toward him, "Good morning, Onii-chan~!"
"I-Illyasviel..."
"Please, call me Illya. Now, let us have breakfast together. Avenger has cook some food for you."
"She did?"
Shirou is then being pulled to the living room, noticing Berserker standing right near the wall of the house.
He looks around as he enters the room and realizes, "This house was wrecked last night..."
Morgan shows up from the kitchen, setting up the table, "I fixed this place for you. It is best to have my Master is a good living condition."
"Thanks..."
The red-headed hero wannabe grabs some bite, before staring at Illya, who is eating her food as if nothing happened yesterday.
"What did I do to her?"
Morgan smiles, "You've simply calmed her down. She is now your loyal subject."
"S-subject?"
"Yes, subject," Morgan sits beside him, holding onto his hand, "Master, I've studied your gem. There is a book in the library that mentions of this gem, and those who received the power from this gem destined to be a king of this world, is what the book said."
"You mean, this gem..."
The blue gem shows up on his chest.
Avenger speaks up eagerly, "True. Now, you are capable of becoming an ally of justice."
Shirou turns toward Illya, before looking back at his Servant, "No, this is brainwashing! I've seen similar effect before. Illya has completely loses her mind because I did something to her. I cannot be a hero like that!"
"Why not?" Morgan shrugs, "There is nothing wrong with brainwashing. It is not a bad power or a good power. A hero with the power of brainwashing can change the world into a better place. Think about it, if you controlled their mind, then they will no longer be doing any crimes anymore. Isn't that's why someone wishes to be an ally of justice?"
"But..."
"Then don't use this power. You are free to do however you want. But," she loses her smile, "A hero protects those around them no matter the cost."
"This is your chance, Master," she moves herself closer to him, "This new powers of yours... it is too bad if you do not use any advantage to be able to call yourself a hero."
Shirou looks down, remembering what his dream showed him.
Sakura... the Sakura he saw was suffering, and by her own suffering others suffer along with her...
He turns back toward his Servant, "Fine. But I do not know what to do moving forward."
"I shall be your guide, Master. Together, we can make both of our dreams come true."
"But first," she turns toward outside of the room, "You need to save this place first. These people needs your help."
The red-headed young man nods. His face shows determination, knowing what to do next.
"It is wise if you start using your powers to recruit those to your cause, or at least keep them closer to you. Is there anyone in mind?"
"SHIROU! GOOD MORNING!"
A yellow-haired, short-haired woman enters the living room, greeting at him but stops, looking at both the females and then toward him, "WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!?"
He knows just the right person to start with.
Shirou stands up, moving close toward the woman, "Fuji-nee, I have something for you."
End one-shot. Yes, one-shot!
This is a teaser one-shot for my story, Savior Zero in my AO3 account. That story has so many crossover in it; it is basically impossible to be imported into Fanfiction. That and I am lazy to put it into site.
Shirou Emiya is one of the characters in that story, though he is not the main one, however. The main one is an OC (just to not show any favoritism since other dudes from other series are also going to be here, like someone from FFXV, from Boruto's Dad and so on)