–Author's note: Attention! There will be spoilers for Fate/Hollow Ataraxia and, by extension, Fate/Stay Night. If you are currently watching the Unlimited Blade Works tv series with no other knowledge of the series, this story will jack your brain up and ruin some stuff for you that should not be ruined. I want you to read and enjoy, but at the same time I think it better to save any surprises for the canon material to show you. Forewarned. I do not own Fate/Stay Night or any of its affiliates, but any other characters and ideas are my own. Enjoy...-
Fire. Fire everywhere. Raging pillars of flame were consuming everything. The world was dyed in angry glowering auburn and dried blood black. There was more soot in the air than oxygen, more people in the dirt than above it. Somehow, those who hadn't already burned to death still found enough strength to scream. To beg. To cry. His ears were ringing, humming, muffling the shrieks of pain, but not completely silencing them. He was sure that even if he were deaf he would somehow hear them all the same, so horrifying were they. Shirou had never known whether or not heaven was real, but now he knew for sure that hell was.
Lying on his back, glazed and dying eyes staring at the desolate sky above, Shirou prayed for it to be over. He had lurched as far as his ruined body could, seen and heard as many people die as he could, and fought the crippling fear and misery as long as he could. He wanted to be saved, but believed in his heart that he couldn't be. Where would the fairness in it all be if he were to be saved, while so many others had not been? Please save me. Please let me die. These two thoughts struggled with one another in the black recesses of his addled skull like water and oil refusing to accept one another.
And then suddenly, standing above him, there was a man dressed in the most brilliant blue he had ever seen. It was like the hand of God had reached down with a pair of scissors and snipped out the most beautiful part of a summer day's sky and stitched it into clothing. It was so striking against the red and black backdrop that it was all Shirou could see. That, and the shimmering red eyes. Their luster was comparable to the fieriest of rubies, and they made the inferno around them appear as but embers. In his hands was a red spear, sharper than anything Shirou had ever known, and more grand than any weapon he had ever imagined.
The mesmerizing man's lips parted as he poised the spear to strike, "no hard feelings, lad."
With the last bit of willpower he had left, Shirou forced himself to speak. His lips cracked and bled profusely as he opened his mouth to say, "thank you."
The spear came rushing down, and his blood spattered up into the dusky air.
()(-)(–)(—)(–)(-)()
With a gasp, Shirou shot upright, cold sweat dripping down his body. Tremors wracked his body, and he briefly had to return to a lying position to stop from throwing up. Once his body settled, he realized that he was in a familiar hallway. One at his school, to be exact. His chest throbbed, and his eyes darted down to find his uniform was cut and he was covered in blood. Not only that, but an alarming amount of blood was on the floor surrounding him. It meandered away in streams and pooled in the edge of the hall where the floor met the wall.
"What the hell happened to me...?"
No sooner had the words escaped his throat did he remember. The man in red with two swords fighting the man in blue. The blazing red spear. Fleeing through the halls and stairwells of his school. Stabbed through the heart by that man with the scarlet eyes. Dying.
Confusion and fear tried their hardest to grip onto him, but Shirou was able to keep control. He'd felt enough terror in his life, he had learned how to shoulder through it if he needed to. While breathing heavily and following the trails of blood with his eyes, he noticed a necklace on the ground. With a grunt of discomfort as he did so, Shirou knelt down and scooped the jeweled trinket up, stuffed it into his pocket, and made for home.
It probably took longer, but to Shirou it felt like only a minute had passed from the time he left the school to the time he arrived at the safety of his home. Overwhelmed by relief and exhaustion, he collapsed onto the floor of his living room. Fatigued as he was, his mind didn't rest for a moment.
What the hell happened? He had definitely suffered a fatal wound. He could still feel the blade being yanked from his chest, his blood slopping onto the ground with disgusting, messy sounds. Distinctively, he recalled closing his eyes for what he thought would be the final time. The initial shock of it all had since passed, but it only left confusion in its wake. Someone must have saved him. Some distant feeling part of him told him that he hadn't been alone. But who was it? He owed his life to someone, and he wished he knew who.
Then he heard the bells.
The bounded field alarm had gone off. There was the faintest whisper of wind, and his instincts screamed bloody murder for him to move. With all the desperation of a man on fire, Shirou lunged forward and rolled across the room in a single, quick bound. There was a thud behind him, and the sound filled him with dread.
Standing there, spear shoved into the floor where Shirou had been just a fraction of a moment prior, was the man in blue. Somewhat disinterestedly, the man plucked the spear from the floor and turned to look at his soon to be victim. "Oh? I'd hoped to show you a little bit of mercy and kill you quick. I figured it'd be less painful if you didn't see it coming."
Shirou snatched up one of the random rolled up posters on the floor, no doubt left by his sisterly teacher, Fuji-Nee.
"Stuck with killing the same kid twice in one day," the spearman clucked his tongue and shook his head. "I guess humanity's a bloody lot no matter the era." That passing comment finished, he flourished his deadly spear and prepared to finish the job.
But this time Shirou was prepared to defend himself. "Trace on!" With those key words he visualized his weapon, understood its composition, flooded it with power, and strengthened it well beyond what it could have ever been otherwise. This was his one skill; Strengthening magic. It might only be a poster, but for now it would have to be enough.
The man in blue raised an eyebrow. "Hm?" he hummed, as if his interest had been piqued. "Try and stay dead for me this time, lad."
Faster than the blink of an eye, the spear was thrust. Only a mixture of excellent instincts and extraordinary luck allowed Shirou to move the strengthened poster enough to guide the spear's tip away from him. His arm felt the sting of its tip as it passed, and he could feel more of his blood staining his already soiled uniform.
The spearman grinned, evidently pleased with the young man's resilience. "Oho, how about that? It's faint, but I can sense some mana about you. Guess that's how you're still alive even after having your heart turned into ribbons. This might be fun after all."
A second attack, this one with the blunt end of his spear. With a swing of his own, Shirou met the attack head on, and was flung backwards and through the thin wood and paper screen wall behind him. He scrambled to his feet just in time to dodge another straight on thrust and bolted down the hall. After getting maybe ten feet away, he felt another rush of adrenaline and dove to his left, dodging another life-ending attack and crashing through his window and out into the courtyard. He didn't have time to get back onto his feet, this time, and was punted across the yard with one swift kick.
Shirou, unsure of whether or not he had broken anything, pushed himself up onto all fours. He could hear the spearman saying something about wasted chances, but he was still seeing stars from that kick and couldn't comprehend the words. He needed something better to fight with. Without a thought beyond that, he sprinted towards the storehouse. His sanctuary. His last hope.
As soon as he had gotten inside, he spun around and opened up the poster, creating a makeshift shield. The spear struck the paper shield, shattering it into a hundred useless pieces while throwing Shirou to the ground at the same time.
"That'll do, lad," the spearman consoled his disarmed opponent. Shirou looked up at him from his spot on the ground, hardly able to distinguish anything about him. The moonlight pouring in from the open door behind him made the spearman look like a shadow, save for his shining red eyes. "That last move was a good one, but just that. A last move. It's too bad. You think fast on your feet, but seem pretty useless as a mage. Maybe you were meant to be the fourteenth. Not that it matters much, now. This is the end, lad."
"Screw you," Shirou growled, narrowing his eyes as he stared back defiantly into the glowing red lights that soon promised him death. "I was saved..." Emiya Kiritsugu, his adopted father, flashed before his eyes. "I made a promise... I have to keep it! And I can't do that if I die here!"
The spearman readied his blade.
"I will not die here, not by you!" Shirou raged, clenching his fists together. "Not by you, someone who kills for no reason like it's nothing!"
A surge of power washed through the storeroom, accompanied by a thunderous wind and a light so bright it threatened to obliterate the dark forever.
"The final Servant...!" the spearman shouted, redirecting his attack to deflect the azure flash that had pounced upon him. There was a deafening clang, the sound of two unearthly weapons clashing, and the man in blue was sent hurtling out of the storeroom.
And it was then, left on the cold stone floor of that old run down storeroom, that Emiya Shirou first saw that striking figure. The silhouette of a wondrous azure knight. Her armor couldn't hide her slender figure, the width of her shoulders and the tapering at her waist gave her away. Her silken gold hair was tied up with a blue ribbon, her armor gleamed silver in the soft glow of the moon. Shirou had become so transfixed by her presence that he had nearly forgotten he was in a life or death struggle.
"I ask you," the maiden's voice cut through the darkness like a lighthouse on some stormy shore. She turned to face him, and her beauty was such that goose bumps sprouted all over Shirou's numb body. He matched her gaze, stared into those stern sapphire eyes, and listened in wonder when she asked, "are you my Master?"
Only through sheer bewilderment was Shirou able to choke out a single word, "Master...?"
The maiden's expression did not change, but she seemed to come to a conclusion on her own rather quickly. "Your Servant, Saber, has come in response to your summons. What are your orders, Master?"
The only thing that Shirou understood was that a pain was flaring in his hand, and he clutched it in response. He didn't know what to say. What do you even say in a situation like this?
"Henceforth, my sword will be at your side. Henceforth, your fate will be my fate. Our pact is complete." Without another word, the maiden lunged through the storeroom door and out into the courtyard. The crashing sounds of steel on steel immediately followed.
"W-Wait! What pact are you talking about!?" The confused young man jumped up and hurried to the door so he could see what was happening, but even when he saw it he could barely believe it.
The azure knight and the spearman were locked in battle, exchanging blows so vicious that simply seeing them hurt the eyes. And those were the blows that could even be seen. Many of the strikes were so fast that Shirou had to rely on sound to even know that contact had been made. One, two, three chunks of earth ripped apart under the weight of their blows, all in a matter of seconds. One particularly hard shockwave separated the two, and there was a pause in the duel.
"What's the meaning of this? Why do you conceal your sword?" the spearman spat at the maiden.
"Oh? What's wrong, Lancer? You shouldn't just stand there. You'll give spearmen a bad name. If you won't come to me, I'll come to you," the azure knight threatened, lowering further into her stance.
"Now, now, Lancer," a third voice rang through the courtyard. It belonged to a woman. "You should be able to guess. If she's hiding her sword, it means that it must be easily recognizable and would give her identity away. That in and of itself is a nice hint."
From the shadows inside the Emiya estate, a tall woman stepped through the shattered window Shirou had dashed through earlier. She wore a plain black suit, and stood with her shoulders back at attention. Her magenta eyes matched her hair, which was cut short, only about ear length. A beauty mark was perched just below her left eye. She was pretty, but looked so intimidating that it was nearly impossible to think so.
Saber's eyes regarded the woman with concern, but the woman paid her little heed. Rather, her focus was directed at Shirou.
"Master," the spearman grunted, "what are you thinking? It's not your style to just walk right out and introduce yourself."
"Did I introduce myself? I don't remember going that far. But I thought I'd try the noble thing for a change and see how it suits me. You do go on and on about it."
"Aye, maybe a bit more than I should've. Next time just kick his head off from the shadows. Well, no use cryin' about it now."
Shirou watched the exchange with both confusion and trepidation. The woman seemed to want to impress the man, but that was about as far as he could gauge. Well, that, and that they both wanted him dead. That was pretty clear, too.
"Master," the maiden spoke without looking his way. "Please stay behind me."
Lancer grinned a toothy smile, "I'm not a big fan of unfair fights, but when she decides something it's tough to change this one's mind. Don't think too badly of me, Saber."
"Distract her for me. I shouldn't need but four seconds," the woman in the suit declared, slipping on a pair of gloves.
Shirou's eye twitched, and his fists balled up in anger. Four seconds, huh? He grabbed a rake that had been resting against the storeroom. "Trace on." He'd show her four seconds. Indignantly he stepped up beside Saber, his reinforced weapon held before him at the ready.
"Master!" the maiden shot him a surprised look. "What are you doing? Please listen to me and stay back!"
"Like hell I'm gonna let you go two on one and hide like a coward. You said we had a pact, right? Well if we're partners, then there's no way I'm gonna let you go it alone!"
The man in blue laughed a hearty laugh, "that's good! That's the way a man should be. I like you, lad. Too bad things gotta be the way they gotta be."
"Let's not fraternize too much," the woman chastised her Servant. "I wouldn't want you to have regrets after I've broken a hole through his skull."
"Aye," Lancer's smile faded, and he dropped into his fighting stance. "There can be no regrets when both sides give it their all. So no holding back," he shot a sharp look Saber's way.
"I hope you can continue to be so cavalier when my blade is buried in your chest, Lancer," Saber replied plainly.
"That's the spirit," the spearman's smile rekindled.
Before the four of them could launch into their fight, however, a sharp whistling sound pierced the chilly night. Lancer jumped in front of his Master, brandishing his spear as he did. In a flurry of strikes, he deflected what Shirou could only fathom were missiles. Explosions flooded the courtyard, and he recoiled from the blasts. Saber grabbed onto him and jumped back out of harm's way, Master in tow.
Very shortly after they began, the explosions ceased, and it became apparent that Lancer and his Master were unharmed. "Another one?" the woman asked.
"Aye, another one," the Servant replied.
Saber looked up above the storeroom, prompting Shirou to do the same. There, standing atop of the building amidst the rising smoke, were two figures draped in red.
"It looks like projectiles don't work on Lancer after all," a familiar girl with twin tails crossed her arms in displeasure.
The man in red holding the bow shrugged, as if he wasn't surprised or just didn't care. "It's almost enough to make one wonder why they even bothered."
Tohsaka Rin, the number one idol and perfect lady from Shirou's school, seemed to take this comment as a slight. "Can it! I'll listen to your complaints later."
The intruders jumped down to the ground, where they successfully completed the sandwich of danger on Shirou and Saber. "Tohsaka!" Shirou shouted in surprise, "what are you doing here? You've gotta get out of here!"
The addressed girl grit her teeth. This one was always a little slow on the uptake, after all, so she shouldn't be too surprised. "Emiya-kun, shouldn't you be thanking me? My Archer here has unfinished business with Lancer so, for now, you can think of us as backup."
Saber appeared poised to argue, but the woman in the suit beat her to the punch. "Lancer, let's retreat for now. The numbers here don't add up to a happy ending. Even if we were to win, it's likely one of us would be injured. One of the other dozen Servants left could cherry pick us if we gave them the chance. The boy is weak, and I can take him any time I want. Better circumstances will present themselves in the future."
"I did say something about not liking unfair fights, didn't I? Well then," Lancer lowered his weapon and backed up a step. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but all he did was grin nastily and give a single wave. He and his Master vanished into the darkness, swallowed up and gone as though they had never been there at all.
"Master," Saber edged in front of her partner, placing herself squarely between the two in red and the young man. "Please be careful."
"What are you talking about?" Shirou furrowed his brow as if Saber were nuts. "It's just Tohsaka, she's my friend! Tohsaka!" he called out to her. "What's going on? What the hell is all of this?"
Tohsaka's face went blank for a moment, but then she frowned and sighed. "You don't even know? Give me a break..."
"Rin, let's put him out of his misery," Archer suggested, nocking an arrow and aiming it at the azure knight.
"Put that thing down, Archer," the girl chastised him, thumping his arm. "I didn't waste all of that mana saving him just to turn right around and kill him," she added under her breath. With what could have passed as a half-roll of the eyes the man in red lowered his bow, and Saber lowered her blade just a fraction in response.
This break in the tension allowed Shirou enough time to realize the pulsing pain in his hand had not subsided. Reflexively he looked at it, surprised to find a red marking emblazoned thereon. "What is this thing?"
"Those are your command seals," Rin answered, approaching him with no regard to either of the Servant's protestations. "They're the proof that you're a Master, a competitor in the fifth Holy Grail War."
"Come no closer," Saber barked, pointing her invisible sword.
Shirou took her by the wrist and lowered the weapon, looking her straight in the face as he assured her that everything was fine. Tohsaka wasn't an enemy. The two briefly exchanged words, and Rin was upon them before they knew it.
"So you're Saber, huh?" the girl looked the azure knight up and down, circling like some sort of scarlet shark on the verge of devouring its prey. "Damn, what a waste! I can't believe a total amateur like Emiya got Saber... How does that even happen!? Omnipotent wish granting device my ass! If it's all knowing, it should have given Saber to me...! What a bunch of crap!"
Archer, the indirect recipient of this roundabout type of abuse, simply stood there with his arms crossed, looking off to the side. Shirou, meanwhile, was having his perfect image of Tohsaka slathered with its first helping of muddy realism. Saber remained on guard despite her Master's insistence that everything was fine.
Once Rin had satisfied herself through complaining, she grabbed Shirou by the hand and began to lead him towards the gate. "Come on. I feel partially responsible for this mess, so the least I can do is take you to get some answers."
The young man with fiery hair followed his schoolmate, Archer vanished, and Saber followed apprehensively from behind. "Where are we going?"
"To the church. That fake priest Kotomine might not be there anymore, but his replacement will be. She'll explain everything to you, so come on!"
–Author's other note: Thank you for taking the time to read this first chapter of what I hope will become a solid entry in the fandom. The Fate series is my personal favorite, and so I will take special care to do my best. This work will incorporate things from Fate/Zero, Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, and just the tiniest bit from other Fate entries, as my personal knowledge beyond the three mentioned becomes very limited. I sort of sped through the intro, as I'm sure most everyone here knows what the heck's going on. The quality should improve once we get through the initial start up phase which, again, I am eager to get through. That, and I'm rusty as crap.
I did paraphrase a lot of episode one of F/SN UBW, as that is basically the starting point of this story. We will be diverging hard, shortly.
Thanks for reading...-