Disclaimer: I do not own Lyrical Nanoha, or Nasuverse, and make no money off of this or any of my fanfiction stories.

Author's Note: I am warning you right now, before you read anything else… there WILL be spoilers for both franchises.

xXx To Be A Hero xXx
xXx Arc 00 - Chapter 00 - Prologue xXx
xXx Voices Through Time xXx

"Truly, to be a magus is to walk with death…" - One of the Creeds of the Mages Association

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." - Christopher Reeve

"Save me!" - Vivio Takamachi
"I will. Whenever, no matter what happens!" - Nanoha Takamachi

xXx Fuyuki City xXx
xXx Early Spring, 1991 xXx

Walking into the amphitheatre the bloody and battered form of Artoria Pendragon took in the sight of the golden chalice in front of her and mournfully whispered out "Oh… Irisviel!"

"You're late Saber! I realize you were enjoying yourself with your old mad dog but it is imprudent to the extreme to keep me waiting like you did." the arrogant voice of the Golden King stated as he walked out into the foreground of the amphitheatre.

Artoria leveled her Noble Phantasm 'Invisible Air' at the man and uttered the word "Archer," by way of greeting.

The Golden King chuckled slightly and stated "Look at that delightful expression, like that of a ravenous wild dog."

Artoria grimaced grinding out the statement "Get out of my way… You haven't won, the Holy Grail… BELONGS TO ME!" She then began to lunge towards Gilgamesh, only to feel a sharp pain enter her lower left leg.

"Dear Saber, it is when you are delusional and crawling in the dirt that you are at your most beautiful." Gilgamesh stated snidely. "Lay down your blade and be my wife."

Artoria could only gasp in shock at that statement.

"A Grail that grants miracles? Where is the sense in totally obsessing over something so dubious?" Gilgamesh stated arrogantly. "Abandon these foolish ideals and childish vows of yours. From now on seek only me, and devote yourself to me alone. If you do, I swear as King of all creation that I shall give you every pleasure that the world has to offer."

Artoria struggled to rise while saying "You would steal the Holy Grail from me for such UTTER NONSENSE?"

Again Artoria had to deflect one of Gilgamesh's blades, as she was hurled back by the force of the attack he began speaking again "I was not asking for your opinion. I was informing you of my decision. Now, let us hear your response."

"I refuse! I would never…" Artoria never got to finish that statement as she was hit with another one of the blades.

"Shyness has left you at a loss for words I see. That's fine, you may answer wrongly as many times as you like. If you would learn the joy of serving me, you must first learn the exquisite pain of it as well." Gilgamesh said with a chuckle.

Artoria just noticed Kiritsugu standing up on the balcony, "Kiritsugu?"

"Ah, then you have finally made your decision," Gilgamesh stated.

"In the name of Emiya Kiritsugu, and by my Command Seal, I order you, use your Noble Phantasm, destroy the Grail." Kiritsugu stated.

Artoria gasped in surprise at the command Kiritsugu had just issued to her. To her shock 'Invisible Air' dispersed itself to reveal the true form of Excalibur.

"Impossible! What are you doing Saber?!" Gilgamesh shouted.

"No!" Artoria shouted.

"By my third command seal, I order you again…" Kiritsugu began speaking.

"But why Kiritsugu?" Artoria asked in confusion as she struggled with all her might against the command that Kiritsugu had given her. "You of all people? Why this?"

"Damn you to hell!" Gilgamesh exclaimed, "You dare interrupt my nuptials? MONGREL!"

"...Saber, destroy the…" Kiritsugu continued speaking.

"SSSTTTOOOOOOPPP!" Artoria shrieked out.

"...Holy Grail." Kiritsugu completed his command.

As soon as he said the final word, Artoria was forced to bring her famous blade into a downward slash towards the Holy Grail. The blast wave that issued forth from Excalibur completely decimated the chalice, as well as much of the surrounding building.

(Fate/Zero, Season 2, Episode 11, The Last Command Seal)

xXxXxXx

What happened after that was like something straight out of the mind of Howard Phillips Lovecraft in the sheer horror it represented, and all Kiritsugu could do was watch helplessly as it unfolded before his very eyes.

Kiritsugu watched as a hole opened up in the sky above the amphitheatre, and from within this hole poured countless tons of ichor, the cursed blood of the gods themselves. Upon connecting with the ground this vile substance consumed all that it came into contact with in much the same manner as flowing magma.

Fortunately the substance was quick to disperse and did not spread out too terribly far before doing so; however, it was the secondary fires that quickly became the true danger to the town and its citizens.

Seeing the danger that had arisen because of his own carelessness and desire not to allow anyone else to lay their hands upon the Grail, Kiritsugu quickly rushed out to see if he could do salvage something or save someone from this unmitigated disaster.

If Kiritsugu had stayed put for a moment longer, he would have born witness to the fact that unlike his own Servant, the Golden King, Gilgamesh had somehow survived the cataclysm intact and was not automatically discorporated by the destruction of the Grail. While Gilgamesh will later go on to postulate that it was because both he and Kirei were the last ones standing at the end of the disaster that allowed their wishes to be fulfilled, the reality of the matter is that a combination of Gilgamesh's own inherent Independent Action ranking, and the curses unleashed by the Grail allowed both Kirei and himself to survive the incident relatively unscathed… if lacking a heartbeat in Kirei's case.

xXx Sometime Later xXx
xXx Elsewhere in the City xXx

A chestnut haired girl whose eyes had completely glazed over due to the horror of what was happening was sluggishly walking through the blaze. This little girl had been visiting Fuyuki City with her mother and older sister. Said older sister had decided to take the girl to the park for a little bit, and the two of them had been heading back to their hotel when the fire broke out.

They had been less than a block away at the time. The girl and her Onee-chan had watched in horror as the hotel they had been was rapidly consumed in flames generated by that awful black ichor. The girls Onee-chan had told her to run, that she was going to try to see if she could save their mother.

The girl did as asked. That had been nearly an hour ago. No matter where she went, there just seemed to be nothing but burning buildings surrounding her on all sides.

Finally the smoke inhalation got to be a bit too much, and the girl fell to the ground, her vision rapidly fading. That was when he appeared. An older gentleman with a kind, though grieving face.

The girl barely registered it, but he seemed so happy to have found her. She noticed a bright light, but couldn't tell clearly what it was as it had passed almost before it had arrived. And then the man was lifting her and carrying her away from the fires. At this point she slipped into the bliss of unconsciousness.

xXx Several Days Later xXx
xXx Fuyuki Hospital xXx

"Yes, that is correct, the girl has no memory of who her family was, and we found no identification on her. Dental records for some reason came up inconclusive as well, and she has no criminal record so fingerprints are a no go. It is almost as if that fire erased all trace of the girl from the world," the attending Physician explained to Kiritsugu.

Kiritsugu huffed before saying "That is one of the unlikelier possibilities. Though I can only guess as to what the more likely possibilities happen to be… though if I had to guess, I would wager that the most likely one has something to do with a certain old troll that lives in a clocktower."

"Yes… well be that as it may, since we have no way to trace her biological family, and since you were the one who rescued her, we were kind of hoping that you might be willing to take her in?" the Physician inquired.

"I would have to ask her for her thoughts on the matter," Kiritsugu stated.

"Well that should be alright then… Oh! Before I forget. There is actually one thing that she does recall."

"Oh, and what is that?" Kiritsugu inquired.

"Her given name. It is Nanoha," the Physician stated with a smile.

xXxXxXx

Author's Note: Yes, I know this first chapter is a tad bit short, but honestly this is just my method of laying the bare bones groundwork for what will come later on. Expect longer chapters from here on.

I suppose I should warn you all that while many things from both franchises will be similar… there will be divergences from both franchises. I won't spoil what they will be here and now… but they will happen.

Also… please don't slaughter me for killing off Momoko and Miyuki… I really was at a loss as to explaining how Nanoha ended up a victim of the Fuyuki fire. It could have just as easily been the boys of the Takamachi family. Really just came down to a mental coin toss. I will state for the record that there is a legitimate reason for my decision, but leave it at that.