The Holy Grail Wars. A competition to the death between seven Magi, using their own blood to draw summons known as 'Servants'. These servants are epic spirits from heroes and legends that transcend time, and are drawn into seven individual classes that act as a veil to their identity whilst detailing their specific profession; A Caster servant would be more proficient in Magic than a Saber class, for example.

-This novelisation takes place after the death of Shinji Motou-

Shirou Emiya. Participant number 7 of the Fifth decadely Holy Grail War. His bright orange hair was darkened by the lack of lighting at the base of the dark stairwell of the Ryudo Temple ground. The gibbous moon lurked low, hidden away and barely peeking through the Shinto archway atop the stone staircase, weeping it's sad light onto the the boy and his knight, that appeared forced to the ground by an invisible force.

Rain fell from the sky onto the the ground a ever so quiet patter, leaking into a bloody puddle that exceeded from the damaged knights body. Emiya himself wasn't much better. His face, body and hands were dirtied as if he had greeted the tarmac on the street floor several times. In one grabby palm he held a sword of gold, velvet blue and silver, that was tarnished with the stains of dirt and blood. The golden sword was raised towards the chest of the knight, eyeing slyly for the heart. The knight showed no mercy. But neither, did the knight show any signs of rebellion. A darkened face looked up to Shirou, tufts of wet, saffron hair covered the knights eyes. "Please Emiya..." A female voice emanated from the weakened knight.

Shirou wished. He wished with so much might that it had not come to this. Turning back the clock was not power accessible to a Magi. His companion and friend; he could no longer look into her face as he pulled the sword with his own hands slowly away from the knight. He wanted to hold out his time with her as long as he could, but he knew that it was selfish on her. He couldn't allow her to keep suffering like this. Pride. A knights pride. "Saber" Emiya thought to himself as the blade of the golden sword was instinctively thrust forward "I'm so sorry,"

Without much hassle, the sword pierced straight through the silverish armour that protected the royal blue corset underneath, and withing moments, the blade peirced through the her heart. Saber didn't flinch once, despite the weapon destroying her vital organs within, and despite blood seeping out between the blade and the shattered armour.

Emiya couldn't open his eyes. Was this a nightmare? For some reason, it didn't feel real. He had been forced to kill a loyal friend of his own, at their request. "But why- why this,"

He had to face his fears.

As he opened his eyes again, an unbelieveably cold chill swept over him as his eyes locked onto the body slumped over the sword he held in his own hand. He began to regret listening to his servant, who was now deceased by his will. He could no longer remain by the knight's side. The cruel image of his blood stained and pained ally remained in his eyes. Before he knew it, he was running. He was running and running and running. His body was overflowing with regret. His rain drenched jeans weighed him down and his once white V-Neck was smeared with stains.

Eventually, Shirou was basked in light. Ahead of him he could see the welcoming light of a light estate; his home. If only slight, Emiya felt some relief. That was until he realised that there were people taking residence there.

Sakura. Taiga. Rin. He didn't know how to respond if they were to ask of Saber's whereabouts. On top of that, his clothes and body were a mess.

His inner thoughts were quashed when he heard a familiar voice shout from the estate. "Emiya!"

From the door entrance he could see a young woman dressed in a red shirt and a short black skirt; to match her flowing black hair in pigtails. Her eyes were of a deep aquamarine, glinting at Shirou menacingly for an answer.

Shirou didn't know how to respond. He was quiet, utterly silent and struggled to look at her directly in the face. "Tohasaka Rin, I..."

"Shirou," Rin interrupted, her expression changed to a more concerned looking one. "You need to tell me what's going on, where is your servant?"

Shirou sat at the table opposite of Tohsaka in the neatly presented house.

"Lucky for you Sakura and Taiga are already fast asleep in the rooms across the way, so we don't have to be so discreet about the Grail Wars discussion."

"Now, why would an epic spirit suddenly want to reject the wish granted by the Holy Grail and choose to instead die? That makes no sense!" Rin promptly lifted a cup of green tea and sipped it, leering at the boy, before placing the mug back down again. "Besides, Saber can't be dead because you still possess two command seals,"

Shirou had forgotten about them entirely through all the chaos. He looked down towards his right hand, and Rin was right, his two remaining command seals were still there.

"As long as you have at least one command seal, you are still in command of your Servant. Only when the Servant that belongs to you is eliminated, you will automatically be stripped of all the command seals you have and hence, be kicked out of the game," Rin sighed "Do I really have to explain this to you a second time or are you just plain incompetent?"

Eliminated. Death. Those words ran by Shirou like a bolt of lightning, forcing him to suddenly stand up in suprise, knocking the table, causing the teacups to rattle. Rin's eyes followed Emiya's movements. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I gotta go!" The boy ran swiftly out of the room before Rin could chase after him.

"It was just one thing after the other with you Shirou" The girl sighed, before becoming more concerned. "Archer," Rin called out in the empty room.

"Yes?" A masculine voice called out within the room.

"Find out where Shirou is headed," The girl replied.

"I don't know why you still run around for that lowly little master. But whatever you wish, Master Tohsaka," The voice replied before completely vanishing into the air.

Rin then began to chase after Shirou, out of the estate. As she looked around out the door, peering into the darkness, she realised he was already long gone. "For christ's sake!" She cursed to herself.

Despite not having much of a lead to go on, Tohsaka decided ran out into the darkness. She knew she was being foolish, running around without her servant to aid her, but she was more capable in the realms of magic than Shirou ever was. She could at the least defend herself long enough from another prying master or servant to at least get away.

Meanwhile, Archer was up in the sky searching for Shirou. He was now visable, he appeared as a tall man with short white hair, tanned skin and a red trenchcoat with white and black decorations. From the heights he could jump he could easily see the world below him. It was then when he caught sight of the Ryodo Temple Grounds, his eyes could see a strange red barrier enveloping the entire area to prevent his entry. He knew immediately it was the home to another master.

When there is a Master, there is usually always a servant nearby. It didn't take long for Archer to figure out exactly where either. Archer landed in a blanket of trees to hide himself away, and identified a tall man dressed in all purple with a grand Katana standing at the top of the stairs. "If there was only a way to distract that servant, I could get inside,"

It was then he heard a cry from afar, which also caught the ear of the Servant guarding the temple gates, causing him to move down the stairs, clearing the entrance. Archer saw this as his chance to enter the temple. By Tohsaka's request he was supposed to be finding Shirou. As far as he was concerned, he couldn't care less for him, since all masters but their own are enemies to a servant. Archer crept inside the grounds through the gateway, beknownst to the other servant.

During Archer's inflitration, Shirou stood still in shock. Where there was once the lying body of his Saber servant, was nothing at all. Not even a trace of blood. He looked at his hand again, his two command seals were still there. When servants die, their body simply disappears into nothingness since they were only spirits to begin with. This was the feeling Emiya was getting, but no, it couldn't be. That was until he was greeted by an enigmatic, tall character dressed in purple at the bottom of the stairs. "I am Sasaki Kojirou of the Assassin class, who you you think you are trespassing on my Master's turf?"

Shirou didn't know what to do. He had nothing to arm himself with nearby, nothing he could make use of his reinforcement magic on. The next thing he knew, he was thinking hard; trying to concentrate on a weapon with his mind. It was then he swept his arms out spread, either side of them.

"And what does a defenseless Magi like yourself expect to do? I'm sensing some very weak magic circuits from you boy." Kojirou seemed confident in his words.

A green light began to form at each of Shirou's palms, and from them a mesh like wire extended forming the skeleton of two blades. As they quickly formed, the opacity of the blades became apparent and the green mesh faded quickly away, displaying two magnificent one handed katanas; one white, one black.

Shirou wasn't quite sure how he did it, he had done it before in the past in his garage whilst training his magical circuits each night to keep them burning.

"I'm not quite sure what that little technique of yours there was, but it doesn't look to me as if you've ever welding dual swords before. You do realise this blade I possess here has been trained between my hands for eons?" Assassin attempted to deter Shirou with his own sword, which was nearly as long as his full height.

Rather than charge at the man, Shirou threw back his arms and flung the swords forwards towards the Assassin servant. He knew if he needed to fight, he would have to make sure he made it out alive first. Sasaki was suprised at his choice of attack, expecting him to charge in like the amateur Shirou appeared to be. But without hesitation, he hit the sword swords aside that went for him like two rabid snakes with teeth of knives. The white katana latched onto his right shoulder, forcing a tear in his purple jacket.

"Is that all?" Assassin mocked as he retreated back into an attacking position. "Now, witness...

I'm gonna die.

"...Tsubame..."

After all this I'm gonna die. Shirou Emiya cannot die here!

"...GAESHI!"

As Assassin stroked his sword forward he was distracted by a black bomb that hit his sword, pushing his blade back, nearly onto himself.

Shirou thought he had died already. It didn't seem real. That was until he saw a girl in red behind him with her finger pointed at Assassin.

"Tohsaka!" Emiya cried.

"I don't know why I keep coming to help you, just get out of here already! Assassin won't follow us!"

"Why not?" Shirou asked as he turned around to flee.

"Look where he is, he won't move beyond those steps. He's guarding the Ryodo Temple," Rin explained as she followed behind him.

Shirou still wasn't sure. After some way he stopped and looked behind him to check that Assassin was still not following. Rin eventually stopped as well and looked at the boy. "Shirou, did you find Saber then?"

"...her body is gone. Not even a trace of blood." Shirou replied, remaining in a position where he was not looking at Tohsaka.

"Well that's odd. Because the blood of a servant would only disappear if they faded away completely when they've expired from the war. Hmm, considering you still have your command seals though is proof enough that. You know, you do have 2 command seals left. If you wanted to, you could use one of them to directly summon Saber wherever she is right now." Rin advised.

Shirou didn't feel it was a good idea to take that option considering the situation. Besides, he only had two seals left. If he was forced to use his last he would be automatically pushed out of the Holy Grail Wars.

The gibbous moon still hung low. Through the darkened streets, black soles of shoes belonging to someone walked through a dark alleyway in the suburbs of the town. These shoes belonged to a set of sockless ankles, and a mid-length, purple skirt flickered in the short gusts that tunneled their way through between the walls. The woman with saffron hair.

A noise startled her. Perhaps a bin tipping over in the distance, few could say. The womans crimson red eyes shifted to her side. Slowly but surely, she turned her head around. As she turned a quarter of a way, she could see a shadow behind her; somewhat shorter than herself, but immediately she could feel something, someone behind her. Before she fully turned around, she threw around her hands and her fingers met with a golden blade as if she was pushing her finger against a pencil, effortlessly and without a cut. As her eyes focused, they changed from a red hue to gold as she inspected her encounter.

The gold sword, had a equally gold hilt, with blue patterns marked on it. A pair of gauntets were glued onto it; weilded to it, by a thick, liquid-like black substance covered in red glyphs. What was most striking was the royal blue gown and silver armour. Similar Saffron hair to her own. A woman. Saber.