REALITY SHIFTS HERE

Chapter 0: Refusal

It hurts… It burns… I don't want to see!

A single boy rose from the burnt road, he clutched his stomach in pure agony. How many died? How many survived? As he looked amidst the burning flames, he saw those who couldn't be saved trying to save others, but he knew there was no hope. Nothing existed in these empty flames but despair. The despair of those who couldn't be saved. This could truly be nothing else but a scene from the darkest pits of hell.

Why was he even still alive? He should be dead like the others, yet here he was, still living. He began to walk around the flames, he saw humans screaming, yet he was powerless to help them. He covered his eyes, so as not to see anymore, he didn't want to see anymore. Wasn't this enough suffering? Why did it continue? He walked along black concrete that was littered with the bodies of hundreds of the dead, he couldn't see them though, because he didn't want to see.

He started to stumble, his legs were slowly shutting down, yet he continued walking an endless path, he eventually gave in, as the scenery failed to change from the red malevolent sky, and the blackened corpses.

He looked up at the sky, the unknown, untouchable, undefeatable sky, it was colored a detestable blood red. The sun wasn't colored properly either, it looked like a black endless void that blocked out all light.

The sun was never black, this brought him some hope, and he knew a horrible event like this couldn't possibly be happening to him. His fragmented mind rushed to pick up his thoughts.

This didn't happen… this is just a dream… a false reality… this isn't happening… this never happened, this isn't the truth… I don't believe this… I won't believe this! I refuse to believe this!

The boy failed to keep himself conscious and passed out.

An Hour Later:

Emiya Kiritsugu had problems to deal with, his entire world had collapsed when he discovered that the grail could not be used to save people and now he had a catastrophe to deal with, this catastrophe caused hundreds of deaths and took out a good section of Fuyuki. He had also been covered by the grail's corruption, he had no idea what kind of negative effects that had on his body.

All he wanted to do was save people, yet he done nothing but commit murder in hopes of possible salvation. He shouldn't have been so naïve! He should have realized that wish granting devices like that couldn't possible exist without problems of their own.

He wandered about the burning wasteland, looking for someone that could be saved, someone that he could use to redeem himself, even if it was only one person. As he gazed over the wasteland, he almost gave up, but somewhere in his mind he believed that there was at least someone, someone who was alive.

Kiritsugu walked amongst those flames, the same evil flames mocked him over and over; he tried to ignore his own conscience, but failed miserably as tears began to flow freely from his eyes.

"You're nothing more than a stupid delusional man who sacrificed your loved ones for the sake of an unattainable dream. You'll never be accepted by the Einzbern's again, meaning that you also left your daughter to rot in a castle. A superhero? You killed hundreds for your selfish ideal, you're nothing but a damn joke!"

Kiritsugu kept looking, he persevered, finally reaching his wish after a long time, to save someone. He picked up the still breathing unconscious boy and rushed for the hospital.

At the Hospital:

Kiritsugu stayed by the boy's side the entire time, no matter how much time passes, he would wait until the boy woke up. It was several hours before the doctors brought him back into the waking world, but it didn't matter to Kiritsugu, all he cared about was that he had found someone, someone who he saved. When the boy finally woke up Kiritsugu stared him straight in the eye.

"Hello, what is your name?" Kiritsugu asked him in a polite, understanding tone, the boy flinched slightly, he wasn't able to remember his last name, his friends, his family, or anything about his life, all he was left with was his name.

"Shirou…" Shirou told him awkwardly

"Well Shirou, would you like to become my son?"

Several Years Later:

Kiritsugu noticed many odd things about Shirou very quickly, whenever the fire was mentioned, he acted as though the fire never happened, he would calmly state: "There was never a 'great' fire in Fuyuki." If Shirou was asked how he met Kiritsugu, he would tell lies about having met him at an orphanage. Kiritsugu ignored it somewhat, because he believed that it was a coping mechanism, otherwise Shirou was just as cheerful as he was normally.

"Tou-san, it's time to eat!" Shirou exclaimed from the kitchen, he walked around with a glistening smile that would pretty much force Kiritsugu to smile. They both currently lived in a vast estate that was far too big for two people. Shirou's cooking was good to say the least, he couldn't deny that he tasted better, but it was beyond excellent for his age. He had already told him he was a magus and he took to the entire magic world quite well.

He had recently, albeit reluctantly began to teach him magic, Shirou however lacked any actual ability with it, he had only ever succeeded in useless projection and reinforcement. He instead focused getting his body to peak condition and martial arts training.

His body was wearing out though, despite Avalon's healing, it wouldn't be long now before he passed away.

A year later:

"Son, come to me…" The ailing Kiritsugu told Shirou while lying on his bed. Shirou moved closer to his father.

"Remember when I told you about magic crests?" Kiritsugu croaked out, his body was getting worse by the second, he looked like a pale sickly old man, compared to the brimming health of his red haired son.

"Aren't those the things that every magus has, like a collective knowledge of all their spells?" Shirou answered, Shirou was quite worried about his ailing dad, even if he didn't show it that much.

"That's right, I still have mine, so I'm going to give it to you, my only son." Kiritsugu smiled sadly, he wanted Shirou to have a normal life, but Shirou had chosen to get involved in magecraft.

The transplantation wasn't very difficult, it only took about one hour to get done, Kiritsugu had passed all he could to his son, and he had nothing left to pass down.

A few days later:

"This is an illusion, this isn't real; this is definitely fake, nothing but a fake… A FAKE!" Shirou's eyes hollowed as he stared at the corpse of his surrogate father.

END