A symphony of clashing blades resounded throughout what was formerly the entryway of Ryuudou Temple. In place of the cobblestone walkway that lead to the front of the temple was an endless, red desert, an uncountable number of swords anchored into the barren earth as far as the eye could see. In place of the night sky, glittering with stars, was a dusty, orange twilight filled with thick clouds and smog. This wasteland, unfit to support even the smallest inkling of life, was the very soul of Emiya Shirou.

His opponent, a man who could only be described as being wreathed in gold, was being driven back by the young Emiya's never-ending onslaught. With each strike of steel against steel, Shirou was inching closer to victory. He had felt Saber vanish moments ago, yet despite the ache in his heart, he could not allow himself the luxury of grief. Not when Rin's survival, and the survival of everyone in Fuyuki, depended on his success. He needed to save them. He would save them! His circuits roared and the copy of Caliburn in his hands was finally able to overcome one of the swords being wielded by the King of Heroes, shattering it like glass with a powerful overhead strike.

"Impossible!" was the strangled shout given by Gilgamesh, even as he switched to a double-handed grip on his remaining sword "To think I would be defeated by a faker like you!"

"Bastard, bastard, bastard, bastard, bastard, bastard, bastard!"

The King of Heroes' insane shouting was accompanied by wild swings of his blade, grinding it against Caliburn in a desperate attempt to overwhelm Shirou. With a final heave, both weapons clashed and shattered in a rain of sparks. The disbelief on the arrogant servant's face might have been humorous if the situation weren't so grave.

Even as the golden servant manifested his Gate of Babylon in an attempt to draw a new weapon, Shirou was already charging at him, the twin swords Kanshou and Bakuya firmly in his hands and a fierce battle cry erupting from this throat. His advantage had always been clear; the servant before him needed time to summon his treasures, but Emiya Shirou's imitations were already here. Gilgamesh managed to pull out his swordthatshouldn'texist, but it was too late. Even as his reality marble was telling him of the impossibility of the weapon before him, Emiya Shirou had already swung Kanshou in a vicious arc, severing the King of Heroes' arm from his body in a spray of blood and flesh. Back-peddling desperately in an attempt to pick up his final trump card, Gilgamesh could only watch in horror as the faker closed the distance between them.

Yet, it was not by Emiya Shirou's blade that the King fell.

Before Shirou managed to swing Bakuya a final time, a black void appeared over the King of Heroes' severed limb. The Holy Grail was absorbing its final servant, perhaps in an attempt to use him as a vessel to remain in the world even after its true form had been destroyed by Excalibur. Shirou quickly thrust Kanshou and Bakuya into the ground, using them as anchors to avoid the pull of the Grail, while the miniature black hole consumed Gilgamesh. As the final bit of darkness winked out, so too did Shirou's reality marble.

After the struggle which had taken place there, the silence surrounding the entryway to Ryuudou temple seemed almost alien. The only sound that could be heard was Shirou's ragged breathing as he attempted to fill his lungs with the oxygen he hadn't had the time for during his battle. It was a close call, but he did it! He won! Now he had to make sure that Rin was sa-

He barely managed to raise his arm in time to stop the chain that had flown towards him; however, despite his reflexes, it still wrapped around his forearm in a crushing grip. Snapping his head in the direction that the chain had come from, Shirou was treated with the vengeful sneer of Gilgamesh. Even though half of his body had already been consumed by the void, the Golden King had reopened it in a final effort to drag Emiya Shirou down with him.

"Dodge to the right." was all the warning that Shirou received before a blade shot past where his head had been milliseconds earlier. He had time for a single heartbeat before the blade struck the King of Heroes in the forehead, knocking his head back in an explosion of blood.

"Y...You bastard..." were the final words Gilgamesh managed to rasp out as he sunk deeper into the darkness.

Shirou felt relief for a moment before his arm was violently yanked out of its socket. The chain which had ensnared him hadn't loosed with the King of Heroes' death; if anything, it appeared to be all the more tenacious in its efforts to drag the young Emiya down with its master. He struggled for all he was worth, but after using his reality marble and defeating Gilgamesh, his strength had dimmed down to a flickering ember. His arm made contact with the void and the world around him began to darken. It felt almost like it was invading his senses.

"No!"

The voice that had shouted was the same as the one that told him to dodge, though it appeared to be further away. It sounded almost like- Ah, so he hadn't died after all. It should have been a surprise, yet it seemed almost appropriate that he would be the final servant remaining. Hopefully he would be able to make sure Rin was safe before he disappeared.

Even though his eyes had stopped working, his Soul felt the 'arrow' spiraling towards him.

Despite his desperate desire to live, he couldn't find it in himself to be upset with Archer. Even death would be preferable to being absorbed by the abomination known as the Holy Grail. He could only hope that Rin would forgive him for being an idiot and letting his guard down.

Caladbolg II crashed into the void with all the force of a meteor.

He could feel the twisting distortion caused by the broken blade's attack even as his consciousness faded to white.

An Intruder.

It couldn't have been for more than a fraction of a second, yet he had felt it clearly. Someone had encroached upon his territory; someone had entered the Dimensional Gap and then left it again, all within a moment. It was strange. Almost as if someone had been using his domain to travel between the three worlds, but such such a method would be deemed suicidal by anyone with even an inkling of knowledge about the Dimensional Gap. This was not a place that mortals could tread lightly. After all, that was the whole reason he occupied it.

Ophis was the only other being who had entered this dimension in ages, and she certainly wouldn't be 'passing by' if it were her.

No, this was someone else.

He couldn't tell their intent from this short visit, but unannounced guests were not something he would tolerate, regardless of their intentions.

He would remain vigilant, then.

If they decide to try again, he would be there to offer them a nasty lesson on why others stayed away from the Dimensional Gap.

After all, no one invades the Great Red's territory and gets away with it.

Ugh. His head felt as though he had just lost a fight with Berserker. The throbbing ache was only mildly worse than the dryness in his throat. It felt as if he had eaten his sweater. Had Taiga finally managed to get him to drink alcohol? She had mentioned it before, but he had thought she was joking. Sakura was going to be rather upset with the resident tiger if that turned out to be the case.

Opening his eyes, a feat which required far more willpower than he was happy to admit, only left him with more questions. He was lying face-down on a wooden floor. His house didn't have any wooden floors. Even more curious was that, aside from a few spots that he must have disturbed in his sleep, there was a thick layer of dust covering everything that he could see, including multiple rows of benches. Wait a minute, were those pews? But the only church in the area was the one where Rin took him-

Shirou bolted upright. His vision swam from the sudden movement, but his mind was as clear as though someone had just doused him in ice water. Rin, Saber and he had gone to Ryuudou Temple to stop the Grail. Rin and Saber had managed to destroy the Grail's vessel while he was fighting against Gilgamesh- He had lost. Well, technically he had won the fight with the golden servant, but he had died. Or, at least, he thought that Cadalbolg would have killed him, and if not then the Grail certainly would have finished the job. So what was he doing here in an old church? Even more importantly, how was he still alive?

As the shock wore off and feeling returned to his body, Shirou vaguely realized that he was close to hyperventilating.

Closing his eyes and tapping into all of his discipline as a magus, he forced his breathing to slow down. In and out. A slow, steady rhythm. Panic wouldn't help him. It wouldn't explain where he was and it certainly wouldn't tell him how he survived. He needed to remain in control.

When he opened his eyes again, they shone with a glint of determination.

He managed to stand up, albeit a bit slowly and stiffly. His throat was still parched, but that could wait for now. The young Emiya took a brief moment to stretch some of the kinks out of his sore muscles before gradually making his way towards the large door at the other end of the church. With a decent push the door opened and Emiya Shirou stepped out into the warm, mid-day sun, intent of finding Rin and hopefully getting some answers.

It had been approximately four hours since Shirou had woken up in a strange, abandoned church. Since then he had found a variety of answers that he had been seeking, though none of them were good. Shirou had to bite back a bitter laugh at his own thoughts; as if 'not good' could possibly describe the situation he currenlty found himself in. He still wasn't sure if he believed it himself, though he was willing to operate based on his conclusion for now.

The first thing he had done after leaving the church was to locate a public restroom. Although he wasn't badly injured in his battle with Gilgamesh, he was still rather dirty and had a few smears of blood in various places. If there was one thing he knew, it's that people weren't likely to help him when he looked like trouble. He couldn't repair the holes in his sweater at the moment, but simply being clean would go a long way for social interaction. Perhaps he could pass the holes off as a fashion statement? The restroom also happened to have a water fountain outside of it, which Shirou was immensely grateful for. He was willing to put off his bodily needs for the sake of finding out where he was, but that didn't mean he wouldn't take advantage of an opportunity that presented itself.

After being cleaned and watered, he decided to find out which town he was in. He was fairly certain it wasn't Fuyuki, since he had never heard of an abandoned church anywhere in town, but he supposed he could be wrong. He managed to stop a passing salary man to ask about the town, and although the man gave him an odd look, Shirou's suspicion was confirmed. This was not Fuyuki City. However, he was now presented with a new problem, he had never heard of the city he was in. When he asked the man about finding directions to Fuyuki, the man claimed to have never heard of a place called Fuyuki City. Now it was Shirou's turn to give the man an odd look. He realized that his hometown wasn't exceptionally large, but it was still a fairly well known city. What's more, with all the 'gas leaks' caused by Caster, Fuyuki had been on several nation-wide news programs for days. The fact that the man had never even heard of a place called Fuyuki was definitely strange, but Shirou simply thanked the man for his time and bid him a good day. He could simply ask someone else; surely he could find at least one person to help him.

After asking another five people, Shirou was beginning to feel a nervous pang in his stomach. How could none of them have heard of Fuyuki City? After asking another twenty people, still with no recognition of his city's name, Shirou was fairly certain that he was nearing panic again. The nervous pang had turned into a gut-wrenching ache. Something was wrong. Over two dozen people and none of them had ever heard a whisper of Fuyuki. Although his gut held a terrible suspicion, he couldn't act on it without more direct confirmation. He pulled over another passerby but this time, rather than asking about his hometown, he asked them for directions to the nearest public library.

Shirou stared down at the map in front of him, partially in disbelief and partially in horror. It was a map of Japan. More importantly, it was a map that contained every city in Japan. Fuyuki City was not listed anywhere on the map. Looking at the geographical location of where Fuyuki should be, he was disturbingly unsurprised to find the name of the city he was currently in. When she had calmed down after first learning of his reality marble, Rin had given Shirou a fairly long lecture on True Magic and how damned close he was to it, despite being a third-rate magus. The lecture had involved far more glaring and finger pointing than Shirou had liked. In fact, it had left the distinct impression that Rin was unhappy with him. One particular part of that lecture stood out to him now.

The Second Magic.

Kaleidoscope.

A parallel world?

It was completely ridiculous. True Magic was something generations of magi had strived for and failed to achieve. Countless lives had been lost in its pursuit. There was no way that such a feat could happen by coincidence simply because Cadalbolg II detonated in the void left by the Holy Grail. To even suggest such a thing would have made him the laughing stock of the entire magical world. Rin would have had a field day with him.

And yet... What else could he conclude?

The shape of Japan was the same, but he barely recognized a handful of names on the map. He might not be most geographically savvy person in the world, but he certainly knew how to get around his own country. Perhaps the Grail had survived and altered all of Japan? He couldn't stop himself for snorting at the thought. That was even more ludicrous than his theory about Magic; if such a thing had happened, Japan would surely be a hell on Earth right now considering the nature of the Grail.

Even if he was skeptical about the exact nature of his 'move', it wouldn't change the fact that he was currently in an unfamiliar place with no food, no money and no place to stay. He didn't even have his wallet on him, since he hadn't exactly expected to hop dimensions during his fight with the King of Heroes. Considering just how much his life had been shaken up since the beginning of the Holy Grail War, perhaps he should have thought of it. He let out a sigh as he considered his options. He supposed that he could stay at the church he first arrived in for now. It had clearly been abandoned some time ago and it didn't appear that anyone else used it judging by the copious amount of dust he had landed in. Food was the most immediate concern. He would need to get a job of some kind or else be forced to eat out of the garbage. Shirou wrinkled his nose at the thought. He knew that if Rin were here she would never lower herself to doing such a thing, but the feisty magus was certainly more prideful than he was.

Rin...

The thought of her made his throat constrict and his stomach feel like it was filled with lead. What if he never saw her again? What if he was unable to get back home? He had accepted his death by the hands of Gilgamesh and hoped that Rin would be safe and move on, but what should he do now that he was still alive? Did he truly want to start a new life without Rin? She would likely assume that he was dead, but what if she realized that he was here? Could she find some way to help him? What if she-

Shirou shook his head in an attempt to clear his darkening thoughts away.

It would do no good to dwell on 'what ifs' and 'maybes'. He was alive and he would do everything in his power to get back to his world. Back to that feisty, twin-tailed magus he had fallen in love with. However, right now he needed resources. First employment, then a more permanent place to stay. With a little luck he might be able to get in contact with a local magus and gain more insight into this place.

He realized that he would need an act at least bordering on True Magic in order to get home, but having a nearly impossible goal had never stopped Emiya Shirou before. In fact, compared to his ideal, this was down-right reasonable.

Now, to get things started, he just had to go about finding a job.

With no identification.

Damn. Perhaps he had spoken too soon about how reasonable his goal was.

Meanwhile, in a club room across town...

Two sharp knocks on the door of the Occult Club caused the members spread throughout the room to glance up from their tasks.

"Come in!" called the bright voice of Rias Gremory, the club's president.

After a second's pause, the handle turned and the door swung open to reveal a petite, bespectacled woman with black hair and sharp eyes. She spoke up as she stepped inside, "Rias, we need to talk."

"Ah, Sona, what can we do for you? I didn't think the budget reports were due for another week." Rias questioned while smiling at her childhood rival.

Sona shook her head before responding in a cool, even tone, "No, this visit isn't related to club activities. You felt it this morning as well, didn't you? That spike of magical energy near the abandoned church in town."

"Oh," Rias nodded, "Yes, I was going to investigate it, but I've been rather busy with a little project I've been working on. Since nothing happened after the first spike, I decided to let it go."

The room's occupants could practically feel the disapproval emanating from Sona's frown.

"So you decided to skip out on investigating a potential threat in your territory?"

The red-haired Gremory was barely able to suppress a wince at the emphasis with which Sona referred to her territory, though a light shade of pink dusted her cheeks. Okay, so maybe it didn't sound that great out loud, but she really had been busy lately keeping track of her newest potential pawn...

Luckily, she was saved from further embarrassment by the timely intervention of her Queen.

"Ara, it's fine, isn't it?" the black-haired Queen smiled, "If it turns out to be something interesting then I'm sure someone will contact us."

Sona's glare shifted from Rias to Akeno for a moment, before it settled back on the red-headed devil.

"Very well," she declared, "In that case, I'll assume that you're forfeiting your right to look into this matter, despite it being your territory."

"Since you're too busy, I'll look into it myself." Sona finished, raising a hand to adjust her glasses.

Rias let out a tired sigh. She couldn't really refute her friend's claim since she had just claimed to be uninterested in the disturbance herself, but it still stung her pride for Sona to point out her oversights so bluntly.

"Go ahead." was the tired response of the Gremory as she rubbed her forehead.

Sona gave a sharp nod to the other devil before turning around and leaving the club room, the door closing behind her with a quiet click.

"She's right you know, Buchou. Even if it had just been a familiar, you should have sent someone to take a look at the church."

Rias turned her head to regard her Knight. Yuuto was probably the most level-headed of her servants, so if even he was agreeing with Sona then perhaps she really had been getting too invested in making Hyoudou Issei her pawn. She fought back another sigh threatening to escape. She had been stressing out about this ever since she had first discovered just what Sacred Gear the boy in question held.

"You're right, Yuuto. Hopefully we can recruit Issei soon so I can stop worrying about him and focus on other things."

Her Knight gave a nod accompanied by a charming smile while Akeno chuckled slightly at her King's one-track mind. Koneko, Rias' Rook and the quietest of the group, simply nodded once before she went back to eating the cookies laid out on her lap.

Rias smiled widely, glad to have such a wonderful peerage.

Now if she could just get that pawn...

Sona Sitri opened the door to the student council room, causing the girl sitting at the vice-president's desk to look up in her direction.

"Ah, Kaichou, welcome back."

Sona nodded at her Queen's greeting before speaking up, "Tsubaki, I'll be going into town to investigate the event from this morning. Please remain here and finish up the student council work."

"Of course." was the curt response given by Tsubaki. She had always responded well to her King's direct personality, since she was of a similar temperament herself.

"Tomoe," Sona called as she faced the girl lounging around on one of the couches against the wall, "You'll be coming with me."

The girl in question beamed and nearly collided with the Sitri devil when she jumped off the couch in her enthusiasm.

"You've got it, Kaichou!" she crowed happily, grabbing her sword from against the wall.

Sona almost sighed. If doing so wasn't such a poor display of manners, she probably would have given into the temptation. Her Knight was very capable, but she was also one of the most bubbly individuals that Sona had ever met. Not that it was a bad trait in itself, it was simply...difficult. The only competition came, unfortunately, from her own older sister. She took a moment to massage the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger; just thinking about Serafall was giving her a headache, best to move on before it sets in.

Without a further word, Sona set off towards the door with Tomoe practically skipping in her wake.

Emiya Shirou let out a large, tired sigh as he collapsed onto one of the many pews occupying the interior of the church. After his world-changing discovery in the library, Shirou had spent the next two hours combing the area in search of work. He didn't find any wanted ads of note, which was to be expected considering that it was his first day looking, but after his first hour he had gotten a lucky break which earned him two thousand yen. A man on a motorized scooter had been pulled up on the sidewalk, attempting to fix an issue with his engine. Seeing the man struggling, Shirou offered a helping hand; using his structural analysis it was quick work to find the problem and apply a temporary fix. He told the man that it would hold for a few days, but he should really take it to a shop and have a proper mechanic look at it. The grateful man had offered Shirou two thousand yen for helping him out, and although Shirou's first instinct was to refuse the money, he knew that he couldn't afford to pass up even a hundred yen that he might find on the street. He forced a smile and bowed to the man as he accepted the money, thanking him profusely.

After searching around a bit more, Shirou eventually started making his way back towards the church. His only stop along the way had been one of the many fast food restaurants that littered the city. Despite Taiga's love for the greasy, preservative-filled food, Shirou had never acquired a taste for it. After he had started cooking, even the insatiable tiger had begun eating his food rather than the unhealthy alternative. However, despite his dislike of it, at the moment fast food was a blessing for Shirou. It was cheap, had a high calorie count and it required no preparation on the part of the customer. Once he had enough money for a small apartment he could begin cooking his own meals again, but for the foreseeable future Shirou would be eating a lot of hundred yen hamburgers and fifty yen french fries.

He scooted himself into a more comfortable position on the hard bench before closing his eyes in an attempt to get some much needed sleep. Even though it was still early in the evening, today had been one of the busiest days the young Emiya had ever experienced. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically, so it was no surprise when he drifted off into a deep sleep only a few moments later.

Perhaps ten minutes passed before the doorknob slowly turned and opened with a click. Even as two pairs of footsteps echoed along the walkway towards the alter, the auburn-haired youth didn't so much as twitch in response to the sound. The footsteps stopped when the owners caught sight of him.

"Kaichou, is this the person we're looking for?" questioned Tomoe with a tilt of her head.

Sona took a moment to analyze the young man in front of her before responding to her Knight's question in her usual cool tone, "It would appear so. Although his energy signature marks him as normal human, there are slight remnants of the spike from this morning drifting around him. The fact that he's sleeping here even though this church has been abandoned for years only adds suspicion."

"Ehhh? But if he's a normal human then why would he have that weird energy all over him?"

"I can only venture a guess," responded Sona as she adjusted her glasses, "But it almost seems as if he were teleported here using a devil's crest. There are minor differences, but it's the closest comparison I can make."

Tomoe gave a hum of understanding before speaking again, "So what should we do with him?"

"We'll simply observe him for now," replied the Sitri devil, "If he's here for a reason, it would benefit us to figure out what that reason is before confronting him. And if he turns out to be a threat, it shouldn't be too difficult to get rid of him."

"You got it, boss!~" chirped the hyperactive Knight.

With their course of action decided, Sona turned to head towards the door. She would assign a familiar to keep tabs on this new arrival. Tomoe took one last curious glance at the sleeping boy before running after her King, twin-tails bouncing happily with each step.

Emiya Shirou, on the other hand, remained blissfully asleep, completely unaware of what he had just gotten involved in by deciding to sleep at the place that he first appeared.