"Then surely, if you close your eyes, the dream will continue."

Arturia took a deep breath, leaning further into the tree, as if to let it embrace her. Despite the remnants of the battlefield around her, the air felt fresh. There was a slight tinge of fire and soot, but it had been long enough for her to not be overpowered by the stench of death and war. "Thank you, Bedivere," she said softly. "Can I ask you a small favor?"

"Yes, anything."

"I want you to return my sword. It's done what it came here to do, and it would be a shame to see it rust along with me."

"I will do this."

Arturia nodded and smiled, letting her eyes fall closed, "Good."

Bedivere knew not what she saw in her final moments, in her final dream, but it brought a smile to her face, and that was good enough for him. After a moment, she went still. He knelt down and took Excalibur from her grip, then looked at her one last time.

The magic that Merlin had bestowed upon her to disguise her had fallen away, and Bedivere could not help but be stunned by her beauty. He reached out, hesitant. After a moment, he nodded to himself, then gently undid her hair, letting it fall to her shoulders. "The least I can do," he said, bowing to her one final time, "is listen to your final request, but allow me to be selfish as well, and let my King die with her true face."

There was no response, but Bedivere hoped that she would see the purity of his actions.

He called his steed, mounted, and rode one final time to see the Lady of the Lake.

Chapter 1: Affinity

Rin Tohsaka had made herself at home in the Emiya household. In fact, she found herself starting to feel more comfortable there than at the old mansion her father had left to her. In the middle of her new room, in the one wooden chair afforded to her, sat Shirou. He looked nervous, and she was tempted to tease him for a moment, but they had important work to do.

At that moment Rin was digging through her bag and a small chest, pulling out various supplies. Candles, incense, matches, jewels, chalk, and many other random items that Shirou knew she was going to make use of for what they were about to do. "My dad never did this," he said.

"That's because he was a terrible teacher," grumbled Rin.

Shirou frowned. He could not rebuke her.

"Oh don't make that face," she said, tossing a small jewel at his head while he wasn't looking. "I didn't say he was a bad father. In many ways he was better than mine. It's just that as far as teaching you magic goes, he fell short. From what you've told me, and what we've garnered from the Holy Grail War and that fake priest, it was probably fear that was holding him back."

"Fear?"

"Yeah. You said he was happy when you said you would live his dream, but he was probably afraid that you'd end up like him. It's hard to say whether or not what he did was right, but as far as the Grail goes..."

"Yeah," said Shirou, "Even though it caused that fire... I can't say it was completely wrong. I'm glad that we didn't cause another one when we did it."

"Well," said Rin, grunting and shuffling around her bag some more, "Maybe we were a bit more thorough. There were a lot of different circumstances involved when we went to destroy it. We all knew that it wasn't a good thing for one... ah, here it is," she pulled one more candle from the bag, "It's lucky none of these got broken while I was moving."

"It's hard to believe it's already been a month," said Shirou.

"Uh huh." Rin stood, gathering the candles and the chalk. She drew a circle around the chair he was in, "Now, don't move an inch, got it? If you break this line we have to start all over."

"Got it."

She set the candles at even intervals, and started lighting them all one by one. "Normally consecration can be done with some tarot reading and asking you a few questions, but this is a trick my father taught me. It's a bit more accurate, and since I can't find my deck at the moment we'll have to make do." After all the candles were lit she stood straight with one still in her hand. "Take off your shirt."

"What?" Shirou's face reddened, "But..."

Rin felt blood rising to her cheeks as well, "Just do it you idiot! Don't make this any more awkward than it already is."

Rin walked to her desk and put some of the incense she had gathered into a small vase. She lit it and turned off the lamp that was lighting the room, returning to Shirou just as he had removed his shirt. "Now I want you to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and lean forward. This is going to sting, but you'll have to bear with it."

She lit the candle in her hands and held it over his back, tipping it slightly. "Show me," she said softly. The first bit of wax dripped onto Shirou's back, causing him to flinch slightly. The next one surprised him less, and he was ready for any that came after that.

After ten drops she withdrew the candle. She ran a small amount of mana through her hand and pushed her index finger against the back of Shirou's neck. He felt a warm tingling sensation run down his spine. The candles were blown out and a light blue glow filled the room. Rin dipped down, looking closely at the glowing lines of wax on Shirou's back. After a few minutes she let out a sigh and turned to her desk, flicking the lamp back on, "No results," she said simply, digging a towel out of her bag and tossing it to Shirou.

As he wiped his back off and put his shirt on he raised an eyebrow, "Wait, what's the mean?"

"It means that further testing is unnecessary. I'm not good enough at Consecration to take this any further. In a practical sense it could mean several things. You probably have an affinity that's not a part of the five main elements, or if you're lucky you're like me, a jack of all trades."

"So... this means?"

Rin sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "It means we're going to have to wing it. Not my favorite approach, but if we can't pin down your affinity we have to throw stuff at the wall until something sticks. It would help if you had the Emiya magic crest," she said through gritted teeth, digging her fist into the back of his head.

"Ow! It's not my fault he didn't give it to me."

"His affinity may have been completely different from yours, especially since you were adopted, but it would have at least given us a starting point. Oh well," she said with a shrug, "Since when has life ever been easy?" She started to pack the items up and erased the outline on the ground with her foot, "I'll mop this up later. We need to start opening your magic circuits as well. Right now you can't even project without damaging yourself. I'll buy some more incense and get some jewels tomorrow. If we start doing daily therapy by running mana through your unused circuits, you should be able to use them in about a week."

Shirou sighed, "Wish I could have done all this before, maybe then..."

"Hey," said Rin softly, laying her hands on his shoulders, "What did I say about blaming yourself for Saber? She wouldn't want you beating yourself up like this."

"Yeah, I know. It's just a stray thought I have sometimes."

"Shirou... you can't save everyone. Unless you accept that, you'll break yourself. You can still be a hero, but don't push yourself too hard, okay? There are people here who care about you, and they don't want to see you hurt."

Shirou smirked, "So you care about me, huh?"

Rin's face went red, and she pulled her hands back, "I... idiot! I was talking about Sakura, and... and Illya!"

"Right," he said with a laugh. "I've actually been thinking about it a lot lately. My ideal isn't perfect, but I'm still going to follow it. If I stray from that path, or fall while I'm walking..." He stood from the chair and turned to face Rin, "You'll all be there to pick me up."

Rin brought a hand to her face, attempting to cover her blush, "Just don't go tripping over your own feet," she muttered.

That evening Shirou decided to take a walk outside, and he found himself under the warmth of the sun. It would be Spring soon, which meant the sakura would be in bloom. He remembered promising everyone they would go and see them, so he had to make plans. For now, however, he decided to simply sit on the edge of the deck just as he used to do with Kiritsugu.

He sat like that for what must have been at least ten minutes before feeling a tug on the collar of his shirt. He turned to see bright red eyes, and a mischievous smile. "May I join you Onii-chan?"

"Sure, Illya."

She sat next to him, letting her legs dangle off the edge.

"I want to tell you a story," she said softly.

Shirou smiled, "Really now? And what's the story about?"

She giggled, "A princess."

"Alright then. We've got some time until dinner, let's hear it."

Illya smiled and tilted her head. "Alright then. Long ago, there was a Princess who lived in a castle, and her father, the king, showered her with love and affection. One day, a great General came to the castle and said that a war was starting. The king, ever dutiful to his people, would fight on the front lines of this war. He turned towards the Princess, and with a smile asked, 'Can you wait for me?' The Princess knew he would come back, so she agreed wholeheartedly."

"So what happened?"

Illya grinned, "The king never returned. He was killed in battle."

Shirou frowned, "That's not really a story you should be telling."

"I know, but isn't it interesting?" She jumped down from the hall and landed on the ground, kicking up dirt as she twirled around to face Shirou. "If it makes you feel any better, the Princess got a happy ending, but that's a different story."

Shirou nodded and stood up as well, "That's good to know." He ruffled her hair and turned to walk back into the house.

"Hey Shirou..."

He stopped.

Illya continued, "Be careful, okay? Worms burrow deep underground, and they're hard to kill."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, turning to face her.

"Hopefully nothing," she said, "But keep it in mind."

"Okay... thanks. Let's go eat."

She nodded, "Let's."

A small cabin in the woods, with a shining red light bursting through the windows. In the center of a circle of light was a tall woman with long black hair and a neatly trimmed suit.

"Well, that went about as well as expected." Her thick british accent echoed through the almost empty cabin.

Lillian Grey eyed the summoning circle she had laid in the middle of the floor.

When she got the letter in the mail she had been surprised to say the least. It had been from Matou Zouken himself, the head of the Matou family. Despite the Grail War ending with another botch, he claimed that another was on the horizon, and so soon after the fifth.

It was unheard of, yet there she was, performing the summoning ritual.

She did not know what she had expected. After all, it was abnormal that the fifth war had taken place a mere ten years after the fourth. To think that the sixth would be a month after... it was ludicrous, to say the least.

Against her better judgement she had drawn the circle, obtained a catalyst, and even went through all the effort of building a custom chant. The circle had activated, yes, but there was no servant in sight. "I suppose that's it then," she muttered to herself, sitting on the floor and tossing her hair behind her head. "Last time I take the words of an old fool so literally. If the council saw me falling for this farce they would expel me."

"I would not count your chickens before they are hatched, my dear."

Lillian sat up, "Who's there?"

"Haha! Who is there, indeed?"

Just as she was about to speak again, the window of the cabin shattered from the outside as a projectile flew through it. The cold wind of the night flowed in immediately. Lillian wrapped her arms around herself and looked up. Crouching on the recently broken window sill was a man in a green cloak. A hood was hiding the top half of his face, but she could clearly see the smirk beneath that. "Good evening. I do believe you've called me."

Lillian laughed under her breath, "I'll be damned. You're bloody marvelous."

The man laughed and jumped into the cabin, trotting to his new master as he spread his arms out, "You and me, my dear, we shall take on the world, and we will win."

"I assume you're an Archer?"

The man scoffed, "THE Archer."

Lillian nodded and extended her hand, "My name is Lillian Grey. If you'll allow me to pack my things, we have a long trip ahead of us."

Archer took her hand and shook it firmly. "Robin of the Hood. I will be in your care."