On the grounds of a rather nondescript high school in Fuyuki, an interesting scene played out. Two warriors, one wielding a spear, the other a large sword, clashed, their weapons throwing sparks whenever they collided. In the ambient glow from nearby streetlights, those observing the fight could make out the two fighters.
The fighter with the spear was clad in dark blue armor, covering his entire body except for his mouth and a long blond ponytail. Gripped in his gauntleted hands was a spear made of some type of white metal which glowed with a soft white light. In all, his armor, his stern brown eyes, and they way he set his jaw all gave off the impression of a dragon observing its prey.
The spear-wielding warrior's opponent was vastly different. He was clad in a gray buttoned shirt, black slacks and shoes, and a tattered red cape. Held in his hands was a large sword. The blade of the sword had lines periodically running down its width, implying the blade was segmented in some way. Near the hilt was a set of exposed gears. The swordsman had an angular face, with red eyes and black hair streaked with gray. He had a small smirk on his face.
The two warriors' weapons crossed again, sparks flying as they both tried to gain the upper hand in their brief deadlock.
"You are rather interesting, Servant Archer," the spearman said. "Your kind is not known for being proficient in close combat."
"Could say the same for you," the other fighter, presumably Servant Archer, said. "You Lancers aren't exactly known for your spellcasting."
The spearman, Lancer, showed a small smile at that. "Touché," he said. With a flourish, Lancer disengaged, knocking Archer's sword to the side. Lancer brought his spear around and jabbed at Archer. However, Archer leaned out of the way just enough for the spear to miss running him through. The tip grazed his side, but glanced off a dark red barrier that sprung up around Archer's body. Archer's smirk grew as he brought his sword to bear, slamming the blade into Lancer's armored torso. The armor absorbed the blow, but it still knocked Lancer back a few steps. Lancer's eyes then narrowed as he focused on something over Archer's shoulder. Lancer dropped into a crouch, before jumping high into the air with a grunt.
Archer tracked Lancer's movement with his eyes, slightly bouncing on the balls of his feet in case he needed to dodge. He'd seen Lancer use this attack before- his left shoulder twinged from the memory. It certainly was not fun being impaled by a spear with that much force behind it. As Archer observed Lancer's jump, he determined that, unless Lancer had some way to change his tragectory, he wouldn't be hit. Instead, Archer followed with his eyes to where he figured Lancer would land.
Archer just barely caught a flash of red hair as he turned to face what he thought Lancer's target was. Archer's nigh omnipresent smirk faded. An innocent was here, observing his and Lancer's fight. And both Lancer and Archer knew what that meant. Archer sighed, sheathing his sword behind his back.
'Archer!' A female voice echoed in his mind. 'What are you doing?!'
'You don't see him?' Archer asked. At the other voice's confused silence, he continued. 'Behind the shack I'm facing. See him now?'
A gasp from the other voice. 'An innocent.'
Archer nodded. 'Exactly. I'm pretty sure Lancer's got him covered, Master. So how about we leave now and hope Lancer doesn't notice we're gone?'
'Not just yet,' the female voice said. 'Come to me, but we're staying here a little longer... to make sure Lancer kills him.'
Archer could tell through the voice's hesitation that that wasn't the reason why she wanted to stay. But he shrugged and made his way to the voice's location anyway.
He was pretty well-versed in the whims of teenaged girls.
Shirou looked around in confusion. Archer... he wasn't there anymore; he'd just vanished. And Lancer-
Shirou barely heard the whistling in time. He rolled out of the way as Lancer slammed into the ground, burying his spear up to where his right hand, which was lower on the spear, was. The air whistling past his armor made just barely enough noise so Shirou could react in time.
With an annoyed grunt, Lancer yanked his weapon from the ground before holding it two-handed.
"It is regrettable that I must do this," he said. "But there can be no spectators of the War for the Holy Grail."
Lancer then jabbed at Shirou, who did the sensible thing in this situation.
He ran. And by the clanking of armor, Lancer followed. Shirou dove into the school building and slammed the door, quickly reinforcing it. By the way the door rattled on its hinges, Lancer had tried to stab through it. Shirou looked over his shoulder to admire his handiwork as he ran, just in time to see a beam of white light blow the door to bits. Shirou just managed to get his body into a nearby stairwell before another beam blasted past. He breathed a sigh of relief- he really did not want to learn what that would do to his body.
Shirou didn't stay still for long. He began to run up the stairs, hoping that he could lose the spearman inside the school. He picked up his pace when he heard the spearman's armored footsteps enter the stairwell. The clanking briefly stopped, before Shirou heard a grunt of exertion from Lancer as Shirou neared the second floor.
Shirou twisted his body out of the way as Lancer rocketed straight up, Shirou's twisting dodge allowing him to escape with a shallow cut on his right arm. He used the small window of opportunity to fall through the doorway into the second floor proper. Now Shirou just needed to find a place to hide-
"Hold!" Lancer called out, his voice distorting slightly. As soon as Shirou heard that word, he felt an electric charge wash over his body, tensing his muscles to the point where he was locked in place. A split-second later a white spearhead erupted from Shirou's chest, right where his heart was. A cry of pain died within Shirou's unnaturally tight throat, but a second one escaped when Lancer ripped his spear from Shirou's body.
"And thus falls an innocent," Lancer said solemnly as Shirou's body went limp. He briefly bowed his head in respect before turning and leaving. He walked a few steps before muttering a word under his breath and vanishing. A few seconds later, a girl poked her head out from a nearby classroom. She turned her head to look one way down the hall, then the other, her dark hair swaying with the motion. When she saw Shirou's body laying on the floor, her breath hitched.
"Well, Archer, I found the innocent," she said, not taking her eyes off Shirou's body. Archer poked his head out a few inches higher than the girl's, and whistled lowly when he saw Shirou's body.
"Yep, Lancer definitely got 'im," Archer said. The girl walked into the hall and sat down heavily next to Shirou's body.
"You moron..." she muttered under her breath. She stared at the boy until she felt a hand fall heavily on her shoulder. Startled, she looked up at Archer. He had a grim expression on his face, and was pointedly not looking at the girl.
"C'mon, Rin," Archer said. "We need to leave. Lancer could come back at any minute, or some other Servant could find us."
Neither Archer nor the girl, Rin, moved.
"...I'm going to heal him," Rin said eventually. Archer nodded.
"That's probably not a good idea," he said. "But you're the Master. I'll get out of your way."
Rin felt Archer's hand lift from her shoulder. As if that was a cue, she dug out her necklace. Strung on it was a red, heart shaped gem. With a quick spell muttered under her breath, rid light began to fill the hallway. It slowly grew in intensity, before it was released in a bright flash. When Rin lifted her hands from where she had placed them over Shirou's heart, the wound was closed.
With somewhat stiff legs, Rin stood up and walked away. Shirou should wake up in a few minutes, and she did not want to be there when he did.
"So, you still live. And it appears you are a magus. Good."
Shirou rolled frantically out of the way of Lancer's spear. He scrambled around and picked up the first thing that his hands came across- a rolled up poster. Shirou reinforced it, making it as tough as steel. It probably wouldn't hold up for long against Lancer, though.
"How is it good that I'm a magus?!" Shirou asked Lancer.
"If you are a magus," Lancer said, casually blocking overhead strike, "I will feel no remorse for killing you."
Lancer then kicked Shirou in the chest, sending him flying through three shouji walls and into the Emiya compound's courtyard. Shirou slowly dragged himself to his feet, coughing in pain. Lancer calmly stepped through the holes Shirou's body had made.
"As I said before," Lancer said, lowering into a crouch, "there can be no witness of the War for the Holy Grail."
Lancer rocketed forwards, attempting to impale Shirou again. Yet, by some stroke of luck, Lancer slipped on a fragment of the walls he had kicked Shrou through, which threw off his aim just enough to completely miss Shirou.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Shirou ran into his shed, hoping to hide in there and hopefully avoid Lancer.
"I know you are within this shed," Lancer said. No such luck. Lancer kicked down the door to the shed, knocking Shirou flat on his back. Lancer positioned his spear to impale the prone Shirou. He reared back, and with a cry of effort stabbed downwards, intending to impale Shirou's heart for the second time-
With a flash of blue light, the faint smell of salt water, and a battle cry, a third figure jumped over Shirou and slammed into Lancer, sending him flying. With a chuckle at Lancer's flailing, Shirou's savior turned to look at him.
He had a yellow hoodie on, with a white hood that was currently down. He wore what looked like a combination of overalls and shorts, with one of the legs longer than the other. Black gloves backed with some kind of metal covered his hands, and a loose red mesh covered his right wrist up to mid bicep on the same arm. He had shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes. Held in his right hand was a sword, the blade of which was colored blue and almost looked like a wave in motion. He held his left hand out to Shirou.
"'Sup?" He asked Shirou. "I'm Saber. I guess you're my Master?"
Well, that's it for Chapter 1 of Fate/story breaker! I've had this idea pinging around in my brain for way too long, so I figured I'd finally write it!
Yeah, this is your generic "Xth Holy Grail War but with fictional characters as the Servants" story, but I (and hopefully y'all) don't mind it!
And if you figure out who the Servants are before I actually say who they are, you win the greatest prize of all: bragging rights!